A Bitter Knitter

We're now over a week into the new year.  I've been mulling over the past year and what I want to "resolve" to do this year, so here's my 2011 knitting goal: Complete at least 24 knit projects. That's an average of two a month.  (Last year, my first complete year as a knitter, I finished 20 projects of various sizes, so I think this goal is extremely reasonable, as I was also in school for half the year.) Among those projects I want to: Knit a project with beads. Knit a pair of mittens. Knit a pair of gloves. Knit a pair of toe-up socks. Among my list of things to knit "someday" are the following: Knit an afghan Knit with 100% silk Knit with cashmere Knit a drop stitch pattern Knit a pullover sweater Knit a cardigan with buttons Knit something that has steeks Knit something with entrelac Knit something intarsia I also want to learn how to knit Continental and how to knit and purl backwards.  If any of these happen this year, great...

I first tried knitting in 2002 or 2003.  I'm not sure which--I was sixteen or seventeen at the time.  I learned how to do a long-tail cast on and how to knit and purl.  As a result, I knitted a piece about eighteen inches wide and four inches tall in 2x2 rib.  And then the royal blue yarn and the aluminum size 9 needles sat abandoned in my closet.  And then I moved, and they sat abandoned in my new closet. Eleven months ago today, 22 September, I walked into the yarn store near my university and bought yarn and knitting needles.  I had seen a pattern online for a Hogwarts scarf and wanted to make one for my little sister for Christmas, so I purchased yellow and black yarn (Hufflepuff colours) and a size 7 circular needle and, with the help of YouTube and half a dozen knitting sites, I cast on again, some seven or eight years after I first attempted knitting, and began knitting again. Just knitting.  Solid knitting.  Solid stockinette...

It's been an absolutely crazy couple of weeks.  I finished all my classes & turned in papers (including one I especially loved writing which I titled "Knit Two Conceptual Domains Together" and which was about the use of metaphor in knitting) and then I GRADUATED!  That's right.  I now (or rather will, once final grades are posted,) have a B.A.! Here are pics from graduation.  These were taken by my sister & friends.  I'm shiny!  (You know what the reason is for having tassels that hang down the sides of your face?  Distraction!  Something to play with during graduation (such as while the student speaker sites "dictionary.com" as a reference *serious eye rolling*)!  The cords were fun to play with, too...  but I digress... What can I say?  I'm distracted by shiny objects...) Sorry, photo vanished. Sorry, photo vanished. I graduated "cum laude" but I'm hoping that my final grades will nudge up my GPA so that my dip...

Time keeps marching relentlessly forward and then races past, bringing April closer and closer.  Deadlines for grant proposals and papers are looming nearer...  I really should get off Blogger and get to work on my poster, because (insert severe sarcasm) thanks to furloughs (and spring break) I have to print it by Thursday of next week, even though that presentation isn't until the 6th of April.  Sigh... But we're hoping to videotape our speakers on Tuesday for my presentation at WAIL.  BIL's scarf is progressing slowly, but I'm hoping to have it done by the 1st weekend of April as well, for BIL's birthday.  (Act surprised, Sid!)  But I have finished the unbloggable projects I mentioned... hope to get those mailed off tomorrow.  Pictures soon! And, thanks to the turning and tilting of the planet (which corresponds with the passing of time) we are coming up on the Vernal Equinox on Saturday.  It's really been lovely the past few days....

Very little knitting has occurred since my last post as the semester is now in full swing.  However I have cast on for the second Creta sock (the one in taupe) and did get a few rows done on BIL's scarf .  As it turns out, I'm going to be keeping the taupe socks and giving the multi-coloured ones to Older Sister. The main reason for this post though is to show off my Valentine's day present.  (I'm going to take this time to mention that I am married to the best guy ever .  Y'all may contest that and argue that you have good guys, too, but mine is the best.)   This is my present: seven sets of four inch double pointed needles in Harmony wood from KnitPicks.  Here's a close up of one of the sets: (Sorry... picture vanished) (I believe that you can click on the pictures to embiggen them.)  Aren't they pretty?  And they're only four inches.  The one's I've been knitting with are seven, so I'm excited to not have to slide the needles...

It's been quite a while since I posted...  School starts for me on Wednesday, so I'm trying to finish knitting Christmas presents. I have finished Mom's mitts .  I finished those yesterday and Mom loves them.  (I like the colour combination, but knitting with the yarn itself wasn't the best.)  (Photographed by Red-Headed Sister)  I also was able to get a significant amount of work done on Red-Headed Sister's Hufflepuff scarf.   Several trips in the car and time sitting around allowed me to get almost finished.  I'm now half way done with the last yellow stripe, then one more black stripe, then wash and block and add tassels.  Older Sister got a picture of my niecelette "helping" me knit it. And I finished my third star-crossed slouchy beret .  This one is for me.  I had help with this one as well--both from my niecelette and her second cousin, three-year-old Lucy.  While knitting it, I didn't have a cable needle wi...