A Bitter Knitter

My last blog post was two months ago... I have started and frogged multiple projects and am still working on some stealth projects, but I finally have things to show you!  (With all pictures, click to embiggen.) 1- Musical Mitts for Read Headed Sister This is one of the stealth projects I'd posted about previously, but since her birthday is now passed I can show them to you! They are knit in alpaca and are wonderfully soft.  She tells me that she loves them and that everyone who sees them is jealous. 2- Captain Hats 1 & 2 Some of the ladies at Knitter's Anonymous had knit this hat and I just loved it, so I knit one for a friend (tan) and one for me (grey) . It's a very fun, fast pattern (hooray for bulky yarn!)  3- Raspberry Chocolate Mitts for the Cure These were knit at the Yarning for You " Knit for the Cure " event and donated to Susan G. Koman for the Cure .  The colours remind me of raspberries and chocolate, hence the name of the mitts...

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...

Been a bit, hasn't it?  Now that I'm not in school, the days just blend together...  It's actually getting to the point in the summer when I'm ready for school to start again, but I'm not going back to school in the Fall.  Hmm... time to actually start looking for a job perhaps? In the past month, I have finished one of my hibernating projects in time for Elder Sister's birthday and I am making good progress on a couple of my stealth projects.  I also finished another pair of socks made with yarn that I received for my graduation from the woman who taught me to knit: I'm also almost done with my first shawl!  Yay!  The pattern is Bermuda , and I'm knitting it with Mini Mochi's Beach Scene , which is wonderfully soft.  The short rows and colour changes work together to create an amazing effect.  I'll post pictures when I'm done.  This week?  Maybe next? I've also cast on for another pair of socks.  I'm addicted!  My p...

I now have completed three pair hand knit socks!  Here are my completed Joy in the Journey Socks : I loved knitting these... I finished them on Sunday, so I suppose you could say that I am now "joyful."  They are mirror images of each other, which is fun.  They are my thirteenth completed project;  I have been a knitster for almost seven months now.  Alas, with these finished, the only projects I have OTN now are stealth projects and hibernating projects... so I suppose that means that I need to start another project just for the sake of blogging, right?  Hmmm... maybe something using the yarn I picked up at my LYS during Knitter's Anonymous last month ?  I still need ideas, by the way... if anyone has any... In the interim, however, how about more pictures of the puppy?  He had to wear the "Cone of Shame" for two weeks--he finally got it off today! This one is my favourite.  I love how he's using the cone to shade his eyes:

My sister has something she calls her "I Don't" list .  The creation of such a list for myself is something upon which I have been ruminating for some time, and today, I think I'll add this: I don't quilt.  In fact, as soon as I finish sewing all the skirts for which I already have material, I'm going to change this to "I don't sew."  I'd say it now, but I really do love long skirts and in order to own them, I have to make them.  I hate sewing.  And maybe that's partially because sewing machines and I don't get along, but there are so many other reasons: You can't fit a sewing machine in your purse.   You can't take a sewing project on the go with you.  You have to be at home (or wherever your sewing machine may be).  You can, however, fit a sock in your purse.  Just sayin'. You're stuck at the table.  You can't lay in bed or sit on the couch while sewing.  It just doesn't work.  Believe me, I've co...

I haven't blogged recently.  There's not much to blog about knitting when one is knitting multiple stealth projects.  I've added a new one... so in addition to   and  I have added: Isn't that just so exciting for you?  Yeah... that's all you get.  Sorry.  (Ravelry friends, however, can go see real pictures on my Rav page .  Everyone else has to wait.  Perks of being a knitter...  Family: please do not go making fake Ravelry profiles just to see the projects.  It defeats the purpose of them being stealth.) I've turned the heel on my second Joy in the Journey sock and am meandering my way down the foot.  (It's just not exciting to knit the same thing a second time.  Not that it's exactly the same thing--I did flip the pattern so it will be the reverse of the first one, but the concept is the same.)  And as it looks remarkably similar to the first one, I have no pictures for you at this present time.  Once I ...

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...