What % Obsession

It seems I have figured out how to work the dynamic percentage bars for the progress of my knitting projects. My WIPs seem pretty pathetic now. It's evident that I have done a great job planning wonderful projects, but not enough progress. It all comes down to actual time I have to knit, which is not very much nowadays. Is it sad that I count having the yarn for a project 2%? I am considering making pattern aquisition worth another 2%....

In other news, if I don't post for a week, it's because I have to fufill some military duties. I am in the PA Air National Guard and have been assigned to a decontamination inspection deployment. This means I have to miss a week of school, which is not a good thing. Hopefully, I will have some downtime between playing war and I will be able to squeeze in some knitting.

Oh! and Happy Halloween! ♥ ♥ ♥

The goods.

Today, I made the trip to Knitters Underground and it was glorious! Unfortunately, I was having too much fun and forgot to take pictures. Ooops. Just imagine cones upon cones of beautifully colored wool hanging on the walls, super soft skeins of alpaca, cozy hanks of cotton, and of course the obligatory novelty fuzz yarns. Along with bunches of colorful sock yarn and tons of needles! It was really fun. The store is the bottom floor of a big white house and I'll definitely be visiting again. Soon.

I wanted to get some yarn for myself so badly, but I surprised myself with constraint. I found this gorgeous ultrasoft merino yarn in beautiful muted blues, but I resisted it's siren call. However, if those little beauties are still there when I next visit, those skeins will be mine. I did find perfect yarns for both Paul's hat (on the left) and Jason's gloves (on the right).

Woohoo! Lovely yarns.

Paul asked for a light olive green, but I could only find lime-y greens or dark olives, so I settled on tweedy brown silky wool. I LOVE THIS YARN. It's an awesome color and it is so soft! I can't wait to knit with it. My brother, Jason, asked for blue gloves. Well kid... I hope you like green cause you're getting green ones. Hehe. I couldn't find enough skeins in the blue, so I went for the equally nice green with brown flecks of fuzz mixed in. I want to start both projects right now. But I think I should finish something first... Or do homework... yeah. Homework. ♥

UnClapotis

Well, I didn't get to go to the LYS today. Bummer. Knitters Underground closes earlier than I thought (4pm), so Valerie was still at class. But never fear! I'm planning to go tomorrow before my classes. I'll have to take my list of pre-authorized for Christmas gifts yarn list. Maybe then I will be able to restrain myself? Maybe...

I've worked abit on UnClapotis (thanks for the name Lisa!) and I turned the corner!!! I'm typing this pattern as I go. So it's a bit slower than if was just making up as I went along. But I think it will be a nifty scarf when it's done and I want to remember how to replicate it. The pattern seems a bit complicated because I don't know how to properly simplify them. I'll see what I can do with it.

I've turned the corner.

And I wanted to share a picture of Valerie's fab poncho. This yarn is heaven to touch. Like I fluffy cloud of teal poofiness. I love it. Doesn't she look so cute! Yay Valerie!

And Valerie knit a poncho!

Have a great knitty night! ♥

Time for a yarn trip.

I'm so excited! Tomorrow, I'm going to visit a LYS with Valerie! One that I have never been to before. Wee! I need to buy yarn for some Christmas gifts. I have decided to (mostly) focus on the Christmas gifts I have decided to undertake until Christmas is over. Makes sense, eh? Haha. Here is the list:

~ Kaylee (sister) - felted houndstooth bag
~ Paul (sister's bf) - military style hat with brim
~ Jason (brother) - gloves... warm ones
~ Libby (chocolate lab) - pink sweater? (maybe if I finish everything else)

That list doesn't seem too overwhelming. It's mostly small items. Very do-able. I'll update tomorrow with the LYS goods and more knitting fun!
♥

And now, a post about current knitting.

I have been knitting as much as school allows and here is the proof! I finished my sister’s skinny striped scarf. It was itchy itchy but I washed it and it softened up. I think it’s pretty cute. I used a 1x1 rib on size 5 US needles. It used one skein of Lion Brand Magic Stripes in the Jelly Bean colorway with much of the red removed. In the first picture below you can see the silly little bundles of red I tied off on the sides.

I often knit this scarf while reading Biochemistry. Heh.


Fun skinny scarf. Pay no attention to the messy room behind me....

I also finished off a skein of Lion Brand Homespun in Baroque I had lying around in a seed stitch scarf. This was on huge 15US needles so it went really fast. Two nights of TV knitting and this baby was finito! I think that this may become a gift scarf. We will see.

Ooo la la.

I also started a Cotton Candy version of the Very Harlot Poncho for Mike’s little 6 year old cousin. She is a sweetie and I hope she likes it! Her mother was wishing she could give her a poncho for Christmas so I volunteered to knit one. I’ve wanted to use the Very Harlot Poncho pattern for awhile now.

It's so fluffy!

I also have been knitting my Cabled scarf row by row, writing down the pattern as I make it up. It’s mostly the Clapotis pattern, but apparently not Clapotis enough so no more knit-along. Oh well. I probably should focus on all my own projects anyway. I have so many knitting ideas in my head that I’m starting to get overwhelmed. I’m going to try to organize all my ideas so I don’t forget any. I was thinking about using a color-coded index card system… is that crazy and just-plain OCDish? I just need to straighten out my jumbled ideas for projects-to-be, Christmas gifts, current works in progress… I’ll update on how Project Knitting File-O-Fax goes.

A Picture Share!

Walking across campus.

DEAD CAR BATTERY!!! NOOOOO.

I just had the very frustrating experience of a DEAD CAR BATTERY. I just wanted to run to the store for some groceries, but nope. It wasn't to happen. My dad is thinking that since I only take my car out for short little 5-10 min drives, the battery was slowly exhausting itself and never really getting a full charge. I haven't really driven it for a long distance since the beginning of November. I need to drive home this weekend though. That's a nice long drive to let my battery charge, but I still need a jump! Have I ever jumped a car before?? Nooo. Do I even have jumper cables??? Nooo. I have seen it done a couple times. Boo. This is no fun. Atleast I wasn't in the middle of nowhere as Mikey pointed out. That would have been bad. Ugh. I really wanted to go to the store too. Just to get away from campus for awhile. On to knitting!!! Well. Actually that will have to be a seperate post because I didn't upload the pictures first. :) That Hello program is a bit odd in that respect... Or maybe I'll check out Flickr... yesh. ♥

The evolution of Clapotis.

I was cruising along on Clapotis when I decided that I really didn't like the way it was curling. Cara Mia is an acrylic yarn, so I knew blocking wasn't much of an option. Here is a view with a 3-point-hold-down-the-corners operation.

This WAS Clapotis...

It just wasn't what I was envisioning. So I ripped it all out. And stupidly, I did not wind the yarn as I frogged... A HUGE freaking knot ensued. After much frustration, I got it all sorted out.

Then THIS was Clapotis...

I have started anew and have made major modifications to the pattern. I'm writing the modifications as I go so they can be posted when I finish. I'm removing the dropped stitches and replacing them with a cabled panel. I love the diagonal construction of the scarf, so I'm attempting to make this work... We will see how it all goes. So far so good.

Finally, this IS the new Cabled Variation of Clapotis.

That last picture is a decent representation of the color. It's a bit more muted in real life. But hopefully this will turn out well. I'm swamped with school work, visiting friends (Hi Rach!), and interviews (eep!), so knitting (and this blog) gets pushed to the wayside. I wish I had all the time in the world to knit. But I have amino acids to memorize and extraction problems to solve. At least the leaves are gorgeous and the air is crip as I walk around campus! I ♥ fall!

My busy weekend.

This weekend was so busy, but I had a lot of fun visiting everyone back home. I have decided to share a couple pictures from the weekend, but fear not! There is knitting content at the end!

Friday night, I went over to one of Mike's relative's house and ate a delicious dinner. Ethan (my nephew-to-be) is starting to walk! He's really getting the hang of it and he is SO CUTE!

The cutie is starting to walk!

Then, on Saturday, I went to the Bands of America competition in Youngstown to see my brother perform. He plays the sax and the band did really well! I miss marching band a lot. It was such a fun experience in high school. I was in the band front (or colorguard). I miss it.

Bands of America Competition.

On Sunday I went to an apple festival in Hickory. I don't have any pictures of apples, but there was a display of birds of prey. They were so regal looking; falcons and hawks. I also got to see a woman making bobbin lace! It was amazing! All the little bobbins and tiny thread... There were a million pins, but it was really pretty!

Birds of prey at the Apple Festival.

And finally, the promised knitting content. I gave my mom her lacey mobius scarf! She was kind enough to model it for me in the two different ways you can wear it: as a hood or a neck wrap. Awww... doesn't she look pretty! I think it came out well. :)

The hood configuration.

The neck wrap: another way to wear said scarf.

Unfortunately, I also caught a cold while I was at home. Now I'm sniffling and coughing and just generally icky. Hopefully it will go away soon! Happy knitting! ♥