Monday, January 29, 2007

infiltrators

Yeah, so, those moths? They weren't wool moths. They were meal moths, and they were living in the large bag of cat food in the kitchen. Now, being totally honest, I would prefer cat-food eating moths to wool eating moths, but still. Ew. And poor kitty, what sort of moth stuff has she been ingesting? Of course, I've seen her and the cats at my parents' house eat bugs before, so I don't suppose eating some moth eggs would be terrible for her. She seems fine, and she hasn't been burping up moths. Needless to say, however, I threw out that bag of cat food, and I haven't seen a moth in days.

Now I'm going to go take a shower. Just thinking about bug infestation makes my skin crawl.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

pretending to be organized

Last night, all the yarn lying around my room in plastic bags finally started to get on my nerves (you should read that as "I tripped over some innocent looking wool and almost died"), so I put on some music and set about thinking up a new way to store all the yarn, as it has managed to outgrow the plastic box I had been keeping it in. I finally came up with this:



Which, I think, will work very well. On top of the blue box is the yarn for things that I'm currently working on, and inside the box is the yarn for the projects I'd like to start next.

I think my needle storage solution justifies my saving any cool-looking box that comes my way:



And I put the rest of my yarn in the Office Depot file boxes currently pretending to be a night stand:



Now, I'd like to introduce my oldest Unfinished Object:



Why yes, that is a crocheted afghan. I started it in high school, but I don't really remember the exact circumstances. It's at least five years old, if not older. I do kind of like it, except I'm not really sure about the orange stripe. I know, when I started it, that I really liked the orange stripe, because my color preferences in high school were generally "loud". Not that I don't still like loud colors, I just now also have an appreciation for colors and combination that don't burn out your retinas.

Anyway. I like the pattern.



Just, for some reason I have an odd sense of confusion whenever I look at this blanket. Ah well. Maybe I'll go grab a crochet hook and do a couple rows.

Or maybe I'll knit a sock.

Monday, January 22, 2007

lady thrumsalot



I actually finished these back in December, but for whatever reason I didn't get around to weaving in the ends on the second one until this morning. I suppose some part of me feels more motivated now that it's actually cold outside.

Pattern: Thrummed Mittens from Interweave Knits Winter '06
Yarn: Dyed roving from the Zeilinger Wool Company, and Icelandic wool kindly given to me by Laurie at The Lavender Fleece.

bayerische beginnings



This pattern is so much fun, I can only work on it for short periods of time so I don't over stimulate myself.

Ok, actually, the pattern really is fun, but it's slow going because a) I haven't memorized the charts and b) I'm a slow knitter anyway.

On the moth front, I went through all the wool I own, and I did not find any evidence of a moth infestation. I'm still suspicious, because I killed two more moths yesterday, so I separated my yarn into ziploc bags. Hopefully, if the moths do decide to show themselves, that should make it really obvious which yarn needs to be frozen, microwaved, refrozen, remicrowaved, vacuumed, and then blessed by a priest.

Friday, January 19, 2007

war mongering



Today, I waged war on the ends, specifically the ends dangling off the sides of all my Weasley squares. I got through about a third of the squares I've already knit, and resolved not to knit any more squares until I've finished weaving in the ends of the completed ones. Then, I'm going to weave in the ends of each additional square as they are finished. Why I didn't employ this very logical, sane process before, I have no idea, but I have decided that it is more beneficial to my sanity to not think about it.

I restarted my roommate's Slytherin scarf again, this time on straight needles in 1x1 ribbing. I was previously knitting it on a 12" circular needle in a long tube, but she and I both agreed that it was just too thick for a scarf. I'm two stripes in, the first stripe representing V for Vendetta, and the second representing Kingdom of Heaven. I'm probably going to have to call in Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter for some help as well, because movies are really the only way this scarf makes any progress.

On a scarier note, I've killed five moths this week in my apartment. I'm...concerned. But, explaining to my roommate why I am microwaving my wool might be fun. And so it begins, the great battle of our time...

Saturday, January 13, 2007

Ich bin eine Socknitter

One sock...



...Two socks!




This photo is closer to the actual colors...


Pattern: generic sock pattern, as explained by that other Stephanie in Knitting Rules!
Yarn: Koigu KPPPPPPPPPM...ok, I actually can't remember how many P's there were, so, um, Koigu of the sock-yarn variety, which was purchased when I randomly decided to go to the yarn shop after my last exam in December.
started December 27 and finished January 13

The worst part was finishing the first one while I was home by myself and not having anyone to show it to. Fortunately my roommate was around when I finished the second one about an hour ago, and she seems to think knitting is pretty cool (even though she usually declines my suggestions that she take it up herself), so she was properly impressed when I modeled the pair for her.

Oh, and kitchener stitch? Fabulous. I love it. It's just so gosh-darned clever.