hot scissor-on-sweater action

or, more precisely, ABJECT TERROR!!! I steamed the neck steeks to within an inch of their little stitchy lives. no sewing. then i sat down, took a deep breath... and cut.


Then i had to do a dance and wear it around the house while still in "potato sack" mode. it almost looks like i'm wearing a sweater with big epaulets. heh. My sewing machine is at the bottom of the cra(ft)p room right now, so i can't cut the arms open just yet. (might go to friend's house to use her machine, since its already set up and working.)

BUT.....
Houston, we have a problem. It has to do with the neckline. and me being a plow-ahead-without-planning kind of knitter. i'll let you ponder that for a day or two and see if you can guess what corner i've managed to knit myself into. Maybe i'll give a prize to the person to correctly guess why i'm a gigantic ditz.

Woolapalooza

obviously, i am not a timely blogger. I'm still about 2 weeks behind on things i've been meaning to post, and am very slowly getting to them...

A few weeks ago i taught short people (and their parents) how to spin as a part of Drumlin Farm's Sheapshearing festival "Woolapalooza". The farm is run by Mass Audubon Society and has a ton of fun and educational stuff for kids including farm animals, wildlife sanctuary, education programs, and a farm stand. If you live in the boston metro area, i highly recommend taking the quick trip out to Weston some day soon.

a knitter's worst nightmare...

beware! Heed this warning:

When you're invited out for a night of drinking to celebrate the birthday of a friend..... DO NOT WEAR A HANDKNIT SWEATER. When you have a little bit too much to drink, and the bar get warm... DO NOT REMOVE that handknit sweater. If you're a ditz, like me, there is a very good chance that you will LEAVE your ribby cardi at the bar at the end of the night. *sob*


[There is one little ray of hope: A friend-of-a-friend supposedly picked it up and took it home for me. I will continue to kick myself until the sweater is actually back in my hot little hands. keep your fingers crossed!]

turtle approaches finish line

hey, hey, hey! I'm picking up steam again on St. Moritz. I've cast-off the neck front stitches and started an 8-stitch steek. I am still loving 2-color knitting. i might be hooked!

I kept thinking the body was coming out huge-mongous because there aren't any armholes for reference. Now that i know where the neckline is, i can hold it up to my neck and the fit looks fabulous. very exciting!

i might have to invite some friends over for a steeking party soon. I will definitely need all the moral support i can get when it comes time to bring scissors to sweater. Moral support and a stiff cocktail.

Do collies dream of perfect sheep?

I shouldn't be shopping online, but its the perfect thing to do while experiments are running. There isn't enough time to get anything productive done in between steps, so of course i browse the internet. My new favorite quickie is to search for sheep things on Etsy. ok, i'm not ONLY obsessed with things sheepish. Friends and readers know how much i love watching the sheep dog trials at wool festivals. i just can't get over how smart those border collies are! Imagine my squeal of glee when i came across this border collie painting... with his fantasy flock in the background?! You can find creative paintings of many different breeds (both dog and cat) available from the artists at CopyCat & Dog Studios.

hello world

hey there! Thank you to everyone who sent me supportive comments and thoughts about grad school and life in general. Always nice to hear from others who are going (or have gone) through the same thing. And its nice to hear from non-scientists who are fiber obsessed too. hehe.

School workload is down to a dull roar for now, the brief period between midterms and finals. I'm still doing background reading for my qualifying exam, and am halfway through my final laboratory rotation. I've knit VERY little in the last few weeks... i just don't have enough brain cells left over for pattern reading right now. I've been spinning at night when i veg out in front of the boob tube. Note to those who care: i DID knit a few rounds of St. Moritz this week. Its still on top of the knitting basket. just progressing with extreme slow-itude.

I have lots of things i've been wanting to post here, but haven't found the time. hopefully i'll get a few of them up this week. Here's the first:

I wore my felted mittens just about every day this fall and winter; the poor things took quite a beating. I wore holes at the fingertips of both mittens and the thumb of one!

I remember reading a book or website somewhere about using needlefelting to darn holes in socks, so i thought that would work pretty well on these guys. Everytime i wore them i thought about fixing them, but still hadn't gotten around to it. A few weeks ago felting superstar Sarah came over to my house for an evening of crafting and i asked if she'd attempt to mend them for me. Wow, she did an amazing job!

Of course, spring has finally arrived in boston. (yay!!!!!!) So i'll put the mittens away, but i'm very happy to have them fixed NOW so they'll be ready to wear when the weather turns cold again.