Finished: Twinkleberry Socks & Prelim 1

The throes of prelim exams require that I just poke my head into the blogosphere briefly, but after getting all that Embossed Leaves love, I couldn't resist taking a few minutes to show y'all another finished PAIR! And can I just say, WHO do I think I am, finishing things like this? I am seriously losing all my Philistine cred over this, I just know it.


Finished: Twinkleberry Socks
Pattern: Twinkleberry Socks, a free Knitzi pattern designed by Beth of good-natured ribbing
Fiber: Yarn Nerd merino/tencel blend sock yarn in denim blues
Size: women's foot
Needles: size 1 Knitpicks circular needle
Date Started: September 2007
Date Completed: January 2008
Notes: This is a really wonderful pattern--super easy pattern repeats that turn into a gorgeous lacy sock with just a hint of cables. The merino/tencel blend also made these socks especially pretty; I've got it bad for merino/tencel sock yarns right now. I'm convinced that merino/tencel + lacy sock pattern = shiny, happy socks of perfection. More to come on this combination, just you wait.


And, as of yesterday at 5:00 pm, I have another FO! Prelim exam 1 down, and 3 more to go. What a grueling experience. I typed 14 pages (single-space!) in 4 hours. Can we say OUCH?! Don't they know I use those fingers to knit? Jeez.

Thank you so much for all your wonderful comments on my Embossed Leaves socks! I appreciate them all, and I hope that as soon as these narsty prelims are over I can get back to responding to comments and... LEAVING comments. Just 3 more weeks. I swear, once the exams are over, I am going to do nothing but knit for a week (maybe two!) straight. It is going to be awesome.

P.S.--Would you believe me if I told you I have already finished yet ANOTHER pair of socks?? It's true, I swear. I'll be back very soon...

Fieldtrip! And then more cramming.

Please humor me, my friends, and insert copious amounts of clever and humorous text of your choosing throughout this post, because it will have none otherwise.


At the moment, my brain is being crammed nonstop with such useless preliminary exam knowledge as: the measurements of the Bouleuterion at the Hellenistic site of Priene and what buildings the important king of the Sabaean Empire, Karib'il Watar, established and when and where and what they looked like and what archaeological materials were found in them.


You see? It's fact-cramming no-stoppa around here, and it doesn't end until sometime in mid-February, when I take 4 written prelim exams and then take an oral exam in which I try to fool my advisors into thinking I am very smart and know an abundant amount of knowledge on many archaeological subjects. So, remaining loyal readers to this blog is going to take some serious commitment in the months to come.


Hopefully, I'll be able to throw in a camel or two when I go off to the UAE this Christmas to excavate, to keep y'all modestly interested. And I'm still harboring the illusion that knitting might appear regularly here, but I wouldn't suggest anyone hold their breaths for such an occurrence.


I did manage to sneak away from prelim cramming and teaching long enough to take a very short trip to Boston last weekend. I should clarify that the trip was specifically to meet with a professor at Harvard regarding my dissertation topic and to scout out a collection of ceramics that I will be writing my dissertation on.


Despite being a buisness-y fieldtrip, M and I packed some serious fun into the trip, and we really saw most all of Boston (and every darn museum in it) in two days. I have so done Boston. And it was awesome. I love that city.


And lest you think there is nothing knitting/crafting-related in this pathetic rambling...


There was a bloggity meet-up Boston-style, in which I met the super-talented Maritza and the über-fabulous Diana and her adorable LL. Fun and fun and fun some more was had at the Darwin's sandwich shop. And lots 'o archaeology gossip was spilled. (Diana is an archaeologist, too). That's right. Archaeology gossip. And it doesn't get more juicy and scandalous than archaeology gossip!

Up next: a post chock full of things that are actually knitted. I swear.

Sanity maintenance.

Hi. Can you help me? I can't seem to find the week that just flew by. Oh...right. There it went. Good-bye, week. Okay, the good news in my search for the long lost week that has passed between this and my last post is that it is once again Friday. Yay, Friday! The bad news is that I must cope with the fact that I can't seem to get everything I need to get done in a week done in a week. Know what that means? Time for some sanity maintenance.


Yes, yes! Just the thing! The perfect tools for sanity maintenance...a goodly mix of wooden knitting needles poised and ready for action and a hank of crumbs & co. handspun fiber in the most perfect shades of aqua, moss, and grey. Nothing like the discovery of handspun fiber to cure one's frazzled state. Mmmmm, handspun fiber...it's my newest love.


Ahhhh, all better now.

CPH Update: I just can't seem to get the button band finished in a way that I am satisfied with. So, I am now ripping and re-knitting. Why is it I can manage to knit an entire sweater plus hood, but I can't get a button band right?? This weekend, I will prevail. I. Will. Prevail.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Wip-ed.

Wiped, indeed. Summer is coming to a close and fall is peeking around the corner of the next block. I am ready for it. This summer has completely wiped me out, intellectually. I spent the last three months researching like mad for this fall exhibition I am curating at Bryn Mawr College. This project turned out to be a massive undertaking--a six month project (at least!) that had to be done in a mere three. Insanity. And plenty of stress. It is finally nearing completion, and I couldn't be more thankful. I have a week left to finish it and then everything has to go off to the professional printer's. One week left. Eek. The exhibition postcard has been finalized and is being printed, which is pretty exciting, but it's the first thing of the exhibition that is in concrete form, so I'm a bit nerved over it. So there it is. In all of its... glory? The opening date of the show is September 25, and it runs through January. I have an opening speaker and everything. It's an actual... event. And public, very public (bites nails).


Speaking of WIPed, I feel like I owe y'all an update on my knitting. There has been so little blogging these past few months, but I've actually been knitting rather steadily the whole summer. First, of course, there are lots of single socks. Eight, to be exact. It is getting to be that time when I am yearning to have pairs, so I might actually be ready to knit some mates. For those interested, the eight socks are, clockwise from the top:

:: Pink Fancy Monkey Socks :: Fleece Artist Seawool in Light Pink
:: Lemongrass Pomatomus Almost Kneehighs :: STR Mediumweight in Lemongrass
:: My Bloody Valentine Socks :: Hello Yarn Merino Sock in Hush
:: Skyblue Giotto Socks :: STR Lightweight in Blue Moonstone
:: Red Robin Socks :: Woolley Boully Meanie Sock in Red Robin: Bird, Nest & Eggs
:: Giotto-With-the-Flow Socks :: Sundara Sock in Grey Green over Mint
:: Child's First Sock :: Fleece Artist Seawool in Buttercream
:: Rum Runner Socks :: Yarn Pirate Merino in Rum Runner


In addition to a bunch of single socks, I have been knitting piles of sweater parts. I've had 10 balls of Rowan Silk Wool DK in my stash for awhile now, and though I had plans to knit something else with it, inspiration struck and I decided to knit the Wide Collar Cardigan from Jo Sharp Knit 3. I'm knitting it at a completely different gauge to create a less stiff, more loosely draped fabric, and I must say, it is turning out beautifully. The only problem is I have run out of the 10 balls, and I'd guess that I still need another 4 or 5. D'oh. And the wide collar is taking for-EH-ver to knit. 1x1 ribbing for about a scarf's length... ugh. So, this beauty is taking a little siesta while I wait for funds to acquire more Silk Wool. I have maybe 2/3 of the collar left to knit and the right side. All else is done and waiting patiently in a gorgeous aqua-colored pile to be seamed. This will be a pretty little early fall sweater, when it is finished.


Meantime, I have convinced myself to pick up the black sheep of my old WIPs, the ol' Central Park Hoodie in Rowan Yorkshire Tweed. You know, the pattern craze from last fall... finally, finally, it might actually be finished soon. I have the right side to knit, then it can be seamed up and all that will be left is the hood and the button band. Well on it's way to becoming wearable!

I have big, big sweater-knitting plans for this fall, involving, you guessed it, the fabulous new designs from the latest Interweave Knits. Tangled Yoke? Yes please. Minimalist cardigan? Serve it up. And the Tilted Duster? Yes, yes, and yes some more. Now comes the impatient wait for the stipend checks to begin rolling in again to replenish my yarn supplies. Until then, I'll be finishing up my WIPs and yearning for fresh bags of Rowan Felted Tweed and Kid Classic and Berroco Peruvia.

Happy weekend, all!

Tart.

What an appropriate description of my life, these days. Tart. Not really very full of sweet, blithe, happy-go-lucky freeness that I have for so long associated with the summer months. No, these summer days are more aptly described as tart. My knitting time has plummeted to an all new record low, so I'm lucky if I even have a spare moment to glance longingly at my sock pal's half-finished sock, much less be able to knit more than one round at a time. Gee, at this rate of work and study, I may have to ditch fronting the Single Sock Liberation Movement and spearhead the Half-A-Single Sock Movement. Half a sock? I have one of those! Hope my sock pal likes anklets!


Luckily, Fiberlicious! continues to inspire me, so I may have more yarn-as-delectables to post than yarn-as-knitted-wearables to show you for the next few weeks. Though my tart mood has had me seeing reds, and I am feeling inspired lately to knit with the gorgeous merino/cashmere sock yarn that Nora so graciously and generously sent me a few weeks ago. Of course, the sheer lack of free time may inhibit actual knitting with these beautiful reds, but nevertheless, they are inspiring. I have great plans for some beautiful red Roza's socks. But for now, those reds make some nice yarn cake decoration pieces.

And thanks VERY much to all those who weighed in on the issue of awkward variegation of my sock pal's socks. The consensus, provided by those variegated-yarn lovers more qualified on the subject than I, was that the socks should go on. And so they shall. Now, where's that spare moment in which to knit them?

official mistress.

Sometimes, seeing is believing. I officially got my Master's degree last May, but because of some logistical issues (*cough* a professor lost my French reading exam and THEN forgot to turn my German reading exam in to the appropriate person on time *cough*), my degree wasn't conferred until last December. And only now did I actually get my paper degree. Ah, the throes of academia.


At any rate, I officially have a Master's and am now blithely skipping struggling tooth and nail toward my PhD. Next up: preliminary exams. September.

The Summer of Non-stop Studying begins in one week. But for now, I am off to Atlanta/Athens to spend some time with my family. There will be copious amounts of eating at the Grit. And maybe I'll have a finished sock or two when I return. Though they'll likely be an unmatching pair, but we'll see.

Be back in a week!

After school special.

Life as I once knew it (ahem, *not* grading papers and exams non-stop, 24 hours a day) has finally returned. At some point since my last post, I finished all of my work with immediate deadlines... grades submitted, preliminary exams scheduled to be taken in late September, meetings set up for beginning dissertation research.


And a small, much-needed resurgence of knitting time has finally resumed. I decided to rip my mossy twisted flower seeding, as the Sea Wool just wasn't doing justice to the intricate pattern. In its place, I cast on the dark green vintage cardigan, which is a nice respite from sock knitting. Sometimes it's so nice to escape into row after row of stockinette. Unending. In a deep, dull green. I considered joining the mason dixon Slogalong for this project, as I am knitting this cardigan on size 3s and 4s, but there's just nothing sloggy about this project thus far. Nothing but enjoyable row after row of stockinette.


And I've re-cast on the Child's First sock by Nancy Bush, after frogging the first attempt using Lorna's Laces. This time 'round, I am using Fleece Artist Sea Wool, and I've flown through 6 repeats with nothing but glee and joy. I love this yarn. Love. This. Yarn. New. Favorite. Yarn.


Just look how shiny and pretty! Stitch definition is fabulous, the Seacell blended into the wool is smooth and shimmery. No fuzziness like 100% merino can be sometimes (especially superwash merino). Perfect thickness (I am knitting on 0s, not 1s, but it's okay, somehow). Nice and sproingy, too. Love. People, you need to try this yarn. I'll be interested to see how the Sea Wool holds up to a ton of washings, though, since I read somewhere that the Seacell eventually washes out of the wool. I'm hoping it doesn't get all fuzzy as this happens. We'll see. Meantime, I'm in love with Sea Wool.


AND I finally got to leave the house to do something OTHER than catch the train to school. Oh, glorious day! The bikes were unleashed (mine's the orange Veloce and M's is the silver Pista) and M and I got to enjoy a nice gallivanting around town today. In M's words: an adventurous adventure was had.


It had been so long since we'd been to the Art Museum. Too long. And we never miss a good "Pay What You Wish Sunday". Mmmmmm, art for exceedingly reduced price. My favorite kind of art. That and some good Rothkos and we're in business.


And a sweet owl sculpture by Picasso. One of my favorite pieces in the Museum. A good Sunday, indeed.

Next week M and I are off to Atlanta to visit my parents, then it's back to the grind for me. A full time job in Special Collections and non-stop cramming for my prelim exams await.

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Greens are good for you!

Where has the time gone? A whole week has gone by since I've last spoken 'round these parts? If you're wondering where I am, I've been spending copious amounts of time here (staring wistfully out of the above window), the good old standby, as my life has devolved back into this familiar scene. It seems like forever ago that I finished my Rosy Baltic Socks and got showered with copious amounts of the nicest comments ever about them. Thanks, everyone! Apparently, they're keepers!


What am I up to these days? Well, this. And this. And still more of this. Which really leaves little room for much else. I did manage to start some twisted flower socks using some amazing mossy green Fleece Artist Sea Wool. The pattern is great and the yarn is wondrous, but I'm already having doubts about my progress. The Sea Wool may not be the best match for this intricate pattern; the slight variegation and shininess of the yarn seems to be obscuring the pattern somewhat.


See what I mean? Hmmm. You can see it, but it doesn't really stand out like it should. Like it does in this beauty. I REALLY love the pattern, so I don't want to stop knitting it, but I think I might, and find something else to knit with this gorgeous yarn. Speaking of, I just so happened to have stumbled upon the perfect pattern for it! Vinnland Socks! People check this pattern out! Best part about it is it is free on the internets. It's toe-up, though, and I am not yet equipped to perform the toe-up. I have to invest in some of these first, which will be happening very soon, I suspect. (Thanks, Bockstark, for introducing me to the Vinnlands and encouraging me to learn the magic cast-on for toe-up socks, which is FAR more doable than figure 8!) And you all should go check out Bockstark's amazing Vinnland sock beginnings!


I've also been doing a good share of ogling this stuff (above: Classic Elite Skye Tweed in "Spruce") that I bought for a song on WEBS many months ago, and that stuff (below: Rowan 4 ply soft in discontinued color "Military"), also acquired for a pittance when it was discontinued. Ahhhhh, deep, dark, dull greens! Yum.


I've been feeling a bit overwrought by the brights and pastels I've been steeping myself in. I'm so NOT a lover of these colors, usually, but I've vigorously embraced them lately for Project Spectrum - pushing comforts and boundaries is a good thing, sometimes. But I'm finally feeling the effects of all of the color, and lately I've begun to feel the urge to work with darks and dulls and stave off pinks, yellows, pastels, and bright colors.


I'm thinking this might be a good solution. A nice vintage-y pink deep, dull, dark green cardigan designed by Norah Gaughan (pattern from IK Spring 2005). Problem of overabundance of brights solved. And nicely, I might add.


Here's another project that I've been contemplating, though this one would be less suited for spring/summer knitting: an intriguing collar cardigan in a nice dark, foresty spruce tweed (pattern from the new Jo Sharp Knit Issue 3, which Nora was kind enough to send me straight from Aussieland). I'm still contemplating the functionality of the collar on this sweater, though. I'm afraid it might tug and weigh heavily on my neck, or that the collar would flap awkwardly when I walked. So, perhaps I'll stick with the vintage cardigan for now.

I'm off, now, to resume doing... surely you can guess... more of this. One day I'll be able resume knitting (and blogging, and reading others' blogs, and commenting on others' knitting progress) with some sort of regular frequency.

Until then, have a happy Sunday evening, everyone! And Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

bloom.

I continue to have nothing of consequence to report, unless you happen to be enamored by such things as the construct of gender in ancient Egyptian art, or a surfeit of other topics I am finding particularly inane at the moment. Luckily, things of beauty are blooming around me, making my uninteresting work more bearable.


Other things continue to bud around these parts as well. I am relishing sock knitting these days. No, no, not of the absurd amazing variety, like this or this. Any project larger than a sock (of the unexceptional normal-sized variety, that is) is just too overwhelming for my distracted mind to handle at the moment, and it seems that it's all I can do to finish one sock before moving on to the next. Two of a kind? Pairs? Not so much. Singles, please. I can't be bothered right now to follow such sensible knitting rules as project monogamy and warding off single sock syndrome. Knitting is my pleasure and respite from the stresses of crapademia, and it's one of the precious areas of my life where I can do what I want when I want how I want. Who knew knitting single socks could be so liberating?

Happy Sunday!

In which Bitter McAngry knits something sweet.

Acting upon the sage advice of many of those that left me such helpful and appreciated comments on my debacle-ridden week (y'all know who you are, :::thanks!!:::), I laid the problem knit aside and found myself a good, cheerful distraction. I am still wrestling with whether to rip, leave, or ladder down to the mistake on my rib and cable deal. I am leaning toward just leaving it. I tried to ladder down a few rows and experiment with trying to fix just that rib, but, well, a combination of being a relatively unsavvy amateur knitter and being full of rage at the world at the moment, the experimenting didn't result in any miraculous fixes. I could definitely perform the appropriate surgery if I were fixing dropped stitches or plain knit or purl stitches, but backtracking from plain rib to twisted rib is a wee bit more than a mind full of pressing academic concerns can take at the moment. Thus, a new project has appeared in the place of the ornery one.



Enter this fantastic little bundle. I bought this on a whim from Hello Yarn not too long ago, with some bizzarro predilection for the sweet-and-cheery. It doesn't happen often. If it ain't gray or muted, it ain't going on my needles. I don't know what inspired me to want this particular handpainted beauty... I am firmly and categorically refuting any admission that it might be because I've been inspired by some upcoming holiday that I happen to find entirely fatuous. Perhaps I just needed a little happy on my needles. And, really, I feel like this has done the trick.



And what's more, I have learned a new skill! The picot edge. Wow, these socks are dripping saccharine. How entirely out of character for me, but so delightful! I'm using Adrian's Simple Sock pattern that came free with the yarn. This pattern is great for me, because not only have I had to learn how to do a picot edge, but I'll also be introduced to the short-row heel, which I've not yet attempted. One question: are the sweet little picot teeth supposed to look that much like coffee beans?



I'm also enjoying the irony of the pattern title. Simple Sock. The picot edge wasn't exactly the most simple thing I've done, and I'll definitely need more practice to perfect my method. This first try of mine isn't exactly of the unflared, streamlined variety, but it'll do for a first try.

As for the crapademics fiasco, while things have not been definitively resolved, it is looking like I'll be able to reschedule my exams for the last few weeks of August and my orals for the first week in September. Now, if I can just shake off this sense of failure... wait... wait... looking at my sweet saccharine socks... done!

In which I must add "crapademics" and "when knitting goes awry" as blog post labels.

Hrmph. Ever have a day when you wish you had just stayed in the safe, comfortable, and WARM confines of your bed? Okay, that's a rhetorical opener, because I know that you have. Everyone has, and I have, too. Today, in fact.

The universe appeared to be in proper working order upon my exiting the bed this morning, despite the freezing cold that is my apartment. I forged the cold, which was expected, albeit unpleasant, and since it was expected, it was handled with a long, hot shower and wrapping myself in a suitable number of clothing layers. I was looking forward to a day of working at home in the blissfully quiet confines of my apartment. In reasonable comfort, considering my layers of clothes. Before settling into a long day of productive work on studying for my imminently approaching preliminary exams (that qualify me to begin my PhD), I sat down for a small bit of knitting. Just a little. Just to give my fingers a little taste, finish off the back panel of my cable and rib jacket, and then get down to the business of boring-but-necessary school work.



As you may glean from the above photo (not the most stunning of photographs, but suitably so, as you shall see), I came oh-so very close to finishing the back panel of row after row after row of ribbing. Now, if that above photo appears to you as if I might have succeeded in my pre-work task, you might want to take a careful, close look at it again. Focus your attention to the left side of it, particularly the last few vertical ribs...



Yes, there it is. Right there. A HUGE mistake. A twisted rib that should, in fact, continue in twisted rib all the way up the back. Not stop half-way and become regular rib, as it, in fact, does. Right. Well. The options are obvious. 1) Rip out half of the back panel and re-knit it. Um... no, thanks. Do you know how much I hate knitting ribbing? Let's just say that it's enough that thus far I have only managed to knit two pairs of socks. Because I hate the monotony of ribbing. (Don't ask me why this sweater seemed like a good idea to me, because I have absolutely no logical response). 2) Subscribe to the "Aw, fuck it" school of knitting and move on with my life. And continue the cable and rib jacket, without any re-knitting. Just a little forgetting and being glad that the mistake rib is on the back and on the edge, likely to be mostly unseen. Too bad I'm an insufferable perfectionist. Who, it will surely be the case, will obsess over this mistake. Though I do like to blurt out a good, aw fuck! every now and again. And as impressive and joyful as Cara's miraculous cable-fix was, I'm afraid that kind of fix just doesn't apply here.

At this point, the back panel remains unripped.

And so, I resigned myself to doing my work. As part of said work, I contacted the appropriate persons in my department in an attempt to schedule my preliminary exams for late April (ack, ack!). I soon after received an email from the department secretary stating that I was not eligible to take my prelim exams this semester. Huh? (Can you sense the impending disaster-of-the-day part deux?) I quickly responded, asking for more information, unable to fathom what the bloody hold-up could possibly be. The response to my response was, well, disaster part deux. I had, it seems, missed the deadline to apply for PhD candidacy, a small bit of paperwork that is required in order to take the preliminary exams. Aw, FUCK. How this small but über-important detail slipped my mind is beyond me. I have not yet related this little development to my prelim advisors yet, but it would seem that my prelim exams will not be taking place at the end of April. They will, instead, be happening, I am supposing, sometime at the end of summer or next fall...

So, tell me, do I rip or leave it as is and just live with the mistake? The cable and rib jacket, that is. The prelim fiasco, unfortunately, cannot be ripped, and I will, indeed, have to just live with the mistake.