Sunday, March 21, 2010

A Startling Discovery

Well, I've been a busy bee lately, but I'm home from Memphis, and Spring Break is approaching. I, however, am ill, and am praying that I get my voice back for Carmina Burana auditions on Wedenesday. In the meantime, I decided to give Traveling Woman a break while I'm sick (I've been making enough mistakes on it while my mind is clear--I don't want to chance a total meltdown.) and make a simple project.

Over the past few years, my love of reading has taken a backseat to school, work, and wooly endeavors, most of the time. As much as I love love love love to read, I've only read about four books since I started college. I decided yesterday that this needs to stop, and as a tribute to that, I am going to make a Book Sweater. However, as I mentally reviewed my stash and looked over the requirements for the project, I came upon a startling discovery.


My stash is comprised almost exclusively of fingering-weight yarn.

The book sweater calls for worsted weight wool. I have exactly one type of worsted weight wool--some Knitpicks Wool of the Andes.

It's black. I'm not knitting in black, while I'm sick.

It did not occur to me that my love of sock yarn had caused me to own nothing BUT sock yarn. I will be attempting the book sweater in the DK Scarlet Fleece Painted Merino that I bought to make a Cortana-inspired shawl. It won't even put a dent in my stash of it, because I found it necessary to purchase three or four skeins of it, just in case. Now that I will probably be knitting the shawl, I definitely don't need 800 yards to do a small shawl. So, this little book sweater will be a nice way to try out this yarn before I go for a big project with it.




I'll start out with the suggested needle size. I think that, the more I knit, the more firm my tension has become. I don't think it's necessary for me to go down a needle size anymore.

We shall see, we shall see...

Oh, and I'm going shopping for worsted weight. Very soon.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Memphis, Day 1

Wow, today was a long day. I've been up since 3AM, and my ability to write is out of the window. So, here's my day in pictures.











What a day.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Memphis Eve

I'll be leaving for Memphis at 4am, so this will be short. I finished Gaenor, which has be very excited, because it's much more fun to wear than it was to make.









The Facts:

Pattern: Gaenor by Corrina Ferguson

Yarn:
Dream in Color 'Smooshy' in Dusky Aurora

Needles: US 6/4.0mm KA Bamboo Circulars

My Two Bits:
This shawl produces a beautiful result. I can't say that I absolutely loved making it, but I'm thrilled with the finished result. It blocked out to a huge size, and will be keeping me toasty warm in Memphis.

I started Traveling Woman last night, and I'm super excited about it already. Pictures tomorrow, while I'm working on it on the bus.

Alright, I'm off to bed soon so that I can get some sleep before the big trek. Pictures from Memphis soon!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Rest

Midterms are over! I decided to take the day off and extend my weekend. I got done pretty much everything that I needed to do for the weekend today, so now I'm free to rest and relax (AND KNIT!!) for the rest of the weekend. I finished getting together my uniform for Memphis, and I picked up a really cute dress and some shoes along the way!

Our beloved Paul Goussot is returning to France soon, and we'll be very sad to see him go. We took several pictures at his goodbye party on Wednesday but, strangely, the best picture was the one that came out totally yellow:




Now, because I was tagged by my lovely friend Alexz on her blog, I'll now tell you seven things that you didn't know about me.


SEVEN FACTS ABOUT CADENCE:


1. I really like prunes. Most people hate prunes, but I just love their concentrated, sweet flavor. However, I do not like prune juice.

2. I am about ten times more of an introvert now than I was five years ago.

3. For a musician, I listen to very little music.

4. I really hate it when people move my belongings around in my space.

5. I've never seen a movie with Brad Pitt in it that I didn't like. He really is one of my favorite actors.

6. "The Last Days of Judas Iscariot" is, by far, the best play I've ever seen. It changed my life.

7. I love the color red. Deep, rich crimson is the main color in my room.


I really don't have that many people who read my blog, so the only person that I'll tag to do this is Impostination.

Now that I've posted nothing at all about Gaenor, I'm going to go knit so that I can try and get her finished soon. I want to start Traveling Woman before I leave for Memphis.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Minutes

Things have been hectic for me lately. It's midterms time, and even when I'm not studying, my mind is so used to stressing that I sometimes find myself wondering what I'm actually stressed about.

Gaenor is half done now. I did not meet my goal of having her done in time to order the yarn yesterday. I plan on knitting my butt off tonight, in the hopes that I will get close to being done. That way, I won't feel quite so bad for ordering the yarn early, which is going to have to happen if I don't finish it tonight. This is the last picture I took of it:



I had one of it actually spread out, but I accidentally deleted it, and it's nighttime now, so I can't get another one today. You can see one of the lovely stitch markers that I got recently from babydragonjewlery on Etsy. I was looking for something cute, but these were so downright badass that I just had to have them.



I'm going to get in a good two or three hours of knitting tonight on Gaenor, so hopefully I will make real progress.





Someone decided to leave this on the garbage can by the practice rooms today. It gave me a smile that I desperately needed. I hope it brightens your day, too.

My copies of Whimsical Little Knits 1 and 2 arrived from Ysolda yesterday. It took a little while for them to get here because of the international shipping, and I'm so glad that they're here! I can't wait to make some of the lovely things inside.

We're leaving for Brahms in a week tomorrow. Wow. I'd better decide what projects I want to bring with me. I don't anticipate being able to finish more than one during the trip. It just depends on how much progress I've made on my next one before we leave.