Coming Up for Breath

Wow, it's been a wild month. I have several finished projects to post about, but not any pictures, right now. I have a hat that I made to cover my post-wig hair during our Pearl Fishers shows, and I still have to post pictures of both sets of gloves--there will most likely be an accompanying narrative. I also have the orange cabled scarf that still has not been shown off. I took the day off of school today to catch up on work and rest, and it's really cold out, so the pictures are going to wait. But, I hope to be back soon, and back to blogging regularly.

Stolen Moments

Wow, it's really been hard to get a few minutes to knit, lately. I'm still on vacation, but I've been going to so many rehearsals, as well as preparing music for the new semester and trying to do household chores and cleaning that had been put off. So, my knitting has been a bit neglected, and I've been feeling particularly scatterbrained and random (which will become progressively evident through the length of this blog post). However, I finally got a chance to get some pictures of my current project, and I'll have some time to work on it today due to a cancelled rehearsal!

My current project is the Irish Hiking Scarf by Adrian Bizilia. The yarn is JoSharp Silkroad Aran, which I got on sale at my LYS. I really love both the yarn and the pattern, and I'm really looking forward to finishing this scarf, so I can wear it!





I have time to work on it today, and hopefully I'll steal some time tomorrow as well, so I can get finished! I feel like it's been ages since I completed a project.


I've also gotten a little work done on the Transformers pillow front, but it's still not done. I had decided not to give it to Ben for Christmas, so there are no pressing deadlines on it, now.

Today, I spent an hour or so enjoying a webcomic that I've just become aware of, The Knit Princess. Someone brought it up on Ravelry today in a thread, and I fell in love with it immediately! I've been catching up, reading the archived comics. It's about a young female college student and knitter, and all of her yarn-related adventures, and I highly recommend it. It's very optimistic, light-hearted and clever.

So, I'm going to go enjoy the rest of this day. I hope that you are all having a great day, as well.

So, I'm back.

Wow, it's been a while. I have been so busy with performances, papers, and exams, that I've hardly had time to make anything, much less write about it. I frogged a few things, and made both Ben and I gloves. I plan on having a post dedicated to that alone, so more on the gloves, soon. I have a silver-dollar sized portion of a hat done, and most of a sweater shaped iPod cozy. If I get the show on the road, I can get the cozy done.

However, this is what I am concerned with at present:



This is (a crappy picture of) an Autobots chart that I am making into a pillow for Ben. I started it over the summer, with no particular plans as to when I was going to finish it or give it to him. As of right now, I'm considering it as a Christmas present for him. I'm pretty confident that I can get this done in time. As a matter of fact, I think it may be time for another round of creative burnthrough--maybe even tonight...

Doing Things Right

It has been so long since I've posted on my blog that I almost couldn't remember how to log in. When classes resumed, my life got so busy and stressful that I haven't finished more than a couple of projects. However, last night I realized something that really reset my perspective. I usually knit to relax, help relieve stress, and to enjoy myself. However, I have been turning away from my knitting over and over again because the lace is too complicated for my tired mind and eyes. Last night, we were passing by a Michael's, and I suddenly decided that I needed something. I went in and bought a ball of wool and some aluminum straights, and cast on a garter stitch scarf on the spot. After knitting about ten rows, I had everything all figured out.

I am officially resigning from the Ten Shawls in 2010 Challenge. When I started working on that scarf, I had red flags waving in my brain, telling me that I'd never get the four remaining shawls done if I wasted my time making something else. I beat myself up about it for a while, and then realized that the whole reason that I knit has gone out the window for the past few months, all because I've been pressuring myself over this challenge.




This school year has been the most stressful one yet, and I certainly don't need to be spending my free time freaking out about having to knit four more shawls before midnight on New Year's Eve. Also, I'd rather work at my own pace on complex shawls that I love than churn out four more simple ones just for the sake of completing the challenge--that's not what it's about. So, instead of trying all the way to the end and failing, I am acknowledging that this is what is best for me and my mental health, and I am making my garter stitch scarf. After that, I'm dreaming of mittens and socks and maybe a sweater. The moment I gave myself permission to stop stressing over the shawls, I remembered why I love to knit.

So, I'm going to return to the stress-relieving creative outlet that knitting is supposed to be. I don't know why I took so long to figure this out. I feel better already.

Look for some posts soon with older projects that haven't made it up yet. I hope that everyone is well, and that at least a few people still check my blog!

Off days

It has been over a month since I last posted. I simply...haven't been knitting that much. *gasp!* I'm not sure if it's been the fact that I am inspired in other artistic areas right now, of if it's because I often knit to relieve stress...and I'm just not stressed right now. Either way, I'm going to have to get back on the ball sooner or later, because I'm nowhere near done with my Ten Shawls for 2010.

In other news, I spent the day with my friend Anna and new friend Rebecca when they came to New Orleans! She's back in Australia now, but we had a great time, including going to a yarn shop! I have pictures of things that need to be posted, but in the meantime, I just wanted to let everyone know that I'm alive. Be back soon!

Weaving in Loose Ends

To put it simply, I had a strange childhood. Due to this, I missed out on a few things that many would consider essential.

This weekend, in a strange and wonderful turn of events, I was able to "weave in" a few loose ends.

We wound up on Ship Island, and by the end of the day, I had seen and swam at a beach, flown a kite, and built a sand castle--all of which were things that had been on my to-do list for the past twenty years.





These pictures did not come out very well, which is unfortunate, because this dragon looked so cool in person!





Later that night, we returned home and went to the midnight showing of Tommy Wiseau's The Room at the Prytania Theatre. If you don't know about this movie, find out. Unless you're faint of heart. Then, don't. You may die of disappointment.

All in all, this day was one of the best days of my life.

As far as knitting is concerned, I'm still working on Blue Heaven. But, if you look to the right, you'll notice that things are disappearing from my WIPS! I have been frogging what needs to be frogged, and I'm about to finally block and sew the button on that crocheted cowl! Soon, only my actual works in progress will be listed as wips!

I'll be back soon, hopefully with pictures of finished things! I have socks to make for my best friend's birthday, as well.

A Night With Ishbel--Creative Burnthrough

Night before last, I did something which really helps me when I'm overloaded with stress, or my sleep cycle is messed up, or really if there's anything wrong that I don't know how to cope with. A cure all, my "creative burnthough" is something that I turn to when I need to purge excess negativity. Instead of letting it stress me, and keep me awake at night, I stop everything and focus on an unfinished craft, until nothing else matters. I work until it is finished (no matter how long it takes) and then collapse, exhausted, into a deep and perfect sleep. I have never done this intentionally before, but I realized the other night that it was really what I needed. So, I sat down with Ishbel, only halfway through the first repeat of the A section of lace, at 11pm. I watched (listened to) V for Vendetta, Fight Club, Memoirs of a Geisha, Only You, and Pride and Prejudice.

By then, my little triangle of stockinette had turned from this:



Into this:



I wasn't quite exhausted yet, so I decided to block her. But then, I found a dropped stitch, which I will assume happened one of the four times that binding off turned into nodding off. I had already blocked the shawl when I found the error, so I had to wait for her to dry. So, I took a 45 minute nap--which was interrupted by at least three phone calls. When she was dry, I took her down, dug out the ends (my least favorite part) and then tinked the bind-off to the mistake (this part happened in an IHOP, while my boyfriend and three male friends had a cheery time. I was a little stormcloud sitting in the middle of the booth, grumpily tinking the bind-off, then growing angrier still when, in my exhaustion, I forgot to stop tinking after I fixed the mistake, and tinked way more than I needed to. Then, I finally got the bind-off done correctly (although I bound off the repaired half with a different sized needle than I bound off the other half with, which I was concerned would be a problem. It wasn't.) After all this, I reblocked my Ishbel last night, before finally lying down for a long, uninterrupted night of solid and blissful sleep.

I woke up to this:





I'd say that a single dropped stitch was getting off easy, considering I pulled an all nighter to knit lace.

The Details:
Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague (rav link)
Yarn: Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca/Merino 4ply in the Limited Edition Ysolda colorway, purchased at Old Maiden Aunt
Needles: 4.0 mm Harmony Circulars
The Commentary:
This shawl is fantastic. Now I know why it's so popular! Ysolda has written this pattern that is so easy to read, and the shawl just grows and grows so quickly! It was clear enough for me to understand easily, even at 4am. I love the finished product, and I know that I will wear it often. I can't wait to make a bigger version, hopefully with the lovely pink laceweight that Ysolda used! I knew that I had more than enough yarn to do the small version, but not enough to do the large version, so I have a bit of this yarn left, which I intend to use in conjunction with more of Lilith's beautiful yarn. I will be shopping at Old Maiden Aunt again.
What a wonderful project, all around! I'm very satisfied with it, and the 'creative burnthrough' that produced it. Some things always work.