No Longer Temping, More Knitting, and the beginning of Nerd Wars

I'm super stoked for nerd wars. Like, I'm giddy about it. I'm doing a dissertation (a large, 3 month long project). If I had been more on the ball, I may have been able to order my yarn and complete my swatch before the tournament begins in about an hour, but I'm a slacker, so I have to wait for my yarn to come in the mail before I can cast on. I'm making this shawl with this yarn. I've never made a shawl before, so that'll be interesting. I also spent several hours today bookmarking patterns and projects that might prove useful during the tournament. And I bought the book Vampire Knits. Like I said, I'm giddy.

In addition to my Nerd Wars insanity today, I also worked on blocking 3 projects that will be for sale on Miss Anthropy Knits. Here are photos of my adventures in blocking:

They're all wrong-side up for the blocking process, so it's not really a pretty sight. I'll post pictures when they're all finished. In fact, I'll be listing them on Etsy once they're all finished.

I also have pictures of Sarah Bee's messenger bag, finally:

If I made one of these again, I'd probably make it taller and narrower. Not by much, but the proportions seemed a little off to me. My first adventure into fulling went well regardless! I'm proud of the finished product!

Well, that's all for now, but stay tuned for updates on Nerd Wars and Miss Anthropy Knits. 45 minutes until the tournament opens!

This whole waitressing thing ain't so bad

I'm going through an optimistic phase. Probably because I'm actually succeeding in my waitressing job. It's amazing how much succeeding or not will affect my mood. I don't like not being good at something...it's not a bad foible to have.


That being said, I do have two days off from O'Charley's in a row, starting tonight. Additionally, this is my last full week at my temp job. I'll probably work one or two days next week. Then it'll be summer! And I'll be waitressing, and hopefully bartending, full time. So it's easy to be optimistic.


Let's see...this is a knitting blog, I should probably put some knitting stuff in here... I'm currently working on this tunic from Stefanie Japel's amazing book Fitted Knits. I'm so glad I picked that book up. In the grand scheme of my evolution as a knitter, books like Fitted Knits are a huge help in my eventual goal to become a published designer. I'm enjoying making the tunic too. I'm learning a lot about short rows and how they shape a garment, as they're used to shape the hips and neckline of the tunic. I'm also enjoying the nontraditional construction, as it's knit lengthwise instead of top to bottom or bottom-up. And what shapely girl doesn't love vertical lines?


Sarah's messenger bag (see last post) is still drying with my books inside it, and as I left my camera in my car, I couldn't take pictures again this morning. They will happen eventually though, I promise! I messed up a bit by sewing the inside pocket in before fulling, and I didn't sew it in very straight (I kind of suck at the whole construction thing...) so there's a bit of a wonky line in the back. I'm not too stressed though since that's the side that's closest to your body, you'd really have to be looking for it to notice. Overall I'm pretty proud of the bag.


I also forgot to mention that I finished a gift for my friend Nick and his wife Rachel, who are expecting another baby any day now. Nick is a huge Cincinnati Reds fan, and wanted to name their second son Votto for his favorite player. Rachel wasn't hearing it, though (no, not even for the middle name), so I made them a little baseball shirt for Caleb Patrick that says Votto on the back. This I do have pictures for:

From Apprivoise-moi

From Apprivoise-moi

I think that's enough to be getting on with. Until next time!

Almost Summer!

Okay, for almost everyone, it is officially summer. I've decided that summer will begin for me once this temp job is over and I'm back to serving (watiressing, and possibly bartending?!) full time. It's nice to have goals.

My summer plans include lots of laying by the pool, lots of knitting, and adventures in techniques heretofore unexplored. To begin this project, I've just felted/fulled my first project.

My washer is the epitome of what not to use for fulling. (I'm going to use the correct term even though I don't really understand the difference.) It's a front-loader, it's a stacked washer/dryer unit (read: really tiny) and it's temperatures settings are: Warm/Warm, Cold/Cold, Warm/Cold, and Hot/Cold. I tried Hot/Cold for about half an hour and only got cold, then switched to Warm/Warm and only got cold. After about 2 hours of starting, stopping mid-cycle, and restarting the cycle, all the while crouched in front of the washer alternating between reading Harry Potter and staring transfixedly through the washer door,  I realized that while my fabric was indeed starting to get the texture I wanted, the bag was NOT shrinking even a little. It was time to take more drastic measures.

Thankfully, I had found this article on felting/fulling on Knitty. It mentions pouring boiling water into your washer. Granted, it advises against it because your washer should produce hot enough water, but clearly my washer was not. So I started another cycle, put some water on to boil, then stopped it midspin, inserted the entire pot of boiling water into the washer's drum and quickly restarted the cycle before all my hot water escaped. I did that a couple of times, got the door lock stuck, and hoped against hope that while I was trying to convince the door to open again that the bag wouldn't shrink too much.

Success! It looked more or less like what I wanted. While it dripped profusely over my (thankfully, laminate) floor, I ran to get my blocking materials. I rolled it up in a towel, then proceeded to stretch and stab until I figured it was more or less what it should look like. Add a couple of Harry Potter books and Atlas Shrugged to give it shape and make pretty corners, and find some almost out of the way place to let it dry for the next couple of days, and I'd finished my first fulling project! Go me!

Alas, it does kind of smell funny. I think that's because of my washer. Every time I walk by, I spray it with Febreeze.

I was going to take pictures this morning before work, but I forgot in my hurry to get out the door. I'll get some soon!

Rollercoaster

Lately I've had a bout of pity-me, hate-my-life, waaa, waaa, waaa....so I've been actively trying to be positive. Here's a positive: my best friend from college, Miss Cori Miller, will be moving to Lexington for the summer - TODAY! And I don't work at O'Charley's tonight, so I'll actually get to hang out with her. Woo!

Still working on the messanger bag for my sister, and no, it still doesn't look like a bag. However, once I finish the strap piece, I'll assemble it, knit the big pocket that also needs to be felted, and embark on my first felting adventure. That could be interesting ☺

Also, I am the laziest blocker ever. It is a massive pain. I have all my tools, I tried to block one scarf, but apparently there wasn't enough steam. And since I already pulled out the wires, I am really reluctant to do it again. Which of course is what is preventing me from listing anything on Etsy.

Yeah, I really need to stop slacking. Oh wait, I work 70 hours a week. I guess I'm allowed to slack a little.