Grading machine

Here is what J has looked like for the last two weeks:

That's right, it's end of term and all of the students' papers and tests must be graded before grades are due. The poor guy has been been a grading machine. I do my part, but I can only grade the empirical parts on the exams (matching, etc.) but all the open response stuff he has to do himself.

It does mean that I have been knitting again:

Some Knitting

IMG_0136
Originally uploaded by kjourdan

I lost my knitting mojo last fall, but I seem to have found at least a bit of it. I decided I should finish up some projects that I had started...one of them is Bryant's Slipover.

I have been working on J's socks and I am fairly certain I am not going to have enough yarn. I am in denial.

Knitting?

Yes, I have been knitting (and teaching advanced knitting at summer school).
So, here a few of my recent projects....
I made this cute frog from Classic Elite's Puddle Jumpers book (using 3 skeins of Tahki Kiss yarn as a substitute, and a 10.5 needle).

I made this tank top from KnitSimple Spring/Summer 2007 using Classic Elite Star (6 skeins) and size 9 needles.

And I started the Lady Eleanor entrelac wrap from Scarf Style using Noro Silk Garden (color 241).

Finished Four Seasons Throw

Look! I finished the throw! (Thanks to J for the photos) It doesn't look stretched out like that in real life--it's just how I was holding it up. He got a little closer to see some of the detail, but unfortunately that purple block isn't the most interesting of the patterns. You can also click on the image above and it will open a larger version of the photo to see the details.



Details:Four Seasons Throw pattern
Made from: Manos, Montera, Big Kureyon, Araucania Natural Wool Chunky and Lion Wool

In the middle, I had to take a break from the throw, so I made up this headband from knitscene.

Four Seasons Throw

So I'm still working through the yarn I already have (stash-busting, to those of you familiar with the knitting world). A week or so ago, I started a cotton blanket project that is going to be a long haul. (mitered squares like the little blanket I made for Lauren) If I have the fortitude, it will be a full-sized blanket. More on that later, though.

Here's my absolute latest project, born from the stash (you knit three strips, then sew them together):

It's called the four seasons throw. 10 out of the 12 of those colors came from yarn I already have. I bought the dark blue and the second variegated skein to balance things out. I'm going to be punting with that gold, because it's two thinner yarns I plan to knit together.

I think I like the second combination better (the one without the pattern book in it).

What do you think?

While at Fabric Place yesterday, we bought new fabric to cover our dining room chairs. I'm not sure if I'll get to that today (vacation is so busy, you know), but hopefully it will go well.

Hooray for vacation! Boo for incessant rain.

We're on April vacation this week! Hooray! J still has his grad. classes, but we're already enjoying the time off. Of course, the incessant rain is less than ideal. (But that could also be worse, because think of the poor marathoners!)

Since we're on vacation and have time on our hands, we made homemade cinnamon rolls (technically, they're pumpkin cinnamon streusel buns). I'm pretty impressed, if I do say so myself.

(Photo was taken pre-glazing)

I did finish up that felted bag and brought it to Kurt and Cecilia's for a hostess gift on Easter.

Happy Eastuh, Pastuh!

Today at church was quite entertaining. We had an inquisitive (but not annoying) little boy behind us (he was probably 2). After a minute or two of the scripture reading, he said, "What's she talking about?" His mom murmered a reply.

After part of the sermon, he said, "What's he talking about?"

Mom replied, "Jesus."

And his next question: "Jesus? Is he the Easter Bunny?"

Then as we were leaving (we had just greeted the pastor), the person behind us said, "Happy Eastuh, Pastuh!" Now, being from the midwest, I feel we can definitely mock the east coast pronounciation of things, because the midwest gets similiarly mocked. That, and I have to put up with people saying my name as "Kay-ler."

On the knitting front, I made two of these felted wine bags and plan to take one to Kurt and Cecilia's this afternoon. However, I couldn't find the leather strapping it called for, so I got some leather braided cord. I'll let you know how that goes.

Sweater complete!

But I can't show you the whole thing, because the recipient reads this blog...so here's a little glimpse until I mail it off!

A bit of Midwestern class comes to New England

Exciting news! We were at our local purveyor of beverages and look what has finally arrived in New England:That's right, Leinenkugel's! Unfortunately, it's not our favorite flavor (Go Honey Weiss! Go Original!) but we bought it just to show local beverage purveyor that they should keep it coming. It does help that the owner graduated from Luther and knows a good midwestern beer when he drinks it!

On another exciting note, I finished my socks! And I LOVE them! They are my best pair yet...both in execution and in comfort. Hurrah!

Details: Lorna's Laces Shepard Sport gifted to me by Dominique

Pattern: Columbine Peaks (without the peaks, given the pattern mishap) from "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles"

And, because I was remiss in my last post: The baby bath mitt was knit in Araucania Nature Cotton using the mitten pattern from Ann Budd's "Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns." I used the mitten pattern for the gauge of my yarn. I knit an i-cord out of dishcloth cotton to create the fish.

Knitting along

I've been knitting up a bunch of my "stash" yarn. Here are the treasures I've made:
A bath mitt that was gifted yesterday (with the striped sweater below) at the shower we had for Joanna. More on that later. I used Ann Budd's basic mitten pattern.The French Market Bag from Knitty. I didn't know about the pattern (it was published in my pre-knitting days) until I saw Abi's post about it.
Two baby hats from some sock yarn that looked better in the catalog than in person.

Look! I've made progress on the socks. Now is when I curse my size 10.5 feet...but progress is being made. It's just tedious. From this perspective you can see that I've completed the heel and I'm working on the foot.


And I found this little sweater pattern in a book Maryse gave me. It's a fun little knit.

Finishing Fest

On Sunday I had a finishing fest. I:

--Blocked that baby sweater

--Sewed and attached linings to two bags, the fancy black one from last summmer,

and my first ever complete crochet project I did when Julie visited (I included a photo of the lining):

--Steeked that extra-long scarf and cut it in half

I also made the fingerless gloves with the yarn from Morandia:

The weather around here has been atrocious. J didn't have school yesterday, but I did. It was only a half day for students, though, so they sent the teachers home when the kids left. So that wasn't so bad. But then it turned to sleet and rain and now the ice is insane. Two of my colleagues literally couldn't move their cars this morning because they were frozen to the ground and in the sludge the plow piled up around the tires.

Catching Up

Why is it that most of my posts are about catching up after not posting for a while? Alas. In the last month, both J and I were down with this yucko-cold-flu thing for a week each, and then there was the presentation to the school committee about next year's budget, and the new PR brochure for the library association, and assisting with knitting classes and volunteering at Graceful Stitches, and football games to watch, and tax returns to prepare, and...but enough excuses.

So here are some projects I've been working on:

This hat is from Itty Bitty Hats. Can you tell that those are little crocheted turtles on there? I made this because I'm knitting as a part of the Dana Farber Boston Marathon Knitting Team through Graceful Stitches and Sarah Nixon.

Then there are the socks. Yes, those are the same socks I posted about a month ago, but I had to tear them back to the cuff because I made a mistake in the lace pattern, so I had to put them away for a while to get over the trauma. You'll also notice that they're plain this time around.

This is just a teaser on a baby gift I finished...ignore the unblocked look of the fabric and just enjoy the colors.

And last, but not least, that's me sporting my monochromatic version of The Player, and my very colorful version of Knitty's Argosy. I'm keeping the hat, but the scarf will be a gift. Many thanks to J for taking that photo.

On my needles: Sacred and Profane convertible mittens from Knit Wit using the gorgeous yarn left over from the moebius scarf Morandia made me.

Mulling in my brain: Just what to create with the recycled sari yarn Morandia sent (see 12/10 entry below); Fiber Trends felted clogs.

Welcome 2007!

We celebrated the new year with Josh and Joanna (pictured below during our cut-throat game of Jenga) at Marc and Christine's house (they were there, too). It was a nice, relaxed evening of game-playing and hanging out. We were quite disturbed when we turned on the tv at 11:45 to watch the national coverage and saw the trashy outfits of the dancers. Only 29 and already I'm saying, "I can't believe what kids these days are wearing."


















On the knitting scene, I am still working on knitting up the yarn I already have. I knit up this bath rug, named Absorba, from Mason-Dixon knitting. It's meant to look like a log-cabin quilting pattern. We used it for the first time today and it was very absorbent. Added note: Maryse asked for yarn details: It was quite the hodge-podge...this was a stash-busting project, you know. I used 5 strands of worsted weight cotton--2 strands Peaches & Cream cream color, 1 strand P & C white, 1 strand Sugar & Cream white, and 1 strand white-ish recycled yarn from my cotton sweater.

I'm also working on knitting two socks at a time (to avoid second sock syndrome) using the FANTASTIC Lorna's Laces yarn that Dominique sent me. I like the two-at-a-time thing, but it's definitely slower going. (I don't know why I didn't think of that before, but I have my not-so-bright moments)

Knitted Gifts

Ah, the season of gifting has ended so I can post some pictures of projects I gave away. Of course I forgot to photograph some of it before giving it away (namely the scarves for my Grandma and Julie).

I made felted mittens with cuffs, fingerless mitts, fleece trimmed mittens (modeled by my dear sister when she opened them early Christmas morning), and the white lapel scarf for my great-aunt.

I had a lot of fun knitting gifts, and I was actually there to see some of them open the gifts, which was very nice.

I also received many knitting-oriented gifts, which is superb.

So Generous!

Imagine my surprise when I went to mail box at the end of last week and found another package from my One Skein Secret Pal! The Knitting Librarian sent me this gorgeous yarn:

The purple/green is sock yarn, and the multi-color seems to me to be some of that sari-silk yarn. It is heaven to touch. Here it is under the tree:

Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are so generous, and what a great surprise!

A few more details

Evergreenknits wanted to know how much wool went into the felted balls (they're still in the same state...I haven't decorated them).

I had 2 oz of roving to start.

The largest of the individuals balls (the teal in the center) is .2 oz (6g), with the average sized ones not even registering on my kitchen scale. The whole collection below weighs 1.4 oz and have .6 oz leftover that I didn't ball up yet.

I hope this information helps!

gift-a-palooza

Here are a few items I have just finished:
Ornaments from Handknit Holidays:










(I haven't decided how/if I will snaz them up a bit with beads, etc.)

Felted bowls from One Skein:










I plan to fill these with treats for my librarians this holiday season (those are all yarn remnants I was using up--Wool of the Andes, Lamb's Pride, Dale of Norway)

Here is the product of the Kool-Aid dyeing experiment:










Which I then made into felted balls to make into ornaments like in Handknit Holidays. We'll see how that goes.

Step one: felted

Ok, so I took the Christmas Tree Hat idea and wanted to translate that into a felted Christmas tree. I altered the pattern a lot, and added a lip to the bottom. It's drying right now, so I need to decide how to decorate it. I made some garlands, but I haven't felted them yet. What do you think? How should I decorate my tree?


(Heidi asked for dimensions...it's 14 inches tall and 22.5 inches in circumference)

Christmas Tree Hat

I love this little project (even though the trimming of the tree took longer than the actual knitting!) I knit it for Graceful Stitches, and the pattern is from Too Cute!

Here it is by itself:


Here it is modeled by the only thing I have in this house with a child-sized head:

Now I've got ideas for a non-hat version for our house...more to follow.