I haven't fallen off the face of the planet just yet. I'm still here, still knitting. I did the Ravelympics to help me regain my focus and I think it worked. After many months of knitting, frogging, knitting again, and not knitting the Bluejaywalkers, I finally finished them. They were done on size 1 dpn's using Opal somethingor'nother in Traumfänger(Dreamcatcher) for a size 9(US) foot. This is not the best picture in the world, but here they are with just the weaving-in to do.

Also, I turned 30 and had my Logan's Run party. It was much fun. We watched the movie, had Carrousel cake (I think mom has a picture) and now I feel refreshed and renewed. The movie was put out in 1976 and the female lead was Jessica 6. The TV series ran from '77-'78 and I can't be certain, but I suspect that this is related to the great number of Jessicas in my age group. Anyhow, mom and Erin did the vast majority of party preparations, including my costume. I just had to show up, really. It's just as well since I haven't had time to do much of anything other than research. All bug butts all the time at the House. Next week is Iris's (early) birthday party before I fall off the face of the planet for a couple weeks. It'll be another morning at the farm, afternoon birthday party, and evening D&D. I was up for 21 1/2 hours last Saturday, and this Saturday is going to be another one of those. Thank goodness for Sundays.

By the way, I absolutely adore my new apartment. I had people over and relatives stay the night and it didn't seem too crowded. I had sufficient floor space to offer said relatives and even a room in which to stick my little nephew and his momma and daddy on a cot and air mattress, respectively. A good time was had by all. Weeboo parties pretty hard.

Right now, I'm working on a pair of toe-up socks in Maizy print, Springtime on size 1 dpn's. These are for me and will probably be my travel socks.

I'm currently taking a break from bug butts to post a couple pictures. Not a whole lot of content, but I've got a quiche made from farm fresh veggies and one and a half finished bluejaywalker socks. Go me! I kind of made up the quiche "recipe" but it was quite tasty and very pretty. We had this a couple nights ago with black beans.

I don't actually like people. I like trees better than people. In fact, if I could replace most people with oaks, maples, hickories, etc., I'd be a happy girl.
What brought this on, you say?
I have nothing in common with the other bus stop moms with the exception that I also have a kid in school and they insist on talking to me. I have nothing in common with the other dance school moms, either, except for one who works for the College of Basic and Applies Sciences and even then...
If this is representative of the greater population, then I'm really...let's say "unique." I forget that I'm on the fringes of society. I forget that I don't fit in. I don't like being reminded of it, either. The way I am is normal for me and it's normal for Iris. I like me, I like how I live, and I won't change just to fit in. But all the same, it's uncomfortable to not fit in.

I know I usually talk about my creative endeavors here, but this is a part of it. I'm an artist and artists are notoriously weird - on the fringes of society, bohemians out to change the world for the better. That's me. I've resisted labeling myself as part of any particular counterculture, but it seems that I can't avoid it. Bohemians will never win, counterculture will never become culture, but we will slowly change the world for the better. Our purpose is to challenge the world in which we live so that society will evolve into something better - we hope.

If I were alone in this, I'd have very little hope, but "I get by with a little help from my friends/ I'm gonna try with a little help from my friends."

Sorry about the lack of knitting content. Here's a picture of the Snakes! sweater all finished. I took the picture at the top last spring when I was taking Flowering Plants. You can see Lamium, Vetch, and Wild pansies. They are members of the Mint, Pea, and Violet families, respectively. Most would call these "weeds" but I think they're lovely.

Look! I'm blogging. I have two entire minutes to sit and blog! Imagine that!
I've been caught up in work plus this plus that with a lot of everything else on the side. It is summer and summer means veggies. This last Sunday we worked on the trail for Delvin Farms a bit and made some good progress on it. I'm really pleased with what we were able to do. Today, we got two heavy boxes of vegetables that we split up amongst the hoards. Oh, the tomatoes. I cannot tell you how happy I am about the tomatoes. I'm planning on going in on a big 20# box of them to can and set back for the winter when there are no tomatoes. $20 for the whole box, which means about $1/lb. This is not to mention the ones that are coming from the garden, which cost very little, really. A can of the organic diced tomatoes is 15 oz. and is usually a little more than a dollar. Also, I don't know where they come from. I'll see your less than a pound of tomatoes from I don't know where and raise you a quart of garden and farm tomatoes. HA!
So, anyway, Colin's baby is the sweetest thing. Baby and wife were both at his thesis defense and both were beautiful and doing well. I haven't heard from them, but it is my understanding that they've moved for purposes of continuing education. College is a disease, I tell you, and some of us are incurable. The snakey sweater was well-received and came with a matching spoot rag that I managed to finish *during* the thesis defense.
I'm doing Ravelympics (which I keep reading "ravelly-impics") as training for the Knitting Olympics. My plan is to finish the Bluejaywalker socks. I've been working on those dang socks entirely too long, and it's time to finish them now. I'll be cultivating focus, speed, and endurance, but mostly focus. I've had a splintered focus and would like to get back into training. I'm supplementing the usual knitting exercises with continued listening to Zencast so hopefully I'll be in much better shape afterward. Hopefully, it won't be terribly long until I blog again, and I'm going to try to add pictures a little later.

Hey, y'all. I'm still here, doing the Tour de Fleece. It seems that I can manage to rub two braincells together to spin, but I haven't been doing much knitting. My goal is to finish up this couple of ounces of bamboo rayon I've got. As for knitting, I'm still working on the Bluejaywalkers and the 1st sock is very almost nearly a sock. Between moving and research, I haven't got time or oomph for much else, but I'm still alive and kicking!

It's all over but the snakeys

Little bit's recital went just beautifully. Things are a bit quieter now, so I've occasionally got a few minutes for blogging, email, and such. I did a bit of updating on Ravelry and uploaded some photos.
Speaking of which, I finally did take some pictures. First we have the bluejaywalkers (Take Two). The first time around, they were a little too small. I sometimes have trouble judging the size of things. Socks and mittens and such for me are tiny, but to me it appears "normal." That means, of course, when I make something for just about anyone else (except for Iris or my mom), it seems too big instead of normal sized. The size I'm making seems just a bit too big to me, so I'm hoping they're about right.
Next we have Snakes! #2 for Colin's baby. You may or may not be able to tell, but the balls of brown I had were in two different dye lots. I can tell. I don't think Colin's little one will care, so that's really all that matter. I've got two of five snakeys knitted and they should go fairly quickly. All I'll have to do then is steam press it and sew on buttons. I was concerned about how the green would look on the collar, but I rather like it. I may do something similar the next time I make this pattern. And there will be a next time. People keep having babies (no more for me, thanks). And babies should have clothing with snakes on.
Then, of course, there's the Man-Sweater, mostly finished just in time for summer. I'm rather pleased with this one. I've got to put in the zipper and do the crochet edging and then I will be done, done, done. It fits like my boyfriend's sweater ought to have fit if either he or I were of a normal size. When my husband was my boyfriend, I could make a tent out of his sweaters and have room for a friend. Still could. He hasn't shrunk and I haven't grown.
The only thing I forgot to get a picture of was the 2x2 ribbed scarf. Perhaps next time, then.
Friday I shaved a butterfly's leg. I want you to know how funny I think that is. It's off to more of the same. Hopefully I'll be able to notice some kind of morphological something that's distinctive and NOT wing patterning. I'm taking measurements of different pieces-parts now that I know how to. Who knows what today holds? Will I take more bug butt pictures, shave butterfly legs, or just spend some quality time at the library?

Just about everyone who reads my blog knows that I'm really busy with school, research, and all the other stuff going on in my life. I hardly have time to knit lately, so everything is just creeping along. This morning I'm being a bit domestic. I'm making bread because we're almost out and I've done some straightening up in the dining room. I vaccumed, but I'm not really up for anything hardcore like laundry or filing. Anyhow, I have my 1970's ugly flower apron on and thought I'd post while the bread is rising.
I've been walking to work most days and took some pictures on my way in one day last week. It's a very pleasant walk and I enjoy having the chance to interact with the world around me more than I would be were I driving in my car. I met my dear friend David's parents after knowing him for rather a long time and I saw one of my former students and his dog. I smile at strangers who usually smile back and I get to listen to podcasts. I'm thinking seriously about purchasing and downloading books to "read" while walk. I don't get much as much time to sit and read text as I'd like and when I do, it's usually work-related. I also took some pictures of some bug butt drawings that I've made. I'm working on getting some digital photos of the actual butts now that I've learned how to use the program, but there's something nice about the hand drawn ones. They're...special to me in a weird kind of way. I think it is because I prefer what hands can do to what machines can do. I do get to play with photoshop and that will be nice, but I've not got the hang of using the mouse with it.
So, I have been knitting some. I finished the collar on my man-sweater, but I haven't got a picture of it yet. Now I just need a zipper and crocheted edging and I'm done. The snakes! sweater is not even inching along. If it were inching along, I'd be done by now. I haven't picked up the bluejaywalker socks since I ripped back from a mistake and just so I can end on a high note, I'm nearly finished with square 3 of my weaving project and the 2x2 ribbed scarf is almost done. I'll post some pictures of knitting and such later. So the blog isn't without visual interest, here's some work-related pictures. The first one is a hawthorn in bloom, the second one a picture of Haynes House on Main St. where I work, the third is a series of drawings I did of some bug butts, and the last is a technical work by a local artist of the life cycle of the butterfly that I posted in my lab for reference.

I kept forgetting to get a picture of my pink and purple hair. I noticed this morning that the purple had started to fade, so I got a few pictures (by way of clever application of bathroom mirrors and a little photo editing). The main color is a kind of pinky color over brown, called "orchid," then there's a bright purple and some PINK that was applied to pre-lightened hair. Theresa did a fantastic job. Next time, I'm going to have her do RED. As in RED-RED-RED.
Butterflies, you see, are attracted to red. If I can attract them with my hair, I can catch them!

No, the fumes from preserved specimens aren't getting to me. Why do you ask?

In knitting news, I'm too stupid to sew up my man-sweater. Miss Kade, however, is practically done. Hers looks just fantastic and is apparently quite comfortable since she didn't wait until it was finished to wear it. Mine is not clothing yet. I've ripped back the bluejaywalkers (hopefully) past some horrid error and haven't picked them up again. I've made good progress on the Snakes! sweater and only lack the sleeves and making-up and I'm working on a 2x2 ribbed scarf that's progressing nicely. The last one is my "stupid knittting" and takes up the least amount of brain power, so gets worked on more than the others. The Snakes! is pretty easy, so it gets worked on a lot, too. Not that the bluejaywalkers are hard, I just haven't thus far managed to pick them up again.

I hope to all that's good and holy that I regain the use of some of my knitting brain cells soon. I've got one more exam on Wednesday and a paper to write, and then I'll be done for the semester. I did fairly well on my Plant Anatomy final and my flowering plants collection is finished and turned in.
*whew*
Forgive me if I seem a little loopy this week.

Ach! Waily!
I am so tired, people. I walked 11.5 miles to and from school last week and walked/biked 3.4 miles today. There was much doing of dishes and drinking of wine on Saturday, followed by not very much sleep. It's finals time again, so I have to say "no" a lot until I've got the semester squared away. My legs are very sore in places I forgot I had muscles and my brain is so full it's not even funny. I was explaining to a non-knitter how I've sworn off lace for a while. After I explained that the brain cells that are responsible for lace-knitting are currently occupied in taxonomy and anatomy, he completely understood. He's a graduate student as well, so understands the level of crazy that can be.
This afternoon, I'll be taking little bit to dance class, then tacos for dinner, then I stagger to bed and pass out. In the morning, it's more butterfly butts! Wooo!

Polemerized Cellulose

Cellulose is the most abundant polymer on the planet. It's followed by lignin, the material that binds with cellulose to make wood hard (stop snickering.) and straw crunchy. Anything with a cell wall has lots and lots of cellulose, grasses, trees, fungus, even the lowliest of weeds is choc full o' cellulose. It's kind of awesome how the plant makes it. We all know that plants make sugar from the sun, right? Well, they take this sugar, make a few minor alterations, and then send it through a nifty little pump that right on the cell membrane. It's like a tiny little cellulose factory. Sugar goes in, cellulose comes out.
Anything nature can do, we can do better, right? Well, not better, but we can sort of do something like what cell walls do. We human folk use a lot of cotton, wood, soy, corn, and other plants. Inevitably, there will be waste and leftovers from the processing of these materials, and most of that will be cellulose of some kind or another. We take these waste products and cook them in lye, Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) being its uptown name. This is the same chemical I use to clear butterfly butts. Carbon disulfide is added to help break down the cellulose. The end result is a viscous liquid goo that is spun into an acid bath which neutralizes the NaOH. This acid bath may contain sulfuric acid, sodium sulfate, glucose, zinc sulfate, and water. Sodium sulfate speeds up the precipitation of filaments, glucose softens the fibers, zinc sulfate strengthens the fibers, and water adds volume. What you end up with is Rayon, which was originally referred to as "artificial silk." Sometimes a dulling agent, such as titanium dioxide, is added if you're looking for something that's not quite so shiny as rayon. You can also add a bit of crimp to the fibers, either mechanically or by reducing the acid concentration. This aids in the spinning process, as anyone who's ever spun wool will know.
All of this information is as of the mid 1960's, so I'm not sure what advances or improvements have been made to the process. Some of those chemicals are pretty nasty in high concentrations, so this kind of processing is probably not the best for the environment. However, it's got to be better than polyester or acrylic. Not only are rayons softer, more absorbent, and wear better, but they're made from the waste of other manufacturing processes rather than petroleum.

Oh - I don't have a copy of the picture I drew for the Harlot. I'll be drawing more and different ones in the future, so perhaps I'll get one up here when I finish a new one. I'm learning how to dissect the reproductive parts out of the rest of the abdomen today, so hopefully I'll be able to get a clearer picture of all the different pieces parts.

I've just finished my presentation on plant fibers. I'll say this again and again, 'cause it's true. I'm pretty sure that I now know more about plant fibers than is reasonable for most humans. I may go into detail in a future blog entry, but here's a little tidbit:
In the 1300's this English fellow, Sir John Mandeville, came across some cotton being grown in India and described it thusly:
"there grew there a wonderful tree which bore tiny lambs on the endes of its branches. These branches were so pliable that they bent down to allow the lambs to feed when they are hungrie." Ummm...yeah. I think your rye's gone ergot, Sir John.
Cotton has been grown, spun, and woven in India for about 5,000 years. It soon spread to Egypt and surrounding areas. Our word "cotton" comes from the Arabic, "quoton." Cotton has been used in the Americas for about 4,500 years, according to our best estimates. Columbus was greeted with gifts of cotton when he "discovered America," which had been there the whole time, as those cotton-producing natives could have told him. Today, the US exports the most cotton of all the countries in the world, but China is the largest cotton producer.

Now to put together my list of references and fluff my butt a little.

Big knitters come in small packages

I can't not blog right now. I have been touched by her woolly appendage, the Harlot. I haven't been blogging lately because, as most of you know, I've had my head in a microscope, trying to understand the reproductive organs of butterflies. I'm still a bit fuzzy on the details, but I'm getting there. I'll be dissecting out some reproductive organs tomorrow, and possibly going collecting.
So me, Kade, Gret, Koren, David, and half of our husbands buzzed up to Brentwood to listen to, watch, bask in the woolly glory of, etc. the Yarn Harlot. I would totally have a beer with that woman, maybe three. I did forget to tell her that Iris said "Hi." So, dear Harlot, if you are reading this, Iris says "Hi."
I gave Ms. Stephanie a picture of the reproductive organs of (I think) Neomaenas monachus, though I'm not sure that's the correct genus. Of course, that's what I'm working on for my thesis. As far as I'm concerned, they're all up in the air, and nobody really knows what belongs in what genus. I'll get back to you on that. Anyhow, she loved the picture. I am so tickled, I can't even tell you.
Here we are, two fun-sized knitters (Knitters may be shorter than they appear. This is to be considered a normal part of the variation in knitters and should not be perceived as a flaw).
While waiting, listening, and waiting some more while chatting, I knitted a goodly portion of the Snakes! sweater for Colin's baby (Fig. 1). Colin, you see, is a herpetologist and clearly needs a snake sweater for his offspring. I also eeked out a few rounds of the Blue Jaywalkers. 'Cause, you know, sock picture.
After that, we all went out for Thai food/sushi. I drank a lot of tea and had Rama chicken (which was beautiful, but very peanutty).
Then I looked in my cup...
Let's just leave it at that, shall we?

In other, loosely related news, I'm kind of excited about my presentation in Plant Anatomy on various plant fibers. I now know more about plant fibers than is probably healthy for any individual.


Edit: I was working on the above-mentioned butterfly and the correct name is Quilaphoetosus monachus (Blanchard 1852). Like I said, it may yet change again. I saw the same insect referred to by FOUR different genus names! This group is just a mess, taxonomically.

The Amazon and the Pict are moving along at an even pace with astounding project fidelity. The Pict (that's me) is thiiiiiis close to finishing sleeve #2 of 2 and the Amazon is about halfway through two sleeves at once. Lest you think ol' Kade's a slacker, check out the relative size (below). They should be ready just in time for summer!
Erm...yeah.
I've also got some corn yarn in the queue for some toe-up socks for summer.

Why, hullo, readers!
Yeah, I'm talkin' to both of you. Okay, so I've been busy. In fact, I'm busy right now. Anyhow, last night was Sober Ride, As with last year, I did a count of cowboy hats, kilts, and street guitars. Here's last year's count. And this year's follows:

• 17 Cowboy hats
• 1 kilt (though anecdotal evidence brings the number up to four)
• 6 guitars
• 11 drunk people safely home
• one dead 'possum
• 3 tips refused
  

The kilt count is down, as is the Cowboy hat count, but the guitar count is up. No crackheads, just one guy that wanted us to take him to his car. Headdesk. He was a bit dense - and tried to tip me $20 (which I refused).

I took my knitting, of course, and managed to make some progress on sleeve #2 of the Man-sweater. More later, of course.

Good day, my spring chickens!
With all the wind and rain and robins singing, it's beginning to look like it might be spring soon. February has ended and I haven't finished a dang thing. But, March is for Making Mates, so I'm good. Meadow socks are done and ready to be some kind of nearish holiday present.
Mostly, like m'lady Kade, I focused on my Man-sweater, making a decent amount of progress during the month of February.
I'm halfway up one of the sleeves and would be farther along if I hadn't started a pair of Jaywalkers. For a few moments there, I only had the one thing (the sweater) on the needles and lest my fellow knitters think me some sort of yarn-faithful pervert, I cast on these puppies:
Jaywalkers in Opal Traumfänger in a kind of bluejay-lookin' colourway. Hence, Bluejay(walkers). These are super-secret socks for someone who occasionally reads my blog. Only my fellow Ravelers know the secret! Mwahaha!!
Seriously, these socks are going to be wicked awesome.

Want and Need

I've got a mild case of startitis. I think my susceptibility to startitis is directly proportional to stress multiplied by project faithfulness. Since I've only had two projects for the entire month and I'm coming up on midterms, my startitis susceptibility quotient is particularly high. Fortunately my sticktoitiveness constant is still constant. Given the above, I propose the following equation:
σ=(2S*f*[β])/Ω*Ζ
where σ= startitis susceptibility, S = stress, f = project faithfulness, β = boredom. Ω = sticktoitiveness and Ζ = zen nature. When Ζ approaches maximum value, # of projects on the needles = buddha, at which point you rub your own belly and just knit to be knitting.

Okay, back to want and need. What I want is to start a pair of mittens, but what I need is to study for midterms. February is almost over, so I'll be able to start something with the knowledge that I've been faithful to the two projects I'm working on now. I'm at the 1st sleeve of the man-sweater and in the middle of the 2nd of the meadow socks. Any other February, I'd have already finished and cast on something new, but my schedule is tight - really tight. Tighter than a really tight thing. I'm a fairly fast and faithful knitter, so I'm fantastic at finishing, so the fact that I've been working on these two things for the whole month and haven't finished should tell you something. This Friday, I think some chocolate and red wine is in order. I need midterms to be over. I need to sleep 'til I wake up. I want to knit instead of study.

I'll get through this. This will pass. I feel like poo now, but I'll be okay. Happy thoughts for sanity and mental acuity would not be taken amiss.

Quickie update:
In the spirit of February is for Finishing, I won't be casting on anything new this month. That is, I won't be casting on anything new unless I finish everything, which is a distinct possibility for me this year. I've started on the Right Front of the Cambridge Jacket (aka Man-Sweater) and I'm several rows into the leg of the sooper sekrit meadow socks. The latter I've been working on between classes and sometimes during class if I'm not taking notes or staining for the presence of starches in corn. The endosperm has lots of starch, the cotyledon has a little bit, and the embryo has none at all. It's very cool to look at.
Anyhow, I may further reduce the number of woven squares I'm doing to 15, considering the weight of the fabric. It'll be more like a chlamys than a himation, but I think I'm comfortable with that. I do live in the South, after all. I just don't see me wearing three yards of 60" wide heavy wool.

It's that time of year again!
So, it's nearly February and, of course, that means February is for Finishing! Clicky for the rules and we shall be a Frackload of Fantastic Finishers...or something. I've only got two things on needles right now, 'cause I haven't had the time, braincells, RAM, or something for casting on something new. I've been working on my weaving when I can, but that's about it. I'm going to have to cast on something portable and brainless soon 'cause the sooper sekrit sockies are (hopefully) going to be finished pretty soon, probably before the end of February. I've also finished the Sherbet Set for little bit. She says she wants a rainbow sweater next. I think she should have one. Hopefully, I can get pictures of the whole ensemble in situ at some point.
The man-sweater is moving right along (biddy-boom, biddy-boom). I'm mostly through the Left front, where the ribbing increases are. I'm really liking it so far and I hope, I hope, I hope it fits. The Mystery Stole 3 had to be ripped. I'm just not going to have the brain cells for fiddly lace for a couple years. I'm sticking to a few items with fairly simple patterns for now so that I can use those neurons for research. Of course, it also got wet and I'm going to have to wash the yarn. Apparently the dishwasher next door had a bit of an accident. There's a hole in our wall duct taped closed, a carpet dryer, and a dehumidifier. The resulting noise has thoroughly traumatized the cat. He's attempting to cope by putting his little paws over the computer screen in an attempt to acquire some of my omelette. "It's comfort food," says he. "Yes, but if you eat my breakfast, I will endeavor to make you uncomfortable!" I have also learned today that it is inadvisable to cook eggs and blog simultaneously.
So, I'm working from home today. I'm not in my jammies, but the hair is sticking up in every conceivable direction and I'm wearing the "desperately need to do laundry" clothes. So, yeah, I'm doing laundry while searching for obscure books and articles. I'm going to have a hell of a time finding what I need. Anyone out there have Arkiv för Zoologi, Volume 36A, issue 3? Anyone?

100!

This, dear fronds and anemonies, is my 100th post on A Lace Maze is in Jest!
Coincidentally, Iris tells me that she is coming up upon her 100th day of 1st grade and that she intends to bring 100 acorns to class. She has an acorn collection, you see. Last year, she took a poster of 100 bits of yarn.
So, knitting and yarn things.
The lovely Kadollan has inquired as to my goals for the year. Mine aren't terribly lofty on accounta school. I don't want to say something like "I'm gonna knit a pair of socks a month!" when I've got research to do. That just ain't happenin'. What I can aim for is this:

1. Finish my Man-Sweater.
2. Make a sweater for my kidling
3. Make a DNA scarf
4. Make more socks 'cause hand-knitted socks are the awesomeness.

February is for finishing is coming up and I've actually only got a few things that I can finish. I'll be frogging the Mystery Stole 3. It's just not flipping my switch right now and I don't anticipate having the brain cells to work on it in at least a couple of years. I like knitting lace. It's fun, interesting, and challenging, but generally I like making more practical things. I'm just not in love with this pattern enough to keep knitting it.
Let's see, what else? I've got the sherbet scarf, which is nearing completion, the sooper sekrit socks for a certain person's little feet, and the Man Sweater. Holy crap. That's all I've got. I could conceivably finish every knitted thing I'm working on by the end of February. Scary. And then I get to cast on new stuff!! YAY!!

Also impending is Ostara and CoW (Crafts of the Wise) is again providing prizes for the Bardic Olympics. I made these bags just before school started and I think that's all I'm going to be able to get done. My life is hella busy. There are several things I'd like to do, but that just aren't going to happen. I think I will have more luck motivating others than making stuff myself. *cry* I wanted to make another cloak and some embroidered hankies and a tacky apron and...oh well. The one above and to the left is totebag sized and has a little matching buddy that you can take out. The other is purse sized, is made from seersucker and chintz, and has beads sewn into the center of a row of flowers. It's kind of tacky, but (hopefully) in a cute way & has a pocket inside. Both of these were made entirely from scraps.

I did promise weaving pictures. I'm on square two of forty. I am never frakking finishing this. So here's the yarn porn.
The first pic on the left there is a closeup of the first square. You can see a little where I was experimenting with patterns and weaves. It's purdy. I'm rather proud of this.
The pic on the right is the 2nd square. I am working on some basic Greek border patterns and seem to be having some success. You're looking at the back of the weaving there. I hope the front looks as good as I think it will. I'm still working on my technique and I reckon that by the time I get to square #40, I'll be pretty good at this. I hope. I'm not terribly confident that I'll finish this in time, but that's not entirely the point of doing it. Even this little bit that I've done is kind of effing awesome. I am so proud.

I'm not doing much actual knitting lately, though I did get some spinning in this morning because my Plant Anatomy professor was interested to see the bamboo fiber that I was working on. No idea from what part of the plant that comes, but hey, bamboo yarn is cool. I knitted up a swatch of it and discovered a problem. It leans. I tried blocking it out, but to no avail. The darn thing leans to one side, I reckon due to the twist of the yarn. I'm not sure what to do about that, but I'll figure something out. I did finish the back of the Man-sweater and I've worked on the sherbet scarf and the meadow socks a little bit.
Anyhow, here's a pic of the random hat, all finished and on its intended recipient. That's my brother. He's not the type that likes wearing suits. He prefers interesting shirts I support and encourage his interesting shirt habit, as you can see.

Finally finished.

I've had this bamboo in singles about half-plied for some time now. This is the second skein I've finished and I've got a few ounces of the roving left. It's all done on the drop spindle and I haven't had much time to spin, but finally I've got it plied.


The Worsted Stocking Knaves are finished. In the picture, I've finally finished the gusset, but...
sigh
I had to rip it back. It didn't match the 1st one, so I took it back and started over on the gusset. I finished it at Mom's on Christmas Eve, including weaving in all the ends. I was hoping for Yule, but I can finally give them to the Knave in question tomorrow.
Instead of casting on something new, I've been working on my weaving. No picture today, but I've got about three inches woven. I decided to go with a tapestry kind of method and it seems to be going much faster. The hardest part is keeping the same width throughout. I've kind of got it stretched out like a skin that's being tanned. I hope it works. It is pretty and I can't stop petting it. I plan on felting it up a bit after I'm done weaving (like ya do). I've got to get moving on this weaving. A himation is a huge garment, about 2x5 yards of fabric. Each woven square is going to be a little over 12"X12", so that's ...(calculates)...90 squares. Ugh. I'm probably going to cut the size down a little bit, 'cause that would be a bit too cumbersome for me to wear. Maybe 5'x10' will be enough. 50 squares seems to be closer to the realm of possibility than 90. Then again, if I were to decide to utilize the golden ratio, I could make it 5'x8', 40 squares. I like that, yes. It would be very Greek of me to use the golden ratio...and also save me fifty squares.

"So, what have you been up to, Jess of the Bugs" you say.

Did you see I updated my profile pic? Well, I have no pictures of knitting today, but I can sum up. Here's my day:

1. Got up at 5AM and actually dragged butt out of bed at 5:20 to get little bit ready for school.
2. 7AM Little bit leaves for school
3. 8AM I've made my lunch, had breakfast, worked on some music. I leave for school
4. 9AM I smash up butterflies for their DNA (this actually takes longer than it sounds)
   
5. 11AM find out there's no meeting woot, so I work on some music and eat lunch
6. 1PM Holy crap. Do you know how many pine trees I've got to learn before Tuesday?? I don't want to think about it. And then there's the hickories...cry
7. 3:50PM I am late for fiddling with butterfly DNA (I actually get about five minutes of knitting while the gel is running)
   
8. 6PM Finish fiddling with butterfly DNA
9. Quick dinner of leftovers, and then here I am.
   

I haven't got many neurons for knitting lately (unfortunately), but I did get a few minutes in today. OH! I finished the reggae socks! Pictures will be forthcoming, eventually. I started a pair of secret socks in Knitpicks' Essential in the meadow colorway, which is green, brown, and purple. The random brown hat is actually progressing well. I'm on the bottom ribbing and I hope that it will fit it's intended wearer okay.

That's it for now. I've been quiet 'cause school eat my head kind of a lot lately. Hopefully pictures before long.

Yeah, and I'm totally Kadollan's blog monkey. Ook.

I went to the fiber festival that was at Cannonsburgh today. It was no Rhinebeck, but sheep were sheared and fiber was had. I got a little over a pound of some brown llama for about $10, and I can't wait to get started on it. I also got quite a bit (maybe two pounds?) of alpaca for $20 from a fellow with show animals who "just wanted to get rid of it." He chucked more from the particular alpaca in question in my bag. He mentioned something about wanting to see the final product when he shows his animals, but I can't make any promises. I mean dang. Grad school eat my head.
In fact, I set aside time and pennies to go to this 'cause grad school eat my head and I've been majorly stressed out.

Anyways, there's the llama and the two show alpaca. The pictures don't do them justice at all. I've got to get a drum carder in a serious way 'cause as easy as the alpaca cards up, I'd really like to have a quicker way of doing it. I'm impatient and also I hate hand carding fiber. It's quite an expense, though, and I'm having a hard time justifying it. I mean, I don't so much sell the yarn I make or the stuff I make with the yarn, though I theoretically could. But, you see, I spent $30 on over three pounds of protoyarn - such a bargain!

I don't mind the labor terribly much, 'cause I get this lovely yarn when I'm done that I totally made from fluff. I almost bought some flax, but didn't. Every story I've ever read about flax spinning says that it's a crap kind of occupation filled with much injury. Mind you, these are fairy tales, but still...I may get adventurous one day and try it out.

The fresh off the wheel spun stuff up on the right is from Alexa Monet, one of the alpaca. I separated the white from the black and spun that up as soon as I got home. It's currently drying over my kitchen sink. It should turn out to be soft and lovely, but again, I have no earthly idea what I'll be doing with it. Add to the stash, I guess.

And speaking of stash, I have heard it said that one should never photograph one's entire stash as it is likely to cause anguish and/or pain. Well, I did photograph my entire stash, excepting only the yarn that's associated with a current project. Mind you, it's two skeins deep, but this is it. This is the entirety of my stash.








Yep, that's all of it.
The left drawer is sock yarn and the right drawer is everything else. Under the palette is all my cotton and under the blue yarn (which is recovered from a sweater for purposes of knitting a better sweater) is all the um...acrylic. I must confess that the blue is also acrylic as is the purpley poodley whirlpool of doom. I was thinking Iris sized sweater, but it never made it past being swatched. I have no idea what the heck this is, just that it's acrylic and poodley. Just to the right of the purple poodle yarn is my Peaceful Pastures handspun and my rainbowdey handspun with which I intend to make mittens for my little hands.

In knitting knews, I've finished the first sock of both the reggae socks and the worsted stocking knaves. I'm a couple rows into the ribbing for the first and just past the ribbing on the second. I don't have a picture of the reggae socks yet, but here's the wsk with one done. I had Kade's old man try them on for fit and he liked it so much, he almost didn't give it back. I needed to have made the top a little smaller around and the foot every so slightly longer, but he likes it, so I'm going to work on making sock #2 exactly the same (excepting color - you will note that sock #2 ribbing is green and not tan) and leave it at that. More pictures to come (I hope) now that I've found my camera.

I'm in Ravelry as - you guessed it: jessofthebugs. So come visit me there as well. I'll need to update there as well as in Knitwars. Man, am I the biggest dork ever or what?

Where the heck is my camera?!?!
I was going to be all virtuous and post pictures of updated knitting, but I can't seem to find my dang camera. It's here somewhere in this pile of a house I've got.
Anyhow, I'll give you the down-low:
I have startitis pretty bad. I'm thinking about starting the DNA scarf in palette, but I really need to plug away on the other stuff I've got going. Speaking of the other stuff, the man-sweater is going along quite well. I'm at the armholes on the back. It's slow, but I'm beginning to see progress happening.
The reggae socks are coming along as well. I'm at the foot of sock #1. One of my fellow GTAs, Stanton, is from Trinidad. I showed him my sock (like ya do) and he said, "Those are rasta colors!" in his Trinidad accent. I can't tell you how much that tickles me.
The Worsted Stocking Knaves are moving along as well. I'm on the ribbing of sock #2. Mystery Stole #3 is erm... hibernating. I haven't had the brain cells for fiddly lace. The only other thing I have on the needles is a moss stitch scarf for Iree and it's also hibernating.
I've done some spinning today with the bamboo and I probably should do some sewing, but I probably won't.

So, yeah, school is still eating my head, but I've at least got a couple of pics today - thanks to Kade (who let me borrow her camera this w/e).

Here you go:

I've finished another skein of yarn and I hope that one of these days the other half of this fleece comes back to me. The mill I sent it to apparently has a bit of a backlog of stuff to do and when I last called them, they were up to stuff they had received in May. 'Sarrite, though, I've got plenty going on.

You may remember a while back, I named the well from which I would not drink. See how I am drinking now.

I'm most of the way through with sock #1 and with any luck, I'll finish before the year's out. I was hoping that I'd be able to finish by Samhain, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Fortunately for the feet in question, it's not really getting very cold yet.

I'm also plugging along on my man-sweater-along with Kade. She's farther along than I am, but considering that I've got grad school on the brain, I'm not worried. I've decided to shorten the jacket by about two inches because, well, I'm short. It's no surprise that when we picked a pattern for the Pict and the Amazon, someone was bound to have to make a couple alterations.

It's looking nice, I like the gauge, and I'm probably about an inch away from the armhole decreases. I'll probably have to shorten the sleeves as well, but that ain't no thang.

It's off to class for me. I'm making prodigious use of the technology fee I've paid to MTSU and blogging during my office hours. What else would I do...grade papers? Pheh.