Plushy womb

Ok, I didn't knit this one, but I have to post a picture of it.


I took this picture a few weeks ago of the plushy womb (pattern from Knitty) that Laura made (she's one of the women from my new knitting group). Laura is a doula and was interested in the pattern for a while, but she wasn't very experienced reading knitting patterns. I helped her a little (she caught on quickly), and she thanked me with some reusable menstrual pads. I haven't tried them yet, but I couldn't resist their charm when she offered them to me: one has really cute pictures of cowgirls and the other one says "wake up and smell the coffee."

Anyway, the pictures of my new little nephew in my last post made me think about the mind-blowing amazingness of childbirth, and that reminded me that I'd forgotten to post this picture. Soon I'll post some pictures of my newest FO.

Welcome Joe!

There's a new baby in my family! I now have a sweet little nephew!


I thought I would be able to welcome him into the world before I left for Los Angels, but he was born last Thursday, one day after I left on my research trip, and I had to wait a week before meeting the little guy. He's a lovely little bundle of new born baby goodness with fabulously dark eyes and loads of wiggles. I, in fine knitterly fashion, greeted him with a hat (regular readers saw it in process back here).


Personally, I can't resist dressing babies and small children in hats with ears. It amuses me to no end. So, as soon as I found out that Dan's sister was pregnant with her second child, I thought of Hello Yarn's free pattern. The yarn is some amazingly soft baby alpaca that Holly gave me as a going away present last June (she called it "provisions" for my trip from CA to WA).


As you may be able to tell in these pictures, my hat is almost too small for Joe's little head. Thus, I'll need to get busy on a new hat for him to wear as the weather continues to cool. Plus, his sister outgrew her hat with ears and may enjoy a new little something from her adoring aunt—big sisters also deserve knits.


I love this picture of her all tired out after meeting her brother at the hospital for the first time. (Thanks to Tim for all the great pictures!)

SoCal

I'm on another research trip in sunny, hot (and fiery) Southern California. This time, instead of spending all of my time going through archives, I'm also conducting oral history interviews with some very interesting older people. So far it's gone well, but I haven't managed to get nearly as many done as I originally hoped. On the other hand, I found a very promising new source for primary source documents pertinent to my subject, and it's at another lovely space. For some reason, I've been lucky as a researcher and usually find myself working in fabulously cozy and friendly archives (unlike other people I know).


Really, I've spent the entire trip in lovely surroundings. Staying with my aunt, uncle, and cousin is always very nice, and during this trip I got another treat and was able to spend the weekend with my dear friend Holly at her family's very beautiful and comfortable house (my view of the kitchen table before I started this blog entry is pictured above). Holly is the first friend from Santa Cruz that I've been able to connect with since I moved in June, and I've really enjoyed seeing her and getting to know her mom and sister. We even knit together a little.


Her family's house has a fantastic view and is full of interesting pictures and objects artfully displayed. Everywhere I look there's something else to examine and contemplate. But, despite the plentitude of decorative objects, none of the rooms seem cluttered or busy. It's inspired me in several ways, but particularly: I want to have more flowers inside and to try putting more framed photos on the walls.


Holly and I noticed something else interesting when we stopped for lunch on our way to LACMA yesterday. Seeking Ethiopian food, we stopped on Fairfax to look around. It's well known as a Jewish neighborhood (people always seem to bring it up when I mention that I'm researching Jewish history in Los Angeles), but now the streets are also lined with Ethiopian shops and restaurants. Next to where we ate lunch we saw "The National Council of Jewish Women Thrift Shop," and it was like I'd been transported into a modern version of my MA thesis.


All in all, the more I learn about Los Angeles, the more interesting it becomes.

Busy on my birthday scarf

This is my birthday scarf. My birthday was several weeks ago, but this is my birthday scarf because it's made out of my very, very lovely birthday yarn: four luxurious skeins of Noro Silk Garden. The pattern is a very simple design that I first saw on Brooklentweed's blog months ago, and I've wanted to make it ever since. I'm mesmerized by watching the colors change as I knit this and can't wait to have its loveliness snuggled around my neck. It's definitely cold enough outside to warrant a scarf, and I want to wear this one right now!

Sunday Knitting Group

As you know, I loved my old knitting group: I loved the women I shared it with; it's location; the way we laughed and sang, vented and gossiped, and shared our lives with each other along with our knitting (and crocheting!). I miss it, but I've finally reached a place where I'm ready to move on and start a new group, understanding that it will be different than my first.

If you are in the Olympia area, I would love for more knitters to join. Here are the specs:

Sundays, 2:00 to 5:00 at the downtown B&B.

I've had two so far, and hope they will continue to grow. My sister took some photos last week, and, looking through them, I started to contemplate the differences and similarities between the two groups.

First Difference: More dinosaurs.

Second Difference: The possibility of indoctrinating children.



Third Difference: Instead of just discussing uteruses, one of us is knitting them (it's a Knitty pattern!).


We'll see what next week will be like...

Fashion forward

To be honest, I didn’t realize that headbands are in again, but I’ve had three requests for them, in some form or another, over the past few months. Another clue is that I’ve gotten quite a few complements on one I made for my self out of a delicious bit of scrap yarn (there’s a picture of me wearing it way back here).

My “ah ha” moment came when my littlest brother, Cody, marked his entry into teenagehood by requesting a headband for his 13th birthday. Headbands were certainly not in vogue when I turned 13 in the early-nineties. They had unsavory associations with 80s styles, and I was a teenager in the grunge era. Now things are different. Today’s burgeoning trendsetters, such as my brother, are heavily influence by manga and anime, where headbands have different connotations.


Cody asked for "forest colors" and I felt this Trekking sock yarn qualifies. I asked Cody how he will use the headband, and he answered, “Sometimes I’ll wear it when I practice Taekwondo, or maybe when it gets cold.” So, I tried to take some pictures of him practicing kicks, but it was challenging because he moves so fast. Sometimes it seems like he’s flying.

Details

The sweater is coming along nicely. I finished the back (happy with my decision to frog and reknit part), and have moved on to the left front. The comments on my last post included some questions about the pattern, so I will address those today. It's the Ribby Cardi from Chic Knits. The pattern is available to purchase online, but I picked it up at Stitches in San Jose last spring. The website even has a Gallery of pictures from people who already knit the sweater. I spent quite some time pursuing it before I bought the pattern, contemplating how it will handle my, well, feminine curves. Time will tell.


I'm not yet sure what form of collar I'll make. The pattern gives options for a shorter one or a shawl collar. The yarn is Uruguay DK, also procured at Stitches, with green for the body and purple for the sleeves. It's very soft (70% merino, 20% alpaca, 10% silk) and easy to work with, but I'm already anticipating using something machine washable for my next sweater.

Yes, of course I'm already considering my next sweater. It has taken quite a bit of self control—and my sweetie's reminders of other unfinished projects—to refrain from buying the yarn for Rogue. I'm waiting with baited breath for some of my blog friends to finish theirs. Scarybez seems to have finished hers but hasn't posted a picture modeling it, and dear Kelly (who was with me at Stitches, so long ago) has been slowly but surely working on hers for months. Very exciting.

Second chances

First of all, if you are reading this, I want to thank you for sticking with me through my inconsistent blogging: thank you, very much. Plus, you should know, it's really reassuring to see your lovely comments. I sincerely appreciate their humor and caring sentiments. I've become increasingly annoyed that Blogger won't allow me to respond by email to people's individual comments. Oh well. Maybe I'll just start commenting on other people's comments to keep the conversation rolling.


I've been knitting again. I'm making "Ribby"—the sweater I've referred to in my last few posts—and, so far, it's quite simple. I almost finished the back piece but was unhappy with the way I joined the third ball of yarn, so I frogged back to an inch or so below the armhole shaping. Below is a picture I took before ripping back, but you can see the poor join better in photo above. It's a horizontal line of uneven stitches.


The feeling of frogging was redemptive and freeing. The mistake doesn't matter. I can erase it. The sweater will be better because I made a choice to fix it. Still, it was a choice. Not fixing it would have also been fine because it's all a matter of my own needs and preferences. I'm not trying to please anyone else. I am free to choose either way. My actions. My time. My sweater.

I love knitting.

Working

I’m in Los Angeles on a research trip—almost like a real historian. I’ve been knitting in the evenings, and have made a good bit of progress on the back of my very first adult sized sweater (woot!), but most of my time has been spent in my archive or stuck in traffic between my family on one side of L.A. and the archive on the other.

Here, in all its glory, is a picture of my archive:


Can you see it? It’s in the corner, behind the chairs and curtain and stuff. That’s right! The boxes back in the corner. That’s the stuff dissertations are made of. What may (or may not) be goldmine of untouched, untranslated Jewish activism. Lovely.


And really, my research setup is quite nice. They gave me a key to the building, there's plenty of room to spread out, and no one cares if I take off my shoes while I'm going through stuff.


You should see some of the pictures I've found. Just imagine: socialists in the 1940s dressed up like pirates for a costume party. Too cute!

In the Evergreen State

Well, I did it. I moved back to the Northwest. Here's a picture I took the other day that I think really captures the spirit of the region. I call it "Joggers In Rain With Radiant Green Backdrop."


When Dan and I arrived in WA the fates of weather conditions arranged for an unseasonably wet couple of weeks, probably to welcome us home. Now it's warmed up again, and Dan and I are just beginning to find our routines—work, family, school stuff, etc.—but I still haven't found my normal knitting stride. I'm fairly shocked it's been a month since the last time I blogged, and I really miss my knitting group. I had plans to start one here, but lately I keep thinking about how a new group will be totally different from my old one. Then I just get hung-up on trying to decide what day I should try to have it, and then I can't decide where it should meet anyway. Oh well. I miss you, my sweet Santa Cruz crafters!

Of course, I'm still knitting a bit, even if not as industriously as usual. Here's a little something that's almost done. It's a super cute free pattern from Hello Yarn. I'm making it for a special baby due this fall.


Now I have a very important question for you, gentle readers: Do you think the ear I made is too long? I'm worried it will be overly floppy, and this concern is keeping me from picking up stitches for the second ear.

Finally, by popular request, I took a picture of my new apartment. This is the living/dining room area.


Isn't it pretty? You should all come over to knit with me and sip tea.

In flux

We survived the long haul up to Washington and even found a place to live! It’s been stressful and hectic, and I didn’t sleep or knit very much. Our family has been very kindly housing us until we can get into our new home, and we’ve found a few minutes here and there to visit our old haunts (including Canvas Works, Olympia’s yarn store), but we feel that establishing ourselves in our new (bigger) home is necessary before we can relax and really enjoy coming back to the northwest. Being here still feels very surreal and, though we’ve only been away a short time, we find ourselves missing our friends back in Santa Cruz. Hopefully we will find ourselves again soon.

Transitions

Now everything is happening very fast. Boxes are everywhere. I need more sleep. We've reserved the moving truck for Friday. It's a period of transition.


My blog will make the trip up to Washington too, but my entries may continue to be inconsistent for a while. I hope you stick around to see what happens becuase transitions can be exciting. Plus, I decided that my traveling project will be my very first adult sized sweater...

I passed!

Now I'm an official Ph.D. candidate. Does that sound good? Maybe I should knit a sweater to celebrate....


Unfortunately, my imminent move takes the edge off my relief. While I'm looking forward to the good things that will accompany my move (family, old friends, a bigger living space, the loveliness of the northwest, family, etc.), I also have to face the parts of moving that make me sad (leaving my new friends, stress, packing, looking for a new place, feelings of displacement, leaving my Santa Cruz community, etc.). This is a really lovely little spot to live. Oh well, such is life.


My sister still doesn't know where she and the band she is touring with are going to play tonight. We may just takeover a space on campus and call it guerrilla music.

Ack! Come celebrate with me and my sister!

Edited to add at 8:58, Sunday night:

Well, something terrible has happened. The show my sister was scheduled to play at was canceled. Now she has no where to play on Wednesday night. She asked me if I have any friends with houses who can host a small concert, and I had to tell her that none of my friends have houses. We don't know where the show will be, or even if there will be a show. If anyone in Santa Cruz can help, please let me know. Ack!

I have absolutely no time. No time. But I'm writing this because, theoretically, I'll pass my exam, or turn into a pumpkin or something, on Tuesday. Therefore, I will have a reason to celebrate on Wednesday, and, conveniently, my sister is on her exciting west coast tour and will be in town that night performing.

Everyone who would like to celebrate with me and see my sister in all of her lovely indie-rock-singer-songwriter-ukulele-playing glory should come to the show on Wednesday. It will be an intimate little house show at 619B Broadway St., beginning at about 8:00, and there will probably be a small door fee. If you're curious about my sister's music, look at her myspace page where you can listen to a few of her songs. It will be fabulous! Plus, the completion of this whole QE thing really will be something to celebrate.

What was that? Where's the knitting? Um... We'll just have to talk about that after Tuesday, but I did go to knitting group yesterday, and I have a picture to prove it (note the new haircut and the knitting needle hanging off my head):

The Albino Squirrel Speaks

Dear Tangled Yarns Readers,

I'm sorry to inform you that Amanda, a.k.a. the Knotty Historian, is lost and believed to be buried under a pile of books and student essays. I last saw Amanda leaving her discussion section on I. B. Singer at 3:25 on Monday, and, as corroborated by several witness who saw her at coffee shops around town, there was a wild look in her eyes. Those around her have become concerned about the soundness of her judgment at this time, and, if spotted, we suggest approaching her with caution as she may be easily startled. Considering that she must finish all elements of her QE dossier and complete grading approximately 40 student papers by 5:00 tomorrow, it seems that her temporary insanity is probably justified. As for the rest of us, we simply hope she resurfaces before Friday when she is scheduled to drive to Los Angeles for her Grandmother's 90th birthday.

Sincerely,
Ms. Al. Squirrel

Nobody expects an Albino Squirrel!

As I sit here writing (pounding my head against the wall), I realize that I haven't checked in with my blog friends in over two weeks. Do not worry. I have only fallen off of a metaphorical cliff, not a real one. The writing continues. The goal: a finished dossier to be submitted several weeks prior to my QE scheduled for June 5th (you need not remind me that several weeks means, urm, now). Knitting has also fallen off a metaphorical cliff. Forgive me and send good writing vibrations.

In the meantime, enjoy the mystery that is the Albino Squirrel!


Personally, I'm intrigued. This thing lurks next to the Physical Sciences building and greets my students and me as we exit class. My students gave it the nickname, and, believe me, that rump is eerily white. It's not knitting, but it is interesting.

On the knitting front

Well, I'm feeling better. This cold was much milder than my last one (which kept me sick for a whole month!), and I'm back to my busy, busy self. The glimpse I gave you in my last post inspired some curiosity about my current project, and I want to fill in a few of the details.


It's the Swallowtail Shawl, designed by Evelyn Clark, from Interweave Knits (Fall 2006). Honestly, I'm almost done. It took a bit over two weeks to knit (I started it as soon as I finished Peter's scarf and will finish binding off at knitting group this afternoon), but don't hold your breath for FO pictures because I don't know when I'll have a chance to block the finished shawl.

I followed the pattern as it's written, except for the yarn. This is what I used:


That's a picture of the yarn I got for holiday gifts this winter, and the one in the middle is the Paris color way of Handmaiden Yarn's Seasilk (bought online, here). I've really enjoyed using it. When I began I was worried that all the color changes would be too busy for the lace pattern, but I overcame that concern as the project developed. The yarn is smooth and luminous. It smells faintly like the ocean or a bit of nori. I'm seriously looking forward to making something with the second skein (on the left in the picture) but haven't yet decided what it will become.

As for other fronts, Dan and I realized yesterday that we will be moving in exactly two months... crazy...

A glimpse

I am sick again! And this is really quite unfortunate timing because I'm way too busy right now. I need to write. I need to read. I need to teach. I need to comprehend what people say and offer articulate responses. Instead, I'm a very sad example of a graduate student.

Oh well, at least my knitting is pretty.

Peter's scarf

I made a scarf for Peter, one of the professors I work with, and it turned out even better than I thought it would.

Of all the people I know, Peter talks the most about death and mortality. Perhaps it's because he's Hungarian. Perhaps it's because he was a Jewish boy in Budapest during Nazi occupation. Perhaps it's just how he is. Here is an example of our conversations last spring (we had many little talks like this one):

Peter: Do you think I will make it through lecture today?

Me: Of course! Why not?

Peter: Well, you never know. I may open my mouth and the words may be gone.

Me: I'm sure you'll be fine.

Peter: Do you think that this problem with my voice is cancer?

Me: Your doctor said it's nodes on your vocal cords. How are you feeling otherwise?

Peter: Fine. But, we all must die. I think it's cancer.

He was right. Shortly after his diagnosis I asked Peter if he would like a scarf, but he didn't want me to knit him something until his health was better. I listened to Peter's request that I wait until he "survived" and put his scarf on a list of projects for later.


After treatment during the summer and a leave of absence in fall, Peter taught again in winter, and I was his TA again. He's recovered quite well, and I decided that his 70th birthday this month would be a good occasion to give him a scarf. He seemed very happy when I presented his gift, and was happy to model for my blog. He said, "Amanda, if I can lecture in front of 300 students, why would I worry about my picture on the internet?"


Scarf Details:

The scarf itself is made from Cascade 220. I cast on about 320 stitches and just knit, knit, knit away in the symmetrical stripe pattern.

As a design element I incorporated the "wrong side" of the garter at color changes on both sides of the scarf. Thus, it doesn't have a "wrong side."

Also, it was important to me to have both edges as similar as possible. So, I used "EZ's Sewn Bind-Off" (Elizabeth Zimmerman was a knitting genius!) to make the cast-off edge less obvious, and it worked like a charm. Several experienced knitters haven't been able to tell which edge was my cast-on and which was my cast-off!

The fringe was made by cutting the yarn and reattaching it at the end of each row, creating an instant fringe and eliminating the need to hide ends. I originally planned on trimming the ends to make a more even fringe, but several friends told me that they really liked the uneven look. So, I left it as it was.

I'm really happy with the finished scarf and will definitely use this technique again!

Small things can make a big difference

I finished another scarf (the one I was working on during my grading). Holly and I decided that the left over yarn makes the PERFECT fashion accessory. What to you think?


A FO picture will come soon.

In other knitting news, the yarn I got for my grandma's scarf is in time-out. (I'm sorry, Grandma. I love you, and I want to make you a scarf, but the yarn isn't behaving.) I have begun a new project for her that should please, but its identity shall remain a mystery for now...

Lastly, my dad uploaded some pictures of my family to Flickr so that I can see how tall and old my brothers look. They are significantly younger than me (I'm 27, and they're 12 and 14), and I haven't seen them for one-and-a-half years! I can't get over these pictures (here's my favorite, and this one from last summer is also really great). So, in order that they don't forget what I look like, here's a picture of me wearing my Clapotis as a shawl:


Back to work!

Applause with a French Accent and My Vacation

Well, school is back in session, and I have a variety of interesting but challenging tasks facing me this quarter. I am making some progress with my writing—which makes me feel good but also reminds me how much time I must dedicate in order to accomplish small steps—and I'm looking forward to the class I'm TAing and the readings course I'm taking. But, before I dive headlong into another pile of books, I need to show you something. My Clapotis:


This pattern, available for free on Knitty, is super popular in the knitting world, and the reasons are simple: it's fun and the results look good. I found this yarn on clearance last fall and, despite the fact that I wasn't planning on knitting a Clapotis, as soon as I saw it I knew what I would use it for. Now, if you read this blog regularly, you may be wondering when I knit this, because it barely made an appearance until today. To be honest, I think I did most of the knitting in December, and maybe January, right after I bought the yarn. I even gave you a glimpse when my fall grades were due.


I found that the knitting went quickly because the pattern has built in goals/rewards: "Oh, I can't stop now. I'm almost to the next row where I drop stitches!" But, silly knitter that I am, I was really slow with the finishing because I was worried the scarf/shawl was too long. So, I stuffed it in my knitting box and forgot about it until a couple weeks ago when I fished it out again, hid the ends, and suddenly had an *instantaneously* finished Clapotis.


My lovely model for these pictures is Karen. She and her son, Derek, came to visit me for two days over spring break. We had such a wonderful time playing at the beach, wandering through lovely natural settings, seeing sea lions and butterflies, eating tacos and tamales, and talking. Plus, I took tons of pictures, many of which I uploaded to my Flickr site, even creating a special set of pictures from their visit. (Karen has a wonderful blog about raising her son at Go, Bebe, Go! But, I don't think she's updated it for a few weeks.)


Their visit was very refreshing! Now I'm ready to get down to work. QE prep, here I come!

A girl with a hat

The hat fits!


And she looks so cute in it!

I want to send another thanks to Tim for the great pictures of Katie in the Kitty Hat. He sent them so quickly that they sat in my email in-box without attention for several days until I completed my grading and allowed myself a brief return to my online pleasures. I think they were worth waiting for.

After the grading was done, done, done I spent two days (well, maybe three) behaving as one on vacation before returning to my qualifying exam preparations. I will QE this spring. It must happen, and it will happen. (Must. Write. Faster.) Please send me good writing vibrations.

Also, please contemplate this second picture of Katie as she contemplates a sheep. The circle between animal, yarn, and Kitty Hat makes me happy.

Quick!

I'm just offering a quickie today, so that you know I haven't fallen off the edge of a cliff or something.

What I've been doing for the past three days:


I'm on the downhill slope of grading finals; plus, I have a new project. It's a horizontal garter rib scarf, and it's been great for the end of quarter stress.

Coming soon: Two FOs and a very cute picture of my niece wearing the kitty hat I knit for her.

Kitty hat

Oh my goodness, I actually finished something! (Please do note the festive cabbage modeling the hat. I found a double use for part of our St. Patrick's Day dinner.)


This little pink kitty hat is based on the Kittyville hat from Stitch N' Bitch. I sized down the original pattern, from adult to toddler, and left off the ear flaps. I don't remember the name of the yarn, off hand, but it's super soft and has tiny yellow and blue flecks spattered in the pink—very spring.

This hat is, of course, for my adorable little niece, who's been busy growing since we saw her last summer. I do hope that it fits her. She long ago outgrew the sweater and tam that I made for her. Although I had fun taking pictures of my cabbage wearing the hat, I do believe it will look much cuter on little Katie.


(Thanks to Tim for the great picture of Katie!)

A week, some notes

Spring burst all over the place this week, with blue skies and warm sunshine. Not much to say, otherwise, but I thought I should check-in since it's been a while since my last post. Here are some of the things happening this week:

• It's the last week of classes for the winter quarter at my university. For me, this point in the quarter is accompanied by a faint sense of relief overshadowed by panic as I scramble to find closure for my work.

• On Monday I went bowling, and I got four strikes! This is a lot for me. Overall, I didn't end up with my highest score ever, but that is definitely the most strikes I've gotten in an evening.

• I am still knitting my sock. In the comments on my last post, scarybez asked what pattern I am using. I kind of made the pattern up by myself. I originally thought I would make Thuja, from Knitty, but the gauge I liked with the yarn was too small for that pattern. So I turned to Yarn Harlot's Knitting Rules! so that I could create my own pattern based on the basic sock recipe she describes. There is a pattern going down the sides that my stitch dictionary calls "mock ribbing."

• On Thursday I will show the first draft of my dissertation prospectus to one of my advisors. I'm rather nervous and afraid that I didn't do it quite correctly, but I'll never know until I get feedback. Wish me luck!

Back to work...

Riding the sock train through sick land

I'm terribly sick of being sick! Enough, I say! We are gaining on the two week mark, and, I ask you, isn't that long enough? Why do my ears still throb? Why does my throat still ache? Has my head permanently converted into a mucus producing machine? Why do I still feel like the most productive thing I will do today is take a nap? Arrrrgg!!! I have no time for this!

Thank you for your patience with my whining. I will now show you a sock.


Despite fabulous plans for my sweet grandma's scarf and a cat hat for my little niece, all I've managed in the past two weeks is to keep going on my socks. The marvelous Erin, who kindly entertains me while I'm a disgusting sick person and feeds me homemade chicken soup, modeled the first sock so I could take some pictures. At knitting group on Saturday I officially passed the half way mark on the second sock by picking up the gusset stitches off my heel flap. The heel is turned, and, I must admit, it was almost beyond me in my current state. Luckily, clearer heads were with me.

I know you can't see the sock very well, but I love this action shot of Erin and my sock. Doesn't she look like she's having fun? Did I mention that she feeds me chicken soup, and hot tea too?