Knitting

I had a strange dream the other night, which I describe at Jenny's since she posted about a dream too.

Started knitting a hat last night for a friend. It's dark blue merino chunky wool yarn, in seed stitch. I can't send it to him until September, but I think he'll like it when he gets it. I put a little piece of the yarn in my most recent letter to him.

I wonder how much money it's costing the University of Minnesota to run UThink on Movable Type. With UThink, every student at the university is able to have as many blogs as he or she likes--one for each class he or she is taking, and a few personal ones too. There are nearly 50,000 students on the Twin Cities campus, and I wasn't able to find an exact number for the faculty. That's a lot of blogs...

Update: I meant to say in this post that I can't wait for Ginmar to get back home. I want to have a big party for her. Well, at least a "let's see how big a party I can have in a 464-square-foot studio" party. :)

I finished another one a few minutes ago. They're easy to make now that I've gotten the hang of knitting on double-pointed needles:

Here's the finished product:



These umbilical cord hats have been a big hit with my friends who are mothers, but now I'm ready to move on to an adult hat. For myself. Made from some gorgeous crimson merino wool yarn I scored on clearance.

...since I haven't been blogging.

Working, of course, and having a pretty rewarding time with it. I'm in good shape where that's concerned. Soon I'll post my prelims reading lists and the presentation I'm doing in Fargo this weekend once I get it pared down and finish the coding.

Partying with good, good friends. Imagine a backyard, gorgeous weather, witty conversation, lots of laughter, and CCR and The Band in the background. Times to cherish.

Knitting baby hats: I've recently taught myself how to knit on double-pointed needles, a technique which requires knitting with five needles. It makes me feel like the Zenmaster. The pattern is the Umbilical Cord Hat. Right now, I've got one friend who's due Monday, another due in about a week and a half, another due in September, and another due in November--not to mention the babies who are already here for whom I'm knitting hats.

Off to the gym, and then to class. Life's been mighty fine these days. :)

I haven't posted about knitting in a while, but boy, have I been doing a lot of it. I recently finished a cushion cover with this cuddly-soft plush yarn; this photo doesn't do it justice:

But it has been getting some use, at least:






Now I'm working on a baby blanket. I just used up a skein of the blue yarn and am now starting a pink stripe:



After this one, though, I'm going to start making bright-colored baby blankets. I'm done with pastels! I have some very soft bright acrylic/wool blend yarn that I just bought, and I think that in addition to the blankets I'll try my hand at knitting baby hats. I saw a very cute yellow one in Stitch'n'Bitch, Debbie Stoller's fantastic knitting handbook.


UPDATE: Tonight I learned how to do the double cast-on! When I first learned, I was taught the knitting on method, so I'm excited. Since lurking on the knitting communities on Orkut, I've noticed that there are a lot of yarn snobs (I mean it affectionately!). Acrylic yarn is the most maligned, particularly the Red Heart Super Saver variety. I happen to have a big skein of just that, and in my shame I'm going to use it as practice yarn. Everyone should have that, right? I want to practice my seed stitch, which looks like this (this is not mine, by the way! It's from about.com):



I'm not getting the hang of it yet.

Since it's 3:30 a.m. and I can't sleep--although, now as I type I'm getting drowsy--I thought I'd post tonight's knitting and otherwise yarn-related accomplishments. First, a square for a baby blanket that I worked on:

Then, an enormous tangled mess of yarn that I patiently unraveled to form this masterpiece--a Zen-like experience, perhaps:

The colors of the yarn don't look right; the pink square is a very pale pink with flecks of darker pink, yellow, and blue. The greenish one is light lime green and light yellow. Both kinds of yarn are especially for baby blankets. I probably won't put the two together for this blanket, though--they have a slightly different texture. I have a skein of blue yarn with flecks that's just like the pink. Ack, trying to make this gender-neutral blanket reminds me once again about how ridiculous gender normativity is. You know, I'd like to make a baby blanket in completely nontraditional colors, like maybe a sage green and off-white blanket or a bright red, yellow, and blue blanket, since babies see those colors best anyway.

Is everyone blogging about knitting lately or what? Sheesh. :-) Now I have to join in. I recently started a pink and blue baby blanket for a friend of mine's lovely little fetus. While others have gone on to make more ambitious projects, like those that involve double point needles, four needles, patterns, etc. Not I. I've been knitting for about a year now, and all I know how to do are squares and rectangles using one kind of yarn. I can do the garter stitch and I can purl, and thus I can do stockinette as well, but I've still never done anything I imagined I'd do once I started knitting, like some fierce armwarmers or retro legwarmers. Oh well, this blanket'll keep me busy for a long time.

You are Merino Wool.
You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.


What kind of yarn are you?
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All true. :-) Via And She Knits Too!

Just a few things I've seen online...this hasn't been the greatest past few days for me. Right now, I have a mouth ulcer that is so intensely painful I can barely think straight. It's under my tongue, on the right side, and it feels like someone has taken a knife with a serrated blade and cut half of my tongue off, leaving the rest of it there to hang on. And I'm reeling from a recent rejection from a journal, gah. I guess mouth ulcers and rejections happen to everyone, though, right? Anyway, to the links:

Some do Cat Blogging, but have you ever seen a blog kept by a cat? No? Well, that's about to change. Liat owns and is owned by the creative and brilliant Jasperboi.

Is this a joke? The article is written by a professor who has extremely severe penalties for tardiness, talking during class, and ringing cell phones. Quite lockstep, if he's for real, that is. Via La Di Da.

I want to see Super Size Me, a documentary about a man who eats McDonald's food three times a day for 30 days. He ends up gaining about 25 pounds, feeling nauseous all the time, and getting some rather disturbing results from cholesterol and liver toxicity tests. Via Feministe.

Earth Wide Moth is making me want to read some Gertrude Stein. I pulled my Norton Anthology of Literature by Women off the shelf and will soon be reading "The Gentle Lena," "Picasso," and "Ada."

It's time for a new baby blanket...all I can say about that is that it is not I who will be having said baby. Off to Jo-Ann for soft baby yarn and Walgreen's for Anbesol.