Big Bag of Knitting + Small Bag of Grading

For my academia friends out there - the PHD Comics grading story line continues. A sampling of my favorites from the last few weeks:And with that, I'm off to the Outerbanks for my first ever knitting retreat! I've got a big bag of yarn and a small bag of grading. I will think of you all while I am wine and sock yarn tasting! (I imagine I'll slip a little grading in there somewhere!)

Sweet Home Carolina

Greetings from Chapel Hill, NC! I am currently holed up in a hotel room at the Carolina Inn (pictured above) on the campus of UNC. Hubby is off trying to sound articulate and intelligent while I hang out in my pajamas and abuse the free Wi-Fi – it’s a good deal!

As I was searching for images on the web of this super swanky hotel (that the program is paying for) I came across this website: America’s Top 10 Most Haunted Hotels and guess what hotel is number 6? Eeek! Now, I enjoy watching TV programs about the most haunted hotels in America, but I have decided that I do not enjoy discovering that some ghostly man might try to open my door – while I’m in it!! I think it’s time to head down the street to 3-Cups and find a cozy, ghost free spot to get some work accomplished.

We had some more good news on the grad school front. HD has been asked to interview for the second program he applied to at Johns Hopkins. This is a VERY good program and we had pretty much written it off, but they e-mailed last night. So, that could be a very good opportunity for him. So many choices – it’s a good problem to have.I have now made 3 mitered squares and I’m well into the 4^th. It takes me about an hour and a half to make one. I’ve decided that I really enjoy making them and I’m hoping that enthusiasm doesn’t waiver as I start to get into the teens and twenties in making these things. I’m using a size 3 needle, but I’m loving the gauge and size of the final squares. It’ll be interesting to seam them. I’ve been slipping the first stitch of every row in the hopes that I’ll have a slightly easier time seaming, but any suggestions or hints would be great!

Alright, I’m off to see what Chapel Hill is like. I got to go to dinner with HD and some other candidates and current grad students last night (on the program!) and I think Chapel Hill would be a very nice place to live. It wasn’t a bad drive yesterday either. I drove the whole way without stopping and we got here in about 5 hours. I think Max and I could handle that drive next year.

HD and I are headed to Asheville tomorrow to meet up with his family and then we’ll head home late on Sunday. Busy weekend – hope you have a nice one!

No Barack. Sad.

It’s a sad day for knitting Barack fans. No photos of Barack and mitered squares. It’s worse than that though. Not only did I fail to get a photo of Barack holding my knitting, I failed to get to hear Barack speak at all. Not that I didn’t try though! Should I start at the beginning?

I bailed on my original plan of leaving the house at 6 this morning, which would have allowed me to beat the regular morning traffic and the additional traffic brought about by Barack’s appearance. I decided to sleep in late with my recently returned hubby. Can you blame me?

So, this means that I left the house a little before 10 with the thought that the doors were supposed to open at 10:30 and I’d be there around 11. (I commute an hour to campus on a regular day). It’s 15 degrees here today and I didn’t want to get there so early that I found myself standing outside of the doors in the cold unable to get in. Barack was scheduled to speak at 12:30.

I packed my yarn in one of my larger purses, because they said no bags. I couldn’t bring any other “work” with me – I was driving to campus just for Obama. And I made the decision to park at the metro station that’s off the interstate, metro one stop down to College Park and catch the shuttle that would take me directly to the Comcast Center. Everything was rolling along according to plan until the bus turned a corner and we saw the line to get into Comcast Center – but we were still too far away to see Comcast Center! Yikes! I created a visual so you can greater appreciate the full length of this line:

I started at the red “X” at around 11:15. This is where the bus dropped us off. At that point the campus policeman on the segway informed us that the line was a mile and a half to two miles long. When I asked him if he thought we’d make it inside before Obama spoke the policeman laughed at me. The line quickly extended well past where I started. At the neon green dot I made the decision that my exposed hands (I didn’t bring any gloves – doh!) were sweating in my pocket and the sweat was freezing. That’s also the moment that I could see that we were not heading straight for the Comcast Center but turning left and up a hill so far that I couldn’t tell where we looped back towards the Comcast Center. What I drew on the map is my best guess as to where that turnaround spot was. What I do know is that there were A LOT of people and I was VERY cold. Thus, the green dot is where I abandoned the line (at about 11:45), walked back to where I could catch a bus headed for the metro and drove home! I still don’t know if they had enough space in there for everyone.

So, no Barack speech. No Barack pictures. Just a quarter tank less of gas and pink fingers and toes. Sad. I tried folks – I really did. He would've looked so nice with a mitered square.

Doggie Dreams

I absolutely adore it when Max is sleeping on the couch next to me and all of a sudden his little tail starts wagging. His eyes are closed and so I can only imagine what he might be dreaming about that’s making him so happy. Is it running through the woods? Playing with HD or me? Knowing Max like I do, I imagine the real answer is that he’s just discovered a gigantic pile of food and is eating to his heart's content! (He has some food issues.)

Can you imagine what life would be like if we had such a visible outward sign of our happiness? Knitters would walk into a yarn shop and all you would hear is "thump, thump, thump!" It would probably be pretty hazardous in a yarn store. I'd spot some beautiful cashmere and then notice my tail "swish-swish-swishing" balls of sock yarn onto the floor behind me. Interesting to ponder ....

FO: Cabled Baby Blanket

Presenting … an FO. The first big one of 2008!

Pattern: Cable Blanket (Ravelry) by Debbie Bliss in Simply Baby

Yarn: Knit Picks Shine Sport in Orchid, 7.5 balls – I purchased this during some kind of select colors sale and so the grand total for the 9 balls that I bought to make this was $18!

Needles: Knit Picks Options, US Size 3 & 6

Modifications: None. Made exactly according to directions. Ignoring the yarn substitution as a modification. The yarn is machine washable, but I blocked using a spray bottle with a little Eucalan as recommended by Pheelya and it worked beautifully!

Notes: I love, love, love this! It was a fairly quick knit. I CO at the beginning of January, but didn’t work exclusively on it. The cable with the garter and stockinette is mentally interesting to knit and I love the visual effect. I had no problem memorizing the pattern even though there are technically 24 rows for each repeat. It’s pretty intuitive once you’ve gone through it a few times.

I also love the small things that Debbie Bliss did in this pattern that make a world of difference. For example, casting on with the Size 3s for the garter border and then switching to 6s for the cabling section. You also start with less stitches for the garter border, increase right before starting the cable section, and then decreasing back down on the other side. The result is a garter ridge border that’s not bowing out, which I’ve had problems with in the past.

I also really love this yarn. I’ve used Shine before and I loved the feel of it and the stitch definition. This time around I’m still in love. It’s not too heavy (even with all of those cables) and the shine from the yarn is really nice.

Overall: I’m very pleased with this knit and I hope that the recipient will love it as much as I do!

Mitered Math - Revisited

For some reason driving home from my little knitting date this afternoon it occurred to me that my previous Mitered Math was SERIOUSLY flawed.

8 squares per color combination means that there will be 24 squares per color, not 4. Which means that I need 12 squares per ball, not 2. Errr … oops?

And let’s just revisit for a second the lunacy of knitting 80 squares – for a baby blanket!

So, what to do?

I think I need to consider making a smaller version by decreasing the total number of squares along with the needle size. Now, a visual …

I think this might work out better. If each of those squares was composed of 4 squares that would mean 36 squares total. (Someone better check that math for me, because we know I like to make up numbers sometimes.)

Now, with 36 total squares and 10 color combos I would need 3-4 squares per color combination. So, that would be 16 squares with each color and about 8 squares per ball. Sounds a little more reasonable. Time for gauge swatching to find out for sure!

(That means that I have finished the Cabled Blanket!! It’s blocking now – pictures to follow!)

Mitered Math

My research into knitting a Mason-Dixon Mitered Square Blanket continued today. (This is in place of the research I should have been doing on Self-Determination Theory). Some of you may remember that my FANTASTIC Secret Pal, Pixie, sent me Mason Dixon Knitting in my final packages. So, looking back over the directions and doing some basic math and permutations, here’s what I’ve gathered:

I need to make 80 squares.

I will have 8 squares each of the following color combinations:

White-Red	Red-Green	Green-Blue	Blue-Yellow
White-Green	Red-Blue	Green-Yellow
White-Blue	Red-Yellow
White-Yellow

This means that each color will be used to make 4 squares and I have 2 balls of each color, so 1 ball needs to be able to make 2 squares. Make sense? I could be making all of this up ….

In my head, if I follow the recommended gauge on the yarn and knit with my fingering weight Palette on Size 3 needles I will get a miniature, primary colored version of the gigantic original throw which would be perfect for my future niece or nephew.

Future niece or nephew is due at some point in July, I believe. So, I’ll have to knit approximately 16 squares/month (starting …err, now) to have all of the squares finished in June and then I’ll have to seam. Or I could seam as I go along, assuming I work out the placement of each square ahead of time. 16 squares/month is approximately 1 square every 2 days. I have a feeling I need to work out how long it takes me to make 1 square to see if this is reasonable. I also need to make 1 to see what the end measurements will be like. So, I’m going to work frantically to get through my last skein of Shine on the Debbie Bliss Cabled Blanket and then I can get started on this new project. February is quickly slipping away, but fortunately I have a built in catch up time – a knitting retreat!

My knitting group that I meet with every Wednesday is going to a beach house in the Outerbanks February 22-24. When I signed up (for only $25!) I thought we’d just be holed up in a beach house knitting all weekend together, but I severely underestimated my knitting gurus! There is a schedule, complete with a wine and sock yarn tasting! There are excellent movies every night, a trip to the local yarn shop and all meals are divided amongst the group. How fantastic! So, maybe I can catch up on my square knitting at that event …. I might be having too much fun with the wine and sock yarn tasting though!

I also have an opportunity to knit on Monday while waiting for Barack to speak. If I have the chance, I may have to follow Stringativity’s lead and ask Barack to pose with a mitered square!

Pros and Cons

Pro: HD’s interview went really well in Boston! I got the “we’re standing in the lobby getting ready to go to dinner, so I’ve only got a few minutes, but I wanted to call you” call tonight and it sounds like he liked them and they had a favorable impression of him. We’ll find out in a week if he’s in or on the wait list.

Con: HD’s interview went really well in Boston – which means there’s a possibility HD will be living in Boston in August and I will be living in Boston in a year.

Pro: I think I can get a job in Boston.

Con: I don’t know I can get a job in Boston.

Pro: Boston is a 45 minute drive away from WEBS.

Con: No con there. (Except maybe the fact that it’s not 5 minutes away).

Pro: Apparently, I have lots of company in the teaching/grading undergrads department. (See my readers NTK and Knitting Linguist).

Con: My two sympathizers are tenure track faculty members, which means that things don’t get any better once you graduate and have a degree!

Pro: Barack Obama is speaking on campus this coming Monday in the building that I teach in. I (with help from the Secret Service) decided it would be a good opportunity for my students to see firsthand the democratic process in action. So, I cancelled classes for Monday. Now, I can go see him talk too!

Con: I cancelled class on Monday and will have to cram two days of lectures into one on Wednesday.

Pro: Everyone seems to agree that with the primary color scheme (which I do not like to wear) a baby blanket is the right idea. I’m leaning towards the miter square idea outlined in Mason Dixon Knitting, but I’m trying to figure out if I want to try the “no-sew” approach or make each square individually? Since I’ve never really made a miter square blanket, I’m inclined to make the real deal. Plus, despite procrastinating on it, I really do enjoy seaming – especially mattress stitch. (Shh! Don’t tell!)

Con: Hmmm … that might be wrapped up in the Pro.

End list.

Palette details:
Content: 100% Peruvian Highland Wool
Weight: Fingering Weight
Gauge: 7 - 8 sts = 1" on #1 - 3 needles
Amount: 231 yards/50 gram ball
Care: Hand Wash/Dry Flat

Hmm … hadn’t considered the yarn weight. Fingering weight and size 1-3 needles could take a while. I have 10 balls total (2300 yds), 2 of each color in: red, green, blue, yellow, and white.

Story of My Life

Sometimes I think that the folks at PhD Comics must be spying on me ......because this is the story of my life when I'm teaching ...

"Camo's always a classic"

Well, the pooch and I are flying solo this weekend. I drove HD to the airport this morning so he could fly to Boston for an interview at Tufts. I’m kind of excited about the prospect of uninterrupted knitting writing time. I swung by a coffee shop enroute to home from the airport and accomplished a lot of teaching related stuff (writing a lecture, grading some papers), but the wifi was severely inadequate so I couldn’t spend much time on my e-mail list. I don’t know what it is about teaching that makes my inbox explode! Well, that’s a lie, I know exactly what it is about teaching that makes my inbox explode **undergrads**, but it surprises me every semester none the less.

So, with HD off on grand adventures in Boston (making himself sound as intelligent and motivated as possible), I am free to watch whatever ridiculous TV shows I want without fear of ridicule. Currently I’m flipping back and forth between My Big Redneck Wedding and America’s Next Top Model. (Hence the title of this post). I figure I’m making good use of my time. Who doesn’t love watching bridesmaids and groomsmen ride down the aisle on ATV’s between guests seated on bales of hay? And if you have never watched mattress surfing behind an ATV or a bride mudwrestling in her gown – you are truly missing out. On wait! The groom just dunked his mom in the mud! Fantastic TV! The groom just kissed the bride and said, “Alright, let’s go home and constipate the wedding.” I kid you not.

Okay, time for a knitting poll (like how I assume that I still have readers out there in the world?) Who remembers all of this Knit Picks Palette I bought to make Christmas ornaments?

Well, I only ended up making 2 ornaments and I think I bought enough yarn to make 50. I’ve been trying to figure out what to make with it. I’ve contemplated Endpaper Mitts, but I’m also thinking about colorwork socks OR a miter square baby blanket. I'm thinking along the lines of Grumperina's honeymoon blanket. What do you guys think? The problem is that I only have primary colors, so the baby blanket seems the best option to me. Any other suggestions would be welcomed!

I’m working hard to finish up the Debbie Bliss blanket and then I’m going to get started on some stash busting. I have been very good lately -*Redneck wedding timeout* - The groom just gave the bride snake boots as a wedding gift so she can “go huntin’ without gettin’ bit by no snakes”! He added, “Them looks gooder than new mud tires.”- about coming up with projects that are knittable from the stash. I think that if I actually complete a few of those I’ll splurge and let myself buy yarn for a new top from the Spring 08 IK. (Like for this one, or this one.)

I’ll leave you with this final thought: Why is the official redneck uniform camo? A new bride just strolled down the Wal-mart aisle and picked out some "really cute" camo outfits for the wedding party to wear. Her bridesmaid accomplices commented, "Camo's always a classic." Final note: Oh no! She just walked down the aisle with a hunter green veil over her face (and a green dress, but that was actually cute). Seriously, green veils are NOT attractive and it makes her look sickly! But it will go well with her wedding present - a pink rifle!

Mini Cakes

As I've been cleaning and organizing my house this month, I've become increasingly enamored with my yarn winder. Every slightly deflated skein of yarn needs to be rewound into a neat little yarn cake. Half skeins of sock yarn become mini cakes with the whirl of the winder. Check out my mini-cake sock yarn collection ....What will I do with mini-cakes of sock yarn? Make mini socks of course! I love Ann Budd's Better-Than-Booties Baby Socks and sock yarn remnants are perfect for them. Here's my most recent pair ...I think they'll be gifted with the baby blanket in a few weeks. I just found out that the baby is actually due Feb 6, so I'd better get moving on the blanket. I finally took the time to learn how to use duplicate stitch to weave in ends from this great tutorial on Knitty. I don't know why it took me so long to figure this out and right now I'm pretty ashamed of my weaving techniques on past gifts.