Dang

Well, it's official. I'm sick. I feel like a pile of junk. I still have a lot of work to do for tomorrow.

It's also my Mom's birthday- happy birthday, Mom! I haven't been around for one of her birthdays in years, so it's nice to be in the same city. She's coming over for dinner tonight. I planned a pretty easy meal, and got all the prep work done last night and this afternoon- should be pretty straightforward... I hope.

No knitting news. Knit night was good. I really like this crowd of ladies. I worked a little on the biker jacket and a little on the camo sock. The weather here is cooling down and becoming more fall like- makes me want to fondle yarn and knit up a storm! Alas, my life is filled with law school....

Aaaaaah.

I just spent an hour and a half working out- walked to the gym, lifted weights, stretched, walked home. Feels good now, though I am SURE it will not feel good tomorrow. :-)

You should all go visit Nepenthe. Her encouragement is why I've posted 3 times in the last week. She'll make a regular blogger of me yet! Actually a good number of you readers come here directly from her site, so you know how great she is. The rest of you, go check it out!!!!!

Not much knitting news except that knit night is tomorrow! WOOHOO!



So, when I lived in Austin, I would catch myself driving down the street on a random afternoon thinking to myself, "WOW I love living here." This happened even after 4 years of living there...

I had my first moment like that since moving to ABQ today as I left the gym. It was about 6:30, the light was just right, and I though, "I like living here." And I immediately recognized what I had done and started discounting the statement. "You're dehydrated." "You just worked out pretty hard." "The weather is great, but that's it."

I'm shocked that I thought about how much I like it here because I've spent the last week feeling like I'd be MUCH happier if I was still in Austin. I have been feeling really homesick for my friends.

But I am really enjoying law school, and the friend I have made outside of law school (see Nepenthe, above...), and the weather and the mountains and all that kind of stuff. If I can just get over the fact that everything in Albuquerque is hidden in an ugly strip mall, I just might be able to make a life here......

Pictures! WOW!

Hey! I'm actually going to post some pictures!



First is Scooter modeling the completed back and left front, and partial right front, of my Debbie Bliss biker jacket. I LOOOOVE it so far... I'm using Katia CotoLan, a 50/50 blend of wool and cotton. The yarn is a DK weight, and the pattern called for worsted, so pray for me, will you? So far, I think the adjustments I made are working out fine...

On the swift is some Lorna's Laces in camoflauge that I bought to make Christmas socks for my baby brother. I've started them (no picture, sorry) and I think they're going to turn out great. OH YEAH- I got a swift! I got it at one of my Mom's estate sales. I luuuuuuuuuurv it.

Anyway, not doing much knitting these days. I do love having a weekly knitting shindig. It's great to take some time away from law school.

I LOVE law school, but the work is hard to manage. The professors give us lots and lots of trees, but seeing the forest is entirely up to us. One of the challenges I'm facing right now is trying to find a balance between peparing for class (trees) and organizing/intenralizing the class material (forest). There are only so many hours in a day....

I'm also yearning for the familiar... Part of me is really homesick for Austin. I find homesick to be a very awkward term, since I am home here in New Mexico, where I spent the first 18 years of my life. And the weather and scenery here are undeniably perfect.... I just miss my friends.

Holy cow!

A whole week has passed since I last wrote!

Here's the skinny:
Law school is still nuts.
Knit night rocks.
The sweater is coming along.
I bought Lorna's Laces camoflage sock yarn for my baby brother's Christmas present.

I have pictures, will hopefully post tomorrow.

I'm wearing my Charlotte today and getting tons of compliments- YAY!

Bye!

Bad, bad blogger.

So. I'm a crappy blogger. I hope you'll forgive me!

With a little prompting from M, I'm updating my blog.
M has organized a lovely knit evening once a week that I know will be a lifesaver for me. I'm not knitting NEARLY as much as I was before, and I miss the meditative zone out time.
It was so great to talk to M on Tuesday night about the women's college experience. Other than the gals I went to school with (and a precious few others), people just don't understand the appeal or the benefits. Perhaps this is a blog post for another time.

I am knitting a little bit, working on Debbie Bliss's Biker Jacket. Pictures when I'm not on a dialup connection. I'm reworking the pattern for a smaller gague, which is a disaster waiting to happen- we'll see how it works out! I'm blindly optimistic at this point...


This law school stuff is insane. I'm trying to figure out how much to write about it here... I've already stumbled acrosss a classmate's blog and he seemed suprised... I will say that socially, law school here is eerily like high school. Lots of cliques. Everyone forced into required classes. Everyone knows everyone else's business.

I do love everything about the program, though. Professors are almost entirely fantastic. The classes are all fascinating.

Had dinner tonight with two really good friends from Austin who are in town for a wedding. It was soooo nice to just sit and chat with old buddies who know my stories. Sigh. I miss my friends!

And that date I mentioned a while back- amazing guy, things are getting a little serious. It's kinda nice. Really nice, actually!

Back to the bad blogger thing- I can't promise much right now, but I will try to write at least once a week.

Blog home, sweet blog home.

Howdy! I spent a good amount of time procrastinating on law school work yesterday... So I knit! I started my pair of socks out of Lorna's Laces... LOVE the colors, and the yarn is really soft. I'm making a pair of Wendy's Toe Up Socks. Here's my progress:
.

And that's all the news that's fit to print! I'm still obsessed with knitting, just not making a whole lot of time for it.

I'm not sure why I'm so drawn to socks right now- very simply patterns, like the toe up or the simple 2x2 rib I just finished are really easy to pick up and put down without having to figure out where things are.... maybe that's it.

Socks

YAY! Finished socks!

I love the way these turned out.

I am also LOVING law school. I've started a pre-program, kind of like law school boot camp. It's so exhilarating to be LOVING what I'm doing. Alas, there is a lot of work, a lot of reading, and not a whole lot of time for knitting right now. Oh well. All in good time.

In other news, I had a DATE last night. Very cute. Very nice. Very smart. Very lovely evening. And he wants to get together again. VERY GOOD.  Will keep you posted.

Back fromthe dead!!!!

Hey gang! I'm back! Aren't you glad to see me?!?!?!? 

The last few weeks in Austin were rough. I totally lost sight of WHY I was moving 700 miles away from dear friends and a great freakin town, and began to panic! By the time we got to New Mexico, though, I was back to feeling good about the move.

I am deeply in love with the high desert. I had forgotten how wonderful the sky is- amazing color, glorious cloud formations. I love watching storms blow in. I love dry heat. I love that it cools down so much at night. Sigh.

So... law school. I've started a sort of "boot camp" for law school- 2 mock classes structured in much the same way our regular classes will be structured, complete with case briefs, memos, and a final. Fortunately, none of the grades count- it's just practice. I've met some great people and I even have a date on Saturday night. I'll keep you posted.

In ALL the time I was gone from the blog, I didn't get a whole lot of knitting done. I gave up on the Alhambra socks. The pattern was perfect- REALLY GOOD- but my brain was severely crippled. I screwed up the first sock so badly in my leaving-Austin-panic that I couldn't even hope to replicate my errors on the second sock. So I threw the first sock away. Tragic, but theraputic.

I DID knit AND finish a very basic pair of ribbed socks. They're cute. Picture tomorrow.

Anyway, it's good to be back. Sorry I've been gone for so long!!!

Last day of work.

This is totally surreal. Today is my last day of work! I'm simultaneously giddy with delight and sad to be leaving.

I've been here for over 3 years. We've had a LOT of turnover in that time- fewer than 10 of our 70 employees have been here longer than I have, and probably 30 of those 70 have changed over at least once, if not twice.

One of the company's founders sent me a really nice e-mail. I can remember the day he interviewed me. He came into the room, told a joke. I laughed, and he told me I had the job. He is just a delightful person. I'm going to miss him and his wacky sense of humor.

People are overwhelmingly supportive of my decision to go to law school. It's neat to see. People are also shocked that I'm leaving, and that today is my last day. Because of the layoff weirdness, I've kept my mouth shut about going, so people are understsandably suprised at the abruptness of my departure. But I feel like this was the right way to handle things.

Anyway, it's a day of mixed emotions. Good thing we're getting margaritas tonight. :-)

I'll have restricted and upredictable computer access for a few weeks. I do publish and RSS feed, so subscribe to that and you'll know when I'm back. If not, e-mail me at jennysettle at yahoo dot com and I'll send you a note when I'm back! And if you live in Albuquerque or Santa Fe, LET ME KNOW! I'd love to meet you when I move there in a few weeks!

Alright, Frenchies...

Anyone speak French? I kinda do, but not well enough to figure out where to get the pattern for an incredible sweater I just saw...

Le Blog du Val (scroll down to the women's v-neck cable pullover.)

DROOL. Ok, looks like in the comments the pattern is from the newest BDF magazine. What is BDF, and where do I get one????

UPDATE: BdF is Bergere de France and their website has some GREAT free patterns. Alas, not the one I'm looking for....

The problem with Phildar Onde...

The problem with the Phildar Onde yarn is that the color seems to end really abruptly. Looking at the gorgeous items knit for the Onde Along (link in my left sidebar), I'm annoyed at how the color fades, fades, fades, then STOPS. It's not super obvious on the front of my tank because the color ends less than 5 rows under the neckline...

I guess you could alternate rows of the end of the colored ball with rows of the plain white if you were really uptight about it.

Anyway, just thought I'd share.

Weirdo weather

I got some knitting done last night!



I'm one lace pattern repeat away from starting the toe shaping, which means I'm almost done with this sock! WOOHOO!



And I picked up the mitred rug again last night, and completed two squares. Except for the misery of yarn ends hanging off (tucked under the squares in my oh so lovely photo above), this is really fun.

So, it's been pouring down rain, thunderstorms, and all that good stuff for the past couple days. I looked outside last night, and THIS is what the sky looked like:



Talk about WEIRD! The sky to the west of my house was that vibrant orangey yellow, while the sky east of my house was dark grey.

In non-knitting news, I just feel so 100% about going to law school. I'm reading Sandra Day O'Connor's "Majesty of the Law", and it's amazing. A very easy read, but so full of the history of our court system, so full of the idealism that this country is founded on- very inspiring and very much why I want to practice law. I saw this on someone's bumper sticker the other day:
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Benjamin Franklin
This pretty much embodies how I feel about the state of our country right now. I also feel like it is impossible to FORCE democracy on a society that doesn't want it or isn't ready for it. If you look at how the US was formed and how our government came in to existence, the circumstances are ENTIRELY different from those seen in Iraq. I don't know why, but I've been thinking about this a lot recently.

Anyway, enough rambling. 15.5 hours left of work... and counting!

Hello!

Wow, people from the following countries have visited my blog!
United States
Canada
United Kingdom
Sweden
Czech Republic
New Zealand
Australia
France
Singapore
Poland
Iran
Saudi Arabia
Denmark
Japan
Luxembourg
Germany
Taiwan
Norway
Finland
Korea
Ireland

I think that's so cool!
If you're from another country and I missed it, SORRY! I have a lame free stats tracker that only tracks 100 entries at a time....

Knitting restlessness...

I have no significant projects on the needles. In fact, the only thing that is ACTUALLY ON needles is the sock... I have one square for the mitred rug finished and I cannot bring myself to start the next square. $35 worth of kitchen cotton, taunting me. Sigh.

SOOOO I'm on eBay! Won 2 balls of nifty cotton blend sock yarn that even with shipping cost LESS than 2 balls of the same yarn purchased at my LYS. I'm stalking Rowan Calmer auctions in hopes of snagging a bargain on yarn for Audrey. Scouring elann.com for alternatives to Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Super Chunky to make Travelling Rib (scroll down) into a cardigan- wouldn't that be divine?- without having to sell my firstborn child. Also stalking eBay for Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere for the classic jacket.

Reality is, I'm going to have precious little knitting time for the rest of June. And I have yarn I need to use or ditch between now and then. AND my Mom scored a garbage bag or two of immaculate wools- some purchased, some handspun- at an estate sale of a woman who was a FIBER FREAK. So it's not like I NEED yarn, or a new project... Sigh.

In other news, I've gotten lots of comments on my Charlotte. A woman stopped me in Taco Bell to admire it today- apparently she's in to crochet and just knew my shawl was handmade. Very cool. The great thing about the colors I picked is that because EVERY color is present SOMEWHERE in the shawl, it goes with EVERYTHING. Olive green. Hot pink. Blue. Khaki. Orange. Green. Lovely lovely lovely.

Pictures!

Not very exciting ones, but pictures nonetheless!


The Alhambra sock is moving right along. I messed up the first lace repeat that happens as the same time as the heel gusset. I did an extra 4 rows. Oh well! I'm not ripping because (1) this is a sock, it will be worn under pants with shoes that probably cover that area anyway (2) it's dark colored yarn, and (3) I just don't feel like it. Yes, I ripped Pagan repeatedly, but those errors were seriously affecting the construction of the garment, and they would have been blatantly obvious.


Next up is my Afghanalong square... Yeah, it needs some blocking. I used one of the cable patterns from Leslie Stanfield's New Knitting Stitch Library. I really liked the Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere, but the yarn is not wound very tightly, so it splits a lot. There's a great review of the yarn at The Knitter's Review (a phenomenal resource, if you're not familiar!) I made a big fat mistake on this square- the center set of cables- I crossed the third cable of the set 2 rows early. Oh well! I did learn a lot about cabling with this little project, which was the goal.

I am growing weak in the knees over Audrey. Hmmmmm.....

Anyway, in other news, I had some great friends over for dinner last night. I made my Mom's Margarita Steak, and we had sangria, spicy cole slaw, and divine grilled fruit. Quite the meal. I'm a tidge hungover today, which is not so fun. But last night was a blast, and the last time I'll host this group at my house. Sigh. This is the part of leaving town that I'm NOT looking forward to. I'll just console myself with the fact that I only have 3.5 more days at work! Speaking of which, I'd better get to it...

Light knitting...

I had a delightful weekend. I got to spend a good portion of Saturday out on the lake with some boat owning friends. It was probably the last lake day for all of us- they're moving away to go to grad school (and getting married) and I'm moving away to go to law school. Got just sunburned enough, but not too much. :-)

I am cranking on the Alhambra sock- turned the heel and am about halfway through the gusset decreases. The heel on this pattern is a "slip stitch heel". It was really hard for me to visualize how to turn the heel, but the instructions are crystal clear on what to do. This is a really well written pattern- very little room for confusion so far. Link to the free pattern is in my links on the left...

I also completed a square for the Mason Dixon Knitting Afghans for Afghans program. I did it in the one ball of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere I bought to play around with, and I did a cabled thing- my first cables! Pictures tomorrow, I promise.

This Friday is my last day of work- hallelujah! Posting after Friday will be light, as I'll have irregular access to a computer. But I'll check in when I can!

I LOVE the internet!

We are so lucky to have the internet as a resource! I'm sure I would have thrown down my knitting needles in frustration long ago if it weren't for the incredible wealth of information and inspiration available on the web.

A prime example of this is Bonne Marie... Not only does she produce really cool patterns, and provide incredibly helpful technical resources, she is totally approachable, really friendly, and just down right stylish! We've exchanged a couple e-mails about my Onde tank this week and I am just so grateful for her advice and insight.

I subscribe to about a hundred and thirty knit blogs. (Not to mention a bunch of law blawgs and some cooking blogs... Good grief- no WONDER I never get anything done!) I'd love to do a "Jenny's top 10 Knitblogs" list, but honestly, I love all of them! Each person has such a unique voice, such personalized taste, such different perspectives. I love that we're all here plugging along and sharing our passion for this wonderful hobby and art!

Anyway, enough of that. I'm plugging away on the Alhambra sock. Less than one pattern repeat away from starting the heel.

I also washed the Onde tank per the ball band instructions. WARNING: if you're working with this yarn, it will shrink. The waist is now shorter but it fits pretty well. I think I'm going to get cracking on Bonne-Marie's suggestion of a knit ribbon to sew in on the wrong side of he bottom hem.... See if that will stop the rolling! The Onde tank was my first garment, and the first time I fudged a pattern for gauge stuff, so I feel pretty lucky that it wasn't an unmitigated disaster. Onward and upward!

Another tank down!

This is a wacky picture- don't know why, but the only decent lighting I could find last night was in my bathroom! I can't seem to get a picture that looks normal in the "boobal" area. LOL. I bought a bunch of new brassieres this weekend, and I guess I'm just not used to looking so... whatever that is. I took 6 pictures and I look either drunk, depressed, or like I'm sticking my chest way out, so this is the best of the lot. I blame the heat and humidity.

Anyway, thoughts on the tank. This was my first Rowan pattern, and I am really impressed. I like the way they did the decreases for waist shaping (exact opposite of the Berocco Lilith pattern I used for my Phildar Onde...Rowan did a K3, K2tog...SSK, K3... Berocco did a K2, SSK...K2tog, K2.)It fits really well. I think the tank is kinda boring looking, but that's ok- it was designed to be a plain tank.

This was also my first attempt at mattress stitch, and I think it went really well. I used Debbie Stoller's "Stitch N Bitch" and Nancie Wiseman's "Knitter's Book of Finishing Techniques" as references. Nacie Wiseman has you go under one horizontal bar and calls this a "woven seam", wheras Debbie Stoller has you go under two horizontal bars, and calls it "mattress stitch." Anyone know which is the more common way to go? One bar or two? I used two. Went faster.

The color... I love the Lion Brand Cotton Ease, but Pistachio is precisely the same shade of green as mint chocolate chip ice cream. I don't know WHAT I was thinking when I picked it out. I do like it, it's just .... BOLD.

Cursed

Well. Pagan tank and I had some strife this weekend. I finished the right front and was working on the left front when I realized I had completely ignored the instructions for decreases in the armpit area, resulting in about 3 inches of too many stitches on the left front. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP. Then I did the same thing AGAIN, only I caught it at the V-neck split. RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP. Ah well. I've got the shoulder seams done and I have finished picking up stitches/binding off the trim for the neck and both armpits. Now I just have to seam up the sides! Here's hoping I can have some pictures tomorrow...

I also finished the kitty won ton for my friend. Do I make the eggroll, too, to show my knitting benevolence in the face of her taunting? I think so.

AND another friend wants to learn how to knit! WOOHOOOOOOO!

The last laugh...

So I got together with some friends for dinner about a month ago... and of course I was knitting. One woman made it clear she was not impressed.... that knitting was for fuddy duddies and she pitied the fact that I had nothing better to do with myself than sit around and knit.

Well. TODAY I got an e-mail from this woman asking me to make her kitty some dim sum. I shall use my knitting powers for good, and not evil. Her kitty will have at least one piece of dim sum. But she will not mock me again!

The funny thing is, what the #$@* was she doing on Knitty, and how did she find it in the first place?!?!?!?