Barack Obama

So I found this really amazing pattern, and really wanted to make it. I totally went to the LYS and bought some yarn and everything. Then I got back to my room and I realized that I had bought bright blue yarn instead of the navy blue required. At first I was really upset. Then I realized I had done exactly one (1) intarsia project before--a vertically striped scarf--and that doing a portrait of the man who I believe will be the next president of the United States (if you haven't clicked through that link, you really ought to), no matter how stylized it may be, was quite possibly clinically insane. So I decided to do some generic sweater or other, but Obama-ified--specifically, I'm doing Nothin' but a T-shirt. So far, I've knit the bottom of the back (several times):



I learned many valuable lessons, including that it is better to cut the lengths of yarn long than short (I did not, by the way, use bobbins; that would truly have been clinically insane), and that if you notice a mistake in your intarsia you need to either use your powers of Zen to let the mistake slide or rip all the way back to the mistake--dropping down sets of stitches will just cause you grief later on. I used the Obama-rama chart for the word hope--the piece in progress is the back; the reason the word is so low is so I could practice my intarsia right away, and also because my hair is really long. Like, really long. At this point it would probably obscure the "HOPE", but I really need a haircut.

My plan for the front is to knit the piece in white, with the Obama logo as charted by C Jane Knit as the center chest logo. The sleeves will possibly be all bright blue, unless I need to buy more skeins of light blue. Because I don't really have a good yardage instinct.

If you want to see the back, by the way:



Don't worry, I don't mind weaving in ends. For intarsia, it's kind of like a puzzle. I do plan to do them a few at a time, though, in order to not go insane.

That's what I've been knitting on most recently, although of course there are scads of things to Ravel and/or blog about. Trine, sorry I didn't get to Urchin--I did do some updating of the Ravelry page, but mostly I just added photos, I didn't do a complete update. I was totally going to put that in this post too, but I really need to do my homework.

Knitting update

So this week I've been plugging along on the second sock. No pictures, but I'm around the heel and steadily traveling up the cuff--hopefully I'll be able to convince someone to take some pictures of me modeling them? Otherwise I'll just take some awkward pictures of myself with my legs in the air and things. I've also been working on Versatility--but I'm far too lazy to take pictures.

YOU GUYS IT'S A FINISHED SOCK!!!

Taken with flash.



Blurry but artsy & the colors are so so close.



Do you honestly think I care about blurry? I MADE A SOCK.



This is most what it actually looks like . . .

You guys! I totally knit a sock.

I'm going to eat breakfast and then I'm going to work on homework for at least an hour and then I'll cast on sock #2! Oh my goodness I cannot wait to wear these. (Because I totally do need to wear wool in New Orleans. Shut up.)

So I know I 've been a bad blogger, buuuut . . .

I finally got a package from my family of stuff I'd forgotten & stuff they wanted to give me, like my favorite kind of tea! (Although I don't have a mug . . .) and some pens! and so on.

The main things that I wanted from them were my camera cord & a bunch of my political t-shirts--I don't know why I thought I wouldn't want to wear my political shirts at school? FOR SERIOUS.

But now that I have my camera cord, I can share some pictures of knitting with you guys! Hooray?

Although frankly I haven't taken that many. But I had a few on my camera, from my Hurricane Gustav evacuation, and I took a couple today of something beautiful I'm going to have to frog.



Two dishcloths on the floor of the Jackson State gym, where most of the knitting took place . . . I bought the yarn at the Jackson Wal-Mart, and cast on in the parking lot while we were waiting for the shuttle back to the gym. (I had the needle I pretty much only use for dishcloths--the bamboo's a little splintered, I'm afraid to use it for anything softer than dishcloth cotton; and I like the gauge I get.) There is a very complicated story involving some boys which I could tell, which is tied up with these dishcloths; however I would rather share some close-ups with you. the story with the boys is mildly interesting, except when you consider that this was a month ago and I've hardly talked to any of those guys since.



I knit this one first. (For the record, this is Peaches & Cream; the variegated yarn is Fiesta Colors, and the solid color is Camel.) Normally I'm not a variegated kind of a girl, but this was a lot of fun. If you look closer (clicking the photo will take you to the Flickr page, where you can see a bigger version), you will notice that in the bottom stripe (the first stripe I knit), the repeats in the variegation line up very well. I was really excited by this--I imagined a similar effect occurring but with slightly different start points--but then my gauge loosened up after we left the parking lot. (By the way--one of those boys realized how fascinating, how serendipitous, that variegation lineup was. But I apparently fail at sociability and am good at manufacturing awkward. I . . . I really don't feel like elaborating.)



I knit this one second. In terms of which "variegated effect" I like more, this dishcloth definitely wins; however the first one was a little bit more fun to watch the colors as I was knitting. I guess I now have a little more sympathy for knitters who knit with truly ugly yarns--it's so much fun to see what happens!

By the way, the colors are not exactly true-to-life, and the ends have since been woven in. I just didn't really feel like weaving in ends while living in a gym with all sorts of other people absolutely everywhere . . . Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of just, you know, the living circumstances, so I can't convey to you the utter oddness of that time.

. . . You know, I had been planning on blogging the dishcloths as well as my Versatility, then attacking some homework, then getting to bed early. However it is well past getting to bed early time, and obviously I haven't blogged my Versatility yet. Or in fact anything at all recent . . . I'll try to blog an average of 1 photo a day with a minimum of 3 posts a week, although homework does need to come first. So. We shall see.

The Sock Saga

So remember how I messed up my math on a sock calculator pattern & therefore frogged it? But I was going to re-check the gauge first? Yeah, I forgot to check the gauge when I frogged, and re-cast-on, and in the meantime the gauge has loosened. Goddammit. I want to finish these plain ordinary socks so I can make Yes We Can socks. I mean, I want to know things like my actual foot circumference before I attack some knee socks that are full of things I only know about in theory, like stranded colorwork and duplicate stitch. And I really really want to have those socks to wear by election day. Because they're kind of amazing like that.

Anyhow, I'm trying to decide whether or not to soldier on with these purple socks, but in the meantime I really ought to do my schoolwork.

As always, more later!

So I have my own computer now

Hopefully this means I will be able to become a better blogger! However, I do not have the cable for my camera here (or if I do I don't know where it is, which amounts to the same thing, except worse, because I can't e.g. nag on my brother to mail me it), although probably I have a friend with a card reader if I look a little harder.

I know that photos really "make" a blog something special; especially if loverly yarns are being used to create awe-inspiring patterns. (There, I said "loverly". I talked like a pirate. Arr & avast.)

And I shall include some knitting-related content so that you all do not whither away and die of boredom. Specifically, I shall tell you the tale of my Quest to Knit a Sock.

Back in June, when I posted but had no readers, I discussed at length a sock knit with purple yarn. That got frogged. But I still really really wanted to make a sock! I tried again with that yarn. But it got stupid. I decided to try a different pattern, so I attacked Dobby's socks with a vengeance. (Ravelry link to pattern.) Except I was knitting really really loosely, so I decided to be lazy and go down a size. Then my knitting tightened up. I wasn't concerned at first, but once I had finished all the knitting and was about to embark on the grafting, I tried the thing on. And it didn't fit. At all. So the thing is hibernating. (By the say, this was the stripy sock, not one of the colorwork socks. So the inevitable frogging will not be *that* painful.)

But the purple yarn has returned--I decided to go with a plug-in-your-numbers sock pattern, namely the Universal toe-up sock pattern from Knitty. However I misread the math, and so my toe is too big. However! I tried it on and caught the problem early, and so will be re-casting-on, maytbe after double-checking my guage. For luck.

Oh, and I also have no social life in college. I'm not quite sure how that happened. And today I skipped a class and called in sick for my job for no good reason. But more on that later--I must needs head to the dining hall, for it closes at 8.

Just a quick update

So, I'm back on campus after my week-long evacuation to Jackson State (which was so much fun -- we got to sleep on the floor, and there was no privacy in the showers! whoo!). The evacuation could have been worse -- I attacked my schoolwork with great good will, met a cute guy, and got some knitting done! Specifically, 3.5 ballband dishcloths (two with yarn purchased at the Jackson Wal-Mart, 1.5 with yarn bought all the way back home). There are some pictures, but due to my computerless situation and lack of camera cable or card reader, the pictures aren't on Ravelry, and likely won't be blogged. But! The dishcloths themselves are super amazing. Stay tuned for Fiesta Colors and Camel, among other colors. (Also I had an almost 100% finished ballband dishcloth which turned out to be useful due to I hadn't packed a washcloth . . .)

Anyhow, I am determined to make it to at least one NOLA area knitting shop before Ike hits. I'm thinking the Quarter Stitch, as it's about 1 block from Jackson Square, so it will be pretty easy to get to. I hope. I'm gonna ride my bike to the Quarter? Whoo!