Without the visual aid of photos, I don’t really have anything to write about. Wait, I take that back. I can tell you about Typhoid Marco. Please note that this story is not really new if you’ve read my Twitter or Facebook feed, but it’s a story, so what the hell.

I sat across the aisle (all two feet of it) from a whiny one year old named Marco and his mother on the plane ride back from Atlanta. Now, I totally understand about whiny kids, particularly around naptime, so it didn’t bother me so much, especially when we were above 10,000 feet and I could use my iPod. BUT, when we landed and were sitting on the runway (we had also been delayed for like an hour in Atlanta, so I had plenty of time to listen to Marco), she makes a phone call to someone and says “Yeah, we woke up to Marco throwing up, so I was washing sheets at 4 AM, but he seems fine now.”

1.)     No wonder kid was whiny. I am also whiny when I have spent the previous night throwing up.

2.)    They were apparently flying to the Czech Republic to see family, and I imagine those tickets were expensive, probably too expensive to reschedule.

3.)    But seriously, “he seems fine now” should have been code for “he’s still contagious, and he’s infecting the entire plane.” (Thus the sobriquet Typhoid Marco.)

4.)    We had no real food in the house when I got home, so I ate chocolate from the Chocolate Fetish for dinner Monday night. This was a waste of good chocolate when the germs Typhoid Marco had infested me with took hold at about 1 AM. Used chocolate really burns the nasal passages when it comes back.

6.) I felt better within 24 hours, so Typhoid Marco didn’t have the flu, just some 24 hour virus. This is good because I haven’t gotten a flu shot yet.

I could belabor this some more, but I won’t.

Back in May, as a reward to myself for a perfect 4.0 GPA in my first year of graduate classes, I bought a loom. A loom, I reasoned, would help me burn through all the sock yarn at my house much faster than knitting was. Particularly since I can’t knit and read for classes (stupid active reading with its highlighting and note-taking!). Now, we know from long practice that I can reason my way into anything I want to do. I think most people can, it’s what separates us from the lesser animals. (The lesser animals don’t worry about reasoning their way into doing what they want to do, they just do it.) We also know that knitting is a gateway craft. I can’t tell you how many people start off with knitting, then the next thing you know, they’re crocheting. Then comes spinning. Then…well, you see my point. I may even have a lace-tatting kit here somewhere because knitting is a gateway craft. You start playing with fiber, and the next thing you know, you’ve got a hundred different forms of it around your house. Sometime I will show you all the places I’m stashing fiber around here, it’s insane.

At any rate, I ordered a loom. A 24″ Kromski Harp, which of course meant I needed a stand for it. And a bag. The crafty stuff is enabling! I then had no idea what the hell to do with it, so I ordered some books. I also had some friends come over and help me figure it out. Of course, they were not weavers, so it was like the blind leading the blind. Our initial attempt looked like a mummy bandage.

It was about the color of a mummy bandage, and also about the width of one. The part above doesn’t look all that bad, but the beginning of it, where we really had no idea what the hell we were doing? Looks not so good (if you click through to Flicker, there are notes on this next picture about what exactly is wrong with it).

Yeah. Well, everyone has to start somewhere. I didn’t keep my first few knitting projects because as soon as people heard I was knitting, they wanted stuff. I have to hope that they were not as bad as my first weaving project. But, as you can see in that first picture, by the end of the sample, we’d got the basic hang of it. So I warped my loom again.

I like to pretend that Mick Jagger is looking at my warping in this picture. Of course, the look on his face suggests he’s not impressed with it, but suck it, Mick. I used the remainder of the mummy bandage yarn on this one, and then used another color I wasn’t so fond of on the skein as the weft (the yarn that goes side to side). I do have yarn I’m not fond of because of sock clubs, and I figured practicing weaving was a good way to get rid of it. I had not counted on not being fond of the yarn as a reason to delay weaving, but that’s what happened. The practice scarf I was making sat on the loom from the middle of June until last weekend, when I finished it. I learned something important from this. Socks That Rock is a stretchy yarn, and if you don’t release the tension on the loom when you’re not actually weaving, it stretches like a mo-fo and the warp (the yarn that goes lengthwise, as seen above) becomes the dominant yarn in the scarf as opposed to being balanced. But never underestimate a grad student starved for crafting, because I started my Five Minute Rule with the idea of weaving again. Five minutes at the loom buys you serious progress, and look, you end up with a scarf (technically, it’s more ascot length).

And I even had a use for that fringe twister I bought when Rick took me to Webs a few weeks back (please pay no mind to the scary ironing board cover which did not bother me at all in person, but which now makes me flinch):

I even improved my selvage some, although it’s still kind of uneven.

On the whole, I’m fairly happy with this one, and I’m going to keep it just so in a year or so I can see how far I’ve come. And I’m totally going to warp the loom again this afternoon. I’ll use it as my carrot for getting through the next seventy-five pages of my Vietnam homework, because any kind of homework while you have a cold needs some sort of carrot.

I got the idea to make Amelia a shawl for her high school graduation when I went to Stitches South in 2009. There was some orange Malabrigo sock yarn that just seemed to be begging to be made into something for her (her favorite color is orange), not too bright, and mixed in with some more earthy colors (it was the “Archangel” colorway, but your mileage may vary – some people tell me their skeins are more purple, I guess because of the dyeing technique). At any rate, I snapped up two skeins, and then promptly forgot about them until winter break last year. At that point, I thought, “If I don’t get this started, it will never be done by her graduation because I’ll have classes in the spring.” So I cast on for the Feathered Wings Shawl (sorry, Ravelry link!) on January 4, 2010, because I wanted to give her something that she could wrap herself up in when she was feeling homesick, kind of like a college kid security blanket. And I liked the symbolism of making wings for someone “leaving the nest.” And I was making pretty good progress on it until that snowboarding thing happened, sidelining my knitting for a good while.

But, I do have enough discipline that when Amelia’s graduation was looming, I jumped right back into it. Alas, I only had 880 yards of sock yarn (the pattern calls for 880 yards of laceweight, which is not the same), so I had to leave off some of the last repeat. I finished knitting it on June 8, and I believe she graduated on June 9, which didn’t give me enough time to block it. So, I wrapped it up and gave it to her unblocked so she knew what she was getting, and could see the whole before/after process with lace (below is what it looked like at that point, which was still very nice, but not finished).

Amelia left the next day for a last two week trip with her glee club, and I blocked it. Of course, while blocking it, I found out that somehow I had missed a stitch, or the little bastard has squirmed off the needle, or something. And that is when I figured nail polish was the best policy. I knotted it back into the pattern, more or less, and then put a couple of drops of clear nail polish on the knot to hold it in place. As the Persian rug makers say, “Only Allah is perfect.” And yes, I told Amelia about this when she got back and I gave it to her, blocked. She loved it anyway. Now, did we get any good pictures of it on her? No. So you are left with this horrible shot of it blocking to get an idea of how it turned out (but hey, I just realized Charlie is in this picture, so that’s a little bonus, he’s cute).

And here’s one so you can get a better sense of the feather detailing:

Sorry, it was dark by the time I did this, I slept on the couch that night.

Details:

Pattern: Feathered Wings Shawl by Asami Kawa

Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in Archanangel

Needles: US Size 6, 48″ circular Knitpicks Options

Would I make this again? Absolutely. I might even make it for Sage when she graduates in three years. I really did like working with the sock yarn on this, it made it very cuddly to knit, and I think it suits the sensibilities of a college student a little better – more sturdy, not as fancy as laceweight would have been. I would also totally make this for myself in some of the twenty pounds of laceweight I have in this house. Maybe over winter break.

I would now like to blame Shaun White and the Winter Olympics for my stupidity. Damn you, with your making it look effortless and fun! (I am shaking my fist at them right now.)

Yeah, so the thumb hyper extension was bad enough that I spent a lot of time writing with my hand wrapped in an ace bandage, and my knitting (it was also the Knitting Olympics, after all) was completely de-railed. So the purple socks I started on February 13 for Rick’s mom’s birthday were stopped almost at inception because snowboard day was February 14.

But finally, this weekend when I was procrastinating, I finished them, making them my sole FO for 2010 so far. That statement there is pathetic and almost reduced me to tears yesterday when I realized it was true.

And here they are. The light was crap in the apartment, so they’re somewhere between the two in color – purple with a really intense violet blue. These are the Yarn Harlot’s Plain Vanilla Socks in Socks That Rock Lightweight, “The Incredible Shrinking Violet” colorway, which was a Club color a while back, 2.25 mm needles.

And now that I have finally, finally completed them, Rick’s ma has decided she is moving into a nursing home. In Florida. Where she will never ever need wool socks. I would keep them, but I know she likes the socks I knit for her, so instead I will laugh at the irony. Or cry. I haven’t decided yet.

The above is a picture of my newest work-in-progress, and a way of knitting I learned just tonight: toe-up on two circs. If you don’t knit, this is all Greek to you, but if you do knit, this is so cool! I feel really smart for learning it. I came home and showed it to Rick, full of enthusiasm. “Look! I made a toe! It’s a toe! A toe that I made!”

He examined it and pronounced “You could make nut sacks like this.”

I looked at him for a beat before replying “You realize that’s going on the blog.”

I decided to make my sister-in-law a nice pair of felted clogs. Everyone raves about this project, it’s on big needles, guaranteed to go fast. And it did. I enjoyed knitting them greatly. It was the felting part that I have a strenuous objection to. The directions say to put the clogs in the washing machine. Problem: I don’t have a washing machine. So I figure, “Oh, it’s okay, I can hand felt them. Stick them in a bucket of hot water with some towels for friction, use a potato masher to agitate them, it’s all good.” Famous last words.

I filled a bucket with hot water, stuck it in my bathtub. I put in some Soak knit wash, a couple of hand towels, and the clogs. I mashed it with the potato masher. For ten minutes. I took the clogs out. No noticeable felting happening. I tried a different technique, using my hands as the agitator. Ten more minutes of leaning over the bucket, I looked at the clogs again. Some felting. Okay, we were getting places. I switched up between the potato masher and my hands, because goddamn that is tiring. Ten more minutes. Some more felting, but nothing substantial. I put the iPod on the sound dock to break up the tedium. I agitated some more. And at this point, let me tell you that I have glass doors on my shower, which means the side of my bathtub has tracks for the doors on them. I was sitting on a towel to cushion those tracks, but after half an hour, I was starting to feel a little bruised on my posterior from them.

I stood up, thanking god and goddess for my small feet, and started doing my impression of the grape-stomping episode of I Love Lucy, one foot in the bucket swishing everything around, the other foot in the tub. Ten more minutes, and I was getting bored as well as tired of felting. Looked at the clogs. They’re a little more felted, but not shrinking down to a size 8 any time soon. See, that’s the thing about felting: felting is basically shrinking down your knitted object, in this case on purpose (as opposed to that time you accidentally stuck a sweater through the washer and dryer and ended up with a sweater fit for Barbie). So you need to start out with a gigantic knitted object for it to felt down to the right size. After forty minutes of felting, these things still would have fit Big Foot.

I went and got a beer. I felted for a half hour more, with various checks on the progress of the felting. Damn thing was going sloooow. Finally, after an hour and twenty minutes of alternately hunching over the bucket like an Irish washerwoman or doing the grape stomp, it seemed done. And by “seemed done,” I mean “was close enough to a size 8 that I didn’t care anymore because I was fucking crippled and sis-in-law could just wear some really thick socks with them and make them work. I put a ton of plastic bags in them to shape them, stuck them on the radiator to dry, and swallowed a fistful of Advil.

By the light of day the next morning, I could see they were a bit big, but as I hobbled around the house, I tried them on with socks and figured what the fuck, close enough for government work. I sewed on suede slipper bottoms to make them a little less slippy, then stuck a little note in them that said this was my first attempt at hand-felting, please excuse the unevenness, but I hoped she would like them anyway. I did not say that this would also be my last attempt at hand-felting. Because screw it, I don’t care if I have to beg, borrow, or steal, the next time I do felting it will be with the aid of a washing machine. I still hurt, and ain’t no one on earth special enough that their present gets to cause me pain for two days.

A week and a half left till Christmas, three knitted presents and one cross-stitch to go. I can do eet.

The Sock Put. This year’s attempt was a pair of Basic Sock Recipes (pattern by the Yarn Harlot) in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport, “Uptown” colorway. They were knit with Knit Picks Harmony dpns, 2.5 mm size.

They remind me of blue raspberry popsicles and lollipops. I want to lick them. Interesting to note, the yarn definitely bloomed after washing – softened up and not nearly so compact.

And then because I was nuts? I did another event. Well, I wasn’t really nuts, I just jumped off the cliff with the rest of the knitting lemmings who were doing multiple projects. But I kept it realistic, I kept it simple, and I medalled again:

Laceweight Long Jump, Amy R. Singer’s “Montego Bay Scarf” (which was promptly renamed “The Bad Wolf Bay Scarf” in honor of Team TARDIS and the Doctor) in Handmaiden Sea Silk, “Autumn” colorway. Knit Picks Options nickel plated, US Size 4, 24″ cable.

(Sorry that one’s out of focus, I was doing this all with self timer without a remote, so I would hit the button, it would focus on the wall behind me, then I would jump into the picture. It is not a perfect process at all.)

This might be my favorite Finished Object ever. I knit a bunch of it while watching episodes of Doctor Who, (sixteen of them, to be precise), so it soaked up some Who-mojo. It was a supremely easy knit, and very fast. It also goes perfectly with my coloring, which is not always a given (red hair and fair skin with a pink undertone means some colors just do not go with me). My only complaint is that it’s already starting to get a little halo after two wearings. I wanted it to stay crisp and halo-less forever. But I still love it.

So there we go. I’m not exactly the Michael Phelps of knitting, but things do look a lot nicer from the podium!

So what am I doing? Well, in between tearing up at the Opening Ceremonies last night (I can’t help it…seeing all those smiling athletes, some of whom have never been out of their countries before and will probably not win medals, amongst the amazing pomp and circumstance? It gets me.) and writing in parentheses, I’m competing in two events, the Laceweight Longjump and the Sock Put. Given how badly I bombed out in the last Olympics (I was the Jamaican Bobsled team, in case you’ve forgotten), I kept my expectations a little more real this year. Knowing that I have Carpal Tunnel and a strong tendency to Plurk all day, I am doing Plain Vanilla Socks (no cables, no lace, just miles of stockinette) and a Montego Bay Scarf (laceweight yarn on size 8s flies). If I manage to get those done ahead of schedule, I’ll see if I can’t finally finish Samng’s Sweater, which has been languishing. My goals are totally doable. And my team? Team TARDIS, baby. Crafting through time and space, the Doctor is our leader, and we have the benefit of a time machine. If we screw up, we can go back and fix it, as long as we manage to avoid ourselves – don’t want to create a time paradox, now, do we?

Since I spent a large part of yesterday manually updating Word Press to 2.6 (*rude finger gesture at hackers*), and my Flickr Photo Album plugin works again, I can now show you pictures! Without having to link to my photosets! Woohoo! Pics behind the cut.

Sometimes I actually get my act together and spin. Like this!

That is Cloverleaf Farms Blue Faced Leicester (or Biffle, as I like to call it) in the “Sapphires” colorway. Look, ma, I actually made a semi-balanced heavy worsted weight yarn!

And then I finally started playing with the Woollee Winder Mom gave me for Christmas. I took this:

And turned it into this:

After the WW learning curve that involved sending one of those singles back through the wheel to remove some twist, I have an almost-balanced worsted weight! Yay! C*EYE*BER Fibers superwash merino in “Fire.” I call it “Flames.” And I know an orange-loving teenager that will be getting this knit up into some form or another for Christmas. Still have to set the twist on both of these, but that will involve scouring the bathroom sink and tub (I am not letting my happy yarn get soap scum on it), so it’s going to wait a little bit.

Oh, and I still knit, too. I finished a pair of these for Rick’s mom, who loved her Christmas socks:

(Go, Obama! Sorry, for some reason the plugin isn’t letting me put in a picture of the pair. Weird.)

And right now I’m working on a pair of Primavera socks for myself in Dream in Color Smooshy yarn, “Some Summer Sky” colorway:

Yeah, that was taken with my camera phone on a lunch break to show Plurk what I was up to…sorry for the quality. That reminds me, I need to pick up a cardboard box for the lightbox I want to build.

Sometime soon, pictures of my goddaughter hanging from monkey bars. Because she is just that strong. This concludes your fiber content for the day.

You all know where this is headed. I joined something else. Miss Violet, from the Lime & Violet podcast, started a Farmgirl chapter on Plurk. Go ahead, read it, I’ll wait. Basically, a Farmgirl “A farmgirl believes in the strong arms of friendship, community and the just plain fun of being together. A farmgirl takes joy in the quiet satisfaction of making things with her own hands. She exudes kindness, grace, humility, gentleness, patience and generosity, and loves the simple pleasures in life. A farmgirl is loyal and caring, especially when it comes to her family, friends and community. She gives generously of her time and talents. Farmgirls love to get together to share their ideas. She can be with or without fields and stock. Farmgirl is a condition of the heart.” While I haven’t decided if I’m going to pay the $20 and join the Farmgirl sisterhood, I have joined the Plurkette Henhouse, which is a virtual Farmgirl chapter. We are a community of mostly fiber-minded people who met on Plurk, and since I spend much time each day conversing with these people online, it wasn’t much of a stretch to join them in something else.

I’m looking forward to seeing where this can lead me. And you know I like the idea of merit badges. It’s just a good match.