A sorry lack of progress

Between school, another downswing in my health, and the neverending joy of commuting (SARCASMcoughcough) I haven't had much time to knit.
BUT!
All of that changes next week. My last final is thursday night, and then it's straight present making for a week until Christmas.
Stay tuned. There will be pictures.
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Yep. I'm alive.

So the start of school pretty much killed me. Commuting is so much harder than I'd feared it to be, and what with this fall being the windiest, rainiest one I can remember, I've been spending most of my time either driving in my very broken car, napping in an empty classroom, or writing papers at 2 am when I finally make it home.
But I have gotten a few things done, mostly easy stress-buster knitting in between midterms.



I saw this stuff in a clearance bin at Michael's in August and fell in love with it. No label, so I have no clue what it's made of or where it came from, but one skein was blue and sparkling, the other lots of jewel toned threads. I think there's mohair in there someplace, it's really warm. I knit a long garter stitch row and made the scarf knit lengthwise instead of widthwise back and forth.
(Note the sweatshirt... most of my knitting has been done with a game on in the background. Philly is INSANE with baseball fever right now, me included)
...The baroness beret off Ravelry that came out perfect, except for the fact that after blocking the brim stretched out so far I have to wear it with bobby pins to get it to stay in my hair. Sigh. Cheap acrylic, how I love/hate thee.

I've been getting really into charts lately, and this was my first piece; I took the boarder for a pair of mittens and made it much bigger for a cowel. Which the sister stole as soon as she was home visiting from college... lucky I got a picture before it left me forever.




And this I've been wearing all the time. I did a simple hat start with k2 p2 rib, then switched to larger needles and k1, yo, k2tog and k1 row throughout. It's the perfect hat. And I've been having some BAD hair days with the rain. Think bigfoot.
...in other news, I got a new camera for my birthday, so the quality of my pics is a TON better.... or it will be once I figure out all the settings. And after getting lost in the mail twice, my new circs from knitpicks finally showed up. I'm thinking that it's time to start a blanket. Or two. Maybe seven. Hmmm.

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Tick Tick Tick

I've been counting down the days to the beginning of semester with a watchful eye and a weary sense of purpose. I've bought a new backpack, gotten a parking permit, I'm almost ready.
But this past week, as I've feared, I've had a bit of a relapse. It's getting worse, so much so that I've got an appointment with my Lyme doctor tomorrow afternoon.
Which will, hopefully, produce some really powerful drugs.
Good news for my work, though; trying to keep my mind off of the impending academic failures has given me very busy hands.
Of the crafty variety. Get your mind out of the gutter!
First up, the latest round of dying.

New folding design I tried with the roommate. Turned out pretty well, I think. You can find the instructions for it here:



He has so many great tutorials. You'll look like a hippie in no time. He's based out of Canada someplace. Maybe they have a lot of hippies in Canada? That is where you go to dodge the draft....







This is the 'sunburst' design. The tee-shirt was really old and stained and I needed to revive it. The fact that it looks like America threw up all over it was totally unintentional.
Tutorial for that here:


(although the girl who does this one is really annoying. Consider yourself warned.)




I've never tie dyed yarn before but when I found a random skein of plain white sugar-n-creme floating around in my closet, I figured why not. There's a little too much white for my taste, but there wasn't much ink left by this point and I had no idea what was and wasn't colored.
Better luck next time. This will probably become a dishrag or something else you make with yarn that's unfit for humans :(







Now. The WIPS!!









This is the Leaf Lace Scarf(Ravelry link below) That is taking me forever to get any progress on. But it's really girly and pretty and made from something pink I found in the clearance bin at Michaels. Only one skein. I'm totally ignoring tension and all that and knitting loose so it'll be long enough.


http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/leaf-lace-scarf









Second up, the Harry Potter scarf. One of my old roommates has wanted one for a while, the kind that looks like this ------->






It's pretty much just TV knitting, but it's also a K1 P1 rib, so the growth is deceptively slow.
I don't have any pictures, that's how much I hate this thing. I'm maybe half way done, and pushing hard to finish in the next two weeks. She goes back to school in West Virginia soon, and it's wool and heavy and I am waaayyyy too cheap to pay for shipping.



But! After I'm all done that(and I take a good long knitting break) I'm starting on something new. I've got a scarf pattern in my head that I've been itching to try.

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Update!


Thanks everyone for being patient with me.
Summer has really gotten in the way of my knitting progress, but I'm not complaining.
Lots of new things!

First off:
Berets. I started to make a drawstring bag, and it turned into this...
I loved the pattern, but wasn't too crazy with the fact that it was made out of some crappy mill-end sugar and creme half-skein. Fine for a bag, not for wearing on my head out in public.


Using much the same pattern, take two looked like this:

But somehow, it became floppy. Really, really floppy. I think maybe I did the decreases twice or something... it's on the verge of being too floppy, like a giant mushroom monster from SuperMario. So floppy, in fact, that you can barely see the lace pattern, which I worked damn hard to think up in the first place. But you get the general idea. It's uber warm. Bad for now, good for when I go back to school in the fall to brave the wilderness that is the commuter parkinglot in November.
BUT! I'm having issues with my Circs. I hate DPNS with a burning passion, firey hatred of a thousand suns, etc etc. So when I do my decreases I prefer to magic loop the sucker closed.
I'm currently using the takumi bamboo circs, which I love to knit with until I start my magic loop work, and then I HATE THEM. The join is strong, but not smooth enough to keep the stitches from laddering and stretching. If anyone has any suggestions as to what/where I can find some good, not-too-expensive circs that do gangbusters for magic loop, please email me or leave a comment. I think I'll have to buy them online, because my local stores are pretty limited in their stock.

Next up, stash porn!
Now, if you're like me, you wait until the warm months to binge heavily on yarn. I've spent maybe $40 since the beginning of summer but, trust me, it would have cost 4 times that if bought in the cold months.

...and all of it is wool! WOOL IS TOO EXPENSIVE FOR ME NORMALLY. This is like fiber Christmas. Well, actually not all of it is wool. These two are my faves and have no labels on them (which, I think, is why they were two for a buck... not much to work with but so pretty)
It I had to guess, I would say there's mohair in there, but the colored part is still a mystery.
Lastly:
Stay tuned for a bit of a 'blog revamp". I actually do an embarassing amount of crafting, of all types, with knitting being one of the lesser efforts lately. I used to have three different blogs(yep, literally three) but I've just shut down the other two because blogger>wordpress, xanga, any other platform I've been using. And by better I mean it's easier because I've become addicted to Google mail. So the site will be changing a wee-bit in appearance and layout and such.
Ergo, there will be all kinds of crafty posts from now on, not just knitting(sorry for my Ravelry buddies... don't mean to bore!)
I tie dyed my quilt last week, because it was old and white and really sad looking, but worn in just the right amount to be too comfy to part with.

This is the pillow sham that I made to go with it, dyed white muslin. The quilt looks more or less the same, but a little more faded since it's half polyester, which is (generally) a huge tie-dying no-no. It goes with my carpet and new drapes, it cost me a grand total of $8, I love it.
That's pretty much it, people. Stay cool. It's like mars outside.
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Summa timeeeee and the living's e-z.

I have been knitting, I swear, I just have nothing to show for it yet. My sister's birthday afghan is about half way done. Think sickeningly purple. Think hearts and fringe. If you knew her, you'd understand.
Most of my month has been lots of out-and-about with my friends, now that they're all home from college. They're very active people. It's hard to take along knitting to the art museum, penn's landing, the movie theatre(on a side note, GO SEE STAR TREK. It's mind-melting. And I have it on good authority that even if you're not a huge trekkie, like I semi-ashamedly am, it's still loads of fun).
But! I've gotten tons of emails and ravelry-related requests for the piggie slipper pattern.
I made them sooo long ago, I'm doing it all from memory, so forgive me. Here goes.

PIGGIES FOR YOUR PIGGIES.

You will need!
-1 skein of pink yarn(I used something soft and fuzzy i had around, most anything will do)
-US 10 straight needles
-4 large, flat, black buttons
-4 large 'googlie eyes' (available at most craft stores)
-Tapestry needle
-Hot glue Gun and stick
-one pipe cleaner, cut to appropriate length
-Pink Embroidery floss
-Black embroidery closs
-Pink fabric paint (optional)

Make two of these:
CO 30 sts. You can choose to make these in either stockinette(like I did) or simple garter stitch. They're slippers, they're not meant to be rocket science!
Knit whichever stitch you want until it is ALMOST long enough to fit your foot(My roommate is a 7-8, so I made them 8 or 9 inches long overall, but I would end this step at 7 inches.
K2tog for one row.
Then knit all across.
K2tog for the next row as well, and also the next if you want the toe to be really pointed.
Cut off the remainder of the yarn, and threading it through the tapestry needle, thread it through the remaining stitches to gather them all together, creating the toe. Consider which side you want to be the outside of the slipper, because when you're done all the seaming and such you will inside-out the work.Fold the fabric in half and sew up the back of the slipper ON THE OUTSIDE. Remember, the side that faces you should be the side you don't want to show. After you seam it up, flip the slipper inside-out.

Now. The pig parts:

Make four EARS:

Co 8 sts. Continue working in whatever stitch you made the body in.
Knit across two rows. Then K2 tog, leaving 6 sts. Knit across again, two rows. Then K2 tog, leaving 4 sts. Knit across ONCE, then K2tog, leaving two. Knit across, and K2tog. Bind off.


Sew these on the INSIDE seam of the slipper body with the right side facing OUT... I put it on my foot, and made little marks as to where the ears should go evenly spaced. Keep in mind that the ears should be kind of droopy, but firmly sewn into the work.

Make two TAILS:

Co 5 sts. Knit, continuing in desired stitch, for 3 or 4 inches. Then place the trimmed pipe cleaner in the work(wrong side facing up) and seam the tail shut so the pipe cleaner is encased hot dog style. Wrap it around a pencil to make the cork screw, and sew onto the back of the slipper.

Make two SNOUTS:

This is the tricky part.
CO 2 sts, and knit it to 8 inches. Then, roll it up in a spiral, and pin straight through. Using the pink floss, ssecure it together from one side to the other, then sew it onto the outside of the toe so that it's square in the middle. Using the black floss, make the two nose slits (just two simple black lines, though I suggest making them out of multiple stitches and not just one long one).


Take two black buttons per slipper, and sew one onto each side of the head. Use the pink floss and sew them on TIGHTLY. While you do this, warm up the glue gun. Apply melty glue liberally to the button, and attach the eyes, pressing button and eye together until it dries.
OPTIONAL: if you're a spazz, like me, you can buy pink fabric paint and put little dots on the bottom side of the slipper for traction. Falling down the stairs is always a good thing to avoid.

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