A Breakthrough

Folks, there’s been a breakthrough.

I can knit and read at the same time. Nothing major, just plain old stockinette stitch. Still, that’s good enough for me.

I made this discovery at around 8:50 pm last night, and that’s all that got me through my studying for the rest of the evening. The needles kept me awake as I read through my biochem notes. My midterm is on Saturday, and I’ve been studying as much as I can for it.

Plain old stockinette, you ask? But of course! I have a pair of plain vanilla socks on the go for my Dad for Christmas. Perfect for studying. When I get to the toe, I’ll just have to put them aside and see if my brain is advanced enough to do some k1, p1 on my sweater. Can’t be too difficult. I feel as if I’m going to have an enormous repertoire of knitted things to blog about soon. That’s good, since I made a trip to a craft store on Saturday on my way home. I bought two new skeins of yarn that have yet to be introduced to the blog. They don’t fit in the yarn bin, so I guess I had better get going!

Added bonus? Knitting while studying actually makes me want to study.

(I’m aware that my mittens are far too complicated to work on while I’m studying. I’ve moved my expectations for finishing back a little bit… I’m not even finished the cuff yet.)

Sock Woman

It’s a bird, it’s a plane… it’s Sock Woman!

She hides in the most unlikely of places, amongst the detritus of a University student.

She only comes out in the wee hours of the night, when the roommates are asleep and reruns of the Bachelor are on.

No one knows if she is real, or if she is just a midterm-crazed student with a bad case of “just one more row” syndrome.

The doings of Sock Woman

Last night she paid a visit to the third house on the left. She left the evidence of her progress strewn among genetics assignments and grocery lists.

She finished the heel flap. Turned the heel. Most of the gusset.

Only you can guess when and where Sock Woman will strike again.

Thanksgiving Blues

Today is one of those days where we must come back to reality. Everyone I know is in a down mood… I think it’s the lack of turkey and family. We’ve all come back to the reality that is midterms, lack of sleep, and stress.

For me, it’s not that bad. I have this weekend at home to look forward to, and only one midterm this week. I’ll have a decent amount of knitting time, and I hope to get these socks off the ground. The sweater is going to have to go on another hiatus for the time being, while the Christmas knitting consumes me.

Since I’ve exhausted my supply of television shows to watch at the present time, I’ve taken to listening to audiobooks while I knit. I’m loving it so far… It’s intellectually stimulating, and you don’t have to look at anything but your knitting while you do so. I can get these audiobooks free from my library at home online. It’s great for me, since it’s completely free and allows me to continue to utilize my library privileges while I’m here at school. I got completely sick of the library while I worked there this summer, but I’ve been away long enough that I’m craving books again.

To make matters worse, my boyfriend and I have been working our way through the Harry Potter movie series, and now all I want to do is go and read the books again. It’s actually quite difficult to choose between reading and knitting during my down time sometimes. I love the audiobooks; this way, I don’t have to choose.

Leftovers!

I’ve been staving off the Thanksgiving Blues with leftovers… Above was tonight’s meal. My mom came by yesterday to drop off some food. I love holidays that involve leftovers!

Now, time for some knitting and a cup of tea. I’ll get to that school work eventually.

Meant to be

I’m beginning to wonder if this sweater is meant to be.

After a long shopping session on Saturday, I finally picked out my yarn and bought 15 skeins of it. I shared photos yesterday. So, I started to work on my gauge. I didn’t get the recommended gauge, of course (because really, who does?).

I went to look for bigger needles. Did I have the next size up? Of course not. That would be too simple. So I decided to try to get gauge with two needle sizes up.

I was still half an inch off, and it was beginning to look like lace, since the needles were way too big for the yarn. Clearly I needed to get some thicker yarn.

So, off I went to the yarn store, bulging bag of yarn in tow. I walked up to the store, to find the door locked. Lovely. This yarn wasn’t meant to be.

This morning it was raining, so I didn’t get to ride the horses. Instead, I got ready for work early and went to the yarn store beforehand. I got the old yarn returned, and went to look for some different stuff. I found a colour I liked, but do you think they had enough? Of course not. But, after some careful sleuthing, we found enough in the same die lot!

The replacement yarn is Paton’s Shetland Chunky in Soft Teal. I’m excited to start on it. I’m really hoping that I can use my size 8’s, because they are the only wooden needles I own, and I’m rather fond of the wooden needles for chunkier stuff.

One of these days I will actually cast on for this silly sweater.

The Multiple Uses of Knitting Needles

Things I have learned about knitting in the past year:

1. If you tell your boyfriend you knit, he’s going to want a pair of socks. Ensure that you explain the Curse of the Boyfriend Sweater so that he doesn’t ask for a sweater.

2. Knitting needles double as head scratchers, cat toys, and pointers.

3. Knitting while attempting to cuddle with another person is exceedingly difficult. I have become a pro.

4. Taking up the entire couch with a pattern, various needles, and balls of yarn, is unacceptable when living in a house of 5.

5. Put away all yarn bits when you have a cat.

6. Having scissors stashed in multiple locations is a good idea. You can never find them when you need them.

7. Printing multiple patterns and leaving them around the house doesn’t make the knitting go faster.

8. The bag of yarn that your mother bought 3 years ago in a fit of nostalgia is off limits. You can, however, retrieve the needles that she’s hoarding, as long as there is nothing on them yet.

9. Do not bring knitting on long car rides if you have the horse with you. Your knitting will end up smelling like horse by the end of the trip.

10. Car attendants at the airport parking service tend to leave knitting alone as long as it is well hidden. No missing needles were reported.

11. No matter how much you prod your mother to show you how to use the sewing machine, the needles rolls aren’t going to get done unless you sit there and figure it out yourself.

In the public eye

I’m a closet knitter. I tend not to knit in public places, and I don’t knit in front of anyone except my family, my boyfriend, and my very close friends.

I haven’t always been this way. I remember when I was younger, and just starting out, I would bring my knitting with me everywhere I went. I was probably around 10-12 at the time. I will never forget someone looking at me a little funny in a waiting room once, then another lady saying “She’s knitting… What is she, a grandma?” And from then on… The knitting stayed in the bag.

Then I went to highschool. I had to be very careful about knitting. Anything I made and wore in public had to be extra-cool. I made mittens in grade 11 that were red and white houndstooth pattern (I still wear them regularly) and I remember some of my classmates ooh-ing and ahh-ing over them. Inevitably, the “where did you get them” question came up… I told them I made the mittens. There were looks of confusion, but in the presence of knitted items that they clearly approved of, they were decently supportive. None-the-less, I maintained my knitting in secret status.

Since I’ve moved away to University, my perception has changed a little, but I’m still a closet knitter. Am I afraid to show people that I am successful at an age-old craft? That if all of the clothing production in the world shut down one day, I would still be warm? That instead of sitting on the couch and eating a bag of chips every night, I sit on the couch and make socks? I’m more productive than the average human, that’s for sure. And there are millions of knitters in the world. Without knitters, during World War I and World War II, our soldiers’ feet and hands would have frozen solid. (I can’t scientifically back that up, but I’ve always thought the propaganda about knitting for the soldiers and supporting the war effort was pretty cool).

I think that if I brought the knitting everywhere I needed to go, I would get a lot more done. How often to I have a weird 10 minute wait for something? Could have been knitting. Lineup at the gym? Could have been knitting. Waiting for a class to start? Could have been knitting. Bus ride home? Could have been knitting. You get the picture.

I carted my super-scary-pattern-sock-knitting around with me yesterday, and I have before and after pictures to show just how much work you can get done.

Heel and gussets done; just a big mess of stitch holders, needles, and cut yarn

After an hour break at work, and a movie last night, part of the foot is complete!

See what I mean? Progress, by using all available time, public or no.

(Since you’re wondering, these are Hat Heel Socks in Paton’s Kroy Sock yarn. I’ll have to check the colourway.)

Listopia

It’s Monday. It’s a list.

1. My job is so incredibly boring that I am practically dying as I sit here. I have exactly 9 shifts left (not including the one I’m doing right now) and the end of it can’t come fast enough. Even though that means no more paycheck.

2. I had yesterday off (thankfully) and I think I knit about 20 rows total. I did read half of a 500+ page book though.

3. I have 27/101 things done on the list. What is going on here.

4. My stats page looks like the Sahara Desert. No one wants to come and read about my slow knitting progress anymore, I suppose. Give it two weeks until I’m back at school and then I will be a lot more interesting.

5. It’s starting to feel like fall outside. This makes me insanely excited. I just want to drink tea and knit things.

6. I think I’m addicted to Twitter.

7. Even though it’s sunny outside at the moment, I still just want to lay on the couch.

8. Is it irresponsible to start dreaming about Christmas yet?

9. People who have kittens make me insanely jealous. I want one, but I know that it’s a bad idea. My house for school is pet friendly, but… My parents are dead against it as well. Hmm…

10. There really isn’t a #10. I just wanted to make a nicely rounded out list.

There you have it…. A disorganized and random list of my thoughts. I’ll be back when I can come up with something interesting to write about.

The Chunk

I have a friend who fondly refers to the months of September to December as “The Chunk”. She calls it this because it is her favourite chunk of the year. It’s the beginning of a new school year, it’s fall, it’s winter, and it’s Christmas. She loves fall, the colours, the tea-drinking… Everything really.

I think that The Chunk is one of my favourite parts of the year too. I love fall. I love cozying up in handknits. I love preparing for winter. I appreciate the nice days that much more, since I know that very few are left. I love the fuzzy coats that the horses grow.

The Chunk makes me nostalgic for chunks past. Last year, The Chunk was one of the most exciting times of my life. I was entering University, and living on my own for the first time in my life. I had new and old friends and special people in my life. There were definitely some hard times; I remember a three week span where I cried nearly every day. I lost some loved ones, and gained perspective on events past.

I got through those weeks because I had people to care for me. Some of those people have since drifted away, but some will be with me once again during this year’s Chunk. I’ll be living in a new house and starting a new year, but I’ll be away from my horse and my family. There will be new knits, but also new hardships.

I think The Chunk is when I really start to put things into perspective. I get to be busy during the Chunk, but I also have more down time, since the weather is colder. I appreciate the outdoors even more, and with Thanksgiving I think about what I’m thankful for.

We are entering The Chunk, and I can’t stress enough how happy I am about that, even though it’s going to be vastly different from last year.

Focus

Today has been strange. Beyond strange, actually. I headed to the hospital this morning before work to get a minor lesion looked at, followed by heading off to work. I didn’t have time to ride, and it will likely be close to dark by the time I get home. I’m also dealing with a major upset in my life at the moment (of which I won’t go into detail here).

I threw my little nub of Hat-Heel Sock into my work bag this morning, and I’m so glad that I did. As I sat knitting on my break, I realized that knitting grounds me. It puts things into perspective.

I recall knitting when I was in grade 9, beside my grandmother’s bedside as she was in her last days. It was an incredibly difficult time period for my family, but the knitting was calming. It also provided something for my grandmother to latch onto. She had severe dementia, and she didn’t remember much in her last days. She had always been a knitter though, and she loved to hold the knitted fabric.

So today, as I sat on my break, completely overwhelmed by the events that have happened in the last 24 hours, I pulled out my knitting and began to work. My breathing slowed, and I was able to put everything into perspective. Usually, I think of riding as my escape. It takes me far away from my troubles; I have to focus so much that I can’t be distracted by other things. It all comes rushing back when I jump off though.

Knitting, on the other hand, helps me to focus. It allows me to think, while simultaneously making one stitch after another. I immediately gain a more positive outlook; if I can knit one stitch, over and over, and create something, then I can keep going past whatever it is that’s bothering me.

Don’t get me wrong. There are times when I’m knitting and I get so mad that I have to put the needles down or else I’m liable to poke someone’s eye out. There’s also times when I just knit because I feel like it; it doesn’t impact my overall mood.

But today, I needed my knitting. I still need my knitting, and I know now that when it comes to insurmountable obstacles, or big decisions that I need to think about, I just need to grab some knitting and make some stitches. Then my thoughts will go straight.

Burnt Toast

This morning I burned my toast.

I hate burnt toast, with a passion. Burnt anything, for that matter.

My bread was dry and hard.

I ate in anyway.

Why? Why did I eat something that I clearly wasn’t going to enjoy? Why didn’t I just compost it and start over? That would be the logical solution…

I ate it because I was late. I didn’t have time to put new pieces of bread in the toaster and start over. I didn’t have time to make a cup of tea.

I realized, as I was driving to work this morning, reflecting on my burnt toast, that I wasn’t following the old saying “That which matters the most should never give what to that which matters the least”. I often try to listen to this saying, to ensure that I have time to do what matters most to me. I always make time to ride my horse, see my family and my boyfriend, and to go to school.

It also occurred to me that I spend a lot of time doing things which matter very little to me. Work is a prime example. In a roundabout way, work helps me to complete school, which is very important. But the physical act of going to work is something which matters very little to me. I have a very unfulfilling and boring job (libraries I tell you) but that’s not even the point. The point is, I know that I want to be doing something for the rest of my life in which I can feel fulfilled.

Work is a fact of life. I can’t do anything about it. But I can start to give up other things that don’t matter to me at all. I spend an inordinate amount of time checking Facebook and Twitter. I also spend a lot of time aimlessly surfing the web while at work, when I could be doing something else (like writing my book). These simple little time wasters hinder the completion of the things that I want to do in my life.

I have an awkward 2 hour break on Wednesdays, when I transfer between libraries and wait for them to open. I have a forty minute drive, then I sit in the parking lot for an hour and a half. I have been using that time to read all summer. Today, it occurred to me that although there are many books I would like to read, there are few that are holding my attention at the moment.

This morning I almost grabbed my knitting on my way out the door, but I was in a rush. I’m really wishing that I had grabbed it, since the book I’m reading is a little boring at the moment. Using these spare moments to do something I enjoy, like knitting, will allow me to complete my goals much more efficiently. That which matters the most won’t be giving way to that which matters the least, because I’ll have some knitting with me anytime I need it.

Car knitting, you will be my saviour.

And finally, tonight, after a week off, I’ll be working on the Zoomobiles. I can’t wait to get home.