the middle knitter

I'm back! I'm not going to bother with apologies for the absence--I doubt most of you were that invested in the updates. Let's just say that summer break happened, and that I'm fine with that. The good news, though, is that I'm back at school now, and I've decided that it's time to institute an honest-to-goodness update schedule. So, this is an announcement that the middle knitter will, until further notice, update once a week on Saturdays.

Yeah, I know, I know. That's not a very strenuous update schedule. Give me a break--I'm in college. I'm taking 15 credit hours, and working 18+ hours a week, and none of that includes extracurricular activities. I figure committing to update once a week will be a light enough load that I can actually keep the blog alive.

So, consider today a freebie post, since I've got a lot of material to get through and only so much time before I lose interest in it all.

Like I said, I'm back at school now. I actually moved in last Sunday. Unpacking was a major ordeal, but we're all moved in now. Check out my new digs:

The desk is at least half again as big as the desks we had last year, and I couldn't be happier. It's going to be so much easier to do craft projectshomework with a desk this size.

Also, on the left, you can see my two newest toys:

The bottom is an external harddrive I bought with some of the leftover money from my research fellowship this summer. It's more of an investment than a toy, really. It had been about three years since the last time I backed up my data, mostly because burning a couple dozen gigabytes of information onto cds is both time consuming and not really practical. But, I have a lot of files that I would really hate to lose, so it was high time I bought one of these.

On top, we have the 25th Anniversary re-release of Minty, one of the original My Little Ponies from 1983. You might remember me posting about the set some time ago. When I saw it at Wal-mart, I had to get it. See, I've kicked way back on my My Little Pony collecting, but I still love to collect Minty stuff.

Oh, wait, you're here for knitting? Well, I guess I've been doing that too. Tomorrow I'll start catching up on all the finished objects I did while I was away, but for now, this can tide you over:

These are in Patons Kroy Sock, "Norfolk Blue". (I wonder why exactly they can't just be 'navy blue'. You know?)

I did those on the train back to school. Oh, man, the train ride--that's enough to deserve a post of its own. (It probably won't get one, since I don't have any photos, but it definitely could fill one.) These are my first pair of toe-up socks, and they were supposed to be for my roommate, Mary, but they fit me, and not her, so . . . I get to keep them. I have to say, I didn't enjoy the process of knitting them toe-up quite so much as top down. I can't really put my finger on why, either. Although, I didn't really dig the short-row heel at all.

And I definitely need to find a better bind-off. I knew that when I was binding off, but since it was on the train, I didn't really have any way to look up a better method. (I was actually kind of surprised that the book I've been using, Sensational Knitted Socks didn't give an alternate cast off method . . . she goes into detail about a lot of other techniques.

Anyway, I've kind of hit a block with them . . . it's not so much 'second sock syndrome' as 'eighth sock syndrome'. (I made a lot of socks once I learned how. I'll show you them in the days to come.)

. . . and had it not three corners, it would not be my hat.

So, I said I'd start catching up on the things I made while I was out. Well, this is probably one of the coolest . . .

It's from this pattern from Knit Like a Pirate. I've been wanting to make one for a while. Then, I found the perfect pirate shirt at Salvation Army, so I knew I had to make a hat to go with it.

This was an adventure in the amazing power of felting. Here's what the hat looked like before:

Yeah. Pretty exciting.

Also, this isn't something I made, but the photo ended up in my "Knitting" folder, and it was too pretty not to share. My stepfather, Clay, is a carpenter. He makes furniture, but his real love is making fiddles. Behold, the most recent fruit of his labors.

It's beautiful. It also sounds beautiful, which is more important. I'm always astounded by Clay's handiwork. I mean, I work with my hands too, but I can't really fathom the things he does. They're incredible.

They're also for sale. So, if you know anyone who's looking for a really nice fiddle or violin*, get them in touch with me, huh?

Next week: Socks!

* Technically the same instrument, so although Clay insists on calling his fiddles, you could really use them either way.

Okay, so I've only tried this update schedule for one week, and I already dislike it. I dunno--one big post once a week seems a lot less appealing than several smaller posts. So, this week I'm going to try something new. I'll write up several posts this weekend, and set them to show up at various times through the week. We'll see how that works.

I have just a few more things that I finished this summer, then we'll be current.

First, remember these socks? I finished them not that long after that post and never got around to sharing pictures.

Shown with the mini socks I knit out of the remainders of the yarn. I had enough leftover for a pair of small child's socks, and I still have enough left to repair my socks if they need it. The little ones will be donated to charity--probably Afghans for Afghans, now that Dulaan has ended.

The most important lesson I learned from these socks is that I need to be really careful in the future with varigated yarn, because something can look very pretty in the ball and knit up . . . not so much.

Another pair of socks:

These are made in Knitpicks Essential, "Pine". No particular pattern--I used the standard template from Essential Knitted Socks, but added cables up the sides. (I swear I wasn't trying to do a pale copy of the Yarn Harlot's new socks--I finished these weeks ago.)

The special thing about these socks is that they were created for my county fair. I finished them the night before the fair and I was blowdrying them hours before we had to go enter them. They took a blue ribbon, but honestly, I suspect they were the only thing in their division, so . . . make of that what you will.

And finally, a hat.

It's loosely based on Knitty's Coronet--by which I mean that I knit a cabled strip, grafted the ends together, and picked up stitches around it. It was originally going to be a Christmas present, but it ended up much too small, so it's going to be donated to charity too. I think the acrylic content might be too high for Afghans for Afghans, though.

I should note that Puss in Boots craves your indulgence for the somewhat unorthodox photography here--you don't have a lot of options in a dorm room.

Anyway, that's the last of my backlog. Tomorrow, the real content begins.