Rhinebeck and Red Scarves

New digital camera and going to Rhinebeck means I have pictures! And I didn't even break the bank - although I was slightly tempted to go beyond the small amount of cash I promised myself to stay limited to. Here's what I got:



One of those was a present for my fave professor.

Another cool thing I got was to see Norma!
To my readership (probably 3 people if I'm lucky): Norma is super-awesome (so is her daughter, but that's another story). Norma helps the Orphan Foundation of America in their coordination of the Red Scarf Project, where former foster children who now attend college receive care packages including hand-knitted red scarves. There's now a fund, too, to take care of other needs the kids and the org have.

So, go check out Norma's blog, and knit a scarf or make a donation! I can tell you firsthand that as a college student, care packages really make all the difference. I have friends here who are international students, and they've told me that checking their mail makes them sad because they never get anything. My mother started sending them cards and even cards really brighten people's days - a care package is amazing. I can't stress how big a difference this simple gesture makes.

Happy autumn, everyone!

Umm, yeah.

Okay, so it's been almost a year since I've blogged. That's really pathetic.

But much has happened since then! I survived my sophomore year of college, did two more plays, interned at CODEPINK NYC for the summer (amazing!) and have been knitting these things:

Sunrise Circle Jacket

Bird in Hand mittens

not pictured: Lara in black, a lot of fingerless mittens for gifts, a black beret, and I finally finished Orangina!
My digital camera is on the fritz and I'm not currently in the market for a new one. I've been using my cell phone a little bit but that camera is just not that good.

Good news is that I'll be home for the Sheep and Wool Festival (aka Rhinebeck? but it feels weird for me to say it like that) this year! Maybe I'll play blogger bingo (if it happens - I hope it does!). It'll be more for the experience than for the buying this time - I'm going to Paris this spring and the dollar is WEAK!

I'm also excited because I'm applying for a grant next summer to study knitting/fiber arts and activism. That way I can meet awesome people, learn about how people are using knitting, crocheting, spinning and hell, even sewing in their activist endeavors and come up with my own project out of the mix! It'll be a good way to combine my knitting and feminism. People keep telling me these things seem diametrically opposed. I should just tell them to go read the intro of Stitch 'n Bitch.

I made an unfortunate and ill-thought-out decision regarding the knitting to bring with me this semester. All I have are the bird in hand mittens, the MS3/swan lake lace stole, and some charted socks with a lace pattern I can't memorize - everything is involved, nothing is mindless. When I'm home in October I'll have to bring back some sock yarn for some easy socks, because I've been going CRAZY with not being able to knit and right now I only have brain space and time for something a little simpler!

For the few bloggers I know in real life: I hope to see you at Rhinebeck. Till then, peace and happy knitting!

Oh, the joys of college!

I am clearly not a very on-top-of-things blogger, but I do have a pretty good excuse: COLLEGE! Sophomore year has been crazy busy, but in a good way, and with a lot of fun in between the mounds of work.
Unfortunately, I have very little time to knit; I spend my time at our knitting club making squares for Warm Up America, and I catch maybe 20 minutes a day during an episode of Arrested Development on DVD - when I have time.

Somehow, though, progess has been made:
These are my finished Cafe Curtains socks, in knitpicks sock memories. I really like the colors, and they are very comfy!
I've also made progress on Orangina: the front and the back are both done, I just have to do about 6 more inches of ribbing then seam it. Maybe it'll be done by the spring? I exaggerate, but not by much!And I started a scarf for a friend in our school's colors (roughly); it's 1 by 1 ribbing. I think I deserve a good friend award for this one! It's in Lion Wool and Paton's Classic Merino.And, because I'm proud of myself, here's how much stash I brought to college:


Yep, that's it! Just a little sock yarn, a little for a start on Sunrise Circle (once that scarf is done!) and the MS3, which I optimistically hope to finish by the time I graduate.
Irony of ironies, my fall break is ONE WEEKEND before Rhinebeck. (P.S.: I live in Rhinebeck.) I can't justify going home two weekends in a row, what with work and stage managing and editing a newsletter for Amnesty International, etc. Oy vey. It would be fun, but it's probably good that I'm not going: I absolutely don't need any more yarn, and I definitely don't have money to spend (especially if I want to go abroad!).
Maybe I should just resort to knitting in class instead of taking notes. Any thoughts?

Sockpal!

This morning when I woke up, I was greeted by an exciting package! I have an amazing sockpal.

These socks are gorgeous! I think they are monkeys, made from Socks that Rock (a yarn I desperately want to try). The colors are amazing, and I absolutely love them!

My amazing sockpal included lots of beautiful loot: a keychain blocker with the leftover yarn to make a matching sock, two (two!) skeins of sock yarn, chocolate, lotion, needles, and one of the amazing monkey sock bags! There are even polka dots on the inside.

Sue, thanks so much for being an amazing sockpal! Everything is perfect!

Project Update

As the month changed from July (there's so much summer left!) to August (wow, I go back to school soon!), I found myself wishing I had a little more summer just on behalf of my knitting. Once I get back to college, my knitting time will be greatly reduced. I'm in the knitting club ("Knit Happens") and have the coveted role of club stash enhancer, but we like to use our meetings to work on charity knitting projects.
On with the show, here are some WIPs:

Orangina:

The back is just about finished; I hope to finish the front on vacation and then finish up the ribbing before I go back.

My pathetic progress on Mystery Stole 3:

I shouldn't call it pathetic, but I'm not even halfway through clue 1 (there are 5 clues out so far, and the entire length is much longer than this). It's sort of an advantage in a way, because I can read about other knitters' problems and solutions on the message board. I must say, although this knit it challenging, it is also very rewarding and I feel so accomplished looking at the progress after each row. It's my first lace, so I'm decently impressed with myself.

I mailed my sockpal's package yesterday and completely forgot to take a picture before I sealed it up, but it should get to her soon! If my upstream sockpal is still out there, I'm going on vacation for the next week and a half and while I'll have internet, I won't be able to see if the package arrived. Meanwhile, for my downstream pal, please let me know if you got (and liked) your socks and package!

Harry Potter!

In celebration of all of the Harry Potter festivities this month, I made myself a hat:

This is the hat that Ginny Weasley wears in the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I harbor a secret desire to be Ginny - we both have red hair, but she is much more kickass than I usually dare to be. This style of this hat is very out of the ordinary for me, but my Harry Potter obsession will allow me to overcome the qualms I have about its color and bow.

Meanwhile, I've been making a stuffed pig from a free pattern at Knitpicks:

The pattern calls for bulky, thick-and-thin Spinnaker and the lovely Shine Sport. It's been a lot of fun to knit so far.

I've also been working on Orangina:

It's going kind of slowly, but I'm really enjoying this knit. It's relaxing and I love the yarn (3/2 pearle cotton). I'll be very excited to finish this, because my summer wardrobe could use another black tank!

And finally, I too have joined the throngs of knitters working on Mystery Stole Three. My yarn and beads just arrived yesterday, so I am quite far behind. This will be my first lacey shawl project, and I've been color-coding and highlighting my charts to get them ready for my attempt!

Luckily, these are actually my only WIPs for the moment. Between working and spending time with my friends, I haven't had as much knitting time as I'd like, but hopefully some new movies from Netflix (these ones aren't foreign language, so I can actually knit while watching) will help me get these projects into gear.

Finished Socks!

My socks for my sockpals are finished - yay!

spring prairie socks in their natural habitat

I'm so happy with the way these turned out - and I think my sockpal will really like them!

Just as a recap: Knitpicks sock memories in spring prairie, Cafe Curtains sock pattern

Now that these are finished, it's time for a new project: some lovely, light, summery cotton just arrived for an Orangina!

This is my first sock exchange (or knitting exchange of any kind), and so far it's been so much fun to watch everyone's progress and learn about so many interesting blogs, gorgeous yarns and fun patterns. Yay for sockapalooza 4!

For some reason, this picture reminds me of France. When I visited Paris, it was springtime and everything was so green and beautiful! All things French have been dominated my life lately - starting to plan for study abroad, the original soundtrack of Les Miserables (yes, in French - it's gorgeous!) and some simply fabulous cinema. Lately, I've watched Indochine, Chocolat (set in Cameroon - not the Johnny Depp/Juliette Binoche movie), and the just-released La Vie En Rose, a biopic of the ever-lovely Edith Piaf. The best part: Mlle. Piaf was a devoted tricoteuse - and there was a lot of knitting in the movie. Girl is totally my idol.