Promiscuous Knitting

I've been a very promiscuous knitter recently.  I have lots of stuff I'm supposed to be doing right now--work for my capstone course and studying for a CPA exam section that I take next Sunday being chief among them, packing and getting ready to move coming second as I have a whole extra week to get them done.  Despite the fact that these are all Very Important Things, I've been sneaking away to knit every night. It's bad.  Knitting has become my mistress even though all I want to do is show the world how much we love each other.

Unfortunately, I can't even stay faithful to my knitting.  I'm trying to work on my Silver Featherweight, but the tiny needles and yarn are making it take so long.  I just finished up the decreases for the waist shaping I'm doing, so at least I know I'm making progress.  I've been sneaking in hexipuffs every now and then to get that satisfaction of completing something, though. That's the problem with hexipuffs--they're always sitting in that basket on the floor just lookin' at me.

Please excuse the painfully bad picture.  My beloved pink digital camera has finally decided to go crazy after 4 1/2 years of abuse, so it's stuck zooming in all the way.  I start work in 24 days, but I really don't want to wait until my first paycheck to get a new camera.  Might have to be a little irresponsible with monies.

"Oh, you know I'm buying that."

I'm currently chugging along on the body of my Featherweight.  I had to rip out about 4 inches after a less than successful attempt at fixing a dropped stitch.  Shockingly, trying to hook an extra stitch into something knit on 1s with laceweight makes it look like some sort of Frankensteinian scar.

So the only news of the day comes from the quote in the title, which I said to my roommate on our Icee excursion to the gas station last night.  It was spurred by this:

It's like trail mix, but minus the gross dried fruit and other pretend-healthy things! Plus chocolate chip cookies!

I'm sort of obsessed.

9 (!!) Weeks of FO Fridays

Wow. Having now counted out the weeks of absence, I can't believe it.  Anyway, I did actually knit during the hiatus from my baby blog and therefore have quite a few FOs to share.

First up is Skew, a pattern that I've been thinking about trying forever.  I fell in love with how soft Knit Picks' Felici is after I bought a set of mini skeins off Etsy and wanted to knit a full set of socks out of it.  When I came across the Time Traveler colorway I knew what had to be done.

My Fish Fingers and Custard socks aren't  nearly as original as I had thought, but I love them.  The bias stitches make the fit amazing, although the tops are a bit tight.  I'll definitely make this pattern again but won't go down a needle size for the ribbing.

I wish my origami heel had a thicker red stripe to match the other stripes, but it was so cool that I'll overlook that.

Next up are my San Diego Jaywalkers, which were done in the Botany colorway.  I started these in San Diego but didn't get much time to work on them, so they were finished up in Lexington.  Don't tell anyone.

I made some time for knitting while watching B on his new longboard at Pipes, though.  Doesn't that sound cool?  I obviously know nothing about surfing (except that he is under the misguided belief that I will attempt it at some point), but I like to drop in words like that to sound SoCal. I don't think it's working.

I just finished a freakishly fast test knit.  As in, I think this was finished about 50 hours after receiving the pattern.  What can I say? I've already explained how little motivation I have to study, and the Jaywalkers got me into a chevron mood.  This is the Chevy Cowl from myknittedheart, but the pattern isn't available yet.

I used some leftover NaturallyCaron.com Spa, which made the cowl a little more floppy and a lot more shiny than the original.  I still like it, though I'm not sure if/when I'll ever wear a cowl.

The pattern did introduce me to Cat Bordhi's videos on wrapping and turning, which made my short rows look better than they ever have before.

I also made a huge, slightly PITA item for a tinyowlknits swap, but since my spoilee hasn't received her package yet I'm going to hold off on posting it.

Most importantly: on the Thursday before I left San Diego I got a call from a local firm.  I had sent them my resume back in April and they just so happened to call when I was out there, so I managed to get in for an interview the next day.  I had a follow-up Skype interview with the firm administrator on Tuesday and they called me back last night...I got the job! Such a relief to have this figured out.  I still have to get through my final class, pass the last part of the CPA exam, and find a place to live, but I plan to make my roommates celebrate with me and bourbon this weekend.

Whoops (and WIPW)

I guess it's a really good thing that I don't have any blog followers because I apparently suck at blogging. I have reasons for my extended absence, chief among them being the 4-week summer class I was taking that was interrupted by my dad being admitted to the hospital.  My parents are divorced and my brother lives in Austin so I had to go be with him.  Then he had to have open heart surgery and spent a total of 2 weeks in the hospital. Considering I was catching up on classwork at this time, I have no idea how I managed to study for (and pass!) the 3rd part of the CPA exam.  Then I had my roommate's wedding, then a 2-week visit to San Diego, and now I'm back in the game. I guess.

The San Diego trip was great because it gave me a sense of what it would actually be like to live there. I stole B's car every day while he was at work so I got to sort of figure out my way around.  I also had a couple of interviews while I was out there, so hopefully something will come out of that. Most importantly, we celebrated our one-year anniversary while I was out there and he got me the most perfect present ever:

We went on a 2-hour safari through the San Diego Zoo Safari Park and I got to feed giraffes! My giraffe obsession was born of my dad's (it's scary how many giraffes that man has gotten as gifts over the years) and I always made B take me to see the giraffes when we went to the St. Louis Zoo, so I was beyond excited for this. Despite the fact that I don't look like it in that picture.

The only downside: giraffe spit. Seriously, this girl had a problem. She apparently likes to lick that mesh around the trees and this means she slobbers EVERYWHERE.  You can tell she just spit all over both of our hands by our reactions above.

Not going to lie, I was kind of jealous of the special bond they had.  Waikiki + B 4-eva.

Anyway, I have actually done a lot of knitting.  Yes, I'm supposed to be studying for the final and most difficult section of the CPA.  Whatever. Financial Accounting & Reporting, I hate you.  I have some finished projects to share on Friday, but since it's actually WIP Wednesday I wanted to show off my latest baby:

It's my Silver Featherweight, which I'm really only knitting because of Knit Picks' evil yarn sale that convinced me to spend money I should be saving for the move on some wonderful yarn that I totally didn't need.  I'm justifying it by claiming it's going to be used as packing material, which I would never actually do.

T-30 days until I'm in California!

Derby Day

Given that the first Saturday in May is the most important holiday of the year, I'm giving myself a break from studying for finals and the CPA exam.  I hate that I'm not going to my last Derby as a Kentucky resident, but what are you going to do?  I hit a milestone on my Beekeeper's Quilt last night, so its update time.

200 puffs! My goal is 602 puffs (21 columns x 30 rows, minus the 4 corners for a more rounded edge), although I'm planning to keep adding on after I'm "done."  This means I'm basically 1/3 of the way there, although the idea of having to make 2 more puffs for each one I've done kind of makes my brain hurt.  I decided to start joining the puffs together so that the lovely artistic spill above doesn't happen in a moving truck.

I'm using sheepwokking's tutorial for joining, but I'm making these 19 puff hexagons to start with.  My quilt will use 22 of these, plus a bunch of individual puffs to fill in the empty spots.  I'm thinking that arranging these mini quilts at the end will help disperse all of the different yarns evenly throughout the quilt.  

Super easy to see these big hexis, right?  There are 10 here, plus 10 unattached ones.  It's strange how addictive these little things are.  402 to go!

FO: Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf

 

It wasn't until I had finished my Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf and was blocking it, wondering why on earth I hadn't yet invested in blocking wires, that I realized this is my first real lace project.  Sure, I've made my share of lacy socks, but this is the first project I've needed to use a lifeline on.  On a related note, super glad I did.  There was a lot of frogging on this thing.

 

The pattern is stunning, but my scarf doesn't do it justice. I realllly need to get some blocking wires.    I'm also not a fan of the big holes as written.  I don't think they're too big, but this photo shows how much bulk there is at the tops.  I think doing just 2 YOs, then a p and a ktbl on the next row would fix the problem.  I knit 16 pattern repeats on each side, ending with row 16, and grafted them together in the middle.  I think this is the way to go--I prefer having the pattern facing up on each end and stopping with row 16 makes a pretty center motif without a 3-row seam of stockinette.

I can't decide how I feel about this yarn (Prism Saki in Periwinkles).  I bought it because of the pretty, and it feels amazing after wet blocking.  I'm hoping I'll have enough occasion to wear it after my move (much like my Aidez--I told B I'd go watch him surf early in the morning just because I think this sweater was made for a cold beach).  On the other hand, it was $32 for 440 yards.  I'm not against paying for quality, but my budget is not going to support this being a regular purchase.  I've checked out the other colorways and am not a huge fan, which is probably a good thing.  Love the scarf, love having leftovers for my beekeeper's quilt.

A False Start on a New Beginning

I have a confession to make: I have no idea what I'm doing.

Not in the blogging sense, though I really don't; I mean in the life sense.

Here's the deal: I've lived in Kentucky my entire life.  I moved 75 miles from my hometown to go to school, and finally, in July, after 5 years at college, I'll be finishing my Master's degree.  Super exciting, right?  Maybe it would be if it wasn't in accounting...but I digress.

Anyway, the point is that I've been very comfortable living in my little Southern cocoon for the past 23 years.  This post (and actually my whole life) would be pretty boring if that wasn't about to be smashed to pieces, though.  Smashed might be too harsh of a word, but it's 12:31 in the morning and I'm avoiding doing a Powerpoint on the entity theory of equity.  Sue me. What's that?  The point of this post?  Right.

Got it.

Come August, assuming everything goes as planned, I'll be moving to San Diego.  What prompted this, you ask?  A boy.  Yeaaahh, that sounds bad.  I know.  Especially when you consider I've been dating him for 11 months.  BUT my original plan was to move to LA.  Which isn't far away at all consider the distance I'm moving.  AND I was planning to live with my best friend. Who is dating his best friend.  BUT they're thinking about living together, and will likely be moving when he goes to law school, so obviously moving to a city where I know 1 person is the logical solution.

Did I mention that in between now and then I need to like, graduate, and take the last 2 sections of the CPA exam?  And find a job and a place to live?  No big deal.  Obviously I'm not emotionally equipped to handle all of this because this is my way of dealing with it:

 

This is my Tiger Eyes Lace Scarf.  I find that knitting is the best way to avoid work and also avoid thinking about the logistics of moving 1800 miles away.  Yeah, these pictures are bad.  How about I make you a deal: I'll take new ones in natural light with a non-distracting background after this is finished and blocked. 

This may be sooner than I expected as I started on Thursday and am 70% of the way through.  After my last few big projects it feels like I'm flying through this scarf.