Almost There (Adriana)

I am currently one assignment away from being done school for the semester (squee!) and one sleeve away from being done the Gallery Jacket (all that 1x1 ribbing got boring really fast). I'm currently regretting my decision to give it long sleeves but I knew that I wouldn't get any use out of a short-sleeved sweater in this climate. Naturally I've also been engaged in a little Christmas knitting (I said I was done but little things always pop up) so I can't even show you pictures of those.
Instead I thought I'd share the next two projects in my queue.

Remember my first sweater Tempting? Way back in July I decided that it was time to frog so that the yarn could be reused for something I'd actually wear.
I'm going to use this yarn:

to make Stefanie Japel's Back-to-School U-Neck Vest (Ravelry link)
After slogging through the Gallery Jacket this should be a quick knit.

The other project I am itching to cast on are socks using my one and only ball of STR:

in Jingle Bell Rock.
I wanted to find a pattern that would make it look like garland on a Christmas tree. I need to swatch it to see if it actually will give it the desired look but right now I'm leaning towards Marigold Socks.

I'm off to my parents' house next week where I am hoping to do a proper photo shoot for the Gallery Jacket. Now I'm off to the gym to sit on a bike and force myself to brainstorm for my marketing assignment. Why is it that the last project is always the most challenging?
Happy Almost-December everyone!

Non-Knitting Content (Deal with it) (Adriana)

In lieu of a proper blog post (too stressed these days to knit much) you get a little story.

Last Saturday I went here:


To see this:

(Which totally rocked by the way and I recommend very highly)

With this handsome but blurry fellow:

And two of our dear friends
(See the little bit of pink at my neck? Yes, my friends, it was indeed cold enough to break out the Clap!)

The show was fantastic and there was even some highly publicized knitting content!

This was actually one of the posters outside the theatre. I watched carefully and Mrs. Lovett does indeed knit during the show :)

The Gallery Jacket is still trucking along. I have now split for the armholes. I've got a test this afternoon and an exam next Tuesday so hopefully I'll have some more interesting knitting-related pictures to show you soon. Until then, Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends and for the Canadians, at least it's Wednesday :)

Procrastinating (Adriana)

Ah, the internet. However did students procrastinate before it was invented? Or, more to the point, how did I procrastinate before Ravelry? Such a delicious time waste :)

I'm supposed to be working on my presentation for Leadership (seriously, it is as dull a class as it sounds) but instead I'm thinking about knitting. There hasn't been much knitting here since I last posted. The Gallery Jacket is now 9" long (woot!) but it looks pretty much the same as the last picture I took. Granny's socks are on hold since she had to buy special socks to increase her circulation and we're not sure what impact that will have on her handknit socks. I'll need to check it out in person when I'm home in December.

In honour of my trip to Toronto on Saturday to see yet another show (Sweeney Todd squee!!) I decided to show off a picture of my Granite Shawlette taken at the beautiful Elgin Theatre where I saw Drowsy Chaperone.


I've been wearing this shawlette everyday and I think it needs another blocking before its next trip to the big city.

I've got two tests next week which means that there will be more knitting time than usual as I sit on my couch and study. Hopefully there will be more interesting pictures for you soon.

WIPs (Adriana)

Not too much to report these days; school really is eating up all my knitting time. I have managed to make a little progress on a couple of projects during tv time.


The Gallery Jacket by Cirilia Rose as seen on Ravelry
The pattern is from WEBS and coincidentally I'm using their house brand of yarn for it! So far it's an easy knit (1x1 ribbing) which makes it nice and mindless but 14 inches of this is disheartening.

I'm also working on Granny's Christmas Socks which have been renamed Santa Fe socks because of their colours and because Granny is there right now! (Or perhaps not. I'm not sure when her plane arrives)

If you recall last time I knit socks for Granny I used a provisional cast-on, knit the foot, picked up the stitches and knit the leg. This time around I went toe-up, adapting the toe for Granny's preferences. Hopefully she won't notice a difference :)
I'm tag-teaming the socks, knitting the foot on one, then the other, then knitting 6" inches of the leg, before I put them both on two circs to do the calf increases at the same time. I am kicking myself for losing my notes from the last socks. This time I'm writing it down on a computer file and will put up on Ravelry.

That's it for me today. I'm off to the gym, then for groceries and then back to the computer to do work. There's so much to do and such a short time to do it in.
Happy Friday!

Socktoberfest? (Heather)

I didn't officially participate in Socktoberfest, nor did I even think about it until November hit, but it does seem a good a time as any to take stock of my sock situation. An hour and a half a day spent on less than pristine buses and subway cars makes having a sock on the needles at all times an excellent idea. I even stopped bringing coffee to work in order to free up more knitting time. Unfortunately my typically rushed mornings mean that if I have a sock at some tricky stage (it is pushing the limits of my willingness to knit in public to try on a near-the-toe sock), I just grab another ball of yarn and some needles and start a new one.



I must say, purple is starting to grow on me.



I added diamonds to this sock to jazz it up a little.

I finished the first curry sock:



And I finished the first galaxy sock:



So hard to photograph this red properly.



Mike never says anything when I start a new sock, but apparently he does notice. When I laid out these three singleton socks to photograph them, he went off in search of others...



Hmm... I would think this were a problem, but for the fact that I know that I could knit 4 socks and have 4 whole pairs! Just think of the gratification! (Pomotamus is fine and well and awaiting more patience than I have for lace right now.)

Just to show how that photo shoot looked in the space of time that it took me to turn away and look back:



I love that talent that cats have that allows them to appear as if they have been sound asleep for hours when the loose hair has barely settled.

I made a box bag too, but this post is already scattered and be-pictured enough. In other news, Bridges is making me a little crazy.

Tiffany's Mitts of Many Colours (Adriana)

When I started school in the fall I told my classmates right away that I was a knitter so that they wouldn't give me weird looks when I pulled out my knitting before class or during breaks (with 8 people in a class there's no possibility of hiding in the back to knit, nor would I want to since I find my classes fascinating). My classmates were all very supportive, showing interest in my projects. One day Tiffany asked if I'd knit her a pair of mittens. I know some knitters resent being asked to knit for people but I was happy to because a) I really like Tiffany and b) I never get asked to knit for others. I sent Tiff links to various yarns found at Michaels and she selected Patons Rumor in Moonstone Heather. I picked up it when I was out for my anniversary dinner (I have such an understanding boyfriend) and knit these up in 2.5 days (I don't usually have that much knitting time but I was studying for a midterm and knitting makes studying more fun). It's a sign of how much I like Tiff that I was willing to knit with acrylic for her :)
All through the knitting process I had this song in my head:

It was red and yellow and green and brown
And scarlet and black and ochre and peach
And ruby and olive and violet and fawn
And lilac and gold and chocolate and mauve
And cream and crimson and silver and rose
And azure and lemon and russet and grey
And purple and white and pink and orange
And blue

Pattern: Mittens from the Top from Yarn Gear (you know how much I love my magic cast-on)

Yarn: Patons Rumor in Moonstone Heather

Needles: 4.5mm (makes a nice dense fabric)

One ball of yarn made a mitten and a half so with the remaining yarn I whipped off a drop stitch scarf

I really think it shows off the yarn nicely. I did double yarn-overs (the pattern is on my project page in Ravelry)

I gave the set to Tiffany when I was over at her place for her Top-Model Halloween party and she was happy to model her new winter wear.

Happy Tiffany (too bad it's blurry)

Sexy Tiffany

I hope everyone has a nice weekend. November in the life of a student is a stressful time but I'm still hoping to cast on a new sweater tonight. It depends on how much of my essay I manage to write today :)

P.S. Blogger and I are having some issues with spacing today. Sorry if it looks weird.