A Grey Scarf for Grey's Anatomy

Wow, I can't believe it is Thursday already! This week has been moving faster than I would like! The knitting, alas, had to take a back burner to the Master's Thesis research that my mentor wanted done, but I am definitely planning a therapeutic weekend of knitting to calm my fears of this whole grad school thing. I have yet to get used to the whole homework thing.

Just in case you were wondering though, I was able to squeeze some knitting in tonight, while watching Grey's Anatomy. I am working on my scarf of random desires. Since I got tired of making mistakes and not counting rows, I decided that I needed a project that relied only what I was currently thinking. If I want to do YOs, I am doing YOs. If I want to do k2togs, then I do them! I feel so empowered. I think I was starting to feel constrained by the knitting and grad school at the same time and everything got too stressful. Now, the knitting is setting me free!

-SAK

Even Rainbow Brite Knits!

Even when I am not knitting, I am on a constant knitting patrol. I was looking for news on whether the Rainbow Brite tv show was ever going to come to DVD when I came across pages from Rainbow Brite coloring books. Yes, this is an official disclaimer that the following picture is not my own and owned by someone who has far more legal power than I do. Anyway, I have been super busy and have been sadly ignoring my blog. I promise that this Thursday I will respond to emails and post a picture of my current knitting project. Until then, let Rainbow Brite bring a little more color and happiness to your life. ::sigh:: Wasn't Rainbow Brite the best?!

-SAK

Silly Grad School

So the whole grad school thing is starting to really take over my life. I am meeting with my advisor tomorrow and I am not real pumped about what I have to show her after a week of lit searches. This whole thing has really reminded me why I like knitting. With knitting you have so many choices. You can design your own project or pick out a pattern. Even with a pattern, a knitter has the option of making the pattern his/her own. With a thesis, you are on your own. You might have a mentor and your colleagues, but there are no step-by-step instructions, no hand holding, no charts. I wonder if it's not too late to drop this whole grad school thing and open a yarn store. Well, maybe I should wait and finish a pair of socks first.

-SAK

We All Love Caffeine

So instead of going to bed like a good girl, I am going to be an awesome blogger and post! Okay, this decision mainly came about because I drank THREE sodas today after being almost caffeine free and I am pumping energy.

I have to tell you that I am just completely frustrated with my knitting. I can't seem to accomplish anything. I frogged a bit of the sock and continued to make the same mistakes. I took out a worsted weight scarf I was working on with just simple purls and knits to make blocks. I continued to mess this up. I couldn't keep track of what row I was on. I got so frustrated that I frogged the five inches I had and cast on 40 stitches. I am proceeding to knit whatever I feel like. If I feel like garter stitch, I knit garter stitch. If I feel like doing YOs and k2togs or YOs and ssk's, I do them. I even did some YOs and dropped stitches. The only requirement is that I try to keep the number of stitches at 40. I think all of this thinking during the school hours has blown my knitting concentration. Hmmm...maybe this school thing isn't for me. I would love to see the look on my mentor's face, if I told her that I had to quit grad school, because it was taking out too much time from my knitting.

In other news, I watched this PBS special on Quilts today (I think it was called "A Century of Fabric" or something like that). What was most fascinating was how innovative quilt makers are. One woman used crayon to create a gossamer effect, and another used embroidery to make her images pop. Even with these new and different methods of creating a quilt, the documentors still thought of the quilts of today and yesterday as equal. Looking at them, I had to wonder if the quilters of today are making some new, something different, a new textile art of sorts. This made me wonder about knitting. Are we as knitters branching out with something new too? With the millions of knitters in the world, are we too on the breaking point of creating something beyond or equal to knitting? Will there be a point where one does not just using knitting needles for knitting but also for a different textile art, which had its origins in knitting?

-SAK

PS If you sent me a comment/email, answers are on their way, I am just entrenched in paper writing and stats homework at the moment.

PPS Pictures are on their way too!

Knitted Televison:
State Fair (Ma knits on the last night of the fair.)

Happy Birthday to Me!

I had a wonderful birthday today! My wonderful classmates threw me a surprise birthday party. It was really sweet of them considering we all just met less than one month ago. Anyway, we had a blast talking research (yeah, we're nerds) and movies. :)

I opened up my birthday presents too. Here is a picture of the loot. My parents sent me a glass Dopey figurine (I collect them) and I bought myself a few knitting magazines (okay, I would have bought them anyhow, but at least I had an excuse with the birthday and all), a few necessary movies (musicals are a staple in my DVD collection), Opal yarn (flamingo, fish, and a petticoat colorway), Paton, and a cooking magazine (I will learn to cook if it kills me).

I promise to return to knitting content soon! I am thinking the beautiful Opal yarn will motivate me.

Alright, back to birthday fun!

-SAK

Knitted Television:
Monty Python's Flying Circus (I am not sure which episode, but there was a cartoon woman knitting who was later placed into a suitcase and taken elsewhere. This description makes sense if you have ever seen a Monty Python show).

Still No Pics

So I have decided why I haven't been knitting as much as I usually do, I simply did not have the knitting in easy access to the futon I collapse onto when I get home. I found a variety of UFOs and placed them in a plastic container (wanted wood, but I was afraid that it would snag the yarn). Soon I will be posting pictures of tons of UFOs again!

I am sorry I haven't been posting pictures, but there really hasn't been anything to show. On Thursday, though, I will break the cycle. Thursday is my birthday and I bought myself some yarn and I will show it off when I officially "open" my presents. I use my birthday and Christmas as an excuse to buy a few fun items (I cannot exceed $100) that I normally wouldn't buy for myself. Now that I am a poor graduate student, I really need to keep to a budget so the yarn and other presents were a real treat. That's right, I have imposed a knit from the stash only policy unless money falls from the sky. I guess I can't feel too constrained by this, since I do have a large variety of yarn for multiple projects. But don't we all love our cozy and large stashes? :)

-SAK

Long Time No See

Hi everyone! I know I haven't posted in about four days and it probably seems like I have dropped off the face of the planet, but alas, I have been living my own crazy little life. I spent most of the week going to class and doing research on my Master's Thesis and then this weekend I had bonding time with my lab, I went to the fabulous Waldo Flea Market, and attended a play (Moonlight and Magnolias).

Don't worry though, I did get some knitting time in this week. I ended up frogging the gusset and have started picking up the stitches again. I also picked up my Moss Grid Hand Towel from the M-D book. I couldn't stand looking at the sock again, so the towel was almost like a comfort food for me. Hey, it was better than eating a batch of brownies.

Even though my knitting time has been rapidly shrinking, I have been reading "A History of Handknitting" by Richard Rutt. It is utterly fabulous. The most fascinating part is Rutt talking about how other historians have misread poems, stories, diaries, etc and translated X for knitting when in fact X meant something else entirely. He also mentions how various fiber goods were originally thought to be knitted but in fact they were made via some other technique. I never thought that the history of knitting was so ambigous and in some ways controversial. In addition, it amazes me to think about how knitting (and other fiber-related techniques) have been around for centuries. I never thought about people centuries ago needing mittens and socks. Didn't they all wear togas until the invention of Macy's? ;)

-SAK

Knitted Television:
Breakfast at Tiffany's (Holly Golightly knits!)

The Good, the Bad, and TV

So I have some good news and some bad news. The good news is that I finished the potholder loop rug! It isn't incredibly huge, mainly because I got tired of knitting the heavy monster, but also because I just need a tiny rug for under my desk. The rug is 31 by 22 inches. I have my feet in the picture to give you an idea, but you may be distracted by the very sexy sandal tan and blisters. I need to make my office homey or I may never get through grad school.

The bad news is that I frogged part of my sock. I am so amazed that I was able to frog the gusset with only a few problems even though I didn't go back stitch by stitch. I am going to look over the work and then retry the gusset this week. I am going to finish these socks if it kills me! The other bad news is that I didn't win anything on the Amazing Lace. I get these grandiose ideas of winning stuff and then I am surprised when I don't win. Oh well. Life goes on. Plus, I bought myself some snazzy knitting-related presents for my upcoming birthday, so life isn't so bad. :) Pictures to come when I "officially" get to open them.

-SAK

Movies/Shows with Knitting (since I haven't been knitting to the tv recently, but still seem to have been watching television)

The Greatest Show on Earth (one of the audience members knits during a dangerous acrobatic act)