A Tale of Two Mitties

It was the best of times, it was the worsted of ti... sorry. I am a slave to even the most belaboured of puns. Besides which, the knitting project I am going to speak about was made from sock weight yarn!

I made some mittens for a design collaboration with my friend, Kristine. Thankfully, I test knit the adult size, because they do not fit quite as well as I would have hoped. There is too much room above the fingers and not enough room between the cuff and the thumb, meaning they always feel like they are just about to fall off. I corrected the pattern and sent it off, but that left me with a pair of slightly ill-fitting mittens.

I was finally motivated to make a new pair when I started cycling, and was given the gift of an iPod (Thanks Ben!). Both activities necessitate the use of my hands, so I set about making a pair of Broad Street Mittens using the 100 Purewool Merino Fingering I purchased quite some time ago. The pattern has some gaps in the instructions, but I was able to improvise and I was really happy with the end product. The last part of the project was completed in Ireland, where my brother, Sam, saw them and asked that I make him a pair. I adapted the Knucks pattern, which has a child's size, and made him a pair in Noro Silk Garden Sock.

289 reprazent!

I got back to the US, and wore my mittens all of twice before losing them. I searched high and low for them. I phone-stalked the Olive Garden I had been to that day, ransacked a friend's house and even had my realtor search her office for them. They were gone. I don't deal with loss at all, and found this particularly hard to cope with as I was homesick and they were a memory of a fun time with my brother.

I tortured myself with the idea of finding them for over a week before deciding that I had to come up with a more productive way of forgetting about them. I have more of the yarn I used to make them, so decided to reknit them in time for my Father and Brother's upcoming visit in February. I prefer the colourway of the new mittens and once I repose the silly photo of me and my brother in our matching FOs, I will be chock full of closure.



I just hope that someone out there is enjoying my orange mittens.

Day 31: Duplicate Check

That was 1/343rd of my life to date. I got the idea from my friend Carly, who was doing it as part of a more ambitious "101 things in 1001 days" exercise. I would love to attempt such an undertaking at some point, but I don't think it would be such a good idea to do it during the same year that I am writing my thesis.

Day 30: Free at last!

Here's the last in my Month in Photos exercise. My brand new camera is now officially broken in. It was a lot of fun, but I couldn't help but be reminded of the episode of Monk, where a crazy gold prospector from the 1800's had filled hundreds of diaries with gibberish. Monk commented that he had run out of things to say after only five pages, but just kept on writing.

Today is Independence Day. Being a graduate student, I did a full day's work, but I spent the evening at my friend, Kristine's house. We had a lovely barbecue; her husband's grilled corn is a local delicacy! Then we walked downtown to see a firework's display that, unfortunately as it turned out, had happened yesterday. It was still a really nice evening, and we did see the fireworks from the local baseball stadium. I tried to get pictures of the fireworks, but the nicest shot I got was of my friends as they watched the display.

Day 29: I like big Butts!

My boyfriend gets very cross when I shorten Buttons' name to Butt-butt. Needless to say, I don't think my cat recognizes his full name at this point. However, we are getting a new feline house mate in September, who is currently staying with me while his owner is away, called Butters. I'm thinking that Butt-Butt may be a convenient way of getting both their attention at the same time.
I am following online advice about introducing cats, so they are currently separated by the door in my living room. They have both been very curious as to what is on the other side of it and I will allow them to see each other in a day or two. The benefit to Butters spending a couple of days with us before he moved in, is that if I don't introduce in a way that makes them accept one another, I get a second shot at it. Buttons is quite stupid, so I have every confidence that he would be able to have a clean slate memory-wise, if worst came to worst. Butters' owner says he to is not the brightest cookie in the tool shed either, though he thus far hasn't seemed as stupid as Buttons. They are both very sweet cats so I am reasonably confident they will be friends.

Day 28: Go Team Venture!

Can't blog; watching Venture Bros. DVD's!

Day 27: Yield to right of way

Clarence Thomas once said, “Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.” It seems that some people think that education can, however, open enough doors. Take, for instance, the swarms of intrapubescents who descend on the campus every summer, presumably because their parents need a break from the sass-mouthed reminders of their failure to impart the basics of etiquette.

By far, the most aggravating behaviour of these young-un’s is that they walk across campus in clumps, spanning the entire width of the sidewalk and refuse to move out of the way of anyone walking toward them. Being behind them is not much better a predicament, as they walk at the break-neck speeds one would expect of continental drift.

I don’t want to play the “this is my campus” card, but does it not occur to these young’uns either to keep to one side or put that fancy “respect your elders” thing to some practical use? Some people try to stand their ground, hoping for a last-minute recognition of their right to use the sidewalk – the credulous fools - and such approaches invariably result in collisions. Courtesy of some thesis weight, this approach actually has proven to be somewhat amusing for me recently, because my closing momentum outdoes theirs by a fair margin.

I have pixelated the faces of these whippersnappers, not out of any respect for their privacy, but rather, to describe better how I actually view them, i.e. faceless obstacles on a route I have no intention of modifying. I was particularly unimpressed by this cadre of strollers after I watched them fail to move out of the way of my neighbour (see arrow), who was pushing her young baby’s pram and walking with her two year old son, thus forcing her to get off the pavement and walk on the grass while passing them.

Day 26: Wireless Cardless

I don't take great care of my laptop. It has probably depreciated to nothing by now, the space bar rarely works and you can buy a flash drive to dangle from your key-chain with a larger capacity for about $50. That said, it was a little careless of me to have left it teetering on an armrest in the same room as my cat. I was in the kitchen washing dishes when I heard a crash. I went into the living room to see my laptop on the floor and Buttons looking a little guilty.
Only that I use my laptop to write my thesis, was I happy that my laptop's fall was broken by what is ironically the most valuable part of it: the wireless card. Ever since it has been very sporadic about connecting to the internet and cuts off at inopportune times. I was chatting to Carly on Facebook earlier today when it cut me off. Even standing directly below one of the building's new wireless transmitters didn't help.
I exhaled in its general vicinity this evening, which caused part of it to fall off. When I saw the damage that had actually been done to it, I was impressed that it was getting online at all. I'll get a new one whenever I get the chance, but hopefully this picture will excuse my failing to get this day's entry in before midnight!

Day 25: Schrodinger's mailbox

I bought both seasons one and two of the Venture Bros. from Amazon recently, and in a rare bout of fiscal conservatism, I opted for the free shipping option. I got an email update telling me that it left their warehouse on June 25th and was due at my house on June 28th. June 28th has come and gone, and yet my DVD player remains venture-less. The real kicker here is that it has shipped from Munster IN, which is a mere hour and half away from where I live. My boss has recently discovered the Venture Bros. and he is arguably more eager for their arrival than I am; so much so, that I imagine he would have given me the afternoon off work to drive to Munster to fetch them. At least there are awesome new episodes online…

Day 24: Hole habits die hard

I am making a mock cable cloth, which I started last night. It's a very pretty pattern, although using variegated cotton seems to be masking the cabling texture to a certain extent. Nonetheless, I think it will look fine when it is completed, and, as it is designed to catch a baby's throw-up, I'm thinking the visibility of the pattern may not be the user's main concern! My main gripe is that, having tried in a triumph of vain to avoid unwanted holes from appearing in another project, I am apparently incapable of using yarn-overs to make gaps where they are meant to be, and so have gone to a lot of psso-ing trouble to make something that is indistinguishable from a mindless junket through k2p2-land. The cotton I am using is slightly too bulky for the needle size I am using, but the main issue is that a combination of yarn-overs and cotton now evokes a Pavlovian-like compulsion in me to hide holes. I noticed the problem after the first pattern set was complete and did the yarn-overs in the other direction for the second set. Instead of pulling it all out, I am just going to do the final set the same way that I did the first. I have an unflappable faith in the ability of symmetry to emulate intention...

Day 23: I'm done with Fake-in-Knit!

Finally! I finished the faux cable socks I started in May, and I love them. They took as long as they did to complete, because they got bumped in favor of other projects: Faith's terrible gift and my new Addi Turbo sweater. The actual man-hours involved were minimal. The pattern was fun to follow, and I didn't even look at it for the second sock because it was so easy to remember. The colour isn't as garish as the photo makes it look; I pseudo-coloured it to make the cable texture more visible!

Day 22: You win again, Pauli!

I pre-adoptively named my cat Buttons, as in "as cute as a...". Thank goodness he is in fact cute, because smart he ain't! I have funneled my Big Ben-sized maternal clock soundings into my ownership of Buttons, and accordingly have become the overly proud parent. However, witnessing him be outsmarted by inanimate objects has put to rest my hopes for his intellect.
This is one of Buttons' finer moments, where he spent the better part of an evening attempting to catch a moth on the other side of the window. A few times he lunged head-first into the pane of glass; other times he tried to scale it. Both approaches ended up with him falling down the back of the couch. This went on for about two hours before I distracted him with Fancy Feast. If nothing else, he's persistent!

Day 21: Hi, My name's Liz and I'm a knitting addict...

I love Wednesdays. I get a break from thesis writing, experiments, and the ever expanding piles of laundry, and I head off for some well earned therapy masquerading as a knitting circle. We have a great group of girls, and I love getting to call each of them my friends. I have agreed to give up all diversions, so that I can focus on getting graduated, but I think keeping my appointment with my woolly support group keeps my productivity, and more importantly, my sanity, as well maintained as possible. For various reasons, a few people were absent this evening, but there's always someone to talk to. Definitely the highlight of my week!

(L-R): Sandy, Kayleigh, Kristine, Mary, Carly.

Day 20: We're only on number two, no need to worry just yet!

My boss had the audacity to tell me that the frogs I am forced to work with are clean, nice and harmless. I beg to differ. I had to inject six of my banes yesterday. As far as their cleanliness is concerned, they are slimy and stinky, and when you handle them, you too become slimy and stinky. They are also inexplicably armed with claws; a brain fart on the part of the spaghetti monster, I guess. So not only are you covered in ex-Xenopus ooze, but you now have open wounds, into which the detritus is now flowing... As Carly would say, Blech! Also, my definition of nice does not cover things that claw me. And as for their being harmless, I am not convinced. I see that look in their eyes. They're up to something. Take a look for yourself. Oh, and that particulate matter floating around in the water. Yup, that's their excrement and shed skin. I have to reach into that to get them. And they eat it!! So, it could well be 2nd generation poop..... Q.E.D!!!

Day 19: OH..... Rainbows!

I went to see Sex and the City with Carly last night, which I loved by the way. When we came out of the cinema, there was an amazing rainbow stretching the whole way across the sky to the east, and an amazing golden sunset to the west. I had never before seen a compete rainbow before, never mind one that vivid in colour. We both agreed that it was photo-worthy, as did a number of other people in the parking lot, an luckily Carly had her camera with her. It faded within minutes of us leaving the cinema so we were really lucky to see it. I realise that it's merely because refraction is wavelength dependent, but I still find rainbows as magical and awe inspiring as I did when I was a young child.

Day 18: When you reach 28, it's time to put some clothes on

Given I am in the final throes of thesis-writing (cultural reference intended), I am opting for smaller knitting projects in an attempt to minimize distractions. Socks are a good diversion in this respect, but I have grown a little weary of them, and I am running out of the sock-related puns (amusing only to me) that I use as project titles on ravelry. The secret item I am making for Faith should have been fast, but the number of times it has needed do-overs laid waste to that ambition. Luckily, Faith isn't showing yet, so I might leave that project until I am done with my dissertation. After all, knitting is meant to be a respite from stress, not a buttress for it.
However, I have absolutely no imagination to speak of where coming up with ideas for knitting projects is concerned. I got the sock-bug from Carly and Faith. Prior to that, I was making sweaters, a la some inspiration from Jessica. And before that, I was obediently making whatever Berroco told me to.
Fortunately, my ingenuity problem has been solved, or at least deferred. No, I haven't convinced my right lobe neurons to fire. Better! My friend, Tonya, has joined our knitting circle, and she was making a sweater for her teddy bear. I can't believe that had never occurred to me. Not only have I had Horatio for as long as I have been alive, but he was the reason I learned how to knit. When I was about 7 years old, my grandmother was annoyed by the fact that he had two holes, from which most of his stuffing was protruding. She taught me how to knit and so he was repaired with 2 knitted patches; one I made and one my grandmother made. My grandmother has since passed, and I love that I have this little piece of her. Making a little sweater for him is only logical, and pays tribute to my grandmother being my inspiration to knit.
I have started making him a cabled sweater out of yarn from a failed human sweater. Knitting bulky yarn on size 5 needles wasn't one of my finer ideas, nor was going to the trouble of following a cabled pattern using multi-colored yarn. Nonetheless, I am happy with how it is coming out. And after 28 years, Horatio will finally be safe from indecent exposure charges!

Day 17: Here comes the Bride

Weddings are a definite grab-bag as events go. Sometimes the ceremony was short and sweet; other times you were invited to a catholic wedding. Sometimes the reception was a great night out; other times you got stuck in cheesy hell doing the chicken dance. Sometimes you really know that the couple are just meant for each other; other times you have $20 riding in the "when this is going to end in divorce" pool.
Luckily, today's wedding that I attended was the former on all counts. My very good friend, Kayleigh, married her long-time boyfriend, Travis. The church was decorated beautifully, though it paled in comparison to how amazing Kayleigh looked. The ceremony was a reasonable length and a perfect mixture of religion, humour and tear-jerking. Kayleigh and Travis are just perfect together, and there is no doubt that they will have a wonderful marriage. The reception was a lot of fun, the food was amazing, the music was great, the cake was chocolaty heaven, and above all, no chicken dance.

Day 16: A Bug's Death

My friend Kristine says that I have the stereotypical taste of a boring Brit. She was referring to my selection of yarn colours, and I can't say that I disagree with her. My unimaginative, puritanical tastes extend to my beverage preferences. Unlike my boyfriend and my friend Zandra, both of whom take some weak coffee with their sugar and cream, I like my coffee strong with a small amount of creamer. I don't especially love flavouring or any of the other exciting things you can add to coffee these days. I am venturing into the brave new world of iced coffee, but that's about as daring as I am willing to get. The one thing I really don't like in my coffee is, alas, what I found it in it earlier today....


Yuck!!!

Day 15: Sure, I'll get right on that!

I was watching Arrested Development on Veoh today while reading some papers. As it is a legal site, commercials play every so often, and invariably, the sudden increase in volume makes me jump out of my seat and drop all my notes. However, Firefox has this wonderful plug-in that somehow manages to block commercials, so instead of some obnoxiously poly-decibel jingle, there is about 30 seconds of silence. Veoh/Hulu is so concerned that I'll miss hearing about what's new in SUV's/Dog food/Investment Banking, that it has taken to suggesting that I shut off this filter, and resume my tinnitus-building commerce... There are so many sardonic responses that I could make here, I can't pick just one! Maybe if they let me make 2 for the price of 1?

Day 14: It's not easy being green

Watching South Bend become environmentally conscientious is a little reminiscent of watching Bambi walk for the first time. While you can dispose of a metric tonne of landfill-destined waste with little hindrance, and virtually no expense, setting up recycling proves to be nothing short of an ordeal. I found a website where I could request delivery of a recycling bin, but, much to my chagrin, the link led to an "under construction" page. It did, however, have a phone number you could call to request the bin, so I called it. After some extensive menu navigation, I got to speak to a lady who told me, "You should be calling a different number to get a recycling bin delivered." Well, if you wanted me to call a different number, why do you have this one on your... never mind, what's the number I need to call? Another round of automated menu selection later, I finally found a human, who got a little confused about my address, but eventually we managed to get the bin ordered. A few weeks later it arrived and I can now feel I am doing a small part for the environment.
This morning I was driving into work (in my 4-cylinder, manual car). As I was crossing the bridge on Angela Boulevard, something made me laugh so hard I nearly crashed my car. The city council has painted bike lanes on either side of the road. This is great; it encourages people to cycle rather than to drive. One small problem. The only place they have designated bike lanes is on the bridge. I guess if your morning commute has you crossing the bridge over and over, but not driving anywhere else, you're sorted...

Day 13: Actually, we prefer the term “diskaidekaphilia”

I don't know if it's my being Irish, or if I am merely garden-variety insane, but I am superstitious about quite a few things. Where no predefined superstition exists, I have been known to invent personal rituals and convince myself that any deviation from them will result in abject failure. A perennial favourite of mine is a near clinical dose of triskaidekaphobia (thanks Wikipedia!). When I was a teenager, I loved playing Micro Machines on the Mega Drive. If I made it to the 13th level, I would never dream of stopping until I had at least passed level 15; the fact that 14 abuts 13 means it too is sullied with thirteen-ness. I have trained myself to be a little saner in recent years though I still avoid slot number 13 on the centrifuge where possible. I have a particular aversion to Friday the 13th. When the calendar inflicts one upon me, I prefer to play it safe by staying home. This year however, I was a big brave girl, and not only did I venture out of the house, I was the designated driver for some friends. Nothing bad happened, and in fact, we had a blast at our friend’s bachelorette party that night. However, I refused to date the cell culture media that I made that day properly.


One step at a time…