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November 2005

November 20, 2005

The Storm Has Passed (I Think)

let's say, hypothetically of course, if i was supposed to have a test friday, but it got postponed to tomorrow, its ok that i'm not gonna go crazy restudying everything all over again, right?

*instead*

i finished the demi sleeve! i could really be all up in some knowledge or up another sleeve right now if i hadn't have goofed up and superly elongated the shape of the shoulder. oh well. i keep checking saltwater purl's site , and it appears she has a whole extra diamond with bobbles more than i do. did i mess up? does she have long arms? i bet i messed up again.. but it really seems like the sleeve fits ok... maybe i messed up, but its ok because i do have short arms? i am pretty short. maybe i'll find out in a few weeks when the entire thing is done. until then!

Posted by SQ at 9:52 PM | Comments (6)

November 19, 2005

I Need An Adult!

ok, so i'm moseying along on the demi sleeve, thinking i could have finished it last night, then maybe i could finish it tonight... but the shoulder just kinda seems to last forever. is it supposed to go up to the neck? im at 41 stitches right now, and unless ive got an abnormally small distance from my armpit to my shoulder, this sleeve is turning out to be *quite* long. the directions said to decrease 1 stitch ever 4 rows. is that wrong? this is a knit s.o.s (save outrageous sweater). please help!

ok, i reread the pattern for like the 20th time, and captain obvious came sailing through my apartment. excuse me while i frog!

Posted by SQ at 11:14 PM | Comments (5)

Ratical

awhile ago, i made a surprise super item for my boyfriend, and i wasn't gonna post about it until sometime next week, but since im not good at hiding things, he saw it, i spilled my beans, and the whole surprise effect is definitely no longer existent. so! i guess i can post!

i work and research in a rat lab, and all the time i'm having rat stories and rat allergies and rat everything pretty much, and since my boyfriend will continually remind me of his disgust for rats (he obviously hasnt ever hung out with them), i decided to begin step one of coyly warming his heart to all the fuzzy little buddies out there by making him his own rat!

to make it, i used lion brand sueded yarn (i wanted to use white, but i had brown on hand and was too anxious to get started to wait around until the next time i went to the store) the face is pretty much a cone. for the tip of it though, i cast off half of it a row early, and then put the remaining nose into a point. then i got a baby clothes-pin (im talking like about an inch long) and managed to wrap the point over half of the clothes-pin, so pretty much the clothes-pin is inside the cone gripping on the tip. the i sewed the clothespin in place the best i could. this pretty much just made it so my little ratty can eat things like cheese and floppy disks. i used size three needles for the whole thing to keep the stitches compact. and the body (the rat was two pieces) was like a tube that got bigger where rats get bigger, like the arching back. as i made the body, i would add stitches and hold them out (paper clips are so versatile), pretty much as kind of ovalish designs with no bottoms so i could have openings on the bottom to make feet. when i was done with the body, i knitted the added on stitches to make legs. pretty much, i just kept decreasing the sides and tried to have the middle extend down as long as i could. then i made little feet and sewed them on. it didnt take very long, and if anyone tries it, these kind-of directions will probably make more sense. or just ask me. the only thing i would change, is that the tail is in the middle of the body, not like on the ground, so when decreasing the body, i should have left the middle of the back and middle of the bottom to connect more towards the bottom. ok, im not making sense anymore, so here's the multi-angle picture:

the desicription is super long because i like it so much! oh! i also filled it with a mix of dried beans and poly-fill to make it feel kinda real. i got a good laugh because real rats are filled with fiber, and this one is too! ha.

Posted by SQ at 3:49 PM | Comments (9)

November 15, 2005

Hanging with Dubyah

although last week progress may have seemed quite productive on the demi, things definitely slowed down this weekend. im still on the first sleeve, and only on the second set of bobbles.

i had a pretty ridiculously busy weekend. i went to d.c. for the society for neuroscience conference (where the super cutest dali lama gave a nice talk). when i wasn't getting brained-out, i was trekking across the national lawn to check out all the national monuments, wishing there could be a national metro monument to take me around.

all in all, it was a lot of fun, and i spent way too much money. this week, i have about 100 tests, so im guessing demi progress will be quite slow until friday afternoon, when i'll undoubtedly break loose and get ultra knitty.

Posted by SQ at 11:07 AM | Comments (7)

November 8, 2005

Backside Attack

so, seeing as someday i will graduate from my fabulous higher education facility with fourteen beautiful organic chemistry credits (thats 3 in organic 1, 3 in organic 2, 2 in organic lab, and 3 more in organic 1 and 3 more again in organic 2.. the second time is really quite terrific), don't think im crazy for comparing knitting to chemical mechanisms. so chemical mechanisms are the ways electrons hop around during reactions (only electrons move; move anything else and prepare to fail). now, adding Br2 to some double bonded carbons will yeild a quite nice intermediate of the bromonium ion. this forces the lonely unreacted remaining ion to attack from the back side only, giving a trans product. here is a picture for clarity:

now today, while avoiding the stick pictures of chemistry and opting to knit instead (my sister casted on for our knit-along without me so i had to catch up thank-you-very-much), the demi pattern reminded me of the backside attack since the whole thing is knitting through the back loop and purled through the back loop and really just rockin out through the back loop. i really cant tell the difference from the back loop side and the regular side. my yarn is a little fuzzy though, so maybe thats why. i started on a sleeve, and quit for the night at the end of the cuff ribs. heres a picture!

in other news..
i have a fan!!

Posted by SQ at 10:14 PM | Comments (8)

November 6, 2005

Knit Along!!

my sister (who is currently in the midst of hour three in the nyc marathon!!!!) and i (who is (am?) currently spending a lazy sunday with glycolysis and chocolate soy milk) are having a knit along! whoot! we are making a super cable sweater that has crazy bobble things on it (which have reduction plans in the works). anyone who is interested can find the pattern in rowan vintage style (maybe go to www.streetsandyos.com since diana is much more proficient at links than i am).

it should be a good time! ive tested out the yarn im using, this back tweed, and it definitely had the ability to turn my bamboo needles a little bit gray! thats ok though (for the sweater, i'll use metal needles ;))

oh! they knit along starts whenever people get the pattern!

Posted by SQ at 12:23 PM

November 3, 2005

Cable Wristband Pattern

So, here is the pattern i made! it's really quick, just 15 stitches wide, follow the pattern until its the circumference of your wrist, or the closest thing to the circumference that will connect when it's so the whole things flows together. i started the pattern on the wrong side (the row after cast-on).. don't be annoyed that i'm trying to explain this; i never know for sure whenever i make stuff. to connect the ends, i just did some stealth knit-looking sewing, and sewed the edges so they curled down like the rest of edges. also, i used rowan cork yarn on size 7 needles (4 sizes smaller than the yarn recommended). good luck to anyone who wants to try this! i scanned it, so if anyone has a computer that can read .tif files (mine can't), i can email the scan. happy knitting! its like a 70 minute project!

Posted by SQ at 5:25 PM | Comments (4)

While My Camera was Away

so, i havent posted because my camera was on loan, but i didnt stop knitting! first, i finished the second arm warmer from the pattern in stitch 'n bitch nation, and i dont have a pic of that because i already gave them away. then, i made a mystery gift for my boyfriend cause its almost our year anniversary (cant let anything leak out if he reads the site!). and things i *do* have to show are a hat i made and a watch band i made after figuring out the mysteries of cabling a braid. so i guess ive made a bunch of little things, but its ok; its mideterm season!

ok, so, the hat i made after all my midterms... while i was nursing the extreme not-good feeling that followed a morning of tailgating. who knew a hang over could be knit-friendly?

Posted by SQ at 7:26 AM | Comments (7)