Back!

Back of Ribby and also back in town. Will write more about it later. I am too tired right now.

I am sick of work. I have gotten some good results and some interesting results lately but I can't seem to get as excited about them as everyone else here does. Sometimes I just don't want to be in the lab anymore. Today's interesting result led to more questions that we don't know the answer to and the grad student I am working with is all excited about figuring out the changes in the chemical structure of the compound I used that produced this result, but I could care less. I really need to have a better attitude about this stuff.

I am on the armhole shaping for Ribby and am still on my second ball of yarn. I added 1.5" to the length to accommodate my long torso, but I didn't take that into account when I ordered yarn so I ordered two more balls along with 4 in another color in case the dye lot is way off so I can make the sleeves a different color. I got a light blue which, interestingly, is about the same color of the blue trim on the black fleece jacket I am currently wearing. I also happened to order enough yarn to make another sweater because there was still a sale on the yarn plus a discount when you order more than 6 balls as well as free shipping so I saved almost $20. I intended to make another sweater anyway so I figured I might as well get the yarn now when it's cheaper.

I am sleeping better, but I still wish I was sleeping more. It has been torture to get up in the mornings. All attempts to sleep in this weekend failed (stupid car alarms)and now my body wants to sleep in.

FO and new WIP

Pattern: Fawkes
Yarn: Fearless Fibers in Wrath

I love how they turned out. They were a fun pattern that I almost had memorized after awhile. I should start the socks I am test knitting and decide what to make for my mom. I am turning the Anastasia socks into Anklets because the yarn isn't cooperating as taller socks.

Now I am working on a Ribby Cardi in Cotton-Ease Charcoal. This picture shows the tubular cast-on I used. I love the nice round edge it makes. The second picture demonstrates how far one ball of Cotton-Ease can go. That's about 8" of the back.

Yesterday was the IC BrewFest. It was a lot of fun. I got to try some beers I have wanted to try, but didn't want to spend $9+ on a six-pack. I had one that tasted like blueberry muffins! I think my favorites were the Octoberfests. It may be because I am totally ready for fall.

Last night was UFC 76. There were a lot of good fights. I was disappointed in Chuck Liddell's loss, but I think Forrest Griffin's win may have made up for it. We recorded it onto a DVD with our new toy and it worked nicely. We are already making plans to record more favorite TV shows.

Fawkes

Just to prove they are done in time to be included in Summer of Socks. I will post some better pics later. Now it's time to swatch for my sweater.

I hope my Friday gets better

I got to bed a little later than I intended and, for some unknown reason, I kept waking up during the night. Considering how tired I was from lack of sleep on Wednesday night I should have slept like a log, but sadly, that was not the case. Whenever I get a cold it completely throws off my sleep schedule.

I got to work and first thing the head of the lab tells me that I messed up one of the treatments for the embryos. I told him yesterday that I had never done it before so he told me the recipe for the solution and to put it on the embryos. Well, I did that, but what he failed to tell me and what never occurred to me to ask, was how long I was supposed to let this solution sit on there. I assumed he would have told me if I was supposed to change it or do some washes. It should only be on for 5-10 minutes and it was left on for almost 6 hours. Needless to say, the embryos were ruined. The embryos are for my project, so now I don't have any to work with and will have to wait until we can make more embryos.

At least I have the IC BrewFest to look forward to tomorrow as well as the arrival of the yarn for my sweater today. It's the last day for Summer of Socks so I hope I can get the second Fawkes done tonight.


Update:

My yarn made it! I freaked at first b/c one of the packages had a slice through the plastic and the ball band, but it looks like all the yarn is intact. Our new DVD player/burner/VCR combo thing also arrived. Yay UPS!

The yarn for Ribby Cardi should arrive tomorrow! No idea on the arrival time of the yarn for Wicked. I am not going to have both pairs of socks done for the end of Summer of Socks on Friday, but I should have Fawkes done. I haven't even started the second Anastasia sock. I hate the toes on toe-up socks for some reason. I offered to test knit a pair of really cool and complicated socks for Kelly at kelp! knits. I think it they will be a fun challenge and I have some perfect yarn for them in the stash. I also need to start some socks for my new Sockapalooza pal. I have a car ride coming up soon so I am going to devote that time to those socks.

Heather, my PI, and I are taking a class on microscopy. We are not officially enrolled in the class (we worked out a deal with the head of the department), but we are still doing all the homework and have to do presentations at the end. I am really not looking forward to that part. I enjoy microscopy, but I do not enjoy homework and especially not giving presentations.

Why did I bring a can of soup for lunch when it is going to 85 degrees outside today? Too hot for soup! Well, I think it's too hot in general. I need fall weather soon!

Don't forget it's Talk Like a Pirate Day!

It's a pair, right??

They don't match, but two socks is a pair! Left is Fawkes and right is Anastasia. The colorways look kinda similar knitted up, but completely different in the skein. Fawkes is for me but Anastasia is a Christmas gift.with matching headband included.

I better cast-on for their mates before I go to sock club. I also signed up to be a sock savior for Sockapalooza. I am going to go on a hunt for some perfect sock yarn for my new Sockapalooza pal and for my mom. I think the yarn I got has too much brown in the red. I have another option in my stash, but that one seems a little too orange. She's pickier than I am so I am being more picky than usual.

I have two sweaters planned for myself and yarn has been ordered for each. One is a zippy cardi and the other a pullover. One is a cotton blend yarn and the other is wool. One is knit seamless, in the round while the other is knit flat. I think that's some good variety for first and second sweaters.

I made Josh's Funfetti cake. I just used a white cake batter and vanilla frosting. I think it turned out pretty well. The cake got a little darker than I intended and I wish I had a little more frosting to work with because I am not very good at frosting cakes. I also wish I had a better plate to put it on. The curve on my plate made it hard to frost. I wanted to make Josh breakfast tomorrow morning, but he is golfing with his dad at 8:00am in Muscatine and I am not getting up that early to make breakfast on a Sunday morning.

I haven't started my sweater as I hoped I would. Crazy Girl didn't have enough skeins of the yarn I want so they are ordering some more for me. It was a little darker than what I was looking for, but I would rather buy it from a local store than order it online. One Fawkes is done and Anastasia has 5 or so more rows on the cuff. I plan to cast on for both of the second socks tonight.

Woohoo!!

I just won a 1983 Honda VT500 VT 500 Shadow Instrument Cluster! Aren't you excited for me?

First, some knitting...

The first socks of Fawkes and Anastasia are almost complete. Anastasia just needs to be bound off and Fawkes needs another 2.5" before I start the toe. I am making Anastasia a little shorter than I normally do because I want to make a matching headband from the remaining yarn.


Now, on to beer...

On a whim, I purchased some Fat Tire beers at Fareway. There were $3 for 22oz bottles. I picked up the Amber and a black ale. I think we drank them in the wrong order because the amber tasted bland after the black ale. It was reminiscent of the Blackout Stout from Great Lakes, that is one of my all-time favorites. After awhile the amber tasted better; it is actually really good. I can't wait until we get the 6-packs around here. I also can't wait until Josh's amber is ready!

I have a question: Do the boxed mixes for Funfetti cakes use sprinkles for the confetti look? I believe that is the case, but it has been such a long time since I made a cake from a mix that I can't remember. Josh' b-day is Sunday and he wants a Funfetti cake, but I can't bring myself to used a boxed mix, especially when a cake from scratch is not much harder and tastes soooo much better.

Lexsea, if you are reading this:
Do you think mom will like this color?



I think it may be a little too dark and reddish for her. I think it may even look a little darker in person than in this pic.

I just found some purple shoes I could see myself wearing. Maybe I will save up for them. They are a good style for showing off handknit socks.

Edit:

I have decided what my first sweater is going to be. Initially I was thinking about the Ribby Cardi, but i have switched to Wicked. I like the idea of seamless knitting also I will be faster at stockinette in the round. I plan to use Cascade 220 in either a dark teal, olive green, or brown. I think I will go to Crazy Girl on Saturday to do some looking.

My wrist feels better. I am not sure what brought it on or why it's going away. I iced it a little and didn't get a lot of knitting time in, but I can't imagine either helped that much. I didn't ride the bike last night because even driving my car to Fareway was painful.

Josh brewed a batch of amber last night and I grilled some burgers and chicken. I had perfect grill marks on the chicken. Josh complained that I left the burgers too pink in the middle. We ate the burgers so the chicken will be for salads tonight.

I was asked how many socks I have knit and I wasn't really sure so i am going to figure that out. I will just go with the ones for Summer of Socks since I think the only pair I have knit that doesn't count was my very first pair of socks.

Pairs:
1. 64-stitch Cable Twist
2. The Burrow Socks
3. Aurelie Socks
4. River Rapids
5. Upside Down Leyburn Socks
6. Charade

Lonely Socks:
1. Jaywalker

Socks in Progress:
1. Anastasia
2. Fawkes

I intend to have all of them done when SOS ends, but you never know. That means I need to finish almost 4 socks but September 21st. Ok, so that probably won't happen, but a girl can hope.

Winnie the Pooh was right

Honey has become my drug of choice to soothe my sore and scratchy throat. Saturday morning I woke up with a sore throat at 4:00am. I knew I wasn't getting back to sleep so I made myself a cup of tea with some Irish Breakfast Tea leaves and, on a whim, put some honey in it. I don't usually like my tea sweetened but I thought the honey might help my throat since I always see cough drops made with honey. As soon as I started sipping it my throat felt better. I had been drinking water before with no change. Last night I woke myself up coughing. I had a tickle in my throat that would not go away. I went through a glass of water and a cough drop with no end to the coughing. I decided to try the honey again and it worked immediately. Now if it would help with the tendonitis in my left wrist I would be even happier. At least the sore wrist doesn't affect my sock knitting.

Josh will be brewing tonight so I will have lots of TV knitting time!

Anyone interested in Gulu Walk? Walking is good for you so, you can do something good for yourself while helping someone else!

Josh went for two motorcycle rides yesterday. He had a lot of fun and I am jealous. I didn't feel comfortable riding with my cold and Sudafed in my system. I didn't even feel comfortable driving my car! Josh was very kind and took me to work yesterday afternoon so I could get some bacterial colonies growing for today. I need to get a pic of the bike. It has been painted and has a new seat. It looks so much better than it did.

As for knitting, I didn't get a lot done. At least not as much as I thought I would. I knit the heel on Anastasia 3.5 times. I gave the short-row heel another try, but had a gigantic hole where the heel and instep met before the start of the cuff. I switched to Wendy's toe-up slip stitch heel and it worked much better. The cuff and most of the heel flap are done on Fawkes. Oh yeah, my reason for not knitting a ton was this.

Josh and I took the motorcycle license test today and both of us passed. I missed one question and I think it was a dumb question to miss. I must have misread it or the answer. It's hard to say because I took some Sudafed and my brain isn't functioning at it's normal capacity. I also woke up at 4:00 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep which probably didn't help.

Our motorcycle will be back in our possession in about 2 hours. I don't think I will ride it today since I have this cold, but I would love to.

For some reason, on one row in each repeat of the Fawkes I have missed a YO. I don't usually catch it until two rows later. I think I have spend almost as much time tinking as knitting. Oh well, I like the pattern and it looks nice in this yarn. I should probably be working on the Anastasia socks because they are a gift and I still have 3 pairs that I want to knit for gifts.

So, that cold I thought I was getting, oh yeah, I got it. I got progressively worse during the day but felt better for about two hours while I taught at the GymNest. Before I went to bed I started sneezing and coughing again. I ran out of cough drops and cold meds so I will have to suffer through it until I can get to the store, which may not be until after work. I forgot my lunch so I may just go downtown for some food and drugs.

I am halfway through the first pattern repeat on Fawkes, but have yet to fix the heel on Anastasia. My order from Knit Picks arrived yesterday with my extra sets of 2.5mm and 2.75mm dpns so I may start another pair! Three at once! I have a feeling my weekend, other than taking the motorcycle license test at the DOT will be spent on the couch with some knitting, a glass of water or cup of tea and a Kleenex box.

I still haven't gotten my gym pass and it's already 2 weeks into the semester. Bad Chelsea! I should do that today.

Heather, a pediatric cardiologist at UIHC and my boss, and I want to take a microscopy class at the university. We thought it would be cheaper to do our research while taking this class since the fees for all the microscopy use and staff time are covered by the tuition. Yesterday, I decided to determine if our assumption that the class was cheaper is true. I emailed the microscopy core's business manager to get the hourly fees for use of the microscopes. I figured that this was a simple question, but apparently I was wrong.

We are already considered enrolled in the class, we have an account at the core and we have pre-paid for use of the microscopes as a way to use some grant money before we lost it. Anyway, the woman I emailed made a huge deal of me asking for the fees because of all this other stuff and was completely confused about why I wanted to know since all fees are waived while you are in the class. Even after I explained, she didn't get it. She emailed Heather, the professor, the core's administrator and the core's staff person we usually work with. I then received an email from the professor because she was worried that we weren't going to take the class and there are people waiting to take it. She would need to let them know soon if there is an opening. She did end up sending me the info I needed, but soon after i received another email from her because she was confused about something else. I replied saying I was sorry for causing her so much confusion with what I thought would be a simple question to answer. She then replied to say she knew what I was asking. I still don't think she did.

Later, Heather emailed her to ask if we could transfer money from our pre-paid account to pay for our tuition and that started another round of emails among Heather, this woman and the head of the microscopy core. She is hard to talk to in person, through email, and on the phone. The administrator finally stepped in and relieved Heather of the business manager and they are going to figure out something tomorrow.

Today, I went to the cafe in the building the microscopy core is in to get a Diet Coke and the business manager was standing in line at the register. I was so glad she doesn't know what I look like. I am sorry if this didn't make any sense, but I had to vent. I wasn't feeling well yesterday due to an oncoming cold, and she put me over the edge.

And here's a little knitting content:

I did a short-row heel on the Anastasia sock and I think it is too shallow. I have higher arches and so does the recipient of this pair so I think I will try a toe-up gusset heel instead. I did start Fawkes last night. for some reason I decided to try it on magic loop and quickly decided that wasn't going to work. The cord drove me nuts.

edited to add:
Crap! I just bought more yarn! One's for my mom, I think.

I started on some new socks! The yarn is striping just as I had hoped and the toe-up start didn't drive me crazy like it usually does. The yarn is Lorna's Laces in Lucky Stripe and the pattern is Anastasia. They will also be a Christmas gift. I am going to start another pair tonight so I don't get bored. I can't decide between the Socktopia Mystery sock or Fawkes.

I am not prepared for it to be September. I love the idea that fall will soon be here, but that also means I need to order Josh's birthday present and plan the rest of my Christmas knitting projects. I also want to start a sweater for myself, but can't decide on the yarn. I want to have it done so I can show it off at Thanksgiving. I also promised my cousin a scarf in his school colors. I should really get started on that b/c knitting a scarf won't be fun. Maybe I can find a way to make it fun. I still haven't made a chiropractor appointment either. I haven't had anymore bad headaches, but my neck is stiff.

A couple Charades

A Christmas gift finished in September! I hope I can wait to give them to her. I love how they turned out.



Pattern: Charade
Yarn: Fearless Fibers Marrakesh
Needles: 2.75mm
Mods: eye-of-partridge heel

I dont' have any socks on the needles. It's a little odd, so I will decide what to start soon. For Sockdown: Ravelry the criteria are a Grumperina pattern or toe-up. I have a toe-up pattern I want to try and I have one Jaywalker to go, but that feels like cheating since I started them in June or July. As usual, I will probably start another pair as well, so I don't get bored with one.

Upside Down Leyburn Socks!

I found my 5th dpn in, you probably guessed if you have ever been to my apartment, the couch that eats crochet hooks, knitting needles and other related supplies. I don't know why I didn't find it in there the first time I looked. I also found a stitch marker and pen. Anyway, I finally finished them. Here are the specs:



Pattern: Leyburn Socks
Yarn: Gypsy Girl Yarns in Cattails
Needles: 2.75mm Knit Picks 5 dpns
Mods: CO 66 stitches for a cuff-down sock

We bought 2 games for the the Wii and 1 for the PS2 today. Actually the 2 games for the Wii are for Gamecube. I think I am going to try them out!