Sunday, May 4, 2008

Tisk, Tisk

Wow...laziness has completely dominated me this last 30 days or so:( I went to the Netherlands, and then lost my desire to do anything but dream of ways to move there. Sorry about that folks! To make up for it, I have an FO, a dictionary entry, and project updates. That should whet your whistle!

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First things first. I have been trying to finish up old WIPs, but holidays and birthdays have come up which have waylaid my plans. I have managed to finish several things though. The latest is the cutest project I have knit in a while, probably since Sheldon: Wrist Yarn Holder. The idea behind this project from Knituition is that you can always use a small bag to carry around small projects like socks. I have to admit that I was skeptical. I mean what difference would this little bag make in the long run. But, I was knee deep in WIP remorse, so, of course I started a new project.

I decided to make the bag without the body pattern so I could finish it as quickly as possible. Once it was done, I decided to try it out with my Mystery Project. Man! This little bag made all the difference. Nevermind the fact that I didn't have my yarn rolling all over the place. Or that my project didn't have little bitty particles of who-knows-what from my carryall. Or that I had a cute little accessory to hang from my wrist or pinky as I saw fit. I think it even increased my knitting speed! Alls I can say is this little bag is knitting magic, and I will be making these for people, probably for the rest of my life:) Here's a picture of the bag "in action"!


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Stella from Knit, Knit, Frog asked me what in the world "forked" means in reference to knitted projects. This made me laugh quite heartily as I have been asked this questions rather often. I thought I would respond to those inquiring minds right here where the word is most prominent.

When I was much younger, 11 or 12 (1990 or 1991), I saw the movie Pump Up the Volume with Christian Slater. As a rebellious youth, the idea of a pirate radio personality hooking up with the weird goth/punk chick in school was very influential and inspiring. I LOVED that movie, and pretty much learned all the words to it. There's a scene in the movie where Happy Harry Hard-on (you'll understand when you see the movie) decides not to broadcast anymore, and he says "Stick a fork in me, I'm done!" It's always stuck with me ( no pun intended), so it was only natural that I transfered the phrase to my latest obsession. So there you have it. Forked = Finished! By the by, if you haven't seen Pump Up the Volume, you should Netflix it right now. I'll wait while you go to your queue.... Well done!

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As summertime comes upon me, I find myself more and more inclined to knit. The pressure is off somewhat, since I have turned in a version of my dissertation proposal, and am now revising it. I have a meeting at some point in the next two weeks with my advisers, and I feel as if knitting is the best way to combat stress.

Since the beginning of the year, I have completed 10 projects. Considering how much I've had going on lately, this is amazing. It doesn't mean that I am happy with my production though. I have several UFOs that I hoped to have done by now. Alas...it is not going to happen for three of them. The 1930s Stripe Sweater, Rhiannon Socks, and My First Afghan are MIA and I don't know when I can start working on them again. I did order new needles for the 1930s Sweater in the hope that a smoother join would make the knitting less painful. I'm also going to try to magic loop it so I can try it on without the whole putting 200+ stitches on waste yarn headache. When you're working on US1s, the idea of transferring that many stitches back and forth every 30 rows or so is like total death!

What am I working on then? Well, I'm glad you asked:) I have been working quite diligently on Nantucket Jacket, and have the back, right front, and part of a sleeve finished. I am hoping to finish it (for real this) by the end of the month. Unfortunately, I also am really sick of looking at Scala Socks so I have worked on it today, and hope to get past the heel turn by the end of the week. Each cable row takes about 15 minutes, so I will need to do at least one cable row a day to finish up the heel turn in time. Boy will I do a happy dance when these socks are kaput. Finally I have completely neglected Wisp. It's not the sort of project I can work on at SnB, nor do I think of it when I'm home, so it just sits in its little bag waiting for attention that really should come. I seem to always be lamenting my lack of a black wrap! Perhaps I should give it a go at SnB this week. Ugh! I'm feeling quite overwhelmed by these projects, and I still have to make two birthday gifts... Good thing I don't have classes this month.

Until next time...

2 comments:

Stell said...

Forked, now I understand, no I've not seen the movie, I'm a bit of a late comer to most movies, but I am an avid cook and so completely understand the test for done-ness. I also admire the bilingual posts - out of my league.

Becky G said...

Thanks for explaining. I'd kind of figured out what you meant from the context, but I didn't know why you used that particular word.

As for Netflix--my queue is full! Can you believe that?