Christmas in Krakow

I got back from Krakow on Thursday afternoon and while I didn't take a whole lot of pictures of Krakow itself we cooked a lot and, thus, that is what I took pictures of.

Most of that is from Christmas Eve dinner. The menu was:

• Green Salad
• Potato Salad
• Beet Salad
• Fried Carp (breaded and un-breaded)
• Deviled Eggs
• Bread
• White Wine
• Mulled Wine
• Warm Beer
• Crepes (with a number of topics

Apparently in Poland and The Czech Republic fried carp is a Christmas tradition. We weren't quite sure whether or not they make it breaded or not so - we did it both ways, un-breaded was my my favorite.

The next morning Aurora and I got up early to make breakfast for Annie and Sarah (who is visiting me in 6 and a half hours!). Of course we didn't take any pictures of it but it included:

• Orange Juice
• Potato Hash (made from the leftover potato salad)
• Crepes
• Apple Sauce (homemade by yours truly)
• Scrambled Eggs
• French Toast (made with repurposed crepe batter with some flour, sugar, and cinnamon added)

Then for dinner on Christmas day we had Borscht, Salad, and these fried sandwiches (soaked in the excess french toast batter - who would have known crepe batter could be turned into so many things) that had cheese (though mine were cheeseless), sauted mushrooms and eggplant, and mustard on them.

Now for New Years Eve, the menu so far is, empanadas (with the recipe that Sarah got from an 80 year old Argentine woman), salad, maybe schnitzel (because ya know - schnitzel and empanadas go together so well...) and...we'll see what else.
There endeth the cooking segment for the day :)

and i'm back - the lost post

So currently I don't have internet - the people at my dorm are changing over services or something like that and I've been without it for 3 or 4 days now. That being said, I got new goodies from Loop on etsy this week!



I was trying to hold out because I don't have very much roving at the moment and, clearly, I love spinning but I ended up spinning up some of it.

100% bamboo

i LOVE navajo plying

The semester is coming to a close which means - more spinning time for me! Well except first I have to write a paper and study for three finals. That being said I did some preemptive spinning last night.

I turned this

Into this

A closer look

Its corriedale in about a sport weight. If I had a ruler I would tell you how many wraps per inch but sadly I only have a tape measure. Its the most even I've ever spun anything to this point which makes me pretty happy (though that picture doesn't really give it justice as far as the evenness goes. I really love the color though and am probably going to buy some of it in merino after new years. I also should be getting the bats I bought from loop on etsy this week! Also I think I'll finally be able to make it to the Wednesday knitting group this week, I could come for the past two weeks because I was either sick or writing papers.

learning

This week I decided that I would teach myself how to Navajo ply mainly because I want to be able to spin self striping yarn that is plied. I also haven't made any three ply yarn yet soo, I figured this was a good chance. I spun up 70 or so grams of this neon orange corriedale that I got in a sample pack when I bought my spindle in October and went about learning how to Navajo ply - this is what I got.

Its much, much brighter in person

up close

Turns out, I LOVE Navajo plying, love it.I like the motions and I like what comes out and I like that I don't have to worry about the yardage of bobbins being more or less the same. Oh, and for whatever reason, its really easy for me.

idea part two

So it has recently come to my attention that in my ideal world, a rough outline of my [working] life after college would look like this.

I. Work at an LYS
A. Teach classes at said LYS
II. Eventually find a partner
III. Stop working at LYS, start hand dying yarn and roving, and sell said yarn/fiber on the internet and, if I'm lucky, whole sale. - Note the partner would continue working at their job
A. Spin and knit in my "spare time"

All that being said, I think I might experiment with dying roving this summer and possibly selling it on etsy.com because really, I don't have much to loose. If it doesn't sell I can give it to people (Gail I'm looking at you) and keep some, and if it does sell then, I'll get money off of it (maybe not profit but I'll gain experience).

Ideas

Last night I finally decided that it was time to actually knit with my merino/silk blend that I spun.

Its like a yarn apple

Wound on my faux nostepinne - aka an empty vitamin tablet bottle

I also am cursing myself for only having one stitch dictionary that just happens to be on cables (its how I learned how to cable - I asked one of the owners of an LYS in NYC last year if she could recommend a book and she replied that it would serve me better to just by a book of cable patterns - she was right). I wanted to make a scarf with a fun stitch design but didn't want to come up with this myself as I just don't have the time (or at the moment, creativity) so I settled for knitting the Multi-directional Diagonal Scarf. Its a surprisingly relaxing pattern, maybe because for most of it I don't have to pay attention, to anything - I also think it would show of yarns with color changes well.

I also have a new idea. I want roving, but its fairly difficult to get roving here (compared to in the US, I really just want more options than corriedale and merino) and there is one shop in Vienna where I can buy it from and, to my knowledge, they only sell roving by the kilo (minus the merino which they sell by the half kilo which equals 500g). Now my idea is, since I can get 1 kilo of corriedale for 29 euros, why don't I just buy a kilo and spin enough to make a sweater. I realize this is in no way a new idea - but it is for me, seeing as me and sweaters don't happen very often as far as knitting is concerned. This isn't so much of a "oh how nice it would be to spin and knit my own sweater" thing for me, its more of a "how can I increase my skills" exercise. I figure, I have four regular sized bobbins, I can devote two of them to the sweater yarn and have the other two open for anything else I want (and I very well may end up buying more because Ledrum bobbins aren't that expensive).
Thoughts?

What I've Been Up To

I inadvertently decided that I was going to take a on week break from blogging - or something to that effect, but I'm back!

I've been doing a ton of spinning lately (no surprise there) and this is what I have to show of it.

The last of the nice roving

Got spun and plied to make this

I also finally got a hang of using the fast flier and I'm having a lot of fun with it. It seems like its a lot easier for me to spin even singles on the fast flier than on the regular one - which is weird.
I also really need a spinning book. For whatever reason I neglected to buy one when I bought my wheel. My mom is sending me my winter jacket soon (because its colder in Krakow than it is here) so maybe I'll ask her to pick one up for me and send it, along with some red vines (red licorice that I've only been able to find in the western part of the US) as they are my favorite candy of all time.

~115 yards of two ply lace weight

I finished sock one of Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks this morning. It still has a life line in the toe because I'm not positive that I'll have enough for the other sock and I want the toes to match. I'm knitting it in the Tausendschön that I bought a while ago. At first I didn't think the darker colors were saturated enough for me (you can see bits of white in the dark blues and greens) but I actually really like it. Its a really nice yarn to knit with and its not very expensive for hand dyed.

The color reminds me of Neuroknitter's holiday socks :)

Oh and Avast is sitting near my stash as I avoid seaming it because I really hate seaming. It actually got blocked on Wednesday/Thursday. I think I'm going to try to finish seaming most of it today though. Still no pictures.

Obsession

I plied around 100g of the silk/merino blend tonight. I'm pretty happy with it. Its amazingly soft and its a mix between worsted and sport weight. Oh and none of it is over spun! (and none of it is under spun to the point of falling apart/weakness) I think my goal right now is to spin something of any weight (except for bulky because I don't actually like bulky yarns for the most part) that is really even. Thats the goal. Oh and I also want a book or two about spinning because I still haven't actually read anything out of a book (hell I haven't read a whole lot online either, I'm apparently big on the trial and error method - it seems to be working well). My Christmas list this year is comprised of two things: roving and a book on spinning. I probably won't get them though, not for Christmas.

I also finished the main knitting portion of Avast today! It needs to be blocked, seamed, and the zipper sewn in and then it'll be done. No new pictures yet, but after its blocked and seamed I'll attempt to take a picture it'll be interesting because I've never taken a picture of any knitted item that large.

done!

Done with National Blog Posting Month that is. As I said last night, I think it went rather well and I'm glad I did it. I've enjoyed keeping my friends abreast of what's going on in my (mainly knitting) live and like that new people have found the blog.

This morning/afternoon I plied around 100g today. It's was a bit over plied (is that even the right term) so I soaked it in some wool wash and its currently hanging in my bathroom to dry (and isn't curling up on itself)

In real life the cream is a bit darker - I like it.

I also started spinning more of the silk/merino roving that I bought when I bought my wheel. I'm in love with it, its so soft and amazingly easy for me to work with. Its also just really pretty.

So for whatever reason my sleep schedule is really really off. It started when I came back home from England - I stayed up till 4:30am spinning (I was wired from traveling or something like that) and then fell asleep and woke up at 8:30am (because my body likes to get up that early on weekends). As a result (I guess), I've been sleepy at around 7pm every night this week, fell asleep curled up on the bed at around 9, then wake up at around 12am, and fall asleep and wake up about 3 more times through out the early morning until 6:30am when I give up. Its not good.

On a better and unrelated note, my flute teacher complemented me on my German today :) (our lessons are in German because her English isn't very good)

Almost finished!

One more day of National Blog Posting Month! I've done really well (seeing as I've blogged every day and maybe three of those posts have been memes) but am excited to have a lack of an "obligation" to blog. No worries though - I will still blog on a regular basis!

I did, however, finish dashing! It was nice and quick and I am probably going to start a sock tomorrow (well I'll bring stuff to school with me to start it, we'll see if I do). Also, no more freezing cold hands! (I hope)

This is actually a picture of the first one - I don't have a tripod or other person to take a picture of both of them on me and I'm too lazy right now to take a picture of an almost identical wrist warmer

I also decided to bite the bullet and spin 20g of the silk/merino blend that I bought in England. Low and behold its much, much easier for me to spin than the corriedale that I've been spinning for yarn that will probably be used to knit a hat.

Second skein I've spun on a wheel - so soft

The yarn is actually a bit brighter than it looks in the picture and looks totally different in sunlight (the blues become much brighter, in a good way). Its also amazingly soft, so amazingly soft. I'm not all quite sure what I'm going to do with this yarn, or the yarn that becomes of the rest of the roving I have - the idea now is that it'll become a scarf because a. I can show it off b. as much as I love hats, I want to be able to feel the softness of the yarn c. wrist warmers are great and all but you can't see them super well in full. We'll see, we'll see.

Because I pay attention in theory....

So to preface this, I wrote this entry in a word doc. while in theory today and saved it because the wireless network at my school didn't like the room I was in.
------------------------
I took a little break from Avast today to work on Dashing. It is one of the two projects that I brought to Vienna with me (the other being Lizard Ridge) and, for whatever reason, didn’t take the time to finish it. It actually makes a sheer lack of sense as to why I didn’t finish it because it is one of those instant gratification projects. It takes just a little longer than Fetching actually (which I knitted this summer).

I’m really glad that here are only two more days of the work/school week. Thursdays and Fridays are my more relaxed days because the only class that I have is German. I do have a concert on Thursday night though – it should go well. I also have a flute lesson on Friday which might not go well. In short my flute teacher doesn’t understand the concept of canceling lessons. And that when people say that they are canceling, and you agree to that, that means that the lesson isn’t happening.

Roving

Time for more pictures of goodies that I got while in England! Actually this will be the last installment of it as the only things I bought were the wheel, some roving, and the suitcase for the wheel (and I'm assuming you don't need to see pictures of that). I figured I might as well braid the roving tonight before the cleaning people come (yes - my dorm has house cleaners, its so weird to me) tomorrow.

5 braids - in total 220g (4 braids of 50g one of 20g)

And a close up of it - this picture is more true to the colors than the first.

I'm waiting till I become more proficient at spinning before I spin this. It is the merino/silk blend that I got at P&M Woolcraft on Friday. They had a huge bag of this as well as a green colorway and another colorway, the color of which I can't remember.

Making up titles names is difficult

So among other things I did this weekend was work on Avast and this is where its at right now.


The yoke got finished on the bus ride from P&M Woolcraft (where I bought my wheel) and now I'm working on the hem of the collar. Then I have to do the bottom 2.5 inches or so and the hem of that, and then I'm done! Well not totally, it needs to be blocked and seamed (ew), and lastly the zipper needs to be sewed in.

Yesterday after meeting Milinda and Ben at Mocha Club I played video games (My Sims for Nintendo DS - the first time I had played on my DS since early Sept maybe) and spun some of the corriedale that I have.

Apparently I forgot about the front of the bobbin...

So I don't really run with the whole "beginners can only do this or that" philosophy. The skein that I took a picture thats on yesterday's post was spun at a 8:1 ratio and the stuff above is being spun 10:1. I'm going to end up plying it with a cream colored corriedale. Then I'm going to work on getting the hang of spinning on the fast flyer :) I made a little to-do list of knitting and spinning things during theory today. I also wrote five pages in my journal - this is what I do when people are giving presentations on info that I'm a. not interested in and b. don't have to be responsible for knowing. Oh and today less than half of the class was here.

You asked for it

My first skein of hand spun on the wheel (I have a few tiny skeins of stuff that I've spun on my drop spindle). The roving I used is called "Pick and Super" which was described to me by the very cute and sweet couple at the place I bought my wheel as "a mix of different [wool] fibers". So I bought 200g of that and then 200g of this really gorgeous merino/silk roving that I might post pictures of tomorrow (I still haven't actually taken a picture of it).

Avast is also almost done. I finished the yoke yesterday and I need to start the collar today which should go very quickly, and then knit some odd inches at the bottom and then it can get blocked!

Home

I got home safely.
In short I:
Caught the bus from Oxford to London-Victoria Station
Got lost then asked a bus driver where the bus I needed to catch was
Got there 10 min before the bus boarded
Got to the airport, checked in, payed an exorbitant fee for my excess luggage
Got a really good seat on the airplane (thats what priority booking gets you)
Met this really awesome guy who is a diplomat who sat next to me
Got through the passport checkpoint, the guy took like five million years looking at my passport though
Then got driven home by the really awesome guy!

So yes, I'm home and my wheel - who's name is Cole (its my middle name, and one of my favorite names in general) made it home in one piece its currently sitting inftont of me asking me to spin.

Leaving

So I bought a suitcase for my lendrum, yes, I bought a suitcase specifically for it this morning. And now - I am off to the bus station so I can take a bus to London and then another bus to the airport. Wish me luck!

YAY

Look!

New

Wheel!!!!!

Thanksgiving part two

So I made up Oxford, finally! The train from Birmingham to Oxford was only an hour so that was good.
Right now I'm at my friend's flat and we're all in the process of getting the tryptophan coma. So thanksgiving night has ended up being very good - its made up for the morning/afternoon to say the least. And now - I am off to sleep

Arg!!

So def. no pictures for todays post but there might be another one tonight.
So right now I should be on a plane towards London, but instead I'm sitting in the Bratislava airport (but there's free internet!). What ended up happening was that I got to the bus stop for the Ryan Air bus nice and early and it wasn't there. So then I ended up missing that bus because I didn't know it was there (and it was dark so I could barely see the head lights). So then we took a bus that left an hour later (at 8) to Bratislava airport (an hour and 20 min away) and got there, 15 min after they stopped the check in. We (mainly the British guy and I) pleaded but they wouldn't budge. So we totally missed that flight.
Then I noticed that there was a flight out to Birmingham at 12 that Sky Europe was doing. So I ended up booking a seat on that flight for an amazing amount of money (I could have flown from Portland to NYC for how much I'm paying for this flight what is normally a discount airline). So I should, if everything goes as plans, get into Birmingham at 1:30 and I called Kelly and she says that there is a train that will take me from there (the airport) to Oxford in an hour so I'll actually end up getting to Oxford earlier than expected (which is nice). The train from the airport leaves at 2:15 so that should give me enough time to get off the plane and get my luggage as I don't want to wait for the next train (that leaves an hour later).

But yes, this has been my day so far - I'm still somewhat relaxed though I think that all of my anxiety may just be going all to the back of my neck as it hurts - a lot. I'm also more than a little sleep deprived. The moral of the story: be resourceful. It is possibly my best trait.

On a nicer note, when I was standing in the Sky Europe check in line I was right in front of this couple from Wales and they saw the "no knitting needles" thing on the sign of prohibited items and were commenting on how dumb it was. So I turned around to commiserate with them and we had a nice little chat about knitting, and how knitting needles should be allowed on flights because really - what in the world are you going to do with a knitting needle, other than knit. Then I told them that I was getting a spinning wheel and they were very pleased - it was cute.

Oh and actually, turns out, my fight will be half an hour late (which they can maybe make up in the air, that would make me more than happy) so I'll maybe get into oxford at 4:15.

Soon

Hopefully this'll be quick because I'm tired and need to go to bed so I can get up early and catch a bus to Bratislava (where I fly out of).

I'm just short of half way done with the yoke on Avast. The whole thing is going so quickly. I started it on Nov. 7th I think, and I think I could easily have it done by the end of the month (with the complication being the sewing in of the zipper because first I have to find one).


Thats not the best picture in the world. Its really dark in my room because I need to get two new light bulbs and - clearly - the sleeves are not seamed yet (and they won't be until after it gets blocked). I did finally break down and work on it during performance workshop (basically a weekly master class that the musicians at IES have to go to) this evening though. What it finally came down to was the fact that a. my needles weren't making that much noise (and depending on who was playing even when they were making noise you couldn't hear them) b. over half of the class wasn't there and most of those who were were doing homework and c. I didn't have homework on me and didn't want to sit for over 2 hours doing nothing.

The schedule for the rest of my is as follows:
Thursday: wake up at 5 so I can catch the u-bahn at around 6 to get to a bus that leaves at 6:50
fly out at 10
get to London at 11:15
take bus from the airport to somewhere else at 12
take the Oxford tube from London to Oxford (high street) sometime right after
eat thanksgiving dinner! (or at least thats what I'm told...)
Knit, Sleep

Friday:
Get wheel!

Saturday:
Oxford tube to London
Shuttle bus from London to Stansted Airport
fly out at 6:55
get to Bratislava at 10:05 (that seems like such a long flight but its only about two hours - thank you time difference)
take the bus to Vienna at 10:50
get to Vienna at 11:20
get home at around 11:35, 11:40

Sunday:
Knit
Spin
Meet Ben maybe
Go to knitting maybe
Sleep

Sock Meme Day

I suppose I should write about the more amusing things before I do the meme. I finished the arms of Avast this afternoon at school in between class and my rehearsals. Sadly no pictuers were taken though, at the moment it looks like one big long blue blob because of how short the needle is in comparison to how many stitches there are on it (32" 316 sts before the decreases). Hopefully there will be pictures tomorrow. I also fly to Oxford on Thursday (via London) and get my wheel on Friday!

Now, onto the Sock Meme stolen from here:
1. What’s your favorite sock yarn? (please note that the word ‘yarn’ is singular. Just pick one. I know it’s hard.)
Hmm...really anything hand painted that has a good base yarn. I really like Zen String and Cherry Tree Hill though. I still have yet to knit with Socks That Rock sadly.

2. What’s your favorite type and brand of sock needle?
I like to knit my socks on two 24" Addi [metal] circulars - yay for me being in Europe now, the land of the cheap Addies. I have hopes of buying out my fav. LYS here of all of their Addies. I only really knit with DPNs when there is a pattern that three or four times (and thus its easier to just use DPNs).

3. Do you knit your socks toe up, cuff down, or sideways?
Cuff down and toe up. I prefer toe up because its easier to try them on midway through.

4. Do you knit both socks at once or just one at a time?
One at a time. I still haven't tried two at a time yet.

5. What’s your favorite toe and why?
Star toes because they're pretty (what an answer).

7. Do you prefer plain or patterned socks?
Well...I prefer patterned socks to stockinette but I feel like I'm in this content struggle to find a patterns that show off hand dyed yarn well.

8. Who do you knit the most socks for?
Me! I did knit a pair for my mom right before I came to Austria though. I also have to knit my aunt some socks, the yarn is sitting on the table waiting for me to do so but I'm putting it off because I know it isn't going to be an xmas gift.

9. Do you darn your socks? If not, what do you do with them?
I haven't had to yet. I might if I liked them enough but we'll just have to wait and see.

10. Do you only wear handknit socks?
Someone actually asked me that today when I was knitting avast. At the moment I wear almost only hand knit socks. The only exception would be when I'm wearing my dress socks or my fleece socks.

Early, quick, and short

So this is going to be short because apparently my dorm is having someone work on the network or something along those lines and our internet will be down at 8:25 this morning (so in an hour). Also, I wasn't organized enough to think of taking any pictures for this post last night so sadly - no pictures today.

Things I've Finished knitting in Vienna:
Monkey Socks
Spiraling Coriolis Socks
Lizard Ridge
Red Light Special (hat)
Jaywalker Socks

Things That Need to be Finished:
Dashing
Avast

To be Knitted:
Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks
Anything else from the newest Cat Bordhi book
Anemoi Mittens
Short-Row Hat

[some what] Fast progress

This what I have so far of the sleeves of Avast - well half of what I have, the other sleeve is equally as long. I worked on them for most of today and they are about 8" (they need to be 18"). I am excited for them to get done, and hopefully they'll be done by the end of the week. Then comes the yoke which will hopefully be painless.

I went out to coffee with Milinda this morning which was nice we went to Coffee Day (which is not your typical Viennese coffee shop - its trying to be American). Her hat is coming along nicely - she hasn't made any mistakes since Friday night, yes, thats right, she is an up and coming knitting rock star :) (yes Milinda, I did just say that). Her next project (so she says) is going to be a cabled "baby scarf" - this is why I'm glad I brought my book of cable/aran patterns to Vienna with me. And no, it won't be too hard for her because, cables are only hard if you think they are :) (ok not totally true, you know what I mean)

Snow and Coffee

Here is the picture post of the week, possibly of the month. I would have posted these yesterday but I posted from Milinda's house as I didn't leave until 12:13am. We watched the entire first season of Weeds, such a good show :)

This is my part of my daily walk to the U-Bahn looks like when its snowed the day/night before

And here is the obligatory pretty snow covered trees in Vienna picture. Also taken on my daily journey to school.

My melange

Milinda's...cappuccino I think

In knitting news - I'm not super far along on the sleeves of Avast but I am doing them at the same time on a long circular needle as to not have the sleeve version of SSS (actually, it would be the same acronym wouldn't it).

Body - Finished!

Thats right, I finally finished the [lower] body of Avast! Sadly there are no pictures as of yet (though really, right now it looks almost the same as the pictures in the last post, just longer). So now the goal is to finish the sleeves this week - I'm going to cast them on right after I finish this post.

I also in the process of teaching my friend Milinda how to knit. Well ok, she knows how to knit, but I taught her the long-tail cast on (which she picked up really quickly) and how to purl (which she's still working out). She's making a ribbed at the moment so by the end of it she will be able to purl amazingly I'm sure. She also totally didn't have any problems with circular needles, not at all.

Also, by this time next week I a. will be in England and b. will have a wheel! A Lendrum most likely. The store that I'm buying it from emailed me back yesterday and told me that they do have them in stock and that they will be open on the 23rd. I also will be in the midsts of teaching another one of my friends how to knit, or at least thats what the plan is. We'll see how that goes as next week I will be very preocupied with the wheel.

I took pictures of the snow today but, sadly they won't be up until tomorrow because I am at Milinda's apt using her computer and haven't had a chance to upload them to flickr yet. Oh and yay for addi circs being super cheap in Europe - Portland people, you know what you're getting for Christmas!

Halfway through

We're at the halfway mark of NaBloPoMo and things, blog wise, have been going amazingly well.

Avast is also going well as can be seen in the picture below

Apparently I can take pictures when I'm somewhat tired

I only have four more inches of the [lower] body to knit which should be finished tomorrow and then 18 more inches of stockinette! Thank god I'm small and can knit the smallest size of men's sweaters.

I had a concert tonight - I played in two trios. They both went relatively well with the main annoyance being that the stage crew put the stands for the Berlioz way too far apart and I just couldn't hear Ann so we would get off even though we were trying to listen to each other and we were making a lot of eye contact. That being said, it was only like that for the first min or so of the piece (so the first eighth). I'm just glad its over.

Its snowing - I think I can get behind the snow here though. The city actually keeps its streets clear so it'll snow, but its not super slushy on the sidewalk and there is basically no snow on the road. I also don't find it very cold when its snowing so I can walk around (assuming that I have enough clothing on) and not be freezing. Oh and I got another package from my mom, no yarn, but candy, two new pairs of pants (and I like them!) and some clothes that I left at home.

Lists

No pictures today sadly - I suck sometimes what can I say. Avast is still chugging along - the body is about 9" long, I'll easily be able to finish it before Saturday. Then I get to do the sleeves, another 18 inches of stockinette! At least I can do it on the U-Bahn right?

Things I need/should do/finish in the next two and a half hours:

German homework (its hard)

Email my NYC flute teacher and the director of the music dept at Sarah Lawrence

Knit

Things I should do/finish before Saturday:

The body of Avast

A some German homework

My reading for the worst class ever (the teacher is great - I just suck at it)

Go grocery shopping at the Naschmarkt - assuming the impending snow doesn't interfere

Practice!

Do Mahler homework

Projects I want to finish before January 1st:

Avast (that'll happen)

Anemoi Mittens

Bartholomew's Tantalizing Socks

Red Herring Socks

Dashing - I have one done, somehow I have put off the second one...

A hat - I don't care which hat, as long as it looks nice, I need another one.

Progress - dear lord I'm boring today

Avast is coming right along. As of now the body is about 8 of the 15 needed inches. I also apparently have no ability to take a good picture of it. Its also still small enough to fit into my bag with all of my books/music/flute. That being said, when it gets too large to take to school with me I'm going to start a sock with this yarn.

Thank you Tausendschön

My original goal with Avast was to do it for NaKniSweMo - National Knit a Sweater Month. It is the same logic as NaNoWriMo but instead of 50,000 words written being written [as a novel], the sweater consists of around 50,000 stitches knitted. I thought that it would be a perfect fit with NaBloPoMo but, of course, it didn't really work out that way. I got the yarn on November 5th and the needles a few days later (though that was entirely my fault). Then I got amazingly frustrated with, The Sock (which, as well as its sibling, fits very well), and made myself finish it before doing anything else. That being said, Avast was much neglected until this week.

I'm still hoping that I can finish it this month though I won't beat myself over the head if I don't get it done. At the rate I'm going I'll finish the body by the end of the week, finish the arms (which I intend on knitting at the same time) in about a week and then there's the rest of the putting together of stuff that I've never done before because, this is my first sweater like project.

In non knitting news:

David Sedaris is amazing

My German teacher has decided that she needs to give us three times more work that she used to

I am becoming addicted to goulash

One washer and dryer for 120 people is not ok

Not going home

So I don't know if I've mentioned this on here before, but I'm not coming home for Christmas. One of the reasons is that its amazingly expensive, but the other, more important reason, is that there are literally a hand full of people who I want to see in Portland. In no particular order those people are: Drew, Shannon, Emily, Barb, and Gail (aka Neuroknitter). I of course also wouldn't mind seeing my mom but I don't feel a pressing need to. I'm not very close with her (and am content with that) and talk to her at least once a week on the phone. I guess what it comes down to is that I really don't want to deal with Christmas with the extended family - they very well may just be why I'm not a big fan of Christmas and Thanksgiving (though I'm slowly growing to like Thanksgiving - feasting with friends is what makes it good).

I guess I feel like I am, as much as I hate using this term sometimes, the black sheep in the family. The best, to the point, example of why I feel like that would be when I was in the room with someone from my extended family this summer and they forgot what instrument I play...literally forgot. I have been playing the flute for 10 years, half of my life. You don't forget these things. Oh and this wasn't my grandmother who I would forgive of such things (though would still be a little unhappy - at least she remembers my birthday). At the same time these people go to the basketball games of my second cousins.

So I guess me not going home feels a bit liberating. Its like I'm breaking free of the chains. I'm used to not going home for Thanksgiving, but this'll be the first time for Christmas. Maybe what I'm really worried about is being alone for Christmas. I mean I'm not really at all religious, and I don't even like exchanging gifts very much. I think its the fact that there will be thousands of people all around the city who will be with their families and/or loved ones during that time and I'm afraid and frankly envious of them that I may not be.

In other happier news. Avast is going well - I've got five inches of the body knit. Pictures will come when it looks a little more exciting that it does now.

Snow?!

I woke up this morning to rain, which quickly turned to rain mixed with snow and then snow! Normally I would be unhappy about the whole thing as I generally hate the idea of snow, but snow that stays for a short while and then melts. I can get behind that. Really its just that I hate looking at brown dirty snow and I hate walking through it. That being said, I had to walk through the falling snow to go out to coffee with Melinda this morning. It was really nice just sitting drinking coffee and eating scones watching it snow outside and chatting.

Yarn and the edge of a very tasty scone

We stayed at the coffee shop (ok it was Starbucks - we needed a break from the smoke filled coffee shops of Vienna, and it was one of the only coffee shops open at 10am on a Sunday) for about three hours and then proceeded back to our respective homes (by that time the snow had turned back to rain). Then, because you can never have too much coffee shop goodness, I went to my Sunday knitting group at...Starbucks. Again, we meet there because its the only coffee shop thats no smoking and the seats are comfy.

This is the mural that I see every time I walk up to Mariahilferstrasse on my way to Sunday knitting

I worked on Avast and finally am done with the cable band! I picked up the 177 stitches and am now on my way to 15" of mindless knitting :) Right now its small enough to fit into my bag with school stuff so I can work on it between classes. I'll take pictures of it soon.

Done!

Yay!

Finally, they're done, finally! They fit well, etc etc. I still don't really like the colorway at all. I mean it looks fine, and they look fine on me, but those of you who know me know that I like yarn thats a big more exciting than this.

Now that the Jaywalkers are finished I can spend more bonding time with Avast. I also can wind one of the skeins of sock yarn seen in this post and maybe, just maybe finish up the sibling to Dashing (the first of the pair can be seen here).

I also went out and got an electric tea kettle today! One should note that I've been used to having an electric tea kettle in my room for over a year prior to coming here when my mom got me this for Christmas a few years ago. It still remains the best gift I've ever received (well one of them). I used it at least once a day when I was at Sarah Lawrence and realized, when I was packing for Vienna, that it couldn't come with me. There's an electric tea kettle in the kitchen that I use sometimes, but I always feel bad because I don't actually know if its communal and I don't want to use someone else's appliance. All that being said - this is a very important purchase.

A big day for a little sock

On Wednesday morning I had three rows of the second Jaywalker done and now look what I have!

Oh how its grown :)

The "wing" stitches (as K. Bordhi would call them) are still not all worked but its getting there and they will be worked by the time I go to bed tonight. Sadly because of this Avast has been a bit neglected but not completely. I worked on it before school this morning and am in the beginning of the fourth repeat of the bottom cable band thing, which is going amazingly slowly. After the Jaywalker sock is done then I'll be able to focus the majority of my knitting attention to Avast (and start a new sock of course).

As it turns out, Vienna falls are amazingly like Portland falls. The only difference is that its a little colder (though late next week its supposed to be getting a lot colder) and the rain is lighter. We still have those glorious cloudy wet days though - today was one of them. Its also a lot more windy here which I'm not a fan of. Even though I'm not on the top floor of my dorm, I can still hear the rain fall because of some sort of landing that is right next to my window. I love it.

I also was well enough to force myself to go to school this morning for my one class, German. Of course once class started I realized that actually, I still am sick and with in 10 minutes I had a headache (I only get them if I'm sick or really dehydrated) and was hoarse. Thankfully my teacher realized this and only "made" me talk once (though when we would go over things and say them as a group aloud I would talk - which is how my voice got so hoarse so quickly). Other than that and my general tiredness I am feeling much better physically though still an anxious mess (hence why I had to force myself to go to school). As one of my friends jokingly said - Freud would have loved me.

Short

I had (and am still having) a bad day today so this'll probably be a pretty short post.
I knitted up the gauge swatch for Avast this morning and then started working on the cabled band that is at the bottom of of it. I also worked on the Jaywalkers a bit which was amazingly boring. I want them done now!

Of course I had to take a picture of the semi sloppy stitches - thats what blocking is for right

I also took a picture of the sky from out of my window.

Here's to hoping tomorrow is a better day.

I can knit again!

I can knit again! I'm definitely not up to full speed but my hands don't hurt any more. As proof, this is what I did today.

All of that with the exception of the first three rows was knit today.

I'm also getting amazingly tired of the Regia that I'm using for these socks. Maybe its the whole no discernible color pattern thing, but it makes it more monotonous. Note that I also won't let myself start any new socks until I finish this one as a way of trying to cure myself of Second Sock Syndrome - if that is even possible. It was a great motivator when I was finishing my monkeys but apparently not so much with this one. I will finish it before I even begin to wind any of the new sock yarn into balls though!

I also did get out of the house today which is good. I didn't go to class or knitting as I wanted to get better (I am going to class tomorrow though) but I did have to go in to get my lesson reimbursement. IES (my school) makes all of the music students pay for their lessons up front and then they give us up to 400 euro in reimbursement per semester (which may just barely cover mine - barely). Each month there is a day that we all have to show up with our sheets that say how many lessons we have and thus how much money IES owes us - today was that day - so that was a rather strong motivator to get out of the house.

I also decided that since I was out, and there are two yarn shops with in 10 minutes of my school, I would go out in search of the five million (four) needles for Avast. Apparently the designer of Avast wants the knitter to have 1 US 7 circ 29" or longer, 1 US 5 circ 29" or longer, and two other circs both US 7 or smaller one of which needs to be at least 29". So on my little quest I stopped by the LYS closest to my school (two blocks away) and got one of the needles. They didn't have the others I needed so I decided that it would be better to go to what is now, my regular LYS in Vienna, Zwei Glatt Zwei Verkehrt. They had what I needed and they had this:

Stash? What stash?

Its 100% Shetland wool that looks like it may be hand dyed for/by the owner of the store. Both are 100g skeins and are about 450 meters. I think I may knit mittens out of them but we'll see. I'm also going to try to swatch for Avast tonight but again, we'll see.

Meme day

So because I spent the entire day in bed asleep I didn't do any knitting, nor did I get outside to take any pictures. So, I shall grace you all with a meme.

How do you like your eggs? Scrambeled
How do you take your coffee/tea? Coffee - with cream and sugar/Tea - it depends on the type
Favorite breakfast food: Bacon, Pancakes, turkey sausage...
Peanut butter: I don't like peanut butter
What kind of dressing on your salad? Balsamic vinaigrette
Coke or Pepsi? Neither
You’re feeling lazy. What do you make? Pasta
You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? BBQ chicken
You feel like cooking. What do you make? Gnocchi with Beef Ragu
Is there a food you refuse to eat? Anything doused with cheese (this includes macaroni and cheese)
What was your favorite food as a child? Steamed mussels....I was an odd child.
Is there a food that you hated as a child but now love? Not to my knowledge
Is there a food that you loved as a child but now hate? Raisins
Favorite fruit & vegetable: Raspberries and carrots
Favorite junk food: Do cupcakes count as junk food?
Favorite between meal snack: Apples with lemon and fresh grated ginger (try it - its amazing)
Do you have any weird food habits? ....I don't think I do
You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? That involves me being on a diet
You’re off your diet. Now what would you like? See above.
How spicy do you order Indian/Thai? Very spicy - as long as I can still taste the food
Can I get you a drink? Nah
Red wine or white? Red
Favorite dessert? Tiramisu (but it has to be good tiramisu)

I've got a golden ticket!

So I'm still sick - I have a feeling it might be the flu because feel really achy and weak. Luckily I didn't have two of my three classes today though I somehow made it through the one class I did have (theory) which I only went to because I was expecting packages (they get delivered to my school)....

Pretty things from Germany!

From front to back the colorways are Der Speck, Indische Gewürze, and Seestern. Its actually really fun getting packages [of yarn] because I pick them up in the reception of my school and a. everyone who works in the reception knows I knit ("yep - it feels like yarn") and b. one of the people who works in the reception also knits so she gets to ooh and ahh at it with me.

I also got another package that I had to pick up from the post office of 8 cakes of Cascade 220 that my mom bought me for my soon to be knit Avast (she bought it from Knit/Purl and they shipped it). The problem is, she bought the wrong color - despite the fact that I had her write the colorway on a piece of paper (both the name and the number of it). Its ok I guess. Its a dark navy blue (the midnight colorway) which I think I can pull off, I just never actually wear blue - Ok thats not true, but I almost never do. She also sent me a pack of cable needles (I needed a small one and I left my old one in a bead store in Seattle - they had a couch that I sat and knitted on while my mom shopped for beads) and a 14 oz (425 mL) bottle of Soak (wool wash) in the citrus scent which I've been wanting to try out. Note that I am very grateful that she sent me all of this yarn, I'm just in a bad mood which is amplified because I'm sick.

And finally, on a non-fiber and non-sick note, I leave you with one of my favorite quotes from Howard Zinn which one of my friends commented about because she saw it on my Facebook profile. Its from his essay The Optimism of Uncertainty:
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places--and there are so many--where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."

Many things

So I'm sick. Too sick to knit (I successfully cast on and knit the first two rounds for the second Jaywaker over the course of five hours - half an hour ago i attempted to knit the third round and had to stop after less than 42 sts as my hands got too tired).

But because I hate posting on a primarily knitting blog without pictures here's what's helping to keep me warm in bed.

Look familiar :)

And because I like playing with the macro setting and showing of my seams...

So originally I was going to go my Sunday knitting group thats about a 10 minute walk away from me in an attempt to get myself out of the house (because thats something I need to work on) but I then made the executive decision that rest is better than getting out of the house.

So we're going to play the "100 things about me" game.
1. I'm an only child.
2. Before this August I had only been out of the United States once and it was to for a band trip to Canada in middle school.
3. When I was little (say under the age of 10) my favorite food was mussels.
4. When I was 12 and 13 I would saute scallops for myself for lunch on weekends - I eventually got tired of them.
5. I have a horrible fear of flying but fly all the time.
6. I've been playing flute for 10 years.
7. Other than flute my favorite instruments are [french] horn and cello.
8. I'm from Lake Oswego but generally claim that I'm from Portland because I live grew up two blocks outside of the boundary and inside of Multnomah County.
9. I also went to Portland Public Schools - my mom would have had to pay to send me to Lake Oswego Public Schools.
10. I want to start dying yarn and roving.
11. When it comes to knitting, I think I can do anything.
12. I love knitting with wooden DPNs (namely the ebony Sox Sticks) but I have a tendency to break them by sitting on them.
13. When I was 10 I wanted to be a pediatric cardiologist when I grew up.
14. I clearly was (and still am) interested in medicine.
15. I also used to want to be a computer programmer.
16. I taught myself HTML when I was 10.
17. I gave up the programming dream when I realized how much math would be involved.
18. My grandmother taught me how to knit in order to keep me amused when I was staying at her house once.
19. I learned how to use a sewing machine for the same reason.
20. People who go to school with me think I'm very domestic but they don't realize that I hate cleaning.
21. As much as I hate cleaning, if I'm expecting a visitor I will make my room immaculate.
22. I love dogs.
23. I used to rock climb competitively.
24. When I was little I really liked doing yoga.
25. When it comes to cooking, I also think I can do anything.
26. This has proven to be true.
27. In the summer I am known for making gelato every other week.
28. If I'm in my room alone I have to listen to podcasts or else I will get anxious.
29. I'm slightly bitter that I have to eat breakfast in order to take my newest medication.
30. I normally don't like eating breakfast.
31. And I hate milk.
32. Of the around 7 or 8 therapists I've had only two have been good.
33. It took way too much energy to figure out how many therapists I've seen.
34. I've started to treat first flute lessons like first therapy sessions - If I don't like the teacher the first lesson I don't want to take from them.
35. That didn't work with my current flute teacher who I now like.
36. I have to fall asleep facing the wall.
37. When I'm in hotels I get confused as to which way to face when trying to fall asleep.
38. Most of my friends are older than me.
39. I like it that way but its going to suck when I'm a senior at Sarah Lawrence next year.
40. I turned in my application to SLC a day late and thought I wouldn't get in.
41. I also had a horrible interview at SLC but a great one at Eugene Lang.
42. Eugene Lang gave me so little financial aid that it was cheaper to go to Sarah Lawrence.
43. I am determined to not live in New York after I graduate.
44. I kind of want to make flutes for a living but would have to do an apprenticeship in the Boston area.
45. I don't want to live in or around Boston.
46. I also don't want to live anywhere on the East Coast.
47. I think I might want to move to Vancouver BC but haven't spent nearly enough time there.
48. I am very affectionate with my friends if they'll let me.
49. Cuddling makes me feel safe.
50. Turning the heel is my favorite part of knitting socks.
51. I think Cat Bordhi is a genius.
52. My current flute teacher told me I had the perfect body for flute playing.
53. I tend to think that I was made to knit.
54. My mom thinks I was meant to swim.
55. I am built like a swimmer (well when I have more muscle on me) and swam constantly up until the age of 10 or 11.
56. I don't have a fear of heights.
57. I have a fear of falling.
58. This is why I dropped out of the one diving class I took.
59. Even though I'm afraid of falling, I love the feeling you get after you take a lead fall (its a climbing thing).
60. I don't like the look of most crocheted things.
61. I do however love crocheted wire.
62. I want to learn how to blow glass.
63. I am a very tactical person.
64. Knitting does not relax me.
65. I got pressured into starting this blog by Neuroknitter.
66. I really want a spinning wheel and can't wait until I get one (so soon).
67. I don't like cheese.
68. Thats not totally true - I like most hard cheeses and Cojita cheese (but not goat cheese which it is often compared to).
69. I don't like any of the beer I've tried but I am determined to find one that I like.
70. I only drink things I like.
71. I don't drink to get drunk and have never been drunk.
72. I only remember getting the flu 3 times in my life.
73. I still have a bunch of scars from when I got the chicken pox when I was 2.
74. I don't like most dairy products.
75. I have a very mild wheat intolerance - this has seemed to almost go away since I've been in Austria.
76. Living in Vienna has given me a new appreciation for soup.
77. I grew up eating organic food 85-90% of the time.
78. When I first got to NY I got very sick because of this.
79. I used think I hated salmon.
80. This all changed when I decided to try to cook it.
81. The same thing happened with pork.
82. Socializing with more than one person scares me.
83. The exception to this rule is when all/most of the people involved are knitting.
84. I don't know how to drive a car.
85. This is apparently going to be rectified this summer.
86. I need to read more German.
87. I want to learn French, Norwegian, and Japanese.
88. I want to keep learning Spanish.
89. When I was in elementary school I was obsessed with American Sign Language.
90. I am still slightly resentful that my mom didn't let me learn piano when I was little.
91. Yes - I wanted to learn piano when I was 6.
92. I don't know what I want to do after undergrad.
93. This scares the living daylights out of me.
94. If I had my way I would work at a knitting store.
95. Hanging out at Twisted this past summer might have been then best think I did for myself.
96. I am a sock yarn snob.
97. This maybe because the third pair of socks I ever knit were out of hand dyed yarn.
98. I don't subscribe to the school of thought that thinks that you hold yarn in two hands to knit fair-isle style.
99. I swore off fast food when I was 12 (with the exceptions being when there was no other option - at a band festival when I had taco bell and after a climbing comp. in Seattle when I had KFC)
100. I don't like watching movies very much but I do love documentaries.

Oh and Gail - you will get a good food post later this week when I am feeling less sick :)

Half way through

Jaywalker number one is finished! All and all I think I'm happy with this pattern and am amused at my major modification to it.

This is what my darling little heel looks like. See that little point, that's the center of the heel (that actually lines up directly with one of the lines going down the back)

The entire time I was knitting after I had completed the heel I was thinking about just how elf like this sock looked like. That being said, its totally functional and fits really well (actually its a bit tight, but thats on purpose because I never take in account that socks ease and then end up with socks that are slightly too large). I also had enough yarn that I didn't have to substitute anything for the toe which was a relief.
My original goal with these was to get the pair of them finished before Monday when I should be getting my three skeins of Tausendschön (for everyone who doesn't speak German, click on "online-shop" and she has the majority of it translated into English). Thats not going to happen. Also, I need to ask for a pair of sock blockers for Christmas because taking pictures of completed socks - not fun.

Per request I'm going to talk about food, because well I love food and Neuroknitter asked me to. I suppose a little back ground is needed - when I was little among the things I wanted to be when I grew up was a chef because I loved (and still love) cooking. I later, after giving up that dream, realized just how much pressure professional chefs are put under and am glad that I didn't choose to go to culinary school. I also grew up cooking a lot of stuff by myself (I learned at a very young age not to touch hot burners) so in middle school my after school routine consisted of, walk/take the bus home, make some sort of snack (normally an omelette or just warmed up left overs) then watch Great Chefs of the World, Epicurious (which they still show early in the morning on HGTV I think), and lastly The Christopher Lowell Show (funny because I hate watching anything related to interior design now, unless it involves kitchens).
All of this is to say - I love cooking, talking about cooking, reading about cooking, etc - Oh and eating. Sadly here in Vienna I haven't actually been doing much cooking. I live in a dorm, and though there are kitchens on each floor (that are amazingly clean), we have tiny little locked cubbies in the refrigerator and slightly bigger locked cabinets. I also just don't have the time or energy to cook as much as I do at home or at Sarah Lawrence (not that I had time to cook at Sarah Lawrence either...). So here my diet has consisted of a lot of apples, a lot of pasta (with a wide variety of sauces though none home made - I also don't have a whole lot of cookware here), chicken, and a lot of kabab sandwiches. Its pathetic, I do treat myself to lunch at Cafe Wolfbauer at least once a week though and stop in nearly every morning for a pastry. They also have really good soup - next time I'm there I'll try to remember to take a picture.

[I just cut out a very long rant about grocery shopping. Comment if you want me to post it because I do have it saved to my hard drive - It kind of reminds me of the rants David Sedaris writes about France but is probably not written nearly as well]