alisonknits

Good Morning Starshine

I've made a startling revelation lately: I'm a morning person. Okay, I did already know that, but lately I've been acting on it. I'm trying to go to bed earlier, and wake up between 6 and 7am, instead of my usual 8 or 9 (or 9:15, if I want to really scramble). And lucky me, I don't actually have to leave for work until 9:30 or 9:45. So what have I been doing with all this found time you ask?

I have started jogging.

Okay, I have only gone out 3 times so far, and I do a lot more walking than jogging so far, but I'm already feeling improvement in my recovery time between jogs. (I'm doing about 1-1.5 minutes of jogging, then walking until I feel okay again.) For me, the whole idea of starting jogging is sort of huge. I've never been very athletic and I've always hated - and sort of feared - running of any kind. Cheesy as it sounds, I was actually inspired by watching the Olympics.

So there's that. I'm also trying to cook more. I just signed up for Fresh Direct, a fabulous grocery delivery service. They have lots of organic food, which is great, and their prices seem pretty good. And, as a city dweller without a car, getting groceries delivered is just fantastic. My first order came last night, and guess what I did this morning? Made myself eggs for breakfast and grilled some salmon on my George Forman grill to put on a salad and take for lunch.

And I cleaned my bathroom.

So this waking up early thing could work out for me. I'm always too beat after work to do anything productive, but I used to feel guilty about watching TV when there's all kinds of work to be done. This is like found time. Yay!

Movie Recommendations
I saw two movies over the weekend that I'd like to recommend to my readers, because I keep thinking about both of them. First I rented 50 First Dates. Now, I know what you're thinking - Adam Sandler? Gross jokes? What's so great about that? But I was surprised at how genuinly touching and romantic this movie was. And Drew Barrymore is just adorable. I love her.

And Saturday night I took myself to the cinema and saw Garden State, which I cannot recommend highly enough. Sweet, hilarious, and soulful, and filled me with serenity and joy. Great soundtrack, I'm totally buying it. And did you know Zach Braff has a blog? Go read it, it's funny.

Knitting Content
Did an inch or so on the Swan Sweater last night. Love love love it.

My vine lace socks aren't working out so well - halfway down the foot I tried them on and can't get them over my heel. I'll be starting over with more stitches and bigger needles. I swear, this yarn is cursed.

Blog Changes
I'm going to play around with my sidebar items... I'm thinking less is more.

7,000 Words

As far as pictures go here at alisonknits, it's feast or famine. Let the feast begin...

I blocked my Feather and Fan shawl. Click on the thumbnail to see a big picture of the whole shawl.

Here's the center:

And one side:

This whole project was touch and go at many stages. You may remember that I ran out of yarn and had to call my dear friend Cristina who had bought the same thing. Then I almost ran out after she sent me a bit of hers! This is how much I had leftover, after skipping the last two rounds and going directly to the crocheted border:

I also ran out of pins as I was blocking it, and had to go get more the next day to finish. Sheesh!

Here are some other things I've been working on lately - my crocheted scarf:

and my cabled hat (pattern available from Karabella Yarns):

and this weekend I started the Swan Sweater with Bird Motifs from Norsk Strikkedesign:

I've been busy!

3 Finishes... and a New Start

I've been very busy - knitting and otherwise!

I did finally finish the crocheted scarf I talked about in my last post - weaving in the ends a week after finishing the crocheting. Also, earlier this evening I finished the crocheted border of my Feather and Fan shawl - I'll try to block it in the next couple days and will take a picture of it then. And inspired by those two finishes, I finished my cabled hat. It was supposed to be my travel project, but I started working on a sock this weekend, so I've been neglecting it.

I forgot how fun it is to knit socks! They remain my perfect subway knitting. I can always get in one more row between stops, and they're so small they fit in my purse. I'm doing the Vine Lace pattern from Socksx3 in some Lorna's Laces sock yarn that I've had forever. In fact, this yarn is on it's third incarnation; I've tried two other patterns with it and either didn't like the pattern or got bored and abandoned them both times. I have high hopes that this pattern will stick.

Has anyone else noticed how many IK patterns feature the Vine Lace pattern? It's a little wierd that this stitch pattern is used so frequently in one magazine, but it sure is pretty, and very simple to execute.

In non-knitting news, I'm settling into my new job at the church. I have lots of ideas and hope I'll be able to implement some of them in the year I have left in NYC. I'm also really excited about teaching the 7th / 8th graders again in the church school. Call me crazy, but I actually miss those kids!

Day of Rest

I had a crazy week, and feel completely justified today doing absolutely nothing. I slept until 11:00, went to breakfast around 1:00, and have been sitting on the couch ever since.

Why am I so fried? Well, let's review a few of the events of the last few days. I dropped off my Vogue submission on Friday before work. Friday night I slept over my dear friend Sara's apartment, helping her get ready to move to New Haven on Saturday morning. (There was very little sleeping involved.) Then I went to work, my last day at School Products. And I woke up 2-3 hours earlier than usual every day since Wednesday.

All in all, I feel good about the things I accomplished this week. I know that Sara truly appreciated the help from my husband and I; I feel good about my Vogue submission; and I'm happy to be moving on to a new job. It might have been wiser to take a few days off in between my last day at School Products and my first day at the new job - which is tomorrow. Ah well. I think I'll be able to sort of ease into things, since I don't expect it to get really busy until early September.

I do have a lot of other stuff to do, though. I'm still finishing up a few patterns for Karabella, which they want ASAP of course, and this weekend I'm going to a teacher training for a sexuality class I'm teaching in the church school next year. (Unitarian Universalists are so cool - we have sex ed in church!) I have some homework to prepare before the training.

Meanwhile, if I wanted to, I could go to a knitting group every night this week! But I don't think I have time.

So, what have I been doing on the couch all day you ask? Well, watching TV - switching between the Olympics and a marathon of female standup comics on Comedy Central. And knitting on my feather and fan shawl (only four ridiculously long rounds to go!), and, shockingly, crocheting. I've always wanted to make a scarf for my Ring Hat, and I don't really like the one I designed originally because it curls a lot. So I'm crocheting one. It's cute, and going very quiclky. I just started yesterday, and I'm almost done! And I've been enjoying crocheting for a change. I'll post a pic when I'm done - potentially an hour from now.

Have Yarn, Will Travel

I've noticed that I haven't been working on any small projects lately. In the past I always had at least one project like a sock or a hat that was good for commuting. I'm still knitting while commuting, but I think it's a little ridiculous that I've got this huge shawl on my lap in the subway. So I started a hat for myself - there are a couple of the hats that I designed for Karabella that I really like and want for myself, and I didn't get to keep the samples.

Other than that, I've mainly been working hard on my submission for VK's Spring/Summer 2005 issue and one of their "On-the-Go" books. The book is Pochos & Capes. I have lots of ideas, but I have to wonder if by the time the book comes out the poncho craze will be totally over. Oh well... I guess that's not my problem.

What is my problem is sketching my designs. I used to draw all the time as a child and a teenager, but somehow drawing sweaters and other clothing completely eludes me. I've been thinking about taking a class at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Maybe I'll go look at the catalogue. Right now.

An action-packed 4 days

I'm home after spending the last several days visiting my dad in the suburbs of Boston. It was a short visit, but packed with fun. Besides hanging out with my dad and my sister, we saw two movies, two art museums, two yarn stores, and three sets of old friends (including 8 adults, 2 babies and 1 small child).

The yarn stores were Sit'n Knit in Melrose, and The Knitting Room in Arlington. They were both small but nice. Neither one seemed particularly special, but they both were friendly and had a servicable selection.

Meanwhile I've been trying to finish some of my many UFOs. Mostly I've been working on my Feather & Fan shawl (I had run out of yarn but managed to get more from a friend). And, emboldened by my sweater in Karabella's "special advertising section" in the Fall VK, I've also been trying to work on submissions for a couple publications with imminent deadlines. It's sure can take a long time to make swatches, especially when you keep ripping out and re-doing them to get each one just right...