Cowls and Socks and Podcasts, Oh My!

So many things to talk about today. First, obviously, the WIPs for WIPW:  

My second burberry inspired cowl

I only have one more repeat left to do in this pattern and then the most annoying challenging part- kitchener stitching it all together. I am actually looking forward to it a little bit because I feel like I  have the kitchener rhythm down now (famous last  words).

sock

Then there's my sock, which I took out on the metro today instead of the cowl because it was rainy and gross outside and I didn't want the cowl to get soaked from people dripping their umbrellas or jacket sleeves all over it.


I think I am still on track to finish this sock by the end of Socktober, thus meeting my goal of completing my first pair of socks but it would have been nice to make two pairs. I know, I know. Given my schedule that is not only greedy but also ridiculous and impossible. There is something wrong with me.

After Socktober of course, comes Glovember (join my group on Ravelry!) during which I will be completing a pair of handwarmers for a good friend. I started them in the spring so yeah...good timing.

What else to share? What else? Oh well there's this- poor little penguins. Apparently they have enough sweaters now, oops, jumpers? But it doesn't hurt to keep some handy and model them on your cats. Do send pictures if you do. 

cats love being dressed, promise!

There's also this, which I heard about on Cast On. It is so cool. I want one.

ALSO- what is going on with Cast On? And Never Not Knitting? Is everyone leaving the podcast-o-sphere? Where did Sticks and String go? Thank goodness I still have Just One More Row and 2 Knit Lit  Chicks and Stash and Burn. I don't know what I am going to do when I am caught up with all the episodes.

My knitting podcast obsession started several weeks ago when I started a new work project. My work involves looking at hundreds of billions of boring documents all day. It doesn't involve a lot of brain activity though and so we are allowed to listen to music or whatever else while we do this. It became pretty clear early on that ABBA Gold loses its magical powers when you listen to it three times a day and I didn't want to waste it so I turned to podcasts. Generally speaking, they have changed my life. I listen to NPR, The Nerdist, WTF, Rachel Maddow, Freakonomics to name a few (I am not linking to them all) and I feel like I learn all these cool things every day. I also listen to a whole bunch of knitting related podcasts. Ones I didn't mention above that I have started listening to are YarnGasm, Cogknitive and Purl Diving (are there any more I should be listening to? I prefer them to be over half an hour and audio only so I can pay attention to my computer screen).Oh no! There are not going to be any new Purl Diving episodes either.

My only issue with the podcasts, the knitting ones specifically, is that I can't keep up with all the knitting I am hearing about. Relatively speaking, I am quite a new knitter, but because of the podcasts I feel like I know all this stuff which I don't have the time to put into practice all at once. I want to do cool things like the ravolympics, or go to fiber festivals, or dye my own yarn because it all sounds SO AWESOME. But I am at work, working, and I just can't. The good side of it is that I am constantly inspired and look forward to going to work, if only to learn about what is going on out there in the world. All these podcasts have also inspired me to create my own, but that dream has been hindered by my work and volunteering schedule the past few months. I hope to get my weeknights back at the end of next week (finally) as well as my weekends, and am going to start putting together episodes then. Phew.

This has been a very long post for me so I am going to go and work on my cowl now. I hope to be able to update soon with pictures of the matching hat I will be casting on tomorrow if not (fingers crossed) tonight.

Knitting Without Pictures

I have been so busy since the last time I posted. I can't believe it has been almost a week. I am pretty bummed about that. The good news is that at least I have been squeezing in some knitting when I can. I have cast on another cowl. This one is for my best friend (I don't think she reads this blog, shocker) and I was a lot less nervous about using the provisional cast on this time. Also how cute is this- my husband glanced over at me while I was knitting the other day, noticed the different colored chain on the end of my work and asked "is that a provisional cast on?" So cute. Anyway, will post pictures of that tomorrow for WIPW, but now it is definitely bedtime.

Sick Day

I woke up this morning feeling like I had been trampled by a herd of elephants. I could barely sit up, my face was all puffy and my throat felt as though I had swallowed a cheese grater. There was no way I could go to work. I didn't want to drink anything or eat anything or even knit. What an awful state of affairs to wake up to.

However, after some TLC from my husband who hooked me up with some drugs and tea before he left for work and Missy who has been napping close at hand and nuzzling me every so often, I feel much better now. I have finally moved to the couch and have had some soup and I am watching murder mysteries I have saved on my DVR. I have also done a bit of knitting, and folks, I have finally finished my cowl. Kitchener's stitching and all.

Now it is time to cast on for you know what-- I am so excited!! I am only casting on and not knitting because I want to really start tomorrow but since casting on sometimes takes ages I figure it is better to get it out of the way so it doesn't slow my knitting roll.

And in other news, Missy is still in the box (albeit relocated).

KIP it Real

I am a huge fan of KIP (knitting in public) especially lately, as I have been leaving the house before 8 in the mornings and coming home a little before 8 in the evenings at the earliest. This means the only time I can knit while giving it my full attention is on the metro or if I am waiting to meet up with friends after work. I am not self-conscious about it in the least- people do much weirder things in public and I also I love knitting, so that's that.

Until today, no one has really said anything to me about it or at least nothing that I was startled by. Some people might ask what I am doing or what I am making and I am happy to answer them. Today I was taking the train home with a co-worker who gets off at the same station as I do. We were chatting and I had told her when I sat down that I was going to work on my sweater and I wasn't ignoring her, etc., and we were having a nice conversation about work and the sweater and I was saying how even though I knew it wasn't likely to happen, I really wanted to finish it by Saturday evening.

All of a sudden, a woman who was sitting to my left decided to chime in. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she said (at which point I knew I wasn't going to like what came next), "but I really don't think you are going to finish that sweater by then." Gah. "Well, maybe by Sunday," I suggested and was in the process of turning my body away from her and toward my buddy from work when she continued, "Yeah...so I don't know how fast you knit but I'm a knitter and I knit pretty fast and that sweater isn't happening by then."

Wait, what? Seriously?!  Who says that?! I think by this point I was making my most extreme lemur face because I don't know why she felt the need to chime in at all, let alone to rain on my knit parade. Of course she was right, well sort of. If I pulled a couple of all nighters I could totally finish. But given the fact that I have 3-4 hours of awake time at home during which I have to make and eat dinner and clean up and the fact that I have plans Friday night and am out all day Saturday...it's not going to happen. I know that. But something about this interaction got me quite riled up and I walked home telling myself I was so going to finish that sweater.

Once I got home though, and Missy ambled over and nuzzled me and wanted to settle down on my lap, I realized how silly it was to get so worked up over it. What I like about knitting is that it is fun and relaxing, even when I am trying something new that scares me (I'm looking at you, lace). If I put the same amount of stress on it as I do on other parts of my life I will lose the relief it provides me on days when those other stressors are getting me down.

Also, more importantly, when you are making something for someone it is never nice to do it while angry. Maybe I am superstitious but I really believe that your feelings can seep into what you make (see e.g. Como Agua Para Chocolate) and this is why I am going to chill out about the sweater. For now the postal service is still in business and it will get to the cute baby when it gets there.

Perhaps most importantly, I can now finish my cowl in the spare moments I do have because it's dropping below 60 degrees this weekend. Yay! So thank you random lady on the metro. I hope you have a fantastic rest of the week.

Cowl Break

Because I am working on my baby sweater my Burberry Inspired Cowl has been put on hold. Here is a picture of it in its pumpkin colored glory. Isn't this the most beautiful color?? I made a friend a hat with the same colored yarn and wanted to make myself something, hence the cowl, and I have three four more hanks in my not-so-secret stash because I love it so so much. It reminds me of fall and stomping through crunchy leaves and butternut squash soup and Halloween.

It's looking pretty good so far. I am a tiny bit worried about the provisional cast on (what if the crochet chain doesn't unravel!?) because I haven't used that method before but am much more comfortable with kitchener's stitch after working on the armpits of my stripey sweater.

Updated: I meant to say that I uploaded this entry for WIP Wednesday - check out the other posts, people are working on some fabulous things out there!

Busy Knitting

It has been a long busy week and it is going to be a longer and busier weekend. I have about a few hours of knitting I can squeeze in tonight and have been looking forward to it since I left the house on Monday morning. Pictures of my completed burberry cowl will hopefully be up soon!

Missing Knitting

I knit my last stitch on Friday at around 8pm. I was waiting for my toes to dry at the nail salon and was catching up on an unfinished scarf. Since then I haven't knit anything. We went to a wedding this weekend and as I was driving I didn't take anything to work on. I came online to update the blog but all I want to do is work on my cowl- I ran out of yarn and had to order more online so I had to abandon it for a while. It is here and I just wound it into a ball so I'm ready to go!