Pictures!

Ok, so I'm playing picture catch-up.

First, Tyra, which I finally managed to photograph properly (by going outside on a cloudy day). I finished it a few days ago, and I think it's wonderful (although it has a little too much ribbing for my taste). Here it is:

And here is the surprise scarf:

I'd never knitted in superwash wool before, and I hadn't relized how much I rely on grippiness of wook to weave in ends. I just couldn't get those suckers to stay in! Here's the picture of the scarf, anyway. (I put edgings on the ends to make the woven in ends a little less obvious. I'm debating sewing them in. What do you think?)

And here is the DNA scarf that I'm making for NR. It's coming along decently well, and the pattern is actually a lot easier than the provided chart makes it look. There actually is a reason for the differently sized decreases.... I just wish that they hadn't left it for me to figure out. I suppose that all of this makes me a better person, but frankly I'm willing to be a worse person in order to have it be easier to figure out knitting patterns. This goes double for hte lace shawl I started over the summer (and haven't worked on since).


Lastly, in case you were wondering where I was taking these pictures, here is a small shot of the surroundings.

This is not my dorm. (My dorm is a lot uglier and muddier at the moment.) This is another dorm on campus, about five minutes walk from mine. Isn't it pretty?

(No, there is no picture of the orangutang shrug.)

Updates

I haven't posted in a while because I haven't felt like doing pictures, and I feel guilty about that. But now I'm feeling worse about not commenting, so I'm going to do a quick update on what I'm up to.

I have finished Tyra, the Elsebeth Lavold hat that I couldn't photograph before. It's nice, and stretchy, and warm (although I won't really know how warm for another two years. And that's a good thing). I have also finished the surprise... and... suprise! it's a scarf. It actually ended up being the perfect dimensions. I love garter stitch, especially when I'm trying to make something wide. It always somehow has extra width up its sleeve. (I suppose that in the case of sleeves this wouldn't be a good thing...)

I am now working on a scarf for NR, for writing a rec. I was originally going to make Danica, from Knitty, but then I realized that I hated making it, kept putting it off, and was unhappy while working on it. So, as it wasn't even a request or anything, I'm scrapping it and making the DNA Scarf (from Interweave Knits Fall 2003) instead. Pretty much this is a scarf with a cable in the shape of a DNA chain up the middle. (I'll post a picture tomorrow, I promise.) I'm trying to use the yarn I have left from the stuff I got for Danica, though, and I worry that I won't have enough. I might have to actually... go get more yarn. (As I have no money at the moment this is a problem...)

In other news, I'm finally getting caught up on work. The third part of my CS project is done, which means that for the rest of the year all I have is (a) grading (of which I still have a lot), (b) putting together the entire CS project and (c) writing the final paper for my science policy class. Although this isn't no work, it is significantly less than I have had up to now. Which is just wonderful. It makes me very happy. (And for all of those people wondering about this (yeah, right), the new Tomb Raider game is amazing, wonderful, beautiful, great, and terrific. Go play it.)

That's it for now. Pictures to be posted tomorrow.

Dyeing

So at the moment I'm in California, visiting Stanford. I think I'll likely won't go there; I didn't like it as much as I liked MIT. The weather was really nice today while I was outside, and I was really happy to walk around surrounded by green with a brilliant blue sky (with some fluffy clouds in it) above.

This evening my sister and I tried to dye some yarn with Kool-Aid. The colors turned out paler than I expected (which was strange, as I used more than the required amount of Kool-Aid... maybe I should have added some vinegar? some sites recommend that, but others say it's unnecessary). (For a quick page on Kool-Aid dying, see here.) Anyone know why? Anyway, here are the results:

(you can click on the picture for a larger view).
The yarns on the right are my sister's and my attempts at variegated yarn. Her yellow-and-orange turned out nicer than my red-and-purple (maybe because I was also trying to mix some colors. To make the variegated yarn we just squirted different colors of dye onto portions of the yarn. For some reason, it doesn't really end up mixing, and actually ends up variegated; I really wasn't expecting that, but I was glad that it happened.

I wish that the colors were more vibrant... I'll play around a little more, and if it keeps ending up like this I'll try out acid dyes. Some people like pastel colors like this (and it seems to work great for them) but I can't say that I'm that thrilled by them.

Done done done!

My thesis is done! My thesis is done! And have I mentioned that my thesis is done? It's all printed and turned in and stapled and wonderful. And now I (who stayed up all night for no reason other than that I couldn't sleep) need to stay awake for three more hours, until I can get on the plane to go home. Home home home! Whoo-hoo!

All Stressed Out and Nothing To Do

So I am officially done with writing my thesis, where "done" means "I have glossed over a bunch of details, I don't understand all of the math for what I am writing, and I cited some papers in the hardest sections because I couldn't figure out the arguments." So I should be more relaxed now that I've decided that I'm going to stop trying to write, and just concentrate on editing. But I haven't. I couldn't fall asleep yesterday until 8, and I'm getting the feeling that today is just going to be worse. And the weather sucks.

So, in light of that, I am going to waste the time that I should be spending working in order to post some photographs of what I have been up to. So the first thing I owe you is a picture of how Tyra is progressing (you didn't think I'd show you the orangutang shrug now, did you? keep waiting), so here it is:

(I couldn't get the details to stand out properly, but this is pretty much the right color =).)
About my scarf from the remains of Tubey.... It was originally supposed to be a scarf, but I cast on too few stitches (I didn't even consider gauge), so at the moment it's a rectangle. It's about 40 inches long, and likely by the time it's done it'll be at least 8 inches wide, maybe a little more. So it could be a short-sleeve shrug (if it's wide enough), or a bag, or something else entirely! It's a surprise! (And, frankly, I just like knitting with the yarn. I'll figure out something to do with it after. I don't want the upset of frogging and starting over, anyway.) But here is what it looks like now:

And my spinning... So after the really ugly awful yarn that I spun originally my newer yarn looks much better! I have a cone sitting on a straw waiting to be plied,

and another bit on the spindle (this is from a dyed bit of fiber that I got off of eBay).

So I think that's it!