Hello? Blog?

This post is from 11/23/2008 and refers to the events of summer 2008. (do I win the award for worst blogger or what???)

I'm back... for now anyway.
Much has happened since May! R and I went on an awesome summer vacation in late June. Much climbing, rafting, hiking, camping, more hiking, climbing and visiting was done. And also lots of knitting.
I worked on a paint crew for the school district for the summer.
My friend Jessi had a tiny cute baby girl.
My friend Priscilla moved to Arizona :-P.
THEN I moved to Portland. I live downtown, which has it's good sides (close to school, the streetcar, stealing the internet) and bad sides (too many starbucks, expensive bars, very noisy). I do live a short streetcar ride away from Knit/Purl, which is a treat. I've read reviews saying they aren't very nice, but I find them to be very helpful.
And now I'm just a few weeks away from my being finished with my first term of grad school!!
I've also done some spinning. I'm borrowing the wheel semi indefinitely, until the owner gets a student she needs to teach.
Now to the pics!!
End

Now whats happening in late 2009?
Well I'm finishing up the Fall term of my second and LAST year of grad school.
I moved out of downtown Portland and now live on Mt Tabor.
I have been working at a daycare. :-P
I have done almost no hiking, rock climbing or camping since I moved to Portland last fall.
AND I rarely have time for knitting. Though I should be finishing up a pair of argyles for Rob... soon?
The spinning wheel and I got into a fight. I think I out grew it. So my graduation present to myself will be a spinning wheel. Assuming I have a job when I graduate!
Maybe I can resurrect this blog?
Who knows!

blankie!!

Here's the update on the blanket:

Ta Da!! Mine is the lower right corner. The ends are woven in and it should go out this weekend in a box laden with goodies for Kyle and his family.
Things I'm not proud of... the knots. Honestly... after this I will severly limit my use of cotton, because I detest weaving it in and destest that it won't remain woven in. Stupid cotton blend... How dare you defy me!!! Most of the knots are part of the mitered square and hide under the seam. So there.

socks

Hurrah! Another finished pair of socks! At 4 months per pair it is truly an occasion.
Pattern: Rudy Got Sole by Amy Klimt
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport (it turns out... I thought it was sock yarn) in Stone
Needles: US 1, 2.25mm
Size: mens 10.5 (US).
R wore them right away and his only complaint was that they made his feet sweat, but it is spring here, so the time for wool socks is over... Especially since both of us wear Chacos all summer long.
I didn't bother blocking them since R wanted to wear them as soon as I wove in the last end. What is interesting is that the second sock came out just a tad bigger. Everything was the same (needles, cast on stitches etc), I just think I was just more relaxed when I did number 2.

Saartjie bootie.
I also started and finished this a few evenings ago. I hope to finish the second tonight or tomorrow.
I still need some cute buttons. The nice thing about baby stuff is that is goes so quickly! One evening = one bootie!

socks done

Favorite Friday doesn't seem to work since I don't have internet access consistently. Heh.
The Rudy Got Sole socks are done, but I have no pictures since my camera is in Portland without me (another reason fave friday wouldn't have worked). The socks were well received and R has been wearing them ever since I finished them.
Hurrah!

Favorite Friday- The Strange Disappearance of Arthur Cluck

This was my favorite book as a small child. I asked my grandmother to read it so many times over the course of the day that she took to hiding it from me.It is the story of Arthur, the chick who rides on his mother's head, who goes missing one day. His mother enlists the help of an owl named Ralph to help her recover Arthur. In the end, Arthur is discovered, rescued and reunited with his mother.During the course of his investigation Ralph follows and questions a pack-rat. My favorite illustration has always been this one, depicting the pack-rat's horde of stolen treasures. I've been taking good care of this book since I became an adult because I look forward to sharing it with my children someday.

On the knitting front, I've been slowly making progress on the Rudy socks and hope to have pictures of Sizzle up soon.

Happy Friday!!

Favorite thing Friday on Saturday

Okay, so I know it's been longer than a week. But I'm going start doing "favorite Fridays" and post a picture of something very important to me. At least. Hopefully this will encourage me to blog other things.
I didn't actually blog this yesterday because I didn't have internet access after I took pictures... Next week I promise I'll plan better.
This week's favorite seemed appropriate because I read on Blue Blog this week that Sockapalooza 5 is in the planning stage!! And what says sockapalooza better than a sock monkey!

This sock monkey was made for me by my grandmother when I was a tiny baby. Between the construction of this monkey and the birth of my brother 5 years later, sock monkey socks became scarce (I remember the drama of no sock monkey socks quite well) so my brother ended up with a blue sock monkey.

I think this sock monkey has weathered 26 years well. Good job sock monkey! Here he is enjoying one of the end of one of the first spring days of the year.


Here is the square I'm working on for the charity blanket. Hello mitered square.
I love mitered squares. This is Knit Picks Shine worsted in "Crocus" and "Wave", both left over from the FT two-toned shrug.

I'm back...

Well things have been busy since Thanksgiving. My goal was to post here during spring break and continue at least once a week after that.
Some updates are:
1) J squared for whom (in part) this blog was started have opted to stay in Montana, and are expecting their first child (a girl) in August. This of course demands lots of baby-type knitting.
2) I've applied to graduate school at Portland State. But just last night I had a dream that I received a hand-written rejection letter... and a check for $116, so we'll see how that turns out.
3) I have finished a bunch o' knitting. The majority of it is posted on Ravelry (knitonRachel).
4) I learned the basics of hand-dying over Easter weekend from Jodie at strings and yarn. Which was wonderfully fun and fulfilling.
Now on to some knitting!

pattern: The One-Piece Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon.
yarn: Sugar and Cream Twists.
needles: US 6
I added garter stitch at the hem and cuffs because I thought it looked nice. Of course this is for the upcoming August baby.


Hand dyed BFL roving and some Knit Picks Essential sock yarn (red/brown/white) and Knit Picks Swish worsted (orange/white)


Pattern: Rudy Got Sole by Amy Klimt, http://spinalcat.blogspot.com
Yarn: Brown Sheep, sport? sock?, a brownish/gray color
Needles: 2.25mm, two circs
This pair is for the bf. He pretends to be aloof about knitting, but randomly nags about the second getting finished, so I know he is smitten. This only took me about a month to finish (ha!!) because I'm slow... I'm making okay headway on the second.
Speaking of the bf...

Isn't this a handsome young man? Only made more so by the beautiful hat. mmhmm.
(seaman's cap by needle beetle, cascade 220 heathers, size US 7)