Tigger’s Latest Greatest Adventure

I skipped WiP Wednesday because I hadn’t worked on anything that wasn’t finished. I’ll get to that finished thing soon. Meanwhile, Tigger wanted to show you what he’s been up to this month.

We started in Indianapolis, for some sports thing

I worked. Tigger played and got his picture taken.

After they handed out the big trophy, Tigger and I decided to drive an hour in the wrong direction before we went home. First we passed the great big new football stadium


Then we drove west on I-70 for almost an hour, then about 15 minutes north on Rt. 231. A good friend of mine took time out of his day for a campus tour (WOW, has it changed in the 18 years since I’ve been on campus!) then Tigger and I walked around on our own to show you DePauw University.


This is the main academic quad. Roy O. West Library in the center, Asbury on the right, Harrison on the left. When I was in school, there was a road in front of those buildings. Now it’s all pedestrians. Road totally and completely gone.


East College is the oldest building on campus and the “iconic” building for DPU (oh, yeah. If you ever wondered where my internet “name” came from? I went to DePauw University and they’re the Tigers. DPUTiger. A name I could remember.)

Just to the side of EC is one of the great campus landmarks.


The Boulder! There’s a little part of my brain that’s telling me it’s been moved, but since it had been almost 18 years since I’d been on campus (YIKES!), I’m not sure.

Anyhoo, since I was a history major, I had a lot of classes in EC, and walked by the boulder fairly often. And really, would it be a proper DePauw tour without seeing the Boulder? I think not!

One of my non-negotiable objectives once I was on campus was to stop at the bookstore. When you go to a small school like DPU, shopping for school gear on the internet isn’t exactly easy. You pretty much have to purchase in person. So Tigger and I stopped at the Union Building and paused to take a pic of North Quad.


These are the oldest dorms on campus. Lucy Rowland on the right and Mason on the left. When I was in college, Rector was a single large building in the middle. One morning when I was at UCLA, I was working out in the Wooden Center and some lame MTV-U “news” program was running on a loop. They kept showing a dorm fire and I kept thinking it looked familiar, but since there was no close-captioning and I couldn’t listen to the audio, I just figured I’d google “dorm fire” and the date when I got back to my office.

It was Rector. It was pretty much completely destroyed.

They built a “Rector Village” in its place. Super modern dorm-like thingies, lots of bells and whistles. Kids these days. Sooooo spoiled!

After dropping a bit of cash at the bookstore, Tigger and I headed towards my true former stomping grounds. A view of the Science and Math building (S&M … yeah) from across Bowman Park

Hey, wait ... didn't there used to be a fountain there?

When I was minoring in physics, that building was a bunker. No exterior windows, lots of brick, and built into the ground. It’s a little different now. What a rehab!

A little to the left …


… you see the Performing Arts Center. With another shiny huge new façade that’s good for natural light. But no Bowman Pond. Sad. That (farther away) browned-out chunk of grass? That used to be a pond. The particularly brave could ice skate there in the winter. Otherwise, it was mostly used for your typical college-type shenanigans that would be appropriate for an artificial pond that maxed out at about three feet in depth.

If you want to know where I spent about 75% of my collegeiate life during my last three years of schooling, this is it:


DePauw’s Center for Contemporary Media. That building opened second semester my sophomore year. People you have actually seen in the mainstream media were on camera for the first time in the far part of that building. I even directed some of them. It still houses the newspaper (The DePauw, Indiana's Oldest, Coolest and Best College newspaper), WGRE 91.5, your sound alternative, and the TV station. Good times.

Oh, and this was the only “academic” building I walked through on my own. And look what I found!


I wasn’t a knitter in college, but how cool is that?

Tigger and I finished our tour with a picture of my dorm for three of my four years of college.


Humbert Hall. It was so new when I moved in freshman year that my door didn’t have a doorknob yet. They weren’t finished installing them. Good times.

So that’s about it for campus. From there, we were hungry. And if it’s been 18 years since you were on campus at DePauw, there’s really only one option that’s acceptable for a meal.

Frank’s Fries on the left, a half-GCB … garlic cheeseburger … on the right.

MARVIN’S!

Heaven on a paper-lined plastic basket. Tasted just as good as it did 18 years ago.

I absolutely loved my time at DePauw, both during my four years as a student back in the stone ages and on my too-brief visit at the start of April. And I can guarantee it will be a lot less than 18 years before I’m on campus again. TIGER PRIDE, BABY!

Thursday Replacement

Oops. I kind of missed Wednesday. Totally meant to do my WiP Wednesday post yesterday, then I forgot to take my power cord on my field trip.

So here’s the update. Minimal progress on the Cleopatra sock


And I am frantically bunny-knitting for a Sunday birthday party for my niece.

Torso on the left, head on the right, finished outer ear on top, second in-progress outer ear on the needles at the bottom. Some assembly required.

This photo was taken Wednesday afternoon. I finished the second ear and both ear-liners at knit night and got most of the way through the first arm. I think with a good solid effort I can have a finished rabbit in time for the party. Wish me luck!

WiP Wednesday

Well, hello there!

First I was busy. Now I am sick. The Hubster was kind enough (?) to share the Epic Cold that he had the week before I went to Indy for the w’s hoops championship. It started with me on April 2. It exploded when I got home late on April 6. I’m still recovering.

And really? I haven’t knit a stitch since my running buddies and I were parked in Media Hospitality drinking beer during the men’s championship. Two Mondays ago.

Not only were “other Amy” and Katy super cool about me knitting while we watched hoops, they were kind of fascinated by it, which was kind of awesome.

So yeah. I can’t remember what Margarethe and the BFF socks looked like the last time I showed them to you, but I’m guessing it was a lot like this …


… and this …


All of the extremely scarce knitting time I’ve had in the last two weeks has gone into the Miss Babs socks. Three cheers for simple knitting. This is why I always have a plain stockingette sock on the needles. I love having simple to work on whenever I have a spare minute here or there.


So that’s about it. I’ve nearly slept through the night the last two nights (this is a Major Accomplishment), so there’s hope that I am finally on the mend. Here’s hoping I’m right, and the z-pack worked.

WiP … Thursday?

Oops. I kind of missed Wednesday, didn’t I? Sorry about that.

The end of the ultra-marathon is almost here. One week from today, I will be home from Indy and expect to be a blubbering puddle of goo, napping all day until I have to head to the LYS job.

Meanwhile, I’ve done some work on the BFF socks, but not enough to make it look like progress, so I’ll spare you a picture. More waiting around means more progress on the Miss Babs socks …

Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. I took the picture Wednesday AM and by the time I realized it was out of focus, I wasn't willing to re-shoot.

I even finished the first one at a softball game on Tuesday! I need to write down my master numbers for this sock and stick them in my sock knitting bag, but meanwhile, I remembered my number for D and was able to cruise along from there.

In other news, shawls go much faster once you’ve gotten through the lace panel and are mostly knitting stockingette. See?


Still love the yarn and the project. I’m on skein #5 of 7 and I’m starting to decrease even more rapidly. I don’t know if I’ll take this project with me on the trip, but I just might. I could work on it in the hotel.

Speaking of which, I gotta do some writing and even more packing. Off to the races tomorrow!

WiP Wednesday: Progress!

Hi! Two weeks ‘til I get my life back. Yay!

Meanwhile …

Got in a bunch of theater time on ye olde plain vanilla sock last week


Yay for moving right along.

Most of my knitting time went to Margarethe


Well, until Sunday when I managed to drop stitches while moving my lifeline. Oops. But after a trip to the Lace Hospital (my LYS, where lace knitters live and work!), it’s back and doing just fine. I have four patterned rows left before I’m in the Land of Stockingette. I’m actually really looking forward to that!

And, between when I had to put down my shawl and when I was able to pick it back up, the BFF sock got a bunch of air time. Yay, Progress!


As you can see, I got a couple inches past the lifeline for the heel. And in case you can’t see the actual change in pattern on the left-hand side there, here’s a closeup


Yay, progress!

WiP Wednesday

More short bursts of waiting time have let me finish the heel turn and flap on my Miss Babs socks


I did throw the heel lifeline in on my BFF sock, so there’s progress being made there as well.


I was chugging along on my Margarethe shawl until Friday night, when I had to fudge to finish Row 9. I took it with me to work, where Michelle diagnosed my problem. On Row 1. DOH! I ripped back to the garter stitch and went back to work. So far, so good. I’m through Row 14 and chugging right along. It’s almost time to start decreasing! On Sunday it was really feeling like the shawl was knitting me, but I’m getting better. And faster!


And now, back to the writing. Three more weeks. I’m almost there!

WiP Wednesday: Dear BFF

So there has been significant progress on my plain vanilla sock. Waiting for things here and there equals progress. I’ve finished the heel turn, now I’ll be decreasing away as time permits.


And my BFF socks got some air time at my two knit nights last week. On Friday night at my Borders group (soon to be moved. Store is closing. Sad panda!) I was cranking along, and I’m finally within a few rounds of putting in the lifeline for the afterthought heel.

I was certain I’d be cruising on the leg shortly after I got home from the store on Saturday night. Well …


But then I went to work on Saturday. And we hosted the lovely and talented Courtney Kelley and Kate Gagnon Osborn of Kelbourne Woolens (distributors of The Fibre Company yarns and authors of the amazing new book “Vintage Modern Knits”) for two classes and a book signing/trunk show.

The trunk show was my downfall.

They had every finished project that appeared in the book as well as a few others of their patterns. All day Saturday, Kate was wearing her Margarethe shawl. It’s a Faroese style shawl and it DOES have some lace, but it’s pretty minimal. And I just fell in love with the thing.

So I spent the afternoon and evening ringing up tons of Fibre Company purchases four our wonderful customers. As I kept watching the various colors of Road to China Light walk out the door, I realized that my options for colors for the shawl kept dwindling. As the evening came to a close, we had enough stock in one color that I loved to make the shawl. (Oh. I kind of wound up playing "let's make a deal" with a customer so she didn't sneak three skeins out from under my nose, but everybody left happy, so it's OK!) So I jumped on it!

I got home, wound two skeins, swatched and cast on 410 stitches. (Well, OK. It was supposed to be 411, but I fixed that before it was too late)




So, Cristi, I got a little sidetracked. I promise I’ll get back to task very soon. But last weekend? That shawl was calling my name. Sorry!

WiP Wednesday

I am not trapped under something heavy. I was just way, way beyond busy all of last week. If it wasn’t optic yellow or covered in dirt (translation: softball-related), I just plain did not have time for it last week.

As expected, I did not take one single stitch during my trip. I know some knitters are crazy-productive on the road, but I’m not one of them. I get on a plane and I want to read or sleep. That’s it. That’s the list.

So that actually makes it a little good that I didn’t have time to WiP Wednesday last week. Otherwise I’d have nothing to show you today!

The BFF socks are coming right along. With a little luck, I’ll throw in my lifeline for the heel at knit night tonight.


And then I will feel less guilty that Cristi is a Speed Machine.

The plain jane Miss Babs socks are cranking right along. They’re perfect for brainless knitting, which everyone needs every so often.


You may have noticed that those socks are no longer on DPNs. We went to see “Hair” at Heinz Hall shortly before the big trip, and one of my Signature DPNs tried to make a run for it. Thankfully, it got stuck one row in front of my seat. Which was good. I was picturing myself trying to explain to the Hubster why I was crawling under seats at Heinz Hall for an hour after the show. So those bad boys went back on my circs almost immediately.

That’s about it from here. I’m still super busy (but in much better spirits!), so I have to get back to the writing that pays the bills. Later, taters!

WiP Wednesday

Am I in under the wire? YES!

OK, so the rep weave mug mats came off the loom last week. The next warp is chained and ready to go on the loom. I’m cautiously optimistic that might happen before April.


I think I told you last week that I was waiting for some replacement carpet warp to finish that warp. I eeked out Color B by the hair of my chinny chin chin.


Yeah. I’ll be using the yellow as my skinny warp, thankyouverymuch. I am now somewhat skeptical of weaving kits. Harrumph.

So I worked the Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival on Friday and Sunday last week. In between, our crochet teacher, Sandy, worked the store with me on Saturday. So I busted out my long-snoozing crochet afghan and got Sandy to get my back on the right track. My edges are still wonky, but they’re improving and that’s what this project is all about.


The Miss Babs socks are making progress and are still on my Signature DPNs. They may go back to my Hiya Hiya circs for Tuesday’s plane trip. I haven’t decided yet.


And, finally, Cristi has left me in the dust in our Distelfink KAL, but hopefully I’ll catch up soon. Here’s where I am. Yeah, it’s just a row or two different from last week’s pic. I’ll get there. Eventually.


Hope you’re having a great week!

WiP Wednesday

I’m quite sure it doesn’t look like it, but I have been making progress on the mug rugs.


Yeah. One mug rug looks just like the other mug rugs. But the big news is on the back of the loom.


I’m running out of warp. Finally! HOORAY!!!

If you read my good friend Cristi over at Turtlegirl’s Bloggy Thing, you know that she and I are doing a KAL with one of the patterns from the January Rockin’ Sock Club. My favorite thing about the RSC is the Dyer’s Notes, and the notes this time around really did bring me to tears, since a lot of it was about best friends. Of course, Cristi was pestering me the the whole way through my reading of the notes trying to convince me that we should do a KAL. So I caved!


I cast on at Hurricanes last Wednesday and got some good knitting done during that game on Sunday.

However, I needed something that I could take with me when Hubster and I went to the Penguins game with my parents on Friday night. So I busted out a skein from the stash and was off to the races.


It’s Miss Babs, purchased at Maryland Sheep & Wool last May. The dyer herself helped me pick out the base yarn. I love it so far, and you can’t see it from the pics, but it’s on my Signature DPNs. A very enjoyable experience all around. Let’s just hope they don’t take as long as my previous pair of plan vanilla socks!

Life, in a Nutshell

OK, so the freelance gig is great. I have no complaints.

But the workload is tremendous, and will be until about April 5. I have four sports in season, so that’s eight deadlines a week. Again -- this is a great opportunity for me and I’m making it work. But it’s really killing my crafting time.

I wake up in the morning, make breakfast, have a cup of tea and work until bedtime with side-trips to the gym or other obligations. My knitting/sewing/weaving time is shoeboxed between when I get home from the LYS on Saturday nights and when I go to bed on Sunday night. That’s it. That’s the list.

So I ask that you, my loyal readers, bear with me for the next 2+ months. I promise I’ll catch as many WiP Wednesdays as I can. And when I have finished stuff, I’ll be happy to take a bunch of pictures and tell you all about them. But in between? There may be a bunch of radio silence.

Meanwhile, I woke up this morning to this:


I thought we were supposed to get 1-2”. We got a little more than that, but it was manageable. I shoveled the Incredible Shrinking Driveway …


Why is it shrinking? Because at this time of year the hardest part of shoveling is getting the new snow up-and-over the barrier of old snow. Ugh. But it’s done, and the Big Ball of Fire in the Sky had it completely clear and dry in no time.

And before you ask, yes, I still prefer shoveling snow to raking leaves. No contest. Yes, I am the freak that loves winter. Why do you ask?

I’m nearly finished with the mug rugs. With a little luck, they’ll come off the loom some time this week. Which means I’m winding my next warp. This time? Rep weave placemats!


Looks great, right? Well, I’m not quite done winding the warp. Why?


Yeah. I need 30 more yards (ish) from that nekkid core. (and another 30 yds from that skinny middle cone, but we're not going to borrow trouble on that one.) Obviously, that’s not going to happen, so I’m eagerly awaiting a make-good cone from the vendor. Since this was sold as a kit, running drastically short of one of the three colors is kind of a problem. At least it wasn't my project-planning error?

Oh well. These things happen. Fortunately, I am not on a deadline!

Our Long HPWT Nightmare Is Over

I can’t figure out why, but this pair of socks took longer to finish than my first few pairs did. And it felt like those took decades to finish!


This pair was started in July. Yes, July. As in six months ago. The first sock of the pair was finished in Gettysburg, on the way to weaving class at The Mannings. In August.

Plain and simple. Just the way I like my socks!

Talk about sock mojo taking a vacation! Holy cow! In any case, these are my basic Riverbed socks, and I barely looked at a pattern to knit them. I used my very favorite toes, the garter toe, and was off to the races from there.

Toe Pic!

This yarn is one of Roxanne’s Art Walk shipments from Zen Yarn Garden. I love her yarns so much, and one of the things that was particularly fun about this specific skein is that every so often I’d be knitting along watching the gold, blues and greens pass through my hands and there’d be a tiny little fleck of red.


Basic Riverbed architecture with New Pathways heels. Jeny’s Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off, yadda yadda.


I hate to think of all the miles these socks logged as they were hauled all over creation. A stitch or two here, a stitch or two there. But now they’re finished. And I’m plotting my next pair of socks!

Musique Socks

Pattern: Riverbed Master from New Pathways for Sock Knitters by Cat Bordhi
Yarn: Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Sock
Colorway: Musique, from the March, 2009 Art Walk club shipment
Yardage: a 375-yard skein, I’d estimate I used about 80% of it
Needles: US 1/2.25mm Hiya Hiya 16” circs (2-circs method)
Started: 19 July 2010
Finished: 22 January 2011

Now you know why it felt like I’d knit more than three pairs of socks in 2010. You were seeing WiP Wednesday shots of these socks off and on for six months!