Library Love!

Last night, after knit night, DH and I went to the public library. On a whim, while I was watching the Olympics, DH said he was going to the library...I jumped up, hit record (gymnastics were just starting) and got in the car. Why? to see what spinning books they had or course!

I've gotten a lot of info about spinning from N and ravelry, but sometimes reading a more structured book on a topic helps! I haven't had much time to look through them yet, but am looking forward to it!

So last week I caved and bought more fiber!!!! (This is Colonial Top, if that means something to you) I got it from Alpaca Direct. I got 4oz of it! It is spinning up nicely, although it is more slippery than what I was using before (that N gave me so I have no idea what it really was) But it is going well and I am happy so far!

Of course in order to maximize shipping I bought two other things (pics another day) some merino and some alpaca. Being a novice all the different types of fiber is quite overwhelming and I have no idea what the pros and cons of each are. So I figured I would just have to start sampling some. That is how I learned about yarn, so it should work for fiber too! (I think those library books might help too!)

Ravelympics...day 5

The shawl is going well!  I have done 15 of the 19 repeats of the budding lace pattern....then I get to change charts :)  

I think I have a total of 60 rows left!  I'm not letting myself get too relaxed about it though because each row gets longer.  It has been fun to knit on it while watching the games....I love the gymnastics!!  Our men's team did awesome last night....ladies tonight!

Here is Knox looking content and relaxed last night!

But this morning she is intent on something.  She keeps looking up and for the life of me and I don't what she is looking at....normally I find some minuscule bug, but who knows today.  Further she is whining while watching which is totally uncharacteristic.  Oh well...she'll get tired and take a nap and forget about it! :)  Happy knitting!

Goodies and FO

Well Ravelympics are well underway....I am on a good pace (I think) and will show you tomorrow where I'm at!  Yesterday I wore my new skirt to church!!!  No one commented on it, but I enjoyed wearing it and liked how it looked!  The hand sewing on the inside wasn't too bad!  I definitely will make this again...maybe the other style.  So now I am keeping my eye out for cute skirt fabric!  

If you need/want more details on the skirt let me know and I will try my best!  I had a couple of sewing projects for my Secret Prayer Sock Swap package and I got those done (except for a hand sewn detail on one of them)  It felt good to sew again, but it feels good to have the machine put back up again.  My kitchen table was a mess!

Last week I also won another contest!  Aunt Kathy has been doing a contest a week (for quite a while) and last week I won the knitting gadget jackpot!  Look at all these goodies!  Go say hi to her (and in the process you will enter yourself in the contest for a really cute needle holder made in sheep fabric)

Well today I'm working on my shawl....and doing some math...only 2 weeks of summer left....must enjoy every minute! Have a super day!  :)

Let the games begin!

At 7:00 am this morning the Ravelympics began!  I got my cup of coffee and started my shawl!  Here it is after the first chart.....it makes you feel like you are making great progress to be finished with a chart, but I know....lots more to go.  In fact I've done the 2nd chart 2 times (out of 19) and each time it gets longer.  But I'm confidant that it will be done in no time!

So how did I do on my goals for yesterday?

1. Socks--finished!!! Even blocked!
2. Skirt--almost done...just have to hand stitch (yuck)  the yoke lining on the inside.  I tried it on last night (and it looks all finished on the right side)  I couldn't be happier!  DH wants me to wear it to church on Sunday and he said he would take pics of it then....so Monday it should debut on the blog (I guess I have to do that hand stitching) :)
3. Other goodies for swap....I started one of them (they should be a good diversion when I'm tired of the shawl)

So not bad!

Okay....have to stay focus on the games!  GEAUX BRRS!!!!

Training nearing an end

Well the time is drawing near....the Olympics start tomorrow....so the ravelympics start tomorrow at 7:00am (local time).  I think I'm readying.  I have wound my yarn into a cake (800 yds of laceweight took awhile).  I do need to find my pattern again.  I'm in the Shawl Relay and making another swallowtail shawl (but a little larger)

My Secret Prayer Swap Socks are almost done (just 1/2 a toe more to go, then hide ends, block)  It feels good to have those done!  There are a few other projects I want to put in the package but they should be easy to get done!

I started a plain vanilla sock for Knit Night (although I missed this week).  It doesn't involve thinking so it is perfect for visiting!  I'm loving watching the colors change!  So fun!

So today's goals:

1. Finish Swap socks
   
2. Finish skirt (I hope this is doable....I think it is thanks to Jennifer!  She commented in the last post asking if my machine had a hem stitch.  Who knew?  Not me!  No hand hemming for me.   A little practice and the hem was done in no time and looks so much better than if I had done it by hand!  Thanks Jennifer....got to love blog friends!)
   
3. Now if all that gets done I will try to work on the last little goodies for my swap package...Can't wait to show it all to you!
4. Rest up for the games!  Go team Baton Rouge Red Sticks!!!!

Sewing Adventures

So I've started working on my skirt!  (Also knitting my Secret Prayer Swap Socks...not sure how you all do it with these secret knits and test knits...guess I'm not good at secrets)  My transition to sewing has had some interesting parts.  

First of all I selected the size that matched my waist measurement (even though I never wear that size). I went to cut it out and see what the pattern looked like for that size

I know it is hard to see, put the "cut here" lines were gone!  yep I double checked...no where to be seen!  Some of the writing was there but no lines!  So I compared the 2 previous sizes to see how to modify the smaller size to make the larger size (yikes!)   I think that went well!

Then got the yoke done and pleats and tried it on before putting in the zipper.  Way too big!!!  (I told you I never wore that size)  So I took in the side seams (that is where the pattern changed between sizes) and fixed the yoke.  Guess I didn't need that missing piece after all!   

Now I need to fix the zipper (I realized last night that I wasn't doing it quite right) and do the inside of the yoke and the hem.  Speaking of the hem...the pattern says to do that first by deciding how long you want the skirt.  I didn't do that because I couldn't tell how long the skirt would be....now that I can "try" it on....I've got the hem ready to be hand stitched (not my favorite part)

But even with all these trials (I'm keep telling myself it is just because it has been so long since I've sewn) I'm really liking how it is turning out.  I see myself using this pattern again!

A brief math lesson (with knitting content)

****I promise none of the math in this post is scary.  If you have an aversion to math it is okay please keep reading.  No one will get hurt by reading the mathematics that follows...plus you want to see the knitting!****

So I was asked to give a "fun" math talk (20 minutes) to incoming graduate students in a couple of weeks.  So what did I choose?  Geometry of course!  I really like geometry (especially non-Euclidean geometry....not what you learn in high school)  I have found that most grad students have seen very little of this and it is extremely useful (at least in what I do).  

One fun hyperbolic geometry fact:   Triangles must have angle sum (add up the degrees of all three angles) less than 180!  Yes there are geometries where angle sums are more than 180 too! 

So to the knitting.  I thought it would be a shame to give such a talk and not have a nice model of hyperbolic space.  I made a knitted version, but here is also a crocheted version.  (They often look like lettuce because they curve a lot as you go out further)

I made a Pseudosphere (in LSU colors of course) pattern here.  I added a single crocheted border to help the added curling and give it some purple!   I think it will be the perfect model to make my talk more fun!

Not too scary right? :)