Live List

I've decided I want to keep track of shows that I have been able to go to and keep track of it. So minus a few local bands I saw in High School (whose names I don't remember at all)  So this is starting from Sophomore year of college. Please know that I have some questionable taste in music. And I love the fact that I do.

Ashley Tisdale
Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.
The Decemberists
Dengue Fever
The Devil Whale
EMA
Future Islands
Glee Live!
The Head and The Heart (x2)
Jonathan Coulton
Lead to Sea
Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles (x2)
LXD
Mountain Man (x2)
Okkervil River
Paul and Storm
Thao & Mirah (x2)
Thao with The Get Down Stay Down
These United States
Titus Andronicus
Tokio Hotel

The Weekend Update

Okay. I was too busy on Wednesday to do a WIP: Wednesday, had a needle malfunction on Thursday (I lost my spare DPN on the bus!) to have a FO Friday, I was really really close. But so far. So for the silence of this week am I just going to give you a rundown of the projects (except my YOP sock that will be for tomorrow).

1. On the wheel is a BFL silk blend from wool gatherings that i have an idea for that I am excited for.

2. Yesterday felt like a spindle day so I pulled out an old project it is a Merino/Angora blend and I sort of forgot how deliciously yummy it is. Going to work on it more today I think I'm going to make it my goal to finish it for the TdF.

3. I have been teaching one of my roommates how to knit whilst we watch Merlin. Isn't she doing fantastic? I also lent her my copy of stitch and bitch she seems to like it. I'm so excited to live with another knitter again.

4. In honor of the Tour de Fleece I was going to teach my friend Paul how to spin. Because we are both broke and wanted to do something that was free. He liked treadling but lasted about 10 min before he gave up on drafting. Oh well.

5. The only WIP currently besides a few pair of socks I"m trying to finish up is this big and awesome shawl.

The needles are comically big. Size 36's my normal standard size I use most often is a size 3. Think about that for a second. Here it is in comparison to a size 10 needle and my thumb.

A little while after I took that picture I realized that I screwed up the pattern a bit, ripped it out and started it all over.
That is all I have for now. I'll try showing off some more of my work. And maybe blog about my new job later! Tomorrow I'll put up a post about my Year of Projects update. But that is all I have for now.

A Girl, a Book, a Year, and a Dream.

Every once in a while I get it in my head that I like to challenge myself (sometimes not true). And I see something on Ravelry and it's like WOW I want to do that! Sometimes it works really well. Last years Tour de Fleece made me a much better spinner. Sometimes I crash and burn. I once tried to talk part in the 52 pair plunge (knit a pair of socks a week for a year) got ALMOST 15 socks in and failed badly. So badly I gave up before the half way mark. Let hope that this is going to be one of those good ones.

I was poking around the forums, looking at peoples' profiles when I stumbled upon a group called Come Blog-a-Long (link on the side). And they had this interesting idea, pick a book (a pattern book) and see if you can knit through it in a year.

As luck would have it I was looking at the book "Knitting socks with Hand Painted Yarn" the day before wondering why I had yet to knit anything out of this wonderful book? There wasn't a single pattern in it I disliked. So this group, this book and this Annie just seemed like a good fit.
There are 21 patterns in the book, while not quite the 52 required of the plunge a daunting task. But I think I can do it!

That was too weeks ago since then I have been planning. Ball winding. Needle buying. Yarn sorting (and a little bit of yarn buying) in preparation for this. Here has what my preparation has yielded!

I had the stash for 19 of the projects (yikes that was an eyeopener!) I scared my roommates by taking my stash out of my room all at once, not going to do that again. I picked yarn, bagged them all individually along with a note.

The note is the pattern I plan on using, page number, toe up/ topdown, needle size, circ/DPN, yarn I plan on using and whether or not it is flat or in the round.

My goal is once I've made it through 10 socks and am on a good track my reward is buying myself the yarn for the remaining two socks (four balls in all). Most of my yarn is commercial a wide variety of brands, the only repeats are Dream in Color Smooshy and Malabrigo (not surprising two of my favorites). And two of my socks will be tackled in Hand Spun. One of which I'm not done spinning yet...

Enough Jabber here is the full list in order of appearance. (Note: These are all Ravelry links to projects that don't quite exist yet, but if you want to know what yarn/needle size I'm planning on using take a look!)

Longbourn Socks
Zigzag Socks
Punctuated Rib Socks
Staccato Socks
Copper Penny Socks
Color Collision Socks
Split-Toe Sweethearts
Whirlpool Socks
Herringbone Rib Socks
Schooner Socks
Corrugated Stripe Socks
Flame Thrower Socks
Chevvy Socks
Spot Check Socks
Potpourri Socks
Spread Spectrum Socks
Braided Gem Socks
Escher Socks
Goldengrove Socks
Rib Fantastic Socks
Switcheroo Socks

All of this. This entire exercise is in hopes of finally having enough scraps to finish my Barn Raising Quilt. I decided that I'm only going to knit squares from projects that I've already completed. It's more special that way.


I'm planning on doing this whole shebang by randomly grabbing a bag, seeing if I have the proper needles available and then CASTON! I will start tomorrow though right now it is late, and I am tired. I stayed up just to post this =D

Wish me Luck!