well, this has nothing to do with knitting

I’m picky when it comes to jeans. Well, not so much picky, as I have one criteria that must be fulfilled: they cannot be stretch. Not even a little. I hate stretch jeans, they fit me weird and they, well, they stretch out (surprisingly!). You have to buy a size smaller than you usually would to account for the stretch that will occur throughout the day. So when you put them on in the morning they are way too tight and you look trashy, but around the middle of the day they stretch out and fit you perfectly; too bad by the time you’re home they’re nearly falling off you. And so then you have to wash them again to get them back to their original tightness so the process can happen all over again – this is also a problem becuase I am a strong proponent of wearing jeans several days in a row (probably because I only own about three pairs, as I can’t find any more that aren’t stretch!).
Anyway, moving on, you’d think this wouldn’t be such a hard criteria to fill, as jeans have always been traditionally 100% cotton. But as of about two years ago it’s been next to impossible to find jeans that don’t have any amount of spandex in them. Apparently I am the only person in this world who has issues with stretch jeans - chances are you don't have any problems with them either and think I'm crazy....
The moral is I am putting an enormous amount of effort into keeping the few pairs that I have in one piece. Note:

As soon as I notice a thinned part of my jeans, I apply a patch. This particular pair is held together purely by these patches - seven of them total, they just couldn't all fit into the same shot at the same time.

But sometimes I don’t catch the problem soon enough and the jeans rip. A rip is different than
a hole. I can patch a hole, but a rip completely destroys a pair of jeans. Yes, I could sew them, but then I would have an odd, horribly obvious seam in some awkward place. And so my latest jean catastrophe resulted in:

No, there are not holes under all of these patches, I just thought it would be weird to have just two patches on my butt so I added a few more for moral support.

And one more picture of my jeans in action:

Merry-day-after-Christmas all! Hope you had a good one.

I certainly did. We got to see a part of the family we haven’t seen in a very long time (I told this to a coworker and she said “oh, since last year?” “No, more like seven years.”). I even successfully finished my holiday knitting! Everyone seemed to like the washcloths, so I was pleased with that (and so were they). I finished my grandmother’s hat in plenty of time (I don’t know why I thought it would take me so long – after I got myself together after frogging it a few times it only took me an afternoon). But even though I finished it, I had to do some intensive blocking since it seemed rather snug, and when I presented it to her on Christmas afternoon it was still a bit damp. But that’s what’s great about grandmothers, she didn’t mind.

This was my first attempt at a pom pom, it turned out alright.

My parents have finally figured out that I like to knit! They gave me this marvelous cone of yarn for Christmas:

And some even more marvelous green stuff (in real life it’s lighter than this):

Also, a set of the Knit Picks options needles. I think they’re great, but these things should really come with a “suggested organization” chart. It comes with all these fancy pockets that are all different sizes to organize everything in, but I can’t figure out how they expect you to do it. What are the sizes for? Am I missing something? Help!

You know what?

I’m finished making washcloths! Forever.


See, fourteen of them, aren’t they nice? All are made either from Peaches & Creme or Sugar ‘n Cream yarn. The patterns are from the inside of the Peaches & Creme label, and then a boring knit/purl combination that I made up as I went along, on size 7 needles (for the longest time I thought I was knitting with size 6 until I actually stopped and looked at the needles. Totally size 7).

And now I’m left with all these little scraps that are pretty much completely useless. Maybe someday they’ll turn into a very multi-colored washcloth, but I’m really not in the mood to knit a washcloth ever again.

I really wasn’t expecting a big difference between these two types of yarn. They look almost identical, but they’re not! The Peaches & Creme is much nicer. Yes, this is vague, I really don’t know what to say, it seems like it’s higher quality and it’s just made better. Or maybe I’m just crazy.


I have also purchased copious amounts of soap to go with said washcloths. Really nice soap too, I think. You know, it was really hard to find soap that wasn’t something typical like Dial or something. I ended up going to three stores before I found this stuff, and then I bought the store out. Mmm, Lavender, it’s been sitting in my room the past few days making everything smell good.

And the finished product, most of these will be distributed at work tomorrow:

But I’m still not finished with Christmas knitting. My mom has nominated me to knit my grandmother a hat. It’s never seemed to click with her that knitting takes time. She also wanted me to knit something for my baby cousin, but there’s no way that’s happening, I told her it was either one or the other. I chose my grandmother because I think she’ll appreciate a knitted item a whole lot more than a one year old.
I chose this yarn, lovely stuff. It’s Patons Rumor (an irresistible alpaca blend) in Hibiscus Heather. It’s on the chunky side so I’m hoping whatever I choose will knit up quick. Any suggestions for a grandmotherly hat?

(See, I was gone for a few weeks but I’m sure it was worth it, look at the long entry you got – with all these pictures!)

Finals are over!

First off, thanks for the hat compliments! The hat says thanks too.

And on the knitting front: more washcloths! But not too many, because finals start next week. (Why on earth do they put finals at the end of the semester? You’re so burnt out by then the last thing you want to do is study more. They should put finals during the first week of school when you’re still coherent.) So I tend to be studying for a few hours, then knitting a few rows. We’ll see if I get enough done by Christmas (five more left!).

So keep your eyes open for a washcloth-related post next week sometime (hopefully….).

No, I haven’t found my camera cord, but my boyfriend just happened to leave his camera at my house the other day, so until he realizes that he left it here I do believe that I have full rights to use it as I see fit. And I see it as fit to take pictures of myself in a hat (you know, it’s surprisingly hard to photograph yourself in a mirror and not block out the hat your are trying to photograph with your hands. So please excuse the shoddy photography.)

So finally, about my hat:
My friends have begun to lovingly refer to this as my “wine-drinking hat.” If you’ll recall, there’s been a bit of conflict over whether this yarn is red or purple. Yet after asking many people, I discovered that most thought it was neither red nor purple, but wine-colored (and seeing as this yarn color is “Bordeaux,” they’re probably right). One of these conversations evolved into the revelation that if I so happened to be drinking wine while wearing my hat, and my head got hot so I took my hat off and set it next to my wine glass, and then if some clumsy person walked by and knocked over my glass and wine spilled everywhere, it would be okay because my hat is the same color as the wine. What a relief, I always worry about that. So, at last, I present to you my wine-drinking hat: Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash
Color: Bordeaux
Pattern: Reversible Beret

This pattern is quick and easy, I recommend it. Were I to knit it again I would probably make it a few stitches shorter around the band, it’s a bit wide. If you’re planning on knitting with this yarn, word on the street is that it shrinks quite a bit when you put it in the dryer. Yet as I am not planning on putting my hat in the dryer I didn’t worry about that, but if you really love putting things in the dryer you might want to think about it.... Other than that it’s a lovely yarn and a lovely color that I also recommend.

oh sigh

So my hat is finished, and I quite like it. I'd also quite like to show it to you, but my camera cord has suddenly gone MIA. I had it last week, and I always keep it in the same place, but today it is not to be found.

I just wanted to let you know that hopefully someday soon there will be a post featuring a hat....