Meat Meat Meat

Damn, it's not working. I have a 20-page paper on postwar Canadian meat rationing due by five o'clock tomorrow, and it is officially the Last Thing I Want to Think About. I'm finding it much easier to daydream about knitting, say, Arisaig from my stash of vintage blue sock yarn than to write a coherent paragraph on the ways that media messages appealed to traditional gender roles to promote rationing of steaks and sausages. (Did you know that in both Canadian and American meat-rationing programs, poultry and fish were unrationed? People could buy and eat all the chicken they wanted, even on the "meatless" days.) Why didn't I choose to write on wartime knitting efforts? I'm so dumb sometimes. OK, I'm going to try that coherent paragraph again...

Skinny so-called spring scarf

I managed to get one decent photo of my brand-new scarf -- it's so hard, especially with a digital camera, to capture a rich, saturated red. Here's the shot:



Pattern: Like many others in blogland have done, I used the pattern from sheep in the city called "My So-Called Scarf." For mine, I cast on 16 stitches instead of the 30 in the pattern. My scarf measures 3 inches wide and 66 inches long. The pattern was fun and quick to knit -- easy, but not boring.

Yarn and Needles: Eagle-eyed readers may recognize this luscious Malabrigo kettle-dyed merino from two previous incarnations as ill-fitting neck braces warmers. This wool is so soft. Indescribably soft. Almost too soft. If you touched your tongue to it, I fear this yarn would dissolve into liquid sugar. I used less than one skein for this scarf, and an 8.0mm circular needle. Not just any 8.0mm circular needle, though; take a step closer, why don't you?



Why yes, those are knitting needles in my pocket and I'm happy to see you! I own all of two pairs of Addi needles, both bought in Taipei, both filled with gold sparkles: one 8.0mm circ and one 9.0mm circ. So fancy. I rarely use such huge needles, but I love these sparkly gold babies.

I'll leave you with a link sent by Danny, for those who are into Easter and/or cuteness: the Easter Bilby. Cheers!

It's Wednesday afternoon -- my first Wednesday at home in 2006, I think, since my Wednesday morning class ended last week. And a very nice day to be home, too, as thunder is booming outside and the rain is coming down. Lucky me, sitting inside by the fireplace with a program about Fred and Rosemary West on A&E. (As you may know, there's nothing I enjoy more than a true-crime story.) Mooky's curled up in his bed, oblivious to the bad weather. I should really work on my meat-rationing research paper, or my thesis, or something, but it's just soooo nice to be lazy when given the chance.

I came across the following article yesterday: "Sewing Proves Popular Again." My first thought was, It's starting again... It was about three years ago, after all, that similar articles about knitting began to appear (with the now-cliché "not just for grannies" angle). Based on that precedent, I predict the launch of eight thousand sewing blogs in the coming year. Heck, maybe one will be mine, if I ever get around to actually using my new machine.

If I can ever manage to properly photograph red wool, I'll show you a little something I knitted up over the last few days...

I'm going to start considering changing out of my PJs soon. (Note to self: When you question or doubt your decision to spend these years of your life being a grad student, repeat these four words: "Pajamas in the afternoon." Then go and make another latte.)

Socks and songs for a sunny Saturday



Finished! I knit these socks from Knit Picks Sock Garden (colour: zinnia) -- two socks on two 2.25mm circs. I'm not a total convert to this method, but I might use it again; it's a bit of a pain to have two needles and two strands of yarn hanging around, compared to my usual method, the nicely contained magic loop. But it is nice to finish the toes and be done the pair. Anyway, no particular pattern: I cast on 64 sts.; did about 8 rounds of 2-by-2 ribbing before switching to st. st.; knit about 4 inches before doing a st. st. heel flap on 32 sts.; picked up gusset sts. and decreased back to 64 sts.; decreased sts. for the toes every third round instead of every other; grafted toes when there were 20 sts. left. Easy peasy. But you can see the differences in colours in these photos, can't you? The colours in the sock on my right foot seem to be more saturated. Weird.



It's a beautiful day today -- only about 5 degrees, but sunny and bright. I thought I'd share with you some of the music that is making my work easier to bear today, in no particular order:

Lucinda Williams, "Sweet Side"

Erin McKeown, "Cinematic"

Fiona Apple, "Extraordinary Machine"

New Pornographers, "The Laws Have Changed"

Jenny Lewis, "The Big Guns"

Dolly Parton, "Travelin' Thru"

Wolf Parade, "Shine a Light"

Final Fantasy, "The Dream of Win and Regine"

Feist, "Mushaboom"

k-os, "Crabbuckit"

Buck 65, "Surrender to Strangeness"

All Girl Summer Fun Band, "Down South, 10 Hours, I-5"

Have a lovely weekend, y'all!

Distracted

I've got the pre-end-of-term blahs. I find myself wanting to play hooky from school and schoolwork all the time! Yesterday on my way to school I found myself drifting into the Value Village, where I found a Fame T-shirt, an LP of Dolly Parton's greatest hits (love that album art!), and two good books. Score! Then when I got to campus the parking lot was full, so of course... I just left. I went to a bookstore and picked up the latest issue of Bust. Then I got a veggie burger. Then I got a ridiculous amount of pleasure listening to Spiderbait's version of "Black Betty" really loud in my car. (If bush parties and classic rock were as instrumental in your formative years as they were in mine, I'd highly recommend this.) Then I finally went to school, but I really just wanted to go back home and knit my Sunrise Circle Jacket.

I have been knitting for a while each night, since I've been staying up late and watching continuous reruns of CSI on TV. Actually, last night I watched ANTM, which turned out to be analogous to crack: I'm addicted after just one time, and I'm now fantasizing about getting my hair cut just like Mollie Sue's. Anyway, I'm just about to turn the hem of the left front, and I think I'm going to do the body hems in brown. I like the idea of just having the pink surprise strips inside the sleeves. (After all that, I know.) As I've been knitting I've been marvelling at Kate's genius in designing this pattern. How on earth did she figure out how to place all those increases in a way that turns out looking so smooth? Brilliant. I'm very happy with how the Briggs & Little looks, too. The fabric is firm, which is good for this design, but I do want it to soften up a bit. I seem to recall that JoVE recommended a vinegar bath to soften itchy wool. (Is this true, Jo? Is there any risk that when I wear the finished jacket I'll smell like a pickle? I'll e-mail you.) I'm going to block this piece before continuing, as I made a size smaller than I really am to account for my row-gauge discrepancy (24 instead of 28 sts./4 inches).

I need to get my head back into my schoolwork pronto, as the term is winding down and I have a twenty-page paper to write on top of my thesis, plus as of tomorrow night I'll have forty-five essays to mark. I'm going to try to submit my thesis at the end of May. I've written about half of it, I guess. I've got to get the chug back. Chug chug chug.

And when I do finish, I'm going to treat myself to a rare thing -- a brand new T-shirt: either this one or this one. And this one makes me laugh, but I'd rather have the CBC's exploding pizza logo. Maybe I should just buy it now and then hang it on the wall above my computer with a calendar pinned to it, with May 31 circled...

chug chug chug

Inside and out

No, not the Feist/BeeGees song -- the left sleeve of the Sunrise Circle Jacket!