Alas, no pictures

I think my digital camera's broken. It began beeping at me as soon as I opened the cover, and I know that it can't be low on batteries, because I put in new batteries four photos ago. And since a knitting blog isn't much without pictures, I don't have much incentive to post. (Not that my six remaining tests aren't a disincentive to Internet-surfing in themselves!)

So I will be on a mini-blogging break until camera problems are resolved and tests are over - in other words, for a little over a week.

I also have some serious race training to do. I haven't mentioned it much here because it doesn't seem particularly applicable to a knitting blog, but I'm a fledgling competitive cyclist, and I've got two big races coming up in May. For those of you who may be familiar with amateur road cycling, they're NRC (National Racing Calendar) races, and even though I'm only a women's cat 4, I still don't want to embarrass myself, especially on a 2.5-mile uphill time trial with a 10% grade. If this is Greek to you knitters, I apologize, but if you're interested in hearing how the Lance Armstrong wannabes of the mid-South spend their time, I'll post more cycling tidbits occasionally.

A lovely spring week to you all, and thanks for all your words of encouragement during this trying time in my scholastic career!

Taking time to breathe

Thanks to everyone who sent good vibes for the Behavioral test. Behavioral Science is not a particularly hard subject, but when one sort of forgets that it is a valid class until the test comes along, it can be a bit taxing. This coming week is my last week of lecture, and then the following two weeks are chock-full of tests. I suppose I should be glad that this phase of my education is ending, but I'm going to miss having the freedom to decide what to do with most of my time, even if that decision is to study or not to study.

Meanwhile, in crafty matters, I have finished one Retro Rib Sock.




It seems like everyone has their personal most-hated knitting task. For some it's seams, for others buttonbands. For me, it's weaving in ends. And these particular two skeins of Jaeger Matchmaker Merino 4-ply are full of breaks in the yarn - weak spots where at least three of the four plys are snapped. This sock has sixteen extra ends to weave in, and Sock #2 has six so far. This disaster unfortunately coincides with the arrival of warm (anti-wool) weather, so it will take a feat of will to accomplish the finishing. Fortunately, the disaster coincides with the beginning of good cold/frozen drink weather, so the finishing might not take much more than a good pina colada.

I'll try to keep posting and reading blogs intermittently in the next few weeks, but it'll be hectic! I am taking a break tonight, though, to watch "Grey's Anatomy." I've never watched medical shows; I thought that "Dr. Quinn" was ridiculous (doctors in frontier days never really cured anyone unless it was sheer luck), and I'd spent enough time in the emergency room to know that "E.R." is absurd. But "Grey's Anatomy," while terribly inaccurate, is alluring in a train-wreck sort of way.

Overwhelmed

We will return to regularly scheduled knitting after the Behavioral Science test on Friday. In the meantime, I'll be working on learning 50 lectures' worth of material in three days.

An obligatory progress shot

Here's a progress shot of the Floral Felted Bag. I would have a progress shot of the Retro Rib Socks I started last weekend, but my digital camera is out of batteries. I wrote two more paragraphs and deleted them because they sounded dry and depressing, so I'll just stick with the picture. I'm going for a bike ride!

Minty green goodness

Ah, a finished object - an impetus to post in the middle of a very busy week...



Project details: Sweater body based on an OOP Phildar pattern, with sleeves of my own design. In Lana Grossa Point at 4.5 sts/in and 9 rows/in. on US 8 needles.

Lana Grossa Point is a lovely elastic-y yarn that feels wonderful to knit. My only complaint about it was that it had way too many knots, and that the resulting ends like to work their way out of the sweater. Otherwise, I'm pleased with the project - I love the color, and the sleeve cap worked out well.

While this project has been blocking, I've had plenty of classes in which to knit other things. Thus, Smooch (from Rowan's All Seasons Cotton Collection).



As you can see, the front is almost done. And I've already finished the back, so I don't know what I'm going to knit in class tomorrow, and it's already bedtime, so I have to figure something out QUICKLY...

What that picture was about

The post with the picture of the mint green sweater was supposed to be about designing a sleeve cap, as I had to work out the numbers for the sleeve of the Lana Grossa Point sweater. However, Blogger was inaccessible all day yesterday, and it's 5 AM now (I'm an insomniac), so there will be no writing about sleeve caps - for one thing, the anticipation's over, because the sleeve cap fit into the armhole perfectly. Thank goodness for elastic yarn.

will it fit?