It was a busy weekend, so this edition of Weekend Knits is fairly long. I’d grad a cup of coffee or something and get yourself situated, because you’ll be here for awhile. Summary: sock, wiener dogs, Hexacomb Cardi, and a finished Tilted Duster.
Thursday night I ripped apart my Anastasia socks and decided to stick with a 2×1 ribbing for my first pair, rather than doing something nice that I would actually like to wear. I’m too much of a perfectionist to start my first pair of socks with a chart, especially one that I like and don’t want to make any mistakes in. I’m still using the Anastasia pattern as a guide for the toe and heel, but I pretty much disregarded every other aspect of it. I made some great success with the ribbing Thursday night:
As you can see, I am very pleased with my socks. Actually, I don’t think that picture conveys just how excited I am that I have a real pair of socks on my needles. But, I digress.
I knit like a mad woman to make up for all the pattern rows I ripped out (20!) Thursday night. On Friday evening, I went to my little’s house for a Wine Night. And by Wine Night, what I mean is a few girls sitting around watching Disney movies (with me mocking them mercilessly and crying about how it’s like feminism never happened) and drinking Ménage a Trios wine. I made quite a bit of progress on the socks while drinking wine and watching Finding Nemo. I’ve decided toe-up socks are the way to go, if anything because of the whole trying-it-on-as-you-go factor. I’ve made a lot of progress since Friday night (only 1 more inch and then I start the heel!), but you get the general idea:
Normally, all this knitting and drinking would have constituted an exciting night for me, but there was more in store for me than that! I was dropping Boyfriend off at his car only to discover that a rock had been thrown into the car through his passenger window. His passenger window is completely shattered, and the windshield has a huge crack in it where the rock ricocheted.
The only thing that got stolen was his iPod (and thankfully not his golf clubs, since he had a tournament the next day, which he got 2nd place in!), which was in plain sight and was clearly the reason his car got broken into. So I let him borrow my car since his golf clubs wouldn’t fit on my scooter and I wouldn’t need the car anyways because…
Saturday was Picnic Day!* The greatest day of the year! There were so many people there this year - way more than previous years. There was a lot of stuff to see and do, and I woke up very early to make sure I got a full day in on campus. I borrowed my roommate’s bike because the tires on mine keep going mysteriously flat and biked all over Davis.
I got to see the Cal Aggie Marching Band-Uh! in the parade:
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And the wiener dog Dachshund races - which is always a treat, and absolutely adorable:
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I also looked at the cats at Feline Lifeline and found one that looks just like mine:. Observe Abbie (mine) and Cadillac (the one that looks just like mine):
I desperately wanted to take her home, but I can’t get another cat until August when I move into my new apartment. They’re almost exactly the same, right down to their little white paws!
I also tie dyed my own shirt, but it’s still drying so you don’t get to see pictures yet. Now, for most students and people in my general age range, Picnic Day is nothing more than an excuse to get drunk at 6 A.M. and wander aimlessly around campus. But for me, I wandered with aim to all of the things I wanted to see. I’m such an overachiever, even on a day like Picnic Day.
I went to the Craft Center open house and saw their spinning wheels and inquired about their spinning classes. They will be offering one this fall and yours truly will be signed up for it, learning how to spin! Thew class includes a quarter pass for the textiles studio, so, needless to say, I am very excited!
On Sunday, I organized my stash (a little) and made significant progress on my Hexacomb Cardi. I only have a few more rows left until I start shaping the armholes, and from there, it’s easy as pie! I’m hoping to finish it within the next week and a half, which I don’t think is an unrealistic expectation, considering my progress on it so far. I think the yarn I selected has helped a lot with the project. The Plymouth Jeannee just slides right off my Addi Turbos (not a difficult thing to do, I know) for quick knitting. At first I was skeptical about the stitch pattern, but it grew on me as I started doing more row repeats.
I also finished my Tilted Duster, with much disappointment. Disappointment doesn’t even begin to cover it, actually. I double and triple checked my gauge throughout the entire project, and it still ended up being much much too large for me. I measured everything after I finished knitting and blocking and it was the correct measurements, according to the pattern. I knit a size small and I have to say, I’m ridiculously upset that it’s so big on me. While I am a small person, most size small items fit me, or are a little too small. I may eventually get the heart to re-knit this project, but I doubt I ever will because I was so upset with the end result. If I ever re-knit this project, I will either have to gain 40 pounds for the size small to fit, or I will have to use a much smaller gauge. I didn’t have the heart to frog the entire sweater yesterday, and I may just give it away so I don’t have to look at it anymore. Right now, it’s shirking away from me, hiding in the back of the closet, because it knows it was a huge disappointment to me. I just… ugh! Frustration!
Sunday evening was spent with Boyfriend’s family for Passover. Which, for me, the little Atheist, was my first real experience with a Jewish holiday. While we’ve been to several Jewish weddings together, this was my first meal with his family that was connected to a holiday. It was fun, and I really like Matzo ball soup (which I’ve never had before).
You’ll notice we’ve reached the end of my Weekend Knits post and I haven’t said anything about the gimpy owl. And, well, that’s because, despite telling the entire internet that I was going to finish it this weekend, I didn’t even touch it, let alone finish it. I’m such a let down! Poor Chi. He just wants to fly away to his new home in San Fran, and I’m totally preventing that from happening.
All in all, it was a pretty packed weekend. I didn’t have much down time to knit, which was ok because I was prepared for it. I’m definitely hoping for some more knitting time this week, but we’ll see.
* Some of these aren’t my pictures because my camera is not so amazing, so I stole some from various places on the web so I can share Picnic Day with you without the blurry photos. All of the photos are mine unless there is a link underneath it.