Another swatch for Woodland Shawl

Swatch using needle size US 5.





Remember how I said size 6 was too loose? Well, I change my mind. I just knit the same size swatch with size 5 needles and it was too tight. Maybe if I were knitting a scarf, this is the size I would use. But for a shawl, I think I prefer some dainty-ness. A bit more lace quality to it. So, size 6 it is. Which means this project will have to go on hold as I only have 16" circs. I need to buy a longer circular before I CO.


I've been thinking of getting some of the Knit Picks Options in Harmony so that instead of piece by piece buying one needle I'll actually be buying 3. And also since there are some things I want to buy from Knit Picks right now and I need needles anyhow (I buy most things online now since there aren't any yarn stores near me and they do not have good selection anyhow).

Swatch: Woodland Shawl

Seeing as how I am trying to stay on top of my blog posts, here is a swatch of a soon to be WIP. I wanted to knit a shawl to wear at my sisters wedding and I decided on the Woodland Shawl. First, I think it looks good in sold color yarn - I'm using a cone of mercerized gray cotton I have since the dresses are black with beading on the bodice that is outlined in silver/gray. Second, the leaf pattern mimics the central shape on the beading, so I think the shawl will nicely complement my dress. Since the cone cotton is meant to be used for weaving, I had no idea what needle size to use. I ballparked size 6 and knit up a 24 st swatch. I think it looks ok, I'm going to swatch it in size 5 needles and see if I like that more. If not, i'll stick with the size 6.

The yarn is: Valley Cottons 3/2 Mercerized Perle Cotton, 1 pound, in color 8473, lot 81495, and I bought it at one of the Webs tent sales a while back (there may have even been a post on this somewhere).
So in case you ever wondered what needle size to use with size 3/2 cone cotton, size 6 is decent. Its probably about right, I'm just going to try size 5 and see what I get since with all the knit/purl switches in the pattern, my stiches are a bit loosy-goosy and I'd prefer better, tighter definition for this pattern.

Also, my mitts based off of the Pomatomus sock pattern finished drying / blocking today. Its nearly impossible to get nice pictures of mitts while you are wearing them!!

Further also, I've been slowly working on a painting I started in August. I've never been much of a painter, I didn't even take painting when I did my minor in visual arts - I stuck to the 3d stuff like sculpture. So, please, dont be too harsh on me. But I inherited a canvas, and some acrylic paint, so I decided to give it a go. Most of my stuff in in shades of purple and green so I stuck with that theme. My old room in Brookline, MA was this awesome shade of mossy green and I started with that color since I miss it. It's a WIP and I'm taking my time so I can let it "talk to me" and see where it goes. (:{

About Ear Stretching

About two years ago I decided to stretch my lowest earlobes from a 14/16 gauge ear ring to 12 gauge. I did this because I thought that most captive bead rings or curved barbells didnt really show up. They didnt catch my eye in the mirror next to my long hair. When I fell in love with some oblong / oval rings at LeRoi.com I ordered them in size 12G hoping they would stand out better. I didnt pay much attention to this initial stretch and popped the new rings right in with little discomfort. After happily wearing these for over 1 year I became anxious again to change. I ordered some horn spirals in 12G, but when they arrived I was sorely disappointed. They were much smaller than I thought they would be. When I had my rook pierced (which btw, finally healed in December) I looked in the cases at the body jewelry and realized to get the desired look, I would need to go to 4G or 2G. But, stretching takes time, and patience.

I bought a pair of 10G captive bead rings and knowing that I should now start using lubricant and a tapered end to stretch, I looked through my knitting needles for the appropriate size. Using Vaseline, I slid the knitting needle in then followed quickly with the rings. Here are some pictures from the adventure.


































A month or so after this stretch I stumbled across Zebrawood Spiral rings at OneTribe.nu and fell in love. As I perused their site I also found a great guide for stretching.
After almost 6 weeks of rest my next round of stretching (to 8G) came after a trip to the mall yielded stainless steel tapered rings in my next two sizes (buying rings for intermediate sizes at LeRoi.com was getting pricey). No pictures from that stretch.

During my annual Christmas trip to Chicago to see my family I noticed that the cold weather was taking a toll on my ears. They were itchy and flaky and dry. I knew that OneTribe carried oils for ear care but I was not quite ready for my zebrawood rings (need to wait for some cash inflow - plus, I'm not there yet gauge-wise) so I decided to look elsewhere. Chameleon Tattoo and Piercing in Boston did not carry any products but a staff member recomended using generic Vitamin E oil from a drugstore. I hit up the Fenway Rite Aid and grabbed a small bottle of Vitemin E (28,000 I.U.) for $5.99. Then I spotted some Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. The ingredients are almond oil, beeswax, lemon oil, cocoa butter, Vitamin E, candelilla wax, sunflower oil, rosemary leaf extract, beta carotene, and vegetable oil (95% natural!). Knowing that all of those components are very good for your skin I snatched it up at $5.99. While I was at REI I went ahead and grabbed some Dr. Bronner's Hemp Lavender Castille Liquid soap for $3.99, just in case it was myuse of bar soap that was drying my ears.

So far I've used the soap and its nice. I've used the Burt's Bees at night, it smells wonderful and seems to soothe my stretchings. I've also used dabs of Vit E when re-inserting my rings, so it would get inside to heal the piercings. So far I'm not a fan of the sticky-ness of the Vit E. I might try and dilute it with some other kind of oil. Maybe Safflower or something else I can get my hands on.

After another week or so of using the Burt's Cream at night I'll see how I feel about going to 6G. It's been 6.5 weeks since the last stretch. I might try to hold out for 8 weeks, just because I dont want to damage my ears. I'll see how antsy I get.

Triumphant return??

I know, grad school has been crazy. Life has been crazy. I've been gone for some time. I am going to TRY to get back to blogging (hence the questionable triumph). I figured I'd start with the 2008 wrap-up, using the same questions as last year.

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?
Visited Europe; went on a vacation by myself; drove a giant moving truck cross-country; killed a cockroach (well ok, many); flew over-seas; started grad-school; switched to an Apple computer - bought a laptop.

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I did fairly well last year. Since this is year is going to be particularly crazy what with graduating from Hopkins, leaving Baltimore and moving to Europe, I have no resolutions this year, other than to savor the calm moments and get plenty of sleep.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Just cousins again.

4. Did anyone close to you die?
Not this year.

5. What countries did you visit?
England, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France!

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?
A significant other.

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
The days I left for and returned from EuroCrazy08. Election day (hooray Barack Obama!)

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Acceptance into and success in grad school.

9. What was your biggest failure?
Medical school rejection, again.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
No "real" injuries thank goodness (there were a couple sprained wrists and ankles from nights of drinking and dancing). Illness - yes. Two head colds, one bought of coughing, a UTI, and food poisoning all during my EuroCrazy08 trip.

11. What was the best thing you bought?
My Gregory backpack and my MacBook.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
The American people.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
The locals in Barcelona. My neighbors in Baltimore. Israel and Palestine.

14. Where did most of your money go?
Rent. EuroCrazy08 Trip. Grad school tuition.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
My trip to Europe! Getting A's at Hopkins. Getting a position at the University of Utrecht Medical School to do my PhD!

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?
Ghosts by Ladytron

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? 
b) thinner or fatter? 
c) richer or poorer?
teensy bit happier, a little thinner, and a LOT poorer

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Sightseeing in Massachusetts.

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Worry about my future, argue with my family.

20. How will you be spending Christmas?
I was in the Illinois with the family.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?
I did. But thanks to bad timing and our lives going in two completely different directions we decided to do the difficult but necessary thing and say goodbye. I think this is the hardest reality of moving to Europe: leaving the people I love.

22. How many one-night stands?
That's personal information thanks.

23. What was your favorite TV program?
Pushing Daisies. CSI. Lost.

24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
No but my family sure is trying hard to make me.

25. What was the best book you read?
Microbe Hunters by Paul deKruif.

26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Ladytron and Apocalyptica.

27. What did you want and get?
Acceptance into grad school. A career path. To prove to myself that not only can I make it at Johns Hopkins, but I can ace it.

28. What did you want and not get?
A certain guy.

29. What was your favorite film of this year?
Tie: Persepolis and Dark Knight.

30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I was 26. It was amazing. I went on the Sam Adams Brewery tour with Anne and Erik and then we met all of my wonderful Boston friends at the Milkyway for candlepin bowling and pool and beer and fun.

31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
To have the vaccine paper accepted somewhere.

32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?
Same as 2007: Wear whatever doesnt make me look like a pudgeball - it involved lots of black.

33. What kept you sane?
My friends!

34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Well wasnt everyone enamored with Barack? Jon Stewart was pretty awesome too.

35. What political issue stirred you the most?
the same one that always does: the Environment and Global Weirding

36. Who did you miss?
Everyone in Boston. Friends in other countries. My Grampa.

37. Who was the best new person you met?
Marty.

38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.
Life is not always bunnies and cupcakes.

39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.
I'm drawing a blank here. But I do have a quote from a little quote book I have that I ripped out and tacked up on my wall (its even here in Baltimore): "Failure is the mother of success."

anniversary

holy crap! i totally missed my Ravelry member anniversary!
what an awesome year!

in other news (b/c i never post just one thing at a time) freaking out about the impending move to baltimore. driving myself in the uhaul down on friday. cross your fingers all goes well. havent done much knitting since returning from europe. hopefully that will change once i get settled in my new apt. also, have a bit of a yarn disaster. found silverfish nymphs in some of my (expensive!) yarn. ugh! froze them at -80 C so hoping that killed the nasty little buggers and their eggs!


more later! well ok, more about everything at some point in the near future. and by near i mean before 2 months has elapsed
(:{

Paris update

so whirlwind rundown: Gent was relaxing and amazing. Brugge was beer and food tastic! Brussels kinda sucked due to a bout of vomiting of unknown origin (food poisening??). and Im now in Paris and its too bad i have to switch hostels today which didnt sound so bad a week ago, but the hostel ive been in for the past 2 days is really nice. its brand new! its the nicest ive been in so far!

the eiffel tour was you know, the eifel tower. but the musee de orsay and the rodin museum were amazing and wonderful, except for all the rude tourists shoving you around just to get a picture of the famous paintings! and they didnt even stop to enjoy the works! they just shoved and took a picture and shoved to move on! rude! did a great walking tour today despite the random rain and crazy town wind that flung sand and dirt everywhere. now i have to get going, have to run off and switch hostels, my new one is in montmartre. i hope its nice too. back to england in only 3 days! cant beleive its all almost over!

Gent - |Brugge update

just got to Brugge. Gent was awesome. just lovely and amazing. not tiem to discuss will tell later. having hell trying to find a place to stay in brussels. ugh. so i may try the couch surfing thing so that i dont have to go all the way back to gent for the one night before i go to paris, cuz that would stink waaay majorly. and i has no grammer today my mind is fried from travelling. oh and maybe its fried from all the beer, jenever, and frites im having. yum yum

Germany Update

Currently in Cologne, Germany visiting Karen, a lovely Aussie chica I met in Barcelona. Took a train to Dusseldorf today - quaint little town next to teh Rhine, north of Cologne. The food and the Alt Beir were amazing! Pork sausage and potato salad - holie molie good stuff. Too bad there wasnt much to do in Dusseldorf, but it was very scenic and quite a nice day. Tomorrow I will explore Cologne and sample many kinds of the local brew, Kolsch. And hopefully find me a nice bottle of reisling! oh and Germany is just a really pretty country too. Kinda odd though it feels like the most "American" out of all Europe so far. Just based off the way the people dress and behave in public and such. But still very european which is nice too.

oh and the Dutch are really not nice people during a soccer match, esp when they lose. I'll be here in Germany for tomorrows game vs Turkey, I really hope they win or i might be a little afraid of riots. Plus, I do so like Germany way better more than Turkey. Except for the eternally confusing rail system here - the Dutch really have everyone beat on that! In Holland its cheaper and easier to navigate and they still manage to be on time and have nice and clean trains.

Leaving for Brussels on thursday. having a bit of trouble with train tickets there and hostel reservations, so keep your fingers crossed it gets worked out. Yeah so not planning everything in advance may have freedom but its also a huge hassle. all the hostels are booked up and its such an aggravation to figure this out on the fly. just in case you were wondering..... although, this random trip to germany and not really being "stuck" anywhere is awesome too. so, everything has plus and minus to it.