Natalie Knits

Facelift

2008-04-29T02:29:36Z

Last weekend when my parents were visiting, my mom commented on how changing the fabric on the dining room chairs could make a big difference in the room. So last weekend Molly and I went on an adventure to JoAnns, and found some bright and cheery fabric that matches the curtains (red) and the placetmats (green) without looking Christmas-y. Before: And After! It only took about 13 dollars and 30 minutes. A pretty good payoff for a little bit of time and money!

Simon!

2008-04-27T14:54:21Z

Well, I haven't been very good about keeping up with posting my projects, and I have quite a backlog of things I need to post, but I'll get to them soon. We've had a new project this week, one that has been taking up most of my time: Meet Simon! He's a mutt, and we know his mom was a wirehaired daschund, but we don't know about that dad. Obviously he looks a lot like a black lab, but we don't know if there is anything else mixed in. We also don't know how big he'll get, but he has been very well behaved, and is losing baby teeth :) He was very sleepy and shy the first few days, but now he's as playful as can be. We love going to the park to run around and play. We have been waiting for years to get a dog-- it took a while for all the elements to line up, but now that we have Simon we couldn't be happier.

The good and the bad

2008-04-05T04:20:16Z

This has been a week of highs and lows. All week we had been planning to go meet (and hopefully adopt) a puppy, but yesterday we found out one of her littermates had come down with the parvo virus-- pretty serious for dogs, and not a good sign about the shelter she was at. So it's been hard, but we've had to let go of that puppy. Luckily there are lots of other puppies around to go and meet, and we have plans to go meet some tomorrow. I also found out this week that I got a fellowship from the National Science Foundation (as did my friend Melissa-- yay! congrats!), which I am very psyched about. It's a pretty good deal-- 3 continuous years of funding, which should take me through the end of this degree (fingers crossed)! It also should keep me adequately supplied with yarn and clay, 2 things I don't think I could live without :) Last, this semester I have been taking a pottery class in town, and it has been my savior! My parents gave me the class and all supplies as my Christmas gift, and I think it is by far the best gift I've gotten. I love going into the studio and really getting my hands dirty and making some cool stuff. This week I had two pieces come out more beautifully than I could have hoped-- a large bowl and pitcher, glazed blue and white. I love the combo of glazes so much I'm sure it'll be a repeat, and I had a lot of compliments about it last time I was in to work on stuff. I'll have pictures tomorrow.

Time flies

2008-02-13T01:18:33Z

Oh my, I had definitely thought I'd have more of my projects blogged by now. I also donn't think it should be the middle of February already! I do have quite the backlog to blog about-- Christmas presents, and then some. I'll do my best to get to them soon! Lately work has been taking up most of my time, which I am generally not too happy with. I love the work I am doing, but I don't love when I am so exhausted I can't even knit in the evening, and don't have time to think about other things. But knitting is so important to me that I need to find time to balance. So, a couple of things for today. First, if you get a chance you should check out Lolly's blog-- she had an article in Interweave Knits that just came out. So exciting! Also, I have been meaning to make J his earflap hat since the holidays. It was supposed to be a present, and given all the snow and cold days we've had in Michigan lately, I think he could really use it! The problem is, while I could imagine what the hat should look like, I couldn't quite figure out how to put the image in my head into something on the needles. That is, until I saw the hat over at brooklyntweed, and the oh-so-helpful link to the pattern. So I think I know what will be next on my list to knit. And last, for the most recent FO: over the holidays my aunt showed me a beautiful new gray peacoat she had just found, and requested a red and gray scarf to match (or as a buckeye fan, I'd call it "scarlet and gray"). I thought I'd surprise her and send it along in time for Valentines day. So I put it in the mail today in the hopes it would reach her in time, though I suppose that matters less than that I sent it at all. Without further ado, here it is: Pattern: My So-Called Scarf (reminiscent of one of my fave shows) Yarn: 3 skeins of Pattons Rumor in colorway spanish heather Needles: Bamboo, size 10, short needles Started: January 28 Finished: February 10 Notes: The scarf knits up very dense, and used more yarn than I had anticipated. I followed the pattern to a T, meaning I cast on 30 stitches as called for, even though I tend not to follow the prescribed sizes. It was very fun to knit once I got into the rythym of the pattern, though it took a lot longer than other scarves I've made. I'd sit and work for a whole evening and only have gained about 10-12 inches. I am very happy with the finished object, though, and think it was well worth the time.

Silent Poetry

2008-02-03T04:59:03Z

Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening Robert Frost Whose woods these are I think I know. His house is in the village though; He will not see me stopping here To watch his woods fill up with snow. My little horse must think it queer To stop without a farmhouse near Between the woods and frozen lake The darkest evening of the year. He gives his harness bells a shake To ask if there is some mistake. The only other sound's the sweep Of easy wind and downy flake. The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.

Coolest thing ever

2008-01-12T04:31:34Z

Ok, so that might be a little bit of an exaggeration. But the other day my sister sent me an invite to join the website shelfari, where you can keep a log of the books you've read and want to read, and can be friends with others and see what they're reading. It is amazing. I am always looking for the next great book to read, and lately I've been on such a reading kick that it seems like a great way to find new books and track what I've read. And it's so easy to use! And they give you a virtual shelf, and place copies of your books on the shelf. I also discovered how to post it to my blog-- on the right hand side is the widget that allows me to show some of my favorite books. I love it when this stuff works! Anyway, everyone should go and join, and if anyone visiting my blog has a book they could recommend, I would love to hear about it!

Rug Love

2008-01-11T03:04:34Z

Oh, so much to post about, and so little time to post. I made SO MANY presents for the holidays, and haven't blogged about one! The more projects I made, the more intimidating it bacame to photograph and describe them. I need to be better about this-- I get so excited about a project and want to share, but instead of blogging about it, I work on it, and when it's done I am ready to move on. My solution: just do one at a time. And hopefully I'll get them all on here soon! For my little sis, I made a rug for her room: I used left over fabric and recycled clothes that I cut into strips. I would knot the ends together and I liked the effect of the knots. I also was originally going for the "mitered square" look and was going to make larger squares and join them together, but I didn't want to follow the official Mason-Dixon knitting pattern, so I played around with the number of stitches and decreases, and came out with triangle shapes that fit together either in larger triangles or in a circle. After lots of rearranging, I decided to go with the circle-- it's only about 3 or 3.5 feet in diameter, but it's the perfect size for a little rug. And I can always make a bigger, square rug for the rest of the room! ** If you do choose to do a project such as this one with recycled materials, beware that everyone will soon be handing you clothes as they clean out their closets! It's a nice challenge, though, to try and figure out how to re-use and reclaim the materials, especially if they can be returned to the owner in a new format!**

O-H!

2007-11-18T01:28:38Z

Today was a lovely day for a football game in Ann Arbor. Gray, with a lovely rain/snow mix, and cold... not so bad at first, but after 4 hours, brrr! Luckily, it was totally worth it :) I sometimes feel a little out of place living in Ann Arbor. It's such a great place to live, and I love the university, but everytime I see that maize and blue or hear a few bars of "Hail to the Victors" my skin crawls a bit. Having gone to Ohio State as an undergrad, I have love for the buckeyes that transcends place and time; Yes, it is nice that the U of M is basically paying for me to get a Ph.D., and I am happy in just about every other way here. But I never heistate about which football team I claim as my own. The Bucks won, 14-3, and there were so many Ohio State fans in the big house! Enough people to have the O-H-I-O cheer go around the stadium audibly-- something I never thought I'd see!! This win was big for us, it means we are outright big ten champs for the second year in a row, and we are guaranteed a trip to the rose bowl. The only way we wouldn't be headed to Pasadena on January 1st is if the stars were to align (as my dad put it, in this solar system and the next one over!) the Bucks could jump back up to the number 2 spot and head to the national championship game. I don't want to look too forward ahead, but this is pretty exciting, and I can't wait to see how things unfold. Today was also nice because my dad was able to come up for the game. We love watching good football together, and this has to be one of the best games we've been to.

Soft as a baby's bottom

2007-11-06T23:57:15Z

Today I had lunch with my friend Melissa. It was so good to catch up, even if just for a few minutes-- I am really hoping we find time to knit next semester when we both have a break from teaching (and have things like prelims to worry about instead...). As I've been feeling, good friends are hard to come by, and good knitter friends are even more rare!! So, a few weeks ago when school and teaching were feeling slightly overwhelming and I was feeling blue, I found that my LYS had malabrigo on sale, and I couldn't resist. It had been quite a while since I had bought yarn-- I find that having time to knit usually means I have more need for yarn, so no knitting = no new yarn. But I am missing my knit-time, and I needed something luscious to get me back on track. And there it was-- red and purple malabrigo chunky, enough skeins to make the drops caridgan I've had my eye on for a while, ever since I saw it over at Flint Knits... and then found myself revisiting her blog just to look rather frequently. I also began to search on ravelry for other drops cardigans, to see how much success everyone was having. I determined I might need to do a bit of knitty math before I was sure I'd get it right, but I measured. And calculated. And swatched. Twice. And finally I cast on! Malabrigo chunky is so amazing to work with-- so so soft (as I mentioned to my friend Molly, you can even put it right on your face!) and it goes fast. So my 2 pathetic afternoons of knitting in the last month have amounted to the back of my sweater almost being complete. Woo-hoo! At this rate I might have something new to wear by thanksgiving...

Fall has fallen

2007-11-04T23:47:49Z

Today J and I went to the Haehnle Audubon preserve to take a walk and slow down a bit. Though every time I hear the word Audubon (as in birds) I think of the Autobahn (as in fast cars). Oh well-- there were few cars in the woods, and I was appreciate of that. There were these pods that looked almost honey-combed inside, and as if they had been knitted. The light was incredible, and there were a few times I was feeling like I was walking through a dream. Being so far out away from the city and the noise and people just feels so different-- the slience is calming, and it makes me remember that fall can have a warm side.

Friends?

2007-11-03T05:05:50Z

I'm having a bit of trouble lately sorting out how I feel about friends-- namely letting go of friendships that just aren't working. I am having trouble finding connections with a person, and I'm afraid I've been putting too much energy into trying to keep this relationships alive. I'm left at the point where I feel more alone when I'm with this person than when I am by myself... that is a bad sign! But for some reason, I'm finding it hard to not care, or to let go of my feelings about these people. When do you know a friendship is over? On the other hand, I am finding that knitting, and crafting more generally, has been a good source of connection. A couple of my best friends and I have crafting in common, and it has been a bond that has sustained and nourished our friendships. And when I take time to sit and knit and sort through my feelings, things don't feel quite so bad or alone. I always have my knitting, and myself. Sometimes that's all I need!

Ravelry!!!!!!!

2007-10-15T04:48:02Z

Ok, so much to say it isn't funny. Sorry for the long "break"-- not so much a break on my end of things, and little knitting being done to date, though I have had a breakthrough-- almost done with the final sleeve of Kenobi. Will post soon! But, at the moment, all I have to say is WOW because I just got my invite to ravelry... and honestly, I hadn't looked at it yet, and I know everyone in knit-blog-land is head over heels for it, but I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. Good thing I'm on fall "break" (yeah, need to catch up on a lot of things in my 2 days "off"), though ravelry just shot to the top of my list. I had been wondering why I decided to start this blog (along with why I am STILL in school, but that's another story), but seeing all the wonderfulness on ravelry, and the possibility to learn and connect to other knitters is a good reminder. I'll be back soon!!

Missing San Francisco

2007-09-07T01:36:28Z

Well, things are back in full swing. I can't believe how busy this week has been. I have been spending most of my time at school, and I was so relieved to get home tonight and to have a chance to knit(!). I also have been itching to spin more, so I am hoping to carve out a little time this weekend to do so. I know I have a lot ahead of me this year, but I am excited to face the challenges, and I'm hoping that I make it through and come out ahead! I am missing San Francisco quite a bit. This vacation has lingered in my mind, which helps :) I close my eyes and can picture the bay, and the fog, and the bridges, and the sunshine.

Dogs and Babies

2007-09-03T14:57:43Z

So much to share, so little time... I still have to post some pics from San Francisco (my new favorite place in the world... I still feel like I'm there when I close my eyes!). And I've been working away on the Kenobi. A couple of sleeves, some blocking and seaming, and it'll be done! School starts tomorrow. And I'm excited, and nervous about how I'll manage my time. I am teaching (Intro to personality psychology), which will be very cool, and taking two classes. I am still trying to launch my data collection, and I hope that goes well! Some of the stuff is out of my hands, so I am trying to have a more zen approach to the process, and not worry (or think, for that matter) about it too much. So that's that. Last week I found a dog that I thought I wanted to adopt-- a really adorable retriver mix, who looked very sweet. Turns out he's not the right dog for us-- I exchanged some lengthy emails with its foster mom to figure it out, and I was pretty disappointed that it didn't work out. But the good that came out of the situation is that it pushed me to ask our landlords more seriously about the possibility of having a dog, and they agreed to it, so now when we DO find the right dog, we can just bring it on home. I was so happy to hear this, because I am such a dog person it isn't funny. My mom used to say that if we passed a mom walking with a dog and a baby in a stroller, everyone else would say "aww, look at the baby!" and I'd be the one saying "aww, look at the dog!" It's true, what can I say. I'm definitely not ready for kids anytime soon, but I have been thinking about getting a dog for years. In the spring I'll be done with my coursework, my prelim exams, and should be wrapping up this big research project, so we'll be thinking about it seriously then. And just the thought of getting our puppy keeps me going! In other news, it seems like baby season! My advisor from my master's program just had her baby boy (Samuel) last week, and today Cara made her big announcement on her blog. There is something about it that just makes me feel so happy for them in a complete and total way. Such exciting news, I hope everything is going smoothly for both of them! Ok, so next post will be less talk, more picutres. Promise!

sweater love

2007-08-16T02:56:55Z

Ok, so I've realized my problem. I think I'm not meant to knit anything but sweaters. Anything else is ok for a little while, but it's not holding my attention like a sweater. I took a bit of a hiatus from knitting (life has been a little imbalanced lately, too much work and not enough knitting (and everything else)), but recently I picked up my cotton yarn and started on a log cabin square for a blanket I have planned in my mind (and own all the yarn for). Good motivation, right? But all I got was one lousy square. And no, I don't mean a log cabin square, I mean one little square-- 20 stitches, 24 rows... then nothing. But I realized it's not that something is wrong with me, or my knitting-- it just isn't the right project at the moment. It's because I've fallen head first in love with sweaters. Lucky thing I live in a cold part of the midwest, even though it doesn't feel that way at the moment! But we'll have our 8 months of winter soon enough, and my sweater love will feel justified, even necessary. I picked up the left front of kenobi, which had been untouched for a long while, and within the course of 2 days finished it and started on the next piece. My real motivation for working through kenobi (other than it's been a pleasure to knit!) is the slew of amazing sweaters in the latest IK. I couldn't believe it when I saw the patterns, I feel the need to make them NOW. So hopefully within the next month or so I'll have some serious finished objects-- even if it is just the kenobi with some other works in progress.

J and I are off to San Francisco tomorrow morning. I'm very excited for this trip, though I will feel more at ease once my conference presentation is through! We are planning a few fun activites, and lots of R & R (or R & K, for me). I'll be taking the trusty laptop along, so I'll try to post some pictures as we go!