A Blanket for Your Trouble

So, my RA is a pretty nifty chick named Courtney. She is the RA for both my floor (6th) and the 5th floor. Although she lives on the floor below, due to the amount of crap that goes on in the 6th floor, she is often upstairs for a visit. Granted none of the girls involved in this project have been apart of any of the problems she has had to deal with, but we still feel like she is the only thing that keeps peace among some of the girls in our little tower. We decided that it would be lovely thing to make her something for Christmas that would express our gratitude for maintaining order. In order to accomplish this feat, my little knitting group (aka five other girls living on my floor) decided it would be a cool idea to knit a blanket for her. We would each do two squares at 1'x1' and then patch them all together to make a really nifty piece that we all made together. We also decided that there would be no set pattern or color scheme. The only stipulation was that we would all use a worsted weight and most chose to go with Caron Simply Soft. I myself chose this brand in Soft Green and Iris. 

  While everyone else eagerly sought out the niftier stitch patterns, it occurred to me through a conversation with my floormate and fellow knitter Lauren that it would be really cool to have two squares with the letters R and A each on a square. Since I have had the most years knitting, it fell to me to accomplish this part. I waited until I got home to start, and it is a rather crazy experience. Considering I lack graph paper and the patience to draw up a pattern, I am creating the "R" square purely on instinct and prayer. As you can see by the picture, it looks a little wonky, but I am not daunted. I merely chalk it up to the point in the process in which I am currently working. It is the, "middle, but not really where every choice that does not function with the first part looks like crap" part of the process. Let's hope Kp can pull this nonsense through with the Help of a certain Lord and Savior else this is going to be a very sad looking "R" indded.

Let It Snow!

I'm ready if it does! I wanted a nice white hat with snowflakes on it to keep me warm between classes in the occasional Massachusetts blizzard. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a nice snowflake pattern that used only one color...so I made my own! I quite enjoy it. On the off chance that you will, I have also included the (painfully easy) pattern.

Snowy Hat

Materials:

-120ish yards of worsted weight yarn (I used less than one skein of Cascade 220 wool)

-1 set size 6 US and size 8 US circular needles 

-3 stitch markers (preferably one different than the others)

-Tapestry needle to weave in the ends

Gauge:

Meh. I don't do gauge. I have a small head. If your head is larger and you are concerned about this, add more stitches between the charted stitches, or more above and below the snowflakes.

Chart:

Hopefully self-explanatory. Knit the white boxes, purl the grey ones.

Pattern:

CO 80 sts.

Join for working in the round, and place different marker to mark beginning.

Rnd 1-10: [K2, p2] to end of rnd.

Rnd 11-15: K to end of rnd.

Rnd 16: Set-up round. K 9, place marker, k 40, place marker, k 31.

Rnd 17-47: K to marker, sl marker, follow the chart for 31 sts, k to marker, sl marker, follow the chart for 31 sts again.

Do this until the snowflake is done. Yay, it's pretty.

Rnd 48: K to end of rnd.

Rnd 49: [K8, k2tog] to end of rnd.

Rnd 50: K to end of rnd.

Rnd 51: [K7, k2tog] to end of rnd.

Rnd 52: K to end of rnd.

Continue in this fashion, knitting one less before decreasing each time until 16 sts remain. 

Last rnd: [K2tog] to end of rnd. 

Finishing:

Break yarn, leaving an 8" tail. Draw through remaining sts and pill tight. Weave in ends.

There, I think that makes sense.

Hampshire Socks

I love them.They are beautiful and off-beat and so delightfully Hampshire.
I bought the yarn (Zitron Trekking XXL) right after I applied to Hampshire, and have only now had the pleasure of knitting these small pieces of hippie heaven up. Hopefully they will keep me warm when we conserve energy by keeping the heat low.
Even Nate likes them.

But I love them. I'm even wearing them right now.

Why Bother?

Right now, I am sustainably happy--that is, I am continually finding myself smiling, sighing with joy, loving life, and feeling accomplished. I'm somewhat ahead on my school work...that's fleeting, but a fun fact nonetheless. I'm making real friends, and establishing real relationships with professors and staff here at Hampshire. I'm contributing to class discussions, and not afraid to voice my opinion. In all these complex classes I'm taking, I'm not only learning how to understand their deep ontological meanings, but also my own; I'm finally starting to understand myself, and how I fit into the world that I'm learning about.

Great. I'm in a bubble of free-thinking isolation. I'm happy...but mostly because I haven't really ventured outside it much. We had this huge celebration when Obama was elected, and it seemed a little appropriate. Someone described it, pretty accurately, the next day in the dining hall: "It was like having cancer for a really long time, and finding out that a new treatment might kind of be working." Well, we really need to start that treatment, because the world outside Hampshire is having some hideous side effects to whatever it's on now. 

The economy! Good God, we acknowledged the problems two months ago here and moved on, but they sure as hell exist, and are only getting worse. My parents are college educated, hard working people. They are both at risk of losing their jobs, because their companies aren't receiving enough profit to pay their employees. What will happen in four years? Growing up, a college education meant a guaranteed paying job after graduation, and only those without an education risked working minimum wage. My parents, a lot of people's parents, a lot of PEOPLE in the work force are college educated and beyond. And they are losing their jobs. I'm happy now, but I gotta ask--if I'm no longer promised a career for an education, why bother?

Ohh, to make this about knitting, yes--I am knitting a LOVELY pair of socks (Slippery from Knitty, Winter 2007) with some delectable yarn that I have been dying to knit up since before I was even accepted to Hampshire College. I am knitting them in class, and people oggle. I love them. I might actually finish them, too.

Also, many, many hats...but more on that later.

A Cowl to Soothe a Worn out Soul

My mind is tired. My heart is tired. I am generally feeling raw and slightly bedraggled. Still, I am not all at a loss. Yesterday, I experienced losing something that I never really had in the first place. I allowed myself to wallow in the loss for a time, but then a strange notion occurred to me, "I have been doing way too much cerebral knitting and my psyche needs some instant gratification." Remembering the gorgeous malbrygio that was currently being used for an unsuccessful pair of mits, as well as an excellent pattern for a cowl (Caterpillar cowl by Anushka Tay/free pattern available on her blog) that I had only done once before, I knew exactly how to work myself through. You see, the something I lost was basically a relationship that could not go forward. Sometimes, when one can't go forward, one returns to a point of success in order to remind oneself that they are capable of surviving anything. My last cowl was beautiful. Granted it is attached to a tank top, but it was still a success in itself. I needed a straight knit. No patterns, no thinking, no complications, in the round, and good for amazing variegation. I finished it in one night. By the time it was finished, my soul was well, and I had let the "what if's " and "if onlys" float from my heart like ash caught in the breeze. It is well, and my neck is very snuggly.