SfAA

Vancouver is pretty. It actually has not rained until today, and we arrived 2 (or 3) days ago. It's nice to be where there are no W stickers.
Many people have not showed up to give the papers they are scheduled to give, and that kind of sucks. I went to a panel this morning to see a paper about Palestinian refugees in Syria, and the lady bailed. Dang! Still, it was interesting. Though all the talk of "risk assessment" and "vulnerable populations" seems to suck the humanity out of people. Does anyone remember that these are people who laugh, and have nagging in-laws, and suckie jobs? And, how do we assess risk with people, such as Palestinians, who are resistant to having their suffering broadcast? Not every parent wants their kids teeth measured, or what ever.
Lots of good books too...

Glittery, Fuzzy Thing

I don't know what to call this scarf. I made it a year ago in one day while I was contemplating my fate in graduate school. I was worried because I'd decided to change what I was doing rather late into the program. Such is life.
This scarf is made with almost one skein of Kid Silk Haze and two skeins of that rail road ribbon yarn. It was knit on size 15 needles! Just cast on 20 or so stitches and knit every row with two strands of yarn.

eye-cycle

P.S.
Burrrrr.

La Boheme Scarf

I made this scarf over a year ago. I can't keep up any more. It's made from almost two skeins of La Boheme from Fiesta Yarns. This is their famous and expensive two-strand yarn. One strand is brushed mohair and the other is a rayon boucle. Having wound three skeins of this stuff now I can say that it is a total pain to wind it since the two strands are not attached, but simply plied. It's really beautiful, and I like their colors. I have to say, though, having worn this scarf many times that it's really itchy. I wouldn't wear this against skin, unless you're into the hair shirt thing.
I made this pattern up. I like how this yarn looks when yarn overs and knit-two-togethers are combined to make the stitched tilt. This scarf feels like it weighs a few pounds. It's really warm and pretty. BTW, I think the colorway is "Rusty".

follow up

happy Pi Day

Did I forget to tell you that I shamed the little twits with whom I go to school into having a baby shower for K-D? I gave the blanket to her a few weeks ago, and her own group of "friends" had thus far given her nothing. They marveled over the softness, etc., and then one of them announced that the first years needed to have a shower for her before she goes home. Then, here's the part that pisses me off, one of the aforementioned twits looked at me and said, "We should give her cash instead of gifts since that will be too much for her to move home." Up yours too!
Today they sent out an e-mail announcement, and added in the invite that we should only contribute cash as gifts will take up too much room.
Nice...

i love the internet

Try one here

Shetland Scarf

I finally finished my Shetland scarf. I started this around November 2005. I took it to Jordan with me where I thought I'd finish it. I even brought the second ball of yarn I was so optimistic. In the end, I just carried the extra yarn across the world and back for no reason. I ordered two skeins of Alpaca Cloud in the Peppermint colorway from Knit Picks. I have knitted so much with their lace yarn now that I really believe 1.2 skeins make a perfect scarf. But, this morning I decided that exactly one ball was perfect, and I finished it. This made finishing the scarf much less stressful. Usually when I'm nearing the end of an epic project I start to spazz out from the excitement and I tend to drop stitches, or otherwise mess the thing up. I didn't do that here.
I made the pattern from a book of Shetland patterns I have. I put the edging with the middle, and I decided to knit the edge as I went. I knitted 8 repeats of the edging, turned it on its side, and knitted the body and two edges as I went. This morning I knitted along the top, and grafted my remaining 8 stitches. Since there was nothing to bind off, it blocked really well. I pinned it out about 4 hours ago, and it dried fast despite the fact that it is pouring rain here. I really like this yarn, and the heathery colors add to the texture of the scarf. When I was in Jordan working on this scarf I dropped a bunch of stitches. Usually I'm impatient and I pick up stitches from anywhere until I have enough to continue knitting. This time, I spent an entire day frogging and re-knitting. For once, there are no mistakes in this garment. It was worth it.