Procrastination and Red

For my AP English class that starts in September, I have to read three books over the summer: Night by Elie Wiesel, Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton, and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. I also have to do a "Major Works Data Sheet" on each of them (things about tone and style and foreshadowing and irony and all that- things that require lots of Post-Its sticking out of my books), and I have to write a literary analysis about one of them. At this point, I have read Night and Ethan Frome and have started the Data Sheet on both of them. Since I've been at it for a few hours now, I decided to take a break. (I'm procrastinating, but I still have plenty of time left.) During my break, I naturally turned to my knitting, and I discovered something interesting: All of the projects I'm working on right now contain red. As proof, I present my shawl, my socks (which I plan on restarting sometime soon), and the new bag I've started:

The bag is the Pirate Queen Booty Bag, but I'm not really fond of skulls and crossbones, so I'm using Kody May's Single Rose Chart around the bottom and a chart of the Phantom of the Opera's mask that I designed myself. The yarn is I Love This Wool in Terra Cotta and Black from my local Hobby Lobby.

All red. They're all red. I'm not entirely sure why I'm drawn to red right now, but it certainly is interesting. I think I'll go ponder this some more- while working on my red bag, of course.

Happy knitting!

Gauge (Or, It's My Own Fault)

Seen on every knitting pattern ever written: "TAKE TIME TO CHECK GAUGE." But did I listen?

About two days ago, I was working on the foot of my vampire socks, and I went to try it on (or, as much as you can try on a sock that's only half done). It was a little tight, but I thought, "Maybe that's just because of the cables. It'll be fine when it's done." However, a little voice in the back of my head nagged me that they were too small. So I checked my gauge. You should know that I didn't check gauge before I started. I thought, "Okay, the pattern calls for size 1 needles, so I'll use my size 2s because I knit tightly," and I began knitting. When measuring my gauge a few days ago, I discovered that instead of the 7 1/2 stitches per inch that I was supposed to get, I had about 8 1/4 stitches per inch. This is my sock now:

My mom was absolutely appalled when I showed her, and my younger brother had some protests of his own. But I would rather be sure that the socks fit beforehand (by checking my gauge like I should have!) than find out when I'm done that they don't fit. But, because I'm irritated with myself, I'll be working on my shawl (with isn't as picky about gauge) for a little while.
I'll say it again: It's my own fault.

Until next time, happy knitting!

Trains and Vampires

I realize that trains and vampires don't usually have much to do with each other (unless you have a vampire on a train), but today they do, at least for me. I finished my little brother's double-knit train scarf:

And I've started the My Vampire Boyfriend socks using Patons Kroy Socks FX yarn in Copper Colors:

The cables look much more impressive in person. I've always had a thing for Dracula, but my favorite vamp has to be the movie version of Louis from "Interview with the Vampire."  :)

Happy knitting!

Catching Up

Yay, I figured out how to put my pictures up! Okay, this is the stethoscope cover I made back in the beginning of April:

 This is the lightbulb I made for my older brother's birthday:

This is the double knitted scarf I'm making for my younger brother:

 

It's much longer now, and it includes a tender and two (well, technically one and a half) passenger cars.

And this is the shawl I've been working on:

 

Happy knitting!

Random Tuesday

This is my last week of school, so I've been busy finishing worksheets and projects and review sheets. I heard my younger brother talking about what he's doing this week (all fun things- something about pizza and ice cream) and instantly became jealous. Oh well. I have my knitting to keep me company.

On that note, I've been knitting quite a bit recently. I was working on a shawl knitted with Sensations Boucle yarn (not exactly sure what colorway- it changes from bright red to a deep maroon), but realized that the weather has been far too hot for that. So I've been whipping up a few other things. For example:

*sigh* An image was going to go right here, but my blog is still doing that weird thing where my images come up as random HTML stuff. So I'll just tell you: I made my older brother a lightbulb for his birthday (quite appropriate, considering he's been able to make a circuit since the age of 7).

For my younger brother (also for his birthday, but it's not for a while), I've been making a double-knitted train scarf. I wish the pictures would post, because he picked out Caron Simply Soft in black and Red Heart Kids in Beach, which is a variegated yarn, so it looks really cool with the train in black on one side and in this blue-green mixture on the other.

Hopefully, I'll figure out the picture thing soon so you can see them. Until then, happy knitting! :)