Hidden Lace Socks

You can barely see the start of the very unique heel on these socks
(between the stitch markers). It's part of the six sox kal :)

Summertime...

and the living is easy :)

I've been knitting up a storm the past few weeks!  Unfortunately I haven't been taking pictures, so that will have to wait.  I finished the pink ribbon socks with knitters' brewing, and they're fabulous!

Unfortunately this is quite possibly their least flattering angle.  I plan to do two more pairs before I'm done...one more pink and one silver.

I also finished the orange alpaca shawl and it's WONDERFUL...I can't wait for it to be cooler so I can wear it more often.

I spun up some lovely grey stuff for my mommy

I purposefully made one ply super thick and the other one super thin so it would have a lot of texture.  It's still not as even as I'd like, but I'm making progress.  I've already spun up another bobbin full, so maybe I'll have some more new yarn to show off soon :)

And I started a pair of Hidden Lace socks for the Six Sox KAL.  The legs are almost done, but I don't have a photo :(  They're working up pretty fast.  I'm hoping to have them done before the wedding.

And in preparation for the wedding I'm folding a million (numbers are approximate) origami lilies for bouquets and corsages.  I've been doing origami since I was very little, and I thought it'd be nice to have a bouquet that would last.  I'll have pictures of those for next time too...they're pretty :)

Lastly but definitely not leastly, there's been an addition to our family :)  Meet Gretchen!

She's an absolute sweetheart, and she's very much a mama's girl...she follows me everywhere :)  The cats are adjusting nicely, too.

FO: Sockamania Spring Fling

Remember those super cute little socks I started forever ago?  Well I finally finished them!  And they're still adorable...and I will be making another pair at some point b/c i love them that much...and they use so very little yarn :D

In other news, finals went well.  Pulled straight A's for the first time in grad school!  Wedding plans are mostly on track.  I got my dress, and it's wonderful!  The super talented Elizabeth Normand made it :)  Go look at her etsy store and see what great work she does!  My mom is furiously crocheting beads onto my veil.  I'll post pictures when there's enough to show...should be pretty!!

burning out

i need to write nine more pages before i can be done with finals.  i am unfortunately officially out of things to say on any of my topics...two papers aren't finished...

i'm finding myself compulsively looking at spinning fibers on etsy even though i have several pounds of unspun wool and no time to spin

i promise sanity next time i post

Paper Topics

So I know this is supposed to be a knitting blog, but there's been no visible progress on the knitting...the orange alpaca is larger lovelier and orangeier than it was yesterday, but it's not photo-worthy yet.

In the spirit of developing better blogging habits, however, I've decided to share my final paper topics for the quarter with you since they are what will be dominating my mentality for the next week and a half.

1)  Imagining Paris through the films Code Inconnu, Chats Perchés, and Entre les Murs; discussing particularly the problems of immigrants, miscommunication, and attempting to create change.  I am really excited about this paper.  It's for my film class on European cinema of the past ten years, so everything is very fresh and current.

2)  Analyzing Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha through the lens of the performative and spatial turns.  In this case I'm arguing that the use of space in the novella reflects the stages of ritual present in performative analysis.  This is for my class on cultural turns taught by the inimitable Doris Bachmann-Medick who literally wrote the book on "turns".

3)  Establishing Thomas Mann's Tod in Venedig as world literature, especially considering its incarnations as film (Visconti) and operetta (Britten) by arguing that in each version it portrays intercultural interaction, there are universal themes, and there is exoticism.  This is for a class on defining world literature also taught by Dr. Bachmann-Medick.

Overall I'm really excited to write about and proud of all my topics, but I'm a little worried that I won't have time to do them all justice.  In an ideal world I'd go back and revisit them and rewrite them into articles perhaps for publication, but in the real world if I don't produce something semi-decent before next Thursday I will never pick up any of these ideas again.

So...think of me furiously writing...and if anyone would like to discuss any of the above further/wants more info/clarification let me know and I'd be thrilled to elaborate :)

image overload!

So last time I talked about the square cake purse.  It's still on the needles.  I got halfway through a handle and decided that the design was too brain intensive for the end of the quarter (one week of classes, one week of finals...eek!) so I started something new.

May I present the lovely Alpaca Shoulder Shawl!  (magazine for scale)

it's made of misti alpaca something super bulky (don't have a label handy) in the most fabulous fall orange.  The whole thing is two giant rectangles of moss stitch (easy on the brain), and it'll be ridiculously warm and lovely when it's done.  I got the alpaca on massive sale during the lambikin's incident.  I love it.  I want it to be not-summer so I can wear it ALL THE TIME.

For your visual enjoyment, here's a picture of the partial square cake.  It'll get finished up as soon as exams are over.

Yes, I did pose it on the orange alpaca...I think it makes everything in its vicinity lovelier :)

And this is unfortunately what my second vegas sock still looks like:

I'm carrying it in my purse everywhere as if I'll magically whip it out (without directions) and cast it on in a rare moment of mental clarity.  Oh well...it'll get done one of these days...

As may already be painfully obvious, I'm a grad student (in German Studies, to be precise), and we had a bake sale not long ago.  This is what happens when you leave your phone with other grad students who really really do not want to pretend to care about cupcakes anymore:

As if this post weren't rambling enough, check out this super cute little dude who was sitting outside one of the buildings on campus!  Adorable!

Enough pictures yet?  After the quarter ends I plan to start blogging with a vengeance, so look out world!