like steel in my palms

Here are some socks I knitted! Actually, this is the very first pair of socks I finished. I knitted one sock before I did these, but one of the double pointed needles broke halfway through the second sock, and I never finished.

Also, here are some pictures of the outfit I wore for most of yesterday! As you can see, it's terribly exciting.

I love this shirt a lot, probably more than I should. I stole it from my dad a few years ago, and it's among my very favorite things in my wardrobe; I wear it all the time, and my dad had it for years before I got my hands on it, so it's pretty worn out. Like, it is full of holes and I should probably throw it out, but I just can't bring myself to. I've tried to fix some of the tears, but the faric is worn so thin it's pretty much pointless. Sigh.

Man, I am like so vain, right? You can see things in my room behind me. Weird.

Also, I said "most of yesterday" because I changed before I went to the dentist because there were too many tears in my shirt. Why did I go to the dentist, you ask? To get one of my extra wisdom teeth (I have three beyond the usual 4 wisdom teeth) pulled! Yikes! They gave me nitrous, which was nice. But now my face hurts.

Old old shirt, AA leggings

A song I've never ever heard is stuck in my head.

I made some cool scarves, and then I took pictures so I can sell them on etsy.
For a while now I've been at a loss as to where in my house I can take pictures like this. Our house is full of stuff; there aren't blank walls anywhere. I've taken to going outside for photographs, but I didn't really want bright green foliage in the background of photos of winter scarves. Today I walked into the front hall, and realized it was the perfect place for a photo shoot. It has great light and the furniture is cute and old looking, plus the full length mirrors on the closet doors make for a great background.
Anyway, this is one of the scarves I took pictures of today, it should be up on etsy soon-ish.

Zara dress, Joe Fresh cardigan, some tights, handmade scarf

All systems are go!

I've been knitting up a storm the last few days (when I should have been packing). I literally knitted until my fingers were sore; one of them is even kind of swollen. But look at what I have to show for it! I finally have stuff up in my etsy store! So go check it out! I only have 7 things in there so far, but I have more I'll be putting up in the next few days, so look out!

It's a tricky tricky, this little one two

Whoah dudes (or, more accurately, dudettes) look what I did today! I had an exam at 10 this morning (or, uh, yesterday I guess, technically) and it only took half an hour to do, so I sort of had nothing to do the rest of the day, so I knitted stuff.  I actually should have been packing, but that's totally lame, so I didn't. 

That's six, count 'em, SIX mighty fine bracelets there, wouldn't you say? I also made 1 1/2 necklaces, one of which (the 1/2 one) is not even in the style of a braid! 

Also of note is the fact that the yellow bracelet seen above is made with yarn that I hand dyed with turmeric. The yarn it's made from was dyed a few months ago, and I used up the last of it on that one, but today I dyed more! It's sort of a lot of work, but it's worth it for the gorgeous colour it gives you. 

After my exam tomorrow morning, I plan on taking some more pictures, and actually putting stuff up on etsy! Whoah man!

Unrelated to the above: 

1. It turns out that Zac Efron is a huge nerd. I saw it today on much music. They were asking him all these nerd questions, and he knew the answer to every single one!
2. Everyone in the whole entire world should probably start listening to Röyksopp, if they don't already. Especially their newest album, Junior. I am seriously addicted and I don't want to stop.
3. I watched three episodes of The Hills today, and I feel so dirty. The first two were in the afternoon when there was nothing else on, but then I watched the new episode tonight, and the aftershow. What's wrong with me? I seriously thought I was over this stage of my life.

I'm from the future

I was just cleaning out some files/folders and I found this most excellent picture that I saved from who knows where absolutely ages ago. In general, this means that I wanted to blog about it (yes, I am aware that is probably the douchiest phrase in any language). So here we are!

I believe that my thoughts upon first seeing this picture were "Oh lord, where do I find that hat, or no, could I make that myself? How long would it take?" Obviously, I was smitten. Regardless of the fact that it looks like it's probably the most uncomfortable hat ever, I would rock that thing until the end of days. It's so next level it kind of hurst my head to think about it (ok, not really).

I'm pretty sure I still have loads of legos in my basement somewhere, or maybe at my cabin, so if anyone feels like taking the time out of their day(s) to build me this most excellent hat, I would totally owe you one. Or maybe more like ten. I don't know.

But really, think about it. It would be awesome.

Oh baby oh baby

So today I finally got around to making a facebook group for my knitwear line (I know! How pretentious am I?) Nanuq Handknits. I think you should note that I chose the name because it sounds really cozy and nice, and that's how I feel about knitwear. I also found out that Nanuq is actually the correct spelling of the name, at least according to some name origins/meanings website I found. So there's that. I'll also be putting stuff up on Etsy sometime in the fairly near future. I don't want to bother with the scarves, since winter is almost over, so I'll be whipping up some other stuff before I do that. Maybe some hats! You'll see. 

Hopefully this means people will buy tons of crap* off me and I'll be rolling in dough and I'll be able to buy lots of shoes! I need a couple new skirts way more than I need new shoes, but you know me! 

Also, if your name happens to be Bekki: I hate you forever and I never want to talk to you again (jokes). What I meant to say is WATCH OUT inside your mailbox. Or something. I don't know.

*I am in no way referring to the quality here. Everything is THE BEST quality ever, fyi.

It's reading week, but I aint reading

This is more of what I've been up to:

Far more of the former than the latter, unfortunately (fortunately for my liver, though, I suppose). I have a few things cooking in the knitting-related realm, but I don't want to go into super detail lest I jinx/get ahead of myself. I have a bunch more stuff I really want to get finished before I go back to school on monday, so my fingers are crossed. 

My plans for the next few days include:

1. Helping my little sister henna her hair
2. Buying new jeans (all of mine that I like have holes in them)
3. Stopping by my favorite yarn store to buy the most amazing yarn ever, Soft Chunky from Twinkle (sooo soft) for the most amazing sweater I have in mind.
4. Finishing Chels's vest
5. Knitting up a storm!
6. HOMEWORK!

Plus some other more secretive things, especially Nanuq!

SWEATER

I was extreme amounts of excited the other day when I finally finished my sweater, until I tried it on. I knew it was going to be bigger than I had wanted, but I was still rather surprised when I put it on...

I'm not really sure what exactly happened, since I took the pattern for another sweater I'd made in the same yarn and added about 10 stitches to it, but it's really just gigantic, and I don't really want to re-do it, since it took a lot of time. Perhaps I'll like it better if I shorten the sleeves a bit? That would be the easiest thing to do.
See? It's about the size for the biggest person in the world. But maybe I'll like it better if I wear it out? If other people like it I might feel a little better. Regardless, I won't be re-doing it for a while if I decide to, it was a little stressful to knit!
What can you do?

Commencing countdown, engines on.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Intarsia, could you please be more confusing?

Actually, intarsia isn't exactly hard, just messy, since you have to attach a new bobbin (not the word I was looking for, but it'll do) for every colour section, so they do get a little tangled. I'm having a few second thoughts now that I've actually started the sweater. The only intarsia I did before this was a hat with little hearts on it. I've done more than sufficient research (I even learnt how to do faire isle knitting!) so I do feel I'm prepared, but I'm still nervous about the results. I also can't help but think that I should have tried something a little bit simpler first.

Oh Rodarte

I've really been loving Rodarte's F/W 08/09 collection lately, especially the deliciously deconstructed and destroyed knits. And the shoes, obviously. The shoes are absolutely amazing.

But more about the knits. On first sight they look rather simple, but upon closer examination they are surprisingly intricate. 

I think the stockings (tights? hose? I'm not sure what to call them) are probably the most wearable/accessible, and simple. When I finally get down to Michael's I'll have to pick up some thin mohair-esque yarn and large gauge circular or double-pointed needles, and I should be able to whip these up in no time flat. Just drop a stitch here, add a couple there...

And they'll even give me a reason to wear my garters (there's no way I'm doing anything so much as resembling a waistband) woo-hoo, double goodness!

This is what I've been up to...

I guess I've been very INSPIRED (or whatever) lately, but some of that may have to do with switching into homework avoidance mode. Anyway, I designed some pretty sweet-ass sweaters I'm planning on knitting the near(ish) future. I may even do it up like a proper collection and show it at this fashion show dealie-o that's coming up sometime this semester, but considering how I normally do things (read: I don't) that might not actually happen. Of course, this would all be easier if I was in possession of a knitting machine. 

I'm planning on doing the sweaters directly below in one of my favorite ultra chunky yarns, so they should work up fairly quickly. I've actually already charted out the sweater with the big chains in the bottom left of this page, and knitted a sample with yarn I already had to make sure the proportions were right (they are!) I actually had to chart it out a second time and do another sample, since the proportions in the first one were terrible and it just looked all wrong. Thank god the second one is good, though. Charting is a terribly boring annoying process. After I've finished with that sweater, I think the next one I'll do is the diamond ring.

Or, of course, I could move on to these ice cream inspired sweaters. I'm thinking of doing these in a medium-weight cotton so they're a bit more summery, but that depends on how lazy I'm feeling when I do them. I'm also considering dyeing the yarn myself, since I'm not sure I'll be able to find the right colours to make them truly ice cream-like. I did write the flavours in, but I'm wondering if they're obvious enough that someone could actually guess them. 
I made an ice cream cone necklace just like that one last semester, so maybe drawing it in is cheating a little bit. I've really been doing cupcake and ice cream necklaces for a few years now, just because they're so cute. 
Please tell me what you think of these! If they go over well I may actually sell them (hopefully) but I guess they would have to be fairly expensive to cover my time. 

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road (AKA 2008)

The year will be over in just under two hours, and since I'm way tired and don't feel like going out, I'm lying on the couch in my basement watching Veronica Mars on DVD and thinking about new years resolutions. Not the gonna-eat-better-lose-a-thousand-pounds variety, however (NOT that there's anything wrong with that). I'm thinking a little more in the fashion realm, for the most part. And obvs you wanna hear all about it!

I Resolve To:

1. Be More Adventurous. I don't mean just in the way I dress, though that is a big part of it, but also in the way that I act. I tend to be somewhat of a recluse (read: total hermit) and I think it's time to do something about that!

2. Take Outfit Pictures Every Day. This will be made far easier if I am, in fact, allowed to take the family tripod back to school like my mother implied I would when I said I wanted a tripod for Christmas. Even if I don't end up posting all of them (which I probs won't), I think it would be interesting just to have a visual log of my style and how it develops.

3. Be A Better Blogger! Obvs this is very important, since I am currently a totally suck-ass blogger. I really want to get to the point where a day without blogging is like a day without...um, cheese? I don't know. You get the idea.

4. Only Buy Clothes/Shoes I Will Actually Wear. I don't do this as often as I used to, but it's still a bit of an issue, especially with shoes. I think my main problem is buying things for the person I want to be, rather than the person I am. OR I buy shoes with 5" heels and no platform that kill my feet after about twelve seconds. You know how that is.

5. Knit/Crochet More. And not just from patterns! My real goal here is to get good enough to do something at least somewhat innovative, and everyone knows that practice makes perfect! (Or, as Michelle Duggar says, "Practice makes progress") Also of note here is that I'm not just talking scarves, and I'm not just going to use super-chunky weight yarn. I recently tried doing lace and I really like it!

6. Eat Better Lose A Thousand Pounds. DUH!!!

So happy New Year everybody (aka the like, three people that read this) and I hope 2009 treats you (and me) very well! 

In with the old, out with the new! Or...wait. Scratch that, reverse it. (I actually did type that before realizing it was wrong, and decided it was an excellent opportunity for a Willy Wonka/Ultimate-love Gene Wilder reference).

Classes Are Over, So...

I (obviously) have neglected posting lately, especially when it comes to actual outfit posts. But that is only because I have been a busy busy bee lately. Some of that is school, as I've had quite a few end of term projects to do lately, but a lot of it is also Christmas preparations and the like. I find my family is mostly rather hard to buy for but I have actually managed to finish up (basically) already! I've also been watching christmas movies pretty much every night with my roommates, like last night we watched home alone 2, and tonight i think we're watching Polar Express in 3D!

This is my LAST DAY OF CLASSES outfit, though actually I only had one class and it ended up being cut short, since my teacher had an emergency and had to leave right away. I pretty much based the outfit around my necklace, which I knitted over the weekend. I also wore my brown boots, but it would be too much work to get them into the picture.
This is a close up of the necklace I made. It's just one big cable (like you might see on sweaters) and looks like a braid. It is important to note, however, that it is one piece, not three actually braided together. I really really like it.

In regards to knitting, I've been doing quite a lot of it lately. In the last few weeks, I've made that necklace, a sweater (though it isn't assembled yet), as well as several very fantastic scarves. I'll likely post pictures of my handiwork after the holidays, as some of the scarves I've made/am making are gifts, and I don't want to give the surprise away!