Where did the day go?

I just wasted a whole day on Ravelry, oops. And I still only managed to fill in my stash (sans pictures) and needles. I haven't even touched the projects section yet. Did join some groups, wheeee! I'm so happy that there are hockey and Yankees fans that knit! Unfortunately, I have work to do and an exam to study for, so I probably won't be able to play with it much any time soon. But this is like OCD knitter's heaven!

In the meantime, here is my completed X's and O's scarf! Though it's more about random striping than XO's anymore. You can sorta tell that there are X's and O's in there... sorta... Nevertheless, here it is:





Next will be the new scarf I made this weekend! There's a little story to go along with it and everything. Hopefully I'll actually have time to post but my schedule is getting kinda hectic... It may be a while.

Ravelry

I finally got into Ravelry! Woo hoo!!! I sound like I just got accepted to my dream school or something, haha. Won't be able to play with it until Monday, but I'm all set up now. My user name is cal236. Add me as a friend!

Mad skillz--or not...

My knitting skills were put to the test this morning. Here's how the scenario unfolded...

Knitting away on the train.
Precariously balanced coffee cup on the seat next to me.
Sudden influx of people at popular stop.
Nowhere to put my coffee!
Holding coffee in my hand, looking at knitting.
Coffee yarn coffee yarn coffee yarn coffee--Coffee and yarn!

So yeah, I managed to do 2 rows--one purl then one knit--before I finished my coffee and my hand started cramping up. (Btw, it's a lot easier to knit like that than purl.) I've concluded that while it is possible to do, it is slow-going and could possibly accelerate carpel tunnel syndrome. But, you know, I can do it! Hurrah.



Then when I got to the office, as if the knitting gods wanted to remind me that I am still a spazz at heart, this happened...

"Hmm, why is there yarn on me? Coming from my bag..."


"Hey, there's a trail on the floor!"


"Still going..."


"Oh my!"

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Upcoming projects:
-another knit (birthday) cactus
-armwarmers for G
-amigurumi kitty (once I can find eyes for the little guy)
-Juno! (assuming I have the patience for it and can find the pattern)
-Farmyard Frolics

Marked Progress

4 1/2 days of knitting later and voila! 2/3 of a scarf! (Don't mind the weird curled edges. I'm hoping that'll disappear after some blocking.) Halfway to this point I stated wondering why my knitting was starting to feel so heavy. Then I looked down and realized I had a good chunk of scarf on my needles. Bulky yarn rocks!!

X's and O's

Sometimes simpler is better. I wanted something more interesting than the same-old stockinette for my uber-soft Lion Brand cotton, but wasn't happy with the result. Maybe I've just been too fastidious for my own good lately, but even after spending days knitting and un-knitting and re-knitting and un-knitting again, I completely scrapped this design



in favor of a more streamlined version.



While I do like the random x's and o's that would be interspersed throughout the scarf, as well as the xo border, it all looked too sloppy. (Apparently, cabling has that effect on gauge.) So just when I decided I was on course with my scarf design, I ripped it all apart anyway. I do like the effect, but not for this scatf. The new design still has the cabled x's and o's border at the edge, but instead of purling in the primary brown color, I started my striping early.



I'm still not sure which border I like more, but this one works better with the rest of the pattern. However, the original one looks more distinctive... oh well. I also decided to go with random stripe widths this time--because it's just more fun to knit that way--and came up with a method of carrying the dormant (for lack of a better word) yarn strand up while knitting the other color. Unfortunately, as you can see in the 2nd picture above, the background color shows through on the side where the yarn is being carried, despite my efforts to hide it. Here's an image of the back view, since that probably shows what I'm doing better.



Call me crazy, but I'm still not feeling 100% on this scarf. Hoping that when I block it, everything will magically work out. I just have to make sure I don't go on another ripping frenzy. I refuse to do so! This yarn probably can't take much more abuse anyway. (Did I mention this organic cotton stuff has a tendency to shed/fall apart?) With luck, my next update will be about a nearly completed scarf.