The Golden Iris

The closets are full of leftover metal hangers from the dry-cleaners. Of course in my copious spare time I had to finally sit down and make a pair of sock blockers. Very easy! Can you imagine a closet full of these? All the socks hanging there, waiting? I'm almost tempted to do it, although I do have that nice box to keep socks in. I've also been working on the Pomatomus socks. & It finally seems like I'm getting somewhere, especially after I ripped out the first one after finishing it, down to weaving in the ends and everything. But there are still problems. This is what the toe looks like if you follow the pattern. Not cool, especially for my wide feet. And to add insult to injury, it's too short. So I'll be ripping it out and re-doing it. Now, do I bring these and finish them while I sit in line and wait for the iPhone tomorrow? Or should I just take a book instead? I'm afraid the Bayerische socks would be too involved, and I'm not sure I wa...

Since graduating from grad school (haha), I've found myself with unprecedented amounts of free time (most of which are supposed to be dedicated to finding a job). However, as you can imagine, I've decided to use this time for my own purposes, namely knitting. This is what's been going on in the past month or so. This is the majority of the Grannie Smith Cardigan , designed by Melissa Wehrle. I am in love with the idea of lacy cardigans (if sometimes not the outcome; my version of Serrano came out miles too small and had to be given away to my mom) and want to make several more. I love this pattern. It's well written and easy to follow, and obviously Melissa put a lot of time into the details. She's written several more patterns; some are free on Magknits and some are available for purchase on her website. The only major changes I'm making are giving it 7 buttons instead of 5 (which required some re-doing of math and ripping of button bands) and subbing the...

Finally, I have knitting to show you! The last few months of grad school really kicked my butt and I didn't get much knitting done. Now that I have some free time I've been able to work on the backlog of yarn I have. These photos don't show much except my learning to use the camera in my new cell phone. I'll figure it out soon, I promise. These are just some generic toe-up socks in Koigu that I bought while I was in Santa Fe last summer; I don't remember the color number. But with two skeins of yarn I got two socks for my not-tiny feet which are almost too long. Hooray for not running out of yarn! I'm still(!) working on the Pomatomus socks as well as Eunny's Bayerische socks, but I may start something up again that is just plain stockinette. I've been watching a lot of movies lately and intensive cabling plus movie doesn't sound like a good combo. And how about that yarn diet? Well, if sock yarn "doesn't count" (I've bought ...

Chez V there is a great enthusiasm for pasta, especially fresh pasta. Our household has recently acquired two dedicated pasta making machines: a Marcato Atlas Regina and a Marcato Multipast. The Regina came in the mail first, so we've had more time to play with it. It extrudes 5 different types of pasta: two different types of skinny macaroni, two different types of larger ziti and rigatoni, and finally fabulous curly rotini. The Multipast is more of what you'd probably think of with a hand-powered pasta machine; it makes flat sheets and has different cutters for different widths, as well as a very exciting looking automatic ravioli filling attachment. My first attempt at using the machine was a failure; I'm accustomed to making pasta that I can roll out on the countertop. To make it easy to roll, I've reduced the flour in that recipe to make a ratio of about 2/3 C of flour to each egg. This is a sticky dough that is pretty easy to knead and roll if you keep ever...

Well, in the hopes of catching up with myself, I'm going to commemorate my graduation a few weeks ago. On with the medieval wizard costume! I think Masters' robes are hilarious because of the long sleeves and funny, non-functional hood. I kept joking about keeping snacks in my sleeves for the ceremony, but in fact I just had some cough drops in them. Before the ceremony, my advisor adjusts my hood while Mom looks on. This is a dubious process. All dressed up and no place to go! What's all the fuss about? The slightly crazed look in my eye is giving me away.... The shots of me crossing the stage and shaking hands were too blurry and small. But I did. I swear. And I'm done. See? I took the funny cardboard hat off. Get me out of this damn polyester robe thing! Worth $63 my ass.... This all reminds me that I haven't yet actually received my diploma. And of course since I've moved, I have no idea where the darn thing is going to end up. I'll keep my...