A New Kind of Stash

I am powerless in the grip of the 75%-off Easter-candy aisle at Target.

All this:



$13.30. That includes the ridiculous 10%-tax here in New York.



On the knitting front, things are getting done little by little. I'm skipping around on projects, so there isn't much visible progress on any of them. My plan is to finish both scarves by Friday, so I can start making lace purses for both Tanemura-sensei and Yang-lao-shur. The squirrel mittens are getting put away until this summer; there's no time for them now! I designed the purse pattern myself last night – in theory it works out, but I'm curious about whether it does in process too. Wish me luck!

And the obligatory Teddygraham picture:



Aww.

Splurge

After signing up for a free three-month trial of Amazon Prime (i.e. free two-day shipping!), I ordered three new knitting books: A Gathering of Lace, Folk Mittens, and Christmas Stockings: 18 Holiday Treasures to Knit. Amazon says I'll receive them on Tuesday, and I can't wait!

I cast on for my professors' squirrel mittens today (see the pattern at Hello Yarn), but I had to put it down after only the first few rows of ribbing. Classes sure do get in the way, don't they?

Perhaps some new knitting pictures will appear Saturday... Wish me luck on accomplishing something (anything, really) tomorrow!

Teddygraham, America's next Top Model

No new news on the knitting front, but in Teddygraham news, the little darling posed for a fifteen-minute photoshoot last night! Usually he runs around endlessly, causing all my pictures to come out blurry, but last night he calmly posed and chirped for what seemed to be an eternity. Here are a few of the highlights:















Last week he was really grumpy, and I was getting worried about whether or not he'd ever accept me, but yesterday was a real turning point. No "buyer's remorse" for me!

Back to work

Well, I didn't get much knitting done this weekend, but I accomplished a lot more than usual as of late. I began my Marble wrap for the SIXTH time (let's just say I couldn't count very well - instead of casting on the necessary 75 stitches, I casted on 74 and 73 multiple times). I've only gotten a few inches done, but it's a fun knit.

Here it is stretched out, showing what it will look like once I block it. It's much wider than that, but I needed to use my feet to hold it, so a lot was cut out of the photo.



Here's a closeup of it unstretched. Aren't the colors gorgeous? I'd like to use a skein of this green Marbles and a skein of the red variegated Marbles to make striped mittens this summer.



I've been thinking quite a lot about upcoming projects, but I've told myself NO MORE until I finish the scarves for my professors! After that I have to make squirrel mittens for my other Japanese professor, who's absolutely enthralled by squirrels because of "their fancy tails." So right now all I can do is look online and sigh... What's been catching my eye? The Memories fingering-weight yarn by KnitPicks in the Smores colorway, for one. Isn't that beautiful? It's so cheap, too... Sigh... Aside from that, I've been staring at the shawls on Fiddlesticks Knitting, especially Creatures of the Reef and Flirty Ruffles. Peacock Feathers is also pretty nice – can you imagine it in a beautiful variegated yarn?

And of course, here's a picture of the adorable Teddygraham:



Mark and I went off campus again this Saturday, and I bought him a house and some chew toys (i.e. the orange triceratops). This morning I completely cleaned his habitat while he rolled around my room for an hour. Look how beautiful it is!





Lately he's been a bit of a crab, but today he let me pick him up without much of a fight! Perhaps it was his way of showing gratitude for the carrot I gave him earlier. :)

A few projects

Finally, some proof that I do indeed knit.

Here is a hat (my own design). I made it this past November at home on break. The top is rather weird when you put it on (the shape reminds me of one of those Russian buildings), but it's 100% wool, so I wear it when the temperature goes subzero.



I made this scarf last summer and have worn it nonstop since the middle of October. The yarn is Caron's Simply Soft, and the pattern can be found on Knitty. This was probably the most interesting scarf I ever made – the pattern wasn't hard to memorize, but it had a long-enough repeat that I never got bored.



Next are two scarves I'm making for my professors. I started them a few weeks ago, worked on them perhaps two days, and then took them off the right needles to begin other projects! These need to be finished by the beginning of May.



Here's some of my newest yarn acquisitions. The left is James C. Brett's Marble, and the right two are Socks that Rock. The Marble is going to be an openwork wrap, the reddish STR is for socks for my mom, and I'm undecided about the green STR. Definitely something for me (green is my favourite color!), but I can't decide between gloves, mittens, glittens, or socks.



And here's another (blurry) picture of Teddygraham!



Hopefully from now on I'll update every other day or so. I created this blog a few weeks ago but completely forgot about it once spring break was over! :)

Hamster Time

On Sunday Mark took me off-campus for a yarn run. After I scooped up two skeins of cotton (dishcloths for my mom's birthday), we decided to pop into the pet store next door...

...and I fell in love:



Isn't he adorable? I've only had hermit crabs (thus the name of this blog) and a few fish until now, and I must say, it's really nice to be able to finally pet my pet! I named him Teddygraham. Pets are not allowed in my dorm, but he's very quiet and doesn't smell, so I'm sure I shouldn't have any problems between now and the end of the year.

Knitting updates VERY soon!