Time Warp Fiber

So,lots of news. First off, I actually have a job, if not the ideal one. I'm going to be teaching at a summer program until august, at which point I will re-examine grad school options and other job thoughts. But hooray employment. I'm sure you'll hear plenty about my students in the upcoming months.

FOs! Two of them. The first is actually a crochet project, a rarity for me. This whole thing started with my missing SAFF 2005, and having Laura surrogate shop for me. (she comes up a lot, major fiber enabler) One of the things she brought back was for ounces of an incredible heathered garnet merino. I spun it the following summer into thick and thin singles and waited for it to tell me what it wanted to be. The answer came a year later,  it needed to be a scarf, and I thought a simple single crochet would jive well with the textured yarn. I started it that summer 2007, and then kind of forgot about it with all the madness of that fall and winter. But I picked it up again et voila: a scarf. It's a little shorter than I usually make (I like very long scarves to be able to skim my more ample curves) but it might do better as an all day piece, for inside and out. And of course, it's delicious in color and softness. Quite a journey for that scarf, over years and thousands of miles. It makes it all the more special. 

The second FO has less history. It's one of the many pairs of plain socks I started to keep me company on the most recent trek out CA. I bought the yarn last summer in Santa Monica, at the fabulous wildfiber, actually having it in mind for someone else. But then another sock yarn called that person's name to me and the yarn went into the stash. Being Cherry tree hill, one of my favorites, it didn't languish long. While purple is not my favorite color, there is something fun about such loud socks. 

However, all the good news has been a little overshadowed for me. Now that we have good insurance, I've been playing catch-up with my healthcare, which was spotty at best through my childhood and teen years. The worst of this has been dental.  I am terrified of the dentist. Like I would rather face three Balrogs armed with only a squirt gun terrified. I bravely went and had a cleaning. I even didn't have a panic attack in getting fitted for a crown. But then came the referral to the oral surgeon. My blood pressure rose just going into that office. And then she informs me that because my wisdom teeth should have come out 7 years ago, they have tangled with the nerves and caused major damage and infection. Huge pain, enough antibiotics to disinfect Chicago, and a CAT scan later, I schedule my surgery and sign ten different things acknowledging how high risk the surgery is and how they won't completely sedate me and how it will cost my soul to pay for and they shove me out the door. It was all I could do not to crawl under the car and cry. Of course, this surgery interferes with my job training, so my brand new boss is already not pleased with me. And I have nightmares about having no teeth or no feeling in my head or medical bill collectors throwing tear gas into my apartment. So, my hypothetical reader, if you choose to spawn, have their teeth taken care of at an early age, lest they face the indignity of being a grown up, educated human who fears nothing so much as a green smocked surgeon with a pair of pliers. 

A simple scarf in single crochet, made with handspun thick and thin singles.

This little guy is the ultimate whimsy. I crocheted this in just a few hours and made the handle with my lucet. I needed a break from the practicality of sweater and sock, so I made a garish, entirely useless little toy. How could I possibly go wrong with a combination of yarn, rainbows, and tea?

From kpixie, this is a set of #1 dpns and a 3 mm (size d) crochet hook. You can see I'm laying in for a long haul of sock knits. I figure that tiny hook will come in handy to pick up those tiny dropped stitches. 

This blanket was made over the course of last summer, completed around August 05. Much of it is crocheted, as I was just learning that then and wanted a feel for what I could do with it. There are some knitted squares too. I did this all very serendipitously. I bought a lot of acrylic (read: washable) yarn that I liked the look and feel of without any regard to continuity. I just picked a gauge and worked until I was sick of a square. I made pieces until I ran out of yarn, and then fitted it together like a massive puzzle. The ends aren't straight, I just let the pieces fall as they would. It's warm and soft and wonderful, if a little crazy. 

This hat was completed in late fall '05 for my significant other, Butthead. The cabled band idea comes from the Coronet pattern in Knitty, but at the time, I feared the very thought of dpn's, so I crocheted the hat part and attached the knitted band. I also learned (in the loosest sense) how to graft for this project.