Mittens and other (literal) junk
Mitten #1 is done! 😀 Mittens are seriously quick knits once you get past all the issues I seem to have with them. Didn’t I do this with my endpaper mitts too? Ah well. I do consider myself a process knitter most of the time, so I guess I’m getting lots of process out of this project. Here’s a side by side comparison of the new mitten, and the old ill-fitting mitten:
What a difference. I’m so glad I didn’t do a second swirl mitten, and I think I might actually frog the first at some point. It’s gorgeous, yes, but (especially in comparison with the new mitten) it’s completely unwearable for me.
And does the new mitten fit?
Hell yeah it does. (Needs blocking, though. Ignore that. Focus on the fitting part.)
As for the other junk, well. This week’s blogstalking assignment was junk drawers; I don’t have one. I have a junk floor. (The weak stomached and mothers of teenagers should shield their eyes.)
(Seriously. I’m warning you.)
There you go. I took this picture while sitting in the one square foot of visible floor space near the door. Doesn’t that make you feel better about your own living space?
Breakfast and other assorted things.
This post is going to be a bit of a mashup, because I have neither the time nor the brain power to write with any sort of eloquence.
In blogstalking, this is my breakfast:
usually with a cup of hot chocolate. I can’t actually eat anything until several hours later, because three of those pills make my stomach rather unhappy.
In knitting, I’m not, at the moment. I’ve been distracted by other crafts, namely tatting:
In internet things, I’ve started project 365, here. It is not yet pretty or linked to anything yet, but I should get all of that worked out later today.
And in vaguely life related news, I’m kind of considering going by my full first name for the first time in… my life. I mean, there are a lot of really cool Jessamyns out there, and I feel like I should be representin’, yo. Plus I’m finally at the age where I like my name, despite its impossibility to pronounce (rhymes with ‘specimen’, for future reference) and its obscure origin (“I’m named after a writer you’ve never heard of.”) But I’m not sure if I could persuade anyone to make the switch. Might be an interesting social experiment.
Time machine Thursday
Or uh… something.
This week’s blogstalking assignment is to post really old pictures of oneself. This isn’t hard, because I’m not that old, and I still live in the house that I grew up in, so we’ve got pictures everyfreakin’where.
but before I get to the really old pictures, I would like to point out how very little I’ve changed.
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Okay, I’ve proven my point. The only difference between now and then is my height and the lipring. And my eye color, strangely enough. I did not know that could happen.
On to the very baby pictures!
and now for the very oldest picture of me that I have…
🙂
Mitten updates coming tomorrow. I’m not actively participating in NaBloPoMo, but I would like to increase my updating rates. Assuming everyone isn’t sick of me already!
Life as a Jesh.
Most of my days are spent like this:
I walk to the train.
I wait for the train.
I spend all of my classes thinking about getting back on the train.
I miss the &^#$%ing 3:15 train by a minute and a half.
Which means waiting around for the 4:22 train.
I’m imagining right now how bored I would be with all of these waiting bits if I didn’t knit.
And there’s the answer right there, because I cast on (for the fifty millionth time) for those this morning. This seems to be a good incarnation; not too big, I like the colour combo, I remembered that the cuff needs to be 1×1 corrugated rib, not 2×2. It still looks a bit rough around the (literal) edges, but I’m hopeful that a good block will settle everything into place.
Oh, and before I give you the impression that any original or creative thought beyond yarn choice went into these, they are from helloyarn’s universal mitten pattern, with the charts shamelessly hijacked (with permission) from ssailorss.
But I will take all the credit for the yummy, yummy yarn choice.
Three things…
I love:
my lipring. (I am undecided on the makeup, however. I am normally a nothing but chapstick girl, and although I think the end result is pretty good, I feel like I’ve got a thick layer of schmutz on my face. And it took me about an hour to achieve. But back on the awesome side, the shirt I’m wearing is super soft and cost me $3.)
My former high school (and hopefully my future place of employment). Please pardon the dust, ahem.
Anything violet flavoured/scented/whatevered. If it’s violet, it’s awesome.
I hate:
This one’s a two in one–my broken laptop screen casing, and also the ridiculously hot temperatures that we’ve got goin’ on. It’s October. I want to be able to wear my kneesocks and boots and handknits.
My handwriting. I can’t even read it, half the time.
The third thing has no picture–I hate my thumbs. Well, no, that’s not true. I like my thumbs. What I hate is the fact that I’m not supposed to knit for two weeks because of my DeQuervain’s* acting up. I’m going to try to find some interesting knitting content without actually doing any knitting, but a couple of posts may have to be knitting-free for the next few weeks. Sorry.
*firefox’s spellcheck: countervailing? heh. I love the spellcheck, it cracks me up.
How I get from here to… where?
I do not drive. I am nineteen and I haven’t even gotten my permit. Honestly I don’t feel that great about the idea of putting myself in control of a huge hulking metal thing and hurling myself across pavement at dozens of miles an hour. Plus, around here public transportation can get me to most places I need to go; everywhere else, I walk, or my parents take pity on me and give me a ride.
my normal Monday-Wednesday-Friday commute involves leaving the house about twenty minutes before the train is supposed to leave. Note that ‘supposed to;’ it is important later. It is a fifteen minute walk to and from the train station, uphill both ways. (seriously! the middle of my walk is the peak of a hill.) I do not have pictures of said walk, because people were giving me enough funny looks at the train station.
I wait here for a few minutes, then hop on the train. The ride itself is 10-15 minutes, depending on the time of day and how fast or slow the train is. Then the walk from station to class is 5-10 minutes, depending on where I’m going and how fast I’m going. My campus is small; even the furthest two buildings are only a two minute walk from each other, so I walk between classes.
My train ride home… that’s another story. Trains come through once an hour unless it’s rush hour, but I’m not normally on campus during rush hour. so if I miss the 3:15 train… I have to wait until 4:22. Which actually happened Wednesday, but that’s beside the point. My actual point is that if my class lets out at 2:10, and I ask the professor if I can leave early (2:05ish) to catch the 2:15 train, and my professor is awesome and says absolutely, I should not reach the edge of the parking lot only to hear that my train is pulling in. I should not have to hurl myself across the pavement (sans metal vehicle) to catch the train. I should not just barely get a seat and look at my watch and find out that it’s 2:10 and the 2:15 train is leaving the station. If you showed up at 2:12 to catch the train? oops. Looks like you’re waiting for an hour, then.
I hate early trains more than late trains, if that’s even possible. But, gripe aside, I do love public transportation.
(Marvel at my ability to take such a clear shot on a moving train! Now laugh because I took ten blurry shots before I realized that it would be a better idea to grab a picture while the train actually wasn’t moving.)
The cat’s out of the bag.
um, as it were.
I got my last knittyboard SP9 package today, in which it was revealed that my pal was the fantastic blu roux!
I don’t have my normal photo taking setup available to me, so I don’t have individual pictures of the yarn, but that is totally enough sock yarn to get me through the semester. And it’s awesome sock yarn, too! Tofutsies in pink and purple, Trekking (mmm Trekking) in a nice bright blue, and Fleece Artist Merino Sock in a gorgeous green/red/gold colourway that is so the perfect thing for fall.
Also in the package were treats for both Kitty and myself, including (chocolate!) smarties!
This is exciting, because in the US what we call smarties are small little discs of flavoured sugar (which are kind of gross, honestly).
And and, an adorable little Lantern Moon keychain that is already hanging out on my keyring:
(Yes, there is only one actual key on my keyring.)
All in all I’m thrilled with how this round turned out. I got awesome pals, both upstream and down (although my downstream still doesn’t know who I am, I still have to send out the final package), and I’m REALLY glad that blu roux sent me Arctic Lace in package #2 because I just picked up a copy for my downstream and I never would have been able to part with it if I hadn’t already had a copy for myself!
Speaking of bags, this week’s blogstalking theme is purse guts. Brace yourselves.
In this massive pile of stuff is: my Friday notebook, English book, recorder, mp3 player and headphones, keys (well, just one key and a lot of keychains, as noted above), four pens, my cell phone, hair clip and various ties, wallet, a random sz7 circ, nearly empty water bottle, knitting bag (with endpaper mitts inside), various bits of gum and wrappers, violet mints courtesy of seiding, my glasses case with both glasses and contact lens case inside, and a shawl (warning! Ravelry link), because none of my professors understand the meaning of the off button on their air conditioning. oof. no wonder my back always hurts after a long day of hauling this stuff around campus.
and now, for a cat that’s really out of the bag.
[edit] and the reason my normal photo taking setup was unavailable?
there was someone napping in it.
A little more in depth.
Who am I? Everyone else was putting together such lovely, detailed posts that I felt a little left out, even though I did a brief bit on it on Saturday. So here’s a bit more insight into Jesh.
I am gluten intolerant.
That means that I can’t have anything containing wheat, rye, barley, oats, or any derivatives of the above– no malt, for example, which usually comes from barley. No beer, no soy sauce (which is brewed with wheat, although there is a very expensive wheat free brand of tamari that I pick up on occasion), no bread (unless I want to spend $7 for a loaf of barely decent frozen rice bread), no putting anything in my mouth without carefully inspecting the label. It’s tough, and everyone always marvels at my ability to resist gluten filled foods, but my health is worth it. Seriously–if that one little ravioli made you violently ill, depressed, and exhausted for several weeks you wouldn’t eat it either. Mmmmm, but I do miss ravioli…
I am a maths geek.
I am the youngest person in my calc class by at least two years, but I still managed the highest score (9.5/10) on our first quiz. Go me.
I can solve a slider puzzle in thirteen seconds.
I am a purple bunny.
This little guy is courtesy of the same friend who knit me a tinosaur. The idea itself of my being a purple bunny came about when I did a google image search for my full name and a bunny came up. I decided to use the bunny as my avatar on a forum that I used to frequent, whose main colour was purple, so I turned the bunny purple and that was that.
I wear glasses (well, usually contacts)
My prescription is so strong that the lenses delineate my face.
I am a musician. (No pictures of this one, since I can’t capture sound with a picture. If you really want to hear, you can download a bitty clip here, but you are warned that I have no formal training (or any training at all, come to think of it) and listening to this clip again, apparently I have no clue what the word ‘tempo’ means, because I’m all over the map. Sheesh.)
I am a doodler.
I draw these branches all over my notes. They’re actually a good representation of the way I think.
I am an avid tea drinker.
That is my travel teacup. I take it with me everywhere. (This is also an old picture, hence the shortness of hair.)
And last but certainly not least, I can leap small ottomans in a single bound. No pictures, just trust me on this one.
Jeshknits 