I'm a Knitter

I promised Jackie pictures of some of my knitting projects eons ago. Especially since I have picked out most of the yarn and patterns with her! And I even posted about it not long ago. So here they are.

This newborn cardigan & hat set are a gift destined to be given as soon as I get my act together. The baby was born a few days ago, so hopefully I'll get it completely done tonight. All I have left to do is to block the sweater so it loses some of its lumpiness (and a possible slight asymmetry). But look at those buttons! I sewed them on all by myself!! (Jackie did sew up the sides for me last time I was there visiting; it kept looking funny every time I did it).




I also made the same cardigan a couple of sizes larger and (obviously) in a different color for another baby. This still needs its buttons sewn on and to be blocked as well. This taupe cardigan is going to be part of a gift set with a little chocolate brown baby bolero. A newborn shrug, if you will.


Obviously the shrug isn't nearly done. All of the lavender yarn is just temporarily holding stitches; the whole thing will be brown when I'm done. I have one arm sewn on (a herculean feat for me!) and am very proud of the fact that I didn't call Jackie once for cross-country hand holding on that part! It took a lot of concentration, though, and I am not afraid to admit that I had some harsh words for the yarn when it kept knotting itself as I sewed. When it's all done, along the bottom & front edges there will be a ribbing pattern similar to what you may (or may not) be able to see on the end of the sleeves. I also love that in the back of the bolero is a little eyelet pattern. If I recall what the pattern says correctly, it's a Celtic symbol (?) meant to bring good luck & health to the wearer. At any rate, the baby destined for the bolero is going to be one fashionable kid. How many newborns have a trendy little shrug to wear to their first social engagements? :)

I'm also working on my first real toddler-sized sweater. The cardigans are pretty easy to make but this sweater intimidated me at first. I'm pleasantly surprised with how it's turning out!



It still needs arms, obviously. And the green yarn is just holding the arm-intended stitches. I actually need to go buy new needles to make those; I thought I had the right size, but I don't. I'm hoping that it will be done soon. This project actually has no intended recipient, though. I think the purple yarn makes it look pretty girly (though the unintended gathering on the arm stitch holders right now may be skewing my opinion), so I'll probably just give it to whomever is the right size at the right time of year.

Mal? Really?

After reading about this on both The Historian's and Heather's blogs, I decided to take this little quiz for myself. I like Firefly relatively well, so why not? I have to say, I'm a little surprised to find out that I have so much Malcolm Reynolds in me. Kaylee and Simon I can understand. Malcolm? I would not have thought that. I suppose it's nice to know that I am "generally good." I would definitely protect my crew from harm. I know that much.

My results:
You are Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)


Honest and a defender of the innocent. You sometimes make mistakes in judgment but you are generally good and would protect your crew from harm.

Malcolm Reynolds (Captain)		90%
Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic)		90%
Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)		90%
Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command)		80%
Inara Serra (Companion)		65%
Derrial Book (Shepherd)		60%
River (Stowaway)		55%
Wash (Ship Pilot)		40%
Alliance		40%
Jayne Cobb (Mercenary)		35%
A Reaver (Cannibal)		0%

Click here to take the Serenity Firefly Personality Test


I wonder what set of responses I would had to contrive to end up being mostly Reaver.... (For the record, I answered the rather direct "Are you a cannibal?" question in the negative. That probably did me in on potentially being a Reaver.)

Long Time No...Post?

Hello friendly readers! It's clearly been a while. I have had very mixed feelings about maintaining my blog for the last several months, hence the dearth of posts. I still am not sure about it, but for the moment I'm here. My temporary job is going relatively well. I generally enjoy what I'm working on and I'm even able to do a bit of research of my own! I've taken on a second project which will keep me employed through the end of the calendar year. In the meantime, I'm working on figuring out what I want to do. In a lot of ways, I'm very conflicted about my career (or lack thereof). I still find it very odd that I'm now Dr. Meredith; I'm rather unsure what to do with myself!

As Jackie can attest, I've been working on a boatload of new knitting since I finished school. I don't have any pictures of recent work at the moment, but hopefully I can take some in the next few days to show off. I've been getting a little more ambitious with my recent projects. I've branched out from making only blankets and scarves and I now have learned how to make things that are not rectangular shaped! Woo! I found a pattern for a baby cardigan that I really like and have made two in quick succession. I'm about halfway through a toddler pullover sweater, too. (It currently has no arms, but the body is done at least). I have even made one legwarmer! I've been rather productive in my newfound spare time.

Also in my free time, I've returned to my roots as a news junkie. :) In the New York Times yesterday, I read about this: scientists have isolated proteins from a Tyrannosaurus rex. Seriously! It's pretty darn awesome, in my opinion. Let's just all agree not to try to clone any dinosaurs, m'k? That cannot possibly end well.