Knitting Inspiration: Decorating My New Apartment

When you move to a new place, you have to try to fit all your old stuff into a new space.  Sometimes that calls for a few new items to make it all work.  I've turned to the knitting community for suggestions.

First, I was thinking that I need a good place to sit.

Like in a knitted chair from Melanie Porter

I also need to be able to see all the reading I am supposed to do without straining my eyes.

I was thinking that this yarny lamp by Tatyana Yanishevsky might be night

Or lighting by Kwangho Lee

My living room needs a little love, too.  Luckily Kwangho Lee also knits furniture

Like this chair

And this couch

For my bathroom, I've found a little floor covering.

From YUMMI Rugs

And I was thinking about a little taxidermy for the kitchen

No?  From Rachel Denny

If all else fails, I could just wall paper the whole apartment in yarn

via http://www.jornwemmenhove.nl/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/knit.jpg

So totally tempted...

FInished Sweater

I totally forgot that I hadn't posted these pictures yet.  So.....

Tah dah!!  Finished Sweater!!!

I am not totally thrilled with how short or tight it is, and the button band is a little messy.

But I really like the pattern up the back and hood.

The yarn fluffed up nicely when I gave it a bath so it is nice and fuzzy.  Will be nice to wear if it ever stops being hot in the South....

I have lots of extra yarn, so I think some Cruiser Mittens like I made last winter are in order...they have the same stitch pattern.

Silk and Wool

I made another Travelling Woman Shawl.  I kind of love this pattern.  It is a pretty easy lace pattern and takes very little yarn, even with an extra repeat thrown in to make it a little larger.

I blocked it out it the little space in my room.  Figured it wasn't yet appropriate to start blocking projects in the middle of the living room.  Will introduce the roommie to my woolie craziness a little at a time. 

An close-up of the stitch pattern.  I made it from the silk/merino yarn I got in Dublin.

It is very light and airy.  Not sure how to wear it or what to wear it with.  Suggestions?

My New Life

I just moved into the nicest place I've lived in for a long while.  My dad took video because he is a nerd.  Pardon the mess.

Law school, yo.

Woodruff is the guy that endowed the scholarship I got to be able to come to school.  Luckily there is a statue for me to take my picture next to.

This would be my inauguration of my new apartment into the world of using-your-bathroom-for-wool-related-activities.  This time, though?  I don't have to share my bathroom with anyone other than the yarn!!

And the Knit Goes On

I've been asked a couple of times if I am going to continue the knitting and the blogging now that I am in law school.  The answer:

Yes.

I can't promise that I will be as diligent with the posting as when I was working my cushy don't-have-to-take-any-work-home-with-me-job but I am going to try.

As for the knitting, I promise you that it is happening despite the work load.

Please don't tell the Dean, but I totally knit through orientation.  It was a little boring.  Other highlights from orientation: they spent 72 hours trying to convince us that you cannot, in fact, die of law school overdose.  Also, my team won the scavenger hunt.  I hear that there is a direct correlation between how well you do on scavenger hunts and your grades in law school.  Just saying.

This is what I ended up with after orientation.  It is the first half of the Leaf Paneled Sweater I started earlier this summer.  I have to make another identical half and then knit the two together via the collar.  And you were worried I wouldn't have a boring beige carpet to take pictures on in my new place.  Proved you wrong!

I really like the stitch pattern.  And another positive: I think the sweater looks like it will actually fit me...something I really shouldn't say yet since I didn't actually swatch before starting this project...the swatch gods are looking for me...

It keeps me sane.

Reasonable Person

I'm pretty sure there is a reasonable person standard in the law.*  I am pretty sure if you were to apply that test to law school, it wouldn't pass.  I mean, really, what reasonable person submits themselves to three years of 60-hour weeks of reading torts, contracts, and civil procedure? 

Apparently, this girl.

My mom required a 1st-day-of-school pic.**  The boring background is my new apartment.  More pics to follow...

The same girl that thought kindergarten was a good idea 20 years ago.

Yea, I was a hottie even as a 5-year-old.  Check out those awesome leggings....oh early-90s fashion...

I make questionable life decisions.

----
*I'm not going to lie, I totally opened up Black's Law Dictionary to find a definition, got disgusted with myself, and went to Wikipedia instead.  Sigh...

**Totally made that dress.  Yup.

My Icelandic Knitting

I would like to be able to say that I actually went to Iceland to do some knitting.  That would be neat, no? 

But instead, I have to rely on friends to take pictures of my already-knitted items in exotic locations.  Remember this sheep I knit last fall?

DOT friend Pete took him along for a little sailing in Iceland.

See him on the prow?  Or are you too distracted by the beautiful sunset?  The sheep was actually knit from Icelandic wool that Pete brought me from his last trip.  It's only fitting that the sheep got to go back to its homeland.  Birthright Trip for sheep.

And the fire and marshmellows I made last summer?

They went on vacation, too!

Isn't that ice amazing?  It looks fake.  It isn't.

Pete is an amazing photographer (he did the 2010 Vagina Monologues Benefit Concert pictures for us!!), especially when his subjects don't include suspiciously-difficult-to-photograph knitted sheep.

Miss Manners Takes on Knitting

Ali sent me this lovely piece by Miss Manners (see full post here):

DEAR MISS MANNERS:

Over the years I have noticed people knitting in public and have had no particular problem with it. However, I am a bit put off by those who knit in church or at an event such as a recital or concert.

Is it acceptable to knit at a church, synagogue or other religious service? And what about a concert or recital? I recently attended a piano and violin recital in a small venue where someone was knitting in the third row. Surely it was evident to the performers. And if such knitting is not appropriate, how should the knitters be approached, or prevented?


GENTLE READER:

Please do not -- repeat, not -- make a hostile approach to knitters. Have you not noticed that they are armed with long, pointy sticks?
Of all the multitaskers who could annoy you, Miss Manners would not have guessed that knitters would top the list. There is a centuries-long history of ladies quietly doing needlework while remaining alert to what was going on around them.

But perhaps your complaint is that they are not quiet. If the clicking of needles is what bothers you, you could appeal to the authorities at church or concert hall that as they ban texting, it is only fair to ban activities that create similar noise. And if they don’t already ban texting, you might start by asking that they do before going after those comparatively unobtrusive knitters.

Agree. We do have very long, sharp weapons.  Don't cross us.