No time to say hello, goodbye!

So I need to write a full-fledge blog report. There is so much to share. However, I do not feel like expending that much effort right now. I have two days off in a row coming up, so just keep your pants on people.

For now, however, I need someone to convince me not to spend $125 at WEBS right now. I want to really bad, but I should wait. Right? Or should I just go ahead and get my 34 skeins of yarn with my 25% off for buying in bulk and have conveniently at hand solid color sock yarn and the yarn for a sweater coat I want to make? I am so conflicted right now. I know I could spend $125 in a month on yarn and end up spending more on shipping, so why not do it all in one go? Because I'm living rent-free with my boyfriend's parents right now and it makes me feel like a bum when I get big packages in the mail. Better to wait until March when we're moving out, right? Right?

So conflicted. So my cart just sits there, all neglected like. Le sigh.

To do list...

Is growing. Rapidly. Okay let's sort this out:

Before Oct 1

• Finish Myrtle stole ( approx. 150 more rows + blocking) This seems doable if I only work on this for the next two days. 
• Wind Raspberry yarn, knit and block swatch for Sotherton sweater
• Carson shawl...maybe. Doubtful, but it's always there.

Between Oct 1 and Oct 28 (i.e. Nerd Wars time)

• Sunrise Fiber Co. winter accessory KAL - Shadowfax boots
• Dalek Hat(s)
• Mia R tests
• Sotherton Sweater

Crap, I forgot about the Muleata test (again). I should be able to finish that in a couple days in early October. Sigh.

List will grow after Oct 1, once I find out what the Nerd Wars challenges are and how I'm going to answer them.

Survey says...

Team TARDIS baby. So I'm going to go with my originally planned sweater and use the crossing cables to represent River Song & the Doctor's crossing timelines. How clever.

I have a feeling Pinterest will play a large role in my team tie-ins for this tournament. As for example...

Thanks pinterest

Also, a Dalek hat is in the works. And I'll probably make my own sonic screwdriver at some point. And a rewatch is in order. So excited!

Decisions, decisions...

Okay, I bought enough yarn for a sweater, had the pattern all picked out, then I got on Ravelry. I was just gonna check, you know? Make sure what I picked was the best choice...

Four hours later, I'd whittled my 30 pattern list down to 3 options for my dissertation in the upcoming Nerd Wars tournament. Seriously, I made a friggin spreadsheet for the patterns including columns such as pattern cost, what size I would make, yardage, mods, construction, needle size, gauge...it was pretty intense.

First, the yarn:

Eight skeins = 1200 yards. Apparently that was a little short for the intricately cabled sweaters I was drawn to; I had to eliminate a number because of insufficient yardage. Unless I wanted to make a sweater for my incredibly skinny, gorgeous sister, but as much as I love her, I'm not using Malabrio on her, mkay?

Okay, now for the contenders. I bought the yarn originally because I wanted to make this sweater (and because Craftsy was having a blowout sale and I really just spend way too much money on yarn when I don't need to):

In case you haven't noticed a trend yet, I'm really into cables for this project. Fall just equals cables to me. What can I say.

Contender number two:

This bad boy is the most expensive pattern of the bunch, and the least clear on the yardage. But, as this picture shows, I would modify the neck so it wasn't so turtlenecky like the original pattern. Also, I could do the sleeves last, two at a time, so I wouldn't run out of yarn. A thought.

And the final option:

I don't know how this would look in my raspberry, but I love the cable, it's a relatively cheap pattern, and it appears to give me more of a cushion regarding my yarn requirements.

So obviously I'm super torn right now. I want to start swatching so I can put together my dissertation proposal; plus I just want to play with my Malabrigo. Hopefully finding out which team I'm on tomorrow will help me decide!

I love when this happens - Finished object!

Okay, I know I said I was going to blog my knitting more. And I said I would share as soon as I finished something. But I went out and took pictures of this lovely shawl - another from Mia Rinde - and I just wasn't thrilled with how they turned out. Then I realized I'm super lazy and probably won't get around to taking better pictures until I finish another project, so I may as well share this with you now :)

This is Shallow Waters, made with Sparkle Lace from Sunrise Fiber Co. in Vieux Carré.

I love love love this pattern, and I love love love this yarn, but I'm not so sure how I feel about the combination. However, it is finished, it is sparkly, and it's growing on me.

Like most of Mia's patterns, this one is very intuitive and simple to follow along, but still has enough challenge to keep it interesting. The scalloped wave edging took about 40% of the yarn.

This baby is huge - clocking in at 26.5" down the spine and 45" across the widest part horizontally. I really wish these photos showed the sparkle in the yarn, but as I've come to realize from shopping for sparkly yarn to photographing it myself, it's really easier said than done. So here's just one more picture for your viewing pleasure:

And now I say goodnight.