Hola from España!

So Spain is pretty chill on the knitting front-so far I´ve spent pretty much all of my time touring cathedrals etc. and/or eating way too much. I´ve also been sleeping on the bus, which cuts heavily into my prime knitting time (it also cuts into the time when I am supposed to be learning about the subjuntive tense, but something about our professor´s soothing voice and the motion of the bus and I am OUT. But come on, who tries to teach a lesson ON A BUS?). I did, however, manage to turn the heel on the second stripy sock on the plane on the way over, and now I´m done with the gussets and on to the foot. Maybe I´ll have a pair by the end of the trip?

Also, no yarn stores so far, although I haven´t looked very hard. Maybe in the city we´re getting to tomorrow, where I´ll take classes for a month.

Anyway, so I wanted to share this amusing conversation from the other night:
Boyfriend: So, your birthday´s coming up. What do you want?
Me: Oh, you know me pretty well. Get me something you think I would like.
Boyfriend: Aw, man, is this some kind of test or something?
Me: No, don´t be silly. Seriously, you know me better than just about anyone. You´ll come up with something.
Boyfriend: ...well, I´m not getting you knitting stuff.
Me: See, you DO know me!

Knitting on the Road

(apologies to Nancy Bush)

Well, I'm off to Spain tomorrow, so this little baby blog probably won't see a lot of action for awhile. In the interest of Minimalism and Reducing the Amount of Crap I Will Be Carrying Around Europe, my travel knitting for the summer will be...socks. And only socks. (chosen for their small size, portability, and the fine gauge, thus ensuring that they'll last me awhile). Therefore, the next seven weeks will see me doing a lot of this:

f0r awhile.

(socks: Lana Grossa Meilenweit, color #Ilosttheballband, 2.25 bamboo DPNs, "sock recipe" from here. I actually finished this sock and just started the heel flap for the second, but I thought this picture--taken in the Atlanta airport on the way back from Brazil earlier this month, and featuring a lovely Airport Carpet background--would give a nice idea of what I'll be doing.)

For my trip, I have the remainder of this pair, some Lorna's Laces in Tuscany (look at the colors, I want allll of them, precious) and some Mountain Colors Bearfoot in Red Tail Hawk. Yum yum. (and who am I kidding, probably some Souvenir Spanish Sock Yarn. I know myself well).

When I get back: the epic story of how this:

became this:

(excuse the dippy look on my face; I was probably thinking something along the lines of "Mom, take the damn picture!")

and subsequently this:

But first, a-traveling I will go. See ya.

Seven (Fourteen) Things

Seven Knitting Things About Me:
1) I learned to knit four times, at ages eight, fourteen, fifteen, and eighteen. The last time finally stuck.
2) My paternal grandmother was a prolific and talented knitter; I wish I had a heart-warming story about learning to knit from her, but in a fashion typical of the way my life usually works, my learning to knit (and really getting into it) coincided with her mental and physical decline finally stopping her from knitting. (on the bright side, I inherited a LOT of yarn, as well as a collection of Susan Bates aluminum needles from the 70s).
3) I am allergic to patterns. Seriously. And it's not like I start using a pattern and then branch off, it's more that I have trouble with patterns...conceptually. It makes a lot of sense, at least to me. If I want to knit, say, a cabled hat, I don't waste a lot of time looking for a pattern that will match exactly what I have in my head. I get out the yarn I want to use, make a swatch, and design a cabled hat. Period. (I am of course leaving out the part about my ripping back ten times while my knitting friends look up from their patterns and smirk at me).
4) My "stash," while smaller than most knitters (constrained by space and finances, mostly the latter), is nonetheless larger than my roommates think is reasonable.
5) I usually have two or three projects going at the same time--if I had a bigger stash it would be more.
6) My favorite yarns to knit with are generally bulky and wool (hence the blog title), though not always necessarily blue (although often). I buy other yarns if I have a specific project in mind, but if I go to a yarn store "just to look" (hah!) the yarn that I come away with is nearly always bulky and single-ply. I don't know why I do this.
7) I don't knit a lot when I'm in school (or rather, I do, but make very little progress), my time being taken up by...well, school. (this is not to say that I don't blow off schoolwork for knitting. I have a sock that I think of as "the sock that I made instead of studying for my music history final"). When I'm on break, I therefore try to make up for lost time by knitting A LOT.

Seven Non-Knitting Things About Me:
1) The people in my life are all very important to me, and thus will probably feature in this blog. They include but are not limited to:
Family: mother, father, brother, aunt, others. Mother is a particularly treasured victim recipient because she has the dual values of a) being my mother and having no choice but to treasure everything I ever make, from ugly Red Heart acrylic 'scarf' at age eight to an alpaca lace scarf and b) always, always, always being cold.
Friends, Roommates, etc: Some friends are more supportive than others; reaction to the constant knitting usually falls somewhere along the lines of indulgent bemusement. Roommates are pretty much resigned to the amount of yarn that I store in our room, although less supportive of my blocking sweaters on the couch, thus rendering it un-sittable until the sweater dries. They are, however, easily placated with colorful hats. Also included in this category is Boyfriend, who so far has proved to be an enthusiastic recipient: "Oh, man, that's so cool! Look, it has those little twisty things! And that thing where it changes to the other thing! Wow!"
2) I am a music major at a liberal arts college in the Northeast. Music is the other thing that occupies my mind when I'm not knitting. (the combination of this factors, of course, means that sitting around listening to Mahler and knitting is pretty much my perfect Friday night. I am nothing if not a huge geek).
3) Until six days ago, I had hair down to my waist. Now it's roughly an inch long. While shorter, it is still curly and red.
4) I don't eat red meat and I'm allergic to bananas and avocados, but other than that I am omnivorous.
5) I am not the best driver, and failed my driver's test--um. More than once and less than ten times, let's leave it at that.
6) I am old enough to vote and too young to drink
7) I think Questionable Content is pretty much the funniest thing ever.

Well, it's official. I've lost my mind.

Knitting is one thing. Buying yarn is one thing. Knitting A LOT (at the beach, at the movies, on the subway, etc) and buying a LOT of yarn and making sure to visit every yarn store that I come within 15 miles of is another thing.

And now I'm blogging about knitting. I've lost my mind, and I'm having so much fun.

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To kick things off, here is a picture of me:

With some of my hand-dyed yarn. This is how I feel about yarn, knitting, and a lot of other things.