The Thinning of the Veil

A few new treasuries to share...









For my new apartment... I wish! Only in my dreams...

Cold Weather No More?

I've been closely keeping a eye on the weather in Baton Rouge.  It's supposed to go up to 90 degrees there today, and that makes me nervous.  Why?  Not so much because I'm not really a hot weather person (though I'm not), but rather, because of the implications for my knitting.

Every knitter in a cold weather zone knows that fall is knitting season.  I start getting excited about knitting every July 4, when I bust out my poolside knitting for my family's annual Fourth of July picnic.  What follows is a rapid slide into sweater season... by the end of October, I've usually gotten at least one sweater and a couple of fun accessories off the needles.  By the time the really frigid weather comes in January and February, I'm more than prepared.  Knitting is not only fun, but practical, and a great skill to know in the face of the inevitable zombie apocalypse (or most other apocalypses that don't involve a plunge into extreme heat, I guess.)

So what does one knit in a town where it never snows and that boasts that the weather is warm all year long?  I guess I'll have to learn, because I know people who knit down south, and I've already located two yarn shops and at least one knitting group in Baton Rouge.  In the meantime, I've been knitting here in Pennsylvania, and have more or less tried to strike a balance with early fall accessories and lightweight sweater patterns.  We'll see how they go over in the Red Stick.  Here are a few that I've finished recently:

The Ireth Carnesîr Capelet

I may have mentioned the Ireth Carnesîr Capelet in an earlier blog post; either way, I know I mentioned designer The Jane Victoria earlier this fall.  This pattern was at the top of my knitting queue this season, and I knit it in Madeline Tosh Vintage, in the colorway "Kale," which is an awesome brownish plum color that I've been admiring since I first saw it in person last summer in Boston.  I accented the finished garment with handmade stamped muslin ribbon from my friend Alura (VampireGothChick) of Moonspell Crafts on Etsy - I'm kind of addicted to her hand-stamped ribbons and to her shop in general.

Lúthien Ar-Feiniel Opera-Length Fingerless Gloves

The Lúthien Ar-Feiniel Opera-Length Fingerless Gloves are another pattern from The Jane Victoria, and appeared on my Fall Fashion Wishlist earlier this fall.  I did these in Tosh Vintage as well.  The colorway was "Antique Lace," and once again, I finished the project with Alura's hand stamped ribbon.

Rippled

"Rippled" is a new pattern from Laura Nelkin that caught my eye right away.  It's a super quick knit that you can do in an evening, and she makes it even easier by making kits available in a couple of different colors.  I decided to try one out, and I must say that it was well worth the money.  The yarn was top quality, the color was great, and the kit came with all of the coordinating beads (the pattern requires two different types.)  The pattern is also available separately through Ravelry.  I enjoyed this little project so much that I may order a second kit in black.

So, which of these projects are going to fly in the deep south?  The necklace should be ok, but I hope I'm not resigning myself to a life of nothing but knitted jewelry.  I'm pretty sure the capelet will be useful temperature-wise, perhaps even more so that in the northeast, where it tends to get too cold for such things as soon as fall rolls around.  But will the style be too "cold weather" to wear in BR?  The gloves I'm simply not sure about... they're arm length and worsted weight, and might just be too warm for my new digs.

I guess I'll find out soon enough... as of next Sunday, I'll officially be a resident of Louisiana.  Life is such an adventure, LOL, right down to the potential overhaul of my knitting agenda.

My First Studio!

Hi friends! I am busily gearing up for my move to Baton Rouge, and I am so excited! Last week, I flew down there to "apartment hunt," check out more of the city, and meet once more with my future co-workers. I can't say that I really "hunted" for an apartment, however, because I ended up taking the first one that I saw. You guys, I'm completely in love with the apartment and the location! It's near campus, so I can walk to work, even though Baton Rouge is definitely a driving city - as a former New Yorker, being able to walk places is pretty critical to my happiness, so I'm thrilled with the location. But more importantly, it's a two bedroom apartment that costs about a third of the one bedroom I had in New York, and it's located in a complex with a pool, has a view of the lake, and, most importantly, has... wait for it... a washer and dryer IN THE UNIT! I know, right? Unheard of!

The reason that I'm extra excited about this place is that I'm planning to turn the second bedroom into... you guessed it... my very first studio! Or craft room, to put it less pretentiously, I guess. This is where my yarn stash and spinning wheel will live, and it's where I'll do my metalwork (it even has a window through which to vent the fumes from the E6000.) It'll be so nice to have a separate space for all of those things, rather than having it all over my living space. Until now, my "studio" has always consisted of a spot on the floor in front of the television... but now, I'll have a real craft room, and hopefully be inspired to create more (and more consistently!)

I don't have any pictures of the apartment yet, but I will definitely try to post some as I get things set up. For now, here's a picture of University Lake as taken from campus. My building is on the other side... if you look to the left of the photo, near the bridge, that's where I'll be!