On my way...

I leave for the airport tomorrrow morning at 3:00. AM. Yikes. I'm going to cheer for the Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl in Tampa!!

Maggie is less than thrilled about us leaving, and also about all the Holiday craziness:



But she does look cute.



I finished the first Regia 6-ply sock! Yay! OK, so I almost ran out of yarn on this one and didn't get to do a fancy leg pattern like I wanted, but I still love it. More details on it when I return.





I tried to do a stretch "kitchner rib" (thats probably spelled wrong) bind off from The Big Book of Knitting. I must have done something wrong though, because it isn't really very stretchy at all. I'm debating whether this is ok, or if I need to pick the whole thing apart and try something different.

For my trip, I am bringing the seed stitch Silk Garden scarf to work on at night... so maybe there will finally be some progress on that. Also... photos of the surprise projects will be posted when I return!

See you in five days...

Christmas Eve

We are going to have a White Christmas!



This really makes me happy, and actually makes it feel like Christmastime.



I baked some mini spritz cookies yesterday; they are one of my favorite kinds (although I've never met a cookie I didn' t like...).



Yuuuuummy.



It is a tradition in our family to drive around different neighborhoods on Christmas Eve and look at the lights. Some of them are very cool and creative, such as this huge gift sitting on top of a roof:



You can see by the lights on the roofline just how tall it is.




Others, such as the house below, make you wonder what on earth people are thinking:



I don't think there is anything else to say.


Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates, Happy everything else to those who don't.

My first ever pair of socks are finished!

It took about six months, but I finally finished my toe-up two circ socks! Here is a photo of them on my feet:





I don't think the next pair of socks is going to take me this long (I hope at least!), since I didn't really work on these with any regularity.

Final Results/comments:

They fit fairly well - the left one is a little tighter than the right. I didn't actually count stitches when I was increasing for the toe, just knit until it fit. In the future, I'll remember to count. They are both a little long, and could be as much as 5 rows shorter I think.

I have some holes in my short-row heels; I need to learn how to do them correctly and fix that problem.

It is going to be a looooong time before I do another sock leg with ribbing all the way up. I think that is why they took so long to finish!

My gauge was too tight for the fair-isle pattern to turn out. I don't like this, but also don't think I would like the gauge any looser. (I got about 9 stitches/inch on 0 needles)

Two Outback Bowl Tickets for Sale

Just thought I'd let all of you know that I have two tickets for the Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Florida Gators in the Outback bowl in Tampa for sale on ebay right now! Take a look:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2211825410&category=16122&rd=1


(P.S. Yes I am still going! We got a tour package deal, and these are the original tickets!)

Ta-Da!

I have finished both Christmas surprises!!! (Please note all the time to spare...) Of course, no pictures of them just yet. I realized I need to make one little washcloth for my grandma yet, but that'll just take a day or so of work on it.

I have to go out to lunch with my boss tomorrow, then turn in a final project, study for my LAST final exam, and start packing for vacation! (and err... clean the apartment. gak.)

Everyone is getting into the holiday mood around here:

Updates

I finally got the November Archives up and running, as well as a page with some little printable holiday/knitting labels that I made.

I'm going to work on improving the gallery over the next few weeks.

Now I'm off to finish surprise #2!

1 down, 1 to go

I finished surprise #3 this weekend, and am thisclose to finishing #2. No photos until after Christmas!

My Dad and I did some power shopping this weekend, and I think that after a few days on my own (Tuesday and Wednesday probably) my shopping will be done. I wrapped a whole pile of gifts this afternoon, but our little tree is too small for them to fit underneath!

The 80's strike back! (a digression...)

Have I mentioned before that I love 80's music? I think this proves it!



I took this quiz here: http://www.yetanotherdot.com/asp/80s.html

Go check it out, its lots of fun and will get lots of good songs stuck in your head!

Getting there.

Today I finish classes. (Except for one final and one final project.) For Ever!

YAY!!!!!!
(happy dance.)

I have made good progress on surprise #2 the last few nights. I'm calling it 45% done! Unfortunately, surprise #3 has not seen the light of day in a little while. No biggie, I'd say I am more than halfway done with it already.

I feel like I have been neglecting my other projects (toe up sock #2 and scarf), but those are for me and gifts have to come first right now. I am going to finish those on my two week break from work after Christmas.

I have decided on my next sock project! Regia Crazy Stripes 6-ply. I have already done the swatch and crunched the numbers for them (using Judy Gibson's You're-Putting-Me-On pattern). I need to use US#2 needles for this 6-ply yarn to get a gauge I like! Gak, I must be a loose knitter! But, I am still excepting them to go fairly quickly. I think I might try some sort of fancy-smancy stitch for the leg instead of just plain ribbing.

I'll also be doing this pair (my second ever) toe-up, but on dpn's instead of 2 circs. No real reason except that I feel like I need to become "well rounded" in different techniques. Can you tell I am excited to start?!

One week of classes left!

Between school, work, and Christmas preparations, there is so much that needs to be done in the next few weeks! My parents were in town this weekend to do some shopping with me. That was fun but time consuming! I have spent a few spare moments (usually late at night) this weekend working on my surprise projects. I did manage a few rows recently on my Silk Garden scarf:



Aren't the colors great?


This is about .5 of 4 skeins. For reference, the needle shown is about 6 inches long, and it is 35 stitches wide. I love how it looks, but seed stitch makes it go soo slowly! I'm sure my technique sucks, but I don't know how to speed it up any.

On the plus side, we haven't gotten any more snow here.

(P.S. the new Knitty is up! Go check it out!)

Bowling!

The Hawkeyes are going to be playing (beating) the Gators in the Outback Bowl on January 1st!!

Eek! Snow!

It snuck up on me overnight. I guess winter is actually here. It is definitely my least favorite season - all that snow and ice and dirty slush. Yuck! Here's a shot from campus via webcam:



brrrrrr.


Edit:There was about 3 inches of snow on my car this morning when I left, and apparently my snow brush has disappeared. Can you say wet mittens? grrr...

miniscule knitting content: I worked on #2 and #3 last night. Not much, but enough to feel like I accomplished something!

Keepin' Busy (take two)

I've only got a week of classes left and then finals, plus some projects, so I haven't had a ton to time to work on projects lately. But, I did make some soap (watermelon) and washcloths for my Grandma(s) for Christmas.







I've also worked on suprise #2 and #3. Got just a start on #2, but finished almost half of #3 at once while watching TV the other night. There was a show on National Geographic Channel (one of my favorites) about modern day Geishas in Japan. It was so much like the book Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden (also one of my favorites). Very interesting! I'd definitly recommend the book if you haven't read it yet.

Ack!

Blogger just lost my post. Complete with witty comments and photos. = ( Don't have time to fix it all now, so I'll try again when I get home from work!

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone in the U.S. has a great Thanksgiving.
:::scratch here for pumpkin pie scent:::

Edit:
I had a great Thanksgiving at Omi and Papa's house. Ate some yummy turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie, and my personal holiday favorite, can-shaped cranberry sauce.

Here is Maggie demonstrating how I am spending my break:

Feelin' Better

This is Thanksgiving Break week. (For the first time, the univeristy gave us the entire week off. Very nice!) I'm feeling better, having finally gotten (mostly) rid of my headachey issues. This was accomplished by sleeping most of the weekend!

I've got my archives working. Yay! Blogger didn't get the best of me this time. Hopefully all the links work. Let me know if you run across one that doesn't.

I also added two squares to my afghan squares project, ordered the yarn for Surprise #2, and got the yarn for (the new) surprise #3.

Speaking of yarn, Hobby Lobby had a great sale the other week I just couldn't resist. I got these Bernat Hot Sox yarns for $1.66 each.
Yes, you read that right. WooHoo!
Now, I haven't tried using any of it yet, but it is really soft and the colors are brighter than they appear in the pic so I think I will like them.

I'm going home to my parents house tomorrow evening after work. I'm looking forward to a few responsibility free days! My mom and I are going to do some good cooking/crafty type stuff and my Dad and I are going to.... well, sit around and make jokes. Like usual :-)

Work needs to be done

I need to work on my website - namely the gallery area and archives. Hopefully, since I have next week off school, I should be able to get this done soon! Yay!

Too tired to do/write/post anything interesting...

But I'll have something new for you tomorrow!

Victory Celebration:

Bobby Labonte won the last race of the season last Sunday.
(woo hoo!)

I've got a ton of work to do for school during the next few days. Hopefully I'll be able to get back to my regularly scheduled knitblog soon!

New Goodies!

Lookie at what I got in the mail from Monica in Australia:



That's beeeeautiful handspun yarn and nifty koala-ish buttons. I love it all! Thanks so much Monica!

I have a love/hate relationship...

...with seed stitch. I started on my Silk Garden scarf, which is entirely in seed stitch. I love how it looks but haaaate doing it. So slow! Maybe there is a better technique than I use that speeds it up a little, but I don't know. It's progressing extremely slowly. Not that I had any false hopes of what I was getting into, but if I can get myself to finish 4 rows a night its a big thing. Oh well, it does look good. I'll try to put a pic up soon to get some encouragement to keep on working!

Workin' on stuff and a happy story

I wanted to try and make a little sock for my new bear (see post below). This is what I came up with tonight:



It's a little too small - I'll try again tomorrow starting with 20 stitches instead of 18.

I've got a great story to tell! The other night I had all my beading stuff out on the coffee table working on some stitch markers. My boyfriend sat next to me the entire time watching; I really didn't think anything of it. So the next day we meet for class around 1:00 and he pulls these out of his pocket:



He went to the store, bought some new beads and made them for me that morning! Isn't that just the coolest thing in the world? You have no idea how surprised I was... (I think they are even cooler than any I have made!)

Busy busy...

First off, I found this on a random (non-knitting) blog today. I don't remember which, so I can't give you the link - sorry. "You know you're a child of the 80's when..." Come on. You know you want to click it... Is is sad that I can agree with every single statement??

I finished the second sock yarn mitten. No pic of it yet, but it looks just like the first if you're curious.

I also finished the Fat Hat! I love it. It turned out just a little big (and it checked my gauge! I swear!) but works if I turn up the ribbing for a brim.



I have been talking about wanted to get a little bear to make sweaters for. So last weekend my parents found me this bear, who is just perfect:



You can't really tell from the picture, but he is about 9" tall. Watch for little bear sweaters in the future :-)

Happy Halloween!

It's almost Friday... it's almost Friday...

Why is it that some weeks have not much going on, and then other weeks (like this one) have every possible thing you could ever do going on?

But, I have done some knitting at night (mostly to keep my sanity...) Here is my progress on mitten #2:



I'm just past the thumb gusset part, which is hiding on the other side in this picture.
Also, I finished two dishcloths - plain diagonal ones, good mindless work.

Notice the movement of the Fat Hat from "thinking about" to "knitting". I need a quick satisfaction project (that was not a dishcloth). At 2.25 stitches per inch, it sure is quick even with cables! So that will be fun to finish this weekend.

Hope everyone is having a good week!

Home and back again...

I spent the weekend at my parent's house. It was nice and relaxing - do I really have to go back to class tomorrow?

I worked on sock yarn mitten #2, but didn't finish as I had hoped. I probably won't have much time to work on it this week, as I have two exams. = (

(I also made one purple garter stitch square for my sampler afghan project - all together now: OOOooooooo!)

Look what I've got!

I got these cool little fabric labels in the mail yesterday:



Mom sent them to me as a surprise. Big kiss for you, Mom!

Did I ever show you my newest yarn?



The Silk Garden is for the scarf listed until future projects to the left, and the sock yarn is for...well, obviously. Here's a little sample of the colors:

Finished!

Finally, something is getting done around here. Here are some finished items (unfortunately two of them still need soul mates...)

Mom's Fuzzy Scarf

Lion Brand Fun Fur (white) and Woolease (pink) with a slit near one end. My own pattern.

Booga Bag

Made from Noro Kueryon (of course) and Black Cascade 220. Pattern is here.

"Magic Strips" Sock Yarn Mitten 1/2

Lion Brand Magic Stripes yarn, in "JellyBean stripes". The pattern is from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Patterns (or something like that).

Toe-Up Sock 1/2

Plymouth Jaquard sock yarn, toe up on two circs. No real pattern used, just techniques I've read about along the way. Its my first sock EVER! Isn't it cool? Doesn't it fit well? (big grin!)



I am really happy with everything here. Besides making dishcloths for Christmas, I'm not starting any new projects until I have the second sock and mitten finished.

Hey that reminds me, I got the cutest little needles to make dishcloths on. The are from Red Heart and are called kid's starter needles. Size 7, red plastic, and only about 7 inches long. Perfect! Plus, they are just about weightless, so that is great - much better than the metal ones I was using for dishcloths. I found them at Ben Franklin craft store (who by the way has a Great selection of really real yarn! I was shocked!).

Going camping in Baraboo, Wisconsin this weekend for a class - wish me good weather!

I hate ignorance in all its forms...

...or, "Three easy steps to being a bad driver".

1) Come to a complete stop at a protected green turn arrow. Sit there until it turns yellow while you decide if it is safe to proceed.

2) Randomly tap the brake pedal on the highway when there is no one in sight ahead of you, but a car right behind you.

3) Attempt to merge into traffic from a on-ramp at 35 mph. Look shocked when cars need to swerve to avoid you.


I had to drive more than usual today; remembered why I like taking the bus. I'm off to develop some B+W film in my bathroom...knitting content is coming up next!

Sniffle...

Another sick blogger here. Nothing interesing going on, just trying to get school stuff done without falling asleep in class. Gonna go lay back down on the couch and feel sorry for myself...

Finished!

I'm so happy. My first-ever sock is finished! No picture until next weekend (Oct. 4) when my Dad visits and I can use the "good" digital camera to take a photo. I'm going to start on its mate soon, but I think I need a lighter project first!

The cast-off edge on the sock just about killed me. I re-did it about 3 times, since I wanted to make sure it would be stretchy enough to put on. I ending up using a trick I found online somewhere of increasing 1 st. every other st. on the last row, and then binding off. Seemed to work ok but the edge is kinda ruffley.

In other news, I have a strip of b+w negatives hanging over my bathtub drying right now. Just developed them myself. Yes, I am cool. Gonna go in to the university darkroom tomorrow to print some of them.

Hawks and Socks

Here's a quick scan of my progress on the first toe-up sock:



I'm thinking that one most repeat of the color sequence will be enough. Hopefully it'll be done in a day or two! Yay! Then, I just need to make the second one. sigh. I think I am going to learn how to do two at once next!

In football news, the Hawkeyes beat AZ State on Saturday in an awesome night game. Go Hawks!

Any Rundgren fans in the house?

Ok, so I'm a bit miffed by the news that pop-girly Mandy Moore is going to be doing a cover of a Todd Rundgren song (Can we still be Friends) on her next CD. Is nothing sacred??? So I went to her website and listened to a clip; it not too terrible. But still. shheesh.

and now, just because I can, I am including a shameless promotion of my coolness:


Me and Todd July 4, 2002.

(at a Kane County Cougars baseball game)

knitting news:
Running into issues with the surprise project again. grrr.. but this time I think I will just go with it and change the plan a little. You'll see eventually I promise.

I have done half the 2x2 ribbing on my first toe-up sock. Almost there! Still sticking to my goal of not starting anything until something is finished! Not sure how long that can last though.

Bookmark - lace trial

Here's the photo of my first attemt at lace:


Its not really too terrible is it? I'm sure I messed up the pattern a few times, but was afraid the rip it apart and never be able to pick up the stitches again. It only took about 2.5 hours over two nights to finish. The pattern I used is here, under 'bookmarks'.

One more thing...

Gotta tell you that Wool Needle Work has Noro Silk Garden yarn in stock (finally!) for $6.49 a skein. Some colors are already sold out, so go look! If you are partial to nifty self-patterning sock yarns (as am I) they have over 50 colors of Regia for $4.29/ 50g ball.

Yawn...

I really need to stop staying up so late. I know, its not really that late right now, but I am planning on staying up and knitting for another few hours or so. So I'm gonna, even though I could fall asleep right now. I wish I wasn't so stubborn!

Moving on to good knitting news: I made my first ever attempt at lace, in the form of a bookmark. I am really pleased with how it turned out. It's not purrfect, but I told myself it was for the practice and not so much the finished project so I'm cool with it. No pic tonight, but I will put one up tomorrow.

Also, no pic of the finished Booja Bag yet, since I don't like the one I took. That should be up by next weekend. I used it for the first time yesterday - no comments but I loved it!

I am going to go put in First Contact (Star Trek movie) and work on the "surprise" project.

Patriot Day

Ta Da!

Lookie! My new site is up and (mostly) running! There still are some bugs to work out, but I need to go study now, so I will work on it tomorrow.

A good Wednesday?

Today was my kinda day. Well, besides waking up with a killer headache and not really being able to shake it. I only have one class - at 6:00 pm - and only had to work for about two hours.

Plus - The X-Files 10th Anniversary Marathon on SciFi all day long, and being home to watch most of it! Woohoo!

And I made myself one of my favorite snacks, lime jello with cucumber pieces in it. (Don't say ick until you've tried it!)

AND AND AND ... I think I am going to upload the new version of my homepage tonight! I haven't had time to work on the other pages lately, and I am getting impatient, so I am just gonna put up the index page for now.

I love short weeks!

With Labor day on Monday, and no classes for me on Friday, I had a great week!

I got my booja bag finished, felted and assembled a few days ago. Yay! No picture yet, since I don't remember to take one until around now (11:00 pm), and don't like the way it looks with the flash. But it looks great, trust me ;-) The only minor issue is that is Kueryon did not felt as much as I would have liked (you can still see a hint of stitches), but the black Cascade 220 I used for the bottom felted like Nobody's Business and I was afraid that would shrink waaaay too much if I ran in through the washer again. I've never used 220 before, but now I definitely want to, for a felted and an unfelted project. (felted = bag, hat, fuzzyfeet? unfelted = hat, mittens, sweater?)

But I SWEAR, I am not starting anything new until all my WIPs are finished, and my new website it up!

The Hawkeyes play again tomorrow, and there is a race on Sunday... so stay tuned!

P.S. I am in the process of transitioning to my new site, so some things (gallery mainly) are not working right now! But its gonna be sooo worth it in the end... ;-)

I'm a genius

Well, thats definitly an overstatement but I did solve a major problem I was having with my new website layout. Barring any further delays, the new site should be up and running here by tomorrow night!

In racing news, Terry Labonte (Bobby's older brother), won the Southern 500 at Darlington today. Yes, we are happy for him! Bobby was 7th. At least he didn't wreck...

In knitting news, my Booja J bag is finished, except for the handles and felting. I love the colors so much! Beautiful...

As you can see in the pic, I am doing the i-cord handles with a knitting spool instead of dpns. (this spool is from my "Barbie knitting kit", when I was kid :-) It is going muuuch faster. I'll show you again when it is felted!

Hawkeyes Win!

Today was the opening game for the Iowa Hawkeyes at Legendary Kinnick Stadium, against Miami of Ohio. After being last season's Big Ten conference champs, us season ticket holders were excited to get going. It was a great game!



On the walk to the stadium, we came across this all too ironic sign and my Dad had to take a picture:

Back to Class... Picture Day + Show and Tell

Classes started this week. Here is an example of what not to start Sunday night at 11:00pm:


(rearranging furniture that is... the pic is a little vague)

I finished the baby hat I was working on. I really like the way it turned out:



I have also been working on my Booja J felted bag: (there is more done now than in this pic; I'll post another that shows the color striping of the Kueryon well.)



Christmas in August!

Just look at all the cool little boxes UPS brought me:



They contain miniature room - type stuff from American Girl, who has it all 50% off. Yay! Here is a quick pic of some of the stuff...not really arranged yet but you get the idea!



And finally...

Here is a pic of my spiny-tailed lizard Mollie looking cute on her rock:

lots of work...

I've been spending a LOT of time working on the layout to my new site. As in, until 3am every morning. yikes.

Hopefully, it will be up and running by next weekend at the latest. Woo Hoo!!!

I have been doing a little knitting on a baby hat, but no pic yet since all my efforts are going towards the new stuff.

Make sure you check back and see it... its gonna be rockin!

A better sock

I took apart the too-pointy heel on my toe up sock a few days ago and replaced it with a much better looking (and perfect fitting) one. Pretty good for my second heel ever I think! See for yourself:



I also have been making some little stitch markers, to use on my next pair of socks. (I need them for a pattern I have planned out.) They are shown over a size 0 needle. Cool huh?



I have made one larger one so far, fitting on at least a size 10 needle, to use with BoojaJ's felted bag pattern.