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!