A satisfying sense of accomplishment

This week I did what I thought just a short time ago was impossible. I finished not one but TWO major projects this week. Major.

First, I finished the blanket for Corene and Dan's wedding next month. No pictures until after the wedding, however. Take my word that it's fan-freakin-tastic and a part of me wants to keep it for myself. People I know better stop getting married for awhile because after a little break I want the next afghan I knit to be for myself.

The second thing I finished (just minutes ago, actually) was my wallaby! It was, in fact, the second time I knit it. I got almost all the way through it once and decided that I didn't like the very bottom of the sweater so I ripped the whole thing out and started over. I then did a little knit along with Jessica, who was making a wallaby for Cameron (who is almost 3). It was a bit of a struggle at times, as I have a very short attention span and Jessica's was about 4 times smaller and therefore faster. But I persevered and I finally finished!



*Technically I used the pattern from Cottage Creations, but I change the bottom, the sleeves, the top and I didn't do the hood or the collar. It was, however, extremely helpful as far as the pocket goes.

Now it's time to get back to knitting baby things, assuming the baby ever decides to SHOW. (He was due the 25th, it is now the 29th. Patience is not my best virtue) :)

Go Cubs!

Hello to Stephanie, who found my blog through someone else and asked for the pattern that it came from.... and never let it be said that I don't take direction well:

As many know, I'm about to be an aunt (any day now, the due date is Sunday) and I've been knitting things like crazy...there was the sweater in July, a pair of booties that I made before I even started the blog, and I have about 12 more ideas. Basically, I'm completely out of control. But in a good way. Moving on...

First, here is a picture of said hat (it looks much bigger than it is, my little brother is holding it more in front than to the side. It's very small.)




The pattern is called "Ball Cap" by Pick Up Sticks! (I would imagine it can be found at www.pickupsticksonline.com I did things a little differently, however. Instead of knitting the cap and the brim separately, felting them separately and sewing them together, I picked up stitches and felted it as one piece. So, I didn't get the ridged effect you see in the picture on the pattern. Also, I thought the brim was a little too pointy (and I wanted a more rounded look, like a baseball cap) so after I felted the hat the first time, I trimmed the edge and felted it again. And that is how it became the hat it is today.

As for the letter, I just graphed a little gameplan to try and get as rounded of a "C" as possible (so it would look as Cubs-ish as possible) and the pattern said to double strand using a stem or outlining stitch. But since I'm garbage at embroidery and that phrase basically meant nothing to me no matter how many times I tried to figure out how to do it. So I took a single strand of the red and just duplicate stitched the "C". I don't really notice a huge difference after felting between the way my hat looked and the way the picture looked as far as the letter was concerned.

So that's that, the story of the hat. Oh, and I made the 2nd size. It gets pretty small and I definitely recommend finding a bowl or a pitcher or something to stretch it back out a little and get the shape you want.

And that's all, folks.

Somebody pinch me...

Let me refresh your memory.

For 2 years, I looked like this:


For the last week, I looked like this:


And NOW, as of around 9 this morning, I look like THIS:


Do you think I'm happy about having my braces off? Let me just say that so far food tastes better, the sun shines brighter, company is more enjoyable and everything just seems a little more pleasant.

Yes, I know. But allow me my one foolishly optimistic day of cliches and tomorrow I'll go back to my usual sarcastic self.

A blast from the past

As I was driving to work this morning, my heart almost stopped beating and exploded in my chest.

There, the car in front of me...

Was there something familiar about it??

There WAS. It was MR. UGLY! He lives on! I almost teared up...

For those of you unfamiliar, here is the back story on Mr. Ugly (for those of you who already know, feel free to skip to the end):

**********
When I turned 16, unfortunately my grandfather passed away (as is somewhat of a curse in our family when we turn 16). My grandmother decided to get a new car, and she negotiated a good deal with my dad so I could get her car. A red '89 Escort, that she effectively drove back and forth to the grocery store.

Anyway, one day at school I was having an argument with my friend Brandon (which was a frequent occurence) about whose car was less cool. I told him his car was pointless because it barely got him the 2 blocks between his house and school and the fabric on the ceiling was held up with push pins (seriously, imagine like 200 push pins holding up the top of your car). He very wittily replied, "yea? Well your car is ugly." To which our other friend Casey added, "yea, yea, your car is like MR. Ugly." The name stuck, despite all my efforts to fight it, and both the name and the car took on a life of their own. Everyone in my high school knew my car as "Mr. Ugly." For Christmas my freshman year in college my parents bought me a vanity plate for my car that said MR UGLY. Then the car became FAMOUS. My parents went to a restaurant and the waiter brought the check and asked, "who wants Mr. Ugly? haha, isn't that funny? I saw it on a license plate the other day." Pizza delivery men would never fail to comment on it, the fame even followed me to college. Two separate highway occasions:

1. A man pulled up next to me in order to scream, "HEY!!! I'M MISTER UGLY!!!" It's a good thing we were in moving cars, or he may have gotten fiesty.

2. I was passing a guy in a truck and as I'm almost past him he speeds up so he's keeping up with me. This always makes me nervous but eventually I look over and he's pointing at the back of my car with a huge smile on his face. So I slow down to get away from the creepy man and I see when I get behind him that his license plate says "UGLYMUG" He was just trying to be my buddy.

So you get the picture, he was famous.

Anyway, during my 3rd year of college, my little brother turned 16 and unfortunately, my grandmother died (the aforementioned curse) and I got her newer car, while Mr. Ugly was passed on to Sam. Sam drove him for two more years until he left for college and my parents donated Mr. Ugly to charity. It was a very sad day indeed, the end of an era...

**********

It was definitely him! He still had the US flag sticker underneath the top taillight, the dents on the driver's side door, the dent on the hood from the mailbox I hit when I was 19, a little bit of rust on the bottom of the driver's door.

It warms my heart to know he's still out there, truckin' along, carrying people to and fro.

I'll acknowledge that perhaps I'm a little over sentimental about this, but he was my first car, he's very dear to my heart, and it made my day to see he's still on the road. He's like the little Escort that could. :)

Ok, I'll stop now.

Oh and my braces come off in 38.25 hours. Yes!

beware, this post is not for the weak of stomach...

What is this frightening picture of?? A scary monster, coming to haunt your dreams? A sad little captive trying to break free? No, this is the rubber band configuration happening in my mouth for the next week until my braces come off. I'm trying to be optimistic enough to think that they just want you to REALLY appreciate having your braces off so they make it so completely miserable for the last week that you have them.

I count a total of 12 rubber bands I just removed in order to eat what my orthodontist laughingly refers to as the one meal a day I'm going to be eating for the next week. I believe the exact encounter went something like this:

"Now, you're going to be wearing spaghetti bands for the next week. You'll probably really only want to eat one big meal a day because they're kind of a pain. No, I'm joking. But really you might want to."

Nice.

Anyway, update on the job front: I love it, it's very interesting and somewhat overwhelming at this point. I think it'll all work out nicely once I get the hang of things!

Well, back to my one meal for today....

As promised, cool stuff to look at

Well, I've actually been a busy girl the last couple weeks, hence no posting. However, I did promise cool pictures once I got a battery in my camera, and lo and behold a battery is now in my camera!

First, progress on the wallaby. I'm up to the shoulders now, which is about where I got the last time I knit it and then ripped it out. It's looking pretty good, it's to the point where it needs to be split for the neck placket, so hopefully I will be able to wear it before too long!

Next: A friend of our family spent the last 8 months or so in Sweden studying hard and having interesting experiences. She came back a couple weeks ago and my mom and I went to hear all about her trip and look at all her pictures. We thought it would be nice to give her a little something to welcome her home, so I whipped up a little bag, which my mom filled with chocolates from Roma..yum!

Here is the bag and a close up of the stitch pattern. This is the staircase rib from 200 Knitted Blocks, which I bought a couple weeks ago when I was up north for another baby shower for Jamie. It's a great book, with lots of interesting ideas and I can't wait to do more blocks out of it!

Other than this I've been working on the top secret wedding gift for Corene and Dan, to be unveiled at the end of October, after I've given it to them.

In other news, on Friday I went to get my hair cut, only to suffer what was possibly the worst and most pointless haircut of my life. It was so bad, in fact, that I had to wear my hair in a ponytail for the entire weekend. There was at least an inch difference in length from one side to the other. Disaster. Luckily I called back on Tuesday to let them know it was clearly not going to work and they had me come in so someone else could cut my hair and I'm glad to say she did a fantastic job and I now have the haircut I originally asked for. And, in honor of a new season, I also decided to go red, so it's a whole new head of hair for me. :) I don't really have any pictures, because I was really not interested in documenting the travesty that was the first cut. Take my word for it, it was terrible.

My new job starts on Monday and I'm so so so excited!!! I can't wait to have somewhere to be Monday through Friday during business hours being all responsible and adult-like. Today I went and bought basically a whole new wardrobe in honor of it. Next stop: shoes.

Last but not least, a one day late happy birthday to Jenny and Marie, who turned 24 yesterday. We went to Royal Oak to have dinner and celebrate with them. It was tons o' fun and I wanted to give them a shout out on my blog. Happy birthday weekend, girls!