Still smarting

So, I took quite a beating over Thanksgiving for lack of posting.

Consider my wrists slapped. :)

I give you a pictoral history of the last month and a half or so (it's faster)....

Isn't my city pretty?

At the beginning of October some pals came to visit and we had an outrageous time for three straight days. Three days that ended with a headache unlike any I've ever felt before (from the drinking) and a broken toe (the cause of which remains a mystery)...but we DID get to see THIS GUY:

There's nothing like a guy wearing a giant pair of underwear. Sweet.

The very next weekend, my parents came to visit!! I think they had a good time, they crammed themselves into my tiny apartment (don't worry, they slept at a hotel, I love my parents but there IS such a thing as too much togetherness). Here is a picture of my parents in front of Faneul Hall (I have no idea how it got this small).

Next came Halloween (I mean, there were days in between, but nothing exciting happened so why bother?)

For Halloween we went to Toni's apartment in Rochester, NY for a rockin' party.

That's me, on the left, Static Cling. That's Sacha, on the right, the hillbilliest hillbilly that ever sat through a party drinking Red Dog beer just to stay in costume. Now there's dedication.

Next, I got a haircut, made a couple of changes on the color front:

Apologies for the very serious face, but I was concentrating very hard, this was taken with my cell phone (because I had once again lost my camera, which I have since found).

Lastly, remember this?

This was incarnation #4 of this pair of socks. Incarnation #4 becomes incarnation #5:

That's about all I've got on the knitting front for now, but along with the holidays tends to come my inspiration, so I'm sure that'll be picking up soon as well.

Peace I'm outta here!

Are you kidding me?

*warning - this is a bit of a rant*

There are no words.

However, I'll strive to do my best to relay the debacle that was my commute home tonight.

I didn't go straight to the train today, I had a little shopping to do, so I wandered about the city for an hour or so (and I managed to go into a DSW and out again WITHOUT a new pair of shoes. That might be the first time that's happened. Ever) It was a lovely evening and I had a nice little walk adn was feeling all content with the world in general.

Anyway. So I finish making my purchases and it's time to go home. I go into a T stop at State Street and I journey through a long maze of tunnels until I finally find my way to the Blue Line (which is the line I take to get home). So I get on the train and there are no seats (this is not unusual between 5 and 7 pm) so I'm standing and holding the bar while avoiding eye contact with everyone else, as is standard operating procedure for riding public transportation. The lady sitting down facing me apparently did not get the memo. She kept talking to me about the difference between my shoes and her shoes, and then my glasses and her glasses. She couldn't possibly understand how I could be wearing flip flops with "that thing between your toes" and she assured me in very passionate language that her shoes were a much prettier color when they were new (pink). Also that she can only wear very small pumps, but not real high heels, because her feet are too small. Also, her glasses are sort of similar to mine, but she has bifocals. She hopes they work great, but she's not sure because she won't get them until next week. I have friends that don't even give me that much detail on their lives. This didn't really bother me, however. I think the weird people on the train are usually pretty hilarious. There was the guy once who started serenading us during rush hour, the goth kids who had a contest to see how hard they could jump into the ceiling without knocking themselves out, the woman who had no shame about sitting practically spread eagle in a mini skirt, etc.

So we go along pretty smoothly, the chatty lady gets off the train and I'm just three stops away from where I get off to catch the bus. All in all it usually takes about 10-15 minutes to get from where I got on the train to where I get off the train. Then we come out of the tunnel on our way to the airport. And there's a signal problem. This happens quite a bit actually, and it'll slow you down for about 5 minutes or so. NOT TODAY. We would move forward a couple of feet and then stop. Then the announcement, "due to signal problems up ahead, this train is standing by." Repeated over...and over...and over.... There are also several small children in my particular train car who are starting to get more than a little antsy and progressively louder. I did manage to keep pretty calm and zen about the whole thing until the THIRD time we stopped for a signal problem and then I was feeling motion sick from all the lurching to go and stop all the time, I was tired because it was the end of a long day and I just wanted to go home, and these kids were really starting to give me a headache. Not to mention all the other commuters who started to get loud and yell at the announcement every time it came on, as if that was going to help. And of course everyone has to get on their cell phone to complain to everyone else they know that the train is delayed. At long last, 40 MINUTES after I got on the train, we finally pulled into the station.

Now to the bus. The first thing I will say is that they unveiled all new buses today, which was pretty exciting. However, the bus that was there when we pulled in was labeled as though it was my bus, so I got on it, only to find out that the driver hadn't quite figured out how to work the signs yet and it was the other bus route, so there was 75 cents down the drain. I get back off the bus and sit on the bench to wait for my ACTUAL bus, and then loud cell phone girl decides to sit next to me and yap away to make sure that she would have a car to do her shopping with tomorrow. Lord help whoever was on the other end of that phone if she didn't get a car. Anyway...

I'm happy to say that when the correct brand-new bus pulled up it was my favorite driver (I have them all ranked from best to worst based on braking habits and accuracy in hitting the stop where it's actually supposed to be) and all things went smoothly from there on out. I managed to make it home all in one piece, and now I look forward to a relaxing night of watching Gilmore Girls and going to sleep early.

Here's hoping tomorrow goes more smoothly!

A Little Change of Pace

So I thought I'd change it up a bit and update the format of el blog-o. Whatcha think? I like it... I also noticed that I was still listed as living in East Lansing, which is clearly not the case, unless they suddenly got an ocean in Michigan. Somehow I doubt that. :)

In knitting news... I seem to have somewhat of an attention span disorder at the moment. I keep starting projects, working really well on them for about 2 days and then I lose interest and either leave it sitting around or rip it out and start over. For example, I'm currently working on the 4th version of a sock. The first version got halfway through the gusset, the second version made it past the heel and the third version only made it about two inches. The current version is actually a recreation of the 2nd version, which is mildly irritating, since if I hadn't ripped it out, I'd probably be on the 2nd sock by now. Oh well.... here's my progress so far:




Next, I started a baby sweater, which I thought was SO adorable (I still do) but then I hit a little snag on the front that was going to require some math, so this is the work that took me 3 days and has now been sitting for about 2 weeks because I just don't want to think.


And finally, I realized I had this old yarn sitting around forever so I thought I'd make another very simple yet wildly popular seed stitch pocket scarf. Again, I was extremely productive for about a day, and now...not so much. But it could materialize into a Christmas gift I suppose...we'll have to see. And, pay no attention to the clutter all over the floor. My filing system is in progress.


Oh! And I almost forgot...the most pitiful of the bunch: The dish cloth I started the day I moved here and worked on for the span of one movie before I got really tired and put it down. It has not moved since then (that was July 29).


Who knows, maybe one of these days I'll get around to finishing things. And in a related topic, maybe one of these days I'll finish unpacking. You know, one of these weekends when I'm not doing anything else... whenever that is.

Well, I'm off to enjoy the rest of my evening, and to remember what it is I've been missing in the last few years of not having a home phone....people calling all evening asking for money for various things...ugh. Luckily I remembered to register on the do not call list tonight, so I can only hope this'll be a short lived thing. :)

Back in business!!

At long last I have internet service in my apartment! It took a month (almost exactly) and it was a big hassle, but at last I am again connected to the rest of the world. So hello again!

I'm having a good time in Boston, it's a great place. :) I have two jobs, I'm enjoying both. During the week, in my "real" job I work as an administrative assistant for a property management company, and it's pretty interesting. On the weekends I'm working in a custom handbag shop in Cambridge, selling purses. Not a bad gig. And when I come home at night, it's to this view:



I think you'll agree, nothing bad about that.

I've been a busy girl this last month or so, working a lot and getting settled in. Now that I've gotten my phone/internet situation straightened out, maybe I can move on to tackling my cable situation. We'll have to see.

From now on I hope to be able to keep you posted on my adventures, since I have the ability to do so.

one down, one to go

So, I have managed to find myself a place to rest my head, which I will be able to move into August 1. I'm very excited, it's a cute little place, I can see the ocean from it and there's a very cute little back porch/balcony thing that I plan to spend a lot of time on. :)

The job search is in progress.... not much news there, I'm just interviewing and applying like crazy, and hopefully one of these days something will come of it.

That's about it, I don't really have picture capabilities at this point, but soon I hope.

Today we're finally getting a nice little break from the heat so it's at least bearable....well, I think I'm off to go sit by the ocean for awhile. Have a good one!

Well, I'm here

So, I guess I'm a resident Massachusetts now, for about a week. I still sort of feel like I don't exist, however, as I don't have a job or an address. I'm currently working on both of those things, fear not.

Thus far my time here has been well spent... when not looking for a job or a place to live I have been experiencing what Boston has to offer (which is quite a bit). I am quite enjoying that on any day it's not raining I can walk about 5 minutes and sit by the ocean and just look at the water and enjoy the scenery. I am also enjoying that the actual city of Boston is a 10 minute subway ride away, which should come in handy for when I actually get a job.

It did rain here today, quite hard. In fact, I'm not sure I remember seeing rain quite like that in my time here on this planet. It was like an instant flood. We walked into a store and 10 minutes later we walked out into a giant storm and flooding all over. We did manage to make it home safely so don't worry yourselves on that count, but MAN. That was some rain.

Now, as long as I can manage not to get trapped under a falling tunnel or be involved in a major subway derailment, I'll keep putting every day in the win column. :)

I hope everyone in Michigan is doing well, and I hope you miss me as much as I miss you!

Pictures!

The camera cord has been located! It was put away, which is a clear indication as to why I had trouble finding it. :)

Anyway, here are pictures of the socks (well, one of the socks). Now the recipient's foot is a little bigger than mine so if the toes look a little funny, that's why.


Also, I finished my dad's vest today, after much seaming and end-sewing. The finished result was well-received and it looks excellent! He'll be very stylish this fall on the golf course.


That's all for now, I'm leaving pretty early tomorrow so I need to see to some last minute packing details. Happy 4th of July!!

The success of JessFest

My birthday last weekend was a rousing success... I would say that I managed to ring in 25 with a bang (or at least some really really terrible karaoke). We went to Crunchy's here in E.L. and a birthday is just not a birthday without matching t-shirts. Here are a couple photos for ya, and then a little game:

The shirts, as you may or may not be able to tell, contained some movie quotes that I really like or that seemed particularly good for the occasion. I will put them here for you, and see how many of them you know. Any non-pg words have been abbreviated or substituted so as not to offend anyone's sensitivities. :)

If anyone gets all 10 I will be hugely impressed (and if you were there and I told you what they all came from, it doesn't count):
“Austin? Austin, Massachusetts?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this, but I’m kind of a big deal. People know me.”
“This one time, at band camp….”
“Earmuffs!”
“Goonies never say die!!”
“Roses are red, violets are blue, I’m a schizophrenic, and so am I”
“There’s no crying in baseball!!”
“Erroneous! Erroneous on both counts!!”
“Yippee-kay-yay, mother-f*&^*r”
“Every now and then say, ‘WTF.’ ‘WTF’ gives you freedom. Freedom brings opportunity. Opportunity makes your future.”

On the knitting front, I just finished a pair of CMU socks that I was asked to knit for a woman whose daughter is going there right now. I really liked the way the striping went along the socks, I just hope she does too. I would like to point out, however, that it's quite difficult to take a picture of one's own foot while getting the proper angle and lighting, etc. Either that or I just made it harder than it needed to be. Which is probably much more accurate. And on that note, a picture will have to wait because my camera cord seems to have wandered off somewhere...I can't find it. Oh well, a picture will be forthcoming.

Finally, the move date approaches. I am leaving Michigan on Tuesday, July 4 (Independence Day....irony? coincidence?), I got a one-way ticket to Massachusetts and some of the most wonderful friends imaginable who are allowing me to stay with them for a short time until I find a place of my own and so I say farewell to all of you in Michigan, I will do my best to keep in touch and hope you will do the same. Check ya later. :)

So THIS is where I left my blog....

Would you believe I've been looking for this darn thing for 4 months? It was my unicorn, the thing in my life I simply could not grasp. Always slightly out of my reach. But I persevered, I pulled through and in the end I am able to savor the sweet flavor my victory.

Okay.

I admit it.

Absolutely none of that is true. In reality I had a mental block about this, I didn't have anything ineteresting to say, I didn't have anything interesting to show, I was simply not interesting.

Suddenly, today, it all changed. Who knows why these things happen really, but today I feel really REALLY interesting. Hugely, in fact.

First, a quick recap: In the last few months I decided to move to Boston with nothing but my smile and stunning personality, sooo I left my job and am now furiously looking for employment out yonder in Beantown, as well as a place to rest my head at the end of the day in order to leave on my scheduled date of July 1. Does this crazy move scare me at all? Oh, I'm freakin' terrified, but it seems that to me a thing just isn't worth doing unless you can procrastinate it long enough to put yourself into fits of anxiety wondering what the heck you were thinking in the first place. It'll all turn out fine, I'm sure. Like they say in Shakespeare In Love:

"It will all turn out well in the end"
"How do you know?"
"I don't! It's a mystery!"

Words to live by. Words that will probably give my parents strokes, but what are children for if not to add to the number of gray hairs on their parents' heads, right?

Anyhow, I appreciate all thew well-wishes and tips/tricks/contacts I've gotten from people everywhere since the news that I'm going and I'll surely keep you posted on what happens to me on my adventures out East.

Moving along, I'll throw in a couple of pictures here, since if it was me and I came across a post with no pictures I'd keep right on moving, because what's the fun in that? Exactly. There is none.

First: I made a pair of socks for my good friend Jessica awhile back...it might be hard to tell from the picture but there's a cabled fabric on the top to make them a little more interesting. The second pair of feet in the picture are her son Cameron's, sporting a pair of socks made for him by their neighbor Kathy. The color may not be that true, but alas...it was the color or the pattern.


And next, a picture of a cow. :) Last weekend I was in Boston (I know, who decides to move somewhere and then takes a vacation there two weeks beforehand? Some crazy person, surely) there were these cows everywhere, and it was never fully explained to me as to what their purpose was. However, this obliging little friend set a nice little scene for a picture (from L to R, me, Toni, Mihai).


And I'll leave you with that... as well as a question, I'm sure, as to how long it will take me to post next time????

Update

Not that anyone has actually read this in the last 45 minutes or so, but lest you think I spent an extended period of time tearing apart my apartment searching like a crazy person for my camera, rest assured. I found it. Not before going through my bedroom on my hands and knees, searching my car, my roommate's bedroom and a couple of the kitchen cupboards. Where did it finally turn up? Well, it's funny you should ask. It was here:



Yep, sitting right at the corner of my bed. However, in my defense, my comforter was completely covering it until my mania reached a new level and I started just tossing it around. Although I still had to leave the room and come back in to ACTUALLY find it. Long story short, I got it back.

And now, the picture show!

First, we have a new member of our apartment. Introducing Harvey/Marcus/Lewis/Jerome/Bob. Yea, so far we can't come up with a name that sticks. All we know for sure is that he's a boy. He's a very pretty shade of purple, which is a little hard to capture through the bowl. He lives in a margarita pitcher in the kitchen, I think he likes it here. And you know, it's only the coolest fish who live in margarita pitchers.


Next, I've been working on a pair of socks. I'm "virtually" through with Sarah's Toe Up Sock class (haha - see, because I'm taking it as a virtual class and I'm almost finished) The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Glenwood. I love love love the colors, I would knit everything in these colors if I could. And you know, if it wouldn't eventually get really boring. Grace is modeling them because they're gigantic and my feet just look ridiculous in them, but they're actually for my sister-in-law. You may be thinking, "Jessie, you crazy person, why don't you knit them for yourself if you love the color so much??" and my reply to you is this: I do love the colors, and I enjoy knitting socks, but I really don't like to wear knitted socks. I don't like to wear ANY socks. So there you go. I'll keep knitting socks but they will always be for other people.



And now my newest project. The Barclay Vest from Simply Shetland. My dad has been wanting a vest or a sweater for quite a few years. Pretty much since my mom started knitting when I was still in high school. However, my mom has very little to no interest in knitting sweaters. So here we are. I'm knitting it with Jo Sharp DK. It's very gorgeous and lovely to knit and so far it's going pretty fast. We'll see how I feel about it once I've finished the back and have moved on to the front. :)



Welp, that's it for now, catch ya later! And I'll be keeping EXTRA close tabs on my camera. Rest assured.

melt-down

It's question/answer time:

Have you, Jessie, been EXTREMELY neglectful in your blogging?

Yes, Blog, I sure have.

Have you been pretty much an all around slacker for the last month or so?

Yes, Blog, I sure have.

Have you actually done ANY knitting or ANYTHING worth showing?

YES!! Yes I have!!!!

So, what's the deal, you big slacker?!?!?!!?

WELL.

All this time I thought that I hadn't posted because I just didn't really feel like it, I couldn't think of anything clever to say, all the things I was working on were actually top secret and therefore I couldn't show you pictures.

However, it turns out that was incorrect. This evening I find myself feeling rather verbose and ready to sit down and compose a good, long entry. Complete with photos. I go to the top shelf of my handy yarn bookshelf to grab my camera....only there is no camera there. Or in my armoire. Or on the coffee table or the kitchen or the dining room or any other surface I can find. Now, my apartment is NOT that big and yes, I'll admit my room is less than spotless and there are clothes covering most of the floor but I'm officially FREAKING OUT.

Where is it???!?!??!?! Has anyone seen it? Little Coolpix, my handsome friend... I will not rest until you have been recovered!!!!

And now, off on my quest to find my little buddy. Send positive thoughts my way so karma will be on my side to find him soon.

Phew! I just FINALLY finished the baby blanket I was test knitting for Lynn ( www.colorjoy.com/weblog ), who has been waiting EXTREMELY patiently for it. Way more patiently than I would have been, that's for sure. But I finished. See, you're thinking "baby blanket. Babies are small... why are you so slow???!?!" but in reality a blanket is still a blanket which is a lot of stitches and a lot of time. However, I can tell you now that it's finished that it is a luscioius, gorgeous blanket, and I really really love the yarn! Hand dyed by Lynn herself, and machine washable. Do yourself a favor, go over to her website and look at all her great patterns and yarn. Wait, what's that? You want to actually SEE this blanket? Yes, I thought you might, so I took the liberty of taking a picture. The color is FAIRLY true, it just took me awhile to realize that I need to take all my pictures in my bedroom on the white comforter with the overhead light and a small lamp turned on with no flash. Very delicate conditions, let me assure you.


So the next question becomes, what did I do in celebration of completing the ONLY project I had on needles? (wait, did I just say that I only had ONE project on needles? I can't even remember the last time that happened) The answer to this question is that I immediately started two new projects and planned two more after that. Because that makes total sense, right? In my defense the two I've started look to be fairly short and I like to be prepared.

New project #1 should look fairly familiar (if it doesn't go check out archives...November I think):



New project #2 is a teaser:


What's in the bag?? What's in the bag?? This is the yarn for my super secret bag exchange buddy for Guild. Go ahead, try and figure out what's in there. I dare ya. The secret shall not be unveiled until May. So you'll just have to be patient. But I'm confident that the wait will be worth it.

And now to settle in for my first weekend with nothing to do (except for going to work this morning) since Thanksgiving I think. I'm going to do nothing but watch football and knit and be lazy for the next 2 days. It'll be GREAT.

New year, thank goodness!!

Happy 2006, and good riddance to 2005, at least as far as I'm concerned. I have to say that on the whole, with the exception of a couple really great things (getting my braces off, my nephew being born) it wasn't my favorite year. But I have a good feeling about 2006, and I'm looking forward to whatever might happen.

The year started off the right way, with a trip to Boston and a rockin' NYE party at Sacha's house. Toni and I found the COOLEST balloons on the planet and managed to get the last set. We bought the display and while we were waiting for it to be reinflated, two other people came up and asked for them. But we won! They were ours! It was a great party and a great (but short) trip.

Now back in Lansing, I decided to look into some organization for the new year. We'll do a photo progression here:

1. My stash of yarn as it was this morning. Not very pleasing to the eye, and not very conducive to seeing what I have.

2. The new bookshelf I got on clearance at Target Friday night that maimed me Saturday morning when I bent over and caught the corner of it with my head (it was in a different location than it is now)


3. Stash + bookshelf = way prettier and less space consuming way to display what I have spent probably far too much money on in the first place.

Now I know that according to some yarn buying professionals this is merely a weak attempt at a stash but what can I say? I'm young and I have limited space and money. :)

Anyway, here's to a good year!

Merry Christmas!

Man, December has sure flown by...what have I been doing with my time? Oh yea, frantically trying to get caught up for Christmas, spend time with loved ones, and get into gear for our busiest time of year at work. Work work work work work.

Here is a little cutie that I made for my nephew for Christmas...from the Last Minute Knitted Gifts book again, I seriously love that book. I think he's a very cute little elephant.




Exciting news for the day: In a generous showing of Christmas spirit to myself, I just purchased a plane ticket to spend New Year's in Boston with Sacha and Toni! I am SO EXCITED, I love love love Boston! As many of you probably already know!

I hope everyone has a fantastic holiday (whichever holiday you celebrate) full of friends, family and lots of good food!

No rest for the wicked

Well, I've been a busy girl the last couple of weeks, that's for sure.

Thanksgiving weekend was out of control, with family everywhere. My dad's sister, two brothers and one sister-in-law, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew, and a cousin and his girlfriend. It was great to see everyone, but that's a lot of people. Never a dull moment, as they say.

On the plus side, hanging out with family gave me lots of time to knit, and I got quite a nice chunk done on the baby blanket I'm test knitting for Lynn ( http://www.colorjoy.com/weblog/ ). It's gorgeous, this yarn is totally to die for. I'm having great fun knitting it, it's so soft! Not to mention machine washable. Fabulous.

Also, I finished my Aran bag from Sarah's class ( www.handknitter.sarahpeasley.com ), well, all except for the actualy stitching of the lining to the bag. Let me just tell you how it's practically a miracle that I managed to get the lining sewn together with the interfacing and all that jazz to get the bag to stand up. Sewing is not my strong point. Still, it was a fun bag to do and now I feel as though I've expanded my bag creating horizons, now that I don't necessarily have to felt a bag for it to be practical to carry. At any rate, here's my almost finished bag:


Next, Grace and I have a friend, Leo, who is gearing up for his first winter in Michigan after having grown up in Costa Rica. Needless to say he'll be quite cold. So in an effort to keep him from running as fast as possible away from here in about mid-January, I'm in the process of making him a hat and scarf to stay warm. I'm using Lion Brand Wool-Ease chunky knit on size 10 needles, and this stuff is like armor. If wind gets through this hat, you should go inside immediately because it's probably dangerous outside. :) The hat is a pattern I found on the internet a couple of years ago, I'm not even sure it has a name, and the scarf is called Men's Rustic Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, which is probably the best investment in a book I've made. If you don't have it, I most definitely recommend looking into it. Someday I would like to knit everything in it. And that's saying a lot (I'm very picky).

And now I'm going to settle in for a cozy evening of watching the old Disney animated Robin Hood which just arrived from Amazon.com. Possibly followed by Pete's Dragon... I seriously think it's been about 2 and a half weeks since I've had an evening to myself to just sit and do whatever I want. I'm going to relish it and completely hermit myself in here (yes, I just turned hermit into a verb)

Trying to compensate for being a slacker...

So I'm taking this Intro to Aran class, and I'm diggin' the cables and all is going well and then... I messed up. I ripped out 16 rows and started over. Now I realize that 16 doesn't sound like a lot, but cables are TIME CONSUMING.

So, to cut to the point, I was unprepared for Wednesday's class. Lucky for me, I was not the only unprepared one, but still. As a lifetime brownnoser and overall goody-goody, it was stressful not to have my homework done. :)

So I worked really hard to make up for it and finished all the knitting for my bag today. Straps are done and attached and everything. All it requires now is washing and blocking (along with the washing of the lining). Phew. So that's a load off.

And here is a picture of the finished product. Actually, 2 pictures. One of the bag as a whole, and one close up of the cables. I'm not sure if I've mentioned before on here or not that I was also difficult in that I wanted to do a different cable in the middle of the bag. The original had diamonds in the center, but I have a fascination with braided/Celtic looking cables, so I found one that fit the chart and used that instead. I'm really happy with how it turned out, even though the bag turned out smaller than i anticipated and I have an entire skein of yarn left. Too bad I already wound it and therefore can't return it. Oh well, I'm pretty sure I'll find a use for it.

Now it's time to move on to new and interesting things. There's the charity hat knitting for the Mid Michigan Knitting Guild (of which I am a member and an officer...now how did that happen?) and these are the colors I got in my grab bags... the gray and camo goes together and the red/white/blue goes together. I'll have to try and come up with something creative to do with them.

I am also about to start knitting a blanket as a test for LynnH ( www.colorjoy.com/weblog/ ) once I go out tomorrow and get needles for it. I find it completely hard to believe that after 2 and a half years of knitting, working at a yarn shop for 10 months and acquiring more stuff than I can even think about, I still don't have size 9 needles. It's unfathomable to me. Anyway. It will be started tomorrow, mark my words.

Last but not least, at this past Tuesday's Guild meeting, we did a program in which we had a sort of mini- knitalong. We all knit little stars that will be strung together in a garland ( thank you thank you thank you Tamsyn for agreeing to crochet them on a chain) and given away in a drawing at our December meeting. I heard pretty positive things about the program, I think a lot of people left feeling excited about knitting more stars. And that makes me happy, I love seeing people excited. Here is the collection of stars we had by the end of the meeting, aren't they great? There are still a couple seams to sew and some ends to weave, but such a great variety, I can't wait to see it all put together!


Ok the for real last thing. My dad and I went to see the new Harry Potter movie today. It was the first one I didn't make it to on opening night, but last night I was at a party with my friend Jenny which was SO much fun! I loved the movie, obviously, and I'm sure I'll be seeing it again before too long... maybe IMAX next time? We'll see.

My promise to you

So I just made a quick decision that I'm going to try and go no more than 10 days without posting. I'd like to say it'll be more frequent than that, but I can't make any guarantees.

So phew, I'm getting in just under the wire.

I don't have new pictures to show just yet, but my bag for Sarah's Intro to Aran class is coming along, now that I decided to change the cable pattern in the middle about 5 rows after where I decided to start changing it. With Sarah's help and a lot of handholding I managed to get things to where they should be and I SHOULD be up to where I need to be for the next class (3 cheers for a 4 day weekend next week).

Tonight I'm going to the PwC holiday party with my friend Jenny as her date. An excuse to get all dressed up and go to a party sounds good to me. Especially with how disgusting it's been this week weather-wise.

Tomorrow I see Harry Potter with my dad! This is the first one I haven't made it to on opening night, but I'm working on being ok with that. Really, I'll be ok. It's not going to matter if I don't see it RIGHT when it comes out. Right? OK stop thinking about it.

Oh geez! I better get to work!

Quack attack!

daaaaa na

daaaaa na


daa na daa na daaa na


(ok that was my lame attempt at shark music. Just play along)

Attack!




No, silly, they're not really going to attack you...these are the baby booties I made for my friend Sarah whose baby shower Grace and I will be attending on Saturday. Aren't they so cute?


I believe this now makes the 3rd pair of these I've made...because seriously, can you think of a baby that DOESN'T deserve a pair of cute and adorable duck feet booties? Neither can I. So as long as people keep having babies, I'll keep making booties. Since I'm in approximately my mid-20's I figure I'll be pretty busy on the baby knitting front for about the next 5-7 years.

The pattern is called "Duck Feet" (very clever) and it's from the book 50 Baby Bootees (Booties? I'm not sure how they spelled it) to Knit. It can be found at your local yarn store. I should just buy the whole book. I love booties. Hint, hint, anyone out there looking for Christmas shopping ideas for me. ;) just kidding


(but you know, not really)

they say the first step is admitting you have an addiction...

Well, I've got one. A big one. For Target. It's like some sort of sickness. And I find that a lot of my activities these days take place in the Okemos/Haslett area, which is close to where I work. I live in South Lansing, so when I have activities after work, I tend to just try and kill time between work and said activity. The problem with this, of course, is the Target across from the Meridian Mall. It just sucks me in. For example, this past Tuesday I was wandering around Target because I needed to buy a couple birthday cards. CARDS. Well, after about 40 minutes I walked out with some hair products, some body wash, the cards I went in for, a gift, and these:

Yes, feeding my Target addiction has a nasty habit of feeding my movie addiction. I had to really cut myself off from buying more than just those three, too. I spend a good 3 minutes arguing with myself over whether or not to buy myself the complete Sex and the City dvd set. My checkbook won in the end, but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to hold out.

On the knitting front, progress is being made, sort of. Here's a picture of my bag for Intro to Aran class...although we'll call it the "after" picture. I was actually pretty far when I decided that I could use a little more practice (translation: I messed up and it was far more satisfying to rip it out than to spend the time trying to figure out where I messed up and how to fix it) so I'm starting the sides again. I like it a lot, I'm excited to have a finished bag soon! Of course I had to be a little bit of a problem child and change Sarah's pattern a little, but she didn't seem to mind and it makes me so much more excited to work on it!

Close up of the cables on the bottom:

And for now I'll leave you with this:

"I could think of things I never thought before. And then I'd sit and think some more..... if I only had a brain..."

Eureka!!

Phew! Just when I thought I was DEFINITELY going crazy (any comments about that can be kept to yourselves) I located the cord to my camera. For a reason that will probably remain a mystery to me, it was in the front pocket of the bag I take when I go somewhere overnight. Why would I have ever thought it necessary to pack the USB cable to my camera overnight? Your guess is as good as mine. But at least I found my cord...yay!

And now for the long-awaited slide show of knitted wonders....:)

I'm going to go in order of importance, least being first and best being last. You know what I mean.

I am (slowly but surely) knitting a dishcloth out of your typical Sugar N Spice or whatever it's called (cream n sugar? I don't know, it doesn't matter). Anyway, Andrea gave me these dishcloth patterns that I think are kind of interesting...this one is called Columns, and I think it's pretty (and we badly, badly need the dishcloths around here...it's lousy not having a dishwasher)

Next, are a pair of socks that started out with the intention of going to one friend, but Grace looked at them when I was halfway through and said, "I really like those. When are you going to knit something for me?" I politely reminded her of the ridiculous lacy shawl that took me SIX MONTHS to knit, but then she got pouty and said, "but that was a long time ago and you just finished knitting a blanket for Corene, so I should get the socks." What can I say, at the time it was a persuasive argument. Grace got the socks. Corene will get the next pair.

Now, I have no attention span for knitting one sock at a time, so I shelled out one day for 4 addi turbos in size 1 in order to knit them in pairs...however, the yarn (Opal handpaints, maybe? Opal something self-striping. Clearly I'm not too with it today on remembering what yarn I'm using) comes in 100g sizes (one ball= one pair of socks). So I took the two ends of the ball and wound them until they met in the middle. The result? The socks are mirror images of each other, which I think makes them look kind of cool and Grace didn't seem to mind. This was also a first attempt at the after thought heel, which I think looks about a hundred times better when the sock is actually on a foot (which is, of course, the best time to look at it). Next time I'll get really daring and go toe-up so whenever I get tired of them I can just stop and call it a day. Now if only I could figure out how to make the kitchener on the heel look a little neater at the ends...

Mirror images:

Finished product, modeled by the new owner:

And last but not least, the long awaited wedding afghan. The pattern for this is called "Pleated Afghan," which I got from my mother, and the yarn is Patons Decor (this one I'm sure of). It's a pretty simple pattern, but I think it makes a gorgeous blanket and I did I-cord edging along the sides, which looks nice and is easy to do as you go along, not to mention way easier for tucking ends in. And the Decor is so soft! It was VERY hard to give away. But I know Corene and Dan will like it and *hopefully* get lots of good use out of it.

This is a little blurry, but I wanted to show an up close picture of the stitches and how pretty the colors looked together with the way they pooled.



So there you have it...coming soon, duck feet baby booties for baby Allan, a pair (maybe) of socklets (what are they? you'll just have to wait and see), and whatever catches my attention to start next!