Looking Back, and Maybe Some Forward

Ah 2012. The New Year is upon us, and I haven't posted since Thanksgiving. Sorry about that. Things still haven't calmed down around here. 2011 brought all sorts of things for me. College graduation, marriage, a big move. But also lots of crazy scary things like college graduation, marriage, and a big move. All while being completely broke. What I learned from the past year is that there's not a time when life is going to suddenly get better and the bill in the mail won't scare you anymore and everything is sunshine-filled. The joy and happiness comes from learning to handle those things but focus on the things that are important. Yes, pay your bills. Worry a little. But don't have a tunnel-vision of negativity (I'm totally going to patent that). I have the tendency to freak out when things get stressful. I've sort of let my husband take over the rational role and have given in to all the negative emotions that tend to come out if you don't pay attention. So my plan for 2012 is to expand my horizons. No more tunnel-vision of negativity (patent pending), but more of a wide-eyed focus on all aspects of my life. Yes, my bills are large and seem to all come at once. But the flipside of that coin is that I have a roof over my head (with no one living above or below), hot water, a heater, and electricity. Yes, my car is still broken and the driver's side window won't stay up and it's 15 degrees outside. But I have a garage I can park it in so during the snow and rain water doesn't get all over my leather seats anymore. And I can pull into the garage at night and close the door before I have to get out of the car, so I feel much safer.

On the knitting side of the world (because that is, after all, why you read this right?), I'm not sure all the much was accomplished in 2011. Let's see, I made a Golden Snitch, a couple of cowls, some earmuffs, a couple of bags, a little keychain purse, and a couple of little coffee covers. Plus the stuff I made for the Big Durn Swap a couple of months ago. But all in all, not a whole lot (especially compared to the wonderful things of Alyoops, and genius biochem knitting of ChemKnits!). I want to finish something big in 2012, and not just the cardigan it's taking me a year to finish for my good friend...I also want the thing to be for me. I love knitting for others, but honestly I don't do a lot of things I can use. In fact, most of my creations are in a bag in my closet. Aside from the previously mentioned cardigan, I've got a pair of felted slippers on the needles. (Did I mention I bought a washer and dryer and I can totally felt things now?) So pictures of those things soon. I think there's a knitting group in the city we moved to, so maybe I can join in. And there's a yarn store I have to go and try not to spend money at.

I can't wait to see what 2012 will bring, in life and in knitting. What great knitting plans do you have? And do you have any "big" project recommendations? I don't think I'm quite ready for an afghan, and lace drives me crazy (since I haven't gotten good at it yet), but what are your favorite things to make?

Life is a Whirlwind

I apologize for the lack of posts. Since my honeymoon life has been completely insane. Work cut our hours, money was almost totally gone, and then Josh got fired.

And here we are a few weeks after Josh gets fired with our things packed up and moved all the way from Arkansas to Indiana. And we're in a town neither of us had ever been, in a slightly smaller apartment, that costs more, we're moving in today. I was hired by Kohl's in this city in Indiana, and Josh will be doing a lot of job searching for factory or manufacturing work.

But there is a ray of sunshine here. I was sick and tired of living in our previous town because I felt stuck. Josh and I both hated our jobs. And now that we are here in Indiana, we're much closer to my family. Rather than 7 hours away, the drive to my sister's house is 30 minutes, and the drive to my mom's is only 2 hours. This city is also much bigger, so there are things to do that don't involve wandering Wal-Mart.

Really this was all the process of answered prayer. I've been ready to move on and get life really going, and now we can. It seems dark and scary, but it's actually very good for us.

And now, to contrast that slightly negative-sounding post, here's pictures from my Big Darn Swap package I got!

A Kaylee Ornament

A "leaf on the wind" lacy scarf!

A dino cookie cutter!

Stitch markers!

A Jayne ornament!!!

Handspun yarn!

Zum Body Frankincense and Myrrh smelly-good things!

Back in the USA

Hey folks! I am back from my awesome honeymoon! It was the coolest thing ever! Josh and I took a Carnival cruise to THE CARIBBEAN! We made port in Montego Bay, Jamaica, Grand Cayman in the Cayman Islands, and Cozumel, Mexico! It was absolutely incredible. I had never been out of the country before, and Josh had only been on a mission trip to Tijuana (and as a Californian, it was pretty much the same to him). The water was absolutely beautiful, and the ship was so fun! I totally 100% recommend cruising, and Carnival was so awesome! Our room was cleaned twice a day, once in the morning-ish after we'd slept in it, and once while we were at dinner so they could give us our towel animal and mints and turn down the sheets for sleep! The food was to die for. Really I can't say much more than "It was epic", so I'll just post a bunch of pictures! (And if someone wants to tell me how to do that whole "jump" thing, I'll post a ton more!)

Edit to add: More pictures after the jump!

Just to Let You Know

I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!!!!!


That's all. Bye!

Hey! I am knitting!

I finally took pictures of things that I've been working on! Instead of explaining way too much, I think I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves, more or less.

Josh's lone sock. But at least one is finished. I'm happy with it.

My hair after my wedding hairstyle trail run today! (And my toilet....apologies)

My invitations I made! I have a better picture, but it has my mom's, my, and my future husband's full legal names on them. And while I'm not expecting that crazy ax-murderers read my blog, better safe than sorry.

I've actually finished and cast-on two more projects, but they're for my Firefly swap, and I can't have potentially prying swap-partner eyes seeing her surprises!

Maybe I'll do some Firefly themed pattern searches, if I find the time.

Happy knitting!

Weddings Eat my Soul

I am still here. I've totally forgotten about the useless SAL. Depressing...

In the mean time, I've been working and doing wedding stuff. I just now finished ONE sock for Josh to wear, and I already know that no amount of dedication will overcome my severe 2nd Sock Syndrome, so maybe I'll give him the 2nd one for Christmas. He already told me if I finished one he'd wear it. So he'll have two different socks on at the wedding. It should be hilarious. Maybe we'll keep it to ourselves and have it be a funny little thing.

I've added another thing to the list. I'm knitting my garter, and have about 3 weeks to do so. I need to buy elastic and ribbon, and then I'll do it. It shouldn't take too long. The pattern doesn't seem complicated. This is the one I'm going to try. I've never knit with elastic, but hopefully it won't be very complicated.

In an attempt to slowly kill myself I've also joined the Big Durn Swap 2011 on Ravelry. A swap for all us Browncoats in the knitting/crocheting/crafty 'verse. I love it and I can't wait to get started on (even more) knitting! I've got some ideas already.

My apologies for the very lack-luster blog of late. It should get better in 3 weeks.

Adventures in Cooking

So, along with my knitting for my wedding, I'm being healthy for my wedding. Getting down to a healthy weight and eating better and all that stuff. And for my body, I'm not supposed to have a lot of sodium, so I'm learning how to cook new things because my family's recipes are deliciously unhealthy.

Today I made a mock stir-fry with turkey sausage (don't flog me! I'm supposed to avoid red meat! And it's not all that bad really...), fresh broccoli, red pepper, and red onion in a skillet with olive oil (because it's lower fat, any oil will do), garlic powder, onion powder, and lemon pepper, and then I squeezed half a lime and half an orange over it. Cooked in stir-fry style. It was actually really good. I used a bit too much oil, so don't add more halfway through. But besides that it was great!

All the veggies were fresh, not canned or bagged or anything. And it's kind of cheaper that way. You can get lots of fresh veggies for less than you can lots of canned or whatever stuff. And it was delicious!