Too Much Writing, Not Enough Knitting

So, I have two scarves on the needles currently, and another I need to make for a friend that I'm actually getting paid to do. But am I knitting? NO! I've been so obsessed with my book, that I've hardly touched my needles! That's just wrong.

I love both so much!!! But typing and knitting don't work well together...if only they had the technology to let me tell my computer what to type and hit send. (For you see, I have a co-writer who lives approximately five hours away when we're both on break from Christian College, so we collaborate over instant messaging. Good and bad points really. I think I might like when we're able to collaborate in person better.). Until such technology exists however, I must ration between between knitting and writing.

As for New Years, I'll be with friends from the home town that I never get to see anymore. I need to make cookies....but the magical glowing folding box that sits on my lap keeps me on the couch.

Resolution-wise, I'll be having the same one I always have: drop a few pants sizes. I intend to get into the gym and actually succeed this year. Instead of one giant over all goal, I'm working through the months.

Also, I want to learn to be more positive, more loving, less complain-y, and overall a better person. I plan to give all my problems to God and let Him handle them. I'm realistic. I know that I'll get upset, mad, stressed, and all those other negative things, but I want that to happen less. I've been awful for the past year or so, and I just want to be a more pleasant and loving person.

Hope 2010 is great!

Joyous Noises

"And oh the noise. The noise noise noise noise!" -Grinch

That's what invades my world at the moment. Noises of yelling, noises of crying children, noises of my father using a dremmel tool on something, noises of installing a garbage disposal.....There's loud noises everywhere and I'm tired of it...it's giving me a headache...All I want to do is watch Bridge to Terabithia and write my vampyre story. (Yes that's right, I write about vampyres...and no they don't sparkle). But I can't write with all the frenning noise!

On a Christmasy note-I was inundated with yarn for Christmas! It was in-freaking-credible! And most of it is 100% wool! I've already made a felted bowl! My first felted thing ever! It's soooooo neat!
http://www.heavydutydesign.com/alicethelma/2009/03/free-pattern-felted-nesting-bowls/

Here's the pattern I used. I've only made one though, the yellow sized one. Took me two days of rather lazy evenings, so it's a really quick knit!

Along with mass amouts of wool, I also got 3 sets of bamboo needles. Every size of dpn, circular, and regular needle! (Well all the typical ones. I think they go from like 0-10). It' so freaking cool! I used my new dpns on my bowl! I'm so excited!

I'm working on a rather lovely dropped-stitch scarf for a friend (it's a facinating concept..purposely dropping stitches to create a pattern). And my mother wants a thick black scarf to go with the wool coat she got for Christmas, so I'll be making her a scarf in a more simple pattern.

That's my ranting for today! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmahannukwanzakah! ^_^

Merry Christmas (Eve)!

So that my sister, her husband, and they're one-year-old can have Christmas morning together at home, we're having Christmas tonight/this afternoon! We opened a couple last night because we'd usually get to open one on Christmas Eve and I got an electric kettle! Tea kettle is awesome! So excited!

Anyways, I just want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas! I hope it's as wonderful as you've always dreamed!
Santa Claus is watching! Be Good!

Piles of Presents and Actual Snow

I'm home again, and while my grades were good, my family life is still as insane as ever. I've been here for three days and I'm already exhausted and annoyed as all get out with my father. He's so rude and inconsiderate and just a jerk in general.

On a lighter note, our Christmas is going to be insanely awesome! There are so many presents that they branch out 3 feet from the tree. You can't even reach the tree from the front! It's awesome! I can't wait! I have such a childlike love of Christmas. I want to dive headfirst into the pile of presents and rip them open! But I'm also really excited about seeing how my family likes their presents. I really hope they like them! A few are knitted, but most aren't. No time.

Tomorrow I'm going to be knitting tons of little snowmen (I've posted the pattern somewhere on here) for my little sister's class (the special-ed class at my old high school). It's not going to be a big deal. They take about 10 minutes each, and I'll be making around 16 or so.

Speaking of snow, WE HAVE IT!!!! Up to now it was just little flurries, but now it's actually snowing! I'm so excited! I love the snow, and having a beaux from California, I appreciate even more! I really hope it's a white Christmas! Or at least getting a day where everything's white. Should be awesome!

Knew Knitting That's Strange and Fun

I'm working on a scarf. Yes....a scarf. I hate making them honestly.....it's long and boring. And I don't need anymore really...oh well. This one's not for me though, so it's not really my choice. A friend told me she had yarn and asked me to make her a scarf, so I said sure. What I really hate though is that it's 100% FELTABLE WOOL!!!!!! And I have to waste most of it on a scarf. So irksome. But I have a pattern from Creative Knitting Magazine Jan. 2010 that's challenging, so I won't lose interest as fast. It involves dropping stitches and letting them unravel on purpose(!). It's a nice looking pattern (if I wasn't messing up in a few places...but overall it will be okay). Very confusing though. I'm curious to see how it works out. You unravel certain stitches every 5th row, and I've done the first time, but I'm not sure how it's going to stop unraveling after five rows when I'm 10 rows in. Logically it sounds like it should just unravel all the way, but the pattern says "let it unravel for 5 rows". We'll see how it goes.

Speaking of Creative Knitting, I LOVE this magazine, and my wonderful beaux got me a two-year subscription for Christmas! I'm loving it! It is full of tons of patterns (seriously, like 3 ads, the rest patterns) that range from really easy to challenging, so it's giving me a kick in the pants to try harder stuff.

Desperate Attempts to Keep the Christmas Spirit

Ugh....I'm exhausted. Finals week started today. My hardest final was today, and I was studying all morning. Not sure how I did. Thinking I did pretty well, but last time I felt that way I ended up with a C. But it's over anyway. Which is good. My others seem like they'll be fairly easy.

I had Christmas with my friends last night, and that was a good time. I got a big bag of yarn (of course). Very exciting. It was fluffy and happy. And there are presents sitting on the shelf above my desk for my family. I'm really trying to focus on Christmas. It makes me happy. But I'm not excited about the long friggen drive this Friday....I was just there three weeks ago....and it makes me cringe just to think about it.

I've officially finished the two hats I was making for my sister and her husband! Well, I have to bind off his hat, but whatever. I don't know if I'm going to finish my niece's jacket. The back piece looks odd...you can't even see the shoulder shaping...it just looks square....I don't know. Maybe I'll keep going with it and see what happens. Can't decide. So that means I'm down to the snowman for Mom, but I don't have the yarn, and am broke. Flat broke. Oh wells.

I Believe in Santa Claus Like I Believe in Love

So, I'm a complete sucker for the old claymation Christmas movies. (Not the evil stupid sequels...it's like making a sequel to Cinderella....just freaking wrong.) I watch them every year no matter how often they're on, and my favorite of all of them has always been and will always be A Year Without a Santa Claus(in fact I'm watching it as I type). For you who don't know them by title, thing Heat Miser and Snow Miser. Yeah. That one. So much joy and win. My wonderful beaux bought it for me for Christmas!!!!!!! And the deluxe edition has Rudolph's Shiny New Year and Nester the Littlest Donkey. It's so awesome! Love it!

"Just like love I know he's there, waiting to be missed."


On the knitter's side, I've made progress! I finished my sister's hat, and making good progress on her husband's. For the jacket, I'm finally shaping the armholes for the back piece and about to bind off for that part! Oh progress. Wondrous. I washed my hat and my sister's hat with my normal laundry tonight, and it made them so soft!! Note: Red Heart Super Saver is sucky, until you wash it. Then it's made of win! I'm in love with my hat all over again!

Merry Christmas!

Moving Oh How I Loathe Thee

I had all of my wonderful Christmas decorations in my dorm and I loved how they looked, but I'm moving into a different dorm. I know I know, I'm moving out of a single (no one in the room, no one to share the bathroom) for a regular dorm with a roomie and suitmates, but it has a kitchen!!!!! I neeeeeeeed it! I had an apartment this summer, and I very much miss it. Especially cooking my own food in my own kitchen. That's totally worth it. Anyway, I've started packing, and I took down all my pretty Christmas things (except the lights that I can't reach....)! It's very sad, and I hate how bare the walls are....I'm not okay with it. But the official moving process starts tomorrow. Not sure how long until I actually get to live and sleep in there, but I'm sticking stuff in there anyway.

Christmas shopping for friends today! I'm soooooo excited! I LOVE CHRISTMAS SHOPPING!!! It brings me such joy. I just wish I hadn't spend 50 out of my 100 I had for friend shopping....oh well. I'm good at low-budget shopping. And I hope to knit them things. Hope to. Probably get that done/started during the Christmas break since I have 3 weeks. I also need to start wrapping. I've got something for my dad, and I need to wrap it up.

Hopefully the Christmas shopping will raise my slightly droopy spirits. School does that to one's existance...

Oh the Exhaustions How They Love Me

After the previously mentioned crappy day, this week has not been as bad, but has still been tiring. The biggest thing happened tonight, with my beau's announcement that he's contemplating the national guard. I'm scared to death of this. I know it's not like regular military and I know he won't be gone for long periods of time, but still. It's just scary. I don't really know why. But it is.

On a lighter note, I'm way behind on knitting. I have a baby block and a baby jacket I need to finish, and I've done 1 1/2 side of the block, and haven't finished the back piece of the jacket. I'm behind on my sister's hat, haven't started my brother-in-law's or Bonnie's, and haven't started my mom's snowman. Blarg. School gets in the way of my knitting. And no that's not in the wrong order. Graduation where art thou?

On an actual light note, my friends and I put up the 6-foot tree in their room! My first adult tree haha! (As opposed to those little 3-foot ones I had in my bedroom back home). I put the lights on it just like my mom, and we put ornaments and shiny things. Our tree topper is a big red and gold butterfly that clips to the tree. It brings me joy!

One of Those Days and the Feeling of Defeating It

Wow....so, Thanksgiving break was relaxing because of no responsibilities, but I definitely didn't catch up on sleep...

Getting back to school made me a wreck once again. Half my grade in a 400-level major class depended on a project I had started, but wasn't close to finishing. It was due yesterday, and I was up until 4:30 Tuesday night finishing it. I had to create a direct marketing plan for Knit-Wit, a company that doesn't exist, but that I want to make one day. I got it finished, had no confidence in it at all, and didn't even bother studying for the geology test that was happening in the class right before I had to present the plan.

I was an absolute wreck....it was insane. I'd forgotten about the test until about 10:00 Tuesday night, and I'm on the brink of getting a D in that class and bringing my GPA under 3.0 (which I have exactly, and which is required to keep the scholarship that's keeping me at very expensive Generic Christian College). All that to say I had to do well on this test and had no time to study for it.

Luckily the girl I sit next to is wonderful and needed my notes anyway, so she made a study guide for both of us and emailed it to me that night. I also got an email from my direct marketing teacher the next morning saying "I looked over your presentation and paper. WOW it looks GREAT! i can't wait to hear you present it."
I had to read it like 50 times for it to sink in. Made me feel much better, but I was still frazzled about presenting it that afternoon. I didn't even start studying until 1 hour before the test (in the class before it...). Scared to death. But as I was starting the test, I knew most of it!!!! I got through it and feel great about it! Next was the presentation. I got through it really well, and my teacher said I hit the nail on the head!

God does some wonderful things for us when we trust Him. I destroyed that day! It was awesome! Now just some things I have to make for a graphic arts class and we're all good!