Little Knitables

Looking Back, and Maybe Some Forward

2012-01-03T12:14:00.001-06:00

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

2011-11-28T07:46:00.001-06:00

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

2011-10-19T09:17:00.004-05:00

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

2011-10-01T08:00:00.001-05:00

I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!!!!!

That's all. Bye!

Hey! I am knitting!

2011-09-13T20:07:00.005-05:00

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

2011-09-06T17:40:00.002-05:00

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

2011-07-19T13:19:00.003-05:00

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!

There's a Snitch on my Ceiling

2011-07-17T15:14:00.003-05:00

Okay not really. But I did get some Harry Potter knitting accomplished! I made the Golden Snitch! It's really simple to make, and perfect for beginners and experienced knitters! It's knitted in 3 pieces (2 wings and the body) and sewn together, and the body is knit flat and seamed. I'm really happy with mine, but since I don't have any stuffing, I had to use yarn, so it's not quite as round as I'd like. I added a circle of yarn to the top so I could hang it or use it as a Christmas ornament!

Currently this is hanging from my ceiling fan pull cord, but depending on how much knitting I can get done for my wedding I might give it to one of my bridesmaids. I'm rather proud of myself for getting this done. It only took a few hours of TV knitting, so it's a nice little project.

Harry Potter and the End of an Era

2011-07-15T10:33:00.003-05:00

Josh and I went to see the midnight release of the last ever Harry Potter movie. It was AWESOME! (And yes, we did go in costume)

But it was also very depressing. I feel like the last little bit of my childhood is gone now. The (movie) series started when I was in SEVENTH GRADE! I'm a college graduate! It's just a painful thought. I will very much miss the anticipation of a new movie, seeing how bad or how well they stick to the books, and seeing the always-smexy Tom Felton!

This last movie has also re-light the fires of my obsession, and I have an overwhelming need to knit something Harry Potter-related. But I have no spare knitting time! I have to finished Josh's socks, make 4 knit Mustaches, possibly knit gift bags, and try and finish my shawl in less than three months! The thing I've wanted to knit and just never got the nerve to actually try was one of these:

Harry Potter Blanket! There are so many different squares to choose from (See here)!!! I want the Malfoy family for certain, probably the 3, and who knows who else!

Useless SAL of July

2011-07-06T16:53:00.003-05:00

So I got the random Google problem fixed. I had to make another new email (because letting me use an existing Google email would just be too easy), but I can get onto my blog again without a massive fight. So here's my SAL of July. I'll start posting progress on my shawl and Josh's socks and stuff as I get further along.

And in case you're wondering, that is in fact me with my future hubby in the engagement picture we got done right after we got engaged.

Google and it's Evils

2011-06-28T23:02:00.004-05:00

So, I have a gmail account. Two actually. One is connected to my college. So I got myself an "I'm a college graduate now" email address. It's the second gmail. You know, for professionalism and stuff. So Google goes and updates it's stuff that it does and changes stuff around. And tells me I need to update the email I have or something. Every time I try and log into my blog here it says "You need to change stuff!!!!!!!" And so I did. And now I just have some weird temp account that I can never remember how to log into (and half the time it won't work anyway, just brings up that "UPDATE STUFF NOOOOOOWWWW!!!!" page again...). The most frustrating part of this whole thing is that I've tried over and over and over to put my new "grown up" email address as my primary email for the blog but even though everything is operated by Google I CAN'T MAKE A GMAIL MY PRIMARY EMAIL!!!! WHAT?! I have to update everything for Google and Google own't let me use their email. So yeah. That's why I haven't updated anything. I haven't actually been able to log in. Because Google is broken. And stupid.

Also, (and I hope this doesn't disqualify me from winning stuff) but I haven't actually added anything to my thing of stitches for the Totally Useless Stitch-along so I'm just going to re-use a picture.

I may not have used this one. I take more than one picture of them at a time sometimes.

Still Here, Again

2011-05-26T14:38:00.002-05:00

The storms went around me once again. There were tornadoes just north, east, and to the south of my little town, but all we had here was a tornado warning with some rain, followed by sun and no tornado warning 5 minutes later, followed by more rain, followed by sun the rest of the day 5 minutes after the rain. No really. That's what happened.

On the knitting side of the world, I've started a lacy shawl that I'm hoping to finish within 4 months and wear at my wedding. The only problem with that is that I've never done lace or used a chart, and I'm learning both. So far nothing's fallen apart, but I've had some really annoying moments. Like screwing up one row so much I had to say "Forget it" and just have it be a messed up row. I'll find out if my st count was off when I do the next row. It was just frustrating. I mean, I've done socks, used little-bitty dpns, but goodness this is tiny! I'll post my progress once I find the camera charger....

On that note, I moved! I live in my little apartment now! It's so exciting, and weird. I mean, I own a couch. The couch is mine. It will go with me when I move. How weird is that? I'm still trying to find places for things. And I'm trying to get rid of things. I found out my yarn takes up ALL the shelf space in my closet, so I'm having to give some away. it's kind of painful, but at the same time, I won't use all that yarn, let's be honest.

Again, when I find the camera charger I'll have pictures.

May the 4th Be With You

2011-05-04T16:35:00.004-05:00

First, my Useless SAL for May.

Alrighty, now that that's done, I need to tell you all that I have finally watched the entire Star Wars Saga! I'd never seen them. Just part of Episode I and all of Episode III. So on this Star Wars Day, May the 4th be with you, always! (even though I'm a Sith. :P)

Still Here

2011-05-01T01:34:00.003-05:00

I just realized that I live in Arkansas and, as most of the country is well aware, we've had some pretty major storms here in the south. I also realized that me not updating might imply that I had been carried off with these storms.

I haven't. In fact, all we've really had in my little town is lots of rain, lots of lightning, and lots of thunder. There have been tornado watches and the night that everything got hit we had our sirens go off, but it didn't it us. It hit a town less than an hour away and obliterated it, but my little town is safe again.

Many, many places aren't safe, however. Last I heard the death toll in the entire southern area that was hit was over 300. It makes my heart ache to think about how afraid and unsure of the future all those people are. As I type there is a strong thunderstorm raging outside my window once again. It has been coming down for many hours now.

Please keep everyone affected by these strong storms and tornadoes in your thoughts and prayers.

Is It May 14th Yet?

2011-04-18T20:39:00.002-05:00

Y'all I am exhausted. This semester is trying to kill me. Slowly. Through over-working my brain. So my lack of posting is all on the account of having no life whatsoever. Just school, work, and the very small, tiny amount of time I see my finace.

My rosemary plant has little sprouts! I'll get pictures sometime.

Useless SAL of April

2011-04-05T20:28:00.003-05:00

Here's my post for the month. A few new colors on the top from all my Bazaar knitting! Other than that I've got a Bridal shower on Sunday! I can't wait!!

Things Bought and Immediately Forgotten

2011-04-02T12:51:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention a few things yesterday! Or maybe my brain new that my post about knitting was getting long and stopped me from remembering to post these things. Probably not.

I think I'm showing my age a bit with this one. I bought a Sega Genesis. Yes you heard right. I had one and have no idea what in the world happened to it. But the local game shop had one for $25 and so the future hubby bought it as an early graduation present! Alongside the Lion King game you see. I had it when I was young and so we got it to go with! Wee! More things I don't actually have time to use...

Also, I started having an herb garden again! Well, sort of. Last year I had a window-box sized planter with garlic chives and oregano. But it got destroyed through no fault of mine. I'm still rather upset. But! I found this nifty little planter at Wal-Mart. It came with rosemary. I've never used rosemary, let alone grown it, but the recommendation of things it can be used in gave me hope! The little planter thing was $3 and came with the pretty little pot, seeds, instructions, and one of those little dirt disk things. So it's super cheap and comes with everything you need except water. (Don't add too much water...trust me)

My sewing is slowly coming along. My hand-stitching isn't very pretty in some places, and I can't seem to cut straight to save my life, but it's coming together! All my pieces are cut out and I've done the hemming on 1.5 pieces. All by hand. I'll keep posting on my progress of sewing and growing!

Have a wonderful April!

Some Clever April Fool's Prank Here

2011-04-01T19:20:00.003-05:00

I considered doing some silly prank saying I'm closing my blog and such, but there's just too much to post about today. Oh well. Some other time I suppose.

I have lots of pictures today! All those ones I promised before. And more!

First are my mug cozies! The left one is an old-school bullet bill. It fits nicely around my travel mug. The right is a pretty simple garter stitch with a button. It's perfect for normal coffee mugs since you put it on with the button. They're both pretty awesome.

This is a market bag I made to sell at the Bazaar my school is having! Since green is the thing I figured it would be a hit! And I got to use up almost all of my Caron Natura stash! Bonus!

These are cool "steampunk" spats! You wear them on your ankles over some low heels. They're so nifty! I'm going to try and sell them but if not, they're awesome and I'll just keep them! The yarn was a gift from the always amazing Alyoops! It's so soft!

This is a Japanese knot bag. Originally I'd made it for myself but since it is so small it won't work at all for me, so I'm going to try and sell it too! There are a few technical errors, but I think non-crafty people won't notice probably. It's lined on the inside with blue fleece.

And now for something completely different...

Sewing! I've always wanted to, and really have just been too lazy to try since I don't have a sewing machine. But this awesome fabric was only $1!!! So I'm making myself an apron!

I love aprons. I've got two so far. Both made by my wonderful friend Bonnie. One of them is a full apron that is brown on the top (for Zoe Washburn) and a type of "Hawaiian T-shirt" type print on the bottom (for Hoban "Wash" Washburn). It's my Washburn apron! Firefly! Yay! The other is just around the waist and it's penguins since I collect them! And now I've got Japanese fabric to try on my own! Here's hoping it goes well!

Happy crafting all. I'll be over here counting down the days left until graduation. (44)

A Little Bit of Crazy

2011-03-14T20:15:00.004-05:00

Ladies and Gents, I have done the crazy. I am a college student and have decided to go down the crazy path that crazy college students do. No I didn't go to some crazy kegger, no I didn't get my nipples pierced (honestly people, I said crazy not straight-up masochistic), and no, I didn't run off to Vegas with Josh and get married by a preacher-man who looks like Elvis.

I.....got tattoos. Not a tattoo. Tattoos. Plural. Two. Painful.

I have one on each wrist now. I'm rather happy about it, and I continuously look at it going "What on earth did I do?". Mostly because it's in a rather difficult to hide location. Wrists don't just disappear. And in Arkansas long sleeves are not your friend in the warm months.

For those considering getting a tattoo, honestly I don't recommend it. It really did hurt. A lot. And it is permanent. I know you know that, but it really doesn't hit you what that actually means until there is this image on your skin and you're looking at it thinking "This is there. Forever. For. Ever.". It's rather unsettling when you starting thinking about careers and children. Also, if your finace doesn't really approve, just go along with him/her. Josh wasn't happy at all about mine. He's moved on since there's nothing he can do about it, but he still doesn't like it.

Basically I have them. I'm happy I have them. And I have the "It's college." excuse when people ask why I did something so flat out crazy. It's all fantastic.

The blurry one says "You can't take the sky from me". It's on my left wrist.

Useless SAL and Whatever Else

2011-03-04T14:22:00.004-06:00

It is March 4th and so it's time for the next Totally Useless Stitch-Along post! I've done quite a bit and my bottle is filling! It's actually kinda neat looking.

Much has been done, and I'll post about those later. No really! I will!

Which brings me to my next point: Y'all I. Am. Busy. Oh my goodness. This semester, combined with my job, combined with planning a wedding, combined with trying to figure out what to do with myself after graduation this May has left me quite literally ZERO extra hours for things. Any kinds of things. I mean, I only see my fiance for about an hour a day if I'm lucky. It's chaotic.

However, good things have come from it as well. I have applied for the apartment I want to move into after graduation. This is the same apartment that Josh will move into once we're married! So I'm going to be living in our home. It's actually pretty awesome. I've only applied though, not put down the deposit. But I really can't think of a reason I'd be denied. My worry-loving brain just makes me think I'll get denied for some reason.

My roommate (who is also a bridesmaid) and I have spring break starting a week from this Saturday! She's coming up home with me so that my mom, sister (Matron of Honor) and she can start really getting into the wedding thing! We're going dress shopping and doing all those fun things! And with as frazzled as I'm getting, bring on the spring break! Ugh!

There is a thing going on around campus called the "Harding Bazaar" where crafty people can buy a booth and sell their crafts! So of course I jumped on that, giving myself even more things to do...I've knitted two coffee mug cozies, I'm thinking of making a cowl, and I'm going to bring lots of patterns and books for people to look through so they can order things. I mean, that's how most stuff is done right? Made-to-order!

I'll post some pictures of things I've made sometime soon. When I can breathe. Ja ne!

Even More Knitting!

2011-02-08T21:49:00.002-06:00

Wow! More knitting on my knitting blog? Go me!

I find goofy faces make up for my lack of attractiveness. I made earmuffs! Out of the softest yarn on the planet! The pattern is a Knitty pattern, which I usually find to complex/time consuming. It's Muffy! I didn't bother with the roving and stuff, but I'm really happy with them. They fit perfectly over my ears and are soooooo warm! Wearing them is a little complicated, because there's one cord along the top that's looped through the top, and (as you can see) tied across the bottom. It's fine though. I like them.

The yarn is Wendy Velvet Touch in Shervet Velvet! Note the pretty picture!

I love this yarn so much! And I've got probably just under half a skein left, so the pattern really didn't take much at all. This is a 50g skein if that tells you anything.

Totally Useless SAL and Other Pictures

2011-02-04T22:13:00.006-06:00

I almost forgot this. Hooray for Alyoops for posting hers in a timely manner to remind me!

I've got a lot more clippings in there this month, but not because I've been doing much more honestly....The pink and black is from a tank-top that I want to make, but I get bored with my creations easily. I'm odd.

Also, I've actually gotten some knitted things done. A pair of glittens in my Jayne Cobb yarn from my swap partner from a long time ago.

They have a few problems. Holes, random woven in bits sticking out, and the mitten bit is a little to small for my hand, but over all I'm soooo proud of these. They're my first go at multiple fingers and other complex things. Something odd happened though. Notice in the first picture how the hand sts stretch towards the thumb? Well (and this is the 2nd one made) somehow as I was going, the thumb ended up more...in the middle....or something. It's very strange. The other mitten is fine. Crazy stuff.

I finished a happy comfy cowl too! See my pretty buttons? They were on sale! And my nice cable? I've never done that before! It turned out pretty nice if you ask me! And I finally posted pictures! Go me!

22 and 8 Months to Go

2011-02-01T09:56:00.003-06:00

Well, another year of my existence has flown by. I'm officially 22! It's sort of odd. That feeling when you're 21 is much different. Like you're older but not so much so that you have a lot of responsibilities and things to think about. When you turn 22 it's like, "Wow...I'm getting old...I should, do things." I have no complaints. Yes it's been stressful with school, terrible advisers, family insanity, and just general over-stressed madness, but overall I think I've got it pretty good.

Along that line, this date also signifies the "8 months left until I'm married" mark! This is both exciting, and completely terrifying. I have some of the essentials, like church, preacher, colors, the basics. But I'm also missing a lot of things that technically (according to all those websites and magazines anyway) I should have done last month or need to jump on this month such as DJ, florist, reception venue, dress, and all those things that book far in advance or need lots of altering time. I hate trying to do this wedding thing while I'm in school in Arkansas and my mom is in Illinois. It's very frustrating.....Josh and I did have lots of fun going out registering on Sunday though! It was soooooo great! We went to Wal-Mart and JCPenny's and got the nifty little scan-gun and went around saying things like "Do you like this one?" "How about this blender? You can make smoothies and it has a food processor attachment so it'll store better." We were planning out our lives together and it was fan-freaking-tastic. I loved it so much. And Josh even had fun. I want to get on Macy's.com and Kohl's website and register there with him too. And Bed Bath and Beyond too. I'm so excited!

I have been knitting. (What? Knitting? Was that what this blog was supposed to be about?) I finished a pair of fingerless gloves/glittens in my pretty orange Sanguin Griphon yarn! They're not great, but I'm so excited because they were my first go and they don't look that bad. Just some random woven ends sticking out (How do you fix that!? I can't do it right it seems) and a couple of holes from when I picked up sts and such. Nothing major. I wear them every day. They're awesome.

I also finished my cabled cowl. My first cabled project. So warm. So nice. I'll post pictures....sometime. Maybe with my Totally Useless SAL post in a few days.

Let's Just Pretend It's January 4th

2011-01-17T13:51:00.003-06:00

I know I'm really really late with this, but it's the first time I've been back at school (where my bottle of strings is) so I just now got my picture! This is my January picture for Daffycat's Totally Useless Stitch-a-Long!

Sorry about the crazy-lateness! It'll be better from now on!

Give me your input!

2011-01-12T20:07:00.003-06:00

So far, I've given you guys some random pattern searches over things I happened to be working on/wanting to work on at the time. So my question is: Do YOU, my loyal, if limited readers, have a pattern search you'd like done? Some type of pattern or some random word you want searched for in free knitting pattern form? I will attempt to do any of them that are asked for, so ask away! They can be cute, funny, random, or NC-17 for all I care (I promise I'll label it if that one comes up!).

So give me your input! I'll do my best to make your pattern search wishes come true!

You Can't Deny the Cuteness

2011-01-06T14:04:00.003-06:00

The first week of January is nearly over. How's it going for everyone? Mine has been going fairly well. I've nearly got my wedding guest list finished! I've got all the addresses for his side, and most of the ones on my side! It feels good to have accomplished something. Also, Mom and I went wedding dress shopping last weekend! It was so exciting! I found a really gorgeous one that I fell in love with, but of course it was just my first go, so I'm sure that will happen again! I'm going with my sister this Saturday! I love all this wedding stuff! I'm so excited!

School starts up again on the 18th, and I'm going back the Friday before that! Josh and I both got a job at Chick-fil-a, and we start training on the 17th. Hooray for money!

I decided to take a bit of a different route with this pattern search. Whales! I found a really cute headphone-holder thingy that was a really cute whale, so I ran with it!

Moby Dick Cable Controller-This adorable little whale is perfect for your desk to hold your usb cables or headphones! I can't wait to make one! He's so adorable!

Whale Charts-This cute little whale chart is 28 stitches across and 18 stitches high, so it's decently versatile.

Whale Watch Purse-If you're someone who lives near the water, or just someone who LOVES ocean-y things, this cute little purse is perfect for you!

Whale of a Tail Baby Hat-This is a simple, cute little hat for a newborn that looks like the whale's tail is sticking up off baby's head.

Oedipus the Orca-A little stuffed Orca whale! I think it's precious.

Hazel the Humpback Whale-Available as a free Ravelry.com download. You'll need to make a free account (which I totally recommend!). This is a realistic looking little stuffed humpback whale! It's amazing how real it looks.

Moby the Whale-A simple stuffed whale. I think it's cute!

That's all the free ones I could find that were whales and not fish. If you know of any others just comment and I'll add them!

First Post of the Year

2011-01-01T10:52:00.002-06:00

Happy 1-1-11 everyone!

Interesting things happening to me this year:

I graduate college in May! (Finally!)

I turn 22.

Nine months from TODAY I get married!!

The day after that my new husband and I will take off for our honeymoon in (fingers crossed...almost certain) THE BAHAMAS!!!

This is looking to be scads better than 2010. That was a roller coaster of a year.....Hope everyone has a great new year! I'll be back to posting knitted-related things soon. I've got a pattern search in my sights that's bound to be adorable!

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

2010-12-25T15:08:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas! Josh and I have funny engagement pictures.

Cuddly Warm for Christmas!

2010-12-20T11:50:00.003-06:00

Recently, I knit myself a cowl. I'd never made one before, and honestly I'd always thought they looked kinda funny. Models do that to things I suppose. But my dear friend found a really pretty one that looked really easy, so I decided to give it a go. I fell in love with it. It took me an evening of on-again-off-again-knitting.

Were I to make this again (and I just might!) I would use a non-textured yarn so it shows off the leaf-edging better. I used Lion Brand Homespun and it was really really warm and happy. And I love how it turned out. Since these pictures were taken it has been gifted to my (crazy-skinny) friend Meg who is ALWAYS cold. She put it on and was warmed immediately (just like me) and loved it. I was happy. But because I did (semi-unexpectedly, but not unhappily) give this one away, I looked around for another one to make myself and found a nice cabled one that I have on the needles. I've never done cables before but I haven't had any problems so far.

In the spirit of warm and happy (and because we've had ice and snow here in my hometown) I decided to do a pattern search of warm and happy things like cowls and hats!

Cowls:

Leaving on the Edge-This is the cowl pictured above! You have to scroll down to the bottom of the page. The pattern is second-to-last.

Quick Cabled Cowl-You need a free Ravlery.com account to view this one. This is the one I currently have on my needles. A big cable runs along it and it's fastened with two big buttons!

Simple Loom Cowl-You need a Ravlery account for this one too. Done on a loom, this cowl is very basic and simple.

Slouchy Cowl Collar-A big slouchy cowl that hangs down slightly. I don't know if it's as warm as the closer-fitting ones, but it looks nice. Anyone have big cowl experience?

Doncha Wanna Hug Me? Cowl-This is a big cowl that stays more or less above the shoulders. It looks nice and warm!

Simon Cowl-Besides the humor, this cowl is great because it's simple with a couple of challenging techniques. Great for knitters ready to branch out and try something new, but since it's all in garter stitch, it's not daunting.

Halfway Wrong Way Cowl-A simple cowl in super bulky yarn with buttons to hold it closed, but no buttonhole creating required!

Parliament Hill Cowl-For this cowl you cast on the length (part that fits around your neck) and knit until it's the right length (how high up on your neck it goes), so it's a pretty quick knit. And it looks really happy.

There's a lot more cowls out there and many of them are great, so if you've got one you love, let me know and I'll add it!

Hats:

Of course this is a HUGE category, so I'm not going to list too many, just ones that I think are awesome!

Jayne Cobb Hat-Of course the most cunning and incredible hat ever has to be added first! This is one cunning hat!

Hat With Heart Earflaps-I thought this was precious! Its on lion-brand's website, so I'm not sure if you'll need a subscription to their site or not. If you find that you do, please let me know!

Holiday Hat-You need a Ravelry account for this one. A nice hat with lots of Christmas-y/Winter-y images knit into it.

Tea Cozy Hat-This is needs a Rav account too. A warm hat with an opening for your ponytail! Uses a drawstring to open or close the hat more to accommodate your hairstyle for the day.

Entrelac Hat-In the round entrelac....Sounds scary to me but the hat looks awesome!

Earflap Hat-With sizes for child, adult, and large adult, this hat is really versatile!

Penguin Pal Hat-Child-sized penguin hat! It's so adorable!

Penguin Hat for Adults-I was so excited to find this! I collect penguins! You need a Rav account for this one.

Pi Hat-For the math geek in your life!

Sweet Heart Hat-You need a Rav account. Stranded colorwork hearts along the brim make this an adorable little Valentine hat!

Stay warm and have a wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Charts

2010-11-27T20:47:00.003-06:00

I'm in the full Christmas spirit! My dorm was decorated within two hours of me getting here. Complete with tree, some of my grandma's old decorations, and much more! So, with that in mind, I've decided to give you a few Christmas charts!

Christmas Snowflake-by the awesome Chem Knits!

Snowman Charts-Again by Chem Knits

Stocking Dividers-Chem Knits once again!

More Stocking Dividers

Stocking Star-Chem Knits once again!

Santa Chart-A nice Santa face. Good for a stocking or something.

Candy Cane-A small simple candy cane chart

Chart List-Here's an already made list of animal, child-related, flower, and holiday charts.

That's all I could find for now (since I can't get onto Ravelry right now....my school blocked it for some odd reason....)

Enjoy! Merry Christmas season!!!!!

Dear Internet World...

2010-11-25T16:54:00.002-06:00

...It's snowing!!!!!! Here in southeast Illinois, we're getting a beautiful snow fall! It's so exciting! The ground's too warm for it to stick there, but my little VW Beetle is covered, as well as the other cars and roofs in the area. It's so freaking exciting!

Also, my mom's house is a beautiful, glittery shrine to the wonderfulness that is Christmas! Two tress, stockings, gel window cling thingys, a pretty little Christmas village, and it's all gorgeous!!!!

I love it all so freaking much!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

The Story, Among Other Things

2010-11-15T23:19:00.002-06:00

Okay, so here's how it went down:

I got to sleep in, because I never get to anymore. Day started normal. We went to the store so I could do grocery shopping. After that we came back to my campus to watch Phantom of the Opera (one of my favs!!!) and played games and downed a whole box of Cheese-Its. One of those awesome spending-time-together days. Then we went to a restaurant called "Colton's" (steaks, country feel. I love it) and ordered nothing but deep-fried appetizers (cheese sticks, fried mushrooms, etc.)! So fun. And delicious. Then we returned to campus (it is now about 6:00 PM, night time) and he wants to walk around. I'm like "No it's cold" but he really wanted to so we did. We got to the middle of the courtyard under all the trees under the pretty moon and stars and the nice clear cold night, and he sang me our song: "Would you Go With Me" -Josh Turner. Then he says "I was going to wait a couple more hours, but..." and he turns me to him and he goes down on one knee and I start freaking out (in a good way)!!!!

He had even planned out my ring ceremony with my club before hand! It was announced Friday, and I found out it was mine when he proposed! Ring ceremony is this: you tell absolutely no one that you're engaged (other than family of course) except your club pres/sponsor. They announce a "ring ceremony" at such and such time/day/etc. Everyone comes and the president puts the ring on a candle. The candle is lit, and we pass it around singing our club hymn until the bride (i.e.-me) decides to finally blow the candle out (I let it go around twice hehehe). Then they all pick you up and throw you into a fountain. And the beaux threw him in too!

I'm knitting my veil, and hoping it turns out good. My first lace project. Any advice?

It's the Best Day Eveeeeeerrrrr!!

2010-11-14T01:08:00.002-06:00

Okay, this one's going to be really short, and I apologize.

I GOT ENGAGED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes. I am now engaged. Affianced. Gettin' Hitched!!!!!!!!

[insert flails, jumping, and general crazy-excitedness here]

And I got thrown into a fountain. Because I'M ENGAGED!

Remember Remember....

2010-11-05T10:49:00.002-05:00

Remember, remember the 5th of November;

the gunpowder, treason, and plot.

I know of no reason why the gunpowder treason

should ever be forgot

Just a little quickie update reminding you that today is Guy Fawkes day! Bust out your mask, cloak, knives, and hat, and fight the power! And remember to go dancing. "A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having."

"People should not fear their governments. Governments should fear their people."

Happy November!

2010-11-03T10:54:00.002-05:00

Yes it's November! You know what that means! That's right: The Christmas stuff will be coming out in droves!

I don't know about you, but I LOVE Christmas! And I really don't mind when Wal-Mart starts replacing the Halloween items with Christmas and sorta skipping over Thanksgiving. Now don't get me wrong: I love love Thanksgiving! I help Mom cook, get a week at home, and we have good ol' family time with all the crazy amounts of food you could never eat! But Christmas is so special to me. Mom and I have always gone all out for Christmas time. A tree in every room, village pieces, lights on the house, all the figurines you could ask for, and the trees are the most beautiful ones in the world. We counted once and had 80 (read that EIGHTY) strands of lights on one tree. Plus all the little decorations and everything. It just makes me so happy! I love the music, the joy, the gift-giving. I LOVE buying things for my family and seeing their reaction when I get it just right!

This year I'm trying to knit some things. A cute little baby sweater for my niece, a wine bottle cozy for my sister, and I'm working on a little afghan (my first!) for my mom. Last year my sister and her husband got a loom knit hat each. And my niece (who was born on Dec. 18th. She'll be 2!) got her very first present ever from me. A little checkerboard mini-blanket thing that I made in squares and put together. It only fit around her for a month or so.

Do you like to make things for Christmas? What's something that you really hit it out of the park with? Can you share ideas for a football-crazy-business-teacher-brother-in-law?

GATA club is like and alligator gonna eat you up!

2010-10-26T11:23:00.002-05:00

Nearly a month and no update. Jeez. Maybe this blogging thing isn't for me. But I like it. So whatever.

School is just a psycho as ever. 17 hours (my normal being 12....) of work, a teacher/adviser I can't stand even looking at hardly, plus, I'm pledging a club! As a senior. I think I might be suicidal...hmmmm

But anyways, yes! I am going for GATA! Girls Aiming Toward Achievement! The girls (and beaux) are really awesome, plus we're not subjected to nearly as much ridiculous, demeaning idiocy as some of the other clubs. There's one that literally takes their girls in a room and yells at them until they cry. Not necessary. Why would you want to be around those people? Seriously? I love my GATA girls so much. And our cheers are great! We even has a Lady Gaga one! Makes me laugh. So hard.

"Rough night" is Friday and all I know is there's mud involved. But no one knows that.

In other news, my 3 year anniversary with my boy is Wednesday! But as it's pledge week we're celebrating on Saturday by going to Little Rock and having a day and then going to the fancy restaurant in town where we went on our first date before we even starting dating. He took me out on my first date ever, and we weren't even together! Guess it's destined to be!

I'm still up for suggestions on what to make for the booth! See previous post for info!

102 degrees, and that's just me

2010-09-30T17:26:00.002-05:00

This has been a very.....hard to explain week, full of family fun, nervous breakdowns, and bad illness. I had a weekend with my mom at our Fall Festival this last weekend and it was really really fun, but it made me extremely homesick as soon as I left. Which has never been a problem before. I started getting a little cold that Saturday, and by Tuesday it had escalated so much that when I went to the nurse Wednesday morning she said I had a fever of 102 and ordered me not to go to class that day or today. Dizzy, achy, shivery, and half-dead I went back to my room and watched movies all day. My wonderful boy took good care of me and got me whatever I wanted/needed.

I had a breakdown over lots of stressed things. From everywhere. But it'll be alright. Things are good.

Lots of knitting in the works. I've got a pair of fingerless gloves/glittens (gloves with the mitten top) on the needles in that shiny skein of $28 orange yarn I got in my package! (See previous post) They're going to be uber happy. I just don't have a lot of stitch holders (they're all sitting on another project) so I'm having to improvise for the fingers....See pattern here. I'm doing the bigger ones at the top, not the bottom pattern.

There is a crafty thing going on in November here in town and my friends and I are going to sell stuff there! As it's in mid-November I'm going to make Christmas-related things. Anyone else have any suggestions? What kind of things would you want to see that would entice you? Mind you, I have just over a month, plus a full school load.

I'll start working at a farm this weekend. A big corn maze, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, and even some singing! It should be rather fun!

Picture Time!

2010-09-21T23:09:00.006-05:00

Wow this has been an eventful week! In good and bad ways. Mostly good though. I'm doing the whole club process here at college. (Sorta like sororities, only not as slutty/cruel/alcohol-induced). As a senior. Yeah. I'm kinda insane. But regardless, we've had tons of fun doing all the crazy activities! I've been to a "Holiday" themed mixer, a "Wacky-Tacky" mixer, and a "Little Black Dress/Hollywood" mixer! They've all been fun, but I think tomorrow's will be the best: Nerd Have More Fun!! I'm going as Jayne Cobb of Firefly! My two roommates are the president and vice president of GATA, who've done the Wacky-Tacky mixer and are doing the Nerds Have More Fun one. I think I'm going for them, but going to mixers is fun no matter what club it is! I'm crazy excited for this mixer!
Reference photo of Jayne for the un-educated. Note the amazing knit hat from his Momma. Jayne loves his momma. But don't get him wrong. He'll kill you same as lookin' at you. Gorram it. For more information, see the numerous Jayne Hat patterns in the previous post.

I've made (and by "made" I mean bought and used iron-on sheets) a sort of copy of one of Jayne's shirts. The "Blue Sun" shirt. 'Cept mine is dark brown and has sleeves. And of course the logo is from and iron-on shirt thingy, so it's not as nice. And got white around it. I'll post pictures later.

Now, I call this post "picture time" because I got my Firefly swap package from my awesome swap partner today! And I'm posting the pictures. Everything I got was super shiny!

See all the awesomeness!!! Let's see if I can get these in order: Everything together, and awesome Jaynestown Canton T-shirt!!, a skein from the Sanguine Gryphon ($28!!!! zomg!), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince pins (not firefly, but still epic), a hand-made (I believe) little bag with a cute knitting sheep!, the Bellatrix sock pattern found here on Ravelry, some nifty wash stuff that I'm not certain how to use yet for my knitted items, and finally, she knitted me the Bellatrix socks!!!!! They're so comfy and happy and made of Claudia Hand Painted yarns (100% Merino wool!). She even gave me the leftovers of the two skeins she used for the socks. So freaking happy.

So, yeah. Awesome times. After the nerds mixer I'll post some shiny pictures. Enjoy!

You Can't Take the Sky from Me

2010-09-10T16:34:00.003-05:00

I'm sorry it's been so long (again). My main laptop, Xemda, has the Win7 AV virus. It acts like an antivirus software that you download, except when it tells you that you have "THREE BIG SCARY DEADLY VIRUSES!!!!!!111one" that it can only get rid of by updating, you have to pay like $60 or some such nonsense. And it won't leave you alone until you do. It just keeps popping up every three seconds saying "LOOK! LOOK! VIRUSES! PAY ME!" So I just turned poor Xemda off and need to take her to the dormnet peoples to haev them fix it. Since then I've been using my new netbook Wheatley! He's an Acer Aspire one. Purple on the outside with black keys, but purple all around the keyboard! It's shiny and brings me joy.

But in my absence I've been involved in a Firefly swap! It's still going on, so I won't tell you what I've made, but when it's over I will, with pictures! But, in light of that awesome theme, I've of course been searching lots of happy patterns and things that are Firefly related! So I'm sharing them in another pattern list!

Firefly Patterns

Knitting:

Jayne Cobb Hat Tea Cozy-A cute little tea cozy for the fans of Jayne!

Hoban Washburne "Wash" Cloth-Ravelry download. A wash cloth for a wash lover! It's knit with two colors instead of making the design with knitting and purling. The instructions are charted and written out, so whatever's easier for you!

Jayne Hat Brooch-This looks like you could make it in just an hour or so. Worked flat and sewn.

River Tam-Can't have patterns without there being a nice play on words. The River Tam is exactly what it says: a tam based on River Tam! Available as a PDF or Ravelry download.

Simon Tam-Same as above

Firefly Class Serenity-That's right! Serenity herself! The pattern is a bit complicated, but still very doable! PDF

Wash Sweater-The sweater Wash wears in "Out of Gas" and "The Message" was turned into a pattern by the Big Damn Knitters group on Ravelry (which I am a proud member of!)!

Strawberries-Inspired by Kaylee of course! These are the simplest things ever to knit. And they're adorable.

Leafy Fingerless Gloves-Again, Wash inspired. These are a Ravelry download.

Leaves-I'm not sure what to call this, because the pattern calls for only making a string of around 6, and so it's not terribly long. Of course you can add more or less to make it a headband, necklace, or even a really long scarf!

Jayne Hat 1-Jayne's classic hat! I'm just going to list several versions, though they all have the same basic idea.
Jayne Hat 2
Jayne Hat 3-Ravelry Download
Jayne Hat 4-This one includes a crochet version!

Leaf on the Wind Blanket-A really pretty leafy lace blanket. Ravelry download

Serenity Illusion Scarf-The link just leads to a giant chart. This is the link to the Ravelry page for the pattern

Jayne Hat GPS Cozy-Ravelry Download. More Jayne hat stuff, but for a GPS or other squarish electronic thingy!

Browncoat Insignia Illusion Chart-Ravelry Download.

Crochet:

Kaylee Fry-This one's not free but it was too cute to pass up! It's a little crocheted Kaylee in her outfit when she's looking for passenger's in episode 1 "Serenity". Complete with umbrella!

Our Mrs. Reynolds Shawl-Replica of the shawl that YoSaffBridg wears in episode "Our Mrs. Reynolds"!

River Tam Vest-River's white lacy long vest thing. Not sure what episode it's from.

There it is! A list of shiny things to make that are Firefly related, if only in a roundabout way. Enjoy! If you know of any others, let me know!

Stealing a Concept, or Taking a Leaf?

2010-08-06T12:40:00.002-05:00

Is there really all that big a difference. Well...I think so. ChemKnits, a wonderful blog I watch written by an awesome biochemistry PhD candidate knitter (those words together are scary). In her blog she will occasionally do pattern searches for specific items (See her search for Felted Brim Hats and Drop Stitch Scarves) and they're very well done and helpful! So I thought I'd try and do that for things that I really want to make. This will help out when I don't have a camera to take pictures of projects or don't have anything fascinating to say. So I'll actually post more often! Hooray!

For my first search for patterns, I've recently gotten an urge to make a big comfy pullover sweater type deal, so I figured it was a good place to start.

Geisha Sweater-Worked flat in pieces. The sizes are in UK measurements, so I don't know what they fit, but the picture looks like it would fit a large maybe? Maybe bigger. If anyone knows UK measurements I'd appreciate the help! (This site keeps bringing up a username and password box, but it doesn't kick me off for not entering one so.....)

DROPS Jumper with Hood-Worked flat in pieces. Sizes S-XXL. This hoodie is adorable and looks pretty simple. And there's a bonus hat pattern!

Harry Potter House Sweater-Another flat-knit sweater modeled after the Harry Potter movies! Fits ladies size 10.

Urban Bat Sweater-Free Ravelry Download. I'm having PDF troubles so I don't have details on this one.

Summer Storm-Another free Ravelry download. Another PDF I can't look at, but the picture looks happy.

Banff-Another one knit in pieces. Oversized sleeves and big size for lots of comfort. Sizes S/M and L/XL

Casual Hooded Pullover-A pattern from the Creative Knitting newsletter. Knit in pieces with some cabling, so it's a little more complicated.

It's a little short, but these are some nice sweaters that are big and comfy looking. If you have any patterns you'd like to submit, just leave me a comment!

Woah My Bad

2010-07-17T11:51:00.002-05:00

I had no idea how long I'd gone without posting...oopsie. It's mostly that I don't like talking about my projects when I don't have pictures! Numerous things have indeed happened though.

Let's see. My boy adopted a 4 mo. old chocolate lab puppy a week ago. Then left to visit his family in California. Since that time his landlords have discovered him and ordered him out by last night. So I had some wonderfully generous friends (a couple who live about 20 minutes from here) take him in just to hold on to him for me so we could find him a home (since the shelter wouldn't take him). Well they've grown attached already and might keep him themselves! I already miss that puppy...he was so loving and adorable and smart and sweet.....

Moving on....*sniff*

I earned $50 for making a purse! It was unevenly striped with Caron Natura in Espresso, Lt. Rose, Peach, and Sky Blue! I even added a little intarsia bird (found here) in the rose color with a little blue eye! It was adorable. But I only added the bird because she wanted one. It was a very large purse. 75 stitches across, and a little taller than it is wide. I found a really nice (remnant bin!) fabric with pink and green and white and a tiny bit of orange stripes. Honestly I was sad I had to give it away! I loved it! Hopefully I can get a picture of her with it and post it....Or at least a picture of the purse itself. I wrote the purse pattern myself and will post it soon.

At the moment in still working on the mitered square Super Mario 8-Bit Blanket. But Katie, I hear you say, that's a crocheted granny square blanket! Well you silly skeptics, I am part of an "8-bit Knits" group on Ravelry, and upon mentioning my sadness that it was a crochet pattern, some lovely people pointed out that you could easily make the same thing using mitered squares! And I found out that they were right! Mitered squares are very very easy and I can make several squares in a day (which is good because there are a lot of squares to make!). I haven't worked on it in awhile...I should get back to that.

I've also been working on a 1950's Shoulderette that is about halfway done. And I cast on the stitches for this awesome Brownwin Skirt. I hear that and my mind instantly jumps to "Browncoat" so it's going to be my Firefly-esque skirt! (For those of you unfamiliar with Firefly, go to Hulu and educate yourself on it's awesomeness. Go. Now!)

This skirt has brought me a trouble that I seem to have with large projects: CIRCULAR NEEDLES!!!! I hate them....I'd rather have 10 dpns going at once than deal with circs....does anyone know a good way to stop the yarn from bunching up on one end!? Am I a knitting failure!? HELP!!!! I actually want to make this skirt a lot, but if I get frustrated with having to stop every 10 stitches and push the bundles of bunched up stitches down (lather rinse repeat), I'm not going to ever work on it.

The boy comes back from Cali on Monday and I'm so excited! I miss him. Happy knitting!

Just a Little Update to Make You Jealous

2010-06-30T20:15:00.005-05:00

That's right! I made a first try at Intarsia, and this is what happened! A Super Mario villains purse!!!!!!! It took me two days of work, which isn't bad given that I've never done intarsia before, and both of these had three colors each.

Be jealous of the awesomeness that is Blooper the Squid and...Cloud Man! (if you happen to know his name let me know!)

The purse itself was a made up pattern of my own, but the Mario character charts were found here. I love this so so so much!

I lined it with one of my old t-shirts so that my keys wouldn't poke through it since it's just acrylic Red-Heart Super Saver.

I've just been informed that Cloud Man is called Lakitu!

Some Completed Stuff, New Blog Look, and a VW BEETLE

2010-06-26T18:48:00.003-05:00

I've finished a couple of projects! Finally! I feel accomplished. I finished both my Namaste socks, which marks the first pair of socks I've ever made a finished a PAIR of for myself! They're pretty much awesome. I wore them all day with my flip-flops.

This is an adorable key-chain purse I made myself! It's so cute and tiny I love it! It's made from Premier Serenity Sock Weight yarn in Saffron (which is so amusing to any Firefly fan!). The blue from the back side is actually the only color because of how the yarn pattered. I thought it was kinda funny how one side is a solid color, and the straps and other side don't have that color at all! Sock yarn is funny that way.

I mentioned last time that I was in the car market. Well, I have a car! Apparently Mom went ahead and bought the VW Beetle that she told me the car dealer "wouldn't come down in price" on, without telling me she'd bought it (with my money. I bought my car, for the record)! The next thing I know, she's in my parking lot (from Illinois, to Arkansas!) with my little convertible VW Beetle!!!! I freaked out! I still can't believe I own the car I've wanted since I cared about cars! I love this car soo much! She's a 2004 silver convertible with a black ragtop. I named her Kaylee (again a Firefly reference) because "Ain't no force in the 'verse as can stop Kaylee bein' cheerful." And it's so true! It rides so well, has an awesome sound system, and is actually roomier than one would think it is. I drive all the time now. For no reason. I just randomly go to Wal-Mart so I can drive my car.

When I take a picture of her I'll post it!

Not All Changes are Bad, but Mots of them still Suck

2010-06-07T22:27:00.004-05:00

Summer I has begun, and I already know it won't be any kind of fun. I'm taking Spanish this month, and I really don't want to. I'm not enjoying it, and I won't enjoy it no matter how much the professor tries. There are three of us, and I'm the only girl. I don't enjoy the Spanish language. I don't think it's very pretty. I'm sorry. It's just my opinion. I still may drop, but I'm afraid that if I do I might get kicked out of my room, though that doesn't seem likely. I don't know. I'm just tired I guess.
My new suitmate is really awesome though. I spent about 5 hours just talking and hanging out with her. She's from a town on the opposite side of my state, but a little bitty town too, so we connected well. We talked about everything. It was really really fun.
I'm in the market for a new car! I've always wanted a VW Bug, but I'm open to other cars too. I'm looking at Mustangs, Seabrings, and numerous others. I like a lot of cars, and I'm just basically trying to get a good college car, but within a little budget of 5-8,000. This is a very exciting! My poor little '94 Grand Prix can't really handle the long drive home well anymore. My wonderful boy is going to probably be buying my car, or maybe just taking it, but I really need the money it's worth..so we'll see what happens. When I get a car I'll post pictures!

I'm working on a pair of Namaste socks with the same yarn I made my gloves out of! For those who don't know what those are, here's a link to the free pattern I'm using!
And here's some pictures of my gloves!
I actually took that bottom picture with my knee! These took me about a day each of lazy TV watching work. The pattern is really simple and is a great sock-yarn stash buster! It has awesome instructions for when you have a little or a lot of sock yarn to play with! And it's free here! Enjoy!

My next goal is a pair of Tabi socks. Again, for my non-Japanese educated friends, here's a pattern that explains everything.

If you can't use Ravelry, (firstly I recommend signing up! It's wonderful!) here is a pdf version! I hope you like them!

An interesting start to what seems to be an exhausting "semester".

Home Again

2010-05-24T10:45:00.002-05:00

Yes, the two-week intersession semester is over and I am home again for the two weeks that they shut down campus between intersession and summer I. While I hate the long (7 hours!!!) drive, it's nice to be home with the family. Though I still don't feel like I fit in sometimes.

Mom is recently divorced, which actually makes everyone happy, because he was nothing but a big fat ball of stress. Seriously. She's a totally different, more relaxed, fun, happy person now that the jerk is gone. But he stole one of our dogs!!!!! Supposedly Snickers was following him into the road and "the only way he could save her was to take her". This is of course total crap because neither of our dogs have ever, EVER followed the cars to the road. I'm half tempted to just go and steal her back.

The dog we still have had puppies a month or so ago and they are adorable! There are about eight of them, and they're so precious. They'll come up to you and lick and nibble your toes if you don't have shoes on and they sleep piled on top of each other!

I finished one of the socks I was making myself! It's very exciting. It was a pattern designed for size 8, and I'm a size 6-7, so the leg part is a little big, but I started shaping the toe a tiny bit too early so the bottom of it is a bit short. But all in all I LOVE my sock!

Being home should be pretty fun, and I'm sure to be doing a lot of babysitting, both of my little sister, and my sweet adorable niece! She's so cute, and loves the puppies! She'll run up to the door, look at me and go "Puppies!" It's too cute!

Summer Continuations

2010-05-16T23:30:00.002-05:00

Well, the first week of intersession is over. One week left. Then home for two weeks. Thus far the suckiest part of this whole setup is that I have to get up at 7 every morning to get ready for class, but the class isn't that bad. In fact it's rather enjoyable. And I think I sort of prefer doing an entire semester's work in two weeks. Honestly. I don't lose track of assignments as easily, the test information is still fairly fresh in my head, and all in all it isn't so horrid.

Photography is a really fun class, and it's teaching me about photoshop, which is helping me in my internship!

Speaking of which, I'm loving it. It isn't nearly as scary as my brain made it out to be. I'm doing all graphic stuff while I'm there, and they gave me some things to do while I'm home for the two weeks they kick me off campus between intersession and summer I, and summer I and summer II. I'm really enjoying the graphic work I do, and I think I'm not half bad at it.

In the knitting department I'm working on this Basic Dress Sock out of Premier Yarns Coral in the purple. The picture doesn't really do it justice.

Along with that I'm making myself a Weasley sweater! This one actually. But wait!, you say. It's summer! Well yes, but I need to practice intarsia, and what better on something I actually really want? The letter on the front (I can't decide if I should use my first initial, K, or go with an H or something...) will be my first stab at intarsia. Here's hoping I don't utterly fail!

That's the summer thus far. Still no rest for the weary!

Summertime and the livin' is.....nevermind

2010-05-10T19:05:00.002-05:00

Finals are over, grades are posted, and all my stuff is packed up ready to move. Into another dorm.

Yes, I am taking classes this summer and rather than get an apartment and get a full-time job to pay for it I am living in the dorms. And don't think it's because I'm lazy. No friends, alongside my 8:00-12:00 class everyday (yes, that's AM...sad) I have a 240 hour internship I must complete by the time the fall semester rolls around. So while I would love to be in my own apartment cooking my own food every night, I am instead forced to pack up everything out of my apartment-style dorm with a kitchen and move into one of the regular dorms.

This entire setup is completely stupid. Next fall I will be living back in the exact same room I just packed up and emptied, and I can't leave any of my stuff there, or stay there for the summer semester. So I had to pack all of my stuff (which I of course have WAY too much of) and lug it over to the new dorm for three months just to move it RIGHT BACK WHERE IT WAS TO BEGIN WITH!!!! So irritating.

However, for the next two weeks I am taking photography and am very excited about it! I'm learning the ins and outs of photoshop (which I conveniently have on my computer. CS3 ftw) and I have a few awesome assignments that should actually be pretty awesome. After that I have Spanish for a month. Not excited about. I NEVER wanted to take Spanish. Ever. Just...on principle. I know I know it'll help and be useful and all that junk, but I don't live in a Spanish speaking country. Period.

Okay, now that my semi-political rant is over, on to better things. I wish they had offered Hebrew or German or even French (such a pretty language) over the summer. But sadly, no. If I can manage it I may drop and take it my very last semester. What really sucks is that I took four years of Latin (yes, Latin. Roma est in Italia.) and next fall they are offering Latin 101 here, but I can't take it. The only use I have for it (or any language I take) is to earn the final three hours of Global Literacy that I need to graduate, and Latin doesn't qualify for global literacy. Every other language my school offers qualifies, and Latin qualifies for any language requirements, but not for Global Lit. Go figure.

On a lighter note, I'm knitting me a big ol' scrappy blanket thing. Well, I guess it's not so much scrappy, but that I'm using up random single skeins or leftovers from big skeins, etc. It's got great big stripes of different thick happy yarns and I'm very excited about it! Especially since it's the first blanket I've ever done. Usually I cast on, knit a few rows and get bored and frog it. I'm still knitting socks, and now that I have a good camera that actually belongs to me I'll be able to post pictures more often.

Even cooler: I SANG FOR GEORGE W. BUSH!!! Despite anyone's political preferences (I happen to like him, but not the point), singing for and listening to a former president is pretty freaking awesome. I, along with both choirs, and the band and orchestra performed before he got there and did two big numbers altogether as one group when he came one stage!!! Then we all stayed on stage with him (no leaving. at all. secret service and such) and heard him speak! It was the coolest thing ever. Sometimes college rocks.

I think that'll be all for today. I'll try and post pictures of stuff I've been working on, and maybe some of the assignments in photography. The first one is "Hands." Any hands. However you can think of. I'm thinking knitting. But maybe not. We'll see.

Happy knitting!

2010-04-24T12:16:00.002-05:00

Man...I am so bad at this blogging thing. But there hasn't been much news I guess. Just the usual school stresses, though this semester has really sucked. And losing my grandmother a couple of weeks ago didn't help.

I took a trip to Chicago and utterly hated it. No offense to all you city kids and Chicago-ians, but I will never go back there. Too many people, too many buildings, too much freaking chaos. I couldn't stand it! I felt trapped, and people are psycho! Honking at a taxi driver because he's picking someone up aka DOING HIS JOB is not okay people! Patience...its a virtue that the city should learn. Seriously.

Anywho, the school year is nearly over and summer is upon us, but I will have no rest in it! I have an intercession and a summer class, plus an internship, so I'll be doing the school thing until July and finish my internship sometime that month (unless I can stick enough hours in before that...). No rest for the weary I suppose. But because of all that I don't have to pay rent. I'll be in a dorm!

Well, that's my update. I'll try and be better at this whole blogging thing.

Socks! Socks All the way to Infinity!

2010-03-21T17:46:00.002-05:00

So, I've fallen in love with knitting socks! (Except the heel....but that's because the instructions I followed were rather confusing....or maybe it's just because I'm inexperienced.

This isn't the pattern I used, but the first pair of socks I made (well, still working on the second one) was a pair of pedicure socks. My good friend (the one I made the Jayne hat for) found one of those tear-off free patterns they have in the yarn sections at Joann and she insisted I make them for her, so we got some Serenity Garden yarn that was on sale in Grass.

The colors look sorta camo-esque except there's no brown in them. One skein as made 1 sock and I've had enough to make a good bit of the second sock so far. Dunno if I'll have enough to finish the second one or not, but I have another skein if it doesn't. Once I finish both I'll post pictures.

About a year ago I visited a yarn shop in Little Rock, AR called Yarn Mart. It was my first time in an actual yarn shop. Needless to say I went crazy! I grabbed without looking at prices, and had to put back a LOT so I could afford the rest. I think I spent like $90....and I only bought one skein of everything I bought. Oh well. I can always go back! All that to say, one of the skeins I bought was a sock yarn called Jawoll Cotton, which I can't find pictures of in the color I bought. It's pink with green, yellow, and navy blue variegated and I'm using it to knit baby socks for my niece!! (Or if they're too small for my good friend who's just a few days from her due date with a little girl!) This is a weight 1 yarn and I'm using size 1 dpns. Very tiny work and it's my first time with size 1s. Good times, but I have a feeling my fingers/wrist (which is a mess anyway) will hate me eventually. Bonnie's socks are on size 3s with a weight 2 sock yarn.

So, I'm loving my new sock stuff! It's so fun because it's something wearable that doesn't take long! I just have the trouble of not wanting to make the second one. I get the "I just made that, and I have to make it again!?" mentality. Kinda bad I know.

Speaking of wearables, I finished the first ever wearable item I've ever knitted! (Not counting hats) It was a vest from the November 2009 issue of Creative Knitting magazine! And what's even crazier, I started and finished it (save for the zipper and end weaving) in one week! I started it on the car ride to Texas, worked on it all week (along with Bonnie's first sock), and finished it on the car ride back! Before we ever hit Arkansas!!!! This is saying a lot since I've been working on that jacket since last summer....but I chose Lion Brand Homespun for that pattern, its double knit, and I keep running out of the six-dollar-a-skein-yarn. So sue me.

That's my update and I'm sticking to it! Happy knitting!

OH! And before I forget, here's the pattern for my niece's socks. Baby Socks I'm not changing colors though.

A Few Shiny Things

2010-03-03T22:53:00.005-06:00

For all my Firefly fans: I have made a Jayne hat! I made it for a friend who's been into Firefly much longer than me. (As I've only been watching it for a month or so.)

A couple of WIP pictures. (This hat literally took me about a day altogether.)

And the very happy recipient! She loves it and wears it everywhere! I'm currently working on my own hat now. (As according to a Facebook quiz I'm Jayne....weird....)

Jayne Hat
There's the pattern. I didn't have the right cable length, so I transferred it to size 10 1/2 dpns, dividing them into 16 stitches across 4 needles. My first ever project using a set of 5 dpns rather than 4. It was rather exciting. I used the Red Heart Super Saver yarns, and if you do that too bear in mind that it'll be a bit loose when using the dpns. Especially at the beginning try and knit a little tighter than you normally would.

On another exciting note: I'm playing with cooking! I LOVE it! In perusing Crazy Aunt Purl's blog, I came across this. It's a wonderful salad with blueberries and carrots!! It's so happy!

7. Grate carrots, toast some sunflower seeds, and toss with blueberries, olive oil, lemon juice and plenty of black pepper. Sweet, sour, crunchy, soft.

The salad comes from 101 Simple Salads for the Season.

It's the most delicious thing I have ever tasted. I underestimated the tartness of the lemon. (I used half of an actual lemon, rather than bottled lemon juice. I don't know if it makes a difference, I just happened to have a lemon I'd taken from the school's cafeteria.)
I cut the lemon in half and squeezed all the juice out of it I could, and only added a little bit of olive oil. It made it rather tart, but it was still amazingly amazing. I am utterly in love with this salad. I also didn't use but a tiny bit of pepper because I've never liked pepper in salads. I didn't bother toasting my own sunflower seeds. They come toasted in bags at Wal-Mart. So its really up to you how you do it.

I did all of my grating, cutting, etc. by hand because I don't have a food processor, but one will easily work for the carrots. Just remember not to get the slices too small.

My favorite thing is that this salad is only 4 weight watchers points! (Which I am doing at the moment.) It's very healthy, very delicious, and has no greens so it's different and fun!

Give it a try, let me know how it turns out for you!

No I'm not Dead...Really

2010-02-23T17:50:00.002-06:00

Wow...I'm bad...almost three weeks without a post. Yeesh. Too much homework and stuff.

Let's see. I finished my shawl and am totally in love with it, finished both pairs of fingerless gloves, Mom's scarf, and I still haven't finished the drop-stitch pattern scarf....I just don't like working on the pattern. It's really complex and so I can't work on it in chapel or class or anything like that. I know it's a bad excuse but its the one I'm using!

I've been loom knitting on the long looms. Using an entire skein of Caron Simply Soft I make a great big rectangle, and now I'm going to use colors that work well with the first one, and I'm going to make a nice baby blanket!

This is the yarn I used for the first one! (As well as a blue/white/seagreen soft one. Looming is best done double knit)

The second section of it I've finished was made of a green Joann Sensations in a light green and Bernat Baby Softee. It's going to be epic! I love it!

Haiti Relief

2010-02-05T11:28:00.003-06:00

I'm raising money for Haiti! Please navigate over to the left and enter a donation for the tents and tarps project!

Tents and Tarps Haiti Relief

There's some more information for you! Please donate anything you can!

Teaching and Good Days

2010-01-30T21:58:00.003-06:00

First thing, let me say: SNOW ROCKS! We got a huge ice/snow storm over the last couple of days, and campus shut down Friday! No classes, no chapel. It was awesome! Like having two Saturdays! It was amazing! The roads and things started melting and such today though...but as the day wore on it got cold enough that all that melted stuff froze again! Scary to walk on, but I'm really really hoping that we get some more or it stays bad enough that Monday's stuff is canceled too as its my 21st birthday! And no, I won't be out drinking. That's just ridiculous. If I wanted to be a drunken fool I'd have started long ago. Luckily I have more logic and intelligence than that.

Secondly: I'm once again wrapped up in too many knitting projects for my own good! I've been diligently working on the jacket I started long ago, and I now have the back piece, front right, and a nice little bit of the front left finished. Sadly I'm almost out of the yarn I need, and I'm flat broke. Sadness. I've got a scarflette in the process that I really need to finish. I picked a very complicated pattern and so it's deterring me a bit. My shawl is coming along very very nicely. I'm 3/4 of the way done! I LOVE it! I've got a simple scarf I need to finish for my mom, and I'm thinking of frogging it and starting anew on some circulars. Simpler that way. And I've recently been commissioned to do some fingerless gloves for a couple of people. Oh, and I started and finished a hat for a good friend, and I want to start on a scarf for him with his name on one end, and the name "Bakura" on the other end. Inside meanings for the win.

Wow, far too much to do, plus school. Yeesh....

Lastly: The extra time yesterday gave me time to teach one roommate how to loom knit, and she's made herself a hat. And it gave me time to teach another roommate who's great at crochet how to knit! Such a fun time!

More Renewed Passions

2010-01-17T17:08:00.000-06:00

Ahhhh salsa. Such a wonderful and exhausting dance! Marcus and I had a wonderful time! Even though they taught it much differently than I was taught, we both found a middle ground and had an AWESOME time! I miss salsa and dancing and everything so much....and I wish I had the money and time to go every week. Its a time to let loose and have fun without having to resort to some bar or club...which is not at all where I want to be.

School days have resumed, and my classes are many and difficult, but I think they'll be alright. I've got a lot of work I have to do for them, and the thought of it makes me tired, but I have confidence!

Everything is finally moved in and unpacked! Now, what to do with these stupid boxes....

Anyway, I've started another project (without finishing the others of course....) and it's a shawl! I'm using a lovely pink and black variegated boucle yarn so it'll be soft and warm.

http://superknitter.blogspot.com/2009/09/cinema-shawl.html
The pattern can be found here!

Also, I've done well on my resolutions! I've been closer with God and have been trying to take hardships in stride, even if there are a lot of them. And I've started a "Couch to 5K" running plan that's going to help me lose weight! I've successfully completed week 1, now...just 8 more to go!

For any interested in this simple program, here's the link:
http://www.coolrunning.com/engine/2/2_3/181.shtml

Renewed Passions All Around

2010-01-10T16:46:00.003-06:00

Firstly: I LOVE DANCING!!! Oh my goodness....Marcus and I didn't know how to do half the dances, and the one in the lesson they offer before the dance was the Tango, which was exceptionally fun. They play songs and tell you what dance its supposed to be (Waltz, Tango, Salsa, Rumba, etc.)! I know how to salsa rather well, we learned the tango as I said, and I know the very minor (musical theater) basics of waltzing, so we at least attempted all of those! they also do this "Snowball" dance thing where a few people start out, and then in the middle of songs they say "snowball" and everyone already dancing has to go find a new person from the people sitting down. That's how we learned to rumba! So great! Everyone was so nice, and it was really the best night ever! Especially after an extremely draining and stressful three weeks at home. Seriously awesome.

After dancing, my two boys and I had a "Chick Flick" night, because I caught Marcus watching one over break. I hate them, so we chose a few. Sadly, we could only find 2 of the 4. But they were great! Princess Bride and Ever After. Both incredible movies. And my boys loved them both! After that, my beau went home and Marcus and I crashed at our friend's place that we were at for the night. (Don't worry...she's married) But neither of us wanted to sleep (though it was 4:30 in the morning) so we danced again! To Phantom of the Opera music no less! Great great times. Best. Night. Ever.

Greatest part: This coming Saturday is a FREE Salsa night at the dance place!!!!!! It's so incredible!!! Salsa's what I'm good at, its free, and more dancing!!! HOORAY!!!!!

Dancing and Babies

2010-01-03T23:13:00.002-06:00

Man time goes at a rather steady exhausting pace when you're ready to leave somewhere. But I can't say its going slowly. Just...not fast enough.

Epically exciting news however! There is a wonderful dance place (not a nightclub, dance hall, or any of those places with drinking, smoking, and highly disturbing "music" about sex) but a legitimate ballroom/latin/swing place. It has lessons for 1 hour before the actual dance starts, and so my good friend Marcus and I are going this weekend! I'm soooooo insanely excited. You may ask, why not take your beau? Simple: 1. This place has a strict dress code. Men have to have dress slacks, tucked in shirts, dress shoes, etc. In other words, things that will make my poor beau miserable. 2. He doesn't dance. Not at all, unless he's being really sweet to me and waltzing with me in private. So, I'm going with Marcus instead. My beau is well aware and totally fine with it.

I haven't done dancing like this since Salsa/Merengue lessons in high school. And that was crazy fun. I just hope I remember some of it!

As far as knitting, I haven't been doing a lot sadly. Still writing, and I've knit some, but its difficult when babysitting small children. Heck just stopping the 1-yr-old from killing herself with my needles is hard enough! But it comes with being a knitty Aunt Did!

Happy New Year to all!

Too Much Writing, Not Enough Knitting

2009-12-30T22:10:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-27T18:21:00.002-06:00

"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)!

2009-12-24T09:07:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-20T18:32:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-16T21:03:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-14T21:01:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-11T18:24:00.004-06:00

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

2009-12-09T11:12:00.002-06:00

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

2009-12-06T01:06:00.003-06:00

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

2009-12-03T11:17:00.002-06:00

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!

Overeating Coupled With Exhaustion

2009-11-27T17:44:00.004-06:00

Ah the wonderful day of Thanksgiving! It was good fun. Mom and I cooked dinner the night before and during the day, and there was none of the usual stress. No extended family was coming over, and my grandfather died this past May, so there was no worrying about getting done when we went to get him. Although it was really sad without him. Mom carved up the turkey and said prayer, both Pawpaw's usual jobs. But it was really fun learning to cook with Mom. I made chocolate meringue pie, my first time, and it was awesome! The family said it was as good as my grandma's. Huge compliment. I love cooking for people. It makes me happy.

Mom and I have been decorating like mad too. We've got two trees up, and a third starting now. All the stockings are up on the mantle, and random knicky-knacky things up around the house. We also have the icicle lights up! It's very exciting. I love Christmas soooooooo much. Everyone's getting knitted gifts this year (unless Mom helps me out with some stuff).

I go back to school Sunday, and we're going shopping tomorrow. We went to Wal-Mart today, but not during scary time. Later in the afternoon. There's nothing I want at 4 in the morning but more sleep. At Wal-Mart I got my first full-sized tree! Well sorta. 6 feet. But it's the biggest one I've ever had! I love it and I'm soooo excited. But since I'm still in a dorm, I'll only see it for a couple of weeks before I leave again to come home for Christmas break. But oh well! I have a tree and that's made of win!

I haven't knitted anything in awhile, but I intend to tonight or tomorrow!

The Story So Far...

2009-11-23T16:51:00.002-06:00

Well, we're a few days into break now, and being at home is...much like it always is. Dad is an annoying, self-absorbed jerk, Mom loves having me home but still hates my boyfriend (go figure), my sister and brother-in-law are constantly fighting and cussing at each other in front of their 11 month old which really ticks me off, and in general it's nothing like Generic Christian College. But it's home. I love my family. I want to rescue my little niece though. My sister is a witch, her husband is a moron....bad combo...but they made a commitment. Hopefully they'll stick with it. I think they will. It's exhausting to watch though. Plus, my freak of a sister is a size ZERO (death to her!!! death!!!!!!!!), and is trying to gain weight and can't (boo hoo) while the rest of the family is trying to lose it. And they're all succeeding (to a degree anyway). I on the other hand am NOT. I gave up sugar this month (until I got here anyway) and it didn't do anything!!!! It's really annoying. I refuse outright to count calories for the rest of my life, but it seems like the only thing that works.

Sigh.

In other news, I HATE TWILIGHT!!!!!! HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE!!!!!!!!! Did I mention that I hate it. I'm sick and tired of TV guide being the 24-7 Twilight channel, and loathe my twilighter facebook friends and their obsessive posts that won't stop, and I in general want to go back in time and stop Stephanie Meyer from ever writing the awful crap. Vampyres (note the spelling please) do not friggen sparkle in the sun. They DIE! Figure it out. Seriously.

Now that every twilighter that sees this hates me, and I've satisfied my desire to rant loudly, forgive me for the intese hatred of the crap you're obsessed with. And I know that vampyres aren't real. For goodness' sake I'm not an idiot, and I appreciate that she was taking a different view of vampyrism, but she went waaaaay too far! Sparkles? Seriously?! WHY?!?!?!!? I swear, Lestat's gonna jump out of the book and kill you all.

Wait, I thought my rant was over? Well I guess not. Now it is though. Really. But I still hate it.

I hope you all still like me...and you won't convince me otherwise.

I already miss my college place, but the break is good.

The Break of Thanksgiving and Other Fun

2009-11-20T20:32:00.002-06:00

So, Thanksgiving break at Generic Christian College has begun! I'm going home to the family tomorrow! It's a nice 7-hour drive, but I'm used to it now. What's going to suck is having to sit in my broken driver's seat. That's right. It won't raise up to a comfortable position anymore. It's not lying flat, but it's leaning back just far enough to be uncomfortable. And of course this happened TODAY. Not when I get home, but the day before I have to sit in the broken seat for 7 hours. Friggen fail. Srsly.

As far as knitting goes, I'm in the middle of several projects. A hat for my sister, a toy block and a jacket for my niece. And those are the ones that I've started. I need to start a Jane Cobb hat for Bonnie, make a pygmy puff, start a loom-knit snowman, and make a hat for my brother-in-law in the colors of my old high school since he works there now. Yeesh. So many Christmas projects, and It's not even December!

Foolish People and Christmas Preparations

2009-11-16T20:06:00.004-06:00

First things first---today I got an email from a one Katherine Poll. She wanted me to post a link to some screen capture software on my blog, and told me that if I agreed, to post the link and show it to her and she'd send me the free license. Clearly skeptical I googled the name, and lo and behold I found another blog that said she'd gotten the same one.

Turns out, the link to her "click here for more info" site (which is safe.I clicked it. it's the "link" you're supposed to put in the blog that's dangerous) is a website that only lasts 40 days and is gone. The other link is a virus that will beat the crap out of your computer.

All this to say, DO NOT CLICK LINKS FROM KATHERINE POLL. It's just not a good idea...

I emailed her back saying I hope God blessed her and that she turned to Jesus and away from computer destruction, then decided to report the spam email, and I don't intend to open it if she emails me back (which I doubt will happen anyway).

On a lighter note...I've started Christmas knitting! I made a stocking from the Oddball Knitting book. It was really simple, but I'd never done a sock shape before, and it got really confusing at the heel part....I succeeded though! I have a miniature stocking and I LOVE IT!!!! Also, I've knitted a little snowman ornament for my mom, because she collects them, and I've made a stuffed little Christmas tree ornament.

What I'm really excited about, is my friend Bonnie gave me all the yarn she had (a huge-mongous Cracker Barrel sack plus more) and in that loverly stash was a skein of 100% WOOL!!!!!! And it's the most perfect red Christmasy color!!! I can't find anything to do with it right now, but I will find something! Any suggestions?

And finally, I'm knitting a hooded baby jacket for my niece! It's going to be the first wearable knitted thing I've ever made (other than scarves and hats that is). I just hope I can finish it in time. I think I can if I'm diligent. I got the pattern from a Bernat Softee Baby yarn skein. And it's also online here:
http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=175&cps=21191

http://www.knittingonthenet.com/patterns/holsnowman2.htm
That's the link to the Snowman

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/knitting/trees.shtml
That's the link to the tree.

And as I was getting the link for the tree, I found this, and thought it was awesome and amusing all at once:
http://wtnh.tv/blogs/index.php/anchors/2008/12/09/this-is-one-giant-knitted-christmas-tree

Laziness and Upcoming Patterns

2009-11-08T23:25:00.002-06:00

Well, the Draco outfit was awesome! The temporary spray turned my hair bright blond, and it came out! With one wash! Hooray!

Scrooge was abso-friggen-lutely incredible! They have a free showing tomorrow (held over, unexpected, awesome) and so I'm totally going again. For the win. So excited.

The Adventures of Carmine and Lefty, a wonderful show about superheros and imagination that I'm in, has officially started. Readthrough #1 was Friday, and it was hilarious! I loved it! It doesn't premier until April, but that's not the point. It's still very exciting to be in a show again. I miss the theatre. I was in 2 shows a year in high school, and after being cast as a minor (and by minor I mean in one scene, in the dead center of the show, with a giant flower on my head, spinning around going "ooooooo") character in Generic Christian College show of the Wizard of Oz, I figured they'd only cast the same people over and over in any part worth having. And don't get me wrong, I love being ensemble, and have no problem with that, but I /do/ have a problem with being in ONE scene. It's not worth the effort and time that's put in really. Too much other stuff to do to work that hard to be a spinning flower.

We had a choir concert today, and it went well. I forgot my music, but I didn't need it really. I was just supposed to bring it. Oh well. The concert was great! Even if an obnoxious high school boy trying to get through was all rude with a very snobby sounding "Coming through". Rude high schoolers, at MY school, listening to MY performace, have no right talking to the host people that way. And by /my/ I mean Generic Christian College.

Overall, life is exhausting. As usual. I'm working on writing a pattern for a Harry Potter style Ipod/cell phone color. I have mine done, and I just need pictures so some of the instructions make more sense. I'll post it soon, hopefully.

Meeting Again

2009-10-29T11:13:00.005-05:00

Well, meeting #3 is tonight. Hopefully more than one person will show up this time. I'm going to post some flyers around campus in a little while. Having no class until 2:30 (or skipping the 1:00 class so that the only one left is at 2:30) makes things easier to get done....if I'm not too lazy to actually go post them.

IT'S HALLOWEEN IN A FEW DAYS!!!! WOO!!!! I love Halloween. It's so much fun! And it conveniently falls on Homecoming at Southern-Nowhere-Arkansas College! So there's a football game (meh) on Saturday, and the boyfriend and I are going to go see the Homeocming musical, Scrooge. It's going to be awesome! I usually never pay to go to these shows, but after seeing the preview in chapel, I /had/ to go see it. It looks incredible! Plus, I've nearly finished my Draco costume, but ties are so friggen expensive! Plus they don't have one in green and silver stripes. Oh wells.

Still working on the Slytherin scarf. Instead of finishing it for this weekend, I'm going to stick the stiches on a holder or two and pin it on, then keep working on it until it's as long as the Hogwarts scarves in the Goblet of Fire. I can't find a good picture to show, but basically after wrapping the things around their necks twice, the scarves from the later movies still hang down to their ankles. It's madness, and I'm totally going to do it! Bwuahahahaa!!!!!!.....ahem....anywho, YAY HALLOWEEN!

Oh! And be sure to clicky on the links to other knitting! I add them on here because they're made of win!

Far Away Family is Still Worth the Visit

2009-10-26T20:46:00.002-05:00

So, I went home to Southern Small-Town Illinois from Middle of Arkansas because my family was having a benefit hog-roast/silent auction for my uncle and his family. My cousin has been fighting cancer for several years, and last year my uncle/his dad has a major stroke. Both of them have proven over and over and over that they are miracle men. They told my uncle he wouldn't live, walk, or move anything on his left side again, and he walks with a cane and is doing therapy to get his left side working, and he's doing GREAT with it! The benefit was absolutely incredible. Small-Town Illinois really pulled together for this. We had a brand new ride mower raffle at $10 a ticket, a "Guess the number of golf balls in the bucket for a dollar and get them all if you're closest without going over" thing, over 200 items for auction, plus a freewill donation to come and eat. All in all we've estimated earning over TWENTY-FIVE TO THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!!!!!!!!
25-30,000!!!!!!!!! It's amazing!!!! I got some cool stuff, like a big ol' green purse worth 40 for 25, a t-shirt of a local pizza place for 5, and a "movie night" gift bucket with popcorn, Dr. Pepper (the lifegiver), twizzlers sweet & sour, and the first and second Spiderman. Everything was so great, and it really showed God's power. It's wonderful!

College Tends to Be Tiring

2009-10-19T22:33:00.002-05:00

I'm officially tired of being in school....I'm ready to graduate, and do all those things that happen when you get a real job. Which of course is more exhausting...but still....school....

I'm being Draco Malfoy for Halloween this year! My wonderful friend Bonnie made me my Slytherin robes, and I already have a wand. Technically it's a pen, but it's shaped like a Potter wand. I need to buy a vest (which may be more complicated than I'm hoping...) and a white collared dress shirt, and I'm in the process of knitting a Slytherin scarf! This is the most complex outfit I've ever done for Halloween, and it's looking like it's actually going to come together! I love it!

Overall college life is good, I'm just done with it. Classes, papers, tests, none of it will matter in another year (when I graduate from college), and so I'm having trouble seeing the point of it now. And that causes more stress when I have to maintain a 3.0 (which I have exactly....) to keep a scholarship that allows me to even go to Church of Christ school, Arkansas. I'm mostly just exhausted. It's break time.

Here's the link to the Slytherin (or any house scarf...just change the colors):

http://www.ehow.com/how_4867479_make-slytherin-scarf.html

For the record, this is the earlier years of Hogwarts (the movie versions). The more recent movies have a long strip of dark with two small lines of light color.

General College Complaints

2009-10-14T22:27:00.002-05:00

Says it all neh?

It's midterm week here at my college. Two tests today, one right after another, followed by a class that I (once again) forgot the paper I was supposed to write for this week. It doesn't help that he /never/ even acknowledges that we have an assignment, and that when I looked at the assignment sheet, it didn't say WHAT THE FRENNING PAPER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE OVER!!!!!!!!! I would have done it in the small space of time between test 2 and 2 1/2 hour class in which paper was due....I wanted to die. Today has just generally sucked.
Hate hate hate hate fume rant rage.....yearg...

Knitting group meeting #2 is tomorrow, and that should be much more relaxing. Church tonight was very interesting too. They were having a congregational meeting, and that was very......frightening to say the least. But not a deterrent! I love it there! It's so much like my church back home, plus POTLUCK NEXT WEEK! Woo!

Fun Circles

2009-10-06T22:20:00.002-05:00

The knitting group went great! Only a couple of people came, but that's probably because the signs I put up weren't very visible. I'll do better on the ones for next week. Yup, we're making this a weekly thing! We're even thinking about doing a "Great Yarn Exchange" where we bring all our yarn and trade around and stuff. I think it'll be fun. And we had some crochet people too. It was awesome. I'm really happy about all of this. It's going to be a great stress reliever and a good way to get to know some new friends.

Learning One's Age Can Be Painful

2009-10-03T18:16:00.003-05:00

Last night was the Relay for Life here in my town, and it was more or less hosted by my school. The theme was the '90s, but my group was the "Creative Bible Study" group, and we decided that since they didn't specify the 1990's, we didn't have to be from the 1990's. We were Centuries of '90s. I was a vampyre in homage to Bram Stoker's Dracula in the 1890's. We had a Mozart (death in 1590 if I remember right), a Dorian Gray and Invisible Man also from the 1890's. A Beowulf from c. 690, and a cavewoman from 25,090 BC. It was a great time! And our group riased a lot of money. We sold knitting things (by me! And someone bought a baby hat!!!), a silent auction on pottery, sold candy, and the piece de resistance, caramel apples! They sold out really fast because we were the only ones who had them! It was awesome!

HOWEVER. I'm 20. So I'm not old, but staying up all night in 40 degree weather? I'm officially too old for that. It wasn't too horrible (well, the staying up part anyway...I didnt' have NEARLY enought warm snuggly bundle-up stuff to handle the cold). So why not go get more blankets/coats/hoodies/etc.? Well that's because I go to a Church of Christ school (and absolutely love it to death. It's wonderful), and we have curfew. That's right, I'm 20 with a curfew. So those of us that wanted to stay the night at Relay had to sign out of our dorms and sign in at 1 am (curfew on the weekends). Then they locked us in. Yup. Really. Now, if you weren't a student, or you lived off campus, you could come and go, but I'm not. So when it got really really cold, I was stuck. Fail.

All in all, it was a good night. Despite the cold. Seeing people's themes was fun, and raising money for cancer is always a good time. And as for curfew? It's not so bad. It's better for us anyways.

I'm still working on my curly purly pumpkin (see link below), and it's going fairly well. I'm excited about the knitting group Tuesday, and I still need help learning how to knit into the front and back of the stitch. Hopefully I'll learn Tuesday, or one of you can help me out!

Circles and Halloween

2009-10-02T11:17:00.003-05:00

I'm starting up a knitting circle/group/club thing at my school! I know of a few people that are coming, and I'm curious to see how many show up juts because of the signs I posted. I'm not 100% on what to do, but I have a few ideas in mind. I'm really excited about this, and I hope it's something that will pick up and gain speed fairly quickly.

For Halloween, I'm trying to use the dreaded dpns! Dun dun duuuuuuuuun! I found an adorable little pumpkin pattern and figured I'd give it a shot. It isn't terribly hard, but dpns. They suck.
http://www.curlypurly.com/pumpkin.html The pattern is located here.

I also started and finished a dishcloth with a bat. It was really really easy to do (especially since I finally know how to knit and purl in the same row. It's amazing how much has opened up now that I know how to do that....) http://www.blackrayne.com/pages/batty.html The pattern for the bat dishcloth is here, except I did mine in black. It looks neat, but I recommend a lighter color (like the purple pictured) so you can see the image easier. I intend to use it as an actual dishcloth, at least this month. Why knit something functional and not use it?

HELP!

2009-09-29T09:59:00.002-05:00

All of my wonderful knitting friends, I have a dilemma! HOW THE HECK DO YOU KNIT INTO THE FRONT AND BACK OF A STITCH!!!???!!?!? I want to make an entrelac scarf http://www.allisonknits.com/entrelacscarf.pdf <----shown beautifully here but I can't do it!!!! I've watched and searched all over google to try and understand, but I can't get it to work!

HELP!!!!!

Wonderful Days are Wonderful

2009-09-28T22:50:00.003-05:00

Today really was pretty good. Simple classes, very few of them, and then lasagna dinner at a friend's house! Tiring, but fun!

I submitted my pillow pattern (see below) to Knitting Pattern Central! I'm excited about! And I already have a lot more pageviews than before! It's wonderful!

Oh, and I LOVE Creative Knitting Magazine! Which is weird because I've never been into magazines. But it's got 3 ads and the rest is beginner-intermediate(and there's only 2 of those) patterns! It's awesome! My boyfriend is buying me a 2-year subscription to it! It's available at Wal-Mart (or any place where you can find magazines really) for like 6 bucks. You should go pick it up!

Super Insanely Easy Pillow Pattern

2009-09-27T14:40:00.003-05:00

I promised it and here it is (finally)! The insanely easy pattern for the pillow I posted earlier.

Materials: Size 15 needles
I used Lion Brand Homespun in whatever colors you like (amount depends on how big you want your pillow to be. Mine took about half a full skein). I used a dark purple and black, and then a silver/grey and black. This pillow is double-knit (hold two strands of yarn and work them as one).
Tapestry needle/large-eye needle for sewing.

Pattern:

Holding two strands of yarn together, cast on 30 sts.
Work in stockinette/stocking stitch (K one row, P one row) for 13 inches or double the desired length.
Bind off.
Blocking isn't necessary, but if you want to, do it now, BEFORE following the "finishing" instructions.

Finishing:
Cut a long strand of one color and sew up one edge, then repeat for the other edge. DO NOT sew up the top yet! Stuff with polyester fiberfill (or some form of fluffy stuffing) and stuff full. It's okay if sections bulge a bit, you can fluff them out/whack them until they're gone when you're done. Once the pillow is stuffed to your liking, cut another long strand and sew up the top. And voila! You now have a nice fluffy pillow for your back, your seat, or your head!

Finishing and Starting Again

2009-09-24T21:28:00.003-05:00

Well, I finished my shawl! I really like it, even though it's sorta small. But it's wonderfully fluffy and soft and wonderful. I'm still working on my coat, and I've started a twisted wrap thing. It's knitted in the round with an intentional twist in it. Took my awhile to get that part down actually....

Life on campus has been very frustrating this week. A lot of misfortunes, plus the club I decided to pledge (after swearing off social clubs for 2 years!!!!) decided that I (and only one other person) were not good enough. I'm really really upset about this because I'm friends with over half the members.....there's like two people that don't like me....they were probably the choosers. It just friggen ticks me off. I know I know, trivial stuff that will make no difference after graduation next year....but still! I feel betrayed....

Well, that's my rant for the day. Enjoy.

2009-09-22T15:18:00.002-05:00

So, in my Typeography class, my teacher knows I'm a knitting knut, and so he shared a joke with me today.

A woman is knitting while driving. A cop pulls up next to her and yells "Pull over!" and she yells back "No! Booties!"

*cricket noise*

Well I thought it was funny. Anyways, I've been forcing new techniques on myself lately, and am learning that I can figure them out! Hooray! First, my coat forced me to learn ribbing/knitting and purling in the same row. And last night I decided to learn I-cords by knitting myself a wedding ring! (No, I'm not married or engaged.)
http://knit-amigurumi.blogspot.com/2008/06/i-dont-really-i-dont.html

That's where I got the pattern for it. And I found that pattern through the Knitting Pattern Central website that I have a link to. It's not really very hard, but like the person who created it says, cheap yarns are not your friend for stuff like this. I made a second one with a blue "stone" for a friend's birthday, and it turned out much better than mine. My advice: READ AHEAD! Don't start doing something in the pattern until you've read the entire instruction. That's what killed me. I started over with this thing like three times. Enjoy!

New Knitting

2009-09-16T10:59:00.003-05:00

I've started another large project. I call my shawl large because, well, it's a big shawl. This new one is the biggest I've ever started though. I'm knitting a jacket! Yes! Something wearable! I'm scared to death of it, but it looks easy for the most part. I found it in the Creative Knitting magazine, which I've fallen in love with and which my boyfriend is going to buy me a two year subscription! It's done with Lion Brand Homespun, which is a bit more expensive, but readily available at Wal-Mart, and very soft. I'm really excited about this coat, and it's going to force me to try some new techniques, and forced my to learn why I am no good at ribbing, until now! (Okay, so technically it's Seed Stitch, but it alternates knitting and purling, which I could never do right before) Hopefully I'll be done with my coat by late fall hahahaha.

More Things!

2009-09-10T11:36:00.005-05:00

I really need to be more diligent with this. Oh well. I've been working on a few projects, and finishing a few as well. I finished a tie I was knitting for my boyfriend. I started and finished a baby bib for my little niece. I finished a scarf for a friend back home that I'm getting paid for! And I started and am still working on a shawl for me! Man, I've been doing a lot lately. Wow. All that, and college. How do I do it? No clue.

This is my shawl on my messy desk. It's shiny and soft and fluffy!

And here's my bib! The bottom is modeled by my Tuba Bear!

Long-Expected Pictures

2009-08-27T15:53:00.004-05:00

So, I've been talking about projects, and have finished projects, and promised pictures. And here they are!

First, the fingerless gloves that I loom-knitted! There are a few better pictures, but they're on my friend's camera. Plus, CUPCAKES!

This wonderful pillow is the end product of something I started on a whim and didn't quite know what it was going to be until I finished. It's double-knit with homespun yarns on size 15(!) needles. Really really really fast and easy. It's soft and fluffy and actually works to sleep on!

And finally, this little number (as displayed by Josh Jr.) is something I started on circular needles as the beginning of a big ol' afgan, but decided to make a scarf out of instead. My favorite part of this whole thing is that since I basically just cast on a TON of stitches until the circulars were over-full, it's got this wavy-look to it. I'm not sure if it will last or not, but oh well.

I intend to post the pattern for the pillow (if you can really call it that, it's so simple...) later on. My first official self-made pattern! (Other than my cross, which I'll talk about later.)

Fluffiness!

2009-08-24T23:45:00.002-05:00

So, the epic thing that I couldn't decide what to do with is now finished, and is now a fluffy comfy pillow. I LOVE it! I took pictures, and will upload them, eventually. Man I suck at this. Anyway, I'm still working on a scarf that I'm actually getting paid for, and without a printer, making my ads and posting them around the school is a bit difficult...

Oh! School! It started today. Harding University. It's win, but still...it's school. And curfew is not a fun thing. Especially when you've been in an apartment with your own rules all summer. *sigh*

Pictures eventually.

MOVING!!!! GRRR!

2009-08-21T00:28:00.002-05:00

Man! I HATE moving. Too much stuff....it's exhausting...and it's not over yet. But I have wonderful friends that like to help me. They're silly that way, because they have their own un-packing to do.

I've started a project using homespun yarn and size 15 needles. I'm double knitting it too so it's extremely thick and soft and warm. I just have no idea what it's going to be at this point. None at all. I'm just knitting in stockinette/stocking stitch with 30 stitches, and stopping....eventually.

Problem with all these side-track items is I have a scarf to work on...and someone's paying for it. Oh well...she doesn't need it until winter, right? And friends from home don't mind right? Right.

2009-08-19T11:41:00.003-05:00

Whew! So, I haven't been all that busy, but at the same time, I really have. I've got a bunch of packing to do yet, and can't move into the dorms until at least one. So I'm procrastinating until then! I used my biggest loom (yellow knifty knitter) and an entire skein of a happy teal-ish blue yarn combined with a lighter weight nightshade purple and just knitted until I ran out. I really don't know how to cast off with my looms (because I can't crochet...) so the top bit won't even stretch out....at all....I'm wanting to attach the whole thing to a tank-top, but i need my head to fit through it.

I'm terrible about posting pictures....but that's becaues I'm lazy....oh wells!

Party!

2009-08-16T23:36:00.002-05:00

So, not only have I loom knitted a pair of fingerless gloves (pictures to follow!) and gotten my good friend addicted to loom knitting, but now we're having a JASON ISAACS PARTY!!!!!! For you poor unknowing souls, Jason Isaacs plays Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, and Will Tavington (evil colonel) in the Patriot (Mel Gibson version). Not only that, but we're also having a bit of a Heath Ledger party!! A Knights Tale and the Patriot. Such an awesome night!!! Hooray for pretty men!!!!!

Cooking and Cleaning

2009-08-15T14:44:00.002-05:00

So, I'm really excited!!! My good friend Bonnie will be here in a few hours! I've been busy all day! I've got cupcakes done, brownies (with oreo cookies!) in the oven, and am planning on trying out a creamy pasta with bacon recipe my mom sent me! Sounds good to me, and the house smells like chocolate. It's wonderful. I'm the type that tends to fret about little details though. (Piles of knitting on the couch, a book on the table) so it's a good thing that I have someone to help my brain out. No time for knitting today probably. Man, I need to get that scarf done....oh well.

Productivity

2009-08-14T17:09:00.002-05:00

Well, today was productive. I cleaned the bathroom, kitchen, and packed! Go Me! Still plenty to do though. Cooking, more packing, more cleaning. Sheesh....

I haven't done any knitting today either, but I'm about to! What I really should be doing is working on a scarf in the same pattern as the one I posted earlier, except black and orange striped, for one of my friends who's buying it from me, but I'm too lazy. So I'll probably just work on my blanket some more because there's absolutely no thinking involved! Yay lack of thought!

2009-08-13T19:21:00.002-05:00

Well today was sorta back and forth. I decided not to go into work today, and try and get some packing/cleaning done, but when I found a MASSIVE SPIDER hiding under some of my clothes, that plan died miserably. I. don't. like. spiders.

But it's not bad otherwise. Just a day to chill out and watch some Winnie the Pooh on YouTube. Ah nostalgia. I've lived in it for awhile this summer. I found a whole bunch of Rugrats episodes on YouTube too! Yeah, the ones that showed when I was ONE!!!!

Oh! And I found a wonderful pattern for a simple shawl that I intend to eventually make for myself!

http://www.sheeptoshawl.com/charity/archives/2006/12/entry_230.html

This one in fact. I found it through the Knitting Pattern Central website! Man I love that site. It's got a toooooon of patterns! And I'm also in the process of making up a simple blanket/afgan pattern for myself. I just need to get it written down as a go along. I'll post some pictures when I'm a little further in.

Learning Time!

2009-08-13T00:40:00.002-05:00

I've decided to take a hiatus from Facebook until Saturday, and I must say that after one day, it's been eye-opening. Facebook is my homepage after all. I'm on it ALL DAY. And with no cable, it's amazing how little I have to entertain me now. But it's all for the greater good. Hopefully I'll be a little less addicted by the time it's all over. And I can get back to reading! I love reading. I just...don't anymore. So my Year of Living Biblically book by A. J. Jacobs book might get a chunk through it now. It's not what it sounds like. This guy (the author) decides to take an entire year to live the Bible as literally as possible. He doesn't cut his hair, he doesn't wear clothes made of mixed fibers, etc. It's bound to be highly amusing, and I definitely recommend it!

Hmm...nothing about knitting....well that's not right. Next time then!

Too Adorable To Be Allowed

2009-08-11T22:41:00.003-05:00

So, I played with the smallest Knifty Knitter Loom today. The blue one. It's for baby sized hats, and I wanted to make one for my little niece. It took me like, 30 minutes tops. And it's ADORABLE!!! I'm going crazy over this little hat! Problem is, it's waaaaaay to small for my niece. I think it's for newborns I think, and she's going to be 1 in December. I'll just sell it, but it's still too adorable.

Here's the hat. I can't even fit my thumb in it without stretching it a bit.

And this is how big it is next to a can of Dr. Pepper Cherry. Mmmmmm......

Anywho, I'm a few days behind on my blogging, but when all you do is DJ on a radio station all day, there's not too much to blog about. One of my best friends will be here on Saturday!! (Hi Bonnie!) I'm waaaaay excited, but I need to pack and clean and make the place look decent before she gets here. No time. Like always.

More Loom Knitting!

2009-08-08T18:47:00.000-05:00

I made myself a hat that actually fits! And I finished them both in ONE DAY! That's totally unheard of....I'm not sure I've ever finished something in one day....weird. Same pattern, different sized loom. I'll post it eventually. (Honest I will!)

Oh Em Gee I'm loom knitting!

2009-08-07T16:49:00.000-05:00

Yes, it's true! I've bought a set of round looms, and already finished a small hat! Go me! Problem is, I decided that what I thought the sizes for these hats was right, and what the book of instructions said was wrong. OOPS! So instead of making a hat for me, I made one for a young child. Oh well, it only took me about 3-4 hours and was incredibly simple. I'm actually rather proud of it. If only I could wear it! This is as far onto my head as I can get the thing. I'll try and post the pattern eventually.

2009-08-03T20:03:00.001-05:00

This is my current work-in-progress. Just a scarf with some lacy edging. It's a very easy to work pattern, and could probably be done with any sport weight yarn, the one pictured is recommended so that the blocking instructions can be followed more easily. Enjoy!

I found the pattern here:

http://knittingczar.blogspot.com/2009/02/make-me-feel-pretty-quick-scarf.html

I'm not going to do the finishing of weaving a ribbon into it though.

A Little Bit of Introduction

2009-08-03T19:14:00.000-05:00

Howdy-do! I'm Katie. aka Knitty Aunt-Did. So, the story behind the name. Well, I love to knit, and my little niece (first and only so far!) who isn't even one yet will eventually call me Aunt-Did. This was decided by my sister, who thinks "Katie" has too many syllables. The "Did" part comes from the fact that for a large part of my life I've been "Katie-Did" to my family.

Wow, long intro just about a name. Anyway, as I said, I love to knit! So I'm going to share with you some of my favorite patterns I've come across, and whenever I come up with one, I'll post it! Hope you enjoy!