There's a Snitch on my Ceiling

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.

You Can't Deny the Cuteness

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!

Cuddly Warm for Christmas!

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

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!!!!!

You Can't Take the Sky from Me

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!

Just a Little Update to Make You Jealous

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!

Socks! Socks All the way to Infinity!

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

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

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!

Teaching and Good Days

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!

I Believe in Santa Claus Like I Believe in Love

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

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


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

Merry Christmas!

Oh the Exhaustions How They Love Me

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

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

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

The Break of Thanksgiving and Other Fun

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

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

Meeting Again

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!

Fun Circles

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

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

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!

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

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!