Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Josh and I have funny engagement pictures.

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!!!!!

Dear Internet World...

...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

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!!

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....

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

Haiti Relief

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

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

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

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

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!