Back in the USA

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

Edit to add: More pictures after the jump!

Just to Let You Know

I'M GETTING MARRIED TODAY!!!!!


That's all. Bye!

Hey! I am knitting!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy knitting!

Weddings Eat my Soul

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

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

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

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

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

Adventures in Cooking

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

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

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

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.

Harry Potter and the End of an Era

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!