Skein Street

Thanksgiving time off.

2008-11-28T10:43:00.003-05:00

The beautiful thing about having a "normal" job is holiday time off. I have three whole days off and I don't really have any specific plans for them (aside from Thanksgiving dinner, of course.) How does one spend their time? So far, I've spent it doing various fibery things.

I finished a pair of socks for my grandmom for Christmas.
These are the Embossed Leaves socks from the Interweave knits Favorite Socks book. I've been wanting to make a pair of these for a long time. The pattern is great. The only thing I'd change next time would be the toe. Other than that, I loved it.

Yesterday morning I spent a good bit of time spinning. I've had a bit of a spinning itch recently, but I just didn't have the time to get into doing some. I bought some merino/tencel roving at Rhinebeck this year that I've been meaning to spin up. I really wanted to try navajo plying. I've tried it before, but I just never got the hang of it... until now.
I love, love, love how this turned out. I only have 74 yards so I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'm sure I'll think of something!

Busy Little Bee

2008-11-04T08:40:00.003-05:00

Ever since I finished my brother's socks that seemed to drag on and on forever, I've been churning out projects left and right.

I started and finished a pair of socks in a week. I bought the yarn at Rhinebeck and once it's was wound into a ball, I just couldn't resist starting it. They're made out of Socks that Rock in the colorway Fire on the Mountain.Of course, as is always the case with me, I have not sewn in the ends yet... They will get done as soon as I decide to wear them! A lot of my friends have made the observation that these socks aren't my typical color choice. They're a little too flashy, a little too bright. Well, they caught my eye. Perhaps I'm changing into someone a little more flashy and bright! And, let's face it, they're socks, it's not like I'm making a sweater out of these colors!

Then I cast on for an Odessa hat. I started and finished it in 24 hours.All this knitting suggests one of two things. Either I'm a very fast knitter, or I just have a whole lot of time on my hands...

I like to think it's because I'm fast.

What I've been knitting and other various things

2008-10-26T08:43:00.010-04:00

I truly have been knitting in my hiatus. Mostly I've been working on Christmas presents. I decided I didn't want to be caught off guard this year. I've never really been one who likes deadline pressure, and Christmas knitting deadlines are among some of the worst.

I think I started my Christmas knitting back in August and now I'm nearly finished. Of course, it's only October, who knows, I may decided there are more people to knit for than I thought!

First off, I started and finished a pair of Monkey Socks for my mom.
My brother's fiance (who is, by nature, always freezing cold) also was on my list. I had started and nearly finished a pair of fair isle mittens awhile back. I realized that they are far too small for my hands, but my brother's fiance has tiny hands. They must have always been meant for her and I just didn't know it.I know she's going to love them. She's also going to love the socks I knit for her. They're the undulating rib pattern out of the Favorite Socks book.Then, of course, I had to start a pair of socks for my brother. Why is it that men's socks feel like they go on and on forever? Aside from the fact that they're huge, I think in this case it also has something to do with the fact that I had to alternate yarns every other row. Why? Well, I was sent two balls of yarn, the same dye lot and everything, only to find out that they look totally different. They're kettle dyed which I imagine has something to do with it, but really? They're completely different. Luckily I'm nearing the end now. I just need to finish the toe.
So it's that time of year folks. It's that time when I pull out my hand knit socks and wash them...I truly hope I'm not the only one who finds that hand knit socks need to be washed far less than regular cotton socks. Either my nose just doesn't work right, or wool socks don't trap foot odor like other socks can. It's one of those mysteries of the universe I suppose...

Rhinebeck Recap

2008-10-21T21:02:00.002-04:00

What a fun weekend I had. The weather was gorgeous, though it was a bit on the chilly side. Normally this would not have been a problem, but my friends and I were camping. There's just nothing like waking up in the morning to see your breath fog in front of you....

For the most part we stayed warm, after all we had all sorts of fiber insulation to warm us!

Here's the highlights in pictures...
Like I said, these are just highlights. The full set can been seen on my flickr page!

Where I've been...

2008-10-10T22:14:00.002-04:00

Wow... I can't believe I haven't written a post in well over a month. A friend reminded me that this blog was worth keeping up on. So, as I'm sure you can imagine, I have been busy. Life has been full, not too full, but definitely full.

Lists are wonderful things, don't you think? I think I'll list what's been going on in my life...

My boyfriend and I broke up. (this actually happened around the same time I stopped writing on the blog) It wasn't that anything bad happened, it's just that the feelings weren't there anymore.
I got a new job at my vet's office. Completely by chance (though I don't believe in accidents) I was down at my vet's office having the cats checked out and he asked me for my resume. A week later I had an interview and a week after that I had a new job. They started me off in reception so I could be comfortable with that since everyone is expected to help out when needed. Once I was comfortable with that, they moved me to the back where I've been doing actual animal work. They even have me doing blood draws (which I never in my life thought I'd be comfortable with) This job is everything I've been lacking in my old job: wonderful, understanding people, meaningful work, flexible schedule. They actually realize that you have a life. Go figure!
My social life has really taken off. It's been a long time since I've had a normal schedule where I can actually hang out with people. I'm finally feeling like I have the life I've been wanting. Good friends, good job, time to enjoy life. It's really nice.
My cousin is cancer free, though he's still going through chemo just to be sure. We are all very, very happy and relieved to hear this.
I have to give up Lily, the new cat. She and Ludo are not getting along at all. She pretty much terrorizes him and it kills me. I hate to play favorites, but he comes first and if they can't get along, I have to find a new home for her. This has not been an easy decision, but it's been a necessary one. I think I've found her a home, it's going to be on a trial basis, that way if it doesn't work out, I can have her back to keep looking for a home for her.
My brother and his girlfriend are now engaged! I can't even tell you how exciting this is. She's a wonderful girl and she is going to be an awesome addition to the family.
And of course, there's been knitting which I'm afraid to say I haven't been taking pictures of. Shame on me... I plan on going to Rhinebeck next weekend as well. A bunch of my friends and I are camping so it's going to be a bit of an adventure.

So those are the highlights I can think of. Hopefully it won't be another two months before I write again! Maybe I'll even have some pictures to share...

Cuteness overload

2008-08-08T07:37:00.009-04:00

I know that I am highly overdue for a post. Most of what I can say is that things have started looking up. Lily's kitten has been a constant source of entertainment and fascination. Watching her grow up, seeing all the new developments and skills she keeps getting better at has been so much fun. I know the kitten is a 'she', by the way, because I had to take her to the vet for a urinary tract infection. The poor baby was very uncomfortable but once those antibiotics got in her it was like night and day.Here in this picture her eyes had only just opened a couple days before. (I have to admit I thought she looked a bit like an alien...) But every day her cuteness factor keeps multiplying.She's now mastered walking, though running is still a bit of a challenge. I'm sure it will only be a matter of days before she's got that down.

I haven't named her because I don't plan on keeping her. I feel like three cats might just put me on the road to becoming one of those "crazy cat ladies." Though I will admit, she might be hard to let go of. I already know several people who'd like to take her, so I'm sure she will go to a very good home (One of which is the neighbor who lives across the hall... I may get to watch her grow up after all!) If you'd like to die from a bit of cuteness overload, please feel free to watch this little video I took of her.

As far as my cousin goes, the last I heard he's doing well. After his first chemo treatment he went out and played softball. Did I not say he was a strong guy?

And there's been knitting... and some crochet.

I started a granny square blanket out of all of the leftover sock yarn I had.I took this picture a while ago and now there are quite a few more, though not enough to be anywhere close to finishing size. I think I need to make several more pairs of socks before I have enough yarn for squares.

I'm going away next week for a much needed vacation with the family. The last time I had more than two days off in a row was New Year's so I'm thinking it's about time I took a little break (not to mention that's far too long to go without a break if I want to stay mentally sane!) I still haven't even decided what I'm bringing with me to work on, and as we all know, that's the most important part of packing!

One of those weeks.

2008-07-14T10:58:00.004-04:00

I've had one of those weeks that Life sometimes throws at you. One where you can't possibly imagine handling another major event, and yet, somehow you do because you have to. You either deal with it, or you don't, but either way, it's happened and there's nothing you can do to change the situation. The only thing you can change is how you feel about it.

First and foremost, we found out last Monday that my cousin (who is younger than I am by a couple of years) has cancer, an aggressive form of lymphoma. Because it's so aggressive, they've started chemo treatments earlier than planned. The good news is that the treatments already seem to be taking affect. We're all hoping that since he is young, strong and healthy (aside from the cancer) that he will pull through this. It's such a large shock that, for me, it hasn't totally sunk in quite yet. It seems impossible that this person who is such a strong guy (he's been a firefighter and a lifeguard, just to name a few of the things he's done) has cancer. All we can really do right now is hope for the best.

Not a few days later, my mom called me at work to tell me that our family dog, Shelby, who's been with us since I was in high school was not doing so well and that she was going to take her to the vet and have her put down. While I know that it was her time, it still seemed far too early. Her spirit was still young, but her body was failing her and had been for some time. I know in this situation I'm sad for my loss, I'm sad that I won't see her physically anymore, but a part of me should be happy because she's no longer bound by a old and breaking body.

Before any of these major, upsetting things happened, I took in a stray cat. For a little while now, I've been meaning to get another cat to keep Ludo company and here, literally on my doorstep, comes the most laidback, affectionate cat. She's super lovable and was starved for affection (and starved for food as well.) I took her to the vet and she only weighed 6 pounds. I named her Lily.

A few days after I took her in a neighbor came to me because they had found her kittens. The vet and I assumed her kittens either died or were all grown up because her milk had gone dry. So my neighbors and I hand fed the kittens for a little while and luckily because Lily was now getting adequate food, she started producing milk again. Despite our best efforts though, only one of the three kittens that were found is still alive. It seems to be doing well, but I'm hesitant to get my hopes up too high.

Here's a picture of Lily.You can see in this picture how much her hip bones stick out. Also, it's obvious that she's barely more than a kitten herself. The vet thinks she may only be about a year old and for her to have already had a litter of kittens is just sad.

This is the one surviving kitten, who seems to be getting bigger by the day which to me is a very good sign.
As long as there's hope in life, things will turn out ok.

Happy 4th of July!

2008-07-04T08:00:00.005-04:00

Unfortunately it won't feel much like the 4th for me since I have to work all day today. I have been looking for a new job and even went on an interview, but it just didn't seem like the right fit. (I'm beginning to wonder if I'm being too picky!) I have faith that the right thing will come along at the right moment.

Anyway, last time I checked this was a knitting blog and there's been very little of that going on here recently. Well here's what I've been working on.I finished up this pair of Sprial Boot Socks a week or two ago. They just need the ends sewn it. In general, most of my finished objects won't get the ends sewn in until I'm ready to wear it. This pattern called for the spiral to go in the same direction for both socks. I really didn't want them like that so I consulted the internet and found someone else who changed the direction of the spiral for their socks too. (I had unsuccessfully tried to reverse the spiral myself with not luck, apparently my brain couldn't wrap itself around the problem!) I'm very please with the results here and I'm sure they're going to become some of my favorite socks.

I've also started a pair of Monkey socks.I was at a BBQ with a fellow knitter who inspired me to try the pattern. I had some sock yarn lying around (let's face it, most knitters have sock yarn lying around) so I decided to try it. I already have plans to gift them for Christmas. Chirstmas knitting??? Oh yes, it's never too early to Christmas knit.

I was also inspired to knit the Everlasting Bagstopper from Knitty. I'm so close to being finished.Instead of using ribbon for the handles, I'm knitting my own. I also decided to make the pattern a bit shorter than it called for so it won't stretch as much. Maybe I'll even finish it before I go to the Farmers market tomorrow!

Meme

2008-06-29T12:12:00.005-04:00

I've come across this meme a couple of times. You search flickr for the answer to the question and pick a photo then put it in a mosaic. Click on the mosaic to learn more about each answer.

Where have I been?

2008-06-22T12:08:00.002-04:00

I don't really have a good answer to that question. For one, I've been settling into my new place. I've been here a month and a half and it still feels like I'm getting to know my apartment. Isn't it funny how we feel like we need to make an emotional attachment to the place in which we live? I feel that's especially true for me now since I'm living here alone. This is the first time in my life where I'm living somewhere without family or friends.

I can't say I'm lonely, because that's not the case. What I have found is that I need to rely on myself for entertainment. I'm the cruise director so to speak. There is no one else playing music, watching a movie or just hanging out, there is only me. I have to decide to play music or watch a movie or just hang out. It is somewhat of an adjustment because I'm usually the one who will go along, add my two cents here and there, but I'm not usually the decision maker.

I will say that I love waking up in the mornings, making my cup of tea and sitting in my knitting room listening to NPR. I love those early morning moments. I also love that when a mess is made, I know it's my own. I don't have to clean up after anyone (aside from the cat who leaves ungodly sized hair tumbleweeds in every corner of the apartment... and of course the occasional hairball) I love that everything is exactly how I want it. Call me anal retentive, but I like things to be tidy and in their places; a trait I'm sure I inherited from my mother though I rebelled against it as a teen.

Aside from the apartment, I've also been doing a lot of life thinking recently. I know my job is going nowhere because there's really nowhere for it to go (waitressing... is there even a career ladder for that?) I feel like it's time to start looking elsewhere. The problem is, I'm making money doing this and I know that if I do what I want to, I won't be able to afford the life I'm living now. So those sorts of things have been on my mind recently.

A couple of weeks ago my best friend moved away. And when I say away, I mean moved to as far away from here as you can get and still be in the same country. She's now on the west coast with a three hour time difference. That has made me have to make some adjustments and has forced me to start actively building my social life again. May I just say, thank god for Ravelry. I've met so many awesome people through our local group on there. This adjustment would be ten times harder without my weekly stitch and bitch.

And of course, there's been knitting... and a wee bit of cross stitch. Who has time to post when you'd rather be crafting?

All settled.... almost

2008-06-03T18:04:00.007-04:00

I'm all moved in and it only took three weeks! The actual move took two days, but the settling in has taken quite a bit longer. Everything is pretty much where I want it to be now. I'm almost totally settled in. There are a few things here and there that I'm missing, but I'm sure, with time, I'll take care of it. The important thing is that I start making it my home.

For one thing, I think I need larger wall coverings... my tiny Monet poster is almost comical on my huge empty wall.

My knitting room is only missing a small side table that I think would be perfect next to the chair.After all, notions need to be placed somewhere while you're working. Come to think of it, so does a cup of tea!

As surprising as it may seem, I've actually done some knitting through all this. For one thing, I've finished more dishcloth's than I can possibly count. I made myself some, and then my old roommate wanted some, so I made her about a bazillion.

I also finished up a pair of socks that have been on the needles for an eternity. Ok, not an eternity...only since last October, but for me, that's a long time.

I made them toe-up so that I could have knee socks. I absolutely love them. They're out of Lorna's Laces sock yarn and they're divine!

I also started some boot socks out of some yarn I picked up at Rhinebeck last year. They're the Spiral Boot Socks out of Interweave Knits.The true color of these socks is much less washed out looking than this picture. I really can't begin to tell you how in love with this pattern I am. I just want to go out and buy a mini skirt just so I can show them off when they're done!

Movin'

2008-05-11T12:20:00.002-04:00

Ok folks, I'm moving tomorrow. I have no idea how long it's going to take to get internet, etc. so it may be quiet around here for a bit of time.

Wish me luck!

Milestones...

2008-04-28T17:16:00.009-04:00

This is post number 300! Wow... and it certainly took me long enough.

I know I've been absent for... oh, a couple weeks now, but I have very good reasons for that. My life has changed dramatically in those two weeks. I have become completely obsessed with voluntary simplicity. I have borrowed just about every book the library has on the subject and have been obsessively reading through them (the best of which has been Affluenza, it's humorous and poignant all at the same time.) It's become obvious to me that environmental degradation stems from this rampant consumer lifestyle that is characteristic of Americans. The more I research this subject, the more I feel like I'm taking control of my life. I think it's stated best with the phrase 'the best things in life aren't things.'

On top of that, I've had another major life event... I've found an apartment. Up until this point in my life, I've always lived with family or roommates. I've always known that living on my own was something I had to do at least once in my life. As things generally go for me, the perfect apartment, in the perfect location practically fell into my lap. It is minutes from my mom, my brother, the food co-op and my all-time favorite mexican restaurant. I could bike anywhere I need to go except work (though, at this point, I don't have a bike.) It's closer to work so I won't have to drive as far. On top of all that... it's in my price range. I put a deposit on it and will be moving in in the next week or so.

When I was there putting down the deposit I took some pictures...This is a picture of the living room into the dining room (I never thought I'd be lucky enough to afford a dining room too!)

This is the bedroom where the windows all look out onto the street.

This is a picture of the study that's off of the bedroom. Guess what I'm using that for? Knitting/spinning room, anyone? I wonder to myself how I got this lucky. Right place at the right time I suppose.

So planning and packing for this move have been taking up my time a bit. I'm just so excited.

These last couple of weeks have had some gorgeous weather also. The monthly meeting of my knitting group two weekends ago was just about the most beautiful day.
One week later, even more trees were in bloom.

With so many things going on, it's no wonder I've had no time to blog...

Happy Spring everyone.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

2008-04-07T08:08:00.007-04:00

I've been very inspired recently to become less of a consumer (this is all a part of my quest to be more environmentally conscious.) It's an interesting journey I've taken so far. Starting with the animals then moving to the environment and now it seems I've come to the root of the problem. Endlessly consuming stuff is really taking it's toll on our planet and those living on it (including humans.)

So, reduce, reuse, recycle it is! I've stopped using plastic bags, not only at the grocery store, but also other stores (which I have to admit, I haven't been to any in awhile.) I always bring my travel mug with me to the coffee shop. I've started using all natural cleaners for my apartment, ie. baking soda, vinegar, etc (I'm amazed at how well it works!) I use handkerchiefs instead of tissues.

I have been on a major kick of knitting dishcloths. Not only do I want to stop my use of paper towels, but I don't really want to buy sponges anymore. I was inspired the other day to reuse something you wouldn't normally think of....

Those old shower puffs. I had one just lying around.
What's a girl to do but cut it up into one long strip...
And knit it into a dishcloth....
As dishcloths go, they don't take very long to knit (though it can be a bit more time consuming wrangling the puff strip) so I finished it very quickly.I don't care what's stuck on my pans, this thing is sure to get it off!

I also started a ballband dishcloth. So far, so good...

All things baby...

2008-03-31T10:19:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday was the baby shower for one of my college roommates. Besides the three hour car ride there and back, it was actually a lot of fun. I know baby showers can sometimes be tedious (especially when the mother-to-be opens a million and one presents and everyone has to ooo and aahh over them) but this one was really nice.

We only played one game in which I did terrible. I think I got the least answers correct out of everyone. I'm actually pretty happy about that and let me tell you why. The game was to name as many children from certain TV shows as you can (ie, the Brady Bunch, The Cosby Show, Family Ties, etc) and I could barely name any. I don't watch TV and even as a kid when these shows were on I obviously didn't pay too much attention to them!

We did have to sit through the present opening but luckily there weren't too many presents. Mine was the first to illicit the "aaaaaawwww" out of everyone!I think mine was the first handmade present she opened. There were a couple of other things that were handmade, mainly blankets that were sewn. I swear that baby is going to overheat with all the blankets that were made for it (I think somewhere in the vicinity of 5 or 6 blankets) The funny thing is they live in Virginia!

I think the thing I liked best about the shower was reconnecting with friends I haven't seen in awhile. After all, it's the connections with people that matter most, right?Me and the mommy-to-be

We have bread!

2008-03-25T22:11:00.003-04:00

So after about a month and a half of thinking about baking some bread, I finally got around to doing it today. I used a really simple, easy recipe for whole wheat bread.

Let me put this into perspective here. I did try one other time to bake some bread, but my yeast was dead. I tried proofing it and nothing happened, no foaming, nothing but a bad yeasty smell. Poo. So I gave up for a little while.

I finally realized today that I have a day off and nothing planned, why not bake some bread? I got some new (alive) yeast and I started my first ever loaf of bread. I'm sure some people wouldn't appreciate hand kneading the bread, but I was so excited that the dough actually looked right that I was all about kneading it!

Then there was the rising. I can't believe how much bigger it gets! I knew it was suppose to, but actually seeing it was another thing entirely.

So I'm gonna skip right to the part where I took it out of the oven.It looks gorgeous right? The picture doesn't, however, show the fact that it weighs about 20 pounds! It's just about the densest bread I've ever come across. Sure, it tastes fine, but this one reminds me of the movie "About a Boy" where the kid throws this loaf of bread in a duck pond and kills a duck. Yeah, it's that heavy!

I'm thinking I'm going to modify the recipe next time. Maybe mix the whole wheat flour with some lighter flour. Who knows, I know with bread, the possibilities are endless and it takes a certain amount of practice right?

Niagara Falls

2008-03-22T10:29:00.008-04:00

I actually don't have any knitting projects to show at the moment. I started a baby hat (which looks more like a hat that could easily fit my head) but I think I have to re-knit it and the deadline is looming. I have a week. No big deal right? Well, there's work thrown in there, not to mention the cotton/acrylic that I picked out makes my arms hurt if I knit on it too long. I'll get it done though.

A week ago, my friends and I went to Niagara Falls for the day, just as a lets-get-off-our-butts-and-have-a-road-trip sort of thing. It was a gorgeous day, and by gorgeous I mean the sun was out and we hadn't seen it in a long, long time. It was still cold, but the sun totally made up for that.

I've never seen Niagara Falls in the winter. It's actually really beautiful.The mist coming up made this thin, icy layer over everything... including us after awhile! We really didn't wear very appropriate clothes for being "rained" on. So we took a few pictures and headed out.Here's the boy and I (totally blinded by that thing known as the sun.)

We all decided to be complete tourists and went over to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch....Where we sat by Elton John's Pharaoh suit and Madonna's tasseled bustier. They really set the mood!

On our way home we stopped by RockVentures in Rochester. It's the largest rock climbing gym in the Northeast, and let me just say, I've totally missed rock climbing!Though a gym is nothing like real rock, it's still a lot of fun.

I was so exhausted by the end of the day, but it was worth it. Winter seems to get us stuck it a rut of always wanting to stay in and avoid the cold (at least it does for me) but it's good to get out there and enjoy it!

More FO's

2008-03-18T11:36:00.006-04:00

Guess what folks? I have another couple of finished projects to show you. There's the socks for the boy for his birthday, all finished (and when I say finished, I mean the knitted part is done, I never seem to sew in the ends until right before I gift them.)I'm glad I finished these early because, it turns out I now have a baby shower to go to at the end of the month that I'd like to knit something for. Apparently I've entered the part of my life where my friends from college start having babies. Funny how life sneaks up on you like that!

Just this morning I finished up the yoga mat bag. It's perfect timing too since I have my yoga class this afternoon.This pattern was really fun. There were some design features that I really liked. For instance, the I-cord bind off on the bottom of the bag...It makes such a clean edge for the bottom. There's also the folded edge at the top which is pretty...It's funny, but I'm really excited to go to yoga tonight just so I can use my bag!

Knitting update.

2008-03-07T09:18:00.006-05:00

Just a quick post here kiddos. I'm not dead. It seems that finding time to blog is not tops on my list of priorities at the moment (we all go through slumps, right?) I don't want to totally leave everyone in the dark though.

I've been working on a couple of projects recently. Both have been taking equal amounts of my knitting time. One because it's interesting and I've been wanting to knit it ever since I started yoga and the other because it's a birthday present and it has to be finished by the end of March.

Here's the yoga related project...It will eventually be the lacy yoga mat bag from Interweave knits. The pattern is simple and you'd think that by now I would have memorized it, but I haven't because I've been knitting it while watching episodes of The Office (I never knew I could laugh that hard!)

The other project is a pair of socks for the boy for his birthday.This pictures makes these socks look purple but I assure you they're not. It's a twist of brown and navy blue. I know he'll love them because he almost never takes off the scarf I made him for Christmas. What a good guy! I know he knows I'm making him something because the package arrived from Knit Picks while he was over and he was a bit suspicious of the fact that I didn't tear right into it the minute it came into my hands.

And just because I haven't in a long time, here's a picture of my baby, Ludo, in his typical relaxing postition...He always looks so fed up with my taking pictures of him, but I'm pretty sure it's because he's reacting to the flash... at least, that's what I like to tell myself!

Two Finished Objects!!!

2008-02-25T08:31:00.006-05:00

Uggg... *sniff*....blah....*cough*

That's how I've felt for the past four days. I have been down with the flu. I know it's the flu because I have never been this sick for this long in my whole life. I literally couldn't get out of bed to make myself soup or get myself anything. Several of the days were a NyQuil induced blur where I was more asleep than awake which was a blessing. Being awake was torture.

Thankfully, it's on it's way out. I'm a functioning human being once again. That's a really nice feeling.

Right before I got sick I had a post in mind to show you not one, but two FO that I finished on the same day! The first being the Mountain Colors Bearfoot socks I was working on...I'm very happy with how they turned out. There's nothing like adding another pair of socks to the collection in time to actually wear them for part of the season!

Next, as you may have guessed, is the Tangled Yoke Cardigan. It's is 99.99% complete. The only thing it's missing is buttons. It just doesn't look quite right from the front without the buttons to hold it closed so I'll show some other pictures.
I'm so excited with how it turned out. I may actually leave the apartment today to go get some buttons!

A mish-mashy post

2008-02-12T12:05:00.000-05:00

I have been like a woman on a mission this morning. My mission: clean, clean like I've never cleaned before (only I have cleaned like this before, just not in a long time). It's almost like Spring cleaning though it's not Spring. I couldn't wait for Spring. We still have two months of winter left. For whatever reason, this cleaning is helping to wash away the winter blahs I've had. It helps to have a clean space (and I mean sparkling) to make it seem less drab, less gloomy, etc.

I was up at 7am this morning. For those of you who work normal schedules this may not seem like such an amazing thing, but for me whose earliest shift begins at noon, 7am is the earliest I've woken up in awhile. 8:30am is usually my get-up-and-start-the-day time, but not this morning. I was awake, fully awake at 7am. It's sort of refreshing. I feel like I've been cleaning all day and that it's already the afternoon, but it's only 12:30. There's plenty of day left for other things.

Things like knitting...I've been working on my Tangled Yoke Cardigan ever since I finished up those socks for mom and it's really coming along. Another inch or so and I get to start the cable!

It also leaves time for other things.... like my new found happiness, Netflix. I've known about Netflix for awhile now and I've even known about their online viewing option, but I've just not jumped on the bandwagon until now. Let me say a few things here. I own a television set, but I do not have cable or network TV to watch on it. Most of what you can find on TV is mindless programming with equally mindless commercials inbetween and I refuse to spend my money on things like that. I do, however, watch movies. I love movies, movies that make you think, movies that make you laugh or cry. They're fantastic. As are some well made, thoughtful TV shows, but I just couldn't stand sitting through the commercials. Also one of my favorite things that I've been missing are nature documentaries. I really miss Animal Planet. Now that I have access to these things, minus the commercials, I am really excited. Now I can watch my nature shows and movies while I knit mindless projects.

There's also time for something else I've been meaning to do recently.... bake my own bread. It occurred to me that so few of us even know how to make a loaf of bread. I've been reading up on it and it's actually very basic with huge potential for variety. Having never done it before, this could end up being trial and error, but I'm ok with that. I'm also totally ok with the fact that I'll know exactly what's in my bread... anybody else have no idea what calcium propionate or natamycin are and what they're doing in bread?

Inspiration strikes.

2008-02-04T09:37:00.000-05:00

I finished my mom's socks. Boy did those things fly off the needles. I guess when the leg of the sock is only two inches long, you cut down on a little knitting time!I washed them with the hope that they would turn out a bit softer and they did! They're going to be the perfect pair of socks for spring or fall, maybe even a cool summer day. They're not too heavy and the fiber content makes them seem a bit cooler.

I finally got some pictures of that shawl on the recipient.
She wore it this past weekend to our weekly knitting group and it was greatly admired. The wonderful part about it too is that the color matches almost all of her clothes!

So I have to say, I haven't been blogging much recently mostly because I've become inspired by something else. Cooking. Recently I came across the book "In Defense Of Food" by Michael Pollan who also wrote "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and I was so inspired to cook my own foods that for the past several weeks I've been spending a lot of my time planning meals and buying food.

I found it quite interesting that in the book he points out that it's more expensive to buy food that's good for you (mainly fruits and vegetables and whole grains that haven't been enriched, etc) than it is to buy food that's incredibly over processed. Turns out he's right. I really don't mind paying extra because I do have the money. I don't spend my money on purchases I don't need, like clothes, when my closet is already full to capacity, or spending it on the latest gadgetry. My only indulgence is yarn... can you blame me?

Also, I recently started a yoga class which, so far, has been going really well. To be honest, I think it's really going to help me with the aches and pains I get from waitressing. The only downside to the class is that it's so full that it's sometimes a little crowded and with certain poses or maneuvers you're at risk of smacking the person next to you! I guess the bright side of that is that so many people are interested in bettering themselves and that in itself is uplifting.

Even though I haven't been blogging all that much, I am thinking of it and of you. I don't always have time to comment but I'm trying to keep up on everything going on in your own blogs/lives.

Socks for mom...

2008-01-28T11:29:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those projects where you're grabbed by it and it just doesn't let you go. I've been working on one of those recently.

It's my mom's birthday in a little over a week and I've had this idea that I'd like to spin some yarn, then knit some socks out of it for her. I've been working on that for the past couple weeks whenever I could find some spare time.It's a merino/tencel blend that I bought at Rhinebeck last year. The colors are perfect for mom. I overspun the singles quite a bit because I wanted a tighter plied yarn.
Plying multi-colored singles like this is always so much fun because you never know which color is going to end up next to another color. It was interesting to see that, quite often, similar colors ended up next to each other. This is easy to see once it's been knit...
One sock down, one more to go. I know she's going to love these!

I also finished up a little something awhile ago. I haven't posted about it because I still don't have any modeled shots of it, but here it is blocking on my bed...
You can see I wasn't 100% accurate in how straight I made the edges... perhaps I should invest in some blocking wires!

A good start to 2008

2008-01-12T07:27:00.000-05:00

This is more than a little late but, Happy New Year!

So far 2008 has been rather nice. The time spent down in Virginia was exactly what I needed. I feel refreshed now. All of my knitted gifts went over well, especially the ones I made for the boy. Until this warm snap came, he didn't take off the scarf or handwarmers I made for him except to shower and sleep. I hate to see what would happen to them if he showered with them! Here's a good picture demonstrating the boy and his scarf.
I gave my roommate/best friend, Jill, a WillowTree figurine among other things.I also made her a lace shawl, but it just wasn't quite finished in time. I really tried, but it just wasn't happening see how I spent a good deal of my time with her! It's finished now and waiting to be blocked.

It's a known fact around these parts how much I love tea. I may not have mentioned it on the blog much, but I'm a tea fanatic. I love everything about it. I love the process of tea, of love tea paraphernalia, I love the huge variety, I love the way it warms you up. There's very little about tea that I don't love. Well, it appears my love of tea did not go unnoticed by both my best friend and my boy. The boy bought me something called a T Buddy. It's a pretty nifty little thing that I can take with me camping to make my tea.

Also, Jill bought me this gorgeous tea set. Even though I didn't have anyone to share my tea with, I still made a whole pot.The angle of this picture really makes the cup look huge, but I assure you, after three cups of tea from that pot, there were still many cups left!

I mentioned in my last post that I received two gift certificates from my family to my LYS. This particular yarn shop is closing soon for about three months for renovations and the owner is trying to get rid of her inventory.... that meant 50% off all the yarn. In a way, that made my gift certificates worth twice as much! I ended up buying enough yarn for three sweaters, a scarf and a hat. All but one of the purchases I have plans for.

In fact, I started one of the projects already. I'm making the Tangled Yoke Cardigan from Interweave Knits. I bought the yarn it calls for in a speckled gray color. I'm actually pretty far on it. This picture was taken several days ago and I'm well past it now.
There's nothing like beginning a new sweater project to start the year off right, huh?

Post-Christmas

2007-12-27T11:25:00.001-05:00

Christmas was lovely. Unsurprisingly, I didn't finish all the new projects I'd started, but the recipients still loved the half finished gifts. Apparently I didn't take into account that the people I was knitting for would be around during the time I'd planned to knit for them. I'll have to remember that for next year.

I did finish a few things though. I decided (sort of last minute) that I'd make some washcloths for my aunts and grandma. They were actually the fastest projects I've ever knit. I'd say it takes about an hour and a half to finish one.I went out and bought some nice natural soaps and wrapped them with the washcloths and I'll be giving these gifts when I go down to Virginia tomorrow. I'll be gone for a week (and I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to having five whole days off from work!)

In other knitting related news, I received two gift certificates to my LYS for Christmas... looks like my family finally caught on to the fact that I like to knit! Ha!

In which I manage to make myself a present this Chirstmas

2007-12-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

So... remember in my last post where I showed you a bit of the Serpentine Mitts I had started? Well, forget those, they've been ripped out. When I got to the cable, it became clear that the variegated yarn wasn't going to show off the cable very well. Not to mention the yarn was just a tad on the itchy side so I probably wouldn't wear them as often as I'd like to.

I dove, yet again, into my stash to find some KnitPicks Essential sock yarn. There is something different about this yarn. I once bought the Essential yarn a couple years ago and it was sort of scratchy. Now it's so soft. I don't know what they did to change it, but I love it!

I started a new pair of Serpentine Mitts and guess what? I finished them within a couple of days.How much do I love these things???? Ummm, that would be A LOT! They're so comfortable. They keep my hands super warm and the best part is I can knit while wearing them. Fabulous!

I finished up all my Christmas presents well ahead of schedule. I think there's some sort of trick that goes on around Christmas that makes you think you have all the time in the world because i started thinking of all these other present I might make... ummm, for some reason a week seems like a perfectly reasonable amount of time to finish four more presents....Perhaps I didn't think this through....

Christmas knitting and giggle fits

2007-12-11T11:14:00.000-05:00

First thing's first. I am officially finished with Christmas knitting!
The final pair of socks are complete. They're the Uptown Boot Socks out of the Favorite Socks book from Interweave made in KnitPicks Gloss. They're a little loose on my feet, but my mom has slightly larger feet than I do so they'll fit her perfectly.

I started a pair of Serpentine Mitts out of some Mountain Colors Bearfoot that I had in my stash. So far I'm loving them, but I haven't even gotten to the cable part yet.
The colors are actually a bit darker in real life, but they're still gorgeous.

So I have a little story to tell you folks, but I have a word of warning to you, if you don't appreciate potty humor, you may not appreciate this story.

Recently I've been feeling the need to join some sort of community and not really knowing where to go, I happened to run across a Ravelry group for Unitarian Universalists. I'd heard of them before but never really looked into it because the idea of church never sat well with me. For whatever reason I decided to do a little research and it turns out that UU principles speak pretty closely to some of the things I already believe.

A little more research later and I found a local UU group where I live. The boy and I decided to go to the service last Sunday. Being new, we sat in the back and took in the feel of the service. About five minutes in, a woman brought two elderly gentlemen in to sit in the row in front of us. I barely even noticed their arrival until, not five minutes after that, a rather powerful odor reached my nose.

Turns out one, or quite possibly both, of these gentlemen had a case of the old man farts. Rather than be disrespectful and move, the boy and I sat through the onslaught of pungent flatulence. Somewhere through the middle of this, I looked over at the boy and notice he has his hand to his nose and for whatever reason that sent me into a fit of the giggles.

I don't know if you've ever had a giggle fit in a completely inappropriate place, but I can tell you it's awful. All you want to do is let out this giggle energy but you can't!!! And what escapes your nose is some kind of outward snort and your body is shaking from the silent laughter.

I couldn't even look at the boy because when I did, I would start to silently laugh harder because he was laughing.

Aside from the old man farts, the service was quite nice. It wasn't preachy and there were even light hearted moments where laughter was complete appropriate. Thank god for those moments. Hopefully next week we can pay a bit more attention to the service and less attention to calming a giggle fit.

Up goes the tree.

2007-12-07T16:43:00.000-05:00

Last week my roommate and I put up the Christmas tree. Granted it isn't real, but the majority of my Christmases have been spent putting up the artificial tree. In many ways, for me at least, it has become tradition. I can remember every year getting so excited after Thanksgiving because the day after was usually the day we pulled out all the Christmas decorations and put up the tree.

This year was slightly different, but memorable all the same. My roommate (who's also my best friend) never fails to make me laugh and laugh we did as we brought the tree out of storage, out of the box and "fluffed" the branches. What made this particularly festive was the Kid Rock music playing in the background. (I must add here that neither of us actually listen to Kid Rock voluntarily, rather we had a party a couple of weeks ago and made a music mix full of one hit wonders and music you haven't heard in years. It went over well at the party and Jill just happened to have her iTunes on the party playlist while we put up the tree.)

As we headbanged while fluffing the tree it occurred to us that perhaps Christmas music would be more fitting. So the Christmas music was put on and the tree was put up a little jollier and a little less violently. It's amazing how music can affect ones activities.

Here is the tree in all it's glory with the foot of fresh snow outside.It certainly doesn't get much more Christmasy than that.

There's an ornament that I have that has a bit of a story to it. A long time ago, my mom bought an ornament from Hallmark and it became a most cherished ornament. My brother and I adore this little thing. For years we talked about who would get it when mom finally decided to give us the old ornaments. When that day happened my brother conceded and let me have this ornament.Can you see why this is the best Christmas ornament in the world? Imagine yourself as a little kid looking up into the tree to see a little elf working on the light bulbs! It just doesn't get much better than that!

I think the year after I had the elf I was trying to think of a great Christmas present for my brother. A few things came to mind, but mostly I thought about wrapping up the elf and giving it to him. I knew it'd be something special that he'd love. So I did.

Would you like to guess what I received the next year?

So this little elf has been passed between my brother and I for about 5 years now. Each year we try to come up with better ways to wrap it. One year I wrapped it inside box after box after box. (I know this is wasteful but I wouldn't have done it had I suspected these boxes wouldn't be reused!)

This year I have the best plan... and it sort of just fell into my lap. I knew the elf came to me last year so when the tree went up, I went looking for it. Keep in mind I moved rather quickly midway through the year. For the life of me, I couldn't find it. In desperation I called my brother to confirm that it came to me last year. Oh yes, he said, I have it this year and he didn't sound too pleased that I didn't know the whereabouts of the elf. Well friends, I found it today... but I'm not going to let my brother know that!

Happy December everyone!

2007-12-01T11:08:00.000-05:00

It's December already? When did that happen?

Lucky for me I'm moving right along on these Christmas presents. I finished up the Jaywalkers.
And, of course, started on another pair. I recently bought the Favorite Socks book from Interweave. I'm already in love with this book. It's so convenient to have all these great sock patterns in one book. I decided to make the Uptown Boot Socks with Knit Picks Gloss.I'm changing the pattern slightly to make short row heels and toes, other than that I'm leaving it alone. It's such an easy pattern too. Very fun to knit.

In completely unrelated news, the boy and I went to the symphony last night to see The Nutcracker Suite. I think it's the first time this season that I've actually started feeling like it's Christmas. Personally, I think retailers ring in the holidays just a tad too early (*read= extremely early) that it kills the feeling sometimes. But anyway, we had a very nice evening and the show was well done and entertaining. It was a nice way to welcome in December.

Christmas knitting update.

2007-11-27T08:51:00.000-05:00

One holiday down, a couple to go...

My Thanksgiving was wonderful even if it occurred on Friday rather than Thursday. I was working Thursday night. To be honest, I was somewhat shocked by how many people came out to eat for Thanksgiving rather than be in there own homes with their families. It was really very interesting. Of course, my family came out to eat at the restaurant I work at just so they could spend a little time with me on Thanksgiving even though we'd see each other the next day. I love my family. This is why I'm so happy to be back in the area!

I currently have 373 blog entries to read in my bloglines.... it's safe to say I'm a little behind in reading those. I'm sure spending time with the boy has something to do with this, but lucky for me, he understands my passion to knit and lets me knit even while we're cuddling on the couch watching movies, or in the car, or wherever else the mood strikes me. You see, he has passion for some things too (World of Warcraft and running) so I'm more than happy to allow him his time as well.

Here's the finished socks I was telling you about.The leg looks pitifully short on these, but I'm sure they'll still be worn with love.

I started another pair of socks as well.Those are definitely Jaywalkers out of KnitPicks Felici. I've had trouble in the past with this pattern being too tight to get your foot into, but something about this yarn (perhaps it's the nylon content or the fact that it's superwash, who knows?) makes it a bit more stretchy and allows my foot to fit easily into it. This picture is actually a bit old, I've finished one sock and am turning the heel on the other one.

Now that I'm this far, I don't feel like I'm under too much pressure from my Christmas gifts because I only have two others to finish!

Finally the season it's supposed to be.

2007-11-19T11:05:00.000-05:00

In my last post I wrote about how it just didn't feel like November and that it seemed strange that Thanksgiving is so close. Well, with this recent cold snap and a few white things falling out of the sky, it's feeling a bit more like the right season. We actually got more than a few flakes too, I woke up to this...I knew without looking out my window that it had snowed. The light that comes in through the window is totally different when it snows.

Since I had the day off, the boy and I decided to go to this nature center not too far from here and walk some of the trails. By the time we go there the snow had melted some, not to mention there were still quite a few leaves on the trees to catch it and keep the paths clear.

Here are a few pictures from our walk.
There were about a million geese on the lake while we were there. They were about all you could hear. Look closely at this picture and you can see all those little black specks on the lake are geese.
Because we're still young at heart we decided to climb on a fallen tree.The going up part was fine... it was the getting back down that was trickier than I remember as a kid!

By the end our hands were freezing (after all, why would we need gloves on a day that it snowed???) so we called it a day and went home for some hot cocoa and soup. It was great =)

As for the green socks, they're finished. Whatever had been bothering my hands and arms is now a ton better and I'm knitting at my normal speed again. I'll post a picture as soon as I have time to take one. I've started another pair of gift socks and I'll also be posting pictures of those too.

On a side note, I came across a quote the other day that really struck a chord in me and I thought I'd share it.

"You are the creator of your own reality. Therefore, seek not to find out who you are, seek to determine who you want to be and create it."

It really hit me because it's so proactive. It really emphasizes taking control of your own life. I like that.

Stalled

2007-11-15T12:25:00.000-05:00

Last weekend I was moving right along on the sock I started. I was fairly determined to finished at least one of them. My roommate and I rented a couple of movies (nothing makes socks grow quicker than watching some good movies while you knit.) I was nearing the toe when it became painfully obvious that I wouldn't have enough yarn to finish the foot.I was so close! I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I ripped, and ripped and ripped and somewhere along the way realized why I usually knit from the toe up. You definitely avoid these sorts of problems when you knit from the toe up!

As if the ripping wasn't bad enough, I had to take a break from knitting to rest my hands and arms. They've developed an ache in them from all the knitting and I just don't want to overdo it. Better to rest and avoid problems in the future than stubbornly press on and develop carpal tunnel or something.

I may not get as much knit for Christmas, but that's alright. I'll do what I can.

I'm finding it hard to believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away. They holidays are upon us and for whatever reason it just doesn't feel like they should be here yet. Perhaps it's the unusually warm weather? I can't say. All I know is that this Fall was one of the most peculiar seasons I've experienced. 70-80 degree weather is not what I think of when I think October in the Northeast, but it's what we got. Strange...

On to the next.

2007-11-09T14:21:00.000-05:00

The scarf is finished.This scarf is so soft and squishy that I'm tempted to keep it for myself. I may not have mentioned the best part about this thing. It's superwash merino... yeah, you can wash it in the washing machine without fear of it felting up into a mass of brown and black fiber. I think I'm in love. Anyway, I won't keep it. It'll go to it's intended recipient (whom I can't mention, Christmas gift and all that)

So I started a pair of socks as my next gift.These are moving right along. I guess it helps that I got a couple of audio books from the library and have been listening to those while I knit. It certainly keeps the mind occupied during those mindless portions.

I don't know if I mentioned this but I don't have TV. That is to say, I have a TV but I don't have cable, and local channels don't even come in because there is no antennae. I love not having TV. I loathe TV. Actually, I loathe commercials, certain shows I think are brilliant, but I can't stand the commercials. My strategy now is to watch the shows online or rent the seasons from Netflix. I haven't gotten around to watching too much though. For now, the audio books keep me mentally occupied.

My local library is fantastic too. It just got built about 5 or 6 years ago and it is beautiful and the selection is great and the staff is even greater. Yay for libraries!

It's crunch time...

2007-11-03T11:09:00.000-04:00

It's November and with it comes deadlines for Christmas knitting. I have been working quite a bit recently on Christmas presents. I've also been trying to come up with a list of presents that won't be too much work. I'm trying to be realistic this year. I don't want to overburden myself with a ton of projects I can't possibly complete in time. I've decided that this year's presents will consist mainly of socks and washclothes. And maybe a scarf thrown in here and there. Like this one...It's some yarn from Brooks Farm that I bought at Rhinebeck. It's soft and the best part is it's superwash merino. I had no idea superwash could be this soft. I'm actually very happy with how it's pooling. It's not too obnoxious, you know? Though I will admit, I ripped this scarf out... ooooohhh, I'd say about four times. It was mostly because I was trying to see how wide I could get it and still get a long enough scarf. Now that I think of it, I probably could have used some math for that.... but really, it's much more fun to re-knit such beautiful yarn.

With all these Christmas gifts looming, I've had to put my own projects aside. This is the main reason why I haven't got any finished socks to show you from Socktoberfest. It occurred to me sometime in October that I should probably be starting on Christmas gifts instead.

Recently my LYS was having a sale and I couldn't help myself when some of their yarn is 50% off! I ended up buying some Mountain Colors Barefoot and some discontinued Jaegar yarn to make myself a sweater. I'm so motivated to start using some of this yarn... but then the Christmas gifts pop into my head and I don't.... I suppose that's going to be my motivation to get these gifts done huh?

Look what I finished!

2007-10-25T12:43:00.000-04:00

The Print 'O the Wave shawl has been on the needles for a very long time. I'm quite sure I was still in school when I started it, which, for some reason, seems like it was a long time ago. I love everything about this pattern, except, of course, the errata in the border. I swear I thought I was doing something wrong. After about the third or fourth attempt, I realized it might not be me!

Then I ran out of yarn while working on the border... I didn't have money to buy more until just recently, and then it was a question of time. Well, I made some time, mostly on the way to Rhinebeck to work on it and just yesterday I finished it up, sewed in the ends and blocked it.I had to block it on my bed. It's the only place that's soft enough for the pins to go in, in a room that I can shut the door from the cats! There's nothing like cats to ruin a good blocking session.

My friends, it turned out amazing. So light and yet so warm! Not to mention the feel is amazing. It is merino laceweight after all.Here it is all opened up.

And then, of course, the model shot!
I do believe I'm addicted to lace...

Rhinebeck... yet another year of fiber and fun.

2007-10-22T09:18:00.000-04:00

This was the fourth year I've been to Rhinebeck and, as always, it did not disappoint. Though, unlike other years, I actually had specific things in mind.

I went out there with Jill and Sarah. Just the car ride out there was a blast. I enjoyed every second of hanging out with these two lovely ladies. Many laughs were had for sure!Here's Sarah enjoying her Starbucks and knitting in the back seat. It's a three hour drive, we had to keep ourselves awake somehow!

I had made plans to meet up with a friend of mine that I met in Toronto. We met at the Harlot book signing and the yarn crawl in Toronto. Somehow she convinced her husband that bringing her two small children and him to a fiber festival for the weekend would be a great idea, all the while knowing that they'd be camping... she is a master negotiator!

So we arrived at Rhinebeck, is it just me, or was this year a madhouse? I know it's been busy before, but really? It was just crazy! I sometimes felt like I spent more time in line waiting to pay for my goods than actually fondling fiber (this may be an over exaggeration, but still.)

This is the t-shirt I wore, pretty much the best shirt ever for Rhinebeck. Of course, Jill's shirt wasn't so bad either!It's all about representing with the sheep!

A major highlight for me this year was getting to use the Golding spinning wheel.... drool...We won't mention how much this thing costs... *cough*$5,000*cough*.... It's like butta to spin with, like butta! I covet one, but honestly, I'm perfectly happy with my bottom of the line Kiwi.

Danielle, my friend from Canada, used it too...
And don't think that a fiber festival is all about fiber, on no. There's also this guy who held a wonderfully informed political debate with us.I already love him for his shirt.

I met some wonderful people, including Jess and Casey, the creators of Ravelry and Elisa whose blog I've been reading for years! I didn't even go to any sort of blogger meetup, I just left it all up to chance. Last year was a little overwhelming for me, so this year I decided to take it slow.

The weather was gorgeous (though oddly warm for mid-October) and I'd say that all-in-all, it was a wonderful day with wonderful people.

...what's that you say? You want to see the haul.... oh, alright...

Don't ever get between a girl and her fiber!

The little buggers got me...

2007-10-17T19:31:00.000-04:00

The weather has finally turned here. It's finally starting to feel like fall. As we all know, fall is the perfect time to break out the handknits. The other day I thought it would be a great idea to put on a pair of my wool socks. The socks I made in Toronto looked like the perfect pair. They've never been worn so it was certainly time to break them in. As I was slipping them on I was shocked to discover a hole in one of them.... then another hole.... then another!

MOTHS!!!!!Does this not just make your heart hurt? I tore apart my sock drawer to see what I could find and see what other socks got a fly by mothing. One more pair was hit, but aside from that, the rest were fine. Not to mention I didn't find any evidence whatsoever of moths. I'm not sure what to do about this. Anyone have any suggestions?

In an unrelated topic, I'll be heading to Rhinebeck on Saturday. I hope to see some of you there!

I know I haven't blogged in awhile... I have a reason. I've met someone... and he's great. I'll leave it at that.

And without further ado...

2007-10-05T16:01:00.000-04:00

I present VaVaVoom 2.0 completed.Here's a photo with a bit more detail of the collar. That darn flash tends to blur the details a bit.Oh yes, this one turned out a million times better than the last. By the way, the sweater pattern is called Paisley and it's out of the book 'A Season's Tale' by Kim Hargreaves. I love her patterns. They always seem to fit me nicely.

As you can imagine, I started a new project now that this one is finished. With it being Socktober, it only seemed right for me to start those socks.I'm doing a basic toe up sock because I can't stand the thought of wasting even an inch of this yarn! It's just too beautiful! It doesn't seem to be pooling or striping much either, which I'm happy about.

I may not have mentioned this, but now that I've been working for over a month and have some funds again, I decided it was time for me to place an order at Knitpicks. After all, it had to be done. I have two lace projects just sitting here waiting to be worked on and I don't have the yarn to work on them. Lucky for me they had the dye lots I was looking for.I couldn't pass up the chance to have free shipping either, so my finger might have slipped a few times and put a few more things in my cart... but just a few things...Given the situation, I'd say I was pretty controlled. I can't guarantee I'm going to be so restrained at Rhinebeck... Did I mention I'm going to be there this year? Can't break tradition now can I?

Progress, people!

2007-10-02T13:26:00.000-04:00

Ok, so I know I just blogged yesterday, but I was so excited, that I just had to show you the progress I've made on VaVaVoom 2.0.

I finished up seaming all the pieces together. All that's left now is the collar!I'm already in love with this sweater and it's not even finished yet!

It's October!

2007-10-01T10:10:00.000-04:00

I think we all know what that means.... Socktoberfest! And it's also the month where Rhinebeck takes place! Oh I'm looking forward to it this year!

As for the socks... I haven't started a pair because I've been diligently working on VaVaVoom version 2.0. I'm nearly finished with the second sleeve. The end is near. But I do have plans for socks. I plan on using that Lorna's laces sock yarn that I bought in Toronto.Mmmmm, Lorna.... you're so good at what you do... I love these colors. These are my kind of colors! The thing is, I never really wear these colors all together other than in socks. But I do love them. They make me happy!

I have a lot of things making me happy recently. My job is going well. I'm making up for all the time off I took, which is great monetarily because it means I can actually get some of the things I've been putting off getting (like that knitpicks lace yarn to finish those two lace projects I'm working on.) It's also wonderful to be able to come home and have nothing to do. Let me put it this way, I come home and there's no reading assignments, no school projects, no papers that are due in the morning... It's bliss. I loved school, but I'm ready for life again.

I haven't blogged much recently because I've been working full time, but I've also been developing a social life again. One that was put on hold while I was in school. I've been dating, which has been fun, but I'm not sure dating is really what I want to do. How can you expect to get to know someone really well while you're dating? No one really acts the way they really are when they date. There are nerves up the wazoo when you first meet. Not to mention there are all these expectations that go along with it. I'd much rather meet someone as a friend and develop a relationship from there. So, I've been open to friendships at the moment.

Anyway, I have today off and I hope to finish up the pieces for VaVaVoom. I'm nearly there! I wouldn't be surprised if I start piecing it together tonight!

A switching of projects...

2007-09-24T14:39:00.000-04:00

So, the trouble I ran into with mesh bag #1 has sort of put my motivation for mesh bag #2 on hold. I hate to say that, but it has. Not to mention my roommate is a wiz at sewing and she's started making canvas grocery bags and let's face it... they take so much less time to make! That doesn't mean I've given up on bag #2, it just means I need to find my inspiration again.

In the mean time, I've been inspired to work on the new Va Va Voom. I had the back completed the last time I mentioned it. Now I have the front finished.Don't ask me what motivated me to pick this one up other than the fact that it's a great fall sweater and fall is here! I'd like to at least wear it once this season... that remains to be seen. Wish me luck!

Being Green

2007-09-17T10:51:00.000-04:00

Recently I've become a little obsessed with being green. It was only a matter of time before this spilled over into my knitting. There I was, happily knitting along on a scarf when I happened upon a blog post of a friend of mine from Colorado... She was talking about thinking green, etc. and for whatever reason, it kick started something in me to want to knit some reusable grocery bags.

While I was at the yard sale awhile back there were a couple of cones of cotton yarn that I picked up. I figured they'd be perfect! So I started a bag... Within about three days I was finished. I completely made up the pattern myself.I crocheted around the inside of the handles to reinforce them. And right before I crocheted up the bottom of the bag, my roommate pointed out that it looked like a tank top... Well if that's not an invitation to try it on, I don't know what is.Perhaps I will be designing tank tops next....

Anyway, back to the current bag... Everything looked like it had gone perfectly to plan... until I sewed up the bottom and tried putting things in it. I don't know if you'd believe the amount of stretch this thing has. And I'm talking vertical stretch...If I was to put anything heavy into it, I'd be dragging it along behind me in the grocery store.

So I'm back to square one. I've cast on a new bag with a few modifications to hopefully counteract the stretching. I also plan on making it quite a bit shorter. We'll see how bag number 2 turns out!

RAVELRY!!!

2007-09-16T14:11:00.000-04:00

I've finally gotten my Ravelry invite!!! Woohoo! I've only just started updating, etc. so bare with me. Come on over and say hi!

*an actual knitting post soon to come

Trouble with fairies...

2007-09-10T09:56:00.000-04:00

Has anyone ever heard of the contact lens fairy? Probably not, because it's not one of those nice fairies that leaves a quarter under your pillow after you lose a tooth. The contact lens fairy is little more than a thief. It steals your contact lenses in the middle of the night, dries them out on its hearth and uses them as clear bowls. My friends, I've been hit by the contact lens fairy and what's worse, it was my last pair.

This would explain why I'm wearing my glasses in this picture to model my sister's finished scarf...Don't get me wrong, I do like my glasses, it's just that I have no prescription sunglasses and they sort of make the bridge of my nose hurt a little by the end of the day.

But really, I'm making up this story to help explain the loss of my contacts when I have absolutely no idea how it happened. I went to put them in one morning and they weren't it my case...they weren't in my eyes either. I have a bit of a bathroom routine when it comes to brushing teeth, washing my face, taking out or putting in my contacts... I just can't explain why they are missing. I hope I'm not losing my mind.

In other news, I went up to my old roommates apartment to pick up my cat, Ludo. He didn't really like the drive back too much so he wedged himself between me and my seat...After awhile he calmed down and moved to my lap where he stayed until we got home. It's been interesting introducing him to my current roommate's cat. I kept him in my room without letting him or the other cat even see each other for a few days. That way they could get the scent of each other and become comfortable with that first. Then it was just little supervised meetings, first for a few minutes, then for an hour, then for the day and now they're chasing each other and playing.

I tell you, there's nothing better than having two cats who get along. I've had cats who hate each other and barely tolerated each other. The screams were horrible. But I'd say that Ludo's settling in nicely...I sure did miss my baby!

A fabulous time with big sis

2007-09-05T10:38:00.000-04:00

I'm finally back and I have no more trips in my immediate future. I do love to travel, but sometimes, road trips just aren't as fun unless there's someone in the car with you!

The time spent at my sister's was fantastic. I may not have ever mentioned this, but my sister is actually my half-sister. We never lived in the same house so essentially we didn't grow up together. She's also thirteen years older than I am which has, in the past, made it difficult for us to relate. Now that I'm older, the sisterly bond that's somehow eluded us has been growing by leaps and bounds. I can't even express how happy that makes me.

During my time there, we went to the salon, had long talks over tea, I even helped her with her homework! She's going back to school for her masters in teaching. Now that my nephews are older and more independent, she's decided to pursue her career that's been on hold for the past 13 years. I'm so happy for her because she's fantastic with kids and I really think teaching is perfect for her.

We also had fun going on outings with my nephews. We went to the beach to fly kites and explore the beach for sea creatures.Here's my oldest nephew (he's 13, does that make me feel old?....ummmm....a little) with a starfish we found.Here she is with two of the boys, discovering all the crawly things in the tide pools.

Sometime during the trip, she showed me the most recent picture she had of the two of us. It was taken at her wedding... in 1991... I was 10. I'd say a new picture was in order.
One afternoon while we were there, she took me to a yarn shop that a friend of hers goes to. It was my birthday present from her. Go to the yarn shop and pick whatever you want. That's what she told me! Woohoo! I ended up getting three skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Aran to make myself a scarf. My sister liked the yarn so much she got herself three skeins as well... so that I could knit her a scarf!

In fact, I'm nearly finished and I only started it a few days ago!You just gotta love the speed of a seed-stitch scarf on size 10.5 needles!

A birthday and other various things...

2007-08-27T16:06:00.000-04:00

So it's my birthday today and I'm back from my trips. Well actually, I got back a few days ago and tomorrow I'm off again. I love all the visiting I've done and am about to do, but the driving is killing me! When what is supposed to be a 7 hour trip turns into a 9 hour construction-fest of fun, you know you've been driving through Pennsylvania. I don't know, this could just be me, but when I have to turn off my vehicle because traffic is stopped on a four-lane highway, I'm just not a happy camper. Ah well.

As for the birthday, I turned 26. To be honest, it feels just like any other day. (And I'm perfectly OK with that!) I'm not feeling all retrospective or future oriented today. I'm not contemplating where I thought my life would be at this age. I'm just enjoying the life I have at the moment.

And as for my first trips, they were great. Very relaxing. Basically I didn't do a whole lot of anything except visit with family and friends. When I wasn't hanging out, I was sitting on my butt reading or knitting. It was fantastic. By the way, has anyone read Marley and Me? I started and finished it in one day during vacation. It was a great book and it made me want a dog despite my current living situation! In truth, there's no way I could have a dog at this point in my life, but I know I'll have a dog in my future somewhere. By the way, if you haven't read it and are going to, be sure to have a box of tissue with you for the end. It's so bittersweet.

Anyway, on to the knitting. I'm visiting my sister this upcoming week. Her birthday was in July and since I didn't have a present for her when I saw her, I decided to make her a pair of socks.This was some Knitpicks sock yarn I had in my stash and I really like how they knit up. I'm usually not a huge fan of the "magic stripe" sort of sock yarn, but I'm pleased with how these turned out. I even got the stripes to match up so the socks matched each other! (Was that slightly anal on my part?)

The socks didn't take me very long at all. I did have a week and a half of no obligation, 'do whatever I want to' time, so much knitting was had over the break. I've been working on something I hadn't really mentioned before too. Do you remember this sweater?Well, I hate to admit it, but it's now this...This was some alpaca yarn Jill gave me and unfortunately, it made the sweater just a bit too stiff. The collar was supposed to be sort of droopy. Instead it stuck out in front of me like a shelf. I think it just was not the right yarn for the pattern. So..... I went digging through my stash and I found some yarn that worked a bit better.This is the back made out of some thick/thin mercerized cotton. Oh and did I mention there are 375 yards to one skein??? I made this entire back without finishing the ball! Now that's impressive! Anyway, I like the drape of this fabric a lot more than the last one. I'm thinking it'll turn into a much better looking sweater this time.

That's all the news I have for you. Oh wait... I forgot. I have a job lined up already for when I get back from my sister's! It's not a zoo-related job. It's just waitressing again, but I'm all about that at the moment. I'm not ready to move again and getting a zoo job would probably require me to do that. I'm pretty excited actually because it's at the same restaurant I worked at before, just a different location. I won't be stressed learning a new system and I can actually enjoy myself!

So I'll leave you with a picture of the sunset we had this past weekend. It totally took my breath away.

Randomness at it's best.

2007-08-11T10:38:00.000-04:00

I finished the mittens... Well, I finished the shell of the mittens. Next up: the lining.A couple of things here. The color of the angora that I used for the lining is completely different than the color this picture shows. The picture makes it look like it's teal... ummm, no. It's more like a hunter green. Darn color inaccuracy. Ah well.

I love the way the mitten fits, except the cuff. It's just a little loose. I think I might use some elastic thread or something to tighten it up a bit. Or, I'll just deal. We'll see.

I got a little letter in the mail the other day... Actually, it wasn't a letter at all. It turns out that I won a blog contest! And just look at what I won.Yay for pretty stitch markers! Thanks Ellie! I love them!

So, I'm being a bit random with this blog post only because I can't think of a coherent way to tie all these things together. Bear with me here.

My sister's birthday was last month. I'll be seeing her in a couple of weeks so I decided to start a pair of socks. Sort of as a belated birthday gift.I'm using an old Knitpicks sock yarn that I had in my stash. You just can't beat stashbusting!

Lastly, I may not be able to blog in the next couple of weeks. I'm going down to Virginia to my extended family's lake house for a week. It's our annual family vacation and I'm really looking forward to it. The thing I'm unsure about is whether there's internet access. Then I'm off to another part of Virginia to visit a friend of mine from college... ummm, let me be more specific, from the first college I went to. I haven't seen her since her wedding last year and I'd really like to take some of this time off to visit old friends. Then I'll be back here for a few days for the yard sale (I almost just wrote yarn sale... yeah, I wish) After that, I'm off to Rhode Island to visit my sister and her family for a few days. Travel, travel, travel... Apparently, it's what I do.

The mystery bag

2007-08-08T15:56:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned before, I've been going through a lot of things at my mom's house that have been there for quite awhile. This is all in preparation for a yard sale. There's nothing more liberating than getting rid of a bunch of stuff. Does anyone else feel like the more stuff you have, the more weighed down you feel?

Anyway, I came across this mystery bag while I was sorting through things.Actually, I came across quite a few mystery bags and boxes. Most of them had little more than memorabilia from high school, or even earlier. Why, I ask you, do I hold on to things like bouncy rubber balls??? Or a cow that poos out chocolate jelly beans? Are these things necessary to my life at the moment?

Back to the mystery bag. Not all mystery bags are bad. Look what this one had...It's a UFO!!! Some of you may remember my obsession with these mittens a few years ago. Why this one was never finished, I really don't remember. Perhaps, at the time, I was a little mittened out.

Having no set plans for this fine Wednesday, I cozied up with a tall glass of iced chai and my mittens.
No better way to spend a Wednesday afternoon.

Hotel Cafe Concert

2007-08-06T12:13:00.001-04:00

This weekend, Jill and I went camping. Well, let me put it this way, we went to a concert and because it was so far away we decided to camp because it would be the cheapest option.

45 minutes into our little road trip brought some unexpected weather...I swear there was hail... or at least raindrops the size of baseballs by the way it sounded hitting the windshield. In our infinite wisdom we decided to stop at a rest stop to get some food, possibly wait out the storm a bit. When it didn't look like the weather was letting up, we decided to hit the road again. We had a deadline, we had to be checked into the campsite by 9pm so we ran out to the car. Perhaps it wasn't as brilliant a plan as we thought.Note: the only dry spot on my pants is that tiny little spot right by my knee.We could barely breathe we were laughing so hard! Apparently, being drenched is hysterical!

Had we waiting, ooooh, ten more minutes, we would have walked out in this...Timing is everything.

As it happened, we just barely made it to the campsite in time. Winding roads in the dark in the middle of nowhere are not exactly conducive to finding the turn you need to take, just in case you didn't know.

Turns out the place we camped was gorgeous.Plus there was an awesome stream right by the site. We did a little exploring to pass the time until we had to be at the concert.Sooooo pretty.

We had quite a bit of time before the concert started, so what do a couple of girls do while waiting around at a campsite in the middle of nowhere?We pluck our eyebrows, of course! Who doesn't do that when they're camping?!?!? (I've never felt so girly in my entire life!)

It was eventually time to go to the concert so the girly fun just had to end. We set up our things on the lawn... it was one of those types where you lay out on the lawn and enjoy the music. Very relaxing...We could not have asked for better weather, or better music for that matter. I loved how laid back this concert was. And the music was fantastic. It was my kind of concert.

Great times, great music, great weather, great company...What more could I have asked for?

I couldn't possibly come up with a title that would encompass all these things...

2007-08-01T08:54:00.000-04:00

First, I would like to officially welcome August into being. August is one of my favorite months of the year. I'm sure the fact that my birthday occurs in this month has nothing to do with that....

My first week of "doing nothing" didn't live up to it's name. The whole doing nothing thing sort of went by the wayside. I actually was extremely busy, mostly with organizing, unpacking and going through old things in storage.

One of the first things I decided to organize was my closet, more specifically all the different bags of yarn in my closet. After going through a bit of it, it became obvious to me that what I needed was storage bins. In all the years I've been knitting, I've never once bought storage bins to organize my yarn. Once I got to organizing them, it was clear why the need arose... not only do I have yarn to organize, but I also have fiber... lots more fiber than I thought I had!The very top bin (the small one) I've filled with all the ends of yarn from old projects. Yes, the entire bin is full. The next bin is full of yarn, much more yarn than I thought I had. Lastly, the bottom bin is all fiber.

Once I finally organized it all and stepped back, I was thrilled with what I had. I couldn't believe I had enough to fill two bins. I realize some of you look at this and think "Two bins! Ha! My stash would barely begin to fit in two bins!" Well let me tell ya, two bins is like striking gold for someone who's spent the last two years as a broke college student and who's now currently unemployed (granted, the unemployment is by my own choosing...) I'm all about the stashbusting until I can afford to buy yarn again!

The organizing took a new turn when I went to my parents house to go through boxes that have been there since before I moved up to school... I don't know if you've ever had boxes sit around for years and then gone back and looked through them... I think you'd be amazed with what you find. Me, I found some of the first swatches I ever knit. Keep in mind, I started knitting about nine years ago...Notice the unplanned increasing on both ends and the fact that every stitch was twisted, bless my little heart, I had no idea what I was doing! Most of us didn't start out as experts and I taught myself from a book... I did finally notice somewhere along the way that the book's pictures and what I was knitting didn't quite look the same.

I would like to call your attention to one little section of this swatch though...It looks like something finally clicked!

After a week spent organizing and sorting, a nice little break was in order. I went camping with a couple of friends and it was fantastic. We basically hung out all day, reading, knitting... doing a little henna. Did I ever mention I used to do henna art? Call it one of my many hidden talents.The darker spots are where the henna paste is still on. Where it's orange, is where the paste has been removed and an orange stain is left behind. Eventually it turns into a deeper brown color. If you want to learn a bit more about it go here.I decided to put this OM symbol on my wrist and I absolutely love it. Here's what it looks like five days later...If I were to get a tattoo, I'd henna it first to see if it's actually something I want, in the place that I want it... you know, like, forever. Tattoos scare me that way. What could I possible want on my skin that I'd want to be there forever? The fact is, people change and what I love now might not be something I'll love when I'm 50, or 80... or 102 (by that point, it probably won't resemble what it did originally anyway!) I think for now I'll stick to henna.

So what's next?

2007-07-30T15:24:00.000-04:00

So some of you may be wondering where I go from here.... I've finished school, I've finished my internship, what's next? My answer to that question is: absolutely nothing... for at least a month. My time in school was hectic because I was going to school and working at the same time. I literally didn't have a single day off from either school or work while school was in. Then it was straight on to the internship. This whole year, up until the end of my internship, has seemed like I've done nothing but go, go, go and it's time for a rest.

I can really tell I've been busy, I've hardly posted at all this whole year. When the blog starts falling behind, you know I'm busy! It just seems like the right time to take some time for me.

There's another thing that makes the timing of this time off very fortuitous. While I was up in Canada, my Dad called me. He called to tell me that he and my Mom had decided to separate. I won't really go into the details other than to say, he met someone else.

I've never been all that close to my father, he's always been so emotionally cut off from his children, also, I'm no longer at the age where this sort of thing would have torn my world apart. Granted, had this happened while I was in high school or younger, I probably would have totally flipped out. But in all honesty, it doesn't affect me or my life very much. My mom, however, is deeply affected by this. I want nothing more than for her to be happy. One way I can help with this is to be there for her and this time off gives me the freedom to do that. We've talked a lot about all this, there will definitely be her okay days and her not so okay days. Ultimately though, I think she'll be just fine. She has so much support and love and really, isn't that all you need?

Ok, the serious part of this post is over. Time for some knitty stuff.

I actually have quite a bit of knitting to show... or at least knitting related things. Hmmm, I suppose I should start with a project I started in Canada. I mentioned before the I couldn't finish the Print 'O the Wave stole because I basically ran out of yarn. Well, if I couldn't finish one lace project, it only seemed logical to me at the time to start a new one!
It's another Candle Flame Shawl from Knitpicks. It's one of their free patterns. The yarn I'm using is Knitpicks Shadow. It's a laceweight merino. The last time I made this pattern I used a variegated yarn and you just couldn't see the pattern as well as you can when you use a solid color. It's a solid color, but it's heathered...
There's just nothing like a good macro setting... Anyway, this picture is closer to the true color of the yarn as well. Maybe a little less bright, but still close.

It's hard to believe, but that is the only thing on the needles at the moment (aside, of course, from the unfinished Print 'O the Wave... we'll not talk about that one...) I discovered this past weekend why it's a really good idea to have a mindless project as well as an intricate project. I went camping with some friends and during the day, it was no problem working on the lace shawl.... at night however, knitting lace to the gentle, and totally unreliable, glow of the firelight was just not the best of ideas... I'm feeling a new project coming on...

Bittersweet...

2007-07-26T21:09:00.000-04:00

My last week in Canada was fantastic. It was one of those weeks that, even if the rest of my time in Canada was utter crap, that week made up for it one hundred fold. The keepers I worked with bought me not one, but two cakes. I was given one the second to last week, then another on my last week!I can't resist a good chocolate cake. Another keeper brought in a dessert that was absolutely heavenly... chocolate, caramel and cream cheese that you dip apples in.... I'm drooling a little just thinking about it.

They also took me out to dinner on my last day. It was really wonderful. It's always nice to know you're appreciated. In fact, I was appreciated so much that they threatened to steal my passport so I couldn't leave!

As much as I loved it, I was ready to go. I was happy and sad all at the same time. I will say I'll miss the people quite a bit and I'll miss the animals too. They really grow on you.

(Cue the animal montage!)
Yeah... I'm gonna miss 'em...

Zoo, poo and a couple of socks.

2007-07-14T09:49:00.001-04:00

My sister and her family came up to visit me. It was a great time seeing my nephews and I was really excited to show them some of the awesome animals I get to work with at the zoo. Like Aasha...And the tigers...And my favorite, the rhinos...It's so much fun to see the kids get excited about the animals I work with. It only helps to make me that much more excited! Kinda like how going to a stitch and bitch makes me excited and inspired by knitting because I'm surrounded by people who are just as obsessed with knitting as I am!

The boys really loved all the things I showed them up close, though they seemed to get the biggest kick out of the elephant going to the bathroom (admittedly it is rather impressive, poos the size of soccerballs and all) Why is potty humor the funniest kind?

So in knitting news, I actually finished a pair of socks that I don't think I ever showed any progress pictures of. Some might say, they're the longest socks I've knit.By the way, the black speck in the middle is supposed to be there. The yarn is something I picked up during that yarn crawl I went on and it has those dark specks all through it, though that one showed up particularly well in this picture.

I decided to go plain in terms of pattern, mostly because the yarn was great all on it's own. I bought two skeins and basically knit a whole skein for each sock, toe up. They really turned out great and they're super comfortable. So far, it definitely has been the summer of socks for me!

Only slightly behind....

2007-07-07T16:43:00.000-04:00

A couple of weekends ago (hence the slightly behind bit), my best friend, Jill, came up to visit me. It's always nice to see friends, especially in a place where you knew no one when you first arrived! We had such a fun weekend.

I took her to the zoo where she met Aasha, the Great hornbill.It's always an awesome experience for people who don't work with animals to get that sort of one-on-one interaction. Jill was thrilled.

I also took her back to meet some of the Orangutans...This is Ramai and her baby. Come to think of it, I forgot to include the baby orangs in my baby post... I guess it's cause they were all born last year but they stay little and dependent for a long time compared to other animals!

It was really great spending the day walking around the zoo with her. The funny thing is, I don't see much of the zoo other than the area I work in. If you've been to the Toronto Zoo you know it's huge and it takes some time to see everything. In fact, you're lucky if you see everything in one day...if you did, you probably rushed... So when Jill and I went, there were things I hadn't seen before... like the huge fish tank in the African Pavilion...And I'd never seen these animals either....They looked like they wanted to tear me apart!

The day at the zoo was great...But the next day..... YARN SHOPS! They just don't compare.

I took Jill to Lettuce Knit.I'd originally planned just to look, but when this is staring you in the face:It's so hard to resist doing this:Ummm, so yeah, I totally bought some Lorna's Laces.... Honestly, I only wanted to know what all the fuss was about. I've tried Koigu, I've tried Trekking. Now it's Lorna's turn.

I also took her over to Romni Wools in order to completely overwhelm her inner knitter. After all, what knitter isn't overwhelmed when confronted by the wall of knitting books? Or floor to ceiling yarn? You show me a person like that, and I'll show you a non-knitter.

Over all we had a great couple of days in Toronto. If you ever have a chance to visit, I highly recommend it!

Nothing says cute like a bunch of baby animals!

2007-07-04T16:54:00.000-04:00

We've had some babies born at the zoo recently... there's nothing cuter than baby animals, I don't care what kind of animals they are, if they're babies, they're cute.

Baby birds for instance....These are roul roul chicks and their parents. The dad is the one with the funny red fluff on top of his head and the mom's the green one.

Then there's the marabou stork chick...Who, by the way, is even cuter from the side...Tell me that's not the funniest mop-top you've ever seen.

Even baby reptiles can be cute, like this painted turtle...To put it into perspective, it's about the diameter of a quarter!

The last one I have a picture of is the baby sable antelope...She has the longest eyelashes I've ever seen.

There were also baby snow leopards, a baby preswalski's horse and a baby caribou born, but I have yet to see them. Maybe next week!

This is a knitting blog, right?

2007-06-21T19:50:00.000-04:00

Two posts in one week, what's wrong with me? Now that I have a working computer again, I just can't help myself! You don't realize how dependant you are on the internet (and a virus-free computer) until you don't have it anymore!

So I finished to socks that I was working on during the yarn crawl...I really love them. They are a little tight on the leg, that is to say they're hard to get on and off. Kind of like the Jaywalkers if they're done a bit too tight. I kind of don't care though. I still love them!

I've been working quite a bit on the Print O' the Wave stole too...This is just a little section. I'm still working on the border, but I'm realizing I'm not going to have enough yarn. I'm on the last side and I have barely enough for another couple of repeats... I guess I'll just have to put it on hold and order more when I'm back in the States. I'm a patient girl, I guess I can wait!

Finally, part two

2007-06-18T19:14:00.000-04:00

Ok, here we go. I have not had a working computer, that is to say a computer without a crippling virus, to use here in Toronto this entire time. I've been wanting to post but just haven't been able to. This post would have been up a long time ago if it weren't for that. Ok, enough with the excuses...

Here's a picture post all about the zoo...

This is the main pavilion that I work in.

These are just three of the nine orangutans that live in the pavilion.
I sort of can't handle how cute the babies are!

These are the Sumatran tigers. The two smaller ones were just babies the last time I was at the zoo which was in March. They're just a *bit* bigger now!
This is Asha. She's an Indian hornbill and she lives in the keeper room. She's blind and we use her as an outreach animal for disabled children.

These are two of our Indian rhinos, Indira and Shakira. They have been out in their yard for three weeks while the contractors have been working on their indoor pens. Naturally there was a mountain of crap to clean up... let's just say my pants have seen better days...
There's a mini pavilion where they keep some birds and butterflies.

These are only a few of the animals, I guess I'm just showing the highlights here. Hope you enjoyed them!

Finally!

2007-06-08T11:50:00.000-04:00

Here's the post you've all been waiting for. I finally have the capability to post pictures (only because I'm back home for the weekend... sigh) so I decided now would be a good time to fill you in on my adventures.

First and foremost... it seems my appearance on the Yarn Harlot's blog has made me pseudo-famous... that is to say, famous by association! Stephanie is one of the funniest women I've ever met and she really did a great job with including everyone and being interested in everyone. Not an easy task when there were well over 20 of us.

Let me start at the beginning though. I went to the book signing downtown. Keep in mind, this is the first time I've travelled to Toronto on my own, and definitely the first time I've driven in a large city on my own. I'm quite proud to say, I didn't get lost or frazzeled in any way and I found my way to and from the signing just fine! I even arrived with lots of time to spare. This worked out to my advantage because I ended up being seated in the second row!
If you saw how many people showed up, you'd understand why being in the second row was such an amazing thing. There were people everywhere. I think she drew the biggest crowd for any book signing at this store.

Let me just tell you, she was funnier than most stand-up comedians I've seen. True, her humor may not be universal, after all, how funny would knitting jokes be to someone interested in say politics or underwater basketweaving? The humor just might be lost on them.

Anyway, I met an awesome knitter, Danielle, while I was there. She and I went to the afterparty where she convinced me to go on the yarn crawl the next day. I'm so glad she did!

We started at The Naked Sheep at around 11am.This is a cute little yarn shop on Queen Street. I did end up making a purchase there, but I think I'll hold off on showing you the haul until I'm done.

Next we went to Americo.This was definitely a unique shop. Everything in it was handspun yarn from Argentina (I think it was Argentina at least). I thought it was all very beautiful, but I don't think I'd shop there regularly because if I want handspun, well, I spin it myself!As you can see, the inside was very nice and the knitters were everywhere taking pictures (like myself!)

Moving on... Next we went to Romni Wools.... Oh...My....God.... I really can't explain this yarn shop in words.... I must let the wall of Rowan speak for me.Keep in mind that this is just one wall.... there were many, many walls and several rooms, all packed to the gills with yarn. It was overwhelming and wonderful all at the same time!

After quite a while, the knitters were rounded up and we headed to Lettuce Knit to take a break in Kensington Market for lunch. This by far, is the cutest yarn shop I've ever seen.They set up chairs for us to take a break and knit outside. We definitely needed a break at this point. I think we were high on wool fumes by then so some fresh air did us some good.

Our final stop on this journey was Alterknit, the cafe/yarn shop. Brilliant!This is where we all wound down. Drank some coffee or tea in my case, chatted, fondled more yarn and said our goodbyes. Before leaving though, Stephanie modeled the sock I finished that day.... on her hand... why not?If you're wondering, her shirt said Wool Pig. Gotta love it.

So the haul... it was not as large as most, after all, I am not making any money at the moment so I had to keep my senses about me.There are two balls of Rowan Country which is destined to be a thin scarf or hat. Four balls of angora, on sale at Romni for $5.00 a ball! Sweet! Two skeins of Nature's Palette for some socks, and the other two things are self explanatory.

There you have it. Now you have the yarn crawl from my perspective. Perhaps before I leave this weekend to go back up to Toronto I'll post again, only this time there'll be less yarn and more animals!

The Yarn Crawl

2007-05-29T18:03:00.000-04:00

For those of you interested, there's a detailed rundown of the yarn crawl here. I still can't upload pictures, so I hope that it will be a good substitute for now!

The rundown...

2007-05-27T08:44:00.000-04:00

Long time, no see! I don't know if I could properly begin to describe all the crazy things that have been going on with me in the last week and a half. I think the best way at this point is to just give you a list...

1. I graduated on Friday, last Friday that is.
2. Moved all of my stuff down to my new apartment on Saturday
3. Spent the day unpacking and going to dinner with my family on Sunday
4. Repacked and left for Toronto on Monday
5. Started my internship at the zoo on Tuesday
6. Spent the week learning the ropes (of which I'm still learning)
7. After the zoo I went to the launch of the Yarn Harlot's new book on Friday.
8. Went on a yarn crawl around downtown Toronto on Saturday with the Harlot and a bunch of very fun knitters.

..... This is the part where, if I were telling you all these things in person, I'd take a minute to breathe...

It's been an overwhelming couple of weeks, but I have to say, despite the stress I may have felt at times, it's all been an exciting adventure that I'm so glad I've been a part of.

I really wish I could share some pictures with you and go into a little more detail about these things, but I'm using a computer that I can't upload my pictures on. Hopefully we'll get the wireless internet working here in a few days (though it may be longer than that) and I'll be able to share some great picture with you, including what I purchased on the yarn crawl!

So it ends.... or it's only just beginning....

2007-05-10T07:48:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was the last day of classes. If I decided to never go to school again, then it was my last class ever. I can't say that thought makes me all that upset. Maybe someday I'd like to take some classes again, but right now, I'm just ready for life. School tends to make me feel like I'm in limbo!

Anyway, I have three finals to take, a graduation to attend, and I have to focus on this as well...That's right... moving. I have to pack up the apartment and move to a new one before I head over to Toronto for my two month stay as a student intern. Now that I have time to think about it (rather than the hundred and one projects and tests) I'm really starting to get excited. Not only am I excited about the zoo, but I just found out that the Harlot is having a little shindig at on of the bookstores in Toronto just three days after I arrive. If I'm feeling adventurous and not too tired, I may just go!

As for knitting, there's been a little. I had to rip out the sock and start again because the pattern didn't fit over my foot. I added one more repeat to the pattern and now it seems to fit just fine.

I'm still here!

2007-04-28T11:59:00.000-04:00

You'll be happy to know I'm not dead.... yet. The school work is kicking my butt at the moment, not to mention all the traveling. I'm sitting here wondering where the heck April went! The end is in sight though. Just a week and a half of classes left, then finals and then it's graduation time. *sigh* I can't wait.

I didn't get nearly as much knitting done as I thought I would. Probably because a lot of the driving was at night... I guess I didn't account for that, but oh well. Right now I'm working on the edging to my Print 'O the Wave stole. I just wish I had known before I started it that there was an error in the pattern. I kept thinking I was crazy because I was counting it and redoing it and counting it again and according to the pattern it was supposed to work out, but according to my knitting I had one extra stitch. Let me just tell you, the internet is a wonderful thing. I found the error through a quick google search and now I'm back on track and in no danger of pulling my hair out from frustration.

I also started a pair of socks on the trip, because as we all know, socks are the best for traveling knitting.The yarn is Trekking and the pattern is pretty much just one I'm making up. It's just a traveling rib cable pattern. I plan on making the second sock a little different by knitting the cable in the opposite direction. In my head it's gonna look great, we'll see how it looks in reality when I'm finished, and let's be honest, that won't be until well after school's over.

Before ending this post I'd like to show you my favorite picture from the trip to NYC. We went to that American Natural History Museum on our last day there and they had an exhibt all about butterflies. You basically walked into a room filled with live butterflies from all over the world. I have to admit, I have a thing for butterflies so naturally I took a lot of pictures. My best one I didn't even realize was my best until I got home and looked at the pictures on my computer. I was just randomly snapping a picture of the butterfly in the foreground only to find out later my camera focused on the one in the background. Sometimes mistakes can be good things!

On a sidenote, I just wanted everyone to know I haven't been commenting on anyone's blog because right now I just don't have time. As soon as school is finished I plan on reading up on what everyone's been up to this past month. I just wanted to let you all know I haven't forgotten about you!

250th!

2007-04-11T11:53:00.000-04:00

I just discovered that this is my 250th post! Unfortunately I didn't plan any great 250th post celebration. I've been a bit busy recently. As anyone who's ever been a college student knows, things begin to pile up and get crazy towards the end of a semester. Especially towards the end of your last semester. Not only are you dealing with the projects and assignments due after class, but you're also dealing with where you're going after school.

Needless to say, there's been a lot on my plate. It certainly has contributed to my lack of blogging recently and I'm sorry for that. I love blogging, but sometimes, since I have all these other projects going, it feels like just another thing I have to do. I don't want it to become a chore, so I only do it when I feel I have a bit of spare time or am inspired by something I want to share with you.

This time the inspiration is my current project...The Print 'O the Wave stole. I pinned out a small section of the first panel I finished (It's made in two panels that are grafted together so the waves are pointing in opposite directions from the center; genius!) Mine is a bit thicker than the one shown on the pattern because I'm using laceweight and she used cobweb weight yarn. I actually really like it this thick. It's warm and the yarn is nice and soft (Shadow by KnitPicks).

I'll hopefully be working a bit more on this because I have some traveling in my future. The best kind of traveling too, where I'm the passenger and I get to knit! This weekend we're headed down to DC to the National Zoo. I'm really looking forward to this trip because the last time I was at the National Zoo I was about 10 and still living in Maryland! I'm sure things have changed a bit in 15 years and I'm really excited to see it.

Next weekend we're off to NYC to see the Central Park Zoo and the Bronx Zoo. I haven't been to either of them so it should be fun.

And lets not forget the best thing of all... Lots of knitting time in the car!

The week in Buffalo

2007-04-04T09:43:00.000-04:00

Where do I even begin?

Last week I spent my time job shadowing/mini-interning in Buffalo at three different facilities. You saw the picture of the beluga, well that was just the beginning. There was also killer whales (orcas)...
Not to mention the humbolt penguins I got to feed. Unfortunately my hands were all fishy so I couldn't take a picture.

At the aquarium, I fed the cutest harbor seal known to man...I know, I know... she's killing you with cuteness.Other highlights would be giving enrichment to the giraffes.The buckets are filled with hay, vegetables and "giraffe biscuits" and there are holes cut into the sides of the bucket. Basically it's designed to make them use the long tongues to get into the buckets and get the goodies.

I also enriched him and his playmate (Kodiak & Grizzly bears).Basically we went into their enclosure (obviously not while they were in there) and smeared peanut butter on the walls and hid their food all over the enclosure. It basically makes them use their noses to sniff out the food.

My trip had so many highlights, but one of the best was getting to give two elephants baths.This is just a picture of the rinsing off. The keeper gave them the command to lay down and once they were down we went in and scrubbed them down with elephant soap (actual soap designed specifically for elephants!).

All-in-all, it was a great week with a ton of great experiences. Of course, the highlights I'm telling you about are just that, highlights. I'm totally leaving out the majority of time which was spent shoveling ____ (I'm sure you can only guess what goes in that blank) and cleaning. But I tell you, it's so worth it when you get to work with some amazing animals.

I'll be posting some knitting stuff soon too, that is, when I find the time, this week has been crazy too!

Baby beluga in the deep blue sea...

2007-03-27T20:19:00.000-04:00

This is just a quick update. Yes I'm still alive, no I haven't been knitting (and to be honest, it's killing me!!!) What I have been doing is spending the week job shadowing as a part of my program. Today I got to meet this little guy...He's a baby beluga whale. This picture is pretty fuzzy, but you can sort of see his teeth haven't even grown in yet! Too cute!

I'm too tired to even throw together anything else that might resemble a descent blog post, so I'll catch up again when I have more time... and the energy to keep my eyes open for more than two minutes!

2007-03-21T11:32:00.000-04:00

It has been a busy week, but somehow I've managed to find the time to finish up the Candle Flame Shawl.Here's just a tiny corner of it all pinned out and blocking. Don't get me wrong, I love this shawl, but the variegation makes it a little too distracting to see the actual pattern. At least I thought so while it was blocking.

Then I took these pictures and I guess you really can see the pattern given the right background color, namely my white shirt.I would love to try this pattern again, only next time use a solid color. Also, I might make it just a bit shorter as well. This thing turned out huge! I know my mom will love it though!

Here are some specs:
Pattern: Knit Picks Candle Flame Shawl
It's a free pattern, and as free patterns go, I was quite happy with it. I didn't find any errors and it gives you the option of either reading the chart or following written directions.
Yarn: Knit Picks Shimmer - Alpaca and silk, very yummy and it feels great.

Overall, it was a fun pattern and I'd do it again.... but not for awhile!

In other news, I'm going to be on TV tonight. Surprisingly, I'm not nervous or worried or anything. I'm more excited than anything else. All the same, wish me luck! It should be fun!

(The tv link doesn't work anymore. Apparently they only had the info up for a couple days)

A letter to my lace shawl....

2007-03-16T09:02:00.000-04:00

My Dearest Candle Flame Shawl,

I don't know if you realize just how much I love you. You taught me how to love lace, how to become one with the pattern. I love how you play with negative and positive space to reveal a picture. You've been nothing but good to me, even when I've been somewhat less than good to you, like the time I threw you in my bookbag so I could take you to school with me and you got snagged on one of my spiral bound notebooks. But did you get mad? No. With a little manipulation you returned the snagged piece back to it's original spot. No fussing, no crying.

All these things I love about you are what make it so hard for me to tell you this.... I'm ready to move on. I'm ready to try new things. I want to get to know a new pattern the way I've gotten to know you. I also want to try new yarns... these in particular.Now don't go telling me I've cheated, I haven't even wound them into little yarn muffins yet. (not that the idea hasn't crossed my mind.) Besides, how could I resist when Knit Picks makes them so affordable?

I wonder sometimes if you're picking up on my vibe because recently, the more I work on you, the less you seem to grow.

Please don't be upset. I'm just being true to my feelings. It wouldn't be fair to either of us if I wasn't. Just know that you will always be in my heart.

Love,
Erin

On a side note, my leg has been particularly fascinating to watch. It's changing colors have been like that of a sunset... or something...
You have to admit, it's very impressive.

The opposite of eye candy...

2007-03-12T21:52:00.000-04:00

I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I had the busiest 4 days at work that I've ever had. I suppose that happens when the restaurant is understaffed and they decide to schedule six servers for the dinner rush. To say the least, I busted my butt. There's no question it payed off, but I'm definitely hurting for it. I suppose I didn't realize how much I was hurting for it until this morning when I was toweling off after my shower and found this on the back of my leg...

(Please excuse the white, pasty skin. It is winter here still, just consider yourselves lucky that my legs are shaved!)

Back to the bruise... This picture washes it out a bit, but it's every bit as purple and ugly as you might imagine. Anyway, it became increasingly apparent to me just how busy we were when I realized that I didn't remember what I did to acquire such a lovely souvenir from work. I cannot for the life of me remember how I did it. I suppose it just happened and I was so busy it didn't even register. I suppose getting drink orders for the fifth table I was sat at once was a little more important to me than thinking about why the hell the back of my leg hurt so badly.

Tonight was another lovely one at work. In fact, I actually got to use the emergency eye wash station. I was grabbing some salad dressing from the cooler when the whole shelf came down which in turn made the huge bottle of Thousand Islands dressing fall to the floor. Normally, this wouldn't be such a big deal. The bottles are plastic, sure they're about a gallon or so, but when the lid is screwed on they could practically be punted and not break open... I guess the key words here are "when the lid is screwed on."

Apparently whoever used it last decided it would be quicker not to screw the lid on. So the dressing hit the floor and splashed up into my eyes and my hair. Let me tell you, there's nothing greater than greeting your guest with a lovely Thousand Islands aroma, crunchy hair and blood shot eyes. You're sure to get a big tip then! And if you had any doubt that Thousand Islands dressing stings when it gets in your eyes, let me put your doubts to rest... it definitely does.

A question of motivation...

2007-03-08T09:58:00.000-05:00

The incredible lack of things to do in this town that don't involve stuffing my face with greasy food or getting hit on by military guys has given me an awful lot of free time to work on some knitting. True, I have school work, but even that hasn't been taking up much of my time. The first half of the semester has been somewhat of a joke. I feel like I have senioritis, not because I want to, but because more than half of my classes get let out early or cancelled all together and now it's what I'm used to.

I have to push myself to get motivated to do something, but there's always seemed to be one thing on the back of my mind that I never have to push myself to do...

Lace knitting...50 inches down, 20 more to go. I am officially addicted. I've even gotten to the point where I've practically memorized this 36 row repeat pattern. It sounds amazing, but it's not as impressive as it sounds. There's a flow to the pattern that's easy to pick up.

I'm thinking about spending a bit more money at KnitPicks and getting myself some more lace weight to make some other patterns, and then possibly (if my addiction continues) try to design my own pattern.

And he strikes again....

2007-02-28T11:45:00.000-05:00

After seeing my knitting books ripped to shreds, you'd think that I'd learn not to leave books out in the living room for the very rambuncious kitty to gnaw to pieces. Sadly, I didn't learn my lesson that day.

Instead of a knitting book, this time it was my other passion... an animal book. A very nice animal book I might add. One of those Smithsonian, cost-you-more-than-it-costs-to-make-a-nice-scarf type books.

Here's a bit of the evidence...The inner pages have definitely seen better days...I've done my best in taping it, just so I don't lose that page altogether.

I particularly like the corner where it looks like he just took a bite right out of it.You'd think that I wasn't feeding this cat and that he's just looking for sustinence elsewhere, but his sizable waistline tells a different story...

And the wait is over.

2007-02-24T09:05:00.000-05:00

I managed to get down to see Jill and pick up that extra ball of yarn I needed to finish Va Va Voom. It took me a little while to actually find the time to do it though. Classes are beginning to get crazy. I have some really exciting things lined up which I'll get to in a minute... Without further ado...

Let me present Va Va Voom:The yarn I used is a lot sturdier than the yarn it called for (Kidsilk Haze) so it isn't as flowy as the pattern's picture, but I still really like this sweater. It fits well and it's classic looking. I always go for the classic looking sweaters. All I need to do with it now is sew in the ends. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you already know how much I dislike sewing it ends. I think it's my least favorite thing of the whole process of knitting something. But it must be done so I'd better just suck it up!

Now for what's been going on this semester. In so many words, the program I knew last semester no longer exists. There have been major upheavals at the zoo that we learned at, so much so that students are no longer allowed there until they work all their own issues out. My poor professor has been scrambling to try to pull something together for us this semester instead. What that has ultimately turned out to be is for us to go to different facilities and job shadow there.

What I've been able to set up is very exciting. I'll be spending three days shadowing at the Buffalo Zoo, then two half-days at the Niagara Aquarium and (here's the part I'm most excited about) two half-days at Marineland in Canada to watch research on the killer whales there! I've also, just recently, found out I get to spend a day at the Syracuse Zoo as well. So I have some pretty cool things lined up.

All of these things aren't happening until March but we've had some projects we've been working on such as getting prepared to go on TV....TWICE! I'm going to be on the local news here for a quick 5 minute spot. Then I'm going to be on the PBS station for close to an hour talking about animal enrichment. (It won't just be me on either of these, but I'm still gonna be on TV!)

This is all well and good, but what happens when school is over? That question has been churning around in my head for several months now. I just didn't know and I couldn't figure it out. Well, just the other day, an opportunity fell right into my lap that I would be a crazy person to pass up...

I'm going to be interning at the Toronto Zoo this summer! I'll be living up there, working at the zoo and spending my free time knitting with the Yarn Harlot, how lucky am I???

Averting disaster and playing the waiting game...

2007-02-18T21:09:00.000-05:00

You may be wondering right about now why I have yet to show you any finished pictures of Va Va Voom... There is a reason for this. As I was knitting along on the collar I began to get the sneaking suspision that I wouldn't have enough yarn left. You know the feeling, you keep measuring the piece, and eyeing the ball of yarn, sometimes giving the ball a squeeze to see how much is really there. I thought I would have enough yarn seeing how I had an entire ball to work with. Sure enough though, the tail end of yarn snuck up on me and my collar still has another few inches left to go. This is where I averted disaster...

I got the yarn from my wonderful friend Jill. She happens to have several balls left so I will have no problems finishing the sweater. This is the part where I start playing the waiting game....

You may have heard in the news about all the snow that NY has been getting. Well, I'm on one side of that snow, and Jill is on the other. I had planned on going down to see her and pick up the yarn but the snow had other plans for me.

It gave me a day off from school on Wednesday. Granted, this was very nice and relaxing, except for the shoveling that had to be done. I was able to get ahead of a lot of school work and knit a little bit on something else.It may not look like much all bunched up like that, but believe me, it's so much more than just a heap of knitting...This is my first attempt at lace knitting. So far so good. That is, if I have a nice quiet space with no distractions. This is not something to knit on at a stitch n' bitch or with the TV on. Nope, too much the pay attention to. I think that's why I'm really into it right now though. It's not a mindless knitting project and I feel like I've been doing nothing but those lately. This particular piece is the Candle Flame Shawl from Knitpicks. I plan on giving it to my mom since the colors are very much her colors and I know she'll love it.

But all this lace knitting has gotten me thinking about making some lace for myself. In fact, I was thinking about the Print O' the Wave stole. It would really be gorgeous in a dark color. At least, that's what I'm thinking at the moment. I have yet to buy any yarn for it. Maybe when my tax refund comes in!

Cats: Love them, hate them

2007-02-07T12:40:00.000-05:00

I truly can't imagine ever living without cats. There's just something about them. They're independent, but will seek out your attention. They're aloof, but can only hide the fact that they want to be near you for so long. And there's nothing quite like knitting while a cat sleeps on your lap. It's undeniable how much I love them.... however, they have a dark side.

They steal your yarn. Not only that, but one cat I live with in particular will pull finished sweaters off my shelf and drag them into the living room. As if the yarn itself was not enough to appease his curiosity and playfulness, he needs the finished product. And now, he's turned evil... pure evil. He's taken to destroying my knitting books. Case in point:I'm sure many of you know how expensive Rowan books are. I won't even ponder that particular fact at the moment. Right now I'm concentrating on not killing him.He looks so innocent looking up at me doesn't he? Don't let him fool you. He's got a devil inside and it's hell-bent on destroying my knitting things. I've taken to putting everything even remotely knitterly up on high shelves. Luckily that's deterred him for a little while. But books??? Seriously, what's so fascinating about a book that would make him want to rip the crap out of it? That question will probably go unanswered. After all, I don't speak cat.

I haven't let it get me down though. In fact, I've finished all the pieces of my sweater.Hopefully I'll be showing you a finished Va Va Voom very soon. We'll see if I get my schoolwork finished with lots of time left over to sew this thing together.

Snow day!

2007-02-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

It is a rare occasion when work calls and tells me not to come in. Today, it was because of the snow. Lots and lots of snow. Feet of snow in fact. It seems winter is finally here. The driveway has been cleared a total of three times today. During one of those times I thought I'd take a picture of my car...It's under there somewhere.

The kindness of neighbors never fails to astonish me. Our neighbor has used his snowblower on our driveway twice today. We never asked him to, he just did it out of the goodness of his heart (or an insane desire to be out in this:I believe a batch of cookies is in order.

As for what I've been doing with all this extra time... I started the sleeves. In fact, I'm nearly finished with sleeve number two. You may have guessed by how quickly I'm finishing them that I decided to go with the 3/4 sleeves. I'll spare you a picture since we all know what sleeves look like.

There's only so much knitting I can do in one day though. At least, this mindless sort of knitting I've been doing. Surprisingly I haven't quite gotten cabin fever yet. A bit of homework got my brain working for awhile and shoveling the driveway got my blood pumping, plus some much needed house-cleaning have all been keeping me busy. I guess having a snow day isn't all bad.

Va va voom dilemma...

2007-01-30T10:53:00.000-05:00

I'm nearly finished the front of my va va voom sweater.Of course, as I was working the second side of the neck I realized that I made a bit of a booboo on the first side. Since I'm the perfectionist that I am I can't just leave it like that... It will be ripped some time this afternoon I'm sure.

So the dilemma I have once I finish the front is moving on to the sleeves. I have the option to make them either full length sleeves or three-quarter length. It's a toss up for me. Three-quarter would be cute, but full length would be warmer.

So, friends, what do you think? Full length or three-quarter?

A story in pictures...

2007-01-23T12:42:00.000-05:00

Wow, where do I begin? How about with some good 'ole knitting? I finished these socks before I even left for Seattle. They're a bit of a pain to get on, but it's so worth it! Talk about comfortable.

Here's the progress I've made so far on the va-va-voom sweater (I just now decided to call it that... thought it would be fitting)I'm about to start the increases for the side shaping and not to long after that comes the split in the front: oo-la-la!

I'm much more comfortable with smaller projects when traveling so I started another pair of socks on my way to Seattle. This is yarn from one of the venders at Rhinebeck. I am thoroughly in love with it.The colors don't pool at all. It's everything a variegated sock should be!

Speaking of Seattle, we went to a couple of yarn shops there and to continue my love of sock knitting, I bought a skein of Trekking. Isn't it purty? The colors are so subtle, I'm really interested to see how they turn out. So let me tell you about Seattle...

In the plane we saw the most gorgeous views!Jill and I proved on our first day that the sun does shine in Seattle.We went to the Science Center where I made friends with a grub...And did some fake rock climbing...Only to be followed by some real rock climbing at REI...I got a little excited about the Space Needle...Then we both got excited about the Space Needle...We went to Pike Place Market and the Aquarium....where I became an octopus...And we went to the zoo... where they thought we were animals and put us in cages...Basically, I had the best time with Jill in Seattle... I couldn't ask for a better friend.

Where I've been in '06

2007-01-12T10:06:00.000-05:00

I must say, my winter break has not turned out in any way, shape or form the way I imagined it would. I had visions of long days with nothing to do but knit and catch up on movies I didn't have time to see while school was in. I imagined I'd be able to blog so much more because I'd have so much knitting done that I just had to show it off! It's funny how what actually happens is no where near our imaginary visions.

Ever since New Year's Eve, which, by the way, was the first New Year's Eve that I actually celebrated as a person my age would (I celebrated more than I've celebrated in the whole of 2005 I think!) I have been on the go, visiting friends, visiting my parents, working, going on dates (it's definitely time to move on) running errands and now, this Sunday I'll be going to Seattle. I really can't complain because it's great to have such a full life, surrounded by wonderful people, but I dread what's to come. Yet another semester without a single day off from either work or school, where I have no social life to speak of. It's as if I tried to cram my entire semester worth of social activities into just a few weeks.

I have to admit, I'm woefully behind in my bloglines. I just haven't been spending as much time in front of the computer. I'll do my best to remedy that once I'm back from Seattle and hopefully I'll have some excellent pictures to show!

By the way, I started a sweater... Someday, it just might look like this only less blurry...

Ok, so maybe not the last...

2006-12-31T11:13:00.000-05:00

The last day of 2006 is finally here. When I reflect back on 2006, it was a year with many ups and downs. I had so many great experiences this year, and, lets face it, some not so great experiences, but I'm not discouraged. I know life goes through these cycles and as long as I can roll with the punches, I'll be fine. I prefer not to dwell on the past (though it sure can come out of nowhere and bite you in the ass sometimes) therefore I'm looking forward to my future. One more semester of school and then on to the unknown. Scary and exciting. Who knows what 2007 will bring?

Virginia was wonderful. I may not have mentioned this, but we all were staying in the house my uncles are in the process of building. It's destined to be the "family vacation" house. Every year since I was no more than two years old, my family on my mother's side have rented a house on a lake and we all spend a week or more hanging out and having a great time. Through the years there's always been talk of buying a house or building but it never ended up happening until just about a year or two ago when my uncles bought a plot of land on a secluded lake in Virginia.

This year the house it up, though nowhere near finished, and we were all able to go. The whole family together again... just like old times. It was great. When we arrived, it was as I expected... no furniture unless you count folding chairs and tables and air mattresses as furniture. One working bathroom for fourteen people (I won't get into the joys of that situation...) and a kitchen without a working sink. One thing I wasn't expecting was the eight-foot-tall Christmas tree in the living room.My aunt apparently couldn't let our family Christmas go by without hauling the Christmas tree to the house.

You may wonder how we managed to keep ourselves entertained in a place with no TV, no couches to lounge on and the weather too cold to make use of the lake. Well, one of my cousins had that covered. He brought along a projector, speakers and his Nintendo Wii and we spent quite a bit of time pretending we were bowling...I also can't fail to mention the hours we spent playing dominos. My parents bought my brother and I our own domino sets for Christmas so we would sometimes have three games going at once!We also spent some of the time walking around the neighborhood where we discovered another house (a ridiculous house by the way) that was in the early stages of being built. There's no easy way to convey to you the ridiculousness of this house other than to show you a picture of the main living room...You may think to yourself, how could this be a main living room? For one, you could fit a small plane in there and two, there are three garage doors with automatic openers right there on one wall of it... are you sure we're not looking at the massive garage? Oh no... it is by far the strangest house I've ever seen. It's enormous and it's layout makes no sense at all. Or best guess is that it's a party house, plenty of space for people to walk around with their swanky champange and make snarky comments about everyone else in the room.

Besides all these wonderful ways to keep ourselves entertained, I also brought my knitting. I'm on the leg of the second sock which is still going to take me a bit of time to finish. I decided to knit the leg of these socks until the yarn runs out. This is the result of the first sock.It nearly made it to my knee! I had to stop the pattern sooner than I thought I would because my calf was getting too wide to fit into the sock so I just switched to a K1, P1 rib. That seemed to work out fine, plus the cast off method made it stretchy enough to fit. I don't remember if I mentioned that the yarn I'm using is KnitPicks Gloss. It's awesome!

All-in-all we had an excellent time despite somewhat "roughing it" in an unfinished house.

If any of you have lasted this long, I commend you! I can't remember the last time I wrote a post this long! Happy New Year!

The last before 2007

2006-12-21T18:08:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I found the perfect sweater pattern. With a few tweaks, I can easily see this sweater becoming one of my favorites.I was thinking since the ribbing goes so far up on the sleeve that I might extend it in the body as well. I have issues when the ribbing doesn't match to this degree. But seriously, this is the exact sweater that I had in my head. The only problem I have now is finding the perfect yarn... sigh...

I spent a good bit of time today getting all of my Christmas wrapping finished. Actually, I should say getting my Christmas presents prepared for wrapping. I'm notorious for finishing a project that's to become a present and then leaving the ends to be sewn in for right before I wrap them up. I don't know why I don't just finish them when I finish the knitting. I suppose it's the slacker in me. It was fun wrapping everything up with the Christmas music playing in the background. I get so excited about seeing how people react to my gifts!

I finished up another project today that has been lingering for a very long time.... The Frog! I went out and bought a couple of frames for both the frog and the butterflies I stitched a long time ago. Both are going to be presents this year.They look so wonderful when they're all framed!

I probably won't get another chance to blog again before the New Year because my family and I are headed down to Virginia for a big family Christmas. I'm very excited because it'll be the first time we've all been able to get together! With the cousins getting older and schedules getting more and more variable, it's hard to find a time when we can all make it out to see each other. Since we can all go, it looks like it's going to be a very good Christmas!

I hope everyone has a very happy holiday and the most wonderful New Year!

What's on the needles?

2006-12-18T10:50:00.000-05:00

So until I find the perfect sweater with the perfect yarn, I've decided to resign myself to some sock knitting.I've come to the realization that knitted socks are the perfect project. They're quick, very portable and most of the time you don't have to think about the pattern and can just knit away. I think from now on I'm always going to have a pair of socks on the needles.

This newest pair of socks is for me. I'm finished with my Christmas knitting (it really is a miracle, the first time finishing everything before Christmas!) I loved the pattern of my Grandma's socks so much that I had to have a pair for myself.

My quest for the perfect sweater is coming along. I found the pattern... now it's just a question of yarn (and the fact that I don't have any money to spend on yarn... sigh...Ah well, one more semester and I'll be finished being a broke college student!) I'll post a picture of the "perfect" sweater soon. For now, I'm off!

Back from a hiatus...

2006-12-13T19:58:00.000-05:00

It certainly has been a while friends. To say the least, these last couple weeks have been busy. Add lots of final projects together with a crazy work schedule and you get an Erin who's unable to blog... It's a very sad thing. I haven't even had all that much time to knit either and I miss it. Actually, what I miss most is being inspired.

I finished my dad's socks and now... I am projectless... School is finally finished for the semester so I've been searching for a great new project. I've been looking to make a sweater, something hip, form-fitting, something that apparently doesn't exist in any magazine or pattern I own! It's hard to be inspired when you can't find the pattern to a sweater you have in your head. I'd welcome any ideas, send me links to your perfect sweater, who knows, maybe it'll be the inspiration I need.

And if that doesn't work, I'm sure I'll come up with something (after all, I do have a lot of free time on my hands now...thank all that is good in this world!!!)

Here are a couple of random things... If you are looking for music and you just don't know where to start, go to Pandora. It's amazing. It's an online radio station generator. You put in the bands or the songs you like and it finds new bands and new songs it "thinks" you're going to like. Soooo cool. I highly recommend it.

Another random thing... Jill and I are planning a trip to Seattle in January! She's going to look at apartments cause she really wants to move there and I'm going to check it out. It could possibly be the place I'd like to move. At this point, I'm up for anything. I have been feeling like I'm waiting for something to happen when I know I should be going and making things happen! This is all a part of my plan to find someplace new. Even if I don't like Seattle, it'll still be a really fun trip!

The last pair...

2006-12-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

I've finally gotten a good picture of the socks I'm making for my dad. We had about one and a half days with a bit of sun, so I was in luck (considering we're about to get that mess of a front coming in from the midwest. Though I have to admit, I'm sort of looking forward to the snow)I lightened the image a bit so you could actually see the ribbing I knit. They're just a plain old pair of black socks. I think they'll appeal to my dad quite a bit. Also, instead of a regular bind off, I sewed the end so that it would be more stretchy. My dad has big calves and I wouldn't want him to not wear them because they wouldn't fit.Again, the black makes it hard to see, but take my word for it, the sewn end looks great and it's definitely stretchy enough!

I'm also happy to report that this is the last pair of socks I plan on making for Christmas, in fact, it's the last Christmas project I had in mind period! You can't see it, but I'm dancing over here! I think this is the first year where I didn't overburden myself with knitted Christmas presents. Now that is a Christmas miracle.

What's in a name?

2006-11-28T20:48:00.000-05:00

It's time to clear something up. Something I've noticed for a long time, but just never cared to do anything about until now. Ever since I began to use the internet back in... oh.... '93, I've used the name ErLeCa as my internet identity. It's the first two letters of my first, middle and last name. Not very clever or interesting, but it worked for me. Ever since I started blogging, I've noticed this must be somewhat confusing. Countless times I've been refered to as 'Erica' instead of Erin because just glancing at my internet name gives the impression that Erica's my name. So I've decided to change my blogger name to Erin. Less confusion... and besides... I like my name...

Updated to add: I'm not upset or offended by anyone who may have mistaken my name, it's only a post to clarify.

McGyver and some kitty love...

2006-11-27T20:27:00.000-05:00

Thanksgiving was nice, very quite which was great. Yes, I realize Thanksgiving was five days ago, but for a girl with no internet access, oh wait, let me rephrase that, with dial-up internet access, I was not about to blog while I was at my parent's house.

It was very relaxing. My family and I played dominos and I go to spend a lot of time knitting. Dominos and knitting... It's official... I am now an 80 year old woman trapped in a 25 year old's body. Just throw in a walker and old McGyver episodes and I'll be all set *sigh* oh well.

So I finished these:I also started a pair of socks for my dad. Just a simple pair of black socks made out of KnitPicks Gloss. In fact, I finished one of them. The beauty of the whole thing is my dad was there the whole time. I think when it comes to knitting he's not very curious so I can get away with knitting his Christmas present right in front of him. Picture coming as soon as I have some good light. Taking a picture of black socks is tricky!

So someone asked me why I haven't had pictures of Ludo, my cat, up recently. I don't really have a good answer to that. It's not for lack of pictures. I have some great ones. Like this:If you look close enough you can see my roommate knitting on the couch behind him. Did I mention I taught my roommate how to knit? I'm so proud!

Then there's this oneThat's Ludo and my roommate's cat Hemi. She got Hemi right before I left for the summer so I didn't get to know him until after I got back, but Ludo had all summer to get friendly... obviously. There's a lot of kitty love going on right there.

Loxodonta africana among other things...

2006-11-19T11:11:00.000-05:00

It's been over a week since I last posted and I have no new knitting to show you. Life has been consumed with work, homework and studying. My mammology professor is making us memorize species names, families and orders of a whole hell of a lot of mammals. Did you know that that the duck-billed platypus comes from the family Ornithorhynchidae or that the scientific name of the chimpanzee is Pan troglodytes? Yeah, neither did I, but now I do.

I mentioned a while ago that there was a trip to the Toronto Zoo planned didn't I? Well we went. Aside from the rain (the cold, chill-you-to-your-bones rain) it was a good trip. We didn't get to tour around the zoo because we had limited time. What we did end up doing was watching a training session with the African elephants (Loxodonta africana). It was interesting to see these huge animals do things like open their mouths and hold them open so the keepers could inspect their teeth. They'd hold them open until the keeper gave the command indicating it could stop.You can see in this picture that the keepers work under protected contact which means no keeper physically goes in with an elephant. Did you know most cases where keepers have been seriously injured or killed have involved elephants?

After the training, we watched a presentation and spoke with a keeper and a supervisor on lots of different issues related to being zookeepers. It was definitely educational.

As for the rest of the time there (we only had about an hour to see things which certainly isn't enough time when you're at the Toronto Zoo) we made the most of it. And when I said "made the most of it" I meant fooled around in some of their more 'child friendly' exhibits. We had fun. I tell ya, if there's one thing I love about this program it's the people and how much fun we have.

In a totally unrelated topic, I'm in a club at school called the ZEW Club (Zoo and Exotic Wildlife Club) and we were doing this fundraiser that all the clubs in school participate in. It's were you raffle off tickets for whatever prizes the school is offering that year and the club gets to keep the proceeds. I tried selling tickets, I didn't try hard, but I tried. When I didn't end up selling any, I just bought a few for myself. I bought a total of 5 tickets. That's it. And guess what? I won! There were four prizes, an iPod Video, an iPod Nano and two iPod Shuffles. I won one of the shuffles! This thing has 1GB of memory in such a tiny little device. Don't believe me? Just look at how small this thing is:
I'm totally afraid I'm going to lose it!

So Thanksgiving is coming up. I have just a few days off since I still have to work, but let me tell you, I'm definitely going to be taking advantage of the time. I plan to knit... a lot. We'll see if I actually do or not because I have school projects that need finishing before the end of the semester which is only... oh... three (school) weeks away! Yikes!

A bit of introspection never hurt anybody

2006-11-09T09:29:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling somewhat disconnected with the blogging world recently. I think it has a lot to do with me trying to find my place here (and by here, I mean where I'm living at the moment) After the breakup I was feeling a bit lost. Lost in terms of where I am and where I'm going.

And then it hit me. For the last few years there has been this subtle (and at times, not so subtle) message as to what I need to do with my life. I've been ignoring it because it scares me, but after this last upheaval, it's staring me right in the face and I can't look away.

I need to go somewhere completely new and I need to do it on my own. Once I'm there I need to make a life for myself. The happiest I ever remember being was when I was on my own with no one to rely on but myself and with no one to worry about but me. I've been running away from that sort of life ever since because apparently I have it in my head that I'd be happier being with someone. That has not turned out to be the case.

So I've decided to apply to zoos all over the country. Wherever I'm accepted, I'm going to go.

As for the semester I still have left in school, I'm going to make the most of it, and the most of being here. In the spirit of that, I've started a knitting group. A stitch and bitch of my very own. It started with some word of mouth to see who'd be interested and the response was somewhat overwhelming. Our first meeting was on Tuesday and I ended up teaching two people to knit (my plans to spread knitting love are going along swimmingly) There was a total of four of us there. More plan on being there next week!

I don't know why I never started one before now. I suppose all my thoughts were wrapped up in a relationship I thought was going somewhere and I didn't want to get too attatched to this place knowing I'd be leaving. I don't know what made me think that because I still plan on leaving but why not make my time here at the very least bearable and maybe even fun? And perhaps leave something behind that other people can enjoy?

Anyway, enough with the deep thoughts. If you've stayed with me through all this reading, I commend you. And you get a little reward. I finished one of the socks I'm making for my grandmother.I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this sock and how perfectly it fits.... me. I'm hoping my grandmom's feet are similar enough to mine that they'll fit. There's still some room to give so I think it'll be fine. And I have to admit I totally covet this sock and want to keep it, but I can't. It was made for Grandma, it's going to Grandma!

November, I'm so glad you're here.

2006-11-03T11:13:00.000-05:00

I can, without a doubt, be said that October was the worst month this year for me. Aside from Rhinebeck, nothing good happened. That is why I welcome November with wide open arms. And so far, November has been great.

Laurie sent me a little care package:It's some cross stitch patterns and some chocolate (If I didn't know better I'd think that everyone was trying to fatten me up!) Thank you, Laurie, I really appreciate them!

My mom and Jill came up to visit me on Wednesday and for no reason at all Jill gave me a gift. Some very cute picture frames.Gotta love the jungle theme! She also gave me some aromatheraphy things from Bath and Body Works. Mmmmm. Thank you Jill!

I'm telling you, everyone has been so supportive. It's overwhelming and I'm so grateful. I'm not sure I would have made it through October with out you!

School has been very crazy. We just found out we'll be going to the Toronto Zoo in two weeks and I can not tell you how excited I am to go! As far as the zoo on the homefront goes, I've done some really cool things this week. The highlight being catching up the birds of prey to have them weighed.This is me and our American Kestrel, Odin. Boy did he make some noise when I tried to get him, but he calmed right down once he realized I wasn't trying to hurt him. Catching the birds was by far, the most exciting and fun thing I've done this year.

As for the knitting. Well, I may not have mentioned this, but I finally caved and bought myself some Knitpicks Options needles. Oh how I love them. They arrived on Wednesday and you'd better believe I already have a project going on them. Love, love, love these needles. This lace thing I'm doing is going so fast now that I have needles pointy enough to handle it! Sorry this is such a brief update. Hopefully things will calm down enough so I can write a proper post.

Is there a doctor in the house?

2006-10-31T13:21:00.000-05:00

Because I have a major case of startitis. I have about five projects going, all of which I started in the past two weeks.

There's the rainbow yarn I'm spinning. I'm about half finished with that. Then there's the secert sock that I'm working on (or should say, started but haven't worked on in a while)

There's this sock that I started on the way to RhinebeckI'm actually planning on ripping it out because I am just not happy with the way it's turning out. I think it has to do with the yarn (Knitpicks Gloss) and the pattern (Sensational knitted Socks) not working together. To say the least I haven't worked on this sock since I got back from Rhinebeck.

Then there's this lace project I startedThe needle I'm using just isn't doing it for me so I'm waiting on some Knitpicks Options for it. To say the least, lace is not easily made with dull pointed needles.

Then there's these socks I started for my Grandmom for Christmas:It's some of the yarn I bought at Rhinebeck and the pattern is from Hello Yarn called Cable Twist Socks. I saw that Grumperina used this pattern and it just turned out so awesome that I thought it would work well with the yarn I got. Of course, I had to rip it once because it was a little too tight, but now it's perfect.

So what do you think, Doc? Am I gonna live?

Rhinebeck this, socktoberfest that...

2006-10-26T10:39:00.000-04:00

I'd like you all to meet Bernie:He's my new boyfriend. He directs traffic at Rhinebeck and I just think he's so dreamy. (ok, I admit it, I'm only using him for his Rhinebeck connections... can you blame me?)

So I'm still coming down from the Rhinebeck high. I really had a great time. I've already spun up a whole hank of yarn from that rainbow pencil roving.It was so much fun I just couldn't stop myself. And if I had more time there'd be two hanks there. Unfortunately it's not all fun and games here. I do still have school work I have to think about.

I started a pair of socks. I'm not totally forgetting that it's socktober just because I went to Rhinebeck. I wish I could show them to you but unfortunately the recipient just might see them here. You're just gonna have to wait till after Christmas.

Where do I even begin?

2006-10-23T11:31:00.000-04:00

I have so much to post about, it really isn't even funny!

I suppose I'll start with something that's last. I returned home from Rhinebeck to find a package sitting on my computer desk. Ellie sent me a care package!
Dark chocolate to bring out those happy-making endorphins (always a good thing!) Some very awesome stitch markers which I love, and a really sweet note.

I'm telling you if knitters (or fiber-loving people in general) ruled the world, it would be a much happier place. We all seem to care about each other even when we've never met! It just doesn't get better than that!

Thank you Ellie! I am touched by your thoughtfulness.

Speaking of knitters taking over the world (which they should) the knitbloggers meeting at Rhinebeck was enormous. I haven't got a clue how I missed it last year. I must have been looking in the wrong spot because 100+ women all gathered around like they know each other is hard to miss.

It was really nice to finally put faces to names, but I have to admit, I must read a lot of peoples blogs who don't go to Rhinebeck because I didn't meet even a fraction of the people that I read (I realized later that many of the blogs I read are midwestern knitters or Canadian knitters!) Despite all that, it was still very, very cool.

I didn't get to meet the Yarn Harlot though I did see her from far away. (I'm a bit of a chicken when it comes to approaching psuedo-celebrities!)

After the big gathering, I met up with my bestest knit buddies, Jill and Liz. We had a great time going through the buildings, drooling over fibers, yarns and all sorts of other goodies.Here's Jill and I... and some yarn.

So are you wondering what I ended up with? Well let me just tell you, this particular form of retail therapy was very sweet.
This photo is from my Flickr website. I've put notes all over it to show you know what all of it is. Just click on the picture to read the notes... I'll wait.

I may have mentioned earlier that I was supposed to go to Rhinebeck with Gabe's mom, Diane. Well, we still went together and I had the best time. She is such a sweet lady. In fact, she bought me the niddy noddy for my birthday! I really do love her and I'm glad that she and I are friends despite everything that happened between her son and I.

So, do you think I could resist spinning some of this gorgeous stuff as soon as I got home. You better believe I couldn't!This is the Northern Lights roving that I got. It's sort of like pencil roving but not quite as thin. What a ton of fun this stuff is to spin! I have a feeling I'm going to be spending all my free time working on this because of how fun it is and how awesome it's going to look when I finish!

You might have noticed there was a drop spindle there with all my goodies. It's a Golding drop spindle. I just could not resist. I've been wanting one of these ever since I learned to spin. I took it out for a spin (yes, the pun was intended and I've once again demonstrated what a huge dork I am) and I cannot believe how wonderfully this spindle works. I swear it spins forever! Look at what I've done so far with it.I can spin lace on this thing! Or at least fingering weight which is what it's turning out to be thus far. Absolutely amazing how balanced it is. You may wonder why I bought a drop spindle when I have a spinning wheel. Well, there's just something very relaxing about using a drop spindle. Plus is portable. I would never use it for big projects, just for something quick when I need a spinning fix.

Ok, I think that's probably enough for now even though I have much more to post about! I'll post again sometime this week to finish it all up.

So soon?

2006-10-20T14:31:00.000-04:00

So I wasn't planning on posting today, but a little something happened I think you'd all be interested in seeing.

I ran a bunch of errands today, never fun when it's cold and rainy, but they needed to be done in preparation for Rhinebeck. I still had a few hours till I had to go to work so I popped in a movie and knit for awhile. When the movie was over, this is what I saw:That is my poor car covered under at least two inches of snow. And yes, it is sticking to the roads and yes, I do have to drive down to my parents house tonight because I'm leaving from there to go to Rhinebeck. It's coming down in big, fat flakes. Definitely the kind of snow I like to see in... December, January. Not so much what I like to see in OCTOBER!!! Looks like I'll be pulling out the winter gloves for Rhinebeck!

A quickie before Rhinebeck

2006-10-19T18:44:00.000-04:00

I finished my brother's socks. So there's a huge end that needs sewing up, whatever. I still consider them finished! I really liked working on these. The yarn is the new Knitpicks Gloss. It's really nice, it has great drape, but I wonder whether it's ideal sock yarn or not. I'm interested to see how they hold up. They're merino and silk... I guess we'll just have to see.

Today was an interesting day in class. We got to shot dart guns into a cardboard cutout of a deer so that we could learn how to tranquilize an animal from a distance. We were working with the real thing too. Real darts, real needles. To say the least we had to be careful. Here's me loading the tube with the charged dart.I'm all business.

And of course the shooting picture.Little did I know that I'm actually a very good shot. I've never shot a gun... ok, I take that back, I've gone skeet shooting once and never hit a single skeet. Not one. With the dart gun however, I hit exactly where I was supposed to. We had to aim for the rump because that's where a good bit of muscle is. I was so proud of myself. Dead on, both times.

Sometimes I really do get to do some pretty cool things.

Well, for those of you going to Rhinebeck, I'll see ya there and those that aren't, I'll be thinking of you and wishing you were there too!

Three more days people!!!

2006-10-17T12:03:00.000-04:00

Wow, thank you. Thank you all a million times over. The support has truly been amazing. I particularly wanted to thank 'Anonymous' who left me some amazing insight (from a man's point of view no less!) Ladies, you really should read it!

I am doing a million times better. Once I mourned the loss of the relationship, which turned out to be more the loss of what I thought the relationship could be and less of the loss of him, I felt so much better. Those first few days were rough. I didn't really think I'd be ok again for a long time, but here I am, not even a week later feeling back to normal and ready to move on with my life.

In the spirit of moving on, I'm 100% ready for Rhinebeck. I was going to post about a little something I made for it, but then 'the incident' went down and I never got to. Please don't laugh, I realize I am a huge dork, and I mean huge. I think I had seen some other blogger do something like this awhile back and I thought it sounded like a fun idea. So without further ado, I present to you my Rhinebeck blog bag:Ever since someone posted, I think it was Grumperina, about freezer paper stenciling I've been wanting to try it and this bag gave me the perfect opportunity to do it! It really was so much fun! I highly recommend it. So I'll be carrying this baby around with me at Rhinebeck (hopefully it will be overflowing with fiber purchases!) I just thought it was a great way to put a blog name with a face, you know?

If you have the time between now and Rhinebeck, try it! The bag was super cheap at Micheals, as were the paints. All you have to do is trace the image on to the non-waxy side of the freezer paper, cut it out with an X-acto knife, iron it on and stencil. Super easy and lots of fun. I think the total cost for all the materials was something like $10. Cheap, cheap, cheap! (I'm an enabler, what can I say???)

Three more days to Rhinebeck!!!

Thank God for Moms... and Anger

2006-10-14T19:35:00.000-04:00

My mom in particular. What other person in the world would be willing to stay up with you on the phone at 1am while you drive down to their house because you and your boyfriend broke up? And then once you got there, would stay up with you, comforting you, until you were able to fall asleep?

Yes, you did read that right. Gabe and I broke up. I have to say, I was completely sideswiped. I had no idea he was feeling the way he was. That is to say, I had no idea the "C-word" would rear it's ugly head. Commitment that is. Had I known he was so terrified of any sort of commitment, I never would have emotionally invested myself the way I did. But on the other hand, I was given nothing but postitive cues. After all, it was he who said "I love you" on my first trip out to Colorado and it was he who invited me out there to live with him for the summer.

Until this moment, I had never truly understood just how helpful an emotion anger can be. In the right situation, namely this one, it can actually be a healthy outlet for the emotions I've been feeling. Anger, when I let it, drowns out the pain.

One thing is for sure. I'm tired of dating children who don't know what they want but who are willing to drag you along until they figure it out. Even if figuring it out means they've figured out they don't want any commitment (or in someone else's words "aren't willing to share their lives fully with someone else and just want their independence." Selfish and egotistical don't even begin to describe it). I'm tired of boys... what I want is a man.

Don't worry about me though, I will be fine. After all, I've done this before. I know how it works and I know that I will eventully heal. I will also not let this ruin the fun I plan on having at Rhinebeck.

It's all about the socks.

2006-10-10T12:10:00.000-04:00

In honor of Socktoberfest I've created a slideshow of all the socks I have pictures of. I can't say that these are all the socks I've ever made because I know for a fact there are quite a few that never had their pictures taken.

Socks are one of my most favorite things to knit. They're quick and easy and when you're finished you get something awesome to keep your feet warm. This is definitely a plus when you live in a climate where it snows before Halloween (yes, it's suppose to snow this Friday...)

I wasn't always good at knitting socks. Like every new knitter, I was terrified of the idea. They just looked so damn complicated that I wanted to stick to things I knew how to make... like scarves. Then I started working at a yarn shop. I was told in no uncertain terms that I'd better learn to knit them because not only would there be customers coming in asking for help on how badly they screwed up their sock, but I'd also be expected to teach a class on sock knitting. I was given a pattern, a pretty basic one as sock patterns go. I remember it called for worsted weight yarn so you can imagine they were super quick... if you knew what you were doing.

I remember after I'd finished my first sock that they really weren't as complicated as they seemed. Even the dreaded kitchener stitch wasn't nearly as terrifying once the rythmn of it became clear and I could see what it was doing. Many aspects of knitting are this way. It all appears complicated, but everything is just a variation on either a knit or a purl... simple as pie.

Even though I'm now a sock knitting veteran there are still so many techniques I've never tried. It seems with socks the possibilities are endless. Just yesterday I bought this book.
(I couldn't believe they had it at A.C. Moore and that they'd let me use a 50% off coupon on it!) Leafing through it is enough to inspire even the most beginning knitter into wanting to make a pair of socks! In fact, it makes me want to abandon the pair of socks I'm working on so I can start a new pair out of the book. It's funny that the prospect of a new pair of socks is enough to make me want to quit the pair I'm working on, but I digress. There is a downside to sock knitting and this can be a real problem if you're as indecisive as I am at times and that's choosing a pattern out of the thousands of possibilities! Decisions, decisions.

I'm seeing green...

2006-10-06T14:14:00.000-04:00

As promised, I have a green cabled sweater to show you. I spent some time last night blocking the pieces which started off looking stiff and rolled up and ended up looking quite a bit better if I do say so myself. The wonders of blocking never cease to amaze me. The fabric really softened up after I blocked it and the pieces drape really nicely now.

Today was the first day of October break for me. My school gives us a little four day weekend for Columbus Day. I'm sure you can imagine how much I needed this. Despite the fact that I have to work every single day of this break, I am still going to take full advantage of it and treat it as the vacation it is! Going along with that, I spent the entire morning sewing up my new favorite sweater.I love it. It came together so well and it fits perfectly. The modified sleeves are the perfect length and they fit into the sweater so nicely. I just might have to wear this little beauty to Rhinebeck.

That's right folks, I'm going to Rhinebeck. I am so looking forward to it this year. I'm actually going with Gabe's mom which I'm excited about. She's such a fun lady. She's been to Rhinebeck in the past and was all about going again. (Who wouldn't be about going to one of the best fiber festivals in the country?) This year I plan to make it to the knitbloggers meetup there. I missed it last year and I certainly don't want to miss it this year. However, I'm out of the loop as to the details of when and where it's going to be. If anyone happens to know, fill me in please!

Now that it's October, Socktoberfest is in full swing. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten, but I'll save my sock posts for later! After all, with such a cool sweater to show off, how could I resist posting about it?

Notice anything different?

2006-10-04T18:53:00.000-04:00

So I've made some major changes around here. I'm sure you've noticed. I've been wanting to for awhile, I just never got around to it until just now. I hope you enjoy the new look of the blog. I plan on making some additions in the future as soon as I can find some more time to fiddle around with it. Stay tuned because I'm really close to finishing the green cable sweater!

2006-10-04T13:17:00.000-04:00

Please bear with me while I change some things around here.

A great big thank you!

2006-10-04T12:23:00.000-04:00

Once again, I'm so happy to be a part of the knit blogging community and the knitting community in general. I've never met a more generous group of people in my life. Alex, one of the knitters I met out in Colorado was kind enough to send me a little care package with a sample of hemp fiber in it.
She's been taking spinning lessons (how envious am I???) and as a result got to try lots of different types of fiber. I mentioned in a comment that I've never tried spinning hemp and so she sent me some. Thank you, Alex, you're awesome!

Where have I been all this time???

2006-10-01T22:40:00.000-04:00

So, I've been out of the loop... I realize I'm out of the loop regardless considering I live in a town with no LYS to speak of unless you count the Michaels... which I don't. But I am in this wonderful online knitting community so you would think that I would have discovered this along with the rest of you. It's been out for more than a year and I've been clueless. I'm speaking, of course, about Cast On.

Why hasn't anyone told me about this?!?! Or maybe I had heard of it, but just didn't think I had the time to listen to an online radio show all about knitting. Well people, I was wrong. I sooooo have time for this. Even if I don't have time for this, I have time for this. What could be better than doing something you love while you listen to someone talk about the very thing you love so much. I've only gotten through two episodes and I'm already smitten.

Sometimes I want more than watching TV while I knit. Well this is that something. This is what I've been looking for! And for those of you wondering, I have been knitting. I'm on the second sleeve of my green cabled sweater and I'm so close to being finished. I'm hoping within the week I'll be modeling a brand new sweater for you!