Again With The Socks

For a week or so there I was knitting something besides socks. It was between RSC mailings and SKA's month off. I knit maybe 4 inches



And then, again with the socks. First, some Monkey's.



It only took me 2 years to get to this pattern. Actually at first I wasn't impressed by it. But after seeing so many variations I caved. I'm in love!

Next, the September mystery socks for SKA. The challenge was to knit orange socks. It doesn't count as stash if I start them right away.



As far as the life that goes on between sock knitting sessions, it's been going pretty well.

We're in the busy season at work, gearing up for year end close out at the end of this month. It's been a little crazy but I'm still loving it.

Junior gets more ornery every day. He gets into EVERYTHING. I just have to remind myself that his curiosity is a good thing. He still isn't talking at all, which worries me sometimes, although everyone says I shouldn't be concerned. Aaaand the only "big boy foods" he'll eat are cheerios, cheez-its and just recently frozen soft pretzels (ok, and there was that one time I let him nibble on my oreo cakester, but that doesn't' count at all). UGH! It is so frustrating. The doctor said not to force it, which is good cause the boy is seriously stubborn. Don't know where he gets it...

Day 8

Although I still have a fair number of projects in various states of not-quite-done*, I have become pretty monogamous with my knitting. I don't have the time or brain power for more than one project at once! So what am I working on now?

My main project is a sock for Sockdown: Ravelry. I decided a couple months ago that my life wasn't crazy enough, and I should try to knit a pair of socks a month. Of course, the prizes don't hurt. I'm knitting my first sock from Sensational Socks and so far I'm loving it. I apparently have unusually wide feet, so it is nice to be able to adjust for that easily. I actually left my sock, or more accurately toe, in progress at work, hopefully I can get some pictures soon.

Another thing I'm working on every great once in a while is Junior's Trellis. I LOVE this sweater, but HATE seaming. So once a week or so I pick it up and sew up a seam. I'm going to have to pick up the pace though, as he's probably pretty darn close to fitting into it.

Annnnd since I left my sock at work, I think I'm about to cast on for the famous My So-Called Scarf. I've wanted one for so long...

Daily baby pic

taken today

*Yeah, I've given up on the sidebar for now. And I've even become too lazy to link. I'm really just holding out for the Ravelry sidebar.....

Seriously?

More gauge fun! So I said I was done with my multidirectional scarf and that I love it. Well, I spoke too soon. I love half of it. And the other half makes me nuts. Here's the evidence.



See how the end on the left, the cast on end, is nice and tight and lovely? And the other end is wider and sloppy looking?? Yeah, that sucks. So I found about where it seems to go bad (just a little less than halfway through) and I've decided to rip back and fix it. I haven't decided yet whether I should go down a needles size or just consciously knit tighter. Right now I don't want to think about it.

Then we have the sock I just picked back up. I'm finally going to finish those (Not) Padded Footlets that I've been (not) working on forever (I think I'm so clever). So I pick up the beginnings of sock 2 and go along my merry way. I try on what I have of sock 2 with the completed sock 1, and sock 2 seems a bit wider. Hmmm, strange I think, but I continue. Then, 20 rows later, it hits me. I was supposed to be decreasing for the gusset this whole time. For some reason when I picked them up I got it in my head that I had finished that part. Sooooo I rip back those 20-some rows on 0 needles with 90-some stitches.

And I'm DECREASING merrily along when I actually look at the sock. Hmmm, now the lacey motif in the center looks a little funny. Like, it isn't quite as tidy as the rest. I tried capturing photographic evidence of this, but it didn't work so well. 20 rows later (again) I realize that I have been knitting at a looser gauge since I picked it back up. Ok, people, this is like three projects in a row. SERIOUSLY?? This time the culprit was my knitting style. I used to sorta throw with my left hand, but in the past couple months I've taught myself to pick while holding the yarn in my left hand. Pretty similar, just a slight difference in which hand does the most moving. But apparently enough to screw me over. I switch back to my old method and things look lovely again. I don't have the heart to rip back again, but I don't think it will bother me so much on socks. *SIGH*

Will I ever learn? Stay tuned.

Updates

Motivation on all fronts is getting really low. Now that I made it past Thanksgiving break I'm just really ready for winter break. So for today, a fun updates post.

Knitting: I finished my lovely multidirectional scarf last night. LOVE IT! It needs a blocking, but I want it ready for wearing so that'll probably wait. For some reason I've been having some serious gauge issues recently. This is the second project that has changed gauge midway through, although the first was after a bit of a pause and I made the mistake of switching needles partway through this one. It's just getting a bit annoying. Guess I'll just have to be more careful about it.

The reason I switched needles partway through my scarf was that I got in my first order from Knitpicks. Yeah, I'm a little behind, as usual. So I finally decided to try out their new needle system. I've had trouble with Addi's so I wasn't sure whether to bother, but I couldn't resist. The verdict---well I absolutely love them, and I thought things were going well. But I'm starting top see some trouble around the joins. The finish is wearing off just like with Addi's. I still haven't given up, if it just stays in that tiny area it might be ok, but I'm afraid it's a sign of things to come.

School: As I mentioned, no motivation. Finals are coming up and I really should be studying for an investments test. But it'll be over soon and then only one more semester. I'm not ready to leave yet!

Job Search: I still haven't heard from any of the prospects yet. I have heard that the government takes forever to get around to that though, so I guess I'm not totally defeated yet. And there are other jobs out there I'm sure. I have heard back from the US Geological Survey about a part time job doing some light accounting and filing type stuff. It seems like things are progressing and they must be interested, but now I'm waiting for paperwork and such. More money is always good :)

WW: I've had a bad few weeks as I got totally off plan and was just eating whatever. I've been trying really hard this week to do better, but I'm not sure how well it's working. Again, my motivation is slightly lacking. I've been using all the stuff that's been going on as an excuse, and I'm very convincing!

Life: Besides all that, things haven't been that exciting. My aunt and uncle were here from Louisiana a few weeks ago and we had some fun, but most of it involved antique/thrift store shopping which isn't really my thing. For Thanksgiving my mom and I cooked for Jaime and my dad. It went pretty well, although Jaime keeps whining because we didn't use any salt.

Spinning: Hah! I'm hoping to get back to that soon, really.

So, that's the past month of my life in a nutshell. I'm getting seriously in the mood for Christmas. Hopefully I'll be able to get a good shot of my scarf for you soon. Have a great week!

Fighting Startitis

Well, not fighting too hard. I've started two very happy projects in the past couple weeks. Of course there are still probably five more I'd like to start. I was doing so well with clearing out old projects too. Ah well, they won't mind waiting a little longer.

So here they are, the two I just can't stop working on.


On the left we have "Mediterranean Lace" from A Gathering of Lace. It is just divine. I'm using some lovely alpaca laceweight I've had in my stash forever just waiting for the right pattern. I have had a craving for some lace, though I'm not completely sure where I'd wear lace, but was having such a hard time finding something that appealed to me. I'm a bit picky about my lace apparently. For those who aren't familiar with it, this shawl as written has the beginnings of a regular triangular shawl in the back, but then it has two rectangles that make the front look more like a long stole. I'm leaning towards just making a straight triangle... We'll see.

On the right is my multidirectional scarf. I've seen these all over blogland (about 4 years ago of course) and have loved the pattern but just never found a good candidate for yarn. I probably shouldn't say this, as I've never actually knit with it, but I'm not a big Noro fan. To me they all feel pretty scratchy and for some reason I have trouble finding colorways that I like. But then I saw this Rowan Tapestry. The colors are amazing and it is SO SOFT! I couldn't resist this lovely autumnal colorway.

One requires a bit of concentration and the other is prefect for my podcast knitting. I could just knit on those two all day. Unfortunately, as it always goes, just as soon as I thought things were slowing down I got really busy again. I'm getting ready to graduate in May, so the job search is on. I went through what I now know to be the first round of on campus interviews at the beginning of October, but nothing came of them. I was trying to keep my spirits up and just figured that after the new year I'd start looking in papers and applying to companies I've heard of in the area. And then a week ago I was offered the opportunity for two more interviews, the first of which is tomorrow. *Sigh* I really want to get a job lined up so I can just enjoy the rest of school, but I so seriously hate interviews.

And to make things even more complicated, one of the jobs I'm interviewing for wants me to move to Cincinnati in a year. I don't really mind the move in itself. I mean, I love KC but Jaime and I have talked about moving. The thing is that I hate to leave my mom when her cancer could return at any time. If this job was my last resort, I would do it cause I must get a job. But I feel like there are still opportunities in town that I haven't checked out yet. If they offer me a job in two weeks though, I just don't know how I'll handle it.

Well, this has gotten you pretty much up-to-date on stuff in my world. Now if the interviewing and homework gods will just let me keep up.

Have a great day!

Busy Busy Busy

School has been keeping me super busy lately. Only a few weeks left, but so much more left to do. I talked to a counselor about the masters program, which of course means I need to make more decisions. I'm just so tired of thinking about what classes I should take and when I should graduate and whether I should get a few grad credits or just finish and if I can even afford a masters at all and and and... Pffff!

Aunt Vicki was in town for a few days and of course that meant lots of random fun. I think Jaime's feeling a bit ignored as I haven't been home for like three days except to sleep. He actually said he missed talking to me, so I know I've been away for a while. I haven't even been keeping up with my blogs. I'm so excited to have this weekend to do a bunch of nothing. We might even make it out for a date night, it's been way too long.

We found out Thursday that my mom is going to have another surgery, probably on May 5th. And after that the doctor wants her to do chemotherapy. It's a little scary, but I think I'm really just more worried that she won't agree to it. She's worried about how all the side effects will make her feel, which I can totally understand, but if it'll help her keep this cancer away for a little longer I think it's worth it. Hopefully with all the support from her sisters and me she'll feel strong enough to handle it.

So, knitting. Well, since I had to get Aunt Vicki's birthday socks done in time for her birthday and all, that's about all I'd been knitting. I finally got a picture of them before they were gifted away.



As far as I can tell she loved them. I know she kept mentioning that she would have to get a new pair of clogs to show them off. Nothing like a well received gift. Now that that's over with I'm back to the ruffle scarf, after tinking a bit so that I could remember the pattern which I didn't bother to write down since it was so easy. Should have known better.

Springtime...ish

Ahh, spring break. Not so much spring-like, but I'm enjoying a bit of chill. Better than getting to nearly 80 again. 65-70 is ideal, but 80 is just too freaking hot. Especially when the pools aren't open... Anyway, it is sooo nice to do nothing. Of course it's nearly over, have to go back Tuesday. So what have I been doing with my time?



That pretty much sums it up. I started a new scarf, Ruffles from Scarf Style using some of the yarn my SP got me. I had to buy a couple extra skeins, but no biggy. And yes, I am a bit behind on the trends, but are you really surprised? Considering I put my clapotis to the side AGAIN to work on this... I've been listening to my podcasts while knitting, especially when Jaime's watching crappy tv. LOVE LOVE LOVE my podcasts. I added all the ones I listen to to my sidebar (except Knitcast which bloglines doesn't see...) so check them out.

I've also been reading a book from the library, Knit One, Kill Two by Maggie Sefton. It's not amazing literature, but I'm enjoying it.

And finally you'll note some spinning. After months and months of not spinning I finally got up the courage to pick it back up. It was one of those things where I got really frustrated with it so didn't want to do it, and then when I was ready to try again I figured I'd forgotten everything. So guess my surprise when I went back to it a day or two ago and it went really really well. I don't really know what the difference is, but it's coming much easier to me now. Ok, so admittedly I still can't let it spin and draft at the same time, I spin it then stick it between my feet and draft, but I'm still making progress. I'm even hoping I might be able to knit something from this eventually. Something kinda funky and uneven, like the yarn, but something none the less.

Still Around

Just haven't felt the blogging thing lately. Well, at least writing. I'm sure you all've noticed that I can't help but keep up with everyone else. School's been crazy as usual, but mostly just cause of my procrastinating. One huge test tomorrow and then spring break though, so it's ok. I'm so looking forward to a whole week of sleeping late, knitting all day, and most importantly no homework. Woohoo!!

Oh yeah, and my mom decided her car didn't work and that she would wait two weeks to get into a specific mechanic (I realize it's hard to find one who's good and trustworthy, but sakes!) so I had to drive her around for a while. Wouldn't have bothered me much, except I knew there was nothing wrong. Her car died in the driveway, but she restarted it to get it all the way into the garage and it was fine. So playing chauffeur has cut into my laziness too. Plus it reminded me why I moved out and why I see her once a week. I can't take more than that. I love my mom but we just don't get along if we have to be together more than a couple hours a week.

As far as knitting goes, I haven't been doing a lot. I have been working on my shrug/capelet and it's finally finished (blocking right now actually). My first sweater! Ok, so it's a short, cropped sweater, but it counts. I'm pretty proud as I had to upsize it from a size small to a size *cough cough* and it actually fits. I'll make Jaime take some pictures once it's dry.

Since finishing that I've been trying to work on other things I've had on the needles for way too long, but I'm just not feeling some of them. Now that the weather is getting better I'm not much in the mood to knit my stripey scarf, although actually they say it'll be cold next week so maybe then... And my bright fun socks are making me crazy. I'm just trying to finish them so they'll be over with. I love the colors, but the yarn is making me crazy. It's that fun stretchy Fixation which I love in theory, but at the sides where I switch needles there's a ladder no matter what I do. I've tried knitting a bit tighter, super tight, looser then usual, and just normally and nothing is helping. Ahhh! Oh, and this is my second pair of Addi's that have had the coating totally rub off. It only happens to my sock knitting pair though... All in all it's just a mess. And I love my clapotis, but it goes so slowly it seems almost pointless to knit on it. I wouldn't consider myself a "product knitter" but I at least like to see some sort of progress.

OK, enough whining! I should go study now anyway. I'll be back with a fun (read: with pictures) post soon. Have a great day!

***ETA*** Nearly forgot. For those of you wondering, no, the tornados (or microburst as those fancy weather people like to call it) didn't get me. In Lawrence, 40 or so minutes away, there was quite a bit of damage, enough to cancel classes on Monday. But here we got teeny hail for maybe 5 seconds and that's about it. Being a girl who's lived in KS her whole life and quite a fan of storms, I'm rather disappointed that I STILL haven't ever seen a tornado. So yeah, I'm fine :)

I'm In Love

*edited* About 5 seconds after I posted I just decided I couldn't say something not nice (it wasn't MEAN really) on the blog. So it's gone now. Sorry bout that.

Yep, it was bound to happen. And I think Jaime is only a little bit jealous. My new love? Knitting podcasts! Thanks to the generous people at the Office of Admissions and Scholarships at KU, and special shout out to whoever gives the accounting scholarships, I finally got my iPod a week or so ago. So of course after uploading every CD I can find and spending my $15 iTunes gift card I started searching for the free goodies. I'd listened to maybe half an episode of Knit Cast before, but just sitting and listening really didn't do that much for me. So after I dug around an found a few others I forced myself to save them for knitting time. Yesterday, I finally managed to get my reading for class done with early and had some time to sit in the hall and knit. And try my podcasts. LOVE THEM! It is so nice to knit and feel like I'm having a conversation at the same time. And they do a great job of blocking out the sounds of episode 5 million 76 of "Spiderman the Animated Series." I may be a bit obsessed. Eventually I'll get the links up to all the ones I've found and adore so far.

Anyway! What have I been busily knitting away on while listening to my beloved podcasts? Well all kinds of good things! At first I was working on my bright socks. I'm getting through the long stretch that is the foot right now.

I'm thinking that Fixation maybe isn't the sock yarn for me. I love it in theory, and there are some great colors, but the socks just never look how I want them too. And the place where my big toe goes always gets REALLY stretched out and funky looking. I guess this could be fixed with some of that carry along sock stuff, but really I'm just thinking it isn't for me. I picked up some beautiful Toasty Toes by Interlacements at the LYS the other day (and at 20% of bay-bee!) and can't wait to try it.

The other thing I've gotten back into is my clapotis. I know, it's about time. The darn thing just moves so slowly... I knit for at least 2 hours last night and only got through one repeat of the straight section. But I will finish it, really.

And last night, after an emergency trip to the LYS when I realized I didn't have the right size needles, I swatched a bit for my Olympic project. I can't wait till tonight!! I'm kinda sorta getting gauge, that counts right? Don't answer that. See, first I knit with just one of the colors alone and got a too few stitches per 4 inches. Then I tried doing a little made up fair isle pattern to see how it feels (really awkward so far btw) and it turned out to be just the right gauge. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. I figure I'll probably see how it goes tonight and then if I need to I can go buy another addi to make it work.

Sorry for the extreme lack of pictures. I'll get some for next time though. Have a great day and good luck to all my fellow Olympians :)

A Tour And Some FO's

I just couldn't stay away. There's still TONS to do, but I'm not feeling as overwhelmed. Wait till Saturday. Oh, and it's supposed to be 102 degrees on moving day. Woohoo!! I hate heat. We got about 7 boxes packed up this weekend and would have done more but that's all Jaime had stolen from work. Nearly all of my stuff is packed, he's putting everything off. It's sorta making me crazy, but this weekend I'll be relaxing while he's freaking out and packing. Oh well. And while packing I took out my old and not working Palm and decided to give it one more try. Yeah, It works now. I'm completely happy, except that part of me that's pissed I could have been using it the past year.

I've also been a a big finishing kick. I've decided that it'd be easier to transport knitted goods that are finished and in one piece than bags of WIP's. I've finished 3 things in the past few days! Does anyone even remember when the last time I finished anything was?? I'll have to update my sidebar soon. Here are two of the newly finished goodies.



At first I was trying not to start anything, but I'd been wanting to make a washcloth out of this yarn forever. And I figured it would be something quick I could get done. I don't think the color really came through, stupid rainy day, it's a really happy yellow. I may be nuts, but I think this is the most beautiful washcloth ever. I may have a new obsession. I also restarted and finished my Big Wool scarf. I won't be using it for a while, but at least I'm now down to only 2 scarves waiting to be finished, not inclusing clapotis. I'm also trying to finish one of the books I'm reading, and hopefully I can even get Shopper done.

Here's the tour of our current appartment. In case any of the photos are misleading, it's tiny. If it looks roomy, the photos lie. And as always, click to see the bigger version.



Note my "desk" on the coffee table. That is our entire living room, on the other side of the couch is one small end table and then the doorway into the next room.



This is my little end table. I have my current projects scattered around it and the books and mags I'm reading on top. The drawers have some yarn in them as well as all my knitting accessories. It doesn't always look quite that messy, but most of the time haha.



Obviously the kitchen. The one good part of this place is the big counter. I took this picture in the living room looking in.



Our bedroom. It's tiny. That's a queen size bed that completely fills the room. The desk is built in so we can't do anything else with the space. Don't tell Jaime I showed you his big butt sleeping hehe.



This little hallway-ish thing has our sink and the closet which I didn't take a picture of. We had to hang those shelvey things cause there isn't nearly enough counter space. It's usually much fuller, but we packed up the non-essentials (makeup and perfume for instance).



And an idea of our bathroom. It's pretty darn small too. Behind the door, next to the toilet, is a cabinet that has the water heater in it. Meaning we can't put anything in there. We do have some magazines on top though. Oh, and the bathroom really isn't that dirty...

So there it is. Can't wait to get some pictures of the new place. We move in less than a week!!! Have a great day everyone :)

Where Have I Been?

I know, I just completely deserted you all. I had these big plans to post all these pictures of me starting my second sock so I could try to show the one circ thing. I had topics planned and stuff. Well, it all started with a call from Jaime's Grandma. Now just so you completely understand, Jaime's Grandma is the one. The one I have trouble not competing with. She's by far the most important person in his life (myself excluded). It took me a while to stop being jealous of their bond, especially as I have never had that close a relationship with my Grandma. So, Sunday she calls and says she's shipped two packages that'll be here Tuesday or Wednesday. Jaime's going nuts trying to figure out what they could be. She just sent like 10 pounds of his favorite hot dogs (apparently Kansas doesn't have gourmet Hummel Bros. hot dogs like CT does), and he thinks maybe she went ahead and sent some of his fave hot dog buns too (ditto with hot dog buns I guess). Tuesday nothing arrives so we figure it'll be Wed. Wednesday morning Jaime gets up and I hear him checking a message on the phone. Oh, by the way, his grandparents drove the 24 hours straight from CT to visit us!! It was so great to see them as we haven't in over 2 years now. Since I gave up feeling jealous of his grandparents, I've fallen in love with them. They completely consider me a grandkid just like Jaime and it's so nice. We spent all last week with them. We went out for some great food and gave a few tours of town (when it wasn't nasty and rainy). And there went my plans. They're now safely back home in CT, and we miss them already.

Oh, and I just found out this morning that we got the apartment that we were looking at, our first choice. You wouldn't know much about it, since we saw it for the first time last week, but it's great! It's like literally 3 blocks from Jaime's work and right by a highway into Lawrence for my commutes to school. It has two bedrooms and a full sized stove/oven (hey, that's a luxury for us now). We gained over 200 square feet for just $45 (or 35 if you consider the rent increase they tried to pull here). And, a sparkly pool. For some reason pools have looked particularly tempting this year. Maybe because I haven't even owned a swimsuit in two summers. Oh yes, I will swim this summer. And it's even better after last years apartment fiasco. We applied to two places here in Lawrence and both said that because of our credit we could have the apt. but would have to pay a ridiculous deposit and extra for rent each month. Not so much!

I haven't gotten a terrible amount of knitting done. My second sock is still on the cuff, clap is maybe three rows farther than it was last week. I dragged out my squiggle scarf, but it hasn't seen much action either. Now that things are back to "normal", there will be more knitting though, never fear.

I'll try to get the one circ demo ready soon. Until then, I'll leave you with the gift my AKSP sent me last week. I can't decide what to do with this cool yarn, any ideas?

"If I Had a Million Dollars..."

Bonus points if you know who did that song.

Knitting has been coming along. I have been working on Jaime's socks when I get the chance, it's still small. I swear I keep knitting and it doesn't grow at all. I actually started working on my Blue 'n' Brown Stripey scarf some more. Nothing like spring weather to make me break out the double layer wool haha. Actually I got a good tip from someone on one of the knitting lists about using a Russian Join. I had to try it and it works soo well. Now I don't have all those ends staring at me as I knit. Much less scary. No pictures as it also looks just like before but with fewer ends and a couple more stripes. Clapotis is looking great. I'm still on the increases, but I'm much more happy with it now. Here's how big it is so far.



And here's a close-up.



Not the best picture... But what is that you see? Why yes, it's a new pretty stitch marker. Ignore the cheapy plastic ones. I finally went to the bead store and got some supplies to make a few stitch markers for myself. I adore them! Unfortunatley I only bought enough to make 4 (sort of a trial). Here are the other two.



Aren't they pretty! And they had sooo much other cool stuff there. This is where we get to the title of this post. I'm dying for some new craft supplies! I need some new wire cutters and pliers and such. I need some more stitch marker supplies now (I used closed jump rings and head pins if anyone's curious). And then there's the yarn. Ahhh the yarn. And there are so many fun classes I'd like to take to learn more about knitting, jewelry making, scrapbooking, crocheting. Not enough money in the bank or hours in the day.

Luckily I have great friends who will treat me with stuff and make me feel better. I got this in the mail from Cathi. I traded her some yarn for her extra copy of Stitch 'N Bitch. She sweetly included some other goodies.



The other books is Knitticisms and it's really fun. It has some great vintage type knitting pictures in it and some funny little stories by knitters on our obsession. And there was a great card and one of those little "LUV @ BLOG" posty-note pads that so many people have now. I've already used it a couple times. Thanks Cathi!!

Yesterday I took my mom to the gynocological oncologist. We were there for a couple hours, but it went pretty well. My mom has a couple options for treatment. Aparently the information she was getting wasn't necessarily factual. I don't know if she'll decide to go with a treatment, she's kind of anti-medicine and paranoid about side effects and such. After the appointment (and getting up really early to make it there in time) I was supposed to go to class, but I kinda gave up on that after being there 2 hours. So afterwards my mom and I went to Whole Foods Market for some lunch. They have some pretty neat stuff in the grocery section; I'm not thrilled by their hot meals selection, but my mom loves it. The lady behind the lunch counter knew my mom and asked how her surgery had gone, it was so sweet! After lunch we went back to my mom's house and talked some before I headed hom. It was a really nice day. I didn't miss class at all haha.

And speaking of school, I finally took a few pics today (once the sun decided to come out). Here's the view from our appt straight out.



It's Memorial Stadium where the football team plays. It's directly across the street from us, which bugs Jaime to death. I sorta like being so close to the action. Here's the view from our appt up towards campus.



You can see the Campanile (the tower) which everyone walks through during graduation on their way down the hill and into the stadium. Superstition says if you walk through before that you won't graduate. Here's a picture of the building I spend most of my time in, Summerfield Hall.



It houses the Business School and the Economics Department. So I gues it sorta makes sense that it's about the most boring building on campus. Not the ugliest mind you, I'll show you that one next time. This is the view up another large hill on campus from across from Summerfield (another reason to hate the building, too much walking up and down hills).



Not the best picture, but you can see the tops of some buildings and some trees that aren't quite green yet. And this is one of the prettier trees on campus (as well as the remaining tulips), next to the Physical Education Building.



I would have had some great pictures of tulips, they were all over campus. Key word "WERE". The grounds people were ripping them all out today to rotate to another type of flower. It amazes me that they do this. They planted them probably a month ago, they were amazing for like a week, and now they're being ripped out. Craziness! So that was part one of your tour. Next time I'll get some pictures of the the main campus road and buildgins, as well as maybe a few of the amazing Greek houses. Those houses are enough to make me want to rush (ok, I'm secretly desperate to be in a sorority, don't tell).

Have a great day everyone!

Nothing Much

new here. I keep thinking about writing but I can't think of anything interesting to say. Hmmm. Haven't read much more. I started Persuasion. It's the book I read between classes. Unfortunately, my time between classes has been pretty full with school reading, so I haven't gotten very far in it. I love reading it though; the language and writing style is so great! My scarf is going well. It is getting much faster and I've gotten to where I can read it so I don't have to count to know where I am in the stitch pattern if I get lost. It's still working up pretty S..L..O..W..L..Y, but I still love it. I may finish it eventually. Then I'll have to weave in all those freaking ends though. There are 2 every 2 inches! ICK!

I've spent nearly all day watching movies on tv. First I watched Drive Me Crazy one of my favorite teen movies (yes I'm 20 and still love nearly every teen movie that comes out). Then I saw the end of Final Destination and then Resident Evil. Both of these are really good movies too. I love scary type movies! Then Bourne Identity was on. Man, that was great! I've never seen it before, but now I think we're gonna have to rent the next one. And I really wanna read the book, even though I'm not sure it's really my kind of book, the movie was so good I think I'll have to give it a shot. And now Princess Bride. I haven't seen this movie in like forever. Cary Elwes is soooo hot! And you have to see him in Saw. It's super good. Ok, enough movie reviews...

So Jaime and I are supposed to go to his boss' house next Thursday for dinner. I'm totally nervous. It's going to be the boss and his wife, another asst. manager and his wife who also works there, another asst. manager, Jaime and me. They all know each other already! And of course Jaime's told them everything about me (including the fact that I'm nervous which I'm so mad at him about). I'm soo shy around people that I don't know. I'm excited to meet them cause I've heard a lot about them all, but I'm still nervous. Hmmm, what to wear?

PS-My daddy's getting me a camera phone next weekend. Not a full camera, but enough to get some pictures up here. And enough to stop me from whining about not having a camera every couple posts :)

Tired

Not a long post tonight. I'm sweepy! I finished my mittens yesterday and got to wear them today for the first time. I felt so happy in them! I started a scarf that I'm TOTALLY digging in some blue and brown elann wool. It's really soft and I love the colors. I'm doing some fancy schmancy double knitting pattern I got from Kurt in Knitting Novices. And I'm doing 2 inch stripes. Simple but effective! It kinda takes a while, and it took a while to get the stitch pattern down, but now it's going a little faster. I think I'm gonna take a picture of a few of my projects so I can fill up a roll of film and get some stuff to show and tell. It may be in spurts, but I WILL add pictures to my blog. Is it Christmas yet? I really need a digital camera. (Do I mention that a lot?)

Evil Vicki Is Gone...For Now

Sorry for that last post, Evil Vicki took over and wrote. After a few days without knitting (and a little drinking), I'm back and it's going well. I restarted the mitten with smaller dpns (surprisingly the size recommended, but I swear my gauge was right the first time...) and it's working great. I'm almost back to where I stopped with the first one. My mitten is on track and all is right with the world! I've been making some progress on my Squiggle scarf too, but I can tell that I'm going to need more Squiggle and probably some more Encore also. Oh well. I'm also desperate to get some more yarn so I can start a few new things. There's so much great yarn on sale that I HAVE to get some now! I hate being broke :(

Stuff

How's it going? There are some ups, and some downs. My x-stitch is going SUPER well. I've gotten a ton done and am actually getting back into it. Yaay me and my boyfriend-beating self! Beating as in bet winning, not like physically abusing, though he might disagree lol. Of course that comes at a cost, and the price is my mittens. They haven't seen much action the past few days. Poor mittens :( And then there's the fun fur scarf. It was about a foot of scarf, but it's a scarf no more. I decided to knit in the car on the way to Johnson County to see my dad. Great idea! I loved it (although it took a minute to figure out what to do with my not-center-pull ball of yarn). When we got there I wrapped the ball of yarn in the scarf and stuck the other needle through it to keep everything together. Another great idea or so I thought. So I get back in the car after a great dinner at Olive Garden (mmmmm, fettucine alfredo) and go to yank out the spare needle. Of course I don't do that do I? I pull out the needle with the stitches on it. Arrrg! And I really tried to pick up stitches, right at the top, further down, ripping down and then trying there. It just didn't work with the stupid novetly yarn. So today I took a few minutes and ripped the whole thing and rewound the ball. I'm actually sorta glad, cause I don't want to have too many projects going and I'm dying to try this other scarf. It's gonna be some pink novelty yarn with white wool. I love pink! So I guess it'll all end well...

I Get It!

Every once in a while I check out the blogs on my reads list and even look for some new ones, and it cracks me up when someone writes about hating a certain project, or a project disliking them. I didn't get it, but now I do. The newest addition to my WIP list is the Broad Street Mittens from Knitty. I am probably not nearly experienced enough to make it through them, but I decided to jump right in. They're making me NUTS!!! First of all this is the first thing I've knit with a needle under an 8. The 2's are sooo tiny, and it uses sock weight yarn which is also a first for me. Together they make me feel like my fat fingers are trying to use a dolls knitting set. I've started them 3 times already (which isn't THAT many, but it feels like it). I think this is it though...knock on wood. I'm really excited to see how they turn out, if we can just get along long enough for me to finish them. So far I'm 3 rows in...

My fun fur scarf is my easy project, simple stockinette on 11's. My boyfriend asked me how many scarves I really need. I don't know...I just can't give them away, they're too pretty! I'm thinking of making a bunch of scarves for my family's Christmas Eve party and just letting people take one if they want, but 1. I don't know how many to make and 2. I don't want to get attatched to one and then get all upset if someone wants it lol. We'll see what happens.

And in other crafting news, my cross-stitch is still AWOL. If anyone knows where it is, please email me. It'll be the not even halfway done cottage looking lonely in it's gallon size Ziploc :)

Quick Update

I sewed in some loose ends on a couple of old scarves I made and got the first chance to wear my nice pink/red/purple furry scarf today. It is soo nice. And it actually kept me fairly warm. I love autumn, and even more so now that I have nice knitted things to wear once it gets cool.

And for anyone who's interested, I got the comments fixed for the most part. So feel free to drop me a note :)

Another FO

One more project down. I finished my mom's scarf tonight. No more red fuzzies!!! I really hope it isn't like that forever, but it seemed like once it got the fuzzies out of its system, it was ok. Now it just has to sit around and wait for Christmas.

So what's my next project? I have no idea! Money's still tight (what else is new), so big projects are out. Tomorrow I'm returning some yarn that I bought in the wrong weight so I'll at least be able to get something to work on. I need to branch out from my scarf-fest, but they're cheap and easy. I've gotten into reading again the past few days since I don't feel guilty about ignoring my school work, so I may not start anything for a few days. I might even go back to the cross-stitch, if I can find it...

Mid-terms...dun-duh-duh

It's getting to be mid-term time so I've been pretty busy, but I've still managed to get some pretty good knitting done. I finally got my mom's scarf to the right width and it's almots long enough. I can't wait to get it done cause it gets red fluff everywhere. It's soo soft though! I finished the second pot holder for Jaime, so now I've only got the scarf project going. I have no idea what I'm going to do after I finish it. I have a million patterns saved up, but not enough or the right type of yarn to make any of them. And no money to get any more yet. It's so sad :(