Chick with Sticks

back from my hiatus

2011-12-08T16:17:00.000-05:00

I took a break from this blog for a while. Not sure why, but I just felt like I had to, and in the meantime, I just focused on my life, work, school, and so forth. Actually, life was just busy enough, even without this blog and updating it. I have been knitting, but I got enticed by the siren call of the puffs. If you've not heard of the puffs, these are just addictive. It all starts with one single puff, made of leftover sock yarn. Pretty soon, the next thing I knew, I cast on for a second one. Then a third. And so forth. Now I've amassed somewhere around 80 puffs in the past three or four months, and I know it's going to take a while--but eventually all these puffs will become a quilt for ME.

And you know what? A lot of other things got neglected, like this:

And this:

And those nightingale socks that I started last time, too.

In non-knitting news, the end of the semester is almost here. Thank goodness.

New projects

2011-06-30T16:23:00.000-04:00

In June, I finished my Aaargh!Gyle socks and felt like casting on for a new project. I have been dying to knit more fair isle projects, and I decided to knit the Nightingale socks. So far, i've gotten up to right before the heel/gusset, and because I've been lazy, I haven't progressed farther than that. Plus, I was a bit stressed out over school and my research proposal (defense for the proposal is next week).

In June, I also went to my college reunion. Each time I have been back to the town where my undergraduate college is, i have never, ever been able to make it to the yarn store before it closed, or I would arrive on a day the store was closed. So I made a special point of making it to town to hit the yarn store. I was thrilled when I saw one skein of Opal Harry Potter sock yarn -- of course, it is Lupin (I much prefer Ron or Tonks--but this was the only choice. Better than none!) I am not quite sure how these colors represent Lupin. So this is the sock I've started knitting, just to relax.

Countdown to hot water

2011-05-30T20:12:00.001-04:00

The past few days (since Thursday, to be exact), we've not had hot water. I don't mind washing my hands or dealing with cold water, except for the shower bit. Oh my gosh. Cold water showers really are the pits! I have come up with a solution though--heat up a dish with water in the microwave and use that in the shower. Tomorrow we get our hot water (thank goodness. I am going to take a nice hot shower tomorrow).

But in knitting news:

Star Trek Socks

Then when I was finished with the Star Trek Socks, I started the Argh!gyle socks. I'm halfway through this sock's pair. Obviously it is too warm to wear these this summer, but at least it will be ready for fall!

Argh!gyle socks

Continuation of knitting and camera projects

2011-03-30T19:07:00.006-04:00

Today, I took a little time to play with my camera and took pictures of my current project. This is yarn that I dyed myself with kool-aid and it is striping up very subtly with red and purple stripes.

And it is very soft, which is a plus, of course.

And I got myself a present! The thing is that over break, I downloaded tons of free books from amazon.com. And it seems like there were an awful lot of romance novels available for free, with titles like "Baby Bonanza" or "Once a Cowboy, Always a Cowboy", "Speed Dating", "Heated Rush", etc....I'm not ashamed. I read these books. (Some made me want to blush. Whooooo. I think "Heated Rush" was the one that was erm...quite...yes. I think you get the idea.) Featured in the kindle above is NOT a romance novel, but rather, a mystery called "REMIX".

I think I am learning how to use that camera! Now if spring would get here, already! That way, I can go take my camera out for some nice walks and photo opportunities! (and photo practice).

Sock and a cuff, and a new camera

2011-03-02T16:47:00.002-05:00

First off, I have been working on these socks (for me) for a while now (over a month). These are Opal socks (Kaffe Fassett collection) and I do like the way they are striping up. If you are wondering why the pictures look blurry, it is because I bought a (new to me) camera from my friend Meredith (who was selling her Canon EOS Rebel XTi, so I am still learning my way around the camera. But I am excited. Even for spring (and yes, this is a girl who does not love spring), because I am hoping that I will get to take the camera on walks in and around the campus, and around here, and experiment.

I think I need to practice more on the focusing thing. ;)

I will be skipping knitting today, because I was up since 4 AM for work at the hospital, came home for a little bit (gave me enough time to shower, eat lunch, and watch 45 minutes of Supernatural. Also took some time then to look up the pros and cons of both the Nook and the Kindle. So far, I am liking the Kindle except that the Nook would let me borrow lots of books from the library. Sigh. Who knows what I'll end up doing.

I should just say...

2011-02-27T21:23:00.003-05:00

we're not dog people. But we had a fun experience with a dog this morning. As I was going to go outside the house to get the car ready to go to work, I saw the cutest little white dog on our porch. Tail wagging, he approached me, and honestly, I had no idea what to do!

I got my mom and we saw that he had no tag on his collar, and he nosed his way inside the house, made a beeline for our Christmas tree (yes, we still have our Christmas tree up, and it is very pretty). He sniffed at a stuffed Polar Express Santa that we have under the tree and padded toward my mom's voice (mom was in the kitchen, wondering out loud, "Do dogs drink milk?" and looking in the fridge for millk to pour into a bowl).

Mom was afraid to leave him in the house all day while we went to work, so she had the brilliant (not really) idea of putting the dog in the garage. Of course, the poor dog got so completely spooked by the garage (plus the door hit him on the side--not hard) and started backing up down the hallway, and refused to go near my mom any more. He went straight for the front door, and mom opened the front door to put the bowl of milk down on the step. He, of course, went down the walk to the driveway. I went after him, and at that time, a woman was driving down the street with her window down, and shouted at me, "Have you seen a white dog?" So this was the owner, and the dog got to go home.

I will have to say this: My mom really liked that dog. He was cute. And we would just giggle about this all day because it was just a little too funny.

In a few short days...

2011-01-24T22:33:00.007-05:00

During the SnB party, I was talking with Devona about one of my projects, which did not turn out as lovely as I wanted. This is the Elizabeth Bennet sweater that I knit out of the angora yarn that I bought before. My intention was that it would be fitted. The problem?

I hate doing gauge swatches.

Lesson learned: I have a sweater with sleeves that go over my hands, darts taht start at my waistline, and a sweater that is just huge and is most definetely not fitted.

Devona convinced me to post pictures. Here you go, Devona! Enjoy!

I did not bother putting buttons on this sweater. It would be pointless.
I also promised you a photo of the sweater that Andrea knit for the swap in which I participated. It is truly lovely and warm! it will also look fantastic with my purple coat!

The day after the swap/anniversary party, I unfortunately came down with a fever and a sore throat, and thought it was the flu.

It lasted through Friday afternoon, making me rearrange, cancel, and reschedule appointments (what a pain in the neck). During this time, I took the hint and let my body and mind rest by finishing a fiction book (The Eight by Katherine Neville--unfortunately I was so out of it with fever that I really don't know what happened at the end). I also watched a couple really bad TV shows (Royal Pains and Ghost Whisperer. Can someone explain to my why I find the lead actor who plays Hank in Royal Pains so attractive in movies such as In Her Shoes and Woman on Top but so unattractive in Royal Pains?) I also made some progress on a pair of fair isle mittens that I started the day before the anniversary party.

On Friday night, I watched Amelie while I knit these.

On Saturday morning, no more fever! So I went to work.

Then...mid-afternoon, I started feeling cold and a little shivery. Wanted to sit down, and was feeling a bit of sore throat. Went home, and still felt pretty cold. My boyfriend was waiting for me (we had plans for the evening), but I was feeling pretty miserable and sorry for myself. When he went to pick up food for me, I checked my temperature (even though boyfriend thought that I wasn't running one), and it was up to 100.1! I was so distraught over getting sick again in such a ridiculously short period of time.

Decided to monitor my fever and sore throat for the night, and see how I felt in the morning. In the morning, I still had a fever (hovering around 100 degrees) and my sore throat was even worse. So I decided to go to the urgent care in town, and boy, was that place busy with coughing people, feverish people, and a whole lot of sick adults and kids. Lots of coughing. Anyhow, I waited for 2.5 hours to get to see to the doctor. She basically told me that I had strep throat (just what I thought).

The end result is that I got some medications and a doctor's order that I not work on Monday. So basically, a sanctioned sick day, which did make me feel somewhat guilty.
(I didn't cancel class, but got someone else to cover for me). I also took everything as another sign to take a break. So no work on dissertation, no work on class prep, etc. I read another book. I watched Spirited Away. I knitted some more and made a lot of progress on this mitten.

Tomorrow I do not have to be at school or work. However, I will be catching up on all the work that did not get done for...well, days.

What I have made

2011-01-19T22:18:00.004-05:00

It's been a long time since I've posted, and admittedly, a lot of things have been on my mind (mostly school and research related, so I took a little hiatus from this blog to try and keep sane. Plus, the thought of school was a bit depressing last fall, so I've tried to focus my energies in a more positive direction). So, in the time between the last time I posted and today, I've

finished my Noro socks (I am wearing them at the moment and will take photos of them sometime soon)
Finished a scarf for my SnB anniversary scarf swap
Actually read a real book (meaning: A book that has absolutely nothing to do with research or school: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest)
Gotten my photo taken for a billboard (it is up right now!)
Worked a lot
Made some progress on recruiting subjects for one study
Started the new semester anew, and hopefully the spring semester will be much better and much happier than the fall semester

So, for tonight's anniversary swap, here are some photos of things that I made:

This is my homemade baklava, which is so yummy and sweet.

I made Saroyan, a lovely scarf with a leaf edging out of a mohair blend yarn that I've had in my stash for a while. I've looked at the yarn for a long time, thinking it would be beautiful knitted up in this pattern. Chantal wound up with this scarf that I made.

In return, I wound up with the scarf that Andrea knit. Andrea, I love the scarf that you knit, with its bright, cheery colors! I will post pictures of it in the next few days!

DWTS, or sleep?

2010-11-01T19:53:00.002-04:00

Right now, I've got my comforter tumbling away in the dryer, and at 7:57 PM, I am debating whether to go to bed early (skipping Dancing with the Stars) or to watch DWTS...This is going to be a week that will be trying...everyday I will be working somewhere, whether it is at the university, the store, or a hospital environment. Here's to making it through the week and staying as healthy as possible. It already was rough over the weekend, working early mornings at the hospital (starting by 7 AM) and having long days. Plus, on Saturday night, I am sure that I only got one hour of sleep.

I have also finished ONE sock last week, and started the ribbing for its pair. I caved and started with the pretty yarn that Andi gave me at the birthday swap, and just couldn't stop because I couldn't wait to see what the colors would look like. It is incredible!

This is the Monkey sock pattern. Instead of using purls, I substituted knit stitch. Also, since I hate holey socks, I did M1's instead of the yarnovers. I really like the way it looks, plain, but you see slight undulating details.

Getting ready for winter

2010-10-23T13:12:00.005-04:00

I am actually working on my dissertation, as you can see. ;)

Yesterday, I went on a quest to find the perfect winter coat to replace my beloved purple coat (never fear--I will still hang on to the purple coat for a spare). I went to various department store websites, and narrowed my choices down to two coats--based upon my specifications, which are that the coat must be sufficiently unique enough, and not gray or not black, and knee-length, and warm enough for these midwestern winters.

I went to Nordstrom Rack first, figuring that maybe the prices would be lower--and I tried on pink coats, purple coats, blue coats, a couple gray coats, black coats, white coats, and there was one coat that just stood out in my mind. But since I still had wanted to see what the coats I bookmarked online looked like, I had to go to the mall to check them out, as well as any other department stores. There, the routine was the same, I tried on so many coats, but none of them made me feel great--or sufficiently cool. So back to Nordstrom Rack, where I picked up my coat, and I'm happy with my decision.

Even though the coat is gray AND black.

And since this is a knitting blog, I am working on some socks.

Birthdays in September

2010-09-14T22:09:00.003-04:00

Last week, our SnB group had its annual birthday swap. The way this works is that we all are given one person to spoil completely, while someone else spoils us.

We don't have an idea who our spoiler is, not until the party, anyway. My spoiler was Andi (knitbrit) who is an artiste with needlework of all kind--sewing, embroidery, knitting, crochet...you name it, she does an amazing job! So of course, I was thrilled when I opened my gift bag and saw this:

In the bag was this gorgeous blue bag that she made and embroidered herself, using a knit pattern that I adore as inspiration. (This pattern is this neat looking paisley sweater from a japanese knitting magazine that I cannot find, but I look at the pictures of the knitted garment on Ravelry). The bag is lined with a cool paisley print, too. In the bottom of the bag was a red and black laquered box, which held some chocolates, a small bag, sheep clips (so cute!) a pincushion, Noro Kureyon sock yarn, and gorgeous yarn that Andi spun for me. Seriously, I adore these presents!
My swapee was Devona (over at http://www.clevernesting.com/), and since she mentioned The Owl and the Pussycat a few times in her questionnaire, I knit her her very own Owlie Cowlie (which happens to be one of my favorite patterns). Devona was also a lot of fun to shop for, as she loves vintage and vintage-inspired things, so I got a copy of the Ohio Knitting Mills pattern book and some vintage fabrics, and some great alpaca yarn in colors that she likes. (I forgot to take pictures of those!)

Birthday post: repost

2010-09-13T21:54:00.003-04:00

I couldn't figure out what happened to this blog post, which I wrote a week ago. I wrote it and posted it, but it was posted on the fortune cookie blog accidentally! So now, I am reposting this. The night before the SnB birthday party...and I am dying to show what I've made my swap recipient. See, since there are so many birthdays in a year, we all get one swapee that we spoil rotten at the party. So I've made somethign pretty cute and special (and right now, I'm not in a knitting mood...LOL!) so I will show what I made...after the party is over. Just in case.

School's been in session for one week and I'm already exhausted. The good thing is that I do not need to be up at the crack of dawn to teach tomorrow. Also I'm starting to get some research underway, so I'm happy about that. Finally.

When parents learn how to text

2010-08-19T18:39:00.001-04:00

Last night, my family got new cell phones (I'm loving mine, by the way). Mom and dad have phones that have keyboards that slide out, and both asked me how to text.

Mom was not too shabby, with a simple "hi".

My dad, however, texted me this great message: "You have very very wet hands."

2010-08-16T17:24:00.005-04:00

Recently, I particpated in a swap on Ravelry, and in our packages we had to include:

yarn (at least 100 yards)
something representing my field of study
something representing my swapee's field of study
something hand-made

and I got some very cool gifts from my swap partner, whose area of specialization is pure mathematics:

She designed a knitted bag with the international symbol for hearing loss, and on the other side she knitted a fibonacci sequence!

There's also some handmade stitch markers, a book called "The Kingdom of Infinite Number" and some very soft yarn (Taos). This was a fun swap, and when I saw the knitted purse, I was pretty excited about this, since I have to admit I was a little boggled about how to represent my field! (But I did find something pretty cute at this novelty store near me).

Updating

2010-07-29T22:50:00.002-04:00

I finally finished one sock. Now I've got about 2 inches of ribbing on the second sock, but I'm now trying to finish the baby blanket I want to give to my friend.

I also want to see if I can make a gift for my birthday swap buddy (I have one month to do this). But we'll see if that is feasible.
And tonight, I made some pierogies and chicken with a creamy pan sauce. Topped it off with basil from my own mini herb garden!

What I've been up to

2010-07-07T11:04:00.002-04:00

These days, I am trying to do a lot of work, and I also have been knitting. First up: I started the Tree of Life baby afghan for my friend's baby, which is due in August. (Of course, I may not be able to see her baby till September or October, so I think it will be a nice gift. I admit that I was initially nervous when I first looked through the pattern instructions, but it's actually pretty easy.
Around the same time, I started knitting myself some knee-high socks. So far, I've gotten half of one sock done, and with all the cables, it satisfies my need for something a little challenging, but it's simple enough that I can still do something like watch some TV at the same time. Since this is merino yarn, I'm going to try and find some nylon reinforcing thread or yarn for the heels and toes.

And finally--I finished my Pomatomus II socks with the yarn that I dyed at Martha's some time ago! Instead of using yarnovers, I did M1's, so the fabric is not as holey and it's a little warmer.

Summer

2010-06-09T23:08:00.003-04:00

It is now summer and after a few weeks of work and lazying about...I have finished my boring socks...cast on for a new pair of socks (Pomatomus), sewed a bag that was meant to be given last Christmas, and dyed some yarn. All in all, a good summer thus far.

Saturday night

2010-02-27T22:10:00.002-05:00

After over a month, I am here again, after having been pummeled by snow, ice, and cold winds...including getting stuck somewhere else (therefore, needing to check into a hotel for the night) during one of the blizzards of the year...good thing I had my pajamas, an extra pair of socks (dress socks though), and extra underwear. I am slowly, but surely, catching up on the sleep and energy that I've lost in the weeks preceding that trip, and recovering from that trip.

Also have finally finished my Christoph-Probst-Str. socks-the orange-brown-yellow yarn (Fire) that Carolina gave me--it only took me three months...and when I got sick of the fall combos, I cast on for a bright Froot Loop colored yarn. It really is the same color as the cereal, let me tell ya...but I am just doing plain old boring socks, so no pattern--just straight stockinette and a slip-stitch heel. So far, I've got most of one sock, which is pretty amazing.

If I keep it up, maybe I'll get a bunch of socks done...plus I would like to make some baby items for one of my best friends, who is expecting later this summer. I figure if I start now, it will be ready to go...hopefully. I'm thinking a small baby sweater and perhaps this tree of life afghan. (I thought about this awesome fair isle one, but I'm going to try and be realistic, given my time -- or lack thereof).

Merry belated Christmas!

2009-12-28T23:55:00.002-05:00

Merry Christmas to me--I got what I asked for: no snow BEFORE Christmas (for business purposes, and that was fantastic). Plus, scraping snow/ice off car windows really is the worst.

Anyhow, the evenings after coming home from work, I busily figured out how to sew using our sewing maching (breaking a couple needles in the process. Note to self: must buy more needles for the machine, just in case...)

But here is what I made:

Hello, December!

2009-12-07T17:39:00.004-05:00

Well, it's been eons...and a lot has happened (ha, that tends to happen when time flies by). Anyway, this past Saturday was the open house at Craft Akron, which is a fabulous place--and they will have classes there. There's some I want to take, but I know I'll have to wait until Christmas is over, so I can focus on things like finals week! And Christmas working! You know. That sort of thing.

Anyway, over the past few weeks, I have tried my first beignet in New Orleans. I went to Nola for a convention, which was completely and utterly overwhelming, but it was cool to go there. Seriously, the best part of going to New Orleans is the food...I kid you know. Between the beignets and cafe au lait at Cafe du Monde, there was also this great dish at Cochon that was so mouthwateringly delicious, even though the description was pretty boring. (I ordered: ham hock with sweet potatoes, pickled greens & black eyed pea ham broth $18) There was also Cafe Adelaide, where I spent the most I have on food (Sea Salt-Tellicherry Pepper Shrimp & Grits $26.00 roasted garlic-rosemary stone ground grits, lemon croustade and New Orleans BBQ sauce blanc), but had some really fabulous shrimp (with heads on!) on grits. There was also brandy punch and much overeating involved at Cafe Adelaide. Of course, I topped all this off with the beignets at Cafe du Monde, without which no trip to New Orleans would be complete. I made a mess of myself, ending up with powdered sugar on my elbow, my pants, my new bag from the convention, the front of my shirt...but you know that it didn't matter. It was just completely and utterly worth the powdered sugar on everything. I want to go back to New Orleans to eat.

I also started another pair of Monkey socks on the trip to New Orleans. Can I just say that the pattern is so mindless and easy to remember (especially since I am using the no purl monkey pattern). I am now working on the pair.

In addition, I have had this blue and turquoise yarn staring at me for months, so I decided to cast on for another project (as if I don't have enough on my hands, what with the Monkey socks, lovingly dubbed Christoph-Probst-Str. 12 A, in honor of the dormitory I lived in--and had the same colored curtains in my room!)

So I am starting another Owlie Cowl, which is likely to become someone's Christmas gift this year.

Exhaustion

2009-11-01T22:10:00.003-05:00

It's been a long time--but it's also been one of those hectic times, and it's not likely to let up anytime soon. Frankly, I'm rather tired at the moment.

Anyway, first I must thank my secret pal, Martha (very belatedly!) for the lovely gifts that she sent to me for the final package! In the package were a felted purse that Martha made, and this really cool little mini-project bag, which I think will be absolutely perfect to bring to my upcoming trip to New Orleans. And with that bag, I'm going to bring this awesome Knit-Knack thing that I had been coveting (so how did you know I'd been thinking about that, Martha??) which has (very importantly) TSA approved scissors. :) And chocolate. And a vanilla scented candle and candle dish.

I've also been knitting a little--working on a Habu sweater in the evenings and weekends when I'm relaxing. I'm hoping it will turn out okay, as I'm following the Habu pattern, which is a little new for me, as it is a very symbolic looking thing, rather than having all the instructions written out.

I'm also working on another sweater, and am also trying to make some of my Christmas presents (and this is the earliest I've been, as far as starting and making items. I won't say what they are, just in case).

Just because...

2009-09-23T12:08:00.004-04:00

Just because I don't really feel like heading off to school just yet (well, I have a little time before I actually have to be there), I decided to share pictures of my latest work in progress-which is nearly done, actually! Because I loved my Owlie Cowl so much, even though I knit it too big (shame on me for not doing a gauge swatch. You think by now, I'd know better), I decided to cast on with some leftover yarn of a red and teal (though it looks blue here) so I can knit down my current stash.

But I fear my stash is right where it started--because a store near me is goin out of business on September 30th, and the yarn is 40% off currently, so I just HAD to go over there--and buy the Habu yarn that I was coveting. At the end of my spending spree, I have tons of Tsumigi yarn in Whiskey (which I will double up to make a lovely sweater), a couple kits, some merino yarn (quite a bit, too), and a cone of stainless yarn. I can't wait to knit it up. So after I finish this and my zebra mittens, I'm going to cast on for something (I also picked up some red sock yarn -- 3 skeins worth--and I think I may knit myself a cute top (short sleeved, with a lace pattern) for Christmas/new year--it actually has silver running through it!--so I think for the holidays, it will look incredible.

And of course, I walked away with 2 skeins of Noro Silk Garden sock yarn, so I can make a neat pair of knee high socks. That is, if I don't get second sock syndrome...All right...I ought to prep a little more for my lecture today...even though I'd rather stay home on this drizzling day and do other things, even work on dissertation.

Progress--even more!

2009-09-14T22:12:00.004-04:00

Over the past couple weeks, much has happened. I am settling into a routine at school and am becoming more used to teaching a large class. Earlier, I signed up for the World Yarn Swap, and a few weeks ago, I recieved a package from Jane in Scotland . In

this package, I received some Scottish breakfast tea, some delicious looking candies that I've not seen here and plan on savoring after teaching lots of math and physics. She also sent me this cute magnet of a cow with really long hair :)

And of course, need I mention the yarn? I mentioned that I am totally into fair isle knitting at the moment, so I also have some lovely new Rowan yarns in varying colors and am now planning some nice knitted projects. Or maybe I'll end up with many Owlie Cowlies ;)

I also received a package from my Secret Pal, which included some prettily colored sock yarn, a book by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, a potholder and towel (perfect for cooking), window clings, and a pattern for a knitting on the go bag. But one of my favorite parts of the gift was the llama necklace (I have never seen anything like this before, and this made me smile!)

I also finished my Owlie Cowl in this Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn that I have had for a few years. It is an incredibly easy and fun knit, and the yarn is wonderful. However, the problem is that I am terrible about doing gauge swatches, so the cowl became the size of a very small tube top! which of course, is too small for me, but I'll hang on to it because it is pretty cute.

In my goal to make a more wearable cowl, I cast on for another Owlie Cowl a few days ago, in a bright, color contrasting combination, using my stash yarn (of course). So far, I am loving it even though it is very bright--the colors are a good contrast for each other. Also, I invested in a Habu kit that I've been lusting after for a couple weeks (when one lusts after something for quite some time, i think one is meant to have it. It's made out of pineapple yarn and I think I'll cast on once I finish this cowl and my zebra mittens (no picture as of yet).

Back to September

2009-09-03T19:30:00.002-04:00

Things here have been super busy on my end...lots of things have happened in the past few weeks.

1) I went to one of the craziest, over-the-top birthday parties I've ever attended. Truly, it was like going to a kid's birthday party (but it was for a 50 year old guy). Anyway, the party had everything but the kitchen sink--including an ice cream truck, drag queens, psychics, and male strippers (the party was for a gay man). There was more stuff, too.

At the party, I had my palm read by a psychic, who told me the following:

I like to read thrillers (true)
My dream is to write a novel
I will own my own business in the future
I will be wealthy
I will have 2 children, one boy and one girl
I like kids
I work with computers (?)
I will be teaching within the next three months
I will be traveling a lot within the next year or two, but not sure why

These were the main things that I remember her saying. I laughed at the teaching thing though, because I didn't see that in my future (well, I see teaching in my future, but figured it would take some time to get the job I want). I'm keeping tabs on these to see if any of these do come true at all.

2) A week or so later, I got an urgent sounding voice mail from the chair of the department, asking me to call her back. I called her, wondering if I did something wrong, and basically, she said, "Dr. X is on emergency medical leave and will not be able to teach at all the semester. Could you teach his class the rest of the semester?" Please look at the prediction that I laughed at. I didn't really compute that till this morning.

3) My poor little baby brother had his wisdom teeth pulled out today. Poor thing. He's so miserable right now.

4) I'm working on a cowl right now and have finished a hat but just need to put on a button. Also have received some of the most awesome knitting books in the mail today (japanese knitting books with amazing patterns). I'll post pictures later. At the moment need to do some things and check on poor baby brother.

Right now...

2009-08-11T11:15:00.003-04:00

... I'm really not in the mood to do much of anything. I have all kinds of things to do, but would rather read a book (currently re-reading "The Little Lady Agency in The Big Apple") instead of doing work things. Anyway...in knitting news, I had these two skeins of this wonderful Elsbeth Lavold Angora yarn that I've had sitting around for a couple years, and was debating whether to make a hat or a cowl. After I saw Natalya, these two skeins became a gorgeous hat.

This hat took 2 days of knitting in front of the TV (which is great) and it was my first foray into the world of making bobbles.

After I was done with this hat, I cast on for another hat to give away (Debbie Bliss Cotton Angora), which used up about 2 skeins/balls of yarn. I still have two balls left. Although I love knitting this hat, I probably should knit something else entirely with my last two balls of yarn!

1:25 AM

2009-08-01T01:24:00.004-04:00

I'm a wee bit frustrated. After an entire week of being sick with a cold and conking out by 11 PM--and at times, by 9:30 PM...here I am at 1:24 AM, wide awake. Aargh. I have taken NyQuil just a little while ago, and maybe that will help me sleep (and keep my sinuses clear the rest of the night)? Luckily for me, tomorrow is Saturday and I have no grand plans except a nice sleep-in (if I can get to sleep, that is), some quality lazy time with my boyfriend, and some knitting!

But while I was sick, I took my Wednesday to try and do some dissertation stuff (somewhat successful) and knitted up most of Felicity. The next day, I finished knitting this. I think this is rather cute--it's one of the ArtYarns in a soft merino. I like how it striped up--I wasn't sure how it would work up in a knit. I'm planning on a few more hats (easy knits) and am working down that stash...hopefully I can work my way down a little more of it this summer. The last month of summer, anyway.

Also, I got this package from my Secret Pal! Thank you! There's this cool knitting book, Knit So Fine, which has this lovely dress that I will one day have to make, and some vests and sweaters that are classic but unique at the same time (that's totally my style). Also that really cute tape measure in the shape of a bee...stitch markers, yarn cutter, foot soak (which will be good for after a long day at work or night of dancing), and this incredibly stretchy bag that my pal made. Thank you so much! It was so nice to get something on a day when I was feeling utterly miserable, even with DayQuil and cough drops :)

I think one reason I've been relatively sleepless today is that we're getting geared up for a big fundrasier at our store next Sunday--if you need more details, let me know. We're planning all kinds of things, like games and activities for kids, and nice things for grown-ups too.

Oh, it feels like the NyQuil is starting to kick in...thank goodness. Off to bed now. Hopefully to the land of sleep...

Missing sweater

2009-07-23T22:11:00.003-04:00

I am officially losing it. Today, I have been knitting Akegeomi but am a little tired of knitting the same pink yarn, so I was going to pick up an old sweater (well, not really old, but one I was working on)...but...while I found the bag of yarn for the sweater, and the book with the pattern, I cannot figure out where this sweater is! I give up. I've looked in all my bags where I keep my knitting, on my yarn shelves, and my yarn tote in the living room. No sweater! Argh!

The only thing I can think of is that maybe it got moved somewhere and hidden in some box during The Great Flood in our house. But I am not sure.

In Akegeomi sweater news, though, I am working on the first fold of the sweater, so it is pretty exciting. Although I am still wondering where that sweater is...Hmm.

Dissertation progress: I have written one page of my prospectus. Plus a rough outline of what I want to cover in my prospectus. My goal is to write as much as I can during the last few days of summer, because in the words of a former professor (well, he wasn't my prof, but a chair of the department), I would have a greater advantage at getting a job with a PhD than with ABD, and I'm hoping that certain things will line up correctly the next few months or year. We shall see, and I shall not say too much for fear I would jinx something.

The tunic progress

2009-07-17T21:38:00.003-04:00

Here is my progress on the tunic. I am so excited that i am way past the armholes and now am partway up the back!

I am looking forward to finishing this soon, so I can start something new...

Progress

2009-07-14T21:30:00.001-04:00

I am now officially up to the armholes on the Akegeomi sweater. FINALLY. After tediously knitting rounds of stockinette, I'm starting to feel like I'm making progress--yeah!

2009-07-02T21:47:00.002-04:00

I'm pretty excited that Secret Pal 14 is starting! So without any further ado, here is the questionnaire...

1. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?
I really love Noro yarns, but also love yarns that are very soft, such as alpaca or merino wool (examples include Malabrigo, some Debbie Bliss, Ella Rae, etc...). I'm trying to break the Noro addiction, though. I hate knitting with squeaky acrylic (I prefer natural fibers).

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?
I have this old Winnie-the-Pooh makeup bag from high school that I use, plus a few other random bags for different needles.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn?
I've been knitting since college (since I was 18), even though I learned how to knit and purl before that (but it wasn't till college that I learned to do things like make scarves). My mom taught me how to knit and purl, and I made things up in college, and finally took a few classes in grad school to learn how to make a sweater, do entrelac, and to do fair isle knitting.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?
I'd say I'm intermediate, but am pretty adventurous, though some pattern charts nearly give me heart attacks.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Yes, but I don't even remember what's on it anymore!

5. What's your favorite scent? Patchouli, also citrusy scents.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy? YES. I love chocolates (dark) and I work at a store that sells gourmet chocolates, so that can be a bad thing! Also love peppermints.

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?
I used to do a lot of jewelry making, but knitting requires a lot less clean-up. Does cooking also count? Do I spin? I have a drop spindle and a little fiber, but have not quite got the hang of it.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD) I listen to folk rock and indie rock, so some good examples are: Lisa Loeb, Jill Sobule, The Decemberists, Jill Tracy, Laura Viers, Over the Rhine

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand? I like purple, green, red, blue...hate pale/pastel colors and absolutely loathe yellow.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?
I live at home and do not have pets

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?
I wear scarves, hats, and mittens.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?
I knit scarves and sweaters. Once in a while I get in the mood to knit mittens, hats, or socks.

13. What are you knitting right now?
I am working on the Squirrelly Mittens (2 years in the making...), the Akeogomi Tunic, and a pair of socks from Cookie A's book.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?
Yes

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?
Circulars, and bamboo

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?
Yes

17. How old is your oldest UFO?
2 years!

18. What is your favorite holiday? What winter holiday do you observe?
It's a toss-up between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I observe Christmas

19. Is there anything that you collect?
Yes--postcards (I have a special collection of tacky postcards that are all black and say things like, "Cleveland at night")

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?
Berroco 288,
Berroco 289
A Stitch in Time Knitting and crochet Patterns, vol. 1
Little Birds (sweater pattern by Ysolda Teague)

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?
steeking, even though it terrifies me!

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?
Sort of. I have lots of sock yarn. I wear a size US 9.

23. When is your birthday?
June 19

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?
Yes, I am jukeboxheroine

Colors

2009-06-30T21:03:00.005-04:00

Just a day till it's July, and I can't believe that summer's flying by so quickly--meaning that I need to get a jumpstart on my work! But in the meantime, updates on what's new. For my birthday, I bought myself a few lomography cameras, so I am excited to see how pictures turn out (granted, I haven't taken many pictures yet).

And, I am working on a pair of socks. These are knit with Socks that Rock (Titania). I'm liking how the yarn is dyed in such a way that it is slanting along with the pattern (rick by Cookie A.).

The Akeogomi Tunic is shaping along...slowly. I got a little distracted by the socks, plus I don't really like knitting with metal needles, which adds to my aggravation. But here is the sweater so far:

30+2

2009-06-21T21:35:00.002-04:00

Yep, I am now officially on the "other" side of 30--30 years, that is. Well, now it's 30 years, two days. And is it any surprise that I am now noticing more gray hairs?

My birthday was relatively quiet (though busy with work), but we were busy, so I guess I can't complain. My best birthday haul was a copy of "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog" which was...incredible, even with the sucker punch at the end. I didn't even know Neil Patrick Harris could sing. Or Nathan Fillion. Awesome.

In knitting news, still working at the tunic, and took a break from knitting stockinette and made a cute hat with the yarn I dyed myself (no pics at the moment though). I decided that this hat will go to one of my friends. I hope she'll like it.

Exhaustion

2009-06-05T01:30:00.004-04:00

I've had a lot of migraines the past few weeks, and I foresee more in the near future. Migraines come on when I get little sleep and/or am stressed out. And with this stupid flood in the basement (not to mention the kitchen), I've gotten very little sleep over the past week or so.

So here is an update on the flooding: Not only did the water leak down into the basement, but it had to originate from the kitchen, which is this lovely hardwood floor. So the floor is now warped. And the water also leaked out in the dining room, which is carpeted. Unfortunately, the spot that got wet was also occuppied by these wood chairs (also stained a dark brown color), and these chairs have left brown rings on the carpet, which won't come out. We called Lowe's to complain, and they sent over a carpet cleaner thingy that we had to use ourselves to clean. Anyway, the house smells like cardboard and the books, boxes, and cards are still drying out. The stain still hasn't come out.

The guy from Lowe's came today and said they could cut out the square of carpet in the corner of the dining room, which mom refused (knitters know that yarn comes in different dye lots, and even carpet does, too! Plus the carpet is older, so if a new square of carpet is used with the old one, it's not going to match well. So of course the carpet is the same as the one in the formal living room attached to the dining room...which of course is the same carpet as the one on our stairs...and the whole upstairs. Sigh. More embarassing is that the upstairs was a total mess while the downstairs was pretty clean after all the cleaning and tidying up we were doing because of the flooding...and I am so embarassed that I've been too pooped to even put away my laundry and books in my room (argh). The insurance guy even went upstairs to take pictures of the rooms (how embarassing--I've never been a neatnik in any case, but oh my goodness). I think the next few days is going to be the best spring cleaning I've done in ages. Wish me luck.

Oh, and I have a feeling knitting is going to take a backseat for a little while. Too bad, since I started this cool tunic...

Catching up

2009-05-28T22:02:00.007-04:00

The past few days have been hectic. Actually, the past few weeks have been hectic and I am in need of a day off--one where I see no one, speak with no one, and do absolutely nothing but prop my feet up and watch cheesy lifetime movies. The likelihood of that happening, however, is quite slim.

Knitting stuff first: I knitted up a shrug, and it's finished! It took me less than a week, and I'm breaking into my stash pretty nicely--but still have a ton to go through. I think this summer (0n one of those days off), i will take pictures of my stash to determine what can stay and be knitted up, or what can be sold or traded. Or given away.

Anyhow, here is the shrug:

I also went away for the Memorial Day weekend, where I knitted. In my attempt to stash-bust, I brought some chunky yarn to make the Shalom sweater, and finished the whole thing. I still have 4 skeins left over (darn it). All that's left to do is weave in the ends and buy a really cool button. I'm thinking a bright yellow or orange button.

Isn't it pretty?

I've also been trying to finish my scarf, made out of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, and it is absolutely wonderful to knit with. It is incredibly soft and it's also a lovely color.

And finally, finally, I finished my s0-called-scarf. it is very pretty, and I think it will be gifted to someone else.

Other adventures (non-knitting) also included going to Trollbeads University, and also having our basement flood on tuesday evening. Our fridge broke two weeks ago, so we got a new fridge, which has an ice-maker and a water dispenser! The guy hooked up the fridge, but apparently didn't do a good job, so water was leaking into the basement. So on Tuesday night (when the Cavs were also playing pitifully) I stayed up till 2 AM just cleaning the basement with my dad. The next day, right after knitting, i just conked right out (which is early for me, at 10: 30 PM).

For those of you wondering how awful it was in the basement--we have a little storage room where we have some things like books, old products, paper, etc, and everything was soaked through and through. It really sucked, but i am glad it wasn't worse. Like, it could have been pictures or my things for school, or heaven forbid--beloved collectibles.

Oy vey

2009-05-22T14:29:00.002-04:00

I feel like it's been ages since I wrote, but I have been busy, and when I've had time, I've been too pooped to do much of anything. And I'm waiting for my banana bread to cool off so I can wrap it up. So I'll write a bit as I wait! I'm off for the weekend, and I hope that when i come back, I can show you pictures of finished or almost finished projects (or at least I hope so).

I've also already finished the My-So-Called Scarf (photos coming soon), and I plan on sending it to a friend. I've also finished the Aegean Sea Shrug which is gorgeous, and am contemplating making one for myself in a different color. Not sure though. But it was an incredibly easy and quick knit.

I also went to Trollbeads University on Tuesday/Wednesday, and got a new limited glass bead which is really pretty. Also watched the finale of Dancing with the Stars, and while I'm happy for Shawn Johnson, I still think Gilles was a more consistent dancer. At the same time, I'm not terribly disappointed, as I was when Joey Fatone or Mario Lopez were robbed of the mirrorball trophy :)

Did any of you watch Ugly Betty this Thursday? Wow. It looks like everything is going to pot. And I love it!

Ahhhh.

2009-04-08T22:02:00.006-04:00

Anyhow, I've been up to a few things after finishing up exams...Friday night, I went to buy some yarn for myself. I wound up with some Noro Solk Garden sock yarn and some Malabrigo sock yarn (in Eggplant). 'Twas a splurge, but think I deserved it.

First thing that I did after I came home from my exams and yarn shopping was to cook. I forgot to take a picture of my chicken paprikash before I ate it all, but it was yum.

Then, I knitted a lot. I picked up my Squirrelly Mittens and started knitting the second mitten. But this is not what you'll see here! Despite the fact that I have a mitten to knit, I was just itching to get my hands into the Noro Silk Garden sock yarn, and so I started.

But, I actually had to rip it out several times, because the first time, I was dumb and didn't read instructions straight through. Second time, I ripped it out to the beginning (again) because the sock was too big, so I went down a size. Third time, the foot was still too saggy. Fourth time, I tinked back a couple rows because I missed a block. But right now it's looking good, but it's driving me nuts becuase all I've knitted so far has been purpled, blue, and grey, and I'm seeing some cool pinks and golden colors inside the ball of yarn, and I am dying to get to those...

Then, yesterday, I had a FREE DAY. And because my friend Juniper showed us all this awesome blog, Bakerella, so I bought myself some cake mix and melting chocolates, as well as some cake/candy sprinkles to decorate...

So my first attempt at making cake pops turned out to look like deformed chicks. But they were delish. With a little more experimentation, I made some bunny pops.

Now I am relaxing, sort of. I'm watching Ghosthunters (yes, at nighttime-me, the girl who gets freaked out about ghosts!) but I'm having fun doing this. Plus, my written exams are over. Yay--just have to defend them next week.

On Sunday, my parents wanted to take me out for a celebratory dinner, so we went to one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in Cleveland, we invited my boyfriend along. Anyway mom ordered this dish with beef tendons and beef veins, which I dare not eat. Anyway, prior to eating dinner, we all had gone to the chinese grocery store, where my boyfriend perused different packages of mysterious food. After finding a few packages with no english translations, he told me that it would be a good idea to try these foods and see what they were. So he bought one of the mysterious packages of food. So, at dinner, mom knew about his new food adventures, and asked if he wanted to try her food. So he tried some, and ate every single bit of the beef veins, radishes and tendons that were on his plate. About 15 minutes later he asked my mom what he ate. So my mom told him it was beef veins, and this is what it was like for the next few minutes.

Adam: Beef VEINS? What do you mean, veins?

Mom: Veins.

Fat white man at table behind us: (laughs hysterically)

Adam: I ate beef veins? Which ones were they?

Mom shows him the beef veins

Adam: ugh. (The expression on his face is priceless) What is the nutritional value of veins?

Mom: It's good for your knees.

Adam: What?

Mom: It's good for your knees. You know, it's made of the same stuff as Knox gelatin.

Adam: What?

Mom: Knox gelatin. Collagen.A

dam: Oh, you mean, like Jell-O

Man at table behind us: Jell-o! That's my favorite!

Adam: That's made of of that?

Man at table behind us: Yep, all the leftover animal parts.

I am sick of this!

2009-03-19T11:12:00.005-04:00

I have exams coming up the week after next, so my absence from blogging has been due to my burying myself in my notes. Granted, I am feeling a teensy bit better about my knowledge, but not by that much. I'll be counting down each day as I finish my four hours of essay writing a day (it's 4 days, 4 hours of writing each day, on...whatever topic my professors choose to give me). Basically, it's hell. I'm already planning what to do when I'm done with everything. So, my written exams are the week after break, and two weeks after that, I get to defend my answers. After that, I plan to:

Sleep
Watch TV/movies/k-dramas for a week
Spring clean
Knit! Knit! Knit! without the guilt
Work some more
Sleep some more
Buy myself a new Trollbead or two, plus Habu yarn and some cool sock yarn so I can make some awesome knee-high socks that I saw on Ravelry. And some new fun books to read!

But in other news, I finally finished Pomatomus last week. Since I'm also trying to not kill myself as I study, I take time off in the evenings and at lunchtime to relax, so I get to do things like work on a knitting project while watching mindlessly stupid (but fun) TV shows, such as Dancing with the Stars (even though the Woz is a horrid dancer, I want him to make it through another week or two. Goodness knows I need the smile). I am partial to Melissa Mycroft and Shawn Johnson, and surprisingly, I kind of like Steve-O. But there can only be one Steve, so I have to place my loyalties with Steve Wozniak, even though I'm a PC and not a Mac type of girl.

And check this out! I got an awesome new Trollbead in the mail--a little gift from Lise Aargaard herself! So thrilled about my Smiley bead (like I said, I could use the little happiness and smile the next couple weeks--or month--as I slog through the studying and exam-taking and the stress of going through this whole process.

News

2009-01-29T21:35:00.003-05:00

These are two of the new Trollbeads (Sweater and Ball of Yarn). The blue thing in the back? That's Pomatomus. I thought I was doing SO well with Pomatamus and was working on it last night (indeed, this picture was taken in a moment of extreme happiness and pride). The problem was, however...I realized that somehow I am missing stitches. Sigh. So now I have to tink back a while and figure out just how some of my stitches disappeared. I'm not sure how. But this always happens whenever I attempt something that has lace patterns.

The other news that happened: Yesterday, we got a snow day! Ordinarily, I'd be gleeful, but here's what happened. I had to teach at 8 AM, so I went to school in crummily deteriorating weather. Taught class (three of my students didn't show up, due to poor conditions). I get home around 9:30 AM, and then...I get a text message from my school, saying that classes were cancelled for the rest of the day! Go figure.

Also the snow was kind of insane and I got a little stuck in the driveway, which made my search through the garage for a snow shovel (which I couldn't find--I later learned that my dad was shoveling snow in the morning, but the shovel broke). I did find a garden shovel though. Which made me feel like a right idiot in the driveway, shoveling away with this little shovel...

Welcome (belatedly) to 2009

2009-01-04T23:22:00.005-05:00

I hope this year will be a good one. But in the meantime, I realized I forgot to post a picture I made for my friend's baby, which was born just a few days ago!

Also, I completely lied when I said I would never, ever knit lace again. At least this was more bearable than the lace that I knitted for that Brooke's Column of Leaves scarf...

I hope that Tameka will be able to enjoy this sweater when little Xavier gets big enough to wear it...

Whee!

2008-12-14T00:03:00.001-05:00

I am pooped, for one (work, work, and more work), and a trunk show that ended a week ago, and another one starting this week. Craziness.

But in the midst: I won a ring! A trollbeads ring! Here is my winning entry: http://trollbeads.com/thepakkekalender/slideshow/winners.aspx?pageclicked=3

(I'm the second one on the page).

Casting on

2008-12-09T23:07:00.006-05:00

As if I have all the time in the world, what with trunk shows, Christmas, and getting things done (paperwork and all that fun stuff), and studying, I decided to cast on a couple small projects for mindless knitting.
So without further ado, these are some socks I am working on...

This first pair is made from yarn that my friend Carolina sent me--it's Phildar Hobby, and is very brightly colored, but I am liking how it is striping up into solid greens and blues, with the red and white in between. It's kind of neat knitting with something that someone else picks out for you, because there are times when we just don't look beyond a certain color or composition. So, thanks Carolina (again!) for this yarn! It also feels warm (or at least feels warm to my toes). Now, for some yarn I picked out for myself--Panda Silk in pink (for those of you who know me, pink is not a color that I gravitate toward, but...well, there you go! Pink socks! This is actually the first pair that I tried with toe-up construction so I didn't cast on enough stitches, and it looked rather silly. So I frogged it and started all over again. I'm liking it better now.

And my knitting group had a bag swap--and I'm too lazy to fetch the bag that I got--which was knitted by Meg--it is awesome and is a nice shade of green (and funnily enough, matched what I was wearing on the night of the swap!) I finished my bag (which went to Juniper) on the day of the swap. I'm glad that I remembered to take a picture of it :) before it went to its new owner.

Dancing on Keys: Finished!

2008-11-13T17:30:00.004-05:00

I have officially finished Dancing with Keys! I have made it available online and will also have it available on ravelry. How exciting--my first pattern, and it is available to you for free!
Here is the pattern: Dancing on Keys. Enjoy, and if you have any questions or comments, please let me know.

This pattern includes three charts and instructions for making the scarf.

The pattern

2008-11-10T23:06:00.004-05:00

I am excited, because I am making serious headway on the scarf that I am designing. Yay! I hope to be finished with it by the end of the week (or at the very latest, the beginning of next week. I've gotten two of my charts written up, and will write up the last chart when I get to that point, so I can see if I made errors in the draft. This is a sneak preview, as seen through the macro function on my camera.

Look what else I started--finally! My second Trollbeads bracelet, built with beads that I've been collecting over the past year. I think it looks nice, and there is most definetely room for more.

And, today, I bought some chocolate.

Dolores Park Cowl, food

2008-11-02T22:43:00.009-05:00

So on Saturday night, I got really tense. My remedy: Knitting. And these days, I have been attempting to stash-bust, so in addition to winding some of my skeins into cakes of yarn, I decided to knit something new (now that Clessidra is done, and didn't really want to continue with the My-So-Called-Scarf at the moment -- that's a good enough, and quick, knit, but I wanted more immediate gratification). And I had this skein of handspun wool that I bought last year at Yankee Peddler in one of those moments of impulse buying. Granted, it was not very much yarn (around 130-150 yards, I think). So some time on Ravelry revealed some hats I didn't like very much, and some purses, and small knit projects. One of them was the Dorlores Park Cowl.

So I cast on 60 stitches, and in the span of two-and-a-half hours of Lifetime movies, (seriously, I was kicking myself mentally because I thought I was taping this Lifetime movie in the afternoon. But I taped the wrong channel) I finished the cowl.

Who this will belong to, I do not know. If it will be mine or someone else's....I have no idea. But I still have a bit of the handspun yarn left.

And of course, I am still working away on the double knit scarf (it will be named "Dancing on Keys" (Anyone get the reference?) and I will post a pattern as soon as it's done. I'm determined to finish this scarf in the next couple weeks. I'd say this week, but with the Holiday Open House this weekend, I can't guarantee that).

At work, we're getting ready for the Holiday Open House, so today I moved products, reorganized stuff, etc. Hopefully we'll have everything in place by Thursday night. I hope. I'll be working some more this week. After I came home, I made some gnocchi with a cream tomato sauce, and the results of that are shown in the photos below.

2008-11-01T12:42:00.002-04:00

While watching the tail end of a sappy Lifetime movie, I finished this:

2008-10-31T18:46:00.004-04:00

As I write this, the kids in my neighborhood are trick-or-treating, and I get interrupted by the doorbell now and then. And some of those kids look way too old to be trick or treating, in my opinion! I'm actually not a huge fan of Halloween, to tell the truth. But that's a very long story.

Anyway, progress is being made on Clessidra. I will see how much I finish by the end of this weekend. But I've turned the heel and finished the gusset, so I'm thrilled. I can't wait to wear these socks...and then finish up other projects...

Even more progress.

2008-10-24T19:41:00.002-04:00

I promised a picture of Clessidra progress. Here you go.

But I've been working on something more mindless (the so-called-scarf. BUT! While I was knitting, I encounted an impossible tangled up mess--so I pulled some of it out from the center of the ball...and this is what I found.

I spent part of the morning untangling this unholy mess and winding it up into a ball. Then I proceeded to knit a few more rows...

I think I'm making excellent progress, wouldn't you say?

The Dreaded Brooke's Column of Leaves

2008-10-23T21:41:00.003-04:00

I'm sort of getting caught up. Over the weekend, I knitted tons, and I'm down to the ankle on the 2nd pair of Clessidra (picture coming later). And, over the weekend, I finished this:

Finally. This is one of the few projects that I've done, which made me want to poke my eyes out with knitting needles. I have decided that I absolutely hate knitting lace. When I first started (even after frogging the beginnings of this scarf a few times), I was optimistic. The first few repeats, once I figured out where all the yarn-overs went, I was like, aha! I can do lace, whee!

But by the halfway point, I was starting to get tired of it. I'd pull this scarf out purposely and think to myself, Gotta finish this, and I would do maybe a couple rows and shove it back in my bag. In the meantime, I would work on other things, like the monkey socks or Clessidra. Or the sweaters. Anything but this darned scarf.

I finally finished up that second skein, and if you know me, you know that I love super-long scarves. So I joined the third skein of yarn to this scarf, knitted a couple rows and put it back in my project bag. This must have been in June, because the last time I worked on this scarf was on the drive back from Columbus after my brother's graduation. (Incidentally, I also found my CD, Ohio, by Over the Rhine in this project bag, after wondering where I had placed that CD).

So this weekend, I pulled out this dreaded scarf and told Terra that I was sick of it. Her suggestion was a good one. "It's long enough, so just finish it."

Finish it I did...and I still have a whole ball of sparkly merino. I'll find something to do with it, but I also just feel so relieved that this stupid scarf is done. And I doubt I'll seek out lace patterns anytime soon.

And although I finished this long ago, I don't think I actually put up a picture of the finished project. Here is the Chevron scarf (the Noro!)

The saga of the Sonata

2008-10-09T21:53:00.002-04:00

Well, the past few weeks have been busy. This is why I have not written anything. In a short amount of time (in about 3-3.5 weeks), this is what I have done:

1) Trunk show. As you may or may not know, I am hooked on a certain brand of jewelry, and we planned a trunk show, which did end up being busy (except on the day the rep was there—can you believe it????). After the big weekend, I spent time preparing for

2) My aunt’s visit. My aunt decided at the last minute to come to visit (and to take care of things here, such as social security, etc.). So this meant that I was cleaning house, working and trying to study. Meanwhile, while all this was going on, I was also getting ready for

3) my friend’s wedding. Not just that, but I was a bridesmaid, so I did fab things like get a haircut, a manicure (my first one ever!) and buying last minute things, like a pair of flats for the wedding reception (I purchased a really gorgeous pair of stiletto heels but realized that while I’m taking dance lessons, I’m not experienced enough to swing dance or do the cha-cha-cha in stilettos. One other thing I brought with me was a draft of

4) a research proposal/grant. Basically, my prof and I sent in a proposal to a large funding agency in the hopes that people will love us and give us lots of money for three years to investigate our topic of interest. I hope we get it. If we do, it means I will have a job for three years.

But all went off without any great drama. Well, I wouldn’t say “without” – I should say with “relatively little drama”, or as little drama as one can experience at a wedding, for instance. Like, I caught the bridal bouquet—with my head (it hit me on the head and landed on the floor right behind me). As usual, I was standing in the back of this crowd of women and girls who were vying for the bouquet. Very surreal. The bride’s mom also got sick but soldiered through (you seriously would have never guessed that she felt like crap during the reception—it was only after the reception was over, and that they were back at the hotel that she went to the hospital with a kidney infection). I do plan on selling my bridesmaid dress—it’s not my style and I have no idea where I would even wear it again. And a little extra money is always nice.

Now, last week, in addition to plugging away at Elizabeth Bennet, I also went car shopping. I swear, this is the saga that never ends. It started Saturday afternoon, and I tried out a Hyundai Sonata (a bit over 17,000 miles and around $14K, used), in great shape. I then tried out a Toyota but did not like the salesman. Monday (since on Sunday, the dealerships were closed), I tried out a Honda and a Nissan, but still, the only thing I could afford was the Hyundai. So we called the first car salesman, said we wanted to sign papers, etc…but…

Here’s the thing! Despite the fact that I actually make enough money to make payments each month, I don’t have enough income to make the car dealership let me buy the car (not to mention that I have super credit). Anyway…so the next day (Tuesday) I had to go to the bank, get a loan, and go back to the dealership to get the car.

So, I took my beautiful new car home, drove to dinner with my boyfriend (in my car, of course). Came home, and my dad tried my key to open the car door—but could not do so. So bizarre—I can get in my car with the little remote control but not with the key? But I can drive with the key…

Wednesday, I go back to the car dealership, but the salesman I worked with is not there, and no one knows where he put the extra keys. So I went back today, and the car salesman cannot open the door with his key either! So off to the service department, where the guys try and figure this out (meanwhile, I am sitting in the relatively posh waiting area, with a bunch of Golf Digests, Sports Illustrated, a couple Forbes magazines and one lone copy of Teen Cosmo, and a couple sections from the paper). So I read everything in the local paper, flip through that horrible Teen Cosmo and trade the paper for a different one (whom another bored, waiting woman had finished reading).

It turned out that the previous owner had taken the car in to get the ignition changed…but the locks were the same (factory). Now, the guy who has the power to call up all the specs and make the keys was not there today, and the mechanic guy who was working on the car today couldn’t figure out how to call up the code to make the key.

Guess where I’ll be tomorrow…stay tuned...

More progress (and trollbeads love)

2008-09-08T23:17:00.007-04:00

I'm making very good progress on my Elizabeth Bennet. I have TWO sleeves and part of the front. Today I've set up for the waist shaping, but other than that, have not really knit, because we are getting ready for our Trollbeads Trunk show (yes, it is time for some Trollbeads love... :) In case you want to come join us, it is at Vale Edge Florist & Gifts, starting this Friday (September 12) and goes through Sunday (September 14). Our rep will be there on Saturday from 1-4. There are new Trollbeads out.

But all that aside, I went to Yankee Peddler over the weekend and got myself some face mugs from Tom Phelps Studio (seriously, the best mugs anyone will ever see... :)

Update on progress

2008-08-29T13:53:00.001-04:00

It's official.

I have ONE sleeve finished!

Progress on Elizabeth Bennet

2008-08-26T13:19:00.005-04:00

Now that I've finished the yoke (Yay!) I have started the sleeve. I made a small mistake, though--in the book, it mentions that I need to do 3 repeats of cable c (or at least, one cable pattern), then 3 repeats of another cable pattern (cable d). Well, somehow my mind glanced over that and did cable c 6 times, and got to this point (as depicted in the photograph of my progress) before I realized my mistake. I'm not going to bother ripping back, though. I decided to do this sleeve in cable c, and the next sleeve, I'll do cable d. I think it will be fine, because all the increases appear to be the same, anyway. At least I hope so, from the way the pattern looks. If not, I'll just do cable c on the second sleeve.

But it is nice to be making progress. I just want to knit, but I have work to do. Fun times. Speaking of which, I probably should get back to my work...

Activities

2008-08-10T21:10:00.002-04:00

Last week, J. gave us blueberries to take home. I thought that perhaps I would make some blueberry grunt (having seen a recipe for it in Cook's Country but I didn't have quite enough blueberries (one would need 8 cups of blueberries).
So, I decided to make blueberry muffins. Absolutely delicious, and I finally got to use my silicone cupcake liners--so I've got nearly two dozen blueberry muffins (of which we've already eaten four).
And last night, the boy and I went to a dinner and dancing riverboat cruise on the Nautica Queen--we both had imagined something rather fun, with a large dance floor on the uppermost deck, but it turned out to be this tiny little dance floor in enclosed within the top (enclosed) deck. It wasnt' big. It looked like the size of an area rug, and I wasn't exactly sure how my dance class/fellow dance students would fit on the floor. While we were able to do a little cha-cha and swing, we were out of luck when we tried to do the rhumba, where we just wound up shuffling our feet on the floor to some really bad music.

Despite that, I still had fun. I would have liked to spend a little more time outside on the deck, but it was a bit cold and not very easy to balance on in high heels, and it had just finished thundering and pouring outside. So of course, I was a bit nervous about staying outside. But here are some shots I took of the Cleveland skyline at night.

Colin and Eddie, and Elizabeth Bennet

2008-08-06T16:21:00.003-04:00

Here it is: The very first issue from Mask and Cape Comics (well, the Colin and Eddie comics, at least). The boy was over in San Diego at the ComicCon, promoting these comics of his. He'll be in Baltimore in September to promote some more. I also told him to do the Fell's Point Ghost Walk tour, which is totally awesome.

And as I mentioned, Elizabeth Bennet is in progress. And over the past couple days, I've been working away at the yoke, which gets more and more exciting because it is starting to look like a sweater! I knitted away while watching Penelope (which I highly recommend. And maybe someone could sew me a jacket just like the one she has? Thank you).

Elizabeth Bennet

2008-08-04T22:51:00.002-04:00

Perhaps I am crazy. Really. Like I have time to do anything, but I have to admit that as much as I enjoy Clessidra, spending a few months on a sock is enough to drive one mad. So the remedy: Cast on for an entirely different project (thereby ignoring the unfinished double-knit scarf and other mini projects hibernating in my bags...)

So far, I have knit the collar for Elizabeth Bennet and a little bit of the yoke--yay me! And in the midst of all this, I will try to work on Clessidra! I have to admit that knitting this sweater is a little relaxing now, as I am not paying attention to all those teeny-tiny cables.

I was going to post a picture of my progress, but blogger is not letting me do so. You'll see the pictures later, I suppose. But in case you have a really good imagination--this is being knit in this angora blend, this lovely mauve color that is more of a dusty purple color (which is a very flattering color on me, unlike this green that I made the boatneck sweater out of--what was I thinking?) But every now and then i get a little angora fuzz in my nose or mouth, which is a little disconcerting.

Yay!

2008-07-28T17:35:00.006-04:00

So last night, when I finally got to the toe, I rejoiced. Whee!

So now I have finished ONE knee high sock in all its glory!

Then I decided to model it. I have no more excuse--so I immediately tried on the sock. First, I tried it on inside-out and wondered why the heck the toe felt so weird. So I managed to convince myself that I had sensory integration problems (after all, I can't stand some of those sock seams), then I took a closer look at the cables, and realized that I wasn't even wearing it right. Luckily, when I put the sock on right, no more "sensory integration problems." Whew.

In order to prevent second sock syndrome, I have cast on and started the cuff of the second sock. At this rate, it will be October when I am done.

Progress

2008-07-25T23:14:00.003-04:00

Finally, FINALLY, I've made it to the foot of this sock. Oy. It is taking me a while, but my gosh, it looks so darn cute in person! Now, between this cute sweatshirt that I got today (it is a very cute top that looks like something Jackie O would wear) and these socks, I'm totally ready for fall.

And I am completely itching to knit this awesome Habu sweater that is in knitty's new suprise. Here it is: Sea Tangles. But I think I shall wait till I get through a little more yarn. Though Habu doesn't exactly take up a ton of space, either...

The boy's at the comic con, and for those of us who are stuck at home--here is the comic book--well, their site: Mask and Cape Comics

Picture it

2008-07-22T23:33:00.002-04:00

Ah, Estelle Getty.

How you made me laugh.

Here is one of my most favorite moments from "The Golden Girls."

Win a quilt!

2008-07-22T12:47:00.001-04:00

Because I can't sew--I'm going to enter this contest to win this gorgeous quilt. It would be easier to win it, than for me to sew it. It would take me an eternity to do something like this.

http://oldredbarnco.blogspot.com/2008/07/win-this-quilt.html

What a week....

2008-07-18T15:50:00.002-04:00

You know the saying: When it rains, it pours? It's been a little bit like that for me these days. It's one thing on top of another, and finally, today, I caused a minor traffic jam on the way to school. I was driving up to the university, when all of a sudden, my car just stopped in front of some guy's driveway. Luckily, the fellow and his wife were kind enough to help me out (by getting my car into their driveway), letting me into their home for a while before my dad came to get me, and just lovely people.

I'm just glad someone was kind enough to help out. Hopefully things start to turn around (maybe I ought to go for chinese tonight, and hope I get a good fortune?)

In knitting news: I have finally turned the heel on Clessidra. Yes, sock #1. I hope I don't get second sock syndrome.

Procrastination

2008-07-08T13:06:00.002-04:00

I am procrastinating. I should be working on my paper, but this is ever more enticing (of course). Actually, my plan is this: I will work on my paper for a bit, email some people regarding my research study, and hopefully have some time left over to squeeze in an episode of "To Marry a Millionaire" (a k-drama that I am enjoying so far). Then, I will take my parents out for their 30th Anniversary dinner--which I hope will be nice. My dad has a nice surprise for my mom, so hopefully my mom will be happy (it's a necklace from the man who never buys jewelry).

I will officially continue to take ballroom dance. Love them. :) Last night, at the group lesson, we all had to trade partners for a couple dances, so I wound up dancing with an asian man with stinky breath and an old man who had tremors and couldn't remember where his feet were supposed to go, but he was very nice. Adam hated switching partners--he only liked one of the others that he had to dance with! Afterward, Adam and I went over to a fellow dance student's house, where we watched some anime, and he (the fellow student) showed us his transformers collection, which was impressive. Truth be told, I had to wonder (as I listened or tried to listen to this half-hour-long conversation about transformers), if I sound the same way to Adam (or males who do not knit or craft) when I discuss various yarns, patterns, designers, and techniques? The only thing I really understood from the transformers discussion was "beastwars"....and that's about it. All I really knew about them was that you can make them into cars and stuff.

I can't remember...

2008-07-05T21:48:00.002-04:00

I can't remember if I ever mentioned this blog I started a while ago--it's a little fun for me more than anything: The Fortune Cookies. But just in case you want to see what it is.

Checking in again

2008-07-04T13:25:00.004-04:00

There's not that much going on here, except for a couple good things that happened this past week:

I got to see Naomi when she came home from Germany for the week. I love seeing her and spending time with her--wish I could have spent more time with her, but I can't be selfish! When we went to Beachwood, we also stopped at this lovely bakery (good thing it's 45 minutes away from me, otherwise it could be a Very Bad Thing).

Here is a cupcake I brought home from The White Flower Cake Shop:

Yes. It tasted as good as it looked.

And the one that was just as good, if not better--the Red Velvet cupcake (not pictured, as it was already devoured). The next time I head up that way (might be a while yet), I'm making a trip to the cake shop...

Second bit of good news: My psych professor and I got invited to submit a grant proposal! We are stoked; we know we may not get it, but the fact that we got invited to do so--makes us really happy. We have until September 23 to put this baby together, make it tidy, exciting, and fundable. Hopefully the organization will think we're brilliant people and will think that we're worth investing in!

Playing catch up

2008-06-29T21:25:00.005-04:00

So the past week or so were days of tinking back on my one Clessidra sock. There are times when you beat yourself up mentally because you just kept on knitting rather than reading the instructions before knitting. Which, of course, is not a smart thing to do. When I realized that I knitted up quite a lot (Instead of knitting 5 rows, I knitted 11--several times), I gave up and put Clessidra away for a bit. Very frustrated. So, essentially, it took me a little over a week to go back to where I should have started knitting the smaller sections. So now I feel better about it. Now I am where I should be, and I am actually reading the instructions...

As far as other things going on in my life: my birthday was awesome--I got a new cell phone (much needed, as my previous one had to be at least 4 years old--though I'm going to miss the smiley face covers I had on the phone), a new trollbead (Trollstone), and some fun gifts from Adam. And--my pen pals Caroline, Carolina, and Eileen really surprised me on my birthday with some wonderful gifts--I dont' have pictures at the moment but I will get around to putting them up!

One exciting thing I've been doing these days is learning to ballroom dance. It's a lot harder than you think--good workout too! I love my instructor, Meg, who is full of energy. In addition to the private lessons, there's also a group lesson (I'll try and go tomorrow) and a dance party--so I've actually met some people there. There's David, this twenty-year old boy who is really nice--and he and Adam seem to have hit it off. It sounds as though the two have a movie date or something this coming Saturday. Although I'm new to this, I think I'm going to keep up with the dance lessons if I can. Which means one thing: new SHOES!

Hee-hee.

Seriously though, it is lots of fun, even if one of us (not me, if that is a big enough hint) looks a little bit like a cross between Billy Ray Cyrus and Penn Jillette on Dancing with the Stars. It completely cracks up Meg when this person dances, sometimes.

But man, is it ever fun...

And, Adam's been working on another project--podcasts. I have a few guest appearances. Go check them out at The Aftershow Podcast!

The last year of my 20's

2008-06-19T09:50:00.004-04:00

So today is my 29th birthday, and keeping up with that custom:

And, as you can see, I've been making progress on Clessidra. My one sock is shaping up and I keep trying it on to see how much more I've got to knit (quite a bit) but I don't mind. It is an absolutely beautiful knit and is not terribly difficult to make. I'm looking forward to fall, so I can wear this with my skirts...

And sometime in May, my SnB group had a seat cushion swap. My recipient was Sam, and this time of May was incredibly hectic with finals, Mother's Day, a training meeting, and a Trollbeads trunk show, but somehow I managed to knit up a cushion, felt it, put some applique and embroidery on it. The seat cushion was supposed to be 15"x15" but as you can see, it felted down to the right height but the wrong width. Oh well. But I still like it.

Quick update

2008-06-13T23:55:00.003-04:00

As I am supposed to be working a street fair tomorrow, starting early in the morning, this isn't going to be a terribly long post, but I just wanted to share a couple quick things.

This past Sunday, my parents and I watched my brother's graduation ceremony at the Ohio State Football Stadium. This, by itself actually isn't bad. But imagine 94 degree weather in humidity, clear, cloudless day...and UGH! This was awful! I was sticking to my clothes, hot, miserable, in a stadium full of thousands of people. It was like playing "Where's Waldo?" only searching for my brother in the crowd.

It was kind of like:

Mom: Do you see him? Take a picture of him!

Me: Where?

Mom: He's the one with an orange cup!

Me: Where?! (pointing camera at random parts of the graduating class and pressing the shutter button)

Mom: Under Number 26!

Me: Do you see him?

Mom: (listening to my brother on my cell phone) No, but he says he's under Number 26!

So, essentially, I aimed my camera at the crowd and took pictures. We did find him later, but still! Everyone looks the same! No wonder people decorate their mortarboards! (I don't see the orange cup, do you?)

And my sock knitting project is coming along. I can't wait for Clessidra to be done, though. Though it's too hot to wear at the moment, I want to be done with it, so I can pad around the house in a gorgeous pair of socks before I sleep.

For Doc Whiz

2008-06-10T22:13:00.002-04:00

I planned to write other things, such as knitterly things or about my brother's graduation, but this is the first thing I've been thinking of at the moment. I will write more about those and other things a little later.

This is for Doc Whiz (not his real name). He passed away last week, at the age of 60. This is quite unexpected (by everyone). He was also supposed to be one of the professors sitting on my comprehensive exams committee, so as of now, I am not quite sure what is going to happen, or who will give me my questions in the special education minor. The other part that is making me a little sadder is that he is--was--absolutely hilarious, strange, and very intelligent and creative, as evidenced by one of his websites: http://www.educ.kent.edu/community/DOCWHIZ/docwhiz.html
(Check out his pictures throughout his posts and website)

Knowing someone relatively young, who has passed away, is something that makes you think a little more, and hope that you can accomplish as much as he does, or to bring as much knowledge to the world as he did--well, one can only hope to be like that--to live with the great energy, enthusiasm, and humor as he did.

So Doc Whiz, here's to you. I raise a cup of non-Starbucks, locally brewed cup of joe (from Susan's) to you.

Events thus far

2008-05-18T21:45:00.003-04:00

Now that the semester is over, I can breathe! (And knit a little, at the very least). Anyhow, a little while ago, I signed up for a swap, which was fun--and this is what I got from my swap partner. Lots of yarn from Phildar (including some sock yarn), and some tea and chocolate (which is always oh-so-very good), and some cute miffy stitch markers. Thank you Caroline! She is psychic and knows that I just learned to knit socks! Anyhow, there is also a CD of some fun music, which I am listening to right now.

I'm also still working away on my monkey socks, and have finished ONE sock and am working on the second. See? Isn't that awesome :) ?

I also have a secret knitting project--for a swap in my SnB group. We're making seat cushions for our chairs...I have made most of mine--just need to do the finishing touches. Hopefully it will all turn out well. Definetely an experiment in felting for me. After Wednesday, I will post a picture of the seat cushion that goes to --- for the swap.

Hola!

2008-04-30T21:45:00.004-04:00

So I've been absent a while--a combination of busy-ness and laziness, but a few things have happened.

In knitting news:

I am knitting myself a monkey sock, out of some yarn that I dyed at Martha's dye day. It's coming along rather well, though you would think that I know better than to watch Ugly Betty and knit at the same time. I love the way the colors have turned out. I call this color "Smoky Mountain" because it reminds me of one of my postcards in my collection of postcards. (Yes, I still collect postcards obsessively.)

In non-knitting news--my professor (in psychology) and I will be collaborating on a fairly exciting project, so we are pretty enthusiastic about it. We'll be collaborating with another team at another university on a project, so my prof and I will probably work on several projects over the next few years or so, and try and develop a pretty interesting niche that has been under-investigated. It is getting more and more exciting, the more we read and write. Now I am totally confused about what I want to do for my dissertation!

Other non-knitting news: I went to a trollbeads training seminar, and I won a necklace with 7 beads, more than half I've been desiring. So that takes care of that! The one with the green and silver beads is the necklace that I won; I may add a few others onto it to add a little more green and gold. The six beads are assorted glass (and some call them OOAK -- or one-of-a-kind beads, though technically, that's not the right term for them.

Other trollbeads news--this weekend (May 2-4, 2008), we are having a trollbeads trunk show--and our totally awesome representative will be there May 3, so I am rather excited!

Jill's Next Record

2008-03-05T17:33:00.003-05:00

One of my favorite singers, Jill Sobule, is working on an album. However, this time, she is doing it the grass-roots way--making a fan-produced album. That is--the fans support her efforts by donating money, (even just as little as $10). Her goal is to raise $75,000 to produce a professional CD to be distributed.

I've contributed to this (of course I have to support one of my most favorite singers)! If you have no idea who she is, she is the singer of "I Kissed a Girl Fame", and is on the soundtracks for Clueless ("Supermodel"), Harriet the Spy ("The Secretive Life"). I could go on and on.

I encourage you to donate to this project. It will be well worth it.

Oh my gosh, it's March?

2008-03-02T19:22:00.002-05:00

Already?

It's March?

I've been rather busy/lazy...so here's what's new -- besides my being completely unmotivated to do my homework today. Though I did do some writing for my studies, so I guess that's progress. I think I may call it a night early, and just do something like...oh...I don't know...knit? I think I ought to finish a few projects--a hat that I started, and this secret knitting project that I am doing for a pattern test...we'll see. I'm trying not to start anything new till I make some nice headway on something. Maybe the hat--fair isle is sounding rather attractive to me at the moment.

What else has happened--I caught whatever bug that has been flying around, so a little over a week ago, I started getting sick on Friday night, slept it off, and while not having a fever or not feeling terrible on Saturday, my stomach was a little off. But nothing major for me. Sunday, however...I woke up feeling horrid, and basically threw up the entire day, and had a fever for quite a bit. I ended up calling off my class on Monday, because the idea of standing up in front of my students, being nauseous and all--just wasn't very appealing to me. Turned out to be a wise choice, and I slept as much as I could stand, and tried to do a little homework. I ended up calling in sick to "work" on Tuesday. Which was nice, and a little ironic, because I also got a snow day then. Took me another day before I could eat something other than crackers and toast.

Okay, what else...amigurumi swap...I got the CUTEST babe from Ann--looks like me (though Adam asked me if it was Janean Garafalo when he saw it). It is ADORABLE and has the cutest, well, everything. Glasses and everything! Ann got my Totoro, and I still think I need to make one for Adam. Maybe I'll make him an entire set, with a gray one and a white one, too, for Christmas. Hopefully by that point, I'll have time to sit down and focus (speaking of which, spring break is coming up, so I foresee one day of just knitting/crocheting/making things and sitting in front of the TV to watch Lifetime--yay!). Others in the group got adorable little amis, like this cute bear and a cat.

Yesterday, Adam and I went to the Hillary Clinton rally, with Chelsea Clinton/Madeline Albright/Melanie Griffith. I love Madeline Albright, I have to say...she's a phenomenal speaker. Today was a Hillary rally in Akron, but simply no time to go, what with writing a midterm exam and trying to get some of my homework done today (I'll finish up tomorrow).

Something else that I did this month: I went to the PA fiber show--small little show with some lovely yarn. I bought yarn, and some really great patterns, like for a couple Noni bags and one for shibui knits that I am itching to knit, but I have to finish other things first--first things first!

Friday, my family and I went to see Wicked, which is one of my most favorite stage musicals ever. Love it. Thursday, my parents and I saw the Peking Acrobats

I've been lazy

2008-02-08T23:07:00.000-05:00

I won't lie. I've been really lazy and unmotivated. So in terms of knitting/crocheting, I havent' done THAT much, and I think it's partly due to the fact that I got fed up with the baby hat from DaleGarn, which had pattern that wasn't exactly well written all the time. I mean, it's not a difficult thing to knit, but for a while, I was doing things wrong. Ugh. So it is sitting on my shelf, waiting for me to pick it up again. I guess if I have time this weekend, I'll pick my way back through all those little loops to fix those mistakes.

But in other news, I finished my Totoro...and Adam kept trying to take it home with him. (And he knew it's for the amigurumi swap this coming Wednesday)! I am really pleased with it, despite the fact that my finger definetely is a bigger fan of knitting than crochet.

I'm also still working on these mittens. My goal this time is to finish them by Christmas. Certainly I can finish these mittens by Christmas. I just have to finish the pairs!

And in non-knitting related news--these are my trollbeads so far. The new Spring collection comes out this month! Can't wait!

Aching finger

2008-01-26T23:24:00.000-05:00

I think I prefer knitting to crochet. I fear that my crochet hook is really kind of uncomfortable. I probably need one of those squishy things to put on the hook...but I don't know--depends on if I decide to become a hard-core amigurumi factory.

My SnB group is having an amigurumi swap, and I am making something pretty cute. Though before I could start, the incomparable Andi had to teach us the basics of single crochet, increases, decreases, and making a circle shape. Then I picked my pattern, and started on it. But pretty soon, it started taking on a very odd shape: all steep on one end and flat on the other. Actually, it looked rather like a yarmulke. I contemplated making a yarmulke, but decided that maybe this really wasnt' the time to do that.

But this was my first attempt at crochteting the start of the amigurumi...

So I ended up ripping it out, and starting over again. Got about 5 rows in before I started getting rather sleepy, and decided to pick it up again in the morning.

As I did a few more rows in the morning, I realized I still was getting that odd half-flat shape, so I tried again, but this time used a stitch marker to keep track of where I was (I suppose my memory must be going?

It started looking a little more like a bowl, or a mini bucket hat, as evidenced in the next picture.

Then I started getting really excited and kept on going, even as I watched a rather bad "action/suspense" movie on Lifetime (it was something with Lauren Holly being a police officer and a serial killer, who was obsessed with killing the doctors who chose not to abort him, etc., etc. Quite a cop-out at the end. But anyway, the amigurumi is shaping up, and together and is looking quite neat already. As I mentioned, I have a love-hate relationship with crochet; I like that I can make amigurumi, but I hate the way that my fingers ache. Or maybe it's because I've been doing this throughout the whole day? And tomorrow, I'm going to try and not do too much amigurumi--I must do my readings for school! And class prep! Stuff like that, which is supposed to make me look all responsible and grown-up

Now as far as knitting, I've also been working on a baby hat for my friend's baby (who is going to be born in February). Anyhow, it's not a difficult pattern, but it's not well written--I think because it's originally a Norwegian pattern, and something gets kind of lost in the translation. So I've done too many increases, when there really should only be two increases per row. What a pain--I have to rip back a bunch of rows so I can set things right. I'm not in the mood to do that right now, because of the amigurumi.

But when the hat is done, it should look very cute.

Before I started the crochet amigurumi, fear struck a chord in my heart, and I decided that I should knit one small toy/amigurumi in case crochet took a while to figure out.

Behold the Kiwi!

Here I am!

2008-01-04T22:43:00.000-05:00

The new year begins. And with that, I share with you some of my goals for the new year.

1) knit something lace. without getting the random, abstract holey-patterns.

2) Write an actual knitting pattern.

3) de-stash. This means: no new yarn, unless I absolutely need it. I think some of my dream projects may need to take a back-burner for a little while. And some people may get some lovely yarn as a result of de-stashing.

And this is my attempt at #1:

I've always said that I hated knitting lace. The reason is that I end up with holes in all the wrong places and can't quite figure out how to get back to a place where I should be. But after seeing the scarf that someone in my group made for her secret scarf pal, I was inspired. I loved this pattern so much (Brooke's Column of Leaves) that I just had to try it. When I went to see my friend NK a few days after Christmas, her grandma took us to this yarn store (Birds of a Feather), where I saw this sparkly yarn. And you know how much I LOVE sparkly. So of course, I had to get it...and was wondering the entire time what I was going to do with dark grey sparkly yarn. Make a lace scarf, of course!

And while I spent a few hours knitting the first 12 rows repeatedly, ending up with the wrong number of stitches and holes in the wrong places, I frogged them and started over again. I'll admit that the first rows aren't perfect, but after a while I can handle it. As for memorizing the pattern, no way can I do that! My memory is starting to get patchy now, and for me to memorize a knitting pattern where I have to keep track of yarn overs, decreases...yeah, right. But it has gotten to the point when I can sort of watch TV and knit at the same time. Ok, I can "watch" the TV commercials and knit at the same time. The first few rows, I had to talk myself through the pattern. Anyone who would have happened upon me would have heard: "slip one, knit two. one, two. Slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over...yarn over...knit two. One, two. Purl two. One, two. Knit seven. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...okay. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Knit two together. Yarn over...where am I? Yarn over...no, I did that..." and you get the idea, right till the end, where I say to myself, "Yarn over, knit four, slip one...One, two, three, four...huh? I missed a stitch somewhere? Great, I have to start over again."

This other scarf is the Vogue anniversary scarf, with 25 individual flowers. While the scarf and flowers are not difficult to knit, the process of weaving in all the ends is quite tedious. If I do this again...hmm. If ever, I will make sure I have lots of time to weave in ends. This scarf went to my secret pal in my SnB group exchange.

Shall I learn to crochet?

2007-12-26T22:37:00.000-05:00

Actually I've been so busy, especially with work (leading up to Christmas) and dealing with busy crowds...selling a lot of Trollbeads in the past two weeks (I swear, I must be the only one selling them to new people)! I've been working nearly every day, actually, and am quite exhausted. (Today, being the day after Christmas, I am especially exhausted). On Christmas Eve, I didnt' sleep well (no, I was not expecting Santa Claus). But I was just so exhausted, not to mention that I had some bizarre dreams that I was yelling at my ex-boyfriend (!) about Very Awful Things that happened. Very weird.

My (current) boyfriend ;) gave me some knitting things: a bag from knitty.com, a t-shirt about not sharing needles and a mug that says, "knitaholic". Cute, huh?

In trollbeads news, I had a bit of excitement: I have a Facebook fan club for Trollbeads, and a couple days ago, a couple of the artists for the beads actually joined the group! How cool is that? And my mom and dad got me a necklace that I've been coveting (trollbeads, of course). I have no beads as of yet--I sold almost everything I love to customers, because, well, profit is not a bad thing to have at all.

In knitting news: scarf swap (I put my camera somewhere and I am too pooped to go find it and its memory card) was cool. I finished the scarf I made for my secret knitting pal, who turned out to be Laura. I used the pattern from Vogue Knitting. My scarf is BEAUTIFUL (the one that was knitted by the incomparable Meg. I will post pictures later (when I figure out where I put my camera...) Thanks to Meg!

And because the scarf swap was so much fun, we're doing an amigurumi swap. Now, I am a knitter, not a crocheter, so this will be interesting. I found a cute knitted pattern that I am dying to try, and I think I may try to crochet something. Maybe this will be the kick in the pants that I need, in order to get a little better at crochet. We'll see how that goes. I may end up knitting two little amigurumi things instead, but I'll try my hand at crocheting something a little simpler to start with. We shall see how this works out.

Whoo-hoo

2007-12-06T23:22:00.000-05:00

This week, we discussed factor analysis in statistics. I don't remember a thing from the lecture. Because at this point, it doesn't matter, but maybe in the future, it will, and I will have regretted not paying 100% attention. it's a bit like having senioritis.

And today was my LAST learning and conditioning class. We talked about amnesia, which is something I hope I never have. Today was also my last reading processes class, and it's like having a huge weight lifted off my chest, though I still have to finish up a paper (I am seriously almost done), write an exam, and study my head off and get all this reading done prior to the exam, so that I can at least squeak by with a B or a B- .

I also probably was not very nice to my annoying student on Wednesday. Call it a culumnation of frustration with her, but my irritation has been building over this entire semester. She always asks, "Is this going to be on the exam?"--but she never asks in class--it's always after class and she'll keep me for a long time, and I have been very annoyed with that fact. I was ready to lose it. She didnt' ask me, "Is this going to be on the exam?" but she did ask, "Should I study this?" and I said, "I can't tell you what to study or not to study, because it's not fair for me to tell you and not tell the other 55 students in the class." At this point, I knew I was getting snippy, but I didnt' much care at that point. For those of you who know me, you know I'm not the type to do that. But just all this frustration. Then I think she tried to kiss up to me, cause she was all like, "Well, I know that you must be so smart that you can understand this material so easily, but everyone studies a different way, blah blah", and the thing that went through my head...truth be told...I was one of the few people who didnt' get an A in anatomy and physiology, and I struggled with this very same topic that I teach. Ha! I think I told her something like how she just has to study her notes, get the book (which I recommended to her like 4 times! and she still did not get)!

I hope she is not in my class next semester. If she is, I will have to take a very deep breath. I have to stop writing about her, because it makes me mad all over again. I hope that if she plans to be a speech pathologist, that she doesn't make it into the program, because for someone to pretty much want to be spoon-fed all the answers tells me that maybe this person isn't exactly the type of person who would be able to think on her feet and be quick enough to come up with solutions. Much of what is done is, how do I say...we have to be able to synthesize all the information and be able to connect the dots between the various clinical things and anatomical and theoretical. And I can tell she doesn't get it.

Here's a good example. I gave an entire lecture on the cochlea for THREE DAYS. In my lecture (powerpoints) I had multiple pictures of the cochlea, which depicted the structures (including the basilar membrane, tectorial membrane, etc.) and she didn't understand that all the things I was talking about was all in the cochlea. She kept me literally for 2 hours one day, and at the end...she was like..."OH! So the basilar membrane is in the cochlea!"

Well duh. That's what the entire 3 days was about, and none of my other students had that problem. Or perhaps they took the time to look at the diagrams and photos. I know this is mean, but I don't want this student to do well on her exam.

Now I need to talk about happier topics, so I can go to sleep not feeling annoyed. Then I went to Joanns to pick up some knitting needles--the ones I needed are currently on another project, so I thought I'd just go ahead and get myself another pair. See, what happened is that I started a scarf for my SnB secret pal person, and picked it up...lost some of the stitches and my stitch marker for the beginning of the round fell off. I'm not about to count off hundreds of stitches again, so I am doing something different. I've started it already and I feel like I'm making progress. It's in a lovely shade, and the yarn is so nice and soft. It's definetely a unique pattern, and it's very easy (that is, I can watch TV and knit at the same time. Not that I have loads of time to do so--but tomorrow, I ought to be able to knit for a couple hours before heading off to work!)

Just a few more weeks!

2007-11-29T21:50:00.000-05:00

A few weeks ago, some of us went to PnP, which was a nice, relaxing sort of trip. Considering that I've been an absentee member of the group this semester, this was much-needed and very much welcome--just to get away and knit. Not that I got a lot done, but I did get started on one mitten for a gift. Having tired of the pattern, I decided to start a different mitten pattern before returing to size 1 needles. It was tedious, to say the least! Once it's done, and once Christmas is over, I will post pictures of my gifts. i'd hate to ruin any surprises!

I also did lots of grading at the retreat. very, very exciting stuff.

In other news, I've just started on my scarf swap scarf. I am hoping it all turns out okay, but the pattern is pretty easy. However, it is knit longways, so it feels like it takes forever just to get one row done. It's going to be fun. Once I've got a little more, there will be pictures somewhere.

The Tech Bag is looking good--even though it's fallen by the wayside due to my other gift projects. I'm thinking this is actually a lot of fun, and I really like the idea of using color cables in stuff. So now I'm really getting into the color stuff, fair isle and stuff too. I'm getting some good ideas--just have to see if I can carry them through.

2007-11-06T22:27:00.000-05:00

I'll be honest. I am a bona fide geek, but not by choice.

Why, you may ask?

Next Monday is an official holiday (Veteran's Day) which we have off from the university...and I am so excited. Not because I have a day off--but because I have a day off, I have time to do homework! I have the WHOLE weekend -- well, Sunday, PLUS Monday to write a paper (or at least get started), do my lecture planning, and my psychology homework and my statistics homework! And I can actually sleep a little more! Perhaps I'll even have time to pick up the clothes from the floor of my bedroom! Wow! Oh, yeah, and knit. And I will always have time for Dancing with the Stars, which is my guilty obsession and pure moment of being brain-dead for about an hour and a half. This is very exciting, indeed.

Other points of excitement: Although I have very little time to knit anymore, I do have a little more of the tech bag completed (there is a small mistake, but I will not point it out. It adds to the charm of the bag, I suppose. Isn't there something about those rug-weavers who have a small mistake to add their signature to their rugs?)

And, I have an actual vacation coming up (hence, another reason to be very excited about Veteran's Day; I can get homework completed before I go to Peak-n-Peek (or is it Peek-n-Peak?)

I just have to make it through the rest of this week. I've an exam on Thursday and I feel very unprepared. Hopefully with some maniac studying tomorrow, I'll at least be okay with the material to scrape by with a "B"--which is what I'll be happy with. I will buy myself something nice (i.e., a new Trollbead) if I can scrape through it all. I hope I can be okay on the exam--the material is not intuitive for me, but I'll try.

Human tetris

2007-10-29T21:37:00.001-04:00

Is this not one of the weirdest things you've seen?

Whew

2007-10-24T21:51:00.000-04:00

The next couple weeks, dear readers, are going to be hectic. I've been at work the past week, practically had a meltdown earlier this week (ensuing in sobs and sniffles--ok, so I was also sick--can I help it if I make a very bad sickie? And I really, really wasn't in the mood to teach, but I went anyway?) The upside--no statistics homework this week (YAY) but I know it translates to stressfully difficult homework next week. Ah, well. Can't win them all.

So what else--last Thursday, Friday, and Saturday I worked at the store, since it was Sweetest Day (no, my boyfriend did NOT get me anything, since he stubbornly insists that Sweetest Day is a "fake holiday"). I think I have a little more work to do on him. It is my duty as a gift shop girl to make my men recognize holidays of all sorts. Especially where I am the lucky recipient.

In other news (here is more shameless plugging for our store--maybe someone will read this ? Our store is having a Trollbeads Trunk Show at Vale Edge Hallmark & Florist in Ravenna, Ohio on November 2, from 6-9 PM (mark your calendars, ladies, and bring your girlfriends. Guys, don't be like my boyfriend--get those women (mom, sister, girlfriend, wife, daughter, grandma, niece) a Trollbeads Bracelet. I guarantee they are very cool. Anyway, we will be having drawings for free beads...our rep will be there with what looks like a gazillion beads, and we have an amazing special for that evening: Buy 3 beads, get the bracelet absolutely free. If that isn't a deal, I don't know what is. Need a reminder about what a Trollbead bracelet looks like? Here's mine (I just need a couple more beads and I can finish this one off!)

It is also Hallmark Holiday Open House that weekend. Now, I've got a funny story about this. My parents completely forgot that the Open House is in just a bit over a week--and they couldn't figure out why I, or our day manager were so stressed out. Our employee is stressed because she has been trying to make sure everything is in place at the store (i.e., ornaments, cards, displays, etc.), while I kept bugging my mom to please bring home the things I need to print out and organize on the computer, so everything is all sent out and stuff. It just occurred to them today why both the manager and I were practically tearing our hair out (and this also contributed to my sick-stress meltdown on Monday, too).

Also, I've started the tech bag, designed by Andi. Pretty cool if I say so, myself. I am getting used to knitting with colored cables and stuff. Quite fun stuff.

Whew.

2007-10-09T23:02:00.000-04:00

Only a few more days left in the week.

And, no learning and conditioning class on Thursday, but still I have Reading Processes.

Good thing: I am DONE with my first exam of the semester--so on Friday, I am going to buy myself a Trollbead for all my hard work (even if I made up answers for my question about Panic Disorders and Anxiety Attacks. What's funny is that my classmate also made up the same, or similar answer).

This is what I am getting:--Carly by Trollbeads. The story: A distinct voice and a unique personality. Carly Simon was one of the strong female artists of the seventies, who made quite the statement in the music scene with her hit “You’re so vain”.

I can't wait!!! I've not bought any beads since August (when my class ended). I've been very good about not randomly buying beads, but still have been lusting over them. Can you tell I am completely hooked???

In knitting news, I will be working on the tech bag sometime soon (my SnB group is having a knit-a-long)-- Andi over at KnitBrit.com will be teaching us all how to do that.

Argh

2007-10-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

I have finished grading exams for my professor. Problem though--I need to do a corrected exam score, because no one-- I repeat -- NO ONE got a score in the A range! Ugh. And the prof gave me some complicated way of adding points to the grade, but I can't, for the life of me, figure out how to do it. I'm tempted to just make the highest score a 100%, since only 5 people actually ended up in the "B" range, before a corrected score. We'll see. I'll sleep on it tonight.

Know what's cool?

2007-10-02T00:12:00.000-04:00

What's really cool?

Today one of the volunteer editors saw a picture of a hat that I knitted, and they put it up on the front page of that particular pattern--check it out! Very cool, isn't it?

And in other news--I am back to teaching, and taught my first class today, which went better than I thought it would. Now just need to get through the rest of the semester--LOL! Tomorrow I will write my lecture (somehow) and start grading exams. Hopefully the math will click for my students on Wednesday.

I'm skipping Rhinebeck this year, though :( Oh well.

Pooped

2007-09-27T22:37:00.001-04:00

Frankly, I'm just a wee bit pooped. It's been a stressful couple weeks, what with school getting turned topsy-turvy, and my schedule changing like crazy. Not to mention endless meetings with professors and not a whole lot of time to myself. (But when I DO have time, I end up knitting a couple rows and watching a sitcom or something). Essentially, in the last week, I've had about 3 or 4 meetings with various professors and people of importance, which is tiring, considering one of them works at a hospital about an hour away. Well, actually that one isn't a professor, but rather, a former professor of mine, who I'll be doing my independent study with. For those who knew me back in the day, when I went to college, the words "independent study" combined with "short" and "balding" should give you an idea who I'll be working with. Not that I mind, but I'm just exhausted thinking about it. Despite that, I still wake up super early in the mornings--I blame all those early morning meetings that I've been running to!

One of the other professors that I met is one that had surgery this Wednesday. In anticipation for surgery, they quickly arranged for me to teach his undergraduate course in hearing science, and need I say, I barely remember any of those topics. And it frightens me when I tell people I am going to teach hearing science, and then they grimace, and brightly say, "Oh, you'll be great!" This includes the aforementioned former professor as well as some of my PhD student colleagues. I'll just tell my students to bear with me for a week or so; they do know that this was a sudden thing. Hopefully they'll forgive all the math that I may butcher. (By the way, I really don't like math, despite the fact that I have, in the span of about 4 semesters, taken three statistics courses).

The sad part is that when I knit (unless I am taking the time for appointment TV -- that is, Ugly Betty or Dancing with the Stars), I feel like I'm wasting time! And that's not a good way to be! I blame the PhD program!

Yes, I am alive!

2007-09-14T21:59:00.000-04:00

I actually haven't been posting lately, mostly because (1) I've been lazy, or (2) haven't been knitting THAT much. Some, but not a lot. But I made some little baby sweaters with some oddball yarns that I have left over. One is this one:

It's a sweater from Debbie Bliss baby. Actually, i made another one, it's pinkish (actually makes me think of froot loops) but I dont' know where it is. it is somewhere in my mom's suitcase, and it's been squirreled away for my cousin, who is expecting a baby girl sometime this fall. I'm afraid to dig through her suitcase, because I dont' want to mess anythign up.

I'm also working on my Boatneck sweater from Fitted Knits. Had some issues with it (wrong gauge! Ack!) But I will be patient as possible!

I've also started classes again, so I was rather stressed out for a couple weeks, and not sleeping well. But a week or so ago, Amy, Martha, Andi, and I went down to Columbus for a yarn trip, really enjoyed Temptation Yarns. we also checked out Yarnmarket, which was pretty impressive and has a lot more yarn than you think it would.

In other (exciting) news--I have a ravelry account! Find me at jukeboxheroine! Whee! It's addicting, like myspace or facebook. But without the crazy blond hos who want to be your "friend."

Post #101

2007-08-05T22:39:00.000-04:00

Well, I didn't realize that my last post was the 100th post! If I'd known, maybe I would have done something celebratory? (P.S., I apologize in advance for any wonkyness in the way the blog post looks--for all the empty spaces and words that blogger refuses to change. Oh well.)

But over the past few weeks, here is what has happened: I am in class (ugh), BUT it's not too bad, just at a lousy time in the day: right smack dab in the middle of the afternoon. But at least my friend Tameka (blogless) is in it, as well as this guy, who was in my quant class all last semester...but I couldn't figure out where I had seen him, and I found him on friendster.com. Turns out we both went to the same, small undergraduate college--and lived in the same DORM. Hilarity ensued--but even more so when this other guy (he looks a couple years older than me) overheard us and mentioned that he also went the same college, too. Ha! Small world!

But in terms of knitting content:

This is the Sunflower Tam from Knitting Nature by Norah Gaughn. Very pretty. A little aggravating at times to knit, becuase I had to pay attention to which stitches I was on, and oops, I dropped some stitches off the dpns at the end. And the tam makes my head look big, but it is kind of cute. I may make another of these in a different yarn, too. It's kind of hard to resist the pattern.

I also started a knitting project this past Tuesday from Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel, and I have the yoke finished, and the beginnings of one sleeve. I'm really pleased. It's my exercise in stash-busting. After this, I think I'll try the mohair wrap sweater in Fitted Knits, or maybe something with this nice caramel colored yarn that I have.

In other non-knitting news, I am still in love with Trollbeads. We had our first private bead party on Friday, and actually it turned out to be fun and a good thing--and I'm hoping we'll have a few more in the future (it's a good way to make a good deal of profit in a couple hours. Not to mention that there are some CUTE trollbeads out now for the summer--such as this one:

From top to bottom : The Juggler, Circus Elephant, and Double Flower

The story behind the Juggler: The three balls (pearl, coral and lapis lazuli) dance through the air faster and faster, while the juggler slowly and effortlessly bends her back around the chain till she is standing on her head. A world-class artist.

The story behind Circus Elephant: The circus elephant is everybody's favorite. It tumbles good naturedly around the circus ring in its own playful way.

The story behind Double Flower (which is prettier in person, too): In the summer night, they open up. Fragile and soft in the moonlight, up against the cobalt blue sky that never really darkens this time of year.

A true sign of geekdom.

2007-07-25T00:11:00.000-04:00

If you take this test, let me know how you scored!

Your Score: The Cultured One

70 Opera Composers, 60 Pasta

Great job! You were able to identify many pastas and many opera composers. This classifies you as a wonderful. And a nerd.

Link: The Pasta or Opera Composer Test written by batedserenity on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Whew!

2007-07-13T22:40:00.000-04:00

All right, so I am back from vacation! I actually did sit down here a few times after I came home, but the idea of writing every single thing down into this blog just exhausted me to death. So here is a very quick rundown (as quick as I can make it).

Sunday (departure from Cleveland): We miss our flight (leaving at 8:30 AM. Damn. We're not sure if it's our fault or the airlines, or no one's. The line was impossibily long. We get booked on the 12:45 flight instead). In a way it is a good thing, because I was on the flight with someone I used to work with on my rotations, and my family actually got to eat a leisurely breakfast before we went. (And lunch, too, even though they also served us breaded chicken patty sandwiches, a salad and M&Ms.) But the best part?

This:

I wasn't even brave enough to get near Anderson Varejao (for those of you not in the know, he's one of the Cleveland Cavaliers). My brother, on the other hand, has no shame, so he asked the guy for a picture with him. Anderson Varejao is incredibly nice, by the way. And I'm sure the girl with him (girlfriend? Quick shag? not sure) thought it was hilarious that all the people in the airport kept bugging the guy for pictures.

Arrival in Las Vegas: HOT Even though I hated the humidity in Ohio, this was worse. I baked instead of steamed. We did see the Bellagio (the dancing water fountain is beyond awesome--"Singing in the Rain").

Monday: Went all over to different hotels/casinos, and some guy at Planet Hollywood accosted us and asked if we wanted free tickets to a show, and a free dinner. The trade-off? We'd have to listen to a 90 minute presentation about Westgate Resorts. Okay. We did that. My brother prolonged the 90 minutes into two hours, by asking our salesperson a steady stream of questions. We saw Cirque du Soleil (Mystere) at Treasure Island. Way cool.

Tuesday: We saw the Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, and a Joshua Tree Forest (the largest in the world, in fact).

We also got our free dinner at Planet Dailies (yummy) and saw Lance Burton (yawn, I think I would have loved it more if I was about 18 years younger--am I really that old? eep.)

Wednesday: Last minute sight-seeing. Home. Finally we get to fly home...we arrive at the airport at 8:15 PM...dawdle a bit, as our flight does not leave till 11:30 (we're paranoid about missing the flight, given our experience with the flight on Sunday).

We make it to our gate after being lazy (dad gambled away his money on the slot machines in the airport)...only to hear an announcement that our flight has been delayed till 1:30 AM (Las Vegas time!)! So we wait in the airport for hours, half asleep/asleep. I talked to the woman next to me, who is a pit boss at Planet Hollywood. Interesting conversation and a very well-traveled woman.

I'm glad to be home.

2007-07-05T22:12:00.001-04:00

There's my sunrise circle jacket, minus the buttons! Yay! I was worried because when I blocked it, it was so huge and I was worried I'd have to make it all over again, but after washing it, it started fitting a bit better. The sleeves are a bit long, but it's cozy and good feeling. I've found several buttons online that I really like, but I'll wait till I come back from Vegas before I buy them.

I'm going to place an order at knitpicks for some undyed yarn and a few needles...and maybe a book (so I can get the free shipping). We'll see. Martha's going to have a dye day, so I need to be prepared for it...even if I end up being a little cash poor this month.

Dream yarns

2007-06-28T15:58:00.000-04:00

Ok, so here are some yarns that I want to try knitting with (hint: none of them are Noro)....The other day, I stopped by Miss Chickpea's, and I saw some awesome yarn...

Like:

Ozark Handspun

Lampes Lumps (pictured below)

and Bamboo yarn.

I'm also curious about this ceramic yarn that I've heard about...

In knitting news, I am seaming up the sweater! (yeah!) It's all blocked and everything, just need to put it together and find some great buttons.

In other (non-knitting) news, I have been busy these past few days, doing work--we have some HUGE events coming up, such as the Kent Fest, and our Hallmark Ornament Premiere...so we're getting everything ready and ship-shape. Not to mention that I think we're going to promote the heck out of trollbeads and Chamilia (did you forget what those look like? Here's a reminder:

In a few weeks, we're going to have a huge special on Trollbeads & Chamilia--buy 3 beads, and you can get the bracelet for $25 (regularly priced at $48--that's a savings of almost half, people! Interested? let me know...)

Today, I went to the library (huge used book sale), and I walked away with some really great books, like 3 textbooks (2 statistics books and one about advertising, each were 75 cents!) and a lot of books like The Poisonwood Bible (75 cents, looks like someone read it once), a hardback of "The Perfume" by Patrick Sueskind (So I have the German language version, but I'd like to see the movie sooner than later to compare...I am sooooo slow at reading the German, though that book may come with me to Las Vegas), Middlesex (1.50), "The Curious Incident of the Dog in Nighttime ($1.00). Not bad. Many more. I also picked up some knitting books with some of the most horrifying patterns I've seen in my life, but each of them have like, one redeeming pattern or style...so I figure 75 cents per book isn't too bad. Not to mention a copy of Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. (one dollar). Not a bad haul. Now I just need the time to read everything. (Oh, and I found a couple autographed books for a dollar each! How cool is that?)

Viva Las Vegas!

2007-06-25T21:27:00.000-04:00

Well, in July, my family and I are headed off to Las Vegas (somewhere we've never been, for all our traveling)...hopefully it will be stress-free (I need and LOVE stress-free).

In other news, I have been busy doing things like...making ads for our store, websites, a store blog, etc...because we have Webkinz...lots and lots of them at our store. I'm not even kidding about how many we have. Think I'm kidding? This doesn't even scratch the surface. In the backroom, we have piles of boxes, too.

Not to mention that we have tons of events coming up, so I've been making coupons, flyers, mailers, etc., etc. See, I don't necessarily need to be an audiologist. Give me a computer and I can whip together a few choice things for a small business. Special talent of mine, I suppose...

But on the job front: I may have a per diem position through the university! I'm just in the process of all the paperwork stuff. Fun.

In knitting content...I was hoping to get the sunrise circle jacket finished, but I'm still finishing up the back (not too much left now! Maybe I can finish everything on Wednesday, except for the buttons? That would be great if I could!

This week, I will post some of the yarns I long to knit with...stay tuned...

Happy Birthday to ME!!

2007-06-19T09:14:00.000-04:00

(I'm off MY diet too!)

My dad woke me up early this morning (being a birthday girl and all, I was hoping to sleep in...oh well. I'm awake now). He wanted to talk to my brother and me, to get our ideas about what to do for my parents' anniversary...both my brother and I were so groggy and sleepy, and you could tell. But dad was thinking of taking a trip or something...Despite the fact that my brother and I think it would be great if dad and mom went on a trip together, ALONE, he wants to make it a family vacation.

So far, we've come up with New York, Vegas, Chicago...anyone have any ideas? Something quick (weekend trip) and not too expensive? Or even in Ohio, if we can't make it out of state? If so, let me know what your ideas are...(post in comments or drop me an email).

And, if you're looking for Webkinz (shameless plug), we received a shipment at our store: Vale Edge Blog.

One day away!

2007-06-18T17:14:00.000-04:00

Good news:

Garfield is now celebrating his countdown to his 29th birthday, which makes me oh-so-very happy.

And here are pictures that I promised:

This is the back of my sweater--or what I have of it so far. I'm pretty excited that I've made it this far. I'm going to finish as much as I can this week (all of it?) we shall see!

This is what the front portion (and sleeves) of the sweater look like. It's actually a much prettier turquoise shade in person.

When I came home from work...this package was waiting for me...It's from my Secret Pal, and inside were some goodies for my birthday...

Some Noro yarn, with a great pattern (I seriously can't wait to try it! I am going to finish that sweater first, though!), a copy of Domiknitrix, some C-H-O-C-O-L-A-T-E , including a square of Ritter Sport, which always brings back memories of Germany (I had a friend, Aaron, who was hooked on this particular brand--so every time we went grocery shopping (or shopping), he always had to buy chocolate. And there is the cutest stationary. Between this and the cute sheep book, I have no idea where you find this cute paper! I love this package, and I've had a great pal--so thanks so much to Suzie!

I just wanted to show you a close-up of the awesome scarf pattern (the Noro yarn goes with this)...it's really great! (Shoji screen wrap and scarf pattern).

And, I wonder if I can get my boyfriend to wear this (Mohawk hat from Domiknitrix)?

Countdown to June 19

2007-06-17T22:16:00.000-04:00

I was disappointed that there were no Garfield birthday comic strips over the past week, or even today. It's become a tradition for me, over the past few years, to read those strips.

And it's because Garfield and I actually have the same birthday (June 19). This year, Garfield will be 29 years old, and I'll be 28. Ever since I was about 9 or 10 (when I found out that Garfield and I share the same birthday, he has remained my favorite cat, and I'm sure that's part of the reason why I grew up loving Italian food ;) I hope that Jim Davis will have a birthday comic strip for Garfield on Tuesday. Or else that will be a sad start to my birthday, indeed.

As far as knitting, I finished the right front for my sunrise circle jacket (yeah!) and I am working on the back--and now am feeling MUCH better about being able to finish everything--thus, accomplishing my goal to make at least one sweater this summer--because I plan on making another one this summer! Yeah!

I'll post pictures tomorrow. I haven't taken them yet.

And yesterday, the boyfriend and I went to an Indian Restaurant, and we had pretty bad service but a great waiter who noticed that no one was serving us...so he waited on us...and we got free ice cream...coconut and pistachio. Actually I hate coconut.

The reason?

It tastes like suntan lotion to me.

I told Adam as such, after trying a little bite of the coconut ice cream, and the poor guy had a hard time eating the ice cream afterward--because he was like..."you're right. it DOES taste like suntan lotion. You ruined it for me!"

3-0

2007-06-12T23:56:00.000-04:00

Whew. Apparently Blogger has some feature where you can type in Hindi. Hmm. I'm not sure that people could undestand what I write, if I type things out in Hindi--but that's kind of cool.

Anyway, when my blogger suddenly started spouting out Hindi, I got really distracted from my annoyance, so I am not sure I can do it justice...

But...

WHAT THE HECK IS UP WITH THE CAVS??? How come they're playing so bad? And LeBron was totally fouled at the end! Augh!

Lest you think I'm a rabid basketball fan, I'm not. I don't watch sports, but when one's sports team makes it to the finals (and come on, Cleveland? Our football team stinks, and I don't even know when the Cavs were in the playoffs, and I know we've yet to win a pennant in the World Series...)

So yes, I care. For this time being.

And I did knit a couple rows during tense moments of the game. Apparently I knit faster when there's more tension.

Pictures!

2007-06-08T22:52:00.000-04:00

So I promised some pictures!

So first...some knitting ones from the package that I described yesterday...I love the fact that the box is pink:

And oh, why did the package have to come right before I left for work? I tried not to open it before I left. I lasted about 30 seconds, and this is what I saw inside (minus the biscuits and the chocolate).

There's some moisturizer (specially made, lemony-scented stuff which smells delicious), some great colorways (Vero), some rosebud tea and lemongrass tea--both of which I am curious to try, as I've never had either before. I'll make myself a pot when I have a few hours to sit down and relax.

Also there was some chocolate. Like this Caramello Koala, which looks cute, from the packaging. I forgot to take pictures of the biscuits. You can see the good magazines--Yarn and Gourmet International--both of which have drool-worthy pictures. Let me show you some of them:

This is all this passionfruit stuff...like a passionfruit semifreddo with mango and raspberry salad...and passionfruit vanilla slice...

Or how about this meringue stack with raspberries and cream? The magazine is like this. Sure, there are things I'm not quite clear on what they are, like baby shiso, treviso, or cevelo nero. But I'll find out ;) I'm not kidding, I was ready to lick the pages--especially the ones with the desserts--or even the "southern style barbecue" stuff with ribs and cornbread. Yum. But I don't think magazine papers have that finesse.

As far as the Yarn magazine, I like this red sweater...I think I can wear somethign like this.

And wouldn't those coffee/tea cosies make great Christmas gifts?

And for some odd reason, I am fascinated by this sweater, despite the fact that it would probably make me look heavy (those horizontal stripes) but there's something so wonderfully 1920's about it, too.

And aren't you glad that Paris Hilton is going back to jail? This card came in with our shipment today. My co-worker told me, "Nah, they'll never put her back in jail. Too much money." Well, I hope she finishes the rest of her sentence.

This is actually kind of neat. This is some sort of leaf, and on the underside of the leaf...

A flower is blooming! I've never seen that before--and our florist said that in about 20 years, she's only seen this about four or five times. I think this particular floral arrangement is still in the cooler at our store, if you want to buy some roses, with some blooming leaves.

And to make up for all the pictures of pictures of food...here is a picture of some REAL food! This is a tempura banana from Wasabi--this Japanese restaurant we went to for Amy and Rae's birthday. (Yum)

Christmas in June!

2007-06-07T23:04:00.000-04:00

I had several fun things happen today...

1) I met an old acquaintance for breakfast at Wild Goat Cafe (yummy breakfasts)...She brought her knitting along, as she had some questions about knitting, so we did that a little bit before our breakfasts came (I had, what I call the breakfast sampler...a little of everything) and it was yummy. As we were paying out bills, this older woman (maybe in her 50s or 60s) came up to us and asked us what we were making. After oohing and ahhing over our scarves, she talked with us at great length about knitting, her knitting group, their projects, etc., etc.. J. was like, that was a weird experience. LOL. I suppose there is some sort of code among knitters...there's a strange kinship about sharing what you're doing and what you're doing (and the names of different festivals and such)...

2) We then hit up the library across the street--which looks more like a bookstore than a library now, that they've done all this remodeling and stuff. Found some fun books and a couple classic movies. (Odd that my hometown library has a huge stock of indie favorites and Hindi movies, as well as blockbusters--and this particular library is oozing classic movies and strange things like "Bill Nye the Science Guy: Digestion"). I also borrowed a couple CDs on tape--I tried listening to Guy Noir (Garrison Keillor) as I was driving, but I found that the more I listened to it, the less attention I paid to driving (I think being alive and intact would be a good thing), so I tried Bill Bryson (same thing), so I finally tried Ruth Reichl (I had been pronouncing her name "Rye-kl", as I would for a german name. However it is pronounced, "Ryechel", or something close to that). That book is fine for listening to in the car...nice, measured tones, no music in the background...

3) I got a package! Thanks to Lara (Discoknitter)! I got the package today, right before I was about to leave for work. It was pink (the packing)...and inside, there were yummy things, such as biscuits/cookies, a candy bar, handmade moisturizer, some very pretty yarn, and two lovely magazines (one of them that has lots of great spinning tips and some pretty sweater patterns!) I will have to take pictures tomorrow...they are coming soon, I promise! Lara's been a great pal--and a very interesting person...and a fun one to write to. Thanks, Lara!

4) I am debating a Trollbead purchase. Sigh. Decisions, decisions.

5) Our store has Webkinz. If you are interested, please visit our store here, or over here. We have shipments!

Links!

2007-06-06T00:57:00.000-04:00

I created some fun, cute buttons for linking to this site...if you want to grab one, feel free to do so. If you like any of them, please save them to your computer (right click on the image and save. Be sure to link the image to this blog.)

I'm back! (Whoo-hoo!)

2007-05-27T20:54:00.000-04:00

Actually, I really didn't go anywhere, but was just busy. Busy cleaning up, having parties at my house, knitting, and resting up (and reading a little bit). So, this is what I am working on.

I had to frog the back, because (silly me) I hate doing gauge swatches (you think I'd know by now...) and didn't do a good job of figuring out the gauge...and wound up with a back that was big enough for a person who's like, 6'5" or maybe about LeBron James' height. So I decided to just knit the fronts first. I tell ya, it feels like it takes forever because you not only knit the sleeve, but you knit the sleeve and the front at the same time. So it feels like you've not accomplished much...but you actually have.

I'm almost done with the left front and left sleeve. Hopefully I'll finish that tomorrow, and can get started on the right side (which will feel like it's taking just as long, if not longer, as I probably will start working a little more this week). Then the dreaded back (again!). Oh, by the way, I figured out the gauge this time. Sigh. Just had to go down a needle size.

As far as other yarn/knitting content goes: I went to the Great Lakes Fiber Festival in Wooster, which I think was a blast. I only took about 3 pictures there, I think I had a brain burp, and though i said I was going to take pictures of the barn interiors, I forgot to do that, except in several cases. But there was lots of lovely yarn and the crazy buffalo lady (did you know you could spin yarn from buffalo coats? I sure didn't. Not till I was looking at some lovely alpaca yarn, and wandered to the next booth, where the lady cornered my poor boyfriend and told him stuff like, how buffalo wool is so durable, that she had a pair of socks made from buffalo wool, and all her lambswool/sheep/alpaca/angora/etc. fell apart in less than 5 years, but her buffalo wool socks have stayed in good shape for years and years. And that she cried when she learned how many buffalo were killed back then (enough to feed and clothe the entire western hemisphere). Poor boyfriend. He wanted so badly to get away from the buffalo lady, but couldnt' quite figure out how to end the conversation, but as soon as he saw some potential customers enter the buffalo lady's booth, he was off like a bat out of hell. Hee-hee.

Ok, some of my acquisitions included some very pretty yarn (some as gifts, which i will not post here in case anyone stumbles upon pictures of upcoming gifts), but also some beautiful roving, which is more temptation for me to become proficient at spinning.

Speaking of spinning, there was this absolutely cranky lady who taught me how to use a spindle; she wasn't exactly the most patient person in the world, but I now know how to use a drop-spindle. The boyfriend tried it too, but couldnt' quite get it, and she wasn't very patient with him. You can see how much he loves spindling:

(Hint: He never wants to do it again.)

However, he did enjoy going to the festival, which is a good thing. Plus, he saw some things he almost--I mean it!--almost bought--but his common sense prevailed.

What was it, you ask...

A very cute, very fluffy angora rabbit named Ashley! I'm not even kidding. He was seriously contemplating buying a rabbit!

(Not that I'd mind...hehe. Especially when I can get angora from it). But he thought about it, and was like...well...I'd have to buy all kinds of stuff, like a cage, food, etc., etc....before I can get myself a rabbit. But he did get the lady's phone number, and I would not be surprised, if sometime this year (or next year) he got a rabbit for himself. I think Harvey would be a good name. (Right? ;))

And I got these at the festival:

I will take pictures of the roving later. I'll share those tomorrow or the day after, and think of fun projects for some of these (the last yarn that I showed a picture of--the woman gave me a scarf pattern for it, so I'll try it out.)

And there was sheep judging. The boyfriend was disappointed that it was not a shearing contest.

Ahhhh!

2007-05-18T22:42:00.000-04:00

You know, it's so nice to finally not have to study my poor head off, write inane things about different psychological theories that I don't quite understand (but what little I knew got me an A in the class, anyway, so I am very pleased). It's nice to be done cleaning (save for some minor floor-sweeping/window polishing, etc., before a party on Sunday (surprise party for my mom's friend; her husband is borrowing our house under the guise that my brother will be visiting and wants to see my mom's friend before she leaves for a vacation)...

And since I did not have much to do...(plus, I finished off this great book, The Know-It All by A.J. Jacobs, which is hilarious and informative, and makes me want to read the entire Encyclopaedia Brittanica...so I knitted and watched TV (Home Improvement can be quite fun), as well as watching a couple DVDs (Big Lots: $2! Sadly, I think Big Lots has sold out of all the good stuff) -- Advertising Rules was funny (it had the girl who played Lena in Goodbye Lenin! and the woman who played the daughter in Rosenstrasse)...and I'm with Lucy was cute, even if not stellar. I'd like Henry Thomas, please.

At the same time...I knitted. I'm being all ambitious and am determined to knit down as much of my stash as I can during my holiday...so I've taken that turquoise blue yarn and am making Kate Gilbert's Sunrise Circle Jacket.

So far, this is what I have (I'm working on the back). Not bad for a day's work. The color is a lot better in real life.

I will admit that I am slightly terrified of the front, but I will be brave.

And for the moments when I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing (i.e., SnB knitting, or frenzied Ugly Betty watching (by the way, did any of you watch it????!!! So not fair that I have to wait till next season to find out what will happen. Great way to leave us all hanging, LOL!)

I will admit I'm not super thrilled with the way this looks, but it's okay. Maybe I'll end up giving this to my mom or something. It goes along with my goal to stash-bust as much as I can. After this (and the sweater), I'll start another sweater or vest, and finish up my red Noro scarf. And the super-secret double-knit scarf (it's a secret--i want to fiddle with it a bit more...if all goes well, there will be a pattern!)

I'll post the rest of my works in progress as the weekend (or week) goes on...I've got a few more projects that are on needles (whether or not I like them). Well, I've got another hour before I must sleep (party tomorrow, party Sunday! I am a busy girl! LOL!) so I am going to work in a few more rows on the Sunrise Circle Jacket!