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