Ahhhh.

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!

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:

1. Sleep
2. Watch TV/movies/k-dramas for a week
3. Spring clean
4. Knit! Knit! Knit! without the guilt
5. Work some more
6. Sleep some more
7. 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

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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)

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

It's official.

I have ONE sleeve finished!

Progress on Elizabeth Bennet

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

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

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).