Brain Drain

So, I've let a little time pass in between posts. Sorry about that. No one reads this anyway, so I guess its okay. Let's see, in the time that has passed since January, we bought a house and moved, I graduated with a 2nd Associate's Degree, I went to Argentina for 2 weeks and had the most amazing time, and I've finally started taking classes at a real 4 year, Bachelor-granting university. I am now working on finishing my Bachelor's degree and getting my Elementary Education Teaching certificate. I'm very excited to finally be taking classes that are part of my major rather than endless General Ed classes. I've been knitting all along the way too. Of course. I'm almost done with another pair of socks, when I finish them, I'm going to start on Julia's scarf I promised her I'd make. Its with this really cool yarn she bought in Buenos Aires. So, knitting and crocheting is pretty big there. So big, they actually have a yarn district. It was amazing. There is about 3 city blocks where there are like 20 yarn stores up and down both sides of the street. I was in heaven.

I know its sideways. Give me a break. Here is what the inside of the shop looked like:

It was really cool. I can't wait to go back there. I have no idea when that will be, but I will go back.

Okay, the title of this is Brain Drain. That's because I have a crapload of reading to do this weekend for school and I need to get crackin'. So, that's all for now faithful, nonexistent readers. I promise I won't let as much time go by before the next post.

Mini goals and baby steps

Okay, the blog will now cover more subject matter. This knitter is trying to drop 30 pounds. Its not a New Year's resolution, its a goal to take better care of myself. I'm not following points, I'm not eating special food. I'm just going to eat better and I'm going to get some exercise in there too. They put a gym in our building upstairs at work, so I went up there with a friend today after work. I could really feel that I am out of shape, but it felt good at the same time. Baby steps. I'm not looking at it as losing 30 pounds, right now I'm just trying to lose 10 pounds 3 times. And my mini goal is to drink more water. Next week I'll have a different mini goal. Woo-Hoo, cute clothes in my closet, here I come!!!!! (And all those cute clothes that I can knit for myself!!!)

Snow!!!!!

So hopefully I will be able to post more than one picture today. Its been really cold here in Seattle lately, its finally starting to warm up though. Yesterday it got up to 48 degrees, woo-hoo!! Here's some pictures from about a week ago of the snow around our house.

It was pretty, but I really don't like driving in it. So the snow is pretty much over now, its just still cold, even though its warmer. I can't wait until it starts to warm up in the spring and summer.

So school has started again, and I'm not taking as many classes as I was last quarter, but somehow things don't seem any less busy. I have been able to keep up with some knitting though. I found this great pattern for an ear flap hat, and since I had been wanting to make one for myself, I thought I would try this one.

It seemed to be pretty easy, and I found this really cool yarn to make it with. So I got started on the hat:

I got about this far on it and I just wasn't feeling it. The pattern directions really weren't making that much sense to me, and like I said, I just wasn't feeling it. So, I ripped out the hat and made a scarf instead. I'm much happier with the scarf:

Here is a close up of the scarf, I love this yarn, it is so pretty, I love the color combination:

For Christmas, Justin gave me some cool iron on transfer paper that you can use to design transfers on the computer and then make your own t-shirts and stuff. Here are some of the things I've made so far:

That's all I've made so far. Since school has started, I just haven't had enough time to do all the crafty stuff that I would like to do. Its's all good though, I love school and its going well, so its worth it. Speaking of school, I have Spanish and Algebra homework to do today, so I think that will do it for this post. Git yer knit on everyone!! TTFN...

Happy New Year!!!

Okay, okay, okay, I know I haven't posted for a while. Around the time of my last post things started to get really hectic for me. My allergies started to get really, really bad, so I felt like crap a lot of the time and school started to get more stressful. I was totally expecting that part, I figured that taking 20 credits and working full time wasn't going to be smooth sailing for the entire quarter. But, despite the stress of the last half of the quarter, things worked out well. I got straight A's in all 4 classes and now my overall GPA is a 3.99. Not too bad, if I do say so myself. Now I am getting ready for the winter quarter to start tomorrow, but it won't be nearly as crazy, I am only taking two classes.
I hope everyone (I sound like more than 2 people read this... ha ha ha) had a very nice holiday and New Year. This Christmas was a bit odd for us, it was the first time that Justin and I were alone on Christmas, just the two of us and the cats. It was nice, but odd. Justin surprised me one day toward by coming home with a tree. We had sold the one we had before we moved to Washington and we didn't get one in 2005 because we went to CA for Christmas. Here it is all decorated and looking spiffy:

Doesn't it look nice? It was fun putting all the ornaments and stuff on it. Justin gave me some really cool stuff, he gave me a Grateful Dead sweatshirt I had been wanting for a really long time, some really cool knitting magazines, some delicious fancy hot chocolate from Williams Sonoma and some special paper that you use to make iron on transfers for clothes. His mom and step dad gave me a small digital camera, which is something I had been wanting for while now so that I could carry a camera with me to take pictures for my blog. The camera is really cool, and very easy to use. Which is good, because even though I have a degree in photography, I know nothing about digital photography. The camera didn't come with a case, so I felt motivated to knit one. I just made some minor changes to the cell phone cozy in the first SnB book and made this:

Huh, for some strange reason, I can't post the picture of the camera case that I made. Well, I will go on to other subjects and see if I can post a different picture.

Hmm, that didn't work either. Well, I think that may cuts things a bit short tonight until I can figure out why I can't post anymore pictures. For now all you get is the picture of my Christmas tree. I will do some investigating and hopefully get this fixed. Until then, have fun, take care of yourselves and keep on knitting or just plain being crafty everyone!!

Sarah to the rescue!!!!

Last night my friend Sarah came over to watch Lost (I think I am becoming obsessed with this show, it is messing with my head) and to do some knitting. This is becoming a much enjoyed Saturday night ritual. Anyway, I decided to start on the "Yo Drop It!" scarf from the Stitch N Bitch Nation book, because I really didn't feel like starting over on my brown cardigan sweater (from the first SnB book). I need to start this sweater over on size 5's because I am a tight knitter who can't change and my gauge was just coming out way too tight on the size 4's the pattern calls for. So, I started on the scarf feeling confident about doing the yarn over's because I had the SnB handbook nearby to refer to. Except I just was not understanding the whole concept of a yarn over (its been a while since I've done one) and I spent probably close to 2 1/2 hours making the same mistake over and over before Sarah set me straight. I was making it way harder than it needed to be by thinking that the yarn over was a whole stitch in itself rather than the simple act of bringing the yarn to the front. So, now that I know what I'm doing with this, its pretty darn easy and pretty fun too. Here is my progress so far:

It's hard to see in the picture, but I think its coming out pretty good. This is also my first project knitting on straights (not counting dpn's). Its a little weird to get used to after knitting so much on circulars, but I think I could get used to it.

I have to say, this has been a great birthday week. Sarah gave me some gorgeous Noro and Cascade 220 yarn to make the Booga Bag pattern, which I have been wanting to make for a while. She also gave me the Mason Dixon Knitting book. What an incredibly thoughtful, just wonderful gift. I feel very lucky to have the incredible friends that I have. Here is the yarn and the gorgeous basket that she put the yarn in:

It's not the best picture, sorry about that. Here is the basket:

Isn't that beautiful? Now I have a stash basket for my growing yarn stash!!! Sarah says now I need a stash weasel!! Ha ha ha... Speaking of my growing yarn stash, here is the yarn that Debbie and Kim from work gave me:

I'm thinking of doing a scarf and some socks with these yarns, I really love the colors. The bear kit will be a challenge for me, I've never knit with the eyelash type of yarn. I will probably start the bear next quarter when I am not taking a full load at school. :-)

Okay, enough blogging and admiring my yarn stash, I need to get off the couch and get going so I can get psyched about algebra and going to the library today for some serious studying. Woo-Hoo!! I will leave you with a picture of one of my cats, Della, she is taking advantage of a chilly Sunday morning in Seattle to do some serious relaxing...

I'm not a Slacker!!

I know that probably no one really reads this, but I will apologize anyway for the length of time that it has taken me to post again on my blog. Let me explain to you what I've been doing. Well, the biggest thing that has happened is that the fall quarter has started, and I am taking a whopping 20 credits at school and am continuing to work 40 hours a week. So, you can imagine how that has been keeping me quite busy. I am taking Spanish 101 (I've taken it before, but its been a few years, I want to be a bi-lingual (Spanish) elementary school teacher, so its important), American Popular Music (I get to write a paper on Phish, how cool is that?), Elementary Algebra (I have a great teacher, she is making this class fun for me) and Nutrition (I'm finding out how bad I eat when I am taking 20 credits and working full time). School is hectic, but I am enjoying it and doing pretty well too. And, amazingly enough, I still find time to knit!!
I haven't been feeling that well over the last month or so. My nasal allergies have been going nuts which is never fun. I am going to try accupuncture for them on Saturday. Any insight anyone has on accupuncture would be great.
Justin and I also went to his mom's in Southern California for a few days, then we went to Ensenada, Mexico for a few days for Justin's cousin's wedding. That was a lot of fun and a much needed vacation for us. I spent a Sunday with my best friend Julia, we were driving around looking for yarn shops in the area, and would you believe it, they were all closed!!!! People knit on Sundays!!! I had thought about going out to the Knit Cafe in Santa Monica, but decided against it. In hindsight, we should have done that instead. Oh well. I was all excited to go to Mexico and look for yarn shops, but the only one in Ensenada, no one seemed to know where it was. Sigh. Oh well. On the other hand, I did bring my knitting and enjoyed a lot of time outside in the patio area knitting and gazing out at the ocean, check this out...

It was so nice, I could handle seeing that every day. So, as soon as we got back, school started and its been super busy ever since.

So, yesterday was my birthday, I am now officially a "30-something". I'm not freaking out about this, I think my 30's will be great and I am embracing them. I have finally figured out what I wan to do with my life, I am happy where I am, and things are good. I got some cool gifts for my birthday. Some friends at work gave me a bunch of yarn (the perfect gift!!!!) Unfortunately, the battery on the digital camera has died, so I will take pictures when the battery is charged up again. Before it died though, I did take some pictures of some other stuff. Justin's mom gave me some really pretty yarn that I saw in California so that I can make a really cute V-neck sweater pattern from the Cascade website. I love this yarn, I can't wait to get started on this one.

I think this is going to come out sooooo nice. A couple of weeks ago, I got some yarn that I bought off of eBay. I am working on the cardigan sweater from the first Stitch N'Bitch book. I am on the back part, I only have about 23 rows done, I think the back is 94. I didn't include all the skeins, only two.

Last weekend I got creative after seeing this on an episode of Knitty Gritty on DIY, my favorite show. I made some point protectors for some of my needles out of modeling clay, the kind you back in the oven. Here's a closer look:

I need to practice and get better, but it was fun, and I think its a neat idea. I did finish my checkerboard scarf right after we got back from Mexico, here it is:

I think it looks pretty good, and its getting cold here in Seattle, so it was perfect timing. Well, I need to sign off and get ready for school. We are discussing Elvis tonight in music and I am excited for math (who would have ever expected that???) so I can find out how I did on my test on Tuesday. Thanks for reading and happy knitting everyone!!!!

Knitting projects and saving the earth

I didn't drive my car at all today. Nope, I rode the bus to work, then to the yarn shop after work (www.somuchyarn.com, its a great store), then I took the bus home. Justin and I went to a little greasy spoon cafe for dinner and we walked. I like riding the bus, I'm going to do it more often I think. It makes for good knitting time. I am quite fond of knitting in public and I look at a bus ride as a fabulous opportunity. So that got me thinking about all the knitting projects that I am working on right now. I tend to get too many projects going at once. However, unlike my other forays into the crafting world, my knitting projects are getting finished. So, I took some pictures of current projects and recently finished ones. Here goes:

Here is the felted bowl that I started after about 10 cast ons. The pattern is from the book One Skein by Leigh Radford. Its for Justin's mom, I hope she likes it. I was working on this on the bus today.

Here is my checkerboard scarf that I have been working on forever. I'm using Manos del Uraguay (did I spell that write?) for it. I'm also using that for the felted bowl. This scarf is my no-brainer project, but being as fall is coming quickly here in Seattle, I think I'll try to finish it soon.

Here is my first attempt at making socks. I'm really liking the whole sock thing. I think socks could be my thing. Plus, they are easy to knit and very portable (I'm thinking about all the knitting time on the bus). I had to buy more yarn today for them (art yarns handpainted stripes). My feet are so big that I ran out of yarn on the second sock (11 wide, yes, go ahead and gape, I'm used to it. I haven't worn a single digit shoe size since the 4th grade.)

Here is the wire bracelet that I have been working on since March. Someday I will finish it. I think it will be pretty when its done.

Here is a super easy hat that I finished over Labor Day weekend. It is the Hot Head pattern from the first Stitch n' Bitch book. I wanted to make Justin a hat and he liked this pattern and requested black and teal, Jacksonville Jaguars colors. Here is the handsome devil modeling my handiwork.

I have many more projects waiting to be started. I have two more skeins of sock yarn waiting to be turned into socks, and I'm going to try a variation of the sock pattern I used above with the yarn that will be leftover from this pair. I just bought some great heathered brown Emu Superwash on eBay to make the cardigan sweater in the first SnB book. Oh, if only I didn't have to work...I could just knit all the time...