Posted in Current Projects

Catching up on a bit of everything

I can't believe it's been so long since I blogged last! I've been rather busy at work and at home since I last posted. I've taken on some extra things at work that I'm excited about, but that means I've been working more hours each week, which leaves me pretty tired. The last few weekends have been busy, too. Visiting with friends and family – fantastic, but also tiring! Not to say I haven't been enjoying it, because I totally am, it's just not left me much time for other things and blogging seems to fall to the wayside when I'm busy. (I really must try and fix that.)

Anyhow…

Today I booked our vacation! We're going to Charleston, South Carolina and will be staying at The Lodge Alley Inn, right downtown, the first week of November. I have owned a timeshare for about 5 years now and this is the first time I'm using it. I'm SO excited to be going!

The Ravelympics have come to a close and I did not finish my Starlight sweater. I knew about half way through the Ravelympics that I wouldn't finish and I kind of just stopped knitting at that point. I think I got a little bored with the pattern and the cable row that is every 4th row, not to mention that it's not very portable at all. I've found that I am just not that great at knitting on only one thing if I'm not that interested in it. It's become my "knit while watching tv" project and eventually it will be done. I'm hoping by the end of the year. If I'm not done with it by the time we take our vacation, I'm bringing it as my "knit in the car" project.

Since I was totally over the Ravelympics once I figured out there's no way I'd be done with it (I highly over-estimated how much time I'd have to knit and I started working more hours at work which left a lot less knitting time for me), I started a sock:

Nutkins Sock

When I found that this sock didn't really fit over my heel without a lot of struggle, it was frogged last Wednesday. Since that didn't work out and I like to have a good sock project for taking on-the-go with me, I started this yesterday:

Pomatomus:
Hippomatomus-whatsit Sock

I started another project at the request of the boyfriend. I was trying to find a pattern on Ravelry and he was standing next to me as I was searching and saw this pattern. He suddenly couldn't live without it and requested I knit it for him with my left over Nanner yarn. I said I'd only knit it if he'd wear it and I can take photographic evidence of him wearing it. He said he'd totally wear it and let me take pictures, so here I am knitting a Banana Hammock!

Progress so far:
Banana Hammock

I'm actually a bit further along than that, but I don't have a picture yet.

This past weekend, my friend Grace came over so we could go to the Gaiam outlet sale (it's close to my house) that was going on. I was lucky enough to get TWO pairs of Earth shoes for 60% off! Quite a steal, if you ask me. I haven't bought a pair before, but have heard so many good things. I just couldn't ever justify the expense. For the price of one pair of Earth shoes with the Kalso Negative Heel Technology, I got two pairs of Vegan Earth shoes, a yoga mat/block/strap kit with dvd, a t-shirt, yoga flip flops (they separate all your toes, supposed to be good for balance), and a really cool bag (my new purse). I am beyond excited by it! I'm wearing one pair today and I absolutely love them. I can actually feel myself walking taller/straighter.

I have to say that the bag I got excites me as well. It has two separate zippered compartments in it and is very light. I thought it would be perfect for keeping my purse junk on one side and my sock project on the other. I've been wanting a bag that can do this that isn't as big as a suitcase (like it seems most knitting bags are) and this meets all my needs completely! Only thing that I'd like is another small zippered pouch for some of my purse junk that I used to keep in the inside zippered compartment since this bag doesn't have any inside pockets. The bag itself is very light and even with my sock project in it, I'd swear it's lighter than the last purse I had.

The bag:
New Bag

The inside:
Bag Compartments

I love this bag! It only cost $15 (regular price $50 with 70% off that price). LOVE.

I know a number of folks got into the Wollemeise sock club recently. Lucky folks! I was going to try and get a spot, but I figured that it was best for my budget not to do that. Speaking of budget… I have paid off my Visa card! Just waiting on the payment to post, but man am I happy about that!

I sold off some of my stash and gave away some to my sister. I just felt the need to get rid of yarn that just wasn't right for me for whatever reason. Anything that I didn't have plans for pretty much went with the exception of most of the sock yarn (there were a few lone skeins that found new homes) and lace yarn. It felt rather liberating to just have yarn that I really wanted to knit with, even if I didn't have a specific pattern for it. My Ravelry queue holds plenty of sock and lace patterns that I like, so that's not a problem! It was the worsted weight stuff, just a skein here or there that I wanted out of my stash. My sister was welcoming to the new yarn (a trash bag full!) and I sold quite a bit on Ravelry. I sent out 11 packages today, all making their way across the states and one making its way to Norway.

Last week I bought a book to learn amigurumi.

Amigurumi!

There's some cute things in here and once I finish the Banana Hammock, I'm going to be teaching myself how to make things from the book. My crochet skills are limited at best, but my sister crochets and I'm sure if she can't help me, someone at SnB can.

Recently Miss Voiolet (of Lime & Violet fame) started selling soaps and scents. I was able to get in an order in when the shop first went up and got my goodies about two weekends ago:

Soap and Scents
Soaps: Dirty Jack, Farmgirl, Sinflower, Afternoon Baking, and Plurk Nannerbread
Cupcakes (scents): Dirty Jack, Organza Fills, Afternoon Baking, Lime & Violet, Soda Jerk, and Wednesday's Market

So far I've used the Afternoon Baking soap and scent and the Soda Jerk scent – all are great.  All the soaps and scents smell good and I'm looking forward to using them :o)

I bought this at the Target $1 spot (or former $1 spot because now they have things for $2 and $2.50!) for my desk at work because I thought it was cute:

Mr. Man and Little Miss

Recently I've had some ups and downs concerning my health.  My back is in worse condition than I thought (I really did hope physical therapy would help) and I'm waiting to see my neurologist on Sept. 9th. Then I got some news from the VA about the disability claim I filed last year for my back - they approved me for compensation for the back problems at 20% and I'll be receiving a check from them monthly.  They are missing some paperwork, though, so I'll be appealing my claim and maybe receive more.  I was pretty mixed about this decision, but overall it means more good things for me than anything bad.  Now it's all just a waiting game to see where I go from here.

I had started two other posts between the last time I posted and now, but neither made it to completion, so I'm sure there's more that I wanted to write about, but I don't recall (or it feels too old to mention). Til next time!

Posted in Knit Ramblings

A few ramblings

KnitSteph Plurked about Dish Rag Tag sign ups and after reading about it, I couldn’t help but sign up for it! For some reason I’ve been wanting to make dishcloths lately, but I don’t have any cotton yarn! I sold it a while back when I suddenly found myself not wanting to knit a dishcloth ever again. I can’t remember what brought that about in the first place, but I find myself wanting to make them again. I think that this will be a lot of fun to do and I’m looking forward to knitting dishcloths again!


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The first issue of Knotions is up! There are some great patterns and I really like the layout of the website. I’m considering the Terra hoodie or the Autumn Leaves cardigan for the sweaters worth of yarn I have. Both look like something I could wear a lot. I love how they have Ravelry links on each pattern page so you can see how many people are working on that pattern and it takes you to the Ravelry page for that pattern. It makes it easy to cast-on, queue, or add it to your favorites.

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I need some ideas for what to make with this yarn!

I have four skeins of this Kikki yarn that I bought on sale way back when I was still new to knitting. No idea what I thought I’d make with it, but the time has come to knit it up! I don’t knit for kids (don’t know many folks with kids that aren’t knitters, don’t have any myself), but I’m open to just about anything else! I’d consider myself an advanced knitter, so anything is fair game aside from kids knits. Here’s a photo of the yarn and some details:

Kikki

Weight: Worsted
Yardage: 82 yards/50 grams
Gauge: 19.0 = 4 inches (according to yarn specs)
Needle size: US 7 – 9 or 4.5 – 5.5mm
Fibers: Cotton, Acrylic, Rayon, Linen
Texture: Plied (splits easily)

Ideas anyone?

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One last thing. A friend of mine on Plurk (Robin) is doing a fantastic yarn raffle for Breast Cancer on her blog. She’s supporting her friend who is doing the 2 day 40 mile Walk for Breast Cancer in Charlotte, NC. For every $10 you donate, she’ll put your name in for one chance on the yarn drawing and anyone who donates $40 ($1 for each mile), will get an extra chance in the drawing. Even aside from the great drawing being held, this is a cause I really like to support, so please consider donating for this great cause and help Helen get to her goal of $2,200!

Posted in Completed Projects, Current Projects

Nanner Socks, life and so on

I’ll start off by showing you my recent completed knitting.


Pattern: Nanners by Wendy
Started: July 14, 2008
Completed: July 29, 2008
Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch Superwash in “Just Ripe Nanners”
Needles: US 0 bamboo DPNs
Notes: I love this yarn and pattern. The pattern was easy enough to memorize and I learned new things while knitting it. I learned more about toe-up socks, how to do a heel flap and gusset toe-up, and how to do a sewn-in bind-off. I love these socks! Its possible I’ll knit another pair and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more of this yarn.

HPIM0829

HPIM0836

HPIM0832

Since I finished a pair of socks, I cast on another pair (of course!). This is a special knit that I’ll tell you more about at a later date!

HPIM0848  

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Not sure who out there has been following the development of the Twist Collective, but the first issue is out as of today and there are so many things I want to knit from it! I think it’s a really fantastic magazine and I love the concept of the entire thing. Cookie A. has two sock patterns in this issue, there’s three sweaters I’m considering knitting, and I love all the socks (shocking, I know). Really, if you haven’t seen it check it out!

Aside from that, the sign-ups for Mystery Stole 4 are open as of today. I’ve signed up for it and looking forward to more information when it becomes available. If you’re part of the Pink Lemon Knits Yahoo Group, you’ve probably read Melanie’s special announcement that her blog was marked as spam and she can’t post to her blog until Blogger unmarks her as spam, so she hasn’t posted anything to her blog about it yet.


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Yesterday, Matt and I went to dinner at this fantastic Korean place and then swing dancing with my friend Grace. The food was really good and I am going to go back there the next chance I get. YUM. After dinner, we made our way to Step-n-Out for swing dancing. The lesson wasn’t quite as good as the last time that Grace and I went (different teachers), but I learned some different moves and Matt really got a lot of it down pretty good. We had fun dancing a bit after the lesson, then called it a night. I had a lot of fun though and I’m really glad Matt came and enjoyed himself. I found a flyer while I was there for a place that does salsa lessons. I recalled Matt saying he’d like to do salsa lessons some time, so I picked it up since the place is quite close to where we live. Hopefully we can go sometime soon.

Last night Matt said he’d like to do some cooking classes with me, so I said I’d look it up and see what’s around us. The Learning Kitchen is pretty close to us and it looks like they have a lot to offer! I’m excited about taking some lessons now!

Not much else going on this week. Still dealing with the back problems and slowly getting nowhere with physical therapy (both a good and bad thing, really). In a week I go back to the neurologist to see what he says. Scared and anxious about it, but I know things will work out okay. Starting to feel better physically after more changes in medication, but at lease I’m able to sleep through the night without waking up again. It’s Friday and time for a nice, relaxing weekend. Hope yours is a good one!

Oh! One last thing… a little poll if you wouldn’t mind filling it out :o)