Technical difficulties
My computer is experiencing some "troubles". Hubby should have time to fix it this weekend and then I can give you the full update. Until then, know that there has been knitting and quilting. The second Sockapalooza sock should be done by this weekend--been knitting on it during all my training at the new job so I'll be turning the heel soon.
I'm taking another quilting class. This one is a techniques class so the focus is really on using different skills for each of the blocks. I'm using some rather, um, interesting fabric choices. In fact, I'll let you judge for yourselves. I will say that I won't be insulted if you guys don't like it.
Happy knitting!
29 August 2007
14 August 2007
And so it goes...
I've been working on new socks for my pal.
The lighting isn't great--I tried both indoor (top pic) and outdoor (bottom pic) photos but neither really does the color justice. The blues are a little softer in real life. Its also hard to see the pattern (Diamante).
I should be done with this sock before my trip and there should be plenty of knitting time during my travels to finish socks #2 by Mon. or Tues. of next week. Then I might turn my attentions back to Norberta.
This pile represents the back, front legs and back legs. I still have to do the wings and spikes that go down the back.
I've been working on new socks for my pal.
The lighting isn't great--I tried both indoor (top pic) and outdoor (bottom pic) photos but neither really does the color justice. The blues are a little softer in real life. Its also hard to see the pattern (Diamante).
I should be done with this sock before my trip and there should be plenty of knitting time during my travels to finish socks #2 by Mon. or Tues. of next week. Then I might turn my attentions back to Norberta.
This pile represents the back, front legs and back legs. I still have to do the wings and spikes that go down the back.
08 August 2007
Non-Crafty Quickie
Life is crazy. I made a new friend almost a month ago. She mentioned that there was a position opening in her office and I should apply. I blew it off because I just met her and it seemed odd that she was pushing for me to apply, and I do like where I work. (Of course, I don't like being commission only and driving 1.5 hrs each way 3 times a week. The other two days I work from home.) As you know, I went out of town and was hanging out with friends, this opportunity didn't even register. Well, when I came back I talked with her again and she, again, mentioned the opportunity. At the same time, the owner of the doggie daycare asked if I had any interest in coming back and I got an email from the local college saying they might need instructors for the spring. It felt to me like there were some serious "signs" (karma, destiny, God--whatever you happen to believe) that I needed to look at other opportunities. Anyway, I submitted my resume on Wed., they called Thurs., and I had my interview on Fri. The guy offered me the job on the spot. I was completely unprepared.
After a weekend of heavy deliberation, I decided to go for it. I gave notice at my current job and officially accepted the new job. The best part, the office is less than 5 miles from my house. If I get lucky and get mostly green lights, I can be at the office in about 10 mins. door-to-door. The second best part, its a salaried position with a national company (future possibilities of moving within the company).
Because that isn't wild enough, I found out yesterday that a good friend was killed on Fri. I'll be going back home to see everyone next week so I'll miss my last few days at my current job. Its not like they can fire me, right?
Craziness.
Life is crazy. I made a new friend almost a month ago. She mentioned that there was a position opening in her office and I should apply. I blew it off because I just met her and it seemed odd that she was pushing for me to apply, and I do like where I work. (Of course, I don't like being commission only and driving 1.5 hrs each way 3 times a week. The other two days I work from home.) As you know, I went out of town and was hanging out with friends, this opportunity didn't even register. Well, when I came back I talked with her again and she, again, mentioned the opportunity. At the same time, the owner of the doggie daycare asked if I had any interest in coming back and I got an email from the local college saying they might need instructors for the spring. It felt to me like there were some serious "signs" (karma, destiny, God--whatever you happen to believe) that I needed to look at other opportunities. Anyway, I submitted my resume on Wed., they called Thurs., and I had my interview on Fri. The guy offered me the job on the spot. I was completely unprepared.
After a weekend of heavy deliberation, I decided to go for it. I gave notice at my current job and officially accepted the new job. The best part, the office is less than 5 miles from my house. If I get lucky and get mostly green lights, I can be at the office in about 10 mins. door-to-door. The second best part, its a salaried position with a national company (future possibilities of moving within the company).
Because that isn't wild enough, I found out yesterday that a good friend was killed on Fri. I'll be going back home to see everyone next week so I'll miss my last few days at my current job. Its not like they can fire me, right?
Craziness.
04 August 2007
Sockapalooza 4 Package
My sock pal rocks! Check out my care package:
Starting from the bottom left, Wavy Socks, some slipper socks, some tea, a Magic Towel, Reindeer Droppings (candy), leftover yarn from the Wavy Socks, a cool postcard of my pal's town (she lives above the Artic Circle!!), a cute cat card, bamboo Addis, and cool packaging in the background.
My Wavy Socks:
cuff detail:
(how cute is that "hand made" charm?!)
Bonus slipper socks:
I can't wait for things to cool off enough to wear those slipper socks around the house. As if this wasn't impressive enough, she dyed the yarn herself. The blue is a great heathered color that really works well with the texture of the Wavy Socks. I really love them--thank you Jaana!
My hubby is very jealous but at least I can share the tea with him.
{happy feet dance}
My sock pal rocks! Check out my care package:
Starting from the bottom left, Wavy Socks, some slipper socks, some tea, a Magic Towel, Reindeer Droppings (candy), leftover yarn from the Wavy Socks, a cool postcard of my pal's town (she lives above the Artic Circle!!), a cute cat card, bamboo Addis, and cool packaging in the background.
My Wavy Socks:
cuff detail:
(how cute is that "hand made" charm?!)
Bonus slipper socks:
I can't wait for things to cool off enough to wear those slipper socks around the house. As if this wasn't impressive enough, she dyed the yarn herself. The blue is a great heathered color that really works well with the texture of the Wavy Socks. I really love them--thank you Jaana!
My hubby is very jealous but at least I can share the tea with him.
{happy feet dance}
Where have I been?
This pretty much sums up last week.
Before that, well, how do you balance work, life, and crafting? Apparently my crafting falls at the bottom of the list and blogging is below that. Driving 1.5 hrs each way to work is really exhausting. I know you're tired of hearing it, but it means all I want is to sit on the couch, semi-comatose when I get home. I haven't even made a real dinner in weeks.
Since, I was out of town there was (of course) time to knit during the plane ride. I worked on the Sockapalooza 4 socks for my pal. I almost finished sock #2 on the plane ride to MD.
Yeah, that would be me running out of yarn before even doing one repeat of the cuff pattern. Argh!! Now what?! Well, I couldn't do anything while I was out of town but I do have a lovely back-up yarn and pattern. I guess I'll be doing some serious catch-up knitting this weekend. I have already forewarned my pal that her socks are still in progress. Socks or bust-that is the motto for this weekend.
Since the Sockapalooza socks were a no-go, what did I do? Cast on for a new project of course. Inspired by Pam, I started my very own Norberta. (I also ripped out MS3 and started again. I've only gotten through clue 1 so nothing exciting to see there.)
This pretty much sums up last week.
Before that, well, how do you balance work, life, and crafting? Apparently my crafting falls at the bottom of the list and blogging is below that. Driving 1.5 hrs each way to work is really exhausting. I know you're tired of hearing it, but it means all I want is to sit on the couch, semi-comatose when I get home. I haven't even made a real dinner in weeks.
Since, I was out of town there was (of course) time to knit during the plane ride. I worked on the Sockapalooza 4 socks for my pal. I almost finished sock #2 on the plane ride to MD.
Yeah, that would be me running out of yarn before even doing one repeat of the cuff pattern. Argh!! Now what?! Well, I couldn't do anything while I was out of town but I do have a lovely back-up yarn and pattern. I guess I'll be doing some serious catch-up knitting this weekend. I have already forewarned my pal that her socks are still in progress. Socks or bust-that is the motto for this weekend.
Since the Sockapalooza socks were a no-go, what did I do? Cast on for a new project of course. Inspired by Pam, I started my very own Norberta. (I also ripped out MS3 and started again. I've only gotten through clue 1 so nothing exciting to see there.)
17 July 2007
Do I know you? or do you know me?*
Knottygnome has me thinking, do I really know you? I feel like I do but the reality is that I probably don't. You probably have a feel for my personality given my discussions of knitting progress (or lack thereof) and various memes. You actually know lots of random things about me that people I see and speak with more often might not know. (Because, really, when would these random things come up?) I know I censor my content because I don't want to get too personal here. Its not bad, but just made me think others probably do the same. So, are we friends...? Maybe but then again maybe not. In this day and age when people talk about the way that technology can isolate people, it also brings them together in new and complex ways.
Now for what you really want, some knitting news. First, the madness that is Mystery Stole 3. I started out strong, printed my first two charts and had almost made it through Clue 1 when realized that I forgot some beads way back at the beginning.
You probably can't see in the picture, but trust me there are 2 missing beads. It is bugging the crap out of me. I have basically left the stole alone because the thought of ripping back is really annoying. (I know, I could probably duplicate stitch them in later or something but it will bug me, plus I don't think it would look good with this yarn/bead combo. It would really piss me off later if I could see where I added the beads after the fact during blocking so its probably best to just go ahead and re-do it since its still just Clue 1.) We are going out of town next week and I'm hoping to have lots of knitting time (plane rides and a few long car rides) so I'll hopefully be caught up by the end of the month.
Sockapalooza socks appear to have no progress.
Trust me that heel has been knit so many times, its not funny. The yarn is holding up like a champ, though. I think I finally have a heel (courtesy of Widdershins) that works. (Thanks Pam & Twig for your comments!) Unfortunately, given my tight knitting to get gauge, apparently my row gauge is off. I started the heel about 3.5 inches from the finished size I wanted and it was too small. In a fit, I ripped it all out again. The sock was banished to some waste yarn and I started sock #2.
What you don't see a second sock in that picture? Yeah, that would be because I cast on the wrong number of stitches when I started (18 instead of 20). I didn't notice until I had done all the increases for the toe and then realized that the total number of stitches was off by 2. Now, if these had been for me, I would have fudged it. *But* these are not, they are for some knitter out there who is looking forward to receiving my best effort. Is faking it really my best effort? Nope. Off to the frog pond for sock #2.
Since I have family coming into town tomorrow (um, yeah, I found out yesterday they'd be here), and I still have work and we're going out of town on Sat., there won't be any more blogging this week. However, given all the travel (and the impending deadline), I hope to have finished socks by the end of all the travel next week.
*I apparently am already suffering from senior moments because I wrote this on 7/17/2007 but forgot to actually upload it. Duh.
Knottygnome has me thinking, do I really know you? I feel like I do but the reality is that I probably don't. You probably have a feel for my personality given my discussions of knitting progress (or lack thereof) and various memes. You actually know lots of random things about me that people I see and speak with more often might not know. (Because, really, when would these random things come up?) I know I censor my content because I don't want to get too personal here. Its not bad, but just made me think others probably do the same. So, are we friends...? Maybe but then again maybe not. In this day and age when people talk about the way that technology can isolate people, it also brings them together in new and complex ways.
Now for what you really want, some knitting news. First, the madness that is Mystery Stole 3. I started out strong, printed my first two charts and had almost made it through Clue 1 when realized that I forgot some beads way back at the beginning.
You probably can't see in the picture, but trust me there are 2 missing beads. It is bugging the crap out of me. I have basically left the stole alone because the thought of ripping back is really annoying. (I know, I could probably duplicate stitch them in later or something but it will bug me, plus I don't think it would look good with this yarn/bead combo. It would really piss me off later if I could see where I added the beads after the fact during blocking so its probably best to just go ahead and re-do it since its still just Clue 1.) We are going out of town next week and I'm hoping to have lots of knitting time (plane rides and a few long car rides) so I'll hopefully be caught up by the end of the month.
Sockapalooza socks appear to have no progress.
Trust me that heel has been knit so many times, its not funny. The yarn is holding up like a champ, though. I think I finally have a heel (courtesy of Widdershins) that works. (Thanks Pam & Twig for your comments!) Unfortunately, given my tight knitting to get gauge, apparently my row gauge is off. I started the heel about 3.5 inches from the finished size I wanted and it was too small. In a fit, I ripped it all out again. The sock was banished to some waste yarn and I started sock #2.
What you don't see a second sock in that picture? Yeah, that would be because I cast on the wrong number of stitches when I started (18 instead of 20). I didn't notice until I had done all the increases for the toe and then realized that the total number of stitches was off by 2. Now, if these had been for me, I would have fudged it. *But* these are not, they are for some knitter out there who is looking forward to receiving my best effort. Is faking it really my best effort? Nope. Off to the frog pond for sock #2.
Since I have family coming into town tomorrow (um, yeah, I found out yesterday they'd be here), and I still have work and we're going out of town on Sat., there won't be any more blogging this week. However, given all the travel (and the impending deadline), I hope to have finished socks by the end of all the travel next week.
*I apparently am already suffering from senior moments because I wrote this on 7/17/2007 but forgot to actually upload it. Duh.
29 June 2007
Pics to start off the weekend
I finally went out and took some photos of my swatch for Mystery Stole 3. I started out with US3 needles at the bottom, went on to US4 needles, and then used US5 needles at the top. I still need to block the swatch but the hemp doesn't have much give so I'm thinking the size should not change drastically. (don't laugh, it could happen)
Complete aside, the first clue for MS3 came out this morning and I've already seen at least two pictures of people who have finished the clue (about 100 rows). I wish I had that kind of time. It will probably take me all week to get my clue done. Plus, I need to order more beads since what I originally ordered will probably only get me through the Clue 2.
Now, you would think I would have done a swatch with Canapone before now but, um, I just jumped into using the blue Canapone for the Alpine Lace stole. It has finally seen the light of day again. I'm aiming to do at least one 16-row repeat every couple of days to see if I can get this done before the end of July. (I was going to write "by next month" only to realize that is the day after tomorrow. eek) I have finally reached the half-way mark.
This was supposed to be for a friend of mine who is considerably more petite than I am. I'm thinking that it will wind up swallowing her since I think its wide for me. So, I realized that I had a perfectly good Flower Basket Shawl just waiting for a happy home. It would be perfect for her since its the shoulder shawl size. Unfortunately, its been sitting in the baggie for so long that it needs to be re-blocked. The plan is to get that done probably on the holiday so that I can mail it out next weekend.
Thank you for the heel suggestions. I'll be spending some quality time working that out this weekend as well. Guess I'll just have to give up the housework in order to get all this knitting done. Oh, the horror. (Oh yeah, um, despite how good I've been on my yarn diet there was a huge sale at my local quilt shop. I maybe have the beginnings of a fabric stash. Don't tell.)
I finally went out and took some photos of my swatch for Mystery Stole 3. I started out with US3 needles at the bottom, went on to US4 needles, and then used US5 needles at the top. I still need to block the swatch but the hemp doesn't have much give so I'm thinking the size should not change drastically. (don't laugh, it could happen)
Complete aside, the first clue for MS3 came out this morning and I've already seen at least two pictures of people who have finished the clue (about 100 rows). I wish I had that kind of time. It will probably take me all week to get my clue done. Plus, I need to order more beads since what I originally ordered will probably only get me through the Clue 2.
Now, you would think I would have done a swatch with Canapone before now but, um, I just jumped into using the blue Canapone for the Alpine Lace stole. It has finally seen the light of day again. I'm aiming to do at least one 16-row repeat every couple of days to see if I can get this done before the end of July. (I was going to write "by next month" only to realize that is the day after tomorrow. eek) I have finally reached the half-way mark.
This was supposed to be for a friend of mine who is considerably more petite than I am. I'm thinking that it will wind up swallowing her since I think its wide for me. So, I realized that I had a perfectly good Flower Basket Shawl just waiting for a happy home. It would be perfect for her since its the shoulder shawl size. Unfortunately, its been sitting in the baggie for so long that it needs to be re-blocked. The plan is to get that done probably on the holiday so that I can mail it out next weekend.
Thank you for the heel suggestions. I'll be spending some quality time working that out this weekend as well. Guess I'll just have to give up the housework in order to get all this knitting done. Oh, the horror. (Oh yeah, um, despite how good I've been on my yarn diet there was a huge sale at my local quilt shop. I maybe have the beginnings of a fabric stash. Don't tell.)
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