Two Posts in Two Days

aka "How to be a Better Blogger in One Easy Step

I'm back! I forgot to mention yesterday that my sissy is getting married this June, which means that for the first time ever I get to be in a wedding! And of course, I get to wear a pretty dress. If you click the link, it's the brown one, not the red one. I love it; now I just have to go buy it.

Of course, one of the first questions I'll have to ask is how long it takes them to alter things; before I found out about the wedding, I had decided to join Curves, and I've lost nearly 10 pounds since Valentine's Day. I'm not expecting any drastic changes before June, but hey, you never know. I'm really enjoying the atmosphere and the style of workout (circuit training).

No new knitting news, since I didn't get any yarn wound. I always end up with a tangle of laceweight, since I don't have a swift. I do, however, have plans to build one of this type. I've got my hands on some scrap wood taken from my friend's ceiling, so all I need now is a lazy susan, a handsaw, and some dowels. And, of course, room to use it. Crafty things are officially taking over my apartment. Maybe someday I'll show y'all a picture... maybe.

Hello Kitty is not Hokey

I got a package from my Secret Pal yesterday with a Hello Kitty note and the question, "Is Hello Kitty Hokey?" I would say no; how about you?

Anyway, it was a great package. Check out the beautiful handpainted yarn!



There are also some squishy grey wristwarmers and a bowl full of Smarties! I love Smarties :) There are also some neon hair clips in there, which are perfect for holding back my hair, which isn't long enough to pull back, but is long enough to annoy me by falling in my face.

What else have I been up to? Well, I shifted my Olympic knitting to working more on my Adamas Shawl. Of course, I won't finish because I don't have a swift, and I've got to wind another hank. I did, however, finish up through the 12th of 14 pattern repeats, so I don't have too much left. Just a couple more days of work. (I gave up on the socks; it felt like the gauge was too tight for the yarn, and I just didn't like it.)



Speaking of Adamas, you've got to check out the designer, Miriam's new shawl. It's gorgeous, and while I've never done a knitted-on edge, this makes me want to try. Especially because this pattern was so well written, you know?

Also in that picture, you can see a corner of my new handbag, made with my new Sewing Machine. I went with a Sears Kenmore, as recommended by Consumer Reports via Lori who knits with us on Tuesdays.

Now I'm working on a knitting bag for the raffle at The Preemie Project's big Knit and Crochet Out next Saturday. Here's hoping it comes out looking good, right?

If I can get that yarn wound, I hope to be able to show you a finished shawl soon! Of course, I've got three midterms to take and two to give in the next couple of weeks, so I make no guarantees on a time frame.... I hope you all have a great weekend, and happy end of the Olympics to all of the Olympic knitters out there!

Knitting Olympics?

Well, the Olympics have been on for awhile, and I'm still woefully close to the beginning. So little progress, in fact, that I don't even have a picture to post yet. I have, however, been ridiculously busy with other things, mainly school and work, so I know I've done the best I can so far. I hope to make a lot of progress later this week.

I'm technically "at work" right now, so I'm going to keep this short. I just wanted to let you all know that there is slight progress, and I'll post more later.

Finished Socks!

Woo hoo! I managed to finish both socks, and make them match!



It was a necessity this weekend; I woke up on Saturday, and my apartment was in the 50º range. I needed wool socks, so I buckled down and finished the toe on the second sock.

After that, I washed some fabric that I bought to make a handbag out of, a lá the Jordy bag. The brown is for the outside, and I'm going to line it with the pink floral.



I got a good deal, since Joann's was having a sale on bottomweights and home decor fabrics. I really want to go browse some more, but as I don't have a functioning sewing machine, there's no use. Don't worry, though, I've got one I can borrow, but I am window shopping for inexpensive basic models. Are Brothers any good?

Anyway, after Saturday's adventures, I hung some photos pre-Super Bowl party. I'm too cheap to buy lots of 8x10 frames, though, so I settled for plastic page protectors, contact adhesive hooks, and yarn. Here's the view (sorry about the glare).



Unfortunately, it's difficult to get straight pictures with this method. Some of you know about my obsessive tendencies... this is an experiment in doing something imperfectly and leaving it. So far, I'm liking it; the real test is how long it lasts.

And continuing in my experiments in "imperfection," I made a hat for my friend and went with a random stripe pattern. Here's the progression of rounds:
• 9 green
• 7 tan
• 2 grey
• 1 tan
• 3 grey
• 3 blue
• 6 green
• 2 brown
• 3 grey
• 1 tan
• 15ish green
Although having typed that out, I'm feeling a compulsion to sit down and figure out if maybe there's a pattern of some sort. But I'll resist; I have enough to finish up tonight, and it's already after midnight!

But of course, I've got to show the hat. I got A to pose with it, since it was too big to look right on me.



It looks like the back might be a bit too big, but I didn't want it to be too tight. It was amazingly easy to figure out how to make; all of that practice making preemie hats for the Preemie Project must have helped. Speaking of preemie hats, I finished another during the Super Bowl. It's just plain white, though, so I won't add yet another picture to this post :)

Yay Secret Pal!

The first package from my secret pal arrived on Sunday! It was very very exciting. Wanna see a picture?



On the left, we have lots of squishy wool from Knit Picks; there's some Palette for socks, and some Wool of the Andes. There's also some very pretty green hand-dyed wool. I've never been able to get a color that depth when hand-dying; color me impressed! On the right is an Erika Knight knitting book, Simple Knits with a Twist. It has some awesome projects in it, and is all about knitting with lots of different materials. And in the middle? Some funky bath confetti, citrusy face lotion, and some really awesome rose salve, which is almost exactly what I had imagined Turkish delight would be like (scroll down here to find some good Turkish delight links via notmartha). Plus, it made the ridiculously dry skin on my lips nice and soft! There's also a manicure set in a little pouch with the letters SP printed on it, which will probably become a little notions bag that I'll always be able to remember the origins of. There's also a little monogrammed notepad, which is moving onto my desk tomorrow. I'm always on the lookout for desk things.

Not pictured is some sugar, as I've already eaten it :D

What else is going on? I finished my sock....



And I started the other, but I haven't documented it yet. I've also been working on stuff for my own secret pal, so you won't get to see that for awhile. And other than that, I've been teaching and doing homework and running errands and whatnot.

I also found it: the pattern I'll be using for the Knitting Olympics. It's the River Rapids Socks pattern by Sockbug. I can't use my Claudia Handpainted sock yarn, so I'll be using up some Merino Style from my stash. How exciting! Stash yarn!

Anyway, that's all the news there is, so I'll post more when there's something new.