The Christmas Aftermath

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends! I just got back from my vacation home, and I had a great time!  The gifts I gave were well received, those bought, those computer designed, and those knitted!  However, I need to work on my graphics for my knitting!  It wasn't clear enough that the card came with the gift, and that it indicated a hand-knit.  I've brought home some light cotton/linen cloth to try and make actual tags for my knits, I'll have to see what I can come up with!

The rest of my time at home was fabulous - I got to hang out with my good friends, try out a bunch of new bars, and eat some tasty home-cooked meals!  I also got to try my hand (again) at screen printing.  We did the easy way this time - no burning the image onto the screen, just using plastic sheet stencils.  Check out my bibs!

Butterflies!

Flowers!

My screen printing partner - not as useful as you would think!

I need to work on my screen print photography - those are terrible, eep.

ALSO - I did, in fact, FINALLY finish the Simplicity Cowl!  Drumroll please:

TA-DA!  Looks good, don't it?

Completed before I even made it home!  OH YEAH.  I think it looks pretty snazzy, here's hoping it gets good use!  

The fingerless mitts however, were not completed without a mad knitting session at the airport, on the airplane, and at 11pm on Christmas Eve.  But they were done before Christmas, and that's all that matters!  I did not take a photo, however, because I am a genius.  Oops.  I'll have to ask the sister for that as well.  She and her husband both liked them, I'll see what I can do for him.  It'll probably be next Christmas.  I'm not really what anyone would call, "Speedy".

In other hometown adventures, I took the parents to the Science Museum (since I bought them a membership last year and all).  I think this is some amazing wayfinding signage:

It's really well-balanced and instructional!  You can see the passage of time and the variety of the species on the planet, and it's a pretty graphic!  I love it!

While at the museum, we saw some re-created panels from the Lascaux Caves:

The Panel of the Great Black Cow, in the Nave of the caves

The newly renovated Hall of Egyptology:

This gave me some color ideas - should I ever start doing something colorful!

And some gems.  Lots and lots of shiny gems.  It was a little overwhelming, those gems.  I'm not as much of a fan as I feel I should be.  Oh well.  It was a good time anyway, and the parents got out of the house!

How was everyone else's Christmas?  Any awesome adventures or gifts?  Amazing food perhaps?  hmmm, food.....  :)

I'm going to coordinate my thoughts for my New Year's post and get that up as soon as possible.  Until then, I leave you with Glitter Dancer and Friends:

Meet Stompy the Parapalegic Trike, Glitter Dancer, and as-yet-unnamed Mr Fox.  They only came together this year to form my supporting crew.  :)

Have a great night!

My, it has been a while

Sorry for the long span between posts, been a little busy with job things, then there was some camping,

The right honorable Earl Harold Higgenbottom the Tenth, Esquire.
Tuckahoe, MD

and then general laziness/ i'm going to play on the internet instead of write in a blog.  Whoops.

Also, seeing as how I haven't done much knitting, it's a little silly to post in a knitting blog.  I did make one thing, the "Mile-a-Minute" scarf, turned it into a cowl, and it took very little time.  Now that it's super freezing outside, I might use it (although it's pretty open, so may only be helpful a few minutes at a time).

Other than that, I've been a little lazy with the knitting, altho I have tons of ideas in my head and want to make ALL THE THINGS!!!  the problem is starting on anything.  oof.

Alright, this is a pretty sad update, but it's all I have for now.  I'll try to finish something over thanksgiving....

Ah, sorry sorry!

Hey! Look, two weeks passed just like that...whooops.....alright, here's the quick download (of everything I've thought the past two weeks apparently)
1) Simplicity Cowl almost complete!  Length is finished and blocked, now I need to seam it together!  FINALLY.

It's pinned where the seam would be.

2) Here's my new yarn from KnitPicks in all its yummy glory!

Dishie Multi in Wave - I've already made a few coasters for the bf's apartment.  Also so I wouldn't have to watch Event Horizon with no distractions.  I need distractions during scary movies.  Good, but confusing.  It's on Netflix.  

Imagination sock yarn, Enchanted Lake.  I thought it would be a little more graceful, but it feels more childish than I care for.  It's in my "will trade or sell" pile on Ravelry, unless I find something to use it for.

Imagination sock yarn, Loch Ness.  I like these colors, mostly because I love the woods and the water.   Not nearly as saturated as I thought it would be though.  Quite lovely, might make a simple shawl from it.

Full Circle Wool, colors Latte and Mocha.  I'll probably make a scarf with these.  Also, not as saturated as I anticipated.  We'll see how they swatch up.  

3) I've been flipping though Barbara Walker's Treasury of Knitting Patterns.  And by "flipping through, " I mean looking at every pattern and putting a sticky note next to it so that I can use it somewhere.  hah.  It's an amazing book, apparently there are three of them??
4) I'm in cast-on purgatory.  I have Christmas presents to make, but I can't figure out which pattern I want, or which yarn to use, or even what kind of item I want to make (is it a cowl, a hat, an owl mug cozy?).  I really want to do something fast, but my indecision is telling me that is a lie.  Is this what they call "start-itis"?
5) My birthday's coming up, yay!  I'll be 30.  With no idea what I want to do with my life.  It's awesome.  In a really not awesome sort of way. boo.
6) Climbing buddy and I bouldered a V2 without completely tiring ourselves out, woo!  Only took maybe 4-6 tries, I can't really remember.  Who'd a'thunk it?  We're getting better!
7) Hallowe'en is this week!  I'm gonna be Batman!  And I'm climbing!  My harness will be my bat utility belt.  It'll be amazing, woo woo!
8) Christmas show at the USBG is coming up!  OMG.  It's already almost Christmas?!?!?!!
9) I watched a movie with Leslie Nielsen that wasn't a comedy.  I give you, Forbidden Planet.  Pay no attention the cover, it has characters from the movie, but no actual scene like that occurs.  I'm not sure if I would recommend this movie other than it's from the 50s and it's got some cute antiquated gender roles and thoughts on the future.  Also, we have a lot of catching up to do in our colonization of the rest of the solar system.  We're supposed have completely colonized the moon by 2015, if I remember correctly.

::takes a deep breath::

Alright, I've gotten some of the thoughts out of my head.

Have a good nite and great week!

A slow week

This week was pretty slow with the knitting, but I did three fun things:
1) Undid the bind-off on the Simplicity Cowl.  It was actually easy.  I used this tutorial .  She made it really easy to understand, and even though I had a 'suspended' bind off, I still managed to understand I only interacted with the same stitches she was.  I was very proud of myself, but no pictures, sorry.  Maybe I'll do a tutorial just for that, but how do I get the camera to only look at my hands?  Do I need a tripod?
2) I bought new yarn.  And LOTS of it!  Lots for me, at least!  I knew I was getting ready to cast-on for another project, so I went to my LYS, Looped Yarn Works, and pet every yarn in sight!  Haha.  I forget how expensive yarn can be, and my naturally frugal (miserly? nah, I don't think I'm that bad, I have some shiny things) nature won over, so I bought Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in the Cobalt Mix colorway.  Still not the cheapest, but isn't it so pretty?

And then, on Friday, this popped up on my Facebook:

haha!  Frugality FTW!

ooooo, KnitPicks clearance??  I must investigate!  And investigate I did.  I ended up with several skeins of their Imagination hand-painted (socks for me and mom), two skeins of wool of the andes for the bf's scarf, and a couple of Bare skeins to try out some food color/kool-aid dyeing!  I'm so excited to get them!  I'll post more about them with photos when I receive!

I have never bought so much yarn, and it cost so little with the Knit Picks sale!  I'm really excited to try new patterns and techniques, plus using new yarns and needles (I still haven't used my circulars)!  Yay!

3) I was out in Pittsburgh this weekend for my bf's friend's wedding.  It was so much fun, and the food was super delicious - the bride's dad is a chef!  Omnomnomnom.  Not to mention, site-seeing in Pittsburgh involves seeing this:

It looks like Mr Rodgers trolley!

and this:

   

 

Rubber duckie, you're the one...

...plotting to take over the world! Muahahahaha! ::ahem:: 'scuse me.

All-in-all, a super fantastic weekend!  Unfortunately, it left very little time for knitting, and my cowl is still not finished.  Time to get cracking, have a great week!

I thought I was done!!

Hey folks!  Look, a pretty blocking photo:

Look at that tape job to make right angles!  Fantastic!

And now a cool blocking photo:

The Star Wars theme should be in your head right now

Alas, too bad it wasn't to be.  I blocked the Simplicity cowl, then realized it was WAAAYYYY too short.  WAY.  Couldn't even make it around my head twice.  Granted, I do have a big head, but still, it was ridiculous.  So now I have to learn how to un-bind a suspended bind-off and splice some yarn to make the cowl longer.  I somehow never learned that adage "measure twice, cut once" even going through architecture school and building tiny models.  Nope, too impatient.  sigh.  oh well.  Another learning experience I suppose.  I'll try and post some photos of my un-binding effort, if I don't get super frustrated.

In other projects....well, I don't have any.  I really need to start another one, I was actually getting pretty antsy this weekend with nothing on the needles.  I know I have three projects coming up: a winter headband for the boyfriend (really need that since hopefully the weather will cool down soon), socks for mom, and cowl for other sister.  I actually have yarn for two of the three, but not the correct needles.  and I haven't even really found a pattern for any of them.  The headband may just be a ribbing, maybe cabling.  We'll see.

Speaking of the weather...it was almost 90 degrees today.  it's October.  In DC.  It's a little hot for this time of year.  Now, I wouldn't really mind, but we went apple- and veggie-picking today, and it was just waaaay too hot to be picking fruits and veggies!  I mean, they're delicious (like woah) and all, but I have a sun headache now!  terrible.  Hopefully the weather calms down and starts behaving like fall, because I am just really confused all the time now.  I can't tell what day or month it is anymore!  

Here's a llama for your viewing pleasure.  He was at the farm today.

I was a little wary.  He had been sitting down until I got there.  I thought he'd spit on me.

Have a great week!

Oop, you're on fire!

Hey all -

Sorry for the late post, we went camping this weekend, and I needed to decompress before I did anything!  This weekend was super duper fun, with lots of food, smores, improvised tools and just good times with good people.  We headed out the Cedarville State Forest, which is only an hour drive or so out of DC, and then spent the weekend enjoying some beautiful weather!  We went on a hike that was maybe 6 or 7 miles and saw some gorgeous scenery and plantlife!  I also got some work done on my Simplicity Cowl and I am only one large repeat away from done!

Working on Simplicity by the glow of the Honorable Eustace Fairbanks Bojangles, the 3rd (Ireland) & 4th (Wales), Esq., Marquis de la Cedarville.  Yes, we named our campfire.  He was a good campfire.  :)

I was hoping to be done by tomorrow, but that's definitely not going to happen.  After I finish, I need to figure out the best bind off for sewing the two edges together, and then I have to block and sew.  Hopefully I will be done soon, because I may join the Deep Sea Wanderer KAL with bear-ears den on Ravelry.  If you notice, this is a pattern from Lit Knits by Audry Niklin, which I referenced in an earlier post.  I ended up buying it, because I really want to do these patterns:

Avonlea

Motoring Madness from Frog and Toad

Down the Rabbit Hole

Deep Sea Wanderer (of course)

My first knitting book purchase ever!  wooo!  The only other knitting book I have is Vogue Knitting, which I received as a gift from my good friend in Calgary.  It's a great reference book for sure, but not a cool fun pattern book.  Although, I think Lit Knits is waaaay above my skill level.  But everything looked so pretty and clever, and it combined books and knitting, my old favorite hobby and my new.  I had to get it!  Let's see how long it takes me to make something instead of just looking at the amazing photos (oh yeah, another reason I bought the book: the photos are GORGEOUS).

I was thinking of maybe going to the Fall Fiber Festival and Sheep Dog Trials next Saturday, but I may not be able to.  It's about 2 hours away, and I don't own a car, so we have to zipcar, and the costs can just add up.  Plus the time it takes...we'll see.  We're also going to a farm on Sunday with some friends, so I should probably do something at home this weekend, right?  Sigh.  I know, I lead SUCH a difficult life.  "Do I have fun here, or here?  So many hard problems to solve! Woe is me." :)  haha.  And at work, I'm only in the office two days, on site the other three.  Those will probably feel like fun too!

Well, back to LotR with actors commentary as I finish knitting this cowl.  I've been hankering for the movies for the past couple weeks, decided to make it so.  Have a great week everyone!

J

Halfway done!

I'm working on the Simplicity Cowl at a steady clip (at least for me), and I am halfway done!  The scarf can wrap around my neck once as is, with no stretching/blocking, plus, when I actually weighed the yarn, I have used 50g, with 60g remaining.  I am good to go, wooo!  Sorry for the "It's 11pm-and-all-I-have-is-this-incandescent-lamp" photo, but see below for progress.

Doesn't this look like raw ground turkey?  Ahh, incandescent light with pinkish yarn.  Tasty.

I'm pretty thrilled about it, and pretty proud of myself.  I actually worked on it a bit at work one day, since I had to work late waiting for the engineers to send us something.  It was a little surreal.  My friend did comment on my knitting style - I think it's English.  I wrap the working yarn on my right hand and completely remove my right hand from the needle to work the stitch.  It doesn't seem very efficient, but it works for me.

In other news, bf and I did some shopping.  He was successful and looks very dapper now, with super professional shoes and bag.  I was not so successful, but I did get some amazing turquoise Cole Haan flat shoes for $30!  woo hoo!  This weekend also included an always-fun festival at the Botanic Garden (the Junior Botanist Festival), where I saw some ferns that gave me some pattern ideas with their sporangea; and weiner dog races.  And what could be cuter than weiner dog races?  A weiner dog race where one of the contestants is wearing a lobster costume!  ("of course," you say.  "That was exactly what I was expecting.")

The lobster dog also did a little dancing trick during the trick competition.

Okie dokie, short post today.  See you all next week!  I may try and post again during the week, but we'll see how work and other adventures play out.  Bye!