oh, the weather outside is frightful

going to and from work (2 miles) wasn't bad at all. maybe 10 minutes there (instead of 5) and 20 home (instead of 10). but the roads SUCK. and so I called, and the really nice woman said she'd rather I was safe, so we could do it Thursday. She was really really nice. So I hope this next one goes well. I hope Tucker's advice is right on, that they just really want to get to know you better. In teh first interview with her, I mentioned I have great attention to detail, which is so important in knitting. Turns out she used to. She occasionaly crochets now, but not much. So there was that connection.

anyway, there were definitely drifts up to my knees when I had to wipe off the car window to leave work. sheesh. the back of our house faces East. The wind is pretty strong coming from the West, mainly, and so our entire patio on the back of the house is completely devoid of snow. It's kinda fun. Meanwhile, the front door is covered in snow, and the stairs leading up to the house barely look like steps at all. Crazy crazy!

Yay that Bezzie saw this! I was so excited to see her comment. I knew she would be excited for me, but thought she'd be too busy moving. weeeee

later gators

oh. OH!

it goes like this.

Here I am, working in the back room. Boss is somewhere in the back room as well, but at the other end of the store. I've taken to keeping my cell phone in my pocket, on vibrate. Granted, it doesn't get a signal in most parts of the store, especially for incoming calls, but it does notify my of voicemail. But it was actually RINGING today, so I looked at it, saw the number and ran off to a corner of the back room to answer.

Tyndale wants me to come back for a "second" interview, with the woman that would be my boss. Very excited. Yes, slightly nervous. What does a second one entail? I do not know. I need to review the job description and maybe come up with some questions for her. She seems to like questions.

AHHHHHH

and yet it is supposed to be blizzardy out tomorrow. grrrrr. we shall see. Hopefully it's not too bad to get there or for them to leave early or somethin.

think good thoughts!!

alas.

i tried to play with new blogger templates. but then i do lose my left sidebar, no matter how hard i try. one template has a left sidebar instead of a right one, but I wasn't able to even take elements from each and combine because they were just toooo different in the coding that I couldn't do it. i would like a new look, but it took Trevor ages to figure it out last time. And I think they do a better job of hiding things in the code with new blogger. argh. i just wanna leave blogger. but i won't pay for anything. i do like in the new templates how they have the archive in a "drop down" format. showed that i blogged 40 some odd times last year. not even once a week! but over twice a week in '05. maybe i will blog more this year. who knows. i will certainly knit a lot. i think. ugh.

it is TOO COLD. even for me. temp is -3 at the moment. wind to 20 below. mmm. supposed to be like that 'til Tuesday.

I promise pics soon. really. Hush Hush is six inches from end of stockinette. keep goin!

that's about it for now...stuck with this template for now. i don't really want to give up my two sidebars. too much info. i do like a link roll section i can add with new blogger. it would automatically update the blogs i read in alpha order. then again, i could learn to blog roll from bloglines. but i wont.

*sigh*

oh, my.

i was at last able to upgrade to new-blogger. i dunno if i wanted to or not, but it seemed like a good idea before they decided to do it FOR me, which you know they will do soon enough. Maybe i will play with the new layout/templates, maybe not. maybe blogger will be less of a pain. maybe, maybe not.

wedding knitting is going well. but there are so many other things i want to knit for me, all from stash yarn. then again, i did want to be a part of the craft fair coming up in november, which would use a lot of stash yarn i don't really want anyway. hmmm, dilemmas. do i actually have time amongst wedding planning, moving, honeymoon, new life, etc, to get enough stuff to fill an entire table at a craft fair? maybe. because i could make some money which'd be nice.

hmmmm. in case you don't read my xanga or post to knittyboard, i have two job interviews thursday. one at the city electric department, the other at a book publisher that i'd LOVE to work at. so good thoughts on those. wil keep you updated.

awww, baby!

Hey y'all, spent some time with some wonderful children yesterday. Her mom took a nice digital photo which i will get sometime. meanwhile, here's a quick one I took with my phone so you could see the sweater i made her, actually on her. almost four months old now, awwww

lazy, yet not.

so we had dinner for Matt's birthday at my house last Thursday, and these pics have languished on my card since then. Alas, today is his birthday, which means i am not late at all! We are now the same age for three weeks, heh. Then I'm his old woman again! But anyway, two pics for your viewing enjoyment:

This one, where his expression is classicly fun, but i ruined it by somehow having my eyes closed at the exact wrong second.




and this one, where you can see the hat and us all happy, but it's rather boring, ay?





Someday soon i will take a pic of Hush Hush progress. 16 inches down, 7 more with 7 decrease rows left before the F'n'F top. yay!!! Then more flowers. argh, weddings.

also debating the switch to "new blogger" before they do it for me. hmmm.

and we have a winner!

yay for the first FO of the year! and it's only the 4th day :)

Finished a Coronet for Matt's birthday out of Wool-Ease to match the lengthwise scarf I made him last year.

knit the cabled band yesterday, then today i grafted, picked up, and knit the rest.






it fits nice! so it should fit him. i have a HUGE head. he tried on my yellow one. now we match! hehe

and a quick pic of the finished sweater:





(oh yes. most of you will recognize Matt on the right. he looks like his mom! his bro is the other good-looking guy, and that's their step-dad)
Now to work on Hush Hush!!

almost there!

Matt will be picking me up in 15 minutes. All i have left is buttons and weaving ends. so here's the prelim shots for you. so far i LOVE it. the sleeves are long enough, and the sweater is actually a good length as well. we should have light enough for me to have time to finish these things. but yay for me wearing my Christmas sweater! all the details will come with final pics, but i cast on dec 6 and finished today, dec 23. yay!

Catching Up

so after all those entries in a row, i seemindly took a break. because i was knitting furiously.

First off, last Friday Deborah (she's weirdly Canadian!) was in town on business, so Matt and I took her out to Giordano's for traditional Chicago style deep dish pizza. but really, her boss paid for dinner. yay! that was way cool. Of course i got a pic




she made me nifty stitch markers out of string and ribbon! way cute. two sizes. already been using them on my current sweater.






Here's the back and the fronts blocking:










Last year, i knit that fair isle vest in two weeks to wear for Thanksgiving. So on December 6th, I decided to knit a sweater to wear Christmas. hahahaha. i am SO NUTS. but right now i'm working on sleeve #2 while these pieces block, and i bought buttons at HL today (nice wood ones) and using my favorite yarn (220) currently i am frogging the bottom of it as i go (Mariah) directly into this sleeve. my mom found that amusing.

time to get knittin!

yay for more FOs!

real fast:


Before and afters of Fuzzy Feet made out of leftover 220 from my vest last Thanksgiving (the vest i made in two weeks to wear! dare i attempt something new for Christmas when today is the 6th??)
Could stand a bit more felting, maybe. but my feet will be nice and warm. a great pattern, Theresa!











Attending an ornmanet exchange tomorrow. whipped this Crane up today:
red with gold dots. fast, easy, and cute. one pic of true colour, then without flash to try and show you the shape better.







Frogged Mariah today. Will maybe cast on tomorrow...hmmmmmmm

snow day!

seee?








and then i got further than i thought on my sweater:






so that's it. yes, three days of updates in a row. whatever will Ana do with me?

more bloggage!

yes, that's right. two days in a row.

we stopped in the little thrift store tonight. wandered into the back room where i don't always go since it is usually just toys.
and got this:




for $5. yeah. a steal. especially when i got it home and cleaned it and it looks pretty much brand new. love it.

but what's inside?







YES. green sock yarn. KP former "Color Your Own" now just the Bare Fingering Weight. 100 grams, decided on 5 packs of lemon-lime kool-aid. simmer, 30 minutes later clear water gave me that. now it's cooling so i can rinse (splashed some vinegar in with the cooking. will probably do another vinegar rinse just to be safe). Then it will become Cablenet. My other skein i will try and handpaint a bit in shades of red/pink to make Pomatomus and the failed Jaywalkers of LL shepard sock will become Falling Leaves. Yet I don't like knitting socks, hehe. But Pam has given me confidence these will fit my big ol feet.

Now to get some sleep so i can get up and see if schools are closed, hehe.

is this thing on?

yeah, yeah. i know i've been remiss in blogging. But life gets busy, y'know?

so without further ado, here's the sweater:




and here's Hush-Hush:




pausing on Hush-Hush in order to wear this sweater for Christmas. Problem is, I don't do ribbing. It always looks wonky and I don't like to do it. So any sugesstions for the bottom and cuffs? I'm not getting "Knitting Beyond the Edge" until Christmas, and I LOVE that book. Too bad I want to wear this before then, har har.

I also knit a man's beanie and gifted it to a friend, and crocheted two potholders. After this sweater, Hush-Hush and flowers need to be rushed! And y'all have to tell me how many flowers I'm getting since I only received two (Laura) and i know Ana and Ceci have a few.

That's all for now! hopefully more sooner than later.

pumkin carve!

Did this last night....at first had been debating something knitting-related, but instead I just grabbed a knife and had at it. I started with the cat tail, and my 8th grade "soon-to-be step-cousin by marriage" (haha) knew exactly what I was doing. Then we were deciding what to do with the cat I cut out, so I trimmed the back down, and stuck it to my pumpkin with toothpicks. Then I felt it wasn't done, so added a mouse. 'twas fun!

snowy video

apparently youtube doesn't like me. so here it is from photobucket.

just an update!

i finished dishcloth #2, but don't have a pic. it's more boring than the first one since i switched the colours, but hey, at least we now own 2 washcloths for our first home :) dork, i know.

the other day, we found this on our porch, and he then started going up the wall and disappeared around the corner:



cool, huh? made me think of gail and abe. yup.

my friend Matt gave me these books that his mom was clearing out from her 2nd cousin's stuff after she passed away. hold your breath:







uh. yeah. are you as excited as i am??? Barabara Walker 1 AND 2?? yes. and she also has dresses that are knit (possibly 40s era) and some yarn AND some spinning books to show me!! I am so thankful for this gift and will value it for many many years.

i was bad and cast on for a sweater for me:



just your generic top down raglan in my $1 LL Dove yarn =) so pretty, and soooo soft. Matt was like...did you finish those 9 things you had in your basket? haha. is he learning? or should i be worried...uh-oh...now he'll keep tab on my WIPs for the rest of my life *gulp* yeah, i need to knit my flowers too. But i should be having regular Sunday knit times with my pal Tucker :) that should help my production.

today it snowed!! i am attempting to load a video to make monkee scream and Laura be happy :)

let's see if it works:

no need to turn the sound up. there is none, except for the fact that i accidentally left the radio on while filming and now i cannot delete the sound.

I've caught the fever.

Yesterday I went to Hobby Lobby and Michael's with my coupons and bought some Sugar 'n' Cream. Within five hours of coming home, I not only knit an entire dishcloth, I ate dinner, read some of my book, made my workout plan, surfed the web. Heh. No wonder Ana calls me a fast knitter.




Yeah. These cloths have been on my mind for a while now. And I don't even like knitting cotton. But they called to me! And alas, with a 40% and a 50% off coupon, I knew it was time. Just cast on for the second one, alternating the colours. I will still have leftovers, I believe. I already have my eyes set on a green/blue/white/yellow combo. mmmm. those leftovers will work well with these, methinks!

In the mail today, I received the first part of my payment from that shawl I knit:


I cannot wait to knit the short-row fair isle sweater in here! The 1824 wool to do so is also coming as my payment.

Scarf I'm crocheting to offset the skarfs:



Yay for updating with actual knitting! Time to go work on this dishcloth before Matt picks me up for dinner :)

All in a day's work.

soooo...last year sometime...(last year? two years? when was it, monkee?) I received a spindle and some roving from Joeli. Then when she moved to the UK she gifted me the rest of it. it's wool for sure, and it kinda seems to be merino, from reading various descriptions of it.

i used small pics so i don't make Barbie's dial-up cry. Photobucket makes thumbnails for you! yay! (Trevor...it also makes them open in new window.) [click pics for big]

Roving:



first yarn balls from way back:



what i pulled off the spindle in order to use it:



so i settled in...i dunno what made me wanna pick it up, but i did. probably just to procrastinate. heh.

and i did this, yesterday:



wanna see closer?



i then tried my first hand at plying:



in ball form:



yarn on feet!! for Missy!



and finally, all skeined up!



Today, after being responsible, and doing things from my to-do list, i picked it up again. figured i was on a roll, may as well keep it up (not like i don't have wedding things to do, including wedding knitting, but alas)



not exactly entirely even, but i like it. Keep bugging Ana for advice, teehee. yay for enablers!!

that's about it for now.

img test

yay lace!

just some quick pics:







pinned to bro's extra-long twin bed. ceiling fan on medium. will dry quickly. details to follow with finished modeled pic.

ETA: time for a fast knit for myself. so i go to my knitting basket, wanting to find my top-down raglan in kool aid recycled yarn. and uh...it's not in there. but guess what....NINE things on the needles. NINE. oh. my. goodness. i did not even know i was that bad. seriously. and...they are pretty much all scarves. what??
-ruffles from Scarf Style
-scarf in bulky superwash wool of one giant cable
-skinny scarf in Tar-jay yarn
-gluffy scarf in Big Lots yarn
-lion brand fancy fur scarf
-lace scarf in KP's gossamer
-branching out sample
-pair of Sassy Stripes socks
-lorna's lace helen's lace shawl (only NICE WIP in there)

also:
-yarn for shaped triangle shawl
-valerie handspun
-nono kitty sample handdyed
-lorna's laces shepard sock failed jaywalkers
-mohairy branching out that needs to ripped out

dear goodness. someone help me! it's like an endless Mary Poppins bag. i think i might could sell all the frou-frou scarves i already have made, and finish these others, and make some money at a craft fair in november. whaddya think?