Insane

I’ve officially gone insane.  This might just be the millionth time I’ve said that on this blog.  Today, I’m specifically talking about the slight obsession I’ve had with Rosemary Hill’s shawl patterns.  Remember me talking about working on them in my last post?  I had finished Bitterroot and was working on Brandywine.  Well, I finished the Brandywine shawl on Sept 5th.  It was started on August 31st!!!! And the shawl I’m working on now?  Merope by Rosemary Hill. 

The only modification I did on the Brandywine pattern was work 16 repeats of Chart B instead of 15.  Actually, that modification would have really messed me up if I didn’t have another skein of the same yarn hanging around.  For the last 5 stitches, I had to do a russian join with leftover cast on tail.  Luckily, I did have 2 skeins of the yarn so I wasn’t stressing too much. 

For the Brandywine, I used Kraemer Yarns’s Sterling Silk & Silver in a royal blue that has slight flecks of silver in it.  Most of the time yarns that have metallic or angelina in them makes for a scratchy yarn.  This stuff I could definitely imagine making socks with it though you would hide away all of the pretty sparkle in your shoes. 

Do you want to hear about the next shawl?  I’ve known that I wanted to knit Merope ever since it was first released.  I absolutely loved everything about the shawl.  The little eyelets in the middle of the shawl and the diamond design on the sides really sparked my interest.  A couple of days ago, when I read the story behind the shawl, I knew the Sterling Silk and Silver yarn would be perfect for it.  The silver looks like stars on a night sky. 

This shawl was started on September 4th and today, September 7th, I’m 1.5 rows and a bind off away from being finished!!!!  It’s a little bit insane how quickly these shawls have been going.  It’s not even as if all I’ve done is knit this weekend.  I’d say that I’ve devoted pretty much the same amount of time to them as I normally would during a week.  I guess when my knitting mojo came back, it came back with a vengeance!  Of course, I’ll probably take a long break from knitting anything after all of this craziness! :) 

Finishing and starting

Sorry I've been AWOL for a while. I've been busy at work and, after I get home, I don't want to sit in front of a computer. That has been a slight problem for the online class I am taking this semester. Hmm, should get on that. Anyway, I have been knitting, finishing and starting a lot during my slight blogging interim.

First up, a finished object! I finished the EMU shawl on Feb. 10th. It was a very fast knit and I enjoyed making it. The beads really make it look special. Too bad none of them really showed up in any of these pictures.





I might have mentioned that I was donating this shawl to a staff silent auction. I took it in on Tuesday. Ever since then, I've had so many people saying how much they liked it and how they were definitely going to bid on it. What I find funny is that this shawl isn't complex. Know what I mean? It is just a simple ktog or ssk and a yarn over pattern. Mom thought that I can't see how impressive it is because I have other ones that are more impressive to me. Because other people can't see the other shawls/stoles, they think this one is super impressive. I guess everything has a context.

Next up, finished afghan square!


I told you about the afghan a group on Ravelry is making for Terry Pratchett. This square is my contribution. It was influenced by the Tiffany Aching series. The sheep were really fun to make. I ended up duplicate stitching the black legs and faces on because I couldn't keep the tension even with three different colors. I sent it off on Friday to Scotland. Hope it make it there before the 29th (which is the deadline).

Next, a WIP. I'm on a fingerless glove jag. This one is the Princess Mitts from the Knitters Book of Yarn (though this is a free pattern online). I really have to get that book.


I just have to finish the thumb on the first glove and start the second one.

So instead, I started another pair. Good solution, huh?

The pattern was written for a DK weight yarn. This mitten is actually DK. The first one (the green one) is worsted so it is quite a bit bigger. I was going to give the multi-colored pair away as a gift but I think I like the yarn too much to give it away! The yarn came from a store in AZ that my aunt bought me a while ago when she was visiting there. It is Zitron Ecco and is knitting up sooooo well.

I've been working on a pair of alpaca socks for a friend. She is allergic to wool but wants warm socks. The Alpaca Sox yarn is wonderful to use but I think I need to go down a needle size. I've been making a pair of Monkey socks (top down, gasp) and it just isn't the fabric I want it to be. They might be frogged and started in a new pattern or, if I stay with the Monkey pattern, with a new needle size.

Other than that, I've been playing with stitch dictionaries and trying to find a stitch that I like for an alpaca neckwarmer. The alpaca yarn is a fingering weight and a natural brown. It came from a local farm. I haven't been happy yet with any of the stitches/needle sizes.

Meme and continuing with gray

Lisa tagged me with this meme/survey thingy.

4 Jobs I've Held:
pet-sitter
plant waterer (or landscape manager if you want to be fancy)
village office intern
library intern

4 Movies I Watch Over and Over
Clue ("This is war, Peacock!")
The Italian Job (the new one)
Love Actually
Pride and Prejudice (the A&E series)

4 Places I Have Been
England
Germany (Bavaria mostly)
Austria
Paris


4 Places I Have Lived
England (Lancaster and London)
Gettysburg, PA
Granville, OH
(I'm kind of limited because I live where I grew up)

4 TV Shows I Watch
Pushing Daisies
Chuck
Heroes
Criminal Minds

4 People Who Email Me Regularly
Does chatting count? Carolyn
Another college friend
A friend from England because we are in a class together now
A riding friend

4 Favorite Foods
Lamb Curry (but it has to have proper lamb! The stuff around here doesn't cut it)
Thai anything (yum, spicy)
Chicken with Chinese peanut sauce over cucumbers (again, yum, spicy)
Pizza Cottage Pizza (great, now I have to order that for lunch!)

4 Places I Would Rather Be:
Riding
London
Sleeping
Ireland

4 Things I'm Looking Forward to:
The end of my masters so I can have free time!!!!!
Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival
Buying my own spinning wheel
Summer so I can ride more

I'm not going to tag anyone so if you want to do this meme, copy and paste it in your own blog and leave a comment telling me that you did. :)

I heard yesterday that a knitting friend is having a medical scare. I wanted to give her something to give comfort so I took the Majestic Mountains stole to the knitting shop yesterday. It was going to be a mother's day gift for mom but I'll just make her something else.

In other knitting news, the body of my EMU shawl is finished and I am working on the border. Last night, I did a swatch of the border to figure out where I wanted the beads to go. These are the beads I used for the MS3. I really like the way that the gunmetal gray go with the gray of the yarn.

The border is going rather quickly so I'm hoping to have this finished really soon! The pattern is a perfect quick knit that doesn't require much counting or brainpower. Unlike the other version I made of the Shoulder Shawl in Syrian Pattern, I don't have to worry about running out of yarn with this one!

More crack

Hi, my name is Anne and I am addicted to roving. And it happened in a very short period of time! But first, here are some pictures!

I've finished the main part of the back of the Brennan Cardigan. It went surprisingly quickly for such a long piece of knitting.


Now I have to pick up the stitches that were put on a holder on each side and do the fun pattern. It will hopefully go pretty quickly because, as we all know, cabling is crack.


I finished and blocked the shoulder shawl that I was working on from Victorian Lace Today. It turned out really well and blocked to a much bigger measurement than I expected. I still haven't decided if it is going to be a gift or not. We'll see when Christmas rolls around how desperate I get for gifts.


Progress has been made on the Double Bordered Diamond scarf also from Victorian Lace Today. I only work on this one occasionally, though, so the progress is not quick. So far I've done 7 of the 20 repeats. Reading the comments on Ravelry was really funny because one person said "forget 20, 16 was plenty for me!" Sorry for the really bad lighting!


And one of the most important pictures of this post (well, at least to me!) *drumroll* is my first single!!! It's overspun and lumpy in places but I love it. <3


After spinning up all of the undyed roving we got at class, I kind of went on a crazy "must have roving" couple of days. It was like withdrawl. But then Kim got this beautiful stuff in! It is roving from Cherry Tree Hill and the colorway is Watercolors. The colors are really surprising because, on the website, the Watercolors looked very washed out but in person, these are so strong.


I picked it up yesterday night but got so excited about it that I didn't even wait to take a picture of the bag of it. Instead, I headed over to the meeting of the spinners guild and got to work :) One of the other ladies had a ball winder so I was able to free up one of my bobbins.


The guild meeting was so much fun. I am definitely going to have to become a member! One of the women lives on my street and has a herd of sheep. She is an omnipotent goddess. She brought a bag full of uncarded (is there a special term for that? I need to get spinning books.) locks and her plethora of tools. Then we had a chance to practice carding and making the wool look like the processed roving. I really need to learn official terms. Anyway, here is a small bit of the wool that I am going to play with later.


It was just so much fun to listen to everyone's conversations about various things like chemical dyeing and natural dyeing or the different properties of fibers. I think I'm going to learn a lot!

One of the other women brought some yarn bags that a college student made. They have pockets on the inside for needles and other notions. I'm going to be giving one as a Christmas present and then have to decide what to do with the other.


All in all, I have a new obsession and need to start looking for a wheel of my own!

Guess what!

Guess what time of year it is!

Yea!!! Ironically, though, I haven't been knitting that many socks right now. My goal for Socktoberfest is to work my way through Cat Bordhi's book and actually finish a pair (or two) of socks for Dad. He is 6'4" so making socks for him is a little daunting.

Guess what I did yesterday during lunch and break.

A horsie finger puppet! Black is such a hard color to photograph so sorry for taking such a bad picture. I have to make a lot more of these so they can race. I had never done any crocheting other than making flat squares but was determined to make this work. Guess you need the right incentive :)

I finished the sleeves of the Brennan Cardigan last night and went back to working on the back. The cardigan, however, is not a project that I can work on in class. (The needles make too much noise.) So I picked this shawl up again.


The border is trucking along. Why is this one so much easier to do than the one on the beaded shawl?


Inspired by everyone else's sewing projects in the blog world, I made this shopping bag a few weeks ago before I fell off the horse. Hehe, cow.


Look at the inside! Is it just me or does it look like a cow field? Highly amusing.


I cut out material for 5 other bags but just need to sit down sometime and finish them. Not all of them are the same material.

And finally, look what I saw the other night. Does this amuse anyone else as much as it does me?

Ouch

**Blogger is being really weird so I've reposted this post will all of the sentences/paragraphs corrected.

So yesterday, I hit dirt HARD. I was mounting Capone and, before I was settled, he decided to take off bucking. It would have been alright if I had been fully in the saddle but being only half mounted I had no chance. Definitely one of those times when you can see everything happening in slow motion. You know that you are going to fall but can't do anything to stop it. I ended up hitting the driveway (thanks horse) even there was so much grass around. The driveway isn't asphalt but limestone. Not sure if that is any better.

Now usually, I always hit my right side when I fall off. Even if I fall off the left side of the horse, I somehow twist around and hit my right side. This time, however, the streak was broken. I landed quite squarely on my butt. Didn't pass out this time but couldn't really get up and catch the horse for a little bit because my breath was knocked out of me and the world kept going blurry. Once I finally staggered up, I had to walk down the entire driveway to catch the pony (took a break in the middle to sit/hang over the bank jump because my vision got blurry again). The other horses had wandered to the front of the front pasture and had been calling Capone so he went to visit.

After catching Capone, I walked him back to the mounting block, got on, rode one time around the arena, and promptly got off. Very promptly. If you aren't a horse person, getting back on might have seemed a little crazy but it really was necessary. He was such a good boy then. No acting up at all. He even seemed a little contrite but that might of been him wanting to get fed. :)

Yesterday morning, I was the height of efficiency and it was a little scary. I had to take the car into town to be inspected so Dad can use it to respond to emergency runs. They have been fixing a bridge on a road that serves the entire north side of the township. Repairs started in the middle of July and have been going on ever since. Because I have to take back ways into town, the barn, and work, it adds 10 minutes to even the simplest trips. Anywho, I decided not to go back home after getting the car inspected. Instead, I did something radical. I went to the library. Shocking, I know. Even more shocking, I got my assignment for class which is due in 2 weeks completely finished. This is simply astonishing. Usually, I am working on it at the very last minute barely getting it finished before turning the assignment in. It probably helped that this assignment was so much fun. We had 20 questions that we had to answer using an almanac. Have you ever looked through an almanac? They are wonderful things. I love all of the random information you can find in them. For instance, do you know how many quarts are in a Nebuchadnezzar?* Or even what a Nebuchadnezzar is?**

Later, I went to the yarn shop and hung out for a while. Right as I was starting to think of leaving, it got really, really busy. There were people just looking around, searching for yarn, and wanting help with their knitting disasters. I helped a couple of people with their socks from Cat Bordhi's new book, helped another woman with the sleeve of a fair isle sweater, and rang up other people. It is funny how quiet it can be one minute and so crazy the next.

I have also been doing a little bit of knitting this week. Mainly, I've been sewing Christmas presents because I don't think everyone is going to get knitted presents. I can't wait to share the pictures of the stuff I have been making but that will have to wait until January. :( Back to knitting! The ribbing of the toe-up Monkeys has started so they should be finished soon. I have also gotten a few more inches finished on the beaded shawl. That thing is taking forever to finish! I really can't wait until Mom brings my camera back so I can take pictures of this stuff!

* There are 20 quarts in a Nebuchadnezzar.
** A Nebuchadnezzar is a unit of measure for champagne. I love library school.

Monogamy sucks

I've been staying loyal (mostly) to the beaded shawl I have been working on for the past month and a half. I'm really bad about finishing projects. Starting them is easy but finishing is very hard. So I decided to force myself to finish up some projects and not start new ones until the WIP numbers went down.

This self-imposed limit on the number of WIPs is getting REALLY hard to follow and really boring. I like the project still (though the shawl was getting a little old when I reached 700 some stitches) but I keep looking at different patterns and my fingers itch for new yarn to play with. Fickle girl that I am.

The toe-up Monkey socks were one of my "finish all of my WIPs" lapses. I started them when I couldn't look at the beaded shawl any more. They are now 1 lace repeat from the top ribbing and should be easily finished. I just have to sit down and actually work on them. They went with me to the wedding this past weekend but I didn't get much done. A lace pattern is too hard to work on in a dark car or while imbibing. Also, when you are writing a paper in the car on the drive to PA, it is hard to get any knitting done. On the way home, I worked on the shawl instead of the socks. That helped me get all of the charts done with it and now I am working on the border.

Blah, must finish shawl. So close to being done. So close!

Pie, Ponies and Pattern Perusal

Did you have a good Labor Day? My aunt and uncle were here over the weekend so we all had lots of lovely food. I absolutely love grape pie and Mom made one of those, numerous peach ones, apple and a birthday cake for my aunt. Way more food was consumed than should have been. :)

On Sunday, I rode all three of the horses I've volunteered to ride. I started with the one that is the most challenge to me, Capone. He tattles when I do anything wrong so it is making me a better rider. After working him in the ring for 1/2 hour, we went on a short trail ride. Once we got back, I got on my own horse, Java, and headed out again for the trail. I met up with some of the other horse people (that makes them sound like centaurs) from down the road and went out on a trail ride with them. It is funny that we went the same exact distance (actually a little shorter) that Greta and I usually do but it took so much longer because we walked the entire way. I ended up being on a horse from 9 am to 1 pm with only a 30 min break to hose one horse, catch the other one, and saddle him. Then, in the afternoon, I went to ride Brandy, the third horse. She is a fat little 20+ yr-old mare who still has lots of spirit. We wandered all over her owners' property until it was starting to get dark. She and I came face-to-face with 10 deer and she never even flicked an ear. If it was Java, we would have started running and not stopped until we reached the barn. By the end of the day, I could hardly move but it was even worse the next day! I ended up only riding Java on Monday even though I had the day off. He was the only one I could trust not to take advantage of my stiff state. I'm hoping to go ride Brandy tonight after work.

This working till 7 pm three nights a week and having class the other night is already getting old and I've only done it 1 week! It makes riding and getting to the yarn shop difficult. Hey, I have my priorities. ;)

Speaking of yarn shops reminds me of knitting. I've reached the doldrums of my lace project. The pattern is still nice, I love the yarn's colors and the beads are still crack but it is taking me 20-30 minutes to do one row. That makes for very slow progress. Also, because the pattern is the same, no one else can see what progress I do make. It just looks the same to them. At least I've reached the halfway point of the third and final chart repeat. It will be very nice to bind off and block this one.

I've already started thinking of other projects to do. It probably is time to get back to socks. They've been neglected for far too long. The Monkey socks by Cookie A. sound like a good project. A ton of people in the blog world have been making them recently. The Jitterbug I picked up in London might look nice but I'm worried there might not be enough yardage.

I'm also thinking of starting some sort of cardigan or sweater thing. I haven't made a sweater in a very long time. Maybe over a year or two? Ravelry is a bad influence because I've been looking at things in other people's queues and then adding those projects to my own. Interweave Knits doesn't help either. Did you see the Tangled Yoke Cardigan? Sigh Of course, any of these big non-sock projects will require yarn purchases. Why does it always work that way?

Temptation . . .

Have you ever worked on a project that you absolutely love but suddenly, midway through it, you start feeling a little distracted like you want to start something else? I love the shawl that I am working on because it's pattern is simple and yet lovely. It also has beads and the yarn color is so subtle. I'm probably 40% finished with the pattern and still trucking along but suddenly I want to start so many different projects. Ravelry is also not helping matters any. I took pictures of most of my stash and wrote down most of my WIPs. You can also add projects you want to do into your queue. Seeing all of that fun yarn again and looking at everything I have to finish just makes me want to start something new!

In other news, I've recently rediscovered podcasts. I know, I know, behind the times. I used to listen to one (on a non-knitting subject!) but then got bored with it so I unsubscribed. Last week, there was a discussion on Ravelry (can you tell I am addicted?) about favourite podcasts and I decided to take another look (or would that be listen?) to them. They can be so educational! I've really been learning a lot from the various shows. It's also helped me catch up on my Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me! episodes because I never seem to have it together enough to listen to the show on Saturdays when it is on the radio. The podcasts I'm listening to are:

• Lime and Violet
• Stash n' Burn
• Socks in the City
• Knit Picks' Podcast
• Cast On
• Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me

Any other suggestions?

I feel like an idiot

So I forgot that I had my PayPal account tied to a hotmail account which I don't check frequently. This makes it a little difficult when people try to contact you via your PayPal information and you don't check that email more than once a month. I found out a couple of days ago that I won a book, The Knitters Journal, in Claudia's MS Ride Raffle at the end of June. That is almost 2 months ago! I feel so silly! I contacted Claudia and Julie (the woman who generously donated it) and luckily the book is still available. So now I am looking forward to that in the mail. Thanks, Claudia and Julie!

I promised myself that I wouldn't dive into Cat Bordhi's new book until I got a couple of projects off of the needles. That resolve is getting harder and harder. The book is amazing. She takes sock knitting and completely turns it on its ear. Completely. Amazing. Kim is going to be having a sock club every 2nd and 4th Friday from 3 pm until closing because of this book. Four hours of socks! *sigh*


How about the projects I am working on? Well, I'm on the last 2 rows of the mystery stole. Other people's pictures of the finished stole are just amazing. I wasn't sure what I thought of the wing or an asymmetrical stole before but now that I've seen the pictures, I love it. They really look nice. I guess that is the beauty of lace; something you think looks strange pre-blocking is suddenly the most beautiful thing you've ever seen once it is blocked. Anyway, I've sworn to get this stole finished before moving on to the next project.

The other project was a simple pair of footies from remnants of my TOFUtsies yarn that has been hanging around since my Anastasia socks. Those took no time at all to finish. I think I was just trying to get my projects list on Ravelry to be longer.

Now I am working on another beaded lace shawl. I think there is something addictive about lace and beads. Lace on its own is a dangerous substance but combine it with beads and stand back! :)

Finished

Hanging out,
originally uploaded by bookworm knitting.

Look what I finished! This shawl has to be the fastest FO I've done in a long time. I didn't have to keep the pattern with me which was very nice. The color reminds me so much of the new green leaves of spring.

I'm still working on the various socks. Maybe this FO will give me incentive to get them done!


In other news, I got the educational leave from work for my study abroad! It is so exciting! Now I don't have to worry about having to find a job when I get back from England. I'm going to be on cloud 9 the rest of the day! (Can you tell that I am excited by the number of exclamation points I am using?) :)

Snow again!

It is flurrying again! :) I am very excited. It hasn't felt like winter without some snow on the ground.

My program on Tuesday went really well. I had three ladies come and one brought her granddaughter. Two knew how to knit and crochet and one was relearning. Once she started, her hands definitely remembered how to do it. We made 3 blanket squares that night. One of the ladies was going to rush home and look through her yarn stash to see what she could use to make squares.

Speaking of stash . . . . I was worried that I might not have enough yarn for people to use and would have to buy some. Then I started looking through my stash . . .

A full tote bag and a shopping bag! (I think I had enough yarn.) This is just the junk yarn and none of my good stuff! I don't even know where all of this was hiding!

Peacock shawl . . . I was finishing up another pair of Fetching last night so not much progress has been made. I am on the 96th row and the feathers have started to appear. I love it though I need to pick up more books on tape/CD because it is definitely a project that I can't knit and read at the same time!

So addictive

Can I just say that I love this yarn and this pattern? It is so easy to fly through it. I am already on the second chart. I just want to work on this lace all day!

AND, it is snowing!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited. It is very small flakes of packing snow. I went out to feed the horses and my tracks were almost completely covered in 15 minutes. If it keeps up like this, we might have whiteout conditions. Too bad I have to go to work today :( Definitely going to be calling the severe weather number to see if the library will be open.

Cable Crack

So apparently I am addicted to the cable crack. Seriously, once you start, it is hard to stop. I finished the pair of Fetching for Carolyn on Thursday night, weaved in the ends, blocked it, the whole nine yards. By Friday afternoon, I had it in the mail and had started on a pair for myself with a couple of modifications. I increased the number of cables around the wrist and lengthened the glove a little beyond the thumb. By the end of the evening, I had one finished and the other started. If I get time today, I will probably be done with the second one.

Kim from the yarn store called yesterday to tell me the yarn I had ordered had come in! We only ordered it on Wednesday! I am planning to make the Peacock Feathers Shawl with Cherry Tree Hill's colorway, Green Mountain Madness. What could be better? Some of my favorite yarn and lace that makes peacock feathers :) Looks like I am back on the lace crack. So addicitive. . . .

FO (Finally) and WIPs


Picture time!



The picture to the right is the Forest Canopy Shawl being blocked. Note to self: get more T-pins!!!




This picture on the left is a close-up of the stitch pattern. See the detail? I definitely like it better after blocking. It looks much more like a leaf. I think the green was a good choice for the pattern.

These socks are the socks I am making Mom for Christmas. Note to self: stop sleeping! It is cutting down on the gift making time!! They are made out of Cherry Tree Hill yarn (<3)in Spanish Moss colorway.




And this is what I did yesterday at work. I really like the 3D snowflakes. Easy to make yet look very complicated.

Finished Objects!

This is about to be a whole lot of pictures of FO.

shawls pre-blocking, click on the picture for a larger image
This is a picture of the forest canopy shawls on which I have been working. The dark green one is the "test" yarn that I used before making the same pattern in the light green mohair.

This is a close-up of the leaf pattern in the mohair. You would not believe how warm this thing is! The pattern will be much clearer once I block the things.

This is the purse I have been working on for Christmas/Thank you gift for my cousin. I am going to be staying with her for a couple of days before leaving for Austria. This picture is of the purse before felting. The handle and bottom of the bag are re-enforced by garter stitching them with two strands of yarn. The handle and the flap are beaded.

The second picture of the bag is it in the felted state. Surprise, surprise, it looks like the before picture! ;) The inside pocket has beads across the top so you can feel it easily. I realized as I was felting it that a black purse might not have been such a good idea. They are black holes anyway so this one will be a super black hole. Oh, well!

Right! Knitting
Almost forgot to talk about the knitting. I am almost finished with my gift purse. It is a black felted bag with beads on the bag flap and handle. I hope it will turn out really well. In order to make the bottom of the bag and the handle stronger, I used two strands of yarn together. Even before felting it feels like nothing could go through it. Can't wait to see it after felting. I swear, I will talk a picture of it!

I have darted off to another project: Very Tall Socks. They are very fun but I think I want to do them in a bigger needle size. Making them on #2s would take FOREVER. And, if I have a bigger needle size, those needles could be bamboo. Then I could take the bamboo on the plane to Austria. The only thing is, do I want to take all of that yarn? Hmmm. Might have to do some smaller socks with needles that I buy over there.

I am still working on the mohair shawl. I still love the yarn and the pattern is still (cross your fingers) going well but I have just gotten distracted by all of the other stuff.

Next Friday (ack, 6 days!) I am flying to New York to visit with my cousin before leaving for Austria on the 28th. My friends and I will be over there for 2 weeks and, boy, am I ready! Somehow the date crept up on me and suddenly I have so much to do before I leave. Definitely need to get the passport out of the bank vault. Have to get student discount card. Have to pack (ugh). Have to call the credit card company. Have to call the bank. *Pant, pant* Whew. Somehow it will all get done. Somehow.

Jinxed!

I did jinx myself yesterday by saying I felt confident working with the mohair. Last night, I just did silly things with it. I had to rip it out a couple of times (talk about fun). Today, I just seem to have my counting off. Over lunch I got so frustrated with it that I had to stop. I think I will start (or continue) one of the other projects to give myself a break. Arrglyes anyone?

V-day

Did you remember to vote today? FINALLY the election adds will be over and Dogpile has a cute logo today. I don't know about the other states but Ohio has been lousy with the ads. If you watch TV, there is a little bit of show in the middle of lots of political spite. It doesn't matter what politics to which you subscribe, everybody is slamming everybody else. It amused me to no end that I could vote on Saturday. No lines, no hassle. Pretty simple process.

Knitting stuff (sort of)-- Java was featured on Romancing the Yarn. Isn't he cute? :) OK, real knitting stuff. I keep meaning to charge my camera batteries so I can take pictures of the stuff I have been doing recently. I felted a couple of purses in a denim-like blue wool. I like the way the one turned out but the other was waaaaaay too short and too wide. I cut it apart and am sewing it together again. The cat has decided the strap is her play toy and won't let me have it back. So that means the purse is going to have to be finished later. I am still working on finding a purse pattern that I like.

I finished the Forest Canopy shawl in my test yarn. (I wanted to do the shawl in mohair that I picked up from DeStash but wanted to learn how to lace with an easier yarn.) I am going to block it tomorrow and take a picture. I started on the same pattern with the mohair and I looooooooooooooooooooooooooooove it! :) The mohair is a light green almost like lime sherbet and looks perfect with the pattern. The green is just the right color for new spring leaves. I am very happy that I practiced the pattern first because I feel very confident now. Hopefully I haven't jinxed myself!

Sock news -- Well, nothing really. I found some more sock yarn that I love at my LYS, The Needling Yarn. I really like the colors of the Cherry Tree Hill yarns. This one is called "Peacock" and how perfect is that? :) Now I just have to find a pattern for this gorgeous stuff. Perhaps Pomatomus?

I am still working on the Lonesome Skein KAL but I only seem to be adding to the stash recently. Not enough time and too much wonderful yarn.

Well, off to school tonight to turn in the last paper of the semester! Yea!