I'm packing for a flight to Seattle this weekend, and one of the more important parts of packing is figuring out knitting.  (Well, that, and carefully calculating the number of pairs of underwear required for the time spent away.)

So, looking at knitting goals for the year:

-fornicating reindeer hat for coworker's brother-in-law
-fornicating ______ hat for coworker's husband - thinking horny toads? Not sure, may need to chart this
-socks for Tina
-socks for my sister
-socks for HWIA
-wrist warmers for ME, ALL MINE.
-wrist warmers for TSD
-sweater for me
-baby stuff galore!
-cowl for boss
-wrist warmers for A2
-socks for me
-repair all dying, holey socks on dresser

Fornicating reindeer hat would require the purchase of yarn.  No time for that, plus coworker's brother-in-law hasn't given me the money for said hat yet.

Fornicating _____ hat for coworker's husband:  I do have the yarn for this one, and I just spent quite a few hours figuring out the chart for the horny toads and toadstool(s).

Socks for Tina:  One done, about 2/3 of the way done the foot of the second.  These are toe-up, so I hate them.  Also, on  metal needles so not appropriate for plane knitting.

Socks for my sister: One done, dipped into second yarn ball to finish first, thus insuring that I will run out of yarn for the second.  Have yet to decide on solution, and also, on metal needles, even if I am very near the toe on the second sock.

Socks for HWIA: going to be modeled after socks knit for my father, so will be using same yarn/needles/pattern.  Again, that means metal needles.  ARGH.

Wrist warms for me: have yarn, have wooden needles, have idea of pattern.  Just not sure if I want to figure that out on a plane/train to airport.  Hrm.

Wrist warmers for TSD:  ALL DONE!  And even gifted to him already as well.

Sweater for me:  need to decide on pattern.

Baby stuff galore:  Hoping to pick up baby stuff yarn in Seattle.

Cowl for boss:  Boss got another pair of wrist warmers to replace the ones she lost.

Wrist warmers for A2:  ALL DONE! and gifted as well.  They've even been worn.

Socks for me:  One of the few projects already going AND on wooden needles! However, feel guilty for knitting stuff for me with all the above not done yet.

The other option is the second pair of Bayerische Socks, but I dug those out and appear to be missing a needle.  I have sock, I have yarn, I have pattern, I have only 4 needles and that pattern requires at least 5.

high class

I'm home and somehow have internet.  I'm fairly certain that I won't after the new year, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I'm working on the i-cord edging for Ryan's hat.  Not so sure how much I like it, not so sure how much I care.  But, over half way done the finishing aspect and I won't see him for a while, so I'm  ok with that.  Maybe I'll mail him a picture of the finished hat, though.

Need to finish Tina's sock by oh, 4pm tomorrow when she comes over for Christmas dinner.  But, I think that's totally possible, assuming that I do nothing but knit tomorrow.

I started a scarf for my sister - this multicolored yarn she bought at Michael's.  All in all, it isn't that bad.  I'm doing a basketweave pattern, which she is really liking.  I think it will be a fairly fast knit, so long as I stay on top of it.  I just need to think a bit in the process, so I remember to continue the pattern.

The holiday party season has started.  TheBoyfriend's family had a get-together this evening and I went for a little bit.  I ended up on puppy duty- they have a cocker spaniel/poodle mix named Butterscotch.  She's super cute and very friendly.  However, she's still puppy enough to been to be on a leash will all these strange people around and I ended up with the leash.  She was very well behaved, would sit or lay down at my feet.  Many a time, my shoe was used as a pillow.  All things considered, she was very mellow this evening.  

Then I went to the annual Christmas party of family friends.  Lots of good food, open bar.  I discovered that ginger ale, sour apple schnapps, and vodka is quite yummy, as they couldn't make whiskey sours.  And discovered that my parents have both smoked pot and that my mother had SoCo at her high school prom - prompting me to say "So my mother was a high class underage drinker who wore short skirts."  Just as I finished that sentence, someone turned and looked at us with the best expression on his face.  He shrugged and walked off; we burst out laughing.  It was a fun evening and good to see my parents remembering the times when they used to get along, even if my mother did lock him in the hallway, naked.  Twice.  (but then, he fell for the same trick twice, so the second time wasn't her fault.)

My camera's batteries died, again, so no pictures yet.  But I do promise pictures of the Christmas Bush that is currently gracing the living room.

I lied

Word continues to mock me. The cursor, it sits there and blinks, waiting for me to actually WRITE something. Sometimes, it gets bored and wanders off, much like my mind (or even me, for that matter). I am stuck on BOTH papers. 

For the one, I'm just overwhelmed by the amount of information I've found. I'm writing about the domestication and early uses of the horse. There's more than enough information to go on for pages and pages, so its not like I picked a very narrow topic. Rather, I don't know where to start. I THINK I've got a rough outline, detailing the major ideas I want to discuss and a basic order for doing so. Hopefully, I can write a large portion of that tomorrow, after discussing it with my professor.  

For the other.. I have ideas, but I'm not sure where to go with them, where it is POSSIBLE to go with them. I might end up writing about The Picture of Dorian Gray, discussing influence and evil and good/bad angels.  I like the idea, I think I could carry it out for 5 pages, and I found a quote I really liked in the text.  If I can get cracking on THAT paper, I can go to office hours on Friday and see what she thinks and finish the paper and then worry about the 20 page paper over the weekend, cause writing 20 pages in two days is SO the smart thing to do. 

I've been trying not to knit.  I keep ending up staring at my blank computer screen, so maybe I should knit and let ideas float around in my head.  Hrm...  And I lied, I did break open the alpaca and knit a swatch.  And oh, good lord, am I going to LOVE this sweater.  The yarn is soft and squishy and yummy.  I don't think it will be itchy, but we'll have to see what happens when I finish it.  Worst case, I have to wear a tank top under it.  No big deal.  I'm supposed to wash my swatch.. has anyone had Knitpicks Alpaca grow/shrink when wet?   

I've started the ear flaps of Ryan's hat!  Since I put the other stitches on waste yarn, I made him try it on.  It seems to be a little bit big for him, but I think it will work out.  The addis I ended up buying are NOT a US #2, but 3mm.  So the fabric with them has a bit more drape, which I think works with that section of that hat.  I like it so far.  See?

   

Tina's sock is kinda being ignored in favor of the hat.  I think Ryan is leaving on Wednesday or Thursday of next week and I'd kinda like to be able to give it to him before he leaves.  So long as I can figure out how to knit an applied I-cord, I think that's do-able.  Clearly I'm going to be avoiding my papers enough to manage that! 

In other news, I looked at the apartment I'll have next year.  It is small - an efficiency - but actually really cute.  Unfurnished, room enough for a double bed, dresser, desk, large table, and still space to move around all of that.  The kitchen is TINY, there is about 8 square inches of counter space (really, just the edges of the cabinet the sink is in), and the kitchen floor squeaks.  I'm fairly certain that I'll end up hitting both elbows on the walls when I use the toilet and the shower stall isn't much larger.  But - it will be only me and occasionally a friend or two.   I have  a balcony (which, actually, is about the size of the kitchen).  And it is on the second floor, which is where I always seem to end up - at home, freshman and sophomore year, at the apartment over the summer, this year, and next year. 

I'll leave you with one of my favorite toys ever.  It's actually a doggie toy, but hasn't been touched by doggies.  There's a tube inside that makes squealing noises when you move it just so.  Mostly soft and gentle, this thing CAN cause bruises if you are tossing it back and forth with your roommate and kinda forgot to pay attention and caught it very close to your face, in fact - close enough to your face that the tube actually hit you on the nose between your eyes.  And then you might end up with a bruise that looks like dirt, judging by the number of people who asked me why my face was dirty that week.  But you know, stuff like that would never happen to me.

   

AHHHH

Ugh.. where to start?

The Taiga alpaca? About sock-weight yarn. The Website lied. I am angry. Now I need to decide if I want to spend $3 to ship it BACK to them and get store credit for $17.00 I spent on the yarn or if I want to keep 1040yards of sock weight alpaca. What, exactly, can one knit with that yarn? Shawls and scarves are out, since I'll never really wear them and I don't know anyone to which I could give them. (And donating... eh, the yarns too nice to just give away. And I'm a college student. And broke.)

So, I ordered KnitPicks Andean Treasure, in Fog, since I've seen a few people knit Blaze with that yarn, and It. Shall. Work. To get the free shipping, I bought a hank of natural sock yarn to dye my own yarn.

The hat, it continues. The sock, it also continues, past the heel. Both shall be done by Christmas.

Christmas shopping, that might not be done. I HAVE NO TIME.

And papers? Well, they kinda have to be done, so we'll just say that I have to finished editing a 10 page paper, write a 5 page paper, write a 25 page paper (this weekend... I'm screwed), write a 4 page paper for a take home final, take an in-class final, take a final during finals week, and something that I'm forgetting. Oh, decide if I want to take a take home final due the same day as 7 other things.

So, yeah. Back to the grindstone. Or knitting to avoid the grindstone. Which will be ok, as long as no yarn is harmed. Right?

alpaca goodness

There's something about buying yarn that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

I bought 5 balls of this in lavender. That's a bit over 1000 yards, should be more than enough to knit Blaze.

Of course, that means I have at least one sock and one hat to finish knitting first. Nothing quite like a little pressure.

I'm over halfway done the leg of Tina's sock and started the last big chart for Ryan's hat, having bought myself bamboo addis. I'm thinking I should have gotten the metal addis, to make this go a bit faster, but I'm pretty sure that I'll end up using the needle for socks later and I love the bamboo for the socks. Ah well, live and learn. It means I can buy more needles later, right? Or demand the knitpicks options set... for Christmas.

Here's Tina's sock, next to the first one. So far, they are matching very nicely. I'm not sure what, exactly, will happen when I get to the heel, but Tina won't care if they don't match. In fact, she would prolly enjoy it if they don't match.


And Ryan's Hat:

As you can see, the hat is starting to get a little big for even Eeyore. I don't have any larger stuffed animals, so I'll have to start taking pictures using Ryan as the model. We'll see how that goes.

I'm ready for Christmas break, minus the 25 page paper that is hanging over my head, making mean faces.

(Ah, I so love Opera as a web browser. Never mind that I have to check e-mail with FireFox, but if I look at a preview of my post and accidentally click on a picture, when I hit the back button to my post-editing window, all the text comes back! YAY Opera for not losing my text!)

In other computer dorky news, I discovered a new computer lab on campus today. All the computers in the lab run Linux. I don't really know linux, but I was able to log on, sign on Gaim, open firefox and bring up a website with the Middle English version of Canterbury Tales, and play a few games. Best part? The lab, with some 20 computers, was empty for most of the hour+ I spent there. The person in there when I got there left within 5 minutes and someone else showed up right as I was leaving. I have discovered the perfect spot to do homework and knit while on campus. Woohoo!

I supposed I should now do homework (and knit!) while at home, too. Drat.

Circular needles are not always your friend

I'm at the point where I need to do the increases for the next chart for Ryan's hat.

As you can see, the hat now fits Eeyore better than Sheldon. I'm only supposed to increase to 187 stitches, but I'm not sure that will fit Ryan's head. I've got the hat on circular needles now, but I still can't get a good idea of how well this hat is going to fit him. I'm thinking I'll increase to 204 stitches, enough for one more chart repeat, and hope that fits Ryan's head. Or I could just measure his head. Hrm...

I measured his head and checked my gauge. Gauge is 8sts/inch, his head is 23 inches. 187/8= 23.375.  So... If I follow the pattern, it should work out.  The math says it will.  Dare I trust the math?

I am HATING the circular needle I am using. It has a very NOT smooth join and I have to move every stitch over the bump. Plus, it is part of a needle kit and the tips keep unscrewing themselves from the cable which results in problems.

But, since I have circular needles for the hat, I have my dpns for Tina's other sock, which I cast on during Breakfast at Tiffany's which I watched, rather than the Eagle's game, since that game wasn't broadcast in this part of the state. NOT COOL. I figure the cuff, at least, will fit her. Right? Right.

I developed and ripped open a blister on Thursday, on my left ring finger.  Not too bad, but it healed a bit while my hand was relaxed, so stretching my hand hurts.  And also, knitting kinda hurts, since I wrap the yarn around that finger and the yarn keeps catching on the ragged bits of skin.  Ouch.

I finished Tina's sock last night! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, but am not sure it will be long enough for her feet. She'll have to try it on at Thanksgiving. If it needs to be a bit longer, then maybe the stripes will look better on the toe. As it is, they seem a bit funky.

I also completely ripped out Ryan's hat. The fabric was too stiff and tight and also, not quit making gauge. I figure it is a hat, I can MAKE the charts and stuff work out to fit his head. Plus, it didn't take me all that long to knit what I had. And since I finished Tina's socks, I have my set of size 2 DPNs to work with, rather than my size 1s. And I don't want to start Tina's other sock til I know the first one actually fits.

I've got a new plan in mind. I want to knit at least 7 rows/rounds on all projects on needles a week. For Ryan's hat, I want to finish at least one chart a week (and some of those charts have 15-16 rows). That way, I might actually finish things in a decent amount of time.

And also, not stress about them.

I've got enough stress going on, what with an 8-10 research/analytical paper for my Chaucer class due in, oh a week and a half. And I haven't started it yet. That's not the worst part - I haven't picked my topic yet and I've got to clear that with my professor before I hand in the paper. He did change the due date, a bit. If you don't have a final paper ready for the 16th, you can hand in an annotated bibliography and turn the paper in the Tuesday after Thanksgiving. But I also have an 5 page paper due the Wednesday before Thanksgiving due for my honors class. I'm worried about that one and yet, not. She gave us a huge speech about how no one is going to get into grad school or law school cause our papers all SUCKED. And then she handed them back out to panicking students. I managed an A-, but I'm now worried about the improvements I need to make on the next paper. Any one have any ideas for a paper topic for Austen's Emma?

Other than that, an exam next week, a trip to Harrisburg, other such fun and excitement.

I think the world's trying to make up for the last month or so. I only think, however, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

First off, I did well on all papers/exams that I was either sure I had failed or too sick to remember how the test went to know if I had failed or not. (Does that sentence make sense? I took the test and was too sick to remember anything after I handed it in, so I couldn't tell you if I was able to answer all the questions or not.)

Second of all, I have a riding lesson on Thursday. I'm a tad nervous about this, but all excited, since I drove out to the barn today and took a quick look around. They have a nice indoor and outdoor, the guy in charge seemed really nice, and there was a super-cute little boy, bout 5-6 years old, getting ready to get on his pony. And also, they have foals every year. BABY HORSES. Riding always manages to keep my head together and it will be good to ride, hopefully to do a lot of jumping over the winter.

Third of all, I started Ryan's hat. He's afraid it is going to look "too girly" what with the slightly-pale yellow. Personally, I doubt that, but he better change his mind before I finish cause I think this thing is gonna take me a while. Size 1 needles? That's a lot of stitches, folks. And I need to come up with a new pattern and chart it, since he doesn't ski. I'll prolly figure that one out when I get to it.


See, Tina's sock: I may or may not finish both of these by Christmas, just as she may or may not finish my quilt by Christmas.


Proof that my camera rocks:

I was some 30 rows up in the stands and holding my camera above my head. And still, I got shots like the above. AWESOME.

long time, no post

So, I remember having this blog, see...

A few excuses for the (major) lack of updates:

I got sick. Twice. In less than a month. It was fun, I swear! Nothing quite like going to bed ok and waking up with a really sore throat, no voice, and post-nasal drip. (The last one convinced me that I didn't have any really weird sleep-walking accidents to cause the other two.) Since then, the throat has gotten worse, I've had massive pressure in my ears, and no runny nose or cough. Weirdest disease ever. I cheered on Saturday morning when I started coughing and was even happier today when I had to blow my nose. My voice is also starting to come back. And cause my body really hates me, I ended up with a UTI as well. The fun just never stops, does it?

Football games. Screaming as loud as possible for 25 seconds (or more) straight can really kill your voice. And heading to the stadium at 5pm only to get home around midnight tends to take a junk of time out of the day. However, we only lost one of the last two home games and I think most of us saw that one coming.

Housing stress. Rent next year goes up $100 a person, for a total of $520. TOTALLY not worth it and also, want to get away from the Extra Roommate (more details later). One of my roommates isn't sure when he'll be here next year, since he's looking to take a semester off for an internship/co-op, but that throws ANOTHER kink in the whole "ok, 3 bedroom place then" plan. 2 bedrooms aren't in the price range, so I ended up applying for an efficiency. We shall see how living completely alone my senior year when a large number of my friends, including my boyfriend, have graduated works out. Yay? I'll find out in December which place I got, IF I got a place. But there was much panicking on my part as time ticked away and other people figured out what they wanted to do AND HANDED IN THEIR APPLICATIONS BEFORE ME. Um, no, not bitter about that AT ALL.

Roommate stress.  Oh, boy, was this a BIG one. Female roommate's boyfriend is always. here. He spends every night here, he comes back here after class. And the two of them just kinda ... stopped hanging out with the rest of us and talking to the rest of us unless they needed something and stuff like that. It got awkward, I got pissed. I wrote a letter, taped it to her door, and the whole thing blew up in my face. She was a) pissed about the letter, b) pissed that I was upset about the whole thing in the first place, c) apparently my lord and master, since she told me that I WOULD NOT bring up the topic again, WOULD NOT speak to her until I had "a civil tongue in my mouth", and that he WOULD spend nights here, I WOULD get used to brushing my teeth around him every morning, and so forth. Needless to say, that didn't sit very well with me. At all. I pretty much had a nervous break down while waiting for a chance to (calmly) confront her about it and had to retreat to TheBoyfriend's place for an afternoon/evening. His roommates were QUITE confused with the fact that I spend 6 hours on the floor in the living room, reading Tennyson. However, we had an apartment meeting, she apologized, I apologized, and her boyfriend isn't here QUITE so much and they're now actually cleaning the bathroom. Finally. I'm still a bit angry about the whole thing (she said she "didn't think I was actually that upset about the whole thing" even though I started the letter by saying "I'm really upset with this situation." Bitch) but am able to at least live with her, so things are better.

Fed Ex. Oh, do I hate Fed Ex. Well, I really like two people, since they were actually polite and tried to help me. But, mom bought me an iPod for my birthday and Fed Ex couldn't a) tell me when it would be delivered so I could attempt to be home to sign for it, b) accept that I did NOT want to pre-sign and have them leave it at my door as then my iPod could just walk off randomly with some nice stranger and I'd be able to do NOTHING about it, or c) let me pick it up at a Fed Ex store within two hours of where I live. (No, serious about that. I would have had to drive two hours to pick it up.) When I called to ask what I could do, the one girl said "No" to my every suggestion and then asked "Ok then?" I said "no, but apparently that doesn't seem to bother you much, so I guess I might as well just hang up and get used to the idea that customer service is just a myth." She said "Have a nice day then" and hung up. Somehow, the driver ended up with my cell phone number, called and asked when I would be home, and made a special trip back to my part of town just for me. So, I got my iPod, thanks to an awesome Fed Ex driver.

Computer troubles. iTunes would cause my computer to crash. While I've fixed that, I still have songs that won't transfer to my iPod. OF COURSE those are the songs I want to listen to and/or have stuck in my head. Then my graphic card driver went and with it, my screen. Hard to fix the problem when you can't SEE anything. I finally resorted to randomly pushing keys when booting up and on the third try, that did the trick.

And um, all of the above kinda happened RIGHT AROUND THE SAME TIME. I freaked, many times; cried, many times, and I'm sure all the stress had a hand in getting me sick.  

I finished the Lorna's Lace's socks, one hank did BOTH socks with a little bit left over. Next time, I'll knit a few more rows before starting the heels, this are a little low. If my mom likes the color, I'll knit her a pair, the remaining yarn SHOULD work since her feet are smaller than mine.

Tina's sock was completely frogged when she was here for my birthday. Since then, I've knit back to where I started to rip, using a k3,p1 rib, short row heel, and continuing the ribbing on the top of the foot. Looks pretty good and is a little loose on me, so I'm hoping that they'll fit her. If not, I'm telling her to get smaller feet.

I want to learn Fair Isle, cause apparently I don't have enough things keeping me awake at night. Ryan wants a hat and really likes the look of this. I'm hoping I can use the pattern and fudge numbers and stuff enough to knit it using Paton's Classic Merino. Otherwise, I'm not sure if Ryan will be able to afford it and if I'll finish it in time for him to actually wear it this year.

Russian roulette

Ugh.

The internet, it does not like me. Or my roommates. I'm not sure what we've done to anger the internet god(s), but something needs to give. So far, I've talked to tech support for the modem, return the old modem and picked up a new one, talked to India via Linksys and attempted to set up the router, and reset the router about 7 million times.

Reseting the router works for about 20 minutes or so. The worse part is that I HAVE a connection, I just can't DO anything with it. Grr. Angry. And also, sore. I have a bad habit of punching myself to get anger out. (Hey, it means I'll get my security deposit back later. And less likely to break a bone or something.)

So, I have about 15 minutes to type up this entry before I have to take a shower and run over to TheUrmily's for Studio 60. And then home and to bed and ignoring the internet, cause it doesn't want to play nice.

(I've spent way too much time dealing with this problem.)

So... Tina visited yesterday. At which point, I discovered that her feet are a LOT bigger than mine. To the point that the sock I was knitting for her? It didn't fit. So I frogged the whole thing and have decided to try knitting it toe-up. Not sure how that's gonna work, cause I might have increased too many stitches to make sure that the new sock fits. Went from 88 stitches to 92 and it seems a little... big. I guess we'll see. Worst come to worst, I can tink a bit of the short-row toe and make it fit, I think. We'll see. Experimental knitting, such fun!

I finished the first of the Lorna's Laces sock. Need to take pictures, but don't want to waste the time I have with an internet connection. Later, I promise. It fits nicely, though it might be a little short at the ankle... I'm thinking about picking up and knitting a few more rounds of ribbing at the ankle, to see if that helps the problem. Other than that, love it.

And Sizzle is still neglected... Poor Sizzle. I promise I'll do something with you soon. Before I start another project. Maybe. We'll see.

So, 21st birthday is tomorrow. I plan on watching the season premiere of Gilmore Girls and doing homework and going to be early. I live such an exciting life.

Clearly, I blog when I am avoiding going to bed as well.

Clearly, I am not always completely right in the head. I blame large amounts of Victorian Lit.

So, socks for Tina:


They are coming along, slowly but surely.

This side of the heel turned out very nicely, matched the stripes up and all. (And I did that by accident. There's no way I could have planned that, minus counting how many stitches each stripe tends to take place over, figuring how much yarn is used in a wrap and turn and then calculating how many stitches I could knit with each color to make the stripes run. But that, my friend, would take WAY too much work and effort and math.

That's a rather difficult section of sock to photograph clearly - the sock did not want to lay flat. I think I messed up the proportions of a short row heel, so yeah. Is there a formula for that? I'm sure there is.

And then... this side, not so much with the matchy-matchy. Personally, I'm at the point where I don't care. And also, they will be on her feet. In shoes. And if people are staring at her heels THAT closely, maybe they have other issues? Like a foot fetish?


And the Lorna's Laces:

Procrastination, how I love (and hate) thee

Apparently, I suck at up-dating at a regular basis. I feel that this is a result of my need to include pictures with my posts. The fact that I have an awesome digital camera, am a founding member and secretary of the Photo Club, and clearly LIKE photography seems to have no impact on the whole dragging camera out, finding the item I want to photograph, arranging the item in some sort of not-so-boring manner, taking the picture, uploading the picture (which requires disconnecting either my wireless mouse or my printer [and which I will forget to plug back in and then spend 10 minutes cursing as I try to figure out what is wrong with my mouse and/or printer]), editing the picture, and loading it to Blogger.com.

That is, unless, I am putting something off. Currently, I'm putting off calling my parents (it is Sunday, I call on Sunday. Otherwise, my mother will call to tell me that my cat wants to go outside. Again. After coming in 5 minutes ago. While that all might be true, THERE IS NOTHING I CAN DO. Nothing. But she will call and tell me that. Or that my sister stained her placemat again.)

Where was I? Oh, and homework. I have an article to read on Lithic Stone Tools and Stone Tool Technology. After reading the article, I must write up an abstract and some sort of notebook entry on the article.

Clearly, blogging comes first.

And sadly, pictures are NOT forth coming in this entry, unless you want to see close-ups of weeds in my yard. (They are pretty weeds, though.) If you so desire, leave a comment and I will share.

I've finished the major work of Sizzle. Finished on ... Thursday? Wednesday? Don't quite remember. But back and front have been knitted. Then the shoulder seams were grafted, the side seams mattress stitched. I just need to neaten out the edge of the neckline and do that part of the finishing. But. YAY! It fits! It is pretty! I can wear my very first major-knitting project. (Good thing, with the amount of money I spent on it. A pair of socks that doesn't work out... well, that's not so bad. And you could re-knit without killing yourself. Multiple times.)

I've finally, finally finished the heel of Tina's socks (the purple with white/black checkered strips). I knit that heel three times and I messed up on the short rows the third time. I'm trying to decide if I want to rip and reknit. Again. The only reason you can tell is cause the stripes didn't quite line up as they should.... I think it makes the sock more special. I also don't wanna deal with the heel anymore.

I've start swatching with the Lorena's Laces that I won a long, long time ago from Moth Heaven. I think it is finally time to knit a pair of socks for myself. This makes me happy.

Pictures next time, I promise. And is there anything you want me to photograph? I will consider requests.

I think I owe a few pictures

This:

Now looks like this:


The socks I started a long long time ago, at school, now look like this:

I'm about halfway done knitting the foot, so the end is in sight. I'd kinda like to finish this before I go back to school....

And because I'm insane, I started this:


I was bitten by a really nasty fly (no idea what kind, either) and my left ankle swelled up something akin to a balloon, resulting in this:


This is the first of the long promised pictures of the apartment:

my bed. Doesn't it look comfy?

This is the bathmat in the bathroom:


And this is what I spent Saturday doing:


I started this within the last week:

Wendy's Sizzle. I am LOVING this yarn (Karabella's Zodiac) and the pattern.

In other news, I move in about ... 30 days and have yet to start packing. I want to finish the one pair of socks, the scarf (so that I can give it to my boyfriend's mother when she moves back into (or near) town, cause that's not weird at all. Right?) My boyfriend will be here on Sunday or Monday, we're both hoping for Sunday. I need to go grocery shopping cause I've heard that eating on a regular basis is a good idea. I want to buy V for Vendetta. I need to buy text books online, at least the ones I was able to get ISBN numbers for from the student bookstore. Tina needs to finish my quilt so that I can take that to school.

My computer remains propped against my printer, my back is killing me as a result. I'm competing again on Sunday. It is hot here, but I have the pool. Of course, that requires walking outside, which is NOT benefiting from my A/C. So that doesn't always happen as often as it could.  

And that might be the last you'll hear from me until I move into the apartment at school- around the 30th.