Happy New Year! Now Let's Catch Up

Ok, so maybe I wasn't as back as I thought I'd be. There has been a total lack of desire to do....just about anything since school ended. We didn't even end up decorating for the holidays. All was not lost though, the husband and I traveled north to visit the in-laws and my parents. They had decorations and it was good.

So, time with my in-laws is always fun. Got to hang out with the niece and nephew. Thomas is getting big, he is definitely a hefty child. My niece.....well there is no doubting she is a total drama queen. I love her to death, but wish I could dial her back sometimes.

There'd be pictures here if, doh, we hadn't left the camera at my sisters....So this will be a not so colorful posting!

At my parents my Aunt and Cousin came for the holiday. I haven't seen my cousin in like 14 years or something like that. A really long time. Believe me when I say that my Aunt and Cousin are TOTAL maniacs. They are funny as anything and it was a good time.

Tonight, New Year's Eve, we are headed to The Walthours to fry ourselves some turkey and whatever else happens to fall into the pot. Should be tasty!

I finally got the yarn for this, I'll be making this in Berroco Cotton Twist in black. I haven't yet cast on, because I'm trying to get my husband to measure me to make sure I have the right measurements. We wouldn't want my arms looking like sausages now would we?

The gloves that I love are only half done. I have a few weave-ins left on the first glove and started the second. I just need to sit and knit sometime.

Oh and great news! I got a snowboard! I would put a picture except for the reason posted above about leaving it.... It's grey with a Praying Mantis on it. The Praying Mantis is the whole reason I wanted it, talk about girl power.

Anywho, HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! Hopefully, the year will hold all the good things you're looking for.

And We're Back!

It's over....it's finally over! The semester is done, finished, ended.

So what does this mean I will do for my last day of freedom before work begins again on Monday? Probably nothing, but now I won't feel guilty about doing nothing. I'm thinking I might work on cataloging my yarn in Ravelry, I like the idea of inventory so I don't have to keep remembering what all is in my drawers.

How did I do? Probably terribly. Let's just say, I did not do as much as I could've to do well. We'll see when the grades are posted.

Later today is my Division's Holiday Party, we're going bowling. I really, really suck at bowling. Seriously, I'm hoping that no one expects to win if I'm on their team. I figure, it is also a good time to bring my knitting since everyone has to take turns. Though if they have pool, I may do that, if anyone is willing to beat me (yeah I suck at that too).

Ultimately, no school means I can spend more time knitting. My list of projects is backing up. None of which are started, I try to stick to, and finish one at a time. But there's a bunch in my head that I want to accomplish. Maybe I'll try having multiple projects at one time....

I like Nittany Knits idea for "Knitting for me Monday." Well, I always tend to knit for me. I have no problem knitting for other people, but I just don't know what they would want. I'm also a slow knitter, so by the time I finish things it's 6 months after I should've given it to them! But I do have a few gift knits in mind, so we'll see how it all works out.

Is this weird?

So I have recently discovered that thinking about knitting actually relaxes. When I started knitting I was tight knitter and had to try very hard to loosen up. I've gotten better about tight knitting, but only because I have to make myself relax when I knit. If I don't I'll never be able to move my yarn on the needles.

The other night I was feeling stressed from the day and couldn't fall asleep. In my head I started knitting. Visualized the needles and some yarn and how I would be knitting it. Since it's ingrained in me to make myself relax while knitting, I fell a sleep shortly after! It's not thinking about what I want to make or what I currently have, it's actually putting the needle into the loop, wrapping the yarn, dropping the stitch off, etc. etc.

Amazing. So now I think about knitting when I need to relax.....Strange huh?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday with lots and lots of your favorite foods.

Hooray For Me Dilemma

So, as you may know, I am making these Hooray For Me Gloves. I am absolutely in love with the gloves and the yarn I'm using. I'm not even upset that I mistakenly cast on too many stitches. I just need to remember to do the same thing to the other glove. Here is my current progress....


The problem? I am debating if I should make these full gloves or leave them as the fingerless type. As I said I fell in love with the fingerless type, but now that winter's on its way I really need a pair of gloves. Sure I could go out and buy a cheap $4 pair from Walmart and be perfectly happy, but I'm so close to a pair that fit me well and are very cool looking.

My glove issues are that I have small hands, but long fingers. So there are very few fashion gloves that fit properly. I think it would be awesome to have gloves that actually fit me. I'm just worried that if I make them full gloves that I won't like them as much. But without fingers I can't really use them anywhere but indoors.

What's a girl to do? Comments? Suggestions?

Love/Hate Relationship

So, I had someone ask, why I disliked this yarn:


First, the specs:
Yarn: Jo-Ann Sensations Bellezza Collection - Stellina Yarn
Colorway: Purple (left), Fuchsia (right)
Fiber: 54% wool, 36% acrylic, 10% nylon

Overall, I don't think it's a terrible yarn. It was just annoying enough to me that I don't know if I want to use the rest that I have. The biggest problem was the yarn would bunch up. It did it really badly on the ball I had wound (another Fuchsia skein). I'm guessing it's due to the fact that is slightly wavy and there is a nylon string through it. I constantly had to push the bunched yarn down so that I could knit with it. When I was finished with socks, I just cut below the bunched part to get rid of it. Also, I didn't like how the yarn looked in stockinette, but it did look really good purl-side.

Here's another yarn I dislike knitting with, but like the look of.


Again the Specs:
Yarn: Lion Brand Micro Spun
Colorway: Turquoise
Fiber: 100% microfiber acrylic

This yarn has FANTASTIC color. Absolutely love the color. It also feels amazingly softer, but it's crap to knit with. It splits like crazy. It also looks terrible in garter stitch. I was going to make this 'do rag using garter, but I had to switch to stockinette. I do have to say it looks awesome in stockinette. I plan on adding a crochet edging and some ties at some point.

How about an absolute love relationship?


I love love love this yarn. Specs:
Yarn: Jitterbug
Colorway: Gauguin
Fiber: Superwash Marino

This yarn is beautiful in the hank. I let the nice ladies at the LYS wind it for me, so it doesn't look quite as nice. It's soft and has so many great colors in it. The blue green was what caught my eye, but it just makes me happy that it has all the others too.

What am I making out of it? Hooray For Me Gloves! I love this yarn and pattern together. This is really the first project that I can't wait to see the finished project. The others were gifts and the shawl was, nice, but not the best. These are great. So here are some pictures of what I have so far.

Cold Weather Goodness

It's been a while since I've posted here! I guess life has been pretty boring. I did finish those pesky pedicure socks that have taken me FOREVER, more on those later!

First, this weekend, my husband and I traveled up to Northeast PA to visit his folks. His Grandma is getting married and since we can't go to the wedding (it's on Wednesday and the hubby has no vacation time), we thought we'd meet the future husband and go up over the weekend. The weather was nice and cold and I got to use my brand new wool jacket. Sweet!

Anywho, here are the highlights:

This is our nephew, Thomas, he's the newest member (just over 3 months old) and a cutie...


Here is our niece, Emma, with Thomas. She is 4 and he is about to meltdown....


Here we see my husband try to make a new WoW convert (World of Warcraft for those who don't know someone totally obsessed with the game). She's probably a little young for this particular game, but she has the makings of a computer geek if we have anything to say about it....


As always it's good to see the in-laws. Even though the house is always too hot for me, I just need to learn to bring shorts and T-shirts. Either that, or lose this extra pudge I have and then maybe I'll be cooler.

I took a side trip to see my folks (they live only about an hour from the in-laws), we went to lunch and did a little shopping. I was feeling particularly stressed Saturday morning, so seeing them Sunday helped to calm me down. It's just one of those things. Though seeing them meant I had to have the pedicure socks for my sister finished!

Here they are!









Ok, ok, you got me, it's not they. Unfortunately, I was out of my mind when I added the buttons to indicate which way was up. I was getting ready to take the pictures when I discovered I had sewn one button on the wrong side. So I quick took the picture of one and quickly changed the button, then went off to lunch.

These things have been forever in the making, hopefully, my sis will get some use out of them. My only complaint about the pattern is that I'm not too keen on the heel, but that's easily changed, I just need to find one I like. The yarn on the other hand, sucks. I don't like it. I have some to make these socks for myself, but I don't know if I can make myself do it. Maybe I'll try it with bamboo needles, will that make it better?