gearing up

I am fully prepared to make something awesome.

spin cycle

I finished my first more-than-a-cowl project with my own handspun!  Yay!  The pattern (though I doubt you haven’t seen it if you’d be interested anyways) can be found here: Lace Ribbon Scarf.  Snake was kind/patient/bribed with treats enough to model it for me, even!

Sometimes I feel like knitting neckwear is almost worth it solely for pictures of Snake in a scarf!  ;o)  Seriously, though, I’m excited about this project.  I wasn’t really feeling it as I knit along, but after blocking?  WOW.

I’m currently hard at work on my next spinning project, getting near to plying.  And I am FINALLY skeining up the recycled sweater yarn (to dye!) I made up my mind to repurpose ages ago.  Expect more on those soon.

Apart from being crafty, I’ve been spending some quality time with Netflix.  In the past couple weeks, I’ve potentially seen more movies than I’ve seen in the past year!  (Doubt, Cars, W, Slumdog Millionaire, The Great Muppet Caper..)  Initially, I didn’t think I would find enough to last a month, but I’m really enjoying myself.  I had quite a few entertaining dinner dates with these guys..until I ran out of episodes, that is.

Hopefully, now that I’m more settled in, I will get back into the swing of blogging!  I’d really love to do some sewing and get back to sharing my cooking adventures!

Helloooo Indiana!

Oh, my poor blog needs a little bit of attention, now doesn’t it? The past month has been a whirlwind rush of craziness. Between starting (and ending) a new job, getting sick, going on vacation (sick!), moving my life cross-country, finding a place to live, and looking for a house, I just haven’t had time to write! (And to be honest, I haven’t had much time to knit either.)

So..I’m in Indiana now. I’ve got a small apartment for now, and then (if all goes smoothly from here) I’m going to move into a house. MY house. It’s an unbelievable next step for me and Dave (and Snake!). I am so excited!! Closing is set for July 17th, and that’s mostly pending the inspection this week. I can’t wait to share the whole process of decorating and making it ours! Keep your fingers crossed that all continues to go well?

mom!

Happy Mother’s Day to all of you moms, grandmas, dogmoms, etc.  :o)
And of course to my mom.  I love you!  (..and enjoy the washcloths!)

Today is also my brother’s 21st, so happy birthday wishes as well!!  :oD

OMG A VEST

After leaving it for far too long with only the collar remaining..I finally finished my vest last week!!

It’s made of Ella Rae Classic from the pattern “Leftovers,” which can be found here.  Mine’s not really made from leftovers..but who cares?!

I’m happy to have a real garment I could wear any day (once I leave Arizona, at least), and I’m looking forward to starting another larger project soon.  It will probably be a cardigan or hoodie of some sort that I could use as a jacket in the fall.  (You know, one that isn’t overly bulky or sheddy like the last one I made?)

sewing without direction

Yesterday, I took it upon myself to make use of the fabric scraps that came from my PJ pants FAIL.  I decided upon a wiener dog softie and did a bit of experimental sewing/pattern making.

It didn’t turn out how I expected it to, but I learned a lot from the process, and I have the next iteration cut out and ready to be sewn!  I’ll just give all of my practice pieces to someone who will love them despite their imperfetions..

Happy Monday!  :o)

FO parade

It has been WAY too long since I flashed some actual knitting around here, so may I introduce my most recent completed projects?

..awesome Noro socks, made from this pattern/guideline, completed in March.

..a dishcloth, made from this pattern in Sugar n Cream cotton.  Just as a little backstory on this one, a friend at work taught me how to knit with the Continental method (I’m normally an English knitter).  This cloth was the first thing I’ve knit Continental-ly!  I really like it, but I don’t foresee it taking over as my main style anytime soon.

..a purse!  I finally used my sewing machine to make something.  It sews amazingly well.  The pattern is free online here (watch out, it goes immediately to download).  Hopefully I can get back to it and make something else useful soon.  The PJ pants I attempted last weekend were a mega bust.  I was really sad.

..a fabulous pair of socks made with the Hedgerow pattern and Perfect Day Yarns Ode to the Sea.  LOVE!

..and some cute/EASY catnip mouse toys for my friend Renee’s kitties!  :o)  Pattern’s here.

I have obviously lost my blogging mojo for quite a while.  I have some projects I really want to start/finish, so hopefully it will return soon!

just a big hole in the ground?

Last weekend, in a sudden bout of spontaneity, Dave and I drove to the Grand Canyon!  One of his team members bailed on the rest of them, and my sweetie needed someone to make the 6 hour drive with him.

We had planned on camping for the night, but when we arrived, it turned out that there was a misunderstanding about spending the night..so we turned around and drove right back!  No, seriously.  We drove 6 hours up and 6 hours back, all in the same day.

Really, though..it was beautiful and amazing (and windy!), and we had such a good time!  I foresee more day trips in our future.  :o)

weekend, I’ve missed you!!

I am finally back (and completely recovered) from three back-to-back grad school visits. It feels so good to be done. I don’t think that I could make it through another. I haven’t had a full two days of restful weekend in four weeks!

As happy as I am to be home, I really did have a great time meeting people and experiencing different universities. (Not to mention plane knitting..what what!)  I tried to take as many pictures as I could. If you want to see all of the pictures, you can check out the set on Flickr.

Oregon State University

Purdue University

University of California - Davis

I am thrilled to finally have a decision. It’s been a bit stressful having such an uncertain future, but I’ll be starting at Purdue in the fall! I am so excited to move back to the Midwest, and I am ecstatic to be bringing Dave and Snake with me this time!!

GROSS

Alright, so this story is pretty nauseating, but I couldn’t help but share..

For quite a while now, we’ve been finding these little black bugs around.  No idea where they came from, they popped up everywhere, and all that.  Not really a huge deal.  A few days ago, Dave mentioned something about finding a millipede or something in Snake’s food dish.  Then, this weekend, I go to pull some treats out of the closet for Snake and realize a couple of them are hanging out on the shelf under things.  Lightbulb!

I went to check her food bins, and sure enough, there was a whole damn grain beetle life cycle occurring in there.  I had to toss 1/4 bag or so of food.  When I was out buying more food?  Dave found the rest of the closet to be all but infested, probably stemming from a wee bit of dog food I accidentally failed to pick up a while back.  sigh This weekend was disturbing.  I should mention, though, that since decontaminating the closet, we’ve found only TWO!!

Tomorrow I’m off on a big adventure to Corvallis to check out Oregon State!  I’m really excited for a fun trip, cold weather, and (of course) PLANE KNITTING!!