Busy, busy

Sorry for the lack of updates! The new job is keeping me busy. My boss basically told me that she expects her employees to go home exhausted or they aren't doing everything they can while they're at work. And due to confidentiality, I can't talk much about work. I work in a part of a 4-plex that has 3 developmentally handicapped adults. One of my clients is deaf, so I'm getting to use my sign language and I'm the only staff that actually knows more than a few random signs, so I think he really appreciates finally having someone to talk to.

I started Mrs. Darcy in the Cascade 220 from Chicago last Friday for Ravelympics. The body is finished and I'm more than half way with the first sleeve. I'm hoping to get some work done on it tonight. My boss has suggested that I don't knit at work, because my clients could end up using the needles as a weapon against me. I've done a little bit, but I'm being careful and mostly using my wooden needles. Francis Revisited is on hold until the Olympics are over, but I'm pretty excited for it. I think I might make the Skew socks after I get all these sweaters wrapped up. They look like they will be great for the sock yarn I have that likes to do semi-diagonal stripes (which I usually don't appreciate). The Bobby's close tomorrow and my dress pattern, Clover, surpassed 1000 favourites this morning! I don't even care if it wins, it just makes me so happy being nominated and getting this kind of feedback. CplPurl is knitting Clover for Ravelympics and I really hope she gets it done, I'm so excited to see how it looks on someone else!

Since Timm and I both had Wednesday off we celebrated V-day a little late. He made me dinner:




That's pork marinated in a lemon garlic wonderfulness, with pineapple, kiwi, and mandarin oranges on top. And a side of potatoes, green pepper, and onions.
I made desert:


That's spice cake with lemon frosting and a secret ingredient

And then we went to see a production of Into the Woods, which was pretty good (it was final dress rehearsal so there was still a little tweaking that needed done, but the costumes were great! (not just because we know the costume designer ;-))) This is us looking all cute and snazzy:


















I tried to find fabric for curtains at Jo-ann's this weekend, because they were having a big sale and my giant windows are demanding too much fabric. I found fabric that I liked and fit all of my requirements for good curtains (dark so they don't let in all this light, but preferably without black or brown, and semi-coordinating to all the stuff in my room already). The problem was they didn't have the 10 yards that I needed to make all my curtains, I even had them look at other stores where I could have made someone get it for me and mail it to me, no luck! So I got enough for two curtains and coordinating fabric to make the rest of the curtains with. I started them on Friday and have the two pretty ones up already. I'm hoping to work on the pink ones tonight. Here's Prudence hard at work:

I also got to use my new serger (acquired from Granny passing away) for the first time on the curtains and am kinda in love with it, she works so much better than my old one and isn't rusty (yeah, let's not talk about it). I'll get a picture of her with the pink curtains.

Moved In and Almost Settled

Since my last post, I:

• loaded my car to the point that I couldn't see out any of the back windows.
• drove 6 out of 7 hours in the rain
• saw my best friend in Kansas City
• went to PechaKucha night in KC
• drove 2 out of 3.5 hours in the snow
• unloaded my car through a foot of snow
• implemented some organization in my room
• drove 1.5 hours to see Timm
• heard the words "I love you" come out of Timm's mouth for the first time :-D
• watched the Colts lose the Super Bowl
  
• picked out a bed (no more air mattress in a few days!)
• drove 1.5 back
• was fingerprinted
• filled out paperwork and got my schedule

And tomorrow, I start my job!!

As mentioned above in Kansas City, I went to PechaKecha night. If you haven't heard of it don't feel bad. It's an event where designers do presentations with 20 slides and only 20 seconds per slide. You can find more information here. One of the presentations was on knitting. The woman, Emily a.k.a TaffyYarn on Ravelry, talked mostly about how knitting isn't just for 80 year olds anymore and showed pictures of guerrilla knitting. She had also knit bunny hats for rubber chickens (I told Timm to never let me do this). She mentioned at the end of her presentation that she had told her kids they could only get a tattoo if it was a knitting tattoo. During the beer break I told my friend I was going to go up and talk to the woman and show her my knitting tattoo. She looked at me and said, "You hate making phone calls, but you're going to go up and talk to some random lady in a bar?!" I said, "She's a knitter, all knitters are my friends!" I went up and talked to Emily, she gave me her Ravelry information, petted my Central Park Hoodie and looked at my tattoo. Both Emily and her friend liked my tattoo and decided that they could never let Emily's daughters see one like that or they would actually want a knitting tattoo lol.

My room is mostly organized. I didn't get any before pictures because it had snowed so much and i just wanted to get everything unloaded from my car and I'm waiting to take after pictures until I get a real bed (that also means I'll have some place to hide my yarn and shoes and you won't have to see them in the pictures). My mom's still supposed to be sending me 4 boxes in the mail (I have no idea where they're going though). I found out that there's a little Indian restaurant a few blocks away and I'm super excited to try it.

In knitterly news (if you're still reading ;-)), the Central Park Hoodie is exceeding all expectations (and they were pretty high). I started Francis Revisited this weekend with my purple Ultra Alpaca and although it's a really boring knit, it's going super fast which makes it better. Ravelympics starts Friday, I think I'm knitting Mrs. Darcy and then maybe a pair of socks for it. We'll see how much time I have once I start working full-time.

Happy Knitting!

Sorting, Organizing, and Packing

I've been sorting through everything from fabric to books to clothes deciding what is going with me and what is staying here for now. I've also been calling one of my new roommates and pestering her with questions that she probably thinks are pointless, but that I think very valid (such as, is there an electric mixer in the house?). I think she'll see the validity the first time I make cookies and set them out for everyone's consumption. I'm planning on only loading my car and having two or three boxes shipped to me, so I have to be very thoughtful in what I'm taking. As long as the weather plays nice I'll be moving in on Friday. I'll try to take pictures of my room before I unpack anything as a before and after, but I make no promises.

The Central Park Hoodie is finished, all ends woven in, washed and blocked. For those who know me well, the last three are an accomplishment. I've decided weaving in ends as I finish each piece (as I did with this sweater) makes things a lot less painful. I'm absolutely in love with the finished sweater, it fits perfectly! I'm glad I did the waist shaping. The blocking got it to be a little longer on top of me knitting it longer than the pattern called for. I couldn't have made it any bigger all I had left was two ping pong sized balls of yarn.

I was planning on not starting anything else until after I moved but I got antsy a couple of nights ago and realized that Valentine's Day is fast approaching, so I cast on a hat for Timm. I finished it last night and wove in the ends this morning. I'm happy with how it turned out and have been wearing it all day and it's too big which is good cuz Timm has a huge head :-p. I used this pattern (Ravelry link, so you can't look Timm :-p) and yarn left over from my Clover dress, soft and machine washable.

I'll leave you with a quote from St. Francis of Assisi that I found in the Yarn Harlot's At Knit's End:
"He who works with his hands is a laborer, he who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman, he who works with his hands, his head and his heart is an artist."

Time for the Moving Dance

I'm moving! No, I still haven't heard from PT schools, but I'm tired of sitting at my parents' where I don't have anything to do and not making any money. I'm going to move to Omaha and take the awesome job I have lined up that will use my degree. And live in a house with 4 or 5 other people my age that I don't know. (Yeah it concerns me a little too, but we'll see how it goes) I'm trying to get stuff lined up so I can move at the end of next week, so I'll be doing a lot of unpacking, sorting and repacking. Because of the way the house works all I have to take with me is the stuff for my individual room, everything else is provided, but I'm only going to take what will fit in my car so I have to sort through the stash and decide what goes and what stays.

In knitterly news, I'm working on the ribbing around the front of the Central Park Hoodie and have picked out buttons. I'm hoping to have it finished tonight so I can wash and block tomorrow and be able to focus on packing. I can knit when I get there!

*sigh*

I got my letters from the PT schools yesterday. I'm on the waiting list at all three of the schools I applied to. Which means I get to wait more. They don't tell you what your rank is and they can notify you any time from now until their program starts (which is August for one and June for the other two). I don't know what to do now. I probably need a job to pay my bills, but I don't know how long I'll be here. I'd love to move to Omaha and start the job I have lined up there (which is a really good job using my degree and something I think I'd really enjoy), but I feel like doing that would curse my chances of getting called off the waiting list. And while I don't really like being here with nothing to do the rent is free. So as of right now I think I might go back up north and hang out with my boyfriend and friends for a couple of weeks and not have to think about PT school.

In knitterly news, I went on a mission today to find a fishing line counter. I'd seen all these set ups online that have a fishing line counter mounted on a wooden device to measure the length of yarn for ~$50. Well as shown by my nice sock blockers, my dad is somewhat of a carpenter, so I went in search of the fishing line counter to use. I couldn't find the Shakespeare brand ones that the ones advertised as yarn meters use, but I did a Rapala brand one at Academy Sports. I tried it to find out how much of this mystery white yarn I have and the conclusion . . . around 1250 yds!

Still working on Central Park Hoodie, but been distracted by playing the Sims.

Still Waiting

I haven't heard from PT school yet :-/ I was supposed to get an email whether or not I got in on Wednesday, but still nothing. I might call on Monday cause this is driving me nuts. In the mean time more domestic goddessness. The good news is I have lots of pictures today!

First, the tote bag I made of the weekend.



































The front and back as I mentioned earlier are made out of album covers in a pocket of vinyl to protect them. I did cut the album covers in half so that the full weight and thickness is decreased. The inside pockets were made just the right size for my cell phone and my Knit Kit! The lime green fabric is leftovers from the curtains I had in my dorm room and the lining is recycled from what I used to cover my extra bed/makeshift sofa freshman year, so the only thing I had to buy was the vinyl (which is a pain to sew with!).

Over the weekend, while running errands with a friend I found a book called The Best Bake Sale Ever Cookbook it was $2 and I love baking so I figured I couldn't go wrong. Since then I've made two things out of it. My mom needed to take a cake to work so I convinced her to make the Tomato Soup Cake with Lemon Frosting. Yes the cake actually had tomato soup in it! It didn't taste like tomato soup tho (cuz I'm not a fan of tomatoes) it was more of a spice cake and the frosting was excellent! Then yesterday I made the Crinkle Top Cookies. You have to refrigerate the dough then roll it into a ball with your hands and roll it in sugar before baking. I got a few pictures of the process because my hands looked gross and I wanted to document it.

They turned out pretty well. They're cakey and chocolaty and the sugar adds a nice texture and sweetness.

My dad made the sock blockers as promised. I used them right away to take pictures of all my handknit socks to post on Ravelry. I used the template from Little Sesame Knits and made adjustments to make it longer (size 9 feet) and made the leg section a little wider to accommodate my largish calves.



After taking pictures of my socks. I enlisted mom's help in taking pictures of my hats. And today I took pictures of my scarves. Everything I've ever knit that's still in my possession is now listed on Ravelry! Now I just have to keep updating it as I go. My neighbor brought over more yarn yesterday I tossed most of it, but kept the 3500 yds. of grey fingering weight (oh so many possibilities!). To make room for it in my stuffed closest I got all the yarn out and went through it. I tossed a lot of the acrylic that I don't have a purpose for and organized the rest of it a little better. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to photograph the yarn to put in my stash on Ravelry or just let it be.

I'm 1/3 of the way done with my second sleeve for the Central Park Hoodie and plan on working on it the rest of the night. Then maybe finishing other projects before starting a new one. Clearly, I have too much time on my hands!

Photos!

I spent all afternoon taking pictures of all my knitted sweaters and cardigans on my dressform (I think she needs a name) and have since been posting them on ravelry. I thought I'd drop in here and post the pictures of my Owls.

I'm having a hard time remembering when I knit some of the sweaters I photographed. I can't imagine what will happen when I try to do it tomorrow with scarves and hats. :-o

I want to photograph all the knitted socks too, but didn't have a good way to do so. This made me look into making sock blockers out of a plastic placemat. My mom thought that they would be too flimsy, so now my dad is making me some out of plexiglass!! I'm super excited about it.

Waiting, waiting

I'm at home waiting to hear from PT schools, since I don't have a job or classes, it's been an excellent time to craft. :-) Although my mother keeps telling me I need to clean and organize and repack all this crap that I'll hopefully be moving soon.

On my way out of Chicago last week, I conveniently drove right by a yarn store (mom didn't believe me that it was on the road I was taking out of town, but it totally was!). The yarn store was called Knitche and was located in downtown Downer's Grove amidst really cute shops and restaurants. I didn't get to stay very long because I had to drive at least 4 more hours that day, but I did find some Cascade 220 that I've decided is perfect for Mrs. Darcy, leaving the purple Ultra Alpaca for Francis Revisited.

While stuck in the car, I started making a mental list of craft projects that I need to finish or that I can work up in a short time. In the process I came up with a plan for assembling my album cover tote bag that I've been planning on making for years. I started it on Saturday night and finished it this afternoon. I'm really pleased with the results, I'll post pics later. I also did some mending, which was obviously not enjoyable but necessary.

On the knitting front, the body and one sleeve of the Central Park Hoodie are finished. I looked at zippers at JoAnn's yesterday and they didn't have any that would work with the yarn at all, so I'll be doing buttons (maybe wooden? I'll have to see what I have in the stash). I finished my last pair of French Press Slippers, everyone else got theirs' for xmas and I'd never finished mine. I'm in the process of getting all the girls to send me pix of them wearing the slippers so I can make a collage. I'm also getting ready to weave in the ends and sew on button eyes for Owls. And then I might start taking pictures of all my knits on my dressform to post on Ravelry.

In case you can't tell I'm trying to not think about notifications from grad schools by keeping busy ;-).

Oh Alpaca . . .

So I figured out why there's been so much interest in my Clover pattern on Ravelry, it was nominated for a Bobby!!! (Yeah, I guess I'm slow to catch on, but with everything else going on I feel like I have a good excuse.) I'm completely floored that I was not only nominated, but that out of the nominations I was selected as a finalist. I don't even care if I win, I'm just so honored to have made it this far.

In other news, my friend, D, and I went to Personal Threads yesterday. They are having a 20% sale on all their yarn (maybe other stuff too?), so I ended up buying yarn for two sweaters. Being out of school and playing the waiting game before moving and starting work means lots of knitting time and I figured with the sale I couldn't go wrong. I bought 5 skeins of Ultra Alpaca in an olivey green to make a Central Park Hoodie, I've seriously had my eye on this sweater forever and I don't know why it took me so long to buy the yarn and pattern to make it. I also bought 4 skeins of Ultra Alpaca in a pretty heathered purple that I'm debating to use for Francis Revisted or Mrs. Darcy, any thoughts? I do love the Ultra Alpaca though, it's sooooooooo nice to knit with. It's super soft and so far has knit up really nicely.

On the road again tomorrow, maybe I'll get pictures eventually.

Interview Update

Interview went okay, not as well as I would have liked. They informed us that while they usually receive 140 - 160 applications, this year they had received 240ish applications. They invited 123 people for interviews and they have 42 spots to fill in their program. So I have a 1:3 chance of getting in. My GPA is right on their average and my GRE score is higher, but it still makes me nervous. I had three one-on-one interviews with faculty members for 15 mins each and two of them I think went well, the middle one I'm not so sure about. They said we'll be notified on January 20th, unless they have to do a make-up day because of the snow that dumped on us last night and all day today. So now it's out of my control and I just have to wait.

I noticed that there has been a lot of interest in my Clover pattern over the last couple of days. I'm not sure what spurred it but it makes me really happy. I have a few more patterns that I've knitted lately that I'd like to write up and publish (probably for free) on Ravelry, but writing up the pattern is so much less fun than knitting them.

Snow and more snow

My mom keeps asking me (each time I complain that it's cold here) why I'm not going to grad school in Florida or somewhere else warm. I always reply that then I wouldn't have anything to knit. She always suggest bikinis, but I refuse to knit bikinis! I like socks and sweaters too much.

Tomorrow I have my first interview with a grad school. It's also my top choice school. So I'm crossing my fingers as I knit tonight. We're supposed to be getting another blizzard, which I'm hoping will hold off until my interview is over otherwise it'll be super fun getting there and back and doing the walking tour.

Hopefully knitting content soon. I'm working on socks and then maybe Mrs. Darcy if the freebie yarn I have works out for it. Otherwise I'm on a quest to match a pattern to a yarn with no labels, awesome ;-).

Let's try this again . . .

Last year I made an attempt at working on my blog. Clearly, it didn't last for very long. This year I'm hoping to actually stick to it and try to get at least on post in a week.

While reading the YarnHarlot's new years post on changes, I realized how much change has occurred for me in the past year. The first several months of the year were pretty average with school and life. I had surgery right before Christmas last year and had to deal with the aftercare for the first few months of the year, but other than that there was nothing too eventful. In May I convinced my parents to let me live with my then boyfriend of 4+ years for the summer, hoping to reestablish residency in Kansas to get in-state tuition for grad school. I spent the summer at living at my boyfriend's father's house and working almost full time at a little Dairy Queen. By the end of the summer I'd realized many things, including that I was being treated like crap by someone that was supposed to care about me. I also realized that I was being more of a mother than a girlfriend and that he could never deal with his own issues if I was always taking care of him. I continued to live at his dad's house after the breakup for 3 weeks until moving back to school. Most people thought that sounded crazy but it was either that or move back to my parents' and not have a job or anyone to hang out with so lots of time to wallow. Luckily, his dad was really understanding and kinda told me that he would have thought something was wrong with me if I hadn't broken up with him for all the shit he'd pulled and told me to let him know if I ever needed anything.

As I was moving back to school my grandmother on my father's side was hospitalized and the day after I moved in she passed away. I flew to Indiana and back in 3 days before classes started. It was really sudden and thus harder to deal with. She was the woman that taught me to knit when I was 8 and the woman who inspired my sewing and quilting skills. As we went through her sewing room I was able to take her serger (that's infinitely better than mine) and what I think was her first sewing machine, I haven't been able to use either of them yet, but hopefully soon. I also acquired some books, fabric, yarn, buttons, and knitting needles and crochet hooks.

I was wanting to get my knitting tattoo, before Granny passed away, but it seemed that much more fitting to get it after all of that, so I set up an appointment with a friend of a friend that I'd met a few times to tattoo me. Facebooking back and forth with the guy to set up the appointment, turned into texting back and forth about life, which turned into 2 dates before he tattooed me. I don't know which turned out better: the tattoo or the guy. As I type this I'm sitting in his living room after spending New Year's together and honestly my cheeks hurt from smiling so much in the last couple of days.

In addition to all these changes, I also have officially graduated with my Bachelor's! I have applied to Physical Therapy schools and am waiting for my two interviews in the next week and a half. I'm really hoping to get in to school in Omaha. And if I do I already have a job lined up! For now I have to wait patiently (not) and with no school work and no job while I'm waiting that leaves lots of time for knitting! (Which is almost a problem considering I knit the Owls sweater in 3 days!)

Hopefully there will be another post soon that's more knitting and less personal crap.

Hope your 2010 has started off as well as mine has!

Spring Break

I drove home today for Spring Break. I'm hoping to get some knitting and sewing done while I'm home, and maybe some pictures of recently finished objects - like my corset!!! In the mean time, my neighbor brought over three garbage bags full of yarn while cleaning out his shed. His wife who passed away last year had attempted to knit at one point and quickly gave up. A few years ago I went through some of the yarn and took what I wanted, but now that Joe has remarried he decided to get rid of the rest of it (there was also a complete possibly never used interchangable needle set - the old metal kind, that I like better than my Denise plastic ones) & possibly there may be a knitting machine headed my way.
In other news I saw this on And She Knits Too! and being the lover of books that I am couldn't resist.

The Big Read (http://www.neabigread.org/) said that, on average, adults have only read six books on this list. So ... copy this list, remove my yeses and nos, and add your comments (favourable or otherwise) about the ones you have read. Don't forget to include a total.

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen - Yes, I started it several times throughout middle and high school, but finally read the entire book freshman year in college during my Great Love Stories class.
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien – Considered it, but haven't read it yet.
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte - Yes, one of my favourite books ever!
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling – YES! Including rereading the entire series in two weeks before the last book was released.
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee - Yes, freshman year of high school.
6 The Bible – Parts of it.
7 Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte - Not yet, I own it though.
8 1984 - George Orwell - No, it was one of my ex's favourite books though.
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman - No
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens - Yes, in 8th grade English
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott - I think I read a watered down version of it when I was little, but not the actual book.
12 Tess of the D'Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy –No
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller – Not yet, I own it though.
14 Complete Works of Shakespeare – Not the complete works, but Romeo & Juliet, Othello, Much Ado About Nothing, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and the Tempest.
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier - No
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien - I started it once in elementary school, but have never gone back to it, if I decide to read The Lord of the Rings, I'll read The Hobbit first.
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks - No
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger - Yes, required junior year, I really didn't like it, my current boyfriend says it's one of his favourite books.
19 The Time Traveller's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger - No, but I'd like to.
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot- No
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell - No
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald - Yes, another one of my favourite books of all time.
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens- No, but I own it.
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy - No
25 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams - No
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh - No
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - No
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll - Yes, and Through the Looking Glass
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame - No
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy - Not yet, but I'd like to.
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens - No, well maybe a watered-down kid's version.
33 The Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis - Maybe not all of them, but I know that I read at least half of them when I was little.
34 Emma - Jane Austen - Yes, listened to it on audio book during all my driving last summer.
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen - Not yet, but I'm borrowing it from my roommate this summer.
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - Yes
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini - No
38 Captain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres- No but the movie looked good.
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden - Yes, junior year of high school.
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne – No
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell -Yes, freshman year of high school.
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown - Not yet, I hope to eventually
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Not yet, but I really enjoyed Marguez's Love in the Time of Cholera.
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving - No
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins - No
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery - Yes, the entire series and I loved them!
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy - No
48 The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood - Yes, I really liked it and look foreward to reading more Atwood.
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding - No
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan - Started it this summer but haven't finished yet.
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel - No
52 Dune - Frank Herbert- No
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons - No
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen - Not yet.
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth - No
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon - No
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens - Not yet.
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley - No
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon - Not yet.
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez - Yes, as mentioned earlier I loved it and the movie was halfway decent.
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck – Yes, freshman year of high school.
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov - I read the first half then it was due back to the library and I've never gone back to finish it.
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt - No
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold – Yes, such a good book but not for those with a weak stomach.
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas - Not yet.
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac - Not yet, but I have it now.
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy - No
68 Bridget Jones's Diary - Helen Fielding - Yes, and the sequel.
69 Midnight's Children - Salman Rushdie - No
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville - No
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens - I'm almost positive I read the watered-down version of it.
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker - No
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett - Yes
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson - No
75 Ulysses - James Joyce - No
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath - Yes, I adore Sylvia Plath but not in heavy doses.
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome - No
78 Germinal - Emile Zola - No
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray - No, but it's on my to read list, I loved the movie.
80 Possession - AS Byatt- No
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens -No
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell - No
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker -Yes, in Great Love Stories class
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro - No
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert - Not yet
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry - No
87 Charlotte's Web - EB White - I think so.
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom - No
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - No
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton – No
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad - No
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupe – Not yet
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks - No
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams - Yes and the sequel, I loved them both and I can never look at a rabbit the same now.
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole - No
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute - No
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas - Not yet, but Slumdog Millionaire makes me want to read it.
98 Hamlet – Shakespeare – Yes, senior english class

99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl - I think so, but I don't remember for sure.
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo - Not yet, but I really want to read it in French (too bad I'm not that fluent)

I've read 22 for sure. I don't know who they are surveying as average adults, but I'm almost 21 and I've read way more than 6 of these.

GRE and the Search for a New Project

I spent the second half of last week stressing and cramming for the GRE. Jim told me on Friday to just let it go and I would be fine, but of course I wouldn't completely believe him. The GRE is like the SAT to get into grad school. The grad school I'm applying for Physical Therapy requires a 900 out of 1600 composite score on the verbal and math sections. While this never seemed that difficult, especially after three practice test that I consistently scored in the mid-1100s, I still made 200 flashcards and tried to learn vocab. Needless to say, with all this studying the knitting was put on hold. I took the test yesterday at the crack of dawn (ok, it was 8:30), and passed with flying colours. I thoroughly appreciated the math section that allowed me to score 100 points higher than I had been on the practice test.

Knitting resumed last night while having an Audrey Tautou double feature (He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not and A Long Engagement, both of which I would highly recommend but beware you'll have to read subtitles). Unfortunately I wasn't counting correctly (could have been the celebratory Cream Soda "float") and had to rip out all the progress I made last night this afternoon. I'm also trying to play catch-up with all the classwork I put on hold for GRE studying, so it might be slow going.

Apparently, I didn't completely overcome SSS and SMS because I'm still lacking motivation to work on the sock and mitten and now I'm trying to find my next big project. I don't know that I have enough yarn in the school stash for a sweater unless it's lace weight, so I may have to work on a shawl until I go home at spring break and can get some yarn from that stash. Anyone have any suggestions? A shawl isn't practical for class knitting because all of the patterns I like are too attention demanding. I don't want to spend a lot of money but I really want something that is knit on 5s or larger (these 0s and 1s are killing my hands).

Corset Update: I fitted the mock-up on Thursday in class, it wasn't too far off and I only have to make a few small adjustments. I also found some fabric in my stash that was a tight weave and semi-period appropriate to be able to cover it. I'm going to flat-line the fashion fabric to the coutil and assemble the two sides tomorrow so I can bone it on Tuesday. Progress pictures soon hopefully!

Socks, Mittens and Corsets

I finally overcame my SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) and SMS (Second Mitten Syndrome) and have cast on for both of them in the last few days. The second mitten seems to be going a lot faster than the first but I think that's because I'm not to the hard part yet. I don't think that my size 0 needles will ever be straight again and it seems like each time I try to straighten them out they just get bend the other direction. I cast on my second Anastasia Sock today at work and then basically knit the entire toe during Human Sexuality. I think that the provisional cast on looks a lot better this time, but we'll see in about 2 more rows when I pick up the stiches if they are giant like last time.
The reception of Clover on Ravelry seems to be wonderful - it's been favourited 99 times!! I just wish that I had it up to sell, but I have to wait on Casey to do some magic coding. Since I have no understanding of these things I also have no idea how long this might take. I was super excited when I saw someone who's blog I read favourited it though. I feel like I stalk so many people because I read their blogs and its nice to feel like I'm not so creepy anymore because now she knows who I am in some distant universe.
Today in my Period Patterning class we started our corsets! We had to blow up our patterns from the books their in and try to get them to the right size. I had intended on using the point-to-point method to blow mine up, but then I found out the scale was incredibly wonky, so I cheated and used the copy machine. Then I had to tack on seam allowance and cut it out of muslin to make a mock-up for fittings on Thursday. I haven't sewn it together yet, but that's tomorrow's project (as well as some intense GRE studying).

Knitty Rejected

This fall I designed a sweater dress, not a simple stockinette sweater dress, but an intricately cabled (and in my opinion gorgeous) sweater dress. I had the intention of submitting the pattern to Knitty for the Spring issue and knit as fast as I could to meet the deadline. I spent my entire Thanksgiving break sizing the pattern up and down to fit bust sizes from 28" - 52". The deadline was December 1st and I sent the pattern in a day in advance with a nice note thanking them for looking at my pattern. Since then I have been not so patiently waiting to here back.
Yesterday, I saw in my inbox an email with the subject Re:spring submission:Clover and I got all excited and nervous to open the email. As you can guess from the title of this post and the fact that I'm telling you all this - the pattern was rejected and will not be published. The only reason given was that they can't publish as many patterns as they receive. At least now I can finally post pictures on the internet and I'm going to try to sell the pattern individually on Ravelry once I get the programming figured out. So without further ado . . .

























Raveled Here

To everyone who is coming here because they saw the pattern on Ravelry, "Hi, thanks for all the wonderful comments and I hope you'll all buy the pattern once I get it up and running!" It is by far one of the most fun things that I've knit (and I'm not just saying that because I designed it). But I do hope that if you buy it and find any kinks in the pattern you'll let me know, this is the first time I've tried to resize a pattern and write it for someone else to read. Hopefully, this is just the start of something and I'll have more patterns to come in the future (and maybe next time they'll be Knitty approved).

You Know You Knit Too Much . . .

I am fully confessing that today my roommate, Katie, and I planned out a few of our outfits for this week. It's not like this is the first day of high school where you want to impress everyone and appear older than you are - it's more about saving time and our obsessive-compulsive personalities. I realized that I planned two of my outfits around my hand knitted items - in one case it was my almost finished argyle sweater vest which seems like a pretty typical article of clothing to plan an outfit around. The really revealing moment was when I was standing there planning my outfit around a hat. Hopefully while I wear my new hat tomorrow I can get a picture.

A Belated Harlot Update

So its been more than a week since I saw the Harlot (college life decreases time for blog updates). I still find it hard to believe and if I didn't have a picture with her I would think that I had just dreamed it up.

She is soooo funny! Her stories about various members of C.H.O.K.E. I totally can relate to. I am not a granny because I knit. Although luckily on campus its much more acceptable because it seems like half the girls in my dorm knit. But this summer whenever I was knitting in Arkansas it was like I had lost my mind or something (although that could be the lack of a need for knitting in AR). And I'm pretty sure my mother is a partial member of C.H.O.K.E. she's always trying to tell me that my stash is out of control and I need to use it or lose it. She also has totally informed me that I can buy socks at WalMart 6 for $2.50. As Stephanie said, "What are we going to say -Really? I never knew! I suppose you can buy sweaters too! Why am I sitting here wasting my time?" Yeah right! Knitting is the thing that keeps me awake in class so that I can get my education that isn't a waste of time lol.

In other news: My socks are done excepted for ends that need to be wove in. I'll have pictures soon.
I got one set of curtains finished while watching When Harry Met Sally this weekend, but the others on hold until I get done with the crazy school work that I have this week. So pictures will have to wait till I get the other set done and have a chance to clean the room and show all the crafty stuff my roommate and I have done.
At work in the costume shop the other day they got out all the yarn and sorted it by type into different tubs to be moved to our new fabric and such storage room because the shop is bursting at the seams. I think Ann hoped to be done with the sorting before I got there, but they weren't and I was so sad to see all the yarn be put away and none of it coming home with me. The problem is that we will probably never use it all in the costume shop because knitting is too time consuming for last minute costumes. I just don't understand why they can't donate some to my stash. Although, Ann yesterday at work when she said that they had found more yarn asked me what kind of yarn I liked. I'm not really sure if she was just inquiring or if she was leaning towards secretly donating some, we'll see what happens.

While going through pictures I found this one, which made me miss my sewing helper.

WIP

I called yesterday and reserved my ticket to see The Harlot! I'm super excited. I've been trying to read Casts Off when I get a moment but most of my time has been spent studying how the kidneys work so I can afford to drive to Wichita instead of study next weekend. I've been trying to convince other people to go down with me so I don't have to pay for the gas by myself and I think I've finally roped someone into it. Not that it's at all like roping someone in because its totally going to be awesome. Anyway, on to my works in progress:
One sock down, one to go!
I really like the Red Herring socks, they have that colour work to make them not so boring, but they aren't lacy to make them too hard to work on in class. I did alter the length of the calf and changed the toe, but I'll save all that for when I'm actually done. I cast on the second one today so that I'll have a sock when I go see the Harlot.
The 1940s sweater I'm working on is coming along nicely and I really want to/need to get back to it. I'm to the point where I need to start the neck shaping and because I don't like the way the neck is in the pattern I've put off doing my own calculations and such. It also is too bulky to carry around with me on campus and work on in class so I've put it off until I can have some time alone with it. (If only I knew when that would be).
Other than those two I've been working on sewing curtains for my dorm room. I got the valences done last night and they look great (although it is fun trying to get them to stay up without putting holes in the wall, but that is for another blog post). The valences are pink and I made them out of the dust ruffle that came in my Bed-in-a-Bag. The curtains are going to be lime green to match the fabric that I used to cover something in my room last year. So hopefully I'll have those to show you all soon.

The Harlot

The Yarn Harlot is coming on her book tour to my high school!!! This is enough to inspire me to start blogging lol. I'm super excited I love reading her blog and I never imagined that she would be so close to me (I mean really who comes to KS). True I'll have to drive like 4 hours to see her but it's totally worth it.

So I really need to get in the habit of updating this like every other day because I really am doing a lot of knitting (sewing too for that matter).

Right now I'm working on the Red Herring socks from the Fall 06 Knitty. I'm doing them in hot pink and grey, but sometimes the grey looks more brown next to the pink. I'm also working on a 1940s cabled sweater from a Vogue Knitting book that I stumbled across. I hate having so many projects going at once (I'm working on an afghan too but I left it at home when I came back to school) but the sweater was too big to carry around anymore. And if I'm going to see the Harlot I must being working on socks!

So hopefully I can get some pictures uploaded tomorrow and be a legitimate blogger.