A Girl, two bunnies and a room full of yarn

The End is quickly approaching

2006-02-22T13:47:00.000-08:00

I'm getting worried now...I'm not even done one armwarmer yet and there are only 4 days left of the olympics...so unless I take a day out of work or stay up all night saturday knitting I don't think I'm going to finish. I'm going to stop at Michaels' tonight to see if I can get myself some better dpns or teeny tiny circular needles. I am close to being done one armwarmer, I finally finished the pattern rows so now I just have to do the ribbing and work up the thumb hole and it's done. And then to do the next one...oh it's so painful to think about. I have to go shopping tonight so that takes some time away and then tommorrow night i have a vet appointment. Friday night I think I'm going out with my roomies to the 3rd year vet student shindig. That leaves me very little time to be working my ass off on these stupid armwarmers.

Olympic progress

2006-02-15T19:27:00.000-08:00

So I've completed row 16 of the pattern only 34 more to go for the first armwarmer...*sigh* not going as quickly as I had hoped. Well here's what it looks like:

Olympics and DPNs

2006-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

Ok so i started my armwarmers during the opening ceremonies, and I realized just how much I hate Double pointed needles. I hate them so much, having to move stitches from needle to needle and dropping stitches because they slip off the ends of the needles. So frustrating. Well I've got a couple of inches done and i've spent quite a bit of time on them. Here I was thinking this was going to be such a simple project and actually feeling kind of guilty about not choosing a more challengeing project, but I'm almost certain now that i'll really have to work my butt off to complete these on time. Okay back to knitting and the olympics, in the middle of the blizzard so nice.

Opening Ceremonies

2006-02-10T09:17:00.000-08:00

So today is opening ceremonies of the winter olympics and therefore the start of the knitting olympics. I wasn't a very good athlete I didn't do my training, no swatches done to check gauge. Well I'll just have to do it while I watch the opening ceremonies this evening I guess. I know we're supposed to cast on at 2pm EST but I'm at work so I'm just going to wait, plus I think it would be cooler to cast on while watching the ceremonies.

Knitting Olympics

2006-02-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

So I've signed up for the knitting olympics knit-along. I've joined team Boston, even though I don't live in Boston I figure an hour away is close enough. I thought about it for awhile, trying to decide what project I could complete in the 16 days of the olympics without going insane. I finally decided to make myself some armwarmers and I happened to be in AC Moore yesterday and picked up some pretty yarn that was on sale, but I don't think I got the sale price. I'll have to post a pic of it before I start. Until then I'll continue working on Corrine. I also want to spend some time on some Valentine's day crafts so I should do that before the Olympics start.

Today was my vet school interview at Tufts. I think it went well. I'm feeling pretty confident I'll be accepted, which I probably shouldn't because then I'll be really that much more disappointed if I don't get in. I'm just glad it's over and now I just have to wait to hear. Well in the meantime I'll be busy being crafty.

Happy Bunnies

2006-01-30T19:24:00.000-08:00

So this weekend in my absence my bunnies became friends, after spending the past two years not liking each other. Bailey jumped over the fence to Kahlua's side, my roomie came in to feed them and was surprised by them being on the same side. I freaked out a little fearing the worst. I saw Kahlua bite Bailey a year and a half ago leaving a scab on his neck. So I figured they would be fighting, but they didn't well if they did they seem to have worked out their differences because now they're living in harmony with one another, no fence for me to trip over!

I'm still sick, my throat is killing me right now, I should probably go see a doctor make sure I don't have strep. But while I've been sick I've finished knitting the pinwheel sweater. Now I just have to assemble it, which I'm not sure exactly how to do. It's kind of funky shaped and there's no distinct area where the sleeve fits into the body. I'm not sure if I should try to block it before I put it together. Any suggestions? Usually I only block after I've assembled if I think it needs to be blocked. So I've been putting off assembling it, instead I've been working on the Corrine lace dress. I still haven't gotten very far with the hem of the dress. I've probably got a little more than a foot done.

Sick Day

2006-01-25T10:43:00.000-08:00

Well it's officially winter, I'm home sick with a cold. Yesterday I was feeling well enough to finish up the second sleeve of the pinwheel sweater and start the Corrine lace dress ruffle. That is going to take a long time to complete seeing as I worked on it for quite some time and only got a couple of inches knitted. As for today well I woke up at around 9 and just layed in bed until 1 so I'm not sure if I'll get much knitting done today. Hopefully I'll feel well enough to do something later.

2006-01-23T16:03:00.000-08:00

My finished Michael Kors Aran Top still need to fix the poofy right sleeve.

2006-01-23T16:01:00.001-08:00

yarn from elann

2006-01-23T16:01:00.000-08:00

One sleeve done!

Vet School

2006-01-13T18:17:00.000-08:00

This is totally non-knitting related but I'm just so excited, I got an interview for Tufts Veterinary School!!!! Just needed to share with everyone the great news. One hurdle down one to go!

Dye and Spin

2006-01-12T09:00:00.000-08:00

So yesterday, or was it the day before, well anyway I did a lot of reading on craftster on dying yarn, mainly with kool-aid. I'm so tempted to buy some natural wool yarn from knitpicks and try to dye some myself. I think it would be a lot of fun and I could make some cool color combinations. And really, how rewarding would it be to have an article made from yarn that you specifically made the colors for it. But I managed to fend of my craving to buy, which is good seeing as I don't have much money after the holidays and I do have a ton of yarn and projects to work on already.

Today with my freetime I've been going a step farther into the world of spinning. To actually spin your own yarn from raw materials, dye it, and knit something up well that would be the ultimate do-it-yourself, handmade product. Although that seems like it would be a ton of work and probably pretty expensive. Although I believe that wool isn't too expensive although I guess it depends on what kind of sheep it comes from. I did grow up with sheep nextdoor and even helped sheer them, but they were not wool sheep not like merinos. And those neighbors still have a few sheep I think maybe I could beg them for the wool when they sheer them in the summer. The schemeing has begun already. But once again it's a matter of do I really want to put that much time and effort into it? Will it really be worth it? I'm happy enough with my store bought yarn and if I really wanted some funky handspun yarn I guess I could buy it online, it just seems so expensive compared to store bought yarn. But I know that more effort went into making it. I've already been pining for some handspun, handdyed yarn I saw on etsy. But I will resist the urge to buy. I must, I have too many projects on my plate as it is.

For the Vogue Aran top, I've gotten as far as decreasing for the arm area of the sweater so only a few more inches and then I can whip up the sleeves and throw this baby together. I can't wait! I hope it fits and looks ok. I always seem to have a problem with making sweaters fit correctly, I think it's the fact that I'm too lazy to actually knit up a 4inch swatch for a gauge check. Usually I only knit like and inch and say well that's good enough. After I'm finished I'm planning on starting the pinwheel sweater, I think. Oh and I've got to work on making more of those crocheted flowers for the scarf as well. So much to do and yet I still want to do so much more.

2006-01-09T18:42:00.000-08:00

So I started working on the flower scarf today. It took me about a half hour to figure out the flower pattern. I think I've finally got it figured out. Not sure it's the easiest or best way to make the scarf, maybe someone out there might have some better ideas. So this is what I ended up doing. I used chunky woolease and a K hook.

*Chain 4 slip stitch to make ring. 8 sc in ring sl stitch to join scs. Chain 4, ttr twice so you have 3 loops on hook sl stitch through the 3 loops to join. Cut yarn.* This makes one petal. Join yarn in next sc and repeat * in each sc, so there are 8 petals. Weave in yarn ends.

2006-01-05T17:21:00.000-08:00

So I thought I should post a picture of how much progress I've made on my current project. This is a pic of the finished back portion. I've got a few inches completed for the front. I've been using lionbrand woolease as a cheap substitute yarn. I'm hoping it will still work out ok.

Michael Kors' Aran Top from Vogue Knitting Holiday 05' issue

The start of my knitting blog

2006-01-03T17:16:00.000-08:00

So today, work was really slow so as usual I was perusing through all of my crafty links. I looked at many knitting blogs and became really inspired to create one of my own. I've kind of been including my knitting stuff in with my regular blog, but I think it should have it's own space. Then other knitters interested in knitting blogs can find my site without having to wade through all of my normal rantings of the day. Now it's just a matter of putting in the work to get it exactly the way I want to. I don't really want to put in too much time right now, I'd much rather be actually working on my knitting. In fact, I think this is where I'll leave off today. I've created the blog and an entry, good enough for tonight.