Has it Really Been a Week?

When I checked my blog today I realized I hadn't posted since Monday. I did knit some more during the week...but only 4 rows on the pink sweater. I sat in silence on Wednesday and just knit on the sweater and thought. I digress however. That wasn't any really significant amount of work. Today, I got this:
Sock yarn in some muted, manly tones.

The mom of one of my students brought this to me. She had seen the rings I knit for a friend. I commented that I thought sock yarn would work better. She said she had some sock yarn from a project that she never used in some manly colors and asked if I would like to inherit it to make another ring. I, of course, jumped at the chance.
However, I thought that knitting a ring would be a little boring and too quick for my tastes. So, I put aside the studying, put aside the ring making, and made one magic slipper.
So cute! Mine turned out a little different than the ones pictured in the pattern. I used a size 2 needle and omitted about 4 rows of decreases making the sides of the slipper pretty shallow. I think they turned out pretty good.
There is always room for improvement but I'll think about that after making the second slipper.
Now, I'm going to head to bed for a good night's sleep. Then I'll get up early, study a little, and then go take my certification test. Wish me luck! Maybe there will be celebratory knitting :)

I Spoke Too Soon

After my comment yesterday about how nice the weather was getting and how warm the temperature was... it was freezing cold today. Wind and snow flurries and everything. Boo for crazy March weather.

Tonight I put down the pink sweater in favor of seaming an old baby sweater I finished a few months ago.
It looks pretty good. Here's a picture of the cabled front.
While I'm pretty pleased with how it is turning out I have a confession to make. I suck at seaming. I mean, it's bad. I'm never really sure where I should be sticking the needle and then I just end up kind of doing my own thing and it seems to be working out (for now). I think if I could properly see the stitches it would be better. But the colors of this yarn kind of obscure my view (and, hopefully, the view of my poor seaming job). However I end up getting the needle through, I always make sure that I do it nice and tight. At least that way it won't come undone. When I finish with the seaming I want to add a zipper to the front. Ambitious, I know. But I'm hoping that will make the semi-crinkly fronts lie flatter.

Penelope came to investigate and was thoroughly unconcerned with my seaming problems. Please divert your eyes from my hideous attire.

Happy Easter!

Here is something big and pink for you to take a gander at for Easter.
Just working on the pink sweater. Still waiting to start another big project until next month. Then I'm thinking it will be a pair of Jaywalker socks.
It seems like all my regular blogging buddies are in a rut. We all seem to have nothing to write about. Maybe since the weather is getting warmer the urge to knit something large and woolly dwindles a bit. Time to switch to cotton and tank top patterns!

Penelope napped while I watched Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Oprah's Big Give.
Since she's just a big ball of fur with a flat face her head kind of gets lost when she naps. If you can see it, her head is almost upside down. When she lays like this she also snores pretty loudly. Love my cat!

And love this dessert! Hot fudge brownie Warm Delight. Yummy!
Happy Easter everyone!

Catching Up

I uploaded my picture software to my work computer so I can finally put up some pics. I finished the back of the pink sweater. I tried to hold it up and model the size. I'm not really sure it's a very good picture but you get the idea. If you look very closely you can see where the bottom half has a weird texture to it from being ripped out and re-knit. Hopefully after I finish and block it it won't look wonky. I also realized that I had knit the 1x1 ribbing using US size 9 needles when I was supposed to use a US size 7. But by that point I had already cast on for the front of the sweater so I didn't sweat it too much.
This is the amount of yarn left over when I finished the back. One whole skein gone. It was pretty awesome to see such little waste.
Right now my personal knitting is going slowly. I started my morning knitting class at school again with a whole new group of kids. Most of them are fairly quick to pick up the technique and there are some kids who are zipping along. I've been spending every free minute studying for the GACE test I have to take next weekend to get certified to teach elementary school. Therefore, I will apologize for the spaciness and infrequency of some of the upcoming posts. Once I get past this test then it will be (almost) Spring Break and a visit to see the Yarn Harlot!

CPU Saga Part 2

So, Old Blue is official dead. To even retrieve the information that she has locked in her Impenetrable Fortress of Doom will cost me $1600. Yes, you read that right, $1600. When I heard this 3 people in line behind me at Best Buy gasped, the Geek Squad guy looked totally sympathetic, and I almost simultaneously threw up and began crying. When I had suppressed the urge to do both I walked out of the store with my $1600 paper weight and broke down in my car. This wouldn't be as horrible if I wasn't trying to pay for a $2000 trip to a second world country over the summer. But I will press on. I'm uploading my picture software to my work computer this afternoon (thank goodness for having administrator status) and start posting pics again. My knitting mojo has been off for a few days so I'm trying to find something to get pumped about knitting. Or I could just finish the 5 projects that are buttons and seaming away from being done. But I digress...

R.I.P. Old Blue

Well, it finally happened. My laptop crashed. I'm talking a fiery ball of blazing glory...crashed. I tried to look up the weather on Saturday (to make sure there weren't more tornadoes coming towards me...there were) and my computer begins making this horrible scratching, clicking noise like there are hamsters in there simultaneously gnawing through my wires and running amok over the motherboard. It has never made this sound before so I wait cautiously. Then I get this blue screen telling me there is a file with an error and if this is the first time this has happened to reboot my computer. Then there was a list of things to do if this wasn't the first time this kind of thing had happened. Since this was the first time I'd seen this happen I did as the computer suggested and rebooted. Maybe it just needed some time to think about why it was misbehaving. When I turned in on however, it told me it couldn't find any programs and that I had no bootable drives. But I could hit F1 to try again or F2 to see the set-up menu. I hit F1 about 6 times but nothing changed. When I hit F2 it looked like there was still stuff in my computer (at least it hadn't decided to eat my data as well) but for some reason it seems to be having a hate moment with my C Drive and thus refuses to acknowledge it. My first thought when my computer started telling me it wasn't going to work was, "Geek Squad. Take it to Geek Squad." So, today after work I'm going to go and see if they can fix my laptop or at least retrieve my information from deep within it. Until I get Old Blue back I will be using my work laptop so I will still have email but I can't post pics since all that software is on my personal computer. Stay tuned for further up-dates in the CPU Saga.

Everyone Stay Calm

Tonight was my typical stay in, watch a movie, and knit. I worked on the pink sweater. I've finally gotten to the ribbing that goes at the bottom. As you will remember I had to cut and rip this bad boy apart. It has since decided to behave itself very nicely. But it's really just big and pink right now.

What is actually more interesting and pressing right now is the colossal storms going on around here right now. Apparently a tornado hit Atlanta earlier this evening. I just happened to be flipping through the channels and all there is on is radars showing red blotches over the middle part of the state. I'm very thankful that it seems like none will be headed toward the city that me, my parents, or my brother live in. These storms are totally tearing up the downtown area and the airport. It's crazy though how much technology can pinpoint where these things are happening. The meteorologist can tell you what street the storm is hitting. He's even pointing out the almost precise moment that the tornadic activity touches the ground or even starts to form. I mean, they can tell you if the rotation in the storm is on the ground or in the clouds. It's crazy. I think it's amazing how they can literally give a play-by-play of a tornado. I imagine this probably saves a lot of lives. There's not a whole lot that can be done for possessions at a time like this but at least people can be safe. It's been crazy though. I'll probably be headed to bed soon but my thoughts and prayers will be with all the people who are out there in the path of these storms.