Life and Such

I'm pleased to announce that tonight, after nearly 2 weeks of revisions I finally turned in a paper for class that I think my professor will not send back to me with a notation that reads something like, "You are full of fail. Try again." (Ok, that might be over doing it a tad but you get the drift...) The joys of grad school...

I'm also happy to report that I got final confirmation that I was accepted to an internship site. All the professors I have emailed have said this sounds like a place where I can get good experience.

I leave for Romania in 3 weeks as of tomorrow.

That last sentence does not convey my actual excitement in any way.

Neither did that one.

I started and finished a scarf:

It's called the Heart to Heart scarf and I got the pattern free from the yarn shop in Cherry Grove, South Carolina when I bought some Gedifra Airmix there.

(Hopefully you can kind of see the heart pattern) The organization that I go to Romania with is called Heart to Heart International. It was like this pattern was meant to be.

I started a skinny tie for my brother that was supposed to be his Christmas present last year.

It's coming along nicely. I got the yarn from Whorled Peace on Etsy. Perfect shades of variegated black and grey.

I'm in the middle of moving all my belongings to my parent's house. I'm trying to purge as I go. I'm ready to be done with it.

For some reason this blog post was rather draining. And now for a head count...

Project count up:
Charity: 7 completed
Self: 0
Family and friends: 2 on the needles, 4 completed (probably more with all the washcloths I made my mom)

Just a Second

I literally have 5 minutes to make this posting before I have to get back into school work. My week has been super busy with starting a new job, being social, and trying to finish up the next to last week of school (for this quarter). I just had to share though: I met my goal of raising $1000 for my return trip to Romania in just 8 days. 8 days, people! That is so awesome! So, I'm not going to stop, I'm going to see how far this can go. The next milestone? $2000 in 21 days. Yep, I want to raise $2000 by the end of this month. How can you participate?

1. Donate through Heart to Heart International, the organization I will be traveling with. Their donation page is here. You can give online or send in a check. You can even sign up to give monthly (which would be great because I plan to travel at least twice a year to Romania). Make sure to designate your gift to Melissa Brown.

2. Buy a t-shirt. All the proceeds from my apparel shop will go towards this trip.

3. Buy some yarn. The monies raised from my shop will also be used towards this trip. As an added bonus you can use the coupon code "marchmadness" and get 15% off your purchase for the entire month of March.

Please consider donating something to help me return to my kids. I miss them terribly and they need a little love and caring after losing so much in life already. So... let's see if we can raise $2000 in 21 days!

Next posting: Updates on knitting! With pictures!

Romania Recap

As promised here is an update of what I did while I was in Romania with Heart to Heart International.

Left Atlanta on July 1st around 5:30 and arrived the following morning in Amsterdam. Waited around for a few hours until I caught my flight to Bucharest, Romania. Was picked up at the airport by Jen, Jenny, and Carolyn then taken to the H 2 H house.

The house was pretty similar to something you would find in the US, just with more bedrooms and no A/C.

Sunday was church, lunch at the mall and then a chance to meet some of the kids from one of the orphanages. H 2 H works with 5 orphanages: 2 close to Bucharest and 3 that are further south. We went to one that was about 45 minutes outside of Bucharest.

 School and girls dorms.

 Some of the boys. There seem to be more boys than girls at the orphanages for some reason.

 Boys dorms.

 A room in the boys dorms. 6-7 bunk beds in each room. Each boy gets one cubby to hold all his things, which usually isn't more than a few pieces of hand me down clothing.

 A box of communal shoes in the boys bathroom.

 The music group. We got to listen to a performance by them.

This little man stole my heart.
We played with the kids and listened to their little band perform a few songs for us and then it was back to the H 2 H house.

Monday we all headed to the music camp that was being held at the girls transition house. I helped cook and clean while Todd, one of the team members lead the music camp.

 Buying watermelon for a snack.

 Music group rehearsing in the back yard.

Girls transition house. During the year this will house the girls who have aged out of the orphanage. They learn basic life skills like cooking, cleaning, and shopping in addition to finding jobs and learning to live independently.
By the end of the day Monday all the rest of the team except for the members coming from Canada had arrived (they arrived Tuesday night). On Tuesday we all headed to an orphanage about 15 minutes from the H 2 H house. There are primarily younger children at this orphanage.

We spent the morning playing and coloring with the kids. In the afternoon I went with a small group to the baby hospital. There are 26 abandoned infants and toddlers housed in one small wing at a local hospital. They stay there until they get old enough to move into an orphanage or are adopted by someone in country (Romania is closed to international adoptions). Because the babies are wards of the state we couldn't take pictures of them or the hospital. It was tough to see babies that were 8 or 9 months old that could barely lift their heads. None of them reached for toys or looked you in the eye when you talked to them. The backs of their heads were flat from laying in cribs on their backs all day. Thankfully it was nice and sunny in their rooms and there were some volunteers who would take some of the babies out every once in awhile. And when they learned to crawl they were taken to a special playroom in another area of the hospital for a few hours a day to get some exercise. We held the babies and loved on them as much as we could before leaving for the day.

This is turning out to be a longer update than I had planned so I'll break it down into two parts. Coming soon: Wednesday-Saturday.

Bigger News

I really meant to post this earlier this week but I guess subconsciously I just wanted to keep you all in suspense :) (And yes, there is still the biggest news to come)

The bigger news is that this summer I will be traveling to Romania! I will be going with H 2 H International and will be working in an infant hospital and several orphanages. I can't wait! It's been three years since I was in Eastern Europe and I can't wait to get back; it feels like it's been too long! In anticipation of going I would like to collect some knitted clothing to take with me. I know that H 2 H distributes hats each winter to the babies, children, and teen orphans that they work with. The Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project has information about collecting matching hat and scarf sets for me to take while I'm over there. I'm hoping there will be a big turn out for this collection!

In other, not so big news:
I finished R.J.'s baby blanket!

I finished some swatches (just need to weave in ends, wash, and block them):

I really finished a swatch (washed and dried and everything!):

Trick or Treat sock yarn
And I got to see some of my roving spun up at the guild meeting Thursday night!

I wish I could say that I have a movie on and I'm snuggled up with some knitting on this rainy, slightly chilly day but alas, I have grad school work to do and a cat who thinks that my arms and computer are her napping spot not my working spot.

Happy Good Friday everyone! And happy Spring Break to all the GA teachers and students :) Today is my 1st full day off of Spring Break 2010 and I couldn't be happier. I'm trying to get some cleaning and laundry done so that I don't have to worry about it for the next week. I've got a lot of stuff to catch up on but I already feel productive this morning. I've finished getting everything together for my taxes, paid lots of bills, done 2 loads of laundry, and updated a few things on the EEROP forum on Ravelry. Speaking of...I've added a little EEROP button to my blog. If you are a member of the Eastern European and Russian Orphanages Project group on Ravelry please feel free to use this button on your blog as well (just right click on the image and save it to your computer). If you aren't a member of the group but want to support charity knitting for orphans click on the button and join our group on Ravelry. And speaking of charity knitting...I finished up some big mittens for H to H International.
These go with a matching hat and slippers and make up the second set of charity items for H 2 H that I've made this year.
The goal was one set a month. This was supposed to be February's set but, obviously, I'm a little behind. I expect I can catch up during the summer months. I'm still trying to contribute 1-2 items a month to other charity organizations as well. Like this sunny little vest.
This is a vest that will go to the Adoption Center of Washington. Again, a little late on this vest as the ACW was the chosen organization to knit for during Feb. and March. I currently have a lot of ideas and thoughts concerning charity knitting floating around in my head but I'll save that for another post after I can organize my thoughts.

Ok, so now something totally different.

I finished a really good book the other night and I thought that I would share it. When I was a kid my passion was reading and I still love to do it though I find I have less time and there are less books out there that I want to read. When I was growing up I loved collections like the Baby-Sitters Club because there was always a new book coming out, and yet, many of them could stand alone (meaning you didn't *have* to read the book before it to understand what was going on). There aren't really any book series out there like that for adults. Which is a shame. Anyways, I often find myself picking up young adult lit because it's an easy read but, if you find the right book, well written. The book I finished was an example of such.
Princess Academy by Shannon Hale was delightful. It had the strong female lead, a touch of young, innocent romance, trials to overcome, and a few plot twists at just the right time. By chapter 18 I ended up staying up late at night reading the last 8 chapters to see how it would end. Highly recommend.

Off to finish laundry!

Not So Typical

I know I've said it before but I'll say it again, I'm not a morning person, I'm a night owl. A typical evening for me ends somewhere between 11 and midnight and, personally, I don't think that any person should have to go into work before 9. However, my work day starts between 7:30 and 8 depending on the day of the week and that means I'm up by 6:30. A typical nights sleep for me is between 6 and 7 hours though it has been known to be as few as 4 or 5. Last night I was practically falling asleep at knit night so as soon as I came through the door to my apartment I went to bed. I slept from 8:30 last night until 8 this morning. 11 and 1/2 hours. Not typical of me at all. I guess the illness, staying up really late a few nights this week and the stress of work finally hit me. The only thing that would have made it more peaceful is if I hadn't had a dream about work sometime this morning.

On to the knitting!
Have managed to get past the heel turn on the second toe up diamond sock for charity. This project is hanging in my purse for those moments when I need something to knit and I'm on the go.
I started another Keep Me Warm Vest last night at knit night. The bottom band is made from some old hand dyed (with cake icing and food coloring). I realized that one of the downsides to food grade dyes is that they bleed worse than acid dyes. My hands looked like there were on fire last night. This will go to the Adoption Center of Washington. Hoping to get it finished by the end of the month. Which is 5 days away. Did I mention this is single stranded on size 7 needles? I didn't? Oh...
Finished one really large mitten and started on another. Again, a charity knit. This one for H 2 H International. This project and the vest are in my knitting bag that gets hauled out to knit nights, large functions, travel over long distances in the car and to the couch for nightly knitting.
Finally, cast on for the second Trick or Treat sock. Put this next to the computer so I can work on it when I'm reading blogs or checking my email.

Have nothing on the needles for friends or family at the moment but I know what that project will be. Just waiting until the end of the month so I can purchase the pattern and yarn.

Something Random

1. I finished my future SIL's hat.
It only took me 3 days.

Unoriginal Hat
US size 10.5 needles
1 skein of Vivid Creation Fibers bulky yarn in Coral Reef
Mods: Cast on 70 stitches and did 5 repeats of the pattern instead of the 4 originally called for.

Brandi seemed to like it.
2. Mystery illness has been diagnosed. I have strep. Again. That brings my total time sick up to 8 weeks. Almost to the day. Started antibiotic #3 today.

3. Sunday after church I met up with some Twitter friends at Rare Purls.
There were some friends I had met in real life before, some I hadn't, and some brand new friends who got added to my Twitter list as soon as I got home!
Everyone had a lovely time and we're planning on meeting up once a month or so to do this again.
I got my first Trick or Treat sock finished while there.
And the first Diamond sock (as I'm calling them) got finished as well.
It's a good thing this was a toe up sock because I was just knitting along, not really paying attention, when I realized that the end of the yarn I was holding was, well, the end. I tinked back about 15 stitches and cast off right then. The top is a little rolled but the purled design actually keeps it from rolling too much. This is the yarn I had left over from my bind off.
Just in the nick of time!

4. I finished weaving in all the ends on my modified Keep Me Warm vest.
Keep Me Warm Vest for charity
US size 10.5
Cascade 220 held double, used less than 2 skeins of both the multi and the black
Mods: Made it into a v neck and added ribbing around the armholes and neckband

This one's going to the Adoption Center of Washington. I think it turned out totally cute!

5. As soon as I finished with the vest I cast on for a mitten.
This is going to be for the second charity set going to H 2 H International.

6. Other than the strep, I'm feeling great! I know that I've mentioned before that I'm not big on dieting but I found a great plan that keeps the food choices simple (which is good for someone who's not big on adding a whole bunch of weird, random vegetables) and is easy to follow. I've started eating healthier and adding more of the few veggies that I do like (or kind of like) into my diet. With the better eating, the awesome weather, and being able to get out and exercise 3-4 times a week, my energy has exploded and I'm just feeling good. Today was rainy and cold but hopefully this is the last kick of winter weather and tomorrow will be warmer again so I can get outside again.

Stalled

The breaking of the sock DPN seems to have broken my knitting streak as well. Obviously that project is now on hold until I can find some more needles (or another project).

I started a pair of socks for Global Knit but have lost some interest in these as well.
Just past the heel turn of the first sock. These only have 20-30 rows until they're done but I'm not in love with this yarn: it's single ply (therefore very splity), and in some drab colors (not helped by the fact that it has been cold and rainy here for 2 days).

I started and finished another quick charity knit (this one for H 2 H International) this weekend.
The next step is to start a hat to go with them. But that would require me finding my 16" cable and balling some more yarn.

The baby blanket pretty much looks like the same except with 6-10 more repeats. I'm ready for that to be finished with.

I have a whole queue on Ravlery of projects for myself but that would require balling yarn, finding needles and swatching.

I also have a whole list of knits for other people that need to be done but, again, these require balling yarn, finding needles, and swatching.

Plus, I need to update my inventory in my stores since I'm sending a new LYS some of my yarn and Rare Purls needed more stuff.

Oh, and I need to update Ravlery with all the projects from Christmas (and maybe a little before then too) and don't get me started on the housework...

Unmotivated is what I am.

Saturday I was sidelined with a 24 hour stomach virus which certainly didn't help things. Thankfully I have tomorrow off so maybe after a few days of recuperation I will feel up for something productive.