I'm Back!

Wow. It's hard to believe I'm actually sitting at my house, on a computer (that I own), on the internet again (finally). Yes, I took the plunge and purged my savings account. The result of this unholy union is this beautiful baby:

I give you Mac-y. His name is a shout out to any Homestar Runner fans out there (remember Strong Bad's Lappy and Compy?). If you aren't familiar with Homestar, check it out. It will consume your life for about 3 weeks but then you will rejoin society and finally understand all those, "Seriously" and "Checka, checka, checka, checka, checkin' my eeeee-mail" quotes your friends have been making for years (or maybe that's only my friends).

Ok, enough about that. I must rave that my experience with the Apple folks was quite nice. They gave me honest, helpful answers and didn't try and sell me any unnecessary crap. And they didn't push me when I turned down stuff they threw out that I "might want." I did score a nice free printer.

It replaced the behemoth I used to have.

And they even helped me fill out the rebate before I left the store so I wouldn't forget to do it. How nice.

I picked up Mac-y on Tuesday but haven't gotten around to blogging yet. Wednesday through today I spent 9 hours in teacher training for my job. It was pretty interesting because we got to play around with a lot of the new materials we would have next year. Unfortunately, it lasted all day. And yesterday and today I had to teach a lesson when I got home. I was going to go out to see a friend of mine who was playing an at a local pub tonight but I'm just so tired that I couldn't get up the energy to go out. Plus, I'm a total homebody and since I have been lacking on that this week I just want to be here in my house with my high maintenance cat (who "helped" wake me up this morning by standing on my chest).

Sadly, the knitting hasn't been very productive or exciting. I finished the wee little baby sweater on vacation (all it needed was sleeves).

Pitiful for a whole week but I think it's very cute. I can't decide to do with the left over half skeins that I have though (this was made with 2 strands held together so that is why half skeins is plural). It's for Warm Woolies so I was thinking of making some socks as well. But then I wasn't sure there was enough and I don't have the right DPNS and I could use the circulars but the last socks I made that way came out 2 different sizes and... So, needless to say, nothing else has been cast on.

I've also been knitting on this though.
Look familiar? It should. This is the back to the Big Pink Sweater Thing. Or maybe it's the front. I can't remember. It makes for good mindless knitting though so I have just been picking it up every now and then to knit a couple of rows while I watch TV.

I live next Saturday for Moldova for 2 weeks. I have promised myself that I will take my sock yarn and knit some Jaywalkers (Ravelry link). I have to go my Knitch next week to pick up some DPNs in the right size. Maybe I will pick up some yarn to and get re-energized about knitting (Not that I'm not excited about knitting. I just don't have anything exciting I want to work on right now).

Ok, so I just spent like 10 minutes trying to upload a picture of my Not a Honeymoon Cami because I did finish that and I wanted to show you how it turned out. However, if you upload a pic after you have typed in stuff and put in other pictures Blogger does not like it. It is hard to move the picture. So, I went through all that trouble. Then I went to delete a sentence and accidentally deleted the picture it had taken me 10 minutes to insert and position correctly. Instead of losing my mind and trying to do that all again I am instead providing a link to my Ravelry projects and you can see it there. Sorry but I like my sanity.

Week Recap

Wow, it has been a very busy week. I'm still without a personal home computer so I have been jetting to my parents house, the library, and using my cell phone to check my email. None are optimal of course. My parents live on the other side of the county which, normally, wouldn't be too much of a problem except that I live in one of the largest and most populated counties in the state. On a good day it takes only 30 minutes to get to their place. A good day happens on Sunday afternoon around 3:00. On a normal day it takes an hour to get there. Normal days are much more frequent. And posting at the library is the worst. I always feel like people are looking over my shoulder as I try and read personal emails or update my facebook status. I only went there once this week when I had exhausted all other possible routes and absolutely had to check my bank account. I did sign up for one day of internet usage on my phone. It could check my email, tell me the weather, and not much else. But at least I got the notice about one of my private lessons needing to be rescheduled. I've once again made it back to my parents house though and this makes for a much nicer posting experience. I've just spent the better part of an hour checking other blogs that I read. I haven't touched Ravelry yet but I'm going to have to because I need some patterns to take with me on vacation next week.

Yes, next week I will be at the beach on vacation (or holiday if you are from outside the US). I'll be in South Carolina in a secluded little town with my parents, brother, and my brother's girlfriend (the ever charming and lovely BB). I had a really tough time trying to decide what to take as far as the knitting goes. Thanks to the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (and the 6 disks of extra, behind the scenes info) I finished the Honeymoon Cami. If the previous statement seems a bit nerdish to you, have no fear. My dear friend AG has been (and continues) to harass me about how much of a dork I am (this from the guy who played D and D growing up and watches Lost religiously). But it is very cute and, most importantly, wearable. The yarn wasn't very forgiving so if a stitch looked wonky when I was knitting it, it stayed a little wonky after I blocked it (Which really just involved me washing it in the washing machine and throwing it over the shower rod in my bathroom. But I like that it turned out fine after that. I like things to be durable.). I'm just pleased as punch that I made something that I can actually wear. It got put in the bag for vacation wear. So, anyways, back to the projects... I threw in the rest of the cone of Texas Cotton (used for the cami) because I'm participating in the Summer of Socks and I haven't started a pair yet. Then I threw in some stash gifted sock yarn that I used to make some magic slippers thinking I would try another pair of those and maybe some sort of wee little socks. I also started (and have almost finished) another vest/sweater for Warm Woolies. I say vest/sweater because I took the pattern for their simple vest and I'm going to try and add sleeves. I attempted the first one (this, of course being all of my own devising without a pattern or any real guidance) by using 8 lives stitches and some picked up stitches around the arm hole. But the stockinette ended up on the inside of the sleeve. Which would have been good if I had been working it inside out, but I wasn't. I got as far as turning the sleeve inside out and then the thought of trying to pick up those stitches again made my head hurt and I realized it was 10:30 at night the day before I was supposed to leave for my parents house and a week of vacation and I hadn't finished packing or cleaning and decided that vest/sweater could wait. Well, it's waiting for me in the bottom of my knitting bag. Next to a bunny hat kit I picked up in Savannah. And the perpetual pink sweater (of doom).

Today, after I squared away my knitting, I spent time running all around town and prepping for my leave. I had to make sure that someone covered my private lessons, that my apartment sitter was lined up, that there were plenty of (very) detailed instructions about everything from how to feed the cat to how hot the water gets (I have an obsessive compulsive disorder, so sue me), and that all the orders I filled for Eat Sleep Tweet got mailed off in time. On a side note: I really like this new job. I can't wait until it becomes a little more involved. I got a little taste of it this week but eventually there will be a mini warehouse in my apartment. It's very good for the organized, logistical side of me. Now I am ready to relax. I will (thankfully) have internet next week that I will check on a regular basis and maybe even post. Unfortunately, I won't get to put the pictures up yet. Once I get this new computer I'm going to do about 15 all picture posts of (k)nifty things that should have already graced these pages.

Holiday

I'm stopping by to wish everyone a happy and safe Memorial Day. And please, while you are out enjoying your freedom by boating and grilling out, remember the people who made and are still making it possible for you to enjoy that security.

I stayed at my parent's house last night because we are going to my aunt and uncle's lake house today. Therefore, I have some internet access. I've been able to check email and facebook so I decided to update the blog a little.

I'm over half way finished with the second gauntlet/mitt. These are a really quick knit if you can manage to work on them all the time. However, I have issues with knitting monogamy. I've been spending most of my time lately working on my tank top (Honeymoon Cami) for the summer. Maybe I'll finish it next week at the beach and be able to wear it.

On a totally different note, I did the Los Angeles Times Crossword puzzle this morning and almost solved the whole thing (I was 2 words short). W00T!

Truly Vexing

There are some things in life that leave me truly scratching my head. Technology can be one of these things. Today however, I managed to finally figure out how to work my RSS feed successfully. You want to know how to make an RSS feed work please do not ask me. I pushed a lot of buttons, cursed a lot at my computer, and relied heavily on information I found on RSS feeds on Ravelry. It was like a mini tech support. I know that the only way my RSS feed is working is shear dumb luck.

There is something else that vexed me today though. The United States Postal Service. Perhaps if you live outside the US you are fortunate enough to have a more operational postal service than we do. In America the Post Office is a thing of the past (well, almost). They are notorious for being slow and inefficient. And I got to be a part of that joy this afternoon.

I went to drop off some letters that were of some import so I needed to send them through certified mail with a receipt. I tried the automated postage machine but couldn't quite get it to do what I wanted so I admitted defeat and went inside to wait in the line. On a side note, there was a woman at the automated machine that had about 20 packages, all of different sizes, that she was trying to send. Thankfully, she was letting other people cut in front of her as needed, but seriously?!?! At 4:30?!?! Why not come back at, say, 10:00 p.m. The thing is open 24 hours. But I digress.

The line inside the post office wasn't too bad, maybe about 6 people ahead of me. Unfortunately, I had to listen to Who Wants to be a Millionaire? on the tv while I waited (I hate that show). Things are moving along pretty well for awhile until we get to the 2 people ahead of me in line. Then everything just stops. Not like, we're moving slowly, or a teller had to leave for a minute...No, I mean, dead stand still stop for 5 minutes. This doesn't seem like a long time but when you have already been in line for 5 minutes and you have a headache and just want to go home and lie down, 5 more minutes is an eternity. A few minutes later I realize the problem was that one of the tellers had closed her window. I mean, she's sitting there messing with her computer but there is a sign that says "Next Window Please." By now the line is, literally, out the door. The place closes in 5 minutes. Why in the name of all that is holy would you close your window?!?! No wonder you people have a reputation for being incompetent cows!!!

Thankfully about 3 more minutes passed and the line started moving. On another side note: I know my times are totally crazy and probably don't make sense, it didn't really make sense to me either. All I know is that when I left I had been in line for almost 20 minutes. The worst part of this whole ordeal though is that I had left my knitting in the car very foolishly thinking this would be a quick process. I really only have myself to blame.

So, when I (finally) made it home (and after a nap and a quick trip to the gym), I knit.

This is my Honeymoon Cami. Coming along quite nicely thanks to 2 nights of knitting while watching Lord of the Rings (I'm a dork, I know).
And, I have cast on and started working on the second gauntlet.

I started this one this morning. Thanks to a day full of assemblies I was able to make a lot of progress on it.

Tomorrow: Only one more day of work (with students) and, hopefully, no more run-ins with inefficient government agencies.

I do want to say I that I don't truly think all postal service employees are incompetent cows. I just want to point out that some people do not make the best choices when dealing with customers. Or maybe the whole US postal system is jacked. I know how government agencies are. I work for one. And probably the most screwed up agency there is. So, if you work for the postal system and feel I have taken a personal jab at you (which, I hope you realize, I am not) and you want to call me a lazy, uneducated prick, feel free. I work with middle school kids so I have a pretty touch skin.

Good Intentions Should Count for More

I had every intention of posting yesterday but Blogger was down so I was forced to wait until now. This is ok however, since I discovered something about my gauntlet.




This is the picture from yesterday of my Elvish Gauntlet:

Notice anything maybe a little odd? The little peaked part that should lie nicely at the fingertips is lying nicely at my wrist. Now I would swear on a stack of Bibles that I followed the pattern correctly. But it came out upside down. Then I started thinking, Mitts are like socks. Socks are worked from the top down. In this case the "top" is actually my fingertips. I've been trying these on backwards. If that is indeed the case the opening for the thumb should have come after the lace pattern not before it (as I had done).

Luckily this was an easy fix. I just put the gauntlet on the other hand. Problem solved.

And it doesn't make the lace look "wrong" or "weird" in any way (at least not that I can tell).

But then I got to thinking, what if I had read the pattern wrong? I thought when you read lace patterns in the round that you read them from top to bottom and right to left, every line, like so:
But then I worried that you read them the "normal" way, like below:
Needless to say, I'm going to knit the other gauntlet starting with the ribbing first and then the lace, working the lace just as I did for the first one. If it's wrong, well, I had the intention of it being correct, and I think that should count for something.

Tonight I'm going to work some on a new project (yes, I have second gauntlet syndrome).

This is half the needed stitches for a Honeymoon Cami. I'm not going on a honeymoon (or getting married for that matter) any time soon but I like the pattern. I just hope the yarn knits up tight enough. Don't need to be scandalous with this!

And I want to leave you with my new most precious gift.

This was knit for me by one of the little girls in my knitting class at school. She finished this in one day. I saw her knitting it one morning and commented that she must have multiple projects going at the same time. She very slyly commented that she had just started this one and that she did indeed have other things she was working on. And then the next day she gave me this as a farewell gift (it was our last day of class). Needless to say, I almost cried. I guess being a knitter I can appreciate the work that goes into receiving a hand knit item. Even if it is just a small little purse. So very sweet. I could not have asked for a better going away gift.

The rest of tonight I will be watching The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and knitting my tank top. I think I have seen this movie about 15 times (I saw it 4 times in the theater alone) and can quote it pretty much line for line (even the extended edition) but I absolutely love it.

Epic Sping Cleaning

I spent all day today cleaning. It was truly an undertaking. My mother came over to help me sort through some things, clean my bathroom, and steam clean my hallway. I have to say the apartment looks amazing. I never realized all the stuff that I had collected over the 3 years since I moved in here. I must have thrown away 60 pounds of junk. I know I recycled at least 2 years worth of magazines. But it is so nice to look around and see everything in its place. I'm really going to work hard to keep the clutter down. This can be hard when you spend your free time collecting yarn, but I'm going to try.

Penelope helped me by making sure the end table was ready for books.
A very thorough inspection revealed it was, indeed fit for books (and yarn jugs).
What kind of books? Why, knitting and cross-stitching books of course!
As for the knitting I did manage to cast on a more acceptable tank top. I decided just to go with a long tail cast on and hope it's not too tight.
And today I was tinkering around on the web before my mom came and got the inspiration to start these tonight:
They are thick little socks, on circulars no less (a first for me)! I get these weekly emails from Lion Brand yarn and they have been highlighting some charity knitting groups this month (I want to say it's national charity knitting month or something, or maybe everyone likes to highlight charity knitting at the same time, I have no idea) and they were featuring a group called Warm Woolies. These folks knit clothing to give to children in extreme poverty in some of the coldest places on earth. They donate to orphanages in Eastern Europe and Russia and Native American Indian reservations. This is exactly the type of thing I have been looking at getting into. There is something that really speaks to my heart about helping children, especially children who don't have a family or a place to call home or any of the luxuries that you and I live with daily. They listed a simple pattern for socks and, since I love socks, I immediately did a little stash diving to find some Classic Elite yarn and cast right on. Working on circulars is interesting. Can't tell if I love it or not but it is definitely something different. I will keep you updated on how these go.

And Then There Was Knitting

I started the second knee high purple and red sock. Please ignore the power cord and broken laptop. Just pretend there are only socks here.
I messed up with my make one increases on the second sock and got these lovely holes but I'm too stubborn to go back and fix them so I'll sew or graft or work some yarn magic when I'm all done to close those up.

Don't they look like evil little gnome eyes?
And I started this:
"This" was supposed to be a tank top designed by handmade mom (it's from her old blog, beak knits). However, I'm unhappy with it. Why? Well...
My waste yarn left these wonderful, dark colored, tufts of itself all throughout my cast on. And I'm not so happy with how my cast on looks either.
Gahhh! Plus I found a place where I carried the yarn in a totally incorrect way. Stupid, stupid, stupid! And I wanted to have this done for summer. I don't think I can unravel the thing and start again because of the dark tufts lurking about but I'm going to try. And if that doesn't work, well, I bought a whole cone of this cotton. I don't think a few yards will be missed.

In closing I give you...Penelope the Queen of Persia.
I hear what you are saying but I seriously doubt the validity of your statements.