Oct. 7: For Me? Thank You! (FO)

Selfish knitting!

I have finished my Rose’s Wristwarmers!  It’s a lovely Dr. Who-inspired pattern with CABLES. I love cables.  Look how pretty and dainty they are!  The criss-cross diamond cables are filled in with a seed stitch and the sides are cable six, to the front.  I know that people have reversed one of the cable sets to make the gloves symmetrical, but I figured that it didn’t matter too much to me.

I used Malabrigo’s Silky Merino in Velvet Grapes.  It is a lovely silk-merino blend and I can’t say enough about my love of Malabrigo.

I started to panic around the last inch of the second glove, I was convinced that I would not have enough yarn to finish the inch and then put the two thumbs on.  I think I have about 5 yards left, I just barely made it.  I would have been super unhappy if I had to buy an entire skein just for a few yards out of it, but! I didn’t have to and all is right in the world.

Also, the yarn pooled.  I like the effect on these.  It is not the same on both gloves, the first has more of a spiral pooling of the lavender tones and the second has a spiral as well, just not as uniform.

They are done for me to wear in Michigan! Now I just need to finish the Pointyful Scarf…

(October Photo Project)

 

Oct. 6: Toasty Hands

They're done!

Ew, do you see what the lighting in my apartment does? Everything is all pixelly and gross…and you can’t see the pretty cable pattern. Not happy about this one, but I got home late and have been on campus for 12 hours.
In any case, THESE ARE DONE. Finally. I will write about them and have better pictures of them tomorrow night, I am hoping.  Maybe Thursday.

(October Photo Project)

 

Oct. 5: Turn Me On

It'd be awesome if the heat were turned on in my building.

While you’re here, hop on over to YouHaveHer’s blog.  She’s decided to join in the October Photo Project as well, and what can I say? I’m excited ’cause she always has good photos and awesome insight.

(October Photo Project)

 

Oct. 4: Heaven

The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

“So there are cakes and pillows and colors galore, but underneath this more obvious patchwork quilt are the places like a quiet room where you can go and hold someone’s hand and not have to say anything. Give no story. Make no claim. Where you can live at the edge of your skin for as long as you wish.”

This is my favorite passage from a book…ever.

(October Photo Project)

 

Oct. 3: One of Those Days

All of my homework for the upcoming week.

My plan is to have almost all of this done by tomorrow night…completely doable, none of it is hard.  Just tedious.

Also, I’d like to add that I love that my History of the American Working Class homework is always reading.  And only will ever be reading.  No paper, no projects.  And it’s still an interesting class.

(October Photo Project)

 

Oct. 2: Baby, It’s (Getting) Cold Outside

New scarf!

I bought (yet another) scarf today while I was at Old Navy.  It’s so bright and colorful and kitschy.

Can you tell I like macros?

 

The October Photo Project

This idea came to me while I was in the shower a few nights ago.
As an aside: I do my best thinking in the shower.  Really.  I can go about my shower without thinking about “okay, shampoo, now soap, now shave, now conditioner…” so I think about other things.  Without distraction. Okay, maybe when the cold water goes away for about 3 seconds and I am scalded I’m distracted, but that’s beside the point.  Showers and brushing my teeth are when my best thinking occurs.

Anyhow. I know that there is the 365 Photo Project that a lot of people do.  I tried a year or so ago.  I failed.  A lot happens in a year and I lost interest.  And photography has fallen wayyyy by the wayside for me.  Remember when I wanted to be a photo major/minor?  Yeah, I hardly do.
And let’s face it: October is a kickass month. Really. It’s always the most exciting to me, there is always something going on.  In high school it was the peak of football/marching season.  There were parades.  Halloween.  Birthday.  And I was thinking about this October…there is something going almost every weekend, between my birthday, Michigan, the Radio Conference, and Halloween.

Why not document my favorite month?

So I’ll do just that.  I plan on posting a photo (at least one) each day (probably evening/late evening due to school) from some point in that particular day.  The only time when this won’t be possible will be the 16th and the 17th, when we go up to Mackinac Island and we are not bringing laptops.  I’ll make up for it with a huge photo album on flickr, I promise.

So there’s my goal.  And here is my first picture.

My ever-growing book collection.

 

The Plan

My birthday is in 2 weeks, on a Sunday.  Since my mom and brother are coming up that day for lunch and other fun things, I was planning on have a party/group outing the next weekend, possibly at Howl at the Moon.  Yesterday while at work, Mary and Shannon were talking about how they wanted to take a weekend trip to Michigan to see the leaves turning for fall.

And then that plan became a Girl’s Weekend/birthday weekend! I am so excited…we’re going up to Mackinac Island and staying at the Bay View Bed and Breakfast. In the executive suite!  It’ll take about 7 hours to get to the ferry (where we leave our car–no cars on the Island!). Road trip! Through Michigan!  On Saturday night we are doing a ghost hunt which wayyyy cool.  Eeee, I am super excited!

I haven’t been to Michigan since I was in high school.  My favorite place in the world is the Upper Peninsula and while we aren’t going there, we are getting close enough!  I love fall, I love Michigan.  It’s perfect.  And I have some of the most amazing friends in the world, I almost cried when they told me that the reservations were made and the tickets were bought.  Yay!!

In knitting news, I have cast on a scarf!

The lighting in my apartment is ICKY. The scarf is really a lot more pink and orange.

It needs to be done by the Michigan trip…it’s the perfect fall scarf, the colors are like leaves turning.
These next pictures show a better representation of the colors, they were taken with far better light.

This was my cousin's Christmas gift to me last year!

I then bought this skein to be the first skein's friend!

Both skeins, as you see on the tags, are Koigu Painter’s Palette Premium Merino (KPPPM) and they are amazing to work with.  If I were up to making socks again (not for a long, long time…) I would definitely use KPPPM, I think.  It’s soft and springy and the colors are freakin’ amazing.

Oh, and school.  Woo boy, we’re already heading into the 4th week of the semester, so far it’s been a whirlwind.  It’s nowhere near as stressful as last semester (thanking my lucky stars for that one) but still challenging.  And! It is official, I am graduating the Winter of 2010. Woo!

 

Mr. Perseus McFloofenbutt

Floof!

Doesn’t this just make you want to snuggle up with him?
(I don’t recommend trying that…he might claw off your face.)

 

Knitting Hiatus, 3 Pissed-Off Cats

Knitting is on hiatus:

Look at them sexay glasses!

That goddamn ganglion cyst came back.  With a vengeance.  I went to have a doctor look at it today (which is the first day in awhile where I don’t have shooting pains going through my fingers and arm) and he was like, “Well, get it drained (ew) every so often.  And here’s a splint so your wrist doesn’t get used and the cyst can go away.”

I didn’t bring any knitting home to ensure that I can get that break.  Shame, too, I just started a lace shawl AND it’s going well and looking nice AND it’s easy!  Bleah.

In other news, Perseus met Samson and Delilah today.  All three growl when another is in the room, there’s been plenty of hissing and Sam won’t let me pet him.  Delilah was really angry, but I brought some catnip toys from a trip to Walmart and I think she forgave me.  She’s not growling at me anymore, so I see this as a good sign.  Perseus was very good in the car, he ended up climbing onto my lap and riding most of the drive like that.  If he wasn’t sitting on my lap (curled up or sitting looking out the window), he was either curled on the backseat complaining to the heavens or standing with his front paws against a window and complaining that I was driving too fast. Or something.

Weirdo.