Knit ribbed scarf

Picture!!! 

This is the very first knitted scarf that I have finished ^-^ All other scarf attempts I ended up frogging. But this one, not this one, I finished it! I don't think I will add fringe; the yarn seems like it would split. Like I said in my previous post, this one is going to my brother's gf, JH for Christmas! I hope she will like it. I gave it a test run and it is very warm. It was very simple and a good starting foundation for more scarves like it in the future. It's just k2 p2 to make the ribbing.

I'm playing around with the template and design of the blog, because I wasn't very happy with the original. But I'm not very happy with this one either haha I'll just keep playing with it and hopefully find one I'm content with. What I really want is a separate page to show my projects individually, in a nice table of contents way.

Today has been an odd day. Full of ups (our Powell's order arrived *early*!!! a wonderful surprise!) and downs (being accosted by the legless diabetic while grocery shopping). Maybe accosted is the wrong word, but I pretty much feel violated in some way when she panhandles to me, or when I see her doing it to someone else. I don't know why it makes me so angry. 

Reading Miko Kings; An Indian Baseball Story for Native American literature. It's written by LeAnne Howe. At first it seemed like it would be a really interesting non-fictional book about one of the early Indian baseball teams. Nope. Seems to be historical fiction narrated in the most absurd and horrible way, including the narrator being visited by the Miko King's manager's niece and hearing the story through this ghost. At this point in the book, I can't help feel that the author is trying waaay too hard and I don't have much interest in finishing it. Really, it's a case of false advertising, right? You can't mislead people, through the title and book cover to make them think that what they are holding in their hands is a book representing a real life story about real life Indians playing a real life MF baseball game, and then make them sit through pages and pages of a narrator who has her own identity issues deal with an uneducated ghost talking about math and theorems and physics that exist in literature. You just can't.

/rant ... 

On the flip side... it's Sunday, and we just got a bunch of groceries. I bought breakfasty type food that should make waking up at 5am a little easier, I hope. This includes wheat English muffins, peanut butter, apple juice, frosted-covered mini wheats (I'm also planning on taking a baggie of these to work as well, eat them throughout the day). I'm trying to go the fiber route. Plus we got REAL coffee, none of that Dunkin Donuts crap. They do a really good job advertising, tv and on the product, but when you taste it, the coffee is very bland and very weak. The added Pumpkin Spice flavor seems to be there only so you don't notice the weak coffee. This is probably ideal coffee for people who don't like coffee flavor (they're nuts) and who probably add a bunch of cream and sweetener.

Last thoughts:

Considering work at Subway again, once my coffee job is up

Slightly depressed about school

It snowed today

jaa ne

Ohmygosh!!

I have no idea how I've gone this long without knowing about Ravelry!! but I just signed up and shortly after I created my account (seriously, within seconds) a message popped up on Ravelry saying they have 1,000,000 Ravelers!!! I might have pushed them to the top!! probably not, but I was super close in there =)

Good news about my dad, well, good and bad, he does have prostate cancer but it's not a very bad form of it and the doctor said that it's easily treatable. In fact, there are several options my dad has to choose from, in terms of procedures. Plus, it's not so severe that it needs to be operated on right now, like mom's was...that was a pretty scary time.

In other news, Scott and I have decided to stay up all night. I'm not too sure where this idea came from but I'm rolling with it =) as this will be my first all-nighter, I'm pretty excited! o wait, I did pull one when we camped out for Griz-Cat tickets... but that had a goal, which was football tickets. Tonight is for our sheer ability to do it. (not going to lie, it would be more fun if roommate wasn't here... we'll have to keep it down). I wish we didn't need to sleep so much! Even if we only slept for four hours, we could still get so much more done in a day! I've definitely been wishing this since I've started this coffee job. Early mornings means early bedtimes, and I'm so unmotivated to do anything after school (which is over at 2pm everyday). I end up feeling like I've wasted my whole day to work and school.


oh! Aren't these so cute??!!

via not martha

Little gingerbread houses to sit on your mugs of cocoa!! not martha is brilliant!! plus, she's convincing me that *i* can knit my own sweater...!! I might have to wait to start until after Christmas season, though.


Also, I finished my very first *knitted* scarf today!!! I binded off and everything! (bound off?) I'll take pictures tomorrow and post them. I'm thinking it will be a Christmas present to JH, my brother's girlfriend. Currently in my life, I know at least three or four JH's...so this is kind of confusing.

Still need to finish BL's afghan, but now I'm pretty focused on finishing it, so hopefully it won't take long at all. And maybe it will end up being a lapghan. Coincidentally I'm making the brown and white striped afghan I started like a year ago, into a lapghan because frankly, I'm tired of it sitting unfinished in my closet =P

Haha, we might actually NOT stay up all night after all... negotiating around roommate is proving more unwarranted than necessary. We'll see what happens.

Konbonwa!
<3

Sestina time

The first sestina I wrote was in high school, probably sophomore or junior year. The next one I wrote was in a poetry workshop last semester. The time has come (again) the walrus said, to talk of many things. Of ships and shoes and sealing wax, of cabbages and kings! And while the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings.

Sidetrack, apologies. I actually had two weeks to write this, but of course, I procrastinated until it's due. But, I'm not too worried because I may have finally accepted the form (haha). Anyway, I thought I'd link a very clever sestina on McSweeney's. This one has a very meditative quality to it, which is what I like most. And also, it's a really neat take on the form.

Scott and I just got home after a Heavy Horse adventure. We did not locate any bottled, so I think it really is gone until next year =( o well. We ended up buying boxed wine (yes, a BOX) to try it. Considering price and quantity, it's a good deal, but it's not the most flavorful. However, it's very drinkable and it is wine...so... it ended up being the equivalence of four bottles for $16? I think. I've never had a $4 bottle of wine, but I have had pretty cheap wine and it's horrible. And this box wine isn't nearly as bad. So I think it's a win! except for the not finding Heavy Horse part.

On the bad news part, my dad might have prostate cancer.. his doctor called and I answered, and the doctor wouldn't tell me the results. I have been praying and hoping that everything will be alright. I think we should know tomorrow.

But let's end on a happy note, ok? I'm looking at my precious Bernbern who is sleeping on her cat tree facing me, and she looks completely peaceful ^-^ Her eyes have the contented look to them. Let us all sleep so beautifully.

Knitting!

I think I mentioned in my last post that lately I've been feeling a desire to knit a hat. I found an awesome website called KnitPicks that has an abundance of resources and should be very helpful in any knitter's project. The magazine I have been reading calls for dpns, but on this website they use a circular needle, which I think would be much easier for a beginner (read: me). So I think I'll start with their Easy Peasy Hat and work my way to dpns. Although, if I simply started with dpns then everything else would be easy to use, right? Because I'm starting out with the trickier of the three?

While watching KnitPicks videos, I stumbled on this one: (haha)



I haha'd because I doubt I'll ever be that fast!! Partially because I knit the other way (there's continental and English??) and I'm just not a proficient knitter. But I love to watch her fingers!

Well, I better start my day. At the University today there is an event happening that's all about energy efficiency and tips on winterizing your home. I would like to go to that. I also have a bunch of laundry to wash... and I really want to try my hand at knitting a hat! Although, I feel bad because I have so many crochet projects that I haven't yet finished either... I wonder if the world's fastest knitter ever gets tired of knitting? Does she actually enjoy herself while she's knitting, or has it become so routine?

Anyway, happy weekend!

Fell asleep, now I have warm beer =/

It's true, I fell asleep while watching a show about advertising after pouring a mug of Scape Goat Pale Ale (from Big Sky Brewing, oh yeah). Actually, we went to the brewery to refill our growler with Heavy Horse, the most delicious beer in the world BUT, it's a seasonal beer and they have run out until next year =( Scape Goat is an alright second choice, but just doesn't have the same round flavor.

Today started out very hectic and very chaotic. And very stressful. I think everything will turn out ok. And! I'm finally finished with midterms! Geesh, they spanned at least three weeks. My last one today was a spoken word poem with A.M.B. in Storytelling!! Our poem was about how much we hate being asked what we will do after we graduate, especially as English literature and creative writing majors (which was our audience too). It seems people often think there aren't any jobs out there that require a literature or writing degree, and insinuate that when they ask their question. Mostly I hate the question because I'm not sure what I'm going to do... except keep crocheting and reading and writing, and I'm going to be happy doing that. I was so nervous that it would fall flat once we performed, but I think the class loved it! We had a lot of passion behind it, and you can't ignore passion like that =) Even though I loved the feeling of performing, I am sooo relieved to be finished with it!

At this point, I don't have any pressing deadlines and feel pretty much on top of the world ^-^ I've been reading an old Knit Simple lately and I think I'm going to attempt to knit a hat...! It should be a great learning experience for me.

Happy knitting!

What a wonderful, wonderful day!!

This phrase keeps running through my head, cue Gwen Stefani's "Wonderful Life" ^-^

This morning started with a wake up phone call around 8 am, which resulted in us returning $200 found money to its owner. And then our internet was installed shortly after, so we have internet in our apartment again! woot! Meanwhile, I've been cleaning a little, so I feel slightly accomplished in the housecleaning area, since I'm not very good at it =)

OH!! and the cherry on the top of this delightful morning? (as it is not even noon yet!!) Not only do I not have school or work (it's Election Day!) and have the day off with my goose, but we just ordered BOOKS from POWELL'S online!! I won't lie, I did it mostly to get the free tote...

here's the site so check it out for yourself and get a tote!

Today is definitely a catch up day for homework!! bah !!! But I really do need to finish some things. I wonder if the second half of this day will stand up to the first half? ;)

Sigh. Why can't we have all Tuesdays off??

Happy Halloween!!

Can you believe I have never carved a pumpkin before?! Well, all that waiting paid off and I finally got to carve my first pumpkin!! (it's the kitty cat below...the Dia de los Muertos is Scott's)



My favorite part was definitely scooping out the pumpkin brains!! Luckily my fingers didn't freeze outside while carving because I found a warm gap in the day between the winds and the chill. Oh wait... lighting the candles inside the pumpkins for the first time might be my favorite part actually =)))

I owe great gratitude to Scott for being the know-how man on this project. It's always nice to have someone experienced help you out, especially as I kept bending the saw blade... <3 thanks goose!

Our Halloween festivities (besides carving pumpkins) included a party with Scott's coworkers, and perhaps a night downtown tonight...costume city, baby. I'm a flapper fortune teller (mostly because I didn't have all the garments for a fortune teller) and Scott is a fate master who reads tarot cards. If we go out tonight I'll definitely post a picture =)

What a week

I don't have the link...I'm not sure where this came from...

hehehe I love this one! WTF Jesus?! hehe

To sum up this week, I eked through my classes and put off a lot of homework for today. I did, however, prepare fairly well for Native Am Lit and History of Crit and Lit by reading the texts. Heck, Heartsong of Charging Elk will have been the only book I've finished in Native American Lit so far. And it's been, by far, the best one we've read too. James Welch is an awesome writer and I would love a class that only focused on his works.

Homework today?
- write two midterm papers, 3-4 pages per essay
- letter addressing poem
- read Immanuel Kant's essay
- finish Heartsong of Charging Elk
- possibly write my reading notes on the end of Heartsong
- think of midterm presentation for Storytelling

I'm also washing clothes.
And trying not to watch Netflix.
While drinking spicy Earl Grey with milk... yumm!!! ^-^

Berny in a basket!!

Adieu!!

Zoinks!

The leaves are already changing colors!
I haven't worked on any homework this weekend!
Scott received his diploma finally!
I can't wait to eat an enchilada for lunch!
It's supposed to rain tomorrow!
I can't stop buying crochet/knit books!

...all thoughts that have been in my mind this morning.

All my life, when something peaks an interest in me, I go nutso for it. This is evident in my spare bedroom, my parents' shed, my closet... for awhile I was really big into bead work and making my own beaded jewelery. Then it was, and still is off and on, photography. Of course, you can't just snap the photo without displaying it artfully...so I got into scrapbooking. Majorly. That interest lasted quite a long time, and I still dip into my big box of paper from time to time, but not to scrapbook...to make cards. Now that I'm back into crochet, all those previous hobbies have taken the back burner. Sometimes I feel like I'm going to be a person who just has to delve into every art and craft, with no real reason to, just because. The problem with doing this, is that I never get super experienced at said craft, because I don't devote years to it. Perhaps crochet will be the first craft that sticks with me, that holds my interest.

I got off on a tangent, but when I am obsessed with something, I have to completely immerse myself in it. This means buying knit and crochet books, magazines, and checking out knit and crochet dvds and books from the library. It means spending hours on the internet poring over blogs and forums, cutting and pasting and printing patterns.

Those are my feelings on this subject, and they needed to be written. I am still working on the colorful granny square afghan, and I just started a pointed afghan, which looks really neat and will be a birthday present for my friend, BL. Pictures soon!!

Time to do some homework.

Happy Sunday!

Go Griz!

Today we celebrate, nay, go 100% berserk, for college football. It's homecoming for the Grizzlies and every year a parade closes down one of the busiest streets in town for hours. Almost impossible to detour around, you have to connect to the interstate and then pop back into town two blocks away from where you originally were, all because of this silly parade. School spirit is one thing, fanaticism is another.

Unfortunately, this past week I have been sick. I think it started with a sore throat/sinus thing which worsened over the weekend of camping and campfire, added with not enough sleep plus school and work strain. During the week I probably wasn't drinking as much water as I should have been, but now that it's the weekend and I'm doing things leisurely, I'm trying to drink a lot (of water).

I brought my grandma's sewing machine out of retirement (my parents' shed) and started sewing! I found a bunch of shirts at YWCA Secret Seconds for only $1 apiece (score!!) and altered them so they'd fit me. Several fit me already, but the entire experience makes me feel incredibly creative and thrifty. When I wear an item that I've adjusted, I just feel good ^-^ Originally I planned on shooting before and after pics, but these items are mostly just taking in the sides and kind of boring. If I have an outfit that requires a lot of cutting and sewing, I'll definitely post.

I will post update pictures on my afghans soon!!
Happy Weekend!

Hi ho!

Happy Labor Day! This is probably the first year since I was 16 years old and had my first job, that I actually get Labor Day off of work ^-^ Unfortunately, Scott still must work...

This three day weekend has been great and something I could definitely get used to! I was hoping to break out my sewing machine and start some sewing projects, but I'm not sure I'll get to it. I started early this morning on my ode, and have a decent start on it. I still need to finish the first part of Momaday's The Names and write a two-page response to it, as well as think of a powerful story to tell in my Storytelling class tomorrow.

N. Scott Momaday

via carynmirriamgoldberg

I miss my old apartment, where I lived by myself and could veg out all day watching The Golden Girls and drinking coffee. Today, however, reminisces those days as I've had the apartment almost completely to myself ^-^ but now I really do need to get cracking on this homework. I did take a break to work on my Granny Square afghan and eat some pretzels. No more slacking!!

If I have time today, I'll take some photos of the dresses I want to alter and maybe even start working on them!

O boy!

As Hank Hill says, "I'll tell ya what" you can't keep me away from this computer today! Take blogging from a girl for a few months... Well really, here's what happened since first posting this morning:

I tried to write my ode, and couldn't. For hours, and with a lot of web surfing and side tracks, I couldn't produce a worthy poem. Luckily! I checked my email (out of procrastination) and found my poetry prof emailed everyone saying poems aren't due until tomorrow night, thanks to Labor Day!! Hallelujah!! So with this slight extension, I decided to use my time productively and upload photos of yarn projects (since, obviously, doing anything school related at this point is futile, as I have no motivation for it)


So.............

Harmony's Baby Afghan

This happens to be the only afghan I've completed thus far! Granted, it's also teeny tiny for a baby so... it still took me a week to complete.

The afghan consists of 24 double crochet blocks sewn together. The yarn I used was Red Heart's Baby Clouds in various colors (the momma wanted to wait until the baby was born to find the gender, so unisex colors all the way! although, now I know I could have used more blue.... ;) ) This pattern is from Crochet Today's May/June 2010 issue.

To tell the truth, I'm not entirely happy with the outcome. It was supposed to be 25 blocks, making a 5x5 square rather than a rectangle. But I goofed, and well, here you go. I also didn't like the yarn so much, as it was hard to see stitches, especially when it came time to sew blocks together. So it ultimately looks uneven and cinched in spots.

Ginormous Granny Square!!!
oh my gosh. I 100% LOVE granny squares!!! Especially gigantic ones where I don't have to change yarn color after only a few minutes of crocheting (with this one, three rows of color requires about half a skein or more!). The great thing about granny squares is you can use up extra yarn, which is exactly why I started this afghan. You can even see in places where I ran out of the "extra" yarn and needed to start with a new color mid-row.

Mostly I just love the colors! And it's at the point where it covers me waist to leg when I sit on the couch, so it's already keeping me warm ^-^

Since I never have to go through a stitch (except at one corner) I sometimes get lonesome for "ordinary" crocheting, so I started up another afghan:

Knit and Crochet TV sampler afghan
This picture turned out rather dark, but can see I have eight blocks already! Even though I swore off block afghans after the baby afghan, I thought this would be an excellent and beautiful afghan, and that I need suck it up and work on my sewing ability, because someday I want to alter dresses, and I'll need to sew for that. Plus, someday I also want to make a real life Granny Square afghan, not the fake ones that I've been getting away with.

Checkerboard:
This square is way easy and I'll probably make one in every color!


Seascape, Starshine, or something like that:
This one was an absolute bugger!! It doesn't even look like a square, does it? I love the pattern, but it looks like I kept missing a few stitches on the ends, which makes it angled. O well. I think it'll still look nice when it's all said and done.


Granny Square:
Honestly, what sampler afghan is complete without one of these? I'm not too pleased with the color combo, so I'll definitely crochet another one with my darker purple.


Ribbed:
Weird, I didn't take a photo of the yellow rib I have... but I also have a yellow ribbed square. This one is ribbed also, but I decided to shake things up with rows of color! Believe it or not, that's a subtle shade of yellow and not white. The thin rows look white in the photo.


Knitted Square *gasp!
Yes, sigh... I've picked up my knitting needles again. Knit and Crochet TV has both a crochet and knit sampler afghan, and they are both so beautiful. I looked at the knitted patterns, and omg I'm not even going there. So I thought a nice stockinette stitch among all those crocheted squares would neat! Plus, I can handle plain Jane, stockinette!


And I realize I didn't take any photos of the shell squares... which in the picture of all squares are the light and dark purple ones. O well. I'm not too fond of them anyway, but they give a nice diversity to the afghan.

Believe it or not, I'm still crocheting away at the brown and cream striped afghan that I started months ago...actually I'm not "crocheting away" per se, as I haven't looked at in since June. But I haven't given up on it yet!!


That's all for today. From now on, I'd like to get in the habit of posting everyday, but not necessarily about crochet.

Happy Sunday!

Ohisashiburi desu ne!!

It's been a long time! (at least in my head) Honestly, for a while blogging was a bit unappealing to me, partially because I was without an internet connection for a few months. But I was also undergoing a bunch of stress from moving into a new apartment and trying to shake off the old landlord (who I had a scary dream about last night...something to do with a past due bill... *shudder). Recently, however, my faith in blogging has been somewhat restored as I reread over my past entries and found them to be, surprisingly, interesting. I like the fact that I recorded my projects with pictures and tribulations. Boy, do I have a ton of pictures to upload of my new projects! I will get on that this weekend, as I have a nice and long three-day weekend! (unfortunately, even though I have Monday off from both work and school, I have to work Saturday >=P )

Also, I found such a cool blog, New Dress A Day and not only has it repeaked my interest in sewing, but I love the blogger's dialogue to her readers. She takes garments found at garage sales or thrift stores and tweaks them on her sewing machine so they fit and are fashionable once again. If a fabric was initially well-made, then it seems like the most just thing to keep it in action rather than simply throw it away. The great thing about New Dress A Day, is that she makes it seem so simple to alter garments, with lots of photos and descriptions of what alterations she made, and the reasoning. Once I find a bit more free time, I'm definitely going to alter some things! I already have a few pieces in mind =)

I took this photo one late night with my boyfriend, during a lively session of bubble-blowing. The soapy water (in Tupperware) was sitting on top of this business card from Mariposa Studio in Missoula. I like the bubbles over the image.

I'm not going to lie, another reason why I decided to blog this morning was to help get my creative juices moving, as I need to write an ode to an everyday subject, and submit it to my poetry professor by seven pm tonight, so it can be reviewed, critiqued, and discussed with my classmates on Tuesday evening. Gah. My in-class ode was to my crochet hook, but it didn't look very promising as a real poem.

Brr!! It's chilly today! The five day forecast said this weekend was supposed to be in the 80*s!! More like the mid 60*s with a chilly breeze. Well, it looks like my roommate is getting busy moving his new bed in today, so I better start my day officially (with outside clothes. And I should probably brush my hair too). Today I'm driving to my parents house to wash clothes, and grab/drop a few things off. Hopefully I'll find inspiration there to write an ode. And read the first half of N. Scott Momaday's The Names for Native American literature.

Jaa ne!!

Too long!

Oh man, it has been much too long since I've been able to access the internet to write a new post! I considered writing them in an off-net blog sort of way, and then uploading later, but I never got around to doing so. I have been looking forward to this day for a long time though!

Since my last post, I've moved into a new apartment with a new landlord and hopefully never, ever have to work with REMG again; it is such a relief knowing that. It is also very nice living in a larger space! Also, I recently found a new job and quit Subway (yes!) My new job will surely challenge me, if not the work itself, at least the daily commute at 6:30 am will (by bicycle)! Especially as the mornings become colder while the bed remains warm.

I've been crocheting almost everyday, sometimes morning and evening. Some days when I don't feel like crocheting, but pick up the hook and yarn anyways, my fingers feel happy to be in that rhythm.