Getting Closer to the End

With each row I end

The next is faster; and so

I race towards the end

I've wanted to start some new projects recently, but I told myself that I shouldn't until I finish something that I'm working on.  So, of course, I pick the oldest project.  I'm surprised at how easy the garter stitch is, how few delicate stitches I've dropped.  I went to work on it today while Dan was reading a book and I noticed that I have less than a dozen rows until I finish! I'll probably finish it on the way back home from Maine today - and then comes the best part, the blocking!

Hope you are all having a good weekend - I have lots of Maine photos, but the internet is slow here so I'll do a photo post when I get back.

Game of Thrones Needlework

I've been working on this since I saw an episode of Game of Thrones where they were talking about stitching the different house mottos.

"We do not sow"... change one letter, and it becomes adorably ironic. Pair that phrase with my subpar sewing abilities, and I think that it looks pretty good!

Because really, I don't sew.  My grandma taught me how to sew when I was little (before I learned how to knit) and I ended up sewing most of what I tried to sew to my pants leg.  My dad has a few things that my grandma urged me to make - a needlepoint of some girl holding a present, a cross stitch of a cat.  I even have a pretty epic pillow that I made when I was in the third grade, but mixed up most of the colors.  It looks pretty wild and crazy.

Anyway, I don't sew.  But sometimes I get the urge to sew, and lately it's been hitting me.  Lots of blogs have been posting cute needlepoint kits, and I've been looking at this kit on etsy almost every day... but not buying it, because money's tight and maybe I'll wait until I get Christmas money or whatever.  You know.

So when I got the urge, I just sort of did it.  I sketched out the image of what I wanted first, so that I could make sure it was symmetrical.  Then I used transfer paper to put it on the fabric, and just followed it with thread.  Here's a photo of the drawing in case someone wanted to print it out and do it themselves.

The Lace Panel is Finished! Also, Maine.

My Maine mini vacation was really fun! I got to see sunsets like this...

Jump off docks like this...

Swim in the ocean like this...

And hang out in parlors like this.

Oh, and this:

I'm done with the lace panel of my shawl! Now all that's left is the rows and rows of garter stitch decreases.

So, take a good look because I will not have an update for a while, haha!

Oh, and another crafty thing - while I was there I got a watercolor lesson from Dan's grandma.  The right is my picture before the lesson.  The left is after.   I think I improved :)

Hope you all had a happy July 4th, whether you're in 'MERICA, or somewhere else.  

Coloring

I'm almost done with the lace panel of my Rock Island shawl.  I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I'm going to take it with me on our four-day weekend to Maine... I don't want to get sand on it!

As I finish each row, the next gets shorter and easier to do.  And I reward myself by coloring in a row of the chart with marker.

For some reason I get an incredibly large amount of enjoyment from this! I love doing it.  Does anyone else have those little things that just make them feel really happy?

My birthday weekend!

Thursday was my birthday, and on Friday my Dad visited and we tooled around Southern NH.  Friday we went to Portsmouth and saw the USS Albacore, a retired experimental submarine.

It was really cool! The tour was self-guided, and we got to see where people lived on the sub.  My dad got some awesome pictures of me in the tight bunks and sitting in the mess.  The best part, to me, was how they seemed to fit everything to support themselves on such a small ship.  That was some legit organization!  Can you imagine working in this office?

Then we went to Hampton Beach and had lobster rolls on the beach and admired the sand sculptures. Have you ever had a lobster roll? I wasn't impressed.  I thought the amount of lobster they gave me would be enough for three sandwiches!

Between the lobster roll, the oyster that I tried (BLECH), and the drinks we had I felt pretty sick on Friday, but I was fine after sleeping it off and going into Boston yesterday!

We took the train in from Lowell and got to see the USS Constitution.  We didn't want to wait in line for a tour - it was hot! But we got to see the ship and the ship's museum before going to Bunker Hill. 

Then we walked down the greenway to the aquarium, where we DID wait in line for an hour to get it - but it was so worth it!

I love the Boston Aquarium. I didn't get as many photos as the last time I went, but I got some good ones!

After that we headed back to Concord for some Mexican Food.

My dad left this morning, so I'm going to use the day to catch up on chores and just relax.  After three days I'm ready to head back to work and be productive!

Knitting Update

I am actually knitting and crafting, it's just that my craft basket is so full that even though I spend time on the stuff, nothing is really getting done because I am flitting from one project to another.  Okay, I only really have four projects (three knitting, one needlepoint) but that's a lot for me!

My Rock Island shawl is still chugging along.  I'm halfway through the charted section, and everytime I pull it out it is like I'm looking at a giant peony, folded up in a tiny bag.  I have had a thing for peonies lately, I'm not sure what it is. Even though I know the pattern by memory the needles I'm using are so dull and the lace is so fine that I pretty much have to look at it while I'm working, so this is my project for when Dan is playing video games and I'm watching "for the story."

Definitely for the story, definitely not because I can put my head on his shoulder whenever I want.

My sweater that I told myself I was DEFINITELY going to make is actually progressing! I'm almost finished with the armhole shaping, and it looks like it will fit me.  Of course, I have no clue, and it probably isn't a smart thing to commit so much time to making something when you're in the process of losing weight, but it's the perfect mindless stockinette stitch that I can do while watching Hulu.  So I'm going to keep going, even though I know sooner or later I'll be sitting here typing about how I CAN'T BELIEVE things went so wrong, WHY DID I DO THIS, etc.

And my Pomatomus socks? I love them.  I work on them during D&D, in the car on adventures, and whenever I don't feel like working on other stuff.

Hope everyone else's projects are going well.  I'm going to enjoy the rest of my day before I have to go to work tomorrow!

My First Mountain

Yesterday I climbed my very first mountain, Mt. Monadnock in Jaffery, NH.  It was AWESOME! Okay, some parts I thought I was going to trip on a rock and break my leg, fall backwards off a cliff face, or pass out from sheer exhaustion. But I would do it again in a heartbeat.

But the views were great.  We took a longer path up, and were under the trees for the hotter part of the day.  Just as we were starting to get tired, the views started getting better.

Up at the top is was so beautiful. We had to crawl up over rocks to get there, but it was worth it! Dan ate a sandwich, which he called "the best sandwich of my life." I was so tired and I didn't want to eat anything.  I drank gatorade and had red peppers.

The way down we took the White Cross Trail, and I'm REALLY happy that we didn't take that up.  I think that the path we chose was the best choice.

Did you have a good weekend?

Weekend Adventures

Lately I have not been doing a lot of crafting, but Dan and I have been trying to do activities on the weekends.  A few weekends ago we planted flower boxes...

Last weekend we were going to go mountain climbing but it was too hot.  This weekend, we drove to Madison, NH to see the Madison Boulder.

I have a weird thing for natural oddities.  The Madison Boulder is a giant erratic that was deposited during the last ice age.  It's as big as a whale!

On the way back, we passed a little railroad that was giving rides in exchange for donations, and the last train had just pulled in when drove by... so we had to go! I'm really glad we did, the view was nice and we got to see bogs of water lilies and mountains.

I AM knitting, I'm just not doing a lot of anything impressive or blog-able.  I'm amazed how fast other bloggers have been finishing projects.  I barely feel like I've been making a dent on anything.  Hopefully I'll finish SOMETHING soon.  Even the socks that I'm working on feel like they're just dragging along.  I'm on the heel flap of the first sock, but I feel like I'm going to have really bad second sock syndrome!

We Knit This City on Worsted Wool

... get it? GET IT?

Anyway, I'm still in the Midwest for work, but my sentinel made it to Rochester for Imagine RIT, where it sat amid a tiny fiber campus.  Check out the pictures on Alysia's blog, Anxiety and Coffee.

Tiny update

I am progressing slowly on my Rock Island Shawl, I managed to knit three rows - THREE - in the last two weeks.  I am almost ashamed at that.  That's hardly anything! 

I also haven't been keeping up on blogs because RRSOwl has failed me miserably.  Things refuse to load, feeds disappear, and I can't find any help anywhere.  Woe is me, right? I jumped on the feedly bandwagon, anyway, so hopefully this will work better.

Of course, nothing matters if I don't have thirty minutes each day to look at the actual feeds or pick up needles.  And right now, I don't... which is really starting to damage my calm.

Miniature Statues

This year's Imagine RIT project is really cool - I'm sorry I'm not going to be around to see it.  I'm still helping out Hooks and Needles, though, by knitting a teeny tiny Sentinel statue!  I love the challenge, though the wires that I'm using to hold it up are very sharp, and too thin because I bought the wrong gauge. Derp.

I'm not so sure how it looks so far... Though it's turning out more and more like the statue, the statue looks like a pile of junk to me, so... it's been tough.

What do you think? Do you see a resemblance? If you squint?

Some Spring in My Step

I finished my socks yesterday! As you can see, there is still snow on the ground, but I have spring feelings.  I can't wait to get outside, plant containers, and hike.  I have serious cabin fever.

They are a little tight, but I'm crazy about them.  I just wish I made them longer!

Happy Easter!

Milestone

I seriously can't contain my excitement.  Last night seemed uneventful, I went back to my hotel room, propped up my sore knee (I guess I jumped a little too hard on Saturday), got frustrated with a secret project I'm working on, and pulled out my Rock Island. And do you see it!? Do you see it in the picture below!?

No, not the latest episode of Haven... Guess again! I'll give you another clue!

I'm done! I finished the edging.  I finished it.  It's finished.

I'm not even a large percentage of the way done, but it feels like I finished a huge project. That's the joy of breaking up big tasks into smaller milestones, I guess. And it doesn't even seem like I used up any of the giant skein that I got from BitterSweet Woolery.

Happy Tuesday!

I Want to Knit a Sweater

So, I have a few sweater's-worth of yarn in my stash.  Not that I have "enough yarn in my stash to knit a few sweaters."  No, it's different than that.  I have several bags full of skeins in ziploc bags, that I bought with the express purpose of knitting this or that kind of sweater.  I have a giant bag full of cascade 220 superwash that was supposed to be part of a knit along.  I have two gorgeous skeins of worsted weight that I bought at Rhinebeck two years ago, thinking "I know exactly what a sweater will look like from this!"  I have a mixed pack of Berocco vintage and handspun (also purchased at Rhinebeck) that would make a great cardigan with a contrasting yoke... 

We're not going to talk about the cozy cocoon sweater that I knit last year, ok? I gave it to a drag queen, because he was the only person who could wear it well.  I'm serious.

My point is, I have so many plans to knit sweaters, and so little experience actually making them.  So, when I got a very large endowment of very nice yarn, I thought - sweater!

Then I filled my knitting basket with it and looked at it for three months...

Then I convinced my boyfriend to hold a bank of it while I spun it into little cakes...

Then I knit a gauge swatch...

Then I found a perfect pattern that will look nice on me, seems practical, and looks quick...

I'm all set, right? ... Right?

No.  I need circular needles.

So, everything is set up for me to knit a sweater.  The mise en place is done.  I just have to jump the hurdle and start. Maybe after I get back from my business trip...

One Sock Down, One More to Go!

I finished my first watermelon sock late on Sunday, watching Dan beat the latest Dead Space game.  At work, I have been scrambling to finish all of the things that I have due during my training trip, so my days have been work - sleep - work. Hopefully once I churn out this giant report I won't have to work late on Friday.

But, that's just me complaining! My sock is fun, I love the colors and the fit of the heel - but it is a tad too tight.  Not uncomfortable, just two stitches short of perfect.  Most of my socks have relaxed a little bit after wearing and washing, though, so I'm sure these will too.  In which case, they'll be perfect!

Watermelon Waltz Socks

I started on a new project with a pretty zauberball that Ash gave me for Christmas.  I did some two at a time toe up socks, and then I realized...

... they looked kind of boring.  So, of course, I frogged them - even though I was about to turn the heel - and started again! This time striping the sock from both ends.

It went along great! I love the look of the two stripes! And then... this. Are those stripes!? They don't look like stripes!

I can just get over it.  It doesn't look too bad! And then I noticed... you can see my "jogless" jogs! You have to look pretty close, but they're there.  And I can't unsee them.

I mean, my life is going pretty well if the biggest problem I have today is the fact my jogs are showing. 

Oh! And the name! I picked watermelon because the socks are green and pink, and waltz because each stripe is three rounds long.  I'm really proud of my wittiness here :B 

I Finished My Hat!

Okay, so it's not MY hat, it's Dan's, but anyway, it's done!

I really like how easy it is to make the garter stitch in the round. I saw tutorials for doing it without purling, but I actually don't mind purling, especially if it means not turning my work over.  I always get confused when that happens! You just work with two threads, and try not to forget to pick one up when you reach it... Not that I ever did that, noooooo.

I took more pictures in the spirit of the last "photo shoot" - I put the hat on his head and took photos while he was playing video games.  Yep, we have a special relationship.

I love natural light and all, but my camera just wasn't picking up the blue.  I keep saying I want to get curtains but if we're going to be moving anytime in the future... I will regret spending a weekend sewing curtains.  So I did my best to block the light from the blinds and got this:

I still have half a skein left, so the next time we go to Portland I'll have to pick up another and make myself some alpaca mittens. It's been chilly around here, and the other morning when I was getting snow off my car I swear I got frostbite even though I was wearing my super-expensive new gloves I got for Christmas.