My Random Monday - The 17-Hour Monday

1. I feel like I've been up forever.  Really, I've just been up since 7 this morning.

2. I'm starting to feel more at home in my apartment.  The assimilation process has been slow, but there was a huge skip forward with the addition of this:

It's a hutch donated kindly by the lovely Rebecca.  Thaaaankkks :)

3. I did manage to do a lot today.  I went to all of my classes (They all meet on Monday and Wednesday, what an inconvenient coincidence), cooked dinner, met a ferret, baked banana bread, and hung out with Lotus.

4. Apparently this

is like Chuck-E-Cheez for hedgehogs.  W and I have been taking part in "Lotus Recreation Projects" to give Lotus different things to do.  When we were in Petco over the weekend, we saw this bedding.

We snatched it up and a cheap fishbowl and the rest is history.  Lotus loves it, and I have a lot of cute pictures. I know that she can get out of her bedding box... but she doesn't want to.

5. I think I'm going to have to make a separate post of cute Lotus in a box pictures.

6. Knitting? Oh, yeah, this is my current thing:

I was going to start it on Friday, but the skeins totally tangled up on me, and I required the assistance of W to untangle them.  There was much cursing, crying, and gnashing of teeth.  It all ending with me whining "Yarn swift... WHY DON'T I HAVE A YARN SWIFT!?"

The Pitter Patter

So, last week I found out that W's sister is going to be having a little boy or girl! I'm super, super excited for her, but also a little nervous, because I really want to knit something amazing for W's new niece or nephew.

I browsed Ravelry and looked all over for cute things. When I asked W's sis what she wanted she just said "Surprise Me."

I feel like I'm going to be getting into a Knit Princess situation (read the story here if you don't follow the comic) wherein I will end up with a huge box of baby things that will be incredibly ridiculous and embarrass the entire family.

So, I'm going to try and not flip out and make a truckload of baby items. I'm going to make a list. I'm going to come back to the list and make one thing at a time. I'm not going to knit solely baby items for three months. Promise. For real.  Mostly because I have other things to knit for people!

Anyway, here's the list!

Bunny by Jess Hutchinson: I think that this will be super cute, and definitely gender neutral :) Who doesn't want a bunny!

A Log Cabin Baby Blanket: A good idea, but I want to make sure I have a TON of time to make this. It could be very mindless. (I would follow the tutorial here)

Tiny Tea Leaves Cardigan: Okay, I admit, I saw this on another blog, (Grumperina) and it's super cute! It's kind of girly, though.

Converse Baby Booties: Defintely gender-neutral :) And totally adorable!

Cleo Kitten Slippers : I showed these to W, and he said that it was too feminine. But I really want to make them! I guess I can always start if I find out it's a girl :)

Also, Down Cloverlaine has some AWESOME Bib Patterns, my favorite though is this one:  (You may remember her for her sweet mod of my kitten mittens.)

When I went to the yarn shop today after lunch with Ash and Rebecca, I couldn't help but look at the yarn and think about baby stuff! I picked out two skeins of Cascade 220 Superwash :) I think that these two colors are very neutral, and they'll make a cute set!

I think maybe the converse baby booties and this cardigan, called Little Coffee Bean.

I can't wait to make these! First, though, I need to finish up my projects that I've promised off to people. *sigh* Oh, knitting!

How to Make Iced Tea- Cheap and Easy!

So I mentioned on Monday my killer iced tea... So I thought that I'd post up a tutorial! More after the jump.

My Random Monday

1.  The club fair went really well! We got over 75 people onto the mailing list! I hope they don't all come to the meeting Tuesday... it'll get crowded!

2.  Today was the first day of classes, and I feel kind of overwhelmed.  Being overwhelmed, with no time to knit, is not fun! Hopefully after this week things will fall in place... but probably I'll just keep saying that until the end of school :/

3. People like my blog! Rachel S wrote a post about my other (older) blog, Knit Me! and it's really flattering! I think it's the first time I've been mentioned on the internet :)

4. I made iced tea today and it was really good.  Must make blog post about it.

5. I am REALLY tired.  And I need to finish a project tomorrrow! All nighter on the first night of the school year? Sure.

6. Did I mention that I'm really excited to be back to school!?

Remember this?

Hey internet! A while back I test knit these fingerless gloves and had an awesome time doing so. Well, the pattern is here!

The great photoshopped picture.

It's available as a free ravelry download, so if you're interested but don't have ravelry, click here to get yourself a copy of the .pdf :)

Posing with what I was reading.

I want to say that I didn't design these gloves or write the pattern, but I have a place in my heart for them and for the totally adorable designer, Ara.

A not so good picture of the super comfy gusseted thumb!

Enjoy!

(Oh, yes, I'm posting on this blog instead of my shiny new blog because this one still gets more pageviews... fickle, I know, but that's the way the world turns? Make sure to join me on Alyoops! for more about Lotus, my designing, and non-amigurumi knits!)

Defcon 4 1/2

Image from here

So last night, I had this dream.  In it, I was standing at an empty table at the club fair (which is tomorrow).  People were walking by and ignoring me.  I felt pretty confused as to why they were walking by and not (at least) stopping to admire some of Hooks and Needles's fine samples (I have the Kitten Mittens, Baby hats from last year, samples from the Hooks and Needles's pattern book...)

Then, I turned around, and I noticed that I didn't in fact have any of the samples.

I had forgotten them.  The table was empty.  I didn't even have the nifty sign-up sheet that people sign up to the mailing list on.

Then, I reach for my knitting and find that I've forgotten that, too.

And a voice echoes in my head "The Club Fair is tomorrow... tomorrow... tomorrow..."

And then I woke up and realized that, in fact, I have forgotten all of my sample designs... D'OH.  This is what happens when you give away 80% of what you knit and put the other 20% in a box in a closet at your Dad's house.

Image from here

Thankfully Ash has most of the club stuff, and I didn't have to forget EVERYTHING. Anyway, I'm going to rush and try to make things look very nice while I work on them tomorrow.

What I'm Doing Wrong in my Life (aka How Not to Design a Knit Toy)

I'm having one of those days where I'm thinking - WTF. Why am I doing what I'm doing? Why do I keep doing what I'm doing? It works, but it's stressful. Not fun.

Classes are starting soon, and I'm having a lot of fun cooking delicious things for anyone that shows up at my apartment ;) I have all the textbooks I need, know where my classrooms are, and all-in-all don't need to worry about anything in my life.

Except knitting.

**Here are a few lessons for those of you who may ever decide to design a knit toy. These tips will absolutely, positively maximize your stress during the design process.

1.  When writing a pattern, be sure to write as much as you can in completely different places.  Make sure that you use different colored pens, different sized papers, and do NOT number your sheets.  That way, when you drop them on the floor, you will get to put your notes together like a puzzle! This will be a welcome break from knitting.

Find above: Notebook A, Notebook B, Field Sketchbook, and the back of a Vogue Magazine.

2.  When you need to pick up multiple sets of stitches (for arms or legs) make sure NOT to look ahead to see if you have enough room for that last pair of legs.  One side will work out perfectly the same as the other, of course, always.

If you can guess what I'm making... I'll be seriously impressed, then a little annoyed.

(2.1  When in the early stages of the design process, make sure you add as many repeat parts as possible.  Tentacles, legs, arms, antennae, wings, leaves, and flowers are good examples.)

3.  Make sure that you design this toy on a deadline, as part of a swap.  If you stress out about deadlines, you will stress out 100 times more at the thought of some person awaiting for your package to arrive, in vain, since you aren't done yet.

4. Also, make sure that person lives as far away as possible to you.  Like, maybe, Alaska.

5. Then make that person really, really nice and understanding. Guilt multiplier!

6. Then, decide that you really need to knit a hat.

But it's so mindless! And someone asked me to make it! And I was supposed to make it weeks ago!

... So, if you take everything from the double asterisk (**) to here, you have how to design, the Alyssa way! Now I need to get back to work... =_=

Have a good weekend though, really, seriously, do!