Liebster Blog Award

I got nominated for this award by Jordan from In It to Knit It.  You give eleven random facts, then answer 11 random questions.

So, here are my facts:
1. When I was little I slammed my hand in a car door and can't bend the first joint of my left ring finger.
2. I love listening to people talk.  Everyone has a story and once they start talking it's amazing what everyone has in common.
3.  My Myers-Briggs type is ESFJ, which is the "nurturer" subtype.  My type has changed 4 times since I first took it five years ago.
4.  I try really, really hard to eat healthy, but I have a craving for cheeseburgers that is bigger than most lolcats.
5.  I am addicted to reddit.  I check it on my phone every chance I get!
6.  I keep a journal.  I think it's the best idea to write in one, especially when making a big decision.  I have looked back on my journals and thought "Right, that's why I did that... I forgot."
7.  I have lots of good friends, but they don't know eachother well, and I'm nervous when I get married and they are all my bridesmaids they won't like eachother.
8.  Sometimes I stop and think and am amazed at normal things like GPS (four satellites?!) and the fact that we walk on two legs.
9.  Sometimes I get this burst of energy and want to run.  It doesn't last long. It reminds me a little bit of rabbits, they do something similar.
10. I do a little yoga every day.  My dream is to be able to do firefly pose.  I never look as graceful as photos of yoga on the internet.
11.  I am devestated by the fact that Google Reader is going away in July.  That website is like my connection to all my "online friends."


Jordan's questions were:

1. What is your favourite holiday destination?

 Until recently, I didn't have an answer to this... but then I went to Maine with my boyfriend last summer.  So yeah, that! How can you say no to a view like this:

2. What is your favourite type of food e.g. Mexican, Italian, etc...?

I really like Pho.  It's the best comfort food for me, but I can't eat a whole bowl!

3. If you had an elephant what would you name it?

Mr. Sniffles.  Even if it was a girl :)

4. If you could do any job for a day what would it be?

I wouldn't want to change my job.  Ask me again in ten years maybe?

5. If you had to change your name what would you change it too?

I would pick something easy to spell.  Maybe Alice Jones?  It's hard being the only Alyssa Lynough on the internet, so Alice Jones would probably blend in well.

6. Do you play nay sports?

No.  I used to play tennis but haven't since highschool.

7. What is your favourite item of clothing you own?

Any of my hand knit socks.

8. Do you play any instruments?

I can play flute and guitar, though I haven't played either in a while.

9. Can you speak any other languages?

I can speak French and ASL enough to be understood.

10. What is your favourite dessert?

It depends on the time of year. Spring - Strawberry Shortcake; Summer - Key Lime Pie; Winter - Chocolate Bread Pudding.

11. Fruit or vegetables?

That's hard.  I would probably pick vegetables because they're healthier.

So, now that that's done... I'm going to nominate eleven people! You don't have to pass it on, it's just fun. 

My eleven people are...
1. Sara from KnottyGome Crafts
2. Dee from Tangled Up in Sticks and String
3. Kathy from Irish Eyes Knitters
4. Rilana from PDX Princess
5. Mummybear from Slugs and Snails
6. Kate from Knits In Class
7. Louise from Wildflower Wool
8. Kate from Under the Red Umbrella
9. Alysia from Anxiety and Coffee
10. Carla from Tiny Angry Crafter
11. Emily from Yarn Miracle

And my questions are...
1. What little thing are you amazed at right now?
2. What can someone do that will cheer you up almost no matter what?
3. The ocean or the beach?
4. What's your favorite word?
5. If you had all the time and all the money and no carpal tunnel, what would you knit/crochet?
6. What's one thing that you loved as a kid that you're not sure why you liked now?
7. What's your spirit animal? (Be as silly as possible.)
8. If you were stranded on a desert island, what snack would you miss the most?
9. If you had the ability to go anywhere just by thinking about it BUT you were invisible and couldn't be heard or interact with anything, where would you go?
10. You get home to find a mysterious package.  You open it up, and inside is that thing that you need right now.  What is it?
11. What is your worst knitting or crochet mistake that you're comfortable talking about?

Wow, I really like asking random questions.  I think that was the fastest part of this blog post.  Anyway, I'm excited to see what the answers are! (Or if people read my blog... >_>) 

Minneapolis Institute of Art

All I have to say is, Wow.  The twin cities has an awesome museum that has some great works, and it's free! I made a $20 donation, but I could have just walked right in.  You can see Monet, Picasso, pretty much any famous modern artist FOR FREE.  They even had some Hudson River School paintings (which I was not expecting, being in the Midwest and all.)

There were pieces of furniture that I would totally have in my home.  Like this rocking chair, from the 1920's, and this hutch.

The only minus that I had was that a lot of the art was framed with glass.  I don't like that - I get that you don't want people to touch the painting or whatever, but there really is no reason to do it.  It's like seeing a landscape through a window.  Especially when the glass is dirty with dust! Ugh.

The cafe in the museum was great, pretty reasonable for museum food... $9 for a salad and cup of soup! Compared to some museums I've been in that's giving the food away.

I think I ended up taking as many photos in the gift shop as in the actual museum.  They had a lot of cute things, pretty (but expensive) dresses and a square teapot and decor that I was tempted to make myself when I got home.  There was an entire wall of stationary, which I had to practice a ridiculous amount of willpower to avoid buying from.  They also had an ocean-themed table, which I did buy from.

Overall, the place was definitely worth the trip! Especially on a rainy, dreary day like yesterday.

Doodling

Like lots of people, I have a dream of working full-time as an independent knit designer.  I also have dreams of being a SAHM and owning a homestead, but for now these two things aren't really that feasible - mostly because I have student loans to pay, and also because I just don't think I'm at the point of my life where I can pursue them.  I can have a homestead when I'm retired, and live far off in the country in my off-the-grid permaculture complex; and I'm not going to run around trying to have kids, and even if I did, I love my job too much to leave it right now!

Anyway, my point is that knitwear design, on the other hand, is a dream that I'm nervous about.  I don't think I could ever be a full time designer because I get so much inspiration while doing other things.  I think it might be a left-brain, right-brain thing.  While I'm sitting in training, one side of my brain is focusing on statistics and applying business ideas to EHS.  When this happens, the other side of my brain fires up and says "ME! ME! Look at this cool idea I just thought up! Hey! What if you took that yarn that's in your stash and did this..."

It started last week, drawing ideas for a little dust bunny doll.

Then I thought hey, I'm not really using that top margin of that one page. What if I knit a wooly bear caterpillar? And it could have tassles on it! I remember that idea I had for a bunny, what if I made a little set that had other animals dressed as ballerinas?

Okay, we've drawn, I'm actually going to take notes... oh my gosh, wouldn't it be cute if I knit a little chick, like for spring time?  So I drew it over and over until I figured out the proportions, type of wings, eye placement, etc. (There's also a picture of me and Dan as chibis here, some bad drawings of the people that were presenting, and an idea for a garland.)

Then I just gave up and ended up just doodling.

What I like about times like this is that on this page, there are plans for 15 different projects.  And a sixteenth one that I couldn't quite figure out (the pony doodle.) That's more stuff than I can knit in a year!

Of course, this only happens maybe once a quarter, and not all of the ideas are worth doing.  I'm looking at you, football-shaped dog with pompoms in the top right corner. Some of the ideas might have already been done. Who knows if there isn't a lego-shaped pillow out there?  Still, I keep pages like this stashed away and when I feel like I want to knit something new, I look back in the archives.  I'm thinking of making all of them digital, as kind of an insurance policy.

Props if you recognize the ballet instructor from here or here.

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!

Obligatory Post of Photos from my Trip

So, my first week of training has been AWESOME.  I've had a few moments that I would describe as "adventurous," where I almost had panic attacks, but that's par for the course when I travel far, end up in a completely new place, and meet a ton of people.

The biggest of those moments was a week ago, when Dan's car broke down on the way to the airport.  I'm happy that I took the time to immortalize the event with my camera, because now it just seems really funny. Did I mention that my flight left during a blizzard? They got about six inches of snow between 6AM and noon.

You can click through to see my other photos (I figured I would break up the post so that people with feedreaders didn't have to suffer through a long string of photos that they didn't want to see.)

Big and Little

Taking part in the production of this short has been one of the most rewarding creative things that I've done so I really wanted to share it with someone.  I've been kind of hesitant to do so because it still makes me sad when I think about it. But, I felt like I should include it for the sake of continuity.  I blogged about making and designing these puppets for W here and here but things kind of got quiet as things starting to get awkward in our relationship. The world deserves to know what happened?

I think I'm at the point where I'm still sad because I won't be able to do fun things like this anymore, but I'm proud because some of my doodles in a notebook turned into this.  When I originally drew the very first design for Big, I never thought that it would be a character in someone's film.  I never anticipated actually giving it a three dimensional, tactile form.  I never dreamed that someone else would take that form and shape it, make it something as beautiful as this.

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...