etod_knits

Like everywhere else in the US, we have had the GREAT FREEZE! Okay, not really, but you would have thought we did since the area school districts cancelled classes or set back the start times. Sadly, area universities did not alter their scheduling and I had to drag myself to classes regardless of how much I wanted to sit on my couch, knit, drink hot chocolate and watch my numerous recorded TV shows. :(

I did however, make a new scarf to show off my mad crochet skillz--



I started it while watching the Golden Globes on Monday night and finished it while watching My Super Ex-Girlfriend tonight. Although my crocheting is slow just like my knitting, it did not take me four days to crank out this scarf. I did have a false start--I made it wider than I liked when I first started it. I had double the amount you see chained up and was about twenty rounds in so I just tore the whole thing out, halfed the chain, and went back to work on it. Then I worked a few rounds on Tuesday before I left for class and then finally finished in about 30 min tonight. It's just alternations of double and treble crochet. No frills crochet. That's the full amount of my crochet skillz. The yarn was Classic Worsted Impressions by Universal Yarn Inc., color 494.

My next project I'll probably start on today after I get out of class--I'm going to give toe-up socks another shot. I really want to learn this technique and I thought I might try to learn it before the semester really gets going and I won't have the time. I'm going to crack out the hand dyed yarn I had Scout dye for me before Christmas. She dyed the Houston Astros' team colors onto a skein of sock yarn and I was going to use it in a project for my dad but it never came to fruition. But I'm determined to make him a pair of socks, so this might be as good a time as any. Here's the yarn already wound up (I forgot to take a picture of it skeined, I think, which kind of sadness me because it was such a beautiful skein of yarn.)--



Though I have quite a few skeins of yarn dyed by Scout, I've never used them. It's almost as it's too precious for me to use--like I have to have the perfect pattern for socks to happen out of that yarn. Same thing for my Sunshine Yarns yarn. I've attempted, but it just never happens. To me, they're like little pieces of art work and I can't bring myself to knit them. :\ But I'm going to try this time.

And speaking of Sunshine Yarns, I bought a skein of her Fiesta colorway in her last update. I read about it on The Blue Blog and after seeing the colors there, I absolutely wanted it. I'm excited about getting it in my hands! The colors just scream spring, which is definitely needed after a week of dreary weather in South Texas.

Well, on Sunday, I cancelled our Tivo service because, frankly, it never would connect to our wireless. So, after much thought and deliberation, we reallocated that money to start a Netflix subscription, thus the viewing of My Super Ex-Girlfriend tonight. I've loved Rainn Wilson since watching him on Six Feet Under (he's the reason I started watching The Office when it first came on), so it was a must to put in my queue. And I have to say that reserving a movie in the queue is addicting. There's just so much available on Netflix that video stores in Corpus wouldn't even begin to offer that now my queue has an embarrassing large amount of films on it--I'm at 342 right now. Having this will be good for us I think because we really don't get the movies much anymore and I've been a bit bummed about missing out on some pretty great films recently. We keep saying we'll wait until they're on DVD, but then we never go to rent them or buy them. So this will keep the cost of buying DVDs down (well, except for The Departed which I loved and absolutely have to buy--hello, Matt Damon!) and now I can see what we've missed at the theaters in terms of large release films and what I've missed in terms of independent films (which I adore) that never show up at our theaters.

And now, to end my entry, I thought I'd start putting up some home decorating things like I mentioned in my previous entry. I first saw this in an ad in Metropolitan Home magazine and I fell in love with how they had the piece set up. They had two of the piece indicated below pushed together like a sofa/bed thing. I can just imagine having something like this (because I probably couldn't afford the real thing) in the bedroom as a place to knit in (and I only mean one of these because it looks huge!). It'd be like a super luxe chaise.


The photo is from the designer's site - Frighetto. It's an Italian company which translates to $$$, imo. If I can get a scan of the ad I'll post it up. The picture of it in the ad makes it look super comfy. Hopefully I can find a look-alike more within our budget when we have a home.

Oh! And I finally put up the print I bought at the Patton Oswalt show I saw in December. I had it framed and I love how it turned out--



I have it up in my little knitting nook in the apartment that I never use (I end up knitting on the couch). Maybe it'll get me knitting there... Yeah, probably not, but it still looks good where it is!

I haven't journaled as often as I'd like due to a slew of projects that have due dates within the next two weeks. I've been swamped with so much and I feel that I will quite possible lose my mind within the coming week. Please bear with me.

I have been working to try and complete the Central Park Hoodie. Like I've said before, I'm the world's slowest knitter. But I have managed to complete the main body pieces and am working on a sleeve right now:



I'm hoping to get some time to work hard on it by the end of the week--quite possibly knitting during my Thursday shows.

I'm also looking forward to cracking down on some projects I need to complete. Here is a stash of Sugar 'N Cream just waiting to meet their destiny:



And I'm about to embark on my largest sewing project to date--two scrub tops for my brother for Christmas! He has a hard time finding scrub tops because of his size--they all end up too short! So, these special fabrics are going to end up as the scrub tops... hopefully:



My mom will probably be holding my hand through this project since she's the sewing wiz in the family. I'm pretty confident I can do this, though. And I know he'll love it!

And I have some special Scout's Swag yarn headed my way in the very near future. I had it specially dyed for my father for Christmas and can't wait to see it!! :D And some Sknitches yarn that was on sale, too!

I can't wait until classes are finished so that I can catch up on all the movies I've bought throughout the semester and to catch up on Christmas present projects--just need to make it through to the last week of Nov. Most of my classes will be finished by then--no finals! Exciting times. :) Also, I made it into Lambda Pi Eta at TAMUCC at the beginning of Nov. It's pretty cool since it's the Communication Honor Society at the university. TAMUK didn't have that at all.

Well, hopefully tons more knitting content in the near future!

I am a buyer. Since I learned to knit, there has been one thing thing I splurge on almost as though it is a religion--sock yarn. And I absolutely love handpainted sock yarn. I often buy from Scout or Sunshine Yarns, but in the spirit of Socktoberfest, I decided to try out other sock yarn artisans and splurged on some this past week. So while there hasn't been a lot of knitting, there has been a lot (and I mean *LOT*) of buying (all pics are uploaded on my photobucket account but they're from the website I bought the yarn from):
From Scout's: Okay, so this is someone I usually buy from. But look at these colors! How could I not pick this yarn up? Colorway - Socktoberfest


From Pure Knits, YarnPirate Yarn!: This looks so beautiful! I've really wanted to buy YarnPirate yarn for a long time. Now I finally have some on it's way! Colorway - Vincent


From Sknitches: I've ogled this for quite a while. These two colorways jumped out at me first, and though I told myself that I'd only buy 1, I caved and bought 2. I'm weak.
Colorway: Rugby


Colorway: Planetary


And here is the meager sock yarn stash I already have, just waiting to be used this month:


Now, onto the sock knitting! I started a pair for my aunt yesterday and worked on it at the Thursday Knit Night at Knotty Girls. Only, the pair I was working on there I thought would end up being way to big, so I ripped back and started again. My aunt's really petite, so I think these will work for her. A night of watching ER, Grey's Anatomy, Kidnapped and Ugly Betty:



The pattern is what it seems like everyone's knitting lately in blogland. Well, okay, I've only seen, two, but maybe it's a trend in the beginning stages? Anyway, it's the Dublin Bay socks from Mossy Cottage Knits.

While at knit night, I finally met Shanti. :) I've heard quite a bit about her from the shop owner Ann and when I arrived, she was there! Also a knit blogger, we talked a bit about blogging and the wonderfulness that is handpainted yarns and she was working on a sock that she knit up from Sundara Yarns' Petal Collection. The colors were absolutely vibrant! You can see the sock on her blog.

And now to swappage:
This is what I receieved in the Chocolate and Nuts swap on Swap-bot:

Chocolates from Israel! Thanks Michal!

This is what I have sent for the Hot Socks! Swap on Swap-bot:

I really fell in love with that mug when I was at Target, so I picked it up along with a matching salad plate. I figure the person I sent it to might use the plate for some snacks to have with her hot chocolate. I also sent along my favorite hot chocolate-Nestle's Abuelita chocolate. I've been buying it for the past three years because it reminds me of waking up to chill winter mornings at my grandparents house to the smell of potato and eggs and cinnamon chocolate. Mmmmmmm. My grandma would make cinnamon hot chocolate from scratch every morning before my brother and I left for school (my parents both worked night shifts at hospitals throughout my childhood) while my grandpa cooked breakfast. Abuelita hot chocolate tastes exactly like what my grandma would make. Delicious!

Time has not been my friend this past week. There has been minimal knitting going on as tests and papers and group project deadlines start showing up on my horizon. But that hasn't stopped me from buying the most gorgeous sock yarn from Sunshine Yarns. I was really thrilled to pick up her Indian Corn colorway--so fall!


I also bought it during her anniversary celebration so as a bonus, she sent along a set of size 2 Inox DPNs. I've never used that brand before so I'm excited to hopefully have some time in the near future to cast on a pair of socks out of this yarn. Right now I have so many projects on needles--the Raglan sweater still, the Central Park Hoodie, a pair of socks for Price... Plus, I need to work on starting the Star Wars hat for my brother. I had wanted to do that for his birthday, which snuck up on me (it's on Friday), but I gave up that hope at the beginning of this week after I saw the craziness that is my schedule.

And for those who care to know, I caught up on Grey's Anatomy in time for tomorrow's season premiere. I saw the finale from last season tonight and cried like a baby. Cristina and Burke, Denny and Izzie (and Alex?!? *swoon*), and George and Callie?! I can't wait for tomorrow. And The Office, too? I think I'm going to be in TV heaven come tomorrow night--me, Price and The Poops curled up on the couch to see what happens with Jim and Pam (and the Oscar storyline, too!). I think I'll use my knitting Phyllis icon in honor of The Office premiere. ;) And I will finally find out what happens on ER!

Will update with pics of my hoodie in my next post!