only 54%??

Man I have a long ways to go in seeing all these states. and there are a couple (Colorado, Nebraska) that I was in when I was 2, so I dont remember and I'd like to return. Totally stole this idea from Amanda via Ariel! Now its back to work for me!




create your own personalized map of the USA
or check out ourCalifornia travel guide

(mostly) FO's

I've been in a little bit of a knitting rut lately. Don't tell the secret spook endpaper's but it's all their fault. So I decided to stop stressing about the mitts and to devote some time learning to spindle. I stumbled upon this wonderful website while at work which answered a lot of questions I had. After the spindle began to wobble with all the spun alpaca goodness on it I wound up my first ball. Then onto the next. I used the same fiber - more alpaca cream colored. This time, after the first couple inches, I did a much better job of keeping the fiber the same thickness. Though, I still do better with the park and draft method, mostly cuz I cant keep the darned thing from spinning in the opposite direction and undoing all I've done. I also think I'm still spinning thicker than the spindle can handle b/c it wasnt long before it was wobbling again. So I wound up my second single ball.



Here I am winding up the second single. Using a little ceramic cup I made this past summer works perfect to hold the spindle while I wind. Notice the even thickness!!















Here are my first two singles. The one on the left is the very first - you can see all the varying thicknesses. The one on the right is much better except for that first couple inches when I started it - thats on the top right of the ball.
I think I'll have to get a heavier spindle to ply the yarn. I'm considering using a suggestion I saw on the Ravelry boards and plying it w/ colored thread so that it doesnt get super thick. But that's for later, first I'll do some more spindling practice.




Onto (nearly) FO 2!
Finally started some holiday knitting. Here is the beginning of my lace snowflake star ornament. The Emily Oaker cast on took several tries and I'm still not comfortable with it, so I may eventually switch to another method.










It knit up super quick though, so that's good.
This is what it looked like when I went to bed last night after 1 hour of work.













And here we are tonight after only 2 hours work. It's almost all done! It just needs to be starched. Despite the icky beginning - its not even easy to knit off of the EO cast-on, I like the pattern and am hoping to make roughly 40 of them by x-mas to give away as ornaments to my family. Wish me luck! (thankfully (or not!) I'll have quite a bit of boredom time to knit once I get to the parents house on dec 20th).

stash

if i were a lol-cat i would be saying "i can has a stash?"

i'm in the process of uploading all the pics i took today of stash bin #1 (since its so rare i see the sun - it was out today!) and then i'll get them into Ravelry. its funny b/c as i was pulling out the yarn from the bin i was thinking: gift, free-bee, gift, free-bee, etc. I think there were only a couple of skeins of yarn i actually bought myself! it still manages to multiply in the night though, so i've decided due to my budgetary constraints to try and knit from my stash as much as possible in the next several months which means that i might actually *gasp* attempt socks again. but first the christmas knitting must begin.....

Drop Spindle Fun

Uh oh, a New crafty/fiber endeavor!
So my new fascination with spindling started when Amanda started talking about getting her FIL to make her a spindle. I didnt know what it was and she directed me to this very helpful knitty article. I thought they were super cute and was intrigued. THEN I saw a girl on the 66 bus spindling while riding the bus! (clearly, it was a sign from the fiber goddess) And it looked super fun. When the lot of us went to Rhinebeck I looked at all the pretty spindles, but I wasnt sure which one would be right for me. I also know nothing about roving, so I didnt buy any fiber. I found a Golding drop spindle starter kit near the end of the day but it was a large portion of my budget, and I had already spent most of it on yarn. Lucky for me Danielle mentioned that she had several spindles she could loan me if I wanted to try it out AND she had some alpaca roving she'd be willing to give to me since she's allergic. Yay! Sadly, I havent seen Danielle since Rhinebeck, but she saw Catherine last weekend and then I saw Catherine tonight for some random knitting.
I was all excited to get the spindle and fiber before the holiday weekend and boy was I ever pleasantly surprised. I hit the fiber jackpot! I was expecting one bag of alpaca, not a bunch! And in so many colors! There's creme, black, solid grey, brown, and brown and creme heather!
After a quick tutorial from Ariel, I was off and running. Well, kinda. I'm not very good and my end product is all different thicknesses, but I'm sure I'll get better with practice.



Look at all that fiber goodness!
Thanks Danielle!!















Here is a real live alpaca at Rhinebeck. Cute!

















This one was a prize winner and a bit of a prima donna - she didnt want to look at anyone!










I'm not super worried that I'll give up knitting or stop buying yarn or even blow all my monies on a wheel because I'm not really interested in making my own yarn. I just like spindling for the novelty of it. Its tiny, portable, and cute. Another technique for me to master (its my thing, I like trying new techniques (in lots of disciplines), mastering them, and then moving on - keeps my brain hopping!) and maybe a little fun side hobby if I get any good at it. Because I have soo much extra time that I can now add side hobbies you know (;{ Maybe I'll get lucky and someday even have a beautiful little spindle to call my own, even if I never get into it as much as knitting they are ever so cute! And it kinda gives me street cred in the gansta fiber life. Just kidding!
I'm so excited I've nearly forgotten that my little sister got engaged (she's 22. they've been dating ~7 mos) and I'm in the wedding but clearly not important enough to her for her to tell me before she told all the rest of the family and her friends and even started checking out reception venues for the past two weeks. Yeah. Ouch. And now that my mom has an official almost grandson to be she has no need of me. Which is clearly why she doesnt call anymore and is too busy to talk to me when I call. Anyway, lets just move right along b/c its obvious that that is a sore spot right now.


Alpaca fiber saves the day!

Secret Spook

I know its been awhile since the yarners and I actually exchanged for Secret Spook, and I should have posted this ages ago, but in my defense, Amanda and Cathy havent posted yet about this either!!


So we decided to exchange at Bertucci's on a Sunday evening. Here I am with the first thing I pulled out of my goodie bag: a DNA model! Look how delighted and surprised I was! Oh, and my Spook was Catherine! (there's nothing here about the gift I gave Alexis b/c her knitted item is still not finished. I got in a bit over my head.)















Here is a round-up of the rest of the loot!. Cupcake and crossbones crochet pot-holders, gothtini glass and sugar skullies, a voo-doo doll key chain, a flesh-eating bacteria!, handmade cloth bags with bats and moons!, stickers, a pendant, and a blue glass hangy w/ a bat on it.
Thanks Catherine!







Here is a close up of the knitted DNA model! I brought it to work to show it to all the scientists and they were amazed and jealous!




















Here is a close up of the gothtini (it had chocolate in it, I ate it all) and the Day of the Dead sugar skullies. What a neat idea - to incorporate other dead themed holidays!
















Finally, here is my little flesh eating bacteria (Streptococcus pyogenes) at home with his pals ulcer (Helicobacter pylori) and kissing disease (mononucleosis or Epstein Barr virus). I love my giant microbes! As a side note, Alexis gave me the Epstein Barr for Secret Cupid, I just didnt have a blog then. And a friend from college gave me an ulcer for my birthday- she said that she hoped if she gave one to me it could somehow be a talisman to prevent me from giving one to myself (I was not surprisingly stressed about finals at the time).

real life injects itself into crafters blog

I know as of late there have been more non-crafty posts than crafty ones, and I promise soon to put up my Secret Spook goodies, some FO ceramics, and some knitting and crocheting WIP's but right now i need to talk about something else.
Today at work I've gotten absolutely nothing done. Well, ok, I made 3 graphs. But mostly I've just been sitting here staring out into space wishing to feel better. I know I should probably just go home and curl up in a ball and watch tv, but I dont want to. I want to be normal and feel normal again. I dont think I'm making any sense. Maybe I should explain. This is day 3 of Byetta injections. After three years of tinkering, hoping, tinkering more, and crossing fingers my endocrinologist and I have come to the conclusion that metformin just isnt adequate. Its not doing it for me. And so on to other meds. Since I've already tried so many different diabetes meds there were few options left. After months of researching on my part I made the decision to try Byetta again. I've been on it before and had success until my life got whacky while studying for the MCAT's and i stopped exercising and eating properly. So I knew what to expect. I knew the first month is hell. But it doesnt make it any easier. The nausea is overwhelming. The space-cadetness is overwhelming. Eating ginger helps with the nausea. But I have yet to find a remedy for this foggy-headed dream land I'm in. I dont remember this being part of the slew of side effects I encountered the first time I tried Byetta, so maybe it goes away relatively quickly. I hope. The worst part is I cant even concentrate long enough to knit!
Right now I'm trying to stay focused on the positives that I remember (decreased appetite, weight loss, less sore-ness and tired-ness and fatigue during workouts, better sugar control, better A1c).
All this baloney of having stupid type 2 diabetes as a youngin really just sucks. thank you genetics.
Anyhow I'm done w/ my rambling complaint. Will return to regularly scheduled craftyness soon. I hope.

horrified

oh my goodness gracious me.
so i was browsing blogs and came upon one that was positively reviewing this book. i know its probably the 20-something me speaking but if i ever end up a drunk, divorced, crazy knitting cat lady PLEASE kill me. or send me to a home. for crazies. seriously. now i'm going to go to bed and have nightmares. and no i dont care if i am being insensitive for not celebrating the wonderfulness of some lady whose "found herself" in knitting. its like all born again religions: gag inducing.

Follower

Well since lots of people are posting their oldest picture of themselves for blogstalker on knitty, I got jealous and had to join in.
These are the oldest pictures I have of myself (of course there exist older ones, they just arent in my possession). These are from my first birthday.
Maybe if ya'll are lucky I'll post some wips for wip weds this week.