What?! An FO?!?!?!

Well...half of one anyways.

After many times of working on a project and frogging it due to unsuccessful results I realized I've barely managed to finish a single project in 2007. So I dug around for a really easy pattern. One that I could finish in 1-2 days. A stash buster pretty much. And I found this pattern and loved it. I could use some nice easy mitts. And it's my first mitt project. Yay!

Pattern : Hand Like A Hole by Vicki Howell
Yarn : Crystal Palace Yarns - Musique - Color: Dune

I wasn't sure how a thick-thin yarn would look in the pattern, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyways. It actually goes quite nicely with the winter season, I think. The thick areas of yarn kind of remind me of snow clumps. Lol!

In other news, I'm enjoying another 4-day weekend. Enjoying it very much. I'm planning to come up with a "goals for 2008" list because resolutions never work out. And goals are a little more expandable if I don't completely reach them. Lol. Don't worry, I shall be realistic about these things.

Still waiting on my upstream partner getting their package. I'm eager to see if they'll like it or not. Jitters of the first swap, huh? Lol.

This will be my last post before 2008. So I wish everyone the best and I hope the year 2008 will be awesome!

Kris' Wild Ride

Ok, so I haven't blogged in a while. So I should have some great news to share with everyone, right? Right?
Haha, quite the contrary. I wound up not finishing a single present in time for Christmas despite my efforts. Wait, I correct myself. I finished a very simple garter scarf. But it's sitting in my room right now. Gathering god knows what. Because I can't find the rest of Zu's present. The purse and scarf that could have easily been done in time still sit 90% completed. And that sweater that I was doing well on? Yes. Remember that? It's been completely frogged. Somehow the point protectors fell off my needles and about 50 stitches came off the needles. Easy enough to fix, right? Hahaha, let me tell you. In the process of trying to pick up said 50 stitches, I realized that a few of the stitches had slipped down a few rows. Again, easy enough to fix. Well, then upon looking at the sweater to make sure it still looked ok, I realized that there were two stitches on another area that I had apparently dropped at some point and that were residing all the way down to the ribbing. So, in the pure frustration that everyone loves, I made a drastic decision. And frogged it. All the way. So that not a single stitch remained on the needles that I longed to poke into my eye. And I picked up a project that frankly I should have finished about 2 months ago. The Harry Potter Ravenclaw scarf that my friend had requested. And since it's taken me so long, I'm going to make a little scarf for her 3-yr-old son, and a baby hat for her upcoming baby girl. All for free. Because I feel bad. :/ Sent out my swap package to my upstream partner over the weekend. Hopefully they get it soon. Nothing wrong with hoping, right?

WWCS Topic of the Week

Last weeks topic, we wanted to know what is your favorite activity during the "Wintery" months. Please post what would be the perfect vacation during the Winter Season? Would rather you head to the beach, to escape all the cold weather or want to pack your ski's and head to the mountains. You tell us what vacation you prefer during the Winter Season.

Vacation, huh? Haha. I actually really can't stand vacations. But I can say that one of my favorite things to do is to get the family together (cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone) and to make a trip to the mountains and just find some little secluded area where it's snowed that's away from the huge crowds and just have fun. We used to do that a lot when I was younger and I always loved it. The perfect way to get some quality family time going.

The Race Is On!

The sweater. I decided to start work on a sleeve so I can feel like I'm getting a little more accomplished with this project. That and I've been itching to deal with something other then the black, so hopefully the stripes will help out with that one. Haha. Yea right.

Progress on xmas gifts:
-Mom's Sweater (postponed til next year/mother's day/birthday)
-Dad's Sweater (same as above)
-Baseball Socks for mom (postponed until I learn to knit socks)
-Poncho for Kenna
-Bunny for Gmo
-Ball Gag for Nass
-Poncho for X
-Hat for Ducks (haven't even figured out how to do this one yet...)
-Scarves for Panda (1 adult, 1 child, 1 baby) + Arm warmers or hat to make up for the time it's taking me to get these done)
-Scarf for Fluff (haven't figured out a pattern)
-Sweater for Wolf's sister (about 40% completed)
-Scarf for Zu(COMPLETED!)
-Blanket for Wolf (Haha, haven't even started it or bought the yarn...)
-Fru's purse (50% done) and scarf (90% done)
-K's Condom Critter (90% done)

-le sigh- This isn't looking too positive. Time to bust some moves and cramp up some hands!

Boy am I spoiled!

Yup, that's right! I got my Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap package in yesterday. :] I was super excited and had to just dive right into it to see the goodies that I got.

I got a 13 oz tin of Tim Hortons coffee, a favorite in Canada; I received a box of Dare Ruffles macaroon biscuits, which are chocolate-covered coconut pieces; 4 packages of Land O Lakes Mint flavored hot cocoa mix (Yummy! Can't wait to try it!); a coffee spoon that also has a clip on it to keep bags of coffee nice and fresh; some Avon hand lotion that I'll be putting into my knitting bag so I don't lose it because otherwise I know I will; Coffee Time, a mini book with puzzles and coffee info and just plain out goodness which is perfect for me because I love doing puzzles and such ;) ; Through The Grinder, one of the coffee house mystery books (which sounds absolutely wonderful, and I plan on delving into it today); a traveling Bodem (which is awesome because I can have coffee even when I run out of time to make it before dashing out the door!); and 4 oz skein of Briggs and Little's Durasport yarn in Ecru along with Canadian Kool-Aid and full instructions on Kool-Aid dying (which I've been curious to try!) so I can dye the yarn and have it to attempt my first pair of socks with! I'm super excited to try all this out. In fact, I think I'm going to take off for now so I can make use of my travel Bodem. ;)
Thanks so much, Penny!

WWCS Question of the Week

For many people, Winter is a time of cold weather and snow - and many fun outdoor activities that can only be enjoyed during those times! What's YOUR favorite activity in Winter, and is it even outdoors??

Really, there's nothing exciting about going outdoors in my town other then freezing your asses off. And it doesn't even snow. So really the favorite activity I would have to say is just curling up in some PJ pants and a baggy shirt and sipping cocoa or coffee while knitting or reading a book. And also watching moooovies. :] Perfect snuggling time! Yay! But that's it. I'm kind of dull in the wintertime. Poo. :[

Influencing + Cookie Grubbing + Sweater

Look! Look! I'm such a good influence. Wolf is trying to knit. :] She only got two rows done because her hands started aching, but I'm sooooo proud.

And see those little worms crawling all over the dog treats? And see all the eggs in the colored ones? You see them? Those nasty little white things? Yup. Mealworms. Yuck! So I had to throw them all out and so a saddened Misty had to go almost a whole week without treats. Poor thing. She was greatly depressed by this and went into extreme trick mode when I presented her with a rawhide chew today. Happy dog yet again.

I know I promised pictures of the Christmas lights and all that jazz, but there's too many of them and about 90% of them didn't come out right. So I'll be sifting through those and posting at least the two houses that I loved the most. But here's pictures of little M who was so ecstatic to see so much pretty that she was just a happy camper.


And she's a fellow cookie lover! She grubbed all of our cookies for us with insane fake crying every time we told her we were out. A least they were free. And at least the lights were enough of a distraction to make her forget about cookies. Until we started walking back home again. Haha! Yup, she's my little cousin.


And now for the sweater!

I've got 23 more rounds to knit until I have to just knit until it measures at 15 inches. So yay! I'm hoping that this will be as long as she wanted, but if not...I can probably just rip up the ribbing and knit down and then finish off with the ribbing when it's as long as she's asked. Now to figure out how to make the short sleeves for the pattern into long sleeves so I can figure out the striping. Whoo! Any suggestions anyone? ;]

WWCS + Update?

So, following the WWCS topic of the weeks, they wanted us to go to someone new's site and leave a comment on their site and talk about what we found out about them. So I attacked Andey's blog and it couldn't have been at a better time since she just filled out a meme! ;) Just my luck. Lol.

So things that I learned about Andey:
She has children. She drinks her coffee with milk. She talks to someone named Ninnie which made me giggle since one of my friends and I call each other Ninny. Her hubby washes the dishes. She bought a yarn cutter from Etsy and ironically it's the same one that I've been eying for a bit. And she made herself a drop spindle and she should totally share the wealth. ;) Lol! Just kidding. Though I do think that I will subscribe to her blog. -ninja face-

ANYWHO.
Completely new post coming soon.
Updates and all.
Took the little cousin out to the lighting of Christmas Tree Lane.
Lots of pics to share of that. :)
Will be house sitting with Wolf Thursday through Sunday, so hopefully Saturday by the latest you should actually hear something from me. Big hopefully. Haha!

HOLY HELL OFFICER!

Sooooo.... I've achieved my civilian duties for my entire lifetime. I just sent someone to jail. HOLY FUCK!
So I was hanging out in Wolf's room rebelling and staying up late. When -SSCCCCCRRRREEEECH CRASH- happened. So, being the concerned person I am, I woke Wolf up and ran out to see what happened, if anyone was hurt, and if anyone was calling for help already. You know...just trying to be helpful. So I got out there, saw the person was getting in and out of the car ok even though it was totally trashed (the front right wheel was completely parallel with the ground while still attached to the car and the Durango it slammed into had a completely jacked up axel since they ran into the wheel so yea) and saw that there were some people across the street on the phone that had come out of the house across the street. So Wolf and I decided to meander back into the house. My parents heard our moving-abouts and woke up (why didn't the sound wake anyone up? the thought of this confuses and confounds me because I know I would have woken up at the sounds of the tires screeching) and so they were looking around. Well apparently while I was moving my things out of Wolf's room so she could sleep, my dad said some cop cars pulled up, stopped in front of our house and then quickly turned around. THE FUCKERS WALKED AWAY FROM THE DAMN SCENE! I have no clue what the hell they were thinking especially since they were walking. So my dad tells me and yells at me to get dressed in case the cops needed my help. So we walked 2 doors down to the neighbor's house who the Durango belonged to (strangely they never woke up either?!) and he asked if we were neighbors, if the Durango belonged to the people in that house, and if either of us had seen the accident. The problem of coarse with night accidents is that rarely ever do people actually see it. Rarely. Because most sane people are snuggled up in their warm beds sleeping the night away instead of standing outside in the freezing cold wishing that they had a match so they could set themselves on fire just to warm up a bit. So I explained I'd seen someone getting into the driver's side but that I hadn't actually seen the wreck. So he asked if I would be able to help identify clothing at least and I said I wasn't sure but I'd give it a shot. So he had me hop into the front seat of his cop car (FIRST AND LAST TIME, DAMN IT! NEVER AGAIN! Even though I knew I wasn't in shit, I started shaking like crazy. Suuucked.) and shone the spotlight on the guys as they were pulled out one by one. The first one I thought might have been him, and the cop asked if I was sure, but I said I wanted to see the other people as well just to make certain. So he had the other guy pulled out and -dingdingding- he was a winner. They'd given contrasting stories to mine (and apparently after they'd been explained that they had been viewed by a witness, changed their story to the same as mine without being told that it was contrasting, so I WAS RIGHT! YAY!). So I had to give my story to the cops and was repeatedly asked if the guy I ID'd was the guy getting in and out of the car and it was rephrased many times to try and make sure (this all just made me laugh and the fact that the main guy that I had to give my story and info to was pretty damn cute but shhhh you never heard that! Lol) and so I was thanked and blahblah and walked over to my parents and just stood there since they hadn't told me to leave (I didn't want to walk away and find out that they needed me again and have to get dressed again) and so I'm now completely frozen. Can't feel a thing. Kinda nice really.
But as the story goes, the car didn't belong to either of them. It was one of their mother's. They were both drunk, one was drunk to the point that he kept passing out in the cop car), the one that was super drunk was underage, and neither of them had a license. So wow. Crazy stuff, no?
So the next time that you see a car wreck or see one on your street (if it's on your street at least keep an eye out the window so you can help if need be) STAY AND MAKE SURE THAT THE DAMN PEOPLE STAY THERE UNTIL THE COPS SHOW UP. Holy hell. This was horrible. But I'm kinda honored that I helped. And the policemen and policewoman that were there were all super nice to me and kept thanking me for being out there so late and everything. So yay for the cops tonight!

As for knitting updates? There aren't any! I know, right? What the hell am I thinking?! But I'm in a bit of a knitting lull because I keep messing up every time I pick something up to work on. And I haven't had a lot of free time. Wah. Anyways, I'm going to see about actually getting some sleep now since it's almost 5am. Whoo. Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

Why hello there!

So since I'm done shopping for my swap partner, Wolf and I went to the mall with Wolf's sister yesterday. And I decided to throw money caution into the wind and see if I could find a child to help from the Christmas tree. See, every year, they set up a booth and a tree and on the tree they hang up cards for children who come from families who don't have enough money to buy things for their kids for the holiday. We used to pick a kid all the time when we were little but haven't done it lately. So I just started browsing through the cards. Now, they give a line for things the kids need like clothes and such and then things that are wish list items. Now I was thinking about being odd and getting a boy. But all the boys wanted iPods and palm pilots and new bikes etc. As much as I would love to give a child an item like that, I can't even afford one for myself. And I wanted to be able to get the kid something from their wish list.
I went around the tree for about 5 minutes until I found the perfect child. I mean perfect. She needed clothes and jackets and wanted arts and crafts supplies. I jumped a little when I found it and read it over 10 times to make sure I was reading it right. So I decided to give her gifts. The cool thing about it is that the mall is actually getting involved now, so they give you a list of stores in the mall that will give you a discount if you buy things for your child from their store. Then they also give you a book full of coupons that you can use at stores in the mall for yourself. So I was extra excited about that. So we got everything we needed yesterday because we're silly like that.


You can make the images larger, too. That way you can actually see better. Haha. I bought her the gray sweater (ok, I know I could have made her one, but I have enough on my plate and I don't have any access to her so I can't exactly measure her to make sure it fits right), the pink hearts necklace, the heart box kit and the art set. Wolf's sister bought the jeans because I was wary of buying them from the first store we entered into. So yay for her chipping in because it was very out of character. Then since Payless was having their Bogo sale, I figured I could get her some new shoes as well. So we got her some nice black dressy shoes and some Hannah Montana slip-on shoes. And please note that going shopping for this darling has made me want to have a young one of my own. BEWARE! Lol.


Then we got her this black jacket that's like a regular sweatshirt on the outside, but inside it's line with faux fur so it'll be nice and warm. A jacket was specifically listed on her card, so I figured a jacket and the sweater would do perfectly. So then we also got her the butterfly shirt you see underneath the jacket there. And the scarf? I made that when I was first beginning to seriously get into knitting and it's been sitting around for a while waiting for a use. And I thought this would be a perfect time to hand it off to someone that can use it! Sure, it's Fancy Fur, but they'll be able to wash it like normal and all that good stuff. :] All-in-all, I think she'll be happy. I wanted to get her more stuff, but you can't give too much or they'll split up some of the gifts and give them to other kids who didn't get a whole lot or who's cards weren't selected. Yupyup. So she got clothes, a jacket, shoes (which weren't on her list, but shoes are always nice to have), and a little craft kit and an art set. I think I did pretty well.

And this monstrosity here? This is the sweater I'm making up for Wolf's sister. And I know I completely messed up a bit on the ribbing (go ahead and enlarge it...it will just right out at you) but I decided to just leave it since I'd already ripped it back about 14 times before. And she said she didn't mind if there were little mistakes through it because it would made it look more "handmade". It still drives me nuts and I want to fix it, but I just keep looking at the pile of yarn I still need to knit with before Christmas and that fuels my drive to just get through it. Lol. But it is my first sweater, so hopefully it'll come out ok. Crossing my fingers!

CRAZY!!! + WWCS Topic # 4

Have I ever mentioned that I hate Black Friday? Of coarse not, because this blog is too new. But I hate it! With a passion! Buuut at least I'm out of retail now, so I just had to go cause havoc throughout other stores! ;) I'm excited because I have everything set up for the WWCS gal that I get to spoil the hell out of! Hopefully they like it, or I'll just ask for some of it back! Lol! I may have a 4-day weekend going on, but it doesn't mean that I get to enjoy it. Nope. All day tomorrow I'll be cleaning. And knitting. But as far as everyone else is concerned, I'm just cleaning. I'll just tell them what they want to hear!

Now, onto the topic of the week!

What is the ideal setting for enjoying the perfect cup of coffee? Who would be there - or would you be alone? Inside or out? Morning or night? With food or just the steaming cup of joe?

Honestly, I love any setting for coffee! I love going to little cafe's, I love curling up and reading a book or watching a movie, I love shopping with it, anything goes! I just love having coffee anywhere and thus shows my insane love for it. And I rarely ever drink coffee with food. I don't know why, but for some reason it mixes weird with the food and I wind up getting sick. That doesn't mean no sweets with it, just no actual food food. ;)

And with that I must be running off to prepare for my knitting cleaning day tomorrow!

---

Found you!

• You signed up on November 1, 2007
• You are #51566 on the list.
• 186 people are ahead of you in line.
• 9768 people are behind you in line.
• 83% of the list has been invited so far

Wow! This isn't taking overly long at all! :)

Almost.

Found you!

• You signed up on November 1, 2007
• You are #51566 on the list.
• 1698 people are ahead of you in line.
• 8117 people are behind you in line.
• 83% of the list has been invited so far

-squeal- + WWCS Topic # 3

Ok, so I think I'm almost done with goodies for my WWCS Swap Partner. xD I just found the most perfect gift to give. I'm sure she'll get a kick out of it. I'd post it up, but I don't want to run the risk of ruining it for her! But I've ordered the yarn, bought a ton of goodies to stuff in the box, and so all I have left to do is snag up some coffee. The easy part! ;) So hopefully she'll love it all. I'm super worried since it's my first swap. I don't want to wind up being a horrible partner!

No matter what, though, I can't wait for 2007 to be over. It's been a horrible year. My grandmother died in January, my dog, Shadow, died on Easter, my fiance and I split up the day after my birthday (but we've worked things out and are back together again, but starting over), my great aunt died a few weeks ago, and both of my grandfathers have been in and out of the hospital and ICU's nonstop. And my mother just informed me that my grandfather on her side is now in the hospital because he can't stand up or walk. All tests that they've run show nothing horrible, but he can't get up. So it's probably only a matter of time. And I love my mom's parents. I always loved spending time with them and I've been suffering under the delusion that they'll live forever because they're my grandparents. Ugh! I just don't want any more deaths this year. It's making me emo!

Now onto the WWCS topic of the week!

The Thursday upcoming is Thanksgiving in the U.S., so let's all - American and not alike! - just share a post with what it is we're thankful for. A wonderful thing to do any time of year, I thought it'd be a nice thing to share for this week with the group!

Hmmmm....things I'm thankful for...there's an awful lot of them! We'll start off with the usual and then onto some of the weird and wacky. I'm thankful for my family and friends and for everything they do for me and for putting up with my increasing sarcasm. I'm thankful for my dog who's just so stupid and cute but also really smart because she shows me that it's ok to bonk your head into things as long as you pretend like no one saw, and that if people are laughing at you over it, the best thing to do is slobber them with kisses. I'm thankful for knitting because without it, my yarn obsession would just be weird. But I'm not thankful for yarn because it's spawned many fights and has almost turned me into a yarn-obsessed version of Gollum from Lord of the Rings. Ah! And I'm thankful for Wolf who's put up with so much of my crap and still manages to stick by my side. Awwww. And I'm also thankful for toilets because without them, we'd be having to run outside and squat in a hole to go to the bathroom. Ew. And I think I'll leave it off there because I'm pretty much thankful for everything! xD

Hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

The harsh truth.

So these are my -known- UFO's right now.
-Wolf's Blanket
-Zu's Scarf
-Zu's Hat
-K's Condom Critter
-3 Scarves for me
-Fluff's Scarf
-Panada's Scarf
-Sweater for Wolf's sister
-Scarf for Zully (Just have to finish fringe)
-Purse for Zully (Have to line with fabric and attach handles)

So that's 9. And that's only what I know of.

Now add on the Christmas presents I was planning to throw together.
-Mom's Sweater
-Dad's Sweater
-Baseball Socks for mom
-Poncho for Kenna
-Bunny for Gmo
-Ball Gag for Nass
-Poncho for X
-Hat for Ducks

Suddenly my positive outlook on actually managing to get all of these done in time for Christmas has severely dropped. :( I'm going to knit a little bit now to try and make myself feel better.

But before I do, I just find this insanely funny. I decided to check out Feist's performance on SNL on youtube, and first off she sounds amazing live, so that made me love her even more. It's just sad that most people only know her from the iPod commercial. Because she has other songs that are simply amazing. But it just made me laugh because as soon as she finished 1234, I turned on the tv to her music video for that song playing. Haha. Made me giggle.

Alright, enough insanity. I'm off to knit for a bit!

"Gentleness is the key to the golden egg!" - Wolf

First things first, Gnat's holding a contest so make sure you go and enter! :) And don't forget about Vicky's as well!

Ok, so still no update on the condom critter. I wound up working on Saturday and spent Sunday enjoying what little time of the day I had after sleeping like a medicated baby (yes, I know that's horrible, but this is why I'm not a mom right now xD) and enjoying some time without the parents being home. Oh what joyous fun I had. I'll be dragging a ton of crap with me on Thanksgiving though since I'll be at someone's house and since I'm the one of the odd age where I'm too young to hang with the adults and too old to hang with the youngins, I'm sure I'll need something to do.

So I was just browsing around online and making a list of all the cross stitch kits I want to try and pick up eventually, and I found this.

I apologize for the freakishly huge picture, but I'm too lazy to shrink it down right now. That should be my motto though. Because it fits me on so many days. ;)

I haven't picked up a single needle to knit this week. And it's frankly depressing me a bit. :( I need my therapy! Guess I have to settle for flaming hot cheetos for now. Poo.

Contest Alert! ;)

So Vicky's holding a contest for her 500th blog post!
And I think you should all go check it out! ;)

Duckies!

Are these not just the cutest friggin' stitch markers ever?! I love them! Of coarse, my obsession with rubber duckies tends to help with that. ;) One day I'll have to take a picture of my duckie collection to share with you all.

I finally found a store that sells yarn in hanks! People laughed at me because I squealed when I saw them. But I haven't been able to find a store that sells any yarn other then Lion, Patons, Moda Dea, and those retail brands. So I was delighted to find them! And it's affordable! It's still a far cry from a LYS since it's only a little selection up against the back of the store, but it's better then what I've had to choose from so far. So I'm happy.

I haven't been able to knit anymore since my last post, so I'm almost done with the i-cord for that condom critter and then I'll be able to put that thing together 100% and set it aside to be mailed off for Christmas! Yay! But now I'm off to get a bit of sleep. Hope you all enjoy your holiday! I'll be stuck working again. :(

WWCS Topic #2

As the cold of winter approaches, do you change the projects you work on? Do you work on gifts for others or do you continue working on projects for yourself? Can't wait to see all the replies. Nice meeting each and everyone of you.

I can't really say that I change the projects that I work on since my skills are still really limited as to what I can do. One of the joys of being a self-taught knitter who doesn't take directions overly well. But I do mainly work on gifts for others. I really don't think I've ever made anything for myself just yet. All the projects I have worked on have been intended for other people. But this year I did decide to make Christmas presents for my close friends and family. So hopefully I'll be able to get them all done, especially since my time frame to knit is really limited with this new job. Wah.

Hooray!

Crappy picture as usual, but at least you can see the progress. This is for the condom critter. The pink that I'm ribbing right there is going to be the inside for the lining since there's an area where you can stash things at. ;) So I've got about another 4 inches to knit in the pink and then I can sew it all together and make it start to look like something. Then I just have to make the pocket and the feet (just need to learn about the i cord) and then it's done. It's super easy to knit and I've done all of this is just a matter of hours. So these may go on a list of quick little last-minute gifts to hand out to friends. Yay. So once I'm done embellishing it and such I'll have to share it. ;) Then I need to start on 2 scarves and then make a skull cap to go with a scarf I've already made. So there may be some heavy picture posts coming up. Hoorah. Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend!

WWCS Topic # 1

When did you first start drinking coffee? What age were you? Was it about the caffeine, or do you love the taste and smell? Tell us how your passion began!

Ah, lovely memories with this one. I was about 10 years old when I first drank coffee. And I was about 16 when I became addicted. I started off when I was waiting in the car for my dad to finish talking to my mother while he was picking me up from school. I'd always thought coffee looked funny and thought it tasted awful since I always saw daddy putting sugar in it. So I'd strayed from tapping into his source. Well, one this one fateful day, he was taking forever to finish speaking with her, so I was sitting in the car by myself with this yummy smelling coffee mug filled to the brim with coffee. Now, as a young child, I didn't care for overly hot drinks. But I noticed that on this day, the coffee wasn't steaming. So I picked up the mug and held it in my hands to gauge about how hot it was. It was still hot, but not scorching. So I decided to smell it. Mmmm it smelled so good, so I finally sucked it up (after looking to make sure dad wasn't coming back to find me drinking his coffee) and took my first sip. It was wonderful and I kept taking sip after sip after sip until, you guessed it, it was all gone. I was grounded for a week because of that, but every time my dad would make coffee in the morning, I would sneak out and make a little cup before he was done getting ready for work and would sneak it into my room and drink it before "wake-up time". And that was my first introduction to coffee. And while some people swear up and down that decaf is for wimps, I don't think that's the case. Frankly, my body and I get along with the less amount of caffeine that I pump into it. So I'm definitely a smell and taste kinda person. ;)

Yay!

My yarn finally came in! :) Now it's time for crappy pictures since I'm cursed with my camera phone. Huzzah!

This lovely little bundle I managed to snag up from Hello Yarn. It's called Fruit Punch in their Maisy Day Handspun and it's a yummy 100% merino. This I bought with a plan in mind, because it's going towards the condom critter I'm making my friend for Christmas (from the Naughty Needles book). So I'll probably be diving into this asap. I can't wait!

This gorgeous number was also purchased from Hello Yarn. The color is called Hot Fuzz and it's 100% corriedale wool. It's also from their Maisy Day Handspun yarn. Frankly, I'm in love with all the yarn on their site. And I've been dreaming of more. I think we're going to be in trouble soon! ;) I just bought this for myself, even though I have no idea what I'll use it for. But I haven't really spoiled my stash lately so I decided it could use something like this.

This was my last yarn purchase that I've received. The bag on the far left is the Jaeger Aqua yarn in the color 328. It's a package of 10 that I got for about $23. It's 100% mercerized cotton and it's super soft. I'm thinking about a baby project. Or maybe another number for my little cousin. The other two bags are part of the yarn I need for my cousin's Honcho Poncho for Christmas. It's two skeins each of the Jaeger Baby Merino DK in the color 213 (the red) and the bag on the top is Jaeger Matchmaker Merino DK in the color 856. I'm still waiting on the other colors to arrive but hopefully I'll get those soon so I can also start up on that poncho. Yay! It's pretty sad that when I walked in and saw the package from Hello Yarn when I got home from work, that I ran it out to the car to show it off to my friend and hugged onto the skeins like they were babies from my own womb.
I think I need help. But I don't want it. :) I'm perfectly happy being obsessed.

Uuuggh.

That's how I feel right now.
But I've started working on the sweater for Wolf's sister. It's not really anything special, but hopefully it'll come out ok. I warned her it may wind up a little crappy since it's my guinea pig project. But hopefully it'll come out ok.
2 more hours until I'm back at work again. And honestly, I'm perfectly fine with that. I'm actually enjoying my job. I'm not surrounded by drama, I don't have to deal with horrible customers, and I don't have to clean up after other people because we're given certain areas to work in and that's all that we do. Yay! And it's almost $12/hour so that means more money for yarn! ;] That's horrible.
I'm still waiting on the yarn to come through the mail so hopefully those won't take too long to get here. I'm eager to start working on Christmas gifts.
I can't wait for the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap to kick in. Seeing as how it's my first swap, I'm just eager to get going and have an excuse to buy some goodies for other people. I love to spoil others, so this should work out perfectly!
On another note, Robin's hosting a contest for her 2 year blogiversary. So you should check it out. :]

Anyways, I'm off for now to work on that sweater. The K2 P2 ribbing along the bottom is a killer. @___@ Hope everyone has a great day!

So much.

First things first, the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap is still open for registration until the 31st. 2 more days, so get on it and join us! :]

So I went around the internet quite a bit today and spent a huge chunk of my final paycheck from Michael's on yarn. Yes, a good majority of it was for Christmas present supplies, but still. My yarn stash is getting quite insane at the moment and so I'm sure my parents will have a cow when they see all this new yarn showing up on the porch. Haha.

Anyways, I've only bought for two presents at the moment, and all the other yarn I bought was for my own personal greedy joys.

One of these little condom critters (from Naughty Needles) will be thrown together for my friend K who's moved to another area of Cali. But she's been my best friend since high school, and I know that she could probably use one of these cute little critters around her pad. ;) Christmas surprise for her indeed.


This little Head Honcho Poncho from the Nursery Knits book will be going towards my little cousin. I'm sure my aunt will love it. I'm shooting to make it a little larger then she needs at the moment though so she'll have a little extra time to fully grow into it. Some coosh room never hurt anyone, right? And please excuse the crappy picture. It's the best I could do at the moment.

Tomorrow it's back to work. I need to get more knitting done. I've been slacking. :[ I'll be sure to update with pictures of the yarn once it arrives. Yay!

Wow.

Just...wow.
This new job is draining me. And it doesn't help that I'm feeling super lazy at the moment. But, working 3-11 really isn't as great as I thought. I only now realize exactly how much I would get done during the evening and night hours. But I just need to adjust to this new schedule.
Work has actually been rather fun. I haven't been dreading going in. I'm just usually a little tiffed since our machine keeps breaking down and then I wind up running out of things to do.
And I definitely will never look at a box the same way again. Pathetic, really. I never realized exactly how much detail goes into the making of those things. And frankly, I never want to see another PSP box for the rest of my life.
Anyways, with the change in schedules and slight lack of sleeping time, my knitting hours have dwindled down. I haven't even picked up a pair of knitting needles since last Sunday. Rather crazy to me when I think about it. But I know it will come back into play as soon as I've fully adjusted.
Things have been crazy hectic. And my parents are in arms at the moment because (and I warned them this would happen) my underage brother got caught drinking. So he was kicked off of his college baseball team, and if he can't keep his grades up, he won't even make it through this semester. Not only that, but the only reason he's in that college was because of a baseball scholarship. So we don't even know what's going to happen with him. And since Wolf's currently living in his bedroom, it's not much of an option for him to come back home and mooch around here. But, I told them his drinking was a problem and they didn't want to listen to me. I know my brother better then they think I do. Oh well. They'll learn one day.
Anyways, I should probably take off and get some sleep. I have to be up in 4 hours. Woohoo, party animal! Hope everyone has a nice Sunday!

Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap

Oh the wondrous joy that is coffee. I've been drinking it for as long as I can remember. As a child, I went to the same school my mother taught at (oh the fun that ensued from that) and so my dad would frequently visit her whenever he came to pick me up and take me to work. He was a big coffee drinker at that time and always had some at hand. So naturally he would always have a mug with him everywhere he went. So one day I was sitting in the car waiting for him to finish talking to my mom and take me home, when I caught the aroma wafting from his mug. Naturally, as a ten-year-old, the scent interested me and so I picked up the mug and swished the coffee around a little bit. After much sniffing and contemplating, I decided to take a swig before dad got back so I wouldn't get in trouble. The only thing was that I loved it so much, I drank the whole mug. And I've been addicted ever since. So I've decided to make my first-ever swap a coffee swap. Because what's better then knitting and sipping down some yummy coffee?

Coffee

What are your favorite kinds of coffee? I'm really open to anything. I'm still young so I've only recently begun to delve into the land of many coffees. Though anything that smells or tastes wonderful will do just fine.

Do you prefer whole bean or ground coffee? Ground. I usually make myself coffee when I'm feeling too lazy to do anything, so the less I have to do to get to that nectar, the better.

This time of year, there are often Holiday Blends available, and many flavored coffees - do you drink flavored coffee? Do you enjoy special blends? I do drink flavored coffee and I do enjoy special blends. I'm pretty much up for anything. My coffee palette is still learning.

How do you take your coffee? Cream and Sugar? Straight up? Decaf? I may be a bit of a wimp and add cream and sugar, but I can't deal with decaf. For some reason, it leaves a bad aftertaste in my mouth. :[

Do you prefer drinking from a nice thick mug, or a matched cup and saucer? I'm a thick-mug breed of girl. I'm more known for chugging down my coffee then sipping. And I usually drink it on the go, so cups and saucers wouldn't do me much good.

Winter and Holidays - PLEASE be descriptive! Your pal will need this information to be sure to put together a package you will enjoy!

What is your favorite part of Winter? I just love drinking coffee and observing the world around as everyone else is freezing like crazy. :] I'm a little sadistic at times. But I just love the fact that you can relax more then you can in the summer. As odd as it may sound, I enjoy the warmth of being all cozy in the house and sort of mocking mother nature for trying to turn my skin blue.

Do you celebrate a holiday in December, and if so, which holiday? I celebrate Christmas aka the birth of Jesus. But I also love other holidays that people celebrate during the month as well, and I'm overly hard to offend. I love learning about different cultures and heritages and celebrations, so feel free to just do what you want to do.

If you celebrate Christmas, do you put up a tree? Pretty much every year that we're able to or will be home during the holiday to make use of it. We love the feel it brings to a room.

Would you enjoy items related to the holiday, or would you prefer a Winter themed package? I would honestly have to say Winter, but basically anything that's not specifically red and green. Strangely, the two colors together make my head ache.

Do you collect anything? Are there any holiday or winter-themed items (Snowmen, Angels, Snoflakes, Santas, etc) that you collect? I collect anything moose-related (I always pick the weirdest animals to love), rubber duckies, mugs, and all things Nightmare Before Christmas.

Do you wear scarves? Mittens? Hats? All three. Granted, I rarely wear them all at the the same time, but I do love them.

What is your favorite holiday or winter treat? The only thing that's strictly a winter treat would be hot cocoa. As much as I love coffee, I still have a soft spot for some creamy cocoa.

Please share a favorite Winter or Holiday memory. My parents were sports nuts when I was growing up, so really my favorite holiday thing to do would be to go to a football game (we would always go to the local college's home games) and just sit close to each other all bundled up in jackets and blankets while drinking cocoa. My family bonded over sports.

Yarn and Crafting

Do you Knit or Crochet? For how long? I'm a knitter and I've been knitting since September 2003. So I'm still a n00b in many ways.

Do you like wooden, metal, or plastic needles\hooks? Circular or straight? I love anything but plastic. For some reason, the plastic needles just get on my nerves. Other then that, I have no specifics.

What sort of projects do you enjoy making? I'm still learning a lot, so I haven't been able to make too many non-scarf-related projects, but I just enjoy making things period. As long as I can pull it off, I love the whole process. Whether it's something for me, or something for a friend or family member.

What are your favorite types of yarn to work with? I'm really not picky about yarn. As long as it's got lovely colors and isn't super itchy, I don't care.

Do you spin or dye? I do not at this point in time, but one day I hope to do both.

Do you do other crafts such as scrapbooking or needlepoint or anything else? I do cross-stitching, and I have plans to start quilting as soon as I can make it over to a friend's house to learn. I scrapbook, but it's more of an "hey, I'm bored and I want to cut out pictures and make them pretty" thing then a hobby.

General

When is your birthday? June 25.

Do you have any children? (Furry kind count!) I just have my little dork Misty, the 8-year-old lab mix baby who's every bit as odd as her mother. I want to get another bird sometime, though, and also hope to get a rabbit or a guinea pig in the future.

What are your favorite colors? I love any colors as long as it's nothing puke-colored or fluorescent (bright colors are fine, but not the "holy hell the colors of that yarn are going to make me colorblind" hues).

Do you have any allergies? Freshly cut grass. It's the strangest thing, but I can't be on a lawn (standing, sitting, etc) even if I'm on a blanket right after it's been mowed because my legs break out in bad rashes.

2 More Days!

Yup, that's right. Two more days and then I'm gone from Michael's.
And they won't know what to do with themselves since I'm the only person there that knows anything about knitting and yarn (not that I know a lot, but some knowledge is better then none). Haha. And what's funnier is that with my final paycheck, I'll be buying yarn to use for Christmas presents. Because I don't like anything in my stash so much at this point in time. But I've finally decided to brave it and attempt to do some ponchos and if those go well, possibly some sweaters for the parents. Hopefully I won't be a total failure.

Short message today and no pictures. Woo. I'm just tired from work and we get two trucks to unload tomorrow, so I'm saving all my energy and being lazy.

Not the piddies!

Ok, so I have been super excited since I turned in my two weeks notice at work. And I haven't been this happy in a loooong time. So you can imagine how freaked out I'm getting with how happy I've been. I've been like a dog who's killed its first prey and happily dropped it in the hands of its unsuspecting owner.

I've been working on my friend's Christmas gift scarf:

I can't remember for the life of me what the yarn is called or where it came from since the labels are rolled up in the balls, but I do know that I got them for 64cents a skein. So like I could pass them up? They were regularly $8, so I had to take advantage of the bargain. And it knits up really well. It's a cute seafoam green color, too. Sorry for the sucky picture, but I lack a digital camera and have to make due with my phone until I get enough money for some snazzy picture machine.

So Sunday I wound up working since I'm taking Friday off and instead of doing what I should have been doing, I wound up having to help out with the craft project : Decorating pumpkins. Why is it that I'm never able to just focus on my work? It drives me nuts. But my honimajiganies joked at me making a wolf pumpkin for her. So I set my mind to work and got down to business. I think it looks quite horrible, but everyone else loves it. I guess it could have been much worse.




I threw my dog into a sweater the other day when I put her outside since it was 40 degrees outside. And my my does she hate those things. She doesn't throw a fit or anything, but she'll just sit there and mope and not move for about 10 minutes until she realizes that it's really not that bad. But she looks so cute in them!


She's just as stupid as her mother, though, which is why I absolutely adore her. :]

So I'm leaving work soon and I can't contain myself.


Note that I'm counting down the days until I'm GONE? Haha. And I picked that calendar specifically for the fact that it has locations from the world for the pictures. So it's like a mini vacation and a constant reminder of places I would much rather be then work. Hopefully being out of retail will make things better. The only thing I'll miss is being able to play in the yarn:

Round 2

Ok, so am I the only person who feels award knitting in public? I always get weird looks from people because of how young I am. For some reason, in my town, knitting is still viewed as something that the "old" folks are into. I mean, it can get bad. I have older ladies dogging me and telling their husbands "Hell I could do that. Why is she doing that? She's too young!" etc etc while I'm knitting in the waiting room for Andy's appointment. Ugh. It just drives me nuts. Age doesn't matter. Sure, I'm only 22, but I really enjoy knitting and I wouldn't want to give it up. It just makes me mad that people are so naive here to not notice that knitting has filtered into a younger age group as well. EMBRACE THE FACT, DAMN IT! Anyways, I'm just knitting up a quick little mint green scarf to keep myself occupied. I'll post a picture of the yarn tomorrow, but you can see part of the scarf in my user picture. I can't for the life of me remember what brand it is because when I roll my yarn into balls, I put the labels in the middle of the balls so I never lose them. Especially handy when dealing with gifts so they can have the washing information and all that good stuff. But it's really cute and it was on clearance for 64 cents a skein. How could I pass that up?!

On a different note, I think I've finally figured out what I want to do with my life. I'm thinking about going back to school and getting a business degree and starting up my own LYS. Since there's none here. So I'm already trying to plan out what I want to happen and such.
I already know that I want to better my knitting skills before I even start to delve into anything so that way I'll actually be an owner who knows what I'm talking about and all that jazz. But I'm planning on having over-night knitting sessions and things like that. Just fun out of the ordinary stuff that most people probably wouldn't think about. I think it'd be a lot of fun. And my friend Jenn said that she would love to have part in it even though she's not overly great at knitting herself. But she's said that she thinks it would be a great thing if Modesto were to finally get its own LYS. Just want to learn how to spin so I can make my own yarn so there will be more original pieces for people to purchase. Fun stuff!

Anyways, I'm off for the night. Huzzah!

Wow.

Things are going to switch up quickly in my life now. Not that I'm complaining. I'm going to be putting my two weeks in on Monday. Finally quitting Michaels after working in hell for the last 4 years. And I'll be working at Pacific Southwest Containers. Making almost $2.50 more then what I would ever make in retail. Yea, it may be a box company, but that doesn't bother me. I'll finally make enough to pay off all my bills and finally save up to move out. And on the note of moving out, my best friend / love of my life moved in.
They were going through hell in their home with their parents and paying way too much money for rent on top of having to do all the housework. So my parents let her move into my brother's room since he's off doing the college thing like a good little boy, and they dropped $150 off her rent. My relationship with my parents is getting better, though we have our heated moments from time to time. And I FINALLY got up the nerve to make my first sweater. I finally got fed up with limiting myself to the world of scarves and other simple knits, so I'm going to be making my friend's sister a sweater. She may be coming over today if she's not tired from work so I can measure her and possibly run her around to find some yarn that she likes (and isn't allergic to). I'm also excited because I can finally get my dog groomed professionally. Even though she won't be able to get her fur shaved and all that, her nails need to be clipped. Those suckers could claw their way through metal at this point, so you can imagine how much fun it is when she steps on your foot or accidentally claws you. I'm just nervous about where I take her since I need to find a place that will allow me into the grooming area with her. The time that I had to leave her with the vet to get her ear infection taken care of, she put her little heart into attempting to climb over everyone there to get to me. I had to leave the room before I started feeling guilty. She hates being without me.

So, Christmas time is coming up. But I'm not planning to get all crazy with the gifts like I have in the past. I'm only going to knit things up for my close friends. Possibly those who have given birth or will be giving birth. We need some LYS here, though. The closest store is about a 2 hour drive away from my home. And as much as I'd love to, I have way too much to do all the time to be able to make that trip. Though I'll probably use the yarn/coffee swap as an excuse to make a trip. ;)

But the weather's decided to take a turn for the worst and quickly slipped us right into flu season. The temperature went from 90 degrees to 60 degrees overnight. I'm having a hard time adjusting. But it's just going to be more incentive for me to get going again with the knitting. Yay!

Knitting + Coffee = Obsessed Much?

Ok, so I may be newish to knitting since I just recently learned how to increase and decrease much to my joyous wonder (I had decided long ago I would be doomed to a world of nothing but scarves and simple blankets for my whole knitting life), but I've always heard a lot about swaps.
So I came across this blog.
Knitting, yarn and coffee. My weaknesses.
So I'm going to just jump right in and see how this goes.
Registration ends on the 24th so there's still plenty of time to get in there.
I'm excited!

Projects To Do:

• Andrea's Blanket
• Gmo's Bunny
• Fluff's Scarf
• Panda's Scarf
  
• Xmas Gifts

And the pathetic thing is these have already taken me too long to get started on anyways.
Guess that's what happens when you're a procrastinator, huh? Haha.