New(ish) Blog

http://shutyourfaaaace.blogspot.com/
Not really new. But just reposting the link. :)

Follow the white rabbit....

Or the link. Whatever the hell you want to call it.

http://shutyourfaaaace.blogspot.com/

New blog. Add me? :)

hm...

I think I'm going to start a different blog up.
This one doesn't fit me anymore. :(
I don't feel like updating it.
New life, new blog.
Keep an eye out, I'll keep you informed.

Alright, I'm a bad blogger...

It's been almost a month since my last blog entry. I'm horrible. But I don't feel bad about it. Lol.

Before I throw you into the abyss of eye-raping with pictures from the San Francisco trip for the Cherry Blossom Festival, I have more updates for the 101 in 1001 deal.

2. I got my car on Saturday! It's my new little baby. :) '96 Eagle Talon.

Pardon the crap picture but I didn't feel like going outside right now!I paid it off on Thursday as soon as I got that tax thingy. Still have to go to the DMV to register it, but it's a beaut. for a first car. I'm excited and I looooove driving it!\

3. I got my permit! :) So I'm one step closer to getting my liscence!

6. Ok, my room isn't 100% yet, but it's slowly getting there. I've started figuring out things that I can part with through a garage sale or selling it off to stores. But I'm about half way there so yay!

18. Wolf got herself a new job. She's keeping herself busy at Petco, so yay! She really doesn't like it there, but she's going to stay there until she can find a better full-time job that she'll enjoy a bit more. So I'm still hoping, but there's at least a bit more income coming in our way.

22. I signed up for Netflix. Enough said. Lol!

26. Comes with decluttering my room. I have majorly reduced the amount that I have stashed away in my room. Everything I'm not wanting I'm going to recycle. Whoo!

37. I Sunday I finished stretching out my ear to a size 2. I'll probably post pics once I can take out these rings and put in my spiral star ones. Yay!

67. I've organized all my knitting goodies. So it's much much easier to find everything!

70. Dad got his Wii. Whoo!

73. I rarely have Starbucks now. The only time really is on Sundays when it's my parent's treat. It's good!

91. I've stopped shopping at Michael's. I've been more supportive of the other store like Jo Ann's and Beverly's. Saves on gas too since Beverly's is only a 5 minute walk from my house. Heaven much? ;)

93. Little man has been more then enough of a handfull for Petme, so we know she's not getting bored! Lol.

So 11/101 things in just 5 months. I don't think it's that bad. -shrug-

I'll probably be posting the pictures tomorrow or tonight now because it's been 1 hour of waiting time and flickr's only 88% done with uploading. @___@ Sorry.

But I should have some knitting updates next time as well!

So...wow...

Sorry it's been a while since I actually updated. :/ I've been crazy again.
But my next post shall be a big one. I promise. With lots of pictures. Why?
Because on Sunday my friends and I went to San Francisco to Japan Town for the Cherry Blossom Festival. :) So I'll be sharing those pictures with you just as soon as I upload them onto the comp for sharing. It was a blast, though.
Haven't done a whole lot on the knitting end. I've been working on another pair of Fetching for a friend, but something keeps going wrong every time. :( So we'll have to see.
Hope that everyone's having a good week!

SFCYS Topic #4

Let's pretend for a minute we all live in the home of our dreams, have land, and don't have to work so time is unlimited! It's Spring planting season! What would you grow? A little veggie garden? A bed of bright spring blooms? Or is your thumb so far from green that the only thing you'd be planting is your tushy into a nice chair on the porch to get some knitting or crocheting done in the nice breeze?

I've already decided that when I get things going and get a place of my own with a backyard, I want to have a little bit of both. I want to get some flowers in there, but not too many because I freak whenever I see bees and wasps and things like that. @___@ But I'd love to grow my own veggies and such. That'll be the main thing I'll grow. And then sit on the porch and knit while I wait for everything to start growing. ;)

SFCYS Topic of the Week # 3

Tell us how you started drinking coffee. Were you in high school or college and making it through all nighters? Did you get it from a family member? What drives your love of the bean?

My dad was the coffee nut of the family. He never left home without a cup. He would have a cup in his car when he came to pick me up from school when I was in the 2nd grade. My mom was a teacher at the school so he would often stick around and I would sometimes opt out to sit in the car. I always eyed his coffee because the weird substance fascinated me and I wondered why it was so addictive to old people. So I got really curious one day and decided to take a sip of the black brew. It was a little bitter but I liked it. And since then, I've been hooked. :)

SFCYS Weekly Topic #2

Since some of us is beginning to see glimpse of Spring, while others are still getting snow have you change what projects are working on? Have you put away the hats, scarfs and mittens, and brought out the cute tank top sweater projects and lacy wraps? Have you change yarn to something more lighter and cooler, not so heavy and bulky?

Haha, no. I actually joined a group on Ravelry that's aimed to keep you up-to-date on all your knitting and help you get Christmas gifts out of the way in a timely matter. So haven't changed anything, really. I'm not one to have yarn-color-swings to where my color likes change during the different seasons. I don't change anything for different seasons. :)

Sorry I haven't posted lately. Things have been crazy.
Hopefully I'll have a nice update soon!

Ugh.

Update on the puppy. Even though I had to convince him to let us keep the puppy, the puppy is now my dad's because he loathed the name Zeus for the little guy. His name is now Rocky. And he's a very strange one, but we love him.

I still need help with that cable on the Coronet hat. I follow what the pattern says, but the cable is scrunched up instead of spreading along the width like it's suppose to. Now I'm just getting frustrated. Which I hate. Rah.

Haven't done a whole lot of knitting. Haven't done a whole lot of anything for that matter.

Have some updates for the 101 in 1001 list.
2. I'm in the process of buying the car as we speak. The people I'm buying it from are holding it while I make payments. I should have it in my possession by the end of May at the latest. Huzzah!
24. I've already decided to frog 2 projects that have been sitting on the needles for a long time. I'm still digging up more UFOs so we'll see.
39. I actually went at it with this friend. We're cool now. Even went drinking and playing pool over the weekend. Was nice.
41. I actually bought a homeless man and his wife a meal. I had $20 to spend and bought them enough stuff for a few day's worth of sandwiches. I felt really good to help.
73. Starbucks is now a Sunday goodie. A reward for getting to church on time. Lol. And it's a treat from my parents. So who can complain? Besides I'm a sucker for a nice iced chai tea latte. ;)
77. It's amazing how lack of money makes one kick into high gear. No more fast food, no more pizza. It costs too much. And usually makes us sick anyways. Boo.
93. Well this one pretty much solved itself. It came in a form now known as Rocky!

That's it so far, but I'm happy with my progress. Yay me~

Hope everyone enjoyed their hump day!

SFCW Weekly Topic 1

Browse around some of the other blogs of participants, and find one person who enjoys a similar roast coffee to you - share something interesting about them that you find on THEIR blog, and tell us what you've been working on knitting or crochet-wise this week!

Well I found myself stalking around at My Knitting and Me. Surprisingly I had to go through quite a few links before I found someone that enjoys medium roasts. Shocker!
Now something interesting about her...hmm...she's also getting into quilting. Which is something I've been meaning to do for a while.
And this week, I've been working on that wanabe Lotorp bag, started on the Coronet hat -still need major help with that cable issue :( - and when I got frustrated with that cable band, I cast on for the April Showers Scarf (using Cottontots because I'm a nerd like that and it was in direct reach of the stash lol). That's pretty much it for now though. Yay.

Happy Sunday!

Holy cow. Help?

First, I'd like to introduce everyone to the newest member of our family.

Wolf and I have decided his name shall be Zeus. Ignore the unmade bed. He piddled and we had to wash sheets. Lol. He's getting along great with PetMe and pretty much instantly clicked with our family. My mom was the hard one to convince to let him stay. We've never had male dogs. But if I'm going to fork out for the vet bill since they can't afford it, we get to keep him. ;) He was found a few houses down in the middle of the night while it was raining, but they couldn't keep him because they have dog-hating cats. We were the first family they found that would hold him. Is it wrong to hope that he's been lost? Because we are. He was really filthy thirsty and hungry when we found him and he seems to have fleas and possibly ear mites, so either way, he doesn't seem to have been well-cared for...but either way, we love the little guy.

Now onto the help! I decided to cast on for the Coronet hat and for some reason, the cable's not coming out right. And I'm still a n00b at cables. Remember, the Fetching was my first go.

That's what it's suppose to look like.

This is how mine's coming out. And I'm following the cable panel instructions to a t. So is it possible that it was put up wrong? Or am I just being an idiot? I'm so confused. ;__; I wanted to have this done asap because I've been a bad knitter lately...

And an update, our knitting group looks like it may be growing! I wore my Fetching gloves out last night and the waitress that served us when we went and got dinner said she thought they were really cute. So J piped in and said that I knit them. The waitress said she'd tried it when she was 7 and hated it, but thought she'd try to give it a go sometime. So before we left, we asked her if she'd be interested even though J and I are still n00bies. She got all excited and gave us her number. And she works nights which is perfect! Now it's just a matter of figuring out a time and what days to meet on.... Hmmmm....

And as for the Lotorp bag...

I'm a lot farther along with the strap since I took that picture, but I couldn't resist actually getting to show off the knitting in the sunshine. Lol. I'm nervous about the sewing, though...

Anyways, hope everyone has a good end to the weekend!

What a blah day (+yet another contest)

Contest at Chan Knits. If you make it by, let her know I sent you. :)

And don't forget about the other contests at Happy Handwork (ends tomorrow) and Ponyknits (ends Friday). They're still going on.

I swear, everyone's having contests right now. Lol.

I've finished with the final bit of the purse. Just working on the strap now.

Lucked out and got a day off today...the plant was down. But I'm having to spend it cleaning.
Poopie.
I don't want to clean. :(

See?

Told you there'd be knitting.

Lotorp Bag. Super easy knit so far. Wishing that I'd gone with a bit of a brighter colorway, but we'll have to see what the end result comes out as...

That's it for today. Hooray!

Nerds Gone Wild (+another contest link)

(Happy Handwork. Go there. Tell her I sent you. That Malabrigo is gorgeous.)

Thought that would get your attention.

But no worries, there's no pictures of puny white boys in glasses running around showing off their Pokemon cards like the whores we all know they are.

This is a really horrible picture, but imagine with me ok.

This is the front yard of the house next door to us. That portion of a stump is the property line. Which is why we never got rid of it. Now, we had some nerds move in next door last week. Seriously. This made me giggle because, no offense, it's nice to have someone non-Mexican on the street again. Honestly. We were the last white family on the block. And I love nerds. But they have an obsession with watering their yard. Ok, I understand that it was a little dead. But I'd swear they're fertilizing it as the grass was nonexistant 2 days ago and now it looks like a case of Jack and the Millions of Smallish Beanstalks. It already reaches my ankle. So Wolf and I decided to try and figure out what they're attempting to make a forest for. And this is just one of the reasons that I love her even more. "What're they doing? Building a little forest for Dungeons and Dragons?" Now, I busted a gut. Seriously. Because I could imagine it. Going out there on a day off and hearing someone yelling from amist the giant blades of grass that they want to be the Dungeon Master. But, let's not forget that I'm also slightly braindead.

And lookie what I got today!

(pay no attention that thing I call a face) It's a Jack Skellington shirt! My darling Zu from Washington sent it to me. It's a super late xmas gift because we're both lazy like that. I haven't even sent hers out yet. Lol.

And I officially hate iPod. Really.
But I still love the people I work with.
Where I work, we make these iPod boxes. That we have to put together. By hand.
Amazing, isn't it?

See that little white shaped slab on the bottom right? That's what we start off with. That crap on the belt? That's what we end up with. Whenever Apple orders these, they order 75,000. That's a lot. We hate it. But it's not too bad.

So yesterday we had nothing to do but set up for 3rd shift so I started making boxes. And thought a brick wall would be fun to put together.
Then one of the guys Emmanuel and I played Jenga with our brick wall. Nothing fell. Thankfully. Because we would have been in deep shit.

Then before we clocked out, we decided to make a pyramid. See the slabs yet again on the table. The legs under the pyramid are Shane's. He wanted to kick it over because it'd be a cool picture. But none of us wanted to clean up the mess, so he didn't. We're lazy like that.

Knitting updates in next post. :)

101 in 1001

This is my list that I've thrown together to go along with the 101 in 1001 project.

Boy was this list a lot tougher to put together then I was expecting it to be...
And sorry if there's any repeated ones. I'll highlight ones that are completed or being worked on.

1. Learn to crochet.
2. Buy a car. Completed 05/08/08

3. Get my driver's liscence. (update)
4. Knock out my yarn stash.
5. Get myself more organized.
6. Get rid of all the extra clutter and junk in my room that I don't need.
7. Move out of my parent's house.
8. Start a knitting group.
9. Fearless knitting.
10. Start eating healthier.

11. Go to the gym again.
12. Get my weight down to at least 180.
13. Get my laptop fixed.
14. Get out of the house more.
15. Spend more time visiting and hanging out with friends.
16. Start cross stitching again.
17. Teach my mom how to scrapbook.
18. Help Wolf find a new job. Completed 04/26/08
19. Take better care of my body.
20. Get a tattoo.

21. Start up a knitting club.
22. Watch more movies. Completed 05/01/08
23. Start reading again. Shoot for 25 books every year minimum.
24. Get rid of my UFOs. Figure out what to continue and what to frog. (update)
25. Work on my drawing skills.
26. Get rid of my huge magazine stash. Completed 05/01/08
27. Shoot to use more earth-friendly products.
28. Possibly give vegetarianism a shot. Possibly.
29. Learn to paint.
30. Be more honest with myself.

31. Be more honest with others.
32. Learn to be content with how my life is instead of trying to perfect everything.
33. Go to PRIDE week in San Francisco.
34. Start saving up money instead of spending it all.
35. Work on paying off my cards. I have 5 cards that are currently maxed out. Not good.
36. Get my body on a regular cycle of sleep.
37. Stretch my ears out to a size 2 gauge. I'm at a size 4 now. Just one more size to go. Completed 05/13/08
38. Get out and make new friends.
39. Work on my huge dislike for one of Wolf's friends. Completed
40. Start eating healthier foods.

41. Be more charitable. I tend to wait until the holidays to do so. (update)
42. Make Sunday School more enjoyable for the kids.
43. Figure out where I'd like my life to be in a few years.
44. Go back to school.
45. Start making plans and saving up to open my own LYS.
46. Volunteer around town. I have mornings off, so this should be more then do-able.
47. Spend less time on the computer and more time with my family.
48. Truly delve into Buddhism.
49. Learn to love and live with my flaws.
50. Try new things.


51. Stop just lurking in other's blogs and start commenting.
52. Help Wolf find a new job.
53. Help Wolf pay off bills so we can move out together sooner rather then later.
54. Travel more. I've always loved traveling and I haven't done a lot of it lately. Road trip anyone?
55. Go see an eye doctor. I need reading glasses. It's been about 5 years since I've had any. I have no excuses with my new benefits having already kicked in...
56. Go see my dentist. Though I know the results won't be good. I have horrible teeth. They don't produce enough enamel to protect themselves and I have an allergic reaction to enamel producing tooth pastes and mouth washes...
57. Actually make Christmas gifts this year. I always plan to do it, but never pull through.
58. Make a sweater. For me.
59. Volunteer more around my town.
60. Buy a spinning wheel. I want to learn to spin...

61. And a sewing machine so I can learn to quilt...
62. But only after I've moved out because I'll need a crafting room for this!
63. Spend more time with my family. Not mom and dad family. But my family that lives one town over that I only see once every blue moon.
64. Spend more time with Wolf. Just part of finding a better time balance for my life.
65. Get my parents to help out with the cleaning effort and have them make a pile of things they don't need anymore.
66. Have a yard sale.
67. Organize my knitting needles. I need some fool-proof plan that I can't mess up. Completed
68. Get in touch with my brother. I haven't talked to him but two times since he moved to Indiana to play baseball for Indiana State last summer.
69. Play my Wii more. Though this may require buying more games. ;)
70. Help my dad get his Wii. It was suppose to be a Christmas gift for last year, but he never went out and got it so I could pay him back. Completed

71. Go to my best friend's wedding. I haven't really seen him much since he got engaged because his fiance doesn't really care for me because of the bond he and I have from growing up togther. But she can suck it up now. I don't care.
72. Move my room around. Well, the furniture anyways. I'm kinda sick after if being the same for 3 years.
>del>73. Cut down on the amount of starbucks I inhale on a fairly regular basis. I'm better off brewing my own anyways. Completed
74. Help my parents more. Let's face it, they're becoming old foges. They need more help around the house, expecially with my dad's back the way it is.
75. Start taking PetMe for walks. Expecially since it's now Spring time. Whoo!
76. Spend a day with Wolf doing nothing but cleaning out our storage shed and figuring out things to get rid of.
77. No more fast food. (update)
78. Try and get myself out of a soda kick and drink more water and juices. I'd like to just completely cut out soda in general. We'll see.
79. Sneak in healthier snacks to movies. Seriously. $8 for a bottle of water? Come on now..
80. Teach someone how to knit.

81. Make Wolf her blanket. I promised her a blanket when I first started knitting. It still has yet to show up. I'm thinking about making it a card theme so when we move out we can use it in our Poker-themed room.
82. Learn to use Polymer Clay.
83. Make an etsy store when I actually start making things that are sellable.
84. Learn how to dye yarn.
85. Stop being so lazy. Let's face it. I'm probably one of the laziest asses you'll find around.
86. And stop procrastinating. I'm horrible. HORRIBLE. at getting things done in a timely matter.
87. Get another bird. I love parakeets. I grew up with them as pets. And I want another one, damn it.
88. Start delving into Buddahism. I love the overall concept of it and I'm sure it'll help me to
89. Become a better person.
90. Do more for charity.

91. Stop shopping at Michael's. The manager for the one in my town's a bitch. And I know this first-hand since I used to work there. I enjoy my new job much better. Completed
92. Start supporting more indie designers. I love the concept of "screw the big wig" that these people have.
93. Find PetMe a friend. She needs more dog socialization. We've lagged in doing so since Shadow passed away last year. Completed
94. Organize my closet. My main goal is to have all my craft storage in my closet. It will make things a lot easier...
95. Make a KAL or a Swap of my own. :)
96. Finish all the knits that I have planned for 2008.
97. Be a better daughter.
98. Be a better friend.
99. Don't sleep quite as much. I sleep in waaay too long in the mornings.
100. Make sure that my room stays clean. I'm messy. Really messy.

101. HAVE FUN.

Lucky Toast

Apparently things are getting a little hot and heavy in the cereal aisle. I'm just glad that Wolf and I stumbled across it during the cuddling mode...

Fetching, no? (+ contest link)

What? What's this? An FO? Are you kidding me?
Nope, this isn't an illussion. I have no issues with admitting that I'm a procrastinator, even when it comes to my knitting. But with this mini semi-knitting club going on right now, it's giving me more motivation to get my projects done in a timely matter. Yay!

Pattern: Fetching [rav link]
Yarn: Artfibers Kyoto in a pink colorway. I got this yarn in a swap and it came from Artfibers in San Francisco, CA. It's yummy.
Started: March 7 2008
Finished: March 19 2008
Modifications: None!
Issues: Ladders and holes where I had to pick up the stitches for the thumbs. But I'm not going to get all emo over it because it was my first time working on DPNs and knitting cables and picking up stitches. So lots of newie mistakes to be had! Anyone have any tips on how to get rid of ladders? Because I was pulling the yarn super tightly on the corners to try and prevent them.

Hope everyone's having a great week so far! ;)

PS Ponyknit is having a Malabrigo March contest. If you can stop by, let her know that I sent you. ;)

Swaps are fun.

Have I ever told anyone that? ;)
My Longing for Spring swap package came in today!
Cassandra was my upstream partner and I'm very glad. She sent me 2 patterns, 1 for a knit hat and 1 for a crochet hat in case I ever really do pick it up! Then she sent me some handmade soap, a hazelnut candle, Needled to Death by Maggie Sefton, A gorgeous ring that had red tiger lillies around it. And 2 skeins of both the Soft Gold and Blue Haze colors in Bernat Handicrafter Cotton. And it's mighty soft stuff too!

So that makes me really happy, expecially since today was a rather shitty day.

I'm still working on that list but it should be up fairly soon. The sad thing is I've already knocked a few things off of it. Lol. I'm all eager to get it going.

Anyways I'm off to grub. Hope everyone's had a great Monday!

Announcment and Looking Ahead.

First off, the announcement. My friend Jenn and I have finally gotten our asses together to start forming a knitting group. We meet mainly in the mornings, although we haven't set up certain days of the week to hang out just yet as she babysits and runs her schedule based on her sister's needs. But we get together in the mornings since I work a swing shift, so that gives us a chance to get together. Neither of us claim to be great knitters. I'm just now showing her how to knit in the round. ;) And we're both in our early 20's. But we're looking for other people who would be interested in joining up. So if you or anyone that you know lives in the Modesto area (or at least fairly close to it) in California and would be interested in getting together with us, just let me know and I can pass along more information as we figure things out. We're trying to recruit. We're even thinking about going to the mall and sitting and knitting to try and get people to join. We're weird like that.

Now for the looking ahead. I have a HUGE drive to get my life going in a direction that will make me happier. Not to say that I'm not happy now, but my life has no real direction. I've always been the uber sparatic person that doesn't plan things and just takes life as it comes. But it's not as glamorous as it seems. So I've decided to join up with the 101 in 1001 project. I've been eyeing it quite a bit lately and have just decided to jump in. Now's a good time because I'm really motivated since things are starting to look up a bit for me. So I'll get that list going and post it up here as soon as it's done. :)

Hope everyone's enjoying their week so far!

Spring Fling Coffee And Yarn Swap

Go here. It's the spring version of the Winter Wonderland Coffee Swap that I took place in over the winter. And I think this will be one of those swaps that I stick to for as long as I can. I just had a total blast last time. Sign-ups aren't open until the 20th, but I'm going to get this posted now so I don't have to rush at it later. :)

Coffee

1. What is your preference? Whole beans or ground? Either way. There's a grinder in our house. Though we do use a french press, so if you get ground, I need a course grind. :)

2. What kind of coffees do you enjoy? A rich, bold roast; a light, fresh one, or something in between? Leaded or non? I'm usually drawn to medium roasts, but I'm always up for trying new coffee.

3. If you were headed out right now to buy some coffee for the house, what would you be picking up? Depending, I'll either run to the store and buy their grind-your-own blends or I'll run down to Borders and grab a bag of their Javanilla blend. It's so yummy!

4. Do you drink for caffeine, pleasure, or both? Definately both. I mainly drink coffee when I need a caffeine fix, but I enjoy it soooo much that I'll even drink it when I really don't need it. I get cravings.

5. Do you enjoy flavored coffees? How about add-ins or flavored creamers? I definately enjoy flavored coffees, but I'm fine with regulars as well. As for add-ins, I've discovered the Splenda flavores for coffee. It lets me give the coffee really nice flavor with the creamer without that really sweet taste of the sugar. And I'm a sucker for anything French Vanilla flavored.

6. A large, lovely mug or a small, dainty cup? I actually collect cute mugs of any sort. Expecially anything artsy-looking. 2-cup portions, 1-cup portions, either one works fine for me. :) Besides, I don't get along that well with anything small and dainty.

7. Describe your perfect cup - not JUST the coffee, but how you'd enjoy it! Every cup's like the perfect cup to me. I have my coffee brewing down to a tee. Lol. I have joygasms everytime I make a brew.

8. You're sitting down to enjoy a nice cup in the local coffee shop, knitting bag in hand, iPod all tuned up - or maybe you're there with a few friends for knit night! What treat do you pick up to enjoy with your coffee? A sweet, rich brownie, or something more healthy? How about a salty treat? What goes best with that great cup and company? Actually, I'm really not one for eating treats with my coffee. There's nothing wrong with it. I just usually get too wrapped up in the coffee to remember to eat it!

Yarn

1. Do you knit or crochet? I knit. :) Slowly getting to learn crochet though.

2. What are your favorite types of yarns to work with? I'm up for anything and everything. I've only recently discovered the world outside of acrylics, so I'm still technically a total yarn virgin.

3. What do you have on the needles (or hook!) right now? I'm making my own pair of Fetching and Norberta for my baby niece's birthday. And then all that stuff that a shoved in the corner of my closet, but sssshhhhh we don't talk about that.

4. What are your favorite colors in yarns? What about those that you'd never find in your stash? My favorite colors in general are purples and pinks and teals. I love pink-black combos, pink-brown combos and teal-brown combos. But I'm up for anything as long as it's not neon.

5. What sort of needles or hooks do you enjoy using? Any you just detest? The only type of needles I don't care for are plastic. Other then that, I'm not picky at all.

6. Are there any particular notions you absolute do NOT need? Some of us swap a lot - are you sure that you have enough tape measures to last your lifetime? Enough stitch markers to mark every stitch of a 10 foot wide afghan? I actually only have one of everything right now. So anything you'd want to send would be fine. Surprise me!

7. You walk into the yarn shop and have exactly and only enough money to purchase 2 skeins of yarn in their 2 for 20 special they have going..The choices are a soft, thick cotton/viscose blend in your favorite colors, slightly variegated..a beautiful sock yarn that's just squishy and sproingy in your hands.. a soft, worsted weight wool like malabrigo.. and a lovely bamboo blend with colors to just die for. Which do you walk out the door with? I don't even know. @___@ I knit with anything and everything. And I haven't even stepped into a LYS because there's no local ones. The only things non-acrylic I have ever fondled is Cascade 220 and Noro yarn. Plus the goodies that I've receieved in swaps.

Spring

1. We're starting sign-ups on the first day of Spring - is it already truly Spring-like where you are? Oh yea, it's Spring alright. Lol.

2. What's your favorite spring flower? Do you have one? My favorite flowers in general are Gerbera Daisies and Orchids.

3. What do you most look forward to about springtime? The rain.

4. They've predicted a gorgeous day tomorrow - Sunny and about 65 with a nice breeze - how do you spend your day? Sadly, I'd probably be stuck at work. Lol. If not, I either go out somewhere with some friends or sit in my room with my curtains and windows open and knit. Besides, 65 is a bit chilly for me. Lol.

5. The day after, it's going to be cooler and pouring down rain - does that impact your mood? How do you spend that day? what helps cheer you up? I'm actually happier when it rains. I've always loved it. I'll sit in my living room and watch the rain for hours on end and sometimes wonder out and let myself get soaked if it's not raining too hard. And if it gets too chilly, it's nothing a cup of coffee or cocoa can't heal.

Odds n Ends

1. Do you collect anything BESIDES yarn and needles? Anything Japanese oriented, anything Nightmare Before Christmas, rubber duckies, and artsy mugs. :)

2. Are you allergic to anything? Nothing that I know of.

3. Do you have pets? Yup, my little baby Misty.

4. Is this your first swap, or are you an old pro? What are the last 2 swaps you participated in? It's not my first, but I'm not an old pro yet either. Lol. The last 2 swaps I participated in was the Longing for Spring Swap and a mitten pattern + yarn swap on Ravelry.

5. List 3 of your favorite blogs - craft related or not - and tell us why you love them.
1) Shut Up, I'm Counting - Her blog is always great for a laugh for me and she always comes across the most gorgeous patterns.
2) Mochimochi Blog - The toys she comes up with are always absolutely amazing. Enough said.
3) Ravelry - It's not a blog, but I spend more time on there then I do reading blogs, so I'm letting it count! :')

You know how it is.

So I'm feeling super excited and accomplished and finally feel like sharing that project I was being all greedy over.

Remember how my mitten swap partner sent me that pretty pink yarn and the Fetching pattern (rav link)?

Well I decided to finally roll up my sleeves, stop being a baby, and dive into cables.

What can I say, that pink yarn was calling to me! Lol.

And holy hell am I proud of myself! Look at that! Pretty, pretty cables!
I squealed. I cried. I scared the hell out of the dog. But they came out really well!
And I'm also proud of myself because this is my first time knitting in the round on dpn's.
Be proud of me, no? ;)
I have more done on Norberta. I finished her belly, her main body, her spikes. Working on the hind legs. Then I just have to make the arms and the wings and sew her all up. I'm feeling great about my accomplishments so far.

Now I just need to get started on that sweater for Wolf's sister, but I'm having major gauge issues with that, so we'll have to see...

Dandy's having a contest.

Here.
It's super easy.
All you have to do is guess how many ends are in that bowl.
Easy peasy, right?
I have knitting I could share, but I'm feeling sick and greedy and don't want to show anyone at the moment.
It's ok. You can tell me I'm not all mentally there.
I already know it. ;)

It came!

This is my package from my mitten swap that was in the mitten-a-month-along group.We just had to send along some yarn and a pattern for mittens.So I got spoiled! Lol.The upper left is the card she sent along which is absolutely cute. Monkey monkey monkey. The upper right is a package of art nouveau postcards of a Japanese fashion since she's a very clever blog-stalker. The bottom right are some cookies from a local bakery which, as it should be, have already been devoured. The middle is the pattern for the Fetching gloves and then the yarn? Kyoto from Artfibers. Can we say LOVE?! It's 69% silk, 25% super kid mohair, 6% extrafine wool. I drooled. Horribly so. It's super soft. I almost don't want to knit with it, but why would I want to rob myself of the pleasure? ;) I've started working on Norberta (rav link) in my attempt to get out of this knitting slump I'm in. It's coming along really quick and so far it's been a pretty damn easy pattern! I'll post some pictures up when I get a bit more done. But now I need to head off. I hope everyone has a great day! :) Ps, Dandy, I would like to note that one can never be too spoiled. ;)

Viva la Ravelry!

Seriously, though. I love Ravelry and I'm so glad that I got sucked into it.

I participated in a Mitten swap via one of the groups I'm in. Nice and easy. All we had to do was pick out a pattern and send some yarn for either the pattern or enough for a pair of mitts. I sent out the package on Saturday and I really hope she likes it. @__@

Anyways, it was never specified if it needed to be a secret swap or not, so I decided to just break the secrecy code and send my partner a message to let her know that the package had been sent.

And by golly did I get a great swap partner.

We're getting along perfectly well with all of our smartassing and just generally picking on each other and being whores like that.

It's great fun. So far I've had awesome swap pals.

Dandy was a blast to talk to (by the way, Fred's really excited to meet Eddie! ;) ). My partner for the Longing for Spring Swap (after some blog stalking) and I have soo many things in common. Like a rather unhealthy addiction to weird movies. And now my mitten swap partner and I have the same attitude. It's always a trip finding out how much you get along with other people. And if it weren't for the swaps, I probably never would have met these people. And that makes me sad.

What's even sadder?

Yup, The mittens I'd hoped to have done for myself at the end of February. See how awesome I am at getting things done on a schedule?

But it's all in vain. After I'd switched to the size 6's after an annoying amount of 1x1 ribbing and was getting ready to start shaping the thumb gusset, I realized I was making the wrong size for my man hands.

Oh joy...

So now to start it all over again!

I'm determined to get some things taken care of and off my knitting list this year, so I'm off to start working towards that again. Wish me luck???...

Meet Fred

Isn't he gorgeous? Crowntail beta fish. He's like a mini dog. I call for him and he swims to the front of the tank. I guess that means he likes his name, no? ;)

No knitting goodies to post up. Things have been crazier this month then even last month. Tearing apart my room to reorganize it, and so all I've been doing is cleaning and working.

Wolf's quiting her job today (yay, I'm so happy!) so that should make things a bit easier.

But I figured I could at least post to let everyone know I'm still alive! Lol. Hope everyone has a great week!

Kris

Spazmo Dog with Beer

No, I'm not stupid enough to feed my dog beer.

And I've learned a valuable lesson about leaving knitting lying around.

At least it's not my project she's eating at. I had a feeling this dog was a yarn fanatic from the get-go so I keep everthing well out of reach of her grubby paws and fangs. She just thinks it's the greatest toy ever. But also keep in mind that when a toy squeaks, she won't touch it for days for fear that it's alive. Yup, she's that kind of dog. My big baby.

Now, I have knitting to post! I've been working on this since January but only now realized I'd never posted a picture of the stupid thing! Go me, right?

This would be the Hangover Helper from Son of Stitch and Bitch. It was planned for my brother's 21st birthday on January 21. See how well that turned out, huh? But it's my first intarsia-style knitting and I'm proud of myself for finally getting through the hard part. I pulled a little too tightly between colors at some areas, but since it's going to be rounded and made into a pillow, I don't see the importance of worrying. Not to mention that I'm sure my bro's really not going to like it as he'd much rather have the real thing. But now I can tell him that he always has beer on hand so to stop asking me for money. ;)

Anyways, IT'S FRIDAY! And I have tomorrow off from work. So that means some knitting and cleaning time! Like woah!

Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Swap Questionnaire

So I've had another serious lack of knitting so far. This month may not prove to be much more productive then January.
But I do have President's Day off from work so maybe I'll see about reserving that day just for knitting. I think I could get some good stuff off that list then.

Now, I've decided to join up with the Longing for Spring Swap because frankly I need a damn excuse to get out there looking at more knitting goodies. I haven't even had the time for that lately. :[

But for anyone interested, they're going until Valetine's Day or until they have 40 people participating for signups. So get your ass in there! I know you want to! ;)

Anywho, onto the questionnaire!

1. Do you knit or crochet? How long have you been at your craft?
I'm a knitter through-and-through. I've tried picking up crochet but I can't really teach myself that for some reason. But I do plan to get into it eventually.
And I learned how to knit in September 2003 and settled for only making scarves until 2006 when I started really looking and discovered the world outside of scarves.
2. What are your favorite yarns/fibers? What are your least favorite yarns/fibers?
I really don't have a favorite and a least favorite. Is that weird?
3. What are your favorite colors? What are your least favorite colors?
I'll soon for anything that's a combo of pink + black. Other then that I really don't care. I just don't like puke greens and overly bright colors. Nothing neon.
4. What ‘warm weather’ project are you looking forward to making this year?
Honestly, I haven't even really though about it. @____@
I'll mainly be knitting to get Christmas presents and everything ready to go.
5. What are you favorite scents? Least favorite?
I love the smell of coffee and freshly baked cookies. As for least favorites...poop, rotting food and skunks!
6. What is your favorite flower?
I'm such a sucker for an orchid. That's my upmost favorite. But I also love tigerlillies, hydrangeas and gerbera dasies.
7. What are you favorite spring time hobbies/activities?
I haven't had a chance to really get into any hobbies or activities due to schooling. But I'm thinking about dabbling in some springtime gardening and also getting around to watch sports and such.
8. Do you have a garden? If you do, tell us a little about it. Do you like to plant flowers or vegetables?
I'm currently lacking a garden of any sort. But my mother and I are wanting to get back into the game again. I'm planning on getting back into planting flowers, but I always loved planting vegestables when I was little. I'd love to get back into some of these things.
9. What are your favorite sweets?
I love Butterfingers and Abba Zabba's. But I'm always up for new things. I'm not that picky. ;)
10. Do you collect anything?
I collect all things Nightmare Before Christmas. As far as normal things, I don't really collect a whole lot. I lack space to store collections in. Oh, but I love anything Japanese!
11. Do you have any allergies?
Nothing involving the yarn world. :)
12. Do you have any pets?
I have my little brat, Misty. She's a lab mix and since I haven't had the money to do a gene test and all that goodness, a lab mix she shall remain!

They're done!

Andy's mitts are finally done! It's about time, neh? January turned out to be a lot more hectic then I was expecting so I didn't even get my other 4 planned projects done. Sucks.

The pattern was Hands Like A Hole by Vicki Howell.
The yarn was Bernat Satin Sport in black. I used 2 skeins because I wanted to double the yarn to make them warmer. I also changed the pattern a bit so the seam was along the bottom of the hand and also added some partial rows so they'd fit her arms properly.
Made for Wolf. And I think she likes them. :]

But now I'm off to get my ass ready for work. Hope everyone has a great Thursday!

Tammi Contest

Sorry, no updates just yet. I have about 2 seconds before I need to get ready for work. @___@ Shoot me now?

Just wanted to let everyone know about Tammi's 100 Post Contest.
Go enter it, dudes.

Update soon....I hope...

Busy busy.

Chicken with its head chopped off and all that jazz.
In fact, I should be getting ready for work right now. We can see that's happening real well. ;)

Vicki tagged me for a meme. So I'll continue with the non-getting-ready to fill it out real quick.

7 Random Facts... now these are the rules:
-Link to the person’s blog who tagged you.
-Post these rules on your blog.
-List seven random and/or weird facts about yourself.
-Tag seven random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.
-Let each person know that they have been tagged by posting a comment on their blog

Random facts, eh? So thoughtful. Lol.
1. I treat my dog like she's a human child.
2. I still enjoy playing with Lego's.
3. I have a bad habit of nibbling on things when I'm trying to think. So right now I'm nibbling on the top of a water bottle. Lol.
4. I'm finding myself slightly obsessive over anything pink.
5. I'm extremely sarcastic.
6. I talk to myself when I'm looking in the mirror (but none of that "Oh who's that sexy thing?!" crap, mainly just talking myself through plans or events)
7. My brother's playing baseball for Indiana State.

I'll figure out who to tag for this when I get back. :)

And quick updates. Still haven't finished the gloves for Wolf yet. Things have been a little crazy for both of us. She's got a nerve test coming up on Thursday to see if she's got a pinched nerve in her right arm. Poor thing. I was starting to get her sucked into the knitting world just before that. She says it's the damn needles. Lol.

Pictures next post.

Huzzah!

My downstream swap partner, Vicki, finally got her package today.
This makes me happy. Especially since she loved the package.
And I hope she finds ways to make use of everything that was sent. Lol.

My laptop is out of commission for a bit since the screen on my laptop broke.
I'm sneaking on my parent's computer right now. Lol.

I took my gift certificate for The Paper Habit and bought myself 2 skeins of sock yarn and some size 1 needles. I'll post details later. But needless to say, I finally just decided to go for it and delve into socks. Especially since I found a nifty tutorial here.
The yarn is Knitcol from Adriafil and I snagged up the colorway Fantasia Dégas. It's superwash, so I figured I would try it. After all, I don't have to wear my first socks if they don't turn out right. ;) I may try casting on for the first on before the end of the week. Yay!

Not much else that I can think of to say at the moment. Well I hope everyone has a great week! :]

So I Hate Resolutions...

Because I can never stick with them.
res·o·lu·tion - noun - a resolve or determination
But if that's the case...then why do so many people make their resolutions so unrealistic?
So to beat myself in this game, I decided to make a different list.
Goals for 2008. Because Goals are more expandable. So if I don't manage to stick with it, I don't have to feel like shit later. It makes sense to me. Haha.
So here they are.

KRIS'S GOALS FOR 2008

• Get organized. This has always been a major downfall of mine. I'm the most unorganized person on the planet. Mainly due to the fact that for the first 21 years of my life, I was a total packrat. But I'm going to break that habit and get myself organized. Because I'm so sick of my room being a mess.
• Take better care of my body. That means exercising more, taking better care of my teeth, better care of my hair, etc.
• Do more knitting. Because as much as I may love knitting and yarn, I ultimately haven't completed a whole lot of projects when all is said and done. And I need to change that.
• Learn to dye yarn. My swap partner treated me to some yarn that I can dye as well as some Kool-Aid packets. And I also found a handy tutorial on how to dye with Wilton colorings and vinegar. And since I took that Wilton class, it's like a new way of using all that extra frosting dye. ;)
• Read 30 books. Yup. That's right. I'm a book nerd. And I've always made a goal to read at least 20 books a year. But this time I'm upping it. I'm going to go for 30. Because I have about 150 books on my shelf right now that I haven't read yet. And I need to start getting through those. Lol.
• Learn intarsia/fair isle, cables, and socks. These are my main knitting goals for this year. I've shied away from them so far, but it's time for me to just suck it up and delve into them.
• Eat Healthier. Because I'm not so unrealistic as to say "I'm going to cut out all sweets" and such. Come on, I'm a woman who enjoys her sugar. So this goal is just to eat less junk and actually care about and pay attention to what it is I'm eating.
• Take Misty on daily walks. It will help with my "get healthier" plan. And I'll be honest, that poor dear could stand to lose some weight. Lol.
  
• No more alcohol or sodas. That's right. I'm kicking the can and the bottle. The alcohol won't be too hard since I really don't drink a lot to begin with. The sodas, however...WHOO! I'm already reeling from that. And it's pathetic and really makes me realize that my decision was for the better.
• Watch more movies. Even though I've watched a fair amount of movies, I'd really like to watch a lot more. Especially older movies. Because I have a secret love for them. Just basically want to broaden my movie-viewing horizons.
• Pay off my debts / Get financially stable. Yup. I'm only 22 and already freaking about finances. What can I say, I was one of those that was crazily sucked into the credit card world. So I want to pay off and cancel a good chunk of them. Just get it down to 3 or 4 (because I want to keep the Carecredit since that comes in super handy for medical and vet bills).
• Save up money to move out. Secretly I have a goal to move out soon. But, like I said, I'm being realistic. I just want to start setting money aside that I can tap into whenever I need to.
• No more smoking. Sure, I've maybe only inhaled the equivalent of 5 boxes this year. But it's better to just completely kick the habit.
• Knit from my stash. I need to just make a bunch of little projects to hand out to people or to sell. Yup.
• Clean out my computer. Part of the organizing. I have so much crap saved on here, I'm surprised my comp hasn't crashed yet. So I need to get all my pics onto my photobucket and get my favorites organized better.
• Get my license and a car. Yup. I'm a 22 year old who doesn't drive. And who doesn't have a car. And I think I need to fix this. Lol.

So that's pretty much the gist of it. I may wind up adding more things to it eventually but for now, it's good. Wish me luck! Lol!
Hope everyone had a good New Years. :]