Wow, it’s been a while. School is very mean like that. Teachers are insane. How crazy is it to assign one innocent girl two projects PLUS additional homework in the same week? Very crazy.

Ok, I’m done whining now. On to some great news! The boyfriend made it to the States wrestling championship (not quite sure what the official name of it is) set for this Sunday. I am so happy for him! :D But now he has to make weight. He signed up for the 152 weight class (silly boy!) when he was actually closer to 160; only maybe 2 lbs under? Anyways, he is doing great, he has already lost 5 lbs. Just one more to go by tomorrow! Yay! I know the cookies and chocolate that everyone brings to lunch have been very hard to ignore (ok, so what if I shared my M&Ms? and my oreos, and choco chip cookies…how do I say no to the eyes?!?!? ok, nevermind) but he’s keepin it up :D

My needles have been very much ignored lately. Between schoolwork, housework, and the wrestler, its hard to find a moment for my many many (many many many) projects. And of course, I have started yet another.

I know, terrible picture, but hey they’re all gonna suck. You have to cut me a break; I have the crappiest digital ever. That, and I’m just a horrible photographer…hehe. ANYWAY, some more pics of UFO’s here…

A close up of one of the polka dots. Amazing!!

This is a picture of the first completed block of my Cascading Leaves throw, which will hopefully make it to the living room eventually. I wonder why it looks so funky though? I’m hoping it will square up when I attach the rest of the blocks.

Close up view of one of the individual blocks in the throw.

Well, I’m off to finish (er…start) my homework. Wish the boyfriend luck with his tournament! :D

If anyone still reads this blog…

Pattern: Monkey (Rav link) by Cookie A.

Yarn: Knit Picks Palette in Tidepool Heather

Modifications: Only knit four rounds in the twisted rib for cuff, and only knit five repeats of the lace pattern for the leg.

My Thoughts: It was a pretty nifty pattern. I liked it; it got a little boring, and by the second repeat of the second sock I was like “have to finish have to finish; brain melting brain melting”. Other than that, it was all right. I’m not sure if I would knit it again; it’s a definite possibility though!

Hello! It’s been a while, hasn’t it? Well I have been knitting away, and I finished my Monkey socks, Mom’s Touchable Caridgan, and Mooki. So yup, I have made some progress.

I have a quick question though; I just got some lace yarn for Christmas, and got size 3 circs from Knit Picks yesterday, and wanted to knit the Icarus Shawl after I finish 1 or 2 more projects. I knit the gauge swatch, and this is what confuzzles me; the pattern says “21 stitches and 38 rows = 4″ (10cm) in stockinette stitch, after blocking”. The “after blocking” part has me stumped. First of all, I’ve never blocked anything before, so that could be a problem. Second, how do I know how to block this gauge square? I mean, do I stretch it out until it matches the gauge, or what? I don’t get this after blocking thing. Lol. If anyone could help me, I’d really appreciate it!

I was thinking about knitting the Mosey legwarmers from the Spring 2008 issue of Knitty. My only problem is, the smallest size shown is for a 16-inch calf circumference. My calf is only 12.5 inches around. My question: How would I adjust this pattern to make it fit me? And, do I still have to make sure that my gauge matches the one given (by the way, how do I do that)?

Thanks so much!!

New record: Approximately…a few severalish hours.

Pattern: Calorimetry (Rav Link) by Kathryn Schoendorf

Yarn: Caron Simply Soft in Bone colorway

Modifications: None. It is a little large though; I think my gauge is off. I don’t know how to check my gauge though, so I guess it’s gonna have to be a little big :D

My Thoughts: The pattern was all right. I only messed up once, and I accidentally removed both stitch markers while trying to fix my mistake, so I just guessed at where they should go and went from there.

I knit this for my mom as a Christmas present, because there is no way that I will be able to finish her Column of Leaves scarf in time for Christmas. I have only finished 5 repeats so far, so it’s not looking good.

I don’t know when I’ll be finished. Definitely not before Christmas though.

Only took me about six weeks…trust me, it’s a record.

Pattern:  Danica (Rav Link) by Jesse Loesberg

Yarn:  Patons Classic Wool Merino in Dark Grey Mix and Grey Mix

Modifications:  None! I think the only thing that I changed was the end triangle – I think that I k2tog an extra time so I wouldn’t have an extra loop on the edge. 

My Thoughts:  I loved knitting this scarf.  The yarn is perfect for it, and I loved the stitch definition.  It’s also very very warm.  Too bad it’s not mine. =( Although it was very nice and fun to knit, I do not think that I will be knitting it again anytime in the near future.  Doing the same thing over and over and over and over (bored yet?) drives me crazy, which is the main reason that I don’t like knitting scarves.  But it looked really cool, so I just had to this time. All I can say now is, hope ya like it dad!

I finally have an FO to show!

Pattern: Fetching (Rav Link) by Cheryl Niamath

Yarn: KnitPicks Palette in Tidepool Heather

Modifications: I didn’t change anything except for the bind off method.  I wasn’t interested in the frilliness of the picot bind off, so I just did a regular bind off round.

My Thoughts: I love love love these gloves; they were really quick, easy, and fun to knit!  I only got bored while knitting the 18 rounds of 4×1 rib, but other than that they were pretty entertaining. I did not even use half of my skein of yarn, so you could probably make two or three pair with just one skein of this yarn! (Note: I did not use the yarn recommended for the pattern.)

I am photography-retarded. I can’t take good pictures, no matter how hard I try. I find this to be really funny, because my mom is a professional photographer. I really need some help, because I have some really nice projects on the needles (really, they look awesome!), and I wanted to take some UFO pics, but this seriously isn’t working for me. I use a Kodak EasyShare C530 digital camera – does anyone have any suggestions, tips, anything? I have no idea how some people get such great pictures of their knits, but I really need to find out how to do it. This has been bothering me all day, so I figured it couldn’t hurt to blog about it. That, and the fact that my boyfriend is out of town all weekend. Boo :( But really, anything that anyone can point me toward would be greatly appreciated – I know nothing about lighting, angles, detail, nothing. Zip. Nada. Please and thank you!

I am so close to finishing, I can almost taste it! Um…literally, because the yarn is very fuzzy, and it always end up on my face somehow. Of course, I’m talking about my Mom’s Touchable Cardigan, which has been on the needles for a while, simply begging to be finished. So I picked it up after a few weeks of neglect (school work has sucked up a lot of my time lately) and threw out thousands of rows of knitting. Now the whole sweater is only missing one sleeve. I’m so proud. :) I just have one more inch of the button band, and then I am going to add the buttons and begin the second sleeve. I hope that it will be done very soon, and I’ll put some pictures here and on Rav when it is completed!

Right now I have a lot of projects on the needles, most of which have been forgotten or put into hibernation. Some of those hibernating projects include my Monkeys and the taking-way-too-long-to-finish-because-I-lost-my-cable-needle Shifting Sands Scarf.

I’ve also started my Christmas knitting. Those stealth-knit projects are called Pater’s Delectat and I haven’t named the other one yet…lol. I forget when I cast on the second project, so it’s not in my notebook yet. Several of my Christmas projects are stored in my queue on Ravelry, noted with an initial and “Christmas” next to it. So if you want a sneak peek, feel free. :)

I guess that is all that I have for now; have a great Sunday!

Ummm…yeahhh. I can explain! She took me to Wal-Mart, showed me the color of yarn she wanted, and then she bought me the yarn and needles that I needed. Not my fault! She wanted it. =P So, I have been working on that for the past few days. About an hour ago, I finished the back of the cardigan and cast on the left front. It is a really great pattern, and the yarn is a beautiful color. Wish I could post a picture here, but I vowed to myself: no more pictures unless it’s finished! My pictures suck (in case you haven’t noticed), so you should be thanking me for sparing your eyeballs. =)

Let’s see, on the sock front, I worked a few rounds of it, and now I am in the second lace repeat of the leg of the second sock. These are working up nicely, and I can’t wait to show them to you!

School starts tomorrow =( I have to get up at about 5:30 to be ready by 6:25 for the bus. School doesn’t start until…well, I don’t know when school starts. I don’t know when it ends, either. xD Those aren’t the kinds of things that they tell you when you register; they should be, though. I guess I will have to cure my woes by taking a nice long swim. Again. Hehe. (This is why I love having a 20,000 gallon pool in the front yard! =D)

I don’t really have much else to talk about (which is probably why my blog isn’t very popular – LOL), so that’s probably all that I have to write about for today. I’ll try to post tomorrow after school. =)