I went a little crazy with the camera while we were watching the American Idol finale tonight. By the way, I was totally rooting for Carrie. (Although now I'm afraid that *I* can never win American Idol because my name is Carrie. Stop laughing at me.) It's probably better that Bo didn't win, because he needs to have a record deal where he can totally rock out. (And the American Idol single that Carrie will release, "Inside Your Heaven", is NOT ROCKING OUT.) But, yay Carrie!

Okay. First of all, Bella wants you to know that this is the BEST. BALL. EVER.

Don't touch my ball.

She's starting to go blond on the top of her head -- if she wasn't a dog, I would totally accuse her of bleaching her hair.

Moving on, here are some Glamour Shots of my latest knitting projects. Whee!

Close up of the Flower Basket Shawl.
Click here for a super close up of a basket. And pardon my hangnail.

I still love this pattern. I think it's going to take me a while, but I'm looking forward to my next car trip or flight so I can spend some quality time with the Flower Basket shawl.

And the Half Clappy!

Oh shiny recycled silk. You are so pretty.
Click to get closer to the silky happy times.

Still deciding on whether to block the Clap. And also, I should probably weave the ends in. So. many. ends.

And, because I suddenly am obsessed with shawls...

um, hi. I started another one.

How can I resist the Morehouse Merino?

Okay, no more shawls until I finish these three ... I promise. And I did finish someone's sock....

He even modeled it.

And I already cast on the second one -- Are you proud of me? Good. I needed that affirmation.

That seems like a lot of projects! Clearly, I need to prioritize my life, quit my job, and just knit all the time. Har. Just kidding. Although I'm leaving in a week to go to San Diego to see my sister run her marathon (GO CATHY!!!), so I'll get some knitting in. And sightseeing. And drinking. Yay, vacation.

Now, back to Law and Order. And one of the shawls.

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)

What a weekend! Do you want to hear about the knitting first, or the swanky dinner? .....

Okay, knitting first.

I finished knitting on my half clappy on the way home from Maryland. (Sorry I've been a little delinquent on the picture...)

My clappy needs some blocky.

I used some beautiful recycled silk yarn for my half clappy, and I've so far been scared to block it or do anything to it because I didn't want the yarn to get ruined. But, then I did some googling, and it turns out that you can handwash this yarn in cold water. I'm going to take that as a go-ahead to block it gently in some cold water and see how it goes. The article I read said that the yarn's texture might change a little bit, but I'm okay with that. I just didn't want it to be water stained! Still deciding if the clappy stays with me or becomes a gift....

And then I went and started something new!

Hello, Flower Basket Shawl!

This is my second attempt at the Flower Basket Shawl -- my first attempt was foiled by some furry yarn and some wine. (Note to self: lace and wine do NOT mix.) A fabulous friend gifted me with some Brown Sheep Cotton Fine and it's absolutely perfect for this project. (Sorry my picture doesn't really show off the pattern...but do you like my pajama pants?) I'm hoping that mine looks as lovely as this girl's...

Jacob's first sock is SO. CLOSE. I'm decreasing for the toe right now. Yee-haw!

Okay, and now for the fancy non-knitting content..

First of all, I saw Star Wars this weekend. SO. GOOD. I hate seeing movies in the movie theatre, HATE IT, I don't ever go (much to Jacob's dismay), but I decided to stick it out for this one, and I'm SO glad I did. I brought my knitting and I didn't pick it up. not ONCE. It's excellent!

Then, on Saturday, my sister Cathy hooked me and Anne Marie up with some tickets to the ACLU Bill of Rights Dinner in Atlanta. Can you say, swanky?!?!!? I was not prepared for how fancy and pretty this dinner was. Of course we got all dressed up:

We clean up real nice, dontcha think?

And good thing we put on our Sunday best. We got to the reception before the dinner, and as I was rushing to the open bar, I noticed that General Wesley Clark was hanging out by the bar. Fun times. And then I found out that Coretta Scott King was being honored! The dinner actually honored lots of really great people who are working hard for important changes.

The reason we actually got to go is because they were honoring three high school students from Georgia who tried to start a gay-straight alliance at their high school and faced a lot of crap from their community and the school administration. I wrote about going to the high school and protesting here.
I thought it was pretty cool of the ACLU to recognize these girls along with Coretta Scott King and lots of other high profile people in Georgia. Here's me and my sister with the honorees:

Fun times, fer sure.

It was a really great night. Living in Georgia, it's easy to forget that there are people fighting for the right things in our state's government, so it was a nice reminder.

P.S. If I had known how fancy the dinner was going to be, I might have opted for a dress with less scandalous cleavage. There was some double stick tape involved.

P.S. again. I'm glad my twin sister is classy, because I don't think I would've been invited to this thing otherwise. Thanks, Cathy, for sharing the class with me and Anne Marie. :)

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

it's HOT. so, so hot in Athens. My naturally oily hair and skin become greasy pools of grossness in this heat. Sorry if that was too much information.

Good thing there are so many cute summer things to knit, because the thought of knitting with wool right now makes me want to cry. Unless, of course, it's yummy merino wool from KnitPicks:

So. Soft.
(do you like our array of vacuums in the background?)

Jacob has never had a pair of handknit socks, so I'm trying to prepare for the goodness and wonder of the knitted socks. I'm not sure he's totally convinced, although when I jokingly (sort of) say I'm going to keep them, he says NO. He loves the colors though, which is huge. I got me a picky one. Now I just have to finish them...

I also finished a good summery knit: a cotton minisweater (pattern here)!

Can't you picture it with a little sundress?

This picture is a little strange because I'm still wearing my gym clothes and I had to use the self timer. Hee. But I used the leftover gray yarn from Jacob's Super Secret Sweater (click and scroll down to see it in the gallery) and it turned out great. Inspired by Stef, I decided to do an i-cord at the ends instead of using a button closure, and I'm so glad I did. It's just a *little* bit baggy because I kind of overestimated *ahem* how big my chest is. Wishful thinking, ha ha. I've already worn it to work once! My wearing of the knits is becoming more frequent -- I think it might be related to my improved finishing abilities. And my new habit: the actual weaving in of ends.

Well, it's gotta be short and sweet tonight. My friend Leslie is leaving for NY tomorrow so I have to go celebrate! But before I go, this little schmoo would like to say thank you to a little gnome for remembering her and Chili-schmoo in the mail...

Bella says: Thanks, Gnome G! That Casey's a lucky dog. Woof.

see ya later this week!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (42)

Things I learned on my trip to Maryland:

1. Anne Marie and High Energy Jenny are excellent travel companions, and they will have me laughing almost the entire trip. Except for when I'm sleeping in the car. And even then, I'm laughing on the inside.

That's Stacy in the back with HEJ. Aren't they cute?

2. My dog, Bella, is clearly part sheep. She's got the long legs and the funny walk, and I found some with similar coloring! Maybe the sheep are part Bella. Check out this one for evidence.

Sheepy schmoo.

3. Even if you're getting really bad service, dinner can still be fun, in the right company.

And also, Buffalo Chicken Salad makes a girl happy after a long day of yarning around.

4. Self portraits, even at the beginning of the drinking, will turn out horribly. Your companion in the photo will of course look great.

damn you, Vibegrrl!

5. When your imaginary online friends meet you in person, they will realize that you only put the absolute BEST pictures of yourself online. Your elaborate editing process will be revealed when they will start using their own cameras and see how the CAMERA ACTUALLY HATES YOU. Click to see how much the camera hates me. Further evidence can be found in Vibegrrl's Maryland Sheep and Wool photo album...

Read on, if you're interested!

So, we went to this Korean karaoke bar called 1.7th Generation. Yes, that's what it's called. No, I have no idea what it means. The karaoke was a little different than what I'm used to...there's a wireless microphone, and you give the bartender your song number, and then someone passes you the microphone. And then all of sudden, your song comes up on these huge screens that were playing random, extremely violent movies. And your lyrics pop up OVER the movie. I think the idea is to sit at your table and sing, but clearly we weren't having any of that.

We had to get up! Woo-hoo!

Work it Sarah!


Jenny has a quiet moment after bustin' out Lovefool.

I am proud to say that we totally started the karaoke up, and then all the other people in the bar started singing, perhaps to drown out our hooting and hollering. Of course Tiny Frecklegirl got out of control:

Party. Animal.

And then Lara and Snargle Sarah lost control...

she got friendly, down in the s-a-a-and...

and by the end of the evening, we were all exhausted. Click to see the exhaustion (except for Tiny FG, who's standing strong in the middle of the table...how does she do it?)

oh, my. It was just so much fun. I did get a little bit of yarn, for those who asked, but my current financial situation does not lend itself to many -- er, any extravagant yarn purchases. There was one brief lapse of sanity when me and the Sarahs were frantically digging through a 50percent off bin, and I came up for air with like 10 skeins of some cottton in my arms, and a crazed look in my eye, and thank GOD I took a deep breath and put it all back. And backed away. Yarn isn't worth the rent money, yo. :)

But, the trip was worth every last dime spent. I confess: I was there for the people. I was there to spend time with my dear friends High Energy Jenny and Anne Marie, and to reunite with some old friends, and to make some new friends who I really think I'll stay in touch with. This whole blogging thing is pretty crazy sometimes, and sometimes it can cause drama. But having a knitblog has introduced me to fantastic women who live hundreds and hundreds of miles away, and how else would I EVER meet them? I wouldn't trade that for all the Brooks Farm mohair blend yarn in the world. **

**Um, I mean, actually I probably WOULD trade it for the Brooks Farm mohair. But you get my point.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)

Acck! What a freakin' AWESOME weekend. I am so full of happy right now, even though we didn't roll into Athens until 12:30am.

Here's the last picture I took before we hit the road.
Vibegrrl Lara, HE Jenny, Small Hands Chelsea, me, Anne Marie.
Damn, we just had Bob Evans for breakfast, and it was so good.

Read more in the extended entry! (Warning: this extremely long entry is full of pictures of me, other bloggers, and some farm animals. There is very little knitting involved. If this will bore you, move along, I say! If you are interested, CLICK TO EXPERIENCE THE FUN TIMES! WOO!)

okay. the first thing you should know is that the totally awesome and adorable Frecklegirl was originally planning to come to the festival, but unfortunately she couldn't make it (because she had wonderful wedding things to do) and we were sad. So, HEJ made us a little Frecklegirl doll to bring along so Jess could be there in spirit...

Look! it's Frecklegirl in South Carolina!

So if you see an extra tiny person in some of the pics, it's Frecklegirl. and we love her.

The festival was SO huge. I was not expecting so many people to be at a Sheep and Wool Festival, but these people were NOT messing around. When we were walking in at 10:00 am, people were walking out with ginormously tall bags of yarn, roving, and other stuff, which of course made me want to run in and grab some before it all got bought.

But, really, I wasn't there for the shopping. I was there for the blogger sightings!

Anne Marie, Heather, Kelly





Me and Girl Reaction Carolyn






Anne Marie, me, Knittish Rossana, High Energy Jenny

And this was all in the first hour! It was very overwhelming, actually. The few times I've met bloggers previously, it was in a much smaller situation and there was lots of time to sit and talk, etc. This weekend was complete blogger immersion. Add that to the absolutely INSANE amount of breathtaking yarn that was at every corner and you've got an overwhelmed Carrieoke, fer sure. But that didn't stop me from trucking on...hello, there are people to see! Er, people and animals.

How cute are the cuddly lamb baby schmoos??

I tried on several occasions to pet a sheepy sheep and they hated my guts. One sheep liked this little girl better, even though she was squeezing his neck and pulling his fleece. Clearly, I repel sheep.

And of course, I couldn't miss the working dog demonstration. All my pictures of it suck, but the border collies out there were so smart and cute and totally showing the sheep who is boss. I got to spend some time with these fabulous ladies while we watched the schmoos:

Me, Two Purls Jen, January One Cara

(I always think of Jen's blog as Snoozing Pug because she has a cute little pug named Oscar. So, all day, I'm hanging out with Two Purls Jen, not realizing that Two Purls Jen is actually Snoozing Pug Jen who I've known online for like two years. D'oh!) But either way, she's fabulous and so is Cara, who showed me the evil delciousness of Brooks Farm...oh, the yummy, yummy yarn. I love you, Brooks Farm Harmony.

I totally forgot to snap a picture, but someone (One Stitch Short Sarah? **edited to add**it was actually Pink Monkey Jenna!) spotted Wendy on the grassy knoll and Jenny snagged her so we could all say hi. SO super nice and easy to talk to. And then we got to meet the Harlot. She is witty and gracious and friendly and she was totally chilling on the grass outside the main exhibition, looking at everyone's purchases and laughing with us. In a sad twist of fate that I'm calling the Photo Gods Hate My Guts, here is a picture of me, the Yarn Harlot, and Tiny Frecklegirl.

Hi, my name is Carrie and I look COMPLETELY STONED in my picture with Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.
At least Frecklegirl looks respectable.

I also randomly ran into two bloggers that I was hoping to see there! I'm hoping neither of them think I'm insane... Elspeth, the extremely funny and nice Wry Punster:

Check out her Audrey!

We recognized each other and I got to chat with Elspeth and her nice companions for a bit before moving on, and then I realized that I didn't take a picture (!) so I actually chased her down in the crowd, yelling her name. I'm glad she didn't run away after that.

Also recognized Kim of Kim's Knitting World while perusing the yarn in the Main Exhibition Hall ...

the bloggers are everywhere!

It was super fun to scan the crowd and try to see familiar faces. I actually had several people say hi, I'm a reader, which was so nice and exciting and strange(in a good way). I think Grape Fanta gave me away a couple of times! It also gave me a really strange sunburn.

Okay, I'm delirious from all the linking and the typing and the fun times, so I'm going to stop this one here. Next installment will include Korean karaoke, large lemony beverages and a windshield cleaning. And more blogger pics. CAN YOU STAND THE FUN TIMES?

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (43)

I will try not to totally bombard this entry with exclamation points and YAYs, but Maryland Sheep and Wool!!! YAY!

We're leaving tomorrow morning bright and early (caffeine in hand, of course) and we're going to have FUN. Still trying to decide what knitting to bring. Jacob is trying to convince me that a new pair of socks for him are just the thing. I'm also trying to convince myself that the Ribbon X-Back Tank from the newest Knitty is just the thing (I have some purty ribbon yarn waiting to be knitted up.) Or maybe all of it -- it's a ten hour drive, people.

So, my camera is with me today but my cord is not. So, I can't upload the pictures I wanted to share with you - I started a minisweater a couple of night ago with some cotton yarn and it's almost done...

::Confession time: I am a little obsessive. The knitting, it can become an obsession at times. I am also currently obsessed with watching previous seasons of Alias on DVD. So, on Tuesday night, Jacob and I rented the two first discs of Season 2. Okay - this is kind of embarrassing - but I watched ALL EIGHT EPISODES in a row. Two discs. Until 4 AM. And I knitted the entire time, which is why the minisweater is nearly complete. Hi, my name is Carrie and I have OCD. No, really, I do. ::

Ahem...but anyways, since I don't have my camera, I'm looking through my old photos to find pictures that will communicate JUST HOW EXCITED I AM about Maryland...

I heard there will be sheep there!



And doggies that herd sheep!




And I get to ride with these two wild girls!

And, I get to take a day off work.

So, I have no game plan for shopping, I'm just going to soak it all in. I don't really have a lot of money to spend anyways, so I'm more about hanging out. And maybe buying a TEENY TINY bit of yarn. Just a smidge.

I can't wait to meet everybody! Hope to see you there -- everyone travel safely. YAY.

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)

Jacob will not stop singing that song from the Fanta commercial. I don't actually remember the commercial, but the song is now stuck in my head. Don't you wanta, wanta, Fanta? la la la.

So, I had big plans for a fancy photo shoot with my new Grape Fanta but I got impatient and just took a bunch of pictures in the mirror. The ends aren't even completely woven in yet but I just couldn't wait any longer. At least the sun was shining in our room so it's bright enough.

purply fanta goodness. yahoo!

I made the ribbing a little shorter than the pattern called for because I felt weird about having lots of ribbing hugging my belly. so now it stops before my belly, and probably accentuates my belly more. ha. Oh well -- belly curves are cute, right!?!? More fanta pics:


Please ignore any piles of clothes you might see on the bed.
They're not mine, I swear.



front of fanta is fun!

The side seaming wasn't hard at all for this top. Stef's pattern is written so you have a nice lacy design when the two sides come together. **Note to self: next time you are really excited about seaming, and how fun it is and then you start getting cocky about how fast you are, do NOT forget about the armholes and seam both sides all the way to the collar. This is not a tube top. And pulling out mattress stitch is NOT fun. **

The shoulder seams were harder for me because I wasn't sure what to do. The lace makes nice curves at the top of each side, so I kind of followed the curves and I now have a matching lacy ridge on each shoulder. It looks like it's supposed to be there...is it? I have no idea.

At any rate, I love it, it's washable, I will make it again, definitely, and I'm so wearing it to Maryland. **Note to self: Maryland Sheep and Wool is less than a week away YAYAYAYAYAY. Note to everyone else: ARE YOU SO EXCITED? I'm so excited. **

I'm so proud of my teamies AM and High Energy Jenny for running a half marathon this weekend and kicking ass! Go congratulate them! They are rock stars, fer sure. To celebrate how cool they are, all three of us are going to go to Maryland Sheep and Wool! Yippee.

Well, that's all. I have some worky work to do before I take off this weekend so back to the grindstone.

Posted by Carrieoke at 6:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)