I was going to complain for a long time about the cold I've recently gotten, but then I looked at the hurricane pictures and felt foolish for whining. I can't believe how awful the damage is. My thoughts and prayers are going out to all the people affected by the hurricane and the tornadoes. I'm always afraid of storms, but this is unbelievable.

I found a new use for my new One Skein Wonder. I have this shirt that I like to wear, but somehow I got a big black grease stain all across the left sleeve, so it looks kinda weird when I wear to work. Unless ... I cover the sleeve with my OSW:

No grease stain over here.

I'm also sporting my new glasses in that picture, and some really dark roots. (the roots will be fixed tonight: Hooray for L'oreal Couleur Experte.) I took this picture downtown during my lunch break. I hung out on that bench for a while taking pictures of myself in my shrug -- I got a few weird looks. Then, like the organized gal I am, I LEFT MY KEYS ON THE BENCH and walked all the way back to my office. Score! It took me a few minutes to realize my keys weren't with me and I called the glasses place and Starbucks before remembering my bench time. Luckily, my friend Jason was downtown and he grabbed them for me. Crisis averted.

Before my brain fart, I also took a picture of my newest knit in progess:

It's the Cutaway sweater.

Cutaway is from Chicknits. I'm still not 100% sure that I'll wear the sweater, but I'm testing it out. Once it gets cold around here, I can never have enough cardigans to throw on over my work clothes. I knitted this while reading a young adult novel that's coming out next year (it's a new author and I'm designing her website! how cool is that?) and it was perfect for knitting and reading. That sounds like my way to spend Labor Day weekend - knitting and reading. And hanging out with the schmoos and My Schmoo. Or The Pants, as I've taken to calling him lately. Har.

In other exciting news, I took my first trapeze class last night. I figured trapeze would be a good way to get some conditioning in while I'm training for the half marathon, and also it would be REALLY FUN. I was right on both points. Trapeze is HARD. I got really dizzy, and my hands got sore, and muscles that I may have never used are hurting today. But I also got to swing around. A lot. And pretend I was flying. I think I'll get better ... I hope so. Pam, Leslie, Courtney and Anne Marie, are all in the class too. And of course the fabulous Mary Jessica inspired us to take trapeze to begin with because she performs and is fantastic.

I'm struggling a little, because I didn't pick everything up super fast, but MJ insists that she was a slow learner too. I just don't normally do things that I'm not good at immediately. (I know that's silly, but that's the way I am.) However, I can't resist the trapeze, so I'm going to stay in the class and keep trying. And then we can start a circus where Courtney rides her unicycle, Dixie Chick Jenny walks on stilts, and the rest of us use fabrics and trapezes to knit an enormous quilt with our flying bodies. It's a plan. (For the side show, I'll stick my whole fist in my mouth -- but no photos allowed.)

Posted by Carrieoke at 3:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (38)

It's Monday.

My weekend was full of good times. On Friday I celebrated Jenna's birthday with the girls, which included jumping out to surprise Jenna about two minutes after she'd already come inside the house, eating large amounts of Mellow Mushroom pizza, and trying on all the clothes that Jenna and Leslie were planning to give to Goodwill. (Note to Jenna and Leslie: you must NEVER give to Goodwill first. Always to me. Always.) We went downtown for drinks after that, but my night had already reached its pinnacle when I scored two new pairs of pants, a maroon skirt, and many cute shirts. Hell yes.

Saturday was shoe shopping day. And I mean RUNNING SHOE. Me and HEJ drove down to Cat's house and we all went to Fleet Feet Duluth for a shoe fitting and good times. I didn't realize that they actually VIDEOTAPE you running and then help you find a shoe that fits the way you run. How cool is that? I didn't tell the guy that he had the treadmill up WAY TOO HIGH for me because I didn't want to seem like too much of a wimp, but clearly I didn't have to run on Saturday because I got my exercise running for the videocamera. Cathy and I ended up getting the same shoes...twinsies. The guy said our feet are exactly the same. (Does that mean that I've already run a marathon too??) Although you may not think that buying running shoes sounds like a barrel of fun, with Cathy and HEJ, it's mad fun. CRAZY fun. I'm not kidding. There are pictures.

Then, Saturday night, I hung out some more. I got to chill with lots of friends, including AM, Dixie Chick Jenny, Chip and Cheap Date Courtney (that's a newly acquired nickname, courtesy of Anne Marie). I also finally got to meet Jodi, who is really funny and also knows how to save the money on the yarn. I need to learn that. In addition, I got really tipsy and decided to showcase my ability to stick my fist in my mouth. Now, this particular, er, skill is interesting to people, but lemme tell ya something - if you can stick your fist in your mouth, DON'T LET ANYONE TAKE A PICTURE. Seriously. There is a picture of me now that looks like ... an old alien man eating a human sandwich. It would make babies cry.

But where is the knitting? Well, I've been after Jacob to help me make my blog photo shoots cuter, ya know, with natural light and romantic trees all around and me looking wistful in the corner. Jacob said that I need to stop asking him to take pictures at night when the only available light is inside. D'oh. I remembered that yesterday, and here are some of the resulting pictures:

Amazing fabric that HEJ brought me from Hawaii.

Shrug in progress.

Ribbon scarf, destined for secret worthy recipient.
(Yarn courtesy of sweet Rossana! Thank you!)
The shrug is the One Skein Wonder, knit with Paton's Katrina, which is a totally fun stretchy yarn with a little bit of sheen. I'm planning on making some sort of sexy clingy top situation with some Katrina sometime soon.

As you can see, the shrug wasn't completed during optimum blogphotoshoot hours, but I did finish it last night. So, here are the poorly lit, not wistful pictures of my shrug.

I love my new shrug.

So there you have it. This wordy and picture heavy blog entry was brought to you by Starbuck's French Roast. coffeecoffeecoffee.

Posted by Carrieoke at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (26)

I'm taking a break from the hottest knit in the world (that would be Clapotis in Brooks Farm Harmony) to knit something short and sweet for someone I love. There's something quite refreshing about a quick and easy knit, and I need to be refreshed. The heat is making me grumpy.

It's a little scarf out of some shiny ribbony ladder yarn:

Isn't it fancy?

I found an easy free pattern over at Chicknits (clicky click for pattern ) and it's perfect for what I want -- something short and swingy and simple. I also purchased Bonne Marie's new pattern, Cutaway, while I was over there - how cute is this?!?!. This sweater looks like the perfect fall addition to my wardrobe. Now, to find the yarn in my stash...can it be done?

This weekend, I got have coffee with my old friend Taylor. He's about to move to Boston for grad school but luckily found some time to catch up with me in Athens. Here he is showing off the Shiny Scarf:

Fabulous, Taylor.

Clearly, Taylor should wear the Shiny Scarf to Boston and wow all his new friends with his fashion sense. BUT WAIT! It's not for him.

Here's a picture of me working on said Shiny Scarf:

Yep, I'm wearing the camisole again.

So I kinda wear that Glampyre cami all the time. But I LIKE it! And it fits well! And I'm vain and proud of my knitting and I want to show it off. SO THERE. I'm thinking maybe I should knit another one so this one gets some rest every now and then.

In other happy do-it-yourself news, all the vegetables we had for dinner last night were from our garden (My part in helping with the garden mainly consists of holding the box when Jacob gathers the veggies, and eating.) . And they were GOOD.

Yummy.

Um, I knew that homegrown tomatoes were good, but freshly picked corn is so awesome. OHMYGOODNESS. How fun is that?

Well, I'm off to knit and sit very still so I won't get hot. I don't think there will be any running for me today. After an encouraging pep talk from HEJ on Friday, I went home and ran two miles and it felt really good. Now I just have to stick to my schedule for this week...Thanks for all the running well-wishes, by the way. I'm gonna need them!!

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Do you ever feel like you can't blog if you don't have a picture to show? When I first start blogging, I *never* posted pictures and now those entries look so l-o-n-g to me. Don't get me wrong - I love reading entries. LONG entries. But somehow I feel like if I don't have a picture, people will come to my site and then click away because they're bored**.

**(And then you get into the but-do-i-care-if-i-have-tons-of-readers? discussion, which is, of course, impossible to solve. I'd like to think that my blog is a personal journal for me, and that having people read it is an added bonus, but COME ON. I love for people to read my blog. We all like a little blog traffic every now and then, including me.)

And all that text is to tell you that I have no pictures to show you! no knitting pictures, or schmoo pictures. I do have an announcement to make: thanks to the persistence of my dear twin sister Cathy and High Energy Jenny and Anne Marie, I'm going to run a half marathon in October. I'm making this announcement so you can HOLD ME TO IT. That's right, folks, I'm asking for a major guilt trip and possible hate e-mails if I back out of this one. There are many good reasons for running this half-marathon:
1. I have to run a race because my sister ran a marathon and she's gotta stop raising the bar.
2. Maybe if I have to train for a half marathon, I will *really* stop having a social cigarette or five when I hit the bars with friends.
3. I will have an excuse to buy super shiny sleek shoes that are light as a feather.
4. My dog Bella is starting to gain some weight and I need to set a good example for her.
5. I want to.

Since I don't actually have a photo, I created this extremely realistic picture of me, Cathy and Jenny finishing the race. Don't we look excited?

We did it!

We *will* do it. It's on Thanksgiving so I have some time to train and a very organized person who will help me with a training schedule, (or as some might call her, Dr. Chart). I have a feeling there may already be a chart somewhere mapping out our progress...

GO TEAM SCHMOO.

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (44)

Camisole Tube: Done. I attached strap #2 and blocked it (mostly because, in my experience, Cotton Fleece will bleed color like crazy if you don't soak the crap out of it.) This tank top has turned out to be one of my most favorite knitted items EVER. I took great care with my finishing (FOR ONCE) and I think I will wear it a lot. Here's a finished picture for ya:

Stylin'.

For the straps, I tried to do a long row of single crochet, and discovered how truly bad I am at crocheting, so I did crochet, but I just did two single crochets across, and then back, etc. It turned out kinda cute! I love finishing something that I will actually wear.

In that same category, I wore my Grape Fanta to work on Friday and I think it works well as business attire. Here's me trying to get a picture of my outfit:

um, it's a little blurry.
you might have to take my word that I looked professional.

Anywho. This weekend was a little crazy. There was a trip to Winn Dixie for the going-out-of-business sale, which turned into the let's-buy-lots-of-crap-because-it's-on-sale sale, much to my dismay. We got *some* good stuff, but a word of warning: DO NOT be fooled by the big Winn Dixie sales signs. They will lure you in, and then lots of things are full price. D'oh. Live and learn. At least I now have enough tampons to last me through the year.

After the Winn Dixie Debacle, there was knitting time. I worked on the Brooks Farm Clappy, and it's growing bigger and bigger. She might get finished this week!

I love this colorway. And the softness.

I do NOT like how much the yarn sheds on me, but I'm getting used to it. ( I just hate getting a piece of mohair stuck in my throat when I'm knitting in the car. ) Otherwise, the yarn is a dream to knit with, and I think the finished Clappy is going to be extremely wearable. Of course, it will have to get colder, and that won't happen for...um... six months? Never? Who knows. It's freakin' hot right now, that's fer sure. It was *almost* hard to knit with the Brooks Farm today because of the heat. Almost, but not quite.

Okay. It's off to bed for me. I have a big week ahead of me - school is back in this week, and I think it's going to get kinda crazy around these parts. Crazy fun, hopefully. It certainly means that it will now take me longer than 11 minutes to get to work. Dammit.

**re: the dress that I was wearing in the conga line picture ... $14.99 at Ross Dress for Less. Perhaps I shouldn't share my cheapness with the world, but DAMN THAT'S A GOOD DEAL.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

1. We went to a really great wedding a couple of weekends ago. My sister and I got silly with some old friends and our boys. Here's a picture of me and Jacob:

Weddings are fun!

And here is a quite ridiculous picture of me leading the conga line during the reception. In my defense, my friend John (behind me - you can see how excited he is) MADE me start the conga line, and TWICE - the first time we tried, no one joined in. I think they felt sorry for us the second time.

Feel that conga beat.
(That's my twin sis in the green, followed by my friend Erica,
and then Anna and Jeff, the bride and groom. Yay.)

2. I've been test knitting a camisole top for Glampyre Stef and it's almost completely finished. She's already got the pattern up for sale if you likey. Me likey. It fits well, and the Cotton Fleece was perfect for this project (I made the XS, although I think the S would probably fit me okay too.)I didn't know how I was going to feel about the bobbles, but I think they turned out to be cute:

This pose doesn't show the pattern very well. But I'm glamorous.
Here's a better front view.
Yes, I know I'm only rocking one strap. I haven't gotten the second one finished yet, but I really wanted to take pictures tonight because I was with HEJ and AM and we were feeling slaphappy. See:


This is actually the AM-and-HEJ-have-serious-knitting-time-photo.
I think the slaphappy one is on AM's camera.
That Jenny, she can teach you something about seaming. I'm not kidding.

3. I'm so sleepy that I've typed like 12 things for #3 and deleted them, including something about how I'm cuter in pictures when other people are in the picture too, and something about a phone conversation I had with Jacob. Um, clearly Number Three is that I've got to go to bed.

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (27)

One of the cool things about having a blog is that you can write about the non-knitting things that are really important to you. And let me tell you - I could write pages and pages on the fabulous people in my life, because they are the most important things to me. (Besides the yarn, of course. HA.) So I'd like to take this time to wax poetic on the wonder that is my friend High Energy Jenny.

High Energy Jenny had a birthday on Saturday, and damn it, that girl was off in Hawaii during it. Clearly she should be here so we can shower her with affection and gifts. But I GUESS Hawaii is a pretty decent place to be if you're not at home with your knitting girls... :)

The beginning of the good times.
Did you know that I met HEJ through our blogs? She's one of the first knitters that I met through my knitting blog, that I then met in person, that THEN actually became a huge part of my life. I remember when she emailed and said they would be in town, and that was before I'd REALLY met any bloggers, and we made plans to meet up, and then there was this nervousness -- like, what if there was nothing to say? or what if she was too cool for us? And then she arrived at the coffeeshop to knit for an hour or so and three hours later we were talking and laughing and having good times. And oh, the good times were just beginning.


There are no words to describe the silliness.
This was after a brief re-enactment of an Alias episode. Ahem.
Whenever I think to myself how lucky I am to have her as a friend (which is fairly often), I think about how cool the knitting blog world is. I don't know how we would've met otherwise, since she was all the way on the other side of the country when we started corresponding. and thank goodness for knitting blogs, because I seriously can't remember what my life was like without her friendship. We just have so much in common, and many of our similarities revolve around our mutual craziness. I can seriously tell her ANYTHING and she won't judge or give me a hard time...and probably she's had a similar experience or thought. And also we laugh SO MUCH. Sometimes it's just a stupid word that gets us going...but then we laugh. and laugh. And we can talk in really stupid voices to each other and think it's hilarious. (Because it is hilarious, of course.) And then we can not be silly. I can always call her when I'm in a Crappy McCrapperton mood, and know that when we get off the phone, even though my problems might not be solved, I will feel better. LOTS better. (Although, the High Energy Jenny, she is a wise schmoo indeed, and often she can solve the problems. It is a superpower that she wields with grace.)


My girls.

It's amazing to me how someone who I've only known for less than a year can feel like a sister, but sometimes you meet someone and you're just connected. I am such a lucky girl to have the dear friends that I do, and I feel like the luckiest schmoo in the world that High Energy Jenny and I crossed bloggy paths. Happy Birthday to the best chartmaker/knitting expert/bad influence/listening ear/yarn enabler I know. Now go on over and wish her a Happy Happy!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

Things are happyhappyhappy in CarrieokeLand right now. Yay. Here are some reasons for the happy:

1. The new job is great. I won't really be saying much about that on here, but just know that the people are nice, the environment is better, and I am 100% sure that I am in the right place. And it feels awesome. Yahoo.

2. I went to the local yarn store on Tuesday to spend a birthday gift certificate. For starters, they had two bite brownies on the table for customers to eat (if you've had two bite brownies, ya know what I'm talkin' about. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Chocolate.) Then, I discover a massively huge sale and I got enough Cotton Fine for two more Flower Basket shawls. And maybe a tank top. Or a scarf. Then I got sock yarn. Then I got Cotton Fleece. Um, hell yeah. Wanna see?

yarny yarn yarn yarn.

Here's the Lorna's Laces up close ... this colorway is so cool.

Can't. Stop. Buying. Sock. Yarn.

I love buying sock yarn and getting it wound into a ball, because it looks so pretty when it's hanging on the rack, and then it gets wound up and you see all these colors that maybe you didn't see before. FUN TIMES.

I'm using the Cotton Fleece (that's the pretty blue-green yarn) for a cami that I'm test-knitting for Glampyre Stef. I'm about halfway finished and I love knitting with Cotton Fleece. I used it to make the Chevron Tank (clicky for gallery pic) a long time ago, and I'd forgotten what a nice fabric this yarn makes. Here's the proof:

It's going really quickly.

3. Jacob has a new job and he has to wear suits and he looks so cute in them.

4. For the first time in probably four years (yes, this is slightly embarrassing), I renewed the registration on my car BEFORE I got pulled over for an expired tag. I realize that this is completely ridiculous, but for some reason I always put it off and I inevitably get pulled over. BUT NOT THIS YEAR! Oh, no. I'm turning over a new leaf, which means I can be an adult about it and just drive to the damn tag place and get it renewed. HOORAY. And I even got an animal friend tag. I've ALWAYS WANTED ONE.

Because of all these happy things, I will not be frustrated that last night, the gas station accidentally charged me $80 at the pump instead of the $20 that I put in. Harumph. Instead, I will focus on the happy.

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (31)