This weekend was Jacob's grandfather's 70th birthday. To celebrate, we drove to Tunica, Mississippi for some family time. If you've never been to Tunica, here's what you're missing: pastures and casinos. That is all. No grocery stores, or drugstores, or Blockbuster Videos. Just pastures, and casinos, and some ducks sitting in the swampier pastures. We had lots of fun hanging out with the fam of the Pants, although I seriously feel like I smoked an entire pack of cigarettes after being in the casino all weekend, and for an ex-smoker, that's an extra nasty feeling.

This casino trip taught me the joys of the penny slot machine. You can play for hours and not really spend much money - that is *totally* my kind of gambling. Although it would be nice to win a big old jackpot, I was really there for the company. And the free drinks.

Here are Jacob's parents at the birthday dinner. I didn't realize my flash was on, so my finger obscured it a little and thus we have the scary haunted house lighting in this picture:

Tommy and Annette, in spoooooky lighting.

That picture was right before Annette and her sisters went to play the Elvis slot machine. Good times, fer real.

I wasn't allowed to take pictures in the casino, although I *really* wanted to take some pictures of the high rollers over at the Horseshoe. I also didn't want to get my arms broken, so I kept my camera in my bag. However, I was allowed to take pictures of my car knitting:

Sleeve One, Hourglass Sweater.

The body of the hourglass is finished, all I have left are the sleeves and the yoke. This is the first sleeve, and you maybe can see by the picture that I'm using the Magic Loop method on one short Denise needle. It worked, too.

This is what the edge of my sleeve will look like once I hem it.

Um, how cool are these turned under edge thingies??? I saw one for the first time on HEJ's Nothin' But A T-Shirt, and thought it looked so crisp, but I didn't realize that it was pretty easy to do. I worked the edge around half the body last night and I kept stopping to admire the edge. SO. FUN.

The beginnings of a tube.

And here's my little Tubey, just now starting out. She's a wee schmoo right now. Sorry for the blurriness (I was in the car, in the rain, using my headlamp). That color is Dusty Teal. And I love.

I switched back and forth between these two projects the whole weekend. Getting close to finishing the Hourglass...and really wanting my Tubey** before it warms up too much. I guess I have a few months before that happens!

**(Thanks for all the happy comments on Tubey Number One! As far as Cat's Tubey goes, I really didn't modify the pattern at all. I blocked the sleeves out so the bell shape would really stand out. I used a needle two sizes up to bind off the body and the sleeves because I'm an extremely tight bind-er-off-er. For my own, I may go about an inch longer on the middle shrug section - the part that goes around your back - because hers was just a little bit tight on me. tubeytubeytubey. yay.)

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

Tubey, in pictures:

Tubey, right after arriving to her new home.

Tubey at work:


The teacher is wearing Tubey.

Cathy actually did wear it to work today! She told one of her classes that I knitted the sweater, and one of her students said, "That's the tightest thing you've worn all year." Tight = cool. Sweet. (That's how I roll - I'm down with the kids these days.)

This pattern is by the lovely Cassie and can be found in the most recent Knitty. I used 8 balls of Elann's Peruvian Alpaca and size 6 circs to knit the XS, and I didn't change an inch of the pattern. Love the pattern, love the neckline, love the yarn. Love love love.

I will be starting mine tonight. Doesn't my sister look fabulous in this sweater?! Yay for successful knits. In terms of finishing and fit, this is one of my best knits thus far. I'm a proud schmoo!

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (70)

I passed the GRE.

Hooray! I actually did much better than I thought I would, and my verbal and math scores were only 40 points apart! hahahahahahaha. (The math gods are smiling down on me, and also snickering at me behind their hands.) So, thanks for all the good luck and happy wishes and prayers that you sent my way ... clearly they helped!

I don't have a Tubey picture yet, because Cathy wants to be the model (and should be, since it was knitted especially for her) and she lives an hour away. Everyone should now leave comments about how Cathy needs to come up to Athens one day next week for dinner and a photo session. Ahem.

Since Tubey is now complete, I can 'fess up: I cheated on Tubey a little bit when the ribbing was too much to handle. It was ... the Hourglass Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Here's about 12 inches of the body.

I'm using Paton's Classic Wool, purchased at my local Michael's. Can I tell you that I really love this yarn? It's soft, it's cheap, and it's 100% wool. Holla. Our Michael's *just* started carrying the Classic Wool, and I got really excited when I saw the display. I am a little afraid that this yarn won't have the drape of the original yarn in the pattern but I had to substitute ... (I think it's Cash Iroha, which is beautiful, but, HI, almost $11 for 99 yards? not in my budget this week.) I hope it will be good. It feels good, anyways.

I also re-visited an old favorite this week in hopes of making it more wearable. You may remember the Brown Beauty. I love the way this sweater looks, but the collar was just too wide to be practical. My bra straps always show, and it fall forward too far, etc. So, I decided to pull out the crochet edge and rework the collar in tight ribbing.

Here she is without a collar.

I picked stitches all around the collar, and used size 5 circulars and 1 x 1 ribbing. Then, after I knit the ribbing for about 1.5 inches, I bound off tightly. Looked MUCH better, but I still didn't like that gap where the buttonhole was...soooo, I seamed the ribbing up above the gap and made it a keyhole (good idea, HEJ.)

:: picture of sweater with keyhole would be here if I'd remembered to take one ::

anyways, it's much better. I actually wore it this week and didn't have to worry about rocking the Flashdance look with a too-wide collar. Fixed! I will put a picture of the fixed sweater in my gallery. Someday.

The yarn for my own Tubey has arrived, and I have a long car trip this weekend, so you know what that means: I will embark on the first tube. It's great car or movie knitting, since there's all that stockinette followed by all that ribbing. I'm still perfecting my knitting-ribbing-in-the-dark abilities, so here's my reminder to myself: don't forget to bring Jacob's headlamp.

Have a good weekend. Next step in grad school process: recommendations and personal statement. Woot.

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)

Um, for those who didn't know, the analytical section of the GRE is WRITING. That's analytical writing. Writing = what I'm good at. Remember how I said the analytical score didn't count for the program I want to do? Um, yeah. I thought that meant MATH. The math? That's the quantitative part, and IT COUNTS.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
hihihi. Did I call Jacob's mom (who used to be a math teacher) today, and ask her for help with dividing and multiplying fractions, and dividing with decimals (no laughing, please)? YES. I did. I was only a little ashamed.

I'm freaking out, people. I'm trying not to. But I am embarrassingly bad at math. Tonight I have 55 math concepts to review, and I'm making flashcards. WOO-HOO! STUDY PARTY! Me, Jacob, Bella, and a big glass of wine. Or two.

Professor Schmoo, Ph.D.
In happier news, Tubey is done, and it's blocking right now.


Your bottom looks great, Tubey.

Did you know that wet alpaca yarn smells a lot like a wet dog? Yum. I used some Eucalan wash, soaked for a little while, squeezed gently, and laid it out to dry. It actually didn't need that much blocking - the tubes kind of take shape once you put the sweater on - but I wanted to ensure its cleanliness and softness when I give it to Cathy.

I am *so* in love with this sweater. I just ordered yarn to make my own, same yarn (that would be Elann's Peruvian Alpaca), different color, and I can't wait. Although someone says I'm not allowed to complain when I'm 14 inches into the ribbing. I won't I won't! Because I will wear the CRAP out of this sweater. I hope my sis does too!

OKAY. Back to the maths. Um, hi. I'm taking the test THIS Tuesday. I just realized on Friday that the math counts. You do the math! hahahahahahahahaha. Please still love me if I don't get the minimum score I need.

Posted by Carrieoke at 6:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)

It's been busy around these parts. In addition to work busy-ness,I'm trying to study for the GRE, and train for a race in February (it's a marathon relay, and my portion is 5 miles. I think.) And also maybe I have several knitting projects on the needles. GAH!

Deep breaths.

It's a happy kind of busy, though. I like to have my schedule full - it's the only way for me to set deadlines and organize.

This also makes me happy:

Um, prettiest, softest, squishiest socks EVER.
Click here for a ribs-and-cables closeup.

These socks are mine, courtesy of a holiday sock swap, and they are from the lovely Brainylady (thankyouthankyou!). They are seriously the nicest knitted socks I have ever seen. and worn. Woo-hoo!

Hmm. Other things that make me happy include:

My Bellaschmoo resting her head on my lap while I knit;

taking crazy pictures with my new camera;
(I can do that color thing IN CAMERA. so. fun.)

Jacob being fierce;


almost finishing Tubey!!! wheeeeeee.
Binding off has commenced. Just that and a little of a sleeve to go!

Just in case you were wondering, things that don't make me happy include:
1. Not knowing all 12 of the top GRE vocab words;
2. Finishing Season 4 of Six Feet Under on DVD when Season 5 doesn't come out until MARCH 28;
3. Sleeping through my alarm;
4. Being told that my office smells musty.

And whoever said the GRE was easy ... did anyone say that? well, if they did, they are WRONG. My study book makes me feel like a dunce, fersure. And I'm a word girl. The only thing that's making me feel a tiny bit better is that the program I'm applying to doesn't look at my analytical. yayayayayayayay. and also THANK GOD.

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)

I can't believe it's 2006. Dude. We rang in the New Year in Colorado, which included a huge Italian dinner, lots of warm clothes, and Cranium until 3 AM. Super fun. We even watched the ball drop, even though it was totally recorded and we were celebrating two hours after the East Coast. Here's what New Year's looks like in Colorado:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Hee. Here's what happens when JoAnna takes a picture and tells us to be "fierce":

Fierce.

Our Colorado trip was amazing. I have never seen that much snow actually falling FROM THE SKY. EVER. I've never felt so Southern in my life - did you know that people DRIVE IN THE SNOW? AND ICE? Geez. You learn something new every day.

We also got to celebrate Drew's birthday with him:

I just love these guys.

There are a million pictures I want to show you, so they will probably appear through my next couple of entries. I also knit non-stop while I was there, probably to keep my freezing little hands warm, so I have some progress to show you. But, today I want to do a 2005 end-of-year-roundup. Because you probably haven't read enough of them on other blogs. Yahoo. Click on the extended entry to read more:

In 2005, I did the following:

--learned how to sew. (See denim quilt for proof.)
--learned how to seam my knitting. (See Super Sweater for proof.)
--watched my twin sis run a marathon (GO CATHY!)
--got mentioned in the same online article with Sean Hannity. (Chicago Sun-Times, April 10. I kid you not.)
--knit lace for the first time.
--met more bloggers than I ever dreamed I would (let's hear it for MSW and Rhinebeck!)
--got a tattoo (and it's knitting related, bay-bee.)
--ran my first race (a half-marathon.)
--joined a local hip-hop band (Bling.)
--started and maintained a side business in web design (yaaaaay.)
--quit smoking (for real this time.)

In 2005, I learned the following:

--It is actually possible to love your job.
--It's okay to quit something if it's not fun anymore (at least I *tried* trapeze!)
--No matter how crappy your car is, ALWAYS HIDE YOUR PURSE.

And here are some new things I'm trying in 2006:

--I'm applying to grad school (GRE this month!)
--and ... I'm going to be an aunt! My older sister Michelle is pregnant. Oh, the knitting....

How's that for starting a new year?

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)