Jacob keeps teasing me because I haven't posted on my blog since returning from Rhinebeck... he keeps saying "I'm checking my Bloglines, where's your post?" Har, har. It's because I haven't had a second to breathe since returning from my relaxing yarny vacation. Work + school + 10 year reunion this weekend + HOUSE CLOSING OCT 30 makes for a crazy Carrieoke. Gah. And also aaaaccccccccccccccccckkkkkkkkk.

But also yay. Rhinebeck was wonderful, as expected. And the weather was PERFECT, as in not too cold, not too hot, and the leaves were brilliant, and the company was splendid. I didn't take as many pictures as I normally do because I was totally overwhelmed by peopleyarnnewyorkfuntimes all weekend. But I took a few.

This was at the Point.

We were lucky enough to drop in on a knitting night with the Spiders, and I got to meet some bloggers that I've been reading forever, and also reunite with an old friend. It was really nice and cozy and comfortable. We stopped in after seven hours of shopping in New York City, and although I had a fabulous time shopping, my tired little Georgia legs were ready for a coffee and some knitting. Perfect.

This is a llama. He is chewing.

The animals at Rhinebeck are totally one of my favorite parts. Ya know, after all the yarn. and the people. and the hot sauce.

My girls AM and Sarah. And a sheep.

This is the last picture I took. We had to do a quick drive-by on Sunday, due to extreme paranoia that we would miss our flight (we missed our flight to NY on Friday morning...security was atrocious in Atlanta).

I had a wonderful time, I didn't buy too much [ the haul: a sweater's worth of organic cotton, a triple skein of laceweight Morehouse, a shawl pin, some delectable bulky weight yarn from Decadent Fibersand and a piece of pottery for HEJ. I also got my usual yummyyummy hot sauce from Hudson Valley Homestead ]. AND I got to see old friends and talk to new ones. This picture (shamelessly stolen from Snargle Sarah ) pretty much sums up how much fun I had this weekend.

That's Frecklegirl, Sarah, and Maya in the front.
I'm in the backback. With some leftover ribs.

We even stopped by the Morehouse store which is beautiful and spacious and well-lit and so dangerous. Thank God that place isn't anywhere near Georgia - I would be broke fer sure.

You won't see me at Rhinebeck next year because I'll be getting hitched (woo-hoo!), but I'm going to try my hardest to be at Maryland. I love sheep and wool festivals.

Ah. And back to reality. Central Park is zooming along - I've finished the back and fronts, and now I'm halfway through the first sleeve. And in other news, we are totally grown-up and closing on our house on this coming Monday. I can't even believe it. ohmygod. So I'm a little jittery this week, trying to process everything that is going on, and not be too anxious about it. I'm just accepting that I will probably have explosive diarrhea while we are signing the closing papers, but it will be over soon, and then we have a HOUSEHOUSEHOUSE. House. How cool is that?

Okay. Time for bed. It was real nice to see all ya'll at the festival, for real.

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (34)

I visited a dear friend at lunch yesterday, and we hung out with her new baby Tommy, who is totally cool.

Tommy totally let me hold him.

And he loves his mommy sooooooooooo much.

They are so cute!

Tommy is obviously a genius baby, because he's just a month old, and he was looking at me yesterday like we were about to have a conversation. He was about to jump off my lap and start talking movies with me, I'm telling you!

It was so great to see MJ, and so weird that she HAS A BABY. But weird good, fer sure. I am so impressed with her natural mommy abilities. And ability to carry on a conversation with me while feeding Tommy and eating a sandwich. MJ = Super Mom.

And also. Since it's Wednesday, and cuz everybody's doing it....MEME!

Stolen from Carolyn, who stole it from Bonne Marie.

48 Things You Could Care Less About

1. FIRST NAME? Carrie

2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Well, here's the thing. I was the second baby in a pair of unexpected twins, so they didn't really have a name picked out for me. But my full name is Nancy Caroline, and the Nancy comes from a family friend, and Caroline is my grandmother's middle name.

3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? I cried a little when I read Carrie's post about the side view mirror and the car wash guy. I kid you not. It's been a stressful week, okay?!?!

4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yep.

5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCHMEAT? hmm. This is tough. Corned beef or ham.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Yes. And I'd come over and watch my Tivo. It's like gold around here.

7. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? yer readin' it!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? Yes.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably not.

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL? Golden Grahams. Or Cinnamon Life.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? Nope.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? I am not physically strong, but I am strong-willed.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Chocolate. With Chocolate Chunks.

14. SHOE SIZE? 6 or 6.5 . My feet are annoyingly narrow and tiny, so it's really hard to find shoes that fit.

5. RED OR PINK? Red.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My stomach's tendency towards explosive diarrhea. And my anxiety.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? I miss my friends Ann and Chrissie, who I used to be very close with. I miss my teamies Drew and JoAnna. Sometimes I miss having my sister Cathy in the same town.

18. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO SEND THIS BACK TO YOU? If that means post on your own blog, SURE! Go crazy!

19. WHAT COLOR PANTS, SHIRT AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? I'm wearing a black dress, a brown shrug, and a green scarf.

20. LAST THING YOU ATE? mmmm. lunch. Pork loin sandwich with gouda and blue cheese spread.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? I am listening to Vibegrrl on the radio!

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Green.

23. FAVORITE SMELL? the top of Bella's head. or Jacob cooking dinner.

24. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Jacob.

25. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU ARE ATTRACTED TO? Their eyes. and their sense of humor.

26. DO YOU LIKE THE PERSON you stole THIS from? Yep. Hi Carolyn!

27. FAVORITE DRINK? Unsweet iced tea.

28. FAVORITE SPORT? um. Running?

29. EYE COLOR? Brown

30. HAT SIZE? Small. I have a pretty small head.

31. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Glasses.

32. FAVORITE FOOD? Oh. dear. Can't. Choose. Lasagna?

33. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS? Happy Endings. I don't watch scary movies.

35. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer, until it hits the 100s. Then winter.

36. HUGS OR KISSES? Yes, please!

37. FAVORITE DESSERT? Key Lime Pie.

38. WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Hmm. I don't know?

39. LEAST LIKELY TO RESPOND? Anne Marie

40. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Anything by Diana Gabaldon. I'm about to start The Kite Runner, and I want to read On Beauty by Zadie Smith, because I really liked White Teeth.

41. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE Pad? I don't have one!

42. WHAT DID YOU WATCH LAST NIGHT ON TV? I watched Tivo'ed Studio 60, and a freakin' HILARIOUS Colbert Report. (Did anyone see his flashback to when he interviewed Congresswoman Tubbs Jones? I was laughing so hard...)

43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? Jacob's Ipod, because there's always something awesome on there. My nephew Brady making cute baby noises.

44. ROLLING STONE OR BEATLES? Beatles

45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? Tuscany

46. WHAT'S YOUR SPECIAL TALENT? Spelling. And belting out songs. And creating Excel spreadsheets.

47. WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Jacksonville, Florida

48. WHO SENT THIS TO YOU? I stole it from Carolyn.

And also.

RHINEBECK RHINEBECK RHINEBECK!
See you there!

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

I'm knitting away on Central Park, and I am LOVING THIS PATTERN. Seriously. Easiest cables ever, and using yummy delicious Cascade Sierra (suggested by Ariane in my comments, THANK YOU!) -- this sweater is fun times. And look at this. Here's one hank of Sierra all wound up in a ball:

And here's how much sweater I got out of that one ball...

That's a good 14 inches, people.

Me likey. It's moving so quickly because I can do the cable without a needle, and after a few repeats, I've got the cable pattern in my head, and I can watch TV and knitknitknitknit. I think this is going to be done WAY before Christmas. Oops.

All this cable talk is making me long for my old friend, the Must Have Cardigan....I think she's going to come out of the project pile next. Just in time for chillier weather and extra fun cabley goodness.

I made a huge mistake (BIG mistake. HUGE.) on this sweater - the pattern calls for smaller needles in the ribbing and larger needles for the body of the sweater ,and in my excitement to start, I forgot to switch to the bigger needles. D'oh. Luckily, the knitting gods were watching over me and I'm getting gauge with the smaller needles. Crazy. Although I told my sister, and I mean it, I'm enjoying this knit so much that I wouldn't have minded ripping back to the ribbing and starting again. I know. Weird.

In other news, the Bling show on Friday was fun but very strange. I'd never been to downtown Greenville before, and it's really beautiful! Lots of pretty architecture and fountains and stonework. The stage we played on was really lovely too - right by some waterfalls, kind of at the bottom of a hill. It was chillychilly, but we got a pretty decent little crowd going.

The weirdness was: there were lots of babies running around, and this one baby was extremely fascinated by what we were doing onstage. She kept coming up and standing very near the stage, staring at the band. Her mother thought it was hilarious, so she just stood behind her and watched...and then the baby GOT ON THE STAGE.

So Bling Baby starts toddling over to me, and I tried to get her to grab my hand so she wouldn't wander all over the stage and touch electric things, etc. Bling Baby was not interested in my hand - she wanted to head straight for the HOTHOTHOT strobe light that was on the ground near me. I tried to block the baby, but she was determined. (Keep in mind that I'm singing this entire time...)

So, I picked her up and starting dancing and singing with her, all in an effort to keep her from touching the strobe light. This all resulted in a most ridiculous picture of me, wearing stiletto boots, a sparkly low cut dress, singing my guts out, while I'm holding a BABY.

Flared. Nostrils.

Just when I thought our shows couldn't get any weirder...click [ Bling Pics ] to see more photos that Jacob took in Greenville - they turned out great!

Otherwise we've just been starting to pack this weekend....ick. Packing. SUCKS. Too bad I won't be around next weekend to pack --- I'll be on my way to Rhinebeck! Wheeeeeee!

Posted by Carrieoke at 7:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (29)

And here it is!

I love my cowl.

Sorry for the huge pics, but I love this sweater, so I got my resident photographer to take some pictures with his new Canon 30D...

At first, I wasn't sure about the collar, but for me, it just took wearing the right shirt underneath. Nothing with a v-neck, just a round or straight across collar, so you're not distracted from the pretty cowl neck.

I used Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool for this project, and I lovelovelove this yarn! It's fun and easy to knit with, and it looks so beautiful when it's knit up. I think it's going to be a good all-season sweater - I can wear it now with a camisole underneath, and still be comfortable when it's a little bit warm. I'm picturing it with a long sleeved t-shirt or maybe even a crisp white collared shirt when it gets colder...

YAY!

You know the pattern: The Somewhat Cowl by the fabulous Wendy of Knit and Tonic. I used the pattern changes for a slightly more fitted sweater, including shaping on the sides. It's not super fitted, but I like the way it hangs. I have plans to make a few more of Wendy's patterns because they are super wearable and extremely well written.

So, if you're playing Blogger Bingo at Rhinebeck, I'll be rocking my Somewhat Cowl, probably on Saturday. And also Rhinebeck is SO CLOSE! wheeeeeeeeeee. And next on the knitting agenda? Central Park, from the latest Knitscene. Because my twin sister Cathy wants to be just like Rachael.

All right. I've gotta go clean and study and knit. My October is all kinds of crazy. Check out my next three weekends:

October 13: Bling plays Fall for Greenville.

October 20 - 22: Rhinebeck!

October 28 : My 10 year high school reunion. Weird.

And somewhere in there, we're gonna close on a house. And pack. And I'm gonna do some homework. It will all fall into place. Right?

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)

That is a ridiculous title for a post, but I do have hair news. I changed up the color for fall...

Red. Head.

My friend from class asked if it was "funk red, or day job red." I'm thinking it's funk red. And I lovelovelove it! Since Jacob's known me, I've always had shortish hair, and he wants me to grow out my hair for the wedding, which works for me. So we made a deal -- I'm growing it out, but I get to do whatever I want with the color. Woo-hoo! (Although -- shh! --- I'm starting to really love having it longer again. But you can't tell him that...)

And, I got the color done by an old old friend - someone I've known for 20 years. Crazy. (The wonders of myspace...)

So. House news. Everything looks good so far, inspection has been done, and we're in those stages of negotiating and finalizing everything. My twin sister came up this weekend and gave it the Cathy stamp of approval. (and also brought me clothes. She rocks.) If you want to see more pictures of the place, I've got some posted on my Flickr account:

[ House Pics ]

Thanks for all the good wishes. I'm so excited about being an almost homeowner, especially being an almost homeowner with the boy that I love, in a town that I love. It doesn't get much better than that!

School is moving right along. The midpoint of the semester is next week - it's flying by! Tonight my grad class was online - which means two things.

1. I got to wear this totally awesome headset so I could talk in class:

I am futuristic.

2. I got to knit while I was taking my class.

The Cowl part.

Okay. I've gotta go study some Flash now. Here's some of my remedial Flash for you. It's interactive! Make the car go boom!

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (39)