Yay for looooong holiday weekends. It's beginning to look a lot like that time of year where classes wind down, the students go home, campus gets deserted, and I get to relax a little. I'm not quite there yet .... but it's close. So. close.

Thanksgiving was so nice. Lots of family time, although my nephew BradyPants was whisked away to my brother-in-law's family for the weekend - (I call dibs for Christmas, people). We had a lovely Thanksgiving brunch with my mom, my stepdad Mike, Cathy, her husband Wes, me, Jacob and Anne Marie (who totally ran a half marathon on Thanksgiving and then came and hung out because she is a ROCK STAR). I ate an enormous amount of food, and then I worked on this all day:

Central Park. Modeled by Cathy.

Front view.

I was trying for the J.Crew catalog blurry shot.

I know you're probably damn sick of pictures of this sweater, but I love it so much! It still needs to be blocked, and in these pictures, some ends were still hanging out, but it's pretty much there. It's not 100% perfect (the hood is a little wonky at the top), but it's the closest I've ever been. Happyhappyhappy. The sister will probably get it before Christmas - it might be the first time I've ever finished a knit in time for the gift giving. The yarn, for those who asked, is Cascade Sierra, and I lovelovelove it. I will definitely use it again - it's a wool-cotton blend, great to work with. This is an easy, quick knit, and my sister totally begged for it because she saw it here first. That Rachael inspires the knitting.

On Friday, we headed to Missisippi for a visit with Jacob's grandparents. And I got out an old project that's been sitting in my knitting basket...

The Must-Have Cardigan.
One trip to Mississippi = two fronts complete.

Just two sleeves and some finishing and this baby is DONE. It's looking a little short right now, but methinks a good blocking will make her fit nicely.

A trip to Mississippi with Jacob's family almost ALWAYS means one thing: a casino trip. And so we went. Here's what went down:

Jacob hit it big on the slots.

Seriously. He did. That boy is lucky. And, by extension, I am lucky too. I think we're gonna get a new mattress....

Yay fun weekend. I'm so thankful for all the wonderful people in my life.
And also for yarn.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (56)

Thanks for all the nice comments, ya'll. Clearly the really kind and supportive commenters outshadow the nasty anonymous meanies, and I shouldn't have let it get to me. It was just one of those days where I couldn't handle ANY negativity...thanks for letting me explain myself, even though I was preaching to the choir.

And thanks for all the furniture info! We ended up ordering some things from JcPenney's, and we have a trip to Ikea planned for the near future. I'll ltake some pictures when it gets here!

We are so not unpacked, and we're not even totally out of the old place yet - we still have a few odd and ends, a Crossbow, and some cleaning to do. But we're THIS close. Oh yes. We are close. And the new place? It already feels like home. Pictures soon.

One thing I've already discovered about the new house is that my bathroom mirror totally kicks ass for knitting pictures! Check it out:

Central Park. One side seamed up.

It is going to be REALLY hard for me to give this sweater away. I love it so.

Here's a shoulder seam for ya.

Although, I figure my sister deserves it. She deserves it for many reasons, but one reason is this: she's been the (gracious) recipient of a few ill-fitting handknits, and it's time to give her something she can wear FOR REALS. And I'm not being hard on myself - it's actually kind of fun to look back at the sweaters I've given her, and see the progression of my knitting. I like having the visual reminder that I've improved, especially with my seaming skills. I love my shoulder seam.

Gratutitous shoulder seam shot.

Isn't that a nice big old bathroom mirror? I'm so close to finishing this thing - last night, I finished the other sleeve/side seam, and now it's just knitknitknit until the hood is done, do the buttonband, and I'm finished! Do I want to immediately cast on one for myself? YES. Am I going to? hmmmm....

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (50)

We are almost completely into our new house. We've been sleeping there (on a mattress on the floor, but still we're HERE.) and all the super heavy stuff is moved (the piano, the dressers, the boxes of yarn.) Now we need to clean the rest of our crap out of the old house, CLEAN the old house, and start unpacking. In the blush of my first-time homeowner happiness, I forgot: Moving is Stressful. Yikes. Add that to major projects being due in both of my grad courses, and work, and starting the whole wedding planning process. I am overwhelmed. (My sister and I got into a who-is-busier competition on the phone yesterday, and let me tell you - don't get into that with a high school teacher. YOU WILL LOSE.)

But. Enough of that. Everybody else in the whole world is busy too, so at least I'm not alone in my overwhelmed-ness. And, it's lunchtime, and I'm sitting in Hot Corner Coffee, drinking a latte and using the wireless internet to blog, so I can't be THAT BUSY. Right?

First of all, you should know that my nephew makes the best owl ever:

Owl. Schmoo.
That's my mom in the pic.

My older sister Michelle made that fabulous owl costume for Brady and he totally rocked it on Halloween. You should've seen the layers of felt she was working with...she's a crafty one. Isn't it precious? That child is star material.

In other crafty news, I'm almost done with the second sleeve of the Central Park Hoodie, and to reward myself, I've started a little something for me: Forecast. I've eyed this pattern for a while, and after reading this fabulous post over at Fricknits, I immediately cast on. Me likey so far.

Now, to close this brief and random post, I will make two requests of you:

1. Can you recommend good affordable furniture stores? And, if you're going to suggest Ikea, have you had good luck with their stuff?

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2. EDITED TO ADD: Previously, I had posted something here about how my fiance and I had come to the decision to try and find a new home for one of our dogs, Chili. This apparently prompted hate-filled (anonymous) comments from several people, and honestly, I am already way too sad about the whole situation to deal with negativity from anyone. I posted the info because knitbloggers tend to be really awesome people, and I was hoping that maybe someone nearby was looking for a new schmoo. If any of you ARE looking for a new doggy, please email me.

Because I now feel like total shit and feel the need to explain myself, I want to let you know that: we are keeping Chili until we find a really wonderful home fo her. And if we don't, she will stay with us. The reason we are looking is because Chili and our smaller dog, Bella, used to be friends and now, for whatever doggy psychology reason, they have started attacking each other and we are afraid for Bella's life. Chili needs to be the only dog in a good home, and that's what we are trying to find for her.

Anyone who reads my blog on any kind of regular basis knows that I love my doggies very, very much, and this has been a very heartbreaking situation. I feel like I'm having to choose between my kids, honestly, and it stinks. But I would rather give Chili to a better home than have her or Bella hurt.

I know I shouldn't let a few random comments get to me, but dude, this has been a rough situation for me, and I've waited a while to post about Chili. Thank you for the supportive comments, and thank you for letting me explain myself.

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And that's all I've got right now. Back to work...

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (83)

Halloween was fun times! Athens is seriously the best town EVER for Halloween. People get SERIOUS and dress up -- doesn't matter how old you are -- and there are always super clever and super weird costumes. Last night, I happened to think my friends had the best costumes ever...

Bling played at the Georgia Theatre, and we all dressed up as characters from Alice in Wonderland.

This is the Cheshire Cat, the Caterpillar, and the King of Hearts.
with Silent Bob hanging out in the back.



Here's Alice (that's me!) and the Mad Hatter.



Here's me with my hot Viking date...



And here's Dog the Bounty Hunter and his wife Beth, all the way from Hawaii...

So funny. The show was fun - we played early for Athens (10:30) but there was still a decent crowd. Got a chance to have a drink with friends afterwards...



It's Alice and an HEJ!



Here's that hot Viking again with a chrome devil....

I didn't stay out much later than our show...I was too tired. It's been a busy week so far. cuz, ya know, on Monday...we closed on our house! WE ARE HOMEOWNERS! so, so exciting. We're planning to move this week and next week and hopefully be in the new place very soon. Pictures coming soon!

So. Sleepy. I hope I can stay awake for Lost...

p.s. I'm trying desperately to combat the spam barrage that's been happening lately, so I've added a word you have to type in the comment posting form. Let me know if you have any trouble with it!

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)