Two finished projects! I decided that I need to wrap up some projects, and so I had a finishing frenzy this past week. First up: Sockapalooooza Socks!

Two stripey socks, almost identical twins.

My sock pal professed a deep abiding love for striped socks, so I found some stripey yarn in her colors at The Fiber Denn. In addition to being stripey, the yarn is extremely soft. Hooray! I knit these using the toe-up formula in Simple Socks, Plain and Fancy. These were my first completed socks to have short row heels (and toes). I lovelovelove the short row toe - LOVE IT - but I'm not sold yet on the heel, probably because I haven't totally mastered it yet. I am satisfied with the heels on these particular socks, but I think I can improve my technique.

Don't worry, sock pal, these are getting a bath in Soak tonight.

Finished in time! Hooray for Sockapalooooza! I hope she likes them.

And, Finished #2: a baby sweater!

EZ February Sweater.

I've been knitting this on and off for a little while, waiting for one of my pregnant friends to give birth so I could choose a recipient. (Yes, I have that many pregnant friends.) This one is going to little Ava. I used one skein of Cotton Ease and size 9s. I was hoping using bigger needles would make the sweater bigger, and honestly I'm not sure what size this sweater is. I'm going with the whole EZ philosophy that babies come in all sizes and it will fit her at some point....that works, right? This sweater is easy peasy, the pattern is easy to memorize, and it looks super cute. I want to try one of those crazy origami baby surprise sweaters next.

It's so satisfying to actually finish some knits after four false starts with The Impossible Knitted Skirt.

So, what else? This weekend, I read Harry Potter (sniff), watched Jacob play Resident Evil on the Wii (sooooooooviolent), took my dad grocery shopping (fun!) and played with the neph a little (Big Head Schmoo!). Bella got a new toy.

Schmoo's favorite toy.

Friday is my last day at my current job ... oh how I fear change. But it's good change. It is. Still scared, though. Guess I need to knit a whole bunch this weekend to calm my nerves...

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)

Hi there! The crazy has slowly been winding down around here...the semester is almost over HOORAY and I survived and all of my projects are almost done. Of course, right in the middle of the super busy time of the semester, I got a call for a job interview ... a shiny, pretty job, where I can be creative and learn lots of new geeky stuff, and even work in my Master's field (Instructional Design and Development)...

Guess what? I. got. it.

I'm not gonna talk too much about it, but HOORAY YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY NEW JOBBY JOB! Ahem. I start in August. I'm super nervous but in a good way. Nervous. Nelly.

So, what else? I had a birthday on July 13, and it was very good. My sister was at cross country camp being a good cross country coach (sniff. she's already promised that she will NOT be at cross country camp for our 30th birthday), so I didn't get to hang out with her, which is always a bummer on our birthday. But, I did get to have the best karaoke birthday party EVER. Evidence of that is here:

I think I was singing Vibeology by Paula Abdul.

AM and Jenna.

Don't stop believin'.

Other pictures on Flickr, if you dare.

AM's birthday is July 21, so we rented a private karaoke room for fantastic joint birthday festivities, complete with wireless microphones and TWO TAMBOURINES, and a bunch of great friends. I love karaoke.

Jacob gave me the geekiest earrings ever, which I LOVE, and Bella gave me a prettypretty video iPod. oh boy oh boy oh boy! I can't wait to download podcasts...and TV shows...

On the knitting front, I have tried FOUR times to knit a skirt. Yes, FOUR. Yes, I knitted a (admittedly crappy) gauge swatch. Yes, I did math. They were all enormously huge and ill fitting. Harumph. Why am I obsessed with knitting a skirt? I have no idea. I think I need to put it away for a little while and find another skirt pattern. Or find a skirt pattern that is knit with yarn that I can afford. Or yarn in my stash. arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgh the skirt is taunting me.

Instead, I start knitting again on Ye Olde Chevron Scarf That I Cast On in April and May Never Be Finished, and I knitted up a cute Elizabeth Zimmerman baby sweater (the February one - one sleeve to go). Tonight, I'm going to see if I can get gauge for this cute Berroco pattern which Silvia alerted me to.

and I'm gonna finish up my Sockapaloooooza Socks! They are sooooper close.

I hope my pal likes them!

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (35)