Juliet is finished.

All knitted up.

Anyways. Juliet. I bought some large black buttons to put at the top, and I put them on, and they just didn't work. I think that I might be really bad at putting buttons on sweaters, because every time I do, it ruins the sweater. (See Forecast.) So I end up taking them off. As you can see in the above picture, I tried fastening it in the middle, and I actually think that's pretty cute. I may or may not actually put something there to fasten it (it's a bobby pin in the pic) -- I like it hanging open too.

I'm very serious here.

This is a super fast knit, but yarn choice is KEY. I think the recommended yarn, Cotton Fleece, would have been perfect; I used an 100% cotton yarn and if I was knitting it again, I might get something with a little bit of wool. This Karabella Softig was some stash yarn from AM and I literally had like two tiny strings left. Yikes.

Side view.

I like this sweater. I don't know how much I'm going to wear it. I've realized that I rarely ever wear my knits...my Somewhat Cowl and Ms. Marigold probably get the most wear. But I'm also realizing that it's not the knits I'm choosing, it's my complete reluctance to rip back if I royally screw up. Which usually means knits with wonkiness. Juliet has some wonkiness that I ignored, and now I think it might affect my desire to wear her.

BUT. I'm sure I'll wear her some. She's a good work sweater, and I think it would look really cute with brown pants and a white top underneath.

Next on the list? The Summer Shawlette, inspired by the lovely Pam, hopefully to throw over my shoulders at the wedding. I started it last night, and let me say I felt really stupid for a little while because I could NOT figure out the first five or so sentences of the pattern. (Turns out I was missing this key phrase: Work 40 rows as follows. DUH.) Now it's coming together, and I can see the very cool shaping that is going on (it's a Faroese shawl) and I'm excited.

However. I keep mucking up the lace. It's not hard, but I just keep screwing up. I think I've got the hang of it now, but I'm pondering ripping back so it will be perfect. You know, for the wedding. But the normal Carrieoke knitting method of FORGING AHEAD NO MATTER WHAT THE MISTAKE seems attractive as well...we'll see. I think I might be an extremely lazy knitter.

T minus 24 days. and counting.

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)

So, the Pants and I recently decided that we needed to replace the gross carpet in our den. Old carpet is the nastiest of nasties. Those of you with old carpet - you know what I'm talking about. GROSS. Also, we have a white carpet and a black doggy inside whose favorite pasttime is the wormy worm. (That's when she army crawls all over the floor, dragging her black little legs behind her. Very low quality video can be seen here.)

We've been looking for some affordable floors for a while, and we came across a deal we couldn't pass up, and so we bought 'em. And, in a fit of insanity, decided, let's just go ahead and install the damn things. NEVER MIND that our wedding is a month away. That's OKAY. We can do it! And hey, let's paint the room, too, while we're at it. NO WORRIES.

And we did. But, I say to you: do not embark on major home improvement a month before your wedding. It may cause you to become overly stressed about other things. Like the cake. Or maybe the centerpieces. Or the availability of hotels on your wedding weekend. Or...

Ahem.

I'll just show you what we did.

Before.

After.

Oh how I love it. I am really glad we were able to do this before the wedding, because we've got folks staying with us, but it was a lot of work. And these are floating floors - no nailing or gluing - so pretty much the easiest floors to install. But really, not so easy. Jacob and his dad did the hard stuff and I helped align boards and ran around a lot. I used the miter saw *once*. Note: I did not like using the miter saw.

We still need to finish the kitchen, which we'll work on this week. Hopefully we'll have the entire downstairs done before the wedding. This is the goal.

In other news? Juliet, she is super fun to knit. And she is nearly done...

sorry for the crappy quality, but bathroom light is the best I can do right now.

The garter stitch at the top did hurt my hands a bit, but I think it's because I'm using a cotton yarn. This yarn (Gedifra Softig) is very soft, but the cotton is hard to knit since it's so bulky. Once I got past the garter stitch, it's been smooth sailing. I'm so excited about this sweater. I'm already imagining a long sleeved version in a different yarn...

I'm also coveting this sweater knit by FlintKnits Pam. Awesome. I think I might have some yarny goodness in the stash that wants to become that sweater...

But, I'm thinking I might pick my Kim Hargreaves Maggie back up and finish that baby up...it's starting to get a little chilly round here. OH BOY TIME FOR FALL!

She is so pretty. and ready to be finished.

Lord, I have so much to tell you. Like all the sewing I want to do. And the quilt pattern I bought. and the Emmys! did you watch them? And also, I think I might do a teeny bit of wedding knitting. I have 30 days to do it!

But, I have to go. Next time!

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (38)

There are only 44 days until my wedding. So. Close. There are so many little things left to do...

I'm not going to stress.

Instead, I'm going to show you a lovely, relaxing picture of my latest finished project: my Chevron Scarf!

Yay new scarf!

It's perfect scarf weather - ya know, 90 degrees and up - har har har. I actually have worn this already -- it was cold in my class last week, and put my not-quite-finished scarf around my neck (I kinda hid the part that was still on the needles under the desk I was sitting in.) Then, the professor left the room for a minute and I took the opportunity to knit a few rows...and a student across the room said, "Are you KNITTING the muffler that you're wearing?" Hee. I was trying to be discreet. Oops. I also loved that she called it a muffler.

Look how long it is!

I really was going to knit this until I ran out of yarn, but one of my skeins kept tangling, and I'm actually glad I stopped - it's uber long! I can't wait for colder weather.

Last pic, I promise.

Can you tell I love this scarf?

I used two skeins of Socks That Rock (both gifties, one lovely skein from Jodi and another lovely skein from Ashley) and this pattern that I found on domesticrafts (she basically used a chevron stitch - so smart.)

Since I didn't get to finish the skeins, I used some of my leftover to whip up a quickie iPod cover for my video Ipod. I carry it in my purse all the time, and I wanted something to cover the screen just so it doesn't get scratched with bobby pins and ink pens and Pepto Bismol bottles, etc. (My purse is a pit of despair.)

Yay for Photo Booth.
I'm being lazy - it was easier than getting out the camera.
I have a Mac now - oh, how I love it.

It actually feels great to finish that project, because now I feel free to work on some other stuff. I'm getting very close to finishing my cami from Knitting Lingerie Style - pictures soon. And, I just bought this adorable Zephyr Style pattern last night after reading this post over at Elizabeth's ...how cute is that damn sweater? I'm so casting on for it this weekend.

Speaking of this weekend, me and the Pants are going away to the mountains for a mini vacation. We're going to relax and not stress about wedding details - I'm specifically forbidden to do any planning. I think it's going to be a nice break!

Y'all have a good weekend!

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)