Hi there. My name is Carrieoke. I used to do things like spend time with my schmoos and play on the internet and comment on blogs and knit and sleep and exercise, and maybe sew. Now I do this: workschoolworkschoolworkschool. sleep. eat. repeat.

I thought I would take two summer classes to free up my fall semester, since I'm getting married in the fall. BAD IDEA JEANS. I mean, I'm surviving. And the classes are actually quite enjoyable and I'm learning a lot and all that. I'm just tired. and busy. and tired. sigh.

but. I got to buy a new USB fancypants headset with microphone, because my classes are online. LOOK HOW MUCH FUN IT IS.

jealous?I know you are.
and also, can I take your order?

okay! hi there! so much has been going on! I don't even know where to begin. ooh, I know - we moved my dad back to Georgia. We'd been missing him, and he'd been missing us (or really he'd been missing his grandson, BigHeadSchmoo, and who can blame him?) and it was the right time, so my sisters found him a great apartment, and we drove on up to North Carolina and packed him up and now he's here! yay Dad.

Dad says hi.

Also, my band played at Athfest last weekend, which is like a big fun Athens music festival that happens annually. It was the best show we've played in a long time. There were tons of people there, and the guys in my band may have made three million dollars in fake money with our faces on it and thrown huge wads of the money into the crowd while screaming "Make it rain!" Maybe.

I know. They are totally insane.

It was fun times.

I'm still knitting away on my sockapaloooza sock number two. I finished sock one, and it is lovely. My first sock with both a short row heel and toe, and I'm pretty happy with the result. I can see why some folks don't so much like the short heel - but I'm totally converted to a short row toe. It's beautiful.

Number One, you're the best!

Anywho. After July 3, I'll have a little less on my plate, and hopefully more time for my schmoos and knitting and exercise. In that order. Hope your summer is lovely and peaceful.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (32)

Forecast is so close to being finished...

One sleeve down.
(Yikes. MUST CLEAN MIRROR.)

I've already woven in all my stray ends, so all I need to do is finish the second sleeve, sew the armholes, and add buttons. I'm not gonna lie to you -- I'm not totally convinced that this sweater is going to close (which may be related to my not knitting a gauge swatch, but I guess it's too late for that now...) I'm hoping that a good long soak and blocking will make it just perfect. It will, right?

After I finish this sweater, I've got a list of things I want to knit/finish:

Second Anemoi
Must-Have Cardigan (all that's left are sleeves and finishing)
Maggie (Kim Hargreaves kit)
Trellis (for my nephew)
Simple Knitted Bodice (with stash yarn)

Of course, this whole list may be derailed because I just got Stefanie Japel's new book -- Fitted Knits. Dudes. This book rocks. It's really beautiful -- lovely photos, lovely book design. And then the patterns! I'm loving it. If you've knit any Glampyre patterns before, then the silhouettes of some of the sweaters will be familiar, but the book is definitely a fresh take.

And I may have just gotten myself Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Around as well. Ahem. I've been splurging a bit lately on the knitting paraphernalia. But you look at this Bog Jacket and these Mittens and then TRY TO RESIST GETTING THAT BOOK.

I loves me some knitting blogs for inspiration.

Also: I've also started a new workout routine. It's sort of crazy for me, but so far, so good. I'm going to the gym BEFORE work on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have to be at work around 8:00, so that means getting to the gym by 6:30am at the very latest. I know some of you (ahem) are sorta used to crazy early hours, but I am not. In fact, I hate the morning very, very much. And I love my snooze button, and I love sleeping late. BUT. I also hate getting home from work and knowing that I still need to run. Getting it out of the way in the morning leaves my whole evening free for knitting and schmoos and watching good TV. Like, ya know, Men in Trees. And Dirt.

hee.

Now, as a reward for reading that whole long post with boring details about my exercise routine, I'm posting a tiny bad quality video from the last Bling show.

Sorry for the weird quality. I'm still working on how to get my videos to look clearer...I might post a better one if I can make it work. But you get the gist. And yes, that's me in the pink stripey skirt.

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

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 (31)

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 (28)

So ... it looks like I am going to be in school this semester.

Hooray! Thanks for all the sympathy and good vibes you sent my way ... it really made me feel better. Luckily, the other program was happy to take me back, and I'm already really excited about my classes this semester. Now, instead of a Master's in Internet Technology, I'll be pursuing a Master's in Education with an emphasis in Instructional Design and Development. This semester is going to involve a lot of studio time, learning software, and being creative. I think I'm gonna like it heeerrrrreeeeee....

Let's see, what else? The laptop I ordered for my first program arrived, and I decided to keep it since I'll still be in school. Thus, I'm blogging in bed. So. Happy.

I checked the battery. It's not one of the exploding ones.

And, Bling is playing tomorrow night (hey Athens and Atlanta folks, this serves as your official notice! Come see us! There's a great Florida band called Velveteen Pink opening for us...it will be fun times. Farm 255.)

Oh. And. The Pants rescued a small puppy from the highway today...and long story short, he's home with us now. There are no plans currently for Puppy to stay with us permanently, but he's going to be here temporarily until we figure out a living situation for him. His name is Puppy because Jacob won't let me name him. Yet.

Puppy wants to give you a big sloppy wet kiss and then bite your finger.

Puppy also wants to play ALL THE TIME with his new best friend, Bella the Giant.

Bella is so HUGE next to Puppy.

Puppy is a schmoo.

There has been knitting, it's just the same old same old : silk tank. You know what that looks like. Knitting has taken a back seat lately to doggy issues and crazy school issues and busybusy work stuff. But it's still there.

Sleepy. Time for bed. Thanks again for all your good vibes...you guys rock!

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (50)