Thank you so much for all your sweet comments on our wedding! I love having this blog as a journal for myself, but it's also pretty awesome to have bloggy readers. Jacob and I really appreciate all the happy thoughts!

I have so much to say about the rest of the wedding, and our trip to Costa Rica, but really, I'm too tired to write it all out. I will say that the reception and the wedding made all the planning and the stress totally worth it, because it was so much damn fun. I was really worried about our wedding becoming this big fancy affair that wasn't really like me and Jacob, and over and over I heard from guests that our wedding was unique and an expression of who we are. And I felt that way, too. That made me so happy. It was amazing. All of it. Totally exceeded all of my expectations - the wedding, the honeymoon, everything. Yay.

If you want to see pics of the wedding and Costa Rica, there are about a million over at my flickr account...[ Weddin' Pics, etc.]

I also highly recommend checking out Jacob's Costa Rica pictures, which are here:

[ Jacob's Costa Rica pics ].

And really, you should probably go there first, because his pictures are really, really incredible. He's a photographer, ya know. Here's one of his pics.

See? Go check them out.

Maggie.

Yes, I realize that I am subjecting you to yet another poorly lit gross mirror bathroom shot. I'm sorry about that. I just got REALLY excited when I finished it and had to take a picture. RIGHT. THEN. So I did. I did try to take a self-timer shot, which failed miserably. Here it is.

Dork.
(Can you spot a sleepy Jacob in the background?)

Obviously, Maggie deserves a grand photo shoot with natural lighting. Maybe one day. But oh how I love this sweater. It fits perfectly - the yarn is yummy soft - it looks like it's supposed to. I don't have to tug at it to cover my belly. I can button it, or not. It's cute BOTH WAYS, instead of being cute only when I have it pinned at a certain angle and hold my breath (Juliet, I'm looking at you). I am going to wear the crap out of this thing, and she'll be even prettier when I block her. If I block her.

It only took me about 11 months to knit it! Har. It really did - I started knitting it in January of 2007. It's actually a simple pattern and should take much less time, but I may have lost two completed sleeves for a while. I want to knit more things with Rowan Wool Cotton - I may have to start cruising ebay for some deals.

I knit the pattern exactly as written [pattern available here]. The only thing I did differently is that I flipped the included buttons over - the right side of the buttons are shiny, and it didn't really match my color, so I flipped them over and used the darker brown side. Worked out great.

Ah, the happiness of a wearable finished knit. It's so nice. And so rare, for me. I immediately cast on another project in hopes of scoring another wearable knit: Anais.

Front.

We shall see. I'm using some leftover Silky Wool - I miraculously had the EXACT amount that the pattern called for, so I decided it was fate. That piece looks cute, right?

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

Hey - I got married! And it was absolutely one of the best days of my life.

May I present: the Mr. and Mrs!

(photo stolen from Vibegrrl.)

Photo by Shawn Fowler.

This will be a series of long posts because I really want to remember all the details of my wedding weekend, and this is the best way I know how. So click below if you want the whole story!

Continue reading "Just Married." »

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (177)

I'm getting married tomorrow afternoon!

Yesterday was a crazy blur - I ran a bunch of errands like getting gifts and getting my nails done and dropping off things and picking up things. HEJ came along to help and keep me focused on the task at hand. (She's really good at that kind of thing. And also lists. She's good at lists.)

I've been pretty overwhelmed this week with the things that still needed to be done - after a year and a half of planning, I thought that this week would be relaxing! Everything would be done! and the Pants and I could relax on the couch and gaze into each other's eyes in a state of pre-wedded bliss. Ha. And then tiny elves would come clean my house. Har. Wrong. And that's okay. It took me a few days to figure that out, but now I know.

Here's my manicure.

That's about all I've got for pictures. I'll have LOTS and LOTS of pictures to show in about a week and a half. I leave on Sunday for Costa Rica, where Jacob and I can relax and gaze into each other's eyes in a state of wedded bliss. Hee.

I can't believe it's here, and I'm freakin' excited. WEDDING WEDDING WEDDING. The stress has been overwhelming, but as long as me and Jacob are married at the end of the day, everything else is just icing on the delicious three-tiered cake.

Y'all have a good week! And send me good weather vibes. And non-Bridezilla vibes.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (101)

My wedding is in 9 days.

While the rest of the knitting world prepares for RHINEBECK!, I am immersed in final wedding details. There are so many things to finish! Programs, decorations, centerpieces, packing for honeymoon...I have always considered myself a low maintenance kinda girl ... and I am *so* the stereotypical insane stressed out bridezilla.

BUT! Today is a good day. Work is great, if a tad busy, and wedding stuff IS coming together. For example, this is finished:

Wedding Shawl. Check.

I. love. this. shawl. It's knitted with Rowan DK Silky Wool, which is good enough to eat, and it drapes beautifully. And the shoulder shaping WORKS - the shawl stays on! I couldn't believe how nicely it fits. (Full disclosure: I ran out of Silky Wool and knit the last row and cast off edge with another yarn. Don't tell.)

I really wanted to knit a wedding shawl, but I didn't want it to be too complicated, and I also didn't want it to be super long and overwhelming. When I saw Ms. Flint Knit Pamela's pictures, I knew that was my shawl, and I'm so, so happy I took the time to make it. (Which, surprisingly, was really not that much time at all, as Pamela also noted. It took probably three good TV nights to finish.)

Now, more wedding knitting! I am carrying calla lilies, and my toss bouquet will also be calla lilies, but callas of a different type: knitted ones. I have a few friends making one each, and I'm going to make a couple, and then tie a bow around them and throw those suckers at Anne Marie. (JUST KIDDING AM.)

I still haven't gotten a chance to blog about my fantastic weekend, where I went to the beach with some of my bridesmaids and friends and had a bit of a bachelorette celebration. It was more relaxation than debauchery (I left that for the Pants, who was in Vegas), but we did eat a lot of good food, drink lots of vodka tonics, and do some karaoke. They did make me a dirty cake. I will not post a picture of it here, for various reasons (Hi, Mom!), but you can imagine. Tee hee.

Contrary to the photo, I'm neither pregnant nor that well-endowed. hee.

Good times were had by all. Thanks, ladies, for making my weekend so fabulous!

I imagine I'll blog again before the wedding. Or maybe not. I don't know. I do know that I'd better stop writing and start CHECKING MY TO-DO LIST OH MY GOD.

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (63)

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 (49)

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 (27)

I can't believe it's almost the end of August. Time is flying around here - my wedding is in less than 2 months, I've been at my new job for almost 3 weeks, and our air conditioning has been broken for exactly 2 hours. Two sweaty hours. Dear Lord. This weather is CRAZY. Twice this week, I got in my car at the end of the day and my temperature gauge said 108. I've lived in Georgia my whole life, and this is the hottest summer we've ever had.

Did I mention that our air. conditioning. is not. working?

So, I'm sitting here with a very hot laptop on my lap, under a ceiling fan, thinking about knitting, but it's almost too hot to knit. I was working on a lovely camisole from Knitting Lingerie Style - but it makes me hot just to think about knitting with a wool alpaca blend right now. So, I've been working mostly on my never-ending Chevron Scarf:

This is gonna be a super long, pretty scarf, if I can persevere to the end of the skeins.

Sorry I'm Grumpy Complainypants. The temperature hasn't been below 100 in days. Weeks. I've just been working hard at the new job and working on wedding stuff. Invitations have gone out, and we've even been working on the centerpieces...

This is what we have to wear to work on centerpieces.
We are so serious about centerpieces.

I even got a veil. Not gonna post a picture of that because the Pants is not to be trusted. (the Pants are not to be trusted? Hee.)

So. how's that for a lame catch-up post? I miss blogging frequently. I need to make more time in my schedule for it. I can't complain too much though - my busy schedule is mostly due to a job I love and an upcoming wedding. Things are good.

I'm a tad sweaty, but I can still smile in pictures.

Posted by Carrieoke at 7:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)

I confess: my Sockapalooza socks came early, and instead of being a good Socker and waiting until August 2, I ripped into the package. Immediately. And found these lovelies inside:

My Socks!

And also...

My pal totally spoiled me!
A lovely knit pouch and a needle holder.

I love it all! The socks are super soft and they fit perfectly, and I've been using the pouch to tote my iPod around! (And did you see the adorable fabric on the needle holder?) These lovely gifts are courtesy of Elke. She is in Germany, and blogless (hi Elke) and she's a totally awesome Sock Pal. Thanks so much, Elke! I've been so lucky with Sockapalooza, and this year was another great time.

My pal's package went out already, and I'm crossing my fingers that she likes the socks and they fit...

So. I've been a busy girl, with the new job and the wedding getting really, really close...Accccccccccckkkkkkkkkkk. Our invitations are almost done (we'll be printing and cutting this weekend) and they feature a drawing by my dear friend Mary Jessica (who also drew the Carrieoke on the side of the blog). They also feature graphic design by my super talented brother-in-law David. Gotta love having the artistic friends and family!

Speaking of friends and family, my sisters Michelle and Cathy and my dear AM threw me and Jacob a kick-ass wedding shower this past weekend! There was extremely delicious food, and lots of booze, and lots of laughing, and an abundance of gifts... including...

A Wii Steering Wheel!
(Let's hear it for registering at Target!)

It was a fabulous weekend, indeed.

Well, I need to go address wedding invitations. Here's another confession: I sort of like addressing wedding invitations. And also? We forgot to book a hotel room for our wedding night. NOT STRESSED.

Posted by Carrieoke at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

So, our dogs got into it again. Both dogs are fine - albeit a little scratched up. Gah. and also Sigh. Bella has been trying to get at her wounds, and consequently, she has to wear this:

Bella is mad.
(sorry for the psychedelic black and white, but the lighting was bad and I wanted you to see her face.)

The vet recommended putting a t-shirt on her. I promise I didn't do that for my own amusement. Although we did giggle. A lot. Poor schmoo.

I'm not going to talk about the doggy situation because I'm sad and it's lame and that's that. Harumph.

I will talk about socks instead.

Stripey socks for my sock pal! The Fiber Denn yarn is turning out fabulously. I lovelovelove the stripes...

Green + black = STRIPEY FUN TIMES.

I'm actually even further than this now. What do y'all think is a good length for socks (from the ankle up, I mean?) I can't decide. I'm about 10 stripes up the leg right now. I love these socks! I might be a toe-up convert, for real. And the fun thing about this yarn is the striping looks so nice that it's almost *better* with a plain old sock.

The sock also went to band practice with me on Monday:

Rock out with your sock out. Har.

My band is playing at Athfest next weekend, so we decided that a practice was in order. (The Bling Boyz do not have any sort of organized practice situation. Bless their hearts.) I discovered that the leg of a purely stockinette toe-up sock is the BEST practice knitting ever. I might have to knit on stage.

If I knit on stage, I will hopefully look much cuter than this.

In other news: I'm taking two summer classes, and they are keeping me busy. I'm taking two this summer in hopes that I can only take one in the fall (or maybe none) when I'm about to get married. We'll see how it goes...

Posted by Carrieoke at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (28)

First of all: the keys WERE in my car. Hooray! I made it back to the office and got some work in.

Now. I dare you not to squeal (or at least exclaim loudly) from the cuteness of this picture:

My mom and my nephew are SO CUTE.

Then. I bought a wedding dress. !!! They had this one-day sale at the Foundry Park Inn in Athens, and it was literally called "The Dream Dress Sale." Hee. It was a bunch of super pricey dresses WAY marked down, so I had to go, at least to check things out.

And I found THE dress. And I love it so. My sister Cathy was so patient with me while I tried on every dress possible, and then I got the first one I tried on. Hee.

Here we are.

Wedding dress. Oh my lord. I really want to show you, but I don't trust the Pants to avert his eyes....It's hanging in my closet right now, so I'm hoping he'll be a good schmoo and not look.

Our first Christmas show was last night, and it was cheesy and cute and all that. There may have been some technical difficulties (coughcoughThe CD stopping in the middle of a song!coughcough), I think the audience was still entertained. Hopefully.

In the interest of being entertaining, I have an old picture to share with you. I've been scanning some pictures for a few Christmas presents, and this one is too hilarious to keep to myself. This is a Rockin' New Year's Eve from back in the day...

I'm on the left. Cathy's on the right.

And just so you know I was a cute child at some point, here's me and Cathy in the spring of 1982:

I'm in the yellow. Cathy's in the green.

Now, I've got to finish up Christmas shopping, clean the house, and relax. Sounds good to me.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)