woo-hoo! It's Friday! It's rainy and gray outside, but it is TOTALLY Friday. Hooray.

We totally went to Panama City Beach for Memorial Day Weekend. Fabulous Melanie invited us, and we had a kick ass time. I didn't take many pictures - I was too busy knitting and relaxing to do that - but I managed to take one or two. This picture is fairly indicative of our weekend.

Woooo-hooo, PCB.

There was lots of game playing (Rock Band, Grand Theft Auto, and Boom Blocks - yes, we had more than one game system with us), lots of beer drinking, and lots of knitting. I may have accidentally started another new project and finished a sleeve...it's the Dollar and a Half Cardigan [Rav link].

oops, I knit a sleeve.

I'm using my yummy Brooks Farm Willow, and it's perfect for this sweater. I will say this: it took me a little while to understand the lace pattern. I actually had to call my personal lace expert to get her help. I finally figured out that I was forgetting a YO over and over and over again. Now that I've done a whole sleeve, I've got the lace pattern memorized, and I can pretty much read the knitting and see what I need to do.

Other odds and ends: I'm doing stockinette instead of reverse stockinette for the panels in between the lace, and I'm also going down a needle size when I do the stockinette panels. I did some research on Ravelry and on some blogs , and apparently some knitters experienced weird poofiness when they knit the lace panels and the rev st st panels with the same needle size. I'm SO glad I read this, because switching needles seems to have totally eliminated that issue.

Once I figured out those initial things, it's totally easy knitting - it even travels well. Which is great, because I've just added some extra knitting time into my day: I started taking the bus to work!

Bus time.

Hee. I am seriously giddy about this. I live about 8-10 miles away from my work, and I'd always assumed that it would take forever to get to work using the city bus. It turns out that it's a 30 minute ride, AND, it's free because of where I work. HELLO. Free bus vs four dollars or more per gallon for gas? I am SO taking the bus. I was actually inspired to research it because of a thread on a Ravelry forum, and I'm so glad I did. I was really nervous the first time I had to pull the little cord to let the driver know my stop was coming up, but now I've done it successfully. (I know those of you who ride public transit all the time are probably laughing at me. I know, I'm a total newbie to this.)

So that gives me knitting time BEFORE work, and on my way home. How awesome is that?

Let's see. What else? My nephew, otherwise known as BigHeadSchmoo, turned two this week - can you believe it? I can't. He looks so grown up!

It seems like yesterday that he was born!

We'll be celebrating this weekend, which means I've got to find the perfect present tonight. After all, I need to keep my status as favorite aunt....

schmoo.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)

So. You know my pretty lightbox picture of my sweater? I'm really glad I posted it, because I realized after reading my comments that I was knitting the Minimalist Cardigan WRONG. oops. I guess I should read the pattern, eh? I read about it on blogs/Ravelry and I kept reading seed stitch, seed stitch ... so I just forged ahead with regular old seed stitch.

That is not right. It's a seed stitch pattern. D'oh. I emailed Veronique to thank her for her comment and I think she felt bad - but seriously, I'm glad! I love the way the cardi looks with the actual pattern as written, so I'm glad I realized it now instead of later.

So I r-r-r-ripped that sucker. And I read the pattern. and started again.

ahh. that's better.

This is my take-everywhere knitting, so it's slow going, but I love it.

I've also been knitting away on Emily's Mingus raffle socks. I've got two socks done to the heels, and I've turned the heel on Sock One. I love this pattern! I think they are going to be awesome, and I think I might have to knit a pair for myself. Like that'll ever happen. But a girl can dream.

Let's see. What else is new? I went to Mississippi last weekend to see Jacob's grandparents and his mom and celebrate Easter good times. Here's what I learned in Mississippi this weekend: if you go to the grandparents' church on Easter Sunday, you might have to sing a special. Don't try to avoid it. Just sing it.

Practicing for the special. I played the piano and sang low harmony, and my sister-in-law Alison sang lead. We're like a family band.

We also ate dinner at Catfish Country, which features an all you can eat buffet (with catfish), and lots of friendly people. One waitress was so friendly, in fact, that she and her family sang a spur-of-the-moment song for everyone in the restaurant. The video isn't that great, but listen to the audio...

Dude. They were rockin' awesome.

My stomach has almost recovered from all the Mississippi fried goodness. Now it's back to work, and school, and lots and lots of Flash programming. Soooo much Flashy flash, for both work and school. At least I'm getting better at it. There's also been lots of Ravelry, and lots of TV (who's watching American Idol? Carly is my favorite. and oh we started watching BSG. LOVE.) and quilting too.

I have actually quilted my first little quilt, and I'm trying to find the time to do the binding. I did it on my machine, used a walking foot and everything, like a fancy pants machine quilter. SO FUN. I can't wait to do the binding and have it finished and then start the whole process over again.

I've been taking lots of pictures, too, since I'm doing the 365 Days project on Flickr. Here's a recent one that is very representative of my week:

I need coffee. EVERY. MORNING.

It's been a long week, but tomorrow is Friday and I'm going to see Girl Talk and sew and knit this weekend! yayayayayayay. Now I'm off to lurk on the Rav forums...

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Well hello there! Thanks for the love on my last post. It's nice to feel like someone's reading, even if it's not the ONLY reason to post, ya know?

I have recovered from the nasty crud cold that was going around (and of course gave it to everyone in my office). Theraflu + tea = my friends. and also SLEEP. I realized that I'd been running on basically no sleep since the Christmas holidays, and my body just couldn't take it anymore. So, I'm trying to make it to bed before midnight these days, which is hard for me, but so far, so good. I've noticed also that my bedtime directly correlates with what time I arrive at work. Later bedtime = later work arrival time. Now I know that correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation. BUT, I'm going to make an assumption here that earlier is better.

We celebrated my mom's birthday this weekend! Yay family time. Got to hang out with the Big Head Schmoo and my absolutely adorable stepnephew Mason. Here's my mom with her two favorite grandkids:

So much happy.
Mason on the left, Bradypants in the lap. CUTE.

They are schmoos, all of them. We had yummy lasagna and played catch outside. Then my sis and her husband came up to Athens for fun times, which meant tapas and beers. and wii, of course.

Nerds.

It was a lovely weekend. It's a good thing that the crud went away and I had a nice weekend, because this semester has already started full swing. I'm taking two classes with major projects in both (don't you love group work in grad school?) and then I have to, ya know, work. Luckily, I really, really enjoy what I'm doing and work and grad school are closely related, so it's like one big mashup of technogeek fun. Hooray!

And then when I come home, there is the knitting.

Sleevecaps.

As you can see, I'm still working on the sleeves of my Drops sweater, and I did try the short row set in sleevecap method in Knitting from the Top. My first effort (to your right, above) was, um, rather large. I did the math required in the book, but you base all your calculations on the first measurement, which is "measure around your upper arm." So, that raises all kinds of questions - how much ease? what part of my upper arm? - and I realize now that she probably covers these questions in the first part of the book, but OF COURSE I DIDN'T READ THAT. So, I did the best I could and got a huge sleevecap.

The good thing is that once I saw how it works, I could tweak the measurement to fit how I wanted (see Sleevecap 2, to your left, picture above). I think this one is going to work out great, and man, it looks SO NICE. Much nicer that a seamed sleevecap, or at least, much nicer than MY seamed sleevecaps.

So hooray! I think I really, really like this method, and I think once I've figured out the numbers that work for me, I'll use it all the freakin' time. It just looks really clean and pretty. Yay for new techniques, and learning from your mistakes and all that.

I should probably go prepare for class tonight. Next time: my new sewing nook with my new sewing machine and my new sewing table that my schmoo husband helped me build. YAY.

Posted by Carrieoke at 3:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (24)

Yay for holidays. It's been a lovely week, despite the stress of last minute shopping and hiding a super secret Christmas present from Jacob's mom. We did succeed - she was totally surprised when she opened a box on Christmas eve and saw this:

SCHMOO!

This is Rosie. She is a long-haired Chihuahua, and she is CUTE. and also smart. and sweet. We kept her this past weekend (much to the chagrin of Bella and Chili) and absolutely fell in love with her. She's with Jacob's mom now and will be off to Mississippi to be a country schmoo.

Other Christmas surprises? Here's one:

oh. boy.

My new sewing machine, courtesy of the Pants. It's a Janome Hearttruth 2008 and I lurve it so much. Funny how it's easier to sew a straight line when you have a nice sewing machine. Hee. Today I will be buying some fabric and working on some projects out of Bend the Rules Sewing and also that Denyse Schmidt Quilts book. I already started one last night:

Frame of Mine.

It's a little picture frame backer. So cute. I haven't squared up the pieces yet, but it's gonna be adorable. Oh, the possibilities. There will be sewing. And quilting. oh yes.

The Big Head Schmoo sported a very fashionable sweater on Christmas Day:

Trellis in action.

He's really grown into it! My dad rocked a Santa hat...

We were totally spoiled with presents (including Veronik Avery's Knitting Classic Style - love it! and a beautiful handmade family tree, complete with leaves to fill in our family members - pictures later) and fun times with family. We also went to see Sweeney Todd, which was fantastic (as expected) although extremely, excruciatingly bloody. (I was in a production of Sweeney Todd in college, so I was determined to see this movie, even though I don't normally do extreme violence / gore / spewing blood in the theater. or on my DVD player. But it helped that I knew the entire story, so I knew what was coming, and also ALL THE SONG LYRICS. I loves me some Stephen Sondheim.) I did spend a lot of time hiding my face, but I still loved it.

I made an attempt to knit a sweater for a Christmas present and I failed miserably. I finished a back and a front side in time, but I decided to give Cat something else and keep the sweater for myself once I finish. And what is it, you ask? Here's a hint: it's a really popular sweater in the blogosphere right now, and it could reasonably be knit in a week. Betcha know what it is.... (I'm making you guess because I don't have any pictures of it. hee.)

So now - any suggestions for beginning sewing? Good sites, tips, tricks? All advice is welcomed. I know I need to start slow and be patient, and also I need to learn to cut straight.

I don't have to go back to work until Jan 2. Life is gooood.

Happy holidays to you! and happy New Year!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (28)

Seriously. It was 77 today. What. is. going. on?

I'll survive. I guess it's better than snow and ice storms. I'm relaxing on the couch right now, watching guilty TV (so not even confessing what I'm watching because it's SO BAD) and indulging in my other guilty pleasure: lurking on the Ravelry forums. I am so addicted. At least I knit and lurk. And I try not to lurk at work. Mostly. (who else does this? Big Issues Debate, anyone??)

It's been busy around here. We celebrated Jacob's 30th birthday last weekend and there were many fun times, including but not limited to: grilling of ribs, eating of ribs, poker, karaoke, Dance Dance Revolution, tube lights, and dancing with tube lights. And just in case you thought I was kidding about the tube lights...

Soundtrack: Girl Talk.

There you are. Jacob loves tube lights. So much that when we first moved to Athens, we lived in a friend's attic (Anne Marie) and our main light source was many, many tube lights nailed to the ceiling. We also had a vinyl door with a zipper for our bathroom...some of our design choices were slightly questionable. Har. Those tube lights actually blink and flash in time to any music that is playing. fun. fun. fun.

So. then, THIS weekend, we babysat my nephew, otherwise known as BigHeadSchmoo. The babysitting of the nephew, it is different than the visiting of the nephew, especially when bedtime is involved. He was not even *remotely* interested in bed. AT ALL. He was interested in running around the house with Jacob, reading Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo multiple times, and then finally watching Baby Einstein Christmas (and omg those Baby Einstein videos are so weird and hilarious. it's like, a puppet with the puppeteer's hand showing, and then a baby laughing, and then a polar bear, and my nephew was MESMERIZED.) We finally got him to sleep (and secretly I don't mind at all that he wanted to stay up and play with his favorite aunt and uncle.)

Uncle Jacob is WAY MORE fun than sleep.

I got some knitting in too. I'm about halfway done with the back of Anais, and I've been thinking about doing the sleeves a little differently. The sleeves as they are in the pattern seem -- strange. I don't know. I'm thinking I could make it a sleeveless vest, or maybe do a solid cap sleeve? Is that hard to do? Although I do also like this fluttery sleeve version, but I'm not sure those sleeves would be practical for my wardrobe. They ARE very cute...

I've worn my Maggie to work several times! I want to take a picture every time I wear it - it's exciting for me to wear a knitted item so often. (However, it must be noted that I had someone compliment me on it, and I said, thanks! I knitted it! and then I looked down and noticed old mustard from lunch on the buttonband. Hi, I'm Carrieoke. I am proud of my handknits. I spill food on them. )

In other knitting news, I'm working on a sock for my husband. I made him a pair of socks previously, and they mostly fit him, and then he machine washed them and felted them and they fit me perfectly. (Hooray for new slippers!) This left Jacob wanting another pair, of course, and I'm finally giving it a shot...

Almost to the heel.
The yarn is Trekking, and the pattern is Manly Socks from Knit Six. (Found by searching for "man socks" on Ravelry, by the way.) I think they're going to fit him perfectly, mostly because I've made him try them on a million times. It's hard knitting for size 11 feet, but I'm determined to finish this pair.

And that's all I've got for now. Me and Bella, we're just gonna sit here on the couch and keep watching bad TV and resting.

Bella loves bad TV.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (18)

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 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)

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)

This picture-heavy post is brought to you by the happiest one-year-old in the world: Big Head Schmoo.

Yay! It's my birthday!

BHS totally partied hard on his birthday, in just the way you would expect: CAKE.

Oh yes, it was that kind of party.

In between slinging cake and opening presents, the adorable BHS was able to squeeze in a photoshoot with his favorite Uncle Jacob (so Aunt Carrie can have proper FO pictures of the Trellis, of course.)

Standing!

You know the project: Trellis, from Knitty. I loved knitting this - I used Knit Picks Shine Worsted in Grass, and I was super happy with the result. I made the small body and the large sleeves (don't ask) and you can see in the pictures that BHS needed the sleeves rolled up. So, my recommendation would be to make the matching size sleeves and body. Duh.

This yarn is super soft, and only gets softer with machine washing. I made a Picovoli in this yarn, and pilling has been pretty minimal for me after several washings. I think this is a great yarn for baby clothes.

The buttons were purchased at The Point NYC and a close-up can be seen here on my Flickr account.

BHS says:

I am so stylish in my new sweater!
And also, pffffbbbttt.

Nephews are the best knitwear models.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (39)

to give you a geeky public service announcement.

Some of you may have noticed that when you left a comment on my blog, you would hit "Post" and then (after a long period of waiting) be sent to a lovely blank screen. Some people kindly tried to comment again, and others just crossed their fingers and hoped the comment went through.

After some lovely Googling and forum reading, it seems that this might have been causing the problem, and, dear Movable Type users, may also be causing a problem with the commenting system on your blog. So, if your commenting system has been buggy or slow lately, this could be why.

I'm posting this so I'll remember it, and also so maybe a few of you won't have to go searching!
This is still a bit of a lag after you hit "Post", but it now goes back to the blog entry (and shows your comment) instead of going to the blank screen.

A knitting post will come soon, and lots of modeling shots of BigHeadSchmoo and Trellis.

Well, I guess I can post one picture until next time...

Here's the one where we're all smiling.

Posted by Carrieoke at 3:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (36)

The semester is over! Yesterday marked the end of the semester for me at work, and it was a v. stressful and tiring day, but it is OVER. Hooray! I will probably be taking classes this summer, and a new semester begins next week, but I just feel the need to celebrate the end of this particularly stressful semester. WOO-HOO!

Just to give you a little taste of my day, it ended with me backing into a brick wall and making my muffler look like this:

Apparently, you shouldn't drive with your muffler dragging. Lesson learned.

Sigh. At least I'm safe and now my car is being repaired.

Now I will make a list of good things, which obviously outweigh any badness that is going on right now.

1. I had knitting at my house this week for the first time in ages. I forgot to take any pictures, but a good time was had by all. We drank daiquiris, sat on my porch for a while, and Melanie even joined us! Yay for new bloggy friends. Bella was on her best behavior and got to hang with the knitters for a while.

2. Jacob and I went to a fancy-pants fundraiser last weekend with his family. There was a silent auction and a live auction, and yummy food and drinks. Jacob wore a tux, and I got to wear a dress I got on super sale at Dillard's:

That might be after a few drinks.

We won an $100 gift certificate to Doc Chey's. Yum, noodles.

3. Ravelry. I'm sure you've been reading about it on lots of blogs, so I won't go into too much detail. I've been a beta tester for a little while, and it is fabulous. One thing I lovelovelove is being able to organize my stash (or actually see how much yarn I have - yikes ). It's a great tool for matching your stash to the patterns you want to knit. It's also fabulous to see what yarns other knitters have used for certain projects, and the interface makes it super easy to see that information! It is seriously addictive, and also makes you feel productive at the same time.

Now you're saying, that sounds great! But I can't use it! I'm not a beta tester! True. Frecklegirl and her husband are working their tails off to get Ravelry ready for full release. It's just the two of them working on it, and it's pretty amazing that they've already got such an amazing tool together. Have patience, and keep watching for news about the full release. And remember that Jess and Casey totally want EVERYONE to be able to participate - it's just a matter of time! They started this project because they care about this fabulous knitting/crocheting/yarny community and they wanted to make something wonderful and useful for us. How cool is that?

4. Mother's Day cookout at my sister's house was fun times. My nephew, otherwise known as BigHeadSchmoo, is almost one years old and absolutely adorable. And he said "Jacob"! He's also a genius baby, clearly.

Genius baby with Cathy and his mama, Michelle.

My stepfather and my mom, relaxing on the porch.

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Friday Friday Friday. Hooray! It's been a busy week in the school and work arenas, and I am so glad it's Friday. And I've got PLANS this weekend: birthday celebrations tonight for my friend Leslie, birthday celebrations tomorrow for my sister Michelle, a hair appointment (color), possibly a trip to Ikea, and lots of Wii time.

(Now that my nephew is almost 10 months old, it's time for him to play the Wii.)
(Kidding.)

And the Oscars on Sunday! Woo-hoo! In other news:

1. I brought my almost finished Forecast to work today, because I'm planning to go to the bead store at lunch and see if I can find buttons. Hopefully I won't be tempted to buy beading supplies. Ha.

2. I started the second Anemoi mitten, and all of my love for colorwork came rushing back. I think this one looks much better than the first one - I'm more comfortable working with two colors, and my gauge is a little looser. I hope it doesn't look vastly different than Anemoi #1...

Swirly goodness.

I'm using my Knitpicks chart holder from the start this time, and it's going so quickly. I can't wait to start working on some Zimmerman Norwegian mittens...

(God, now that I'm looking, there is a glaring mistake in that mitten. I'll need to fix it! But no ripping. I'll deal with it later.)

3. As I knit and watched Grey's Anatomy last night, two of my favorite schmoos dozed on the couch next to me. How cute is that?

Shleepy schmoos.

4. Here's my other favorite schmoo in her favorite spot:

Chili guards the house from here.

She's a good girl.

I think the Anemoi could be finished by this weekend if it keeps going so quickly. It's destined for someone who lives in a colder place than me, so the sooner I finish, the better. Although since we're starting to have 65-70 degree days here, I imagine that's happening in other places too. (Probably not, right?)

Okay. Back to work. Y'all have a good weekend!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)

The new swift. YAY! My crafty-schmoo-fiance built me my very own swift. He was able to make this:

I'm working here.

into this:

It works!

Now. A fun activity from the fabulous Fricknits: ten topics that begin with the letter E. Yikes. E seems hard. I guess everyone thinks their letter sounds hard...

English : I majored in English in college, and I now work in an English department. I am a stickler for correct spelling and grammar in writing. Questionable grammar in spoken English doesn't bother me as much as written mistakes. I am especially appalled at spelling errors on websites -- if you see one on my blog, you can tell me. I will luv u 4 it.

Exercise: It's starting hardcore in January. I got a step and hand weights for Christmas, and I just ordered that Nike-iPod thingy that Rachael was talking about. I'm planning to run a half-marathon in March -- and I'm mentioning that so you'll HOLD ME TO IT -- and I need to start training. MUST. DO. IT. Did I mention that I'm getting married in October of this year and I want to be my super-cutest self for the wedding?

Espresso : Every morning, I get a 16 oz vanilla latte from Jittery Joe's, our local coffee shop. Sometimes I get an extra shot of espresso if I'm feeling extra droopy. I realized over the holidays how much money I spend at said coffee shop. Woo-hoo! I'm supporting local business, so that makes it okay, right?

Election: I volunteered for our mayor's re-election campaign at the end of 2006. And it was FUN. Extra-fun activities included playing an election benefit show with Bling and creating a banner ad for our local online newspaper. She won!

Explosion: We set off fireworks last night. Lots and lots of fireworks. Jacob loves to be the dude that lights the fireworks and then runs like crazy away from the fireworks before they blow up. (Which makes me, inevitably, the girl who's yelling "Be careful, schmoo! Are we being too loud?") Don't worry, we're careful. And we're all about fire safety -- my future father-in-law is a fireman.

Entertaining: We had a little New Year's party last night, and it was really fun. Our new house is perfect for having guests. At one point, we had a poker game, karaoke, and Wii-playing all going on at the same time. Good times. And we still have leftover pigs in a blanket and tiny cheesecakes. Mmmmmmmmmmm. Tiny cheesecakes.

Evil: Tiny cheesecakes! You are evil! Stop tempting me from the fridge...

Education: Semester two of grad school starts next week. I'm taking one face-to-face class and one online class. We had a few online sessions of class last semester in my theory class, and it was sort of awkward and painful. I'm hoping a whole semester of online sessions aren't as painful...

Engaged: So I have the date. And the place. And the dress. (And the Pants. hahahahahahahahahahaha.) Apparently, the REAL planning can start now. Note to self: Must consult excessively organized and already married twin sister.

And, finally...

Endpaper Mitts: Finished!

My First Endpaper Mitts. Certainly not my last.

Excellent.

Later this week: Progress reports on Maggie and Forecast.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)

Ah. The holidays are so, so lovely. I've been sleeping until embarrassingly late hours, wearing my (new) pajamas all day, and knitting constantly. One of the perks of a university job is that the university is closed the last week in December, so I've got lots of time off. It's a wonderful thing. Luckily, Jacob works with schools as well, so we're both at home relaxing. It's given us lots of time to put the house in some kind of order and play with our Christmas presents.

Christmas was totally awesome. We got all kinds of great stuff for the house, loads of gift cards (LOWES! HOME DEPOT! BEDBATHANDBEYOND!) and lots of other fun things. I got some great Sephora stuff and the perfect jewelry box. So much good stuff.

The Pants gave me two ultimately awesome presents: this necklace

SchmooTag.

and... a camcorder!

I'm gonna video you.

That one was a bit of a surprise. So. Excited. About. Video. I have a feeling that videos of Bella, Chili, and other adorable thingsin my house may be making a more regular appearance on this here blog. Woo-hoo! I also taped ridiculous amounts of nephew cuteness on Christmas Day -- the child has gotten SO. BIG. I got to feed him a bottle, which was really fun and also kind of scary at the same time.

Here's the BigHeadSchmoo:

I'm the king of this blanket.

The sis finally got her Central Park Hoodie, for keeps:

Finally!

And there was also some intense game playing: both Texas Hold 'Em:

Jacob won. Again.

And Clue DVD:

Wes is a sleuth. He had the time ALL NARROWED DOWN.

Good. Times.

Now? I'm going to sit on my butt some more and surf blogs and knit and not have any responsibilities. We are having folks over for New Year's, so at some point I need to clean a little more, but NOT NOW. Now is for lounging. And building a swift...more on that later.

Hope everyone is having a happyhappy with their family and friends. This is the FOURTH Christmas I've celebrated with my blog, can you believe it? I can't. Time flies when you're having fun. And other cliches.

Happy New Year from our house to yours!!

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (34)

Aw, I got tagged! I feel special. My answers are in the extended entry. We're all weirdos...

The holidays are a time for giving and receiving, and I've done a little of both this week. I made a scarf for my friend Roxanne:

The Purl Scarf, Pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

Manos + Silky Wool + Kidsilk Haze = yummy.

Then. I received this from a dear sweet friend:

It's Maggie. Hot damn.

This yarn is so yummy to knit with...I'm about 1/3 done with a sleeve. Lovelovelove.

And. I may have randomly started some colorwork. Now. I've never really done much before, but I decided to throw caution to the wind and just knit these Endpaper Mitts. They're cute, right? Here's what I learned about Fair Isle:

1. It's tricksy.
2. I am crappy at holding yarn in my left hand.
3. It makes a difference which yarn you pull from underneath (see yarn dominance)
4. However impressed you are with your own First Fair Isle knitting, your fiance/spouse/partner/friend will not be as impressed. Even if you show them twice.
5. It's addictive.

Number 5 would be why I went from this:

A little bit of a mitt.

to this:

One mitt finished. I even wove in my ends.

By the way, that picture is purposely dim and moody so you can't see all my mistakes. And the bags under my eyes are NOT from a week of non-stop partying, as it may appear. I just drove to North Carolina and back to pick up my dad for the holidays, so I'm a little tired. I almost Photoshopped the bags out, but I figured you'd still love me with bags under my eyes. Right?

Meme answers in the extended entry if you like...

Continue reading "Give and Receive." »

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

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)

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.

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.

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.

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)

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?

--------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

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

Posted by Carrieoke at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (82)

So, we installed my side view mirror successfully. Here's proof that I was involved:

I'm a mechanic. Sort of.

In between car part installs, I've been knitting on the Somewhat Cowl. I've got one sleeve and the cowl left to go, so it's definitely going to be ready for Rhinebeck.

See that sleeve? The second one's almost done!

I may even have something else started by the time we head up. My twin sister keeps requesting knitted items (including but not limited to Ms. Marigold, and Something Red, although she REALLY begged when she saw Rachael's Central Park.) She really wants a cardigan now, and I'm trying to convince her that the bobbly zippy sweater in Paton's Street Smart is perfect.

But here's my dilemma: I think an 100% wool sweater is going to be too hot. She's like me: she's cold often, but she's a sweat-er. (as in, she sweats a lot). I'm wondering if a wool-acrylic blend wouldn't be as sweat-inducing? Any yarn suggestions?

Oh. And.

I might have been holding out on you a little. There's kinda sorta something else that I've been doing recently...

House. Hunting.

The Pants and I have been in the market for a house, and we are actually now officially under contract on the cutest house in town. Seriously. That's the name of my new house.

And here's what it looks like.

I haven't mentioned this before because we've already had one heartbreak (sniff), but I feel certain that this house is the right one. Send good vibes and cross your fingers and all that ...everything looks good so far.

So, that's what's been taking up my time lately...that, and my ridiculously full Tivo.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (54)

Hi hi hi! I'm here. I'm a little behind on the posting schedule. Oops. I have so much to say, too, but every time I sit down to post, something else comes up.

So. Here I am! hihihihi! How are you?

I'm great. Labor Day weekend was super relaxing, and nice and long. Spent quality time with both my sisters and got to see the BigHeadSchmoo:

Brady loves his grandma.

and I even got some knitting time:

Silky. Wool.

In addition, I have some sewing to do.I have a super cute skirt just waiting to be finished, and I have a pattern for a dress (inspired by Vibegrrl - scroll down to see the fabulous dress she made!) and another skirt. Then, my sister Michelle gave me some fabulous fabric and patterns for my belated birthday :

Pretty squares. and patterns to boot!

[nerding out]
And, in nerdy news, I'm learning Flash and loving it. So far, I've made a stick man kick a ball across the screen and created a yo-yo that moves up and down. (You've gotta start somewhere, right?) I can't WAIT to get into Action Scripting...
[/nerding out]

So, that's all the news from my neck of the woods. Today is breezy and cool, and I've got a load of homework to do. I'm HAPPY. I love being busy! Bling is playing this weekend (Friday night at Nuci's Space with Badkat and Ishues, for the locals), and there's plenty of time for knitting and sewing in between.

Yay for four day weeks.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (17)