How is it already April? I feel like this year is moving so quickly. Pretty soon it will be summer and I'll be longing for the nice 65-70 degree weather we are having right now. oh, summers in Georgia, how I love/hate you.

Work has been super busy lately, which is great, but also makes me a little overwhelmed sometimes. That means that I get home from work and immediately want to do something crafty to relax.

There has been knitting:

Spelling Bee Raffle socks for Stephanie!
(the colors in this pic are a bit off - the blues are little more pastel than they are here.)

I went through several different versions of these socks before I landed on this combination: Monkeys + Mama E's sock yarn. It's a perfect match! I started some Monkeys with some other yarn, but the pooling started to get to me, so I tried again and so far, the colors are working out nicely with this yarn. They need a good blocking, obviously, but I'm happy with them. and this pattern is fun, y'all. at first I had to really pay attention to the pattern, but now I've got it memorized and I can just knitknitknit while I'm watching TV. LOVE.

There has also been sewing. More box bags, of course:

Box Bags and one zipper pouch, actually.

and some progress on my quilt wall hanging:

yay quilt.

Since I've been sewing like a fiend, I've started reading some quilting/sewing blogs as well. If you haven't seen the Quilt Along posts over at Oh, Fransson! and you're wanting to get started quilted, check them out. She basically did a virtual quilt-along and went through her entire process from picking fabrics to binding and quilting. The posts are really clear and full of great info. I've definitely tagged a few of those posts (color choices, free motion quilting) to use in the future. I want to try and do free motion quilting for this wall hanging, but I need to practice A LOT before I do it.

While I'm sending you to other places on the Intarwebs, here are two more:

• if you are a scrapbooker, check out my older sister Michelle's blog, The Impatient Scrapper. She makes all kinds of awesome mini albums and she's actually designing a mini-album kit for Creative Scrappers in April! she rocks.
• My friend and indie sock dyer Melanie is having a raffle to help support her trip to the Sock Summit in August. Some of her fabulous prizes include a box bag made by me, and um hello delicious red Wollmeise sock yarn. Drooooool.
• Another great contest! Orinda5 is having a free giveaway on her blog with some pretty amazing prizes, including Malabrigo, some gorgeous sock yarn, and a beautiful shawl pin. She had originally intended to run a raffle, but it turns out that it's against the law to run an online raffle in her state, so the prize-drawing is not linked to the donations. BUT. you could totally make a completely unrelated to the contest but still awesome donation while you are there! I did!
  

I've started another quilt while I'm working on the wall hanging because I am addicted - I'm experimenting with some scrappy strip quilting using this tutorial from Quiltville (and hello she is another awesome online resource that Carolyn introduced me to). I'll take some pictures this weekend if the strips aren't ugly. ha.

have a great Friday!

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

y'all, it is COLD. I am wearing two knits right now: Forecast and my mini-Clapotis. It's not supposed to be quite this cold yet - I was hoping for a few more weeks of mid-sixties, slightly windy, brisk weather, but it looks like we might be heading right for the chilly weather. oh, well.

At least I have some knits to wear! I just taught a knitting class at my yarn store - Getting Started Sweater Knitting - and I brought some of the sweaters I'd knitted to show different shapes and construction. It made me realize that I've knit a bunch of frakkin' sweaters that I totally ignore. So I got them out of the back of the closet, and I'm actually going to WEAR them. I know, it's crazy....

Speaking of sweaters, I've been working on a new one! It's Lily from Twist Collective. I've been reading Marnie's blog for a long time, and I think she is super talented (and also funny and awesome in general). I always love the beautiful shaping in her knit designs, so I was super excited to knit this. and I have not been disappointed. This is a GREAT pattern - super detailed, and the shaping is so clever and looks awesome. I did omit the bobbles, although admittedly, now that I've seen a bunch of version on Ravelry, I probably would've been okay keeping them, because they blend into the lace pattern very nicely.

see that pretty side shaping? LOVE.

I've finished the knitting up to the armpits, and now I've put the body aside and I'm working on the sleeves. This pattern is so fun to knit - I've got the lace part memorized now, so I just have to make sure that I'm keeping track of my increases and I'm good to go. I was hoping to have it finished by SAFF this weekend, but I'm not sure if I'll have time - this week has already been so. busy.

I have another FO - a sewing FO! I made a skirt!

and it fits!

I used the skirt pattern from the fabulous Sew U book from Built by Wendy, and it went pretty well. It was a good project to see what my sewing machine can do - I used the zipper foot, the overedge foot, the blind hem foot, and in general got pretty comfortable with my machine. I also managed to break a needle in half (o hai). But I'm getting better.

Now, I'm working on some pants for Jacob for Halloween. We've thought about Halloween in advance this year and our costumes require much preparation...more to come on that. I also want to try and make this kickass dress that I saw on Amber's flickr photostream. We'll see if I can actually do it.

In non-crafty but still awesome news, yesterday was me and Jacob's first anniversary! I can't believe it's been a year.

old married couple.

Happy anniversary to my schmoo. I love you!

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (30)

I have some things to show you. Not one, not two, but THREE finished objects! Can you believe it? I can't.

But it's true! First, a super quick and super gratifying knit - meet Frank.

o hai.

Frank is actually Kate from Knitty. I knitted the pattern exactly as written, using size 7 and 8 Denise needle tips as double pointed needles. (I am lazy). It's an easy pattern to follow and I think the whole thing took me three days from start to finish. I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fine doubled for his stripey shirt and pants, and Cotton-Ease for his body. I cannot tell you how much I love the finished toy - he is just. so. cute. I see a lot of knitted toys in my future - such a great baby gift, and so fast! (I embroidered his eyes in addition to his mouth and nose so there wouldn't be any non-baby-friendly parts).

oh, Frank.

Okay. on to Finished Object the Second. It's the February Lady Sweater!

I wore her to work today!

I was so excited that I wore it to work today! It fits great. I used Silky Wool -- I think about 3.5 skeins. I had to change the numbers because Silky Wool is DK and the sweater is definitely light and airy - and it grew A LOT after blocking. I actually thought it might be TOO long last night, but after wearing it around today, I think it's the perfect length. The buttons I used were purchased at Maryland Sheep and Wool this year. They are a little heavy, so I'm considering reinforcing the button band with grosgrain ribbon. (yeah, I will probably NEVER get around to doing that. but I'm considering it.)

LOVE this sweater. I think it would be a great first sweater, if you're not afraid of lace, because when you're done, it's DONE. no seaming, just a little sewing under the armpits. It's seriously a great pattern. I'm trying to convince my sis to knit one! Thanks, Pam, for this awesome pattern - obviously it kicks ass because it seems like every knitter in the blogosphere / Ravelry has knit one. I might make another in worsted weight one day...

and finally! the grand finale. My First Quilt!

hanging out on the fence.

This is a lap-sized quilt - I used the Streak of Sunshine pattern from Quiltville. (That site has tons of good info - thanks for the rec, Carolyn!) And seriously, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. The hardest part for me (besides the binding) was picking out colors that worked well together. It's such a challenge for me, and for some reason really intimidating to me. I'm just going to keep plugging away at it.

Close up of the corner.

I lucked out because Carolyn was in town for Dragon*Con and showed me how to do a free-form braid on the sides and also how to do the binding. The braid was her idea and I love how it looks against the straight lines of the rest of the quilt. I was scared to do it without drawing it on the quilt, but it actually wasn't that bad. Carolyn is a fantastic teacher too.

The binding is machine sewn on the top, and then folded and blind-stitched by hand on the back. It was tedious, but seriously, it looks so good. It really makes it looked FINISHED. Carolyn swore it was her favorite part, and I was all, okay, whatever, crazy... but as you work the binding, the whole quilt just comes together - it's very cool!

I am really looking forward to working on more quilts, and some larger ones. Obviously there are lots of mistakes in this one, but I seriously love it so. and I actually use it all the time! Woot.

So, there you have it. I've been busy with the crafting, in between work and school and life in general. I am in my last semester of my Master's program - oh boy! - and work is totally slammed. Things are great! Now I have to decide what to work on next...

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (37)

I actually have another finished project to show you! The funny thing about blogging less is that the knitting in progress gets lost in the shuffle and it seems like finished knits just appear out of the blue. I started this sweater on May 23 (don't you love Ravelry for your start dates?) and finished it right around the end of July, so it took about two months to knit.

It's the Dollar and a Half cardigan, from Interweave Knits, Spring 2007! I so love me some Véronik Avery patterns.

Yay, I finished it!

I used three skeins of Brooks Farm Willow that I bought at Maryland Sheep and Wool earlier this year. I really, really love this yarn. It's a wool/bamboo blend, and it's soft and drapey and lovely. It becomes even softer and prettier after blocking.

This photo shoot was very sweaty.

It was a close call with the yarn. My stitch and row gauge were a teeny tiny bit off, which I think may have caused me to need a bit more yarn. I tried to get an extra skein of the yarn (Ravelry, Flickr, even emailed Brooks Farm, and they were super nice, although they sold out of this colorway at MDS&W), but I realized after finishing all the sweater pieces that my sleeves were uber long.

So, I seamed until I was almost out of yarn, and then I took some yarn from each sleeve to finish things up. (How I did it: I got a piece of scrap yarn and ran it through a row of stitches right above the ribbing on a sleeve. Then, I snipped one stitch, and unraveled a row of stitches, which detached the ribbing, and gave me a row of live stitches still attached to the sleeve. I used the ripped out ribbing to seam and do buttonbands, and then I put the row of live stitches back on my needles and knit down from there, finishing the sleeves up. Does that make sense? It was actually really easy!)

I do think the sleeves as written are LONG. So, be aware of that if you knit this. Other things to note: I did stockinette in between the lace panels instead of the reverse stockinette that's in the pattern. Also, lots of knitters have mentioned the stockinette panels puffing out in between the lace panels, so I went down one needle size for every stockinette panel, and that seemed to help with the puffiness. I still have a little of that on the sleeves, but it's definitely still wearable.

The lace pattern is easy to memorize, and once I did, the knitting is fast. It's nice too, because the lace panels break up the stockinette, so I didn't get bored. I seriously love this pattern, y'all. LOVE. I'm so happy with my sweater! Now, I have to put it away for probably four more months until it's a little bit colder in Georgia ... because it's pretty much in the 90s all the time right now. Oh, being a knitter in the South. Sigh.

Anyways. This is definitely my best sweater yet - it fits great, it's long enough (which is usually a big problem for me) and I like the way the buttons turned out, which can sometimes make or break a project for me. YAY finished wearable sweater! (Thanks to Jacob for the pics - we were both sweating after like two seconds outside, but he persevered and got some good shots for me.)

Next up? I'm going to try and knit a February Lady Sweater for the Ravelympics, using some Silky Wool I picked up at Halycon Yarns. I've never done any knitting olympics before, so we'll see how I handle the pressure...

and also! earthchick is having a raffle on her blog for a really great cause, and it has some seriously amazing prizes. so you should go check it out! (and while you're there, check out her Sunshine top! so cute.)

If you tried to leave a comment and got a blank page, please try again - if the blank page comes up, hit refresh and see if that fixes the problem. It may be time to upgrade to MT 4.0...or Wordpress. Gah.

Posted by Carrieoke at 6:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (45)

I do really truly have a finished project to show. It's the Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style:

I finished this one in record time. For me, anyways.
Photos by my husband, because he rocks.

I love this shawl. I decided (at the last minute) to make a shawl to wear to my dear friend Taylor's wedding, and I needed something that would knit up pretty quickly. I started several different shawls: River (in Kidsilk Haze and Jaggerspun), Bellini Shawl (in Morehouse Merino), Flower Basket Shawl, and a random lace stole that I found by googling around. I started and ripped all of these out in a span of two days.

Finally, at the suggestion of my friend Lynnea and Used-to-be-Kniterati Anne, I cast on for the Shetland Triangle using some Socks That Rock that I had in my stash. And it just felt right. The pattern is beautiful and easy to memorize - after a few repeats, I was able to stop looking at the chart and just knit knit knit. I really needed a pattern like that, because I was finishing the damn thing while we were traveling in Boston and all up the coast of Maine.

In Boston, I realized that I would probably run out of Socks that Rock before I made the shawl long enough, so Frecklegirl Jess took me to Newbury Yarns to see what we could find. I ended up getting some GGH Taj Mahal in a dark purple for the edging. (Taj Mahal is yummy yarn, and I got four balls because each ball only has 89 yards. Of course I only used ONE BALL, but dude, I need to find something out of this yarn - it is soft and drapey and just lovely.)

The edging worked out perfectly.

I finished the shawl in the car on the way to Portland, Maine. I was super excited and ready to block it as soon as we got to our hotel in Portland, but I didn't have wool wash OR blocking pins. Ooops. Luckily, there were three yarn stores within walking distance of our hotel. and we hit up all three (much to Jacob's delight. HAR.) The first one, Central Yarn, didn't have wool wash OR blocking pins (but they were really nice). The second stop, Tess's Designer Yarns, also didn't have wool wash or blocking pins, but they did have some pretty lame customer service, so I didn't even get yarn there.

The third store was the winner - KnitWit! The woman there was totally awesome - not only did she have T-pins for blocking, but she gave me two samples of Soak so I didn't have to buy a full bottle of wool wash. YAY for KnitWit - I was so happy and relieved to finally find what I was looking for, and of course I bought some yarn, too.

The wingspan shot.

I blocked the shawl overnight in our hotel room, and then brought it along for the wedding in Lincolnville, Maine. and it was perfect! It was just a little windy that night, and the shawl gave me just the right amount of warmth. I am so making another one of these - maybe in some Dream in Color Smooshy that I just got in the mail. If you're looking for a good first lace project, or a fast lace project, I highly recommend this pattern.

I am so serious in this picture.

I hope you don't mind the multiple self-indulgent photos, but when the husband does a photo shoot, I have to take advantage.

So, in summary, Shetland Triangle FOR THE WIN. wooo-hoooooooooo.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (52)

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)

I started a post days ago and then work/knitting/Ravelry/life got in the way. So the short version is: Maryland Sheep and Wool was fun times. Saw some really awesome old friends and made some new ones. Bought some excellent yarn. Got sunburned.

I was overwhelmed (in a good way) by all the Ravelry craziness, but it didn't stop me from participating. Jess and Casey have obviously done an amazing thing and I'm so proud of my friends. And a little in awe of them.

Pictures from the trip are [ here ], if you're interested. And here's what I got while I was there:

The stash.

That's some sock yarn, yarn for one sweater, and some clasps and buttons. I was very restrained, actually. Although after seeing all the Namaste bags that Jess and Casey had for door prizes, I immediately came home and ordered this pretty pretty bag:

This is the Namaste Laguna.

It's beautiful and soft. It is also HUGE. If you don't want a big bag, it's not for you, but if you like to carry everything with you, I highly recommend it. Since I bought that the night I returned, I guess that counts as a MDSW purchase. Hee.

Anyways. What else? Well, I finished Anais. The unraveling of the cast on edge quickly turned into CUTTING OFF the ribbing and picking up stitches, but I'm okay with that. It was a messy job, but I'm super pleased with the results:

AND! I finished Jacob's socks today! He is actually wearing the socks right. now.

Finished!

I used Trekking XXL. I think he likes them. YAY. These are actually the second socks I've made for Jacob. The first pair ended up getting felted (although now I have a nice pair of slipper socks), but Trekking is machine washable (right?) so I think these will be okay.

That's two finished objects! woo-hoo, I'm getting crafty things done. I still need to put an binding on my prettypretty first quilt, and figure out what the heck to do with that purple Drops sweater that just needs finished arms and some buttons...but I'm currently distracted by some lace...

Go Fly a Kite Shawl.

I saw a girl wearing the most beautiful shawl at Maryland Sheep and Wool at Sunday's Ravelry meetup, and it turned out to be her own design! Holli was super gracious while we oohed and ahhed over her shawl. Luckily I had some Malabrigo lace yumminess in my stash, so I started it as soon as I got home. I'm hoping to have it done by my friend's wedding in the beginning of July. I had to get a little help from my friend Leigha to get going, but I'm totally cruising now!

yay. things are good. It's almost truly summer, which means my lovely town is quieter and slower and emptier. and I'm only taking ONE hour of class this summer, which means that I have more time to hang out with these schmoos:

happy schmoos.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (35)

So, Anais. I finished the back and seamed it up - and it was looking very promising! Then, I added the lace collar part.

um, yeah.

Y'all, I wanted to love it, but it's just not working for me. I think maybe because I made my Anais pretty snug, the lace makes it look sort of ... trashy. Someone who saw this picture on Flickr may have mentioned Elvira. (And while I may have been Elvira for Halloween, I'd rather NOT channel her in my everyday wardrobe.) It's just not working. So, I ripped the lace part out, and took Carolyn's suggestion to add some ribbing around the collar.

Better.

Looks better. But this picture is deceptive - it's just TOO SHORT. Harumph. So, last night, I stayed up WAY too late and ripped out the cast on edge. (Full disclosure: I began by ripping out the cast on edge, and then I ended up taking scissors to the ribbing. There are no pictures because it was very, very scary.)

So now, I'm going to add a couple inches of length. I managed to get all the bottom ribbing off, get it back on the needles, and now I'm knitting downwards. I'm hoping I can finish it this weekend while I am at Maryland Sheep and Wool, YAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAY and also OH BOY.

ooh! I also took some pics of the finished Mingus socks before I sent them to Emily:

Swoon.

I love.

[BSG geekout]

I have also recently come to the conclusion that I pretty much HAVE to go to DragonCon this year because Helo and Lee will be there. OH YES.

I might have to dress up like a viper pilot too. NO LAUGHING.

[/BSG geekout]

Posted by Carrieoke at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (54)

hi there! My semester is finally, finally over. I have some tiny things left to do (burn a project on CD for my professor, that sort of thing) but mostly I'm done. and it feels NICE. ahhhhhhhhhhhh.

I even had time to finish the Mingus socks! I gave them a bath last night, and they are blocking on a towel right now. Once they are dry, they will be traveling to see Miss Emily, woo-hoo!!!

I posted on Flickr, and the thumbnail apparently looked like I was washing spinach. or maybe kale. hee.

I am so happy with these socks. I am also glad they are not in my size, so I'm not tempted to do a switcheroo and send Emily so Wal-Mart tube socks instead of these. (I AM TOTALLY KIDDING.) And these are officially my FIRST finished object of 2008! isn't that insane? Hi, it only took me almost 5 months to completely knit something. I AM SLOW.

So, I picked up an old unfinished object so my next finished project will be gratifying and quick. It's Anais. When you last saw her, she looked like this:

This is a front.

I'm now up to the shoulders on the back, and then I'll be seaming her up. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the sleeves. I'm not really feeling the sleeves on the original pattern, so I'm thinking about some cap sleeves instead. Or, maybe just making it a sleeveless top? Opinions?

Speaking of opinions, let me get yours on another little situation. A fabulous blog friend from back in the day (thanks, Vanessa!) emailed me this week because of a little sign she saw when she was shopping at AC Moore:

Wait a minute....

This is a sign advertising their knitting classes - notice the Carrieoke cartoon on the sign?

Now, my dear friend Mary Jessica drew that for me years ago, and it's been on my blog for a long time. At first we were like, HEE! that is funny. And then we thought about it...and they should've asked, ya know? Mary Jessica is a writer and an illustrator, and her work belongs to her. I'm totally assuming the best here and thinking that whoever downloaded the cartoon just didn't realize that it wasn't free clipart.

So, what should we do? For starters, I'm going to make it clearer on my site that the illustration belongs to Mary Jessica, and that it's not okay for people to take. (I think I might add a copyright statement to the bottom of the actual image.) And actually, in this case, I probably would've been okay with it (after checking with Mary Jessica), as long as they credited MJ at the bottom of the image.

But, I think we should communicate to whoever borrowed it that it's not okay to just download it and use it, just so they know for future reference. It seems like a letter would be the best way to go about it - what do you think? I do think it's cool that they liked the drawing enough to want to use it on their sign, BUT, they should have asked.

So. bizarre!

Well, I'm off to enjoy this lovely Saturday. I'm going to knit some, and maybe even put a border on my quilt. It's so awesome to not have schoolwork to think about. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

Posted by Carrieoke at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)

Seriously, Georgia, WTF? This weather is incredible. Last week we saw 60 - 70 degree temperatures, followed by tornado watches, followed by snow flurries. It is insanity. March is usually a pretty stormy month in Georgia, but this is weirdness. I know there are some massively dangerous winter storms out there right now, so I pretty much have no right to complain, but it's just WEIRD. And I'm really, really scared of thunderstorms and tornadoes, as are both of my dogs.

I'm also just ready for spring. The cold and I, we are not friends.

Sigh. At least there have been some outrageously beautiful days in the mix.

I have been so busy with school and work! Luckily, I've had some cool projects at work lately, so I'm okay with the busy. I sort of like the busy, even. Tomorrow, I'm taking pictures for a client, and I needed a way to get some great macro shots, so I got to do something I've been wanting to try for a while - make a lightbox! I used this tutorial and was very inspired by Lolly's tutorial also. In my work, we often need very clear macro shots with backgrounds that are easy to take out, and this seemed like the way to go.

I used stuff that we had laying around the office - some foamcore, shipping tape, and a box cutter. To set it up, I grabbed one 650 watt studio light and just start shooting to see what things looked like. Of course, I used my knitting for some test shots. :)

My Minimalist Cardigan

yay! full disclosure: the color is WAY OFF in this picture. The actual yarn is a burgundy red. I'll have to play with white balance and camera settings to make things look just right. But overall, this was the effect I was going for. I'm excited about using it tomorrow for work (and continuing to test it by bringing some more of my knits in for a photo shoot. hee.)

And, as you can see, I started knitting the Minimalist Cardigan. I decided to brave the seed stitch, and I'm so glad I did - I love the texture. It does move really, really slowly, though. It's good bring-everywhere knitting, and also good TV knitting (as long as I look down occasionally to make sure I'm not knitting ribbing instead of seed stitch).

I'm also working on the socks for my raffle winner! After we emailed, I decided to knit her a pair of Mingus socks. Dude. I love this sock pattern. It took me a little while to get the hang of the pattern - and I definitely still need the chart - but it's super interesting and gratifying, because the longer it gets, the cooler the pattern looks. I hope they turn out well!

Mingus progress.

I'm about 1/4 of the way done with Jacob's second sock, but I put it on hold for the Mingus socks because I needed my size 1 Addi Turbos. I think I'll be done with these pretty quickly though - they are fun, so they go fast.

Well, I'm off to finish the laundry and play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. I'm not usually good at fighting games, but I loves me some Super Smash Bros.

Posted by Carrieoke at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (27)

Lots of primaries today! I voted before work this morning.

I'm rocking my sticker.

This weekend was fun filled. Including, but not limited to, new hair fun:

Let's try red for a while.

I got it cut and colored, and I'm loving both. It is super red, which I love, but was a little bit of a shock at first. It's exactly what I asked for, but I haven't seen myself with red hair in a while. Jacob is still getting used to it.

Other weekend fun times? Eating chili and watching the Super Bowl with my family:

Yes, that is Cathy. Not a floating head.

and coming very, very close to finishing the never-ending Drops sweater. Ya know, the one that knits up SO quickly. Gah. Here's where I am:

Almost.

So here's my question. I think I only have enough yarn to make the sleeves that length (the one in the picture above), but I'm not loving what the double seed stitch is doing. It looks chunky and puffy and weird. What would be a good alternate for the double seed stitch? Carolyn suggested possibly keeping it stockinette but turning a hem, which I'm seriously considering. I just don't like the way it looks currently. The sleeve length is okay, but not the edging.

There have been exactly ZERO strips cut since I took that picture of myself cutting quilt strips. I'm going to try to dedicate sometime to my quilt this week, but school is eating up all my free time. well, school and bad television.

Posted by Carrieoke at 9:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Yep, it's that time again - I'm sockapaloooza-ing. I just can't resist the lure of a lovely pair of hand knit socks coming to me from a mysterious pal. And of course, I don't mind the excuse to knit a pair of socks. I have lots of sock yarn in the stash, but I just don't knit them very often.

This year's pal has me going back and forth. She likes greens, so I originally started a cable twist sock (Hello Yarn's pattern, slightly modified, inspired by Grumperina's mods.) I used some Koigu that I bought at Purl, and I was really liking the way the sock was turning out:

Yummy Koigu.

When I got to the heel, I tried THREE times to make the perfect short row heel. The first one was okay, the second one was hideous, the third was eh, and then I gave up. My other stress is that my sock pal has bigger feet than me, and I'm not used to how far a skein of Koigu will go. I became a worried schmoo.

Hmm.

Soooo.... I decided to buy some yarn. My sock pal also indicated that she loves stripes, so I decided to hunt down a big old fatty skein green stripey sock yarn. I found some I liked on etsy and ordered it up. [Edited to add: The yarn is midnight spruce, purchased from The Fiber Denn]

Oh boy! So, now I'm knitting a plain sock, toe-up (which is TOTALLY weird for me, but DUDE I'm loving the short row toe). Here's how far I am:

Stripey goodness.

I know it's not quite as glamorous as the cable twist, but I actually think my pal will like this sock better. We'll see if I change my mind by the time I get to the heel!

In other knitting news, I have been REALLY wanting to knit a skirt. I think it's because I like to wear cute casual skirts in the summer instead of shorts (because, really, who looks good in shorts? not. me.) and I have this yummy linen yarn in a deep purple that wants to be worn and loved this summer.

So I swatched for the Indigo Ripples skirt from the Spring IK. Love love this skirt, love Eunny's version, love it. I did a tiny swatch, eyeballed it, thought it looked close enough (danger) and started knitting.

Luckily, I decided to try on my skirt after a few increases to see where I was. Wanna see?

Har.

Note to self: close enough does NOT cut it when you are casting on 170 stitches. or really ever. Bad schmoo.

I ripped, but remeasured my gauge in the linen yarn, and I reworked the numbers of the pattern for my actual gauge, not my imaginary gauge. It looks a good bit smaller now - I'll try it on before getting too attached.

Thanks for all the comments on the Trellis, and the nephew. I like 'em both a great deal.

Posted by Carrieoke at 2:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)

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)

I'm very, very close to finishing BigHeadSchmoo's very first handknit sweater: Trellis.

Seaming.

And here is a sock monkey wearing an almost finished Trellis.

All I have left to do now is pick up the stitches for the cute seed stitch collar, and put some buttons on it. And take a gazillion pictures of my nephew wearing it. OH BOY! His first birthday party is this weekend... It seems like this was only yesterday.

Time flies.

In other crafty news, I may have been dabbling in some sewing. Er, quilting. Well, I'm not quite to the quilting part yet. I guess I'm piecing. A while ago, my lovely sister Michelle gave me an enormous stack of Amy Butler sampler squares, and I'm using some of them to play. Disclaimer: I don't know much about quilting. For now, I'm just practicing cutting things and sewing in a straight line.

Log cabin. Sort of.

Pieces.

One day, I will actually make a large quantity of squares, sew them together, and make a quilt.
Until then, I will play and cut and sew, and maybe make a pillow. Or a dress for a sock monkey.

It's been very nice lately: work is quiet, it's hot outside, our flowers are blooming, and most major decisions about our wedding are made. That leaves more time for knitting and playing the Wii with Jacob. And watching ridiculous amounts of television. That's what summers are for.

Now, if you're feeling curious, click on the extended entry for 8 random things. I was tagged by Jeanne of Knitty Banter, and I'm feeling sort of random today, so here ya go!

Continue reading "Finishing" »

Posted by Carrieoke at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (38)

It was so beautiful this weekend! I had lots of schoolwork to finish up, but that didn't stop us from doing some gardening. People, I love to plant things. When Jacob mentioned going to shop for some stuff for the yard, I almost didn't go with him because I immediately thought, BO-RING. But hello! So. not. boring! and now I can't stop researching flowers to put in flower boxes and thinking of new thing we can plant in our yard. ohboyohboy.

I'll spare you the pictures of our newly planted flower boxes (although I'll probably post some once they're blooming.) I actually have pictures of a finished Morehouse Merino shawl...

It's about time I took at picture of this.

and here's the wingspan shot:

I actually already have another Morehouse kit on the needles - it's just knitknitknit, which is just the kind of project I like to carry around in my purse. Knitknitknit.

And here's what else I've got on the needles...

Trellis for the BigHeadSchmoo.

My nephew is about to turn one - can you believe it? For his first birthday, Aunt Scary is knitting him his very own fabulous cabled sweater. I hope it fits! One sleeve and two fronts to go.

And I couldn't resist the call of the chevron:

Chevron Scarf in Socks That Rock.

I was inspired by Ashley's first Chevron scarf, and then I happened to win some mediumweight Socks That Rock in Ashley's blog contest, and then I saw this lovely version on Domesticat. Non-curling edges? I'm sold.

I'm using Socks that Rock in Nodding Violet and Rare Gems. These colors are working so beautifully together - I want to turn all of my variegated sock yarn into yummy delicious scarves.

Yes, I know that's three different projects. I can't make up my mind sometimes. I have two sweaters I really want to finish too (my Kim Hargreaves kit and my Must-Have) but I just can't handle sweater knitting when it's getting hot like this. My KH sweater is a cotton blend, so I might just work on that after this Trellis is done. So many choices...

This weekend: family reunion and silent auction. Good times.

Posted by Carrieoke at 5:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)

Forecast is done.

Sorry for the dorky pictures.

Yeah, I could've cropped this, but then you wouldn't get to see
my awesome back porch. YAYAY porch.

Here's what I don't like about my version: The collar doesn't really stand up the way it should. My cables are a bit wonky in places, and it WON'T BUTTON. Remember the pretty black vintage buttons? Not happening. I sewed them on, and the thing wouldn't stay buttoned. My Forecast is destined to be an open sweater. Maybe I can do one toggle thingy at the waistline...

Oh, Forecast. Don't be so difficult.

The Pants thinks it's totally weird. I think his exact words were, "It looks like a roman column." Ha! I can see that. The truth is this: I didn't really have gauge, which explains why the thing won't shut. (I also know this is a recurring theme on my blog. Stop looking at me like that!)

I do like it! I'm just not, like, TOTALLY overwhelmed with love for this sweater. It probably doesn't help that it's knit with a cashmere-wool blend and I've got the AC cranked in my house. It's supposed to get colder this weekend -- not that I want the cold back -- but maybe I'll get another chance to wear it. It has served me well so far as the sweater that I throw on when my shoulders are cold. I had just imagined as a fabulous fitted sweater that would MAKE an outfit, ya know?

So, my advice to future Forecasters: GET GAUGE. Like you need me to tell you that. or at least, get gauge if you want a sweater that you can close.

Okay, I guess I love it. Mostly.

Posted by Carrieoke at 8:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (65)

... Arthur's Theme is totally one of my favorite songs.

NEW YORK!

What a freakin' trip. It was super fun and totally exhausting and I would do it again next weekend if I had the money and another pair of boots (since mine now have holes in them from all the walking. NOT CITY SHOES.) First of all, I have to give a shout out to my girl Carolyn, who sent me her recommendations for restaurants, and not one of them disappointed. I tried so many kinds of food I'd never had before: Vietnamese, Malaysian, Brazilian, crazy Tex-Mex-Asian-fusion. yumyumyum. The food was my second favorite part of the trip.

My first favorite part was, of course, the people. And the yarn. Ohhhhh, the yarn.

At the subway stop in Queens.

The extremely long and photo heavy play-by-play is in the extended entry. You have been warned about the length. And the photo heaviness...