Yay stupid surveys!

Your Linguistic Profile:

80% General American English

10% Upper Midwestern

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

0% Yankee

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

I am only 5% redneck! Lol. Seeing the result categories, I thought "Upper Midwestern" would be more of that I spoke, but "General English" is fine with me, y'all... Ha ha.

Vacation

OK so I am announcing my vacation from knitting. Who knows how long I will actually make it, but I'd like to not knit anything until next week. At the very least, I am not letting myself start anything new. This is because of my poor wrists/hands, who on Christmas, at the completion of the spiral hat, were very angry at me.

Yesterday I did no knitting, hooray!

The only problem is that I have to find books to read and such. I am currently re-reading Harry Potter #5, the one where Harry becomes a whiny selfish teenager. Ha.

It is so dead at work. I think everyone is on vacation except me and a few other poor souls. But we get to wear jeans all week. It's just like high school... I went to a catholic high school (and grade/middle school), so I have learned the joys of having a jeans day. Who would have thought I would get to experience it yet again? It totally makes me more relaxed. In fact, I am so relaxed right now I might just take a nap. If only I could get away with it... haha.

It's so warm outside! (high of 41 degrees?) It's like some dirty trick like, "Oh look, it's getting warmer and the snow is melting!" Nice try... but it's only December, and I know that by next week or so it will be back to negative numbers and 3 feet of snow. Oh well, at least I won't have to scrape off my windshield for a little bit. Of course, I just took my car into the shop to have my oil light problem checked on, so I am currently carless. Sniff.

P.S. I bought more yarn to make my mom a hat to match her scarf, which I haven't taken a pic of yet... I will get on that, I swear!

Wow

So my mom and I went to a couple stores today, taking her car. I noticed that I got a whiff of something akin to rotting garbage while entering the car a few times.... my mom said, "yeah I think I must have left some food in here somewhere or something". SO: later today, she goes into her trunk to look for a missing book. And finds. a pound. of ground. beef. YUM. Luckily it was contained in it's plastic wrap and inside a plastic grocery bag, but COME ON. To give her the benefit of the doubt, she has no sense of smell. (for real) BUT GROUND BEEF????? I can only imagine what it looks like. In other news, i need to freaking move out of this house NOW. Me = going insane. Happy Boxing Day, all you canucks!

Christmas Day Knitting

Woohoo! I made a hat! This is made with some cheap acrylic yarn from Meijer's, and I was following a pattern from this tiny 4-project knitting book. Don't you love the spirals???? It was very fun to see those developing as I knit. :-)


I like this hat because it's very... hippie-ish. I plan on giving it to my friend Kat, who lives in Florida.. (i know, she probably wont be able to wear it down there)... but it's not particularly warm, and hopefully she can wear it as an accessory, rather than to keep her ears warm (it could stand to be a half inch longer).



Whew! My arms/wrists/hands are tired of all this knitting. I better make myself take a break for a few days at least, haha.


So new year's is next weekend. I hope to go to my friend's place in Cincinnati. He's throwin a party, and I'd like to see his place and experience Cincy. And drink lots of cheap champagne. (Asti, anyone?)

I cleaned up pretty good for christmas. My grandparents gave me a check (woohoo) and an espresso machine (screw you starbucks!!!). From my folks I got a drumset (now I can start my own band), and this game called Apples to Apples (really fun party game). My brother was very generous, getting me a CD and two DVDs... the Princess Bride and the Big Lebowski. Watched the princess bride already with my mom, she loved it. :-)

And we're having lasagna for dinner! Screw you, traditional holiday meal! Lol. We all were like, lasagna? YES! I am hungry just thinking about it.

OK time to call some people and wish them merry Christmas, and then have some akward conversation for awhile!

Ho ho ho

Merry Christmas everyone!

Pics!

Yay hat! It's exciting to start to see the diagonal stripes showing up. I haven't done them before... this should be a cool hat! The yarn is looking pretty neat (cream with little flecks of black or brown).



See Cynthia's cat doll that she made? It's soooo cute... lol... it's wearing the scarf I made the other day. Her niece should love this!







I haven't been working too much on my arm sleeve things (distracted by the hat) but when I do, it's amusing to wear the one I have finished... heh. Maybe I am easily amused. What am I saying, maybe! haha.

OK so my Christmas shopping isn't done yet. And I forgot I still need to wrap some things. And here I am lounging around like I have nothing to do! Lol.

Oh Cynthia got me the coolest present ever: a knitting kit! She got a nice zippered bag and put in it stitch holders, needles, stitch markers, scissors, a nail file, tape measure, etc etc etc..... the perfect little kit!!! She is so nice. And my boss Coleen gave out bags full of homemade candy, one of which was a little square of chocolate with a green middle that tasted just like mint meltaways.... YUMMMMM... I so have to get the recipe. :-)

Merry Christmas Eve Eve Eve!

Commentastic

WOW... I just went back to the last couple posts, and realized that people had left comments! Way to go me for paying attention... it's about time to set this thing to email me when people leave comments. I didn't realize anyone was actually reading this thing, lol. So thank you to all my admiring fans (ha) for leaving comments, some even positive ones! :-)

Even though the christmas knitting is done, I am compelled to frantically (and for no particular reason or deadline) knit something else. So I am making a hat. I am sooo addicted. I even bought more yarn at the yarn store today to make a harry potter scarf for Craig. But I can't start that yet cuz they didn't have the right needles. Lol. I can't believe my knitting ramblings would ever be so interesting as to comment on. I mean, I'M bored and I am the one writing this.... well I guess I'm more sleepy than bored, seeing as how I have to get up in less than 7 hours. Booooo.

One of my coworkers is from Bulgaria, and recently I have been spouting phrases at her in badly pronounced bulgarian. She doesn't seem annoyed yet but we'll just wait and see.... but that's another thing I get dorky with, is learning how to say stuff in other languages. Working at the food court at college allowed me to meet people from all over the place, so it was fun to at least be able to say "hi" in several languages. :-)

P.S. Note to self: stop walking by food table at work, because you can't keep eating brownies, pretzels, christmas cookies, and M&Ms for lunch.

P.P.S. Bring leftover christmas cookies into work and NOT eat any.

Almost Christmas everyone!!!!!

Mini Scarf

Haha... my first attempt to see what blocking does! I made a teeny doll scarf for Cynthia's Kate doll..... I like the pattern I did (Cast on 6, R1: K6, R2: K2,P2,K2), but it made the scarf fold in half... so I thought I'd try to block it... So, it helped make it a bit longer. You can see my dog Scruffs helping me watch over the drying scarf. It didn't get quite as flat as I hoped (see top picture) but it was fun to try!

Now I just need to make my other arm sleeve thing for a matching pair. I sure need them, it's so friking cold outside. I think it almost got up to 1 degree yesterday. :-P

Tagged for the first time

I got my first "tag" from Cynthia today... "5 Random Facts About Me"... so here goes: 1. I have hugged the Arc de Triomphe. (I have a picture) 2. I've been the getaway driver in several street sign kidnappings. 3. When I was a freshman in college, I didn't have a car, but I wanted to go visit my boyfriend. So I decided to take a greyhound bus. Would have been fine, but the bus was late, and I missed my connecting bus in Indianapolis. About to freak out about spending the night in the Indianapolis bus station, a guardian angel in the form of another girl trying to get to the same place saved me... she knew of a shuttle that we could take from the airport, and with her help we got a cab to the airport and caught a shuttle. I am sure my mom would have about died if she ever knew. Needless to say, I have never taken a greyhound since. (Plus I have a car now). 4. I can play several musical instruments, such as piano, flute, oboe,... I can kind of play guitar, I played saxophone for like 3 months, played xylophone, and I took a few snare drum lessons (I would like to learn how to play on a set eventually). Oh and I can play the kazoo. ;-) 5. I have a dog, he's a cock-a-poo (cocker spaniel/poodle mix) who is 12 years old and has an old injury to his leg that he limps around on. But he's my baby, and he still likes to play and get all excited when I come home. And he likes to eat carrots. I don't have anyone to pass this to, but thanks to Cynthia! I think I am going to knit something for her Kate doll that she just made the other day. Adios!

I am the queen of finishing projects.

Ta da! An original creation by yours truly...... not quite a fingerless glove, maybe a handless glove? but sleeve #1 is done! Woohoo! So my left wrist is toasty. I love this yarn's color too... it's "Wool in the Woods" brand. I am not going to post the pattern yet. It's pretty simple, but I had fun making this one. And I get to make one more! haha. I think I might make another pair after I finish this project, only have the end loop around the pinky fingers (kind of an opposite type). :-) If anyone reads this, feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think of these glove things!

Just in time!!!!

Thaaaaaaaaaaaat's right, ladies and gentlemen! Two baby hats completed in a week!!!! I finished the boy hat in the car ON the way to my family party! Hooray!!!!!!!!! The pic is my uncle , his daughter/my cousin and her twins, modeling my hats (which they will grow into, haha!) She loved them too, and commented on the softness. Hooray for last minute knitting!

Pics!

Baby boy hat is looking good! I should be fine for having it done tomorrow. I can knit in the car on the way to the party, haha.... but I am more than halfway there! I did ribbing on the bottom, instead of a roll brim like the girl's hat, and I think I am going to put a pom pom on top instead of a knot. They should look good together! You can see Santa here apporoving the hat so far on Cynthia's desk.

Santa also enjoys playing in the ball of yarn. I don't blame him, it's sooooo soft! Haha.

I will have a finished pic of the baby girl hat later, but my boyfriend is coming to visit this weekend so I probably won't be doing a whole lotta blogging!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Hope is left

Baby Hat #1 was finished late Tuesday night! Yesterday I cast on the baby boy hat and got the ribbing done. Pictures will ensue tonight, when I have a camera avaliable. Snow snow snow. It's coming down pretty good, although not sticking to the roads too much, so it looks pretty. I can deal with that. Although tomorrow is a winter weather "advisory" (ooh im so scared)... I hope C makes it OK up here when he arrives tomorrow night! 

Dateline: Tuesday

Ta da! Ok well it's not finished yet, but I have the majority done on my baby girl hat. Hooray! I love this yarn so much, it's super soft... makes me want to make something for myself out of it! So, today's goal is to do the decreasing for the top, make a little I-cord for a topknot, and then cast on the baby boy's hat.... the party is Saturday!!!!! EEK! By the way, thanks to Cynthia for taking a pic of the hat with her digital cam. I really need one of those. My webcam is craptastic. I also get to frost more cookies before Saturday. I take way too much time doing those. At least I got most of my christmas cards done yesterday. I found cards with penguins on the front, lol... and they are sparkly too. (me = dork) Oh I applied for a job in Indianapolis the other day, at Lilly... man it would be so awesome to work there. And then I could use my biology knowledge too (maybe). It'd be nice to actually utilize what I learned in college, you know, since I paid for it. I am pleased to say that I have now saved 1/5 of the total amount I owe for my student loans, not counting interest or whatnot. Hooray! A small start, but it's a nice feeling. Of course, that is assuming I don't spend any of it,.....(good luck to me). *C* is coming to visit this weekend! He's being dragged to my family Christmas party... first time he gets to meet all of my (dad's) family! I have met most of his already. I told him I would make flashcards so he could remember everyone's names, haha. I have a whole mess of cousins. Cousins who are having babies. Hence, the baby hats. See how that all fits together? Go Knit!

whew

Making christmas cookies it hard work! My mom was like, "oh I am too tired this year, you make some" and then said, we need three kinds, and I want this and this and this. Sheesh! :-)

I spend at least 2 or 3 hours frosting sugar cookies... but it took a long time because I was trying to be all creative and make them look pretty... maybe i will get some pics of them later...

Yay for shoveling snow too... my back is a bit tired after that. But the back patio looks good, and now my dog won't dissapear into a snow drift when he goes poopy. Ha.

TTFN!

ugh

So this is it. That is all I got done on my baby hat tonight. I was going to put a 2-inch 2x2 rib around the bottom. But nooooooooo... somehow I kept messing it up. And kept frogging. Like 3 or 4 times. It gets really old casting on 100 stitches over and over. (and counting). So screw the ribbing, I think I will put a ribbon around the bottom anyhow, cuz that looks really cute. OK i am exhausted! nite all...

 

YAY!

My brother's scarf is DONE! Yes, it's midnight, and I am tired, but I did get a nap in right after work. I haven't weaved in the ends yet, and I can't decide whether to put fringe on it or not, but its so nice to have one christmas present down!

Sorry the picture is crappy, my webcam is very tempermental... but the important thing is you can see the END... haha... ah, a good feeling.

I am going to bed! Gnight...

Shout out

Well, my mentor and knitting heroine Cynthia has linked to my new site on her blog, so I thought I would do the same... go to http://homepage.mac.com/cindythia/iblog/ to see some awesome knitting projects.... I am excited to see how her fuzzy feet turn out. I haven't felted anything yet. It seems like a wonderous journey that involves a normal knitted project entering a sink or washing machine, and coming out as smooth, seemingly stitchless piece of art. Magic!

I also have never blocked anything, but that is not surprising, considering I have only made little or flat things, like scarves, hats, etc...etc... but oh man do I want to knit this sweater from knitty.com's new issue: http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTtubey.html WOW.... reading through the pattern leaves me more than a little intimidated (this is no scarf!), but I think it would be so rewarding to have such a cool sweater to wear when I finish it. *drool* But I have a jillion other things I want to make. How did that happen??? Haha.

Scary phrase of the day: DOUBLE POINTED NEEDLES! eek!


P.S. I made a swatch of the baby yarn I got for my cousin's babies' hats.... Cynthia and I agree, I need a size smaller needles, it was too loose! Oh well, I learned that it is important to actually make a swatch!

Scarf projects!

Welcome to pictures of my knitting stash, the scarf edition! Above we have me, destroying the first scarf I ever made. I had bought a kit made by Klutz called "Knitting" (appropriately), on a whim I might add (who knew I would come this far). The book was very decent in teaching me how to knit and purl, and off I went... the pattern for the scarf was in the book, and seemed simple enough. I wanted to be crazy, and made my scarf wider than the one in the book. Only the kit didn't come with much yarn. So I had a short, fat scarf. I loved the color, but it spent months and months hiding in shame in the back of my closet. The pic on the top: me triumphantly frogging the dreaded scarf to be made into something (hopefully) kickass. :-) On the bottom is the yarn plus the dark blue stuff i has on for fringe. (p.s. check out my penguin shirt! sweet, no?)

Ah, my first knitted Christmas present. This is going to be for my brother. I am still working on it, but overall I am happy with it so far. My brother is 20, and I wanted something so simple and with no color that any young guy could complain about(black, duh). I put in a stockinette stripe just for some flavor, since my original idea (straight garter) would have put me to sleep while knitting it.

My favoritest scarf!!!!! I love how this looks... I started it not knowing what I would do with it (as far as if it would be a present or not) but I wear it all the time, and it has become mine... it's a pretty basic scarf (garter stitch all the way, plus still using Meijer yarn, heh).... but I enjoy the color and length. Hooray for presents for yourself!

OK, this isn't a scarf, but check it out:

Baby hat yarn!!! This stuff is SOOOOO soft, I want to make something from it for myself! It's RY Classic Yarns "Cashsoft Baby DK"... very very nice! My cousin had twins in April, ( a boy and a girl), and I hope to have matching hats by Dec. 18th.... wish me luck, I will need it!

Yay, lots of pictures! Enough for tonight, gonna go work on my brother's scarf.

Knit on!

baby hat!!!!!

Aren't they adorable????? I can't take credit for the booties, my coworker Cynthia whipped those up in like 3 hours... (she's good). I did the majority of the hat though! (yay) I had trouble (see last post) when I was using two round needles at once.... heh.... my first time using a round needle at all! The ribbon really helped to make it look cute, since it ended up being a bit wide for a newborn. Plus it looks "poufy", as Cynthia would put it. So even after the frustration, it turned out great! I think the recipients (another coworker and his wife) will be pretty happy... at least I hope!

Another coworker Judy wandered down to see what we were doing at lunch (cynthia was finishing the hat, I was watching in awe)... she said she used to knit but forgot over a long period... sooo maybe Cynthia will be having a mini-class during lunch now! That would be very cool, since I wouldn't have to drive out into the middle of nowhere to the yarn store where Cynthia normally teaches. If you can't tell, she has become my knitting mentor, and I have her to thank for helping me REALLY get into knitting. :-)

OK back to work. Keep on knittin'!

evil needles

GRRRR..... knitting with two stupid round needles at once = CRAP.

I am making a baby hat. But it will look like I knitted it on a roller coaster by time I am done. Poop.

The next two hats will be done on straight needles, thank you very much!

Time for bed, to dream about happier things, like anything besides this stupid hat.

Thoughts to start off this blog

So I chose my username to be "stitch_holder". Just thinking about that now, it's funny... because I have never owned or used an actual stitch holder. The other day I wanted to use my size three needles, which were currently occupied by these fingerless glove-type things I am working on. (actually, i haven't worked on them in a while... too much christmas knitting!) So, I wanted the needles, but wanted to save the project. I thought, well I can use another needle.... nope. All of my other needles were way too huge, and would have majorly stretched the yarn. I desperately went through my room, looking for SOMETHING.... pencils? nope, too fat... finally I found something that was thin enough: a coat hanger. Haha. Well it worked for time being. I guess I should get around to buying an ACTUAL stitch holder so I don't have to worry about finding a broken metal hanger to use. OK, back to work!

First post ever

Hello world! Aww... my first post. Precious memories.