Coffee and Scarface

Ok, I will admit this one thing. I have spent my entire christmas break from work and school playing Scarface on the the PS2. I got it as a gift from my hubbie and I am so addicted to driving around in my pimped out caddy and taunting people to raise my balls level. (If you know than you know) Christmas was good but I don't really like celebrating christmas. The purses were a big success. I am hoping to post the pattern soon. So cockaroaches please enjoy the photos while I go do some dealing before I head back to the library for some real work.

Merry Christmas!

Brown eyes I hold you dear

Tomorrow is Nathaniel's 15th birthday. My baby is fifteen. I remember when he was born. The hospital was playing Oh come all ye faithful and it was right when the chorus started singing Oh come let us adore him that he was born. His father looked at him and said Hi Nathaniel. We had agreed to name him Homer and never talked about the name Nathaniel. I asked him why and he said he looked like he wanted to be called Nathaniel. Well it's true he is a Nathaniel.

Fifteen is a mighty long time. I can honestly say I have never done anything in my life for 15 straight years except be Nathaniel's mom. Now when I look at him I want to cry he looks like a grown man. I remember him in his dinosaur turtle neck and red keds asking me questions like How do people know when animals are happy? This is the baby that could only be rocked to sleep to the Star Spangled banner and only wanted to eat sweet potatoes.

Happy Birthday Nathaniel.

Sweater Vest Log Entry 3

Thursday, December 14, 2006

5 inches long today and going great! I am so happy with the vest today. I am not so happy with my red heart skein I had two breaks in the yarn already. I am going to email them and bitch about the yarn maybe I will get a comp yarn or something. I am loving the cabling.

What I learned this week:
Crosses and Cables are different! I really like making the cross cables in this pattern. It uses 3 stitches instead of 4 in the main cable. I also started making lists of the pattern row numbers for both panels so I can work faster across it really helps overall the entire sweater is a learning exercise. Not bored yet.

Sweater Vest Log Entry 2

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Rip it out and start again. I made a fatal mistake on the vest this weekend. I thought I could take the fledgling vest to mom’s house for Saturday laundry day. Well that place is crazy on Saturdays with three kids, the dog and everything else going on. I had a hissy fit and tore the thing up.

This morning I couldn’t sleep because of my sore throat so I started all over again. This worked out well and I got further along that the first time. It looks clean and neat and I can see the cables coming out. Progress is fun!

What I learned this weekend:
When you are starting a new project you need to concentrate so don’t take it to chaos central. Also get yourself plenty of stitch markers. This vest is made from panels with filler stitches in between I put markers before and after the panels to make counting easier.

Sweater Vest Log Entry 1

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Today I cast on the stitches for the Purple Aran Sweater Vest. I am giving myself one month between classes to work on the vest. I am using cheap Red Heart Super Saver and my trusty size 8 circs from AC Moore. I wish I could have gotten wool for the vest but I just can’t afford it right now. My hope is after I do the vest love it so much that I force myself to buy the proper yarn.

The pattern is from The Complete Book of Traditional Aran Knitting by Shelagh Hollingworth written in 1982. Some of the photos are so awesome. If you see the book check out the dude on page 68, big busy beard, huge binoculars and husky Aran sweater what could be better? I love the pattern and am getting into cables. I really can understand how someone can spend their entire knitting life working in a specific style. Some people only knit lace some only knit Fair Isle. I could see myself making cables for a long time. So many styles and variants one can never get bored.

I am working the back of the vest starting with my ribbing. I practiced my cables. This pattern uses the ring and the braided cable. It also uses a mock cable twist that is neat to work.

What I learned today:
When it says knit all the knits and purl all the purls can be confusing but if you remember that the knits are the v’s and the purls are the bars so you can tell them apart.

Winter Break and the mega scarf

Well classes are over! Hurray I made it through the first quarter of grad school. I still like saying that. People say how is grad school? I say I really like it. I like being all about libraries, thinking about them and talking about them with people who are just as stoked about them as I am. Try talking about biblographic standards at the dinner table and see the reaction you get. Blank stares.

So now I have about a month off from school. I am working on my vest and some other small bus projects. I have some leftover posts that I am hoping to pop up in the upcoming weeks as well as the vest log. It is my most advanced project yet.

I just realized that my mom bought me my learn to knit kit for christmas last year. I have been knitting for almost one year! Awesome.

Here is the red and blue striped mega scarf made from the last of the novelty yarn from Ireland. Super soft, shaggy and fun to knit. Just as simple garter stitch however this is the first time I used two colors at once. This one has no owner at this time but may end up under the tree for beanie. For some reason J.R. though he does look stunning in it didn't like modeling the irish mega scarf.
Enjoy!

I feel like I am on the verge of making it.

Whoo hoo. Today is the kind of day when any minor thing could be something worth celebrating with some type of chocolate or coffee. Today I got an email from Knitting Bloggers Net ring saying that the fledgling CPH has been approved!

Approval how awesome. Now all I need to do to is sprinkle around some free patterns and lure em in! Check out my button! I'm in the ring.