really, I am stilll here...

I just realized that it's been a week since my last post. I promise, I'm not dead. Still alive and kickin'. I'm feeling more and more obligated to post since it appears that people other than myself are looking at this blog. How exciting! Things have been busy. We're doing our state testing at school still, which just leaves me exhausted. I also got up one morning last week to see a note on the mirror from my computer engineer husband that my laptop (an only computer) was "hosed". Quite. It was in pieces on the couch. It drives me insane when he takes things apart sometimes. At any rate, my laptop is back together, but I'm still not allowed to use it because he thinks my hard drive may be toast. Yes, I know, quite special. So I'm currently using his ancient laptop. Good thing we have a few spare computers sitting around.* It runs well enough, but the most irritating thing is that the keyboard can't keep up with how fast I type. Now, I don't consider myself to me an amazingly fast typist, but apparently I'm too much for this keyboard, which gets really frustrating after a while. I may be fast, but I am not always accurate, so it's been a lot of waiting for the keyboard to catch up to me and the then realizing that there's a typo about six words back. I guess my high school keyboarding class wasn't as good as one might think. Anyway... I am still around. Still working on the baby blanket. I'll also be posting pictures of the socks that I'm making for the soup kitchen at our church, and the quilt tha tI'm knitting for my sister-in-law. Yes, a quilt. The pieces are knit and swen together. Honesly, I thought I had more time to deal with it because she hadn't set a date or done any wedding planning , but now she has a dress and is gung-ho. The wedding is going ot be sometime in August... I know, why the baby and the wedding have to be so close together? I don't know. I guess to give me a good excuse to spend lots of free time knitting for the next few months. I'm also holding out for more pictures until we get the new digital camera that we just ordered. A Canon G9. Quite exciting. Well.. until then. I hope your Spring is more springy than mine. At least most of the snow from Monday melted today. :)


*Can you sense the sarcasm. :) We have more than a dozen computers in his lair (my name for it) in the basement. Plus a server rack. Her really is a nerd.

Goodness.

Well, I have fallen off the face of the earth for a bit. It has been quite a busy week. :) I haven't much of an excuse for not blogging, though it is hard to get motivated when I'm not sure if anyone else is reading it. Sometimes I really just need that external motivation. I spent the weekend eating delicious Indian food with friends at Tandoori Grill in Boulder. Saturday was spent at a Children's Book class at CU Boulder. It was really inspiring. Kerry Lee MacLean taught it. I definitely feel like I have to be a writer now. That is my passion; it's what makes my heart sing. I just need to find a job to give me money while I work on my writing. We'll see how it goes and what I end up doing. I'll have to write more about my actual writing later. What I'm super excited about now is the newest Knitty! Sooooo many amazing patterns! I really think this might be one of their best issues ever! If only I had unlimited time, or if someone would just pay me to knit. That would be fantastic. I love this shrug. It is just so cute and chic. I'm not entirely sure that I could pull it off, but it looks like a quick knit. Really adorable. I also love this little sweater. Again, so super cute and chic. It is a fantastic sweater for both spring and fall, my two favorite seasons. This shawl and Wendy Knits' blog have me totally jonesing to make some shawls. Just too beautiful. I really love a good shawl, though I don't make many for myself, they are such satisfying knits. These legwarmers might just satisfy my ridiculous desire for some giant furry boots. I think that legwarmers paired with my ugg slippers sounds absolutely fabulous. I made a stole for my mother-in-law's ordination a couple of years ago using a pattern very similar to these socks, so I'm thoroughly intrigued and really want to make them. I love anything make with Koigu too. The yarn is just so beautiful. I love mitered patterns too; they are really fun to knit. And finally, this bag is utterly amazing. I love purses. (Like shoes they always fit) I made all of my bridesmaids felted purses for my wedding this summer and they turned out super cute, if I do say so myself. I love the delicacy of this bag. Really cute.
So... I haven't gotten much else done, besides drooling over new projects. Someday.... someday.
At any rate, we're doing out CSAP testing this week. It's completely exhausting and stressful. I can't wait for it to be over. Only a few more days. Well... until next time. Happy knitting and writing. :)

And... the other four squares that I have finished. I really liked the faux bobbles on this first one. Right after I finished this one, one of the parents that volunteers at the school was making a baby blanket with a similar pattern. Hers ended up looking like diagonal stripes though. Quite cool.
I thought this one looked like hearts. They're a little hard to see, but I'm hoping that once I get the square all blocked out, they'll stand out a lot more.
Another pretty square... I thought the seed stitch cable was different. I really wish that I had the mental power, time and knitting experience to design my own patterns. I might have to just try it at some point... we shall see.
A very basic Aran pattern, quite pretty though. I loved ho tight the framing cables are, and the center panel has plenty of space for definition.

I really hope that Nicole likes this blanket. I'm thinking about having my aunt (who's a seamstress) help me back it when it's all done. Thoughts? I have heard mixed reviews so far. Some think the back of Aran knitting is just as pretty as the front and I should back it. I think it would be nice to add some color and hide all of my ends better...
We will have to see. I need to get the whole thing completed first. I'll post more pics as I finish squares. At some point I'll also post pictures of the other projects I'm working on: prayer shawls, socks, random sweater, and a wedding ring quilt.- knit, not sewn.
Until then... :)

Great American Aran Afghan

Well... I have finally accomplished both the taking of the pictures and the posting of the pictures. :) YAY! Here are four of the eight blocks that I have done on my afghan so far. (more pictures shortly) It's for my friend who is having a baby. She's due in July, so I do need to get on it. :) It takes 20 squares to make the afghan... so I'm not even half way there. I do thoroughly enjoy knitting it though. The squares are small enough for me to feel like I am accomplishing something somewhat regularly, and I love Aran patterns. I've never been a huge color work knitter, but I might be addicted to cables. At any rate... I'm not using a super exciting yarn, just some Hobby Lobby "I love this yarn" in linen. It's okay. It's quire soft and easy to work with. I have learned my lesson from previous projects that babies and angora, wool, cashmere or some other not machine washable fiber, don't go well together. So, I stick to the cheaper washable stuff.
The sweater block was my most recent finished object. I really like it. So cute! I might have to make a whole blanket just of these. I do think however, that I really need to start swatching. It's a little more rectangular than square, but so it goes. I'm probably the only one that will notice. I also forgot to switch to larger needles after the ribbing on the sweater. Whoops! I guess that's what makes it homemade right? : ) This one is suppose to look like a DNA strand. I sort of see it. I thought it would be cute since my friend and her husband are both into science. There are a couple of errors on this one as well... but again. I'm the only one that will notice.
This was an interesting pattern. It's actually completely reversible, which stresses me out a bit. I like things to have definition...but I liked the pattern nonetheless.
I love this one. :) Beautiful cable pattern. I've always thought bobbles are cute too. I wish the sides would lie down though. *sigh* I suppose I just need to haul our the iron and block it.