Not totally useless

What did I say...what did I say? You say you aren't planning on knitting for a week, and then you finish an object the next day. It's magic, I tell you.
Well, magic and a little "knitting in class" time.

Yarn: Lorna Laces
Needles: size 2 dpns (Crystal Palace Bamboo, the ones Joe got me)
Pattern: My "LT Rib Socks"
CO: 72 sts
Status: single, & looking for a hot date

I bought my cap and gown today! Squee! It's almost over, It's almost over...It's. Almost. Over.

Ok kiddos, I'm off to study some linquists for my exam tomorrow. I have a couple of those classes that have an exam right before finals. Go figure. They like to tell us that it's good prep-work for the final. I tell them to shove-it. (But only in my mind.)

Get your greens.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR WONDERFUL "CONGRATS" WISHES!

YOU ALL ARE SWEET! :)

So I haven't been knitting much. Here's my poor excuse of a progress pic of the mini cardigan.

I have been working my tail off on my "last couple of weeks left...stop your frickin' procrastination" work though.

I guess you'll have to bare with me the next couple of weeks. I can't promise how much knitting I'll do.

It always seems to be the case though that if I plan on "not knitting," I do get a whole lot of knitting done. Very logical, huh? It's like quitting piano lessons, and finally starting to practice. Maybe I should just play Alanis Morsette's "Ironic."

Here's what Joe and I had planned, Friday night: Movie & a flick. I was stoked when I found "Dracula" at the library, so we (eh hem, "I") were going to cook some pasta, and watch it. Well, the cooking went GREAT! This is still my 15 dollar rice cooker. I made the sauce my scratch, with tomato sauce, diced tomatos, green peppers, onions, and a whole lot of garlic (oh yeah, gotta repel those vampires!). We bought some (poor excuse of) meatballs at the local market, and added it in too, and sprinkled (loaded) on some fresh parmesean cheese. YUM-O!

I even had some leftover tomatoes and such, and made fresh salsa with my cilantro plant. Please excuse the chinaware.

Poor thing, It's missing quite a few leaves.
Here's some more nature pics from a few days ago. Here's what Spring looked like here on Thursday: I love this photo!!!! I love how there is a "barren" contrasting background!
The forest floor:
It makes me want to bike on the trails again!

Guarded?

The Official KUAS Sockclub!

KUAS Summer Sockclub!
(June, July & August)

WHAT:I'm created a summer sockclub: "reading the classics."

(Fall's club: "watching the movies")

June's theme is "The Great Gatsby!"

WHEN: June, July & August 2008

MEMBERS? Up to 20. It's on first-come-first-serve basis each month unless you have a 3-month membership.

There will be a flickr group exclusively for members to post their pictures & comments & have the option of discussing the book if they so choose.

SIGN-UPS: for the June Sockclub runs from April 26th-May 20th. You can join through my Etsy shop, just look for the "Gatsby" book-cover item.
If you see that I ran out, just email me...and I'll add another one for you.

(Amazing) PRICE: I'm making it pretty cheap to suit everyone's interests: $22, that includes:

(1) skein of superwash sockyarn in the theme colors of a chosen book for that month

(Approx. 430 yards dyed with love, using Jacquard dyes)(75%merino/25%nylon)

(1) exclusive matching set of 6 fancy-schmancy stitchmarkers

(1) Optional freebie treat (baked cookies or candies) included. However, I know how everyone is iffy about trusting over the 21st century, so if you don't want the treat, that's fine. Just let me know if you want it added though (I make great cookies). Yum-o.

Maybe: [(1) sockclub pin!!]-I'm working on trying to find the materials for this.

My Etsy shop: http://www.knittyknitter.etsy.com/

YOU: if you are interested, please email me (knittingupastorm@gmail.com) or officially reserve your spot early at my Etsy shop. I'll need to know how much yarn to order & dye up. Please also tell me if you want the optional edible goodie.

PACKAGE: Your package will arrive at your door the beginning of the month you belong to. Club months are sold seperately, or in 3-month memberships.)

KUAS=Knitting up a storm

5 years, my love

I absolutely love this photo. This was from last year's anniversary, when all of Spring's flowers were lush & gorgeous! Joe and I celebrated our 5 year yesterday, which is a little scary, but time has that funny way of blending time together so smoothly.

Can you believe that it has taken me one year to finish the second sock? Can you BELIEVE that I had the pattern out for about one year already...but ironically am the last one to actually finish a pair? This was Joe's big gift for our 5-year. I was just that busy. But...as I hoped for.... he absolutely LOVED them!! And most importantly...he had NO IDEA that I had a pattern devoted to him...and that people on Ravelry have been knitting them up!

Pattern: Joe's Office Socks (My pattern)
Yarn: My colorway, "Moss" in doubled up Laceweight
Needles: size 2US double-pointed needles
Shoe size: 7.5 Men

We had a wonderful anniversary, despite the rain (we were going to have a picnic outside)and the irony that I couldn't really eat at a semi-fancy restaurant because their bruchetta appetizer gave me the worst stomach ache and I had to leave before the main course came. Oh well. Joe bought me the book 2-at a Time Socks and size 2US bamboo needles, because my Brittany needles broke. He's such a great guy!

Can you believe that I only have 2 more weeks before I graduate?

Here's the scoop: I just finished the Spring sockclub pattern. The club is almost over, and my patterns will be up on Etsy in a couple of months. Now that I'm done with the sockies, I'm going to plunge back into my mini cardigan and afghan. I'll put up at least a teaser picture soon. I know I've been boring you lately. (well, it's been equally quiet on the frontier as well. ) Is it bad that I keep getting new ideas for patterns, but haven't even come close to finishing the previous patterns that I started?

Enjoy the gorgeous weather.

Just one of those mornings.

Sunday should be a day of relaxation.... a day to take your mind off of things.
Not today, I guess.

My pre-existing frustrating morning was followed by disappointment in something I was working on last night with paint (the white paint dried clear...I guess I should have read the label right when I bought the bottle), and the death of TWO of my Brittany bamboo needles, not to mention not being able to find the third needle, of the size 2 US dpn set. I sat on one last night, and apparently this morning...I must have forgotten to take it off my bed and slept with it.
I'm really, really sad about the needles. They were good to me, and they are my most used needles... I had to put another sock on stitch holders so I could use something to continue working on the sockclub sock. My dilemma, besides the fact that if I should be paying another $7.50 for a set of needles...it should be because I'm "adding" to the collection, not "replacing," is that I bought those at the Midwest Fiber-fair over the summer...and I don't know which store holds these. I don't want the clover bamboo needles, like the LYS holds here. Ach! Me and my stupid big bum! Snapping needles two different times in under 24 hours is some sort of record when your not knitting with them.
Tears.

Rainy Days

I just love rainy days. I especially love those cool misty days too, like today, where you just know that you're make-up doesn't stand a chance but you don't care because it's just so damn refreshing. Maybe I really should just move to London. I love the whole "I've got nothing better to do put put on pjs, curl up with a blanket and chill with the needles (or a book) and sip on some hot cocoa" feeling. It's great. This is what makes life great. I do like sunny days, but I also appreciated when the dim-lit skies and water-works happens. Ah.

I've been wearing my "Marianne" hat, since it has been a little chilly, and I normally don't say this about myself...but I felt pretty darn cute! Since my recent hair cut, my shorter wavy hair works well with the hat, and I love seeing the layers flip out around the sides of the seed stitch band. I have another idea for a new type of hat band...why do ideas always come so late? It's almost summer. (Well, by this rate...maybe not!) I've even been wearing my hat during classes, because it matched my outfit today.

I've put up the afghan again, and started working a couple more rounds. I need to get cracking on this WIP, don't I? I also recieved the yarn for the sockclub a few days ago, and am In the process of formulating another pattern....not to mention the shrug too. All I have to do this week-end is really study for my Prehistory exam, and work on these WIPs.

I've been meaning to post about "miracle-grow." Now, you have to understand me. I would rather work with organic soil, and enjoy not having to worry about chemicals and such, but I have killed a cactus before. I've killed a cactus. People then ask me, "how did you possibly manage to kill a cactus plant?" It's simple. There was a drought.

Hopefully you now understand that I did not inherit the green-thumb jeans from my dad. I don't want to sit around for a month wondering why I can't get the simple germination proceedure down right. So, I took the help where I could. It took a full week to germinate. On the first day upon sprouting, the morning produced one seedling, and than at night, 3. The second day: bing-badda-boom! There were 6 full seedlings, and several arched over, waiting for the stem to grow higher so it can full pop out of the soil. Day three: holy cow! There was a small population of tall seedlings. Day four: looks almost like in the picture, just a half an inch shorter. Can you believe it? They weren't kidding when they called it "miracle grow." Right now, you're looking at cilantro (the blank side was supposed to be mint) and the lilacs in the other pot aren't doing so hot. Maybe it takes some more time.

Call me the biggest nerd ever, but when I was in 8th grade, I was really into the Sailor Moon series. Now, I found out that they have all of the episodes up on youtube, and I've been seriously plowing through the episodes because there's no commercials, you can fast-forward through the theme song, and it's a trip down memory lane. Don't get me wrong, I do see the corniness of the show. I just missed a whole bunch of episodes and would finally like to close the gaps a little bit.

Marianne (up on Etsy now!)

"Marianne." No, "Amelie." No, "Marianne." "Amelie." "Marianne." I think I strained a brain muscle. That was a hard one. I really was torn between the spontaneous and corky nature of the "Amelie" idea and that of the head-band and button looking "Marianne." But, I rest my case. It's "Marianne."

Congrats to Erica! You get a free pattern of my latest O.D, "Marianne."

I'm off to continue working on my second short-story, called "The Legend of the Fortune Cookie Trio." Sound intriguing, no? It's not quite as funny as it sounds...believe me. If there are any Lost lovers out there, you'll be the first to realize that I was inspired by Hugo's character, using powerful numbers to win the lottery...and what the consequences entitles.

Spring Fling (quick contest!)

Although I finished the hat a couple of days ago, I'm finally getting around to posting it. I finally found a simple, yet intersting enough pattern that suits this wonderful skein of malabrigo yarn...and I'm quite satisfied with it. I just wish I'm a better model for it. My battery was about dead when we started, so here are some quick pics.

This pattern is going up on etsy really soon, and I've been having trouble coming up with the perfect name for it. I was thinking of calling it "annabelle," because everyone should be able to name one pattern after themselves (I added the -belle because it seemed less corny), but now I'm not so sure. Then, I named it "Amélie"...you know, after the main character in the french movie. It seems ok.

So, now I leave it up to you guys to decide! Contest time!!!

WHEN: Sat, April 5th- Mon, April 7th (at 12pm 5pm!)

So hurry, hurry, hurry!!

WHAT: Come up with the perfect name for this pattern. It should relate more to the texture, not the color. It can be a name, an idea, a place, etc.

If you really liked any of my original names for it, let me know.

Whatever your name for it is, please explain why you feel so strongly about it. :)

PRIZE: the answer that I feel most strongly suits the pattern wins, and receives a free pattern of it as soon as it's up on etsy! (So please leave your email address.)

The whole pattern is a play on texture. Yum-O!

The best part about the pattern, despite the fact that the yarn is soo fluffy (like heaven), is that the band is adjustable, and you can wear your favorite pin as a button! Neat, huh?

Well, I'm off to get some icecream and read! My library just notified me that "Atonement" is on hold for me know! Whoot whoot!

Socks & books: crack for knitters

Have you ever felt like glaciers retreat faster than your WIPs grow?

Granted, I haven't been working on this sock regularly, and I might as well be working with laceweight yarn, but I did start it in December.

Actually, I been feeling like all I do is frog-frog-frog. I've started and ripped out 3 hats in a row. That should be some sort of record. Who ever said "practice makes perfect" clearly didn't waste hours of their life knitting and ripping hats out. Otherwise, they would have said, "just buy it."

I'm actually feeling a little under the weather today. I have a sore throat and couldn't sleep until 5am. I've still gotta dig into my linguistics assignment that's due at 6, go to my 2.5 hour class tonight and come home and study my hinney off for the Earth Systems exam (that I'm screwed for) tomorrow. *sigh* It's going to be a long day.

But... let's end postive! I went back to the LYS yesterday, and Joe bought me three skeins! (Well, it wasn't that random. He got the "hint hint" and drew on my jacket design.) What a guy. The guitar store is located next door, which is really amusing. Me=knitter Joe=guitarist Us=connect at the hip.

You're looking at Malabrigo in "Cactus Flower" and di.ve Zenith, which will be made into a short cardigan (for my tanktops)that ends before the belly button. I'm thinking something lacey, with LT ribbing, and has a couple of buttons. The official design is still bubbling around in my head.
The yarn is really soft and squishy... I can't wait to knit with it.