Yarn! March 10, 2008

So, I was supposed to post these a while ago, but then midterms happened. Here’s an update on my knitting though.

I dyed some yarn a weekend or two ago. Here’s what I made:

That’s all the yarn I dyed. Libby and Jenni were there, too. Jenni didn’t stay long, but man did we have a good time. Here’s a run down of my yarn:

Two skeins of red lace weight:

I over dyed the skein of merino/silk lace weight that I used last year:

Self striping sock yarn (short stripes):

And, the whole point of the day:

Self striping Albion sock yarn. yay! Libby made 2 skeins, one for her and one for the one and only Yarn Harlot. Good times.

Last time we had a lot of pictures. This time I only have 4.

We didn’t have gloves, so our hands turned funny colors:

Jenni was shocked.

Libby re-wound the skeins to prepare for self striping yarn:

Look at her go…

We even got the guy working at the Nature Center to dye yarn with us.

He made his mom a Mother’s Day present. It was very sweet. Converting the muggles, one non-knitter at a time…

I’ve been knitting stuff, too.
I finished the Noro socks.

I’m in love.

I started another pair of socks for class/movie knitting. They’re pretty cute, but aren’t very far along. I have lots of other stuff to work on over spring break, and not just knitting. Gotta love homework. The good news is that
MOUSE COMES HOME TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2.5 weeks November 29, 2007

I leave in 2.5 weeks. I can’t believe the semester’s almost over…. And I had the revelation on Monday after turning in my portfolio that I don’t want to go home.

At least not long term. Visit home, yes. Ideally everyone should come here and visit me. But I don’t want to leave London. I like it here. I, in fact, love it here. I like my job (especially on days like today. my boss found out that i had never seen Diagnosis Murder and didn’t know who Quincy was. He litteraly put his head in his hands, jumped out of his chair, and walked out of the tiny office. Normally he’s very calm. I think the Christmas spirit is getting to him…). But yeah, I love London and am seriously considering grad school here….

In other news, Wales was fun. I have pictures, but I’m too lazy to take them off of my camera. I also have knitting that needs to be photographed. I have some Christmas presents to finish, and some to get. YAY Christmas shopping! I’m so excited that I can listen to Christmas music now and not feel crazy.

And next week I get to learn about British Christmas traditions… My boss is bringing Minced Pies. Sadly I don’t think he’ll be bringing mulled wine though. That would not motivate anyone to work… hehe. Any suggestions on American Christmas traditions or food that I can share?

I was going to put something here, but I can’t remember what. So I’ll leave you with a quote from Kathleen. This is what she said to me when I ran into her on my way to get my laundry:

“Hey! I was just thinking about you! So, I’ve decided that you’re going to marry someone with teenagers and live happily ever after… Don’t ask me how I came up with that!”

WTF!!?!?!?

p.s.

And this is my office…

and a quote from my boss today:
“We have British size fridges. You have American sized fridges as big as a house!”

oh Christmas knitting… September 12, 2007

I love new Christmas knitting. It’s daunting and terrifying the closer you get to the holidays, but in the beginning it’s a perfect excuse for starting new projects (and buying new yarn… good thing I haven’t found/looked for a yarn store yet…). The bad thing about Christmas knitting is that I can’t really show pictures of it. That would ruin the surprise (even if I have been known to lie shamelessly to people about their presents. “no, this sock’s not for you. it’s for me!” teehee. but never doubt me, that could ruin it. and besides, the sock might really be for me.) I’ll just have to be sneaky. Good thing I really do have socks for me here! No one will know which is which (except Mouse, because she knows these things).

I wish I had more pictures with the sock in them, but my friends are a little scared and look embarrassed. The muggles just don’t get it.

But anyway, here are some pictures.

This one is from the airport just before we left.

My Mom and I are in the middle with Jefferson (the adorable dog. My Mom brought him for company on the way home), and Kathleen and her mom, Susan, on the other side.

Liz and I went for a walk to Buckingham Palace last week, and took pictures outside.

It was very pretty, and there were a bunch of people outside. I think we just missed the changing of the guard. Oh well, it was still fun.

Liz and I also did a tour of the Houses of Parliament last Sunday, and we weren’t allowed to take pictures inside, but I did get a nice picture of the clock before going in. If you get the chance, do a tour of Parliament. It’s really cool.

So, I wont a ticket to Madam Tussauds in a raffle last week, so Liz, Kathleen and I met up after Liz and I had our internship interviews, and we went. We met some famous people (made of wax. but still cool).

Kathleen and I met William Shakespeare. We chose dramatic “Shakespearian” poses

Pablo Picasso and I had matching pants.

And of course…

We met Dan Radcliffe. Note the stupid-excited grin on my face. It was creepy. Fun, but still a bit creepy. And I loved it.

Kathleen and I went to The Globe Theatre to see Love’s Labor’s Lost on Sunday, and it was so much fun. We had groundling tickets which are 5 pounds, and you have to stand for the entire show. Bit it was still fun. I took a picture for Mouse

The sock on stage!!! It was wonderful (despite the confused and ashamed looks… the muggles just don’t get it).

Other than that, I don’t have many pictures. I’ve been going to plays, writing a little article (and it wasn’t half bad, at least that’s what I think), and we had a guest lecturer today named Fin Kennedy. Read his plays, from what we read today they sound good (I plan to, anyway). And he was fun and adorable, what more could you ask, huh?

And now it’s time to return to the Christmas knitting.

Day 3 August 28, 2007

Hi-ya! So far no one has said that to me yet, but I also haven’t been around too many Brits just yet. Most of the people I spend time with are in the program. Not that that’s a bad thing, it’s only day 3. We started orientation today, and it’s been busy so that’s good. This evening hasn’t been so busy, so I’m feeling homesick. I’m not a big fan of transitions, so being over here and away from home and everything I’m familiar with is kind of hard. I’ve got to get used to it before I can really branch out and explore the city. It probably doesn’t help that I have hardly slept the last few days. Hopefully I won’t have the problem tonight, cause Kathleen has melatonin. It helps you fall asleep, which I have been having some serious issues with. Hopefully things will settle down soon, and I’ll finally be able to stop having crying fits in the evenings. Those are not so fun. I can’t wait for this transition shit to be over.

But enough about homesickness, and more about yarn!!! Mouse keeps telling me to post pictures of the yarn that I brought with me so she can see it all before she leaves. Well, here are pictures of it in bags. The individual skeins can be seen on their own as I take them out of the stash. So here are the pictures:

That’s the lace bag. It has the Feather and Fan shawl from Folk Shawls with Interlacement’s Lace Weight. Also Sarcelle in light cream/white Marino/silk blend (you can’t really see it, but it’s right above the malabrigo). The green-ish-blue skein is hand dyed, by yours truly, and the same yarn as Sarcelle. It’s for a leaf scarf. The other lace is the Malabrigo lace weight in Pearl for the Wing of the Moth Shawl.

This is sock bag one, and it has two skeins of Jitterbug, one in Marble and the other in Copperbeech. There are also two skeins of Mountain Colors and two of Rio de la Plate (or as Mouse and I call it, River of the Plate). I’d link all the yarns and colors, but that’s just a pain and I’m not in the mood. Cut and paste!

This bag has two skeins of Opal. The blue skein is the London skein I bought with Mouse. I miss my Mouse… Anyway, the other yarns are a skein of Schaffer Anne and some Brown Sheep Wilde foot for my Grandmother’s socks that I was supposed to fix a long time ago. Oh well. I’ll get to them by Christmas.

That’s all the yarn I brought, and I already showed pictures of current projects. I should have scenery shots soon. I haven’t really had a chance to take pictures just yet. Soon though. By the weekend I should have some to show.
Happy knitting!

house sitting = super fun July 31, 2007

Well, maybe “super fun” is a little of an exageration, but it’s still nice. Mouse and Rachel stayed the night last night, so that was fun. Lucky for them, they’re still asleep. Honey (my Grandparent’s dog) woke me up at 6 to be fed and 8 to go for a walk. I did go back to sleep after feeding her, but after the walk it just seems a little pointless. Oh well, I’ll live.

I have started the shawl, daddy socks are past the heel, mom’s second sock is almost to the heel, and I might have some interlacements tiny toes to mess around with… All of the small triangles for the quilt are cut. I  need to get a square from mouse for the larger cuts and then I can finish cutting quilt pieces. YAY! I’m so excited. It will be so pretty.

As far as London goes though, things are progressing rather well. I still have a lot to do, but I am nowhere near as worried as I was before. The terror of leaving will hit me again though, I’m sure of it.

Well, I guess I should go do something useful. Knit that shawl I have to finish in 25 days (25 DAYS!?!?!? oh dear…)

free yarn and needles? April 23, 2007

Well, not really free. The college gave Brit Knits money for a class, and there were only 2 of us. So we got yarn and needles. Jenni and I went to see Lindsay at her yarn store, The Yarn Garden. I have a friend that owns a yarn store. It’s pretty cool. We leaned how to make socks on two circular needles. We were making 2 at a time, but I took my second sock off. It was getting on my nerves. This is my sock

two Addi Turbos, size 1. And Koigu KPPPM. I am so in love. They’re beautiful.

I’ve also made progress on the Red Herring socks

I’m almost done with the foot of the first sock. They’re beautiful.

It’s time for Planet Earth and knitting. The perfect way to spend a Sunday night.

Oh my freaking wool (very picture heavy post) April 5, 2007

I met the Yarn Harlot. again!!!! She is truly amazing. It’s a long story that involved a lot of waiting and suspense, so let’s start from the beginning, shall we?

Rachel, Jenni and I met up in the Cross Plus World Market parking lot to carpool and get a special treat for the Harlot. Each of us bought her a bar of fancy yummy chocolate. Rachel’s was dark, mine was raspberry filled, and Jenni’s was… get this… EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE! I think this may be the coolest, non-knitting, thing sense sliced bread. We were dumb and maybe a little too excited, and we forgot to take pictures of our gifts. From Cost Plus we drove to the library, arriving right when they were opening at noon (mind you, the event wasn’t scheduled to start until 2). We walked in and found Mouse and Cait. It was very exciting. We got seats together in the main room, and set up camp to wait. Jenni and I left for sustenance in the form of falafel and hummus pita sandwiches from Jerusalem Garden. We came back and waited for a little while before a man working at the library came to the front of the room with a microphone. I was not too worried because the last time Mouse and I went to see the Harlot over the summer, someone was talking every half hour or so. No big deal, the guy has a mic. He’s probably here to tell us abut library events or something. Then he started talking. I got worried. He told us that Stephanie was coming, but he did not know when. my heart stopped a little. Then I remembered the date. April 1st? haha very funny joke, April fools, I get it. Now tell us when she’ll be here. Don’t mess with us. We are a room full of knitters waiting to see another very well loved knitter. And we’re armed with lots and lots of pointy sticks. Unfortunately he kept talking, and the news got worse as it went on. She was stuck in Chicago because when she flew to Detroit that morning the plain was not allowed to land because of fog(yet somehow her luggage was here… interesting. airline logic alludes me. ), and we don’t know when she will be here.

What? You don’t know when she’ll be here? Will she be here? oh no. How long will it take to drive to Chicago? Never mind, too long. So we proceeded to wait. Our waiting activities were fun though. Jenni and I went to Busy Hands. They were having a sale. I bought a skein of malabrigo

It’s beautiful. The color is Red Pearl. I’m using it to make a pair of ankle socks. I’m already at the heel and I started yesterday. Oh how I love instant gratification projects…
Here is a picture of all of us

As you can see, I’m winding the yarn. I just could not resist. It was calling to me. I wanted to buy a lot more, but I resisted (which is pretty hard at less than $9 a skein. I want more!). Anyway, we sat, we talked, we knit, we looked at books and talked to other knitters. Jenni worked on her first real socks for herself with real sock yarn.

They are very beautiful. Made with some old Opal. I worked on my Schaffer Anne sock.

I finished it later that night, but a huge chunk of the foot and toe were knit waiting (with a little Harlot mojo knit in). This is the first sock. I still need to get cracking on the second sock. I have a severe case of startitis at the moment. Hopefully I’ll get over it soon.
Now, I thought I got a lot of knitting done. I was not the one that finished an entire project. Start to finish. That was Rachel

This is a headband (the pattern is from knitty, but I don’t remember what it is exactly). The important thing is that she cast on in the morning leaving Albion, and cast off half way through waiting for the Yarn Harlot. Go Rachel.

There was a lot more waiting. We talked to knitters around us, we knit, we went for walks, we ate food, we bought book, and watched a parade of small children wearing hats that they made at another library event. They were cute, and it was a fun new waiting activity. We occasionally were updated on the unchanging status of Stephanie and knowing that her phone was dead and we would not know when she was on her way until she was in the library. We heard that she should arrive around four after she finally found a plane that would land in Detroit (for real this time). Well, around 4:30 or so she came running in to the room of the library, sock camera and notes in hand and Bohus sweater on her back. She told us an abridged version of the events of her day, took pictures of the sock and people. I took a picture of her taking a picture (very postmodern)


She talked and we all laughed, and it was amazing. I was laughing so hard I was on the verge of tears. She talked quickly, and then it was time to jump in line and get our books signed. We were close enough that we didn’t have to wait forever.
Well, when it was finally our turn, Rachel had her book signed first

Chocolate number one. We could tell she was pleased.
I went next, presenting fizzy lemony juice stuff, and my book

Chocolate number two. Again, well received. I had Mouse’s book signed too (sans chocolate in the cover) and she remembered us from the summer. I was very excited. I’m such a dork.
And then it was Jenni’s turn.

EMERGENCY CHOCOLATE!!!!!!! It was perfect. She loved it and everyone laughed. All books signed and chocolate gifts given, we left the library incredibly giddy and full of knitterly good vibes.
Jenni and I returned to Albion, and Rachel went home with her family. It was a wonderfully fun day and totally worth the wait.

Adventure with Wifey, and some new yarn March 10, 2007

Spring break is finally here, so i decided to spend my day hunting for props and shopping for yarn with Rachel. We, of course, did this in true Ann Arbor fashion. I checked the Salvation Army, the Re-cycle Center, and the Treasure Mart for props. We had a lot of fun at Treasure Mart and took lots of pictures. When we have an apartment, we’re buying all our dishes from there. It will be amazing (when the apartment thing happens is unknown. but it will be cool when it does happen). We both bought some lovely things from Treasure mart, all of which were 50 cents. We have small matching glasses:

I also bought two glasses for Keith (a friend, and who’s show I am finding props for):

He likes ancient Greek theatre, so I thought these would be appropriate. Trust me, if you’ve ever been to Treasure Mart, you would understand why they were too perfect to pass up.

After Treasure mart we had an amazing lunch at Kosmo’s, where we used to go during high school. We reminisced about how great high school was and how it’s strange that we liked high school better than college, but that’s what happens when you go to an amazing high school. We also met the most adorable child ever.

He was our buddy, and he and his baby-sitter ate lunch with us. It was a lot of fun.

I went to Busy Hands and Flying Sheep in search of yarn for Clessidra. They are so beautiful, I just have to make them. It took forever to find the right yarn, but I did find this at Busy Hands:

Malabrigo lace weight in Pearl. 470 yards of beautiful merino wool. I don’t know what I’m going to use this for, but it was too perfect to pass up. I just could not leave without it.
I finally found yarn for the socks at Flying Sheep

Dalegarn Baby Ull in navy blue. Cheaper than sock yarn, and with enough in stock to buy 4 skeins. Who would have thought that I could make knee high socks under $30.
Today was wonderful. And now it’s time to knit and read some more plays.

Oh yeah, I finished another pair of socks

Urban Gypz sock yarn in Autumn Study (i think) that I bought in Asheville over the summer. I love them.

Dear Mouse, February 19, 2007

I have a bit of a knitting dilemma, and I desperately need your input. I told you before that I was planning on making this with the Tiny Toes you gave me for my birthday. The yarn is beautiful and I love it. However, I’m not sure how I feel about it knit in this pattern.

It’s a little hard to see that pattern. It’s a little clearer in this picture:

but not by much.
Please let me know what you think A.S.A.P. so I don’t continue knitting, only to decide that it is ugly and would be better off with another pattern.

Oh yeah, and I finished pomatomus.

I’ll show prettier pictures later.
I love you and miss you. Muah!

Sincerely,
Amanda

Socks, snow, and valentines February 14, 2007

There is so much snow. So much snow that my 2 hour class was canceld because my professor was snowed into her driveway. As much fun as class can be, I’m okay with it being canceled.

In other fun news, I have the best Wifey EVER!!!! I got an e-mail today telling me that I had a package to pick up, and what do I find? This!

An adorable little basket from my lovely Wifey! Thank you Wifey! Sorry I didn’t get you anything (I’m a bad wife. with no time). Happy Valentines day!
Some time I’ll tell you our story, but now is not the time (yarn brought us together…)

And speaking of yarn, I finished the first Hedera sock.

I know it’s not a very good picture, but when I finish the second sock I’ll make sure you can see how pretty the pattern is. I love these socks. They just look so beautiful. I used a Regia yarn that I bought on a family day trip at a nice little yarn store. Their selection of sock yarn was limited, but this color way was perfect for Hedera. It’s a nice, deep burgundy that’s heathered with a touch of light green. In the sun it looks fantastic.
I’ve made progress on the second Pomatomus sock, too.

I just started the heel today, so hopefully these will be done soon. They’re so soft and pretty! (i should probobly use a less bright back drop for pictures… but then again what could be more fun than $15 hot pink satin sheets from Urban Outfitters? They were just too silly to refuse.)

Well, it is now time to adventure to rehearsal. Hopefully we’ll be able to get done what we’ve been trying to do sense Sunday. If not, we run the danger of having no act 2. Oh well.