Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Chaos

*whew!*

We did it. We got everything packed into our moving cubes. Because we aren't going straight to our destination (and also because we have no idea where we're living yet) we can't do regular moving things like just packing up a truck and meeting it there. So we got moving cubes (kind of like PODS....but smaller since the PODS are HUGE and also very expensive....like $5,000 or something way beyond our budget).

The company dropped off the cubes last week and was coming to get them on Monday. They don't tell us exactly when they are coming so we have to have it all packed and ready by 6am since we get fined if they come to get our cubes and they aren't ready. Friday we had a lot packed but had to go to Connecticut to say goodbye to some dear friends, mentors and Husband's adopted family for the time he was an intern there. We got home at about 7:00 and had to finish getting everything packed and loaded into the cubes.

Midnight came....we were making pretty good progress.

2am came...things were slowing down but still looked do-able. Husband was EXHAUSTED (understandably so....my job was to load the boxes. He was carrying them out to the cubes by himself and fussing with them to make them fit)so he had to take a 2 hour nap to keep going while I finished loading all the boxes.

At 4 am when I woke him up, we had a lot more packed but still not everything.

6 am : We're 98% of the way there but haven't packed up our artwork or pictures off our walls. We figured we'd just keep loading stuff and if we see the truck coming, throw the lock on it and call it good and mail the rest of our stuff if necessary.

7:30 am: We are done (finally!). I haven't slept in 26 hours or so. I go to bed while Husband packs empty space full of cardboard to keep items from shifting during shipping.

At about 2:00 I am woken up by a very apologetic husband saying that there is something wrong with one of the cubes and we might have to unload it into another one (WHAT?!?) so to please get dressed and come outside. I throw on some clothes and wander outside a bit disheveled...

Now, in order for you to understand the next part you need some back information. We got two of these cubes. They are about the size of small walk-in closets. We had loaded one with our furniture and some boxes (so as to not crush the furniture). We loaded the other one half-full with our library and the filled in the rest with more boxes. The other thing you need to know is that the way this cube business works is that they come with a large flatbed truck and a fork lift. They use the fork lift to pick up the cubes and load them onto the flatbed truck before tying them down.

Alright. Back to the story...

So I get outside. One of the cubes is gone (loaded on the truck). Husband explains that our second cube (the one with the books) is too heavy. Apparently there is a 2,000 pound weight limit and the forklift is rated for 5,000 pounds. When the fork lift tries to lift our cube, the back wheels come off the ground because it is too heavy. They estimated that our cube weighed 7,000 pounds. Seven thousand pounds?!!? Of books! The truck driver has been doing this everyday for 5 years and said only one other time was a cube too heavy to lift and that time the other person was a machinist and had loaded all of his tools and some machinery into it.

This reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if...." jokes. Except that ours would go something like, "You know you have too many books when..." I guess that's what happens when most of your bookshelves look kind of like this:

Where the books are double-stacked and the shelves are bending. Yeah....

Luckily in the end we didn't have to load everything into another cube. The driver ended up putting the stabilizers down which anchored the lift in place, lifted the cube as high as it could go and ended up backing the semi truck underneath it and lowering it on to the platform. Oh. My. Goodness. I am so glad...so so so so glad that we didn't have to unload and reload the crazy cubes.

Alrighty. I've got to get back to packing up the stuff that's coming in our car with us. Just remember the moral of the story....don't put all your books in one moving cube.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

On the move

Gertrude and I (and Husband) are packing up and heading out. This is a crazy, whirlwind time....especially since we didn't think we'd be leaving Massachusetts so soon...let alone in less than a week!

The good news is that Husband just graduated with both of his master's degrees two weekends ago:
The bad news is that they won't let us put our lease (we live on campus at our grad school) in my name unless I become a full time student through January (not going to happen). So we had to figure out pretty quick-like what we were going to do and we decided that if we're going to have to move anyway, we might as well move all the way back to the west coast since that's where we were planning on ending up eventually anyway. Plus with his shiny, new MA's Husband has some job opportunities out in the promise land that he doesn't have here.

The badder (okay....I know it's not a word) part of the bad news, though, is that because we found out kind of last-minute that we're moving across the country, we haven't had a chance to do the things people normally do when they move across the country like, say, find jobs and a place to live. Or pack. So we're packing now. All while trying to plan a cross-country camping trip and do school work for the 2 classes I'm taking at a school in Missouri on our way to the Promise Land.

If that sounds like a recipe for chaos to you, then I think you'd be right. My main hope is that Husband and I don't kill each other and are still friends by the time we get to where we're going. Nothing like a major cross-country move (especially when one of you has never moved cross-country before) to put a damper on your relationship.

*sigh*

In happier news, my pomatomoi (that's the plural of "pomatomus") are coming along nicely. To try and avoid getting SSS (second sock syndrome) I'm knitting both at the same time. Knit the cuff for one....knit the cuff for the other. Knit the leg for one...knit the leg for the other. I've just finished the gussets of both and now just need to do the feet.

Here's a close-up of one of them:

Friday, May 18, 2007

TAG!

I've been tagged by Shad Kitty.

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog. Here are my facts:

1) I liked crazy socks even before I could knit.
(stolen from Shad because it's true. Is that against the rules?) In fact, when I need a pair of normal socks it takes a while to find them since I don't own very many.

2) When I was in fifth grade I made a $50 bet with my sister that I'd never get married. I think I still owe her the money. (seriously. The only way for me to win this bet is to die single. How lame is that? I don't think it was a fair bet. I'm not paying on principle)

3) When I was in high school I really wanted color contacts (even though I didn't need glasses at the time) so that I could have purple eyes

4) I also really wanted to pierce my eyebrow (but I didn't)

5) In college I decided I wanted to pierce my nose but before I could do it, my sister did and said it was the most painful things she has ever done so I chickened out....

6) And got a tattoo on the back of my neck instead (in retrospect I wonder if it would have hurt less to get my nose pierced). At least my tattoo doesn't get clogged when I have a cold

7) I don't like chocolate very much. My mother, on the other hand, is TOTALLY addicted to chocolate but I only ever want chocolate once in a very rare while. I usually prefer fruity things.

I tag,
Sassy, Dawn, Joshua, Sarah, Troy, Babette (the one and only founder of BakeSpace), and Lana (who I think may have already done this, but I'm running out of blog friends who haven't done it, so hopefully she won't mind)

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Cupcake Dishcloth

UPDATE!
This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any period of time is not surprised that my knitting and cupcake addictions finally gave birth to a knitted cupcake. I present to you my knitted cupcake dishcloth and pattern:

Cupcake Dishcloth
Pattern by Carissa Bonham

***This pattern may only be used for personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of this pattern and the resulting cupcake including using the pattern for publishing or to sell patterns or finished products requires the specific written permission of the author***

Gauge
= 17st = 4” stockinette (sz. 10 needles) although gauge doesn’t matter too much

Yarn
= 1 ball Sugar’n Cream Brand cotton yarn in cream (color A)

& 1 ball Sugar’n Cream Brand cotton yarn in hot purple (color B)

Waste yarn in contrasting color from color A and B for provisional cast on

Notions: 3 size 10 knitting needles

Size H crochet hook

Blunt Needle


Bottom of cupcake

CO 24 stitches using long tail cast on in color A

Row 1 (RS): P1 *K3, P1* (5x), K2, P1
Row 2 (WS): P3 *K1, P3* (5x), P1

Repeat rows 1 and 2 six times more times. Set Aside


Frosting
Using crochet hook and waste yarn CO 24 stitches using provisional cast on

Using Color B, knit 2 rows of garter stitch (all K stitches)

Row 3: K2, SSK, K to last 4 stitches, K2TOG, K2
Row 4: K across
Row 5: K across

Repeat rows 3-5 twice more

*SSK, SSK, K to last 4 stitches, K2TOG, K2TOG
Next row: K across*

Repeat the two rows between the *’s once more

Next row: SSK, SSK, K2, K2TOG, K2TOG
Last row: SSK, K2TOG, K2TOG

BO remaining stitches


Joining the cupcake pieces

Turn frosting piece over and use knitting needle to pick up color B stitches from provisional CO
Count to make sure you have 24 stitches
Unzip provisional CO
Set aside

Pick up the bottom piece of the cupcake set aside earlier
Join color B and knit across one row

Hold the bottom and frosting pieces, wrong sides together, with the needles pointing the same direction.

Use third knitting needle to knit through the first stitch on each needle and drop off original needle

Continue across until all stitches have been knit onto the third needle


Frosting Ruffle
This might be a little different than anything you’re used to but I think it provides the best ruffle effect.

Hold the knitting needle with the live stitches in your left hand and hold the crochet hook in your right hand. Using the crochet hook as if it were a knitting needle, knit the first stitch off of the needle

You will now have 23 stitches on your needle and 1 loop on your crochet hook

Use crochet hook to SC three times into the base of the knit stitch

Once again, *use crochet hook as a knitting needle to knit the next stitch off the needle (there will now be two loops on the crochet hook), wrap yarn from back to front on crochet hook and draw through the two loops on crochet hook (there will now be one stitch on hook), work 2 SC into base of stitch*

Repeat directions between *’s until no more stitches remain on knitting needle.

Break yarn and draw through loop.


Finishing
Weave in ends



If anyone decides to knit this, please let me know! I'd love to see pictures.

To contact me regarding permission to use this pattern for anything other than personal, non-commercial use, please contact me by posting a comment in this post (being sure to fill out the e-mail address field).

Thanks!

Monday, May 7, 2007

Done!

Ms. Marigold by Zephyr Style.

Needles: Size 7 for body / 5 for neck detail/ size f crochet hook for ruffle
Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus in Lavender
How long: 3 weeks

Overall, I think Zephyr Style designs their patterns for size small or extra small and then just increases the stitch count proportionally all over for larger sizes. This probably works alright for mediums, but by the time you get to Large and Extra Large based on chest size, things get a little wonky between the chest size, waist size and arm hole size. Knowing their patterns run large, I knit with both a tighter gauge and one size smaller than I should have for my chest size and it still came out about 1 1/2 inches larger around so I added some waist decreases and then took it in on the sides a smidge (it looks like a partial seam) to make the arm holes smaller.

Currently on the needles: Pomatomus

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Last one I promise...

...and then I'm going to bed.

I just wanted to show you guys my progress on Ms. Marigold.

Yesterday at Knit with Grey's, I was able to almost finish Ms. Marigold Lavender but got so carried away during my last KIP session that I had gone about an inch-and-a-half too far and it was already perfect length w/o the 2 inches of ribbing.

I tried to do short ribbing for just 8 rows but it looked silly and so now I have undone my bind off and am going back and laddering down at each purl section to drop the ribbing down another 10 stitches. It's simple enough but is taking a long time. I'm about halfway done going around the ribbing and then will just need to add sleeves (well, the arm hole finishing and the ruffle), weave in the ends and block.

I'm really hoping I'll have it done to wear to church on Sunday if for no other reason than I've been working on it during the large class Husband has been co-teaching and last week he was telling some people who had come over to ask what I was knitting that I was really good at socks and baby clothes but haven't had much luck with sweaters (I'm not joking. He said this. Out loud. I don't think he realized it was mean) so boo-ya! Take that Mr. "My wife has a hard time knitting sweaters that fit." Ha!

*cough*

I mean, look at my neat top, honey. ;-)

Friday, May 4, 2007

More Gifties!



The same day I got my PRGE box, I got this in the mail from ShadKitty (who isn't my punk pal but is a rock star and has sent me something cool anyway)

How cool is this? It's a pink argyle with a pink sparkly cupcake notepad. This is great. I love cupcakes! (Thank you, Captain Obvious)

So hooray! Thank's Shad!!!

Gifties!

Hooray! My Punk Rock Gift Exchange box #2 arrived! It has some of the best stuff in it. My pal is Dawn of Wild Yarn and she has totally been spoiling me.

What did I get?

Yarn:


Two balls of the green/turquise Luna Park 100% merino sock yarn in colourway 200 and 1 ball XXL Trekking in color 66. I think the green yarn is destined to become the Pepperknit zokni socks. I'm not sure about a pattern for the trekking yet. Any ideas?

I also got these that I LOVE:

They are sttch markers made by the oh-so-crafty Dawn and a punk rock case that she made, too. I love them not only because they are cool but becasue they are small enough to use on socks (where they are going tomorrow). I LOVE the case.

Other stuff I got:
A sweet lacy/skull notebook
Body Poof
Yummy Apple Body Wash
Black mod-looking notecards
DPN case (also made my Dawn....I totally needed one of these, too!)
Stitch counters (not in picture as they were promptly put to use)
2 Tape measure (one is retractable, which is exactly what I needed, also in use)
Monkey stickers
Coin purse from Guatemala
And this:
His name is Sheepy (creative, eh?) He's squishy and has fun googly eyes. I'm glad Dawn was able to wrestle him away from her son to come live with me beacause I like him!

In short, Dawn is the best darn Punk pal I could ever ask for who has spoiled me silly and sent me all kinds of wonderful presents that I LOVE. I am definitely nominating her for best punk pal not just for this round, but for EVER.

THANK YOU, DAWN!!!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Thursday Tip-off

Did you know that Michael's, Jo-Ann Fabrics and AC Moore coupons are interchangable? You can use Jo-Ann's coupons are Michaels and AC Moore, AC moore coupons at Jo-Anns and Michaels, etc.

Yes! That's right. It's really true. I even called Michaels to confirm it. I just wish I had known that sooner. Go forth and shop!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Puff!







Oh so yummy Profiterole Puffs (recipe from the Pampered Chef). If you live in the Boston, Portland Oregon or Seattle areas, drop me a comment and I can come make them for you at your very own cooking show. We can do the full fat /sugar variety or the low fat and low sugar variety. Both very yummy.



Check out the website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/carissascorner (I'm sorry it's not linked....they have new rules that I can't link to my website on any webpages...so unfortunately you'll have to copy and paste)

Wordless Wednesday


Tuesday, May 29, 2007

Chaos

*whew!*

We did it. We got everything packed into our moving cubes. Because we aren't going straight to our destination (and also because we have no idea where we're living yet) we can't do regular moving things like just packing up a truck and meeting it there. So we got moving cubes (kind of like PODS....but smaller since the PODS are HUGE and also very expensive....like $5,000 or something way beyond our budget).

The company dropped off the cubes last week and was coming to get them on Monday. They don't tell us exactly when they are coming so we have to have it all packed and ready by 6am since we get fined if they come to get our cubes and they aren't ready. Friday we had a lot packed but had to go to Connecticut to say goodbye to some dear friends, mentors and Husband's adopted family for the time he was an intern there. We got home at about 7:00 and had to finish getting everything packed and loaded into the cubes.

Midnight came....we were making pretty good progress.

2am came...things were slowing down but still looked do-able. Husband was EXHAUSTED (understandably so....my job was to load the boxes. He was carrying them out to the cubes by himself and fussing with them to make them fit)so he had to take a 2 hour nap to keep going while I finished loading all the boxes.

At 4 am when I woke him up, we had a lot more packed but still not everything.

6 am : We're 98% of the way there but haven't packed up our artwork or pictures off our walls. We figured we'd just keep loading stuff and if we see the truck coming, throw the lock on it and call it good and mail the rest of our stuff if necessary.

7:30 am: We are done (finally!). I haven't slept in 26 hours or so. I go to bed while Husband packs empty space full of cardboard to keep items from shifting during shipping.

At about 2:00 I am woken up by a very apologetic husband saying that there is something wrong with one of the cubes and we might have to unload it into another one (WHAT?!?) so to please get dressed and come outside. I throw on some clothes and wander outside a bit disheveled...

Now, in order for you to understand the next part you need some back information. We got two of these cubes. They are about the size of small walk-in closets. We had loaded one with our furniture and some boxes (so as to not crush the furniture). We loaded the other one half-full with our library and the filled in the rest with more boxes. The other thing you need to know is that the way this cube business works is that they come with a large flatbed truck and a fork lift. They use the fork lift to pick up the cubes and load them onto the flatbed truck before tying them down.

Alright. Back to the story...

So I get outside. One of the cubes is gone (loaded on the truck). Husband explains that our second cube (the one with the books) is too heavy. Apparently there is a 2,000 pound weight limit and the forklift is rated for 5,000 pounds. When the fork lift tries to lift our cube, the back wheels come off the ground because it is too heavy. They estimated that our cube weighed 7,000 pounds. Seven thousand pounds?!!? Of books! The truck driver has been doing this everyday for 5 years and said only one other time was a cube too heavy to lift and that time the other person was a machinist and had loaded all of his tools and some machinery into it.

This reminds me of Jeff Foxworthy "You might be a redneck if...." jokes. Except that ours would go something like, "You know you have too many books when..." I guess that's what happens when most of your bookshelves look kind of like this:

Where the books are double-stacked and the shelves are bending. Yeah....

Luckily in the end we didn't have to load everything into another cube. The driver ended up putting the stabilizers down which anchored the lift in place, lifted the cube as high as it could go and ended up backing the semi truck underneath it and lowering it on to the platform. Oh. My. Goodness. I am so glad...so so so so glad that we didn't have to unload and reload the crazy cubes.

Alrighty. I've got to get back to packing up the stuff that's coming in our car with us. Just remember the moral of the story....don't put all your books in one moving cube.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

On the move

Gertrude and I (and Husband) are packing up and heading out. This is a crazy, whirlwind time....especially since we didn't think we'd be leaving Massachusetts so soon...let alone in less than a week!

The good news is that Husband just graduated with both of his master's degrees two weekends ago:
The bad news is that they won't let us put our lease (we live on campus at our grad school) in my name unless I become a full time student through January (not going to happen). So we had to figure out pretty quick-like what we were going to do and we decided that if we're going to have to move anyway, we might as well move all the way back to the west coast since that's where we were planning on ending up eventually anyway. Plus with his shiny, new MA's Husband has some job opportunities out in the promise land that he doesn't have here.

The badder (okay....I know it's not a word) part of the bad news, though, is that because we found out kind of last-minute that we're moving across the country, we haven't had a chance to do the things people normally do when they move across the country like, say, find jobs and a place to live. Or pack. So we're packing now. All while trying to plan a cross-country camping trip and do school work for the 2 classes I'm taking at a school in Missouri on our way to the Promise Land.

If that sounds like a recipe for chaos to you, then I think you'd be right. My main hope is that Husband and I don't kill each other and are still friends by the time we get to where we're going. Nothing like a major cross-country move (especially when one of you has never moved cross-country before) to put a damper on your relationship.

*sigh*

In happier news, my pomatomoi (that's the plural of "pomatomus") are coming along nicely. To try and avoid getting SSS (second sock syndrome) I'm knitting both at the same time. Knit the cuff for one....knit the cuff for the other. Knit the leg for one...knit the leg for the other. I've just finished the gussets of both and now just need to do the feet.

Here's a close-up of one of them:

Friday, May 18, 2007

TAG!

I've been tagged by Shad Kitty.

Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog. Here are my facts:

1) I liked crazy socks even before I could knit.
(stolen from Shad because it's true. Is that against the rules?) In fact, when I need a pair of normal socks it takes a while to find them since I don't own very many.

2) When I was in fifth grade I made a $50 bet with my sister that I'd never get married. I think I still owe her the money. (seriously. The only way for me to win this bet is to die single. How lame is that? I don't think it was a fair bet. I'm not paying on principle)

3) When I was in high school I really wanted color contacts (even though I didn't need glasses at the time) so that I could have purple eyes

4) I also really wanted to pierce my eyebrow (but I didn't)

5) In college I decided I wanted to pierce my nose but before I could do it, my sister did and said it was the most painful things she has ever done so I chickened out....

6) And got a tattoo on the back of my neck instead (in retrospect I wonder if it would have hurt less to get my nose pierced). At least my tattoo doesn't get clogged when I have a cold

7) I don't like chocolate very much. My mother, on the other hand, is TOTALLY addicted to chocolate but I only ever want chocolate once in a very rare while. I usually prefer fruity things.

I tag,
Sassy, Dawn, Joshua, Sarah, Troy, Babette (the one and only founder of BakeSpace), and Lana (who I think may have already done this, but I'm running out of blog friends who haven't done it, so hopefully she won't mind)

Sunday, May 13, 2007

Cherry Cordial Cupcakes



Recipe is posted here on BakeSpace

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Cupcake Dishcloth

UPDATE!
This pattern is now available as a free PDF download on Ravelry.

Anyone who has been reading this blog for any period of time is not surprised that my knitting and cupcake addictions finally gave birth to a knitted cupcake. I present to you my knitted cupcake dishcloth and pattern:

Cupcake Dishcloth
Pattern by Carissa Bonham

***This pattern may only be used for personal, non-commercial use. Any other use of this pattern and the resulting cupcake including using the pattern for publishing or to sell patterns or finished products requires the specific written permission of the author***

Gauge
= 17st = 4” stockinette (sz. 10 needles) although gauge doesn’t matter too much

Yarn
= 1 ball Sugar’n Cream Brand cotton yarn in cream (color A)

& 1 ball Sugar’n Cream Brand cotton yarn in hot purple (color B)

Waste yarn in contrasting color from color A and B for provisional cast on

Notions: 3 size 10 knitting needles

Size H crochet hook

Blunt Needle


Bottom of cupcake

CO 24 stitches using long tail cast on in color A

Row 1 (RS): P1 *K3, P1* (5x), K2, P1
Row 2 (WS): P3 *K1, P3* (5x), P1

Repeat rows 1 and 2 six times more times. Set Aside


Frosting
Using crochet hook and waste yarn CO 24 stitches using provisional cast on

Using Color B, knit 2 rows of garter stitch (all K stitches)

Row 3: K2, SSK, K to last 4 stitches, K2TOG, K2
Row 4: K across
Row 5: K across

Repeat rows 3-5 twice more

*SSK, SSK, K to last 4 stitches, K2TOG, K2TOG
Next row: K across*

Repeat the two rows between the *’s once more

Next row: SSK, SSK, K2, K2TOG, K2TOG
Last row: SSK, K2TOG, K2TOG

BO remaining stitches


Joining the cupcake pieces

Turn frosting piece over and use knitting needle to pick up color B stitches from provisional CO
Count to make sure you have 24 stitches
Unzip provisional CO
Set aside

Pick up the bottom piece of the cupcake set aside earlier
Join color B and knit across one row

Hold the bottom and frosting pieces, wrong sides together, with the needles pointing the same direction.

Use third knitting needle to knit through the first stitch on each needle and drop off original needle

Continue across until all stitches have been knit onto the third needle


Frosting Ruffle
This might be a little different than anything you’re used to but I think it provides the best ruffle effect.

Hold the knitting needle with the live stitches in your left hand and hold the crochet hook in your right hand. Using the crochet hook as if it were a knitting needle, knit the first stitch off of the needle

You will now have 23 stitches on your needle and 1 loop on your crochet hook

Use crochet hook to SC three times into the base of the knit stitch

Once again, *use crochet hook as a knitting needle to knit the next stitch off the needle (there will now be two loops on the crochet hook), wrap yarn from back to front on crochet hook and draw through the two loops on crochet hook (there will now be one stitch on hook), work 2 SC into base of stitch*

Repeat directions between *’s until no more stitches remain on knitting needle.

Break yarn and draw through loop.


Finishing
Weave in ends



If anyone decides to knit this, please let me know! I'd love to see pictures.

To contact me regarding permission to use this pattern for anything other than personal, non-commercial use, please contact me by posting a comment in this post (being sure to fill out the e-mail address field).

Thanks!

Monday, May 7, 2007

Done!

Ms. Marigold by Zephyr Style.

Needles: Size 7 for body / 5 for neck detail/ size f crochet hook for ruffle
Yarn: TLC Cotton Plus in Lavender
How long: 3 weeks

Overall, I think Zephyr Style designs their patterns for size small or extra small and then just increases the stitch count proportionally all over for larger sizes. This probably works alright for mediums, but by the time you get to Large and Extra Large based on chest size, things get a little wonky between the chest size, waist size and arm hole size. Knowing their patterns run large, I knit with both a tighter gauge and one size smaller than I should have for my chest size and it still came out about 1 1/2 inches larger around so I added some waist decreases and then took it in on the sides a smidge (it looks like a partial seam) to make the arm holes smaller.

Currently on the needles: Pomatomus

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Last one I promise...

...and then I'm going to bed.

I just wanted to show you guys my progress on Ms. Marigold.

Yesterday at Knit with Grey's, I was able to almost finish Ms. Marigold Lavender but got so carried away during my last KIP session that I had gone about an inch-and-a-half too far and it was already perfect length w/o the 2 inches of ribbing.

I tried to do short ribbing for just 8 rows but it looked silly and so now I have undone my bind off and am going back and laddering down at each purl section to drop the ribbing down another 10 stitches. It's simple enough but is taking a long time. I'm about halfway done going around the ribbing and then will just need to add sleeves (well, the arm hole finishing and the ruffle), weave in the ends and block.

I'm really hoping I'll have it done to wear to church on Sunday if for no other reason than I've been working on it during the large class Husband has been co-teaching and last week he was telling some people who had come over to ask what I was knitting that I was really good at socks and baby clothes but haven't had much luck with sweaters (I'm not joking. He said this. Out loud. I don't think he realized it was mean) so boo-ya! Take that Mr. "My wife has a hard time knitting sweaters that fit." Ha!

*cough*

I mean, look at my neat top, honey. ;-)

Friday, May 4, 2007

More Gifties!



The same day I got my PRGE box, I got this in the mail from ShadKitty (who isn't my punk pal but is a rock star and has sent me something cool anyway)

How cool is this? It's a pink argyle with a pink sparkly cupcake notepad. This is great. I love cupcakes! (Thank you, Captain Obvious)

So hooray! Thank's Shad!!!

Gifties!

Hooray! My Punk Rock Gift Exchange box #2 arrived! It has some of the best stuff in it. My pal is Dawn of Wild Yarn and she has totally been spoiling me.

What did I get?

Yarn:


Two balls of the green/turquise Luna Park 100% merino sock yarn in colourway 200 and 1 ball XXL Trekking in color 66. I think the green yarn is destined to become the Pepperknit zokni socks. I'm not sure about a pattern for the trekking yet. Any ideas?

I also got these that I LOVE:

They are sttch markers made by the oh-so-crafty Dawn and a punk rock case that she made, too. I love them not only because they are cool but becasue they are small enough to use on socks (where they are going tomorrow). I LOVE the case.

Other stuff I got:
A sweet lacy/skull notebook
Body Poof
Yummy Apple Body Wash
Black mod-looking notecards
DPN case (also made my Dawn....I totally needed one of these, too!)
Stitch counters (not in picture as they were promptly put to use)
2 Tape measure (one is retractable, which is exactly what I needed, also in use)
Monkey stickers
Coin purse from Guatemala
And this:
His name is Sheepy (creative, eh?) He's squishy and has fun googly eyes. I'm glad Dawn was able to wrestle him away from her son to come live with me beacause I like him!

In short, Dawn is the best darn Punk pal I could ever ask for who has spoiled me silly and sent me all kinds of wonderful presents that I LOVE. I am definitely nominating her for best punk pal not just for this round, but for EVER.

THANK YOU, DAWN!!!

Thursday, May 3, 2007

Thursday Tip-off

Did you know that Michael's, Jo-Ann Fabrics and AC Moore coupons are interchangable? You can use Jo-Ann's coupons are Michaels and AC Moore, AC moore coupons at Jo-Anns and Michaels, etc.

Yes! That's right. It's really true. I even called Michaels to confirm it. I just wish I had known that sooner. Go forth and shop!

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

Puff!







Oh so yummy Profiterole Puffs (recipe from the Pampered Chef). If you live in the Boston, Portland Oregon or Seattle areas, drop me a comment and I can come make them for you at your very own cooking show. We can do the full fat /sugar variety or the low fat and low sugar variety. Both very yummy.



Check out the website: http://www.pamperedchef.biz/carissascorner (I'm sorry it's not linked....they have new rules that I can't link to my website on any webpages...so unfortunately you'll have to copy and paste)

Wordless Wednesday


 
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