BOO! Happy Halloween!!

Although I was quite depressed that I didn't/couldn't dye up orange & black sockyarn, I decided to start my Gryffindor "Quidditch" sock while watching Harry Potter & the Prisoner of Azkaban.

The best of all worlds:

We ate pumpkin icecream from Whiteys after my Botany labratory exam, and carved pumpkins!

Here's mine:

Joe's pumkpin is on the left:

Turning. (with a knitting finale.)

I'm a pretty stagnant person, when it comes to likes and dislikes. I'll admit that. What's hard to admit is when you finally realize that something is different. Maybe even suspect. Ok, having a strong craving for meatloaf is one thing, everyone has one of those commercial white-castle urges once in a while, but felting?

.....OK, hand's up. You caught me. I hated felting.
(wait a second, did I just spot a past tense use of the word "hate?")

Don't get me wrong, the workmanship on certain items that are felted are wonderful, the colorways used are gorgeous, their stitching-impeccable. But the texture and the look of felted wool made my skin crawl. Wait, "made?" But now, I can't hide it anymore. It's almost like something's in the air,... and I'm not just talking about the wonderful drop in the temperature. I started growing an interest in the concept. Granted, we all know how that turned out. But this feeling I've had lately is different now... potent, even. Ideas have been storming around in my head during lectures. It has left my head buzzing, while I should be sleeping. What is this?
I've been day-dreaming of what I want my future house to looks like, the coziness of the couches, wood floors, soft sage colors, mosaic coffee table-top ideas, and even felted placeholders. comfy felted clogs. Clutches. Felted coasters. Stop me.

Joe and I went for a walk the other day. I think I love Maples the best in the Fall...the leaves are just so juicy!
Oh, wait a second, while we are on the subject of "botany," how did I do on the test?? Um, horrible, as expected! But since I did the second best (second-least-worst, really) in the class, I pulled of a B! Oh yeah! Thank the Lord for curves!

We also took the week off and lodged at this cozy cabin.
I knit during the day, and cuddled up by the fire with Joe at nightfall.
....I wish.

It's practically the "ancient ruins" of our campus. I once knew a guy that tried to make this "storage" cabin into a small student-runned coffee house. It's a shame noone listened to him.
However, it does make a great place to knit by.

Random note: I just finished Mary Kruger's second installment in her "knitting mystery" series, Knit Fast, Die Young. To be honest, I was a little disappointed. The setting was a little too stale, and only changed half-way through the book, and I knew who "dun-it" from the beginning. Either I'm getting a knack for being a detective, or it was a little too obvious. Unfortunately, I believe the latter is the correct one.

Oh, can I vent for a second?
How did I get stuck with the earliest day to present my research to my Seniors seminar?
I've got less than one month to research and create a ten minute (verbal & visual) presentation on my thesis (we also have to write a 12-ish page research paper), and the pile is still growing.
Some one please pinch me. Is this real?

Crap.
Bang head here.

...And I guess,the moment you have been waiting for...
Here's a quick snap of the beginning workings of my "Infinity Cardigan."

I'm in love with the cables. I love the symmetry of the snake cables around the edges, the tweediness, the color, and the i-cord on the edge, for the zipper. I picture myself wearing this around Halloween & Thanksgiving. Do you notice the sideways "8" look going on in the cables? Just checking.



Spending some quality time with the DF.


Happy Friday.

(This one doesn't count.)

EDIT: I just made an archive of all of the FO's that predate my blog!
Feast your eyes on this!!

First off, I just want to say thank-you to everyone who has cheered me on, and shared my depression on unfair exams! You gals are awesome, and I would do a group hug if I could!! :)
It stinks that bad (exams) happen to (good) people. ha ha.

On to knitterly things:
I am really sorry about the delay, oh wonderful craftsters. I know you all have been very patient for some more eye-candy that has not been sufficiently provided. Darn you academia and non-approved weather!! Anyways, if you live in the Midwest, you probably have empathy for my woes of sticky needles and sweltering rooms this past week. I'm sick of 90 degree weather...my room does not have air-conditioning. But, that's ok, it will start cooling off tomorrow, finally.
I am knitting up the cardigan, but 6'' of 1x1 ribbing goes a little slowly when you are working in the heat, and on 180-ish stitches with size 6 needles.
However, I am almost to the more exciting part (increasing), and will post pictures as soon as the cardigan starts to resemble a snippet of a garment.

I am also excited to announce that I have finally came up with the: suspect, a couple of awesome "big events" that happen in my plot, and some dynamics to my main characters in my "knitting mystery" book. I definitely don't want to wimp on the suspense & hair-raising moments (that some "cozy" books miss), so I came up with something good for now. However, I still don't have an outline on the plot, so this whole preliminary work will take time. Then, I have to figure out the "guidelines" of some mystery publishers. (Most people don't realize that the biggest reason that people get rejected is that they didn't think to get the official "guidelines" for certain sub-genres.) Mystery books have many genres, and you have to be ultra-careful while writing that you meet the criteria of whatever sub-genre you choose. Yikes.

The two skeins of lace and the Victorian Lace Today book was from a distant cousin in Seattle Washington, that just found out that I knit! The short story was that my dad visited Seattle on a business trip, somehow got on the topic about me, told her about me knitting, and she grabbed this pile out of her own house to give to me!! Wasn't that amazing?!? Thank-you Cindy! You're amazing!

On the left is a mystery skein of lace-weight in a almost light royal blue & dark brown. The other skeins is from Prism yarns, in the gorgeous colorway: Ginger.
I love awesome surprises like this! I've always drooled over this book at Borders.

This was from last Saturday, at Wilson's Apple Orchard.

The funny part (sad, really) was that we couldn't pick apples, because of the early frost. Ironic, really, since it's soo hot here.


This snap-shot was intriguing.
We did take a walk around the orchard.

This lovely gentlemen offered our huge group a ride! We rode for at least a half an hour around the orchard, and finally over a creek! Luckily there was enough room for our large group of 15. It was really nice to relax while the tractor did all the work. It was a lovely day. The air was a bit chilly and we had a picture-perfect sunset view above the orchard.



In the meantime, I will leave you with a paradox to answer:
Q: How is it that sometimes, you can feel soo comfy/lazy not leaving your house (ex: just feeling like watching tv) that the mear thought of going outside seems...."blah," yet feel so wonderful being outside that you don't want to come back, once you finally get that nudge to the "world" outside? Do you catch my drift?
This question was hard to formulate, since it's based off of those feelings you get, and I apologize now, because it might only sound clear in my head.


Ok, time to find air-conditioning somewhere in this residence to knit and play some more "catch-up" on my readings:
Luther, Botany & Christian Science.

Current pleasure reading:
Knit Fast, Die Young, by Mary Kruger
The Cairo Diary, by Maxim Chattham.

An afternoon stroll.

P.S- Look at the post below for the "Gracie" pattern I just posted! :)

~Intricate details~





~"Easily passed up" simple beauty~




~When trees are characters...~

...I swear, this one is creaping me out. It's clawing the ground and has two eyes.

Sneak Peak at Some "Dryin' Dyin'"

I was really intrigued by the magnificence of yesterday's sunset. Although my sucky digital camera (cheap then, & out of date now...) could never capture the true beauty and colorway of the sky, I'm hoping you can just get a tiny glimpse of the beauty our earth holds when you stop for a few minutes to enjoy the setting of the sun. (OK, well I'm a night owl, so this has to count for my "sunrise" experience too... lol.)
Just looking at my blinds, you can see the pink
shinning through. It's all about the little things in life, isn't it... that makes everything feeling alright at the end of the day? I was so bummed that my camera couldn't catch all of the other colors in the sky, and the rich deep hue that it would have been in the picture. *sigh,* oh well.





It's always exciting to get your yarn in the mail!
4 delicious skeins of 100% merino in fingering weight (ah, yes...self, that would be the correct button to push online, wouldn't it?!)
Um, well, two skeins are still white! ha ha.


You're looking at from left to right, "Lagoon" and "Flamin' Hot."
There really are 3 different colors on each, but it's really hard to see that in the picture.
They are just chilling in the bathroom, taking their sweet time drying. I can't wait to finally try twisting them into a real skein. ha ha. It's about darn time!

*Exposed*

I hope you all had a great Saturday. I know I did!
Because we were going to have smoked ribs for dinner, I made BBQ beans, onion/garlic/bacon green beans and for dessert, peach cobbler! This was my first go:

As Rachael Ray says: "Yum-O!" or "Delish!" I was quite pleased with the results! It almost looked too pretty to dig into. :)


Are you a "sense-able" knitter?
Do you enjoy knitting mostly when you have a lot of sensory elements working for you?

I noticed lately that I enjoy knitting a lot in nature (ok, and in PJ's!). Today, I lit the tiki-torches at dusk, to get rid of those darn mesquiters, and continued knitting with the cool breeze running through my fingers and cheeks, while smelling the tiki flames, and savoring the beautiful view of our block's pond, and mostly the sweet water symphony that only comes at night: singing frogs and crickets. My mind is usually too busy to really meditate, but this night was the closest I felt I could come to it. It was just too peaceful.

Oh, did I forget taste? You should probably take a closer look at the picture. Mmm, Kahlua and cream. :)

I was particularly knitting up these suckers the whole time. The first one *finally* almost has its pair. To tickle my fancy even more, they wholly match. Their stiping is exactly perfect to one another. I couldn't ask for anything better. Thanks Lana Grossa for the pretty colors & stripes!
Finally.... I finished spinning! Woo-hoo! It's just like Noro Yarn. I know what you're all thinking..."what-the!" But I must ask, why should I wind my yarn into a boring ball? It looks better like a fruit. Ha ha. After all, it's named "Cranberry-Apple."
Another crazy view.


Did you take the "knitter's poll" yet? Scoll down 2 posts before this.

Upcoming: an update on "Ripples" Reading Afghan, a finished Lana Grossa sock ("Arctic") w/ possible pattern attached, and... maybe a new WIP started, peut-etre?

Subtle Differences

Hey All! This poll's actually a toughie!

I've been doing a little spinning again lately. I reached this point, and cut the wool to continue on. It was just getting way too heavy!


Don't you just love subtle differences? It's hard to see in the picture, but there is the darker cranberry-apple color, and a more cranberry-grape every now and then.
It strikes my fancy on how similar the look, feel and size of the yarn is to Noro yarn!

I plan to knit these babies up later into fingerless mittens, like my Stitch 'N Bitch fingerless gloves, that I used Noro yarn on.

Today was beautiful! A little hot for my taste, but windy. Heh, look at my backyard tree! Yowzah!


I've been knitting my "Ripples" Reading Afghan the past couple of days. I've gotten further, although it doesn't show it. The circumference is getting wider and wider each round, so it's taking a lot longer to knit it up! I'll have some pictures for you all tomorrow. I want to knit a few more rounds first. It already looks a hundred times better than the first picture I showed you all! Ok, well I exaggerate just a tad on numbers sometimes.

I'm getting another itch to dye somemore yarn! I have a 40% coupon to Michaels. I'll probably pick up some more wool on Sunday then. This time, we'll enter the world of the Tropics! Aloha!
Edit: I just bought some natural fingering-weight sock yarn (840 yards!) from Knitpicks.com. I'll have to wait until Monday, Tuesday or even Wed. (at the latest). They are really fast at shipping! I bought 3 skeins. Lol. Liz, ya better not say a word. One more comment on the the fingering-weight, I swear i'll crack.
Oh the possibilities....