Finally!

I did it, after months of posting about My So Called Scarf its finally done....well actually I still have to cast off but I'm not counting that. I took kind of a long break from knitting so it was put on the back burner. Pics to come hopefully.

Christmas! What!?!

I can't believe it, I'm still working on My-So-Called Scarf! Arggggg!!! I haven't been doing too much knitting lately, so its at a stand still. I was planning on making all these things for people for Christmas, but I guess that's a no go. I mean seriously, Christmas is going to be here before we know it. Its already all in the stores. I was in Home Goods last weekend and they were full of holiday decorations. I had to stop myself from buying the Christmukkah decorations for my apartment...one of my roomies is Jewish so we are a blended family this year which I'm actually very excited about! And by the way, if I hadn't mentioned it I LOVE my new apartment and the roomies! They are great! Anyway, it looks like only Dad will be getting a knitted gift this year. Next year I will be sure to plan better since I have ideas of what I want to knit people already. I just have to budget my time better.

Tag...you're it!!

I've been tagged by Robyn (bobi2118)

Here are the rules:
1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 random and/or weird facts about yourself
3. Tag 7 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs. Let each person know that they've been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog or Ravelry.

Here's my random things:

1. I love tug boats. I'm not sure what it is about them, but I just think they're so cute!
2. I have a teddy bear that I sleep with (yes, even though I'm 23)...his name is Rump Rump after a bear in a book I had when I was little.
3. I don't like my food to touch on my plate, and when I eat I always eat veggies, meat, then starch for some reason.
4. I have a hereditary blood disease called hemochromatosis, which I was lucky to find when i was 14 because usually women don't show symptoms until later in life.
5. I'm a pop culture sponge...seriously, I can't get enough of US Weekly, OK Magazine, In Touch, etc.
6. I became certified in SCUBA diving for my senior project in high school, it was such a cool experience.
7. I hate coffee or anything coffee/mocha flavored. I don't think I'll ever drink the stuff.

Alrighty, here's the next 7 to be tagged:
Jeanie (jeanius80), Ellie(Nobones), Rebecca (Syndactylus), Chel (KnitInNature), Melissa (lissalue), Bookfaerieknits, LizzieK8

Sweater Being Delivered

I haven't gotten to update in a while because my internet has been down for over two weeks at my apartment (stupid Comcast) and I've been pretty busy at work with new responsibilities so I haven't gotten to write. I'm really excited about the new things at work, I'm officially becoming the fellowship coordinator of our endocrinology fellowship program. Its a lot more work but I've been so bored at work so I really need it!

I'm going to be on vacation until next Wed. delivering my first knitted sweater to Cammie for her first birthday! I'm so excited to see her since the last time was back in April and she couldn't even crawl yet...now she's walking. I feel sad though that I missed such a big part of her life learning to crawl, talk, and walk. Now she can do all of those, it's like she's a different kid from the last time I saw her. I just wish they weren't on the other side of the country so I could see them more than twice a year, but I guess I'll take what I can get. And I'll be sure to take pics of the little cutie in her new sweater!

Sweater done...almost

Well I've been done with the sweater for a while now but still have to sew the buttons on it. I'm slacking with everything lately because I have a longer day now that I moved and have an hour (at least) commute, and I'm taking grad classes. Soooooo, no posts for a while. I was trying to sew the buttons on tonight so I could post some pictures but that would require having a needle, one of which I can't seem to find anywhere in my apartment. So the finality of the sweater is to be continued...

Scared of Sweaters No More!

I've finally done it...I ventured into the land of sweater knitting. I've always been a bit scared to make a sweater because all of the patterns I've looked at seem confusing and intimidating. My good friends over at KnittingHelp.com though gave me the encouragement and push to finally just suck it up and go full force into knitting a sweater. This is the pattern that I decided to make, so I guess its really not full force since its a baby sweater. I figured it would be better to knit on a smaller scale until I got the hang of it. Its been going pretty well so far. I had problems seaming the shoulders together because I couldn't find a good technique so I just made it up. Yes, I winged it. It obviously doesn't look seamless at the shoulders but it does look decorative there and I figure the hood will cover it anyway...and I promise to seam the rest correctly. I'm working on the arms right now, I didn't like how the pattern had the garter stitch sleeves, so I'm knitting them in stockinette and putting a little garter border at the end. I just hope that the sweater fits Cammie, I'm going to give it to her for her birthday when I go out to visit in October! Here's a few pictures of my progress:

In other knitting related news, I am finally able to take some pictures of my swap goodies that I got from the KnittingHelp.com summer swap. I got such nice goodies and the prettiest pink socks! And I absolutely love the Romantic Knits book, I really can't wait to make something.

I've resolved myself to being a better blogger and making more frequent updates. Things have been crazy all summer with the move and everything, but now that I'm pretty much settled I should be better. I hope!

Back to Knitting and Such

I finally got back to work on My-so-called Scarf. Boy, its about time. I had a pretty long hiatus from knitting while I was getting everything together to move. I'm still in transition now from my old place to the new one since I can't move in until Sept. 1, so I'm staying at a friend;s place who is away until the end of the month. But at least I've been knitting again. I made a few dishcloths for my secret pal for the KH secret summer swap. They all reflected things that has to do with her. One had the British Isles on it (where she lives), one had a sewing machine (she loves to sew), and the third had a cat for her little kitty she loves so much. I hope she'll be happy with the package I sent. I had wanted to knit her socks but I was having trouble with the pattern, and had to keep frogging them. It just wasn't working out the way I wanted, so I decided to go for something more simple. My package was a bit late going out, since I was so distracted with moving and such, but it should get there by Monday, and I can't wait for her to know who I am. Very exciting.

In non-knitting related news, have I ever said how much I love being an aunt??? Well I do. You get to shop for all cute outfits and spoil her without all of the dirty work that mommy and daddy have to do (changing diapers, etc.). I only wish 10 month old Cammie was closer so I could see her more but the web-cam will have to do until I go out to Lake Tahoe to visit her for her first birthday. I just found out that she took her first steps this past weekend! Of course I think she's a baby genius! I only wish I could have been there to see it. When I'm out there in October she'll be walking all over the place! Here's a few of her most recent pictures to share:

Cammie spending the day at the lake

Walking along the shoreline with my brother

Ravelry

Yea!! After what seemed like waiting forever, I finally got my Ravelry invite. My name on it is Kaydee if any of you out there have it and want to look me up. I can't wait to set it up! I just have to make a Flickr account so I can upload pictures but the only problem is that Flickr is blocked at work, and I won't have a computer at home until I move into my new apt. on Sept. 1. I guess no pictures until then, oh well.

Its Been a Crazy Few Weeks

Whoa, its been almost a month! Too long. I've been in the midst of moving, well sort of. My lease was up Aug. 15th and I can't move into my new apt. until Sept. 1, so I temporarily moved into my friend's apt (who is in NYC for the next 2 weeks) until I can move into me new apt. I'm so glad to get away from my crazy roommate finally, but with all the stress of getting things together it hasn't left me too much time to knit. I've been working on socks for my secret pal (I really want to tell who she is, but not just yet!) and haven't been doing too well. I promise to get my package out to get this week since its going international, so I'm going to Windsor Buttons this afternoon to get a few odds and ends for her. Hopefully once everything is settled I'll get back to more knitting.

And in other news I have a small (okay, kind of long) rant. Sorry for the rant but I’m so annoyed right now. I have DirectTV at my apartment, and let me tell you I’ve had nothing but problems (it goes out every time it rains) and horrible customer service with them.

When my roommate had moved back to South Carolina in Jan. it was changed from her name to my name. Come to find out we were put into a 2 year contract because they gave us a DVR box. This is a problem because my roommates and I knew all along that we were only going to be living in the apt. for a year (for various reasons, one was only in school for a year, I was planning on moving in with a friend, etc.). My lease is up on Aug. 15th, and the new people are moving into our apt. Sept. 1. I called DirectTV to see if I could somehow get out of the two year contract but they said there was nothing they could do and that I’d have to pay $12.50 for every month early that I’d want to cancel it which comes out to $162.50. Ok fine. The girl did say though that if I wanted to change the account into the person’s name that is moving into the apt. that I could do that (just like how my roommate changed it to my name when she left).

I talked to more than one person and they all told me that all we have to do is have both of us on the phone together to give our info and verify that the account is being changed over. So I call up while I’m at work today so I can do a conference call with the girl who will be moving into my apt. I get to someone and she says, no we can’t do this for you. So I ask to speak to her supervisor and she says “fine I’ll transfer you to her but she’s gonna tell you the same thing”. Whatever. I get to the supervisor and she tells me that in to way are they supposed to do this. I proceed to tell her that it was changed over into my name back in Jan. and she tells me that whoever did it wasn’t supposed to. “So then I shouldn’t be held to a contract if you illegally changed it into my name then should I?” I ask her. She says “but you are responsible”. How can I be responsible for something that was changed illegally against your company’s rules and procedures?!?! She keeps going in circles and repeating herself that I’m responsible and that she won’t change the account. I finally asked her to speak to her supervisor and she says he’s not there. So I ask his name and she tells me Leonard, but says she can’t give me his last name. Fine. I ask her for Leonard’s phone number and she won’t give it to me!! Arrgggg!!! Then she says “have I answered all your questions today ma’am?” I tell her, no you didn’t and she says “thank you for calling DirectTV, have a good day”.

I’m beyond pissed right now simply because I was told by at least two people when I was on the phone with DirectTV that this could be changed over. And if it can’t, they never should’ve put it in my name!!!!!!! I just have to tell you all if anyone is ever thinking about getting DirectTV, DON'T!! They have been nothing but trouble for me for the past year.

Ok, thanks for being patient through all of that. I must get back to some projects so I can post some knitting news and pictures.

ISE4: Officially Completed

Well I must admit that when my group leader for ISE4 emailed me to let me know that my pal had dropped out I was kinda bummed. I tried to put on a brave face because I knew that I'd have an angel coming to my rescue and soon enough I was contacted by my angel. From what I could tell my angel was great, she was sending me some very funny emails joking that she was going to send me some little critters along with my scarf:) I came home last Thursday to a wonderful package from Brenda (aka brendajos from KH) waiting for me! She really went above and beyond her duties as an angel in my opinion, I was only expecting a scarf from her!

Here's a look at my goodies; two skeins of Lorna's Laces in a pretty green and purple colorway. I've got to say that Brenda really did her homework because everything was in my favorite colors! Along with it was a great yarn holder and a yummy gingerbread candle which I can't wait to burn! Next she sent a set of bamboo DPNs so I can keep working on socks, a yarn cutter (I don't have one), and some cute little bug charms that I'm going to attempt to make some stitch markers from. A great sock pattern I can use the Lorna's Laces for, some blocking pins, a great bag that folds up into this small pouch (I can use it for grocery shopping!), and this cute little sheep that I've just last night realized that it is a tape measure. Its so cool, you pull its arm out to measure and it has a little button on its back that you press to retract it! How clever is that?! Oh and I forgot about the yummy gummy worms that I had to eat right away :)


And now for the best part, my scarf! She did a beautiful job knitting me this fabulous blue/green lacy scarf! I was sitting in front of the a/c with it on; I can't wait until I'm able to wear it!


Thank you so much Brenda, you really are my angel!

My So Called Scarf

After many failed attempts I cast on for My So Called Scarf last night and finally got it going alright. I was really confused by the pattern when it said: " psso but before dropping the slipped stitch from the left needle, knit into the back of it" so I ventured over to KH for some help with it. After searching there and seeing other's questions about the scarf I found there is a variation to do this. The only problem was that when I did the variation it didn't look anything like it was supposed to. I must have been doing it wrong or something, who knows. Well I did some more digging and got clarification on the original pattern so I cast on (for about the fifth time) and it finally started to look like its supposed to!

I'm knitting the scarf for my dad out of beautiful Malabrigo in a blue and lime colorway. This is my first time ever with Malabrigo and I love it! Its even softer when its knitted up, I have to resist from rubbing it against my face. I think I'm going to be tempted to keep this scarf for myself. Must. give. scarf. away.

Pictures of the WIP coming soon...

Decisions, decisions

So a few posts back I was talking about my 1/4 life crisis and what I was going to do with my life. I thought that I had my plan all set: I was going to apply to grad school in CT with Quinnipiac University being my first choice, move home, and go to school full time. When asking one of the docs I work for for a recommendation he told me that I should consider asking my boss if she'll switch my employment to Boston University (let me explain that I work at a hospital affiliated with BU, some people are considered hospital employees and others are BU employees but in theory they can be interchanged). I work with Dr. S. on many things and I think he really wants to keep me around. I told him that my original plan was to take advantage of the tuition reimbursement and go to BU for a masters in public health. The only problem with this was that the reimbursement is only $2,000/year which doesn't even cover one BU class! Anyway, he thought I should try to bargain with my boss and for her to try to get me to stay change over to be a BU employee so I could do school for free. Yea right, I was thinking, anyone could do my job and my boss isn't going to bargain with me to stay.

A few days later Dr. S. emailed me with the recommendation he was going to send to Quinnipiac, and it was so nice! It really made me feel great that he thought highly of me and appreciates the work I do. He called me later in the afternoon and told me that he had been doing some investigation on how willing people would be to keep me and it seems like they are pretty willing. He brought up changing over to BU and I asked if he had talked to my boss A. about this which he said he had. Crap! Well that was my initial reaction because I hadn't yet told my boss that I was applying to school and I'd probably be leaving, I didn't want to talk to her until I was sure that I had gotten and was leaving. Well it turns out that A. would be willing to do the paperwork to change me over to BU is I wanted to stay! Wow! I was really surprised at this. Dr. S. went on to tell me that I was really good at my job (he said probably because I'm overqualified which I have to agree with) and that if I wanted to stay and go to BU he'd help arrange it. Of course I'd have to apply to the public health program and get in but its an option.

I first thought that I'd definitely take this opportunity but then thinking about it I realized that its not so simple. On one hand I could stay in Boston (a city I love), go to a great school for free, but it'd take four years to do it part time, and I don't really like my job that much. On the other hand I could go to CT to live with my parents (not an ideal situation since I've been on my own for the past year), go to school full time, be done in two years, but Quinnipiac only became my first choice after it seemed like BU was not an option. I guess I have a lot to think about now with this new information. I'll also have to look for a new apartment if I decide to stay in Boston, so hopefully I can find something cheaper than what I'm paying now. Everyone keeps telling me that whatever I decide will all work out and I'm sure that's true but its just stressful at the moment.

NOW, in knitting related news I finished my first pair of socks!!! I used Silver's Sock Class to learn and it was so much easier than I thought it was going to be. When first reading through the directions I thought there was no way that I'd ever be able to make socks but once I started doing it, everything went pretty smoothly. There are a few wonky spots but all in all I think they turned out pretty well.

I've also decided that I'm going to re-dye my yarn that I did last weekend. This weekend I'll get some more grape Kool-Aid and do it over. It took forever for me to untangle the mess, so I've tied it up much more for this time around and it should be alright. I think I'm going to use extra Kool-Aid this time so I can get a nice deep color. Maybe 4 grape, 2 black cherry? I think so.

Sorry for such a looooong post, and thanks for bearing with me through all of this. *Hugs* for all you blog readers out there (I'm not sure if there are any but just in case) :)

Dying Experience

Its official, I’ve completed my first yarn dying experience (well I think). I wanted to dye some yarn for socks for my KH secret swap partner. I was going for a deep purple/red color so I used two packets of grape and one black cherry Kool Aid. Dying yarn was so much fun. I loved watching the water turn from a deep dark purple to clear! How amazing is that?!

I only have two problems now: first I must not have tied it enough because I have a huge tangled mess!! I used Knit Picks bare yarn and just kept it tied how it came. I’m pretty sure that was a mistake because I have spent the past two nights after work trying to get the mess untangled. I’m pretty close now, probably one more night working on it and I’ll get it done. My second problem is the color. I honestly can’t decide if I really like it or totally hate it. The color didn’t come out nearly as dark as I was thinking (maybe I needed more Kool Aid?), my pal likes deep purples so that’s more what I was going for. I’m trying to decide now if after I get my mess untangles should I try dying it darker? More purple? Hmmmm, I don’t know. This picture is while it was drying so its a bit lighter than shown:

Great Surprise

On Friday my secret yarn swapper emailed me to tell me that my package had arrived at my apartment! I was so excited, it was torture to make it through the rest of the day at work. When I finally got home I ran upstairs and saw no package. So saddddd!!! I forgot that my roommate wasn't home and the post man leaves a notice to pick up packages at the post office if no one is home. So I ran down and found my notice in the box!! Yea! Naturally I couldn't wait to get to the PO so I decided that I was going to take the T down the Kenmore to get there quicker. The only problem was that it was nowhere in sight. I saw a bus coming so I hopped on it for the quick ride to the PO (which seemed like forever).

At the PO the man who got my package for me said that they (the person who sent it) could havewalked it over to me. I was so confused until I saw that the address was right near me in Boston (down the street). The post mark says it was sent from Boston so now I'm wondering if I'm actually that close to my secret swapper. Are they from Boston? Or are they just being very sneaky and trying to trick me? I really have no clue. If you're out there swapper, you're very good. I can't wait to find out who you are!

Back to the yarn, I ran home and tore open my package to find all this:

I was so excited! Look at all of this yarn! From left to right: Berger du Nord Belle 100% silk in a beautiful shimmery turquoise blue, Misti Alpaca Lace in a pretty red, SWTC bamboo, and Knit Picks Bare merino. The colors are so pretty in all of them, the pic doesn't do them justice! I can't wait to try out dying the KP yarn, I already have some ideas for it. Thanks secret pal!

I'm in love

With socks!

A few months back I decided that since everyone talks about how much they like knitting socks I would try them out. So I went out a bought a few DPNs and cast on using Silver’s Sock Class. I used Lion’s Brand Microspun since I didn’t know any better at the time. After a little practice I got the hang of the knitting in the round thing but didn’t think I’d be able to keep going from there. Well the other day I decided to pick them back up and just keep going. I knit the heel flap, turned the heel, picked up stitches, and started working on the gusset. I finally realized that this whole sock thing is a lot of fun even though I was dropping a few stitches with that slippery yarn…but I kept going (although I just got up to the gusset and decided to frog).

Last night I decided to cast on a new sock with some cheap-o acrylic for some more practice hoping that this yarn wouldn’t slip off the needles as easily. It was so much easier!! I worked all last night on my sock and I have about two inches on the gusset knitted. I can’t wait to get home this afternoon and work some more on them. I just have to knit a few more inches, decrease the toes and graft and I’m done! I’ll have my first (practice) sock!

I love how socks are so quick and are instant gratification. Now I’m looking for a nice (but not too difficult) pattern so I can knit up a pair of socks for my yarn swap pal.

Yarn Swap Package Sent Off!

I sent my package out to my secret pal for the Knitting Help Summer Yarn Swap!

I'm super excited for my pal to get it, I think they are going to like it. I tried to put a lot of thought into it and did much digging on my pal to find out what they might like. It probably won't get to my pal for at least a week since I'm shipping overseas. I was excited to have an international pal for this swap, but shipping cost me $25! Geeze, that post office really makes out on international shipping! Anyway, I really like my pal...she has been great about answering all my questions and emails, she deserves a great package.

Now I have to think about what I'm going to knit for the second part of the swap. I know that I'm going to send some knitting related items, but I also want to knit at least a little something for my pal so its more personal. I've been looking on Knitting Pattern Central, and I'm thinking I might try out some jewelry....get some thin wire and beads to knit up. I think it'd be cool to make something different for my pal since their style seems pretty original.

Ditching the acrylic

So I've been working on a basic K2, P2 scarf for my dad. I'm just using some acrylic yarn that I had gotten when I started knitting in the fall (and didn't know any better). I've decided to totally scrap the scarf; its just way to stiff and scratchy. I'm going to try to find some nice yarn to make it out of....maybe this will be a chance to try out some mmmalabrigo! Even though I haven't had too much experience with different yarns, now that I've started to try out some nicer ones, I just can't go on with this horrible scratchy acrylic. And besides, do I really want to give a present to someone made of such yucky yarn? I'm looking for a variegated yarn in blues/greens that's nice and soft. Any suggestions?

Knitting Interview

From the KH forum:

1. Do you knit continental or English? English

2. How long ago did you learn to knit? Not very long ago, September 06'

3. First FO? A baby blanket for my neice. It was just stockinette with a garder stitch border and stripes of garter across it.

4. Favorite yarn? I haven't experimented with enough yarn to have a favorite. I do enjoy some of the Knit Picks yarns though.

5. Favorite pattern? I absolutly love DROPS long top but I don't have the courage to knit it yet.

6. Favorite pattern source? Knittingpatterncentral.com, you can get anything you need!

7. Favorite needles? I love my Options

8. Nicest thing you’ve ever knit? I just finished a diamond lace scarf (posted below). It was my first lace project but I thought it was really nice.

9. Most hated project? I'm not sure I have one. I am working on a K2,P2 scarf right now that's super boring though.

10. Who are you going to pass this on to? Anyone who wants to answer it!

1/4 life crisis

I had kind of a "what am I going to do with my life?" moment the other day. Actually I've been thinking a lot about lately; what I want to do and where I want to go...I felt like I was having a midlife crisis (okay, I'm only 23 so I guess that's 1/4?). A lot of the time I wished I had known what I wanted to do when I graduated college; it seemed like most of my friends had plans to either go to grad school or had jobs in a field they knew they wanted to be in. I really had no idea what to do with myself...I did know that as a Spanish major I didn't want to teach; what else is there?

Basically I moved to Boston because I always wanted to live here, so I found a job and picked up and moved. I love Boston but I've come to the realization that there is no where to go in my job and I'm stuck if I stay in it. I'm an admin assistant in a major hospital here in Boston and when I got hired they made all of these grandeur promises to me about how the job was going to be. Basically none of that has panned out and I've ended up doing a lot of answering phones and filing for the past (almost) year. I feel like I'm wasting my college education and time on this job; half the time I sit at my desk and have nothing to do so I'm on KH all the time. I know its hard to find a job out of college but I feel like looking at other people they had their plans and put them into action while I was kind of stuck.

I really want to go back to school full time for my masters, and I just don't think that can happen in Boston as much as I would like it to...its just waaay to expensive to be in school full time here and be able to pay rent and bills on a part time job. I've finally decided that I'm going to move back home for a little while and go to school in CT...I'm going to go for my MBA. I can save money this way and the schools I'm applying to are so much cheaper than some of the schools here in Boston. Since both of the schools I'm applying to are on rolling admissions I'm going to be really busy in the month or so to try to get admissions for the fall. So I'm going to let my boss know soon that I'll be leaving mid August, which I'm a little nervous about...I've never left a job before. I'm really excited to be moving on and finally deciding what I'm going to do!

Angel of Welcome

Just another small FO. Its supposed to be the angel of welcome dishcloth but I just wanted to make a 6x6 square so I used size 4 needles and DK weight yarn. It was really easy and quick to make, I worked on it two nights after work...just knit and purl for the whole thing.

Now I'm trying to pick back up the scarf I started for my dad except now that I've gotten a taste of lace its soooo boring...just K2, P2 ribbing. Must get it over with...

Notorious s-c-a-r-f

Well the time has almost come to send out my ISE4 scarf. Its finally done after learning new stitches, messing up, taking a loooong break, working like a pro, messing up yet again, and binding off. I think it came out pretty good for my first try at lace. It was also the first time I've ever blocked a FO. It worked well except it sticks out in little points where I put the pins on the sides. I think I'm just going to call it a design element, it actually looks fine.

During blocking:

The notorious scarf:

The first time I've gotten to use the labels my bro and SIL gave me:

Ready to be sent to my secret pal:

All I have to do is get a few goodies to send with the package for my pal. I think I'll try to go downtown to get her some Boston kind of things. That will give me an excuse to go to Windsor Button's and shop for yarn...for my yarn swap of course hehe!

Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

What a challenging and emotional weekend it was. On Saturday and Sunday I walked almost 40 miles through Boston and the surrounding areas (in the rain) for the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer. I never thought walking could be so hard, but boy was it.

Here we are starting out (I'm on the left):

Look at all those people walking...there were 2800 of us:

The first day we started out walking and by mile 10 or so my ankle was killing me…I had to keep going though. At the half way mark (13.1 miles) I had to get some blisters repaired in the medical tent. Thankfully there were rest stops every 2-3 miles with water, snacks, and medical if we needed it. There were a bunch of guys with motorcycles that volunteered....they would be at major intersections to direct traffic, then they'd ride on to their next post so we saw them all day. They were so cool and encouraging!

Here's one of their decorated bikes:

And here we are with them at the end:

With no mile markers it was really tough because it seemed like we were walking so much further than they told us. I couldn’t believe when I had finished the 26.2 miles on Saturday and finally made it to camp, it was exhausting!! But we still had to set up our tent! And I thought sleeping in the tent was going to be uncomfortable, but let me tell you, I could’ve slept under rock and probably have been comfortable…all I really wanted to do was sleep.

A view of camp:

The next morning we still had 13.1 miles to go, but I had to get some blisters taken care of before we set out. The guy in the medical tent told me he was going to have to lance one of my blisters…yikes!!! Actually it wasn’t as bad as I thought and it relieved a lot of pressure so I could walk a little more comfortably. I can’t believe I made it the second day since I was so exhausted and hurting! When we were walking back to UMASS Boston and I could finally see the end in sight I got really emotional and couldn’t believe I was almost done. When we got towards the end my friend that I was walking with and I were the only two in sight at that point….there were people far ahead and behind us, so it felt like just the two of us. There was a team called Men with Heart wearing their yellow shirts standing on either side of the walk cheering us on:

They were so awesome all weekend, and just seeing them there at the end was so encouraging. We then walked up a small hill to this grassy area under some trees and there were tons of people on either side of us cheering us on saying what a good job we did and yea we did it! I started crying at that point, all of the people were so supportive and since it was only the two of us at that point it felt like they were there for us! Hehe!

Here we are, all done and so happy:

The closing ceremonies were very emotional. A woman told us her story and how she is a three year survivor!! Good for her! And then some of the breast cancer survivors who walked went on stage so we could acknowledge them. It was amazing to see those women up there and made me feel great about participating in the whole weekend. All together we raised $6.8 million in Boston to go directly to different organizations (I helped my raising $1800…yea!).

Presenting checks at the closing ceremonies:

It was an amazing weekend that I’m so glad I got to take part in....I would suggest anyone who has a walk in their area to take part in it...its really a cool experience and you are doing something amazing to help fight a horrible disease.

Birthday/Mother's Day weekend!

Well, this isn’t a knitting related post but I just wanted to share a few pictures. I went to Portland, ME this weekend for my birthday weekend. My parents have a condo up there and live part time there and part time in CT. I haven’t been there since my niece was born in October, so I thought it was time for a trip up there. It was a very nice weekend with Mother’s Day on Sunday and my birthday on Monday!

Pretty Flowers at the farmers market in the park:

The park:

This was Pinwheels for Adoption, they were thanking all of the people who are foster patents and people who adopt:

Lots of pink tulips were planted on the western promenade for a breast cancer awareness project:

Portland is such a nice little city, there's just so much to do there and I love visiting, especially at this time of the year!

Long time no blog

Well, I haven’t posted for almost a month! I need to get better at this whole blogging this. With my birthday coming up on Monday (yea!) I got an early present from my brother and SIL:

I'm so excited to put it on my next FO, which probably will be my ISE4 scarf seeing as I've only been working on it and have put everything else aside. I really need to start picking it up now, I hope that few weeks of being frustrated and taking a break won't hurt me. I figure I'm about half way through, then I'll have to block (which I've never done before). I'm going to get down to business and be very serious about it from here on in. I hope I can do it!

We're in a fight

I have a love/hate relationship with my ISE4 scarf. Being my first attempt at lace, I’ve had a few problems (see post below). It was a good thing that I was putting lifelines in because I had to frog a little bit. Everything was going fine up until Easter weekend. I traveled home to CT and thought it would be the perfect time to work on it being a quiet weekend at my parent’s house. Well….somehow I messed up again and ended up with one too many stitches yet again. I just had to put it down and didn’t pick it up again until Thursday when I finally got the courage to keep working. I frogged back to my lifeline and managed to get through 7 rows of the 8 row pattern when I realized that I was doing K2tog tbl instead of just K2tog!! Arggg!! I should’ve been paying better attention. After frogging to the lifeline and putting it back on the needles, I had one less stitch than I needed!! Where did it go?? I really have no idea; I seriously checked and checked but couldn’t find anything to make up that extra stitch. I ended up just doing an extra yo in the next row hoping that it would just blend in with the pattern (you can’t even really tell). Since we had such crummy/rainy weather this weekend in Boston, I spent a while working on my scarf. I was very careful to count my stitches at the end of each row. I keep having problems though…for some reason I think I keep skipping a yo every so often so I don’t end up with enough stitches. It’s really frustrating to keeping messing up like this. I really do love this pattern, and I want my pal to have a special scarf…but I’m beginning to think that I might be cursed on this pattern.

Lace love

Well, I finally have some pictures of my ISE4 scarf to share! After taking about a hundred pictures to find the right light and setting I think this is about the best its going to get. Here it is:

And here's an up close picture of the detail:

This is really my first attempt at knitting lace, so I was pretty nervous when I picked out the pattern but it was one that my secret had mentioned she liked. I really wanted to knit her something special that she's really going to like.

I've had a few troubles with it. I knit the border and was finishing the second repeat of the pattern when I realized that I had one too few stitches on the needle. I have no idea what happened but when I knit back and tried to start the row over, I had one too few stitches!!! Arggggg. Well, I just frogged and started over on it. This was for the best anyway because I realized that I was doing the psso wrong, so I'm actually glad I frogged it. When I had started I was dreading the rows with psso but now I love them! I don't know why but I just think there something fun about passing that slipped stitch...haha! I've gotten quite a few repeats on the pattern done now (even more than in the picture) and I've been putting in lifelines every two repeat in case I have to frog. I actually did have to frog again at one point but it made it soooooo much easier with the lifeline!

I think its coming along pretty well now and I'm really loving knitting the lace...I can't wait to be able to practice more lace patterns. I was a little worried that I wasn't going to have the scarf in time for my pal, but silly me I thought that the deadline to mail was in May. I just realized that its not until the end of June so I'll have plenty of time to work on it to make perfect for my pal!

What to choose?

I thought I'd decided on a pattern to knit for my secret scarf pal, but I'm just so confused now! I was going to knit this pattern but now I just don't think its special enough for my pal. I want her to have a really nice scarf she's going to love. She seems to lean towards lace patterns so I've looked at every single lace scarf pattern on Knitting Pattern Central. I've found a few that I think would be nice for her, but now I'm having trouble narrowing all of these down. Here's a few choices: option 1, option 2, option 3, option 4, option 5, option 7, and finally option 8. Now I'm sure you can see why I'm having such trouble with this...I have too many patterns to choose from! I just can't narrow it down. I'm new to lace so I want a pattern that's not going to be too difficult for me to knit but also it nice for my pal. Hmmm...what to do? On a brighter note, I tracked my package with the yarn I ordered and its in MA now, so hopefully it'll be in Boston by the end of the day (or at least by tomorrow)! I can start knitting soon as long as I pick a pattern.

No more frogging please

Well I started my socks over, and I'm in a much better place with them so I thought I'd share a picture since my new digital camera came today!!

They are coming along so much better so I'm crossing my fingers that I won't mess up and have to frog again.

Oh no!!

Well I ordered my yarn for ISE4, so I just have to wait for it to come before I can get started. I picked the Andean silk in sangria, I really think its going to be pretty. I can't wait to get started. I thought in the meantime I'd work on my socks. Well I had a few mistakes, so I had to frog back...ugh. Then, I dropped a few stitched and got so frustrated that I completely frogged and started over! Ahhh, What was I thinking?!?! I think I'm in a bad mindset now and keep dropping the stitches off of the needles. Maybe I'll just go back to working on my ribbed scarf.

Dreaming of yarn

After spending a long time looking through patterns and just not being able to decide what I wanted to make I've finally decided on this pattern. My pal didn't seem to have a preferance of lace/cables so I thought this was pretty. I hope they like it. Its nice because it looks kind of lacey but isn't too much. I hope it'll be just right for them. Now comes the fun of deciding on a yarn for it. I spent a while looking online yesterday...you can probably tell I didn't get much done at work yesterday:) but it was fun to browse the yarn sites. I think I've decided to use KP Andean Silk, which I'm hoping will be nice and soft for a scarf. I've never really used anything but acrylic yarn, so its nice to pick out some nicer yarn. I'm still having trouble picking a color of yarn. I was thinking sangria, lettuce, or pool. I thought so much about what yarn to get last night that I started dreaming about it...hehehe. I guess you know you've become obsessed when it starts to invade your dreams. Anyway, I am so looking forward to starting. And very excited because I've ordered a new digital camera and can now post pictures of my WIP and FOs!! Its supposed to come by tomorrow, yea!!

I'm matched!!!

I received the info on my pal for the scarf exchange yesterday, so I'm so excited to pick a pattern and yarn for her. It looks like she has similar likes and dislikes as me in colors and fibers, so it should be fun to pick out the yarn. I just have to start looking for a pattern, and I'm not quite sure what to do yet. She said either to cables and lace so the pattern is pretty much wide open.

I'm such a bad updater...

So I start a blog, write once and haven’t kept up with it since…I know, I know. I’ve been working on a scarf for my dad. Its just K2 P2 ribbing, but its coming out really well. The yarn is just some Carron rainbow acrylic that I found at Michael’s, but I love the colors of it. It has greens, blues, and a little purple in it. I was surprised that my dad wanted such a colorful yarn, but he said he wanted something to stand out against his gray jacket…this is perfect; it’s colorful without being too over the top for him. I wish my digital camera wasn’t broken so I could take pics of my WIP. I’m also in the midst of working on my first pair of socks which are really fun. This is my first knit in the round project and it really isn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Who knows though, I haven’t gotten to the heel yet (I think I’m procrastinating on getting there) so we’ll see if I change my tune.

We’re supposed to get our partners for the International Scarf Exchange probably by the end of this week (or maybe the weekend). I’m super excited to find out who I’ll be knitting for and what kind of scarf they’d like. What a great excuse to go yarn shopping!!

Adventures in Blogland

Well this is my first time really venturing out on my own into Blogland and starting my own. I thought I'd start a knitting blog to document all my projects and knitting related things. I just started knitting back in September 06' because I wanted to knit a blanket for my new niece who was born shortly later in October. Naturally I became addicted to knitting since its such a fun thing to do. I've finally developed a stash of yarn and I just got a set on interchangeable needles so I have a new projects going now....a scarf, my first try at socks, and actually another scarf. I'm participating in the International Scarf Exchange which will be tons of fun....I can't wait to get my partner and start knitting for them. The ISE is why I decided to start the blog since you have to post in their blog...and I have to say its quite fun!