I totally forgot to do anything on facebook yesterday, which I guess means my giving it up for lent really served its purpose. And I didn't twitter all day either, except to say "I'm back!"
Easter was fun, with probably my favorite parts being singing the Halleluja Chorus (always makes me cry a little, in a good way), and getting to play in the bell choir. When I get subbed in at the last minute before a concert, I get all the reward of a couple of challenging rehearsals and then a performance, with none of the bad feelings associated with going to practice every single week. When I was in bell choir for real, it meant two nights a week at church, and it was just too much for me.
Saturday since it was raining, I was going to make us work on the basement and getting everything organized and packed down there, but was easily swayed by Paul when he suggested going to Ikea instead. We had so much fun! We didn't spend any money, we found a couch we both really love that we think will be perfect for our new living room, we got tons of other ideas, and the icing on the cake: Paul remembered a bunch of leftover hardware from our kitchen cabinets, which he brought along to return, so not only did we not buy anything but we walked out with a nice chunk of store credit! If we buy the couch we want, it equates to about a 13% discount on the couch!
When we got home Saturday, I got bitten by the domestic bug and proceeded to bake a cake I've been wanting to try (Lemon Cornmeal Cake with Lemon Glaze and Crushed Blueberry Sauce - Paul loved it even more than I did), and also hardboiled and colored the 10 eggs we had left in our fridge. Of course, then I basically forgot about the eggs, and have yet to eat one. I might just make egg salad out of them, otherwise I'm afraid I'll never use them.
I also need to post pictures of my getting-close-to-finished first-ever sweater. Last night I finished the second sleeve and attached both sleeves to the body in-the-round, so now I'm ready to do the raglan shaping decrease rounds, then the neckline, then sew up the few small seems and fix a couple of holes and it's done! Now I just need to find a toddler to wear it. Anyone have a toddler who would fit into a sweater with a 26" chest size?
Next up: Kelly's baby sweater, interspersed with as many wool soakers as I can finish.
Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Monday, April 13, 2009
Saturday, April 04, 2009
Haven't had time
Sorry I haven't delivered on the video of the inside of our house. I haven't had time to edit it down to an internet-friendly size yet. In the mean time, here are a few pictures of the outside:
Yesterday I got most of the way done with the basement, altho it still looks like a mess. But now that I'm so far in, I'm more enthusiastic to keep going - it makes the moving seem more real.
Paul went to the gym after work, so I had a little longer to keep working. Since I had off all week but we didn't do anything vacation-y, we decided to go out to dinner last night, and to kick the evening off right, Paul brought home three yellow roses for me! He had them sitting on the kitchen table in my favorite vase when I came up from the basement.
He also got me a new faceplate and mouse pad for my iBook, which is getting up there in years for a notebook computer, and has been having keyboard quirks for quite a while now. For instance, the Q key is overly sensitive: both times I've used it in this paragraph, it's typed two. The zero key is the same way. And then last week the mouse button stopped working reliably. What Paul bought won't replace the keyboard, but it will replace everything else visible, and it will give us a chance to pull of the keyboard and clean it, so hopefully it will solve all the problems. The only other thing that might be a problem soon is the optical drive, but that doesn't even matter - I rarely use it, and if I needed to get information off of this computer I can always use the USB ports and our external hard drive, and transfer it to Paul's computer if I needed to burn a disc.
Also yesterday the yarn I ordered came in the mail! It's so soft. I got a rich, dark brown for the body, and a lovely, muted green for the trim. I'm going to make a cardigan, so the green will be at the edges of the sleeves as well as around the bottom and up the front and for the neckline. So exciting! And before too long, I will get to meet Baby Prep and hold her and have a picture of her wearing the sweater I made. That will be so amazing.
Today we're headed to Salvation Army this morning to make a big drop-off of lots of old clothing, a few blankets, and more than ten pairs of my old shoes. That means I can officially buy a pair of cute sandals this afternoon if I see anything good! And I have Paul's express permission, because I've met his one criteria for buying shoes: get rid of a pair that I already have. So actually, by his requirement, I could theoretically buy ten pairs of shoes today...but I won't. Maybe two pairs if there are cute sandals AND cute ballet flats.
After Salvo and smoothies from the Lemoyne Farmer's Market, we head down to Gettysburg to Kelly's in-laws for a breakfast party for the first day of trout season. Since we're not coming home afterwards we won't be trying to catch any trout, but it will still be fun. I can't wait to see her belly!
Then in the afternoon we will head over to the Gettysburg Outlets, where I will look for some khaki pants, cardigans, and those cute sandals to show off my newly-painted toenails. Then before 5:00 my parents will meet us in the parking lot and we'll hop in with them to head down to Frederick, MD for dinner and to see David Sedaris! Should be a really fun day. Hannah and her friend Carl will be there too, but she's driving separately so she can go pick Carl up from the Northernmost Metro station, since he lives in DC.
Tomorrow afternoon: more basement cleaning, and hopefully getting close to finishing my first trial-run sweater. And maybe trying out the salmon with rice salad I was thinking about last week.
Yesterday I got most of the way done with the basement, altho it still looks like a mess. But now that I'm so far in, I'm more enthusiastic to keep going - it makes the moving seem more real.
Paul went to the gym after work, so I had a little longer to keep working. Since I had off all week but we didn't do anything vacation-y, we decided to go out to dinner last night, and to kick the evening off right, Paul brought home three yellow roses for me! He had them sitting on the kitchen table in my favorite vase when I came up from the basement.
He also got me a new faceplate and mouse pad for my iBook, which is getting up there in years for a notebook computer, and has been having keyboard quirks for quite a while now. For instance, the Q key is overly sensitive: both times I've used it in this paragraph, it's typed two. The zero key is the same way. And then last week the mouse button stopped working reliably. What Paul bought won't replace the keyboard, but it will replace everything else visible, and it will give us a chance to pull of the keyboard and clean it, so hopefully it will solve all the problems. The only other thing that might be a problem soon is the optical drive, but that doesn't even matter - I rarely use it, and if I needed to get information off of this computer I can always use the USB ports and our external hard drive, and transfer it to Paul's computer if I needed to burn a disc.
Also yesterday the yarn I ordered came in the mail! It's so soft. I got a rich, dark brown for the body, and a lovely, muted green for the trim. I'm going to make a cardigan, so the green will be at the edges of the sleeves as well as around the bottom and up the front and for the neckline. So exciting! And before too long, I will get to meet Baby Prep and hold her and have a picture of her wearing the sweater I made. That will be so amazing.
Today we're headed to Salvation Army this morning to make a big drop-off of lots of old clothing, a few blankets, and more than ten pairs of my old shoes. That means I can officially buy a pair of cute sandals this afternoon if I see anything good! And I have Paul's express permission, because I've met his one criteria for buying shoes: get rid of a pair that I already have. So actually, by his requirement, I could theoretically buy ten pairs of shoes today...but I won't. Maybe two pairs if there are cute sandals AND cute ballet flats.
After Salvo and smoothies from the Lemoyne Farmer's Market, we head down to Gettysburg to Kelly's in-laws for a breakfast party for the first day of trout season. Since we're not coming home afterwards we won't be trying to catch any trout, but it will still be fun. I can't wait to see her belly!
Then in the afternoon we will head over to the Gettysburg Outlets, where I will look for some khaki pants, cardigans, and those cute sandals to show off my newly-painted toenails. Then before 5:00 my parents will meet us in the parking lot and we'll hop in with them to head down to Frederick, MD for dinner and to see David Sedaris! Should be a really fun day. Hannah and her friend Carl will be there too, but she's driving separately so she can go pick Carl up from the Northernmost Metro station, since he lives in DC.
Tomorrow afternoon: more basement cleaning, and hopefully getting close to finishing my first trial-run sweater. And maybe trying out the salmon with rice salad I was thinking about last week.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Limited facebook access
Paul has now given me access to facebook from 5:30-9:30 in the evening. I like this arrangement - it forces me to limit my time on there and not get too sucked in.
As a result, last night I finished the body of my first sweater up to the armpits! Now tonight I will start on the first sleeve!! I'm quite excited. Making the sleeves should go quite quickly. I'm going to try the provisional cast-on method of tubular cast-on to do the sleeve edging so that it's a little tighter than the bottom of the sweater.
More pictures soon! I also want to share the pics of the tamales Paul and I made on Sunday. They took us until 10:30 PM, but they were quite tastey, and we now have a whole freezer full to reward us for our patience and hard work.
I also wanted to share with you that I know SIX pregnant women at the moment, four having their first babies and two having their second. It's no wonder Kelly M and I feel left out! Sheesh. And we're not even getting pressure from our mothers-in-law, but really, it's hard to stave off those nesting hormones when you're surrounded by them!! Hopefully within a few months we will both own our first homes, and then maybe we can start thinking about giving in to the tug...
Speaking of hard work...I should probably be doing some right now. Getting right on that...
As a result, last night I finished the body of my first sweater up to the armpits! Now tonight I will start on the first sleeve!! I'm quite excited. Making the sleeves should go quite quickly. I'm going to try the provisional cast-on method of tubular cast-on to do the sleeve edging so that it's a little tighter than the bottom of the sweater.
More pictures soon! I also want to share the pics of the tamales Paul and I made on Sunday. They took us until 10:30 PM, but they were quite tastey, and we now have a whole freezer full to reward us for our patience and hard work.
I also wanted to share with you that I know SIX pregnant women at the moment, four having their first babies and two having their second. It's no wonder Kelly M and I feel left out! Sheesh. And we're not even getting pressure from our mothers-in-law, but really, it's hard to stave off those nesting hormones when you're surrounded by them!! Hopefully within a few months we will both own our first homes, and then maybe we can start thinking about giving in to the tug...
Speaking of hard work...I should probably be doing some right now. Getting right on that...
Friday, February 06, 2009
Knitting books
I need advice from knitters who own books:
What are good knitting books to have?
I am considering purchasing Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac on Amazon for $8 (I have a $25 gift card too), but some say that it's hard to follow without learning her abbreviations and lingo in Knitting Without Tears. I searched the entire Cumberland County Library System, and the only Elizabeth Zimmermann book they have is Knitting Without Tears, so I put it on hold. I figure I could get the Almanac, and photocopy the parts I need from KWT. Mainly I want the baby surprise jacket, but lot of Ravelry people and knitters in general always call Almanac the best knitting book for $8 you will ever buy, and I'm curious. Does anyone have a copy I could borrow and skim?
Do you have other knitting books that you think are vital to your knitting library? I have now read Stitch 'n Bitch, the entire learning part before the patterns, and I am about 20% through my first sweater from Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, which I think was a good choice for my first sweater book.
Katy! Nic! Anyone else who knits! I need thoughts.
What are good knitting books to have?
I am considering purchasing Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitter's Almanac on Amazon for $8 (I have a $25 gift card too), but some say that it's hard to follow without learning her abbreviations and lingo in Knitting Without Tears. I searched the entire Cumberland County Library System, and the only Elizabeth Zimmermann book they have is Knitting Without Tears, so I put it on hold. I figure I could get the Almanac, and photocopy the parts I need from KWT. Mainly I want the baby surprise jacket, but lot of Ravelry people and knitters in general always call Almanac the best knitting book for $8 you will ever buy, and I'm curious. Does anyone have a copy I could borrow and skim?
Do you have other knitting books that you think are vital to your knitting library? I have now read Stitch 'n Bitch, the entire learning part before the patterns, and I am about 20% through my first sweater from Ann Budd's Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns, which I think was a good choice for my first sweater book.
Katy! Nic! Anyone else who knits! I need thoughts.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Sweater
I have started my very first sweater! So far I have about 1" of the bottom 2x2 rib.
Even better: last night I learned how to do tubular cast-on so that the hem is flat and pretty, just like the hem of a professional sweater! Because I am a beginner, mine is a little loose, but that is OK - it still looks loads better than if I had done a regular cast-on. I even used the next smaller needle size, but next time I'll go down two sizes, at least for the cast-on.
Despite staying up past midnight working on my cast-on, I still got up at 6:50 this morning, showered, and shaved in preparation to meet Kelly for lap swimming this evening at the West Shore YMCA. I'm quite proud of myself. I don't think it will always be this easy, because this morning I was honestly still hyped up about my tubular cast-on, and I think the adreneline helped. BUT hopefully the motivation of meeting someone else and not having to exercise alone will continue to motivate me, and after getting up earlier on a regular basis I will get better at it, and hopefully even make it a habit.
Also hopefully I will lose weight and fit into my old jeans again.
Even more wonderful would be if I lost enough weight to wear my old, barely-worn suits from Casual Corner that I can't bear to part with even though I haven't fit into them for over three years.
Well, since I'm at work so early, I suppose I'd better...uh...work...or something? Yeah.
Even better: last night I learned how to do tubular cast-on so that the hem is flat and pretty, just like the hem of a professional sweater! Because I am a beginner, mine is a little loose, but that is OK - it still looks loads better than if I had done a regular cast-on. I even used the next smaller needle size, but next time I'll go down two sizes, at least for the cast-on.
Despite staying up past midnight working on my cast-on, I still got up at 6:50 this morning, showered, and shaved in preparation to meet Kelly for lap swimming this evening at the West Shore YMCA. I'm quite proud of myself. I don't think it will always be this easy, because this morning I was honestly still hyped up about my tubular cast-on, and I think the adreneline helped. BUT hopefully the motivation of meeting someone else and not having to exercise alone will continue to motivate me, and after getting up earlier on a regular basis I will get better at it, and hopefully even make it a habit.
Also hopefully I will lose weight and fit into my old jeans again.
Even more wonderful would be if I lost enough weight to wear my old, barely-worn suits from Casual Corner that I can't bear to part with even though I haven't fit into them for over three years.
Well, since I'm at work so early, I suppose I'd better...uh...work...or something? Yeah.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
CC Update
*update*
Got Christmas cards, better than I hoped for: 8.5 x 11 paper pre-creased and with stickers to seal it. I wrote a (not-so-short) letter, imbedded a few pictures from the past year (or so), and all I have to do now is type everyone's addresses into the Word doc I formatted to print everything on the outside of the letter. So then you print all the addresses on one side, turn them over and print all the letters on the other, fold them all into thirds, and apply the snowflake sticker. Bam! Christmas cards! I love it. They're even pretty cute. I really feel like I've saved myself a bunch of time and money, and still turned out a pretty darn nice mailing for Christmas. Ten points to Staples for carrying these cool mailers, and another twenty points to my nice, new 3-in-1 wireless HP printer!
Tonight: looking forward to some quality knitting time at Cornerstone before Choir practice and a new small-ensemble song to practice, then home for Lamb Khorma (my fav Indian dish from Masala Bistro), picked up by Paul to be waiting for me when I get home at 10:00, by which point I'll be quite hungry so that I enjoy it all the more.
PS: Everyone should read this blog post and link to it from their own sites to increase its audience.
90 more minutes at work...
Got Christmas cards, better than I hoped for: 8.5 x 11 paper pre-creased and with stickers to seal it. I wrote a (not-so-short) letter, imbedded a few pictures from the past year (or so), and all I have to do now is type everyone's addresses into the Word doc I formatted to print everything on the outside of the letter. So then you print all the addresses on one side, turn them over and print all the letters on the other, fold them all into thirds, and apply the snowflake sticker. Bam! Christmas cards! I love it. They're even pretty cute. I really feel like I've saved myself a bunch of time and money, and still turned out a pretty darn nice mailing for Christmas. Ten points to Staples for carrying these cool mailers, and another twenty points to my nice, new 3-in-1 wireless HP printer!
Tonight: looking forward to some quality knitting time at Cornerstone before Choir practice and a new small-ensemble song to practice, then home for Lamb Khorma (my fav Indian dish from Masala Bistro), picked up by Paul to be waiting for me when I get home at 10:00, by which point I'll be quite hungry so that I enjoy it all the more.
PS: Everyone should read this blog post and link to it from their own sites to increase its audience.
90 more minutes at work...
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