Inked

Boyfriend, Boyfriend's Friend and I all went and got tattoos today. I got a sunflower with some vines around it on my lower back. It looks absolutely gorgeous and when it heals I shall post some pictures. Tattoo number 4, painful, but gorgeous, and perfect as a shout out to my mom who's had a rough year: a heart attack, gave up smoking, and had a total hip replacement. You rock, mom.

FO! My first sock EVER!

Look at that baby! Jitterbug in Sweetdreams is beautiful and I'd knit with it again in a heartbeat (which is good, since I've got two feet...) I snapped a picture of her taking a nap on my bed after a long and arduous stay on my needles.

Here she is after a nap, simply reclining in bed and smiling for the camera. She looks well-rested and ready for a mate, doesn't she?

And this. Her best angle, taken on the couch as she gets ready to see if the Ravelry Logo totes are back in stock yet (they're not). Look at that toe (and what appears to be an awesome kitchener [from this angle], if i do say so myself)! What beauty! What pizzaz! Note: Yes, I'm pretty sure I'm smitten. And slightly off my rocker.

Things I've learned while knitting my first sock:

-I knit tight. Super tight. I broke two Sox Stix during the course of this sock. Not good. Those things ain't cheap.

-I cannot have a conversation, watch television or breathe while doing anything other than simple knit rounds. The lack of concentration led to numerous starts to the ribbing and several dropped (then picked up) stitches further along the sock.

-Kitchener only sounds complicated. In practice, it's actually quite easy and beautiful. 'Course, maybe that was knowing that there were less than ten stitches left to my first sock.

In other news, ordered some stuff from KnitPicks last night. I want to try their harmony DPN's...if they're good, they're a heck of a lot cheaper than Lantern Moon's Sox Stix. I love the Sox Stix, but 25 bucks is kind of pushing it, budget-wise. Especially when I know I can buy a skein of Jitterbug for that. I also got a pair of their metal DPN's, some wool wash, a small gift for my Favorite things swap partner (whoever that may be), and some brown sock yarn. I want to give their stuff a try; it's certainly more affordable for my money situation right now. I shall post a review when I receive the package.

Wow. This turned into an awfully long post. If you're still reading and not bored to tears...thanks!

HEYLO!

Sorry about the little hiatus I've been on, but when you've got that view, who doesn't get distracted?! (okay, to be fair, i was only looking at the view for a weekend, but still) anyway, spent a weekend up in Woodstock catching up with an old friend who's 8 mnths pregnant (and gloriously radiant, no less), shopping, and spending quality time with Boyfriend. Spent a lot of time sitting on the front porch reading and knitting and looking at that waterfall in the picture above. It was glorious. I also snapped a picture of this little guy on our railing.

Since I've come home from Woodstock I've actually had a couple of ideas for short stories for this semester (which is wonderful because the only thing I've written this summer are grocery lists), started a new job (yay bookstore!) and played Florence Nightengale to Boyfriend when his knee decided not to work anymore. After a trip to the Emergency Room, rest, and some awesome painkillers, he's back at work today.

In knitting news, I'm almost done with my first sock. I haven't taken a picture of it in awhile, but I promise I'll get one up here soon.

Ahh...

Another wonderful weekend. Boyfriend and I went up to Woodstock NY to shop and relax, both of which we did with a vengeance. I bought plenty of goodies-alas, no yarn, since the woodstock wool company has closed its retail doors :( But I did buy two pairs of shoes, candles and such. There was also a beautiful cool night spent out on our lovely little porch as the sun set, then fireworks a little later. It was a very awesome weekend. Pictures to come when I'm home and have my little camera usb cable :)

Weekend in Review

The heel of my sock. I can't believe I'm making socks. I was overwhelmed for a long time by the idea, but now that I've actually started making them, I have many more socks planned :)

Hello Mr. Sheep!

Alpacas! They were so soft! I wanted to hug them, but they looked as if they'd been rolling around on the ground for most of the day. And they wouldn't eat my crackers, so no hug for thems!

This was one of those weekends. One of those weekends that would go down in the history books as perfect. Boyfriend came over Friday night and spent the weekend. There were eggs for breakfast, cool nights spent sleeping with the window open, sock lessons, and a visit to the zoo. I am a very happy woman.

Ahhhh...finally! Ribbing! I finally have the ribbing done for my first sock, as you can see (you can probably also see ladders on the right hand side too, but I'm just so thrilled tofinally be done with the knitting I just can't seem to mind. I figure my second sock will be better and I can use this one to kind of the show the "before" and "after" as my sock knitting skills progress. I absolutely love this yarn, Colinette's Jitterbug in Sweetdreams. It reminds me of summer, cotton candy, grass and blue skies. And though I'm still trying to get used to working with such a small strand (and uber tiny needles!), i really like the way the yarn works up. So I ordered a different colorway that I will *hopefully* be able to knit up as Christmas gift for someone special.

I wish I didn't have to work. It takes away so much time from my knitting.

::Heavy Sigh::

I'm having one of those days. I seem to be all thumbs and I'm irritating myself beyond belief. I was almost done with the ribbing on my sock (three more rows to go) when I realized I had somewhere along the line, added a stitch. Probably not a big deal for most knitters, but as I have no idea how to fix my mistakes (picking up dropped stitches, etc.) I had to tear the whole thing out. The second go around I screwed up again, and just now I dropped two stitches at the end of the first round (!!) because I was making the stitches so tight the two left on my left needle just flew off. ::growl:: i can't even take a break and come back to it because I have work until 11pm tonight. At least tomorrow I have a day off and can hopefully make some headway through the leg; I think I might have my second sock lesson this friday morning and I need to be done with my 12 rows of ribbing and 40 rounds of the knit stitch (which I foresee to be slightly less traumatizing than my ribbing experience thus far).

(PS, no call back on the arts & crafts store, so i must not have gotten the job. ::sigh:: back to the drawing board)

(PPS, i must be nearing that time of the month, because everything Boyfriend says is irritating the crap outta me:

as i'm typing this blog entry:
boyfriend: what the heck are you doing over there (note, i type fast)
me: uhhh, typing? duh.

Sorry honey. Let me get some chocolate (of which there's none in this house!!) and I'll be fine. Promise.)