um, yeah.

Y'all, I wanted to love it, but it's just not working for me. I think maybe because I made my Anais pretty snug, the lace makes it look sort of ... trashy. Someone who saw this picture on Flickr may have mentioned Elvira. (And while I may have been Elvira for Halloween, I'd rather NOT channel her in my everyday wardrobe.) It's just not working. So, I ripped the lace part out, and took Carolyn's suggestion to add some ribbing around the collar.

Better.

Looks better. But this picture is deceptive - it's just TOO SHORT. Harumph. So, last night, I stayed up WAY too late and ripped out the cast on edge. (Full disclosure: I began by ripping out the cast on edge, and then I ended up taking scissors to the ribbing. There are no pictures because it was very, very scary.)

So now, I'm going to add a couple inches of length. I managed to get all the bottom ribbing off, get it back on the needles, and now I'm knitting downwards. I'm hoping I can finish it this weekend while I am at Maryland Sheep and Wool, YAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAYAYAYAY and also OH BOY.

ooh! I also took some pics of the finished Mingus socks before I sent them to Emily:

Swoon.

I love.

[BSG geekout]

I have also recently come to the conclusion that I pretty much HAVE to go to DragonCon this year because Helo and Lee will be there. OH YES.

I might have to dress up like a viper pilot too. NO LAUGHING.

[/BSG geekout]

I even had time to finish the Mingus socks! I gave them a bath last night, and they are blocking on a towel right now. Once they are dry, they will be traveling to see Miss Emily, woo-hoo!!!

I posted on Flickr, and the thumbnail apparently looked like I was washing spinach. or maybe kale. hee.

I am so happy with these socks. I am also glad they are not in my size, so I'm not tempted to do a switcheroo and send Emily so Wal-Mart tube socks instead of these. (I AM TOTALLY KIDDING.) And these are officially my FIRST finished object of 2008! isn't that insane? Hi, it only took me almost 5 months to completely knit something. I AM SLOW.

So, I picked up an old unfinished object so my next finished project will be gratifying and quick. It's Anais. When you last saw her, she looked like this:

This is a front.

I'm now up to the shoulders on the back, and then I'll be seaming her up. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the sleeves. I'm not really feeling the sleeves on the original pattern, so I'm thinking about some cap sleeves instead. Or, maybe just making it a sleeveless top? Opinions?

Speaking of opinions, let me get yours on another little situation. A fabulous blog friend from back in the day (thanks, Vanessa!) emailed me this week because of a little sign she saw when she was shopping at AC Moore:

Wait a minute....

This is a sign advertising their knitting classes - notice the Carrieoke cartoon on the sign?

Now, my dear friend Mary Jessica drew that for me years ago, and it's been on my blog for a long time. At first we were like, HEE! that is funny. And then we thought about it...and they should've asked, ya know? Mary Jessica is a writer and an illustrator, and her work belongs to her. I'm totally assuming the best here and thinking that whoever downloaded the cartoon just didn't realize that it wasn't free clipart.

So, what should we do? For starters, I'm going to make it clearer on my site that the illustration belongs to Mary Jessica, and that it's not okay for people to take. (I think I might add a copyright statement to the bottom of the actual image.) And actually, in this case, I probably would've been okay with it (after checking with Mary Jessica), as long as they credited MJ at the bottom of the image.

But, I think we should communicate to whoever borrowed it that it's not okay to just download it and use it, just so they know for future reference. It seems like a letter would be the best way to go about it - what do you think? I do think it's cool that they liked the drawing enough to want to use it on their sign, BUT, they should have asked.

So. bizarre!

Well, I'm off to enjoy this lovely Saturday. I'm going to knit some, and maybe even put a border on my quilt. It's so awesome to not have schoolwork to think about. YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!

This semester is apparently the exception. I am SLAMMED. For the past two Sundays, I've had 9-hour marathon sessions on campus working on a group project. ICK. It's still not done. It feels like it may never be done, actually. I had my oral comprehensive exam last week (I passed! yay!) and had to show a "dress rehearsal" version of our final project. so. much. to. do. I hate to bitch and moan, but OMG when will the semester be over? srsly?!?

Luckily, my husband cooks me dinner. and also obtained all three previous seasons of Battlestar Galactica for my viewing pleasure (we are just starting season 3, so NO SPOILERS! and also, what is up with out-of-shape Apollo? so. bizarro.) And the BSG, it is great TV for knitting. I've actually finally finished a Mingus sock!

Right before I started my toe decrease.

and I'm dreaming of finishing some unfinished objects that have been laying around (Anais, and maybe my Drops sweater...) and also still knitting away on my Minimalist cardigan. I also participated in a swap on Ravelry with some fabulous girls, and I totally got some Malabrigo! My first ever! It's lace, and it's this beautiful pinky purple color ... I want to eat it, actually. Check out the other awesome stuff I got...

Sensual Knits! Yay! and some more yummy yarn, and some Addis,
and a project bag! and some of the best chocolate I've ever tasted - Vosges -
and - Cathy, look at this! a tiny version of Scattergories. YAY.

Mindy is all kinds of awesome - thanks so much, girlie! The chocolate has gotten me through several extremely stressful nights this past week.

Even my Ravelry time has been hurting lately - obviously my priorities need adjusting if I can't spend hours at a time lurking in the Big Issues Debate forum. HA.

I'm just looking ahead to the end of April/beginning of May, when the semester will be winding down, and I can let out a big deep breath and celebrate by hopping on a plane to Maryland with Anne Marie and seeing friends and getting some yarn. Lots of it. so. excited.

Things are really good, actually. Just busybusybusy, and I miss being able to sit down and blog. But the semester will be over soon, and then I have only two more semesters -- that includes summer! -- until I get my Master's degree. YAYAYAYAYAY!

Hope you had a good Monday! I'm going to go watch some more BSG....

That is not right. It's a seed stitch pattern. D'oh. I emailed Veronique to thank her for her comment and I think she felt bad - but seriously, I'm glad! I love the way the cardi looks with the actual pattern as written, so I'm glad I realized it now instead of later.

So I r-r-r-ripped that sucker. And I read the pattern. and started again.

ahh. that's better.

This is my take-everywhere knitting, so it's slow going, but I love it.

I've also been knitting away on Emily's Mingus raffle socks. I've got two socks done to the heels, and I've turned the heel on Sock One. I love this pattern! I think they are going to be awesome, and I think I might have to knit a pair for myself. Like that'll ever happen. But a girl can dream.

Let's see. What else is new? I went to Mississippi last weekend to see Jacob's grandparents and his mom and celebrate Easter good times. Here's what I learned in Mississippi this weekend: if you go to the grandparents' church on Easter Sunday, you might have to sing a special. Don't try to avoid it. Just sing it.

Practicing for the special. I played the piano and sang low harmony, and my sister-in-law Alison sang lead. We're like a family band.

We also ate dinner at Catfish Country, which features an all you can eat buffet (with catfish), and lots of friendly people. One waitress was so friendly, in fact, that she and her family sang a spur-of-the-moment song for everyone in the restaurant. The video isn't that great, but listen to the audio...

Dude. They were rockin' awesome.

My stomach has almost recovered from all the Mississippi fried goodness. Now it's back to work, and school, and lots and lots of Flash programming. Soooo much Flashy flash, for both work and school. At least I'm getting better at it. There's also been lots of Ravelry, and lots of TV (who's watching American Idol? Carly is my favorite. and oh we started watching BSG. LOVE.) and quilting too.

I have actually quilted my first little quilt, and I'm trying to find the time to do the binding. I did it on my machine, used a walking foot and everything, like a fancy pants machine quilter. SO FUN. I can't wait to do the binding and have it finished and then start the whole process over again.

I've been taking lots of pictures, too, since I'm doing the 365 Days project on Flickr. Here's a recent one that is very representative of my week:

I need coffee. EVERY. MORNING.

It's been a long week, but tomorrow is Friday and I'm going to see Girl Talk and sew and knit this weekend! yayayayayayay. Now I'm off to lurk on the Rav forums...

I'm also just ready for spring. The cold and I, we are not friends.

Sigh. At least there have been some outrageously beautiful days in the mix.

I have been so busy with school and work! Luckily, I've had some cool projects at work lately, so I'm okay with the busy. I sort of like the busy, even. Tomorrow, I'm taking pictures for a client, and I needed a way to get some great macro shots, so I got to do something I've been wanting to try for a while - make a lightbox! I used this tutorial and was very inspired by Lolly's tutorial also. In my work, we often need very clear macro shots with backgrounds that are easy to take out, and this seemed like the way to go.

I used stuff that we had laying around the office - some foamcore, shipping tape, and a box cutter. To set it up, I grabbed one 650 watt studio light and just start shooting to see what things looked like. Of course, I used my knitting for some test shots. :)

My Minimalist Cardigan

yay! full disclosure: the color is WAY OFF in this picture. The actual yarn is a burgundy red. I'll have to play with white balance and camera settings to make things look just right. But overall, this was the effect I was going for. I'm excited about using it tomorrow for work (and continuing to test it by bringing some more of my knits in for a photo shoot. hee.)

And, as you can see, I started knitting the Minimalist Cardigan. I decided to brave the seed stitch, and I'm so glad I did - I love the texture. It does move really, really slowly, though. It's good bring-everywhere knitting, and also good TV knitting (as long as I look down occasionally to make sure I'm not knitting ribbing instead of seed stitch).

I'm also working on the socks for my raffle winner! After we emailed, I decided to knit her a pair of Mingus socks. Dude. I love this sock pattern. It took me a little while to get the hang of the pattern - and I definitely still need the chart - but it's super interesting and gratifying, because the longer it gets, the cooler the pattern looks. I hope they turn out well!

Mingus progress.

I'm about 1/4 of the way done with Jacob's second sock, but I put it on hold for the Mingus socks because I needed my size 1 Addi Turbos. I think I'll be done with these pretty quickly though - they are fun, so they go fast.

Well, I'm off to finish the laundry and play some Super Smash Bros. Brawl on the Wii. I'm not usually good at fighting games, but I loves me some Super Smash Bros.

Our spelling team, The Triplets, raised the most money of all the teams at the Spelling Bee! We raised $705 for the Athens Clarke Literacy Council. The folks from the Council were so excited -and we totally earned our mulligan for the Spelling Bee.

The Triplets thank you!

Thank you so much to everyone who donated. There were eleven teams in the Bee. We were the only team in the Bee that wasn't officially sponsored by an organization, and we still raised the most money. (We decided that we should've said we were "sponsored by the Internets".) THANK YOU THANK YOU!

The Bee! Well, we didn't win, but we DID come in third. The competition was fierce. We used our mulligan on the word empleomania. (We started it with an 'i', dang it.) Then, we got out on the word escutcheon.

Spelling is serious business.

The winning team spelled the word 'kwashiorkor' correctly. DUDE. the last round was super hard - the two final teams kicked ass.

So it was a blast, and we totally want to do it again next year. I was SO nervous - but after we realized we weren't going to be the FIRST team out, we felt better. And of course, it was all for a really awesome cause!

Right before we got eliminated.

Now, on to the raffle!

I put all the names of the donaters on a spreadsheet. For every $5 you donated, you got your name on the spreadsheet one time. (So $15 = 3 times, etc.) Each name had a number by it. My sister Cathy went to a random number generator, and we randomly generated a number to select the winner.

And the winner is:

(drum roll..............)

Congratulations, Emily! I'm sending you an email to get your foot measurements and other important info so I can start on your socks.

Thank you again to everyone who donated! Next time, we'll return to our regularly scheduled knitting blog - I might show you a finished man sock and the start of a cardigan.

Here's the deal. This weekend, I'm participating in a charity spelling bee: The Spirited Spell-Off Spectacle. Oh yes, a spelling bee. It's a team spelling bee with my twin sister Cathy and my friend Chip. The event is a fundraiser for the Athens Clarke Literacy Council. They promote and support adult literacy in Athens, Georgia, where I live.

As a former English major and a big nerd, I am REALLY excited about being a spelling bee. (I may possibly still have all my spelling bee trophies from grade school.) My equally nerdy sister, who is a high school English teacher, is also really excited. Our team (The Triplets) has been vigorously training for this event.

However, even the best spellers will sometimes meet a word that they can't spell correctly....( For example: 'bouillon'. Eighth grade. Archdiocesan spelling bee. Not that I'm bitter.)

That's where the raffle comes in!

At this team spelling bee, the six teams that raise the most money for the Athens Clarke Literacy Council are granted a mulligan, which means you can miss one word and still stay in the competition. So, we've been raising money to support our team. Any amount you can afford will help us, and it all goes to a great cause - promoting and supporting adult literacy.

So, here's what I'm thinking. Every $5.00 donation will get your name in a drawing. At the end of the raffle, I'll randomly pick a name, and I'll knit the winner a pair of socks in your favorite colors. All the money donated will go directly to the Athens Clarke Literacy Council.

That's it! Wouldn't you love a pair of handknitted socks that you don't even have to knit? If so, just click the button below and buy yourself a raffle ticket.

------------------------------------------------
THANK YOU SO MUCH for all your donations! I'll post about the bee and the raffle winner on Sunday!
----------------------------------------------

(The paypal link will say chip@athenstown.com - that's us!) Once you've donated, please send an email at carrieokeknits@gmail.com and let me know your name, email address, and the amount of your donation. The raffle will be open until Saturday morning at 9:00 am EST.

Thanks for letting me use my blog for shameless spelling bee fundraising.

Spelling Nerds!

So, that's my story about how I want to post more. The End.

Jacob and I just got back from a park - the Athens Astronomical Society set up some frickin' huge telescopes and we watched the lunar eclipse. It was fabulous. One of the telescopes was so huge that you could actually hold your camera up to it and take a really nice picture of the eclipse.

We forgot our cameras. D'oh! But Jacob had his iPhone, so we have one kinda okay picture from that.

Eclipse.

Hooray! The moon was a really pretty tea color. They also had a telescope on Saturn, which totally looked like a sticker someone had slapped on the end of the telescope. Very cool.

In others news, my progress on the Drops sweater has sort of stalled. The sleeves are bothering me, and I don't feel like figuring out how to fix them. There are tons of ends to weave in, and I haven't picked out buttons. Harumph. I think I'm going to let it sit for a little while and come back to it. I've been working steadily on Jacob's sock, bur I think it's time for a new project.

so, what to knit? I want to make something I can wear to work. And I want to make something that's with worsted weight (or thinner) yarn. It also needs to be not 100% wool, because it's just not a realistic fiber for Georgia.

I really love the Minimalist Cardigan in the Fall 2007 Interweave - [ Ravelry link ], but hi, the body is moss stitch. I don't know if I can handle an entirely moss stitch sweater. I think I would wear the crap out of it, though. hmm.....need to check the stash.

Any suggestions for a new spring-y knit?

I've been posting to Flickr lots - I'm doing 365, which means I post a picture of myself every day for 365 days. I started on January 2, so even in this leap year, it's still 365. Here's today's:

Lunchy.

Things I've learned so far:
1. Natural light is good.
2. Flash, not so much, usually.
3. I have wrinkles around my eyes.
4. I know nothing about how cameras work, or taking good pictures.

But, I guess that's why I'm doing 365, right? To learn how to take better pictures?

I'm rocking my sticker.

This weekend was fun filled. Including, but not limited to, new hair fun:

Let's try red for a while.

I got it cut and colored, and I'm loving both. It is super red, which I love, but was a little bit of a shock at first. It's exactly what I asked for, but I haven't seen myself with red hair in a while. Jacob is still getting used to it.

Other weekend fun times? Eating chili and watching the Super Bowl with my family:

Yes, that is Cathy. Not a floating head.

and coming very, very close to finishing the never-ending Drops sweater. Ya know, the one that knits up SO quickly. Gah. Here's where I am:

Almost.

So here's my question. I think I only have enough yarn to make the sleeves that length (the one in the picture above), but I'm not loving what the double seed stitch is doing. It looks chunky and puffy and weird. What would be a good alternate for the double seed stitch? Carolyn suggested possibly keeping it stockinette but turning a hem, which I'm seriously considering. I just don't like the way it looks currently. The sleeve length is okay, but not the edging.

There have been exactly ZERO strips cut since I took that picture of myself cutting quilt strips. I'm going to try to dedicate sometime to my quilt this week, but school is eating up all my free time. well, school and bad television.

Yay!

That's the little sewing table I bought, my new pretty sewing machine, and my ironing board (and new Rowenta iron). The little piece of furniture to the right is a vintage sewing/knitting/crafting box that my sister-in-law, Alison, gave me as a wedding present. It's really cool - it's made of wood, and it folds out and has little trays for notions. I should take some good pics of it, actually, and post them.

The nook is in our kitchen - we have a pretty big space for dining/hanging out, and for now, I've taken over this corner for crafting. And it's a good thing, too, because I just started my first quilt and I need room to cut strips! Here I am, cutting strips....

One down.

I've done one so far. Gah. It turns out I'm bad at cutting straight. But I'm going to keep trying, even if this first quilt is a bit wonky. I'm okay with that. I learn from my wonkiness.

I'm also still working on the neverending Drops Jacket - the one that I was going to finish as a Christmas present, ha - and I've finally got two beautiful sleeve caps. YAY. Now I have to try and finish the sweater before I run out of yarn. I think I can do it. I need to hurry up and finish it, because I'm starting to have wandering eyes ... the new Interweave preview is up, some Knitty surprises, and pretty pretty knitting in blog and Ravelry land is making me want to drop the Drops and cast on something new. Must. Be. Strong. Yes, I must, because I really want to wear this sweater before it gets warm again here.

(but I really, really, really want to knit a pretty skirt too. Just sayin'.)

I've been so busy lately that crafting of any kind isn't always on my schedule. Apparently, school and work are supposed to come before knitting and sewing. Sigh.

You know what is definitely going to be on the schedule this week? Watching the season premiere of Lost. OH YES. I'll probably get some knitting done then too. Happy, happy times!

Last, but not certainly not least, I wanted to mention: Two sweet bloggers gave me a "Make My Day" award: Sophia and Frida. Thanks, ladies! You made my day by thinking of me. :)

That's all I've got in me tonight! Hopefully next time I post, I'll have a finished sweater and a few more perfectly straight strips to show you. Har.

I have recovered from the nasty crud cold that was going around (and of course gave it to everyone in my office). Theraflu + tea = my friends. and also SLEEP. I realized that I'd been running on basically no sleep since the Christmas holidays, and my body just couldn't take it anymore. So, I'm trying to make it to bed before midnight these days, which is hard for me, but so far, so good. I've noticed also that my bedtime directly correlates with what time I arrive at work. Later bedtime = later work arrival time. Now I know that correlation doesn't necessarily equal causation. BUT, I'm going to make an assumption here that earlier is better.

We celebrated my mom's birthday this weekend! Yay family time. Got to hang out with the Big Head Schmoo and my absolutely adorable stepnephew Mason. Here's my mom with her two favorite grandkids:

So much happy.
Mason on the left, Bradypants in the lap. CUTE.

They are schmoos, all of them. We had yummy lasagna and played catch outside. Then my sis and her husband came up to Athens for fun times, which meant tapas and beers. and wii, of course.

Nerds.

It was a lovely weekend. It's a good thing that the crud went away and I had a nice weekend, because this semester has already started full swing. I'm taking two classes with major projects in both (don't you love group work in grad school?) and then I have to, ya know, work. Luckily, I really, really enjoy what I'm doing and work and grad school are closely related, so it's like one big mashup of technogeek fun. Hooray!

And then when I come home, there is the knitting.

Sleevecaps.

As you can see, I'm still working on the sleeves of my Drops sweater, and I did try the short row set in sleevecap method in Knitting from the Top. My first effort (to your right, above) was, um, rather large. I did the math required in the book, but you base all your calculations on the first measurement, which is "measure around your upper arm." So, that raises all kinds of questions - how much ease? what part of my upper arm? - and I realize now that she probably covers these questions in the first part of the book, but OF COURSE I DIDN'T READ THAT. So, I did the best I could and got a huge sleevecap.

The good thing is that once I saw how it works, I could tweak the measurement to fit how I wanted (see Sleevecap 2, to your left, picture above). I think this one is going to work out great, and man, it looks SO NICE. Much nicer that a seamed sleevecap, or at least, much nicer than MY seamed sleevecaps.

So hooray! I think I really, really like this method, and I think once I've figured out the numbers that work for me, I'll use it all the freakin' time. It just looks really clean and pretty. Yay for new techniques, and learning from your mistakes and all that.

I should probably go prepare for class tonight. Next time: my new sewing nook with my new sewing machine and my new sewing table that my schmoo husband helped me build. YAY.

I've been called out by two friends about my lameness in blogging lately. One friend commented that every post doesn't have to be a novel. This is true. But I feel like a post without pictures is so borrrrring. And then, the pictures need to be explained. And they must be from a similar time or event. And also, I should probably mention knitting at least once and I should probably be funny.

These are the blogging rules that I have in my head for some reason.

So I'm attempting to just POST with no plan! OMG! I'm not even going to tell you what I did this weekend - although I did go to Chicago, which is so totally blogworthy. I'm just a-posting away. I might even post a picture with NO EXPLANATION.

There is a fan in my tutu.

Ahem.

Has anyone else noticed that the National Geographic Channel now refers to itself as "Nat Geo" in commercials? Not cool, National Geographic Channel.

I just finished seaming the sides of my Drops Jacket, and I'm about to start on the sleeves. I'm trying something new for me - inspired by
Flint Knit Pam's beautiful sweater, I'm going to attempt top down, short row sleeve caps. I've got a copy of Knitting from the Top and a tape measure. I'm ready to go.

I'm even ready for the math part.

My trip to Chicago was fabulous, but I am sick as a dog now. I'm going to go drink some Theraflu and watch a show a NatGeo special on babies. I'm even going to post this entry, even though it doesn't follow all of my self-imposed rules.

This random post is brought to you by Carolyn, who has the best restaurants recommendations of anyone I know. And the best hair.

SCHMOO!

This is Rosie. She is a long-haired Chihuahua, and she is CUTE. and also smart. and sweet. We kept her this past weekend (much to the chagrin of Bella and Chili) and absolutely fell in love with her. She's with Jacob's mom now and will be off to Mississippi to be a country schmoo.

Other Christmas surprises? Here's one:

oh. boy.

My new sewing machine, courtesy of the Pants. It's a Janome Hearttruth 2008 and I lurve it so much. Funny how it's easier to sew a straight line when you have a nice sewing machine. Hee. Today I will be buying some fabric and working on some projects out of Bend the Rules Sewing and also that Denyse Schmidt Quilts book. I already started one last night:

Frame of Mine.

It's a little picture frame backer. So cute. I haven't squared up the pieces yet, but it's gonna be adorable. Oh, the possibilities. There will be sewing. And quilting. oh yes.

The Big Head Schmoo sported a very fashionable sweater on Christmas Day:

Trellis in action.

He's really grown into it! My dad rocked a Santa hat...

We were totally spoiled with presents (including Veronik Avery's Knitting Classic Style - love it! and a beautiful handmade family tree, complete with leaves to fill in our family members - pictures later) and fun times with family. We also went to see Sweeney Todd, which was fantastic (as expected) although extremely, excruciatingly bloody. (I was in a production of Sweeney Todd in college, so I was determined to see this movie, even though I don't normally do extreme violence / gore / spewing blood in the theater. or on my DVD player. But it helped that I knew the entire story, so I knew what was coming, and also ALL THE SONG LYRICS. I loves me some Stephen Sondheim.) I did spend a lot of time hiding my face, but I still loved it.

I made an attempt to knit a sweater for a Christmas present and I failed miserably. I finished a back and a front side in time, but I decided to give Cat something else and keep the sweater for myself once I finish. And what is it, you ask? Here's a hint: it's a really popular sweater in the blogosphere right now, and it could reasonably be knit in a week. Betcha know what it is.... (I'm making you guess because I don't have any pictures of it. hee.)

So now - any suggestions for beginning sewing? Good sites, tips, tricks? All advice is welcomed. I know I need to start slow and be patient, and also I need to learn to cut straight.

I don't have to go back to work until Jan 2. Life is gooood.

Happy holidays to you! and happy New Year!

I'll survive. I guess it's better than snow and ice storms. I'm relaxing on the couch right now, watching guilty TV (so not even confessing what I'm watching because it's SO BAD) and indulging in my other guilty pleasure: lurking on the Ravelry forums. I am so addicted. At least I knit and lurk. And I try not to lurk at work. Mostly. (who else does this? Big Issues Debate, anyone??)

It's been busy around here. We celebrated Jacob's 30th birthday last weekend and there were many fun times, including but not limited to: grilling of ribs, eating of ribs, poker, karaoke, Dance Dance Revolution, tube lights, and dancing with tube lights. And just in case you thought I was kidding about the tube lights...

Soundtrack: Girl Talk.

There you are. Jacob loves tube lights. So much that when we first moved to Athens, we lived in a friend's attic (Anne Marie) and our main light source was many, many tube lights nailed to the ceiling. We also had a vinyl door with a zipper for our bathroom...some of our design choices were slightly questionable. Har. Those tube lights actually blink and flash in time to any music that is playing. fun. fun. fun.

So. then, THIS weekend, we babysat my nephew, otherwise known as BigHeadSchmoo. The babysitting of the nephew, it is different than the visiting of the nephew, especially when bedtime is involved. He was not even *remotely* interested in bed. AT ALL. He was interested in running around the house with Jacob, reading Chugga-Chugga-Choo-Choo multiple times, and then finally watching Baby Einstein Christmas (and omg those Baby Einstein videos are so weird and hilarious. it's like, a puppet with the puppeteer's hand showing, and then a baby laughing, and then a polar bear, and my nephew was MESMERIZED.) We finally got him to sleep (and secretly I don't mind at all that he wanted to stay up and play with his favorite aunt and uncle.)

Uncle Jacob is WAY MORE fun than sleep.

I got some knitting in too. I'm about halfway done with the back of Anais, and I've been thinking about doing the sleeves a little differently. The sleeves as they are in the pattern seem -- strange. I don't know. I'm thinking I could make it a sleeveless vest, or maybe do a solid cap sleeve? Is that hard to do? Although I do also like this fluttery sleeve version, but I'm not sure those sleeves would be practical for my wardrobe. They ARE very cute...

I've worn my Maggie to work several times! I want to take a picture every time I wear it - it's exciting for me to wear a knitted item so often. (However, it must be noted that I had someone compliment me on it, and I said, thanks! I knitted it! and then I looked down and noticed old mustard from lunch on the buttonband. Hi, I'm Carrieoke. I am proud of my handknits. I spill food on them. )

In other knitting news, I'm working on a sock for my husband. I made him a pair of socks previously, and they mostly fit him, and then he machine washed them and felted them and they fit me perfectly. (Hooray for new slippers!) This left Jacob wanting another pair, of course, and I'm finally giving it a shot...

Almost to the heel.
The yarn is Trekking, and the pattern is Manly Socks from Knit Six. (Found by searching for "man socks" on Ravelry, by the way.) I think they're going to fit him perfectly, mostly because I've made him try them on a million times. It's hard knitting for size 11 feet, but I'm determined to finish this pair.

And that's all I've got for now. Me and Bella, we're just gonna sit here on the couch and keep watching bad TV and resting.

Bella loves bad TV. ]]> http://www.carrieoke.net/2007/12/its_hot_in_herre.html http://www.carrieoke.net/2007/12/its_hot_in_herre.html knitting Mon, 10 Dec 2007 20:59:57 -0500 Thank you so much for all your sweet comments on our wedding! I love having this blog as a journal for myself, but it's also pretty awesome to have bloggy readers. Jacob and I really appreciate all the happy thoughts!

I have so much to say about the rest of the wedding, and our trip to Costa Rica, but really, I'm too tired to write it all out. I will say that the reception and the wedding made all the planning and the stress totally worth it, because it was so much damn fun. I was really worried about our wedding becoming this big fancy affair that wasn't really like me and Jacob, and over and over I heard from guests that our wedding was unique and an expression of who we are. And I felt that way, too. That made me so happy. It was amazing. All of it. Totally exceeded all of my expectations - the wedding, the honeymoon, everything. Yay.

If you want to see pics of the wedding and Costa Rica, there are about a million over at my flickr account...[ Weddin' Pics, etc.]

I also highly recommend checking out Jacob's Costa Rica pictures, which are here:

[ Jacob's Costa Rica pics ].

And really, you should probably go there first, because his pictures are really, really incredible. He's a photographer, ya know. Here's one of his pics.

See? Go check them out.
So. It's been awhile. I've been busybusy trying to catch up at work and school - my semester is over in about a week. Yikes. There has been knitting, though. I actually finished something!

Maggie.

Yes, I realize that I am subjecting you to yet another poorly lit gross mirror bathroom shot. I'm sorry about that. I just got REALLY excited when I finished it and had to take a picture. RIGHT. THEN. So I did. I did try to take a self-timer shot, which failed miserably. Here it is.

Dork.
(Can you spot a sleepy Jacob in the background?)

Obviously, Maggie deserves a grand photo shoot with natural lighting. Maybe one day. But oh how I love this sweater. It fits perfectly - the yarn is yummy soft - it looks like it's supposed to. I don't have to tug at it to cover my belly. I can button it, or not. It's cute BOTH WAYS, instead of being cute only when I have it pinned at a certain angle and hold my breath (Juliet, I'm looking at you). I am going to wear the crap out of this thing, and she'll be even prettier when I block her. If I block her.

It only took me about 11 months to knit it! Har. It really did - I started knitting it in January of 2007. It's actually a simple pattern and should take much less time, but I may have lost two completed sleeves for a while. I want to knit more things with Rowan Wool Cotton - I may have to start cruising ebay for some deals.

I knit the pattern exactly as written [pattern available here]. The only thing I did differently is that I flipped the included buttons over - the right side of the buttons are shiny, and it didn't really match my color, so I flipped them over and used the darker brown side. Worked out great.

Ah, the happiness of a wearable finished knit. It's so nice. And so rare, for me. I immediately cast on another project in hopes of scoring another wearable knit: Anais.

Front.

We shall see. I'm using some leftover Silky Wool - I miraculously had the EXACT amount that the pattern called for, so I decided it was fate. That piece looks cute, right?

]]> http://www.carrieoke.net/2007/11/more.html http://www.carrieoke.net/2007/11/more.html bridezilla Mon, 26 Nov 2007 20:12:10 -0500