Needles in Motion

The Fold!

2008-07-05T23:48:00.006-05:00

Wade graduated with his master’s in May and is working full time as an actuary. We moved out of our place in Iowa, went to Texas and picked up the things we had left behind, and now we live in Schaumburg. I may not have a permanent job yet, but I wasted no time finding a new knitting group!

In June my knitting group took a trip to The Fold. I had heard tales of how wonderful this store was, but it was even better than I imagined. There was so much beautiful yarn! I’m trying to keep my stash small, so I told myself that I would only buy one skein of STR. It was very hard to choose and everyone else was buying multiple skeins, but I decided on a lovely skein of Jade. I did give in and buy a second skein of yarn, but it was 50% off so it doesn’t really count, right?

I haven’t learned to crochet yet, but I had to buy the summer issue of Interweave Crochet too. Why? One of my knitting friends from Texas, Sheryl, has a pattern in the issue! It is a Tunisian crochet scarf, La Mer. I added it to my queue!

I heart Ravelry!

2007-11-16T14:21:00.000-06:00

I know, I know, who doesn't? But I've been on for a month and I've been exposed to so many more new people, patterns, yarns, etc than I would have been browsing the web. Well, maybe I haven't necessarily been exposed to more, but I love that you can actually keep track of all the people and projects you like in an organized way. In the year and a half that I've lived in Iowa I've had a hard time finding and connecting with knitters. Through Ravelry I had lunch with two new knitting friends just this week! I was browsing patterns and realized someone had used a yarn that I have in my stash for a project I've been dying to make. Now I'm going to make it as a gift for Christmas! I'm just so excited about the connections I've made so far, and I know it's going to make finding a new knitting group in Chicago so much easier. Yep, Chicago. Wade graduates in May and has accepted a job in Schaumburg, which is a northwest suburb. We are so excited to be moving back to our favorite city and to be close to my family!!!

I love Vacation!

2006-12-14T19:24:00.001-06:00

Which John Hughes Character Are You?

You are Clark Griswold (from National Lampoon's Vacation)! You're full of optimism and boundless energy, and no one loves a good family trip more. No one else can swear a blue streak like you either, Sparky!
Take this quiz!

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How did they know???

2006-11-19T12:17:00.000-06:00

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Inland North You may think you speak "Standard English straight out of the dictionary" but when you step away from the Great Lakes you get asked annoying questions like "Are you from Wisconsin?" or "Are you from Chicago?" Chances are you call carbonated drinks "pop."
The Midland
The Northeast
Philadelphia
The South
The West
Boston
North Central
What American accent do you have? Take More Quizzes

Smooch Restored!

2006-05-11T09:08:00.000-05:00

I'm back to where I was before I had to frog most of my work. I think it looks much better with the proper shaping!

Blame it on the rain and the pain

2006-05-09T18:48:00.000-05:00

Last week was full of ups and downs. Sunday our flight home from Chicago was delayed 6 hours but I got to meet the famous chef Cat Cora! Monday I had my wisdom teeth removed and everything was going fine until the last tooth. The root broke off and they couldn't get it out. I had to see an oral surgeon on Tuesday to finish the job. Thankfully Wade was with me at the dentist. Originally someone else was going to pick me up but Wade took the day off since we got home so late from the airport. Tuesday the oral surgeon said he might not be able to get the root out and I might have partial numbness in my tongue, but he got it out and I don't have any numbness. I was behind on my schoolwork due to the flight delay and emergency oral surgery. I couldn't concentrate because of the pain medicine so I was going to watch all the things I had on TiVo and knit.

I'm making Smooch from the Rowan All Seasons Cotton Collection for my sister-in-law's birthday at the end of May. It is my first garment and my first project with lace. I'm very excited about it. I was getting so much done last week. This is where I have to blame it on the pain... Thursday night I got to a part in the pattern that said work until piece measure 16cm. My piece was already a little longer than that. I kept going anyway because the next line said work until piece measures 33cm. These instructions seemed odd to me but like I said, I wasn't thinking straight. On Friday I showed off my work to a bunch of my friends. I worked until 33cm and when I read the next instructions I was supposed to cast off for the armholes and end up with 64 stitches. I only had 64 stitches! This is what had happened: I had misread the instructions for decreasing and was only decreasing on one side of the work instead of at each end, so it took me twice as many rows and this is why my piece was longer than 16cm. Then I hadn't done the necessary increases because I made a copy of the pattern to take with me to Chicago and it cut off those 2 lines of the instructions. It didn't seem right to only be shaping on one side of the garment but I was on pain medication so I didn't think about it too hard. Friday night I was so confused about not having the right number of stitches that I took out the pattern book and realized what had happened. I had to frog an entire ball of yarn and then some!

I'm not as far as I would have been but I have made a lot of progress. The piece looks a lot better with the proper shaping. I glad that I realized my mistake before I finished the back. The instructions for the front are the same until half way up the piece. If I had realized the mistake while making the front I would have had to frog a lot more. Knitting this is really fun and I am thinking about knitting a different tank top for myself soon.

Happy St. Pat's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-17T19:00:00.000-06:00

Past Knitting Creations (2005)
Originally uploaded by d-luck.

I love to celebrate St. Pat's! I went to school at UMR and it is a big celebration there. We get 2 days off school for games, there's a parade, and we even have a St. Pat's Queen. Unfortunately Wade and I live too far away to go back. We are just taking it easy at home this year. I almost even forgot to wear green. Whoops!

Anyway, I wanted to post a picture of the cute bag I made last fall. I got my bag out, set up my shot, and when I went to take the picture I remembered that the camera batteries were dead. So instead I'm going to treat you to some knitting past. These are pictures of my first three projects. I sent up a Flickr account today and made a mosaic, so I hope this works!

The top left corner is a picture of me modeling a scarf I made for my mom's birthday last year. This is the first project I completed on my own. It's Ribbed-for-Her-Pleasure from Stitch 'n bitch. Wade challenged me to complete it in 1 month. This seemed challenging back then. I completed it in time and it cemented my knitting future!

The top right corner is my second scarf. I knit this one was for my friend Courtney as a birthday present. I had even less time to complete this since Courtney's birthday is actually 1 week before my mom's. But I was getting faster and I finished it in about 2 weeks. It's Wavy Gravy from Stitch 'n bitch Nation. I used a dark green and a medium green from Lamb's Pride. Green is Court's favorite color and it's perfect for St. Pat's! She's in Chicago so maybe she's even wearing it today :)

The bottom 2 pictures are a baby blanket I made for my friends Jenny and John last spring. They had their first baby in June. They are HUGE Chicago Cubs fans so I searched for the perfect red and blue in a baby weight yarn. I tried to take a close up of the corner so you could see the pattern better but I don't know if it shows up well in the mosaic. My mother-in-law's friend gave me this pattern. It was very easy.

I hope you enjoyed my blast-from-the-past. I know I did! Have a great St. Patrick's day!!!!!

4x4 Meme

2006-03-10T17:48:00.000-06:00

I was tagged 2 months ago by Brynne to do this meme. Now that it's spring break I finally have time! I was also tagged by Martha weeks ago to do a different meme but I just couldn't think of 5 weird habits...or at least not ones I'd like to share :)

4 jobs you've had:
1. Sales associate at Wolf/Ritz Camera
2. Intern at IBM
3. Research assistant in college
4. Box office at AMC Theater in Naperville

4 movies you could watch over and over:
1. A Christmas Story
2. Singing in the Rain
3. Animal House
4. Probably most any musical or comedy

4 Places you've lived:
1. Naperville, IL (most of my life)
2. Rolla, MO
3. Columbia, MO (for less than 1 year)
4. Katy/Houston, TX

4 TV shows you love to watch:
1. Unwrapped, Good Eats, Iron Chef America, 30 minute meals, Everyday Italian...If it's on the Food Network I probably like to watch it
2. American Chopper
3. Family Guy
4. All My Children

4 places you've been on vacation:
1. Cancun - Honeymoon!
2. Italy
3. Connecticut - my parents are from CT so I've been many many times to visit family
4. North Carolina - my first road trip with Wade

4 websites you visit daily:
1. Yahoo - for e-mail
2. Bloglines
3. For Better or For Worse daily comic strip
4. WebCT - grad school

4 of your favorite foods:
1. Pasta
2. Pizza
3. Anything sweet! Especially if it has chocolate!
4. Cheeseburgers

4 places you'd rather be right now:
1. Hawaii - I've never been but I hear its awesome.
2. Chicago - I miss my family and it's an awesome city
3. Kansas City - My SIL and some of my friends live there
4. Italy - It's just so beautiful and cultured

Brynne tagged the Katy Knitters so I'll just say if you haven't done it or want to do it again - go for it!

Christmas in Progress

2005-12-08T12:47:00.000-06:00

I've finished another semester (yippee!) and now I have to focus on the Christmas knitting. Last summer I decided I wanted to try some new knitting techniques and Wade said, "Why not make a Christmas present at the same time?". So, I choose to make the "Letter Her Have It" bag from Stich 'n Bitch Nation for Kate, my sister-in-law. This bag has many parts and unfortunately I started with the most fun part to knit. The chart was very easy to follow. I've been distracted by school and other knitting so the less fun parts have slowly come along. Now I only have one i-chord to knit, lots of seeming, and felting to do by the 23rd. I'm thankful she is coming here for Christmas so I don't have to get this done early enough to ship...but I bought yarn to make 2 scarves for Wade's grandfathers for Christmas so I have to do those and ship them in the mean time. The picture is my progress on the bag. I will let you know how my first felting project goes!

Not so Cool Hat...

2005-10-31T19:25:00.000-06:00

Last winter after I had finished my first two complete projects, a scarf for my mom and a scarf for my friend Courtney, I decided I should make winter hats for the guys. I thought it was lucky that I found an easy pattern in Better Homes and Gardens Knit It! for a "Cool" men's hat. I even bought my first addi-turbo circulars for this pattern. But after a year of anticipation the results were less than spectacular.

DISCLAIMER: When I started this hat last week I was sick.
BUT, that does not excuse this bad pattern or yarn.

I cast on all my stitches and was not sure what end to start knitting on. I've only knit in the round once before. So I knit a row or two and realized the bottom was uneven and I had picked the wrong end. I cast on again and this time was confused about the rib. The bottom of the hat is a k1,p1 rib but since it was in the round and I was sick, I wasn't sure what to knit and what to purl. After 4 rows, I had half rib and half seed stitch. So I cast on for a third time. Yes, it was a charm! The hat was so easy to knit and it took me less than a week! I didn't even do any knitting this weekend and I still finished tonight. I had my misgivings about this hat because I thought the guys in the pictures looked like dorks. But I thought surely my DH would make this hat look hot! But you see the result.

I frogged about a forth of the hat and am going to try again. I think if I take out some rows it might look normal. To my surprise, my husband is a yarn snob and did not like the Lion Brand Wool-Ease that he had suggested I use because of the price. Hurray! We are going to the LYS on Saturday and I'm going to get better yarn and try the pattern that Amy used for her DH. The project was not a total waste...and I improved my knitting skills too :)

Quiz: What Color is your Aura?

2005-10-31T14:46:00.000-06:00

I plan on finishing my DH's hat tonight and I promise I will post a picture. But since I have a blog I decided to take this quiz, I figured that I might as well post the results...I guess it's pretty accurate and I'm working on my teaching certification so the career part sounds especially good to me!

Your Aura is Yellow

Your Personality: Life's too short not to have fun. Your bright energy brings joy and laughter to those around you.

You in Love: A total flirt, you need a lot of freedom to play. But you'll be loyal to that one man who makes you feel safe.

Your Career: You love variety in a job, and you probably won't stick with one career. You would make a great professor, writer, or actress.

What Color Is Your Aura? Take This Quiz :-)

I finally have a blog of my own!

2005-10-28T17:31:00.000-05:00

I stepped out of the world of lurking and into the world of blogging. Now that I have my own account I'll actually leave comments on my friend's blog. I might even knit more now so I'll have pictures to post and people can leave me comments too. I promise to add knitting content to this blog very soon. Right now I'm just figuring out my set-up.