weekend in richmond

For the past few days, I've been in Richmond, VA with my mom sitting with my grandma! With all that free time, I worked a while on the Four Dates test scarf, as well as the Maggie Mop Hat:

The Magical Maggie Mop Hat WIP.

Today we're going to the Maymont Home Show at the convention center because the company my brother works for has a display at the show. Afterwards, I'm dragging my parents to The Knitting Basket on Grove and Libbie so I can try to find some pretty grey manos or malabrigo for the Jessica Scarf! =D (I can't go to a city without going to a LYS!!) If I find some, I'll have pictures soon. For now, it's off to get ready and knit a little before we leave!

Oh, and it's going to be 50 outside today. =D PERFECT day!!

wishing my driveway wasn't a swamp..

Bah.. after all the snow, rain, and sleet, my driveway is currently nothing but slippery mud! Makes me wish I had a pair of rainboots so I wouldn't sink two inches in the mud everytime I try to go get the mail! I won't be happier 'til it's at least 50 degrees outside, and I can wear flip-flops, t-shirts, and jeans everyday. =) (Yea, I figured I didn't want to say 'I won't be happy 'til...", 'cause I'm relatively happy now!)

I'm getting pretty far along on the test-knit scarf! I'm also test-knitting a baby hat in 4 bright colors!

I had a little bit of a "blast from the past" yesterday when I was subbing for the 7th graders. One of the students came up to me, and said "don't you know me?" I was a little confused, becasue I didn't recognize him, but I didn't want to hurt his feelings. Then, he says, "I'm Matt's brother". I mean, whoa.. Matt was a very close friend of mine when I was in high school, and he was killed in a car accident my freshman year of college. The last time I saw his little brother, he was in 2nd grade! It was really nice to see him, and see that he seems to be doing fairly well! He's a smart kid, and really sweet. =)

Well, much more test-knitting to get done this evening! Going to work hard until Lost comes on, because that's a show that needs your full attention if you even want to have the slightest clue as to what's going on... =)

Lazy Weekend

Bleh! It's already 1:30pm on Sunday, and I haven't knit a single thing this weekend.. Yesterday, my 15-year-old sister had 12 of her friends over, and between my parents' car and my car, we had to drive them to go out to eat, and then go to the movies. Then they all spent the night! imagine trying to go to sleep with 13 15-year-old girls giggling in the living room. =)

I've started applying to any job that I find, in the hopes that I'll get one somewhere, and be able to start paying these student loans.. Sheesh! While I'm watching the Olympics of course!

I plan on finishing up the Color Swap 6" afghan square today, and then getting back to that 4 Dates Test Knit scarf! I want to get to the ribbing this weekend, so I can get to my Malabrigo scarf! =D

The weather is still messing with us... It snowed again yesterday morning, and it's supposed to snow AGAIN tomorrow. *sigh* can I say I'm SICK of snow?! Florida, here I come.

Well, I've got some RAKs and things to get ready so that I can mail them out tomorrow! Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

bleh... frustrated!

if only money DIDN'T make the world go 'round! sheesh.. I owe SO much money in student loan debt it's ridiculous. Even worse, i have no way to make payments as I don't have a steady job. Yay for living in a rural area. I've been looking for a job for TWO years, and have yet to be offered anything. I'm subbing now, but it's not steady, and the loan company told me today that they're not offering any more 3 month deferments, and I'll have to start making payments in April, or pay $150 a MONTH in deferment fees (which don't apply to my loan!). I had planned on using my tax return money to take a class that will help me get my teaching certificate, but looks like I may have to use it to pay these loan payments.. (which are about $650/month, and that's only for HALF of my loans)...

Bah.. I know this is really supposed to be about knitting, but this was just something I had to complain about.. If anyone knows of a high paying job in rural Virginia, oh please let me know! ;)

ANYWAY... I'm currently test-knitting a beautiful scarf from JulieGoddess on Ravelry! It's very nice, and I'm happy to be doing it for her! I think I'm going to go work on that and maybe relax a little bit from this frustrating news..

February's On The Needles

Geez, a whole month has gone by since I started this thing!! Well, I didn't start on all my January projects, but I'll do them eventually!!

Here goes:

1. Bella's Baseball Scarf - I've got one main panel left, and the two end pieces. Then, all I have to do is sew it together!

2. Mrs. Darcy Cardigan - I've done the back, and the two front panels. All that's left are the two sleeves, and my very first sweater will be done! Of course, it's not perfect.. I'm pretty sure that the armholes don't exactly line up. Luckily it's not being made to fit a mannequin, but a person!

3. Not So Straight Scarf - yea, I didn't finish it in January.. I'll get to it!

4. Ginny socks - still stuck on the 1st 5 rows of ribbing.. bleh!

5. Malabrigo scarf - I MAY start on this, 'cause that malabrigo I bought the other day is just to pretty to sit there in a ball on my shelf.. =)

I finished my square for the swap already, and also made one for myself! I painted the bookmark this afternoon, just have to write the quote on it! I decided that I'm going to make a coffee cozie for my Color Swap buddy, and I'm going to keep my identity a secret since I've already talked about what I want to make! Maybe next month I'll share, since my spoiler told me who she was this month, and that made me even more excited!!

Well, I'm off to knit some more of the coffee cozie! It's so cute I may have to make myself one!

more gloomy weather..

well, we had one day of 50 degree weather.. now, we're supposed to get even MORE snow and sleet tomorrow and saturday.. hooray! but, the good news is, i'll get to finish a bunch of projects this weekend! Here's what's on the list for the weekend:

1. Square for Friendship Square Exchange

2. Handmade Gift for Color Swap (haven't decided weather I want to tackle a scarf, or make a coffee cup cozy!)

3. Watercolor Bookmark for Bookmark Swap - although this swap is on ravelry, it said the bookmarks could be any craft, so this time I'm making one out of cardstock and watercolor paper, painted with water colors and a good book quote! Possibly I'll make two, since they're not that time consuming!

4. Finish last three pieces for Bella Baseball Scarf

Last night, I visited my friend in Raleigh, NC, and we decided to dye a skein of yarn with Kool-Aid! It came out pretty, but a lot more subdued than we hoped. So, now that I'm back at home, I'm going to attack it with some bright red Kool-Aid over the slightly varigated peach, light purple, yellow, and white that it is now!

I also visited Great Yarns, a LYS in Raleigh, and picked up a veryyy pretty skein of Malabrigo in the colorway Plena! I only bought one skein, so I'm trying to find a nice pattern for it for a scarf. It's so pretty I want to make sure my pattern suits it!!

Well, I'm off to finish dying my yarn, and then to knit away for the weekend! I'll post pictures when the yarn is done, and when I'm done with the other items!

12" of snow...

So much for that nice warm weather! We've got 12" of snow.. It started late Friday night, and didn't stop until late Saturday night.

That would be my dad, shoveling the front porch and sidewalk! Notice that he's already shoveled the sidewalk, but by the time he made it to the porch, the sidewalk was covered in snow again!

The schools were off yesterday, and tomorrow, so no work for me! I've been knitting a bit with all this free time! I worked on my Mrs. Darcy cardigan that's been hibernating for awhile.. I also worked on my Bella Baseball scarf that has also been hibernating for a month or so. I've only got a few more pieces to make, so I should really get a move on with it! I'd like to be able to wear it before winter's over! (Even though I'm dying for some warm weather.. Only 3 more months 'til the Bahamas!!)

I mailed out my Valentine's Square today! It's probably going to take awhile, as it's going all the way to Scotland! Can't post a picture 'til she gets it, since I want it to be a surprise!