Knitting and Work Does Not Mix.

However, the beach and knitting do mix. People tend to discredit New Jersey, which makes me sad because yes, sometimes I want to move far, far away and other days I hope I grow old and grey here.







This is the reason why I never want to leave New Jersey.

These are shots from a local park. Boyfriend is playing volleyball in the background. I was really far away because it had just finished raining, poor thing had to play in the rain. I took the pictures because of the lush greenery (which I love and is why I have no problem watching him play) and the beautiful rainbow.

The benny's on the other hand.....



They make me want to run screaming.

I will explain two things: in the summertime two things happen at the beach, Benny's invade the beaches, boardwalks, parks, anything that is slightly enjoyable, they come down and ruin. That includes all the nice roads I take to get here and there and back again. It makes driving on the weekends a chore and something only the most daring and patient should try. Don't get me started on Friday and Sunday nights. Garden State Parking Lot (usually its the Parkway)! Anyway, it has taught me to be a very nice, courteous tourist because I've seen what the not-so-nice ones are like.

The second thing I'm going to explain is the 'warming' of the Atlantic. I'm only explaining because I'm not sure if non-Atlantic Ocean goers will know what I'm talking about. Apparently, the Pacific does not do this, although they have better waves. The Gulf Stream makes it way mid July usually, up the East coast and warms the ocean water significantly. It is so pleasant opposed to the colder Atlantic water, the kind that you don't even want to stick your baby toe in.
In other news, I've got a standing beach invitation for Monday's, which is wonderful because the water has warmed up already. I also got quite a bit of sock knitting done, and if you excuse the sheer ugliness of the angles, as the sock is on MY [ugly] foot, I got quite a bit done.













If you look closely you can see a nice sized hole from my lack of skills. I was mildly sad about this, but considered it a good luck charm. If thats the only mistake I made, that's not a bad mistake at all!

At some point during this week I have made the following decision: Finish first sock, but do not start second sock. Why? I have a baby blanket to knit, I purchased the yarn from a store going out of business. It's in the cutest town, I love visiting it and I only recently learned it was even there. I plan to purchase some 50% sock yarn as soon as I get paid. I'm also considering frogging first sock so that when I find a really awesome pattern, I'll have the Opal saved and ready to go. Thoughts?

Back to my projects. I purchased yarn for a bag I wanted to knit from Interweave Knits, I have to finish my first sweater and I have to get the baby blanket done. So my first sock is going to be a lonely, single sock until I get some more pressing projects done. I don't want to claim one is more important over another, but when I say I "have" to get my sweater done, it means I want to wear it this Fall with my sweet blue flower bag. I also want to find a sock book written for DPNs (trying to translate from two circular needles to three/four DPNs is wearing me down & out) so that when all my other projects are done, I can start making myself some awesome, awesome socks. Aside from socks this winter my only other plan is to knit an earflap hat. Since I won the bamboo DPNs from ebay, this is a very do-able project and I'm excited. I need to keep my ears warm, kids.

That about does it. I can't believe its the end of June already. I have approximately ten more weeks of summer vacation, I start Local University on August 27th. This bums me out a great deal, but Local University has their own knitting club, which makes it worth while :)!

Enjoy the weekend:)!

I have to tell you....

Despite not being in school, I feel like I am knitting and updating less on vacation. I don't have much to say except that I had no idea [nearly] two weeks had passed and I hadn't updated. Not only that, I have nothing to update with.

Hopefully I'll have my sock done soon. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

How I Spent My Day Off

I had off from work today. So for my Granny's 79th birthday, I made key lime pie.



I should mention, crust to filling is from scratch. I am very proud of that fact. I'm also very proud of my first sock. I keep reminding myself that I have to make a second one. Hopefully this will counteract any potential "SSS" (second sock syndrome).






The above are shots of my heel flap, and later on I turned the heel. It's a sad little bump of a turn. I took pictures. It doesn't look right to me at all. I'm currently at the stage of the pattern where I pick up the gusset stitches, which has me the slightest bit concerned.





That's pretty much it. I'm going to try and pick up the gusset stitches tomorrow after work. I've been using this site, Silver's Sock Class as a substitute for Cat Bordhi's book, "Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles" when I get confused. I've obviously been using the 'One Sock on DPN's' tutorial.

Considering I did very little with my body and mainly used my hands and brain today knitting and making pie, I'm pretty tired. I would not mind any comments about the sock. Another big thank you to Shelia for making this all possible! :)

Catching Up

I have a lot to cover in this post. To start off though, I was cruising YouTube when I came across this:


Speaking of "real men", the boyfriend and I are doing well,
I didn't necessarily mean to take the picture, but I figured it's comical and I'd share. This will be a picture heavy post as I have quite a bit to share with you. First and foremost, Shelia sent me a wonderful package of yarns and a book. (My ebay needles snuck in to these photo, for fun)





Of the yarn she sent me I casted on with my brand new, recently won ebay-auction bamboo double pointed needles.







I started a sock! I LOVE the Opal she sent me, its beautiful and I really enjoy knitting it. I thought I would be dismayed by such tiny needles and skinny yarn, but no! No way! It's actually very portable, as I've knit at two family BBQ's, houses, cars, you name it. I really enjoy it. I'm starting to falter as it comes time for the heel/gusset to be worked, but I also haven't had an incredible amount of time to read the book Shelia sent, as well as knit. In fact, I've been bringing knitting with me to work.

I work at a quaint, family owned bagel shop that also serves lunch. We have 'rushes' of customers every so often but for the most part the place is dead. So, I've been knitting at work. I've been knitting squares on the bias for the people in Kansas. My boss thinks it's adorable, and he thinks my knitting is a good luck charm. Every time I bring my knitting with me to work, we're busy, or at least we have a steady stream of customers.

The first square I knit is ugly. There is not other way to describe it other than that. The gauge is obviously messed up.



The second square is coming along nicely.



As I left work today, my boss saw me taking my knitting with me and he told me specifically to "bring it back tomorrow, its good luck!" As I haven't had time to knit at work at all.

Oh well. :) In other news, I dropped by the Local University I'll be attending in the Fall and handed in some paper work and my deposit. I'm really excited about this. They have a knitting club, too! People my own age! That may make me even more excited.

The Season is starting here. Benny's, Shoobie's, everybody comes to the Jersey Shore for the weekends/summer. It's a nightmare if you want to drive anywhere, and if you have to deal with these people as they typically have the worst attitudes known to man. Being a Jersey Girl myself, that only means I have a new place to knit: at the beach. That will hopefully be Monday, as long as it doesn't rain :)

Check out my links, I updated them. Please visit Mike wants to knit. He's a friend from a previous job who I knit a beer cozy for. He has yet to actually receive said cozy, but it is knit for him. Also, recently updated and another good friend of mine, EvoLumiere. EvoLumiere is run by Dan Chosich, a film student at a NJ university. He's got some new films up, as well as old ones.

That is it. I have officially updated on all things knitting related. Goodnight!