UGH!

Classes ended well, I student teach next semester. I've been working on a cute caplet for the past month only to bind off and realize I screwed up really bad. I'm grumpy. Its sooooo small or I have awful gauge knitting type thing so I'm about thirty seconds from ripping it out and starting over except that I knit slow as dirt and I have to work this weekend.

UGH!
- Jersey

In Love with my Other Boyfriend

Finals are tomorrow which means I'll have a TON more time to knit. I can't wait. Seriously, I can't wait. I start student teaching at the end of January and then I graduate with a BS in MAY.

I can't wait.

In the mean time, I have another boyfriend. His name is Lou.


We went a wild adventure today and he is exhausted. I took advantage and took pictures because he doesn't pose well for pictures usually.



He's a miniature pincher aka MinPin and he's my new bestfriend/my other boyfriend.



He has sweaters because he is 12lbs and I am worried he will freeze to death. I have not yet knit for him, but I will soon. It has to be superwash because he pees on his sweaters a lot.

That is it for now, I'll have knitting content soon!

Jersey

Rhinebeck 2009 (picture heavy)

here goes nothing!
I was so excited to get to rhinebeck:





That's my excited face. I'm wearing the earrings I got from last year!























that is apple crisp. its delicious. it doesn't look it, but it smelled and tasted delicoius. we each had like 4 cups of apple cider too.









Now onto the yarn I bought. I bought ALL bulky, ALL handspun or hand dyed. I can get machine spun any day but its rare I get to buy from local farms that card/dye/spin their own stuff, so I did it as frequently as possible. I think I was completely successful in ALL of my purchases but I didn't look into each purchase super carefully.


I got roving! and a drop spindle. This is from the Sheep Shed at Mountain View Farm





Its so beautiful!

This is from the Hudson Valley Sheep and Wool Company. I bought four skeins for a cardigan/sweater type thing.



I got this for Boyfriend, two skiens. It has a bit of green in it too that did not photograph well.



I got this little bundle from This and That Farm



I got this from a woman who uses sea water and the sun to dye her yarn. She's from Maine but her company slips my mind right now and I'm being a lazy pain the butt.



This is from Kid Hollow Farm. I love their stuff, I wish I could have afforded more.



I bought two bags of roving from these fine people:



This is Scotia, a dark blue color.




And pink!



I have quite a bit of knitting ahead of me, including a scarf for Boyfriend, knitting for myself and here is an ALMOST completed ear flap hat:





Its a red/orangey mess that I LOVE! I'm making this for Boyfriend's sister who absolutely does not read this so I am not worried about ruining any surprises. It's knit with some wool that was handspun that I traded from Ravelry.

Ok, I am pooped from uploading. I got a pro account for Flickr, I feel like a new woman! Enjoy and keep knitting!

Jersey!

Today was

amazing.

I had a really lovely time with Boyfriend, doing silly things like petting sheep and buying yarn, a DROP SPINDLE!!!!!!!!!!! and roving(!!!!!)!!!!!ELEVENTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll have pictures up Monday :)!

I traded some yarn

And got quite a bit of beautiful yarn from different people! Here is some handspun that I'm turning into an earflap hat for Christmas:



I got some Borroco chunky:







And this: I forget what it is, but I love it.




I forget what this is too but I love it. I'm going to make the
Anthropologie caplet with it. Super super super pretty.



And this. This is the latest addition to our family. My sister moved in with us and brought her little dog Lou.



He's adorable and felt like posing for me. Haven't been able to get a cute pic of him anywhere since.





He's 12 pounds so I will have to knit him some sweaters because it gets chilly and he get cold.

Rhinebeck in a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited, I can't wait! I'm charging up my digital camera battery as we speak! TONS AND TONS of pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!

jersey

One more week!

One week until the New York Sheep & Wool Festival!!!!! I'll have an actual post, complete with pictures, up soon :) I promise!

NJ Sheep & Wool

I wish I could say that I'm going to the NJ sheep & wool festival today, but I am not :( I am instead, working :( In other news I finally started a yoga mat bag in cotton, and realized how much I hate cotton.

That is all :)

Autism Walk

October 3rd I'm participating in an Autism walk in Long Branch, NJ. Please help me raise my goal of $250 which would benefit research as well as children across the United States. If you could please donate I would really appreciate it!

Autism Walk (link to my site)

I also have some more information from the site, which may or may not be interesting or useful:


Please join me in my fight to make a difference in the lives of the more than 1 million Americans living with autism today.

I am participating in Walk Now for Autism to help find a cure for autism. Autism is the second most common developmental disorder in the United States affecting one in every 150 children born today. Despite some promising discoveries, the cause of autism is unknown and a cure does not exist. Research is crucial. Every 20 minutes another child is diagnosed with autism. Not only must we find ways to improve the quality of life for children and adults with autism, but we also must find a cure, and soon.

Walk Now for Autism is our chance to make a difference in the fight against autism by raising money for autism research and heightening public awareness. Please join me in my fight as I raise money to help fund essential research. You can donate to Walk Now for Autism and/or join my team online using the links at the bottom of this page. Donations can also be mailed to Autism Speaks using the donation form located on my page or send me a check made out to Autism Speaks.

Thank you for taking an important step in the fight against autism.

Donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law.
Autism Speaks 501 (C)(3) Tax Id #: 20-2329938

Matching gift program: Many companies provide their employees with matching gifts. Please consult your employer on its matching gift guidelines and attach matching gift forms accordingly.

Nice new hats, and the day before the Fall semester

I knit quite a bit this summer, mainly hats, and I finally got around to getting some pictures taken. I liked this yarn soooooooo much! It's so soft and light, this hat is going to be mega super warm, on top of fluffy and beautiful. For my first baby cable hat, it hid some of my stupid mistakes, which I decided weren't so bad that I finished the hat rather than ripping out completely. I think you can tell I made mistakes if you study it, and I don't know that many knitters so I'm not worried about somebody pointing out a messed up cable :)



I found some adorable buttons at a local fabric shop that has an entire department dedicated to buttons. I was cranking out hats and not .. finishing them, so I sat down the other day and did that. I weaved in the ends to the Egg hat & got the buttons on their. They're cute, I like the hat so I might knit another one, but in a different color or something, and with different buttons (clearly!).



I love a good earflap hat. I have an adorable pink and white one. This isn't finished because I think I'm going to add little tassels or something to the Ear Flaps. I worked hard on this hat to get the colors to be really pretty, visually interesting and of course, throw some little baby purls in there. I love how they look like hearts. You have to ignore the picture, I was kind of sweaty !



The crown is alittle wacky, but I don't mind/care. I have another ear flap hat, the flaps are kind of stiff which I like.



I'm happy, and since its for me I suppose that is all that matters. :)

I've been going shopping for school clothes since I start school.. TOMORROW. UGH. And I'm going to be completing my 90 hours this semester which means more time in the classroom, and next semester I'll be student teaching. The problem I'm having is that while I can get pants in my size, and hemmed (I am so short) I am having a real problem finding nice, cute sweaters. I'm perpetually cold, so sweaters are a must. The previous experience I've had in schools is that they vary ALOT. I may be cold in one room, and sweaty in another, which makes a sweater or shrug a must. I have a few cute ones, but I've decided that I am going to try and crank out a shrug or two before the actual observation period starts.

I've picked out a few that I think are cute, and that if knit in a neutral type color I could probably wear with several outfits (which is what I'm going for). I am selling/trading some of my stash right now on Ravelry, so I'm excited about that, it means I can afford some yarn for the shrug(s)[check out my queue] and I traded for a nice handspun that I'm going to make a hat for Boyfriend's sister for Christmas.

I'm also really interested in this. It's a kit from KnitPicks that instructs you on all these adorable little ornaments. I can't believe I'm thinking about Christmas in August, but I am, for several reasons. I just switched jobs over the past few weeks, from one restaurant to another and I struggled all summer to do much of anything because I made very little money. I'm hoping to save up and go to: The NJ Sheep & Wool Festival, The NY Sheep and Wool Festival, Greenwich Village for Halloween (which means making my own costume) and again to NYC to see the Christmas tree, and a few trips in between for good measure, and excellent Cantonese pan fried noodles :)

I have quite a bit planned. Here's to the start of a good semester, my last one on campus full time, my (ALMOST!) last one as an undergraduate !

Happy Knitting! Jersey

Finished another!

I finished another project, this time, an ear flap hat with some color work. I think technically its called stranding, but I also knit up some purl stitches so it looks like i have alternating hearts around the hat. I'll have pictures up later this week.

:)!

Two Finished Projects!

I finished the Robin's Egg Hat . I just need to find a nice button and weave in my ends. Here are some finished object pictures, yay!!



I originally knit the Meathead hat, using this yarn but decided that I wasn't a fan of the pattern, so I frogged it and knit this instead.





I like this yarn a lot [Plymouth Yarn Trabajos Del Peru], its a very beautiful alternative to Manos del Uruguay. It's a little different, its got a thick/thin slubbness to it. I'm definitely getting more Boyfriend's 17 year old sister asked for an earflap hat for Christmas so I think I'll be using this.





I decided to make a cowl out of the same yarn, because, you know, I could. I'm trying to grow my hair out to donate it, and sometimes scarves are annoying because they hold my hair down, but they also keep my neck warm. The idea behind a cowl is pretty interesting I think, because it keeps your neck warm without really messing up your hair, so I knit the Wonky which was featured in the latest issue of Knitty as a surprise.






It's a simple, quick, beautiful pattern that really showcased the yarn I used. As you can, or can't see, the yarn had a pattern type of effect. It didn't pool like it did when I knit the Meathead hat (although I know that could have been remedied). It very naturally seemed to fall in place, which makes me happy because its one less thing for me to think about.





I love how it looks with my hair down, its nice and warm and kind of rolls under my chin in a nice way which is NOT! itchy!








In other news, I've been working on another hat, with another beautiful yarn. I bought it at Knitty City in NYC when I went to visit the Natural History Musuem. I'm making the Dean Street Hat, chunky version I love it! It's beautiful, doesn't require a cable needle and knits up really fast. I messed up so I had to frog it and reknit it but I'm loving every single second of it. I can't wait to get more of this yarn. I think I'll definitely be using it to make another cowl.




It knits up so quickly!








And heres a pretty picture of the yarn. It's a beautiful eggplant color. I'll have all of these pictures up on my Flikr account, and on my project page.






I've gotten quite a bit of knitting done this summer in anticipation of the winter. Here in Jersey we've gotten so much rain, I've been told that the winter will probably be mild, which makes me kind of sad. I recently frogged two projects from the very very very start of my knitting career that I am planning to work into another pair of Smittens and maybe a cowl or hat.


That's it for today:)
Jersey!