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So Thursday was my friend Jon’s birthday. He is obsessed with the ewoks from Star Wars and is definitely craft-worthy, so this is what I made him for his birthday present:
Pattern: Wicket the Ewok, mostly.
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool (brown), cream wool from a thrift store sweater, and red-orange vintage wool that never ends.
Hook: 3.75mm (f) and 4 mm when I misplaced the f hook.
Mods: I didn’t really follow the pattern for the body or the arms and I didn’t use it at all for the head or ears (though the pictures were instrumental in my figuring it out). I followed the pattern for the hood, but I had to modify it so it fit my Wicket (it would have come out WAY too big).
I happen to think he’s adorable, even though my embroidering on yarn skills are… somewhat sub-par. But Jon loves him, and that’s what really matters. : )
As the title says, I am all unpacked and moved into my apartment at school. I have so, so much stuff, so it took a while to get everything unpacked, but I’m finally pretty much done. The apartment is really nice: very spacious and open (though currently, the front room and hall are very bare. We do have a lovely view of the courtyard of the apartment complex:
I’ve been decorating a little bit (but I need to get some more picture hanging tabs before I can do much more):
(There are lots of very blank white walls.)
And my desk is all set up and mostly ready for paper writing and studying (not that I do a whole lot of either despite being an English major, but the thought is there):
(You can see the sweater I mentioned last week, though it’s currently on pause while I work on some swap stuff, as well as some more artwork that needs to be hung.)
I’ve even set up a craft corner in the corner of the living room. The vast majority of my possessions are craft-related (supplies, books, works in progress, etc), so it’s nice to have a central location for them all:
The iron usually sits on the table and I use the purple thing as a bench as the table is rather too short for most chairs. The only thing that’s not stored in the craft corner is my two Rubbermaid bins of yarn because A, there isn’t really room for them over there and B, I go into my yarn stash a lot less often then my other craft supplies (just when I need to start a new project, mostly, since I tend to stick with one at a time. One of these days I’m going to take everything out of the bins, air it out, and sort it by weight (sock and lace in one, worsted, bulky in another. Haven’t decided where to put sport weight yet since I don’t have very much).
I’m highly pleased to have a space to sew though. I don’t do a great amount of sewing because I’m not very good (though it’s more accurate to say I’m not very precise), but it’s nice to know I can use the sewing machine at two in the morning and not really risk waking up my roommates.
Anyway, now that I’m mostly settled in, I should be back to regular blog posts. I’m only taking four classes this semester (I’ve been having issues with scheduling), so I’ll have a lot of free time (though I’m going to very vaguely look for a job).
Which is two days after the pattern giveaway closed! And we have a winner! Congratulations to commenter number five, Lorraine! Look for my email so I can get that pattern to you!
If you didn’t win, don’t fret too much–I’ll definitely be hosting another pattern giveaway soon. : )
In other knitting news, I’m still working on my Sassy Ribs socks. They currently look like this:
I still have about a plum-sized ball (2 inch diameter) of yarn to go on both socks (I’m trying to use up allt he yarn). I’m not crazy about the colors in the yarn, but it was super cheap (like $6.50 for the pair) and they’ll be nice and warm for winter. And they’ll be mostly hidden in my shoes/under my jeans anyway.
I’ve made a good bit of progress on them mostly because I took them with me to Busch Gardens on Monday and knit on them in line. I stuffed them into a fanny pack, so I could take my “loose object” in line for roller coasters and such.
Busch Gardens, by the way, has sheep. Scottish Blackface Sheep, to be exact. They’re over by the Clydesdales and the sheep dogs and the park does Sheep Dog/Herding demonstrations every couple of hours. I didn’t get to watch one, unfortunately. I think it would have been pretty cool.
So I mentioned last time that I was working on another pair of socks. Ribbed socks, two at a time, out of Cascade Sassy Stripes. Here’s what they look like:
Okay, they’re a bit farther along than that since I took this picture yesterday afternoon. But you get the picture. (Pun mostly not intended.)
I’ve also been receiving various swap things. I’m going to wait and post things as a group, but I joined a bookmark swap on Craftster. I haven’t started mine yet (gonna wait til I get back to school and have more space and access to my crafting supplies as currently, they’re mostly packed), but I’ve received two (totally awesome ones) so far. I’m also waiting on some OWS stuff (a surprise and some fabric).
Also, speaking of returning to school, I should mention that I’m moving back to Fredericksburg either Saturday or Sunday of this week. The blog will probably be pretty quiet for a couple of days around that time as I’ll need to be seriously packing (as opposed to the sort of packing I’ve been doing so far) and then I’ll be settling into my apartment and starting classes.
One last thing: the giveaway for a free copy of any one of my patterns ends tonight at midnight! If you haven’t already entered, you definitely should as there aren’t that many entries and odds are good!
Sorry for the accidental week-long radio silence, people! I am currently in DC, as I mentioned last time, and haven’t gotten to the computer as much as usual. I’d have vacation-type photos to show you, except this week has been extremely relaxing–the vast majority of it has been spent curled up with the boyfriend and Buffy the Vampire Slayer (to which, I might add, I am totally and completely hooked. Damn you, Joss Whedon!). I’ve also, rather uncharacteristically, not been doing as much knitting as I usually would (I am oddly content to simply curl up on the couch with the show instead of needing something to do with my hands as I usually do).
I have been knitting though. The lace ribbon scarf I’ve been working on is nearing completion and looks like this:
It’s approximately five feet tall (I lay down on the floor next to it and was almost the same length) and the remaining yarn ball is about the size of a small plum. So almost done then.
I also started a pair of socks in the car on the way up to DC:
The pattern is Wendy Johnson’s Dainty Anklets (from Toe Up Socks for Every Body), but obviously sized up to fit my feet. I haven’t really been working on them because I’ve been working on the scarf (also the not really knitting thing mentioned above). I suspect I’ll be focusing on them more soon anyway since I’m taking the train home from DC so that’s four or five hours of knitting time.
I’ll be home sometime on Monday evening, and after that, the posting schedule will return to somewhat normal.
Greetings, once again, from DC!
On Wednesday, while discussing with my family what we were planning to do in DC over the couple of days we would be here, the following exchange took place:
Mother: “We should go in the Capitol building!”
Me: “…Okay.”
Mother: “If we go in the Capitol, you can’t bring your knitting needles.”
Me: “…Then we can’t go.”
Mother: “They have lockers in the Natural History Museum. We can leave our stuff there.”
Me: “…If I can’t bring knitting, I do not want to go.”
We did not end up going into the Capitol building.
This is because we missed our reservation while searching for the Vienna metro station, but still. I feel like I’ve won that particular battle.
We did do other things though. My sister, brother, mother and I drove up early Thursday morning (we left the house at like, five am) for my sister’s college orientation. We dropped her off and my brother, mother and I traipsed about the city even though it was about 100 degrees (no exaggeration). We visited the Library of Congress:
and the zoo
and I took a picture of the Capitol:
And we also went to the Hirshorn museum of modern art, Eastern Market, Stitch DC, and the American History museum. I didn’t really take a lot of pictures while we were out. I did do a fair bit of knitting though. I knitted in the car on the way to DC (unfortunately, I have a difficult time sleeping in the car, even if it is five-thirty in the morning), on the metro, and while waiting for various things around town. The scarf I’m knitting (which I believe I mentioned in a previous post) now looks like this:
It’s still got a ways to go (I’m knitting a whole ball of Malabrigo lace), but the pattern is really simple and it’s motoring right along.
Nothing much new to report on the crafting front, I’m afraid. I’m still plugging away at the Lakeside socks (I just finished the calf decreases and am now working on the rest of the leg), but there’s a ways to go yet. Here’s a bad picture of the second sock so far:
I’m getting my wisdom teeth removed tomorrow, so wish me luck for my surgery tomorrow. I don’t know how lucid/willing to blog I’ll be for the next couple of days, but I do suspect I’ll be able to knock out the rest of the socks–I won’t be about to do much else but knit tomorrow and the next day.
I’m also going back into DC later this week. I’m leaving early Thursday morning and I don’t know yet whether I’ll be back on Friday afternoon for a couple of days or if I’m staying through the week. Either way, I’ll try to blog as things happen but no promises. : )
Still no finished objects to report (I’m working on a baby sweater for OWS and knee socks for the trade), so instead, here’s a picture of my sleepy cat:
Happy friday, all.
So my family went out on the boat this evening:
Of course I brought my knitting. I’m currently working on Elijah, a Ysolda Teague pattern I’m knitting for my friend’s cousin (well, I’m knitting it as a commission for the friend, who’s planning to gift it to the cousin at the shower). I’m also still pluggin’ away on the Lakeside socks: I turned the heel yesterday and am now motoring down the foot. I also finished everything for my Battlestar Galactica swap, but I have to mail it, so I’ll have that to show you on Wednesday probably.
I hope everyone had a lovely holiday weekend, whether you’re celebrating Pride Day, Independence Day, or Saturday. : )
So my little sister graduated from high school today:
We’re sisters, so we fight like no one else, but I am proud of her. Congrats, Siarra. : )
Stitch, Brinn, Stitch! 