My Life in Motion

Kitten, kitten, kitten!

2009-12-30T08:10:00.002-05:00

It's my birthday today, hooray! I'm 24, which is a mostly unexciting age, but I'm getting a kitten! Well, she is my present, but I don't get her till next Tuesday, because she doesn't turn 8 weeks till this weekend and also, she is being spayed and having her second set of shots on Monday. Gratuitous kitty cuteness:

More pictures to come next week for sure, and now I'm off to debate the merits of kitten sweaters. XD

My goodness.

2009-12-26T23:55:00.003-05:00

I am a terrible blogger. I think about blogging all the time, I just never feel like I have much to say... Now, however, I think my life has become sufficiently upset to blog about. Long story short, I ended up leaving school and moving home to my parents' house (after a looooong drive in a UHaul with my Dad). I've been back for a week today. Boyfriend and I are still together, just doing it long distance again. It's been a little hectic, but I've got a cute little room here at home; my parents cleaned out the computer room and let me have it, which is fitting, as the room used to be my bedroom when I was little. This is the first time I've had my own room since I was six years old, so it's a little exciting.

To give a small update from my last post, pertaining specifically to the small kitten we took in - well, she died. :( We kept her for about a month and she seemed to be doing really well, eating more and learning to use the litter box, definitely growing, and one morning it just all went downhill, really really fast. We don't really know what happened still, but the vet thought it might've been a preexisting condition, and anyway there was nothing to do for her, so we had to put her down. It was pretty awful and the bf and I were really devastated. We felt so lonely without her actually, and realized how much we loved having a little kitten, that the next day when our landlord's mother mentioned a farm near her house that was giving away free kittens, we went to go see and ended up with a new kitty, just like that. He was a cutie, but he was never quite the same for me. Bf kept him up in Canada.

Now though, I'm really missing having a sweet kitty to cuddle with, so I'm going to look for a kitten soon. We're going to an MSPCA farm tomorrow actually, and even though I don't quite have the money, I'm hoping to get a kitten - my birthday is Wednesday and I'm hoping my parents might gift me with a small, furry friend. :)

I'll definitely post if I get one! Till tomorrow!

bad timing?

2009-10-01T17:57:00.000-04:00

So I have discovered lately that I really, really, really want to knit big, happy, luxurious, knitterly projects. I don't want to touch any little cute toys of any kind. I want shawls, socks, sweaters, tams, scarves, etc. all the nice warm winterly stuff. Unfortunately, I still have to finish Nick's birthday present (his birthday was Tuesday), and then three more Tuppys by next week. Good god. I want to recast on the messed up toe for my hearts socks and complete my first pair of socks. I can justify casting on more socks before I finish my sweaters (yes, multiple are incomplete and on the needles) because they are portable class/bus knitting.

I think the worst part is is that all I want to do is cast on this sweet shawl (ravlink) that I saw the YarnHarlot knit a while ago. I want to make it in the same yarn because I think it looks lovely, just a different color. It's not the yarn that the pattern calls for, which was sort of one of my unofficial knitting resolutions, but that yarn is a crepe and my mind curls up in a ball in fear of such yarns. Blech. They do nothing for me.

So the other bit of news I have is that we got a kitten. :) My landlord found it outside in a bush in the rain, but he didn't want to keep it, so we're taking him. Or her. It's only about 2 weeks old so I really have no idea if it's male or female. For now, it's a cute grey kitty that I have to bottle-feed that has a strange attachment to my feet. :) Pictures later, when I can get it to sit still.

bad

2009-09-18T11:31:00.002-04:00

oh hai. it's me. the terribad blogger. I had all these intentions of becoming more bloggy when I moved to Canada, but it's been a month and all I've done is update my blog's layout. Ah well. C'est la vie.

So I'm here, in Canada. In Ontario, more specifically. I've started school (a whole week now) and things are going well. We haven't done too much other than slowly unpack all my stuff, reorganize the apartment and skip school orientation. ^_^ It was stupid, and believe me - I don't need to be taking sessions on "Surviving the Western Classroom". So we ditched.

Well, this is me saying that I'm going to try my best to blog more often. I have a project (possibly 2) to finish for tomorrow, so I will try to post on Sunday with some FO pictures.

And I get to see my Dad tomorrow, because he's got a 6 hour stop-over in Toronto on his way home from Japan - exciting!

school!

2009-03-26T11:44:00.002-04:00

So the other day, I was at work, browsing the internet and wasting time (much like I am now, in fact), when I got an email. I just figured it was more junk, like from e.l.f., who emails me about 10 times a day. Nope! It was from an email I didn't recognize immediately. Something like "canigny" and then my eyes scanned over to the subject line and I saw "Study Authorization" and had to remind myself not to scream for joy while sitting in my cubicle.

It's true! My application for a study visa was approved! Huzzah! In August 2009 I'll be moving in with Kyle (maybe sooner depending on the job) and then in September I'll be starting school! Yay!

And to make me even more happy, my yarn came in for my happy yellow sweater, AND I knit up a gauge swatch (this yarn is so soft, it's making me delirious with happiness), AND I got gauge. Spot on. Freaking amazing.

new project planning

2009-03-20T13:43:00.004-04:00

I am terribly excited. About a couple things. First, I'm going to see Kyle next month! This is exciting for a few reasons. 1] I get to see Kyle. Yay! 2] I get a whole week off work. OMFG YAY. You don't even know. ._.

The other thing I'm excited about (and which I've been researching at length, while I'm supposed to be working o_O) is the new sweater I plan on making. I have to finish Serenity first, as well as Mel's gloves/mittens (which are almost past the point of being useful, as it's steadily getting warmer outside) before I'm allowed to cast on this new sweater. It's called Global Warming, and I think it's supposed to be a pun because the recommended yarn is a wool, but the sweater is short-sleeved. I've decided it will be a much nicer summer sweater, as I'm not really into the whole layering short sleeves over long sleeves thing. Well, I was when I was 13, but not anymore. ^_^"

I'm going to be using Plymouth Royal Bamboo yarn (which is a worsted bamboo yarn) in colorway 02, a nice summery yellow. Not like, sunshine yellow, but not quite pastel either. I am sort of in love with it. >_>" I also got it on sale for $3.99 a ball, which makes me super happy. A whole sweater for $31! I have this terrible fear of running out of yarn, but I bought 8 skeins (which is more than 700 yds) so I think I'll be ok. This is a snug-ish sweater with tiny puffed sleeves and I'm doing a different neck. It'll be ok... I hope. o_O

The exciting thing about this sweater is that there's a lot of planning I have to do for it. I actually have to knit a gauge square and like, do math and things. It's going to be super customized. I plan on making my sweater a lot longer than the pattern suggests, as I like my tops to sit at my hips, or thereabouts. Also, I'm omitting the pocket. I want it to be a 'pretty' sweater, rather than a 'cute' sweater. Plus adding fabric to my stomach area is usually not kind to my attempts at not looking fat. >_< Also, I think I'm going to add some bust darts to maximize shapeliness. Aaaand I'm putting in a scoop neck, because high necked anything just doesn't really flatter.

So here's to a (hopefully) pretty yellow puff-sleeved, scoop-necked bamboo summer sweater! Hip hip, huzzah!

babette

2009-03-11T11:00:00.002-04:00

I apologize. I'm a terribly bad blogger. Truth be told, however, that nothing too exciting happens in my life right now. The biggest thing going on is the fact that I'm going to mail out my application for a student visa to go to school in Canada next fall (oh, by the way, I got accepted to Georgian College in Barrie, Ontario, which is where Kyle goes to school). Hopefully all that goes through without a hitch.

On a crafty note, I finished my Babette Blanket (Ravelink):

pattern: babette blanket
yarn: Cascade 220 (100% wool)
tools: size 5.5mm crochet hook
comments: I really loved making this blanket. the squares were fun to crochet, and I loved seeing how all the colors blended into this fabulous blanket. it's been done for about 2 weeks now, but I've been snuggling up with it on top of my quilt every night, so I haven't been inclined to take pictures and post. :) fun fun fun.

Outsourcing sucks (Or why I hate Sallie Mae)

2009-02-11T11:32:00.002-05:00

So, having graduated last May, my six-month grace period on my approximately $115,000 in student loans came to an end around late November. I've managed to consolidate my federal loans, which took 3 smaller loans out of Sallie Mae's grubby hands, thank goodness.
Now, I'm planning to go back to school in the fall, in Canada, at Georgian College, to be exact, which is where Kyle goes. Thankfully, the tuition is a lot less than tuition here, so I'll have saved enough money to afford it by then. It's a two-year program with a semester of co-op, which I am really looking forward to - web design and animation. Hooray!
Back to the Sallie Mae hate, I called the companies that own my income for the next 25 years and was delighted to hear that AES will defer my loans, no problemo. We were concerned that Georgian would not be considered an eligible school, but for them, it is. Then I called the Direct Loans people who are always mostly pleasant, and they told me they'll defer all loans no problem as long as Georgian buys into the Direct Loans deferment program. So I called them and left a message. Fingers crossed.
Lastly, I called Sallie Mae. Let me just say this - I hate them. HATE. They have an incomprehensible website for account management that leads you around in circles, and when you call them, they're constantly trying to redirect you to the website so they don't have to talk to you. Also, their call center is outsourced, and when "Joey" picks up the phone and starts speaking in an Indian accent so heavy that we can't understand one another, I get frustrated. I get especially frustrated when I try to explain that I will be attending in the fall (hopefully) a Canadian school, and that I am curious as to whether it will be an "eligible" school for in-school deferment. Joey tells me that only attendees of federally funded schools are eligible for in-school deferment. I tell him that makes no sense, since there are many private schools in the US that are on the list of "eligible" deferment schools that are not federally funded.

Essentially, I just hate Sallie Mae. They suck. I would be eternally grateful if someone could give me $32,000 so I could get those asshats off my back. Kthx.

GEEZE.

2009-02-05T12:49:00.001-05:00

FYI, I am so utterly ready for it to be spring.

planner

2009-01-30T13:49:00.002-05:00

I am such a planner. I make lists, calculate money, google till my eyes are dry, and I plan plan plan. I plan how to move to Canada (interestingly, the only way seems to be either marriage or school... I chose school for now. ^_^), I plan how I'm going to eat, I plan how I want my apartment to look, hell I even plan out things on WoW. Don't get me started there. It'll be ugly.

So of course, for this blog, I had all sorts of grand plans. I was going to blog about my Christmas booty, as most of it was yarn related. I was going to blog about my cool WoW FigurePrint. I was even going to blog about how SlimQuick is the devil and maybe just eating properly and exercising could help with weight loss (a novel idea, I know).

But alas, there never seems to be time. I think blogs are more interesting with pictures, and I apparently need to make the weekend the time for blogging, because even though science tells me the days are getting longer and it should be lighter in the evening, it's always pitch black at 5pm when I'm leaving work. No, I cannot take pictures at night. They're dark and overexposed with bad flashes. Natural light is a must!

So there, I now vow to blog on weekends so that there might be pictures and entertainment for all. ^_^

apparently I don't aim to misbehave

2009-01-22T11:43:00.000-05:00

found on the Big Damn Knitters group on Ravelry:

Which Firefly Character Are You?

More on Firefly. Created by BuddyTV

a day like this

2009-01-20T21:16:00.002-05:00

I feel like I cannot possibly let this moment go by unacknowledged. I've been watching the Neighborhood Ball (the televised Inauguration Ball, for those of you under a rock) and I am just so happy. I want to throw on a party dress and run up and down the streets, singing. Though, on second thought, a party dress is not really appropriate winter wear, and that would get old, fast.

However!

I am just so incredibly happy/thrilled/relieved/overjoyed that Barack Obama is our president. It warmed my heart to see him dance with Michelle, and I feel like life has been breathed into our government again. His family is young, happy and thrilling to watch. I absolutely adore the look on Barack's face when he looks at his wife, because it is pure love.

He is hope. He is progress. We are in for a good four (eight!) years.

pink and fluffy

2009-01-07T18:43:00.003-05:00

Today I bring you...

finished Clapotis!

so pink and fluffy

and some close-ups:

look at how mistake-free I am!

woo, lights and darks.

The specs:
Pattern - Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Yarn - Wonderful Wool in Bubblegum
Needles - US 8 bamboo straights
Verdict - I really loved knitting this! I think I would actually make (many) more. I'm already contemplating knitting one in a lighter yarn (cotton? silk? bamboo? or maybe that amazing banana yarn I've been coveting??) for the summer. This one, so lovely and pink, is SUPER warm. I love love love it. Happy with the yarn, happy with the pattern, happy with the end result. What more could a girl ask for?

To keep with the pink and fluffy theme, this is a sneak peek of what I'm working on now:

post-holiday slump

2009-01-05T12:29:00.002-05:00

I think January is somewhat of a letdown. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's depressing me, but it certainly is gloomy. The sparkle and shine of the holidays has been packed away in boxes, we're all feeling the too-tight pants after-effects of all the yummy food we ate, and Kyle is gone. Not only gone, but in Cuba, so totally unreachable at the moment. I haven't talked to him since New Year's Eve, when he periodically called on his drive back home to let me know where he was and that he wasn't snowed into a ditch in New York somewhere. It's the longest we've ever gone without talking, and my oh my, is it ever weird.

On the plus side, I finished a sock. And I started the sweater I've been drooling over for a while.

I got tons of knitting/spinning/dyeing related things for Christmas, which I swear I will post about soon.

Oh, and the boy socks were well received, as I feared. He actually said to me, "If I buy you the yarn, will you knit me more?" I suppose that is probably the best compliment I could receive. :D

lookit! a rare FO!

2008-12-08T10:06:00.003-05:00

These socks make me happy, now that they are finished.

hai. we are boring athletic boy socks.

I won't lie and say I enjoyed knitting them. The 2x2 rib makes me knit slow, the silly 2x2x2 ribby thing that looks like a fake cable that runs up the side of the legs drove me batty on the first sock, because I kept screwing up and knitting the purls and either having to tink back or just drop stitches and flip them around. Lots of time with tiny crochet hooks = unhappy Jen. I messed up the picking-up-of-stitches for the gusset on the first sock, but mastered it on the second, which is why you get a close up of it:

woo. how smooth.

I am pleased with the finished product, and I may or may not have them sitting next to my computer where I can glance over at their finished-ness and sigh to myself with content.

The Specs
Pattern: Tubey by Claudia Lang, available in Son of Stitch 'N' Bitch (Ravelink)
Needles: US 1 dpns (calls for set of 4, I prefer set of 5)
Yarn: Dalegarn Baby Ull in 0007 (grey heather, 2 balls), 0090 (black, less than 1 ball) and 4018 (red, less than 1 ball). I really liked the yarn. It's soft and smooth, albeit a little splitty. Sharper needles would probably solve this problem, though it might also kill my fingers. o_O

All in all, they're good. Probably wouldn't knit them again, unless requested.

me and cic: a tale of failed plans

2008-12-04T10:21:00.004-05:00

Terribly sorry about the lack of posting recently. I started a new job and there is less free time during the day now. I would explain more about the job if I thought anyone would actually care, because it's one of those jobs you ask a person about and get bored with their answer 5 seconds later. Suffice it to say I work at the same company in a different department. There, now I feel better about my lack of posting.

I don't know if I ever made it into much detail on this blog about my boyfriend and I, but here is a brief summary. This is relevant, I swear.

He is 20, Canadian. I am 22 (almost 23, guh), American. We met online, on World of Warcraft (WoW), and have been together for 2 years. We are very happily in love and try to see each other as much as possible, but oftentimes that only works out to a week-long visit every other month, if we're lucky. The fact that we play WoW is great because it gives us the opportunity to play together online every night and spend "quality time" together. Nothing says loving like zombie killing, right? ^_^

When we met, I was in the beginning of my junior year of college and he was starting his freshman year. He quit school not too far into it because he just wasn't interested in being there and he figure he might as well not waste the money. Smart, in my opinion, as I was never interested in being at school and I now have about $100,000 in student loans to pay back. Hooray. >_>

After being together for about a year, we decided that the easiest way for us to put an end to the long-distance crap (it IS crap, don't let anyone tell you long distance is easy) was for me to move there after I graduated school. This seemed to be the easiest way because I was seen as a more qualified individual in the eyes of immigration officers because I had a college degree. We planned to do this for a long while, until I spent a month with him in January 2008 and just sort of freaked out. I was far from home, the apartment was a total bachelor pad (he lived with a not-so-clean friend of his), I spent my days pretty alone because he had to work, and I think I was just homesick. So we changed our plans.

Now he was going to come to the US and probably have to work under-the-table at a terrible job because he didn't qualify for any of the immigration or visa categories. The unskilled worker category can take YEARS to get a visa, and we weren't willing to wait that long. My family was really helpful, and my uncle offered to help get him a job at the skating rink he works at, but in the end, this plan failed too. My mom was worried that somehow he'd get caught working illegally and get deported, and that would REALLY suck, because we want to both eventually get dual citizenship so that we can move back and forth and be allowed to work in both countries and getting deported doesn't really recommend you to the immigration people all that much.

So, lo and behold! Another plan! After much talking and tears, and a comment from my mother to the effect of "why don't you just go there?" (which I'm pretty sure she regrets horribly because she really doesn't want me to move away), we decided I would move there and probably stay for a few years in order to apply for citizenship. The easiest route now available to us was for me to get a visa (notice I said "easiest", not "easy"). His mother's friend owns a business and she agreed to let me come work there for a week over the summer (late August 2008) and sort of see if we could work together. We also assumed that my return flight would be paid for either by her or by Kyle's mother, just because I was going to be training for the job while I was there. Long story short, the visa idea ended up falling through because somewhere in the application, the employer was supposed to submit evidence of their previous attempts to hire Canadians (because the only reason you're supposed to hire someone on a visa, really, is because they have skills that no available worker in your country does...). Clearly, this wasn't going to work, since they essentially made up the job for me, and they couldn't fabricate this info, so no visa. Also, no pay for the whole week I worked there, and no compensation for the $300 flight.

While I was there, Kyle and I went to IKEA (*happy dance*) and bought all this furniture and started to set up our apartment (which is really more his apartment, since I don't live there, nor do I make contributions to it...) because we thought I'd be moving up there around October 2008. Clearly, that didn't happen.

So there we were, stuck wondering what the hell to do, when suddenly (and I'm pretty sure simultaneously) we remembered having seen an option for immigration called sponsorship, and under that there being a category for "conjugal partners". Essentially, the website (www.cic.gc.ca, if you're truly bored) tells you that the conjugal partners category applies to those people who are not married (spousal partnership) or who are unable to live together (common-law partnership) due to a number of reasons, one of which is an "immigration barrier". Of course, we were thrilled. I had failed at getting a visa, so we thought that was a perfect example of an immigration barrier. So, we set to getting all the information together and filling out the forms, which were about 99% completed when he came to visit in October 2008 for Columbus Day weekend. All I had to do was get a police certificate, a copy of my birth certificate, get a medical exam by one of the doctors approved to do the exams for immigration to Canada, and write some letters about why we wanted to do this. The processing time was about 8 months, which was kind of sucky, but better than nothing. So we did all that, and then the new WoW expansion came out, and we got a little slacker-y.

About two days ago, Kyle suddenly realized that while the forms were processing, he wasn't going to be working anymore. He's going back to school in January and his current full-time job ends in mid-December. There was a minimum income requirement for the sponsor (him) and now we're back in panic mode. I scavenge the web and find out that the income requirement only applies to any of the sponsorship categories if the sponsoree (me) has dependent children (I don't), so phew, we're a-ok.

Until I get an overwhelming amount of posts and info tossed at me on Immigration.ca and I find out that actually, we don't even qualify for the conjugal partner sponsorship, since we don't really have an immigration barrier. We are both legally allowed to visit the other's country. We CAN get married, even if we don't want to right now. We CAN live together for a year, even if it means 6 months there and 6 months here and one of us has to quit a job or school. Immigration Canada doesn't see these things as barriers, but rather inconveniences that, if we aren't willing to deal with, make us not truly committed to one another. I can't actually tell you how angry that makes me. I won't try. I'm sure you can imagine.

So of course, there is a new plan. The new plan requires me to come up with about $16,000 and to go live with Kyle. I can legally visit Canada for 6 months just on my passport, and then I can apply for a visit extension (and I'm assuming it gives me another 6 months, but I do actually have to check on that) and boom, there's a year of living together, and we can apply under common-law sponsorship. HOPEFULLY, we can submit the application before we've actually hit the one-year mark, because they don't start processing your application the day that they receive it, that's for sure. It takes about 40 days for his sponsorship application to process, and then if that passes, they send my permanent residence application to the appropriate visa office, and that takes about 5-6 months to process. So I need to be able to pay for my student loans, a cell phone, and WoW for about 18 months.

When we finally sell my granpa's house, I'm supposed to get between $8000 and $12,000, so I would like to think that I could save between $4000 - $8000 by the summer, and be moving around then.

p.s. I hope it's clear that I really do love him, despite what some people may think or feel.

edited to add: sorry this post was so extremely long! I needed to get that all off my chest and into coherent thought. also, as further proof of my love for the boy, here are the socks I knit him for christmas:

and the stitches picked up for the gusset, which I am inordinately proud of:

better quality photos tonight, as these were taken with my phone at work. yeah, I get to knit socks at work, what of it? ^_^

unexpected endings and new beginnings

2008-11-13T16:45:00.003-05:00

So, I've been working as a temp receptionist since the end of September, and just last week they offered me a job in another department in the company, which is great, as this position was coming to an end (the actual receptionist is coming back from maternity leave). It was supposed to start on the 24th, but now - suddenly - I'm starting tomorrow. I don't know that I can be looking forward to more interesting work, but from what I hear I will certainly be busy, which is part of why they're asking me to start earlier than expected. So, this is my small lament for a job completed. I'm not particularly sad to leave or anything, since I'm not really leaving, just relocating, but I do always find a twinge of oddment at the idea that I filled a position and then I no longer really exist in that way anymore.

On another, far less existential note, my Collector's Edition copy of the new World of Warcraft expansion, Wrath of the Lich King is sitting on my computer chair at home and I am nearly crawling out of my skin waiting to get to it.

And dammit, I really want to make thrummed mitts. Go away, project-obsession, go away! >_<

cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater.

2008-11-12T12:52:00.002-05:00

Project loyalty be damned. Those socks are making me want to die. They are killing my knitting soul. WoW is giving me little time to knit as it is, and I am stuck knitting socks of endless gray st st for boy feet. WHAT was I thinking? Oh, yes. I suppose I would like to gift a nice pair of handmade socks to my wonderful, sweet, kind, adoring and amazing boyfriend, especially since he loves socks. But but but... *whines*.

I guess it really is my fault, after all. I went and wrote that post yesterday all about my loyalty and my plans, and then I immediately went to Ravelry and started searching for mitten patterns. Quick patterns, I might add. I want to make a pair of knits-up-in-2-hours mittens for myself (because for a knitter, I have a surprising lack of cold-weather gear...) to match the super speedy scarf that I re-knit. Which leads me to:

Hooray! A FO! Well, technically it was already finished but it sucked because I knit it in st st and it curled up like mad and was about 20 feet long. I'm not exaggerating. I think it was 10 sts wide but I can't remember. So I frogged it and reknit it in garter st, 15 sts wide.

Specs:
I cast on 15 sts, knit in garter st till I used up one ball, cut 30 lengths of fringe, and added the second ball and knit till I ran out of yarn. Attached fringe, wove in ends, and voila! Scarf in 2 days.
Yarn: Cascade Lana Grande. Quite sproingy and nice. Not super soft, but enough. I kept squeezing it, because it's that kind of yarn. Colorway was Cherry Blossom. Two balls.
Needles: US 17. Or drumsticks. Whichever you prefer. These were seriously clumsy needles.

Now I just need another ball to make some matching mitts and I'll be great. Only, I just bought a new blue coat and well... they don't match. Thrums, anyone? ^_-

commitment

2008-11-11T13:26:00.002-05:00

As many a knitter has discovered, commitment can be a dirty word. We're talking project loyalty here, people. I am one of those knitters who is about as far from being able to stick to one project as it is possible to be. Currently, my list of UFO's entails:

a half-knit dishcloth
a half-knit bunny
a cardigan that would like to have finished front panels, sleeves and perhaps a collar
a pile of babette squares that want nothing more than to become the blanket they know they can be
barely a cuff of a pair of herringbone mitts
nearly half a pair of socks for the boyfriend (which is the only project I'm currently allowing myself to work on)
a dreadful acrylic rainbow scarf I started sometime last year
a harry potter house scarf that desperately needs fringe
a clapotis that I would love to be working on, damn those boy socks
a giant fuzzball granny square destined to one day be a baby blanket
nearly finished red toe-up socks of questionable fit
a hexagon blanket
a god-awful acrylic disaster of twisted ST ST gryffindor scarf
an amigurumi giraffe for my mom

so here's my plan. I am not going to cast on ANY new projects for the next few months. I am going to finish the boy socks and then I will take care of some of the small things. dishcloth - easy. giant fuzzball granny square - cake. my red socks - pie. they'll get done in a few days (we're assuming I have time and brain cells during the holidays for these few things done. also, I am confident that before the new year I will have a fully sewn up babette.

then... I tackle my worst enemy. the cardigan. I pretty much hate this thing. a lot. I started it at least a year ago when my knitting skill was far less superb, so it's really awful and monotonous now. I want a sweater with pizazz! I do still want to wear this sweater, which is good.

I also want to take this moment to clarify that I do not consider making small holiday santas or snowmen to be "casting on new projects" as they are necessary-ish items for holiday enjoyment.

also - if my kindly parents do decide to buy me yarn to make the Serenity Sweater (ravelry-only link, sorry), then I really can't be blamed for casting on for that, because I want to know who is able to resist 12 balls of Kidsilk Haze staring them down. Not me. I'll probably be hardly able to resist just sitting there petting them.

Ok! That's all for now. I feel armed and ready to tackle my UFO pile. Huzzah.

why 9 - 5 is not for me

2008-11-10T10:28:00.004-05:00

I am lazy. I am also a procrastinator. My passion wanes and waxes. I can be absolutely thrilled to death about something one minute and completely blase about it the next. Fickle, some might call me.

I love to knit, I swear. I try to do it as much as possible. Sadly, right now, I have a knitting deadline, which means I have sworn fealty to a pair of socks that I am EXTREMELY bored with... which pretty much means I have one sock nearly done and the second not even started and I can hardly bring myself to pick up the needles for more than 3 rows. Endless, endless, ENDLESS stockinette stitch is starting to wear on me. They are nice athletic-y boy socks for the boy, for Christmas. I will finish them, I swear it.

I also love to crochet. I am itching to find a cute, Christmas-themed doll or toy of amigurumi style to make for a decoration. I made a turkey for Thanksgiving, and it makes me happy.

Oh, almost forgot! I also love to sew, despite the fact that I do it rather infrequently and not so terribly well. I bought a cute purse pattern off Etsy, and I bought fabric for it, and all of that is sitting in a pile waiting for me to dust off the sewing machine.

Don't forget the sculpey charms! I have half-painted charms sitting in a cake pan that are probably gathering dust, so long has it been since I last touched them.

Oh right, and then there's the resin jewelry. I stumbled across it on Etsy and I am determined to make my own. I haven't started yet, so there's not much to be said on success or failure. We shall see.

You see, the problem is I'm a craft whore. I have all these great ideas for crafts and things that I would love to make, and well, I just don't even have the time for them. It's this having a job thing - it's killing me. I drag myself out of bed in the morning, completely exhausted, get ready and go to work for 8 hours, then spend a half hour in traffic wanting to kill people trying to get home, so I can plop down on my ass in front of my computer and play World of Warcraft with my boyfriend. Some of you might think - hey, all that WoW time could be spent knitting! or [insert craft of the moment here]! But until I get to go live in Canada with the boy (yes, Canada. woo hoo immigration. More on that at a later date...) WoW is our only together-time, and so crafting takes a back seat. *sigh*

If only I didn't have the job!

p.s. most of my recent, albeit spotty, blogging has been done from work, in a mini-rebellion against the machine... which essentially boils down to a complete lack of picture-y goodness. someday, there will be actual visual crafty content on this blog, I promise.

bad blogger

2008-10-30T15:31:00.002-04:00

I am utter suck at keeping up with this blog. I apologize. I've been working full-time for the last month and that's new for me, and not particularly conducive to blogging. By the time I get home, all I want to do is get some food, plop myself in front of the computer, and log onto World of Warcraft to play with Kyle. I hardly even knit! Which is bad, actually, because I am trying to finish socks for him for Christmas. One is nearly done. I think I can get the other finished by Dec 19th, don't you? That's when he's coming to visit. *cheers*

I know that this working thing is what big people do, and I acknowledge that now that I have graduated from college and have BIG IMPENDING LOAN PAYMENTS I can't really shirk my responsibilities any longer. I do understand that. Really. That said, every morning when I wake up to see the numbers 7:20 on my clock I want to die a little bit. I know that I've only been out of school for a little while, and that more than likely the next 5 or so years are going to look like this (9-5 work work work), but I really just want to live in a yarn shop. I want to be my own boss and I want to set my own hours and do something that I really love and am passionate about. I want to control my own life!

Geeze, sorry. Got a little ambitious there. Back to filing and answering the phones.

TGIF

2008-10-03T09:17:00.002-04:00

It's Friday. And it's fall. I am incredibly grateful for both of those facts. A week and a half ago this time I didn't have any inkling of what day it was, for the most part - one of the perks of being unemployed - but now I'm counting the days to the weekend. Why? Well, I got a job, of course. The temp agency finally came through for me, and I work as a receptionist at a local office building. Everyone is super nice and helpful and when I don't have work to do I get to surf the web and play Spider Solitaire. Really, what more can I ask for? Well... it would be pretty nice if I could knit at work, but I'll settle for mindless Ravel-ing.
Truly though, the fact that it's fall is hitting me quite hard. I wore a coat to work today and had clementines for breakfast. I'm drinking Apple Spice herbal tea (because I have a horrendous head cold - another sign of fall/colder seasons). My seat at the office allows me a nice view of the parking lot, which has a lot of trees and bushes, so I get to see the wind and sun play with the goldeny red leaves and well... it's conjuring images of Robert Frost and the beauty of New England and I'm darn well enamored.
They let me wear jeans to work, which both thrills and worries me, since I get to be comfortable, but I think they might be slowly winning me over into liking this job. Scary.

because I can

2008-09-24T18:46:00.003-04:00

When I bought the yarn for my Babette blanket, as I may have previously mentioned, I made a deal with my boyfriend that I wouldn't buy any more yarn, save if necessary for Christmas gifts (I'm trying to make it necessary for Christmas gifts ^_^). I thought that was a good deal, actually, since I was getting a decent price on the yarn, I got to make blanket I had been coveting for months, and maybe I would actually make some progress on the WIPs. This was all going really well, since I worked on that blanket near-non-stop, and while I'm still sewing it up and knitting other things, I don't consider it cheating. I was, for once, faithful to a project.
Then my mom bought me yarn when we went to Butterfly Yarns to look for blocking pins. Oh, I never did mention that I found out I actually had about 400 yds of that yarn, instead of the 180 yds that I thought I had, so that is slowly turning into my first pair of top-down socks. Turning a heel with a heel flap is interesting, since I've never done it before. I haven't been working on them much because the ankle area is a bit saggy because I think my gauge is a bit off. They're probably destined for the frog pond and a second attempt with smaller needles (maybe I'll even swatch! *gasp*).
So the actual problem is that I have discovered I have more of a stash than I realized. I was avoiding working on the second of a pair of toe-up socks, or the gray blob of a sweater that I have half-completed when I cast on the top-down socks. Now I'm avoiding working on the top-down socks by knitting Herringbone Mitts. I'm using Knit Picks Palette in Bark and Petal (1 skein each) but I'm holding the yarn doubled. I ended up rolling a center pull ball off each end of the skein, which left me with four balls of yarn dangling off the mitt, so I rewound the two of each color into one ball, so now there's two balls and two colors, much more organized feeling, as colorwork tends to get tangled on me. I just wish I didn't wind 2 skeins of yarn into six balls last night, it was boring. ^_^ Anyway, I leave you with a picture of my progress, which is not much, thanks to all the yarn winding.

new-project-itis.

2008-09-13T20:57:00.003-04:00

It's biting. I finally finished all the squares for my Babette but I have to block them (and reblock some) and well, I'm lazy. Then I have to sew it all up. And crochet an endless border. Regardless, the actual crochet is pretty much done, so I'm calling it 95% done for now and probably not touching it for a day or so.
I picked up a sock that I've had on the needles for a while, the second in a pair, and finishing that feels like a good idea. Until, that is, I think about how much more I have to knit.
So maybe I'll start those bright blue knee high socks I've wanted to make for so long? Oh wait, the yarn isn't wound, and it's like 400+ yards of sock weight yarn. And I don't own a swift or ball winder. Methinks no.
Ok! So how about that purse that I've had yarn stashed for since like, last November? Oh, right. I don't have the needles for it. Still.
Well I do have this really pretty yarn I bought from Butterfly Yarns last week. Only, all I know about it is that it is a Louet Gems superwash base, which implied to me that the lady at the shop dyed over whatever color the yarn originally was, since I'm not sure that they sell undyed yarn (it took me a really long time to think of undyed, I kept thinking 'naked yarn? no... nude? no...' seriously...) but regardless, it's only about 180 yds and I only bought one skein and now, honestly, I feel kind of stupid because I have no idea what to do with it. Socks, obviously, but really small ones? Does 180ish yards even make socks?
I do not need a new project to work on right now, but I really want to start one. I don't even care if I make it past casting on at this point, I just need something different.

yech

2008-09-09T02:22:00.003-04:00

Applying for jobs makes me feel nauseous. All I want to do on this earth career-wise is open a yarn store with Kyle and knit/crochet all day and meet interesting people. I know nothing about business or how to even go about getting yarn companies to ship me their products so I can make a living, but I know people that know some of these things, and I am willing to live simply for a while to make all that work. Not that it can even happen anytime soon. My next big step is to move to Canada and live with Kyle. Once we move back here we can think about it, I hope.

But about that job applying = sick feeling thing. I just applied to a bunch of jobs on Yahoo! HotJobs, which is way better than Monster.com, in case anyone cares. It is a whole lot more local and easier to navigate (i.e. there is a "search" button on the top of every page...) and just all around a lot better. Plus I already got an email update of more jobs that I can apply for based on my profile.

My only other news is that I bought Spore and I love it to death. Go play it and evolve. :)

good and bad

2008-09-05T15:48:00.003-04:00

I am writing this from the small, crappy computer in the corner of our den because my computer is sadly away for repairs. It's a MacBook Pro and the left fan in it has been busted for about a year. I've tried to get it repaired before now but whenever I'd bring it in the fan wouldn't make any noise for the Apple "Geniuses" so they couldn't replace the part just because I asked them to. I get that. Frustrating and all, but I do understand. A few days ago though, while I was minding my own business, playing the Sims 2 and crocheting away on my Babette, the fan just let go. It cleared had had enough because it started whinging and crying at me and I couldn't even keep the sucker powered up. Off we went to the Apple store the next day (backed up at home beforehand, of course) and they took my baby away for 3-5 business days. So it looks like I'm mostly computerless until next Tuesday or Thursday.

After my sad and reluctant drop off, I wandered through the mall a bit, stopped in at GameStop to preorder a copy of Spore (and might I add - hooray for Will Wright being cogniscent enough to make the game a universal disc rather than have a Windows copy and a Mac copy, because I would've had to order it online in order to get the Mac copy otherwise), which just reminded me of my sad lack of computer to play it on.

So there I was, walking towards Godiva chocolates, and there was a big sign advertising a frozen chocolixer drink, and man it looked yummy. So I went in to get one, and then realized one of the girls in there was a friend from an old job, and then after a few minutes of talking to the other girls as well, realized that one of the other two I knew from church, many many moons ago. Small world! And then (here is the cool, blog-worthy part) she offered me a job. Awesome! I need a job super bad. Student loan repayment starts in November and I has no moneys. I'm going to apply to a bunch of places besides Godiva, but it's nice to know I actually have a job waiting if I can't find anything else.

Once I get my computer back I'll be posting about my Babette blanket, which is going super fast and quite swimmingly. ^_^

I never did get that chocolixer, though.

I am a bad blogger

2008-08-31T22:26:00.003-04:00

It's true. I am. I forget that I have a blog 90% of the time and I don't think to be a good blogger. I mean, I want to be a good blogger... I just forget. Anyway, here is my much-more-than-midway-through-the-year resolution to be a better blogger. I'm just in a big state of flux lately, and all I do is knit/crochet and sleep. Which sounds not stressful, but in reality I'm freaking out over getting a visa for a mediocre job so that I can move to Canada to (finally!) live with my boyfriend. Oh, and my student loans kick in come November (such a great time of the year to be smacked with big bills, right?) and I'm just... gah!
Ok well, I know that no one comes here really, and that I am just complaining, but it's kind of a nice outlet. And I am being crafty (and I got a cool new camera a while ago) but I need to get into a posting mood. I wish that blogger had a better method of putting in pictures, because it kind of sucks. Visuals make posts happier.

the sock bug

2008-04-10T22:09:00.003-04:00

So I did it. I finally learned how to make socks. And now? Now I want to knit thousands of socks. All toe-up, preferably, but I think a lot of the folk socks I want to make are cuff-down and I am not quite skilled enough to switch it to a toe up job. Ah well, I suppose that all comes with trial and error and practice makes perfect and all that jazz.

Socks! Well, a bit of toe. And my roommate's enormous nursing textbook of doom making a nice backdrop... Apparently picture-taking skills are also things that will become better with practice.

Lots of other WIPs I could talk about, but give me a week and there will be a blog with FOs instead. ^_^

it's been a while

2008-03-23T23:56:00.005-04:00

So I've been crafting far more than blogging, to be sure. I've really gotten hooked (no pun intended...) on making crocheted amigurumi dolls, now that I've finally figured out how to make them (thank you, thank you, folks of ravelry).
so here are some finished objects!

This was my first amigurumi, the pattern for which can be found here. Once I got the hang of it all, it went pretty quickly. I sent it to my boyfriend, and I'm pretty sure it's now hanging from the mirror in his car. Boys...

These bunnies (pattern here) are my new obsession. The white one was made a while ago for my boyfriend's boss and it was my first time making one. I made the brown one for myself and I love how caffeinated he looks with the felt circles. ^_^ The gray one is for my mom for Easter (Orthodox Easter is April 27th this year). The head is smaller and he has a little muzzle because she thought mine looked like an "alien" with his eyes "in his chin"... Silly mom. ^_^

This gnome (pattern) was SO easy. And adorable.

Here's a pear I made from Ana Paula Rimoli's new book, Amigurumi World: Seriously Cute Crochet. It took only a few hours and the hardest part was the sewing ('cause I completely fail at sewing).

A mouse from Elizabeth Doherty's book, Amigurumi!

Currently I'm working on two tropical monkeys, which I am shamelessly copying from Puchitomato, but since she made them from a Japanese pattern book, I don't feel too bad. Plus they're going to be gifts, and not for profit. ^_-
After that - Easter presents for my brother and sister, and I suppose something for my dad, but who knows what. Any amigurumi/plant related crochet patterns would be greatly appreciated as suggestions!

just for the record, the weather today is slightly sarcastic...

2008-02-02T19:15:00.000-05:00

So, I've been having some trouble staying on one project today. I have in front of me the beginnings of a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle amigurumi doll, half a knitted dishcloth, a crappy, acrylic, curled-up, snakelike skinny scarf that I tried to make for my sister a few months ago that I'm even too impatient to finish frogging, and on my bed is the never-ending scarf (my sad attempt at a Gryffindor house scarf).

One of the nice things about all these projects is that I've learned something new (even from the skinny scarf - never knit in acrylic! ever! gah! >_<). Throughout the course of the Harry Potter scarf, I've learned to READ INSTRUCTIONS and that gauge is indeed important. Having the right needle size is also important. I accidentally started knitting on US 10s (6 mm) instead of the US 6s that the pattern called for... I guess I just saw a 6 and grabbed it. So it's enormous. Comically so, in fact. Pictures soon. As for the other things - the dishcloth taught me YO (easy-peasy!) and the amigurumi... well, let's just say that it's all new. And confusing. >_>

new blog, new year

2008-02-02T00:49:00.000-05:00

So, I've been lurking on many a blog in the craft world as of late, and I finally mustered the oomph to put myself out here. I'm a new-ish knitter and very new crocheter, with ambitions far beyond my skill level, most likely. Won't we find out? :)

So, without any more yammering, hello and welcome to my blog!

- Jen