Life Made Simple

I finally bought a swift!!! After the last fiasco of trying to wind a ball of yarn without one ended with me spending about 3 hours untangling yarn, it was well worth the investment. I bought it from my LYS and it was smaller than what I thought I would be getting and I love it. It also can be turned sideways which is an added bonus. Now I can wind yarn all on my own :)



I was able to join a swap right before it started. Thanks for mentioning it Knittingma! It's the Wee Tiny Sock Swap and might just be the best swap ever. I was able to knit the sock very quickly and am sending it out tomorrow. Love it! It was fun to make the sock and it is so adorable. I can't wait to receive my wee tiny sock!



As I mentioned in the previous poast, I started working on the Market Squares bag and I ended up twisting the stitches. I finally got up the nerve to undo it all and start all over. While on Spring Break this week, I was able to get quite a bit done. I really like the way it is turning out. I wasn't too sure about the combination of colors at first, but they're starting to grow on me.

Back in Business!!!

I was finally able to start knitting again. I had my last final for this quarter on Tuesday. I have the rest of this week off of student teaching and next week as well for spring break. Which means I finally get to knit!!! So far I finished a baby sweater for Eddie's niece:



I couldn't make the picture smaller because everytime I tried my internet would crap out. The sweater is finally done. I just need to add some buttons and was thinking of doing something cutesy like watermelons or butterflies. I haven't blocked it yet either, but need to because the seed stitch border doesn't lay flat. The pattern is "Daisy" from knitty.com.

Then today I decided to start "Market Squares" from a book that I have. It's my very first entrelac project. I was really liking it and was excited to see how the different colors looked like they were woven together. I got the groove and was really moving along. I got this far today:



Look closely...notice anything? Yea, that's right. TWISTED!!!! I can't believe I have to frog it all, unless of course someone knows some magical way to fix this without frogging. Ha! Figures. I'm too upset to undo it tonight, so I'll save it until tomorrow.

Nothing Better...

Since I have been super busy with school, I really haven't been doing any knitting. I wanted to post something so I thought I would share this with you. I love random facts and someone sent this to me. Enjoy!

Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only .. Ladies Forbidden' .. and thus the word GOLF entered into the English language.
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The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
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Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S . Treasury.----------------------------------------
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.

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Coca-Cola was originally green.
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It is impossible to lick your elbow.
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The State with the highest percentage of people who walk to work:



Alaska
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The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28% (now get this...)
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The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%

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The cost of raising a medium-size dog to the age of eleven:



$16,400
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The average number of people airborne over the U.S. in any given hour:



61,000
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Intelligent people have more zinc and copper in their hair.
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The first novel ever written on a typewriter:Tom Sawyer.
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The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
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Each king in a deck of playing cards represents a great king from history:



Spades - King David

Hearts - Charlemagne

Clubs -Alexander, the Great

Diamonds - Julius Caesar
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111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987,654,321
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If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, the person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in the air the person died as a result of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural cause s.

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Only two people signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4th, John Hancock and Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but the last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
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Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?



A. Their birthplace

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Q. Most boat owners name their boats. What is the most popular boat name requested?



A. Obsession
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Q. If you were to spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you would find the letter 'A'?



A. One thousand
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Q. What do bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers, and laser printers all have in common?



A. All were invented by women.
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Q. What is the only food that doesn't spoil?

A. Honey
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Q. Which day are there more collect calls than any other day?

A. Father's Day

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In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.

When you pulled on the ropes the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase......... 'goodnight, sleep tight.'
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It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer, and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.

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In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts... So in olde England, when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.'



It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'

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Many years ago in England, pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill, they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.
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At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
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Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it:

I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but th e wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?

February??

Where has this month gone? There are less than 2 weeks left in February and I haven't posted a single blog. Shame on me. There have been 2 three day weekends from student teaching, which you would think would give me more time, but somehow there seems to be less. Two Fridays ago was the 100th day of school (which is a big deal in K and 1st grade) so we had a party. Then, last Thursday was Valentine's Day, so more parties.

I have been busy planning lessons and trying to get all of my assignments for school done ahead of time. There are at least 2 assignments due each week from now until the end of February. Last weekend I took the RICA, which is a test about teaching and assessing student reading. They give you 4 hours to take the test. I am usually a pretty fast test taker, but this one took me 3 HOURS!!! And I was only the third person to leave my testing room. Super long! I felt so burnt out after that.

I finally finished my STR last night. I finished the first sock on 2/2, but took a little longer to finish the second sock (SSS much?). Here they are:



After I finished the first sock, I only had this much yarn left:



So I need to explain. Since I don't own a swift (see previous post) my yarn ended up getting into a big knot halfway through winding it. I ended up make one ball that was a little smaller than the second ball of yarn. I used the smaller ball to make the first sock. When I finished the sock, the above picture is how much yarn I had left of that ball. So, if it hadn't worked out, I still would have had more yarn, BUT who wants to join a new ball of yarn at the very tip of the toe??? The yarn gods were smiling on me that day.

I paid for it on the second sock though. I finished knitting the foot and realized that somehow I had an extra three stitches. This wouldn't be a huge deal, but the color pattern on the socks didn't match and the second sock was a little wider, so I had to frog about 1.5-2 hours worth of knitting. Oh well. At least they match now.

Next weekend, the family is going to Tahoe to play in the snow. I am now working on a beanie for myself that will look like this:



With this yarn:

Mail, Mail, I Love Mail

Especially when it's not a bill and it's a package!! In the last week I have received so many exciting things!!!

First I received a sweatshirt and t-shirt that I ordered as part of my shopping spree (x-mas gift) from knitiot:





Then I received (on the same day) my mittens from the mitten exchange on ravelry. I love my mittens! They are so bright and cheerful!! My pal included some chocolate too. You can never go wrong with chocolate. I also received my order from knitpicks.com. Some tubes to hold dpns, a book of bootee patterns, and a ball winder!!! So excited about that one.



I opted to not get the swift since it was quite expensive and I figured I could just have someone hold the yarn over their arms while I wind it up. Yeah...I now understand why they are so expensive and I will be investing in one in the near future. I did some ball winding last night and it went ok, but nothing terrible. Here are some pics of the ball winding festivities of last night:









(I really was that much of a dorky kind of excited!)

The disaster waited until today to strike! My new yarn ended up getting into a big knot(s) that ended up taking me about 2 hours to work out! Unbelievable. Note to self: when something is more expensive, there is probably a good reason. So worth the money. Shopping list: SWIFT!

I would have taken a picture of the horrible messy knot of yarn, but it was much too upsetting. The picture in my brain is enough for me.

Not sure if this is spoiling anything, but I want to post a picture anyway. I don't think that anyone who reads my blog is a member of the Socks that Rock Club, so I can post what I got today (which was the yarn that was in a huge knot). I am so excited about this yarn!!! It even came with cute buttons and a tiny little skein of yarn on a key chain. Love it!!



The color of the yarn is Dragon Dance. So pretty!

Tag. You're it.

Knittingma tagged me to participate in this book sharing blog entry.

I'm not sure that I will have enough people to tag back, but I don't want to disappoint the tagger by not participating.

I recently finished reading:



It's part of a murder mystery series and each book has a bunch of yummy recipes included. I finished this book during Christmas and now I am back to reading boring textbooks for school. This series of books is just a fun read. It's easy reading and something I can get through quickly. Each book is similar, but there is a comfort in that.

The blog tag requires me to turn to page 161 of the book, and read the 5th sentence. My book says:

"Hannah stepped into the library and smiled at the young man who was standing next to Marge."

Not very exciting. It was a part where a new character (possible suspect) was being introduced.

List of some of my favorite books:

1. The Harry Potter Series, by J.K. Rowling
2. My Sister's Keeper, by Jodi Picoult
3. Summer of the Monkeys, by Wilson Rawls
4. Witches, by Ronald Dahl
5. Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult

I definitely don't have 5 regular readers of my blog and the one person that does read my blog regularly is the one who tagged me. So I'll list some people and see what happens.


Apocaknits


Ramblings of a Knitting Obsessive


Yarn for Dinner

Uncle Larry (you could send me an email and tag people by email)
Laurie (you could send me an email and tag people by email)

Happy reading and knitting!!!

I'm Back!

Ok so it hasn't been too long since I last posted, but it feels like forever. I mean I haven't posted since LAST YEAR! (I know, har har, not funny). Anyway, I haven't been knitting too much. I'm kind of enjoying the break from the Christmas knitting. Now I can knit without the time constraints, the pressure, the lingering feeling that I just need to get it all done! Ha! I wish! There are about three babies I still need to knit for. One was born on the 3rd, one is due this month and another one due in March. Some things have been started, so that's good.

As for Christmas...it was great! Don't really want to write about it, so I'll show some pictures:

My Grandma with her great granddaughter:


Me holding my niece (who is wearing the sweater and booties I knit for her). My gram took the picture and cut off my head, but she got the most important person in the picture :)



The hat I knit while with the family to match the baby's sweater. (The color is not quite the same in the picture).



The face mask I knit for my uncle so that he can keep his face warm while biking in WA in THE SNOW!!



Two cousins and myself in the snow. This is exciting for me, since I live where is doesn't snow. This was at our family cabin and it doesn't snow all the time. It was all melted by the time I left a couple of days later.



It's not Christmas, but still part of the holidays...Here's a pic of the girls at New Year's Eve dinner.



That's it for now. I start school on Monday :( so the knitting will probably slow down a bit. I joined the Rockin' Sock Club this year, so I look forward to receiving my first package!