I'm still alive!

Hello, my name is Kristin, and I am a baaaaaaaaaaad blogger. It's been 9 MONTHS since my last post (?!). With everything that has been going on, the poor blog fell by the wayside! I would like to thank Glenna at http://crazyknittinglady.wordpress.com/ for leading me back to the blog! I just discovered Knitting to Stay Sane and have been reading archived posts to make the long hours at work go faster.

I promise, I've been knitting while I've been gone. Since last July, I've completed a few shawls, oodles of socks, Blanket of Doom, a knitted thong (more on that later), and a few beer cozies. I will follow up with some picture proof of said knitting, but for now, I'm off to bed. Goodnight, and I wish you all wooly dreams!

Uh oh...

Look what I bought at Knitters Connection...
I now have a spindle and pretty roving! So far, I'm pretty good at the spinning part. Now, the plying, THAT'S another story. The white yarn on the spindle is where the plying went horribly wrong. I don't know if the singles have too much twist in them or what, but they keep kinking up on themselves so much that I can't get them apart to ply them! Ugh. Dirk actually made me put it all down the other night before I hurtled it across the room. I'm going to need help before I dig into my pretty purple roving. The roving is from Fiber Optic Yarns (http://www.kimberbaldwindesigns.com) in Cincinnati, OH. It's 80% superwash merino and 20% nylon in a colorway called Solitude. How deep. Of course, I was drawn to it because it's PURPLE.

I also found some sock yarn in a scarlet-and-gray-ish colorway. I'm thinking this is going to be a Christmas present for the future in-laws. They are DIE HARD Buckeye fans.

More on the knitting front later...

Look, Ma! Progress bars!

Ho. Lee. Crap. I feel like I just had my brain in a vice, but I am so damn proud of myself! Look! I have progress bars! After much copying and pasting and cursing and headbanging, I figured it out! I think I'll reward myself today. Perhaps a trip to the LYS? They have summer yarns on sale, I think so.

Random musings from work

Greetings! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted. There's been a lot of work and a lot of knitting to attend to.

I'm in the process of doing laundry. (I lead such a glamorous life, I know. Envy away.) As I was going through pockets for loose change, yarn bits, or anything else that could potentially destroy my washer, I found a list I made at work the other day while in a constant state of boredom. Here are a few of my observations:

1. Glass doors do not stay clean, no matter how much Windex you spray. There are fingerprints all the way to the top of the door. I don't know why anyone would see a clean glass door and feel the need to put a full hand print on it. Jerks. Also, if my kids did that (and it looks like someone licked their hand before they planted their grubby paws on my door!) I would be handing them Windex and a rag.
2. There are a LOT of Russians and other people originating from the Eastern European area in Reynoldsburg. I don't know why this is. There is a Russian grocery store a few doors down from my shop, so that might explain the concentration.
3. I get really dorky over local celebrities. I don't know why, but everytime I encounter someone that I've seen on tv or heard on the radio, I squeal internally. Some of these "celebs" include Jerry Revish (spotted in a Bob Evans), Cabot Rea (used to come in the music shop in Westerville all the time...is also kind of a jerk), and Bob Juniper (of 3C Bodyshop. I recognized his voice from the radio when I called to tell him his daughter's sax was ready).

I lead a sad life.

I just want to get it over with!

Everytime I think about all the wedding stuff I have to do, I want to elope! I really DON'T want to elope, but it would be done and over with! Using The Knot website has been very helpful, but there's a giant checklist on there that makes me feel like a big fat failure. I still haven't looked into cakes. We need an officiant, invitations (although I think that's covered), tuxes for the guys, dresses for the girls, and decorations. I also need to get my dress altered so it will zip past my huge tracts of land! Also, I need my parents and Dirk's parents to GIVE ME THEIR ADDITIONS TO THE GUEST LIST!!! I think I just worked myself into needing a cocktail!

On a more positive note, my shawl is coming along swimmingly! (I'll have to show you a picture later. I'm blogging from the Crackberry) I think I boo-booed early on, but I can probably fix it in the blocking. Blocking is magical.

Lace is making me itch

Recently, I've really wanted to knit lace. Thats a strange urge for me, considering I NEVER wear shawls or lacy scarves. I've always thought that shawls screamed "granny," and the only time I wear scarves is when it's cold out. I think it's because of Karen and her Haruni and Liz with her Chinook Shawl, but I want to do something light and lacy to wear to work. I'm debating on which to do first...the Percy Shawl or the Laminaria Shawl. I like both and can't decide which I like better....thoughts?

Yes, I'm still here

I am an incredibly bad blog mommy! I've been so busy worrying about how to do stuff, that I kinda gave up on the whole thing! I STILL don't know if I can do pictures properly, but I got a quick tutorial from one of the Knit Knite ladies, so hopefully I can hack it.

Let's see...what has been happening since I last posted in JANUARY? I got into another car accident (with a rock...it's still not funny). My coworkers had a FIELD DAY with the news. I actually came to work with this posted to the back door:

They think they're SOOOOOOO funny. Jerks. (Hey, look...I CAN post pictures!) I wasn't hurt, but my car was! I was NOT going very fast, but I slid on some ice and hit a rock (well, boulder really) in the parking lot of my apartment. The airbag went off and it was a huge mess. My fiance was also in the hospital (and we still don't know what happened to him.) Luckily, we don't have to pay for the bills! Thank you workman's comp!

On the wedding front, we got our wedding rings. They are very pretty and sparkly! I'll have to take pictures of them later. We also COMPLETELY changed the entire wedding! It WAS going to be a small thing in Vegas, but people started to back out on us, and it was going to pretty much just be us and our parents. I've also been getting crap from some of my family members because they couldn't afford Vegas. To make a long story short, we decided to get married here, and now it's a 200-person affair. It's not going to be anything extravagant, but I still have to talk my dad out of letting his friend bring his KARAOKE EQUIPMENT (?!) TO MY WEDDING. I don't want anything fancy, but I will NOT have my dad's drunk friends singing to me. Oy.

Through all of this, I have also been knitting up a freaking storm! For Ravelympics this year, I made a pair of socks for a friend's son. I can't remember the pattern off the top of my head, but it's kind of a herringbone rib. (Actually, that might be the name of the pattern, come to think of it.) I also marked off one item on my list of "Knitting to-dos." I made a pair of Eunny Jang's Endpaper Mitts. It was my first color project, and I'm glad I had them when I did...that's what I knit while Dirk was in the hospital! It hasn't been cold enough to wear them yet, but I'm sure I will in the fall and winter. The door doesn't close all the way at the store, so if it's cold outside, I assume it's going to be cold inside.

Then we have the line of projects I call "Lynda's Gloves." My mom "pimped" me out to one of her coworkers. She was bragging about my abilities, and Lynda was complaining about not being able to find gloves that fit her because she has really long fingers (and fake nails to top them off.) I was commissioned to make her not 1, but 7 pairs of fingerless gloves with a mittem flap. I've finished pair #1, but am stalling hard for the other 6.

Other projects include a baby blanket for my friend Niki. It's the "Nature In Natural" pattern, which I LOVE. I thought it was going to be a pain in the butt, but I worked it all in one piece instead of having to put blocks together and put a border around it. I've also completed a few pairs of socks. I knit "Spring Forward" for me, and some drab, boring, olive green ribbed socks for dirk. I also finished the damn "Whisper Cardigan." I LOVE the sweater, but I'm really mad. I got to wear it once, then washed it on gentle in cold water in a lingerie bag. The friction from the bag shrank it! I tried to stretch it back out, but it's not the same. I haven't given up on it yet though. I WILL make it fit!!

Anywho, I think this is a good post to try and get back into this whole blogging thing! I'm going to TRY to keep up with the blog...I can't promise daily posting, but I'll try to do once a week or so.