Finished Object! (Well, almost)

It's my so called scarf! I don't remember the yarn...the tag is not where I am right now. But I will get back to you on that. I believe it's Manos del Uruguay.

It was such a fun and fast knit ^.^ I absolutely looooove the colors.

I only used one skein, which was __ yards. Grr me and leaving the details. Oh well.

I used size 10.5 bamboo circulars. I started with size 8 circs…which was not a very good idea. But I bought the yarn (amongst other yarns) and the needles when I was on vacation so it was all I had. I like the 10.5s since it makes a much softer fabric but not too loose. And when I changed to 10.5s, I only cast on 26 stitches because I didn’t want my scarf to be that wide. I love the pattern, though. So pretty!

Oh, Canada

It's been about 2 months since I went to Montreal, but, better late than never, right?

I went for the National Concrete Canoe Competition, sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers, amongst many other sponsors.

Canada was lovely. There was this mix of architecture that is similar to San Francisco (with the modern and not-so-modern buildings) except the genre of the not-so-modern buildings. The weather was also very similar, which was great, because I loooove cold weather. Yes, I know, I'm strange.

On to the canoes! The host school, École de technologie supérieure (ETS), had a stunning canoe. Great graphics and they raced pretty well too (There's more to the competition that that, but that's the interesting stuff =P...I'm on our graphics team, sooo yeah, I'm a little biased).

I really liked the stands for this school's canoe.

Polytechnic University had a great mix for their concrete. The used "green" materials - recycled glass and some other stuff I don't remember...But the glass made their base look so interesting with the little specks of colors.

Of course, our canoe had the best graphics ^.^ Our theme was the Free Speech Movement and we called our canoe VoCAL. Our stands are supposed to be the collumns in Sproul Hall. The people on the canoe are Mario Savio and our officers.

The whole experience was great. I think the only part I didn't enjoy was the uber high sales tax. But still, really fun. And wait! I got to go to a yarn shop on the trip. The Competition provided us with metro passes and we had some free time to go exploring. I didn't get to see the underground, but I did go to Mouline Yarns, which was walking distance from the Lionel-Groulx stop. I bought some yarn...a lot of yarn, I think. If I remember correctly, I bought two skeins of Malabrigo (my first!), 4 skeins of Noro (two of silk garden and two of one other type that I don't remember), and what I think is Manos del Uruguay...but I don't remember...I also got some addi Naturas to knit with for the rest of the trip and on the plane. Speaking of the plane, I had a terrible flying experience on the way back, and an okay one on the way there, but the trip was definitely worth it.

Well, I think that's it for now. I might post a little more before school starts since I started a few new projects...and haven't finished any ><

Ashland

A couple of my friends and I drove up to Ashland last weekend for the renowned Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Our senior year of high school, both of the honors English classes went up to see 4 plays. We loved it so much we promised ourselves we would go back, and after two years, we finally did! Unfortunately, we only got to see one play (and it was not one of Shakespeare's) but it was very good.
It's called The Clay Cart and it's about a man and a courtesan who are in love but the king's brother-in-law wants the courtesan for himself. Things happen and I won't spoil the ending for you but it was a very enjoyable play. And the set was gorgeous! The fabrics they used were so pretty and they had really cute lanterns hanging from the ceiling.

When I last went to Ashland I didn't know too much about yarn shops (I got most of my yarn from Michaels and the like) so I did not visit the yarn shop downtown. This time, I got to stop by The Websters and got my first drop spindle (and roving)!

As you can see, I've already tried spinning. What's on the spindle is some wool roving from the store which I got 2 ounces of a pinkish color and 2 of a tealish color. And then there's the lovely merino silk roving - I heart the colors! I'm afraid I will mess up whilst spinning...which is why I'm practicing on the less expensive wool stuff.

So that will be all for now. I'm trying to finish a cross stitch piece for my aunt before she comes out to visit so I haven't been knitting/crocheting as much. And my internship is starting soon, then summer classes...I haven't had a real break yet! I'm sure I will make time for it somewhere.

I'm here

One would think that when I finished finals I would have loads of free time to spend doing whatever my heart desired...one would think...*sigh* Well, I've been quite busy doing all these little things, you know how it is. For example, I got my car fixed today, worked out a bit, tried some more drop spindle spinning, cross stitched a little (note to self: must take picture of cross stitch project), inquired about my internship for the summer, looked up textbooks for summer classes, sorted photos out so I could upload the photos from Ashland, which I just came back from yesterday, amongst other things. It's a good thing I like to be kept busy. So I am still working on uploading photos and such but I will probably have a longer post in the near future about my trip to Ashland and various purchases. Until then, stay classy.

Zlio

As a college, I don't have much money...lol. So I found this blog that talks about ways to make money at home through different websites, one of which is called Zlio. What you do is make your store and add products to it from a list that they have from outside retailers and you get a certain percent of the revenue. I decided to try it out...don't know how I'm going to get people to buy stuff from it...but it's there and it's about crafts and craft books mostly. Check out the link on the sidebar and if you want to sign up, use this link.

I'll be back soon!

It's almost finals time!

Ugh

School has taken over my life...Mostly. There has been one thing, though, that has definitely had a fair share of my time...The gates of heaven have opened up and revealed this *cue angelic music*
I am such a nerd. But, this game is amazing. Like absolutely amazing. My boyfriend got me hooked on Melee (the older version) and since then I've been waiting for Brawl to come out. For those that don't know how it works, let me explain. There are basically three different ways you can play: Classic, Adventure and Melee/Brawl. The last one is the multiplayer mode where you can have up to four players fighting each other. You get regular attacks, special attacks and smash attacks (which are really fun =D). Classic and Adventure mode are one player (except in Brawl). In Classic you get so many lives to fight so many characters and do some bonus stages. In Melee, Adventure mode was about the same, but longer and you didn't fight "The Hand" at the end, you just fought Bowser. In Brawl, Adventure mode (a.k.a. Subspace Emissary - and not "Emissionary" as I keep saying for some reason) can be mutiplayer and it's kind of like a regular video game in that you travel and go through obstacles and make slow progress. That can be two players although play two can get left behind a lot (sorry, Cathy!) because the screen moves with player 1. Anyway, it's really fun and you should definitely look into it if you like video games, or even if you don't.

So I think I'll be posting over spring break (in about a week) but no promises. I haven't been doing much crafting lately...bad me. 'Tis sad. Oh well, that's what spring break and summer vacation are for, right?

On Four Hours

I went to bed around 5:30 this morning. Yes, that's right, 5:30 am. What time did I have class? 10 am. What time did I want to get up to get ready? 9 am. What time did I actually get up? 9:50 am. Of course I contemplated not going to class and just getting the notes from someone...which took 2 minutes. And it takes 10-15 minutes to walk to class. I decided I should go to class, and I was 15 minutes late, which wasn't too bad. So I've been running on 4 hours of sleep and so far I'm okay. I don't know how I'm doing it...Must be magic.

You might ask, what in the world was I doing up so late? Well, I was baking. With Cathy. For Valentine's Day basically. Look what we made:

Cherry Pie
Can you tell it's canned? Yeah....that's all we really had time for since we were making so much stuff (I was inspired).

Bleeding Heart CupcakesThese were so fun to make. Very tedious though. As you can tell, they don't really look like hearts, but that's okay. Fortunately, I'm not going into Anatomy or Physiology.

We also made some of these, but omitted the nuts and half a cup of chips, and added raisins. The raisins added a funky taste when eaten right out of the oven, but when they cooled off, they weren't bad. I'm planning to make some for my special someone this weekend.

Okay, I need to finish some homework before I crash. Sleeeeep...mmm

Super Duper Tuesday

I actually already voted. Absentee ballot. I figured it would be easier than trying to get back to my county while attending all my classes. But I hope everyone else votes. I've noticed a major increase in younger people's interest in politics and such, or at least in myself =P. It could just be because I'm noticing it more, but, hey, even the news says that the youth have a big say in this election. I have to say, it takes a bit of time to get all the information about elections and propositions to cast a knowledgeable vote, so I can't blame some college students for not wanting to make an uninformed vote. But I think I'm satisfied with my vote. Although, if you live in California and saw all those ads on TV about the Indian Casinos...yeah that was a tough one for me.

Anyway, I have not worked on anything since I last posted, though I intended to. I've got a bunch of reading and homework to do. Mmm, lab reports...fun stuff...*sigh* Maybe this weekend I'll be able to work on some stuff. My special someone is coming to visit though; he might distract me from my knitting duties. We'll see.

Has it been more than a week?

Yeah, it has...Damn. I really have not been knitting much. Stupid school. I wish I had pictures to show but I haven't really had the time to upload any from my camera, let alone take any. I think the next time I have a chance to be crafty might be after midterms...or finals... ><

*sigh*

School starts tomorrow. I start at 8 am...So early. Normally I would be a little excited, at least but right now all I want to do is finish all my projects.

I cast on a pair of Fetching the other day. *big smile* I'm excited. I finished the left hand and started on the right. Pictures coming eventually.

It's Coming

School starts on Tuesday. I think I'll try to post once a week, at least. We'll see how that goes. I don't think I'm going to have much time for anything once classes start. I'm taking 5 classes, 16 units, I think. One Math class, 3 Engineering and 1 English. I'm excited for the English class. I've been dying to take a non-technical course. But we have 8 books to read over the course of 16 weeks...wow, that's two weeks per book, plus whatever other work I'll have to do. Yeah...I don't know how much time I'll have sleep, much less knit/crochet. I'm sure I'll get something in somehow.

My first lace project

I've been working on my Mom's scarf since before Christmas...it was supposed to be a quick gift that but lace is taking me longer than expected. Actually, that's not true - it's taking a while because I haven't really gotten a chance to sit down and focus on it, not because it's lace or anything. The pattern actually isn't too bad for my first lace project, but if I'm not giving it my full attention, I tend to make mistakes (2 major ones so far). I need to figure out how to fix lace. I can undo the yarn overs and the k2tog but when it comes to the slip stitch overs, I get messed up.

Anyway, what did I do today? Oh it was my special someone's birthday today ^.^ We celebrated by just hanging out together. He went back to Davis today, though...sad. I probably won't see him for a couple weeks. I know, so long! Silly me.

I played Metroid Prime 3 with Cathy (again) and we're making slow progress on the game, but it's really fun. We just rented it, though, from Blockbuster and it's due tomorrow, I think. Either that or Tuesday...good thing there are no late fees.

Finished Object!

Here they are =) So, as you can probably tell in the picture, the left and right glittons don't exactly match. I did the right one first and just happened to read the pattern wrong. Instead of ribbing for 6 rows and then knitting until the mitten part is 1.5 inches from your fingers, I did ribbing the whole time...oops. And then I forgot to do some decreases on the top of the mitten part (notice how its a lot flatter than the left hand). But I realized this much too late (when I did the left hand) to redo it, and I think it looks okay when you wear them. Barely noticeable and I know Miriam will still appreciate them. Since it was a men's pattern, there wasn't really too much shaping for women's dainty little wrists so I decided to add a ribbon (from JoAnn's) to narrow that part. And then of course the buttons (so cute! Also from JoAnn's (did I mention I heart JoAnn's?)) which hold the mitten part back when you're not using them. Aren't they just adorable? Very feminine; I think they're more me than they are Miriam but that's okay.

I'm trying my hand at embroidery for Cathy's bag. It's not really embroidery - I'm kinda winging it. So far it looks alright, dare I say, cute? It's got a very handmade look to it. I'll have to take a picture of it. The design is this sort of tree/sun thing. More abstract, though.

w00t

Yay, I finished Miriam's glittons. I have to say they are very cute. Definitely not perfect though...But I know Miriam will like them anyway. Pictures coming soon.

I think I have a problem. At the moment, I have 151 projects queued in Ravelry. And that doesn't even count projects from the magazines I have. I don't think I could finish them in this lifetime. Okay, maybe I could. If I did 15 a year it would only take 10 years...only....

So this morning our alarm went off and scared the crap out of me. I thought someone was trying to break into the house and I was hearing all these noises (all in my head, really). Turns out the garage door wasn't completely closed and opened enough to set the alarm off during the night. 'Twas a long night.

Lookie, lookie!

I got two gifts done, one of which was on my previous list. Mary's legwarmers were finished on Monday and Izzy's winter set was finished Sunday? Maybe? Lookie! (with gift tags and everything):
I feel a little better but I still want to finish my dad's sweater before break is over (I'm not sure that's going to happen). I'm making progress on Miriam's glittons, though. I should be finished with those later today. I better start making things work - oh Project Runway tonight!

Cute finds

I'm trying to organize my stash and projects and stuff, and while I was searching for the kit I got some yarn from I ran into these:
and these:
Aren't they adorable? So cute! Anyway...back to organizing!

Here we go

I've been meaning to start a(nother) blog for quite a while now. I keep finding myself taking pictures and thinking of what I would write in my blog about it them if I had one. After many instances of this I decided I must start one now.

So here I am. A little about me: I'm studying Environmental Engineering at UC Berkeley (go Bears!) as an undergraduate. I grew up in the Bay Area and love it here. And, well, I love to knit and crochet, and really just craft in general. I learned how to crochet first, when I was in middle school (7th grade I think) and then I learned how to knit in high school (I think sophomore year). I'd like to consider myself somewhat artsy/creative; usually I try to incorporate art into whatever I can. Every once and a while I'll paint something or draw something or make something non-fiber-related, but mostly I knit and crochet.

I think that's enough about me for now. Let's see...how about that holiday crafting? Being a college student, I get a few weeks (4) for winter break. That gives me about a week before Christmas to get all my gifts together. This year I decided to make a lot of the gifts...not a good idea when you only have a week. But lucky for my I had other gifts (non-handmade) for my parents and I have pretty understanding friends (i.e. they haven't put together gifts, either), so I have been diligently working away at the list. In fact, this list here:

1. Dad's Ribbed Sweater
2. Mom's Branching Out Scarf
3. Miriam's Hanukkah Glittons
4. Cathy's All Seasons Bag
5. Mary's Leg Warmers

I think that's it? Of course there are other things I want to make for myself...for instance, I really want to start a pair of Fetching before school starts back up. But those will have to wait. My dad's sweater is taking forever...I wished I had worked it in the round instead of in two separate panels but I don't really know how to do that just yet so it wasn't exactly an option. I guess it's technically my first sweater? I was working on one for myself until I put that aside for other things, so this one might be my first finished sweater. A lot of firsts here - well, three. First sweater, first lace project and first gloves/mittons/dpns/knitting in the round project. Exciting!

Okay, so this is going to be an uber long post because remember how I said I took a whole bunch of pictures for my imaginary blog? Yeah, I'm gonna put those here. Let's see...what first...

This magazine is absolutely adorable. My friends and I were at Joann's and were looking through some of the magazines and Miriam found this one. And of course, since I had a 40% coupon (damn those coupons) I had to get the magazine. I've never really done any stamping or embossing besides stuff we did in elementary school but the samples they have in the magazine are so inspirational. I've done a little scrapbooking and I'm a sucker for cute/artsy things so I might give this a go sometime. The magazine comes with free paper so you can make something like the card above. I haven't gotten a chance to give it a good look through but this caught my eye:Look at those colors! I love the black with it, too.

While we were at Joann's, I took a look at some of the fabric, even though I am terrible at sewing. They were having their end of the year sale and the fabric squares were only 99 cents (that's reasonable, right?). So I loaded up on a few to save for little projects that need lining or maybe some fabric boxes (we got a magazine on that, too). Here are some of the prints I got (sorry for the bad lighting...):





























Okay, that only took forever to format. But, yeah, those are my fabrics.

I think that's enough for now. Now I have a blog, yay!

Oh, by the way, I'm on Ravelry as eliannaknits ^.^