Audrey Hepburn and Jaywalking

My day didn't exactly go as planned (read: I didn't pack a damn thing.) Instead, I sat down with Maggie, my lunch and Jaywalker sock #1 and watched the Audrey Hepburn movie on TV with Jennifer Love Hewitt. I had no idea it was 3 hours long, but I really enjoyed it - and, I did actually finish Jaywalker #1! So, something went as planned. Actually, I did get a lot accomplished today, just not when it comes to packing. I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to packing, even if it's just for a long weekend. I did practice a bunch today - flute and piccolo. According to my practice journal I have neglected the piccolo for just about 2 weeks...13 days - shame on me! That really is bad of me. But I am still in pretty good shape and I still have a few weeks until the job starts, so I think I'll be okay.

I've figured out how to add links to my blog (go me!), so I'll add these gradually, but there's at least a few up there to get started. Now I'm going to sit down in front of Law and Order: Criminal Intent and knit some Mason-Dixon dishcloths to match the new Fiestaware I got for my apartment. My Fiestaware colors are plum, turquoise and cobalt blue. It was really tricky finding a color combination I was happy with - two colors isn't special enough, but any more than three and there's not really a color scheme anymore - too much can kill a good thing. I'm definitely reverting to life as a 4 year old when everything HAD to be purple. I hear purple is in for Fall '06...

Anyway, time to knit some dishcloths.

Rainy Day

I like the rain, actually. I find it very calming. I particularly enjoy thunder storms (as long as I am indoors) - although the dog doesn't. So, it's mid-morning on Sunday and it's cold and rainy - wonderful knitting weather, although I still have soooo much packing to do - I leave for Florida in 5 days. So, I'm going to split my time between knitting and packing today - and I MUST practice piccolo also. It's been about a week since I last touched the piccolo (I have been practicing flute here and there) and I really need to keep in shape since my job starts soon and everything. It's hard to find a balance when you also have to pack up everything you own - the priority list shifts a bit.

Oh, goodness... it's almost 11:30 and I'm still in my pj's. The plan for today is that I'm going to finish the toe on Jaywalker sock #1 (see - I didn't even come close to the Aug. 25th deadline for BOTH socks!) After hearing from the one person who left me a comment and also discussing with my mom, I decided to just continue making the socks for myself rather than ripping anything out. I'll make Stephanie a pair for Christmas. Though now I feel guilty because she and my brother returned from Germany last night and gave me a beautiful pearl necklace. It's very unique, and perfect to wear for my orchestra concerts. It has 3 layers of pearls stranded through semi-sheer black ribbon - it's GORGEOUS! I must say that I was particularly impressed that my brother helped to pick out suh an amazing souvenir for me/birthday present. I can't wait to wear it. Anyway, time to get in the shower and start my day...

Houston, we have a problem.....

Crap. I can barely sqeeze this sock onto my own foot...and my legs are super skinny. There is no way this sock will fit Stephanie. Guess everyone who says the Jaywalkers fit snug are right - but I did go up one leg width already anticipating this problem. So....do I frog and start over, or do I just continue and keep these for myself? I mean, there is no way I can get these done by her birthday now - Aug 25th or 26th, can't remember which it is, and it's not like she knows I'm making them or anything. And everything I knit is always for someone other than myself, and, damnit, MY birthday is September 5th, so they can be a birthday present for me from me. I'll have to think about it. Maybe see what mom thinks. What do you think??

Packing rather than blogging

Sorry, everyone, for the lack of blogging! I'm actually getting ready to move down to Florida on September 1st, so I've been pretty busy packing up my stuff. It's going really slowly - need more boxes! I finally got my first job *in my field* (yay)! - I'll be playing 2nd flute and piccolo with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra (OPO from here on). I'm SUPER excited! It's been great living at home with mom and dad (who are super supportive) these past 8 months, but it will be great to be in my own apartment with all of my own stuff and my own mess. Granted, I really don't have anything in the way of furniture, so it may just be me and a mattress for a while (NOT how it sounds! ;)

I have managed to make a bit of progress on the Rock Bottom Jaywalkers - still on sock #1, but am about halfway done with the foot, so not too much left to go. It's going to be a struggle getting them done in time for Stephanie's birthday, which I think is the 26th - so I'm just aiming to get them done before I move so I can present them to her in person and see for myself whether they fit her feet. I'll try to post some progress pictures tomorrow. Right now I need to get to bed - staying up WAY too late these days (last night it was almost 2:30)! Sleepys.......

Rock Bottom

Nope, I sure haven't hit rock bottom, but if I ever do, I hope it looks like this! This Vesper yarn is awesome - colorway is named Rock Bottom. These colors are making me happy. It makes me sad to know that Iwill be gifting these socks as well (I really need to make ME a pair and SOON)! But, no, these will be for my sister-in-law, Stephanie. Her favorite color combination is orange and blue. It took me a while to find yarn in those colors, but I think what I came up with is absolutely perfect! I'm going to have to get more of this colorway for myself. And look - it made me so happy that I even made a gauge swatch. Impressed? After making this swatch, I've decided to go for the Jaywalker pattern. I think it will be a perfect fit.

Mom's Siren Song Socks - Finished At Last!

It's truly a momentous occasion - I have officially completed my first pair of socks! The reason it is so momentous is because it's actually technically the second time I completed them. The first time they were too big - and of course I knit the second sock before realizing this. It was hard, but I frogged them and started all over again. These socks were for mom's birthday (which was in April, but I didn't even start them the first time until late June). As much as I like for things to be finished and done with, I also like them to be as perfect as I can possibly make them at a particular point in time. So, I frogged. And now they fit her feet, so I am happy. I actually finished them Monday night, but didn't get around to posting about them until now.

Here are the specifics:

Yarn - Socks that Rock in Siren Song
Needles - size 1 for the foot and size 2 for the leg
Method - 4 DPN's (a pain in the neck sometimes)
Pattern - Beaded Rib from Sensational Knitted Socks

You may notice the colors are a bit....not the same. That's because when I was at the shop in Oregon when I was there (can't remember the name) they had only these two skeins left in this colorway and, to be honest, it didn't even cross my mind to check if they were the same dye lot (they aren't). Mom likes them anyway, and that's all that matters.

Locked Out

The craziest thing happened to me this afternoon - you probably won't believe this, but my dog locked me out of the house! I was getting ready to take her swimming in the pool out back and went outside through the back door to bring some stuff outside and I shut the door behind me (it's a sliding glass door.) So, Maggie is a black lab and gets really excited when she's about to go swimming, especially when she sees me go out near the pool. She jumps up against the door waiting for me to come back. This time she must've hit the latch with her paw, cause when I came back the door wouldn't open. Of course, my parents were gone all day not to return until midnight and my brother, who is the only other person that has a key to the house, is in Germany. And I'm puppy-sitting for his adorable Yorkies. So, I'm locked out of the house, and everyone who is in the house is a dog of some sort and can't let me in. Had to fork over $80 for a locksmith! He got me back in through the garage, and sure enough, the back door was locked! There is no lock from the outside on that door, so there is no way that I could've locked it after I went out. So Maggie really must've locked me out. Maybe she was trying to tell me something??

My first post

Greetings! Welcome to my blog. It seems to me that the initial blog post is probably the most intimidating...what to say? What will this be? Hopefully not boring at the very least. I'm mainly starting a blog to share photos of my knitting creations, but sometimes I just like to babble about random things, so there's bound to be a lot of that happening here. For now, just want to get this thing up and running. Here goes...