knitting

Okay folks, not much has happened since I got back to the UK. I stay in all day watching TV and knitting (and doing Hanjie and sometimes reading too…). Plus, I clean around the house when everyone else is out because I don’t want to get in their way, nor have them in my way. I disagree with some of the ways that things are done around here, but it is their house, not mine, so I won’t say anything. I’ve been out with Jill (Oliver’s mom) twice now since she has the week off work. A lot of walking around markets and such. Bought 900g of yarn yesterday in Barnsley, so I’ve got enough to make me a sweater. 80/20 blend of acrylic and wool, but it was cheap so I figured I might as well. At least I can throw it in the washing machine instead having to hand wash it.

I’ve also begun dancing. I go to a ballroom/latin dance class with Oliver every Wednesday night. My feet still get all muddled up, but I am getting better. Am seriously thinking of joining the dance team at Aber next year. Or at least taking more classes. It’s good exercise! Especially the waltz (I really feel that in my glutes for some reason). ^-^

yarn, knitting, dancing, ballroom

Went shopping today. Bought sock yarn from Joseph’s Coat. I’ve got 3 ounces of Brown Sheep Company’s Enchanted Forest for Jaz’s socks, 3 oz of Brown Sheep Company’s something (it’s a really awesome pink) for me and Lanett’s 100% superwash merino wool in Lavender for Jade’s socks. To see pics of Jaz’s and Jade’s yarns, go here. Don’t have a pic of my bright pink yarn yet.

I also finished my second Pomatomus. I’ve also taken pics of those, my Diamante socks and my still unfinished Branching Out scarf (it’s real purdy and soft and squishy and I just love it!). That scarf will be awesome once it’s blocked.

Tomorrow, I’m going yarn shopping with Kerry and possibly Hanna as well. I’m going to buy yarn for a Kimono shawl from the Folk Shawls book. The one in the book was made out of 100% silk, but I’ll be using bamboo. :) They’ve got really pretty bamboo yarn at Joseph’s Coat. Then from the Knitwit Stitchery I might be getting yarn for a Clapotis. Haven’t quite decided on that yet. We’ll see.

And the reason for all of this sudden yarn shopping? I found a birthday card from my uncle that contained $100. So I want to spend that. Probably not all of it will be on yarn though. Possibly will get a pair of shorts or a t-shirt or something from the UM Bookstore. Get some Griz gear. I mean, I’ve got the sweats, but I’ve heard that their warm weather clothing is really comfy too.

knitting, Pomatomus, Diamante, Branching Out, shawls, socks, yarn

Yep, it’s May and we’ve got white mountains! It started yesterday with the freezing rain and today we got hail. It’s so unfair. On Tuesday, wonderful weather. Like +25C (or high 70s, low 80s for you Farenheit folks). And now it’s cold. >_<

I’ve been working on some Pomatomus socks in this pretty self-striping red/pink/orange/white with black twisted around it. I was a bit iffy about doing the pattern at first, but I decided to give it a go, since it is a Cookie A pattern. She does wonderful patterns. You know the pink socks that I made? Hedera was her pattern. I’m thinking of buying her Rhiannon and Gothic Spires patterns, but I haven’t quite made up my mind yet.

I went shopping; bought $70 worth of stuff on Wednesday. But I’ve now got the Folk Shawls book that I couldn’t get on Amazon.co.uk. And I stopped by Joseph’s Coat on my way back, got some sock yarn (the stuff I’m making the Pomatomus socks in) and fondled a lot of skeins. Okay, get this. They’re selling fingering weight bamboo yarn for $2/oz. Only $2!!! So I’ve picked out the shawl pattern that I want to make and on Monday after Kerry is done with her school stuff, I’m taking her to Joseph’s Coat because she has to see the bamboo yarn, the soysilk and bison yarn! I’m so buying some of that bison yarn. Because you can only get it from here. It’s holiday yarn.

I packed my bigger suitcase yesterday. Which made me realize that my packing estimations are way off. I need to ship my bedding. So I’ll go buy a box from the shipping place in the UC after I’ve sold my school books. So if I can stuff my bedding into that box and some of my yarn stash (yes it’s growing), the rest should fit into my suitcases and still be within the weight limits. *crosses fingers*

And I need to go to my final class of the year! w00! And almost all of my papers are done. Just need to expand one more paragraph in my Medieval Lit paper and give some examples that help define seduction for my last one pager. *grin*

This time next week, I will be in Minneapolis airport waiting to board my next flight. Or then I will be on that next flight. I’m not sure. I need to look that up.

knitting, socks, Cookie A, Pomatomus, packing, school, weather

And I am done! o/ I have finished all of my long papers that are due. All I have to do now, is to print them out. And write one more one page paper. But I can have that done in like an hour. So whee! *spins on an imaginary swivel chair*

Played Scrabble last night with Anika, Rey and Kaiser. It was fun. I lost, but I don’t care. XD And speaking of losing, my notebook disappeared. I’m pretty sure I took it up there, but halfway through the game, it went poof! So… no knitting patterns for me. :( But they said that they’ll give it back if it pops up. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed. It’s got stuff in it that I’d like to have back…

Going out for lunch with Meg as soon as she gets out of class. The weather is wonderful. Sunny and warm-ish, but not ridiculously hot. Summer’s here! That also means that I need to start wearing sunblock. So I’ve got some SPF 50. No burning this year. I’m determined not to burn, at least if I can help it.

I’ve also ordered books from Amazon. Knitting books. And since I didn’t find anything that I wanted that made the total over £15 (which means no free shipping), my books should arrive at Oliver’s by the end of this week. ^_^ And my yarn is already waiting for me over there… Can’t wait!

Less than two weeks to go! o/ (The craziness that is Lime & Violet is beginning to rub off on me… XD)

Feeling less guilty now. I started my final paper tonight. I only have like the introductory paragraph written and it’s only a provisional one, but it’s still something. And I named my paper too! Heh, I just realized that pun. I’m writing about how names affect identity. ^-^;; And the reason why I was feeling guilty was that I did not do any homework on Monday or yesterday. Brain go kaplou-ey from the riddle essay that I churned (another pun! what is it with me tonight??) out during the weekend.

Anyway… uhm… Oh, my Lisa Souza yarn has apparently arrived. It’s now waiting patiently in Oliver’s parents’ dining room for me to go claim it. Lovely yarn-y goodness. Another reason to want to leave Missoula! I mean, I’ll miss this place, I love it here, but school is driving me nuts. On the plus side, it’s gorgeous and ubercheap knitting stuff is available here, but… I still miss Aber as well. And I don’t get to see Oliver as often as I’d like while I’m here. I just got so used to being able to just decide to jump on the train on Thursday/Friday and travel for five hours (I used to try to do homework, but now I’ve got a better idea: play the knitting game a la Brenda Dayne!) and then I’d see him! I’m like mentally already packed up (seriously, I pack things in my mind first, sorta like a puzzle) and heading to the airport. And then I realize that I can’t pack my bigger suitcase until I’ve done laundry and I can’t do that until I’ve got enough dirty clothes to get proper loads and then I feel guilty for just sitting and knitting when I should be writing my final NI paper and two mini essays that are due next week… But I sure do have pretty socks. Even the dinner lady at the Food Zoo thinks so. She wanted me to bring some of my knitting with me so that I could show her, which I did tonight (I’m such an attention whore when it comes to my knitting) and I gave her the links to the sock patterns I’ve used.

And I should go read one more book that I got from the library today (research! w00! o/).

And I just spent £29 on knitting books. But I really wanted them. One is about socks, two are about lace and the fourth… well, it’s called Naughty Needles. So I guess it’s not that bad, four books for under thirty pounds. Plus, free shipping! I always try to get the free shipping.

What else… well, the weekend’s essay extravaganza kinda fried my brain. But I now have two revised final papers. Yay me. Still have to write that last one. Urgh. I so don’t feel like it. But yes, due to the brain fry-age, all I did yesterday was knit! (Like that’s anything new.) I finished my first ever toe-up sock. I made the Diamante sock pattern from Knitty.com with the Lisa Souza Sock! Merino (100% Superwash Merino) in the Lime&Violet colorway. It’s soooo pretty. And as I was showing off my beautiful new sock to people in my classes today, I got comments like: “Y’know, if my knitting was this even, it’d be all I’d do all day” and “You are a knitting machine.” So yay! There will be pics, but right now I just don’t have the time to take them, load them onto my computer, make them suitable for the blog, upload them, create the page and do the links… That takes some effort, y’see. And I have an essay to write. And another Diamante sock to knit.

Yay, go me. I have finished my first Hedera sock! It’s soooooo pretty and warm (well duh, since it is 100% superwash merino wool). And for your enjoyment, I’ve taken pictures! Just go here to see them.

I am about to conk out. I’ve been up since 3am (went to bed at 11pm, so only four hours of sleep) because I had a 6:00 am flight. And since it was out of O’Hare, it meant that I had to get there early. Good thing I got there there on time too, since the check-in line was huge, the security line was even longer and then there were about thirty passengers on stand-by because they had oversold the flight. *rolls eyes* But I got to Missoula alright; just had dinner with Megan, Jeff and Ethan with a few others joining us a bit later. I finished my Medieval Lit homework even though I really really really didn’t feel like doing that. But it’s done. So yay me. :)

Probably not going to the gym tomorrow since I need to go make copies of my story that’s due on Tuesday and I have laundry to do. After taking that week off from going to a gym, I’ve started feeling lazy again. But I did have a lot of fun staying at my sister’s in Chicago. :) And playing the Lego Star Wars on an XBox 360 is a whole lot more fun than on a PSP. That’s pretty much what Oliver and I did with Jessamyn for the last few days we were there.

I got a letter from my grandma. Kinda hard to read sometimes, and a bit dull, but I’m still saving it because it can go in the genealogy box I’m going to make some day. She said in her letter that she still has the love letters my grandfather had sent her, so I’m going to work on acquiring those too. XD

And now, I’m going to go lie down. Possibly sleep for a bit. But I don’t want to go to sleep properly before eight, so I dunno. It seems dangerous to lie down… maybe I’ll continue with my Isabella (it’s almost done!)…..

Okay, so this like totally made my day: Miss Lime, from the Lime & Violet podcast, e-mailed me back! I’ve been grinning all day. I feel like I’ve been in contact with a celebrity or something. I mean, I know, not many non-knitters know who she is, but… !!! Oh and Brenda Dayne. We all worship her. *nods*

And then, to make my day even better, Lisa from Lisa Souza Knitwear and Dyeworks e-mailed me a little bit later on to tell me she’s shipping my yarn tomorrow! Squeeeeee!! So yes, I did wind up buying two skeins from Lisa Souza. I can’t wait to have it. =D

What else.. well, more knitting news: I’ve begun working on the Isabella pattern from www.knitty.com (current issue) in this really lovely baby pink 100% cotton yarn. Okay, so there is no way that I will go back to using 100% acrylic now that I’ve had a taste of the good natural stuff. Well, I mean I’ll still use whatever I’m given and I’ll use up everything I’ve got in my stash (oh boy has that grown! Scary… o.O). I blame these knitting podcasts. They’re enablers. But, stash! How on earth am I going to get it all back with me? Oh, and now I want to try out spinning. Miss Lime and Miss Violet and Brenda all do it, so I feel like I need to do it too. Bandwagon jumping anyone?

Anyway. Had an exam yesterday. Totally drained me, but at least it’s over. It was ridiculously hot in the room, but that’s what you get for holding a lit class in the Fine Arts building. Our classroom btw, always smells funny. I think it’s due to all of the art stuff that’s being created there. It’s the smell of creativity/imagination. Must be.

Get to see Oliver next week. Squee! Oh, he’s another enabler. I have spent so much money! -_-;; But I still love him. ^_^

Okay, I want to do four more rows before I go to bed, so I’ll stop here.

What to do, what to do? I have found some really awesome looking yarn at www.lisaknit.com. It’s 100% Superfine Merino Superwash Hand Dyed Sock Yarn and I would just love to have it in Violet’s Pink Ribbon and Lime & Violet colorways. But Milk & Honey and Gingerpeach look just delicious as well! It’s $16 per skein, 560 yds in a skein so really, it’s not a bad deal at all considering that it’s 100% merino wool that’s hand dyed and it’d probably cost me about the same to get that kind of quality from a local shop that doesn’t even have that pretty colors. The shipping is $1.59 for one skein, $2.55 for two, and three would be $4.00. But how can I justify buying more yarn right now? How???? Agh, the choices I have to make. I dunno, should I just go ahead and order two skeins? If I get the Violet ones (named after Miss Violet and Miss Lime from the Lime & Violet podcast) then some of the proceeds will go to them and help pay for Miss Violet’s medical expenses… so I’d be doing a good thing, right?? I soooooooo want that yarn! What do I do?

I should probably add that I have just spent a bit under $100 in the past two days (shopping spree ^-^;;;). Not all of it went on yarn though! I got my sister, my niece and Oliver’s sister their birthday presents. And like $10 of the amount spent went towards food…

knitting, Lisa Souza, yarn, merino, Lime & Violet