And When You're Drunk Shake That A$$ Like You Know How To Dance

It's been a bit since I've blogged, Hi all! It's after my birthday so I can share all my fun birthday loot and projects and stuff. Knitting-wise I got some fun stuff for my birthday. My aunt (my dad's twin sister) gave me Teach Yourself Visually: Sock Knitting. I'm really excited about this book because it gives instructions with lots of pictures for all kinds of socks including toe-up and ones with an afterthought heel. And considering I feel like I've mastered the top-down sock I'm looking forward to trying other things. That being said though, after finishing the JaywalkersI'm a bit burnt out on socks for now. Especially because I was working on the socks in size 1 needles. I was SO afraid they were going to snap. Now I'm working on a pair of mittens for my Weight Watcher's Buddy. She was so nice to schlep me to and from Weight Watchers every week since I crashed Ned (my Nissan) in January, so these mittens are going to be a thank you/goodbye gift.

Ooh, I think I just went on a tangent there. Anyway other birthday fun included going out for drinks with several of my classmates. I have to tell you, semi-drunken soon-to-be children's librarians are a hella lot of fun. This is me, Katie, and Lauren waiting for the bus after we were done with our several rounds and many amusing stories :-) The Teacher visited me for the weekend (4th of July/my birthday) and she brought these two skeins of Deborah Norville Sock Yarn from my mom. The Teacher also gave me Crobots for my birthday so eventually I'll have to start making a few amigurumi robots. Anyway, The Teacher and I had a great weekend together. We saw The Proposal and I have to say, it was cute but either they needed to expand the plot or they needed to abandon the plot all together and just let Ryan Reynolds walk around mostly nekkid (yum!). We also went to the Heinz History Center where The Teacher got to pose with Daniel Striped Tiger and on Sunday we rode the Duquesne Incline. Helloooo Pittsburgh!All in all, a most excellent birthday week.

Talking About Yarn Stuff For Class Again

Once again I had to do a presentation for my "Library's Role in Teaching and Learning." This time it had to be a five minute instructional presentation. I did mine on dyeing yarn with kool-aid. Here it is for your viewing pleasure.

More Toasty Toes

That would be me, at my parents' house working on my socks. Thanks mom for snapping that candid.

I started knitting Grumperina's Jaywalkers. I'm using Patons Kroy sock yarn and size 1 knitting needles. Just for those who don't know, a size 1 needle is 2.25 millimeters in diameter. That's TEENY. I feel like I'm knitting with toothpicks. Also, I had an issue properly reading the directions for the zig-zag pattern for the first round, I don't think affected it too much though. I also happen to really like this yarn. It's wool/nylon blend and it's very soft and knits up such nice stripes. ^_^

I also started crocheting this hat, mostly because I saw this pattern and thought I'd try to make something like it.

And last in the picture department is this lovely bookmark/knit gauge which came from my boyfriend along with a very cute birthday card. Very sweet and thoughtful of him. :-)That's all for now folks! Toodles!

And Now Back To Our Regularly Scheduled Program

I made this potholder in class yesterday. I needed something to do (or else I would fall asleep) so I brought the cotton yarn from the other potholders. As you can see, I ran out of blue, but I happen to like the way it turned out. I took the picture with my phone because I gave the potholder to my classmate to include with the other ones she's gifting.

A Bunch Of Stuff Making Fun of "Twilight"

Because it's my blog and I can do what I want with it.

Martinis, Warm Toes, And Learning Experiences

I finished the double-knit dishcloth. I have to say, I'm rather proud of how the martini motif turned out. In fact The Cowboy said of it "its Zionist and alcoholic. could you have made it any more awesome? I think not." Additionally, another friend asked if it was a flask holder, which gives me very good ideas :) My only gripe with this potholder undertaking is that all three of them came out different sizes and I probably should have paid more attention to that before I did them all. Oh well.

Also, I HAVE MADE SOCKS!!! I knit them top-down with instructions from Getting Started Knitting Socks and I have to tell you, knitting socks is not NEARLY as scary as people think it is. The one thing I messed up on is that on the first sock I decreased every row on the heel gusset (which you're not supposed to do) and on the second sock I properly followed the directions and decreased one round, then knit one round plain. Because of this, the second sock is noticeably longer than the first. Oops. Also, I think next time around I would make them a bit narrower, I cast on 56 stitches for the 6 stitches per inch pattern but they're a bit too wide. Also, the toes are a little wonky because I don't really know how to do the Kitchener stitch, which I bumbled around with on the first one, and on the second one I did a three-needle bind-off. Wonky toes, and weird lengths but at least I finally got over that fear of socks and now I'll have very toasty toes in the winter when I can't afford heating :-P Here's the first sock, the red line is to show the decreases. And here's the second sock with the red line to show the decreases. See how it's much longer and shallower?

And finally, I was at my parents' house for the weekend for many a-reasons including; my little sister just got home from a year in Israel, my grandparent's were visiting and time to get new cell phones! So I knit a little cozy for my LG Glance.

Cute, no?

More Knitting And Comics

Hi all, I just wanted to share the comics that Jennie Breeden of The Devil's Panties did about the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. One day I WILL get to meet her.Um YES, the food at MDS&W smelled soo good. Too bad it wasn't kosher. Though with the number of Yeshiva boys we saw there we would have probably been able to get a shechting party together. Hmm...maybe we should think about that for next year. :-P
This last one is SO true. You wouldn't think it but Yak Yarn is so, SO soft. Except that it's WAY out of my student loan price range. Oh well, I'll have to be content to just feel it up when I come across it. ;-)