Gift hat, in less than a day.

It all started around 1:oopm yesterday, when my loving boyfriend Josh decided to bike 30 miles to visit me at school. It took him two and a half hours, but he finally made it. We worked it out so a new friend of mine, Leah would take him home. We got directions, and somehow went awry, due to Josh's insistence upon there being an exit at Warrensville. Basically, we ended up downtown, as always when I attempt 480. It took us way out of the way, and we didn't get back until about 2:00am, with our very first classes starting in just a few hours. And to top it off, I left my phone in Leah's car, and had to ride the bus to the stadium at 3am to get it. I felt so horrible for all of the mixups, and I apologized profusely. I told her that I'd make her a hat to make it up to her. She wasn't mad, and she was sort of glad that she got to see some of Cleveland.

I knit furiously through the day, and presented this to her at about 4:30, much to her surprise.
Here are pictures of me modeling it before I gave it to her.







I love this yarn, it's called Malabrigo, and it's merino wool from Uruguay. It's so soft and smooth. The pictures are a pretty accurate representation of the color. I like how the veregation created diagonal stripes.

I didn't realize how much I missed Josh until I saw him. Seeing him was fantastic, we got to watch fireworks, and I showed him around campus. Driving him home was rather tough, seeing all of my favorite places seemed so foreign even though I left less than a week ago. Next weekend will be epic: a 20 mile ride through Cleveland with him. 2 of my favorite things rolled into one activity.

On another bright side, Leah and Leanna showed an interest in hanging out in Cleveland one weekend. I guess Josh and I can sure sell a city.

My classes today were good. I need to find an easier way to get to my math class, i only have 15 minutes to practically cross campus!

Anyways, I'll post again soon.

Watch for UFO's!

Mittens:

Socks:

Sweater:

Fun Fun Fun!

Kent believe this.

This is now my 'home.'

I have decided that I can be in love with Cleveland, it's content and people, and yet still live away.


And although I will miss this on a daily, hourly, minutely basis...




...moments like these will always keep me going.

Some FO's

Whilst my camera was broken, I made this baby sweater for my pending little brother.

Nothing special, my own design. Top down raglan, in sort of a kimono style with a seed stitch border, made out of one of those Joann sensation yarns. Despite that, It's wool , incredibly soft with good stitch definition.

NOW FOR THE FUN STUfF!!!!
I made an amugurimi tampon!





Pattern:
With red, Ch 2, and Sc 6 into second ch from the hook, joining with a sl, and pull tight.
2Sc into each sc, for 12 sc's. Work for about 11 rows, and start working on the face.
switch to white, and work for about 7 rows.
Stuff as you go.
Sc2tog around for 6sc total. Work for about 2 rows, and then sk1 sc, sc, around until you have 2sc. Bind them together, and chain about 15 for the string. fasten off.

Happy crocheting!

College packing adventures.

Yesterday, I started packing away the yarn I plan on bringing with me to college.
Let me tell you, knitters about to embark on this journey- it is no easy task.


However, early on in the endeavor we realized if we wound all of my yarn into balls, it would take up less space and allow for MORE YARN to be packed away.

Using this method, we were able to reduce the necessary stash to this:

and this:

Please note that this box does indeed close.
If you apply force.

In this box contains enough yarn for two sweaters, and other various gifts and goodies. Basically, everything in this box has a plan.
In addition to this yarn, I am also bringing all of my dpn's, my denise needle set and a few pairs that my denise set does not include. Also, I am bringing about 6 sets of size 8 or 9 straight needles. I don't even use straight needles.
"Why bring that many pairs of size 8 and 9 needles? Are you crazy?"
Simply put, they are for conversion, my friends; In case I cannot find any worthy knitters at Kent State University, I can just CONVERT unsuspecting dorm-mates into becoming knitters too! Despite what some of us claim, we weren't born knowing how to ssk.

Want to see what acrylic fun fur barf and misc I am leaving behind?




I will miss it.

Before this, Nikki and I got together to make scrap scarves out of all the random odds and ends I found whilst cleaning out my stash. Her kitten, Luna had a lot of fun.


She's only about 8 weeks old now. Nikki and her older brother rescued her from the middle of a main road in Cleveland.

After our adventures in stash busting:


We baked the most disgusting cake ever, which ended up tasting like scrambled eggs.


All in all, a fabulous day, only made complete by Rosa and I driving to kinkos in the middle of the night to copy knitting patterns.

The end.

Finally, a FO!

Okay, fine. I've finished plenty of things lately. My camera is broken. Blah Blah.

I made this hat based on this, For my friend's birthday. I used the same yarn as before, Noro Kureyon. I always doodles curly q's s and wanted to incorporate it into something.
I don't really know what else to say.


Modeled by Hannah


the top.

and of course, the chart for those interested.

Lost

It has occurred to me that all of the times I've ever gotten lost on the freeway, it has been in the name of yarn.

If you don't want to read this, don't. What I've learned is summed up at the bottom of this entry.

Yesterday, I decided to introduce my dear friend Hannah to the amazing yarn-gasm store that Rosa and I had visited last week. I should have known it was going to be a weird day when I woke up to my brother telling me that we had a crack in the ceiling and water was dripping from it. After that, I went to take my mother to work. It was raining so hard that it was impossible to see more than twenty feet ahead. When my mom got out of the car, she stepped into over six inches of water.
The weather calmed down, and Hannah and I began our yarn journey. I figured since I'd been there before, I didn't need to mapquest it again. I was very wrong.
I gleefully got onto 480 west, and soon found myself way out in the wrong area of town. I knew this because last time I needed more yarn for a sweater, I had to go a different Joann, located in Garfield Heights. We got off the freeway there, and called around for directions. They all said we were to go on 480 east and continue. I decided that this was wrong, and turned around.
Maybe someone should have told us that 480east and 480 west don't intersect at some points. When we realized that we were on the West side, we exited the freeway, and saw the Cleveland Newspaper headquarters. We parked and phoned my father, who told us to get back onto 480 east.
TOO BAD THE POLICE HAD BLOCKED IT OFF DUE TO THE FLOODING, AND THE WHOLE FREEWAY WAS NOW GRIDLOCKED!!!!!
I somehow drove aimlessly until we found the zoo, and broke down. Thanks to Hannah's knowledgeable father, we were able to get back downtown to collect our bearings.

By the time we'd collected our bearings, it was time to collect my mother from work. By this time, I'd been driving for about three hours. She laughed at us, and decided to drive us to the Yarn store for all of our troubles.

We both ended up buying awesome yarn for our fall projects. I'd show you pictures, but my camera is currently being serviced.

Things that I now know:
1.You probably shouldn't knit FAIR ISLE the whole way to a place and expect to remember how to get there.
2. 480 east and 480 west Don't intersect at some points. One has to travel a bit on 271 south for a few miles to reconnect.
3. Mothers cannot mapquest. Fathers however just somehow know every road in the world.
4. Driving in Rainboots isn't a good idea.
5. Sometimes, yarn is worth it.

COLLEGE CRISIS!!!

uhh...Where am I going to put all of my yarn????

Noro, Plus a Yarn-Gasm.

When I saw this hat, I gasped. I HAD TO MAKE IT!!!!
I ran out THAT day to buy the noro, which has since become my new favorite yarn. At first I was skeptical, because whilst casting on, the yarn fell apart. I had to start casting on 96 stitches AGAIN!!! After that, I decided I loved it again, even after I found this weird, black chunk of who knows what tangled up with the yarn.



The pattern was pretty straightforward and easy to do once I got into the rhythm. My camera is being fixed, so all i have to go by is the cell phone picture. The top is kind of pointy, but I'm thinking about adding a pom pom to mask it.

I went out and bought a new ball today to design my own. I LOVE THIS YARN!

Speaking of YARN, Rosa and I went to the BEST knitting shop we've ever been too! I found out about from an article in the Plain Dealer a while back. We got a little confused with the directions I'd penned, but we got there in one piece. I bet it would only take about 25 minutes had we not had to backtrack so much.

But oh man, I can honestly say It's the best yarn shop in Cleveland. I Yarn-gasmed. I really did. They had yarns I hadn't even HEARD of, and more lambs pride than I've ever seen in my life! I bought five neon colors, and vowed not to start working on the sweater till college. Lately, I've felt the need to stock up. YARN YARN YARN.

Yarn, Yarn, Yarn.