Friday, August 29, 2008

No More HumDrum Mittens Questionnaire

How long have you been knitting & how did you learn?

I am a self-taught knitter and have been knitting since 2006.

Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I would say I am an advanced intermediate.

What are your favorite colors? Any you dislike?

I love all colors especially purple, red and turquoise. I do not like mustard or olive colors.

Do you like Latvian type patterns? If so, what are your favorite patterns?

I do like latvian type patterns, although I have no favorites, they are all too lovely to decide on just one.

Do you desire mittens for yourself, your "special someone else" or your child?

For myself! (Selfish, I know!)

What is the measurement from your wrist to the tip of your longest finger?

About 7.25 inches

What is the circumference of your hand at it's widest point?

About 7.5 inches

What other things do you enjoy knitting?

Socks, sweaters, cardis, baby stuff (love those little booties!)

What sort of needles do you enjoy working with? (straights vs circs, bamboo vs aluminum)

I enjoy working with wooden needles the most, I ususally use DPNs for smaller things like mittens and socks and circulars for everthing else.


What’s one project you’ve not yet tried but are dying to make?

I really want to make the mittens from Fall Vogue that say "Let it Snow" on them. Other than that...I'm not really sure.

What’s one yarn you’ve not yet tried but are dying to work with?

I guess something cashmere based. I haven't worked with anything remotely like cashmere yet.

What other hobbies do you have? Do you spin? Sew? Garden? Cook?

I cook and sew and would like to get into spinning, but have decided i should wait until after I finish law school.

Besides yarn, do you collect anything?

I wouldn't say I "collect" anything, but I do love matroyshkas (nesting dolls) and nativities.

What kind of goodies do you enjoy? Sweets? Salty? Anything you hate or are allergic to?

I enjoy sweets and salties. I love choclate covered pretzels and peppermint bark!

Do you have any kids? Pets?

I have a finacee, two great dogs (Sam and Molly) and no kids (yet).

What is your favorite part of Winter?

The first snowfall, snuggling up under the covers with my sweetie, Christmas with family, you get the idea. Those warm precious momets that are so abundant in winter.

What is your least favorite part of Winter?

Getting dismissed from work in the middle of a blizzard and having to drive 30 miles to get home. When all the other places just cancelled work at the beginning of the day! (Can you tell that happened to me, more than once?) Driving on icy roads. That's it, other than those driving conditions that I love winter!

Ahhh, that's a bit better

After having pinpointed the source of my melancholy, I'm feeling a bit better. Part of it was money woes, part of it was that weekend, and part of it is my job.I am completely disenchanted with my job, in fact I detest going in every day. It's not because it's uninteresting, believe me I could regale you with many, many interesting stories from my job. I dislike my job so much because in order to stay busy for the week I have to work at less than half of my ability. Which means that I often forget that and end up with an end of the week involving very little work. I know that seems like it would be luxurious to have free time at the end of the work week, but the reality is that it is no picnic being tied to your desk for eight hours everyday bored out of your tree trying to find something, anything, to do with your day.

In any event, I started classes this week and have found out that I only have ONE FINAL this semester!!!! I am soooooo happy about this, granted that means I have to write papers for my other two classes, but who cares? One FINAL! Awesome. Additionally I found out that the school has to readjust my tuition so I'm getting money back and we decided to resell our law books on-line and we're getting money back there too. When it rains it pours! Now we are fairly financially secure until Ry gets regular employment. What a weight off our minds, we were pretty concerned for a while, but are feeling much better about things now. AHHHHH, relief.

In knitting news I'm working on the February Lady Sweater and I hope to finish it before Rheinbeck this year, and I hope I can wear it over a brown turtle neck because it will be cold-ish and I am knitting it out of linen. (I began when it was hot and couldn't fathom knitting it in wool.) I am also working on the Belle Cardigan in wool, so that may be the way to go; although in order to finish it for Rhinebeck, I should probably pick it back up again! I am working on 2 pair of socks but I have kind of set them aside for a bit, my inspiration for them is at a bit of a standstill, but I am sure it will be recovered in time to finish them for the gift-giving season. I'm getting the mitten knitting itch again, so thank God for No More Hum-Drum Mitten Swap 3 and Deb's willingness to run it again. I guess I have a lot of projects coming up, now that it has gone back down to the low eighties here I feel like really hard-core knitting again, so this fall and winter season will be jam-packed with knitted goodness.

And in case you were wondering I am feeling better, thanks to good friends, Ry, the pooches and a little time to myself.

Monday, August 18, 2008

Sigh

This weekend was difficult. I really can't say why, but it was hard for me and Ry this weekend. Sort of a lackluster and disappointing end to an otherwise uneventful week.

Something nice did happen in the week, though. Deb and Lexi, in my knitting group, brought me birthday presents. I was supposed to have gotten them on the 30th of July, but due to a massively bad migraine I missed that week. (It was BAD, people!) So this past week the Lovely Deb and the Cute-As-A-Button Lexi brought me two lovely and gorgeous skeins of sock yarn (which I do not currently have a picture of, but will post it as soon as I do.) That was a fun night, and I shared something personal with Deb that planted her ever more firmly in my heart. She is a wonderful person, and I am so glad I was fortunate enough to meet her.

In other news, classes start back up again next week. I'm so tired of law school, this is my last year and I can't wait for it to be over. It's not so much an excitement I feel about finishing, but just the gnawing wait for the inevitable conclusion. How's that for a positive attitude? :)

Lately, here I have been too tired to knit. I am fatigued and recently a bit too downtrodden to really want to work on any one of the four projects I have going. It makes me sad that I feel this way, but hopefully I'll snap out of my funk soon. I have so many projects lined up for Christmas gifts and I really want to be working on them, but I am just so tired and a little sad, which does not make for fun knitting. Perhaps I'll change up my projects and focus on something new for a little while, maybe that will cheer me. If nothing else, it will give me a small change of scenery! Well, best get going. Stay tuned for a more cheerful person in the coming weeks! (I hope.)