Dejhia's Blog

I'm a bad blogger....

2006-10-07T09:51:00.000-05:00

It's been so long since I posted that I couldn't remember the last time I posted.... And , i still don't have good pictures of to many things.... But at least I have pictures.

First off, remember these socks ? Yes, the ones that Flickr won't let me download from my husbands flickr page. But now, if I go though a much more complicated way of doing it I can downloand the photos...... Why did they change that. It used to take me 1 min to get a photo off of flickr I wanted, now it take 10 min........ Sorry, I had to vent some anger... Well the socks are done ! You will hae to trust me on that one since this is the photo matt took when I finished the first one. I don't have a good photo of both socks. They've been done for a while now... It's amazing how slow socks go when you only work on them on your lunch breaks....

When I finished those, I decided to start the second sock from my second (or third) pair of socks. I did the first one, and was just so mad at them, that they sat there for a long time. It was really odd going back to a cuff down sock. I've gotten so used to doing toe up that going back to cuff down just felt wrong... I really wanted to do the sock toe up, but then I would have had to rip out the other sock so that they would match.... These are my new lunch project. Though, i recently put all my curnelty small enough to fit in my purse (the one that is extra big so I can carry a project with me) in little pastic bags in hopes that I would rember to swtich it up and take differnt projects to work with me. I've also come to the conclusion that I really hope that Santa brings me those KIPers bags from knitpicks so that I can carry differnt projects, but not always have to carry the worlds biggest purse with me... Though, Santa might decided to just giveme more warm clothes. Which would be really great since I nearly froze last winter, and all the locals tell me that was a mild winter.... I'm not looking forward to this winter.... A few years from now,I will have had the time to knit serval sweaters and such... But this year,...... Wow, I am really getting off topic. Back to knitting.

The same day that I finished the socks, I finished the Alpaca wrap that I made. I don't have a good picture of it. I can't get Tigger off of it long enough to take a good pic .... but, Matt did get a great shot of Tigger sleeping/hanging out on it... Of course, its' on flickr is makeing me go the long and annoying way to get it. but, the look on Tiggers face is worth it. He slept on that for about 2 days until I manged to move it while he was up eating.....

Of course, one finished project, means a new one... So, It was time to bust into that stash of yarn my mom sent. So,first off I had to wind a hank of Silky Wool.. (Remember I have no ball winder or swift so it's all done by hand... Which is why only one is done right now... It's wind on demand ... ) But, Matt picked an awesome pattern for me to make for him. It's called Torgeir from Elsebeth Lavol's Viking Knits Collection. I am actaully makeing an effort to follow the pattern and make gague and everything. But, I just coudln't do it flat. I got about 5 inches on the back done, and i had to rip.... I swtiched to the round... I am still working on the ribbing, but I am much happier ..... I didn't take a picture since a *K2, P2* ribbing isn't the most intresting photo...

Then, to complete the project shift sine my last blog post, I realized last sunday that the socks I was makeing for me, while I liked the pattern, the socks weren't going to turn out the correct size. It's a ribbing pattern, and I guess it just took in thesocks more than I was expecting. So I froged the socks ... And, I was so annoyed that I dieced it was best not to restart them right then .... So I went and found the alpaca yarn I got at the alpaca farm, and started on some slippes for Matt. I've got the leather bottom pices to sew onto the "slipper socks" when I'm done so they will be real slippers... The yarn is a wonderful sport weight yarn. IT's so soft and warm. It is farm spun since every once in a while, I have to pick out some hay or other bits of "farm" out of the yarn as I knit it. I'm doing my standard toe up pattern. Modified, of course, since it's sport weight yarn not fingering. And, Matt, of course, wanted his favorite *K3, P1* pattern on them. Why mess with a good thing ? They are going really fast... I guess that's the differance that a differnt size yarn makes....

I can't think of much else going on in the yarn front. I am sorry that I've been all over the place. That is what happons when you blog in the morning as you wake up... It's a lot harder to stay on topic.

Alpaca Farm Day

2006-09-17T10:33:00.000-05:00

I have been very very bad about having photos, but this one will have some, I promise (assuming blogger lets me. )

Last sunday, a local alpaca farm had a Farm Family day. It was an open house where we could go and play with alpacas, and of course, buy some amazing alpaca yarn. It was really cool.... We got to go in and walk around in a barn filled with alpacas... Not just walk along the penned in areas, but acutally go in and walk among the alpacas.....

So here are just a few of the photos from that day....
This girl waas a real "ham' she loved having her picture taken. She would stand there and wait for me to take close ups of her......

Some of these photos make it look like the pens that the alpacas in where small. But they really weren't.... Just camera angle. And all had outside access. But it was raining, and most (but not all) the alpacas were smart enough to come in durring the rain. Blogger won't let me load in some from Matt's flickr account so go see the photos matt took here. (Including the ones that won't come in when it was raining. )

Socks and other fun stuff

2006-09-17T10:18:00.000-05:00

Well, I've come to the conclusion that I just won't have time to blog durring the week. I read a bunch of blogs every night after work. (You gotta love Bloglines! ) But, I just don't have the energy for blogging. After work, dinner, dishes, and whatever other things need to be done each night. So, you all are going to have to settle for some long weekend posts. Sorry...

First off, I have to say that I love my new IPOD. It so nice to have at work. And with 4 GB of space, there is room to put music on it for whatever mood I'm in. Though, lattely I've really been getting back into classical music. It's the best background music ever. Of course, I have to be careful not to get the stuff that's to caliming, or I'll fall asleep. But I've always been a fan of the more "thunderous" stuff... I'll take some Tchaikovsky over Mozart any day....

This week has been a bit boaring ... I've been under the weather from allergis all week... At least I know it will be better in a while since when we were out here house hunting in Oct, my allergies improved SO much over what they were back east.... And this is the first realy allergie attack I've had since we moved here.... All and all, much better off out here than back east.....

I'm very excited. I made a knitting "friend" this week at work. I was on my lunch break knitting matt's socks (almost done with them), and someone ran into the break room for something. She saw that I was knitting and stoped by and introducted herself. And told me about all the wonderful knitters at work. All the non-knitters kept telling me that there was a lot of knitters at work, but I hadn't really met any. I'm excited.

And for every up there is a down. I am working on a pair of socks for me. And, of course, I don't make many for me so I have been forced to do some frogging.... I put the heal where I thought it should go. After the heal and about a 1/2 inch of leg, I tired them on to see how they would fit. They fit, but they were really really streached out.... So I knew I would have to frog back and add some more length onto foot befor starting the heal. Of course, I knew this might happon so thankfully I put in a life line.... It's just annoying redoing the same work over again.

Speaking of socks, durring my blog reading this week, I came accross something called Socktoberfest. It sounds really cool. I'm very excited about it !!! You should go and check it out.

A week of good stuff

2006-09-07T20:46:00.000-05:00

If this week was my husband's birthday, than why do I keep geting presents ??

So, first off on Wensday, a box of yarn and needles arrived from my mother. A whole bunch of WW Wool of the Andies from Knit Picks. It's in a beautful Heather Green that I picked out. I can't wait to get started on a nice sweater for me with it. Of course, I've got the Silky wool that mom sent me last week that I should use first (since it's for my husband's sweater, and it's been awhile since I made him something big). It doesn't show here (I keep saying I will do better pics instead of relying on matt's camera phone, but I never get around to it), but there are 21 skeins of the yarn..... Plenty to make a nice cabled sweater.... Plus, there were many many sets of knit picks needles. Ya, needles and yarn all at the same time....

Sounds like the perfect week... But wait, there's more....

Today (it was supposed to be yesterday, darn signature required deliveries durring the day), my IPOD nano arrived !!! Yes, my wonder and amazing husband got me a IPOD Nano for my birthday (and he's not makeing me wait until my b-day to use it!). At my new job, music is a very, very, very good thing, and I didn't have an mp3 player. (I know I must be the last person on the planet to get one... BUt.....) So we started pricing differnt brands of MP3 players (I told him I didn't want to pay a lot more for just the IPOD name....) Then, he found a good deal on an Apple Reconditioned IPod (comes with the normal warranty and everything)... I'm super excited... I was getting really board with CDs at work (and going though a lot batteries for the CD player.......

And just when you think there can't possbely be any more, I give you: Herbert the friendly desk hedghoge.... Yup, we were out tea shopping today at my wonderful local Tea Shop, Brits!, when we found the most adorable Hedghoge stuffed anniamls on sale... Of course one had to come home with us (along with a lot of tea). Isn't Herbert cute ? Tomorrow he's going to work with me to be my cubical Hedgehog.

Well, I'm off to create some playlists for my nano...

Wonderful package in the mail

2006-09-02T09:54:00.000-05:00

Details
Originally uploaded by postneo.

So Thursday evening I get home from work to find a package on my door step from my parents. The box looks like it's about to explode becuase it's so over stuffed. So, I have to open it up right away. (Plus, I knew that there would be yarn inside so...).

So, I cut open the tape (which I have to say, that was really strong tape), and first thing I pull out are three differnt colors of sock yarns. A nice green, a light cream and a nice light brown. All wonderful colors that I could knit up and Matt would have no problem wearing to work. Which makes me supper happy beucase I am having a hard time finding sock yarns that are good for work.

Next, I see some lovely reddish-orange Silky Wool. It's so pretty. So I start pulling out skeins..... And I keep pulling and pulling...... When mom said she sent me a sweater's worth, she wasn't kidding. I pulled out 18 skeins of them. I should get a sweater for matt and a hat or socks or something out of it. (But, now I can do just about any pattern and not have to worry about having enough. ) I know matt will love a sweater from it, and I'm gonna love makeing it.

Then I find a book included. It's a Vikinging Knitting book..... Amazing cableing just like the other Viking knitting book I have by Elsebeth Lavold. (Both are by the same women, just differnt pattern.) Matt's already picked the pattern out of the new book that he wants me to make with the Silky Wool. And, I can't wait to get started. (I just have to finish a WIP first. )

After all this, there is more. Birthday present for Matt and me. I see some burn orange in the box right as matt walks in so I ask him to pull the next item out. ( Afterall, if it's burnt orange, it's for him. ) And it's an amazing cabled scarf for him. He loves it. It's a mix of a burnt orange yarn and some mohair yarn. Amazingly soft and wonderful to touch. Then, I find a burnt orange mobis (spelling ???) strip scarf/head wrap for me. It's made from the same yarn as Matt's scarf. It's wonderful. A wonderful birthday present.

I wish I had better pictures of it all to show everyone. But, I've been to bussy drolling over the yarn to take pictures of it so I only have the one Matt took.... Hopefully, over the long weekend, I will take some more pictures......

1st Week of Work (warning, long post)

2006-08-19T09:16:00.000-05:00

Well, I made it though my first week of training at my new job. While I wasn't a big fan of getting up to be at work at 6:35 (my normal work hours will be 9-6) to catch a bus to the main corprate office and not getting back to my normal work area until after 6pm every day, I learned a lot in the week of classes. The classes weren't the most exciting thing ever, but they did provide a lot of info. (Though, I have to study this weekend since I'm being tested monday on what was taught all week.

Next week will be much better, I train from 8-5 in my office. (ya, sleeping in!) I will get to find out what group I'll be working with, and will be trained on the systems that I will actually work with and not just general info.. Plus, we won't have to ride the bus for an hour each way to go to training. And, my office is supposed to be a lot more relaxed and laid back than the corporate offices are downtown. Though the company seems really good. Yes, I know that this week all the info on them was "company approved." But, part of the company mind-set is that if the employees are happy, they will do better at work so keeping the employees happy helps the co make more moeny. It showed in many small ways like free coffee in the break rooms (and a hot water spout for hot tea !!!! ya, I don't have to bring in something to heat up water... they remember that some of us don't do coffee but do tea), and in some of the bigger ways like low turnover rate and a good benfits package.

I was really upset with the timing of this week's training. My high school's best friend's (Esther) father passed away last week. I really wanted to be there for her and to be able to attend the memorial service. However, if I went to VA this week to go to the services, I would lose my job (the training was manditory and there was no way they would let me off). I spent months looking for one, and this was one of the better ones in the area. I know that her father wouldn't have wanted me to quit my job just to be there at the service. I feel guilty for putting my job first, but I know that I had to do it and it was what he would have wanted. It's still hard to think about him not being around. He was such a wonderful man. He bought such love and happyness everywhere he went. I used to call this man dad while I was in HS. Yes, over the past few years Esther and I have grown apart due to living in differnt areas and the demands on our lives. But, I still consider her a close friend. And, her father's passing really effected me. Somehow sending cards just didn't seem like enough. I'm still trying to figure out what else I can do for her and her whole family.

. . .

Now, I have to move onto something less emotional before I completely lose it. Not much news on the knitting front. (Not as much time for knitting when working all day. ) However, I used that bus time to work on socks. I got the first of the wonderful Regia silk socks done for matt... Blogger isn't letting me inport his flickr immage so you will have to go and check it out here. He was so happy when he tired on teh first sock, that he took a picture and uploaded it to his flickr account. Matt was so nice and bought me the sensational knitted socks book. Which was perfect timeing since I just got my knit picks order in with serval pairs of size 0 needles so now I have new patterns and new needles. I'm tring to decided what stitch pattern to do first.

I not only knit durring the bus ride but also durring the lunch breaks at work this week. (We ususally had over an hour break so .... ) Most of the poeple were very intrested in what I was doing. However, one person said, "Oh, it's just like those old-ladies and thier sewing bags." Now, from the tone she said it in, it sounded like she ment it nicely. However, telling a 25 year old that she's acting like an old lady just doesn't seem nice to me. I didn't know how to react. She ment in nicely, but it wasn't. And, this was the first time i had ever had any form of negative comment. I just let it pass off. Mainly becuase I think she ment it nicely.

Oh, I also discovered Chai tea this week. I had never tired it before becuase I didn't know what it was, and I wnated to know before I ordered it. Well, one of the girls had some that she wante to try and brough enough in for everyone to try. Yummy ! Why hadn't anyone told me that it's like a spice tea latte !

If you made it this far and have read all of this, I am impressed. I don't know if I could have done it. I should end this before it gets any longer.

Snaped a DPN

2006-08-09T09:10:00.000-05:00

So I'm a tight knitter. I've tried to loosen my gague, but it just doesn't work so well. I can adjust some based on the which needle I use. Sometimes going for lighter and more drap (looser knitting) is good, and sometimes going for a warmer denser fabric (tighter knitting ) is good. So, I have learned how to take advantage of both. Socks are one of those things that need the denser fabric more than they need drap. So, I knit my socks like I naturally knit. Tight. I normally knit at about 10 sts/in on size 0 for socks. This might explain why I bent my old Clover bamboo needles. (Darn blogger for not letting me link to such an old post. ) After that, I went back to metal DPNs/circulars.

Then my father bought me a set of birtch DPNs. They were the shorter socks sized ones. And, birtch is a stronger wood than bamboo. So I set off. I made my first pair of socks just fine on the size 1 britches. In fact, they are the only socks not made on size 0s that I've made. So I decided to try socks on size 0 britches. After all, I had made a whole pair on the size 1s and not had the slightest problem. Well, you know that old engineering principle that says while lower strength matierals have a lower threshold for plastic deformation, they will often plasticly deforme before a catastorphic failure. Whereas higher strength materials will often has less plastic deformation, and just fail..... Well, it applies to knitting needles. I bent the crap out of my lower strength bamboo needles, but I snaped in half my birtch needles. Yup, snaped right in half. I tried takeing pictures, but none of them looked good. (If you want to see what it looks like, snap a tooth-pick in half. It should look the same. ) So no more birtch needles in socks sizes for me.

This does lead to an intresting problem for me. I just won a wonderful set of bamboo needles from the Simiply Sock Yarn Company. Do I use them, and risk breaking such wonderful needles. Or do I be a good and loveing daughter and pass on the wonderful needles to my amazing mother who taught me how to knit, and has learned to knit socks at a much more "normal" gague. ... My mom can use any of the wooden needles without fear of breaking them. I think I just answered my own qustion. Needles so nice deserve to be used and loved. Not, put away for fear of breaking them. I can't think of a better person to give them to than my mother. She is such an amazing person. And an amazing knitter. Check out some of the projects she's done. And those are only a few of her projects. She deserves something really nice. And, now I can give her something nice.

Lace Shawl Pictures

2006-08-06T14:15:00.000-05:00

This week I blocked the lace shawl I made. I finished the shawl last sunday( 30 july), but I didn't block it until Thursday becuase I was so nervous about screwing things up. After searching on line, and knowing I would screw things up, I decided to just get over it and block the thing. After all, I made it to wear to a wedding on Saterday (Aug5). And, how stupid would that be to have it made a week early and just not block it.

So, here is a picture of the Shawl pre-blocking. I just layed it out on the coffee table (well on a blanket on the coffee table for contrast).

I took some "durring blocking" shots, but they don't show much. It's a white shawl that was blocked on my bed that had yellow sheets. You can just see the outline from the pins. Blocking wasn't to bad. I tried the string trick that is supposed to keep the top even. However, I couldn't figure out how to make it work. So I just pretneded I hadn't put the string in there. I found that I coudln't block it to the full lenght needed becuase the top of the shawl is wider than my bed is long. And, I didn't have enough pins to block it really nice and tight without getting scalloped edges. So, it's not "full" blocked. But, good enough.

And, here are some close up shots of the stitch pattern:

I was able to wear the shawl to the wedding. It was an outdoor wedding in this heat. So I didn't want anything really warm. But, even though it was a casual wedding, I fet a little odd wearing a strappy tank top to a wedding. As an added bonus, the shawl helped keep the bugs for biting me (I think) durring the evening outdoor recpetion. See, bugs always find me to bite. I must attrack bugs somehow. I got a few bits on my ankels, but nothing on my arms. It could be that there wern't many bugs. But, I will have to try wearing the shawl again to see if it really did help.

All and all I am happy with how it turned out. Not bad for my first lace project. Yes, there are some mistakes in it. And, the blocking job isn't great. But, I am looking at it is a learning project. Now, my next lace project will be even easier since my wonderful husband got me a set of the knit picks needles. With thier nice points, I won't have as many issues with the pssos and the k2togs. I am working on my first project with the needles, and I just love them ! I can't wait to get some size 0s for socks.

A wonderful and amazing suprise !

2006-07-31T18:55:00.000-05:00

A while back, I participted in the Knitters Tea Swap. I had a wonderful secret pal who sent me stuff, whome never told me her name. (I would love to find out who she is one of these days. ) I also had the opertunity to be the secret pal to a wonderful women named Sarah.

After the swap was done, and I was able to tell her who I was, we started talking via email and comments on each others blogs. She even mailed me a post card which I thought was a wonderful thing. Well, today I got a huge suprise. Matt came home after work and brought the mail in like he always does. There was a package for me. It wasn't one of the ones from my parents that I've been expecting for several days, it was from Sarah. She made me a little bag to hold all of that little stuff you need when knitting. I think the correct term is "knitting notions" but I'm not sure. Isn't it wonderful ! This is the first time anyone not related to me has ever made me something for no real reason. (My mom, of course, has knitted me serval things over the years, and not just for holidays. ) It was such a wonderful suprise.

So, of course I had to take my stuff out of the old pencil case I had been useing and put them in this bag. I'm so excited. It is the perfect size. I can fit all the little things i need in it without any problems. Isn't Sarah a wonderful person ? I think so.

Weekend of FO !

2006-07-31T10:01:00.000-05:00

Well, this was the weekend of FOs.

First off, I finally finsihed the socks that just wouldn't end. I am really happy with how they turned out. However, they were a lot of work. Of course, if I paid better attention to them, they could have been done sooner.... The pattern wasn't hard. But, it just took a while. It started as a simple *P4, C4b* ever 4th row. But, then, I decided it would look better, if I alternted the cables. So it quickly became:
Rnd 1: *P4, K4, P4, K4*
Rnd 2: *P4, C4B, P4, K4*
Rnd 3: *P4, K4, P4, K4*
Rnd 4: *P4, K4, P4, C4B*

It's not a hard pattern. But, at 10 sts/in on size 0s with a 10 in around foot, it just takes a lot of time. And, of course, the cable needles don't come small enough to use with size 0s, so I had to use a tapistry needle as my cable needle. All in all, I really like them. But, it will be a while before I do another all over cable pattern. Next cabled socks will likely just have a cable or two for accent, not completely covered in cables.

So, the socks were done Saterday night. As some of you know, I have been working on my first ever lace project. A simple shawl. The idea when I started it was to wear it to a wedding this weekend. I was going along. I have no idea how much it will grow when blocked. But, I thought I was at about 42-44 inches wide. (It's lace so it's kinda scrucnhed up on some 29in long ciruclar needles. So I didn't know exactly how long it was. ) I was going ot keep working on it every day until Thursday when I would cast off since I need it on Saterday, and i would just pray it was wide enough.

Then, my dear friend, Esther, was in town for the day. She is a wonderful person, and an experinced lace knitter. Durring the hang out she mentioend that it was a strechy pattern, and should grow about three inches for every inch. So, then thinking it would grow to 126 in, I decided it was time to cast off right away. That's huge ! Well, the cast off was a huge pain. I'm a tight knitter, and I knew if I screwed up the cast off, the shawl wouldn't block right. So, Sunday night, I sat down and slowly and carefully cast off the shawl. After the cast off, I mesured the shawl,and it's almsot 60 inches accross the top. I really hope Esther's estime is a bit off. 180 inches is way to big !

Now, I have to block the shawl. I'm so nervous about screwing it up. My first lace blocking! Thankfully, Esther gave me some tips on how to block lace.

Pictures of the shawl will have to wait until another post.

You know... Now that I think about it, maybe Esther ment it will grow one inch for every three. That falls more in line with what I keep reading on line. Maybe I misunderstood her. Which given my excitment to see her, is probley what happoned. Then, it would be about 80 inches accross which makes sence...

Well, we'll know in a few days when I block.

The Needles are here ! - Pictures !

2006-07-27T23:12:00.000-05:00

Well, let's see if blogger will let me upload the wonderful needles I won from The Simply Sock Yarn Company.

Here are the Size 0 (2mm) though size 3 (3.25mm) needles.

And here are the size 4 (3.5mm) though size 8 (5mm) needles.

Aren't they pretty ? What to make first ?? Life is rough, let me tell you. :)

I got offered a job today !

2006-07-27T18:51:00.000-05:00

Those of you who know me, know that I've been looking for a job since my husband and I moved out here. Some of the time, the job search was a bit passive. Other times it was very active. I have my engineering degree, but my experience isn't what companies out here are looking for. I would have to go back and get my master's degree in order to stand a chance at getting another engineering postion. (Per about 5 recuriters and 8 differnt "mangers" who did phone interivews with me. ) So I started looking for non engineering jobs. I had an intereview eailer this week that I thought went well. And, today the HR person called and offered me the job. I'm very exicted. I start working in a few weeks.

P.S. None of the photos I took of the needles were any good. So, I will take some new ones and hopefully be able to upload them in the next day or so.

The Needles are here !

2006-07-26T11:59:00.000-05:00

Last night, Matt came home from work with the mail, and he had a wonderful box from the Simply Sock Yarn Company. It was my set of Crystal Palace Bamboo Needles! I'm very exicted. Of course, Blogger won't let me upload the pictures I took. So, pictures will have to wait. I will try the pictures latter today.

Finished the Baby Blanket !

2006-07-25T22:13:00.000-05:00

Those of you who read my blog regularly, and can remember way back to my last project update post (May something or other, I think), know that I have several gift projects going. Well, last week, I finished one, and gave it to it's intended owner. I was just bad about getting the pictures of it off the camera.

Elinor, who is the wonderful women who started my Knitting group is going to have a baby next month. Of course, when she told the knitting group, everyone's eyes started to dance as we all thought about what wonderful projects we could make for the baby. I decided that since everyone else was going to knit, I would crochet something. And, Elinor already makes such wonderful baby clothes, that if I tried to make clothes, they wouldn't be anywhere near as good as the stuff Elinor makes, so I went for the baby blanket.

I had a beautful shell pattern that I've wanted to make for a while now, and I got some Caron Simply Soft (machine washable for when baby makes a mess). The end result was this nice blanket. I really like how it turned out, and the most imporatnat thing is, Elinor seemed to like it.

A record setting 6 comments on my last entry

2006-07-17T16:27:00.000-05:00

Wow. I got a record setting 6 comments on my last entry. I guess that it helped a lot being linked to by the Simpley Sock Yarn Company. I just wanted to write a quick thank you to everyone who commented on my blog or read it. I always kinda think that noone ever reads the blog. It's always nice to be suprised with comments. Thanks.

P.S. For those of you who are computer geeks out there: This is also a test post to see if I can post to my blog useing Linux. I'm thinking about switching over from Windows, but I have to make sure things work well. There shouldn't be an issue with this post since blogger uses a web-based thing, but you never know.

I won ! I won !

2006-07-13T10:48:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited right now. A while back, I entered the contest from Simply Sock Yarn Company. You should go check out their site, it's really cool. Lots of great stuff. My budget doesn't let me order yarn very often, but they were on the very short list of places I would be ordering from when I get a bit further through my sock yarn stash. Plus, the store has a blog. How cool is that, a store with a blog ! Matt got the biggest kick out of that. He told me to make sure I bookmarked it. Of course, by then, it was already listed in my Bloglines account so I can keep up to date with it.

When I entered,I didn't even think I would win. After all, I never win those type of contests. Actually, I never win any contests. But, the whole thing of the contest was to provide them with feedback on thier site, and if you did so, they would put you in the running to win some stuff from them. I thought it was a great way to get feedback on their site and thier store from poeple who would really be shopping there.

I got an email from Allison Van Zandt the owner of Simply Sock Yarn Company to let me know that I was the grand prize winner. I'm getting an 11 size assortment of Crystal Palace Double Pointed Needles ! I'm just in shock right now. I won. I've never used Crystal Palace. But, I've heard great things about them. I can't wait to try them out ! I'm just so excited that I'm not makeing much sence right now. Sorry about that.

I will post pictures of the needles when I get them. I'm so excited. I can't wait.

New Bikes

2006-06-25T23:06:00.000-05:00

For a while now, Matt and I have been talking about getting new bikes. We both loved to rid bikes as kids/teeen. But, we never got a new bike after that last growth spirt. So, our old ones (if our parents even still have them ) are to short. We've been shopping around at bikes for a while now. We aren't expecting to get into serious mountian bikeing or anything so we didn't want to spend a lot on bikes, but we wanted something nice.

First off, I hadn't gone looking for a bike since I was in elementry/middle school. So, I was just overwhelmed by the whole "mountain bike" thing. Last time I went looking, only a few boys bikes were "mountain bikes' Just about everything was what is now called "road bikes." There were no "normal" bikes at any of the sporting good stores. All of the "normal bikes" were at the high end bike shops and were ment for proffesional raceing. So, it was decided for me that I was going to get a mountain bike. That's fine. I just want something I can ride around town and on the trails at the local park.

So, we did a lot of looking around. We found out that Dicks had some bikes on sale this week. We were heading in the general KC area today anyways so we figured we would stop by. First off, the store was one of the bigggest ones I've seen. Their selection of ladies bikes was, shall we say, serverly lacking. I know that now and days, it's perfectly fine for a girl to ride a guys bike. And, the only real differance is that the girls bike is easier to get on and off of. But, that seems like a really good differance to me. So, I had my heart set on a girls bike. No bike for me on the first stop.

Matt, however, was much luckier than I was. We found this great Schwinn Mesa bike on clearance. It is last years Mesa model. But, that's ok. It's still a great bike, and we got a great deal on it. It even tempted me to not go for a girls bike. But, in the end, I knew I would be happier with a girls bike. So we left the store with a great bike for matt, but nothing for me. We went around the KC area for a while doing other stuff. Then, as we were about to start heading home, I remembered that there was a second Dicks in the area. They might have something. It's worth a try. After all, if I didn't find it there, I was going to be ordering on line. And, all things being equal, I would rather do a "test ride" in the store to make sure it's a good fit.

Well, luck was with us. The second Dicks had a womens Diamond Back Outlook. It was not a brand I had heard of until I started looking at bikes. However, I've seen a lot of them so they seem to be a big brand. And, they tend to sell the higher end bikes. Mine is one of the lower end ones they make. But, it's still a good solid bike. My grandpa (dad's dad ) had been a tool and die maker for Schwinn before he passed away. So to me growing up, the only good bike out there were Schwinns. Yes, I road a kids Huffy around. But, I had always thought I would get a Schwinn when I got my "good adult" bike. However, the family that owned Schwinn when Grandpa worked for them sold the company in the 1990s so it's not the same. The old Schwinn company was really good to my Grandpa and took care of him. If they still owned Schwinn, I wouldn't have considered any other brand. I still had my eye on some Schwinns on line. In fact, if I went the on-line way, I was gonna get a womens Schwinn RidgeAL. But, I couldn't find any women's Schwinns in the store. Specialty bike shops and sporting good stores. I found one at Target. But, it was not as nice of a bike, and a shade of purple that I don't really like. I do really like the bike I got. It's a nice good solid bike. I won't do any stunts or anything like that with it. But, it rides smooth and I like it. I just have to get used to the gear shifting since the gear controls are part of the handles that you twist. Very odd. But, that seems to be very popular. Man, did I feel old and out of date looking at bikes. But, I think we got to great ones.

Oh, and for those of you who wonder, if we wanted to drive somewhere, and then ride, we can fit both bikes in matt's car. Just pop the front wheels off. We even fit some other stuff in there too. Plenty of room. That car always impresses me with how much it can hold.

Project updates....

2006-06-20T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I posted. I have been working a lot on gift projects so there hasn't been to much to say on hte project front.

I have been working on some socks for DH. I'm still not done with the first one. They are going a little slower because of the cable design, and I'm not spending as much time on them. It's been almost two weeks, and I still don't have the first sock done. These are taking the longest of any socks so far. Of course, with a cable pattern, they are a bit more work. And, I have been neglecting them. But, I really like how they are turning out which is the most important thing.

Last week, I did something I had never done before. I met in person someone whome I only knew on line. One of the wonderful women from Crochetville is visiting the area. Barbara and I went and explored a bunch of yarn shops in the area. I had been planing a yarn shopping trip with my mom, back when it looked like she was gonna make it out here. But, things happoned, and mom couldn't make it this year. (but I did get to back east and visit so it's not like I didn't see her at all.) While I was sad for not being able to go with my mom, I had a lot of fun going with Barabara. She is a wonderful person. And, she didn't get upset with me when the directions weren't exactly correct. (I had never been to most of the store. ) I had a great day.

While out shoping with Barbara, I found a nice simple lace shawl pattern. It's "Charlotte's Easy Lace Shawl" from Fiber Trends. I've wanted to try lace for awhile. I love so many of the patterns. However, I don't think I should start with a very complicated pattern. I decided that since this is supposed to be a simple pattern, it would be a great one to start with. I have some weddings to go to this summer. I have a good dress to wear, but I didn't have a good summer weight wrap for the dress. Somehow a fall weight cardigan in Augest in Kansas just isn't the best thing. So, eventhough I had told myself that I wouldn't be starting any new projects until one was done, I bought the pattern and yarn. After getting home, I cast one for the shawl. After sevarl restarts, I finally got it going. To the left is how far along I am, right now. The other shot is a close up of the stitch pattern, in it's unblocked form. I'm useing Skacel Merno Lace and size 3 needles. I am totally guessing on the needle sizeing since I couldn't find anything out about the pattern yarn, and the yarn I picked didn't have a recomended needle size listed. I hope it turns out ok. It likely won't look like the pattern. But, as long as it looks ok.

Well, that's about it on the project front. I'm still working on all the projects, but nothing noteworthy.

My $0.03

2006-06-07T10:30:00.000-05:00

I just had to do a post on this 'cuase I found it amauzing. As part of our move a few months ago, we had to change phone companies. (Which is good 'cuase I like the new one better. ) I spent two months straiting things out with the old phone company since they kept sending bills without paying attention to the fact that we had paid our final bill. (Isn't it amazing what happons when you threaten to send them a copy of the cleared check ?) Then, for the next two months, I got bills from them saying there was a zero ballance on the account. I didn't care if they felt like wasting there money to send me a zero ballance bill. As long as they didn't think I owed them anything. Fianlly, the letters stoped and I was happy. I thought I would never have to deal with them again.

Then on monday, we got a letter telling us that they owed us three cents.. Then, on Tuesday the check came in the mail, for a whole three cents. How much money did they spend to send us the three cents ? I realize that they are legally requred to send us a check if they owed us money. But, why did they have to send a sepreate letter to us. Why not just send them togther ? After all, the postage for one of those was more than what the chek was for. Personaly, I woudln't have cared if they hadn't sent us the check. If it had been more money, I would have wanted it back. But, $0.03 ? That won't even buy me a cup of tea... Hell, it won't even pay the tip on the cup of tea.

Socks done !

2006-05-30T09:54:00.000-05:00

Those of you who read my blog a lot know that I was worried about having enough yarn to finish the pair of striped cotton socks for DH. Well, it turned out ot be a good thing that I didn't finish off my first sock. Eventhough I made the cuffs and over an inch shorter than DH really likes, I still had to rip out some of the first sock in order to get the socks the same length. I try telling myself that eyeballing half a skein to within three rows on a sock is a really good call. ( I don't have a yarn meter or a kitchen scale, so none of the "normal" methods of diving up a skein would work. ) But, it was still a very sad moment when I had to rip out three rows on the first sock which was already to short. Then, add that yarn to the second sock in order to get them the same length. DH doens't really like his socks this height, but when the yarn runs out, it runs out. I am not super happy with this picture. The sock colors don't look right. The socks in the picture are much brighter than they are in real life. But, the picture that showed them close to trun color, was very blurry.

Off to start my next pair of cotton socks. Thankfully, I have 4 and most of a 5th ball of the creammy colored cotton. So, I should be able to make him 4 normal sized pairs of socks. Which would bring him up to 6 pairs of hand made cotton socks. At that point, I run out of cotton sock yarn. I have some cotton/wool blend. So I guess I will start in on that, when I get done with the next four pairs of socks.

For the next four pairs, the color is very boring, just a nice cream color. (It's pretty, just boaring. ) Which is perfect for DH to wear to work. But, compiared to some of the color combos out there, it is dull. So, to keep myself intrested in these socks, I have decied to be creative with them. DH and I talked. The first of the four pairs are going to be cabled. I'm just doing a simple C4F on them. Or maybe C4B. (I haven't decided yet. ) The real trick was figuring out what to use as a cable needle. All of the cable needles I have are the same thickness as a size 1 needle (2.5mm). Of course, with all the purling in the background to make the cables stand out( and I purl loose) I am using size 0 needles. (Gee, big suprise. The only socks I've made that weren't on size zeros are the ones up above. ) So, I have pulled out my trusty size 0 12in circ, and started the toe. I have not yet decided if it will be easier to use one of my metal DPNs (I would be heart broken if I lost one of my britch DPNs espcially since I only have 5 in that size, but I have 9 metal ones) or the crochet hook I use to catch stitches on to use in place of the cable needle. The metal DPN is one of the non-sock sized ones ( 9in long) so I can see that getting annoying really quick. But, the idea of useing a crochet hook just bothers me. I wish they made cable needles that would work for size 0 needles. Oh well. I guess I should be happy that the size 0s worked for me. If I had to go smaller, I only have the five long DPNs in the smaller size. Then I would have been forced to use a crochet hook as a cable needle. I am really hopeing these socks turn out.

New hooks !!

2006-05-25T19:05:00.000-05:00

Today,I got a package from Skacel. It had my replacement crochet hook. In fact, it had two crochet hooks. This is what I found inside :
Two 4.5mm hooks. Not just one, but two ! I am very excited!! Now, I can get back to work on my project.....

Project Up Date

2006-05-25T11:27:00.000-05:00

Well, I heard from the hook company monday morning. They wanted to confirm my address before sending me a new hook. Cross your fingers that it gets here soon....

Both of my big, main projects are gifts so I can't really talk about them here. It's very fustrating. I am so exicted about them. But, I will take pictures before I give them away. After the gifts are given, I will post photos....

Given that I can talk about any of my primary projects, I thought I should post some photos of some other things I'm working on.

As anyone who reads this blog would know, I love knitting socks. I'm doing my first pair of socks on birtch sock sized DPNs. (Thank you Dad for buying them for me. ) I am loving them. I hated useing the longer (8in long) DPNs. They just kept getting in the way. But, these shorter ones (5in long) ones are great ! They are just long enough, but not to long. I'm using some nice cotton yarn that mom gave me. (Gotta love parents !) Last time I used this yarn, I was not able to make the socks the length I wanted (5 1/2 inch from cuff to where hte heal starts). One ball got me about 1/2 short of what I wanted. I've only got one ball of the color I am useing. I really don't want to run short on the second sock. So, when I got to estimted end point on the first sock, I put it on some waste yarn. Then I measured off enough yarn to bind it off... I am starting the second sock... As the second sock progresses, I will know if I can add more length, if I have to frog some of the sock, or if I should just slip the first one back onto the needles and bind off..

Next, I thought I would show off my crocheted Lace WIP. I've been working on it for about a year. And, I'm sure I've got a lot longer to keep working. The pattern repeat is very dull so I can only work on it for short periods of time. I found the pattern in a great, but out of print, book that the libary (where I used to live) had. I checked the libary catalog on line, and they no longer even carry this book. I am very sad. It has some of the prettiest crocheted lace shawl patterns. And, now that info is lost to me forever. I am very sad. I have looked into some of the new lace crochet books avaible. I am underwellemed. Most seem to be just thread crochet books. Not lace crochet in the sence that the book I miss was a lace crochet book. I loved this shade of blue when I started. SO soft and pretty. Of course, sence then, I have realized that I really don't have anything to wear it with. This shade of blue just isn't something I normally wear. But, I figure I have a long time before I finish so I can come up with something before then. Though, the next lace shawl I make will be in a color that would fit in better, a white, cream, dark brown, or dark hunter green. Oh well. Live an learn.

Finnally, my newest WIP. I had been planing on started a Scandinavian inspired sweater. DH bought some some wonderful cones of blue and light grey that will make a wonderful sweater. I have been looking into differnt patterns to pick out what I want. I think I have finally picked out the patterns I will use. Then I realized that I will need to go out and buy some needles. Not many. I need a size 2 36 or 40 in circular for the body and a size 2 16 inch circ for the arms. (Though, of course I don't need the arm's needles to start. ) However, I have a lot of yarn from Sheep and Wool that doesn't require me to go out and buy needles. Plus, this gives me a while to make sure that the patterns I have picked out really are what I want to do. This project when I do it, will be a major investment of time. I want to make sure that I will be really happy with the final project. I'm gona give the patterns a while to float around in my brain before I start it. How awful would it be to make the sweater, and only then realized that it would have looked a lot better if I had used differnt patterns ?

Given all that I deiced to go ahead and make a nice fall weight shawl from the brown cotton/wool mix I got at Sheep and Wool. The pattern is nothing to complicated. I wanted to be able to bring it to my knitting group. For the past 2 months, all I have bought have been socks. I am sure they are sick of me working on socks. So, here is the start of the shawl. It doesn't look like it in the picture, but it is a openwork pattern. Not super open. Don't want the wind wipping right though it. But, I have a nice soild winter weight shawl. So, something a little lighter is what I was going for. I'm likeling it so far....

Well, if you made it this far, you have just finsihed reading the longest blog post in history.

Broken Hook !

2006-05-21T10:41:00.000-05:00

So I was working last night on a very speical project. ( I can't say what it is since it's a gift.) When this happend :

OH NO! My hook snaped in two !
The hook comes with a lifetime warrenty on it so I know the company should send me another. But, will I get it in time to finsih this project in time ? I don't know. I don't even know if my gague will be right if I switch hooks to a differnt brand (which means going out and buying another hook).

Of course this happoned on the project that has the shorest "must be done date". I have two gift projects going right now, and the other one is due months after this one. Stuff always has to go wronge with the project that will cuase the most problems.

I'm just very annoyed and I have to vent. I will figure out something. I know I will. But, that doens't mean I'm happy about this. That was one of my favoirt hooks.

My first pair of cotton socks are done !

2006-05-16T09:59:00.000-05:00

Before I left to visit my family, I started a pair of cotton socks for Matt. It was my first attempt at doing a pair of toe up socks, and my first pair of cotton socks. It was my first thing every done in cotton. I am very happy to annouce that I finished them on Friday. In fact, Matt wore them to work yesterday. If Blogger is nice to me, I will be able to show you a picture of them (it's been getting meaner all day as I try and post pictures...)
Ya, the picture posted ! Here is a picture of the socks after a hard day at the office. I am very happy about them.

Tea Swap Package arrived

2006-05-16T09:44:00.000-05:00

As those of you who read my blog know, I am takeing part in a Secret Pal Knitting Tea Swap. Well yesterday my package arrived. I just wrote up a post for the Tea Swap Blog, but I thought such a wonderful gift should be mentioned more than once. I had a wonderful tea swap secret pal. Here is a picture of what my pal sent me.

Here is a shot of the wonderful Earl Grey tea. I can't wait to try some. I am trying not to repet everything from the Tea Swap blog post in case someone is reading both. But it's hard since I am so happy about my package.

And, here is a shot of the wonderful wool that got sent to me. The colors are fairly good. However, the real wool colors are more vibrant than the photo is showing (at least on my screen... you know how that can make a differance. ) . It's a very pretty yarn. My card tells me that it's spun from Ashland Bay Trading roving. I think I will now how to look up Ashland Bay Trading on line. I had not heard of them before, but now I am intrested in them.

I want to thank my secert pal, whomever they are. You were a wonderful secret pal. Thank you so much.

Footprints sale

2006-05-13T12:50:00.000-05:00

I love my Brikenstock shoes. Best shoes ever. And, the best place to get them around here is Footprints. Today was the annual wearhouse sale.... So, we decided to go and take a look. I was really hopeing to get Matt a pair of sandles.

This is what the wearhouse looked like when we got there around 9am. It was picked pretty clean. (It opened at 7am.) I searched in my size, but I could not find any Briks that fit that I liked the color of. They had mostly only narrow width shoes at that time. Why do they make a narrow width, but not a wide width ? Most shoes right now are very narrow and someone with wide feet has a real hard time fiting there foot into most "fashable" shoes right now...

Matt went looking over at the Keens. There were a few of their shoes he was intrested in. They were out of the sandles he liked. (And, there were no Birks in his size that were colors he liked). But, he did end up finding a really great pair of shoes.

After we got his shoes home, Tigger had to inspect them. Tigger approves of the new shoes.

I had wanted to see if I could get a good deal on Briks, but since I have a new pair, I was really intrested in finding a pair of cloggs. Last winter, I wore my brown clogs almost every day. (Every once in a while, I would wear something that didn't go with brown shoes.) So, I really wanted a nice pair of brown cloggs. (My trusty pair cost $10, and they weren't on any sale.... ) I ended up bringing these wonderful shoes home with me today. (Collieen approves of them.) They are so wonderful to walk on. I have a feeling that these will help my back out a lot.

Tea .... And Sheep and Wool

2006-05-12T23:05:00.000-05:00

As I mentioned before, I am takeing part in the Knitters Tea Swap. I am very excited about it since it is my first swap ever. As part of this swap, a lot of poeple have been posting pictures of thier tea stash. I was not able to do that until today since I was out of town. However, when I got out the camera today to take pictures, I realized it wouldn't do any good since none on my tea is in the packageing it came in. A few are in canisters, and the rest are in tupperwear type containers to keep it fresh. So, takeing pictures of tea bags really wasn't gonna do much good. But, just in case my secret buddy was looking for some info, I figured I could list out what I have. Every morning I have a cup (or two) of a breakfast blend tea (Scottish Bfast, Irish Bfast or Engligh Bfast.. in order that I like them). Durring the day, I ususally have a few cups of daytime tea.... Assam is my favorite.... Though, I drink a lot of other ones ... Mostly Brittish brands that I can find at the local brittish tea store in town. I used to have some great white tea that I loved, but I ran out a little while ago. (And, I havn't had a chance to reorder yet.... ) In the evenings, I drink decaf black tea or an herbal tea.... I knowthat sounds like a lot of tea, but on a noraml day I only drink tea or water. As you can tell, I am almost excultively a black tea person. I have tried green tea, once. It was a really low end cheep one, and it was sooo horrible. One day, I will try a better green tea, but in the mean time, I'm just a little scared ot if... I liked the white tea I tried. Very good.

Now, on to other things... I have been promising pictures of my yarn from Sheep and Wool.... So here is once ball each (wound useing mom's ball winder and swift, thanks mom).
Left to right, natural alpaca (light sport weight), 50/50 Wool/Alpaca blend (worsted weight), and some Merino/Ramboult (spelling?) in a lace/ sock weight....... I am only showing one ball of each, but I have enough of the Alpaca and the Alpaca wool blend to make a shawl out of each. (I would have loved to make a sweater out of the natural Alpaca.. It is heavenly.... But, I had run out of cash by the time I found the vender.. .Guess who I am hitting up first next year...) The Mernio blend is more than enough for a pair of socks...... All are very soft and are going to be a treat to work with......

I know it doens't look like a huge amount, but keep in mind that I also posted about the cones on sock yarn I got. ( I love makeing socks). Plus, I got a few odds and ends at the show. .... Also, the day before the show I bought enough Cascade 220 from Knittin' Chicks to make the Tri-Aran-Angle Shawl from Knitty. I ran accross the pattern on line, and I knew that I needed to make it. I found some really great purple yarn to do it in. My mom talked me into trying something very new/differnt for me. I am doing the main center part of the shawl in a purple that has hints of blue, and the edge cables in a blue that has hints of purple. I am not sure how it will turn out or if I will like it..... I won't know that until I get to work on it..... However, I have other projects to do first.....

Speaking of my trip back east, while I was there, my dad bought me some birtch small sock knitting double points. I just started a pair of socks on them tonight, and I love them. The birtch feels heavnely... And, because they are the shorter DPNs, I am not flighting them like I always do with the long metal ones.... I might have finally found a way to use DPNs and enjoy it....

Aplacas

2006-05-08T08:23:00.000-05:00

And more Aplacas
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

At the sheep and wool festival, I took a few photos of Aplacas. I love the yarn that comes from Alpaca fur. It is so wonderful..... So, I had to put up at least one of my Alpaca photos... I still have not taken photos of the rest of the yarn.... I am having to much fun with the family (and the camera wasn't up adn running until today. )

Sheep and Wool

2006-05-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

Yarn
Originally uploaded by postneo.

Well, I went back east to visit with my family and friends, and to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival with my mom. Since my digital camera is currently out of action (not a long term issue.. Juse a day or so), I can't show you pictures from Sheep and Wool. And, I can't show you pics of al of my yarn. But, I can show you part of the yarn. Mom and I bought three cones of yarn for socks. We are now winding them into balls to so that we can split up the yarn, so here is the photo of the cones/balls split in progress.

I have been having a lot of fun visting with some of my old friends.... IT's great to see old friends. Nothing better. Between the in-laws and my friends, I have eaten out for dinner for hte past three nights. I am so excited about my dad makeing BBQ Chicken tonight.

Swift in action

2006-05-05T13:08:00.000-05:00

Swift in action
Originally uploaded by postneo.

I got to use my mom's swift and ball winder today. Ya ! It makes things so much easier..

Garden Gnome

2006-04-30T19:16:00.000-05:00

Garden Gnome
Originally uploaded by postneo.

Matt and I have been working our way though the Harry Potter books. (Yes, I know we started a bit late on them.) I have read all the ones that are out, and I loved them. (Matt is working on number 4 right now. ) After Matt read the part about de-gnomeing the garden, he decieded that our garden would not be complete without our very own Garden Gnome. We have been looking around trying to find a Gnome for about a month. Who knew that it was that hard to find a Gnome? (Not that we were looking very hard... Just keeping an eye out for them.) At long last, we have our very own Gnome. Now, our garden is complete. We have bushes (came with the house), we have flowers (we planted), we have herbs (we planted) and we have a Gnome..... And due to the constant rain for the past week, we have weeds that I need to get rid of...

Knitting Tea Swap !

2006-04-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

I was reading Bloglines where I have a lot of differnt knitting and crochet blog that pop up. (Anytime I see a blog that deals with these topics, I add it to my listing.) Someone mentioned that they were going to do a "Knitting Tea Swap".

I thought it was a great idea. I have never done a swap before. Mainly becuase most require you to do an item for someone else, and I am always worried about not getting the item done on time and disappointing my swap mate. Plus, my work is differnt from most poeple. I work VERY tight, and I am always worried that if I give items to someone who knows about knitting or crocheting that they will not be happy becuase my work is so tight. But, I love the idea of the Knitting Tea Swap. Two of my favoirt things. I'm very excited.

See, I really did knit these socks !

2006-04-20T20:14:00.000-05:00

So I have been knitting socks for serval months now. And, I have made a few pairs. (And taken pictures of them, too !) I have tired three differnt times to get a good photo of the first pair I knitted. Every time the picture doesn't turn out. I thought there was something about the socks that prevented them from being in focus in a picture. I don't want to tell you how many fuzzy sock photos I have delted in the past few months. Well, this morning, (thanks to my super cool new camera) I was finally able to take a picture of the socks.

My new toy !

2006-04-20T09:53:00.000-05:00

Newest member of the gadget family
Originally uploaded by postneo.

We had a suprise addition to the "gadget family" as my husband calls it.

We have been sorta looking around for a cheep little digital camera for me to carry around. (My cell phone camera doesn't focus very well. ) We had seen a few things, but nothing that we were will to pay for. It's not like it's a needed item. So we weren't willing to pay a lot of money for one.

After two months of keeping an eye out, we had given up on finding something so I had taken over my husband's great little Sony 2MP camera. Then, last night at Target we saw this little guy on the clearnce rack. Guess who got a nice new 4MP camera ? I offered it up to my husband first (he's more of a photo guy than I am.), but he wanted me to have the nice new camera.

In the future, we will still want to get a really nice high end digatal camera. It's not gonna happen anytime soon. Espcilly since he's now got a camera and so do I. Ya us !

Though, the cat's arent' to happy 'cuase I'm useing them as photo subjects while i learn how to use all the features of this camera.

When did weekends become so much work ?

2006-04-09T18:12:00.000-05:00

So we had a very productive weekend.... It started out on Friday night going to Sears to buy a weed wacker.... We went there looking for something that would be good, but not to expensive.. . We ended up geting this monster (32cc engine).... The week wacker end comes off and we can buy other attachments like edgers and trimmers for bushes.... So, we are very happy with the purchase... Then we get out to the car... A VW Golf.... Fitting it in without anything sticking out took a while.... It had to go diagnoal.. I sat in the passenger seat (with the seat pushed all the way forward so that my knees still have inprints of the dash board) holding the top of the weed wacker up so that matt could get in to shift gears.... Thankfully, Sears is only about 10 min away...

So, Saterday was spent with Matt mowing the lawn and useing the new toy while I weeded the garden and started mulching... After four and a half hours of work and five of those big yarn waste bags, the lawn was mowed and I ran out of mulch... (there really aren't any good pictures of this..I guess I could have taken ones of the bags of yard waste just to show how much work Matt did, but I didnt' think of it.) But, at that point, it was time to have lunch and head out to my knitting group.....

Sunday, we decieded to go and buy that BBQ gril... What's a yard without one ? So we get the gril and more mulch for the flower beds (still need to buy flowers..)... I am very excited becuase I love BBQ.... And I miss the old Webber we had when I was a kid....My dad had one of the old green Webbers until I was in middle school ( i think it was about then) when he got a gas gril... Gas grils just aren't the same... They might cost more, but they don't taste as good... Add all the wood chips you want.. IT's just not the same !

Then we decided to attack the garage... See, when we were unpacking, all the empty boxes, all of the boxes full of paper that had been padding, and a bunch of book boxes ended up in the garage... So , the car has not been able to fit in there since the day we unloaded the truck (before Thanksgiving..) and at times, it was hard to walk in to the garage... So, all the book boxes moved inside the house (I get to go though them and put them out this week) as well as the other random boxes that just never got moved in... So, we cleared up a lot of space.. But, we had all these boxes laying around just takeing up space... Then, we thought, "why not put the empty boxes in the attic ? " Then we realized that we don't own a ladder in order to get at the attic... So, back out to the hardware store....

While it was a lot of work this weekend, in the end I would say it was worth it... We have a garage.. And, more importantly, the car can go into it !! I'm very excited !

The weekend was long but it was worth it...... At this point, we thought it was time to quit working... After all it was after 3pm on Sunday and we had been working since Saterday afternoon.... That ment it was time to try out the new grill.

What what could be better than a nice steak and some potatoes ?

And with that, I am going to call it a day... I'm tired and going to sit down and knit/crochet/read.... Hum, I wonder what the cats were doing all weekend ? Oh yes, watching us work.... Must be nice.

Well, I did it !

2006-04-07T09:52:00.000-05:00

So last night, I manged to get the sewing machine up and running. I wound two bobbins... I played around with the differnt stitch types.... I was doing great... THen, I started having a problem with my bobbin thread (I almost said yarn... can you tell I'm new at this whole sewing thing) getting all knotted up and makeing a big mess... I think it's cause the speed of hte needle, and the speed that I'm moving teh fabric aren't in sync yet... I gotta workon that..... Though,with the other machine's I've used, the machine helped move the fabric along, and I was just guiding it... Now, I have to pull the fabric though... I think some setting is off....

Either way, I am happy becuase I got done what I had wanted to do, I figured out how to use that bobbin winder...

My "new" sewing machine

2006-04-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Singer
Originally uploaded by postneo.

My mother in law gave me an old family sewing machine when me moved out here.... (Matt think's it was his father's mother's machine, but is not sure...) She wasn't sure what shape it was in since it hadn't been used in a long time, but she thought it should still work. And, it came built into a great table.... The machine folds down into the desk... Very nice....

Well, after being out here for several months, and I need to do some mending that I'm to lazy to do by hand, I thought it was time to take a look at the machine. So, first things first, I had to clean it up. That wasn't so hard......

Then, I had to find the right bobbins..... After my third trip to the store, I finally found ones that list my model number (Athena 2000). First time I went, I didn't notice that there were differnt types of bobbins for sewing machines.... But, the ones I got didn't work.. So those went back after realzing that the bobbins had differnt numbers.... So, I got a set of bobbins that had the other number ..... Those didn't work.. So they went back. (But they were a lot closer to being the rigt ones.... Fianlly, I found ones that acutally say that they are for "Athena 2000" machines.... So, I think I have right ones....Tomorow night, I should know for sure if finally have the right bobbins.

I will attempt to use the machine.... Kinda scarry... Me sewing.... Without adult supervision......... I've only ever used a sewing machine in "Home Economics" and with my mom double checking everything I do...... Actually, now that I think about it, since I've moved so far from family (and have not yet made to many friends out here), I am doing a lot without "adult supervision" .... Like, I want to see if I can get anything to grow in my garden besides weeds....

But, back to sewing.... First, I gott a figure out how to use the bobbin winder since I have never used a winder like this one before..... It's winds the bobbin where the bobbin sits when you are sewing... I've never seen that before... I've only seen ones with little nobbs on top that you stick the bobbin in to wind..... If this works, it would make a lot of sence to me.... Less parts.... After that, it shouldn't be to hard..... After all, how hard is sewing a patch on an old pair of pants that are just gonna be used for yard work.. IT's not like I can screw things up worse than they are...... And, it's not like I will be attempting anything diffucult like makeing a quilt or a dress.... A patch shouldn't be to hard.. .Right ?

It's Spring Time....

2006-04-01T16:00:00.000-06:00

New mower
Originally uploaded by postneo.

We have been living in an apartment up until our newest move. When we moved in, we said, "We'll get the lawn mower in the spring"... Afterall, who uses a Lawn Mower in December ? Well, this week, we went thought that it was finally time.. (We were afraid that we might loose small childern in the front lawn 'cause the grass was so tall.) So, here it is... Our very fist lawn mower.... Soon, we will be able to get a BBQ grill... Yumm... I can't wait.

As Matt mowed the lawn today, I started weeding the flower beds... Most of it wasn't to bad... There were some few spots where the weeds were just growing like crazy... I found two small (ground level... no height to them) bushes that the weeds had overgrown..... I still have a bit mroe weeding to do around the bigger bushes.... But, 3 hours was enough for me... Hopefully, I will be able to plant flowers soon... I just gotta get all of those weeds out first... then I can put new mulch down (where it needs it) and buy some flowers... I'm so excited ! I have my own garden.

The socks fit !

2006-03-28T08:25:00.000-06:00

Well, I got just under an inch done on the lastest generation of socks yesterday. Matt tried them on, and they fit !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very excited !

Of course, I just realized that with the decreasing I have to do, an hourglass heal might not be the best one. The decreasing would be a lot less obvious if I did a guesst heal. So, I will just wait until my next pair of socks to do the hourglass heal I learned to do for these socks.

The Sock that won't fit !

2006-03-27T00:50:00.000-06:00

I have had it with the socks I am trying to make ! Today, I had to wrip them out for the 3rd time ! (It seems like I've done it so many other times. )Matt seems to have a problem getting them on his feet (over his heal is the real problem). Though, each time, I have to wrip out less and less..

Thursday - I wriped out 3/4 a sock ..... after learning a new heal ! I was so mad that I forgot to check my gague !
Saterday - I tried a new pattern, and I guessed at the number of stitches I would need. I went to my knitting get toether so I got a good bit of knitting done that day... I had to wripe out about 4 inches of sock ! But, I did take time to check gague
Sunday - I knew my gague, and the foot circumfrane I wanted. And, last time I made him socks, matt had no problem getting them on. SO, knowing (or so I thought) how many stitches to cast on, I started the sock. I got about 2 inches done. And, I figured, I should have matt try it on, just in case !
I hope not monday - I have now restarted the sock, again. Adding almost another inch becuase the top of the sock at it's most streached out is about 1/2in shy of makeing it around matt's heals...... I hope these fit him ! I'm gonna scream, and try a differnt pair of socks if they don't work out this time. And, if by some mircal, they fit, I have to remember to take in almost one full inch off after I do the heal, or his foot will be swimming in it !

Why do I enjoy makeing socks ? Can someone please remind me ???? I'm starting to forget......

Afgan -keep going or change it

2006-03-26T22:52:00.000-06:00

Well, I have to say, it's starting to get kinda warm out... Spring is on it's way. .... Now, Iam left with the diffucut choice, do

Keep the Ripple Afgan as is. Box it up all spring/summer 'cuase it's to warm, and start working on it again in the fall
Decided that I didn't do to much work on it as is, and find a differnt pattern for the same yarn (it's no dye lot so I can pick up more if neeeded) and make one useing strips or big squares ?

What to do ?

Works in Progress

2006-03-25T10:37:00.000-06:00

Well I show a lot of differnt pictures of projects so I thought it was time I list my current WIPs.

Knit Gray "In the round" sweater from the bottom up. -- 7 inches done
Crocheted Ripple Afghan - about a 18 inches done ( just an eyeballing it guess). If i don't finish this one soon, it will have to go into hiding for the summer. It will be to warm to work on ....
Knitted Afghan that is a gift for someone (I don't think they read my blog, but just in case I won't talk much about it. they dont' even know they are getting it yet...) - approx. 7inch on the first of four pannels ( I will tkae pictures of it onces it's done, and post them after it is given to the intedned person.)
Knitted Socks - about an inch (see post below)
Crocheted Thread sweater - still working on fixing the part I frogged. It's hard to get into it when you had to frog so much work. So only about an inch
Crocheted Lace Shawl - rough guess here I would guess that the sides of the square are about 6 inches wide now...... I love this pattern. It's such a pretty lace pattern that I gout out of on out of print book at the libary. Oh, how I wish that I could find a copy of that book.... But, ...... This one will take me a very long time to finish...

The sock heal that isn't...

2006-03-24T09:58:00.000-06:00

Sock heal
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

Well, I have been feeling a bit sick for a few days so I decided to take some time and learn how to knit a new style heal, an hourglass heal. I was so proud of myself of learning how to do an hourglass heal instead of a gussett heal. I just had to take this picture. The heal turned out perfectly.

Then, last night when I asked matt to try on the sock to see how the new heal fit him, he coudln't get the sock on. It was TO small. I am useing the same yarn and needles as the last pair I made for Matt, but for some reason, my gague must be very differnt ! I was so fustrated. I had to start the sock all over again last night. Of course, since I was so mad, I forgot to check what my new gague was. So now, I'm just guessing. I casted on a few more stitches, and I'm going to knit a few inchs and see how it fits Matt. And, if it doesn't, well, besides being very mad at the socks, I will hopefully, remember to check my gague before wripping it out.

Keep your fingers crossed that it works this time.

Double Decker Cats

2006-03-21T23:40:00.000-06:00

Back in Febuary, we got the cat's a new pice of cat furnature for thier Birthday ( 10 Feb). We put the furnature in the den by the computers since the cat's only had one bed in there, and not to many places to sit when we are in the den. The cats like to be in the same room as us, most of the time, if there is something soft to sit on.

We haddn't gotten any good pictures of them until a day or so ago. My husband just uploaded them to his Flickr account. I went ahead and saved the photos so that I could put them together in the same post.

On the left is Collieen, the girl cat, on top, and Tigger, the boy cat, inside of the cat furnature.

Since Tigger is so hard to see in there, on the right is a close of him inside the hole. It's still kinda dark, but you can make out that there is a cat in there..

Someone read my blog !

2006-03-21T11:11:00.000-06:00

I am still new at this whole blogging thing so I still get excited over getting comments in my blog. I've only had one or two so far. But, today Tandi took the time to read though my blog. Good think Blogger linked her comments to her blog. I have to go and check that out. I have a feeling that I will be adding her to my bloglines listing so I can read her blog anytime she updates. I love bloglines. It makes reading multiple blogs so easy. Anyways, I just wanted to thank Tandi for readin the blog. I am so excited. Someone read my blog !

I guess I should start updateing my links and such on the sidebar .... Now, to figure out how to do it.....

Matt's Scarf

2006-03-20T23:30:00.000-06:00

As I am now working on a lot of large projects (two afgans and a sweater, plus some socks, but those aren't large), I feel the need to show off some older projects. There is nothing exciting about saying, I got three more rounds done on the sweater today. Boaring ! Anyways, I hadn't posted this picture, yet, so I thought now would be a good time to put it up.

A while back (a month or two or maybe three ago) I made Matt a scarf out of some incredible Alpaca yarn that my mother gave me as a gift. (I love you, mom !) I could never afford to work in sport weight alpaca. Well, I might be able to if I could cut myself down to only one project at a time. I wish I could use this stuff more. It was heavnely to work with. So soft. So nice ! But, I get off topic. I spent a while trying to find a pattern that would look good with the yarn, and still be "manly" since so many patterns are ment for girls.... After much searching and trying out differnt things, I finally found the pattern here. It's called the "featherdown scarf". I did it about one half of the width recomended becuase that was the width that I had enough yarn to do. But, even at half width, it is still a goo width and wonderful scarf. I think the scarf turned out really well. Matt loves it. And it's so so soft. I wish I had one of my own.

Crocheted Afghan--WIP

2006-03-19T19:55:00.000-06:00

Afghan pattern
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

Well, this is one of my crochet Work's In Progres (or WIP for short). This is a close up of the afghan that I'm working on. It's no where near done. But, at least you can see what it looks like. And, I'm actually following a pattern almost exactly (differnt gague and differnt colors, of course). But, still, for me, that's a lot closer to the pattern given than normal.

Six Pounds of Yarn

2006-03-19T11:49:00.000-06:00

Six Pounds of Yarn
Originally uploaded by postneo.

Well, now that I found out that I can Blog photos that matt uploaded, I felt, that this photo should be in my blog.

This is just over 6 lbs of yarn ! It's a fingering weight or close to it. I picked it up really cheap on line. I'm useing it doubled up to make a sweater right now. I like the yarn. But, I don't love it. It's not very soft. It is softening up as I work on it. But, still. ....

This picture was taken right after I got the yarn as I was trying to figure out what would look best. I was playing with it for several days before I figured that it would be best to do a plan stockinette sweater in the round.

New Birks...

2006-03-18T22:21:00.000-06:00

new shoes
Originally uploaded by postneo.

Well, today we went to Footprints to look at the differnt Birkenstocks they have. I wanted Matt to find a pair, and to find out how much it would be to repair mine. I love my old Birks. I have worne them out. Litterally. I keep wanting to find a good pair of shoes for Matt. Doens't have to be dressy ones. Just really really compy shoes since he wears one pair until he wears them out. Well, apprently Matt and I had differnt ideas about the point of our visit. After walking around for a while. Me trying to ignore how much I really liked this one pair of shoes while trying to get matt intrested in a pair of shoes. Matt finally got me to try on those shoes that I was trying to ignore. They fit so nicely. They fit perfectly. I had on really thin socks 'cuase it's like 30 deg outside so I could exactly go outside in sandles...... I was just lucky I grabbed thin socks so that when I tried on my Birks, they would fit like they will when I'm not wearing socks. Anyways, after much talking and trying to talk matt out of it, I left with new Birkenstocks. Aren't they so cute ? I can't wait for it to get warm enough to wear them outside all the time....

Sheep and Wool Time

2006-03-16T09:33:00.000-06:00

I am very excitted! I got the offical word last night that I was going to be able to head back east and visit with family and friends, and go to the Sheep and Wool Festival with my mother this year. For those of you who don't know, this is the biggest one of it's kind on the entire East Coast of the US. It has everything for knitting, crocheting, spinning, or anything else you would want to do with Wool. And, it comes in all stages from being able to buy a sheep to buying a finished item. (I perfure to go with the middle ground and buy yarn and such. ) I had a lot of fun with my mom last year. And, this year should be even better since we know what to expect. I can't wait to go and see everything. Though it is going to be kinda weird seeing my LYS at Sheep and Wool....

I am really am exicted that I should be able to stay out there for a few extra days in order to see everyone. I still havn't told any of my friends that I will be in town. I want to make sure we have some stuff set up with families before we start setting up to meet with friends. Plus, it's almost 2 months away. As it gets a little closer, I hope we will be able to work out times to get togther. I miss seeing everyone. It will be really nice to come back and visit.

More Project Photos

2006-03-12T23:25:00.000-06:00

Well with all this time, I should post some more project photos.

Here is my first crocheted shawl. I love it. It is "based" off of the All Season Shawl by Priscilla Hewitt. I made some changes to it. I had never worn a shawl before makeing this so I wasn't sure how I would like it. But, it's great. I had to make it a lot larger than I thought I would. Now, I want to make more.... If only I wasn't working on an afghan right now.

Here is a photo of my crocheted socks. I love them! They are so warm and fit perfect ! They are a little thick, but still able to fit in shoes. Kinda like how your thick winter socks are thick, but fit in your shoes. They are so nice. I want to crochet some more socks. I think I have enough sock yarn in the same color to crochet a pair. If only I had thought this afternoon, and started my crocheted pair today instead of another knitted pair. Though, I would always rather make a pair for Matt and make a pair for me. I get so much joy out of knowing that he really likes what I make for him. He is so nice and never complians about the yarn or geting the "learning" project.

Well, I have other things. But, I think I blogged more than I should have today. I will try and remember in the next few days to post a photo of the afghan that I'm working on. It's really pretty.

Crocheted Sweater

2006-03-12T23:22:00.000-06:00

Crocheted Sweater
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

As you all can tell, I have some time to kill in front of the computer tonight (Matt is working from home today). So, I was doing some work on my blog. And, as I was looking over the blog, I found that while I mainly crochet and not knit, all of my photos on the blog are knitting. So, I thought it was time that I post some crochet photos.

Here is the sweater that I made for Matt. I finished it a little over a month ago. I love it. It is based off of a Sweater in one of my favoret crochet books "Crochted Aran Sweaters" by Jane Snedden Peever. I love that book. I want to save up to get some really nice wool to make myself a cabled sweater. It is SUPER warm since I didn't use the yarn or the gague recomended. But, there is nothing better than it on a cold windy day.

I really like this sweater. It was a lot of fun to make. The pattern was differnt enough to keep me from getting board, but I could still sit and work on while talking with Matt in the evenings. Plus, it does something with crochet that is almost always thought of as a "knitting only" thing -the cables.

More Socks

2006-03-12T22:50:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention in the last posting, that in addtion to all of the excitment of today, I finished the second sock for me ! Now, I have a pair of knitting socks (and a pair of crocheted socks).... I almost didn't have enough yarn to finish. I was starting to get a bit worried that the last inch of the toe would have to be done in a second color. Good thing I don't have really big feet.

New Alarm Clock --Air Raid Siren

2006-03-12T20:57:00.000-06:00

Well, I had a very intresting morning. First the sound of the wind woke me up. Then the UPS's for the computers started BEEPING 'cuase the power went out. So, Matt had to get up and turn everything off. Then, before Matt can make it back into the bedroom, and before I got out of bed, we heard an Air Raid Siren going off. It took us a few seconds to think "TORNADO !". ... Afterall, this was our first one in an area where they use warning Sirens. (I went though one before, but we had no warning, and if my roommate hadn't come home and told me, I wouldn't have known. ) But, before we can get the cats and get into a safe room in the house, the sirens stoped.

We are very lucky. Our house and all of our friends out here are fine. We lost power for a while today. But, it wasn't a big deal. (The power came on just long enough for me to make some breakfast blend tea so I was good. )

There was a bunch of damage in parts of town. Lots of treee limbs down and flying stuff though windows and such... Though, the weather people havn't offically called it a Tornado. The Jurry is still Out on that one. But, it was a lot of wind.

I didn't get any good photos so I can't post anything cool. But, then again, I didn't go out looking to take photos.

I hope that everyone else is safe and has thier power back.

Matt bought me some stuff

2006-03-05T11:29:00.000-06:00

Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

Well, yesterday, Matt and I headed over to the next town over to do some shopping. Our town is great, and I wouldn't change it. Our town isn't a big city, but it's not a little small town. It's just perfect in size. Big enough to have all of the stores you need daily and most of the ones you want at any other time. But, it's small enough that it's still freindly and personal. I love it here. In fact, walking around the mall (my town dosn't have a mall) yesterday, I remembered why I HATE malls...

Anyways, I get off point, I had a gift certificate to one of my favorite stores (you can guess which one from the photos). So, we had to head over to the next town over to do some shopping. Well, I should have known not to bring matt with. He always buys more for me. If it had just been me, I wouldn't have bought half of the stuff there. It's hard to complian when you are being spoiled that he's spending to much. I am a very happy girl right now. And, the great thing is, I get to enjoys these gifts every day for a long time.

Oh, and for those observant people, yes ther are DPNs in that picture. I should know better than to say that I would never need them again. (That just set off a DPN buying spree.) I found the "Sock Set" of DPNs so now I have from 000 though size 1 just in this set. It is the only way I could get 000 an 00 needles.

An Unusual Site

2006-02-28T08:56:00.000-06:00

Today, I saw something that I had never seen before. A microwave repair man. I have never even heard of someone repairing one before. Microwaves are one of those "disposable" items where it is ususally cheeper to replace it than to fix it. Which is sad when you think about it. But, I am glad that there are poeple out there who do try and fix things first.

Unfortunatly, the magnatron in ours is dead. So, the repairman would have to replace that item. It's now up to the landlord to decide if we get a new one or if they replace the magnatron in a 15 year old microwave.

Well, I guess I still need some DPNs

2006-02-28T08:43:00.000-06:00

So, I did some looking around for a while on line yesterday, and I found out that my last post was not quite right. I could go completely without DPNs. It will be easy for find stuff in town that isn't to expensive in a size three or above. From a sizes 1 and 2, I can find stuff on line. But, the size 0s, and anything local in a size 1 or 2, I would have to buy the really nice, but expensive needles. So, it came down to spending $3 on DPNs or $13 on needles (per size) locally for the stuff below a size three. (I.E. all of my sock stuff). So, the answer became obvious. I got myself some metal DPNs. I'm not thrilled. But, I can't justify spending that much money right now. So, I still have to use DPNs...

No more DPNs ?!?!

2006-02-26T16:43:00.000-06:00

Bad DPNs !
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

Well, these are my only pair of DPNs for doing socks on. As you can see, they are all bent and not strait like they should be. (Their case is the green thing, and it is strait for referance. ) I am not sure how much longer it will be before they break.

Now, I HATE DPNs.... And, the thought of having to spend money on them bothers me. Espicaly since I only need them for the last inch or two on a pair of socks. So, before I needed to replace them, I set out this morning to figure out if there was any way to avoid the DPNs.

I have heard of two differnt ways of avoiding them, one way uses two circular needles and the other uses one big ciruclar needle. So I did a web search and found many differnt pages on both. (I would link to the pages I used, but Mozila died, and so I lost my pages I used. Just my luck. ) Thankfully, before the crash, I figured both of them out. They really aren't that hard, once they are explained. (I wish I could find those links again so I could use them latter... They were good links. )

I think I like the two ciruclar needle method a bit better. It just works better for me. Though, the one big one might grow on me in time. The nice thing about the two method is you can use any length circulars.... While with the one long one you have to use a needle with a cable length of at least 29 inches according to one of those webpages I lost.... So, if I do the two needle method, I can knit most of the sock on my 12 inch circulrs and only add in another needle right at the toe... I should have taken pictures of what I was doing to post them. I guess that I'm just not used to blogging stuff.

So the question becomes, do I replace my DPNs (when they break) with 16 inch circulars or with something larger like 32 or 40 inch circ ? The 16 in ones could also be used when makeing sleaves and other things. The 32/40 in ones could be used for either the two needle or the one needle method. And, they would be for the body of a sweater. Though they would have a lot of extra cable hanging around for the two needle method. I guess I don't need to know which way I want to go yet. After all, I don't need to figure it out until my DPNs die.

Well, that's enough from me. Though, writting things out does help straiten them out in the mind...

This sock is done !

2006-02-26T09:03:00.000-06:00

This sock is done !
Originally uploaded by Dejhia.

Well, I stayed up late last night to finish the sock I was knitting. I was very happy to finish it up. Today I get to start on the second sock. Though, I should probely try on the first one before I make the second one. I am very happy. This is the first pair of socks that I've knitted for myself. I will have to wait and see which I like better, knitting socks or crocheting them. Though, I have to tell you, I hate the double pointed needles (DPNs). Thankfully, I only have to use them down at the toe. But, everytime I use them, I tell myself that I will learn how to do it with two circular needles so that I never have to use DPNs again. I guess I will have to figure something out soon since three of my four DPNs are very bent out of shape (wood DPNs), and so I will have to figure out if I want to buy another set of evil DPNs or just learn how to do it with two circulars.

Let's see if I can post photos to my blog

2006-02-24T10:33:00.000-06:00

Ok, So my first few posts are going to be kinda lame as I get used to how to use the Blogger software. So, let's see if I can post pictures. The best test pictures I can think of are of my two cats. The gray one is a little girl named Collieen, and her brother, Tigger, is the big orange guy.

Welcome to my Blog

2006-02-24T10:24:00.000-06:00

Well, I figured that I should put in a quick post with a little note as to who I am and such things. My name is Heather, but I use the name of "Dejhia" on line a lot. I am a Mechanical Engineer. I live with my wonderful husband and two cats. In my spare time, I crochet and knit, a lot. I also read a lot. Oh, and if you hadn't figured out by now, I am a horrible speller. Just get used to it. If you don't understand what I am trying to say due to the spelling, just let me know and I will try harder with the spelling. I am not really sure of what I want to do with this blog, if anything. It just sounded like it would be fun. Hopefully, this blog will start takeing shape over the next few weeks.