bah

So, I had surgery on my foot the 27th. It isn't very fun. I can't even sit at the computer for very long because it makes my foot hurt to not be elevated. (No, I'm not flexible enough to sit here with my foot on the desk.) On the brightside, I've gotten lots of knitting done and i even convinced my husband to let me "break the rules" and go out of the house to buy new yarn. I really don't have anything else to add. I might have FO pics later :)

I'm officially there...

I hate Christmas. It happens every time at this year. It is a week before Christmas, I'm in the middle of grading the last big projects for my Freshmen English students, getting ready to give finals, spending half my time during the day reviewing with kids that have already told me that they aren't going to study, oh, and I'm supposed to be doing nine million other things...

So, in the true spirit of procrastination and and venting I'm going to list why I hate Christmas (also known as my to-do list.)

1. This year I started making really cute Christmas cards. So, I only made a few real cool ones nad the sub par variety are still sitting next to me mocking me.

2. I like making cookies. For one night. Not three. I also don't like that there isn't a good way to do this ahead of time.

3. I'm almost done Christmas shopping. Of course, the things I have left to buy are for the hard people to buy for and I have no idea what to get.

4. I want to be generous and give to all sorts of people in need, but I surely don't have the money.

5. I'd like to finish my Christmas knitting, but that is the last thing on the list since I could buy presents if I had to.

6. I HATE going to a bunch of different houses. But, you can't see part of the family and not the rest. I mean, that's what they tell me.

7. I'm pretty sure by the end of the season the dog and cat will have knocked over the Christmas tree (even though I keep warning them about it.) Oh, I love trees. It is the part of Christmas that I like.

8. The kids at school have all lost their marbles, very few of them care about the semester anymore, and its hard to keep them occupied at this point.

9. I eat too much crap and my tummy hurts.

10. I want to hang out and be merry, but I just sit and think of the things that still need to be done...


There are a million more, but my guilt has kicked in and I must get back to grading.


Boo.

booo

All this end of the semester writing and giving finals thing is making me cranky and not giving me time to get my stuff done. Plus, I think its making me fat... Not really, but I did HAVE to order pizza this evening and I had a lot of cookies at school. Ugh, I feel sick and it is my own fault.

crankin' out the quickies

You know, the quick knitting projects since its only three weeks until Christmas! Tonight's project was this sock monkey hat for my sister. It was quick, easy, and its actually pretty cute on. Plus, it only took a few hours! There was supposed to be a pon pom on top, but I left it off. I figure I'll just give my sis some red yard and if she wants to make a pon pom for it she can.

Next, on the nerdy quick knit list? A dishcloth with Homer Simpson on it. Yes, I'm really knitting that... But, the guy I'm making it for is sure to love it!

Woopsie

I came home Friday night and started making my list of things to do for the weekend. Many of the items were things I needed to finish up for school (writing a final, making a review sheet...) and the rest were Christmas related (finish these nine small knitting projects, finish Christmas cards, and make some cookies. Well, its Sunday morning and I don't have much to say for myself.

I will officially be buying Christmas cards this afternoon because even though I love how the quilled ones look they take FOREVER! This whole quilling thing is something that should be done one card at a time. Not with a list of 50 sitting in front of you.

I'm putting off casting on this sock monkey hat for my sister because I'm scared of it. I don't know why -- the pattern isn't hard, its just freaking me out. I have casted on a scarf that has a really neat owl cable in it for my husband, but I can't knit it when he's around.

Ugh, sitting here thinking about my list is just making me cranky. I need some productive activity to start!

It seemed like a good idea...

So, in the midst of preparing to give finals and review sheets, starting a new tutoring gig, dealing with Christmas shopping and knitting I decided that I needed to not only make my Christmas cards but learn a new craft in order to do so...

Here is what quilling a poinsettia looks like. I love how it looks and it is somewhat fun to do but takes a lot longer than I thought. So, I'm paring down my Christmas Card list and trying to make five a night and send them the next day; rather than making a marathon night of it and sending them all at once like I usually do. I think this might be one things that's easier once you have kids. It will look so much cooler just to have a picture of a cute baby or toddler than worry about making them memorable cards! The one good thing that this has brought is that it is keeping me out of the yarn store...

On another note, I have finished stockings for me and the husband. Now, I have a lot of smaller projects that are filling in for having to spend more money on other presents. So, I'll need to knock out my five cards a night quickly and then get back to knitting!

Here's my snowflake! I like these better, but the flowers are far quicker to make!

Christmas Knitting

Time to knit the small things! Because there isn't time to knit the big! I'm in a great mood because A) I don't have to wait tables anymore
B) I get to tutor and still bring in extra money
C) For some reason I'm full of holiday spirit this year
D) I have lots of things to knit and I'm making progress.

My first try at making a stocking turned out ugly as sin. So I've started over. Here's a picture of the one that I have finished. It was a QUICK knit so I hope to finish the other one tonight.I'm still trying to figure out how to wrap text around pictures... Maybe next time.

I had never thought of knitting stuffed animals or animal toys, but since I have had ravelry (I'm erincolleen if you are a raveler) I saw a couple of really cute things. So, I'm making a few of these knit kittens and filling them with cat nip to use a stocking stuffers for those that have cats. I opted to leave off eyes and a mouth since I don't want anyone's cat to eat that stuff!

CHEATER!

I feel like I'm cheating on my knitting. (My husband also might think that I'm cheating on him with knitting and ravelry...) I have NEVER worked on two projects at once, but right now I'm working on a GIANT stocking, and I have a 45 minute break at work where I can knit. ** This giant stocking is going to be felted and not be this giant later, but I still think its going to be much larger than I intended!
I've finally decided that instead of lugging my stocking back and forth I'll just start a smaller at work project. So, I'm going to start knitting goofy knitted cats as stocking stuffer for my mom and sister. I even bought cat nip to stuff them with.

Am I turning into a creepy cat lady that teaches English and knits constantly? I swear I'm only 25 and I'm not THAT lame or nerdy!

Unfair...

I just has 5 days off frpm teaching, but somehow this morning I still managed to wake up tired with a rockin' headache. (Okay, the tiredness is my fault, I shouldn't have made a Wal-Mart run at 12:30 last night...)

FOUR MORE SHIFTS

I'm so very happy that I only have to work four more shifts of my second job before I can be a girl with one job, have a social life, eat normal food, and catch up on knitting!!

HOORAY!

Baby sweater-- finished

I am in love with this little baby sweater. I finished it this evening and I'm sad that the 6 month old boy I made it for was already asleep as I put the little buttons on... I can't wait until I can see him in it! The only downside is that it is a lot bulkier than I thought it would be, so it may not be something that a baby would wear for hours on end, but maybe as the weather cools down a baby could wear it in lieu of a jacket.

I've started now on felted Christmas stocking for my husband and me. I made the mistake of buying a couple of knitting magazines (Vogue knits, and knit simple) on my way home from work today though and now I want to make everything for everyone this Christmas.

Sadly, there is still a sweater for myself that just needs to be sewn together. I hate putting things together so much it might just sit bound off on my drying rack for a few more days. All I have left it to put the sleeves in place, but I HATE, HATE, HATE the sewing aspect of knitting. I hate it so much in fact I made a point to knit the sleeves on dpns so that I wouldn't have to sew them when finished. Oh well, I'll put the final sewing on my to do list and see how many days I move it to the next...

On the brightside I have Wednesday through Sunday off from teaching this week, and I'm under the two week mark of having to wait tables! Two Sundays from now I can watch football all day (and knit!) instead of catching plays in between tables!

cranky

I can't help it. I'm cranky. I went to my "real" job- teaching and had a fine day. Then, I went to wait tables, the job I hate, but pays awesome, and it made me cranky. Maybe its the fact that I work with college kids who think I'm rich because I have two jobs, maybe its the fact that I have to wait on fraternity boys that hit on me, and sorority girls that giggle because they are better than me. I got a new second job today as a homebound teacher so I got to put my two weeks notice in. I have to admit that made me happy. I'll be happier though when my two weeks is up...

Ravelry!

So, today I got my invitation to Ravelry and NOW I am ready to blog. I won't just blog about knitting, but I know that a lot of my blog will at least be about knitting. I just spent 15 minutes on ravelry and I have already realized that this is going to become an obsession. I'm so excited to look through the yarn that I no longer need and try to trade for it! Hooray!
Today I have taken the day off work (both jobs) and I have a whole list of things that I need to work on. The one that I feel is the most important is Kolcun's sweater. It is a beautiful cable knit baby sweater and I'd love to finish it by the end of the day. Sadly, I also need to clean the house, and maybe rake some leaves. Being invited to Ravelry today is certainly not going to help my productivity, but what can you do!
Well, because I'm a little anal about my to do list I have decided to take things in stride and like a small child I'm going to make myself complete some things on the list before I look any further into blogging or Ravelry.

But, hooray! I'm finally ready to start having knitting friends!

First try

So, I've been that creeper that has read other people's blogs for the past few months. I saw a link through myspace and started looking at random blogs. I feel oddly less creepy now admitting it. As I looked at these blogs I realized that I think having one myself would be cool. So, I'm going to try it out. There are a million different things that I want to talk about, but I just can't formulate them all yet.