Love!

OMG You Guys!

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My sister reached her fund-raising goal in just two days! Thank you so much to everyone who Chipped In a couple of bucks for her and to everyone who shared the link around and spread the news. You guys are amazing and we are so very blessed to know some of the best people on the Internet.

thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

There are not enough thank yous in the world. <3

Halp! · totally awesome sister · Zombies

She Was Robbed

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Apologies in advance if you have heard this story already because you follow me on G+ or are a friend on Facebook.

Yesterday my sister arrived home from work to find her apartment had been broken into. Stolen were her camera, her old Blackberry, her blender, but, the hardest loss was her MacBook Pro. She can live without the camera and her old Blackberry, but, as a deaf person, she relies heavily on her computer to communicate. On many levels, her computer was the only thing of value she owned. The loss hits her especially hard since she lives within a very tight budget (as we all do nowadays) and she will be unable to save enough money replace the computer for many years.

I never thought I’d be the type of person to post a plea for money on the internet, but at my urging, she has set up a ChipIn.com page. If you can help out, even a little, it would mean a lot.

Also, here is her blog post about it. Please read her story and consider helping if you are able.

grumble

Facebook changes again, more changes to come

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That being said, I do plan to create more content for Google+ (in terms of status updates and the like) so, if you haven’t already added me to your circles please do!

Adventures · Knitting

In Which I Plan How to Utilize Good Results of Something Before Those Results Have Occurred

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I finished up My sister’s shawl while we were on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.

(We had a positively lovely time, by the way. The Mister took the boys fishing

and we drove all around the island to look at all the lighthouses.

It was fun.)

I don’t have any pictures of the finished shawl just yet, either, because I still need to block the damn thing, but it is done. Done done done. Well, mostly done. And yes, I do have plans to knit a second one, but not for a while. I have a few things I’d like to do first. Namely this, which I have been obsessed with since the Yarn Harlot tweeted about it last month. I ordered the yarn for it before we left for MV, but it didn’t arrive in time for me to bring it with me. The plan today was to wind the yarn into cakes and do the swatch, but I’ve spent most of the day internet shopping for buttons. Ahem. Why yes, I do I realize that this is the knitter’s equivalent of counting your chickens before they’ve hatched. Shut up.

Also in the works is a pair of socks, which I cast on and frogged in MV.

I really like this colorway (Sweet Pea from the Yarn Pirate), but I didn’t like how it looked once I got the toe up to 72 stitches. Last night I cast on again for a smaller number of stitches.

Other projects planned include Bird in Hand mittens for Sis, some felted clogs for me me meeeee, and a sweater for the Mister.

Too bad I can’t stop shopping for buttons. I’m thinking of something from here.

Knitting · Lace

Slow Going

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Well, I’ve been working on the edge of the Blue Blossom shawl for a few days now. Man, oh man, is it tedious.

The thing is knitted on sideways and incorporates 3 of the shawl stitches into every repeat. I think that means I am doing 100 or so repeats of the edge (6 rows of about 9 stitches).

I’m trying hard not to stab myself in the eye.

Crafty · life · PSA · random · sewing

Some Things: An Update

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1. When we finally ventured out after TS Irene blew through, we discovered a tree down on our street:

Thankfully, it was considerate enough to fall away from the wires. We would have certainly lost power if it had fallen the other way.

2. Today, I made one of these:

What is it, you ask?

A Kindle cover for my new Kindle (which arrived just this week)! I used this pattern from Etsy and I am so happy with it. I am also happy with my Kindle. Now I can take all my books wherever I go, and in a stylish cover too. I love living in the future!

3. I have a bunch of stuff on the Kindle, but right now I am reading Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Steampunk/Zombies=awesome!

4. I have made serious progress on my sister’s shawl! I have only half repeat of the tiny triangles left to go! And then it’s on to the edge! I’m so thrilled and excited I can’t tell you. No pictures, right now though. It still looks like a blue blob.

5. It’s Labor Day weekend! Thank a union.

Current Events · Weather

We Were Lucky

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This was the scene when I woke up this morning:

It was very breezy at that time and there were many leaves and small branches down. At that point it was still raining a bit as we were still waiting for the center of circulation to pass over us. Even now, it’s still really windy. We never lost power and are on top of a hill so we don’t worry about flooding here either. But many low-lying areas in my town are flooded and about 30% of people are without power.

There are a lot of people on the internet bitching that this storm got hyped up for no reason. Seriously? I’m sorry it didn’t ruin your day enough, but there are millions of people without power, at least 10 people dead, and countless others whose property has been damaged due to flooding or trees falling on them. If you weren’t affected by this storm much, you were lucky. Now qwityerbitchin’ and count your blessings. It could’ve been a lot worse.

I mean, honestly.

Current Events · life · Weather

Emergency Preparedness, I Has It.

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(the red line of the forecasted path passes right over my house)

So yeah. You may have heard that there is an enormous hurricane heading our way. This is my first hurricane and I am excited and nervous so I have been busy getting ready. Yesterday was the epic grocery store run/quest for batteries and flashlights/search for bottled water. Everyone in town had a similar idea, unfortunately, so bottled water was in short supply, as were batteries and flashlights. Luckily I managed to score enough of everything to tide us over until Tuesday at least. Also, I have plenty of knitting. In the meantime, we are watching the news with great interest. Our cell phones are charged up, and I charged my camera battery too. It will be a miracle if the power stays on, but if it does, I’ll be sure to post pictures. Any readers out there in the path of Irene? How have your preparations been going? Are you ready?

free patterns · Knitting

YaYa Mitts

Jen4 Comments

I’ve had a pretty little ball of Classic Elite Inca Print in my stash for a long time now. I think it was the first alpaca yarn I ever purchased and, until now, I could never figure out what to do with it. Now that it’s officially the middle of August and with giftmas fast approaching, I finally thought of something to make with the Inca Print. YaYa Mitts!!

[ravelry]

These mitts will knit up quickly and with just 50 grams would make a lovely, inexpensive gift for anyone (with women’s size medium hands) on your list. Sadly, the Inca Print is now discontinued, but any DK weight yarn would work.

Materials: 50 grams of any DK weight yarn.
Size 5 needles

Cast on 36 stitches. (I found a great tutorial for casting on 2 at a time here.)
Work in 2×2 rib (K2, P2) for 1.75 inches

Thumb:
Knit 1, CO 8 stitches (I used the backward loop method), Knit 1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.

Thumb Gusset:
Rounds 1-4: K2, P2 to the end
Round 5: K2, P2tog, K2, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 6-9: K2, P1, K2, P1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Round 10: K1, P2tog, K1, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 11-14: K1, P1, K1, P1, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Round 15: P2tog, P2tog, K2, P2 to the end of the round.
Rounds 16-19: P2, K2 to the end of the round
Round 20: K2tog, K2tog, K2, P2

Continue to work in established 2×2 rib pattern until the mitt is the desired length or until you run out of yarn. BO loosely in pattern (I recommend JSSBO) and weave in ends.

Since I made mine on the short side, I have enough of the Inca Print to make a second pair!

Meh.

Checking In

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If anyone out there is wondering, yes I am still in the land of the living. The last couple of weeks around here have been crazy busy, and so therefore extremely draining. But, at least the cats have been inspected and inoculated, and I have a new pair of glasses headed my way. (Hooray for the Internet!) There might have been an acupuncture treatment in there too, as well as a couple of trips to the beach. *whew* I have been knitting too, but I never seem to think of taking any pictures before the sun goes down. So, yes I am here, and yes I am thinking of the Blog. Maybe one day I won’t be too exhausted to be interesting.

How is your summer going?