Yay for Socks

Just finished my Baudelaire socks!

These were a lot of fun, and the first thing I made with my KnitPicks Essential Sampler that Albert gave me for Christmas. I think I'll wear them tomorrow, though I really wish I had better shoes to wear them with. Right now my DC flats are the only shoes I have that really work with handmade socks, so they'll have to do for now.

These being finished, I'm ready to start another pair of socks RIGHT NOW. There's just something about socks.


I've also been working on a painting. It's good to get back to my roots.

It's Been A While

I haven't really wanted to blog about what has been going on with me lately because it's been tough making peace with some decisions I've made. Law school (as I should have foreseen, and probably did but didn't admit) was not for me, and despite totally decent grades and a good likelihood of keeping my scholarship, I quit. I now find myself without a steady job, taking the occasional class toward paralegal certification (which I missed altogether this morning because I overslept), painting, knitting, cooking, and playing too much Beautiful Katamari.

Mango Tree!

I've been sprouting mango seeds this summer, and my first baby tree has sprouted! I was so excited that it had actually emerged from the dirt at all (me having a very bad history with botany), but even more so that it looked just like a little baby mango tree. If all goes well, we will be feasting on home-grown mangoes in 7-8 short years!I couldn't get a great picture, but I thought this one was cute because Jack is taking a peek.

A Resolution

It has occurred to me that the harder I try to do nothing but study, the more I end up doing nothing at all. I have been mortified to find myself spending mind-numbing hours in front of the television and eating more than I'd like to - something I tend to do when I'm procrastinating.
Therefore, I hereby resolve to drag the knitting back out (having packed it away at the start of the semester) and to devote a substantial amount of time to reveling in its yarn-y goodness. I feel better just thinking about it. As it stands, Angel's earflap hat remains unfinished, temporarily lagged by some confusion with the i-cord trim, and my Hedera socks are stuck in SSS limbo. Additionally, I have since queued this fabulous, albeit mind-boggling, Entrelac Cube.
And to think, I wasted a whole week of hurricane vacation
(or "hurri-cation" as the locals have taken to saying) agonizing over homework that never got done instead of knitting. For shame!
I did however, senselessly evacuate to Dallas. At least Jack had a good time.

Day One

August 1, 2008: The first day of my week of freedom between full-time employment and leaping blindly into the mysterious world of law school. Yesterday being my last day, we had lunch at La Caretta, where I had some amazing ceviche, and I was showered with very sweet and totally unexpected gifts (see: Totoro).
It kind of feels weird having my last day be a Thursday - my nagging need for closure keeps insisting that I finish the week - but seeing as how my first day of orientation is next Friday, it's only fair that I take a good, solid week off. There are SO many things I have been planning to get done this week that I'm sure I won't get around to half of them, but it's way too early in the week (and the morning) to worry about that. Right now I just need to concentrate on willing the rain away so I can float in the pool today. I'd really feel better about everything if my car was home and well, but as it is, it is sick and away. In seven years it's never had any problems, but I guess it's finally starting to show its age. So I guess I had it in my head that some blogging about all the nonsense zooming through my little brain would be somehow therapeutic, alas, it has only made me dwell upon all these little loose ends that are bugging me. Maybe I'll make some brownies.

Isabella

I just finished the Isabella top I've been working on since March. I'm not all that thrilled with it; kind of short, kind of... vest-y. But I think I'll wear it.

Berry Blue

I just took my first stab at dyeing! Two big skeins of Knitpicks Bare dyed with delicious Berry Blue Kool-Aid as per this tutorial I found on Knitty.com. I was pretty impressed with how easy it was and how well it came out, especially considering the fact that it's Kool-Aid and that my yarn was superwash - i.e., not 100% wool, but a 75/25 wool/nylon blend, which the tutorial warns against. The color is kind of uneven, but that's pretty much what you can expect from hand-dyed yarn. It just sucked up all the color as soon as I threw it in; no time to swish it around and try to get the color to soak up evenly.

All in all, more fun and less messy than anticipated. The hard part now is waiting for it to dry! I plan to use it to start knitting this as soon as possible.
I've also finished my fantabulous Rhiannon Socks and my Katamari...


^_^

...aaand we got MarioKart Wii at midnight last night. I honestly couldn't imagine how they were going to make Rainbow Road harder than in Double Dash - but they did.