two June projects and an anniversary.

Hello out there, blogland!  I don't have very long to write but I just wanted to post this up really quick.

First, today is Rob's and my fifth anniversary together!  We've had a great relaxing day and even made a yummy dinner of chicken, mac & cheese, green beans, and dinner rolls.  I whipped up a special dessert yesterday for the occasion, which brings me to my first (well, second chronologically) June project.

 

Delicious cupcakes! I used my secret Sin Cake recipe to make cupcakes and then got a vanilla buttercream frosting recipe from a friend. I tried to color it a much deeper blue, but it didn't seem to want to get any bluer than this. Next time I'm going to try for a pink frosting and experiment with some vanilla cupcake recipes. I'm really going to miss all my kitchen equipment when I am in Orlando. :-(

My second June project is this Hermione Cable & Eyelet hat that I knitted earlier this month.  I love it!  The picture makes it look red, but it's really a wine-like color.  The ribbing turned out so-so, but the cables came out wonderfully.  I'm very proud of them.  Now I actually like knitting cables.  Go figure!  I'll definitely use this hat pattern again.

That's it for me today.  Take care!

Beginnings of Summer. a.k.a. Historian for Hire!

Wow.  I've totally ignored this blog!  I haven't posted here since before final exams started, which isn't entirely unusual but I have a couple of things I could have blogged about during that time.

I'm a college graduate!  That's right, historian for hire!  Or whatever.

Several of my relatives flew/drove into town for the ceremony, and we all had a pretty great visit while they were here.  It's too bad we can't all get together more often.

So now I'm staying with my parents for the summer before I leave for Orlando.  I kinda miss the privacy I had back at the apartment.  Not that my parents are all that invasive, but there's definitely a lack of the personal space that I was used to when I lived with Sarah and Kellie.  Plus I feel a bit cluttered because I'm in storage limbo here.  I'm slowly moving out of the apartment while cleaning out my stuff here at the same time.  So there are boxes and suitcases everywhere I turn.  And there's still a bunch of my stuff that will need to be packed up, moved, or purged.

This leads me to another point.  I'm in this weird hesitant mode lately.  There are projects or activities that I want/need to start, but I keep hesitating.  A few examples:
- Cleaning out my room.  I know that I have lots of time, but I really don't want to start.  It's just such a daunting task.
- Running.  Granted I need to finally pick out which shoes I want as a belated birthday gift before I can actually continue working on my running.  But that right there is another example.
- Knitting.  I have all of these projects in my head that I want to start, but I can't pick just one to begin.  "Ooh, I want to knit more hats!  Wait, I want to do a bajillion pairs of fingerless mitts!  But I think I may be ready to try socks, so maybe I should do that.  And I really want to learn how to sew buttons onto my work!"  Etc., etc.  Although I did just finish a hat for Rob and some mitts for my mom.  So it's not totally hopeless.
- Netflix.  Weird, right?  My queues for DVD and Watch Instantly are both very long but I just can't seem to make myself watch anything.  Right now I have a documentary on the Titanic and The Invention of Lying sitting by the DVD player.  And we just started up the Watch Instantly on my parents' Wii.  I have plenty to watch, I don't know why I don't do it.

Is it just hesitation to start new things?  Laziness?  Maybe I'm transferring my habit of procrastinating into real-life stuff now that I don't have schoolwork to do.  Whatever the reason is, I'd like to stop feeling so lethargic about accomplishing these tasks or even working on projects about which I'm excited.  I'm ready to get started with my summer!

Random updates about school and yarn

There are only 52 days until graduation.  I absolutely cannot wait.  This semester has been so brutal!  And it's only going to get worse, unfortunately.  Most of my writing assignments are all piled up at the end of the semester, which means that I have roughly 50 pages of writing to do before it all ends!

My senior thesis is going well so far.  I have a meeting on Monday to discuss it with my professor, and hopefully I'll get some positive feedback.  If only this were the only thing I have to do this semester.  I'd be in heaven!

On a lighter note, I've been looking at yarn on Etsy.com lately and I WANT TO BUY SO MUCH.  I love looking at all of the cool color combinations that sellers have come up with.  And it makes me want to learn how to dye yarn myself!  It can be done with something as simple as Kool-Aid or Wilton icing coloring (which I have a ton of!), but I'm not sure if there are certain fibers that can't be dyed.  Like I love working with acrylics, if only because they don't need blocking.  But can I color them myself?  I'll have to look into it.  I found some superwash merino wool on Knitpicks.com that can be dyed, so maybe I can buy a skein to experiment with when I get a chance.

And I've been keeping an eye on the Yarn Sales group at Ravelry because I really, really, REALLY want to try some Malabrigo.  I just missed a really good sale the other day!  I also need some Noro for Mom's Christmas gift, and I'd love to get it on sale if I can.  Both Noro and Malabrigo are a bit more expensive than I'd like.

I also have some fingering weight yarn that I bought a few weeks ago and have no idea what to do with it.  I liked the colors a lot more before I tried knitting with it.  Maybe I'll make a small shawl for my Nana, something that can be wrapped around as a scarf?  I really don't want to buy any more of it, so I'll have to search for something suitable that will use up as much as possible.

Since I'll be moving to Orlando in August, I'm going to try and get as many Christmas gifts together as possible before I leave.  This way, I won't have to ship tons of gifts home from FL.  I'm sure that I will find a couple of gifts for people while I'm there, though.  But I already know what I want to make for my Mom and Robert.  So I'm going to try and finish those over the summer!  Unfortunately I can't post my ideas here, because the surprises could be spoiled. ;-)

I'm learning how to use double-pointed needles!  They're not as intimidating as I thought they'd be.  I'm still getting used to the feel of juggling 4-5 needles at one time, though.

Quick post on craftsy things.

So I finally finished the Man Scarf for Rob last month.  It was supposed to be a Christmas gift. :-/  The scarf took me way too long to finish considering the project itself.  Anyway, I was able to put together his Valentine's Day gift today while getting some movie research done.  (Yes, my senior thesis is on movies!  And Anne Boleyn movies, at that!  Be wicked jealous.)  I really hope that he'll love his gift as much as he loves the Man Scarf!

I know it's not the greatest knitting project in the world, but he loves it so I'm happy. :-D  Now here's hoping that he'll enjoy the V-Day matching gift, too!

And just because, here is my Ravelry page.  I really should start taking pictures of my finished projects.

Halloween photos, and a partridge in a pear tree!

Here are a few photos from my Halloween in Disney World! I dressed up as Belle, my boyfriend went as Gaston, and my younger sister was a sailor.








I've been working pretty furiously (for me anyway, being a slow knitter) on Christmas gifts over the past couple of weeks. So far, they're all coming along very well. I need to take pictures of them when they're finished. Here is a list of what I'm working on at the moment:

1 Moderne Log Cabin Blanket
1 Manly Scarf (my own design)
2 Scrunchable Scarves

I'm also considering trying either a Meandering Rib Scarf or a Drop Stitch Scarf, depending on whether or not there's time after I finish these. As I said, I'm a pretty slow knitter.

As for other Christmas gifts, I've decided what most everyone will be receiving. There are still a couple of people whose gifts I still need to figure out. Hmmmm.

I can't wait for Christmas! Since Thanksgiving break starts next week, I'm looking forward to starting work on Christmas cookies. Yum!