fake yarn & fake trees

so, i have cast-on for my very first commissioned piece of knitting! i made a friend some fingerless gloves for a secret santa, and he asked me to make his wife some "dallas cowboy mittens". hmmmm. and he didn't ask me so much as just put money into my paypal. this was totally fine, and i would almost rather do them for free...because i couldn't even tell him what would be 'enough' for a pair of mittens. if you include yarn and time...you're talking about like a $100 pair of mittens, and that's if i get minimum wage! hehe, but oh well. glad to do it!

i must admit though...i am using some faux yarn, but hey! it's machine-washable! and i couldn't figure out how to modify a star chart, so he said plain white mittens would be fine. so i decided to make some white ones, but snazz them up a bit.

this is my second time doing the chevalier mittens, and the first time they ended up being really long. so this time around i cut-out 14 rows, and that seems to be just right. since i did a little chart modifying, the cables are a little wonky in places, but it's hard to tell...



so i got one done in about 24 hours, so i'm hoping to get these sent out by this weekend, wahoo! just in time for christmas. speaking of which, i still don't have a tree! i want a tree so much, i'd even take a little charlie brown tree.

washcloth weekend

how does the weekend fly by so fast?! i had some big knitting plans for the weekend, then all of a sudden it was sunday night and i'd made a washcloth, hehe oops.

i decided i'm going to make my mom some flower washcloths for christmas, i managed to make one petal for that...and a cute lion washcloth for myself! it seriously killed my hands though, and i think my needles totally carved designs into each other. i don't think it helped that i was holding the yarn double-stranded, but the mane looked so much better that way! :) seeeeeeeeeee



there was also some lovely knitting at braeda on saturday and tana almost made my brain fall out of my head with her seaming, i don't get it! i need to learn her ways. she is my mr. miyagi.

ok, back to work...i leave you with my lovely little hamster, fluffaluffagus being his usually crazy self!

anti-social lunch knitting

there are a few lovely ladies here at work who knit, and they get together every friday and knit by the fireplace (in the cafeteria, but still....there's a fireplace!) i got an email inviting me to go, which is so nice of them, very sweet. but i haven't gone yet, and i feel bad! but i really kind of like taking my lunch and knitting by myself and listening to my ipod. i'm such a loner knitter. is that bad? i'm sure if i went i'd like it, and i should really just go.

but i like sitting by myself and listening to keith and chemda :) i always sit in the same spot and see most of the same people walking by everyday. only a few of them look at me funny, i realized that i'm pretty covered in yarn. today i had on my hat and clapotis and was working on a sweater. they're just jealous! ;) here i am in all my lunch-knitting glory.



and because i love these and i have too much time on my hands!.......

NINE places I’ve visited

1: venice
2: paris
3: london
4: disney world (wanna go back!)
5: new jersey (don't go!)
6: wyoming
7: hawaii
8: queens
9: the michigan u.p

EIGHT ways to win my heart
1: iced coffee
2: suggest watching jurassic park, signs or the descent
3: be able to fix my knitting mistakes
4: hugs
5: strong handshakes (maybe not win my heart, but my respect!) ;)
6: tell stories
7: hold my hand
8. cupcakes!

SEVEN things I want to do before I die
1: go on a yoga retreat
2: go to india
3: get a dog
4: live alone
5: have kids (not soon!)
6: come to peace with my hair
7: travel alone

SIX things I’m afraid of
1: driving
2: bedbugs (i lived in nyc)
3: close talkers
4: my student loans
5: ghosts
6: the dark

FIVE things I don't like
1: weiner dogs
2: olives
3: getting out of bed
4: going to sleep with my hair wet
5: when my contacts rip while they're in my eyes!

FOUR ways to turn me off
1: smoke
2: own a weiner dog
3: hate oprah
4: be mean

THREE Things I do everyday
1: knit
2: get static shock from my earbuds
3: look in the mirror and think i should brush my hair

TWO things that make me happy
1: coffee
2: talking to my grandma

ONE thing on my mind right now
1: going home for christmas

charts are out to get me

i love s&b. i look forward to it every week, and it never disappoints! also, i learn something new every time i go. a couple weeks ago i learned that you read charts from right to left, not left to right! who knew?! apparently everybody but me! all those years of chart reading, and i'd been doing it backwards, i expect nothing less. and last night, i remembered that bottom up does not infact mean 'in the round'. duh! sometimes i wonder about myself...

also, tana helped me figure out a chart repeat that was practically invisible. only two rows into my 'lucy in the sky' cardigan and i'm already needed back-up, ahgeez. see! this is why i can never miss a s&b! i might be knitting things inside-out and backwards, who knows!

so i'm making my lucy cardy about 2 sizes bigger than my actual size, because i like loose fitting sweaters...i hope it ends up looking cozy as opposed to ridiculous. only time will tell! stay tuned to find out. and here is my lucy cardy hanging out on my desk at work...and this is my desk in it's 'clean' state. hehe

oh no you di-int!

my knitting has betrayed me! who woulda thunk it. so i blocked my sweet pea coat (even though i don't get or like blocking!) and everything was going fine, la la la, until the seaming. seriously, can i hire someone to seam for me? it is truly the pits. so i went over to knitty and found their tutorial and got the sides seamed, they look a little wonky, but what can ya do?!

then came the sleeves...ooooooh, the sleeves. they look like they are meant to fit a totally different sweater, there is no way they could be put on without looking like something created for the nightmare before christmas. so i'm going to redo them. i'm going to try and pick up stitches around the armhole and just do it my way. i was ready to just throw it in the back of my closet (like so many of its friends) but i figure, i put so much work into it, and my ravelry projects page is counting on me! so i must fix.

but in the meantime i bought 6 skeins of cascade 220 to make lucy in the sky, because why not cast-on for a new sweater when i have about 10 wips and a sweater that's giving me ulcers! haha, oh swells.

in more exciting news...i got my first tag! wahooooooooo! i'm not really sure how this fancy tagging thing works, but i'm gonna give it a try.

Lovely Lisa tagged me with a Six Things Meme:

These are the rules:

1. Link to the person who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random, arbitrary things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

1. i love love LOVE making lists, so much so, that i'll add things to a to-do list even if they're done, just so i can cross them out.

2.lately i've really been wanting a career that involves pregnant women/babies. like being a doula, or doing those baby massages i saw on oprah once.

3.i cannot touch warm, damp towels or washcloths. like the kind they put on your hands and arms during a manicure, they make me feel like i can't breathe. (i am nuts.)

4.i do not own a t.v. and this is truly sad because i am a total televisionaholic. i even miss commercials!

5.when i was little the toys r us song 'i don't want to grow up, i'm a toys r us kid' made me cry, because growing up scared me so much and i wanted to be a kid forever. and i was right! being an adult is scary.

6.i love being in groups of people and just listening. i think this makes me seem anti-social sometimes, even though i'm having the best time ever! i just love hearing stories. :)

ok i'm tagging:

Jedimom

Cimorine

Sarah

Kata

i know i need two more peeps...but i can't think of anyone! ooops. :)