Craftiness:

Ok, besides Anemoi mittens- I've been working on other things, and buying things.

I finished a Bejeweled scarf...or rather, an ALMOST Bejeweled scarf. What does that mean? That means that I learned in the middle of knitting, something that almost all knitters know, apparently. That you slip all stitches as if to purl unless the pattern says otherwise. Huh. You learn something new every project. So I slipped all stitches as if to knit, and this is what I ended up with.

I used Knitpicks Andean Silk in Hollyberry, 3 skeins, and size 8 Denise needles. If I was to make this again, I'd SLIP ALL STITCHES AS IF TO PURL, and use a finer gauge yarn. I wanted something practically floppy, and this isn't close to being thick, but still not what I hoped for. It's going to be gifted to Andy's mom, who wanted a scarf in this color.

(I'm on home IV, as I mentioned previously, so don't mind my stressed out grin- I was thinking of nothing but hiding my left arm so no one could see my IV line in the FO picture, haha).

I also started planning projects- my mom is AWESOME and bought me the kit Blithe from Kim Hargreaves' site. How cool of a mom do I have? And today, I bought Zephyrstyle's Wicked , and some Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Peat Mix, a nice shade of heathered green.

Bad lighting, sorry!

YAY! I love good knitting stuff. Now I just have to psyche myself up for more on the Anemoi mittens tomorrow- gotta tackle the ribbing, which is ALSO new to me. I know I like to get my money's worth out of things, but really, did I have to make this project so hard on myself? YES.

Check out what a good knitter my grandmother was:

My cool mother was sitting on her lap, wearing an outfit my grandmother handknit. It's a family hobby!

Dear Anemoi Mittens (to be):

It appears we've gotten off on the wrong foot. I decided to take the plunge and do something that I think of as hard: colorwork. So I decided to not take the plunge alone, and signed up for a knitting class that I'd enjoyed before. I struggled with the size 0 needles at the class, did my gauge swatch, was happy with learning how to hold the two colors.

Tonight, I pick up my needles again, and decide to tackle the tubular cast on, which I've never done before. I've spent a few days looking at various instructions online, in magazines, and knew that the best way for me to do it, would be to JUST DO IT. I got through it, sweating and swearing profusely, because for the first part of the cast on, I did a backwards loop cast on, which I'd also never done before. DID. NOT. LIKE. After ripping it out a few times, I finally gave up, did my regular long tail cast on, and then proceeded on to the tubular cast on. More sweating. More swearing. Finally, I get through it, and start picking out the waste yarn, feeling proud of myself.

I'm in temporary quarters right now, (long story short, it's easier to do home IV antibiotics at my parents' house than my apartment, OMG I MISS MY KITTIES AND MY ANDREW!!!) so I sit on the floor in front of my laptop (which has convenient tutorials up for me to puzzle through). I finished about half of the picking out of the waste yarn, before I have to potty. I leave my knitting on the floor, and disaster struck. I came back to my knitpicks circular almost completely severed at the cord because of my parents' evil cat, Hanna. I love Hanna. I do. But my NEEDLES! *sobs*

I tried to tape it, but it's a lost cause. It looks like Knitpicks will get MORE of my money (I think they may be getting me as an indentured servant eventually).

And my class is tomorrow.

Anemoi, I hope we get along better when next we meet.

-Jennifer