Ta Ta for Now!

As you may have noticed, I have not been posting very much recently. The knitting has come to a sudden halt with school work and a busy schedule. I am going to take a brief hiatus from this blog for a little bit. I am going to reassess in May. In the mean time, you can check out my Disney blog if you want. I know you must be wondering why I am keeping up with that blog. The truth is that it is far less time intensive. It was really great getting to know many of you and I will try to catch up on my blog reading and post some comments.

Happy Knitting! & See you in a month!

-SAK

It Was A Real Nice Computer...

Hey guys,

Sorry for the lack of posts. I was out of town for a couple of days and then my hard drive died last night. :( I am getting a new one on Monday, but until then I need to do all my computer stuff at school. Since my entire life revolves around the computer, I have been spending a bit more time knitting and watching TV. With the weather getting warmer and warmer, my desire to knit a scarf seems to be diminishing on a rapid basis. I did get my new Vogue Knitting the other day though, and am currently looking through it for lace inspiration. Hmmm, it is time to start looking through the stash again!

-SAK

Falling in Love with More Hat Patterns

Wow, I just had the longest weekend ever. Visitation Week for the Clinical Psych program is over and my friend who stayed with me for his interview has gone home. After living by myself for several months, it was weird sharing my apartment with someone. The main thought that went through my head was, "What do you mean I have to let T sleep now? I want to watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer!" Of course, I let T get sleep (I should note, he was sleeping in my living room, which prevented the TV watching) before his interviews and it was nice to catch up on Brown gossip, but I would be lying if I said that I was sad to have my apartment to myself again.

Not too much knitting got done with the interviews. I spent the weekend hanging out with applicants and shuttling people back and forth between houses and the department. I did get my Vogue Knitting magazine though (it got lost in the mail and this was my replacement). The patterns were nice enough, but I fell in love with a hat in a pattern book that was advertised on page 42. It is in the "Artwork Knitting in Africa" for elle yarn. It is a lot like a hat in loop-d-loop, so I am going to see if I can modify the loop-d-loop pattern (since I own that book). There is a big floppy flower on the hat in the VK pattern, but I don't think I would look good with it, so the transformed loop-d-loop pattern seems like the best bet for now.

-SAK

Loooong Week

Phew, I just finished a very scary Child Assessment Midterm and am ready to RELAX. I have nothing planned for the next week except to go to lab, work on my Master's, go through a stack of papers that have found their way into my happy home, and catch up on errands that I have been avoiding like the plague. SO, as you correctly guessed I am going to be knitting and getting prepped for my next Disney trip. :)

Okay, must get going, but I will have more to say on Saturday.

-SAK

Scarves and Things

Hey gang,

Here is an itty bitty update on my ribbed scarf: I am still knitting slowly yet surely away on it. It isn't the most interesting scarf in the world, but it is pretty and will come in handy next winter, since Florida seems to be getting spring weather now. There is something pretty comforting about picking this scarf up every so often and know exactly where I am in terms of the pattern. It is comforting to know that even though my life is pretty chaotic; I have a cozy blue ribbed scarf at home.

This Friday and Saturday is "Visitation Weekend" for UF's Clinical and Health Psychology Department. Doesn't it sound like the applicants are visiting inmates at the local prison? Well, they kinda are...but that doesn't make it less funny! :) I can't believe this time last year, I had just broken my wrist and was upset that I couldn't participate in the Knitting Olympics and was freaking out about getting into a graduate program. Now I am barely keeping up with my knitting and fantasizing about dropping out of grad school and going back to work (I'm just joking Dad!).

In more exciting news, in less than 2 weeks I will be at Disney and will be enjoying the lights and sounds of the most enchanting and magical place on earth. ::sigh:: I need my Disney magic rush. I want to sing with the little kids on "It's a Small World" and fly high with Dumbo. Plus, with all those long queue lines, I might even get some knitting done! ;)

-SAK

Post? Me Post?

Wow, this has been a crazy week! I have been knitting, and exercising, and avoiding vending machine candy, and all sorts of other exciting things! Over the past year with all the upheaval of moving, breaking my wrist, and other major life events, I seem to have falllen off the healthy bandwagon. I have tried multiple times to restart healthy habits, but alas, nothing stuck. Nothing stuck until now, however. :) I am going to Disney World (surprise, surprise) for a bit of my Spring Break and I really want to give Disney some of my money and get silly ridiculous things in return. So I devised a plan, a great, amazing plan, if you will. Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its...wait that's not it. Every time I do something I am supposed to be doing (exercising, taking my multi-vitamin, avoiding vending machine candy, going to be bed before 1AM, etc), I get a sticker. Each sticker represents $1 I can spend at Disney. Right now, I am positively reinforcing a million and one activities, but after a few weeks, I will begin to rein back some of the activities as they become second nature to me and reinforced by their own goodness.

So, what has this got to do with knitting, since this is a knitting blog and not a Disney blog? Well, I seem to have more time to knit. I don't know how this is working out exactly, but after I exercise, eat dinner, do some research, and vaccuum, I seem to have time to knit. I guess all the extra activity is inspiring me to keep busy when I am sitting! Speaking of knitting, here is the ribbed scarf (LB Homespun) I am working on now. The blue is making me so happy and cuddly. It is finally getting warm here in Florida, which doesn't really inspire me to knit heavy scarves, but we will see how far the exercise inspires me to knit. :)

For those of you who wanted to see the finished airy, pink, happy scarf, here it is! It is sadly getting too warm even to wear this, but every morning, I am still whipping this around my neck! :)

-SAK

Happy Scarves and Shawls

I love this Modea Dream yarn. I blocked it last night, and am wearing it right now at school and I am in love with it. The yarn doesn't itch. It is wispy and airy. It is so dainty. I positively love it! Pictures to come later tonight.

In other news, I have picked up the Twizzler shawl. I have only done a row or two but I am aiming to finish it this century. I had originally stopped, because I had come to a knitting mistake, but I think I fixed it and am ready to continue knitting.

At the same time, I started another scarf last night with the blue LB Homespun yarn I was planning to use for a garter stitch scarf with the fun fur. Oh well. At the end of all this knitting, I will have a scarf or wrap or something.

Excitement! News! Amazement!

You will not believe the news I am about to tell you. Sit down. Seriously. In under 24 hours, I started and...ahem...finished (well, finished in the sense that I CO'ed) a scarf! Yes, I actually completed a scarf in a resonable period of time. Yes I knit a garter stitch scarf on size 13 needles; however, this was the type of scarf I was craving for at the moment. Yes, it won't keep me warm, but it looks so darn cute! I used Modea Dream and this stuff is great! It has the mohair feel without being itchy at all! I made another tiny scarf with mohair yarn and as much as I like it, it is pretty scratchy. This yarn is so freakin' soft and light. I haven't even blocked it and it is feathery soft and airy.

In other news, my amazing friend E has traded me tiger sock yarn for an exciting but yet to be named item. The important news is I have tiger yarn though! I now have new motivation to learn how to knit socks properly to use this lovely, happy yarn. Now some of you might be thinking that wool socks are silly in Florida, but let me tell you that it is chilly here. Weather.com currently says that it is 48 degrees out. My cotton socks just are cutting it anymore. I desperately need to learn how to knit wooly socks to keep my feet warm.

Must Make It to Friday

Hey kids. Guess what?! I think if I can make it to Thursday afternoon, I can knit! I am very excited about this turn of events. The past couple of weeks have been crazy with allergies and grad school stuff, but come this Thursday, the trauma is beginning to subside. ::sigh:: I want to just curl up with my knitting and some old school Jonny Quest. :)

-SAK

The Scarf

I have decided on a scarf pattern! Okay, I just decided on the yarn, but the pattern is coming to me! I have this fiesta fun fur (or something like that, it has confetti in it...hmm, maybe it is confetti fun fur...anyway) in bright blue and a cozy lighter blue in homespun. I am thinking of combining these two yarns into a yummy scarf to balance out my Harry Potter scarf wearing days. Granted, this scarf won't be 100% wool and keep me super warm, but I am willing to try it out at least. At the very least, I will be able to mix up my scarf sightings a bit. Now if I could just finish a scarf in a reasonable amount of time...

-SAK

Scarves

I have come to a startingly huge revelation. I do not have enough scarves. I know you must think I am crazy, besides the fact that I have several scarves, I dislike knitting scarves, because I get bored very quickly. Well here is the deal, in dear old Gainesville, FL, the weather can get rather chilly but not very chilly. Do you see the distinction? I have fall weather scarves and heavy winter scarves, but not enough of the in between weather scarves. My Harry Potter scarf is the only one that fits the bill. In RI, it was perfectly fine to just have one of these, because the winter weather would turn to very chilly pretty quickly, but here in Florida, not so much. Oh dear, I guess it is back to the pattern books for me! Now I just need to find a light, but not too light, heavy, but not too heavy, with no lace, and not too bulky knitting pattern to go with a yarn that goes with everything I have. Yea, the Gryffindor colors do look a bit odd with some of my outfits.

-SAK

Oh My

So, if you have sent me a comment/email in the past month, you probably haven't gotten a reply (if one was required), because with three email accounts, grad school, and a Harry Potter/Disney obsession, I haven't gotten around to reading all of my email. Tonight, I decided to look through it. Do you know what I found?! A friend of mine found Opal Tiger yarn and asked me if I wanted it. Do you understand this? Tiger sock yarn. I foolishly thought it was more important to check my UF email. Stupid. Stupid. My priorities are so messed up right now.

I have now cleaned out most of my listservs, so I can quickly review the important things in life.

-SAK

Hee Hee

So I decided to start another blog today. I must admit that the new blogger really makes editing your template soooo much easier than before. Yes, there are some things that are easier when working with HTML; however, this new blog was set up in minutes and not hours like this one!

I have decided to create a Walt Disney World blog. Hopefully, the Mouse's lawyers won't shut me down. :) I had to create it, once I came up with the best name ever. Check it out here!

-SAK

Everything Good in the World & Allergies

Hey everyone,

This is a very exciting post, because it has pictures! Hurrah! Granted, the pictures aren't related to current knitting projects, but the pictures are knitting related! The first one is my "finished" Glaistig. I was supposed to knit a band, but I got bored, so I used a sparkly ribbon instead. Everyone has complimented it, but I feel it is a bit strange, but I think I carry it off well. :) The only problem I have with the hat is that it is either too short or I knit it too tightly, because it tends to ride up and create a bit of a point on the top of my head. I also keep my hair in a bun and have large earphones, which might be causing part of the dilemma as well. The second picture is of the wonderful $1.50 balls of yarn! Remember I told you about my amazing deal! All of that yarn for $12 (plus tax)! No dinky balls of yarn for me (3oz each)! No siree!

In other news, Gainesville is not the place for allergies. For the past week, I have been out of commission. My doctor suggested I switch allergy meds, and, boy, was that a bad idea, because I literally spent the entire weekend in bed. The stuff zonked me out, so alas I am back on my old stuff that doesn't work as well, but at least I am awake. Oh! Another amusing story is that this is the first time that I bought sudafed since it went behind the pharmacist's counter (people use it to make crystal meth and whatnot). I sounded like the most suspicious person! I am sure I am now on all sorts of FBI lists. Here are just some of the perfectly reasonable yet highly suspicious questions I asked the pharmacist, (while the guy is typing my info into the computer) "So is my information in all of the Walmarts in the area or do you need to insert my information into each Walmart individually?" and my favorite, "How often can I come back and buy more sudafed?" My friend told me it would have been worse if I had been buying other crystal meth ingredients, so I guess the potato chips and socks were a good cover. :) BTW, I am really curious to see what google searches pop up for this blog now!

In far more entertaining news, I am going back to Disney World in March. I have decided the only thing that is going to keep me sane in grad school is a trip to the happiest place on earth as often as I can. In January I went with my friend K who was a Disney virgin; the trip was great since I got to see him experience the "magic." This time I am going with my parents who are old school Disney folks, so the experience will be entirely different. I know there are people out there who think it is totally commercialistic and expensive, and I totally agree, but even during the few bad experiences I have had at Disney, I never feel more relaxed or happier than when I am there. Life just seems so full of possibilities there. I just love watching the parades, fireworks, and the little kids meeting their favorite characters for the first time and really believing that they are meeting Mickey, Minnie, and Donald. Dreams can come true! Yes, I am already planning on writing my Master's at Epcot, probably at a cafe in "France."

BTW, did you see my wonderful Harry Potter clock? Yea! The excitement! I cannot even begin to contain it. Oh my! I need to start rereading the first six books!

-SAK

Yea!

This isn't knitting related, but I need to announce it anway.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is coming out July 21st, 2007!

Hurrah!

-SAK

The Name Is Smith, Mrs. Smith

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posting, but nothing really entertaining has been happening here in Gainesville. Oh! What am I talking about!? I got 10.5 16" circular needles at Jo-Ann's. For some reason the store had about five sizes of 16" circular needles. The sizes didn't make sense either, it was sizes 9-13 or something. Oh well, I am not complaining! Now I just need to find the perfect yarn and I will start on the Swirly Top hat from The Opinionated Knitter. FYI, that isn't the real name, but I am too lazy to see what the real name is even though the book is ten feet away.

The knitting has been slow, but that is mainly because I have actually been busy with work. My Master's project has taken this weird turn and it involves thousands of excel graphs. I kid not. Thousands of graphs. I now dream of dash blue lines and dot red lines. Don't I live a wild and exciting life? :)

I think I also need to start a new project. Right now, all I have on the needles are partly done socks and scarves/shawls. I need a quick pick-me-up project like a hat or dishcloth. Did I mention the fabulous deal I got on Peaches and Cream (or Sugar and Cream, or whatever)? I got 2 for $3. Now I know you are scoffing at this price, but I haven't got to the best part yet. These were the ordinary puny sized balls of Peaches and Cream. These were the extra large ones (no...not the cones...the big sized ones)! This is especially a great deal, because the puny sized one are usually about $1.25, so this is the ultimate deal! I got 8 balls of yarn and I am pumped for dishcloths or maybe even some darling baby kimonos. Okay, I don't know anyone with a baby, but hey, it could happen and then I could be ready! I will be the only person in my cohort with hordes of baby kimonos in her closet.

Oh, I must relate this amusing story. So I got my Brown Alumni Magazine (or BAM! as Emeril would call it) in the mail the other day, in the class updates was an update I made. This wouldn't normally be amusing; HOWEVER, there was a typo in it! Not a spelling error or a grammatical error, which would have just been embarrassing, but a mistake in my name! The editors must have felt that I should have gotten married by the tender age of 25, and after my lovely last name is another last name. Instead of Silver Arrow, there was Silver Arrow "Smith!" I kinda wonder now if there are people I don't keep in contact with from college who think I tied the knot. There is a really big part of me who has no desire to correct the mistake. I feel like I am living this alternate life now. I am not just a single and carefree grad student, but I am now also "Mrs. Smith" married and dutiful wife. When I get bored in class, I wonder what Mrs. Smith is doing. Is she having trouble balancing school and married life? Will she get pregnant and have to take time off of school? Only BAM! knows what will happen to her!

-SAK

Cotton Ease Countdown

So I was at Michael's the other day and I noticed that they don't have Lion Brand Cotton Ease yet. I was going to ask one of the employees when they would be getting the yarn, but I figured that they wouldn't know. It made me kinda sad that people weren't having Cotton Ease new release parties like many people will be having for the seventh Harry Potter book. I realized that I even fell into this group. I know that I will be waiting in line at midnight of whatever the release date for the final Harry Potter book, but I am in no hurry to order Cotton Ease off a website. I am perfectly content to wait until my local Michael's (not my LYS, mind you) gets this fabulous product in stock. It made me realize that as much as I love knitting, I am not as hardcore as (just as an example really) my Harry Potter obsession. I have to wonder if there are people out there, the more hardcore fiber lovers, counting down to new and exciting yarn lines. To be honest, I wish I was a bit more of a hardcore fiber love, but at the same time, I know that if I was I would be constantly sad that I couldn't afford the good stuff. Oh well, at least there are only seven Harry Potter books. :-/

-SAK

Epcot

Hey! So I am going to be a bit busy for the next couple of days, so I thought I would tell you about some of my adventures one at a time. The best knitting related one is the following...

When I went to Epcot, I made sure to ride the "Tricky Troll Ride" in Norway. The ride has a real name, but that is what my family calls it. Anyway, after the ride, I was ceremonially dumped in the Norway store. When I was browsing the store, I found Dale of Norway knitting kits! They were a bit on the expensive side, since all I really wanted to buy was the yarn and I can get that separately. I also found in the store Dale of Norway knitted goods! I didn't know that Dale of Norway actually made knitted goods! I thought the company just sold yarn. There were beautiful hats and sweaters. They too were expensive but worth every penny. I really wanted to buy one of the hats, but I couldn't justify the price since the hats were pretty heavy for Florida winters. I was going to take a picture, but I figured, the "cast members" wouldn't appreciate my phototaking in the store.

-SAK

Wow

Hey everyone,

This is just a quick post to say that I am back from Disney World and it was the most amazing vacation I have been on ever! I am not sure if it was the actual vacation or the extreme need for a vacation from grad school life that made me feel so refreshed, but either way I am not complaining about the utter euphoria I am feeling now. I have a couple of pics and lots of stories to tell, but for now I must sleep.

Happy January!

-SAK

Cotton Ease Is Back!

I just got an email from Lion Brand. Cotton Ease is back! Let the true Floridian knitting begin!