Resolutions for the New Year

I really should make some resolutions because, although this year has been pretty good and I'm not all that disappointed in my lazy arse ;-), there are improvements to be made.

1. CRAFT MORE. Like, srsly, I should really spend far less time on LJ/craftster/Ravelry/Neopets/etc and more time actually doing something.
2. I want to post here at least twice a week. I'll need to keep up on #1 so I have stuff to post! I love it when goals work together.
3. Keep my yarn buying down. I did well last year with my no-yarn-for-a-year thing. I only bought enough for two projects (one of which is about 1/2 done) and only a couple skiens of sock yarn. Oh, and stuff for projects for other people, but that doesn't count. I have plans for a particular yarn acquisition shortly after the beginning of the year to reward myself, but after that I think I shall follow these rules:
*Before I buy any new yarn, I need to finish a project with yarn that is at least a year old
*STOP BUYING SOCK YARN at least until I finish a couple pairs of socks.
*Finish one of the complicated projects before any major yarn acquisitions (that is, before I go out and buy enough for a sweater/stole/something else large).

I think I can do this. Not quite as restrictive as last year, but now I have rewards for meeting some of my goals. Let's see if I can stick to it!

One more Christmas knit plus an extra pic of my fair isle vest

So, my mom FINALLY decided to put on the vest I made and pose for a picture with me:

(she's not usually that squinty, but apparently both pics that were taken ended up the same)

So, I guess I should give you some info on this
Pattern: Tori from Magknits
Yarn: Swish DK from Knitpicks.com 7 skiens
needles: US 4
Notes: knit in the round, and used only one type of yarn. Cast on for the ribbing first and just continued up for the body. Didn't see any point in picking up for the ribbing at the bottom as I was knitting it all in one yarn. Other than that, I followed the pattern pretty closely.

My aunt Sandy finally emailed my dad and my dad finally emailed me the pics from Thanksgiving and here's a much better picture of me in my vest:


If anyone asks, that's sparkling cider in that wine glass, mmk? Not quite 21 yet (a week and a half!!)

I need to snap some pics of the yarn my dad got me for xmas. It's gorgeous and squishy. Oh, and I need to block the scarf for my aunt Sally. I need to get off my bum and do some work!

I have been knitting, I promise

It's just all been Christmas-related for my family, who tend to be a bit camera-shy. I did manage to get a couple shots of my bro wearing his new fingerless gloves:



(eating Jelly Bellys, yay for way too much sugary stuff)

yarn: Knitpicks essential in ash and pine, leftovers from his socks
pattern: Kat's Paws by ScarlettKnits, though not exactly. Modded as it pleased me.
needles: US 1 DPNs

I also finished the vest for my mom in time (two days before Christmas! I did it!) but she hasn't put it on long enough for me to take a picture. I'll make her put it on soon, though.

Seeing as Christmas just passed I should mention all the awesome things I got. Handspun yarn from my aunt in blue and green (I WILL take pictures and post here, but maybe later) and some Opal sock yarn, which is already on the needles to possibly become knee-highs, though I'm not 100% sure I have enough yarn. We shall see. I also got a HUGE spice rack that I'm incredibly excited for. Also, a new paring knife and a sharpener, so I can now sharpen my favorite chopping knife. I also got a ton of food in the form of a giant bag of rice and a box of granola bits. Yum. I'm supposed to get one more gift from my cousin Jessica, but apparently it was forgotten and still at her house. I'm not incredibly concerned, but everyone else thought it was a tragedy. At least I have some fodder to make fun of her for a while?

I also just finished a scarf for my aunt but it requires some intense blockage. I may get it to her today so she can block it, and the only pictures I will have will be pre-blockage, if not it will be taken to my apartment and blocked and multiple pictures will be taken and posted all up in here. I have a feeling she'd rather have me block it, seeing as she paid me a bunch for it and it's already late another week won't hurt.

In the next couple days I'll be posting my new years resolutions. I've been working them out in my head, figuring out what I really need to be doing this year. I'm sure it will be fascinating.

Productive weekend

I baked pumpkin cookies:

This pile got bigger, then got smaller pretty rapidly. These are quite yummy!

I used a recipe on Vegweb, Who Knew It Was Vegan Pumpkin Cookies. I'm not a vegan nor do I think I will ever be, but my roommate is and I wanted to try out a vegan recipe. I know I can bake normally, do my skills stand up to the Vegan test? Well, if these cookies are any indication, I would say so.

I also finished a cardigan yesterday. The one I started last week, with a deadline of today to send out tomorrow. I am insane, yes, but I have mad skillz, ya know, and pulled through:



obligatory taking-a-picture-of-myself boob-shot.

Did I mention last week was finals week? Yeah, uhm, multi-tasking and not sleeping are hobbies of mine.

The specs
Pattern: Cropped Cardigan With Leaf Ties on Knitty.com and in Fitted Knits by Stephanie Japel
yarn: Dark Horse Fantasy, 50/50 Acrylic/Nylon. Colors 22/Brown and 33/Pink. Softest stuff ever. Feels like butter.
Needles: US 7's, same as pattern. My size 7 circs are horrid, I need new ones.
Mods: Knitted the sleeves in the round, not quite sure why Glampyre always writes her patterns for knitted flat sleeves. Other than that, nothing really.

I'm a bad swap partner

So I received my package from my Ravelry Scarf Swap partner AGES ago, and I took pictures right away but I didn't post them! Shame on me! My partner was Bowcolors, and she spoiled me ROTTON. I should show off all the lovely things I received:


Everything together


First of THREE scarves she sent me. Three! This one is soooo squishy I LURVES it.


The second scarf, zig-zag crochet. Very pretty colors. So fun!


Third scarf. Very classy and sophisticated!

The boxes they came in. So cute!

Extra yarn. Yay!

LOVE these notepads. So cute!

Candy (Looooooong gone! Yummy!)

pretty mug + yummy tea + fancy potholders = happy Tina. Srsly, those potholders are amazing, they have a slit in the back so you can use them to pick stuff up.

So that's everything. It seems when I don't have time to do anything is when I do everything. Next week is finals week, and I need to study like crazy. But what do I do? Post on my blog, and then start a cardigan for my cousin that needs to be finished in, oh, like a week. I also went and took pics of some of my WIPs. That list has changed since the last time I posted it here. Perhaps a new one is in order? Progress report? Tomorrow, perhaps. Sleep tonight.

Old UFO finally becomes an FO

So, I started this silly thing last September and I finally finished this on Thanksgiving so I could wear it to see family. I didn't bring my camera to my parent's home with me, however. I brought home my camera cord and extra batteries for it, but the camera didn't quite make it into the bag (when I got back to my apartment I saw my camera sitting right next to where my bag was while packing. *sigh*)

But I finally felt motivated enough to put this thing back on and take pics:





Here's the specs:
Pattern: Fair-Isle U-neck pullover in VK Fall '06
Yarn: hand spun from my aunt Kathy. She raises sheep and spins yarn with the wool and dyes it with natural dyes. The dyes used for these colors were cochineal, madder root, indigo, and log wood, with some natural black sheep in there. This yarn has lots of lanolin in it (esp the black sheep, it's sticky which is why there isn't much of it in the sweater) which makes it super warm. It's also relatively waterproof, but that's not all that important in a vest.
Needles: US 5s for the body and 4s for the ribbing. Same as in the pattern.
Mods: I did it in the round (only someone crazy would knit this flat, the loose ends! Oh my the loose ends!) and I left off the sleeves and just picked up stitches and matched the collar. I also ended up with fewer stitches for the neckline than specified, but it doesn't seem to have mattered much. Everything else is pretty much the same.

I got SO many compliments on this at thanksgiving, mostly cause I was seeing all my aunts who are friends with Kathy (who's not so much my aunt as my dad's cousin but I call her aunt anyways). Yay for finally finishing things! I'm also blocking a scarf right now but it's for a swap so I can't show it off just yet, but I promise I will!

It is official, I am a Capricorn. Totally and utterly.

Lets101 - Free Online Dating

I promise I will make a real post soon. I have been knitting and am getting close to finishing the colorwork vest. I also need to take pics of an FO from a few weeks ago. There is something more interesting to come!

Because I had to

What Stone Are You?

Hematite
Take this quiz!








Quizilla |
Join

| Make A Quiz | More Quizzes | Grab Code

I don't think I've advertised it here much, but I have a mild obsession with gem stones. The funny thing is, I rarely use hematite. Maybe I should start?

Updating my Etsy, finally

So, it occurred to me that my Etsy has been criminally neglected. If it were a child, a social worker would have taken it away from me long ago. I WILL do better! As a start, here are the new things I put up:


(I love that owl so so much)





Yay napkin rings. This idea has been on the back burner since, oh, last thanksgiving. I'm glad I have at least one set made. Hopefully in my extra time this next week I'll get even more done.

I have more to put up but I'm a bit sick of putting up with my internet connection being fussy with etsy. I also went back and edited a bunch of items and MAN do I not want to keep doing that.

Back from a Pagan weekend

So, I went to Hekate's Sickle this weekend put on by the ATC. The ATC is the Aquarian Tabernacle Church, one of the biggest if not the biggest Wiccan church in North America. They put on festivals twice a year, Spring Mysteries around Easter/Ostara and Hekate's Sickle around Halloween/Samhain. They also do rituals every two weeks for full moon and new moon. There are some amazing people involved in this church, including a good friend of mine. So many people have dedicated their lives to this church, and it's so awe inspiring and makes me want to dedicate my own life to the church.

Anyways, Sickle. A Celtic death festival. I cried like a baby. I lusted after Gods. I was scared out of my wits. I was hit by the cosmic Clue-by-four. I was amazed. I was exhausted. I loved it all. I'm still recuperating. It doesn't feel right being back in the real world yet. I want to go back.

I did get knitting done this weekend. Finished a scarf for a swap, it's not sent off yet so I can't post it. I need to finish one of the big projects I'm working on soon. I feel I have stagnated because I never sit down and knit anymore, it's all on the go so I do easy projects and none of the complex stuff, all the lace and color work and sweaters, never get worked on! I must be true to myself and the responsibilities I have undertaken for myself and should finish some of these things soon. I feel like I'm letting myself down again and again when I look at my WIPs sitting around my room. This owning up to my responsibilities thing came from Sickle and I need to get off my ass and do what's right for myself, 'cause it's actually creating anxiety leaving things unfinished.

I'm also currently looking for a job to live up to the promises I made to my father. I'm finishing my ISP (independent study project) to live up to the promises I made to adviser and more importantly myself. I'm inviting my brother up this weekend to treat others like I would like to be treated, giving him a warm place to sleep and treating him as a guest. In short, I am living up to my responsibilities, or at least trying to and making myself feel bad enough about failing to get my ass in motion (though not bad enough to make myself depressed).

Was this long enough? Hopefully someone will load pics from Sickle soon so I can steal them and post them here. And hopefully I fulfill my promises soon!

Halloween Costume + Makeup

I got to be really pretty yesterday. I was sooooo happy. And now, picspam!













That corset is the one I last posted about, but finished. Kind of. It's falling apart a bit since I did a shitty job of it. Oh well. My makeup was awesome. Just so I remember what I used:

eyes;
Loreal DeCrease plus a tiny bit of lube
Jesse's girl e/d, white on inner lid, tear duct and highlight
NYX e/s Platinum Silver on middle and outer lid and under eye
NYX e/s black in crease and outer lid
NYX Silver e/l
Mary Kay mascara

Face:
Mary Kay foundation
Smashbox blush Matrix

Lips:
Mary Kay lip pencil, raspberry
Mary Kay l/g Watermelon

Oh, and my roomie Jamie as Earth for the Samhain (aka Paganese for Halloween) ritual:





Hooray for Samhain!

Last night was also the first time anyone drank a sizable portion of the wine I'm making. It's not quite wine yet, but I took some out for the after-ritual potluck. Apparently people liked it cause that bottle is all gone. We have plenty more that we're going to leave until it is as fermented as possible.