Awesome views....

Gabe and I went camping for a couple of days last week (which might explain my absence from the blogosphere...) It was such a blast. We went on a 6-mile hike up to this place called Isabella Glacier, by the way, they're not kidding, there's a glacier up there. What really got me was everytime I looked around I'd see another, new, breathtaking view... like this one...
Or this one...
Then there was this one....
Absolutely gorgeous. I tried getting some good shots of Gabe and I, but it seems he is incabable of taking a normal picture. Case in point...

And let's not forget this little beauty...







I can't say I didn't try.


So, as far as knitting goes, I did bring something along to keep me occupied while we weren't hiking. I'm sure you're wondering why I haven't started anything out of that laceweight that I dyed and you know what? I really don't have a very good answer for that. I suppose I just felt like starting something out of my stash. I bought this yarn (Debbie Bliss, Merino DK) a long time ago on sale and it's been sitting in my stash, dying to become a sweater.

Here's a better picture of the sweater. I really think the cables are going to look good with this yarn. I've been wanting to make this sweater for awhile now. I'm sure the pattern is something like five years old. I guess better late than never right?

I felt like dyeing...

Thank you to everyone for your well wishes. I'm definitely on the mend, in fact, I was well enough to finish my socks...
Before you ask, yes, that really is my skin color. I'm almost as white as the wall behind me. I think the funniest part is, my legs have actually see quite a bit of the Colorado sun, and still they are this white (of course that may have something to do with the SPF 50 I slather on everytime I know I'll be outside for long periods... what can I say? I hate sunburns).



You can't quite see the cables from this particular picture so here's a close up on the detail of the leg. I am still in love with Koigu and I really love the pattern I made up, the only problem is variegated yarns and somewhat intricate sock patterns just don't go together well. The colors of the sock yarn completely overtake the pattern so much so that you can barely see it. I'm fine with that though. It was all an experiement anyway.

So, remember that laceweight merino yarn that Toni sent me? Well, I was feeling sort of creative this morning. Gabe's at work till 5pm, I don't have to go to work till 5pm... what's a girl to do when she has that kind of time on her hands.... Some would say knit.... others would say spin... but this particular morning I was feeling more like dyeing...

I ran out to the craft store and bought a couple different colors of Wilton food coloring. I soaked the yarn for a good half hour with a bit of vinegar.

Wouldn't you say this pink was just dying to be another color? (No pun intended there) Then I added the dyes, wrapped it up and sent it to the microwave...

After a few good zaps in there, I let it rest for a bit, then rinsed it till the water ran clear...

A bit of a side note here... whenever you're dyeing anything, be sure to think ahead and get some rubber gloves. However, if you happen to forget to get rubber gloves like a certain someone I know, never fear... soft scrub with bleach will be your best friend. I was sure that dye was not going to come off of the countertop, or my fingers for that matter, but it came out of both! Good thing too, I'm not sure if people would really appreciate a waitress with blue fingers...

Back to the fiber: The finished product is now sunning itself on the back porch...

I absolutely love how it turned out. Here's another little picture that shows the colors a bit better.

So now that I've dyed both fiber and yarn, I have to say I like dyeing the yarn better. Sure it's fun to dye fiber, but sometimes the finished product (that is, the spun yarn) does not turn out as nice as the dyed fiber. Or it just doesn't come out looking at all like you imagined it to. With yarn, it's already spun and you know what it looks like. I guess that's why I liked it better.

I can't wait to try knitting something with this... lucky for me it's quite arid here in Colorado and I don't have to wait very long for my yarn to dry!

Ugggghhh...

I was so sick this past weekend. I'm just now getting over it. I can't even remember the last time I was this sick. I know I haven't been sick yet this year. I even had to take a day off work and I never skip work! As you can imagine, no knitting has been done. You'd think that a day off work would be great and I could knit all I wanted... not so... I could barely lift my head off the couch. Ah well. I'm getting better now and should have some more interesting things to post about in the near future.

The funny thing about Colorado....

There are actually quite a few funny things about Colorado, but one of the ones that is most apparent to me is it's lack of humidity. It's definitely what you would call arid here. A couple of things I've noticed that really illustrate the dryness is my sinuses are not loving it here. The only relief they've had this entire time was the two or three days where it rained non-stop... ahhh... it felt great. It was funny because I overheard people talking about how humid it was and how sticky they felt.... they don't know sticky... Growing up in Maryland, I know what hazy, hot and humid really means.

Anyway, another demostration of arid Colorado is the lack of condensation on cold glasses. This totally threw me for a loop. I know the glass is cold because there are ice cubes in it, but everywhere else I've been, a glass with ice cubes in it is also accompanied by sweaty condensatoin on the sides of the glass. Strange I tell you.

The third, and probably most peculiar thing that really shows me how dry it is here is this....

Notice the wavy, curly hair? I have never in my life experienced curly hair. My hair is not curly. At least that was true up until I came here.

Now most people who have somewhat curly hair experience the frizz and curliness when it's extremely humid... not me. I've air dried my hair before in NY and it never looks like this. In fact, it looks rather limp and sad. But here, let it air dry and poof! Curly hair.

The only thing I can think of that would possibly do this is the lack of humidity. You see, my hair is very fine and anything can weigh it down. I figure, it dries so quickly here that the water in my hair never gets the chance to weigh it down. It evaporates within fifteen minutes of getting out of the shower. In NY, it takes a good hour for my hair to air dry.... truly, truly strange...


Oh... did you come here for knitting? That's right, I sometimes forget this is a knitting blog... so sorry...

I finished the first Koigu sock...

I am in love. I decided to make it up as I go. I put some cables in the leg and just knit until the first skein ran out. They fit great and they're so comfortable and they're just gorgeous if I do say so myself!

I've started the second which I'm sure will be done within a week. Hmmm, then what do I start? Ah, the eternal question of which project to do next... at this point... it's a mystery.

The most random posting ever....

Fortunately, almost all the randomness revolves around fiber....

First off, the frump...



Oh sure, it looks semi-decent from this view, still maybe a little bit big, but possibly something I could live with...





You really don't get the full effect until I show you a little side view action...

Ah, there it is... frumpy, frumpy, frumpy. Not even a little bit flattering on me. Oh well, you just can't win them all right? I still haven't thought of a recipient for this yet, but I promise, once Christmas rolls around I'm sure I'll be very happy it didn't end up fitting me!

Which brings me to my next totally unrelated and slightly random topic... Sushi. I am a vegetarian.... most of the time... the only exception I make is for sushi, and that's only very rarely. I'm talking once every couple months rare. And when we're talking sushi, it's probably best that I only make an exception once every several months because that stuff is expensive. So, Gabe, a couple of his friends and I went out for sushi on Wednesday. Normally, this wouldn't be something to blog about, but on this particular occasion I found something so incredibly blogworthy it isn't even funny... or maybe it is... How's this for a boat-load of sushi?



And if you're wondering, that is an actual boat of sushi. I couldn't even fit the whole thing into the picture because it was so big! We all definitly got a kick out of that. The food was excellent. I've never been so stuffed eating sushi in my life! The exception, I must say, was worth it on this occasion.



So, my next topic switch brings me to laceweight yarn. Particularly merino laceweight yarn sent to me by Toni. Bloggers are the most giving people ever! She sent it to me because I mentioned in a comment that I wanted to try the Trellis scarf from IK, but that I really didn't have much of a yarn budget! How sweet is she? Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm thinking about dyeing it a darker color, but that won't be until I actually find some time. It seems this is the busiest summer I've ever experienced and this is in no way me complaining about how busy it is, just an observation.

So, are we ready for another topic? Let's talk about how much I love Koigu... I love Koigu so much, I may never use another type of sock yarn again! Yes, my love for Koigu was brought on because I totally gave in and started a pair of socks. All my good intentions for starting Christmas presents went right out the window...

But just look at it! I swear, I am endlessly entertained by how the colors are turning out and playing off each other. It reminds me of a garden in spring when the greens are still light and new and the flowers are just starting to bloom. I've never been so poetic about a pair of socks, but apparently Koigu does this to me!

I'm making them toe-up so I can make them as long as the skein will go. I'm not wasting any of this precious stuff!

Well, folks, it's time for my last topic. Spinning. I've been spinning a little bit recently. Let me be more specific. I've been plying recently. To be honest, I was inspired by the Koigu. It's a two ply, but the spin is very tight, yet it doesn't wrap in on itself. I wanted to sort of recreate something like that. I've been working on this fiber for my friend, Bean, that she bought at Rhinebeck last year. I have to say, I'm very happy with the results.

I'm tempted to say that this is some of the best stuff I've ever spun. It's very even, and I'm just so proud of it. I still have a few ounces left to spin up. Hopefully I'll be able to do that before the summer ends. We'll see.

That's all for the random post!

Disappointment, among other things...

My week has been so busy which is why I've been somewhat absent from the blogosphere. Forgive me if I haven't commented on your blog in awhile, I'm still trying to catch up!

So, first off, the knitting. I have finished the tank I've been working on. Not without it's share of difficulties. First was the forgetting to decrease at the other end of the decrease rows. That problem was solved with some ripping... Next, however, came the part where I slowing drove myself mad simply by following the directions. I had gotten to the point in the pattern where I had to divide for the front triangles and for some reason, they just weren't looking right. In fact, they were looking pretty bad.

I ripped out my first attempt thinking I had done something wrong. My second attempt looked pretty much like the first, even after I tried adjusting some things. It was on my third attempt that it dawned on me that the problem might not have anything to do with how I was knitting it and everything to do with how the pattern was written. By the way, the internet is a glorious thing and within two minutes I was able to find on the Interweave website corrections for the very pattern I was working on. I only wish I knew it needed corrections before attempt two and three were made!

So, after that little hiccup, I went on to finish the tank. It is now blocked, sewn, and the ends woven in.... and you know what? I really hate the way it looks on me. There lies the disappointment. It's too big, (though I made the smallest size), and it just looks frumpy. I really can't stand my clothes looking frumpy. If it were to even remotely fit me, the width of the lace panels would have to be decreased as would the actual sides of the thing. I swear there's about four inches of extra fabric on both sides just hanging there... looking frumpy.

Oh well, it's destined to become a gift for someone who might better fill it out than me. Though I really don't know who yet...

Anyway, like I said, I've been busy. Gabe and I did so much yesterday alone. We went to a rock climbing gym and stayed there for a couple of hours. Basically we stayed until neither of us could grip anything anymore because our muscles were too tired. Then we came home and went swimming. Then we took a bike ride across town to eat dinner at the chinese restaurant that our roommate works at. We biked home just in time to miss the hailstorm (I can't imagine I would have liked biking through a hailstorm, call me crazy, but that sounds like it hurts) Then we stayed up 'til 1am watching a movie. To say the least, I'm pretty tired and sore today.

I haven't actually done a whole lot today, the soreness being a major factor in all that, but I have started fixing Gabe's sweater. We sized it out and it's not going to be that big a deal to fix. The only other thing I've done today was go to see the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Has anyone else seen it yet? I think it's one of those where I'm going to have to watch it again to catch everything and it seemed to me that all they were doing throughout the movie was setting up for the third one.

Anyway, this post has gone on for far to long already. I'll be sure to take a picture of the disappointment tank as soon as the batteries for my camera charge.

Lots of zoo fun!

The last few days have been fun. My fourth of July was uneventful. I kind of like it that way. Sometimes it's nice just to have some downtime. The day after the fourth, Gabe took me to the zoo. We had a great time.
These peacocks were all over the zoo, I swear they must have had at least twenty or thirthy of them! There was the baby giraffe that I fell totally in love with!There were tons of these little guys running all over the zoo, grabbing food that was more than likely thrown from strollers by little people.Gabe had his own little "wildlife encounter" with one of them. They were just starring at each other for awhile. Pretty cute if you ask me...The baby gorilla was absolutely adorable and I finally got a good picture of it! This little guy was super cute. What can I say? I just love baby animals!

So we had a pretty great time. It was fun to see all the kids get so excited about the animals. That was really great.

Now for the knitting-related content. I finally got somewhere with the front of the tank. In fact, I'm about where I need to be to start the shaping for the top.

I'm definitely glad that ripping it out didn't hinder me too badly. It's actually a pretty quick knit once I actually pulled myself away from the cross stitch for more than two seconds! In fact, I haven't touched the cross stitch too much recently. I've been tank top crazy instead! I really want to get it finished so I can wear it before the summer ends!

Oh and sometime during these past few days I went to the lys here and gave in to KPPPM...

This stuff makes me want to drool. It's so nice and I just love the color variegation. We'll see if it's going to be my next project or if it goes to the stash because I'm actually starting to think about Christmas presents already (mainly because I know that once school starts up again, I really won't have too much time to work on anything!) I may not be able to resist though... we'll see...

So much for that....

My last post showed progress on the front of the tank... now... there's negative progress. I ended up goofing up fairly consistently. The pattern called for me to decrease at each end of every 10th row five times. I've done this sort of thing countless times on many different sweaters and yet, I messed up by only decreasing at the beginning of the row. What amazed me was how many times I did that (which, by the way, was all but one... amazing) So I ripped... big time ripped. Pretty much pulled out the ball winder and ripped the whole thing apart. I did try to ladder down and fix the problem that way but it just ended up with crappy looking, loose stitches... cotton is so unforgiving.

Anyway, I'm back to where I first started messing up, which is still quite a bit farther back than I had gotten, hence the negative progress. Oh well.

As for the story about the frog. When Gabe's mom moved into her house (which was few years ago) his mom allowed one of Gabe's sisters to decorate the bathroom and she decided to decorate it all with frogs. Not those cutesy, country frogs... real frogs. They're everywhere; all over the bathroom. I decided, in my cross stitching delirium, that I wanted to stitch a frog for her for Christmas.

However, there was a problem... I searched everywhere only to find there are no cross stitch patterns for frogs, life-like or otherwise (unless I wanted those cutesy, country frogs, in which case, there was one pattern) So what did I do? I found the perfect picture of a frog... you gotta love google... and a computer program that turns pictures into cross stitch patterns. Eventually, the stitched frog will look like this...

It's back!!!!

My obsession for knitting has returned full force. I suppose going to a stitch and bitch can do that to a person! It was a lot of fun, and, as always, I felt completely welcome among fellow knitters.

The obsession has returned so much that I was able to finish the back of the tank:

Not only that, but yesterday I did nothing but work on the front until I had to go to work. I've made some pretty serious progress there too!

I'm so excited for how this is turning out. I can't wait to finish it so I can try it on!

I was telling Gabe I could have been finished at least two of these tanks if it wasn't for my other obsession with cross stitch. My obsession there is not over though. Just on hold. I didn't want to show pictures of what I'm working on until it actually started to look like what it's going to be.

I'll let everyone guess (though you probably don't even need to guess) and next time I'll tell you the story behind it and why I'm making it!

A non-fibery post.... sorry!

Last Thursday I started working again. This is partially the reason why I haven't blogged in awhile. Anyway, I started work and Thursday night I had to learn a new computer system an hour before I was going to be on the floor waiting on people.... That was a little scary going into it, but it turned out to be just fine. No problems, I even made a decent amount of money. However, having been out of work for about three weeks, my feet were not used to standing that long and my energy level was pretty low by the time I got home.

But I can tell you, these things pick up the energy level real quick when they're waiting for you when you walk in the door...

Gabe bought me flowers for my first day back at work. Is he not the sweetest? Slap me and tell me I'm an idiot if I ever think about letting him go! Flowers were the last things I was expecting when I got home. And not only were flowers waiting for me, but so was dinner! It wasn't a fancy dinner or anything, but the fact that I didn't have to go and make anything after working some long hours was definitely appreciated!

So I've pretty much been working this whole time since Thursday, except yesterday started my four day "weekend" (you gotta love that about being a waitress, short(ish) shifts, long weekends and plenty of money!). Gabe asked me if I wanted to go climbing again, so we went. This time was definitely interesting. Before I tell you the story, here's a picture, lest you disbelieve that I actually climbed up the side of a mountain!

We went to this one spot that had several climbs to it. The easier climbs were being used by some other people, so Gabe and his roommate, Chris, started on a harder climb. Once Gabe got the rope up to the top and came back down they had me try it. I could tell, sitting down at the bottom, that this climb was too hard for me. I've really only done a few climbs, my last one being the one where I fell, so I was a little wary of trying this one. Gabe and Chris assured me I could do it.

Their faith in my abilities was much stronger than my own. The first 7 or 8 feet I actually needed Gabe to pull me up on the rope, it was impossible for me. Then I managed to get up about 20 feet or so, with about 10 breaks so I could rest. I maybe got up a little farther before there was this slight overhang and I just knew I couldn't do it. The guys were trying to encourage me at the bottom, but I just knew and I was totally scared. I made them lower me down where I started crying. Isnt' that awful? It was such a strange mixture of emotions. I was crying because I was scared, I was crying because I felt like I couldn't do it, that I just wasn't cut out for it, I was crying because I felt like I had let Gabe down for some reason and I was probably crying because I was relieved that I wasn't up there anymore.

Gabe and I talked about it a little bit. I'm the type of person who needs to gradually ease into something like this. I really need to start on the easier climbs and not be challenged right away. Here I don't even know what my abilities are because I haven't climbed nearly enough to know and I'm being tested on climbs that are hard even for intermmediate climbers. It just wasn't really all that conducive to me liking climbing.

After I had calmed down a bit, the easier climb opened up and Gabe put the rope up at the top. He told me I could do it only if I wanted to and only as high as I wanted to go. That picture is from the easier climb and you know what? I actually had fun. The whole time I was whistling a tune in my head and it seemed like much more of a climb that I would enjoy. I need more like that before I can move on to the harder things. I just don't feel like challenging myself yet when I don't even know what I can and can't do.

Sorry there's no fibery-related subjects in this post, but there will be soon enough... and by fibery, mean cotton DMC floss and some cross stitch.... sigh... I'm a little hooked...

Obsession doesn't begin to describe it.

These past couple of weeks I have been, for lack of a better word, obsessed with cross stitch. I don't even know what started it. On a whim, I picked up a kit from the craft store while I was buying yarn... I don't even know what made me think to get it, but I did, and now I'm totally obsessed.

I haven't started working yet (don't get me started on how nervous that makes me in the money department... incidentally, today is my first day back and it's really only for filling out paperwork and starting on some extra training I need) so while Gabe is at work I've had to entertain myself. Usually knitting does the trick for me, but not this time. You see, with knitting, I need something else to occupy my mind while I do it and this usually involves movies or TV. Well, we don't have cable here (which I'm actually quite happy about, I can't stand commercials and it's been really nice to not have to see any!) and for some reason, I haven't felt like putting on any movies. That left me with my cross stitch.

I made be dim witted for saying this, but it totally occupies me. I just love seeing how each of the colors fits together and plays off one another to create an image. I was endlessly entertained by that.

Yesterday morning I finished all the actual cross stitches and all that was left was the detailing. I didn't think I'd like the detailing as much as I liked the stitching, but you know what? I loved it! So much so that I finished it by yesterday afternoon.
The minute I finished it I was itching to start another one. I haven't felt this way about any craft in a long time. Don't get me wrong, I still love my knitting, in fact, I worked on that tank after I finished this because my hands really needed to be doing something. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be shortening the length on that and making it less of a tunic and more of a regular old tank top, but anyway...

I was thinking I'd give this little cross stitch away for Christmas. I washed it and blocked it and all it needs now is to be stretched onto some cardboard, matted, then framed.

I'm thinking, I'm going to be heading down to the craft store before work to see what else I can find.... oh... it's evil...

A post with some substance.

Finally I get to update you on what's been happening these past few days...ok, more than a few days... Well, the minute I picked Gabe up from the airport he and I were running around like crazy people. There were a million things to do and only three days to do them in. First of all, we had to visit with his mom, then we had to drive about an hour to visit with one of his sisters, then drive two and a half hours to get to my apartment, then drive another two and a half hours to get to where my old roommate's wedding was taking place, then drive back to my apartment, then pack up the car, then drive the two and a half hours again to visit his dad. Oh, and did I mention that somewhere in all of that I had to take my car into the shop to not only get the oil changed for the road trip, but also get an inspection and, on top of that, the AC stopped working so I had to get that fixed too...you just gotta love the timing. Like I said, I had three days to do all of this... It was, to say the least, hectic.

The wedding was fabulous. I had so much fun catching up with all my friends from college. Not to mention it was nice to finally introduce them to Gabe. Here are a couple of pictures from that.

Here's one of the bride and I. She was gorgeous, as all brides are. It was definitely a fabulous dress and I wish I'd taken a picture of the back of it because the details were just amazing.

I knew right away that the wedding was going to be fun because the bride walked in to disney music playing where Goofey would intermittently laugh throughout it. Not to mention, the several whistles bordering on cat calls that were thrown her way as she was walking in... yeah, it was going to be that kind of wedding.

This is one of my roommates and I. I can tell you, I probably have about a million pictures just like this one of the four of us at various parties, graduation, in the dorm, at other weddings, etc. It's pretty much our standard pose!

And of course, there's the obligatory picture of Gabe and I. It took some major effort on my part, but I finally convinced him to dance with me. He's not much of a dancer, so he really needed some encouragement! It's a good thing I got him to finally dance when I did because it ended up being the last song of the evening!

After the wedding there was still so much left to do before we could finally take off for Colorado. I swear it was the most hectic thing trying to do so much in so short a time, but really, it didn't matter, because Gabe was finally there and that made just about everything alright.

By the way, somewhere in there, I did end up giving Gabe his sweater. He loves it. The only problem is there are a few things I need to tweak on it. The neck is a bit snug so I need to redo that. Also, the arms a little short and a little to tight for how he likes them, so I'm going to fix those too. So it turns out that it's a good thing I didn't wait to give it to him because then I wouldn't be able to fix it.

So, let me tell you about the drive.... It was long. Other than that, nothing to spectacular or eventful happened. I didn't take any pictures because, let's face it, Kansas has a whole lot of nothing to it. Not to mention, we didn't really want to stop for anything. We managed to make it here in about 26 hours. We did stop at a rest stop and slept for a few hours but actual driving time was 26. I don't think I've ever been more happy to get out of a car in my life.

So what have I been doing since I got here? Well, I've been trying to get back to work but it seems to be taking more time that I thought it would. Gabe has taken me hiking and rock climbing already. Rock climbing is....unique. I'm not too bad at it, but I still don't know a lot of technique and that's kind of frustrating. During one of the climbs I actually fell. It wasn't more than a few feet before the rope caught me, but I banged into the side of the rock pretty good. I have bruises all over my legs and muscles I didn't even know existed hurt, but to be honest, I've never felt better. I was so proud of myself that I actually got back up there after falling. Part of me wanted to say, screw it, I'm done, that's enough of a scare for me, but I didn't and that was a really nice thing.

Here's a couple of pictures from one of the places we climbed.

This is one of Gabe. He makes it look so darn easy. And from the bottom, it really doesn't look so hard and it really doesn't look so high. I can tell you, from the bottom, everything is deceiving. That large looking rock that Gabe's standing on with his right foot is actually not as large, or as easy to stand on as it looks. When I got up to that spot I was having major difficulties.

What I find funny about rock climbing is it's really easy to psych yourself out. You stand in one spot too long trying to decide the best way to tackle the next couple of moves and you may find yourself convincing yourself you can't do it. But when you finally do, it definitely makes you feel great.

This is one of the crazier sections Gabe tried.
He's been doing this for a long time, so sheer rock faces with just a few cracks to climb up apparently seem like fun to him. For me... not so much.

I have no idea when we're going again just because it seems like this weekend is already going to be a little bit full. A couple of Gabe's friends who used to live here will be in town and he mentioned something about wanting to take me to the zoo. I suppose we'll see.

As for knitting. If you can believe it, I haven't been doing all that much. I did start that lace panel tank top out of the Spring IK. I haven't gotten very far, but I'm happy with the results at this point. This picture makes the purple look a lot lighter than it actually is.

So what do you think? Is this post long enough? I'd say it is so I'm going stop there. But now that I'm back to having internet, I'll definitely be posting more of my adventures here in CO.

I'M HERE!!!!

And I'm alive. Sorry I haven't posted but Gabe's new apartment didn't get internet until this morning! I still won't be able to post pictures until the wireless router is up and running so be patient with me.

As for now, all I can say is that I love it here and I'll probably never want to leave.

Hopefully I'll be able to post pictures tonight or tomorrow, until then I'll be trying to catch up on my bloglines...... all 315 of them....

I've been seduced by the dark side... of crafting that is

I've been a busy girl! Hard to believe now that school has ended, but I've still been busy. I suppose the difference is I've been busy with fun things. Like finishing up this:

Can you believe it? I've finished Gabe's sweater before he will even be here (another 3 days!!!!) Now I have a bit of a conundrum.... when do I give it to him? His birthday was in February and I'm not sure if I can wait until Christmas. I was thinking I'd bring it along with me to Colorado and give it to him right before I leave, but I really don't know. Any suggestions?

Some other things I've been busy with are working and going to the park. I love going to the park. Now that the weather is nice it's so refreshing to get outside. The other day my roommate and I took her turtle to the park and let him run free for a little while. His name is Pewee and he's super cute. Especially when he gets going. We've all heard turtles are slow, but not him. When he wants to he can really book it!

I have to admit something. I've been busy with something else too. I have been seduced by another craft. I know... I should have started another knitting project when I was finished with Gabe's sweater.... I even bought the yarn to start it.... but while I was at the craft store... well... I happened to walk into another aisle and... well.... I haven't put this down since...
I haven't done cross-stitch in so long and I can't even tell you what made me want to do it again. I suppose maybe the fact that I'm going to be in the car for close to 24 hours might have something to do with it. A girl needs a bit of variety, you know!

I'm sure there will be knitting in my future, but as for now, I just can't get enough of the cross-stitch.

So there are three days until Gabe gets here. Once he does get here, it's going to be crazy busy until I get to CO. I may not get a chance to blog in between. I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything. What I can guarantee is that I'll have some awesome pictures to show you once I do finally get a chance to blog!

I suppose that's it for now. If anyone has any suggestions as to when I should give him his sweater, I'd love to hear them!

So I was tagged...

By Satori. Usually I'm not one to do these things, but I'm bored. Like I said earlier, two days off with nothing to do. Sooooo......

The idea was to show off your favorite coffee (though in my case, tea) mug and tell us why it's your favorite. So here it is. My favorite mug. I bought it while I was in Wales...at a castle no less. It was hand made and hand painted and you know how much we crafters love things like that!

I guess what I like about it most are the colors and the hint of celtic design in them. I'm Irish, I love all things celtic... it's in the genes. If I were to ever get a tattoo (which would require me to get over my fear of needles) I would get a celtic design as a tattoo.

Even the handle of this mug is detailed. I have another mug from the same place. Instead of green and purple it's green and blue and instead of a swirly thing on the front it has a Welsh dragon. I love that mug too.

I love the shape of the mug and I love that it's unique.

So there you have it folks, my favorite mug. Anyone else who wants to give it a try, be my guest!

Patience is a virtue...

And mine is severely lacking. I know it must come as a shock... (on what planet, I don't know) that it is becoming harder and harder for me to wait for my exciting summer to begin. There are, officially, 8 more days that I have to wait. My patience is almost non-existent.

It has helped that these past few days I've been busy working long hours. It not only helps with the passing of time but it also helps my checkbook. I can tell summer is coming with how busy I've been at work. I didn't even have time to think. Unfortunately (but also fortunately) I have the next two days off. I had today off as well and I am going slightly out of my mind. Better to be busy when you have to wait for something than to have nowhere in particular you have to be and nothing in particular you have to be doing.

Though today I've worked non-stop on Gabe's sweater. I'm nearly finished the second sleeve. I'll spare you a picture because, let's face it, it looks just like the first sleeve. Hopefully I'll get that all finished up so I can start something else. Something that's a little more exciting than stockinette!

I wish I had more exciting things to post about... unfortunately for me, there's just waiting...

What a way to start the summer "right"....

And by "right" I mean start a kitchen fire... Don't even ask. I went to put on the kettle for some tea. Everything was going just fine. I stepped out of the kitchen for literally a minute and I heard the water boiling. It occured to me that it usually doesn't boil that quickly... how right I was... I go back into the kitchen to find my tea kettle surrounded by flames! What the hell!!! Turns out earlier on, something had boiled over into the resevoir underneath the burner and whatever it was caught on fire. I put it out just fine, but let me tell you, it's hard to even think what to do when something like that happens. Luckily nothing was damaged, not even the kettle, so I was lucky. A little freaked out maybe, but no worse for wear!

The semester is over, all of my finals are finished (by the way, I got A's on all of them! So much for studying.. I think I'm not going to study much anymore if I can still get A's without studying!) I only have to wait 12 more days to see Gabe! That also means 12 more days to finish his sweater. I'm so close too. Look how far I am on the first sleeve:

It shouldn't take me too long to finish that up and start the other one. I only see one thing that might interfere with that. It seems I've rediscovered my love for video games. It has been quite awhile since I've had the time to play any of my games (we're talking maybe a year or more) and now that school's over and I only have work, I've found myself with a lot of extra time on my hands. Time I thought I'd use knitting, but the games are just so tempting. Well, I'll just have to balance the two and get this sweater finished. That's my goal.

Oh, by the way, some of you asked if I'd still be able to blog while I'm out in CO. Absolutely! I think I might go insane without the internet! I think Gabe would too, so not to worry. I will be blogging all about my adventures in CO!

Two down, one to go...

That's right, two finals finished. In fact, they were the two I was "worried" about (I say "worried" because they were the important ones... I wasn't really worried at all.) To my surprise, I think I did quite well on them. I'm surprise because sometime on Saturday when I was supposed to be studying I decided to screw it and not study at all. So I didn't. My motivation for studying was at about zero so I didn't try to fight it!

I bet you can guess what I did instead of studying... If you guessed knit then you'd be correct! In fact, I knit so much my wrist started hurting. That bummed me out because I was on a roll! I'll post pictures soon, but for now, I have to get ready for work!

Woot Woot!!!

HUGEST SIGH OF RELIEF! My classes are finished! I still have three finals left, but I am not worried about those. I'll spend my weekend studying and then, by Tuesday afternoon of next week, I will officially be finished with school this year!

I went down to my parent's house on Weds. because I had to do go shopping for a dress for the wedding (the dress selection up here just didn't do it for me). I spent almost all of Wednesday morning at the mall... this is definitely something I did not enjoy. I really, really, really dislike the mall and shopping in general (unless it's for yarn). It's just not my thing. After a ton of searching, I finally found a dress I could live with. It's basically a little black dress, a-line, strapless, with eyelets. Very cute. I'll be sure to post some pictures of it once the wedding comes around.

As for the rest of the time spent at the parents house, I basically vegged. I did spend some time outside and took some really beautiful pictures, hence the flower pictures. I'm quite sure spring is here now.

Nothing makes me happier than the sun shining and the flowers blooming!

I also found some time to work on Gabe's sweater. In fact, I'm more than half-way finished the front. I have a feeling this sweater is going to be finished before he even gets here (which, by the way, is in another 19 days!!!!).

Well, now is as good a time as any to start studying so I'd best get to it! Wish me luck!