vacation extension

After getting news that my boss has decided to cut the entire payroll in order to save money (meaning I am now in the ranks of the unemployed) my 4 day stay in Orlando has turned into nearly 2 weeks. I'm still here.

I'm working on a cute baby garment called Boheme for my old roommate's sister's daughter (her niece and goddaughter to be exact) that was born about a month ago. The mother requested teal, and I though the leftover Lions Brand Homespun would look pretty with its variegation and whatnot. Making it in a 12 month size, because according to my roommate the baby is HUGE and it'll be a nice fall/winter garment for her.

Once I get back to Jax it'll only be a few days before my mother and I take off for our trip up north, so maybe I'll do some knitting then and give updates. I'd update with pictures, but I remembered the camera and forgot the camera cord. Ah well.

Firedance

Pattern: Firedance, my newest design

Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Merino 5 Print in colorway 9798

Needles: US size 7 DPNs

Just something I made because I only had one skein of this yarn that I bought at a yarn store in Traverse City, MI last summer during my visit-a-ton-of-LYS episode. This may occur again this year... and by occur I mean I'll visit the stores and can't promise any purchases due to financial restraints.

I wanted a design that had blank space to show off the colorway and yummy feel of the yarn, but I didn't want all stockinette. So I just started knitting, took notes as I went along... and there we are.

I'm sure the construction could have been a lot more planned on, but this was an on-the-whim hat that'll take no time at all to make.



Because we all wear tank tops with wool beanies...




I also finished Yosemite today, buttons, sleeves and all. Don't have the time/energy to take pictures tonight, I've got work all day tomorrow, and will be helping my mother coordinate National Sundae Sunday in the morning then driving to Orlando right after to see my baby... oh, and my boyfriend.

So pictures shall come next week.

Talia Vest

Pattern:Talia Vest by SweaterBabe

Yarn: 1.5 skeins of Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn! in colorway #60 Aubergine


Needles: Used a US size 6 needle instead of 8... 8 would've been huge, even though I swear I checked gauge twice before I started (and bothering to check it at all is quite worth bragging about for me).

It might be a little snug -- maybe I should have used 7s -- but it still fits fine other than a little bit of curving of the button band. And because the bottom hemline is scalloped due to the lace, the curving button band kind of almost fits with it.

Overall, I'm pleased. I think I'll actually wear this, imagine that.



No, you don't see the edge of a doorknob in this picture. You just see how the body is shaped and the overall look of it.



I adore these buttons. I just got them at Joann's, 90 cents for two. I think they work well with the vest, but have enough detail to be more than just plain buttons.

knitting hiatus

I started working on a simple hat design last week... and started is as far as I got. I can't manage to go buy buttons for Talia or Yosemite, or finish Yosemite's sleeve even though it sits on the floor in the living room and would be oh-so-convenient to do while watching TV or a movie.

What's funny is that in my mind I really want to knit, but I just don't bother picking up the pieces.

BUT! Tomorrow I have to get out of the house early for an appointment, and afterward I swear I will pick out buttons and possibly some yarn to make another beanie that I started in wool, but in Florida that's never a good idea.

So before I go to work Friday and Saturday and leave for Orlando Sunday (it seems every entry here mentions me leaving... I promise there are plenty of weeks where I'm stuck at home) I will have something to show to the knitting world.

This and that

Been a bit busy lately. Finished Cultural Anthropology for Summer A, this week started Magic, Ritual & Belief for Summer B. It looks to be a much better -- and possibly more challenging simply because it's actually involved -- class than Cultural Anthropology was.

Blocked Talia and it grew enough to my liking. Still need buttons for it.

Yosemite needs a sleeve and buttons to be finished.

Visited Orlando for a few days and got to see Alex and my baby.

Just so you know my puppy isn't always a dopey couch potato:






Been on a strange Harry Potter kick lately. Re-read the sixth book, am a few chapters away from finishing the seventh. The only two that I haven't read upwards of a dozen times.

Hopefully this coming week I will be a bit more knitty and a bit less busy otherwise.

One skein down

I bought two skeins (446 yards a piece) of the Snuggly Wuggly for Yosemite, knowing that I always have a tendency of finishing pieces with significantly less yardage than listed.

Still, I felt that 70 yards short of the minimum required plus the fact that I was considering 3/4 sleeves might require a third skein.

I was prepared to return to Michael's to buy the third. I even held onto my 50% of coupon and planned to go back before it expires this Saturday.

But I did not know that I would make it this far with only one skein:



Note that there is even a small mess of yarn left from that one skein after working the entire body and the left front. It may, in fact, be enough to knit the right front.

Which I guess means with the second skein, even after I finish I can make some sort of hat. And save $2 and gas money.

Back on track

Last night I decided I was going to finish the projects I had on the needles. Finished the neckline edging of Talia, going to block in a bit. Not really sure how to block acrylic, but I suppose I'll give it a google.

Went to Michael's with my mother today and glanced down the yarn aisle. Found exactly what I wanted for Yosemite. After searching several LYS and online, I found it in Michael's.

Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly is only $3.99 for a skein of 446 yards. And because it's a baby sport yarn, it's soft and manages to almost perfectly catch the extremely complicated gauge of Yosemite. You have no idea how many yarns I've pulled out of the stash to try to gauge this thing.

I got this pretty green, kind of an understated version of the color as the pattern is more of a everyday type feel to it rather than HEY LOOK I'M KNITTED AND BRIGHT.



I like the stitch definition this yarn gives. It's halfway between subtle and firm.



For those of you keeping track of my life on the financial front, thanks for commenting and showing that you care. It means the world to me. Alex and I will be fine, we're both out scrounging for jobs and he's filing for financial aid and looking around for scholarships and grants and loans to go back to school for nursing.

Hope all you guys are doing okay on the financial front. This whole ordeal has definitely made me look at the broader picture of just how many people are unemployed and in trouble at any given point.

Right back down the drain

Alex's job told him they don't actually need him until next month. So he is, essentially, screwed.

My job decided to cut back my hours. I'll be lucky now if I get 16 hours a week. And no one wants to hire me because I'll be starting up school again at the end of August, so I won't be around long enough to make hiring me worthwhile.

Out of desperation, I just applied to be an ice cream truck driver. No lie.




If desperation wasn't so hard, it'd almost be funny.

Lack of yarn inspiration

I've got no new knitting. I keep making an effort to find yarn for Yosemite, but I fall short every time. I've ventured into two different LYS in the Orlando area while visiting this weekend -- even dragging along Alex and a friend V, both of whom I have discovered are not a very good yarn shoppers -- I've perused online selections.

I think my major thing going right now is that I utterly refuse to spend a lot of money on yarn. After surviving a year on scholarship money and seeing how desperate things can get, I am disgusted by project after project on Ravelry that requires ridiculous yardage of fine yarns.

I suppose I understand treating one's self every once in awhile. And I admit that when I went to the LYS to buy for my first real sweater, I bought over $100 of yarn for just that one sweater. And that sweater ended up a mess, mind you.


My Talia Vest (which, yes, still needs a neckline edging and buttons and blocking) used one full skein and MAYBE 1/6 of a second skein of Hobby Lobby's I Love This Yarn. That's $2.79 for 355 yards.

My Cherie Amour used 1 1/2 skeins of Lion Brand's Homespun, and I felt like I splurged laying down $5.49 per skein there.

But no matter what discount bin I look in, I still feel like it's the biggest rip off in the world to pay $7 for a skein "on sale" that only has 70 yards. I mean, really? Do you realize you're paying 10 cents a yard?

I guess I'm just disappointed that a craft that was supposed to be so economical and handy "back in the day" has become a rich hobby.


So if any of you have any suggestions for:

a) a place online (or in the Orlando/Jacksonville areas) that is genuinely cheap on yarn that isn't Red Heart -- no offense Red Heart, you just aren't meant for wearing near my skin.

b) a "cheap" yarn you've used that you really like that is sold in chain stores or

c) where I can find designers and free designs that utilize economical yarn options


please let me know...

Almost there

Alex got a job. Hurrah. Financial analysis assistant or something along those lines, starts Monday.

Still have to somehow come up with crazy sums of money for rent and car insurance, but at least there's promise that next month he won't be in the panic he's in right now.

Sorry, no knitting for you today. Just relief.