I think someone up there is a little perturbed with me… whose wrath have I incited? Must be the knitting goddess of finishing…

See how close I am? See how desperately she wants to be an FO?
Only 2.5 more inches of the neck… and no more yarn…

I called up FAS, and they are long sold out… which I figured, I bought it back in January… so, I got another ball winging its way to me now (hopefully) but I pretty much give up hope that it will be done by Saturday for the super secret special event. I am not entirely sure how this happened… I think my gauge may have loosened up as I knit along, and then I added a little length to the sleeves, and voila, this is all that was left… not even enough to get around all of the yoke.

…I felt like having this lovely FO was one thing going for me in this crappy week, and now, not even that! I sure hope things start looking up from here… without getting too down in the dumps (hey, everyone’s got problems, right?) I was wrongfully terminated from a small part-time position this week. Why? I have no idea. I wish someone would tell me instead of just saying "you don’t work here anymore…" This is not my real job, mind you, but it was yarn money…

But someone said "Always look on the bright side of life…" so, here is the finished paper, the cursed document that kept me away from the knitting and blogging that I love so dearly. I hand it over to Dr. W at 4:10 today. So glad to be done. Only a few more things to finish up, and Spring 2005 semester is done done done.

Naturally, I wanted to have a little celebration when I did the final CTRL-S to save this sucker… so, Kris and I had a fun little evening…

A few drinks and some laughs with my boyfriend (yeah, he is my husband too)

This was the real treat, however! We went to our local nursery and picked up some great little plants for the front yard bed. In the next few weeks, we will be starting our gardens too–can’t wait to get some fresh veggies and herbs in the house. That is my favorite thing about this time of year. This greenhouse visit was a breath of fresh air… just what I needed after being cooped up in the house all day finishing my school work!

Since Tempting is at a standstill, I picked up a quickie project…

This Dolcino has a great feel–kind of like knitting with paper, and it is working up nicely in this drop stitch pattern.

Lucky Clover has a few more inches on the back, but nothing worth showing… however, there are some awesome girls over on the knitalong blog who finished their cardigans! They are giving me inspiration to keep on keeping on… go see Dee, Winnie and Malgosia have finished theirs–and they are beautiful! There are several other knitters who are so close to finishing–keep an eye on the blog for their progress. It is never too late to join! Email me!

Don’t forget that this Saturday is Secret Pal 4 Reveal Day! Can’t wait to find out who mine is–and to make the big reveal to my girl!

… and in closing, because dogs are the greatest, here is a picture of my girls, Jen and Bella…

The Tempting mystery was quickly solved when I actually sat down with two finished sleeves and the body… and honestly, I feel pretty silly for not figuring it out on my own. However, a big thank you to you all for your encouraging emails and comments; and to those that have their completed Temptings, thanks so much for your advice! The sleeves are successfully attached, and I am working up the inches toward the eyelet. Before I know it, Tempting will be a mere memory! I plan to wear her to an event next Saturday, so I will definitely be done by then…

In anticipation of her completion, I ordered some ribbons today… I hope they will arrive in time to wear Saturday afternoon.

Come on, a girl needs some variety, right? They all reflective the many moods of Tempting… you never know what will come next! Heather and Carolyn tipped me off on this great supplier: JCaroline Creative. Not only are there great ribbons (so many to choose from!) there are supplies for making purses, accessory hardware (belt buckles and watch faces), and so many fabulous fabrics!

Last week, I was emailing back and forth with the very talented Jacqueline of Serendipity fame. We worked out a lovely little trade, and lo and behold a few days later a great package is on my door step from AUSTRALIA! That sure was fast… Yours will be on the way soon, J! Her lovely Jo Sharp tank really appealed to me, and she sent the new pattern book my way, along with some other amazing goodies! The little knitting mini book is full of great knitty quotes and pics, and the chocolates are delicious. Each of the bars has a cute Australian animal on it. So cute!

I pried myself away from the computer desk for a few hours this weekend to go and hear my sister perform. She is studying vocal performance at university, and every time I hear her, it brings tears to my eyes. My little Mimi is a beautiful songbird. I can’t believe that she is my sister when she is up there on that stage–it is so surreal, and so amazing.

It started raining after the show, but I had to get over to see a very special craft fair on the University of Maryland campus…. and meet some fellow bloggers!

I finally got to meet Kate and Paula! They spin and dye their yarns for their business, Woolarina.com. They also sell some awesome felted totes, stitch markers, felted sachets, notion tins, and magnets. These girls are so crafty and cool! It was a real pleasure to meet both of you… and I love your yarns!

Of course, I did not go home empty-handed. I was really loving their hand-dyed yarns (their handspuns are amazing as well!) and picked up these 5 skeins and a lavender sachet: 2 superwash sock yarns, 1 merino fingering weight, 1 merino worsted, and 1 merino/mohair blend. A closeup (and another, and another) are in order! Make sure to check out their site… 2 good 2 miss

This is my last week of classes, and the paper is due on Wednesday. After its completion, there are some other assignments and a final, but after that, I will be sailing smoothly into summer… until the next session’s classes start! (I am SO jealous of Nancy and Jessica graduating from library school this semester!)

Stay tuned for a finished Tempting… very very soon… (yeah, I said that last week, but this time I mean it!)

Reminder: Go let Cara know if you are coming to Maryland Sheep & Wool! She is compiling a list of the attendees on her sidebar for the knitblogger meetup on Saturday, May 7th.

…and in your copious free time, check out my new Links page (on my sidebar too). I plan to add some DIY/crafty sites as I find them, but in the meantime, check out the blogs–there are some great ones on my roll that really should not be missed. Go meet some new people today, I dare you

Over here are the "W" Haus, the warm weather means one thing: GRILL TIME!

So, I needed some yummy food to fuel my paper writing… and it worked! I made some nice headway this weekend, but my work is not done! Very very soon, and then the Spring 2005 semester will be a mere memory–until I have to dig up all of the bloody notes for comprehensive exams! (The rate I am going, that will be a few more years!)

Last week was my mom’s birthday, and I gave her a very springy self-fringing wrap. I made it a little smaller than the pattern calls for–more like a triangular scarf. The green of the K1C2 Tartalette matched her outfit perfectly! Happy Birthday to Mom!

Mimi and mom have been working on the wedding invitations, and she showed me the prototype… they are lovely. You can’t really see it well right here, but trust me, it is nice! I can’t believe that my little sister is getting married in 48 days (June 4th)… but what I can believe is that I am saving up to go see her and D when they move to Oahu!

A big shout out to Dad: thanks for the awesome sheep doll! It was made by a Navajo artist in Arizona, and he knew I would love it. She is sitting here right now, helping me write this blog entry! (She is SO soft!)

Since I spent some good time on the research today, I rewarded myself with some TV, and some fiberlicious activities. I am this close on my Tempting (will reveal it this week, I promise!)… but this ReKAL pullover has been staring at me for far too long… so I ripped it… ripped it good.

This is some nice quality wool–approximately 1200 yards (men’s medium sweater) at the Salvation Army thrift for $2.00. I wish I could find deals like this everyday… This is only 2 of the 4 skeins I ripped tonight. I still have the whole back of the sweater to rip, which will probably be another 2 or 3 hanks! They are soaking in a Eucalan bath as we speak… getting all softified so I can make something really cool!

I wanted to find a nice late summer / fall pattern for Kris, and we decided on this one. I have not done any cable work in a while, and I am itching to get back to it! This pattern is in the Spring 2005 FCEK. It calls for a pretty expensive cotton blend (yeah, like $10 a hank? not for cotton…) so I found an alternative yarn: Carezza cotton from Yarn Forward. Has anyone ever ordered from them? It is pretty hard to turn down $2.95 / ball… let me know if you have had experience with them… I will probably order the yarn a little later this month.

He liked the kelly green color… and I agreed… green is the new black! I will probably start this one next month… because I have to have at least 10 projects going on at once… it would not be normal if I didn’t!

I stopped by my favorite book store, Daedalus, and found these amazing notecards (among other things; I swear, I never walk out without at least 3 new books)… I just had to buy them when I saw one of the photographs on the front:

"Driver of the French ambulance corps near the
fighting zone; waiting to be called. Italy, 1944" by Robert Capa

UPDATE: All of the cards have been spoken for, and will go out some time this week!

Goodness me, it has been a long time… this girl seriously missed the blogging, but I feel like I can come up from the depths of my book piles and computer files for some much-needed updating. So much to report on in these past few weeks, and I feared that if I did not say something now, I would forget to tell you about it later!

Many thanks for the emails and encouragements in my school work. My paper is still lingering–but I am feeling much more confident about it now than I did a few weeks ago. I am two weeks from the deadline, and while I still have my work cut out for me, it is completely doable.

Now on to the fun stuff…

As you can imagine, my knitting has been a little slower than usual as I have been so immersed… however, I found some knitting time on the train… this little beauty is a simple YO K2tog pattern in the lovely beaded rayon that Donna gave me last month. This is great yarn. This is kind of a stole/scarf that I will wear very often… you know me and scarves! Yarn close up! You can see my small front yarn in this photo too.

My Tempting body is done, and I am ready to cast on with the DPNs (double pointed nightmares) for the sleeves. No picture because it pretty much looks the same as the previous post: long 2×2 ribbed tube. Cooler pictures to come when I get the sleeves attached.

I am trucking along on my Lucky Clover. I frogged what I had before because my gauge was way off, and the lace was not showing up properly. I am now happy with what I have here. It is a pretty fun knit once you get going. You have to stop by the Lucky KAL blog. Some have already finished! We have 73 members!

Knowing that I needed a little study break, Heather, came over last Saturday for some hot Kool-Aid dye action. She brought champagne and orange juice (for mimosas) in one hand, and Lamb’s Pride in the other. Can you say awesome friend? After a yummy grilled lunch (thanks Kris!) we got to work… all that Corningware from our wedding shower came in handy…

…and the results…

We used Lion Brand Fisherman’s, Lamb’s Pride Chunky, and Classic Elite Montera in the dyeing. Some colors turned out better than others, but as always, it is about the process

Thank you to Kimberli, Bethany, Becca, Cathi, and Shannon for the mail during my blog break. I am continually surprised by the generosity and kindness of this community… thank you.

… and how would a blog entry be complete without some spring flower pictures? Kris and I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival the day before full bloom! Nevertheless, it was a perfect day with a lot of good walking exercise. We saw the memorials (Jefferson and the new WWII), and snapped some pics… it was a blustery day!

Fifteen days without blogging leaves me with a lot of catching up… so stay tuned for more!

Quincy cat says MEOW!