Knitting

I've been working on Knitting Projects # 2 and 3. Project # 2 is a pair of fingerless gloves that are coming right along (see picture below). Project # 3 was going along with no problems until there were problems. And boy are there problems. I don't even know where to begin to fix the problem. It's looking like I'll have to rip it apart and start over, but considering that I was about 7 inches into the blanket I just can't do it. I know I have to, though. And I will. Eventually.
















{the beginning of fingerless gloves}

knitting, apples, a trip to the middle of nowhere, and lots of links

I finished knitting my first scarf. Yay! It only took a few years, but whatevs, I finished it and that is all that matters.

I have moved onto two more projects. Project # 2 is a pair of fingerless gloves I saw in One More Skein. I'm using a very pretty light grey wool. Project # 3 is a baby blanket for a friend that I'm kind of making up as I go along. It all started with a pretty pale pink wool that I found on the clearance shelf. I don't have enough of the pink to make the whole blanket so I am going to do a wide border in a dark grey. Both projects made possible because of gift cards my friends Caitlin and EB got me to The Yarn Lounge. I have discovered a few things about myself while knitting; let's make a list: 1) I love bamboo needles and hate metal needles; 2) I cannot knit and talk at the same time if there is more than one kind of stitch involved, apparently I cannot divide my attention; 3) I get no reading done when I am knitting because my hands can only do one thing at a time; 4) I knit longer when I am watching tv; and 5) I can think about absolutely nothing, my mind actually quiets down and it's quite lovely.

Now the part about apples! I went to Graves Mountain for their Apple Harvest Festival with my Buddy (my Buddy is my paternal grandmother whom I have never called "grandma" in my life), Aunt Paula, Aunt Linda, Cousin Emily and my cousin's daughter (is there a title for that? does that make her my second cousin? I don't know), Ashley. I had a great time and discovered that I had actually been there before. I've always had this memory of a creek and a bluegrass band playing by it and when we were walking around, I saw the creek and put it all together. I said to my Buddy, "Hey! I've been here before!" to which she replied, "Yeah, I brought you here when you were little." *That* would have been nice to know before.

I drank cups and cups of yummy hot cider, we looked at crafts and pumpkins, got some apples, listened to bluegrass, and hoped it didn't snow. Then we went up to the lodge on the mountain and had a very yummy lunch and the best dessert ever. It was some sort of apple cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Yum-o!

After finishing up with the fam, I headed over to Buckingham County where my grandfather has a little lego house. There is no cell phone reception at the house. There is one spot on the front porch, if you stand just so, you can pick up a signal. So there were some fun moments standing just so to make a couple of phone calls and send some text messages. I had two days alone and I made the most of them – I finished reading my October book club book, started knitting projects 2 and 3, ate a lot of apples, napped, did some very therapeutic writing, watched The Whole Nine Yards, and generally just stood still for a minute. It was so lovely and I am so glad I took the time to do it.

On the way back to Richmond, I stopped by my dad’s family’s homestead (the house is still standing, for the most part), stopped by the family church and saw the old folks that are buried there, from there I drove over to Scottsville for lunch/dinner at Lumpkin's.

And now, I give you pictures from my weekend in the sticks...

{Here is my Buddy rocking my first scarf}

{Emily and I in front of the creek I recognized}

{my hot cider and Buddy’s black coffee}

{pumpkins}

{apples}

{random}

{crafts}

{pretty}

{my bounty}

{the Buckingham house}

{the old house}

{Old Bryant Lane}

Lunchtime Blogging

NOTE: This post is a little more random than usual. Enjoy!


Today is a lunching at my desk kind of day. For lunch I am eating a toasted pb&j, Ruffles and catching up with my Google Reader. I only have 1,000+ unread items to go. Should be a breeze. Or not. I've read all the important and time sensitive stuff (i.e. Perez and Twilight Lexicon) so the rest may just sit there for a bit longer.

Summer is official peace out and it's very sad. There are a couple things about Fall that I'm looking forward to. 1) Scarves. I have a lot of scarves. Like seriously a lot. I probably have more scarves than shoes. 2) ... Ok so maybe there's just the one thing I'm looking forward to.

This morning my bosses had a little breakfast get together to celebrate my birthday. It was actually a joint birthday celebration as my cubemate's birthday is a few days after mine. We had bagels from my favorite Richmond bagel place (Cupertino's), fruit and juice (well everyone else had juice, I had a cuppa). It was lovely and very nice of them.

After work I feel like I have a bunch of running around to do before my weekly get together with the Cakes. I have to go to the fabric store and because I'm such a nerd two different libraries. Then it's off to Westover Hills for knitting and coffee (or a cuppa, if you're me).

The scarf I've been knitting since the beginning of time is almost done. There have been a few dropped stitches along the way, but I just keep on keeping on. It's my first scarf, I'm not going for perfect. When I finally finish it, I'll be sure to post a picture.

Meanwhile, here's a picture of the only sandwich you ever need to know how to make...


(Ignore the peanut butter in this picture, the bestest kind is Peter Pan's Creamy Whipped peanut butter. It's heaven in a little plastic jar.)

I'm Knitting Again! Maybe. Sort of.

A few years ago my friend Caitlin taught me how to knit. I did a little here and there but never even finished the scarf I originally started. A few months ago I was ready to get rid of all my knitting stuff. In telling this to Caitlin, she implored me to give it another chance. So I kept all my knitting supplies and wondered if I would ever try again. I had completely forgotten everything she had taught me and I am not good at following instructions in a book so I hit my friend Elizabeth up for a refresher. My other friend Sandy joined in the knitting fun. I don't think she had ever knitted before.

EB (as I sometimes call Elizabeth) showed Sandy and me how to cast on and knit. I guess it's going well. There's a small hole in mine. I'm pretty sure that's not supposed to happen and EB just shakes her head when I mention it. It's towards what will be the end of the scarf. Some snazzy tassels will take care of that little problem.

I may pick up that original scarf I started. It's really great yarn. A very pretty green. We'll see how it goes. Seems easier to just buy a freaking scarf from Old Navy though.

UPDATE: As requested, here's a picture of my current (and past) work: