Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Camera-less in Dallas

Hey all.

I would be updating more, but I have no camera, and see no real point in just talking a lot.

Well, that's a lie. I like to talk too much. Ambrrr can testify to that.

My sweater is coming along quite nicely. I work on it pretty much whenever I'm home. I'm done with the back and about a third of the front. I'm getting anxious to be done, but I'm enjoying it very much. I'm hoping it'll fit. I feel I'm much bustier than the pattern was intended for, but we'll just have to see how it works out. (and as of this morning, when I weighed myself at the gym, I've lost a couple pounds, and if I keep that up, maybe it'll fit fantastically.)

As for the socks I was working on, one is complete. The other is about an inch big. I'll finish it up after my sweater is either complete or makes me need a break.

That's all I really had to say. I just felt like checking in. and my dear Ambrrr, please post new pictures of things. I know you've been knitting something.........

<3 uhlissa

Saturday, May 26, 2007

More from Ambrrr, unsurprisingly. :D

It's been going around the knitblogs recently, and I've decided to jump in myself (and copy various other knitbloggers I've seen by posting in lists of 10. I'm nothing if not consistent. I think.), so here we go!

100 Facts About Ambrrr, #1-10

1. I'm actually a very secretive person. This is surprising to some people, as I've two internet blogs (and some people don't even know about the other one!), multiple social networking accounts, and have a tendency to blurt out personal things when I should not. The difference is that I'll tell absolute strangers secrets about me and never let my closest friends in on it.

2. I don't think I'm photogenic at all. I hate 98% of photos of myself, loathe 1.5%, and barely tolerate .5%. If I tell you I "love this photo" and I'm in it, I'm either secretly mortified or there's someone else in the photo I think looks great.

3. I'm a single child of a single mother, and for the most part we get along famously. (We've our dust-ups now and then, but who doesn't fight with their parents?) We started watching the Gilmore Girls when I was in middle school because we felt they were very similar to us. (The main difference is Fact #4.) I tell my Mum practically everything, and I think we're closer than a lot of my friends and their mothers.

4. My grandmother had my Mum when she was 33, and Mum had me when she was 33. I've got 13 years to go, so I'm figuring I've got a few years before I start thinking about bebes.

5. Even though I've been knitting for 12 years I don't consider myself a very advanced knitter. I've knit a sweater (Skully from SnB, but I have no idea where it is right now) the summer before my sophomore year of college, and multiple pairs of socks and various other items, but I'm very reluctant to start another "big project" as I'm quite poor at the moment and fear knitting something I wouldn't want to wear in the end.

6. I love the internet. Love love love it. Most of the fights Mum and I have had this summer have been over the fact that I'm constantly on my computer. I can't help it, I'm bad at the phone and Facebook is the easiest way for me to keep in touch with my friends. I also love having so much information at my fingertips. I really should have changed my major from architecture to computer science.

7. I'm super lazy. Or, as I like to say, laze. That's the other thing Mum and I tend to fight about. I usually feel awful about my pure laze, it's something I'd like to fix about myself. It's also mainly in personal time, at work I'm very into whatever I'm working on. Honestly!

8. Hm, some basic stuff... I was born in Nashville, TN and raised in Ohio on the west side of Cleveland (North Ridgeville, near Elyria). I've also lived in Pittsburgh, PA (when I attended Carnegie Mellon University during the semester Tulane was closed due to Hurricane Katrina) and New Orleans, LA.

9. Other countries I've visited include Canada, France, Greece and Italy. Every single one of those trips was through the school I went to 6th-12th grades, Lake Ridge Academy.

10. Other than Mum the other "person" in the house is my teacup Chihuahua Yazoo. I got him as a puppy when I was in 6th grade. He is fat and lazy too, so I loves him muchly. Today I walked into "his room" because he'd been fussing at me as I walked around and discovered that he'd put a whole bunch of newspaper in his bed, forming some sort of little cave. He's a little crazy, too.

Whew, that was harder than I thought! Next post from me will have actual knitting, as I finished something Anna-related. Not her socks, oddly.

Ambrr, who talks way too much. <3

Thursday, May 24, 2007

SP LIKE WHOA!!!

OH MAN, YOU GUYS. OH MAN. SECRET PAL IS AMAZING. I AM STUCK IN CAPSLOCK LAND.


I have received the most amazing Secret Pal package in existence. YOU CANNOT ARGUE.*

For some godforsaken reason Blogger will not let me upload photos. So you must venture, dear friends, over to my Flickr page and start from this photo:


Secret Pal 10 Package!!, originally uploaded by Wakeful Dreamer.


You can then click on my photostream to see all of the wonderful, yarn pr0n-y shots I took of the STR. I almost melted all of my chocolates, they're chillin' in the fridge. Literally.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!!

Compulsively squeezing her STR, Ambrrr (<3)

* I mean, you can disagree, and I'll nod to pacify you, but you will not be believed.

Saturday, May 19, 2007

Hm HMMMMM...

So I am looking at yarns to send to my SP. I know, I am woefully behind. Let's keep in mind that I haven't actually left the house for a week. So yep.

Anyways, the SP Yarn Search. I was going to send some STR, possibly in the Mustang Sally colorway, but my concerns over pooling are holding me back. Also, STR is expensive! Crazy! So I began combing the interwebs looking for less expensive but still awesome options. I found some great sites, but they were either more expensive or all sold out. And then it struck me.

What could be more 'indie' and unique than hand-dyed yarn?!

So I of course turned to KnitPicks and their trusty Bare line, and am currently looking at this variety. I'm also thinking of using their easy to understand Kool-Aid (TM) dyeing technique, and a quick Googling reveals a wealth of info on the process as well. So. I think I'll do it. I'll test-drive it on a skein for myself* and then I'll rev through one for SP. Whee! This also frees up some major fundulation for the Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs oils I was also looking into for SP, based on some cities she said she'd like to visit.

So yeah. I think I'm gonna do this. I'll try to get to Marc's or another grocery store this week, and order the yarn tomorrow. How terribly exciting!

And you guys know the drill by now - no knitting pics means a picture of Kitsune!


Kitsune sometimes enjoys eating sushi for lunch. As do I!

Doing-the-Blue-Steel-Look-but-you-can't-see-it, Ambrrr (<3) (Who promises to knit soon. Honestly.)

*Ok, maybe I just really want to hand dye some yarn. You know y'all want to too.

Thursday, May 17, 2007

!

Oh noes, SP - when you left a comment you forgot to post as Anonymous! I have been an extraordinarily good girl, and did not (NOT!) click on your name, but you might wanna change it before the temptation overtakes me. Woe!

Also, why do I find out about all of the good yarn stores when they're all sold out? Knit Happens had a CRAZY SALE on every yarn I could possibly ever want, and by the time my check gets in tomorrow it'll all be gone. It mostly is already. WOE!

And oh my LORD, did anyone else catch Grey's Anatomy tonight? WOE WOE WOE IS I.

I am going to go lay down with a cold towel over my eyes, and try to recover from this woeful day.

<3 from Wednesday's child, Ambrrr

Housekeeping

These are the projects I finished my junior year of college (August 06 - April 07). I believe this is a complete list of projects that I have pictures of, or should get pictures of soon. Other than this I knit several scarves, more baby booties, and a couple pairs of wrist warmers.

Hello again!

I'm back in the OH, which is somewhat like the OC except that the beaches are usually cold and deserted and we get about 100 days of sun a year instead of like 300. Hurrah!

Still nothing happening on the knitting front. I'm waiting with bated breath for my check to deposit into my account tomorrow, because right now I'm walking the thin wire of overdrawing my account. :<

Once that's settled, though, I can buy the neato things I've been eyeing for my SP, which I will then send forthwith. Oh, to be poor and in college. Is this one of those "character building" things I keep hearing about?

Of course, no knitting photos means a random photo instead!


Here is Kitsune, fast asleep at 2 AM. How he loves to taunt me.

But oh Mario, we're only to Ohio.*

<3 Ambrrr

* "Pavlov's Bell" by Aimee Mann

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Quite fancy!

I'm very taken with Uhlissa's list 'o things to do! I've been a little slow with the knitting, even though I have "the time" now. I've been working on (finally) Anna's knitted birthday present. Instead of a pair of Fetching, I ordered the wrong yarn size (fingering instead of worsted, haha) and now she's getting socks. They're going to be green with orange cuff, toes and a star. Fun times.

This is the first pair of socks I've done basically without a pattern... I'm sort of mashing things together and really learning how socks work. Fun times, yes.

Pic-a-tures!




I'm actually a bit further than the photo shows, I'm working on the star on the foot and the sole. Wheeeeee. You can see my amazing placemarkers that Secret Pal sent in use. I didn't realize they'd match Anna's socks so well!

I do believe I'll call them Anna's Oh-My-Stars Socks.

Later, alligators.

<3 Ambrrr

summer to-do list

My summer has officially began. I left New Orleans, and I'm at home visiting right now before I head to Dallas to spend the summer.
I've decided to make a list of goals for the summer. Some of them much more achievable than others.

1. Go to the gym.
2. Learn to cook.
3. Have a summer romance.
4. Make a sweater out of this yarn:




5. Finish these socks:
They're called "Classy Slip-Up" from the amazing book I got from my secret pal. The yarn is jojoland melody. I'm in love.



6. Read more.





7. Finish this cross-stitch:





8. Make these into socks (including hand dying that stuff in the middle):






9. Play my flute.
10. Knit up a good portion of my stash.
I'm sure there are more things I've decided to do, but can't remember right now. I'm also open to suggestions of other life-enriching activities that I should be introduced to in the next several months.

While I'm making lists, let's check the progress on those New Year's Resolutions I made.
1. Knit a sweater - not yet.
2. Knit something with lace - yes! Check out these and these.
3. Sell something - yes. booties and a scarf.
4. Finish some WIPs - oops.
5. Make something cool - I think so. The inchworm pillow, which I don't think I ever posted pictures of.
6. Donate scarves - nope. I think they only do this in the fall, so there's still a chance.

And have I made any progress on any of the things I was knitting on January 2nd?
1. Hufflepuff scarf - only knit 2 stripes since then.
2. Gryffindor scarf - finished
3. Birthday mittens for Karissa - finished
4. Ugly wristwarmer - um, no.

This game was fun. I'll have to do it again at the end of summer.

Also, here's the cross-stitch I finished for my mom for mother's day. It's a house in New Orleans, that I actually see quite frequently.








<3 uhlissa

Sunday, May 6, 2007

FO Compilations


Pattern: Clementine Shawlette (Interweave Knits Winter 2007)
Needles: Clover Bamboo straights US 4
Yarn: KnitPicks Shine Sport in River, 4 skeins at 110yds/50gr each
Modifications: None

As we all know I was fascinated with this shawlette. I figured it'd be a good way to get into shawl making, and I was right. It only took me so long to do 'cause of studio work and life getting in the way. I love it! It's super comfy. PS - that is me at my White Rose Formal. Fancy fancy!





Pattern: Dreamswatch
Needles: Clover Bamboo straights US 8
Yarn: Crystal Palace Yarns Mikado Ribbon, less than a whole skein (112 yds/50gr)
Modifications: I quickly grew tired of making this thing. I mean, it's really pretty and all, but something about it... I only made it about 24" long instead of the recommended 49". I don't want to use it as a scarf, just a headwrap. I guess it's some mindless knitting to do when bored. It has a tendency to roll at the edges, perhaps because I have not blocked it. Meh.

<3 Ambrrr