I'm a Bad Blogger :(

Sorry that I left the last post such a depressing one on the tragedy that was that week. For an update, things have ben looking good on the homefront. I am getting things taken care of and plans are made. I am definitely taking on this challege with open arms! I have less than one and a half weeks left at work, then one week to pack, then its moving day! My parents are coming to pack me up and move me back to the wide open spaces of rural Iowa!! I have lived in the Chicago area for the past year and a half. I have the tendency to adapt pretty well. So moving from a large city/metropolitan area to a rural town of 5500, where my parents live in the country, on a dirt road no less, will be quite a culture shock! I definitely have to get my road rage under control, and learn to drive the posted speed limit again! On the upside, while I am in the process of getting things together to start my own business, I will have a TON of extra free time to knit!!! Look out Christmas, HERE I COME!!!

So here are some things that I have been working on...
My co-worker's wife had a baby! So I followed the lead of some Virtual SnB'ers and made Saartje's Booties


I love the little teddy bear buttons. They were found at Hanock Fabrics. They chose not to find out what they were having, and thankfully, I had some green Paton's Grace on hand. Knit on US 3's.

I am knitting the Tree Jacket from Zephyr Style for the Sexy Knitters Club KAL. It is really a fun knit, and this picture is now not accurate, as I am half way through the garter stitch portion of the body


I am knitting this out of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Firecracker Heather. I was a little unsure about the color...thinking it might be a little *too* red...but I LOVE it!! I love red, and I have been told that red is a good color on me, so we shall see. I am hoping to finish it before or very soon after I move. My parents have a ton of trees and I would love to photograph it with all the fall foliage! HAHA Like how I plan out my modeling pictures in advance?? I am such a dork!

After I got the *wonderful* news of my future unemployment, I started to fear a yarn shortage for all the projects I wanted to take on, so I made an emergency order to Knit Picks. Maybe not the greatest idea since I will be financially impaired for a period of time. But, I know that I have a TON of sock yarn, so at least I will be set for knitting socks! But here is my haul...



I got the brown (actually their "Mocha Twist") for the Back to School U Vest from Fitted Knits, the gray and black is for a scarf for my sister's boyfriend. This will be knitted in simple 3x3 rib, keep it simple, and manly! :) To the right, that's my Tree Jacket...well, not so much yet, but well on its way! Finally, I got some sock yarn, cause I need so much more of it *insert sarcasm here*. Gloss and Essential Tweed. Not sure what this yarn is going to be when it grows up...but I have some options in my pattern binder.
For those of you with the Options needle set. I am finding it frustrating that I don't always know what size the needles are because they are not engraved with the size or anything. I never used to understand the needle sizer until I got this set. I always thought, "Well, all my needles have the size either on the end, or engraved somewhere on the shaft, so I will always know what size they are." But not so with the Options, especially if you have the tendency not to put things away in their "right" spot. So, I got the needle sizer. I kinda like it! Definitely makes figuring out my sock knitting needles a little easier!


So, off the subject of knitting for a moment...I *LOVE* Starbucks!! Random, I know. But let's remember the first paragraph where I am moving to rural Iowa...no Starbucks there, but I do know they have some pretty good local coffee shops! So, I had to find a solution to my problem quickly. The coffee is one thing, I have a cappuccino machine, so I know that I can probably buy Starbucks coffee somewhere in a grocery store. But their pastries are so good, and this time of year, my favorite flavor is out in full force....Pumpkin Spice!! I love anything and everything pumpkin! So Starbucks makes these pumpkin scones with really great, thick icing, and its really too hard to resist for breakfast. I have been getting one every morning for the past few weeks, since they put them in the bakery case. Love them!! Well, back to my lack of Starbucks in Farmland, USA...I had to find a suitable replacement. (PS I do really love my hometown, and think it will be a great place to unwind, refocus, collect my thoughts, and push forward in my goals...I am looking forward to being back there!)
After some searching, I did!! This recipe is AWESOME!!! If you like pumpkin, I highly recommend them. She gives a recipe for pumpkin butter, but I didn't make that. Instead, I made a simple vanilla frosting glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

milk - enough to make the frosting the thickness you wish (I made mine thin enough to drizzle over the scones rather than frost them) Here they are


They were delicious!! I plan on making them all the time and eating them everyday! Well, maybe not everyday...I have cut down on my daily scone intake after realizing just how many calories are in one, and that's a little scary!!

OK...I think that I have been a little verbose, but that's what I get for not posting in almost 2 weeks! Sorry, and that won't happen often. Take care everyone!!

Week From Hell...

This has been my life this week. You know, I have heard people say that stress can really screw with the body. I have seen stress screw with people's bodies...I am in healthcare, so it's a daily thing for me to see. I have not experienced this level of stress in quite sometime...probably since this last winter/spring with my grandfather's death and the break up of my relationship. So, this week, as I am trucking along, thinking everything in life is pretty good, I get hit *SMACK!* right in the face! And my body seems to be rebelling against me! Stress can mess ya up (but I won't give you the grim details :P )

I work in a multiple physician, of which I am one, multiple clinic healthcare facility, . The head physician, who owns everything, calls me into the office last Wednesday, and tells me the one thing that I am not prepared to hear. I am being let go. WHAT?!?!

So apparently, the clinic that I am working in is in some pretty dire financial straights. The cannot afford to keep 2 physicians on staff, so I am the one to go. I was/am devastated! I have quit all of my jobs, never been terminated by the employer, so this is a whole new game to me. I am usually prepared to be without a job if that is the case, but today it is not. I must say that I have all new respect for anyone who loses their job without any notice or without any clue. It truly turns a person's life upside down.

Now, there is a fine, barely visible silver lining to this cloud. I have recently hired on a consulting firm to help me take steps to open my own business. Fortunately for this, I have a long term plan in place, and a direction that I am starting to go in. My family and friends, though also shocked with the news, have all been hugely supportive, and feel that this change is a blessing in disguise, because now working on my business plan and everything associated with this will become my job, and I will make much faster progress. I agree. I am positive now, a week and a half after the bomb dropped. I have a plan. Part of this plan includes something that I said I would never do again....NEVER SAY NEVER....

At the end of this month, at the age of 28, a professional in the healthcare field, I will be moving back in with my parents. Yikes. I LOVE my family...I MISS my family, but do I want to LIVE with them again??? The question really is HOW LONG do I want to live with them again? Not that long! Fortunately, I don't think it will be much more than 3 or 4 months. And that's great, since it is coming upon the holidays, I know that I will be able to spend as much time with them as I can for this time of year, which has been something that I have missed the last couple of years. I live in Chicago, they live in rural Iowa...8 hours away. This is the furthest I have ever lived from my family, and I originally moved out here with my ex to be halfway between our respective families (his is in PA). Since we are not together anymore, there is really no reason to stay...so I was planning on moving back to the great state (??) of Iowa in the next 6-8 months anyway.

Maybe the silver lining of that cloud is a bit more substantial than I thought! :) All in all, I feel pretty good about things...but like I said...losing a job unexpectedly really turns a person's life upside down...making quick plans to move, buying out 6 months left on your lease, NOT BEING ABLE TO BUY YARN FOR, LIKE, EVER!! I made a "final" Knit Picks purchase just to pump up my stash, and for some specific projects to get me through the next few months...and Lord knows I have plenty of sock yarn to choke a large sheep! I should be set for a while...and packing up the yarn in a storage tote will help me to organize and hopefully find some yarn I had forgotten I had. Its all good!

So finally...I apologize for not posting for a while...I have been really thinking about what to say about this here/if to say anything at all...but if you can't share with your blog friends, then what has this world come to?? :) In conclusion...here are some pretty yarn pictures...

My beautiful Noro (will be the Irish Hiking Scarf when it grows up), and soft and silky SWTC Bamboo (which I think might be the Knotted Openwork Scarf):

Hot off the Needles!

MY FIRST PAIR OF SOCKS!!



I am so happy to finally be done with these socks. These socks were just about the bane of my existence. I started the first sock on dpn's, and had such a problem with laddering, that I put them aside, and thought I probably just didnt have the knack for sock knitting. Until a lady at my knitting group taught me to knit socks on 2 circular needles. So much nicer, for me at least. I know there are a lot of people who knit with dpn's with good luck, and yet others that utilize the Magic Loop method. As long as we keep making beautiful socks, the I say go with what works!! I will definitely be sticking with the 2 circular needles!

These socks were worked on US 2 needles, 64 stitches with Austermann Step superwash wool. I threw away the ball band, so I am not sure of the color way, sorry. I used the Basic Sock Pattern from "Knitting Rules" using seed stitch instead of stockinette. I am really excited to wear these socks, but not today or tomorrow, as it is still supposed to be in the 80s!! Where is fall?? You can also see these on the Sock a Month KAL.

I have decided to cast on my next sock with the Knit Picks Memories in Hawaii in the pattern of Monkey from knitty.com, but first, I need to get the second short row toe started for Dad's Socks. I will be knitting these socks 2 at a time on 2 circular needles, and with them being knit out of worsted weight on size 5 needles, they should be a fairly quick knit.

OK, I am off to take a nap, I think. It has been a pretty trying week for me in my personal life, and I am physically and mentally exhausted. Have a great weekend!

TMI??

I don't think that this will be too much information for ya...but just a warning, I've got a lot to talk about tonight! First, a couple of updates...

1. I mentioned in a previous post about going on a date with a boy...Well, let's just say that there was not a long lasting connection made, unfortunately. He was great, really nice, and we had a nice time, but the chemistry just wasn't there, so we will probably not be going out again. Ah, such is life, and I'm not too torn up about it! Many more fish in the sea!

2. The Bold and Bulky Cardigan and I have made amends, and she is out of timeout. I frogged her back to the new yarn join, and found one of my remaining skeins with a more consistent color that matched the upper portion of the cardigan. Now she looks good. I was a little worried about the size being a little snug on my, and almost frogged the whole thing to re-knit in the next size up. After some careful consideration, and studying the pattern and the width of the button bands, I think I will be ok. I have to knit the sleeves and the contrast color and button band, and she will be done. I think that is a later in the week or weekend goal.

3. This week I have to focus on finishing my first pair of socks! I am just past the gusset decreases on the second sock, and think that it will go pretty quickly. I want to finish so that I can make the September goal for the Sock a Month KAL 4.

4. I am ashamed. The Tiffany Mittens have come to a complete standstill, and probably changed from WIP to UFO in my knitting que. I make a pledge, and a promise, here in KnitterLand online that once the BB Mini Cardigan is done, Tiffany will be back in my life.

OK, so I think that is all for the "old business". On to "new business"...and lots of pics!!

I am making socks for Christmas for my mom and dad. Because I am part of the SAM KAL(see link above) I think this will help to motivate me to finish them on time! I started my Dad's socks this weekend. I am using Knit Picks Swish to knit some old fashioned looking wool hunting socks, you know the kind that are grey, with the red cuff, heel and toe. I am a little worried about running out of yarn (he's a men's size 12 for heaven's sake!) so I have decided to try to do a toe up sock to maximize the amount of yarn I have. This is my 2nd pair of socks, and first toe up. Here is my first short row toe!! Also notice the size difference between a women's size 9 (me) and the toe of a men's size 12!!

With my new found desire to knit socks, I found this tutorial online. I have wanted sock blockers to display my socks on, but have found that one set is pretty costly. Here is the solution! It's so great, and super easy. It took me just about 45 minutes to do these, with the most time being drawing my template.

(L-R)

1. I used flexible cutting boards from Target (about $6 for a set of 4).

2. My template. First, I simply traced around my foot as it was laying on it's side on the paper. Then, following a picture of socks on blockers, tried to emulate the shape of bought blockers. It was kind of a challenge, especially trying to keep the length of the foot correct.

3. Sadly, two blockers would not come out of one cutting board, but at $6 for a set of 4, if you wanted matching colors, it's still super affordable!

4. My finished pair of women's size 9 sock blockers!!

I think this tutorial is great, especially if you give socks as gifts. I think that giving socks on a blocker is much more attractive than not, in my humble opinion!! Thanks so much MaryAnn at Little Sesame Knits!

Here is my almost finished first pair of socks modeling the new blockers!! They look GREAT!

Now that my first socks are almost done, and I am on a sock knitting tear, I am looking forward to my next socks. October is dedicated to knitting Dad's socks for the KAL, and November is for Mom's socks (also size 9, so much easier for me to knit true to size!!), but I want to knit more socks for me too! (Selfish much?!) So here's my quandry...

I am a little torn as to what to knit next. Mind you, all of these will be knit sometime in the (hopefully near) future, but my instant gratification side is deterring my decision making skills!

Option 1: Sidewinders from NonaKnits in Knit Picks Dancing, they look like a lot of fun, and definitely something different!

Option 2: The ever popular Monkey socks in either Hawaii or SMores from Knit Picks Memories

Option 3: The Basic Sock Pattern from the Harlot's Knitting Rules in either Regia's Kaffe Fasset designer series, or Cascade Fixation Pink Lemonade.

I would love to cast on for each and evey pair listed, but unfortunately, cannot. Can you help me?? Thanks!

Whew, well, this was a lengthy post, lots of pics, and definitely borderline TMI. I have worked up an appetite, so I am off to make some homemade chicken salad, eat some dinner, and knit away on my sock! Thanks for reading, and I look forward to your comments!

Ravelry Update:

You signed up on September 11, 2007
You are #32304 on the list.
14550 people are ahead of you in line.
3905 people are behind you in line.
48% of the list has been invited so far

Waiting (Im)Patiently

So, I have heard tons and tons on the web about Ravelry and how great it was, so I decided to check it out. Holy crap!!! I want a piece of that, and I want it now! Too bad, though...there is a huge waiting list, which all of Internet land knows, but me. So I go to sign up, am then told, "you are on the waiting list." So I am waiting, for about a week, thinking that like some other KAL's and blogrings, this will happen fairly quickly, and I will be with the "in" crowd over at Ravelry in no time. No such luck...I just checked my status...

You signed up on September 11, 2007
You are #32304 on the list.
16601 people are ahead of you in line.
2350 people are behind you in line.

This does not bode well...for you already veterans of Ravelry...about how long did you have to wait to get your invite? Are the people ahead of me in line already members, or are they waiting too? Seeing as how the number of people ahead of me in line is about 8 times the number of people behind me in line, I am way at the end, and will probably be invited the day before (or after, knowing my luck) the whole thing goes live for public consumption! So I will continue to wait patiently...or impatiently...depending on the day and hope that I get the happy email telling me I have been invited...In the meantime...read this blog entry...she does a great job of telling us all what we're missing out on! (Thursday Sept 20 entry).

Not sure what to do...

So I am working on the Bold and Bulky Mini Cardigan from Fitted Knits. I am lengthening the bodice to make it less of a bolero, and more of a full length to slightly cropped cardigan. I am working to the end of the skein/ball of yarn, and then will begin on the sleeves. I haven't bought the yarn for the CC yet, so I will do all of that at the very end, when I am generally happy with the length of everything.

I am really happy with the yarn I chose, and how it is knitting up. Except for what I noticed tonight. All of the yarn has a slightly varigated look as it is hand dyed. I am ok with that until I got to the middle of this last skein. I am noticing a huge area of pooling in the last few inches. It is not super noticable on the pictures I am noticing, but in "real life" it is pretty significant.

The areas I am talking about are both sides of the cardigan, right in the middle (kind of above the needles) on the front...You can also see how varigated the ball of yarn is, too....

And again, at the bottom, middle, right above my fingers....
These are my remaining hanks of yarn...also pretty varigated...
I don't think that I mind, but on the other hand, I really like the blending of the top portion of the cardigan much better than the bottom portion. I am just afraid that the other skeins will do the same in the sleeves. I might frog to just a few rows after I added this skein, add another, and knit with 2 skeins changing every few rows to try and blend it out a little more...

Hrumpf....and I was just about ready to move onto the sleeves....well, I want to love this cardigan, so it will be worth it!

Edit Wednesday Sept 19, 12:25 pm...I didn't want to make a whole brand new post for this, so I thought I would just give an update...after sleeping on it, and looking at the pictures several more times...I think that the best decision for me at this time is to....GULP....FROG back to just after the new skein join, and alternate rows...it is sad to frog, and usually a little nerve wracking, but I know that I will be much happier with it this way. I am going to place a life line of sorts so I do not lose/drop any stitches. I do believe that this is going to have to wait until the weekend...so time out my lovely cardigan...I am not angry, just a little disappointed. We will meet again, and all will be resolved very soon.

T.G.I.F.....but is it over yet?

Oh, I do believe that I am doing the taboo thing today...blogging at work! I am insanely slow at my job today, and the fact that it is almost 5:30 on a Friday afternoon/evening, and I go to Knit Night right after work on Fridays, things are dragging along....S....L....O....W....L....Y.......

On the upside, I can usually puruse the knitting blogs, and site with no one looking over my shoulder. I am also looking quite forward to the weekend. I work in the medical field and my clinic is open until 7 pm every night, and in the mornings on Saturday. I have taken this Saturday morning off, first, in honor of my birthday, and second due to a function that will eventually put me on track for how I want to continue in my career. Sorry for the cryptic statement, it is just not the right time for me to go into detail on this...as there are some people out there who aren't aware of what's going on. Thirdly, I am meeting a boy tomorrow, I think.

A little history lesson on Jen: I met a boy at grad school...Jen and boy "fell in love"....boy moved half way across the country to be with Jen....boy and Jen moved to Chicago together to build new life....Jen "fell out of love" with boy for many different reasons....Jen moved out to new apartment, and started living single again....Jen gets lonely, but not for boy.....Jen has been online dating (a little scary)....new boy asked if Jen would like to get together this weekend....Jen said yes....and hasn't heard from boy yet...but that's ok. So, history in a nut shell....I have been having not such good luck with the online thing...but I have been emailing with people, and that is definitely low stress...until they want to meet! Then, the stress level goes up a notch....I have the firm belief that it has to do with the apparel we wear when emailing (usually pajamas) vs. what we wear to go out (NOT pajamas!)...the emailing clothes lend to a more comfortable feeling in general, so I think that it expresses itself in the email. Then comes all the stress of getting dressed in "meeting" clothes, you have to look your best, hair, makeup, the whole kit 'n' caboodle! I definitely try to make things less stressful for myself anyway. I go into the meetings, I don't like to call them dates, with the feeling that if things progress from there, great, and if not, well, then I got to spend my night in the company of someone new, and might possibly make at least a friend out of it. So we will see...

Monday is my birthday....so I will be taking it easy this weekend in anticipation of my birthday...not that there is anything too exciting going on. I live about 8 hours from my family, so I celebrated early when my sister was here to visit. I requested a DQ ice cream cake for the office lunch on Monday, so that will be fun...not to mention yummy!

I started this post at about 5:25pm, and am finishing at about 6:10 pm...had to stop in between to take care of patients...so have a great weekend all...T-minus 20-30 minutes until quittin' time...then off to Knit Nite!