It's gone, it's gone!

The expander is gone! It's like Christmas in July. I haven't felt the top of my mouth in a year, and it's finally back again. Swallowing feel strange, because I'm not used to food touching that part of my mouth, but I can sure as hell get used to it. No more caramel getting wedged up there! No more discovering food in the roof of my mouth hours later (I know that's TMI, but bear with me)! No more brushing the top of my mouth! I am a happy girl.

In knitting news, I am officially sick of the shawl, and I'm only halfway done. I don't want to work with the lace wieght anymore on bigger-than-called-for needles, and I don't want to have to keep knitting the same lace pattern over and over again! It's incredibly boring. I started some Monkey socks to take the edge off, but I found out that turning the lace pattern upside down doesn't work (to do them toe up...my favorite way of making socks)and I'm going have to frog. Now I'm thinking of making Breeze from the current Knitty in some Hempathy, but I'm not sure Hempathy will work as sock yarn. Who knows until I try?
Why, oh why, did I every agree to knit that shawl!

Henman lost. (You should have heard me screaming at the TV), but Roddick is moving his way up so I'm content right now (sort of.)

Wimbeldon watching

Can't blog...must watch Wimbeldon. Henman must win!

What kind of finger am I?

You Are the Thumb

You're unique and flexible. And you defy any category. Mentally strong and agile, you do things your own way. And you do them well. You are a natural leader... but also truly a loner. You inspire many but connect with few. You get along well with: The Middle Finger Stay away from: The Pinky

What Finger Are You?

Schoooool's out for summer!

And how do I celebrate getting out of school last Thursday? I babysit. But I don't think I could've been any happier on my last day of school. Of course I was sad (I don't deal well with change-I once cried for hours when my mom moved our couch from one end of the room to the other when I was little), but I also felt like I was starting something new as well, like a fresh start. I didn't have a great year, and I'm looking forward to having a better one next year.

On a knitting note, I am still working on my mom's shawl (and have about 40 or so more inches to go!). Who knew lace could get boring? I'm actually dreading working on it, but I make myself pick it up everyday. I have a deadline and my mom reminds me of that every chance she gets. Just gotta keep knitting. *sigh*

I have also been doing charity knitting as well, which is why my mom's shawl didn't get many inches added to it over the last two weeks. The Oddball blanket has been sent off (with a couple of skeins of yarn inside) and I have also received the Oddball Earthtone Shawl. I'm all done with my three inches, but now I just have to (find) and knit it back onto the original needles. Whoops!

The cereal every knitter should eat

Shreddies!

"We gotta win!"

"Ok, so we gotta get psyched for Field Day today. This is no fun and games here. We gotta win!" That was my favorite pep talk of the day from one of my fellow classmates as we began our second and last field day of middle school. Although team spirit seemed to be higher in the sixth grade, us seventh graders still got out our war paint and taunting comments we had been saving up from the year before (and yes, I was one of the people with black streaks if you're wondering). At first, our odds didn't seem too good...we didn't have that many "athletic" players on our team. But as field day went on, we started tto think that we weren't doing that bad after all. I ended up placing in four out of my five events (first in 50m, third in 100m, second in 400m relay, and second in Pony Express). The running was the best out of all the events. Whenever I go to run a race, I get nervous and my legs start to feel jumpy, which helps me to get ahead even if I don't get a good start. That being said, I'm not a distance runner; it involves too much thinking about what I'm actually doing. When I sprint, in about fifteen or so seconds it's all over, no thinking involved there.

We ended up placing third overall, which was higher than all of us had expected. Way to go Mr. Miller's homeroom! Woohoo!

And of course, how can I go a post without some knitting? I just finished my section of the Oddball Blanket and am getting ready to mail it to the next Oddballer; I'm just waiting on the address from Shandeh on KH. I ended up running out of the blue Cascade 220 I was using, so I was grateful to last Oddballer who sent me her leftover purple 220. I worked the last inch in double seed stitch. I'm off to Michael's (my LYS isn't open...don't look at me that way!) so I can pick up some goodies for the next Oddballer. Now I'm just waiting for Oddball #1 to come!


Suki decided to join in on the action...don't worry, I got all the hair off. Tape roller thingies are common at my house. : )

Last week of school! Only three more days. The school year has gone so fast.

The Oddball #3!

I am a part of an AMAZING forum at Knittinghelp.com (the site should be on my sidebar <---). Through this, I have received countles items from other kind knitters through swaps. I';m also part of a charity blanket (we call it the "Oddball"..shouldn't take long to figure out why : ). It starts out in North Carolina by Sandy aka Shandeh, then gets sent around to other members to be knit. Each person should knit three inches. There are also Oddball Shawls going around as well. I'm partici[ating on 2 out of the 5 (!) Oddball blankets and one of the shawls. How lucky am I!

This is the third Oddball blanket, made out of wool. I used some leftover Cascade 220 in something like "sky blue", but I have just run out and am an inch short. But luckily, my Oddballer sent me her leftover yarn! It's a really pretty purple.

My fellow Oddballer was so generous. I even got two skeins of Mmmmalabrigo, which my yarn store doesn't carry. It's so incredibly soft, as all the knitters have claimed! I have to send it off next Tuesday,

Today I also took a trip to Ellis Island with my school. To tell you the truth, no matter how badly I didn't want it to be, it was sort of boring. Ok, it was a lot boring. We arrived late and had to wait fgor forever to board the ferry, though once we got on it was pretty fun. But because we were so late, we also missed a movie we were going to see, and I was actually pretty disapointed because I would have learned a lot more than I did. Instead, we were split into groups and went to tour a museum that we circled twice before going to sit outside, bored (this is where I got my sunburn). We then got back on the ferry and arrived to school after the day had actually ended, which is a little annoying, since I normally take the bus home and my dad had to wait for my brother to get home before he could come pick me up. The only highlight was when I got to take some pretty amazing pictures of the statue of liberty. My dad lent me his camera (which is a rare occurance, because I broke his last one!) so I could get some good shots. He and I love taking pictures.

We stopped at Liberty Island, but didn't have time to get off. We ended up circling the Statue of Liberty though, and I was able to get pictures from all different angles. Seeing the Statue of Liberty made me feel almost connected to the immigrants who came here, however corny that may be.

Only 7 more days of school left! I can't believe the school year has gone this fast.

Chocolate (the animal)

It was a beautiful day outside, and we though Chocolate (it was my brother's idea to name him that, not mine) deserved some fresh air and a chance to gain a little weight. He is our own personal little lawnmower.
Looking for more to eat, because there's nothing left where he was before.
He didn't like me taking the pictures too much.
Notice something on him? On his nose, perhaps?
He likes my brother a lot more than he likes me.
Hope everyone had a great weekend! Now it's back to school. Only three more weeks to go!

What I've been doing all day

My back hurt, my arms were sore, and I was covered in paint.

Yes, I have been painting the fence for a little profit. But what teenager doesn't need a little money?

I have to tell you, it felt really nice to take a warm shower when I was all done. It was refreshing and it took most of the paint off (though I do still have some in my hair).

And what did I buy with my money, you ask?
An iPod nano! I bought it all with my own money, most of it from babysitting (they really do pay me well there). I've uploaded my songs already(all 160 of them...I got the 2GB), and it has a really great sound. I have a feeling that it's going to get used!

I also started a shawl for my mom. While I orginally planned on making a Kiri, I realized that I couldn't figure out how I should change it from triangle-shaped to a rectangle and that all I was making was a bunch of holes when I used to lace repeat. So I ripped that out and started with another lace pattern. Unfortunately, that was when the TV was on and I was paying more attention to the TV that I was to the lace. Rip, rip, rip. Feeling discouraged, I was looking through an old issue of VK (spring/summer '05, to be exact) and stumbled upon a stitch that I like more than the last one. Here's what I have going so far, and I'm really pleased with it. I also got lucky on the yarn color and it matches the dress it's supposed to match perfectly.

So that's all for today. I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend!

Karma with the help of a radio

Neighbors can be a great thing, they really can. We have wonderful neighbors to the back of us that are almost like family to me. I babysit for their little toddler, they pay me well, and I love spending time there.

On the other hand, there are our neighbors to the left of us. I don't even know their names, actually; I just know them as loud and annoying. They seemed alright when they moved in, just occasional "hi" worthy sort of people.

Then the hot tub parties began. Our neighbors invited friends who brought radios and beer to spend the night outside. There was always loud music and loud voices and I could usually make out snippets of conversation or a song on the radio, both sometimes innapropriate.

It was 1 AM on a Friday night last December that I finally lost it. I was having a sleepover with my friend and couldn't fall asleep because of the loud music and voices. So I talked to my mom, I talked to my dad, and then came to the conclusion that they couldn't do anything about it. Deciding to take matters into my own hands, I stormed back up to my room, opened the window, and with the loudest voice I could muster, yelled "SHUT! UP!". They stopped talking after that, and I was finally able to go to sleep.

They haven't said a word to us since.

Fast forward to the summertime and the man over there has decided he likes to do his business outside. And believe me, he's as loud as he was with his friends in those hot tub parties. So my mom and I wanted to have a little fun after we were sick of hearing him. We grabbed our friend the radio and his companion the volume dial tagged along. Up and up and up the sound went, until we could no longer hear our neighbor. My mother and I laughed and kept the radio on for the rest of the night.

Sometimes, it doesn't hurt to help karma along a little.

My yarn arrived!

This arrived from Sarah's Yarns today! Woohoo! And it was so fast, I just ordered it on Monday! It is Jaggerspun Zephyr in Sage that is going to become a Kiri Shawl for my mom though not in a triangle, she just wants one long rectangle. I have to figure out how to double strand it though, because it is just in one cone with only one strand in sight. My deadline is a month. We'll see if I can get it done.

In other news, my knee, which has been bothering me since track club has started, does not tolerate running very well. I can't even lean on it it hurts so badly. But the thing that seems weird is that I've had TWO MOTRIN today (one at 12, another at 3) and it still hurts. I'm begging my mom to take me to the doctor, because I have a track meet next Thrusday, and then track is over. It is so frustrating.

I deserve to be ignored (but I have pics)

I deserve to be ignored. I really do. Because I have gone almost three weeks without a post. You don't have to read if you don't want to, just click the little "x" at the top of the screen. But if you're forgiving, you'll continue reading.

Thank you. : )

Here is what I've received from my secret yarner ("mugs") from KH:The yarn is from irishbabyknits.com. I love it! The color is the greatest and it is sooo soft. I can't wait until it gets cold enough that I can try it out. She also made the stitch markers herself and put them in a little lipstick case. I'm so happy with what she gave me!

I also received some books from KnitPicks and 2 40" cables for MLing. The books are more exciting to look at though. I think I like Favorite Socks the most. There are tons of patterns I want to make in there, and they all look like they're going to fit my narrow feet. I like Fitted Knits and Domiknitrix equally the same. I am currently obsessed with top-down raglans right now, so Fitted Knits feeds that addiction. The only problem is that I would have to increase less because most of the bust sizes are too big for me. Easily doable though. Domiknitrix has lots of instructions from casting on to I-cords, which I didn't expect when I ordered the book. There are some patterns I want to knit nonetheless, but I think it will be more of an instructional book that a pattern book for me (I also like the smell of the book, but that isn't something I've admitted to friends and family because I fear they'll label me as insane).

Here is a WIP, what I have started from the yarn that took THREE WEEKS to arrive from Wisconsin (I think! I can't remember the state. I know it began with a W). It was from hellokitty165 on KH. She even said that she'd give me the money back for it after while because it was taking so long to arrive.

It's a, you guessed it, top-down raglan. I based it off of this month's surprise from Knitty, but I changed the gauge and don't plan on increasing as much as it says to in the pattern because of my 30" bust.

I also finished a pair of socks from leftover yarn from my V-Neck Sweater, but they are too small. I went up a size from what it said to use and cast on the amount for the child size. I just keep thinking to myself that I should have gone up another needles size. Darn. Here's a WIP pic as I haven't gotten any pics of them as a FO.

They are really a little bit darker, but you get the idea. There is a mistake on the left on because I accidentily knit another row than I was supposed to when I got the yarn all tangled up. Don't ask me how these thing happen, they just do.

Also, I get bragging rights because my uncle and aunt brought over a Viper! My dad got tons of pics of my cousin and I in the car, and I thought I'd just put them in (really, I wanted some bragging rights). Here they are!

My cousin and I goofing off. My dad called us gangstas. We told him that we were in the hood.

My cousin wasn't too happy when I told her I wanted to try. It took a little convincing (well, a little shoving didn't hurt either).

My cousin and I have very active imaginations. She thinks she's a fish, and I am pretending I'm a midget spy. Laugh all you want, but we're the ones having more fun.

Finally, one last normal pic, just to redeem whatever dignity we have left.

Last but not least, I also made a new friend. Her name was Twiggy. She arrived on the collar of my dad, and left on a leaf an hour later.

I think my dignity is gone.

I'll be back sooner next time, I promise!