Ok I have finally gotten up off my lazy bottom and decided that I need to update. I have had a great Christmas break and it is not over yet, but right now I am in the first place in a while that has high speed internet. So I can finally upload my pictures. I have not gotten a ton of knitting done because I spent a significant portion of my break weaving. I have this amazing bird's eye maple loom, but it is pretty big so I can have it in Halifax with me. So it currently lives in Tatamagouche with my Mom and Step Dad. I am very beginner at weaving which is weird for me since I have been a highly competent knitter for so long, but I am slowly improving my skills. This Christmas I made 4 scarves, two for my Nanny and Grandad and two for Mike's parents Tom and Lenore.

I have finished a number of projects, most of which I have pictures for. The only one without a picture is Mary's Hermione Hat, but you can image what it looks like, picture the white one in a previous post only in burgendy and you'll get the idea. I am really happy with how it turned out, but it doesn't look like much unless it is on someone's head. Sadly I have no model right now and I am certainly not doing it because I have developed an eye sty in the last couple of days and there shall be no pictures of me taken until it is totally cleared up.

For Christmas this year I made my brother Niall a pair of Breakout/Space Invader Mittens. I was very pleased that he instantly recognized what they were because I was worried he wouldn't be able to tell. It was really tricky doing a pattern on the round for such a small piece, I probably should have worked it back and forth in intarsia, but I despise seams on mittens. Anyway he liked them enough that he has promised to cut back on his making fun of my blog by at least 20%.


Also, I finished Lionel and Julie's Blanket. It was very well recieved by them, but I forgot to take a picture of the finished product. That will be on my to do list.

I recieved many wonderful christmas presents this year from everyone around me. The most exciting knitting related present though was the Elizabeth Zimmerman books. I asked Tom and Lenore for one EZ book and they went out and got me three!! I am overwhelmed by EZ's wisdome and I am busy ploughly my way through her books. It's interesting though because quite a few of her suggestions I had figured out all ready but it took quite a few horribly disfigured projects to do so, oh how I wish she had been in my life sooner!

I finished a Baby Bolero from One Skein. I wish I could post it one the one skien knit a long, I have recieved and invite for the KAL but I can't figure out how to sign up! ARG.


Very exciting news, when I got to Maine my package from Knit Picks had arrived! So much yarn for such a small price, I am very pleased. I cast on for a pair of chevron self striping socks right away and so far I have ripped it out about three times and I am thinking about ripping it out again... too big, too small, too big, too small.... maybe I should follow EZ's advice and start checking gauge... the project was not a total loss though, I did my first short row heel and perfected the art of the wrap and turn! Also note the very long needle I am useing, this was my first project useing the magic loop. I am enjoying it, I have not yet decided if I prefer it to using DPs, I think I need some more practice first.


I also cast on for Sheldon the Turtle. I actually have much more of him completed than this picture shows and I should be finished him some time today. He is a fast and fun knit, which is good because I got enough yarn to make three.


And lastly here is a photo of my remaining knit picks yarn. So many possibilities! Of Socks and Turtles! The only disapointing thing was that in my excitment of ordering I forgot to make sure the wool was superwash. I don't mind handwash, but I had intended to make some gift socks and most giftee's do not appreciate having to hand wash their socks... so perhaps it will be three pairs of socks for me, which would not be half bad at all.

I have a huge amount of things that I have to put on here, there has been much knitting and yarn related news, but I don't have time to put it all in now. I will try my very best to update tomorrow... it's been a while, I know...

I only have one exam left, hurrah!! So excited for Christmas I really can't even express it. I am leaving to go home to my mom and step dad's house on thursday, where they have dial up and then I am spending chirtsmas with my Dad and step mom in PEI where the internet is unpredictable. So to make a long story short although I will likely be knitting a TON over christmas I will probably not be able to update very often, or at all until after Boxing Day.

I don't have any new knitting pictures to display because I have been doing Christmas knitting. After Christmas I can publish a slew of the gifts that I have given people.

So in lieu of pictures of knitting here is a picture of Sage "helping" me pack. I think maybe she wants to go to Saint John with me?

I am really looking forward to my fieldwork placement, but of course I have some anxiety as well. I hate being away from Mike, the cat, my apartment and all my friends here in Halifax. I am glad that I am staying with family though (my aunt and uncle in Seeley's Cove), so at least I will have some familiarity in it all.

Well, I hope that I will be able to update before Christmas, but if not, Happy Holidays!

This morning Mary and I went to the Hydrostone to go to one of Halifax's fine LYS, L.K Yarns, we went so that she could get some yarn for her Hermione Hat. It will probably be a little while before I get to it, but I hope that I will have it done by New Years. See I am not coming back to Halifax in January, I am going to Saint John for my clinical placement, but Mike will be coming back, so if I can give it to him by New Years he can deliver it to Mare, so she can be warm and fashionable. She settled on this color of Paton's Merino, she's a little allergic to wool so I think the Merino will be a good choice.


I also picked up the brown for Chad's hat, I used that and some of the leftover from Maureen's hat & mitts to make him his hat. It's sort of a skull cap style, which I hope he likes. I was going to make a flip brim style but I messed up with the strands on my striping so it ended up being a beanie. If he doesn't like it I know a certain boy that I live with that would very much like the hat for himself.

I knit it with Paton's Merino on 4.5 mm needles. I made up the pattern, I just cast on 96 stitches and worked in a knit 2 purl 2 rib for 35 rows and then decreases 8 stitches every second row until it was done.

I have also cast on for this project. This is a sneak picture and there shall be no more pictures of it until after Christmas as it is a surprise :)


And lastly I picked up this pattern. I really don't need any more knitting patterns, especially with all the things I am inspired to make right now, but they had an example of these mittens in the store and they were BEAUTIFUL. So I must must make them.

I have reached totally new levels of brain fatigue, I wrote two exams today and I think my poor brain has climbed into a cave in the back of my skull and won't be coming out again for a while. Which is why I really shouldn't be packing rash yarn choices right now... but somehow I am anyway. Whilst browing the new issue of knitty, I stumbled across this little fella.


Isn't he cute? I love him! I went to the Knit Picks website which I have never been to before and ordered enough yarn to make 3... I told you I was making rash choices....

While I was on the website, I noticed how freakishly low the prices were. Like, holy crap that's cheap, and I saw that there was free shipping on orders over $40, so naturally I had to order over $40 worth... that's just common sense. It was actually HARD to rack up a big enough order! I ordered enough yarn to make three pairs of socks, and a book by Charlene Schurch, called Sensational Knitted Socks. It looks great and I have her book "Hats on!" which is fab, so it should be pretty good. I am having it shipped to Mike's house in Maine, so I can skip the duty and shipping fees.


Overall I am very happy with the new issue of knitty, to be honest I found the last couple of issues kinda disapointing, but this one is pretty fab. Anywho I am gonna go rest my brain.

I am tired. Really, really, truly tired. I wrote my Pharamacology exam today and I have exams in Novice Consulting and Health Law tomorrow. Too... many... exams... Ah well, it will all be over soon enough and I can catch up on sleep and "me time" over Christmas break.


Good news - I finished Maureen's Hermione Mittens, here she is with her complete set, she looks quite trendy and fabulous if I do say so myself!


And so I am back trudging away on my afghan, this is square number 11 in progress. I have to have it done by December 21 because Julie is flying from December 22 - 26 (she's a flight attendant). But I think I am gonna have to put a hold on it because my wrist is starting to bothering be again (Damn DeQuervain's).

And lastly, the token picture of my cat attacking the yarn coming off of my afghan square...

A few hours after my last post all that gross rain turned into fluffy snowflakes, our first real snowfall of the season, and fall it did! We got a good couple of feet on the ground that night and we also got our first power outage of the season. The power turned off when I was about 15 minutes away from completing a tasty meal of my world famous pork, bok choy, beansprout and mushroom stirfry. It was heart breaking. All was not lost though! We trudged down the street with Mare and Manda, to the Ardmore, where we gorged on their awesome greasy spoon food.

The snow has actually stayed around, and we have a pretty layer on the ground and on all the trees. It is truly mitten, hat and scarf weather. I love gawking at everyone else's winter wear and trying to figure out how to steal the patterns :)


Maureen's mittens are coming along well. Mary and I are going to the yarn store on Saturday so that she can pick out yarn that will look as close as possible to what Hermione wore! So I am going to try and finish Maureen's mittens for Saturday. Under normal knitting conditions this would be very easy, but with all this damn exam studying getting in the way, my knitting time is seriously compromised.


I wore the hourglass sweater that I knit from Last Minute Knitted Gifts today for the first time since I knit it over a year ago. I used Brown Sheep Superwash, and 3.75 mm needles. I am thinking about reknitting it with smaller needles, I like the sweater but the sleeves are really baggy. I am contimplating playing around with the pattern, maybe adding some emblishments or something. Also, I would like to express how hard it is to take a picture of yourself in the mirror, next time I will just wait until my photographer aka Mike gets home.

Hey! Look! A picture of my cat! For the record all of you DSU people, the blog will not be renamed to "Pictures of my cat" OR "Pictures of my naughty cat" The cat simply adds a bit of flair and adorableness to my blog :P

It's horrible and rainy and cold outside today. So I am very happy that it's my last day of classes, and now that I am home I can stay here, curled up in my sweat pants with a nice hot cup of tea, and all my studying...


I finished Yvonne's Double Flower facecloth that I was knitting for my Mom for Christmas, I bought a little handmade soap to go with it. I think she'll love it, especially since I knit it with this very soft, natural, organic cotton. It's called Eco-Knit. I have never used it before but I liked it, the plys were a little loose but other than that it was very nice to use. I used Crystal Palace 3.25 double points, and my addi turbo 3.25 round needle to make the cloth, and I think that size was perfect.


Here is Sage, looking very innocent and cute... this was BEFORE I tried to take a picture of Maureen's Hermione Mittens to match her hat.


Here she is vicously lounging after an inncent strand of yarn...

And finally here she is with a death grip on the yarn. She sat there holding the yarn and everytime that I tried to take it from her she flipped out and attacked something else. I finally managed to distract her with a scrap of yarn and managed to salvage the yarn before she ripped any holes in it. She's a very naughty kitty.

I went to the DSU Christmas party on Friday night with Mike and Amanda. Both of who work for the DSU, Mike is Vice President Education, and Amanda works Special Events. It was lots of fun, had at the T-Room which is our Engineering bar on Campus. There was Pizza, Chips and some free drinks. There was also Trivia, which we usually win, but only came in second place. Well to be honest, we split into two teams, "foods that end in 'amburger" and "Knittin' Bitches", and my team (guess which one I was on) lost. But the other one got second so it was not a total loss.

I would like to express my dismay at the knitting discrimination that I recieved at the Bar. Apparantly, it's not socially acceptable to knit in bars? I don't see how it bothers other people so much, I try to keep my needles under the table. I should point out that as per usual, my friends started out by making fun of my knitting, and then ended by asking me to make them hats... not the best way to get on my good side.


Anyway, in other news I finished Maureen's Hermione Hat! Here is a picture of me wearing her hat. She is going to be so happy to get it! She went home for the weekend but gets back tonight so I will run it up to her apartment at some point. I have also started her mittens to match the hate but it will be a few days before they are done.


I broke my yarn diet yesterday morning. But I really could not resist this cone or Euroflax. I am planning on knitting a lace scarf with it while I am on my placement in Saint John. It is going to be so great when I am done all my Christmas knitting and I can take some time to do some long finicky projects like this one.