Work in progress

So here's a work in progress of my legwarmers. The color is all wrong, but I love the texture of it. Unfortunately I don't know if I'm going to have enough yarn. The pattern said two skeins, which is what I bought, so I thought I would be good. But as I'm knitting, I realized I'm nowhere near the finished length, but my yarn is quickly running out. So I check the pattern. 2 skeins, but 100g each. The yarn I bought was 50g per skein. Doh! Hopefully the store will have more of the same color. It could be challenging because this yarn has been discontinued. If they don't have it, I'll have to do something creative with mixing in different colors or trying to find the yarn elsewhere.

Skating and music and knitting, oh my!

Yesterday out on the ice, I sucked! I got better, but the first time through practicing my program I was downright awful! I think it was the lack of warming up, plus I wanted to do well so of course I was bad. My coach commented that she knew I could do these things and that I just needed to relax.

Saturday I went and got my dress. I had looked at dresses online and noticed how crazy expensive they were. I figured I would look locally and see what I could get and then order online if I couldn't find anything. So my coach and classmates suggested that I go to a local store in Framingham. I did, and here's my dress. Except I got it in black. I had thought about getting one in a simmery black velvet, but they didn't have a style that I liked in that color.

But holy expensive, Batman! This was more than the ones I saw online. Well, more than the cheap ones I was considering. However, I know this fits and it was comfortable, so I guess it was worth the price. Now I just need to pick up some tights. And I think next week I'll start practicing in it.

Saturday while driving around I was flipping through radio stations and found a fun one. And Chris and I have now discovered a new favorite song. :) Ladybug, Ladybug, Ladybu-u-ug. Yes, it's a kids song. No, we don't care.

And in knitting news, I'm still working on a secret project, but it is almost done. However, I've taken a break and started on some legwarmers. I figure they could be good for skating. I just started them last night, so we'll see if I can finish them by the weekend or not. If I do, chances of me getting burned out are high. Last weekend I finished up my eggplant, pictured here. The pattern book used the alternate word, aubergine, which I love. I also love the word courgette.

Fun times

So last night as Chris was driving home, a cop pulled out behind him. And the cop was behind him for about a half mile or so, following him through lights and turns, etc. Then, two houses away from being home, the cop turns his lights on and pulls Chris over.

Cop: Do you know why I pulled you over?
Chris: Actually, I have no idea.
Cop: Your inspection sticker has expired.
Chris: I just got it inspected last week!
Cop: Oh, well my computer says it's expired. Maybe the records just didn't get updated yet.

The cop even got out his flashlight and looked at the sticker. Luckily not too closely as he did, indeed, have an expired sticker. However, Chris did bring it in for service a week ago and he paid for an inspection. He just never received that inspection. Fun times.

Competition Time

For probably about a year now, my skating teacher and other classmates have been saying that I should learn a program. Learning a program is no fun by itself, so this means having a place to perform said program. And on Saturday my teacher told me about a competition the second weekend in March. So I said ok, I'll do it. When do you want me for a private lesson? How about tomorrow at 11? Ok. So yesterday I had my first private lesson. And today I hurt. It wasn't really anything new, but it was the intensity. By the end I couldn't do it anymore. My legs weren't supporting me. Only six weeks to get ready. Hope I can do this!

And I'm very quickly realizing why I put this off so long. It's expensive! $40 registration fee for the competition. Not too bad. But then there's the costume. No clue how much that will end up being, but they're not cheap. $15 for ice time for practice, plus another $30 for each private lesson. And I don't know if I'll need those weekly or if I can spread them out a bit. I also should probably try to find some mid-week time to practice, as it doesn't really make much sense to just skate on Saturdays and Sundays.

What's amazing to me about all of this is how much I've learned and improved in the two years that I've been skating. I remember in my second class I started crying because I was so stressed and frustrated and feeling as if I couldn't do anything. I just hope I don't suck too horribly come competition day.

(The photo is from January 2008, about a month or two after I started lessons.)

Spring, Hurry up and get here. Please.

Earlier this week we had a "warm" spell. It was in the 40s. Glorious! The warmer temperatures, combined with some rain, and the foot or so of snow on the ground mostly all melted away. I knew it was too good to last.

As I write this, snow is starting to fall outside my window. There are a number of things that I'd like to get done outside at home, but it's always dark, too cold, or everything is covered in snow. Blech. And I continue to have spring fever.

Even though I know it won't truly warm up for 3-4 more months I've started to plan my garden. I've run into issues in the past where I've put it off and things I've wanted to order have been sold out. So over the past couple of weeks (inspired by some emails I've received) I planned out my garden and placed a number of orders. We still have work to do prepping the ground (building beds, etc) but all of the plants and seeds have been ordered. And according to UPS tracking, the seeds should be coming to my house today.

I've ordered tomato, asparagus, rhubarb, and strawberry plants and lots of seeds-
Petunias
Nasturtium
Cosmos
Four o'clocks (never heard of these before, but they looked pretty)
Cilantro
Basil
Parsley
Mesclun mix
Broccoli
Sweet peppers
Zucchini
Cucumbers
Beans
Scallions
Carrots
Corn

Wow, that's a lot of stuff! And most of it will go into 4 4x4 foot beds. The asparagus, strawberries and rhubarb will be going into a larger bed along the porch. And the flowers- haven't really decided. A few here, a few there. And maybe some of the herbs will end up in pots as well. All I know if I've got my work cut out for me with seed starting. Hopefully I'll have better luck than I've had in the past.

Thoughts on a Thursday

Today's post is all about knitting. As many of them have been lately. I don't really understand why I'm so much into knitting all of a sudden, but it all started right after Christmas when I saw a knitting calendar with a pattern for cookies. Then that led to the penguin hat also in the calendar. And I wanted to make something to give along with the hat, which led to the monster booties (and another secret project). And along the way there were vegetables and fingerless gloves. And my latest internet addiction- Ravelry. This led to elf slippers and the desire to order lots and lots of yarn. Yup. I have a problem.

My scrapping, however, has been sorely neglected. I still have a couple of layouts to do for my 2008 album. Plus their are the 2008 vacation (Acadia) and Christmas albums. For 2009, I think I've only done 2 or 3 layouts. So not only is there the normal album, but there's also the England album. And although I did start it, I never did finish the 2009 Cookie Baking cookbook. Yup. I'm rather behind. With little chance of being caught up. Blech.

We have company coming on Saturday which means that the rest of the week needs to be spent cleaning and getting ready for that. But all I want to do is go home and finish knitting an eggplant.

Busy weekend

This weekend's knitting projects included these elf slippers, making cases for my double pointed needles, and starting to make a bunch of grapes.

I found the pattern for the slippers on Ravelry on Friday, bought the yarn on Saturday, and finished them up Sunday evening. Kind of funny because earlier in the week I had been discussing slippers with someone at work and we mentioned elf slippers. So I think these will have to go in to work when they are done. And there was some leftover yarn that I figured was grape colored, so I started to make some fruit.

I went with a pattern that I had for Halloween eyeballs and used that for my first grape. It turned out a bit large, so I left out an increase and a few extra rows and I think the smaller size will be fine. Then I made the stem out of some yarn leftover from Tucker. I have 7 more grapes to make for this bunch, but I think it may be part of an even larger bunch of grapes. That will have to wait to see.

And for the knitting needle cases, I started them a few weeks ago. Actually, the project is even older than that. I think it was last spring when I decided that I wanted to make the cases. But this afternoon I finished them up. Sorry, no picture to share of those.

Hello, Pink.

Finished up my fingerless gloves over the weekend. I think I should have made them a size smaller. they seem a little baggy. However, they also fit well over bulky clothes, so maybe it was the right size. Maybe it's just a yarn without a lot of elasticity. The photo of my left hand looks a little wonky, but that's just because of my sweatshirt sleeve and my watch underneath the glove.

And they are working. My finger tips are sometimes still a little chilly, but in general I am feeling that they are a lot warmer. And my hands are ALWAYS cold!

Someone at work saw them today and commented that it they weren't pink they might look somewhat Austen-ish. Or maybe he said Dickensian. Either way, they kind of fit into those periods.