The Name Is Smith, Mrs. Smith

Hi everyone!

Sorry for the lack of posting, but nothing really entertaining has been happening here in Gainesville. Oh! What am I talking about!? I got 10.5 16" circular needles at Jo-Ann's. For some reason the store had about five sizes of 16" circular needles. The sizes didn't make sense either, it was sizes 9-13 or something. Oh well, I am not complaining! Now I just need to find the perfect yarn and I will start on the Swirly Top hat from The Opinionated Knitter. FYI, that isn't the real name, but I am too lazy to see what the real name is even though the book is ten feet away.

The knitting has been slow, but that is mainly because I have actually been busy with work. My Master's project has taken this weird turn and it involves thousands of excel graphs. I kid not. Thousands of graphs. I now dream of dash blue lines and dot red lines. Don't I live a wild and exciting life? :)

I think I also need to start a new project. Right now, all I have on the needles are partly done socks and scarves/shawls. I need a quick pick-me-up project like a hat or dishcloth. Did I mention the fabulous deal I got on Peaches and Cream (or Sugar and Cream, or whatever)? I got 2 for $3. Now I know you are scoffing at this price, but I haven't got to the best part yet. These were the ordinary puny sized balls of Peaches and Cream. These were the extra large ones (no...not the cones...the big sized ones)! This is especially a great deal, because the puny sized one are usually about $1.25, so this is the ultimate deal! I got 8 balls of yarn and I am pumped for dishcloths or maybe even some darling baby kimonos. Okay, I don't know anyone with a baby, but hey, it could happen and then I could be ready! I will be the only person in my cohort with hordes of baby kimonos in her closet.

Oh, I must relate this amusing story. So I got my Brown Alumni Magazine (or BAM! as Emeril would call it) in the mail the other day, in the class updates was an update I made. This wouldn't normally be amusing; HOWEVER, there was a typo in it! Not a spelling error or a grammatical error, which would have just been embarrassing, but a mistake in my name! The editors must have felt that I should have gotten married by the tender age of 25, and after my lovely last name is another last name. Instead of Silver Arrow, there was Silver Arrow "Smith!" I kinda wonder now if there are people I don't keep in contact with from college who think I tied the knot. There is a really big part of me who has no desire to correct the mistake. I feel like I am living this alternate life now. I am not just a single and carefree grad student, but I am now also "Mrs. Smith" married and dutiful wife. When I get bored in class, I wonder what Mrs. Smith is doing. Is she having trouble balancing school and married life? Will she get pregnant and have to take time off of school? Only BAM! knows what will happen to her!

-SAK

Cotton Ease Countdown

So I was at Michael's the other day and I noticed that they don't have Lion Brand Cotton Ease yet. I was going to ask one of the employees when they would be getting the yarn, but I figured that they wouldn't know. It made me kinda sad that people weren't having Cotton Ease new release parties like many people will be having for the seventh Harry Potter book. I realized that I even fell into this group. I know that I will be waiting in line at midnight of whatever the release date for the final Harry Potter book, but I am in no hurry to order Cotton Ease off a website. I am perfectly content to wait until my local Michael's (not my LYS, mind you) gets this fabulous product in stock. It made me realize that as much as I love knitting, I am not as hardcore as (just as an example really) my Harry Potter obsession. I have to wonder if there are people out there, the more hardcore fiber lovers, counting down to new and exciting yarn lines. To be honest, I wish I was a bit more of a hardcore fiber love, but at the same time, I know that if I was I would be constantly sad that I couldn't afford the good stuff. Oh well, at least there are only seven Harry Potter books. :-/

-SAK

Epcot

Hey! So I am going to be a bit busy for the next couple of days, so I thought I would tell you about some of my adventures one at a time. The best knitting related one is the following...

When I went to Epcot, I made sure to ride the "Tricky Troll Ride" in Norway. The ride has a real name, but that is what my family calls it. Anyway, after the ride, I was ceremonially dumped in the Norway store. When I was browsing the store, I found Dale of Norway knitting kits! They were a bit on the expensive side, since all I really wanted to buy was the yarn and I can get that separately. I also found in the store Dale of Norway knitted goods! I didn't know that Dale of Norway actually made knitted goods! I thought the company just sold yarn. There were beautiful hats and sweaters. They too were expensive but worth every penny. I really wanted to buy one of the hats, but I couldn't justify the price since the hats were pretty heavy for Florida winters. I was going to take a picture, but I figured, the "cast members" wouldn't appreciate my phototaking in the store.

-SAK

Wow

Hey everyone,

This is just a quick post to say that I am back from Disney World and it was the most amazing vacation I have been on ever! I am not sure if it was the actual vacation or the extreme need for a vacation from grad school life that made me feel so refreshed, but either way I am not complaining about the utter euphoria I am feeling now. I have a couple of pics and lots of stories to tell, but for now I must sleep.

Happy January!

-SAK

Cotton Ease Is Back!

I just got an email from Lion Brand. Cotton Ease is back! Let the true Floridian knitting begin!

iPods Are Fun and Tiring

Hi!

Posts with pictures are coming soon. I got an iPod for Christmas and I am currently converting my music from wma to mp3 files. I have 24 gigs of music and this is taking a while. In fear that uploading pictures will freak my computer out and cause me to restart this whole process. You think I am acting a bit silly? Well, I have been converting files for 22hours 45minutes and I am at 13.61 gigs. The good news is that once I do this, I won't have to do it again. Phew.

I am so excited that I will be able to listen to Cast On on the drive down to Orlando (since I have missed the past 10 podcasts). Oh for all you Harry Potter fans, I downloaded a few Mugglecasts and Pottercasts before I started this conversion thing (it makes sense, trust me) and they are absolutely entertaining and informative. :)

-SAK

Yarn & Needles

OMG, so I was at the Dollar Store killing time while I was getting my car's oil changed and tires rotated when I saw yarn! The Dollar Store had Lion Brand Fancy Fur and Boucle for a $1. I simply couldn't believe it! The unfortuneate part is that I don't like either of these yarns. The Fancy Fur creeps me out and the Boucle is too rough for me. Now, however, I am going to have to make weekly trips to the Dollar Store to see if they get any other yarn brands in though. If you are in the Gainesville area and like these yarns, this Dollar Store is near the Kmart by the Oaks Mall.

A sad thing happened today. I need 10 1/2 16in circular needles to make some hats and when I went to JoAnns, I discovered that this store like Michaels only sells 29in circular needles. I know that I can knit hats on two circular needles or on DPNs (which I did purchase), but I want my 16in circulars! They make me happy! I like the fluid motion of knitting on the 16in needles. There is not stopping to pick up the other set of circular needles or to tighten a few stitches at the beginning of a new DPN. I have two options now: 1) go to the mean LYS or 2) pay crazy S&H fees for some needles. Hmmm, maybe it is time to make a WEBS order...

-SAK

PS I am going to Disney World this coming weekend! Look forward to UFOs with Mickey!

Happy New Year!

I hope everyone had a good holiday. I just got back from home and finally had a moment to post on my holiday knitting. I was pretty productive. I finished all but the band for Glaistig and I am a bit more than halfway done with Argosy. I have learned two valuable lessons while working on these two projects. One, Koigu is amazing yarn (Glaistig). It felt heavenly in my hands. If I could, I would knit in only Koigu for the rest of my life. Two, yarn with more than one color (striping, varigated, etc) are very painful when there is a knot in the yarn or you have to change skeins, because as much as you want a "smoothness" to the color transistions, you are NEVER going to get it. It made me sad. :(

The Christmas holiday left me with quite a few additions to my knitting library. I got a few Barbara Walker books (treasuries 2-4) and EZ's "Knitting Around" and "The Opinionated Knitter." I also got "Loop-d-Loop" and "Knitting Sweaters in Plain English." Oh! I also got a pair of the glow in the dark needles (size 10 1/2).

-SAK