Dobby is My Hero!

GAH! Trying to catch a break...

2010-11-20T11:18:00.000-08:00

Here's my last few weeks:

So I've been sick for like 2 months. I finally found a good doctor though and she gave me some different prescriptions and I've finally been feeling better. (AND it's SUCH a flipping relief.) I have a follow-up in I have a follow-up in December and I'm getting blood work done to check up on everything. I'm so relived to have found a doctor that I like.
I'm so fed up with my job and work in general. Although I told my boss about it and he seemed sympathetic and has made some attempts to be less of a dick so I guess that's good.. We'll see how it progresses.
I've decided that I want to go back to school for my PhD. This is scary as all hell. I've been spending my waking hours that aren't working studying. I also knit a little bit, when I'm in the mood. ;)
I saw my first 3D movie (Megamind) with Ronni and her munchkins
I take the GREs Saturday November 27th. I may be insane for picking such a close date.
Analogies are the bane of my existence. I don't know why they exist. It's absurd.
My grandmother is sick again. She's always sick at this time of year, but we never know how bad it's going to be. And it seems to get worse each year. :(
I'm about as ready for the "Holiday Season" as I am for my GREs. Actually, I'm LESS ready for the holidays.

Logan (and Jamie and Sophie and Mauricio -- not pictured) went to Harry Potter with me at midnight. I had A LOT (!!!) of fun. Logan wore my Gryffindor scarf and I wore my JUST FINISHED Ravenclaw scarf. Logan is the most awesome brother ever.

And here's what I've been knitting on:

My Ravenclaw Scarf
and it's finished!!!

Phoebus Apollo
I learned a lesson knitting these socks: Don't knit from a chart while you're sleepy, on cold medicine and also trying to pay attention to Dexter. Your pattern magnet has the ability to slide and mess you up so that you knit half of row 4 and repeat half of row three and not know what to do on row five. This will result in a frogging.

Other than that "small" (albeit educational) hiccup, this sock is flying off the needles. I actually cast this on because I was trying Ronni's method of dealing with stress/trauma/craziness/etc. She casts on and knits a new pair of socks. Clearly, I've not been super into this sock, but I'm getting over my I HATE KNITTING SOCKS phase. Also, its such a pretty yarn.

Snapdragon Mittens
I'm going to do the thumb before the flip top. I also think I'm going to start the second mitt before the flip-top. PROCRASTINATION. The flip-tops scare me a little. (Although I did finally master backwards loop cast on, so I'm less worried.) ALSO I want the thumb to match, so I figure I'll do the thumb and save what's let of this ball for the flip top of the second mitten and use the new ball for the flip top of this mitten. That way any dye lot difference wont be too jarring.

These will be SUPER cute when I finish them. :) I'm looking forward to my matching mittens and tam set.

Reunion Cowl
I have been cowl obsessed lately. I mean REALLY OBSESSED. Especially with large oversized cowls. I've knit 2 or 3 and they've all ben for swaps or for gifts, so I finally cast on one for myself.

Getting this sucker joined in the round without twisted stitches was HARD. (430 stitches in lace weight.) It should be smooth(er) from there.

I also though mindless knitting of stockinette in the round would be a good idea. It's lace weight though, so I've made like no progress. I also REALLY wanted my scarf done for the movie premier. So worth it. :)

Week 9 Quiz

2010-11-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

To which prison was Gellert Grindelwald sent after he was defeated by Dumbledore in 1945? Nurmengard
Who is the first casualty in The Deathly Hallows? Charity Burbage
What does Draco Malfoy name his son? Scorpius
Before Harry gains control of it, who is the master of the Elder Wand? Draco Malfoy
Severus Snape’s Patronus takes the same form as which other character’s? Lily Potter's
Where do Ron, Hermione and Harry apparate when Death Eaters invade Bill and Fleur’s wedding? Tottenham Court Road
Who does Harry send to search for Mundungus Fletcher and the missing locket? Kreacher
Who destroys Salazar Slytherin’s locket? Ron
What does Hermione use to destroy Helga Hufflepuff’s cup? A Basilisk fang (from the Chamber of Secrets)
Following the death of Lord Voldemort, who is named temporary Minister of Magic? Kingsley Shacklebolt

2011 Jack-O-Lanterns

2010-11-07T13:03:00.001-08:00

Copy-Cat post from my muggle blog.

I love carving pumpkins. It's quite easily my favorite part of the holidays. This year I did two and I had a "Scott Pilgrim" theme.

My inspiration pictures:

Scott Pilgrim

Sex Bob-Omb Logo

And my finished Pumpkins:

Scott Pilgrim's Head and the Sex Bob-Omb Logo in pumpkin form

Scott's Head

Sex Bob-omb Logo

Sometimes I do my homework

2010-11-03T20:26:00.001-07:00

And the anagrams are:

SPARSE VENUES = Severus Snape
GO UNLOAD LOVE = Luna Lovegood
A MOTH SEDAN = Thomas Dean
FLUSH CIGAR = Argus Filch
SLICK AIRBUS = Siruis Black
DUMB ANALOG = Ludo Bagman
A DRY MOO-CALF = Draco Malfoy
UNSNAP THE SKI = Stan Shunpike
PIT-A-PAT RIVAL = Pavarti Patil
AN OLD JEER = Lee Jordan

Swaps

2010-11-03T20:23:00.000-07:00

Another Copy-Cat Post from the Muggle Blog

I've had a trying few weeks. It's been a super busy October and I'm happy that it's November because it's finally time to STOP. No more trips. 3 paid off of work holidays. It's going to be a good month.

Luckily in October I had swap packages arrive. Swap packages bring me great joy and these 3 were no exception.

First I received 2 on the same day!!! 1 from Kesten in the BSG FPB group for th Swaptober Spooktacular:

The 2nd was my Autumn Scavenger Hunt package from MarthaG in the Stop Swap group

Today I got my Malabrigo swap package from Chaylaura! I am in LOVE!!!

A Project Bag and lots of Knitting Notions and Goodies

A cowl. Knit For Me. And it'll match my green coat. My green coat is one of my favorite coats, and it's SO GREEN that it can be tough to accessorize.

New books! One for knitting, One for reading. AND Mor cables for my interchangeables!

My yarns! (2 skeins of Malabrigo twist in Sunset and 1 skein of worsted in hollyhock)
My coffe mug (that was filled with VIA coffee packets
And a handmade/local-made soap

Swaps make the rough days better and they make me appreciate all my yarn and my knitting and my Ravelry. :D I'm going to get off the computer now and go pet all my yarns. :)

Socks.

2010-10-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Copy-Cat Post from the Muggle Blog

I hate socks. I don't really hate socks. It's gotten colder and they've kept my tootsies warm and cozy. I really hate knitting socks. For a long while all I knit was socks. Socks were my favorite. Now? Now I am socked out. Unfortunately I got socked out with 3 pair on the needles.

I was on such a "Finish my WIPs" knitting high. I was going so fast. I was finishing so much. It was amazing. Then I hit the socks. And well... I stalled. Big time. I want those pairs of socks. (Well, not the blue ones, they're for Rowena. BUT I'm sure she wants them.) I just don't want to knit them. I'm eagerly awaiting my sock mojo to come back to me. There are other people who have asked me for socks. I'm wishing I had been smarter and knitted those earlier when I was still feeling "socky."

Sock Knitting hating aside I have received 8 skeins of sock yarn recently. (Recently meaning within the month). (Although one skein is BMFA fingering marine silk and I have NO INTENTION of socks. That'll be a pretty little shawl.)

It's just that sock yarn is so wonderful. It's colorful. There are so many awesome indie dyers. It's easy to buy one skein and make a project with it. A shawlette, socks, hats, mitts... Double it up and you have worsted weight. I love sock yarn. It's my favorite. It's just I don't want to make socks with it. Ever. Well, maybe one day. Hopefully soon.

2010-10-23T23:16:00.000-07:00

Okay so....

Last weekend I was out of town for a wedding. I had a blast. I came home hung over. I got some bad news at work when I went back in. Then the bad stuff just kept coming. It was an awful awful week. I mean really I'm happy to have survived it.

I've hardly been on-line, and so I'll be doing a lot of catching up these next couple of days. :)

My Family

2010-10-13T19:38:00.001-07:00

Yesterday my dad had surgery. I spent the morning worrying and the evening in the hospital. It wasn't MAJOR surgery and he's okay and he's home now. He'll be stuck in his chair and in recovery for a while, but he'll heal and he'll be better. He's been in a lot of pain so it was something that needed to be done.

I've been thinking a lot more about my family. I'm lucky to have the parents that I have. I consider my brothers to be my best friends. There are a lot of people who can't say that. My mom can't stand her siblings. My dad claims to only have 1 brother. He's disowned his sister.

I'm blessed with a family that I can call anytime. Literally anytime. I've tested that statement. A family that doesn't care that I'm a little strange, but also has no problem poking fun at me for it. A family that loves me. They are fun. They are goofy. They find my Harry Potter obsession endearing. They really are some of the best people in this world.

I know normally we all wait for Thanksgiving to be thankful, but I'm thankful for them now. I felt like I needed to say so. :D

A couple (maybe 3 weeks ago, I don't remember) we took a family mini-trip up to the mountains.We had a picnic, brought the dogs, hiked a little bit, and played half a game of dominoes. It was a lot of fun and I took a bunch of pictures. I meant to blog about this earlier but I forgot. Well, I didn't forget. I've been sick, and I've been busy so...

Without further ado... My pictures!

Week 4 Quiz

2010-10-08T10:56:00.000-07:00

Why does Harry accuse Remus Lupin of being a coward? He was going to leave his family to join up with Harry. Hermione and Ron.
Who is R.A.B.? Regulus Arcturus Black
According to legend, what would a person become if he could assemble the Deathly Hallows? master death
What is Ariana Dumbledore rumored to be? a squib
What is written on Harry’s parents’ gravestone? The Last Enemy That Shall Be Destroyed is Death
Why does Krum want to fight Xenophilius Lovegood? Xenophilius was wearing "Grindevald's" mark
Why does Voldemort seek the Elder Wand? For the power, and also to beat Harry since no other wand he uses will
Where did Dumbledore’s family live? Godric's Hollow (after Ariana's attack)
Whose eye does Harry see in his magic mirror shard? Aberforth's
What item does Harry steal from Gringotts? Hufflepuff's cup
Where does Rita Skeeter get her information about Dumbledore? Bathilda Bagshot
What is inside the Snitch that Dumbledore leaves Harry? The resurrection stone - from Gaunt's ring
Why does Dumbledore leave Ron a Deluminator? because he knew Ron would leave Harry & Hermione & the deluminator could help him get back to them
Why has Hermione not read The Tales of Beedle the Bard? Because she is muggle-born and they were wizard stories
What is Dumbledore’s greatest regret? The death of his sister.
Whose mail did Snape open? Sirius'
What form does Snape’s Patronus take? a doe
Why can the Sword of Gryffindor destroy Horcruxes? it has been imbibed with Basilisk venom
What name is given to wizards who help Mudbloods? blood traitors
How do Harry and his friends enter the Ministry of Magic? using polyjuice potion and carefully planning and stalking different ministry workers.
Who made Harry’s wand? Olivander

I'll be back for the essay later. Maybe. I'm sick again. :(

Word Association Game

2010-09-28T10:08:00.000-07:00

Okay -- Here's my list, now that I had time for my intentioned answers to leave via osmosis and I could do this successfully. :)

Pumpkin PIE
Owl POST
Leaf "on the wind.."
Weasley Ginger
Quaffle balls
Hallow witch
Mad hatter
Dragon heart
Crystal meth
Trees leaves
Hermione bushy
Hogwarts Harry Potter
Burrow dig
Dobby my hero! ;)
Horcrux souls
Ministry wankers
Magic wand
Sirius seriously?
Apple pie
Juice cranberry
Candle-labra
Ghost Hunters
Snake "Why's it have to be snakes?"
Wand Phoenix
Invisibility Cloak
Tent Super Run Away
Spell Avada Kedavra
Umbridge Toad Face
Dursely Olsen
Prophet Roman Grant

Week 2 Blogging Assignment

2010-09-21T19:27:00.000-07:00

What 5 things would you not leave home without if you were going into hiding, camping, or running away and WHY.

So I've been battling a flu since Sunday and the only running away/camping/hiding I intend on doing is in my bed under the covers. And here are the 5 things going with me:

The laptop
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
The Fall by Guillermo del Toro
My Knitting (the Ravenclaw scarf, Snapdragon Flip-Tops, and my Catnip Socks) ---- all links lead to my Ravelry project pages
An extra blanket

I know that wasn't totally the point of the assignment but I'm really just too out of it to come up with a better answer.

Plus my idea of camping is a 3 star hotel so I have no idea what I'd bring on the run. I would be for all intent and purpose useless in those situations. There's totally no wi-fi in the woods. Bogus.

Week 1 Welcome Assignment Part 2

2010-09-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one). Perenelle/Sylvo (knit)
Someone who was born in the same month as you. Wisteria/Neila (July)
Someone from a different country. Emma W./Annkingstone (England)
A new HSKS Family member. Schmutzerella/Schmutzerella
Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. Siobhan/Celticmommy
Someone who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so! Mine's the biggest! 259+ if I count what's not on Ravelry. :P (I took pics)
Someone who both knits and crochets. Hermione/Smileynetta`
Someone who has the same favorite color as you. Elanor/setembrina (orange)
Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you. Honoria/Jellbeaninc (summer, and she believes birthdays should count! Double win!)
Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you. Morgianna/StarofTwilight (malabrigo)

=================================

My stash:

Sock Yarns (by color):

Laceweight and fingering intended for 'lace' (aka Shawl projects)

Special Basket = Wollmeise and Sundara FMC

A picture inside my cupboard which contains:
TOP (left to right) Balled sock yarns & sport + DK weight, and Bulky weight + Handspuns (done by Phelia/Sinknitty)
BOTTOM (left to right): Worsteds (cascade, patons merino, etc.), MALABRIGO (worsted, twist, Rios 00 the chunky and the sock are with the chunkys and the socks)

Close ups of the inside:

Sock Yarn balled up + Dk & sport

Bulky in balls, Hansspun & the skeined bulky

Worsteds (cascade + Patons merino)

AND THE GRAND FINALE MY MALABRIGO 'cubby'
Missing is 5 skeins of Rios that I balled up to start a blanket. :)

Also I ordered a bunch of cascade 220 superwash for gifts and maybe JUST MAYBE some more Mal Rios snuck into my cart.

In accepting this award presented to me by HSKS for the largest stash I'd like to thank the following:

Rowena Bladvak/Ronni-licious, my enabler
The Loopy Ewe for may many credits and a fabulous selection
WEBS for cheap cheap prices
Malabrigo for being so addicting
Carrie at Cosmic fibers, her Harry Potter colors are what got me into sock yarns and I'm now in my third year the nefarious club (!!!!)
Megaera/Chelle for actually discovering that I had the largest stash
My fabulous frinds that went on the yarn crawl with me in California. (CelticMommy, Ronni-licios, Neila, Staroftwilight, Jenean, Sherry ....)
My bf's parents for letting us rent a house that allows me to have a yarn room.
Anyone I've ever swapped with because they've introduced me to even more yarns
My mom and grandmother who have fabric stashes that inspired me to stash.

Assignment/Welcome #1 - Part 1 (My faves)

2010-09-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one).

- I knit, I bead

Someone who was born in the same month as you.

- JULY! (best month)

Someone from a different country.
- USA born

A new HSKS Family member.
- this is definitely not my first one, it's my 9th!

Someone who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps.

- Well, as I said above this is my 9th

Someone who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!)

- I have a HUGE stash, it's 250+ according to ravelry (I just looked at this to double check... WOW! and I just ordered more-MOSTLY for gifts but still.)

Someone who both knits and crochets.

- Not me. :( I'm wanting to learn to crochet, but it's not happening so far.

Someone who has the same favorite color as you.

- Currently my favorite color is orange... but as indicated on my sidebar I like almost every color. :)

Someone who has the same favorite season/holiday as you.

- Season: summer, Holiday: it's a toss up between Thanksgiving and my birthday (yes, my birthday is a holiday.)

Someone who has the same favorite fiber as you.

- I'll just call my favorite fiber "malabrigo" ... does that work for everyone?
- Also alpaca... I LOVE alpaca. It's so soft and pretty and awesome. I'm not blessed with an overabundance of it but that's what I spend my time petting at LYSs and the like. ;)

Also not that any of this matters. I apparently have the LARGEST stash!

Finish 2, Start a New One

2010-09-10T18:22:00.000-07:00

I'm starting back again at HSKS so I'll be double posting here and on my muggle blog for the time being. I'm sure I'll have HSKS-esque stuff to post pretty soon. I need to get into the habit of posting here too though!

===================================================

Recently I've been overwhelmed with all of my WIPs. I made myself a deal that in order to start a new project I had to finish 2 of those wips. So I did I actually listened to myself.

First Finished WIP:

Ozymandias, King of Kings

(AKA the never ending shawl from hell)

Pattern: Percy by Sanne Kalkman

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm

Yarn: Cosmic Fibers Ara Stellar

Color: Sweeney Todd

Edging Yarn: DIC Starry

Color: Midnight Derby

Beads: Size 6/0

(replaced the nupps, and extended through the points)

Finished Dimensions:

55” across, 27” from base to tip

Modifications:

Beads added (see above), Ran out of my Sweeny Todd yarn so did a contrasting edging.

I am so very very very happy that this is done. I giggled like a madwoman when blocking it. I mean seriously this thing took me almost a year, and THEN I RAN OUT OF YARN... Well, actually now that it's done and I weighed the yarn I PROBABLY could have finished but when you have something like 20 rows to go and 6 or 7 grams or yarn, you start to worry. The end result is pretty and it makes me happy AND I'm pretty sure it makes other people jealous. Right?

Second Finished WIP:

Knives Chau: 17 Years Old

My very first Scott Pilgrim Fandom knit. :D The scarf is just twisted rib, 17 stripes, each stripe is 5" long, so the total scarf is 85" long. I maybe could have gone longer but I was really stuck n wanting 17 stripes.

Details are as follows:

PATTERN:

Cast on 24 stitches
Using twisted rib create stripes
Each stripe is 5” (or 27 rows)
Bind Off after 17 stripes are finished

(NOTE: I did the math later on, and if I wanted the 10 foot long scarf, I'd need to make each row about 7" for 17 stripes, or have 23 stripes and be 5" short of 10 feet, or 25 stripes and be 5" over 10 feet. I debated doing 25 for a little bit.. Because then it'd be Lucy: 25 Years Old, but I just didn't like that as much.)

Needles: US 9 / 5.5 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220
Colors: 4002 (JET) & 8505 (WHITE)

AND FOR MY NEW PROJECT:

I cast on the Snapdragon Tam by Ysolda.

For some reason my brain wasn't functioning when I first cast this on Tuesday night. It took me 5 attempts:

Attempt one: CO too few stitches
Attempt two: Started knitting WITHOUT STITCH MARKERS and lost the beginning of my round
ATTEMPT 3: too MANY stitches… I need enough for 5 repeats, and I CO for 5 1/2
Attempt 4: I Twisted the G.D. stitches
Attempt 5: FRAKKING finally

Luckily I persevered and managed to get going. I'm looking forward to having a very pretty hat and flip-top mitten set. Which reminds me... I'll need to buy buttons soon.

Copy Cat Post

2010-06-15T19:45:00.000-07:00

My muggle blog has not been feeling the love and is suffering from neglect... So I updated it and figured a little copy/paste action was required. So below is a post from my muggle blog. VERBATIM. Except for this intro.

Also I got my kit. But my batteries are dead now so I'll to a post for that later.
===============

Neglected Blog Needs a Post! BUT I've not finished anything! AAAAAAH! (I've been this crazy all day, just so you know.)

So I'm putting up a WIP and planning post... I know it's not as exciting as when I post about how I messed up on my socks and finished them anyways, but you know... I haven't been all that successfully motivated with the knitting. WELL, that's not true, I've just been tackling bigger projects.

Big Project #1:

Remember how I won the Malabrigo Rios in the naming contest? No? Oh yea, blog has been neglected. Sigh. Well I didn't get the winning name, but I won 10 skein of the yarn in a beautiful color.

Then the question became, well I won awesome, What am I going to do with 10 skein of yarn? Solution = make myself a blanket. I decided on upsizing the Honey Baby Blanket by Anne Hanson. It was written for fingering weigh yarn to make it baby sized. I'm using worsted and thicker needles and making it for me, the big baby.

So far I've finished 1/2 a repeat of 3 full repeats of section A. I love it so far. See Baby You're a Rich Man on Ravelry for individual pictures. (I named it that b/c that was the only song with Baby in the title that made me smile and not gag.)

BIG PROJECT #2:

My clapotis!!!! I've gotten through 5 complete strait section repeats. (5 of between 15 and 18 with my estimations and weight measurements. That'll also depend on how long it is at a point.) I'm loving it so far.

Ravelry project link: Conteur de Fortune (Answer to why it's named that is this: The clapotis is French and it's in Alice Cullen yarn... She sees the future! Get it now? I know I'm lame...)

NOT A BIG PROJECT #3:

My scylla socks. I'm half way through the gusset on both. If I'd sit down and just work on them they'd probably be finished. But I've been workin gon my blanket and my clapotis. :D

Please ignore the grossness that is my foot in this picture. My feet took a beating running around barefoot this weekend.

UP NEXT is a section I'm calling:

BEST LAID PLANS AND ALL THAT

In this section I ntend to talk about my great ideas for these great massive knitting projects that I'll probably never finish. OR that I'll stop and get stracted by mid-way. OR that I'll never get around to because something else will come along... Those types of things.

The above pile of yarn is a collection of yarn that I fully intend to create my own personal 'Alice in Wonderland' themed socks out of. I'm really excited to start, but I'm also trying to get some things off the needles before diving in. Stay tuned.

It's been a long week.

2010-06-11T23:24:00.000-07:00

So in this week

I had to be a part of the firing of someone at work, hiring a new person, and many many other not so exciting work dynamics.
I watched my baby brother graduate high school.
I celebrated my baby brother graduating high school. Maybe celebrated a little too hard...
I watched the new iPhone get released and made sure I signed up every which way for notification of my pre-order... Still debating white or black.. White or Black hmmm
I read the entire Scott Pilgrim series. I really really do love this series. Seriously LOVE it. It will be next month for the last book, and 2 months for the movie. It's my newest obsession.
I bought Alice in Wonderland and spent an evening at home (after a night of too much celebrating) watching it.
I started my knitted blanket. I'll maybe try to get pictures of this. So far so good. Only one minor hiccup and I think I fixed it.

I'm looking forward to sleeping in a bit. Watching soccer and the premier of True Blood. I've also got some fun pool plans with a friend. I'm really hoping this windy-nastiness goes away.

I leave you with photos of Logan's graduation. Because I am proud of him, even if I never though he'd have trouble doing it. I also do love him a lot.

Because I'm not feeling "it"

2010-06-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging in forms of FAVORITE quotations from songs and tv and maybe a movie or book or two....

Treadmill. Crank the incline up to fifteen and just run through the tears.

No I'm not, I'm just stupid and ugly and have a pig face

You got the brains, the body, and the beauty / To top it off, you're cool

Why bother? it's gonna hurt me / It's gonna kill when you desert me / This happened to me twice before / It won't happen to me anymore

It's not what good girls do, not how they should behave / My head gets so confused, hard to obey

Weevil: [to boss] Guess I'll wash some spoiled bitch's graduation gift from daddy, huh?
Veronica: I'm not spoiled, and uh, technically, it wasn't for graduation.
Weevil: What about the b!+(% part?
Veronica: That depends on who you ask. How are you, Weevil? I haven't seen you...

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: 'O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.' And God granted it.

And that's all I've got!

Oh Man

2010-05-29T13:11:00.000-07:00

The bad part about DESIGNING the homework is that when it's time for blogging that week you don't have homework to fall back on as a post. *sigh*

So what to write about.... Ummmm....

I had a rough week, well, actually I had a rough Monday that felt like a whole week so the rest of the week was like this extra bit of "skdfhurhuhbvajdfjnfandslvnas" for lack of better words and now I'm happy to be getting on with my three day weekend.

Gryphon's kit made it to him safely. And he says he's enjoyed it so that makes me very happy.

Yesterday was my mom's birthday and we had a dinner for her and I got to spend some time with her.

Tonight Mauricio and I are going to go see Flight of the Conchords and possibly spend some time on the strip being pretend tourists... That's part of the plan anyways. The likelihood of it playing out is entirely different since we'll probably get quickly annoyed at people that are actually tourists. :D The show will be fun though.

Since I'm in a safe place, I'll admit my addiction.

2010-05-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

I love the Harry Potter stories. I love the books I love the artwork. I LOVE them. That's why I do this swap. I love the trivia...

I have this goal of collecting the books in different languages (if for nothing else than the other cover arts). I want the UK sets in both the adult and children covers... Maybe I'm a bit obsessed and maybe I'm a bit of a hoarder. BUT this week I bought my first non-English set of books and I'm thrilled to pieces over it.

This is all 7 books in Spanish.

I've always wanted to be bilingual. I've taken (no lie, I've added it all up) 7 years of Spanish classes. I do okay with my Spanish, but I'm not bilingual. My boyfriend is. English is actually his second language. I was doing better with my Spanish before his grandfather died. His grandparents spoke very little English, so I really had to work on my Spanish when we visited them. Now his grandfather has gone, and his grandmother lives in Miami so I don't practice as much. I'm hoping to read through these books and improve my Spanish skills. :D

Both my brother and my boyfriend both though I was silly to bought these, claiming I'll never read them. My boyfriend has, however, softened up and decided it will be a good thing for me to read the books in Spanish.

Here is my "Harry Potter Bookshelf" I'm quite proud of it... Though I seem to be missing "Quidditch Through the Ages" even though I KNOW that I own it. ...

Barely made it...

2010-05-15T23:52:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy busy week for me with work and my baby brothers final swim meets. I almost forgot to blog! Not that this post is much of a blog at any rate...

Logan did well at prelims, but finals today he didn't hit quite where he wanted. It was rather crushing. BUT he's okay and he's happy to be done with the sport. He's ready to move on.

My other big event of the day was buying a $24 water polo set for the pool. That made for a fun afternoon. Haha

Anyways good night and I made the dealine and for that I'm greatful.

Potions Homework

2010-05-08T09:25:00.000-07:00

Part 1:
Go around your house, outdoors, for a hike, or wherever and take pictures of 5 different plants, herbs, or flowers that might be used in potions.

Make sure to remember your originality marker for these.

Also, include the names of these (if you don't know their name feel free to make one up) and the description of potential use(s) for each.

4 points for each original picture, 2 points if pictures come from the internet, 1 point for each name, 1 point for each description of use.

My originality marker for this assignment is my pink iPod nano.

My 5 Plants and their uses (from left to right):

Trunk and leaf of palm - Brewed together they create a draught that increases confidence ensuring victory over ones enemies, though similar to Felix Felix Felicitus this potion is less difficult to make and has adverse side effects such as spontaneous anger outbursts that have lead to some unfortunate events. ... It has been banned by most all potion experts.
This grass, when combined with a few other elements (hair of dog, hair of cat, dried/ground strawberries and chopped peanuts) brewed in milk creates an ointment that will cause extreme itchiness and possible swelling to it's unsuspecting victims.
Philodendron... While, my Phil O'Dendron has the magical properties of also being able to keep me company, most of them contain toxins that are used in brewing rodenticides.
Mr. Plant (Honestly, I've no clue what he really is) - Mr. Plant's leaves have been used in calming solutions that help kee a person's rage levels down. He is a especially popular in office environments because the leaves give of vapors that also have this effect, though in a much much smaller potency.
Ms. Ivy herself has no real use in potions. HOWEVER she is used to attract some of the wildlfe that ingredients are cultivated from: lacefly wings, beetles, etc.

Part 2:
Answer the following potions questions:

1. Sneezewort, scurvy grass, and lovage are used to make what?
A: Allergen Solution
B:Confusing Draught
C: Babbling Befuddlement
D: Wandering Agent

2. Porcupine quills are to be added when to a Boil Cure Potion?
A: It is the second ingredient you add
B: Before it is removed from the fire
C: You don't add them, they aren't part of the potion
D: After it is removed from the fire

3. What potion, if brewed correctly, should change color numerous times throughout brewing including deep purple, lilac, and finishing clear?
A: The Draught of Living Death
B: Amortentia
C: Calming Draft
D: Elixir to Induce Euphoria

4. This ingredient in the Draught of Peace, would likely bring you permanent peace since it is poisonous, what is it?
A: Murlap
B: Belladonna
C: Mugwort
D: Hellebore
5. Chopped daisy roots, skinned shrivel-fig, sliced caterpillar, one rat spleen, dash of leech juice are all ingredients to what?
A: Swelling Solution
B: Deflating Draught
C: Shrinking Solution
D: Sleeping Draught

Part 3:
Take a picture of and list the ingredients and/or instructions to make one of your favorite potions that you have created.

This potion must have at the minimum, two ingredients to make it. Be sure to include you originality marker to prove it's yours!!!

For example it could be something as simple as your favorite coffee (with sugar or creme), or it could be an alcoholic mixed drink concoction that you have created. Your potion could also be an actual potion, oil, salve, or something else that you use as well.

My favorite poison...errr.... POTION! I meant Potion!
The Tequila Sunrise
Ingredients: Orange Juice (no pulp), A shot of Tequila, and a Splash of grenadine
Instructions: Mix Orange Juice and Tequila, Pour the grenadine in, allowing it to "float" for the color variations.

Delicious.

Race for the Cure!

2010-05-01T12:46:00.000-07:00

Some Photos:

Some highlights:

No Storm Troopers this year... That I saw anyways.
Traffic was bad, as expected. During a moment of "road rage" that involved screaming I was informed by Laura, "Lucy, you know if they're not in the same car as you they can't hear you." ...
Met up with my Mom, Vanessa, Sara, Ellie, Emma, Caitlin, Cheryl and Madison ... We all had a good time.
Ronni and took turns carrying Laura and Maddy that last mile or so.
Luke texted me to tell me he ran it in 26 minutes... and then puked.
It was pretty good times.
We (Ronni, Laura, Maddy and I) had pancakes afterwards. :D

A long week from h-e-double hockey sticks

2010-04-24T20:38:00.000-07:00

This week for me was long and it was hard. I'm finished with my 23874183742981230948320 (only a slight exaggeration) different meds, and I worked a full and complete week. I finally am MOSTLY caught up with work.

The entire week, in general, was just really long and really draining. I don't know if the weekend is long enough to re-energize, but I'm hoping that it is.

I am really proud of my hufflepuff team in my absence for winning the quidditch match, even down a player. :D

Finished Socks!

2010-04-17T14:23:00.001-07:00

(behold) the MIGHTY MONARCH
Pattern: Butterfly Socks by Wendy Johnson
(from Socks from the Toe Up)
Needles: US 1 / 2.25 mm
Yarn: Knit it Up! Silky
Colorway: Sunflower
Mods: Well, funny you should ask about that, because clearly my socks look nothing like the picture in the books....
SEE:
Wendy's Socks (pink) vs My Socks (yellow)

HOW DID THAT HAPPEN????

Well, back in January the Yarn Harlot had a post about her self imposed sock club, where she talked about the error she had made in her January socks by not reading... She says something about how we do a thing a certain amount of times and then we quit paying attention and we don't READ the instructions. Well, that is exactly what I did! I decided that once I read "start the lace pattern from the chart," that I no longer needed to read instructions. THEN after one repeat of the lace pattern, I found it so intuitive that I closed the book and didn't open it until last week to double check the gusset & heel directions. At that point, I looked at the photos in the book, though "huh, mine looks different" and forged ahead. I was in pain and on meds from my wisdom tooth extraction so I couldn't be bothered to investigate. The next day Veronica came over and I showed her. She looked at the book pointed at the instructions where they CLEARLY state "Row 9: knit 6 ... then the lace pattern from the chart..." (I paraphrased) rather than the previous instructions of KNIT 1 then the lace chart. That would have staggered the "butterflies" and my socks would then have matched the book socks. Oh, well. I'll call it a "modification." They look nice the way they are.

My original plans for photoing these socks were going to involve black tights and a fuchsia background like The Cocoon, but then it was such a nice spring day (well, spring for me, other places would probably cal it a hat summer day. :P) and I am in a good mood because I've eaten my first solid foods in over a week, and I've moved and I have a pretty pool and I wanted to show off a bit. :D Can you blame me? I mean really, it is BEAUTIFUL out! BEAUTIFUL! So I went outside with the socks and the camera and Rocky followed me watched me for about 30 seconds, got bored with me and he rolled around in the grass. I think I need to video him rolling in the grass. It's got to be one of the cutest things EVER.

AND now I can knit a second pair of the same pattern correctly, and they'll actually look totally different! I mean Dr. Mrs. the Monarch need sock too right?

I mean, it's not like I've already decided on how to proceed with that... Not at all, I don't have a yarn picked out or anything.

Week 3 Homework - Care of Magical Creatures

2010-04-15T13:59:00.000-07:00

Part One: Please Describe and Explain 5 items that you would use for the care of Magical Creatures. ie: mittens for handling of poisonous plants, goggles etc. There are no wrong answers as long as they can describe how the object is used. You will received 5 points for each described item and 5 points if you post an original photo of everyday items found around your home to represent each item. (originality marker rules applies for photos)

My Originality Marker: Nibbler
My very own magical creature given to me last Christmas as a gift from Rowena.

Item #1: Gloves
To be used for handling creatures that would be dangerous to touch with bare skin. Helps to protect from bites, burn, poisons, and other potential harmful ailments to the hands.

Item #2: Goggles
The goggles are two-fld in their use. One use is they are perfect for wearing to see underwater in order to care for magical creatures who live in the water. The other use being they're protective eye wear in case a creature spits something rather nasty into your eyes.

Item #3: A Mesh Bag
A mesh bag has multiple uses for care of magical creatures. It can be used as a net to catch creatures, or as a bag to carry around supplies.

Item #4: A leash
To be used for walking around creatures in captivity so that they get exercise and aren't so cooped up that they wind up killing or injuring each other. (Side Note: Not recommended for blast-ended skrewts.)

Item 5: A bass guitar
Used to lull dangerous three-headed creatures to sleep musically.

Part Two: Complete the following quiz about House Elves. 5 points for each correct answer.

1. Please describe the physical appearance of a house elf.
Large bat-like ears, bulging eyes, short, spindly arms and legs
2. Kreacher is the house elf of which wizarding family?
The Black family, and then later willed to Harry Potter
3. What is Hermione Granger making for the house elves?
Elf sized hats and socks and other clothing items
4. How do you free a house elf?
It's owner must present them with an item of clothing
5. What does S.P.E.W. stand for?
Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare

Part Three: Bonus/Extra Credit assignment. For a bonus assignment, knit or crochet a SPEW project that will be sent to our lovely Ms. Mooney as part of this year's S.P.E.W project. You will receive 25 points for your completed project.
To be completed at a later date.

Transfiguration Homework

2010-04-10T19:27:00.000-07:00

I wanted to do better magi and make a better go at this assignment, but my time in the hospital wing hasn't left me in the best of shape, so I'm taking the easy out:

Bowtruckle

Rememberall

Golden Snitch

Hagrid's Rock Cakes

Decoy Detonator

Nose-Biting Teacup

Spectrespecs

Time Turner

In Love

2010-04-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen ANYTHING so pretty?

And it's so soft and beautiful and I'm in love... I did have 4 skeins but I shared and handed one over to Rowena. She's currently knitting the most beautiful, most soft socks ever... (AND doing it two-at-a-time).

**sigh**

Today is the surgery day. I'll be in the hospital wing a bit. I've started my homework, but I'll have to upload pics and do some slight typing.

Cheers

Homework Assignment #1 - My 3 Character Choices

2010-03-29T19:42:00.000-07:00

Dobby!
Okay, so he wasn't TECHNICALLY on the list of characters. BUT he is my absolute favorite (*points to blog title and the sidebar*) and I can easily go into detail and explain why. So here it goes.

I love Dobby for SO MANY reasons. I love his loyalty. I love his quirkiness. I love that he is entirely selfless, and just so true to himself. He went against his masters to try and save Harry Potter (even if he had a funny way of doing it). He wanted to be free and he enjoys his freedom, but he isn't trying to force it on the other house elves. I just love that he is who he is. I love that he has a different way of thinking than anyone else. I'm not sure that anyone else would've come up with the same ways to try and "save" Harry in "Chamber of Secrets." Dobby marches to the beat of his own drummer. He loves his socks, he wears tea cozies, he is just and incredible being.

Also, I want to add that I have SUCH an affinity to Dobby that I straight up CRIED in "Deathly Hallows." I think a book has only ever made me tear up once, maybe twice, but with Dobby I CRIED. I also would've been pissed if Bellatrix lived and he hadn't been "avenged." I cheered when Molly gave her hers.

Sirius
Sirius was my second favorite in the book. I appreciated the family connection in the Wizarding world that Sirius provided Harry. Even more than that though I love Sirius' spirit. He was a man that acted. He didn't sit and think about things; he didn't like to sit still; he just acted. That may have been a bad thing, but I liked it. I also admired him for that, seeing as how I'm someone who over-thinks decisions so often that I end up flipping coins. I also totally love him changing into a dog. OH! And I like that he was in hiding and traveling to all sorts of parts of the world and using exotic birds to deliver Harry letters.

Fleur Delacour
I like her because she's pretty. AND she has the same name as me!
In all seriousness, I feel that I've always needed to root for the only female triwizard champion. AND even though she didn't maybe do as awesome as the boys, she did all of that looking AMAZING. I love it. I also love Fleur for her haughtiness. I also really think that her dedication to her family (shown both with the love for her sister and the family she married into) is really awesome.
EDIT: (I forgot this bit earlier.) I always liked Fleur because she is either completely oblivious to people's opinions towards her OR she just doesn't care what she thinks and she'll just go on being herself and doing what she wants. I know that if I was her, I wouldn't have been able to stay in the house with Molly and Ginny having the attitudes toward me that they had toward her. :)

..These are a few of my favorite things....

2010-03-27T19:15:00.000-07:00

Favorite Colors: turquoise, kelly green, RED, yellow, pink (in any shade), blue/brown combinations, pink/brown combinations, ... I like really BOLD and bright colors. Currently I'm on a big GREEN kick, but that could change any day now. I cycle through colors and spent a month or so buying EVERYTHING (clothes, accessories, yarns, shoes, decorations..) in that color until a new one hits me. I've also been on the look out for good YELLOWS. I like the brighter more true yellows that aren't hi-lighter-ish or overly brown/gold.

Favorite Scents: In terms of perfumes, Ralph Lauren RALPH or Diesel Fuel for Life. In terms of candles, Vanilla and maybe cinnamon apple in the fall. I'm not really big on scents though...

Favorite Yarn Brands: Malabrigo (all weights), Cosmic Fibers, Hand Maiden, Dragonfly Fibers, Sundara ... Anyone that makes sock yarn in multiple colors...

Favorite Yarn Types: Wools and silks. I'm not a fan of cotton.

Favorite Needles: I prefer circs for most anything and for those I love knitpicks metal ones or addis. IF I am going to use DPNs I only use wood ones, like KP Harmony bc I've either broken or bent any other bamboo or metal ones.

Favorite Snacks: guacamole, almonds, oreos, mike & ikes, coffee, diet coke (it's an addiction), raisinettes, chocolate, brownies (I've recently been accused of maybe like brownies TOO much, I say no such thing.)

Allergies: melons, grasses and pollens, any metals for jewelry that aren't at least .925 Sterling Silver or 10k gold (be glad you're not having to buy me jewelery ;) )

Wishlists:
KnitPicks
The Loopy Ewe

Current Knits... And these photos are the silver lining on a looooooong week

2010-03-27T16:56:00.001-07:00

So I had a rough week that consisted of having a fever and a head cold from hell. I did get a new nefarious in the mail this week and that cheered me considerably. :)

I'm supposed to be packing for next week's move and I've not been doing a very job of helping or staying on task, so I don't want to waste MORE time blogging, but I do have some mosaics of my current WIPs... and recent stashes for you viewing pleasure.

I started my clapotis. I love it so far. It's a very easy project, now that I've gotten the hang of alternating with two skeins.

Here are the WIPs:
(heavily featuring my new clapotis because I am in love with it)

Here are my pretties:

Potions Practice!

2010-03-17T22:36:00.000-07:00

Where is the Stolen Quidditch World Cup Trophy??

2009-12-23T18:46:00.000-08:00

Our final clues that were given to us by our headmistress were the items found on our mysterious thief. After much deliberation and thought and help from fellow quidditch players, I have gathered that the photoed items are:

Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder
Broken Wand
Blood Pops
Hand of Glory
Hogs Head
Golden Snitch
A Quidditch Broom

Given what Asst. Captain Bagnold of the Pride of Portree has pointed out I've determined the following:

I have no idea where the trophy is. ... Some detective I make, right?

I have decided these things though:

The items listed as 'found' on our thief points me to Draco Malfoy ... BUT that could be a red herring and I could be relying on the books too much.
The clues themselves make me thing of the following locations: Diagon Alley (where several things could be mended or purchased), Hogmeade (for the same reasons as Diagon Alley plus the Hogs Head is located there), Hogwarts (or more specifically the room of requirement b/c that's where al those things could be found and where Draco used his hand of glory and instant darkness powder), OR it could be hidden at Malfoy Manor, assuming Draco was the thief....
I really have no clue. My mind is boggled. I am stumped.

Since my location should be "more specific than a country and less specific than a city" I'm going to just guess that the trophy is hidden somewhere in the region of the UK that encompasses Hogsmeade, Hogwarts, Malfoy Manor, and perhaps Diagon Alley. I'm looking forward to a real answer, seriously!

Got My Kit!!!! SQUEE!

2009-12-23T18:08:00.001-08:00

My kit was in my mailbox today!!!!! I have really been stalking my mail and checking it everyday with extra enthusiasm waiting for this moment! And really it didn't disappoint. I pretty much skipped down the hall from the mail back to home. :D

Rocky wouldn't get his nose out of MY box! Little butthead! ;)

My note! Shared, because it's in verse. And we all love the verse! :D

Everything unwrapped and moved to the table, where rocky couldn't get at it. Not that he'll mess with anything, but it's hard to take picture with his head in the way the whole time. :D
My very own Brea bag! :D With really cute lining!
My pattern (there's a story about this to follow), My new needles, and the front of my note/card
STORY ABOUT SQUIRRELS:
Luke used to ALWAYS blame things on rabid squirrels (he still will someimes). He would say things like they ate the last french fry/candy/whatever, or distracted him from doing something, etc. So he declared the rabid squirrels his no.1 enemy. THEN when we were both coaching we had a mock swim meet (it's a fundraiser plus gives the new kids the experience of a meet without the pressure). Luke decided that our groups were going to be teams and comptete against eah other. Mainly because he wanted to name his team "the barking mermaids" which he uses for everything. So I decided to then name my team "Rabid Squirrels." My kids got a huge kick out it and semi-terrorized Luke the week leading up to the meet. So when I saw the pattern name (Irate Squirrel Socks) I just about died laughing! LOL
My goodies from the Netherlands ... One chocolate bar is GONE! AND before dinner. Good thing I excuse all excessive eating between "the holidays." Starts with Halloween and end sometime around Easter. ;)
Christmas Tree ornaments! And they GLOW IN THE DARK!
The cutest little owl that opens and closes with a snap, and blue and silver stitch markers

My new yarn that was dyed by Eugene for me. I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I love every color and it's SO pretty. I just wish I didn't have so many project already OTN b/c I want to use my new pretty yarn ;)
An attempt at a better view of the colors, it's dark and I don't have any natural light

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you Eugene! I love my whole kit!
It's beautiful and it's perfect and I'm so happy that I've been giddy and semi dancing around the house. (It's a good thing no one else is home, I'm sure it's embarassing.)

Final Answer

2009-12-18T23:01:00.000-08:00

Here's what I've guessed is in the box from Winnie:

Stolen Quidditch World Cup Trophy

Possibly I'll have a longer better post tomorrow with more of what's been going on around here, but I think I'm going to go to sleep now. :D

Hanukkah!

2009-12-11T20:01:00.001-08:00

Hanukka started at sundown. :) So my first of the holiday gift knitting project is complete. This is the mini-scarf and hat for part of Sara's Hanukkah present. I had originally thought that I would be seeing her SATURDAY for latkes and candle lighting and dreidel, but actually I'm doing it on SUNDAY! So I may have time to finish a couple more Sara things too. (On that note, how big is a two year olds head? I might make Ellie a hat too. Does anyone know?) The mini scarf and hat are for Sara's Molly doll and math the set that I gave Sara in February. :D I'm going to try and finish up some other stuff for my girls before Sunday, Now I have a whole extra day to do things! YAY!

Busy Busy Week

2009-12-05T20:27:00.000-08:00

It has been another busy week for me. I almost forgot about my blogging! I'm actually babysitting right now. Lol so this will be a quick little blog so that no one misses me. :)

Rowena and I did some magic with our hair today. =D Rowena has before and after pictures. I can probably get an after picture tomorrow. Lol

4 Day Weekend!

2009-11-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

I think that this weekend is going to save m sanity. I've had two straight weeks of hair pulling and stressors that literally were making me insane. I'm so happy for it to be over! Thankfully, I've also gotten a rather good raise out of all my hard work! :D

Continuing with good news, I've mailed out my package to Elanor. I hope that it gets there quickly. I had a lot of fun putting it together.

I've gotten some knitting done too! I've managed to finish a pair of socks and pick up Percy again. :D I'll probably be putting Percy back down though for some holiday gift knitting.

Originally I had this grandiose idea that I'd knit everyone their gifts for the holidays. Then it dawned on me tht the majority of my family, being non-knitters, wouldn't appreciate the work and time and effort so I've decided to only knit fr a few people instead. Sara's gifts will be done first because Hanukkah is earlier this year. (Or at least it is compared to last year.) I'm making her American Girl Molly doll a hat & scarf to match the ones I made Sara... This won't even take me too long since the doll isn't huge. :D

Other people that I'm making gifts for are my mom and Aynsley. But they're pretty quick knits too. Not that I should wait for the 24th to start, but I've still got time.

What a Week...

2009-11-21T20:26:00.000-08:00

This has been such a busy week for me! I have been SWAMPED at work. I've been so busy that I've gotten home later and fallen asleep on the couch. Lucky for me I have a very comfy couch. :D

I've got the majority of Elanor's kit finished and ready to send. I need to get a few finishing touches. I originally had planned to get it out today, but I didn't quite make it. :( It should go out in the mail early this week.

As far as knitting goes, I've been working on my newest pair of socks, but I've not gotten too far until today. :D If I keep at the pace I've gone today I'll have those done this weekend! :D

A knit update

2009-11-08T22:42:00.000-08:00

It seems I haven't had one in a while... Or I have, but I was SUPER successful with knitting time this weekend since I'm now on crutches and sick of limping around with them, so I stayed home all weekend. I have Veteran's Day on Wednesday to do the same thing. Work has thrown a monkey wrench in my weekend knitting though by deciding to have stupid company cocktail party. :P

I've finished Elanor's knitted items. FINISHED... Knit, Wove in ends, Blocked ... DONE! I really like them too. As does everyone who has seen them either finished or in progress. :D Hopefully Elanor will too! Now, I just need to assemble the rest of the kit and get the EXTRAS all in order. :D

I've picked Percy back up. I managed to get 5 rows done yesterday night before I got too tired. LOL If I stick to my planned "schedule" I should be able to get the majority of my Christmas gifts and Percy, and my new socks done by December. YAY!

Pictures of my newest socks, the Black Hearts. Perfect for any member of the Molotov's murderous girl group. :D I maybe watch this cartoon WAY too much, but I do love Molotov. And the Black Hearts. So what better way to use my new almost black Sundara. :D

¿Dónde está Winnie? Semana cuatro

2009-11-07T11:43:00.000-08:00

Ella está en el mundo latino, por lo tanto decidía practicar mi español con mis predicciones para esta semana.

¡El primer lugar que ella visitó es Ciudad de México para Día de los Muertos! Ciudad de México era originalmente una ciudad azteca armada en una isla en el medio del lago Texcoco por los Aztecas. Se va el lago, pero la ciudad todavía existe reconstruido por el español. Ciudad de México tiene muchos templos viejos de los Aztecas. El día de los muertos es un día de fiesta celebrado en México y por la gente latina en los Estados Unidos y el Canadá. El día de los muertos se utiliza para recordar la familia y a los amigos que son muertos. El día de fiesta se cree para tener comenzó con los Aztecas, pero tenía un diverso nombre.

¡El segundo lugar que ella visitó es Puente Alto en Chile! Es una ciudad pobre situada cerca del capital, Santiago. Encumbrando volantines es una actividad popular en Chile durante Fiestas Patrias, y es diversión barata para los pobres que viven en Puente Alto. También en Puente Alto hay un fuerte viento llamado Raco que ayude al vuelo de la cometa. Encumbrando volantines es muy popular después de agosto en que la lluvia para, y los vientos comienzan en la ciudad.

¡El tercer lugar que ella visitó es Olinda en Brasil! Olinda está en la costa del noreste del Brasil y hay una biblioteca pública ROSADA. Olinda también tiene un carnaval libre cada año. (Creo que hablan Portugués en Brasil, pero no hablo portugués. Entonces, este entrada es en español.)

=====

To translate/summarize:

Mexico City, Mexico for Dia de los Muertos. Dia de Los Muertos is a holiday celebrate in Mexico and by latin people in the US and Canada used to honor and remember friends and famil that are dead. Mexico City was originally an Aztec city built in the middle of a lake.

Puente Alto, Chile which is a poor city near Santiago. Chile is famous for having fighter kites. Kite Flying is popular during Independence Day (Fiestas Patria). Poor regions of Chile fly kites as cheap entertainment.

Olinda, Brazil has a pink public library and a free carnival which it hosts. It is located on the Northeast coast of Brazil. Also they speak Portugues in Brazil, but I dont know portuguese, so that blur is still in Spanish. ;)

Look What I Can Do!!!!

2009-10-29T18:33:00.000-07:00

TOE UP SOCKS!!!!

My Lucy socks are done... Lucy yarn, Lucy pattern... for me!

These are the quickest socks that I have ever knit! I did the second sock in a total of 2 days and a few hours for the cuff and bind off! Really I am so excited by these. I wore them to work today... No one coud see them b/c they were in my shoes but it made me damn giddy all day knowing they were on my feet. :D

Where in the Workd is Winnie? - Week 2

2009-10-24T20:09:00.000-07:00

In our second letter from the headmistress she talks of 2 locations. One which has a lovely castle and "spring air" ... I would think she MIGHT be in Las Vegas as the weather here has been rather spring like and we have our own "castle" ... BUT she included a photo with her letter which shows that she is not, in fact, here but she is actually in Dunedin, New Zealand at Larnach Castle. It's actually spring there, they're not just having strangely nice weather. :)

The second location she talks of is in Canada and is on the border of Quebec. It's known for having great Maple syrup and used to be part of three towns that have been merged into one. After a bit of searching I have determined her destination to be Stanstead, Quebec.

Where in the Workd is Winnie? - Week 1

2009-10-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

It appears that our headmistress is scurrying out of London after having been under some false accusations from the Ministry. It's unbelievable really. Honestly, what could be they be thinking!?!?

Anyways she signed her letter "Ciao," which has led many students, myself included, to believe that she is headed into Italy next. However, with the way that "Ciao" has been incorporated into the English language this is purely just a guess. I only hope that she is safe during her travels.

1st Weeks Assignment...

2009-10-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Someone with the same craft as you (either those listed above or another one). -Elanor Cadogan
Someone who was born in the same month. - Waverly Trimble
Someone from a different country. - Eugene Nigeno
A new HSKS Quidditch player. - Stellwa Quinn
A player who has been in 3 or more HSKS swaps. - Wisteria Lovegood
A player who has a bigger stash than you! (And if your stash is the biggest, proudly say so!) - Megaera Black
A player who both knits and crochets. - Rowena Bladvak
Someone who has the same favorite color as you. - Hermione Bagnold

And I'm heading off to do my comments now! :)

My Toe-Up Adventure!

2009-10-08T21:59:00.000-07:00

I have started on my second shawl, "Percy." It was part of a KAL with some fellow HSKSers. I'm using my Sweeney Todd yarn from the Nefarious club. The project got named "Ozymandias, King of Kings" from Percy Bysshe Shelley's Ozymandias. It's really VERY VERY pretty so far. The charts are in tiny print and one is patterned on both the RS and the WS so I'm moving a lot slower through that chart than I normally would, but I have really flew through most of it and, I think, that it's looking beautiful. In addition to starting another shawl, (I am now a lace and shawl addict!) I decided to attempt my first pair of toe up socks, encouraged by Ronni. This is my progress since Monday night. I am pretty thrilled with the socks. And I was surprisingly shocked at how amazingly easy toe-up is! WOW! Thankfully Ronni was able to give me some tips and links to help me get started. Where would I be with out my best friend? (((Awwwwww....)))

Yarn balled, Pattern Printed

Cast-on and the first few rows

Progressing up the foot

Pattern: Sprucey Lucy by Wendy Johnson
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR
Colorway: Lucy
I named them "Pork and Beans" after one of my favorite Weezer songs... I promise if you read or just know the lyrics you'll see why. Also the song has been stuck in my head ALL WEEK. ;)

Wishlist and Favorites

2009-10-03T10:09:00.000-07:00

Favorite colors: blues, turquoise, pinks (but not mauve), (most) greens, purples, reds ... I like pretty much every color
Favorite scents: Vanilla, Jasmine, Lavender and some Raspberry if it's not overpowering ... I'm not big on scents really, I hate florals and I don't like things that smell like food, they just make me hungry
Favorite yarn brands: Malabrigo, Fresh from the Cauldron, Cosmic Fibers, Handmaiden, Knitpicks lace, Socks that Rock
Favorite yarn types (wool, cotton, etc.): Merino wools, Wool/Silk blends, nothing scratchy ... I REALLY love sock yarns, mostly hand dyed, and I've started to get into lace yarns too. I am not a fan of cottons. At all.... they hurt my hands to knit with. I also avoid acrylics that aren't an acrylic/wool blend because of the scratchy factor.
Favorite types of snacks: Oreos, Cheez-Its, Chips & Guacamole, Dos Equis

I knit. ... I have learned to crochet, but I've not really done much with it or picked it up.
My favorite projects are socks (which I seem to have difficulty finishing, SSS) and recently I've fallen in love with knitting lace and shawls. I don't do colorwork. It scares me. I haven't tried it yet but i don't have an interest in it either what with my never ending stash of sock yarn and tons of sock patterns and shawls for me to knit!
My favorite knitting needles are knitpicks nickel for circulars for lace or sock, knitpicks harmonies for DPNs... I also like the Addi Turbos for circulars as well. I REALLY would like to get a set of DPNs by Lantern Moon but I'll work on that want on my own. ;) Hooray for the holidays!
I also LOVE stitch markers. I make them; I buy them; I trade them with friends. I honestly do not think I'll ever have enough! I like to make sure that my projects have matching stitch markers. They need to match, but they also need to stand out so that I can see them. :)
My other hobbies include jewelry making (I also do stitch markers and row counter bracelets), sketching, reading, and swimming. Although nearly everything has taken a backseat to my knitting and swimming I've more or less quit. ;)

Allergies: some pollens and grasses, melons... Nothing that really pertains to the swap unless you're thinking of sending me flowers inside of a melon that I'm meant to eat, that could be hazardous.

Wishlists:

Books that are on my "to buy" list:
Not that I necessarily WANT books in a kit, but they can give you an idea of patterns/tyoe of patterns to look for.
(links go to amazon.com, I don't have an amazon wishlist because I share my amazon acct and I don't accidently want to be gift the BSG episode guide or something.)

2009-09-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here is my finished, dry and blocked Ishbel... It's beautiful and I LOVE it!!! :D I am still not over the EVIL EVIL pins but I like my finished result. And I have ordered wires and better pins for my blocking future.

Here are the pictures of my Titania's Revenge progress. In the pictures they are about 3 1/2 repeats of the leg pattern done. I've now finished 4. The flash on the camera really caught all of the colors really well. When there isn't direct light the yarn looks like a tonal dark maroon/purple. The colors are really beautiful though. :)

Up next (now that I'm lace and shawl obsessed) is Percy. I'm going to use some Malabrigo lace in indigo that I just ordered from the Loopy Ewe this weekend. It'll be a KAL with Rowena and Olive. :) I'm excited to get started. That'll be my first lace project with lace weight yarn. My first lace weight yarn at all!

Ishbel is Finished!

2009-09-09T19:17:00.000-07:00

Right now it's blocking... And I'm buying wires on payday. Because pins are evil... They are evil time consuming tedious evil little bastards. I'm happy for my shawl though!!! :)

BTW: This was a 16 day project from start to finish, I amaze myself sometimes. I've never knit so fast ever.

Rough Week

2009-09-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

I started my new job, which while it's leaps and bound better than my old job, I still wish that I had a job relating to what I wanted to do... So far it's been good and I have gotten the hang of most all of theing that I am supposed to do, but it's tiring and it's a little crazy. I feel like this last week has been 2 weeks.

Also this week I was supposed to start up my class that was going to be a prereq for the program I want to get into to get certificates to work in the hospital, but because of strange admin rules that I wasn't really aware of, I dropped myself out and was unable to get back in. I'll sign up for ext semester and take the class and the lab online.

Also this week my bf's grandfather died. It's been sort of a rough week with that. His grandfather was probably my favorite member of his family. Today is the viewing and funeral...

So that's where I have been all week, if anyone missed me. ;)

I finally picked my kit up!!!

2009-08-27T12:37:00.000-07:00

It was being held hostage at the post office for the past two days. But I went this morning and got my charms kit from Dan'Azraella Deamonova. Here are the pictures:

Notice my beads are in my Ravenclaw colors. :D Thanks so much Dan'Azraella Deamonova!!!

Ishbel Progress Day 1

2009-08-23T21:37:00.001-07:00

I've got 123 stitches on the needle and no mistakes. :) I SHOULD finish the stockinette portion this week. It's very pretty so far. Plus this yarn is so soft and so pretty. I need my new addi turbos to get here soon though because I'm pretty much at the end of space on my 16" circular... They should be here tuesday. If not I've got some scarves (actually 1 scarf, and my own starter that I'm re-starting) from scarf travels to work on.

It's a Miracle

2009-08-22T22:03:00.000-07:00

I finished a scarf in less than 2 months! That's a record for me. Usually I get bored and the project gets too redundant and I quit. I actually probably knit most of this in about a months time, but there were about 3 weeks after I came back from vacation that I never touched it because I was either tired or busy or sick or wallowing in my own misery because I hated my job so much. (Have I mentioned that I quit, and got a new job and I'm THRILLED!) .... Moving On ... Rosalie Bay is completed! I LOVE this scarf! It's so soft and so pretty and really very beautiful in person. I love the colors. I love the yarn. It's just beautiful.

The next project that I'm going to attempt is my very own Ishbel. I'm going to cast-on tomorrow because this is my first time doing a shawl and I'm too tired to attemt it at the moment. Plus, all of my late night cast ons are generally disasters. So I'll wait until I'm refreshed tomorrow. LOL I'm using my Cosmic Fiber Aquila in Other Mother from the nefarious club. The plan is to do the stockinette portion for the small shawl and the lace portion for the large shawl and get sort of a medium size. Rowena is going to KAL with me. She'll probably kick my @$ at it, but it's not a contest. I'm hoping to be able to use her to help me. ;) I've ordered some new Addi Lace needles that shoud be here soon, but I'm impatient so I'm starting on a 16" circular. I already added all the details to ravelry because I'm THAT excited and ready to go. (This also motivated me to finish the scarf much quicker.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROWENA

2009-08-22T09:56:00.001-07:00

Calculus Joke

2009-08-21T19:11:00.000-07:00

sin(x), cos(x) and e^x go to a bar. sin(x) and cos(x) are out having a good time and partying it up, but e^x is sitting at the table by himself. son(x) goes ove to him and say "e^x get out there and have some fun! what are you doing?" e^x replies, "What's the point? If I integrate or differentiate I just stay the same."

(I love this joke.)

P.S. ("I seldom drink beer, but when I do is Dos Equis")

GUESS WHAT!!?!?!?!?

2009-08-19T07:42:00.000-07:00

I GOT A NEW JOB!!!!!!!!

I can't really announce or celebrate it like I want to yet in the muggle world because I've got to give notice and deal with the ramifications from that (they're going to be PISSED and take it as personal insult), so for now I'm celebrating here!

I'm still not going to be working in my field, but I'm switching to a job at the law firm my brother works at. They're willing to be flexible with my hours so I can go back to school. (My current job was pissed that I needed to adjust my shift to 3 minutes earlier for one class.) I get benefits, I'm still full time, and I have to work close with my brother. Everyone there seemed really a lot more laid back and mature than where I am now. Yesterday they took me to lunch, and then at the office hashed out a few details and said they would call and let me know. ... I wasn't even out of the parking garage and they said "We'll take you on as soon as you can start and match your pay rate!" Plus he added the "sooner the better."

I'm so excited....

Crazy Times

2009-08-12T18:51:00.000-07:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances (I fail at divination) involving work, family, Mauricio, Rocky and internet usage I've not been able to post much. I've been trying to keep up with reading the posts and everything but I haven't done too great at it. :( I think I've done okay though. Bevin's kit is now officially in the post (minus the unprintable pattern)! I dropped it off tonight! I'm really excited for here to get it. I really hope she likes it.

In other news:
Last week I received an awesome WWW! It really made me laugh, which was greatly appreciated in a stressful time. :) Thanks! Cassie C. :)
(See below, you can click on it to get a better look)
The day that it arrived in the mail Luke happened to be over. Mauricio came home and brought the mail with him and said, "Who's Fluer Sweeting?" And when I answered, "Me. That's my Harry Potter name." Both he and my brother cracked up. Apparently it's that funny. :) LOL I put on my new curse free ring on a certain finger and showed it to them both. ;)

(I almost think I'd rather have the diamond and 100 years of sleep, especially if I don't have to age in that sleep... and Maybe I'll just make Rocky sleep too, that way when i wake up I won't be lonely. LOL)

In the area concerning my knitting, I've not got much to show, or talk about for that matter. The only thing I've really worked on is my Rosalie Bay. It's coming along rather well. I'm in love with it. :) It's pretty mindless so I can work on it while I watch tv or am talking to someone or am so tired I can't really concentrate much.

I've also gotten some (more) new sock yarns. Claudine (black/teal/green/purple) and Pam (pinks) came for the August shipment of the VSC. I also bought some new handdyed yarn at Knit Las Vegas when I went there with Aynsley. I love how bright that one is! :) I need to get to the sock knitting!

That's it for now. I should be blogging more regurally now!

Wooo

2009-08-08T10:20:00.000-07:00

Another week is over. I'e been busy finishing up scarves for the scarf travels group I'm in with Ronni. (Right now I'm finishing her scarf to get it mailed off.) I got one of my scarves back today with all 10 sections done. :-D I also got another VSC package in the mail this week. I'm going to do a massive picture post later on today, or tomorrow if I don't get the time today.

Today I've got lunch with Aynsley. And the plan is to see a movie with Mauricio, maybe. LOL Tomorrow we're going to his grandparents for lunch and they're fixxing papa rellena with is my favorite Cuban food.... mmmmm....

LOL

I'l be back later with pics! :)

Real Quick

2009-08-01T16:28:00.000-07:00

I've had a really busy week at work between other people's vacations and illnesses and family illnesses. I've not had much time on the computer. I'm spending the day running errands mostly but wanted to get my weekly post in.

My kit is ready to be shippped, but I'm having issues with printing the pattern because the printer is being tempermental.

I'll blog more later tonight. :)

I am not having a good week

2009-07-23T19:37:00.000-07:00

It's not one thing in particular. Just overall I feel stressed and angry and irritated and upset. I wish I was still on vacation. I wish lots of other things too, but now isn't the time or the place.

My kit shoud go out by Saturday and I'm sending Perenelle Tejedora's prize for winning the 3 truth's and a lie game either tomorrow or Saturday too.

That's it for now. I'm out.

VACATION!!!!

2009-07-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

So I am leaving for my longe awaited vacation Wednesday morning. I'm blogging now, so that i don't forget. Tomorrow is going to be a bust day with packing, taking Rock-Monster to my mom's for puppy-sitting, running last minute errands, and of course my midnight showing of Harry Potter. :) I'm way excited!

So Tuesday night I get to see Harry Potter. Then when I wake up Wednesday I'm heading to San Diego for 2 days (and while I'm there catching a Padres game, they'll probably lose), then from there I'm going to Disneyland for 2 days for my birthday! :-D There will also be plenty of beach going and relaxing in between. :) This is my birthday present from Mauricio. It's a good gift, don't you think?

Disneyland is one vacation place wher I actually do post pictures, so I'll have some pictures for everyone when I get back. :D

If anyone needs me for anything urgent I get my emails on my phone... I'm an addict who can't quit checking my emails. :)

5 skeins of yarn in my mail today! 5!!!!

2009-07-10T18:36:00.000-07:00

Seriously! I ad 5 skeins of sock yarn in my teeny tiny mailbox... I've been skipping around ever since. :)

First we have my cosmic fibers shipment. (They came together.) I had received roving for my nefarious shipment and decided I wanted the yarn too. :) So I now have the beautiful Alpaca/Silk other mother sock yarn. The other 3 were my "BuffyVerse" yarns. Buffy was my FAVORITE tv show when I was younger. And Angel was my first love... (not really, maybe) So I ordered Buffy on cashmere sock, Angel on silver silk sock and Fred on merino/tencel.

The 5th skein of yarn was the 2nd half of my birthday gift from Ronni. It's Woolen Mill St yarn by Christina Marie Potter in the Zoe colorway. Another yarn based on a Whedon fandom. LOL It's so so soft and so pretty. My other present was the super cute turtle sock blockers in the picture. ;) I have the best best friend in the whole world.

While I was in my giddy sock yarn picture taking bliss, I also snapped a couple of photos of my 2 most recent WIPs. My Montego Bay in my Rosalie yarn from the VSC... I've called it Rosalie Bay on Ravelry. Coincidently enough, there is an actual Rosalie Bay in the Carribean. The other is my titania socks, which I've named "She's a Knockout" after a Social D song. (For those who didn't know or notice, I name all my socks after songs.)

Week #3 game

2009-07-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

Riddikulus!!!!!

This is a snake and he needs a blankie! HILARIOUS!

Summer Game.. Week 2, Part 2

2009-07-04T09:48:00.002-07:00

17-4, 14-1, 9-6, 3-3
18-2, 3-3
19-4, 11-2, 9-3, 8-5, 15-9
7-1, 11-2
15-9, 11-2
15-9, 14-1, 9-6
13-8, 18-2, 8-5, 16-3, 6-5, 16-3, 5-3!

When in doubt, go to the library!
- Ronald Weasley

Week #2 games. :)

2009-06-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

I slacked with the first set of games, but I'm so getting these. ;)

If you're a pixie don't forget to guess which of the 4 statements is my lie. ;)

In the second volume of the HP books by JK Rowling, The (#1)Chamber of Secrets, we continue to learn the incredible adventures of Hogwarts student (#2)Harry Potter and his friends (#3)Ron Weasley and (#4)Hermione Granger. Belonging to the house of (#5)Gryffindor, they attend Defense Against the (#6)Dark Arts taught by Wizarding celebrity (#7)Gilderoy Lockhart, a none-too-bright fellow who cannot even handle pixies!

In The (#8)Chamber of Secrets, we also meet Dobby a (#9)House Elf for the first time. Determined Dobby seeks to sabotage the return of (#10)Harry Potter to Hogwarts and is pretty persistent but is unsuccessful. After a few weeks at school, the deceased Ravenclaw student who haunts the girls lavatory, also known as (#11)Moaning Myrtle, shows (#12)Harry Potter and (#13)Ron Weasley an old empty diary that dropped through her ghostly form out of thin air!

Many nifty things continue to happen for the next several months… we won’t go into all the juicy details right now… however, the ending is prime reading indeed!! (#14) Harry Potter finally kills Tom Riddle’s (a.k.a #15 Voldemort) sneaky diary (which we now know is a #16 Horcrux) and saves the sister of (#17) Ron Weasley, (#18) Ginny Weasley!!!

Oh! Of course, we must mention that the thickheaded (#19)Gilderoy Lockhart unintentionally erased his own memory, so he won’t be back for book three, The (#20) Prisoner of Azkaban…

Three Truths and a Lie

2009-06-29T22:07:00.000-07:00

For my fellow pixies to guess ONLY ;)

Let's see if anyone can guess my lie ;)

I was named after my great-grandmother, verbatim. We have only one name that differs between the two, and that name is not in the same place (meaning it's not our last names or first names).
My dog was named after the Beatles song "Rocky Raccoon" because I love the Beatles and raccoons. (WIN-WIN)
When I was a competitive swimmer my best stroke was the backstroke.
I high school I used to work with a punk music website and interviewed a lot of bands. I have met all the members of 2 of my favorite bands.

Updated Wishlist for HSKS8

2009-06-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

WISH LIST:
This is my previous list with some new things added, and some things taken off, because I've gotten some of my wishes. :)

Beading wire
Bead Crimps
Small Leather Beading cord
Stitch Markers, I love all of them so I'd take any. :)
Malabrigo yarns... I never say no to those, and I always want them...
Sock Blockers, preferably wooden ones. I don't own any, and I need them
Something I want, but by all means do not need: Knitting needle cases that would match my knitting bags... meaning zebra print, hot pink, red, surfer/hawaiin flower designs in hed/hot pink/black/white combos. It's entirely unnecessary, I already have needle cases for all my needles, but it is a wish of mine.

Well...

2009-06-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

It has been a long long long long week. I've been spending time with Ronni and working and running out to my family.

I can honestly say that I'm beat. I WANT to post more and go into more details, but now really isn't that time. I'm going to eat a VERY LATE dinner and then crawl into bed with Rocky and cuddle him.

Until tomorrow!

Rowena is Coming!!!!!

2009-06-17T08:24:00.001-07:00

Rowena will be here tomorrow morning.... (and Draco too.) I'm giddy!

That's All! :)

To Help People Out with their Summer Games ;)

2009-06-15T19:57:00.000-07:00

These are squares that I could fit into, or could maybe fit into since some have qualifiers ;)

W1: I live in Las Vegas (NV not another one)... so if that's 100 miles from you than awesome
W2: I am a Ravenclaw in the Cornish Pixes Cabin... so there you go
W3: My Patronus is a tiger
W4: This is my 6th HSKS
W5:

I1:
I2: I have 2 brothers
I3:
I4: July (If that's yours too, I fit)
I5:

N1: Oreos, Mike and Ikes, Snickers bars, Cupcakes
N2:
N3:
N4: I can play a few chords on Guitar and I know some bass, but mostly I'd say no to this one. My rock band skills don't even merit a "fake guitar"
N5: If the train at Disneyland counts ;) And if so my destinations were Toontown, the Grand Canyon, Main Street and New Orleans square ;)

G1:
G2: I only have 3 so I doubt I have more than anyone
G3: I make stitch markers ;)
G4: I have my pug Rocky with me :)
G5: I speak Spanish, and I swear proficiently in German

O1:
O2:
O3: I collect old starbucks cards... I have about 20 different ones. I also collect shoes.
O4:
O5:

And I'm back to posting here regurally... :)

2009-06-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

I finished my Monkeys!I love them. They aren't perfect, but they are mine and I love them. :)

Feed the Monkey, Drown the Worm
PATTERN: Monkey
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel Sock (Jungle)

And for some old-ish scarf travels updates: These are my most recent finished sections. :)

GROUP 5
For ladydinc’s scarf
PATTERN: Scrunchable Scarf
NEEDLES: US 9/5.5 mm
YARN: Malabrigo Merino - emerald blue

GROUP 3
For knitwitty26’s scarf
PATTERN: Feather and Fan scarf (with mods)
YARN: Cascade 220 - 9476 (butter)
NEEDLES: Size US 8 / 5.0 mm

Summer Camp

2009-06-09T07:17:00.000-07:00

Sign Ups have started!

I sent mine in yesterday.

In between terms I've been updating my other blog A LOT. (Maybe not A LOT, but still....)

I'll start updating here again, but go check out that blog to get updated. :)

Scarf Travels, WIPs, and YARN!

2009-05-09T11:12:00.001-07:00

I haven't posted about my scarf travels group in a while, so I'm going to do that first. Here's a picture of the latest on that I've added to and sent out. It's Tesso1's scarf for the "West" group. I used some of my Manos and the pattern was "the Prismatic Scarf." I REALLY like this pattern. I'm considering making a scarf using it and some malabrigo. I'm incredibly reluctant to though because I have sever finish-itis when it comes to scarves.

PATTERN: The Prismatic Scarf
NEEDLES: US 8 / 5.0 mm
YARN: Manos del Uruguay (Q or Calypso)

I've got the next round of scarves already. They both need to be sent off Friday May 15th so I'll be working on those. I already have yarn picked out for Kimmikat's it's just a matter of sitting down and doing the knitting. It'll go quick though. I think I've picked my yarn for the other one, but I'm looking for patterns to go with it still. I'll add pictures and update more when I have some progress.

I've been knitting on Cookie A socks like crazy. I've got monkeys and glyniss OTN. Monkeys are because I'd never done them and started them on my San Diego vacation, only to have to frog. And the Glynis are part of a KAL on Ravelry.

Here's my monkeys: (AKA "Feed the Monky, Drown the Worm")
I'm on the foot now, but this morning when I took the picture I was in the middle of the gusset. I really love the way these are turning out. They aren't perfect, but I think I love them more for that.

PATTERN: Monkey
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel Sock (Jungle)

They were named after a song by the Falcon, "Feed the Monky, Drown the Worm (or Goin' Home)" I picked this song because it mentioned "Money, and the "drown the worm" made me think of tequila which is defnitely something drank on the vacation for which these socks were started.

Here's Glynis (AKA "Queen of Pain")
I've not progressed uch on these. I tried to work on them last night but I was too tired to not mess up and of the lace or keep track of what I was doing. More than likely, they won't be finished in May. But I'm trying. :)

PATTERN: Glynis
NEEDLES: US 2 / 2.75 mm
YARN: Cosmic Fibers Yarn Andromeda (CoS)

Named "Queen of Pain" after the Alakline Trio song. Why?? Because sssk's and k3tog's are not only PITAs they hurt my hands.

And for my favorite part of the post. :)

I got quite a bit of yarn this week in the mail... It was a good week. :) (Yarn-wise anyways)

The first portion being the first shipment of the VSC 2009 from Fresh from the Cauldron:

I got 2 "weres" (Despite it being a vamp club LOL)
Jacob Black & Sam Merlotte
I also got a lovely pattern for a cowl.
I'm not sure that I'd ever actually use a cowl, but the pattern is absolutely gorgeous.

Then I did some ebay browsing/bidding/shopping and won 7 new skeins of sock yarn. WHOOO!
I love ebay sometimes. LOL

I got 2 skeins of STR lightweight in "henpecked" and "rose quartz"

1 skein of STR seduction in Covelite

AND 2 skeins each of Araucania Ranco Solid in 115 (Periwinkle) and 106 (Denim)

The Month of May

2009-05-01T16:31:00.000-07:00

Today kicks off the first day of possibly the busiest month that I've had since graduating college... I have a massive amount of things to do each weekend, several during the weeks, and a lot of birthdays. I think I'll be happy when it's all over. I also might disappear from the internet for a while...

Here's my list of important dates that I've compiled so far:

Saturday May 2nd - double shift officiating
Friday May 8th - dinner with Mauricio's parents (a pre-graduation dinner)
Saturday May 9th - Mauricio's graduation, followed by Mauricio's graduation luncheon
Sunday May 10th - Mother's Day
Friday May 15th to Sunday May 17th - I'm moving...
Satruday May 23rd OR Sunday May 24th - My mom's 50th bday party
Thursday May 28th - Mom's birthday
Friday May 29th - Rocky turns 6
Saturday May 30th - the Offspring concert

I'm fairly certain that I'm missing a lot too.... It's a busy month. ;)

Ravenclaw Mad Lib Part Deux

2009-04-25T07:38:00.000-07:00

I have to tell you about the FABULOUS time I had in Diagon Alley last weekend! My friend Rowena Bladvak and I decided that we really needed some new socks and had to get over to Diagon Alley immediately. Rowena Bladvak put on their studded belt because it was wicked and did not want to get a cold. I grabbed my iPhone and we headed to the trains.

While waiting for our train to Diagon Alley, we chatted with Hermione Bagnold and Millicent Brocklehurst who were planning to visit Gringott’s. Millicent Brocklehurst did not want to go alone because he/she was collecting a spaceship and that was very sticky and brought Hermione Bagnold along for their excellence in protecting spells.

The train arrived and off we went. Our seats were very comfortable and the train sped along towards Diagon Alley and we were there in a flash! Before heading to the Yrsa’s Yarn Shoppe, we went into a(n) ocean that sells the fast turkey sandwich(es)!!! As we neared the ocean, we noticed quite a lot of commotion! The ocean owner had set the turkey sandwich-making machine and it had gotten stuck! turkey sandwich(es) were barking everywhere! I ducked as a cream-filled turkey sandwich came barking right at me and it laughed into 16Professor Hagrid’s jeans just as they walked through the door! A spicy turkey sandwich did a nose dive and splattered all over the entryway most elaborately! We made it out of the store just as a turkey sandwich frog and a kettle of Bertie Bott’s every flavor beans collided in a rainstorm of goo!

Since we were still quick, we walked the 12 blocks over to Florean Fortescue’s Ice Cream Parlor! I decided on a cone with tangy ice cream and Rowena Bladvak got the hot fudge sundae with extra tobasco sauce! Yummy! 16Professor Hagrid had made their way over here as well after the incident at the turkey sandwichshoppe and had chosen a diet coke float.

After that, we passed Gringott’s and headed to Yrsa’s Yarn Shoppe! I tried not to look at the beautiful skeins of silk and bamboo and wool and instead, headed toward the socks while Rowena Bladvak stopped to sing the stitch markers. I found a witty socks made out of steel and made my purchase. Rowena Bladvak kept hedging between the socks she came for and a pattern for a mittens. She chose the mittens pattern and we walked the back towards the train station just in time to make the 12:30 train.

After sitting down, we noticed Hermione Bagnold and Millicent Brocklehurst were on the train as well. Millicent Brocklehurst looked quite wistful to have the spaceship with them. Hermione Bagnold however did not look wistful at all. While waiting to go into the vault, a baby goblin waiting in line with his Mommy, had swam on Hermione Bagnold getting chicken enchiladas all over their clean robes! The smell really was just horrendous! Apparently, Hermione Bagnold’s protecting spells don’t work well against chicken enchiladas!! We made our way to a less smelly compartment and talked about how we were going explain missing Professor Flitwick ’s lecture on the valuable ways Phoenix(es) are working with the Department of Mysteries in solving unsolvable mermaid(s)!

My Kit is here! My kit is here!

2009-04-20T19:20:00.000-07:00

My kit package from Centy B was waiting for me when I came home from work today. I am absolutely in love with the entire thing. :) It is such an awesome kit I love it! I love it! I'm glad there was no chocolate... it would've melted. It's 92 degrees right now...

Here's some pictures:
(The only thing not pictured are treats that were for my doggies... I gave them each one because they were sniffing it like crazy and wouldn't go away. The treat got Bravo to leave, Rocky not so much. Even though I put the treats up with their other treats Rocky still thought there would be more. He's silly like that.)

Here's the box when I first opened it:

And some shots of the bag and the pattern
I love this bag! It's the first felted bag I've ever had. :D And it's HUGE!

Here's the yarn and some extras... Mike and Ikes are my favorite candy. I carry them around in my purse with me. One of my cousins gave me 6 boxes for Christmas, and I have already eaten them all. LOL So it's good to get more.
The yarn is Black Bunny Fibers BFL superwash in "nimbus" (And is SO pretty!)
There are monkey shaped DPN holders, size 2 INOX needles, a blue paisley note pad with a magnet, a wicked witch note pad (really love that one), a bar of handmade soap, cable needles, mini m&ms, a tape measure (believe it or not, I never had one before)
And you can see Rocky sniffing around for more treats... Sorry, puppy that's ALL MINE. :)

And this is everything all together!

Thank you so much Centy! This was one of the best packages I have ever recieved. I love ALL of it! You're the best!!!!

Stash and WIPs and other Pictures

2009-04-20T19:15:00.000-07:00

It was really nice outside this Sunday. And I was puppy-sitting. So I took the dogs outside and took some pictures.

These are pretty flowers. Technically they're desert weed flowers, but since I have a "black thumb" and would kill anything that I tried to grow, I appreciate what will grow on it's own. The orange ones are some of my favorites. :) When my Nana's garden is in full bloom in a couple of weeks I'll take pictures of it. It is gorgeous when everything is in bloom. :)

Here's the three boys playing outside.
(For anyone that has forgotten: The pug is Rocky. The brown/grey lab is Bravo. The Black lab is Luke's dog Apollo, who should have been name Sirius.)
This time there was no running into Nana's yard and trying to take a swim in the fish pond... Because, yes that totally happened 2 weeks ago.

And here's what I have been up to lately with knitting:

Star Crossed Slouchy Beret in Berroco Peruvia Colors #7226
This was made for a swap package with a Freaks and Geeks theme. The package has been recieved so I feel safe posting the pictures now. This was fun to make, I think I might have to make myself one now. :)

The second section for my Scarf Travels group 5... Done with leftovers from the Beret.
It's the "holding hands feeding ducks" scarf pattern which is a star stitch.
I think it turned out really nice looking. :) I hope that Denise likes it too. :)

I'm still working on the scarf section for group 3 still. I didn't get that one until right before my trip. I'm doing it in some red cascade 220. :) But I have begun to rethink that and might switch to some Malabrigo that is partially left over instead.

This is what progress I've made on my Hedwig socks... Which I know isn't much, but this is my "in between projects project" and so it's going to move slowly. BUT they will get done eventually.

I'm also working on some Monkeys in my Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in the jungle colorway, but there isn't much of those to justify a picture yet... There was at one point, but I had to frog and so now I've only got a little of the cuff. (I don't want to talk about the frog experience. I was PISSED.)

And some old-ish updates and pictures. :)

From Easter:
Sara with her learn to knit project :)
(Please ignore the mess in the background... I just came home from a trip...)

Sara was over at my house for Easter dinner. I came back home from San Diego literally just in time for dinner. Sara is wearing one of the dresses that I bought her for her 7th birthday. :) After dinner Sara wanted to play with me and she decided to try on pretty much every single pai of shoes that I owned, minus some of the flip flops. I have over 50 pairs of shoes so that kept her entertained for quit some time. Then she wanted me to teach her how to knit. So I let her pick some yarn and worked with her for a little while. These are pictures of her with her WIP. LOL She's a goofball and I love her. :)

A story about my VERY VERY best friend...

My very best friend Veronica (known as Rowena Bladvak at Hogwarts) send me goodies with her husband when he came for his interview. Among these goodies were HandMaiden sea silk in a colorway that I love and have found impossible to find. She also bought me a Beatles project bag and DPN roll. I love the Beatles. I'm a little crazed about them. I have every single one of their songs on my iTunes. (I even have multiple versions of a lot of their songs.) There was more to the gifts to. Some mix cds, some pattern marker magnets (or whatever their called), and some oreos (a favorite treat of mine). I really love her. I seriously think that she may be the greatest person in the world. I have the greatest best friend in the entire world. (And I have Hogwarts and Ravelry to thank for that.) I admire her for her strength and her survival skills. And when she's having a rough time it kills me that I can't just go give her a hug and make it better. :(

Ravenclaw Homework

2009-04-20T17:36:00.000-07:00

1- An adjective FABULOUS
2- A fellow Ravenclaw Rowena Bladvak
3- A knitting or crocheting item Socks
4- A clothing accessory Studded Belt
5- An adjective Wicked
6- Something you always have with you iPhone
7- A HSKS student1 Hermione Bagnold
8- A HSKS student2 Millicent Brocklehurst
9- A noun spaceship
10- An adjective Sticky
11- A noun ocean
12- An adjective fast
13- A food turkey sandwich
14- An adjective ending in “ing” barking
15- An adjective ending in “ed” laughed
16- A Professor at Hogwarts Hagrid
17- An article of clothing Jeans
18- A food flavor Spicy
19- A part of a room entryway
20- An adjective quick
21- A number 12
22- A food flavor tangy
23- A food topping tobasco sauce
24- A drink diet coke
25- A verb sing
26- An adjective witty
27- Something you can knit or crochet mittens
28- An adjective wistful
29- A past tense verb swam
30- A food or drink Chicken Enchiladas
31- A Professor at Hogwarts Flitwick
32- A magical creature in Harry Potter’s world Phoenix
33- A noun mermaid

Quidditch Round 3

2009-04-14T18:39:00.000-07:00

1. This “Harry Potter” character’s first name comes from Roman mythology. The mythological character’s twin brother is named Romulus. What is the Harry Potter character last name?
a. Black
b. Lupin
c. Pucey
d. Finnigan

2. Which “Harry Potter” character’s first name is the Roman equivalent of the Gree(k) Goddess Athena?
a. Evans
b. Malfoy
c. McGonagall
d. Flitwick

3. In ‘Harry Potter’ World, this wizard has created the Philosopher’s Stone (called the Sorcerer Stone in the US). The historical figure from the 14th and 15th centuries was a scribe and a manuscript-seller who became famous as an alchemist. Who is this individual?
Nicholas Flamel

4. What is the first name of a character whose last name is the name of a Bulgarian leader from early 9th century who doubled the country’s territory?
a. Theodore
b. Cedric
c. Viktor
d. Vincent

5. Which character’s name is the name of goddess in Indian mythology?
a. Creevey
b. Patil
c. Zabini
d. Vane

6. “Where the Wild Things Are” tells the story of Max, a young boy sent to bed without his supper for his wild antics. Who created this winner of the Caldecott Medal?
a. Maurice Sendak
b. Chris Van Allsberg
c. Ezra Jack Keats
d. John Steptoe

7. What was NOT one of the unexpected defense mechanisms that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook encountered in their attempt to rob Gringotts?
a. The Flagrante Curse
b. The Thieves’ Downfall
c. Anti-summoning Enchantments
d. The Geminio Curse

8. What was Snape aiming at when he cut off George’s ear?
a. Another Death Eater’s back
b. George’s wand hand
c. Another Death Eater’s wand hand
d. George’s face

9. How much older than James was Lily? (Referring to Harry’s parents, not children).
a. James was older
b. 6 months
c. 1 month
d. 2 months

10. Food is one of the five exceptions to what magical law?
a. Grimp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration
b. Gamp’s Law of Elemental Transfiguration
c. Gamp’s Law of Fundamental Transfiguration
d. Grimp’s Law of Fundamental Transfiguration

Picture Hunt
(Just links this time, It's taking too long to upload anything)
George
McGonagall
Patil
Where the Wild Things Are (My youngest brother's favorite book as a child.)

Look At My New Yarns!

2009-04-09T20:47:00.000-07:00

It's "Lucy in the Sky" and "Lucy"

(Do you see the theme there? :) LOL)

I'm headed to San Diego for the weekend! For some rain and rain and more rain. HA! It always rains on my vacations, I swear. I really hope that the weather forecast is wrong.

I'm taking some knitting with me and probably both of my traveling scarves. So this leg of the scarf travels group is extra travel-y for me. :) I'm supe excited to get going. Maybe I should pack... haha

So here's what has happened since my last post....

2009-04-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

And really it is SUCH a good thing that I posted on Tuesday because Wednesday was the last day that I was even on my computer! So here was the rest of my week:

WEDNESDAY: Had an upset stomach in the morning, something I ate the night before did not agree with me AT ALL. I was a little late for work as a result, but then worked more overtime anyway, so it didn't matter. Came home and pretty much went straight to bed.
THURSDAY: More overtime at work. (I really hate my job, at this point. I hate overtime; it takes away from knit time, and doggie time, and...) Came home to walk my doggies. I was going to go to Mauricio's to wait for Jake to come in but Luke called and offered me Chipotle for dinner, so I went and hung out at his house. I took like 5 books from him, so now I've got new reading material. :) Jake's plane didn't end up getting in until almost 10pm because of delays and weather and what not. Got him to the hotel. Came home, showered and slept.
FRIDAY: Woke up early and ran around like a mad woman packing up clothes and getting dressed so that I could go from work to Mauricio's. I wanted to stay at his house because the pool I was officiating at was 10 minutes from his house, and about 60 minutes from my house. Got to work. Finished the day early for once! YAY? Not really, I was told I had to stay until at least 6 or until the backed up useless worthless retarded busy work was finished. I stayed until 6:05. The BS work still wasn't finished. When I got out I called Mauricio and ranted and raved for a straight half hour about how stupid that place is and how I hate it and I want to quit and I need a new job, etc.
SATURDAY: Went to officiate. We had more lax rules for this meet, so no DQs. I hate when they do that. What's the point of me being there watching AWFUL swims that should deeq, if we aren't even enforcing the rules... (BTW I'm probably one of the meanest of the officials, I usually DQ everyone.) I got some awkward sunburns from my two hours outside... and at the same time I was COLD! I mean, come on! Went back to Mauricio's ate a sandwich went to get my hair done. My poor stylist/friend was something wrong with a tendon in her wrist so she was slow, and I felt bad. :( After Mauricio and I were finished with hair appts we picked up Chinese food and ate. Then I went home.
SUNDAY: Stayed home all day, other than the short running of errands to finish my swap packages. Spent some time playing with my dogs, did some knitting. Luke brought Sirius over and he and Bravo got into my Nana's goldfish pond. ROFL! I got ALL but one of the swap packages I'm working on done. HOORAY!!! The last one will finish tonight.

And now I'm going to take my two monsters outside, get dressed, leave for work and stop at the post office so I can mail my packages. Hear that Lydia? Your package is going out today! :)

And that's it for me for now. This week should be more of a normal week. AND I only work 4 DAYS!!! Because I'm going to San Diego for the weekend!!!

I've Not Got Much to Post About BUT

2009-03-31T20:32:00.000-07:00

I won't miss a week posting, even though it's only Tuesday (but this is the sort of week I'm having... First of all I could have sworn it was Wednesday or Thursday, and I'm not sur eI'll get a chance to post at all throughout the rest of the week) so here are some highlights:

My car is broken, it's leaking fluids and it's idilling really shaky. My dad is working on it, but I've had to drive the stupid truck since then. :( It may be related to my car accident, it may just be regular wear and tear, but regardless poor megatron is unable to transform being in the shop and all. Also the stupid insurance people keep trying to get a hold of me for a statement to the claim and everytime I call back I get their voicemail. It's so aggravating...
I got my new glasses finally... I had to spend my lunch driving across town and back to get them because it was the only time that I could. I could have had Luke or Mauricio pick them up, but then I wouldn't have been 100% sure of the fit.
Work has been SUPER busy... I'm on overtime already and normally, I'm under hours. I hate working overtime, I really actually hat emy job all together and am rather angry about the whole thing, but what can you do?
My kit is progressing rather well, but I had originally hoped to have most of it done by this week... Looks like it will be more like by next week... But it is more or less ready. I posted about it more on the Ravenlaw Kit Progress Blog.
Bravo is doing okay. He still needs to adjust to the family and new schedule a little, but he's really a good dog. He's very pretty too. I just wish that he'd quit EATING everything. Also he was supposed to be more of my youngest brother's dog, but he really prefers me rather heavily, most likely because I am so awesome. BUT id Logan is unwilling to step up Bravo will e my dog and when I move in September because Mauricio goes to law school he'll come with us (and Rocky). Surprisingly, Mauricio is okay with this. He said we'd look at renting houses instead of apartments. :)

And to close out the post, here are some cute pictures of my doggies that I took this morning:

Bravo, the green eyed, silver lab
(who happens to be in the Ravenclaw house. I'm working on his scarf. ;) )

And Rocky, the brown-eyed, runt pug
(He's in Slytherin. ;) )

These two boys are really the majority of my happy thoughts on most days. Rocky has an ear infection right now. :( I'm going to try and tak him to the vet one morning this week if I can.

My day

2009-03-24T23:32:00.000-07:00

I had one of those very horrible, no good, very bad sort of days... It started full of optimism and was crushed by a car accident, waiting on highway patrol, spilling coffee on myself, and work being le suck... but in the end it worked out okay. I got my new doggie. I love him and he is super cute and super smart...

Here's a picture of him. It's not the best because it's from my iPhone, but I'll get more. :)

He and Rocky are a little skittish with each other, but they'll adapt. :) Bravo is used to a little bit wilder play and Rocky has gotten used to being on his own... They're getting along though... Rocky isn't hiding behind me like he does with Sirius.

I'm a little bored....

2009-03-16T18:51:00.001-07:00

And I was going through my old livejournal, that I never update any more.... And I find it rather amusing how much my answers to the follow have changed since October 2007... LOL

1. Introduce yourself.
Now: I'm Lucy. I hate my job and love Harry Potter so much that I wish I was a wizard.
Then: I'm Lucy. I don't want to go to school today. :)
the Harry Potter part was true then too... It just didn't make the cut. Also right now, I'd do anything to just be going to school instead of working. LOL

2. It's Thursday at noon, where are you usually?
NOW: Having lunch, maybe putting my paycheck in the bank
THEN: working

3. Who are the last four people to send you a text message?
NOW: Mauricio and Veronica (via AIM) and Luke
THEN: mauricio, jill, michelle, aynsley

4. What brand of shampoo is in your shower right now?
NOW: Aveda Brilliant, Aveda clove, Redken All Soft, Redken Color Extend, Agaravia, Aveda Rosemary Mint
THEN: redken color extend, redken all soft, garnier fructis
PLEASE PLEASE Don't ask me why I have so many shampoos

6. What are you listening to right now?
NOW: the Distillers, and Rocky's whining
THEN: the fan

7. Do you watch MTV anymore?
NOW: not at all
THEN: nope, I was never a big MTV watcher

10. You need a new pair of jeans, what store do you go first?
NOW: Macy*s
THEN: Lucky

11. How do you feel about your hair?
NOW: I'm a little obsessed with it...
THEN: I like it..

12. What time do you wake up for school?
NOW: No more school, for me :(
THEN: 6-ish

13. What movie is in your DVD player?
NOW: Nothing, but I just finished the entire 6 Feet Under Series this weekend
THEN: Knocked Up

14. Last two numbers in your phone number.
NOW: 93
THEN: 93

15. Who's in your house?
NOW: Me, Dad, Rocky
THEN: my doggies

16. What side of the bed do you sleep on?
NOW: In the middle, maybe a little to the right
THEN: the middle

17. Do you like roller coasters?
NOW: sure
THEN: sure

18. What magazine(s) do you buy regularly or subscribe to?
NOW: Glamour and Vogue
THEN: Glamour and Vogue

19. Car you drive?
NOW: integra
THEN: integra

21. What do you think about gay marriage?
NOW: Really, I'm all for it...
THEN: do what you want

22. What do your pants look like?
NOW: I'm not wearing pants (I have on a dark denim pencil skirt)
THEN: plaid pajama pants

24. Do you own an iPod?
NOW: I have 5... my iPhone, my shuffle, my nano, my classic, my old one ....
THEN: I have 2!

26. What kind of cologne/perfume do you wear?
NOW: My two I wear the most are Ralph Cool and Juicy Couture, I also really like Diesel Fuel for Life
THEN: Ralph Lauren ... all of them except romance because it's too flowery and lauren because it's yucky

28. What are your plans for Saturday?
NOW: maybe babysit, officiate, get some knitting done, go out with Luke at midnight
THEN: sleep, knit, go out

29. What is the dumbest thing you have ever done with your cellphone?
NOW: I didn't have one until I read my old answer... LOL
THEN: fall in the pool while it was in my pocket

30. Does mind over matter work for you?
NOW: not really
THEN: maybe?

32. Are you paranoid?
NOW: a little
THEN: no

33. What was the last thing you were invited to?
NOW: formally? I haven't a clue
THEN: I don't know?

34. What item should never be shared?
NOW: I'd say my yarn stash, my shoes, my guacamole. ;)
THEN: money?

35. What do you usually order at Taco Bell?
NOW: zesty chicken bowl
THEN: zesty chicken bowl

36. Have you ever sat all the way through Gone With the Wind?
NOW: yes
THEN: yes

37. When was the last time you were up all night?
NOW: ummm.... a couple of weeks ago? I'm more nocturnal on weekends
THEN: Harry Potter and ootp midnight premier.... I go to bed early

38. Does drinking alcohol make you act more like your true self?
NOW: I'd say no... I'm more talkative though ;)
THEN: no, it makes me sleepy

39. Where is your favorite place?
NOW: Hawaii... :)
THEN: the beach

40. Do you ever think about the price of gasoline?
NOW: not really, can't do anything about it
THEN: no, seriously

41. Do you sleep with a fan on?
NOW: yes... I can't really sleep with it off, because I can't sleep if I'm hot
THEN: yes. I can't sleep if I'm hot

42. What is the best thing about winter?
NOW: This winter? My trip to see Ronnica... Winter in general? meh
THEN: The month long break between semesters, but as far as seasons go I hate winter

43. How often do you hold back from saying what you are thinking?
NOW: when it might get me fired... but I'l text it to Luke or Ronni or Mauricio hahaha
THEN: never ;)

44. How many states have you been to where all you saw was the airport?
NOW: Illinois and Maryland (layovers in Chicago and Baltimore when I flew to Providence)
THEN: I had a layover in Arizona once... but I've been to Arizona so I don't think that it counts

45. Are you currently planning a trip?
NOW: San Diego in April... Somewhere this summer, Possibly moving in August/September depending on Mauricio's law school acceptances, also I want to vist Ronni and go to stitiches in October
THEN: Puetro Vallarta!

46. How many plants are in your home?
NOW: I have 2 Jasmine bushes/vines in the courtyard, none in the house
THEN: none

48. Have you ever googled your name and found somebody?
NOW: Mostly just the trumpet player from before... most of my swim stuff is too old now
THEN: Yes... She an asian trumpet player, weird right? Also there's stuff from when I used to swim.

49. Whose number one in your top 8?
NOW: Still Mauricio
THEN: Mauricio.... myspace questions...

50. What is your favorite possession?
NOW: My Ralph Lauren shoes... :)
THEN: Does my dog count?

51. What makes you feel like you are young again?
NOW: 1) I'm still young, 2) drinking beer and listening to music (preferably live music)
THEN: I am young

52. Do you ever type "kik" instead of "lol"?
NOW: No... but I have actually said "L-O-L" on the phone... haha
THEN: no, never

53. Do you know how to play chess?
NOW: yes, but I'm awful
THEN: yes

54. What's on you mind right now?
NOW: I can't believe IA used to waste so much time filling out this sh!t
THEN: I really really don't want to go to school...

55. Do you want to take something back that happened in the last week?
NOW: No... Being sick sucked, but work sucks just as much and I got to stay home
THEN: failing at life would be nice to take back

56. Do you really like someone, but you made a big mistake and they're mad at you?
NOW: not that I'm aware of... but I have a big mouth
THEN: no

Quidditch Round 2

2009-03-14T08:44:00.000-07:00

Quidditch Round 2

1. On which day did the Order of the Phoenix come to get Harry?
a. Tuesday
b. Sunday
c. Saturday
d. The day of his 17th birthday

2. During all this chaos with voldemort and the Death Eaters, people still had lives to live and Ron's oldest brother, Bill decided to marry Fleur Delacour? Who were the uninvited guests at Bill and Fleur's wedding?
a. Voldemort
b. Death Eaters
c. Scrimgeour
d. Grindewald

3. Voldemort had seven Horcruxes hidden in different places. Six of them were hidden at the Gaunt shack, Hogwarts, a cave, inside Harry, inside his snake, Nagini and Tom Riddles Diary. Did Voldemort hide the last Horcrux inside the Malfoy's vault at Gringotts?
a. Yes
b. No

4. Why did the Dumbledore's move to Godric's Hollow?
a. The reason is unknown
b. They were tired of their old home.
c. The father went to Azkaban
d. It was a better place for their children to grow up

5. Harry and Hermione read a part of "Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore," written by Rita Skeeter. Then they met Dumbledore's brother Abeforth and he told them the same story, just with a few details changed. Which of the following did Aberforth and Rita Skeeter agree on about Dumbdore's past?
a. Why the Dumbledore family moved to Godric's Hollow
b. That Dumbledore was friends with Grindelwald for a while.
c. Why nobody outside the family noticed Ariana much.
d. The reason for Dumbledore's father's imprisonment in Azkaban.

6. When Harry and Hermione visit Godric's Hollow, they visit the graveyard to see Harry's parent's graves. Harry walks by a tombstone that we later learn belong to tone of "The Three Broother'. The brother buried there once owned what?
a. The ressrection stone
b. The cloak
c. The wand
d. The sword

7. The Trio finds out that Luna had been kidnapped by the Death Eaters , and that they won't give her back until they got Harry Potter. Why did they kidnap Luna?
a. Her father sided with Harry and Dumbledore
b. They though he would come to her rescue
c. She was a muggleborn
d. Her father failed as a Death Eater

8. After Voldemort killed Snape, he left the room and Harry came out from under the cloak. Snape gave Harry some of his memories all the way from when he was a child to just months before. Harry dived into the Pensieve and which of the following did he not see?
a. Dumbldore telling Snape that at some point Snape had to kill him.
b. Snape telling Lily she was a witch
c. Snape and Lily having fun in a potions class
d. Snape talking to Dumbledore on a hilltop

9. On the search of the Lost Diadem, Harry finally gets to talk to the Gray Lady. Who was the Gray Lady when she was alive?
a. She didn't remember because she had been dead for so long.
b. Rowena Ravenclaw.
c. Helena Ravenclaw.
d. A girl who was put in ravenclaw 800 years previously

10. Which of these is not one of Harry or Ron's children?
a. Rose
b. Hugo
c. James
d. Victoria

Picture Scavenger Hunt
These pictures must either be posted to your blog or linked to from your blog.

Lily - Ron - Snape - Luna - Godric's Hollow

(Listed from Left to Right)

To round up the rest of my Ravenclaw homework...

2009-03-13T13:53:00.001-07:00

...AND actually be studious this week....

Gryffindor
They seem to have quite a lot of homework. Almost all of their posts are homework assignments. :) My friend, Ophelia Ballycastle posted about her muggle device the iPhone. I have to admit that I have one too... AND I love it. It's the most addicting muggle device ever made. And I didn't thik i had much of a use for one in the beignning. Ophelia uses hers for twitter... This is something I've not yet gotten into... I shall look into it.

Hufflepuff
Mantacora Crimson has the coolest little app on her blog that tells how many meters of fiber she has transformed into knitted work. Rowena Bladvak told me about it and I had to see it for myself. It's really cool. :)

Slytherin
Rowena Weasley (odd to have a Weasley in Slytherin isn't it?) has just uploaded pictures of her vacation to Hawaii. I must admit, I am horribly jealous. How lucky was she to spend time there. It's the most beautiful place.... I went to Hawaii 2 years ago. I loved it. I didn't want to go home.

The "Ick"...

2009-03-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

In an update to my previous post about not feeling well. I am now referring to this as the "ICK." I'm miserable, and I just keep getting worse. I've yet to actually feel better. Every time I think I'm feeling better, I get a new and even worse symptom. I called in sick yesterday. Today I left work after a half day.... I'm really miserable... I hate this.

On the plus side, being home and being miserable has left me plenty of free time to work on my knitting. My spoilee's bag is coming along...

UGH!

2009-03-09T19:25:00.001-07:00

I'm in a really horrible mood. I'm angry at work. Actually, scratch that, I hate my job. I really do. I keep trying to remind myself it's easy money and I only have until the end of August until I get to move away (I'm following Mauricio to law school), but it gets harder and harder every day.... I'm tired. I had a really long tiring weekend. I'm about 90% sure that I'm sick. I also don't think it's really prudent for me to call in tomorrow because a coworker (the on that is my cousin) is out for a root canal, but if I don't feel well, I'll call in anyways. I sucked it up today because it was Monday, and I regretted it the whole time. They knew I felt shitty and I still had to work until 6 o'clock. I think I'm going to bed early tonight. I'll do my homework later, maybe... Maybe I'll keep going on my slacker, no-homework-for-me round about that I have been. ;)

On a more positive note. I'm now officially a high school swimming official. What this means is 4-5 hours of work on the weekends and a bit of extra cash. I completed the "training" and took the test for my certs this weekend... I'll be a little worn out from it, but I miss being around swimming so this is me getting back in to it. It also makes it official that I've had every job at a pool that a person can have: lifeguard, swim lesson instructor, rec team coach, USA swim team coach, swimmer... Probably more too. I love the pool. :)

Also I should be going to get Bravo tomorrow. :)

And the happiest note of all my happy notes: I have THE BEST best friend ever. No contest. I only wish that she lived a little closer to me. :) (and in case your daft, I'm talking about Ronnica AKA Rowena Bladvak AKA my twin)

I'm getting another doggie!!!!!

2009-03-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited. I'm going to be adopting a 1 1/2 year old silver lab named Bravo. I can't wait to get him! I literally cannot contain this excitement. :) I don't think Rocky is quite as excited to be getting a baby brother bigger than him, but I am bouncing off the walls over it. :-D

The New Homework... AKA doodling

2009-03-02T20:31:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I was going to make and honest attempt at being a good Ravenclaw and doing my homework asignment... Especially since I skived off all my lessons last week and didn't turn an assignment in so that I could do other, slightly less productive but oh so fun things. ;) However I read the assignment to write a story and be created given this as a start:
The shadows lengthened as the lonely witch waited in the graveyard to make her connection. Where was he? He couldn't have forgotten about her, could he? The shiver of cold slithered down her back and her heart jumped to her throat as she spotted someone in the distance. Was that him? She had never met him before, but hoped it was her contact. If she were to be caught by Ministry officials with this in her possession, it could mean real trouble for her whole family! Impatient and fearful, the stranger approached too fast, but too slow all at once. "How did I get myself into this?" she muttered under her breath. The faces flitted though her mind of those that coerced her into submission...

And I was immediatley taken back to the 2nd or 3rd grade when we used to be give "free write" journal time for 15 minutes or so each day... and those minutes were quite possibly the longest of my life... I hated "free write." I hated creative writing... During this time I usually doodled. I doodled extensively. Doodles that were more complex drawings, goofy cartoons, or just shapes and spirals... Once a teacher looked at my journal and told me I was supposed to be writing. My reply to he (because I was as smart assed then as I am now) was "But a picture is worth 1000 words. No one else is putting that many words on a page.

Truthfully, I am not a writer. I don't enjoy it. I don't like doing it. I've never turned in a paper that wasn't barely the minimum length it was supposed to be. In 8th grade I was supposed to write a 100 word essay from the perspective of my shoe! I loved (and still love) shoes more than anything, but I had (and still don't have) any desire to write an essay as though I was one... I couldn't do it. That was one of the most difficult assignments I ever had, including all of those from Organic Chemistry in college. (Which btw, I maintain is the most difficult thing I ever had to get through.)

I'm not knocking people who enjoy to write. More power to them, I love to read. I'll enjoy reading what they write... It's just not my thing... I doodle; I draw; I paint; I've even dabbled in ceramics. My room is decorated with my own works of art.

SO will I do my homework assignment? Well, maybe I'll give it a shot. Here's my ending:

"She curses the stranger rendering him or her subconscious. Swears at herself for getting caught up in something so idiotic. Throws the object into oblivion and disapparates to the safety of the muggle mall to go shoe shopping."

The End

I told you I wasn't a writer.

(Also the irony of such a long post being attached to my hatred of writing doesn't go unappreciated by myself. LOL)

I'm home

2009-02-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

I had a great trip, but I'm home now. I am really bummed about it, but at the same time I really missed my doggy so I was glad to come home to him. (And he was beyond thrilled to have me home too. :) )

I'm going to be busy cleaning up and unpacking and doing laudry this week, so I'm not sure how much more blogging I'll get done. Plus I have to make sure I actually work all of my hours through Wednesday since I took off 2 days in the pay period. That's not too hard seeing as how the pointless "end-of-day work" (read as: stupid busy work) piled up while I was gone. No one else thought to do it and they didn't have anyone else do it... So starting around 4:30 everyday I have an hour and a half of solid boredom to look forward to. Oh joy!

I've been tagged

2009-02-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

By both Rowena and Bevin Rae ....

Here is what you do:

1. Go to your pictures on your computer

2. Open the 6th folder

3. Choose the 6th picture

4. Show the picture on your blog and write something about it.

5. Invite 6 new people to this challenge.

6. Link to them and let them know they have been tagged.

Okay... Here is my small conundrum. I don't have my pictures in "folders" I organize them as "events" in iPhoto... So I went to the 6th picture... and it was one of Logan that I'd already posted from his birthday. Then I went to the 6th event and it only had 4 pictures... also of Logan and had been posted previously. (My little brother is a HOOR.) So instead I'm picking a picture at random that I haven't posted and that I love. :)

That's me and my friend April, with a special appearance by "Super Logan." :) Before April left this summer for school again we had some fun playing on my iMac. I love April to death. I miss her so much.

Oh, and I'm not tagging anyone... Why? Because I need to pack and tagging people will involve me clicking on their blogs to make a link and then getting distracted and not finishing until too late and then not sleeping and then not getting to work early and then.... basically a horrible cascade of events all triggered by by clicking on links from blogs. ;) I'm actually mostly done packing. Everything is laid out. It just needs to be packed. LOL

====

ALRIGHT! I'm off to pack up for my trip. This time tomorrow my plane will be landing and I'll be moments away from a fun filled weekend with Rowena. :)

Quidditch Round 1

2009-02-17T19:38:00.000-08:00

1. What momentous event was the reason that the members of the Order of the Phoenix felt it necessary to move Harry out of the Dursley’s house?
a. The start of the new school year
b. The Dursleys kicking him out
c. Voldemort’s escape from Azkaban
d. Harry’s upcoming birthday

2. Who revealed the actual date of Harry’s transfer to Voldemort, despite the misinformation the Order had been spreading around that the move would occur on the eve of his actual birthday?
a. Mundungus
b. Snape
c. Yaxley
d. Shacklebolt

3. With the use of Polyjuice Potion (and to confuse any possible attack by Death Eaters), six member of the Order were disguised as Harry and escorted out of Privet Drive, along with the real Harry. Which member of the order did not survive that night?
a. Mad-Eye Moody
b. Nymp0hadora Tonks
c. Hagrid
d. George Weasley

4. Who informed Harry, Ron and Hermione of the bequests left to them in Dumbledore’s will?
a. Kingley Shaclebolt
b. Minerva McGonalgall
c. Arthur Weasley
d. Rufus Scimgeour

5. During the wedding celebration for Bill and Fleur, Kingley Shacklebolt sent a Patronus to tell the guests that the Ministry had fallen, Scrimgeour (the Minister) was dead and the wedding celebration was about to be attacked by Death Eaters. What form did the Patronus take?
a. A lynx
b. An otter
c. A doe
d. A stag

6. Escaping from the wedding to London, our three friends found themselves confronted by a pair of Death Eaters, disguised as workmen. This close brush impressed on them the need to find someplace to hide. Where did they decide to go?
a. The Leaky Cauldron
b. Sirius Black’s house
c. The Dursley’s house
d. Ron’s Auntie Muriel’s house

7. Kreacher’s animosity towards Harry, Ron and especially Hermione (a Mudblood) was well documented in book five, “The Order of the Phoenix.” His initial interaction with them showed that his attitude had not changed. How did they win him over?
a. By giving him clothes and his freedom
b. They didn’t win him over!
c. By giving him something to eat
d. By giving him Regulus Black’s old locket

8. Who did they eventually find was in possession of the locket/Horcrux?
a. Severus Snape
b. Lucius Malfoy
c. Lord Voldemort
d. Dolores Umbridge

9. What did Harry find embedded in the door of Umbrdige’s office?
a. Moody’s magical eye
b. Nymphadora’s purple hair
c. Hedwig’s head
d. George Weasley’s ear

10. After retrieving the Horcrux, they tried to return to their safe place but they were pursued (actually Yaxley tagged along when they disapparated). This meant that the Death Eaters knew their hiding place and they had to go somewhere else. Where did Hermione take them?
a. To Godric’s Hollow
b. To the Forbidden Forest
c. Back to the Burrow
d. To the site of the Quidditch World Cup

SCAVENGER HUNT

Mad Eye Moody

Nymphadora Tonks

George Weasley

The Dursley's House

Kreacher

Ravenclaw Week 2 Assignment

2009-02-09T20:20:00.000-08:00

1- What form does your Patronus take? What does it symbolize for you?

A Tiger - Strength, Independence, and Beauty... Plus they're cats that like the water. :)

2- Did you bring a cat, an owl, a toad, or other pet with you? What is their name?

I'd bring my completely non-magical, but far from ordinary pug Rocky :)
But I would like an owl, or another bird that would be useful as well.

3- What is your favorite class here at Hogwarts?

Transfiguration, Charms

4- What is worth sneaking out of the castle for, even if you got caught?

I'd sneak out for almost anything, and I'd be certain it was worth it each time. I'm a rebel like that. ;)

5- What has made you laugh so hard that you've had butterbeer come out your nose?

Just today... Aynsley listing her 5 words for me (see below), Logan telling me that he was so determined to play on the beach this weekend while he was in Long Beach so even though it was cold and rainy he apparently stripped to his underwear and stood in the cold water and played in the sand.... and of course there were all the funny names at work today... and then I laughed pretty hard at Michelle for one thing or another... and my mom had me laughing while I was playing slot machines with her this weekend. I laugh a lot. :)

6- What yarn do you covet? Link please...
my two dream yarns to have right now are:

Malabrigo Sock yarn (in persia or solis) and Handmaiden Sea Silk (in glacier or pewter) Or any color really, I just listed favorites. :)

7- What is your favorite flavor... the one thing you could simply not live without? Is brand important?
Is Diet Coke a flavor? because that would be it... and yes brand is important because I will not drink Pepsi... I also love chocolate (all but white) and raspberry :)

8- How many HSKS terms have you participated in?
this is my 5th year. :) Does that mean I have to take OWLs now?

9- Do you have a birthday, anniversary or other big Muggle event during this year at Hogwarts? If yes, please tell us what.
Nope. Not this time around. :)

I change my mind I have a very awesome 4 day long holiday! I'm going to visit Rowena Bladvak... My long lost twin and BFFFL and venture out of the southwest. (Seriously the furthest north or east I've ever been is Nashville, TN... and that was during the summer. I'm going to CT in the winter! There's SNOW there. hahahaha)

10- You in 5 words.
(I suck at this game, so I asked Aynsley who is on the phone with me to give me 5 words instead. Maybe it's cheating, but whatever...)

bubbly (she stipulated "not in the cheerleader sense, but in the exploding freon & oil samples from works sense" ... That is a verbatim quote. And puts it over the 5 word limit, but she cracked me up.)
sharp
pixie-stick
fashionable
acute

If I chose my own 5 because I wasn't being lazy and kind of "out of it" I'd pick: snarky, rebellious, independent, smart and quirky... SO I did my own work anyways. LOL

Logan :)

2009-02-06T12:31:00.000-08:00

Since everyone seemed to enjoy my comment about Logan wanting to save me during a zombie attack (and I've been SUCH a picture poster lately), I've decided to post a few of pictures of Logan being the total goober that he is. :) (And no one can say I shouldn't put up his pictures because I'm 90% most of these are on his MySpace anyways. LOL) I think Logan is definitely one of my 5 favorite people in the world. :)

A few notes about the pictures: The 1st and 2nd ones were made using my iMac. Logan loves all of the special effects... The 2nd ne is one of his favorites "Super Logan." There's actually about 7 or 8 pictures and a video! LOL He modeled my Bella Mittens for me... The 4th one was him at Sedona. He came home from the trip with my parents with that picture on the camera... The one with the fur collared jacket is actually him modelling MY jacket. He's just such a goofball. :)

ZOMBIES!!!

2009-02-04T07:29:00.000-08:00

72%

Although Logan tells me he'd keep me alive because and (here's a direct quote) "the scientists are the ones you have to save so they can figure out a way to put the human race back together." LOL That's my little brother. :) So I'm sure that must increase my odds somehow...

reason #1,000,001 why I love Sara

2009-02-03T08:02:00.000-08:00

Her birthday is in March. (She'll be 7.) She wants a pug puppy more than anything. Because she loves Rocky and his "curl tail. " (Her exact words.) Now she has decided that I need to get a second pug at the same time she gets hers... And she'll name hers "Lucy" and I'll name mine "Sara."

I can't even express how tempted I am to go out and get a pug puppy now. :) I've been wanting a second one anyway....

My "Amazon" Wishlist

2009-02-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

I was going to create an Amazon wishlist with knitting books, but I share my amazon account with my boyfriend and he is currently using the wishlist option for something else... And since I really don't want anyone sending me the official Battlestar Galactica episode guide or something... (I don't honestly even know if that exists, actually.) I'm just making my own post with Amazon lnks to books that I wanted... Full titles not necessarily listed because I'm a little lazy sometimes. :)

I'll add to this if I think of more.

This is what Rocky does all day...

2009-01-28T23:13:00.001-08:00

And at night while I play on the computer during what he considers to be "bedtime."

He sleeps on MY pillows...

Apparently as soon as I leave for work, he plants himself there and pretty much waits for me to come home. Today he was waiting at the door for me. :) I love my puggy.

1st post of the new term

2009-01-24T13:14:00.001-08:00

Look at Sirius the puppy!
Isn't he so cute?
(My idiot brother actually gave him the stupid name of Apollo, but I'm working on convincing him that his real name is Sirius... He even has HUGE paws... That's padfoot. And I know it! LOL He even has a little gryffindor scarf. Maybe I'll steal him and convert him to Ravenclaw...)

WISH LIST:
Okay so I don't have much of one... Especially with anything that's knitting related or remotely affordable, I kind of get myself most of the things that I want... So I'm grasping at straws and really trying here... If I come up with anything else I'll add it. :)

I'd like new cable needles... My favorite U-Shaped one totally disappeared and I've looked everywhere and have no idea where they went or ended up
Malabrigo yarns... I never say no to those, and I always want them... My favorite...
Something I want, but by all means do not need: Knitting needle cases that would match my knitting bags... meaning zebra print, hot pink, red, surfer/hawaiin flower designs in hed/hot pink/black/white combos. It's entirely unnecessary, I already have needle cases for all my needles, but it is a wish of mine.

ALLERGIES:

For jewelry: Nickel, nickel-hybrid metals... I cannot wear jewelry that isn't sterling silver or at least 10K gold... So generally I just tell people not to buy me it. Even the "hypo allergenic nickel-free" stuff has caused bad reactions with my skin. And some silver earrings too, because the dangly part will be sterling, but the posts that go in the ear will be a nickel-hybrid metal.
Most grasses and hay and some pollen... I get hay fever. Its awful...
No food allergies to speak of BUT I abhor mushrooms. I refuse to eat foods that even touch mushrooms. (I know, it's very juvenile of me. ::eye roll::) I also hate bananas or anything banana flavored.

Here are some of my "top 5" lists...
That may actually be more helpful :)

Favorite Movies:

Knocked Up
Pineapple Express
Roman Holiday
the Departed
Forgetting Sarah Marshall

Favorite Disney Movies:

The Little Mermaid
Beauty and the Beast
Monsters, INC
Mary Poppins
Lilo & Stitch

Favorite TV Shows (still on tv):

Dexter
Scrubs
Mad Men
True Blood
Bones

Favorite TV Shows (no longer on tv):

Freaks & Geeks
Buffy/Angel
Pushing Daisies (technically, still on... but on it's way out :( Only 2 episodes left, if they ever even get played)
6 Feet Under
Veronica Mars

Favorite Bands:

The Beatles
Flogging Molly
Bad Religion
the Offspring
the Lawrence Arms

Favorite Songs:
(should be current 5 most played songs LOL)

RL Burnouts Inc. - the Falcon
Love Love, Kiss Kiss - Alkaline Trio
Mean Streak - American Steel
Lilly - Pink Martini
Bruises - Chairlift

Favorite Candies/Sweets:

Snickers
Hershey's Kisses
Mike & Ikes
Oreos
Golden Spoon frozen yogurt, especially the raspberry and boysenberry flavors

Favorites Foods:
(you'll notice two themes: Mexican/Latin food and potatoes)

Chicken Enchiladas
Guacamole
French Fries
Potato Soup
Papa Rellena

Favorite Books:

The Great Gatsby
Thnigs Fall Apart
The House of God
The Once and Future King
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix

5 Favorite Book Series:

Harry Potter (of course)
Sookie Stackhouse/Southern Vampire Mysteries
Twilight
Stephanie Plum
Dexter

5 Favorites from Harry Potter:

Favorite Book: Order of the Phoenix
Favorite Movie (so far): Order of the Phoenix
Favorite Character: Dobby
Favorite HUMAN Character: Sirius
Favorite Class: Transfiguration

My 2009 De-Stash "PROJECT"

2008-12-28T12:39:00.000-08:00

I have too much yarn, and I keep buying more so my 2009 goal is to knit more of what I already have. I'm picking out projects that I want to do and that I already have the yarns for and I'm devising random ways to pick 1 or 2 at the start of each month. Hopefully my end result will be a lot of stash de-stashed and not a bunch of UFOs. So far I've decided on 6 sock patterns, one for every other month. I'm not ambitious enough to take on 12. I've also got 3 hats picked out so far, but I'll probably pick more. I'm also going to FINALLY do my hermione mitten and fuzzy felted slippers....

So here are my lists, for anyone who is curious, and also for myself to help keep track:

Socks

(since there are 6, I'm going to roll a die to randomly select one every other month, or sooner if I work quick enough)

EDIT: I switched out the Flutter-by Socks for Zombie instead. ;) I'm still iffy on Mme. Defarge for the Anastacia socks, but not so much that I can up with an alternative... If I maneage to get all 6 done early then I'll go back to the flutter-by's...

I'd also like to do Jaywalkers with my Ravenclaw 2nd Year yarn.... I had a lot of trouble narrowing this down last night. LOL Now I'm thinking of changing it all around... Oy Vey!

Hats:

This is a short list. I haven't picked all of then yet... I also haven't decided how many I should do, or how to pick them.

Foliage in Malabrigo Chunky, Sapphire Magenta
Hermione's Cable and Eyelet Hat in Wool-Ease, Grey heather
Star-Crossed Slouchy Beret in Malabrigo, undecided on colorway (I'm thinking Jewel Blue or Roanoke)

Other Projects:

Also a short list right now

Hermione's Cable and Bobble Mittens in Cascade 220, 9404 (ruby)
Felted Furry Foot Warmers (Plain Version) in Lambs pride bulky, blue magic & Fun fur, fiji

I'll do more updating once I pick out some more projects... I have a lot of yarn to de-stash so I definitely need more projects. :)

Scarves:
I'm iffy on including these. I HIGHLY doubt that they will ever get done in one year with the other socks and hats and mittens and other things that I want to do

Clapotis in my Noro Silk Garden --> I'm scared of it, and it'll be a big undertaking.
longish skinny scarf (Possibly Omo) in Cosmic Fibers, Sweeny Todd
Finish my Lace Ribbon Scarf in Lorna's Laces, Hawaii
Sara's Scrunchable scarf in Bernat Chunky Twist, Denim Rag