I once had a friend in Nantucket...

I booked my plane tickets this morning and I'll be off to visit Rachel at the end of April. I'm very excited.

I've been wanting to write for a while about the fact that nearly all of my college friends have fled this city... off to Philadelphia, DC, New York, New England... I think Anish and Nick Snow are my only college friends who've remained in town. Sometimes I wish I could leave too. Not forever, just for a while. I try not to think about it too much. I had the opportunity to move right after college and maybe if the destination had not been Cleveland (or if I'd had a solid job opportunity), I'd have taken it. Dreaming about moving away is one thing, but then the reality of my family's attachment and expectations hit me and I wonder if I could even do it.

At any rate, I'm glad that I can finally take advantage of the fact that I have a friend in another city, especially since she also happens to be one of my very favorite people. I'm also looking forward to traveling alone. It's kind of a challenge to my independence. I've traveled with Steph and with my parents and other friends, and I've flown alone to visit Ryan but I've never taken off like this. I almost lost my nerve and asked Nick to join me, but to be honest, I have no idea when I'll have another chance to travel alone and he and I have many trips together yet to come!

So, Rach is about the coolest and best planner and she sent me a whole trip-tic with recommended sites and restaurants to check out on Nantucket. She'll be working on Friday, while I explore. We're planning to spend some time together in Boston as well. I want to go back and actually ENTER the library, rather than walk by longingly as I did when I went with Steph. Rach said there are some nice museums and of course I intend to do some Geocaching and eat plenty of seafood. I hope the weather is nice, but even it it's not, I intend to have a great time!

My new toy

I was very excited to receive an awesome birthday gift from my sweetie - the Amazon Kindle 2. Before I could take it to work and show it off though, I had to make a cozy for it!



Isn't it nifty?? (The Kindle, not the cozy)


My friend Jess also got her sweetie a Kindle (copycat!), so I made hers a cozy too...


I've been sticking with quick and easy projects lately. I hit another wall with my sock knitting when my crazy kitty jumped on my knitting bag and somehow snapped two of my harmony needles in half! The pieces even flew across the room! I ordered a new set, along with some yarn which should arrive any day now. Darn cat.

Here's another short, sweet project, another pair of wrist warmers for my cold handed aunt.

Now, I just have to get them to her before it gets too warm to wear them!

What's cooking?

I've been on a bit of a culinary tear lately. Can't say that I've been doing much cooking myself, but I have been bookmarking, daydreaming and salivating over many a good cooking blog.

We've had a house guest since the 21st of January and I did make a pretty mean meatloaf one night, chicken parmesan another (but forgot the spaghetti!), and I tried these Spicy Chicken Nuggets on Monday night. They were yum! I think the marinade (1/4 c. dark rum, 1/4 c. lime juice, 1/4 c. soy sauce and 2 tbs. sugar would be awesome on steak or grilled chicken).

Lately, I've found it's easier to avoid conversation if I bury my nose in a book or my laptop, than to try and knit in my free time and so I am getting behind on productivity. I need to get on it though, my aunt has requested another pair of wrist warmers and they won't be so useful if I wait til June to make them!

As for my creative outlet, my wonderful and very missed friend Rach sent me a set of LOLmagnetz and so I've been spending my down time at work futzing with those. Yay magnetic LOLpoetry!

Put a lid on it

I've been knitting a lot lately but I got too busy to take photos! Found a good deal on Lion Brand Jiffy, so I whipped up these caps to keep me and my honey warm.


Nick in his new cap.


My new cap.


Caps (couldn't get the size right for the big headed dude).


My cap with matching wrist warmers.

I also got a little beading done today. Like every other bracelet I've ever tried to make, this required two revisions before I was happy enough with it to wear. My mom bought me the really cool frog pendant. It's a Safe Journey frog and I love it.


Front


Back

Hopefully some more sock knitting will occur in the not too distant future :) I blame my new distraction, the Wii, for taking me away from my more productive hobbies. It's worth it though, to spend some time throwing plungers at rabbids.

Revisiting the Stars

My friend had a birthday earlier this month, so I used those cute little stars to make these for her!



Nothing fancy, but I'd never made a bracelet like that before. I'm going to try to make a couple more as gifts this season (time permitting), I got some really cool beads on Black Friday.

It takes two...

So, I finally finished my first pair of socks. And then, I was so excited, I went ahead and finished a second pair. Four successful socks! Woo! These were both patterns from the wonderful Mystery Sock class at Temptations.

These warm puppies are staying with me:


I learned a lot about my tension issues with this pattern. I lost my spots when I knit too tightly and ended up pulling it apart and starting over more than once. But, they're super warm and they both look the same, so I'll chalk them up as success.


Pattern two was much easier and sooooo pretty. And! I have enough yarn left to make a second pair... score!






Dig that wiggle?

Finally, a riff raff scarf I just finished. I'm feeling a little iffy about it, but I think the sparkle helps. I'm making another with the same yarns, hopefully I like it more....

And my model looks fantastic in it!

Tiny trees, take II. Buckeye Beading, too!

I was busy this week. I think stringing seed beads has temporarily replaced my addiction to knitting. Look at this lovely!



(It's a bracelet ;))



I stopped by the bead shop down the road - Jennifer's Beads on the way home from work on Friday. That place is dangerous! I found some pretty fall colored small beads and used them to make these:



They also had a nice assortment of OSU related beads. I cheaped out and got a small batch of polymer buckeyes. I want to go back for some of the nicer glass ones, but in the meantime, I will wear these:



(Gratuitous photo of me, and my new hair cut, but really I took it for the jewelery. I promise...)