Spring Break

It's the time of year when I get to sleep in and read my kind of books! I love spring break. I've started to go running again and it feels great! Hopefully I can shed some of this winter weight before summer comes along with all of it's swimsuit-ness.

Thank goodness March is over. Blah. Now I get to rev up the engine and work on whatever I want until May. I'm not even going to have a plan for April. Spring is the time for cleaning out all of the junk and re-ordering life. A time for opening those dusty windows and setting those goals back on their tracks.

I surprised myself and finished both my Cardigan and Dragon Scarf on time! Phew! Now I get to work on the little stuff and don't have any swaps or HP classes for a while. Awesome? Yes.

So what is (or was) the best part of my spring break? No homework. Yep- that's right! All of my big projects/papers were due before the break, so I got to relax ALL week! Side note: I've had to read the Aeneid, but that hasn't been so much of a burden. I've made several trips to B&N and as if my library stacks weren't high enough, I got a few more books for the shelf! I'm crossing my fingers that summer will come soon so that I can really dig into all of them! I just finished some wonderful Baudelaire poems and got a few chapters into Candide, Invisible Man, and Dead Until Dark. Wow- talk about variety!

Ok, so I know that I said no to 'knitting plans'... but I'm going to call this my 'list of what's going on'- just so that I can see it. (I know.. but I'm such a list maniac that it's weird to not make one!)
- Burnin' Rubber
- DtRH Socks
- Meadow Scarf (need to cast on..)

To be true to my spring goals, I also really need to tackle: cleaning the closet, ironing pile, and vacuuming the car.
Ready... Set... Go!

Cheers, Ness

So Little Time

I think I will be forever impaled by sickness. Feeling crummy again today- I slept from 2pm until 10pm after work, and I know I'm going to sleep for another 6 hours yet tonight.

Washcloths were just about done- I did 5/7 so I'm glad for that! I also get to send them to their homes tomorrow, which will be a nice surprise!

Below is what will be in actuality to get done. Unfortunately.

HP March Classes:
- Charms: WIP
- Potions: Dragon Scarf
- DADA: Cornflower Cardigan

Round 2 of my library books came this week. Once again I found myself with a large armful of books! Spring break is next week, so I will certainly be a busy girl! Already finished Ethan Frome, and currently working on Memoirs of a Geisha and "Le Deuxieme Sexe" aka The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoire- a very large book with some great insights on women.

TTFN! - Ness

Ps: sorry if my title makes you think about the Olson Twins. It did for me after I thought about it!

Kiss Me I'm Irish!

Happy St. Paddy's Day to you all! Alas, I wish I could be out drinking green apple juice (blast being 20!) or celebrating heartily.. but I will be stuck in class this evening knitting away on green things instead. Other life things are coming along much better. Puppy scare is over (again), and I've been able to hang out with Mum more! My Cardigan is almost finished- I just have to tackle the darn last sleeve and do finishing touches! Sigh, it makes me so happy to finish! :)

Can you believe that March is swooping to a close? Pretty soon classes will be over too! I have to finish my 7 washcloths for the HP Square Chasers (... how could I have forgotten that I signed up for this?)- ahem... finish them by Friday, then work on my scarf hard-core! I just need a few focused days to finish it and then pack up the entire swap box for my spoilee- then I'm done! I'm so glad that it will be the last of my swapping (at least for now). I sent out my 20s swap last week, along with receiving my HP spoiler box! My spoiler did such an amazing job and made my day! We share the same love of Abba Zaba's, and I finally own a Harry Potter Scarf (!) along with a HP shirt and some other goodies!

My room is unbelievably messy. I blame it on the knitting. and reading.

Speaking of which, one night last week (in a moment of insanity) I queued all the books I wanted to read at the library. Round 1 came in, and me- unrealizing the extent of damage I had done.... left with two large armfuls of books! I will certainly be busy for spring break! I got tons of the classics, and a few on audiobook so that I can knit & listen. I had several people come up and ask if I needed help carrying them to the car. It was that bad! Not looking forward to "Dune" and "I, Claudius"... but I know I will feel better to read them once I do. I've already started "Ethan Frome" and the "Aenid", which have surprisingly been wonderful!

Ok, here's the knitting breakdown of what I can maybe accomplish by the end of March-- (including 5 more washcloths!)

HP March Classes:
- History of Magic: Nutkin Socks
- Charms: WIP
- Potions: Dragon Scarf
- DADA: Cornflower Cardigan

I hope you have a wonderful day filled with green-ness and shamrocks!
CHEERS! -Ness

Back In the Saddle Again

Phew! I can breathe again! Pneumonia is just about gone (it took long enough..) and I'm back at it!

The downside of this is that now I have to catch up on everything! It's not the best time for that though! I have tests in all of my classes either tomorrow or Thursday, so I therefore have to study for the tests first, then do the missed homework second. The bad part is that the homework needs to be done since it is part of studying and it's just a bad cycle. Not to mention that I realized that I needed a certain book today for a class- but the bookstore is sold out. I had to overnight it from amazon. Thank god for amazon!

Ok- knitting update!
Ravelympics is going ok... it's not as great as I would want it to be... but I'm hoping that I can 'catch up' there too!
- Chill hat- done!
- Kiss Cowl- in progress
- Twiscarfy- almost done
- Forks Socks- not even started

With 4 days left to go... things could go either way! I'll get one more thing done for sure!
March, however... leaves me with some eye-opening realizations.
I need to complete the following by the 15th of March. Got that? All of the below in two weeks:
- Cornflower Cardigan :0
- Sock #2 of Duckula
- Alice's Porshe Socks
- scarf for HP swap :0
- possibly Vampanties

Deep breaths.

I wish I could knit faster...
Ah yes, but I did finish little Henry the Monster for HPKCHC! And there is one sock of Duckula done as well! Yay!

So, that is it for tonight. I really should be off studying and/or knitting!
Cheers, Ness

Snow, Snow, Snow

Well, as you guessed it- it's snowing!! Not just a little dusting either... we've had massive amounts of snow here. Almost a foot? It's crazy- but I really do love how it makes everything pretty and leads me to stay indoors.

V-day approaches! I'm hoping to finish my secret project along with my immense accumulating pile of wips! Thank goodness- I just stayed up all night cleaning and reading, trying to put my life back on track again. Even though I vowed to get everything in order before term started, it seemed like it all just piled up and got worse! Alas, now my room is clean, ironing pile slightly lowered, laundry done- and yarn wound!

Ravelympics in 3 days!!! Yikes! I cannot believe how quickly time has flown. It seems like yesterday that I was halting wip progress. That was a month ago!

Classes are good. It's a good mix of right/left brain this semester, but it won't kick my butt as much as it usually does! Going down from 5 to 4 classes was a bad thing, but turned good thing.

Finished Breaking Dawn (again).. (and finally I may add!) I've been working on finishing it all through break, but knitting stole most of my free time, along with getting some sleep. Also- I read 'Midnight Sun' and I'm so glad that I did! I LOVED it! It was so much better seeing it from Edward's point of view, and it made me (somewhat) have more sympathy towards Bella. All the while that I read Twilight- and wishing that I could hear his thoughts... and it was absolutely fantastic! I had a lot of squee outbursts and I really hope that SMeyer finishes it, and perhaps writes his pov throughout the entire series. That'd be amazing! The thing that really surprised me were the little things that were new and not even part of the original- the Angela/Ben thing, and seeing the Cullen family 'behind the scenes'. Anyways- for all you Twifans- read it!

Netflix is probably one of the best things since sliced bread. I really love NOT having to go pick things out, or being bummed if the movie store is out of a movie. I also love seeing all of the classic movies that the usual Blockbuster does not carry- who wouldn't want a chance to see Chinatown on a cold winter's night?

Did I mention that I'm trying to make my own knitted panties? :) They will be super fun and amazing. I know it! I'm trying to design my own pattern using three others that have the qualities that I'm looking for. I've decided a picot cuff would be perfect for putting the elastic into- lace trimmings, and expanding the part that actually covers the back region.... One pattern is for an XL- so that's NOT going to work, and the other is a swimming bikini suit bottom that has super cute lace.
It's a work-in-progress. Did I mention I'm making it with Luxury yarn? Oh yes... part cashmere= yum!

HP classes are currently on hold (part will start for Ravelympics) until later this month. I really want to finish up my wips and I cannot keep rotating and going out of my mind at the last second. I will focus on one (or two...) projects at a time. I just need to pick the order of which ones to knit first...

Also- In NessNews.... I got a part-time job as a tutor at school! This is amazing news! I worked it out so that I work in the tutor center in-between classes. Not many students come that often- so, my dream has come true:
I GET PAID TO SIT AND KNIT!
Amen. I would be knitting anyways, but now I get paid for it and I can help other students once in a while! Yay!

The bad part about cleaning my room-- I found about 10 more patterns that I had forgotten about. Hmm... I really need to knit faster! Speaking of patterns, a rav friend Susan- sent me a lovely package with more beautiful patterns, vday candy, and a gorgeous skein that we traded! I was enthralled! It made my day!

Ok, I should probably get a few winks before class tomorrow!
Cheers, Ness

New Year, New Knits!

I hope everyone has had a very good new year so far!

Since I don't have classes until February... January is definitely going to be a big knitting time for me! And that is a good thing too because I joined the "Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup" (HPKCHC) on Ravelry, and boy it is a LOT of work! There are monthly classes (6 total) and there is a nice project for each of them.

Here are my plans on that accord:
Transfiguration: organize queue done
Divination: fingerless mittens (which I've been trying to get started for ages!)
Arithmancy: Vanilla Twist Hat- very cute and I might make miniature for time purposes...
Charms: a very cute knitted cupcake
Potions: knitted Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans
Defense Against the Dark Arts (DADA): hat just for stash busting

Plus-- I am doing the infamous Ishbel shawl for an OWL. The OWLs are an extra special sort of class that push knitters to do a big project that takes longer than a month to do and learn new things! Since this is my first lace project and first shawl... it's definitely going to take me a while!

Not to mention that the Ravelympics are coming up! I have 3 projects for our team that I am for sure doing, which will take the entire 2 week event! Thank goodness I don't have to worry about those until February!

Oh, and did I mention that I'm in 3 other swaps? Yes, I have 10 blanket squares due by Jan 31st, a mini project by Jan 20th, and a scarf by the end of February.

And... my Sunshine Sweater yarn should be here soon and I have to knit that up by March. As well as TWO pairs of socks for our Overdye KAL.

In other words my dear friends... ouch! I have more knitting to do than I did for xmas! Wish me luck! I'd better get started...
Cheers, Ness

Crazy: An Epic Tale

Hello world! Yes... it is I. I'm dragging my feet trying to shake off this cloak of insanity. So what has been going on? Well, there was the inevitable Halloween, followed by the birthday of yours truly. Then sickness (it came early this year), and then I was so so busy catching up from what I missed.

Ugh! Life's been way too hectic! But- I have certainly gotten a lot of knitting done. Finished my New Moon Alice Mitts, Cozy Scarf, Danielle Hood, New Moon Edward Cowl, AND Noble Vampire Cowl. Phew! Sunshine group had the "New Moon KAL" so I had to speed up my knitting to finish my projects.

But now has come the irrevicable and unstopable idea that Christmas is coming. Yep, that's less than 40 days until the big day. Not good. I have so many knitted gifts planned (since it is my first real xmas being a real knitter). I started knitting after thanksgiving last year, and only had known enough to make one scarf as a gift for that xmas. How much I have learned since then!

Currently on the list for Christymas: (names have been omitted for the safety of gifts that might not make it)
-water bottle cozy for friend #1
-"Team Jacob" towel for friend #2
-ear muffs (and maybe mittens) for friend #3
-cable scarf, hat, socks, and mitts for mum
-scarf and hats for mum's friend
-mittens for mum's other friend
-socks for special friend
-6 or 7 various ornaments
-5 gift pouches for the ornaments (2 done yay!)
-AND... I know that I must make a few fun things for my friends on rav!

Yikes. Now that I actually have them written out... it seems like a lot. It's like the Yarn Harlot's list (but less intense) and I know that these will not be done in time.

Plus (haha) I have already cast on a sweater for myself, and plan on doing socks for another Jane Austen KAL. I am justified in saying that since the sweater is small, it won't take long. (I'm done for, aren't I?) It's a good thing that I limited hours for work, but I don't think 5 hours less per week is going to cut it. Especially since the end of the semester is drawing near- which I have figured is not good for knitting time. Current count: 10 papers, 2 projects, and 2 presentations. 4 weeks left. *crosses eyes*

Uh oh.

-Ness