Friday, August 31, 2007

Weekend goals

It's Labor Day weekend! I have 3 days off, though I'll probably have to monitor work slightly. Whee! I thought I'd make a list of things I'd like to accomplish this weekend, just so I have a reminder.

  • Run 10+ miles Saturday mornining

  • Bike the full Mt. Vernon trail

  • Get my entire yarn stash into pictures so they can be loaded into ravelry

  • Organize the larges batches of beads

  • Start putting all my necklaces up on etsy. Yup, that's right all. The ones I don't want to part with might be marked a little higher...but that's cuz I don't want to part with them as much

  • probably a little much but pull up the carpet in the room upstairs with the yarn and beads


If I can do all of that, I think I will be happy.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Labradorite Earrings


Labradorite Earrings
Originally uploaded by jyiu7
And sometimes, I just need new jewelry.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

A border on the pinwheel sweater


A border on the pinwheel sweater
Originally uploaded by jyiu7
I figured that I should probably post a progress picture on something to do with fiber. I mean, I still owe you people socks of my finished Monkey socks knit with Schaefer Anne! This is the Pinwheel Sweater. The crochet border feels like it's taking forever. I have been working on it while surfing ravelry.

Finally!


FinishedOrchid
Originally uploaded by jyiu7
After making 4 other orchids (Anne, Amber, Beth, Bead Obsessions), the 5th one is mine. This is the one that is shown in the orchid instructions. Class is Saturday. Pattern will become available on the site on Sunday. Before this year is through, there will be at least one more orchid. Next in queue is one for my friend Reshma.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Orange Julius Anyone?

Chill Out at Orange Julius. Aug 18,19,25,26. Saturday, noon to 4. Sunday 1 to 4. Free smoothie!

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Things you can do with duct tape

Fun with duct tape. My house one of these days? Who wants in?

Monday, August 13, 2007

Knitting...a sweater!

I finally figured out why I've been so uninspired with knitting all summer. It's because I wasn't knitting with wool! So, I restarted the Mom's Lace Sweater from Shelridge Farms and have been happily knitting away for a week. I've finished the back and am now working on the front. After that, I've got the two sleeves then I knit the collar and seam.

When I originally started this, I was concerned about the raglan seam because my row gauge was a little tighter than what the pattern called for. I think I've got it calculated out correctly. The worst that would happen is that I'd have to reknit the raglan decreases and remove some rows...which is fine because then I would have leftover yarn rather than attach more yarn for a couple of rows.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

What's hidden under that carpet?

This weekend's fun included pulling up the carpet in my bedroom. When I bought this place, I knew that there was hardwood floors underneath all the carpeting (except in the basement). I knew that one of the things I wanted to do was pull up all the carpeting upstairs, I had just never quite gotten around to it. When I painted the room a couple of years ago, I had left a purple ring on the carpet where I had accidentally dropped the lid to the paint can. Oops. Recently, I had gotten sick of the carpet. I also have long hair so the ones that fall off add to the carpet. There's a layer of hair on the carpet that I picked out a couple of weeks ago. Eww. So...in the beginning, we had:
Pulling up the carpet

And I worked my way across the room. I was going to pull it up in 3 strips and after I did the first one, I realized that the roll of carpet was too big for me to move on my own so I cut that in half and created 2 rolls. I decided that I was probably better off cutting it up into 6 pieces instead of just 3, especially with the bed in the way.
Pulling up the carpet
After starting into the middle third, I could start to see large expanses of floor. It was starting to look good.
Pulling up the carpet

That's one of the "finished" pictures where you can see the floor. Not bad eh? I think eventually, I will have someone come in and refinish all the floors. You can see score lines where they cut the carpet padding (insert mad Judy here) and there are a few nicks on the floor. But over all it's in good condition. Now I'm waiting for Monday night when I can put the rolls of carpet out for the trash. I think what I would like to do next to the room is to add some shoe mouding and some crown molding. After that, I will hang some pictures and decorate some more.

Thankfully, the weather cooperated so that it was a nice cool 80 something degrees this weekend and not too humid. I could keep the windows open to let the room breathe. My eyes and lungs were a bit irritated by Saturday night and also due to all the dust, I ended up taking a shower and avoiding entering the room. I slept in the basement last night. The futon is not comfortable to sleep on if you don't open it out into a bed.

You can see the rest of the pictures here

Yes, I'm slowly settling in. I just realized that this month makes it 3 years in this house. That's the longest I've kept an address in the last 10 years.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Mmm...watermelon


Ocean Jasper bracelet

Ocean Jasper bracelet

Ocean Jasper bracelet


The stone is an ocean jasper. It was given to my by Patricia a year ago from her trip to Quebec. I didn't know what to do with it for a long time but one day it came to me after seeing some watermelon tourmaline in her shop. I love (LOVE LOVE LOVE) the watermelon tourmaline. Those would be the pink stones that make up the bracelet. I have a 6 inch wrist. It is a beauty and it is not for sale.

Weekend in Philadelphia

My aunt normally resides in Switzerland but she usually makes it to the US on business at least once a year. This year, she was in Philly. Philly is 2 hours away so I took the train to visit. Pictures can be found here. At the end, you also see the new additions to my yarn stash. I got some GGH Silk (sport weight) for $4 a ball. It was originally $20 a ball, but it was on clearance at 80% off. Whoo hoo! I see some silk sleeveless tops in my future!

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Another month, another necklace

Yes, I am very exhausted, but I've finished this necklace for tomorrow. It is going to an old family friend. She's like another aunt to me and has known my father since the two of them were in high school. It's been a long time. She's only in the country for another week or so, and in this area for one last weekend.
Another astrophyllite cabochon necklace
Another astrophyllite cabochon necklace


How do I part with this? Dunno. Never really got emotionally attached, I guess.

In other news, I haven't been knitting much. Instead, I decided to take a break from the endless ball of alpaca and work on 4 oz of a merino/silk blend from Lisa Souza. It's the "Shave Ice" colorway. I divided the 4 oz into 2 sections length wise and am going to do a 2 ply.