Pulling it together

Ok, I think I'm done with my pity party of late. It does no good to dwell on it, so ... I've been cleaning, and packing, and cleaning, and trying to get organized. Thanksgiving I'm on my way to SC to be with Mike, house sold or not.

Over the weekend, my housemates and I hit a friends Halloween party, and I pulled out all sorts of boxes and things that I had neatly packed up months ago, assuming I would be in SC before I ever needed them. Oh, how wrong I was. Anyway, we ended up with one bellydancer (moi), a Rastafarian, 70's chica, G.I. Jane, a plumber and a bug. Over all, with about 2 hrs. notice for 3-4 of those costumes, I think we did pretty well! Most of what was pulled out was makeup and jewelry - a couple of necklaces can go pretty far to make a costume perfect. And did you know liquid eyeliner is a great means for making a non-permanent tattoo? I didn't use my camera, so I don't know if i'll get to post pictures of the costumes -
But, I do have pictures of my current projects. I was able to retrieve the pictures from my camera, it turns out it was just a low battery that was holding me back.
First a few more shots of the giraffe -















I wish I had taken more pictures, but I guess I'll have to wait until Gabriella is old enough to actually hold it.

Then the sweater:
First the two front panels:

I really like the way the pink shows up against the purple, I think it looks really cute! And I'm pretty happy that both sides look the same - symmentry in a sweater is always a bonus.

Here are the sleeves, I forgot to start with the contrasting color on one but I'm thinking I can add that later with a crochet edge. I'm just hoping it won't make it too long.

This is the back, and compared to the front panel, and it's looking a bit small. Hopefully that's because of the stitch holder, or maybe it'll grow with however it's added to the front panels, or the colar or something, I dont' know, I'm just going to keep going and see. Perhaps I''m in denial., but worse case scenario, .. I have to re-knit the back, I'm okay with that.

Next comes seaming - uugh. I don't like doing it, but I think that's because I don't feel I'm very good at it. I've got a book, "All stitched up", that I'm going to look over to get some tips, but let me know if anyone has a better reccommendation for finishing techniques. I may have to hit up some video blogs to check out some good ones.

I do need to get going on the stuffed animal for Gabriella too. I can't believe how quickly the months keep going by. I am amazed that it's already almost November. But that just means I'll be seeing Mike anytime now, and that's good news.

Moving.. all too slowly...

This moving, but not moving thing is really beginning to get to me, and Mike too. In some respects, I guess we should get used to it, as his school requires a (paid) summer internship in his craft, which may mean we're apart again for the summer. But before that happens, I'd like to be together for longer than a weekend.

At the moment, the next time we will get to see each other will be Thanksgiving. We're both going to head to KY and hang out with his parents, which I think will be nice - we'll have some family support, and I've been blessed with great in-laws, so it works out well for both of us. Then for Christmas, we're off to CA to spend the holidays with my brothers. I'm having a hard time booking tickets though, because I'm not sure where Mike and I will be. Will we both be flying out of SC? or will I leave from IL? Or perhaps we'll both drive to KY and fly out together. *sigh* I just don't know at this point, but I know I need to get some flights soon, before they get too outrageously expensive.

The house has a contract, but it's contingent on the sale of their home, which now I feel as if we have two houses to sell. I keep reminding myself, it'll all work out in the end. If it hasn't worked out yet, it's not the end. But do you ever worry the end is not going to come?

Mike and I are discussing the option of me just packing up the car with as much as I can and just driving out to SC, and worrying about a job when I get there. It's an option, although I'd rather have a job before I go.

As far as my knitting goes, I've finished the two front panels and the back of the Summer Tweed Cardigan, but I don't have any pictures yet. I left my camera at my brother's house, and for some reason the pictures I had on it won't upload to my computer. This might be because I downloaded them once already to his computer while I was there, but I'm hoping it's because the battery needs to be recharged. So right now, I'm recharging it, and then I'll be able to take more pictures.

Keep your fingers crossed and hopefully the next time you 'find katerina', you'll find she's in SC!

Yarn Con !

This weekend I went and worked at Yarn Con - a 'yarn convention' for Chicagoans. It was so great! I met so many wonderful people and saw so many cool things. I was there early to set up a table for Sister Arts Studio, and was right as you walked in the door. Donna had me bring a little smattering of a bunch of the yarns in the store and it was nice to have the variety. Christina joined me about halfway through the day (she was the creator of all the cute little critters on the table), and I was able to dash around to see all the vendors and get something to eat. I wish I had my camera with me, so I could show pictures, but alas, websites will have to do.

My top three favorites were Pattern Tamers magnetic place holders, to keep track of where you are in a pattern. - I've heard of these before, but I really like her design - they magnetically wrap around the paper so you don't lose your place, or the placeholder! I couldn't find her on the web though :( does anyone know where she sells her tamers?

Then I was amazed by the pictures created by Mary Hoyer of RikiWeave. My table was directly across from hers, so I got to look at the pretty pictures all day! I just loved the colors and textures and designs. Way out of my price range, but someday!! someday I'll be able to afford such things :) Sedona Sandscape was my favorite.

And on my way in, I chatted with another Donna from My Small Wonders who had some really pretty yarns and was wearing a beautiful shall! I didn't look too hard at her yarns because I didn't want to have to resist buying anything. The quicker I walked around, the less tempted I was to buy things ;) But I did grab cards for gifts for my birthday and the holidays!

Other things I had to resist were some beautiful bags from Piddleloop, but I do love the needle case I already have - of course... hers would be great for small sock projects...and the felted earrings from Biggie - they made me laugh, they were cute! The ones on her website don't do them justice. And I want the Knitting America book by Susan Strawn too. OK, okay, I know that's more than 3 but there were just too many cool things to look at!

I also got to see Franklin again for his 1000 Knitters project - he almost has 200 people!! He of course didn't forget his camera, and told me I looked like a 'rock star' - I felt all special :) And I met a bunch of people that I had chatted with on Ravelry - it was neat to see them in person :) One of them even lives near me in Homewood, and I think she's going to join us for knit-nite way way down here on the south side. I hope some of the others will be there on Thursday night for the one at Sister Arts.

Overall - great people, great event, great time! I think it would be nice if it was more than just once a year. the thing I liked most about it was that they were Chicago people. Stitches was cool and you got to see really neat things, and meet people from everywhere, but this was local, and I think it gave it a better - more 'close-knit' vibe!

Presenting....

Gangly or "G" the giraffe!!! Yeah! she's done. It wasn't exactly on time, as I was still putting some finishing touches on her when I got to my brothers' house, but I was able to present her before my brother left for his flight on Sunday.

I'm tried taking the yarn I used for the hair along the neck and making some spots on G's back to make it more cute and fuzzy - but they ended up looking like furry moles so I cut them off - I like the simplicity now. I also am not crazy about her eyes - I think they're too small. I'm thinking of embroidering new ones over the top in a thicker yarn. But I really like the way she sits up, it's cute in a gangly sort of way. Over all I'm pretty proud of her.

In the meantime, I am getting quite a bit of knitting done here. I've finished a seed stitch headband I was working on - (pictures to come later) and a cardigan that I am already 5" into:

It's the "chunky tweed cardigan" from Erika Knight's book Knitting for two. I found the yarn it calls for on sale in the cutest colors:

I really like this book. I wouldn't mind having/knitting almost half of the patterns in this book, it's super cute for both child and parent. I've already put it on my wish list.

We were talking about a teddy bear that a friends mom made for Gabriella, and Kristin mentioned that a floppy-eared bunny would be really cute... hrmmm.. I haven't gotten that far on the bear, perhaps I should switch to a bunny. She doesn't have many of those around. I'll have to start searching for patterns. Here's a shot of the bear:

I think I can do something just as cute, if not cuter - ahh, my next challenge. Due: before I leave for California for Christmas....

Getting on with the giraffe

As my deadline quickly approaches (this Friday), I have finally made some headway on the giraffe - he/she/it finally has a head! Wheee! Yea!

Now, I just have to figure out how I'm going to make it connect to a neck.. hrmm... not so easy. I haven't sewn on the legs yet, but I attached them with stitch markers to see what it looks like.
Here's what I've got so far:

I figure worse case scenario I will have to finish on the plane, and I am bringing and extra gift too. Although, I was hoping to finish a pair of booties on the plane, but that might be a bit ambitious.