It's Been Awhile...

Sorry about that! I did survive exams, yay! But posting was a bit difficult over the summer, between working full-time and having dial-up internet at home. So I'll try and get caught up a bit and try to update again soon. (P.S. - if the weird music is bothering you, scroll down a few posts and mute the "Horton Hears a Who" widget, hopefully in a few more posts that won't show up on the front page anymore)

Knitting

Well, I did finish Jaden over the summer. Since you last saw it I realized that my row gauge was way off and ended up having to rip back large amounts to make sure the sleeves weren't 4" too long and that the neckline didn't fall below my boobs. I had a really tough time after I had finished to actually get the crocheted neckline as nice as I wanted it, and I definitely didn't sew in the ends very quickly. But it did get finished, and I quite like it. So far it's been cool enough a couple days to wear it this fall.


I also finished my Forest Canopy Shawl the second time I started it. I probably could have done more repeats because I ended up with yarn left over and it's a bit small. But it's a nice enough size to just throw over my shoulders while I'm sitting at the computer and getting cold, so it's nice.


Socks, Socks and more Socks
Socks were pretty much all I knit over the summer, and I didn't knit all that many, I've started a pair for Mom, and have one sock finished. I'm also doing a pair using Grumperina's helix striping method to use up some of my leftovers, and I like how they're turning out.


I've also started a February Lady Sweater (yes I jumped aboard that bandwagon...). I wasn't sure how much I would like the style so I'm knitting up a test sweater in Red Heart Soft Touch, instead of dropping $60+ on yarn. So far I really like it, and depending on how much I wear it I could see knitting another with some really yummy yarn, and maybe a different stitch pattern.

There have been a few other projects over the last few months, including a Diamond Fantasy Shawl for my Nana who is starting chemo today. If you're interested check out my projects page on Ravelry here (if you're not on Ravelry yet, go check it out now - really!)


Baking
I actually haven't done a lot of baking so far this semester. I've been pretty stressed out with a few of my courses and especially advanced Japanese seems to come with a ton of homework. But I did just buy a new cookbook - Small-Batch Baking - which basically has baking recipes to make for 1-2 people, so hopefully I will find some inspiration there and there will be baking to show you soon!

Getting all caught up has been great! I've been a bit out of it for the last few days, Saturday evening the guy in the apartment next to mine managed to light his kitchen on fire so there was quite a lot of excitement there... and not of the good kind. Luckily there isn't any damage to my apartment and the smoke smell has mostly cleared out of my place and my lungs - the hall is a different story though. Luckily I knew where my fire extinguisher was - do you know where yours is and how to use it? Please think about it and be fire safe!

Till next time!

Bad Blogger...

So sorry about the lack of postings as of late. Time has been sucked away by midterms, and other time, even time I didn't have, has been taken by Ravelry, it's so awesome! If you're not in yet, I'm sorry, but it's well worth the wait, and if you don't have your name on the list yet, Go now, what are you waiting for???

Knitting wise, I've been knitting a lot on Gwen's blanket, all the squares are done, I just need to do some piecing together and then pick up for the border. I've also started, and almost finished - just needs to be blocked and seamed, a baby kimono from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I'm really sorry I don't have pictures, my camera doesn't want to cooperate lately and I'm just really hoping it's a battery problem and not a bigger problem, because I really can't afford a camera right now. I'll try to take pictures and post them if the camera works once the batteries are recharged.
I've also started Tricorner, a scarf from Knitting New Scarves, a book I've been coverting ever since I saw Grumperina's post about it - it's so cool! I went and spent some time yesterday in the bookstore pouring over it, and have dropped some blatent hints to my mother so hopefully I will get it for Christmas. But until then I've kind of adapted what I remember about this pattern to something that works, took frogging it a few time last night, but I like how it's coming out so far, and it's using up some yarn I made a very, very cabled scarf out of last year that got frogged because I didn't like it and hadn't found a use for yet.


Baking - I've been doing a lot more lately since my oven was fixed, and actually have a few friends coming over to have a bakeathon this afternoon, so that should be fun. I've been experimenting with Monkey Bread a lot and I think I found a modification that I like a lot better. Most recipes have you dip the pieces in a butter-brown sugar mix before putting them together, but I found those a bit too sticky, so I found that it worked well for me to dip or coat (they don't need to be dripping) in melted butter, and then roll them in a white sugar-cinnamon mix and put them together. The bits absorbed the cinnamon and sugar and tasted so great! I still had some butter-sugar mix left from before and so I poured that over the finished product just before it went in the oven and I think it came out very, very well.

Well, hope you're enjoying your weekend, and savour that extra hour today!

ETA: sorry I've now realized that picture is from my first attempt that turned out very sticky, not the successful one, but still yummy looking right?
also ETA: picture of Tricorner - It's not my camera, just very dead batteries, YAY!

Baking is on hold...

Among other things. I tried my oven for the first time over the weekend, and it heats up but then doesn't stay hot - so after a week of trying to chase my landlord I finally caught up with him, he says he's called the company and they should call him back sometime next week, but they're going in prioity sequence - and apparently my oven is not a prioity. Oh well, we'll see how cookies bake up in the toaster oven - could be a fun experiment.
The scrolls socks from last post are also on hold - I've decided to work with my other skien of Lorna's Laces, to see if I can get two ankle socks out of one skien - and then we'll see what happens with the scrolls sock.

Too tired to come up with anymore right now, but I'll try to post again over the weekend - really hoping my yarn for the Wheat-ear Cable Yolk sweater comes in today so that I can start soon (very excited!!)