'Tis the Season.....to spin.....knit...and shop

I have been one busy bee. Between work, knitting dates, Robert dates and everything else I have simply had no time to post. I have pictures (regrettably on my dead camera at home) of the baby who is doing very well and is getting cuter by the minute I might add and some pics of my knitting and spinning, none of which I will be able to post until tomorrow so I will just talk about what I have been up to.

My knitting guru Christina and I have started a knit-a-long. She bought me the yarn for my birthday and it is soooo nice! It is the city tweed dk weight yarn from knitpicks and it knits up very pretty and soft. We decided on the Trellis and Vine Pullover from the Interweave Knits fall 2009 issue. It is a beautiful sweater and we were both really excited about it. I say were because I am no longer excited about it. It is the bane of my existence at the moment. For some reason I just DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE LACE INCREASES!! I have been trying for two weeks to get past the neck and it is laughable. Christina is already past the arms and on the body of the sweater and I am still at the freaking neck! I keep messing up and having to frog back....not to mention I don't really have a TON of time to knit so when I do sit down and get to do it, I like to make progress and right now I am making zip. Only when she is with me can I understand what I am doing because I just don't interpret it the right way.....it is so frustrating. But I will get past the lace part if it kills me....and it just might.

Robert Gerard has been a wonderful little boyfriend. This past weekend he took me to a very fancy restaurant called the Capital Grille, then on Saturday we went to outlets in New Hampshire and he started his Christmas shopping....he also bought me a new zip-up and wallet....love him! Then on Sunday (after he slept over ^_~) we went out to breakfast and ran some errands. All and all it was a fantastic weekend.

Then of course there is spinning. I actually found some time to spin this weekend! After I gave up on trying to figure out the damn LACE INCREASES on the STUPID SWEATER, I pulled out my lovely spinning wheel and decided to calm myself down. Spinning is a very relaxing and leisurely past time. It is simply pulling the fiber through your fingers while pedaling the wheel. Since the weather here in good ole New England is starting its quick decline into untter chilliness I decided it was a good weekend to start spinning again. When I looked at my wheel I realized that there was some plied yarn on my bobbin that I never washed or put in a hank. It was the fiber I spun on my spindle that Rob bought me all those many months ago! I washed it and measured it and it is about 108 yards of fingering weight yarn. I am going to use it for the ribbing, toe and heel on a future pair of socks =).

After I wrapped that up I got to spinning on some Spunky Eclectic fiber I had started a few months ago also. I cant recall the name at the moment but it has light brown and deep purple in it.....SO GORGEOUS! I have one full bobbin so far and I have started the second. My plan is to spin down the stash this winter and to have tons of beautiful new yarns to knit with and to gift to other people =). I have six bobbins so I am going to spin on all of the for 2 ply yarn ( so I will spin up 3 bumps consecutively) they ply them all at the same time! I figure this will make it a little faster and I can get the stash to a managable level. Like I said in an earlier post, I am a little ashamed at how much I have versus how much I have spun/spent. Oh well, time to fix my mistakes!

I will have pictures up tomorrow hopefully! Happy Tuesday!

This weekend was nice

I had a wonderful relaxing weekend. I had a few plans with friends and of course Robert Gerard, but besides that I stayed at home, completely gutted my bedroom (except for the clothes in my closet and the top shelf that I reserved for another day) and made it look pretty. I threw out a bunch of crap that I should not have been holding onto and I bought an under the bed bin. Mind you I was hoping it would hold all my roving and at least some of my yarn but it was only big enough to hold my roving =(....I cant believe how much I have......and I am a little ashamed at how much money I spent on it.......I am not buying anymore until it is all gone, that is a promise! So I also started spinning a little on my drop spindle to get ready for my spinning wheel again.....I need to get the stash down to a manageable level lol.

The bins beside my door are gone (they held roving and took up alot of space) and everything looks much cleaner.....there is no clutter anywhere and what little there is I would like to get rid of also! Haha! Let me tell you what lit a fire under my ass to do all this........one word.....HOARDERS. That new TV show on A&E....it is awful! It is about people who are waste deep in STUFF and there are people who are trying to get them to throw things away and they CANT DO IT....like I am talking about 10 year old empty shampoo bottles that they simply cannot part with. I was watching it with my mom and I suddenly got up and had the overwhelming urge to clean my room and throw things away.....it was a spiritual experience haha.

When I was finished cleaning I sat on my nicely made bed and I knitted on my socks and watched supernatural.....it was lovely. I also started the seasons again...what can I say I am obsessed haha. I am knitting a pair of socks from the two-socks-at-once book. I am knitting them on one circular needle and is very tricky. The yarn keeps getting tangled and obviously the knitting is different because it is on one needle. The gusset looks the scariest....hopefully I won't ruin all my hard work by messing up!

I didn’t get to see Robert very much this weekend. Only Friday and for a few hours on Sunday which made me sad, I miss him and I don’t get to talk to him much with his new job =(..oh well...it will get better I am sure. I just hate missing him so much.....it is hard on my mental state.

Last but not least I would like to brag about a birthday gift I received from my friend Lindsay, a very talented artist who gave me the coolest drawing ever! She hung it is gallery first so it is all nice and framed and gorgeous hanging on the wall is my newly cleaned bedroom! Is is called "Ardent Love" and it is perfect =)

If anyone is interested in her art, please visit her website www.SmallLindsay.com or email her at Lindsay@SmallLindsay.com =) She does free lance work on the side while she works designing shoe graphics for Converse.....yeah she is pretty cool and I have a Lindsay original hahaha!

Some More Unstoppable Cuteness

Looks just like me =P

4 Days til Disney and my Favorite Pics so Far

There are only 4 days left until I leave for Disney and I have TONS to do.....laundry, pack, figure out how we are getting to the airport, buy snacks, pick out what knitting I want to bring....TONS. But I don't want to bore you with all the details of my busy-ness so I will leave you with the cutest pictures I have taken so far of my neice Bianca =)

Isn't she soooooooo cute? Looks just like me!

WELCOME BABY BIANCA!!!

My new baby niece!!

Almost Ready

I finally bought my annual pass for Disney and the confirmation was printed with a cute little border! Don't you just love everything that Disney makes and does? I am going shopping this weekend for new clothes and anything else I need because I might not have time the weekend before....plus my sister might have her baby before then and I wanna spend time with her before I leave. Almost there! Only 1 week and 3 days til Disney!

Trying not to be a Copy Cat

I am trying very hard not to be a copy cat on the blog. My last post was about a scarf that Crazy Aunt Purl is knitting that I would like to try and I find myself copying her yet again today! I can't help it, she had a good idea on her blog today and it made me smile and I don't have a hell of alot to smile about these days so I am going to do it to......so there.

It is not anything major but she was saying how she and her friend email each other 3 good things each day and I thought I would give it a shot. I have no one to email so I am going to just post it here.

1.) I got to eat my lunch with Robert Gerard today, no matter what happens seeing him makes me happy

2.) My friend Christina and I are planning a knit along on the same project. We are going to try to get together as much as we can and see how our progress goes on it. I have never done a knit along so I was pretty excited about it.

3.) Crazy Aunt Purl is working on her first baby sweater and so am I! What are the odds? It actually looks like the same pattern, but it probably isn't haha.

There...those are my 3 happy things for the day. To be honest I couldn't think of anything else if I tried......everything is so stressful these days...knitting and Robert are my favorites stress relievers! Haha have a happy Monday!!

P.s 2 weeks til Disney!

Entrelac Scarf

I have had a new obesession on my brain the last couple of days, something besides finances if you can believe it! It is something that my favorite blog writer, Crazy Aunt Purl is working on and man I want to make it so bad! It is called the Entrelac Scarf and it is beautiful. The pattern calls for Noro Silk Garden yarn which is something I have never worked with before so I am excited to try it. She also said the pattern can be a little tricky so I am hoping it keeps me interested. The colors she has are really pretty too, but I think I want more earthy tones in mine. The thing is is that Noro yarn is kind of pricey, so I consulted my knitting guru (aka my friend Christina) and asked her if she thought I should take a stab at it and buy some.

Of course she had to be all logical and told me to look at all the other projects that I started and was excited about but never finished or picked up again. Then she asked me if I still wanted to do the scarf. She is right of course....I do have alot of projects that I have gotten bored with and have left forgotten....but in my defense I have never used very expensive yarn on these projects! I think that would motivate me to finish....plus I told her that I am going to go through them all this weekend and rip back all the ones I know I won't pick up again to lessen my WIPs. She laughed at me....personally I thought it was a good argument =P

3 Weeks

My trip to Disney is 3 weeks away and I am utterly unprepared. I still haven't purchased my park pass ( Paying $500 makes my head hurt to much....not to mention my stomach....and wallet), I have no nice summer clothes to bring or the money to buy some, work has been the most stressful it has ever been and leaving for a week and a half is certainly not going to make things better (though it will be nice to get away from it), my sisters due date for her baby is very close to when I am leaving so I might not be here when she is born, and Robert can't really afford this trip because he doesn't get paid vacation so that makes me anxious for him. I am neither mentally nor financially prepared for this trip and it is so unlike me!

I usually have seperate savings for everything I need months in advance! I buy all my travel stuff and new clothes with it and I have my spending money too. I dont believe in being unprepared when it comes to money and I always have a back up plan. This time however, I have NOTHING! No plans at all, I am flying my the seat of my pants here people! I have no solutions to any problems and it is starting to piss me off royally.

The events of the past year of course have something to do with that. I had to buy a new car that decimated my savings ( not my apartment fund though, I touch that for no one!)....not to mention I had to pay another grand for my sisters baby shower, so this trip is not at a very convienient time since I have not really had a chance to recover at all. I am just so stressed about everything, I hate my job and want to leave but there is nothing out there right now.

Oh well....I am going to have to suck it up and deal. I know there are alot of people who are unhappy in there current situations and I should not be complaining. Sometimes it hard not to! The only good thing about going on this trip is that fact that it is Disney and even with all the problems I am having with going there.....at least I get to go.

Love is in the Air

Love was in the air this weekend! We went to a co-workers wedding at the Seaport Trade Center in Boston and we had a great time! I have never been to such an expensive wedding before but it was very well put together. There was also a first for me....I wore a PINK dress! can you believe it? My co-worker made me buy it, this is a color I would never normally buy myself but it looked pretty good.

After the church they had a cocktail hour with free drinks for a hour.....FREE DRINKS PEOPLE! So me and Robert Gerard had as many as we could before we went into the reception. Then there was free wine all night, haha needless to say I got pretty hammered and had a blast! the food was good, the company was good and all in all it was a great night.

Me and Robert Gerard

The Bride and Groom

Me and the crazy co-worker who made me buy the pink dress (aka Tina)

P.s 8 weeks and I will be in Disney!

Tour De Fleece

There has been alot of chatter on the spinning blogs and Ravelry lately about the Tour de Fleece this summer! It starts July 4th and runs until the end of the Tour de France. I have read about it on a few different websites and never thought I would ever want to do it but something lit a fire under my butt! I have been under so much stress lately because of money, cars and my sister's poor choice in men that I need something to get me through the next couple months and keep me sane. Enter spinning and knitting.

I have decided to join this rather large spin a long because there is no pressure, no real deadlines and it is something that relaxes me and makes me happy. I am not sure what my goal will be for myself, probably something small and manageable. In other words I am not going to be spinning for a sweater because that it way too much, but I would like a small challenge. Something I have never done before. This weekend was the first time I had ever knit with my handspun yarn and I must say that I love the feeling of accomplishment! I have never knit a sock so fast in my life and I am dying to start the second one! I spun up some yarn a few months ago in hopes of making wool socks for one Robert Gerard and they knit up beautifully in the corriedale I spun! I think I smiled the whole way through it and never once was bored. I LOVE knitting with my handspun....so I need to make more....Enter Tour de Fleece.

So tonight I am going to dig through my stash and start making my goals in my head and maybe even post on the forums instead of lurking around them like I always do. Maybe make a few spinning friends over the internet...wish I wasn't so shy. Maybe this will make feel happier....make life a little less complicated. And just think of all the handspun I will have to knit with! I want hats and socks for the winter.....maybe a scarf but we dont want to get ahead of ourselves...ahem.

P.S. 9 weeks and I will be in Disney!......the happiest place on earth!...we will see about that this year.

MA Sheep and Wool Festival

Last Saturday me and Robert Gerard took a LONG journey to the MA S&W in Cummington, MA. It took us about 2.5 hours to get there and man was it a long ride. The boy offered to take me since he was too busy when the NH and ME festivals were in town. Ironically the one in our own state was farther away, go figure.

My goal for my first S&W was to learn something from the spinners there, at least get to observe them, buy some new roving and a new drop spindle. I achieved two out of the three. The spinners there were friendly enough but I was a little intimidated to ask any questions since I am a very shy person, but I still got some roving and a new drop spindle! A gift for my Robert who got lots of kisses after =)

We saw some cute sheep while we were there of course. This one was my favorite.

Here is me and Robert in one of the barns, sadly the ice cream I am holding was dropped about 5 seconds later.....I was very upset =(

Doesn't he look thrilled to be there? Lol he was such a good sport through the whole thing and like I said, he bought me a new spindle too!

Here is it, my Kundert 1.1 oz spindle. It spins like a dream, way better then my others ones and I LOVE it. It is shown here with a wool batt I got in a swap last month, my first try at spinning a batt and I must say I quite like it. I need to get more......

After a long hard day and the festival we found ourselves getting snuggly with Roberts baby Titan, the cutest dog in the world. And we brought someone else into the family.....

Meet Carlton the beta fish! Lol Rob just loves him, we picked him up when we were buying a new harness for Titan, isn't he cute? Haha, all in all it was a great Saturday =)

Budgeting Away

I HATE MONEY! There I said it.....money is the root of all evil in the world. And it seems there is just never enough of it to go around. I can afford my car, I know that, but that leaves little room for anything else. I have credit cards, student loans, a phone bill, gym membership, and now insurance and car payments.....and it all adds up to a hell of alot of mulah!

So I have decided to make a hardcore budget for myself in order to replace some of the savings that were lost during the purchase of the car. This is going to be tramatic folks because all I am giving myself in $100 a week to spend. This includes gas, food, and gifts ( holidays and birthdays). Now this might seem like alot of money, I thought it did at first until I realized how much I eat out and spend on entertainment with one Robert Gerard. It adds up to ALOT! This will take alot of will power and will probably get very stressful if you think about it!

The Plan:

I opened a banking account seperate from the one that gets my paycheck direct deposited. This bank account will only contain $100 or less at any given time. I am going to write down my budget in a little notebook that will go with me everywhere. With this I will record my purchases for the week and deduct for my alotted amount of $100. When the week is up, I will replenish the funds to add up to $100 again. The goal here is of course to spend as little as possible so all that is left over at the end of the week will go into my savings along with the rest of my money that isn't used for bills.

I am going to take this budget for a test run this week to see how I do. It will definately take some getting use to, but I am hoping I can handle it. No more little extras, no more throwing away my money on silly things. If I make a purchase or want to, it needs to fit into my budget. The weekends are going to be the hardest because that is when I usually spend all my money, I MUST NOT BE WEAK! If I am ever going to get my apartment, this is how it has to be!

Disappointment Rears its Ugly Head

One week. I have to wait one week before I can drive my car off the lot. Do you want to know why? Because the dumbasses at the dealership sold me the car, told me I could take it home on Tuesday all registered and everything, but there was just one little problem....THEY DON'T HAVE THE FRIGGEN TITLE!!!! I mean are you kidding me? They sold me the car and they don't even have possession of the title? Who the hell does that!

Evidently the car the was repossessed and the lien agency that has the title to the car hasn't sent it over yet and it will take about a week. I am so pissed I can't even see straight! They had the nerve to have me put down 3K and tell me I can have the car on Tuesday and now I have to wait a whole WEEK to get it! Like I said before my family only has one car between the 3 of us, so I called my mom all upset because we couldn't pick up the car.....and my mom called them.

Now my mom is not one to mess with.....I mean she puts the fear of God in people. I have seen her make grown men cry on more then one occassion ( I am not exaggerating, she really did) and personally I have never had the nerve to push her buttons. So she calls the salesman up screaming about how he ruined my first experience buying my first car and how I will live with this the rest of my life and so on and so forth. Basically at the end of the conversation I had a rental car and 4 free oil changes to use any time I want. God bless my mommy. I now have a Kia Spectra to drive around until my car is ready, not the best car...in fact I hate it but it gets from point A to point B right? Beggers can't be choosers I suppose.....

Hmmm....How am I Going To Do This?

Hmmm.....I have a little dilemma that I have been pondering since I bought my beloved car. I have two vacations planned this year, both to my beloved Disney World. I already talked about the one in August but my friend Amy also invited me to go in December for the Christmas Celebration which I am psyched about! Wish Robert Gerard was going though, I always wanted to share that with him =(.

So my problem is......can I afford both of these vacations? I mean before August I need to shell out $750 for my plane ticket and annual park pass. The park pass alone will cost $500! I mean I could buy the $320 pass that Rob is buying, but since I am going twice the annual pass is more frugal, not to mention if I end up going again next year my trip will be even cheaper. Amy has points with Jetblue and said that she will buy my ticket for me for my birthday and Christmas present so I wont have to worry about that. And both trip I won't have to pay for the hotel because they are timeshares.

So the more I have been typing this the more I am realizing that I am taking two trips to Disney for less the $1000, so why am I complaining? It is still alot of money up front before August so I am going to have to save my tail off =(.....this month has been the most expensive month of my life between putting a down payment on my car and my sisters baby shower and it is only the 5th! Happy Cinco De Mayo to me! Lets see if I can pull any off this off without going into financial ruin!

P.S 15 Weeks from today I will be in Disney!

New Car!

Thats right I got a new car! The last few weeks have taken a toll on my little hyundai accent and my sisters car shit the bed Saturday night meaning we had one car between the three of us (my mom's) . All that lit a fire under my ass to look for a new car and a new car I found! A 2005 Toyota Corolla that better LIVE FOREVER or else!!

This isn't the actual car but the pictures I took didn't come out because it was a little rainy when I bought it. Sun roof, power locks and windows...and my favorite...AIR CONDITIONING!! Something I haven't had for 3 miserably hot summers. Ahhhhh, but now I do =). I gave my sister my car because all it needs are new ball bearing which her boyfriend ( a mechanic) can fix no problem. She needed it more then I did and I wanted a new car anyways.

I have made preparations for my new car too, I canceled my spunky fiber club (i am sure i will rejoin eventually) and netflix which will save me about $30 a month toward car payments. I am going to be brown bagging my lunch and cutting entertainment costs. Hopefully I won't notice to much haha. I am not sure what the final payment will be, but the guy said $223 or under depending on what rate I get. This includes all sales tax, fees and a 4 year, 48,000 mile warranty! whoo hoo!!! And I got great, but cheap insurance through my work which will cost me about $90 a month through payroll deduction which is way better then I thought it was going to be!

I go down there tonight to sign all the final stuff and they register it in the morning! So tomorrow night I will be cruising around in my first new used car! haha

Happy Easter!.....Yeah I know its late

Happy Easter from the most adorable Easter Bunny in the world! Robert Gerard's puppy Titan!

My First Superwash!

I bought my first superwash roving yesturday! I have been looking around for some affordable superwash roving, but they can be about 6 bucks more then just pure wool and lets face it.....I could spend that kind of money on other roving =P. So I was looking around Etsy.com and came across New York Yarns shop and there it was! 4oz of superwash merino roving for 9 dollars! In my head I am thinking they are going to get me with the shipping.....nope! It was only 2.50 more! So I bought the prettiest purple roving she had, destined to be machine washable socks!! Weeeee!! The colorways name is Dusk. Beautiful......

So of course I had to snoop around her shop because it was such a great deal and found out she has a fiber club! with all superwash merino! Can you tell I am in heaven? The best part.....it is $45 for three months of not 4oz but 8oz of roving! OMG!! That is the cheapest club I have ever seen!! The only catch is that you only get it every three months, so I am going to sign up for the June, September and December club. That doesn't really matter to me, it is totally worth it for that price! I will keep myself busy with the Spunky Club between months lol. Not to mention I will probably forget about it and when it comes I will be happily suprised! Weeeeeeee! Can't wait for June. Knowing me, I will be buying from her shop in the meantime =)

New Handspun

I have been a busy little spinner! I havent posted any pictures because...well...my camera sucks and getting a non blurry picture is a little difficult. But I have a few that are alright so I might as well post my favorite.

First I have my first Spunky Club fiber called New Day in Corriedale. I got about 120 yards in bulky yarn. This was the first decent looking yarn I spun.

Then I have spunky color Sumac in BFL. This one is my prize so far, it came out soo good! I got 192 yards in worsted weight yarn.

I will try to post pictures of the hanks when I can get a non-blurry picture, these aren't the best but I wanted to show something from all my hard work! I am spinning thinner and thinner and hoping for at least DK weight next time. Haven't chosen what I will spin next, will have to dig into the stash tonight.

More Compulsive Spending

I am lucky I have a boyfriend who understands my needs for fibery goodness or I would be in trouble since I am spending rediculous amounts of money on my hobbies instead of saving money for our apartment ( that has been two years in the getting) but he says that he loves me anyways. What a guy! Because I just bought 8 more ounces of roving! I figured that since I bought that snazzy new jade whorl spindle I should have fiber that is dedicated solely for my drop spindles. All the fiber I bought last time was for my new wheel, so I need to get more of course!

South African Fine in colorway Tundra from Spunky Eclectic

And BFL colorway Riverwalk from Spunky Eclectic. Can you tell this is my favorite store to get roving? Everything is so pretty and never felted! I have had a few bad experiences so I like to stick to what I trust. The club fiber is coming next week and I can't wait to see what it looks like! It is like getting a present every month! Highly recommended.

So these colored are reserved for my drop spindle. I want to see how thin of singles I can spin on them since I am not have quite as much luck getting them thin on my wheel. Practice make perfect and I intend on practicing alot!