Tagged

From Margaret

What were you doing five years ago?
(December 2003)
1. Finishing fall semester of senior year
2. Applying to college and waiting for answers
3. Playing a lot of violin
4. Helping plan our yearly New Year's party
5. Having fun with friends

What are five things on your list for today?
1. Start packing
2. Help with dinner
3. Go to Sophie's dance performance
4. Put the garbage can at the street
5. Clean my room

What are five snacks you enjoy?
1. Chocolate
2. Chocolate covered raisins
3. Quesadilla
4. Goat cheese and crackers
5. Yogurt

What are five things you'd do if you were a billionaire?
1. Hire a financial adviser (like Margaret!)
2. Pay off my college loans and set aside money for grad school and my sister's college
3. Travel, mostly to England
4. Support Child Protection International, Centro Legal, and other awesome nonprofits
5. Buy a couple condos in cool places

What are five jobs you've had?
1. Babysitter
2. Lifeguard
3. Museum Guard
4. Executive Assistant
5. Grant Writer

Who are five people you want to tag?
1. Elsabeth
2. Richard
3. Um... Natalie and Margaret already got tagged
4. and I don't think
5. anyone else reads this blog

Knitting Updates

My sweater is coming along! I bought the yarn and started it last Wednesday. It's a cardigan and for you non-knitters, that means that you start by making the back (bottom up for this pattern), then each of the front sides, then the sleeves, and then you put it together. So far, I'm almost done with the back, just have to finish an inch more on the arm holes and the collar! Here's a picture:



I'm really happy with how the yarn is knitting up, how soft it is, the color (the picture is a pretty good representation of the color). I also like the pattern, the lattice pattern at the waist took a little of getting used to and I had to count after every row to make sure I didn't lose stitches (it uses left and right twists which involve k2tog or ssk and then knitting one of the loops again. I kept forgetting the second part...).

I've also finished the mittens for Clare and they also turned out well!



I've been working on a few other things but for reasons of Christmas, they won't be pictured here!

In other news, it's almost time for Christmas and visiting England! The rest of the time will be spent working, wrapping, and packing. Also, Minnesota is way too cold. We shouldn't have days on end where temperatures are below 5 degrees fahrenheit, not in December! It's sad that I'm looking forward to England where temps are a bit above freezing!

The Congo

Please watch this video on the Congo from the New York Times.

Conflicts in Africa can seem to mesh together, but as with everything, this issue is complicated. I summarized it in two posts for Child Protection International's blog a few weeks ago. For more up to date information, see this article from the BBC.

Add the that the recent cholera problems in Zimbabwe. The President Robert Mugabe today claimed that the Cholera epidemic is over while just about the rest of the world is saying he's wrong...

The world can be very depressing some days.

Great Clip from the Colbert Report

This made me laugh... The combination of a crazy knitter and the Department of Homeland Security!

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Nailed 'Em - Radical Knitting

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

In other news - I'm *hoping* that my yarn for my sweater will arrive at the store today (I called on Monday and the owner said it should). Then I can go and pick it up on Saturday! I'm about 2/3 of the way done with the second of the Druid Mittens so that's good too!

West Wing

After a 1 month hiatus from watching the West Wing (all the way through from seasons 1-7) because of campaign overload (I was at the end of season 6 where the campaign for Jed Bartlett's replacement takes center stage), I have finally returned. I'm sure I'm just about the last person to remark on this, but wow did the creators of the West Wing predict the candidates from this previous election well. An old moderate Senator from the West who can't use technology and picked a conservative governor as his running mate versus a minority, inexperienced, charismatic Member of Congress (yeah, the wrong chamber, but still), who picks a seasoned VP who has foreign policy experience. Yes, there are many differences among them but the differences are far outweighed by the similarities.

This election was certainly an interesting one and for those of us in Minnesota, it isn't over yet. Tomorrow the canvassing board is supposed to meet and certify results. We'll watch and see what happens... It's sure helped us political junkies to have something to hold on to as we go through withdrawal!

Pictures of knitting projects!

I finally went around and took some pictures of some of the projects I've been working on.

Oldest to newest:

iPod case (I still need to add a button...):



Purple mittens (for myself):



Black mittens for Robyn (she saw the purple mittens I had made last Sunday and really liked them so this last week I knitted her a pair since it was her birthday yesterday. It was really nice last night because she really liked them and loved that I had knitted them since last week when she had expressed her appreciation for my pair).



And now a picture of Clare's mittens (I really must be on a mitten thing right now...). These are the Druid mittens and they're way more difficult than the other two pairs I made. I've only just started these so the picture is only up through part of the cuff:


In this picture you can sort of see the detail of the stitch better. It's pretty complicated with two cabled braids, some bobbles, and another cable section around the bobbles.



I still have to take pictures of the baby sweater and hat so that's for another day.

Winter

Winter has clearly arrived. No snow on the ground yet, but I'm sure there will be soon. I'm not a huge fan of it getting cold though. Unlike most people, I actually would prefer more snow rather than being colder. But, since it's the weather, naturally none of us have a choice.

In other news, I finally found someplace that would order the yarn that I want for my sweater! They claim it will take 7-10 business days so that's not too bad (considering I was giving up hope of finding it anywhere!). Yesterday I also bought some pretty green yarn for my druid mittens. If you look here, I believe that it is color 9824.

That's all for now. I really am going to post some pictures soon as I found my camera charger!

Beginning

Since finishing school and homework, I've started knitting a lot again. Projects finished recently include: a case for my iPod, a pair of fingerless gloves for Sophie, a hat and sweater for the baby of a former coworker, a pair of mittens for myself. Planned: my first sweater! and a pair of mittens as a Christmas present. I've been having issues with the sweater. I found a great pattern - Maude Louise - that I really like. I've been looking for something classic, but still interesting. A first sweater is something important, something you want to be able to wear for a long time, and consequently I've been laboring over patterns and yarns for awhile. Last weekend I went to a yarn store and spent an hour looking through yarns to find the right one - something wool, soft, in a good color, that has the right gauge. I finally found one that I really like - Lana Grossa's Cool Wool Big - in a really pretty navy blue/purple. Unfortunately they didn't have 10 balls and it would take 4-6 weeks to order it. I bought one ball in a burnt orange/red color. I've knitted up a swatch and it's the perfect gauge. But now I can't find anywhere that carries it. I've called all the places that their website lists for Minnesota and Illinois, started on Wisconsin. I have one lead of a place that says they might be able to order it in 7-10 business days which I can live with (and ship it directly to me!). I just want to start this sweater so that I can bring it with me to England for Christmas! I may just give up soon and go for a different yarn but after putting this much effort into it, I want to use the yarn I liked in the first place!

Another project I've got in mind: The Green Autumn Druid Mittens from the Fall 2008 Vogue magazine. They're really pretty and I've been wanting to make them for a long time, and now I have someone in mind for them!

In other news, I thought I was going to be able to mail the end of my Cambridge application today but yet again a problem with a letter of recommendation and I can't.

And finally, it snowed yesterday!

At some point I'll go through and actually take pictures of the projects I've finished...