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...