Fingerless Mitts

I had some yarn left over from my Haruni Shawl I made several months ago, and it's just been sitting for a while. I decided to use the yarn up on some project. I came across Susie Rogers' Reading Mitts. This, I decided was the project I'm going to make. The yarn I planned on using is beautiful, and probably the best color I'd ever seen. The project that went with this yarn had to be spectacular.



I'm still working on them, but I'm pretty happy with them so far. I've taken them out twice already, for various reasons. I decided to do the turn over hem differently the first time, then decide to make them shorter for the second time I ripped them out. But still, I persist in making them. Winter is coming, and I think these will come in handy. I don't like normal mittens or gloves because I like to mess around on my phone, and I can't really do that with my fingers covered, because of the touch screen. These should be good for that, I think. I've tried the gloves that have the special thread or something in the index finger of the glove... they just don't do it for me. They work, yes, but all the ones I've bought were really poorly constructed. Poorly enough that I think I'd be better without them.

Blackrose Socks

My mother's birthday was back in May. I knit her a shawl, but never got around to sending it. Either we didn't have the money to send it off (Geez, shipping can be expensive!), or we just couldn't get up to the post office for one reason or another. Well, anyway. Her shawl used about 1 and a quarter skeins of yarn, and I really did not like the colorway she chose. She loved it, but it's not my type. Too dark, dreary and depressing for me. So, in the time that we haven't gotten to shipping the shawl, I made her other goodies to go with it. I'd never, ever use this yarn, so I may as well use the rest of it on stuff she'd enjoy, right?

I knit her a pair of socks right before I left California, and she had told me that she loved them, and wore them all the time because her roommate never turned on the heater in the winter. So, I decided to knit her a pair of socks. I asked her to go through and pick out a pattern she liked, and I'd knit it for her. She picked the Blackrose Socks. I, myself, was eyeing this pattern as well. It's sophisticated, so I was happy she picked this one out. This way, I can see how the socks looked in person, to see if I wanted to knit a pair for myself.



In the end, I decided I didn't like them. She will most likely love them. But, for me, I didn't like how they turned out. The gussets are weird, the toe turned out weird too. I'm sure it's my fault, but I was using double pointed needles on this project that called for another method. So, I didn't understand what I was supposed to do and just made my own way up as I went along. They are still wearable though, and still look like socks.



The whole time while making those socks, I was afraid of running out of yarn. If I run out, what would I make then? As I knitted, I kept watching the ball of yarn get smaller and smaller. And when I finished grafting the toe of the second sock, I was stunned that I still had a little tiny ball left. I honestly did not believe that I was going to be able to finish these.



With the remainder of the yarn, I made her a little lip balm holder for her keychain. I put it on my keyring for the picture, but it's being sent off to her. This turned out kind of cute. I may make myself one out of some scrap yarn ball I have wandering around the apartment. Having my lip balm on my keyring would be very helpful, so I'm not digging around the bottom of the bag looking for it when I need it.

Busy Playing Guild Wars 2

You ever wonder if you have too many hobbies? I do. I knit a lot, I tend to my African Violets, other plants, maintain a household, listen to audiobooks, browse Ravelry (it's an addiction, really!) and I play games. A lot of games. Currently, I play World of Warcraft, Diablo III, Aion, Minecraft, and now... Guild Wars 2. I've been waiting for what seems like forever for Guild Wars 2, and when it came out, obviously, I was excited. However, it wasn't until Monday morning that we had the funds to purchase it. At $59.99, it needed to be budgeted into our finances. That said, for the past 2 days, I've been playing as much as I can. While I'm only level 9, this game appears like it will go on forever. I'm not even joking. 2 days of playing, and I'm not even out of the starting area. Which, I guess is a good thing, because I'll feel like I'm getting my $60 worth.



(I cropped a good portion off of the sides of the above picture, my screen resolution was too big, and made for some really small, bad blogging pictures). Made by NC Soft, the people who put on Aion, the world really reminds me of Aion. Guild Wars 2 has that beautiful, whimsical feel that I love. It's a MMO, but doesn't seem to be the traditional type (the go kill 12 worgs and come back to turn the quest in type, instead it has a general description of what needs to be done with a progress bar). It has events that you can team up with other members to help, customizable armor, and the character selection is fantastic. So far, I've only ran into one jerk in-game, which is pretty shocking, considering by level 9 in other games, I've had already come across many jerks. (And by saying jerks, I'm being nice.)



As for me, I chose to play a Ranger. Because who can resist having an exotic cat as a pet to fight for you? Not this girl! As stated above, currently only level 9, and having a great time leveling up. Also guildless for the time being, as a few people I know are still setting up the guild and deciding which server everyone is going to be on.

Bitten by the African Violet Bug

During the time I've been living here, I've been experimenting with different plants. I've grown lemon balm, herbs, random plants that in my heart, I knew would fail (like tomato plant, chamomile, and lavender). None really had me excited about them. However, I've recently been hit by an African Violet love. They can grow for years, their flowers are beautiful, they have the weirdest leaves. What's not to enjoy about them?

My first one was purchased at Home Depot, and it was the saddest little thing I'd ever seen. It was pretty sick when I got it, it wasn't blooming, and it had brown spots all over the leaves (apparently from top-watering). But, I got it anyway, I didn't realize it wasn't supposed to look like it did. At $2, I figure I couldn't go wrong with it. Even after I gingerly cared for it, trying to bring it back to life, leaf after leaf fell off, until it finally died. Afterwards, I ended up at Lowes, in search of another African violet. One look at their display, and I was shocked! I had no idea an African violet was supposed to look this awesome.



Oh yes, I found the most adorable pink Optimara variety plant, and it looked fantastic. Compared to my sad Home Depot one, this one was amazing. Sure, it's got a few scratches, and blemished leaves, but it was like pure gold in my eyes. And, it was blooming as well! I brought it home, and it wasn't long before I found myself back there, picking out another one. Now, every time we go to Lowes, I manage to come home with another violet. To make matters worse for my windowsills, when Tyler does something to get him into the doghouse, he knows that by bringing home one of these, all is forgiven (even if he does manage to find the most unattractive blooms).

My birthday is coming up soon, and I may or may not have spent $85 on 11 new violets from an online seller, that should be here middle of next week. Erk.

Ravellenic Games 2012

For those who don't know, Ravelry is a really fantastic site for knitters and crocheters. It is a community, store, pattern haven, and information portal for everything yarn-related. I love Ravelry, and much of my life really revolves around it. For every Olympics, they put on Ravellenic Games (formerly known as the Ravelympics). These games are where knitters and crocheters participate in our own Olympic-type games, starting a project at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics, and going on a quest to finish that project by the time the closing ceremonies come around. It's a wonderful way to be motivated to finish a project, challenge yourself, and have a great completed object at the end. When you post your finished project into the finish line, you get a medal (an image to post to your profile, project page, or where ever you wish), as an added bonus.

I've been knitting for a few years now, have tried many different techniques, and knitted several different things. I was definitely confident to participate in these Ravellenic Games. And, I'm really glad I did. My choice of project was the Summer Flies shawl. In my past shawl knitting experiences, it takes me many weeks to finish. Mainly because I get frustrated when something goes wrong, then I put it down and don't come back to it for weeks later. I wanted to push myself to finish a shawl in a little over 2 weeks, with mistakes and all.

I started out, and was amazed at how fast it knitted up. I was on a roll with this shawl, and even finished a little earlier than I expected to. The games ended on the 12th, I finished knitting it on the 6th. It wasn't until the 11th that I did the finishing touches on it though (mainly blocking it, which took longer than I expected). I photographed it and posted it into the finish line just in time, however. Just barely. I have to give my fiance credit for helping me take the photo of it though. He stood there with the camera, taking many pictures as I looked at them saying "Yeah, I don't like that one, take another." The poor guy.



I am unbelievably pleased with it. I finished on time, it looks fabulous, and when fall comes around, I'm going to wear it everywhere. Oh yes, I am. It will also look fantastic over my cold weather pea coat. Also, it was with this project that I gathered courage to attend my first knitting group. I do have a lot of social anxiety, so attending the knitting group was huge for me. It was at a residence which raised my social red flags (I kind of feel better meeting on neutral grounds, like a coffee shop), but I went anyway, and am really glad I did. The women I met there were really great, they didn't make me feel uncomfortable or awkward in their home, and I left there feeling really excited for the next meeting.

Anyway, I'm still hoping and waiting for my medal for finishing my Summer Flies, it's obscene how many times I refresh the forums to see my name listed among the other Ravletes. But it should come soon. After participating during these games, I can't wait for the next one, I had such a fun experience, and it really boosted my love for knitting even more than I thought possible.

No Children, But I Have Coleus Plants

This is going to be a partial post about birth control, and a experience I had with them recently. So, if you aren't one to want to read about them... stop now. I was put on the pill over 2 and a half years ago, and have been on them since. When my insurance from California ran out, I went in to the local clinic for some more. Well, I have high blood pressure. I know this, and no matter what I do, it won't go down. There was a period in my life where I ate really healthy, cut out sugars, salts, and everything I loved from my diet. I ran every other night. but yet, the blood pressure never went down. As a person with no health insurance, seeing a doctor about it is not in the question at all. After seeing that my efforts were not going anywhere, I resumed my original diet. My philosophy now is: Life is too short to eat foods I don't like. Anyway, when I went into the clinic for birth control, I told them about my problem with blood pressure, and after she took it, she was baffled why I was given them in the first place. Then refused to give me anything with estrogen. My only option was either, the depo provera injection, or a pill form of it.

I had researched the depo shot. Weight gain, mood swings, not being able to have kids until years after stopping it, this was NOT what I wanted. I can deal with the weight gain, mood swings, but... not being able to have children when I want them? That's the hardest for me. The sad thing, was that the night before this happened, the fiance and I had talked about having children. We decided on the month we were going to start trying for a child, and talked about our near future. Now, however, we have to look at the possibility that it won't happen in the next few years. He was upset about this when I told him in the car, I came home and cried in bed for hours. I was heartbroken, and still to an extent, I still am.

So now, after sobbing about it probably much more than was necessary, I plan to put my nurturing need into something else. Fiance and I have decided to get a plot at the local community garden. Well, actually... I decided, he's just going along with it. My windowsill plants have pretty much been my life since I came here to live in Iowa, so I'm excited to actaully be able to plant real fruit bearing plants in the ground. And being able to cook with something that I've grown myself. Hopefully, this is what I need until I get over the depo ordeal. I plan to throw myself completely into gardening for the fall season. Then I'll decide what to do from there.

That said, today, I woke up early and gathered all the seeds I have, and I found several that I can plant for this fall. I have already started some carrot seeds, as well as some basil indoors, under my grow lights. Once they sprout, I should have my garden plot, weeded it, and should be able to plant them in the ground.  After I plant them, I'll start growing lettuce, and other cool season vegetables under my lights to transplant later in the season. So, it should be good.



As for the indoor plants, I have some really beautiful coleus plants lately! The seeds came in a mix of everything, so I really wasn't sure what color leaves I was going to get. I keep getting surprised! The leaves on most of them are absolutely gorgeous, I love them. They are definitely grown for their foliage, that's for sure.



I'm not sure what kind of coleus they are, if I go through my seed catalog again, I can probably figure it out. But I don't really mind what kind they are, they look pretty, and that's all that matters to me.



Dear coleus plants, why must you make me love you so much? When I bought them, I honestly wasn't sure I was going to like them. I don't like buying mixes of plants, because I like to know what I'm planting and what it's going to look like. But I have to admit, I'm really loving the surprise I get when I see the leaves pop with a different color than I was expecting. I only planted about 10 of the seeds (I think I have over 50), so now I'm contemplating just planting them all. I love surrounding myself with beautiful plants.

Rooted Cuttings

Remember my pink polka dot cuttings I blogged about last time? They have been on a roller coaster the past 2 weeks. They perk up, then wilt a little. My life has been obsessing about these little cuttings, spritzing them with water several times a day to stop them from wilting, checking on them, and seeing if they have rooted yet. A few days ago - I was gently tugging on them to check for roots, and finally... I noticed some resistance in them! Which means: they started to root! I was so excited, that all my work babying these little guys, finally was paying off. Today, I finally took them out of their little toilet paper roll pots, to check out what's going on under the soil.



Woo! Check out that little root ball! There really is no better feeling than seeing something you worked hard for actually be a success. I'm sure it's easy for some people, but hey, I've never done this before, and had no idea what I was doing half the time... so this was hard work for me! That said, I re-potted three of the four cuttings that I took into terracotta pots (that I picked up at Menards for only 58 cents!). They are kind of wilting again now though, so I'll just keep on spritzing them until they get established again. The fourth cutting I took, still hasn't rooted yet - I think it's not going to root, but I'm probably going to just leave it for a little while and see what happens.

The downside is... most of my plants are on windowsills throughout the apartment, and I'm running out of windowsill space. I've started stacking boxes up in front of windows to expand my space a bit more. Hah.