I'm beginning to hate this poncho...

Now that there are so many stitches on it, it's taking FOREVER to do just one round. I haven't stopped to count in a while how many stitches I have (it's doesn't hurt the pattern if it's not exact) but man there's a lot. It's coming out pretty good though. I joined a new ball of yarn yesterday. I was surprise how much that little ball got me through. But now that it's so wide I'm sure this ball will go a lot faster. I'll have to try to get some pictures the next time I put it on scrap yarn to try it on and make sure it looks right.

What I really should be working on is the ornament set for Nicole's birthday (Sept. 15). It's right around the corner and I have pretty much nothing done. I found some more sweater ornament patterns that are done in the round so I might try making one of those instead. I'm really not a fan of the sewing together part, which given my sewing history should be a surprise. But I've never been a big fan of hand-sewing. Nicole tonight asked me to help her make her kitchen curtains. I've never made them but I can't imagine rectangular curtains being all that hard. I need to make some for our living room window because there's always a glare on the TV from the sunlight.

Who's got a job?

I've got a job. That's right, I'm FINALLY no longer unemployed! Which means I can finally go to the doctor's because I'll have insurance. I got a job at a Kiddie Academy as an assistant teacher full time. I'm sooo celebrating tonight!

Car Troubles with No Time for Knitting

A week ago me and Art drove out to look at houses and we took a side trip to the Hamptons. Sitting in traffic on Montauk Highway my car seriously started to overheat when I tried to turn the AC on. Yesterday while trying to do errands of course it starts to overheat again. I turned on the heat to cool the engine and it wasn't even spitting out hot air. I started to freak out because I was on a road with no room to pull over and the temp gauge was literally almost at the red line. Luckily I was close to my mom's house and my stepdad was home. He looked at it with me and apparently I have an antifreeze leak and there was pretty much no coolant in my car. Kinda explains a lot. We refilled the tank and Dad said he'd take a look at it on Saturday. It's been running normal since so that's good.

Stupid me this morning decided to step on that pretty clean white scale this morning before jumping in the shower. Baaaaad idea. I am officially at the heaviest I've been EVER at a good 25 pounds overweight for my height. So I stole my mom's Weight Watchers stuff and I'm gonna restart it next week (and I'm not paying for the program...I'm not paying that much to go talk to other fat people). I think I'm going to take an aerobics class at the high school and I really need to start doing yoga again.

Phew. That's my vent for the day. It's been crazy. I have not had any time to work on anything lately. I guess that's a good thing considering I've been working at the card store a bit which means money. Tomorrow morning I have my interview at Kiddie Academy. Woot. Hopefully I'll get that job. I really want it although working with 3 year olds would be really interesting...

SOCKS!

Does anyone know of any quick/easy more on the masculine side patterns for socks? I'm thinking of making some for the stepdad for Christmas since he doesn't really need any other knitted objects. Thanks!

No knitting news for today yet

I've just been working on Marie's poncho all day. In the process of switching needles I tried it on and it's looser than the picture shows but that's okay. It just covers my shoulders so I have a ways to go still.

I had another job interview this morning. I don't really want the job. I just wanted the interviewing practice. Chris came with me for some reason. He said he wanted to go for the ride. It was nice having someone to talk to on the ride at least. And then he took me out to lunch and bought me some vegetarian supplement pills when he went to the health food store.

As soon as I came home I started looking at the real estate websites to look up houses in the Moriches area. That's where were're thinking of moving eventually. I found a great house in the village of Center Moriches that was built in 1890. Desperately needs some landscaping though.

The yard looks pretty crappy but the house is the age and style that I want. Art's not so thrilled with the age though. It doesn't matter that much because we're no where near being able to afford a house yet, especially on one income. It's listed at $337,000 and seeing as how combined we have $5,000 (half of which is my bonds from childhood that go towards my college loans) we're no where near ready for a house. I love it though, maybe even more with a new paint color :o).

P.S.: I'm #11155 on Ravelry. Only 1682 people in front of me!

I figured I should update since I've done a bit of knitting. I frogged Mom's hat to the ribbing but haven't restarted it yet. I just got the new needles I needed for it yesterday. Hopefully it'll be quicker this time around since I've already done the whole thing. Grrr...


I also started Art's Grandma's Christmas gift. It's a pretty simple poncho from Vogue Knitting: Ponchos. I couldn't find a picture of the poncho finished but here's what I have so far:

what I have done...it's hard to tell because the whole project is squished onto my circulars

detail of the cable pattern.

It's hard to see in the pictures. I have to get better at taking pictures of my work, especially for when I'm trying to sell it online.

I haven't worked much on Nicole's birthday gifts (Harry Potter sweater ornaments). I only have one done (knitting part at least...I have to make the hanger parts but those will all be done at once). They're so annoying to make and I'm only on my second one. The knitting isn't that bad...it's the sewing together, neck, and sleeve stitch pick-ups that are driving me crazy. And it's bad because these have to be done soon. I'll have to get working on them again.

I apparently have a job interview tomorrow in Brooklyn again. I really don't want to go. MapQuest said it's a 40 minute drive (without traffic of course which never happens around here) and HopStop said it's a 2 hour 40 minute public commute. Not quite what I really want to be doing every morning on my way to work. I'm also supposed to have an interview with a developmental institute for students with disabilities but the lady never returned my call. I'd much rather work here (with a substansial pay cut) since it's on Long Island and sooo much closer. It's for a teacher's assitant position but would give me a lot of special ed experience. I'm calling them in the morning again and hopefully this lady will be at her desk this time.

Part one of an xmas gift done...I think

I finished Mom's hat for Christmas. It just looks like crap though. It's waaaaay too tall. I don't know if I should frog it or just save it for someone else. I spent literally all day yesterday working on it and this morning finishing it up. I'm wondering whether I should adjust the pattern or try a different size needle. My gauge was fine for the stitches across and I've never had a problem with the height of my stitches but they're a little bigger than what the pattern calls for. If I redo it, I'm definately buying circulars though. DPNs are such a pain in my ass. They're good for small things but a hat is just too big to be dealing with them. I might just take the hat apart down to the ribbing. I'm not going to bother redoing that part I think. That wouldn't make that much of a difference.

In other news, I've started my first full week of Fly Lady. It's a plan to help clean and organize the home, working on one Zone (room combinations) each week. I didn't bother much with last week's Zone because I started it so late in the week, but I did shine my sink! It's helping out big time. Only problem is that most of what I'm supposed to do this week I already did on Saturday in my cleaning frenzy. If you're having trouble keeping your place clean, I definately recommend it. I only wish I could get Dad and Art to help out a bit more.

Done with my first sweater...sorta

It's been sooo hot here lately. Luckily today wasn't so bad...I could knit a little bit. I knit my first sweater. For some reason (I'm on Dad's computer since mine is still broke) I can't load pictures to the blog. Check it out here: PhotoBucket . The pattern is for Christmas ornaments that will be Nicole's birthday gift (hopefully...). They are from the Charmed Knits by Alison Hansel (blog here). So it's sorta my first sweater. A good intro to sweaters at least. I started a golden snitch one too but it's only halfway done. Last week I also finished a St. Balderick's hat...a little too big though. I guess my knitting has changed in the past few months. It'll just be for a bigger kid (it fits my head).

You'll also see Dude and Squirt in my new pictures. They're my two new baby turtles, named after the turtles in Finding Nemo, that I got from Chinatown last week. They're now happily in a tank swimming everywhere. If only I could knit something for them it'd be perfect.