Take Two!

Okay, this is the NEW version of the Baby & Bears Sweater for Grown Ups! I'm now knitting a size Large instead of the XL. I also changed the color scheme up a bit, using the Baltic Sea for the cuff and then doing the striping as before. I actually like this one better, not sure why, I just do. I probably won't be doing much more knitting on it for a bit though. The holidays are less than 2 months away and I have some holiday knitting to do! Mainly, I have volunteered to do some knitting for a charity event my friend Val hosts at her house every year for AWAIC (Abused Women's Aide In Crisis) - the local shelter for women and their children who are trying to escape from domestic violence. What Val does is she has folks make things or donate things that she then sells at this open house at her home and all the proceeds go to the shelter. She's been trying to get me to donate stuff for a couple of years, and this year is it! I'm going to do some stash busting and hat knitting! I'm also still slowly working on the sweater for my Sweet Baboo, maybe I'll have that finished for the holidays too. I seem to have temporarily lost my sock mojo, I say temporarily because I'm sure it will return, but socks and I are taking a break for right now.

In other news, my Sweet Baboo and I went to go see a really good movie this weeked, It Might Get Loud. It is a documentary film about guitarists Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White. The filmmakers had these three musicians come together for one day in January 2009 to talk about music, and specifically, playing guitar. It was really interesting! If you like rock music at all you would probably take something away from this film. Also, something that was really cool is that here it opened at one of our second run theaters (although it never played in the first run houses..) so the price was only $3. Pretty sweet!

Finally, my work has really been rough these last few weeks. I am finally seeing a little light though, once I get through this week one big project will be done. I'm one of two coordinators for implementing the PLAN Test at our school. The PLAN Test is a precursor for the ACT, it is a pretty neat test and should give kids some really helpful information. Our district got stimulus funding to give this test to all 10th graders. There are over 600 sophomores at our school! That is a HUGE thing to organize!! I don't recommend taking on a project of this magnitude - I keep wondering why I spoke when I said, "I'll help with that". I wasn't thinking! Oh well, it is nearly done. Just a few more rough days to go...

Halloween is soon - we are going for the superhero approach in our house. What are you dressing up as?

And We're Off! Also - I'm a Moron!

We started our B & B Sweater KAL on Thursday! You can still join us! It is totally open to anyone who cares to play along. I cast on and started my cuff of my first sleeve on Thursday. I didn't get any knitting done on Friday, but here is where I got to on Saturday:

It's looking pretty good! But then I slipped in on my arm and I discovered a problem. After all the work I did with knitting gauge swatches and getting the correct needles I wasn't careful about deciding what size to make. I just assumed that I'd make an XL and that would be perfect. On my arm I discovered, not so much:
This is a pretty baggy sleeve. I guess that is what happens when I assume things! So, I went and did real measurements on myself and on a sweater that I have that fits me nicely. I need to knit a Large.
I could hide all sorts of extra stuff in a sleeve like that!
I did learn something from this experience though. I learned how I want to use my two colors. I had originally thought that I would make the left sleeve all the blue/brown - Baltic Sea with a green cuff and then go to stripes in the body. I was going to make the right sleeve all green - Wasabi with a Baltic Sea cuff. What I discovered is something that I actually already knew:
I love the way these two colors play off each other. I don't know why, I just do. So, since I have to rip out what I've started and start over what I'm going to do is make both sleeves with Baltic Sea cuffs and then do the striping every four rows - makes it easy to keep track of increases. And then continue the striping on the body too and use Wasabi to make my edging all around the body and the neckband. I think that will turn out great!

F.O. - Quick & Easy Baby Hat

This is the Quick & Easy Baby Hat. I made it for a co-worker, who as I type, is at the hospital having her first baby. I don't know if she is having a boy or a girl, so I tried to be gender neutral. My co-worker's favorite color is brown, and I thought this light green went well with the chocolate brown and wasn't too girlie or too boyie. The details:

Pattern: Quick & Easy Baby Hat, free from Ravelry
Needles: US 6
Yarn: Sirdar Snuggly DK, a superwash that is really soft!
Method: Circular
Cast On: Saturday, October 10th
Bind Off: Tuesday, October 13th
A view from the top! This truly was quick and easy! It was a lot of fun to knit and I really liked the yarn. I hope the baby enjoys it! :0)

F.O. - Bella's Mittens

I have a F.O. to share:
These are Bella's Mittens. They are a Christmas gift for my DH's cousin and our friend, Katie. She never reads this blog so I don't have to worry about her seeing them. She is a HUGE Twilight fan and so I know that she'll love these! And brown is her favorite color too. Here are the details:

Pattern: Bella's Mittens - free from Ravelry
Needles: US 8 Circular and DPN
Method: Magic Loop
Yarn: Plymouth Baby Alpaca Grande - very, very soft!
Cast On: Mid September
Cast Off: October 9th - I would've finished sooner if I had not caught the flu!

We've been experiencing a beautiful fall here in Anchorage! This photo was actually taken a couple of weeks ago, but is shows some of the amazing fall colors around Westchester Lagoon:
Isn't that great! The mountains don't have that much snow anymore, we had a warm, southerly wind blow through. But, you can feel it in the air that snow is not far away at all!

My friends and I are starting a KAL this week for the Babies and Bears Sweater for Grown-Ups. We have a group on Ravelry. You should join us!

Flu!

It has hit me. I caught the flu. I tried so hard to avoid it, if I didn't feel so bad I'd be really irritated. It came on very suddenly and it hit hard. The irony is that there was a shot clinic at work on Friday in which I totally intended to get my flu shot, but I missed it because I was home with the stupid flu! Oh well, I guess I shouldn't be too surprised. I've been feeling really run down with the hectic nature of the start of the school year that hasn't calmed down yet. And I do work in a public high school, a cesspool of disease. I just HATE feeling this way!! Ugh!!

I am doing a little better than I was at first. For the first couple of days all I could do was sleep, occasionally eat, and drink water. I now can do a little reading, a little typing, and a little knitting.