Trials and Tribulations

It's been an interesting week. The beach was wonderful. I miss being able to go there and just sit and read, hopping into the (really cold) ocean to relieve the heat and then laying out to sun bathe/air dry. I don't miss being in a 5 bedroom house with 9 people and arguing with my mother. The vacation ended up being just as stressful as it was relaxing, which was sad all the way around.

We actually made good time on our return trip, making it from NC to OH in 13.5 hours, including the time we sat down to lunch.

I also have to admit to reading all 4 of the Twilight books in about a week. I finished the 4th this morning, and I started the 1st last Wednesday. Obviously I was smitten with them. The 4th book, however was my least favorite. The middle section (not narrated by Bella) was my least favorite. It actually kind of made me sick. But the part before and after that was fine.

I'm on Team Edward, BTW. ;-)

On vacation, I finished my 2nd Ishbel. If you'll remember Ysolda was in Columbus yesterday so I was knitting it on a deadline. I got to meet her at Wonderknit and she was so nice! I didn't stay too long, however because it must have been like 90* in the shop and I was sweating in a very unladylike manner.

I got a signed copy of Whimsical Little Knits, and Ysolda was kind enough to pose for a picture with me. =) She also had all of her samples out, and it was cool to be able to see them in person.

That's my Ishbel pinned around me. I took it off soon after. Hot hot hot!

In other news, I tried to knit a sock. Why is this news? Well because I've had a couple of failed attempts. Firstly, I tried to knit Traffic Island Socks (Ravlink), an original design from someone on the CPaAG group boards on Ravelry. I was trying to do a toe-up version because I wanted the decreases to point down the foot like the Jaywalkers (Ravlink only!) do. It was all going very well, I was using my Claudia Handpainted and size 1.5needles the fabric was great and then I started into the pattern and (like I had feared) the yarn was pooling rather than striping. *sigh* Nice try but no cigar.

Then I started Vinnland (Ravlink) (Why is it all the socks I want to knit are toe up?). I've attempted the short row toe 2.5 times. The first time I wrapped the stitches instead of doing the weird yarn over thing, and then I did the yarn over thing but I was getting HUGE holes (I didn't actually do the yarn over thing right.. I don't think it's explained very well). I was picking up bars left and right and k2toging and it didn't look nice at all, so I'm on my third try, but still pretty frustrated with it.

So, finally, I started another sock-like project. It's super seekrit and I cannot reveal what it is until the recipient gets it. I will say that I'm using a sample from my March Phat Fiber box, and I'm not sure if I like it or not.

Oh, one last trial. I half way got laid off today. I say 'half way' because I'm not going into work for the next 2 weeks or the rest of this week, but I'm getting paid for them. I'm also going to be working at the office the week of July 6th.

Confused? Me too. I'm going to apply for another job, and hopefully that pans out.

My summer quarter starts on Monday. It should be interesting. Then I graduate. The BF graduated last week!

This all means that very soon I have to enter the real world *sigh*.