Disaster and a Cardboard Jungle

This past weekend was Knit Camp. What is Knit Camp? It is what is sounds like, a sleep away camp, with cabins and a mess hall! This is year number 4 and it was a blast. We put the tables around in a square, everyone had their Ott Light and the knitting festivities began Friday night. People bring treats and I brought a case of Diet Coke (a necessity).

I worked on a "simple" pullover, short-sleeved sweater with lace on the edge. I am making it in a salmon pink color. The back...finished and I had the front finished to the arm hole shaping when I got to camp...until something got crazy. Here's what it will look like.

I worked on it Friday and about 3/4 of Saturday and then things went wrong. I was getting the wrong stitch counts, so I started the front panel back. I ended up ripping out the entire front of the sweater because I could not get the right stitch count.  Not exactly a Hindenburg type tragedy, but it was still pretty ugly. Still, I'd rather it was done right than have the sweater be wrong and not wear it.

Knit Camp itself was fun and I'm still glad I went. I made these little sheep for a purpose I didn't know about...

They were game pieces for a game called Yarnopoly, created by Carol Myers! It was a blast to play!

My move is hopefully coming together...I think I might have some paid movers. This will greatly ease my mind. I have been so overwhelmed with everyone who has offered to help me with me move. Once again, friends are awesome!

DAILY DAVID

I'm Moving Out!

I am that much closer to moving to Highland! I can say and am excited about moving in, but the actual move itself, not so much. Here is what my apartment looks like right now:

Yeah, there is still a lot left to pack...like the kitchen.

The commissioned lace shawl is turning out beautifully.

I've had some minor set backs, had to rip back some rows, but overall, I LOVE the pattern and I love how it's turning out.  I can't wait to show the person who commissioned it!

Other knitting is going well...I can't believe how many commissions I have going right now. I feel honored that people want me to knit for them.

In other fiber news, in the process of moving, I have discovered the full extent of my yarn stash and it is shocking! Seriously, I am amazed. I have also found started projects I'd forgotten I even had.  I think I could knit a cozy to cover the whole planet with the yarn I have!!!

Watching:

Call the Midwife, season 2 has ended in Britain and it was wonderful, despite them calling crocheted squares knitted.  I think they will show this on PBS, I highly recommend watching it.

I'm watching The Amazing Race, which mom got me started on when I was sick last year.  I'm cheering for the hockey player brothers, It will be interesting to see how far their hockey skills can take them.

The Walking Dead...brilliant, I love David Morrissey (The Governor) and I know I will mourn the loss of his evilness when they kill him off (you know that's coming!)

I've only watched the first episode of David Tennant in Broadchurch and it is awesome. I hope it will get picked up and shown here in the US.

Reading:

Still with Nicholas, but I also picked up Victoria Thompson's, Murder on Sisters' Row, which is a part of her Gaslamp series, Victorian Era murder/mystery set in New York City. I love this series!

DAILY DAVID

I'm Your Private Knitter

(Sung to the tune of Tina Turner's "Private Dancer")

All them come in the yarn store
And they are all the same
You don't look at their faces
And you only ask their names
You appreciate them as human
You take projects from them all
You keep your mind on the money
Keeping your eyes on the yarn

I'm your private knitter, a knitter for money
I'll knit what you want me to do
I'm your private knitter, a knitter for money
And any pattern will do

I want to make a million dollars
I wanna live out by the sea
I want to marry David Tennant
Yeah, I want to live in the UK
All them come in the yarn store
And they are all the same
You don't look at their faces
And you only ask their names

I'm your private knitter, a knitter for money
I'll knit what you want me to do
I'm your private knitter, a knitter for money
And any pattern will do

Deutsch marks or dollars
A handwritten check will do nicely, thank you
Let me knit you up a collar
Tell me, do you wanna see me do the Kitchner again?

YES! I got more commissions today...two more cowls. The patterns and yarn are by the door and I'm too lazy to get up to fetch them, so YOU must wait.

My Christmas tree is still half naked...

I need to pack more...

DAILY DAVID

Christmas is almost over!

In my house, finally, well, nearly...the decorations have been put away and the tree is half naked. My back started hurting, I don't know if I will finish tonight.  I need to get on the ball getting my apartment packed...my move is 30 days away!

No new knit news.  I have some yarn coming from Knit Picks to make a pair of fingerless gloves for a friend.  I'll tell you more when the yarn arrives!

So what else is up?

TV...on Netflix I am watching the Ye Olde version of Battlestar Gallactica.  I remember watching it as a wee one and having a bit of a crush on Starbuck. I think I could run the Gallactica on the show with iPhone! LOL  It's cheesy...duh...but it's fun. 

Regular TV, of course there is The Walking Dead, Community, The Big Bang Theory...I started watching The Carrie Diaries. I almost pitched it to the curb when I heard it was a prequel to Sex In the City.  I never watched a millisecond of that show because (and I'm sorry if I offend) the premise sounded asinine. But Freema Agyeman (Martha on Doctor Who) is in it and it's set in the 80s, so I am giving it a try.

Reading...I am completely cracked out on The Walking Dead comic books, I am trying to get caught up. I think I am on 95 or 96? I have never read a comic book series before...ever. But I am really enjoying it.  Apparently it is the only thing my brain can process right now.  I also have Nicholas Nickleby (Charles Dickens) in my Kindle (it's FREE! as are all his books!) and most nights The Walking Dead beats out Nicholas.

I love my Kindle my mom got me for Christmas.  It took me a bit to get settled in with it.  Leave it to Ravelry to have a group on how to use your Kindle! Ravelry is amazing!

DAILY DAVID

New Project

I got a new project at the yarn store today.  It is a scarf that is on display at the store. I really like the pattern. I don't know if it is hush hush, or not, so I will say no more here. I'll ask permission to post about it.

Just when I got a little too confident about my lace knitting on that mohair shawl.  I found a mistake about 4 rows down and about 6 rows above the life line I put in. I ended up ripping it out row by row. I'm caught up to where I was before the rip out.  I think I need to move my life line more often. Here endth my lesson on moving my life lines.

I am moving at the end of March. I really need to be packing WAY more than I am. I'm embarrassed to say that I still need to put my Christmas decorations away.  Every night I look at them and say I will put them away tomorrow and tomorrow comes and the thought of it is overwhelming.  I was so hard for me to put them up this year, I know it's going to be just as hard (physically) to take them down again.  I have never wanted magical powers more than I do now.  I wish I could just twitch my nose and my apartment would be packed!

DAILY DAVID

Reclaiming the Blog

So it's been how many years since I've updated? Over two?
My friends keep telling me I should start a blog and I had this one sitting here, so I am going with it.

I'm not sure what to say about the last two years. I believe that most people who follow this blog are friends and family, but just in case...here's a brief run down:

I graduated with my Master's degree in Counseling in May of 2011. Around this time, my mom was diagnosed with cancer. I was glad I had graduated so I was able to spend some time with her in Atlanta, after she had the tumor removed from her ureter. I started looking for a job and found a part-time position as a researcher at the local archives. The job was only temporary and ran out around Thanksgiving. The good thing was, I was able to spend a nice long visit with my mom while she went through chemotherapy over the holidays.

I got back to California in January and began looking for a job again. At the end of January, I got really sick. For weeks, I was ill, stiff neck, chills...I went to the doctor three times, the ER once, I kept getting sent home. Then at the beginning of February, 2012 I woke up very sick, with vomiting and a high fever. I called my mom and 911. I remember about 2 hours in the ER, the next thing I know I'm waking up from a coma 10 days later having survived meningitis and double pneumonia. I spent more time in the hospital and after care facility. I am so thankful for my family and friends. You really find how out how much you are loved when something like this happens.

2012, well, sucked donkey balls. I spent the first half working on recovering from being so ill. the second half I spent looking for a job. The one good thing to come out of 2012 was that I got my Professional Clinical Counseling Intern license. One step closer to getting my counseling license.

 I am now doing a lot of commissioned knitting, which paid my to the 24th annual Gallifrey One conference in Los Angeles over the Valetine's weekend.

So what am I knitting now? I have had to create a list in a ledger to keep it straight.

I am knitting a lace shawl for a woman who called my LYS. It is out of white mohair...it is coming along beautifully.
 
 I am making a pair of wrist warmers for a friend out of the softest yarn...I love it. She has bought more skeins to make a matching hat and scarf set. I think it is going to be fabulous.
I also making a pink Dalek for another good friend. I have the shell completed and the appendages...now I need to sew them on, stuff it and sew the bottom. I have another Dalek to make for a friend's nephew.

 And I just finished the Boboli cowl out of Boboli yarn for another woman at the LYS.
 And now...for one of my favorite things...the return of the...

 DAILY DAVID
 

Whole Sweater!

I finished a whole sweater in 2 days! No really a WHOLE, ENTIRE sweater...see:



OK...so it is a small, little sweater that could fit a Barbie doll, but a complete sweater it is! I made it for my craft swap...we are exchanging Christmas ornaments and this is mine. I'd like to find a little clothes hanger for it to hang by.

Still working on all those other projects I mentioned last time...I just wanted to share about my sweater!

DAILY DAVID