Purple… :)

Woohooo! I have just changed the theme for this blog for the first time EVER! I’m thinking it looks pretty good. And who would’ve guessed that a year ago I didn’t know my favorite color was purple? It’s just so pretty, don’t ya think? I want our wedding centerpieces to have purple flower heads in water, but I haven’t figured out what kind of flower, something simple, not too many petals.

Alex and I started packing up our dorm yesterday, and we found the Hug Box! which had been missing for quite a while. So maybe I will take a look at it and try to figure out what I did… It still doesn’t have arms, I need some brown felt, just a little bit, but there are no craft stores near me, although CVS might have some felt or something.

I must remember to sew up Alex’s sweater, I’m doing a sock right now that I like very much, but I keep on forgetting that I have Alex’s sweater so close to being done. Oh, and I watched Atonement last night, which was beautifully done, but so depressing! I knew that it was probably going to be a love story that ended sadly, but there was so much more drama to it that I wasn’t expecting, so now I just keep thinking about it. Even watching a happy movie after didn’t help all that much.

Hug Box

So I finally finished the hug box from the visa commercial, and I’m even putting up pictures!

This is the original mastercard ad (I think I’d previously said it was Visa, whoops!) . The label for these cute creatures is “Hugs”, which is why I’ve named them hug boxes. 

 

 This is mine. My yarn color and the proportions are a bit off because I was just using scrap yarn. And it’s not quite as box-like as the one in the ad, but mine’s HUGABLE, which is the best part!

 Alex huggling the hug box.

 It doesn’t have the ability to hug back, cause it doesn’t have arms yet. But once I find a sheet of brown felt I’ll add them.

I ended up buying a lot more stuffing than I needed, so now if I ever do another stuffed project I’ll be set. I’m debating making another to sell on Etsy, but I don’t know if anyone would want it.

Still working on the thrummed mitten, take two. This one fits a lot better, and I’m not terrified of running out of roving. I have these buttons that I got at Eastern Market from the button lady. They’re shiny and silver and look like someone soldered onto square buttons. I’ve been thinking that I want to make a cardigan for the buttons, in a deep blue, with knit and purled diamonds. I still want to make a summer top for my mom, but that would require her responding to my email. It would be nice to knit something from someone else’s pattern for once. Although I suppose, being me, I would decide that it wasn’t the best way to do it and just take the idea from the pattern. Oh well, what can you do?

I have about two and half more weeks of classes, and then finals. I should find out about my summer research program soon. I would really love to get in, but if not I’ll figure something else out. And apparently I’ve been listening to the same song for the last 15 minutes because I forgot to take it off repeat. Strange how I didn’t notice for so long. Good song though, an a cappella version of Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Oh, and we’re participating in the Fair Trade student organization’s Rice Cook-off again. I think Ellie’s making her chi rice pudding. And we’re planning another ‘learn to knit’ for next weekend, and a little event for stress week (the week before finals) because we basically get free advertising. I think we’ll be putting in more of an effort at the beginning of next year, get our membership up from four. It would be really nice to have more people. We’d get more ideas, be able to help out, or get help, and have a variety of conversation. Although it has been nice with just the four of us, they’ve been coming over on some weekends to watch a movie and test out a new cocktail.

All in all, everything’s good here. But I do wish that it would warm up for more than a day at a time. I can’t wait for it to flip-flop weather for a whole week. Oh! and cherry blossoms! Here:

 

 I know, I’m so artsy

Plastic Knitting

Now I have a headache. Not sure if it’s from the loud movie, or if it’s from trying to knit with plastic bags, after transitioning from knitting a sock. That’s right, plastic bags. It’s a little weird, I admit, but strangely nice. We keep our plastic bags that we get from Safeway, and CVS, and all those other places, and normally we use them as trash bags. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It’s all about saving the environment right now. So instead of going out and trying to find ‘the’ bag for the spring, why not use what you already have, and of course, your knitting skills. Alex sent me this nice tutorial on how to cut up plastic bags and essentially make it into ‘yarn’. It’s a little hard to get used to, especially since there’s little give, and it doesn’t slide along the needles nicely. But, I’ve been needing a better bag to carry my school stuff in, and have been feeling too broke to actually buy one. We’ll see how far I get with this, because it seems like one bag doesn’t go extremely far, and it’s not as transportable.
But on the other side of knitting is Ty’s sock(s). I’ve finished the first, and had Alex try it on over her sock, so I’m hoping for the best, fit wise. I started the second, and of course, the spiral is going in the opposite direction. I love him dearly (is it too early to start calling him hubby?), but he’s amazingly OCD about some stuff. Fortunately, it’s usually very adorable.
The hug box is nearly complete, just waiting for the stuffing. I want to perhaps make another, or see if there is any interest for one on Etsy. They’re adorable, and I’ve been itching for some more Etsy sales.
That’s just about it for now. Mostly I’ve been busy with school, and figuring out plans for this summer and next year. Hopefully I’ll have good new soon about that summer research position. What exactly does ‘by early April’ mean?

Spring Break

Alright, so I finally get a break from school and I get sick straight off. It has been too bad, we went up to Vermont and watched the snowboarding half-pipe championships in Killington. I’m back in Wayland now, and haven’t been doing too much, which is actually pretty nice.  I’m trying not to think about getting back to school, or anything really.

I brought some new knitting with me.  I finally re-started the sock that I’d been having trouble with. It’s going nicely so far, but it’s hard to say if it will actually fit. At this point I’ve decided that it’s not worth it to stress, because I’ve done all the calculations, and if it doesn’t work, oh well.

And I’ve finally finished Alex’s fingerless gloves. She loves them, thank god. It’s a bit warm for them, but I don’t think that’s going to stop her. I think I’ve finally gotten over my knitting funk. It was good to slow down with knitting for a while, and I definitely think it elped with my schoolwork. I applied for a summer research experience at GW and won’t hear back until sometime in April. I definitely think I’ll be stress knitting, which is particularly unfortunate because I really want to start a sweater or something, but I decided that I wouldn’t buy any yarn until I knew that I was making money this summer. On the other hand, I found some leftover Red Heart yarn that’s perfect for making a hug box for Alex (the hug box from the Visa commercial)[edit: it's actually mastercard...]. I just have to find something to stuff it with. I saw online that other people have made it, and someone put it around a cardboard box, which I think is ridiculous, because what’s a hug box that you can’t hug?