Help now

yes, this is a fun knitting and biking blog, but i have not been able to post after what has happened out there on the indian ocean coasts. if you have any drive whatsoever to help, please donate to a variety of charities that you can find here. I feel terrible that i cant be there to do something, but at least donating to a trustworthy charity ensured my intentions get there and hopefully do some good.
On another note, thank you all for your congrats and well wishing for my new life!

crazy hat time

Im now married!
The wedding went excellent! I will have pictures sometime in the future! We went down to a nice inn in the middle of Illinois, situated in a state park. It was called Brightwood Inn. Here is a nice picture of the room. We went friday night out there, relaxed. We chased lady bugs all night, they must have nested themselves in the wood, and came out when we had the heat on. It was pretty funny. We also discovered the place had a library, so we took some interesting books and relaxed. Saturday we woke up and realized it was the big day. The inn cooked us wonderful breakfasts both days. Everything went perfectly. I got dressed, everyone got there and they were all mingling. The judge got there and we started! It must have been the only day in my life where i spent a whole hour on makeup. i think it looked nice though. So i walked down the stairs all dream-like, and walked into the living room where they all were. mike looked so handsome all dressed up and excited! we had a very relaxed ceremony, and then went into the dining room to eat the most wonderful lunch! after that, we changed out of our clothes, and a few of us went on a really fun hike. there were creek crossings and stuff to keep the hike interesting. then we just watched a few movies and that was that! the funniest part was we went to go eat dinner that night, and couldnt find anything we wanted. so instead, we went to the grocery, and got a whole lotta crap. a tub of butter, a loaf of bread, eclairs, potato chips, reeses, grapes. yikes. so that was our wedding dinner! we haven't stopped smiling since that day. we just feel a little warmer, happier, and closer, if i had to describe it so far. i really have to thank our parents for making everything work out so easily and perfect for us! thank you and we love you! it wouldnt have been perfect without you there!
so anyways, on the ride up there i finished up a spur of the moment hat. I found some patons at a michaels, and also got some needles that me and Lauren had to cut and burn together. all of their circulars were 29"!!

It fits pretty nicely, here is a picture of it blocking out. It is super comfy and warm.
Then on Sunday, I decided to do another spur of the moment hat, using that blue sky alpaca that i had started that wrap with. It came out really awesome, i love love love this hat. I used a seed stitch, to keep it from being boring for me. It actually knit up very fast though.

So thats what ive been up to the last week! now its on to christmas! I really hope to get a little time to work on Bad Penny. I have really been slacking on my knitting, but there has just been so much to do this month!

makers of the kittython

from the makers of the kittython...... PUPPYTHON

ripd it

remember mr lacypants from the previous post!? well ive finished it and here it is

ahh, just kidding. i ran into some problems and decided to just cancel the thing, unless a great solution comes up. first, i ran out of yarn. how funny would i have looked with a wrap only as wide as my shoulders? very funny, is my guess. secondly, it was getting fuzz everywhere! seriously, this blue sky alpaca was driving me crazy! thirdly, when i bound it off, it looked grotesque. i suppose i had done something wrong, because as the beginning end had a nice wavy pattern, the bound off was a stick of stitches. i suppose i was supposed to bind off in the knit row rather than the purl. oh well, maybe it will not even be cold at my wedding. they do have a fireplace, after all...
another thing.. todays my bday! oh boy!
and lastly, i gifted the little mice on sunday, and all 3 cats are in love with the mice. my mom called and said they were all walking around, each cat with its mouse in its mouth! how rewarding! see they can tell quality hand made from store bought! theyve got class!

happy weekend

happy weekend everyone! i have to say, that was the longest week i've ever been through. Next week is going to be the top of the cake. I've got my birthday on Tuesday the 14th, and then friday, we head out to be married saturday! i am deathly afraid of forgetting anything, so we are preparing this weekend, way in advance, in case we forget something.
i decided to share some pictures of bad penny now, because I never even showed what color or yarn i was using! i haven't touched the thing in such a long time, but i've done a few little things here and there!

Here is a look at Bad Penny and where its at now. Im using some old yarn mikes gramma gave me, so i really have no idea what it is or what its made of. i just know i love the deep olive color. she also gave me a matching rust color, which i will use on the sleeves, collar, and border. i want to say it is an acrylic blend yarn, but im not positive. dont the eyelets look lovely??



Also, i decided to knit some little mice for my moms kitten. He recently had to get neutered, but it turned out to be a bigger ordeal than we had expected. apparently, one of his "things" didnt drop, so they went looking around inside and really had to open him up. He is pretty sore now, so i made him some little treats i hope he will like!



sorry about the super super crappy quality of this image, but i had to use a flash close up to get details. I decided to go ahead and knit a wrappy scarf/shawl for my wedding dress. i am hoping this will match ok with the red, but we wont know for sure until tuesday, when the dress comes back from being altered. I found this lacy pattern and decided it was finally the right one. i had some blue sky alpaca bulky, and decided to use it up on this one.
i hope to finish this guy soon and have some better pics for you!

plantorama

YAY! We went to Gethsemane, a huge plant place here in Chicago, and spent our lunch break in a nice greenhouse. seeing as winter is kind of upon us (even tho its 50 degrees now) i get a little sad right about now from the lack of greenness in the world. So much stuff there is irresistable! Sarah got a great little orange tree! we are hoping between heat and cats and sun that the thing will be ok. I got these great little things called air plants (tillandsias)! they survive on air and a few spritzes of water about 2 times a week! i am thinking they might be a tropical rainforest type plant. they are soo awesome, and the pics do it no justice!




then i got a few little baby cactus plants, or more correctly, succulents. they are darling little things, and i hope they are happy in thier new homes!




at least there are greenhouses and knitting to keep me going through these dreary months!
In knitting news, not much going on except row after slow row of bad penny knitting. its going along well, and once i am a little past the sleeves, ill post some pics!

no knit is bad knit

eep. I havent knitted in over a week! i know, its terrible. for some reason i just could not find any time! coming home late, feeling too tired to do anything, etc. you know how it goes sometimes!! so finally last night i got time to start bad penny! its going smoothly, i only got a few rows done. i think tonite will be more hosting to knitting. It has definately been a weird week. im not sure if i was going through knitting withdrawl, but i was SO CRANKY all week, and all these weird things kept happening. we finished our xmas shopping, all the xmas knitting is done, and all the wedding stuff is now done too! yesterday was a sad day for me, because toys for tots was held (i live right off of western where the parade drives by), and a motorcyclist got hit and killed. it was only 2 blocks away from my house! it was really sad because he was a few days from retiring from the police force too. some 75 year old guy just careened out onto western and got tboned. the motorcyclist couldnt stop in time. i dont see why the city can't just block off the street for the parade, like a regular parade, to keep everyone safe. my mom and her boyfriend ride motorcycles too and this is the one year they didnt go. its just a strange feeling to know that someone was trying to do some good in the world and didn't get rewarded for it. Here is some more info. anyways, i hope to get back into the swing of things soon enough!