Hershey Kiss

I finally made this little baby hat. it has been on my list for a long time now, ever since i bought this book: Too Cute Crochet for Babies and Toddlers. If you haven't seen this book, get in your car now and head to your lys, the library, or the local bookstore and check it out immediately! it is full of freaking adorable crochet baby hats. This is my first one of many i plan to make. The only reason i waited to make this hat is that the yarn it calls for is more expensive than i was willing to pay. It is made from Lion Brand Glitterspun in silver. i couldn't justify spending $7.99 for that small amount of Lion Brand yarn! so i finally found it on clearance for $2.99 a ball! a much better price for Lion Brand!
I can't decide if i should write anything on the ribbon. I thought it would be cute to write "It's a Boy" or "It's a Girl." and pair it with some of these: Hershey Kisses. I think that would make an adorable baby gift! Then i thought about just writing "Hersheys," but i am pretty sure that is boring! ;) I don't know...i'll think of something. Any ideas?

I am thinking about trying to convert this pattern to a knitting pattern. i really like knitting baby hats better than crocheting them. If I figure it out i will post the pattern! Wish me luck!

I finished all three of those baby blankets tonight. i will take pictures tomorrow! plus i have already cast on another project! until tomorrow!

I really need to get better at posting more often...

because there is just so much to cover when i wait so long between posts. well let's do this in chronological order since the last post. the week following the last post i finished my last clinical rotation!!!!! woo hoo!!! so technically i am finished for good but i do have some paper work kind of stuff to finish up. :( oh well it shouldn't be too bad. official finishing day is august 5th! i can't wait!

so i took that next weekend off in celebration of finishing. that brings us to this week. monday one of my closest friends and i took off for Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. i had a job interview there monday, tuesday, and wednesday of this week.

this is the bed and breakfast that they put us up in. it was super nice with a pool and hot tub. it was my first time at a bed and breakfast and i was completely pleased. we were the only ones there so it was even nicer especially at the pool!

this is the hospital that i would be working at. it is really small but then again so is the town. there is a population of only 5,000 in the town and 15,000 in the county that the hospital serves. there are only 12 physicians in this little town and only one OB whom i would be working with. she seems super nice. i think all went pretty well and am looking forward to hearing from them probably next week. wednesday afternoon i got done with meetings about noon and we drove up to st. louis. what a great city. i had only been there once driving through so it was a real treat to get to stop and look around. we headed straight to the arch.

my friend had been up before but i had not! it was so cool! those little cabins they put you in to take you up are horribly small. thankfully it is only a 4 minute trip up so there isn't too much time to get too freaked out! haha! we went ahead and drove back that night.

thursday was my birthday!!! i love my birthday. after breakfast and present opening mom and i took off to murfreesboro to the yarn shop there: The Knaughty Knitter. it was a great little shop! this is the only shop in town that carries spinning stuff. i am really interested in doing a little spinning so i bought a drop spindle, some beautiful roving, and a new book:

after the shop, we had lunch there on the town square which was just a great addition to a little girls day out. on the way home we stopped at the Oasis Butterfly House at Blooms Nursery. this little hideaway is very close to the house but we just never had stopped. it is a greenhouse that the owner has turned into a butterfly house! so awesome! i just LOVE butterflies. there are also tons of turtles, fish, and birds in this house. it is not too big but a great find! our next stop was one of our more local yarn stores: The Haus of Yarn, where they lived up to their snotty reputation as usual! i did score some Crystal Palace cotton chenille on sale for 50% off and a great lace pattern:

i got the cotton chenille to make the flower washcloth from Weekend Knitting by Melanie Falick. it was also in an old issue of interweave knits but i can't seem to figure out which issue. i think they will be super cute in these colors (especially for 50% off!). After this we went to the beadshop across the street...thank goodness i didn't find anything there that needed to come home with me! we went back home, ate cake, and made dinner. my grandmother's sausage pie. it is soooo good. you take a regular pie crust and cook it first in the oven while you are mixing up the ingredients. the other ingredients include: breakfast sausage, spinach, mozzerlla, montery jack, cottage cheese, and garlic. how can you go wrong?? so you mix all that stuff up and put it in the crust and pop it back in the oven for about 30 min. holy cow....that is good eating! we made a salad with it. dad had a ball game that night which we went to, but unfortunatly he lost. :( oh well. that was the last game for the season and they came in 3rd in the league.

mom and dad went crazy for my birthday! i got a huge stack of books and a pink i-pod nano! here is the stack of books:

it is a great selection! so excited! i have totally enjoyed going through them! now to find a place for them on the already over full shelf!

whew...that was a lot! hope all is well with everyone and everyone is staying cool!

Happy Fourth!

I wish each of you a HAPPY FOURTH of JULY!!! Enjoy the barbque and the fireworks! We will be enjoying the fireworks downtown from a spot we found that doesn't require us to be in the midst of the downtown crowds! I can't wait! I just love fireworks! Have a safe holiday!

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Last night i had the chance to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in person and it was truely amazing! I am not a mormon but i completely enjoyed the experience. The tickets were free from a friend of mine and were pretty great seats. We were right behind the percussion section. This was actually really neat to watch these men play a number of different instruments. I have a couple of picture of my own but i can't make blogger post them. Maybe some other time, but for now enjoy one of my favorite hymns, Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.

The Mixing of Varigated and Solids

During my searching and looking through the internet I have run upon many baby blankets and afghans pictured on varying sites and blogs, and there is something that I have learned. I have decided that I don't like knitted pieces that incorporate solids and varigated or ombre yarns in big items like an afghan or baby blanket. I really like it in something small and simple like a dishcloth:

How does everyone else out there feel about it? Do you like a mixture like this one:

(I am sorry to who ever this might beong to). I just don't like it. Am I alone here? Leave your thoughts in the coments!

More knittng soon!

FOs: Finished Objects

Because it has been so long since i posted about knitting, you all are in luck! i have quite a few finished objects to show off. I have been on a kick of small quick projects. i don't have a huge project going right now, but am thinking of starting a shawl for myself soon. My fist completed project is, yes, another scarf. i am making these scarves for the Domestic Violence shelter. i think they are really pretty and girlie!

This is that Red Heart Rag Doll yarn that we got on clearance a while back at walmart. it has turned out so pretty. this picture just doesn't do it justice. Ok, another scarf:

This one is Lion Brand Jiffy Thick and Quick. It is really bright and fun. Again this photo doesn't do it justice. Another scarf:

There are now three of these scarves made out of this particular yarn. It is Landscapes by Lion Brand. A friend of mine gave this to me after she started a bolero out of it and hated the huge variations of color within the same dyelots. For her project it did look bad but for these scarves it really hasn't mattered too much. i can tell, but i hope it really isn't all that noticable. All of these have coordinating ribbons incorporated in the fringe.

Then i got an idea. There is a Medical Assistant student at the office i am doing this last clinical rotation who is pregnant. she is due in September and her last day is some time next week. i have got all that cotton flannel for baby blankets and bunches of stuff to make hats with. I made this hat first:

Then i decided that it was too Christmasy. What do you all think? Does it remind you of Christmas? I did not have any flannel that matched at all. Well it bothered me so i made a new one:

This one is much better for a baby boy, and i had a blanket that matched:

This blanket is super cute. it is a great light green color with blue stars and yellow moons and swirls. I crocheted a border that looks like star points. it is in that same light green as the blanket. I think it turned out really well. Here is the completed gift:

It is in a cute little basket with a book called, It's a Boy, which i found at walmart. i also included a cute little blue bear that i got at the dollar tree. i think it turned out really well and i don't have that much in it. only probably about 10 dollars in total, including the basket. i can't wait to give i to her. i jus love working on things for other people. i made another one of these baskets for a close friend of mine last fall and she has called me asking if i would make her some more of those cotton flannel blankes. more pics to follow about those.

For those of you keeping up with my job hunt, i have an interview for a CNM position in Missouri. There is only one OB in the little town, so it would be she and i. the interview is friday. i'll let you all know how it goes. i am super nervous....send good vibes my way next friday (the 29th) at about7:30 am. more later!

AHHH!!

things came up....will post ASAP! the more time away, the more knitting projects!

Geez it has been a while!

ok ok i know it has been a while since i last posted and the worst part is that i really don't have a good excuse! i have been working quite a bit but i have also had some days off. well i do have a great post in mind but it is too late to start that tonight so i will leave you with this and will get to posting hopefully tomorrow after work!

Seems like just about everyone who's blog I read has been doing this and even though i haven't officially been tagged i am going to do it anyway!

Rules:
Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
People who are tagged write a blog post about their own 8 random things and post these rules.
At the end of your blog you need to tag 8 people and post their names.
Don’t forget to leave them a comment and tell them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

1. I have this really weird hate for things, espicially wood, with small holes in it. i can't really explain it except that maybe it is genetic...my mom has the same problem here is an example of what i am talking about:

BLAH!!! i think it is the idea of little bugs coming out of the holes...yuck!

2. i really like flamingos! a good friend of mine graduated from college a couple of decembers ago and we decided to throw her a party. it is really hard to find graduation decorations in december so we randomly picked flamingos as our theme. it was really cute! come to think of it...i am suprised that we found flamingo stuff in december! i have been in love ever since!

3. i have been to egypt. my parents took me to egypt when i was in the 6th grade. we went just to go. while we were at the pyramids we went down into one of them...the small one i think and discovered that it makes your legs weak going down. my mom termed this condition pyramid legs! 4. on the theme of egypt...i fell off of a camel! while we were at thye pyraimds my parents thought it would be so great to ride a camel around the pyramids. my aunt and i were to get on one camel and mom and dad on the other. mom and dad got on faster than we did so their trainer signaled the camel to get up and at the same time my camel decided to get up as well...with my leg half over his back...and off i went! haha! not too many people can say that they fell off of a camel while at the great pyramids of egypt!


maybe this is him!



5. i have over a thousand emails in my hotmail account! i just don't ever seem to get around to going through them. now that hotmail has made their accounts bigger it is easier and easier to just leave it that way. i think i am only using like 10% of the storage space!


6. i never met my mom's father. he died when she was 10.


7. i don't really like to go to the movies. i love movies but i prefer to watch them at home on y couch! plus 8 bucks for a movie is just ridiculous!



8. last but not least...i love sitcoms....espeically MASH and the Golden Girls! i own all the seasons of both! so great!






























Now if you are reading this, you have a blog, and you have not done this yet, then consider yourself tagged!

lots of small finished objects! until tomorrow!

"A Wonderful End to the Day"

Tonight i had the distinct opportunity to meet Ann Hood, author of The Kntting Circle at a local bookstore. It was a lovely evening, and as a friend of mine put it, "a wonderful end to the day." She shared with the intimate group her experiences with the loss of her child, only 5 years ago. During her time of grief she stumbled upon the wonderful world of kntting that so many of us have found. This knitting world is what inspired this novel. The character is kind of based on her and her expereinces. Mary, the main character, lost her daughter and she ends up joining a knitting circle. The book is comprised of the stories of the members of the knitting circle and how they interact with Mary. She did a reading of a section of the book that was just enthralling. I am just itching to start reading but i am still painfully trying to finish Knitting under the Influence. I will review this one at a later time! All in all it was a wonderful evening!

This week's FOs!

From the pictures it looks like it has been a very productive knitting week but in reality these are just quick projects, which seems to be just exactly what i needed! This first scarf is the twin to the one that i did last week. there was enough yarn for two! it has a bit different ribbon fringe but other than that they are exactly the same. This second scarf is made out of the same yarn as the other two...just in a different color called Hop. I still can't believe that it is Red Heart! i really like it. i would totally work with it again! and i will be since there is enough yarn to do one more like the one below.
This is a bad picture of the dishcloth below. It is the Mid-May dishcloth from the Monthly Dishcloth Along. It was another sort of lacy project. I did it out of Sugar n'Cream white that i had in the stash! All of the latest dishcloths have been for mom as part of her Mother's Day present but she is now saying that they are too pretty to use! Geez mom! Oh well!
Below is the blurry close-up of the dishcloth pattern! I took these pics outside hoping the color would be a bit better but it really didn't help. Sorry they are so dark!
Now for all you lovely people who have found me based on midwifery. I want to see if i can answer some of your questions. I am a Certified Nurse Midwife. I just got my licensure in February of this year. i have not graduated from school yet because i decided to get a double master's degree (i am glutton for punishment i think!). i am currently working on a Family Nurse Practitioner degree as well. i decided to do this all at once because i feel pretty sure that i am not going to want to go back to school. Since i am here and in the midst of school i am glad i did it this way because let me tell you, i will not be interested in going back to school any time soon! I will be finished in August if all goes well! So I am not practicing right now and in the market for a job. i am planning/hoping to find a job as a midwife. i did the FNP thing for a couple of reasons: 1. i feel that many times a midwife can be seen as a primary care provider and i don't think we were prepared for this during midwifery training. i wanted to know more about the common things seen in primary care. 2. one day i know that i am not going to want to take call all the time or maybe at all. the FNP allows me the opportunity to simply work in an office setting one day when i am tired of call!

so i started my last clinical rotation this week! it is in a private practice about 45 min from my house (that part is a big bummer with gas as high as it is!). it has only been a week so we'll see how it really goes next week. more on that later.

A friend of mine and i split an order or new beads a few weeks ago. they finally showed up and i have been beading like crazy! i have made tons of new earrings and stitch markers! i will try to post some pics either today or tomorrow! there is some really great stuff! so fun.

i hope that answers some of you all's questions!

The Knit List

I copied this knit list from http://hakucho.blogspot.com/.

Here are the directions: Bold for things you’ve done, italics for things you plan to do one day, and normal for things you’re not planning on doing. This is really a neat idea to see what you know how to do, what you want to work on, and what you know you are not going to do!

I am adding this to the list...a * is going to indicate that i don't know anything or much of anything about this item! i will always be learning about knitting!

My knit List:
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Bobbles
Button holes
Cable stitch patterns
Continental knitting
Domino knitting (modular knitting)*
Double Knitting
Drop stitch patterns
Entrelac
Fair Isle knitting
Freeform knitting*
Fulling/felting
Garter stitch
Garterlac
I-cord
Intarsia
Kitchener BO
Knitting with circular needles
Knitting with DPNs
Knitting and purling backwards
Knitting smocking
Knitting small tubular items on two circulars
Knitting a circular item using the Magic Loop
Lace patterns
Long Tail CO
Moebius band knitting*
Norwegian knitting*
Provisional CO
Short rows
Slip Stitch patterns
Steeks
Stockinette stitch
Swatching
Textured knitting*
Swiss Darning or duplicate stitch
Thrummed knitting*
Tubular CO
Twisted stitch patterns
Two end knitting*

Knitting with alpaca
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Knitting with banana fiber yarn
Knitting with beads
Knitting with camel yarn (i want to badly!)
Knitting with cashmere
Knitting with cotton
Knitting with dog/cat hair ( this is distrubing to me!)
Knitting with linen
Knitting with metal wire
Knitting with soy yarn
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Knitting with someone else’s handspun yarn
Knitting with self-patterning/self-striping/variegating yarn
Knitting with silk
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Knitting with wool

Afghan/Blanket
Baby items
Cuffs/fingerless mitts/arm warmers
Gloves
Hat
Hair accessories
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, towels, tea cozies…)
Jewelry
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Pillows
Purses/bags
Rug
Shawl
Scarf
shrug/bolero/poncho
slippers
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Stuffed toys
Sweater
Toy/doll clothing

Charity knitting
Graffiti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street) (way too strange!)
Knitting art
Knitting for pets
Knitting for preemies
Knitting items for a wedding
Knitting a gift
Holiday related knitting
Designing knitted garments
Dyeing yarn with plant colors (i have done fabrics but not yarn!)
Dyeing yarn with acid dyes
Dyeing yarn with kool-ade and other food colorings
Participating in a KAL
Publishing a knitting book
Knitting to make money
Knitting for a living
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Knitting on a loom
Machine knitting
Olympic knitting
Resizing patterns
Spinning on a drop spindle
Spinning with a spinning wheel
Teaching a male how to knit
Teaching knitting classes
Writing a pattern
Knitting in public

Whew! that was fun! Knit on!

Another Knitting Day!

well it has been another knitting day. the day started at 4:30am because dad had to be at the hospital at 5:30am! this is too early! i am a firm believer that no one should be up and out of bed before the sun rises! it is just wrong. ok that is besides the point. dad's surgery went really well! he is a trooper and did great! he is sleepy and a little sore but is doing well. drive through gallbladder surgery...we were home by 1pm.

i got a bit of kntting done while at the hospital. i am going to be knitting a a felted knitting bag for myself and i finished the handles while there. i hate working on that much i-cord, which is why i always do it first! i would never finish a purse if i put it off to the end.

i started working on another scarf just like the one day scarf from a couple of days ago. i had enough of the yarn leftover to make a second! it is so pretty. pictures to come when i am further along.

i also started this month's second dishcloth. i started it off all wrong and had to frog day one! oh well...only 9 rows! pics soon!

here is another dishcloth that i made for my mom. it is out of 100% linen twine. it was a little rough to work with but the product is really beautiful. please do not look too closely as there are a couple of mistakes! it was my first real attempt at lace. i even blocked it! i know it is a dishcloth but i wanted to see it all flattened out.

i think it really turned out well! i can't wait to try some more lace!

this is a close up of the pattern! sorry it is a little blurry.

i have also been frantically making stitch markers like i need them! pics tomorrow, i promise!
i can only hope that tomorrow is a beautiful of a day as today was! only 72 degrees with a breeze and only those huge fluffy white clouds in the blue sky! i LOVE days like this!

A Knitting Day!

Today was one of those knitting days that i just love! Since i still don't have a clinical placement, i was able to sleep in this morning. After a shower and some breakfast i headed out to the Downtown Nashville Library for the monthly knitting group with Ann Shayne of the Mason Dixon Knitting book and blog! It is always lots of fun to not only knit with Ann but to see what everyone else in the group is working on. There is always lot of variety from scarves and dishcloths to sweaters and socks! so neat!

Ann and I

Since i just finished that shawl i feel the need for some smaller projects...immediate gratification. i have learned that at the knitting group i can't work on anything that requires my attention since i tend to talk and socialize while there. One of the ladies at church had picked up some funky yarn during a walmart clearance that i thought would make a neat scarf so i gave it a go! i casted on 16 stitches and knitted the first row then did a drop stitch. It was just the quick project that i was in need of! I added multi colored ribbon to the fringe for a little kick. It turned out suprisingly well! Started and finished in one day! i love that!

The Specs:

Start Date: May 14, 2007
Finished Date: May 14, 2007
Yarn: (hold your breath!) Red Heart Rag Doll
Color: Jump
Number of Skeins: 2 and a little extra for the fringe
Pattern: I made it up! Knit one row, drop stitch
Size: 7" x 60" with fringe
Needle Size: 17 straights
Knit For: a teacher at a local elemetary school

I get to start a new project tomorrow! i will update what i chose tomorrow! Knit on!

My First Post!

ok today is the day! i will finally begin posting on my blog. wow that is weird to say. i have been putting this off and putting this off...i am not entirely sure why! oh well. i set this page up months ago and just never began posting (sorry to anyone who has been here and found nothing!).



so for those of you who don't know me...you should! haha! ok, a little about ME! i 23 year old graduate nursing student. i graduated from college in 2005 with a BS in nursing and went straight into graduate school where i am working to complete my second master's degree. the first one was a Certified Nurse Midwife (which is done and you can call me CNM!) and i am currently working on a Family Nurse Practitioner degree. let's just say...it has been a long two years! i am suppose to graduate in August! then it is finally off into the real world!

what else do you need to know about me...

-i love cats and have one...Alley...i know...clever!

-this is important: I LOVE TO KNIT!!!

i learned to knit in high school. it was the cool thing to do...we knitted in class! even the guys knitted. it was loads of fun. there is still a kntting group there at the high school. they are very active and use their FOs to auction off and raise money for different causes. Read this about their auction last december. that is where this craziness began. i have always been facinated with yarn. when i was little i love to go and look in the yarn sections (my mom is a big crafter and we were always in a craft store). i absolutely love playing with the colors...it is just facinating.

-i taught myself to crochet!

-i found my first grey hair this week!

-i have a wonderful network of friends and family, spanning many states, from Delaware to Alabama to Texas and lots of places in between.

-i have recently taken up beading. i am in love with making earrings and stitch markers. you will see posts about this as well! i have been a busy bee this weekend! just wait...you'll see!

-i organized a prayer shawl ministry group at my hometown church. it is a fun group and we have been wonderfully productive.



ok enough about me. onto the knitting:
These are the latest FO!



This is a crocheted ripple prayer shawl for a friend of mine from church who recently decided to spend about 7 months in Germany with her husband because she can! You go girl! i hope to get it in the mail next week...it has to be blessed first!


this is a prayer shawl that started out as a baby blanket. i was not liking the colors i chose and knew i couldn't go on so i stopped it and did a light green crochet edge and am calling it a baby boy prayer shawl. we have had requests for them so hopefully this will come in handy!


i recently joined the Monthly Dishcloth Along and this was my first with this group. it was a little disappointing...it was suppose to be daffodils. hmmm...hopefully the mid month one will be better.

ok in the future i promsie the posts will not be this long. Happy Mother's Day to all those mothers out there (especially mine)!