Then, we knit (or crochet) and drink
Heidi, Vara, Me
Our resident family: Abe, David, Hannah
Me, Rebecca, Amy
Martha and Barbara
Hannah, Debbie, Rebecca, Me
Barbara and some people I don't know yet
Congrats on your first book, Amy! Her husband brought over this gift as a surprise.
On Saturday I went to Maryland Day at the University of Maryland, College Park. I had a nostalgic-good time.
Ever need to make ice cream in a flash? Here is the recipe:
Stir really fast:
And voila! It was delicious.
My former second home, the BioPsych building:
It was in front of this building that we discovered why we had seen people with gobs of cupcakes walking around the campus. I had been thinking, how did these people get so many cupcakes, they couldn't have been for free! Alas, they were. They had baked a trillion cupcakes, iced them with Maryland's colors, and then arranged them into the MD emblem:
These workers spent all day disassembling the picture, bringing cupcakes to the hoard of people in front of surrounding tables. People were taking a dozen at a time. They probably still had extra!
McDonald's, Saladworks, Steak Escape, Chick Fil-A, Taco Bell, Panda Express, etc. They also have a movie theather, Co-op, bowling alley, pool/games room with a Subway inside, an art studio, a nice restaurant, coffee bar, art gallery, two-level bookstore, Mailboxes etc, Chevy Chase Bank, convenience store, etc. I was thinking two things: when do these kids study, and man, I want to be in college again. My brother said that the more he sees, the more excited he becomes to go to school here.
Ahh, McKeldin, my favorite library. You can find any psych research article in print here. I missed it while at UMB.
Now a 180* to the mall. My brother got worried. I said, no, Edward, don't worry, there are no stores.
Kids playing in the fountain. I held my composure. I only wanted to jump in this fountain every hot day I was at MD.
The sundial, to see if you're late to class.
Sumo wrestling.
A velcro wall.
And as things were being deflated and tables were being emptied and carted away, I realized that my nostalgic day was over.
This strap is intended for Norah Gaughan's Brea Bag, but of course can be used for any. It is a bit stretchy, depending on your gauge. Here's how I did it:
Row 6: K2TOG, one stitch from the front needle and one from the back. This is similar to a three-needle bind-off except that you are not actually binding off; you are keeping the stitches.
Row 7: Purl
Make each as long as you like. Remember that it stretches. Do not break the yarn on the last I-cord. You will need it to finish the strap.Happy knitting!
I wanted to just give up on the following two scarves and send them into hibernation since winter is a long way from now, but somehow while watching chunks of Lost episodes via ABC's website, I finished both blasted scarves. I think I'll save them for Christmas presents. First, the ever popular My So-Called Scarf:
When my dentist and I were waiting for the impression to set for my inlay, I went on the internet on the computer (long story involving how this place is state-of-the-art) and showed her all the holiness that is Ravelry. I left it on "by accident" when I left. This past Friday she told me how she used it to link to this pattern and showed me the progress she has made on it so far. All part of my plan to convert non-Ravelers to Ravelers. Mwah ha ha ha.
I also finished Norah Gaughan's awesome Brea Bag:
I made a braided I-cord strap since I couldn't find leather straps in my price range that I liked. I will post a tutorial for making this strap.
I also put in snaps and a lining with a cell-phone pocket.
And I also finished the Potholder Loop Welcome Mat from Mason-Dixon Knitting. It was too fat to fit, though. The door just pushes it when it opens. 
So then I had the "bright" idea to block it. Well, I will tell you something. Getting cheap-ass brightly-colored cotton loops wet was not my best idea. First of all, it is still wet. Second off all, the colors bled like crazy. It even stained my designated blocking towels. Yeah, the color probably won't come off the next time I go to block something else, but I'm not going to risk it. I'll just trash them. And just to kick me when I'm down, the stupid thing is still to thick. Maybe I'll use it in the kitchen or something. Or the bathroom, since the dye also stained my bathmat. :-(
Praise all that is holy. I was sick of looking at this wip, both in my knitting basket and on my projects page on Ravelry. It was really hard to sew together. To felt, I put it in the washing machine and then dried them on cups to ensure a uniform size. To sew, I recommend stuffing cotton balls into each cup to retain that size and because mine had a tendency to want to fold while I was sewing them. I sewed each six-cup row together just under the lips of the cup, and then sewed one row to the other, one cup at a time. Then I sewed these 12 to the board, then the two "home" cups to the end mini cups, then to the board.
I also made these little stones out of Sculpey. I wanted a contrasting yet multi-tonal stone, so I got red and orange, and rolled them together to make a marbleized effect. They turned out perfect.
Happy knitting!
| What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio. | |
| Philadelphia | |
| The Inland North | |
| The South | |
| The Northeast | |
| The West | |
| Boston | |
| North Central | |
| What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz | |
Ok, now I'll start working. I planned what I specifically needed to do. Finish art journals and set up outline for paper by the end of today. Paper tomorrow. Readings for class Monday on the train. Then I took a shower. Then I decided I needed a haircut! You know, starting a new career in a few weeks and all... So I called Bubbles (in inspiration from Heidi's new cut) near Union Station and set up an appointment for 3pm. That'll give me enough time to knock out these journal entries and then spend all day Sunday on my treatment paper. Except that it was 1pm, and I needed to leave at least by 2 seeing that the metro is on weekend schedule. And by the time I figured this all out, it was 1:30. Oh, it gets worse.
and the final result is pretty close. Finally a stylist is not afraid to cut the back as short as the front. The past two I went to said, "no, that will look bad." Anyway, she is great. This is her fave style to cut, coincidentally. Her name is Noemy.
The second hand smoke and 4 bucks was worth it. So then I made the trek back home, making a slight detour when I took the red line several stops in the wrong direction. Glad I looked up when I did! I got home at 9, did one more journal entry out of guilt, went online for a while and settled into bed pretty late.
Then Honey greeted us upon arrival.
You can tell a knitter lives here when a skein of yarn is hanging outside for some functional reason or another.
Can I have some cookies and strawberries too? Honey and I waited while Amy and Heidi ran out to the fabric store.
I swear, Selma is going to be a chef someday the way she randomly decides to combine foods. This is a strawberry with slurpee filling.
On to the crafts! We decided to do the shrinky dinks. Due to some miscommunication, I ended up downstairs for a long time, alone and sharpening scads of colored pencils. It was boring.
Amy originally wanted to do shrinky dinks because she wanted to make stitch markers with knitting symbols, to kill 2 birds with one stone. When you get to the stitch marker, you'd just do the symbols that's on it (make 1, ssk, etc.). She was gifted some with the abbreviations, but wanted to make some with the symbols instead.
I did some with the abbreviations.
Then we cut them all out. A professor once told me that I do not have a good poker face. Yeah, this picture pretty much sums up how I've been feeling the past few days:
Then we heated them in the oven for a few minutes, and tada!
Can you see the inspiration for the cherries? Amy's are the two made into earrings, and mine is the other one. I literally traced the cherries from the tablecloth onto the shrinky dink, so you can see you much it shrinks!
On to project #2. Amy had seen this on a blog. In that a crochet hook is a staple for picking up dropped stitches in knitted work, the creator of this gizmo thought it'd be handy for a crochet hook to be always in reach. You start by cutting the hook in almost half.
Then you just bend the end into a loop.
The aluminum hook didn't work out great.
Then with a steel hook and some manly arms of steel, it worked.
So that was craftnite. Then today was my last day of my internship at High Roads. They gave us interns a nice little breakfast from the Corner Bakery and the book, "Days in the Life of Social Workers," which is comprised of 54 tales from real social workers. My supervisor also gave my a bottle of wine and I got some cards from kids and staff. In group I had them make s'mores and playdough from food ingredients: combine 3c flour, 1/3 c salt, 2 tbsp vegetable oil; slowly add water and work into dough; add food coloring and knead until thoroughly colored. It was a lovely day, cut short by the pope's visit.
