I'm a busy bee

What can I say? I know I said that my blogging should pick back up now that the bar exam is over. But I get home from work around 7 at night and spend the 2.5 hours I'm awake actually knitting. I've even been knitting on the train. Of course, a good blogger would take pictures of said accomplishments to make her post less boring. In due time.

For now a brief overview of where I stand:
I finally turned the heel on the second Clementine sock from back in June. A few weeks ago, I had knit the heel flap while at the beach, but did the actual turning on the train yesterday.

The other project I'm knitting at the moment is another surprise that I'm hoping to finish by Friday. Not sure if the intended recipient reads this, but I don't want to take any chances.

I also purchased my first Monkey Sock bag and DPN roll from Momma Monkey, the wonderful designer behind Socktopia and Monkey Toes. I have been coveting one of these bags for awhile and now that I received my first paycheck I just *had* to order one!!

And with that brief picture-less update, I shall go to sleep.

Yarny Goodness

L&V Sasquatch Superwash - Strawberry lemonade
Originally uploaded by ndjen04.

425 yards, 75% Superwash wool, 25% nylon in the Strawberry Lemonade colorway.

What a lovely surprise to celebrate making it through my first week of work! Things have been pretty crazy around here that I totally forgot that I ordered this yummy yarny goodness from the L&V Shop! My little brother let the dog in the front door a little while ago and says "Jen! You have a package from Iowa!!" Woohoo! I think I ran downstairs faster than a little kid on Christmas morning.

So tempted to cast on one of the many sock patterns I want to try. But so far I've been really good about working on just one at a time. The good thing is that I have lots of time on the train each day to knit. Now if I can just remember to grab my knitting bag on my way out the door in the mornings...

Progress and Pictures and Frogs, oh my!

Yes, that is right. I actually made significant progress on my Clementine socks. Remember them from waaayyyy back in June for the Socktopia Knit-off? I knit a whole sock and 1/4 of the leg in a little over two days the weekend of the Knit-off. Over a month later, I am finally about to turn the heel of the second sock. Given my lack of knitting time lately, this is significant progress. And here's the picture to prove it: (please excuse the poor quality. It's 9 pm here and unfortunately I have no natural light and thus my table lamp will have to do for now. I am too excited about posting some progress that I don't have the patience to set up a proper picture)



As for the frogs... well there is really only one. I frogged the Giotto socks that I cast on at the very start of the Summer of Socks 2007. I love the Seacoast Handpainted Panda yarn and the pattern is nice, but for right now I'd prefer something a little less intricate. The cabling is a bit too intense for my patience at the moment.

For right now, the Clementine Socks are my only current SOS 07 socks as they are my only remaining WIP's that I cast on after the summer solstince. Hopefully I can close up the toe by the end of the week and cast on another pair. Yes, I still have three other socks in progress. But I'd really like to give magic loop a try with my Knit Picks circs I ordered a few weeks ago. I made a deal with myself not to cast on anything new until I finished up at least one of my socks-in-progress, so the needles will just have to continue to mock me from their perch atop my knitting basket for a little while longer....

Knitting on the WWW

In addition to the groups feature on Ravelry, which I mentioned the week before the bar, there have been several other online projects, blogs, and message boards that occupy my time and sometimes cut into my actual knitting time. So I thought I'd post about a few of those since I still do not have significant knitting progress about which to write. Enjoy!

First, as my fellow Lime & Violet listeners already know, our favorite podcasters have launched their new blog: Lime & Violet's The Daily Chum; "a bloggy daily newsletter full of All Things Creative & Fiber, brought to you by the crazy duo of Lime & Violet."

Along with the blog, Miss Violet also started a knitting version of Chore Wars: Knit Wars, where you catalog your progress on various projects to collect experience points and other treasures along the way. Hopefully over the next few days/weeks I can increase my points and get those darn socks finished!

As I mentioned in the previous post, football season is fast approaching. What do we knitters do when a new season is upon us? Start a knit-along of course! Over at the Football-a-long, there will be fantasy football, various contests, as well as charity projects. The first charity project will be Cubs for Kids to knit outfits for teddy bears to be given to homeless children.

In addition to these, there are countless blogs to which I subscribe and read on a daily basis. My Google Reader currently has over 80 subscriptions -- many more than I have listed over on the sidebar. I am hoping to tweak the site a little and create a more complete blog roll. For now, it is back to my actual rather than virtual knitting.

Busy busy bee...

Okay, so you know how I said we'd be back to our regularly scheduled (sporadic?) posting? I may have fibbed just a little. I had high hopes of photographing my WIP's; seriously organizing my knitting, and having grand stories to share of frogging, FO's, and perhaps even casting on something NEW. But no. Although 1 out of 3 ain't bad, right? I did organize the stash into three clear bins under my bed, two small baskets on a bookshelf, and my knitting bag on wheels. Of course part of the organization was supposed to entail photographing what I have yet to add to Ravelry, but at least what I did get done made my room much neater.

As far as any progress on my WIP's... I haven't knit a stitch since last Wednesday when I needed to unwind from that day's testing. No wait, I forgot. I knit a row on the Corner-to-Corner afghan that I had planned to knit for Project Linus. Remember that? I believe I started that one back in April... sigh...

My excuse this time? Well Friday morning I had an interview and later that day they called to offer me the job. The rest of that day was spent running around to get all the pre-employment screenings that had to be done. Saturday my parents took my brother, his girlfriend, my fiance, and I to a baseball game (where I absent-mindedly got sunburn...oops). Then Sunday was the great organization day, followed by Monday, the great organization day part II. This morning work called to give me my official starting date, so I spent the day shopping for new clothes and getting things in order so I could start. I also made phone calls to a few places to get this wedding planning off the ground now that I have a job and am done with the bar exam. In other words, I've been a very busy girl.

But, I have made a promise to myself that I will get better. Especially since I will most likely be taking the train into work a few days a week, so I should have plenty of time to knit. I have so many ideas floating around and have to force myself to refrain from casting on before I finish what is OTN.....

Since I lack any new knitting photos, I leave you with a picture from my South Bend trip two weeks ago in honor of the 2007 Notre Dame football season's kicking off in just over a month on September 1 against Georgia Tech. Go Irish!