I got this in an email today. I almost never win anything.

Congratulations! You are a winner!
Your name was randomly selected in the Interweave Press and Chicago White Sox Stitch �N Pitch giveaway as a winning entry! Your gift, Interweave Crochet 2005 magazine, will be shipped to you shortly.
Thanks for your entry. Enjoy your prize!

Interweave Press
Publisher of books and magazines for Fiber Enthusiasts

And to add to the good news today, I’m going to see the Yarn Harlot! I’m going with one of my new knitting friends from the knitting group.

Yesterday, when Bryan arrived home there was a surprise waiting for him on the coffee table. He was so impressed, the last time he saw them the foot was only half knit. He began cuddling them and then just had to try them on. He wanted to wear them all evening and then wear them all day today. I told him that I wanted him to wait until today so that he could wear them all day and show them off at the library. He’s wearing them today proudly and keeps saying, “They are perfect” and “They don’t fall down.” So my modification of the retro rib from Interweave Knits worked.

Also yesterday, a Pinwheel blanket probably arrived at Bess’ house. Her parents Rachael and Bryan are friends of ours and Bess was born a day after Bryan’s birthday. We’ve never met Bess but we’ve seen her in photos and she’s adorable. I’m sure she’ll love the blanket. I used Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece. I didn’t work on this blanket for nearly a month as the green was backordered all over the country for over a month and a half.
update 28 Sept – (The pattern is free online, just click the Pinwheel link above.)

Now I’m working on the Barbara shawl and the Cranberry lace. I also have two sweaters that I should be working on – Hobo and the Crazy Green sweater. And attaching the two pieces of Bryan’s ultra warm hat. The hat is two separately knit hats, one in straight stockinette and the other in the Double-Knit Fabric stitch from Barbara Walker’s Second Treasury of Knitting Patterns. I was going to just pick up stitches along the edge of the stockinette hat to work the Double-Knit hat but there are a different number of stitches in each hat and I wasn’t sure how that would work. Now I’m putting off putting them together. I told Bryan that it will be finished before it gets too cold outside and he needs it.

One of my goals is to not start anything new until I get a job. I have some socks from the “Go With the Flow Socks” in mind from Interweave Knits, Summer 2005. It’s quite an incentive, but a necessary one. I’m looking a lot, so something will come through I just know it will.

And finally, I know I have a lot of readers but hardly any commenters. Please leave me a comment, I want to know who you are. :) (Erin, you are excused from this because you always comment. :))

Updated 8:30pm: I heard on All Things Considered tonight on NPR, this story about two properties that are available for rent in Fair Isle, Scotland. A very interesting little story.

I’ve been working on the Barbara shawl off and on for over three years. Recently, I’ve decided to work on it more so that I can finish it by the end of the year. In February, I figured I had at least another year’s worth of work to do on the shawl, but if I can finish it before then that would be just fabulous. Also giving me renewed hope was the lovely shawl calculator that Rose-Kim Knits has on her blog. I realized that I’m not just 67% finished, I’m more than 90% finished. What a great motivating tool.

As I’ve been working on it through, a mistake in the front has become more blarring as time has progressed. What I thought would be a small mistake that would blend in turned into a big mistake that did not fit in at all. So Tuesday night, I couldn’t stand it any longer. I wasn’t going to knit any more until this mistake was fixed. I pulled out Stahman’s Shawls & Scarves that the shawl is from and found out how to fix a mistake that is 20 rows down without ripping out all 20 rows. In my late night craziness, I decided to be brave and rip out about 40 rows in one section. I then proceeded to reknit those rows. Unfortunately, there were some major snags and I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong. I realized as I was laying in bed trying to sleep what I had done wrong. My mind was racing that night and I couldn’t sleep. When I finally did fall asleep at 3am, my mind was tired and my body was exhausted, but I woke up with a new confidence that, by golly, I’m going to fix this and it will be beautiful.

Unfortunately, my attempt to reknit those 40 rows was a complete failure. I tried it for more than four hours, but no matter what I did nothing worked. So I threaded a lifeline through the last correct row and ripped. I couldn’t watch, I just wound and wound three balls of yarn until I was at my lifeline. Today, I made quite a bit of progress and knitted 18 of the 40 rows that I ripped. It was hard to have to rip out 40 rows, but I’m glad I did because the mistake was more than I could handle. The new rows are beautiful and as perfect as can be and the ugly mistake is gone. And now I’m ready to finish the shawl by the end of the year. At the rate I’m going I could be finished by the end of November.

I checked out Last-Minute Knitted Gifts from the library and I’m in love with this book. I’ve added it to my must-have knitting book list. There are so many great patterns to make for gifts and even a few that I wouldn’t mind making for myself. I think the floor cushions idea is great, I’m not sure I would want to knit them, but with limited seating in our living room, they might be nice.

One year and two days ago, Bryan and I were married. It was a gorgeous and perfect day. I was woken up by a clap of thunder and pouring rain, they say it’s lucky when it rains on your wedding day. By 11am, the sun was out and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. The weather was the perfect complement to our perfect day.

For our first anniversary, we decided to visit Allerton Park about half an hour outside of Champaign. It was the perfect way to celebrate our anniversary. The Park was once the estate of Robert Allerton. The mansion in the park is amazing but the gardens are the main attraction, they are absolutely stunning. There is a conference center now in the mansion.

The mansion has it’s own kitchen garden with all sorts of herbs, any cooks’ dream. Also in the kitchen garden is a sundial. I’ve always found sundials to be so fascinating. When I have a garden in my backyard, when I finally have a house, I will definitely have a sundial.

The back of the mansion overlooks a pond with a meadow beyond the pond.

The formal gardens are amazing and they are just down a path from the mansion.

Four of the gardens are seasonal gardens and they are separated into quadrants with a sculpture of Adam by Rodin in the middle of these four gardens. The Spring garden is a peony garden with many different peonies, they weren’t blooming when we were there, but I’m sure it’s breathtaking in the spring and summer when they are blooming. We decided to take a break from our strolling through the gardens on a bench in the Spring garden. The four gardens are separated by these tall “walls” of trees.

The Autumn garden was absolutely breathtaking. We walked into the garden and were taken aback by the thousands of butterflies flying around, I have never seen so many butterflies in my life. Literally, hundreds of them were Monarch butterflies. It was amazing to just stand there and watch the butterflies flutter around.

From the seasonal gardens, the formal gardens move into the Chinese par terre. It’s a garden with the shrubs cut to form a the pattern of two Chinese symbols and two sculptures in the middle of these Chinese symbols. Then there is the Avenue of the Chinese Musicians. This avenue leads to the Sunken Garden, which is amazing. The Sunken Garden has four entrances all framed by these art deco pillars and with stairs leading down into the elliptical garden. The garden echoes and I’ve been told that two people can sit on the opposite ends of the garden and talk to each other.

From the Sunken Garden, there are trails that lead back into the woods. We decided to take the trail that goes down to the Sangamon River. The woods were so peaceful and beautiful. All we could hear were birds and the occasional squirrel chirp. Every once in a while, there was also the sound of acorns falling through the trees.

When we arrived at the car to leave, we realized that someone was taking a little nap on our car. Unfortunately, the monarch went to monarch heaven because of our car on the way there.

As we were leaving, we realized that there were quite a few parts of the park that we didn’t even see, so we’ll definitely be making a trip back. I’m sure when the trees start to change that the park will be amazing.

Before I forget, check this guy’s blog out. For every comment on his blog before Sunday, September 18, he’s giving $1 to help with the Katrina Relief. He’s at over $3600 plus 9% in extra donations.

I’ve been seeing this on so many blogs and had to fill my own out. I borrowed this one from Boogaj.

Ten years ago:
I was in my senior year at KU studying social work. I had just started my practicum at a state social service agency. A now-good friend and I were commuting to Topeka. I learned to knit in October at The Yarn Barn.

Five years ago:
I was living in Chicago and was working my first real full-time job as a computer program in the burbs of Chicago. I had just started to go to Knit Night at the LYS. I had also just finished my first baby sweater for Emma.

One year ago:
I was two days away from getting married. My mom, sister and I were running errands to get last minute things for the wedding. Our niece, Paige, was born today. Happy 1st birthday, Paige!

Five snacks:
———————————–
Baba ganouj and pita
Hummus and pita
Chips & Salsa
Peaches, Nectarines, any fruit
Popcorn

Five songs I know all the words to:
————————————————
Combat Baby by Metric
Elevator Love Letter by Stars
The List by Metric
Dead Disco by Metric
Golly Sandra by Eisley
almost any Ben Folds song

Five things I would do with $100 million:
——————————————-
Buy a house
Open a bookstore
Send donations to several charity organizations
Put both of us through school
Spread the cash amongst my family

Five places to run away to:
———————————–
Nova Scotia
Idaho
England
Sweden
Norway

Five things I would never wear:
———————————-
Shorts/sweats with my name printed on the butt
A bikini (at least not right now)
Stilleto heels
Micro mini skirt
Fur

Five favorite tv shows:
—————————-
Alias
So You Think You Can Dance (I’m so addicted)
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Simpsons
Nightline (I’m definitely a news nerd)

Five biggest joys:
—————————————-
Bryan
George & Chloe
Spinning & knitting
My family
Reading

Favorite toys:
—————————————–
Knitting needles
Lendrum spinning wheel

Five people to pass this on to:
—————————————————–
Anyone who wants it and hasn’t already done it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I borrowed this one from RoseByAny.

1. What is your occupation? Unemployed, library volunteer, wife of student.

2. What color is your underwear? Blue

3. What are you listening to right now? Stars on iTunes

4. What was the last thing you ate? Veggie burger – Amie’s California burger with mustard and pesto.

5. Do you wish on stars? Yes.

6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Hunter Green

7. How is the weather right now? Cloudy and cool (61 degrees F).

8. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My sister.

9. Do you like the person who sent this to you? I borrowed it, and yes, she’s a very nice person.

10. How old are you today? 31

11. Favorite drink? Clementine Izze

12. Favorite sport to watch? figure skating

13. Have you ever dyed your hair? Heck yeah. I just stopped dying it about a year ago.

14. Do you wear contacts or glasses? Contacts.

15. Pets? Two very rowdy cats.

16. Favorite month? September. That’s why I picked it for a wedding date.

17. Favorite food? I have to pick just one? Indian, Italian, Mediterraean

18. Favorite day of the year? September 18.

19. What do you do to vent anger? Cry. Or knit.

20. What was your favorite toy as a child? Ollie, he was a little yellow thing that I could ride on.

21. Fall or Spring? Fall.

22. Hugs or kisses? Hugs, definitely.

23. Cherry or Blueberry? Neither, peach.

24. Do you want your friends participate in this? Yes

25. Who is most likely to respond? No idea.

26. Who is least likely to respond? My husband.

27. When was the last time you cried? Two days ago, I was feeling very uneasy about our financial situation and not finding a job, yet.

28. What is on the floor of your closet? Boxes that need to be unpacked and shoes.

29. Who is the friend you have had the longest? Brandi, I’ve known her since freshman year of college. We were roommates senior year of college and she was a bridesmaid in my wedding. She’s getting married one month from today.

30. What did you do last night? Watched several shows I’d taped on Wednesday while I knit and spun. Started reading Yellow Jack for the Knit One, Read Too book group.

31. Favorite smell? Fruity smells, peaches, oranges.

32. What inspires you? Knitting and spinning.

33. What are you afraid of? Right now, not being able to find a job and barely able pay the bills for the next few months.

34. Plain, cheese or spicy hamburgers? None of the above, veggie burger with cheese.

35. Favorite dog? Heidi, a Westie, she lives with my parents.

36. Number of keys on your key ring? Eight

37. How many years at your current job? I was at my previous job two weeks because it was temporary. The job before that – five years.

48. Favorite day of the week? Saturday

49. How many states have you lived in? 3

50. How many cities have you lived in? 8

The heat seems to have finally broken. It’s not supposed to be over 90 degrees in the middle of September, at least not in Illinois.

I went to a knitting group tonight. It was exactly what I needed. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. I made quick friends by teaching someone how to do a yarnover in a scarf and also teaching someone else the very cool toe chimney from Lucy Neatby. I will definitely be going back at the next meeting. They meet every two weeks, so I have something to look forward to.

Today, I did a lot of finishing. I finished the secret project! I now have to sew in some ends (I’ll do that tomorrow) and block it. My plan is to send it off on Saturday. I can’t wait for the recipient’s reaction. I’ll post photos next week.

And just in time for my knitting group, I finished my lacy headband and even wore it tonight. I got a lot of compliments on it. It is a really pretty headband. My only problem is that my hair in back isn’t quite long enough to hold the headband, it keeps riding up. I’m sure in a few weeks it will be better though. Silly me is already looking at other lace patterns that will look good as headbands. The basic pattern is so easy and it would be a great way to use up some extra yarn. Lolly has her scarves, I may just have found my new knitting obsession.

Now on to another secret project using my cranberry handspun yarn. I’ll post a photo of the lace swatch but that’s it until after the gift has been received.
Update 15 September: I did my swatch today. Knitting with handspun yarn is wonderful and the swatch is beautiful. (Unfortunately, I had to mess with the color a bit to get it to show up so the color isn’t completely correct.)

Chloe and George have been on “window patrol.” They love to sit in the kitchen window and watch the squirrels. It’s so funny when we’re eating at the kitchen table because one of them always has to check out things in the window for about five minutes. They really seem to take turns. :)

Well, I’m alive, not well yet, but alive. I’ve had this nagging cold for the last seven days and I’m sick of being sick. If I still have the choking cough tomorrow, I’m heading to the doctor. I can’t remember the last time a cold knocked me out for this long.

Anyway, things are pretty good in ol’ Champaign. It’s taking me a bit longer to adjust than I expected. The loneliness feels a bit overwhelming at times. I have to remind myself that we moved here for good things and those good things will come, even if they are a bit slow in coming. I’m going to a knitting group this Wednesday, so that should help pick up my spirits a bit.

Two weeks after we moved, I started working at a college bookstore full-time for two weeks. It was temporary and ended on September 2. I loved working in a bookstore, there were times it was a bit crazy but as long as I didn’t pay attention to how long the line was, I was fine. I worked as a cashier and dealt almost exclusively with students. Textbook prices are outrageous and I always felt sorry for the customer when their total for books and supplies was over $500. I don’t remember paying that much for books when I was in school. One semester, I think my books cost over $200 and my dad was outraged. Yeah, it was about 10 years ago, but still. A report on the news one night said that textbook prices have increased at something like 30 times the rate of inflation. That’s insane.

Now, I’m once again looking for a job. I have applications out to several different places and this week I’m going to be following up. There are a few other places that I need to get my application to also. It’s really strange not having a job. For the longest time, I thought, hey it will be really great to be unemployed for a week or two. But it’s really unnerving not to have a job. Having a paycheck come in every two weeks is a luxury that you really take for granted and when you don’t have that you feel a bit unsettled. I can’t imagine how people feel in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama who have not only lost their jobs but also their homes.

Last weekend, my sister M visited. It was a very low-key weekend. Friday evening, we picked her up from the train station. Saturday, she and I went to a local coffee shop for breakfast and then wandered around downtown Champaign. That evening, we all went to see The Constant Gardener, which was excellent, I highly recommend it. Sunday, we just puttered around the house – watched the Sunday morning political talk shows and ate breakfast. M was reading The Lovely Bones while she was here and I’m sure she appreciated the extra time to read. She left Sunday evening.

During this time of unemployment, I’ve been doing a bit of knitting. I have one project that I mentioned before that I can’t talk about but I can say I’ve made a lot of progress. I was waiting on some yarn for a few weeks but the yarn came on Friday and I’ve been knitting like a mad woman. During this project, I’ve really been enjoying my sheepy stitch markers from Brandy.

And if you ask nicely, she’ll make cute little box to put them in.
I haven’t mentioned them before because I bought some for the girl I was a secret pal to and I didn’t want to accidentally reveal myself. I also bought some sheepy needles, too. I saw them on RoseByAny’s blog and had to have a set of stitch markers and needles for myself.

While I was waiting for the yarn for the above project, I decided to start a little instant gratification project. We all need those sometimes. I started a lace headband from a subscriber-only pattern in Interweave Knits. It’s one of the “Lacey Hair Tamers” and will eventually look better than this.
I just have to get myself to do the grafting in the middle. It’s only like 20 stitches but when my head is cloudy with junk, the idea of grafting makes it worse.

Now on to secret pal (SP5) stuff. I found out who my secret pal has been, it’s Wendy. I’ve known her name for a while, it was accidentally revealed in her email address, but for some reason knowing her name made it even more mysterious. Last week, I was really anxious to find out who she was. I was searching online and couldn’t find her. But now I know who she is. Thanks, Wendy, you’ve made my first secret pal experience a great one. The funny thing is I’ve read Wendy’s blog before secret pal. :)

I sent off my last package to Danielle, who I’ve been spoiling, last week.

And one last thing, my site meter hit over 25,000 last week. Wow!