I moved

Blog hosts that is.
I jumped ship and moved over to wordpress. Please update your bloglines and links. Sorry for the trouble but I think we will all enjoy it more. I think it looks cleaner and is a bit easier to navigate. You can even do a search on my blog! It is a work in progress though. ;)

www.jupiterjessica.wordpress.com

Go check it out already!!

Mal Pron

I don't know why but, I shorten malabrigo to Mal. Maybe because I knew a girl named Malley and we called her Mal sometimes. Who knows. Anyways, here is my pron.


Malabrigo in Frost Gray
This is destined to be a hat for Greg. He wants a chunky hat with celtic cables. Any ideas?



Sorry for the short post. I'm doing this at work! hehe. :D

First FO of the New Year!

I actually started this scarf probably two days before 2007. I was recently gifted two skeins of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk by my winter cheer sp, Debs. Since then I've been trying to figure out the perfect scarf to make with it. I finally settled on the Potato Chip Scarf. Now, if you follow this pattern you will end up with a twelve foot scarf by casting on 200 stitches. There is no way I would ever want a scarf two times as long as me! I then decided to cast on 150 stitches. I then remembered that the Knit Mongrel made this scarf so I took a trip over to her blog. She cast on the 130 stitches and got a six foot scarf. That's what I decided to do. I used size 15 Denise circs. This scarf used 3 1/2 balls of yarn. I actually ran out of yarn for this scarf. Luckily, kori from the knittyboards had two more skeins of this in the same color and dye lot that I needed. So, we swapped! Knitters are the best!



Here's a close-up of that spiraling yarn in action.



I would definately make another scarf in a different color. The one day I wore it, I received tons of compliments!



Look what I started the other day!!



The Class Sock from Sensational Knitted Socks. The pattern requires size 7 dpns but, currently I only have 10 1/2 dpns. For yarn I'm using Paton's Classic Wool in white. Now, I'm surprised I've gotten that far. Last time I picked up dpns, I wanted to rip my hair out! I'm done with the three inches of ribbing and now I have to start the heel. EEK!! Wish me luck. Hopefully this weekend you will be getting more updated pics of my class sock!


Remember that camo beanie I made for my little brother? Do you recall that god-awful pic I posted with me wearing the beanie? You know how I promised a cute pic of my lil bro wearing it? I keep my promises.



It's too small. I have to make him a bigger one. His teddy bear is currently using it as a sleeping bag!

Black Envelopes & WIP Wonders

Hmm, I think I have a stalker. OR I have a forgetful friend. A friend who forgot to put something in an envelope before mailing it off. A friend who also forgot to seal the envelope. A friend who did not write a return address on the envelope. A friend who likes beans (see stamp). A friend who uses BLACK envelopes. Sound odd? Alas, I have evidence.
Here is the front of the envelope.



Here is the inside of the envelope. There's nothing there!



Maybe this isn't a forgetful friend. Maybe this is some secret message. Maybe I have been invited into Skulls and Bones or better yet, Hogwarts!



PRON!!!!!!!

This week's Pron is brought to us by my wonderful CASP! She sent me a lovely package which I (bad girl) haven't blogged about yet.



Now just where did all that chocolate go?! The yarn, picture frame, magic washcloths, purple beaded washcloths, and mulling spices are all there but the chocolate seems to have disappeared!! I can't wait to try the mulling spices. I actually saw them at the grocery store once and wanted to get them!





WORKS (of art) IN PROGRESS!!!

I haven't gotten very far on the Irish Hiking Scarf. Here's a picture anyway.



That puppy is seven inches wide. I measured.



Earlier this week I started the Short Row Rib Scarf with some malabrigo in the pink frost colorway. I really like how it's coming out so far.




I don't know if you may know but my sister is pregnant. She's due in mid May. She went to the doctor a little over a week ago to find out if it's a boy or a girl and that little sucker had it's hands over it's nether regions the whole time! She said right before the doctor turned the screen off, she saw that the baby moved it's hands and she didn't see anything there. They're convinced it's a girl. The doctor said he thinks it might be a girl as well. She won't find out for sure until her next appointment which is in two months. Anyhow, I want to knit the baby a blanket. I haven't told her this. I want it to be a surprise. I did ask her if I were to make something, what color would she want. She said purple. Which is awesome because ALL little baby girls have pink. So, I'm going to knit her the Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Baby Blanket with KnitPicks swish superwash in wisteria. I ordered the pattern today and should get it in the mail in a week or so. I'm going to order the yarn this weekend. Oy, a baby. I knew she would be first! ;)

Yarnographic Pornography

YARN PRON

Wow, who knew trying to post a yarn pron entry would be so hard! My camera died while taking yarn pictures and then when I tried to put new batteries in it started crapping out! Then I lose my whole blog entry so this is actually my second go for today. Since I can't give you nice yummy new pictures I've decided to go way back in time. We're talking four months ago. I bought some crappy Red Heart yarn and some aluminum needles to learn to knit. I have hobby ADD so I wasn't about to spend a ton of money on something that I was going to get bored of weeks later. This was one of the colors.



Yes, it's knit up a bit. It's actually sitting on my floor in the corner of my room. Bad yarn. I'm going to try to get back on track with Friday Yarn Pron. The holidays are over and I'm running out of slacker excuses. ;) After work is really the only time I can post on Friday's. So unless you can pre-date blog posts on blogger, I might have to post pron on Thursday nights.


NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS

1. I have none.

I've never been a New Year's resolution kind of gal. I know what I need to work on and that's good enough for me. If you want to know what I need to work on, fine. I'll indulge. Here's what I can come up with off the top of my head.
---Try not to get stressed out when moving to Oregon.
---Fix credit. Yeah I know, "I'm too young to have bad credit!" Give me a break.
---Spend less time on the computer.
---Try to break down some of my inner walls.
---Find a harp and figure out a way to barter for it.
---Learn to play said harp.
---Learn to snowboard.
---Keep more snacks in the car for people asking for money.
---Try not to be so blunt.
---Go back to college. Or at least, prepare to go back.
---Find my attention span that I seemed to have lost in '06.
---Continue to work out after the move.
---Don't let yourself believe that you need to be saying FUCK any less than you do.
---Call my friends and family more. Myspace is not a means of communication!


NEW YEARS YARNOLUTIONS

---BUY MORE YARN. I am in no way including myself in the knit from your stash craze. I'd be out in a month!
---Learn socks so I can buy some of that Socks That Rock!
---Make more things for me.


ON ANOTHER NOTE

I'm knitting the Potato Chip Scarf with Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk in the denim color. YUMMY! Well, I ran out of yarn. If anyone happens to have this yarn in the color 25003 and dye lot 62680. Call me and lets work out a deal!

I Am the Little Mermaid

Christmas went off without a hitch for me. It was awesome! Best Christmas ever. We ate great food and I had a really good time with my family. We even made gingerbread houses.



Here’s Liam posing next to the one we made.



I received some great knitting related gifts. As you read in the post before, I got the Denise Interchangeable Needle set. I love them to pieces so far. I also received a $20 gift card for Joann’s that I’m going to use for a ball winder. Last but not least, I used the money G’s mom sent for yarn. We went to my LYS and bought a ton of yarn. Greg was the instigator on that one. If he had his way, we would have left spending a lot more money than we did. He knew I needed it though. :)

Some of the yarn we got is going to be a scarf for Greg. Consider this your Friday Pron. ;)



I’m making him the Irish Hiking Scarf with Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in an olive color. It’s the color of his favorite shirt.



I am cursing myself because I think I’m going to need more yarn for this!



Look at that! That’s the remnants of the first skein along with what has been knit so far. I bought three skeins of this and I might need more. Actually I most definitely will need more! Oh well, he is loving the scarf so I can’t frog it and knit a skinny scarf for him. The things we do for men.



Ah but the things they do for us, Greg got me a red iPod nano for Christmas. I LOVE it! $10 went to the Global Fund to fight AIDS in Africa. So I love it even more! After days of figuring out how to add/delete music and working my way around itunes, I decided to try out some podcasts. CastOn came highly recommended along with Lime & Violet and It’s a Purl, Man. So, I gave them a listen to see what I thought. CastOn was better produced than the others but it also bored me more than the others. The beat was too slow and there’s something about the rhythm that she talks in that drove me nuts. I know, it sounds crazy and maybe a little over analytical but I can’t help it. Next I listened to It’s a Purl, Man. I listened to the Bazaar Bizarre episode and enjoyed how he was interviewing different people. I would definitely give him a listen again. Lastly I listened to Lime & Violet. They had some energy! Half the time I was trying to figure out if they were high or not but then I realized they’re just random like me! (I wonder if people think I’m a stoner for this reason. LOL) I’ll give this podcast a listen again as well. They made me laugh at times, which was a good thing. They also made me wonder what the hell was going on at times which might be a good thing too. :) So, for me no to CastOn, yes to It’s a Purl, Man and Lime & Violet. If anyone out there has any other suggestions for podcasts, knitting related or not, let me know. I’m open to suggestions.


Now here is a self-realization moment for me:
Growing up, the Little Mermaid was my all time favorite movie. I had Little Mermaid everything; sheets, puzzles, toys, even the CD. My sister and I used to play the soundtrack and dance all around the house. Just recently I was watching the story behind the Little Mermaid, which was one of the extra features on the DVD, at work. (I think it was the day after Christmas and my co-worker had to bring her kids to work since the day care was closed. Watching movies at work is not a normal occurrence.) When I was watching this I came to realize everything Ariel had gave up to be with the one she loved. She gave up her fins and her family to be with Prince Eric. Now this hit me pretty hard. If you don’t already know, I’m moving to Oregon with my boyfriend. The hardest part of this move will be leaving my family. Every time I think about how much I’m going to miss them I start crying. That evening after I realized this I was out post-Christmas shopping with my boyfriend. We were in the car on our way to Barnes & Noble and I started bawling like a little baby talking about how I am Ariel. This was all out uncontrollable crying. Greg kept telling me it was okay and I’m won’t be losing my fins because I’ll be able to visit my family unlike Ariel. I know this sounds crazy and unbalanced of me but it actually helped me. I am now more okay about moving across the country. I seem to have a better outlook and more prepared for it to happen. To always remind me that I’m not losing my fins and my family will always be there I named my red iPod nano Ariel.

Another sick Christmas

Last year G and I got the flu on Christmas. I was a day behind all of his symptoms. It was awful. Lots of crying, sweating, and sleeping. We were in bed for a week. I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemy. So what happens this year? I get sick again. Luckily it's only me and it's not the flu but, it is a really bad cold. There's this awful thing that comes down to Florida once a year. It clogs up our streets, sickens all our people, and tips very badly. Northerners. I'm used to it but, Greg isn't. He also works somewhere where he deals with more of these people than I do. Some of them are awful and think you're beneath them because they have more money. They also bring down what we call "Yankee Disease". This is the time of year when we all get sick, when they come down. As one of the few Native Floridians in Florida, I'm allowed to say this expecially when I'm sick and it's season. :)

Knitting News

I've been really bad at posting here lately. Who hasn't though?! We're all insanely busy and stressed out! I finished some scarves that have already been wrapped up and shipped out. The first is the Pandora scarf on a bias. I got the pattern from the LYS. It's pretty basic and was a quick knit. I knit it with Trendsetter Pandora.





The next one is the Horndal scarf made with (eek!) Noro Kureyon. I know some people are die-hard Noro fans and I have heard that it softens with washing but I don't think I will be using it anytime soon. My fingers felt raw in the spots that the yarn would rest on. I had to constantly stop and knit something else to give my fingers a break. I did however enjoy the colors.






I received a very nice knitting present from a co-worker on Friday. A set of Denise Interchangable Needles!! WOohoo!! I am now an official knitter. I wanted to try them out so, last night I knit a beanie for my five year old brother. I used Paton's Classic Wool in Forest. I used the Hot Head pattern from Stitch 'n Bitch. It's a basic ribbed pattern. Forgive the sickness in my face in the pic below.





I will get a pic of my brother wearing it tomorrow. I promise it will look cuter on him than on me! I hope it fits him!

I'm bringing dinner to my mom's tomorrow. It's going to be a non-traditional Christmas dinner. Everyone is kind of burnt out from the past year and Christmas so, I'm bringing steak and we're cooking on the grill. Last Thanksgiving my five year old brother, Liam, said this about the turkey "If this was steak, I'd eat it all!!" So, I think he'll be happy about what we're eating this year.

I'll leave you with pics from the Xmas festivites this year.

Josh playing bass in the jazz band at his Holiday Spectacular Concert.


My brothers at the Holiday Parade.


Do you see boats in your Holiday Parade?!


We can't forget the jolly old man (who happens to be the drama teacher at my high school..shh, don't tell).


HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!