Blogworthy.

I don't have anything blogworthy to write today, so I thought I'd post some interesting things I've seen around the knitblog world lately.

Glampyre Knits has teamed up with Stitch Diva to create a new design. I harbor some serious love for the long sleeve version!

Trek is still swapping for her sock bags and dpn cases. There's some cute ones in her gallery!

Sick of your hands getting cold when eating that pint of Ben & Jerry's? Knitxcore has a solution. His ice cream cozy makes me want to knit cozies for everything!

Hot Coals Only is knitting a Log Cabin Blanket with a twist! Lace strips scattered through out.

Sock Pron found a few free sock patterns I've never seen before! Go check them out and then share your favorites!

Kpixie has affordable wool and a wool/silk blend I'm dying to try out!

In knitting news, my Nina Shawl is now 68% complete. I'm just dying to finish this up and am hoping to have it blocked and ready for a photoshoot by July 4th. Who knows, maybe I'll finish it up earlier than that! No pictures as of yet, but I'll try to get some progress pictures over the weekend.

I fought the urge to buy more yarn yesterday by buying a few new books instead. Next up in the reading queue is The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger, which I've heard nothing but great things about, and Good In Bed by Jennifer Weiner. Up until now I've avoided chic lit like the plague, but figured I might as well give it a try. Who knows, I might like it! In an attempt to keep my personal library under control, I'll be passing this books on when I'm finished with them. So if anyone's interested in getting their hands on a copy of them, email me [midnight purls at gmail dot com] and I'll gladly send them your way. Don't worry about postage or anything, I'm getting them used off of half.com for pennies and postage is so low, it's not even worth asking for it.

Forest Path Stole

When I first started knitting, I had big dreams. One of those dreams was the Forest Path Stole from the Summer of 2003 Interweave knits. I saw a picture of it somewhere online and quickly ordered the back copy of that issue from Interweave.

When it arrived, I poured of the pattern. It made no sense to me. It had charts, it was entrelac, it was scary.

But it became the source of my inspiration. I drooled over it. I dreamed of one day being able to knit it. I showed everyone and anyone who was even remotely interested in my knitting. I even picked out a substitute yarn. Jaggerspun Zephyr.

Fast foward to nearly two years later and I am still in love with this stole. Almost two years later and I think I'm finally ready to give it a try.

Yesterday I bought half a cone of Jaggerspun Zephyr in the Daffodil colorway from a yarn sale Jenna was holding on her blog. When it gets here, I'm going to give the Forest Path Stole a go. (If you haven't checked out Jenna's yarn sale, go! There's some handspun, some Cherry Tree, Pakucho, Cascade and handpaintedyarn.com lace weight.)

Am I still intimidated by the pattern? A little. But I think right now, it's just what I need. Something that demands my undivided attention, something that will keep me busy and will keep my mind off of things. And most importantly something that once it's finished will make me feel accomplished and proud.

Back to our regularly scheduled knitting content!

First, I'd like to thank everyone who either left me a comment or emailed me about yesterday's post. I appreciate all of your kind encouraging words and your outlook and advice about the situation. Reading them really cheered me up.

But enough of the heavy serious stuff. Let's talk about something fun!

This morning I received an email from my sister, who since I have left Ohio has still been knitting furiously and teaching herself new things. I sent her a care package comprised of the Stitch n' Bitch books and 6 hanks of Cascade 220 for her to play with in hopes it would encourage her to keep at it. She has since knit her first scarf (full of mistakes according to her) with some Red Heart Light and Lofty I bought her while I was out there.

She mailed it to me along with some other items I needed for work and I am looking forward to seeing it. I'll post pictures as soon as I get it!

But I digress. Back to the email. She sent me a picture of her knitting, asking me if I could tell if she was purling right. [As always click to enlarge.]


I realized when I looked at this picture that while I explained if you knit all rows you get garter stitch but if you alternate knit rows and purl rows you get stockinette stitch, I never told her that if you purl all rows you still get garter stitch. Ooops.

Still, I think she's doing great and I can't wait to see where knitting takes her! She has big dreams and can't wait to start on some log cabin knitting. She fell in love with the Modern Block blanket in Mason-Dixon Knitting and I'm sure in no time she'll be ready to jump in head first and knit one for herself!

The good, the bad and the ugly.

The good. This Friday was my little brother's going away party, and while parts of it were bad (and down right ugly) parts of it were a lot of fun. I had the pleasure of hanging out with a few friends I haven't spent much time with lately and really enjoyed laughing with everyone all at once.

The bad. What was once Gabe's Birthday Afghan is now unclaimed and sitting on the back burner. I can't bear picking it up at the moment and am torn between finished it as is, or changing it up by using the yarn for something else.

The ugly. Gabe and I are no more. I couldn't tell you exactly what we were, it wasn't an official couple, but it was more than just a friendship. I guess you could say we've been seeing each other for the past six months. He decided on Friday night to tell me that he wasn't happy anymore and that he didn't want a relationship with anyone and that this felt like a relationship to him. Eventually though it came out that while I was in Ohio he started talking to someone else, and instead of being a man and telling me that, he decided to keep coming down here, to keep cuddling with me, kissing me and pretending we were more than just friends. He wavered back and forth on telling me he doesn't want a relationship with anyone and it's not just me to telling me that he wants to see where it goes with this other girl.

He said he wants us to remain friends, and I told him that was fine, but I don't really know if it is. Put aside the fact my ego is totally bruised, he lied to me, not only with his words, but with his actions. I don't know what to believe, I don't know what he's still lying to me about or what he's actually been truthful about. I just know that I have an issue being friends with someone who can so callously throw my feelings aside and play games like that.

So there you go. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'll have some knitting content soon. I'm working exclusively on the Nina Shawl at the moment.

Bittersweet.

I don't get very personal on this blog as often as I would like. Something about sharing intimate details about my life for anyone and everyone to read still makes me feel a little uncomfortable, but I'm working on opening up a little more.

This whole blogging thing isn't super new to me. I've had a livejournal for a few years, and I do some blogging over on myspace, but with those I've always had the option to leave the personal stuff friends only. I felt safer divulging details of my day to day life, of talking about the people in my life. So please, bare with me while I struggle to find my voice and my own blogging rhythm here on blogger.

In an attempt to share a little more here, I'm going to dedicate today's post to my younger brother Dave. [Picture is of Dave and I goofing off on Easter Sunday before heading up to my grandmother's house. Click to enlarge!]

Dave and I haven't always been exceptionally close. In fact it wasn't up until last year that we really started acting more like friends then like brother and sister. Where we once barely even talked to each other, we now talk on a regular basis and are often there for each other when either one of us is upset. We also hang out on the weekends, inviting friends over for little get-togethers, or sometimes even going out and doing various things like going out for dinner or going to the movies.

Dave one day out of the blue earlier this year decided to join the Marines. At first I was shocked. It just never seemed like something he was interested in and there was never really any talk about it. I was also worried. I've had many friends who are in the armed forces, several of them going to Iraq, some in the first wave of troops sent over, a few later after it wasn't officially a war anymore. I never wanted to hear my brother talk about some of the things the guys I knew who came back from there went through. I didn't want to see him change the way I watched some of them change.

While I'm still worried about it (because let's face it, even if Iraq is over before he's ready to get shipped out somewhere, it's not like we'll never be at war again.), at the same time I have more respect for his decision and I even think it will be good for him. It will give him plenty of opportunities and direction that he doesn't have now.

Tonight is his going away party. Originally he was supposed to leave June 26th for bootcamp, but two weeks ago they pushed the date back even further to July 10th. We're still holding the party tonight, it's just easier than calling everyone and rescheduling.

I know it will be a lot of fun. Getting to hang out with all of our friends at once, playing drinking games, laughing and having a good time. But it's also bittersweet. Because it's also the beginning of the end. It's the start of our lives taking us in new directions, and while I know that we'll always be family, it's sad to lose that everyday relationship we now have. I'm going to miss coming home from work and just having him there, I'm going to miss sharing books with him, chatting about work, laughing at our inside jokes, heck, I'm even going to miss the stupid little fights we get into.

It hasn't really hit me yet. Things like this never hit me until the last minute. I know he's leaving, I know it's only a few weeks away, but it doesn't feel any different. I just hope it doesn't hit me later, mid party, turning me into a crying emotional wreck!

Thank you secret pal!

I had a pretty stressful afternoon but coming home to a package from my secret pal sure did brighten up my day! She sent me some lovely gifts which I can't wait to use. [Click to enlarge images.]


Pictured is some beautiful Hannah hand dyed silk ribbon. It's simply stunning, a purply black that looks even more purple in the light, along with some notebook charms that I will be using as stitch markers on my pal's suggestion. She also sent me a soap, Lantern Moon Needles and a hank of Debbie Bliss Pure Silk. I've never had the pleasure of seeing the Pure Silk before, but it's so beautiful I couldn't stop petting it last night. After careful consideration and a suggestion from Robbie, I will be using the silk to make the eyemask from Handknit Holidays. Also not pictured was a chocolate bar I enjoyed immensely.

She also sent me a shawl pin. I've never had any use for a shawl pin as I haven't knit any shawls yet, but over the weekend I picked up a new book and decided to knit a shawl out of it using some Tussah Silk. How she knew, I have no idea. It's like she read my mind! Thank you Secret Pal.


The book I picked up is WrapStyle. I have the ScarfStyle book and have knit quite a few scarves out of it so when I saw this book, I wanted it immediately. Then when I realized how easy fair isle knitting it, I decided to just get it. Because I am in love with the capelet on the cover. I'm not usually a capelet kind of girl, but I really want to knit this one!


I'm also equally enamored with a few of the other designs in the book:



And this shawl which I can't wait to start on...


Which I plan on knitting in this yarn which will look great with that shawl pin:


I finally have a picture of some Mitered Squares to share. I thought I had more than 6, I'll have to dig a little deeper through my knitting stuff to find the rest of them.


I'm not very fond of the 3 squares in the right side of the picture. They were the first ones that I knit up. I think I'm going to stay away from the pastels and use neutral and khaki colors instead like the two on the top left. I love those squares. In person they look so nice.

I also received a shipment of yarn from Elann. It's their Den-M-Knit yarn. I plan on using it to knit Jamesy once I finish Gabe's afghan!


Thank you to everyone who left me comments yesterday! I'll reply to them this afternoon when I get a chance, but right now... I need to get back to work!

Long over due.

Things have been rather hectic lately, so hectic actually I haven't had much knitting time at all. This really bothers me as not only does knitting help me relax and destress, but I'm also knitting for Gabe's birthday in August and I need to get his gift finished up.

Somewhere along the line I decided that I would knit him an afghan. He's moving out and will be getting an apartment closer to his work in August as well so I thought that it would make a great combination housewarming/birthday gift. Nothing wrong with that at all, it's actually a rather good idea. However when I picked yarn and the afghan I wanted to knit, I didn't stop to think that knitting an afghan on size 5 needles for a guy taller than I am wasn't the best idea.

Now I'm wishing I doubled the yarn, but I've already invested 2 weeks into it and don't have the heart to frog it and start all over.

Pardon the bad picture, I couldn't get the colors to come up right. One side is going to be 7 different shades of blue and the other 7 different shades of green. The center patch and the border are a blue-green to tie the colors all together. It actually looks really nice in person and I can't wait to see the finished product.

As always, click image to enlarge.


I also knit him a washcloth this weekend since I know he's having a tough time at work right now and I wanted to knit him a little something something to cheer him up. I love these colors together.


I also have a picture of the Nina Shawl I've been working on. The yarn I'm using is Dale of Norway Svale and I really like it. It has a really beautiful drape to it and a nice sheen. It's also the first time I knit fair isle and I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was.


A picture of the floats on the wrong side:


I can't for the life of me figure out how to weave ends in with the floats. If anyone could point me in the right direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

I still have some more pictures to take, I'm hoping to get around to them tonight or tomorrow night. But before I end this, I'll leave you with the yarn my dye-o-rama pal dyed for me. I wish I could link to her, however she is currently blogless. Regardless, I love the yarn, it's so vibrant!

Quick and easy.

Still no pictures of my knitting... I just didn't have time last night.

Gabe ended up coming down when he got off work and we went out for dinner. After dinner, we were supposed to head to the movies to see The DaVinci Code, but dinner ended up running late so we opted to head back home to spend the night cuddling and watching a movie.

We watched Underworld: Evolution and while it wasn't the greatest movie I've ever seen, it was entertaining.

Tonight I'll be meeting up with a friend of mine I haven't hung out with in quite some time. Originally we were planning to head to the bar to shoot some pool, but I am so exhausted that I'm hoping he won't mind changing plans to dinner and a movie, along with some knitting on my part.

I will get pictures this weekend, I have a ton of free time scheduled to catch up on sleep and other things I missed out on by going to Ohio!

Sad to say, play time is over.

Well I'm home from visiting my sister in Ohio. I got in late last night, exhausted, but thrilled to find a few packages waiting for me (including yarn from my dye-o-rama pal!) I'll take some pictures tonight if I can get my hands on the digital camera. My brother has it at his office, and said he'll try to remember to bring it home with him.

This vacation alloted me plenty of knitting time. I worked on the Nina Shawl from Mason-Dixon Knitting and completed almost half of it. I also worked on some more Mitered Squares, and started a log cabin afghan that I plan on giving to Gabe for his birthday in August.

I also taught my sister to knit and it looks like she's going to stick with it. She fell in love with MDK and wants to make practically everything in there.

Of course no vacation would be complete without the first day back to work... I walked in this morning to find our server over-heating and attempted to salvage as much as I could before it died. Needless to say without a server, my day is hell.

But all in all, it's worth it. I had a week of no stress, of plenty of knitting, of deep meaningful conversations, laughter, fun and games and good friends and family. I had so much fun, I'm going to try to go back out there this fall for a visit.

Tonight I plan on relaxing, unpacking and playing with my new yarn and then tomorrow Gabe is coming down to visit! We'll probably go out for dinner and then finally see The DaVinci Code.

Just a quick update.

I landed safely in Ohio last night, a little earlier than I was scheduled to actually. It feels great to be here, to be away from the day to day stress of work and life in general.

After a dinner at Sake, a nice little sushi place, my sister and I headed back to her place for an easy relaxing night of manicures, tv and knitting.

I taught Michelle to knit! At first she struggled with it, got frustrated with it and almost gave up. But after frogging it a few times, she admitted that knitting is addictive!

I'm hoping that even after I leave, she continues to knit and learn. I'm going to give her as much incentive as I can by buying her some yarn and some needles of her own tonight.

Vacation delayed.

I'm still here in Jersey. There was a snafu with the airline and I ended up transfering my ticket to today. I'll be heading to the airport shortly and instead of coming home late Sunday night, I'll be getting in late Monday night.

It actually worked out better this way. I was so busy hanging out with Gabe this weekend that I didn't get anything finished up. Having an extra day to pack and run errands was nice.

The yarn that I bought from the yarn store is Dale of Norway Svale. I really like this yarn, it knits up beautifully. My only complaint is that it's so splitty.

I'm using it to knit the Nina Shawl from Mason-Dixon Knitting. After knitting 12 rows with Color A, you knit 2 rows with color B and then join Color C for a 2 by 2 check knit in fair isle using the stranding method.

I've never even attempted fair isle before, but last night I gave it a go and it's surprisingly easier than I thought it would be. I love it and I look foward to knitting more fair isle in the future!

Anyway, I'm off! I have a [much needed] vacation to take!

It's official...

I am now a quarter of a century old.

To be honest, I was a little freaked out about turning 25. There are certain things I thought I would have accomplished by now, but at the same time, while my life might not be what I pictured it being by this point in my life, I have a lot of things I am proud of and a lot of good people who care about me. I truly am blessed.

To celebrate I had a few good friends over last night for a small party, and today I spent the day with Gabe and another good friend of mine, Robby at the yarn store, Pier One Clearance Store and then Panera's for lunch.

I don't have any pictures to post of my stash enhancement, but I will post some soon!

After a day of shopping, and dinner with Gabe, Robby and Robby's second half, Dave, Gabe and I headed to the movies to see X-3.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to update while I'm in Ohio visiting my sister and her fiance, but I'll try to sneak on for a bit! I leave tomorrow afternoon and will be back late next Sunday!