Packing - Part 2

Who knew one could accumulate SO MUCH STUFF!

It just never seems to end. I cleaned out my closet today just to turn around and see the chest of drawers waiting patiently for it's turn... then there's the kitchen which hasn't even been touched yet! and let's not forget that super clean bathroom that has it's own hidden treasures to be sorted and packed. There's just stuff everywhere. Everywhere. Tucked behind cabinets, next to shelves, under beds and on top of closets that are just waiting for me... taunting me with their endless reminder of "you may have cleaned out your closet but you haven't seen nothin' yet!"

I have found stuff that I had forgotten all about. Things that I haven't seen in forever, dusty and shoved to the back of some drawer just waiting to be rediscovered. Then there are the things that I can't believe we saved at all! Old receipts for coffee, tags off clothes, empty envelopes from cards we once received, and keys that go to nothing.

I suppose this is the good side to packing up a house. It forces you to clean out all the old stuff that you don't need or don't use and throw it away or donate it to someone who needs it. You get to start fresh and organized. Only having the necessities. None of the extras that are stashed away to be dealt with another day. Because today is that day.

Or maybe tomorrow.

But did I tell you? I packed all of the yarn...

Duckies

I'm working on knitting these duckies two at a time.

And I'm working on my coffee consumption

Sounds like a good day.

Randomness

1. I uploaded my fist pattern on to Ravelry... well actually 2 patterns. 10 people have already queued it. I think that means I'm famous. That's pretty exciting.
2. I slept in until 10:30 today. That is also pretty!
3. I learned, the hard way, that one should indicate on the lace pattern holder if their next row is the line above the little place marker magnet or the line after .... especially when they are not going to look at it for 3 weeks.
4. I didn't knit for a week. Fortunately that knitting hiatus is over.
5. The Sofitel Hotel at Dubai Jumeirah Beach is AMAZING! The bathrooms alone make me want to move right in and never leave. And this is the view from the rooms
6. I didn't know that the "compose" tab on blogger meant that I could change colors, fonts, font sizes and lay out until last week. I have only been blogging on blogger for 2.5 years!
7. Because of this new development my posts might be a bit over formatted for a while.
8. The Burj Dubai err umm rather the Burj Khalifa finally opened... it's seriously tall.
9. Today I cleaned the bathroom... so that I wouldn't have to feel guilty about not packing. That's how much I hate packing.
10. I love pink sunsets. These days every evening is a pink sunset.
11. I may have taken pictures of the pink sunset so that I could procrastinate packing. Just maybe.

Packing - Part 1

ugh.

ugh.

ugh.

Honestly I just hate packing. I always feel it's too early until suddenly it's too late and there is too much to do. I will procrastinate packing, in any form (vacation, moving apartments, moving countries!), for as long as possible until I'm cramming anything and everything I can get my hands on into whatever luggage/boxes I have on hand. This usually ends up with me packing a bunch of stuff I don't need. But oddly through my procrastination method I have actually become quite efficient at figuring out what I need and all the tricks to making it fit in my luggage (Love you space saver bags!!!!) and not really forget anything essential.

But this time is different (kinda) where I am attempting to get things done sooner. In fact I have ALREADY started packing! I have weeks left before we go but packing? Yup, I started! What have I packed you ask? I know. I know. You really just want proof that I am actually packing and not just saying I'm packing just to make it seem like I'm not just sitting around eating bon bon's all day (That was only Wednesday). So I started packing only THE most important thing! My stash!

That is four large space saver bags and two medium stuffed with all of my lovely yarn. I wanted to swim in it! In fact pulling all of the yarn out of their hiding places get me inspired. I started looking at the yarn thinking of all the lovely things I could knit with it. This Knit Picks would be great for some fair isle... this BMFA would make some lovely socks... OOOH this Posh Yarns would make a beautiful shawl....

I gotta say that it was very difficult to stay on task! But I did and it's all boxed up with FRAGILE written clearly all over the sides and all of the yarn is safely tucked away in plastic as to not experience any mildew or water damage.

As for the set of Knit Picks Options and Zephyrs those are going in my luggage. Can't take any chances there! I mean I'm not worried that the box of yarn wont make it (If I was I would be shipping my clothes and carrying on a bag full of yarn!) I'm more worried that I'll be somewhere and need to do an emergency cast on and wont have my needles!!! And I need choices people!! The needles. go. with me. (insert crazy-eyed look here)

What if- what if i'm walking around town and I stumble across an LYS. And I haven't been to one in months so I will definitely go in if I see one. And they have gorgeous cashmere on sale! (Let's not talk about the yarn diet right now cause we're talking hypothetical here) and and I have to go in and buy some and it's so lushes that I can't wait 2-3 days for the boxes with my needles to arrive to cast on cause (duh) it's CASHMERE. No I have to cast on something that day! But then I would have to BUY needles and well we know that just not economical... Not when I already have a full set of perfectly lovely Knit Picks Options! See, it's more realistic just to make sure I have my needles with me AT ALL TIMES! oooh and the Addi sock needles I have as well. What if I want to knit socks? but the bamboo they are packed cause really I'm not a fan of bamboo needles... I prefer metal. And the DPN's they are in the box too cause once you know magic loop well then do you really need your DPN's anymore? (I'm sure I'll live to regret saying that!) Nope. So just the full set of Option and Zephyrs will be enough.

But you had to know that some yarn stayed out cause I cant go up to a week with out yarn! That's just crazy talk right there. So I have set aside some pre-put-together (I don't think that's a word) projects that will keep me occupied for a few days and additionally for the crazy long ass flight home. As for what those projects are? You'll just have to wait and see!

my first pattern!

ok people someone has requested the patterns for Mr. Bassil's Blanket & Hat so since I wrote it up I thought I would post it here as well!!! I KNOW! SO EXCITING!

Mr. Bassil’s Blanket & Hat

Supplies used:
4 balls of Rowan Calmer (Appx 700 yds) or another worsted weight yarn
Size US 7 needles

Directions for blanket:
Cast on 132
Rows 1-7: Seed stitch
Row 8: Seed stitch 5, K until last 5 stitches, seed stitch
Row 9: Seed stitch 5, P 3, *K1, P4* repeat until last 9 stitches, K1, P3, seed stitch 5
Repeat rows 8 & 9 until finished 3 balls (or reached desired length)
Seed stitch 7 rows
BO

Directions for hat:
Using magic loop CO 65 stitches (to make bigger/smaller just increase/decrease CO by 5 stitches)
Row 1: K all
Row 2: K4, P 1
Repeat rows 1 & 2 for 6”
Do three needle BO
Make tassels by wrapping about 15 times around 4 fingers, tie at top and attach to two corners of hat


if you make either or both send me pics!

note: this hasn't been test knitted (knit?) cause i'm just not that fancy yet. so if you find any corrections please let me know!

that's right

we're blowing this hot dog stand and heading home!!!

it's almost too good to put into words... fear that if i verbalize it than perhaps i'll realize it was all just a dream and I'll be planning for another year here in Dubai but seeing as how I have officially bought our tickets home I consider it as good as done or at least as close to certain and I can get.

I think this is the main reason I have been so quiet on the blog lately. This development has been at the forefront since... well... for months! We have been planning, talking, organizing and planning some more. It's taken over. And it's so hard to think of other things or be excited about telling you that I went to Rihana when really I just want to scream I'M GOING HOME! HOME! DID YOU HEAR ME??? HOME! but I didn't want to announce it to the world prematurely so I waited until I was sure. Or at least until I was as sure as I could get. After all I do believe in a "Plan" and sometimes it's not what you planned at all.... i.e. moving here in the first place!

I'll tell you now that we are not planning on going back to my hometown for the long term but as for where we ARE going well you just have to stay tuned and find out.

I'm thinking that the next few weeks I'll be exploring old events that I experienced here, my fears of returning home (I know! Who knew? But I have them) and the things I'll miss about the UAE.... In all seriousness it's a pretty awesome place and I will miss it... kinda.

So now the cat's outta the bag and you know the big developing news that i have been eluding to for a while now. big. sigh. of. relief. and i'm so excited!

FO: baby three-fer

I really wanted to do something special for a good friend of mine who is having her first baby boy. I knew of the impending birth in June when I went home to the States so I went on a mission to find the perfect yarn.

I found Rowan Calmer in Portland. I had been wanting to use this for a while because I have heard only great things about it. When I went into the Knitting Bee and saw a whole pile of it, I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it and whoa, the stuff is SOFT! Fortunately the ladies at the Knitting Bee do not frown upon yarn cuddling because all that calmer was irresistible

I saw a beautiful silvery blue color and immediately thought that it would be perfect for a certain little baby boy on the way. They had four skeins left and I bought all of them.


I started pouring through all my pattern books and the patterns available on the internet for the perfect sweater or blanket to make but I just couldn't find anything that seemed right.

I finally decided to come up with my own pattern (if you can call it that) and got to work...

A made it with seed stitch boarder and a cool looking pin stripe


The blanket took just over three of the precious four balls i had...

Then I got started on the hat. I wanted it to have the same pattern as the blanket so I cast on 60 stitches and knit for about 5.5 inches when I realized that trying to figure out how to maintain the pattern but decrease at the same time was too much for my brain to take. So I added another half inch, did a three needle bind off and added the super cute pom-poms. Total used was probably about half a skein.


I was running out of time and yarn but felt I should make my friend matching booties to go with the blanket and hat especially since that was really the only thing she asked for!

I divided what little yarn I had left in half and started with the first bootie and just barely made it. But made it I DID! So the second bootie soon followed!

For this I followed the pattern Saartje's Bootees by Saartje de Bruijn. The little criss-cross straps were too cute and picked out some black mother of pearl buttons for them!! I was unable to maintain the cute pin stripe pattern from before but I think they still came out fabulous!

Seriously are these not the cutest little booties ever!

I think these will be perfect for little baby to cuddle in

happiness

A nice Starbucks latte and my knitting....



Sounds good to me!

2009 Knitting Review!

I thought I would recap my knitting accomplishments for 2009!!!

Here they are in order and the awards (Officially given by the Knitting Duck foundation) they recieved

1. Phiaro - Gets the award for Most Used. I wear this thing ALL THE TIME! I love love love this scarf and would probably never knit this again. Hello endless stockinet

2 & 3. Noro Stripped Scarf and Noro Striped Scarf II- gets the award for most addictive knit. I NEVER knit two of something... there are too many other things I want to knit to knit something twice!

4. Happy Birdie - gets the award for "Awwwww"! So cute! and all the seaming is well worth it!

5. Roaming Hat - gets the award for recycling as the yarn came from someone else's de-stash. Bonus!

6. Twirly Skirt - gets the award for stash busting as this was all made from leftovers from the pinwheel sweater! LOVE!

7. Party Hat - gets the award for fun! This was fun to knit and I know my niece has loads of fun wearing it

8. Roses - gets the award for most loved. I know my mom loves having these roses that never wilt... in fact if they get a little dusty you can just throw them in the washer dryer!

9. Roar! - gets the award for scariest hat! Any kid that puts this on automatically feels like a real dinosaur!

10. Orange Hat - This hat gets the award for brightest knit. You can spot this hat from miles away. It came out fabulously and I know the recipient loves it

11. First Socks! - Gets the award for being MY FIRST SOCKS!! and I love them for that.

12. Monsters! - These two get the award for cutest recipient - The little guy I made these two for is SO cute! His cuteness outdoes the cuteness of these monsters exponentially!

13. Bath Blanket - the blanket gets the award for most creative. I know it looks to be one of my simplest knits of all year but I knit it with out a pattern and on the diagonal. So, for me, it was really creative to think up what I wanted and make it happen. Oh and this blanket also went to Mr. Cutie Cute from the above award.

14. Knotted Hat - this hat gets the award for team work. My mom picked the yarn then I found the pattern and then we drove all over portland trying to find the pattern as it could only be bought in hard copy. But our persistence paid off and a week later mom had a hat!

15. Swollowtail Shawl - definitely gets the award for biggest accomplishment. I dyed the yarn and then knit it into this beautiful shawl. My first lace shawl ever! Really loved the way it came out with the pattern and the colors. score!

16. February Lady Sweater - this sweater gets the award for longest. knit. ever. I started this on February 1st 2009 and finished it October 23rd! 9 months! It wouldn't have taken so long if I hadn't put it down for 6 of those months or had to knit most of it twice but oh well... I took my time but still got it done. and I love wearing it!

17. Husband's Socks! - These get the award for endless cables! ugh those one stitch mock cables never ceased to mock me with their neverendingness!

18. Silky Ruffles - gets the award for perfect project for the yarn... I searched hi and lo of a project that would do this georgous yarn justice and didn't find it until I found the pattern for Just enough ruffles. LOVE!

yeesh 18 projects and total skeins used was 26!!! Seeing as my new years resolution last Jan 1st was to have 10 Fo's I would say that I more than accomplished that! Score one for lindsay!

My second new years resolution last year was to make something for me. I accomplished this too in a big way because the FLS, Phiaro, First socks, Noro Striped Scarf II and Silky Ruffles are all for lil' ol' me!!!!

This year I also started dyeing yarn and learned that I really enjoy it. I am hoping to get some more dyeing time in 20-10

But overall I'm quite happy with my progress for 2009 but I know that next year will be even better!

My goals for 20-10 (knitting wise at least) are:

- Knit with some of my dyed yarn
- No yarn buying until at least June!
- Finish the cabled purse I started ages ago
- Make a second sweater for my self (I'm looking at wisteria)
- Complete 19 FO's!

New Years Eve with Rihanna in Abu Dhabi

Husband and I decided to ring in the new year at (what I'm guess was) the biggest New Years party in the UAE - Rihanna's concert.

I was quite reluctant to go as I am no fan of going out to crowded places where lots of people are drinking and then worrying about driving home with all those drinking people driving home at the same time.... But husband persisted and I'm glad he did because we had a blast!!

We arrived about 15 minutes before the concert started and met up with some friend. We then proceeded to the concert area where we stood around for about 5 minutes before Rihanna came on stage.


I must say that she was great! I was pleasantly surprised at how well she sang live and she seemed to really be enjoying her self on stage.... rather than just going through the motions cough*beyonce*cough

She sang a great set that included all of her hits (wow there are a lot of them) and then ended the show with Umbrella...


Then the fireworks started...

they were amazing!!! I love fireworks!

After that we walked over to the after party and needless to say it was a bit crowded


Basically we had a fantastic night and got home insanely late (for us at least) and had a nice sleep in for new years day..

Hope everyone had a fantastic new years and wishing you and your families all the best for 20-10