The decision has been reached

Like you really thought I could wait until September to buy my Macbook. After spending several hours in the Apple store, I was convinced to buy it now (mostly because they offer free classes on things like podcasting during the day and the summer would be the only time I could go). I'm really happy about it right now and I can't wait for next week to come so that it will be here. The part that really sold me was the photo booth (and the free printer and ipod mini). That is the coolest feature EVER. Look for more raving on the subject later, now I am tired and must go to bed. I'm teaching socks in the morning.

Something Old and Something(s) New

The something old is my laptop. I've had it since I was a Junior in college (so almost 7 years now) and I'm thinking that it might be time for an upgrade. Mom's laptop exploded 2 weeks ago and would cost more to fix it than to buy a new one. I've been helping her hunt down a decent deal and in the meantime have fallen to lusting after this. If you look in the FAQ, teachers at a K-12 institute can get the discount price on the i book and the free nano. (Kathy there are deals for homeschoolers, too) I could give Becky my old Mini if I got a nano. Hmmmm... But Becky and Trick have convinced me to wait until September (the promo doesn't run out until the end of the month) they say that it'll be cheaper then . Why do I need a new laptop anyway you might ask? Here are some simple reasons why:

1. My battery is totally dead and that makes my laptop less than mobile.
2. I heard a loud popping noise coming from the laptop that scared the bejeezus out of me this weekend.
3. The USB connectors are old and don't like to hook up to my mini
4. I think the camera on the Mac would be an awesome feature and might postpone me getting a new digital camera for a while.
5. My laptop frequently overheats and turns itself off

On the new side of things, I fell off the wagon on Wednesday and ordered some new sock yarn (I couldn't resist, her prices are really good). On Friday, some really cool stuff from Woolgirl arrived at my door (that's fast). First, look at how awesome the package came:

It had a free sample of SOAK wash and a little sheep stitch marker inside. Look at the yarn inside:

It's so pretty, I wish I could be at home and play with it all day long. From bottom to top they are...Cherry Blossom Fibers in "Jade Rose" (it's self-striping), Lavender Sheep in "Sexy Chocolate Cherry," Three Irish Girls in "Quinn," and Miss Babs in Forest 2." Being the new yarn flibbertigibbet that I am, I immediately wound the Three Irish Girls on Saturday. I was really upset to find multiple knots (I was also about to teach a sock class at the time, so the timing was nothing but poor). The class went fine, and when I got home I emailed Woolgirl (Her real name escapes me at this moment). Within a few hours, she got back to me and resolved my problem. I cannot emphasise how much I like this store. It reminds me of the Loopy Ewe before it became so crazy popular that you have to stay up until midnight hoping for a sneak up of your favorite yarn. I still love Sheri, but I'm okay cheating on her from time to time with Woolgirl. Here's a final picture of the sock at the point of the first knot.

The cat that you can't see very well is Becky's housewarming present. She misses Humberto, so I thought I would get her a little cat of her own. Each cat is handcrafted individually and has a little saying and birthday on his card. You can see more of them here. She also has a very cool pirate string doll that might just hop into my cart when she has her Posh sock yarn come in. After the Posh, I am on a yarn diet (stop laughing Kathy, I really mean it this time!) so that I'll be able to afford that new laptop in September.

A Bear in Drag

I've been trying to use up stash yarn to try out some of the patterns I've bought over the years. It's amazing how many binders of knitting patterns one can collect. This pattern is a more recent addition, but the yarn has been in the stash a few months (It was originally going to be a diaper cover). Here's all the specifics:

Yarn: 1 skein Cascade 220 Quatro in Orange.

Pattern: Knitting Pure and Simple. I bought it a Jimmy Beans but you can see it here

Needles: 16 inch circs in size 6 and 8 (although I might go up to a 24 inch circ. in the size 8 if I knit this pattern again.

Mods: Pattern was knit as written except I made the bottom edging in rib (it was still knit on size 6s)

Notes: When I knit this pattern again, I will add button holes on the straps and use buttons to attach the straps. I might also do a picot edging at the hem. This dress seems to be a bit small (I knit the 1 year old size, but I'm thinking it might fit more of the 6 month year old), so I might cast on a larger size. What I really love about this is that it used just under 1 skein of yarn and was a very quick knit. I see this being a staple for little girl baby showers and just change up the yarn to make each one unique.

Why I've Been AWOL

It seems like the past two months have just flown by and I've been doing the bare minimum of blogging. Here's what's going on in the life of LaLa.

1. Baby Showers got out of control. I knit for 2 others that I didn't even blog about. I had a total of around 9 showers I went to this school year. So far there's only 1 in the works for next year, but Dora's having twins (we're not sure about the genders yet, so I' going to hold off a bit before starting something).
2. End of the school year was crazy. My assistant went on medical leave in March and I just kept constantly busy at school. I was also asked to be Faculty Chairperson and head of mentoring for next year. I figured I'd be up at school a lot this summer, so I decided to teach Science in summer school. I had forgotten how much I loved the structure of teaching a "real" subject. So now I'm at school from 7:30-1:30 everyday.
3. Ravelry. I got my invite the other day and now I can't stop playing. It's just as addicting as the Knit Pligg.
4. The Knit Pligg. I don't want to even guesstimate how many hours of my life I have spent hitting "random story.

I still owe you a crazy hotel story form PGH and a look at Emily's socks. I'll try to remember to do that today. Plus a finished a Little Girl's Sundress yesterday at Knit Night.

Road Trip

In case you missed the memo, I went "home" to PGH this past weekend. On the way I worked on Emily's (my future sister-in-law's) Buckeye socks. Here they are at a rest stop in Ohio (you should have seen the looks I was getting from the Muggles). I figured an Ohio State fan needed some pictures of her socks in the state of Ohio (Also the yarn, Cider Moon, is made in Ohio so I guess the socks had their own homecoming in a way)
I found two new favorite yarn stores on the trip. One is Yarn Haus in Nashville, TN (they sell Nature's Palette Sock Yarn!) and the other is Bloomin' Yarn in McMurray, PA. A great deal of money was spent and sock knitting techniques were discussed at both places (plus at the Canonsburg store and the one outside of Louisville \, KY). I'll post some picks of the finished Buckeyes, tomorrow. In the meantime, here's Becky with Lizzie.

'Tis The Season

'Tis the season for wedding showers! I knit this little garter up for MC's shower last Tuesday. I'm proud of it because I made up the pattern as I went along and it actually worked out pretty well! The shower went well, also. It was the first time I've hosted a wedding shower (or any type of shower) so I was a bit nervous.

In other shower news, this past weekend, I drove (well, mom drove and I knit) to PGH. We made several yarn shop stops along the way (4 in all) and had a great time! I'll update again tomorrow with pictures of the traveling socks I knit for Emily along the way and a crazy hotel story. There might even be a picture of Lil Sis, Becky!

Baby Stuff Part Two or Way Overdue

Here is a completed baby IOU. This is intended for Swartz (see the list below). I ran short on yarn for the pair of baby socks so I made a second bib, instead. The specs are below:
Hat:
Yarn-Bunny Hop (The colorway tag has been misplaced).

Pattern- Just a basic rolled brim baby hat, no pattern really required.

Needles-Size 4 because that was what I could find at the time. I really like working this yarn on 8s, but really you could be okay with anything in between those two numbers.

Bibs
Yarn- Sugar and Creme of whatever colors they sell at my local Walmart

Pattern-Mason Dixon Bib of Love

Needles- Size 6

Changes in the Pattern- I forgot to put a button hole in the second bib so that one will be a Velcro closure (which I think mom might like more anyway).

Look for part three later today/tomorrow. Andersen is coming over and we're having a movie night. So while I'll get lots of knitting done, it might not get posted until tomorrow (especially if Sangria is involved). Have a great Sunday all!