New Favorite: Cat Versus Human

I'm a little ashamed to say, I can't remember how I found this comic. But I'm in love with it. Anybody who owns cats can agree, this comic speaks the truth! It's just too funny, and the drawings are adorable.

If you haven't figured it out, I'm secretly an old cat lady.  The knitting, the cats, the tendency to choose staying home to craft instead of being social... I love it! I can tell the creator is this comic and I would be good friends (if we ever left our houses/cats).

You should definitely go check out Cat versus Human! But if you're lazy, I'll just leave my favorite one below. It describes me to a T.

Source

Off the Needles: Rocky Coast Cardigan

I finally finished weaving in the loose ends! I literally had 3 left, but I hate all the finishing details, so I always put them off, haha. Finally, I can present: The Rocky Coast Cardigan (photos are of unblocked sweater).

Pattern: Rocky Coast Cardigan, from Coastal Knits

Yarn: Spud&Chloe Sweater (55% wool, 45% cotton)

Modifications: Used the larger yoke and arm size from the errata

Ravelry Post: here

I am in looooove with this yarn! I knew of Spud&Chloe yarn, but I had never used it. This sweater is super fluffy and warm. I can't wait to wear it this fall!

I should note: The sleeves on my sweater were tiny. Seriously. I have no arm muscles, and I'm a pretty skinny person, but I had to use the larger yoke and arm size to get this baby to fit me. I'm so glad my LYS told me to check the arms on this pattern!

Tomorrow I'm off to the beach! I'll try to be good about post while I'm gone, but I make no promises...

Beaded Granny Squares Tutorial

In my last post, I talked about how I was getting back into beading. I was thinking of other things I could make with my beads, and how I could incorporate it into my knitting obsession. Well, I had the idea to make granny square out of beads! They're super cute! I'm not entirely sure what I want to do with them... Earrings? String them together to make a bracelet? Use bigger beads to make keychains? There are a ton of possibilities!

Materials needed:
- Beads in 3 colors: 20 of the main color, 8 of the second color, and 12 of the third
- Needle (the thinner the better!)
- Beading floss (available at any craft store)

Step 1: Thread your floss on your needle. I like to double up the floss. Make it nice and long.

DIY: Giant Bead

This week, I found a great tutorial to make a giant bead out of smaller beads. This craft is right up my ally! I was obsessed with seed beads when I was younger. Remember those animals you could make out of pony beads and string? Yea, I made those out of seed beads... I must have been unusually patient in elementary school! From there, I moved onto a bead loom, and created some cool bracelets and necklaces. After that I must have gotten distracted with knitting! Luckily, I kept all of my beads. Here's the inspiration (via Craft Gawker):

The tutorial can be found here. It is based off of another tutorial for rings.

For my first giant bead, I used these gorgeous matte beads that I had. I didn't have enough to make the giant bead as long as the pattern in the tutorial, so I shortened it.

Claws and Paws: Triangle Tips

I have seen triangle tips a few places, but this recent pin on Pinterest inspired me to give it a try:

I knew that you could use Scotch tape to outline the triangles, so I found some tape and settled down to paint. The results were... frustrating.

Pinspiration: July 19, 2012

I have a lot of projects that are 90% done... and I'm struggling to finish them so that I can show them off! This month has been full of travel, and helping The Boy move into our apartment. I've only been able to spend a few days there, but it already feels homey. Kudos to The Boy for surviving a shopping trip for apartment things!

On to my Pinspiration:

Is This Real Life?

For some time now, I've been thinking about writing a post on being a boomerang child (you know, a child that went off to college and graduate school, and then came back to live at home with her parents). Maybe part of why I kept putting it off was the uncertainty of my future. While I enjoyed being back home, I was ready to move on, but not sure how to do so. This is a tough time to look for teaching jobs, especially in Pennsylvania. Today, I'm happy to announce that I finally have a plan! While I love my hometown, I'm excited to be moving away and living in a new place.

This past year was full of choices (actually, potential choices that I stressed out about). I loved my school district and coworkers, but the district isn't hiring for the jobs I want. Meanwhile, my boyfriend and I were getting tired of being in a long distance relationship, and looking for ways to close the gap. I felt I had to choose between being financially responsible and taking jobs in Pennsylvania that weren't my favorite but provided steady income, and being happy by moving to my boyfriend's city and continuing a scary job hunt. I asked my coworkers to all move with me so that I could keep them as coworkers and see my boyfriend, but something about having jobs, spouses and kids made them say no. Hmph.

I finally decided that I should take advantage of being a young adult with nothing holding me in one place, and move! Last week, my boyfriend and I signed a lease for an apartment in Arlington, VA. It's near the metro, so he can get to work easily, and the area has a lot of public and private schools (please hire me!). We're excited because our landlord is renovating our apartment for the first time in 20 years (it still had the original bathtub and tile from the 1940s!), so it will be new and squeaky clean! I've been busy exploring the area on Google maps, looking for restaurants, yarn stores, and places to run. I'm nervous about finding a job, but I'm really excited to be in a new place!  A lot of my friends from high school and college are in the area, and I'm looking forward to catching up with them.

I'm also very close to finishing my Rocky Coast Cardigan! Look for pictures soon.