It's Been A While...

It's been a while. I am sorry--I have been extremely busy with school. (It's been hectic--just one of those semesters, you know!)

Anyway--back to business. I have been knitting/finishing some awesome projects in the last few months and would like to share them now!

The February Lady Sweater:

This amazing sweater took about 2 weeks total to knit. I LOVE it so much and wear it at LEAST once a week. I am working on another one similar to this one, but I am changing almost everything about it...except for the basic shape... I can't wait for it to be done! I should have a better picture of this, but I don't at the moment.

Twisty:

This is a pattern I recently designed. It is called Twisty, and is available for purchase on Ravelry. I am so excited that it turned out! I really love how the cables have that zigzag look to them and they are all interlocking with each other. I am working on a few other patterns that I will be posting very soon and I am equally excited for them too!

Owls:

These mitts are one of my favorites! I was very surprised how easy they were to knit up--and they didn't take very long at all! I was so excited when Teal asked me to knit them for her--and I'm glad at how well they turned out. I have decided that I am making more of these mitts for my friends for Christmas. I am changing them a little, but they'll still be just as cute (or cuter!)

Owl Cowl:

Wow. I never thought I'd enjoy knitting a scarf so much! It was way easy (I am definitely on an owl kick right now if you haven't already noticed...) This is one of the other patterns I will be writing up next to sell on Ravelry. I knitted it with very bulky yarn so it goes pretty fast. I have also thought of selling them on Etsy. I will post links when I do!

I have been knitting a few other things that I don't have pictures for yet. When I do finish them (or photograph them--whichever comes first) I will definitely post pictures. Other than that, I have no more to write today! (But hopefully I will write sooner next time...)

New Stuff

Today I started a new semester at the University of Utah. I REALLY love it there, but I was NOT ready to start school just yet. I have a chemistry class at 7 freaking 30 in the morning EVERY DAY! It's really not that bad...yet! I'm used to getting up early in the mornings. The problem I had today was paying attention. I haven't had to listen intently to someone who just stands there in front of you for an hour for a few months now--I need to retrain my body to be able to handle it again. I think it'll just take a few days.

Better news, though! I finished the Hemlock Ring Blanket I have been working on this month! I'm SO excited! It turned out really well! I knitted it with Classic Elite Waterlily yarn that I got at a discount store--I would totally pay $12/skein for this (even though I only paid $1/skein). This was my first real lace project that I finished. I am learning to love lace. I have learned a lot by trying this new technique for knitting beautiful things.

I will list them here:

1.) Lace is NOT scary (I will remember that next time I want to try something new, especially in knitting, that there are only 2 stitches plus a few small variations.)

2.) Lace is fairly easy (Especially if you know which row you're on at all times and as long as there are no mistakes in the instructions or charts.)

3.) Lace is absolutely BEAUTIFUL! (But only after you block it, which takes WAY too long--but maybe it's just because I am impatient...)

4.) Lace makes you look like you're a much better knitter than you really are (By simply adding a few yarn overs and matching decreases to a project, you can have elegant knitting that takes your breath away.)

I suggest that you all go out and try some lace knitting soon! It's still fairly warm outside, so lace is a little bit better than hats...(even though I just started knitting one today...)

Thanks for reading!

Moab, Farewell, and Life in General

Today was Saxxon's (my cousin) "farewell" talk. He will be serving in the Maryland Baltimore Mission (he leaves Wednesday.) I am so excited for him! I think he'll be a great missionary--he has an awesome testimony that will help him show others how to come closer to Christ. (He's also really outgoing, and easy to talk to--so he's got that in his favor as well.)

We all went to

his house after church today and we saw a local celebrity there--can you tell who it is? I'm on the far left, my dad's next to me, the "celebrity" is next to him, then it's Craig, my brother-in-law. Suspense killing you yet?!? It's totally the chicken farmer off of Napoleon Dynamite! Haha--we wanted to take a

picture with him so we asked and he was happy to do it. He's an awesome guy.

Anyway, this weekend I went to Moab with my singles ward. We had a blast! The first day, we set up camp, ate dinner, watched a movie with a neighboring singles ward, and played some awesome card games. Most people got about 30 mosquito bites in the first couple of hours. ("Most" meaning everyone but me--I wear my deet religiously.)

The next morning, we hiked to Delicate Arch--it was beautiful! Every time I do that hike I am amazed by it. It gets my brain thinking really hard. This was the first time I have gone to Moab since I decided to major in Geoscience. I think it is amazing how many things I didn't notice before. By just having one year of schooling in this subject, my eyes have been opened to a whole new way of thinking. I am SO glad I was able to see all the formations--it brought my lectures to life! It was like a million lightbulbs turned on in my head and put the spotlight on all the things I learned. I love school. I love hiking. I love Moab.

Later that afternoon, we all got together and played volleyball. I had a spectacular time! It was really windy at first, then the dark clouds started rolling in. We kept playing even when we heard the crashing of thunder and the sparks of lightning. We didn't even quit when the sky opened up and started pouring gigantic raindrops all over the soft dry sand (which quickly turned to mud.) What can I say--it was awesome and there were about 18 people playing at the same time. All of us on the court at the same time. I LOVED it

.

Even a little bit later that day, it started raining again, then it turned to hail for a minute. I got an awesome shot of the hail that I will showcase below.

The next day was the river rafting trip down the Green River (I think) which was awesome. If the water wasn't super cold, I would've jumped in. It obviously was, though, so I just stayed in the raft and got soaked anyway. All along the way there were mini battles between all the rafts--I think our boat got the wettest. (It was fun!)

--Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! (By the way, I haven't been knitting--so I'm sorry about the lack of knitting-related material. Maybe on the next post I will write about the bag I sewed with my friend--it's awesome.)

--Lindsay--