I’m missing the other half of my wardrobe which is packed safely away at my parent’s house undoubtedly being worn by my youngest sister...

recent projects

I was rather hurried the other day when I posted my yarn along picture. (Hence the not so great photo quality... well especially not so great as the lighting in my house, not to mention the state of the carpet, leaves a bit to be desired.) So I wanted to write a longer post about my recent knitting projects. First of all I organised my stash, such as it is. I've only been knitting for about a year and don't have much of a stash to speak of. Everything I do have was purchased with a specific project or person in mind and it's just been finding enough time to get it all made. My poor mother hasn't received anything except a little crocheted snowflake. Anyway, as my local stitch 'n bitch group (I kind of hate that name) had a yarn swap in December and I came away with some lovely things I decided it was time to get organised. So here is my stash:

Open basket for the prettier skeins. Current project bag holding the lovely Ishbel. Medium sized covered basket for notions and doodads such as baby shampoo for wool washing.

Large covered basket for large and not quite as pretty skeins. Small covered basked for all the little ends of skeins I can't quite bare to get rid of. I'm sure they'll come in useful for little bits of colour work and/or granny squares at some point.

And there they all are by my pretty little fire place. Again, please don't mind the horrid state of the carpet. My needles are on the mantle above which really deserves it's own post as it is, in my own humble opinion, quite lovely.

Now, on to the actual knitting projects. Just a couple presents I've made recently.

Two more little mice. I called this pair Emil and Lucinda. As Lucinda was taken to show and tell by the little girl she was made for I think they were a hit. Still have plenty of yarn to make a couple for myself at some point. Just too cute!

And here are my latest attempts at the Tea Leaves Cardigan. The grey blue was my sister Lacy's birthday present. She specified the extra long sleeves. Knit with Berrocco Vintage which I love! The attempt below was for another sister Emily's birthday. It was knit with Donegal Aran Tweed which is a lovely yarn as well. Despite knitting a gauge swatch it came out too big and I had to shrink it. I was so nervous and definitely erred on the side of caution. Unfortunately there is an ocean dividing Emily and myself and I do not have her measurements. So I sent it on with careful instructions of how to shrink it further if needed. I have this yarn to make a Tea Leaves for myself and am now a bit nervous to start. I'll go down another needle size or two and hope for the best. It's a lovely shade of red and I will love it, if it comes out...

PS, tinking is a term I just learned this week. It's knitting backwards. Literally. Isn't that clever!

cleaning out my phone...

I'm switching back over to my UK phone today, so here's a few pics and videos I saved from my US phone:

Will likes his head covered when he sleeps...

Ben's Chili Bowl!

Emily, Luke, and Flower

We fed "Flower" a lot, but we're not exactly sure if she's a girl...

Alternate name if she turns out to be a boy, "Blue"

Graduation!

Will's Birthday!!!

knitting and purling

I've been doing a lot of knitting lately. Well, I just never stopped. Here are a few things I've finished in the last month or so:

I made three sets of wash cloths as gifts. I read that knitted wash cloths are lovely, especially in the bath. I hope that's true!

For the 7th and 9th birthdays of two of my favorite girls in the world I made sweater skirt sets for their American Girl Dolls. (Man AG's have really taken off. When I was little they had 5 now they have 12! I had Kirsten who I just found out has been archived, that's sad, so has Samantha.)

Blocking in the pleats

All ready to go

Modeled by Felicity, Laura's doll.

a sort of kind of update

These are things I'm bad at doing when I live in the States and have a full time job: keeping up with all my friends who live here, there, and everywhere (and I mean that quite literally) and blogging. Also exercising, not eating too much sugar, and getting enough sleep. I'm sorry, I keep trying to be better about these things, and keep trying, and keep trying.

Anyway, here's a little update on the last few weeks:

* I think I mentioned that I've taken up knitting since being home. I L-O-V-E it! I've ordered a Boye Needle Master kit on ebay and it should arrive sometime next week. This is an interchangeable circular needle set which means I have (virtually) everything I could ever need to make anything I could ever want. (yeah!) And I finished my first project, a baby blanket for my soon-to-be-born nephew, Will. Here it is:

Incidentally, the bed spread it's laid out on was made by my grandmother. I couldn't post pictures of it before in case my sister read my blog and the surprise was spoiled.

*I love, love, LOVED the Olympics. Everything except I was a little disappointed by the closing ceremonies. But the opening ones were great! The competitions were great. The rivalries, the records set, the North American's showing in the medal counts. I really sort of wish that when I was young and we discovered that my ankles weren't strong enough to jump that I wouldn't have given up figure skating entirely, but would have switched to ice dancing...

* Had a baby shower for my sister yesterday. So much fun, and she got lots of great gifts! (Hence me being able to post pictures of the blanket.)

*Loving LOST, Grey's, and The Office these days. Had such a busy week that I missed each of them and just finished catching up. Only 10 more episodes of LOST. Pam and Jim have their baby. Andy finally asked Erin out! And Grey's feels like the good old days, with a healthy, happy Meredith which I like!

* Dreaming and wishing for Belfast... can't wait for the end of the summer.

* Plotting and planning and hoping for a trip to Iowa, Chicago, and Michigan in May/June... Watch this space.

*Went to see Young Victoria today with my sis, enjoyed it! Everyone else in the theatre was over 50 and the comments we overheard were hilarious. Best one right as the credits rolled: "Now that is a love story."

*Favorite quote from the baby episode of The Office: "You've gotta let the cookies cool before you pop them in your mouth." -Michael as Kevin leans in for a kiss (from Erin).

*Didn't realize The Last Station was out already, gotta see it! It's about the last few years of Tolstoy's life as this year marks the 100th anniversary of his death.

Guess that's all the big stuff. Wedding in 27 days, baby a few weeks after that!

cake and shoes...

what more could a girl want?

We had my sister Emily's wedding shower this weekend. Good friends, good food, good times. I forgot my camera in the car so these pictures, taken before and after, are all that I have until other's are posted on facebook. The cake is Lemon Mint Pound Cake, made by moi.

After the shower Lacy and I had some chicken fried rice from PFChangs and went to see Valentine's Day with her friend Meghan. It was... ok I guess. Then I was up most of the night with yucky stomach cramps, hello little-people-germs.

Spent Sunday in bed and on the couch, hooray for Winter Olympics interspersed with Gilmore Girls and random movies on TBS.

That was my weekend.

a long one

I usually try to keep my posts short and sweet but this one, well I have a feeling it's going to be a doozy! This is an update on the last month-and-a-half of my life... with pictures!

So, I went to Wales for Christmas. I had such a lovely time with my friend Beth and her family and our friends Frances and Alana! There was snow and ice on the ground when I arrived but it all melted before Christmas. We watched movies and read and talked and cooked and ate and went for walks and enjoyed being together. It was fantastic! This is Beth, Frances, and Alana on a walk around the estuary near Beth's house.

On Boxing Day (the day after Christmas) we went to the Gower Peninsula where we admired the beautiful South Wales coast, got caught in a rain storm, and climbed up and down cliffs. Lovely!
I spent New Years with friends from Guildford and 24-7 at some cabins in the New Forest near Southampton. We shared a meal together and shared stories and sang a rousing rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight before sending a lantern off to the heavens with our hopes and dreams for 2010. Then we all went back in side and I played my first game of poker ever. Also, I won!

From Southampton I went to London to visit my lovely friend Kirstin. She got engaged over Christmas and I'm the maid of honor so we spent most of our time flipping through wedding magazines and laughing and trying on wedding dresses. (Well, Kirstin did and I took pictures.) We managed to squeeze in plenty of (mostly window) shopping and a trip to St. Paul's Cathedral. Also, we had a lovely engagement celebration dinner where I, at 27 and for the first time in my life, got drunk. (But don't tell my mom.) Not too drunk, I could still walk (slowly, in 3" heels!) and didn't have a hangover (having nursed a glass of water all night, and I don't think I forgot anything that happened. No, I remember all to well that all I could manage to do was laugh and say, "I am horribly drunk!" (Quoting the woman in the wheelchair on Notting Hill.) It started snowing while we were eating and all through our walk home and through the night.
It snowed so much that the airports were closed and I couldn't get home. I didn't mind as all the alcohol and rich food had made my stomach a bit angry at me. I did finally get back to Belfast two days, an hour long taxi ride, a night in Southampton, four cancelled flights, and a bus ride from Dublin later! Ireland was so beautiful covered in snow!

After all of that I only had three and a half days left in Northern Ireland. They were filled with a party, lunches and coffees with friends, packing, farewell dinners, roommate banter, and lots of packing. Oh, also a trip to Belvior (that's pronounced beaver, don't ask me why) Forest Park and some packing. This is a view of the Belfast hills from the Park.
And me, taken by Helen, watching Sam and his nephews playing in the snow. (Look at that little double chin... too much lovely holiday food!)
I got back to Charlotte on January 12th. My layover in JFK was extended from 3 to 6+ hours so I managed to read the entirety of Undomestic Goddess by Sophie Kinsella. Perfect sort of book for that situation! Since being home I've taken up knitting and I'm loving it! I've also learned how to drive a stick shift (aka manual transmission for you Brits). (That's three new things I've learned to do this year: play poker, knit, and drive stick. Four if you count learning how to be drunk, but we won't talk about that anymore!)

This is my tested and tried method for learning how to drive stick:

1) move to a foreign country and give your lovely car to your sister.

2) return to your country of origin when said sister is out of state at university. (Having your brother leave his (horrid) car at home while he is also out of state at university is key here.)

3) receive one lesson from your dad, equal parts helpful and bewildering.

4) clean the car.

5) do some research online and print instructions from several different "how to" websites

6) make a few CDs

7) take car, CDs, and instructions to a (mostly) empty parking lot and practice starting from a complete stop until you can do it (most of the time) without stalling. Then take a spin around the neighborhood.

8) After an hour or two, or when you feel confident, take a trip up the road to Target.

And that is how I learned to drive stick. Hand brake starts were learned in an emergency situation involving a sloped parking space. Also, renaming the car helps. Naming things aids in attachment, that's why farmers don't name animals they will later slaughter. I named the car Alphonso as it reminds me of a sleazy Italian.

I've returned to my former life of nannying and enjoying the convenience of life in the States and planning and plotting how to return to Ireland.

Been giving a lot of thought to story and how to make my life into the kind of story I want it to tell. (Inspiration on this topic having come from Don Miller's book A Million Miles in a Thousand Years, The Brother's Bloom, and most recently Beth Moore's Bible study on Esther and Adri.) I found out today that the course I was interested in in Belfast is already full for the coming academic year. So the knocking continues. The big question at the minute is, do I stick with the "where" or the "what?"

So, I guess that's it.

Oh, wait, one more thing... On Tuesday I went with my sister and brother-in-law to her ultrasound appointment and we got to see baby Will! He was so cute! They (unexpectedly) did a 3D ultrasound and we got to see him waving and playing with his feet and covering his face so we couldn't get a good picture and pouting when the technician jiggled Laura's stomach so he would move his hands. Absolutely adorable!!! Can't wait to meet the little guy in real life!

So, besides the fact that I am so totally excited about this final season of LOST (especially after the premiere on Tuesday!!!), I think that really is it!

a happy day!

My sister Emily and her boyfriend Calvin got engaged yesterday!!!

more women should dress like us

So two weekends ago I visited my youngest sister Lacy in Tennessee where she goes to college. We had a great weekend. On Friday we went into Chattanooga and explored the city a bit. Fabulous independent bookstore where I found a copy of Pablo Neruda's Love Poems and Lacy found a wonderful little journal with birch trees. We saw The Proposal which was entirely predictable, but still enjoyable. We had great salads at Panera for dinner then crossed The Walnut Street Bridge for some ice cream from Clumpy's. The sunset from the bridge was beautiful and we just sat and enjoyed the evening. We walked past a man who said to us, "Good evening girls. Ya'll look great. More women should dress like you." We decided this must be because of our impeccable fashion sense and not because he thought we looked slutty. Sunset from the Tennessee River

Lacy

The Walnut Street Bridge

Sisters

On Saturday we went hiking in the Cherokee National Forest which was an adventure! The first half hour or so was fine, just following the trail and crossing the stream on rocks and fallen logs a couple times. Then we had to climb up the side of the mountain. That's when it got a bit interesting. As much as I love trail walking scrambling through the brush and decaying leaves full of large insects and possibly snakes is not my favorite thing. We made it down to our destination, a beautiful waterfall where we had lunch and soaked up the day and Lacy swam in the pool at the base for a while. (A short while as it was VERY cold.) When we decided to head back was when the fun really began. Lacy couldn't find the trail. You loose it on the way in and then have to climb back up to where you leave it to head back out. We were scrambling up and down and across the side of the mountain for a good 15 minutes when we came across an army back pack that had been lost or dropped or something. It had been there for a week or maybe less. Animals had gotten into it and strewn the contents. Prescription medicine, tins of food, a large package of ivory soap. And a machete. That was slightly disconcerting as we were half expecting to stumble on a body or hear the weak cries of an injured soldier. Anyway, I got tired of going back to the waterfall to start again and pushed ahead, blazing a trail in roughly the right direction. After a few minutes Lacy, who was lower down than me, called out, "I found the real trail!" Which was a huge relief to both of us! The rest of the day was taken up with snow cones and movies and easy dinners.

Giant millipedes were everywhere!

Lacy swimming in the pool.

Sisters

The waterfall and me

Staring up at the sky... This was my view!

The Waterfall

Snail and mushroom on moss

On Sunday we meandered our way to Atlanta where I caught a plane to Jacksonville, Florida. I'll be here until the 30th of July. So far, we're having a blast.

o happy day!

One week ago today my sister, Laura, married Wes. The day was beautiful, Laura was radiant, the joy was tangible. We couldn't have asked for anything more.

around the dinner table

While eating pizza with William and Davis, both seven, this conversation ensued:

William (reading my shirt): Jamaica me happy. That means I'm happy.
Me: Yes. Guess where Miss Laura is going on her honeymoon? Jamaica.
Davis: For my honeymoon, when I grow up, I'm going to go to Antigua. ... Or Atlanta. Atlanta is a popular place. Lots of people go there for their honeymoon.
Me: Oh! How about you William? Where will you go on your honeymoon?
William: I don't know. ... I have abs.
Me: What?
William: Abs, I have abs.
Davis: Yeah, me too. I have a six pack.

things that have made me laugh, or cringe, recently or just random things I feel like saying

1. Being given a horribly wonderful lime green "I ♥ Ireland" t-shirt by one of my favorite people, Shelby, age 7. (The heart is a little tri-color and I've worn it to bed every night since she gave it to me.)

2. A lady I have recently started babysitting for told me that I had the perfect name to be a country music star.

3. My new cerise dress. It's wonderful!

4. Getting a ticket for driving a car with an expired registration.

5. Baking cakes for my sister's bridal shower.

6. My computer has begun to die. (This kind of fits into both categories because I've decided that when it goes I'm going to get a mac.)

7. Finally seeing two movies I've been wanting to see for a while. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and He's Just not that into You. I liked them both.

8. Last night when I got home from a full day of bridal shower and family gathering and movie with my sister I had a glass of wine and finished off a bag of dark chocolate covered pretzels.

9. I think that women who wear heels all the time must have gone through some sort of training or boot camp to be able to endure the pain. I wore maybe 2.5" kitten heels for the better part of the day yesterday. My feet are still not quite back to normal.

10. I'm reading the Country Girls Trilogy by Edna O'Brien and I'm loving it. The writing is beautiful and still very Irish (not that the two terms are mutually exclusive but if you've read a lot of Irish fiction maybe you'll understand what I mean). I've found some of the content surprising for books that were published in Ireland in the 1960s. Anyway, I'm adding her to my favorite authors list.

the 25 things of facebook

1. My obsession in making mixed tapes/CDs transferred itself into making playlists on iTunes... I have 171 playlists.

2. I dislike how self-focused I can be... For example I really like doing things like this and started to think of what I would write before I was ever tagged.

3. I made no New Year resolutions this year... I'm still working on last years: Pay Attention, made because of #2.

4. I could never tell you what my single favorite book, movie, song was. There will always be at least three answers.

5. I had a few traumatic experiences with stage make up as a child and to this day will not use an eye liner pencil.

6. God catches my attention using the numbers 11 and 44.

7. I have memorized 5 books of the Bible and there was a time when I could quote Hebrews and 1,2,3 Peter without making a single mistake.

8. I still love to memorize things and could rattle off about a dozen poems.

9. I used to do a paper route and would make the hours go by quicker by pretending I was delivering messages for the Jewish Underground during WWII.

10. My favorite game to play with my sisters and brother when we were little was loosly based on the Boxcar Children and a movie called On Our Own.

11. I was an extremely imaginative child... something I haven't quite grown out of.

12. For example, I love story in any form I encounter it and I tend to become quite entwined in what I'm reading or seeing. Once as a child I was so caught up in a book I was reading I just caught myself before asking for prayer for the main character. I still have to remind myself that "it's just a movie."

13. I probably know more children's songs than anyone I (or you) know. And have taken great delight in singing them incessantly to annoy my friends.

14. I'm a bit of a pack rat but clutter REALLY bothers me, so all my stuff is neatly organized.

15. I didn't discover how much I love travelling until I was 23.

16. I am absolutely hopeless at video games. I babysit for three boys who love to play Mario Kart on their Wii. They always make me be on a seperate team so I won't bring down their score.

17. I frequently crave dill pickles.

18. I could probably quote the entirety of You've Got Mail.

19. I've come to realized that a lot of my fashion choices are inspired by movies that I like.

20. I am on a continual hunt to find the perfect facial cleanser and moisterizer, I've tried dozens to no avail.

21. I secretly take great delight in shocking people with the fact that I've never seen Star Wars or James Bond or Indiana Jones. And that I can't swim.

22. For my 7th birthday we went to the circus and I formed a little crush on the lion tamer.

23. I imagine that when I retire I will have a little house in the mountains and spend my days wandering the hills, gardening, painting, throwing pots, and reading. And maybe writing poetry.

24. I secretly wish that I had curly hair.

25. I don't really like diamonds, or roses.

4 hours and 22 minutes

That's the time it took my sister Emily to run 26 miles and 385 yards. Today was her very first marathon and we spent the morning driving around to different spots in Charlotte to cheer her on.

(Just before the finish line, surrounded by friends and one other random runner)

At our last stop before the finish line, somewhere between mile 18 and 20 she handed me an empty water bottle and said, with the pain on her face, "I feel like hell." But though others around us were walking or even taking a pause to stretch she never stopped running. Em, I'm so proud of you!

congratulations Laura and Wes!!!

Yesterday, on her 24th birthday, my sister Laura got engaged!!!

for lacy

Because I'm not feeling especially clever or creative right now... missing you too much for that(thanks for shattering me with your words) ... here is one of our favorite poems to tell you how I feel about you until I can compose myself enough to try and express it myself:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart)i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go,my dear;and whatever is done
by only me is your doing,my darling)

i fear
no fate(for you are my fate,my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world,my true)
and it's you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than soul can hope or mind can hide)
and this is the wonder that's keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

-e.e. cummings