Programming Makes Me Fat

I'm convinced that programming is bad for the waistline. Besides sitting on your butt most of the day, it makes me want to eat.

I am in the second semester of Java programming, so I don't know a whole lot yet. It's really frustrating. It takes me a week or two to get through some of this homework. Especially when all the examples are for int arrays and we are working on String arrays. Besides the fact that I'm trying to make a object and the examples are shown in procedural programming. Have your eyes glazed over yet? Mine did. That's probably why it takes me so long to figure it out. If I don't have coffee before class I want to go to sleep. I've caught the guys next to me napping behind their screens too.

So, if this is so incredibly boring, why do I want to do it? Maybe I'm just weird. I like to figure things out. I like puzzles. I like a challenge. Maybe that's why I picked up knitting, why I'm currently into lace. I guess next it will be entrelac, but I'm not really crazy about the look of the finished product so it will have to be something really pretty.

Ehh, skip entrelac. I just got EZ's Opinionated Knitter and there are some gorgeous Fair Isle sweaters I'd like to try. I haven't attempted Fair Isle yet. I've dabbled in Intarsia. I really need to get into some color work.

Currently on the needles: 1 CounterPoint Scarf (Almost done, but it's taking forever because I only work on it once every two weeks during the video at Bible Study.)

2 Clandestine Socks. I have about 4 inches left to complete. I've made the leg and turned the heel. I'm currently working on the feet, two at a time on 3 needles. Three because for some reason I have one long needle and two short ones. It was easier to turn the heel with the short ones and keep the long one for the top of the foot. Hmm. These are taking a while too. Probably because of the Java homework. Sigh.

Today's Sweater is a Wrap - "Literally"

Apologies to Brenda Dayne and Saturday Night Live for that title. A while back I wrote about some lovely yarn that I acquired at my LYS. I had my eye on a wrap that one of the girls was wearing and noticed how lovely it was draped across her shoulders. I couldn't stand it so I bought the yarn. I know, I'm weak. Who could resist this? The yarn is Schaefer Laurel in the Susan Sontag colorway. I noted at the time that the colors reminded me of the beach. I also noted that when I got home and started working on the pattern that they wrote out for me, my brain decided that it couldn't be right. My memory kept thinking that the ribs were thicker and there was more substance to it. It kept looking like a shopping bag to me. Actually, this would be a great stitch pattern for a shopping bag. I think the yarn might be overkill for a market bag though. Anyway, it was driving me crazy. I went to the web to look for stitch patterns. I found Lacy Diagonals and that was better, but still not giving me the thicker ribs I was looking for. I modified that and came up with the pattern below. Actually, this is the first pattern that I have written out. I named it Sky Wrap because it reminds me of clouds in the sky.

By the way, I was wrong. I went back to the store and compared my wrap to theirs. Stephanie's wrap was exactly as she had written it. She liked what I did though. My ends slant, hers were straight. My memory thought that her ends were slanted. What a brain fart! Anyway, mine's an original and I love it! I wore it all over Amsterdam in September.

At some point I'm going to post the pattern, but until I remind myself of what I actually did, I'll have to leave it off. Remind me to remind myself to refigure it out.......

Happy New Year!

I know it doesn't look like I've done much lately, but believe me, I have. Christmas was super busy knitting socks for MIL, a scarf for my mom (on Christmas Day!) I finished the sweater for my SIL. Really it had been done since July, but I never bought the buttons. So I was sewing those on the week before Christmas.

Since Christmas I have almost finished another scarf. Nothing too fancy. I had the yarn left over from the "Homeless Scarf Project" that our church did this year. The yarn is Lion Brand Homespun. I have mostly shunned the fiber available at stores like Michael's but I am discovering that even Lion Brand is producing some nice product. Homespun is all poly/acrylic, but very soft. Unfortunately it ravels a lot. I made tassels for my mom's scarf and it is now getting fiber all over her. Oops. I don't think she minds. She was telling my MIL that she wanted me to knit her something. This was while I was in the kitchen hiding away trying to finish her scarf! I was late on this project because I started MIL's socks 2 weeks before Christmas and there was more knitting than I thought. They were actually a full size sock, but the picture has the cuff rolled. I thought the cuff was just decorative. I hope they are not itchy. I made them from a Lana Grossa sock yarn that I found in Texas. It seemed soft when I bought it, but after working with it for a while it felt somewhat itchy. I also made them rather large because she complained that she can't find socks that fit her. Well, I hope these do. I haven't heard anything about them yet. I'm sure I will. I have also gone back to my Oriel Lace Blouse. I'm working on the sleeves and am almost to the sleeve cap. There's something I want to change though. The place where you add on stitches I have used purl stitches and it looks funky to me. So I think I am going to switch all these stitches to what the pattern should be other than increases and decreases. Knits for the knit rows and purls for the purl rows. Hopefully it will blend a little better then. I got a new camera for Christmas. Now I just got to upload the pics! Pictures uploaded 1/6/08

Scrappin the Night (and day) Away...

Here are a few things I've been working on lately. I went to a crop night at my LSS and got quite a bit done. This was at our choir workshop earlier this year with the Gary Bonner Singers. The workshop was in Arroyo Grande. The layout was done probably a couple of years ago, but I hadn't filled in in yet. I came across these pictures in my box 'o pictures from the kids high school years. I've got tons of them. Way more than I can put in a scrapbook. This is from 1999. The choir was singing Africa by Toto. The costumes were made by a Hollywood costume designer.

This is what I worked on today. The pictures are from my daughter's solo performance in the BHS Pop Show 1999. She performed "He's a Tramp" from Lady and the Tramp. The pictures were scanned so that I could do a digital layout. I love the background. I'm a little slow at digi, but I'm getting it. The background is Bittersweet from Dahlia Co Designs.

This one is my testimony. It's my first digital layout. I did it for the FaithSisters challenge last week. Unfortunately I couldn't get it in on time. Credits to Krystal Hartley's FaithFreebie embelishments, embelishments from Linda Holt's Persian Rug kit available on polkadotpotato.com, background by Cheryl Olson.

Journaling: I don’t remember a time that I didn’t know the Lord. As a small child I remember praying to Him, asking for favors, making vows. When my Barbie doll’s leg got broken I asked Him to heal it. I anxiously awaited the next morning when I would wake up and her leg would be miraculously healed. He said no.When I heard my parents fighting in the next room I vowed I would never do that to my children. It was painful to listen to and He heard my cry. He provided me with a wonderful husband who loves me as I love him. We have been together since 11th grade and married 26 years. I have always felt that God led me to him. I feel pretty lucky and grateful for His hand in our lives. He is my rock who I lean on in the tough times as well as the good. Sometimes I see His sense of humor and I laugh with Him. I marvel at the beauty of his creation and the sky paintings He sends me every morning.I haven’t always walked so closely with Him, but he uses life circumstances to bring me back to Him. I’m hanging on to Him for dear life. Psalm 107:10-15 (NIV) 10 Some sat in darkness and the deepest gloom, prisoners suffering in iron chains, 11 for they had rebelled against the words of God and despised the counsel of the Most High. 12 So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help. 13 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains. 15 Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men.

IN OTHER KNITTING NEWS The sleeves for the Oriel Lace Blouse are coming along. I haven't got any pictures of them yet. They are about in the same place as before I frogged. Umm. Not quite. I haven't gotten that far, but close. I finished the scarf for the church ministry. I'll start another one. Maybe even as soon as I get off the computer. The orange light isn't a golden sunset glow. It is the light filtering in from the smoke of the California fires. Today it is almost clear again. I took that picture a couple of days ago. It even rained (if you can call it that) a little today. It would be nice if it just poured for a little while. Well, I need to clean up my scrapbook mess, knit a little and off to bed. I've got an early day at church tomorrow. Singing on the worship team. Yeah!