First Impressions

Well, I've now been using my Namaste Messenger bag for two days and thought I'd give my own little review.

As a knitting bag, I give it a 8/10. For my purposes, as a general use bag, it's getting about an 6/10.

Positives:
1. Love the colour and fabric
2. Love how easy it is to change the strap length
3. It does hold quite a bit (I managed to get in a macbook, monkey bag, notions bag, wallet, phone, and a bag full of junk and that was without opening the bottom)
4. Like that it expands

Could use improving:
1. Strap needs padding, when weighted down it cuts into my shoulder (but this is easily fixed)
2. The magnetic clasps don't actively attract each other. I have trouble closing the bag, especially when it's full.
3. The construction isn't stiff enough to keep the laptop from shifting around and trying to lay flat (but since it wasn't really meant for this purpose, I can't blame them)
4. It's hard to find small items against the black lining
5. When fully loaded, the flap doesn't close and I had stuff fall out. Maybe a zipper?
6. Needs a handle or something to grab it by on top. When it's fully loaded and you have the strap fully extended, it's hard to move it around in the car/around your feet.
7. Doesn't stay upright very well when you put it on the ground.

Even with the 6/10 rating and all the things that I feel could be improved, I would still recommend the bag as long as you aren't going to be carrying around a laptop or really heavy books in it.

Moving..

Well, moving in July was probably one of the worst ideas I've ever had. It was so hot! By the end of the day I jumped into a cold shower and didn't even notice I'd forgotten to add any hot water. But besides that, it went well.

We started the day at U-haul, where we proceeded to wait over an hour to get the truck. There was only one person a head of me though, so I'm not quite sure what took so long. Then, once I finally got it, the tank was on 'E' with the little gas tank light on. Boy was I mad about that. You should have heard the guys in the store I brought it back to go on about how they were never supposed to let a truck go out on empty. Of course, silly me forgot to look in the back of the truck, and drove half a block with the door open, and without the handtruck and pads I paid for. If you ever rent a u-haul, get the hand truck! Best $10 I ever spent!

So we get to the apartment, and start loading in the big stuff. Everything had to go down a flight of steps. But it was early and dad and I were fresh, so it wasn't too bad. I don't really own anything too heavy, except for a table that G gave me. Took us about 2, maybe 2 1/2 hours to load the apartment. Now.. that apartment is a MESS, and I decided to hire someone to clean instead of doing it myself. Seemed safer that way.

The trip itself wasn't bad. The Schuylkill (Rt 76) was actually moving, even if it had occasional pockets of slow down and sit for a minute. Mom and Dad both asked if it was always like that, and I had to tell them that was good for that road. Don't think either of them will ever drive that again (though they don't need to go on that road to get into Philly, so it should be okay).

Made it to the building, but couldn't find parking, so we parked the truck on the next block and started to haul boxes. About 3 trips into this, the other U-haul parked in front of the building was able to pull forward and that gave us enough room to squish the truck in. Gotta love an elevator is about all I can say for the rest of the move.

I had a bookcase in my bedroom in the old place. Now it was a piece of knock it together furniture, but worked perfectly for what I wanted. NO way was it getting out of the bedroom in one piece... I actually had dad bring an axe so I could chop it up if need be. No need.. my awesome dad managed to get it apart without any problems! Of course, he couldn't stay on Sat to help me put it back together, but he's coming back on Tues and bringing air conditioners with him!

So now, I'm mostly unpacked. Cable guy comes tomorrow. Cats are adjusting, though I think they miss the birdfeeder. I'm mostly unpacked, except for clothing and books. Best of all, J's coming out to visit tomorrow, and I figured out how to get us to three yarn shops!

So, a public thank you to my parents who were wonderful as usual.

I treated myself..

So yesterday, I had to go to the LYS and buy a skein of Lamb's Pride. I finished the Jaywalkers early in the morning and had nothing left out to knit for the rest of the day (I know.. what was I thinking).

I get to the yarn store and sitting on the shelf is this yummy cranberry bag. Now, I start school in about a month, and I've been wondering if I should get a new "professional" type bag or stick to my faithful LL Bean backpack. Well, new bag won, just because I fell in love.

May I present, my new toy! Now, in truth, I'm not sure what qualifies this as a "knitting bag" except maybe the pockets inside of it, but it was much less than most other "knitting bags" and right around the same price as a "normal" messenger bag.



I love the inside fabric!
Okay, guess these could hold a sock or two...Maybe you're supposed to use the outside pockets for wallet and stuff and the inside ones for knitting stuff?

Love the strap, but the lack of padding will have to be addressed. To which end, I think this should make a nice felted cozy for the strap and maybe even a little cell phone pouch.
My parents come over this morning to help me move. I hate moving. The cats are already totally freaked out and I haven't even pulled out their carrier yet. Oh well, new bag to make me smile.

YPF

I really didn't want to miss YPF for two weeks in a row, but couldn't figure out what to do short of unpacking a few boxes to find yarn. That's until I started to pack up my closet and found this:

Yes, it is my oldest UFO. How do I know that... well, I started this for a friend's baby, and the baby is almost two years old now. I tried to design a different pattern for each of the four blocks (and was then going to repeat it), but got totally stumped on the fourth block. Now I'm looking at it wondering what on earth I was thinking, and I'm ready to frog it and just knit the white squres without the patterning.

Yarn:
ZarOne
50/50 wool/acrylic
on size 10 1/2 needles

Close up shots:



I like the yarn, it's nice and bouncy and shows stitches really nicely. Bonus, it's washable. Now that I've rediscovered this, maybe I'll get around to finishing it.

tee hee

I'm posting from my very empty new apartment. I picked up the keys today and was going to clean it up, but it really doesn't need much. Now I'm wondering if I really need cable and internet service since I found an unlocked network..

WIP

Well, not much done on the knitting front this week.. between packing and missing the two meetings of knitting group I just haven't had the time.

I'm hoping to finish this by Saturday... I finished the gusset this morning, so it should be doable. (Sorry about the bad pic)

Two more fish down... not counting the unfinished row, it is currently 28L x 31 W and 15 fish. So I guess that means I need a bit over 60 fish to make it as large as I'd like. Problem is.. I'm almost out of stash yarn to make it out of. Might have to place a knit picks order.


Too bad this wasn't a baby blanket... I'd be done by now :)

Crazy Week..

Just so no one thinks I've forgotten this place.. I'm packing up my apartment this week so I can move on Saturday. Internet won't be installed in the new place till Tues or Wed. With all the packing, my knitting has been limited this week. I am trying to finish mom's socks before she comes on Saturday, but other than that I haven't done much.

I must be nuts..

It is now 8am on Saturday morning and I haven't gone to sleep yet. Why you ask? Well, last night I went to a 9:40pm showing of the new Harry Potter movie. It let out after midnight so I decided to see what Barnes and Nobles looked like. What a ZOO! So I headed home, stopped at the super market, paid an extra $5 for the book that I didn't have to wait in line for at all and have been up all night reading it.

Now, to see if I can grab a nap and still do something with my Sat.

Is it really Friday?

I beg forgiveness for missing YPF this week. I've worked the last three nights (which means I sleep through any chance of pretty photo shoots). I've also managed to pack most of my yarn in anticipation of moving next weekend.

Since I can't give you yarn pics.. how about fiber on the hoof?
Both pictures are from the Anchorage Zoo. I visited it in Nov 2003 when I was looking for a place to live up there. I have NO idea why there's a camel living there.

WIP

Well, I got some pics this week, though I'll apologize for the flashes..

Rogue is coming along at about ten rows per week.. it's a bit hard to concentrate on the chart while at knitting group..
Jaywalkers... one down, one to go. I know my toes are sticking out the end of the finished one, but you see, these aren't for me, and my foot is a good 1/2 in - 1 in larger than mom's. I haven't grafted the toe though, I want to make sure they fit. The yarn pooled a bit in the foot, but other than that I love the colours.


Last one with pics... the Festive Fish. I haven't really been working on this all that much because of the weather. I think I finished 2 fish this week.. I'm going to need a lot more of these than I thought and I'm already running out of stash yarn to use on it. Unless I add in another color, and the only colour with enough in my stash is purple.
No pics:
Shoalwater shawl: haven't touched.
Noro Scarf: haven't touched.

I've been watching "The Addams Family" on DVD these past few days. I forgot that Mortica used to knit all the time. Talk about some funky sweaters.. wonder who did the knitting for the show.

YPF

Well, in the last two days I've taken over 100 pictures of the yarn in my stash to add to Ravelry.. so let's review a few of them here.

Never mind.. not a single pr0nny one in the whole batch... but it's so much easier to find what I'm looking for now.

Meet Hershey:
I ran into Hershey's owners at last year's Warren County Fair. This was pretty much the only yarn in the whole place, but the cuddly creatures made up for it... so did the price for suri laceweight.

I have three skeins of this... I think my original plan was a LARGE lace scarf.. but as you can see, I haven't gotten that far yet.

And because I haven't posted any kitty pics in a while...

A very happy Opal in a box:

and a not so happy Opal after Seasa pounced on her and stole the box:

Sorry about the devil eyes.. but this was late at night and I was using the flash.

Socks are FINALLY done!

Finally done... only took me about six months :) These got frogged more times than I can count. Guess I really liked the yarn, because I usually give up on a yarn once it's been frogged more than three times.

Yarn: Austermann Step
Needles: size 1 - magic loop
Pattern: own
Size: women's 10

WIP Wednesday

Well.. I forgot to take pics..

The socks are slowly coming along..

Rogue has the shoulders seamed and two rows of the hood done.

A few more fish have been added to the bag..

Nothing else was done this week. It's too damn hot, and I'm still working on organizing the stash onto Ravelry.

All is good in my world

Well, at least in the non-knitting part of it. I got my final loan approval notice yesterday, which means I don't have to work at all while I'm in school this coming year. Today I hiked into Philly in the most g-d awful heat, walked around for five hours and left with a signed lease for a great little apartment. It's a bit farther from campus than I had planned, but the rental company offers a shuttle service. Plus, I would have barely gotten a studio for the same price if I stuck close to campus. Right now, I'm planning on getting the keys on July 25th. I know.. why so long if I already signed the lease? Well, between now and then the rental company needs to have someone come in and do the wood floors, and the 25th is the first time I have more than one day off in a row that doesn't include a Sunday. They gave me this month for free... which worked out nicely since I really didn't want to sign a lease till Aug 1st.

As for the knitting part.. it's too hot to knit. I've run out of pics to upload to ravelry and I'm way too tired to start taking pics of and organizing my stash. Heck... it's even too hot to spin, my merino was sticking to my fingers.

Edited to add: Okay, I couldn't wait to play with ravelry.. so I used what few plastic bags I had and posted my Lamb's Pride stash... soon pics shall follow.

Okay, blogger won't let me put in a title...

I'm learning today how much I don't have my yarn organized. Yes, I got my Ravelry invite. I kept my name as Akknitter over there. I have most of this week off from work... so I'm going to go to the market tomorrow, buy a bunch of ziplocks and some big plastic tubs and get to work. Hopefully the sun will cooperate so I can get pics of the yarn. I may need to upgrade my Flickr account in order to get everything online in less than 100 years. (yes, I have a lot of yarn in my stash).

I'm trying to figure out how everyone put all their old projects online... I truthfully can't remember everything I've ever made, how long it took and what yarn it was made out of. Guess maybe I'll have to start from scratch.

Anyone else want to be my friend? turtlegirl found me before I even spent five minutes on Ravelry :) BTW - Turtle... nice stash :)

YPF of the best kind..

Yes dear readers, today we have the best kind of YPF... the kind that will let me finish the scarf that has been sitting on my couch since I discovered that I didn't have the colours needed to finish it. May I present: Noro Big Kureyon #8 compliments of turtlegirl76.




Now, I have yet to wind it up and look for the section I need. But at last there is hope that my scarf will be finished.

WIP

Well, I figured I'd post now, since the day seems like it will be quite dreary and I don't know if I'll get pics.. (though I'll leave room for them)

The two washcloths from last week are all finished, with the hemp ones already gifted away.

Rogue: I finished the shoulders at knitting group on Monday. Now I just need to wait till next Monday when I'm in the nice cold bookstore to sew them together and start the hood.

My travel socks: One down, past the heel on the second.

Shoal water shawl: um yeah... no change... maybe I shouldn't be knitting lace with lace weight yarn.

The fish: two more done, and found a few more skeins on sale that match my colour scheme

Noro scarf: Yarn isn't here yet, so no progress on that one. Hopefully it will be done next week thanks to turtlegirl!

Wow... that's it? Doesn't seem like a lot. I did buy a whole bunch of superwash light worsted to make socks out of (I found it on sale). Maybe I'll start those next.