Currently, me.

Obsessing over…

Doctor Who yarn, fiber, AND stitch markers. Stitch markers for the 10th Doctor (David Tennant, EEEEEE!!) too. Even better. Good thing my birthday is 14 days away ^_^

Working on…

Heehee… well. You all know my UFO bin, to some degree. It seems like a huge bottomless pit to me, haha. But at the moment, I’m working on…

Julissa

Trillian

Emma

and Mitered Cross Blanket

Haha, of course there’s tons more, but that’s what I’m working towards finishing at the moment :-P

Thinking about…

School, graduation, life after graduation, blog post, and how many stinking exciting things I have coming up in the near future ^_^ Holy cow.

Anticipating…

Those exciting events that’ll be happening. I can’t can’t can’t wait for them to.. happen, haha. Graduating, that’s definitely something that I’m anticipating, haha. Also, finally getting through all those UFOs, and being freeeeee of the guilt of starting something new when I know I should be working on something I already have going :-P Teehee ^_^

Listening to…

a shuffle of Sarah Harmer, Joshua Radin, JJ Heller, and Honey Trees Pandora stations. That’s happiness, right there.

Eating…

Nothing at the moment, haha, but tea time should be happening soon ^_^ Om nom nom!

Wishing…

Lots of stuff, haha. Wishing various places where my friends live weren’t so so far away from Houston/Texas in general, because that makes me sad. Wishing for more time to work on blog stuff, knitting time, and spinning time. For long hair, haha.

Also, just btw. I got new glasses ^_^ My old ones looked like Harry Potter glasses (oor Molly, the American Girl Doll, however you wanna look at it :-P) and now they’re different ^_^ These, I’d definitely go out in public in. And not be afraid of people being like “OH MY GOODNESS. THOSE LOOK LIKE HARRY POTTER’S!!” which there’s nothing wrong with that… hahahahaha :-P But it gets kinda old after awhile, hahahaha :-P

Linking up with The Paper Mama for her Self Photo Challenge!

Upcoming changes..?

The second shawl of the West Knits Shawl Club came yesterday. it was a major major happy moment ^_^ It looks like it’s pretty much completely in garter stitch, except the edging at the bottom. Still US4 needles, so it’ll take awhile, haha. but it’ll be really epic when it’s done :-P

At the moment, besides school, looking forward to the new year, trying to re-gain my correct sleep levels, and school. Annnd knitting. I’ve been working on ideas for this blog.. the appearance, posting, important stuff like that.

So my posting might not be *quite* as regular coming up, but that’s just because ideas are bouncing around in my brain, trying to make The Ramblings of a Knitting Goddess the best it can be :-P

Bertie is also pretty excited about it too, haha. You can see the excitement pouring off his face, haha :-P

14 Days of Thankfulness!

What’s this? It’s.. 14… 13…ish, haha, days till Thanksgiving! and you know what that means…?

It’s basically where you post every single day, either on.. your blog, facebook, twitter, pinterest, tumblr, any kind of social media, about something you’re thankful for.

Yep, every day. Or not every day! Whenever you want to, between *now* and Thanksgiving. You could also make it a family deal, and have everyone come up with something and then make a cool board that you create. Or, you could do it with a friend, and send emails back and forth every day. Or write it on a sticky note and stick it somewhere where you’ll see it.

I did this last year, and the year before. So you can read that introduction post as well, haha, if this one was confusing.

And I’m not saying… that I’m not thankful the rest of the year, haha. It’s just a fun thing to do right before Thanksgiving where you celebrate being thankful!

If you do want to join in the fun (because, seriously. It’s a ton of fun! I love doing it) if you want to join in, leave me a comment with your blog link, if you’re doing it on your blog. Or, say that you’re doing it somewhere else… even if you don’t have a link, I wanna know!

Oh, and if you join in, where ever you post it, please include a link to my blog :-)

And I’ll be making a list of people, links included if they’re there, so you guys can go and check out what other people are thankful for :-P

ALSO. I feel very proud of myself. I created a button for the 14 Days of Thanksfulness for you guys. So, you can grab that button and stick it on your own blog! Haha, when I was trying to make one… I had no idea what I was doing. But I did figure it out.. maybe on accident, haha. But it worked! *accomplishment*

When it comes to posting about things, sure, stuff like family, friends, all that stuff is really awesome! But try and think outside the box. Stop a minute, and look around really quick.. see anything that you wouldn’t really think about that you’re thankful for? I have like… 3 keychains on my desk right now, haha. And they’re all from different places. THey have happy memories! I’m thankful for keychains like that, haha.

Be creative! Include pictures, quotes, songs… Make it *you*

So, yes, grab the button, stick it where you can… and yep ^_^

<a href="www.knittinggoddesswithacat.wordpress.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1130.photobucket.com/albums/m535/littleminky93/14daysthankfulnessbutton.png" alt="KnittingGoddessWithaCat" width="125" height="125" /></a>

Phew, am I forgetting anything..?

If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message, or comment!

Now, off to do my first day of thankfulness :-P

Quotable Friday!!

“I dwell in possibility.” – Emily Dickinson

^_^

Musical Monday!!

This song was played at a wedding, that I helped serve food at this past weekend, as the bride and groom walked back down the isle.

And I thought it was adorable.

Also, notice anything new? YEP. New layout ^_^

It’s still…being worked on. And I’ve gotta figure out all the widgets. So, if you come by and see something funky, never fear. It’ll be back to what it’s supposed to look like sometime soon :-P

Oh, and I now have a Facebook page for The Knitting Goddess!

You can head over there and like it…it would be UBERLY appreciated. You guys are the best readers *ever* :-)

Tweed, Spinning, and Dr.Who Fiber

*time to get back the regular schedule of blogging*

Ahhhh, it’s so good to be back ^_^

But to get down to business. And not necessarily defeat the Huns, but whatever. haha :-P

(I do warn you, I’m still suffering from jet lag, and am prone to say extremely weird things, laugh a lot when something isn’t really *that* funny, and randomly zone out. So, if any of this posts seems weird to you. Blame the jet lag. And the many cups of SWEETENED tea I’ve had to help the problem. Haha ^_^)

Anyways, *now* we get down to business.

Yarn stores we visited. Sooo many :-P Some were *absolutely amazing*…and some were kinda meh. But there are ones like that out there, and that’s just life.

But the amazingly awesomeness of the others made up for the meh-ness of the not-so-cool ones :-P

Anyways, what I’m currently working on, that I worked on on the plane, and before we left is…

Pattern: Zola by Carol Feller (Stolen Stitches)
Yarn: Rowan DK Felted Tweed (color 150)
Needles: US size 4 / 3.5mm

Just lemme say…

1) I adore the felted tweed. Holy cow, it’s like….SOOOO soft. and SOOOO pretty. Sure, it sheds everywhere. But it’s not like…”*cough* it’s shedding so much I can’t breathe *coughcough*” That might be a little much. I think after I’m done with it, it’ll have gotten most of the fuzzies out of it’s system, haha.

2) I love the pattern, sooo much. It looks really really simple, like shape and stuff. And it is, but it’s definitely different construction. And I’ve never done pockets before, so I’m learning something new! I love learning new knitting skills. it makes me feel good :-P

3)….and I kinda messed up. Like I messed up big time. BUT…I think I’ve figured out how I can fix it without having to rip out an entire side. It happened on the plane…and I wasn’t thinking properly, haha.

I was supposed to pick up 89 stitches along the side of the back (because the two fronts are knit…sideways, compared to the back. If that makes sense, haha) and do all the shaping and stuff on those 89 stitches. And there was something fancy with the pocket that I had never done before.

SO, I was like “ok, great. I can totally do this. Just 89 stitches…easy peasy”. And that part was really easy. So I picked up 89 stitches, and still had about 3 inches of the back left over that didn’t have any stitches on it…if that makes sense.

I didn’t think anything of it, because…I thought it had to do with the pockets, and all that stuff. Soooo, I thought nothing of it, and continued on with the shaping and stuff.

-_-

Well, upon later inspection (in other words, when I had gotten home, and after I was only about 10 rows from finishing the left front..) I realized that that open space needed to be included in those 89 stitches. *headdesk*

(if that was totally confusing, I’m thowwie. Haha, I’m not doing the best job and explaining it, haha.)

BUT I think I’ve figured out how to fix it. And It’ll be easy. and hopefully without a problem. And will…”add interest to the piece”

Hopefully it’ll work >.< We'll just have to wait and see, haha.

Also, let it be know that this is one of the best project bags in the ENTIRE world.

*may be biased because I’m that crazy cat person* *doesn’t care cause cats are totally worth it.* *GETS THE KITTY-KITTIES*

Anyways, I’ll be getting back to the regular blogging routine, and everything will start getting back to normal :-P

OH. OH OH OH!! I almost forgot.

I ordered my first Trindle(not these in particular, mine is actually purple (EEEE)!! Which is like spindling, but a bit different…

I also got some fiber…a little set of 6 2oz little…ball things (heh heh, my spinning terminology is like zero…right now, haha) and then a braid, I forget the weight, of these blues. That reminded me of the Doctor.

Which may or may not have been the reason for me getting the blue. But it doesn’t really matter ^_^

“O.o, this is random. Right now?? You’re like swamped with stuff. WHY are you starting spinning RIGHT NOW??” you might ask. Or something along those lines.

I say in return. “Ever heard of the Tour de Fleece?? That’s my reason.”

Plus, I’ve wanted to learn how to spin for the past 2 years or something. Annnnd…I’m finally getting around to doing something about it, haha.

I’M SO EXCITED ABOUT IT. HOLY COW. *wiggles (but not *THAT* kind of wiggling, ^_^) with the happiness of yarn-related stuff coming in the mail…soon*

Gotta love learning new things. Plus then when you succeed…the feeling is like “BOOYAH. *feels good about self* Oooooh yeah. I can teach myself new stuff. and it WORKS. Yesssss”

Or maybe that’s just me, haha. :-P

I’m on a Train goin’ to London. ^_^

Aaah, the powers of wifi. So that we can use it on a moving train.

So in the past two days…we’ve been in Edinburgh. Which was really stinking amazing…for different reasons from why Dublin is stinking amazing.

the old buildings in Edinburgh are seriously amazing. Like…there’s nothing really that can compare with them

It’s filled with history… with places like the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which we went to go see. (and actually, the current Queen of England still uses Holyroodhouse, and she was going to be staying there two weeks after we left Edinburgh. And like…she uses some of the rooms we were in. *major coolness*) The only really sad thing about seeing this…was this was at the end of day two, and my camera battery had…kinda died again (it’s a small battery :-/ and needs to be charged every other day, I guess, haha.) so I didn’t get any pictures of it :-( which is horribly depressing, because…of all the places we saw…I think *that* was the most beautiful. Poopy. Oh…well. Joey got lots of pictures, and hopefully he’ll be posting those soon :-)

Another place we went to go see was the Britannia. Which was also realllllly cool.

They had a baby grand piano in one of the sun rooms. Which people like Princess Diana, some granddaughters of the Queen…and some other famous people. But the piano was in uberly good condition…and was also bolted to the floor, haha. Which is a pretty brilliant idea for having a piano on a ship.

We also passed by (several times) the church in which Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara, is getting married in…in the near future. Or something like that. Which was pretty cool as well. The church had a head of a deer on the very top…which I think had to do with the dude who built the church hunted a deer that day, and something…important happened, haha. But…I forget exactly what, heh heh :-P

We went to two yarn stores in Edinburgh! One was kind of a disappointment, cause it didn’t have really any actually Scottish yarns. It was all just UK yarn and…stuff we can get in Houston. But the other one….now *that* was AMAZING. It was called k1 Yarns Knitting Boutique

It was so amazing, the owner was so nice, more than half the yarn was spun and dyed in the Isles by a small family. It’s like…*sooooooo awesome*

My mom and I both got yarn to make the same cardigan. Different colors though. Mine is bright pink (you all know this already, I love color. I love bright colors especially :-P) and my mom got this really awesome green. If you put our colors together and added some black, it’d look like a watermelon. Just to give you a visual :-P

It’s a simple bottom-up cardigan that the owner designed (and happened to be wearing hers, haha :-P). I’m knitting with size US 3s instead of US 4s…cause the smallest was bigger than what I wanted. I’m also making the sleeves short…or 3/4, I haven’t decided. And I’m making it longer. I love simple stuff like that that you can modify so easily :-P

We also ate at the cafe where J.K. Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter book! Which was really cool to see that :-P It was called The Elephant Cafe

We stopped there, had a cup of tea and some shortbread. Which happened to be shaped like an elephant, haha :-P And my pater had a latte. And…it was awesome :-P

We did so much more stuff…but that’s for a later post :-P

Now…I’m sitting on a train, on my way to London…where we’ll be for a week. Hopefully, since we’ll be there for a week…things will slow down and there’ll be more time for blogging and posting pictures on time :-P

We have 3 yarn stores lined up in London. Haha, and we agreed we’d spread them out through out the week. Most likely on Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

I see a lot of awesomeness in my future :-)

P.S. I think…I’ll be uploading all the pictures to my flickr at some point, so if you don’t have my facebook…you can see the pictures that way :-)

Day 1 – Dublin, Yarn Stores, and Green

We’re in Dublin!

The flight was awesome, besides the fact that there were two babies who screamed almost the whole way…and I found how unpleasant it is to have sausage for feet. (seriously, what is with feet swelling. SO UNPLEASANT. >.<, haha.)

It was alllll good :-P I even got some pretty awesome pictures up in the air, if I do say so myself :-P

So the flights was 9 hours. Surprisingly…I didn’t actually…knit the entire time. In fact, I don’t think I knit even *half* the time. It was all kinda spread around with…watching one episode of Dr. Who, reading, eating, listening to awesome music, taking pictures, watching people around me, and trying to sleep.

I fail, and had no idea how to get my seat to recline. Soooo…for about the first 2 hours we were supposed to be sleeping, or trying to sleep…it was….rather painful. Well, not at the beginning. But by the end of that 2 hour period, my back was like “AAAAGH. PAIN. MOVE. YOU NEED TO MOVE. BEND. ANYTHING.”

Then my amazingly wonderful mom should me that all you have to do is press this little button on the side of the arm rest. And you’ll lay back. Once I did that…I conked right out, haha. And continued to sleep for the next 2 and half hours.

Sleeping hours = 3 and a half.

I read…I ate the dinner they gave me. (which was reallllly good, actually. Way better than I was expecting. But maybe that was because I was starving, haha.) I tried to “dance” to music in my seat without wiggling *too* much and disturbing the grumpy people around me. I took pictures. I ate the breakfast the gave me…which was also very good.

Oh, I also wiggled cause I listened to awesome songs…that cause wiggleage, haha. And yes, “wiggleage” is totally a word. Well…not it is :-P But this fact is not quite relevant to everyone :-P *wiggles eyebrows*

So in actual fact, I probably only got about…30 rows done on the shawl I’m designing (which…doesn’t sound like *that* much, but the rows are realllllly big now. So it takes me about 10-15 minutes to just do one row.)

So, we arrived in London….alive and intact. Happiness abounded! Then we had to run to get on the plane to Dublin. Our very first destination. Made it without a problem.

The only stinking problem about this flight?!???

THEY DIDN’T ALLOW KNITTING NEEDLES IN THE CARRY-ONS. It was so terrible.

Thankfully, I found this out before we actually got to security…(cause they were grumpy) and all of it got taken away. I saw a sign, and my mom and I stowed our needles in a suitcase before we checked them. So that flight, I read most of the time. And tried to sleep. With my AMAZINGLY AWESOME Texan…we call them “Bucky” pillows, lol. the ones that wrap around your neck, haha. (why we call them “bucky” I have no clue :-P)

That was only an hour, so we quickly got to Dublin. Got a taxi, had an extremely pleasant ride with our Russian taxi driver, and got to our bed and breakfast. (which is where I am…at the moment :-P)

We dropped our stuff off. And headed out for EUROPE ADVENTURE – DAY 1 – DUBLIN.

So already our feet were blown up (we won’t go into that again, haha)…then walked like for forever. Which, isn’t a bad thing at all. it was totallllly worth it. Plus, it’s an awesome form of…exercise :-P Definitely not a bad thing at all.

So we walked all over the place. Got lunch at this amazing place called Bewley’s, I think. It was this really uberly awesome cafe thing.

So awesome, that they decorate their lattes/coffee/whatever that was with fancy heart things. With a complicated process that I shall never understand nor pretend to, haha. (cause that’s totally relevant, haha. I am a person of relevance while I write this. Holy cow, I have no idea how long I’ve been up. Please pardon me if this post makes no sense whatsoever, haha)

We continued to….

THE FIRST YARN STOREEEEEE!!! *HAPPY DANCE*

That…was one of the best experiences with a new knitting store ever. The lady working was sooooooo nice, like realllllly nice. The yarn selection was amazing. Debbie Bliss, Malabrigo, NORO (if a place has it, it gets major brownie points in my world :-P), Louisa Harding, and then yarn that was spun and dyed in Ireland.

My mom and I decided before we left that we would NOT get stuff we can get in the US. Noooo way. So we got some fingering weight handspun, hand-dyed…PURELY IRELAND YARN.

We also got this other yarn…that is also made in Ireland…at the same place where the Debby Bliss yarn is made, actually. But this is like a special kind of yarn. And…I love the color I got. It reminds me of the fall, summer, love, and just general happiness.

I seriously love color. But we’ve already been over that, haha :-P I think I’m going to do the Crofter’s Cowl by Gudrun Johnson….which I’ve had my eye on for awhile :-P

Another reason why the lady who was working there was so incredibly nice, was that when I asked if I could take pictures, she was like…

“Oh, of course! I’d love it!” (and of course, she said it in the amazing Irish accent. Which, in my opinion, it like one of the most soothing sounds in the world…just sayin’ :-P)

And…I got some more pictures of yarn…that I didn’t get. But seeing the yarn makes me drool :-P

Malabrigo Sock Yarn, BE STILL MY BEATING HEART.

Then, we went and looked at the Book of Kells at Trinity College, which was uberly cool.

By this time…we were all pretty much dead. Our feet were screaming. Our minds were screaming “WHY DON’T I HAVE ENOUGH SLEEP?!?”…so we decided to head back to our place. We took a shortcut through this park that’s right next to our place, just for fun. And it was beautifullllll.

Places that made me think happy things ^_^. Some places that reminded me of Central Park…which then reminded me of even more happy things, haha.

Now…I’m sitting at this little desk thing. Hoping the internet starts working again. Cause I want to post this and the pictures to Facebook.

I think we’re headed out to dinner at some fun place right around the corner…that requires only a small amount of walking to get to :-P

Then…we head back here for an early bed.

*phew*

I’ve been up since 8:30 AM (Central American time) on Saturday. It is now…6:30 PM on Monday, June 13th.

I hope I can adjust to the time change without any problem. that’d be reallllly nice.

As for tomorrow…I have no idea what’s gonna happen ^_^

Haha, this post was loooooong. Thowwie about that :-P I started typing not really know how to start it out, and once it got going…everything just started pouring out :-P

Sittin’ at the airport, waitin’ for the plane.

The internet is such an amazing thing, isn’t it? I mean, I’m…sitting in an airport.

*gasp*…

which really isn’t *that* big, I know. But hey, a long time ago people’s cell phones were half the size of their heads. And emailing was the big new thing.

So yes, we’re at the airport. And…it’s awesome. *is soooo excited*

At the moment, you’ll have to put up with the bad phone pictures. Tis the best I can do…at the moment :-P

But, I got this little…neck pillow thing. Because I hadn’t gotten one yet, and I needed one. The rest of the family got one at one point, but I didn’t. (no idea why) So now..after we checked in, we got one! and it is amazing.

Seriously. How cool is that? plus, it’s really soft and squishy…which makes it *that* much cooler.

*Texan pride*

Also, I’m sure…this is old news for a lot of people. But my passport cover? it’s like..the TARDIS. *the TARDIS*

*Dr.Who fan girl moment* I mean, it’s like…the TARDIS…that travels EVERYWHERE. Which makes it a really cool idea for a passport cover.

Also, I downloaded the entire Season 4 of Dr. Who…so my mom and I will be watching parts of it on the plane :-P

Countdown till Europe: 0

Also, to everyone I’ve told that we’ll be *12* hours ahead…

I was wrong, haha. really wrong :-P I really fail at time zones…they just don’t make sense to me.

We’ll only be *6* hours ahead. …difference. Whatever. So, if I’ve talked to you about skyping…it’s not *as* bad…as 12 hours, haha.

Musical Monday!! + Summer Plans

(there about 30 seconds of talking at beginning, but then the song starts :-P)

All Angels are amazing…sooo stinking amazing. This song always sends shivers down my spine. Their harmonies are just….*bliss*

The school year is (*cough* slowly *cough*) coming to an end. And this summer…is going to be busy and amazingly awesome.

The SAT is this Saturday. I am terrified and worried out of my MIND.

You have no idea how much prepping we’ve been doing for it, haha. I feel like I’ve been doing it since I was 5, or something. I want to burn the various books when I get home. Burn them…and laugh.

So what’s happening this summer? Summit Ministries is happening. In Colorado, end of July and beginning of August. It’s two weeks. and it’s going to be UBER UBER fun.

My only problem with going there…for two weeks. Is what in the world am I going to be bring to knit on? I mean…just the thought of me running out of stuff to knit on while I’m there is HORRIFYING.

So, I’ll have to be coming up with a list of smallish things to work on…that are fairly simple. I’m thinking like socks, shawls, top-down/bottom up cardigans/pullovers. Easy stuff.

Also this summer, I’ll be working on designing stuff. I’m nervous…and excited. Hopefully…it won’t be TOO terribly hard…or confusing.

And hopefully the things I make won’t be ugly. Cause that would be so depressing, haha.

But I already have an idea of the first thing. But it’s going to be kept a secret. Until I actually start working on it, haha.

I’ll also be working on my cooking skills…and sewing skills… so you’ll probably be seeing some of that.

Hopefully this blog will get a makeover. I would absolutely love that…

It’s almost been a year since I started using WordPress.. (HOLY COW. It seems like…forever ago. And also like it was just yesterday that I signed up for it…)

Also, sometime soon…I’m planning on making a list of various knitting podcasts (audio and video) that I’ve been addicted to for the past…month or so. Knitting podcasts = SO AMAZINGLY AWESOME.

Various trips..I’m not sure where, exactly…will be taken. Hopefully yarn stores will be visited :-P

And at the end of the summer, I believe, we will be taking our trip to Europe! I’m SO EXCITED.

But yarn store wise, I’m absolutely clueless. So, if you have any yarn stores that you’d like to recommend in England/Scotland/Ireland/Switzerland…and some other places. Leave me a comment, PM me on Ravelry, @ me on Twitter…or whatever :-P

And there’ll be other things as well, going on this summer. But…1) I forgot…(haha :-P) and 2) the post would be uberly long, haha :-P

Bertie is having a good Monday so far…that’s where he’s been all morning, haha.

Are you having a good Monday?

P.S. Soay is about…95% finished! All it needs is buttons…which I still need to locate/buy. And there are a couple ends that need to be woven in. So, once that happens…(which should be soon!) I’ll post pictures. And it’ll be another FO I can add to my list :-P