Starbucks & Yarn Scavenger Hunt

So, the Starbucks & Yarn swap that I am part of is doing a Scavenger Hunt so we can find out more about our fellow swappers. And let me tell you something. It was NOT easy! Here goes nothing!

In Your Blend (House Blend):

What U.S. state has the most folks in your Blend?
Virginia seems to have the most. Mixplate84, dramaqt99 (me!) and lakeknitter.

What is the most popular Ravatar choice, i.e., self portrait, child, pet, yarn, etc.
This was a little tougher. There really wasn't much of any ONE thing. Our group seemed to run the gammut! However, there were more self portraits. SScerrato, knittycent, dramaqt99 (me!), tiapixy, snowmoon3, sauvageblue

Find someone with over 100 posts. (Bonus if it's not a blend hostess.)
doxietrek (1418)

Who is the oldest Raveler in the group, i.e., Ravelry membership, not age!
knittycent (08/27/07)

Who is the newest Raveler in the group?
dramaqt99 (me!) (06/23/08)

Find a sock knitter.
knittycent

Find a spinner.
knittycent

Find two people with the same favorite drink.
mixplate84 and miami99 both share a love for passion tea

Find two bloggers.
Sauvageblue
knittycent

Find two non-bloggers.
lynnsanjac
miami99

Outside Your Blend:

Find two people who dye yarn.
bartons15 and randomranter

Find two people with the same favorite color(s).
randomranter and wannabemuse both like blues & greens

Find two people with the same favorite fragrance.
wamozart12 and bartons15 both like citrus fragrances

Find two people with the same favorite yarn(s).
cabingirl and bartons15 both like fleece artist

Find someone with more than four kids. (Bonus if you find more than one.)
kelly41momof5 (5) and bartons15 (13!)

Find three people who live outside the U.S.
rdodo= Winscombe, England
BellaAnna= Sopot, Poland
BumblebeeBaby= Vancouver, BC, Canada

Find someone with an unusual pet.
FibreJunky has an angora bunny, which I think is awesome because she can make her own yarn!
Find someone with at least three pets.
Dominicana Muneca has two cats and a dog

Find two people with birthdays in the same week.
donkeyegg (August 3) and 2327mary (August 4)

Find two people with the same favorite curse word.
glamrgeek and marian both like fu** the most.

In search of the perfect yarn!

I am really keen on making the Central Park Hoodie (CPH) and there's even going to be a DC KAL so I will have support while I am working on it. I went to my FAVORITE LYS, Knit Happens, to get the yarn and they were super helpful (as usual). I was really happy with my choice of the Harrisville Highland in Suede, but when I went to do my guage, it just wasn't working out for me. On size US 7 I was getting about 20 stitches over 4" and when I went up to US 8, it was like making lace the holes were so big. So, not being a math whiz, I decided I needed to find a different yarn. So, back to Knit Happens, where I got even MORE help and ended up with a different kind of Harrisville yarn that knits up to a perfect guage. Which then makes me worry that maybe perfect is TOO good? I'm not sure, I'm still pretty new to the whole knitting thing, so I just don't know. I think I'm just going to plunge in and hope that it works. Wish me luck!

Roommate Blues

In personal news, I am losing my roommate. My wonderful and absolutely FABULOUS roommate. She is moving in with her boyfriend and leaving me at the end of August. Which means, I'm not only losing an almost perfect roommate, but I now have to find a NEW roommate. I've never done that before. I've always been on the end looking for a place. My plan is to clean up and take some pics and then post an ad on Craigslist. Wish me luck that I'll be able to find someone who will be able to move in at the end of August so I won't have to pay the full rent amount for Septemeber!

In knitting news, I am filling my calendar with swaps and KALs. I think I've reached my limit now though. I'm doing the Starbucks & Yarn, Project Runway #5 (which isn't a REAL swap since I'm just sending a small prize to the winner of my group), the DC Central Park Hoodie KAL and the Hat Attack 2. Yeah, I think that's enough for my limited knitting capability. I also have my first pair of socks, my sister's poncho and starting on slippers for X-Mas gifts. Yeah DEFINITELY think I have enough knitting!

Oh, didn't want to forget to mention the FABULOUS party thrown by Wendy & Sarah. It was Iron Chef: Battle LIME! and it went off wonderfully. LOTS of good food (I did a variation on Cheesy pie where I used lime juice instead of lemon) and a good time was had by all. Thanks again to the lovely ladies in Westover! :) I have pictures that I'll post at a later date, but just wanted to drop a quick line and thanks.

Well, I think that about covers it for now. I'm heading to the LYS tonight to get my yarn for my S&Y swapee and my CPH, which I am really excited about! Talk to you all soon! :)

Quick Note

So, work is getting kind of crazy busy. The biggest part of my job is keeping track of MANY details on all of the speakers that we're going to have at our annual meeting. Now for anyone who knows me, they know that I am NOT a detail person. Therefore, it takes a lot of energy on my part to keep track of all the little details. So, now I'm getting really tired. In fact, I went to bed around 7 on Tuesday, woke up at 9 to eat a small-ish dinner and then was back to sleep by about 10:30. This means that I got NO knitting done on Tuesday. Bummer. However, I got a couple sets of 5 rows done on my socks yesterday, so I felt a little better. Oh, and my swap recipient did her questionnaire, so I now know what homemade goody she wants and I'm planning on going to a LYS in Hyattsville, MD to get the yarn and such. On the reading front, I finished 3rd Degree (James Patterson) in a day and a half and am still working on Ghostwalk, which is turning out to be just as good as I hoped. So, that's my week in a nutshell. I'll see if there's anything worth mentioning during the weekend. Have a good one, peoples! :)

Emotional Roller Coaster

Last night I finished Jodi Picoult's My Sister's Keeper, which had me on an emotional roller coaster. I have not been THAT moved by a book in a really long time. It truly touched me, which is strange because I couldn't really relate to any of the characters. Except maybe Anna, I could really understand her desire to be able to figure out who she is separate to her role in the family. The desire to know who you are in general is something I believe we all encounter. I wrote a more extensive review that you can read here. I am now moving onto Ghostwalk by Rebecca Stott. It is an historical thriller that takes place at Cambridge. I hope that is as good as it sounds!

Last night I also finished the cuff to my sock. It looks a LOT better than my fist attempt which makes me think that it was a good thing to start all over. Tonight I plan to work on my sister's poncho. I intend to go back and forth between these two until my sister's poncho is done. I will also have to work in the homemade goody for my Starbucks & Yarn partner. So, all in all, it will be a very busy knitting/reading week!

Sock knitting update

Ok, so instead of working on my socks over the 4th of July weekend, I opted instead to work on my sister's poncho. I am VERY excited to work on the socks, but I have been working on this poncho for almost a year now and it's SO close to being done, that I just have this need to finally FINISH it. I have one more ball/stripe to do and then I can sew it together and I'll be done. After that, I'll get back to my socks. I'd also like to do a baby blanket for my brother Justin's soon-t0-be-born baby. So, those are my summer projects.

Oh, and I also took a picture of all of my WIPs and yarn stash. I've posted them on my Ravelry page. You can view them here, but if you don't have Ravelry, here are a few of the pics. I hope to have some pics of my socks soon.

This is one panel of my sister's poncho. Each stripe is one ball of the yarn and I have only one ball left and then to finish it and it'll be done.

And here we have some really pretty purple yarn that is just waiting to become something. What though, I'm not so sure about. Any suggestions?

Starbucks Swap Questionnaire

Woo hoo! I'm participating in my first swap. I'm super excited. It combines my love of knitting AND coffee! PERFECTION! SOOO excited. :) Here are the answers to my questionnaire. :)

1. Full name Ashley Cavell
2. Ravelry ID dramaqt99
3. Email address ashley.cavell@gmail.com
4. Blog address (if you have one) mymeanderingstories.blogspot.com/
5. Handmade item you desire in the swap (bag, cup cozy, etc.) cup cozy
6. Starbucks item you desire (gift card, mug, beans, etc.) mug
7. Favorite Starbucks beverage/bean skinny mocha
8. Favorite snack food Fiber One Chewy Bars
9. Favorite color(s) green/blue/grey
10. Favorite fragrance Happy
11. What types of things do you like to knit? I really like knitting scarves and hats.
12. Do you spin? I do not spin.
13. Do you dye your own yarn? No, I do not dye my own yarn. However, I AM interested in learning how.
14. Favorite yarns Felici, Cascade, Malabrigo
15. Favorite needles Crystal Palace
16. Do you have any allergies? I am not allergic to ANYTHING.
17. Would you be willing to prepare an angel kit if necessary? Sure! :)
18. Do you have any special requests? No, nothing special... I'm easy to please! :)
19. Do you have any pets? I am the proud co-owner of a Corgi named Matilda! :)
20. Is your home smoking or nonsmoking? Non-smoking ALL the time! Eww!

Thanks be to Wendy!

This is just a quick shout out to Wendy for saving my socks. Well, they were beyond saving, but she was willing to try PLUS she showed me how to rescue a dropped stitch, so she still deserves the shout out!

So, I am now re-starting my socks. I am ok with this. It will give me a chance to do the cuff better (there was a lot of laddering) and I will have all of Thursday afternoon and all of Friday to work on them, so I'm hopeful that I will catch up in no time. I'm also hoping to take pictures of my WIPs and VERY small yarn stash to post on Ravelry. I'm going to have an all knitting weekend. Woo hoo!