This Isn't Exactly About Knitting...But It is About Something Else I Love

I love music. With my whole head, heart and soul. Music has a deep meaning for me. When I was a kid, I had a very hard time expressing myself. Music can express how I'm feeling, many times better than I personally can. I've played piano all my life. I started flute in 5th grade, but kind of fell out of it in college. I started organ at the age of 14 and have been in love since.

I try very hard to not let idiots get to me, especially when they are ripping on my music. It is sad that I work for TWO parishes, and I hear so many negative things about how I play. Sometimes, yes I truly deserve to get picked on (like the time I was chewing gum...that was just dumb on E's part.) However, I have been picked on for tempos, my experience for playing and very recently, for being "too close" to the cantor. Sadly this is a realization of church life that musicians must get past.

I may not be the absolute best piano player out there, but I try very hard to do what I do well. I can only hope that the people I work for appreciate the hard work I put into all forms of my music.

It is a shame that not all my friends have always taken an interest in my music. At UWGB, many of my friends never heard my music. It wasn't until my friends Nina and Mark got married did some of my close friends from UWGB even hear my organ talents, however they seemed very impressed, so the wait was surly worth it. And who knows, a few of them aren't married yet;) And it wasn't until I dragged my poor knitting friends to the worst venue to play at (known as the Village Grill) did that group of friends get to see another side of me as well.

I love my grand pianos...

So I decided to post a little of my music up on my blog here so all my good friends can listen to my music. My good friend Joe Stawicki and I have an obsession for Christmas Music. I know that sounds strange, but we like to go into the practice rooms and do some Christmas duets. One of us will make up parts while the other will keep the melody going. We take turns so we both have the opportunity to do both parts.

Probably the Best Slideshow Ever...

My other friend, Brigid, agreed to help me record some Church music for my mom for her birthday. We recorded 10 songs in 2 hours...we were both very pleased with our music too. To see that slideshow/music please go to this link:

Blest Are They

Finally, I recorded some of Nina and Marks' wedding music with Maggie Walsingham on vocals. (Let's face it--no matter what Jennifer McAllister says, I do not, will not, and can ever not be an amazing singer. I have other gifts God has given me, but singing is NOT one of those...) This is the link to the slideshow to the Wedding with music!

McCormick Wedding: The Prayer

Anyways, I hope you enjoy my music!

E

Best Idea Ever!

So sometimes I don't always think things through when it comes to knitting...

This used to be a disaster...

Some of the most simple problems that I come across are solved by my friends. I tend to panic and refuse to experiment with my knitting. This is because I'd like to do the project one time and one time only. I hate making knitting mistakes because that will result in me traveling over to the Yarn Whispers' House anyways...so I might as well do it right away. However, I will say to my defense is I am TRYING to experiment first and then ask for help later, you aren't going to become any better at knitting if you don't try new things first!

Anyways, one of my biggest downfalls is the fact my yarn tangles up all the time! A few weeks ago, I casted on with some beautiful lace merino wool from JJ Wool. I was quite content making my lace scarf, however, the more I knitted with my JJ Wool, the more I realized how similar it was to my James C. Bertt Marble Chunky in the fact that the yarn tends to felt on itself leaving me (and when I mean me, I mean go over to Zoe's house) to untangle the mess.

It wasn't till I went to Stitches Midwest where I met my dream come true.

The Fibersphere!!!!!!!!!

It really is "The Ultimate in Fiber Protection"

I really wanted one...but the problem was, my money was budged out to other expenses, therefore I could not purchase my own Fibersphere. Naturally, my other friend purchased her own. I decided I would eventually purchase something like the Fibersphere to help prevent me from getting all tangled up in yarn. Especially with this JJ Wool. I would knit a row and then what do you know...it would get all tangled up...AGAIN and AGAIN and AGAIN!!!



I was walking around the market on Saturday and the owner of The Fibersphere asked me if I was ready to purchase one yet. I didn't have the money to pay for one. The kind man agreed to a haggle and I purchased the Fibersphere for 10.00 instead of the usual 20.00...if I agreed to blog about my fibersphere experiences.

Well here I am putting up my end of the bargin. Let me tell you, since I have started using this Fibersphere on my JJ Wool Lace Scarf, I have had NO PROBLEMS with it! I repeat NO PROBLEMS! The yarn stays in its little ball and it can hop into my purse or bag ready for knitting at anytime. I can actually spend time knitting on my scarf instead of untangling yarn (or getting my friends to do it for me.) The best part of this tool is you can take your project out of it anytime...without cutting the yarn!

Why didn't anybody think of this before?

Truly the most magical knitting tool in existence! I am excited that I can complete this scarf in a timely manner because I won't be spending all day untangling yarn that decides to felt up whenever it damn well pleases!

BUY ME AT YOUR NEXT STITCHES TRIP!!!!

Please purchase one if you have the chance!
E

Stitches 2010

I finally went to a Stitches Convention!

I've never ever been!

It was the best weekend ever...I won about 4 balls of yarns, 60 Quick Knits Book, a tote, some pins and a few new friends! I got mega-inspired in a few new techniques; needle felting and bead knitting. Of coarse I bought some yarn as well, my mother was not too thrilled about the amount of yarn that I brought home. Little does she know that I did not bring all of my yarn home yet. My two friends Zoe and Tanya brought some of my luggage home because we couldn't carry it on the commuter train.

If you have the chance to check out a Stitches Festival (or any other festival) you should!!! (Although I'm quite sure that most of the people that read blogs know this all ready;0)

My favorite part of the trip was the PJ Party. The party took place on Friday night. Zoe, Tanya and I did our best to dress up in a creative style so we had a chance at winning some awesome door prizes! Turns out that Tanya ended up winning first place in the crazy PJ contest with her sweet Monkey PJs! I got runner up with another gal. I was wearing an "I <3 style="text-align: center;">Zoe, Me and Tanya, sitting in the lobby wearing our cool PJs!

SWEATER=DONE!

ALL DONE! I am so excited!!!! Isn't it absolutely positively gorgeous!?! I am so proud of myself I am going to give myself a pat on the back!

Isn't it beautiful? I think so! It's the perfect length! What makes it even cooler is...it is beginning to be too big on me! So I can smuggle into it even if I have multiple layers on beneath me:)

It took a long ass time! According to Ravelry, I casted on to make this beautiful sweater almost an entire year ago. The actual date is Jan. 16th, 2009 and I finished the beautiful monster today, January 10th, 2010. :)

I remember working on this thing thinking, "I'm never going to get this little _)#@($#@)$# done!" I remember Shana holding my last ball of yarn after finding this marble chunky out of pure luck. I remember Donna helping me make the hoodie part of the sweater while Zoe helped me fix my magick loop needle problem on the sleeves. This is the one project I feel really REALLY good about! Everybody and their mother says it's a beautiful masterpiece. I hear Nancy going "mmmmmhmmmm yummy" about this sweater.

It wasn't that I was lazy, I remember dragging this thing all over town, to all the UWGB Basketball games, the car trips I would take, in between masses, Loop Group, FNKC, etc, etc, etc. But after awhile, st st gets a little tiring. The project gets to be a little heavy to carry around...and well...all those other pretty yarns just look too tempting to start working with. Oh and that craft fair that I did this year! ...all too busy to really work on anything else! So the sweater had to be resurrected after I finished all those Xmas Gifts and other stuff! After all, it is national knit for ME month!! :)

Now that it is done, what will I do now?


...cast on another!?!? Muhahaha...not for a while at least:) I have no money so I need to save up and buy another big batch of yarn to make this hot sweater again!

Here are the buttons I am planning on sewing onto it!
Toggles? Good idea huh? This photo is not from my personal collection but it will do the trick just the same!!! I am going to need Nancy to help me sew these things on! I always sew on really shitty-like buttons. And quite frankly, I've worked hard on my knitted sweater! So therefore I am NOT going to mess it up by having shitty sewn on buttons!!!

That's all for now...back to knitting!

E

The Devil of a Scarf Known as Noro/FakeNoro=Done

Look how LONG this thing is! Ahh! It took me three times to get a semi-decent photo of me with this long, long, scarf! It is about seven feet long!!!!!!
A close up of the awesomeness of this scarf. Did a little editing to make it look cool.
These two photos show the colors and intensity of this very long scarf. This scarf is great to keyhole because it still has length plus the width makes this scarf a very warm and happy scarf!

Finally, after MONTHS of knitting, knitting, knitting (in garter stitch no less) and striping, striping, striping, the wait is finally over! YES!!!! My scarf, the famous Noro/Fake Noro Scarf, which is over 7 feet, is done!!! It took long enough. About three months in the making, however, I can finally wear it proudly in public. (Instead of knitting it in public.)

I really enjoyed making this scarf. It was great to do something completely mindless. It was a great project to take on the road because I never had to think about this project. That is, until I made a mistake. I knitted four rows of one of the colors. I was upset because I didn't notice this error until about six or seven inches past. I didn't want to tear it out so I kept going. Only problem is, everybody kept making comments about it. (That and the fact that "The one at the Yarn Shop has RIBBING. Oh excuse me, I don't do everything the yarn shop knitters do. I am an individual at times!) Thankfully, Barbara gave me an answer. She told me to keep on doing that every so often. So I did that. It was a blessing in disguise. I now had something to look forward too.

The only thing other "difficult" thing I had to do was switch yarn back and forth. Sometimes that got frustrating because the yarn would get all tangled up. I struggled many times with trying to make sure the yarn didn't get all caught up I hated the damn thing in my bag because the yarn would take up all my knitting bag's space.

However, as of 1AM today, the thing is done. I can now wear it tomorrow when I go buy a pair of Kakhi's with Niki Sinkula.

Sundae Hat

...it has been quite a while and I apologize. Instead of having the opportunity to write about my knitting experiences I have been knitting like crazy. This is my most recent knitting experience. It is a Lisa and Kate Beret Hat. The yarn used is Sundae Yarn From Berroco. It contains a bran new knitting stitch known as the modified Linen Stitch. At first the stitch looked like crap, and I was quite worried it would end up as a disaster, but after doing a few rounds (stuck in a car in Packer traffic) I was able to finally see my pattern working!!!! I decided to not cut the strings in the yarn and just tie them behind each other instead. The inside of the hat won't ever be seen by the outside world (it's not a reversable hat!) therefore, it won't be a big deal there is a wounded up strings of yarn inside my hat. My one worry about this hat is that the brim won't hold up. I am thinking of getting some ribbon to help tie the hat onto my head...or something. I won't know until I have finished the hat.

That's all for now.
Peace out.
E