28 days, 1200 photos

I was hoping to have my photos sorted out by the time I got home, but the reality of the situation is that I took HUNDREDS. They all need a little tweaking and a lot of them just need to be deleted, but I have to be careful with them because they represent my Great Adventure and I don't want to lose or ruin any! That's my WIP for this week. I'm planning to spread things out and post a new location each Sunday so that you can travel with me.

I cooked our first meal in our new apartment last night! I made pesto with basil from my Mom's garden. It came out pretty well! We have a gas stove, which was just one of the many added perks of this place. Justin did a great job finding it. Once this is posted I'm going to head out to the backyard and hula hoop with the chickens and goats!

Finally, I just wanted to give a little cheer for myself as this is my 200th post!

Image borrowed from The Market Guardian

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This sweater hates me

Deep Breath NaKniSweMoDo09 #? WIP, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I don't know what it is about this sweater! If you click through you'll notice that this photo was taken in February. FEBRUARY, and it's still an accurate representation of this sweater! (Not to mention that I started it on January 1st.) I stole the tips from it a couple months ago, and left a note in the bag stating what size they were. Turns out, I was wrong about the size (which explains why my other project wasn't getting gauge)so when I put the tips back on last week, they were a size too big. I managed to knit 4 inches, at about 300 stitches per round before I realized it was coming out too big. I set it aside for another week. When I picked it up I finally recognized the problem. Riiiiiiiiiip. It is not fun picking up 300 laceweight stitches. NOT FUN.

In any case, I'm knitting on it again, trying to catch myself back up, but because the yarn is coned I can't take it on my trip with me...so it's going to get shelved again in two weeks! Poor sweater...

...Unless (lightbulb!) I can figure out how to wind a center-pull ball off the cone without cutting the working yarn. This really would be the perfect travel project...

Do you have a project that plagues you? Tell me about it!

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~~~~~

On an unrelated note, insert whining about being sick, forgetting my script the first time I went to the lab for blood work, repeating the hour long trip, crying in public, and having an incredibly bad headache. I miss my mom.

I decided that if there was ever a time for another installment of BSPT this was it. So, without further ado...

Big, small, profound and trivial things I am grateful to have discovered since coming to Argentina:

I can travel. 15 hours in a sleeper bus really isn't all that bad, and it's not very expensive!

I love my 10-15 minute walk from the Subte to UCA and back. It's time to myself.

I am learning to cook, and enjoying it!

Living with a sorority girl scared me into flossing every single day. My teeth are happy for it.

I am living in a foreign country.

I love the small acting troup that sometimes ends up in the same Subte car as me. Sometimes I see them out in the real world...it's like spotting a celebrity!

What are you grateful for? What have you recently discovered? Tell me!!

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WIP: Plaid!

WIP: Plaid!, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Ok so admittedly it's very simple, but this here is my very first plaid! I really enjoy it, it's sort of like a puzzle. Next time I'm going to make it much more involved, and I'm still working on figuring out how much I can get away with in regards to wrapping up the sides to minimize all the tails. I feel like I've come a long way since I started my classes with Maria at Mario Vucetich, but it's so strange that I can't talk about weaving in English. I can barely talk about it in Spanish either, but better than this! When I get back to the states I'm going to have to do some reading, in English.

P.S. Still plugging away on Harry Potter and my Bariloche or Bust socks.

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WIP: Bariloche or Bust

WIP: Bariloche or Bust, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

(It's really WIP Thursday morning now, but I figure if I haven't gone to sleep, it's still Wednesday! Thanks for nothing, UCA.)

I'm ending my big trip(which I promise to write more about soon) in Bariloche, Argentina, which is down in Patagonia. It's gonna be cold, especially considering it'll be late July, and I want to see all the outdoor sights! I'm trying to get some socks together so that I don't freeze!

This is my first foray into two at a time socks, and only the second time I've begun toe up socks (the last project is languishing in the closet, at the moment). So far I like it and find that it seems to move the process along, although one negative element I've encountered is that my first attempt was too large. Ripping back 2.5 inches on each sock really hurt. I had to start knitting right away after ripping because I was so afraid I'd just stuff them in the closet too!

I'm using this pattern from Silver with a 1x1 rib twisted on the purl, which I highly recommend, and Ballet from Fiesta, which I don't really recommend. It's soft, but SO splitty, and frogs like a nightmare.


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WIP: 'arry Potter!

Work in Progress, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

Aha! And you thought all I did anymore was knit! (That's sort of true, actually.) My latest challenge is reading Harry Potter! "A challenge?" you may ask. "Yes!" I will say, because it is in Spanish! Depending on my level of concentration, it can be really slow going. I have to be in just the right mindset, or I'll either obsess over looking up every single word, or I'll look at every word as if I'm reading, but not take any of it in. Last week I had a great read, for a whole hour I just sat outside my Uni building and read. I think I made it through about 20 pages! Currently Ron and Harry are meeting Professor Trelawney, which is funny in any language. It's helpful that I already know the story pretty well, but I like to think I'm doing alright! One thing I didn't consider is the fact that most of the book is written in the past tense (woe is me!) Also, the Spanish don't use quotation marks, they often use "em dashes" (as in this book) which takes a helluva long time to get used to!

As it turns out, I was wrong about the 50 Book Challenge serving it's purpose and getting me back in the reading habit. This is only the second book I've read for pleasure ALL YEAR. NOT OKAY. Anywho, since I really can't be bothered to do anything that isn't on Ravelry (okay, all I do is knit) and Ravelry has a 52 book challenge group I figured, why not? I'll jump back on the horse. I started May 17th. So far I've read 1 and a half. I have until April 1st, 2010. Here goes!

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WIP: Quick 'n Dirty

Quick 'n Dirty, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

My feet are cold. I'm knitting these slipper socks from a felted slipper pattern, but I'm not going to felt them because I'm too cold to knit a pair of socks 5 times too big for me then felt them and wait for them to dry. So really, I'm looking at a pattern for felted slippers, and sort of kind of following it. I didn't follow the heel direction correctly (it's a toe decrease heel, I've never done that before but it's definitely quick n' dirty!) but I'm not taking the mistake out because I don't want to reknit it! Usually I'm very prideful of my work, and I want it to look good and I'll frog it if it doesn't. In this situation, so long as it fits on my foot, I'm happy! So far, so good!

Looking for the FO? It's been blogged!

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Two at a time!

Two at a time!, originally uploaded by Soasa Designs.

I learned a new stitch in my weaving class this past weekend, called something funny that I can't remember. I'll have to ask when I go back on Monday. At first working with two bobbins at once was a pain, but I'm getting the hang of it!

I'm really enjoying my weaving class. It reminds me of taking classes at Off the Beaded Path except in a second language in a foreign country (which is weird, because I don't know the English words for anything I'm learning.) It's nice to do something besides my uni classes because I get to meet other Argentines. I'm making friends with some ladies in one of my favorite shops!