It's Friday Already?

Wow. So much stuff has happened this week; my last Chicago post feels like forever ago! Well either way it's Friday, which means it's time for another CSP'12 update.

On Saturday my roommate Erica arranged to have one of her friends give us a tour of the city. He was on Project in 2010 and is now taking classes in Chicago. We walked to a lot of places that I'd already seen while job hunting, but I got a lot of really good pictures!

 This is a random picture that I took while walking down the street.

 I don't remember where I found this, but I loved the way the picture turned out.

 These are the lions by the Art Institute of Chicago. I have pictures of both of them because, you know, lions are my favorite. The guy who is smiling in the second picture is Brent. He was walking by and wanted to photo bomb my picture so I let him and then took another. Oh well!

 Another picture randomly on the street.

 This is at the Bean. From the left it is me, Jess, Erica (my roommate), and my friend Larissa. I think Brent may be creeping behind us in the blue, and I think Erica's friend Caleb is next to him, but I'm not entirely sure.

I also finished Erica's lion.

Isn't he a little cutie? His face is flat so she named him Pugs. He took roughly six hours, but I was teaching both Rachel and Katelyn to crochet while making him so my time is off. Either way he turned out really cute! If you would like to see more pictures you can check out my Ravelry page.
So that was Saturday.

Sunday was the kickball game. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of the game as I only took my water bottle, phone, and key. I don't want to steal pictures from Facebook, and my friend that is letting me borrow photos has not gotten back to me yet, so I may be able to have some pictures for you next week.
We were the sheep (as in Jesus' sheep). We were chanting and cheering the whole game. We were ahead by two at one point, but then lost by only a few. It was super fun!

Monday I went job hunting. My roommate Katelyn and I went to Citigroup Center to apply, and have an interview with Corner Bakery today, but other than that there is no new job news. Then we had a pizza dinner together as a project and had our weekly meeting.

Tuesday I went on campus instead of Wednesday. There were not many people to talk to, but I did do Soularium with a girl named Julie. For Action Group that night we had a Chipotle themed burrito bar. It was really good. We then continued in our study of 1 Peter.

Wednesday I stayed inside. I was going to go on campus to help out with English Club and to pass out popsicles with my team, but I ended up staying inside to let the dogs in for the bed bug sweep (the apartment complex had dogs sniff out the apartments as a precaution) and then I crafted. I made this little snowy owl for my friend Courtney on project. I didn't have any white stash yarn, that isn't waiting for a project, so I used some orange.

I love this pattern, but it is so much smaller than I expected. It's only about two inches tall. It did turn out super cute though. If you would like to see more pictures, check out my Ravelry page.

Also on Wednesday, my roommates and I had a roommate dinner. Unfortunately, Rachel was not able to join us, but maybe next week! We made chicken tacos. I cut an onion for the first time ever! And a tomato but that isn't as excited because I have cut them before. I didn't even cry with the onion!
Then we had Date Night with the Lord and I read more of Beautiful Outlaw. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and slept through our Wednesday night encouragement meeting (I had a headache all day so I shouldn't have been surprised that I slept), and then I went to bed early.

Thursday I was going to go out job hunting, but I ending up staying inside, Skyping my sister, and working on this potholder. It's about 3/4 of the way done. I love the texture that is created from the half-double, slip stitch alteration. Our Thursday dinner had a German theme, and then we studied the same section of 1 Peter as we did in our Action Groups on Tuesday.

Which brings us to today.
Today Katelyn and I have interviews at the Corner Bakery as I said before, and other than that not much is happening.

Well, that's it for Chicago Friday! Have a lovely weekend!
Jenn

Yarn Along with 7 Questions

What a quiet morning. I woke up when my body told me that it was time to get up, I sat still for a while, then I rolled over and got my computer so I could do some blogging in this small amount of free time. Great way to start the day right?

Well I decided to do two link ups this Wednesday; Ginny's Yarn Along and Gentri's 7 Questions. I know right? Unheard of before on this blog to do two link ups in one post! But I thought to myself, "why not?", so that is exactly what I'll do today.

First, the Yarn Along.

I am making a Little Amigurumi Snowy Owl for one of my friends on Project. She is unaware that she is going to be getting this, so I am totally excited to surprise her with it. I'm using stash yarn, and my white is being saved for a special project, so I decided to get rid of a little extra orange that I had lying around and to create an Orange Owl instead of a Snowy Owl. I know, I know, I'm super creative.
The book that I am reading is Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge. I'm on page 50, and it is still really good. Hopefully the other 169 pages are just as good!

Now for 7 Questions, beginning with a funny photo!

I know, he's in a taco. That's what made this day hysterical. We were doing a fundraiser at my church for a mission trip. If you guessed that it had something to do with tacos then you were correct. We did a taco drive through. It was super fun and very profitable. Since then we have done other similar fundraisers. I showed up late to this particular one and when I saw my friend Matt as I was driving up I just lost it. Having someone on the street, dressed in a taco, holding signs to advertise our taco drive through and had not been part of the plans at all. Looking back I wouldn't have it any other way.

1. If you could be any princess- which would you be and why?
I would definitely be Belle. She is my absolute favorite Disney princess. I love her heart for the Beast in spite of how she was treated, and not to mention her enthusiasm for books! I would definitely choose to be Belle, hands down. 

2. Do you have any odd habits? (do things in order, words that you say too often, etc)
I bite my fingernails, but that isn't so much an odd habit as it is a bad habit. But when I knit and crochet I need some noise in the background. I cannot just sit there and work with yarn in silence; it freaks me out. I usually watch Phineas and Ferb on Netflix or pop in my favorite episode of White Collar to add some noise.

3. What's your "go to" outfit?
In all actuality, my "go to" outfit is jeans (or shorts) and a t-shirt. I grew up on a farm and just love being comfortable in clothes that I can move in. When I wear this outfit I feel like I can look nice for school as well as be ready to climb around and through the barns when I have need. 

4. Do you have any siblings? What are their genders, ages, order of age, names, etc?
I have one sister, Charlotte, who is older than me, but I also grew up with my younger cousin, Ashley, so she is like a sister to me.

5. What's your favorite precious stone?
I love emeralds. The color is beautiful, not to mention it's my birthstone.

6. If you had a check in your hand for 1 million dollars, what would you do with it?
Definitely save the amount of it that I need to pay off my school debt and my car, then I would donate a lot of it to a good cause.

7. What do you love most about yourself- physically (eyes, smile, hair, etc. I don't know a good way to word that question...)
I've always loved my smile. I mean, I should because I had braces for years, but I love my smile. My hair is always super soft too and I love that.


Well, that's all! Have a blessed day!
Jenn

Sheet Rug

Once upon a time, I was moving away to college. I wanted to make my dorm room homey so I did two things, I recycled old t-shirts into a quilt with sheet backing, and then I recycled the scraps from the backing into a rug. This is the story of how this rug came into being.

It began with nothing but scraps and a dream, and size 17 knitting needles of course. To make the sheet yarn I had to cut strips and slip them together in a way that was far too complicated, and since I am a perfectionist, when I got more sheets to finish the rug, I turned them into yarn the same way. However, I found a better tutorial here, but since I am using this link as the patter page for Ravelry, I'm going to make the link a little more obvious (because when I'm looking for a pattern anywhere I skip through the rest of the page straight to it).

To learn how to create sheet yarn, click this link: 
 http://simplystoked.blogspot.com/2012/05/making-sheet-yarn.html

And now for the rug.

Materials:
Enough sheets to produce your desired size (I used 1 King and 1 Full sized sheets)
US size 17 36" circular knitting needles
Size Q crochet hook

Rug:
Cast on 45 sts.
25 rows of Stockinet st.
14 rows of Reverse Stockinet st.
Switch colors.
14 rows of Stockinet st.
25 rows of Reverse Stockinet st.
Bind off.

Border:
Pick up loops around rug as you go.
Sc around half of rug.
Ch 1, turn.
Sc around half of rug.
Ch 1, do not turn.
Reverse sc around half of rug.
Fasten off.
Repeat around other side with the opposite color.

Completed, this rug is 3' by 2'5". Thank you Lisa from Happy in Dole Valley for reminding me to post a size!

Important Notes:
Remember when you weave in your ends to weave the sides of the borders together.
Knitting and crocheting with sheets is difficult. Don't get discouraged if your muscles get sore or your hands tired. Just power through, and you'll come out with a beautiful rug!

That's all! I hope you enjoy the pattern.
Jenn

Chicago Friday (and presents)

Hello! It's Friday again, which means that it's time to post a complete update about Project again. If you want to see the first update click here.

This Saturday, I went with some friends to the beach. 

We had a picnic...

Saw the magnificence of the Chicago Skyline, and enjoyed the clouds coming in over Lake Michigan...

And dug a colossal hole. I am 5'9" and it was up to my mid hips! It was intense! We filled it in before we left though. We heard that they flatten the ground each night and did not want the vehicle to get stuck in our whole.

So then Sunday we did an Outreach in both Millennium Park and Grant Park. We used Cru's tool Soularium to talk to people about their spiritual experiences in life. My partner was my friend Jaz who is in my Action Group. We only had two girls who wanted to talk to us, so the day could have gone better, but I did get some cool pictures of the Buckingham Fountain!

After Jaz and I talked to everyone we could in Grant Park, we joined the other half of Project at Millennium Park. It was a blast!

Our talk theme this week was Magnificent Identity. We had really good talks on both Monday night and Thursday night. Wednesday was again an encouragement night where we all shared good stories from the week. Tuesday night my Action Group and I made Brinner, Breakfast-for-Dinner. We had French Toast, Omelets, Fresh Fruit, and Smoothies. It was so good.

 As far as jobs go, I  have had three interviews this week. All said that I will know by this weekend or early next week so we'll see what happens.

Thanks for all the prayers! I really appreciate it.

As far as crafting goes, things are interesting. I have not been working on the KAL or CAL that I am doing with my sister. Instead, I told my roommates (I have three) that I will make them each something out of the Vanna's Choice Easy Crochet Critters craft book. I am letting them pick yarn out of my stash so the animals are not necessarily realistic, but they chose the yarn, and the animals are turning out adorable nonetheless.

This is the Walrus that I made Katelyn (she is my roommate who also attends Ohio University). The body is Sugar N' Cream cotton, the muzzle is left over Buff Red Heart, and the tusks are made from a yarn that I borrowed from one of my friends at school. The eyes are French Knots, and I embroidered on the nose before I sewed the muzzle on, unlike what the pattern said to do. If you would like to see more pictures, take a look at my Ravelry page. Katelyn named him Bruce.

 My roommate Rachel wanted the elephant. He is made with left over Lakeside Tweed from Lion Brand. The eyes are again French Knots, and I did double crochet for the ears instead of the half-double that I was supposed to do. I only sewed each leg on once! I was so proud of myself! If you would like to see more pictures, here is the link to my Ravelry page.

My third roommate wants the lion, but I have yet to start her project. So far they are shaping up to be six hour ish projects at max, so you'll hopefully see it next week!

Until next time!
Jenn

We're Going to Tie the World Together

Hello! It is Wednesday and you all know what that means... The Yarn Along with Ginny from Small Things. I finally got an Ethernet Cable and have reliable internet access so I decided, why not?

I am reading Beautiful Outlaw by John Eldredge. I know, I finally started it! I'm only in the first chapter, but I'm already beginning to look at the Bible in a way that I hadn't before.
The project is Star Blanket 734 that I am creating for the CAL with my sister. Unfortunately I have not worked on it recently, but I may possibly have some time tonight to get some more done.

Finally, an update on Chicago. Between Monday and Tuesday, I was offered three job interviews. Exactly what my roommate and I were praying for. The other half of our prayer has been that one of them will be a sure fire thing. Dear Jesus, please make that happen!

Thank you guys for all your prayers; I really appreciate it.

Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jenn

A CAL, a KAL, and a Birthday

Hey all! I have a small Chicago update: I'm still on the job hunt, so if you could keep praying for that it would be great. Also, it's my sister's birthday today! She is turning 22. I love her so much and I hope she enjoys her special day even though I can't be there to celebrate with her.

Speaking of my sister, remember how I said that she and I were doing both a CAL, a KAL, and a Read-Along (henceforth referred to as the RAL) this summer as a way to keep in touch? And remember how I said that I would post telling you all about it? Well, that time is now!

First, the CAL.
The CAL we are doing is Star Blanket #734 from Bernat Design Studio. We chose this pattern against the advice of our younger cousin Ashley, who completed the blanket for her cousin and hated the pattern. With as much as I have done (through round six I believe) I love the pattern. It is super cute! The only problem is the yarn. The recommended yarn is super fuzy so it is sometimes hard to tell whether or not I am going into the right stitch. Here is a picture of what I have done so far. It's not perfect, but I already cut the yarn so I'm just going to keep going.

Now, the KAL.
We will be creating the Seed Stitch Baby Blanket from Lion Brand Yarn. Charlotte has already made this blanket for one of her friends from high school and found the pattern very agreeable, which is part of the reason we chose it for the yarn along. We are using stash yarn we bought on sale from JoAnn Fabrics; mine is green variegated and her's is blue variegated. All I have done is the cast on, and not even that completely, but here is a picture so you can see the yarn.

As for the RAL, we will both be rereading Homer's the Odyssey. We both read it for our freshmen English class in high school, but it's such a good story that we wanted to read it again!

Well, that's all for now! Have a great Monday and thanks for all your prayers!
Jenn

New City, New Roommates, New Life (and a little crafting)

Oh my goodness it's been so long since I've posted! I apologize deeply for that. I've decided to make Fridays the day when I update about Chicago but, as the last few days have shown, our schedule is so jam-packed that I struggle to find time to even check my email for job offers let alone update my blog. I also need to invest in an Ethernet cord. There is only wireless in the lobby of our building, and even that is spotty at best, and I keep having to borrow my roommate's. Seems like a trip to Target is in order and will be completed as soon as possible.

So, as I'm sure you've all been waiting on the edge of your seats to see, here are pictures of my apartment.

This is our living room area.

 And the kitchen.

 The bathroom (I know the rug doesn't match but I made it and wanted to use it and my roommate was okay with it).

 This is my room. Pardon the mess; I'm still unpacking.

 

This is the view outside of my apartment window. UIC is also the campus to which my Impact Group goes sharing. 

 This is my sister plant. With where we are in the building it can only get light by sitting directly on the windowsill. Good thing it fits!

And now for the meat of the post.
Project is so fantastic. We each have a discipler (mine is getting married in January. Go her!), Impact Groups, Action Groups, our weekly meetings and trainings, and then our jobs. I don't have a job yet (pray that God will place me where He wants me soon please) so I spend my days in a meeting a 9am where we get encouraged in our job search, celebrate interviews/people who have found jobs, and discuss more places where we can apply. Then I begin my search. So far I've been out searching with my roommate Katelyn everyday but Sunday, Wednesday, and today, and we have applied at Navy Pier, some of the Magnificent Mile, and in Water Park Tower. Yesterday alone we applied at eight different places and gathered many other places where we could apply online (what I'm doing today). We come back from our search between 4 and 5pm, eat quickly, then move on to our evening activities. On Mondays we have a CSP (Chicago Summer Project) training, Tuesdays we have Action Group, Wednesdays we have a night of encouragement, and Thursdays we have a meeting to which we can invite some of the people that we have shared with throughout the week (Tuesdays-Thursdays. Every person goes sharing on at least one of those three days. I went on Wednesday). Friday and Saturday nights we usually have Project hang outs in the lobby, whether planned or we all just happen to be there. Sundays we have church. Talk about a lot to do.
Sunday afternoons and Saturday days I am, as of yet, unaware of what the plans are, but I can't wait to find out!

Knowing this, and even putting it all down, it is easy to see how I have been busy to the point of not having enough Quiet Time (I got some this morning though, Praise the Lord!), having no time to craft, and no time to blog. I'm glad I got a quieter day today where I could just relax, catch up on things, and apply online. And if you look...

I got a little crafting done yesterday! Not a lot, but I got to work on the CAL that my sister and I are doing. Remind me to post about our summer CAL and our summer KAL some other time. I'm super excited to share what we're doing to keep in touch and to invite you to create two baby blankets with us this summer.

Until next time!
Jenn

An Update to Come

Hello! Sorry I have not posted recently; it's been a little hectic. Moving into a new apartment, meeting tons of people, trying to remember all these names. I'll figure it all out eventually though!
Now I'm sure you guys are dying to know about the Chicago Summer Project and how it's going. For now I can say that it has been going well and I'm having a blast! This is the first opportunity that I've had to obtain internet however and I have a meeting in ten minutes. I'm not sure when I will be able to update next (and I've had no time to craft), but as soon as I can I will give a complete update.
I hope everyone is enjoying their summers so far! Why not leave a comment with your amazing plans? I'd love to hear about them.

Until next time!
Jenn

'Twas the night before moving...

... and all through the house the people were relaxing because all was packed! Well, not everything, but all that can be done tonight. We're leaving for Chicago in the morning. I'm so excited to join up with the rest of my summer project students!

I decided to link up with Tami's Amis and Other Creations for FO Fridays! I've never linked up with this blog before so I'm really excited. And this is what I finished!

 Yep; it's Gromit (this link goes to my Ravelry page for Delilah's Gromit). He turned out well, but I still like the Grandpa's Gromit I made better though. This picture did his colors justice unlike the pictures I put on Ravelry but, oh well! There was not much more I could do with the fading light (I finished it at about 8pm) and needing to give it to my grandmother before I left early tomorrow morning. And look what I found when I went to my grandmother's house!

The flowers are so beautiful! The top picture was the first I took, and the flash make it more beautiful than I imaged the picture would be. And the puppy is Chase. She turns three soon, and looks a little sad. It must be because I'm leaving for the summer! I'm just kidding. She was confused by the sound of my camera focusing. Overall it's a good day and I can't wait to get to the Windy City tomorrow!

Until next time!
Jenn

So long; farewell! Have a nice Hippo!

This post was originally meant for yesterday, but in the chaos of moving out of my residence hall, not having internet when I went to study for my last final, having a (minor) fire in the building during my final, and the four hour drive home, I was unable to post per usual on Wednesday and join the yarn along. Oh well; worse things have happened.

So as you know I've been without my stash (but we were reunited last night and it was GREAT), so when I finished as much of Gromit as I could and completed Bear in a Jif for my baby box, I picked up the Buff colored Red Heart yarn that was leftover from Gromit and began making a hippo. Not just any hippo, Hippo Hippo Hippo. I had nothing particular in mind when I began this project, just that I needed to make something or I was going to explode, so when I told my Bible Study leader about it I offered it to her. "It can be your Slovenia Hippo!" I said (as I will be in Chicago with Campus Crusade, she will be going to Slovenia with Cru). She said okay, and then it became crunch time. I was just leisurely making the hippo, but then She was leaving the next day at four so I needed to complete it quickly. Luckily I already had a lot of it completed (even though it was not a long project at all) and my sister was willing to stay up and Skype with me while I finished him.

Here he is. I can't remember what she named him, otherwise I would tell you, but he's a little cutie. If you want to see more pictures of him, you can click this link to see my project page for him on Ravelry.

Oh, and I'm going to miss this little guy. It's the baby woodchuck of the woodchuck that lives in front of Perkins. Next year I won't live in the building he lives around so I won't see him. Oh well!

Until next time!
Jenn

Bear! (in a Jif)

Finally! I can actually post a finished project on my blog.

This little guy is Bear in a Jif (a Lion Brand pattern). He was made with some Vanna's Choice, stash yarn that was light green and white. The eyes are the same safety eyes that I used for Gromit, so I believe they are 10mm but, you know, unmarked Ziploc bag. Past Jenn really needs to keep better track of what she puts in Ziploc bags... Anyway. His nose was sown on afterward with Sugar 'n Cream cotton, black. Everything, even the head, is a separate piece that had to be sewn on later. If you wanted to I'm sure that you could change the pattern to make the head and body one piece, but I did not feel like attempting this, so I didn't. If you would like to see more pictures of him, you can here. I chose not to make the scarf that went with the pattern, and now he will be placed in my baby box to be cuddled and cherished at a later date.

So a few days ago, I found this adorable necklace on Etsy. The shop, Lolita Rose, sells beautiful vintage jewelry. I found a dove/flower necklace.

 See? Isn't it beautiful! Traci was really nice too and was willing to make the chain longer for me. It cost a little more (you know, chain is expensive!) but for this little thing, totally worth it!

This is what I received. She said that it came gift wrapped so I was expecting that, but the card was a nice touch! I love the little tag that says "hand made".

 Look at that; isn't she a sweetheart? I love my necklace so much!

If you want to check out her shop (and the link above did not work) to see what she has for sail, this is the business card she sent me. The package arrived quickly (well, as fast as dorm mail can arrive) and I wore it today. I will definitely buy from her again!

Until next time!
Jenn