Skinny Bitch Knits

Oh.

2011-08-01T15:35:00.000-06:00

Hello there little blog! I TOTALLY forgot about you.

Slowly, very slowly...

2011-03-30T09:02:00.002-06:00

... creeps the garden snail! Little by little I begin to knit again. I have a large project in store (a wedding gift for some very dear friends) but while I was waiting for the yarn to arrive, I knit up this little guy:

Pattern: Easy-Care Cacti by Carol Meldrum and Julie Marchington
Yarn: The nylon yarn I inherited. :D
Needles: 7
Mods: Um, this is kind of the pattern. I basically looked at a picture and made it up as I went.

My in-laws bought a place around the corner from us so they could come stay as long as they wanted without feeling like they were overstaying their welcome (they never have). Since it's a part-time residence, they can't really have plants. I thought this would be an amusing little housewarming present. It was. They liked it!

The gift yarn has arrived - bare swish worsted from Knit Picks. The swatch is YUMMMMM. Washed and dried it is SO SOFT. I can't wait to start knitting this gift!

PS - I hope you all are doing fantastically! I check in on your blogs as often as I can... which isn't all that often with two 14month olds running around. But know that I do try to keep up and I follow many of your projects - which in turn inspires me to knit again! So I must add - Thank you for the inspiration!

Whooooaaaa Mama.

2011-03-04T14:46:00.003-07:00

Oh boy did my knitting mojo come back. I started perusing potential gifts to knit for a friend's wedding and WHAMMO.

Now I just need more time. Whoever made the day only twenty four hours long was certainly not a knitter. Much less a knitter with small children!

I shall be back. With pictures.

Lo and behold...

2010-10-31T21:41:00.003-06:00

I knit something. Two somethings, actually. For Halloween. On size 11 needles. In eyelash yarn. Yes.

Hope you all had a marvelous Halloween!

I dreamed about blogging last night...

2010-04-20T14:01:00.003-06:00

...so I figured I ought to do so. Unfortunately, I have no pictures, but I have managed to find time to knit. At the moment, I'm finishing up a set of Thuja socks for puttering around the house in. The yarn is inherited. Pretty colors, but it's the old type of nylon yarn that isn't as soft as it could be. Is okay for house socks though - keeps my toes warm!

I also just ordered some knit picks options needles, size 4, to start in on the Skinny Empire. I have some beautiful Shine Sport in willow, and I have at least one major modification in mind. It'll be interesting to see how long it takes me to knit this up with the twins in the mix...

Anyone know of any good speed knitting techniques? :P

The gifts we miss...

2010-03-22T20:18:00.003-06:00

My husband and I were visiting my parents a few years ago, and my Nana happened to be sitting at the counter, knitting away at a blue bobbled thing.

My husband says to her, "Hey - that's neat. What are you knitting?"

She responded with "It's a baby blanket for the next one of you that has a boy."

And as he said "Oh that's nice" and started to walk away, she yelled "Did you HEAR ME?!"

I laughed a good long while at that one. And I still giggle every time I look at this blanket.

we are growing, we are healing...

2010-02-09T22:27:00.000-07:00

Oh, herro there!

2010-01-13T16:28:00.009-07:00

I am still alive! But to be honest, friends, it was a very close thing. Very close indeed.

To make a long story short, on Jan 4th I went to the hospital with mild contractions. My doctor did a blood panel, and I was diagnosed with HELLP syndrome - something that affects 0.2-0.6% of pregnant women and is characterized by renal failure, liver rupture, and general ickyness. I was already in renal failure when they sent me to Denver. They could not stabilize my condition for more than 24 hours before the boys started showing signs of stress.

As a result, Elijah Joel and Edward Charles were born by emergency c-section on January 5th at 6:35 and 6:36 pm. They are still in the NICU, with round the clock care by some of the most fantastic people imaginable. These nurses and doctors - they have answered our every question, they have explained patiently everything that is happening to our boys and their best options for survival while still allowing us to feel somewhat in control of the whirlwind around us. All of this while I'm still recovering my kidney, liver, and platelet function in addition to a c-section - trying to manage the whirlwind around just recovering me. That is an amazing thing, people. If you EVER need care, come to Denver and University Hospital.

The boys are 3 pounds each - so tiny - and yet they are so strong. They cry vigorously and throw fits and then calm down to hear my voice. It's amazing. They are amazing. As my doctors have and continue to remark upon, I am a very VERY lucky woman.

For now, I spend most of my days either at the hospital with the boys, or home resting and recovering myself. Blogging content might be a bit slow for a while - I'm attempting to keep up with the knitting, but between the drugs and the general recovery, I am doing a LOT of sleeping. I'll try to photograph what I knit and keep you all up to date though.

And more pictures of the boys are SURE to follow. :D

four little booties sitting in a row....

2009-12-09T08:58:00.003-07:00

...waiting for owners to fill them with toes!
Are you surprised to hear from me? I have taken a short hiatus to... well... grow a few people. And to knit them wee garments. Double of everything. They have little sweaters to go with these booties and little hats to match. I have actually been quite the knitting fool, in between eating ridiculous amounts of food and sleeping 13 hours a night. And still working full time. And getting the nursery set up. And did I mention sleeping whenever possible?

Where were we? Ah, yes. Knitting for the babies. At some point I realized that as a knitter, I cannot in good conscience clothe the new monsters in anything I have not knit for them myself. Ergo, baby knitting. Which ROCKS. I've been using Debbie Bliss patterns for the booties and cardigan, and a Louisa Harding pattern for the beanie caps. Here's one of the cardigans:
I just need to sew the snap bands on these guys and they will be good to go. Cuz buttons on a wiggly baby? Not so much. Especially not with TWO wiggly babies. :D

Baby knitting is fast becoming my favorite pastime. It's quick, it's easy, it uses up remnants, and it's SO FREAKIN CUTE. What's not to love?

The skinny bitch is skinny no longer

2009-08-28T08:23:00.002-06:00

I realize that I have been quiet for some time, and I do apologize, but I actually have a very good reason for my silence. For the better part of two months, I've been unable to do much besides try to get through my day. Yes, dramatic and sad sounding, right? Not so much.

My husband and I decided that after almost 10 years together, it was time. Yup. I'm expecting. But that's not all. I'm expecting TWINS.

If ever I needed my knitting mojo back, it's now. And lo did the sun did shine down and I started going through the many baby patterns that my loving Nana left to me. Yes, I will knit again. I MUST knit again, and I must start post-haste. I need to get it all in now before the twins are born because heaven knows I'll have NO time after.

Anyway, now that I can look at a computer (or anything else for that matter) without getting ill, I will be writing more often. Hopefully with knitting content. :D

It's not knitting, but it's not nothing either

2009-06-23T09:28:00.004-06:00

The knitting mojo has gone. She is on summer vacation - probably hanging out with Santa Claus on some beach in the Caribbean. On the other hand, the sewing mojo has returned. Since the niece turned one, I figured I'd make a little somethin somethin for her...Cute little monster, isn't she? This is Simplicity pattern 4243, and it was so easy it was almost ridiculous. The edging is just red hem tape. There's a hat in this pattern that might make it to my sewing board too - I have plenty of the Amy Butler fabric leftover....
Schmoo.

I also made myself a nice summer dress... pics to follow shortly...

Hope you all are enjoying your time outdoors! Hooray for summer!

Success!

2009-05-31T17:25:00.002-06:00

The wedding was a resounding success, and my dear friend Andy has pledged his life to a wonderful woman. I wish them many years of love and happiness!

Wherefore art thou?

2009-05-26T21:18:00.003-06:00

I must say, after that behemoth of a project, I'm feeling rather... uninspired. I have enough stash to knit around the world and back (egads. wait till you SEE what's in my stash now.) and I've been perusing Ravelry and finding a few cute patterns, but nothing that I must cast on for NOW.

Come to think of it, the only moment of emotion during my Ravelry hunt was when I found a rather cute baby pattern on a weirdly deformed baby, until I discovered that the aforementioned deformed baby was under a smudge on my screen and it was actually quite a cute baby.

Other than that, meh.

Mojo, oh mojo, what has happened to thee?

I really really hope

2009-05-15T07:30:00.005-06:00

That the recipients of this gift are not reading my blog. I hope. Hope hope hope. Because here she is:

Pattern: Girasole by Jared Flood

Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash - ~15 skeins
Needles: 9 circs
Mods: I left off the last repeat of chart G (last one before the edging)
I liked the 3-2-1 effect of it, plus I wasn't sure if I was going to
run out of yarn or not.

This is a wedding gift for a very dear friend of mine. I had thought it was going to be a wrench to give away, but actually, I'm kind of looking forward to it. She's going to have to go out for a few more photo shoots though... once she's done blocking.

I'm pretty sure I'll knit this again - the pattern is really well written and easy to follow, once you remind yourself how to read charts. Plus I think I would like one for my own living room - maybe in a deep burgundy red... jes?

Girasole...

2009-05-14T11:08:00.002-06:00

...is done. Waiting patiently to be washed and blocked by its ridiculously busy knitter.

A shiny red wagon...

2009-05-01T12:11:00.003-06:00

...that I have fallen off the back of. *sigh* How could a month go by and I haven't noticed? Actually, I know how, but I won't depress you with the details. The point is, I am back on my shiny red wagon. And despite my silence the last month, I HAVE been knitting, but it's secret knitting and not available for public consumption as of yet. Soon, my pretties. Soon.

You're calibrating the what?

2009-03-22T15:12:00.004-06:00

The cigar knucks. I had originally knit these for my Uncle Scott, but... but. I am sorry to say that he is no longer in need of gloves of any sort. These are to be bequeathed to my Uncle Norm (my aunt Melody's husband).

I asked my darling husband to model these for us and told him to just do something with his hands.

"Well, I suppose the flux capacitor needs some calibration..."

Melodious gloves

2009-03-22T15:04:00.003-06:00

In January, my immediate family reconnected with my father's sister, Melody. It's been years, both sides have had troubles, and we all just kind of fell away. And despite the circumstances, it was wonderful to see her again - I had forgotten just how warm and funny a woman she is.

At dinner one evening, my aunt Melody bequeathed to me a beautiful scarf that she had knit herself. A discussion of knitting ensued, and she mentioned that she hadn't gotten the nerve to try gloves yet... enter the Melodious Gloves.These gloves are the result of two beautiful patterns... the Cigar gloves from Knitty, and Susie's Reading Mitts, by Janelle Masters. The colors were inspired by my aunt Melody - her favorites. I am hoping she likes these - they are a surprise...

And just in time for summer. I *REALLY* need more time to knit.

The Duchess

2009-02-27T10:38:00.006-07:00

My yarn arrived, and I knit my fool head off. Only took me two evenings to finish this sweater, mostly due to my lack of skills with scissors and some mad ripping. So without further ado... voila.

Pattern: The Duchess Raglan
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Closeout - 11 skeins
Needles: 10 circs
Mods: None

When I first tried it on, it was a bit snug. So I blocked the hell out of it and now it fits like a dream. I might make a few mods though - I might crochet on some edging to keep the lower edge flat, and I might put even another inch or two in the midsection. I like my sweaters long in the middle. But! All in all, I'd have to say that I'm totally in love. The yarn is a dream against my skin... snuggly warm and smooshy and soft. Not one itchy from it! And the color is lovely - the color of ripe raspberries. Oh! Raspberries! Yummmm....

How is it that knitting always brings me back to food?

A poem

2009-02-18T07:51:00.004-07:00

Roses are red...
this sweater is too...
I've run out of yarn,
So sad, but so true!

Thank heavens for ebay. I have three more skeins coming to help me finish - same lot and all! The yoke should be no problem - I'm going to have to do some creative editing of that midsection though. Can't have my belly button peeking out!

I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated. Where does the time go?! I've been knitting, slowly but surely. The shawl collar sweater is coming along... slooooooowly. The collar takes forever! I'm also knitting a pair of pretty pretty gloves for my aunt, in return for a delicious scarf she gave me last month. So it's coming along. Hopefully I'll have some FOs for you on my next post... I have a rather ambitious project waiting in the wings, and it's got a deadline. I got to get knittin!

On grief and works in progress.

2009-01-19T09:10:00.011-07:00

I was reading one of the blogs on my roll, and I discovered someone else dealing with grief. And as I read the comments, and came back again to mine, I was again struck by the goodness of you people. You who read these blogs and leave kind comments. You who share in our totally unknown pain. It means more than you could possibly know.

Until the funeral, I had never seen my father cry. My aunt - who no one has seen or spoken to in 10 years - came and held my hand. People I had never met hugged me and shared their stories. I have always held things in, tried to deal with them on my own. During all this I found that sharing - even with these strangers - definitely made it easier, and speaking about it made it more real.

I can't thank you enough for reading, for commenting, for reaching out and sharing in something totally unrelated to you. It has helped me immensely to be able to speak to this, and hear kind words in return. So thank you - thank you - thank you.

However. As painful it may be, it is unwise to get lost in our grief. Mine has led to productivity. Over the past two weeks I have been knitting - both by Nana's bedside and to and from the funeral. Consequently, I have something to show you. A couple of somethings to show you, actually.

Shawl Collar Pullover - AVittadini - Vogue Knitting Winter 2004/05

I'm on the collar right now - and it is taking a REALLY long time. *sigh* So I started something quicker.

The Duchess Raglan

Debbie Bliss Chunky Cashmerino - Yummmmm. Can you just feel the yumminess? This took me all of two days. I'm on the sleeves now.

I have also been "enhancing". Now that my year of "No yarn purchases" is over, I thought I'd start out the new year right.

Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky - currently being used for the Duchess Raglan.
Rowan Cashcotton 4-ply. This will be used for the Apres-Surf Hoodie. All on mad sale at Webs. I am happy to report that my yarn-a-holic nature is back in full swing.

As you can see, I am moving forward. I will always think of Nana when I knit, and I will do my best to carry on the legacy. Given that I seem to have inherited the most atrocious patterns, I expect to rally quite magnificently.

Goodbye

2009-01-16T16:34:00.007-07:00

Nana

2009-01-06T07:58:00.007-07:00

Charlotte R. Alger

Aka Charlie.
Better known to me as Nana.

How do you even begin to sum up the impact someone has had on your life? All the things you remember? The sound of her voice when she'd call up and say "Lori, dear, how are you?". Her laugh when she found something funny. She sat down and taught you to knit at the age of 6. She kept the dirty jokes in the Bible and snickered in church as she told them to God when she prayed. She made the best fudge this side of the Mississippi and lemonade to boot (it had about a cup of sugar in it). She called herself a self-centered egotistical bastard and sang "I love myself, I think I'm grand, I go to the movies just to hold my hand". She called "fish" "feesh" and the freezer was an icebox, and a rubberband is a gumband. She survived my Grandpa Bill's death when my dad was 13 - she became an alcoholic and then sobered up - she was going on 30 some-odd years of being sober. For years she'd buy herself a gift and then wrap it and put it under the tree - when she opened it she'd say "Oh Bill! It's just what I wanted!". She called pastel pink "titty pink" and made (and wore) horrific puffy paint and ribbon sweatshirts. She taught me dedication, value, and the idea that you patronize the people who patronize you. She taught me that you never wait for a man to buy you jewelry. I'm pretty sure she also taught me to swear.

I could go on. I could go on for hours. I could probably max out this blogger. But I won't.

Suffice it to say that my grandmother was an extraordinary woman who had a huge impact on my life. And I'm going to miss her something fierce.

One down...

2008-12-31T10:06:00.005-07:00

Here's DD on Christmas morning - he and Boo both got alligator mittens, but without the teeth, so they instead were "snakes". The two of them went hissing around the living room. Funny kids.

Pattern: Later Gator Mitts from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation
Needle size: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Cascade 220 in color 906, Knitpicks Swish Superwash in Hollyberry

These were ridiculously easy and quick, and the kids loved them. In fact, I think they only took them off to open more presents, and then put them right back on. That's always a good sign. :D

Next up! Stalking my sister and brother in law for pics of their mitts!

Wait - I did what?

2008-12-26T17:12:00.003-07:00

So I just realized that I did all this mad crazy knitting for the holidays and I didn't take a single picture. Not one. I knit five pairs of beautiful gloves, and not one picture. I'm sure at some point I had a brain in my head, but it must've fallen out somehow. Think there's a lost and found for that?

Sometime over the next week I'll hunt down my family members and take photos of their gloves. I promise.

In the interim, I hope you all had a good holiday!!

Missing in Action...

2008-11-20T09:40:00.003-07:00

Hello! I have not forgotten you! I have been working an unbelievable amount (think 16 hour days) which leaves me little time for anything but sleeping, working, and *ahem* getting the flu. Which is particularly nasty this year. I don't typically advocate flu shots, but if you haven't gotten one yet, I HIGHLY recommend it. I was down for three days with a fever and it took me two full weeks to get back on my feet. But wait! Lest you think I had sick days to knit! Oh no! I worked through all that -it was working from home, but working none-the-less. Ugh.

On the upshot, I am going on vacation soon, and should have plenty of plane time to knit. Yarn is ordered*, patterns picked out, and soon I will have FOs!!!

*I know, I know, I'm on a yarn diet. But I discussed this with my husband and we decided that ordering yarn to make gifts with is not really ordering yarn. It's ordering gifts that need assembly. :D

FO: Bass Gloves

2008-10-07T08:14:00.004-06:00

Finally! An FO!

It took me ages to finish these - partially because I have no time and partially because they were originally meant for me... but my husband liked them so much that he wanted them for himself. So. Rip and reknit in a larger size.

The Bass Gloves

Pattern: Cigar from Knitty, Summer 05
Yarn: Daelgarn Falk in Green and Brown - Sport Weight
Needles: Size 3
Mods: Chopped the pinky and ring fingers to make knucks.

These are perfect for sitting around on the back patio playing bass. Or insulating against a cold beer whilst watching football. Or protecting the hands whilst raking leaves *ahem*. Actually, they're just great all-around gloves, and I'm going to have to make myself some post-haste. Although... I have a skein of black superwash leftover from my CPH - I'm thinking "Dashing" would be rather... well... dashing. Given that I should have more knitting time in the near future, perhaps I will cast on for Dashing instead...

Bountiful Harvest...

2008-09-28T17:47:00.014-06:00

I have been unbelievably busy. To the point that today was the first full day I've spent with my husband in over a month. And it was wonderful. Weird how life kind of gets away from you... until you stop and realize what blessings you have.

We had coffee and pancakes, we watched the Broncos' appalling performance, we spent the day outside, picking tomatoes...

(that's a LOT of tomatoes. and we get as many about every other day...)

chopping the last of the broccoli...

and harvesting the lavender and sage for wreaths. Though that project might go out the window - I have just learned the hard way that I'm desperately allergic to sage. :(

We made dinner and while it was cooking I made floral arrange- ments with a bunch of the cuttings from the yard... but I'll post those tomorrow. Oh, and lest you think I've forgotten about knitting... I have managed an FO! I just have to get the man to model for me....

Such a wonderful day. Such unbelievable blessings!

FO: Print O the Wave (kinda)

2008-08-29T08:00:00.007-06:00

Hello my lovelies! I have been neglecting you all atrociously, but I've been so busy that I've hardly even had time to knit! *gasp* I did manage to finish a birthday present for my grandmother, and so I present to you my Nana, with her new kinda-print-o-the-wave-stole:

Happy Birthday Nana!

This is knit without the edging - the request was for more of a scarf than a shawl and my gauge ended up being bigger than I thought. It finished blocking maybe half an hour before we left, so I have just one other rather terrible picture...

If you're planning on making this, it's a fairly easy knit, if time-consuming. I highly recommend this pattern as a first time lace!

That's all I have for you. I have many things in the queue - I finally caved and cast on for the gathered pullover in the Pakucho Organic Cotton. I had planned on making another Hourglass out of it, but you people and your beautiful knits! I'll make some adjustments to the pattern a la YarnHogSV, this version was really the deciding factor for me. Plus it's lots of stockinette, which is about all I can handle with the current craziness of code releases and such. Ahh, Ravelry. How thou doest help me find such beautiful items!

Camera shy

2008-08-08T07:52:00.006-06:00

Unfortunately, I have little knitting to post. Instead, I have a rather amusing set of circumstances that I will relate.

I have two dogs. A husky mix and a lab mix. Typically they are pretty excited about everything. The camera, on the other hand... well, as soon as we take the camera out, they run like we're going to beat them with it. Weird, right?

A long discussion over many glasses of wine made us realize that it's the flash they don't like (duh, but it was the wine). I would assume they associate flashes of light with thunder and thunder is kind of scary. So I embarked on a healing process.

Soon they will associate cameras with yummy treats.

The camera comes out...

Hey - TREATS!

Yum yum yum yum yum yum yum...

Aaaaaand, we've made excellent progress today.

What, no more?

Summer lovin

2008-07-15T10:23:00.006-06:00

Do you ever go through your wardrobe, only to find something in there that you totally love, but totally forgot you owned? I did that this morning.

The pink polka dot shoes. My grandmother, who has a collection of crazy shoes herself, would be very proud.

My nephew calls these the "ice cream cone" shoes. I suppose they kind of do look like ice cream cones, but I think at "almost 5" just about anything can remind you of sweets. I think they're pretty sweet myself. And even sweeter? They go almost perfectly with my pink indigo ripples skirt.

Too hot to knit?!

2008-07-14T08:21:00.005-06:00

Blasphemy, I know. But I am just too hot to knit. I feel like the witch in Oz - "I'm melting! I'm melting...." Of course we have air conditioning, but we're those crunchy tree-hugging types that prefer not to use it unless we absolutely *have* to. Although, lack of knitting probably counts as *have* to. I wonder if my husband will agree?

Before my downward spiral into meltitude, I managed to get this done:

It is the Print o' the Wave stole by Eunny Jang. I love how straight forward and easy this lace pattern is! It's from some wool my grandmother gave me - it was given with the agreement that I'd knit her a shawl. I'm hoping to have this done by her birthday in August - this is the product of only a few hours, but at the rate I'm currently going...

Ugh.

I will have to resume knitting at some point. There will be more baby knits coming up - my cousin just had a son (congrats!) - and I'm thinking of some nice cotton tops - such as Ophelia, Megathy (ravelry link), Dayflower Camisole, Beaded Cami...

Anything to cool me off.... hey - maybe I'll knit myself a itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka-dot thing and run about town in it. HA HA HAHAAAAAA. Seriously though. Any votes? Anyone made these tops yet? :D

A Cheer for Cherry

2008-07-06T18:06:00.010-06:00

Pattern: Cherry by Anna Bell

Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Berocco Touche
Mods: None.

I have to give some MAJOR love to Ann at Yarns at the Adobe. First off, her shop is brimming with the yummiest yarns! I can usually walk into a yarn shop with somewhat admirable self control, but ohhhhh, not this one. After hours of drooling and pawing at the skeins, Ann finally sold me this gorgeous Berocco yarn with the comment that if I needed more, I could just give her a call. Well, I ended up needing more, and when she didn't have the proper dye lot, she tracked it down from the manufacturer and had it in my Colorado hands within a week. Not only that, ladies and gentlemen, she also helped me get my mother in law into knitting, which is beyond cool. If you are ever in San Luis Obispo, CA, you MUST stop by.

On to Cherry - this pattern is up there with the hourglass sweater in my book. Unbelievably flattering, ultimately comfortable, and absolutely adorable, you really just can't go wrong. It's the type of pattern that you think "oh yes, that's cute, I should make that", but it's not til after it's done washing and blocking and you put it on that you realize you never want to take it off.

I might make another one of these to sleep in. Yes, I love it that much.

:D

Quick meme

2008-06-25T12:55:00.003-06:00

I was reading Sassenach's blog and saw this - thought it would be a fun break from the monotony of work...

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. Your significant other? babe
3. Your hair? curly
4. Your mother? Dory
5. Your father? Dilbert
6. Your favorite thing? music
7. Your dream last night? weird
8. Your favorite drink? coke
9. Your dream/goal? peace
10. The room you’re in? cube
11. Your ex? forgotten
12. Your fear? death
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? happy
14. Where were you last night? sewing
15. What you’re not? outside
16. Muffins? banana
17. One of your wish list items? vacation
18. Where you grew up? alaska
19. The last thing you did? lunch
20. What are you wearing? shorts
21. Your TV? off
22. Your pets? dogs!
23. Your computer? new
24. Your life? hectic
25. Your mood? happy
26. Missing someone? no
27. Favorite store? garden
28. Your summer? fast
29. Like someone? smile
30. Your favorite color? blue
31. When is the last time you laughed? today
32. Last time you cried? dunno

Please to welcome...

2008-06-21T16:39:00.003-06:00

MacKenzie June. Born on June 20th, 2008.
I am an Auntie to the third power!
Squee!

Knitting on pins and needles

2008-06-17T10:28:00.006-06:00

Good morning cherry! We are just about finished with you! This is the second sleeve, and for you lovely readers - do you see that bedraggled little skein to the right? Yeah. That's how much yarn is left. I can hardly stand the suspense... will I have enough? Will I have to hunt down another skein in the same dye lot? I am torn between wanting to go home and knit obsessively or put the dang thing away because I can't bear to run out of yarn. What's a girl to do!?

Sometime last Wednesday, I decided I couldn't deal with such unadulterated stress, so I turned to something else - the sewing machine. In the intervening time frame, I have rediscovered a passionate love for my sewing machine. Or maybe just discovered, since I don't remember ever loving my sewing machine this much. Usually there is much swearing and gnashing of teeth and "what the hell?!"'s but this time? Just love. And here's why:

The fabric of yore has become... the flirty skirty!
Pattern: McCall's M5390
Fabric: Cotton pretties from hobby lobby

I can't even tell you how much I am in love with this skirt. It's comfy, it's cute, it was super easy, and it was CHEAP. Love love love. I'm going to wear the crap out of this thing. Especially on hot days like today. If any of you have some cotton pretties in your stash, or even just $5-$10 and a local hobby lobby with fabric on sale, I highly recommend making this skirt. It is di-VINE.

The unfortunate part of finishing this skirt is that I am being inexorably drawn back to the stress of Cherry. Will she make it? Will she run out of yarn? Stay tuned!

Sumpin's up...

2008-06-11T14:10:00.002-06:00

Ooo - yummy...

For a little flirty skirty? Definitely.

Cherry's on her way! Just have to finish the sleeves and the edging and she'll be wearable!

Goal!

2008-06-01T13:44:00.005-06:00

Some close friends of ours are having a baby and as we are all avid hockey fans, I figured the little one might as well get a head start...

Pattern: Raglan Sweater by Debbie Bliss (The Baby Knits Book)
Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash && Andean Silk
Mods: Sewn on hockey patch (purchased through proper channels. :D)

How freakin cute is that thing? I wanna stretch it and wear it myself. But since that patch would only cover one small part of my chest *ahem* I might just go ahead and knit myself an avs sweater in the proper size. Sweet. :D

I have no other knitting for you. I'm finishing up little red cardigan for another friend of ours (due very soon) and Cherry is still sadly staring at me from the knitting bag. Never fear, I will finish her in short order!

I leave you with a view of the sunset out my back door last night:

Little Miss Ladybug...

2008-05-25T18:40:00.004-06:00

... has been keeping me busy. Last year for my grandmother's birthday, I made her a knitting needle roll with some ladybug fabric. My niece B was quite taken with the little bugs... they were "very cute". When I found this fabric, it seemed too appropriate. As you can see, little B is quite pleased, as am I. She is also pleased for another reason (not the least of which is the fact that she had just had some candy).

Some time ago, we were perusing Ravelry, looking at toys, when my darling niece cried out "OOOOOOO! Auntie! Look at THAT!"

What she was pointing to, my dear friends, was a duck. Not just any duck, it was a *waddle* duck. For many months now, I have been hunting down this waddle duck in his natural habitat... and today I think... I *think* I've found him. Hiding out in my plants, he's knit entirely from stash and though it took me a while to actually capture him, he now seems quite content to be in B's possession and the recipient of many kisses and hugs. I was the recipient of many hugs and kisses as well, which makes me a happy Auntie.

It's something in the water.

2008-05-21T16:35:00.006-06:00

Cherry has been set aside to accommodate all the baby knitting I'm doing. Within a two month span, four of my friends are having babies. Five if you include the March baby . Needless to say, I've stopped drinking the tap water... it's all bottled water for me from here on out. :D

However! The baby knitting is coming along swimmingly, and I've even been able to knit entirely from stash!

A little pink pair of booties went to my co-worker for their new girl. I have no picture, but suffice it to say, they were very cute.

My sister's shower is coming up this Sunday, and since they are not going to find out the baby's gender before it's born, I went with purple.

Pattern: Classic Cardigan (ravelry link) by Debbie Bliss

Needles: US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash DK
Mods: None.

A quick, easy knit and entirely from stash. Superwash too, which is great for baby!

I have a wee Colorado Avalanche jersey in the works, and the last project has yet to be started... perhaps a little "Mabel" style dress (it's a girl) or maybe another little cardigan in red? I will keep you posted. :D

All the pretty flowers....

2008-05-08T18:11:00.004-06:00

Pattern: Indigo Ripples Skirt - IK Spring 2007

Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Pink
Mods: None.

I love how it turned out, but it's a bit too big. I have to keep that waist band tied tight to keep the skirt up and still it has a tendency to ride down. I might have to throw it in the dryer full heat - has anyone dried brown sheep cotton fleece before? Tumble dry style? Will it shrink? Even if it doesn't, I'll still wear it. I'll just have to buy cuter underpants.

Incidentally - spring is in full bloom. Welcome to Colorado.

The joys of spring

2008-05-07T09:38:00.007-06:00

I must admit - this earlier daylight savings time shift has me a bit... shifted. It feels like it should be summer already, doesn't it?

*sigh*

I have been chomping at the bit to get my garden done.... and so despite Colorado's tendency towards spring snowstorms, we built our garden and planted it.

Tomatoes, peppers, basil, spinach, broccoli, strawberries, thyme.... yummmmmm. I cannot WAIT for all this to grow up. We also planted a raspberry bush in a whiskey barrel, and some other, more flowery plants to complement. So exciting! Our new landscaping is also starting to flourish - plants are coming up all over the place. I can't wait to see it all put together - it's like my birthday every day!

Despite my deep conviction that it should be sunny every day, it is not. It has been raining off and on, some snow (which I still love, because it melts the next day) and today is wet and dreary. Not that that's bad - because it has allowed me time to work on some nice spring garments - well, only one really - but I'm very excited about it....

please to welcome Cherry. :D

Absence makes the heart....

2008-04-19T15:19:00.008-06:00

Hopefully you will all forgive me for my long absence, I have been rampantly trying to set a new software industry record by putting out four new releases in three months. Ergo I've done nothing lately but work.

Well, that's not entirely true. I finished my indigo ripples skirt.

:D

But YOU will have to wait until next post for pictures. I need to either gain weight or shrink the skirt first. And get my husband well enough to take pictures (he's currently lying on the couch watching soccer and moaning - why are men such babies when they are sick?!).

In the interim, the lovely Yarniad has tagged my with a seven random facts meme! So!

Seven Random Facts:

1. Caffeine makes me go bonkers. I can have limited amounts, but after that I run around in circles and twitch.

2. I used to have a black thumb. Then I discovered that if you water plants on a regular basis they don't die. I also discovered that the plants in the room where I sing the most (the music room) are doing much better than the plants in the rest of the house. My husband says that it's because I'm full of hot air.

3. Once I tried to go vegetarian. I got sick. I was sick until we added red meat back into my diet. I wasn't anemic - I even lived with a nutritionist at the time - but to no avail. I am definitely a carnivore.

4. "The Tao of Pooh" is the book that brought me back to the Catholic church. Don't laugh.

5. I am a closet sci-fi fan. At the moment I'm hopelessly hooked on the Serenity/Firefly series by Joss Whedon.

6. I love to read. I also read very fast. When I was a kid, I was always the first to finish the book lists in the summer - I must've had to replace my library card once a year simply from being worn out. I'm still an avid library-goer, but I don't allow myself to go into old bookstores any more... partly due to allergies, but also in part because I'd never come out.

7. Puzzles fascinate me - I love figuring out how things work and how all the pieces fit together. I've been known to take apart expensive pieces of equipment, just to see how the guts worked. In my defense though, I put it back together.

I'm fairly certain most people have been tagged, but just in case you haven't...

1) Fuzzy Love
2) Peaknit
3) The Brown Berry Chronicles
4) Team Knit
5) Tiennie
6) Knit Along the Way

:D

Tweet tweet!

2008-03-22T21:15:00.000-06:00

Happy Easter Everyone!

Zen and minimalism

2008-03-17T09:23:00.007-06:00

Pattern: Minimalist Cardigan by Ruthie Nussbaum
Needles: US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn: Austermann Inka Color in Burgandy
Mods: I dismissed the ribbing around the bottom edge of the sweater and sleeves, as well as lengthened the arms. I ended up using the hourglass sleeve pattern to the sleeve cap, then the minimalist pattern from there on up. Not as kimono-y as I was thinking, but I really like how they turned out!

I wasn't sure if I'd quite hit zen with this sweater, but I wore it today and I LOVE it. It's warm (which is good) and snuggly (also good) and not nearly so itchy as I thought it'd be (very very good). I think I need to find a proper closure for it, then it will be all good. Closure is good for zen.

What to do now?

Believe it or not, there's nothing that I'm dying to knit at the moment. I started the Indigo Ripples skirt from IK in a nice springy pink, but it's a LOT of stockinette and there's nothing good on tv right now.

So instead I went to the fabric store and found some bad-ass 70s print stretch cotton twill that will become a nice spring/summer skirt. A *wee* bit heavy, but that's not entirely a bad thing considering how freaking high my office turns up the AC in the summer. What's this about saving the world? Greenhouse effect? Bah. Let's keep the office at 67 in the summer.

Despite my renewed love of 70s print cotton twill, I can't have only *ONE* project on the needles. As I perused Ravelry with my 2 year old niece (babysitting time), I managed to find my way to the pattern browser for toys, at which point Baillie started pointing at patterns saying "Ooo! Look at that! Auntie! I will knit this, you will knit this, I will knit this... "

So much for only one project on the needles. :D

The Yacht Club

2008-03-08T19:15:00.003-07:00

Pattern: Drops 100-32 Short cardigan with ¾ sleeves knitted in moss sts
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Baby Silk
Needles: US 7
Mods: Many. Primarily for gauge, but overall I just loosely followed the pattern above and made the rest up as I went.

I do love this little sweater. It's going to be perfect for those little summer evening chills. I even found little flower buttons for it - they're so freakin cute that even my husband likes them. It needs to be washed and blocked, but I think this will become a summer favorite. I'm thinking of making one in black... though perhaps with proper gauge this time. Not only was I translating between centimeters and inches the whole time, I was also trying to adjust for my gauge, which was way off. In the end, though, I'm happy. Quick knit too!

As for Glee - well, I'm sad to say that I think Glee will have to be completely frogged and restarted. I finished it to just below the bust and finished the sleeves to try it on... no dice. It's tight across the neck (which is a deal-breaker) and it's a bit stretched and tight across the shoulders. So it's going to go into the "redo" pile. It will eventually be an adorable little cream colored top, just not right now.

Which leaves me time to work on my minimalist cardigan! I have slated time tomorrow to work through the sleeve pattern and try to figure out what I want to do. I'm leaning towards the "kimono" look - loose and floppy - though not too loose and floppy. Like the hourglass sleeves. What do you think?

Soooo.....

2008-02-28T17:44:00.004-07:00

The fabulous thing about knitting entirely from my stash is that I feel absolutely no guilt when buying knitting accessories. For example - the spring 2008 IK? Yup. Bought that with no problem. Need size 7 dpns? No sweat. Buttons? Hey - splurge a little and buy the glass ones.

I am DEFINITELY a fan of this. I wonder if I can find yarn gnomes to keep me all stashed up?

Bah.

The cropped cardigan needs sleeves, but the main body is done. How freaking fast did this go! It's knitting up as fast or faster than my sad little minimalist cardigan - who at this moment is peeking out of my knitting bag sighing *sleeve me! sleeeeeeeeeve me!*

I shall be knitting nothing but sleeves for a week. THEN I will wear cardigans galore.

Aren't there drugs for that?

2008-02-22T08:47:00.006-07:00

I appear to have the common but painful disease startitis. My Moss Stitch Cardigan sits sadly on the back of my chair, Glee stares mournfully out of my knitting bag as I cast on for yet another project.

Last summer I realized that I had not a single "daily-wear" dress in my wardrobe. No - they are all formal occasion/wear to wedding type dresses. Say what!? How could this be?! I don't know how it happened, but it did. And since this discovery, I have been determined to rectify the situation. So!

During the recent family visit, I was fortunate enough to purchase an Anthropologie dress on mad sale. I got a thumbs up from my husband (who's picky as hell), a thumbs up from the brother-in-law (also picky as hell) and the ever-important thumbs up from the sister-in-law (who has fabulous taste). So out came the checkbook, and out I walked with this little number. As I admired the lace sticking out of the bag, I realized that an adorable little dress needs an adorable little cropped cardigan for those potentially chilly spring/summer nights. Who could argue?

Ergo, I have cast on 100-32 Short Cardigan with the 3/4 sleeves.

Despite my poor, sad little already-started projects, this is somewhat of an occasion for me. The sweater is cropped (which I typically hate) and 3/4 sleeves (which I typically hate even more) but it's perfect for this dress.

And so I embark on a new clothing experience.

Although I did finish knitting SOMETHING.
Booties for baby B. Knit whilst watching Blades of Glory and trying not to laugh beer out my nose (this is a very painful experience. avoid it if you can).

Where's Waldo?

2008-02-17T08:24:00.009-07:00

Bwa ha HA. Do you see me? Lookit lookit... there I am!

Dave's brother and his wife are in town and so we took a holiday to go ski. We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was gorgeous... sunny, warm but not too warm, and we had nice fluffy snow to ski on. Plus - no lift lines, the chutes were open (as you can see from the photo above) and my darling husband finally caved as I egged him on to do crazy and ridiculous things. On this particular jump he was a little wobbly mid-air, but he stuck the landing beautifully! On another jump he got about four or five feet up, totally biffed the landing, and some teenage snowboarder came up behind us saying "Dude - are you alright? That was GNARLY!"

I haven't laughed that hard in a long, long time.

One more gratifying picture (the camera was somewhere down by his knees to get this shot... nice and steep. MMMMM)

And now on to knitting!

My friend Gena is having a baby soon. For her baby shower I figured I'd try my hand at baby knits. The result? They ROCK. So quick! So freakin CUTE! I will knit many more baby things in the near future. I love them. Love love love love love. Next I think I will try booties. Maybe a cap. Maybe other yummy patterns I happen to find. Even better... they don't take up super lots of yarn... so all those orphan skeins I have in my stash? Yeah. Baby items. Fortunately, I know plenty of people who are having babies soon (my sister being on of them) so I have much fodder for cute baby knitting. YAY!

Finally!

2008-02-02T10:43:00.001-07:00

A nice sunny day with husband home and no pressing business. May I present:

Pattern: Perfect Turtleneck by Paton's
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Superchunky in a cream color
Needles: US 10
Mods: Obviously there are no sleeves and the turtleneck is not so turtle-y. I knit the main body mostly to pattern. For the arm area I picked up about 80 some odd stitches and did a k2p2 for edging. The turtleneck is also to pattern, just made shorter.

I *LOVE* this yarn. It is soft and squishy and super warm. Once spring hits this is going to be a big time addition to my wardrobe.

The minimalist cardigan is coming along. The body is done... I'm just trying to sort through how I want to do the sleeves. I've got super long monkey arms and I've spent most of my life with sleeves too short. So I prefer full length sleeves, if I can get them.

Once I sort through the sleeve pattern, the minimalist cardi will probably be done in short order. I can 't believe how fast of a knit this is - particularly since this moss stitch seems to go SO SLOW. But whiz-bang, you've suddenly got the front panel, and whiz-bang, there's the back. So far I've spent maybe four evenings of knitting! A sweater in a week? Not bad. Not bad at all.

:D

Minimalist thujas

2008-01-30T08:04:00.000-07:00

Just got an email from my in-laws with this photo attached... too cute. These are the Thuja socks in cascade 220 superwash. I've also knit these for myself and my husband... they are great for puttering around the house on a cold day. Yum yum yum. I love me some toasty feet.

I am knitting away fast and furious on the Minimalist Cardigan. This thing seems to be flying off my needles! Although - I must admit that the back is taking a bit more effort to get through. So. Much. Moss stitch. Now I remember why I always do the back sections of sweaters first... enthusiasm is the best medicine for a long and moss stitchy road. After the back piece is done, the rest is chump change, right?

And I really have finished the sleeveless turtleneck - and worn it even! - I'm just waiting for a good day to take pics when my photographer (hubby) is actually here. I promise - photos are coming soon! I love how it turned out. *love* how it turned out. And it's soft and squishy and made out of yarn recycled from my monstrous arm cozies... remember those? Yeah. Those were too big. HA! You KNOW they're too big when you can frog two arm warmers and make a sleeveless sweater out of them! *giggle*

I'm not sure what's next on the knit list. I have loads of stuff stashed up. I could knit up Glee in either black or cream, I could knit either the indigo or lovely leaf lace skirt, the Gallery jacket, beaded cami, I could go on. I'm pretty sure I want something with lots of stockinette and NO MOSS STITCH.

Any votes? I'm leaning towards the Glee shirts... I have some mods in mind and it's still kind of winter-y...

To knit or not to knit?

2008-01-12T14:10:00.000-07:00

That is the question.

Do you ever look at a pattern and think it should be cute and conceptually it's cute and the model who's wearing it is cute, but then realize that you just can't quite wrap your head around the end product? Yeah, I'm feeling that way about the tilted duster. I *like* the tilted duster, and the ones I've seen have been cute, and it's a very nicely different pattern... I just can't get my head around it. And I feel like it's cute enough that I *should* want to knit it, but really, I just don't. Not for myself. And not really for anyone I know. And yet, I still kind of do, and I can't figure out why. I've spent hours pondering this pattern. What is the mysterious allure of the tilted duster?

Of course, I've solved the problem quite nicely by deciding to knit only from my stash this year. That means I have a whole YEAR to ponder and decide whether I'm going to knit the tilted duster or not.

:D

The sleeveless turtleneck is being washed and blocked now. Pics next time!

Giddyup

2008-01-05T12:22:00.000-07:00

Dude.

I made my father in law a pair of socks to match the ones I made for my mother in law... check out how much yarn is left.

Yeah. I'm feelin pretty damn badass right now. :D

Back to reality...

2008-01-02T22:11:00.000-07:00

So the knitted gifts were a big hit, the non-knitted gifts were a big hit, and I made out like a bandit, despite repeatedly telling folks we didn't need more STUFF. So what did I get? Stuff. It's cool - it's all useful stuffs and quite nice. I am a lucky lucky girl.

Not lucky enough to escape illness, however.

The December/January bug has hit yet again. I have a splendid cold that's finally moved into my chest and made breathing near impossible. Plenty of time to sit and... think. Ha ha! Just kidding. I'm knitting. Well, thinking too, but mostly knitting.

And! All this thinking has led to another new year's resolution. After surveying my stash and actually writing out all the projects I have planned (and stashed for) I've decided that this year, I will buy no more yarn.

Yes, you read that right. Keep breathing.

I have so many cute projects that I've bought yarn for that I've decided I'm going to knit exclusively from my stash this year.

Yep.

Wish me luck.

:D

Home for the Holidays

2007-12-30T15:04:00.000-07:00

I am back! Once again I have returned, unscathed, from the land of the in-laws. Such wonderful people... it was a week of much laughter, much fun, and much FOOD. That family can COOK - I think they even managed to fatten me up, something my own family has been unable to do for thirty some-odd years...

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season, filled with love and light. My holidays are a bit extended this year, as I will be celebrating Christmas with my own family here in Colorado on Jan 2nd. And as such, I had a wee bit of extra time to finish up the family's knit presents. Hooray!

Since my husband got himself a bad-ass new camera for Christmas, he graciously offered to take pictures for the blog. So here we go!

For: Momma :D
Pattern: Weekend Cardigan by Ivete Tecedor
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash, doubled, in Fired Brick
Needles: Size 10
Mods: I knit this in the round and added a few decreases to the body for shaping. I also added toggles all the way down the front.

For: My sister

Pattern: Central Park Hoodie by Heather Lodinsky
Yarn: Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool
Needles: Sizes 5 and 7
Mods: None

For: Nana, the knitting matriarch

Pattern: #107 Bobble, Bobbles Everywhere by Nora J. Bellows
Yarn: Cascade 220
Needles: Size 10

I'm so excited to give her this gift. Bobbles have been a running family joke for years... I think she'll be over the moon about this bag. I'm SO pleased with how it turned out!

There are many resolutions in my near future... not the least of which is to have a fantastic new year and wish you all joy in the coming days and months!

'tis the season indeed

2007-12-14T13:00:00.000-07:00

I am, by involuntary action, a cynical person. I tend to believe the negative things more than the positive. I don't know why - it's certainly not by choice - it's more a habit that I fall into and forget how to get out of.

Every once in a while something smacks me out of this. Today I read a post that actually caused me to shed tears in the realization that such wonderful people exist in the world. This knitting community has touched me far more with the graciousness of good than I ever expected it to, and I am very, very grateful to each of you.

If you are reading this... you are charged to do something good today. Give a random gift. Call someone you haven't talked to in a long time. Buy lunch for the homeless guy on the corner. Something good. Something unexpected. Bring joy.

If you are the one who inspired this post, you'll know who you are. You're off the hook. And thank you for smacking me.

Back in action

2007-12-09T08:33:00.000-07:00

After a month of sheer craziness, I finally have a moment to sit down and rest. Snow is drifting by my window and there is that utter silence that snow brings, broken only by the dog snoring and my typing. It's really quite nice.

So. What have I been doing for the last month? It's been a hectic four weeks! We had family in town for Thanksgiving, so there was all the attendant madness there. My mother's family is nuts anyway, so having them around is always an adventure. :D Work is keeping me on my toes and extremely busy - I've been learning a lot of new things, which always makes me feel like I'm just flying by the seat, you know? Fun but exhausting as well.

In the last two weeks Soundvice had its first show with the new lineup, and Dave and I have been to the mountains twice for music for him. The first was a 36 hour ski event they played at, and this past Thursday his band opened up for Ziggy Marley in Vail... that was fun. Dave's brother was in town too - I don't think he'd ever seen Dave play, so it was neat to see his reaction. Other than that, we played tourist in Vail and drove back through a mad snowstorm. They closed the pass just after we got through...

As for crafty stuff, I have (for the most part) finished my xmas knitting. I have the buttons to sew on and the button hole band to do on the CPH, and I need to find clasps for my mother's weekender. The ones I fell in love with are too too big. Sad. Last night I dove into the mad yarn barfage that was my bobble pile and I sewed them all up into neat little balls.... pulling them out of their tangled mess was an interesting process. Behold the pre-bobbles:

THAT was exciting. The dogs even got involved, as one of them took off with a blue bobble and the rest of the pile went dragging after her... and then they made a game, as I ended up chasing them around the house as they stole bobbles. Ahh, fun stuff.

I took out my sewing machine a couple weeks ago and made some pretties for myself. Primarily a grey shift dress with some lacy bits. I don't have a photo, since my camera battery is nowhere to be found, but pictures will eventually ensue. I'd forgotten how much WORK sewing is. It looks like it should be so simple...

Contrary to popular belief...

2007-12-03T14:33:00.000-07:00

... I am not, in actuality, dead. I will provide updates and yummy pictures soon. :D

Everybody knows it's Windy....

2007-11-05T09:17:00.001-07:00

My dog hates the wind. She's fine with thunder, fireworks, whatever. But the wind... not so much. The night before last blew a fierce storm, and Kona paced... back and forth... clickety click across the bathroom floor. Occasionally she'd paw at us or cross the bed back and forth.

For hours this went on. Finally, around 2am, I got up and as a last ditch effort, made her a little fort right next to Dave's side of the bed. I pulled over her bed, and stuffed a towel and a blanket between the bed and the nightstand. The result was this:

but hallelujah if she didn't stay there all dang night. She's not real pleased with me... I pulled up the towel to show the fort... previously she was all snuggled up under there feeling safe and secure. That is a not-happy-with-me dog.

I made my dog a fort. I don't know if that's ridiculous or inventive. But I made my dog a FORT.

My little pony

2007-11-05T08:52:00.000-07:00

The weekend cardigan, minus her clasps, is done. Despite massive color bleeding when washed, I love the yarn. The color and the feel... it's wonderful. If I make this again I'll probably make a few mods, like holding on to the edge ribbing stitches for the neckline and picking up fewer neckline stitches. But overall I'm very very happy with it. I think my mother will be too...

Pattern: Weekend Cardigan by Ivete Tecedor
Yarn: Swish Superwash from KnitPicks - double stranded
Needles: Size 10
Colorway: Fired Brick

I've also cast on for my sister's CPH and made some pretty good headway. I've set myself a two week time limit to finish this sweater... should be more than enough, don't you think? Especially when you consider what I did yesterday...
The back piece is knit to the armholes. I am hoping to finish the back tonight and do the two front pieces this week. We'll see. I am going to the hockey game tonight (GO AVS!!!!) and I have music Tuesday and Thursday. It'll be a row here and a row there.

Everything else is plugging along. I picked up some adorable vogue sewing patterns this weekend. I think after Christmas I might pull out my sewing machine, dust her off, and make something pretty for myself. I've been leaning towards 50's style dresses lately... I realized this summer that hey - I have no summer dresses. Boo. This must be remedied. So what do you think? With a nice linen fabric maybe? Or cotton? I also picked up this for my neice... she's in the "heesee" phase and loves everything related. She's even got my little ponies... remember those? Yeah, me too. Funny.

:D

busy bee

2007-10-26T11:26:00.000-06:00

Things seem to be back to normal around here. All the evacuated are back home and still HAVE homes (for which I am thankful) and we've stopped staring intently at the television and gone back to having the history channel as background noise. In the interim we went to the punkin patch, where DD and Unga Dees appear to have had too much coffee...

And I have just about finished mom's weekend cardigan. This is the body. One sleeve is about done, I just have the other sleeve and some finishing to do. I'm not totally sold on this yet - we'll see how it blocks out and how the toggle clasps work... I may pull it apart and make some mods if I have time. Honestly, it's such a quick knit that it's hardly a big deal at all!

I'll hopefully soon cast on for the sister's cardigan, and I need to bobble for the bobble bag. Other than that, I'm in pretty decent shape. Last year this time I hadn't even started. Maybe this year my hands won't fall off. :D

world is on fire

2007-10-23T09:06:00.000-06:00

If you've been reading this blog, you'll know we just got back from my brother in law's wedding in San Diego... Scripps Vista, to be precise. Everyone's out, including some other family I have just north of there. So we're safe, but I *REALLY* hope none of you are in southern California right now...

The all-purpose cardigan

2007-10-17T08:49:00.000-06:00

My wardrobe is simple. I have a lot of very clean lines and single color items. So I tend to rely on accent items to spice things up - shoes, scarves, sweaters... Now that the weather has started getting colder, I'm relying a lot on tshirts and cardigans... ergo this lovely item is going to be a staple.

Behold the black CPH - superwashed, blocked, and currently being worn.
Pattern: Central Park Hoodie - KnitScene Fall 2006
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash
Needles: Size 5 and 7
Colorway: Black

This knit up pretty tight - in fact, I was a little worried about the fit. But blocking made this soft, supple, and just the right size.

LOVE.

More shots - can you tell how much I'm in love with this sweater?

Utter madness

2007-10-14T19:40:00.001-06:00

In light of the recent weather (it's 43 degrees and drizzling) I figured it was time to pack away the summer garments and bring out the nice knit sweaters. Plus I was cold.

Before I packed her away in cedar and lavender, I photographed the summertime tunic to give you all a peek. So here she is:

Can you see the difference in lots? I thought I'd picked out all the same lot number. Turns out they were one digit off. I didn't notice until AFTER I was done. Oh well. You can't really tell when I'm wearing it. And it's comfy and cool and ergo it's going into storage until weather permits.

I'm about halfway done with the weekend cardigan. I'm knitting the two front pieces and the back all as one... a zillion stitches per row but it's less seaming when I'm done (woohoo) . About a third of the way through my most recent row, however, I realized that I'm probably going to want to do some waist shaping. There's none in the pattern, but I think my mother will appreciate a more streamlined form. I don't think I'll mod much besides that, but we'll see. So far I'm quite pleased with the color and the knit. Hopefully she will be too!

stitch-o-rama

2007-10-02T13:55:00.000-06:00

I spent my Friday night at my Nana's, organizing her knitting needles into the needle roll I made for her. That woman has a LOT of knitting needles. She also has a vast collection of the funniest old knitting books. Good heavens we used to knit ugly stuff! As I got chances I did rows on my second CPH sleeve - I got to the bind off row before I realized I'd royally screwed something up and had to frog back to the beginning of the decrease section. Boo. But the darling black CPH is on her way! I promise!

Stash enhancement has occurred over the last few weeks, which is soon to become stash dehancement (is that a word?) because I'm starting to knit gifts for my family. This lovely lady...

will soon be the weekend cardigan for my mother.

A nice deep cedar green (which I haven't ordered yet) will become a CPH for my sister, since she keeps wanting to borrow mine! >:|

And for Nana? Well, she is getting something special. She'll receive a nice bright bobble bag. Her love of bobbles is a standing joke in the family - once she knit my father a brilliant kelly green sweater with bobbles all over the front... it was hideous... in fact, I think I inherited that thing... Yep. In the laundry hamper. Anything Nana knits you is to be worn with pride, right? Right. Anyway, Nana is getting the bobble bag.

Speaking of the kelly green bobble sweater...

It's a little (okay, maybe a lot) more neon than this, I think the red balances out the green, but... yeah.

7 things...

2007-10-02T13:09:00.001-06:00

Per a friend to knit with, I am considering myself tagged to rattle off seven truths. :D
Here are the rules:
1 Link the person who has tagged you 2. Tell 7 true things about yourself 3. Tag 7 new people
4. Leave a message with the person you have tagged so they know about it.

Here we go!
1. mildly ocd - runs in my family. i either knit obsessively or bake obsessively or play music obsessively. my sister's obsessive about germs... she cannot wear dirty socks, and once she spitshined our wood floor because she'd watched some show on dustmites!

2. cooktarded - i can bake like nobody's business, but bloody hell if i can cook. in fact, the first 6 months we were married, my husband wouldn't let me use the nice new calphalon pans, citing some incident i don't remember about setting the stove on fire trying to make rice.

3. musically inclined - i could sing before i could talk, and my parents finally put me into piano lessons at 3 1/2 after finding me writing harmonies to tv commercial songs. it's my only real talent.

4. compulsive list maker - i love lists. i love writing them out. i like making things neat and organized, and seeing them written out helps me focus.

5. furnace - i sleep extremely hot. enough that my husband jerks away if i touch him and the dogs won't stay near me for any length of time unless the windows are open and it's the dead of winter. my mother makes jokes about roasting marshmallows over me while i sleep.

6. schmoopy movies - i like crappy drama movies. not the made-for-tv-lifetime type movies, but movies like "the day after tomorrow" and "the prince and me". they're awful, i know, but it's great background noise and it's totally mindless drivel for when I don't want to use my brain.

7. early riser - no matter how late i was up the night before, i am almost always up by 8am. normally i'm up by 6:30 or so. i love it - i love the quiet and the smell of dew on the grass - or the frost in autumn - or the coffee if my hubby gets up before me. if it's nice out, we'll sit out on the porch and drink coffee and be still together. it's my favorite time of day.

Since I don't know if there are 7 people who actually read this blog, consider yourself tagged if you read this. :D

Time for a new schema

2007-09-28T08:56:00.001-06:00

Please stand by as my blog needs a tune-up. :D

I'm baaaaaaaaack! part 2

2007-09-24T19:44:00.000-06:00

Wedding over we headed north to SLO to spend a couple days with the in-laws. It was much needed relaxation. We went to the beach...

I got a new dress, which I can't show you because I don't have a picture of, and we bought lots and lots of wine. And drank lots and lots of wine. PSA - if you're me and you drink too much wine with your father in law you will end up telling him all about knitting and how much fun it is and the differences between yarns and fibers and ... you get the idea.

We headed towards Monterey Bay and Carmel, and then east to Tahoe. We stayed in a town called Truckee - and I got to tell you - it's suprisingly like my home town. Even the smell. And the bear tracks... this dude knew exactly where he was going... straight to the rubbish bins. *sigh* They weren't locked or covered or anything. Maybe they emptied them earlier.

Anyway, it was snowing in Tahoe so we got out and did a little jig in the snow (we LOVE the snow) and then headed to Utah again... this time via the northern route. We stopped in Salt Lake City - I've been through their airport gazillions of times but never into the city proper - and I have to admit that I really like it there. It's not a big town, not nearly as big as I thought it was, and you can walk from one end of downtown to the other in about 15-20 minutes. The landscaping - there are flowers everywhere - it's freaking gorgeous... a riot of color everywhere you go. Everything centers around Temple Square... where the temple is and where Brigham Young's house (the Beehive House) was/is... we stopped in to see the place and ended up on a tour with a bunch of missionaries getting ready to head out... it was kind of a surreal experience. The house and its particulars are really well preserved... I drooled copiously over the music instruments, and there was a rack with yarn all ready to be made into yarn cakes. If you're ever in Salt Lake, I definitely recommend going by and taking the tour. The missionaries are for the most part very nice. They don't bite or anything! :D

Out of Salt Lake, through Wyoming, and on our way home, I started and finished the mother in law's Christmas socks...

And now we're back. And I'm never driving anywhere again. EVER.

I'm baaaaaaaaack!

2007-09-24T19:12:00.000-06:00

Hello my lovelies! Did you miss me? I have returned from California land and have come to tell you the harrowing tale of travel, weddings, and knitterly things. So sit back with a nice cup of hot cider (or whatever) and I will begin my tale!

On the 9th we departed the house. Dave drove, I knit. What did I knit? I shall show you!

Dave's Thuja's! This is the second sock, and I finished it up as we were crossing the state line into... dun dun dun.... UTAH.

Utah is an interesting state. I have not been there much, except for a 7th grade ski trip to Park City and a backpacking trip into Moab. Oh yeah, and I did some climbing there WAY back when before I broke my wrists.

Anyway, Utah is interesting. We spent the night in Green River, apparently famous for its melon growing capabilities. I thought that perhaps my lack of blessing in the melon department would make me stand out, but it turns out it wasn't the kind of melons I was thinking of. Apparently LA is the place to go for THAT kind of thing, as I later discovered.

As we made our way to Nevada, I started knitting up this little guy:

It's for my grandmother, who will absolutely love the colors. It's knit in Cascade Fixation in some colorway that I can't remember at the moment. Nice and stretchy though. You'll have to forgive my rather icky blue toenails - my 1 1/2 year old neice painted them (with a little help). I must say, knitting socks on size three needles goes a lot slower than knitting them on size fives. (insert unanimous "DUH" here).

Anyway, as I was knitting this guy up, we're driving up a boring hill with nothing much to see, and we decided to stop at this totally random "Scenic View" thing to stretch our legs. As we pulled up, we saw THIS:

Holy crap on a stick. I was SO not expecting this - the picture doesn't even do it justice. It was PHENOMENAL. You could see down into the canyons and holler echoes and... wow. Just wow. I love surprises like this.

After recovering for a few minutes we drove away down the road. We arrived in San Diego Tuesday and spent the rest of the week in wedding preparations. The wedding was gorgeous, the bride was beautiful, the flower girl was adorable, and we had inordinate amounts of pictures taken. Mission accomplished, the brother and sister in law got hitched and are currently lounging somewhere in Central America.

Are you hooked yet? Part two tomorrow...

A quick update...

2007-09-18T21:20:00.000-06:00

The wedding was a success! In fact, it could hardly have gone any better, despite the stress &etc. And here is my new beautiful sister-in-law wearing her flower basket shawl...

I've not been able to knit nearly as much as I'd hoped.... but now we're on our way home knitting as we go... so I'll hopefully have a couple of FOs to show you when we get back on Saturday!

Cheers and I hope you all are well!

On vacation...

2007-09-13T08:50:00.000-06:00

Hello my lovelies!

I apologize for my lack of blogginess but I'm currently in San Diego getting ready for my brother in laws wedding. I promise I'll post soon with FOs and pictures and STUFF. :D

Luv,
Me

Whoa.

2007-09-06T10:27:00.000-06:00

Good morning. I woke up this morning, put on my running clothes, leashed up the dog, stepped out my door, and stopped dead in my tracks.

Here's why.

A quick and crappy panorama circa 7am this morning. The photos were taken from the windows in my loft. I'll futz with it later with some actual photo editing software, but you get the idea.

The flower basket shawl is done and blocking. Photos to come soon...

:D

un-tardedly lacey

2007-09-03T10:55:00.000-06:00

Since the man of the house is out on the east coast being spacey (AAHAHAHAAA - get it? being spacey... being... nevermind)

Anyway, I have loads of time on my hands and so I actually sat down and figured out the FBS pattern. In fact, I geeked out and wrote it all out in excel with formulas to update the repeats and a macro to run them. And now! Ta DAAAAA:

I present you the untarded lace. Doesn't look like much but I stretched it all out a bit and you can actually see the flower baskets! How cool is that?

Having procrastinated this project I now have a week to finish it. Well, a little more than a week, although I'm hoping to get it all finished and washed and blocked before we leave. Ugh. Wish me luck...

Yardwork, knittage, and stuff.

2007-08-31T09:20:00.000-06:00

Dude, I just realized that I blogged about port-a-potties on my birthday. How apropos.

So! I have been a slacker, due to many things, not the least of which is the yard stuffs. We went from this:

to this:

within two weeks. HRB says he feels like we're cheating... we're used to doing all this ourselves! Fortunately we have a space for a vegetable garden that he can get all crazy-diy on building planters and such. He's actually quite good at this kind of stuff - at our old place he made this rad little planter (oh my gosh, did I just type RAD?!) that was a set of offset squares... it was really cool. I'm kind of excited to see what he comes up with...

I have, actually, been knitting. HRB has been out of town for the last week or so in San Diego giving some sort of nerd lecture, and this week he's out on the east coast making sure his space ship will fly or something like that. In technical terms, he's doing pre-flight calibration and testing of the instrument, but whatever. Back to knitting.SOCKS! My Thuja's are done and HRB liked them so much he requested his own. So I went and picked up a couple orphan skeins of superwash for him and away I go!

Next on the list is the startation of Christmas knittage. My next post will have the gift names of what I'm knitting for who, so if you're family and you're reading this, you are forboten to read any further posts!

Hmm. I think I need a dictionary.

The odd thing about port-a-potties...

2007-08-23T09:01:00.000-06:00

Hi. This is a non-knitting post, but hey. I'll leave you with a nice pretty picture at the end. Deal?

So. Some of you may or may not know that my husband and I live in a relatively new development. Now, if you've seen these new developments, you know that they give you nice happy grass and a tree in the front yard and a big pile of dirt in the back. And then they require you to do your own landscaping. We were some of the last people to move into this development, hence, we are pretty much the only ones who still have dirt in our back yard (actually, it's a jungle of weeds that the dogs stalk crickets through) and the neighbors are starting to look at us funny.

Enter the landscaping company. We contracted to get some landscaping done.. uh... to be honest, it's a total overhaul. Being that this is a multi-day job, this nice landscaping company put a port-a-potty outside our yard on the sidewalk.

So the odd thing about port-a-potties is how many random people just stop by to use them. I understand the landscaping crew, that's fine. But the other night some random dude drove up in a truck, used our port-a-potty, and then tore out of the neighborhood like his hair was on fire. Just now the solid waste folks (yeah, I know, but I'm not going there) stopped their massive truck, both used our port-a-potty, and took off. There have been other incidents, but I wasn't here, the neighbors told me about it.

I don't know why, but all this random port-a-potty using seems really strange to me. I hate port-a-potties. I will only use them under extreme duress. I suppose it's easier for guys, since they don't have to sit down, but still. It's just gross. Isn't it gross? I mean, honestly. Just thinking about all this makes me wanna go wash my hands.

Let's change the subject. This nice new neighborhood also has a big field that they land and launch hot air balloons from. Hence:

This first one is from one of the loft windows looking left. You can just almost see the mountains under the right balloon...

The next shot is from what used to be our back stoop. The line on the right is my house. You see that park on the left? A few weeks ago, one of these balloons almost landed in that park!

The neighbor behind us got a good view...

Knock knock...

2007-08-21T22:18:00.000-06:00

It's me! And look! Orangina was worn out and about today! I'm definitely a fan... though I might add a little length to it in the future. Maybe my next one. Ooo - in a nice raspberry rich red. Mmm. Raspberries!

I'm heavily medicated at the moment... this cold just won't go away. I even tried to make a deal with my nose: I won't use harsh tissues on it if it stops running. So far the deal isn't working. Even the medication isn't really working. Bah.

So what does one do when heavily medicated? One must try a knitting pattern one has never tried before. So what did I do? SOCKS! Did you hear that!? I KNITTED A NON-UGLY-SOCK!!! Well, I don't think it's ugly anyway. It's the thuja pattern... I'm trying out sock patterns for potential Christmas gifts. *sigh* August, and I'm thinking about Christmas. Anyway anyway look!

It's knit out of the leftover hourglass yarn - so I can wear my sweater and wear my socks and I will MATCH. Kick ASS. I finished this one yesterday, when not-so-medicated, and today (just now, really) I tried to knit the other side... I'm about halfway done but I think due to the medication I missed a whole set of instructions and I ended up with a smurf-sized sock. Hmm. Maybe I can make it a nose-warmer.

Um, what's left? My honey displayed his mad baking skills and made me a loaf of bread:

Really it's for him, but I get some. Not that I can taste the bread, or really anything, at the moment, but I'm sure it tastes great. :D

I think I ought to go to bed now.

Blocking blocking blocking...

2007-08-16T18:28:00.000-06:00

Orangina is finished and blocking! To be honest, I'm not quite sold on her yet... I needed some length and while I *think* I got it with the blocking, we'll have to see. It's a beautiful pattern though and I'm waiting patiently to see how she turns out...

As you may also have noticed from the sidebar... I've had the Summertime Tunic finished for a minty... I'm just waiting to update y'all with pics before I move it off to the FO list. I'll take pics soon - really I will! The summertime tunic is way cute... I've already worn it twice since finishing it. Yay for happy patterns!

Today was a sick day... on the evening we returned from the backpacking adventure, I went to my nephew's fourth birthday party... many many screaming sugar-high children who were all in all pretty damn funny. At one point DD (nephew) was jumping around in the kitchen saying "I've... had... too... much... sugar.... sugar... sugar.... sugar..."

Anyway, children are petri dishes and lo and behold, I got sick. So I spent all day sleeping and knitting the sleeve of my soon to be new favorite sweater... the black CPH. I love cardigans, I love black cardigans even more, and I love the 220 superwash from Cascade. Let's hear a cheer for Cascade 220! Those COLORS! That feel! Love love love. I can't wait to finish this cardigan.

I'll update with pics soon! Stay tuned!

I'm baaaaaaaack!

2007-08-12T21:09:00.000-06:00

What, you didn't know I was gone? Yeah, well. I was. Gone, that is. And now I'm back. But here's where I was:

We've been backpacking in Wyoming with some friends. I've never been backpacking with others before... usually it's either me solo or me with the hubby and dogs. But it was super fun! I confess, I thought about taking some knitting, but after somber consideration I realized that I wouldn't have knit even if I had yarn and needles. There's so much fun to be had! Like king of the mountain:

And swimming!
Did you honestly expect me to knit with such wonders before me? Most definitely not. I did think about knitting though. And now that I am home I will knit, and peruse Ravelry when I should be knitting, and probably buy more yarn for patterns I found on Ravelry when really I should have been knitting. And hopefully then knit.

Alas, poor skinny bitch, we knew her well...

2007-08-02T14:30:00.000-06:00

Oh, hello!

I know, long time no type. Like others before me, I have fallen off the face of the blogging world, only to be caught up and swept away by the loveliness that is Ravelry. I cannot, in good conscience, apologize because it is just too wonderful to be swirling around in patterns and favorites and such, I can only offer that I haven't forgotten you completely... I WILL update again!... and if not already there, I will pray for your immediate inclusion into Ravelry. And if you haven't signed up for Ravelry yet...

WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?

Uh, I mean... I will pray for your sanity. Wait, that's not right either. Um, yeah. :D I love you all.

Dude - that third sentence was AWESOME. Best grammar EVER.

SKU-WEEEEEEEEEEE

2007-07-28T14:48:00.000-06:00

Ravelry!

(quick edit/update... my username is skinnybknits if you wanna find me....)

Lacetardedness

2007-07-16T19:02:00.001-06:00

Uh. So.

I had planned on making my soon to be sister in law the flower basket shawl for her bridal shower gift, but it is just not going to happen.

Why?

Because I am completely and utterly lacetarded. Orangina is fine because it's a small repeat. Anything more complicated and my brain gives out. I can't tell if it's just that I use up all my brain cells during the day writing code and learning Russian, or if I'm just totally unable to count. I still add smallish numbers on my fingers, for heaven's sake.

The bright side of this is that Tiennie, who happens to have some kick-ass timing (as well as knitting), provided me with an alternate idea...

Check out her "love languages" blog post. :D

A general idea of my current state:

Courtesy of the creatures in my head.

WHOA!

2007-07-16T11:18:00.000-06:00

Holy CRAP! Did you guys see THIS:

Student knits her own Ferrari

Art graduate Lauren Porter knitted a Ferrari sportscar for her honours degree at Bath Spa University.

The classic red bodywork consists of 250 squares of garter stitch made by Lauren and 20 family members and friends.

The windows are V-shaped stocking stitch, while the details are crochet and the badge is embroidered.

It's all supported by a steel frame which Lauren, 22, of Greatham, Hants, welded herself.

Incidentally, what the heck is "Bath Spa University"? I just saw "Legally Blonde" for the first time on tv and now all I can think about is Delta Nu.

Stockinette lace

2007-07-08T18:25:00.000-06:00

Who knew? Did *you* know that Orangina was such a quick knit? Is it a craft secret?

This fabulous piece of lace only took me a couple hours to knit up. At this rate, I might have to knit myself 5 or 6 more! So easy! I've found, however, that I can't watch anything engaging on TV whilst knitting this. I get too involved and I've had to frog a few rows due to a rather interesting National Geographic show. :D What can I say, I'm a sucker for boring tv.

Speaking of TV, I woke up Saturday morning feeling rather ill - so in the interest of keeping myself on the couch and resting, I decided to do something TOTALLY boring. I popped Pride and Prejudice (both disks) in the dvd player and started the prairie tunic. Not as quick a knit as the orangina, but still coming along. The picture doesn't do the color justice, it's BEAUTIFUL. A vibrant, hallelujah, kick my heels up and rejoice at the beautiful sky type of blue. The kind of blue that my grandmother used to look at and say "look, the ceruleans have come out to play!". She was a bit bonkers, that one. But so sweet. And one HELL of an artist. So this color will remind me of her when I wear it, and I can watch anything I want on tv because it's ALL STOCKINETTE STITCH.

Ka-CHOW

2007-06-29T07:53:00.000-06:00

She is finished! The hourglass is finished(I know, a wool sweater in summer? I must be nuts.) and I couldn't be happier. Well, I could, maybe with a large bar of real belgian chocolate and maybe sitting on a beach somewhere watching money fall into my lap and his royal braininess running around with no shirt on serving me drinks and... *sigh*

The hourglass. Right.

So... yeah. I must say, I now understand all the gushing about this sweater...it just FITS. I LOVE it. Really quite sad it's not snowing out, to be honest, because I can't wait to wear this sweater... maybe a visit home to Alaska is in order? To like, Barrow or scenic Deadhorse? Urgh.

To try to show you a better picture of the color....
isn't it just divine?

Pattern: Hourglass Sweater from Last-Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson.
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in color 863
Needles: Knitpicks Options, size 5 circular
Mods: Seed stitch borders for sleeves, neck, and waist. I also added 5 decrease rows at the neck.

I am so totally making this sweater again... in a nice summery cotton this time. :D

bummer

2007-06-27T10:57:00.001-06:00

Progress is a double edged... something or other. Loads of progress on the hourglass... actually, I'm about finished except for the yoke and the seaming. But LOOK:

The shoulder seams are so totally WAY too shallow. I'm going to have to rip all this and decrease every row instead of every other row. Or maybe I can decrease two rows in a row and then do one straight. *sigh*

Any thoughts? Suggestions? Help?

Schmoo.

2007-06-18T08:04:00.001-06:00

Baillie loved her pink Monica. She wanted to put it on right away. So we did. And then she wanted to tell the flowers all about her new shirt...

One of the many reasons I love kids.

2007-06-14T19:31:00.000-06:00

My sister lives just up the street with her husband, two kids, dog, cat, and fish. More often than not, my husband and I will go up the street to hang out, watch the kids, help with yardwork, etc. So we're up the street, my husband helping with the planting of trees (apparently a three person job) and so I'm watching the kids as they play with their friends.

First we play tag. Mind you, these are 3-6 year olds, so tag involves one person being it and everyone else chasing the "it" person. All of the sudden, I'm "it", and a bunch of screaming 3-6 year olds come hurtling at me and knock me down. Half kidding, I say... "Uh, okay... instead of chasing Auntie, why don't you all go run in circles around the tree a bunch of times!"

So what do they do? They all scream "YEAH!!!!" and go running circles around the tree until they fall down.

I laughed so hard I almost peed myself.

Pink with some frilly bits!

2007-06-12T13:27:00.000-06:00

Yesterday afternoon, as my dog and my husband were snoring discordantly on the music room floor, I was knitting happily away at my wool hourglass sweater when I thought... "wait a minute. why the heck am I knitting a WOOL sweater at the beginning of the summer?"

In view of this sudden consideration, I went and got out my Orangina stash yarn (more wool, but it's lace wool and it's part silk, so it's okay) and started knitting Orangina on my size 3 circulars. You know what? I *SUCK* at knitting on size 3 circulars. Four rows in and I had so many mistakes that I had to frog the whole thing. Booooooo. I will have to borrow the size 3 straights from Nana. For now? Back to the wool sleeve.

Today I saw this on someone else's blog and decided I had to knit it. So I busted out my size 6 needles and the frogged pink yarn, and knit this bad girl up. Yes, yes, I know. I would look silly in this... it's for my neice! Only 18 months and she already luuuuuuvs pink frilly things. And stuffed animals, and kitties, and any sort of jewelry. For Christmas I knit her a little purse with a pair of play keys and a toy phone in it.... you should have seen her carrying this thing around. She'd hand me my purse and then gather up her purse and away we'd go!

I've already got the front all knit up... I just have to finish this backside and get some contrasting color cotton to make the frills and I'm done! Such a quick knit! I'll post pics of the neice modelling it as soon as it's done... next I'll have to figure out how to fair isle spiderman for the nephew.... Anybody know of some good spidey patterns out there? :D

The problem with having relatives who knit....

2007-06-08T15:41:00.001-06:00

...is that they always want to borrow your needles. Consequently, when you reach that stage where you need your size 5 circulars, it's likely that your sister has borrowed them. If you're sneaky like me, however, you bust out the backup double points. :D

Rachmani-thoven

2007-06-06T21:48:00.000-06:00

Progress is being made. I PROMISE.

BWAAAHAHHAAAA! I PROMISE. I will NEVER DIE.

You probably all think I'm nuts. But if you've seen Team America, you got it.

But anyway, lookit!
The more I knit with this stuff, the more I love the color. It's the Cascade 220 superwash... in... a brown color... and ... crap. I can't remember the name. But I love it. And I will post it. I promise. AAAHAHAHAAAAA. I PROMISE.

I'm a bit slap happy after my day. It's what we call a small dog warning day here in Colorado, with winds blustering up to 60-70 mph. Rode my bike to work sideways. Rode home from work sideways the other way. Went upstairs to my sheet music scattered to all four corners of the music room. I tried to play a Rachmaninoff prelude, only to end up in the middle of Pathetique. Boooooooooo. So I spent an hour trying to sort out Clementi and Bach and Beethoven and Rachmaninoff and whatever the hell else I had on my piano stand/floor. Then I gave up and knit while we watched the Ducks win the Stanley cup and Grace Jones in Conan the Destroyer. I love her in that movie. She's nuts.

How's that for an evening?

Behold!

2007-05-24T23:13:00.000-06:00

My beautiful, red, semi-see-through cotton sizzle! Finished over the weekend during a 9-hours-there-7-hours-back trip to Albuquerque! Kick ass!

It wasn't quite dry yet, but I HAD to try it on. It fits so nicely! I believe the white tank I have on underneath will have to be substituted for something a bit more skin colored, but OH! It is loverly. I can't wait to wear it out and about. Perhaps it will dry by tomorrow.....

AND! Guess what else got washed and is now blocking?

The navy cardi! It was just boring and blue before, so I wasn't really wearing it much. I decided it needed a bit of embellishment, so I raided the stash and came up with a lighter blue... and did the following:

As you can see I did some trimmin; and I think some nice dark wood buttons would do it nicely. Yes. It is currently pinned to my craft room carpet to dry (it's new carpet, eh) and as you can see from the photo, I must beg the question...

How the hell do you block a HOOD?

May I present....

2007-05-15T09:40:00.000-06:00

The soon to be FOs!

OOooooooo....

Aaaaahhhhhhh....

Yummmeeeeee......

Warm!

Double oh eight and double oh nine

2007-05-10T09:58:00.000-06:00

My husband told me today that when people introduce us we sound like spies:

"This is Dave - he sends stuff into space. And this is his wife Lori - she builds things for the Russians."

I laughed heartily at that one. I also asked where the hell our super cool gadgety roadster was cuz.... SERIOUSLY. I covet that car. Though I'd probably install a martini shaker and a place for my knitting needles to shoot out at bad guys. Talk about a secret weapon! I would zoom down the road like Isadora Duncan with my handknitted silk scarf flying in the wind shooting out the tires of the bad guys behind me with my super kickass knitting needles. YEAH!

Speaking of knitting:
I have ordered an inordinate amount of yarn - I think I'm becoming a yarnaholic, actually - so I have many projects on the horizon. Here's the plan:

Cascade 220 Superwash:
CPH in black(because I desperately need a good black cardigan) and Joelle Hoverson's hourglass sweater out of this beautiful brown...

Catalina Baby Alpaca Pima:
The most beautiful red for the Natasha cabled pullover from Adrienne Vittadini. I've seen quite a few pattern suggestions/corrections for this... but I must try it. I fell in love after seeing it here: Domesticat

Elann baby silk:
I probably should've picked a lighter yarn for my orangina, but it's always cold at work, so I'm hoping it works out. If I make this again, it will be in cotton for happy summer wear.

Karabella Zodiac:
I must be on a red kick, because I absolutely fell in love with the brick color. It's deep and rich and I'm going to try the sizzle pattern again with this yarn. It's cotton, but has a gorgeous sheen to it and it splits much less than the Elann did... so here we go again with the sizzle. Hopefully this one works out. I'm keeping my toes crossed (so I can use my fingers to knit).

Whew!

Fortunately for me, I have a road trip coming up - which means loads of knitting time! YAY! 9 hours on the way down (that's the long way) and 7-8 on the way back.... Rock n Roll. :D Maybe I'll have some FOs to post when I get back... at the very least I will have progress. And I PROMISE I will have pictures!

:D

In the meantime, have a happy weekend!

Navy Blue Estimacation

2007-05-07T09:52:00.000-06:00

Sooooo... I am a horrible estimator. I thought being married to his royal braininess would help me with this, but no. I've finished both sleeves and part of the hood, but I have no more yarn for the navy blue hoodie. Maybe it's not my estimating skills - maybe a yarn fairy comes and steals my stash at night. Who knows. But I must now order more yarn. Which is actually fine because I needed some size 3 circulars anyway. :D

So rather than knitting, this weekend I partially cleaned out the basement and hung shelving in the garage... ready? Ooooooo....

It was exciting. Using my fabulous estimating skills, I hung the vertical bars just a bit off... and ended up using my dremel and a pair of pliers to get the shelves to fit right. BUT! Everything is level and drilled into studs and nothing fell down in the middle of the night so that's good. And now I have a happy husband. :D

Last night I decided to eschew the ugly symptoms of knitting withdrawal, so I started a purple tweed vest from the leftover CPH yarn... I promise it doesn't look as dorky as it sounds. At least, not what I see it being. It's kitschy and cool and I have horn-rimmed glasses on...

hmm.

Okay, so maybe a bit dorky. But dorky is the new cool. Right?

Right?

Reading Rainbow

2007-05-01T14:46:00.000-06:00

Well, since I have no knitting to post about (I'm swatching) I was going to do a book meme, but then I got too lazy. So I'm just going to post some of my favorite books instead. :D

Pride and Prejudice - I dig Jane Austen. I think I own a copy of almost every book she's written, and I like them all. This one's my favorite though. I tend to have my own prejudices, and I love having them overthrown.

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (Robert A. Heinlein) - My buddy Sam got me to read this book (he's taking over the world, by the way, so y'all probably ought to read this book too). It took me a bit to get into it, but I was fascinated by the dialect and the way the story was told. The ending was not prettily summed up either (ie - not hollywood) and it really pulled me in and made me think/wonder.

Harry Potter - whole damn series. JK Rowling is a fabulous writer.

Ender's Game (Orson Scott Card) - I read Xenocide on my honeymoon and got sucked into this series. Another great writer.

Lamb; the Gospel According to Biff(Christopher Moore) - this has got to be the funniest book I have ever read. It's about Jesus' years that are missing from the Bible, as told by his best friend Biff. Caveat - you MUST have a sense of humor about religion and/or God. Otherwise you'll likely be highly offended. As a semi-recovering Catholic, I about wet myself.

The Eight (Katherine Neville) - I love history, and I love historical fiction even more. This is a fabulous book weaving the french revolution, alchemy, and present day (70's). A bit hollywood, but good nonetheless.

On the press:
The Quantum Brain (Jeffrey Satinover)
Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
A Dirty Job (Christopher Moore)
The Dancing Wooly Mammoths (AKA, The Dancing Wu Li Masters)

Jumping with Glee

2007-04-22T10:09:00.000-06:00

Glee is finished and I am SOOOOOOOOOO happy with how it turned out! That wee bit of elastic is just the right touch for this shirt... it fits in the right places and shows off what little curves I have. Eeeees nice, mang.

I also finished the oppositely colored but equally ugly sock to match the first ugly sock. I can now have ugly feet whenever I wish. I will take a picture soon so that you may all partake of their ugliness. :D

And as for the cotton sizzle - well, she's going on the back burner for a while. I'm not sure what her fate will be. Perhaps I need to turn that pattern around and knit it top down, or maybe cast on with scrap yarn and finish the length last. The washing did actually bloom the cotton a bit and soften her up, but the stitch definition is still really uneven. Funny, I didn't think I was that uneven of a knitter. *sigh*

So what's next? Well, the yarn FINALLY came in from knitpicks so I'm going to finish my navy hoodie... and I have yarn for Orangina, so that's up and coming as well. I will need to decide on a "trip project" - my DH's band (Ultrachronic) is playing in the Hyperactive Festival in New Mexico on May 18th. So we're going to drive on down, rock out to some nice loud, fun music, and then drive back. Hence, LOADS of knitting time. I have something in mind... but... any suggestions?

the fugly sticks

2007-04-16T10:10:00.000-06:00

Not the most auspicious knitting weekend ever. I got stuff done, but it's... well, it's just not pretty. First offering:

The pink sizzle. This is the front in elann sonata. My guage swatch turned out pretty and even and soft - everything this is not. I'm really hoping that washing this will bloom the fiber a bit and maybe blocking will help even it out... I know I probably shouldn't wash and block this before I finish the back and put it all together, but I also don't want to waste the effort if it ain't gonna work. So tonight we're binding off the shoulders and sticking it in the sink. Wish me luck.

Second offering:
Have you ever SEEN such an ugly sock? I mean, honestly. Granted, it's my first ever sock and I kind of just made it up as I went, but yeesh. As ugly as it is, however, it is REALLY comfortable. So comfortable that I'm actually going to knit the other side (in opposite coloring) and make them my house socks. Like slippers, but uglier.

So that's what I did this weekend. Not a total loss, as I'll have comfortable and warm feet, but not quite what I was hoping. Ah well. Once my knitpicks order arrives I can finish my navy cardigan (can't wait!) and the glee is just about finished....

zzzz.... snert... what?

2007-04-13T12:47:00.000-06:00

Today is a very sleepy day. Case in point:

*sigh* So much for my nap.

Oooo....

2007-04-06T08:44:00.000-06:00

Tsssssss. Sizzle!

Feelin hot hot hot! La la la la la la....

Weather is conducive to knitting... and this bad boy is keeping me nice and warm under all my layers of clothing. I retract my earlier statement about who needs a wool tank top - because... well, yeah. Colorado spring weather, folks.

So getting with the toasty and all, I sat on my couch last night and watched Pride and Prejudice (I finally caved and just bought the dang dvd set) and knit myself up something for the summer. It's still in progress, but here's a sneak peek...

Purling for dear life

2007-03-29T17:24:00.000-06:00

After two weeks of 60-70 degree weather, it is snowing again. As I type, fast and furious flakes are flying by my window at breakneck speed and I can only barely make out the foothills that typically dominate the view from my loft.

Surprisingly enough, I'm feeling much happier today.

There must be something wrong with me. The 70 degree weather had me all depressed and grumpy. Snow is making me happy. Seriously.

Snow is also making me want to knit. I finished the teal Sizzle and decided I needed another one in pink cotton. Because who honestly needs a wool tank top?

I'm also working on a plain navy hoodie based on the central park. It's with stash yarn (yay) and it's coming along swimmingly. The back and left front are done, the right front is about halfway done. Pictures soon!