see mi knit

January Goals

   1. Complete Hourglass sweater Almost done
   2. Complete Spring is Coming socks Done!
   3. Cast on for Dragon Hoodie Postponed for Olympics
   4. Order zipper for Hudson heh heh, oops
   5. Make serious headway on I'm a Pushover scarf Completely done!
   6. Extra credit: I'm a Pushover beanie Done!

February Goals

   1. Complete Dragon Hoodie for Knitting Olympics
   2. Complete Hourglass sweater
   3. Order zipper for Hudson
   4. Start some socks (pattern/yarn TBD)
   5. Thoroughly enjoy myself at Stitches West

I'm keeping things a little relaxed for February. I figure I'll be going insane enough with the Olympics and Stitches.

Don's scarf is done and blocking at this moment. I've already started the beanie and I think it will be a quick FO.  Pics reserved for model shots.

In the meantime, just now I saw a quote from Overheard at the Office and it was "knitterly" enough that I just had to share:

Receptionist: What are the new shirts made out?
Clerk: They're 100% cotton.
Receptionist: Cotton? That's the stuff that grows on sheep, right?
Clerk: No, cotton comes from rabbits. That's why they're called cottontails.

Your head, does it not explode from reading that?

Last night's knit night was much much needed.  Ok fine, I'm not as stressed about work like some people, but that doesn't mean Spicy Sausage Penne with Gewerzsomething isn't highly appreciated on the tail end of a mediocre week!

Sorry, no pics again. I thought I'd be going home last night but I ended up going to Don's to help him with his paper.  Wait, did we work on the paper? Um, NO.  Did we watch The Butterfly Effect instead? Um, quite yes.  Was it good?  Uhh... oddly enough the fact that I found it funny makes it not very good.  Can anyone seriously take Ashton Kutcher seriously?  I think not.

Anyway, back to knit night:  With the comfort of some moral support, I ripped back Hourglass back to the sleeve joining and re-knit doing a decrease every row (rather than every other). I'm about halfway up so we'll see if that works.  I'm going to Bear this weekend (Can I get a woot woot? woot woot!) so I don't think I'll finish it this month, but I'm pretty danged close.

And a pat on the back for resisting peer pressure!  As much as the Noro Blossom is lovely lovely stuff, and Eloise is cuteness, I'm determined to spend that money at Stitches instead. (WOOT WOOOOOOOOT!)

I was perfectly content in being a cheerleader for Kris and Marisa during this whole Knitting Olympics dealio.  The crazy folks over at JenLa even had the perfect button for me to shwag (yes, I just made "shwag" a verb):

(let's be honest though, this is probably more appropriate for me)

But as of a couple of days ago, I've uhhh been informed that I am indeed participating in the olympics.

Sigh... did I just call them my friends?  They're not friends. They are relentless pushers! (just kidding, they're my friends)(but still pushers)(who are relentless)

So I'm casting my lot as a sweater knitter. I'm going to do the baby Dragon Hoodie, which I think is suitably challenging even if it's a mini-sweater because it has ears and a spine, patches of color, a hoodie, and it requires reading of a chart. A CHART.  For those unfamiliar, charts are my Achilles Heel. I have yet to achieve, oh I dunno, 6 rows without messing up.

(I know they have a baby/kid knit item button but the sweater button is just way way cooler and dude, I am technically making a sweater)

Since the Dragon Hoodie was on January's list but now it's bumped to Feb, all I have been working on is Don's scarf.  You want a picture? Try here.  Now imagine that but around 65 inches long.  It looks like it will take about 4 skeins. I'm guessing the beanie will take 2 skeins. Which leaves me with 6 skeins that I acquired because knitters are defenseless against the words, "That's all we have, it's going to be discontinued".  I could try returning it for credit, but probably not really.

I could also cast on for some socks but the only yarn I want to use right now is the Trekking in gray that I just got.  This normally not a problem but I'm also trying to finish the hourglass sweater (gray), don's scarf (gray) and his beanie (gray). (As Marisa puts it, I don't have a color problem so much as a non-color problem)  In order to stave off blindness I think I have to resist the socks for now and just get these UFO's done.

B is for Birthday

Friday night I went to Lotsa Pasta to celebrate Marisa's birthday.  That's me, Kris, and Marisa up above, aka my "knitting friends".

Funny thing though, I actually feel uncomfortable saying "knitting friends" because to me, they're just Friends.  I've seen these two pretty faithfully about once a week for the past year or so.  We lend sympathetic ears, we trade insults aimed at telly shows (Kris, please say you don't watch Bones anymore), drink wine, eat food, and knit merrily.

I was originally looking for people to respark my interest in an old hobby. Instead I found rare and lasting friendship.

First the good news:
First FO of the year!  It's the Spring is Coming socks:

Trekking was great to work with.  I used my Crystal Palace 1's for the first time and at first I was not that impressed.  But two socks later, I really like them!  Very smooth and slippy.

Now the bad news:
Hourglass is making me sad

I thought I was done, tried it on and that neckline...!! I'm not auditioning for Flashdance anytime soon so I gotta figure something out. The rest of it (the modified sleeves, the waist, the length) is great!  It must be something about the yarn because I followed the pattern exactly.  I'll have to brainstorm with Kris and Marisa at our next knit night on Monday to rescue this project.

What do you do when you are stuck at a boy's house because you're taking care of a sick boy but you can't be really near him lest you get sick yourself but if you suggest going home he whines like a puppy dog?

You get lots of knitting done.

Sorry for the hideous pics, but all I have on me currently is a camera phone.

I'm halfway X 2 done with Spring is Coming socks.  Well the ones on the needles are more than halfway done. I must say I am loving this method of abandoning a sock halfway through.  I couldn't even imagine my psychological state thinking that I had a whole 'nother sock left.  I've figured out what my mental block is. I detest gusseting. (Yes, gusseting is now a verbage word)  Anyway, it's a lovely feeling to know that I'm at the home stretch for both socks.

I also started on Don's scarf.

And that's pretty much the last time you'll see a picture of it since it looks exactly the same for 6 more freaking feet. I think I got cabling without a cable needle down pat (quite nifty and I feel very clever).  The 8 row pattern is involved enough that I'm not quite to the point where I want to stab myself in the eye (I'll check back with you at 4').  The yarn is also very nice on the Addis.

I'm at the home stretch for the Hourglass sweater!  Just the yoke left.  I'm debating whether to do the neck in the contrasting color as well, what are people's opinion?

I also bought yarn for Don's scarf (and maybe a hat, more on that later).

He really did want to go with me but he came home from work with a nasty cold and after hopping him up on some NyQuil he was in no condition to venture outside.

It's Lane Borgosesia Tenerezza (my Italian is nonexistant but I believe it is 50% merino, 50% acrylic).  I really like it!  As soft as the Rowan stuff next to it and half the price.  I actually got 13 balls of yarn.  It was all they had and I don't want to take chance with yardage eating cable.  I can always return unused stuff for credit.  This is the pattern:

I showed Don and he really liked it.  But for some reason he was led to believe that I'm also making him the matching hat.  When I tried to (gently) break it to him that the scarf was all I planned on doing, his disappointment was too much to bear. So I said, "We'll see" and we all know that really means, "Durhh I'm such a softie."

A is for Angel

This is a picture of a picture I took when I visited the Louvre in the summer of 1998. It was a whirlwind tour.  People say you need at least a week to appreciate the Louvre, but we had one day.  But when I passed by this sculpture, the light coming through the side window, the illusion of weightlessness of the marble wings, the beautiful arc of the woman's arm, they all stopped me midstride.

It made me realize that it wasn't so much that I saw the entire Louvre, but what I got out of it.  I realized that I could site here in front of this scene for the rest of the day and it would still have been time well spent.

Gah, I've been tagged by Nancy by the latest meme making the rounds, so here we go.

Instructions: Remove the blog in the top spot from the following list and bump everyone up one place. Then add your blog to the bottom slot.

making

step into my thimble

absinthe knits

bird's nest knits

see mi knit

Select 5 people to tag (suckers!):  No really, I know these things are akin to chain letters and they take some time, but there's nothing like direct questions to learn more about folks.

So I can only think of three people who regularly read my knitting blog so I'll only tag Kris, Marisa and Michele.

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was a junior in high school. I was on the student body at Rally Coordinator and I sucked pretty bad at it. Oh well, it was a really fun year cause I got to go to all the dances for free.

What were you doing 1 year ago?

Same job, different condo, different roommate... Oooh I think I started my knitting blog about a year ago.  And funnily enough, I was complaining about how my dad bothered me about not having a boyfriend.  Almost to a day!  Funny funny.

What were you doing 1 hour ago?

Getting Starbuck's with the boyfriend! =D

List five creative things you want to achieve this year:

Try my hand at dyeing yarn.  Complete a lace project without tearing my hair out.  Learn to cook some nice and easy recipes (is it creative if you just follow directions?).  Improve writing skills.  Take better pictures (me as photographer, not me as subject).

List five snacks you enjoy:

Beef Jerky. Peanut M&Ms.  A can of peaches.  Dried mangoes.  Cheese.

List five things you would do if money were no object:

Pay off my credit debt.  Travel the world.  Open a knitting/yarn store.  Buy my parents a nice house.  Buy a pair of Jimmy Choos to just stare at all day and maybe wear around the house.

List five bad habits:

Procrastination, interrupting people while they talk, tuning people out while I'm watching tv, tuning people out while I'm talking to them on the phone, not returning phone calls.

List five things you like doing:

Knit. Read. Surf the net. Snowboard.  Chat with Don.

List five favorite gadgets:

Powerbook, iPod, kacha counter (with the lock), camera, Shu Uemura eyelash curler.

Name one thing you like about yourself:

I can make myself laugh.