Weaselrina

A non Poll Poll

2010-11-07T22:26:00.003-05:00

Ok.. so I have a poll-type question to ask but I don't feel like building an actual poll so I'm just going to ask the question and hope for comments.

I'm one of those knitters that never actually finishes anything... like ever. And this is why..

I cast on for something, anything, and i'm going along nicely and then I'll glance down at what Im doing and see a mistake. The mistake isn't huge, and its like 10 rows back, and I think "noone will notice that" and I knit another 10 rows. At which point I can't stop seeing it.

Now I'm 20 loooong rows away from the problem (or some insurmountable difference) and its something like lace, or somethign else with a ton of decreases and whatnot and I really really don't want to go back and undo and fix it. But I also don't feel like I can go forward either. So I put it down while I contemplate the problem. A month later I pickthe project up, can't remember where I left off, but I see exactly where the error is, I have a little panic and put it away, often for good.

This is a problem. Its an expensive problem, and its resulted in a gazillion, slightly irregular, unfinished, projects that I don't recall where I left off so I can't even resume, all over the damned place.

Which brings us to today.

I'm knitting a pair of socks and somewhere at the very beginning of the stitch pattern (below the 1 inch cuff about 3 rows in, I got off the pattern by 1 stitch, creating a skew. The pattern is fine below there, but there is this glaring (to me, anyway, I mean how glaring can something be that is in little tiny yarn on little tiny needles) mistake at the top and i'm now 20 rounds below it.

So what do I do?

Do I keep going/ I mean its a sock. socks get worn, and worn out, and a small mistake on a couple of rows under the cuff arent going to make or break the thing?

Do I fix it, knowing I will keep noticing it?

How do I force myself to do one or the other?

How do I jump this hurdle so I don't end up with another project that is in the "why the hell did I stop knitting that" pile?

Who asked you?

2010-10-27T15:57:00.009-04:00

So Maura Kelly of Marie Claire posted this the other day and stirred up a lot of anger.

These are my thoughts on the whole thing.

Here’s the thing, for me. (and I will articulate this poorly, I’m sure)

I’m fattish. Medically anyway. size 14 sometimes size 16 others, right now i’m in a 12. Medically obese, but not necessarily unhappy with my weight or how I look, most of the time.. If i pay attention to my weight its because I feel like it. Sometimes I do, and I enjoy losing then. And sometimes I don’t feel like it. Like right now. don’t get me wrong, I used to be obsessed with it, and one day I woke up and just didn’t care anymore. It didn’t seem important. Best thing that ever happened to me, that.

So the arguments that this kind of thing provokes bother me because they buy into the social obsession/importance of weight.

Stupid woman at Marie Claire claims fat is unhealthy. Many justifiably angry people argue that fat and health are not necessarily related. They’re right, but what does it matter if its healthy or unhealthy? Whether it is or not isn’t the point. I’m under no moral obligation to pursue health if I don’t want to. My body, my choice. Does it cost other people money? possibly.. so does driving, and smoking, and industrial pollution and a lot of other things. What level of attention I give it is a personal one, decided between me, my spouse and if I feel like involving them, my cats. And is no one's business but ours.

The problem with her being hurtful isn’t specifically that fatter folks have suffered enough with attempts to lose weight. Granted many have, and they shouldn’t have to. But some of us don’t suffer at all. Some people (and this is horribly scary to the weight obsessed), don’t actually give a shit about their weight.

(Imagine what it feels like to have people youv’e spent your whole life trying ‘not to be like’ or looking down on, telling you that how you’ve spent your life (trying to be thin) is unimportant.)

For many people it isn’t a choice. But for those for whom it is a choice, its a choice we have a right to make. Just like being unmarried, or choosing not to be parents, or, for that matter choosing to be parents or choosing to get married. I can choose to be fat because I am too busy with things I care about to make it a priority and there isn’t a damned thing wrong with that.

What Ms. Kelly did ts not wrong on the basis of what individuals experience, or because she has the science wrong. Its wrong becuase it marginalizes an entire group of people based on arbitrary criteria.

cleveland12

2010-06-14T11:27:00.001-04:00

cleveland12
Originally uploaded by weaselrina

Paper.

2010-03-20T11:04:00.000-04:00

Spending a beautiful saturday inside writing a paper.

oy.

If only I had time

2010-02-21T22:23:00.002-05:00

I would be doing nine million things.

Like sitting for a whole day listening to the absolutely awesome 'best albums of 2009' list over at

http://powerpopreview.blogspot.com/

I've been so busy I didn't know that Ian Hunter had an album out.

and I love Ian Hunter.

I'm going to try and listen in between the schoolwork - I've been missing out.

Adventures in cosmetic application

2010-02-10T10:16:00.003-05:00

or.. How not to put on eye cream. step 1. put a blob of eye-cream on your right index finger. step 2. realize that to put on eye cream you need to remove your glasses.

step 3. remove glasses, using right hand, thereby spreading said eye-cream all over lenses.

step 4. take a bow.

Another proud moment.

Why it pays to read the terms of service or Why your Mac needs internet security software

2009-07-31T00:35:00.006-04:00

Hi all - I just recently became aware of this so I thought I'd share. This is just a public service announcement for those of you who don't think you need an antivirus program because you have a Mac. And it has nothing to do with viruses

If you connect to online banking using said Mac, or your retirement account or your investment account, it is very likely that their terms of service say that you are covered in the event of fraud or hacking or whatnot but only if proper precautions are taken on your computer.
Which means if the machine you access the account from does not have internet security software installed you are not protected against financial loss.

It is not true in every case but definitely worth running the software if you aren't up for reading your terms of service.

Ok.. I admit it.

2009-04-30T00:51:00.005-04:00

I'm panicking about swine flu.

Fine.. everyone I talk to is being all too-cool and calm and detatched and jokey and tsk tsking the media for being all inflammatory and overreacting and making fun of people walking around in masks, but me? I'm nervous.

Maybe its because I stupidly read everything i could find on the 1918 flu.

Maybe its because I'm vaguely nuts anyway. Or because I'm asthmatic. Or because I live in a densely populated metropolitan area and take public transportation with people who cough, sneeze and drool all over everything. Or because the background on my Twitter page is a flu virus. Or because I have an internet connection and an unbearable compulsion to read. Whatever it is, I can't seem to get calm about this.

There, I said it - anyone else?

Um. so yeah.. that was a Joke..

2009-04-29T00:10:00.002-04:00

So for those of you who were genuinely concerned that I might have a Madame DeFarge/Richard Nixon complex.. No, I do not really have an enemies list. Unless you count walnuts, mohair, health insurance companies and oak pollen as enemies (which at the moment, I do).

Atchoo.

(p.s. does anyone know where my Optivar eye drops are?)

Knittiing Updates

2009-04-28T12:11:00.003-04:00

The Cashmere neckwarmer is mostly finished, It needs to be blocked and have buttons added. and the ends woven in. I'm actually considering adding a single crochet border to compensate for the weird mistake where its wider in one spot than others. Its driving me a little crazy. Ok. a lot crazy. I have this bad habit of permanently back-burnering projects when i've discovered I've made a mistake and it is too far back to fix, so it was a really big deal for me that I actually went thru and finished this

When I was a kid and took piano lessons my instructor always used to yell at me because if I made a mistake I had to go back to the beginning of the piece and start over. I see I've brought that compulsion forward.

I liked knitting this, Its just simple enough that I can do it on the train while watching tv on my phone, and the yarn is gorgeous. (Artyarns 5 ply cashmere) I've started a second one (to be given as a gift) solely to be worked on on the train. (and other periods where I want to knit but can't pay attention to it) . As I discovered this morning, I can even balance a cup of coffee while knitting this pattern and watching tv on the train- perfect.

For non-train knitting I've revived my Falling Water Scarf. I'd completely forgotten I started one and was glad I could easily figure out where I left off. I was looking thru my ravelry page and saw this listed in my projects, and had no memory of it at all. Fortunately it was one of two things I've managed to list in Ravelry (I have tons of others i've been meaning to) because it was the only way I remembered what yarn I was using. (Malabrigo Silky Merino)

My goal for the summer is to finish or frog every project that was left stranded in the middle.

Seems reasonable.

Well. this will clearly need blocking.

2009-04-23T14:08:00.002-04:00

scarf
Originally uploaded by weaselrina

The scarf is nearly done, it will SO need to be blocked
and while i really like it, the one break in the color pattern is driving me batty. I may do a duplicate stitch over it.

How does my enemies list look? ;)

There are two types of people in this world.

2009-04-22T12:37:00.001-04:00

Ok.. so apparently I fell asleep last night before posting this because I took a benadryl and it knocked me out and I just noticed it sitting in my drafts.
I intended to include more links
but now I don't remember what they were.
Seriously, benadryl should be a controlled substance.

There are two types of people in this world.
And a million ways to finish that sentence.
The first time remember hearing that opener it was followed by "Beatles people and Rolling Stones People"
and the most unusual one I'd heard was "Those that like Halvah and those that don't"

Growing up in Brooklyn in the late 70s and into the very early 80s there truly were two types of people in the world: Those that listened to Rock and those that listened to Disco. I distinctly remember narrowly escaping several fistfights that were precipitated by someone throwing down the "rock sucks" or "disco sucks" gauntlet
And if you happened to be in Junior High at the time, everything about your existence was defined by which of these you chose. Who your friends were, what clothes you wore, where you hung out, what hairstyle you had.. all of these fell in line behind your musical choice.
.
I was a rock person, driven, at least in part, by my lack of desire to style my hair every morning. Rock people definitely had it easier in terms of the personal maintenance, and I think my wardrobe for a few years consisted largely of black rock concert t-shirts. Perhaps if i had the easily-styled hair that neatly and easily fell into those Farrah Fawcett flips, the entire course of my liie might have been different.

Fortunately Junior High ended and we all moved on to more meaningful pursuits and became passionate about more important things, such as Atkins vs. Weight Watchers, Facebook vs. Twitter and the all-important Mac vs. PC . . Musical rivalries of this type do still exist though (the styles have changed but the dynamics haven't).

So anyway, my point. Because I grew up in such a volatile musical climate, it suprised me tremendously when I first learned that the artists don't always share the same allegiences as their fans. For this reason I always enjoy hearing musical artists talk about their influences and likes and have them be things that you would never associate with them.

Here we have Wyclef talking about Bruce Springsteen:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6psg0BEg94

An article on Frank Sinatra and a whole bunch of people:

http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2008-05-11-frank-sinatra_N.htm

On a related note: I also really got a big kick out of seeing Dee Snider singing "Tradition" from Fiddler on the Roof on one of those VH1 "I love a decade that isn't this one" things. I would love to see a remake of Fiddler starring Dee Snider as Tevye.

Creative aging.

2009-04-12T15:41:00.008-04:00

When I was a kid, my mother gradually developed diminished hearing in one of her ears.

She said it was the best thing that had ever happened to her, and gleefully pointed her deaf ear at anyone she didn't feel like listening to. It was indicative of her personality for sure, but I'd imagine teaching first grade for 30 years made her appreciate quiet when she heard it.

My father had the same joyful reaction to losing his sense of smell as he got older. As a life-long New Yorker, this I understood immediately.

As my mother's hearing in her (left i think) ear worsened, she would often

mishear things in peculiar ways. Most memorable to me was a public service annoucement that New York City ran in the late 70s encouraging people to put their garbage in garbage bags (as opposed to piling their refuse in the cans, attracting all manner of wildlife --->>). I don't remember most of the song, but the chorus was the repeated words "bag it, bag it", prompting my mother to run in all offended at the insulting language and to yell at me for listening to such things.

Imagine my sense of nostalgia today as we drove home from our luxurious weekend in Danbury CT (yes, really), and Kanye West's "Amazing" came on the radio, and I turned to my husband to say .. "Ok, so I know he can't really be singing about raisins, can he?". (At another point, it sounded like "Raisinettes" too).

I can only imagine this is going to get worse.

I didn't mind the song per se, but it sounded like he was singing Karaoke, rather than a song, (the vocal track sounded completely disconnected from the music - DH's observation)

On a completely different note, today I discovered yet another difference between living in the suburbs (as I have for the last year and a half), and NYC where i spent the preceding 40 1/2 years. Living in Brooklyn for that many years, you grow used to hearing people scream at sporting events. You can hear them from blocks away. When the Rangers finally won the Stanley Cup after 54 years, people were going to their windows in between periods and bellowing random gutteral sounds out the window.

Here in Westchester, they scream at golf.

on television.

Really.

I'm not kidding

I came home from my weekend away to hear someone screaming "Attaboy Tiger" from behind their closed door.

Its a whole new world.

So I still remember how to knit.. who knew..

2009-04-10T14:55:00.004-04:00

I love long weekends.

And I've been in dire need of a break.
Never content to have one thing going on at a time, I was seduced into picking up a second project heading into my long weekend.

To backtrack a little - my husband and I never seem to have time to work on the stuff we enjoy.. life tends to interfere. So we committed to spending this weekend doing the things we never seem to get to - in my case its knittng and blog stuff.

I started the weekend in Katonah Yarn where I picked up some Artyarns Cashmere 5 in a blend of purply colors to make this Cashmere neckwarmer (note: links to a pdf).

I'm enjoying this so far, and its looking pretty good...

The only real complaint I have, is that the two projects I have going at the moment are this, and the baby raglan sweater made from the yak/marino blend, and both yarns are stranded rather than plyed so I'm constantly splitting stitches, which is starting to drive me a little nuts.

Make that two complaints - or one and a half really, this scarf has a psso 2 purl stitches on the purl side, and with the splittiness of the yarn it gets a little wearing.

Still, its yummy, soft, and easy and fast, exactly what I needed for this weekend.

Oh yeah.. went to Stew Leonards today too - forget the Disney folk, this is truly the happiest place on earth

Please Disregard

2009-04-07T13:43:00.002-04:00

this post

Yes, I really am this immature

2009-03-29T19:52:00.008-04:00

But I saw this and couldn't stop giggling.

I am a 12 year old.

Give me a Y... Give me an A...

2009-03-28T15:08:00.007-04:00

I'm knitting I'm knitting!!

It has been ages since I've picked up the needles to do anything. Partly because I've been so hideously busy, and partly because I just have too many hobbies to devote enough time to any of them. But I've missed my yarn so much and I'm happy that I finally broke into the stash and looked around.

Of course the stash is like a museum visit, but I'm not doing stash knitting. I felt like I had to buy something new.

Just like I always do. I'm facilitating economic recovery, don't judge ;)

I went to School Products yesterday where I picked up some yummy 50/50 Yak/Merino blend in a textured looking brown (with rust tones blended in, much more nuanced than it appears here It is is color #4. I also picked up my eleventeenth size 8 Addis. I don't know where any of the others are. I suspect they are in the same vortex occupied by the cat's toy mice and most of my odd socks.

And I will be knitting the house pattern - a ribbed baby raglan turtleneck.

Which is cute and squishy and probably won't fit any children I actually know but its small and has more than a 50 percent chance of being finished so i'm knitting it anyway.

I've come to understand that most knitters have completion issues on projects, and that it is often caused by the desire to start the next new wonderful thing, but mine are more often than not caused by the following:

1. I make a mistake, and spend the next 3 inches of the project wondering if I should ignore it or go back and fix it.

2. I decide to ignore it, after all noone will likely notice it but me.

3. I change my mind and decide can no longer ignore said mistake because in my mind it has grown to be a giant angry blemish on the face of my otherwise happy garment.

4. I procrastinate un-knitting because that isn't nearly as much fun and put the project aside.

5. I lose the row counter that tells me how far along I was on this project so that..

6. When I pick it up again, it seems too confusing to go back and deal with it.

So it sits, with the needles in it.

Which is how i end up with 15 million row counters I can't find, a lifetime supply of duplicate needles and a list of unfinished projects.

But I'm an optimist.

I've already cast on this sweater.

And I've already made my first mistake (in 2x2 ribbing no less.. how is that even possible?!)

We'll see how far I make it.

We have a winner! (or two)

2009-03-24T08:35:00.006-04:00

Kostia is the winner in category one (for the most specific answer, and she correctly identified 'store brand")

Stephanie in category two. (you would have won this even if others had entered I think, Inspired! :)

More on what you have both won later this evening an when I'm home from work!

Congrats both!

Fighting the Sunday Blahs

2009-03-22T21:02:00.007-04:00

With a teeny tiny contest.

Here's how it goes.

I went to the "other" supermarket in my area yesterday and saw the following sign.

Evidently the A & P guy has been moonlighting.

Your job is to post in the comments and tell me what product is being sold here. (winner 1)

Or to give me a really amusing wrong answer. (winner 2)

you can also email in your comment to thomasp5ina@gmail.com

If more than one person actually enters, and gets the right answer I'll use some super scientific method of determining the winner. (eeny meeny miney mo) So don't hesitate to answer if you see your answer already.

Its actually pretty easy I think.

Winners will get their choice of

A. A mug tailored just for them from cafepress

B. A wee little garden gnome kit (blame @rickenbakr ) for this suggestion

C. Something from my yarn stash if you are a knitter.

You have until Monday at midnight.

PS I'm keeping the comments in moderation until all entries are in :)

Stuck in the Car.

2009-03-21T01:02:00.009-04:00

There are so many ways that technology has changed my life over the last 16 years - The ability (curse) of being able to work from wherever I am, improved communication, food ordering, reviews, etc, the list is truly endless. But there are very few technological advancements that that I appreciate as much as the ability to instantly identify music.

Remember before Google and Shazam. back when you'd hear a song on the radio (usually in the car) and if the DJ didn't announce the song title before you were out of earshot, you'd probably never be able to identify the song? I hated that. I always felt like there was so much good music that I simply lost because I never could figure out what it was.

Some of my favorite songs, came from times that I'd just refuse to leave the car (or wherever the radio was), until I knew what I was listening to. (This made me very popular with the driver, especially during no-commercial marathons). Without exception, if a song compels me to sit there, unwilling to leave until I have identified it.. it will be a song I listen to for the next 20 years. (so far)

1. Driver 8 - REM. Driving (passengering in my case) down Huguenot Avenue in Staten Island, sometime in late 1985/early 1986. when I heard this on the radio and couldn't believe how much emotion Stipe had in his voice, particularly since he didn't oversing it. I had no idea who R.E.M. were, really, and there was no way I was leaving without the name of the song.

2. The Obvious Child - Paul Simon. This one, I recognized the artist right away, but Rhythm of the Saints had just come out and I had no idea that he'd released a new album. The drums just completely captivated me, and his relatively gentle voice over such large music was irresistible. While he got much more acclaim for Graceland, I will always love this album, and this song remains a pick-me-up when I need it. I saw him in concert on this tour, and it was a stage full of musicians, I think four drummers played this live, and there he was, in his t-shirt and baseball cap, looking small but sounding huge, and never once getting lost amid the 20 or so people on stqge with him

3. Hotel Yorba - The White Stripes. My boyfriend at the time lived on Long Island and I remember sitting in his truck outside his house until the local modern rock station identified who this was. It sounded like nothing else current, and I spent much of the time trying to figure out if it was an old song I hadn't heard before, or something new. I've always been a sucker for countrified rock, and this song (which reminds me still of the Kink's Muswell Hillbilly) was just a perfect blend of genres. That coupled with the anguished tone in Jack White's voice pretty much made me an instant fan.

Now that I have Shazam on my iPhone, I can tell what a song is in 10 seconds.

I'm grateful for the ability to find the songs, and I know that anyone who drives me is grateful for the ability to get out of the car in a timely manner. I do hope, however, that I can still be as engaged by a new song, even if I don't have to be trapped in the car to do so.

What drugs is the guy at the A & P on?

2009-03-08T21:47:00.010-04:00

After week of the flu follwed by a 6 day coughing fit, we're back.

I started listening to some music, and should have a music post tomorrow, but today was about grocery shopping.

All day.

First there was Costco, where I ate something that my body may never forgive me for (one of those sausages), and then purchased a lifetime supply of everything. I know this place is supposed to save you money, but I can never seem to get out of there without spending a bazillion dollars. And no matter how much stuff we actually buy we never seem to end up with actual, edible food.

Then, after a brief visit to the pool at the Y.. since we didn't actually have groceries after the Costco trip..it was off to the supermarket!

We have two major supermarket choices.. The Stop n Shop, which has a good selection and the worst music I've ever heard.. or the A & P which has better music, but a rogue sign printer who can't spell. Actually I'm not sure its just a spelling problem, more like a spelling, typing and abbreviating problem.

Today's visit was the A & P and I had a lot of fun reading while listening to the oldies.. (seriously, this is the better choice musically - the other has unsigned easy-listening artists)

First up we have something that I read as Trogly Bastard (which makes just about as much sense as what it does say)

Then we have some morning-inspired tea

Right.. and the only word i can make out here is 'booty'... in which case that is a good price

No.. I don't know why he's a schmuck and I do not know how he came to fart apricots

Um what?.

I'll be back tomorrow with a music post if I can ever recover from listening to "Kiss Me Through the Phone".

I have had nothing to say

2009-02-22T17:25:00.002-05:00

Really..

I've spent the last 3 days in bed with the flu, and haven't even been able to muster the strength to listen to music.

This is not helped at all by the fact that twitter was all aflutter today with stories about potential breakthroughs in flu prevention/treatment

http://www.physorg.com/news154540721.html

Uh great news but I don't need to hear it right now.

Anyway.. I'll be back after the oscars and/or when my fever breaks.

It's not all about the music

2009-02-16T13:20:00.005-05:00

To clear up any misunderstandings about the purpose of this here thing.. (ok. to clear up my fear that if anyone reads this, they'll misunderstand it), this is not, exclusively either a music or a knitting thing. Its a regular all-purpose exercise in self indulgence, in which I discuss both music and knitting on a semi-regular (heretofore highly irregular) basis. Which means, I'll still talk about knitting should I do any. I'll still talk about yarn, and I'll still talk about stuff other than music. The music thing just gives me an incentive to post regularly.

ANYWAY..

I saw the movie Milk yesterday. I liked the movie well enough.. but felt it was a little Oliver Stoney in its glorification of the title character. I think Harvey Milk was an impressive person who accomplished impressive things. The world ne

eded him, and the world could stand to learn about him now. But I would have been happier seeing a more humanizing portrayal of him, one in which I appreciated his flaws in greater detail, and appreciated his strengths more because of it. That said, I thought Sean Penn was beyond excellent in his portrayal, and the supportin

g cast was great as well.

I'm sort of amazed at how much I either never knew, or managed to forget about Harvey Milk.

For instance, I forgot that the mayor was assassinated at the same time he was.

I either forgot, or never knew, that the infamous Twinkie defense was connected to this case. That was remembered as one of the most outrageous legal defenses in history, and not much since has come along to challenge it (even the Robert Chambers "rough sex" defense paled). Interestingly, if Snopes.com is to be believed, it is also something of an urban legend It was not his defense, but evidence of his defense. Interesting.

And just to keep this from being a picture-free post, here is a random shot from my computer. These were the kitchen cabinets (and countertops) from my old house - picked by my mother in 1975 or so. Kitchen cabinets for dummies. Scary.

Its all in the attitude

2009-02-15T10:58:00.009-05:00

So yesterday we were in the car, heading home from another sublime Trader Joe's run..

We bought one of these for dinner tonight (don't scoff.. they're delicious) and picked up a few other treats for later in the week, most of which we've already started eating.

Car rides offer a great opportunity to explore music so I broke out the trusty iphone, and fired up Shazam

Shazam, if you don't know it, is a music identifying program, that identifies songs from 10+ second clips. This is a complete lifesaver for those of us who can't leave the car before we know what that song we just heard was. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with this thing. If I didn't already love my iPhone, this would have been enough to make me fall in love with it all by itself. It works great, even identifies cover versions reliably.

Now a week ago, when i started this mess, I spent 1/2 hour doing my first listen to the top 10 in the hot 100, and I made notes on what i thought. Most of which were very snotty.

This, for instance was from the first listen I gave to the top 10:

Lady GaGa Featuring Colby O'Donis - Just Dance

Just stop.. really. I couldn't take more than 72 seconds before I had to turn it off.

So yesterday we're riding in the car, and a song comes on and I say "what is this? I like it?", and i turn on the tag feature in Shazam, point it at the speaker, and 10 second later, I learn it is.. surprise... "Just Dance". I thought it was energetic and fun.

This is not the first time in my life, that not knowing what something was improved my opinion of it. (For about a decade, I liked Sinead O'Connor songs only when I didn't know they were her.) and it suggests that my 'open mind for music' needs a little work. It also suggests from here on out that i should try and do blind listens and see what I really think.

The next song, on the same station, was Prince - "When Doves Cry". Purple Rain was absolutley HUGE in my senior year of high school (a very very long time ago), and I've always liked it. So i'm listening to the song, and making fun of the lyrics (which are silly in places), and I realized that if I had applied my current level of scrutiny to music, back when I was younger, I never would have liked anything. So I'm going to try and take a more detached listening approach, and see how I react to stuff before I start digging into it, and see if i like things more.

Anyway, I'm off to do some household maintenance, and then going to see "Milk" with a few friends, and then home to eat Tofurkey. Don't knock it till you've tried it.

I'm not anti hip-hop. Or anti-rap for that matter

2009-02-11T13:20:00.005-05:00

If anything I'm pre-disposed to like it.

However, I have to give this # 5 on the R & B/Hip-Hop charts an enthusiastic UGH.

Jim Jones & Ron Browz Featuring Juelz Santana
Pop Champagne

Very silly lyrics. (I think i would have enjoyed this a lot more had I not been reading the lyrics when listening to it, sometimes ignorance really is bliss)
whiny
and, not on key enough for my taste.

Oh.. and I'm not a fan of bodily functions in pop culture, Maybe its just me, but I think there are some things that are better left to the imagination. I was ok with the Archie Bunker toilet flush, but beyond that its just TMI. I haven't been a fan of the recent trend of showing people vomiting on camera (I'm not sure if the Sopranos, or SuperSize Me was the starter of this trend, but it seems rampant these days)... and I really could have done without the suggestion of this guy "spitting up"his beverage.

My first success, and the Grammys

2009-02-09T21:50:00.007-05:00

First.. a disclaimer: I don't have the music vocabulary that a great many of my friends do. I love music, and I'm an enthusiastic consumer, but I am not good at coming up with intelligent-sounding analyses of songs, fraught with insightful comparisons to past music.

I just know what stuff sounds like to me... which sometimes makes perfect sense to others.. ( as in the case of Aerosmith's Living on the Edge having the same intro as The Kinks' Have Another Drink) And sometimes it makes sense only to me.. - The White Stripes Hotel Yorba completely reminded me of The Kinks' Muswell Hillbilly (Wow.. two Kinks references and I'm not even that much of a fan)

I bring this up because my er.. reviews? (if you can call them that).. while sometimes elaborate, will more often than not be something like "gee.. I liked this song".

Which brings us to the first thing I liked.. Glasvegas - Flowers and Football Tops

This came off the CMJ top 20 album chart (its on one of those albums), and I REALLY liked it.

Granted, the CMJ chart is an easier sell for me, than say Billboard's Hot 100, but I figured I deserved a break from the more mainstream stuff after the 11 hours of Grammy's last night (more on that below)

I had a passing familiarity with Glasvegas because their cover of Be My Baby made it into the last Coverville podcast.

Flowers and Football Tops sounds like (to me) what would happen if the Jesus and Mary Chain did a U2 vocal impersonation and set it to a late 50s pop sound. It is way too long, I really didn't need nearly 7 minutes of it, but the good news is that if you picked out any 3 1/2 minutes of it, at any point in the song, I would have liked it. Between Be My Baby and this.. I think I am well on my way to liking these guys.

Now, here are my few Grammy related points

Sugarland blew me away. I had no expectation that I would like them, and their performance was riveting.
I liked Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift together. I thought the two unusual voices melded very well. I was surprised, but by no means alone in this, it was everyone's guilty pleasure of the night.
I don't care what M.I.A. looked like in her non-maternity wear, I love her!
The only thing T.I. has done so far that I've liked is the Chevy commercial from a year or two back.
Estelle was awesome.
I liked Lil Wayne. Particularly on the New Orlean's thing.

What the kids are listening to these days..

2009-02-08T18:00:00.004-05:00

I've had a desire, of late to revive my blog. However, its been, to date, a knitting blog, and its pretty hard to revive it when I haven't been knitting at all. (I do stare longingly at the yarn all around my house and plan to knit, but thusfar, nuthin. )So I've been keeping my eyes (and mind) open for another reason to write.. and today was finally given my answer.

Tonight is the Grammy awards. I LOVE award shows and have been silently practicing acceptance speeches for all sorts of awards since I was a little kid. As a music fan, the Grammys have always been a favorite.

When I was younger, I swore I'd never become one of those adults who always liked the music of my youth better than the current stuff, and that when I grew up, I'd always be relatively on top of contemporary music. Neither of those promises have worked out too well. When I read over the list of Grammy nominees, I realized that A. I've become a geezer music snob and b. I had no idea what half this stuff was. I mean I'd heard of it, but If I had to identify it, I probably couldn't, and I was predisposed to dislike it.

And so I made a (very late? Chinese New Year perhaps) New Years resolution. I will spend the next 12 months being "on top" of contemporary music.

I will do this by familiarizing myself with the top 10 of (at least) one singles chart each of the following

Billboard chart categories

1. Hot/Pop (right now the Mainstream top 40 chart seems like a good start but so does the hot 100)

2. R & B/Hip Hop/Rap (chart still being decided, I may need to do two to really cover this category)

3. Country

4. Rock (this may require multiple charts too)

5. and the top 20 from the CMJ radio 200 chart

And the rules go like this:

a. I'm not going to overtax myself. I just need to listen to every one of the 60 songs or so at least once in a 2 week period,

b. listen with an open mind

c. report here (at least) once a week on anything I particularly like or don't.

d. I will solicit, and listen to any suggestion given to me for something contemporary that i MUST listen to.

And thats it. I'll see how I do. If anyone ends up reading this at any point, your input would be welcomed.

Making the productive non productive

2008-04-05T20:22:00.002-04:00

The top 6 ways i've procastinated writing my paper today

1. I should take a few moments to rest before getting into working and catch up on all my tv shows for the week

2. Maybe A few games of Prolific will clear my mind

3. It can't be bad for me to go to the gym can it? (another hour gone)

4. Laundry (file these last two under things i'd normally procrastinate about if I hadn't gotten a more compelling thing I didn't want to do)

5. Petting these guys

6. deciding that making my favorite quinoa recipe was better than ordering a pizza.
yes its healthier
no its not getting my paper written.

Argh

Making choices.

2008-03-26T22:37:00.003-04:00

Hey all,

I have decided that if i wait to have knitting-related content I may never post.
I mean how often can you say "i started a sock, and then abandoned it and I need to go buy more size 1 needles because I'm too lazy to frog the @#$% thing?"So I"ll be posting in between knitting events, because we all see what can happen when I don't. Which is not to say I'm abandoning the knitting content. I'm just talking in between.

I honestly don't know how people manage school, even part time, with real life. I truly don't.
It seems i'm always behind on something. I don't know if I worked less hard when I was in school the last time, or whether it was easier, or if my memory is playing tricks on me. Blessedly, I should be graduating this semester. I was pretty sure I wanted to go to graduate school but I honestly don't know if I have the stomach for it. I'm guessing I should wait until the semester is over to decide.

I'm getting a new computer this year, and I've decided I want a Mac. I can't say I really have a preference between Macs and PCs, I really don't. Whatever is in front of me, I'll use. But I have PCs, and I need a new machine, and blah blah blah. The question is..
The MacBook, or the MacBook Pro. I'm not going for the Air, that much is certain, I need more Oomph than that has, but I can't decide whether the Pro is worth the extra money to me, given that I don't do video editing and what not.

Anyway, I hope all are well..
More tomorrow.

So what to knit next

2008-03-22T14:57:00.008-04:00

Its been very very hard to get any knitting time in this past year. Between the wedding, moving, school, work, and a variety of health problems, I feel like i have no free time.

But it hasn't stopped me from buying yarn.
Or starting projects.
I have purchased more size 1 40" addis in the last year, and all of them reside in 1/4 finished socks. And I'm still amassing sock yarn.

That said, I really don't feel like knitting socks right now. I keep picking them because they are quick and portable and i can get off a quick round or two between other things, but I really want something else.. And two sweaters from the current Knitty have caught my eye:

Marjorie (the coral colored sweater) is a more wearable shape. But Jaden (the green) has these cute belled sleeves.

So.. What do you think? I'll post a poll in the sidebar for the week.. your opinion is greatly welcomed.

Its nice to be back.

I can't believe i still remember my login info

2008-03-21T17:22:00.003-04:00

Thats how long it has been since i've done this.

Periodically my husband asks what has happened to my blog.. and my answer is "the same thing that happened to my knitting." Its been eaten up by school, work, trying to sell my house and general busyness.

But I seem to be developing a renewed interest in updating, so maybe i'll suprise everyone, most of all myself.

Anyway, hope you all are well, if anyone out there forgot to take me off your bloglines and happens to read this ;)

I hope to update more regularly, truly I do, but I won't be surprised if you don't believe me until you see it.

Now where did I put that giant yarn stash...

Anyone still out there...

2007-06-23T12:51:00.000-04:00

Hello there.

The last few months have been a blur of planning, packing and throwing things away.
I've not had an ounce of time to knit, or think about knitting (though i miss it terribly and hope to be doing more of it soon.)

I've missed posting but since all i'm generally able to do is babble about moving, i won't put you through all that, however, i will put you through this...

My cat's favorite toys are those miniature toy mice you get at pet stores.
I buy them by the handful and she promptly loses all of them.
Or eats them.. I've never been quite sure where they go.

Today I found out. I moved a credenza that had been previously too heavy to move and found these.
Save yourself the trouble of counting.
Its 45.

Forty Five toy mice!

My cat has spent the morning in absolute toy heaven :)

While you were out...

2007-03-02T22:46:00.000-05:00

Oy.
So um.. I haven't updated since november...
How did "that" happen..

I hope, if any of you are still around to read, that all is well..

Significant highlights since november..

1. I got engaged! About 3 weeks ago..To my wonderful bf who i've been with for over 2 1/2 years.. I will give you more details on this in an upcoming post, including ring pictures, moving details and other goodies, but for now I wanted to make sure I let you all know.

2. I've knitted squat. Less than squat, the square root of squat.
I've put time in on knitting, worked on a few things, but I've not devoted my time and energy to it and I miss it!

3. I turned 40.

4. I found out that it will be possible for me to graduate by the end of 2007 (I feel very 25, what with the college graduation and the engagement :)

5. i got a Treo 700wx, which is great!

6. My blood pressure got kinda high.

Aside from that last one, things are pretty damned good!

I hope to be doing a lot more of this in the coming weeks!

And I hope, with significant grovelling on my part to reconnect with you guys..

:)

Help Wanted, A poll

2006-11-18T10:40:00.000-05:00

I'm taking a poll. Check the sidebar to vote, and leave your own suggetion in the comments!

I want to start my first sweater.

I've got for it roughly 2000 yards of Brooks Farm's Harmony (55% Mohair, 45 % wool/Silk )
Its knitting up at between 5.5 and 6 stitches an inch (at least that's the fabric I like best.

I can't for the life of me decide what to knit with it and i'm at a standstill. I've considered those above (and below) and like all but i'd love something interesting, but perhaps in the round.

Some contenders have been the Knitpicks Kimono Styled Sweater, Elsbeth Lavold's "Hild",
and Knitty's Ivy

I'm completely open to option 4 btw.. if i were sure of any of these I'd just be doing them -so please please please feel free to make your own suggestion :)

Thanks!

Well hello there..

2006-10-29T12:53:00.000-05:00

Hi all, its been a while since i've popped in here, and I think I can blame school for that.

I'm only taking one class, but somehow this has managed to entirely screw me up in terms of what i can get done. The class is a good one, but Its been so long since i've been in a class that requires a paper that I have no memory of how to write one.

Other things occupying my mind..
Garbage. Yes, really, Garbage. First I got a sanitation violation re: garbage on my property. Why? because "I" called to complain that the city had left garbabge on my property. I got ticketed on my own complaint. the nerve.

There is more to this story but I don't want to live it right now :)

I have a camera full of pictures i've been meaning to post and i'll get to them, i will but for now let me fill you in on the knitting life...

Most recently I went to Rhinebeck with Karen who was kind enough to pick us all up at the crack of dawn (we left around 5:30 from my house, I got up at 4:15. I usually go to sleep at 4:15
Tamara who was the first person picked up, and Val who made me buy yarn :)

I exercised restraint for most of the day, picking up only some Socks that Rock (in Farmhouse, and Downpour - medium weight, and Lagoon in lightweight) a purchase made possible by an 8:30 arrival time :) They were sold out very quickly.

Purchase two was the Tongue River Farm Sock Collection.

I walked around for much of the rest of they day before going back to where i started and picking up roughly 2000 yards of Brooks Farm's Harmony in an exquisite blue-purple (pictures soon).

I'm getting ready to do my first sweater. I could use the Harmony , but i may save it until i've tried and ruined my first attempt ;) I'm thinkingof the Kimono Styled Sweater from Knitpicks since the one I've seen was just gorgeous...

I'm open to suggestion tho..

All Whining, all the time.

2006-09-29T23:25:00.000-04:00

So what is it with clothes shopping?

I went on a multi-store crawl today

I started at 79th STreet where I went to Filenes.
I tried on about 20 different things, none of which did much for me,
and left.

I repeated this at Ann Taylor
Two Gaps
Banana Republic
and Daffys

and purchased ::::drumroll::::
nothing.

Very frustrating. I realize i have kind of a hard to fit body (doesn't everyone?) but please..

I tried on 6 skirts in the same size.
1 was too big
2 were too small
1 was too long
and one was bit in the waist, tight in the hips and hit in the wrong place.
I tried on a dress where the waist was in an awful spot, and every shirt i tried on fit either in the bust or in the shoulders, never both.

I need to learn to sew.

All Knitting All the time

2006-09-17T23:58:00.000-04:00

As usual, I've dissapeared.

And I have so much to say,
and so many pictures to get off my camera
and so much to resume here.

I guess i'm going to pretend i went on hiatus for the summer.
Consider this a preview of the new fall season ;)

This weekend was a big knitting weekend.
The wonderful Amy Singer from Knitty at the Point.
The fabulous Yarn Harlot at Barnes and Noble
The New York Knit-Out
and many many lovely knitters allw eekend long!

I'm invigorated
renewed
excited about knitting and excited about blogging.

You don't have to believe it, but i'm back :)

Pics come off the camera tomorrow.

It's all about the socks.

2006-08-15T03:12:00.000-04:00

This will be the first in a series of
"Why my poor neglected secret pal" deserves accolades posts
And her gifts will be admired, as they should have been all along!
I made her wait so long for these posts, that I feel the only way to do her gifts justice now is to make several posts, paying homage to some of the stars of my packages!

These gorgeous creatures were sent to me by my fantabulous secret pal in my SECOND package (Oy vey am I behind!)

They were accompanied by beatuiful stitch markers, and equally beautiful homemade stationery envelopes, but this post, is dedicated to the socks.

My secret pal made me the most beautiful socks ever
and they feel just as good on as they look :) (maybe even better!)
Thank you Thank you Thank you.

Watch this space over the next few days to see more of my beautiful secret pal gifts.

I think i've got it....

2006-08-12T13:18:00.000-04:00

I think i know who my secret pal is :)

I think I think I think....

I still owe her some big posts.

For all the wonderful stuff she gave me.

And I promise to spend this weekend photographing so i can put stuff up.

She's awesome, you know.

You shoudl see the socks she made me!

And you will, soon, I swear.

Project Forgiveness

2006-08-11T09:48:00.000-04:00

Looking to forgive someone? Need forgiveness for something you've done/said? Check out this blog...it's called Project Forgiveness.

http://projectforgiveness.blogspot.com/

If I were less of a bum

2006-08-10T14:29:00.000-04:00

I would have posted by now about the following

1. my wonderful secret pal gifts
2. the healing of my feet
3. my finished jaywalkers
4. My partly finished other socks
5. My summer

But i'm a spaz.
and got overwhelmed by life
and haven't kept up.

My mid-august resolution is to catch up on all this
so stay tuned.
no reallyh
for some real posts.

Thank you for your patience.

Signed
Dingbat

Happy Summer -

2006-06-24T14:42:00.000-04:00

Before I begin - Please please please visit my friend Dani's contest here and help support an excellent cause

Hello all.

I am sorry for my absence - I had a busy few weeks, first with my leaky roof, then with work and now with a truly obnoxious injury.

I was walking down a small set of stone steps, heading toward the one train on 49th street and broadway when i fell, badly spraining my right ankle and fracturing a bone in my left foot. Yep , you got it, I hurt both feet, fun eh?

This did make for a couple of fun New York moments - including the homeless guy who ran to my aid and offered tobe a witness if I decided to sue, and a cop, who when I commented that we were drawing a crowd said "They probably think we (meaning the cops) did this to you".

I spent that night in the ER, the next two days at R's house where I was well cared for by friends, and coworkers, and I'm now out at the BFs house, keeping my feet elevated, and hobbling to and from the bathroom as needed. I got to shower yesterday - I'm sure everyone around me is applauding ;)

Oh- and the picture above? I'm watching goofy movies to entertain myself, and found this moment, right at the beginning of the Poseiden Adventure (the original). Shelly Winters- Knitting! How cool!

Speaking of knitting - . I finished my Jaywalkers and they came out great! I LOVE them, I can hardly wait till the weater is appropriate to wear em (september maybe?). I'll post pictures the next time I'm home since I dont have them with me here at the BF;

I visited The Yarn Tree in Brooklyn
which is a delightful store - with quite a bit of unique yarn, good service, decent prices, and, if you are into that sorta thing, fiber.

I picked up some Alpaca with a Twist "Landscapes" (an ultra-squishy soft alpaca silk blend) and i'm using it to make the fingerless mitts they had sampled in the store. Its a fast easy knitand I picked up the one in the store and it was too yummy for words so I decided to get the pattern as well as the yarn.

Nice stuff - I'd love to make a sweater out of it.

I also picked up some exquisite handpainted sock yarn from Capistrano Fiber Arts Studios (By Lori Lawson) A 50/50 silk and Merino Blend in Brambleberry. This is a truly outrageous yarn, soft, silky , firm, I'm almost afraid to knit it!

Its slightly light on yardage- 300 so as far as socks go, I dont want to use a hight yardaage sock pattern (a lower yardage one would be perect) .. anyone have any ideas on what might be a good pattern for this most beautiful yarn?

WWKIP day..

2006-06-05T20:55:00.000-04:00

So.. Any of you all going to be in Central Park on Sat?

I was planning on going and knitting regardless, and i'm good at mingling - but I'd much rather go "with" people :)

And thank all of you who offered kind words and support re: my house :) I really appreciate it!

Whine.

2006-06-03T23:56:00.000-04:00

Warning: This post is just one non-stop whine fest.

For those of you outside the area, we had a LOT of rain in the last two days.
I came home today to find water and ceiling material on the floor on the top story of my house. The roof looked ok (which doesn't necesarily mean anything, it could still be leaking), but there was a fair amount of water sitting in the gutter, which could mean its not draining properly.(it looks like its not pitched properly)

I need someone HONEST to assess the problem, whehter its the roof or the gutter, and to deal with it. Without ripping me off.

I hate hate hate this crap.
I hate looking for contractors
my handyman guy got too busy to take my kinda jobs
And I don't have any good recommendations.

Signed - Leaky in Brooklyn.

Yay! Loot!!!

2006-06-01T00:55:00.000-04:00

I received my first SP 7 package (from the Knittyboard SP7) yesterday, and I am absolutely delighted with it!

It arrived, neatly packaged from overseas - far faster than I thought it would, and it was full of such beautiful stuff!

First up is a pic of the haul as a whole. Please disregard the mess in the background.
I had to take at least one pic of the ingenious shrink-wrapped packaging of the yarn, before I tore into it.

I couldn't wait for long. I tore open the package and it contained two substantial balls of Ewas Sockenwolle. Both are STUNNING, the pics don't do them justice! And what texture! delicious, positively delicious!

Next up are a set of gorgeous Holz & Stein ebony dpns. They feel amazing to the touch - I keep rolling them around in my hands just admiring the feel, the weight and the look. They are gorgeous, sturdy works of art. I can't wait to try them out on socks!

Gummy!

And then we have these.

I'd like to pretend I still have both bars, but one has um... mysteriously dissappeard ;)

Delicious! I've never had this chocolate before and I'm hooked. It is REALLY good.

Last but certainly not least we have a lovely yarn note card, with a very nice note :)

I was pretty surprised to get a package already, and I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO happy with what was in it! :) Thank you, thank you THANK YOU!

DC Follies

2006-05-25T23:47:00.000-04:00

Hey all..

I just came back (well not just, I've been back since monday) from 4 days in the DC area, where me and the BF attended my nephew's graduation from George Washington University. (My nephew was mentioned by name during the president of the school's speech! very exciting!)

We had a very nice time in DC, except for the "getting up early every day". We did some sightseeing -- Went to the American History Museum, which was great fun... I got to see
Ted Baxter's Jacket! (which was pretty exciting for me, I am a huge fan of the Mary Tyler Moore Show)

We also went to the Zoo where I got to meet a distant relative

I normally do a ton of research before I go away and plan out places to eat - but I didn't really have time so we sorta winged it - and with the exception of the lunch on the run at the zoo, we ate pretty well.

This is a restaurant we happened upon when coming back from a long day of sightseeing. We had parked in Silver Spring for easier Metro access, and were on our way back to the hotel, and figured we'd grab a bite to eat. We were headed to another restaurant when we walked past this one and decided that Ethiopian food sounded good and went here instead. Very good decision - we had a really nice dinner.

We found this restaurant on our first night in town by searching online for something near the hotel. This restaurant was in nearby College Park. The food was good, and the staff were very very friendly.

I really had a great time.

I was pretty fortunate to be able to knit the whole ride down in the car... I've never successfully knit in a car before, I usually get queasy - but I got lucky :) I am just about to turn the heel on Jaywalker #2, and so far, at least, its coming out at least close to the same as the first.

I had posted on the Knittyboard that I'd planned on paying a visit to Stitch DC when in town and was lucky enough to do so. I went to the Georgetown store, and the very very nice person who worked there, knew who I was from my post and greeted me! I had a lovely time in the store which was a comfortable and quiet oasis in the middle of a mob of people, and picked up some Karabella Aurora 4, and Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock on sale, as well as a 40" size 5 Addi.

The Aurora 4 (above) is ostensibly DK weight, but it seems thinner than that to me. It wasn't significantly thicker than the Shepherd Sock (below).
They had used it to knit Embossed Leaves from the Winter 2005 Interweave,
and the stitch definition was beautiful!

A FO/2 :)

2006-05-16T12:09:00.001-04:00

I finished the first Jaywalker!!!! :)

I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO proud.

I immediately cast on for the second one and hope to finish it on my trip to DC this weekend.

It's a beautiful fit - but if i were starting from scratch i'd make the leg a little longer since as is it has some trouble staying up. (it hits an unusually dainty part of my leg ;)

SO cute! So Comfy! I'm very happy! :)

ON to number two!

And this one was JUUUUUUUUUUUUUUST right..

2006-05-08T09:11:00.000-04:00

Well so far at least.

After many false sock starts, Ive gotten at least the better part of a sock leg finished!

I decided to cast on again for Jaywalkers because I really love the pattern and have loved other people's finished ones. It is a fun knit.

This time I cast on in Regia Strato, on a Size 1 (magic loop -40 " addi.) and I am MUCH happier with the result.

Someone at Stitch Therapy (I don't remember her name, I'm sorry) gave me some advice on tightening my gauge. She told me that If i held the yarn a little differently, so as to leave less of a length between my finger and the needle, that my gauge would tighten up. Boy did it ever, I'm getting 9 stitches to the inch on these, and the fabric is nice and sturdy without being overly stiff. I'm doing the smaller size, and as of right now it fits perfectly, but I haven't done the heel yet and from what i understand, thats where it is tight.

Question: I've been having some problems with the heel flaps being too long AND too wide on my socks... should i try to go down a needle size? or should i reduce the number of the stitches to compensate.. Any thoughts will be appreciated.

And for anyone wondering? I love magic loop still :)

Anyway, I'm working from home today and I have about 40 minutes until I need to start. Gonna go guzzle some coffee and try and look alive. Have a great day all!

Goldisocks and the three pair

2006-05-04T15:49:00.000-04:00

Hey all..

Sorry for the long absence. Allergy season has utterly and completely kicked my ass this year and I haven't much felt like posting. Damned oak trees. Plus i've had a few other random health thingies going on, and my mind, regrettably, has been elsewhere. But I'm back :) and I hope everyone is doing well.

From the look of the title of this post, you might assume that i've completed some socks.

you'd be wrong.

First to the plate are the bee stripe jaywalkers.

Round one of my bee socks got frogged due to their immense size.
Round two. the jaywalkers encountered a series of problems, the most serious of which is gauge fluctuation. It is first Magic loop project, I was getting used to the process, and my gauge changed so much over the course of the first sock (from 6 st/in on the leg, to 7st/in on the heel flap and heel, to 8 or 9 on the body of the foot, in places) that I have no idea how to knit a second to match. Nor do I want to, I was pretty displeased with how they were coming out so i am frogging this one too.
Oh yeah, and the leg was huge on me, plus I made th eheel flap too long. I mean i made it to the specs of the pattern, but it was enormous.. maybe I have little heels. Maybe I should try a short row heel next.

Status: Currently on hiatus until I feel like looking at bee yarn again.

Next we have a couple of sock attempts from Sensational Knitted Socks (a WONDERFUL BOOK). Thanks to Dani for the recommendation.

I've cast on twice using some of the Regia Strato i got.

I love this yarn, and I love how it knits up, and I've now cast on twice (in diff. sizes) for the baby cable rib socks from SKS, and both times they've been way too small. Up until now my gauge has been insanely loose.. i think we've had a switch.

So its back to the drawing board.
But I am determined, I "will" have a pair of socks done by mid may.

I'm sold.

2006-04-19T16:16:00.000-04:00

Ok. i'm offically a magic loop convert. Now i find it "so easy!"
and when i get confused, i just divide it into multiple loops so it resembles dpns. Easy!
Honest.

I recast on with the Bee Stripe for Jaywalker socks
I really like this pattern.
For one thing its ssimple enough for a relatively new sock knitter, but complex enough to be interesting, and the best part is, the combined effect of the zig zag with the bee stripe pattern creates such a test pattern effect that mistakes, if not immediately noticed, are easily ignored.

When I knit my first pair of socks, they were baby socks in dk weight on size 6 needles, and i never imagined myself even being able to use a size 2...
These socks are being knit on a size 000 addis. Triple zeros?! I'd never imagined.

Its been a year (give or take a week) since a very nice friend taught me to knit.
Sometime in the next few days I'll post about my first year of knitting, but right now, I'll just say thank you!

Hmmm what could I be forgetting? what .. what?

2006-04-13T20:41:00.000-04:00

First let me thank you all for your kind words and encouragement.
I'm enjoying magic loop and as you can all see, I made it thru dividing for the heel, AND turning the heel , and the dreaded picking up of stitches (I really don't like picking up stitches. For some reason, i find it grueling.)

For some reason i've made a lot of weird mistakes with this project. I keep finding dropped stitches that have been boxed into the knitting and strange little holes.

I'm also no longer that in love with how the yarn is patterning. There are weirdnesses to how the yarn stripes up (not obvious in pics but very much so in person, and the transition points between colors is muddy - made more obvious by the contrast of the yarn.

But none of that that is my real problem.

You see, I thought this project thru well - chose an easy pattern to help ease the learning of a new technique, read up on said technique to make sure I knew what i was doing, picked a relatively easy yarn to work with etc....
And then I tried on my masterpiece (in progress)
Uh.. I forgot to swatch.
Well unless you count taking gauge at the point you see below as swatching.
And instead of the 8 stitches to the inch my pattern called for, I'm getting 7.
And my sock? er.. Huge.
Why is it, that at no point in in this process, did i realize that none of the socks I own are this size?

So these are my choices..

Frog it
Find someone with big feet and flamboyant taste
Put a zipper on the cuff and use for storage
Finish it, make the second one, and felt them down to quasi slipperage.

Thoughts?

Do you believe in Magic?

2006-04-12T14:37:00.000-04:00

Magic Loop that is.
And the answer is somewhat. Actually more like getting there.

I've spent the last couple of days playing with magic loop, and these are my findings thusfar ..

Casting on is DECIDEDLY easier than it is with dpns. I know this because I've cast on
at least 22 times in the last 3 days ;) It has taken me more than a few tries to get something going with magic loop, and more than a few yarns. I'm not sure why it is that I think changing the yarn helps.
The first four rounds of a sock, regardless of method chosen, suck. It takes a while to get a good circular motion going and for those first few rounds, it usually is not a terribly comfortable thing. With ML, the weight of the cable tends to pull the stitches in different directions for the first few rows and its somewhat hard to tell whats going on. Plus, it becomes easy to add stitches accidentlaly by kntiting the yarn ladder (which goes away after a row or two). Once this actually turned into a tube of knitting tho, it's a lot faster than DPNS.
While definitely less cumbersome than dpns, I think dpns are more intuitive. I have, for instance, no grasp on what is going to happen when it becomes time to divide for the heel.. and I can't picture at all how I'm supposed to pick up stitches this way. I KNOW once I do it it will make sense, but as of right now it doesn't. (I understood how this worked with dpns from reading instructions, and before doing it, though doing it was another thing entirely ;).

Overall I think I'm leaning toward a preference for Magic Loop over dpns. I think ultimately it will be smoother and easier. But I'm very glad I learned on dpns first since it has kept me from fearing them.

I had had the Socka from my last post in mind for my first loop socks, but I also had a project in mind for that yarn that I don't want to make my first magic loop project (I figure I should stick to the easiest pattern possible the first time i'm learning a technique.) So the Socka is on hold for Hedera from the new Knitty.

Anyway. Here is the larval stage of my sock. After casting on a bazillion times making some sort of mistake and doing it again - and picking through different yarns (like i said, changing the yarn every time I cast on made me feel like I was accomplishing something ;) I finally settled on a standard sock pattern (ribbed cuff, stockinette for the rest), in the Lornas Laces Shepherd Sock in Bee Stripe, that has been burning a hole in my stash for the last 6 months.

This is a very yummy yarn, and it knits up easily and creates a simultaneously
sturdy and soft fabric. I recommend it highly.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

2006-04-11T02:31:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm finally on vacation :)
Two weeks off and I only needed to take 5 vacation days to get them. I love holidays.

Hopefully this will give me ample time to both knit and post.

In knitting news...

Clapotis has hit something of a snag. I've made it halfway through the 9th straightaway repeat when i came across a foot and a half of yarn that seems to be a stitch pulled out. I"m not sure I even understnad what happened. Its like someone tugged a length of yarn out and I suddenly have a whole length of yarn between two stitches. I'm not sure how to fix it, or why it happened but i'm going to try to pull it back in somehow. I'm trying not to panic as up until now its been gorgeous.

Picture of Clapinprogress

Picture of weird error- see that string hanging out? It's just in the middle of nowhere.
I learned Magic Loop today! I've by no means mastered it, mind you, and I've had to cast on the same sock like 12 times, but at least I have the basic idea. I'm sure I'll grow to love it, especially for its portability, but as of right this moment i find dpns less complicated.

I plan to test out magic loop on some Socka:
I purchased a gigantic pile of gallon ziplocs today, with the intention of using them to organize many things, including my yarn stash.
Paid a visit to Knitty City today, a beautiful new store here in NY. If you haven't been, i highly recommend you go. It's a beautiful space with a great selection. I didn't buy much having gone sorta yarn-nuts lately, but I picked up a couple of 40" addis for magic loop (size 1 and 0). The owner is lovely, the salespeople are nice, and there is plenty of knitting room. It is an unusually comfy space for NYC.

Flash this baby :)

2006-04-01T01:04:00.000-05:00

Ok.. I wasn't planning on participating in Flash-your-Stash day. No reason, I just didn't have it in me to organize my stash properly. (I look forward to seeing everyone elses stash though)

But today I went shopping.
Seriously shopping.
At a yarn closeout sale from a designer.
And I got a truly stupendous quantity of quality yarn for 60 dollars.
And so i'm flashing just that.
I do have a ton of lovely yarn that i'm very proud of.
And if i can get it together to flash it today - I will
but for now, here is today's incredible haul.

56 Balls of yarn.
for 60 dollars.

I will list it below:

30 (yes 30) balls of Ornaghi Filati Linea Ecologica "Agata" Pure new wool
3300 yards total, Washable. (pink, brownish and beigeish)

18 Balls of Ornaghi Filati "Luce" 14 balls of black, and 4 balls of shimmery white. Cotton/Viscose blend. 132 yards/ball

10 Balls Sesia Bilbao - 105 m each. 100 percent egyptian combed cotton. some beigy, stripey colory

6 balls of Zegna Baruffa Saxone (i think) Wool/mohair, alpaca, nylon blend)
185 yards a ball in a cool greyish blend.

Total spent? $60

Here is the whole plunder again, just cuz.

I'm not going to be around to flash my whole stash today. So I hope you all
enjoyed my new yarn! And I'll be sure to be checking out all of your stashes. :)

Clapdate Part Two

2006-03-29T00:29:00.000-05:00

Here are a couple of "not very good" pictures
of my clapotis in progress.
The pictures don't do it justice but I'm exhausted and can't fiddle with them right now.
I am loving how this is coming out.

I wish i had more time to work on it, but such is life.
Haven't had an abundance of knitting time lately.. hopefully that will improve.

A close up, color is off but it still shows decent detail

This pic is blurry but the color is more accurate

In other news, I went outlet shopping last weekend.
Got a LOT of great stuff (Flemington)
and picked up my new glasses, which I adore. (Both pair, I ende dup getting two.
The first frames I showed you, the second are more oval.

Clapdate

2006-03-20T00:08:00.000-05:00

Ok.. for a change of pace I'll lead off with the picture.
Here is a pic of clapotis after the second straightaway
Since this pic has been taken I've completed two more straightaway repeats
and have dropped two more stitches. I think its coming out great.
I know its meant for variegated yarn, but i think the two tone quality of this yarn works
just as well and its such a dream (Mountain Colors - Twizzle) to knit with.

As per usual, I've way overbought yarn for this project. It calls for 600 yards or so
of worsted on a size 8, and I'm doing it in dk on a size 6. For some reason (and I honestly do know better), despite all logic, I felt like this would somehow up the yardage I needed.
Like I said, I really do know better, but when I'm in that "early in the project I'm not going to have enough yarn" frenzy (which is typical) I cannot be reasoned with.

So I bought a little extra.
Like double.
It's a good thing I like this yarn, I"m going to be working with it a lot ;)
I think I'm going to make some wristwarmers to go with this. And maybe a hat.

I took a lot of pics this weekend, (but they are of people from whom I've not yet obtained permission) so i will close with these two.
The first is of my new glasses. Or what will be once the lenses are put in. This is me trying on the frames in the store.
pic number two is of my friend's cat, looking guilty.
Oh and I'm making a march new years resolution to update more!

Twizzle!

2006-03-11T02:24:00.000-05:00

Ok so Branching Out just isn't happening.
I have zero love for it at the moment and I won't knit it right now, you can't make me :)
But there is kntiting happening.
Lots of it.

First of all. I have ony a little ways to go left on the marathon fuzzy feet. (Dunkin Donuts style :) and my intent is to felt them on Tuesday when i'm home for the day.

The Brickwork scarf came out of hiding for a bit this week as well, though its intended recipient moved to Phoenix so I don't suspect I'm going to rush to finish it.

Other than that, knitwise, I've had something unexpected happen.
I decided to knit another Clapotis. This is surprising for a few reasons, but mainly
that I never finished the last one.

I started Clap 1 shortly after I learned to knit last year, and as a mostly new knitter, I found it to be a greart learning project. The increases and decreases were challenging, and I found keeping my stitch count accurate to be a chore. But other than that, it helped build my confidence, though I wasn't all that great at fixing mistakes yet, and made a bazillion of them.

The main problem was the yarn. I decided to use Noro Silk Garden because
everyone else seemed to love it so much. I spent the entire setup/increase row section, and four stitch drops into the straightaway trying to convince myself that "I" loved it.
And I didn't.
The colors are beautiful, sure, but the yarn is a little too crunchy for my taste, and
It made my hands tired. And eventually I got tired of working the pattern. I put it down and never picked it up again.

And then, recently, nearly a year later, I met Mountain Colors "Twizzle". in "Berry" -- 85% Merino Wool, 15% Silk and for the first time in my knitting career, a yarn said "I want to become a..." Seriously. It told me. I never believed people when they said that before, but its true. and what it wanted to become is Clapotis. Who am I to argue?
I really never anticipated revisiting this project - I may go join the Behindthetimesalong for this one

The yarn is delicous. Soft, Smooth, Silky, and the two toned effect of the brighter pinkish color of the silk on the cranberryish merino makes it appear to sparkle. Look... pretty!

And while I'm not delving in fully yet, I couldn't resist knitting up a bit of it.
Odd showcase for it here, it looks like my towel is wearing a bikini.
And that "delinquent" in the upper left? I have no idea how that got there.
I didn't see it when i snapped the picture.. Maybe Desdemona put it there.

On a completely different note, I defied the expectations of nearly
everyone who knows me, and cooked ziti and meatballs for the BF last weekend.
And here's proof....

BF's kitty patiently awaiting our dinner ;)

New Orleans Articles

2006-03-01T15:01:00.000-05:00

Just a quickie post to highlight some work a friend of mine is doing.

He's a writer for Direct Magazine, a Direct marketing trade publication, and he and a colleague are in New Orleans for the week, covering New Orleans from a variety of angles (including Direct Marketing, Business and Human interest),

They are doing interesting stuff. Check em out at
www.directmag.com

Gluttony and Sloth

2006-02-26T22:20:00.000-05:00

All in all a great way to spend a weekend. :)

Thursday I went to dinner at the home of Beader and Husband(who is a very good friend of mine for over a decade but I have not appropriately blog- nicknamed him yet, or obtained his permissoin to use his name, so Beader's husband will hve to suffice for now ;) and had a wonderful time!

Beader presented me with homemade stitch markers! They are so pretty that I am
tempted to beg for matching earrings!
I include multiple pictures because they are hard to photograph well.
They were presented in a lovely satiny pouch.

Friday night I got to see a very good old friend, Rosemary, who came into town with her daugther and daughte'rs friend. We met up with Richard (I have a few friends named Richard, this one I know from high school.), and went to dinner at Carmines for that good all-purpose family style Italian food binge :) It was great to see them!

Saturday was Kim's birthday and we went with a small group for dim sum. (The Richard I ususally mention was along for this one :)
I was outstandingly tired all day, but had a great time nonetheless.

I won't be eating again for a while ;)

Today I spent laying aorund the house and doing some knitting.
Cast on for Branching Out. Again.
I'm beginning to think I am never going to knit this project,
especially since it is starting to feel like work.

I've cast on countless times.
With about 4 different yarns, of different weights.
and something bothers me about it every time.
Either I lose count, or don't like how it looks, or find the gauge fussy, or something.
I've knit the first 15 rows of this thing at least a dozen times.
AndI just keep finding some problem.

I think its time i called it quits on this project and found something more hospitable.
Maybe one of the 11 things i already have going.

I think I need a good social knitting occasion to help me buckle down and finish things :)

Worst.. blogger..ever...

2006-02-25T01:50:00.000-05:00

Let me apologize. Both in retrospect, and in advance.

Retrospect. I have been the worlds worst blogger.
I have lots of reasons. My free time has been occupied with a lot of things
Many good, some not so good.
But it hasn't left me with a whole lot of free time
And the free time I do have, I've been too tired to do much.
Work has been busy.
I've had a million social engagements (this is good :)
A few freelance things
And a new toy. (more on this later)
Things seem to be clearing up some thankfully.

And the advance apology?? Expect a lot of gratuitous pictures.
I got a new camera!!!! and i LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it.
Its a Canon Powershot A610. (Read all about it here)

I briefly considerd the A620, which only differs from this one by 2 megapixels (this one is 5, the other 7) but concluded it wasn't worth it to me. And boy am I glad. The quality on this thing is amazing. Its making me a far better photographer than I actually am.

What follows are a few pics from week one of the new cam.

I haven't been knitting as much as I'd like (though i'm getting back into the swing of it.) But since this is a knitting blog, I do feel like I should lead off with some knitting, even if it isn't mine.
(all pictures can be seen larger by clicking on em)

Here is Branching Out in progress.. up close and personal (Macro focus)
Pretty!

Next up is Joy's 1 and a half year old Jacob. This pic was clipped out of a video,
and is much better than I'd have expectd.

Gratuitous Empire State Building Shot. In its largest size you can see the spire clearly.

I'll save more pictures for later, but I'm glad I got some online to share :)

Tomorrow, I am going to celebrate the birthday of the Woman who told me to knit.
If you get a chance, click here and go wish Kim a Happy Birthday

Hope you all haven't gone completely away :) Its good to be back!

Its a post!

2006-02-14T14:39:00.000-05:00

Yes ladies and gentlemen, a post.
With knitting no less .
Though not much I grant you. And much of what is there contains problems.

Last two weeks were very stressful workwise and I had nearly no time for much else.
Then we had the snow that ate NYC, but I was too tired most of last weekend to focus on much of anything.
And now, finally i'm settling down to some knitting and getting reoriented with my lovely yarn and needles :)

First up we have Branching Out.
Despite my initial struggle with the combination of Branching Out and Kidsilk Haze, I decided to give it another go. So far, so ok.

You can see a lifeline there if you look closely. Weird, that I was so careful to put a lifefline in, yet so reluctant to use it once I found myself off stitch count a mere 3 rows or so after putting it in. So its sitting there, waiting for me to tear back to the lifeline. And of course, i'm delaying.
I do think it will be beautiful when done, and i'm finidng the teeny-fuzzy yarn easier to work with than the first time I tried.
I think better light helped

Here we have a pic of one side of the Raglan Baby Sweater.
I love how this is coming out but i'm cleaqrly off in some way because I have 2 more stitches than I expected by row 40 of the decreases, and I can't figure out why.

I have no idea where I went astray or even if i did.
but I seem to think I should have been down to 24 stitches by now instead of row 42.
And have no idea if i should try and uncover the problem or just make the other side 2 rows longer or what.

But all that notwithstanding - Look how cute!

Special thanks to Richard for shovelling all my snow for me this weekend!!

Gah

2006-02-04T21:45:00.000-05:00

For whatever reason blogger ate my last post :/
I will attempt to repost it later.
in the meantime this unbroken chunk of text below is what remains of my post.
what gives?

Oh.. and there were lots of pics in this post too - blogger ate them also

This past week at work is the busiest week of the year - we have a big fundraiser coming up next week and our entire office works really hard on getting prepared. Thus -I've had no real knitting time all week... bleh.

Fortunately I get out early on Fridays regardless so I met up with a friend and we did a little shopping - some yarn- some makeup :)

First I went to the Stila counter and bought
new eyeshadow and blush (replacement for my old)
The color on the eyeshadow is off - that palate comes in two color schemes - this is the warmer one(warm showers) and the one I got is slightly cooler (rain showers) but I couldn't find a pic of that one :)

This is where pictures of my new makeup were
And to the Prescriptives counter for a new lipstick and liner
The lipstick is "Dream" which is the one in the middle and the liner
Sheer Cherry, is the one in the front.

This is where pictures of my new makeup were

Last on the shopping front was a trip to Yarn Connection
where I treated myself to a ball of Kidsilk Haze in "583" (referred to as "blushes", I think)
It is beautiful yarn, but I think, at the moment, I don't have the patience to knit with it.
It may been bad lighting - or maybe that I shouldn't be attempting anything lacy for the first time (I decided to use it for Branching Out) with such a fuzzy yarn- but in my present state it was just too frustrating to deal with the fuzziness, the weight and the counting all at the same time.I put it down and I'm saving it for later.

Picture of pretty pink new yarn went here

Progress continues with my other projects - the most active of which are

Dunkin Donuts Fuzzy Foot - 1 down, one to go
Yak Sweater - back is almost finished (the first section)
Brickwork scarf - 1 1/2 pattern repeat left

Lastly on the personal care front -I've become sort of skincare -obsessed recently.I've always been kind of a snob when it comes to cosmetics and skincare -and I tend to spend, probably more than I should, on stuff that I could get for less in less pricy brand. It's weird, because I'm totally not like that in any other area of my life (except maybe electronics), but with cosmetics I tend to trust the pricer stuff more, whether its reasonable or not..So imagine my happy surprise that I have fallen totally in love with a skincare line from Yves Rocher.Someone turned me on to them, and I was seduced into trying them by a lot of samples, and free gifts (I LOVE samples and free gifts)I now use their Hamamelis bath products (the soap smells SO GOOD), and the Serum Vegetal skincare stuff, and after two weeks my skin looks INCREDIBLY better. And best of all - affordable! (they always have specials and sales)

I'm off to wash my face. Have a great weekend!

Yay Friday

2006-01-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

So after two days at home with strep throat (waiting for throat culture to confirm it)-
(My throat still hurts but its no longer an agony to drink liquids)I returned to work for the traditional "short friday" at my office. By the time I got there I was ready to go home and back to bed, but I toughed it out the rest of the day.

I originally had plans to go visit a friend of mine this evening, but he has a 2 year old son, and I didn't want to risk infecting him with whatever I have so I decided to reschedule him for another night.

With a few hours to kill after work I went to KnitNY with my friend to work on stuff for a few hours. While there, I got filmed for Italian TV, which was kind of fun. I finished Dunkin Donuts Fuzzy Foot 1 and made some real progress on the back of my Yak/Merino Sweater. I haven't photographed either today but for those who want a pic
how about one of this guy...

Who knew something that looked like this could produce such soft yarn. He's sorta cute , isn't he.? :)

Got home early (7 ish), put my laundry in and decided to learn to do Fair Isle.
I picked an easy practice exercise from the First Knits Book and produced this swatch.

Gorgeous it isn't, but it matches
the picture in the book perfectly
so I"ll call it a win.

I'd imagine it gets easier with time but as
a first timer it felt like I could use a few more hands :)

And the back side of it? Whew.. what a mess.

Still, fun to learn something new.

Oh.. and remember my friend who picked up the alpaca for me? Well another friend, the beader, said she made stitch markers for me! I feel very lucky to have such thoughtful and generous friends.

Have a great weekend all!

Sick - and some mystery solutions..

2006-01-26T13:31:00.000-05:00

Hi all,

I'm home with some sort of mystery throat ailment that is thankfully being cleared up by antibiotics. I've slept like 18 of the last 24 hours and i'm finally showing signs of feeling better
I love antibiotics.

Solution to mystery 1 - the Vogue knitting confusion -
Problem? bought a vogue knitting whose cover didn't match that on the website and thought i had the wrong one.
Solution: for some reason the one i have had the subscription cover and not the newsstand cover, but its the right one and i hadn't read it.

Solution to mystery 2 - Can't get gauge

My sweater gauge woes were cleared up by a visit to the store, in which i learned that i had the wrong version of the pattern. The one i had was for a smaller-gauge yarn.
what a relief. I now ahve done a few (ok about 20) rows on the back of the sweater and I Love love love how its knitting up, the yak/merino blend is so soft, yet so sturdy - shows the stitches beautifully

Some pics -
A close up of the stitches - sorta - its curling a little from sitting on the circular

Here we have a pic of the caked yarn and the knitting
hard to see here but its really a pretty yarn.

A shot of the 'now taking forever' "Dunkin Donuts" Fuzzy feet
I hope to knock the other one out tonight, i'm getting a bit tired of these dragging along, but i do love how they are coming out. I plan to do the toe in the aubergine/orange/aubergine pattern that i did on the cuff and the heel.

Oh! and i forgot (nearly) to mention that my wonderful friend A from CT (the one who got me the great stitchmarkers a while back), picked up some Alpaca for me!!! They have a local alpaca farm and she picked some up while meeting the animals. I"m so jealous! And i'm very grateful. I can't wait to see it!

I've been Tagged - and Gauge Woes

2006-01-21T12:03:00.000-05:00

So I have good news, and bad news.

The good news is that I finally picked a sweater pattern!
I went to School Products yesterday and picked out a Baby Sweater. A simple Raglan 2x2 Rib Turtleneck, worked in pieces. They had a sample made in a delicious 50% Yak, 50% Merino which as only 24 dollars for this giant ball of "just enough". Its pefect - not too pricy, not too big for a first sweater. I couldn't wait to get it home.

The bad news is that I cannot get gauge with this yarn.
The pattern calls for size 8 needles, and my four inch swatch was 6 inches - no problem .. I'll just go down a size.
the swatch with size 7 was between 7-8 inches.
So was the swatch with size 6.
WTF? It got BIGGER?
I can't really go smaller than 6 with this because the pattern just starts to look wrong.
Feh.

In other news :) I got Tagged ! by Knit-N-Purl Zen

Tagged!

4 Jobs You Have Had in Your Life:

Flyer Distributor (15 years old, in Clown face)
Tech Support and all-around office assistant for a Computer Consulting firm
Legal Biller
IT Director (started as assistant, then manager)

4 Movies You Could Watch Over & Over:

Network
Better off Dead
Blazing Saddles
Fiddler on the Roof

4 Places You Have Lived:

Brooklyn, NY
Staten Island, NY
New York, NY
Brooklyn, NY (again)

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch:

West Wing
Gilmore Girls
ER
Mary Tyler Moore Show

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation:

Puerto Rico
Bahamas
New Orleans
California

4 of Your Favourite Foods:

Sushi
Mexican
Thai
Southern (these are nearly random choices, I like all food :)

4 websites you visit daily:

1. Knittyboard
2. Weight Watchers (to track food)
3. Bloglines
4. Google

4 places you’d rather be right now:
1. Asleep
2. My boyfriend's
3. In a coffee shop, knitting
4. In a nice hotel, anywhere

I am supposed to tag 4 other bloggers here but I have to go figure out who has already done this, so go ahead if you are so inclined :)

Have a great weekend all!

Happy Friday!

2006-01-14T00:33:00.001-05:00

So I happened to see the last copy of Vogue Knitting (the winter 2005/2006 issue) at Barnes and Noble today.

I think its been out for a month or so, and given that the new issue is due out on Jan 17th, it must be.
But I cannot remember if I've read it.
I bought it, read thru the entire thing, and STILL can't remember if I'd already read it.
I mean I assume I must have because its been out a while but nothing looked familiar?
Perhaps I'm not getting some vitamins or something because I shouldn't be forgetting things like this.

I also got the new Bust magazine - so I'm in for some good reading :)

In Knitting News...

I'm still working on the Dunkin Donuts fuzzy feet.
I went to the LYS Closest to work today (The Yarn Connection)
and fondled some Nashua Creative Focus Worsted
I"m really seeing it as a sweater, so it could be my yarn of choice for the first sweater, whenever I figure out what that will be.
Its soft, its high yardage, comes in pretty colors.
Just need to find out how it wears.

I'm off to bed..
more tomorrow.

Well Howdy All

2006-01-06T13:16:00.000-05:00

How are you all doin?

I've been awful at this updating business lately - exhaustion mostly.
Coupled with an extreme lack of knitting.
I'm in the midst of finishing a pair of gifts, both of which have encountered problems and Not feeling good about starting anything else until I finish those.

So here, in the name of knitting accountability ;) I present to you some progress pics of
the lengthwise Malabrigo brickwork scarf and the Dunkin Donutsesqe Fuzzy feet (Lambs pride worsted) pictures taken on cameraphone in a flourescently lit office.
The lumpy portions at the joins on the fuzzy feet aren't as prominent in real life as they are here, and they'll felt out anyway.

So....
Today a friend and I are going to knit at one of the nice knitting stores around town, and drink coffee, and play with yarn, and i'm going to finish the damned gifty fuzzy feet that have been stuffed at the bottom of my bag since the year one. (see above)
and I'm going to have lunch, and coffee and go home and knit in front of the TV.
All good things.

I haven't decided on a sweater yet.
I'm considering Samus
or Mariah
But both intimidate me somewhat.

:)

Happy New Year!

2005-12-30T15:15:00.000-05:00

Has been a while since I've posted much.. and I haven't gotten to knit much either.
Holidays and related festivities been keeping me pretty busy. And it feels like I've been too tired to do much of anything.

As I mentioned in my last post, I think, I broke my thumbnail down to a point of bleeding sometime during the strike and my hands just haven't been up to the task.
I cast on for two or three diffreent things that needed frogging , and haven't resumed them yet.

I finally picked up the needles again a few days ago and was truly stunned by how instantaneously relaxed I felt. Knitting is too good for my mental health to let it go that long.

I need to finish some belated Christmas gifts and then I want to start shopping around for a pattern and yarn for my first sweater. I'm intimidated by the scope of such a project, but i really really want to sink my teeth into somenthing big.

Not much else to report. Had some nice times with the boyfriend's family for the holidays, went to Rocky Sullivan's last night for pub quiz (we came in second due to tanking on the last round), and I'm off to spend a quiet New Years at home with the boyfriend.!

A few resolutions upcoming for 2006.

1. I'm going to get out of debt. Period.
2. I'm going to be better at returning calls to a few of my friends, particularly RW who I've neglected far more than is acceptable in the last year.
3. I wil deal with my digital camera issues and post some long promised pictures of my last SP gift, and my wips.

Happy New Year all!!

Whew.

2005-12-23T00:47:00.000-05:00

So um. been a fun couple of days around here.
My strike saga is a little less eventful than most - Ok a lot less.

I left the house tuesday morning at the crack of dawn (ok .. I had to get up at 7.. not a big deal for many people but earlier than I usually get up and I had been up wathicng the news until 2:30), to catch my ride, and haven't been home since.
Until now.

I really don't have that much to complain about..
I had a ride in on Tuesday.
I had a place to stay in Manhattan until today (could have stayed longer if i needed to)
and I had a ride home today (it took over 3 hours but it was a comfy warm space).

Still I'm very glad the strike is over. Its good to be home, my kitty missed me and
I'm tired of thinking about transportation.

I was well stocked with knitting for my tenure in manhattan but ended up ripping a thumbnail down to the point where it bled and I'm just not that comfortable using my hands, so i'm taking a few-day hiatus. Nice timing - I have gifts to finish - but they'll wait.

On My to-do list.

1. still have to finish that scarf.
2. A few pair of fuzzy feet still on the to-do list.
3. my bath mitts from my wonderful sp5
4. A few projects out of Knit wit. Notably, I want to make an ice-cream cozy for a coworker, and the Girlie Boxers for me!
5. photograph my last SP gift. I finally got a camera borrowed but I hadn't been home to do it. So tomorro wnight, I have some quality me time scheduled and plan to get right on that.
I did post a thank you and description on the knittyboard -
which I will reprint here for those who don't read there. And I will finally post the pics tomorrow.

_______________________________________
First we had a lovely six ball assortment of Knitpicks Wool of hte Andes - in red and blue.

Then a whole introduction to kool aid dying = including - directions to instructions, samples of dyed yarn, two packets of kool aid and Knitpicks dyable yarn!

Some .. er.. creative jellybeans

A big whopping pile of yarn catalogs! So much fun!

A couple of cool patterns, including the Fiber Trends Clogs!(Which I've been itching to try)

Some yummy fluffy unspun wool to help make a bed liner for my kitty.. along with a hand made red fleecy felt pillowcase to put around it if i choose!

The most amusing part of this came at the bottom of the box.
I noticed a little ball of something wrapped in aluminum foil.
when i start opening it, I see that its leafy and greenish brown. Crumbled.
At this point I'm becoming increasaingly nervous that my SP sent me drugs through the mail.
Turned out to be catnip

Thank you muchly ma'am for spoiling me so well! You have made the whole experience wonderful for me! And I look forward to being able to properly thank you! Both with pictures, and return gifts!
:)

UPDATE

2005-12-17T21:17:00.000-05:00

Found first gray hair today.
ARGH.

Um.. who am I supposed to be shopping for.?

2005-12-17T16:28:00.000-05:00

It has generally been the case that I don't exchange too much in the way of holiday gifts with my friends and family. This year is slightly different as I'm knitting fuzzy feet for a few people and a scarf or two for a few others, but mostly we don't do much exchanging.

I'm not made of stone, however, and it's hard to avoid getting caught up in the shopping frenzy, what with all the advertising and such. But who to shop for.... hmmm.. who .. who...

That's right... ME!

And you know, it is hard not to feel completely decadent when you are laying around in a big squishy chair at Barnes & Noble, relaxing and reading, the weekend before Christmas, while everyone else rushes around trying to get their shopping done. And the kicker is getting up and buying 30 dollars worth of knitting books for myself when I leave :)

But wait.. there's more!

Today some friends had a jewelry open house
and my bf bought me this.... (plus I picked up a matching necklace!)

They make lots of very cool jewelry, some of which can be found on their website
at www.mossmade.com
They only have some of their stuff displayed at any given time but its all really nice, and so are they! check em out!

Oh.. and if THAT wasn't enough - a trip to Marhsalls yeilded a pair of Born loafers, a sweater and three bras!

On the knitting front, I have 2 coordinated pair of Fuzzy feet for a couple (both will be same colors in different patterns) in the works. My brickwork, lengthwise scarf is about half done, and I've just gotten moving on mitten #2!

Tonight is dinner with the bf's parents for his birthday.
Hopefully I can get through THAT without doing any more shopping ;)

I'm how old?

2005-12-13T14:05:00.000-05:00

Well as old as this guy...

Thats right... 39.
Very weird. I don't feel 39.

Thanks to everyone for their birthday greetings yesterday! I really appreciate it.
And special thanks to Dani for directing birthday traffic my way.

The birthday festivities thusfar have been great!
Lots of nice gifts, lots of attention, and I still have 3 or 4 more plans for the " birthday week +"
remaining.
I have good friends :)

The temps here in NYC today are brutal... High of 27, low of 16.
I'm really growing to appreciate the fact that I"ve become a knitter in a new way ;)
My stuff is SO MUCH WARMER than everyone I work with :)

Well back to work.. but before I go, I'll leave you with this question...
When did we, as a people, develop a need for 6 different magazines about shopping?

So that explains it..

2005-12-08T15:36:00.000-05:00

Thank you to you well-wishers from yesterdays complainy post :)
I appreciate the pep talk and moral support!

The inexplicable crabitude yesterday? Explained! Woke up with a migraine today.
I should have realized. It seems that whenever i'm in THAT bad a mood, and it's not pms, a migraine is on the way.

As for my complete lack of patience, well, I got a little life lesson in that last night.

I'm knitting a beyootiful Malabrigo scarf that is being knit lengthwise. I cast on my 189 stitches and made it all the way thru the first row of k2p2 (which is what the ends are done in, when I realized that i'd misnumbered someplace.
Where? at stitch 90. So after meticilously tinking my way back, i caused some other foulup that required i start over.
I hate casting on.
and i got to cast on 189 stitches TWICE yesterday.
:) A lesson in complaining that I feel impatient, I suspect.

The Malabrigo is unbelievable to work with. So delicious.
It tends to cling to itself (which leads to knotting if I'm not paying attention) but other than that I'm crazy about it.

I need to schedule a photo session with myself, the secret pal gift and my finished objects. Maybe tonight if i don't fall asleep early.

You don't wanna know me today.

2005-12-07T18:34:00.000-05:00

Hi, I am the crankiest woman alive today.
I've been snapping at everyone
I have no patience whatsoever.
Every one, every thing, every sight, sound, color, smell is annoying the holy living shit out of me.

I've been walking around the office all day hissing.
Literally.

Just got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.
Got caught in a long-ass train delay and my mood just has not improved since then.

I need to do something about this. I'm unbearable.
I'm amazed any of my coworkers are still speaking to me.

Snarl.

Who knew I was this fickle?

2005-12-06T23:31:00.000-05:00

I'm detecting a new trend.
Whatever I knit with at the moment is the best yarn in the world.

First it was Koigu. I was sure I'd never want to knit anything else again.

Then I picked up some Cashmerino Chunky for my hat - SO SOFT I thought "I should make everything in this"

Then it was the 127 print - so rich and squishy. And the colors - OMG.. the colors.

Today's love affair? Malabrigo
Oh.. My... So Soft but yet so sturdy
Feels like alpaca but holds shape like lambs wool
I could eat this stuff, I really could.

I picked up two balls of Malabrigo -
one in cypress (a delicious teal color- see it here)
and
one in black forest (a smokey taupe, see it here)

I tried to photograph them but they just wouldn't photograph so the links above give some idea of the beautiful colors.
I'm using it to make a brick lengthwise scarf that looks sort of woven (a house pattern from Knit NY that I've been ogling for months)

I leave you with the first of two mittens I'm making from the delicious and yummy 127 Print
I can't wait to finish the second.

You load 16 tons...

2005-12-05T22:20:00.000-05:00

Well first and foremost I owe my upstream Secret pal an apology.
I wanted to bring my last SP package home and photograph it today. (full nof wonderful stuff like Blue and Red Wool of the Andes, koolaid and dyeing yarn, catnip and the stuffing for a kitty cushion, lots and lots of yarn catalogs etc..
Really great stuff!!

But alas.. I had to bring home 12 pounds of rock salt because its supposed to snow tomorrow.
Yes, I brought 12 pounds of rock salt on my 45 minute subway ride. (Actually its calcium chloride, but who's counting). I don't know whats scarier, my bringing 12 pounds of rock salt on the subway, or the fact that it doesn't actually feel that much heavier (even with my other stuff) than what I normally carry.
I'm amazed I walk upright, I really am.

Saturday I went to a lovely knitting afternoon at the home of a Knittyboard friend. I met a bunch of great people and had a really nice time. Thank you very much to our host for a great time.!!

In knitting news - i finished my black cashmerino (with red lana d'oro accents) hat to go with the IHS.

I also picked up some 127 Print from Filatura De Crosa in an unbelievable series of colors.
This blue - well nothing does it justice.. but this is a pic -
It is becoming mittens.
Yummy squishy mittens.
I have one finished already!

Which is good -because as i mentioned, its going to snow.
Every year I have tremendous anxiety over the snow, and over the fact that I have to find people to shovel it when I'm not home (homeowner crap).
Thankfully my friend Richard shovels for me most times in the winter. Helps me keep my sanity.

Here's hoping for a dry winter.

It is time to rename customer service

2005-12-01T15:41:00.000-05:00

"All customer service representatives are still assisting other callers.. we thank you for your patience"

WHAT PATIENCE?!?!

Do you mean the patience you exhausted 25 minutes ago the first time I heard this message?
The patience that ran out after hearing your 2 pieces of hold music for merely the 10th time, roughtly 20 minutes ago?
Or the patience that expired when for the 3rd time of trying your Sales support number, I was misdirected to technical support.
Or the patience that was tested when I tried the number for rebates, and you told me to call sales support, who gave me tech support who told me to call rebates.

I never want to hear either of these songs again, and this woman's voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me now.

I have many things, chief among them a headache, a crick in my neck, a frustration level that my doctor would be concerned about, and a sincere desire to break my phone.

What I do not have is patience.
And I need a headset.

You're welcome.

A Tag and a Scarf

2005-11-30T16:01:00.000-05:00

I got tagged and the results are below (and If i tagged you, your assignment ;) is below the pic.
But first..

Here, without furthur ado, is a giant, overexposed picture of my unblocked Irish Hiking Scarf.
I had to weigh the merits of blocking it vs. having it available to wear when it was 24 degrees out and I'd just finished it. Warmth won. I might well yet block it. The matching hat (which is a simple roll brim hat in black Cashmerino chunky with a 1 1/2 inch stripe of the scarf yarn) is almost done, but on hold until I get a second ball of the black, since I lost one of the balls on Metro North.

Meanwhile, I got tagged by That Farm Girl a few days back, so here are the results of that :)
I feel the need to share the love so i'm tagging.. hmmm Robin!

A is for Age - 38 going on 39 (right on top of 39, really, Dec 12 in fact)
B is for Booze - Not so much of a drinker - Coffee is my booze.
C is for Career - IT nerd
D is for Dad's Name - William
E is for Essential items to bring to a party - Whatever I’m asked.
F is for Favorite song at the moment - "Mama Tried, The good old Merle Haggard Version"
G is for Goof off thing to do - Hang around online
H is for Hometown - Brooklyn, NY
I is for Instrument you play - er.. is persistent talking anything like singing? None really
J is for Jam or Jelly you like - Apricot
K is for Kids - One kitty
L is for Living arrangement - I live alone, with my cat, and some uninvited waterbugs.
M is for Mom's name - Joann
N is for Names of best friends - I have many good friends and won’t single them out for fear of offending someone.
O is for Overnight hospital stays - nope
P is for Phobias - waterbugs, lightening, standing water
Q is for Quote you like : Original thought is like original sin: both happened before you were born to people you could not have possibly met. (Fran Liebowitz)
R is for Relationship that lasted the longest - Non Romantic: My friend Val who I’ve known since 8th grade (which is 23 years ago maybe?) And Joy who i’ve know for 21 years. Romantic: I was with my ex-husband for 12 years.
S is for Siblings - A brother and sister, both older
T is for Texas, ever been? - Ran thru the airport once or twice for connecting flights, that’s it.
U is for Unique trait - I can get up to 6 songs stuck in my head simultaneously
Vegetable you love - Cauliflower
W is for Worst traits - Obsessive worrying
X is for Xrays you've had - Teeth, feet, hands, abdomen
Y is for Yummy food you make - I make decent chicken soup
Z is for Zodiac sign - Saggitarius

Mmmmmmmmmm Stuffing

2005-11-26T01:29:00.000-05:00

Well happy day-after-thanksgiving all :)

I hope everyone had a lovely holiday.

Mine was good- went to my sister's as I do every year and had a nice time. Tis a long day out there, so I got some knitting done while there.

Today I went to the boyfriend's parent's house for leftovers (Yummy - MORE stuffing!), and then went to see "Walk the Line". I thought it was VERY good - much better than I'd been prepped for.

Knitting News:
I finished the Irish Hiking Scarf !! I should have a pic up in a day or so if i can ever bring myself to take it off long enough to photograph it in final :) I LOVE it! and I finished it not a moment too soon - It got so damned cold out Thanksgiving night that I was grateful to be able to wear it home. (Those outdoor train platforms are murder!)

I wanted a matching hat, and it's nearly impossible to exactly match reds so I saved a little of the yarn and bought some Black Cashmerino Chunky for the hat - i'll use the leftover scarf yarn to make a stripe or something.

I'm up to my toe decreases on Fuzzy Feet two (in Lamb's pride bulky) and hope to felt em in a day or so.

So i'm nearly all set to use that 400 yards or so of Misti Alpaca that followed me home not long ago... what to make what to make..;)

Oh.. and my new laptop? SO COOL! I love having my own computer everywhere I go!

I got tagged a few days ago by Thatfarmgirl and plan on rising to the challenge tomorrow :)
Until then..

A small update

2005-11-21T13:25:00.000-05:00

Hi there.
Nice weekend - good Tofurky™ (really, the meal was surprisingly good!)
Saw the walmart movie (good documentary but horrifying)
Took other friends to lunch for their respective birthdays
and had a nice little book shopping spree in which my wonderful boyfriend got me two magazines, two books and the cutest stuffed bear ever. We named him Polka.

Just a few progress pics on the IHS
I"m nearly done. I love love love how this baby is coming out, so squishy and so yummy and I must finish it by thanksgiving when it will be cold and yucky out so that I can wear it.

Lastly just another happy little request for you to put yourself on my map :)

Yay! Its a short week!
:)

A blatant plea for attention

2005-11-18T21:57:00.000-05:00

Everyone else was doing it so I couldn't resist (peer pressure you know)
So could you please click on the cool frappr button and add yourself to my map.
Pretty Please!
(cool Frappr button courtesy of Amy of Knitty.com fame)

Spent the afternoon with my friend J. Went to Knit New York, had coffee and worked on the IHS for a while. Very relaxing. Bought a few last touches for my last SP package which is just waiting for me to finish what I'm knitting for it. J. Crochets so she was purusing some afghan books while I worked. Bought myself a few skeins of Misti Alpaca and a row counter. We had a really nice time.

Also got a down jacket at Filenes for FIFTY DOLLARS! (so warm and such a bargain) and a cool bag for my most excellent new laptop. I'll be not spending much else for the rest of this pay period but I'm happy about my purchases.

And it's Friday..
I love Friday

Tomorrow the BF and I are entertaining at his place - we're having a Tofurky™ dinner for a few non meat-eating friends. I'm not a vegetarian of any sort but I do eat plenty of non-meat meals. Never had the Tofurky™ before.. I'm keeping an open mind :)

The little headache that could.

2005-11-18T14:42:00.000-05:00

I have had a headache for going on two weeks now..
think thats a problem?

I'm sure i'm allergic to something but I haven't tracked it down yet. Part of it was some new hair product a woman at work was using (thankfully she discontinued doing so without too much of a fight).. the rest has yet to be determined.

Haven't had too too much time to knit this week - been working too much, and I got a new toy this week that is making me very very happy!

Its so cute.. so tiny and so fast!

Gotta leave work now.. more later!

I'm it!

2005-11-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

This time by PuppyMomma to post 20 things about myself.

Here goes..

1. I've lived in NYC my entire 38 year life.
2. I am almost never asleep before 1 am (usually later) and rarely awake before 9am.
3. I would rather drink coffee than alcohol.
4. I am somewhat mistrustful of people who don't like animals.
5. I've been at the same job for 10 years.
6. I've never driven a car
7. Or shot pool
8. Or gone skiing.
9. I lost my virginity the week before my 16th birthday. I never felt it was too young and I never regretted it.
10. I got married at 26 and do feel that was too young.
11. I'm divorced from the man I married at 26
12. I can't sing, at all and have always been jealous of people who can.
13. I have never felt that something being the norm was a good reason for me to do it.
14. I respond very unfavorably to guilt and/or manipulation - it is probably the best way to get me NOT to do whatever it is you want.
15. I am not even slightly religous. Not even on holidays.
16. I am not great about suspension of disbelief - therefore my favorite fiction is usually very realistic.
17. Other than knitting I'm not particularly good at making things (whether i'm good at knitting is a topic for another day ;)
18. I keep my friends forever
19. I'm also friends with many of my ex boyfriends
20. I take myself much less seriously than the tone of this list would suggest.

So..

2005-11-11T19:36:00.000-05:00

Could you please convince my friend R. that when I say
"I'm going to felt my bag now" that it doesn't mean anything dirty?

Sophie - in the wash...

Ugh, me so cranky

2005-11-09T13:03:00.000-05:00

Its been "a few of those days".

Everything I cast on for, ultimately got frogged due to one stupid mistake or another
Fuzzy feet in aubergine/orange ended up looking like stirrup pants and i hated how it was going so those got ripped..

Then I decided that I wanted to give them a shot in bulky for a gift, but spaced out at some point and have no idea how I got the number of stitches I got and didn't want to try and replicate them for the second one so ripped they went.

ThenI decided after doing Sophie, two fuzzy feet and kittypi in a row, that I was tired of doing large knit-stitch only jobs on big needles and wanted a change, so I cast on no fewer than 16 times for Branching out, each time having some problem with it that caused it to be frogged.
I blame the yarn - all of them, and think i need to go buy some ;)

I blame the Irish Hiking Scarf - I think it's feeling like it needs to be finished and will sabatoge all other efforts until I show it the respect it deserves.
So tongiht is IHS night.. I will slip into something more comfortable and spend a warm, fuzzy, cozy evening with take-out and the Irish Hiking scarf.

Everyone around me is cranky.
Work is being ,well, worklike.

Grumble Grumble Grumble -

Mohair Mohair everywhere...

2005-11-05T23:45:00.000-05:00

So the fuzzy feet were a huge hit. Everyone at work loved them, my friends loved them..and I'm really enjoying wearing them. I'll probably make a few as holiday gifts as they are quick and cost effective. This pair will stay at my boyfriends for when I'm here and I'm already knitting a second pair for home.

Been a busy couple of knitting days -

I completed the Sophie bag's knitting portion this afternoon and plan on felting it sometime between now and tuesday. I might wait until Fuzzyfeet2 are done. I have a lot of projects upcoming now that need to happen in a short time, including two things for my last secret pal package so I'm trying to economize on effort.

I progressed to 1/2way through the last ball of yarn on the Irish Hiking Scarf. Despite my high level of distractability these days (which has gotten me to knit a few quickie short term projects), I am really loving this pattern. It knits up beautifully and I will definitely knit this one again.

My second fuzzy feet pair are being done in Lambs Pride Worsted, a combo of "orange you glad" and "aubergine". I'd have never expected these two colors to go together but I'm kind of digging the combination. The yarn, however, I feel mixed about. It feels nice and soft, and knits up pretty but the mohair content, while only 15 percent, is kind of driving me nuts. Its like cat hair or fiberglass insulation in its ability to get EVERYWHERE. I've been plucking mohair out of my eyes, ears, nose, lipstick and coffee. My hope is that I get used to it because I otherwise really like the yarn.

In the midnight hour, she cried felt, felt felt

2005-11-04T01:42:00.000-05:00

So as not to dissapoint the reader who was checking back (and because I couldn't wait any more).. I braved the basement at midnight and felted my fuzzy feet

As usual I have had some trouble getting photo color right.

The Cascade Quatro felted very well though I had to stop before complete loss of stitch definition because they were getting too small. They are a tad snug but I don't care, I'm wearing em anyway. The stitch def. is mostly not visible to the naked eye, though the yarn's pattern sort of gives the illusion of it in places and i can see a little still where the stitches were picked up for the gusset, but I am overall very happy with the result

Please be advised that any nearly all the decor in these rooms was not chosen by me. (the books are mine tho)
(witness the white plastic brick in first shot, for an example ;)
One day i'll fill you all in on the great wallpaper nightmare that is my home. (Blame the prior owner)
I'd redecorate but I plan on moving.
ANYWAY...

Tomorrows post will be an ode to Lambs Pride, from whence the next pair of fuzzy feet shall spring ;)

Ok so I'm a coward.

2005-11-03T15:32:00.000-05:00

And I haven't felted my fuzzy feet yet.

Why? because I keep getting home late, and I can't stand going into my basement (Home of the Washer) after dark. Or at the very latest after 8-9pm.

And why is that?
Because everything bad that happens in a house shows up first in the basement.
Waterbugs
Leaks from higher floors
Sewer backups
Gas odors
etc.

And you don't want to discover any of those things when you should be preparing to go to bed. Since that means
a. waiting for said bug to find its way upstairs
b. ignoring a problem that could ruin your house
c. callin an after- hours repair person which is evil and expensive.

And so.. I don't go down there during the night.
Which means no felting yet.
Funny - I'd have thought the knitting part of the process would have taken longer than the felting part. Life is funny that way.

So in the interest of finding a less insane sounding reason why I haven't felted them yet, I've decided on "I"m now knitting a Sophie bag link here a. because its fun and b. so i can say "I'm holding off til i can felt everything at once ;)

Seriously -felting, tomorrow, no matter what

Two unfelted fuzzy feet

2005-11-02T01:35:00.000-05:00

To be felted tomorrow I hope.

One Unfelted Fuzzy Foot He Felt Smart

2005-11-01T17:15:00.000-05:00

Just a quick edit of this earlier post to add.. that I'm finally using the wordpress.com blog that Dani of YeaIknit so graciously invited me to. I decided to use it solely for my diet and exercise tracking (to keep me focused on my health), which I can't imagine anyone wants to read about, but in case you do, it can be found here and on the right. I

The above is my first foot, pre-felting, finished as of last night. The second is about 1/2 done.
The bottle of soda is included for scale, which vaguely reminds me of someone holding up today's paper to prove what date it is.

The picture was taken with my cellphone, which should explain the sickly hue, and terrible resolution. I'd have used the office digital camera, but that vamoosed about a year ago and has yet to be replaced. (If anyone want's to donate a digial camera to a nice non-profit organization, I promise it will be used to take work-related pictures instead of not-yet-fuzzy feet most of the time ;)

I hope to get these babies felted tonight.
They are a fast fun knit and I plan on doing a second pair shortly.. perhaps in something orangey.

Fuzzy Feet! and I got tagged :)

2005-10-30T18:09:00.000-05:00

I'm participating in my first ever Knit-a-long!
A fuzzy feet along!
Pattern Here
Knitalong Here
Original impetus here

My first pair (if i like knitting em I'm making a few gifts out of them)
will be in Cascade 220 (9432 quatro) which is an alluring combo of blues and greens.
This picture.. like the project is fuzzy.

I might cast on for them tonight, or I may get lost in "what my tivo recorded this weekend" depending on how i feel.

This brings my "active projects that I can remember offhand" to...

Fuzzy feet
my Irish Hiking scarf (which I will finish in the next few days!)
A long forgotten but soon to be revived silk garden Clapotis
a Ribbed hat in a rust colored "Extra"
a pair of delicious Koigu socks.
And an Ipod cozy for a coworker (which i really should have finished by now)
Bath mitts! Delicious wonderful Bath mitts .

My Secret pal gave me the Irish hiking scarf pattern and yarn, and the bath mitts patten and yarn and I must say again how much I enjoy her intiution on what I will enjoy knitting.
She's awesome!.

Oh yeah, one more thing
Saw Jon Stewart on Friday night in Stamfort CT.
He was GREAT! Very funny.
I can't help but be amused though, at the fact that I used to see him in comedy clubs in the late 80s for a 2 drink minimum, and now pay exorbitant sums to see him in a theater.
But he did put on a good show, and a long one at that, he gave us roughly 90-120 min :)

I got tagged by Pepperknit
so here goes

What is your all-time favorite yarn to knit with?
Whichever I knit with last ;) Seriously these days its Koigu KPPPM. Though I still love Karabella Aurora 8

2. Favorite needles?
Addi Turbos for everything but socks.

3. What's the worst thing you ever knit?
I have a few truly hideous scarves that I have hidden someplace

4. Favorite knit pattern?
Oy.. I’m still too new to answer this I think – but I’d probably be lost without a good sock pattern.

5. Most valuable knitting technique?

I’ll second Pepperknit’s vote for the felted join.

6. Best knit book or magazine?

I love Interweave Knits, and I learned a whole lot from the first Stitch ‘N Bitch book

7. Favorite knitalong?

My first real one - Fuzzy Feet! (I did a clapotis one but flaked on it

8. Favorite knitblogs?
So many! Yea I Knit
Domestic Overlord
Crazy Aunt Purl
The Crochet Dude
Me, Myself and I
Darbyrose
and everyone in my sidebar. Plus some more. Don't be offended if i forgot you, I just dashed off the first six (my lucky number) that I could think of.
A special mention for "The music of what happens". Not a knitblog per se but she taught me to knit
9. Favorite knitwear designer?

No idea really - I like a lot of things.

10. The knit item that you wear the most?

My black and pink Crystal Palace Iceland hat that I made over the weekend. It may be brand new but it’s kept me from having to turn my heat on yet!

A few pics

2005-10-28T00:23:00.000-04:00

First is another picture of my hat model (and hat) :) Isn't she cute?!

Next up is a pic of the delicious Koigu proto-sock - which is coming along nicely and just feels
delicious. Maybe I'll actually finish this one ;)

Last but certainly not least is is a pic of the stitch markers my wonderful hosts gave me when the bf and I were up visiting.

Back at work

2005-10-27T12:06:00.000-04:00

My vacation is over.
WAAAAAAAAAAAH.
Why is it that no matter how long you are off, it never seems like enough?

So for those of you who asked what I got yarn shopping - the answer is.. I can't say because it was for my Secret Pal and there is a minimal chance they might read it. Sorry. The store was very cool selection wise and I could have spent a lot of money there. Plus they had a great kitty!

Meanwhile, back in knit-land...

So I decided to knit this hat because I had some appropriate yarn laying around and wanted to do something simple, patternless and easy to finish. It took like no time at all and made me feel like a super hero. Thank you Crazy Aunt Purl for her easy roll-brim hat recipe!

While I was feeling all superheroific I decided to make another one for my friend's daughter, so I knocked this one out with some remaining yarn, changing the base color to purple and removing the second stripe to make it slightly shorter. Personally .. I think its cuter on her. :)

Koigu Koigu Koigu!
Its back to socks.. and the present project is on KPPPM in a beautiful multi
of browns, oranges, rusts etc.. I will try and get a proper picture of it when I am home and near my camera. There are no words for how much i enjoy knitting with this yarn, it's DREAMY.

Back to work.
feh

Home again, home again

2005-10-24T21:07:00.000-04:00

Went on a happy mini-vacation to visit friends of mine.
They have a lovely circa 1880 house, a beautiful 2 1/2 year old daughter, and 5 (count em 5) dogs at the moment.

The boyfriend and I had our own suite!
bedroom, living room, laptop, digital cable, wireless internet and very very comfy beds - all provided by our terrific hosts! Hell there was even free "on demand" stuff. Was a better deal than any hotel and I got to spend some time with friends.

I went to visit this yarn shop
which has quite a selection

Knitted a bunch (a few hats, some work on a scarf, a little sock work - pictures when i've had a chance to take em.)
Ate a bit
slept a lot
and generally had a very nice time.

And they gave me a gift!
a bunch of wonderful toys for my kitty and some beautiful handmade stitchmarkers from someone she knows locally who makes them!

Now its time for laundry.

Some web driven silliness

2005-10-18T11:53:00.000-04:00

Stolen from myriad other blogs.. but most recently Dani of YeaIKnit

Do a Google search for “[Your first name] needs” (with the quotes, without the [ ] )

Amy needs to either wake up or start getting some extra will-power (hell yeah)
Amy needs a new pair of shoes (sure why not!)
Amy needs to mend her ways and be more of a team player.
Amy needs a drug-dealer's testimony to free a teenager wrongfully accused of murder. (ARHGHGHG)
Amy needs a new pair of shoes. (Ok.. so two pair)
Amy needs a good topic for her film
Amy needs a flu shot (thanks for reminding me actually )
Amy Needs Help!!! (this came up so many times one has to wonder if its true)

Spent an excellent weekend with the my boyfriend (an extra day!!) who brought me home with all sorts of yummy Costco things so I think breakfast will come from that haul.

No time for much of anything today..
running errands and such.
Began a diet today and could use all the good will on that I can get.
I leave you with a picture of Desdemona test driving Bunny's kitty pi. (i think it needs a second felting round)
She looks awful cute in it but she knows its not for her. (its Bunny's and I want her to have it! :)
I'll make des one next in her colors.

A request for info...

2005-10-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

(special note to my Secret Pal! The felted soap looks like fun to make! thanks for the link!)
So.. figured I'd put this out there in case anyone had any ideas..

I will be in the area of Danbury CT for one day in the next week or so.. followed by a few days in Lakeville, CT (which is near the NY/CT/MA border...) and I'm looking for a yarn store or two to visit. I've read through the boards on a few forums, but I don't know CT well enough to tell whats near what.

If anyone has any suggestions for LYS excursions in those areas.. I'd greatly appreciate em.

Thanks!

Picture fest

2005-10-14T00:43:00.000-04:00

At long last... some pictures!!!

First of the secret pal box!
the pictures aren't great(as usual.. my hands move)..
But the gift was first rate! I couldn't be happier!

Group Shot one - .. many of the things but pic cuts off at the bottom

Group Shot 2 - a little blurry ..but still tons of visible goodness

Close up of the bath mitt.. So pretty!! and see those two yarnages above!!.. soon-to-be bath mitts just like this one!

My New Friends!!!

Close-ups of their faces!

Even Desdemona got a gift out of this!!!

Finally.. a pic of Kitty Pi Blocking. Not a secret pal gift per se but I used the wool-wash she gave me when I felted it!

A teaser

2005-10-13T17:02:00.000-04:00

Will run out and get batteries soon.. but..

in the meantime...

I felted Kitty Pi!!!!
one load thru the washer thats it.. its 16 inches dia. and has no stitch definition and i LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it :)
Its presently blocking on some old clothes and a buckwheat pillow.

Thank you all for all the suggestions! :)
pics soon.

Ack Ack Ack!

2005-10-13T03:18:00.000-04:00

A post - in two parts....

First.. and most importantly - My apologies to my wonderful upstream Secret Pal.
I forgot to bring batteries home for my camera (I really need to get rechargables).
I dont want to wait any longer to post this tho, so I'll post the descriptions now.. and I"ll post pictures tomorrow.
In the meantime I'll try to make up for the lack of visuals with links

First up we have the March/April Issue of Piecework magazine -- A lovely magazine chosen for a "Simple French Bath Mitts to Knit" project :)
An All-knitted-up and pretty version of said Bath Mitts.. It is Gorgeous! Beautiful! Seriously they are such a pretty idea for gifts, bathing etc.. I can think of a million uses for them. I can't wait to try the one she gave me! And the women in my office LOVED it and now all want me to make them some! so its a good thing she sent me....
Yarn to make bath mitts! Plymouth Fantasy Naturale in Pale Sage and a contrasting Tahki Linguine n a darker green for accents. I am very much looking forward to making this project.. which I just might do using....
FiberTrends Magic Loop Booklet!! I've been wanting to learn Magic Loop and its as if she read my mind!
Now once I have my bath mitts.. I'll need to bathe (no worries, I"ll bathe before that as well).. and I may just use the Aromatherapy Soap she sent me! Samish Bay aromatherapy soap - in 3 Trees.. a fragrant blend of fir needle, eucalyptus, cedarwood and lavender. My whole house smells like this delicious soap and It came stored in the bath mitt like a sachet :) I suspect this provides a clue to my SPs identity... because.. it appears locally made...
And speaking of locally made... A lovely booklet of recipes from Merritt Apple Farm (which shares the same locale).. may have been a clue as to location.. or it could be a Happy Jewish New Year gesture.. (apples being a big deal around now) but either way I can't wait to try the Curry Apple Rice!
Its a three-fer on the location confirmation.. She sent a ruler/ needle gauge (a good one.. sturdy lucite from Hellen's Needlework - also in the same county. I needed a decent one !
to keep me calm and to keep my palate comforted.. She sent Stress Mints (relax in a new york minute).. Homeopathic Stress losenges.. and some tasty sour apple bonbons.
While i'm bathing and being calm.. I can read the Batya Gur Mystery (Good call.. I've never read her!) she sent.
I can use the liquid gloves to mosturize my hands, and the wool and fiber washes to clean my handmade goods :)
She also sent me a couple of "friends" that can only be done justice by pictures :) So those I'll save til tomorrow.
Lastly.. another beautiful card.. :)

Thank you VERY much for such a special and thoughtful package. It made my week. Truly.
To open a box full of pretty things, put together with so much care and creativity made me feel very special! I sat there and went through all the thingsover.. and over and over..

Post - part 2..

It is monsoon season here in NY. Defined as, 1200 different varieties of rain throughout a two week period. Today it was spitting, misting, pulsing, pouring, drizzling and coming down in buckets, at varying intervals. In the 5 minutes or so where it wasn't actually raining. . the air seemed to be oozing moisture. Add that to the haunting "its not really cold yet but you can feel it could get there awful quick" sensation and it was a truly miserable day to be outside.

I made my small trip into the office ot deal with whatever needed to be dealt with and then went wandering around in the mess. Stopped into the LYS closest to work (I like them well enough but they seem unusually pricey even for NYC, and can be a little distant to deal with, plus it's crowded as hell)... then followed it with some knitting in public in Starbucks. I got one of the two good cushy chairs .. right by the window and got to sit, knit and watch wet people trudge thru rush hour traffic - It was bliss :) People have mixed feelings about Knitting in public but I like it (and I don't count the subway, the subway is public in a very private way). Maybe one day I'll actually get up the nerve to go to one of the many knitting groups that meet around the city :) I'm not shy in most social situations, but for some reason that one intimidates me a bit.

Anyway.. time to sleep.
Forgive this post for its lack of coherence, I'm probably too exhausted to make much sense.

Vacation.. what vacation..

2005-10-12T01:22:00.000-04:00

I have a WONDERFUL Secret pal, who sent me a fantastic package today!!! And I need to throw batteries in my camera and take pics of the fabulous loot :) And she will get her own post, probably first thing tomorrow morning when my brain returns. She was wonderful, thoughtful and sent me a gift that brightened my day immeasurably. I'm just too cranky tonight to do this amazing package justice and I want to show the proper appreciation. So tomorrow it shall be.

Todays post, however, begins with whining -

So ostensibly my vacation starts tomorrow (Wednesday)
One would think this means that I wouldn't have to go to work wouldn't it?
But nooooooooooooooooooo

In addition to the traditional "night before a vacation work till midnight to get everything done" festival - I have to go in tomorrow because we're having electrical work done and I have to make sure all the equipment doesnt' fry out and such when the power is downed and upped.
Feh.
Maybe i'll turn this into a reason to visit a yarn store tomorrow.
And the gym
because if I keep gaining weight like this I'm going to set some sort of record.
To be fair, noone said I HAD to go in.
But trust me, its easier if I do.
I feel protective of my machines.

Ahem.
and now for the good news.
Im off till the 27th after i finally get started on vacation.
And thats real good news.

Kitty pi will probably be felted during that time ;)
but here is a lovely unfelted pic

And I put it on the floor to take a pic of it unfelted , turned around to pick up the camera and turned back and ....

Thats the BFs kitty.. (for whom I made the bed) and somehow she knew it was hers!! I'm very happy and hope to give her the finished, felted, blocked version this coming weekend :)

My kitty not to be outdone, is asleep in my bra. I'll spare you the picture.

Tune in tomorrow for pictures of my Secret Pal package (it is AWESOME!)