I'm sold.

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?

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?

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

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 :)

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

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

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!

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

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

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...

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!

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

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

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..

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

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:

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

4 Movies You Could Watch Over & Over:

1. Network
2. Better off Dead
   
3. Blazing Saddles
4. Fiddler on the Roof

4 Places You Have Lived:

1. Brooklyn, NY
   
2. Staten Island, NY
   
3. New York, NY
   
4. Brooklyn, NY (again)
   

4 TV Shows You Love to Watch:

1. West Wing
   
2. Gilmore Girls
   
3. ER
4. Mary Tyler Moore Show
   

4 Places You Have Been on Vacation:

1. Puerto Rico
   
2. Bahamas
3. New Orleans
   
4. California

4 of Your Favourite Foods:

1. Sushi
2. Mexican
3. Thai
4. 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!

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

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!

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.

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!
:)