Thursday, April 28, 2005

loopy

a couple of people have asked about the loop-d-loop book so i thought i would post a few pics of some of my favorite projects.

DSC01929 DSC01934

DSC01933 DSC01932

DSC01931 DSC01930

i am sorry i am too tired to write much about them but trust me, they're great. and these pictures really aren't the best but you get the idea. i really like how she a lot of her patterns are constructed in the round with minimal seaming. the only thing that seemed odd was the sizing. now on some of the patterns it looked pretty normal but on others, it was way small. like bottom right top (with the high collar thing), the size large is a 34" bust. um, let me just say that you would not be able to get my rib cage into a 34" top, and that's not including the boys. well i might try and see if i can't fiddle with the math.

and i am still working on the ribbed top. just finished the armhole shaping and working up to the shoulders, which look like they don't require any shaping at all. i think i might try the three needle bind off on them. and clapotis is no more for the moment. i made a mistake early on that was too big to repair so i ripped the whole thing out. sigh.

i probably won't be posting until next week, as i am heading out to the desert for the coachella music festival this weekend. wish i could bring some knitting to do in the long, traffic filled car ride but i will probably be the one driving. and please, i do not knit when i drive. i've heard of people doing it but it sounds awfully treacherous to me. so i am off for sun, music, and porta potties (ew). i hope i survive this year!

Tuesday, April 26, 2005

can't keep my eyes open

for some reason, i am having the hardest time staying awake tonight. i feel like someone slipped something in my food or something. i will try my best not to fall over onto my keyboard mid-post. wake me up if i do. if you could not tell from my last post, i didn't spend last weekend in la. it was mini break time and i went down to san diego with my roommate and our dear friend sheena, who is visiting from scotland. we actually all went to uc san diego together (sheena only for a year) and figured that a trip was in order since sheena was coming down. we got this great little hotel over in ocean beach, right on the water. that picture from the last post was the view from our window. i love love love san diego and only hope that i can live there again someday. we even took our own tour of campus again and so much has changed! lots of new buildings and parking structures popping up and it's just insane. but it felt so nice to be back and feel like we were home again.

DSC01905
there's adrienne and sheena in front of geisel library, one of the best libraries out there,named after ted geisel (aka dr. seuss)

DSC01904
there's me and my roomie enjoying a refreshing drink at the spot in downtown la jolla

DSC01903
bonfire at la jolla shores, mmm love me some s'mores

and shout out to the playmor posse, who couldn't be there this weekend. the posse rules! now it's tuesday and i can barely stay awake. i really should do some knitting but i don't know if i can stay conscious long enough. i did a bit of car knitting on the way down to sd on sat but not really much. i have been working on the ribbed sweater from the laines du nord book out of some brown sheep lp worsted. i love working with this yarn. i don't know why but i just love the way it feels and knits up. here's a bit of the back:

DSC01917

ooh ooh and look what i picked up at barnes and noble yesterday.

DSC01913

yeah- it's teva durham's new book, and it's very interesting. lots of cool patterns and interesting tidbits. i haven't actually had time to look at the new interweave knits yet but i saw the preview online awhile ago and it looked really good. what was that? stop buying knitting books and get knitting? oh but pattern books are so fun. hopefully more progress pics to show the next time around!

Sunday, April 24, 2005

Thursday, April 21, 2005

toxic fumes

i am dying my hair right now. my roomie sorta talked me into it and now i gotta sit around and wait with a head full of really bad smelling stuff in my hair. dying my hair doesn't usually do much though, since it's so dark. but maybe we'll be able to see it in the light or something.

well tomorrow ends yet another week. my company is having their annual bowling party tomorrow afternoon and apparently it's mandatory. mandatory fun or something like that. and there's an open bar and everything. i just really can't imagine what these drunk, bowling, semi-strangers might to do me but it looks like i have to go. well it will be interesting at least. if you can't tell, i am not a huge fan of large gethering that require "mingling" and/or "networking." i shudder even saying that last bit. but i am sure it's gonna be amusing. did i say how cool my new job is yet?

stash alert- i got my elann order on wednesday. they really mean 3 day mail when they say that. the schoeller stahl merino stretch is very nice and squishy. i think it will be interesting to see how it knits up and whether or not i can keep my tension.

merino2

sadly this is just going to go in a long line of projects i want to make. why is it so easy to start things but not to finish them? well, i'll be in san diego this weekend when my friend from scotland visits. it's going to be so fun. i can't wait to sit on the beach knitting and reading. pray for good weather for me!

Sunday, April 17, 2005

dammit

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - i had this nice, pretty post written up and blogger freakin' ate it! oh blogger, how i loathe thee. well let me see if i can try and re-create the magic now.

look what i made this weekend:
choco
team chocolate strawberries go!

mmmm so yummy. my poor roommate only managed to get a couple of them, though, before the mob descended. don't worry, adrienne, i'll make you more! so we had a wee bbq at my friend's house in burbank and the weather was so lovely. it's getting quite warm here in southern california. i wore some really old shorts to tan my white legs and even put my feet in the water (mine are on the right - i should paint my toenails).

feet

cheers
you can see that vanessa wants to kill my cause i keep taking pictures

it was such a fun little party and we ate and watched dvds until midnight. we watched shaun of the dead (brilliant!), die hard (loooove this movie), soap dish (kevin kline was awesome) and about half of waiting for guffman (one of our faves). and you'd think with all that tv watching, i would have gotten a ton of knitting done. but i really didn't feel like it so i no knitting during the movie. but i did pick these up during the week at unwind:

lainesbook

the laines du nord book has a lot of really simple designs and i really want to make these two.

laines

it's all about the zip cardi lately. maybe i even have something in the stash for it. i am still plugging away on cyd. the intarsia is actually flying along, but the tangle factor keeps me from doing a lot at a time. i can only do a few rows before i have to untangle and then i need to take a break after i untangle. so one of these days i am going to finish. and tomorrow is monday and it feels to strange not to just dread going to work. i mean it's not like a party but i used to just feel so depressed about going. now it's sort of an adventue with new things popping up everyday. :)

Friday, April 15, 2005

blog this book

here comes this month's edition of blog this book!

vanityfair
vanity fair by william makepeace thackeray - do yourself a favor and read this instead of seeing the movie. intrigue, war, and social backstabbing at its finest.

lovelybones
the lovely bones by alice sebold - this is a very good book told from the point of view of a little girl who dies. after her death she observes those she left behind and the impact her death has on them. the writing style isn't the best but the story makes up for it.

trainspotting
trainspotting by irvine welsh - i am sad to say that i never finished this, but i really liked the movie.

if you have a book to trade, leave a comment with what you're interested in and what you have to trade. phew- i just spent the evening hanging out with some girlfriends eating zankous chicken and then hanging out at a coffee shop for hours. it was so much fun! tomorrow we're bbq'ing by the pool and getting drunk (well i'm not but you know what i mean). we're gonna eat and knit and watch cheesy movies. i love the weekend.

Thursday, April 14, 2005

pizza night

my roommate brought home papa john's pizza tonight. she's so nice and got half of it with stuff that i like (veggies) and half with stuff that she likes (meat). i love their garlic lard (my name) sauce for dipping. so good and so bad for you. but we had a nice dinner eating pizza and watching that new tim daly show, eyes. it's pretty good so far and my friend vanessa looooooves it. so perhaps we will record it regularly from now on, not that we don't have enough stuff to watch anyway.

i got my first paycheck today, too. i don't have direct deposit yet so i have to go to the atm to get some funds put in, but a paycheck is still a paycheck. i think i might be bad and buy some yarn with it. i really dig this sweater on elann, made with schoeller stahl strech merino. i bet it will be totally unflattering on me but i really want to make it. i think i am going to get the light gray color. i thought about black or olive but they're so dark and i have so many dark clothes. i love the color that the model is wearing but know i would never wear it. white and cream make me look like giant marshmallow. not attractive. and i have been hiding something from you. yes, i started a new project. i know i know, i have so many other things on the needles already and no time to knit, but what could i do? i blame the yarn.

DSC01794

yup, it's a clapper. they're popping up all over the place and for good reason. i love the idea of dropped stitches and variegated yarn. i am using a luscious alpaca yarn that sp2 sent me from japan. the color is kind of bad in the pic but it's a blend of dark plums and burgundies. it's really lovely yarn. and the pattern is fun and easy so far. the alpaca is very light but i can tell it's gonna be warm. i would love to make this in a brighter colorway next time, but this one will be nice. can't wait to start dropping those stitches!

i apologize for the crappy pics lately but i am way too lazy to take them in the morning. will try to get some decent ones this weekend, i promise.

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

lucky

wow two posts this week! i just finished watching 3 back to back episodes of lost and it's so GOOD. i have only last week's to watch and i hear that it is a doozy. my roomie and i plan on watching it together this week.

today was a co-worker's birthday and we went out to lunch in my office. we also had a super pink ice cream cake later in the afternoon and it just feels so nice to work at a place where they like to make a bit of a deal on someone's birthday. it just feels friendlier, you know? at least i get to look forward to free cake next year. wooo.

i don't have any good progress pics to show you so i will show you some yarn i stole from my mom the last time i was at home. she has no time to knit anymore so i figured i would take it off of her hands for her. what a nice kid i am.

mom

the stuff on the left is grignasco arabesco, a sort of semi-felted boulce yarn. and the stuff on the right is really nice. it's filatura di crosa tweedy cashmere. and it actually is 30% cashmere - mmmmmm. if anyone has any ideas of what to make, let me know. progress continues on my vintage velvet scarf and cyd. i am just itching to start some new things but i have been good at controlling myself lately. need to finish stuff before starting new things. that will be my new mantra. i don't really like cotton all the much but i find myself dying to make a cotton-y summer sweater. anyone know of some nice, not so dry cotton?

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

singing in the rain

ugh- i am not feeling too hot at the moment. i think i have been fighting a cold for the last few days or so and it's coming back a bit. i thought it was allergies at first but i think i was mistaken. so now i am downing icky zinc tablets and oj in the hopes of warding off the illness. blah.

however the weather was lovely this weekend. you can definitely tell that spring is coming on fast. i went on a little picnic with my friends in griffith park on saturday. we almost went on the merry go round but thought we'd be kind to the little kids and stayed away. here are my friends posing for me. yeah they hate that i take out the camera everywhere i go, but hey, it was a beatiful day and i had to document.

DSC01774

and what did i get in the mail on saturday but the best raok ever!

puglove

by now i guess all know of my obsession with the pug and lynn sent me this great book. now i can look at pugs all day long. go over to lynn's yarn page and order some yarn from her. she custom dyes bartlett yarns in absolutely incredible colorways. and you can get them custom colored, too! i am just waiting for some money (and stash busting) before i order mine. thanks, lynn!

and i have been knitting on cyd a bit. i seem to be doing ok with the intarsia bits, even if the yarn is getting very tangly. i have no idea how people to pieces with lots of colors without becoming one big yarn mess but i admire them. i untangle every few rows and that seems to keep them in order. here's a look at the front:

cyd1

and the back:

cyd2

ooh and go get the new garbage album today. i saw them play last night at the wiltern and they are still awesome! oh shirley manson, how i love thee. i just realized i have not updated the sidebars in a long time. maybe i will do that now. hope you're all happy and healthy!

Thursday, April 28, 2005

loopy

a couple of people have asked about the loop-d-loop book so i thought i would post a few pics of some of my favorite projects.

DSC01929 DSC01934

DSC01933 DSC01932

DSC01931 DSC01930

i am sorry i am too tired to write much about them but trust me, they're great. and these pictures really aren't the best but you get the idea. i really like how she a lot of her patterns are constructed in the round with minimal seaming. the only thing that seemed odd was the sizing. now on some of the patterns it looked pretty normal but on others, it was way small. like bottom right top (with the high collar thing), the size large is a 34" bust. um, let me just say that you would not be able to get my rib cage into a 34" top, and that's not including the boys. well i might try and see if i can't fiddle with the math.

and i am still working on the ribbed top. just finished the armhole shaping and working up to the shoulders, which look like they don't require any shaping at all. i think i might try the three needle bind off on them. and clapotis is no more for the moment. i made a mistake early on that was too big to repair so i ripped the whole thing out. sigh.

i probably won't be posting until next week, as i am heading out to the desert for the coachella music festival this weekend. wish i could bring some knitting to do in the long, traffic filled car ride but i will probably be the one driving. and please, i do not knit when i drive. i've heard of people doing it but it sounds awfully treacherous to me. so i am off for sun, music, and porta potties (ew). i hope i survive this year!
Read More


Tuesday, April 26, 2005

can't keep my eyes open

for some reason, i am having the hardest time staying awake tonight. i feel like someone slipped something in my food or something. i will try my best not to fall over onto my keyboard mid-post. wake me up if i do. if you could not tell from my last post, i didn't spend last weekend in la. it was mini break time and i went down to san diego with my roommate and our dear friend sheena, who is visiting from scotland. we actually all went to uc san diego together (sheena only for a year) and figured that a trip was in order since sheena was coming down. we got this great little hotel over in ocean beach, right on the water. that picture from the last post was the view from our window. i love love love san diego and only hope that i can live there again someday. we even took our own tour of campus again and so much has changed! lots of new buildings and parking structures popping up and it's just insane. but it felt so nice to be back and feel like we were home again.

DSC01905
there's adrienne and sheena in front of geisel library, one of the best libraries out there,named after ted geisel (aka dr. seuss)

DSC01904
there's me and my roomie enjoying a refreshing drink at the spot in downtown la jolla

DSC01903
bonfire at la jolla shores, mmm love me some s'mores

and shout out to the playmor posse, who couldn't be there this weekend. the posse rules! now it's tuesday and i can barely stay awake. i really should do some knitting but i don't know if i can stay conscious long enough. i did a bit of car knitting on the way down to sd on sat but not really much. i have been working on the ribbed sweater from the laines du nord book out of some brown sheep lp worsted. i love working with this yarn. i don't know why but i just love the way it feels and knits up. here's a bit of the back:

DSC01917

ooh ooh and look what i picked up at barnes and noble yesterday.

DSC01913

yeah- it's teva durham's new book, and it's very interesting. lots of cool patterns and interesting tidbits. i haven't actually had time to look at the new interweave knits yet but i saw the preview online awhile ago and it looked really good. what was that? stop buying knitting books and get knitting? oh but pattern books are so fun. hopefully more progress pics to show the next time around!
Read More


Sunday, April 24, 2005

wish you were here

DSC01906
Read More


Thursday, April 21, 2005

toxic fumes

i am dying my hair right now. my roomie sorta talked me into it and now i gotta sit around and wait with a head full of really bad smelling stuff in my hair. dying my hair doesn't usually do much though, since it's so dark. but maybe we'll be able to see it in the light or something.

well tomorrow ends yet another week. my company is having their annual bowling party tomorrow afternoon and apparently it's mandatory. mandatory fun or something like that. and there's an open bar and everything. i just really can't imagine what these drunk, bowling, semi-strangers might to do me but it looks like i have to go. well it will be interesting at least. if you can't tell, i am not a huge fan of large gethering that require "mingling" and/or "networking." i shudder even saying that last bit. but i am sure it's gonna be amusing. did i say how cool my new job is yet?

stash alert- i got my elann order on wednesday. they really mean 3 day mail when they say that. the schoeller stahl merino stretch is very nice and squishy. i think it will be interesting to see how it knits up and whether or not i can keep my tension.

merino2

sadly this is just going to go in a long line of projects i want to make. why is it so easy to start things but not to finish them? well, i'll be in san diego this weekend when my friend from scotland visits. it's going to be so fun. i can't wait to sit on the beach knitting and reading. pray for good weather for me!
Read More


Sunday, April 17, 2005

dammit

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - i had this nice, pretty post written up and blogger freakin' ate it! oh blogger, how i loathe thee. well let me see if i can try and re-create the magic now.

look what i made this weekend:
choco
team chocolate strawberries go!

mmmm so yummy. my poor roommate only managed to get a couple of them, though, before the mob descended. don't worry, adrienne, i'll make you more! so we had a wee bbq at my friend's house in burbank and the weather was so lovely. it's getting quite warm here in southern california. i wore some really old shorts to tan my white legs and even put my feet in the water (mine are on the right - i should paint my toenails).

feet

cheers
you can see that vanessa wants to kill my cause i keep taking pictures

it was such a fun little party and we ate and watched dvds until midnight. we watched shaun of the dead (brilliant!), die hard (loooove this movie), soap dish (kevin kline was awesome) and about half of waiting for guffman (one of our faves). and you'd think with all that tv watching, i would have gotten a ton of knitting done. but i really didn't feel like it so i no knitting during the movie. but i did pick these up during the week at unwind:

lainesbook

the laines du nord book has a lot of really simple designs and i really want to make these two.

laines

it's all about the zip cardi lately. maybe i even have something in the stash for it. i am still plugging away on cyd. the intarsia is actually flying along, but the tangle factor keeps me from doing a lot at a time. i can only do a few rows before i have to untangle and then i need to take a break after i untangle. so one of these days i am going to finish. and tomorrow is monday and it feels to strange not to just dread going to work. i mean it's not like a party but i used to just feel so depressed about going. now it's sort of an adventue with new things popping up everyday. :)
Read More


Friday, April 15, 2005

blog this book

here comes this month's edition of blog this book!

vanityfair
vanity fair by william makepeace thackeray - do yourself a favor and read this instead of seeing the movie. intrigue, war, and social backstabbing at its finest.

lovelybones
the lovely bones by alice sebold - this is a very good book told from the point of view of a little girl who dies. after her death she observes those she left behind and the impact her death has on them. the writing style isn't the best but the story makes up for it.

trainspotting
trainspotting by irvine welsh - i am sad to say that i never finished this, but i really liked the movie.

if you have a book to trade, leave a comment with what you're interested in and what you have to trade. phew- i just spent the evening hanging out with some girlfriends eating zankous chicken and then hanging out at a coffee shop for hours. it was so much fun! tomorrow we're bbq'ing by the pool and getting drunk (well i'm not but you know what i mean). we're gonna eat and knit and watch cheesy movies. i love the weekend.
Read More


Thursday, April 14, 2005

pizza night

my roommate brought home papa john's pizza tonight. she's so nice and got half of it with stuff that i like (veggies) and half with stuff that she likes (meat). i love their garlic lard (my name) sauce for dipping. so good and so bad for you. but we had a nice dinner eating pizza and watching that new tim daly show, eyes. it's pretty good so far and my friend vanessa looooooves it. so perhaps we will record it regularly from now on, not that we don't have enough stuff to watch anyway.

i got my first paycheck today, too. i don't have direct deposit yet so i have to go to the atm to get some funds put in, but a paycheck is still a paycheck. i think i might be bad and buy some yarn with it. i really dig this sweater on elann, made with schoeller stahl strech merino. i bet it will be totally unflattering on me but i really want to make it. i think i am going to get the light gray color. i thought about black or olive but they're so dark and i have so many dark clothes. i love the color that the model is wearing but know i would never wear it. white and cream make me look like giant marshmallow. not attractive. and i have been hiding something from you. yes, i started a new project. i know i know, i have so many other things on the needles already and no time to knit, but what could i do? i blame the yarn.

DSC01794

yup, it's a clapper. they're popping up all over the place and for good reason. i love the idea of dropped stitches and variegated yarn. i am using a luscious alpaca yarn that sp2 sent me from japan. the color is kind of bad in the pic but it's a blend of dark plums and burgundies. it's really lovely yarn. and the pattern is fun and easy so far. the alpaca is very light but i can tell it's gonna be warm. i would love to make this in a brighter colorway next time, but this one will be nice. can't wait to start dropping those stitches!

i apologize for the crappy pics lately but i am way too lazy to take them in the morning. will try to get some decent ones this weekend, i promise.
Read More


Wednesday, April 13, 2005

lucky

wow two posts this week! i just finished watching 3 back to back episodes of lost and it's so GOOD. i have only last week's to watch and i hear that it is a doozy. my roomie and i plan on watching it together this week.

today was a co-worker's birthday and we went out to lunch in my office. we also had a super pink ice cream cake later in the afternoon and it just feels so nice to work at a place where they like to make a bit of a deal on someone's birthday. it just feels friendlier, you know? at least i get to look forward to free cake next year. wooo.

i don't have any good progress pics to show you so i will show you some yarn i stole from my mom the last time i was at home. she has no time to knit anymore so i figured i would take it off of her hands for her. what a nice kid i am.

mom

the stuff on the left is grignasco arabesco, a sort of semi-felted boulce yarn. and the stuff on the right is really nice. it's filatura di crosa tweedy cashmere. and it actually is 30% cashmere - mmmmmm. if anyone has any ideas of what to make, let me know. progress continues on my vintage velvet scarf and cyd. i am just itching to start some new things but i have been good at controlling myself lately. need to finish stuff before starting new things. that will be my new mantra. i don't really like cotton all the much but i find myself dying to make a cotton-y summer sweater. anyone know of some nice, not so dry cotton?
Read More


Tuesday, April 12, 2005

singing in the rain

ugh- i am not feeling too hot at the moment. i think i have been fighting a cold for the last few days or so and it's coming back a bit. i thought it was allergies at first but i think i was mistaken. so now i am downing icky zinc tablets and oj in the hopes of warding off the illness. blah.

however the weather was lovely this weekend. you can definitely tell that spring is coming on fast. i went on a little picnic with my friends in griffith park on saturday. we almost went on the merry go round but thought we'd be kind to the little kids and stayed away. here are my friends posing for me. yeah they hate that i take out the camera everywhere i go, but hey, it was a beatiful day and i had to document.

DSC01774

and what did i get in the mail on saturday but the best raok ever!

puglove

by now i guess all know of my obsession with the pug and lynn sent me this great book. now i can look at pugs all day long. go over to lynn's yarn page and order some yarn from her. she custom dyes bartlett yarns in absolutely incredible colorways. and you can get them custom colored, too! i am just waiting for some money (and stash busting) before i order mine. thanks, lynn!

and i have been knitting on cyd a bit. i seem to be doing ok with the intarsia bits, even if the yarn is getting very tangly. i have no idea how people to pieces with lots of colors without becoming one big yarn mess but i admire them. i untangle every few rows and that seems to keep them in order. here's a look at the front:

cyd1

and the back:

cyd2

ooh and go get the new garbage album today. i saw them play last night at the wiltern and they are still awesome! oh shirley manson, how i love thee. i just realized i have not updated the sidebars in a long time. maybe i will do that now. hope you're all happy and healthy!
Read More