i officially hate shopping

i spent over 5 hours at the mall today getting the rest of my christmas shopping done. i started at 9am and by the time i was done, the mall was filled to capacity. i was carrying so many packaged that i had rope burn from my macy's bag. i couldn't wait to get out of there. the good news is that i got most of the people left on my list done. bad news is i can't pay for the elecricity bill this month. j/k i did get to sneak in a showing of happy feet, though, and it was very cute. well i am off to wrap some presents now while listening to the rain fall. happy weekend!

we had craaazzzy weather here in southern california today. the second day of december and it's 80 degrees outside! it was colder during the week but i guess it just didn't want to stay that way. i finally took a picture of my first pair of socks.



these are the socks that i made from the sweetgeorgia speed demon yarn in angel colourway purchased from pickupsticks. the pattern is sell your sole, designed for this awesome yarn. no real pattern changes except that i had to use a 2 needle to get gauge. i love my new socks and am eager to start a new pair.

i was lucky enough to go to a screening of the new film 300 this week. it was so freakin' awesome. visually stunning and well written, i just loved it. i don't want to give too much away but i am definitely going to see it again once it hits theaters early next year. there's still time to read the frank miller story on which it's based before the film comes out. both are definitely worth your time.

gotta run. i am off to meet a friend for a sneak screening of the holiday. happy weekend!

turkeys ate my homework

winter is definitely in the air, even in southern california. i have a very nice long weekend up in northern california with the fam, where the food was awesome and the weather was fabulous. it was really bright and sunny but cold at the same time. i really miss rain and cold weather living in la, so it's nice to go home and get a bit of the seasonal change. this weekend i also did something that i normally never do - i woke up really early and went shopping the day after thanksgiving. what sale could possibly drag me out of bed at 5am? a yarn sale, of course! i remembered reading that a new yarn store was opening up in sunnyvale, very close to where my parents live. i popped over to the website, and it turned out that the store was having a pajama jammy jam sale starting at 6am on friday. if you got there from 6-7am, the discount was 30% and 25% from 7-8am, and so on. well i wanted the best deal so i made my mom wake me up in the morning and we scraped the frost off of my windshield to make it to the sale. once there, we were given a pink post it. each color represented the discount that you got. and boy, are knitters ever crazy for a good sale because we only got there a bit after 6am and there were already at least 10-15 people in the store. they had a really nice selection or rowan, a whole huge section of every color of cascade 220, tons of awesome sock yarns like claudia handpaints, lorna's laces, artyarns and socks that rock (not much selection left), and had some nice cozy chairs to hang out in. i actually bought way more than i normally do in one yarn outing, but the yarn was so beautiful and the discount was too good. here are some goodies (taken with my mom's plants cause they're so pretty).



i got 11 balls of rowan tapestry in whirlpool to make sorrell from rowan 40.



2 skeins of claudia handpainted yarn in freesia for some socks. i love this color. it just makes me smile.



2 skeins of artyarns supermerino in 132 for more socks.



i also got this awesome wool/mohair blend from chasing rainbows dyeworks in coral reef maybe for something like a scarf. the blues and browns and oranges are just awesome in this. also purchased but not photographed is one skein of cashmere laceweight in plum from the yarn place (another local shop). yarn place yarns were really gorgeous, too, and they had some fun laceweights that i'll have to pick up on my next trip home. i also got one skein of malabrigo in a bright blue called tuareg, 2 skeins of opal gems fingering yarn in red, two skeins of burgundy cascade 220 superwash to make mom something and the latest issue of knitscene. writing it out makes me amazed at how much i bought. well hopefully i will be finishing some things soon and will be able to start some new projects.

i also managed to see casino royale and deja vu this weekend. i liked casino royale. it was much more of a throwback to the classic james bond flicks than the most recent ones. i admit i was a little doubtful about daniel craig as bond. i think he's a fine actor but i never thought of him as bond material. but i must say that i think he pulled it off very well. he was charming but not smarmy but he had a little attitude. there was enough action to make it exciting but not just one action sequence after another. eva green is a very good actruess and is also extremely beautiful. mads mikkelson is a memorable villain and i know a lot of guys who wouldn't want to mess with him after a certain scene. the sappy bits were a bit hard to take but overall i thought it was well done. i feel bad for pierce brosnan because i think he got some really crappy scripts when he was bond. the other film, deja vu, while not really striking out into any new territory for tony scott or movies about time travel, was also enjoyable with solid performances by all, including a pretty creepy jim caviezel and very good adam goldberg as a nerdy tech guy. i still want to see for your consideration and happy feet. so little time...

gobble gobble

i really thought i was going to be good and post more often but it seems like i am back on my old schedule of posting sporadically. well it does seem that november has really flown by and i really can't believe that thanksgiving is tomorrow. work was kind enough to give me a half day today and it feels so strange to be playing hooky. my family lives up in northern california but i never drive up on wednesday because traffic is so horrible. hardly anyone is on the road on thanksgiving day so that's when i usually make the drive up. i haven't had too much time to knit in the past few weeks. i have gotten some charity knitting done but not much else. i really have to start my holiday knitting, too. i don't really have much holiday knitting planned, as i feel that a lot of my friends and family won't really appreciate and use something that knit. sad, i know, but i am determined not to give any more gift knits unless i know that they will be appreciated and loved. so not much to show on the needles but i did finish my first real sock.



this is the sell your sole sock done in sweetgeorgia speed demon yarn in the angel colourway. i love love this yarn and sweetgeorgia has so many awesome colors. i just want every single one of them to fondle and cuddle. here is a bad shot of it on my foot:



i'll leave you with a shot of my leg here. hope everyone has a safe and happy thanksgiving!

hump day socks

as promised here are some progress pics on my angel socks.



i've turned the heel and am cruising along on the foot. the heel was a lot less scary than i thought it would be and i am really excited to finish it. here is a closeup of the heel:



i guess this is a dutch heel and, while i don't think it's going to be my favorite (feels a bit bulky), it looks pretty good and i think it will be a very cushy sock. i just can't get over how much i love this yarn. the only bad thing so far is that on the instep (not shown in the pic), the colors have started to pool and i'm not getting the cool stripey effect i had on the cuff. but i can live with it and i think it's going to be a really awesome sock anyway. hopefully i'll have a finished sock next time. :)

BOO

happy halloween, everyone! halloween is probably my favorite holiday (though christmas is pretty close). i just love the costumes and candy and the air turning cooler, despite the anxiety that grips me every time i need to get a costume. this past weekend a friend and i threw a little halloween shindig and i ended up wearing all of my roommate's clothes to make myself into a gypsy. it went over well and we had some really fun costumes like an aviator, a rice cooker, roman gods and a member of star trek. i wish i had a finished angel sock to show you but i haven't had time to knit anything in the past few days. but i hope to finish the first sock soon (once i figure out how to tacked grafting the toe) but i am definitely excited to finish my first real sock. well i am off to see if there are any scary movies on tv and knit my angel sock. happy halloween!

angels and demons

i've been itching to knit a pair of socks lately. maybe because socktoberfest is all over the internet or maybe because i finally noticed that i have a large sock yarn stash for someone who's never actually made a sock. then i found out that pick up sticks was carrying sweetgeorgia yarns and i just had to get some.


look ma, i'm swatching!

this is the speed demon sock yarn in the angel colourway. yes, angel after the character in buffy. how halloween appropriate is that? this yarn is super soft and smooshy and i love it. i am done with swatching now and have started my first sock using the free sell your sole sock pattern made especially for this yarn. let me tell you that i am loving the yarn and watching the colors change as i knit. and of course i couldn't buy just one thing (that would be a waste of shipping). i also got this:


superwash sock yarn in firefly (can you tell i am on a sci-fi kick?)

this is a fingering weight yarn and is also super yummy. there are so many great colourways for this yarn and i can't wait to finish my socks so i can buy more. and i am still looking for a halloween costume. i am trying not to stress out about it but it's not good to show up to our own party without a costume. i have to get back to my sock now so hope everyone has a good night.

ooky

i can't believe it's the end of the week already. man, time just flies. i am so happy it's the weekend again. i have opted for staying in tonight as i think i might be fighting off a cold or something. i really do not want to get sick. last night i conked out after staying at work late. i didn't even watch the office, which always puts me in a better mood. well, with the magic of tivo, i can watch it tonight instead. there's been minimal knitting going on due to pure exhaustion but i do have pics of the finished stripey hat.



this hat made from knitty's half dome pattern. i made the medium size but this hat came out way too big. i don't think my gauge was way off but for some reason this thing is huge. so it's not going to my friend and will be donated to my charity knitting group. i hope there are some orphanage kids with big heads. i do like the colors a lot, though (patons classic wool in brown and teal) and will be making a smaller hat for my friend. another reason i wanted to try this pattern was because it had raglan decreases instead of the usual spirals. it's pretty cool looking.



that's all i have to show you. i am going to a musical called sweet charity tomorrow afternoon with some friends. molly ringwald's in it. i've never been a huge ringwald girl (somehow i missed the brat pack obsession that all my friends have) but my friends talked me into it. it actually got bad reviews but it couldn't be worse than the little women musical we saw. man was that bad. and my mission this weekend is to find a halloween costume. i really have no idea what to be and halloween's practically here. i am even co-hosting a halloween party so i really need to find something soon.

i finally got to see the departed last weekend. i'd seen the original it's based on (a chinese film called infernal affairs-i just realized after all this time that it's inFernal affairs and not inTernal affairs.) anyways, i wasn't super excited about seeing it since i already knew the plot, but i went and saw it and i must say that i enjoyed it a lot. the story is pretty similar to the original, except for a few twists, and i thought that the performances of all the actors was really solid. that's all for tonight. i was bad this week and bought some yarn online so i'll have some yarn to show soon. have a fantastic weekend!

raindrops falling on my head

looks like it's going to be another lazy weekend for me. this week at work was super busy and all i want to do is sleep. it doesn't help that it's been kind of gloomy outside this week and it actually rained last night. unfortunately my car was under a tree and the free carwash i'd hoped for didn't really work. oh well. yesterday there was a big bake sale at work to raise money to send people to mississippi to help rebuild houses for katrina victims. a bunch of people from my company went for about a week last year and even more people want to go this year. so we had a bake sale to raise money for airfare. for some reason, i went a big overboard and decided to make 3 things. one was the awesome banana pudding from nyc's magnolia bakery (recipe found in this book) which didn't require any actual baking and two kinds of cupcakes. since my oven has no temperature control (just off or fiery inferno), my friend and fellow bake sale volunteer was kind enough to let me use her oven.



these are cupcakes made from a devil's food mix (really moist and tasty) and i made some peanut butter frosting to go on top and then added mini peanut butter cups from trader joes as a garnish. if you haven't had these peanut butter cups, you should get some right away because they are so tasty and very addictive. i don't usually make my own frosting (can's good enough for me) but i thought the peanut butter would be fun. i used used this recipe i found on supereggplant and made 1 1/2 portions of it to frost all of the cupcakes.



these are called black bottom cupcakes and they are also from the magnolia cookbook. they are basically a really dense chocolate cupcake with a cream cheese and chocolate chip topping that is baked on the cake (not frosted). they were good but very rich. they were all a sucess. the pudding went really fast, though. if we do another bake sale i might just make two batches of that instead of baking since it's pretty easy and no oven involved.

i have finished pictures of the big ass striped raglan hat but i'll post it tomorrow. off to find something for dinner. have a great weekend, everyone!

another day

i meant to post over the weekend but never got around to it. now it's practically the middle of the week! where does the time go? my weekend wasn't super eventful. i did try to go costume shopping for halloween but that failed. i really don't know what i want to be this year. something easy and uncomplicated would be nice. and not a slutty version of something (slutty nurse, slutty pirate, etc.). i still have some time but if i don't find something soon, i might start to panic. i finished a hat this weekend. it was supposed to be for my friend's birthday, but it ended up way too big. this is what it looked like before i finished it.



it's based in knitty's half dome hat and made in size medium. i don't think my gauge is that off but it's massive. my friend has a big head but i think even this is too big for him. it's going into my charity knitting pile. i know there must be some people out there with big noggins that need covering. but the yarn is patons merino wool bought from michael's in teal and brown. i like these colors together and will probably try and make a smaller version before my friend's birthday.

i also saw reds last friday, a film from 1981 that was directed and starred warren beatty. beatty plays radical american journalist john reed and diane keaton plays his parnter, also a writer. the first half of the movie focuses on their relationship and their interactions with their liberal activist group of friends in greenwhich village. they both get involved in the socialist movement and end up going to russia and are witness to the communist revolution, something that changes both of them. when they get back, reed becomes obsessed with bringing a similar revolution to america and is subsequently kicked out of the socialist party. he goes to russia to get recognition from the communist party and finds that he is not allowed to return to america. it's an interesting story about one man's staunch idealism in the face of the reality around him. at the end it felt like he was trying to convince himself that he still believed in his cause. it was too long for my taste (at 195 minutes, it's over 3 hours long, people!) but i think well worth at least one viewing.



i know i need to get cracking and finish some of those almost finished sweaters i have going but i just can't get myself to do it. instead i've been making hats and thinking of christmas knitting. hopefully the laziness will lift soon and i'll have some more progress to show. until then...

a new season

well it's certainly been a long time since i last posted. a lot of stuff happened this summer and i just didn't feel like blogging, so i didn't. perhaps it's the change in seasons, or just the fact that i've been away for awhile, but i've gotten the urge to write again. or maybe it's just reading all of the awesome blogs out there that's making me want to share again. i haven't finished any of the sweaters that i said i was going to finish. they all seem to be languishing while i knit small things, like hats for charity and afghan squares for a co-worker who has since moved to nyc. i am trying to slowly get back in the groove of things and finish up some of those sweaters so i can start some new ones. until then, i'll show you a hat i finished for charity.





this is the droplet hat from knitting nature. pardon the crappy pictures but i am not so good at taking pics of myself and the lighting isn't very good in my apartment. details:

pattern: droplet hat from knitting nature by norah gaughan
yarn: manos donated from a generous soul
needles: us 6 16" circs later switching to dpns
gauge: not really sure but the hat ended up too big for me. i'd say it's more like an adult male size or just for someone with a larger noggin.
notes: i didn't change much about the pattern except i adapted it to knit in the round (i really don't know why it's written to be knit flat). i learned a cool method to make bobbles without turning the work, which, while not making bobbles super fun to make, make them a lot faster and easier to knit. i really like the texture on this hat and it was simple to make. i'd definitely reccomend it to someone who wants something a little more challenging with great results.

this hat is going to charity. my group at work is going to be donating a bunch of stuff to an orphanage in my co-worker's hometown in michigan. they are part of an indian tribe up in northern michigan where it gets really cold. i hope they like the bobbly goodness.

and inspired by cinemaknits and the fact that i finally figured out how to do screen captures on my computer, i am going to try and write some more about some of the movies i see, because it's fun and it gives me something else to write about. well this weekend was a good movie weekend for me and i went to see the science of sleep, the new michel gondry movie starring the yummy gael garcia bernal.



the movie is about a guy, stephane (played by bernal), who has trouble separating dream from reality at times. he moves back to france after his father dies and his mother gets him a job that isn't what he expects. in france, he meets a girl (stephanie, played by charlotte gainsbourg) who he falls in love with. she likes him, too, but his erratic behavior is off putting and a little scary at times. if you've seen a michel gondry film or his music videos, you probably know that this isn't going to be a traditional love story. there's lots of cool visual imagery and animation and both characters are played wonderfully by bernal and gainsbourg. what i like about it is that neither of these characters is perfect but you really root for them. stephane is irrational and immature but he's also endearing and sweet and you really empathize with him. i thought it was a lovely and quirky romance that i would definitely see again. and on a nerdy knitting note, there are a few really amazing knits in it. the long, knit hat you see in the pic about is worn quite a lot and stephanie wears a sweater made out of multi-colored plied yarn in many scenes as well as donning a super cute aran knit mini dress at one point that i would love to have (if only i had her figure). so if you see it, keep an eye out for those.

i also finally saw little miss sunshine this past weekend. i think i must be one of the last people to see it. i enjoyed it a lot. i laughed a lot and i thought all of the performances were really good. some of the situations were a bit ridiculous but i liked how they worked themselves out and i thought that the familial interaction was very genuine and the dialogue was just really good. i especially liked steve carell and the teenage boy (whose name eludes me right now).

that's all for tonight. promise more knitting pics soon.

weekend

comic con was an adventure, as usual. i really didn't take too many pictures this year, even though there were some really cool costumes. it was hot hot hot down there, though, and we almost passed out in line waiting for the kevin smith q&a to start. we missed the whole spiderman 3 panel because the line was so long. more and more people come every year but it's still a fun time and i managed to pick up some fun books and cute pins and things. here are some boring and random photos from the weekend


imagine this, times about 10,000 and you get the idea of how crowded it was


kevin smith talking about clerks 2 and other things


hilarious snakes on a plane display

not much else to say except that i can't wait for next year!

temptation

did you see that the new knitpicks yarns are out? it's taking a lot of willpower not to order anything especially since i want to try their needles, too. but i will be good since i am saving my money this weekend for comic-con. yes, the nerd convention is here again and i for one, cannot wait to go. see you monday!

hot heads

wow i can't believe it's been more than a month since my last post. needless to say, it's been a bit busy around here lately. fourth of july seems like ages ago but i did manage to take a nice trip back home to the bay area to see my parents. the weather up there is so refreshing after the stifling heat and humidity of southern california lately. i am dying for an a/c unit in my room but i can't afford it. this means sleeping in the living room for most of the summer and fans that never stop blowing. i don't know if it's the weather or just me, but lately i've been having a hard time working on just one project. i spent most of june working on hats and things to donate to the dulaan project. someone started a knitting group at work and we decided to knit things for dulaan. a lot of people who joined up had never knit before so my friend and i spent a lot of time teaching people to knit and crochet. the odessa hat in my last post was one of the hats being donated. here's another one:





pattern: asymmetrical hat from one skein
yarn: lamb's pride bulky in periwinkle (almost a full skein)
needles: us 9 16" bamboo circs and later switched to dpn
size: 16 1/4" to fit a child but it was stretchy and big enough to fit my head
notes: i really like the whole asymmetrical part of it. it was really cool to have all of these different cables going on. the only thing i really don't like is how there is no crown shaping. it's hard to tell from the photos in the book, but you bind off, seam it and then tie the two ends together. it made it harder to wear cause it would look lopsided if i turned it one way versus another. if i did it again, i think i'd try to figure out how to do some crown shaping so that it would decrease like a normal hat. otherwise it was quick and easy and pretty cute.

now off it goes to kids in mongolia since i certainly don't need one in this 100 degree weather.

this has been finished for a couple of weeks now. if you don't recognize it, it's odessa by grumperina.



pattern: odessa by grumperina

yarn: about 1/2 skein of peace fleece in kamchatka sea moss

needles: us 6 16" circs (with a 4 for the bottom ribbing)

notes: this was a very fun and easy pattern to knit. i left out the beads, as you can see and i adjusted for the heavier weight yarn by casting on only 90 stitches instead of 110 and it fits my head nicely (my head is pretty normal sized). the pattern is super easy to adapt to different yarn weights and the results are super cool. i am not actually keeping this hat, as we've started a little knitting group at work and we've decided to knit hats for the dulaan project. i've decided to try and use up stash yarns and leftovers for these hats so i get to do a good deed and clean out the yarn closet. i also love making hats but i never wear them (my head looks funny in hats and it's just too dang warm in california for them anyway). this will be a good chance to try some new hat patterns. for anyone who is thinking of making this hat, i definitely recommend it. it's fun and fast and really cute. i may just have to make one for myself one of these days.

i can't believe the weekend is over already. the weather here was just grand, nice and sunny but breezy and not hot. i didn't do much really except catch cars (very good) and go to a streets concert. i've also decided that i can't shop anymore. i am in way too much debt and i just have to buckle down and pay everything off before i do anything else. so no more yarn and no more shopping online while at work. the madness needs to stop so i can actually start saving money.

cool down

wow, my last post was a awhile ago. i've been super busy the last couple of weeks because a good friend of mine was getting married and i was the maid of honor (and the only person on her side of the wedding party). they finally gotch hitched on saturday and it was so beautiful. the chapel was right by the ocean and you couldn't have picked a better day for a wedding in a glass church. the sky was so blue and it was just a really lovely thing to be a part of.



and now they are off in hawaii for their honeymoon, guests have left town and i am finally able to just relax. thank goodness the temperature's gone down this week. it was just horrid last week, with high nineties everday and no a/c in my room. seems like june gloom is trying to make up for it and i couldn't be happier. i do some fo's to share today.



pattern: warshrag from mason-dixon knitting

needles: us 5 bryspun circs

yarn: about half a ball each of sugar n cream cotton in a solid and ombre shade

notes: these are fun, fun, fun to make and i can see how they can be addicting. i love watching the colors change in the ombre and it was fun to see the pattern emerge by just slipping a stitch. i am not sure what i am going to do with it, since i really just think that washing gunky plates with a cotton rag sounds gross (i don't know why i can't get over it).


"i'm ready for my closeup mr. de mille."

and far be it from me to let a lame little thing like not actually liking to use cotton dishrags to wash dishes stop me from making more of these fun babies. oh no.



more warshrags to come! i have one more fo to show you all but i am pooped at the moment. i'll do it tomorrow. (random note - my neighbors are driving me a little insane. i don't know who it is but someone across the way from my building has taking to singing really loudly and talking at the top of his lungs at all hours. wtf? our new owners chopped down a bunch of trees between the buildings and i think that's why i can hear him better than ever. ahhhh!)

and congratulations jana and kevin!

bananas on parade

i just made the best banana pudding ever (and i don't even like bananas). last month when i went to new york, i had the most delicious banana pudding from magnolia bakery. the place is known for its cupcakes (which i think are overrated and not that tasty) but we also tried the famous banana pudding. the pudding itself isn't actually banana flavored, it just has bananas in it, which is probably why i can eat it. and it's got cakey bits of nilla wafers mixed about-mmmm. i bought this book, just for the pudding recipe. little did i know that this recipe is available online here. it came out tasting pretty similar to what i got at the store so i am happy. however, i have a huge vat of it now and don't know what to do with it. i just wanted a little bit.


this is kind of a crap picture.

here's the recipe for anyone who wants to try it. it kind of killed the fun by making it because now i know what's in it. and what's in it is NOT good for you, but it's worth it.

magnolia's famous banana pudding
taken from recipe link

• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

• 1 1/2 cups ice cold water

• 1 (3.4-ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix (preferably Jell-O brand)

• 3 cups heavy cream

• 1 (12-ounce) box Nabisco Nilla Wafers (no substitutions!)

• 4 cups sliced ripe bananas

1. In a small bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, beat together the sweetened condensed milk and water until well combined, about 1 minute. Add the pudding mix and beat well, about 2 minutes more. Cover and refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight, before continuing. It is very important to allow the proper amount of time for the pudding mixture to set.

2. In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, whip the heavy cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold the pudding mixture into the whipped cream until well blended and no streaks of pudding remain.

3. To assemble the dessert, select a large, wide bowl (preferably glass) with a 4-5-quart capacity. Arrange one-third of the wafers to cover the bottom of the bowl, overlapping if necessary, then one-third of the bananas and one-third of the pudding. Repeat the layering twice more, garnishing with additional wafers or wafer crumbs on the top layer of the pudding. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 4 hours - or up to 8 hours, but no longer! - before serving.

a little bit of knitting going on. here's the left front of the astrakhan sweater.



it's going well so far, but i think i might be short on yarn. it's gonna be really tight and now i am debating whether or not to order another ball or wait and see if i can finish with what i've got. i also have no idea what yarn i am going to use to sew it up, as the astrakhan is way too bumpy and weird to sew anything with.



the mason dixon dishcloth. most people can finish one of these in a few hours but i'm still going on mine. i just can't seem to stick to one project so everything only gets a little attention. this'll be done soon, though. and look how nice the colors are.

holding my breath

did you guys see grey's anatomy tonight? i can't believe all the sh*t that's going down. tomorrow night is the season finale and it's two hours long! i think i'll be biting my nails for most of it. i didn't get a ton of knitting done this weekend but i did manage to finally finish the collar for the astrakhan sweater. fronts, here i come! i know i was supposed to be good and not start any new projects but i've been reading the mason dixon knitalong and i just had to try one of those cute little dishcloths. one trip to joann's later and i cast on. i really wanted the peaches & creme yarn but they only carried sugar n cream, which i hear is almost the same. i am still looking for the peaches & creme, but it seems like only walmart carries it. oddly enough, there aren't a ton of walmarts in the la area so it looks like i'll have to wait. this is what i have so far:



i know it's not much but i like seeing the pattern show up in the ombre yarn and the colors are so bright and fun. i don't know what i am going to do with all of these dishcloths i plan on making, as the thought of washing my dishes with them sounds kind of icky. i just imagine bits of food stuck to the cotton. ew. give me a sponge any day.

hope you all had a great weekend. and happy mother's day, too. :)

buried

i came home this evening to find that the new owners painted our entire building yellow. i don't know if this is a good thing or a bad thing but my building's yellow. now when i give out directions i can say, "...and then it's that yellow building on your right." i have been knitting, although somewhat sporadically. i feel like i never have enough time to knit or i end up using some of that time to do other things, like read. it's too bad that work takes up so much of the day.

and lately it seems like my wip basket is overflowing with things that are just not quite done yet. the lure of new projects calls everyday and i am trying hard not to give in. but here's a mini rundown of some of my bigger wips.



remember this puppy? it's cyd, from jaeger. i think i started this last summer and here it is still not done. i had some issues with the shoulder shaping and the back (which i made sometime last year) seems way too big. luckily the front is a bit slimmer i think because of the intarsia. since this photo, i've finished one side of the neck and i hope to finish it soon. i still like the vest but i started it before i was really into noting and counting my rows, so it's kind of a mess coming back to it every few months. i gotta be good and work on it consistently.



i started shedir on a whim with a ball of rowan felted tweed i had lying around but got stalled with the chart reading. i don't mind charts but it's not really good for mindless tv knitting. so this has been put aside for a bit.



oh here is the lovely atacama t-shirt sweater. i was so close to finishing this before i realized that the back was way too red. the atacama yarn is really beautiful but the variegation is a real bitch. i switched balls every two rows but i think the skeins i used for the back were just redder than the rest of the sweater, which is more blue. i thought i could live with it and even sewed up the sides before realizing that i wouldn't be able to live with it. so i ripped it out and am now in search of two more skeins of more atacama to match. unfortunately not too many stores carry this yarn in my area and i want to see the yarn before i buy it to make sure it matches. so this is stalled until i find more yarn.



the debbie bliss shawl collared jacket in astrakhan. i've been working on the collar for awhile now. it just never seems to end. it's take more than 2 balls of yarn! luckily it's almost done and i'll be starting the fronts soon.



you didn't even know i started this one. it's forecast from knitty. i am using some beaverslide wool i bought awhile back. i started this on a whim, too, and have been working on it bit by bit. it's pretty interesting to see it form from the top down and the texture is great.



ooohh...bobbly goodness. just looking at all of these unfinished projects makes me tired. but i will persevere and i know that one day, something will be finished. well it's off to watch "the office" for me and then to bed. have a great friday!

lazy

thanks for all the nice comments on the new york pictures. i had a really fun time and am definitely coming back soon. i've been super lazy lately about posting. there hasn't been a ton of knitting progress to show you and i've been lax about taking pictures but i am going to try to catch up this week. but i had a lovely weekend. the weekend here was very nice and sunny, even though it looked like it was going to rain both mornings. i went to the la times festival of books over at ucla this weekend and managed to walk away with only a few things. i also managed to see bruce willis (whom i love) randomly at a movie premiere we walked into in westwood. ah - la. anywhoozle, updates on new books and knitterly things later this week. hope everyone had a great weekend.

spring has sprung

well i am back from my brief trip to new york city over the easter holiday. i had a fantastic time and stayed with great friends (who live in an awesome apt in greenwich) and only wish that i was weathly so i could actually afford a place in new york so i could be there all the time. we couldn't have gone at a better time, as the weather was lovely and flowers were planted all over the city just for us (well they probably weren't for us, but they were there still). i left thursday night for a redeye flight. i haven't flown in a couple of years and it all came rushing back what a pain it is to fly. i feel to hurried when i have to go through security while taking off my shoes and trying to keep my tray moving down the line. i got a bit airsick but it subsided after a short rest at our friends' apt.

our first meal in new york was at carnegie deli. it was a bit tourist-y but the food was pretty good. my friend's sandwhich was piled so high with meat that i thought it was a joke. really, i think it's pretty wasteful to give all this food when one person (or even two) could not possibly eat it. we carried the leftovers around for hours trying to find a homeless person to give it to but we didn't see any. a friend told me that ny shipped all the homeless to queens, but i couldn't verify this.



we also tried to go to the emire state building but they told us that there wasn't any visibility due to some rain that we had that day. i managed to get this creepy looking picture of it from the bottom, though.



the next day my friend mecaila drove in from albany to meet us and we had brunch at a yummy place down the street called pastis. there was a bit of drama there as some guy in a van backed into a vespa trying to parallel park, knocked it over, picked it up with a waiter standing outside the restaurant, then drove off in front of everyone in the patio dining. what nerve. the waiter ran after him and i hope he got his plate numbers.


mmm i had french toast


fancy schmancy eggs florentine

we spent the day exploring greenwich and soho where i mananged to spend an hour inside purl patchwork, the new fabric store that purl soho opened. they had so many beautiful fabrics and i picked some out so i could try to attempt some sewing. i do have some pictures but they were not on my camera so i don't have them at the moment. i popped into the purl yarn store but didn't get anything, as i had already gone a bit crazy in the patchwork shop. then to ground zero just to see it and a trip to century 21, this crazy discount store that was just filled with people. it was so crowded and people were just insane. it's like they'd never seen a sale before. i actually didn't buy anything there but one of my friends bought 3 pairs of very cute shoes.

sunday was spent on the upper west side having brunch and buying jams from sarahbeth's (i hear they're very good but i haven't tried mine yet). we also got caught up in the easter parade on 5th avenue (who knew that it was a thing to wear crazy hats on easter?). we wanted to go to the macy's flower show but unfortunately they were closed for the holiday. (i am condensing now as i am tired of writing) but monday was our last day and we spent it getting lost going to the subway (but finding some really cute stores along the way) and running around central park. the weather was fabulous again and we went through the park, hitting the popular sights. then a brief visit to the dinosaurs at the museum of natural history and over to chinatown, where i bought a fake rolex for my brother. he asked for one, don't ask me why. then we ran back to the apt to try to cram all of our stuff into our carryon and off to the airport we went. that was a very short version of my trip, even if it seemed long reading it. i had a great time though and can't wait to go back. i will leave you with some random snapshots of new york. hope everyone had a lovely easter!


central park dress made of peeps


vintage toy store window display


seafood sellers in chinatown


the coolest packaged chocolate from chocolate bar (check out their shirts!)


flowers just for us