Tuesday, October 31, 2006

hump day socks

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

angelsock

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:

angelgusset

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!

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

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.

swangelspeeddemon
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:

swfirefly
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.

Friday, October 20, 2006

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.

stripeyhatdone

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.

raglanhattop

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!

Saturday, October 14, 2006

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.

pbcupcakes

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.

blackbottom

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!

Saturday, October 07, 2006

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.

stripeyhat

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.

Reds

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...

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

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.

DSC04426

flat-small

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.

TheScienceOfSleep

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.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

hump day socks

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

angelsock

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:

angelgusset

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. :)
Read More


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!

Read More


Wednesday, October 25, 2006

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.

swangelspeeddemon
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:

swfirefly
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.
Read More


Friday, October 20, 2006

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.

stripeyhatdone

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.

raglanhattop

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!
Read More


Saturday, October 14, 2006

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.

pbcupcakes

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.

blackbottom

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!
Read More


Saturday, October 07, 2006

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.

stripeyhat

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.

Reds

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...
Read More


Wednesday, October 04, 2006

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.

DSC04426

flat-small

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.

TheScienceOfSleep

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.
Read More