good clean fun

fun finds: all knitwear

2011-12-19T17:25:00.000-08:00

i am in the midst of crazy holiday shopping and haven't had any time to update. instead i will distract you with this. i just found this fun line called all knitwear. it's machine knitting in all shapes, sizes and colors. i am in love with these hat!. and the sweaters are ridiculously bright and fun. i don't know if i could actually wear any of them but they're beautiful. have you found any fun and inspiring things you'd like to share?

persimmon love

2011-12-09T07:00:00.000-08:00

to me, fall means cooler weather, changing leaves, and PERSIMMONS! these lovely, strange fruits only come around once a year and only for a very short time. mid to late october are usually the best times for them. growing up we had a large persimmon tree in the backyard which would bear hundreds of persimmons. we gave plenty away but i also ate my fair share. unfortunately my family no longer lives at that house but, my parents are friends with the new owners. this means that i still get my annual persimmon fix (the store selection is never as good and i am always disappointed). we have both the hard variety and the soft variety of persimmon at our old place. i actually only eat the hard ones (peeled) and give the soft ones away. i did take a few this year though to see if maybe i could make some persimmon bread or something from them. here are some pics from our fruit picking adventure to the old house.

pretty leaves in front of the house

big basket of the hard variety of persimmons

unripe soft variety persimmons

soft persimmons on the tree

tell me, do you like persimmons? what is your favorite seasonal fruit?

i'll wake up for yarn

2011-11-26T15:42:00.001-08:00

it's that time of year again. it's black friday - time to shop in the wee hours of the morning or the middle of the night now that stores are opening late on thanskgiving day. i don't usually participate in the huge black friday sales. however, there is one sale that i've been going to for the last few years. that's the purlescence pajama jammy jam. pjj is a wonderful yarn-y sale over at purlesence yarns in sunnyvale, ca, only a hop, skip and a jump away from my parents' place. discounts are all day but if you get there from 6am - 7am you get a 40% off coupon. i am so down with that. so mom and i work up early as usual and headed down to yarnland.

the store actually wasn't too crowded at this point. they recently relocated into a bigger space in the same lot and it's much roomier, which may also account for the uncrowded look.

that back table was 75% off. i went back there many time.

samples from creepy, cute crochet

all in all i had a great time and managed not to spend too much money. i don't have pics of my haul but, needless to say, everything was lovely. i also got to talk a bit with someone there about spinning wheels. i really want one now. unfortunately they're a bit out of my price range right now. but i might go back at christmas just to try a few out.

that was my black friday fun. did you brave the mall?

happy thanksgiving

2011-11-24T07:30:00.000-08:00

happy thanksgiving, everyone! i am thankful for all of my friends and family. i have the best friends and a wonderful family and i just wanted to say thank you for being you and for being a part of my life. this was a great year and i had 3 new babies born into my extended family. i love them all to bits and am looking forward to watching them grow into regular size human beings. i hope you all have a safe and happy holiday. i'll be back soon!

in love with pom poms!

2011-11-11T14:19:00.001-08:00

i find myself with a slightly unhealthy obsession with pom poms as of late. i even bought one of those fancy clover pom pom makers and it makes me ridiculously happy to think about all of the pom poms i can make with it. it all started because of the picture below that i found on tumbr.

photo found on tumblr but originally from weareyouneak

how cute is that hat (and the girl, too). i immediately wanted on and thank goodness i actually had a couple of balls of the stitch n bitch full o sheep yarn at home in a bright orange. my yarn was worsted and this definitely looks like a bulky weight hat so i held my yarn double and cast on for a 1x1 rib hat. i think you could get away with using just one skein of yarn on this. i had to use a little bit of a second skein because i didn't start with a full skein. but if you were careful, i think you could do it with just one skein. that means this hat could only cost you $4.99 (plus tax)! the original costs about 25 pounds which probably adds up to about $40. i am quite happy with it but, looking at these pics, does my pom pom look small? hm, i might make a bigger on next time. i don't have a picture of me wearing because, well it's awkward taking pics of yourself wearing a hat. if you want to see full project details, visit the ravelry page here.

what do you think? are you in love with pom poms, too? what else can i put a pom pom on?

book event: the why chromosome

2011-11-07T12:15:00.000-08:00

i figured since i already had blogger open i might as well fix up another post. last week i had the pleasure of attending the author event the why chromosome: why boys do love books. put on by bridge to books, it was an awesome event with 5 male authors with discussions about their individual reader beginnings and topics about male readership. this was a very unique event (in a good way). usually ya book events are heavily populated with female readers and authors. this even had all male authors and a mix of people in the audience. in attendance were andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri and greg van eekhout.

the discussion topics were intelligent and interesting. they talked about what got them started reading - answers ranged from a parent reading aloud to them, an attentive teacher and libraries. libraries seemed to be very important in the factor in these authors' development. they also got into discussions about graphic novels/comics and whether or not they were "good" for boys to read. happily i think everyone agreed that comics are a very good way to get reluctant readers to try something new and that there are many excellent comics being made today. this is sort of a near and dear topic to my heart because i've loved comics since i was a kid and find that they're generally written off as not being "real" reading. but any serious comic reader will tell you that there are so many truly intelligent and original comics being written all the time. sorry - end mini rant.

i had a great time and mrs. nelson's toy and book shop in la verne is an awesome store. i know it's not super close to those who live in l.a. proper, but it's so worth the trip out there if you get a chance. anyone who loves ya/middle grade/children books will fall in love with the store. now - on to the pictures!

the why chromosome posters

wall of ya awesomeness

i like taking pictures of small toys

apparently these are german penguins

l to r: andrew smith, allen zadoff, john stephens, jonathan auxier, greg neri, greg van eekhout

john stephens and jonathan auxier

the gregs - neri and van eekhout

andrew smith and allen zadoff

delicious desserts

the why chromosome

loft collection

2011-11-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

has everyone seen the new loft collection by jared flood? to die! everything is seriously beautiful. and it reminds me that i have yet to try jared's new shelter yarn. maybe as a present to myself at christmas i will buy myself a few skeins of loft and shelter. for now, i will just ogle the pictures. below are a few of my faves.

jaffrey tam - look at those gorgeous cables

thayer

parson

stoncrop

that's it for me today. which pattern is your favorite?

november

2011-11-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

wow - i really can't believe that it's november already. where the heck did october go? i know i've been missing lately. so much for my promise to post more. but life's been busy. my dad was ill as well which took me away quite a bit in the last couple of months. so instead of a long post i am just going to give you some pictures i've take over the last month or so. hopefully i'll be back soon with some new knits and holiday shenanigans. happy friday, everyone!

baby shower that i helped plan

vanessa with the baby mama

i made about 10x this many sliders.

adrienne's caramel apple cupcakes

our hallway at work

odessa hat made for charity

another bulky hat for charity

this pumpkin's mouth moves!

zombie hipster, cat, tippi hedren from the birds

marie antoinette, angel of death, flag girl

the birds!

do not mess with these people.

work friends are awesome.

i love zombies and zombies in love

2011-09-01T12:30:00.000-07:00

it's no secret that i am a big fan of zombies. i don't know what it is but the idea of undead creatures trying to eat my brains freaks me out - in a good way! if you're free saturday night, consider coming out to nucleus in alhambra to see artist scott c and get his new book, zombie in love. i was able to flip through a copy of the book at this year's comic con and it looked awesome. so that's where i'll be this weekend.

on the knitting front, i started a baby hat for my friend hannah. some friends and i are planning a baby shower for her in a few weeks and i hope to have some hats done to use as decoration. and tiny baby hats are just so cute. i'll take some pictures soon.

what are your plans for labor day, dear readers?

graphic guise

2011-08-28T21:22:00.000-07:00

hello again! see, i told you i'd be back. last weekend was quite eventful. i had two book-ish events and also managed to see rise of planet of the apes, which was much better than i expected. everything you've heard about the special effects is true. they're pretty amazing. the orangutan is my favorite. onto events!

on saturday i helped out at the graphic guise event put on by my friend's org, bridge to books. it's a really great organization that aims to get kids excited about books. illustrators/authors kazu kibuishi, bob boyle, james burks and dan santat were on hand to answer questions and work with the kids.

rainbows!

the beginnings of a great story.

james burks

bob boyle

kazu kibuishi showing the kids panels from amulet 4.

dan santat, kazu kibuishi, james burks and bob boyle with the graphic guise poster.

it was a great event. the kids really had a lot of fun - and the adults did, too. bridge to books has lots of fun events. to check out what's coming next, go to www.bridgetobooks.com.

better late than never

2011-08-22T22:24:00.000-07:00

hello, dear blog. i know i've been neglecting you and for that, i apologize. i really am trying to get my act together but i've been busy. i know it's no excuse for ignoring you but i promise i'll make time to spend with you in the coming months. in the meantime, here are some pics from last month's san diego comic con. see you soon!

love,
me

simone legno at the tokidoki

giant dunny at kidrobot

tara mcpherson = love

one of the best costumes i saw that weekend.

i forget what these girls are but they are, apparently, popular for teenage girls.

testing

2011-08-06T10:37:00.001-07:00

testing the blogger app on my new phone. let's see if this works.

on friday

2011-05-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

i am so glad that we've finally reached the end of the week. the days were really dragging. i have been trying to cook more in general decided to jump into making some chicken. i am usually too lazy to cook meat but this looked pretty easy.

here are the results. i took the recipe from the new real simple cookbook dinner tonight! i quite like this cookbook. everything is really simple and unfussy, just how i like it. i don't have the recipe on hand to give you but it was really easy. throw some cut potatoes and carrots (or whatever veggies you have on hand) into a baking pan with some olive oil and salt and pepper. stick a lemon and thyme in the bird (i didn't have lemons so i threw in some garlic). rub the chicken with butter, salt and pepper. throw everything in the oven for 65-75 min. and then you get a lovely chicken dinner that looks like you spent a lot of time on it but didn't. i will definitely be doing this again with different veggies and seasonings.

i also made a batch of cookies last night. i saw them on the hostess with the mostess blog and couldn't resist. those colors were just too awesome not to try. link to recipe here though i've copied it below for you. check out the blog - it's full of fun stuff.

THE BEST FROSTED SUGAR COOKIES* (from hostess with mostess)
{*in my own humble opinion}
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Directions
Preheat oven to 400º.
Mix dry ingredients in a bowl & set aside.
In a separate bowl, combine butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until mixed well. Add the dry ingredients in slowly & mix well. Chill for at least an hour to stiffen the dough. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin & cut shapes with cookie cutters OR form dough balls and flatten into thick circles with your hands.
Bake 8-10 mins or until just the edges of cookies start to turn a very, very light golden brown. Don’t over-bake. For an extra-doughy consistency, remove the cookies before the edges start to brown.
*****
FROSTING:
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 Tbsp vanilla
3 Tbsp milk
1 egg yolk (optional)
5-6 cups powdered sugar (thicken to desired consistency)
food coloring
Whisk butter, vanilla, milk and egg yolk together. Slowly mix in powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, until the frosting reaches your desired consistency. If it gets too thick, add more milk in very small amounts, about 1 tsp at a time.

lemonade and books

2011-05-06T17:08:00.000-07:00

gosh it's been so long since i last posted. i always tell myself i'll be better about it but then it doesn't happen. i think my philosophy now will be to just go with the flow and post when i feel like it.

last weekend was a super busy one for me. a good friend was visiting to i took friday off (gasp!) to play and we did lots of fun things including a gallery visit, umami burger and frosted cupcakes. last weekend was also the weekend of the la book fair. the last few years it was held at ucla but this year they switched it up and had it on the usc campus. we had a ton of fun and i only bought a couple of books. but we had lemonade and ice cream and it was fantastic. picture show below.

umami burger

spotted in hollywood

james jean exhibit

free ben & jerry's at the book fair (i got tiramisu)

lemonade does indeed have delicious lemonade. i had strawberry kiwi.

happy valentine's day

2011-02-14T11:14:00.000-08:00

happy valentine's day, everyone! here are some gratuitous pics of cupcakes i made for the office.

favorite things

2011-01-21T22:39:00.000-08:00

pics from a recent trip to manhattan beach.

and, i've been practicing a new skill.

that time of the year again

2010-12-28T18:34:00.000-08:00

as usual when christmas comes around, i look around and say to myself "i can't believe another year has passed." this year went by especially fast and it's really crazy to think that 2011 is just around the corner. i feel like i was pretty productive this year. my friends and i make a goodreads group called 52 in 52 to encourage ourselves to read more. i surprised myself by reading close to 100 books this year (compared to the 52 i managed last year). this has a lot to do with my friend and i discovering the awesomeness that are romance novels and especially paranormal romance novels. you end up reading them really fast and there's usually a series of books. we've come across a lot of good books this year as well as some duds, but that's to be expected. i have been knitting and buying less yarn though i want to knit more next year.

i think my knitting goals next year will be socks, sweaters and colorwork. i am working on a fair isle hat right now and i am skeptical about how it will turn out but i want to see it through to the end.

i also baked a lot this year and want to continue the trend. i received the awesome fat witch brownie book for christmas and i want to make everything in it. this might be the year of the brownie. other than that i just plan to take it easy in 2011. hopefully take a vacation and just enjoy myself. what are your new years resolutions?

time sure flies

2010-09-30T16:18:00.000-07:00

i can't believe i haven't posted since may. i know i'm not the best blogger in the world but that's pretty bad, even for me. the summer seems to have flown by and fall is once again upon us. we're having some kind of horrible heat wave in l.a. though so it feel more like july than almost october. i've knit very little in the past week or so because the heat just takes all the concentration out of me and the idea of hot wool in my lap isn't very appealing.

i am starting a challenge though in the coming months. my friend and i want to knit all or almost all of the projects from ysolda teague's whimsical little knits 2. more updates once i start. that's all for now and i promise to try and post again soon. below is a pic of a heart shaped apple fruit - because it's cute and because i like posts with pictures. bye for now!

the end

2010-05-24T00:34:00.001-07:00

watched the lost finale tonight and thought it was fantastic. such a poetic end to a great show. there were some iffy moments here and there but overall the series was pretty amazing. i will miss you, lost. thanks for 6 great years.

every day is a holiday

2010-05-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

hello! summer is upon us and i am loving the warmer weather. it's just great to be outdoors when the sun is shining. last weekend i went away for the weekend to san diego. i love going down there and really don't do it enough. we were only there for a day and a half really but it was just enough time to get some time on the beach and some good food. on the way back to la we stopped by the carlsbad flower fields, which i have never been to before. they had fields and fields of gorgeous ranunculus blooms.

love love love. and just so you don't think i haven't been knitting, here is a hat i finished for my brother made of malabrigo worsted (my fave) in sfo sky.

not very exciting but a good basic guy hat. i am off to arizona this weekend and hope to get a chance to go to a yarn shop out there. i haven't bought any yarn in a long time. i've been trying to save money and use the stash. but souvenir yarn doesn't count, right? i hope the flowers are blooming where you are!

a little update

2010-04-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

it's me again. yes, i can't believe it either. not much has been going on lately. i've really been trying to work on some wips and finish some projects. i finally picked up my february lady sweater that i started last february. it's been languishing for awhile. i am not really sure why. i was halfway through the first sleeve that last time i put it down. now i am about 1/3 of the way through the second sleeve. after that i just weave in ends and block it. it is a bit short right now, but i think i anticipated it growing when i blocked it. the shoulders looks kinda wide, which worries me, but i am going to go ahead and see what happens. no progress pics right now but i'll try to get some when it's blocking.

i did manage to finish a small project. for easter, some of the ladies at work decided to do a secret easter basket swap. i pulled one of my good friends who also happens to be a knitter. even though i only had a week, i decided to cast on for a hat for her easter basket. results are below.

this is the hermione hat pattern (link)(rav link) i had to tweak the pattern a bit. the last time i knit it i used sport weight yarn, which worked out perfect sizing wife. the worsted malabrigo was a bit trickier. i ended up cutting out at least one of the pattern repeats because it was getting too long. and this is malabrigo merino worsted in cinnabar, which is really lovely color. sort of a warm, rusty orange that is the perfect fall color. it was a big hit with my friend.

i also made this for my mom for easter.

it's one of those loop bow-tie scarves. the woman who works at the market at home has a bunch of them in different colors and my mom mentioned that she wanted one. picked up this skein of malabrigo (can you tell that i love malabrigo?) on super sale in february. this isn't my favorite colorway of theirs but it's not so bad knit up. i can't for the life of me remember the name of this colorway. if anybody out there does, let me know.

the fun this i get to do this weekend is go to san diego. driving down with a couple of friends for a much needed break. i really can't wait. hope you all have a fabulous week!

random post

2010-04-18T00:57:00.000-07:00

i know it's been awhile since i had a real blog post. life's just been busy. i was feeling a bit poopy last month but things are looking up. i've still been knitting a lot. buying less yarn and trying to use up my stash. i'll try to post again soon with more updates. until then, a few pics that were taken recently.

dyeing easter eggs

homemade cream cheese frosting

best birthday present wrapping ever

finish line

2010-02-21T10:19:00.000-08:00

just a quick post today about an fo. i joined the ravelympics this year (my first year) on team sunshine (www.sunshineyarns.com) i wanted to use the ravelypmics as motivation to finish up a few wips that have been languishing in my knitting bag. so far i have 1 down and 1 to go.

above are my finished gryffindor stripe socks in sunshine yarns' self-striping soft sock yarn. i started the socks last year but kind of fell off after the middle of the second sock. it was silly really since it only took me about 3 days to finish them once i actually started working on them. i used a simple sock pattern on ravelry and kept track of the stipes on the first socks so i could match the second.

next on the wip list is the lace ribbon scarf i started in sunshine yarns' vampire colorway. it just got tedious after awhile so i stopped but i really want to finish it. we'll see if i can make it before the olympics end.

as for today, i am hoping for a lazy sunday. it is supposed to rain so i might run out to enjoy the air for a bit before it starts to pour. what are you doing this weekend?

rain, rain, rain

2010-02-05T19:57:00.000-08:00

a pretty unimaginative title for my post but it's all i can think of as i sit here on the couch and listen to the rain falling outside. la has been hit with a lot of rain this season and a lot of people are quite confused by it. i, for one, enjoy the rain and am happy when it does so for more than just a day. as my friends at work can attest, this was quite possibly the longest week EVER. but the weekend is finally here and i plan on sleeping, knitting and reading as much as possible. knitting has been a little slow going lately. i have a bad case of startitis but i am trying to finish up old projects as much as possible. i have been doing some charity knitting lately and managed to finish a bulky knit hat this week.

my friend is modeling the hat here for me. i loved that her red scarf matched the hat so well. this was an improvised pattern. just co 72 stitches with a size 9 needle with some bulky single-ply yarn. it's a k2p2 pattern all the way to the top. i actually have a ton of this yarn leftover from a thrift store vest i frogged a few years ago. it's a little rough but i figured it would be good for outerwear. this one is for my friend's skid row charity organization and i hope to make a few more hats to donate before the end of the month.

the other exciting news this week is that lost is back! yes, i am still confused about what's going on, but that's the fun of lost. i love it and am looking forward to seeing how the end all comes about. to commemorate the event, we had a lost party complete with spam musubi (a hawaiian fae) and lost cupcakes.

spam musubi

lost cupcakes

the cupcakes came out a lot messier than planned but i still think they're cool. the planes are twinkies with graham cracker wings.

this weekend is also super bowl weekend which means it's time for the unwind super bowl sale! my friends and i will be getting in line early to camp out in front of the store. come join us if you dare brave the cold morning air. hope you all have a great weekend!

sunny day

2010-01-17T09:57:00.000-08:00

happy new year, everyone! i can't believe we are already in the second week of january. i really wanted to post a big post with a wrap up of last year, but i think that may not happen. and does anyone know how to make those collages from flickr that other bloggers do so they an show off their fo's of the year? i can't figure it our for the life of me. anyway, i hope you are all off to a great start this year. i didn't do a ton of christmas knitting but i did a little. i tend to save my knitting gifts for family members and a few friends who i know appreciate knitted gifts. the worst thing is knitting something for someone and getting the "oh, thanks" look of a person who doesn't know how to appreciate a handmade gift.

first up is a scarf that i made for my mom. this delicious malabrigo was originally given to me by my friend but, when my mom saw me working on this scarf at thanksgiving, she professed her love of this shade of yellow. how can i resist the cutest mom on the planet? i don't. i started this ages ago but only finished it a few weeks ago.

pattern: scrunchable scarf (link) (rav link)
yarn: 1.5 skeins malabrigo merino worsted in sauterne
needles: us 8 or 9 ( i can't remember which but 8 and 9 are my scarf needles)
notes: not much to say except that i looove malabrigo. i actually ended up having 2 very different skeins of mal for this and so about a third of the scarf has more variegation than the rest of it, but that's mal for you and it's ok with me.

next up is a lucky 7 hat

pattern: lucky 7 hat (link) (rav link)
yarn: leftover mal from the scarf (you can see where it gets stripey because i was alternating
skeins)
needles: us 5
notes: the hat was a bit small but i think that's just cause i should have gone up a needle size. i blocked it a bit longer/bigger though and it's fine now. very easy pattern and i liked that the cables went all the way to the end of the pattern. you can see the cool crown here.

see, so pretty? well that's all i have for you today. off to brunch with friends. i hope you are all having a fun, lazy weekend.

holiday cheer

2009-12-25T12:29:00.000-08:00

merry christmas! this is the little tree that i brought to my parents house this weekend. we got decorations last night at the drugstore. not much of a selection but i still think it's cute. hope you have a safe and happy holiday!

catching up

2009-11-30T21:31:00.000-08:00

wow it's been ages since i last blogged. summer just flew by and it's already december. unfortunately southern california hasn't gotten the memo yet and we've been having really warm weather. a lot has happened over the last few months including a trip to france, 3 weddings (one of which was my brother's in hawaii) and a medical scare with my dad. i do want to catch up on all of it one day soon. i have lots of pictures from france and hawaii that i want to share.

for now i am just trying to get going with all of the holiday knitting i have to do. crossing my fingers that i can finish it all before christmas. i'll try to post again soon. hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

a bit absent

2009-09-03T22:05:00.001-07:00

not much has been going on. i've just been enjoying the summer. hope you have been, too.

weekends are for everyone

2009-06-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

we've started summer hours at work, which means that we can leave early on friday's through the summer. it makes such a huge difference in my outlook of the week just knowing that i get to go home early on friday. we're having a bit of june gloom in los angeles, but i don't mind. the grey skies and drizzly weather are perfect for curling up with a good book or some knitting (knitting pictures to come in the next post).

the sun did manage to peek out for a little while today during my friend's housewarming party. she has a whole room in the house just for her yarn and craft projects. i didn't take a picture of it, but trust me, it's awesome.

tomorrow i hope to do a bit of cleaning and organizing. i also have a date to go to the movies to see drag me to hell. i like scary movies and i hear this one is pretty good. might try to get in one more movie tomorrow as well but we'll see what happens. i leave you with one of the jumping pics i took at the party today (don't you just love the continuous shot button on digital cameras?). have a great weekend!

summer comes

2009-05-20T19:55:00.000-07:00

summer is right around the corner here in sunny los angeles. the sun has been shining and it's been hot, hot, hot. luckily i was able to stay pretty cool this weekend and had some fun while doing it. saturday, my friend m and i decided to go to the strawberry festival up in oxnard. i'd never even heard of it before last week but it's been going on for a long time. unfortunately i think everyone else had the same idea as us or at least were heading up to the northern beaches to beat the heat and it took us almost exactly 2 hours to get there in gridlock traffic. there were a couple of times where i wanted to scream and pull my hair out but we managed to get there finally. the festival was a lot bigger than i thought it would be but i was actually disappointed in the strawberry-ness of it. i kinda felt like it was a big fair that just happened to have a strawberry corner. i imagined vendors making all kinds of imaginative strawberry dishes and cute, strawberry themed toys and knicknacks. there were lots of vendors but they were selling random items like name art, dragonfly pins, and handmade purses. where were the strawberries? we did manage to seek out all of the strawberry items. below check out some of what we ate and saw.

strawberry nachos - these were probably my favorite thing that we ate. i love anything with cinnamon and sugar.

official strawberry festival merchandise

my strawberry shortcake from the build your own shortcake bar and the tray of strawberries we bought from a local farm.

it was a strawberry filled weekend because on sunday, my friends and i woke up at the crack of dawn to make a trip out to glendora to see the donut man. if you've never had donut man, you're missing out. he makes seasonal fruit filled donuts along with some other super tasty treats at his shop.

here we are at 7:30am. took us over 30 minutes to get there but so worth it.

the maple and chocolate logs are excellent and the crumb cake donut is fantastic as well.

awesome

after our early morning donut run, it was off to my friend k's house for a drinking and knitting. not sure if those two are the best combo, but it sure is a lot of fun. there was snacks and drinking and a little bit of knitting.

that's a new malabrigo scarf i've been working on. it's the scrunchable scarf on ravelry and the color is sauterne, the most lovely, bright yellow. this weekend i am off to northern california for a slew of bridal showers and bachelorette parties. see you all when i get back!

edgar says have a great weekend!

a day of books

2009-04-26T22:34:00.000-07:00

this weekend was the annual la festival of books at the ucla campus. i planned a day out with some friends for book shopping, falafel eating and ice cream sandwiches. the weather was lovely this weekend, unlike the usual 100 degree heat wave that book festival usually brings. we had a great time browsing the book vendors and people watching. the festival seemed well attended even though there were some vendors missing (noteably the cook's library and barnes & noble). i got a few good books - a michael chabon collection, the kind one (from book soup) and a patchwork book from kinokuniya.

we came home exhausted, full of good food, and heavy with new books. all in all a great day. i hope your weekend was fabulous as well.

lazy daisy

2009-03-22T20:12:00.000-07:00

just spending a quiet evening at home with my new twilight dvd and my february lady sweater. sadly this sweater was actually supposed to be completed in february and i am way behind schedule. maybe watching vampires will give me some superhuman knitting powers. :)

an auspicious day

2009-03-19T21:15:00.000-07:00

i have the pleasure of working basically next door to the nbc building in burbank. normally this fact doesn't play much into my everyday life except for dodging the occasional tourist walking against traffic by my parking garage. today was different though because president obama was going to be on leno, meaning he was going to be a mere building away. while we didn't get to go to the taping, we did decide to do a little obama stalking and wait near the back entrance of nbc where guests usually depart from. we actually go there just in time to see his motorcade leaving.

he's in the second car, not the one closest to me. i actually saw him through the window of the car. we waved at him and he smiled and waved back. it was pretty awesome. there wasn't a huge group of people there. i got the feeling that most of the people were people from the surrounding neighborhood or people who worked nearby like us.

this is what we looked like right before he came.

something else also arrived for me today.

it's my new kindle! my friends got together and got me a big ol' gift card to amazon to put towards a kindle and it came today. i'd been curious about them for awhile but i started really wanting one a couple of months ago when i figured out that i could read while knitting. it's a great way to do some knitting and get my reading done. until now i'd either knit and watch tv/movies or not knit and just read. now i can do both. i haven't played with it too much yet but i look forward trying out a pattern in pdf on it. yay for a fun day!

omg

2009-03-19T17:28:00.001-07:00

i can't believe that i just saw president obama leaving the tonight show. and he waved at us. awesome.

pie party and a new hobby

2009-03-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

i know i always say this but i really can't believe that the weekend is over already. this weekend was a pretty relaxed one for me. no huge plans. on friday night we had tix to the imax screening of watchmen at the burbank 16 (who knew they had imax?). we had at wait in a very long line upstairs and around the corner from the theater. my friends and i were joking that the signs were leading us to imminent death because we had to go down this creepy, narrow hallway that had no escape. we emerged from the line unscathed though and even managed to get good seats in the back. i actually really liked the movie. i had read the book a long time ago and re-read it again recently to prepare myself for the movie. i'd seen footage at comic con last year (which looked awesome) so i was looking forward to this and was trying not to have too many high hopes, lest the movie not meet my expectations. but i was pleasantly surprised that they managed to get almost all of the back story told in a cohesive way and visually it was great looking. patrick wilson was a really good nite owl and jackie earle haley was the perfect rorschach. i must say though that i couldn't tell that our theater was an imax theater. the sound was really good but the picture quality, to me, looked like any other theater. if you're going to see it in imax, i would suggest going to a theater whose imax screen is dedicated solely to imax films instead of one that is only used for imax once in awhile, like the theater we were in.

saturday was also our day for a pie party. i have a few friends who love the tv show pushing daisies as much as i do. we are so, so sad that the show has been cancelled but i am glad that it will live on in dvd and there have been talks of some kind of movie to wrap it all up. so we decided to have a big pie party to celebrate the awesomeness that is the show.

we have blueberry, cherry and chocolate cream pie. i like that we have 3 pies for 5 people. it's a good thing that i decided to bring ice cream instead.

this is my friend's dog edie asking for a slice of pie. sadly, i had to say no.

i also have a bit of a new obsession.

i bought a drop spindle a couple of years ago. it was a part of a learn to spin kit that also included various rovings and a how to spin book. i tried it once or twice right after i bought it but i never really got the hang of it and put it away in a drawer until now. seeing all of the beautiful batts and rovings and spinning wheels at stitches renewed my interest in learning to spin and, last week, i picked up my drop spindle again. the first few times i tried spinning were not so pretty, but i kept practicing and i had a friend at work show what she knew and now i have a lovely little ball of yarn. the yarn in the picture is my second ball. i am trying to spin enough so that i can ply the two together. i bought a couple of really pretty rovings from stitches west and i can't wait to spin them up.

and that was pretty much the weekend for me. what did you do?

yarn overload

2009-03-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

well i am back again after a wonderful long weekend visiting my parents and going to my first ever stitches west. my friend laura decided to fly up with me thursday night since we found that southwest still had some awesome plane ticket deals at that last minute. unfortunately she could not stay for the weekend so she just had a super quick 24 hour trip to the bay area. luckily we were able to fill it in with plenty of fun, fiber and food.

we spent the entire day on friday at the marketplace. i opted out of taking any classes this time around just because money was a bit tight. we got there first thing in the morning and had to wait in a bit of a line, even with our prepaid tickets, but it actually went quickly. i made a beeline for the blue moon booth, as rumors on ravelry were that they would sell out of most things pretty quickly. we got there in time to get a good selection of mill ends and rare gems to choose from. i was very frugal though and wanted to stick to my budget so i only got 2 mill ends.

those are my two skeins of socks that rock hanging out while i eat my tasty vietnamese sandwich lunch. it was really fun to see all of the vendors, and be able to touch and see all of the yarns in person. there were many beautiful yarns but i was very good and only bought things that really called to me. everything else i figure i can order online later.

that's most of my haul. includes mill end from blue mooon fiberarts, a skein of pigeonroof studios' superwash sock in delight, pigeonroof roving in chard, 2 skeins of creatively dyed superwash sock in midnight and a skein of woodbrook worsted from creatively dyed in tree. missing is the bmfa mill end of spawn of braun, which is super bright and candy colored. i started swatching it already and just need to find the perfect pattern. also missing is a mixed bag of handspun yarn from pigeonroof studios in purples and pinks, patterns from cocoknits and some hiyahiya needles i got at the urban fauna booth (which had great stuff). oh and stitches refueled my desire to learn how to spin. i have a drop spindle that i haven't picked up in years and i dug it out again. i am going to do a little bit of practicing before i try using some of the really pretty stuff i bought at stitches.

all in all it was a really fun experience and i hope i can make it again next year. now to actually finish some knitting!

best laid plans

2009-02-21T15:12:00.000-08:00

a tale of sock woe for you. i am probably the world's slowest sock knitter. i have been working on the same pair of socks since last july. it's not that the pattern is hard or that i don't enjoy knitting on it. i don't know what it is but unlike other sock knitters who take their socks everywhere and knit on them when they have a spare moment, i end up knitting on my socks only once every few months, which leads to slow socks. i finally finished a pair of socks this week out of some beautiful yarn from sunshine yarns. i was all excited and grafted the toe and even wove in all my ends. and then i tried them on.

you might not be able to tell from this picture but the sock on my right foot is waaay bigger than the first sock i finished (see how the heel looks all bunchy?). how this happened i do not know. i mean, i know gauge can change over time, but really? it's been less than a year and i am already making these socks on size 0s. what more do the knitting gods want? my first idea was to try to block the socks to see if i could get the one to be a little narrower and a little shorter. uh - that didn't work. in the depths of despair i thought that maybe i could give it someone with feet slighter bigger than mine. however, most of my friends have feet either way bigger than mine or the same size. i sat and stared at the sock for awhile before deciding that i would just have to rip back. so i found the end (that i had hidden so well) and frogged back to before the toe decreases. i laid the first sock under the too large one to see how far i would have to go back. so now the sock is back on the needles and i am starting the toe decreases again. i am trying to knit tightly and will be trying on the toe every few rows. even if it's still a little wide, hopefully at least the length will come out right this time. wish me luck.

oh - and did i tell you that i am off to stitches west next weekend? i couldn't resist the cheap air fares and the chance to hang out with my parents. i am SO excited.

wine and chocolate

2009-02-15T15:05:00.000-08:00

it's been a pretty lazy sunday so far. i woke up this morning with a mild case of vertigo. for those of you who've never had it (lucky you) it's kind of like your head is a snowglobe and someone shakes it so that everything you see goes swirling crazily before your eyes. and then you get to feel nauseous from all of the spinning. it's really not fun but i think i am feeling a bit better now and might venture out of the house. before i leave though, i thought i would show you what i've been working on for the last week or so.

it's the february lady sweater by flintknits. some friends are i are having a mini elizabeth zimmermann's almanac knitalong this year and we started with february. since i don't know any babies, i am making this sweater for me. i am working it in a lovely shade of dream in color classy called in vino veritas. it's my first time working with the dream in color and i like it a lot.

i'll leave you with something sweet (made by two of my baking buddies).

happy (belated) valentine's day!

it's the little things that matter

2009-02-11T17:52:00.000-08:00

through the looking glass

2009-02-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

i spent a fun and somewhat surreal evening at the natural history museum last night. i went for the first fridays series, where they open up the museum at night and have djs spin and bands play. i've never been to the natural history museum here before and it was kind of strange seeing people mingling and bands performing in the midst of these old dioramas (which my friend said were first constructed around 1930). the bird and the bee also performed and they were excellent. they did a cover of the bee gee's "how deep is your love" that i'd never heard before. it gave me a new appreciation for the bee gees. before them a band called jukebox the ghost was on and they were surprisingly good as well. i wish i had taken more pictures of the museum but you can see a few shots below.

large bird case - egrets are big!

display of woodpeckers

peering out

abstract of the bird and the bee

the rest of the weekend i plan to knit, read and catch up on some sleep. knitting photos coming soon.

inspiration

2009-02-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

last weekend my friend and i took a trip down to santa monica to see the hyperbolic crochet coral reef exhibit at bergamot station. i can't really describe it so i'll show you some pictures.

it was really amazing looking and there were so many colors. the colors and forms were just so beautiful and inspiring. i was surprised by how lifelike some of the pieces looked. we spent a long time in there taking pictures of everything. it was fun, too, because i recognized some of the yarns used. if you live in the area and get a chance, definitely stop by. i think the exhibit is running until the end of the month.

my version of being a trekkie

2009-02-03T01:03:00.001-08:00

what people will do for a good yarn sale.

on color

2009-01-30T17:59:00.001-08:00

i am a big fan of color. i love every color of the rainbow in all of its subtly and contrast. i can never understand how someone could have one favorite color. how do you choose just one? i have never really noticed if i had a pattern to what colors i am attracted to. my stash is proof of my eclectic color philosophy, but then i noticed something this morning.

the colors in this ceramic skull are almost the exact same colors in the skein of handmaiden casbah i bought last week at twist yarns. i think it's pretty funny that they match so well. it almost mades me sad to knit it up and break them apart. this color is called "cosmic" by the way and i think it's the perfect name. it's what i would imagine a meteor shower or shooting stars would look like in space. i am thinking of making a lacy scarf of out of so i can have that gorgeous softness around my neck. i am not sure what pattern would look best with such high contrast colors though. any suggestions would be welcome.

this weekend is going to be full of knitterly events. tomorrow, my friend and i are heading out to bergamot station in santa monica to see the knitted coral reef exhibit. the pics i've seen of it look awesome and i can't wait. sunday morning i am getting up bright and early to get in line for unwind's annual superbowl yarn sale. i plan on picking up some koigu in the front room but have no idea what in the 50% off back room this year. i am going to try to be good though and only get yarn i can really use and not just because it's on sale. we'll see how that goes.

working spaces

2009-01-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

last weekend my friends and i made a trip out to the blum & poe gallery, as they are having a showing of some new yoshitomo nara work. he's one of my favorite artists and this show didn't disappoint. the best part of the show was a wagon that housed an incredible little craft/living space. it was like the best little kid's room ever. my friend and i wanted to move in. take a look.

on the knitting front, i have been working on my pair of bella's mittens for awhile now. i admit to being a huge twilight fan and when i saw the movie, i just knew i had to have the long mittens that bella wears. thankfully knitters are extremely clever and motivated people. i didn't have to wait long before a pattern was drawn up. i knit mine up in briggs & little atlantic, a bulky, sheep-y yarn from canada. while the yarn softened up considerably in the wash, i decided i wanted to knit a squishy lining for my mitts. in comes a double strand of drops alpaca in blood red and you've got some really warm mittens.

i am kind of eyeballing the whole thing right now. i might use ann budd's book of patterns to help me out with the thumb gussett. so far, though, it's turning out very nice. will i see any of you at the unwind super bowl sale this sunday? i plan on being there bright and early!

i made something!

2009-01-22T20:36:00.000-08:00

yes, there has been knitting going on. i just get too lazy to blog about it most of the time. however, i do have a lovely hat i finished over the holidays. it's brooklyntweed's habitat made from my favorite yarn, mmmalabrigo.

pattern: habitat by brooklyntweed (my ravelry page here)
yarn: almost and entire skein of malabrigo merino worsted in azul bolita
needles: us 6 for ribbing and us 5 for rest of hat
size: i made the longer size so it would cover my ears. fits well on my 21" head.

i highly recommend this pattern. the cables are lovely and everything is clearly written and charted out for you. i am getting better at taking pics of myself in hats. i like to see hats on a person but it's hard taking a picture of yourself in one when you have short arms and no tripod. but i think i am getting better at it. i only had to take about 30 shots for this to work out. :)

has anyone watched the premiere of lost yet? i wasn't feeling well last night so i skipped it but am hoping to catch up this weekend. i have no idea what's going to happen but i think it's going to be good. and yay for tomorrow being friday.

events

2009-01-20T21:08:00.000-08:00

i can't believe that the holidays have come and gone. what the heck happened? well what better way to start off the new year than with a party? my fave lys, unwind, had a 5 year anniversary party last thursday. on hand to celebrate were the jess, casey and mary heather of ravelry fame, lorna's laces and namaste. i went with a couple of friends and we had a lot of fun. the store was jam packed with people and it was great to meet some people i've only seen online. i was too shy to say approach the ravelry peeps but i did say hi to the lovely marielle (aka subliminalrabbit) who designed the awesome pattern for the mittens that bella wears in the movie twilight (which i am almost done with). i managed to only walk away with a beautiful namaste laguna bag in peacock.

below are some pics of the event that i took.

holiday cheer

2008-12-24T10:06:00.000-08:00

it's cold and rainy and twinkle lights abound. what can it mean except that the holiday season is here once again. i made the drive back up to northern california a few days ago. i was a little scared that it might be a bad drive because, a few days before, a bunch of the freeways and roads had been closed due to SNOW. yes, snow in southern california and las vegas even. unfortunately i didn't get any actual snow where i was but it was close enough that they closed the grapevine down for a day (which is exactly how i drive home). luckily the worst of the weather only lasted a couple of days and my drive was quite uneventful. however, i did see this while driving through the mountains.

i've seen snow before. in california even. but i still had to resist to urge to just pull over and touch the snow on the hills. the last few says have been filled with last minute christmas shopping and last minute knitting, too. i don't usually do too much gift knitting but i do like to make my family hats and things for the holidays. i started kind of late this year so it's going to be a race to finish everything in time. i'll try to post those fo's once they are done.

hope everyone else is having a fun filled holiday. see you in 2009!

sun and moon

2008-11-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

well, twilight madness has come and gone. i did go see the movie and friday and...let's just say that it could have been better. it just wasn't what i was hoping for. there were some really good scenes and the scenery of the pacific northwest was gorgeous, but there was a lot of stuff missing that i feel could have made the characters and the story a lot stronger. and the sequel, new moon, we just green lit as well. i have mixed feelings about it, as it wasn't my favorite book of the series, but we'll see what happens. i still had a lot of fun going out with all of my friends and the anticipation was exciting. edward is also pretty easy on the eyes. that helps a lot.

the weather is finally getting a bit cooler here in southern california. it was a brisk and sunny 70 degrees today. i am going up to northern california this week for thanksgiving and i have high hopes that it will be cold up there. with thanksgiving coming that means i have to get started on my christmas knitting (why didn't i start this months ago?). there really aren't too many people i knit for, as most of the people i know don't appreciate handknits. but there are a few people i want to make things for. i just started a hat for my dad. it's habitat, by brooklyn tweed. i am only on the rib brim so it looks pretty boring right now. i'll take a picture when there's something to see.

well i am off to watch the 24: redemption movie now. it's been so long since 24 was last on. i wonder what jack bauer's been up to. hope everyone has a good turkey holiday!

sunshine won't go away

2008-11-15T09:56:00.000-08:00

fall is here - though you wouldn't know it by the weather we're having in la lately. fall is my absolute favorite season. i love the cooling weather, the turning leaves (what we get of them) and everything else it brings. it did get cold for a couple of weeks, and we even saw a few drops of rain, but this weekend is supposed to be crazy warm. at least i get to go up for northern california for thanksgiving in a couple of weeks. it's not new england but it's definitely more season up there and it should resemble fall up there.

sadly i find that there's little time to knit these days, what with work and other obligations. however, there has been knitting going on and even an fo or two. first up are the yellow harvest mittens from the most recent vogue knitting.

pattern: yellow harvest mittens (my ravelry page here)

yarn: 0.75 skeins of malabrigo merino worsted in lettuce

needles: us 7 dpn for the cuff and us 8 dpn for rest of mittens

notes: used an i-cord cast on as someone suggested. it was a bit fiddly at first trying to keep the stitches from stretching out too far but overall i liked the result. i used smaller needles to make a tighter fitting cuff and because i have small hands. they're actually still a bit long for my hands. they look a lot harder to make than they actually are and i love the bobble action.

i am starting to think about christmas knitting, which is kind of crazy. i can't believe christmas is almost upon once again. i don't usually knit too many christmas presents but i do think i'll probably make something for my parents and brother, as they seem to appreciate the handknits.

6 days until the twilight movie comes out. i have my tickets, do you?

clever post titles are hard to come by

2008-07-19T22:36:00.000-07:00

i've been back from my oregon trip for about a week now, even though it seems longer. oregon was beautiful, as it was last time. we had some overcast weather, but it was actually a nice change from the neverending heat of southern california summers. we saw the fourth of july parade and i even went to an ice cream social. there was also a great fireworks display on the beach, with people shooting off their own pyrotechnics right next to us. also went back to visit the goonies house in astoria, or. the people at the info center told us that there would probably be a film reunion in a couple of years. i really want to go. we had a great time just relaxing and eating and taking a lot of long walks on the beach. i love that the beach is so close to forests and trees in oregon. everything is so green.

i also got to spend a couple of days in portland, which was really cool. the last time i was in the area we only breezed through portland so it was nice to explore it a little bit more this time around. i managed to get to 2 yarn stores in portland. i never ever get to go yarn shopping when i am on vacation so this was pretty cool. first up was the yarn garden. the store had a pretty nice selection with 3 rooms for yarn along with a cafe that i think they are opening soon. it was nice but for some reason, i didn't get the best vibe there. it just seemed kind of not super friendly, but perhaps i was there on an off day. but i did manage to get a couple of things.

on the left is some koigu kpppm that i got for a pair of socks. the color reminds me of the landscape. and on the right is 2 skeins of drops alpaca. i've been looking for a good red alpaca to line some mittens i am planning to make.

later on, my friend and i were just walking around when we happened to pass by close knit. it's a cute little shop and the person in the shop that day was super nice. they had some fun sock yarns as well as malabrigo, which i resisted because i have soooo much of it at home. from there i managed to get 2 skeins of actual yarn from sheep in oregon. it's from imperial stock ranch and it's their 2 ply yarn in the color fawn. it's hard to tell but it's a really pretty dusty lavender color.

also bought one skein of pagewood farm sock yarn in earthy browns.

then before we headed for the airport, we stopped by voodoo doughnut for the awesome bacon maple bar donut. yes, it's a donut with bacon on it. might sound gross but it's like when you've having pancakes with bacon and you get syrup on the bacon. mmm... delicious.

even though i just got back i am off again this wednesday for san diego comic con. i am super excited to be going all 4 days this year and am hoping to see some really cool stuff like the twilight panel, pushing daisies panel, kevin smith, watchmen panel and maybe christian bale (if you haven't seen the dark knight yet, what are you waiting for? it's fantastic!). see you all when i get back! i leave you with a picture of bacon goodness.

spring into summer

2008-06-29T22:57:00.000-07:00

i can't believe that july 4th is upon us already. yet here it is, just around the corner and i couldn't be happier. i am heading out this weekend to seaside, oregon. i think it's about 2 hours west of portland and right on the coast. my friend has family out there and we took a trip out there a couple of years ago. for those who care, it's very close to astoria, or, setting of one of my favorite childhood movies, the goonies. i plan on doing a lot of reading, knitting and sitting on the beach. there are also supposed to be some awesome fireworks and other events going on. i am bringing along a sock a just started in sunshine yarns soft sock in aquatic. it's the spring forward sock from the new knitty. i would show you a picture but there's not much to see right now. my friend and i are also spending a night in portland on the way back. if anyone knows of any good places to eat or yarn stores in portland, let me know. hope everyone has a safe and fun holiday!

hysterical blindness

2008-06-14T23:28:00.001-07:00

so i just got back from having my eyes checked out and they dilated my pupils. now my eyes look like snake eyes or something and it's kind of creepy. good news is that i will be getting some new glasses soon. i've been overdue for a pair of glasses for awhile. they're not very exciting, just some black titanium frames but they're light and flattering and won't be scratched to hell like my old glasses. also stopped by the post office today to pick up a package that wouldn't fit in my mailbox. i was hoping that it was yarn, and it was! look what lovelies came for me:

this picture really isn't representative of the yummy rainbow colors of this yarn. it's 5 skeins of malabrigo silky merino in bahia that's destined to become a clapotis. yes, i have never made a clapotis. i think i might be one of the only knitters on the planet who hasn't made one. when i saw this color on ravelry, i knew i had to have some. well i am off to see the incredible hulk now. let's hope it doesn't suck!

unleashed

2008-06-13T15:30:00.000-07:00

last night i went downtown for the monthly los angeles artwalk. my friend max neutra, was having a solo exhibit at the gallery inside of this awesome little pet boutique called pussy & pooch. i actually took the la metro with a bunch of work friends and we made it there in one piece. the only problem with the metro system in la is that it hardly goes anywhere that anyone wants to go. luckily, though, all roads of public transport lead downtown. we had a yummy dinner at an asian tapas place on 4th (no idea what it was called) and headed over to the show. the theme of the show was "unleashed" and there were 24 paintings, all of animals. a few of my favorites are below.

they were all great but the koi was my favorite. the pink really is as vibrant in person as in the picture. i could use some yarn that color. :) a bunch of pieces sold, including the hairless cat portrait, which we were kind of surprised by. anyway - the show is up until the end of july i think so if you're in the are, you should stop by. and if you have a dog or cat, they have some really awesome treats for your furry friends.

and since i don't have anything else for you, here are some more pictures of some of that yarn i told you i've been buying up lately. have a great weekend!

sunshine yarns harry potter club selection for this month - gilderoy lockhart (i am totally obsessed with dani's yarns!)

colinette jitterbug in elelphant's dream (i LOVE this color)

colinette jitterbug in wasabi squeeze

2008-06-10T23:29:00.000-07:00

i can't believe that the weekend has flown by already. i had a pretty uneventful weekend. friday night i took myself out on a date to see kung fu panda. despite the screaming child behind me, i enjoyed the movie very much. unlike a lot of these animated films where it's all about the celebrity voices (remember the awful shark tale?), this one had a really good story and was very funny. i love that david cross played one of the kung fu masters. brilliant!

unfortunately i haven't been doing much knitting lately. my mind is constantly thinking about what things i want to knit next but it's hard to find the time to finish the stuff i already have started. i did finish one fingerless glove tonight. i am working on the delicato pattern by knitspot. i really love anne's patterns and have bought a bunch of them recently. hopefully i'll finish up the second one soon and will have some fo pics to show you. while not much knitting has been going on, i have been adding to the stash. i ordered some yarn from one planet yarn and fiber about a month ago but it was backordered. i finally got it today and it's soooooo pretty!

it's the lanas puras laceweight and it's a lovely single ply yarn similar to the malabrigo lace yarn. and i just love the colors! i've been a bit obsessed lately with the twilight book series by stephenie meyer (teen love between a vampire and a human - what more could you want?) so i've been looking for some yarns/patterns that are sort of inspired by the books. the colors above, twilight (blue) and passion (red), are just perfect. i have some shawl ideas in mind for them. of course i probably won't get around to them for awhile but at least i have the yarn now.

wow - 2 posts in 2 weeks. how long can this streak last? guess we'll see. off to add these yarns to my ravelry stash now and to read a few pages of persuasion before bed. good night!

2008-06-03T22:09:00.000-07:00

hey, it's actually been less time since i last blogged than i thought. i thought i would log onto blogger and find that i hadn't written anything in at least 6 months. it's actually been only 3 months. time sure does fly. there has indeed been knitting going on, though somewhat slow going. the last major project i finished was a lace shawl made out of noro kureyon sock yarn. i know a lot of people don't like this yarn, but i gotta say that i really dig it. i love the noro colors and i even like how it's kind of thick and thin in places. gives it personality, i say. alright - here it is:

pattern: zetor scarf (ravelry page here)

yarn: 1 skein noro kureyon sock in 184

needles: knitpicks option size 6 circs (first time using these needles and they are awesome!)

finished measurements : 56" across

notes: for some reason i was having issues with the edge chart (stitch counts were not adding up) so i made up my own chart edge. when i blocked it originally, i couldn't get those fun, pointy little edges so i blocked it again after ordering some blocking wires and the edge is much pointier. i know lace is supposed to transform after blocking (which it does) but no one ever mentioned that blocking itself is kind of tricky. i had pins and wires and bits poking out here and there with a blobby yarn mess in the middle that wanted to be beautiful. but i am sure with a little more practice, blocking will be a breeze.

this was a really fun project and i am kind of in love with lace knitting. i added about 30 shawls to my ravelry queue after i finished this. of course i got distracted with other things but i do plan to start another shawl soon and have already stashed some more kureyon sock yarn. well this is all i can manage to post for tonight. hopefully the next post will be before the end of the year. :)

swatching

2008-02-26T23:10:00.000-08:00

i have a problem. and the first step to recovery is to admit you have a problem. so here goes - i am a pathological starter. oh you know what i mean. you spy a cute sweater/hat/scarf/socks in a new magazine or on someone's blog and suddenly you need one, too. nevermind that you have 10 other projects on the needles. you need it now! and half the time you're not even using stash yarn. and then one day you wake up and realize that you're cold and that you have nothing to wear because you never finish anything. sigh. i am trying to be better about starting too many projects. i really think it's best if i only have a few things on the needles at once so i can actually finish something. that being said, i started swatching tonight for a shrug/sweater from knit 2 together. when this book first came out, i thought some of the projects were cute but i wasn't dying for anything. but then i saw this post and just had to make the shrug from the book. happily it's only $7 (dang - i just looked and the price has dropped to $5.50. get a copy now!!) on amazon right now so you bet i ordered it. the patterns in it are actually really cute and i can see myself making a bunch of things from it. so i started swatching for it tonight.

i am using a lovely gray-green shade of malabrigo (another problem i have) merino worsted called vetiver. i think i am pretty close to gauge here but i am going to try a swatch one needle size up, too, just to be sure. malabrigo march is starting soon on ravelry and i want to be prepared.

anyway, if i keep my word, you'll be seeing some fo's on the blog soon. :)

happy lunar new year

2008-02-14T19:57:00.001-08:00

i can't believe that it's the middle of february already. where does the time go? knitting wise, i've been really inspired lately by ravelry and various blogs and books. i just bought intertwined yesterday and i love it. it's from the person behind pluckyfluff and it's a book about spinning one-of-a-kind yarns and also includes projects for these yarns and bios on people who make the yarns. i don't spin and don't know if i ever will, but it's just so inspiring to see these awesome creations. my mom also sent my a wonderful package this week containing some new year's presents that included some really great sock yarn. i am too lazy to take a picture right now but i am very excited about them. hopefully i'll be able to translate some of this enthusiasm into actual knitting progress. i am so good at starting things but never very good at finishing. i've got some bad cold/flu right now so i am going to hunker down on the couch with a new project i've started. it's cotton and cabled and will hopefully be cute. i'll take pictures when i get a chance.

happy valentine's day! xoxo

fresh start

2008-01-12T22:18:00.001-08:00

wow it's been so long since my last post. i seem to say that a lot, but really, with work and everything else, i have a really hard time updating regularly. that's not to say that i'm not knitting or reading blogs every day. it just takes a lot of effort for me to post and i always feel like a need pictures (good ones, hopefully) and something to say. and what with ravelry, it's become so easy to just plug in info to keep track or your projects. and i spend hours just looking at new patterns or what other people have been knitting. it's so addictive. so i am going to try again to see if i can post more often. i am not making any promises but we'll see what happens.

the holiday season was spent doing a lot of gift knitting. i finally finished the stained glass scarf from scarf style that i've been making for my brother for over a year. it came out very nice in the end, but i really don't know if i'd make it again. working each row twice on little needles was not my favorite experience ever but the finished product was really nice.

pattern: stained glass scarf
from: handknit holidays by melanie falick
materials: almost 2 skeins araucania nature wool in brown & 1 1/4 skeins claudia handpaint fingering in eat your veggies
needles: us 4/3.5mm addi circrs

started: july 2005
completed: december 2007

mods: the only real mod i made was to co only 40 stitches to make a narrower scarf. my brother doesn't like wide scarves. other than that i did as the pattern stated and just kept knitting until i was almost out of the brown wool. the scarf ended up over 6' long but my brother likes them long.

i have a few more finished projects to put up (hopefully) in the next week or so. i have also recently fallen in love with malabrigo merino worsted yarn. i'd seen it before and heard fabulous things, but i didn't actually try it until a couple of months ago. since then, it's the only thing i want to knit with and i've amassed quite a little stash of it. with a new year comes the promise of a clean slate. i am really hoping to finish or frog some old projects and start working into the stash. i really have so much yarn and i should use it. that way i can buy more. :) happy new year, everyone!

labor day meltdown

2007-09-03T18:59:00.001-07:00

4 whole days off of work and of course it's the hottest it's been all year long. it's been well over 100 degrees every day this past weekend. sadly i only have a pathetic wall unit a/c so the only thing i've managed to do is shop and go to the movies (and there aren't very many good things out in theaters right now). movie rundown:

war - my parents are visiting and they wanted to see this. pretty much what you would expect - lots of action and killing but little plot or character development. there was kind of an interesting twist at the end though.

nanny diaries - meh. i think the story was interesting and i loved the last movie that the two directors did (american splendor) but i just didn't feel sympathetic for anyone in this movie except maybe the kid. the voice over was also annoying.

death at a funeral - really funny and charming. i didn't really know what to expect of it but i liked it a lot. plus it has alan tudyk in it. :)

the invasion - going to see that tonight. i don't know if it's going to be any good at all but i need the a/c.

off to beat the heat. stay hydrated!

hot day in the park

2007-08-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

i know everyone in blogdom has been talking about it already, but ravelry is really awesome! i got in a few months ago but didn't really go on until this past week. i love that you can put patterns in your queue and look at everyone else's version of it. it's easy to spend ours on it just looking up patterns and seeing what's out there. i am super excited about all of the new fall patterns and yarns coming out. i just got the new rowan and interweave knits and there are a bunch of things that i want to knit from both. also did a little stash enhancing this weekend. i got 3 skeins of kaalund silk lace yarn from knitter's studio. never been to the shop before but very nice yarn and nice staff. not sure what i am going to do with this yarn, perhaps the honeybee stole or another shawl, but i just could not resist the color. it's called "forest floor."

the weather this week has also been a bit more condusive to knitting than it has this past summer. when it's over 100 outside and you don't have central air, knitting inside your steamy room isn't always the activity of choice. but it's been a bit cooler this week (it even sprinkled a bit today) and my friend took the opportunity to throw a little homemade soup/knitting party. nothing better than good snacks, good friends and knitting. i worked on a new project (yeah yeah i'll finish the old projects another day), inspired by ravelry and the wonderful new yarn i bought at unwind this week. they got in a whole huge new shipment of colinette jitterbug sock yarn and i couldn't resist. i saved 2 skeins for the beginnings of a chevron scarf.

the colors are gaugin and bright charcoal and i really like how they go together. apologies for the crappy picture but it's dark in my apt. i also saw stardust and superbad in the last week and both were really good. they could not be more different but i enjoyed them both immensely. check them out if you haven't already. well i am off to knit a bit more on the chevron scarf before i go to bed. hope everyone had a good weekend!

running

2007-08-02T07:49:00.000-07:00

no time to post. comic-con (or commie-con as my friends like to call it) was awesome, as usual. it was really crowded this year, though. even after standing in line for almost 2 hours, i didn't get in to the heroes panel. that was kind of a bummer. but we saw lots of other cool stuff and i bought lots of fun things. i'll try to post about them more later but right now i am off to catch a plane to nashville, where i will be visiting a friend for a week. see you when i get back!

2007-07-26T21:52:00.001-07:00

man, the heat in my apartment is almost unbearable. i am practically sweating as i sit here typing this out. my place is one of those places that sucks in the heat of the day and just won't let it go. i just hope it's a little cooler in a few hours so i can go to sleep. things are busy as usual around here. work's just crazy. new stuff keeps coming in every day and it feels like i may never catch up. i can only hope not to get too far behind. but i can't really complain because i have a new office (though the air in there doesn't always work) at least. i've been staying so late at work that i am too tired when i get home at night to do much knitting. i've been really neglecting it, but i am going to try to make an effort to take some time out to knit just for me. i finished one thing lately. well really half of a pair. i originally started making these fingerless gloves for my brother. he likes things really snug and tight so i made these small on purpose. unfortunately they're too small so they're going to my mom. making the little fingers was a pain but i think it looks cute.

i am making these with rowan ryc cash soft yarn and it's really nice. i bought some ryc cash cotton in blue to make my brother a new pair. i also got an amazing yarn treat in the mail today. yarn from the harry potter sock club from sunshine yarns. i saw the movie a couple of weeks ago and i liked it a lot. much better than my memory of the book (my least favorite out of all of them so far) but the movie put everything together nicely. but back to sock yarn. i received my first installment of the sock club yarn and here it is:

it's called "another weasley," named, of course, after the weasley family from the potter books. it's a great color and i love the inspiration behind it. not sure what i am going to make out of it yet but i can't wait to knit with it.

and i saw a great little film last night called broken english, directed by zoe cassevettes and starring parker posey. it's just a great story about a woman in her early 30's struggling with her life and her search for love. parker posey was really great in it and justin theroux makes and appearance (super cute) and there's an charming french actor in it (melvil poupaud) who is just so sweet and lovely. and drea de matteo plays posey's best friend. you should check it out if you get the chance.

i'm off to take a cool shower now and finish packing, as i am off to san diego tomorrow for the comic convention. it's gonna be so much fun. have a good weekend!

beach bunny

2007-07-11T21:56:00.000-07:00

it's been a really long time since my last post. i don't know what happened but i guess life kind of just got in the way. there's been a lot of drama at work lately and that's put an enormous amount of stress on me. however, the smoke is starting to clear a bit and i think things might be under control soon. i went to hawaii (awesome!) and came back right before the fourth of july holiday. i wanted to stalk the lost tv set, but they are on hiatus for the summer, so there was nothing to stalk. i'll just have to go back when they're actually shooting. :)

last friday i took cookie a's class at unwind. it was knitting socks from the toe up class. this is only my second ever knitting class and i am just not sure if i like them that much. it's not the teachers of the students really, but i don't think i like the whole group class setting. i prefer either one on one or just figuring it out myself. that being said, having a class with cookie a was pretty cool. i love her sock patterns (which i will attempt one day) and i learned how to do the figure 8 cast on, which was very cool.

i haven't had a ton of time to knit lately but i did buy some very nice yarn at suss design in beverly hills this weekend. i guess they are moving to the space next door and are getting rid of a bunch of things. i bought some nice bulky yarn in pink/green/black and a bunch of ella rae wool in muted colors for charity knitting for $1 a ball.

well it's bedtime for me but i'll leave you with a picture from oahu. night!

bunny bums

2007-04-08T12:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter, everyone!

2007-04-03T21:57:00.000-07:00

well i really meant to post, but life's just been crazy. not to mention that the internet's been down at home (let me just say that sbc yahoo is not my friend). but i finally got it working and am going to try and start posting regularly again. we'll see how that goes. last weekend i went gallery hopping with some friends and we saw the damien hirst exhibit at the gagosian gallery in beverly hills. it's only there for a couple more days, but if you're in the area, it's worth seeing. they are these awesome pieces made entirely of real butterfly wings. it's crazy and so beautiful to look at. here are a few images that i took:

the patterns are just amazing and it's incredible to look at them from far away and then close in on them and see the individual wings. the pictures don't really do them justice, as some of the butterflies were just glowing. the gagosian gallery is also mere steps away from sprinkles, which has very delicious cupcakes. the milk chocolate and red velvet were particularly tasty, though my friend fell off her chair for the banana dark chocolate cupcake.

progress is slow going on the knitting front, given the fact that i have about ten projects going at once. i am still trying to finish up by brother's christmas/birthday present, the stained glass scarf from holiday knits.

pardon the crappy picture. it's coming along but it's taking forever since i basically have to knit each row twice and one of the yarns is sock yarn. he also requested a pair of fingerless gloves so i am working on a pair out of rowan cashsoft dk (a very nice squishy yarn). i tried a couple of patterns but i was having trouble with all of them. i finally settled on using ann budd's handy book of knitting patterns to just sort of make up the pattern and that seems to be working ok. i am also working on the baby kimono from mason dixon knitting for my work charity project.

this is done in the mason dixon favorite of peachs n creme cotton. so far it's going along fine. the pattern is pretty easy and i think it will be cute. my birthday was also a few weeks ago and my lovely friend (who is just getting into knitting and discovered the beauty of manos del uruguay yarn this week) bought me a wonderful yarn-y gift from unwind.

i am just in love with the color of this yarn. it's #153 (i know, so unromantic) in artyarns supermerino. it's so soft and pretty, i just want to pet it. i think i am going to make them into campfire socks. i want to start them right away but i am making myself finish some things first. one can dream, right? and did anyone see lost last week? freakin' messed up, i tell ya. can't wait to see what happens on tomorrow's episode.

gone so long

2007-03-02T21:41:00.000-08:00

i'm in the midst of a little spring yarn cleaning at the moment and i am just amazed at all of the yarn i've amassed in such a short period of time. it's been awhile since i last blogged but i've still been knitting. i have been reading lots of blogs and seeing beautiful projects all over. hopefully i'll get some pics taken soon so i can get a real post up soon. have a great weekend everyone!

i officially hate shopping

2006-12-09T21:29:00.000-08:00

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!

2006-12-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-28T21:26:00.000-08:00

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

2006-11-22T17:31:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-31T20:42:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-31T20:33:00.000-08:00

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

2006-10-25T23:07:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-20T20:08:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-14T20:10:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-07T23:45:00.000-07:00

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

2006-10-04T00:07:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-27T20:39:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-21T22:52:00.000-07:00

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

2006-07-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

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.

2006-06-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

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

2006-06-07T21:49:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-17T23:41:00.000-07:00

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

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.
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.
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

2006-05-14T23:25:00.000-07:00

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

2006-05-11T18:54:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-30T23:29:00.000-07:00

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

2006-04-19T22:49:00.000-07:00

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

there's never enough time

2006-04-09T12:52:00.000-07:00

i started this post over the weekend but never got around to finishing it. lately it seems like there's just not enough hours in the day to do everything that i want. but i do love that it's not dark when i get out of work now. makes me feel a little less pathetic. last weekend i worked a bit more on the shawl collar of the debbie bliss jacket. it's coming along slowly, but surely. see how odd it looks? hopefully all will be revealed when i am done with it and it'll fit together.

and remember this guy?

i busted out the jaeger vest this weekend, too. it was pretty confusing trying to figure out where the heck i was in the pattern but i think i got it and i've made it up to the armhole and neck shaping. however, i took a look at the finished back the other day and it looks ginormous compared to the front. i am going to pin everything together once i am done to see how it fits but i have a feeling that i may end up re-doing the back piece.

i also started to seam my atacama sweater and realize that i officially hate seaming. it's really not fun and i can almost see why people pay other people to do it for them. how i wish i had a friend who was crazy about seaming. i've only got to attach the sleeves now. i don't know how i really feel about the sweater. it's okay. but the back piece is much more red than the other pieces, even though i alternated skeins. it actually bugs me a lot and i am thinking of overdying the whole thing once i am done. only i've never done anything like that before so i am scared. i'll get a picture in the light so you can all see what i am talking about. and i am off to nyc this weekend for a bit of fun. probably won't get to yarn shop at all or knit for that matter, but it'll be a good time. have a great week!

raves

2006-04-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

this is my new favorite knitting book. i'd been a fan of the blog for a little while now but i really didn't know what to expect from this book. what did i get? a book full of wonderful stories, great tips and fabulous projects. i really loved the conversational tone of the book, the great stories behind the projects and makers and the clear and beautiful photography. this book has me wanting to make things that i've never wanted to make. things like dishcloths, spiral rugs, log cabin blankets (there are so many beautiful ones in the book) and felted baskets. it just makes me very excited to knit and make things. i think it's a great addition to any knitting library. below are some pictures of some of the projects inside.

slip stitch dishcloth made from peaches and cream.

a knitted curtain! awesome.

i can see myself making some of these for the house.

gorgeous

more log cabin action

this one is so modern and pretty

rug made from potholder rings

this is made from rag balls. i'd never even heard of rag balls before this.

i loved this afghan when i saw it on mason dixon knitting and i so want my own.

ahhh - the power just went out in my apt! good thing i have candles and good thing i saved this post. one bit of rain and the whole town goes out of whack. i am off to start my taxes before the lights go out again!

sneezy me

2006-04-01T15:57:00.000-08:00

i am having a case of the sneezes right now. i think it was from visiting a friend's house this morning who has a bunny. he's very cute and sweet but i am very allergic to him. and i said i would give you all a finished knit almost a week ago and i am just getting around to it. it's been a very long and busy week at work so pardon my tardy post.

pattern: jack from rowan junior
size: made for 4-5 year old
yarn: 3 1/2 balls of plymouth encore worsted in 3335, a light lime green(more green than the picture shows)
needles: bryspun circs in 5US. i knit it flat but on circular needles because it was just easier that way.
gauge: can't remember but it was pretty much what the pattern called for
notes: i substituted a worsted weight acrylic/wool yarn in for the rowan handknit dk cotton. i wanted the recipient's parents to be able to wash it and i just think cotton can get heavy on a small child. the plymouth encore was pretty nice to work with, even with the high acrylic content, and i didn't really have any problems with it. i did the cables without a cable needle and that sped things up a bit. i had a problem with the arms at first because they were not the same length and both were too long. i think i was just measuring poorly, though. actually the ribbed cuff of one sleeve is about 2 rows shorter than the other (for some reason i thought the ribbing went on for 4 rows instead of 6) but i didn't want to do the whole sleeve over again, and i don't think anyone but me can tell. another mistake: i didn't read the sleeve directions properly and missed the part where you were supposed to mirror the cables on each sleeve so it would look cool when put together. instead my sleeve cables all twist the same way. again, i don't think anyone would really notice. i also did a lot of seaming on this one, and, while i can't say i love seaming now, i definitely think this project helped me get over some of my seaming apprehension. here are a few more shots for you to look at....

oooh the same thing but inside out!

close-up of my seaming job. it's ok.

it's already been sent home to my mom and given to the recipient. i've had this thing in my wip list for months now and it feels good to be done with it. to reward myself, i bought a new book by some awesome people today and ordered a bunch of phildar mags last night. and it's been kind of rainy and cold in la this past week so i've gotten a bit of reading and knitting done. i am working on the shawl collar part of the debbie bliss astrakhan sweater. the construction seems a bit odd to me and i am not sure how it's going to fit at the moment, but i am trusting in ms. bliss to get me through this. that's all for today. have a fun fun weekend!

sweets

2006-03-26T17:25:00.000-08:00

strawberries are super cheap at ralphs this week so i went and bought a whole truckload of them and made these:

the recipe is easy peasy. all you do is melt some chocolate chips (i used semi sweet and bittersweet) in the microwave with a slice of butter (i think it makes it smoother but you could cut it out). obviously clean and dry the strawberries beforehand. dip them in melty chocolate and put on foil to cool. put in the fridge to harden. i tried to do white chocolate, too, but the white chocolate chips were not melting nice and it didn't work. i am bringing some in to work tomorrow for a birthday at work. i made brownies for the occasion, too. my oven still doesn't work very well but i am very good about watching it. the brownies only burned a teeny bit. i have some knitting finished but i don't have time to blog about it today. however, here is a preview:

i'm off to watch the east coast feeds of desperate housewives and grey's anatomy. happy sunday!

ikea

2006-03-19T22:13:00.000-08:00

and i had some issues with ikea today. my fabulous friend took me out to ikea to get this bookshelf because she has a big car. the shelf i wanted i tried to get myself, but i realized that the box was about 7 feet long. no way was i getting that in my car. so we get it, come home and dump out the parts on the ground. we started to bitch about how crappy the ikea directions are and how it's usually 3 pictures with arrows. bad move on our part as the swedish ikea gods decide to punish us for our blasphemy by not putting any instructions in the box. i was so annoyed and we did not want to go back to the store. luckily my friend and i were able to figure it out by looking at the picture online and now i have a lovley bookshelf for all of my knitting books and mags. everything was just crammed into one puny case and the floor before. i feel so much more streamlined and it makes me feel better being more organized. progress pics of my debbie bliss sweater and hopefully a finished object next time.

weekend update

2006-03-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

why does the weekend always fly by? last week was such a long week at work. 3 people were on vacation at various time and i basically had to do 3 people's job's at once. i was so happy when friday and st. patty's day finally hit. i did manage to wear green on friday, afraid of what my irish co-worker would do to me if i didn't. i also brought said co-worker to unwind during our lunch break. she's a hard core crocheter who's been meaning to to try knitting and i think she is going to sign up for a beginner class there. i was good, though, and used my gift certificate to buy just one thing. inspired by joy, i just couldn't wait to pick up the new rowan ryc beach book.

i'd love to make this lovely cabled concoction. i am sure i have some yarn that i could use for it in the stash, too. love me some cables.

i also got to see two good movies this weekend. went to see v for vendetta on friday night. very good and very thought provoking. it's a bit heavy handed at times and quite dark but i found it very interesting and well done. hugo weaving is excellent even if you never get to see his face and natalie portman is fantastic always and just looks luminous. i actually went out and bought the v for vendetta graphic novel right after and already, there are some big difference. but they are two separate things and i think i will enjoy both. tonight we saw thank you for smoking, which is only playing at one theater in la right now. it was really funny and witty and i enjoyed it a lot. aaron echkhart was so spot on and you just gotta see rob lowe's character. people like him are all over la. the only bad thing about it was katie holmes, who seem to deflate every single scene she's in. she's just not convincing in anything and i hate that sneer she does. but other than that, it is also a very thought provoking and entertaining film. there's been a draught of good films because the oscars just came by and it's nice to see things picking back up.

just realized that grey's anatomy is on so i must run. hope everyone had a great weekend!

sleevage

2006-03-09T23:19:00.000-08:00

and we have sleeves!

sleeves done on the db astrakhan sweater and i have started the back. it's really fun working with this yarn and i like the cool texture it makes. it's so cold today in la. i don't know if it's just my apt but my fingers and toes are just freezing. even knitting wool isn't warming me up. i have to go shopping today to find a dress for a wedding i am in. i went shopping last week but i found hardly any dresses and the ones i did find were way fugly. so if anyone has any tips on where to get a nice dress, give a holla. otherwise, i'll be in bridesmaid hell for the weekend. :(

new addition

2006-03-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

picked up a new book this weekend while i was shopping. leigh radford's one skein. i haven't really gone through it yet but i thought i'd post some pics of a few of the projects i like. i have loads of single skeins running about the stash and thought this would be a good way to find something to do with them. it's well photographed (not by me, though, as you can see the blurry pics) and the projects are fun. i think it's a keeper.

post

2006-03-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

a few notes on tonight's academy awards. (SPOILERS - don't read if you haven't watched the awards on your tivo yet) can't believe that reese witherspoon won over felicity huffman. so happy that rachel weisz won (she's not a prizefighter, spanky!) and also happy that amy adams was nominated (fantastic in junebug). was happy that paul giamattic finally got nominated for something (even if he didn't win). george clooney is awesome. philip seymor hoffman is great but i would have liked to see david strathairn win. yay for ang lee. he's brilliant. i was disappointed that crash won for best picture because even though it was good, i don't think it was as good as brokeback, good night and good luck or munich (haven't seen capote yet so i can't say). and yay for wallace and gromit winning. i still need to buy that dvd.

now onto what everyone was wearing. george clooney, eric bana and jake gyllenhaal were yummy. salma hayek was hot. what was up with the bow on charlize theron's shoulder? it was massive. i didn't understand michelle william's dress at all, though i did like her hair. and where was all the color? seems like the hot colors this year were black, brown and some sort of flesh tone. c'mon people, it's the academy awards. live it up a little. and that's my mini rant about the oscars. i don't normally watch but i was kind of interested this year. and with the magic of tivo, i can forward through the boring bits. oh - and of course there was jon stewart.jon stewart is always good to watch. that's all i have for tonight. good night, and good luck. :)

yipee-ki-yay

2006-03-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

i just got back from seeing 16 blocks, and i have to say that it was pretty entertaining. bruce willis is always playing the grizzled cop, but he's always so good. love me some bruce willis. mos def was quite good, too, and i'd recommend it if you're looking for a decent action/drama this weekend. but at the beginning of the movie, they must have showed us at least 6 trailers. i thought it was never going to end. and nothing looked good except for inside man and v for vendetta. i can't even remember the other ones, they were so bad. wait- there was one for basic instinct 2 with sharon stone trying to look really badass but just coming off as cheesy. were there really that many unanswered questions in the original to warrant a sequel 14 years later? i think not. in other news - i ordered some color cards from beaverslide yarns the other day and take a look:

isn't it pretty? it's really so helpful to have color cards and i find myself ordering them as much as possible now. nothing like ordering yarn and being disappointed when it gets there. but they have some great colors and i am sure i will be ordering something from them soon. well that's all the strength i can muster for a post tonight. night, all.

fuzzy goodness

2006-02-27T21:46:00.000-08:00

i got this in the mail last week...

to make this jacket from debbie bliss simply soft...

the astrakhan yarn is fun to work with and makes the coolest texture. it takes a bit of getting used to at first. i kept splitting the curly part with the straight thread it was plied with but after awhile it started to go really smoothly. yes i chose the same color in the book. i've been doing that a lot lately and i don't know why. but i did get a really good deal on the yarn in a random ebay auction. nothing beats a good yarn deal. and i started on a sleeve in the hopes that i won't be banished to sleeve island later on. just get it out of the way. this is how it looks so far:

pardon my messy ends. and i still need to seam the atacama sweater and rip the sleeves on the green one. yeah yeah yeah. i'm having too much fun to worry about it right now. :)

wet socks

2006-02-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

wow, it's really raining hard right now. that's pretty unusual down here in southern california. it's so nice to snuggle up at home when it's pouring rain outside. it's supposed to continue for several days - yippee! since i was stuck inside tonight, i decided to buckle down and do a bit of seaming. over the weekend, i finished all of the parts of the rowan juniors sweater i am working on. i've never seamed a sweater so i was a bit apprehensive. i was able to join the shoulder seams using what i think was mattress stitch. then i picked up stitches for the collar. after picking up the stitches i realized that the pattern wanted me to just join one shoulder seam, pick up stitches and then knit the collar back and forth. since i had connected both shoulder seams, i would up picking up stitches in the round. it was a bit fiddly but i don't think there was a huge difference in the outcome.

my first shoulder seam. looks ok to me.

ooh a collar!

so tonight i decided to put at least one sleeve on. i lined it up with the armhole shaping and i was off! but then, something looked odd. after seaming one sleeve it looked like the arm was much longer than the body. i know kids are gangly, but this wasn't right. a look at the pattern tells me that the sleeve should measure 11 inches. how long was mine? how 'bout 15 inches? i thought about just leaving it and hoping the kid had long arms. but then i took the other sleeve out to measure only to find that this one was only 13 1/2 inches long. counting on the kid having long arms was one thing, but long AND uneven? so i ripped out all my pretty seaming and put the sleeves away to be ripped out and made shorter (and the same length). :(

something is fishy here...

and i was so excited to find out that michaels is starting to carry patons merino yarn. i scored two balls of "natural mix" this weekend and am not sure what i will do with it, but i do love me some real wool yarn at the craft store.

and i got the new rowan mag in and was pretty disappointed. i just didn't think there were very many cute knits in there. however, the new kim hargreaves collection is up and i think it's lovely. how i wish she were still at rowan. well i am off to knit and watch 24 now. happy mondays.

brownie bites are my friend

2006-02-19T22:08:00.000-08:00

ugh, i so have the headache that will not die right now. but fear not, for i have taken some advil and had a big glass of water and i am confident that it will go away soon. the good news is that i don't have to go to work tomorrow. it's so exciting not to be at work on a day you normally are. i don't have any plans really except to sleep late and get caught up on lost. i love lost, but for some reason, the beginning of the season was so intense that i just started to put off watching it every week. now i am 9 episodes behind (i know i know, practically a whole season) and i have friends threatening to disown me if i don't catch up so they can talk about what's happening. hopefully i will be able to watch a good chunk of those episodes tomorrow. i've also recently become addicted to project runway. i just love watching them make clothes in such a short period of time. i wanted to be a fashion designer when i was in high school and i find the show fascinating. kara was wearing the cutest dress in this last episode and i found out that you can buy it from her website here (it's the kimono dress). i just wish it was a bit more affordable. i am not used to spending that much on a dress so i don't see myself buying it. but damn, it was cute.

speaking of sewing, i recently picked up this book:

i'd been seeing it on various blogs (can't remember which now) and was drawn to the awesome designs in it. i don't have a sewing machine or really know anything about sewing at all but this book is really inspiring me to learn. so if anyone has any other good sewing book suggestions or a recommendation for a starter sewing machine, please let me know. i don't really need another hobby, but sewing is something i've been wanting to do for awhile.

in other news, i am almost done with the last sleeve on the atacama sweater and i finished all of the pieces of the rowan kid's sweater i am making. once i finish the atacama sleeve, i will have a seaming party and do both sweaters. i am a little apprehensive, as i don't think i've ever actually assembled a whole sweater before. well i did do that one debbie bliss baby sweater, but it was made all in one piece. cross your fingers that everything turns out alright. and i apologize for the lack of pictures but the camera is still in the shop.

well my head is feeling a bit better so i think i will read a bit before going to bed. and if you're up, tune in to tbs cause o brother where art thou is on right now. tim blake nelson makes me laugh so much in this. night!