blueberry surprise

this is the beginning of the koigu gauntlets i am making my roommate for christmas. koigu is so nice....

i spent last night with my friend knitting and watching the muppet christmas special (not good). she is making fern from the new rowan and i am there to help her out. but rowan patterns can be so vague sometimes that it is just frustrating. it just says "decrease at each end of following 5 rows" but they don't tell you what kind of decrease to use. i mean many knitters can probably figure this out on their own but my friend and i are both new knitters and it would be nice if they at least gave us a suggestion of what to do. why oh why do you make such pretty designs and then have vague directions?

flying turkeys

i hope everyone had a good thanksgiving. i got to visit home for 4 whole days and it was lots of fun. my mom made a delicious turkey and the best part, all the side dishes! sometimes i think i can live on side dishes alone. i got some knitting done, too.

what's this? why it's a completed knit.
pattern: basic cable hat from stitch n bitch nation
yarn: brown sheep lamb's pride limeade (less than 1 skein)

needles: us 6 bamboo for the ribbing, us 7 denises for the rest of it.
notes: easy peasy pattern. looks great in the lamb's pride. love this yarn so much! it looked like the hat was gonna be a bit short so i added 2-3 rows of ribbing before starting the cable and i added a whole cable repeat before decreasing to make sure it was long enough. it turned out just right so i would suggest that most people add some length to it unless they have a really small head. my head's not that big and i think it would definitely have been too short done as stated. oh and no pom pom for me.

pattern: midnight knitter's mittenettes
yarn: 1 skein manos del uruguay in 111, eclipse, a gorgeous colorway with orange, purple, blue and pink
needles: us 6 bamboo dpn
notes: this yarn is so luscious and beautiful. single ply, a little thick and thin with the most gorgeous colors. i die. definitely a desert island yarn. pattern was super simple and i love them! they keep my hands toasty while my fingers are still free to do stuff. go make some now. they only took me a few hours total. great for those single skeins and leftovers you might have.

and what's this? a little added to the stash? click on the thumbnail to see what i got this weekend.

gobble gobble

i was gone last weekend for a birthday party in northern california. i drove up with friends on friday morning. i finished the flap of the second convertible mitten on the way up and they were a hug smash at the party. no one could believe that i had made them and they fit my friend's hands perfectly. phew. my roommate took a picture of him wearing the mitts and i'll post those when i get them. all in all a very nice weekend. my mom had to work so i only saw her for a little bit but a little bit is better than nothing. i'll be driving back home this thursday anyways for thanksgiving. man i love me some stuffing and green bean casserole.

i finished the cabled hat from snb nation last night. no camera to take a picture of it. sadly my camera is not going to be fixed. i've had it for less than a year but it is not repairable. damn sony. i might try and get a new one with my christmas bonus but we'll see. but the hat turned out very nice and i love working with the brown sheep lamb's pride. i like how it is single ply and all that. which reminds me that i picked up this great hand knit vest from a thrift store while i was at home. yes hand made by banana republic (back when they had bananas on their label). the yarn is very much like the lamb's pride and i plan to unravel it and make a nice sweater. not bad for $3.50. :)

photo wednesday

yes here is my copy of stitch n bitch nation finally. i looked through it a bit last night but didn't have time to read all of the articles as i was exhausted after the screening of house of flying daggers and a pit stop at pink's hot dogs (mmm...chili). the movie was pretty good. i thought the plot was a bit cheesy, but that might have been the bad translations. and zhang yimou always has the most beautiful cinematography and choreography. and costumes! love them. check out his other movies, hero, raise the red lantern, and to live to get a feel for this great director.

these are the three patterns that i really want to make in the book right now. i love those armwarmers and the colorway is perfect. sadly the one place i know of that carries noro doesn't have it. and i don't want to pay shipping to order it so i am just going to have to wait. :( i am going to make the cabled hat in some lime green lamb's pride that i have in the stash.

next up, my finished koigu gauntlets:


pattern: elegeant gauntlets from the purl stitch by sally mellville
yarn: koigu kpppm (can't remember which colorway right now but the pic is pretty true)
gauge: recommended gauge for size small/med using size 3 dpns, size 2 for ribbing
notes: very easy pattern and lovely results. i only altered it a bit by using a smaller needle for the ribbing to make it tighter. i also shortened the thumb and hand a bit as i have small hands. i bought another colorway to make my roommate some for christmas. she is oddly attracted to them and when she wears them she is compelled to do ninja/wonder woman likes moves with the gauntlets.



and these are for my friend's birthday (today!) but he is having a party on sat up in northern california. yes we are roadtripping back to my hometown to party it up. they are convertible mittens and i still have half a glove to go and the mitten tops. this pattern is quite annoying and they make huge gloves. this is fine as he has large paws but i don't understand how it would fit anyone else. i will have to show you pictures with my hands in it next time for scale. i need to get these done before we leave on friday. wish me luck!

stitch n bitch nation

barnes and nobled finally got my copy of stitch n bitch nation in. none of the stores in la have it yet. i know because i was at two yarn stores and 3 bookstores this weekend and no luck i ran over there during my lunch break and picked it up. i haven't read any of the features in it yet but i can already tell that i don't like it as much as stitch n bitch. not that it's bad but it just seems to have more novelty knit items (cozies, fishnets, headbands) than i would like. but some people really like things like that and might have not liked the first one because it didn't have any. but there are definitely a few patterns that i would like to make so i will keep it. i'll let you know how it is after i read some of the articles. and i know i don't like the cheesy photos of models superimpsed onto exotic locales.

well i am off to a screening of house of flying daggers tonight. i hope it's good....

tgif

no, i didn't move away to a bush free country. i've just been too lazy to post since i still don't have pictures. but fear not, as i am still knitting every day. i finished my arm warmers and they are blocking on my floor right now. i really like them. i followed sally mellville's pattern without alteration and they look great. i am currently working on a pair of convertible mittens for a friend's birthday next weekend. i substituted patons classic wool for lamb's pride worsted, which is a bit heavier and they look kinda big. but my hands are really small so i can't measure for sure. i am going to make one and see if it's too big or not.

i saw the motorcycle diaries last night (finally) and it was amazing. it was beautifully shot and the actors were top notch (and good looking to boot). it's about revolutionary ernesto "che" guevara and a trip he took through south america when he was 23. everyone kind of knows him from what he did later but this takes a look at what he was like when he was full of idealism and doubt. i think a trip like that would change anybody. i have always had a love for the open road and this movie just makes me want to pack up and travel. go see it if you haven't yet.

have a great friday and great weekend!

good mourning

i can't really get into it but yesterday was a sad sad day. another four years? how could you fail me, america? i need some ice cream now....anyone in new zealand want to house some americans for four years?

onto happier topics- i forgot to take pics of my koigu arm warmers. one is just about complete. all i have to do is make the thumb. it's a really great pattern and easy peasy to follow. i thought that the new stitch n bitch was going to be out this week but i think they pushed it back another week. why? now i have to wait and i even had a borders coupon this week. guess i'll just have to use it on something else.

wait some good news. i have screening passes to see alfie tonight. jude law is too hot for words and the movie is all him. hopefully that will make me forget the mess we're in for a couple of hours. yay.

countdown to the recount

hello, i hope you had a good halloween. no costumes this year for me but i did go see a scary movie or two. note to self: not a good idea when your roommate is out of town. i hope you all go out and vote today. i did it early this morning before work. last night was spent with a few friends going over all of the props and making sure i didn't miss anything. please please go out and vote today. you can't complain about the way the world is if you don't participate in it.

and this is something fun i found at south park website. go here to make your own south park character. i sorta look like this. my hair is usually kind short/mid length but right now it's actually really long because i have been too lazy to get a haircut for awhile. i love south park. go see team america right now if you haven't yet. i think my roommate is going to buy the soundtrack today. whoopee!

been working on some secret stuff, so i can't say much. also bought some koigu (my first) to make the arm gauntlets from sallly melville's the purl stitch. maybe pics tomorrow since my roomie is back with her camera.

please V-O-T-E.

the great pumpkin, charlie brown

i am sad today because last night i came home to find my pirate pumpkin deflated. it had started to mold yesteday but i had no doubt that it would last until the weekend. however i was wrong and it was all squishy when i got home last night. it was pretty gross trying to dump it. is there some special method to keep your carved pumpkin fresh? i don't remember doing anything special when i was younger and they seemed to last. poo now we don't have anything for halloween.

started on some red mittens from lamb's pride bulky last night. nothing much to say about them, but i hope to have some new pics up next week.

weekend madness

it's been a little while since my last post. you must pardon me but i've had a packed weekend. most of the weekend was spent having a dead like me season two marathon with my two goods friends (who are married to each other). since my roommate is gone for another week, we had the whole place to ourselves. it took some stamina but we went through at least 12 episodes. we also carved a pumpkin (into a pirate face- arrrr!) and got to explore glendale a bit. i was looking for a halloween costume but really didn't like anything. i might have to opt of of it this year and just go see a scary movie instead.

since i was watching so much tv this weekend i got a lot of knitting done. the chevron scarf is just about done and i worked some more on the cabled one. my friend also knits (but she says she only does it around me) and has been working on a really pretty ribbed scarf for awhile now. she finished it this weekend and wore it out to dinner on sat. we took some pictures with her camera but she has to email them to me.

i also started the knitting bag from the hollywood knits book. i got it from my local library and the bag uses two knitting needles as handles. it worked up super fast in lamb's pride bulky. i have a ton of the stuff in the stash but not in any colors i wanted to use. so i actually went to suss design (open sundays!) and got a skein of black to use with some leftover charcoal grey yarn. since it's been kind of cold here lately things are taking a long time to block and dry. hopefully i will be able to seam it up tonight. and i recently ordered hollywood knits style from overstock.com and it just came yesterday. you're going to think i am a dork but i got it because gina torres is in it and she was in the tv show, firefly, that i am now obsessed with. plus there was a bag pattern in there that i really liked. it's similar in tone to weekend knitting but i prefer weekend knitting over this one. but some of the stuff is really cute and it wasn't a bad price so i am ok with it. plus- db sweeney is in it. hello- the cutting edge! "toe pick!"

i am sorry i am without camera. i know it sucks and if you actually read this, i commend you.

moist

yay! it's raining here in la! i love the rain and we get so little of it, that i rejoice when it does sprinkle a bit. it's so funny what they consider a "big storm" down here. it's barely even wet and everyone is freaking out. i love it.

the weekend was spent hanging out with good friends and watching lots of tv indoors. actually did go see team america on friday and it's damn hilarious. love those south park boys. this movie is not for those easily offended and have no sense of humor, be warned. the songs made us laugh out loud. the theme song goes, "america, fuck yeah!" and that's a pretty good indication of how the movie is. it's very tongue in cheek and we had a good laugh.

started a small cabled scarf using rachael's good ole cabled scarf pattern. just using some navy lamb's pride worsted i got when i first started knitting. i ripped out my noro multidirectional scarf to make a chevron stripe scarf. i just didn't think i would ever wear the other one so rip it goes. i wish i had pictures to show you but my roommate just went home for a couple of weeks and took her camera with her. so i will be photo-less for awhile. :(

balls

orange labrador scarf (sorry i don't have a better name)
yarn: crystal palace labrador
needles: us 15
pattern: good ol' seed stitch

i finished this scarf last week but haven't gotten around to putting up a pic until now. it's quite lacy and bumpy and i really like it. now i just have to wait for it to get cold enough in la to actually wear it. or go someplace cold for the holidays. :)

and here's bobbie bear in his finished glory!
pattern: blue sky alpaca bobbie bear
yarn: cascade pastanza (i think)
needles: us 5

i had a heck of a time picking up the stitches around his butt area. it just didn't look too great. i didn't take a picture of it but oh well, i tried my best. and the embroidery on his face is kind of whack because i don't know how to embroider. i used worsted yarn so he only ended up being about 7-8 inches tall instead of the 2 feet he is supposed to be. i'd love to make him in the bulky alpaca someday. too bad it's so expensive.

i made a ribbed hat from some rowan big wool in the stash two nights ago. i just needed a quick fix and something mindless for tv watching, you know? i don't have anything mindless right now for watching movies and stuff so i gotta get something started. oh and i ripped bloom back. i kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches and it was just annoying. not sure if or when i will start her up again. it's so cute but do i really wear vests?

last night i was out late at a bowl a thon for a great organization called coachart. they're a non profit that gives children with life threatening diseases free lessons in the arts. it's just great and the bowl a thon was a lot of fun. i am such a bad bowler and my arm hurts today. it was all worth it though for that one strike. hope everyone's fridays fly by. i am going to see team america tonight. yay- i've been waiting for it to come out and it's supposed to be hilarious! have a great weekend!

laundry fresh

i can't believe it's monday again! man- is there some way to make time go slower on the weekends? well i had a nice, relaxing weekend at least. saturday night i went out to the hollywood bowl to see norah jones play. it was my first time at the bowl and it's a nice venue. norah sounded amazing and we sat somwhere in the middle. we weren't super close but we could have been way further back. oddly, the man behind us decided to take a nap on his girlfriend's lap. not the way i would choose to spend a concert, but whatever. then he started to snore. loudly. and his girlfriend didn't take it upon herself to wake him up. is something wrong with this picture or is it just me? the rest of the evening was spent making hanging out with friends and making s'mores for my friend's birthday. she lives with her mom and the two cutest bassett hounds ever. who knew they were such big dogs? so i had fun petting the puppies.

a little bit of knitting done. i did a some secret knitting for my secret pal, so i can't show it to you. also picked up bloom again after working out what the heck the pattern was talking about at the neck shaping. i really want to make a nice scarf from pam allen's scarf style book. there is one made with 4 ball of karabella aurora 8 that is lovely. they all are, really.

i love the fall. bring on the pumpkins and cold weather!

mixed nuts

last night i went out with my roommate and friends to celebrate my roomie quitting her job working for satan. ok- her boss wasn't really satan but she was pretty close. and the funny thing is that the news took her boss totally by surprise. she is just clueless as to how poorly she treated her assistant and is oblivious to the fact that this might be the reason she has had a new assistant every year. my roomie was so anxious about work that she woke up in the mornings wanting to throw up and walked around the office afraid that her boss would yell at her for things that were not her fault. thank goodness she finally quit.

i re-started the bikini bottom from stitch n bitch. i just found at that my friend who i was making the bikini for is moving to albany, ny after the new year and i'd like to give it to her before then. not that she is going to need a knit bikini in the winter of ny, but i'd still like to finish it. let's see if i can defeat the intarsia heart this time.

i also got a bunch of new knitting books in the other day. i joined the crafters choice club, which is basically like bmg music club but for crafting books. i got 5 (gasp!) books at once. lemme tell you, i was in heaven. i received scarf style by interweave, debbie bliss junior knits, simple knits with a twist, the new edgings book by nicky epstein, and hip to crochet. i haven't look through everything thoroughly yet but the scarf style is brilliant and junior knits looks really cool. love debbie bliss. on sat, received a package from sp3 full of goodies. i keep forgetting my camera but i'll have pictures soon. thanks sp3!

an another note i have to admit that i have become addicted to the tv show firefly. it lasted only one season and everyone was telling me that i should watch it. finally got disc 1 on netflix, watched it, got disc 2 and am now hooked. it's such a fun show and i love the dynamic between all the characters. i am so sad knowing that once i blow through all the dvds, there will be nothing left. actually they just filmed a movie version of the show so hopefully that will tie up all the loose ends. i need to buy the dvd set now.

more stuff to buy and no $$. c'est la vie.

it's a rainbow

i started this scarf over the weekend. i had this yarn in my stash and just never got around to making anything with it. it's thick thin wool crystal palace labrador. the color is utterly luscious and tangerine. it's done in seed stitch to show off the texture of the yarn. i quite like it.


here's a closeup of the stitch. nice and textured.


and this is my friend bobbi bear. i like the fact that there isn't much to seam on him, but i am so not good at picking up stitches. i think it just looks bad. there needs to be a whole chapter on picking up stitches from different sides, with pictures! frustration.

i finally got the killers cd. i have been wanting it forever and am grooving to it at work. so much good music around lately. need to get the new joss stone and interpol sometime, too. hope everyone has a great weekend.

jungle green

my friend sent me this link, http://x-entertainment.com/articles/0913, and it is so funny. please visit it and laugh your ass off. i should buy a new box of crayons.

went to the post office today to send off my part of a trade for a fleece artist thrum mitt kit (so excited) and let me just say that going to the post office is a practice in patience and tolerance. in line with me was also what could possibly be the most annoying woman on the planet. clad in a pink, velour sweatsuit (who looks good in these?), she was unprepared, rude, wore too much perfume, and had a huge sense of entitlement that made me want to smack her upside the head. i don't know where these people come from but sometimes i think they like to congregate at the post office. sheesh.

bookmobile

i can open my own book store with all of the books i have bought lately. since i last posted, i used my 40% joann coupon to get the purl stitch by sally melville and then a michaels coupon to get the knit stitch. some of the patterns are a little too "old" for me, but sally has a lot of really good tips and i do like a few of the patterns. i also got my 3 new phildar magazines from knit n tyme yesterday. i loooove the '03-04 automne book. so many sweaters i want to make from that one. i just need to get me some phildar yarn. why oh why are you not in the states, phildar? can't you see that we love you, too?

and of course i have knitting add so i started a quick new project this weekend. it's a slubby orange scarf in crystal palace labrador. i bought the yarn for it awhile ago but never got around to starting it. i've gone through one ball and have one more to go.

and we lost our mail key this week. we only got one so my roommate and i have been leaving it on the table, etc. but it has since disappeared. i actually think i lost it since i was the last person to get the mail last week. left a message with the manager but no word yet. i just hope the postman doesn't get mad at us for a full box. he might just give us junk mail from now on. :(

look ma, two hands!

i finally finished my mom's green mitts and they are ready to send off. not much has gotten done this week. it's just been one of those work weeks where it just drags on forever. i can't believe that it is finally friday. i am so so happy.

this is a close up of the sierra quatro yarn. it's 4 ply with different colors. it's a very nice yarn and i would definitely work with it again.

and i've been going a little book crazy. found a 40% off coupon for joann's and used it at two stores. got katharina buss' big book of knitting and nancie wiseman's book of finishing techniques. love knitting books. i really want a big stitch dictionary book now. and i also joined crafter's choice and ordered a boatload of books. somebody stop me!

secret pal III strikes!

ooh look what i got in the mail the other day- present from my sp3. it included two luscious skeins of mohair from halcyon yarns in the brightest, most fun colors. also included was a kickass lip balm (how did you know i was addicted to the balm, sp3?) and a cool card. i've never used mohair before so this should be a treat! thanks, secret pal!

that reminds me that i really need to send my secret pals some pressies. i have stuff for them, i just need to package it up and get to the post. lazy me.

FO! finally pics of the hermione hat i finshed last night. it's still blocking on my floor but these pics will give you a good idea of what it looks like.

here is the start of the ribbing and then- tada! unblocked and super skinny. after a nice warm wash in eucalan, however, it softened right up. now it'll fit a human head.


pardon the crappy lighting but it was the best i could do this morning. the pattern was very well written and as it was my first cable project, i think i did ok. dpns and cabling hurt the hands a bit but it was worth it. it really only took me about a week, doing it on and off at night to finish it and it looks so much more complicated than that. it's gonna go in the christmas gift drawer. see how early i am starting?

nummy

i just need to say that i can't wait for stitch n bitch nation to come out. it's the book that started it all for me and i just know that its sequel is going to be great.

tomorrow i have pics of the almost completed hermione cable and bobble hat. the weekend was tiring, as i was running around trying to surprise my friend for her birthday. sunday was spent building shelves and hanging stuff for the new place, and we still have tons to do. however, we did manage to see both wimbledon and ass captain (aka sky captain) and both were highly enjoyable. wimbledon is quite a cheesy romantic comedy but it's great to watch paul bettany in a starring role. the way they shot the tennis was cool, too. and ass captain was phenomenal from a technical viewpoint, as the cgi sets looked very good. i liked the whole look of the movie and the story was pretty good. it has excellent pacing. very different and cool.

well this post doesn't have much knitting content but more tomorrow. i am going to watch my friend play some softball tonight. so wish her team luck!