loopy

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







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

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

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

can't keep my eyes open

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


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


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


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

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



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



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

wish you were here

toxic fumes

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

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

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



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

dammit

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

look what i made this weekend:

team chocolate strawberries go!

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




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

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



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



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

blog this book

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


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


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


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

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

pizza night

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

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



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

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

lucky

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

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

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



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

singing in the rain

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

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



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



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

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



and the back:



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

tight pants

i'm so sorry that it's been so long since my last post. it's just been super super busy here the last couple of weeks and i feel like i barely have time to breathe, much less get any knitting done. thanks for all of the kind comments on the bonnet. i hope that the baby's mom likes it and that maybe they send me a picture of the baby wearing it.

the weekend was jam packed with fun. on sat night i went to spaceland to see a few bands play. i got some tickets at work and i figured that a free show would be a fun show. the headliner, vagenius, was really excellent. i know they have a terrible name but the music was very good and the lead singer played a keyboard that hung in front of her like a guitar. we also saw a new warner band called world leader pretend. they were also very good, except that i thought the lead singer was a bit melodramatic. you know, closing his eyes and starting the show with a sensitive piano ballad. ha.

sunday was beautiful here in la and i went to redondo beach with my friend. we'd both never been so we decided to see if there was anything worthwhile out there. the pier is very cool and lots of people were out fishing and just hanging out. we got a live crab (well they cooked it for us) and shared it. here is a picture of my friend getting ready to use the mallet:





it was very beautiful out but i had to run home to catch a screening of the film, the house of d. it's a coming of age story directed and written by david duchovny. my roommate is a huge huge fan so we had to go, especially once she found out that there was going to be a q& a afterwards. our friend actually works at the hall where they hold special screenings and he got us seats in the vip room. the movie was very good and the young lead was excellent. the only thing i didn't like about it (besides mr duchovny's goatee in the movie) was the framing device they used for the story. and robin williams is in it and he is very very good. my roommate was too chicken to talk to him afterwards but we did get in a few paparrazzi shots.



oh and kevin nealon was in the audience, as was one of the lone gunmen (xfiles ref). and tonight we just saw a small movie called the moguls. it stars jeff bridges and is about a group of people in a small town who decide to make and adult movie. it's very funny and sweet and not what you would expect at all. i think it's gonna be a hard sell to audiences but if you get a chance to at least catch it on video in the future, i think you should. and lest you think i have not been knitting at all, here are some fingerless gloves that i made my mom. pardon the crappy lighting.



they were a quick knit using some alpaca yarn that i got for $2 in the sale bin at a yarn store. for my mommy's cold hands. not much time for anything else these days. i am gonna try and get the front of cyd done in the next couple of weeks though. i've got a few rows of the hourglass sweater done but not enough to warrant a picture. anyway it's getting near my bedtime. i'll try to update again soon. good night!

popsey

thanks to everyone for wishing me good luck with the new job. i spent most of my last day training my replacement. all that talking just made me so tired. but i gave her my email address and told her to mail me if anything came up. so far, nothing. and my boss was so sweet and nice and i really was sad to leave.

but i got to spend a few days at home with my parents. that was a whole lotta fun as i always love a good trip home. sadly i didn't do any yarn shopping, but i really don't need anymore yarn, now do i? i actually did steal some of my mom's stash though, since she has no time to knit lately. i figure i will make her something nice with her own yarn. yeah. i gave me mom her scarf i made and she loved it. i lamely forgot to take a picture or her with it, though. well next time i promise. and we went to michaels in a last ditch attempt to find a ribbon for the baby set. my mom chose a purple gingham ribbon (i am not a huge fan of gingham as it makes me think of country picnic tableclothes) and i made her sew it in (cause i suck) and it turned out cute, i think. now i swear these will be the last pics of this damn set and no more lavender for awhile.


this is the whole kit n caboodle set. our friend is due in the next week or two, so
this set is right on time.


and a close up of the ribbon

i also finished a crotchless glove (as my friend calls them) for my mom. the other one will be completed soon. too lazy to take a pic so i will leave you with a gratuitous shot of my poor doggie getting a bath. he's the cutest!



oh and i got the new vogue knitting (it's alright) and i saw the summer interweave preview and it looks really good! i usually hate summer issues but this one looks like a winner. anyhow- hope everyone had a good monday and tuesday. i'll be back with job updates soon!

the weight of water

so tomorrow is my last day at work. it's a little sad because my boss is so cool, but i am sure i will get over it. they haven't found a replacement for me yet and i am worried that there will be a lot of things that they will not know how to do once i am gone. i have been making these little tutorials on word for the next person to read. i hope that they help.

well it's time for some pictures finally. i keep forgetting my cable at home so i am just posting from home right now. this is the lacy bonnet that i finished over the weekend.


i need a ribbon to make this bonnet stay. still looking for it.


the back of it looks pretty cool

pattern: lacy bonnet from erika knight's knitting for two
yarn: 1 skein ggh samoa in lavender
needles: us 5 metal
gauge: my bad, i didn't check it but they're the same size needles i used for the debbie bliss jacket in the same yarn
notes: the pattern was easy and well written, once i finally understood the whole yarnover thing. i almost ran out of yarn at the end so i stopped i think one row before the pattern specified. all in all an easy, fast knit.

also finished my mom's scarf today. these pics are pretty blurry but it's hard taking pics of yourself! oh well it's very soft and pretty and i hope that my mom likes it. i am gonna see her this weekend so i will let her have it then.



pattern: made it up, cast on 60 stitches and work 3 x 3 rib until desired length. i think mine came to about 5' 8" or so.
yarn: lana gatto something or other. i gotta look for the ball band.
needle: us 10 clover
notes: not much to say really except that the yarn was a bit hard to work with. it was a skinny boucle that was a pain but it made a really nice soft and squooshy fabric.

that's all i have for right now. i hope that friday goes by fast so i can come home and take a nap. i always want to take naps lately but never do. i am going to try to get to a yarn store this weekend for some pink lamb's pride to make a cute bunny. i know i should use something in the stash but i only have blue lp and i really want to make it in pink or something girly and easter worthy. more pics when i get back from the weekend and tales from the NEW JOB next week. have a great easter!

**oh my- i am uploading songs to the ipod now from cds i have lying around and guess what cd i am putting on right now? the spice girls "spice" album. oh yeah. you know you want some of that action.

get some tail

i just found the most awesome bunny pattern here. i can't remember which blog mentioned it because i was doing some major blog surfing, but it's so cute! check out some of her other knitted toys and you will get a toothache. i love the two headed guy and she uses lamb's pride, one of my favorite yarns. i will definitely have to make a bunny for easter.

it's a wet day here today and i don't mind, except that my pant legs are all soggy. and then they got my socks all soggy and now my calves are wet. ew. sorry no pics at the moment, as my usb cable is at home. hopefully i will get some good knitting done tonight. it's all about rain, soup, and knitting!

why do you love me?

i am listening to the new garbage single right now and i love it. did i tell you that my awesome roommate got us tickets for my birthday? i guess she is on kroq's mailing list and got in on the presale, while i tried to get tickets the normal way and couldn't. i can't wait to see them in april.

tonight i am going to have a mini knit night with my friend vanessa. we're gonna get some zankous chicken (you have to have this if you ever come to la) and are gonna put p.s. in the dvd player for a nice, quiet night. i think i will work on my mom's scarf or the front of cyd. we'll see what i feel like doing when the time comes.

work is just like every other day today. my boss still hasn't said whether or not they are going to try and find someone this week to replace me or not. i hope they do so that i can train them. i don't think they realize all of the things i do here and i don't want them to be in a lurch once i am gone. maybe he's in denial.

drippy

it's been a little wet this weekend in la, but i don't really mind. yesteday i went on a litle yarn run over to santa monica and visited yarns unlimited and wildfiber. stupid me didn't bring the directions to wildfiber so i had to drive around for awhile before i eventually found it. i must say that it is a very nice store. they had a large selection of rowan and ggh, noro, and manos. mmmm. prices were a bit inflated. a dollar or more above what i usually find. i had to stop myself from getting some ggh kid mohair and manos. and they had a lot of koigu, which was really nice to see. it's $1 more than where i usually get it but the selection of colors is so much better. and they had a whole 30% off room, but i didn't find anything to my liking in there. however, you can't leave a yarn store empty handed, so i bought some of those 12in plastic clovers circs (in anticipation of my cash iroha sweater) and some bamboo straights in 3 and 4.

i did better at yarns unlimited and got an old interweave knits and a back issue of rebecca. they always have good prices there, even if the presentation isn't the poshest. also picked up a skein of black cascade 220 for some rainbow thrummed mitts.



love me some old issues of rebecca and interweave.

*update* sunday: went out to pasadena with my friend vanessa in an attempt to find some damn matching ribbon for the baby bonnet. apparently cute ribbon with lavender in it does not exist. we actually tried to go to this one fabric store listed online as being in burbank first. but when we got to the address, it was an apartment. maybe the business was in their house or the garage but i totally didn't feel like knocking on someone's door and finding out. too creepy for me. so off we went to pasadena. there we had a delicious lunch at bar celona (ha). we had some fried almods and patas bravas tapas. i wish i had my camera to take a picture of it. i love food pictures. and i had a great burger with mahon cheese and paprika fries. i loved barcelona (the city) and hope to go back someday.

we stopped by skein while we were there, too. the shop is very cute but it was so stuffy in there. they had a nice selection of yarns but prices were a bit steep. the owners were super nice but i kept getting this strange feeling. she showed us shop samples of ponchos and odd wraps and when she rung up my purchase she wrote down when the knitting lessons were. i am sure that she meant well but i felt a bit insulted that she thought i should take knitting lessons to make ponchos out of novelty yarn. is that snotty of me? but they did have an excellent selection of back issues of patterns (old bouton d'or, vogue, rebecca, and dale) and i got yet another rebecca and ik spring 2003. my bad.

but let me show you what i picked up from the post office on sat.


now what could this be?


variegated goodness all for me!

look at the lovelies that my secret pal sent me. i have so been wanting the handy book of knitting patterns. and the knit picks sock yarn is sooooo nice! love the green and purple. i can't wait to make me some squishy socks out of them. thanks so much, sp, you rock!

so about the new job- this coming week will be my last week at my old job. i love my boss to death but it was just time to move on. i will be getting a pay raise and benefits and will have access to a huge music catalog. i will be assisting two people in the sych dept (aka licensing) at warner music. they seem really cool and ii am excited but a bit apprehensive about doing new work and meeting new people. i totally thought i blew the interview by being honest and maybe too mell0w (but i am mellow). i guess they liked me enough to offer me the job. will let you all know how it goes after next week. i can't believe the weekend is over already.

epiphany

many thanks to the wonderful stephanie and karyn at unwind for helping me out last night. i had the yarnover all wrong. i always thought that the yarnover was: pulling yarn to front and knitting next stitch to create an extra stitch. that's what they show you in books, but they lie! yarnover only means to bring the yarn to the front. if you knit the stitch after it, the pattern will say to k1. and that's why all of my counts were off when i did anything with yarnovers. i would automatically knit the stitch and then read the pattern and knit another stitch or whatever. now it all makes sense. but why don't they tell you that in the books? it always says to bring yarn forward and knit next stitch. damn them. but look at what i was able to do:



that's the lacy bonnet from erika knight's knitting for two. i hope to finish by tonight. and of course i couldn't leave the store empty handed. this is what i got (thanks for the giftcard, vanessa!).



yes, vintage knits and the baby bobbi bear pattern. i gotta make mini bobbi bear! he's too adorable. and progress on cyd:



i am actually finished with the back at this point. the directions for the shoulders seemed a bit off to me, but i have never really done any shoulders before, so who knows. will hopefully go to the fabric store this weekend to check out some ribbon. michael's and joann's just ain't cutting it.

oh and i got the job. more on that later.

peanut breath

well i broke down today and bought this cash iroha on ebay. i really want to make the hourglass sweater from last minute knitted gifts. that's color 64, teal. i can't find it anywhere so maybe it is an old color. now i have at least enough yarn to make 4 sweaters. 4, people! i haven't even finished my first one yet. but cyd is going well so far. i just have to figure out the short row shaping for the shoulders so i can try that three needle bindoff everyone keeps talking about. i have been sidetracked this week with my mom's shawl and the baby bonnet i need to make. i am apparently yarn over impaired and will be heading over to unwind tonight to get some professional help.

monday blues

thanks for all the well wishes on the interview. i think it went ok. well i know it didn't go horribly but i know i was probably not as energetic as most people at an interview are and i don't talk myself up well. truly i am not even sure if i want the position. i feel like i need to change direction and do something else with my life. but money counts and i can't afford to just wander about while waiting to figure out what i want in life. oh sigh.

but i did have a lovely weekend. much to show and share (aka birthday loot) but it will have to wait until i get home tonight. big thanks to my secret pal for the ecard. those piggies are just too cute.

jittery

i am kind of freaking out right now, as i have an interview in an hour. i don't even know if i want the position but my friend passed my resume along. it's high time i kicked the job search into gear but i am just not ready! i really hate interviews. i get nervous and i am not good at talking about myself, which is what you do at an interview. cross your fingers for me that it's not a total disaster.

sugar coma

i have a big hole in the heel of my sock right now. it feels really strange. i was gonna post a picture of it but then thought better of it. i had to wake up early this morning to be at the post office right when the opened so that i could pick up a package and still try to make it to work on time. my sp4 sent me something over the weekend but my mailman just left me that lame little note in my box instead of putting it by the door like he usually does. maybe it was a different postman, who knows? but look at what was inside:


candy! my sp4 said it's for the movies and whatnot. mmm- i ate the haribo roulettes already and have bottle caps, red vines, bubble gum (had a piece of that, too) and gummi bears to go. yummy! i love all of these candies so thank you, sp!

and here is a bit of progress on cyd:


that's just the boring back piece. i am almost through one ball of yarn and i figure i am about halfway done with the back. so far the luxury tweed has been working up nicely. it's got some loose hair floating around but i don't mind and my stitches look very even.

i also ordered a peace fleece color card today because i really want to try some of their dk weight yarn. and maybe the worsted. the colors look so rich that i just had to see them for myself before committing. tonight's gonna be another veg night. ah the joy.