My Flat Clapotis

I am all done with my Clapotis. Although it isn't really mine. It's for my mom for her birthday in a couple weeks. Is it really going to be April this weekend? How can that be? Was is not just New Years? Anyway, I digress...

Here she is...My Flat Clapotis.

I used my Duet from Brooks Farm Yarn that I picked up at Stitches in February. It is a pretty colorway of mostly natural colors with hints of gray. My mom is a mostly natural person, but I thought the gray would give her a little versatility. I wasn't sure how much of the 600 yards mentioned in the pattern I would actually need, so I wasn't sure how far my 500 yards of Duet would get me. With my straight 8s, I ended up making it 10 repeats wide and then I blocked it flat to widen it back out again. I'm not positive, but I think I could have made a full Clapotis with one hank because I have quite a bit left over.


In fact, I have so much left over that I was thinking about adding fringe to the ends. But, when I tried it on for the first time, I really liked how it fell. My mom isn't a very froofy person anyway, so I figure I'll let her decide if she wants the fringe. The yarn was really nice to work with. It didn't shed all that much and although I was a little worried after I washed the campfire smell out (it got a bit fuzzy), it slicked right back down again after it dried.

And because I am really missing Jenny tonight (my mom was telling me a cute story of Jenny running like heck up and down their slope this morning), here is a little reminder of what a cutie pie she is...

I can't wait until my family is back together in a week or so. As I told B earlier today, I'm over it. I'm ready for him to come home and I'm ready to go pick up Jenny. I would feel bad leaving her for so long, but I know how much she likes hanging out with her kitty friends at mom and dad's house. Apparently she's been trying to get them to play with her, but they don't know quite what to do with her when she starts barking. And she thinks they are funny because they have no noses. Well, none quite like hers.

Good yoga is hard to find

2 posts in one day- get out!

There are so many variables to having a good yoga experience. I know that, I tell people that, and yet I seem to forget that sometimes. Or, sometimes when you try a new place or a new instructor (or both) you just have to hope for the best. Well, I did go to check out a yoga class ad lunch today, and I don't mean to dis (not you, Dis) my instructor today, because she was really cool, but that class was...not so much. It's just a personal preference, but I am not down with holding poses for minutes at a time, with no flow. Where are my sun salutations? Agh! (What am I like right now, missing sun salutations?) Wow, I really need to go back to Kara and Yoga Works...It's hard to not compare (and contrast, as the case may be), which is unfortunate for the other instructors out there, because Kara is amazing and her classes are fantastic. I really want to try to incorporate another yoga class during the week though, so I will try another class at this place at lunch next week. This other one is called "Hatha Flow" so I am hoping for more actual "flow." We'll see. All in all, I'm glad I went, because I needed to get moving, and I do feel somewhat better. Gonna go eat some lunch now. Hope everyone's having a good day!

Loose as a Goose

Right from day one I have been a tight knitter. I know it has something to do with my unrealistic quest for control, to micromanage, to make nice, neat, perfect little rows of tight little stitches. This "quality" I have has even resulted in frogging from time to time, most memorably with the Kyoto Disaster of 2005. However, something has changed.

I have been getting gauge fairly consistently with the suggested needle sizes for my last few projects. But what happened last night was truly shocking - I had to go down a size! My first attempt at knitting my Starsky gauge swatch in my ever-so-pretty Cranberry Sierra resulted in 3.5 sts per inch on 10s (the recommended needle size). I kept looking at the tape measure in disbelief. That can't be right! I must be getting that whole "logic of gauge" issue mixed up again (you know - more stitches per inch is smaller, not bigger). But, no. I was loose. I more or less got gauge with 9s, but it seems like I have to really work at it and it is still just bearly 4 sts per inch. I refuse to go down to 8s.

I wouldn't think too much about it except that this change seems to have come out of the blue and that means that it is also likely to vanish as quickly as it surfaced. I guess I will just have to keep an constant eye on it as I go, because the last thing I want to end up with is a mini-Starsky.

We officially kick off our unofficial Starsky-along on Saturday. An event, I will unfortunately have to be late for. Why? Because of manditory overtime. Our whole office is coming in for a part day. (I told you we've been busy.) I will get off work at 2:00 and high tail it to Rebecca's. Hopefully there will be at least a couple people still there ;-)

And finally, look who I found on line this morning. I guess it's good I ran into him on his sister's blog, because he hasn't gotten online today for our semi-regular lunch time video chat. Hopefully B will show up soon...

Case of the Blahs

What a blah day. Scratch that. What a blah week. I feel like I have so much in my head, that I can't focus on anything. And you might think that going a mile a minute would energize me. But, you would be wrong. I'm so tired- literally- sleepy, and physically sluggish. I attribute this to a few factors:

1. I haven't knit in over a week. Say what? That's right. Since finishing the baby set for the shower, I haven't had time to knit at all- what with packing and shower invitations to do (more on those later). Is it me, or does anyone else suffer from knitting withdrawals? Or, do you never let it reach that point? ;)

2. Packing and moving stress. Logically, I can look around the apartment and know that we have at least 85-90% of the apartment packed up. But you know it's the last 10-15% that is a killer! Right now it's everything in plain view (not yet in a box) that I'm finding very annoying. It also makes it look like there's still crap everywhere (because it's just sitting out there), and causes me to make a mental note that there are still things left to be packed. And I've moved enough in my adult life to know that it's those last minute items that you think will fit in the last box or shopping bag, that you can just carry out with you on your way out, that ends up taking up 3 boxes- and that's not including the last few items that you just throw in the dumpster because it's easier to dump than pack and move!

3. My body is (not a "wonderland" but rather) a nightmare. I've been a bad girl over the last few months when it comes to eating well and working out. My poor body. It hates me for not taking care of it and I hate it right back. I've been trying to get back on a routine (I was being so good for a while there), but it's so hard, when you're extra busy, to remember the importance of consistency when it comes to things like this. An excuse, I know, but what can I do?

"Change it," you say! Indeed! I am turning it around, starting now! I feel like crap, but I will make it better! I plan to check out a "lunchtime yoga" class at a studio near my work today at lunch. I really miss my Friday yoga classes, but I just haven't been able to make it there with all that's been going on lately. Hopefully this will help. And to add to the potential upswing of the day, I just received a delivery from our friends at Amazon, containing this book! Yay! If I can't knit today, I can at least look at knitting. :)

Anyway, sorry about the whiny, photo-less post. I just had to purge some of the blahness, I hope you don't mind too much. I promise to more cheery soon!

And speaking of cheery, I want to send some cheery thoughts to my peeps back home in Hawaii, who have been experiencing terrible rainstorms for over a month. Hang in there!

When you make an ASS out of U and ME

One thing that I have learned about knitting is that it is never a good idea to assume anything. Like when I assumed that because I was using the recommended needles and recommended yarn, I had the required gauge - WRONG. Like when I assumed what increase method my pattern called for when I didn't have the reference book with me because I was stuck on a plane and ended up getting huge holes nicely and evenly spaced around my sleeves - WRONG. (Hmmm, I wonder if that's why I never wear that sweater?)

When I picked up my orange Big Wool during the sale at Knitting in La Jolla, I happen to notice the fun orange and gray Biggy Print also on sale. I thought it would be cute to make my Gwen collar out of the Biggy Print, but couldn't decide if it really went with the orange Big Wool since the tones were similar but not the same in the Biggy Print. I was on my lunch break which meant I had all of 10 minutes to make my buying decision. Because I was on a yarn diet - I mean, I AM on a yarn diet - I decided to wait and just get the Biggy Wool. Then by the time I got back to the office, I remembered Biggy Print being on sale at WEBS, so I looked and there it was - for $4 less that at the LYS. After 10 more minutes of deliberating and a phone call to Nonnahs to confirm that I would in fact be violating my yarn diet, I put the order in.

I wish I could have captured the look on my face as I pulled my Biggy Print out of the postage bag that it came in. Red? Was there red in the one I saw before? Florescent orange? I don't remember the orange being florescent. This must be a case of a very different dye lot because surely Rowan doesn't have two orange and gray Biggy Prints to pick from right? WRONG!

Althought I have to admit, in this picture the brighter version (247) looks like it would be more fun than the lighter version (243) - it isn't. It's just WRONG. The tones are wrong, the highlights are wrong, everthing about 247 is wrong - at least not with my orange Big Wool Gwen. So, lucky for me Knitting in La Jolla still had some of that original 243 that had peaked my curiosity, only this time it was 1/2 off as well. So, once again I picked up a couple accent balls of Biggy Print and I am much happier with the purchase. 247 is destined to become a scarf or other fun accent piece, but it will never be Gwen's collar.

And speaking of Gwen, she's all knit! I can hardly believe it myself. I'm actually a little embarrassed. But, it is big yarn on big needles, at least, that is what I keep telling myself. It has nothing to do with the fact that I didn't shower until 3:00 pm yesterday or spent my whole morning listening to pod casts - I swear!

What a Weekend!

First of all, thanks for the wonderful compliments on baby Sara's sweater and slipper set from Friday. The shower was on Saturday, and mom-to-be S loved the gift, so I was really happy. Saturday was a perfect day for a baby shower, and we had a lovely time at the Rancho Bernardo Inn. Best of all, S really enjoyed her special day.

I "mostly" enjoyed the day. I battled a massive allergy attack for about 24 hours (Friday night through Saturday night). I'm a pretty allery-prone gal to begin with (it doesn't take much) but add a whole bunch of dust (from say packing), and that will do me in for sure. I didn't feel like much fun on Saturday, but I actually did have a good time at the shower and visiting with B's fam. We stayed for dinner on Saturday night, and even watched the UCLA-Memphis game on TV. (B's dad is also a Bruin alumni, so we all had a good time yelling at the TV.) UCLA is going to the Final Four...I can't believe it! Go Bruins!
After being a sniffling, sneezing zombie all day and night on Saturday, I was relieved to wake up on Sunday morning feeling "mostly" normal. I could have slept for several more hours, but we had so much to do!

Packing really sucks. Sorry to harp on this, but I can't help it. I love moving INto places - you get to start fresh and organize - but moving OUT of places really sucks. Unpacking = good. Packing = bad. In spite of this, I was able to get quite a bit of packing done on Friday and Sunday, so I at least feel good about that. Plus, we were able to sell the HACs (huge ass couches) and B's HAT (huge ass TVs), so that's a HAR (huge ass relief)! We did NOT want to have to move those things!

The best part of yesterday was...no, not our trip to Home Depot, not sitting on the floor for hours while I packed up the kitchen, not even selling the giant pieces of furniture...it was when we went to visit our new house. The couple living there now were moving most of their stuff out yesterday, so while they were out they left us a key so that we could stop by and look around again. We really only saw the place once, for around 15 minutes, at the open house. We didn't have pictures or measurements, or anything. Thankfully, it was just as cute as we remembered it, and we were able to get a good idea of the size of the rooms so that we can plan. It was good motivation to have yesterday, after weeks of being stressed over packing and what not. Now I'm even more eager to finish packing and get moved out (and in) already! It's such a pain...but only a few more days...I'll be SO HAPPY by this time next week!

A Knitterly Day

Today has been a very knitterly focused day. I met up with Knitzalot, Cora, Allison, Marisa, Erika (who came down from Orange County for the day), Jessica, and Krys over at Rebecca's in North Park for a little SnB action. I impulsively brought along Gwen and my butternut Rowan Big Wool and ended up with half the back done! I had a great time enjoyed meeting everyone - ***Ok, names and links have been updated - thanks Marisa!!*** ***I also forgot to mention yesterday that I made friends with the Rebecca's coffee house kitty - or rather, I was sitting in a warm spot and he/she decided that my lap was a pretty good place to hang out. And of course there where 6 knitter bloggers and not a camera amongst them - not even my new camera!! What the heck?***

I also came home to find that I had won a little contest over at Mistress Stash Enhancer. How fun is that? I've never won a blog contest before. Actually, I haven't won many conests or drawings at all...although, there was that book fair unicorn poster I won in the 4th grade. That was pretty sweet.

And for pure randomness, a fact that made me sad today - Depeche Mode's Violator came out 16 years ago. How did that happen? I still think of Violator as being the "new" Depeche Mode. I still remember rockin' to Policy of Truth at Dodger Stadium. I still remember the guy in front of me sitting down during Personal Jesus for some sort of one man protest statement.

And in other randomness...this is a cloud that looks like a hamburger:

Worth a thousand words

I've seen entirely too many sunrises lately. But because of this, I've been able to make a new addition to my electronic family. After work on Wednesday I went straight over to Best Buy and got my new camera! This allowed me to take this photo of the sunrise from my office window yesterday morning. And in "my office window", I am refering to one of the windows at my office, rather than an actual window in my office from which I can gaze out of all day, especially since I don't even have an office. I have a cube. Sigh.


I also was able to take this technologically geeky photo of me and B during our video chat at lunch yesterday. Man, you gotta love the Internet. I don't think I would have believed it 10 years ago if someone had told me I could watch live video of my husband in France for free.

If you look close, you can kind of see his face in the screen. It's cute too to see my niece and nephew absorb this technology as if it has always been there. My nephew most days waves to me as soon as my face pops up on the screen. (Although neither child would talk to me today. I'm not supposed to take it personnally, right?) Pretty amazing.

And I was also able to take a picture of this...

I'm sure most of you already recognize this as the first installment in the Rockin' Sock Club. Nonnahs and I are splitting a 1/3 membership, so the next one will probably come half way through the membership period, but my curiosity is killing me!

And in San Diego news...today was warm! I am ever so thankful I got to wear Erin at least a couple times before sweater weather became a thing of the past. I also had today off, so I took the opportunity to make a trip to Knitting in La Jolla where I picked up my second Addi Turbo circular for the socks of circulars method. I'm getting excited to try this and I am already trying to decide which sock yarn to knit up next. My second sock in my first pair is coming along nicely (I'm almost done with the short row heel), so I wanted to be sure and be prepared to start my 2nd pair of socks, which once they are done, will go to live with my sister-in-law M as a belated birthday present.

And now, I am going to enjoy a quite evening at home. I got a bottle of wine, some fresh bread, mozzarella, tomatoes, and basil at Trader Joe's today and a cheesy romantic comedy from Netflix, so I think I'm all set. I'll see some of you tomorrow at Rebecca's!

Sara's Set

Well, the little sweater and slipper set for B's soon-to-be niece, Sara, is finished! Good thing too, seeing as the baby shower is tomorrow! To recap, I made the Garter Stitch Wrap Top and Garter Stitch Silk Slippers from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erica Knight, knit up in GGH Taj Mahal. Both patterns were easy to knit, and the yarn was a dream to work with. I love this book, and am certain I will make many more gifts for other cherished babies using these patterns. I'm pretty much over garter stitch for a while, but that's beside the point.

One modification: The pattern calls for organza ribbon for the ties on the sweater, however, I decided (upon Dis' suggestion) to use crochet chains instead. Then I decided to carry that theme to the slippers, to give them a Mary Jane sort of look. I'm happy with the way the crochet chain worked out.

Overall, I really enjoyed working on this project, even in spite of the time constraint, and I'm happy with the end result. I just hope all the pieces hold up! I mean, I can knit, I'm rather confident about my skills in that department, but my seaming skills are somewhat sketch. Oh well. It's out of my hands now. Literally. It's all boxed up and gift wrapped. I can only hope for the best at this point. Please don't fall apart...please don't fall apart...

And now...on to more packing! Did you really think I'd be done by now? Ha!

Erin

Erin is done.

I'm not exactly pleased with some of my seaming, but most of it came out pretty good. My middle is a little lumpy in this picture, but as Nasus and I found out, it is really difficult to get a picture of the detail on such a dark sweater with such a bright background. However, I wanted to take advantage of the pretty backdrop of Mammoth for my photo shoot.

This sweater is mostly made to the pattern which can be found in the Rowan Ribbon Twist pattern book, but apparently I need to learn to read "English" to make it 100% on the mark. I learned a lot of the British terminology, so I'm sure my next Rowan pattern will be a lot better. The pattern called for 7 balls of Big Wool and I made it with just under 6 in Wild Berry. I can't say enough nice things about this yarn. It was so incredible to work with and with the large gauge, it just zipped along. I did loose my momentum part way through with all that seed stitch, but experiencing sweater weather in San Diego gave me the pull I needed to get her finished.

I'm sure she will be a favorite sweater and an easy one to through on during the winter. The only problem is that the sweater smells like camp fire since I had it with me at the Mammoth condo. I'm hoping it will air out on its own since I'm still a little scared about washing it. Overall, I'd give this pattern and the yarn a thumbs up!

Winter Wonderland

Snowboarding is something that I never really thought I would do. And deep down, I never thought I would really like it. I'll try just about anything because I figure one of these days I will find that "thing" that I'm really good at - You'll never find out if your the world's best anything unless you give it a try. I also had received lots of consulations about my first time out on the 'ol board. Most people were like - Really? Your first time? It's not going to be fun. You're going to fall and you are going to hurt.

So I wasn't expecting much. I figured I'd stumble through a class and probably spend the rest of the afternoon knitting in front of the fire at the condo. So, imagine my surprise when I found out how much fun it was! By all accounts that I've heard about first times, mine was more than I could have ever expected. We actually made the beginner run twice after our class in the "School Yard" and we would have gone again if it hadn't been for those little voices in our knees and ankles and quads telling us absolutely not. I am in no way an athletic person, so I've been trying to figure out why my experience was so great and I think I have it figured out - the snow.

A lot of the people in San Diego who learn to snowboard head up to Big Bear where most of the snow is man made and usually very icy and hard. All I know if that if I had fallen on ice as many times as I did in the powder, I'm pretty sure I would be telling you a different story right now. I will tell any first-timer that I meet from here on out to make the trip to Mammoth or some other good snow spot for your first time. It is worth it!! I can't wait to go back and I am already itching for the next time. In fact, I already have my board and boots! My friend had the equipment I used and said that if it worked for me and I liked it I could have it at a steal of a deal. So I took him up on the offer. I will only have to go one more time to get my moneys worth! Some people think that it is too expensivc to go to the nicer places, but if you go with friends it really isn't all that expensive and my beginning lift ticket and class was less than the normal price of a day lift ticket.

So to prove that I was actually on my feet at some point during the day I have this for you:


Nonnahs and Nasus also did absolutely fabulous in the snow and have this great picture as evidence.


(We realized that it is really handy to have skiiers with you when you are in a flat spot on a snowboard.)

And finally, I included the last picture of Nasus, not only because it is a really cute picture of her, but because you can see the amazing view of the valley behind her.


Mammoth really was a winter wonderland. The snow was like nothing else I had ever seen. It fell like on a movie set and was so quiet and beautiful. I can't believe I will have to wait another year before I get to experience it again.

For the love of a dog

I will be posting some more pictures of our Mammoth trip in the next couple days. I am currently camera-less, so I need to wait until they are transfered to me. We didn't want to miss any pictures of our niece and nephew while B was in France, so he took our camera. Fortunately, there were lots of other cameras on our trip. The only problem, is that this can happen when you least expect it:


So, now I am trying to justify that little camera I've been looking at. The one that I can keep in my bag all the time, without it weighing a ton, so I can catch those crazy momments when you say - Man, I wish I had a camera! One thing that runs in my family is the ability to justify things. So, given that I worked nearly 22 hours of overtime last pay period and more than 17 this pay period, somehow I feel that I may be able to justify that camera here pretty soon.

In other news, I'm adjusting to life by myself. It's really weird to not have to call home and tell someone I'm going to be running late. To think that I need to get home because the doggie has been by herself too long already. I got married pretty young, so I never did live by myself. I went from roomates to B. And lately when B has been out of town, Jenny has been here to keep me company. But, this time, given the hours I've been working, Jenny went on vacation. She is staying with my parents and grandma where she almost always has a lap or a warm place to sleep. Plus, there are lots of sun spots to keep this sun bather happy.


But while she is happy. I'm not. That happy little face isn't there to say hi when I get home and she isn't keeping me warm. I couldn't believe how cold I got last night and then I realized I was missing my portable warming doggie.

What's funny (or maybe not depending on how you look at it) is that I think I'm one of those people who needs help from the Dog Whisperer. Do you know what B and I did before he left? We packed his bags in secret! B even snuck the suitcase out the night before his plane so that she wouldn't know he was going. Now, normally I wouldn't result to this deception because I think it's important for Jenny to know that someone is going to be gone for a while (she knows what the suitcase means). But Jenny has this crazy and irrational fear of being abandoned. We don't know why she has this fear. We've never left her unexpectedly or someplace scary and we've had her since she was 8 weeks old, so it isn't likely to be from a past experience. (Unless of course it comes from her separation from her mom and siblings.) Anyway, I've seen the terror in her eyes and heard the pain in her voice in the past and there was no way I wanted her to feel like she was going to be left at home forever. Which is how she was going to feel if she saw B leave with the suitcase. Since I had to work before he left for the airport, I wouldn't have been home until after work and I didn't want her to go through 6 hours of pure panic and emotional distress. So, B and I talked about it and decided that it was best to trick her. I feel bad and I'm sure Cesar would send us to his compound for full rehabilitation, but I still feel we did the best thing for her. I'm just looking forward to having my little friend back this weekend.

(B - I hope you like the Jenny pictures - those were just for you :-)

More Mammoth

When the Loopy Girls hit the slopes, the only thing you can really count on is that we will be falling - and laughing - a lot. So with that in mind, we took ourselves to Mammoth this past weekend for a long overdue trip to the mountains, and boy did we have fun! Mammoth remains one of my favorite places. It's such a refreshing change of scenery from where we live, and it's absolutely beautiful! Check out the gorgeous view we had from our living room balcony on Sunday!

Nasus and K were the skiers of the bunch, while the rest of us went snowboarding. My goal is to one day be a good enough rider to hold my own with B. As it was, B rode with his friends, while Dis and I stuck to the bunny slopes. Here we are, in our snow bunny glory, BEFORE we hit the slopes...

And AFTER...

As you can see, it started to snow pretty good during our last run!

We took a class in the morning, which I highly recommend. It was Dis' first time on a board, and my second, so the class proved very helpful. We still fell - a lot - don't get me wrong, but at least we knew "how" to fall. ;) Actually, I was really proud of us! For her first time, Dis did really well! Much better than me on my first try. And Nasus was skiing like a pro by the time we met up with her in the afternoon. As for me- I felt a lot more comfortable this time around. By our second run, I actually felt like I knew what I was doing, and really started to have fun! In fact, qw were having so much fun by the afternoon that we wanted to keep going...unfortunately, our poor bodies weren't having any of that! It also started dumping pretty hard, so that made the decision to call it a day even easier. When the weather looks like this, it's pretty much time to go inside:

Anyway, talk about a fun weekend! We played in the snow, ate spaghetti and homemade garlic bread, toasted marshmallows by our slightly sketchy fire, and even found the time (and energy) to knit! Dis and Nasus made some good progress on their projects (Clapotis and Kyoto/sock, respectively), and I finished the knitting Sara's sweater and slipper set (I decided to use my better judgement and leave the seaming part for when my muscles stop aching). All in all, another fantastically fun weekend with the girls (and friends)! I will let Dis lend her 2 cents also, and hopefully post some more pictures...we actually have some "action shots" of all of us on the slopes, which should be good for some laughs!

Mammoth!

I will let Dis and Nonnahs post the details of our trip, but I thought I should go ahead and post some of the photos. We had a such great time, and the girls did so well on their snowboards. (I'm sticking with the skis, however.) We made a vertically-challenged, beer-drinking snowman modeled after K (hey, it was the first time we ever made one - two girls from California and one from Hawaii - please give us a break.) There was also a little bit of vindictive snowman-demolishing by Dis. I had so much fun! And, of course, much knitting was accomplished as well.

**Update but no pictures** - Liar

***UPDATE NOW HAS PICTURES AND MORE UPDATES***

Life has been crazy. I'm swamped at work and it has been insane trying to get everything ready for B's trip. The to-do list is a mile long and seems to keep growing. On the knitting front, I am almost done with Erin. Actually, she is a finished sweater right now, but she needs a little tweaking. I had purposely made the neck shorter to make sure it wasn't too long. But, now it is too short, so I need to take out the BO edge and add a few more rows...which pretty much puts it back to where it was supposed to be to begin with. This is just one more indicator that I am still a pattern knitter, not a pattern designer. If I have anything left in me tonight I will do it when I'm done with laundry, but it isn't looking good. ***Erin now has a new neck, but needs a little blocking. She is looking a tad been worked over. So, maybe I will finally use that Bed Bath and Beyond coupon and buy one of those cool steamers - the Big Wool ball band says not to submerge.***

My Starsky yarn came in the mail yesterday and the color is great! I think the cranberry Sierra was a great choice for me and I am really happy that I am finally making my Red Sweater. For some reason Blogger isn't being photo friendly, so I'll have to update once it's working again.

***It's working so, here's Cranberry in all it's red glory:***


Also, I went to the sale at the Grove last Saturday and scored, if I do say so myself. Pretty much all of the wool was/is on sale for at leadt 25% off. So, I was able to pick up some that that yummy Rowan Felted Tweed I've had my eye on for a while. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to make with it yet, but it should make a nice San Diego weather sweater.

***Ooh, so pretty...Any suggestions on a design style for this yarn? I have a sweater design in my head, but I don't think tweed will make it as elegant as it could be, so I'm looking for ideas.***


I felt so guilty for such an unplanned purchase, that I came home and stowed it away along with all the other yarn that had been hanging all over my house before I even got a chance to write down the colors. But most of the balls were a pretty demin blue with one contrasting ball in deep purple. I am really looking forward to knitting with it, but once again, there are so many projects and so little time - especially when you are working 12 hour days every day. I'm starting to wonder if there will ever be an end to this rush.

Knitting Break

Taking a break from packing for a little while to bring you a WIP-pic. Okay, so I've been taking little knitting breaks all weekend. I am only allowing this because we've been making some pretty decent progress on the packing situation. We still have a lot to do, don't me wrong, but I'm feeling pretty good about our progress so far...at least for the time being- the onset of stress really could pop up at any given moment...

So, here's what I have done so far- the sweater and one slipper, neither of which have been seamed yet. I have to say, I'm pretty (really) stoked to have this much done!
Well, back to packing. Hope everyone's having a good Sunday!

sock in circular [sic]

I'm so excited about starting my [sic] aka "man sock!" My only complaint is that I should've bought a pair of needles with a 16" cable (instead of the 29", which is a bit too long.) I also just borrowed Debbie Bliss' "Baby Knits for Beginners" from the library. There's a cute shawl-collared sweater I want to try. I love spring break!! (now, back to my studies...)

What I Learned from the Olympics

I am in finishing mode. I had several almost done things hanging around my house that were quickly turning from WIPs to UFOs before the Olympics. In an effort to remedy that situation (and given the threats from B that he will start unraveling things if I don't get a move on ;-), I am trying to get things done (especially since I have lots and lots and lots of things on the to do list). Besides Baby Blue Bobbi Bear, which was first on the list given its owners ever approaching birth, my Madison Scarf had been done but not blocked. So, I blocked it and now it has been trandsformed from a UFO to a FO:


I made the Seaman's version (which I inadvertently always call the "Fisherman's" version - mainly because "Seaman's" version makes me giggle - yes, I am 31 but it's really hard to tell sometimes). I used Knit Picks Andean Silk Twist, which was really great to work with, but does have a bit of the itch factor on bare skin. I was also going to take a close up of the pattern (well, I did take a close up, many, many close ups in fact), but my yarn choice made it impossible to see the pattern even with a contrasting background. So, I gave up. It also turned out to be a bit floppy as a final blocked scarf. Given all this, I would recommend the pattern and the yarn, but not together.

I am also on a mission to complete Erin. Winter has finally arrived in San Diego (I mean it - we actually got hail and rain and thunder!!), and if I don't get this sweater done soon, I won't be able to wear it for another year because Winter is usually only about 2 weeks. So, I finished up a sleeve and started on its mate. That's when I realized I had messed up sleeve #1 - yay. After a lot of going back and forth on whether to frog the finished sleeve. I decided to make a pair of messed up sleeves. I actually think they will turn out ok because it is mostly just the cuff I got wrong and I kinda like it my way anyways. Here's a picture of the front, back and sleeve #1.


So last night I got most of the second sleeve done and I will finish it as soon as I am done with this post - or at least that is the plan. Hopefully (and I am probably jinxing myself by saying this), I will be able to get the thing done this weekend. Maybe in time to wear it for Mammoth next weekend?

Since, it wouldn't be possible to finish everything without starting something new, I did cast on for a Clapotis. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to make this pattern, but the more I saw it the more I thought of my mom in it. At Stitches I picked up some great kid mohair and wool yarn called Duet from Brooks Farm Yarn. They had one of the best looking booths there with wonderfully beautiful and soft hanks of every shade and color imaginable. I was able to pick up a great natural toned hank in their sale bin, too. And when I saw it, I instantly thought of mom and Clapotis. So here's a peak at how it's coming out:

Her birthday is in the middle of April so I should have plenty of time to get this done. Plus it is the mindless knitting I have been craving lately. Actually, it's perfect, it's repetative, yet not straight stockinette, so it's keeping my interest so far. Plus, it is really fun to watch those stitches drop!

Alright, kiddos, Erin is calling me. Have a great Sunday.

Book meme - finally.

I've seen this around quite a bit now and kept wanting to answer it, but never got to it. I always love to see what people read.

Meme instructions: Look at the list of books below. Bold the ones you've read, italicize the ones you might read, cross out the ones you won't, underline the ones on your book shelf, and place parentheses around the ones you've never even heard of.

The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
The Catcher in the Rye - J.D. Salinger
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
The Great Gatsby - F.Scott Fitzgerald
To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
(The Time Traveler's Wife - Audrey Niffenegger)
(His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince - J. K. Rowling
(Life of Pi - Yann Martel)
Animal Farm: A Fairy Story - George Orwell
Catch-22 - Joseph Heller
The Hobbit - J. R. R. Tolkien
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
Lord of the Flies - William Golding
Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
1984 - George Orwell
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - J. K. Rowling
(One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
(The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini)
The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
Slaughterhouse 5 - Kurt Vonnegut
(The Secret History - Donna Tartt)
Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - C. S. Lewis
Middlesex - Jeffrey Eugenides
(Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell)
Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
(Atonement - Ian McEwan)
(The Shadow Of The Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon)
The Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway
The Handmaid's Tale - Margaret Atwood
The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
Dune - Frank Herbert

After I "filled out" my responses, I realized a few things about my reading history. First, I will read anything. Now there was a recent reluctance to read the Harry Potter books, mainly because I was afraid I wouldn't enjoy the way they were writen given that the main character is a kid. But after being convinced by numerous friends that they are written really well and for kids of all ages, I picked up the first one last week. And I will be reading more. Second, I don't have many books. I don't usually read books more than once and so except for the few random books I haven't read yet on my book shelf, I tend to borrow and turn in the books I read at the second hand book stores. Finally, my Humanities program in college apparently had something against 19th and 20th century fiction. My college at UCSD was generally considered a geek school, mainly because we had to take so many background general ed courses, including a 5 quarter Humanitites series. So, I have read a lot of the classics, but some how never managed to read Wuthering Heights or Jane Eyre. I will just have to remedy that oversight myself. I did recently read the East of Eden for no other reason than it was there and it had never been on the curriculum.

Space Bags

Since I started knitting my house has undergone a tranformation from the average house with its normal human clutter found laying about (mail, bills, magazines, dirty clothes, shoes, etc.), to yarn. My house is covered in yarn. There is not a room in my house without some semblance of yarn clutter somewhere. Now, I know who I am talking to and it is certainly not abnormal in our "circle" for there to be yarn clutter. However, a few years ago and never would have guessed. I have always been a crafty person and have generally shifted from one hobby to the next. But, I never did vernture into yarn. I would see the walls of yarn, but never understood what would possess anyone to want to play with it. Now I am a hopeless convert. So, much so that I have had to resort to storing my yarn in Space Bags (more to keep them moth free that to shrink the bejeezus out of them) and I haven't had the nerve to tell my husband that there are 2 bags of Blue Sky Cotton, enough Knit Picks Sierra to make Starsky, and a really cool ball of bumble bee yarn (Spring Buzz) from Insubordiknit all on its way to our yarn covered living room as we speak. Do you want to tell him? I'm taking volunteers.

This is also following the recent additions from this amazing package that arrived from the UK yesterday from my Secret Pal. I have to say, she has really outdone herself. She has once again literally stuffed a box full of yarn for me! Thank you Secret Pal!!! She sent me the matching sister of the red hand dyed yarn she sent last time (I put both in the picture) as well as six matching siblings of the Jaegar Matchmaker merino in a lemon yellow. This merino will be great because I happen to have a niece/nephew pea in the pod as we speak and since it's washable, I have a feeling it will be turned into a little baby something here pretty soon.


She also included 8 balls of Korall merino in a beautiful olive green (631). I'll have to check the gauge, but I think this might be the perfect yarn to make Interweave's Cable 8 sweater that has been on the to-do list forever. And to top it off, she sent me two hanks of Rowanspun dk - yum! One is in a pretty lavender (746) and the other is a fun tomato red (731). Then to feed my carb-deprived self (B is in the first phase of the South Beach Diet and although I'm not on it, I am trying to be as supportive as I can and eat what he eats for our meals), she included a box of Lindt Lindor truffles and orange spice tea...which have already been sampled. The fun thing is that the truffles taste just like TimTams without the cookie. And if you have never had a TimTam, all I can say is that you are missing out.

And using TimTams as a segue, look what I got in the mail recently! TimTams all the way from Oz! Our friend Dr. Nyl (who we stayed with in Australia) sent us a care package. I had a feeling there was going to be a package of TimTams, but when I saw two, I started to hyperventilate. She also sent a huge bag of my new favorite tea - Stockholm Blend - that is only sold in Australia and some hand cream that is so Australian, it makes me smile everytime I smell it - it has wattleseed in it!

Then if that wasn't enough, she included some Australian Alpaca that is to die for (I might have to bring one of these balls to the office for relaxation purposes - petting it makes me happy) and a really cool hank of Touch Exclusive kid merino and merino as well as a pattern for an afghan (which happens to be very similar to the one I was admiring at her place). Touch is from New Zealand and I had picked up a lace weight hand painted yarn of theirs when I was on vacation. Thanks again Nyl!!

So, given all this you may assume that I would be skipping the sale at the Grove that starts tomorrow. Yeah, right.

Om...

I'm trying to remain calm and not get all "Nonnahs" about this, but I am kinda stressing about the moving (packing) sitch. B and I just realized last night that we basically only have one weekend (that would be this one) to pack- since we'll be in Mammoth next weekend, in San Diego the following weekend for S's baby shower, and we have to move the weekend after that! AAAGH! *Breathe*

(Note: I could go on here about how this revelation will also cause me to have even less knitting time than I thought I had to work on the baby shower gift, since I will now need to spend my evenings packing, but I won't. I can't think about that right now.)

I wish I could say something here like, 'At least we don't have a lot of stuff, so it won't be a problem.' But, I can't. We - okay, I - have a lot of stuff. I plan to go through everything and discard as much as I can, but wow, this is not going to be fun. Especially since memories of when we last moved is still fresh in my mind. (Packing and moving = not fun.) *Deep inhale...and exhale...*

I'm sure everything will work out, as it always does, but geez. The next few weeks is going to be a little nuts. But... it will be fine...right? Sure. We'll just start this weekend, and plow through it. Yeah. No problem. (Did that sound convincing?)

Om...

Sunny Delight

No announcements for today. With all the hub-bub surrounding the past few days, I haven't had much knitting time, which is making me feel oh so behind on baby Sarah's sweater and slipper set. It's coming along. I'm on the second front panel, which is that last part to do, so hopefully I'll be able to get this done in a couple of days so I can post an FO pic, and move on to the slippers! Only 2 weeks until the shower!

For today, I leave you with a photo swatch of the delightful yarn I received in the mail the other day: scrumptious hand-dyed, 100% superwash merino sock yarn by Sundara Yarn in Acid Daffodil.

How bright and cheery is this, I ask you? The colors are amazing! Plus, the yarn is really soft...it just makes me happy. I love it! Thanks, Sundara!

Big Announcement Tuesday

We've got 2 big news items today.

No, I'm not getting married (it isn't THAT big). B and I are moving. No, we're not buying a house (it isn't even that big). We inadvertently came across a too-good-to-pass-up situation over the weekend, and it's all happened so fast, but the outcome is that we are into a very cool little 2 bedroom house with a big yard (for a dog)! We had been playing with the idea of looking for a new place, but we hadn't been actively looking. At least I hadn't (too lazy). B found this place on good old craigslist and saw that there was an open house on Saturday, so he mentioned it and we thought we would nonchalantly drop by, just to check it out, while Darby was in the shop getting fitted with new rear tires. We did not at all intend to like it, however, we both fell in love with the place right away. Big selling point for him: the dog yard and just the fact that it's a free standing house (without screaming toddlers on the other side of the wall). Big selling point for me: the loft (AKA, the knitting nook)! So long story short, in just 3 short days we saw the place, turned in our applications, were offered the place, put down a deposit, signed a lease, and gave notice on our current place. This is not my usual M.O. as Ms. Think Everything Through Forever Capricorn Girl, but again, it just seemed like too much of a good thing to pass up. So yup...we're moving! I'm excited, but oy!

The other big piece of news for the day is that LA and Rex learned just this morning that they are having, not just one baby as initially expected, but TWINS! OMG! They went in for an ultrasound this morning, intending to discover the gender of Peanut (Now Peanut 1) and learned that there is also a Peanut 2 in there! They will go back to see a specialist next week to find out for sure, but from what the doctor could tell today, it looks like I will soon be the aunt of identical twin girls! :) We are all in a state of shock...but very excited!

A Bobbi Bear for Baby

A new little baby boy has been welcomed into the world and boy, is he the cutest thing. His parents are especially pleased with how easy he is. He is easily consolable and sleeps really well. His mom said that she is only getting up about once a night for him and he is only 9 days old!

This little boy is also the recipient of the Baby Blue Bobbi Bear I have been slowly working on over the last couple months. Here is a picture of the stuffed, eared and faced Bobbi Bear:


I love his spare tire :-) He was made with a little over one hank of Blue Sky Cotton in ice blue (616) on size 8 dpns. It was a very fun knit and only got a bit awkward when working on the last arm. Hopefully little baby M will get a lot of use out of him. I still have the handmade doll I dragged around my whole childhood that was made for me by my aunt.

I was going to post a picture of me and M, but I didn't get a chance to ask his mom if it was ok. So in the meantime I thought I would share this totally cute picture of one of his older brothers, K (since you can't really see him anyway). K is currently obsessed with racing and has been known to wake up his parents first thing in the morning wearing his red helmet, goggles, gloves and knee pads.


You gotta love this kid!

Overload

I have been on work overload this week. So much so, that my threat to bombard you with posts this week has fallen considerably short. I think I am already on 15 hours of OT for this week and I still need to go in today :-( I am super busy, plus I am training a new girl, which means for the most part I can't get much of my own work done. It's a necessary evil though - if I don't train her now, our work load will never improve. So, really, it's all for the best.

In other news, B is getting a chance to go visit his sister in France in a couple weeks. Since she has a blog this visit, it will be a different kind of experience keeping up with each other. We each have iSight cameras and can video chat for free, but the connection isn't always that great through her provider in France. It does make a world of difference just to be able to see him when he's gone - even if he moves like a robot and his face is made up of many teeny tiny squares. He is also going to have to make his way through London to switch airports, which should be interesting. We are going to pick up a Rick Steve's or Lonely Planet today. He's doing this because the cheapest flights we could find got him to London and then we were able to book a "Southwest" style flight out of a different airport in London to France. We figure even with the train fairs, it is still coming out cheaper that the flights and train combos we were finding in France.

And to keep you interested, after all, the pictures really can be the best part sometimes, here is a little something new and a little something old. First, since I am still "officially" on a yarn diet - although I violated it last week to pick up some Blue Sky Cotton dirt cheap on ebay to make Knit and Tonic's Something Red (I'm big on yarn substitutions, but when it is Blue Sky Cotton, there really is no point in substituting. I ended up getting 2 bags of 5 hanks for about $40 including shipping - so to do the math for you $4 a hank!) and I am about to violate it again in order to pick up the Knit Picks yarn to make Starsky (for our little San Diego knit along that will start on April 1st), B picked me up this beautiful Big Wool for my birthday:

It was on sale at Knitting in La Jolla, so since I couldn't buy it for myself, he got it for me. I am going to make Gwen from Rowan's Bigger Picture. For fun, I also picked up a couple balls of the close out multi colored orange Biggy Print (247) - this doesn't count against the yarn diet because it would be needed to finish the project and they were 1/2 off. I thought it may work as a cute accent for the collar. It looks like you probably knit it at the end, so if it doesn't work colorwise, I can just redo it in the main color (39). Even though I have both balls in my hand, the particular dye lot I ended up with of the Biggy Print is really extreme from the one I had seen in person previously. The orange is neoner and the red is redder, so yeah it's just that ugly. But, you know how yarn is, it could possibly knit up cute and the subtle orange in the colorway that goes with the main color could possible pull it all together, but I'm not holding my breath.

I also wanted to acknowledge the departure of an old friend. This is my first scarf:

I never did name him, but countless rows of garter stitch when into this puppy. I donated it as part of the Red Scarf project back at the end of January, but never got around to posting about it. So, to whomever received you as a gift, this little scarf was made with love - and actually, turned out not all that bad for my first one - I don't think it would look all that different if I were to make it today about a year and a half later.

All right, that's about all the procrastinating I can do this morning. I have a few more things to do around the house before I head to the office...bla!

ebay or amazon.com?

Inspired by a little birdie's tale that Dis had won a bid on ebay for yarn, I decided to check out ebay last night for a copy of Vogue Knitting. Then I was diverted to amazon.com and got myself a copy for $29 (new, including shipping.) I love bargain-hunting! I've been a regular patron of my local library (I'm re-learning Spanish in my car with CDs I borrowed a couple weeks ago) but I figured VK is for keeps. By the way, if you didn't know, Robinson-May's is going out of business. My sister bought a pair of very cute pink pants (originally $65) for ten bucks.

Post-Olympic Stress Disorder

During the Olympics, I had a one track mind. As I'm certain was the case with most of my Olympian counterparts. I was completely devoted to AC2, and only AC2. I wouldn't even allow myself to think about, let alone plan my next project. Once the Olympics began to wind down, I realized I needed to get my butt in gear for my second time-sensitive project in a row: baby shower gift for B's sister, S.

Although the baby is due around the second week in July, the baby shower is in, oh- 4 weeks. Oy! I was holding out on planning what to make her until they learned the baby's gender. We recently found out that B will soon be the uncle of a niece, named Sarah (Sara?). I'm pretty excited. Babies are always exciting, of course, but also- I haven't had the opportunity to knit a baby gift for a girl yet, so this will be really fun! I kind of wish I had more time, but if my Olympic experience has taught me anything, it is that I can focus (get crazy obsessed) and follow through on a single project in a relatively short amount of time. Still, I can't say I'm not a little worried. Put a time constraint on me, be it in the SATs or in knitting land, and I immediately tense up.

Anyway, after much contemplation, I decided to make her a sweater and bootie set. Why would someone fearful of time deadlines decide to knit not 1 but 2 pieces (3, really), you ask? Just to challenge (stress) myself, I guess. For Sara(h), I am making the Garter Stitch Wrap Top and Garter Stitch Silk Slippers from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erika Knight. Despite the stress factor, I'm enjoying working on this project. Both patterns seem pretty simple (famous last words?) and look like they will go together really well. And to add to the happy factor, I found a lusciously soft yarn to use, which I am loving- GGH Tajmahal (70% merino, 22% silk, 8% cashmere) in petal pink. I will use matching organza ribbon on both the sweater and the slippers, to tie them together (no pun intended). I think this set is going to be really sweet...at least I hope so!

In the big scheme of things, I guess it's good that S's shower in this month, because next on the agenda will be a baby gift for...my sister, LA! LA and Rex are also expecting their first baby (lovingly referred to as Peanut for the time being), also in July. Goes without saying that I am nothing short of overjoyed about this! We will learn the baby's gender next week, so I guess that means I have another week before I start planning what exactly to make for Peanut. This will most likely spawn a brainstorming session, so start gathering up your ideas, if you have any- I'll be hitting you up soon enough! :)