who knew this little design of mine would generate over 1000 ravelry projects in just one year? so exciting! and kind of amazing too, considering it's probably the most brainless thing I've ever made.

look who's on the poop's homemade halloween costume post today! she's famous!

I am so glad that halloween is finally here! not so much because I'm that big of a fan of halloween, but because I don't have any more costume making to do! hooray!

several months ago, isa mentioned that she wanted to be fraulein maria for halloween. she might be just a wee bit obsessed with the sound of music... anyway, she rarely changes her mind once it's made up, but she did waffle over just which of the many marias she wanted to be. after some thought, though, she finally decided that she specifically wanted to be the "do re mi maria."
so I ventured out to my very favorite place in all the world, the clearance rack at target, and picked up this women's size 12 number for a mere $9.24.

I then proceeded to dismantle it completely. and then, through a whole lot of trial and error, I sewed it back together isa-sized. it came out far from perfect, but not bad for my first attempt at a dress. and now I'm a little less scared of the prospect of making more clothes... someday. maybe.

no "do re mi maria" costume would be complete without a guitar, but since I don't have one, I made one out of an old cardboard box, some elastic, and a ton of glue. add a straw hat from michaels, and it's complete!

all this ensemble is missing is 7 little kids dressed in curtains to follow her around. maybe next year.

in other news, knitting! I made this:
read more about it over on the rav.

isa: what are you cooking?
me: mushrooms.
isa: it smells.
me: good or bad?
isa: it smells good.
(pause)
isa: I said good because I don't want to hurt your feelings.

except that we had it for dinner. mmm...

I kind of didn't believe it would be so easy, but it was! and it was really tasty too! now I don't have to trek out to the original pancake house to have one of these. yum.

I swear I'm still knitting. I intend to have something to say on that front not too far in the future.

but it's so worth it! the bunnies were having fun the other night with their favorite toy - a cardboard box. sometimes they're so cute that it's just ridiculous and I don't know how I manage to handle it.

remember that commercial? no? well, then. here it is. such a classic.

but, seriously. we're really only talking about one baby. the one inside wendy's belly! it looks like everyone who's anyone's blogging about the big shower, so I figured I should do a little blogging myself too. let's not even discuss how long it's been since my last post. or when the last time I had anything at all to say about knitting. anyway. first things first!

we threw a vintage circus themed baby shower for my good friend, wendy, who is expecting her very first little baby in just a few more weeks! after much planning and roughly a bazillion emails a day, everything came together beautifully. a great time was had by all (I hope)!


my big contribution was the buttload of candy. yum!

I finally got to try making marshmallows (something I've been meaning to try forever) and everything you've heard is true. they're really easy and they taste, look and feel so much better than store-bought! and, somewhat last minute, I decided to make a batch of graham crackers as well and get myself a mini blowtorch so I could put together some urbanite s'mores. I must say, I was quite pleased with them and I will definitely make them again. someday.

and, of course, I had to make something for the baby too. I went back and forth on what I should make for quite some time, but then finally decided I'd attempt a crocheted totoro, since wendy's a big fan (no pun intended, I swear!). I did make a few changes, like shortening the ears and using felt for the eyes. I studied practically all the totoros on ravelry to find just the right look and I'm really happy with how he turned out.

I am in a total knitting funk right now. it's been really hard to get myself excited about anything lately. maybe now that tv is back, I'll feel the need to watch and knit. we'll see what happens. hopefully whatever happens will be something good! and something I will remember to blog about...

me: did you take a nap at school today?
isa: kind of.
me: kind of?
isa: I mean... yes.
me: really?
isa: no.

it seems as though spring has sprung big time here. it was like 80F this afternoon! luckily, I'm indoors and not melting. and isa is enjoying a birthday outing with her dad, so I am enjoying a few hours to myself to not think about what I was doing 4 years ago today.

when I asked isa what I should do while she goes out with her dad, she said (rather matter of fact) that I should do everything that I love. "drink coffee... knit... read a book... about knitting..." man, does that girl know me! I know her pretty well too, and I knew I wanted to knit something for her birthday gift. I couldn't find a pattern for what I wanted to make, so I had to make it up as I went along. and, if I do say so myself, it didn't come out half bad!

it's miffy! if I were to make this again (ha! like that's ever going to happen), I would mave made her a bit more squat. I think she's shorter and fatter than this. oh well. although, I think after making this, I might be able to try my hand at hello kitty next. they have a similar physique. and by next, I mean next year. and maybe using something other than red heart. not fun to knit with!

this year, isa and her friends seem to be at the age where they like to hang out in the kitchen and "help" cook. so I decided to have a little fun with them and let them make their own lunch. of course, they had to be properly outfitted, so I first had to break out the old sewing machine and whip up some hats.

yeah, so I stitched isa's name first and then realized that it was just way more time consuming that I'd thought it would be, so the others ended up with initials only. I think they look pretty cute that way, though. maybe next time (ha!) I'll have improved my embroidering skills and can do fancier letters. or not.

the kids made a mess, but they had fun, and the pizzas actually came out really tasty!

I also baked my first cake from scratch. I also made a mess. it wasn't easy!! it came out halfway decent, though. I think I need more practice with the mixer, though... again, maybe next year.

thank goodness birthdays come but once a year. it's time to relax with a cup of coffee and my current project, which I hope I'll be showing off soon! whee!

meet "starheart."

that's what isa decided to name the mermaid I crocheted for her. that's right. you heard me. I crocheted. me! I think I'm really starting to get the hang of this. except for the part where I'm not completely sure how to count. but, whatever. she looks pretty good, doesn't she? I have to say, I'm quite proud of myself.

the pattern is from owlishly. I bought it months ago, but have been too scared to try it. luckily, it really wasn't so bad. crochet intimidates me in a way that knitting never has. and I seriously have no idea why. it's easier to rip back - except for the part where I don't know when to stop. and even though I finished this, I'm still scared! what is wrong with me?

anyway, isa loves her. but I'm not sure if she can quite understand the magnitude of it all. all she knows is one night, she played with a tan colored ball with eyeballs and the next morning it had hair. and then she instructed me to first add arms, then a body and tail, and then boobies. she has no idea that that hair took me over four hours to make. and those boobies! man. I freaking embroidered them! but I'm most proud of the little starfish hair thing. it came out so so cute.

I have a couple more of mia's patterns which I really do plan on eventually trying. maybe I'll do the dinosaur next. he has no hair. thank goodness!

see starheart on rav!

it is really amazing just how lazy I have been knitting-wise since january hit. what is it, like march or something now? I've decided to stop thinking about time and where it has gone. it's not good for morale. to get back into the groove of things, I decided (was forced) to make some stuff for the little people.

remember how I was all, "I love these merry-janes and I'm going to make them for all the girl babies in the world!"? well, I started a pair for a friend's niece back in... um... a long time ago... and for some reason, just never finished them. since then, everyone's been popping out boy babies and nothing else. and I had been so busy procrastinating that the intended recipient is probably in college now and her feet have surely grown, so they languished in my knitting basket until last weekend's baby shower. finally, someone I know is having a baby girl! and I finally made myself finish them - and the baby's not even born yet. how's that for beating a deadline?

once that was taken care of, I still wasn't feeling quite up to another project, for reasons unknown (would rather sleep). but isa decided that she would motivate me by demanding a rainbow hat. with a flower! she's quite the smooth talker and the rainbodessa was born in just a few nights.

so, that's two projects done in as many weeks. amazing, I know. try not to be blinded by my awesomeness. and now I feel the need to start on something that is me-sized for when things start to warm up around here. maybe this. the weather cleared up over the weekend, but if you ask me, it's way too soon! can we just have a few more weeks of dreariness? I'm just not ready for the impending doom of summer that spring inevitably brings. I feel sweaty just thinking about it.

but I've got a happy place I can go to now. right in my own living room! I found myself staring at this corner for longer than is healthy, just smiling and sighing. happy.

I may have gone just a teensy bit crazy trying to get my hands on some orla kiely target madness a few weeks back (do not ask to see the rest of it - I am a little embarrassed). people who understand applauded my efforts. just about everyone else questioned my sanity. please don't tell them I went to like 12 different targets more times than I can count just to get something to put my yarn in. also, please don't tell those same people that this is only like 2% of the yarn I actually have. it will a little secret between me and the internet. shhh....

it's a big, BIG day for us as a nation - quite possibly the biggest in my lifetime, so far! and, in the spirit of making a big day even bigger (for me, at least), I do believe it is time to make a little announcement of my own as well.

you may or may not remember a little project I posted a couple of months back. I have been rather blown away by the amount of positive feedback I've received for my wham bam thank you lamb neckwarmer both on ravelry and in real life. who knew that one little garter stitch rectangle would be so well received? as of this moment, there are 245 projects on ravelry and the pattern is in 596 queues! I honestly never expected this kind of response, but I've loved clicking through all the projects and have been so encouraged by the kind words of many.

so yay for all the knitters who have a neckwarmer of their own now (and the lucky people who got one as a gift)! but what about all those people with cold necks who don't know how to knit and don't know anyone who can knit one for them? won't someone think of the non-knitters?? the answer to that is YES! I am thinking about them! I've actually been thinking about them for weeks, and so much so that I've decided to open up an etsy shop just so their necks can be warmed. and so they can look awesome at the same time. in 18 different colors!



click above to come by and visit! and tell your friends! I'm so excited (and a little nervous) to put my little endeavor out there for everyone to see. and I hope to be able to add more exciting things as time goes on - there is definitely more to come!

thanks to everyone who's encouraged me along the way and all the knitters who have shown me that people out there will actually wear my creations in public. and a big giant thanks to my good friend, wendy of dozidesign, who not only made that super cute logo up there, but has been full of good advice and has cheered me on from the very beginning. I aspire to be half as awesome as you someday, wendy!

exciting times ahead, people! I, for one, can hardly wait. cheers!

with wool-ease thick & quick. just a little. it's so gratifying! and cheap! poor, neglected bridie. and now I'm kind of itching to knit up a few more neckwarmers for christmas gifts. I promise I won't blog about them if I do and spare you from all the thick & quick love. it's on sale at michael's this week too - I just might end up buying 1 or 3 of every color. maybe.

so, the last time I forced isa to wear the ice cream hat I made her two years ago, it was a bit of a stretch and she complained that it was too tight and that she needed a new one. and since kerblock obama won the election, I supposed it was time for some change.

isa was quite adamant that the new hat not be vanilla. we finally settled on strawberry after a short argument over grape (which is so not a normal ice cream flavor)
look! it fits me too. thank goodness, since that should mean she'll be able to wear it for more than 2 years this time. and she had a lot of fun playing hat model.

more details on the rav.

I started working on bridie a few weeks back. it's a nice simple knit (so far) and I've got both sleeves and almost half of the back done. I made some mods - shortened the sleeves and added some shaping, which required math and thinking. and it's kind of taking a while because I am slow and maybe easily bored.

needless to say, it was time for another mindless quickie for me! I swung by michael's the other day to see if they had anything I could blow my 40% off coupon of the week on and almost walked out of the store empty-handed. and then this crazy offensive mustard yellow caught my eye. did you know lion brand wool-ease thick & quick now comes in a rainbow of crazy 70s colors? maybe it has for a while. who knows. but it was the first time I'd seen it on the shelves! how could I not buy it?

I went home, cast on 25 st on us13 straights and cruised along in garter stitch (slipping the first st of each row k-wise) until it was long enough to wrap around my neck. then I bound off, seamed it up like so

and wham

bam

thank you, lamb (and mostly acrylic) -

neckwarmer!

now I'm warm and toasty and feeling kind of stylish, even in my pjs. this was so fast and mindless I almost feel like I need another fast mindless before I pick up bridie again. or maybe I can make another one of these little guys.

somebody's excited for halloween!

this costume was so simple and quick to put together, I'm kind of hoping she wants to be a bat every year! the idea came from here, but I strategically replaced the metal pieces with piping so she won't gouge out any unsuspecting classmates' eyes at school. I used some pipecleaners to give the ears shape and stability and lined them with purple fleece just for fun.

she loves it! I loves it too! now if only california would hurry up and realize that it's supposed to be fall so that she doesn't end up sweltering instead of looking awesome when she does wear it to school on the 31st.

that's right - the very useful link included on wednesday's forecast says, "how to drive in the rain." what rain?? we want rain!

the first time I ever went to the great wall of china was in january of 1999, with about a dozen (non-chinese) people from my school. it was really really cold. there were lots of people selling stuff all around the wall. I guess the sellers make it a point to learn some english so they can sell their wares to the americans wandering about. the most memorable were these women selling rabbit fur hats, waving them around in our faces while yelling (repeatedly) "hello! hello! hello, hat! hat! hello! hat!" meanwhile, my classmates (in their broken chinese) would try to dodge them by responding "bu xie!" thinking they were saying "no thanks". it really means something more like "you're welcome". but they got the tones all wrong, so they were actually saying "sneakers", which made the hat sellers really confused. what the heck was I talking about? oh, right. hats!

I just finished bonnie tonight, after much battling with that wretched crochet. it's always trying to get me down. I'm slowly becoming less intimidated by it, but I still think I kind of suck at it. either way, heeeeere's bonnie!

pattern: bonnie, by kim hargreaves
yarn: garnstudio safran, 1 ball, gray
needles: us3 dpns, 3mm hook for edge
finished: august 29, 2008
notes: I was baffled as to why this pattern was written for flat knitting. not that I have anything against knitting flat... I just think hats make so much more sense in the round. luckily, I was armed with graph paper, a pencil and, most importantly, a big eraser, and was able to chart out the pattern. other than converting the pattern to knit in the round, I co 5 more sts to work better with the charted pattern and took out 2 rounds of the crochet edge so I wouldn't have to start a second ball of yarn. I managed to get thru the crochet edge thanks to this great video. thank you, youtube. love the way this came out. winner! side note: my head could also stand to be a teensy bit smaller. (rav link)

I completely forgot to post this other (also gray) hat that I made a few months back. it was based on a hat worn by mia michaels during the auditions for the best show in the universe (next to lost), so you think you can dance. some members of the sytycd ravelry group wanted to deconstruct the hat pattern, so with their help, I managed to crank out this simple pattern, which is available as a free rav download.

pattern: so you think you can hat, by me
yarn: lion brand cotton ease, gray, half a skein
needles: us4 and us7 dpns
finished: may 31, 2008
notes: very easy and quick! everyone needs one!

as long as we're playing catch up with my finished projects... socks!

pattern: embossed lace socks, by mona schmidt
yarn: koigu kpm, 2 skeins
needles: us2 and us3 dpns
finished: july 13, 2008
notes: I have long wanted to make these socks - I think I actually bought that back issue of ik just for the pattern. who knows how long ago that was. easy to memorize lace pattern and fantastic yarn = great socks! also, kind of hate twisted rib. it looks great, but I hate knitting it. (rav link)

one more recent fo that is not a hat:

pattern: feather and fan over 18 st
yarn: fun with yarn handspun merino, frosting, 1 skein
needles: us13
finished: august 8, 2008
notes: made this while watching the olympics opening ceremonies. fun, fast and so not useful for this heatwave. oh, fall, where art thou? (rav link)

quite a productive summer for me. :) but I am seriously so ready for fall. I want to wear my knits! and I need some rain! my car is really dirty.

I bumped into a client in the hallway at work this morning and had the following exchange:

client: hey! I've been meaning to talk to you!
me: hey, what's up?
c: you like kittens, right?
m: ... um... I do?
c: yeah!
m: oh, what makes you say that?
c: you know, your car...
m: uh huh....
c: the license plate!
m: (trying to put two and two together and not doing a great job)
c: you know, it says "kittens are better...?"
m: (light bulb goes on!) HAHAHA!!!
c: (looks confused)
m: you mean knitters?
c: oh? is that what it says? anyway, you want a kitten?

ever buy patterns, but don't knit them? I have stacks and stacks of books, magazines and binders full of patterns I have proclaimed to love and yet have never knit. on top of that, I've got even more stuffed into my computer, in my "patterns" folder, in my bookmarks, in my ravelry queue, in emails I've sent to myself... patterns out the wazoo! sometimes I think I should just knit them just for the sake of not looking like such a hoarder/slacker. but really, sometimes what you need is a reason to knit something and the perfect pattern just for the occasion.

I forget when I first saw hansigurumi's amazing patterns, but I remember I was just so wowed by how intricate and realistic her designs were. I finally just had to buy one when this came out. and then it sat in my computer for months and months. and then my friend who maybe has a thing for owls had a graduation party today! it was a sign from God. it was time to knit!

pattern: horned owl by hansigurumi
yarn: lion brand cotton ease
needles: us6 dpns
finished: may 23, 2008
notes: holy cow, was this fun to knit! it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be and there was just about zero seaming. I did make one really dumb mistake and then had to rip out half the back and start over. and then after I finished knitting the legs, I realized I didn't have quite enough stuffing to stuff them. so I had to rip that out too. and then I had to make up some way for the butt to come together right in the absence of the legs. I also filled his butt with lentils so that he wouldn't tip over. all in all, though, I am happy with how he came out. I fully intend to make more! and I really like the way he feels in the cotton ease - very soft and cuddly. I also want to make one with legs just to see how he comes out. or maybe with really bulky yarn so that he comes out like three feet tall. that would be awesome. it's a fantastic pattern. everyone should make one! or twelve.

I never ever win anything. as in sweepstakes, raffles, drawings... well, except last year at the makerfaire, when I did win a completely useless copy of flight simulator. it went home with my friend. it has since turned into a carrot/bunny hybrid for isa. but, anyway, I seriously never win anything. and it's fine. I'm ok with it. I enter contests and whatever, but never really expect anything. so a few weeks ago, when the ravelraiser event was going on, I was thinking more that I'd donate a few bucks to a fantastic website I use everyday and keep ravelry going! I didn't actually think any of the incredibly amazing prizes would actually end up in my grubby little hands. but, holy cow. look what landed in my mailbox this week!

hmm... what could be inside?

oh, baby. nothing says "don't worry, you're going to survive this horrible life-sucking heat wave" better than 5 luscious hanks of pure cashmere from posh yarns. people! I! won! something! and something really really awesome, too! that I love! not flight simulator! which doesn't even work on mac! and isn't even yarn!

so, actually, what I won was a $50 gift certificate, and lucky me, the lovely dee let me pick out anything I wanted from the shop before it was open for orders. and then! on top of that! she threw in an extra hank! I mean, WOW! I don't have enough exclamation points to express how wowed I am by this stuff and by dee's generosity! it's amazing! so soft and pretty!! yum!

now I just need to figure out what to make with it. and also wait for the horrible weather to go away so I don't sweat all over it. but even the sunburn that has taken over my back and shoulders and the sticky sweatiness covering every inch of my body can't get me down, because I am a WINNER! yay!

this blog is for knitting... don't worry. I didn't forget! it has been a while since I've had any knitting to show, but I do have photographic evidence that I have not been neglecting my needles. at least not this past week.

pattern: baby merry-jane by bekahknits (btw, when I google "bekahknits" it asks me if I mean "beachnuts")
yarn: rowan wool cotton, less than one skein each of inky and antique (who comes up with these names? what's wrong with black and off-white?)
needles: us2 knitpicks dpns, us2 addi turbos (what's with all the parenthetical commentary?)
finished: may 6, 2008
notes: (duplicated on ravelry because I am lazy) I made these little booties for my project manager’s unborn baby girl. I actually had started out making her a sweater, but then I stumbled upon this pattern and died. when I came back to life, I realized I had to make these like RIGHTNOW even though I only had about 12 rows of sweater left to knit. and now that I’ve made them, I am SO making them again. loved working with the wool cotton too. too bad they didn’t have more baby friendly colors at my lys. I need to load up on some other colors for the next time(s) I make these. the pattern is really pretty easy, but they came out kinda skinnier and longer than I’d expected. when I make them next time, I’m going to make them shorter and fatter, just the way I like them babies’ feet. heehee. all in all, I’m happy with these little guys. whee! I hope she likes them!

that's all for now, folks. I am tired as heck. until next time!

but who the heck would want his face on their crockpot? and what self respecting race car driver would want to be associated with a slow cooker?

man, this weekend was action packed! so much action that I'm on the verge of falling asleep. I'm just going to skip all the stuff that you probably don't care about and go straight to the real excitement!

saturday, I went to visit my friend who moved to campbell a few months ago. (I know! I'm such a bad friend! she moved in 2007! I suck!) before leaving my house saturday morning, I suddenly remembered that I had seen something somewhere about a new lys opening up in downtown campbell. so I double checked online that it was there for reals and then headed out the door. somehow, I managed to convince my two non-knitting friends to accompany me to the store. either they are very good friends or they were really bored. or both. that is beside the point. turns out! it was opening day down at green planet yarn! hooray!

seriously - what's more exciting than going to a new yarn shop than going to a new yarn shop when it's more new than it will ever be again? because, hello! swag!
how awesome is all this stuff? a very handy, eco-friendly swtc tote, four metal earth buttons, a sample of tofutsies, and five (holy cow!) free patterns. are you upset you didn't get to go too? yeah. I understand. anyway, super cute shop. lots of yarns I'd never seen before, lots of which were eco-friendly. of course, I bought some that wasn't (in upper corner of photo. for a baby gift). haha. they had lots of brown sheep. and... uh... lots of stuff. go look at the list of stuff they carry, since my memory isn't so great. the shop isn't huge, but it's laid out well and it looks like they made a great use of the space. they even had a little table with drawing pads and crayons, which isa broke in nicely. the staff was friendly and inviting too. I will definitely be back! and I'll be sure to bring my eco-friendly yarn shopping bag.

not sure if the rest of my weekend will really be all that interesting to anyone besides myself. so, instead, I leave you with this photo of my tv, paused on alan wong's obviously disgusted face.

I feel ya, alan. you're so angry, your little eyebrows are about to jump right off your forehead. I, too, would like to jump off your forehead, because, apparently, this is a big enough deal that they had to spend roughly 5 minutes of the 11:00 news talking about it. pardon me while I go cry myself to sleep. thank you.

I love target. love love love it. probably more than is healthy. I may or may not have mentioned this before. I especially love having 3 big new targets within a 10 minute drive of my office so I can spend (waste) many a lunch hour cruising the aisles for red clearance tags. did you know there's stuff on clearance every single day?? for super cheap? it's true! trust me. I know. really.

I've bought packs of 24 crayons for $.03 each, multiple pairs of jeans for $5.48, a playhouse for isa for $6.24... I might not be good at many of things, but man, I am AWESOME at buying things I don't need for ridiculously low prices at target. yeah!

anyway, today, on yet another target rampage, I found this near the first aid section on a shelf with hair dye and method wipes. (my apologies for the really really bad photos.)
how cute is this?? it's a make your own stuffed giraffe set for kids. I realize it's for children 8 and up (says the package) and my child isn't even halfway there and is probably far too young to be playing with pointy needles, but I could not stop myself from buying it. so what should I do with it? hold onto it for 5 years? or... make it myself? can't decide... and look at all the crap it comes with. for less than $3. holy cow.

on top of that, I snagged these super cute summer dresses! they were not on clearance, but how could I resist?

unfortunately... these are not for me... they're for isa! she gets to be supercute this season (and all the time regardless!). and yes. those are owls! I seriously did not even realize it until I got home and took this photo. I thought it was just swirlies.

and I will try to not think about how the stick of deodorant that I bought looks like someone used it already. it's missing the little inside lid thing and... well. let's not talk about it. it needs to go back. pronto.

I don't know why, but I've had a somewhat irrational fear of crocheting. probably because I kind of suck at it. and I probably only suck because I haven't really tried very hard. or maybe I'm just saying that so I don't feel bad about the fact that I really do suck. either way, I'm pretty sure it goes all the way back to when my mom tried to teach me to crochet a couple of times and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. besides her claiming she couldn't go any slower than superfast, she only knew the terms in chinese. everything was a crazy, chinese blur of fingers and yarn. and a hook. but, I eventually made a rug and a scarf and that was about it. I couldn't get past the back and forth single crochet (which I had to figure out from a book. THANKS, mom), and even then, I kept ending up with the wrong number of stitches in a row and having to fudge my way around it. also, not sure I actually knew how to count the stitches.

but that was long long ago, when I was still young and in my mid-twenties. now that I'm much more mature and teetering on the edge of 30, I've worked up the nerve to try it again. all it took was wendy telling me repeatedly (and probably trying not to roll her eyes too much) that it's not hard and I could totally do it and look how easy and cute her first amigurumi is! I couldn't have her thinking I wasn't up to the challenge, right?

haha! look at that! a pear! yeah, so, I am pretty sure I still wasn't counting the stitches and rounds properly. and... I ran out of green yarn when I was two rounds from the end, so I had to finish it off with yellow (it is not pretty down there). and I had no idea how to sew on the mouth. and man, safety eyes are hard to snap. and... I dunno. it came out pretty cute, but I think I can do better. I strategically attempted to not photograph the sloppy parts. we'll see what I come up with next. and, fine. wendy, you were right. it wasn't hard. (and thank you for your leftover kit bits!) but I still think I kinda suck at it. just less so than before.

heehee. I have a new friend. and, oh, how excited I am that he's moved into my home! would you like to meet him? ok... here he is getting acquainted with herbie:

isn't that cute? so, yeah, this was kind of an impulse buy and I was having a bad case of buyer's remorse until he actually showed up on my doorstep this afternoon. and then, at that point, how could I turn him away? look how cute he is! so, of course, I took him in. and have decided to just go ahead and play the denial card until my credit card bill arrives. what could be more fun than that? (thank you, dubya and governator for making this purchase possible.)

anyway, it's friday night and way past my bedtime. good night!

another FO to show! so... I've knit many sweaters and sewn many quilts for my friends' children, but I have never made either for my poor neglected isa. I'm halfway there now, though! amazingly, I have managed to complete isa's very first sweater. I suppose it could also be her last, considering how poorly this one was accepted when I finally tried to gift it to her. she was really interested and acted excited about the fact that I was making her a sweater while I was actually knitting it. once it was finished and blocked and buttoned, I showed it to her and she was like "yay! I love it!" and I asked her if she wanted to wear it and she said no. I asked her why and she said she didn't like it. great. I did finally manage to convince her to wear it (after like 2 weeks of pleading) and this is what I got out of that ordeal:

what the heck is that face?? I told her to smile nicely, but all I got was her squeezing her eyes shut and baring her teeth while saying "cheeeeeese." fantastic. the good news is that she actually ended up wearing the sweater all day. which is a good thing, considering it looks like she might outgrow it any second now. why must children insist on growing so fast?? if only they stayed babies forever so we'd never have to knit anything bigger than a newborn...

anyway, I got the yarn for this when I was up in grass valley for my brother's wedding last may, with the intention of making a sweater for isa. amazing that it took me less than a year to actually make good on that! unfortunately, I really did not like knitting with it. I have decided that I just do not like knitting with cotton and will avoid using it if I can help it (unless it's a blend with less than 50% cotton). the non-stretchiness of it makes my tension all crazy. and I have a whole skein and a half left of it. I really do love the color, though. and I think it looks great with the red ladybug button.

pattern: mine
yarn: cascade sierra, 3 skeins
needles: addi natura us7 circulars and clover bamboo us5 circulars (for ribbing)
finished: february 10, 2008

notes: this is an attempt at knocking off the debbie bliss sweater on the cover of her book, special knits. I loved the ribbed placket/shawl collar and have been wanting to recreate it for a sweater for isa ever since I first saw it. and look how I finally got around to it just in time for her 3rd birthday! actually, she might outgrow this before her birthday actually rolls around, considering it fits just perfectly right now and she's been growing like crazy. anyway, I totally made this up as I went along and it came out almost exactly how I'd wanted it. my goal was to make it a little big to grow into, but I think between the time I swatched and measured isa, and when I actually finished knitting, she had already increased in size. sigh.

edited to add: holy cow!! I just noticed in ravelry that the debbie bliss pattern is available for free! hahahahaha... it only goes up to size 12-24 mos, but... still. had I known, I probably would not have thought so hard about how to recreate it. I did a lot more shaping than debbie did, though. which probably wasn't necessary. oh, whatever. it's just like me to do something like this... but... mine's cuter, right? hilarious. I'll probably end up using her pattern for future baby gifts. btw, is that baby in the photo wearing make-up??

I'm here! I'm here! dang, I cannot believe it is already 2008! and what have I got to show for it? quite a bit actually... if you hang out in my neck of the woods on flickr or ravelry, this post will be incredibly redundant for you (especially if you've already seen the exact same stuff copied and pasted in both places - I guess this makes three). but you already know I'm lazy (altho, I prefer "efficient"), so I hope you're not bothered!

a little bit of old news which isn't on flickr or ravelry, tho, is that I've been living in my very own money sucking house for almost 3 months now! I hit the 3 month mark of closing on my townhome just this past thursday. hooray! I'm crazy poor now, but at least I have my own somewhat quiet space to be in. and I love it! isa and I settled in pretty quickly - I spent about a week moving a couple of carloads each day and immediately unpacking what I brought into the house, which made the actual we're-really-actually-living-here-for-reals day a comfortable transition. the important part is that the yarn has been unpacked and sorted and resorted and reresorted several times, which was more than enough to shame me into not buying any more yarn that is not absolutely necessary.

like this christmas gift from myself to myself:

hello! have you ever knit with butter? because, now, I have. and I am totally savoring every second of being together with this yarn. closing my eyes and rubbing it on my cheek... if this is the only stuff I had to knit with for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly content. mmm, mm good. also, do you know the story behind this yarn? previously (but no longer! check it out!) blogless wendy introduced me to this small and amazing company. this is what "made in china" is all about, baby. (btw, I'm making dashing from knitty.)

here's where the redundancy (and potentially way more information than you ever wanted to have) begins, so feel free to go away if you already know how this ends and/or don't care! I've got some FOs to share. in no particular order... (but including a mitten pattern at the end)

pattern: brioche stitch hat
yarn: fun with yarn merino/tencel
needles: us13 clover bamboo dpns
finished: january 1, 2008
notes: how yummy is this yarn?? it's been sitting in my stash for what seems like forever and I finally decided to do something with it a couple of weeks ago. I knit and reknit this yarn 4 or 5 times - I actually had originally started out making a slouchy type hat (maybe I'll upload photos of that sometime), but decided to rip it out and do the brioche instead. the yarn is still as silky and shiny and tasty as it was in the skein! hopefully I'll actually get some wear out of this thing. :)

pattern: vest, debbie bliss essential baby
size: 0-3 mos
yarn: debbie bliss baby cashmerino, in a pale green
needles: us2 and us3
notes: I knit this for my pregnant knitter friend's unborn baby for christmas. I had bought the book for said friend and thought, heck, why not make something quick a cute from the book as part of the gift? what's quicker and cuter than an itty bitty vest? so cute. but not so quick. I think I spent like 4 nights just picking up the stitches for the neck and arm bands. bah! it seriously took forfreakingever. but it's done! and she liked it. and it's cute. and, btw, the entire book is super super cute. I had to talk myself out of keeping it and only giving her the vest. shh... don't tell her I said that. ;)

pattern: my own
yarn: some handspun I picked up last time I was in san diego...
needles: can't even remember anymore
finished: a couple of months ago
notes: when I first finished this hat, isa was all excited to wear it and put it on immediately. it stayed on her head for about one minute. then she said it was too tight or too itchy or something like that. I think the yarn is 100% wool, and though it was really nice, it wasn't the softest stuff out there. so I bought some hello kitty fleece and sewed in a lining. she still wasn't pleased. so it sat in her toy bin for a few months. the other night, out of the blue, she was walking around the house wearing it! I was shocked because I couldn't even get her to keep it on her head long enough for photos the first time around. anyway, I'm bummed the hat is still a bit tight. maybe I'll make another in the same style next winter, in a larger size, because I think it's super cute!

time for some pattern notes!
pattern: herringbone mitts by elliphantom
yarn: patons classic wool in green and cream
needles: knitpicks options us5 and us7
finished: december 24, 2007 (just in time! whew!)
notes: so, I started these quite some time ago, when I had visions of lots of handknit christmas gifts. this was my first foray into colorwork, and I wanted to give myself ample time to get them done. I knit the first one on a us6 (those little 8" clover circs - love 'em!), but it came out just a little bit too small. I couldn't even wiggle my fingers inside. so I tossed it aside and decided to start over on us7s. they sat half-finished (as in, I hadn't even finished the thumb on the first one) for weeks, and I finally picked them back up again less than a week before christmas, because I was determined to get them done for my sister in law's gift! I managed to finish up the first pretty quickly and knitted the second one in one night. whew! except! when I was done, the second one was oddly larger than the first. just slightly. and they both felt kind of loose. after I bathed and blocked them, they'd grown even more! I was freaking out at this point, since it was already 12/23. I tried not to panic, said a quick prayer, and set to hand felting them, convincing myself that if I just got them to felt enough, they would be denser and warmer (good for boston, where my bro and sil live) and, hopefully, the same size. and then I threw them into the dryer. eep! in the end, they came out great (even tho still slightly not the same size). it was definitely a christmas miracle. whew!

pattern: my own
yarn: patons classic merino
needles: susan bates us 4 dpns
finished: january 11, 2008
notes: isa demanded I make her some ladybug mittens the other night. she was watching me knit dashing (from knitty - for myself) and said she wanted some mittens of her own. ones shaped like ladybugs. so I whipped these up through a tiny bit of trial and error. quick and easy, for the most part.

how I made them (the dirty quickie version), in case anyone out there is interested:

gauge: 20 st x 28 r over 4” using us4 dpns in st st

co 30, join in the round, begin k1p1 ribbing (2 rounds black, 2 rounds red) twice, for a total of 8 rounds

continuing with red, k 1 round

first increase round: m1r, pm, k1, pm, m1l, k to end next round (and every other until there are 11 st between the markers): k following increase rounds: m1r, sl first marker, k to second marker, m1l (until there are 11 st between markers)

end with an increase round at the beginning of the next round, place the first 12 st onto waste yarn, removing the markers as you go

k one round and rejoin in the round continue until you’re about 1.5” from how long you want the mitten to be

switch to black k 2 rounds decrease round: (k4, k2tog) to end k 2 rounds (k3, k2tog) to end k 1 round (k2, k2tog) to end k1 round (k1, k2tog) to end, 10 st remain break yarn and draw thru remaining sts, pull tight and fasten

pick up 12 thumb sts using dpns k around until thumb measures 1.5” (or however long you want it to be) k2tog to end, 6 sts remain break yarn and draw thru remaining sts, pull tight and fasten

the line and spots were all stitched by hand afterwards. you can use the photo here as a guide or put them wherever you’d like

the original plan was also to do a couple short crochet chains and fasten them on as antennae, but that idea was quickly shot down by the dictator. and since she’s the one who demanded them (and will be wearing them), I didn’t bother making them. (I still think they’d make it really cute!) she has demanded button eyes, though… so those will probably be added soon

hope that all makes sense! :) whew!!

oh, dear. I think, instead of remarking on the absence of posting here on this blog, I'm just going to write as if it's the norm. which, I guess, is becoming the truth.

so guess what? I got myself a new, non-knitting related toy! and by new, I mean old. really old.

(this photo was not taken by me. actually, there's a reason why there are no photos taken by me lately even though I have two FOs and a near FO and I've been to several weddings and birthday parties and isa's first day of school and it's late and I can't remember what else. the point is, my computer is on the brink of death and steve jobs would rather put out iphones and new ipods than new computers which run leopard so I can finally say goodnight to good ole herbie, who has served me well for more years than a computer should. he makes these horrible sounds, as if he's going to implode and/or have an aneurism every time I plug in my camera and/or attempt to open iphoto. it's heartbreaking, really.)

wow, that was a long aside. where was I? oh, yes. I got me a toy! it's fabulous and cute and clean and clickety-clackety mm-mm good. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it except look at it and pet it and store it in its case. but sometimes I just get these wild pangs of nostalgia, thinking about my grandparents' old house and their clackety old typewriter, where I taught myself to type when I was six or seven. I'd always wondered what happened to that thing. when I asked my dad to go pick up this new one for me today, he said "I totally remember throwing one of those out about 20 years ago." and I said "GREAT. thanks, dad." and, apparently, he thought it was hilarious when the guy who was selling it came out holding the typewriter in one hand and the case in the other and said "I don't know how to get it inside." kids these days.

anyway, I'm pleased beyond words with it. and I should be. because it's the last indulgent thing I'll be buying for myself for a long long time. no more yarn, no more $4 lattes, no more impulse shoe purchases. it totally sounds like I'm going away to the big house. but, in reality, it's because I'm going to the small house. the small house that is going to have my name on its deed sometime in the next month or so. say a thousand prayers for me, because I'm headed to the dark side. that's right. I'm going to have to pay a mortgage and - try not to be alarmed - actually knit from the stash.

look! it's a real, genuine, honest to goodness FO! that I knit! all by myself! I managed to be 100% monogomous to good ole glee here, too. (we're just not going to think about all the wips I had to cheat on to complete this...) so, yes, I still live here, and yes, I still knit. (and I'm going to try to still blog.)

pattern: glee by zephyr style, size small
yarn: sundara yarn sport merino, 3 skeins
needles: knitpicks options us5, addi turbo us3, and knitpicks dpns us3
finished: july 15, 2007
notes: I made a few minor changes to this fabulous pattern. I added a few butt increases so I could squeeze my caboose in there, made the sleeves longer (roughly 5 inches from pit to cuff) and omitted the hooks and eyes. I might go back there with a ribbon as backing and then put in the hooks and eyes, but for now, I'm just leaving it open. the hooks pull too much on the knitted fabric and I couldn't get it not to look sloppy. I managed to use up just about all of this tasty yarn. the color is amazing and it's very nice and sproingy. I gave it a spin in the washer with some eucalan and it came out super soft and cuddly. unfortunately, it is just too hot to wear this for more than a photo op in the front yard right now. I'm saving this one for the fall! maybe by then it'll be hooked and eyed. overall, fast and fun knit! those zephyr girls sure know what they're doing. ;)

and here's what glee looked like in it's earliest stages:


yum! I'm getting hungry just looking at this... sorry this post is so short and glee-centric, but I am just pooped after a long week at work. I am so excited to finally be finished with glee and am so pleased with how it came out that I just had to share it. now, it's time for me to pass out and dream about 7 day weekends and miles of beautiful yarn and fountains flowing with vanilla lattes... and maybe a little george clooney.