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.

besides the fact that they replaced a package that got stolen off my front porch last week, I love it when amazon's free super saver shipping actually turns out to be super. case in point: I ordered a new printer yesterday afternoon. and this is what I saw this morning when I logged in to see when it would ship:

May 24, 2007 07:49:00 AM MENLO PARK CA US Out for delivery

woohoo! now I can print stuff again!

so, last wednesday, I was relieved to find isa's passport waiting for me in my mailbox when I got home from work, since our trip to taiwan is only two weeks away. I'd been waiting for it for what felt like an eternity (in reality, about 3 months). apparently, the feds are really busy since they'd decided to make everyone going to mexico and canada get passports. due to the sudden influx (which you'd think they would have prepared for, right?), passports are taking for-freaking-ever. I suppose they're in a huge rush to get them cranked out, so they don't have time to check their work. imagine my horror (ok, more like outrage) when I open the envelope to find that isa's name is spelled wrong. where is the quality control here?! it's not like she has an unusual name. and it's not like it wasn't printed clearly on the application and her birth certificate...

after throwing a fit and spending most of thursday on the phone trying to figure out what to do, I had no choice but to take friday off to hang out in san francisco. under normal circumstances, that would be fun. but, sadly for me, it involved about four hours in the passport office and two on bart. the only exciting part of it was that since I'd be on the train, I'd get to knit! hooray!

only problem was, I didn't really have anything to take with me. I'd started this rowan sweater a few weeks ago and have been plugging away slowly at a sea of stockinette (ok, like 3 inches) while watching tv. I almost died when I laid it out to admire and saw this:

a dropped stitch! right! there! so so close to the cast on edge. thankfully, this is ksh, so I'm not really worried that it's going to unravel, but it was enough to annoy me to where I didn't want to look at it anymore. so I banned it from my sf trip and decided to just take some sock yarn and the embossed leaf socks pattern I'd ripped out of ik. once I'd settled in on the train, I realized I should have at least read the first line of the pattern (or maybe not ripped the pages out of the magazine) before leaving the house, because it asked me to do some cast on I'd never heard of and to see page #not-the-ones-I-had-with-me for how to do it. I just did a long tail cast on since I really had no choice and now either must settle for a not pretty cast on edge or just rip it out and start over. but that's another post for another day. anyway, as I got started, I happened to glance over to see the lady across from me pulling a scarf out of her bag too! another knitter! I was so excited and ready to strike up a conversation, until I realized she wasn't knitting it, she was putting it on. because it's freezing in san francisco at 7:30 in the morning. then I thought "I should have brought a scarf. or a real jacket. or knit this sock really really fast."

anyway, long story not so short, I met lots of interesting folks, all seemingly very chipper to be spending their friday at the passport office, which turned out to be about 100 times less efficient than the dmv. even the people who had to catch their flights later that day seemed to be in good moods. that helped me not to get too aggravated. I didn't want to be "that one angry knitter lady. look at her with her pointy sticks. arrrrgh!" also, the people working there were really patient and nice. it was really weird. and hard to be mad at them. even though I really really wanted to be. like really. my fingers are crossed that it will arrive tomorrow, like fedex is telling me, and that it will be correct. especially since I had to give up isa's awesome mugshot for this less amusing puckered look.

I'm running out of words, so it's time for this post to come to an end. one last thing, tho - I went to the maker faire on sunday. it was so fabulous! I wish I'd been able to go the whole day saturday instead of just half the day sunday. can't wait for next year! so! much! cute! aaaahh!!

hello, world! where have I been? amazing how little blogging and knitting gets done when one has a real job, huh? I feel I should have so much to write about, but I'm at a total loss. maybe if I just keep babbling away, something will come to me. either that, or I'll end up with a really long, rambling blog entry that will put y'all to sleep. that's if there even is an "all" anymore... is anyone still there? anyone? hello?

so, yeah... let's see... I got into ravelry and just managed to figure out how to use it. haha! I'm so tech-stupid sometimes. that, and that whole not being able to read properly thing. at any rate, I'm starting to discover just how incredibly cool it is! and it's just what I need - one more thing to keep me from doing actual knitting. I'm reminded of how I totally made fun of wendy that one time when she told me she kept all her yarns and patterns in a spreadsheet... and then I realized that I was actually really jealous. I want a spreadsheet! and now I can even have a little pdf chart of my needles. how exciting is that?

oh, but the most exciting part is that I discovered someone actually knit my glove pattern! I didn't really think anyone would, and I am just beside myself! and it actually came out looking like a glove. amazing! the bad news is that somehow the link died. I need to get my friend who was hosting it to fix things, but he's out of the country right now.

also, while I was away from blogland, isa turned 2. where did the time go?? remember this?

yeah... that was then, this is now. crazy, eh?

I'm still here! for the most part, anyway. and today marks the end of my first two weeks at my new job. time has really flown... this is evidenced in my perpetual sleepiness and my near non-existent knitting time. I guess it is true that the days pass more quickly when you're busy, huh?

who knew that packing my own lunch would take such an effort? it's true that the grass is greener on the other side - I grumbled all the time at my old job about our free lunch, since I had no real say in which greasy, sub-par chinese restaurant or fast food joint we would be fed by each day. I couldn't wait to be able to decide what I'd have for lunch all by myself. what I didn't realize was that now I have to actually decide what I'm going to have for lunch. all by myself. every day. it's nice that I don't have to eat so much unhealthy food, but it's so hard to eat healthy, too! also, there seems to be a never ending supply of snickers bars at the office to help derail my efforts to not clog my arteries.

I'm sure all this is completely fascinating to any of you who might be reading this, since this is a knitting blog and all. the knitting has been scarce, to say the least. well. isa just happened to catch herself a really nasty stomach virus the very day my vacation began, and then promptly infected her day care provider, which left me at home with her and, um, a whole lot of nasty. by friday, I couldn't stand being trapped at home every day with an explosive toddler and instead decided to torment her by dragging her with me to stitches west. to make up for her suffering, I let her choose a fiber trends kit for me to knit up for her. of course, she chose the squirrel. and, of course, I forgot to take pictures. I'll do that soon. as soon as I find the time... ha! find time! oh, and I also bought some yarn. just a little. also... no pictures...

I probably have about a million other things to report, but I seem to have misplaced a decent amount of mental function lately. I'm sure daylight saving time isn't going to help, but I do hope to adapt to my new schedule soon and have something interesting to say here. in the meantime, here's some pictures of my brother's latest architectural creation. it's a gas station! a fancy one! in los angeles. one day, I'll have to get myself down there to get some gas. that, and be all "my brother designed this place! anyone want my autograph?" I'll have to remember my sharpie.

at this being on vacation thing, that is. this morning, I woke up 45 minutes before I normally wake up when I have to go to work. I tried and tried, but could not fall back asleep! I do believe I was just too giddy at the thought of not having to go into work today - or ever! ok, fine, not ever ever, but I won't have to go back to my OLD job ever. heehee.

anywho, I had a pretty productive morning - crossed a few things off my miles long to do list. the rest of the day will involve more crossing off, but hopefully it will also include some fun too. oh, what am I saying? not having to go to work makes even shopping for a new front door seem like fun. which is exactly what I'll be doing as soon as I finish posting this.

I even caught hugh grant on the view this morning. not a show I normally like to watch, but, hey, hugh grant! and while I watched/listened, I did something I've been wanting to do for quite some time now. actually, ever since I got my knitpicks options needle set in the mail. take a look - ta-da!

my very own clearance aisle at target placemat turned needle roll! just for my knitpicks set! I've really not liked the case that knitpicks makes. actually, if you like the original case, I'm selling it off on destash for a piddly $10. so I can buy some more cables. what fun! here are more pictures of my little creation.

I'm quite pleased with it, really. please don't mind the ghetto-ness of the rubber band holding it together... I'll figure out some prettier way of keeping it together that doesn't involve the tying of ribbons.

or, I can always just fold it in half, which is quite a space saver too. oh, the possibilities!

well, I hope I'll have more fun stuff to share with you next week. it's door shopping time for me. in the meantime, I hope everyone has a fabulous long weekend and a happy chinese new year! gong xi fa cai!

is it just me or is this rowan model flipping me off?

seriously, what have I been up to? it's hard to know for sure, really... the last few weeks have been busy and kind of a blur. oh, and thanks, everyone, for the compliments on wicked! I really do love the finished product and ended up wearing it out this past weekend. of course, the one day I wear it, it's like super hot outside. but I wore it anyway! over a lot of deodorant.

anyway. so things have been a bit crazy at work - there have been a lot of changes around here lately. but the biggest change of all? well, that would be that I'm leaving! I got a new job in a field that's more what I want and what I envisioned myself doing. yay! my current job was originally supposed to be kind of a placeholder until I found something better, and the day has finally come to say goodbye. I've got less than a week left and it's such a liberating feeling! I will definitely miss my coworkers and I'll miss my freedom to blog while at work, but this change is going to be great. the benefits far far outweigh the drawbacks.

oh, but the best part? in between jobs, I'm going to have a week off to do exciting things like get new tires for my car! do my taxes! get a passport for isa! shop for new work clothes! the shopping part is going to be great fun, actually. but even more fun than that is that stitches west is happening that same week I'm off! what are the chances?? unfortunately, my schedule and my pocketbook aren't really letting me take any classes, but I have carved out a few hours on friday to go and wander the market and see if I can't enhance my stash and my bookshelf and whatever just a little bit. I'm sure that's going to be really hard to do (insert eyes rolling here).

you don't think just because I haven't been blogging that I haven't been knitting, do you? of course not! I've got one FO to show and one wip to, well, not show, because I don't actually have pictures of it. I started eiffel (the *other* skc kal) in another attempt to clear the stash. I just happened to have some allhemp6 that I bought at a sale at my lys which I hadn't designated for a project yet. I'm planning on making my eiffel capsleeved, but we'll see how that goes! so far, I'm a few repeats away from the boobs. I hope to make some progress in boobland over the weekend!

and, without further ado, my latest FO:

pattern: shetland triangle from wrap style
yarn: sundara yarn aran silky merino in turquoise, less than 2 skeins
needles: knitpicks options us9
finished: february 2, 2007
notes: this color is near impossible to photograph. this still isn't quite right, but it's the closest one I could get. anyway, this yarn. oh. my. god. so so soft and silky and mmm mmm good! it was fabulous to knit with! I definitely need to get more for future projects. it did bleed like crazy when I washed it, but it held it's color well. how does that work? I compared it to the leftover yarn I had and it still appears to be the exact same color, even though I must have rinsed it over 10 times and the water was still tinged blue. the pattern was simple and beautiful and fast! my only problem with this FO is that I think my bind off is too tight. I'm thinking about redoing it, but, well, we'll see.

my second FO of 2007 has arrived! and, it was a stashbuster to boot. hooray!

presenting wicked! woot!

pattern: wicked, by zephyr style, smallest size
yarn: karabella aurora 8, just over 5 balls
needles: knitpicks options us8
finished: january 21, 2007
notes: this was for the current sexy knitters' club kal. and, uh, I think all future sweaters are going to have to be knitted top down. why isn't everything made this way? I loved knitting this and it went by so so fast, I almost didn't notice it happen. almost. the pocket had to be resewn like 8 times, due mostly to my inability to count. and I actually started out making the second smallest size, but then decided to rip back and do the smallest after splitting off for the sleeves. changes I made include making the sleeves about 2" longer than the pattern says for the short sleeved version and also making a plain pocket, because, well, I'm boring. also, don't tell anyone, but I didn't swatch. either the knitting gods were smiling on me, or this is an incredibly forgiving pattern. I was actually kind of worried that things wouldn't turn out quite right, but I forged on ahead anyway. I think, if I were to make this again, though, I would go down a needle size, just because I sort of wish the fabric were a bit denser. otherwise, I. love. this. sweater.

by the way, the aurora 8 was fabulous to knit with! it was my first time using it and I really liked how soft and springy it is. what fun! and I'm less intimidated by adult sweaters now. I think the key is to knit it all in one piece. knitting multiple boring stockinette pieces can really suck the life out of a project, but one giant stockinette piece just seems to fly by. I'm still shocked that this took me just under a week. I'm already itching to make another top down sweater like right now. seriously.

...from laughing at this. hahaha!