Knit Along the Way

Achoo!

2009-08-25T09:27:00.000-07:00

So I have to tell you this story.

(As an aside, I keep composing blog posts in my head which never make it to pixel form because of the craziness of life... I have so many pictures and stories to share!!! Even some about knitting!!!)

Piper and I headed up to Eric's this weekend to visit and attend a wedding reception for a couple that got married in Ohio, but live in Cali. The party was at a good friend's house that is in Three Rivers. In Three Rivers, there are burn regulations that require the tall grass to be cut around the house, but on the outskirts of the property there is lots of dry tall grass.

Back to the party, there were a couple of dogs there that Piper was desperately trying to make friends with... she was so cute. Emma, an Australia Shepard, was telling her to back off... but Piper just like LET'S PLAY!!! WEEEE! Actually, she was minding Emma pretty well. Anyway, I was enjoying the food and drink and chatting with the grown ups and always keeping an eye on Piper. She went down to play with some girls on the swing in the tall grass. Suddenly, she was sneezing herself silly! Propelling herself backwards in circles she was sneezing so violently... So I ran down and picked up her little sneezing butt and took her to the bathroom. I had a sinking feeling I knew what it was... a freaking FOXTAIL. One of those pokey annoying things that gets stuck in your sock when you take a hike... Like this:

Google "foxtail dog" and you will find horror stories about how foxtails are really invasive sneaky things that have barbs like a fishhook and thusly move in one direction... IN. So if a dog gets one in it's eye, or ear, or NOSE... it could definitely go to it's brain or lung within 10mins and terrible things will happen. Ok... not really 10min but that's what I assumed.

So back to sneezing Piper... I set her on the bathroom counter and looked her over. The whole right side of her face was squinched up and her eye was watering sad little tears. I looked up her nose, but have you ever looked up a puppy nose?? You can't really see much, especially if they keep sneezing in your face. Then I noticed she was sneezing BLOOD. UGGGGH. This is not good. Not good at all. By this time she was starting to calm down and I checked out her watery eye... it looked fine. So I carried her out to consult the other dog owners at the party. Should I rush her to the emergency vet an hour away? Or can I wait until Monday to take her to her regular vet. Everyone said it was probably ok to wait... the foxtails don't really move at the speed of light to the brain and lungs. I tried to settle her down as much as possible and she seemed to be ok except for occassional bursts of sneezies. She was actually acting very normal on Saturday and even Monday morning, but still the sneezing... so I took her to the vet. They kept her for an hour and sedated her for a good look up her nose. This is what they found.

Holy cow that thing is HUGE. It's 3.5 cm long. Just imagine having that up YOUR nose. Poor thing. She was really disoriented last night... searching and searching for something she couldn't find. Maybe she missed the smell of foxtail in her nose? Or maybe she was just excited to not have a horrible pokey tickely thing up her nose as she sniffed around? Who knows... OY! What will it be next???

Yikes!

2009-07-24T20:12:00.000-07:00

I ran out of space on my computer!!! I have a 150GB hard drive and it's completely full... mostly of photos. I can't even upload the latest Piper photos!

This calls for a run to BestBuy. I already have a 500GB backup drive, but I need double backup in order to feel safe enough to actually delete things from my hard drive. Scary. Hopefully I have more cute pup photos by the end of the weekend! She's getting so big!

Puppy Love.

2009-07-20T08:37:00.000-07:00

Piper is continuing to adjust to her new life and routines... She can be a whiney little baby, but she sure is cute. Here are some more photos. Click on any of them to go to my flickr where there are even MORE puppy pics. Enjoy. :)

P.S. She has to wear a cone now because her spay incision is swollen and not healing as quickly as we'd like. Poor girl. Hopefully it can come off soon.

Meet Piper.

2009-07-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

Well! I've decided on a name. Meet Piper! Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

She is so freakin' cute. There is definitely lab in her... she already fetches purple squeeky whales and brings them back! It's amazing what those instincts do. Let's watch her in action:

She is so clumsy right now! But extremely enthusiastic, leaping and bounding across the yard. Here are some more snaps from yesterday. Have a great day!

Uh-oh.

2009-07-14T07:42:00.000-07:00

I might have more inspiration to blog because I have a super cute puppy to photograph. Uhoh... I smell trouble.

She's a lab mix. The best guess is that the mix is weimaraner. A labmaraner! She still needs a name. Front-runners are JoJo, Josie, Lily, Misty. I'm open to suggestions... suggest away!

Eep.

2009-05-19T22:39:00.000-07:00

Work is sucking my will to live. I'm still knitting. And weaving! But blogging and photography are suffering. I'm sorry. Truly, I am. But something has to give. Hopefully, I can motivate myself to post here more often, but I can't promise anything. Keep on, keeping on! Sometimes it is only the knitting that keeps me sane...

Alhambra

2009-03-29T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have a new favorite yarn: Malabrigo Sock. It's soft, versatile, squooshy, washable, and comes in an amazingly gorgeous array of colors. I recently finished knitting Alhambra out of Malabrigo Sock in Archangel. It was a great pairing of pattern and yarn. The pattern was dynamic, yet easy to memorize and really played-up the colors in the yarn. I may have taken ~~too many~~ a lot of pictures of this lovely scarf using my new lens (35mm Nikon DX F1.8). :D

Also, I've been busy casting-on for a couple new projects. I fell in love with the Whisper Cardigan in the most recent Interweave Knits so I acquired some lovely green Malabrigo Lace in Verde Esparanza (Green Hope). It's striping on the sleeve which is an unexpected development. I'm pretty sure I like it though.

And a guess green is TEH color right now because I'm also making another slouchy hat for Paul in Juniper Heather in Knitpicks Shadow (double stranded). Huh. Go green!

Happy knitting everyone!

Yarn Dyeing!

2009-02-28T20:01:00.000-08:00

Today I went to a (highly anticipated) yarn dyeing class at the Stitch Cafe! It was some serious fun. I used Sterling yarn as my base which has 2% silver in it so it has these awesome sparkly bits that glitter in the light. I wussed out and chose a safe color to dye: purple & pink. BUT! I'd like to think it's a very complex semi-solid dye job. Anyway, I story of dye is best told in photos.

The colors I mixed: Greypurple, Pinkpurple, Rosepink, Fushia.

Halfway through dyeing the second side.

After the first cook.

Gloria's hands... no gloves for her!

I heart utility sinks. I want one. No... I need one.

The doodle pad.

Rinsing. Not much bleeding! Sweet.

Drying in the sun.

**View the whole slide show from the day HERE!**

Malibrigo Madness.

2009-02-27T06:43:00.000-08:00

Recently it's been all Malbrigo yarn around here. I've been stashing Malbrigo for awhile now. I just love love love how soft and squooshy the yarn is... plus the colors are fabulous. And I just got my grubby mitts on some Malbrigo sock in Archangel. Goooooorgeouuuuus.

I couldn't resist! I cast-on for an Alhambra scarf with haste! Then, after I finished my spiral boot socks*, I cast-on for a Merino Malbrigo hat. I started with the Koolhaas pattern, but the skein of Cuarzo I have is too varigated and it obscured all those lovely cables. So I switched to Felicity.

I love it! The colors pooled so perfectly for the first part of the hat. It almost looks like stripes, but it's actually a lazy spiral. Awesome!

It was a super quick knit too... only a couple evenings of knitting. Highly recommended. Happy knitting!
*Spiral Boot Socks are having a few slouching problems currently. Tsk tsk. Bad posture never flattered anyone. Unfortunately, when I blocked them, they grew a bit. So I have to buy some Rainbow Elastic to remedy the problem. I'll take some pics when they are completely finished.

Trying something new.

2009-02-10T07:58:00.000-08:00

I'm going to try something different. I started a new blog on Wordpress. I've been thinking about switching Knit Along the Way from Blogger to Wordpress for awhile. The main thing that's holding me back is template flexibility. Blogger is way more customizable (for free anyway). I like to post large photos and I've, so far, been unable to change the column or photo sizes in the Wordpress templates. I have to do a little more research. For the time being, I'm going to try out Wordpress with a photoblog. Without further ado, go check out my new blog... Let Me Show You a Story: a year in photos.

Also, I added a Flickr badge down at the bottom of the page. My sister mentioned that she missed that from my old blog layout. Stay tuned for some knitting. :)

Finished Lady.

2009-01-29T22:19:00.000-08:00

I finished something big and fabulous: my Lady Eleanor stole. I love her and I've worn her pretty much every day since I finished her. She was blocked during the inauguration of President Obama.

I loved knitting this stole. The silk garden was lovely as ever. Despite all the knots and veggie matter that I had to pluck from the strands, this yarn is pretty awesome. The colors in the colorway are so pretty. I love all of them. And entrelac is so addicting! The squares just speed by, especially when you get the hang of knitting backwards. The fringe took two nights to finish... don't underestimate the fringe! It really makes the shawl. Ok... I had Eric take some shots while we were visiting Ruby, Alice, and Tom last weekend. Enjoy.

Here's a Story...

2009-01-06T22:47:00.000-08:00

Well! The holidays are over. I'm a little slow getting back into the routine, but it's hard to come back to reality after such a long vacation. Christmas Gift Knitting this year was a big hit! I managed to take a series of photos of the WIP/FOs before I left for the East Coast.

Quite Brady-esque, dontcha think?

As you can see from the mosaic, I got quite a lot done before leaving on a jet plane, but I still had plenty to finish. There was still 80% of a hat (on US3 needles *eep*), 1 Fetching mitt, and a full pair of man mittens to knit. Not to mention the earrings I wanted to add to the cowl gifts. So did I get everything finished in time??? Oh! the suspense...

Yay! Happy, warm people all around!

I did it!!! I managed to finish everything. PHEW! I've gotta cut back on my gift recipients next year, or start even earlier. It was so fun to see everyone enjoy their gifts! It was really hard this year because I really wanted to keep the majority of the things I knit. The navy/yellow/purple hat for my sister, the squooshy oatmeal hat for brother-in-law, the Fetching mitts, the earrings! It's very satisfying to share my work though. I might even be able to whip up a pattern for the nautical hat I made my sister. It'll be more like a recipe than a pattern though... We'll see.

I have lots more photos to share from my vacation. I'll post more later after I have the energy to process them.

Ok, now back to selfish knitting... Lady Eleanor, here I come!

Beep.

2008-12-17T09:10:00.000-08:00

Hi. I can't come to the blog right now. I'm too busy knitting. If you'd like to leave your name, number, and some brief encouragement that all the unknit yarn in the picture below will get knit in the appropriate time frame, I'll get back to you as soon as possible. Which will probably be next year. Have a great day!

Awesomely Random.

2008-12-09T07:37:00.000-08:00

1. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while! I needed a break. But I'm back! Here's some complete randomness to get caught-up.
2. First (second?), I must say, migraines completely suck.
3. The trip to ski in Salt Lake City over Thanksgiving was AWESOME. I got to knit a bunch AND hang out with my brother. Lets see what the two combined look like:

4. It's really darn windy out here... *wince* That can only mean one thing: red flag conditions... freakin' fire season.
5. I started a few more Christmas gift designs. Here are the sneak peeks:

6. I bought a new car! Go, economy, go! She is the cutest car ever! And now, I have to think of a name. Because a car this cute, definitely requires a name.

7. I had to re-pot Ophelia the Orchid. She was in a mixed arrangement with... SOIL. *gasp* This could not stand if Ophelia was to live so she moved to a new home:

8. Last, but not least, I won Lolly's little contest about guilty pleasures! How exciting! Thank you so much Lolly!

Last Day of November...

2008-11-30T13:45:00.000-08:00

30 Days Of Blogging. Check!

Pittsburgh Zoo.

2008-11-29T13:40:00.000-08:00

Flashback to Utah.

2008-11-28T13:34:00.000-08:00

These are photos from the roadtrip Eric and I took to Utah in April. That was a fun trip. Hopefully, I'm hitting the Utah slopes today, like in the third photo!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-27T13:26:00.000-08:00

HAPPY THANKSGIVING.

I am thankful for so many things...
Now it's time to eat turkey!

So close!!!

2008-11-25T21:22:00.000-08:00

I realized last night that my month of consistent blogging is in major peril. So far this month, I've blogged for 25 days straight (!?!?) which is quite a feat for me. I have NEVER, in my four years of blogging, been a regular blogger. But I have to admit... this blogging thing? It's pretty fun. I actually have plenty to say and even if I don't, I have manymanymany photos to throw up on this little corner of the interwebs.

But I'm going on vacation starting this evening. Eric and I are driving up to Utah to ski and I'm not sure I'm going to have internet access. So I must coast out of my month of blogging. I will be scheduling some photos to go up, but it feels like cheating to just schedule photo posts for the last 5 days of the month. Oh well. Hopefully, I'll stick with blogging at a more regular pace than once a month. :) Have an awesome holiday weekend! See ya in December!!!

Hijack.

2008-11-25T00:42:00.000-08:00

I'm hijacking my own blog to show my sister some yarn color combos. Regular posting will resume tomorrow. :) Ok... in no particular order.

Option 1: Pros = all the same yarn / Cons = purple color is so-so

Option 2: Pros = nice color combo / Cons = all different yarns

Option 3: Pros = all the same yarn, bright purple / Cons = navy is not very dark

Option 4: Pros = cheapest / Cons = not so sure about the purple

What do you think Kaylee?

Knitters in the Wild.

2008-11-24T22:14:00.000-08:00

Last weekend at JTree was fun. I allowed myself a weekend of selfish knitting and I restarted my Lady Eleanor stole. I've heard it said by others, but it's true... Entrelac is really addicting. Especially with Noro yarn. It's great incentive to knit the next square and see what color comes up next! One more square... just one more...

Restarted with 55 sts on US8s. Puuuuurfect.

Knitting with some cool chicks: Jenna, me, & Elaine.

Beautiful sunset.

I didn't actually do any rock climbing on belay, but the company and the landscape were well worth the trip. I have many more photos, so I'll post some more later. Good night!

On Top of the World.

2008-11-23T08:13:00.000-08:00

White Chief Peak 11,159ft Sep 2008.

Alta Peak 11,204ft Aug 2008.

Moro Rock July 2008.
.......
Some photos of high places. I'll be back from Joshua Tree tomorrow! Hopefully I'll have some sweet photos.

More Orchid Photos.

2008-11-22T08:10:00.000-08:00

Sorry. Can't help it. She's photogenic.

J Tree.

2008-11-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

I'm off to Joshua Tree this weekend to camp, rock climb, and photograph the wild landscape. I might even fit in some knitting! See ya Monday. Here are some pics from last year.

Be Careful What You Wish For.

2008-11-20T22:06:00.000-08:00

I cracked! I couldn't take all the gift knitting... so far I've finished a pair of socks, a hat, 2.5 washcloths. That's pretty good progress, right? I deserve a little knitting love, too? Right?

Whoops.

So I started Lady Eleanor. All that pretty Noro was calling my name in it's silky, multi-hued voice. I would like large-ish squares for my stole, so I changed the pattern to 11 stitch squares on US7s, instead of 8 stitch squares. I cast-on for the recommended 7 triangles for the setup tier and happily knit away. I had great fun figuring out the entrelac and knitting backwards. Watching the pretty colors shift... While I was knitting I thought to myself, this is a bit too tight of a gauge... I wish it were a bit more drapey. But I was halfway into the 1st tier!! No way was I starting over. HA! I should know better than to think wishful thoughts. Even worse, I mentioned it to Gina at work today, warning that she might want to start her stole on US8s. Well, the knitting gods heard me. As I finished the 1st tier, I realized that the thing was a bit wiiiiide.

30" wide is 6" too wide... I should have only done 5 set-up triangles (55sts).

I guess I will get to knit it on US8s. That's what I get for wishful thinking. And cheating on my gift knits. Sigh.

Nine-dimensional Cardigan?

2008-11-19T17:02:00.000-08:00

Check out this comic... :D

Random Craftiness.

2008-11-18T22:34:00.000-08:00

I bought a jersey knit dress on sale from J.Crew a while back. It is a lovely dress, a very flattering fit, but the color was a bit bright for me. I believe it was called Melon? Or maybe Bright Rubarb? Perhaps Neon Orange? Anyway, it was a bit bright for me. Right on the edge of being an OK color, but I thought it might be fun to dye it. I bought a bottle of Rit dye in Wine and collected some rubber bands. I gathered the bottom of the skirt and randomly tied the rubber bands around the bottom foot of gathered skirt. I filled a bucket in my tub with hot water, 1 cup of salt, and a bottle of the Wine dye. It was reaaaaaally dark. It kind of scared me, but I tossed in the dress. After 30 min of soaking, I starting rinsing. Man! That dye did not want to rinse out. I rinsed and rinsed and rinsed some more... the water was still pink! So I tossed it in the washer... I peeked in during the final rinse... the water was still pink! So I'll have to wash this puppy by itself a few more times, but I really like it! The color is awesome now. Check out the cool tie-dyedness!

Front.

Back.

I think the back might be cooler than the front, but oh well. This successful dying experiment is making me want to tie-dye all my boring clothes! Fun!

Whoa.

2008-11-17T22:52:00.000-08:00

Where did the day go? Where did the WEEKEND go? It was my birthday weekend so I got to choose the weekend activities. That means Eric went with me to Felt Club 2008, a craft show in LA. It was really cool! It was fun to see all the creative folks I admire on Etsy in real life. It's very inspiring. And speaking of inspiring, I know everyone has seen all the new patterns coming out, but did you check out the new Twist Collective? Or the new Knotions? Or the Interweave preview?!? So many good things. So little time to knit. I never thought I'd want to knit a coat, but check this one out: Sylvi. It makes me want to throw out all my Holiday knitting obligations and cast on right away! But first I would have to buy yarn, which is a no-no until March. So I'll wait... or will I?!? Which color would you choose?? The red is fabulous, but I don't really wear red. Orange, grey, creme? Purple?

Photos from Twist Collective. Color manipulation by me.

Ophelia Orchid.

2008-11-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Jenna gave me an orchid for my birthday. She's chock full of buds and very pretty.

Let's hope I can keep her happy, green, and blooming.

Smokey Sunrise.

2008-11-15T12:33:00.000-08:00

The Santa Ana winds are blowing.

Smokey red sunrise.

Fire season is upon us. It's kind of scary living in a place that has a "fire season." Give me snow over fire any day.

Vintage post: "Loose ends..."

2008-11-14T21:30:00.000-08:00

Here is a vintage post that I forgot to publish back in Oct 06. Whoops! Better late than never:

I have a couple loose ends.

Some to tie up. Some to rip out.

First I'd like to post about an FO that was never really shown on this blog before. It's nothing fancy, but as I was transfering files from my old computer to my new computer I happened to stumble upon the pictures. Introducing the Seafoam Scarf.
The loose end to rip out is referring to my Jaywalker sock. Sigh. It doesn't fit my foot. It fits my ankle very well, but the heel and instep are way too big. I don't have much experience with a heel flap, so I know it can probably be adjusted with something simple, like a shorter heel flap or picking up less stitches... Here's a picture of the ill-fitted-ness... Can anyone help me out here? Or should I just fall back to my old standard, the short row heel?

Happy Birthday to me!

2008-11-13T22:34:00.000-08:00

I have the most awesome friends. :D

Coconut, Lemon, Boston Creme, Godiva Chocolate, Red Velvet

Thanks for all the birthday wishes and cupcakes my friends! I have a feeling 26 is going to be a good year.

Some of my knitting buddies: Kate, Gina, Rosalind, Grace, & Elyse. And the next gift knit: Thorpe III.

Knitting Math.

2008-11-12T07:15:00.000-08:00

This photo has nothing to do with the post. I just couldn't blog without a photo.

Last weekend at the bike party, a lot of people were impressed by my mad knitting skillz. I was turning the heel on the second Retro Rib sock and it was fun to try to explain sock architecture to non-knitters. The most frequently asked question was definitely "how long does it take you to knit a pair of socks?" Hmmm. Well, I'm not sure. I don't normally keep track of how long it takes me to knit in any concrete way. Sure, I fill in the start and end dates in Ravelry, but how much actual knitting time does it take to knit a pair of socks? I guessed 40 hrs as a guesstimate last weekend and then I timed myself knitting Monday night to get a better estimated time.

It turns out that it takes me ~3 min to knit on round on this sock. There are 10 cuff rows + 80 leg rows + 32 heel flap rows + 72 foot rows + 25 toe rows = ~220 rows * 3 min/row = 660 min = 11 hrs * 2 socks = 22 hrs!!! Wow... that doesn't seem like long at all. I was way off on the 40 hrs.

Anyway, I finished the socks last night! On to the next gift knit!

Christmas Countdown designed by Christmas Gifts.org

EZ Mitered Mittens.

2008-11-11T08:36:00.000-08:00

This weekend was lots of fun! Eric mountain bikes with the coolest people. It was actually pretty chilly in the mountains so I got to make use of multiple knitted objects. Hats, scarves, mittens! I finally got a decent modeled shot of the mitered mittens I made out of some beautiful handspun yarn in my stash.

I even have enough handspun left over to make a coordinating hat. I'm thinking that brooklyntweed's Turn A Square (ravelink) would be perfect.

Check out more pictures from the weekend below! Here is a link to the slide show if you can't see it below!

One Word Meme.

2008-11-10T22:53:00.001-08:00

Where is your mobile phone? desk

Where is your significant other? far

Your hair colour? dirty
Your mother? sweet

Your father? good

Your favourite thing? sleeping

Your dream last night? forgotten

Your dream goal? happiness

The room you're in? glowy

Your hobby? making

Your fear? spiders

Where do you want to be in 6 years? together

Where were you last night? Visalia

What you're not? well-rested

One of your wish-list items? tripod

Where you grew up? suburbia

The last thing you did? flickr

What are you wearing? pjs

Your TV? off

Your pets? Libby

Your computer? iMac

Your mood? sleepy

Missing someone? always
Your car? dirty
Something you're not wearing? bra
Favourite shop? yarnshop

Your summer? short

Love someone? muchly

Your favourite colour? purple

When is the last time you laughed? today

When is the last time you cried? today

Sorry for the meme cop out, but I thought this one was fun. I'll be back in the morning with lots o' photos!

Silhouette.

2008-11-09T09:00:00.001-08:00

Kayaking through cave in the Channel Islands. July 2008.

Hover Dog.

2008-11-08T09:00:00.000-08:00

Ruby is an awesome Frisbee dog. Here she is in action.

Good catch, Ruby!

Droplets on Yellow.

2008-11-07T07:45:00.000-08:00

Heading up to Visalia this weekend. Eric's friends throw an annual bike party at their cabin in the mountains. Last year it rained, but this year it's just supposed to be cold. It should be fun and I'll have lots of knitting time while most of the other party-goers hurtle down the mountain on two wheels. :) See ya Monday.

P.S. I have pre-made some weekend posts, so as to keep my blogging streak going. WOOT.

Nano Sock.

2008-11-06T21:46:00.000-08:00

I don't think I ever posted about this, but I bought a new purple nano because my pink nano's screen died. This is the 4th(!?!?) iPod nano I have owned. Remember my first nano? I am a sucker for Apple marketing fo' sho'. Silly.

So I knit my nano a sock out of Koigu.

Doesn't it coordinate well?
I love my new nano.
It's the coolest.
The End.

The Naughty, Knotty Yarn

2008-11-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

I had a naughty yarn diet slip. I'd say it was the equivalent 'food diet' slip of frozen yogurt... a whole half gallon in one sitting. Whoops. It was the full bag sale that got me. And peer pressure. And splitting shipping costs. But I don't regret it, because the yarn is gorgeous.

Noro Silk Garden 244 from full bag sale (aka 10 balls)

You may notice that there are quite a few varied size balls of yarn there. Well, not only is this my naughty yarn, it is VERY. KNOTTY. YARN. Of the 10 balls I rewound, 8 balls had knots! I rewound each ball twice. On the first rewind, I only found 3 knots... not too bad. On the second rewind, I found 5 more knots! Of those knots, 6 knots had huge disruptions in the color scheme. Ugh. So I cut out all of the knots and got the resulting 18 balls of yarn.

Lined up by size, with naughty knots visible.

Geez Noro! What is up? Why so many knots? I know that this is a common problem, but that doesn't make it ok. Where is the QC? I'm assuming that it is a by-product of the spinning process that makes the beautiful color gradations. But tying all those knots must take a lot of time & resources. Why don't they just improve the process? Sorry... a bit of a rant there. I honestly didn't really mind the thearaputic winding and rewinding last night during the election results. Something to be said about stratigically cutting out the bad bits of something good??

Anyway, after I had all my balls wound, I tried to find a knitting order for the balls that would keep the color shifts somewhat on track. I think I succeeded. I'm going to make Lady Eleanor (ravlink) with this yarn and I'm itching to cast-on. I even researched knitting backwards and watched a YouTube demonstration. However, I really have to keep chugging away at the Christmas knitting. Someday...

I Voted.

2008-11-04T08:02:00.000-08:00

Did you?

Socks & Sleeves.

2008-11-03T21:01:00.000-08:00

Gift knitting continues:

And I'm bushed. That 3hr weekend-commute is killer. G'night.

Weekend at the Brown's

2008-11-02T20:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend was relaxing. Eric was supposed to go on a boys-only backpacking trip in the Sierras but they were forecasting rain this weekend. Rain in the valley = snow in the mountains, so they decided against the outing. It did, in fact, rain, but not too much. It ended up being a beautiful weekend in Visalia! Sunday morning, while Eric went mountain biking in Three Rivers, I hung out with Alice and Ruby the dog. I took a bunch of photos. This is my favorite.

Aren't Alice's roses pretty?

Also, last night we brewed another batch of beer. Apricot Ale. Eric recently invested in a propane stove which was fun to play with. And I'm having lots of fun playing with my camera. :)

Hope everyone had an awesome weekend!

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

I went as Cleopatra.

Judging by the responses I got, I really need to dye my hair black, cut some bangs, and get some eyebrows tattooed. Here are all the participants of Halloween fun at work:

P.S. I'm going to try to post every day this month. We'll see how that goes. :)

Sock Takes a Hike.

2008-10-22T22:54:00.000-07:00

The holiday gift knitting continues...

This is a Retro Rib sock out of Lorna Laces Shepard Sock Solid. I am a fan of this yarn. It's sproingy and easy to knit. Not to mention, the color is fab! The subtle shade shifting is quite nice. I like. I've gotten to the heel of the first sock, so these are zooming along just fine. Yay for sneaking in some Socktober knitting!

This lucky sock got to hitch a ride on a hike to The Needles last weekend. There were beautiful vistas along the way. We could even see Mt. Whitney, which was 35mi away. Here's the sock taking in the view.

Yay!

And we mustn't forget to thank Eric for taking these photos.

Goofball.

Vrrrrrooom...

2008-10-16T22:12:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had a team building event at work. It was at an indoor go-kart race track! Those suckers can go 35mph so it's a pretty good thrill zooming around the track.

I'm actually really sore today. I was in a couple "crashes" and my dang bony spine got all bruised up because the seats were not very cushy. Here I am in action:

Check out more photos here.

I have been knitting. But it's all gift knitting. I have socks, mittens, hats, sleeves, and facecloths on the needles right now! It's a bit overwhelming, but little by little I'm working through the pile. Only 2 months to Christmas!

Brown and Gray.

2008-10-09T21:35:00.000-07:00

The time of the year has come where most of my knitting turns to gift knitting. I generally collaborate with my giftees to ensure that they are completely satisfied with their gift. I would hate to spend time knitting a gift for someone if they weren't going to wear it. Usually, people have unique and interesting requests and it is fun to make things that I wouldn't normally choose to make.

Apparently this year it's all about brown and gray. Hmmm.

Of course this is perfectly fine. Look at this fine example of these beautiful colors in nature:

Heathery gray is awesome. And I love brown! But it does get a bit boring to knit brown and gray all the time. I might have to cast on something multi-colored just to keep my sanity. Endpaper Mitts??? Of course, there is always my sister's gift... I don't know how I agreed to this...

That's going to be Beatrix. Unfortunately, I had to go down to a US3 to make gauge. Gulp. Um... excuse me... I better get back to the needles.

Cause and Effect.

2008-10-07T02:06:00.000-07:00

Cause: I bought a new camera. Effect: I had to change my blog layout.

So that I could post huge pictures. Like this:

More photos here!

P.S. Eric is minus one appendix as of last Tuesday. It was a crazy week... Why am I still up???

Swatching...

2008-09-24T14:39:00.000-07:00

I have been swatching for my next projects and I need an opinion. Below is a swatch for a pair of Endpaper Mitts. I haven't done that much colorwork knitting, so I wanted to practice the two handed technique and see how holding the yarn in different hands affected the colorwork. I've heard rumors of yarn dominance and I wanted to prove it to myself. I didn't think it would make a huge difference, but check it out:

Top motif: Dark purple = background color, held in right hand
Middle motif: Dark purple = background color, held in left hand
Bottom motif: Dark purple = pattern color, held in left hand

So basically, the top and middle motifs are knit exactly the same way, except I'm carrying the yarn in opposite hands. Do you see how different they look! The yarn held in the left hand is definitely dominant. Check this out for another example. Yarn dominance!?! Who knew it would make such a huge difference.

Anyway, my question is, which motif do you like the best? Which color should be the background and which should be the pattern yarn? And which should be dominate? I already have an opinion, but I'm curious what other people think.

What say you?

Yarn Diet.

2008-09-23T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hello. My name is Amanda and I'm a yarnaholic.

The time comes in every knitter's life, when the stash acquisition gets out of hand. A skein of sock yarn here, some Silky Malabrigo here, two skeins of lace weight there, souvenir Koigu from Philly, two sweaters worth of Felted Tweed... I must stop the insanity. There are so many beautiful yarns in the world and somehow... someway... I keep forgetting that I have an amazing sampling of theses fantastic fibers right in front of my face! Then a scary thing happened. I got mixed up with the Sundara crowd. They are a persuasive bunch. Always snapping up her yarn so fast that it seems like the perfect unattainable yarny fix. I want some! I NEED SOME! So I signed up for a season (or two) of her Seasons subscription. I have commited to stash enhancement of the Sundara kind until next March. This moment of weakness was the last straw. Therefore, March 2009 is my self-imposed deadline. I cannot stash any yarn until the last of my Sundara shipments are done. This is going to be hard, but I have to do it. This isn't even a financial thing. I don't mind spending my hard-earned income on fancy string. It's just the quantity is getting out of hand. I have so many awesome projects waiting for my attention in the stash. Maybe I'll finally get around to them.

I do have to make a small exception though. I'm going to make every attempt at creating most of my Christmas presents from my stash. However, if someone requests some thing that I don't have the yarn for, I can buy it. BUT THAT IS IT. The only exception. Sock yarn counts in this yarn diet. All yarn counts in this diet.

I declare this publicly only to make it more real. Sorry for the boring post. Here's a puppy for ya. Meet Winnie.

She's Jenna's absolutly adorable new pup.

Oh, in other sad news, my D40 is sick. You can actually see it in the photo of Winnie above. There is a dead pixel in the sensor just right of middle that turns in to a lovely neon green streak at low shutter speeds. So ugly. I sent it into Nikon to get fixed, but I'm thinking of upgrading to another body. Perhaps a D80? Hmmmm... another reason for the yarn diet...

Par-tay!

2008-09-16T22:41:00.000-07:00

I had a little blocking party tonight.

I finally blocked my Good Luck Lady Sweater and I'm terribly frightened that it grew. A lot. I hope that it's just a skewed perspective on the floor that is making it look so big. Yeeks. I also finished the little yellow shrug. It was really simple and I threw in some puff sleeves to spice it up. Now I have to find a button or sparkly pin to finish it up.

The mitered mittens were a lot of fun to make. I finally figured out what the awesome handspun yarn I bought from zero wanted to be. First I tried Shag from Knitting New Scarves. I didn't like it so much... it did nothing to emphasis the yarn.

Then I tried the Morning Surf scarf that was made specially for handspun yarn. No dice. Me no likey. To stringy or something...

Finally, I turned to EZ... my first true EZ project! (One could argue that the Good Luck Lady sweater was an EZ inspired knit...) I was a bit daunted by the pithy mitten instructions at first, but I figured it out and look how pretty!

I lurve them so much!!! They are so warm and toasty. And look at the pretty color shifts!!! I will model them for you when they are dry.

Oh and real quick, a modeled pic of my Shetland Triangle:

And finally, I think it's time for a haircut. That is all. Good night!

Good Luck Lady Sweater

2008-08-27T12:42:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finished the February Lady Sweater for the Ravelympics! However, I didn't realize that you had to post to the finish-line to get your medal. Whoops. Oh well. I'm a winner anyway!

It's ravelized here. Thanks to my sister for taking FO photos and helping to find the perfect buttons. My mom was helping with the Great Button Search of 2008 too... you should have seen us holding every possible button up to the sweater in JoAnn's. This one's too dark, these are too orange, these are too fancy... Good times.

So it is possible to knit a sweater in 17 days! Although, this sweater benefited by a cross-country flight plus down-time by myself in a Philly hotel. I'm still pretty impressed that I got it done. Also, I started another quick shrug and I'm almost done with that too! Sometimes it's fun to knit with worsted/bulky yarn! More on the shrug next time. Ciao.

Might As Well...

2008-08-15T07:58:00.000-07:00

...ease back into blogging. I'm sorry for my suckage at blogging this summer. After awhile, if I don't post, it's just easier not to because there is so much to blog about! Enough excuses. Everyone's life is busy. So I'll get on with it. Let's start recent and go back... This is going to be photo intense and pretty random. Hit rewind!!!

I've been staying up to late watching the Olympics. Why do they have to broadcast them so late??!?! This is the state of my Ravelympics project last night. This is 6 days of knitting. Only 8 more left to finish! Yikes. I think it's doable.

Eric and I went up to Napa last weekend.

We drank wine.

I knit on my Ravelympics project.

While he raced his mountain bike.

I went to the Farmer's Market in TO last week. They had stipey eggplant! And pretty flowers.

I finished my Shetland Triangle shawl just in time to start my Ravelympics project. It's beautiful. I love it. More pics of me modeling it later.

Eric and I hiked to the top of Alta Peak: 11,204ft high, ~4000ft elevation gain by foot, 16mi roundtrip. I was hurtin after this one, but the view from up there was worth it.

We got to visit Ruby. I'm happy to report, she's still adorable.

I finished the Spring Fling socks during the Tour de France.

My sister came to visit and modeled Tessa's birthday present.

Ok, ok... I'm going to pause the way back machine for a moment... There is more to come though! So stay tuned... I'm not lying when I say I've been busy!

Oh Hai.

2008-07-07T22:19:00.000-07:00

Ellie would like to say Hello.

She will be herding the origami partridge family I have above my desk at work. :)

*****************

I've been on vacation! A week off work is wonderful. It was made even more wonderful by my visiting sister and bro-in-law. My dad and his gf came for a couple days too. I'm still sifting through pictures, but we went kayaking at the Channel Islands, to In-N-Out Burger and Trader Joe's multiple times, worked up a sweat at Cardio Barre, cheered on contestants during a taping for the Price is Right, hiked among the Giant Sequoias and ran into a bear, saw 4th of July fireworks, ate yummy Sprinkles & Crumbs cupcakes... we were busy! Photos will come eventually. Check out Kaylee's blog for a few pics to tide you over.

I've Got it Bad...

2008-06-12T20:22:00.000-07:00

Startitis is rearing its impatient little head. Lately (strangely?), I've slipped into a relatively monogamous knitting habit. It's very satisfying to see rapid progress on a project when it is your sole focus.

That said, I'm now itching to start something new. I've been slogging away on the edging of the Print O' The Wave stole. I started this sucker in Aug 2007 and I'd like to finish it before it's year anniversary. The end is in sight! I've finished half of the edging...

Right now it looks like a crinkled mess, but I have faith it will become a beautiful butterfly once it gets to stretch it's wings. I can't wait to block it! I have a suspicion it might be huge...

So I made myself wait until I reached this halfway point in the edging before starting something new... but what to start?? So many choices!! I've had a cable craving lately, so I may start this cabled v-neck, Catriona.

I was surprised to see that the pattern doesn't have a chart for the cables, but it's a free pattern so I can't complain too much. I decided to make up a cable chart for my own sanity. If anyone would like a copy, I think I could share it. I don't think that violates any copyright because it's a free pattern... Can anyone shed light on that? I have some Calmer in my stash that would work really well. However, I'm not wild about the royal blue color (I was defenseless against a 50% off sale in my early knitting days). I'm also worried that I won't have enough yardage in my 6 balls of Calmer. I did a dying experiment back in the day and I like the green and purple results I got... but do I really want to dye all that yarn??? I want to knit cables now! I might research over-dying to see if that's a feasible option...

Anywho... I've been hankering to start some socks with all this lovely sock yarn I've been accruing. And tada! Knitty comes through... I'm loving the Spring forward socks and I have a perfect springy green yarn in the stash to knit it with! Sweet!

I also highly enjoy Ziggy and have some Noro sock that would be perfect... so many choices!

Welp, I'm off to cast-on something! See ya next time!

******************************

P.S. I've uploaded a ton of photos of my recent adventures: boxer puppies, black lab puppies, high sierra hikes, fun NY weddings...

S to the izzle

2008-05-19T21:30:00.000-07:00

I did it! I restored the *sssss* to Sizzle. Woot!

During the re-do, I learned that I'm pretty darn good at weaving in ends. I had the hardest time trying to take the shoulder seams out. It's a good thing I had extra yarn because I ruined quite a bit of yardage once I got frustrated and the scissors came out.

It was also interesting to see how much blocking can effect yarn. I had been worried about this yarn because I couldn't seem to keep even tension but blocking did wonders!

This yarn is a bit splitty but it drapes and shimmers beautifully!

I like the seed stitch border at bottom and neckline, but I omitted the edging on the armholes.

As everyone commented, I'm really glad that I ripped back and fixed it to fit my image. Yay for quick patterns! I knit this little thing in two weeks!!! It flew off my needles. This yarn has been marinating in my stash for years. It feels really good to stashbust. I originally bought it for the Honeymoon cami but I think Sizzle is a bit more wearable with the wide straps. I finally knit and finished something in the appropriate season! Ravelized here.

I have another FO to show... but I'll save that for another time. Cheers!

More Fizzle Than Sizzle

2008-05-17T09:25:00.000-07:00

I finished knitting the Sizzle tank, but it's not very sizzle-icious. It's more fizzle than anything else.

The reason I liked this pattern was the sexy low neckline. But I miscalculated the gauge of this yarn and the sizzle turned to fizzle with a very modest v-neck. I also didn't consider the seed stitch border and the inch or so of neckline that would take up. Sigh. So now I have to decide what to do. I already blocked it and there's no getting any more depth from blocking. I think I might have to rip. Which is going to be annoying because I already wove in the ends. Bah. However, I know I won't be happy until I make it how I had envisioned it. Off I go to unweave ends. Grr.

Lace Ribbon Begonias

2008-04-19T21:07:00.000-07:00

I recently finished my Lace Ribbon scarf. This scarf was a pleasure to knit. The yarn was awesome. This was the first time I had used Claudia Handpainted and it was so soft. The colorway, Begonia, combines my favorite mix of pinks and brown in such a speckaly great way... I love it.

And the pattern, Lace Ribbon Scarf, was perfect! Easily memorized and such a symmetrically pleasing lace... swaying this way and that. It's an instant classic. I love it!

I had a photo shoot to try and capture the pretty little thing...

My lace ribbon scarf even drew an unsolicited compliment from a stranger the first day I wore it! The cashier at the cafeteria said that my scarf was very pretty and I replied that I had made it! She was delightfully impressed and then said the colors were beautiful. Yay! She made my day.

Anyway, Lace Ribbon Begonias is Ravelized here. It feels wonderful to finish something. :) Now on to the next thing...

Join CAREFULLY...

2008-04-14T20:53:00.000-07:00

To knit in the round being careful not to TWIST...

Ugh. I have made a total ROOKIE MISTAKE. And I'm annoyed.

See that? Is that 8" of sweater body? No? Wait... That's not a tube of stockinette. That's A !&#(*#@*& MOBIUS STRIP. (How ironic that the Wikipedia article has a knitted mobius strip as one of the illustrations of the amazing mathematical quandary.)

I can't believe it! I swear I checked multiple times during the progress of this knitting and it was never a one-sided geometrical object until tonight. I SWEAR!!! Do you get the feeling that this amazes me? How in the heck did I miss that?? Jeez. Not to mention that I'm not getting anywhere near the same gauge with my Knitpicks options needles as I did on the sleeves with the dpns. Hmmm. I hear the ball winder calling my name.

Anyway, here is something pretty to look at... the wildflowers are still painting the hills on the way up to Eric's place:

Yellow, Purple, Orange!

Sigh. Darn it. Back to square one.

Whoops.

2008-04-11T07:43:00.000-07:00

Whoops. It's been a very long time since I last posted... Ah well, things happen. Let's see, what has happened in the last month? Most recently, Eric and I went on a road trip to Utah. It was so awesome! We saw so many beautiful things. The variety of activities on the trip was so much fun! We went skiing, hiking, biking, camping, and lots of driving. And I took a lot of photos. Here is a montage of the "Eric & Mandie" pics:

Lowest Point in the USA. Badwater, CA.

Petroglyphs in Nevada.

Skiing at Park City, Utah.

Delicate Arch, Utah.

Landscape Arch, Utah.

Double O Arch, Utah.

Druid Arch, Utah.

There are a ton more here: Utah Roadtrip April 2008. Check 'em out!

As for knitting, I've been plugging away at the Gathered Pullover. I have both sleeves done (yay!) and I've started the body. I have about 5" of the body... so I'm making pretty quick progress. Woot!

I also finished two Thorpe hats since I last posted. The first one was too big for the intended recipient (darn that growing superwash yarn!) so it went to my very tall friend, Jeremy. I'm hoping the second hat will be just right. I'll find out this weekend when I deliver it to Tom.

Jeremy's Thorpe.

Tom's Thorpe... soon.

I have also been knitting away on Lace Ribbons. That was my roadtrip knitting and I got about halfway through it on the trip. It's so pretty... I can't wait to block it!

Pretty in Pink!

Ta-da! A post... that's not so hard. Let's see if I can do it more often this month. :)

WIP Wednesday

2008-03-05T12:16:00.000-08:00

Ah, let's see... what have I been up to lately? Eric and I have been seeking snow a lot lately. We went to Mammoth Mountain for a long weekend and have been to Sierra Summit to ski a few times. Eric is really excited about telemark skiing and has been improving his skillz rapidly. I've been working on my downhill skiing and I've improved a lot this season. I'm lucky enough to fit into some loaner boots and skies from Eric's friend so that's nice. I'm pretty confident on blue runs now and I'm really enjoying the days on the mountain. And on the other end of the spectrum... It's springtime in SoCal! Everything is green and blooming. Vibrant patches of wildflowers have been popping up on the hills like strategically placed paintbrush strokes. It's beautiful and I'm having fun wildflower hunting... I have to invest in a macro lens reeeeally soon, I think. Here are a few photos from last weekend in Visalia...

Oh right! Knitting... WIPs...

I have ~~four~~ five projects in the rotation right now.

1. Bird In Hand Mittens - These mittens are plagued with tension and gauge issues. I also dislike the braids... they just don't look right to me. I LOVE the colors I'm using though. So I'm stalled right now. I can't decide whether to trudge on or to rip back and start over. Hmmm.

2. Gathered Chocolate - I'm having gauge issues with this one too. I started a sleeve as a swatch on US7 but it's too tight. It took awhile to buy some US8, but I think I'm on the right track now.

3. Mingus Socks - Kinda complicated for a carry-along sock pattern so I might start a simple sock too. But I adore the yarn... Smooshy... it's awesome. And the color!!! Beautiful.

4. Print O' The Wave - I've been working on this one a lot lately. I'm halfway through the main body repeats. It's a nice relaxing knit since I have mostly memorized the pattern repeat. I only need to glance at the chart now.

5. Thorpe for Tom - Eric's friend Tom expressed interest in my Swell ear flap hat and suggested a trade. He is a wood worker so I agreed. I'm hoping this turns out well. I'm using DK weight yarn doubled instead of chunky yarn. I seem to be getting gauge so I think it'll work out.

And one more from the weekend...

Click me for more photos from the weekend!

Two for one!

2008-02-24T22:51:00.000-08:00

I have two finished projects to report!

Noro Morning Mitts and Indigo Ripples

My Noro Morning Mitts are great. They are cozy and cute. I love the colors and they match my scarf!

Specs: Noro Morning Mitts
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden
Amount: 1 skein
Pattern: Maine Morning Mitts from Knitter's Book of Yarn
Needles: US7
Started: Jan 08
Finished: 16 Feb 08
Ravelry link

However. The poor little mitts are completely overshadowed by my love for this skirt.

Specs: Indigo Ripples Skirt
Yarn: Elann Den-M-Nit in Dark Indigo
Amount: 11 skeins
Pattern: Indigo Ripples Skirt
Needles: US5
Started: Aug 07
Finished: 19 Feb 08
Ravelry link

This skirt is quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever knit.

I wore it to work on Thursday and it drew unsolicited compliments from coworkers... to which I replied "I MADE IT!!!" Everyone was ~~amused~~ impressed.

I made some mods to the pattern:

I cast-on more stitches than the pattern called for in my size and then did less hip increases to give the skirt a lower rise.
I also had to fudge the stitch count because my gauge was off.
I knit 16.5" of (unshrunken) stockinette before starting the lace pattern because a) I'm tall and b) I'm modest... or more modest than the pattern was written.
I ended up completing all 60 lace rows to make the skirt fall right below my knee.
I braided a drawstring for the skirt rather than make an i-cord.

Some other notes:

Because of my mods, I ended up using 11 balls of yarn.
The ruffle itself, uses an entire ball of yarn.
The fancy bind off uses another half of a ball.
All this yarn-eating ruffle-ege it totally worth it. I LOVE THE RUFFLE.
Denim yarn is annoying because it dyes your fingers blue and gives me stiff wrists.
Denim yarn rocks because you can throw it in the washer and dryer.
After looking at the skirt photos on my computer, it appears that there was a slightly darker ball of yarn used across the hip area. I did not see this in person, so I don't think it's that noticeable.

Everyone should knit this skirt. Seriously. It's so flattering! Just be forewarned... the short, little 10 row ruffle and bind off?? They take as much time as the whole lace portion itself.

VIVA LA INDIGO RIPPLES!!! YAY!

Lost in the Silk Garden

2008-01-31T10:49:00.000-08:00

I finish some Maine Morning Mitts. I'm loving Silk Garden right now!!!

I love the unmatchy matchyness of it all. Gorgeous colors. Yum!

Look I even started a pair for myself. Who can refuse such a cute use for one skein of this stuff?!?

I have also been working on Indigo Ripples! I trudged through the stockinette portion and in my excitement to start the lace, I effed it up. Oh well. I'll restart the lace tonight during the Lost premiere. Although, I might be paying more attention to the TV than the skirt, so fixing the lace might be a lost cause... bwahahahaha. GET IT??? LOST cause. Oh I crack myself up.

psst... mom...

2008-01-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

How about these fingerless gloves?

Where are they now?

2008-01-23T22:14:00.000-08:00

Knits of the past... What happens to all the pretty things we knit? Do they get worn to death? Or shoved in the back of a drawer? I think it's fun to hear how things wear over time so here is my little report. Back in 2004 I knit a Mini Sweater. I didn't wear the poor thing very much because the yarn was sorta stretchy and it hung around my ribcage after one wear.

Well, this week I finally got around to re-sewing the button into a more fitting position and yay!!! We have functional knitwear! I wore it to work on Tuesday... See?

Super cool!

Also... I have been thinking a lot lately about what I like to knit. More specifically about what type of WIPs I have. I tend to have a lot of projects going at once, but I think it's because I like such a wide variety of knitting types.

I like to have a lace project in case the lace bug bites. Right now that lace project is Print O' the Wave.
I like to have a project being made for someone else. Currently, I am knitting Eric's mom a hat in Malabrigo Chunky. Mmmmmm. So soft!
I like to have a large project. That would be my Indigo Ripples skirt. I kinda stalled on that for a bit, but I'm excited to start it up again! I'm right a the beginning of the lace.
I also like to have a scarf on the needles. Right now, I don't have a scarf in progress!?!? I'll have to remedy that by starting the Interstate Scarf. I wonder how Valerie's progressing on hers? I think a hat would fit this niche too... Hmmm... Koolhaas out of Malabrigo? Yes. I think so.
And finally, I would like to start having a sock in progress at all times. I really love the Monkey socks I knit myself and you seriously can't beat a sock for portable knitting.

Ok... enough of my crazed, obsessive knit speak. Time to go to sleep! Good night!

First FO' Shizzle of 2008-izzle

2008-01-17T21:00:00.000-08:00

It's my first FO in 2008! The ubiquitous Noro Striped Scarf.

I used the lovely Silk Garden in 3 colorways... I'm not sure which ones, as I have lost the ball bands.

I started knitting this little beauty back in November, but it took the back burner as Christmas knitting wound up.

After the new year, it was the perfect return to selfish knitting. It was so fun to watch the stripes form from the different colorways!

Last weekend it was lovely outside, so Eric obliged me and took some modelled shots.

And later we went to the beach to watch the sun set! Another great Cali weekend. :)

Christmas Round-up!

2008-01-05T18:17:00.000-08:00

Wow! Christmas this year was great! I had an awesome break from work and got to see tons of my favorite people back East that I don't get to see very often. It was also a very productive knit holiday for me! I made: 3 Koolhaas hats, 6 pairs of Fetching, 1 pair of Dashing, 1 My So Called Scarf, 1 Floofy Scarf, 1 My So Called Hat, 1 pair of Roza socks, and 1 pair of Mini Mittens. Yikes!

I also snuck in a beaded bracelet for my officemate. Oh! And I printed & framed 8x10 photographs of California as gifts too! It was a crafty homemade Christmas and DANG... that's really satisfying. :)

Now onward and upward to the New Year!!! And a return to selfish knitting. :D

Fixed!

2007-12-18T23:56:00.000-08:00

I fixed the hat...

Now I have to wash the campfire smoke smell out of it before bestowing it on it's rightful owner... It did a good job keeping my head warm though...

Sweet!

Cone Head.

2007-12-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Darn it.

I went too far.

I know my dad has a big head... but so do I and this hat is way to long. :( I had a hunch as I was knitting that I should stop before the last repeat... but nonono... I didn't follow my instinct. This hat is going to be a pain in the rear to rip too!!! So many cable crosses. BOO.

Now for some pretty pictures. Last weekend, Eric and I attempted to go on a day hike in Sequoia. We drove all the way up the windy road to the giant trees.

However, I wasn't feeling to well, so we decided to start out with the short Moro Rock climb (more like a 300 ft granite stair case really). About halfway up, I threw up off the side of the granite dome. Gross. Ralphing in public is totally not cool. Amazingly, I persevered and made it too the top (actually, I had to go to the top to find Eric). I'm glad I did, even if I was all shaky and sick, because the views were spectacular.

Now, if I can just avoid viruses for the rest of my life, all will be good.

How To Eat A Monkey Cupcake:

2007-11-19T22:14:00.000-08:00

A Photo Essay

Rosalind got me monkey cupcakes for my birthday!

They are so happy and cute!

First you eat the ears...

Then you take a bite.

Poor monkey...

But they sure were tasty!

Happy Birthday! Here's a COLD.

2007-11-13T19:47:00.000-08:00

So I know I've been awful at posting lately. I think it's all the holiday knitting I'm doing. There isn't much that I can show...

In other news: today is my birthday. I'm a quarter of a century old. :) I really love birthdays. Unfortunately, I came down with a wicked chest cold today and I feel exactly like crap. I sounded like a little frog this morning. Luckily, my voice has mostly returned. Hopefully I'll feel even better tomorrow.

I was a lucky girl this birthday (besides the cold)! My mom bought me the Knit Picks Harmony needles! My dad got me a fancy pants all in one photo printer. And Eric got me this:
A little sister for my D40!! She's so cute! I will call her Squishy, and she shall be mine, she will be my Squishy... Finding Nemo, anyone?

Anywho... She's a wide angle ultra compact camera. Perfect for carrying everywhere. I took her to lunch with my coworkers today... Say hi, coworkers!
I was feeling so crappy that I couldn't even stomach any cheesecake. Oi. I must really be sick.

Here's to Vitamin C, tea, and sleep! Maybe I'll even have knitting to show next time.

'Cause I Know My Mom is Checking...

2007-10-18T23:22:00.000-07:00

... I have to update my blog. I've been pretty busy, as always, but I have definitely been knitting all the while. Here's a quick photo update:

Indigo Ripples is just a whole bunch of stockinette right now. Yawn.

Inspired by the Yarn Harlot, I washed some coned yarn yesterday. Here is a before and after comparison. See how the washed yarn fluffed up? Amazing.

I've been doing some Christmas knitting. No peeking Kaylee. Avert your eyes.

More Christmas knitting.

We went wine tasting. It's beautiful up there.

We also visited Yosemite.

And tried to rock climb.

Interesting perspective.

It was a short, but sweet, visit.

I post pictures at Flickr a bit more often than I post here...

Oof. My Tummy.

2007-09-25T20:04:00.000-07:00

Not feeling so great this morning. But I think I can handle a blog post. :) I have an FO to report... I finished the ribbed lacy bolero. It only took my 6 days to knit! It took me more time to post about it than it did to knit... Ahem.

Specs:
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease in Stone
Amount: 143grams
Pattern: Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly
Needles: US8 & US10.5
Started: Sep 2007
Finished: Sep 2007

To be honest, I wasn't too sure about it the first time I tried it on. It wasn't as fitted as I was imagining. But I wore it to work and over the course of a day, decided that I like it! I really like it. :) It was instant gratification knitting and that's exactly what I needed at the moment.

Right now, I'm knitting an Indigo Ripples skirt fast and furious. I'm onto the straight stockinette part after redoing the increases once. The first time was too big, so I ripped and restarted. Now it's fitting just fine.
I'm also starting the process of Christmas knitting. Let the gift knitting begin!

*******************

In other real-life news, last weekend my little brother graduated from Air Force Basic Training. My family flew out to celebrate with him and we had a fun time in San Antonio. Here are some of the most fun pictures.

Many more here...

She's so CHIC!

2007-09-13T07:34:00.000-07:00

My beautiful sister obliged me and took some in-action photos of the Swallowtail Shawl I made her.

Her kitty LeeLoo is pretty cute too. :)

Lovin' the swing coat. Kaylee can pull that stuff off easy.

Thanks Kaylee! It looks awesome! Glad you are enjoying it.

******************

In other knitting news: I started a Lacey Ribbed Bolero and am almost finished. This baby flew off the needles... I think it's been 5 days since I started it? It should be finished within a week... I can't wait to wear it! I love knitting with Cotton Ease.

Relaxing on the ottoman.

Also, the legwarmers are progressing... I'll be flash dancing in no time...

Truly a child of the 80's. YAY LEG WARMERS.

And. I got my hair cut. Yikes! 9" off... I feel 5 lbs lighter!

Swallowtail Shawl Too.

2007-08-27T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! I'm still here. I'm just really busy doing fun things like rock climbing, camping, ballet (oh and working), so I don't have much time to post to my leetle blog. Add to that the ~~addiction~~ beauty that is Ravelry and you have no blogging by Amanda at all.

However! I do have an FO to report. I finished another Swallowtail Shawl. This one is for my sister.

Specs:
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Midnight Heather
Amount: 50grams
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl IK Fall 2006
Needles: US3
Started: July 2007
Finished: August 2007

I used every last bit of yarn in the skein on this shawl. I increased the number of repeats on the budding lace to 19, but ended up having to shorten the ending because I was running out of yarn. I probably would have been just right with 18 repeats, but then I would have had to fudge the lily o the valley lace portion of the shawl.

Pretty pretty lace.

Eric obliged in taking a couple of photos of me modeling the shawl...

Wingspan.

I think I was telling him to back up. Haha.

I will be sending it off to my sister shortly and I'll have to ask her to model the shawl herself and send me the pictures.

As for current knitting I have a couple of things on the needles, including more lace and leg warmers. :) I'm also swatching for an Indigo Ripples Skirt. Fun stuff.

Oh and here are some more pics from camping. We came across a lot of critters on this trip.

Maybe pictures of climbing next time! Night night for now.

Oh Hai.

2007-08-09T23:06:00.001-07:00

I have been busy and thusly not posting on this here blog. Ah well. Such is life.

Eric moved out to Cali. But he is 3 hours away. So we have been taking turns on the weekends to drive to each other. Last weekend, I went up to see him and we camped in Sequoia. The weather was gorgeous in the mountains. Thank goodness, because it was 107F in the valley. Sweltering!

Pretty waterfall.

I have been knitting my sister a Swallowtail Shawl. I'm halfway through the second lily o the valley lace pattern. And holy cow is it taking forever. Millions of navy blue loops. The things I do for my sister. :) Pictures of knitting eventually... I've come to realize that it is hard to take good pictures of dark lacey-ness.

OH! And my sister got married. Haha... small detail. It was beautiful and she was stunning. It was an all around good time. Here's a picture... all dolled up for the big event:

Bridal Party. Wee!

Until next time!!!

I Spy...

2007-07-18T22:57:00.000-07:00

... finished Monki!

Official FO pics later.

Still Regrouping.

2007-07-16T20:59:00.000-07:00

I had an awesome vacation. I'm still regrouping from the trip. I'm knitting the second Monkey (I'm past the heel) and I'm also knitting another Swallowtail for my sister. No knitting pictures today, but I do have some awesome fireworks snaps! Enjoy!

more...

Having Great Fun!

2007-07-02T11:46:00.000-07:00

Here! Look at some pictures!

My sister's bridal shower was a success! Phew.

I finished a Monkey! In three days!!! Amazing! I LOVE SOCKS. (Even more amazing... I started the second one! There is HOPE for the sock knitter in me!)

My mom has this cool little knitting notion. Vintage. Cool.

Starting Again.

2007-06-28T23:06:00.000-07:00

Well... I made a swatch this time to try and appease the knitting goddess.

Even though we all know that swatches lie.

This koigu told me that it wants to be Monkeys. So who am I to argue? Actually. I like "monki" as the plural to "monkey" better... You know like "octopus" is to "octopi"? So my socks will be Monki. Haha. :D

I'm leaving for an 11 day vacation tomorrow morning. I'm going to Pittsburgh for my little bro's high school grad party and my little sister's bridal shower. Sniffle... they grow up so fast. :) Then I'm off to Florida for a fun filled week with Eric and his family... his extended family. We are going to a family reunion! At Panama City! This should be interesting. See you on the flip side!

Mojo.

2007-06-26T22:09:00.001-07:00

Hmph. I seem to have lost my knitting mojo. Nothing is working right! I am completely frustrated with all of my knitting projects. Let me ~~explain~~ complain:

I started a Chevron Scarf a couple weeks ago. It's not growing on me. I think the stripes of solid purple silk disrupts the pattern flow. Plus the gauge is different with the silk and it just doesn't jive. I'd also like to use a size larger needle for more drape. And I'm still considering Domesticat's version of the Chevron Scarf. Indecision!!! Ack!

I then decided I wanted to knit some lace. I cast on for the Alpine Lace Scarf in Victorian Lace Today. After knitting a few rows I was thinking I should go up a needle size. Then I really messed up the lace pattern. Sigh. Time to rip.

So I started something simple... something I couldn't mess up. How about stockinette with a delicious yarn like Kidsilk Haze. How could I go wrong?? Well... I think it's too wide. It's going to be felted... so maybe it's not too wide. I dunno. I can't decide.
Just a side note: I think this ball of yarn is cursed. I've ripped it 3+ times because I didn't like the result. I thought something simple would be foolproof... Ummm... guess not.

Then I decided to cast on for my new, shorter Thermal sleeve. I've maneuvered the tricky tubular cast-on easily, knit a few rows, and realized it is too big. My arms are skinny. The pattern is written for loose-ish sleeves. I want fitted sleeves. AHHHH! I'm going to freak.

I just. Want something. To work.

Knitting used to "just work." Why am I having such issues? I think I feel rushed. I haven't had a lot of time lately to just sit down and knit. So I feel like knitting time is precious and every second counts. When I mess up and my net progress is zero... frustration builds. Time to step away from the needles. I will re-prioritize, rip mercilessly, and report back.

Peace out. At least, that's what I'm going to try to do.

Bye Bye Sleeve. Hello Scarf.

2007-06-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

I finished my Rippling Waters Scarf. It was a nice easy knit amidst all the packing, moving, and unpacking.

Specs:
Yarn: Malibrigo in Bobby Blue
Amount: 1 skein
Pattern: Shifting Sands by Grumperina
Needles: US11
Started: Nov 2006
Finished: 24 Jun 2007

Hi Mom... does this post satisfy?

Kissy fishy... You can see my new drapes hung in the background of this one.

Right now I'm having a fit of fickle. I can't decide what to do!!! With anything!!! So I've decided to get up close and personal with my stash. Go stash shopping, catalogue all the fun yarns I have, and start something new. Ravelry has made this task lots of fun, actually. However, Ravelry also distracts... and conspires... and convinces you to rip perfectly good sleeves in lieu of a cuter version. I have fallen for the shorter sleeve. It makes so much sense... I can't believe I didn't think of it. That Winnie... she's always coming up with the cute mods.

You say goodbye. I say hello.

I also started 2 other projects... but that's news for another day. Good night!

Crazy Busy

2007-06-15T14:51:00.000-07:00

Ok. So the internet is hooked up at our apartment. Which is really sweet.

However, I have been an extremely busy girl. The last two weekends I went backpacking in Sequoia with Eric and then Yosemite with Elaine. I have great photos from both, but haven't yet had a chance to upload them.

This weekend, I'm driving up to San Jose to go to my cousin's wedding. I'm excited to go and see my family, but I'm so tired.

Plus, I have been playing around on Ravelry... that place is way too much fun. I can feel the obsessive-compulsive facet of my personality bubble to the surface every time I sign on... Must keep track... of everything!!!

Until next time... enjoy this picture of a cupcake...

Moving Woes...

2007-06-05T22:01:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody!

So I didn't disappear, but I did move. And the new apartment it having issues with the Internets. It seems as though the very important cable that gives us the special Internets magic, is sadly missing in our apartment. Bummer. So I'll post pictures and knitting stuff when we finally get access at the apartment! It's not like I have much time to knit right now anywho...

Ciao for now.

Lucky Dishes.

2007-05-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

We are going to have some lucky dishes in our new apartment.

Two washcloths.

Wash cloths are fun. Very instant gratification. I whipped these up in no time! It was a nice break from the Thermal sleeve blackhole. The colors are really fun too.

Now back to my Thermal sleeves. :)

I Messed It Up.

2007-05-15T19:05:00.000-07:00

I've made a lot of progress on Thermal.

I knit a large portion of one sleeve on my trip to the East this weekend. I made a mistake though. Can you see it?

I don't care.

It's a design element. Yeah.

More pictures from the weekend here. Good night.

She Responds!

2007-05-08T18:25:00.000-07:00

Hi Amanda!

I'm doing good. Are you glad to be back in CA and out of the Texas humidity? :)

I'm finally ready to start the Interstate Scarf! I don't have one of the contraptions that will ball yarn so I had to do it manually. I wanted to create a finished ball that would unravel from the center. After a couple attempts of trying to figure this out on my own and ending up with a tangled mess, I consulted my "Stitch 'N Bitch" handbook. Low and behold they had a very simple method for creating a center-pull ball. Now I have all my yarn balled and am ready for some swatching!

tangled mess of yarn, aahh!!

pretty center-pull balls - thanks Stitch 'N Bitch!!

I don't think I'm a fan of the swatch you posted on May 6th. I was thinking of something more 'light and airy'. I have looked around but nothing has jumped out at me either. I agree that the yarn is wonderful to work with (or at least to ball up)! I love how our color choices are so unique and fit both our personalities. :) I did like the other Vine Lace pattern you sent to me - I'm going to try a swatch of that tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

Yay, a new Interweave Knits magazine! It sounds like you have been busy starting knitting projects this weekend! Are you going to go ahead and knit the hemp shirt? I was out of town this weekend visiting my friend in Baton Rouge, La, and didn't do much knitting. I was too busy eating crawfish! We went to the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge and watched the crawfish eating contest (winner ate 26 lbs!!), crawfish races, and took a Cajun dance lesson. I had a great time :)

Crawfish Festival (Me & Dane)

Crawfish Races

I squeezed in some knitting on the plane, and started a scarf using light yellow wool and the "My so called scarf" pattern I found in your blog a while back.

Have a good day! I'll send you another update soon!
Valerie

Correspondence.

2007-05-06T22:29:00.000-07:00

Dear Valerie,

How's it going? I just wanted to give you a little update on my Interstate Scarf progress. I tried the Arrowhead Lace, but I wasn't feeling it. I couldn't seem to keep the correct stitch count. I suspect it was because I wrote the pattern down incorrectly, not the actual pattern. Either way, I took a look through my Big Book of Knitting Stitch Patterns to see if there were any patterns that popped out at me. I forget what it's called, but I swatched one of the patterns... I'm still not convinced it's the pattern I want to use. What do you think?

Hmmmmm.

One thing is for sure though; this yarn is awesome! It's so silky and soft. And I love the colors I chose. I must be in a "instant-gratification" mood this weekend because I have been swatching a lot. I got my new Interweave Knits magazine and one pattern reminded me of the hemp yarn I bought awhile ago.

Tough on the hands.

I really hope that washing the hemp works wonders because working with it was like knitting with un-waxed dental floss. Hmmmm... I hear legends of beautiful drape and increasing softness with wear, so I'll try not to make preemptive judgement.

I also started a washcloth out of some Sugar'n'Cream yarn. I love the Mason Dixon book. I borrowed it from the library, but I'm going to buy it. It's very inspirational and so funny!

Warshcloth.

So that's what I've been up to. How's your scarf coming? Have you found any other patterns that look promising?

Have a great Monday!!! I'll talk to you soon,
Mandie

Swallowtail Shawl.

2007-05-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

I love knitting lace. It's really absorbing and produces such pretty (if not functional) results. Say hello to my Swallowtail Shawl.

Specs:
Yarn: Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint Heather
Amount: 38grams
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl IK Fall 2006
Needles: US3
Started: 12 Feb 2007
Finished: 30 April 2007

Now for some fun pictures.

I used all of my pins for this little shawl!

Ooooh the nupps. I had to use a US000 to do the p5tog. Pain in the rear.

My shirt matches the wall.

The tip of the shawl.

This is how I'll probably wear it. I think it looks pretty... all frothy and pink. Like a sucking chest wound. HAHAHAHAHA. I crack myself up.

I think this little shawl turned out alright. It was a great take-along project, being so small. And I really enjoyed working with such delicate yarn. I see more lace in my future. Oh yes. :)

Of Souvenir Yarn and Lace.

2007-04-29T22:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a week in Austin, Texas. I was there for training and had a chance to hang out with Valerie for a couple days! The training was interesting and Val & I had a lot of fun exploring the Austin area.

I had some down time to knit during the training week, so I managed to finish the Swallowtail Shawl. It's a crumpled mess right now, but I can't wait to block and unleash the lacey prettiness!

Pink loops of thread.

Valerie and I went for a lovely hike in the Greenbelt and we admired these pretty little falls.

Sculpture Falls.

We also stopped by Hill Country Weavers (which is an amazing yarn store BTW) and bought some souvenir yarn. We are going to have a little interstate knit-along. We chose cotton/tencel yarn since we live in Texas and California... We are thinking of doing a light-weight lacey scarf with stripes. :)

Come on Valerie... we are actually going to use this yarn. :)

I also bought some buttons for Thermal, which is the next project on my hot list to finish...

I think the funk is gone... :)

Funk.

2007-04-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Lately, I've been in some sort of funk. I feel disorganized and scatterbrained. I am slacking in my work out routine and eating too much chocolate. I can't drag my self out of bed in the morning and abuse the snooze button big time. I can't seem to snap out of it.

Scarf.

I'm still knitting when I can, but I can only handle the simplest of projects. I have no patience for anything fussy. I mostly finished the Simple Scarf, but I need to weave in ends.

I'm sure this funk will pass. I just hope it's soon. Blah.

Knit Night Wee!

2007-04-11T23:53:00.000-07:00

Grace knits a purled scarf.

Suma knits a log cabin baby blanket.

Eugenia knits a "homespun" scarf.

Fun times!

New Scarf.

2007-04-03T19:45:00.000-07:00

I started a simple scarf. No biggie, you may think.

What is it with me and aqua these days? Sheesh.

However, this is a very awesome scarf. Why is that, you may ask? The yarn... it is amazing. Baby Alpaca Grande. I have decided that I am going to steal a baby alpaca and keep it as a pet so that I may stroke it's soft soft fur all day. Sooooooooo cushy and soft!!! I truly wish you could touch it. Then you would understand. You would.

California Cool.

2007-03-26T22:48:00.000-07:00

California is one of the few places I've been where you can go from this...

to this in a day...

There were some beautiful views along the way...

And some knitting...

It was a fun weekend!

Pink Bangle Bag!

2007-03-22T18:28:00.000-07:00

I finished the Pink Bangle Bag!

Specs:
Yarn: Valley Yarns Berkshire in 13 Light Pink
Amount: 200grams
Pattern: self-made (inspired by margaret nicole bags)
Needles: US9
Started: September 2006
Finished: March 2007

The knitting for this bag was finished long ago. It was the finishing that took me so long to get around to. Attaching the handles was an experiment in patience. I had to rip out my first couple attempts and I am soooo not handy with a crochet hook. But I managed. I even had Elaine photograph the process of attaching the handle. Maybe I'll make a tutorial??

Sewing in the lining took awhile too. But I really like how it finishes the look of the bag. It turned out to be a super cute little purse. I can't wait to use it... Unfortunately, I just bought another purse at Tarzhey that I'm currently in love with, so Miss Pink Bangle Bag will have to wait it's turn in the purse lineup.

In other knitty news, my mom recently finished a Caftan Pullover from Interweave Knits.

A beautiful sweater on my beautiful Mom.

Didn't she do a fabulous job!?!?!

Weekend.

2007-03-13T23:36:00.000-07:00

A weekend review in pictures:

I worked on finishing a lingering WIP.

Went back to the farmer's market in Santa Monica.

Took pictures of the pony ride this time.

Had a delicious crepe and a yummy tamale. Mmmm.

Bought some gorgeous yarn to make a fun scarf. Yay for yarn sales!

For more photos of what I've been up to, check out my picture.a.day album: 365/2007.

Reminisce.

2007-03-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

A couple nights ago, I was looking through some of the oldest digital pictures in my iPhoto library. My dad was always interested in the newest technology so I have digital pictures from 1996. (More on those later...) While browsing, I found a couple of gems from a bit more recently: 2002.

So beautiful. LOL

This was the first yarny adventure I had. I was stuck in Omaha, NE working at an AFB hospital. I didn't have a car and so I had limited choices for entertainment. One of my fellow airmen decided that she was going to knit an afghan to fill the copious down time and I begged her to teach me how to crochet. I didn't quite grasp the idea of crochet at first and was decreasing unintentionally, giving the scarf a wonderful flared end. Hahaha. I ended up finishing the striped scarf and gifting it to my sister for Christmas. I even figured out how to increase on the other end to match the accidental flare. Around this time I also discovered knit blogs at the internet station down the hall. I decided that I really, really wanted to learn to knit so I asked my mom to get me a 'learn to knit' book and yarn for Christmas.

I was SO EXCITED.

So on my winter break, before going back to school after a semester off, I taught myself how to knit. The yarn in that picture became my first scarf that I still wear often.

Camping in Big Sur 2006.

And I've been knitting ever since...

Oh, and here are a couple of funny digital photos from so long ago...

I think I was 14 in this picture... I was learning how to scuba dive and my family was going to watch my first dive in a freezing cold quarry.

So funny! Hi Kaylee... don't hate me for putting this picture on here. :)

Sleevies!

2007-03-03T14:58:00.000-08:00

Hi! Guess what? I finished the sleeves of Urban Aran. :) Yay.

La la la... sleeves are compleeeete.

Now I need to do the fronts (I'm cardiganizing it like so very many others), the turtle neck, seaming, and then a zipper. Practically done, right? Wait... what's that in the background?

Pile o' knitting paraphernalia.

So somehow, I started Thermal. I couldn't help it. The yarn was sitting there. The Knitter's Handbook was propped open to the tubular cast-on. The needles looked so empty... So I cast-on and knit 3 rows of the twisted rib.
I'm totally going to cast-on for the Urban Aran fronts tonight instead of knitting more on Thermal. Really.
Oh and you can see the Swallowtail Shawl in that picture too. See the crumpled pink thing? Swallowtail has been my take-along knitting so it has been seeing some action too. I'm 12.5 repeats into the budding lace pattern. A couple more and I'm on to the next lace chart. Lace is so fun! Always changing and ever delicate.

Yarny Specimen.

2007-02-26T22:06:00.000-08:00

I gave my tiny Thermal swatch a soak.

Bubble bath.

(Progress on the Urban Aran continues to crawl.)

I love my crayons.

It's a good thing I gave it a wash too, 'cause it grew 0.25"/2"... Important things to know for a form-fitting sweater.

Oh man.

2007-02-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

I have become obsessed with a sweater: Thermal from knitty.com.

Obsession.

However, I already have a sweater on the needles that I really want to get finished.

Obstacle.

So I'm attempting to harness my desire to knit Thermal into determination to finish Urban Aran... As you can see I have cracked slightly and could not stop myself from swatching. Wouldn't you know it, I have gauge on the first try. With yarn from my stash. In one of my fav color combinations: aqua and burgundy. Hmmmm... How long will my resolve last???