The past week was alright. I spoke to the fantabulous husband a couple of times which is always a good thing. I do try to avoid the sap here but I am so amazed every day how much I love him and miss him and think he is just everything that a man should be. Monday I had to go to court for a ticket but it was dismissed and I didn’t even have to pay for court costs. I was *very* lucky. So I celebrated by taking myself out to the pub downtown and had my standard meal of salad and the chicken pesto flat bread (like pizza kind of), then I took myself to visit my friends at Midas. It’s so sad but we’re on a first name basis. Anyway they fixed the muffler problem we’d had for quite a while which had gotten MUCH worse the week before. Let’s just say that I was at a gas station and thought I was going down the incline to turn but in reality it was a curb. Sadly there is another pipe to fix and also some other stuff I need to do to el honda but it will all be fixed by the time the husband gets home. You know he really needs a nick name. At least for blogging purposes. A blogger I read calls her husband HWWV (He Who Wears Versace) so maybe I should call mine HWSO (He Who Slays Orcs) or HWKDD (He Who Kicks Down Doors) depending on the game of the moment. I think the former has more noble ring to it. Or I could really annoy him and call him Fitzwilliam (we have this ongoing debate about ‘useless aristocrats’ and my utter love of period piece movies). Weds was the usual SNB night. Much fun was had by all. Thursday I had my other knitting group. Sadly because of when it is, when he gets home I’ll have to give that one up. Sometimes I think perhaps yes we should have two cars but really it seems like such a waste. We will have to see though. It sure will be strange to be stuck in the house again during the week when I’m used to getting all my errands done when its you know less crowded. The weekend was very pleasant, I spoke to HWSO and I listened to a good chunk of Mansfield Park while I worked on a sock. I’m not sure how I feel about this but there is a possibility that we will have to move when he gets back. I had just assumed we’d be here till he got out. It is the army and I should have known better but I like it here. It’s close to my mom and its pretty and cheap and close enough to a larger city if I feel the need. But I can’t get upset over something that just *might* happen. It’s just well I love my house. And I hate the thought of having to move TWICE in two years. We have so much more stuff now. Although I love my bedroom since its now done I almost wish I had held off on it till we were settled. But like everything in the army its YNK and things could change 20 times by the time he gets home so I’m not going to stress over it. I have been working out several times a week and I do see a difference. I ordered this book/dvd from amazon that people swear by. I can do anything for two weeks. I am hopeful that it will help me kick my body back to doing what it should do. I would very much like to lose 20-30 lbs, Actually I’m not that concerned with pounds I want to just be more lean. And go down a size or two in clothing. That way all the clothes I bought before I quit work would fit and well you know..But I am excited about making the attempt. The diet is mostly a modified atkins/low carb approach which does work for me. The no artificial sweateners (ie no soda) will be excruciating. But I can do anything for two weeks.
Month: July 2006
No sweaters for you little miss
Current Mood:
Happy
So I had this fantastic post talking about how I couldn’t decide on a yarn for the simple knitted bodice and then my site had a wee hiccup so it all got lost. In the end though that has proved to be a blessing since it made me reflect on why I was so damn insistent that the next non mindless project be a sweater. Especially when I have been losing weight and hope to lose more it seemed sort of dumb to make something the wrong size since I am a huge fan of NEGATIVE EASE. Besides…I am thinking of doing a frankensweater. I really am curious when something becomes ones own design. Since I want to take aspects of candy and aspects of the simple knitted bodice. Though I also want to make both of them in their original form as well. Anyway I want to see where my body ends up before I embark on an expensive project like that so I thought about it and in a moment of holy hell it will soon be cold and I don’t have a scarf (or at least one I made) I decided to go with the vintage velvet scarf out of scarf style since I had already bought the yarn for it last spring. Yes I did splurge for “touch me” it is glorious…I want a bathrobe made from the stuff. I also want a sweater made from it. Unless I win powerball neither is likely to happen at 15 bucks a ball for not even 100 yrds. At least the 25 dollar tilli tomas silk gives you over 200 yrds. I would bet the scarf in silk would be stunning too. Anyway I started last night and realized the pattern as written sucks. Too much of “rows 7-10 do rows 1-2″ so I futzed around trying to decide how to make it easier. I wish I was better at reading charts. I also think I’m going to put each row on note cards and make a little fiip book. In the end I just typed it out over two sheets of paper. So i was happily knitting away and got up and in that time Enki decided to take revenge and gnaw on the yarn. Which is ok i might felt it and see if I’m doing the pattern right. But still I must remember to put my knitting away more frequently. Its not like I don’t have a knitting bag or two or three or four. Anyway so as for knitting I did this weekend, well I worked on the sock. Its actually even more done than in the picture below but I took the pictures yesterday before the site hiccup so…
I am on such a sock yarn kick. Last week when I went to marie’s for the thursday group I picked up some dark army green for a pair of socks. I’ll probably grab at least one more skein of it too. Men’s feet = big feet generally. And on a yahoo group I managed to get 2 hanks of socks that rock in lagoon and moss agate. Let me just say socks that rock really do rock. Its stunning and its soft and I am just in love. I am not so in love with the lornas I am working with now but it could be the colorway. I would like it much better if they had skipped the yellow in motherlode.
The sock and the hat
The Sock
My first attempt at a toe up sock. I took a sock class and it could have been the needles (denise) or the yarn (takhi cotton classic) but I never really got the sock love. That is until now. So now I’m doing a generic toe up sock pattern (wendy’s) and loving it. Of course it could also be the lorna’s laces I’m using.
The Hat
Since I suck I have slacked on posting pics of that hat I made. I do wish I had managed a more flattering picture but come on you are interested in the knitting not the state of my makeup. I really enjoyed the pattern. So without further ado I bring you Odessa.
Pattern: Odessa
Yarn: RYC Cashsoft DK color Poppy
Needle: Combination of denise and addi’s
Pattern Notes: Well it was going well until the top when I didn’t trust the pattern. So it has a few flaws but you can’t see them too much and there was no way I was going to frog it. I really enjoyed knitting this. It was fast, it kept my interest, the yarn was delicious. I’m going to make two more one for me and one for my cousin. I do plan on using beads on mine though.
Pics:
Which sweater is next? Cami gave me the idea for a quiz
So its sort of strange but having more wip’s seems to increase my productivity since I can switch off when I’m sick of one and still knit. Right now I’ve got the never ending bag going and the socks. How I am in love with toe up socks. They seem to go a hell of a lot faster for some reason or perhaps I’m just knitting more. In keeping with that spirit I am also going to figure out which sweater is next. Since I want to make all of them and really need help deciding PLEASE leave a comment. The sad thing is there there are actually more out there that I really want to make. One of which is my own design. But I figured these seven were enough to start with. I have four months before Husband gets home. So I figure I should be able to at least 3 sweaters by then. Help me pick!
1. Candy
I’ll be doing this in black and burgundy or pink and burgundy. Bonus since Claire wants to make this too.
2. Tubey
I refuse to do stripes except maybe on the sleeves cause you know like tubby and stripes is just too offend the viewer but I like the shape and hell it might be the ONLY time I will ever knit a ‘small’
I love this color. Its pretty basic but it would be a good introduction towards finishing a sweater. It is pretty close to the sweater I just did though.
Simple basic, season appropriate.
I adore this sweater but am I ready to knit a sweater on size 3 needles?
and
Also knit on three’s. Note I will not be doing this in pink but its a lovely sweater.
I love love love this pattern but its not out yet.
Pictures I think Not..
Yes I did say pictures but I’ve been too lazy to break out the camera. Not like that’s anything new. I think I’d take more pics if I could figure out a better way to take pictures of myself. The bathroom mirror thing really does not work very well. And of course my webcam is all the way across the world. Buying a new one would be like a sweaters worth or yarn or close to it so why bother. Maybe I can set up something via a mirror in my bedroom. I’ll have to experiment tomorrow. Our non store specific night is going well. Last weekend we went on a yarn crawl over nashville. I was good but only because I had been so very bad a few days before. I had bought the Namaste Executive bag in green. I also had gotten a ball of kidsilk haze to swatch for the green apple cardi in dewberry and a hank of blue sky Alpaca Silk to try out for the vintage pink cardi. Anyway the more I looked at the green I just couldn’t see me actually using it. So I returned it and got some alpaca for the green apple cardi. I ended up ordering the black online and it is the best bag ever. Plus I saved about 20 bucks.I might just get the kidsilk haze anyway…since I bought green and I’d much rather have a nice burgundy. Other than a couple of balls to finish up the bag I’m making I was good. Anyway I am having a horrible time picking my next real project. There are a bunch I want to do but I just can’t pick which one I should start first. Claire wants to do Candy at knitty and I think I do too but I am sort of trying to decide which yarn to sub. Probably will use Kid Classic. I also am working on my first toe up sock and it rocks. Like seriously rocks. Oh that reminds me I picked up some socks that rock from a person destashing. I am such a sock yarn slut. Which is funny cause socks aren’t my favorite thing ever to knit but I like their portability and I also like seeing how the colors change. I am just the least likely person ever to actually wear these socks. But I can admire their beauty or give them as gifts I suppose. I must increase my income I have a 200 dollar order sitting in my knitpicks shopping cart. It’s those damn needles. LOL Plus a sale. I’ll have to decide if its do-able later this weekend.
Holy Craptasm
Current Mood:
Alarmed
So the past 10 days or so have been way to freaking busy. It’s not that I mind doing things or want to be a slug all the time but I like to have days where I go out and do stuff and days where I can just stay the hell home. Nothing wrong with that. Anyway all that changed when I said I’d let a friend of mine stay with me while she looked for a place to live. But most of that is dull unless you were there. I did kick her ass playing this harry potter game. I guess I don’t have anything all that interesting to report. We had an frg meeting at chuckie cheese that was like the 9th circle of hell. It was just a lame chuckie cheese. Really lame. But I had dinner with claire so that was fun. I still knit and read a lot. Also I’ve been a bit tweaked about WWIV that’s happening way too close to my husband but I’m working on writing something up for that. It was maddening to me the night something almost happened to him and some people I knew were more consumed with their bullshit petty problems. But I am just being a self absorbed asshole. I just can’t understand how some of those issues are anywhere near as horrible as the state of the middle east. I think I’m going to break out the sewing machine this weekend. Not that I have a freaking clue what to do with it but how hard can it be?
How has it been a week already…
Well last week was alright I suppose. Nothing too terribly exciting except for the fact that my fabulous husband finally got his net connection in his room. So that has made the whole thing a lot easier to deal with. I think we’ve hung out more in the past week than we have since he left. Its much nicer to be able to be relaxed about it instead of feeling like I have to fit everything into 20 minutes. I hated when he worked at the hospital. Anyway not too much really to report. Today I took el honda in for some love. Very expensive love it turned out. I had gone in just intending to get the brakes worked on since they felt like they needed it. I had 20% left on my brakes but my axles were shot. So that had to be fixed and well… So after I got home I fell asleep after I had dinner oops so now I am awake in the middle of the night enjoying some damn fine old videos on tivo. I tried to sleep earlier but I was semi-tormented by thoughts of my ongoing identity crisis. However now that I’m up and writing and have good music playing I find I’m too happy for wangsty reflections on the nature of subcultures and how they apply or rather don’t apply to myself or my wangsty reflections on the nature of being alone. Suffice it to say I miss justin. How odd that a joy division song of all things should make me happy. This week should prove to be fairly entertaining. I have knitting tomorrow, its our first non-shop specific night that will feature more than two people. Weds my father is going to up here for an interview so we’re having dinner. I am going to go down early and hit a few yarn shops which should be fun. Also Steve is visiting this weekend and another friend will be staying here while she looks for a new house. Anyway I should get back to my knitting…
And Now for a Word…on stash
I finished odessa up over the weekend. Its a bit wonky on the decreases but that was totally my fault. I really like the hat. I’ll get a picture taken next time I have some makeup on. I can’t wait to pick up the beads for my own version. Today I needed a project to take with me since I was having some car work done ($703 dollars later…) So I brought some Malabrigo with me for a scarf I’m going to attempt and some k1c2 paintbox for a bag. Ended up working on the bag and can I say how much I love the new knitpicks needles? Its so much easier to knit with than the denise set. There are things I still like about the denise set but how do I hate those cords. Granted I am a super tight knitter but those cords totally suck. At any rate once I finished odessa I went project hunting/stash diving. I have been yarn dieting and sock yarn does not count;) But at any rate it made me think of what little of a stash I actually have. I know they aren’t going to quit making yarn any time soon. But its like a security blanket. At one time in the not too distant past things weren’t really financially stable for the husband and myself. I think I hoard food for the same reason I hoard yarn. What happens if those days ever come again. Back when we lived in chicago and he had been laid off and my work was intermittent there was a time when we had eaten everything in the house. Like even the stuff that never gets eaten. It was such a terrible feeling. I never want to feel that way again. I remember cooking that last meal too. I even screwed it up so badly it was almost inedible but there was no choice so we choked it down as best we could. So thats why I have a 6 ft metal shelf with food on it and why I still grocery shop even though I could probably live off the food I already have for a month. Well maybe not a month but at least 2-3 weeks. As for my stash I have about 3 sweaters worth of yarn, a bunch of sock yarn, and various amounts for smaller projects. I think in the future I’m only going to buy for specific projects or only buy if I can buy enough for a sweater. Otherwise I end up saying wow thats nice but another freaking scarf. I am also realizing my knitting future. I look at a lot of patterns online. Far too many of them are really the same raglan sweaters with different necklines. Which is fine I tend to like them but a lot of the ones that really appeal to me are knitted with finer gauge yarn. So I will end up knitting on tiny needles and be lucky to finish a sweater a year;) At any rate I really want to make the granny smith cardi. But I lack the yarn for it. The yarn I have enough for sweaters for wouldn’t work as they are dk, worsted, and heavy worsted. So we shall see. I also want to make the vintage pink cardi from IK but yet again I lack the yarn. I suppose I could sub my merino dk but its black and I’m not sure I want to use black since all the detail will be lost. Tomorrow is our first knitting get together that features more than Claire and myself. We decided to have a not store specific night so that way there is a chance to be open when we speak of other yarns and needles. I hope it goes well:)
I think the knitting demons sucked out my brain
Yeah so jaywalkers ummm yeah I uhh frogged them. I have some ideas for not frogging the next pair but yeah they are back cozy with their friends in the stash. Anyway I did start odessa. So far its going along really well and I feel like I’m getting some of my knitting power back. Maybe the knitting issues were just other things that I confused with knitting but it was seriously pissing me off. But now I’m back and I’m happy. It knits up fast too. I am not doing the beads on this one. Mostly just from laziness. I like the beads and will probably have them on the one I make for myself but I was desperate for a project I had the yarn for and this fit the bill besides there is no way I’m going to let myself think I can’t knit a hat. In exciting news, my new needles come tomorrow. I can’t wait. I hope I like them cause I had to switch to my denises in odessa and well… Lets just say the cord annoys me. I think the microfiber in the yarn sticks to it or something. I also found a scarf pattern I love. Super easy and well it will make a nice scarf out of the hand-dyed alpaca I originally got for the cousins hat. So I’ll probably start that today at some point. Anyway… I feel like I need a picture oh well next post!
Does Flay ever not use quail eggs?
So I’m watching Iron Chef America and I’m struck by how he ALWAYS does the same thing. At any rate…I had a rather not bad week. I thought it was going to cost a bloody fortune to get my cars AC fixed. It was a necessity ,since without ac it was like getting a preview of a place where one hopes those wahabi asshats ends up, but the dealer either lied or was out to do something I only allow my husband to do. I was not about to just spend a thousand bucks without getting a lower quote, Midas offered to meet or beat my lowest quote so I ended up going there and they talked me into doing another diagnostic. Thank god I did too since it turned out that no my compressor was not shot I just had too much freon in there. So to celebrate I saw X-Men 3 and it was meh. I liked the other ones much better. It could have been a good movie and it felt like half a good movie but the scenes were cut too short. Plus there was a serious lack of the bald hotness that is capt. picard. I also had the serious good fortune to find a skirt on clearance that I just love. Did the knitting group thing and everyone was much impressed with my sweater. Anyway friday I got my food for the 4th and baked some seriously amazing brownies for Justin. I also made what has to be the most amazing grilled veggie and chicken salad ever. I took a picture but I’ll upload it later. Anyway on that note I’m feeling the urge to blather about knitting so I’m going over there…
