Long Week

Okay! Not much by way of, well anything creative has been going on lately. This Memorial Day weekend we spent moving, which means the week prior to that we were packing. So all of my free time was stuffed into boxes instead of being devoted to knitting.. or working on my postcards which I really need to get to (yai extended deadline!). After I got my knitpicks order I was going to try to bring in my new yarn and begin making two socks at once with the magic loop. That didn't happen so much since I had packed all of my needles and sent them to the new place and socks on size 13US would look... well.. ya can't wear 'em. I did get Tor to go to knit night for the first time. She was in Europe for the past few weeks since the article in the IJ came out, so this was the first week she could make it. Because of my lack of any of my needles other than those on a project, I was stuck working on my shawl. I am starting to get bored of it, soft as it is. The pattern is just very repetative, and I just found out that I am doing one of the stickes incorrectly. Not that it really makes much difference when you look at it, but I am ready for something else.

I had also brought in my Touch Me yarn to compare the colors that W had to my own. He didn't carry my exact color, but I found 2 that went very nice with what I had. The plan? To make a 3 color scarf with 4 vertical stripes. So, the 2 balls that are the same color are the first and last stipe while the two that are different colors are the second and thrid stripes. This yarn is so nice to knit with. I managed to sneak in about 5 rows of knitting the other day just to get a feel for what this project going to look like. And of course I am going to pull the I-just-moved-and-don't-know-where-anything-is card as my excuse for not having pictures of anything up.

Our new apartment has *much* better sunlight than the old one did, so I bought new plants to line all over the railings and anywhere that needed color and green. I now have a cute little spice garden consisting of chives, thyme, and rosemary. My new little tomato plants that have diligently been sprouting are going to need to be pruned back some. I think I'll leave that to this weekend. They can survive until then. I also bought lady bugs to eat the aphids that are eating my plants. Some of them are still hanging around and eating, so that makes me happy. :o)

Tonight is my first dance class in a week, and I think I am going to be taking both of my classes, since I didn't go on Monday. (Usually I go to one class on Monday adn the other on Wednesday so that I am not dying when I get home) The last time I didn't dance in a week.. it hurt. So, tonight should be... fun. Oof. And since class starts in 2 hours, I might as well go eat now... eating + belly dancing = ....well.. yeah.

Knit Picks

Today I received my very first knitpicks order. I had purchased a box of blocking pins, and two sock yarns: 2 balls each of Simple Stipes in the color Sweet Tarts, Dancing in the color Jig, and two books: Sensatinal Socks and Fabulous Felted Bags. Dancing looks pretty cool. I can't wait to start making a pair of socks out it. I am thinking of either doing it by Magic loop or using two circular needles so that I can do them both at the same time. Knowing the way I knit, they'll come out at different gauges if I do them independantly. I briefly flipped through both of the books, and became overwhealmed by the socks book. It has so much detail and information. Granted, I only had a few minutes to flip through so when I have more time to really look at it I know it'll be fabulous. I also looked through the felted bags book, and am partially disappointed with it. I think the frog bag is cute, but things like the swan and the queens ball look... like I'd never even think about attempting those. Oh well. Also, the Simple Stripes color wasn't exactly what I had expected, but this is going to be one of my first pairs of socks, so it doesn't matter. And it is definitely not to say that I don't like the colors as they are.
Horray! Knitting is fun!

A Little Bit of Everything

I am supposed to be packing and moving right now, but we had a late night last night and Sunny is still in bed. So I think I can get a few words in.

Thursday knit night was awesome. I got to the shop a little earlier than usual, but W was there and I was able to go inside and start my projects... or wander the store and think about what yarns I might want to buy and make into nice yummi projects. *Note* Knit night also happens to be the night for the San Rafael farmers market, and in our little space of shops there is room for a "stage" where we usually listen to cheesey cover bands play.However, the opening this Thursday was bellydancers!! I of course dropped my knitting and ran out side to go watch. There was a group of older women dancing, follwed by the group of younger girls. Older probably ranging from 30's to late 40's, and younger being teens. It was very interesting to see a different set of dancers other than the Suhaila girls. I have become quite accostomed to seeing Suhaila's format being danced and watching and knowing everything those girls are doing. Thursday was slightly different, and I enjoyed the whole thing. It was a more local and more recently formed tribe. I belive it was Black Sheep Belly Dance (yes, at the end of their set I ran up to the head dancer and blurted how cute they were and where I dance and we talked of the Tribal Fest 6 that was happening this weekend). It made the evening begin very well.

Back to knitting. I decided this time to bring my last i-cord that I needed to make. Since I can't for the life of me be motivated to make it at home, I brought it to work on at knit night. It worked! I kept cording away and before long stopped in case I had passed the length of the other one, which I of coourse did not bring for comparison. I also ended up working on the neverending shawl some more. I can't wait for it to be done. Not that I don't like the pattern, but I have serious knitting ADD. I can't stay on one project for too long, and with the frogging incident recently I am at the one month mark with this. I also can't wait to wear its fuzzy little self when I am cold. I'll be needing it once this move is over, since El Sob is quite cool most of the time. I also asked some of the girls what to do with eyelash yarn (as they then looked at me.. then my project, then back at me) that had really long whispies and thinner main yarn. (My current yarn has a few whispies and more weight to the main line, so it is on the.. mild side of eye lash types) I need to remember to bring those in to show the girls to get suggestions. Yes, those are still untouched balls that I got for free at Stitches West.

Friday night I went out to get a few things for making my postcards for the post card swap. I think each one is going to be different, but I am not sure by how much. I can't wait to make these little things and I am sure that having no cable or internet at the new place for a few days is going to be very creativity conductive. And the 10 girls on my list are lucky. They are getting my great-grandmother's recipe for the ultimate in Southern Comfort food. This recipe wasn't in writing until my mom sat down and watched her make the meal, jotting down notes as she did so. Mmm recipe with love :o)

And now.. time for packing and a long day of moving things.

Belly dancing and knitting

This one is a little bit of a change of pace from the other posts, but it is "belly knitter" for a reason. So because I am kinda poor, I can only afford to go to two classes a week; Dance Movements I and Belly Dance II. This means that I don't get in quite as much dance practice as I want/should unless I motivate myself to get up and practice on days I am not in class. Which happens... but not as frequently as I would like. Last Wednesday we were working on interior hip squares, which are sharp conrtactions in the lower abs, glutes, and lower back and when combined (lower abs, L glute, lower back, R glute) turn into what looks like your body making a little muscle contraction square. ....I'm slow... so I would try doing it in pieces adding onto each other. Mind you, we are walking around the room while doing these. So I would get my proper footing on beat. Then I would do the glute contractions on their proper beats, and once I had both of those down, I would add in the lower abs and back into the mix. Easy!...kinda.. When I added in the abs/back to the combo, I would lose my foot work. So I settled for just trying to get the glutes and foot work down.

At one point, I just stopped and looked at my instructor and said "I feel like a duck" She told me "I love your brutal honesty". But pretty much, I am going to feel like a duck for a while and will have to get used to that. One of my friends suggested to me that we form a troupe called "Things That Float" since she claims to dance like a board and not move in the directions she wants to. Tomorrow is interior hip circles (smoothed out version of the squares) so I am hoping I feel a little less ducky.

Ducky or not, I love dance :o)

As for new knitting news, over the weekend I bought two new needle cases from the SUPER Joann Craft store that just opened up near me. So now I have a nice needle case for my circular needles, a case for my short needles, and one for my long needles. I finally have an organizational system for them! Good thing too, now that the kitties have taken to chewing on the ends of my bamboo needles. I think a certain someone was tempting them too much by teasing them with the needles laying around...

I can't wait until we move (two weeks!!!) because then I can buy a new shelving unit for my yarn. Currently it is all piled in a basket I have and covered with plastic bags of... more yarn. The cats dig through it to grab the *most* expensive balls (yes. the cashmere/silk blend) and string them across the apartment. Sigh. This unit.. *totally* having doors on them! Ha ha.

No Knit Night

I got to work early today (about 8am?) with every intention of working until about 7 before heading to knit night. Unfortunately because I have been working long days lately, I wasn't quite awake when I got to work and decided to make coffee. I don't know what it was, maybe the coffee, maybe something else, but by about 11am, I felt awful. I was hoping it would be better by the time I would go to knit night but alas doing my analysis on my (seemingly never ending) excel sheets didn't help. I left work around 4:30. Sigh. I guess that means it's knitting here alone tonight, or taking a nap. I know I *should* start the alligator I promised my mom. We'll see. :o)

Pictures, finally!

I am still waiting to put the elastic in the Lelah Top. I have yet to be able to take the time to go to the craft store and buy the elastic. But I have started on the i-cords. This is the first time I have ever made i-cords, and they seem to be pretty easy. While I can also see how some people who call them tedious, the last week at work has to be one my most tedious experiences ever, so the back and forth of the i-cords barely compares.

I thought I would also show some of the details. I really like how this came out, even if it has yet to be blocked. It'll probably look even better after blocking.
I also took pictures of the shawl before I frogged, and have pictures of what it looks like now that I have restarted it. I am really liking it much more single stranded. The stitches and pattern can be seen much better, although that is good and bad in itself. This is the first time I have tried anything even close to lace work, so I am sure there are going to be a few mistakes in there.


And of course, whenever I have any of my projects spread out on a table or the floor, the first thing the cats do are sit or walk on the fabric. It's cute though. :o)

Pond Alligator!

While I was in Pittsburgh after I finished my Top, I cast on for my shawl. I was doing it double stranded as the pattern called for, even though I was using a different yarn/weight. Eeeeehhh. It's only a shawl. Well, it turned out if I continued as I was, the 4 balls of yarn I was using wasn't going to get me too far. Even though at knit group on Thursday G told me it looked nice thick and that I should keep going, this morning I decided I didn't like it and proceeded to frog the whole thing. It wasn't as bad frogging two balls at once as I thought it would be. All I had to do was wind one ball for a few inches, then the other and that pretty much ensured that they didn't get tangled (too badly). And when it did, it only tangled slightly and was really easy to undo. I started it again, single stranded this time and am now about 9 inches into it. I am liking it a lot better this time.


Tonight I went to Michael's to buy some Lion Brand yarn to make the alligator that my mom has requested. The pattern is for this little alligator. I am using different colors (I think the lighter one in the image is discontinued) but I hope it ends up looking more or less the same.

There will be pictures of lots of things posted when I get around to uploading the images from my camera.. oh what a task that will be.

The Professional Knitter

Last night I had just gotten back from the trip to Pittsburgh. It was full of lost of late nights and early mornings, as well as lots of partying and seeing old friends. It rocked. I did end up finishing my Lelah Top, and started the new shawl I had been meaning to make since November. Oh, it is so soft! The Lelah Top is only finished by way of knitting however, and I may change my bind off meathod to make it looser. Then onto sewing in the elastic and making i-cords. :o)

While getting coffee from an unnamed-large-succubus-coffee-shop chain, I looked across the street to where the LYS was. The store logo was so cute, because it had a naked cartoon sheep looking quite confused, wearing a sweater clearly of its own wool. On the doors however were signs plastered EVERYWHERE saying the store was closing, and yep! SALE. So I brought Nici, my one and only knitting friend up there to go shop the soon to leave knitting shop with me. So the sale wasn't that great (measly 10% off) but I bought some balls of cashmere and silk blend. Oooohh the spoil. And I actually bought enough to make something nice out of it... and not just another scarf.

Going to the yarn shop make me think of the other week when Marin IJ came to the Stitch n Bitch, so once I was in the vicinity of a computer and internet (ahhh I love CMU and the ability to always be plugged in even when you're an alumn) I looked up the article online. And wow. One section focused on me and Sunny, even though they couldn't handle spelling my obnoxious last name correctly. I felt bad, because I thought there would be more about the owner and the other ladies. This was only my second time there and I feel like I stole the stage! When I went in to work (yes folks, I got up at 5:30am EST (2:30am PST) and arrived at work to do hours of mousies at 4pm PST!!) one of my lab mates said "Do you know you were in the Marin IJ?" ...and here I was thinking this was a newspaper that no one reads, since I don't live in Marin and don't happen to get the paper all the way in Contra Costa. I think three total people asked me about it, the original person, CT who had the copy of the paper had told J "Did you know your lab mate is famous?!" and expressed to someone else that she wanted to go too. Ha haa. I haven't seen the hard copy, but I was told I am in 3 pictures. Among my office, I have been dubbed "a professional knitter" because I was in the newspaper. I have already been summonded to knit a lot of hacky sacks for one of the husbandry staff since he doesn't like paying $11 for each. I can't wait to go back to knit group. I hope they're not mad at me though for showing up so much. Maybe I'll bring some ladies from work.

And when I get time, I'll post pictures of the top and shawl.

Travelling and Knitting

So tonight/tomorrow morning I am going to be flying to Pittsburgh. And of course long airplane trips require knitting projects! I have a feeling I am going to finish the Lelah Top that I am working on, or at least the knitting part of it. I probably have 4-6 inches left. Last night I spent some of my time at home after work not packing, but instead looking for projects to make with my huge stash of yarn. It was difficult. I wanted something somewhat simple so that when I am cooped up in a little seat on the plane at irritating hours I don't become uncomfortably irritated at the knitting as well. So, now I have two potentials. I can either make a nice lace shawl that I had been planning on doing since... November. Or I can figure out how to do the magic loop (I think I got it, but this is me saying that without my needles in front of me and only after studying multiple tutorials) and make my wrist warmers at the same time. So torn. I am itching to get the magic loops down, but the yarn for the shawl is more compact and, well.. I like packing as light and orgnized as possible. Maybe I'll jsut stick with the shawl. The yarn is orgasmically soft on my hands. That will be nice at 2am tomorrow morning during the first leg of my journey. :o)

My mom asked me to make her something. She wanted to have a knitted thing from her daughter that she could show off. Of course all the really cool things to make are sweaters, scarves, mittens, hats... insert random colder weather thing here. And she lives in South Florida and (as much as other knitters have yelled at me with "nuh uhhhh!!") has no use for any of thoes things. It would be pointless for me to make them for her and it would just waste my time. So I came up with all of these potentials and showed her. Over the womb, nautie, the squid hat, and felted bags, she sent me back a little alligator and said "I want an alligator or a frog. I couldn't find a frog pattern though.. only this knitting technique called frog." Of course I couldn't find a knit frog either; only people talking about frogging their work. So, alligator it is! That will be a project once I get back.

I am not going to be able to update until after Monday, so hopefully I will have some new and exciting knitted items finished by then!

Trees need warmth too!

I can never get over this. Every time it is sent to me I giggle. Possibly because it is something I would do too. :o)

http://erika.fisherking.org/?page_id=271

FO's that I never put up anywhere

This was a little rose and leaf that I had made out of a yarn sampling that I received at Stitches West 2006.


The subsequent image is of my cat sniffing it, wondering why I was paying attention to something else and not her.


My MIL gave me a small kit for a felted coin purse for Christmas. It was so simple and I think it came out cute. I had to hand felt all of these since I live in an apartment and it is about $1.50 for each wash. I used my hair dryer for help too. For small objects, I didn't see much of an issue in felting them this way, and I liek the way everything ended up.


Who says cats can't help knit? Cora decided that regardless of the fuzzy stringy stuff in my lap, she wanted to be there too and nothing was going to stop her.


I'm saving some of the images from current WIPs for another post so that this one isn't too image heavy, and I like to show them from beginning to end. :o)

Long's + yarn?

I was at the local Long's Drug store today in the older part of town. You know, every town has the central location where all the condos, assisted living homes, slow drivers and quiet communities are. Well, the closest drug store is right in the middle of that. This place is trying to be everything at once. From the outside, it looks like a normal drug store. Inside, however it had the typical drug store items as well as, fruits, items you'd find in a grocery store, and YARN! the sign to the aisle listed "shoe polish, sewing needs, yarn".... it was quite amusing. It was a very small little shelf for yarns, and it was nothing like what you'd find at a LYS, but it was cute and amusing! I was almost tempted to buy a skein just to say "Look at what I bought from the drug store!" ..maybe I am the only one amused by this..

First one!

So, tonight at the knit group I was finally inspired to make an all knitting, or crafty, or... creative blog to document all my fun crafty things. This will mostly be comprised of knitting and belly dancing, along with the occasional sewing or painting or drawing projects. Because I have SO much time for all of my crafty needs. So here it is! Enjoy, all you bloggy stalkers!