I need 40 hour days...

Only two weeks until the Boise knit along. Every day I come into my "yarn room" (yes, in my teeny apartment I have a yarn room.. also a guitar room, a sewing room, a train room... it's all the same room, but it's there!) and I stare at my bag of beautiful yarn. I can't wait to start it, and it is going to be so cool that a whole group of other people are going to be knitting it with me. Going to this knitting group has brought me a lot of firsts. I made my first felted bag (first larger felted object), I am going to be doing my first knit along, and last night, I finished my first sock!!! So exciting! I'll post pictures in my next entry, I don't have quite enough time to do it now. But it felt so good! The sock is very cute. I made it an ankle sock since I don't like for them to be too tall on my leg. I think it is just barely too big and that I should have started the heel almost half and inch before I did. But oh well. It still fits reasonably well, and it was a learning experience. These are going to be socks for wearing at home when my feet are cold. Well, when I finish the nexst sock.
Before starting the sock, I had to struggle to think of something to do.. before I eventually decided on braving sock making. Now, I have so many projects lined up that I am going to have to work on multiple items at once. Don had a baby on Monday. It wasn't due until October, so I thought I had plenty of time to waste before diving into the baby item for him. Brandon is only about 4.5lbs, and I have to work quick! I am making a baby blanket and will send it out to them as quickly as I can. Oh yeah, did I mention I have this knit along? And the knit along after that? Or how about the mate to my first sock? Yep. Looks like I am going to have plenty of things to keep me busy.
And if I didn't have enough knitting to do, dancing has become very intense. On Monday I am taking 2 hours of class, Wednesday I am taking another hour of class, and on Saturday I am taking a choreography class. Because of the choreogrpahy, I need to practice the dance a good amount of time so that when I go into class I don't look like the only fool who doesn't know what they are doing. I think I get too stressed out before classes. Outside of class I think all these happy things about dancing and how fun it is, and how much I love belly dancing. But at the same time, I look at all these girls who are dancing with me and I think how will I ever become as good as them? Will I always be tripping over my own feet and never be able to do a horizontal figure 8 front to back while my feet are doing a pas de bourettee? It also didn't help that I talked to a girl before class on Wednesday and she told me about a journal she follows of one of the girls who is taking the currently on going Level3 Workshop (note: in a few weeks, I am going to be taking the level 2 Workshop). Apparently in the journal, the girl says that in the survivor bag that Suhaila gives everyone, one fo the items is a box if tissues. And that on the first day she had the whole group in tears. o_O She also said everything was double time... I can just barely do full time and get lost when I have to even think about double time. When I told the girl that I am going to the level2 workshop, she said she wasn't because she didn't have the endurance... This girl dances better than I do. She has better buscle control and can have her feet do one thing while her hips/abs/objiques are doing something else. What the hell have I gotten myself into? I am beginning to doubt that I should have signed up for this. I think that talking about all of these things made me stress out before dancing. Eesh!

It's Official

The knit along is on! Last week at knit night we saw the demo of the Karabella Boise Lace Wrap, which was absolutely devine. It was in Warren's store made with the rose color (64 on the website). It was decided that we should have a knit along and we would cast on as a group on the first Thursday of September. I was bouncing between a few possible colors to make mine out of. There was a purple (65), a soft blue (67.. however it looks grey on my computer screen), and a soft green (68). I ultimately decided on the green since I am fond of the color and already have a blue shawl. The purple was also a little too striking although it is my favorite color. Maybe if it had been softer. In any case, I bought my yarn! Three of us did, actually and it seemed to make Warren's night. :o) I am very excited to start this and can't wait for September! We are decidedly having a party when the last person (most likely me.. I knit slow) finishes the wrap.
At the same time, Papaya and I decided to make the same top from the last issue of IK. Once the first knit along is completed, we are going to begin our own little knit along. Hooray!

Yarn Swap

Yesterday the Berkeley SnB had a yarn swap where a bunch of people could get together and share their stashes of yarn in exchange for whatever else anyone wanted. I figured I'd bring a bunch of the yarns I have laying around that wasn't already tagged for some project and whatever I couldn't exchange for something I would have donated to the local women's shelter. One of the women bought 4 skeins from me, and I traded one skein with another woman for 2 small skeins of her yarn. I ended up leaving most of my yarn there for being donated, and the fact that I left with my Stitches bag almost completely empty made me feel like the day was quite successful.
One of the girls there wore her freshly completed Mesilla from knitty. I *think* she used knitpick's Shine yarn, and it came out really pretty. It kinda fit better than the one of the website. Another woman brought her foster kittens. They were so cute and were very curious! 3 week old kittens! I wanted to trade yarn for one of them although I don't think someone would have forgiven me if I had. Mr. A would have gotten over it because it's a small cute fuzzy thing, but Ms. CoraTess on the other hand.. She wasn't too happy a year ago when I brought our second cat home. Oh well, they were fun to pet.
I also got some time to work on my sock. There were two other socks in progress by various people. Hooray for socks! In all, it was a very nice time with other knitters. AND I made some room in my bureau for more yarns! Hooray! Oh, and everyone commented on my frog purse. Yai for fun knitting!

Commence Belly Dance Boot Camp

Wednesday night was my weekly Belly Dance Level 2 class from 8-9:15pm. For some reason there were only 4 of us there as opposed to the usual 10+. This didn't bother me since it was also the reason why I liked dancing in the middle of the day on Thursday, not to mention I am a morning person and after getting up at 7am all week, dancing until 9pm is a little hard. It was a good class. We were doing exterior hip circles with varying foot work. And I was actually getting it! I could (even if it was only for a few counts) do a 3 beat foot work like paus de bourette with the 4 beat hip circles layered ontop of that. I'm finally coming out of my plateau, and it feels great. The only problem was I would get a little screwed up and miss miss a foot step which would then switch my feet.. So, while everyone was stepping on their left foot, I would be stepping on my right. But it was okay, because I realized what was making me do that.

At the end of class, Kendra told me that I was going to need to start working on my stamina. She knows I don't like taking Dance Movements and Belly Dance 2 back to back, but that I am going to have to start doing so in order to be able to survive the week long workshop in September. Oof. I hadn't even thought of that. If I had, I would have been doing this whole 10-week rotation with the classes back to back... and I would be complaining about it more here. I have 7 weeks until the workshop as of this coming Monday. Eee!! That means from 9:30am-3:30pm Monday-Friday of the last week in September, I am going to be dancing my tush off while being pushed by Suhaila herself. And apparently she's not going to let me get away with some of the lazy things I do in Kendra and Tiffany's classes. 0:) So to ease myself in, on Monday's I am going to start doing both classes, and still show up to level 2 on Wednesdays. I am hoping to do that for maybe 2 or 3 weeks before taking both classes both nights. Ee! I am either going to come out of this more exhausted than I have ever been in my life, or I am going to be crazy energized from it. Kendra also told me that the pain my muscles are going to feel after the workshops is going to be the kind where I am going to need a salt soak in the bath every night when I get home... someone please tell em what I have gotten myself into. I'm so looking forward to it though! But I can't believe it is coming up so quickly!!

My name is Kiwi... and I have a problem...

Tonight I walked into MFA with a completed felted frog bag (that I am testing out to make sure it works before sending it out... we don't want it falling apart while I am not available to fix it!!) ;o) as well as the desire to start my first pair of socks. I wanted to go all out with this pair; knit two at once on the magic loop! I can start big! I've never knit socks before, but who cares?! I have my book on knitting socks and my 2 print outs on how to do the magic loop. I didn't quite get off to such a booming start as I had hoped. With Warren's help, I started slightly slower by getting myself 2 US1 Addi Turbo needles so that I could knit one sock on two needles. Ehh. Two socks on one needle, one sock on two needles.. who's counting? Warren showed me an excellent cast on using a crochet hook (which also reminded me how long it has been since I have crocheted anything) and once I got the hang of using such small needles, things went very well.

Socks are addictive. I haven't even finished my first TOE and I know *why* socks are addictive. They flow so nicely, everything moves smoothly, it is truely relaxing. And with my half finished toe at 9pm I decided it would be more than appropriate to join the sockanon club. Because it may be a little early to tell, but I think I am going to be addicted. Socks are going to become my default projects. I can see it now. Once I get my first pair done, I am going to move onto the magic loop (I'm on a mission with this thing.. there's no stopping me) and just pump these critters out as quickly as my little fingers can get them. The most recent knitty was dedicated to socks and I can't wait to try them. No sock will be left unknit. Guess what everyone I know is getting for Christmas this year. So yes, I think joining sockanon was a good idea. Plus, I'll be able to get more tips from Warren on how to do special sock-knitting techniques. (he couldn't show me te toe up cast on he was working on at the time since it is scheduled to be shown at the next meeting and a riot would have ensued by at least two of the members had I learned said CO early and as a non-member, no less) But I am very excited!

I also got a chance to have a turn at "looky what I did!" with the frog bag. Everyone watched as it was a large green pile of stockinette and now it came back as a teeny, put together, felted bag. :o) The only problem I have discovered during my test drive is that the flap doesn't stay down. ::sighs dreamily:: If only I could find a button in the shape of a bug so that it wouldn't look odd coming out of frog's tongue. :gasp:: What's this? Warren has buttons? In the shapes of LADY BUGS?! I bought the purple and green one, and before too long it will forever be perched precariously on the tip of the frog's tongue. Hooray for knitting.

Oh, and it is a sad day in the knitting community. The authors of "You Knit What??" have decided to hang it up. The comments and hilarity in regards to the never ending fug that people seem to be drawn to create and knit will never be the same without this site. Here's to hoping someone takes it over and continues making fun of the fun fur, unidentifiable creations, and other odd knittings.