Zarzuela Knits and Crochets

What are you doing here?

2006-06-19T20:55:00.000-04:00

You are looking at the old blog. Wouldn't you rather be looking at the new blog?!?

Then click here.

(P.S. Don't forget to update your bloglines or other RSS reader to the new blog because I won't be posting here anymore!)

Lacy Leaf Cocoon

2006-06-16T21:35:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Lacy Leaf Cocoon from the Spring 2006 Interweave Crochet
Yarn: Cascade Pima Tencel 5 skeins
Hook: Size G Brittany Birch
Crocheted: 5/9-6/7/06
Modifications: Shortened the sleeves, deciphered the pattern!

This isn't the best pic of the jacket in the world, but you get the idea. Except for the sleeves and a little bit of tightness in the armholes, I really love how this turned out. This pattern was absolutely fraught with mistakes which made making this a bit difficult. Luckily they had some very nice pictures in the magazine or I would have gotten absolutely nowhere with this. As I've said before, I'm not sure who is to blame for that, but there you have it. Along with the bad directions I should have expected that the yarn requirements weren't quite right when they gave the same requirements for each size. So I did, of course, run out of yarn. I had planned on shortening the sleeves anyway since I plan on wearing this to work and I didn't want to be pushing them back all the time, but I didn't expect them to be *quite* this short. I ended up making the sleeves as long as I could with the darker blue color and then just adding a simple single crochet edging to finish it off. Not as nice as I would have liked, but not a bad solution considering the situation. As I said, the armholes are a little tight, but considering the fact that this is a 50% cotton yarn, I think it may stretch a bit anyway. I'll be very interested to see what happens when this hits the water, since I haven't quite gotten it there yet. I'll be sure to report any interesting findings!

My weekend plans involve packing stuff up, cutting stuff off, important acquisitions, a little sleep, a little music, and a big change. Details to follow soon. Have a great weekend!

HWJF Socks #3

2006-06-14T16:05:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Generic Toe-up from Queen Kahuna.
Yarn: Opal
Needles: Addi Turbo size 1
Knit: 4/29-6/6/06

Here is pair number three for HWJF. He's holding them up while relaxing on the porch at camp. There were a couple of firsts with this pair of socks for me. This was my first time using Opal yarn and I enjoyed it. It's very springy yet strong and I think it will make a nice wearing sock. Coupled with this is the fact that this was my first time using a size 1 needle for socks. While it did make them seem to take f-o-r-e-v-e-r to knit, I can definitely see the difference in the fabric. These will probably be harder wearing just for the gauge difference, never mind the yarn.

In this pic you might be able to tell, if you look *real* closely, that this is this pair of socks stage debut! As soon as they came off the needles they went on HWJF's feet and he happened to be playing in recital hour that day. When he got on stage he introduced himself, "Hi! My name is _(HWJF)_ and these are my new red socks!" I almost died. Luckily most everyone had already seen me working on them so they knew what was going on. Although someone asked him later about his new Fox (a popular brand of bassoon, in this instance).

==================

As for me, I'm slowly settling back into reality. I was fine until this morning when I had to drag myself to work after a very restless night of sleep (i.e. I got none). That and the condition of my apartment (pics coming soon) are making it a little tough, but I've got Stitch 'n Bitch tonight and seeing everyone after a two week lapse always is a pick-me-up. Another FO post to come soon...

Back to reality... (long and photo heavy)

2006-06-11T20:00:00.000-04:00

Another bassoon camp is in the books and I am finally back in CT after a short stay in NJ to do laundry and put my stuff away and another short stop in NY to deal with car issues. If you aren't into reading about people's vacations, you can skip this post now.

I started out my vacation by taking Simba to stay with her grandparents in NY. She is not a happy kitty when it comes to car rides, but we managed to make it without much incident and very little crying. I couldn't stay long because I had to be in NJ that night to load the car since we were leaving for camp the next day. I made my first trip to NJ without a problem other than thinking there was going to be a rest area and gas on I-287 when there was none. Luckily I managed to make it to my exit and there was a gas station shortly thereafter. The funniest part of that trip was the fact that I needed directions to my own apartment! I still haven't quite got things in NJ figured out, but I'm getting there.

After HWJF got out of work we packed a few things in the car, got dinner, and then tried to prepare for the arrival of Gail Warnaar who would be staying with us that night. She runs a B&B in Vermont and also a sheet music shop specializing in double reeds which she transports to camp every year. Her drive was significantly longer then ours, so we offered her a place to stay in exchange for staying with her daughter the following night.

Sunday morning we finished packing, got our usual weekend Panera breakfast and it was off to camp! We drove to Gail's daughter's house in Harrisonburg, VA which only turned out to be a 5 hour drive from NJ. It was a pretty easy day and HWJF drove the whole time so I actually got to knit the whole time! We had a very nice evening in VA and we left Monday morning to finish off the trip, about another 7 hours. We arrived at camp around 3pm to find rather hot and muggy weather with very little breeze. Something quite unusual for Little Switzerland, NC. By the time we unloaded our own stuff and then helped Gail with hers, we were more than a bit hot and sticky. We had just enough time to clean up and head off to dinner where camp really begins.

The first night starts with dinner where we get to start catching up with old friends and start meeting new ones. Then we have our first masterclass with Loren Glickman. It was a bit of a funny moment when HWJF and I sat down next to each other and started taking out our bassoons. We both kind of looked at each other and said, "Hey, you play the bassoon TOO?!". We rarely play together and although we both know that we are bassoonists, he thinks of me more as a librarian and I think of him more as a music store manager, so we both had a good laugh. After the first master class is the traditional welcome to camp party. I always find these
events amazing mostly for the fact that after you have been there a few years, it always seems as though you just pick up where you left off last year with people, whether you had any contact with them during the year or not. It's like coming home.

Tuesday we had plans to pick up my friend Marta (whose wedding I was in last fall, check the archives) from the Asheville airport. Since we were going to town and I had already done my research we went straight to Earth Guild first. (You knew the yarn adventures were coming, didn't you?). What an amazing store! This place basically has anything you could possibly want for a very large variety of craft projects including weaving, spinning, soap making, paper making, wood carving, knitting, crocheting and any number of others that I can't possibly remember. HWJF and I walking in a both kind of went "Whoa!". Since we got there not long after Marta got to the airport, he was nice enough to go get her and bring her back to the store so that I could have a good look. There was a great selection of yarns, everything from Noro to acrylic, and also a great selection of spinning wheels. I was able to talk to one of the store workers who explained a lot of the differences between the wheels and I got to treadle them all. It was interesting to see the differences, such as the Lendrum was very smooth but the orifice seemed a bit low for me. I really liked the way my body fit the Kromski but the action was quite a bit rougher than the Lendrum, etc. Unfortunately I'm not ready for a spinning wheel just yet, but when I do I'll definitely be looking back on my experiences at this store. After quite a bit of
looking, I came away with this:

The books is Spin It which has a lot of great info. about hand spinning, an old issue of Spin Off magazine, another size 1 addi turbo for socks, some trekking in a great blue colorway, and some split ring stitch markers that I thought might be good for socks.

There were several other knitters at camp this year and I spent a lot of time with one named Jerri. She is the spouse of one of the campers that comes back year after year. As we knit and chatted I noticed that she had the most interesting knitting accessory that I had seen in a while. It was a hand thrown bowl with a little hole in the side, the purpose of which was to put your yarn in the bottom, run it through the hole and have your project yarn flop around inside the bowl instead of falling all over the place (or having your kitty chase after it in my case). Obviously I had to know more and it turns out that the caretaker of Wildacres, whose daughter is a professional potter made it! So a day or two later Jerri and I went to her studio to check out the knitting bowls and a variety of her other pieces. Needless to say, Sarah is also a knitter and happened to know about a very cool yarn store in the neighboring town of Burnsville. So the three of us went off to go yarn shopping after Jerri and I made our purchases at Sarah's studio. Yummi Yarns is actually located in the back of an art Gallery where local artisans display and sell their works. You'd never know there was a yarn store in there if you didn't already know about it.

But what a yarn store it was! The first thing you saw when you finally got to the yarn area was an old refridgerator full of silk garden on one side and a grand piano on the other! Apparently one of the workers plays piano and can occasionally be found practicing when business is slow. Yummi Yarns is definitely an appropriate name since there were so many wonderful things there. I ended up zeroing in on this:

Enough Cascade Fixation for two more pairs of socks (I told you I had more planned in that last post!) and some Online Supersock. I had heard about this yarn before but hadn't seen it in person. It's very soft and the colors are really interesting (more so than the picture shows) so I'm really looking forward to trying this out during the Summer of Socks. And here's a pic of the knitting bowl I chose:

I just think the glaze and the whole idea is just so interesting. And while I was doing some work on other projects at camp, it really came in handy! There may be another one of these in my future after the moving is done and I get settled in NJ. Here's a pic of Jerri and I with our bowls:

The rest of camp I alternated between participating in the usual camp activities and just taking time to sit out on the porch and enjoy the glorious weather (we only had that bit of muggy weather the first two days and one day of rain. It was just heavenly) while knitting or crocheting either alone or with others. On our day off, HWJF and I took a quick trip to the Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

What an amazing place! It really boggles the mind to think of how hard it must have been to build something like that in the late 1800s, not to mention the fact that the Vanderbilt family used to travel back and forth between there and NY on a regular basis. The gardens were beautiful:

And the winery was fun too! :-) I think this was really my first wine tasting of this type. It was really nice to be able to try things out before deciding what to buy. We ended up with three nice bottles of differing types and a couple of glasses to go with them.

We also managed to find the local yarn shop:

Another beautiful store! There were all sorts of different types of yarn and a huge selection of needles. But what really stopped me in my tracks was a huge display of Koigu. I almost couldn't believe it when I saw it since every place I've been to in recent memory has been lamenting how hard it is to get now. Obviously I couldn't walk out without some:

And as you can see I also ended up with an Addi Natura (my first) and some sock yarn that HWJF was drawn to although I don't think he wanted to admit it.

Another highlight of the trip for us was what we affectionately refer to as drive through ice cream:

It's apparently an old BP gas station that's been converted into an ice cream shop, only you can't go in, you can only drive through. It was also the site of our first "date". :-)

And for those of you who have been reading this little 'ole blog for a while now, I did get to wear the sweater and even got the pictures I was hoping for:

All too soon it was time to head home. We left shortly before 10 am and since HWJF had to work Friday evening we went all the way back to NJ in one day, arriving around 10:30 pm. A very long day for sure, but when we checked the mail, look what was waiting:

More yarn! Koigu at that! From Beth for winning her caption contest a couple of weeks back. Thanks so much Beth! :)

So tomorrow it is back to work and the five hour commute from CT to NYC. Ugh. My only consolation is that I only have three weeks more of that before I'm finally in NJ for good. Of course that means a lot of serious packing in the meantime, but (as Scarlet O'Hara would say) I'll think about that tomorrow. You can expect a couple FO posts and some project updates throughout the week, but don't be surprised if I'm a bit slow with things. I think the 5am wake up call tomorrow morning is going to hurt in more ways than one. Thanks for reading this far and I hope you all have a great week!

Broadripple socks

2006-06-09T20:35:00.000-04:00

While I'm out of the woods and back in NJ for the moment, I'm not organized enough yet to give you a full account of bassoon camp and the last two glorious weeks. So instead you get a finished object post that is long overdue!

Broadripple Socks

Pattern: Broadripple socks from Knitty
Yarn: Cascade Fixation
Needles: Size 3 addi turbos
Knit: 5/2/06-5/19/06
Modifications: none

Not much to say about this project except I'm really happy with how they turned out. I had a difficult time getting started with this yarn, mostly because I just wasn't used to how stretchy it really is. I also tried doing these on clover bamboo circs at first and that was just not going to happen. I couldn't figure out if I was supposed to stretch it as I knit or not. Once I switched to the addis, I realized that I could just knit and let it stretch or not as it pleased. The pattern was really simple to memorize and it made for good commuter knitting. Now that I know how to work with it, I really love the yarn and definitely have a few more pairs planned with it in the future.

More to come on bassoon camp and my yarny adventures while on vacation. If you'll excuse me for now, I have over 300 bloglines subs to read!

Summer of Socks blog is ready to roll!

2006-05-27T07:14:00.000-04:00

Here we go! Come check out the new home for the Summer of Socks!

I'm outta here until June 12th. There may be a random post here or there, but don't expect much from me until then. I wish anyone in the U.S. a very happy and safe Memorial Day weekend! See you all when I get back from bassoon camp!

Freedom!

2006-05-26T21:40:00.000-04:00

First things first,

I'M FREE!!! NO WORK FOR ME FOR TWO WHOLE WEEKS!!!

Ahem. Now where was I? Oh yes...

Sorry for the sporadic blogging this week. I really have no idea where the week went! I guess all this build up to the big vacation is finally hitting the fan (if ya know what I mean) and it just seems like I've been so busy with other things that I haven't gotten the time to blog. The first major load of my stuff went to NJ on Thursday morning (woot!) and now the packing for vacation and for sending more stuff to NJ this weekend seems to be consuming all my thoughts. Well, that AND the Summer of Socks, which is up to 75 members (remember: today is the last day to sign up!). Look for an update on that early tomorrow morning.

So since this really is a knitting and crocheting blog and all this stuff about alongs and moving and such is not exactly exciting I will attempt to not bore you with a display of what is actually going to go to bassoon camp with me craft-wise. You probably already know that bassoon have to go to bassoon camp right?

First up is the lacy leaf cocoon:

Very close to being done at this point. I'll be very interested to see how the sleeves actually work out. So far I still love the yarn but, I'm sorry to say, the pattern directions are terrible. I got the errata from the Interweave site and that only covers part of the pattern and even THAT is not very clear. I hate to write badly about such a pretty pattern, and I don't know if it is the designer or the magazine editors that are to blame for the overall write up, but the directions are very poorly done. Luckily this pattern includes two very good pictures or I may have given up on this long ago.

Next up, the latest installment of HWJF socks:

Just to refresh your memory, these are being made in Opal on size 1 needles. The smallest needle I've used before now is a 2 so it's a bit of a change. There are several more stitches involved with these (84!) but I really like the fabric so far. I can see where this might be better for sock fabric as it is a bit more sturdy. But I'm questioning my sanity in trying these for the bigger feet of my guy instead of me first! ;-)

Allow me to introduce you to Bob:

Bob is my green project for May and Project Spectrum. (Ummm... can you say "Not gonna finish by the end of May". Yeah.) I figured I could probably only take so many pictures of green leaves before I made you all sick, and, well, I haven't taken a single one yet so better to go with this plan. I'm doing this in the sadly discontinued Cotton Ease in Pistachio. I saw a similar one here and thought it might be interesting and might not look awful on me. Green really isn't a color that speaks to me much, and I guess it's apparent since I haven't gotten very far with this. Oh yeah, and my gauge isn't quite right.... so this ought to be interesting.

Lest you think that I should be satisfied with three measly, near complete projects for 20+ hours of driving and 10 days of sheer joy on top of a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no TV, no internet, no radio and only a newspaper in which to get the hockey scores, I present this:

Which is all the other stuff I'm taking with me (here's hoping HWJF doesn't see this picture in the next 24 hours!). I'm going to attempt some more spinning, perhaps start a kiri shawl, a pair of socks for moi, and a tube toporini. Think that's enough to keep me busy for the next two weeks?

Frog pond

2006-05-23T17:02:00.000-04:00

Frog pond
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

Believe it or not, I do still knit. I even have another F.O. to show but I can't make it happen until the 'puter gets back from NJ. In the meantime the lastest HWJF sock went to the frog pond this weekend. It was too big, the increases were all wonky... in a word, it was just wrong (perhaps we should be afraid that I am hosting a sock along?). So Monday night I gave it another shot and the pic shows it in its current state of "much better"-ness (I.E. users click the empty space to see).

In the meantime, besides this project I'm having a hard time deciding what to bring with me on vacation. The lacey loop will probably not be done so that will go. I actually do have a green project spectrum knit (that I hope to show you before the month is over!) so that will go. I was thinking about maybe starting a kiri shawl or a tube-topporini. I just can't seem to make up my mind and I only have a few days to go!

So what types of projects, besides socks, do *you* bring on vacation?

The big event of the weekend...

2006-05-22T17:10:00.000-04:00

The big event of the weekend...
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

So in case you haven't figured it out already from the picture (I.E. Users click the empty area to see the pic) the big event this weekend was HWJF'S move to our new apartment (I don't move in until July 1st although HWJF and I will be taking my stuff down there slowly over the coming weeks). Believe it or not, we picked up the truck at 8:30 Saturday morning and had it back by 2:30 the same day. Talk about tired and sore! But we did it.

The new place is great. There is a pond behind our building which is inhabited by ducks and geese (which was quite the entertainment on a number of occasions) and the complex is surrounded by a golf course so it is nice and quiet. The apartment itself, except for a few minor problems is awesome. So nice to have an extra full bathroom and the extra space. The appliances seem to be very new too so that was lucky. Overall we are both very happy.

I'm the one that will be going through the biggest adjustment at this point. After this weekend things have suddenly gotten very 'real'. When I think about the fact that soon I won't be going back to CT at all, I get very sad, while at the same time I'm very excited about all the good things (like having HWJF in the same state, extra money, less commute) this move will bring. For now I am going to try and concentrate on packing for bassoon camp and packing up my apartment. I can worry about adjusting to a new place later, right?

Socks are taking over my life!!

2006-05-19T15:22:00.000-04:00

Well, not really. But there sure does seem like a lot of sock stuff floating around in my world right now. Thanks to Lolly posting about it on her blog, the Summer of Socks is approaching 50 participants! Incidentally, if you'd like to sign up please, please, please DO NOT leave a comment. Send an e-mail to Zarzuela1996 at yahoo dot com with your name and blog address and which parts of the along you would like to participate in. It just makes it so much easier for me when I'm putting you all into the spreadsheet and the blog. Speaking of the blog, for now, please be sure to add the feed for this blog to your feed reader of choice (Bloglines or otherwise). There will be a separate blog for the along and when it is ready I'll let you know from here. This blog will also be moving very soon, so be sure to stay tuned for updates!

I'm also very excited to tell you about some of the prizes that have been offered. Jen will be donating a skein of her handspun (which I saw in action at SnB last night and was quite impressed), Morgan has offered to donate something yet to be determined, and Paula has a skein of Regia up for the winner. Then Mama E also said she would donate some of her handspun and dyed yarn (I'm loving the blue for the next month of Project Spectrum)! And on top of all that, we have a corporate sponsor! Tara of blondechickenboutique.com and I will be working out the details of a donation from her soon to be up and running shop featuring organic and fair trade handpainted yarns! How cool is that?! Thank you all for your generosity. If you would like to sweeten the pot, do let me know...

In the midst of all this I've been knitting on... wait for it... a sock! Shocking I know. I finished one this past week:

This is the Broadripple Pattern from an old issue of Knitty. I'm using Cascade Fixation since the pattern calls for it. When I was looking for a pattern for this yarn Lolly suggested something with ribbing and Beth suggested something with lace and I thought this kind of combined the two. Now I am not making an accusations here mind you, but now that the first sock is done, doesn't this look a bit Jaywalker-esque? I am enjoying it just as much too. Although I'm on a self-imposed yarn buying moratorium, I may try to pick up another two balls of this before I go on vacation. I kind of like the fact that I'm cranking out a pair of socks on size 3 needles. They seem so big compared to the size 1s I'm using for the latest HWJF socks!

I also am wondering what the hell I was thinking when I picked out this color. If you are a long time reader you know that my color palette of choice is generally more geared to the blue side (understatement of the century, I know) but I decided to try and break out a bit with this selection. Um... yeah. So I really don't know what the heck I would wear with these. Perhaps they will become weekend bumming around socks. They are definitely squishy and comfy so I do think there will be more of these type in my future, just not this color.

I do have more to show, but time and energy are short (that's what staying up until 11pm entering names when you have to be up at 5am will do to ya!). Perhaps there will be a post this weekend, but perhaps not since there is a rather big event planned. You may just have to wait until Monday. Evil I know. Have a great weekend (and please send dry thoughts to central NJ. Rain would really suck this weekend)!

1...2...3...4...5...6...

2006-05-16T19:55:00.000-04:00

The title is my new mantra. Why you ask? This

requires it. Yes friends, I am the type of knitter/crocheter that looks at a pattern and says, "Wow. That looks really cool and I think it would look good on me." I am not so smart as the rest of you that might look at something like this and say, "Wow. That looks really cool but maybe chaining 6 eleventy-billion times might not be the most pleasing experience." I am apparently not smart enough for that. So here I am, resigned to my new mantra in the hopes that it will be worth it in the end. And if that wasn't enough, try doing it on a bouncing train and running out of yarn in the skein just one loop away from a complete round.

I'll be dodging the men with the white coats who keep running past my door if you need me...

Summer of Socks update...

2006-05-15T20:22:00.000-04:00

Edit: SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED!!!! Please feel free to follow our progress over on the blog.

I want to thank everyone who has signed up for the Summer of Socks so far! I threw the idea out there last Friday in a caffeine induced fit of inspiration (seriously people at Dunkies, you should listen to the people who ask for decaf. It's usually because we really can't have caffeine and generally for medical reasons. You could really kill somebody!) and the response has been good. Now that I've gotten some time to think things through a little better I want to address some issues that have come up.

First, the main point is *not* about the competition. It's just a friendly knit/crochet along where you can keep motivated to knit socks while you are out and about this summer. Afterall, it is vacation time for most of us and what better portable project is there than a sock? You don't have to think "oh I'll never knit more than one pair so I won't join". That's not the point! Please feel free to join if you just want to knit some socks this summer and would like to do so along with a group of like minded people. And if you've never knit a sock before, this would be a great time to give it a try and let other people in the along help you out if you run into a problem.

Secondly, for those of us who need or want a challenge and/or some extra motivation, you can be part of the contest to see who can knit the most pairs of socks in three months. If you want to participate in this part, just let me know and I'll keep you on a special list of contestants. Only socks that are started June 21st or later and have a pair completed by the Sept. 21st deadline will count in this contest. I want to thank those of you who indicated that you would be willing to donate a prize. In the meantime, Lolly had a great idea in that if there is enough interest, we might be able to get a corporate sponsor to donate the prizes! So tell your friends and maybe there will be extra special goodies at the end!

The third thing is that I think we could have more than one contest going during the three months so that people can participate on several levels. So if you have a contest idea, please let me know. As I was thinking more about summer and sock knitting I thought of a second contest idea. We will also have a "Take your sock on vacation" contest. What you'll have to do for this one will be to take a picture of you and your sock at some interesting place that you end up at this summer. Now that doesn't necessarily mean you have to travel far and wide, there can be cool places right in your back yard! You can send your pictures in as the along goes... um... along *snicker* and we'll all vote for the best pic at the end. And of course there will be some sock related prize to the winner. As things go along (there's that word again) I'll set a submission deadline and give you an address to send your pictures.

So to summarize you can participate in three different ways (so far). 1. Just knit or crochet socks and interact with your fellow sock-loving friends. 2. Sign-up for the most socks in three months contest. 3. Sign up for the traveling sock contest.

Sound like fun? I sure hope so! If you've already signed up, leave a comment and let me know which ways you would like to participate. And if you haven't signed up, what the heck are you waiting for? E-mail me at Zarzuela1996 at yahoo dot com with the subject "Summer of Socks" and be sure to include your blog address and which parts you would like to participate in.

And in case you are just dying to get a button on your sidebar, the lovely and talented Beth was nice enough to make some buttons for us this weekend! Thanks again Beth!!

Please be sure to save to your own server!

Aren't they just too cool?

I promise this will be the last major post on this for those of you who don't want anything to do with socks! Next time, actual progress on projects that involve knitting and crocheting. Really.

The main reason I'll miss CT...

2006-05-14T20:35:00.000-04:00

This amazing group of women, only some of which are pictured above. Since three of us are moving away all at about the same time we decided to get together for drinks and fondue on Saturday night. At one point we went around the table and we had an architect, an entomologist, an engineer, me, an international relations specialist, and a montesori school teacher in the group! We were missing a few dear friends like the graphic designer/ webmaster extrodinaire, the economist and the nurse, but you have to admit, that's a pretty diverse group of women! And what did we all start off with as the common denominator? Knitting. If I find the Stitch 'n Bitch group in NJ to be even half as diverse and interesting as these people, I will be impressed.

Thank you ladies for a lovely evening and for being such great friends for the past two years! I will miss you all!

Summer of socks anyone?

2006-05-12T10:22:00.000-04:00

Edit: SIGN UPS ARE NOW CLOSED!!! Please check out our progress on the blog.

So I may be getting myself in serious trouble here, but I'm thinking blogland may need a "Summer of Socks" knit / crochet along. After listening to the Knitters review tour of Maryland and seeing some general interest in blogland, I'm thinking the time is right. Besides, those of us in some of the year long sock alongs may need a little mid-year motivation right? I know I set myself a little personal goal of 12 pair for the year and I'm a bit behind so some extra motivation might be good.

So here's the deal:

We will challenge ourselves to see just how many socks we can knit from solstice to solstice (or thereabouts), June 21st to Sept. 21st (I'll be going on vacation in a couple of weeks, so this will give me time to get everything organized before we start). No pressure. Just see what you can accomplish in 3 months. If enough people would be willing to make a small donation along with me, we could have a prize for the person who knits the most pairs in the three month period (they are going to need to replenish the stash after all that sock knitting!). If there are enough donations we could even have a 1st - 3rd prize.

To sign up send an e-mail with the subject "Summer of Socks" to Zarzuela1996 at yahoo dot com with your name and blog URL (you must have a blog so we can see your socks!) by May 26th so I can link to you on the sidebar. Please indicate if you'd like to make a prize donation in your e-mail.

If you are so inclined, we could certainly use a lovely button of some sort. One other thing, if this ends up getting to knitting olympics popularity levels, I could use some assistance from the technically inclined to bail me out when my inbox explodes! So please indicate any willingness to help in your e-mail too.

Now to sit back and find out just how much trouble I'm in...

Crochet returns!

2006-05-10T19:38:00.000-04:00

First, thank you all so much for all the nice comments on the Heirloom Aran Pullover! I was so excited to finish it and I really am happy with how it turned out. But I do feel a bit liberated in that I can finally move on to things that aren't wool! Speaking of which...

This here little blog has been seriously lacking in crochet content for quite sometime. In fact, I just went back and figured out that the last thing I completed that was crocheted was the wedding afghan I made last July. Yikes!

I guess I just haven't been inspired by many of the crochet patterns I've been seeing lately. A lot of the sweaters just don't seem to drape nicely or have design elements that are interesting to me. I did buy this book a couple of months ago, but I either wasn't in the mood to get into another big sweater project or didn't have the cash to buy the yarn for it (mostly because I was buying yarn for other things).

I realized recently that I hadn't crocheted much of anything except for the occasional granny square for Heartmade Blessings (something else I really hope to get back to after I move to NJ and have all sorts of new free time on my hands *yeah, right*) and I really wanted to get back to it. I thought about doing a doily but my eyes are a little tired these days after 7 hours a day or more of staring at a computer screen. Then I heard about Crochet Cast and after listening to a couple of episodes and checking out some of the new IK Crochet issues the bug finally bit.

While it may look like a weird ass doily at the moment it really is the Lacy Leaf Cocoon pattern by Annie Modesitt. I just think this is such a pretty jacket and the fact that it was inspired by a classic doily pattern must have scratched that doily itch I was having or something. I picked up the yarn at Webs when I went to see Stephanie and it is really lovely to work with so far. The tencel content really lets the yarn slide nicely.

My only problem so far (after getting the errata update) has been the directions after round 19. I'm not sure exactly what they meant to do, but instead of doing the rounds as numerically listed, I worked round 18 five times and then went on to round 12 before ending off the MC. Here's hoping it works out. Anyone else out there working on this and ending up equally confused?

I have more plans for making patterns from this particular issue, but I'll blog about that when I get to them.

And now I must get back to waiting for updates on the game-we-will-not-discuss for which I have sacrificed one of my remaining SnB nights in CT. What a girl won't do for her team....

Heirloom Aran Pullover

2006-05-09T13:45:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the blogging hiatus. Between blogger being a PITA and just plain needing some time away from the computer I just didn't get around to blogging until now. But I did do something important with my time this weekend...

Pattern: Heirloom Aran Pullover from Knitpicks
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes (8 hanks)
Needles: Addi Turbos size 7 and 9, switched to a Crystal Palace Bamboo Circ, size 9 after the first full repeat or so of the back
Knit: 3/21/06-5/7/06
Modifications: None except for a few *ahem* design elements here and there

(Holy crap I look like hell in blog pics lately. Somebody stop me!) Wow. It's finally finished! I don't think I've ever been so happy with a finished object. The seaming and neckband alone took the better part of a day themselves, but I am so happy with the finished product. When I first decided to knit this, I was thinking of a much heavier and more rugged knitted fabric than I was getting with this yarn. But in the end, I'm really happy that it's a bit lighter and softer than I had imagined. I wore it around Princeton Sunday night when it was getting a bit chilly and it was plenty warm despite the cool breeze.

HWJF got that shot while I was fixing my hair and I think it actually shows the cables quite well. Only a couple words of caution with this pattern in case you plan to run out and buy it. The sizing runs small. I made the 40" size and I am by no means a size 40 and it fits me. And I did check my gauge and was right on. The other thing, beware the seed stitch horseshoe cable! While the others *look* more complicated, that one nearly drove me insane.

When I bought this pattern I really thought I would feel like this was my "magnum opus" if you will. I thought that it would be so complicated that when I finished I would feel like I had conquered the world. Well I gotta say, not so much. It was a challenge and it was what I needed at the time I started it, but I don't really feel like it was that monumental. I have a lovely finished garment that I'm very happy with and that's pretty much the end of the story. I guess I have to find something bigger and better for the next time around huh?

More regularly scheduled nonsense coming soon....

Sleeves and other creatures...

2006-05-04T14:30:00.000-04:00

Now that my little blue distraction has been finished I seem to finally be able to turn my attention back to the beast at hand:

Kitty included for scale (of course)

One sleeve done! Does this look sort of look like a big cream cabled sting ray to anyone else?! Or (for the bassoonists in the crowd) an arrowhead plaque? Yeah. Let's just assume it really is a sleeve for now shall we? Knitting these sleeves really isn't so bad. Now that I've got a good start on sleeve number two I can tell you two things with great confidence. There are really only two problems.

Problem number one: The damn thing ends up being 105 stitches across at the widest point. 105! That's huge! At least I think so. That statement alone confirms for me that this is going to be one big cozy sweater. Emphasis on the big part. I've told HWJF that this might come out big enough for us both to wear at the same time. He said I better make two more sleeves. Fat chance dude!

Problem number two: Of those 105 stitches, ~~every freekin one~~ the vast majority of them are worked in seed stitch. I think I'm approaching dizzy from the back and forth. Oye! Wonder why it's taking me a while? Try knitting yourself 105 stitches in seed stitch and throw in a horseshoe cable. Yes. I am insane. Thanks for asking.

And since you already know that, allow me to confirm it for you by making the following statement:

I think I might be able to finish this by the end of the upcoming weekend.

Stop laughing. I can hear you.

Blue Gable

2006-05-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

~~Green~~ Blue Gable

Pattern: Green Gable from Zephyr Style
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in color Blue Paradise. Less than three skeins.
Needles: Addi turbos in size 6 and 4.
Knit: April 19-27, 2006
Modifications: I lengthened the body slightly and added six extra rows to the sleeves before the ribbing.

Although I'm not happy with the picture, I am happy with the finished object. I really enjoyed this quick, painless knit with the result being a cute top that I can certainly wear to work. I had to lengthen the body as usual (have I mentioned I'm nearly 6 feet tall?) and I put a little extra length in the sleeves since I'm not a big fan of real short cap sleeves. After reading posts on the KAL today I found out that the initial cast on was supposed to be backward loop to make more of a boatneck. I'm fairly sure that I used my usual long tail cast on and while the neck isn't as open as it could have been, I'm just fine with the result.

I really loved working with this yarn. Despite reporting to you all that the first skein had 3 knots, the last two were knot free. I'll take this to mean that first skein was the exception and not the rule, so I would definitely knit something else with this yarn in the future. I bought 4 skeins without a definite project in mind and I ended up with a fair amount of the third skein and all of the forth skein leftover. Any ideas for what I can do with the leftovers?

If you plan on using this yarn with more than one color together in a project, definitely pay attention to the warning on the label. It did loose a lot of color in the wash and might cause a problem when using more than one color (in this case, check out the sink turned toilet bowl effect here).

I think I might consider making a long sleeved version of this at some point. Might make a nice fall top. The only other thing I might have done would have been to make the waist decreases a little earlier and then add some increases for the hips.

Definitely a great pattern and a fun knit. Go get yourself one!

Sheep and wolves...

2006-05-01T20:20:00.000-04:00

What a busy weekend! It seems like as soon as I start to relax it is already Monday and time to go back to work! Time flies when you're having fun I guess.

So Saturday after a stop to drop off a bassoon to one of his students, HWJF (that's right. The boyfriend came with me. Am I lucky or what?!) and I headed for the CT Sheep and Wool festival. I had been once before, but the weather was awful. This time it was a bright sunny day and the little festival parking area was packed when we arrived. While this is a very small festival, they sure do pack in a lot to see. There were alpacas in the first of the four barns and lots of yummy yarns. There was even someone making straw brooms! The second barn housed the sheep to shawl competition, sheep shearing demo and several vendors offering different roving and yarns. Out behind this barn was the sheep dog trial area. This is something that I always am completely amazed by, but can only watch for about 5 min. before I want to move on to the yarn. The dogs and the sheep REALLY move! I suppose if someone told me what exactly they are supposed to do I might be more interested. The third barn housed the Nutmeg Spinners and more yarn vendors. I ran into Chris here as I thought I might. For those of you who read her blog, you might be as shocked as I was to realize that little BB is already 3 months old and was about ready for her first harecut which we got to watch:

Later on in the day I got to hold her!

Isn't she just the sweetest thing?! And I even found out that cats and bunnies will get along. A new friend for Simba in the future perhaps? Hmmm...

The last barn featured the food (I'm always a little disturbed by the fact that they serve lamb. HWJF was disturbed by the taste) and several other vendors. I saw some really pretty soysilk yarn that I almost bought, but was a little pricey and the most beautiful spindles where the whorl was made of a metal circle and the center had these beautifully hand-carved Celtic knot patterns. I was a bad blogger and was too bashful to ask if I could take a picture, but trust me, they were beautiful (and a bit out of my price range).

After meeting up with Lauren and Joanne, we decided to have lunch at Reins which is always fun. It's a NY style deli that is set up to look like NYC where you can eat in Brooklyn like we did while watching the Statue of Liberty's torch burn and stopping at Grand Central Station to pay.

When lunch was done we headed back and I made my purchases:

Some new roving that will hopefully inspire me to play with my spindle some more. Slightly over 1000 of fingering weight alpaca that I'm not totally sure what I'll do with yet and this:

Opal sock yarn for HWJF for $9! I cast on in the car on the way to Hartford because the sock I was trying to make for myself just wasn't working out (more on that soon). Now I'll definitely have a SIP (sock in progress) for train knitting for a while.

Now I bet you're wondering about the wolves part... after running a few errands and getting a snack, it was off to a Wolfpack hockey game in Hartford! Ever since getting my job last fall, there hasn't been much time for live hockey. I got an e-mail on Friday that there was a game Saturday night, a play-off game at that and the series was tied 3-3. We decided to go for it and weren't disappointed. They won! (And the mojo must have been good for that other team we won't be talking about.) Definitely a great end to a fun day!

Sunday was mostly spent in frustration that I won't bore you with. What little knitting I did do at least got me to finish the first sleeve from hell (which I also don't seem to have a pic of right now).

FO pics next time. See you then!

The Harlot effect....

2006-04-27T21:52:00.000-04:00

The chart above represents my site hits for this week. You will notice a rather high spike there on the day that Stephanie kindly put my face and a link to my blog on her blog. Holy crap! I usually get around 50 hits a day and I ended up with about 450! Marla was the first to alert me of what had happened and the next thing I knew my inbox was bursting with e-mail and comments! It was really amazing. I don't know if that came from the bit about comments at the end of that Tuesday night post or what, but y'all truly outdid yourselves. And I gotta tell ya, if felt really good to know someone was out there. HWJF (for those who are new here, that stands for "He who juggles Fire" and refers to my boyfriend) says it was the hoochie mama pic, but I tend to think not.

The end result of all this exposure is a feeling as though I need to stand on my head and do something really entertaining. After all, a link like that from someone with such a following is not to be taken lightly (dude, she has over 3,900 bloglines subscribers!). But then I realized, I am me, this is my blog and while it makes me really happy to know you are all out there and reading, that doesn't mean I should change what I've been doing per se. What it really does confirm however, is what I wrote about the other night. It's all about the people! Because of that one little link, I got an e-mail from another music librarian I met at a conference over a year ago and a comment from another Jessica who is also a knitter and a bassoonist! How cool is that? Add to that all the new blogs I have to go have a look at and I just think this whole blogging thing is pretty darn cool.

On to other things....

The Sabres.

I jinxed them. They lost last night and I will not discuss them further until the end of the series. I obviously can't go to SnB and leave them alone for a single night. You all will know where to find me tomorrow night at 7pm. Enough said.

Knitting Emergency Solved!

The nice people at the Yarn Connection made a bit of cash off me yesterday with this:

The color is better represented in the second pic but still not as stunning as it is in person.

I just fell in love with this colorway of Trekking and it fit the bill for an emergency deterrent. The needles, not so much. I didn't want to fork over the cash for addis and I had it in my head that I needed size 3s so I went with these. I managed to get through the ribbing on a jaywalker before I got to SnB where Lauren was kind enough to take me over to her apartment to borrow addis (and see the stash closet. Holy Alchemy Battman!). So I ripped and cast on again only to figure out tonight that I somehow botched the stitch count. Hence the state of the ball in the pic. However, the lesson has been learned. I will never be without a sock in progress again! (Yesterday South Park, today Gone with the Wind. Yeah. I got culture.)

New Webring!

I nearly forgot to include this little bit again. I got the harebrained idea to start a new webring recently and I finally got it set up. So if you are a musician who knits or crochets, go check out the webring blog or tell your musician friends to go check it out. It's getting lonely over there!

Finished object

Yes. There is one. You'll have to wait for pictures and a description though. She needs a bath before her blog debut. Can't have an unbathed finished object parading around on the blog after the hoochie mama shot. People might start to get the wrong idea about what goes on here.

TGIF tomorrow. I'm off to bed!

Knitting emergency!

2006-04-26T15:33:00.000-04:00

Knitting emergency!
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

The Harlot was right (howdy to y'all that are popping over here from her blog by the way! I'm giddy beyond belief. I just keep hearing Eric Cartman in my head right now, "Dude, I'm like *totally* famous.") It can happen. I am in the midst of a knitting emergency. That's right. A knitting emergency.

How did this happen? Quite simply.

I am a bonehead.

I am so close to finishing my blue gable and what do I leave the house without today? Three things:

#1. A tape measure.

#2. The pattern.

#3. (Wait for it) Size 4 needles to finish it with.

Clearly I have not recovered from the wool fumes as well as I had hoped.

Now part of the problem was solved by getting to work. Catalogers always have a ruler. But this has only confounded my emergency further by convincing me that I am *probably* at the point where I can do the final ribbing. Probably. Not so good if you want to wear the thing!

So I'm stuck. But here is the worst part... I'm planning on going to Stitch 'n Bitch tonight! I can't go to Stitch 'n Bitch without anything to knit! What would my contribution be to the knitting universe if I went without knitting?!?! Clearly something must be done.

I'm on 40th and there is a knitting shop with addis and sock yarn on 36th. My 30 min. break this afternoon must involve an emergency trip to the knitting shop right? I mean, Webs trip be damned, CT Sheep and Wool be damned, I need knitting and I need it now!

Besides, I saw these guys at lunch. (I.E. Users click to see the pic)

(Insert blues brothers voice here)

I'm on a mission from gad. Must have yarn.

If only I could wear crop tops to work....

2006-04-25T21:45:00.000-04:00

This will be the post of updates. There are just so many things I want to tell you!

1. I have finally recovered from the yarn frenzy this Saturday. I was seriously camped out on the couch all day Sunday with what seemed like it might become another nasty head cold. I even opted out of going back to NJ with HWJF. It must have been the wool fumes or something. I'm doing ok now though. I'm trying to fortify my strength for this coming Saturday. (Did I really just type that?)

2. I'm almost afraid to say this as I might jinx them, but my Sabres are so kicking serious Philly ass!!! And for those of you who have been waiting, here is the stuffed Zamboni:

Now if I could only find my Sabretooth...

3. There is a new poll in the sidebar on the left. Go vote!

4. Blue Gable is cranking along. I seem to be in the frame of mind to only knit mindless stockinette in the round. Now if I liked my tummy hanging out:

I'd totally be done. But I don't. And I think that would seriously be against the dress code at work ("Yes boss? This? Oh its just my hoochie-mama music cataloger outfit. I thought if the people on the CDs I catalog get to dress like that I should too! You like?"). So I guess I'll keep going for a bit longer. The sleeve from hell will just have to wait (we will just ignore the fact that May 1st is next week and my bassoon camp deadline is not long after that. De-nile. She is a long river baby).

6. I did a Project Spectrum album update over the weekend (links in the right sidebar). Go check it out and let me know which shots are your favorites. April is almost over!

7. A few words about comments. I listened to Chub Creek #54 (go check out the podcast if you haven't yet. They are quite musically talented, very creative and downright hilarious) this afternoon at work and Dave said some very interesting things about comments. He quoted someone else as saying "Comments and e-mails are the currency for podcasters". He went on to say how podcasting without the feedback was like talking into a void. This really struck me and not only got me to go leave them a comment, but definitely made me consider that the same is true for blogging. Many people will say that they only do this for themselves, or they just want to have a record of their projects. Sure. Ok. I'll buy that to a point. But if you really wanted something like that you could go buy a paper journal, write in it and never let anyone else see it. When you post something on the internet, you are putting it out there for public consumption, like it or not. And that is what makes this medium so cool! Dave's words really touched me and made me think about the fact that although we are using technological means to communicate, it really is the human factor that makes this blogging (or podcasting) thing so much fun. I immediately think of all of you that I get to interact with that I may never have met otherwise if it weren't for blogging. The miles between us don't matter. We can share our triumphs and failures and can learn from each other and we don't have to live next door to each other. Despite the computer as intermediary, the human factor is really what is important. I just thought it was a nice little reminder of what the lady on the right side bar says. It won't kill me to comment, and I think I'll try and remember to do so more often.

Now go leave lots of bloggers and podcasters comments! They'll be happy and so will you!

The perfect day...

2006-04-23T13:05:00.000-04:00

Saturday could not have been more perfect (well except maybe for the weather, but we won't go there). Lauren and I headed out early to beat the crowd at Webs and get our shopping done before we got to see the Yarn Harlot. This trip doubled as a good excuse to cross off another one of my "things to do before I move to NJ". I can't begin to explain how huge and amazing this place is. You just have to experience it for yourself if you ever get the chance. After walking around and around I started to pick out some yarn for this pattern. When the owner (!) realized that there wasn't enough of the same dyelot on the shelf he took me back to the warehouse:

I nearly had the wind knocked out of me when I saw all this (and people, this ain't the half of it)! After I got that yarn I was able to walk through all this because Webs is having their anniversary sale. It was unreal to see the amount of yarn on the shelves. Lauren and I both found ourselves a little dizzy while taking it all in. I was a bit horrified when I saw this:

Note to Berroco - you are taking the whole "new yoga" thing a *bit* too far.

I nearly passed out when I finally read this sign after walking past it several times:

That's right folks! Half price on some of my favorite sock yarn!! Let's just say that this made my mission to find new sock yarn for HWJF very easy. A little too easy!

And Lauren had a very exciting moment when she opened a pattern binder to find her own creation:

How cool is that?!

After a couple hours it was off to a sushi lunch, a stop at another yarn store (which was a bit of a let down after Webs) and then off to hear the Yarn Harlot speak. While the room was a bit warm (ummm... hello... knitters wear hand knit sweaters... you could save yourself some money by turning down the heat!) the hour just flew by. The stories she told about her adventures with her *cool* husband (Hey Steph, there are a lot of us that think you are pretty cool too!), freakishly thin/tall women at parties who don't quite get knitting, and her dealings with the media and other muggles (I love that someone is using this term for non-knitters) were just hilarious. It was a wonder anyone could knit we were all laughing so hard. The only thing I think was missing is that we should have clicked our needles together instead of clapping. That would have been true knitterly applause!

After the talk it was a quick run back to Webs for the book signing. There were knitters lined up as long as you could see:

So we had a quick time for a pic of me and Lauren:

And me and Sarah who we ran into early in the day and sat near during the talk:

(My hair was apparently suffering the effects of the rain quite a bit at this point.)

I'm still kicking myself for not getting a picture with Katie who I also saw. We were both wearing our Good Bias shrugs!!

One other funny thing happened while waiting on line. We were given post-it notes to put on our books so that we could spell out our names. Part way down the line, one of the people who worked at Webs asked us to put them in the book on the title page sticking out so Steph could just flip them open to the right page. She then proceeded to ask me the question of the day -

"Do you know where that (the title page) is?"

Lauren and I both burst out laughing and I then composed myself enough to explain I was a librarian. Poor women. I probably traumatized her for life. She'll never set foot in a library again.

When I got the front of the line I had a short but amazing conversation with Steph where she not only recognized my blog but remembered that I had left her a comment when she wrote about one of her daughters taking up the french horn! At the end of her talk she had been asked whether she read all the comments on her blog, and she said she did. Every single one. I find that quite impressive. And she certainly proved it to me. And just to make it even more crazy, she even took my picture with the sock!! If I end up on her blog you will probably hear the shriek of joy all the way to Toronto.

I suppose I should show you the final haul:

That's one small bottle of Eucalan, the third Yarn Harlot book, 8 skeins of Cascade Pima Tencel, 6 skeins of Cascade 220 for a yet to be determined sweater, and 6 skeins of Regia sock yarn. And can you believe I have plans to go to the CT Sheep and Wool Festival next Saturday?

After all this it was back home to having dinner with my guy which consisted of pizza, wings and a double-overtime playoff game 1 win for my Sabres!!!

Now I ask you, what more could a girl want???

I am weak

2006-04-21T12:56:00.000-04:00

I am weak
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

So there it is. I could resist it no longer. I started my not-so-green-gable. But I have a good excuse! I needed something that would get to the mindless knitting point quickly for this weekend's trip to see the Yarn Harlot @ Webs! One can't very well go to a knitting book signing and not have something to knit that doesn't require complete attention! That's my story and I'm sticking to it. I also got some validation from new blogger Beth (go google Bossygirl and give her some love - I can't do html from the treo yet) in this comment:

'Though I am speaking as a person married to the same guy for 21 years (and all for monogamy), I do think it's underrated when it comes to knitting. I'm one that thinks you should heed the call of creativity, even when it means straying from your cables in favor of a little cotton. As your sister in Blog World, I should probably help you be strong, but sadly, this is about co-dependency and making me feel good about my own knitting infidelities! :-)'

I'm soooooo with you girl! :-)

My color is 'Blue Paradise'. Doesn't that sound nice? This is my first time using cotton-fleece and I'm really enjoying it. It feels great and works up into a very nice flowing and soft fabric.

What I do NOT like is the fact that the first skein has had 3 f@!?ing knots in it! This is a top down raglan! There aren't supposed to be two billion ends to weave in! *sigh* If you come to Webs tomorrow I'll be the one knitting the blue thing with all the tails flapping.

[Internet explorer users can click the blank space to magically be taken to a place where you can see the pic. Flickr apparently believes that it is all your problem and will only answer two e-mails per problem report. Coincidence that you can only see it on their site? I think not. But they are the only mobile blogging solution that has worked so far.]

I am a rock, I'm on sleeve island...

2006-04-19T05:45:00.000-04:00

(with apologies to Simon & Garfunkel for the title)

Yep. Sleeve island for me. Which started out not so bad, and then there were the increases. Oh the increases!! The increases that made me to do this:

After I already had to do this for the rest of the pattern:

I think whoever invented post it notes must have been a knitter. I can't imagine my knitting life without them.

The only major problem with these sleeves so far... my monogamous streak is being tested. But it really isn't my fault! It's spring! This is wool yarn! The temperatures are rising and the cotton is calling.

I may not be able to resist much longer...

What I did with my weekend and a new project....

2006-04-17T20:40:00.000-04:00

This weekend I

Helped my folks with some yard work
(HWJF was a little overly amused by me helping my Dad shovel mulch out of the back of the pick-up)

Watched HWJF devour a whole lot of ham and part of this chocolate bunny

and worked on my project for

Project Spectrum.

So here's my project. Y'all know by now that my cube at the office needs a little more color (ok. A lot more). You may also remember that I got a new digital camera last Christmas. What you may not know is that I've always loved photography and always wanted to take a class or do something cool with it . Well, I can't take a class, but I sure do have a nice camera that I wouldn't mind learning to use a little more.

So here's the plan. I'm going to take LOTS of pictures of things I see all around me that fit into the colors for Project Spectrum. I'm going to try not to delete anything except the most awful ones. I'll upload them all to an album online that is labeled with the color. I'll post the link to each album in the project spectrum part of my sidebar. Now this is where you can help! You can go take a look at the pictures and leave comments to let me know what you think of them. The two photos of each color that get the most positive comments will get printed out and put up in my cube. And if I can figure out a good way to do it, there might even be a prize or two in it for some lucky reader.

So even though I missed Red I have a few pictures there for you to see. I've already got a good start on Yellow and Orange so go have a look and let me know what you think! And if you have any tips for me on photography, please leave a comment!

[P.S. Don't forget to put your pin in my Frapper map over on the left sidebar if you haven't already.]

I really am knitting a sweater...

2006-04-13T15:05:00.000-04:00

There! Proof that I really am knitting a crazy ass aran sweater. That's the back, I've managed two pattern repeats on the front so far without too many horrible mistakes. I've been pretty singularly devoted to knitting this sweater now that other items are off the needles. (You can see from the sidebar that they only other thing I have going right now is that damn laceweight sweater from over a year ago now). My vision for this sweater: a cool afternoon in North Carolina in the moutains at bassoon camp, sitting out on the deck with my sweetie and our friends, relaxing, perhaps throwing back a cold one and maybe even playing our bassoons. That just sounds so perfect right now. And there's only 31 work days (because those are the only ones that really are worth counting) until it can be possible! Will I make it by the end of May? I'm sure gonna try...

Despite the fact that I want this sweater ready to wear by camp time, the lack of socks on my needles is making me nervous! Anyone know a good toe up pattern to use with Cascade Fixation? I'm seriously bored with plain stockinette socks but I'm not sure how much texture to give these since the yarn is so bulky. Your input welcome and appreciated!!

Some Wednesday fun...

2006-04-12T05:40:00.000-04:00

Apparently I am:

You Are the Swedish Chef

"Bork! Bork! Bork!"
Your happy and energetic - with borderline manic tendencies.
No one really gets you. And frankly, you don't even get you.
But, you sure can whip up a great chocolate mousse

The Muppet Personality
Test

And HWJF took the test and got:

You Are Fozzie Bear

"Wocka! Wocka!"
You're the life of the party, and you love making people crack up.
If only your routine didn't always bomb!
You may find more groans than laughs, but always keep the jokes coming.

The Muppet Personality Test

Made for each other? I think so!

HWJF Socks - Pair #2

2006-04-10T19:32:00.000-04:00

Pattern: Queen Kahuna Toe-up
Yarn: Regia
Needles: Size 2 Addis
Knit: Feb. 19 - Apr. 6, 2006

Another pair of socks for HWJF. Pretty much the same as the last pair I made for him. He seems equally happy with these. I have another ball in the same color to make a pair for myself, but I think that will have to wait for a bit. Too many other projects I want to do and honestly, I'm kind of bored with the plain stockinette pattern right now. My knitting brain needs something a little more interesting (hence the crazy ass cable sweater I'm working on at the moment). The last pair also seems to be holding up pretty well although I noticed that just the heel seems to have felted a lot. Any thoughts as to what might be causing that? I asked if his shoes were loose the the heel rubs a lot but he said no. I can't think of anything else that might do that... can you?

Crazy weekend

2006-04-09T16:55:00.000-04:00

Panera blogging time again (after two attempts to get into any Panera in the area and get a table much less a place with a plug!). In this addition we have several highlights:

1. HWJF and I went to NY on Friday night to visit my parents and celebrate my Dad's 60th birthday. I still can't even believe I just typed that number. Wasn't it yesterday that we were talking about him turning 50? Unreal. We arrived around 10:30pm Friday night after a full day of work for both of us.

2. 7am Saturday morning the roof came off the house. On purpose. My parents have needed to have their house re-roofed for some time and Saturday was finally the day. I managed to sleep until 8, HWJF an hour later than that.

3. It suddenly became obvious that since I was home I needed to go see my accountant and get things with my taxes finalized. So Dad drove, I knit, HWJF accompanied and we went off to take care of that. Got everything signed and my CT return ready to mail. Walked to the post office to find that it was already closed. But the good news is, I'm getting money back!!!

4. A trip to the big city (tongue firmly placed in cheek there) means Dad must go to the hunting store which means I must go to the yarn store. Yes, I took two boys to a yarn store. Nearly ran screaming after 20 min. ("Aren't you going to buy something?!" - Dad) but managed to leave with more sock yarn. I am a pro apparently.

5. Being dragged to the hunting store meant seeing the best in "cabin decor":

At least one can only hope that is what that kind of furniture is for. Of course, I don't think you'd find that in my cabin if I had one, but to each their own right?

6. After a nice dinner where I saw this in the menu and had to post it for Lolly (quality sucks but it was dark and I took it with the Treo):

(it says Lolly Sour Apple Martini!)

we returned to NJ at midnight Sunday night only to get up this morning and run to the new apartment complex to sign our lease. It's official. We are definitely shacking up.

Somewhere throughout all this I managed to finished another pair of socks, the back of the Knitpicks Aran and get started on the front. I also managed to not take a picture of the finished back to show on the blog.

I think I need to go back to work so I can relax...

Wild Goose Chase...

2006-04-06T05:45:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you know where this came from by now.

1. A blog which you think people have not discovered.
Sarah is another knitting librarian. We even went to library school together. Go check her out!

2. A blog whose author lives close to you physically. Just get as close as you can, it’s all relative.
That's easy. Eklectica literally lives within a five min. walk from my place. Can't get much closer than that!

3. An unusual or weird animal picture.
There is always an interesting bunny pic or two at Chris of Woolybuns. I've learned more about bunnies since I've read her blog than I ever would. Plus, they are just so damn cute!!

4. An entry that made you laugh and got you strange looks from family or co-workers.
There are so many to choose from! But there always seems to be a gem or two over at Crazy Aunt Purl.

5. An idea you wish you’d thought of.
Flickr. The more I hear about it the more I want to know.

6. Something you’d like to knit.
Well this caught my eye today (I'm trying to think spring)

7. A picture of something you consider beautiful
I've been wanting to post this for a while so here it is:

8. A blog whose author you’d like to one day meet in person
Beth from Stuck on Socks. We've got that cataloger mojo thing I think. I'd also like to meet Chrissie since we always seem to get the same results on those silly blogthing quizzes. Perhaps we were separated at birth? Of course there are many others, but I'd be linking all day!

9. A blog of someone you have already met in person.
Lolly of course!

Poll results and some fun stuff...

2006-04-04T20:28:00.000-04:00

So I didn't get to post on Sunday as I had planned thanks to some fun stuff (which I'll get to in a second) and some not so fun stuff (an unexpected trip to the doctor...nothing serious!). But first, the poll results!!

The overall winner with 45% of the vote was "The writing is witty and entertaining". A six way tie for second was between " I know the writer personally", " The writer shares many of my same interests besides knitting/crocheting", " The writer uses a lot of pictures to illustrate what they write about", "The entries are short", "I was brainwashed and can. not. resist. (my personal fav.)", and "Ummm... I dunno. I never really thought about it". Receiving no votes were "The entries are long", "The graphic design...", "the writer turns out a million finished objects".

I think these results are really interesting. Overall it appears that entertainment value is pretty high. That makes sense. I mean, if we wanted to read something boring we could get out some old textbooks and read those right? We are generally hobbyists in the knit/crochet blog world and entertainment is basically the name of the game. The second place entries are pretty varied. I was actually surprised that knowing the writer personally didn't carry more weight. Perhaps part of the attraction of the blog world is "meeting" new people? I also found it pretty interesting that a brief entry length seems to be preferred. We want to be entertained, but not too long by one person! Then again this isn't all that surprising if you look at most people's collection of bloglines feeds! Short entries make it easier to read more in the short time we all seem to have for anything in this age of instantaneous communication. This is something I'm really going to try and keep in mind as I move forward with my blogging. I think perhaps the most interesting thing to me about the poll was the fact that graphic design didn't get any votes. I know I spend a lot of time thinking about how my blog looks and where items are placed and apparently that probably matters more to me than my readers! Who knew?

In the end, several of you left comments alluding to the fact that you don't read all blogs for the same reason and you would have picked more than one answer in the poll if you could have. I totally agree with this. My aim in posting the poll was to try and determine what might be the most important reason overall that you go back to certain blogs over and over. I certainly learned a few things from it and I hope you did too!

[Edited later to add: I'm probably the last blogger on earth to do this, but the poll has been replaced by a Fraper map. I'd love it if you'd take a min. to go stick your pin in it! Thanks!]

So my fun thing on Sunday was getting together with Sami to check off another place on my list of "things to do before I leave CT". That would be Oolongs:

I just love this place. Their house decaf chai is awesome. It's a tiny little place with only a few tables and chairs inside, but the tea and the little water fountain they have in the seating area (not to mention the cleanest public bathroom in all of New Haven!) definitely make it worth the trip. A great place to knit a little and catch up with a friend, which made for a lovely Sunday afternoon. If you are in the area, do check it out!

A couple of more quick things. I have a posting on the destash blog.

If you haven't heard about this yet, do check it out. And please have a look at my post while you're there. I have a mixed lot of Lion Brand yarns that I'm looking to unload (the pre-moving purge has begun!). Some of them might be good for charity projects if you do that type of knitting/crocheting.

The flickr problem that I.E. users seem to be having as I asked about in my last post has not yet been resolved. I e-mailed flickr to see if there is a fix and I'm waiting to hear back. In the meantime, if you click on the empty space where the pic should be you will be taken to the flickr page and be able to see it and leave a comment there if you'd like. I'm hoping I'll find out what the problem is with this real soon. If you have had this problem and know a solution, please let me know!

And finally, anyone planning on going to see the Yarn Harlot at Webs on April 22nd? I have tentative plans to be there and would love to meet some of you if time allows. Leave a comment and let me know.

Have a great evening!

Happy National Library Workers Day!

2006-04-04T16:59:00.000-04:00

Happy National Library Workers Day!
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

We got a few goodies from the union today. The bracelet is pinned up in my cube and the pen is on my desk. The clock and lunch bag came home with me. So happy library day to those of you involved with libraries. More from me tonight I hope...

(P.S. If you are using I.E. and can't see the pic could you leave me a comment please? It seems that something might not be right with Flickr, but I'm not sure if it's all I.E. browsers or not. Thanks.)

We have a winner!!!

2006-04-01T16:30:00.000-05:00

Congrats to Noricum who was selected by the random number generator as the winner of my little desk contest!!! I should have your package off to you as soon as I can find a box. I hope you enjoy it. :)

I got some great ideas from Andrea and the other entrants to the contest so here is a quick summary:

For the cube:
- Put quick access papers in a binder and leave close by. Use post it or homemade tabs to label for easy access.

- Use fabric to "wallpaper" the cube walls. Put up with tacks or staples and then post other items over top.

- Put photos in a rolodex type display.

- Use a screensaver for photos.

- One picture showed a collection of stuff teddy bears that was nicely displayed. Another type of collection could certainly be substituted (I know where the stuffed zamboni is going now!)

- Use inspirational photos or sayings in one dedicated section of the space

- Use a collage technique for photos and replace when outdated

- (If you have them) Display drawings made by kids

- Knit a long scarf in a cool color and hang it along the top like a swag.

- Use a knitted throw or sweater instead of the jacket you have over the back of the chair. (I read that and thought "DUH! Why didn't I think of that?!")

Plants to try:

- Money plant
- Spider plant
- Use a picture instead of a real plant!
- Take a look at www.lexingtongardens.com for suggestions.

Thank you again for all the great suggestions. I can't wait to start incorporating the ones that I can into my space. You've definitely given me some inspiration! I'll be sure to share another photo when I finish redecorating! :)

And speaking of that, I've already kind of gotten started. You see, I'm starting to build a list of "things I must do before I leave CT" and I got to check two off today. The first was a visit to the Fabric Place:

[Kitty included for scale. Well... not really... She's just nosey... and oh so photogenic.]

See the blue material? Cube wallpaper baby! For less than $5.00 too! And of course there are a couple of other things. Some blue Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece for a spring top, and four skeins of Malabrigio (I have finally succumbed to the siren call of this yarn) for the cardigan in the Reynolds pattern. They had a sample knit up in the store in the Malabrigio instead of the lopi that the pattern calls for and I just fell in love. And I even got it in red! I must have really been delirious...

And my second stop:

A new season, a new do. I'll miss my hairdresser. (And can I just say Yay! It's finally shrug weather!)

Tomorrow I'll visit another favorite local place and tell you about the final results of my blog poll. So if you haven't voted, go do it now! See you then!

Lunch in Bryant park...

2006-03-31T12:18:00.000-05:00

Lunch in Bryant park...
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

Just a fun pic and a quick reminder to get your contest entries in by midnight tonight! I've gotten some great ideas so far (some from people who originally thought they had nothing to offer, so don't be afraid to enter!) and I can't wait to share them with you.

Thank god it's Friday....

The view from where I sit...

2006-03-30T16:33:00.000-05:00

The view from where I sit...
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

Ever sat in an orchestra? No?? Well now you have a bassoon-eye view of things. (But if you're me you arr just thanking god that there are only two more days this week. I'm beat!)

Checking in...

2006-03-28T16:33:00.000-05:00

Checking in...
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

Just thought I'd check in real qick despite having said you wouldn't hear much from me this week. Rehearsal last night wasn't too bad (we're doing the Berlioz Damnation of Faust if your interested) and I'm off tonight, but the rest of the week is pure madness.

Anyway, my reasons for posting are two-fold:

#1 - To say Wow! Thank you for your responses to my little poll. If you haven't already done so, please vote and check out the comments that others have left. I plan on giving my thoughts about the subject in a future post and I think there will be more polls here in the future.

#2 - Thank you to those of you who have given me feedback about the contest. I do appreciate that. And thank you also to those of you who indicated that you will be entering. In fact, I got my first entry today! :-) Now all we need to make this a real contest is a little competition, so remember that you only have until Friday at midnight to enter!

And for those of you who actually come here for knitting, I'm including a pic of my sweater progress. One ball down, 7 more to go.

Happy Tuesday!

Many random things...

2006-03-26T15:05:00.000-05:00

So I find myself in Panera in NJ on a Sunday with time to blog while I wait for HWJF to finish working for the day once again. I really don't mind this situation. I have a nice spot with an outlet near the fire, some good food in front of me and I get to knit while I'm at it too (although I haven't quite figured out how to do that while typing. My toes are not that agile). Sounds like a good Sunday afternoon to me. I have many random things I want to post, so I might as well get to it, shouldn't I?

1. I think it is finally safe to make a rather big announcement. HWJF and I are moving in together this summer. That's right, we are shacking up, living in sin, whatever you want to call it. I cannot deal with my commute much longer, my expenses will go down considerably when sharing rent and all that goes with it, not to mention a cheaper commute, and, well, there is that small issue of us being rather in love with each other and wanting to spend a really, really, really, really long time together. So I'll be moving to NJ. I will definitely miss the many friends I have made in CT, but the overall lifestyle and quality of life change is really needed. We are both getting a little worn out with the jumping around between three states and generally running around like crazy people. We are so looking forward to the little things that most people take for granted in life like being able to plan an evening meal, prepare it and eat it without having to run out the door, going into the next room to talk to your significant other rather than making a phone call, and just the overall reduction in mileage for both of us. I'm very excited. He is too, and he even came up with the idea of us getting a yarn wall. How could I not love this guy?

2. I'm cheating... on my addi turbos! (Now what were *you* thinking?!) Yesterday I discovered Crystal Palace Bamboo circular needles and I think I'm in love. You see, last Tuesday I finally cast on for this sweater. [Please do not point out the fact that while everyone else is starting to think cotton, I am starting a wool sweater, and not just any wool sweater, one of epic proportions. Please also do not point out the fact that I will likely be insane by the time I finish all this cable work.] I decided I needed a project that I had to concentrate on. Well I certainly got it. Oddly enough while the middle motif looks the most complicated, it is the little horseshoe shaped one that ~~is driving~~ nearly drove me f*$^ing insane. While it looks rather indescript, the seed stitch nature of it had me so befuddled at times that it took me ages just to get through one right side row. But I digress. Getting back to the needles, the main reason it was taking so long to work a right side row on this thing was the fact that my beloved addi's just didn't have a sharp enough point. I like to cable without a separate cable needle, and I just couldn't seem to get into the stitches easily enough. A short trip to the Yarn Barn for something else (which I'll get to in a second) found me eyeing these needles and I figured it was worth a try. I'm such a happy knitter now! Not only are they easier on the hands (a side effect that I've experienced before and loved in crochet hooks, but was never able to find in a suitable knitting needle) but the point is just perfect and I flew through the first row I knit with them. The cord is a bit stiff and needed a good steaming after coming out of the package, but that straightened it out no problem. I probably wouldn't use these for magic loop knitting, but for this project, I'm totally in love. One thing I know for sure, when I decide to start a lace shawl, I'll be buying a set of these for it without question. If anyone knows a good source for these at a reduced price (they are nearly as expensive as addis), please leave me a comment and let me know. Sorry addis! I love you but sometimes you just have to go with something else.

3. My original intent in going to the Yarn Barn was to get the fall issue of Interweave Crochet. I gave them a call and they said they had it, so I got there with 10 min. to spare before closing time. You may notice that although the name of this blog is Zarzuela knits AND crochets, there has been a serious lack of crocheting going on here lately. I just haven't found much to inspire me on the crochet front. I decided to get this after checking out the new podcast appropriately called Crochetcast. I'm hoping the combination of the podcast and the magazine will get me back a little of the old crochet mojo.

4. Last week, I bought a domain name. It was pretty easy and I even got a discount for listening to the Daily Source Code. I'm not totally sure what I'm going to do with it just yet, but I expect the blog will be moving there eventually. I'm excited about the possibilities and will keep you posted on my progress.

5. Have you entered the contest yet? Of course you haven't. No one has. This makes me a bit sad. What is it? The yarn? The idea of taking a picture of your desk? The thought of being organized? Tell me. Seriously. I'd really like to know.

6. Speaking of telling me stuff, I've been thinking a lot lately about the reasons why I and others read specific blogs and not others. So I've created a little poll that you will find over in the left sidebar under "Random Fun Stuff". Please vote and if you have more to say or this doesn't cover it, discuss it in the comments. I'm very interested in the thinking here.

7. Just to let you know, I have the week from hell on tap next week. I have rehearsals for a job with the ECSO every night except Tuesday. This means that I will be getting home around 11pm, only to get up for work at 5am. I expect there to be little knitting, much less blogging or rational thought in the coming week. I'll be attempting to prepare a couple of posts that I can release easily for your blog reading pleasure, but don't expect much.

That's all the randomness for today. Have a great week (and get some extra sleep for me)!

Friday fun part 3

2006-03-24T21:57:00.000-05:00

Friday fun part 3
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

And last but not least...

#3 Which I will call "The hazzards of working in New York City". Yes ladies and gentlemen, a bird shit on me. And this happened shortly after I had seen and felt very sorry for a completely flattened (we are talking total pancake here) pigion (which I would like to point out that I did not take a pic of for the blog. I was on the phone at the time). What the hell kind of karma is that?! So when Sandy reminds us all to look up, perhaps it holds a different meaning for me...

Have a great weekend!

Friday fun part 2

2006-03-24T21:56:00.000-05:00

Friday fun part 2
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

#2 The pic of the legs is my nomination for worst post-St. Pat's day outfit ever. The pic doesn't quite convey the true neon green-ness of these tights. Think neon sign in Times Square and multiply by about a million! Pair that with her navy blue (no I'm not lying) dress and you've got a recipie for breaking the camera on my Treo. What you don't see on NJ transit...

Friday fun part 1

2006-03-24T21:55:00.000-05:00

Friday fun part 1
Originally uploaded by Zarzuelaknits.

This is a test of a new photos to blog by e-mail from the Treo on the train arrangement, so I'm sorry if this ends up looking really weird. I'll edit later if necessary. I just had to blog a couple of funny/weird/silly things I've seen or have had happen to me recently. (I've discovered this only works with one photo at a time, so this will be in 3 parts.)

#1 This guy was found staring at me from the program notes of a CD I was cataloging. Now I ask you, if you got a cue from this dude with that look on his face, would you swallow your mouthpiece?! I think I would! *shudder*

Sock alert!!

2006-03-23T16:05:00.000-05:00

Jaywalker Socks

Pattern: Jaywalker Socks from Magknits
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: Size 2 Addi Turbos
Size: Small
Knit: Feb. 16 - March 20, 2006

Love this pattern! Love these socks! What more can I say? It was a great pattern for travel knitting once I got the hang of it and I really enjoyed knitting it. The yarn was a lot of fun too and I'm totally ok with the fraternal nature of these socks. I have a shirt that will go just perfectly with these and I can't wait to wear them both together and see if anyone notices. I lucked out with the fit considering I went up a needle size from the pattern. The chevron pattern seems to make them snug enough for me despite the fact that it uses several more stitches than I normally would for socks for me at this gauge. I think I may make a pair for HWJF using the stitch count for the large size. But for now, these are MINE! :-)

So now I just need to update my sock counters in the sidebar. Just a quick note that there will be a significant difference in the "Count Your Socks" counter. I somehow had it in my head that we were only supposed to count the ones we made for ourselves. In other words, socks made as gifts didn't count. Lynda cleared that up for me and now I'm going to fix up my counter. Just call me a big lame brain.

[Don't forget to get your entries in for the contest I talked about in my last entry. You've only got about 1 week left!]

Announcing for the first time ever on Zarzuela knits and crochets...

2006-03-21T13:30:00.000-05:00

A contest!

That's right. In honor of my birthday month and the coming of spring I'm having a little blog contest where you could win (say it with me now) a fabulous prize! So what is my contest called?

SHOW ME YOUR DESK!

Ok. Seems weird. But here's the deal.

I've been at my job for almost 5 months now and my cube is BOR-ING. Take a look:

Center

Right side

Left side

Rather ho-hum, I'm sure you would agree. The thing is, some of the papers that are hanging there I need easy access to. I do have a few pictures under the shelf on the right, but that's about all I have as far as "decor".

So what do I need from you? Ideas! Inspiration! H-E-L-P!!

Here's what you need to do:

1. Take a picture of your desk. (Yes. this is somewhat cruel, I know, but think of it as "spring cleaning" motivation.) Now when I say "desk" you don't need to take it too literally. I generally mean your workspace, whatever it may be. So say you are a stay at home Mom and your "office" is the livingroom where you keep the kids stuff organized in some fab way that I can apply to my situation. Send it in!! This is an equal opportunity contest and not limited to those of us chained to a computer all day. Be creative!

2. Tell me about some of your best decorating/organization tricks in your space that you think might help me out.

3. E-mail me at my contest address with your picture and description no later than midnight EST on March 31st. Be sure to include your e-mail address so that I can contact you if you win.

I will use a random number genorator to pick the winning entry on April 1st. I will then notify the winner who will have 24 hours to respond and "claim" their prize by sending me their mailing address. If the first winner does not respond in time I will continue to chose a winner in this manner until I get a winner.

So what's in it for you? How about this:

A veritable grab bag of goodies. Two balls of sinsation in black that will make a sinfully soft scarf; 4 balls of Katia Venecia, two blue, two red; a full skein of Knitpicks Alpaca Cloud in Peppermint (already in a ball because I did start to knit something with it but I just didn't like how it was working out, but it is still good as new I assure you) and probably a few other goodies I'll throw in before I mail it off. Now tell me, that isn't a bad haul considering what you have to do for it now is it?!

A few ideas of things I would love to hear about:

What kind of plants would surive in conditions where there is absolutely no natural light (we don't have any windows in my office at all)?

What can I do with all those papers that I need quick access to?

What creative ways can I use to put pictures up of friends and family (I have some pinned under the shelf to the right now but it isn't too attractive)?

How can I bring some color into this space?

How can I incorporate my knitting and crocheting into this space?

How can I do all this and more without breaking the bank?

There are some ideas. Now it's time for you to get going and send in your entry now!

File under wtf?!

2006-03-20T20:59:00.000-05:00

Today I saw this description of contabassoon tone in a book I was cataloging on computer music composition:

"flatulent-sounding tone"

Excuse me?! Yeah we do tend to fart around on the low end of things but it doesn't always sound like that! Geez...

They recently posted some interesting signs in the bathroom stalls at my office. Laminated and professionally printed signs. What do they say?

REMINDER

Be considerate of other users.
Please FLUSH the toilet after use..
Thank you for your cooperation.

Seriously. On company letterhead and everything. Whoever thinks this is an absolutly retarded waste of money when they can't seem to pay us even close to what we're worth please raise your hand. Yeah. Me too. And those of you who work in library land, is it just me or does this wreak of library-ease?! "Users"? This is not the OPAC we're talking about here people. It's the toilet! WTF!!

Baby Blanket complete!

2006-03-18T09:00:00.000-05:00

Pattern: 4 x 4 basketweave
Yarn: Cottontots by Bernat
Needles: Size 7 addis
Knit: March 2-9 , 2006

Here it is. Another FO for the year. I have to say I'm pretty glad this one is over. While the yarn isn't all that stiff, it was a bit difficult to work with. The first two days I knit one ball a day. By the third day, I got about halfway through the third skein and just couldn't knit any more because I had a lot of pain in my right thumb. Perhaps I should have gone up a needle size to make a looser stitch, but I really like the fabric that this turned out at this gauge. Best of all, it is machine washable/dryable yarn and is very soft. I think it will make a good blanket for the impending bambino.

Speaking of the impending bambino, while I was working on this blanket on the train one night it suddenly hit me that this blanket will be wrapped around my college roommate's child. I'll say it again, my College Rommmate's CHILD. Perhaps I just have Peter Pan syndrome, or perhaps it's because I don't have a maternal bone in my body (except when it comes to furry children), but that really sat heavily with me. My dear friend, who I lived with for a year (and still ranks as the best roommate I've ever had), who suffered through all the same crappy Music Ed. classes that I did and had to do the same stupid papers and portfolios, and who even played the same instrument as me and dealt with lessons with Jacky G. (as we affectionately referred to our teacher when he was not present), the roommate who put up with my ex being around all the time and even managed to get along with him enough when I was around that we made meals together and washed dishes together (all three of us), the only college roommate I still keep in touch with, she has another human being growing inside of her right this very min. and will give birth in just over a month or so. Give birth. Those two words totally freek me out. Someone I know and love, who is only slightly older than me, will be giving birth soon. Mind you I've made baby blankets for other people, but this is my College Roommate. She will put my blanket over her first born. It boggles the mind.

I think that this is all hitting me so much now because of two things. A) my birthday just passed and B) I've been thinking a lot about what I want my life to be lately. When I first landed my job, I thought, "Yes! Now I can finally start living "The Rest of My Life" (whatever the heck that means". I had arrived. No more teachers, no more books (at least not to study like I used to. I may be a music cataloger, but I still have to do books!), no more living the life of the starving grad student. No more saying, "I'll do that after I get a job" because I have one! I'll be able to afford stuff! I'll be able to live the life I want.

Only one problem. I need to figure out what the heck that is.

Things at this point are trucking along and are by no means miserable (although the paycheck is not exactly what I had hoped for), but the job has brought with it some serious quality of life issues. I believe many of them directly relate to the 5 hours a day I spend getting to and from work. And I'm in the process of working to change that (the treo is just the first step). But I've really been struck by the fact that I need to start planning and dreaming for the future.

I just finished Knit Lit 1 and there was one story (whose author I, of course, cannot remember now) that really resonated with me. It compared life and relationships to a tangled ball of yarn. Getting out the tangles teaches us patience, how to see a problem from more than one angle, etc. etc. I guess my ball of yarn is just a bit tangle right now. I suppose that with time I will straighten it out. But for now it might be just time to sit back and think about what it all means.

If someone had told me how hard growing up was going to be I think I would have stayed in Neverland...

Birthdays aren't so bad...

2006-03-16T22:06:00.000-05:00

Last Friday was my birthday. I was pretty much dreading it because a) who the heck needs getting older anyway? and b) I had to work and who wants to work on their birthday? But I was actually quite surprised by the way the day turned out, and pleasantly so.

First, the weather was Amazing with a capital A!! So warm and beautiful. As I walked to Penn Station in the afternoon I saw that it was 73 degrees in Central Park! Not bad for March 10th, that's for sure.

In the morning I got to go to a program at the research library that was quite cool. It was called "Books to Remember" and can be found online here. Some of the publishers and authors of the books selected were at the presentation. A short description of each book was given and some excerpts were read. Subjects ranged from feminism in the 1600s to the war in Iraq. I'm definitely going to keep my eyes peeled for some of these to add to my reading list in the near future.

After the presentation I had my lunch outside in the park (I told you it was nice!) I'd been waiting to do that since last fall and I just about ran out of my office. I was so excited I had to take a picture for proof:

And some of my lunch companions:

After eating I even managed to finish up Jaywalker number 1 and cast on for number 2. No SSS for me! The day only got better when I went out for a walk on my break later in the afternoon only to almost literally run into Mr. Softee! Being my birthday, I certainly couldn't resist the karma that put that ice cream truck in that place at that particular moment. :)

After work it was off to NJ for the weekend. That night HWJF and I had a nice dinner at a local hibatchi restaurant where I ate way too much and was entertained to boot. We tried to watch Wallace & Gromitt but I fell asleep (which seems to be the usual case lately).

Saturday HWJF had a few surprises up his sleeve. The first stop for the day, though not a surprise was something that I've been looking forward to for months. I finally got this. I cannot tell you how excited I am about this thing. I think I'll be so much more productive in general considering I don't get much done (besides knitting and sleeping) during my five hours a day of commuting. I almost don't need my laptop anymore with this thing. I'm still learning to use it, but I did manage to write part of this blog post with it. :) [We will ignore the fact that the process involved in me getting this phone and switching to a family plan with HWJF involved 2 hours at BestBuy, 1 hour at a Cingular store and another hour at Bestbuy, not to mention both of us having to get new phone numbers. I refuse to acknowledge that part of the day. However, if you'd like the full story, I'll be happy to tell you. E-mail me. It's definitely a "buyer beware" story.]

Next was a trip to the Elizabeth IKEA for yogurt, lunch and a walk around. We have both been to the New Haven one about a billion times but never this one. It was pretty much the same but did have a few things that were different stock wise and layout wise.

The third stop was the biggest surprise at all. Dinner reservations. At The Melting Pot! We were nearly in NY by the time we got there, but HWJF had set it all up. We had gone to the one in CT last fall and both ended up sick because we overdid it a bit, but this time we had a lovely meal with no ill effects later.

We ended the day with the latest Harry Potter movie and I managed to stay awake this time. I thought it was good, but they definitely took some serious poetic license compared to the book.

Sunday was yarn shopping day! HWJF and I set out with our trusty mapquest directions to check out Woolbearers. Unfortunately, mapquest didn't quite know where it was, but thanks to my trusty Treo 650 and the nice people at the shop, we finally made it. It was a small shop but had a much better range of yarns than some other places I've been to in NJ. And they also had some spinning materials and I found out more about their spinning classes (for future reference). Of course I couldn't leave empty handed so I came home with this:

That would be more sock yarn. Shocking, I know. I couldn't resist the color of the Cherry Tree Hill and the thought of cotton socks from the Cascade was intriguing. We'll see how they come out if I ever get them on the needles. These will both end up being pairs for me as HWJF made it known that he was not a fan of the red and I'm sure not giving up the colors in the other yarn!

The rest of Sunday was spent running some errands and getting some less expensive meals. We tried to watch Wallace and Grommit again by the fireplace this time. We both fell asleep! This is by no means a comment on the quality of the movie!! It was just a long but fun weekend for both of us.

That brings us to Monday, where I dragged myself to work but the fun kept coming because as soon as I was done, I got to meet Lolly! :) I'm still smiling about this. I really hope we can get together again when we have a little more time to chat. Here's the picture from my camera.

You can't really tell, but the clock at Grand Central is in the background. I returned to CT Monday night tired but very happy. This was definitely a birthday weekend I won't soon forget!!

Coming soon: A finished baby blanket, another pair of socks (?) and a contest. Stay tuned!

I got to meet Lolly!

2006-03-15T08:53:00.000-05:00

I'm dying to tell you all about last weekend's festivities, but I'm having picture issues at the moment (i.e. The computer with the card reader is in NJ and I am not).

In the meantime, you can get Mondays part of the story over at Lolly's blog. She was in NYC and we got to hang out for a bit after I got out of work (I'm still laughing at being called a *real* librarian. It still doesn't quite feel like it to me!). Let me just say that Lolly is just as sweet and cool as she sounds on her blog. We had a million things to talk about and not enough time! Meeting her has really inspired me to keep on blogging (I've been considering giving it up lately or just posting my FOs or something). Our meeting just reminded me that craft blogging really is a community and there are so many wonderful people out there to interact with. I may not get many comments or hits to my blog, but the people that I do interact with really are cool and special and I don't want to give that up!

So go check out Lolly's trip to NYC and hopefully I'll have a new post up with this past weekend's adventures by Thursday. Hope you are having a great, craft filled week too!

Have you figured out what it is yet?

2006-03-07T07:22:00.000-05:00

Does this ever happen to you?

You have this really awesome idea for a blog post. You think about it and get it all figured out.

You even get part of it done.

Then life happens.

The blog post doesn't happen. It was great inside your head, but getting down on electrons is just never going to happen.

Remember the Diary of a Super Secret Project Part I? I had this great idea that I would write a blog post or two about the process of making a hand-knit item from the perspective of the item. I'd do it in two parts and make the readers guess at the end what they thought the thing would look like before I posted the finished object picture.

Well, that was in January. I got the first half written while I was working on the project. Somehow, the project got finished and gifted, but the other installments of the diary never got written. And all the ideas that I had for the other parts?

Sucked into the blackhole that is my brain. Bummer.

It's now been almost a month since the FO was gifted, and the other parts just are not going to get written. Sometimes you just have to know when to let go (or so my yoga teacher used to say). So do me a favor, go read the post I linked to above. It's ok. I'll wait.

Did you read it? Good. Now, take a wild guess as to what it might be. Go on. No one's looking.

You don't even have to write it down!

So, do you think you know what the super secret project is? Now it's time to find out!

Super Secret Project Jan '06 (a.k.a. HWJF's Vest)

Pattern: Sort of my own with the help of The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns.
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Carrot (about 8 skeins)
Needles: Size 7 Addi Turbos
Knit: Jan. 23 - Feb. 4, 2006

HWJF likes sweater vests, so I thought I'd make him one for a Valentine's Day present. I also know his favorite color is orange, so off I went to the Knitpicks catalog and picked out 9 skeins of this yarn. I ended up having an entire skein leftover plus some small parts of two others, but better to have too much than not enough!

To keep it all a secret, I measured the hell out of another vest he likes to wear that he left at my apartment one time. Using those measurements on the trusty book mentioned above, I picked out a v-neck pattern that I thought would fit with a few minor alterations. I wanted something simple, but not too plain, so I added a simple 8-row cable up the front. While I was afraid that this would pull the front out of proportion with the back, it didn't turn out that way. The blocking might have helped that.

I worked on this during train rides and times I was home alone and managed to pull it off without him suspecting a thing! His look of shock and confusion when he opened it was well worth all the sneaking around. I'm pretty pleased with how it all worked out and I think he likes it too. Here's a couple more pics just because...

Many thanks to HWJF for putting up with me making him get dressed up on a weekend for 5 mins. so we could take blog pictures in 15 degree weather outside! What I won't make my loved ones do to serve my public!

So there you have it. Not as cool a presentation as originally planned, but there it is.

You may go laugh yourself silly at my stupidity now.

I must really have been sick...

2006-03-04T17:26:00.000-05:00

Because I almost forgot the most important part of my trip to Memphis! The yarn shopping of course!

The last couple of years I've taken a couple of hours out of the conference to check out a local yarn shop. This year I made a trip to The Yarn Studio, which was only a short cab ride from my hotel. What a cute shop! I wish I had thought to bring the camera so I could have taken pictures inside. They had a nice selection of a variety of different things including Rowan yarns, Koigu, a bunch of different types of sock yarn and lots of patterns and samples. I had it in my head that I wanted something to make a shawl with so I ended up with this:

It's Karabella Lace Mohair, 540 yards per skein. I love the color and the softness is comparable to the infamous Kidsilk Haze while costing a good deal less for more yardage. Anyone had any experience with this yarn? I'm still not sure what pattern I'd use with it. I'd love to hear any suggestions you might have for shawls or other wearables that would make good use of 1080 yards of laceweight!

Olympic-like knitting...

I'm making good use of my sick time in the meanwhile. One of my college roommates is pregnant and her baby shower is March 12th. I can't make it up to Binghamton to go, but I'm making a baby blanket to send. Here it is so far, one ball finished:

It's a simple basketweave pattern.

I've got three skeins to go but it's got to be finished, washed and in the mail before the end of next week. Will I make it? Tune in next week...

Sick at home...

2006-03-02T16:28:00.000-05:00

When you are spending a quality day at home with this:

And it's doing this outside:

What better to do in the time you are actually awake than blog right? (Incidentally, when did daytime TV decide to suck so much? Or was I really just that bored before I got my job?!) I'm at home today and from the looks of things outside my window, it's probably just as well that I decided to call in sick. After a second trip to the dr. in a week my sinus infection has the beginnings of bronchitis in it's sights and I'm not willing to go there. So home I sit, blowing my brain out through my nose (snot farm anyone?) and ingesting as much fluid as I possibly can without peeing my brains out too.

Since I'm sure y'all wanted to know about all that and have continued reading (yeah right) I will reward you handsomely with a few more highlights of my trip to Memphis (which got me into this sniffly mess I'm in now). The conference, overall, was quite good. There were two sessions on sound recording cataloging, one on spoken word and the other on "unusual" formats, which I found very valuable. There was a good deal of discussion about RDA and the plenary sessions this year were the best I have attended in my four trips to MLA. One involved interviewing four members at differing points in their careers. These ranged from someone just starting out to a near "founding" member who will celebrate her 90th birthday soon! It was very interesting to hear how things have changed and yet, how similar some things still were. The other plenary involved Augusta Reed Thomas and the conductor of the Memphis symphony discussing the new work that would be performed that night as part of the commemoration of MLA's 75th anniversary. Both of them were very eloquent speakers and it was very interesting to hear about the genesis of a new work, straight from the horse's mouth.

As usual, the accommodations were very nice. We stayed here:

The Peabody Hotel. Quite the landmark. And definitely in stark contrast to the rest of the surrounding area. The Peabody is famous mostly for one thing. The ducks! They have a fountain in the middle of the lobby which hosts live ducks from 11-5 each day. They march in and out to a Sousa march and it is just the funniest thing to see. My pictures didn't come out all that well because of the lighting but you can kind of get the idea:

Twice a day the crowd that assembled to watch the march was like the worst paparazzi for any Hollywood star you could think of. Just too funny how people lined up, sometimes an hour in advance, to see these ducks do their thing!

You can see much more and read the story of the ducks at the Peabody Website.

I also got to walk down the famous Beale Street:

And even had dinner at one of the restaurants one night. Overall, the food was a bit difficult for someone with my dietary issues to deal with while I was down there. I had a salad one night and it was like a meal from heaven.

I also got to take a quick walk to see this:

That would be the Mississippi River. I've never seen it before. And I've never been west of it in the United States. That's right, I've been to Calgary and Banff and Vancouver (and hell, I've even been to Spain), but never west of the Mississippi in the U.S. apparently I may get my chance four years from now when MLA looks like it will be in San Diego! I'm very excited about that and the upcoming conferences in Pittsburgh, Newport and Chicago before then. At least I'll be able to drive to the next two.

I'm also happy to report that the Snowflake Bag brought a decent price at the silent auction and is now owned by someone who also won a package that included her first knitting lesson! Nice to see others picking up the craft.

I got a good deal of knitting done while I was on my trip too.

The Jaywalkers are for me and the other is for HWJF. Mine is Trekking XXL that I bought when I interviewed for my current job and the other is Regia that HWJF and I picked out at the Superbowl sale last month. What you see here is basically exactly what I did while I was gone. I have barely put three rounds on the Jaywalkers since I got back. Seriously. When I realized that, I knew I was really sick.

And after all that, I think it's time for another lie-down. Hope the end of your week is much less snot-filled than mine...

Came back from Memphis...

2006-02-28T15:15:00.000-05:00

With a sinus and ear infection! Yucky.

Thanks for all the comments on Samus. I will get back to you all as soon as I have my computer back (it's in NJ at the moment) and I can do more than go to work and come home and eat soup and take drugs of the oral and nasal kind (prescribed of course).

I really wish I had more sick time...

Your regularly scheduled blog will return upon recovery.

Samus completed!

2006-02-25T09:26:00.000-05:00

It's taken a good long time, but here is my completed

Samus

Pattern: Samus from Knitty.com
Yarn: Lamb's Pride worsted (what the pattern actually called for!)
Needles: Size 8 Addi Turbos (of course)
Knit: Approximately Oct. 23, 2005 - Feb. 9, 2006 (closure added a week later)

Love this sweater, love this yarn and love this pattern! I want to thank the designer for such a wonderful, error free pattern (my sleeve issues were my own making). This was a really nice knit and I do like the way it turned out. I decided to go with a single hook type closure because the knitted frog closure thing just wasn't working out and I didn't want to try my hand at zipper installation this time around. I like the way my Sitcom-Chic came out so much, that I thought this kind of closure would work for this too. I've already worn this to work and I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of it. If nothing else, it sure is W-A-R-M! We haven't had much winter this year, but I think this will be a wardrobe staple in winters to come. I may even wear it as a jacket in the spring!

Postcards from Graceland...

2006-02-22T19:10:00.000-05:00

I arrived in Memphis yesterday and got to go on a tour of Graceland today. Just wanted to share some pictures.

Entrance to the attractions

Front of the House

Livingroom

Family pictures

Kitchen

Jungle room

(complete with green shag on the floor AND ceiling!)

The T.V. room

This one is for HWJF (He likes pool)

A few awards and costumes in the Racquet Ball court

One of the cars

(Elvis would apparently buy you a car if you ran into him at the Cadillac dealership!)

The Gravesite in the meditation garden

Definitely a very interesting place and actually quite a modest home considering what similar celebrities live in today.

Now I'm off to MLA's opening reception!

Next time... another finished object and more pictures from Memphis! See you then!

Fair Isle burnout

2006-02-20T08:35:00.000-05:00

This Olympic Knathlete is finished with her Olympic games and has come home with double gold!

Apparently, I still haven't figured out what a real challenge for me might be:

Snowflake Bag

Pattern: Snowflake Bag from Vogue Knitting's "Bags and Backpacks"
Yarn: Lamb's Pride worsted in sapphire and Periwinkle (1 skein each)
Needles: Size 7 addi turbos
Knit: Feb. 13-18, 2006

I made several modifications to this pattern. I didn't like the cables at the top, so I took them out completely. Halfway through the project I discovered that the fair isle patterning was only on one side and the back was seed stitch, which is probably why it was originally done in two pieces (way to read the directions before jumping in!). Instead of that, I knit the bag completely in the round, I did all four charts, two on each side, twice using charts 1-4 for the bottom row and the same charts in reverse for the top row. After the three rows of seed stitch after the second row of charts was done, I bound off the three stitches on each side and knit back and fourth, reducing four stitches at the end of each row until 25 stitches remained. I then knit in stockinette for 11 rows before binding off and sewing the resulting flap over the bamboo handles that I bought at Joann's (on sale and with a coupon!).

I took a couple of progress pictures while I was knitting this. The contrast of the colors is better on them so you can more clearly see the actual fair isle patterning:

I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out. It could probably use a cloth lining, but seeing as how I don't have a sewing machine and I hate sewing in general (I always say that's why I knit and crochet!), it ain't happenin'!

And since it did come out fairly well, I've decided to donate it to the silent auction at this weeks MLA conference. I really need another knit bag like I need a hole in the head and I made this more for the technique experience than the want of the actual bag.

Speaking of the technique experience, I'm definitely excited that I can now say "I can do Fair Isle", but I think I'm done with it for a while. By the time I was done with the second row of charts on this I kept thinking "I'd really like to just knit now". I think the acrobatics of using one color of yarn in each hand was getting old, and it's a bit difficult to manipulate on the train. So just knitting is what I will be doing for a while now. There are no fair isle projects on my horizon, but we all know how fast that can change!

So what will I be doing next? Well, since I take off for Memphis tomorrow, traveling knit time calls for small projects and things to read.

The new Interweave, the new Yarn Harlot book, Dan Brown's "Digital Fortress" (I loved the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons so why not) and Jaywalker's for me and another pair of toe-ups for HWJF. A baby blanket for a college friend whose shower is March 12th may get thrown into the mix too. I hope that's enough to keep me entertained for the week. If not, I've already found a local yarn shop to visit one day so I should be set.

What can you expect for the next couple of weeks on the blog? A shocking parade of finished objects, more of the super secret project diary, and perhaps an Elvis sighting or two. See you in Memphis!

Diary of a Super Secret Project. Part I.

2006-02-18T14:00:00.000-05:00

Day 1

Yarn and needles finally come together. Long-tail cast-on. 30 stitches? That should do. Stockinette stitch. Time passes. Time to measure. 5 stitches to the inch. Perfect!! Swatch unravels. Check the pattern. This size. "Cast-on 110 stitches". Damn. Not enough tail. Try again. Ok. A little too much left over, but not bad.

Need an edging. Two by two? One by one? Yeah. That works. One by one. How many rows? Lets try four. That looks about right. That should do. Switch to stockinette. Purl on the wrong side. 4 rows done. 10 rows done.

End of day 1 - 1 ball done. 6 inches long.

Day 2

Stockinette stitch. Lots of stockinette stitch. Keep knitting. Got a deadline. Better make it fast. Keep reading and keep knitting. Oops. Better make sure to hide.

End of day 2 - 2nd ball nearly done. 14 inches long.

Day 3

Many more miles of stockinette. 14 inches. Now 14.5. Now 14.5 (wtf?!). Finally 16. BO 5 at the beginning of next two rows. BO 3 at the beginning of next two rows. Woops. Look at the time. Got to get home and hide.

Day 4
More stockinette. And more stockinette. Finally 10 inches. BO 8 at beginning of next two rows 3 times. Bind off the rest. Yes! Front done. On to the back.

To be continued....

Underestimation

2006-02-15T20:18:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone had a Happy Valentine's Day. Mine was very nice indeed.

Finding the time to blog lately has been difficult. But only because of good things so I can't complain. Last Saturday I did this:

After three months we have finally managed to move all of HWJF's stuff to NJ. There was actually very little in that Uhaul. Only the things that were too big to fit in his car. It was unload in 15 min. max when we arrived in NJ. And if you heard about the weather in this part of the world last weekend, you know that we arrived none too soon. As we were unloading it was beginning to snow. Next morning we awoke to a raging storm that dumped about 18 inches. Good thing I had planned to head to work from NJ on Monday anyway! Of course when I got to NYC, this is what I had to walk through:

Not fun at all.

Since HWJF didn't have to go to work because of the weather, Sunday was spent indoors watching movies and just relaxing in general. And of course there was some serious knitting to be done. Which brings me to...

Olympic Update

Seems that there was a bit of underestimation in the air last weekend. Everyone underestimated how much snow would actually fall, and I underestimated the time it would take to knit my Olympic project. Of course I hadn't planned on getting snowed in for a day, but it certainly helped. And thanks to comments left by Beth and Katy, I get a gold medal!

Fair Isle Headband

Pattern: Telemark headband from Bea Ellis Knitwear
Yarn: Peer Gynt wool and some cotton (included in kit)
Amount: 2 balls of wool and 1 ball for the cotton lining
Needles: Size 2 and 4 Addi Turbos
Dates:Feb. 10-13, 2006

This was so much fun to knit! (Thanks for the present Sami!) I wasn't particularly fond of working with the cotton yarn for the lining because it was so slick and splitty, but the results were well worth it. The cotton yarn starts and ends the project so that it can be folded over and sewn together to create a "no-itch" lining. Here it is before seaming:

The directions were easy to follow and the chart would have been easier to follow if I had been smart enough to bring my magnetic board with me. It might also have helped if I had reversed the colors as that would have matched the chart better. Overall I really like how it worked out. I hope to get a modeled shot to share sometime this weekend.

So I obviously have a lot of time left before the games are over. And this underestimation situation has really opened my eyes. It seems to be a theme with me in several areas of my life. So in the spirit of challenge I've decided to add this to the mix:

It's the "Snowflake Bag" from Vogue Knitting's book Bags & Backpacks. I'm doing it in contrasting colors of Lamb's Pride worsted. I didn't want to do the fair isle in the flat, so I've altered the pattern so that it can be made in the round, with just a seam at the bottom and (probably) for the handles. After one false start (just call me Captain Math Impaired), I'm on my way. I've already added two ~~major screw-ups~~ design elements to the pattern, but I think it will work out ok.

I'm also thinking about felting it. Any thoughts on what that might do to the fair isle work? Would I be totally destroying it or will it be really cool? I'm thinking about donating the finished object to the silent auction at the upcoming MLA meeting, so I want it to be good!

Speaking of which, I leave for Memphis, TN for a week next Tuesday. If anyone has been in or lives in that area and can recommend a "must see" yarn shop, do let me know! I'll be staying at the Peabody downtown so I'm hoping public transport will be cheap and available.

And in the interest of full disclosure, I cast on for a pair of Jaywalkers in the lag time between finishing something else and waiting for the Olympics to start. Here's how they look now:

I think they might be too big for me. I'm using Trekking XXL and a size two needle. This may end up being plane knitting, but it may also have to be frogged to be redone with a size one needle. I'll keep you posted.

And just because I can, I leave you with a couple of sky pictures I recently took in my travels. Both happen to be in the Princeton area of NJ. More to come as I continue to play with my new camera:

Coach? Are you out there?

2006-02-08T05:40:00.000-05:00

Now that blogger seems to have recovered from whatever went on this weekend I can post again. Spent some quiet time this weekend doing the mundane things I don't get to during the week and finishing up the knitting on Samus. Also managed to get out with the girls for dinner Saturday night since HWJF couldn't get back to CT from NJ until late. Sunday was the Super Bowl and that always means a sale at the LYS. Now I didn't really *need* anything, but HWJF nearly insisted we take a look. We had tried to go there on another Sunday looking for some more sock yarn for him, but it was closed, so we thought it might be good to give it another try and what better excuse than a sale? There was happily an Eklecktica sighting included in the shopping, and after much debating we finally came home with this:

No point in trying to get the cat head out of the picture when it's just sock yarn right?

HWJF was quick to pick out this color for himself. But why two skeins?

We are going to have matching socks. (Yes. We are dorks.)

He insisted that I get something for myself and I liked this color too so that's what we ended up with. Mine are going to be done first since he got the last pair...unless I finally get going with a pair of Jaywalkers. I am horrified to report that I do not have a single pair of socks on the needles at the moment. I find this very disconcerting. Then again, that could be because the Olympic preparations are in high gear.

My first Fair Isle!

Back

Front

I'm so totally excited about this! I did it on the train ride home on Monday. It's like I've finally been admitted to the cool kids club or something. I can knit with color in more than stripes!

Of course it is far from perfect:

See how it's kind of bunching up there? Now, granted, the two yarns are not exactly the same. One is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes and the other is Merino Style. The merino is a bit lighter so that could be part of the tension issue. The other major problem I think is that this area is where the divide of the two sides were. I do everything in the round with the magic loop technique and this is the first instance where it seems to be failing me.

So my questions are these: Is it possible to do this using magic loop or will I need to suck it up and get the 16 inch circular needle? (Remember I'm making a headband and the games start Friday night!) Did the yarn actually effect the tension or is it just me (which is what I pretty much figure)? If I can do this with the magic loop, how can I avoid this problem between the two sides?

I hope I'm explaining my problems here clearly. I really hope there are some willing Fair Isle coaches out there that will help me out!

To digress a bit...

Back on Sunday I also washed a blocked the pieces to Samus. Here they are pinned out and drying:

There wasn't enough room on the bed for all of it. And now I know why. When I went to seam it up Monday night, I tried on the body and it fit great! The sleeves on the other hand...

The bottom one is the original length and the top on is the one I had to re-knit. A bit of a difference no? I've never done anything with cap-sleeves before so when the pattern said "knit until __ inches or desired length to underarm" that's what I did. My wrist to armpit measurement was a good deal longer than anything the pattern said and that should have been the first clue. You can see the results above. A little quick math and I now have one sleeve that is the right length. The second is fixed and sewing shall now commence. That's the plan for train entertainment today anyway.

Now I just have to figure out how to close it....

Many random things...

2006-02-06T15:30:00.000-05:00

[Thanks to blogger being a complete putz, this post is being released long after it should have been. Thanks for reading it anyway.]

First, many thanks for all the nice comments about my first to FO's of the year. HWJF was particularly impressed with the sock comments. :) Hopefully there will be a few more FO's to share soon. But as usual, times flies at an astonishing pace these days. Here are many random things that will hopefully catch me up to the present.

1. Went to visit my parents in NY on Saturday [over a week ago now]. Had to wait until HWJF was done with work and drive to NJ to pick him up (no... NJ is not remotely in the same direction...it's complicated...don't ask). I had previously learned through the NJ SnB list that Treasure Island in HWJF's mall was going out of buisness and they had YARN! Despite my precarious financial situation of late, I had to take a peek. I should have ran when I saw only two people working checkout and a line almost to the back of the store, but I had time to kill so why not look. To make a long story short, I ended up with this:

I've been dying to get the sweater book and the yarn is for the bambino one of my college roommates will be birthing in just a few months. Best part, the entire purchase ended up being only $25 (and considering the book usually cost more than that alone, I think I done good).

2. Went to my parents house after this wonderful find. HWJF finally met my Dad (he'd already met my Mom). They got along just fine as I had expected. Breakfast Sunday morning consisted of French Toast and LOTS of bacon. All were happy. Returned to CT on Sunday night.

3. Went back to work on Monday. HWJF took the train back to NYC with me and then went on to NJ alone.

Things that have nothing to do with the first three.

4. I've started [now finished!!] a Super Secret project that you will find the progress of over in the sidebar. The project is keeping a journal. Yes, the project, not me. When it is closer to reveal time I will post the journal in two parts, maybe more. Stay tuned.

5. Found a new knitting podcast that I like so far. It's called About-Time (the link will take you to the website) and features interesting music and interviews. There have only been three episodes so far, but I've really enjoyed the last two (the first one was mostly Xmas stuff and it's a little late for that).

6. I've found that by going through either of these sites I can listen to podcasts at work (despite the fact that our computers are in some kind of downloading "lockdown". I don't have a clue what that means other than I can't change my preferences in the cataloging software which makes no freeking sense). Kind feels like I'm cheating by virtually knitting while I work. I love that.

7. Adam Curry is growing on me. I think it's because his podcast talks about alot of the geeky tech stuff behind podcasting. Otherwise I think he's kind of a self-serving twit.

8. I have resolved NOT to start my own podcast. My voice is weird and I just don't have time for one-more-thing.

9. I found a great website for Fair-Isle knitting instruction (that was mentioned in a podcast...wish I could remember which one) that has a video of someone actually DOING it several different ways. Definitely check it out if you decided to join the Fair Isle team for the knitting olympics. This, unfortunately, has been my only "training" so far. I hope to resolve that soon (must finish the Super Secret Project and Samus first!).

10. There is apparently now a Connecticut Team for the knitting olympics! Go over to to Marla's blog to get your button if you're interested!

That's it for now. I've got thoughts of a poll and a contest in the pipeline coming soon [if blogger doesn't f(@#%*% eat my posts again]. Talk amongst yourselves...

Mom's Scarf and HWJF's socks

2006-01-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

Finally, I get to tell you about my first finished objects of 2006! I haven't gotten around to this for a while just because of the lack of pictures. But now I have (most of) the pics and I'm ready!

Incidentally, I've decided that I really need to keep better track of the specifics of some of my projects. Most people do this on their blogs, and I'm finding that it would be good to be able to go back and have a record of what I've done for certain projects that I might want to knit or crochet again, even if I want to make alterations the second time around. So here's the beginning of my attempts to keep this together a little better.

Mom's Scarf

Pattern: Morehouse Merino Ultrasoft Scarf (picture here)
Yarn: Patton's Canadiana
Amount: 2 balls
Needles: Size 8 Addi turbos

After making a pair of mittens for my Mom for Christmas, I had plenty of yarn leftover. I asked her what else I could make for her with it and she requested a scarf. I love this pattern because it is very simple but comes out look fabuolous and gives a good deal of warmth. The number of cast on stitches doesn't really matter so much as long as it's an even number. This is something I can definitely wip off at any time without too much thought.

HWJF's 1st socks!

Pattern: Basic toe up sock from Queen Kahuna's book
Yarn: Regia
Amount: 1 ball
Needles: Size 2 addi turbos
Techniques: Magic loop (1 at a time)
Time: Knit from 1/2/06-1/21/06

Happy Feet!! The verdict on these is overwhelmingly two thumbs up! It's been all I could do to keep him from wearing these before they were finished ("If I put the ball in my pocket and run the yarn down my pants leg, I could wear them today!"~ HWJF). And I got them to match! I couldn't believe how easy that ended up being (watch, I'll never be able to do it again!). Check out how much yarn I had leftover too:

A few other pictures to celebrate this triumph over self-striping yarn:

Next up: Trying to finish my Samus before the Olympics and something else I can't blog about for a few more weeks...

Podcasting anyone?

2006-01-26T15:25:00.000-05:00

I'm usually a step behind with the newest things, and Podcasting is no exception. I remember hearing about it early on, but I didn't pay it much mind. But now there are ones about knitting!! And ya'll know I'm all about that.

I started out listening to KnitCast every now and then. I love Marie's accent and the interviews were interesting, but I did find them to be a bit short and a tad dry. Recent episodes have been a bit more fun (maybe because of all the noise in the background due to being at the Knitting and Stitching show).

Then Alison recently posted about Cast On and I've been hooked ever since. I LOVE this podcast. It does, of course, have plenty of knitting related content, but it's the extra things that are thrown in that I think really make me love it so much. Host Brenda Dayne has a wonderful attitude toward knitting and life in general and really shares that with the audience. She plays all sorts of wonderful "pod-safe" music in between features, which I find to really be a special treat. I love hearing music that I normally wouldn't spend the time to go out and find myself. And the fact that these musicians haven't been signed with a label and are putting their stuff out there just to try and get some airplay endears them to me even more. If you don't know, this music thing is a tough business that forces some people to ~~become librarians~~ find other ways of making a living at times. Gotta love a person or group that's giving it a shot. And a lot of them, are really good and some are quite funny (check out episode 8 for the "Boob Fairy" song)! She also features a different sweater in each show and tells the story behind it, and sometimes reads some of her writing (which is apparently her day job). [Incidentally, her reading in episode 6 really came at an appropriate time for me.] It's just a great overall show and most of all it's entertaining.

Other podcasts that I'm starting to check out are The Knitting News Cast, The FiberCast (love this one), Crafty Chica Podcast (she's a bit too cheerful for me), and others. I think the coolest thing is I can listen to these while I'm at work, not on break, and it's like I'm getting to knit when I can't!

Of course I love listening to stuff about knitting, but I wouldn't mind branching out into other subject areas. I just gave a listen to Daily Source Code and plan on looking through PodShow for some more ideas.

What Podcasts are you listening to? Leave me a link in the comments!!

P.S. If you haven't checked out Podcasting because you don't have an iPod, never fear!! Many of them can be downloaded directly or some even stream (like the Daily Source Code) directly to your computer. You can then listen to them from your hard-drive, or the 'net or burn them to a CD. How cool is that?!

A quick meme...

2006-01-24T15:12:00.000-05:00

Four jobs you've had in your life:
Telemarketer
Inventory taker
Orchestra librarian
Cataloger

Four movies you could watch over and over again:
Fantasia
Anything with Tom Hanks

Four places you have lived:
Accord, NY
Fredonia, NY
New Haven, CT
North Haven, CT

Four t.v. shows you love to watch:
(I don't watch much TV these days but...)
Gilmore Girls
SouthPark
Hockey
Football

Four places you've been on vacation:
Bassoon camp
Spain
Niagara Falls
Maine

Four websites you visit daily:
Google
Bloglines.com
Music Cataloging at Yale (hey, a girl has to do her job!)
SBC Yahoo homepage

Four of your favorite foods:
Anything with sticks (chop sticks that is)
Black bean burritos
My mother's leg of lamb
Tomatoes

Four bloggers you are tagging:
Anyone who wants to answer because it's a free country baby!

One other thing before you go...

I'll be adding this to my sidebar:

I'm sure most have you have already heard about this, but please check out this site for more information about the boycott. Sew Fast/Sew Easy is trying to make sole claim to the phrase "Stitch 'n Bitch" which is utterly ridiculous since it's been around since the 40s or earlier!! The only thing I wish the site would illuminate a little more is exactly *what* products this company makes, but I guess we'll all just have to read labels for a while...

I must be insane...

2006-01-21T14:30:00.000-05:00

I say this to myself every time I have a "commuting related" incident. Take this week for instance:

Wednesday I was scheduled for OCLC training in Brooklyn. I would go to work, check in, meet one of my colleagues who had been to the LIU Brooklyn campus before, and head off to the training at 9am.

Apparently the weather had other plans.

Other plans in the form of not-so-gently placing a tree across the tracks and leaving us sitting on the train... for over an hour.

I arrived at Grand Central at 9:50am. My boss had given me directions over the phone and I blindly took off for Brooklyn. Do I have any idea of an express subway train will stop at my stop? Of course not. Do I get on one anyway? Of course I do. Do I get off down the line to try and catch a local? Sure. Do I end up back on an Express. You betcha!!

Long story short, I eventually find a train that stops at the stop I want and get out of the subway only to find that the building I need is not right across the street, but a block or two away. Mind you, of course, that it is pouring rain. I finally get in the building and discover I am a rat in a maze. I finally arrive at my training session at 10:40am only to find that they have barely started because of hardware problems.

Whew!

Getting home wasn't a problem. Didn't get much done at home that night.

Life goes on and HWJF and I decide that since he has to work Saturday but is off Sunday I'll come to Princeton on Friday afterwork. I decide to stay at work for 20 min. extra to make up some of the time I lost on Wednesday. Big mistake.

I get over to Penn Station only to find out that due to a disabled Amtrak train, NJ Transit is delayed by at least 30 min.

No big deal. I've got a book. I'll wait.

With about 4 trains worth of other people.

Who all decide to get on the first train they announce out of Penn Satation.

And who all shove for the 1 little door at the same time.

At this point, I wish I could turn around but there is no way to fight the surging crowd. I get crushed along with everyone else into the doorway, down the escalator (which doesn't stop when you get to the bottom and no one in front of you can move) and out into the platform where the above mentioned 4 trains worth of people are all trying to shove onto a single train.

Where do I end up? In the vestibule between cars, an area that is as wide as the train car but only two people deep. There are at least 12 of us in there. The seats are packed, the aisle is full all the way down the train and I can't even get to my cell phone to tell HWJF I'll be getting in a *bit* late. Oh, and they have all sorts of signs about not riding between cars because it is dangerous, by the way.

The train leaves, I eat my hair in the wind (there is space between cars) and after sweltering with 12 of my (now) closest friends I am freezing. We get to the first stop.

And people want to get off. People who aren't necessarily standing in the vestibule. And there are people at the first stop that want to get on.

Right.

After much pushing and shoving people get off, people get on and I am still a sardine. At this point I've managed to get to my phone and HWJF plans to drive to the stop before Princeton to get me.

I WANT OFF THIS TRAIN.

Eventually things thin out and I do get a seat. It took a while but HWJF found me and we went home to get dinner. I've never wanted a margarita so bad in my life.

The life of a NYC commuter. I'm just glad no one was hurt.

Jealous aren't you?

The silver lining....

The conductor couldn't collect tickets so I got a free trip.

Have to say, not really worth the $10.75 though.

And to further prove my lack of sanity...

I've really gone and done it this time. I have joined the Knitting Olympics.

What have a chosen to knit? Since I seem to keep putting it off for things I'm doing for others, I figured it would help to have a start date. So I am finally going to knit the headband from the kit I was given by Sami for Christmas. My first attempt at Fair Isle.

Considering the fact that I have a conference to go to and a super secret project to finish during the dates for this knitalong, this is definitely going to be a challenge to finish in 16 days. Sleeping may just be out of the question....

Spinning!

2006-01-19T15:05:00.000-05:00

Just a quick post to call your attention to the fact that there is actually an article in today's New York Times about Spinning! Now, mind you, it didn't tell me much of anything that I didn't already know (gee... people are spinning... and they aren't all over 50... shocking) but I thought it was cool for a couple of reasons:

1. It's in the New York Times! That has to count for something.

2. It mentioned Maryland Sheep and Wool and a few other places, books and vendors that I may just have to check out now.

3. One of the interviewees is a former Yalie. :) That always makes me happy.

Thoughts anyone?

My thought of the moment: I *really* need to get back to that spindle....

Sock resources...

2006-01-17T15:05:00.000-05:00

I got a great question from Sarah in the comments the other day, which I neglected to address in my last post (sorry! And I wonder why I don't get many comments....). She writes:

I've never made socks before, but I would like to give it a whirl! Any tips of the trade or recommendations for patterns?

Well, I am by no means a sock expert, but there are two main books that really helped me out with socks. The first is the Magic Loop book. I made my first pair of socks from this book using the Winter Sock pattern (which I gave to my Dad for Christmas and who liked them so much I made him another pair this Christmas!) in Lion Brand Wool Ease. Not only do you learn the technique (which I find a lot less clumsy then dpns), but you end up with a very cozy and usable product at the end, which will probably fit someone in your life! This pattern also is very well written and makes learning what I like to call "sock architecture" very simple. Once you understand the construction of this basic top down sock, you'll be able to transfer your knowledge to other patterns. And the Magic Loop method can be used on sleeves and other parts of knitting too.

After you are comfortable with that book and what you have to learn there, the next book I VERY highly recommend is Queen Kahuna's Crazy Toes and Heels sock book. I think this book has just about everything else you could possibly want to know about sock knitting. It includes patterns for toe up or top down, one at a time or two at once (which I incidentally do like to do , but is just too much for working with on the train without annoying my seat mate), some different cuff patterns, and, most importantly, formulas for working out the number of stitches you need to make a perfectly fitting sock no matter what size needles, yarn or feet you are dealing with. That last part alone makes this book worth it's weight in gold to me. I received this book for Christmas in 2004 and have used it for every pair of socks since. It takes away all the guesswork that can sometimes be associated with sock knitting. While I've been working on HWJF's socks I've had him try them on a bunch of times, just to make sure, but the formula has been correct every time. I wouldn't trade this book for anything.

One other great thing about this book too, Queen Kahuna herself is available via a Yahoo Group, so that you can ask questions about the book and get things clarified if you don't understand them. I haven't read any mail from this group in a while, but I found it very helpful when I first got the book. Nice to have access to an author directly! (A quick look over there and it seems they are talking about the very popular Jaywalker pattern right now!)

Of course you can also find a lot of other sock information online, almost too much in fact! There are several sites that describe the Magic Loop method and illustrate doing two socks at once. Anyone out there want to share some of your favorites?

You could also join one of the many sock knitalongs or groups out there for some great advice from more experienced knitters.

For now, it's back to HWJF's socks for me....

Doublereed Day

2006-01-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

What does it look like when you put about 60 bassoon players in one room? Something like this:

HWJF and I spent our Saturday at the UNH Doublereed Day. We had to get up pretty early to get there from CT and we had to drive through this:

And this:

What a ride! I was glad I didn't have to drive so I could work on this:

We were waiting for it to turn over to snow as we headed north but it never happened. Rain all day. In New Hampshire! Go figure!

When we arrived we had just enough time to register before the day started off with the bassoon band (in the first picture). This basically involved reading various bassoon quartets as a giant group. I was the only person who brought a contrabassoon (at HWJF's urging) except for someone from the school who played the school instrument. So I had a lot of fun honking away on the bottom parts and making sure the oboes (who were in a room below us) knew we were there! I really wish I knew how to put sound files on ye olde blog, because if you've never heard the sound of 60 bassoons and two contras playing together, you really should!

After the band there was time to look at the goodies the exhibitors brought with them. If you think knitters and crocheters have a lot of toys, you should see what bassoon players have! There were reeds and tools and instruments and music and just about everything else one could possibly need (or want). One of the major motivations for the two of us making the trip was that one of HWJF's students is getting ready to buy a bassoon before she goes off to college. The bassoon day gave her a chance to try some instruments with HWJF's supervision and showed her parents some of the options. While all this was going on I got to knit and take pictures.

Here's HWJF with the whole clan looking at a couple of instruments:

And then they got to play them together:

I felt very sorry for A's parents. I remember what we went through to buy my first good bassoon. There is a lot to think about for such a big investment. I think they definitely went away feeling like it was worth the ride and got some good information.

In the afternoon there was a lovely recital by the hosts of the day, followed by a master class with jazz bassoonist (yes, I said jazz) Michael Rabinowitz. 60 bassoonists learning to swing looks something like this:

If you haven't done it before (and even if you have) improvisation can be quite scary. There were a lot of brave people in this group who gave it a shot and some of them were quite good!

I got some serious inspiration for this year's bassoon camp from a CD HWJF got from one of the exhibitors. The Caliban Bassoon Quartet Christmas CD. And what was so exciting? They played the theme to "Hockey Night in Canada"!!!! I must find out if this is available for sale. I want to play it!!!

The drive back to CT wasn't so bad. The drive to NJ today on the other hand:

No I don't have the pictures reversed. What you might almost be able to see from these pics is SNOW! We woke up to snow and ice on the ground and a tricky drive out of CT! Luckily it cleared up by the time we got to NY and was clear for the rest of the way to NJ. What crazy weather!

It's ok though. I got to finish this:

One ~~freekin' huge~~ HWJF sock done, one to go!! :) He has already tried it on and inquired as to when the other might be done. I think I may have him liking socks sooner than later. :)

After finishing that sock, I went on to start sock number two. Now, I have never actually tried to make any of the socks I've knit in self striping yarn or variegated yarn match each other. Never seen to point. But given that these aren't for me and I'm trying to get someone to change their mind about socks with these, I figured I'd better give it a try.

Would you believe that I achieved this result the first time I cast on? Seriously. Even I am impressed with myself.

My goals for the rest of the weekend involve more sock knitting, watching the second Harry Potter movie tonight after HWJF gets out of work tonight, and more sock knitting on the train ride home tomorrow since I have the day off.

Life is good.

I'm a little behind...

2006-01-13T15:23:00.000-05:00

... but I just read that it's National Delurking Week!

I love this idea! We are all comment whores after all. So go leave lots of comments! I'm working on it myself... (Shh!! Don't tell the boss!)

In the meantime, do turn your attention to the two new knitalongs you'll find in the sidebar. Both being sock related. 2006 has been named the year of the sock! I love me some sock knitting and the happy feet to go with it, so I joined up for both of these knitalongs. As you can see I currently have 5 pairs of socks for myself, and I've decided to set myself a goal to double that this year. We'll see how close I get ~~especially with these huge man feet to knit for now~~ considering my busy schedule.

Expect a full knitting update this weekend including a finished scarf, sock progress (or not), possible sleevage and some serious bassooning thrown in. Happy Friday the 13th everyone!

Where did it go?

2006-01-10T21:06:00.000-05:00

The last week I mean. Why does it seem like every time I turn around lately, another week has flown by? Why does the vortex otherwise known as time continually suck me in and spit me out about a week later leaving me wondering, "What the heck just happened?" I guess that's life in the working world...

So what has happened in the last week and a day or so? Well first I got a nice surprise in the form of foliage. My Christmas cactus has decided to bloom (although a bit late for the holidays) and I got a couple of great pics with the new camera:

Aren't they pretty? I always think the fact that a cactus can bloom is such a weird but neat thing.

I managed to get quite a bit of knitting done during various train rides. My Mom requested a scarf from the yarn leftover from her mittens. I've gotten through one ball and this is what I have so far:

I think one more ball will make it plenty big. To recap: I'm using Paton's Canadiana which is 100% acrylic (Mom's allergic to everything else) and the pattern I'm using is exactly like the Morehouse scarf I wear all the time, which you can see here. It never even occurred to me when I started, but it looks like we'll have Mother/Daughter scarves at the end of this project. :)

The other thing I've been working on is the first sock for HWJF:

I'm quite pleased with the fact that the strips are actually coming out the way they're supposed to. I'm actually quite a bit further along than this pic shows at this point now, done with the gusset increases in fact, and the strips are a little more wonky now, but I don't think it will be a problem. I had him try it on last night and he actually said he was excited about them!

HWJF had to work all this past weekend so I spent my time in CT. Saturday I actually had the whole day to myself. I must say it was a very nice thing. I didn't get out of my pj's all day. I think Simba approved of this idea:

But don't let that sweet and innocent act fool you. My little ~~monster~~ darling is quite the yarn cutter! Luckily that didn't slow me down too much from finishing up this:

Yep! The body of Samus is finally finished! Ends weaved in and everything. And I even managed to finish the cuff for the cables. Just two sleeves to knit and I'll be as good as done. My only worry at this point is that the extra inch I put into the length on the body is going to make the cable band hit me in an unflattering place. Unflattering mostly because I'm afraid it's going to be too tight in that unflattering place. But I figure if all else fails, I'll just block the living daylights out of it.

Sunday found me out with knitbuddies Robyn and Sami. About a month ago someone brought up the idea of going cross-country skiing. Being that I was put on skiis just about as soon as I had mastered walking, I was totally up for this idea. I managed to remember to bring my gear back from NY after Christmas, we found a place that did rentals called Winding Trails, and off we went. Now Sami and Robyn had never been skiing before so I got to play ski instructor for a day! It was a lot of fun and I had two very good students. I surveyed the grounds a bit while they went to rent equipment in here:

They even had some decent equipment for rental:

After a short crash course we went out on the trail, managed to negotiate some not-so-beginner-thank-you-very-much hills and arrived safe and sound back where we started. We even got a rather nice ~~looking~~ man to take our picture:

See! They survived my instruction! It was a great day. I'd love to go out again before the season is over if I can.

And I should have known it was going to be a great day when I opened my Christmas present from Robyn:

Sock yarn! My friends know me well....

Happy New Year!!

2006-01-02T17:26:00.000-05:00

Hope everyone is happily easing into 2006 at this point. I definitely had a great holiday weekend. As I mentioned in the last post, HWJF and I had tickets to the NY Philharmonic Friday night with friends. It was a nice night and my walk to Penn Station to meet HWJF yielded a couple of festive Empire State Building pictures:

The crowds were insane but I managed to make it over there in plenty of time. You see, the plan was to meet our friends for dinner and then head for the concert. Unfortunately, HWJF and I ended up being late to dinner thanks to a transit problem, but we did manage to have a quick meal at Pasha and get a quick pic:

Then it was off to the concert which was amazing! We had great seats only a few rows back. The bassoon concerto was the very first thing on the program. Cameras weren't allowed of course, but Judy LeClair wore a lovely blue gown and played quite beautifully as well. The audience really shocked us by applauding between movements (which isn't normal for a NY audience), but it was nice to know they were appreciating someone playing my favorite instrument!

We managed to get a quick pic after the concert too:

Normal people will rarely see this many bassoonists all in one place.

I also managed to get the final FO pic of 2005 that I was promised:

Doesn't he look cute in his hat, scarf and mittens?

Then it was off to Grand Central to head back to CT for the weekend. HWJF and I didn't have any big plans except perhaps a visit to an art gallery in Hartford. But by the time we actually got moving in the morning (we didn't get home until almost 2am Saturday morning), got some very necessary food shopping done and got lunch, the gallery was closed and the weather was getting bad. We decided to head home none too soon. The roads were terrible and we saw about 10 accidents, some involving multiple cars, on the way home. We also came a little too close to becoming one of them. Not fun.

When we finally made it safely back to Hamden, we made a quick stop at Blockbuster and headed home. We watched the first Harry Potter movie (more about my late uptake of HP in a later post), and then actually cooked a nice dinner that we actually ate at the kitchen table. (Those that know our usual schedules know what an event cooking a real meal and eating at a table like normal people truly is. Let's just say this isn't a daily occurrence.) Part of "Big Fish" later and I feel asleep, but managed to wake up in time to catch Dick Clark and the ball drop.

New Year's morning found us equally ambitious on the culinary front as we made pancakes for breakfast. We may have had a bit too much fun with that:

Can you see the mustache and toupe?

We decided to take it easy again and basically ate our way through the day. We had lunch at a local noodle place and then went back to Hartford to have dinner at Braza. If you live in the area and haven't checked this place out yet, definitely give it a try. I'm no rabid carnavore, but I really enjoyed this restaurant. There is a salad bar and appetizer bar full of seafood and other goodies to start, and then they start bringing out different types of meat for you to sample along with sides of things like fried plantains, creamed spinach, mashed potatoes and more. The atmosphere is quite nice and the best part is that the staff doesn't hover around you non-stop which is something I hate. I'd much rather enjoy my meal in peace.

We went for coffee afterward which ended up being an unpleasant end to a otherwise lovely day as in the 2 min. we were in the coffee shop getting our coffee to go my car got towed. Luckily, HWJF had a good friend in the area that saved our butts by picking us up and taking us to get my car, but the price tag was something neither of us needed. We still count ourselves lucky though, at least it wasn't stolen.

Today it was back to NJ as HWJF had to work. I'm off and blogging in a Panera in Princeton and loving every min. of it. It's so nice to have time to concentrate and do a little of the "playing around" I'd like to do with the blog for a change. If I have time, you'll see several sidebar updates today and a little rearranging now that 2005 is in the books.

Resolutions you say? I basically just have one. I want to learn to do colorwork in knitting. That is my main goal for the year. I'd also like to beat 2005's FO total if I can, but that isn't as pressing.

But first I have a scarf and some socks to finish... which I'll tell you about next time!

Let the selfish knitting begin!

2005-12-30T15:12:00.000-05:00

Now that the holidays are over, it's all me all the time! Well... not really... but I am finally getting back to a couple of things that I've been neglecting while I was working on things for others.

The morehouse cardi that Sami, Sneeksleep and I have been trucking along on finally has gone beyond increase hell:

It looks a little weird in that shot, but we've got sleevage!! Great mindless train knitting for sure for a while now. I have to finish up the 12-14 inches of body before I do the sleeves. The most interesting thing from this point out will probably be the button band and hoping that the thing fits after all this work!

The other thing I finally got back to over the Christmas break was this:

I'm still trying to figure out the new camera a bit.

Yep. That Samus. I'm still working on the body, obviously, but I'm nearly done. Does anyone else think it's silly to put stitches on waste yarn or holders when you can just leave them on circular and continue to knit? Or am I missing some very important thing about keeping stitches here?

Since neither of these is going to be done any time soon, my last FO of 2005 has turned out to be this:

HWJF admired my Coronet so much that he wanted one of his own in "boy colors" (whatever that means). If you are a long time reader you may remember that I made mine around this time last year. It was kind of interesting to find myself coming back to this pattern in a way I couldn't have imagined last year.

The yarn here is Knitpicks and Morehouse, the Morehouse being the lighter color that will go against the skin. I did the band in the Knitpicks because it was a bit scratchier and I felt would make a more sturdy band:

That yarn was leftover from his mittens. They I used the Morehouse to pick up the stitches on the band and knit the rest. That yarn was leftover from his scarf so I feel like I ended up bringing the trio together nicely. Funniest part is a still have leftover from both yarns even after finishing the hat! Not sure what else to do with it though...

No FO pic just yet. We have tickets to the NY Philharmonic tonight (Judy LeClair is playing the Weber Bassoon Concerto!) and I've been promised a pic with all three items then. :)

Must run for now. But...

Patients

and Fortitude (all decked out for the holidays. Aren't they cute?!) and I wish you all a very Healthy, Happy and Safe New Year!!

Post Christmas wrap up

2005-12-27T15:05:00.000-05:00

A very happy holiday was had by all around Chez Zarzuela this year. You might notice a difference in picture quality around here (once I get the hang of things) because of this:

I was so excited when I opened this. A new digital camera for me! You would understand just how awesome this is if you knew what the dinosaur I was using before was like. Functional, but not too slick. This sucker is SLICK! I absolutely love it and I've been making good use of it since the batteries were fully charged Christmas afternoon.

I made Mom and Dad pose with their knitted gifts:

And being the hambone he is, Dad had to imitate Mom's pose even if he did get socks:

My parent's cat Buster surveyed the situation from above:

He really doesn't have headlights for eyes. Really.

We had a wonderful Christmas dinner which luckily did NOT involve a trip to the ER. Mom accidentally spilled some hot liquid on herself which could have seriously burned her if it hadn't been for the fact that she was able to tear off her pants and socks in a hurry. All turned out to be ok though and I think she managed to enjoy her dinner:

At least it sure looked like it to me!!

On the knitting front I managed to finish up a few "gifts" for myself. The first was that I was finally able to finish off and wear the socks I started making from Knitpicks Sock Landscape in Maine this summer:

I was getting really tired of stockinette so I decided to use a lace pattern from Queen Kahuna's book for the cuff. Here's a closeup:

And just in time for 40 degree weather, I finished my long awaited Thrummed Mittens:

These have quite a few ~~mistakes~~ ::cough:: design elements in them. Some of the thrums are not the same as the others, some of them don't line up, and the spacing of them just plain didn't turn out right thanks to me not accounting for the thumb gusset, but they will definitely keep my hands warm and toasty on those cold walks to the train station and that's all that matters to me.

There was also a bit of new project inspiration under the tree:

I'm already dying to make the Irish Diamond Shawl from the Folk Shawls book. I also love the designs in the other book, but will have to get myself into colorwork much more before I can attempt any of them.

And although she couldn't be with us on Christmas (somehow I don't think a howling kitty would be welcome in my office), Simba got to enjoy her Christmas presents too. There was this magnet:

(which almost made me die laughing) from my Dad's boss. And Simba's grandma gave her a new mouse which was loved immediately:

Nothing quite like a good catnip induced romp to celebrate the holidays!

I count myself very lucky this holiday. I have a job, my family and friends are healthy and safe, and I have a great guy in my life. What more could a girl ask for? I hope your holidays were just as great!

Dear Santa....

2005-12-22T15:10:00.000-05:00

A transit strike is not exactly what anyone who lives or works in NYC had in mind for Christmas. Really. Now I know you don't exactly have control over these things, and I do kind of like the fact that this all means I get to go to the train station in the daylight for a change, but really. A transit strike a Christmas? With all the procrastinators trying to finish their shopping *and* get to work? Not a good plan. If you could do something to fix all that, I think there would be a lot of happy people. Just sayin'.

==============
While it seems to be all transit strike all the time around here these days (although I'm now hearing that it may be over tomorrow), Christmas is still coming and I've even had a little Christmas a little bit early.

Many moons ago my dear friend Sami and I said we were going to try to learn Fair Isle with headband kits from Bea Ellis Knitwear. Never exactly happened although we had all good intentions. Guess what I got the other day from Sami...

I'm so excited about this! I think it will be the perfect size project for taking a first stab at this technique. Thanks so much Sami!

HWJF and I decided to have our own Christmas celebration this weekend since we won't be able to be together for the real thing (he's flying to Maine, I'll be in NY). Apparently he has learned my addictions real well in the past few months. First, I have this little thing for candles. So you better believed I loved finding this:

Note that it's a mistletoe candle. Enough said. :-)

Even more exciting, while driving around Princeton the other night I happened to ~~totally freek out~~ notice the local yarn shop. I guess my interest was obvious:

A gift certificate and a trip into Princeton later got me this:

Who doesn't need more sock yarn right? I got two skeins of Lorna's Laces because I've never tried any and I've been dying to. The Regia is for socks for HWJF, because, afterall, when someone feeds your yarn habit and waits around a yarn shop while you drool and try to decide what to get, you have to make sure they have a reason to continue to do so, right?

I'm also on a bit of a mission with this. He hates socks. Hates them. But he's never had a pair of hand knit socks, so I might just be able to change his mind. Then again, I could be getting myself in a whole lot of trouble ~~(not like I'm not already in hot water after the last blog post)~~... but I've been in worse trouble before. We'll see what happens.

I think HWJF enjoyed his presents too, which included a pair of mittens very similar to the ones I posted pictures of recently. So much so that he thought they were the same ones!

So now I've gone back to knitting things for myself that I've been wanting to finish up now that the holiday stuff is done. Hopefully I'll get to show them to you soon. For now though I want to wish everyone in Blogland a very Happy Holiday, whichever one you might celebrate, since I may not get to post again before then. Wish me luck getting to my parent's house on Friday and surviving the annual family sojourn to Long Island! I'm just looking forward to the long weekend...

A boy and his scarf are soon parted...

2005-12-18T22:18:00.000-05:00

Sometime ago you may remember that I was knitting a scarf for a certain boy that tends to hang around these parts quite often. We affectionately refer to him at chez Zarzuela as "He Who Juggles Fire" or HWJF for short (in real life we call him such boring and innocuous things as "boyfriend" and other sappy sweet things I won't sicken you with). You might also remember that when said scarf was gifted, it was well received but said recipient refused to pose for a Finished Object shot for ye olde blog.

Alas, blackmail is a wonderful thing.

You see, the above named giftee has quite the high body temperature as compared to moi (which really isn't saying much since I'm always freezing...but I digress) and has therefore not seen much need to wear said scarf. However, said giftee has also been teased mercilessly at the hands of yours truly for not wearing said scarf after having requested it. After all, I knit the boy a scarf, he damn well better wear it right?

Well, as you may also remember, said giftee has been in the process of moving to the far off land of NJ. As anyone who has had to move might tell you, this involves a fair amount of chaos. Add to that car problems that involve leaving one car in Maine, taking a rental to NJ and then having to exchange the rental for the car in CT and you have all the makings of a real mess. Things are bound to get lost. But a hand knit scarf, that is something one would guard with one's very life, no?!

During one of the above mentioned merciless teasing sessions mentioned above, it was somehow conveyed that the scarf *may* have ended up back in Maine somehow and HWJF was slightly concerned that his parents *may* have thought it belonged to someone else.

WHAT?!

The knitter of said scarf (that being me) was a bit ~~pissed off,~~ ~~worried,~~ ~~freeked out,~~ ~~generally crazed,~~ disturbed about this possibility.

And then I found it. Wrapped up in a polar fleece that he left on a chair in my apartment.

Payback's a bitch and so am I.

I got my F.O. picture. Even if it took a little spiked hot cider and a major guilt trip.

Thanks sweetie! What do you want me to knit you next? ;-D

December 13th

2005-12-13T13:52:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday Mom!!

If you click the pic, it gets real big.

Hopefully she likes her present as much as I liked making it. There's this great little bead shop a few blocks from my office and they have *everything* you could possibly want for jewlery making. When I saw the square beads pictured above, I knew I had to make my Mom a pair of earrings for her birthday. When I saw the other beads I figured, why not make three pairs? And the little silk purse to put them all in was just the right kind of gift wrap (I suck at wrapping presents. Ask anyone who has ever gotten a gift for me that wasn't wrapped by someone else) to complete the deal. I have also knit with beads in the past and if I ever decide to do it again, I sure know where to go!

Getting in the spirit....

2005-12-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

It's finally Saturday! I have been looking forward to this day all week? Why? Number 1 - I was able to sleep past 5am. Number 2 - I finally get to blog! It's seems like every time I try to get something up on the blog lately, something else gets in the way.

Anyway, obviously, life has been busy. I've been staying at work late a lot to make up time that I've lost from leaving early for gigs, or the one day that I had to call in sick and didn't have enough sick time to cover it. As of yesterday I've finally broken even, so I will hopefully be able to get back on a normal schedule for a while at least.

In the meantime, I've been trying to get into the holiday spirit. We had a significant snowfall in the tri-state area yesterday which made getting to the train station a bit interesting. Good thing I lived near Buffalo for four years and I've had some experience dealing with this weather. Good thing I also have a four wheel drive vehicle because they didn't even have the roads plowed at 6am and when I got back after my rehearsal at 10:30pm last night my parking space wasn't even shoveled? And why am I paying as much as I am for rent? Good question.

The snow does make it seem like the fact that Christmas is fast approaching is *right* though. 70 degree weather does not make one believe that they have to do Christmas shopping when they live in the Northeast afterall. The other thing that really gets one's ass in gear is realizing that you are going to a holiday party on Monday and two of the gifts that you want to give aren't finished and this may be your only chance to see the people you want to give them to before Christmas! So last Saturday after running around like a proverbial headless chicken I managed to finish up these:

The green one was gifted after said Christmas party on Monday and was very well received. Nothing like a happy giftee to get one in the Christmas spirit.

There are also signs of the season all around where I work. Mind you, most of them have been up since before Thanksgiving, but now at least they feel like they are warranted. And since I ~~have nothing better to post~~ want to share them with you, I hauled my stone-aged digital camera into work one day and took some pics. My office is right around the corner from Lord and Taylor on 5th ave. and they have some really beautiful windows this year. They are all based on a fairytale theme. Over the entrance is a huge wreath:

And on the way into the store we have Rapunzel:

Isn't she just stunning? I had to take the pic mostly because of the awesome old fashioned music stand (which I later realized was mostly obscured by the flash (grr....).

Outside the sidewalk is lined with scenes like this:

I was Goldilocks in a pre-school production so I had to take that shot.

But the coolest one of all for those of us who love Knitblog land has to be this:

Isn't she awesome?! The wheel actually spins around and everything! Lord and Taylor must know that spinning is very *in* this year. :-) I must have been grinning ear to ear the first time I saw this window. And of course, the first thing I thought of was, "I need a pic for my blog!"

Grand Central is done up a bit too:

Kind of neat with the Chrysler building behind. The pictures aren't great because of it being nighttime, but you get the idea. The light show on the ceiling of the station just wasn't something I could get a good shot of, but if you get down there, definitely go take a peek.

And lest you think there isn't any holiday knitting going on here, check out my latest finished present:

Mitten knitting! (Say that three times fast!) This pair was made with Patons Canadiana (which I really enjoyed working with despite the fiber content) and this book. These are my very first pair of knitted mittens ever and my first contribution to the Warm Hands knitalong despite the fact that I joined it ages ago. I have more mitten knitting planned since I enjoyed it so much (and it makes for great train knitting) so stay tuned.

And in true holiday style, I have presents to wrap and more shopping to do so I'd better get to it! I wish you speedy holiday knitting in the coming weeks if you are doing it this year!

Week in review...

2005-12-02T05:41:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe another week has gone by and I'm just getting around to posting something! Where the heck does the time go lately? Oh yeah. Life. That's where it goes. In fact, I saw the best bumper sticker during my travels last weekend. It said:

I used to have a life,
But my job ate it.

No truer words have I seen lately!

Anyway, in the time since I last posted I had a very nice Thanksgiving at home with the folks. I took the train from NYC to Poughkeepsie and Mom picked me up at the station which is about a 45 min. drive away from home. Luckily, I didn't have to fork over any more cash to the MTA since my New Haven ticket covered me. The next day was Turkey Day and I woke up to this:

Yikes! Who turned on winter?! I do not approve!!

Don't the birdies look hungry? I would be too if I was out in that.

This morning I was wondering why I had so much laundry to do. Then I finally realized that the only "laundry" I did last weekend was a little felting magic. Behold! Three finished Sophie bags before felting:

And after:

(Soda can used for scale.)

I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out. The little button loops that I put on the purple ones didn't felt much. I think it will still be a nice closure for the bag though. The green bag I'm pretty proud of.

(Sorry for the pic on it's side. Ran out of blogging time.)

It seems to be a little twisted but my attempt to make a fold over flap seems to have been successful. Hopefully the recipients of these will be as happy as I am with them.

I had seriously thought about doing a sort of "Felt your own gift" with these but I chickened out. Anyone ever done that? Where you give the item to the person unfelted and give them instructions on how to do it themselves? I decided not to because I wasn't sure of the washing machine access that most of the recipients had. If you've done it before, how did it turn out?

Other than these things my week has been pretty normal except for one occurrence. My "blog" wrote back to me on my last post. Don't believe me? Go check the comments. And no, I didn't write that all myself and post it to be self serving. I know how it happened now. And I just have to say that I have the most wonderful and sweet "blog" on the planet. So there.

More actual knitting content this weekend perhaps...

Dear blog...

2005-11-24T18:12:00.000-05:00

How I miss you so! I miss your fun colors, your bright buttons, your progress bars, I miss everything about you! You see, this Full Time Job thing has really made it difficult for me to visit you. "Excuses, excuses" I hear you mutter, but it's true! Dear, dear blog. If only I could make you understand. If only you could see that someone like me who Doesn't Do Mornings is having such a hard time with the 5am Wakeup Call. If only you could understand that the Five Hours Of Commuting per day keeps me from updating you more regularly because it forces me to do things like knit or sleep. If only you could understand that the Staring At A Computer All Day makes it nearly impossible for my eyes to take much more when I finally do arrive home. "What about That Boy?" I hear you say. Yes. It's true. That Boy does take up considerable time in my life. That Boy is also moving to the far off land of New Jersey next week. But my time with That Boy doesn't keep me away from you as much as the Full Time Job does. That Boy thinks you are very cool. Can't you understand that dear blog? I do miss you. And I miss your other blog friends out there. How terrible it is that I am relegated to reading but not commenting? And even then, at times, I cannot read at all! Terrible I say. Most terrible.

But there are plans dear blog. Big plans. There are plans in the works that will hopefully bring us together much more often. Plans that will allow me to visit you and your friends more often. Plans that involve this.

Please don't give up on me just yet, dear blog. While it is difficult for us to be together now, The Plan may make things much better real soon. Hang in there dear blog. Don't give up on me just yet.

With much love,

Your owner

P.S. Please wish all our friends in blogland a Happy Thanksgiving.

P.P.S. Yes, I do believe the turkey has gone to my head....

When life happens...

2005-11-14T20:42:00.000-05:00

Thanks for all the nice comments for my blogday. They are much appreciated!*

Many apologies for my sporadic posting as of late. It seems like I just can't seem to keep up between the job, the commute and life in general. I'm not supposed to use my computer at work for this type of thing either, so that doesn't help me stay on top of blogging. I'm hoping things will calm down soon so I can get back to more of a routine in the blog world.

So the job is going well. Hard to believe I'm already four weeks into it. My bosses are very happy with my performance so far. And while I'm getting a bit tired of cataloging nothing but Pop CDs, I'm basically liking it. There are a few things to work out still. I just finally turned in my health insurance forms today. I also had a little snafu last week where I cashed what I thought was my check only to find that my direct deposit finally went through. Turns out what I cashed was not a check even though it looked exactly the same. Go figure. The commute really isn't that bad. I think I've decided the thing I mind is that I have to be up at an unholy hour and I don't get home until 7pm most days. It's not the commute I mind, it's the timing. But I'll just have to live with that at least until August before anything changes.

As for life in general, last week was insane and a bit upsetting. A week ago Sunday night I went to New Jersey with HWJF to look at the area where he was offered a managerial position with the company he is currently working for. On Wednesday night he accepted the job, which was a bit of a shock. I think I've adjusted to the idea, but it definitely means big changes for both of us. We are both willing to do what we have to in order to make it work though. That's the important thing. He finally secured housing today and now it's just a matter of figuring out if he will actually be starting on Nov. 21st or waiting until after he can move on Dec. 1st.

I do have to say I had a great long weekend. Friday was my first paid day off in my entire life. It was pretty damn cool to think that while I was lying in bed at 8:30am I was getting paid anyway! Not bad I must say. I spent the day with HWJF and we did basically nothing which was totally fine by me. Saturday was spent doing the mundane things that one must do on their day off like cleaning. Saturday night I got to have dinner with knitbuds Robyn and Sami which was great. Between me starting a new job and life in general I've hardly gotten to see the two of them and we certainly haven't had any casual hang out and knit time in a while. It was definitely nice to catch up with them both. After that I went out to the after show party with HWJF (he's been doing a production of the Music Man for the last couple of weeks). Sunday was the cast party for the show and I ended up going up early to help get things set up only to end up setting off the house alarm with the other woman that was with me because the owner's forgot to tell us it was armed! Luckily we got it turned off and the cops didn't give us too much of a hard time so all was well. The party was a really nice end to the weekend and I really enjoyed it.

So in between all of this "life" I have been doing a bit of knitting. I finally finished up my Socktoberfest socks when I finished the Winter Socks:

These will become a Christmas present. I didn't get them done as fast as I might have liked since I was doing more sleeping than knitting on the train last week, but they are finished and ready for a wash. It's still pretty amazing how fast worsted weight yarn can make a pair of socks after using sock weight for so long!

I've also decided to make three Sophie bags for Christmas gifts for some friends. I have a gig at the end of this week which will be keeping me out until 10pm. When one has to be awake by 5am after a night like that, mindless knitting is the name of the game!

The first one is close to finished:

I'll make another in this color and the third in the green. The purple is Cascade 220 but the green is Lamb's Pride. I haven't used it for a felting project before so I hope it works out ok.

I also managed to make a stop at the Fabric place this weekend to finish acquiring yarn for Christmas gifts:

The blue is some Patons Canadiana for the Christmas gift (for someone who, I think, reads the blog and I will therefore not give more details) and since I just had to by $25 worth to use my coupon I ended up with more sock yarn. Shocking I know.

So that's the update for now. Don't expect much from me this week considering the crazy schedule. If I can see straight by the weekend maybe I'll have something worth posting by then. Have a great week everyone!

* By the way, if you don't hear back from me on your comments it may be because your message isn't coming through with an e-mail address. I'd love to respond to you if I can, but I can't do that if I don't have your e-mail. Sorry!

A year ago today....

2005-11-11T13:47:00.000-05:00

Was my first real blog post. So........

Happy Blogiversary to ME!! :)

And I even have the day off...although that's not why I have the day off.

Next time, a real post. For now, back to relaxing on my first paid day off of my life.

Last weekend's hike...

2005-11-06T14:24:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday HWJF and I got up early, had breakfast at Panera and then went here:

for a beautiful morning hike. The first bit was straight up hill and kind of tough but then things leveled off and we walked along the ridge. We saw this from one lookout:

Yes. Pumpkins. Hundreds of them. In some serious water. We have had a bit of rain around here but I just found this awfully amusing for some reason.

The weather was phenomenal and the colors were still quite beautiful.

When we got to the end of the trail we then had to climb up to the top of this:

To get a really amazing view of the surrounding area. I'm sure you could probably see NY and Mass. from up there if you knew what to look at. The one thing we did recognize was this:

Doesn't Hartford look tiny from there?

HWJF took this pic when we got back down:

Kinda makes me look like I'm short or something! It was a great day and I'm really glad we got out to enjoy it. While it is still freakishly warm around here, the colors and the weather aren't nearly as nice now. Winter is coming whether I like it or not.

And for something completely unrelated:

File under: Who knew?

My blog is worth $7,903.56.
How much is your blog worth?

Back to work tomorrow after a little side trip tonight. Have a great week everyone!

Week two is in the books...

2005-11-05T11:02:00.000-05:00

Hard to believe another week has gone. Week two of the new job went pretty well. I'm getting a bit tired of cataloging Latin Pop CDs (have you ever heard of Reggaeton, cause I hadn't until this week!), but I should be moving on to other things next week. I think I am still in denial that I'm really doing this. Maybe that's because of the crazy warm weather we've been having around here. I usually have lunch inside and then go out for a walk on my 30 min. break in the afternoon, but yesterday I went outside for lunch. I got a panini at PAX and then wandered over to Bryant Park to sit and eat. As I sat there looking around me at the tall buildings against a clear blue sky and the hustle and bustle of NYC swirling all around me, I really felt like I was in a dream. It just doesn't seem like it can possibly be real. Add to the mix that it was Nov. 4th and it was over 60 degrees and people were still ice skating in the park and I think you will understand. Very weird.

On my break yesterday I took a walk over to Times Square. Still can't believe how close it is to where I work. And I can't help but think that come the holidays it is going to be very cool to take a quick walk over to see the prep for the ball drop. Another day I took a walk past the Yarn Connection. It was kind of a trial run to see just how close it is should I need something. But after noting their hours and that it's only about a 10 min. walk, I kept on going. Still waiting for that third paycheck. How's that for self control?

Train knitting this week saw the completion of this:

Yep. It's the boyfriend scarf blocking as I type (on the floor because it was too big for the bed I might add [which only confirms my need for a bigger bed as I've been saying for ages]). The lucky recipient should receive it tonight (now that its supposed to be 70 degree today, sheesh). Now if I can only get him to pose for a pic for the blog... Well, maybe the fact that I have enough leftover to make a hat can be used as a bargaining chip.... ;)

And while Socktober fest is officially over, I did cast these on Halloween night in anticipation of the scarf being finished:

They are the "Winter socks" from the Magic Loop book in Lion Brand Woolease. I don't know the color name since this is leftover that's been in my stash for ages. This sock would probably be done already if I had the measurements of the recipient. And I won't say who that is since it is supposed to be a Xmas present and they *might* read the blog. I should be set with that soon and then I'm almost sure I can finish these off by the end of next week. Making socks with worsted weight yarn sure goes quick!

Next post I hope to share last weekend's hike providing someone *cough* HWJF *cough* gets me the pictures. For now it's off to run a billion errands and get the laundry done. Ahh the life of a working girl. ;)

I continue to knit...

2005-10-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

Look what I did with HWJF last night! How fun is that? And as promised I will not talk about the aversion to pumpkin guts I witnessed...

So despite the first week of the new job and all, there is still knitting being accomplished. Afterall, I have to do something during my two hour commute. First we have to go back a ways:

Last Thursday (after my last day at Yale) Eklectica brightened my spirits with a spinning lesson. Turns out the problem I was having was that I was making my yarn too thick for the spindle I have. After a little practice with some pencil roving she let me have and a whole lot of predrafting I was able to spin a lot better.

Real yarn that looks a whole lot better than the slubby stuff I was getting before. It's pretty much laceweight, but that's fine. I'm really making yarn! I pick it up a little again last night and it's going along pretty well now. Still need some more practice though.

The next day Sami and I went off on a shopping spree. First stop was the Fabric Place where I picked up this:

Two skeins of Regia and the sock book to feed my sock obsession. This book is definitely worth the reviews it is getting on various blogs. The patterns are any gauge and they have all sorts of cool things like cables in the round. I can't wait to try some of them out but I have a few other projects to do first. The other book is the Ann Budd pattern book that will come in handy very soon as HWJF said he might like a hat and I just joined the warm hands mitten along (I'm gonna need thrummed mittens soon the way the weather is going around here!).

And speaking of HWJF, the scarf he wanted has been perfect for train knitting:

It's growing by the day and I'd say it's a little over half done. Here's a closeup of the stitching:

The pattern is "Mom's Sophisticated Scarf" from SnB Nation (which, incidentally, was designed from a guy who used to come to our SnB in New Haven) and HWJF picked it out himself. It's a really simple looking pattern, but the 10 row repeat keeps giving me fits for some reason. Of course it could be the fact that I'm knitting before 7am instead of sleeping.

The other thing that is on the needles and I've been meaning to blog about for a while is Samus:

The waistband is done and I'm a couple of rows into the miles of stockinette. I picked up the stitches while at SnB the same Thursday I got my spinning lesson. Two of the knitters there gave me a good idea to make the picking up a bit easier. Instead of just going along picking up stitches and finding either too many or two few at the end, I folded the cabled band in half and then in half again. I put a little safety pin at each fold dividing the band into quarters. This way I knew I had to have so many stitches by the first marker, the second etc. until they were all done. I had the stitches on the needle and was on my way in no time! Definitely a less frustrating experience than other times I've had to do this.

Gotta love cables! The charts in this pattern are really well done too. I'm enjoying this a lot.

But, alas Samus may have to be put on hold a bit. It has suddenly occurred to me that the holiday season is not too far off. I only have three people to knit for, but if I'm going to do it, I'd better get to it! One present I already know what I want to do and have the yarn to do it. The other two people, don't really have a clue. They are both slightly more difficult to pick presents for but for different reasons. And one is allergic to wool so that makes it even tougher! Any and all suggestions are welcome of course.

Another long work week ahead. Don't know how often I'll get to blog but I'll post when I can. Have a great week!

One week down...

2005-10-29T12:54:00.000-04:00

First, a little quiz:

You Belong in Rome

You're a big city girl with a small town heart

Which is why you're attracted to the romance of Rome

Strolling down picture perfect streets, cappuccino in hand

And gorgeous Italian men - could life get any better?

What City Do You Belong in? Take This Quiz :-)

Find the Love of Your Life
(and More Love Quizzes) at Your New Romance.

Yes I am alive and kicking after one week of working in the big city. And not all the much worse for the wear I might add. Monday was tough. Three hours of benefits orientation and filling out tax forms will definitely make your head hurt. I learned some important things though:

1. I am exempt from NYC tax because I live in CT. :)
2. My union dues are only 2%, not three. :)
3. The max I can get in transit checks per month is $105. And they don't start until January. :(
4. I'm probably going to have a payroll deduction for my health insurance. :(
5. At least I'm covered retroactive to my start date. :)
6. But choosing a plan from 12 possibilities is not going to be easy. :(
7. But I can change it next fall if need be. :)
8. But my other benefits (eye, dental, prescription etc.) don't start until February. :(

After that I reported to my department, had lunch and got another hour or two of orientation. There are rules, rules, and more rules for working in this place. But as the week progressed I began to understand why they were necessary. There are just so many people working at this institution from such an amazing variety of backgrounds that you really have to have things set up to keep them all in line. The most annoying thing so far: I don't have a phone. And I can't use my cell in the "work area". There are allowances for important phone calls and such, but there is no place to use a phone with some level of privacy. That could make certain situations very difficult.

But beyond those little things, so far so good as far as the work environment goes. My coworkers are all very nice people so far and were very welcoming. I have my own desk which is pretty exciting for me and it's actually set up fairly well. The only thing I don't like is that I don't have much room to the left of my computer, which is usually where I put the item I'm cataloging, but I may be able to change that down the line. I've even been able to put up a few pictures thanks to HWJF. He met my in the city on Thursday since he had the day off and he brought me the pictures along with this:

Can you believe it?! It's one of those edible arrangements! How cool and sweet is that? We also had dinner at a local pub before he drove me home. It was very nice to not take the train for at least one trip although I am certainly enjoying my morning rides with Sneaksleep. We chat, we knit, we sleep when we need to, and it really makes the ride fly by. I get to leave NY a little earlier than she does so we don't get to ride back together, but I've been doing a lot more napping then anyway.

And Friday I got my first paycheck. Now, granted it was only for one week, and I don't have all my deductions coming out yet, but still... I'm a little worried. It wasn't exactly impressive. And thanks to Metro North not processing my Mail & Ride application in time I had to buy my monthly ticket for November at the station yesterday, which ended up being most of my first paycheck. Not a fun feeling, especially with rent due this week. But a hear the third paycheck is when you get caught up and things start looking better. If that's true, November 25th can't come soon enough.

I have a fairly relaxing weekend planned. Today is "get shit done" day so laundry is already washing, I've been catching up on blog reading and I'll be figuring out which health insurance plan to go with. Tonight I'll be going up to see HWJF and to carve a pumpkin (something I haven't done in ages). Tomorrow HWJF has the day off so we plan on being as lazy as possible which is fine by me. Monday will be here before I can turn around.

One other plan for the weekend: Post some knitting content tomorrow! See you then! :)

A short telegram

2005-10-24T21:46:00.000-04:00

Survived first day stop
Went well stop
Totally exhausted stop
Going to bed now stop

Goodbye Yale, Hello NY Public

2005-10-20T17:03:00.000-04:00

(Warning: Absolutely no knitting or crocheting content contained in this post. Just general blathering about my currently bum mood. If these things are not of interest to you, click away now.)

It's been a rough day.

After over 27 years, I am no longer a NY State resident. That's right, after 2 trips to the DMV this morning, I now carry a CT driver's license. While this might not seem like a big deal to most people, I am one of those few in the world that moved from the hospital where I was born to my home with my parents and did not move again until I went off to college. I spent 4 years there before coming to this area 5 years ago. This is not something I have done or plan to do very often. This is not an easy thing for me. When I left the DMV the 2nd time, new license in hand, I cried.

Then I went to work. I went to work for the last time. I cleaned out my desk. I took all the sticky notes off my computer monitor. I cleaned off all my old files. I went through months of cataloging with my mentor/supervisor. And then I had to say goodbye to everyone and take all my stuff and go. And while I told myself I wasn't going to do it, I cried like a baby.

So Monday morning instead of going here:

I'll be going here:

I'm sad today, but I think I'll be excited on Monday.

I'm going to go console myself with pumpkin ice cream and knitting now....

The countdown continues...

2005-10-19T09:24:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I was treated by my coworkers to some yummy Thai food for my "farewell" luncheon. It was so nice to have almost all the staff there. I'm still in shock about all this. I can't believe I'm leaving Yale after five years between school and working at the music library. It just doesn't seem possible. And as if treating me to lunch wasn't enough they also gave me all of this:

I've been eyeing one of these little animals with the Yale shirt for quite some time and it was so cool that they picked this out for me. The iTunes and Barnes & Noble gift cards will definitely come in handy too since they will contribute to train entertainment. I've worked with great people for the last 3.5 years and I'm definitely sorry I have to leave. I think the bulldog is going on my new desk. Tomorrow is my last day and since I'm getting a little choked up just thinking about it, I'm not going to think about it.

Socktoberfest is chugging along over at Lolly's. There are some great prizes being offered now too. But the best part is a finished pair of socks and that is something I finally have. Take a look:

My fluted banisters are done! I love this pattern and I love this yarn. I used Silja on size 2 addis and reduced the original number of cast-on stitches to 60 from 80. They are still a tiny bit loose for my liking, but a wash may change that even if the yarn is 80% superwash wool/20% nylon. Overall I'm really happy with them and can't wait to wear them with their intended matching sweater (when I manage to find the sweater!)

Next up will be a pair from the Trekking yarn I showed you in this post. I'm taking the advice left in the comments that Lolly and Ann left and sticking with my size 2 addis. I'm also going to go ahead and split the yarn into two balls thanks to the advice of Rebekkah and the loan of a scale from Sami. I think I'd like to do these toe up with the guidance of Crazy Toes and Heels but I'd like to do another interesting cuff pattern. Crazy Toes and Heels has instructions for a pretty eyelet rib pattern that I'm considering. In my quest for free sock patterns I had completely forgotten about the Townsend Socks Knitalong. There are some great patterns there that I'm definitely going to check out.

For now it's on to take care of more things that need to be done before I start the new job this coming Monday. EEek!

Rhinebeck Recap

2005-10-17T10:00:00.000-04:00

What a great event! Saturday was the trip to Rhinebeck. While the weather started out less than stellar, it cleared up quickly which was really nice. We ran into a bit of a problem with a flooded out Taconic Parkway, but after a quick run to the facilities and some much needed food we hit the vendors around 12:30pm. I knew exactly what my first stop had to be. I've been hearing about how great the sock yarn from The Fold was for quite some time so I was really excited that they were going to be there. Unfortunately the specific colorway I wanted was sold out by the time I got there, but I still came home with one skein:

This is the Azure Malachite colorway which I still love. I wish you could all feel just how amazing this yarn really is. I'm definitely going to need a really special pattern for this pair of socks. I'm very happy to say that the colors they show on the website are really that amazing in person.

After completing mission #1 it was off to see the other vendors. There were so many barns full of so many yummy things it was really overwhelming. There was yarn, there were needles, there were patterns, there were completed items, there was roving in every color imaginable... the list just goes on and on! I just couldn't figure out to buy there were so many things. But there was one other mission I had to complete. Mission #2 was to get a drop spindle and some roving so I could learn to spin! Yes, I'm completely insane for allowing myself to get into yet another fiber addiction gateway, but it was an idea I'd been toying with for awhile.

Apparently Sneaksleep read my mind because it turns out that she had already made plans with Mamacate to get materials and a spinning lesson! They were nice enough to let me tag along and I ended up buying this:

3 carded batts and a bottom whorl drop spindle! After we had secured the supplies, Mamacate gave us a lesson:

That's Sneaksleep spinning her very first yarn. I followed soon after. It's a bit tricky to get the hang of drafting the roving while holding the top of the twist and then getting the spindle to spin. Definitely a two person exercise at first. So much so that there ended up being some tandem spinning later:

(Perhaps this should be a new olympic event?!)

Sneaksleep is helping me get things going a bit more here while we wait for our group to get ready to leave. I've done a little more since then and while I can do it pretty well when I use the technique of twisting the spindle up tight, holding it between my knees, and then letting the drafted roving go and spin up the slack, I can't seem to get the hang of getting the spindle to spin while I hold the yarn up in the air. I'm hoping Eklectica might be able to give me a few pointers this week (*waving to Eklectica from down the street*).

There were a couple of other funny things I saw that I couldn't resist taking pictures of:

The owner of this is either REALLY tall or thinks they were REALLY good this year!

I guess after a day of fiber mayhem the people aren't the only ones that need to sit down and take a break... but at least we usually don't sit on someone else!

After the gates closed at Rhinebeck there was still more fun to be had. Our group went out for dinner across the river and then it was on to Morehouse Merino for a look around the store. Most of us didn't really hit their booths at the festival since we knew we'd be making this stop on the way back.

I can't tell you how much I love this store. It is so big and well merchandised. They have all kinds of samples around so you can see the different patterns you can make with their lovely soft yarn. And they always have some free goodies in the back room (the hot cider is my favorite). While I've been drooling over a certain sweater they have on display (but apparently isn't on their website) for a couple of years now, the pocketbook wouldn't allow, so I came home with this instead:

The shawl in their laceweight (I still can't believe I got involved with more laceweight!) will be done in the brighter blue yarn for me. I'm planning it as something I can leave on the back of the chair at my new job since I was already told the climate control commands layering. The darker blue yarn is their two strand which is going to be a scarf for HWJF (who, by the way, had to be informed of the boyfriend sweater curse after a trip to a local bookstore/cafe on Friday. After hearing about it he replied "So is that why you haven't offered to knit me a sweater yet?" and also said "Don't you want to be the first to break the curse?" Perhaps I should get brave with such a willing recipient???). Hopefully we'll be able to pick out a pattern for that soon since I think it will make good train knitting.

It was a long day but a really fun one. I'm excited about the prospects of learning more about spinning and I definitely have some fun new projects ahead of me. Next year I just have to remember to put aside some more cash so I can bring more goodies home! And if you didn't get to go this year, make plans for next year. It's definitely worth the trip!

And be sure to check out Sneaksleep, Almost Felted and Woolybuns to read about their experiences during the day too!

Almost time for Rhinebeck!

2005-10-14T19:20:00.000-04:00

I can't believe tomorrow is Rhinebeck weekend already! How did it even GET to be October? I guess time flies when you're having fun. And time will certainly fly tomorrow, that's for sure. Now that my SnB New/North Haven buddies and I have the car situation figured out we are totally set. I just hope things dry out before then. If you live in the northeast or have read another blog written in the northeast you probably already know that we've been getting soaked for over a week in these parts. It's really getting to be a problem. I think I'm going to grow webbed feet if it doesn't stop soon. And driving for two hours tomorrow will not be fun if it doesn't clear up. Here's hoping the Taconic isn't closed!

In other random news I finally have a proper finished picture of Sitcom Chic as promised:

I'm really quite happy with how this turned out. I lengthened the sleeves a couple of inches and I feel like they hit me in a good place. The eyelets didn't quite turn out as open as I think they probably should have since I have a feeling I twisted the yarnovers when I knit into them, but it still gives it a decorative element. I can definitely use this for work too which definitely makes it A+ in my book right now. It was a fun knit with very good instructions and I still love to work with cotton ease. Good thing I still have plenty in my stash!

What am I gonna wear to Rhinebeck tomorrow? Still haven't quite figured that out. Shoes that won't mind mud will definitely be in order. Guess I better go decide! Expect a full report when I return. And if you see me, do say hi! Always nice to meet other bloggers. This is going to be so much fun!

Of toilets and sock yarn

2005-10-13T10:03:00.000-04:00

There is nothing quite like a toilet running water out the top of the tank to get your morning off to a great start. I guess the good news is it got me up and running and finishing this:

Yep. Sock number 1 of my fluted banisters is done. And not a moment too soon. Look how much yarn I had leftover:

I decided to make a minor modification. Instead of continuing the pattern down the instep I stopped and switched to all plain stockinette after the gusset was done. I didn't think I'd like all that bulk in a shoe anyway. I think that may have helped to save yarn.

Now I'm already thinking I want to start the next pair with this:

It's Trekking XXL that I picked up after my NYPL interview (yes there is an LYS right in the area! How dangerous is THAT gonna be?!?). So the burning question of the day:

What's the best way to split this into two balls, one for each sock?

I've tried doing this in the past and can't quite get it to come out even. Anyone with a brilliant solution out there?

And if you've used this yarn before, can a make a decent fabric with size 2s or do I really need to suck it up and get size 1s? It just seems so thin that I'm curious if 1s wouldn't be a better plan.

Next time there will be Sitcom photos. Promise.

Getting to Rhinebeck

2005-10-12T10:24:00.000-04:00

I realized after I put up my last post that I completely forgot to write about directions to Rhinebeck! So here are some fairly random but hopefully not altogether confusing thoughts:

The directions on the NYS Sheep and Wool Festival website are accurate and certainly will get you there. I would consider a few other options.

I-84 connects directly to the Taconic state parkway which is probably the fastest and most direct route from the east. If you've never been before you should know that this is a parkway in every sense (much like the Merrit in CT). If you are more comfortable with bigger highways, continue west on I-84 and follow the directions for the NY State Thruway. You'll have to pay tolls, but it might be worth the piece of mind.

Once exiting the Taconic, I would suggest staying on 199 (you have to go past Morehouse Merino and you should TOTALLY stop even though they are going to be at the Festival. The store is amazing and totally worth the time.) and making a left onto 9G south then a right on 9 south. Going through the other direction can be more problematic traffic wise.

One other thing to be aware of: On the return trip, the Taconic was closed just South of Poughkeepsie. I'm guessing this may be due to the flooding we've been having in the Northeast this week. I would definitely keep an eye on this as you get into the area. If it's still closed this weekend, it might be worth taking the NYS Thruway south to I-84 on the way back. There is a detour from the Taconic, but it could take awhile on the way back, especially if you are traveling after the festival ends on Sunday (foliage traffic going back to NYC).

I hope this all makes sense. I'd be happy to answer any questions about getting there. Just drop me an e-mail (link in the right sidebar) or leave a comment.

I'm so excited about the trip. I know at least two vendors that I am almost definitely getting stuff from and now that I have a job I'll actually have the money to pay it off. Does anyone know if the vendors take credit cards? And is there a total mad rush when the gates open or what?

Now all we have to do is hope the weather behaves....

So much to do....

2005-10-11T09:42:00.000-04:00

Thank you all so much for the congratulatory comments on the new job. I'm very excited about all of this. It's definitely going to be a big change, but it's nice to know that I might finally be able to get on with the rest of my life. I'm really no longer a student! It's a nice feeling.

Obviously there is a lot to do in preparation for the change and it mostly involves this:

Yes, there has been some serious shopping going on. Comfortable shoes being the biggest priority. I think I've got myself pretty well covered at this point. Just a few more things to go. I went home this weekend and visited the folks. We did a little celebrating with a wonderful home cooked meal and little shopping. I also got my winter clothes back and packed away some summer stuff. It was nice to see some of the things I made last winter again! I'd almost forgotten about things like my Dusty Miller. It's like meeting up with an old friend.

There has been some knitting in the meantime between trying to get my life together. I joined this:

In hopes of it motivating me to finish these:

Yep. Still plugging away at the Fluted Banister socks from the 6 sox knitalong year 1. Only this time I'm doing it with 60 stitches instead of 80. MUCH better fit! And just to recap, I'm using Silja yarn which is 80% superwash wool and 20% nylon. This particular pattern makes for a nice "squishy" texture in the pattern and I think they will wear well thanks to the nylon.

Since Lolly posted it, I took this quiz:

Wow! You would have been a pair of socks as long as it's possible for socks to be before they're tights - and all multi-colored with pretty patterns and detail all over the place - then you could stand and admire your sock-self all day!

What type of sock are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Apparently I have quite the penchant for socks (like I didn't know that). I'm hoping to have several more pairs in the coming months. I think they will make great train knitting. In fact, I may start another pair before I start the new job, just so I have something more to talk about for the knitalong.

Next time: Hopefully there will be a finished picture of Sitcom and more sock progress....

The big announcement

2005-10-06T06:36:00.000-04:00

So I told you last post that I would have a big announcement on Thursday. Without further ado, here it is:

I GOT A JOB!!

Yes. That's right. A real, honest to goodness, full-time, we-give-you-days-to-get-sick-and-we-still-pay-you-and-even-pay-for-your-doctor's-bill JOB! Yesterday afternoon I officially accepted the position as the new music cataloger at the New York Public Library. I can't even begin to tell you how happy, excited, scared, nervous and all around freeked out I am about this. I have a real job. A real job that I will spend four hours a day commuting to and from (can you say "Serious Knitting Time", 'cause I sure can!). A real job that will pay for my health insurance. A real job that will make me ~~pretend to~~ behave like a grown-up. I'm so freeked out by all this that I even woke up at 5am this morning without an alarm! (I'd normally be pissed as hell about that fact but I guess I'd better get used to it.)

I start October 24th and I have to be there at 9am. While I'm really going to miss my colleagues at Yale, I am already dreaming about what it will mean to have health insurance that my parents don't have to practically mortgage their home to pay for and money to buy groceries without worrying about paying the rent. Not to mention having my own desk, my own computer, my own chair... This all couldn't come at a better time.

So what did I do to celebrate?

Sabres 6 - Islanders 4

Hockey baby!! The first game of the new season after a year long lockout and my Sabres won the home opener!! And I even got to see it!! (It ain't easy to get your team on t.v. when you live 9 hours away.) I did have to sacrifice SnB time for it, but I'll try to make up for that tonight. Notice the requisite order of wings for the festivities. That is very important. They may only be New Haven wings, but one must have the proper food for first game of the season hockey watching.

Could this week get any better?

Oh yeah. The answer is YES! Wallace and Gromit comes out tomorrow and I'm going to see it with HWJF! And then I'm going home on Saturday to visit my parents.

Life is good. I'm a very lucky girl.

A quick little meme...

2005-10-05T08:45:00.000-04:00

I'm doing this because I saw it in lots of other places and I thought it might be interesting.

Ten Years Ago: I was in my senior year of High School and the most important thing on my mind was whether or not I'd get into my first choice of college, which happened to be SUNY Fredonia. I was practicing the bassoon like a crazy girl and spending all my free time in the band room.

Five Years Ago: I was going through what was probably one of the worst months of my life. I started my first master's at Yale and 4 days later my grandmother died. I felt completely out of my element at school and couldn't figure out how or why they had let me in. New Haven scared the crap out of me (it was the "big city"), I missed my boyfriend who was living outside of Buffalo like crazy, and was so homesick and depressed I was going back to my parent's place in NY every weekend. One of my roommates was non-existant and the other was a complete asshole. And on top of everything, I hit a deer on my way back to CT from NY one night and smashed the front of my car. Things were definitely not going my way.

One Year Ago: I was starting my final research project and my next to last semester of my MLS. I was playing gigs on a fairly regular basis and hanging out with my new found Stitch 'n Bitch buddies whenever I could. And I was working at the library 15 hrs. a week and starting to do more original cataloging and authority work when I could.

Button button who's got the button??

2005-10-03T23:12:00.000-04:00

I do! Sitcom is done and after a little button shopping with Sami I ended up with these:

I think they will work out pretty well. Just have to get them on and get the official finished object picture taken. HWJF already offered to take it for me. :-)

Once that's done I'll definitely be gearing up for Samus. I joined the knitalong yesterday and will be swatching soon. I thought a smaller project might be good in the meantime so I'm taking another stab at this:

No I'm not stabbing my poor little kitty! That's the beginning of the fluted banister socks again. Although Miss Kitty was looking to die last night when I discovered after leaving said sock unattended on the couch for 1.5 min. that she had cut my yarn for me. >:-( I was not a happy camper.

Since several people asked, I'm planning on going to Rhinebeck on Saturday the 15th. Turns out I have a gig the next day so it works out fine. I'm also planning on posting directions to the blog sometime next week. Last year, some people from our SnB group went and the directions they got were not good at all.

This weekend I'm planning on going back to NY to visit my folks, check directions, exchange summer clothes for winter ones and enjoy a home cooked meal. It's hard to believe that I have to do the season change of closet space already, but it is getting chilly around here.

The trip home should be a great cap to what is shaping up to be the best week ever. Wednesday I'll be home watching opening day of hockey season (I'll miss my SnB buds, but I think they'll understand)! My Sabres are even playing the Islanders so I'll actually get to see them and I can't wait. They've done really well in the preseason which is making me a little nervous, but I'll just be SO happy to have hockey back!! Friday I have a date for the new Wallace & Gromit movie!! That is going to be just awesome. And Thursday I expect to be making a big announcement. Some of you who read the blog already know, so don't spoil the surprise ok?! ;-)

And most of all, a very Happy Birthday to my Grandpa who is 86 years old today! Hope you had a great day Grandpa!!

We've got sleeves!

2005-10-01T18:43:00.000-04:00

Thank you everyone for all the nice comments I received on my second Clapotis. I'm really enjoying it a lot now that the weather here in CT has turned a bit cooler.

Thursday HWJF and I went up to the Big E. Both of us had never been before so it seemed like a good idea for something to do on a day off. Despite the hurricane force winds and rain that pounded us for a while and then the freezing temperatures that followed we still managed to have a good time (the camera didn't make an appearance considering the weather). We ate way too much of course but we saw some interesting shows and best of all there was hot apple cider in the Vermont building. The craft displays were quite beautiful and there was definitely some amazing knitting and crocheting to see. The "fiber nook" had some nice deals on some yarn, but I'm saving what little money I have for Rhinebeck.

I do have to say though, being that this is the Eastern states exposition, I was feeling a bit left out as a native New Yorker. We may not be New England, but were are East! Then again, as HWJF pointed out, calling the place the big N might not have been the best idea...

Today I returned some good moving karma in the morning and the rest of the afternoon has been spent watching rather boring, blowout football games. I love me my football, but at least be within a 20 point spread! Geez.

During the driving to the Big E and this afternoon I've made some serious progress on Sitcom:

I've got sleeves! Always a good thing for a cardigan to have.

And I just finished the yoke detailing:

The eyelets aren't showing up much, but maybe that will look better after a bit of blocking. I also realized that I need to find a button for this pretty soon if I want to finish it. It would be nice to wear it a couple of times before it gets too cold.

The only major modification so far, I lengthened the sleeves a couple of inches. I think it was a good move considering when I tried it on a little while ago they were still 3/4 sleeves despite the extra inches. I'd hate to think what they would have been like otherwise!

And now I leave you with this meme I saw over at Knitting and 9-0:

1) Being gay is not natural. Real Americans always reject unnatural things like eyeglasses, polyester, liposuction and air conditioning.

2) Gay marriage will encourage people to be gay, in the same way that hanging around tall people will make you tall.

3) Legalizing gay marriage will open the door to all kinds of crazy behavior. People may even wish to marry their pets because a dog has legal standing and can sign a marriage contract.

4) Straight marriage has been around a long time and hasn't changed at all; women are still property, blacks still can't marry whites, and divorce is still illegal.

5) Straight marriage will be less meaningful if gay marriage were allowed; the sanctity of Britney Spears' 55-hour just-for-fun marriage would be destroyed.

6) Straight marriages are valid because they produce children. Gay couples, infertile couples, and old people shouldn't be allowed to marry because our orphanages aren't full yet, and the world needs more children.

7) Obviously gay parents will raise gay children, since straight parents only raise straight children.

8) Gay marriage is not supported by religion. In a theocracy like ours, the values of one religion are imposed on the entire country. That's why we have only one religion in America.

9) Children can never succeed without a male and a female role model at home. That's why we as a society expressly forbid single parents to raise children.

10) Gay marriage will change the foundation of society; we could never adapt to new social norms. Just like we haven't adapted to cars, the service-sector economy, or longer life spans...

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Re-post this if you believe in legalizing gay marriage
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One down, another on the needles...

2005-09-26T22:59:00.000-04:00

Presenting a finished Clapotis #2!

Here's another look:

(Photos courtesy of HWJF. Can you believe he told me the other night that not only does he think my knitting is cool, but my blogging about it is too?! I think I'll keep him around for a while. ;-) )

I took Clapotis #2 out on the town Sunday night with HWJF and Sami. (Do go check out Sami's finished Blaze. It's absolutely beautiful!) Please remember that I am almost 6 feet tall and that will give you some idea why I was having such a hard time holding this thing up. It's huge! It blocked out to be way bigger than the finished measurements called for and I still had yarn to spare (unlike some other recent projects *ahem*). Turns out the yarn vendor is actually in NY (I got this at the CT Sheep and Wool festival. WTF?!) so it may be easier to acquire more of this yarn than I first thought.

My focus for now is on Sitcom Chic. I'm almost done with the first sleeve:

I think that I'm going to make the sleeves a little longer than called for in the pattern since I have plenty of yarn (stop laughing!) and 3/4 sleeves tend to bug me a bit. I'm doing that by just knitting a few more rounds after the increases are finished. I'm hoping that won't mess with the way the thing fits in any other way than sleeve length. If I'm wrong, please stop me now!