I actually finished something!

I was hoping the first FO of the year would be something I had started in 2009 but it was not to be. Last night rather than continuing on the pinwheel blanket that never ends I finished my first washcloth of the year:


The week has been crazy with classes starting but overall rush has been really smooth. I can't take credit though Spring rush has been like that for a number of years. Sadly I'm off to work today. I'd rather be in LI wishing a certain yarn shop co-owner a happy birthday!

Where the hell have I been?

It's been a crazy nine months. In my last post I hinted that professionally something had changed and it sure did. I was promoted to store manager of my bookstore. Unfortunately for the first 6 months or so the meant doing my old buying job and the new store manager job. This left very little time for anything else. It's smoothed out a bit in October. We're gearing up for a big move soon where two stores will be combined and the manager of that store will take over all the buying so I can focus on the store management. I sucked at it for quite awhile since I never balance well but the last few months have been much, much better. My boss has been very patient as well since he understood he was asking a lot.

We also got throw for a bit of a loop this past November when Ian's teacher said she felt we needed to find him another school for third grade. We've avoided an official diagnosis of his issues for years since he was getting the support he needed and doing well but his teacher feels A- if we leave the city to assess him he'll be kicked out of special ed since academically he's doing great. That would be bad because a large classroom would overwhelm him and we'd be back where we started. B- if we managed to keep him in special ed she didn't have confidence that the spec ed teacher for third grade would be a good fit for him. Not to mention as the kids get older in spec ed there are more behavioral and emotional disturbed kids and that's not Ian.

We're looking at programs now and we may have found a great spot for him but we're still in process so I won't jinx it by discussing it here. Suffice it to say that I think we'll have this settled in the next couple of months.

Have I been knitting? A bit. I have tons of WIPs. In fact I joined a Facebook group to work them off. This is what I'm working on now. A pinwheel blanket:


It's actually the second of two for twins who were born months ago. I just can't seem to get it done. First I ran out of yarn, then Knit Picks ran out of yarn so I've only picked it up again recently. I'm in the home stretch now though.

I'm also doing the monthly dischloth KAL again. They sure came in handy as holiday gifts! Here is the first one of 2010:



I won't make any promises about posting but hopefully I'll find a schedule that works. If any of you are even still out there, lol.

Congrats to my two dear friends Ann and Kathleen for their recent purchase of a lovely little yarn shop. I am equal parts thrilled and jealous for them!

Happy New Year!

A sucker for a good meme

I always have something to say but I never get around to writing it. On this lazy, rainy afternoon in these last moments of the workday. I give you a meme:


Do you nap? Not as much as I'd like.

What was the last thing you bought? For myself? A West Side Story t-shirt.

What are you listening to right now? The Daytime Confidential Guiding Light Cancellation podcast.

What is your favourite weather? Thunderstorms or a nice misty rain if I'm outside.

What’s on your bedside table?A lamp, a water bottle, books, comics, clock radio.

What are you currently reading? Easter Rising

Name the things you can’t live without. Books, music and food.

What would you like to have in your hands right now? A winning lottery ticket.

What is your favourite tea flavour? Chai.

What would you like to get rid of? About 50 pounds.

What is your favorite scent of candle? Pumpkin Pie.

What did you want to become as a child? A rock star, an archaeologist and a writer.

What's your favorite brand of jeans? JC Penney

Say something to the person/s who tagged you: Gina my dear what can I say. No one gets my inner goth girl as well as you and there are few women who can keep up as well as you with my level of snark. You are a dear friend who I absolutely don't spend enough time with!!!

I am going to tag Roe since she rarely blogs anymore (not that I'm one to talk) and Chante since she is trying to get back on the blog horse.

Have a great weekend.

At least I finished stuff...

...even if I didn't blog.

Opening a new store requires tons and tons of meetings. Plus I have real work to do so that greatly cuts into my free time at work, which from my employer's perspective is a good thing. Last week I was on vacation but I was in a full out lazy mode. I spent the majority of it on the couch watching DVDs and knitting. There were also successful parent teacher conferences as well which was a nice note to end on.

While I've been silent it's been a veritable finish-pa-looza. Are you ready?

The mid-March dishcloth:
...the Buffy socks:
...a baby hoodie from Debbie Bliss Simple Knits:
The March dishcloth:
Happy? I missed 2 weeks but you get 4 fo's for your suffering.

Do you realize I have finished more projects in the past 3 months than I did in all of 2008? Yup 11 was the total in 2008, I have now finished 14 items. Damn.

I have two books to review this week so hopefully you'll be hearing from me again this week;)

Combo post

I'll do my Monday finished object post and a Random Wednesday post. It's like getting 2 for the price of one. I am stimulating your blog economy!

I felt the pressure this weekend about the finished object a week issue. I would have finished the Buffy sock but I accidentally skipped the last pattern repeat and went straight to the heel. This led to frogging a finished heel. I was a bit pissed about it Thursday so Friday I inadvertently left my knitting home. I'm guessing it was on purpose subconsciously.

This meant I had a crisis. No fo to show on Monday! Oh my gods! Whatever will I do? Enabler extraordinaire Dani to the rescue. She's starting making Tribbles with her washcloth leftovers. As soon as I saw one I knew I had to make one (or 50) too. My first one is a bit wonky but workable:


It's a good little pot scrubber and took all of an afternoon to make.

I did not go back to the Buffy sock. I decided to cast on for a baby sweater for a pregnant co-worker. I'm using the Debbie Bliss Simple Knits book, the Hooded Sweater patter. I started with the sleeves:


...now I'm up to the hood:
Can I mention that Bron is so, so right? I am loving the Cotton Ease I am using for this project. The drape is great, it's soft but sturdy and amazing stitch definition. It is now in my top 5 favorite yarns.

For the random, Avery loves the Questionable Content webcomic but Roe posted this on Facebook today so I stole it. Too funny.

Julie had this on her blog:

Your International Spy Name is Electra Sparks

Your Code Name: The Pharmacist You Reside in: Prague Why You're a Good Spy: You're a good lover

What's Your International Spy Name?

Oh yes I am so Electra Sparks!

February 365

I hate when work gets in the way of blogging. I'll get back to regular posting on Monday but since today is the last day of the month I'll share with you the pictures I took in February. There was a theme this month, "what I love about where I live" so there are a number of neighborhood shots.

View slideshow

Have a great weekend!

If it's Monday something must be finished

There's really no way I can keep this up but I will enjoy it for as long as I can. My latest finished item is the mid-month dishcloth and with batteries in the camera now you can almost see the true colors:



It's actually not the best shot but it is the closest to the actual colors so I decided to go with it.

I also finished the sleeves for my sweater:



I liked the way they came out. It makes me have high hopes for the sweater. I also solved my sock issues on the Buffy sock. That is what I'm working on at the moment. I need to borrow a cable for the Knit Picks needles from Maribel for the sweater. I'll ask her to bring it to knitting tomorrow.

I managed to get most of the housework done over the week so the weekend was pretty relaxing. If only I could be disciplined enough to do that all the time but that's a battle long lost. I'll just try to do it as much as I can and not get too upset when I fall back into lazy habits.

Guess I'd better get to work. It's a long week ahead.

Happy Monday all!

What I'm working on

Julie asked now that I've finished all those things, what am I working on now? So glad you asked!

In December I won a Knit Picks contest for yarn. I had to choose one of three patterns from the most recent Knitty and once I won I was able to pick the size and color and they sent me the yarn. I choose Everybody Knows. As is my tradition when doing sweaters I started with a sleeve (the batteries are dead in the camera so it's cell phone shots for now):

It's Wool of the Andes Kettle Dyed in wine. I had major gauge issues at first but going up to a 10 1/2 needle seems to have me on track (it's supposed to be a 9).

I also have my second monthly washcloth:

It's impossible to tell in this shot but it's brown and yellow which go really nicely together. Can I tell you how much I look forward to this each month? I really enjoy seeing the pattern emerge and this one is a particular favorite.

I also finally cast on for the second buffy/nutkin sock. Unfortunately once the crazy ass cuff was done I started the pattern and twice I've screwed it up. My stitch count is right and I don't recall having any issues previously so it's obviously me. Once the dishcloth is done I'll revisit it as my "break from the sweater" project.

What's on your needles?

A Plethora of FOs

I didn't finish one project last week. I finished two even though one is kind of cheating.

These for example have been finished for months but I couldn't be bothered to sew on the buttons. On Friday I finally did:


I also finished my February washcloth. It took a little longer than usual because I had a sinus headache off and on the week before. The idea of reading a pattern was a little beyond my means at that point. I did manage to finish it last week finally:



I also thought I'd show you how the hat looks on it's recipient. Mr. Ian loved it and wears it proudly:


I've cast on for a couple of projects but I ran into gauge issues on one and pattern weirdness on the other. I'll show those to you Wednesday.

Yet another finished object and it's not even Monday!

I was ready to post on Monday but I was in meetings all day and never got it done. Then yesterday I had work to get done quickly because I was leaving early to go to...Avery's new high school! He got into the one we wanted him to get into. It's less than 400 students and is the only specialized high school to focus on the humanities, the others have a math and science focus. Avery says he has found his "tribe". We're all very happy. It's close to home as well and is housed on a college campus so he has use of many of the college's facilities. I think it's going to be great for him.

For your patience I will give you not one but two finished objects today. First up a hat for Ian:


It's the Turn a Square hat by Jared Flood. It's meant to be used for different yarns but I used just one. I also sped up the end decreases because it's for Ian and it was going to be too long. He has a big head so I normally do adult patterns for him but this one really needed to be shorter. This makes it a bit more gathered at the top. I haven't tried it on him yet so I've left the ends loose in case I don't like it and decide to rip back and pull an inch off the right way.

I also finished the Smallville socks:

The gauge on them is disgustingly loose if you ask me, due to my failed magic loop attempt but Rinaldo loves them and that's all that matters. They also fit perfectly:


Happy hump day peoples!

How did I miss Monday?

Maybe because I am sick. There is lovely stuff coming up from my lungs and I'm weak as a kitten. This lead to me missing my Monday post. I do have a finished object to show you. My star crossed cable beret is done.

Blocking:

Obligatory mirror shot:

and from the back:


That's all I got. I'm going to pass out now.

Plurk Craft 365

With all the drama going on in the online knitting world at the moment I thought a nice quiet post was in order so here is my 365 set for January (due to a lack of counting skills I actually have posted through tomorrow, lol):

View slideshow

Happy Friday!

Progress and presents

I attended knitting group last night for the first time in months. This led to a great deal of progress on my beret:

I'm even further along now. Once I finish I'll get back to the smallville sock. If I don't it will become an orphan indefinitely.

I received a package yesterday, not unexpected but appreciated nonetheless. Julie sent me some books. She needed to make room for new aquisitions;)
Thanks Julie, I can't wait to start!

To puff out this piece a bit here's a new meme. The sleep meme stolen from Tea Bird

1. How long do you sleep each night?
7 hours

2. Do you fall asleep easily?
Now I do, when I was a kid I had horrible insomnia. It still rears up occasionally but rarely.

3. Do you fall asleep at times not in your bed?
on the couch but that's about it, the husband can fall asleep anywhere

4. Do you listen to music or use white noise to sleep?
neither

5. Do you sleep through the night or get up a couple of times?
sleep through the night

6. Do you have trouble sleeping away from your own bed?
yes

7. Do you need an alarm clock to get you up?
yes most days I'll wake up before it but I sleep through enough times to make it a necessity. My youngest is actually an excellent alarm clock though;)

8. Do you ever take medication to help you sleep?
sometimes advil pm

9. Do you/have you slept with pets?
yup my cats both share the bed most nights

Monday morning finished object

I am on quite the roll here. Having given up on the two socks one circ idea suddenly socks became fun again. Here's the proof:

I know it's cheating a bit to call one finished sock a finished object but I've been working on these since September so I'll take some gratification where I can get it.

Rather than starting on the second sock right away, I decided I desperately needed a hat. So I cast on for the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret (rav link):

It's in Lush which I won in a blog contest from Chris millions of years ago. It's been marinating for just the right project. I couldn't find my 11s yesterday so I started it on 10 1/2s but Kathleen (who I was having lunch with) jinxed me and of course they were too small, way too small. So I'm on a 13 today and the gauge seems spot on. It's a little odd since it's a worsted but I'm guessing the loose gauge gives it the slouchy effect. The pattern is fun and the yarn is decadent so I'll be monogamous until it's done.

What are you working on?

I give up!

I have officially given up on my 2 socks at one time on magic loop. Once I got to the ankle/heel decreases I realized how much I actually hate doing it that way. It simply wasn't fun and life is too short to do something I don't enjoy. So last night I went back to my comfort zone:


This morning on the train I was zipping along happily on my sock. I'm always happy to try something new but if it ain't fun, it ain't worth continuing:D

I did finish my washcloth yesterday though:



The picture sucks. The weird colors, while kind of pretty in person, do not allow the pattern to show in a picture. Trust me, it's cute. I certainly enjoyed the few rows a day commitment. I'm glad I signed up.

Speaking of commitments Sassenach had a link to an annual challenge, 52 books in 52 weeks. I read 67 books last year but as you all know my knitting greatly suffered. Since I hope to focus more on my knitting this year I thought this would be a good thing to participate in to keep up my reading.

It's almost Friday!!!

Another Monday, another finished object

Yup I finished yet another project. Avery complains that I don't knit as much for him as everyone else. He has a point. I bought yarn to make him a scarf on winter break in 2007 and it took me until January 2009 to make him one:


He's getting a ton of compliments on it so we're both happy. I bought yarn to make a hat to match. Hopefully I won't take as long to get to that as I did the scarf.

All this knitting has helped me get my mojo back. To keep it fed I am trying to do small projects to keep me gratified while doing bigger ones as well. Dani inspired me to join the:

There are two patterns a month and the moderator sends 7-10 rows a day for 7 days. That's a committment I can handle. This is where I was after day 3:

Ian and I went to go see Hotel for Dogs on Saturday. It was very cute by the way. I highly recommend it for the 10 and under set. We planned on seeing it on 86th Street since Avery was hanging out with his godmother for the day and she works up there. Unfortunately the two teen girls on line in front of me took the last two tickets, literally, after they handed over their money their cashier turned on her mike and announced the show was sold out.

Ian and I then ran downtown to 42nd street to catch it at another theater. We then had to head back up to 86th to get Avery and then head home. About 30 minutes after we got home this is where he was:
Passed out on the couch.

Sweetest 16

Way back in November my favorite cousin in law hit the big one six and in this day of Super Sweet 16 there was a large party involved. Her mom did an excellent job of keeping up with the Joneses without going completely over the top.

My favorite part was Ian. He would not leave the dance floor. Here he is with his cousin Zeyda doing the Electric Slide:


Cheyenne has grown into a lovely and intelligent young woman so she is well worth celebrating. Here she is with Avery who considers her his best friend:
This was her third clothing change for the night;)

The only decent shot of me came from Rinaldo's IPhone. It got a lot of comments on my Facebook site so I will deign to share it with you all as well;)

It was fun playing dress up for a night. I wouldn't want to do it very often but every once in awhile it's well worth it.

Fiber Filled New Year

The first full week of the new year and I'm already off to a good start fiber wise. My first finished object of the year. New mittens for Ian:


I used a basic mitten pattern and referred to the playground mitten pattern for the slits which are a popular feature in this house:
Just before Christmas I won a Knit Picks contest. Yarn in the color of my choice to make this pattern. Enough yarn for the size of my choice as well:

The color is Wine in Wool of the Andes Kettle Dyed since I seem to have uploaded the sucky picture rather than the good one. Sorry about that!

I received my last fiber of the month shipment from Spunky Eclectic. I still love the fiber but I'm so behind on my spinning I decided to stop getting them every month. I also ordered two more skeins of Smooshy to add to my birthday gift from Kathleen so I can re-start Jeannie in the yarn it was made for:

The NYU Knitting group had a meet-up at the new Lion Brand store. Sadly I was unable to attend but Amanda gave me a present anyway:


They gave them to everyone in the group. Dude you can really fit some yarn in there!

Try to have a good Monday all!

Plurk Craft 365

I've joined some other plurkers in a 365 project. As some of you may know there are various Flickr groups that post picture a picture everyday. Zarzuela started a Flickr group for Plurk crafters to share their pictures. I figure once a month I'll share them here rather than cluttering the blog with them. I'll just post a link to my set so you can visit if you like.

Plurk Craft 365

Yarn shopping

A few weeks back Tisha, Amanda and I took a trip to the new Lion Brand Studio store on 15th street.

I love the guy in the window who greets you as you walk up to the door:


Then there was the yarn:
...and Bron for you there was the massive amounts of Cotton Ease (it's two of the rows diagonally down the middle):
Tisha and Amanda fondled their fair share:
This is my favorite part, free swatching!
They have a lovely seating area where you can sit, knit and look at their book selection (not huge but good enough). The staff was friendly and helpful. They've invited our NYU Knitters ravelry group to meet there. Certainly you won't find more reasonably priced yarn in Manhattan, of course it's only LB stuff but it's amazing to see how far they've branched out over the years. It's definitely worth a visit.