February 14, 2005
Ta Da!
Well, I had quite a productive weekend. The karate tournament went surprisingly well - I ended up second in the kata competition and I won the sparring! Surprise, surprise. I have bruises all over my body, but it was fun.
I finished the cami and am quite pleased with it. I found a little mistake, but it was after I had washed it and I'm not ripping it out to fix it - hopefully no one will notice! Here's a picture - disregard the ugly towel, it's still drying. So, I'm checking that off my list. I also finished the super skinny scarf. What a quick knit. I didn't really feel like I spent that much time on it yesterday because I ended up reading my lovely romance novel and doing some errands (more on that later), but still finished it at about 10:00 last night. The colors are darker than I wanted, but I couldn't find the pastels so I went with the purple, electric blue, and hot pink (although the colors don't come through in the photos). I hope the recipient likes it. I'm thinking that I need to make one for myself. Hmmm, another project? Now on to the pink and green fun scarf. I'm thinking of doing it in a narrow version too. Maybe not quite as skinny as this one (it's only 2 inches wide), but I'm liking the skinny rather than the wide version. I'm going to play around with the yarn at lunch. I'll let you know what I figure out. I hope my legwarmer yarn comes this week (they sent me an e-mail telling me they shipped it on Friday) because I'm going to be ready to start by this weekend. At this rate I might just get them finished while it is still cold and I need them. Here's hopin'.
So, I had to go buy a Valentine's card for my hubby and a couple of cards for a baby shower and Ash's wedding shower. So, the outdoor store is on the same block as the Hallmark. Can you see where this is going? I've been wanting a down jacket for awhile - I actually asked for one for Christmas, but didn't get one. Anyway, I've looked on line and haven't found one that I absolutely loved, but I've been looking. I went in yesterday and they had two that I really liked. My plan was to look and find out what I like, look around and find out when this store was going to have a sale - comparison shop. The guy in the store says that the down just went off sale, but he'd give me either jacket at the sale price. I'm such a sucker I tell ya. The Patagonia jacket was a great color and the arms were really long - sold. I have absolutely no will power. The justification to myself is that I really do need the jacket and I got it at a good price (I probably could have done better elsewhere on the exact same jacket, but I really try to buy things locally if possible - and when I have a yarn store I hope other people will shop with me rather than online whenever possible). So, now I need a really great scarf to wear with my really pretty iris colored jacket (the good news is that this morning in a quick search I can't find it cheaper than what I paid - actually everywhere has been quite a bit more. I'm feeling better and better!)
Have a great day!
Posted by Stephanie at 9:04 AMFebruary 11, 2005
Look Before You Leap
I finished the back right side of the cami and started my merry little way up the right front side, just a cruisin' along and then it dawned on me that I had forgotten to bind off 4 stitches for the stupid armhole - on the first row. That sound you hear is me cussing up a blue streak. So, left with no choice, a rippin' I went. Now ripping in itself annoyes the hell out of me because I'm anal and absolutely hate to make mistakes. It's the perfectionist in me who just goes nuts when that happens, but when ripping the lovely Mystik it is inevitable that dropped stitches will result - slippery stuff I tell ya. So not only did I have to rip out 6 rows, but I had to pick up about 10 dropped stitches with the crochet hook I'm beginning to despise - stupid thing gets more work than my needles, but I'd be up a creek without it. So, just because life is so perverse, after the ripping party, I discovered that I had a tangled mess of yarn - it could be all of the dividing and that I have 3 balls of yarn going, but still. I considered trying to work with the pile of crap that was now my yarn, but I just couldn't do it - that anal thing again. So, 45 minutes later I had the 3 balls separated and wound back amonst themselves and segregated into ziplock bags (well except for the one in play). Interestingly, while straightening out my little mess I found a section of yarn about 2 feet long that wasn't part of the ball - it was just hanging out separately. How and why is it there? Haven't got a clue, but clearly I can't use it. Hmmm. Another little annoyance for the day - oh goody. Despite all of the trauma and turmoil, I am back on track and moving right along on the right front section of the cami. I-cord, here I come. Thank God for knitting help, don't know what I'd do without those wonderful little videos.
I had karate class last night - last one before the dreaded tournament. I've been neglecting my kata for my knitting - maybe not the best choice of priorities, but it's too late now. I really need to spend a bit of time today practicing - hmm, hope I can squeeze that in. Oh, and did I mention that someone is going to beat the crap out of me during the sparring portion. I hate sparring. Ya, I'm whining, but come on - why would any sane person agree to voluntarily fight with a stranger for 2 minutes? If you figure it out, let me know because I'm kinda questioning my mental stability right now.
The second round of fabric for the living room curtains came yesterday. A bright spot in an otherwise pretty worthless day. This weekend is out for the construction of said curtains because my mom is busy on Sunday (Saturday is the stupid tournament) and I can't do it by myself - I'm scared and not that handy with pins and sewing machine! So, it's looking like it will be next weekend before the curtain project kicks off again. Might be a good thing, I'm going to need Sunday for the cami - it has to be mailed by Wednesday. I've taken to chanting, "I'll get it done, I'll get it done..." And I wonder why Travis has dubbed me "Crazy Old Lady Anesi"? Hmm, a mystery to be sure. ;-)
Posted by Stephanie at 8:57 AMFebruary 6, 2005
I Got Yarn!
It's been like Christmas all over again around here. I got the yarn for the cami and 2 Rebecca magazines on Friday. I gotta tell ya, the project ideas are stacking up in my little brain! Here's the GGH Mystik - what do you think? I couldn't wait to cast on the 192 stitches I needed for the cami, but I made myself finish the second version of the hat for my sister. I sent her both of them and she can decide which one fits better, but I feel better that the second one wasn't so big. Anyway, I got started with the mystik yesterday afternoon and have now started my first project knitted in the round. Kind of scary, but it seems to be going all right. I finished the ribbing portion and am now on to the body. Here's the ribbing - it's designed to have some twisted stitches and eyelets in it - more girly I guess. I got the circular needle I needed to finish Travis' sweater and did that yesterday afternoon. It turned out well and I think he'll actually wear it (at least I hope so). He wanted to wear it yesterday, but couldn't because the neck wasn't finished, but it made me feel good. Here's the finished product.
I also got the Muench Naturwolle for the super skinny scarf and some pretty fun yarn for a scarf I plan to give as a gift. Very different yarns, but both will be fun to work with. And since I didn't have enough going on I made some stitch markers. I was inspired by some photos I saw on KR and some really expensive stitch markers I found on the web. Mine aren't anything special, but they are different and I need them for the cami. What do you think?
I'm going to hang my curtains up this afternoon and will post a picture when they're up. Otherwise, I'm going to knit and do laundry while the Super Bowl is on the tv. It's kind of a yucky day and it seems like a good idea to stay inside next to the fire. Have a good day.
Posted by Stephanie at 11:01 AMFebruary 3, 2005
Some People
My brother-in-law is getting married this summer and if we survive the wedding, it will be a miracle. I really don't know why people think that planning a large (like 500 people) event is no big deal and anyone with access to the internet can do it without a problem. Now, I may be a bit biased in this area because my mom is an event planner and does simply fabulous work and when she offered her assistance it was not well received. However, despite all of that, it seems that some people are just clueless. People with no idea or experience in setting up large tents should not try to do it on the day of the wedding with absolutely no professional guidance. Call me crazy, but I see disaster all over that! Anyway, enough of my ranting about trainwreck weddings.
My hat is coming along, but I had to rip out about 5 rows last night - twice. I probably shouldn't have worried about it because the mistake was on an edge stitch, but I wanted it to be right so a rippin' I went. Despite that, I still got one of the 4 V's for the hat shaping finished. By the way, decreasing sucks. I don't generally mind your every day knit 2 together kind of thing, but when you're trying to decrease on the purl side so that the decrease slants in the proper direction on the knit side and you have to do it on each side of every row and the pattern gives you no advise other than "decrease", I get a little cranky. However, thanks to Vogue Knitting I think it came out fine. Only 3 more V's to go - yippee.
I ordered yarn for the honeymoon cami from a wonderful little store in Omaha - Personal Threads. I had no idea finding GGH Mysik would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Not the easiest thing I've ever done - I had to call about 6 stores. I ended up calling Churchmouse Yarns & Teas in Seattle and they found the store in Omaha for me. Very nice people there and wonderful customer service. I'll definately try them again. I finally purchased the required number of balls and hope the color I have in mind is what I get. The lady was very helpful and thought the color she had sounded just like the celedon I was looking for. I sure hope so because I won't have time to send it back if it's wrong. I'm hoping that since it went out UPS yesterday and Omaha is fairly close to me that it will come by tomorrow so I can start on it this weekend. That will give me about 10 -12 days to get it finished before I have to send it off. Yikes - I'll have to burn the midnight oil on this one! Oh well, what is life without a little procrastination and a deadline looming?? :)
Posted by Stephanie at 9:24 AMFebruary 2, 2005
Decisions, Decisions
I'm trying to decide what I should make for my best friend for her bridal shower. Ashley, if you're reading this - STOP. It will ruin the surprise. Now, keep in mind the shower is February 19th - ya, I know it's like two weeks away. Nobody every accused me of being a planner. I like to kid myself that I'm organized, but I assure you that isn't the case.
The choices are: 1) the honeymoon cami from knitty in a celedon green (which is one of her wedding colors), a fun and sexy gift, 2) the everything bag from Hollywood Knits Style, which would be a very practical, but fun gift, or 3) something off of her registry that isn't knitted. What do you think? I'm feeling a little guilty because it's still up in the air as to whether I'll get to go. You wouldn't believe what they want for a plane ticket from Denver to Phoenix - outrageous. It probably doesn't help that the shower is over Presidents' Day weekend, but $300 is out of my budget. Anyway, I digress. I'm feeling like I need to do something really nice for her since I might not be there and I just don't quite know what. But whatever I'm going to do, I really have to decide today so I can get stuff ordered and express shipped - not having a LYS really sucks!
In other news, I'm almost to the point on the hat where I split the stitches into 4 sections and knit them into V's. That will be something new for me and I think will go pretty quickly. I need to figure out something for my dining room table. I've never really had a grasp on what looks right on a table. But, my plan is to look around until I find something that speaks to me. I imagine it will shout, "pick me, I'm perfect for you." Or so I hope.
Thanks for your thoughts on the gift. I really need your help.
Posted by Stephanie at 8:51 AM
