What Kind of News Do You Want to Hear?

Nothing Wall Street-related here!

The bad news first. The Mets are done. What a way to end their tenure at Shea. I can barely stomach it. I will always be a fan. I will not talk any further about it.

The good news. New Kids on the Block are BACK! Thank you VH1. Let me help you remember the wonderful "new kids dance."



More good news! Just got back from another London business trip. I'm usually a packmule for various work-related documents. This time, I brought back a bicycle helmet for a coworker's brother. She mentioned a surprise inside.


So what's in that helmet? Yarn of course!


How nice of her. More details on this later. No idea what to make with it.

Not Fair (not smart, either)

I started my contribution for my knitting group's Neckwarmer Exchange. Fun pattern. Gorgeous yarn. This will be wonderful, I thought.

Not so.

What's the first rule of knitting in the round kids? Don't twist your stitches. Yeah, I did.

Thankfully I have a plane ride to London on Sunday night to make up for the mishap. But I'll be missing the last home games for the Mets. Just remember kids - don't be this guy, this drunk guy at a Mets game who got decorated. Skip to around minute 7:15.

Dear Secret Knitter

My lovely knitting group, Sit n' Knit, is having another knitting exchange. This time it's neckwarmers. As I've never knit one before and I don't know my recipient too well, this should be fun! I thought I'd chat to my knitter (hopefully you're reading!) and give her some more insight into little ol' me.

Hi! First off, yes I'm vegan, but I still have lots of wool in my stash and haven't decided yet if I want to say adios to wool. Saying that, I'd prefer non-animal fabrics, but if you found something that I would just LOVE, then by all means, knit it! Also, I love color! I love bright colors, earth tones, all of em. Honestly, I'm not that picky. Just something soft in a funky pattern, and I'll be happy!

Little Leetle's socks are finally done! Here's the issue... As they are a size 5, I have no idea how to block them. Ideas?


The Fishnet Stockings are almost done. Blocking and seaming awaits!

And... FINALLY my Interweave Press books have arrived. Back in July, they had an amazing sale so Kate and I had to buy lots. Here's our installment.


Mine
Lace Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd
No Sheep For You by Amy Singer
Knitting Vintage Socks, Nancy Bush

Kate's
Wrap Style by Pam Allen and Ann Budd
Best of Interweave Knits by Pam Allen and Ann Budd

Not Much Knitting But Lots of Playa Dust

I just returned from Burning Man and what a scene it was! Having never been I had no idea what to expect. It was pretty amazing. Here is my (rather mediocre) flickr photoset, but check out any Burning Man pics on flickr.


Above you have my entry ticket, a Burning Man sticker, 2 awesome leather bracelets and a crocheted butterfly. The bracelets and butterfly were some goodies that people were giving out. I never got my act together to do everything that I said I was going to do except for the "cape." The fun fur proved to be very warm in the the desert at night!

Here's a quick rundown on how it all went.

Tuesday - fly from NYC to Minneapolis to Denver
Wednesday - drive in VW van with aunt from Denver through Colorado, Utah and Nevada
Thursday - arrive in Black Rock City, NV (appx 80 miles north of Reno). Get "devirginized" by rolling in the desert dust AKA the Playa. Lots of playtime in the Playa
Friday - more playtime
Saturday - more playtime
Sunday - drive back towards Denver BUT the van breaks down 65 miles outside of Reno. AAA tows us to Reno where we eventually buy plane tickets to Denver
Monday - fly from Reno to Salt Lake City. Beg Northwest and Delta ticketing agents through tear-soaked eyes to get me on a NYC-bound flight AFTER I pick up already-checked luggage since they SAID that they COULD get me on a flight. Can you sense my anger when they said that they couldn't? Fly from SLC to Denver.
Tuesday - fly from Denver back through Minneapolis to LaGuardia

Comments? Yeah, what a trip! But hey, at least I have stocking #1 of my Stitch-n-Bitch Nation's Quick n Dirty Fishnet Stockings done! Not positive how to seam these...


And waiting for me at work after a week's absence is a VERY belated birthday present - 100% Angora yarn in a gorgeous burgundy from London's Angel Yarns. Thanks Benn! Now what will I make with this?


And if you aren't pay attention, LET'S GO METS! First place! I feel that this September will be a much better one than last year's. If you don't know to what I'm referring, let's just not discuss Sept 07. It never happened.

Countdown til Burning Man

T-minus 6 days til I leave for Burning Man. I'm flying to Denver and then driving from there with my aunt. Yes, my aunt. She's super cool [drives a VW bus!] so it should be awesome. Here's the to-do list:

Slip Solstice Socks
Must finish these for Lee. Her birthday has already passed. Pardon the crude picture. Silly iPhone.


Tall Tales Cardigan
My co-worker Cait, the recipient, is already on maternity leave so I want/need to get this done. Almost there.

Lacy Cape
Since Burning Man is such an eclectic and spontaneous event, I thought I'd dig out those tacky yarns that I'm embarrassed to say that I have in my stash. Casting on about 25 stitches onto US35 and increasing 2 stitches every other row, let's see how big this gets. And yes, I'll embellish it with some tackier fun fur trim.



Jazzed-up Undies
I'll be handsewing (ugh) or fabric gluing (yeah!) a 2x3 rib onto some boyshorts and then attaching fringe. These will be for me prancing around the desert ("playa" actually) and to give to newly-made friends. They are a bit... ahem, fitted. My most creative and wacky knitting project yet!



Fishnet Stockings
While in Honduras, I attempted the Quick-n-dirty Fishnets from SnB Nation but I had the wrong needles. Since I'm a no-gauge-swatch and barely-reads-directions kind of knitter, I knitted anyway; needless to say the stockings didn't fit. Second attempt this weekend. To be knit out of Flower Power Socks that Rock, another 2007 Rockin' Sock Club installment.



Too much on my plate?

And Honduras was awesome. Grouper, octopus, lobster, sea turtles. Wowzer! But here's the bigger news: I'M MOVING TO LAKE TAHOE! That's right kids. Yours truly is packing up her life in the big city to move out to California to be a ski instructor. After debating among many offers (Vail, Taos, where oh where!), I picked Squaw Valley (1960 Winter Olympics) in Olympic Valley, CA. If anyone knows anyone out there, let me know. This will be a whole new experience for me. Move out will be first week of December. Sad yes but exciting too!

What are YOU doing on your summer vacation?

The age-old question for all children and teens departing school in mid/end June. Now that it's almost August, I can finally start enjoying my summer with...

SCUBA DIVING!
Daddy and I are hopping a Honduras-bound plane and diving for an entire week come a week from Saturday. It's been quite some time since I've strapped on my BC and purged my regulator so I was very happy to get this in the mail:


It's my PADI dive manual. I lost my old one [or it's buried in a box at either my Dad's or my Mom's house] so I need to brush up since it's been 10+ years. Next up, bathing suit shopping [as the chills run up and down my spine]. But the more important matter at hand ... what will I knit?

Probably my Tall Tales Cardigan for one of the imminent births by the many very-prego coworkers.


Enjoyed knitting the back on a Bronx-bound 6 train. Notice the lovely seats. Then came the front. I love these little giraffes!


Still working on the Solstice Slip socks from the tiny-footed Lee. Should be done shortly. Thanks for the tips on using Magic Loop. I just might start that. Thankfully the lovely owner of Yarntopia on the "Upper" West Side had some Clovers for me.

These both will probably be done before I go "leavin' on a jet plane." Hmm... more socks to bring? What is good tropical weather, chillin-on-the-beach knitting?

Someone's Out To Get Me

Why? See the following scenarios.

Scenario #1
Anyone: How many DPNs have you broken?
Me: TWO!

That's right. I've snapped two KnitPicks DPNs, size 1. Not while knitting, mind you but while in my bag. I snapped one in London but since the wonderful KnitPicks sets come with 6 needles, I knew I'd be in the clear. Yeah... NO! Snapped another one just last week. So now, I have this:


The Slip-Stitch Sock from one of the 2007 installments from the Rockin' Sock Club. So I should buy another set of DPNs, right? Well, I can't. Why? No money. Why?

Scenario #2
Someone stole my ATM card number and spent all of my money and then some at a Home Depot in Missouri. This was over a week ago, and I have spoken to 5 different Citibank people, written letters and said more curse words than I knew possible. Just give me back my money!

So, I've been distracting myself with knitting and the gym. Anyone who knows me knows I adore step class. Until last night.

Scenario #3
I twisted my ankle. How bad? Bad to warrant ice packs, an ace bandage and a slight limp. I guess that means more knitting time.

Since I can't finish these socks yet, I started some other fun things: A bikini! I poached the Stitch n' Bitch Queen of Hearts Bikini pattern but am using a delightful Araucania variegated yarn.


Not sure if this is gonna fit me, but it's an idea for apparel for Burning Man. And next on the agenda... another baby sweater [pics to come] and some new sock yarn! A wonderful friend and his mom got me some Lorna's Laces sock yarn from Purl Soho.


So, please powers that be that I don't believe in, I know things come in threes. Don't throw anymore bad-ness my way.

Egad!

Been a while, eh? I've been productive [shocking, I know]! What have I been doing?

1. Bought the new 3G iPhone. I was one of "those" people that waited in line for over 4 hours from 6:30am to buy one of those delightful metal cutie pies.

2. Solstice Slip Sock, one of those encounters of 2007's Rockin' Sock Club. Teeny weeny feet [size 5!] for my beloved Leetle.

3. Burning Man parapharnelia. First up, bikini tops! Let's just hope that these little knitted numbers can hold my goodies. Next up, flowers and kerchiefs. Other ideas?

4. Watching my Mets win 9 in a row. 9. NINE!!! Oh-so-proud.

5. Breaking my camera. Ugh, crappers, egad, poop! No clue what happened or what I did. Hence no pictures. Hopefully the camera gods will be good to me [or just those peeps at B&H].

Don't Steal My Knitting!

7pm. East Harlem. Pick-Pocketing.
Me carrying: dry cleaning, clean laundry, day bag

Approach take-out place
What was that rustling?
Boy runs off
That boy stole my knitting!

I run, carrying said objects in flip-flops, up 2nd avenue around the corner.
Should I drop my stuff? No.
"Stop him!" "Help!" "Please"

I stop. I won't catch him.

"Is everything okay?" a nice bystander carrying heavy furniture says.
"He'll drop the knitting once he realizes it's not your wallet."

And there is my knitting bag, in the middle of street thrown away like trash.


I rescue it.

This punk violated me and my knitting.

RIP - Willie Randolph

The Mets have fired coach Willie Randolph. Not sure how I feel about it. My boys haven't been doing THAT well as of late [hence my lack of commentary]. I just hope that Jerry Manuel does a good job and the boys upstairs don't start kicking themselves over letting their skipper go.

Enough baseball talk. A few other tidbits.

1.) My first cotton purchase!


It's Takhi Cotton in the most gorgeous (Mets) blue. I'll be making knitty's Everlasting Bagstopper [finally]. Not sure how important gauge is since my yarn is a bit off. We'll see.

2.) I'm taking a break from my mohair tank, self-explanatory given the heat, and picked up (what else?) but a UFO scarf! Yes, in this 90 degree heat, I decide to knit a scarf. Hey, at least I'm not casting on yet another project to just end up sitting there and not being finished.

3.) Thoughts on VERY large bridal parties? My [male] cousin is having 11 ushers. 11! ELEVEN. I think it's ridiculous and will make that god-for-saking ceremony that much longer. Anyone wanna go for me?

Who's Back?

I'm Back!

Been knitting my fluffy lace camisole from Weekend Knitting in Kidsilk Haze. Very strange for me knitting mohair. Why? My first time knitting with it and given my vegan lifestyle, I'm still grappling with "do I or don't I" knit with wool. More on that in a later post.



Who else is back? THE METS!

Now, yes, they haven't had the greatest first few months but tonight's game against the San Francisco Giants. 9 runs in one inning! Granted, they should've won by 9-1 or 9-3 NOT 9-6 but I digress. And Pedro's back! So I have my knitting mojo back and kings of queens are playing ball and actually winning.

And I was tagged by Penelope so here goes:

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?

1998. High School. I learned to drive, danced a lot [ballet and jazz], became a vegetarian, watched my mom get remarried and fell in love for the first time. Aww...

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

Attend a silly 10am meeting [yum!]
Finish some check requests and follow-up
Try to make happy hour with some coworkers
Convince my coworker to do some sewing machine work for me
Call Mommy and check up on her heart monitor wearing shenanigans

3) Snacks I enjoy:

Fritos, strawberries, chips & guacamole, dark chocolate

4)Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

Buy myself a condo/apt in Colorado. Donate to Greenpeace, NRDC, Housing Works. Get an around-the-world ticket and take 6-12 months and travel the world. Season tickets to the Mets. Give a million or so to my parents, siblings and friends - just cuz. Fund new schools in war torn countries like Nepal, Sudan and Iraq

5) Places I have lived:

Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Norwood, NJ
East Village, NYC
Chinatown, NYC
Florence, Italy
Astoria, NY
Upper West Side, NY
Greenpoint, Brooklyn
East Harlem, NY

6) Five People I would like to tag are:

Debbie
Tina
Pam
Amy
Allena

wow!

Where's My Mojo?

Must knit.
Must knit.
Must knit!

Yeah, where did my knitting mojo go? Please send me some of yours. It's sad, really. Maybe I need to watch "The Kid" to harness some of his awesomeness in the slide guitar.*


*Shout-out to my brother. Debbie - make sure that he knows that I just referenced Crossroads (1986).

Good Things and Some Bad Things

Good Thing #1
The lovely Sit-n-Knit Sock Exchange socks are done. Such a fun project! I made mine in Socks that Rock Silkie [back from the Rockin' Sock Club] in a Cloverleaf Rib, toe-up. And my recipient? Well, she's a talented knitter, super fun and... gulp, a Yankee Fan. I'm talking about Amy. Here's what I made her:


And what did she make for me? Well, my desires of having Pomatomus Socks have been fulfilled! Now, I know, I should actually knit them one of these days, but boy are these beyoootiful!


Good Thing #2
I found an awesome tube top pattern on Ravelry: Lelah top. And of course, I need to use the delightful Araucania Ranco yarn I got from Rhinebeck. How cute is my little swatch?


Good Thing #3
Way back, oh, in 2006 maybe, I started the Tank-Cowl combo from Weekend Knitting. Let's just say it wasn't working out according to plan so I left it in a ziplock bag for over a year. Over the weekend I finally frogged it and started up again. Now, I'm not the biggest fan of mohair but by george I WILL knit this pattern!


Bad Thing #1
Oh those Mets. Can they just win a little?

Bad Thing #2
A little over a month ago I went vegan. I'm feeling great and am really enjoying my new lifestyle. This isn't the bad thing. The wool that keeps staring at me is a bad thing. Now, certain yarn I will keep because I bought it and I want it and... there's no vegan police to tell me otherwise. There is, however, a lot of yarn that I am willing to part/trade with. Check out my stash on Ravelry and if anything tickles your fancy and, better yet, you have some bamboo/cotton/soy/etc. yarns, drop me line!

When Bad People Happen to Good Knitting

The bad person would be me, yours truly, the silly one who lives uptown. Why am I saying that I'm a bad person? Where shall I begin:

1. Sock exchange in 2 weeks [extension, YES!] and still not at the heel of sock 1.
2. Have barely knit anything all year. All that beautiful yarn just sitting there.
3. I have a cavity [okay, not knitting-related but this proves that I'm not that good to my teeth either].

So now what? Well, knitting on subways, couches, bar stools. Ever get into that rut where your knitting, no matter who beautiful and scrumptious it is, just doesn't get the spotlight it deserves?

Just Do It!

I have my sock exchange with my knitting group and let's just say that my middle name is Procrastinator. Well, I have started and I think she'll love em. I just happen to have her favorite yarn [in colors she likes] in my stash and I'm tackling a pattern she wants.

Let's hope I get these done on time.

Oh, and I need to get my blogging on more for two reasons:
1. work has replaced my knitting [been to london more than a month this year already!]
2. baseball season is upon us!

They Let Me Back into the Country!

3 weeks in London - done.
6 days til I do it again [only a week this time]

Only 6 days until the beautiful New York Mets begin their 2008 season! This is the last season at Shea Stadium as well. Pretty soon, we'll all have to start referring to the Mets' home field as CitiField. Yuck. Along with Opening day, March 31st I get to board another Virgin Atlantic flight London-bound. Sounds crazy all of this London-ness, but here is some prettyness for all [4] of you.


My walk to work usually involved this pretty park. Buckingham Palace on one side and this awesome castle on the other.


Off to iKnit in Vauxhall, and I left with yummy only-UK yarns. First, some lucious blue dk wool spun & dyed in Yorkshire - Wensleydale Longwool. Nice and lightweight and great yardage. Hopefully a cute spring/summer top. Second is more sock yarn [cuz I needed it] from Easy Knits. Spun and dyed in South London and ONLY available at iKnit. I just HAD to buy some. How could you not with great color names like Venus as a Boy, Big Spender and When Doves Cry?


I frogged an attempt at the Crusoe socks and casted on the Fancy Gentleman's Socks. I had my stepdad try them on, and they are a touch too big. We'll see what happens. I'm using Trekking that my mom gave me for Christmas so the yarn will come full circle!

Still in London...

Wondering where I am? Well, I've been calling London "home" for the past couple of weeks. Work shuttled me here, and I won't be gracing the states with my presence for another few days. But don't worry, I've managed to:

1. Buy yummy yarn at iKnit
2. Drink lots of Guinness
3. Adopt quid, loo and lift into my vocabulary
4. Decide on an Asian trek for my big-bad summer [July-ish] vacation

Yarn pics soon! And if you've been to India, Tibet, Nepal or Bhutan, please let me know!

miss me!

What did YOU do this weekend?

I learned to [finally] be a ski instructor! I went out to the Poconos to visit my mom and learned to teach the wee ones how to french fry and pizza. What an amazing time! And I also bought some new toys - new ski boots. Check these out


And yes, I have finally broken through my fear of my CPH and started on the hood. I have stolen Tina's idea of continuing the cable up over the hood. Don't hate me, Tina! And finally... I'll be flying across the pond for work for 3 weeks this weekend. Yes, 3 weeks! Don't worry, I've already scouted this knitting group.

Just Do It!

The Plaited Cable Scarf is coming along deliciously. The gauge is rather tight but steam blocking with change that. The Kraemer Yarns Summit Hill is one of the smoothest, softest yarns - no cashmere but it'll keep me warm. Then again - will it get cold again? I'm a ski nut so having barely any snow this New York winter is breaking my heart.



And the Central Park Hoodie. Oh the red-headed stepchild in my knitting basket. Poor poor hoodie. But wait! I think I found some mojo to start seaming and finishing you. The finishing article in my new Interweave Knits!



Just my quick flip of the new issue, I already have 3 patterns I want to make:
1. Flutter Sleeve Cardigan
2. Banded Peasant Blouse
3. Drawstring Chemise [but that neckline might need some alterations]

Last on my nike catchphrase list is an overhaul of my stash storage. The Container Store is one of my best friends [since I'm a crazy organized person]. Suggestions for what I should use to store my stash? Wicker baskets are just not cutting it!

1. Clear stackable drawers
2. Canvas stacking drawers

All suggestions/ideas/handmade gifts welcome!

Too Productive?

Back from wonderful skiing and what do I have to prove for it?

1. Finished Anastasia socks, to be blocked.

2. 3 wristlettes, one that my wonderful cousin permanently borrowed


3. Beginnings of the Plaited Cable Scarf


4. A continuous fear of seaming my CPH
5. More yarn!!



6. A team to cheer for in Sunday's Super Bowl. Go Big Blue!

That's what I got from spending a week at 10,000+ feet above sea level. What about you?