Some FOs and Then Some

Realizing that I have been the worst blogger ever, here are some of the things that I've been up to out/up here in the Rockie Mountains.

Leyburn Socks - DONE
Jaywalker Socks - DONE

Red Sox Socks - 1 DONE


"Blue" Riding Hood Cape - in progress


Now I just need to send the socks to their appropriate recipients. The BoSox fan LOVES the socks that I'm knitting for him. He was all upset when I decided to start knitting the cape - since I was taking time away from knitting his socks. Aww...

The cape is my "coat" for Burning Man. I found it in Naughty Needles. Wonderful patterns in there! Debating whether or not I want to felt it or stitch a lining into it. We shall see...

Other Burning Man projects are on the back burning until I finish this. Ooh, I'm excited!

Blogging Mojo Come Back!

I finally visited my only LYS - The Yarn Studio in Minturn, CO. Cute shop! The shopkeeper was extremely helpful in finding exactly what I needed.


I'm making Boston Red Sox socks for the BoSox Fan; he even helped me pick out the yarn! Granted, he picked up Claudia Handpainted at first - yup, he's a keeper. Ended up with some Debbie Bliss Rialto 4ply and the new issue of KnitScene. Aaah, I feel much better now.


Before all of the yarn extravaganza, I went "camping" this past weekend. The Colorado regional Burning Man event was this past weekend, Apogaea. Loved it! And check out what I got to see while driving.


And for what's on my needles:
Leyburn socks are still moving along. They will be for my Nana since they are a bit roomy for me. Such a great pattern though. (Yes, that's a Starbucks stirrer instead of a DPN. Man, am I good improviser!)


Another bikini (I lost the last one!). Twins from knitty will be a good addition to my Burning Man wardrobe. Only thing done is the band. Will this support "my" twins?


Another Burning Man need - a coat. Something simple in stockinette with some chunky weight yarn and an obligatory fur trim. Suggestions?

Slow and Steady

Lookie what I got in the mail!


And since the lovely people at Bea Ellis Knitwear love me so much (that's what I'm telling myself), they sent me two free balls!


Now, I'm not a fun fur fan. Frankly, I find it tacky and not something I want to knit with, but I'm turning over a new leaf for Burning Man purposes. This sexy furry yarn will be transformed into some fun furry bikinis and halters. Fingers crossed they come out... presentable.

Next up for the needles is a new pair of socks. Going to attempt pepperknit's Leyburn Socks. Anyone done them?

And for a dose of Vail.... A sign I saw prior to dipping into my first backcountry experience for the Minturn Mile = a way from one of Vail's peaks down through some fun "louges" that spits out steps from... a bar.



Oh the view.

I'M ALIVE!

And been barely knitting.

Almost 3 months and no blog posts. What have I been up to? Well, skiing, eating, drinking, laughing, going broke. It's a wonderful life out here in Vail, kids. And today and yesterday I have decided that I will be planning and carrying out some great burning man knitted ideas. Anything you'd like to see me try to knit... go for it!

Here are the jaywalkers that were hibernating under my bed while I was being swept off my feet by The BoSox Fan.


Yes, the image is horrendous. Yeah iPhones.

Burning Man list: (critiques/additions welcome)
- handcuffs
- furry halter top
- criss-cross shorties

Glad to be back!

Does it Feel Like Christmas?

I'm not sure. This is the first Christmas I have ever been away from home. Christmas Eve is the biggest event in my family with upwards of 20-30 people, kids running around, tons of fish and grandparents usually asking the same questions. Christmas Day is recuperation day from the night before when I can fondle my new yarn and new chocolates I got stuffed in my stocking. This year I will probably be at a bar trying to score free drinks. Yes, I'm a bit down about this, but I have lots of others here to get me through.

FINALLY I have finished the Just Like a Peasant Cap. I ran out of yarn ages ago and was able to score some from Purl right before leaving the Big Apple.


Made with gorgeous Malabrigo Merino Worsted in Azul Bolita. Yum! I have a bunch extra (almost 100 yds). What should I make with it?

Other knitting news/suggestions - a good sock pattern for a guy in a black semi-solid? Yes, I've poked around on ravelry but wasn't 100%. Suggestions?

And Christmas in Vail... it's rather pretty. Lots more pictures to come (once I find the cable that connects my adorable camera to my sexy MacBook).


Apologies for the crude "I took these with my iPhone" pictures.

P.S. Leave a comment or two in between eggnog partakings. That will be my Christmas present.

Welcome to Vail, CO!

Where have I been? Well, here's a recap:

- my laptop crashed
- I quit my job
- I moved to Colorado
- I am now working as a ski instructor at Vail (mountain), CO

So that should bring y'all up to speed. No pictures of knitting quite yet since... I have been QUITE the slacker. Instead, here is a few of my office. My view. What I see everyday (instead of excel spreadsheets.)


What does your office look like?

RIP: iBook G4

My laptop died last night. Hopefully Apple or Tekserve can recover my documents since I, like Carrie Bradshaw, don't back up.

Fingers crossed. If not, who can donate to a new computer = $1300?

Where Have I Been?

Knitting? Sorta... I finished that Aran Scarf for the "boy." The "boy" is someone that I met in London that I took a fancy to. Bummer that I won't be going there anymore to see him. Oh well. It gave me an excuse to knit something. And knit something I did.



Still working on smaller things like the Quick-n-dirty 2 Needle Fishnet Stockings from Stitch-n-Bitch Nation. I was working on them for Burning Man, put them down and completely forgot about them!

Speaking of Burning Man, this past Saturday I trekked out to Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn (WAY out there) to a big Burning Man party called Decom = to decompress from Burning Man. Amazing. Stellar. C'est magnifique. And, might I add, we looked hot.


Update to the skiing adventure: No more Squaw. It's out to Vail. There's housing there and a more "official" feeling. And the date is rather solidified: December 1st I'm outta here. *tear*

What a Weekend!

This weekend, not only did I go to a crazy-fun swing dance party and plant trees, but I also received my neckwarmer from Sit n' Knit's Neckwarmer exchange!


Virginia made me this delightful cotton neckwarmer. I just love the bobbles. And it's big enough to hide from monsters.


My neckwarmer, the Zigzag Cowl, was tons of fun to make. Bright blue takhi botton yarn (Katy is vegan too) in a fun pattern with a great picot edge. I might have to make more cowls. Now, yes it's a bit floppy so if anyone wants to make this, don't cast on so many stitches but... that's why there are buttons!

"Secret" Aran Scarf
Why is it a secret? Merely because the recipient isn't aware of the gift. I also am going to try feverishly to knit up 350yds of Kathmandu Aran yarn in delightful olive for a gorgeous cabled scarf. Who's the recipient? A boy. *wink*

But thanks to She's Crafty in Springfield, Missouri, I was able to pick up some extra skeins of the same dye lot of this delicious yarn! Can you believe it? Missouri had the same dye lot. And check, check, checkitout



And the tree-planting. Panda and I went out to Brownsville in Brooklyn to plant trees around the Van Dyke Houses as part of the MillionTreesNYC. Super fun. So in digging these holes, we found this



Yup concrete. Heavy. Big. Annoying. But after everything, there was a tree. 450 total by all 300+ volunteers. Go us!

Just Vote

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?