Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring/Summer Knitty

I love it when Knitty.com come out with a new issue! Since I copy off of Chelsea a lot, I'm writing my opinions...

Emmaline - I had trouble opening the pattern link. It was moving really slow. I can imagine that this one will be popular. It's cute! I like the bust with the eyelets, and it might be flattering. I'm just not sure how much use I'd get out of a short sleeved sweater.

La Gitana - I'm not a fan of vests. I wish that I was, but if I ever made this I'd have to add sleeves. But I'm not sure what I think about the vertical thin cables. I would make the Owl sweater with Rowan Purelife anyway.

Que sera - I really love the lace on this little cardi. I have yarn saved back for Girl Friday, but I might have just changed my mind with this one. The designer used Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cotton, which is the yarn I used for my last sweater. I highly recommend it!

Petrie - dish? I don't know if I understand why it's called this. Elegant little tank, and would like to see what the yarn was like before I tried it. It has lots of stockinette and it's doubtful I'd ever wear it.

Inamorata - I can see myself wearing this at a festival or at Earth Day. It has a really hippie/green look to it. I priced the yarn on Kitchen Sink Dyeworks and it would cost $68. And the colors that you can choose are beautiful. This one goes on the list for sure.

Tappan zee - I like the three button cardigan that you can leave open. The lacy look is nice. But I would have to add sleeves.

Torreyana - Beautiful shawl, especially with beads. After just finishing a shawl recently, I'm a little intimidated by the edging. And the shape. Whew. I would love to see one in person.

Summit - Interesting wrap. It's fun to look at, but it's ugly. I mean, really.

Anthemion - This is a gorgeous wrap. Only 1100 yards, so I could probably do it with my malabrigo lace that's on the way. I love the big zig zags. Love!

Gams - I know quite a few shorts/pants loving folks out there that will be excited about these. I would love to make a pair with the bacon yarn I've been lusting after for months. But I can find old skeins of cotton fleece laying around too. This are a must queue.
Ok, who suggested the blue eyeshadow? Yucko. And that guy just looks uncomfortable.

Know it all bag - Cool idea, but when do I ever knit something with a 10 row chart? I think it would be easier to look up the chart with my Blackberry. Stitching conductive wires is just a little too scary for me. Sorry.

Wanderer sock - I don't know what is so bad about regular old sock construction. Why is everyone so anti?

Tribute - This story is so sad. I'm sure her friend would be proud. Maybe it's time to try lacy socks. I wonder what they would look like with a variegated yarn. I'll have to pattern stalk ravelry for this pattern in a couple of weeks.

Twisted socks - These look like fun! I'm going to keep them in mind for an interesting man's sock pattern. It looks like the designer has all ready made 9 pairs of them. That's dedication. It would look great with a solid color sock yarn, and fun with a variegated. Queued!

3 Lace Edgings - This reminds me of my grandmother. Which isn't bad, but I don't have near the patience that she does for these things.

Buttonhead hat - The designer made this pattern for handspun odds and ends. I have lots of those! It will be fun to pattern stalk these, but don't know if I'd ever make one myself.

Duck - Hilariously cute! They would be great for the appropriate baby

Great issue knitty! This gave me lots of ideas! :)

Monday, December 14, 2009

Super social weekend

I had a great weekend that went way too fast. I hung out with a bunch of friends!

Friday night we had sushi and sake at Osaka's with Erin and David. It was a lot of fun, and their recommendations were fantastic. It's fun to order things a little outside your comfort zone. I would be happy with California and shrimp tempura rolls all the time, but next time I go I'm going to have trouble picking from some new favorites. Mmmm.

Afterwards we met Corey, Autumn, and Scott at our house and had a pre-blue note drink. Then we headed over to the blue note. We just barely missed the East Ash Street Band. Speakeasy played the second set, which rocked. And Madahoochi played for the third set. We danced and marveled at the lights (milkdrop with a Dylan spin). We hung out late into the night, had breakfast in the morning, and everyone went on their way. We were happy to see everyone!

Then we went to Buck and Nicki's to meet the little baby. He's cute!!! He only cried once when we were there and it was because it was time to eat. He was such a laid back baby, and he loves to cuddle.



We are very proud to be an aunt and uncle. :)

They cooked us a great dinner, and then I rushed home to meet up with Emily. She straightened my hair, we threw together some snacks, and headed over to Laura's for our holiday Christmas party.



Em's chocolate dipped pretzels were a hit! I really liked my hair too. She's awesome.

Sunday I slept late. Kyle and I went to the public library. It had been awhile since either one of us had been there, and we vow to go back. I need to read more, so I will probably make some sort of new year's resolution to that effect.

Emily and I made a quick trip to the mall to check out some shoes that we didn't buy. I got Jillian Where the Sidewalk Ends at Target. We didn't spend much time there. It was way too busy.

Talked to Mom and Dad on the phone for about an hour. We discussed roofing contractor woes and Christmas plans. My vow to not knit any Christmas gifts might be broken. Mom wants a scarf, Dad wants a hat and coozies, Jeremy wants socks. I wish they wouldn't have told me this 12 days before Christmas. Geesh.

Then I took a 1/2 hour nap. After sleeping in late this morning! Which is why I'm still up at 330am.

I watched bad reality TV with Kristin, Greg, and Karmann. I watched bad funniest home videos with Kyle. I knitted on the couch for a bit, until Miss Kitty decided that I needed to stop so she can sleep on my arm... where she still is now.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Blog abuse with dates

Thought I'd post because it's been so long. It's a good thing I don't have a long list of loyal readers. Here's some dates/data/highlights (that I can remember):

I'm married now, as of 10/24/9. :) It's pretty cool. I'm still working on changing my last name, but it's a pretty slow process.

10/28 was Kyle's birthday. I made him a cake.

I hit my goal weight on 11/24/09. Finally! I'm back to exactly where I was on 3/9/08 when I quit smoking.

11/26/9 was Thanksgiving this year, but I had to work. I was a little bummed about it, until I realized how silly I was. I got paid time and 1/2, plus got an extra 8 hours of vacation banked, and I still had Thanksgiving when I got home. Kyle made me a turkey dinner (with fixins...pretty romantic). Then we had a family celebration on 11/28/9 with the Quincy crew and the full turkey spread. Wow. I'm spoiled.

One of my best friends is a new daddy as of 12/1/9 at 4pm. We're super excited for him and his family!

L bought a Wakarusa ticket today. Woot! June can get here any time now.

And every day in between I've been struggling to not buy more yarn. But I have failed multiple times.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Can't turn my brain off

I have so many things to do. With wedding plans, knitting, invitations, etc. I am trying to figure out in my mind how it will all fit in the time frame allotted.

Tonight I looked at my bank account and realized that the local restaurant I visited with my sister on Sunday overcharged me by $100 on my debit card. Nice. And the lady knew that she screwed it up. She tried to fix it, but didn't have a clue. I tried to be patient and nice, and refrained from showing her how to use the credit card machine. Grrr.

Tomorrow involves calling them to hopefully get $100 back, knitting at Rendevous, lunch with Kyle, and then work.
I dread going to work. E called me tonight after I got home to tell me about how much B hates me and has been talking about how horrible I am as soon as I left. This woman (B) has such a miserable existence. I feel sorry for her. I even went out of my way to do extra stuff for her tonight. It is NEVER enough. I think it's impossible to please her. Whatever I did wrong will be turned into my supervisor when he walks in the door at 7am. And it's probably some mundane detail that she dug up. Good grief.

I took an ambien so that I can sleep. Otherwise it will never happen. I will be stewing all night about how to better my time management skills, while wasting precious sleep time. Stupid, I know. Getting sleepy now. Going to go curl up in my comfy bed....

Thursday, May 28, 2009

from Ben to bacon sparkle

I had a grrreat day off today. I think you appreciate them more when you work really really hard during your 4 day week. After working and going to school approximately 60 hours a week and then going to 32, it's not so bad.
I slept until 12:30 (no, I'm not a bum. I worked until 1:30am the night before and didn't get to bed until 3:30am because I couldn't turn my brain off). I drank my morning coffee and ate breakfast while watching the Cardinals/Braves game. It was intense. We won 3-2 but just barely. The Braves are good this year.
At the 7th inning stretch I went to the meat lab and bought tiger tails (brats with cheddar and jalapenos), onion brats, pork chops, ham steaks, stew meat, beef jerky, meat sticks, and about 10 pounds of bacon. Guess what I paid... only $52.00. What a steal. Now... finding freezer space.
And I made it back home to see the 9th inning.

After hitting the grocery store for vegetable soup fixin's, I went to the library for the first time in years. I got a library card. I was completely. over. whelmed. and crosseyed when I left. But I will go back.
I have to, because I checked out books.
Maybe I will see how long I can go without tv. That would be good for me.

We went to Ben Folds downtown. It was a summerfest concert on 9th street. It wasn't quite raining, but it was misting and we were pretty wet. We got rasta lemonades from the jamaican jerk hut. If you haven't tried one, DO. The are my absolute favorite summer drink, with sweet leaf tea coming in at a very close second.
Anyway, he sang about how he was sorry that Memphis rained out and that he really really wanted to play. He sang about how tonight turned into a wet tshirt contest, and the man boobs were losing. He played the altoid tins with the reverb pedal. I have "Do you wanna see what's in my head?" in my head. I watched a guy get arrested while he played "Free Coffee", which made me feel bad. [I was] not the same after that.
I wish he would have talked about his university accapella smackdown, but he didn't. Overall, he seemed a little detached, but he still rocked the suburbs.

I got home and cooked up a big 'ol pot of vegetable soup. It's soooo good. I put in so many veggies that I could barely stir. I'm sure there will be plenty to share. I'm going to freeze it in small containers to take to waka. Yum!

Also... I started my infusion of bacon vodka. I've been thinking about it for awhile, and I should have started it earlier. Ultimately, I want to donate it to the bloody mary table at chopdown baconalien.

The bacon was fried.


Then it was carefully blotted, cooled, and placed in tupperware.


Then the vodka was added. Notice I used Svedka? Good stuff. Filtered 5 times.


I think I'm all ready liking the sparkle. After about an hour the bacon looks fat, bloated, and drunk. Now we wait.

Monday, May 25, 2009

Memorial Day Saint

How cool is this. My grandma was in the Quincy local news...

And then she got national press on CNN!

She was also in the Quincy newspaper. She cut out the clip to send to me. I love this picture!



She has ironed flags for as long as I can remember really, and I never thought twice about it. She does so many dozens of fantastic things! She's probably the most selfless person I know. I'm glad to see her getting some recognition. Go grandma!!!

Sunday, May 17, 2009

MoKan Music Festival

Our camper, the Starmaster, had its maiden voyage to Urick, MO to the MoKan Music Festival. This festy was a short 2.5 hour jaunt, a rockin' Friday and Saturday night, and camp Swanky welcomed us with open arms. What a great way to kick off the season! I obtained a $5 MoKan tshirt, a new dye from my Vivid Earth friends, and a couple of ideas on how to make the camper P-I-M-P for waka.

On Friday night a storm rolled in...


So Sarah and I took pictures of the swirly clouds.


We hunkered down. Sort of.


The rain delayed some of the music. But we still heard every note.

The next day we strapped on our mud boots and wandered around camp and the stage area.


Dirtfoot played a fantastic set. Speakeasy rocked out. Sterling from Brothers Green stepped in on harmonica with Everybody. My other favorites included: Madahoochi, Brother Bagman, Zoogma, The Station, 56 Hope Road, Andrews Ave, Kan Eyed. I think I might of heard, but didn't see Robots vs. Dinosaurs and Opal Fly. There were many others.

Sleep. Steve made it in the door, but passed out shortly next to the bed. That crazy drunken alien.


Breakfast was served.


Who invited these guys?


Or Sketchy McSketcherton? (of Mullberry '08 fame. Yes, that's really him!)


Sadly, we packed up our camp and said our good-byes...


See ya in 2 1/2 weeks at waka!!!