Hello from Brazil

Just a quick hi from Brazil. I do not have any pictures and the keyboard is weird here BUT I did finish my anniversary socks on the flight here and I have made a lot of progress on the sweater sampler from The Sweater Workshop. I hope to have so fun things to show you all when I get back home.

Hopefully the world won`t go to pot now that Bhutto has been assasinated.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I'm getting Carl all packed up for Brazil since he flies out tonight to meet up with the rest of his family. Tomorrow my brother and I head back to the Burbs so we can do Christmas with our family. Then I'm off to Brazil myself. So I will not be posting for a while BUT I will be knitting A LOT so I will have lots of things to show you when I get back.

Merry Christmas!

Party Pics!

Ok I promised pictures of our party shenanigans so here you go:





I told you it was crazy!

And for those who are interested in my knitting life...

This is the Blue Sky Alpaca Cotton I bought for the Flair Jacket in Pickle

And these are the buttons I bought. I like the brown and teal ones the most I think but I'm still torn. What do you think? The brown/teal looks more funky the ambers look more traditional...

And I found this awesome ring and I just couldn't help myself!

Oh and one Anniversary Sock is down one more to go! I listen to two books completing this sock. Ruddy Gore by Kerry Greenwood and Death at Wentwater Court by Carola Dunn! Great little mysteries!

And apparently after a long day of shopping in the rain I felt the need to do a little still life photography...I call it "Knitting" (original huh?)

Christmas Craziness

Things are really starting to get crazy around here. The Christmas Party season is in full swing, work is picking up as we get closer to year end and just hoping it will all slow down just a bit so I can enjoy the season. Friday we had dinner with friends at Stanton Social which was really great. Carl's cousin joined us and announced that she's pregnant so we're all really excited about that. Saturday we had a friends Christmas party to go to in the West Village. It was crazy. I will post pictures later I promise. There was a Drag-Queen Erotic Balloon Artist. I never knew such a thing existed. I learned that if you give a room full of adults balloon penises and vaginas they will all turn into 13 year old boys and it doesn't matter if they've been drinking. I promise there are pictures of the madness. Surprisingly I was pretty much sober for this party. And I'm very happy about this now because I can remember everything about the night! When we woke up the next morning Carl told me "you're like a prettier Kathy Griffin, the gays and transsexuals your people" Maybe he's right...

Any in all this madness I did manage to finish one of my Anniversary socks and I like it! Sunday my mom and I braved the weather (god was it awful, cold and rain and slush YUCK) and went to Purl and Knit NY to find Moving Mud Buttons. I love this company. I found them when I was at Rhinebeck. I'm getting closer to starting my Knit and Tonic Flair Jacket and I wanted to find buttons from Moving Mud. The only stores that carry them are Purl and Knit NY. I love love love the ones I got. I have two to choose from. I like both of the color combinations but I think I will have to wait till I'm working on the jacket to know which set it will want. I forgot how expensive these buttons are. Even the lady at Purl was shocked when she saw the total. It will be worth it though.

I started the second sock on Sunday night and I think I stand a chance of finishing the pair in a week or so. If things start to quiet down.

I'm starting to compile all the projects I want to take with me to Brazil. I have one more week...then sun.

Its time to sleep. I promise to post picture tomorrow. The battery died and I'm tired. Thank you for listening to me ramble.

Reminder

I'm getting all my Holiday cards ready, if you want to participate just send me a note:

Original post:

Ysolda had this great idea on her blog about sending Christmas cards to her readers and I thought “Hey, I can do that too!” so if you’d like to participate please send your address to kitti2323@gmail.com. I will 1) send you a wonderful, non religious Christmas card (unless you want a more traditional religious card because I’m down with that too) and 2) NEVER EVER EVER let anyone else see your address because well that’s just not safe or nice (got to keep the good Karma flowing). I hope you all have fun with this. I’m starting to get very excited about the whole holiday season!

Blog Reading Level?

You know what Anna, I don’t think I buy this either:

Get a Cash Advance

How do they even come up with this?

Good Day

Despite the gut wrenching pain in my stomach for the last 4 days and wanting to puke all day I had a good day all in all. The nauseous feeling went away before I had to go out to dinner and:

The new yarn I found on Knitpicks.com for $1.99 came today. I picked it up to make my Sweater Shop Sampler while flying to Brazil in a few weeks.

AND



I'm almost done with my Anniversary Socks!



Now I just need the weekend to come, I'm exhausted.

Quite a weekend...

Friday we finally picked up our "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree. Since we won't be at home for Christmas Carl wanted us to get a small tree. Now apparently we have different definitions of small. I grew up in a house where a new room was put on when I was about 7 so we could get a bigger tree. For most of my life the trees were approximately 11 feet tall. Carl...not so much. He was nice and let me get a slightly bigger tree than he had in mind (why I love him) and it made me much happier. We carried the tree up the street and started decorating. On a side note, it will always seem weird buying trees off the street in NYC. Anyway we had a great time decorating and I think its wonderful.

Carl and the tree after the lights went up. He's still a little sick and got dizzy and had to relax.

I had to do a bunch on my own but it was fun I love Christmas!

It's beautiful all lit up!

Carl really liked the juxtaposition of the angel and naked lady...whatever makes him happy

Saturday I found my old ipod mini and put all my audiobooks on it so I could list to them while I waited for the package to come from Mac so I could return the stupid thing and get a replacement. I finally found a number for Apple Care and they told me I had 8 days left on my warranty (woo hoo) so I got a new ipod. Anyway after that I snuggled into the couch and started working on my socks for the December Sock Down KAL which I am participating in on Ravelry. I knit all day. In the afternoon I had a wheat thin and chipped a tooth (incident 1) then in the evening on my way downstairs to bed I fell down our spiral staircase smashing my bad knee into the railing (incident 2). I have cuts and scraps and I'm limping. I hate our stairs. I knew I'd fall one of these days and Saturday was the day. I hate them.

Our stairs of death. House guests beware!

Sunday, with a functioning ipod and uploaded audiobooks I crawled my bruised and battered self onto the couch and resumed my work on Nancy Bush's Anniversary Socks from Interweaves 25 Favorite socks. I listened to "Ruddy Gore" by Kerry Greenwood while I worked. She writes this great detective series with this character Phryne Fisher. She's an awesome female protagonist. Anyway...I managed to turn the heel and complete the instep decreases by the time for BGF came over for dinner with Carl and I. (He just found out today that he doesn't have testicular cancer or a cyst and I"m sooooo soooo happy about the news. I've been worried sick). I decided to take a break at noon and check out Annie's Co. Knitting store on Madison and 93rd since I learned on Saturday that when I stay in all day I hurt myself. I really liked it. The people were very nice, they had a wonderful selection (I picked up the Blue Sky Alpace Cotten yarn I need to make the Flair Jacket in pickle but don't tell Carl I promised him I wouldn't buy anymore yarn for a bit) the whole store was just pleasant. I am going to have to go back there again.

I had a little problem with lace pattern in some areas by all in all they look great. I just wish I had used a different yarn. I think the stripes take away from the lace.

They're not perfect but I'm proud of them all the same.

I might kill Apple

I’ve been listening to the Knit Picks podcast a lot recently and Kelly is always talking about how she listens to lots of audio books while she knits. I had tried this once before but my iPod is a pain in the ass and likes to skip around and play whatever it feels like playing or it just stops. It’s very frustrating. I then stopped buying audio books from iTunes (the iTunes files do give me the most trouble) and gave up on reading and knitting. Last night I thought hey let me give the little guy a second chance…NOPE big mistake. How can I listen to a story (which I bought from iTunes so it should work with an iPod) when the thing skips around turns off freaks out? I update my software, I run diagnostic to see if there are problems (there aren’t) and restore to the factory settings and start again and guess what…it gets WORSE!! And of course I’m no longer covered by my warranty so I have to pay them to maybe fix my iPod. Or I can just buy a whole new one for $200 more but it has like 4x the space. Sometimes I hate APPLE! Seriously, just make a product that works!! You’re ruining my knitting. I knit to de-stress and this whole iPod thing just freaks me the heck out. De-stressing ruined.

It’s like it has a mind of its own. Has anyone else had this problem? How do you fix it? I’m so close to just buying a discman and using that…seriously!

Project Runway Rant...I know it has nothing to do with knitting but I just need to work through my thoughts

Which of Henry VIII's wives are you?

this quiz was made by lori/'>http://www.spookbot.com">Lori Fury

So anyway, I just want to rant a little about Project Runway. I'm a little annoyed with this season. For some reason this season isn't grabbing me like past seasons have. I don't know if its the contestants or the challenges but I'm not hooked yet. I'm giving it time but it is a little sad. I so want to be hooked. I want to be as excited and involved as I have been in the past. Maybe it will happen over time. Maybe I just need to get to know these people a little better. I do think though that the challenges are a little over the top this season. It almost like they are trying too hard to make them challenging and interesting. But I must stop myself. I love PR and I cannot bad mouth it anymore. In time I think I will learn to love (and hate) these contestants as much as I have those from past seasons. Next week there is crying so hopefully the fun will really start.

Anna's got another contest and I have another pair of socks on the needles....I see a trend

What’s your knitting scandal? Post yours at Anna’s blog. She’s running another contest ending this Saturday 12/8 so take a deep breath and share those knitting secrets you’ve been trying to hide from your knitting peers.

And of course I chose to cast on another pair of socks. This time the Anniversary Socks from Interweave’s 25 Favorite Socks. Its time to spice up my sock knitting with more challenging patterns! Its already harder than the last two. I had to ripe out the 4th rnd a couple times before I got it right. But I’m up for the challenge. I can do this!

I thought I'd share this:

My Conversation With my Best Guy Friend (BGF) About My Sock Knitting Obsession:

Me: yup I'm obsessed with socks
BGF: why?
Me: why am I obsessed? well they're small so I can work on them anywhere
I can finish them relatively quickly so I get almost instant gratification and
there are so many patterns! So I can try all different techniques but on a
smaller scale so if I fuck up and have to rip back I don’t want to cry like
I would if I was making a sweater
BGF: it's like knitting masturbation
Me: yah I guess it is like knitting masturbation

Only a man would make that comparison.

All Done!

The ankle socks are done. The yarn I used was Opal Hundertwasser in Der Blaue Mond and I just used Ann Budd's basic sock pattern to make ankle socks.

I love them!



What should I cast on next??? Hmmmm...

Ah that was a nice break

November is over and it was nice to take a few days off from blogging. And though I don't have any finished objects to show you I can show you the progress I have made on my socks. I'm almost there, hopefully I can finish before the week is up.

My god do I need a pedicure...moving on

What I'm really excited about is the idea kit that arrived from Blue Sky Alpaca. I just love all the colors and textures. So now I just have to get my creative juices flowing. I bought it so I could figure out which color I want to use on this jacket pattern (flair jacket I think, I can't remember) I got from knit and tonic. I have had the pattern now for about a month and I can finally sit down with my mom and discuss colors. She recently took a color class and is excited to help. She took it for quilting but the concept is the same. But I think I talked about this in an earlier post.

Look at all the pretty colors...I could play in this box of fun forever

What I really wanted to tell you all about was our experience on Saturday night. We had a surprise party for a friend at this place called Rasputin in Brooklyn. Its this Russian cabaret night club thing. It was insane and cheesy and awful in just the right combination to make it totally fun. We're never going (or at least not Carl and I) but it was fun. There was tons of food and vodka. And there were showgirls. Not good showgirls but showgirls nonetheless. I took a little video clip so you all could experience the cheese that is Rasputin.

Yah it was an interesting place. The whole night people in our party would look at each other and say "be careful or the mobs going to get you" It was a great weekend till Carl woke up sick again on sunday. I got a lot of knitting done while I took care of him but I wish he was getting better. He went back to the doctor today. Hopefully we get this stomach thing fixed soon. I'm getting asked to come upstairs and hang out with our guest so I must go.

Happy knitting!

Contest...not mine but still

So there’s a contest over at my cyber knitting friend Anna’s blog. What would you do with $200 to spend on knitting related goods? This was my answer:

I don't know. But based on how I spend when I have some extra cash put away
for a "knitting-spree" I think I would buy whatever caught my eye or sense of
touch. I don't think I could be "practical" with my purchases. I'd probably walk
around the store or fair (i'd like to be a fair if I had a choice) and just feel
and see everything I could. I just buy whatever called me to it. I love color
and soft textures. I like to feel like I'm melting into the fiber. So anything
that makes me feel like that I'd buy. Sometimes you just know you and a couple
of hanks are meant to be. And well a cool knitting bag. I have a problem with
knitting bags.

Yup that's what I'd do.

The contest runs till Friday (TONIGHT) at 7pm.

Good luck!

And I’m officially done posting for the month. I need a break…hopefully when I get back online you will have a new pair of socks to ogle. I’m becoming WAY too obsessed with sock knitting.

Happy end to blog post month!

Tampon art and Socks

This is probably the most wrong thing I have ever seen. Now I’m a crafty person and I have never thought “lets make something with tampons!” Tampons people. I know this has nothing to do with knitting but seriously? I’m officially disturbed.

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I'm also exhausted. Its been a loooong week and tomorrow is going to be another loooong day. All this work is taking away from my knitting. My sock is lonely and wants a mate. Maybe I can finish next week. It would definitely make me feel a lot better. I have gotten a chance to read a bit more of The Knitter's Book of Yarn: The Ultimate Guide to Choosing, Using, and Enjoying Yarn by Clara Parkes. I'm really enjoying it. I've been too tired to knit without mistakes but I can read. Its a great book. I didn't know a lot about different fibers and yarns when I started knitting and its nice to actually learn about the fibers I use and want to use. Check it out if you want to learn more about what you're passionate about.

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Now I need a glass of wine. One more day of work and one more day of posting and I can take a break. I think we all need a little break from me and my rambling.

Christmas is Coming!

Ysolda had this great idea on her blog about sending Christmas cards to her readers and I thought “Hey, I can do that too!” so if you’d like to participate please send your address to kitti2323@gmail.com. I will 1) send you a wonderful, non religious Christmas card (unless you want a more traditional religious card because I’m down with that too) and 2) NEVER EVER EVER let anyone else see your address because well that’s just not safe or nice (got to keep the good Karma flowing). I hope you all have fun with this. I’m starting to get very excited about the whole holiday season!

Things to ponder...

Is repetitive action virtuous action? If behaviour and conduct are merely repetitive processes then all human relationships actually cease. If I behave mechanically every day, - repeating a certain code of conduct which I have learnt, which I find profitable, or which is pleasant, repeating that over and over again, - my relationship with you ceases, completely - I have become a machine. - J. Krishnamurti

Then I am a knitting machine!

Tonight my boyfriend's old roommate comes to visit for 2 weeks. I wonder how he will respond to the 20 something knitting machine...

New Obsession

I had to work a little late tonight so there isn't much to report on the knitting front except that I'm now obsessed with Opal sock yarns. Check out all the different yarns they make. I heart self striping and patterning yarns! http://www.ptyarn.com/opalsamples.html

Ok now back to my cocktail...I really earned it tonight!

Whoa we're halfway there...

One more sock done one more to go. I really love the colors and how they change! And I'm so psyched that I've finally figured out how to graft the toe properly (think you to the Teach Yourself Visually Knitting book, I couldn't do it without you). Now I just need to figure out where to start in this yarn so I can attempted to make a matching sock. If I can't I will just have to make two socks that look nothing like each other and I'm kind of ok with that.

I also bought Knitting America: A Glorious Heritage from Warm Socks to High Art by Susan M. Strawn today. I have been fingering this book in the bookstore for months and I finally just broke down and bought it. Its really interesting. I'm fascinated by the history of knitting and this will hopefully be the first of many books on this subject. The pictures are wonderful. I'm trying to be good and not peak ahead but I can't help myself.

I also found these wristlets I made years ago when we were cleaning out the little storage loft we have. I think they were made with that moonlit mohair Lion Brand yarn but I can't remember. They're those really simple wristlets you make from a rectangle you just stitch up the side and leave a thumb opening. I forgot how warm these things are and how fun!




We also picked up a few books on Brazil. We are going away with Carl's family for Christmas/New Years. They have rented a huge house on the North coast and we're going to try and get some scuba diving in if we can. I can't wait.

Thanksgiving #3

Yes I had my third Thanksgiving dinner tonight. And tomorrow I must start going to the gym again. We leave for Brazil at the end of December and I'm soooo not ready for beachwear. Anyway we had dinner with my mom tonight since we weren't able to spend Thanksgiving day with her. Carl and my mother were shocked that I hadn't seen A Christmas Store so after dinner they rushed me into the den and made me watch. It was great! I know understand why everyone loves this movie so much. I don't know how I made it 24 years without seeing that movie but I guess I always like A Christmas Carol and Rudolph so that's what I watched every year. I'm glad to have a new Christmas favorite thought NOTHING can beat The Grinch.

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I got some more work done on the ankle socks. I'm really loving this yarn. Its so exciting to see what color is going to come next and how its going to look when it's all knit up. I kind of wish I could get a few more balls and make some crazy knee high socks instead of ankle socks. Maybe that will be my next pair...yah whoever told me socks would be addicting were right. They're awesome!

I know my first published designer!

Congrats to Jen on getting her sweater pattern Retropolitan Cardigan published in Son of a Stitch N Bitch!

Now everyone go out and make this sweater for the man in you life.

Thanksgiving Recap

I think its time for me to write a real post. My cold is in my chest now which stinks but I'm feeling better and today I get to spend the whole day at home which is nice. I feel like I never spend any real time in the apartment. So Thanksgiving was great. I went home to my mom's house Wednesday night I so could pick up my car. I love going to suburbs because I get to go to Target. I love Target. It's so clean and bright and there so much space in the aisles...Oh I love it. So I did a little shopping and a little admiring of the trees. I'm so happy they still have some of they're fall color! We had dinner at this little Mexican place we love called Casa Del Sol. Why do women love margaritas and guacamole so much? We all do it seems. Anyway I spent the rest of the night watching Wings and knitting.

Yesterday we I picked up my brother at the train station and we headed to CT to see my dad and step mom. We had a great time. Lots of wine and family and food. It was perfect. I somehow got my older brother to be DD so I could partake in the thanksgiving festivities (OK I'll just say it now, there side of the family drinks a lot but its fun!). The food was great. I learned that my dad doesn't know how to carve a turkey. He can butcher it though! But really who cares how you cut it as long as the food makes it on your plate. There was a little incident with the gizzards...I guess there were two packs in the bird and my step mom only removed one. My father affectionately named it the Turkey Tampon after it came flying out of the bird and onto the floor. It was funny.



All in all we had a great Thanksgiving and I managed to make some progress on the ankle socks. Of course I've been knitting so much lately my wrist is killing again. Time for my little craft wrist brace thingies.



I hope you all had a wonderful day!

Happy Thanksgiving

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

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I hope you have all had a great holiday and didn't eat too much! I know I have, my tummy hurts. I spent today knitting and eating and drinking! It was great. I just turned the heel on my first of the ankle sock pairs.

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I had an interesting thing happen this morning. I woke up in my bed at home, stretched, welcomed the day...and found a straight pin in my bed!!! I could have lost an eye!! Why in hell are there pins in my bed? What is my mom quilting in my bed when I'm not home??? I was very alarmed by this.

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The cold is getting better its just in my chest. I will backing in fighting shape in no time. I have pics to post but they have to go up tomorrow.

Home Sick

1) They don't mix well. I had to stop knitting last night. Apparently that was the sign to Carl that I really was sick and need to be put to bed.

2) I think the medicine was way too strong for me because I woke up feeling drunk, shaking and wanting to vomit.

3) I'm home...and I'm not leaving till I feel better. I'm not sure how much progress I will make on the socks but we'll see.

Sick Again...

So I know 3 people that have had walking pneumonia over the last 3 weeks, 2 people with bronchitis and I've been sneezed on countless times by strangers on the bus....it was only a matter of time that I would end up with a cold. So tonight we find out if knitting and nighttime cold meds mix.

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Eh I guess I can always frog it if its awful....

I have a case of the Mondays

Sorry not much to post. I'm 1) having an awful day and 2) getting sick. But my new socks are awesome.

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I found some self striping sock yarn in my stash I'm going to cast on for another pair tonight if I'm feeling up to it.

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I started my lace shrug last night but there seems to be something wrong with the pattern, the count is off or I'm off. Either could be true. So I'm a little mad it plus the company website doesn't work. I sent an email to the address listed on the pattern hopefully they respond.

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I'm going to stop typing before I start to take my bad day out on all of you.

FO Time!

All done!!

I'm so proud of them even if they are a little wonky. The next pair will be closer to perfect!

hmmm....what next???

I love Saturdays

So today I'm having a nice lazy Saturday. I've been working on my second sock and its getting there. I should have a pair before the end of the week if all goes well. I switched over to the magic loop method and it seems to be going a lot faster than the dpns and to make it even better the ladders are going away! I'm not good at preventing ladders with dpns yet and this makes it so much easier.
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I've also been pulling together my knitting books so we can put them up on these neat hidden bookshelves we have. I still think there are more somewhere in this apartment. Its not a big place how to do I always lose stuff...maybe I should stick to knitting.

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Temptation

I said no more SEX till I use up some more of my stash but I saw this sock yarn on at Yarn Store and I just had to have it!

I kinda stole this picture from the website but isn't just so pretty!

I can’t wait till it comes!

I also received my order from Knit Picks today so I’m really excited to play with all the interchangeable needles. And hopefully when the new sock yarn gets here I can cast on for a new pair of socks in magic loop…maybe even toe up! Damn I’m feeling adventurous today!

Living should be perpetual and universal benediction. - Why Lazurus Laughed by Wei Wu Wei

Describe a crafting-related moment of zen. What did it mean to you? Did you learn anything from it?

OririDraco posted this question on Ravelry.com as a “Blogger Challenge” so I’m going to take it since I too hate to ramble in every post. So I’m accepting the challenge.

Describe a crafting-related moment of Zen? It seems like a simple question but for me I don’t think it is very straight forward. I don’t think I have ever experienced one clear cut moment of Zen while knitting but I think over all it has brought a more Zen like quality to my life.

When I’m knitting I sit and focus on my hands and what they are doing. It becomes meditative in a way. Knit 1 purl 1 knit 2 together…every pattern is a little mantra but instead of say om or reciting the Heart Sutra or pondering koans I just sit and be. Each stitch makes me a little calmer. And as time passes, my whole body relaxes and I guess it does become a Zen-like activity. I’m simultaneously connected and disconnected with my surroundings. It is probably as close as I will come to understanding the concept of emptiness without actively studying it or meditating on the idea.

Just as a tangent, the concept of emptiness is a great one. My final paper for Buddhism class in college was on this topic. It’s difficult to understand because your mind keeps going back and forth but I think that from this confusion you reach the “goal” of understanding (or not understanding). We are both self and non-self. I’ve always loved that idea.

Back to the main topic.

I haven’t learned anything from this but I have changed. It has been slow but I have gradually become a calmer person. I listen more whereas I used to talk talk talk. I am happier in the moment than I ever have been in the past. My brother and mother are always worrying about something, their health, current affairs, the neighbors, and I used to get sucked into their worry. Now I can separate from their worry, understand it and not let it affect me. I am finally happy just being (or not being).