I Just Want to Have Something To Do

On vacation in Maryland – can you believe I have no desire to shop for yarn? I’m also having television withdrawal. But I am getting more sewing and reading done, and playing Brain Age more often, so I guess it’s a good thing! Only 10 more days until I’m back to normal.

Just like Romeo and Juliet

So I officially finished my Juliet today. That is, I crocheted the button loops and sewed on the buttons. I even wore it, which is a big step for me! It really looks great and was a lot of stash busting, including double stranding most of my burgundy colored yarns. Down 13 skeins of yarn!

While I was walking the kids to camp, another mom smiled at me. I thought it was because of the kids. Then maybe my tattoos. But maybe, just maybe, she is also a knitter and recognized the Juliet pattern!

I also officially finished my huge Malabrigo sweater a week or so ago. I had planned on trying to felt it down, but it’s my friend “Elaine Lowe“’s birthday on Friday, so I figured I’d start by giving it to her. She’s 6 feet tall and it was too big for her!!!! Just a bit big, though, and I told her she could felt it a bit down if she wanted. I really loved the toggle (sorry, “clasp” ) I bought and sewed on, and I think it looks great! I hope she enjoys wearing it.

Meanwhile, I’ve been reading up a storm for the Library usage challenge. I’m almost halfway done, and have a HUGE pile of library books on my kitchen table! I borrowed 5 today and I think 5 yesterday, all being impulse purchases!

I’ve also been knitting. I am on the sleeves of my random acrylic shrug/cardigan. One day it was the only yarn I had in the car with me, and I had to cast on!

I also started my shrug/cardigan thing from Knit Picks Shine that I frogged from A Good Bias from IK. D’oh … can you see what’s missing? If this were pants and I was Heather Mills, it would be fine:

But as you might know, I am not a really particular knitter, I prefer to get things done, so I’m just going to increase until I have the right amount of stitches and then move on. Talk about a Franken-sweater (Go Al Franken!)

One week

So we’re T minus 4 days left of the school year, so I spent this week getting caught up on “adult” movies and other things before I go full time into my “nanny” job for the summer. I got a lot of knitting done, did some crocheting, possibly started getting carpal tunnel syndrome, and even read a bit.

Monday: I saw “My Life in Ruins” and worked on my acrylic raglan sweater (to be called my “Julie’s February Sweater” because of it’s closeness to both Juliet and the February Lady Sweater). The movie was enjoyable. Nia Vardalos capitalizes on her Greek heritage once again by casting herself as an American tour guide in Greece who finds her “kefi” (mojo) and ends up becoming a better tour guide than the professional she works with.

Tuesday: Cinemark Theatres has a “summer movie clubhouse” every summer and I’ve signed up for the past 3 years. This year I didn’t do any research ahead of time, and it turns out that only one of our local theaters is involved and it’s mainly the movies we’ve seen last year and the year before. But I already bought the passes (each pass is $5 and gets you into 10 movies) and since the kids are still in school, I decided to go see “Igor” on my own. It’s actually a pretty good animated movie (except that Molly Shannon plays a main character and I cannot stand her). The premise is that there is a land with “evil scientists” and “Igors” and John Cusack plays an “Igor” that invents and wants to become an evil scientist himself. I don’t know that I’d want to see it again, but it was entertaining once. I brought my raglan sweater made out of Knit Picks Shine that I frogged from my ill-fated “A Good Bias” shrug years ago and am just about to finish the body on at this point.

Wednesday: I was VERY lazy and actually slept all day. The best perk of being a stay at home mom whose kids are in school. I never get sick days so I guess I can count this. I’m in trouble if I ever manage to find another job but so far no luck, so I’m somewhat rested at least!

Thursday: I went to see “The Hangover”. It was (f-ing) hilarious!!! I really would see it again, it was that good, except that some of that was the unexpected nature of the mystery and the wacky characters. Again, with the acrylic shrug thing. I’m almost done!

Friday: So many errands to get done before school ends on Friday! Well, technically, it ends on Thursday, and Friday morning is a 2 (3?) hour performance at school. Oh joy. At least this year we’re getting seats so I can knit. Anywho, I went to Target, the bank, Fresh Choice and to see “Up”. I had heard that the dogs in the movie could be scary to some kids, and I can believe that (my MIL was justifying how they got “friendlier” later on in the movie, but my kids are REALLY afraid of dogs), but really, what got me the most about the movie was how Carl’s wife died and their relationship, and how poor Russell was the product of a “first marriage” and didn’t see his dad at all. I should have brought a hankie or two! All in all, very cute and heart-warming.

Saturday: I missed the first of the two official KIP weekends this year. I knit, spent time carrying around a LOT of library books (I’m up to 15 at least in the library book reading challenge!), and cooking. I also started watching the documentary “Al Franken: God Spoke”. I like Al Franken. He’s a bit weird, especially in this documentary but really smart, and his heart is in the right place. Recently I also listened to a stand up comedy podcast with Janeane Garofalo and felt a bit the same way – how can you honestly “hate” or give death threats to someone just because you don’t agree with them politically? Honestly – TURN THE CHANNEL! It’s not like either of those two are on every channel every day and you can’t get away from them. And I think both of them are very talented. “Frankly”, I couldn’t get through the documentary because his opponents were just so hateful. I’ve never understood why people need to tell you (me) what to do, especially, when they don’t do it themselves. If you want to live your life a certain way (religiously, pro-gun, anti-choice, whatever), feel free. Just don’t tell me that I have to do what you say I have to do, when you’re actively not doing it yourself.

I suspect I won’t see any movies next week (there aren’t any more to see!), and will spend the week gearing up for my very difficult summer, but at least I did a lot last week!

Lisa Librarian

I’m finally officially joining the Support Your (Local) Library Challenge (I’m joining with the caveat, if this is necessary, that I am not a huge fan of our city’s libraries, but we are connected to other cities in the county, so I’ll be using the others that aren’t technically our “local” library but are within walking distance!) I went to the library on Friday, and was disappointed to see that their system was down and we could only check out 3 books manually at the desk! I had had 6 but oh well.

So I’m going to read as many library books as I can this year. I use the library and also don’t really like to hold on to books (more room for yarn!), so this isn’t that hard, except for finding the books and the time to read. I’ll go officially for the 50 book limit. Here’s my list so far:

1. X Saves the World – Jeff Gordinier
2. I Killed – compiled by Ritch Shydner and Mark Schiff
3. Dead Until Dark – Charlaine Harris
4. Living Dead in Dallas – Charlaine Harris
5. Club Dead – Charlaine Harris
6. Dead to the World – Charlaine Harris
7. Dead as a Doornail – Charlaine Harris
8. Definitely Dead – Charlaine Harris
9. All Together Dead – Charlaine Harris
10. From Dead to Worse – Charlaine Harris
11. The Worlds 20 Worst Crimes – Kate Kray (should be titled “The World’s Worst Edited Book”!)
12. Lizard Music – D. Manus Pinkwater
13. 10 Strategies for Reentering the Workforce – Mary E. Ghilani
14. Dinosaur Bones – Bob Barner
15. No More Pumpkins! – Peter Catalanotto and Pamela Schembri
16. Wanted! One Good Mouser – Paulo Campos
17. Twilight – Stephenie Meyer (I’ve decided that ALL the humans in this series are annoying on my 2nd read of this book. Charlie being the best of them.)
18. The Education of Robert Nifkin – Daniel Pinkwater (very nice story. I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Not too long, not too short.)
19. Extreme Animals – Nicola Davies
20. Brave New World – Aldous Huxley
21. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – Ken Kesey
22. A Family Called Bronte – Paula Guzzetti
23. Sucker Bet – Erin McCarthy (I really enjoyed this one. I’d rather read a series about Gwenna and Nate solving crimes than more Sookie Stackhouse books.)
24. Body Movers 3: Three Men and a Body – Stephanie Bond
25. The Field Guide to North American Hauntings – W. Haden Blackman
26. Dead and Gone – Charlaine Harris
27. 20 Years of Alternative Music – Spin Magazine
28. The Dilbert Principle – Scott Adams
29. Comic Relief – ed. Todd Gold
30. I Have Chosen to Stay and Fight – Margaret Cho
31: Body Movers – Stephanie Bond
32: Body Movers: 2 for the price of 1 – Stephanie Bond
33. Body Movers 4 – Stephanie Bond
34. High Stakes – Erin McCarthy
35. Bit the Jackpot – Erin McCarthy

The End

I am in a finishing frenzy! I recently finished my Lollipop sweater, having crocheted a border around the neckline and edges. I don’t know if I love the edging, but the Berroco Softwist matched pretty well with the Noro Silk Garden I ran out of. (I still need to weave in the ends ) The front and sleeves are all color 84, and I used one ball of 84 and two other colors for the back. It looks better than I might have expected.

Even though I only have 1 1/2 inches left of my Juliet, it’s been on the back burner because there’s lace to finish and I have been in places where I need to pay less attention to my knitting lately, so maybe I’ll bring it out sometime before winter when I can wear it again

So meanwhile I have been knitting furiously on my Malabrigo sweater (formerly Clementine’s Cardi) and finished all the pieces last night! I’m in the midst of piecing it together right now!

BTW, I’m doing more tweeting than blogging because there’s less pictures and more discussion of these relatively boring projects – you can see it on my site or here.

One piece at a time

Well, I’m nearing the finish line on my Malabrigo sweater, formerly Clementine’s Cardi.  I frogged the two fronts as far as I needed to and they have become the two back pieces, because they’re in rib and I didn’t like the look of the rib as much as the stockinette.  Then I frogged back the “sleeves and top back” piece that I couldn’t get to fit with the fronts, and made them into two front pieces, in stockinette with a 1 x 1 rib border.

I am FINALLY done with the fronts and the backs. I have knit on this sweater everywhere: knitting group #1 in Belmont, CA; knitting group #2 in Burlingame, CA; walking with my kids before school; the San Francisco Zoo; and today at the park near the Maker Faire, among other places.  I also started the first sleeve (I’m thinking 3/4 sleeves) at the “Night at the Museum 2″ movie yesterday.

Sorry for the crappy picture. I’m short. I have a crappy camera.

I’ve been busy otherwise, as well. I started the Cherry Bomb tank from Big Girl Knits, and finished most of the front and back on my knitting machine this weekend. I just need to finish the upper back and the edges so the stockinette doesn’t curl, then I’m done. What to do with the rest of my Dale of Norway Sisik?

Lazy Monday

I spent last night watching the SNL Shorts show. As per usual on SNL shows this century, there were 5 amazing ones, and the rest could have been kept in the vault. Of course one of the best was “Lazy Sunday”, where Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell (one of my favorites on SNL – I was unhappy when he was fired and happy when he was brought back) discuss the movie “The Chronicles of Narnia”, Magnolia cupcakes (I went there last summer in NYC and I was unimpressed, but then again I don’t smoke so maybe when you have the munchies they taste better? ), and other snacks.

On one of my more recent trips to Portland, my friend A. showed me the You Tube sensation, Mark Feuerstein (”Caroline in the City”, among others) doing his answer to “Lazy Sunday” – “Lazy Monday” (”because in L.A. none of us have jobs so every day’s Lazy Sunday”). If you have spent any time in L.A. you will love it. I loved the Thomas Guide reference, the Coffee Bean, and watching the Color Me Mine references (one of my other favorites was when Snoop Dogg had his show on MTV and he did a sketch about his posse spending time at Color Me Mine. Classic!)

Of course I’ve loved the Martin Short, Harry Shearer and Christopher Guest “Synchronized Swimming” sketch, “You’re not angry, you’re just pointing …” and another classic that A. introduced me to, “D*** in a Box” with Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake. But one of the funniest was one I had never seen before.

There was a sketch, apparently, where Ricky Gervais tells that his inspiration for the British version of “The Office” was based on a Japanese show, and he shows a clip. Of course this Japanese The Office is exactly like the American version of The Office, only they have added some Japanese stereotypes (the girl laughing with her hand in front of her mouth, the bowing, and Karaoke) and everyone is talking in Japanese. Sooo funny!

Meanwhile, I was getting my Clementine’s Cardi ready for updating. I ripped back at least 30 inches of knitting on four pieces, and am knitting each of the 4 back to 15 inches long, where I’ll follow a pattern from The Knitters Handy Book of Patterns and make a new cardigan. So far so good.

Also yesterday, my MIL and I did our Mother’s Day outing – the most delicious brunch at the Ritz in Half Moon Bay. It was so nice to get out of our heatwave (it’s gone, thank God, today and was around 70) and to the coast. She also lent me her camera cord, since Brett’s is the same as hers. So without further ado, I give you my Clapotis by Machine:

and modeled by Oren (as our neighbor calls him):

The Kids are Alright

It’ s a heatwave here in Northern California.  We rarely have air conditioning in this area because we “don’t need it” but some days we really do! It’s on or about 90 here today and I’m sweating!

So in order to get some relief, I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese.  It has air conditioning.  I’m not one of those Chuck E. Cheese snobs (I think I only know one other mom that can stand it) – I don’t love it, but it entertains the kids for a bit, it’s air conditioned, or it’s a break from the rain, when we have it.  Even though I forgot to bring some of my directions, I did bring each one of my WIPs so I could work on them.

I only have about 3 inches total left on my Juliet:

I’m also done with my Lollipop sweater, I just have to seam it up. It’s from Knitovation, and thus is *very* boxy, but it was easy to make and is a good stash buster. I used up 6 1/4 skeins of one color of Silk Garden, and 1 skein each of the other 2 colors of Silk Garden that I had. I’m down at least 8 skeins of yarn! (and I haven’t bought any in a month, although I did do some trading on Ravelry and we’re off to the Ritz in Half Moon Bay for brunch tomorrow so I’ll have to stop by Fengari …)

I’m also working on a version of Cherry Bomb from Big Girl Knits (alas, I finally fit into their smaller sized pattens). I just started it yesterday and I’m up to the armholes using Dale of Norway Sisik yarn that I got from Little Knits years ago. More stash busting!

I also have a plan for my HUGE Clementine’s Cardi. I’m going to rip back as far as I need to to get into one of the sweater patterns in The Knitters’ Handy Book of Patterns and go from there.  Of course I brought the whole sweater with me, but not my plans! Oh well.

Last but not least, I have sent an old project to the frog pond. I started this sweater a couple of years ago. I started with a pattern from Knitting Over the Edge, then continued in the round, but it never fit me. I found another potential project in Edgar from Knitty but I haven’t started it yet. Here’s my former Gedfra Fashion Trend project (I bought the yarn at La Knitterie Parisienne in line behind Mrs. Kotter – Marcia Strassman!)

So much yarn, so little time!

Missing You

I’m on a Knit Picks sock yarn kick.  First Chris was nice enough to send me some Knit Picks Felici in the Firefighter colorway and I just love it!  I had seen it before in the catalog but I guess I thought I would order it sometime in the future.  However, I hadn’t read the fine print that KP is making Felici have limited edition colorways, and once they were gone, they were gone.  Lame!  I had those 2 skeins, and then I was lucky enough to get 2 more in a destash, and then I traded for the leftovers someone had after making kids’ socks.  Not that I can ever have enough, mind you.

Before my introduction to KP Felici, I had bought some KP Sock Garden.  I didn’t realize the gorgeousness of the colorways until I tried to knit them up.  I love the red, pink and green of Geranium, and didn’t really appreciate the yellow, orange and reds of the Zinnia colorway until I used some for my Sockapalooza (2) socks, and I was hooked.  I’ve been collecting this since discontinued colorway, and ended up wtih 5 skeins after the Sockapalooza (2) socks (Thanks, Zonda!!!

Well, I had to use more of my Zinnia stash this weekend.  My friend Cathy invited me to her birthday party, and I asked her what her favorite color was.  She said orange and yellow, and of course I immediately thought of my Zinnia yarn, but I didn’t want to part with it!  I went shopping at our last remaining yarn shops (we’ve lost quite a few lately) and just never found a good replacement.  So, I had to use it.  I was very happy when I only needed 2 balls, though, so I’ve got at least 2 left.  Of course my camera ran out of batteries, I had to rush to the party, and now I can’t find the cord to Brett’s camera…

(I have a great new idea on what to call my husband and kids rather than their initials, but I can’t remember 2 of the ones I thought of!  My new naming scheme has to do with the mistaken names they are called in public – like you give your name somewhere and they get it close, but no cigar.  When people call me Elizabeth I say “sure” because I don’t really care/prefer it, but when I suggested Brett as a baby name, my husband wouldn’t consider it because he’s called it by mistake often.  So … DH = Brett; DS1 =  Dylan; DS2 = Oren; DS3 = I can’t remember! )

Anywho, I made another Clapotis by Machine – it took me from 9 am to 2 pm on Saturday, including finishing and ironing.  It looks gorgeous and maybe someday I can get it from it’s hostage situation in Brett’s camera.  I didn’t do it on the bias this time, which took a lot less time and was less annoying on the machine, and it looked gorgeous.  It looks similar to Lorna’s non bias oriented Clapotis:

More photos to come!

What Do I Get?

I am relatively monogamous. I knit forever in boring ribbing and then stockinette. Then I attempt to see where I am and I have no idea how to put the damned pattern together! It’s got at least 23 projects on Ravelry so someone understood it, but I just don’t.

This sweater almost fits across a queen sized bed, mind you, so it’s definitely BIG!  I was happy to reknit some of it  but I pretty much can’t tell what I need to do.  There are 2 fronts, which I’ve put on the left side of my photo. They’re definitely too long, so I need to pull those back, but if I can’t figure out how to attach the upper back/sleeve pieces I’m thinking of just frogging. What a pain!