« February 2007 | Main | April 2007 »
have i mentioned how much i love flickr? well i do.
i love flickr. love. love. love. and i love all of this pictures. click on this mosaic if you'd like to learn more about any of these photos, and the people who shot them. i guess i kind of like color.
this morning, i caught one of my cats with her little face pressed up against the bedroom window. she had spied a bird sitting on the neighbors fence and probably would have gnawed my hand off just for a chance to catch him. in the past couple of weeks, i've been trying to pay extra close attention as i look for the first signs of spring. so far as i can tell, that bird is it.
now on to something totally unrelated. i've made very little progress on my ripple blanket, only managing to crochet 10 2 row bands of color in 10 days. but i'm halfway there.
i've been crocheting the ends in as i go along so that i don't have to weave them in later. i promised julie a picture of what that looks like, but i'm lame and didn't get a shot in this time. but i will.
Cancer is always on the forefront of my mind. I'm not particularly morbid or anything but after years of working in the medical research field, i've become a bit of a hypochondriac. My mother is a breast cancer survivor (it's been 10 years so i believe i can in fact call her "a survivor"). I currently earn a living by working on a national cancer study. And lately the big C has reared it's ugly head by re-attacking two public figures, Tony Snow* and Elizabeth Edwards.
So fighting the big C is always on my mind too.
Stitchy is supporting her friend Charlene (who is not sick by the way -- phew thank god for that -- stop scaring us like that please) on her Hike for Discovery, an endurance training program that raises money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
And Graceful Stitches (you know, the yarn shop where i volunteer, with all proceeds going towards Cancer Research) is having their annual March Madness event this Friday and Saturday, March 30 and 31. (I'll be there on Saturday). If you live in the area, this is a really fun event and worth the trip. And there's plenty of yarn.
MARCH MADNESS
at
Graceful Stitches
Friday & Saturday
March 30 & 31
Please join us for two days of fun and learning.
Participate in half hour round robin demonstrations and informational sessions featuring
knitting tips, techniques, and project ideas. Don't be caught in over time with dropped
stitches or gauge problems. Learn to cable from the free throw line. It's a slam dunk!
Your $10.00 donation at the door entitles you to as many info sessions as your time allows.
It also entitles you to 10% off on your purchase of in-stock, non-sale yarns for that day.
Here is a list of the sessions:
Friday
10:15 - 10:45 Continental Knitting
11:00 - 11:30 Gauge and substituting yarn in patterns
11:45 - 12:15 Mosaic – A great entry into color knitting!
12:30 - 1:00 Sock-it-to Me! all about making socks
1:15 - 1:45 Blocking and Finishing
Saturday
10:30 - 11:00 Gauge and Substituting yarn in patterns
11:15 - 11:45 Blocking and Finishing
12:00 - 12:30 The Twists of Cable Knitting
12:45 - 1:15 Knitting from Charts & Lace Knitting
1:30
- 2:00 Entrelac – the Art of Knitting
Block by Block
For more information call:
508.359.1505 or
checkout our website at: www:gracefulstitches.org
*no, i won't link to tony snow. i have great sympathy for his and his family's suffering, but he's still a liar.
only one day behind this week. not too bad.
1. i really like this sign that i pass on my way home from the supermarket. it so appeals to the 3rd grader in me.
2. i like how funny little kids can be. she was crying right before this picture was taken because her brothers were bugging her. as soon as she saw the camera though, she stopped right away, and started mugging for me.
3. and who doesn't like receiving fiber in the mail? this is 4oz of superwash merino in "dandy lion." i joined the spunky eclectic fiber club at elisa's insistence. when elisa tells you what to do, you do it. didn't you know?
on the knitting and crochet front, this weekend was a wash. a mistake was made on the sock. at first i decided to call it a "design element" so i wouldn't have to fix it. i ended up frogging the whole thing and starting fresh. progress was stopped on the ripple afghan as well. just taking a rest is all.
and just because i like this picture ...
monday, i was so grumpy, i actually considered quitting blogging. or at least taking a break. "bah!" i thought. "i can't handle the pressure!" and i thought of other things, but i won't go into them here because then i would be participating in over-excessive navel gazing and woe-is-me pity-partying. like i tell my 2 month old niece ... "there's no crying in [fill in activity here]."
but today i'm better. good enough to give you my list of "things i like monday "on wednesday.
1. i like that dunkin dunuts, in honor of it being the first day of spring, is giving away free iced coffee. i love iced coffee. and when it's free, it's even better. i picked one up on my way to work this morning. i'll stop by on my way home. woo-hoo.
2. don't tell anyone because people will think i'm crazy but i kind of enjoyed our little snow storm this weekend.
and let me tell you why. because i could hang out in my sweatpants at home guilt free. i mean, i couldn't get the car out of the driveway, let alone drive safely down the road. so i stayed home.
i baked bread. and i baked brownies. the bread was good. i hear the brownies were too.
"hey! where do you think you're going with those brownies?"
and while sitting on the couch i knit and i crocheted. sometimes almost simultaneously -- one row on the blanket, one row on the sock, that kind of thing.
the old -- my ripple blanket.
the new -- socks.
3. by sunday, the driveway had been cleared and the roads were clean so i got to spend time with the inlaws and my niece, eating corned beef and cabbage. lots to like there. (i love cabbage. when that happened i haven't a clue.)
how creepy is that doll? guess which one is real? heh heh
finally, napoleon thanks you for all of the birthday wishes. or he would if he were not a cat. so on behalf of my old cat who tends not to really give a crap about anything except for tuna and cold fresh water (in protest to his water not being cold and fresh enough he's taken to straddling the toilet bowl and trying to drink out of it.) i would like to thank you for the wonderfully warm birthday wishes.
have a good wednesday!
i'm postponing "things i like monday" until tomorrow because i'm grumpy and i don't really like anything at this particular moment.
imagine this face but a lot older. yes, i'm that grumpy.
but i do want to announce that a birthday was celebrated this weekend.
mr. napoleon turned 17. i think he's ready to date and borrow the keys to the car.
in cat years, he's older than dirt, but other than having lost some muscle tone over the years (he's a little too thin and i keep giving him treats to fatten him up a bit) he appears to be doing just fine. he still jumps up on the counters, growls at the other cats, scarfs down tuna, hates j with every fiber of his 8lb being, and insists on lying on my chest, like he did as a kitten, when i'm knitting (when he's not lying down on my knitting).
happy birthday buddy!
i got to leave work early today because it's snowing again. we may get up to a foot in the next 24 hours. we always seem so shocked when we get a snow storm in march or april. but i don't know why. since it always snows one last time in march and/or april. i think it was 10 years ago, april 1st that we got the big april fools storm. so much snow fell that day that the trolleys and the buses didn't run. that almost never happens. i lived in the city back then. i didn't have to go to work that day, and i remember thinking i'd go shopping and waiting for the bus for a good 30 minutes before realizing that that bus was never going to come. that was also the day that i saw someone cross country ski down commonwealth avenue.
i don't mind the snow all that much today. it's friday. and i don't have anywhere to be. tomorrow, if it's still messy out, i won't go out either. there's plenty of things for me to do.
spring will eventually come. it always does.
so while i'm not knitting baby things, i've been rippling. (crochet-mockers, please hide your eyes. it's not a toilet paper cozy, but i know how sensitive some of you knitting snobs can be. ha!)
i have 30 different colors of approximately 50g each so that explains the busy-ness. the randomness of the stripes is intentional. i started out by chosing colors with my eyes closed, but i got two yellows one after another. so i had to take back some of the control. but other than a some veto power, i've kept the color sequence pretty hap-hazard. i've got 10 more color bands before making it halfway.
not only have i been visiting with babies, i've been knitting for babies. last week, our friends to the north gifted new england with a ferocious artic blast -- more like starting march off like a polar bear than a lion -- and my sister-in-law called with an emergency project. "can you knit tiny little baby mittens for your tiny little baby niece? STAT!?" (she's a nurse). um... sure.. i think i can.
she offered to go out and buy some yarn but i told her there was no need for that. i'm sure i could find some scraps around the house (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha -- i could knit her a car cozy with all of the "scraps " i have laying around the house). i used patons merino and cast on 24 stitches for each and knit them in the round using the magic loop on size 8 addi turbos (40inch). after 16 rows or so (total) i decreased every other row until i was left with 8 stitches which i kitchenered. easy as pie. of course now it's 60 degrees but it's only march. more than enough time for plenty of wear.
and i finished these two kimonos from mason dixon knitting. these are for a friend who is carrying twins -- one of which we're sure is a girl. the sex of the other has not been confirmed but it's also probably a girl (although the father is still hoping).
i followed the pattern exactly as specified in the book except i knit them in stockinette instead of garter stitch which explains why it looks a little different from many of the kimonos you may have already seen out there. and i used TLC cara mia using probably half of a ball for each. cara mia is soft and easy to care for. yes, it's got acrylic and nylon in it. sue me.
my sister-in-law (mom of the mittened little one) suggested i use velcro instead of actual ties, so the little bows are just for show and i used little iron on velcro dots to make sure the things stay closed on squirmy babies.
i think they're kind of cute. i need to make some for the niece now.
i started thinking about this post last friday because i actually had several things pop into my head that i liked. can you believe that?
1. i really really like this. i saw this notebook "system" (i love "systems") in the pages of the latest issue of Blueprint (it's about fucking time with the third issue of blueprint. martha! what are those blueprint people doing?! let's hope they can publish more than 2 issues per year this year!) i'm still a paper-based planner type person, mostly because i find electronic systems rather confining. i mean, how do i draw a picture of something? anyway, the "system" is still a little pricey for my taste (and it's 2007 and they only offer a 2008 calendar) but maybe later.
2. i'm really liking crochet. especially working on this blanket. yep, that's what that big bag of yarn was for.
i've jumped on the ripple blanket bandwagon. check out the special ripple blog to see what others are doing.
3. i like that saturday i was able to drive around in my car with my sunroof open. it was 59 degrees. woo-hoo! so yes, tomorrow we'll be freezing our asses off again, but saturday it was almost 60 degrees!
today's eye candy friday is more stale hard candy covered in bits of shredded tissue that's been sitting in the bottom of your aunt edna's housecoat pocket for 3 weeks than chocolate truffles, but i took an alternate route to and from work yesterday and i thought it might be fun to show you what i saw.
to begin with, i think i spotted ronald mcdonald. if you're afraid of clowns, i recommend that you look away. the lady sitting behind ronald seems to agree.
the next picture is for norma.
this may be petty, attacking someone whose opinion is different from mine by mocking their spelling, but if LIBERALS like me are slowly killing america, at least we aren't killing the english language. (ok, now i had better double check that sentence to make sure that i didn't make any glaring errors).
awww, here's my old hood and where i would have gotten off the train if i still lived here ... you know ... close to my job and my friends ... and not in west bumfuck. hi old apartment ... i miss you.
thirty minutes later, i'm at my destination, for now (i still have a 45 minute drive). this is one of the places where Ts sleep. good night Ts!
if you'd like to see more of my pictures, a little less covered in lint and still in their original wrapper, you can check out my photoblog or my flickr photo pages.
