i had every intention of getting to bed early last night and getting up early to make it to masters swim class. as usual, just as i'm about to shut off the idiot box and get some shut eye, i decide to channel surf just one more time. it always happens that at this hour i manage to catch a classic just as it's starting. last night it was......
PURPLE RAIN!!!!!
the last time this happened was thanksgiving eve when i was frantically working on the poncho. it was sixteen candles, another favorite from the same era. but you have to understand my love for prince and the movie purple rain. horrible acting. absolutley painful, but no one can deny that prince is a musical genius and top performer. not to mention that purple rain is on my top 10 best albums ever list. i sang along to all the songs as if i were back in my room at age 13 playing the album over and over and then backwards to decipher all the satanic messages. and while watching i finished the main components to kyoto .
the sleeves seemed to take FOREVER!!!!! i did both at once using a long circular needle, but all that stockinette on such small needles was monotonous. here it is all seamed up except for the sash which is just connected by safety pins for placement when i finally seam it. overall, i'm really happy with this project. i like the colors i chose. the sleeves are probably a little short, but not clown-like. hopefully with blocking i can get a little more length out of them. i know that most folks block each piece separately before seaming, but i just get all antsy and want to put it all together right away. plus, it's a cotton blend yarn, so it'll naturally get looser. i just have the collar trim to finish and put on. it says to attach it with back stitch which i've never done before so it could be interesting.........
these pics are from a week ago. i just haven't had the time to sit and post them. i finally sat down with my dear friend, beth, and taught her the knit stitch. i also bought her the stitch 'n bitch book for her birthday but promised i'd get her started. she picked it up pretty quick.
here she is with her wool ease making her first garter stitch scarf. notice the book is at her side. she kinda gets all kung foo with her arms. they call continental knitting "throwing". this girl really throws!!!!!
and we've started a new club. it's called the sip 'n stitch 'n bitch. we drink, we knit, we gossip. each meeting will be dedicated to a new drink. we have the good fortune of having taru in the group who went to bartending school, so we've got all our drinks lined up for a while. this meeting was dedicated to the margarita and frankly, i would be happy with that dedication every week. but next week we move on to the manhattan as we watch sex and the city, followed by grasshoppers, mohitos, and when it gets warm again we'll do mint julips and knit outside on the porch like southern belles.
here's taru and beth. this was before we got started on the margaritas. taru finished an adorable purse and made some lacy arm warmers which she wore that friday night when her band played (and my camera battery was dead).
so in a desperate attempt to get my life in order, i must get my knititng in order. to begin with, my needles and notions and all were just kept in an old shipping box that i'd received some ebay yarn in. you know the one, long, rectangular and opens from the side. every time i wanted a certain needle i had to dump the entire thing out on the floor. so as i was cleaning i found the empty box that those groovy palm tree vans tennis shoes came in. it opens from thetop so that i don't have to dump everything out, and it's almost the perfect size.........
.......it's just that one pair of pony pearls that sticks out, but it'll have to do for now. i could get crafty and make a needle holder with the pattern from the stitch 'n bitch book , but i'm on a major yarn/craft diet and must only use what i already have for any new projects. at least for this week...........
next up on the organization schedule, the yarn....... it's everywhere!!!!!!!!
when i first began knitting last year, one of the first gifts i made was a scarf for a girlfriend's birthday. she loved it so much and ever since has been bugging me to teach her to knit. i think i've been putting it off because while i think i have picked it up pretty quickly and love to experiment with new stitches, i don't think i'll be good at teaching it to someone else. a lot of it seems intuitive to me, and i don't know how to translate that to instruction. anyhow, it's a year later and i'm living by the rule "give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach him how to fish and he'll eat forever" which basically translates to "last year i knit you a scarf and this year i don't have time to knit you anything so i'm buying you the stitch 'n bitch book and a gift certificate to pick out your own yarn. i'll also spend one night getting you started, but after that, you're on your own." so while in the lys to buy the gift certificate i couldn't turn down the chance to get something for myself. a) i need another quick thang on big needles to break up the stockinette monotony of kyoto and b) i've never used rowan yarn before, so i got this stuff and have started a quickie cable scarf.......
and look what came in the mail a few nights ago from jen!!!!!!
months ago i found some yarn on ebay, vintage noro cotton cash iroha. i won ten skeins of it and started out to make the ribby pullover. early in i had realized that i was not going to have enough, but this was vintage yarn that i had bought on ebay!!!! low and behold, a few months later, some more of it came up from a completely different seller but the same dyelot and colorway!!!!! (i must do a search on ebay for noro at least 3 times a day when possible) this particular seller had three different lots of it and i only needed four more skeins. i noticed that jen from my virtual knitting group was bidding on it. we had already started a database with our ebay profile names to prevent from bidding against each other. so i asked jen if she would bid on a different lot since i desperately needed it to finish my sweater. so she obliged and we both ended up winning our auctions!!! i had four skeins left over that jen ended up needing to finish her top down raglan. jen, have you finished it yet???? ha ha. so i sent it to her and she sent me all that you see above in return. 3 balls of kureyon that are definitely going to be used for a new and improved ankle biter pattern that maybe this time i will write down as i go along so i can share it with y'all. and that tube is filled with the most magical foot creme that jen knows my marathon running feet need so badly. really, folks, my dogs are seriously barking after that 23 miler last weekend. so see, everyone. good deeds do not go unturned and turned and returned. may i just take this moment to say again how much i've enjoyed making so many new friends in this knitting/bloggong world!!!!!!
rock out with your sock out!!!!!!!!
in non knitting news, folks have been asking how the running has been going. i have to admit that i had a little bit of a downslope after returning from cheering my runners on in honlulu. 6 months of getting up early and watching these people transform is a big build up and then a huge drop when it's all over. so i'm trying to keep up the momentum with my training for new orleans next month and have decided to do the alaska marathon next june in anchorage!!! that oughtta keep me busy. i had a pretty good 23 miler training run last weekend despite a pretty hot day and chronic tight calf muscles. this sunday is a short 10 miler. tonight i signed up to do a mini triathlon at my gym and was really looking forward to it even though i wasn't feeling well all day at work. so i zoom through traffic to get there on time and get changed and ready and they tell me that it's been cancelled. not enough people for the 7pm heat. huge bummer!!! ended up swimming and coming straight home. makes me anxious for tri season next summer!!!!!!
hold on to your socks, i've got lots to fill you in on......
first, the ankle biters. i know there was a legwarmer knit along going on. i think i started these before that with yarn i got back in november when i visited with stacy in nyc. it's noro kureyon, and while i find kureyon a little too itchy for scarves or sweaters, it's perfect for ankle biters and wristbands and felted purses. actually, the colors are so beautiful that it feels like a waste to felt it. these are done in color #88 which reminds me of a mexican sarape blanket. i'm not really into the full on legwarmer so i made these really short to just go over the lower shin and my fancy new adidas tennis shoes. i don't necessarily mean to wear them with my pants all folded up but more with skirts and tights. i may even have to get a pair of those retro culottes that i wore in second grade that are coming back again.
next up we have the infamous turkey wrap. you know the poncho i decided that i needed to wear to thanksgiving and started two days before. i never finished it because it ended up being a gazillion degrees that day here in la la land. but i finished it a few days later and have worn it quite a bit. it was a hit on new years eve. the hostess of the party i went to wanted me to leave it on so she could cuddle it all night long. can you say ecstasy????? duh........
and bringing you up to my current project, we have the kyoto pattern from knitty. heres' the front all waiting to be seamed up. i hop ethese colors don't look too much like halloween. it's more of a pumpkin color than actual halloweens orange. and the stripes in the sash are cream not white, so i hope it looks sophisticated. and thanks to pink lotus for giving the heads up that the front should be seamed up with the left side over the right. the other way is done when PEOPLE DIE!!!! isn't it so fascinating how little details mean different things in different cultures??? and did you notice my other cool new pair of vans slip on sneakers with palm trees on them? i know i know, only in l.a. in case you hadn't figured it out by now, i'm addicted to tennis shoes. i would even venture to say that i'm more addicted to tennis shoes than i am yarn or knitting. you can only imagine what my closet looks like. i guess it could be worse. i could be one of those sex and the city chicks whose addicted to manolo blahniks......
and here's the back panel done and the two sleeves that i'm in the middle of. i like doing both sleeves at once. otherwise i might get second sleeve syndrome, similar to second sock syndrome. also, this way they'll be done the same exact length or at least with the same exact mistakes............
so that should bring us all up to date!!! what d'ya think?????
ok, the holidays are over. there's no excuse. i hearby profess my return to the blog. i will do my best to update at least once a week and with progress pics. i still need to photograph quite a few finished pieces and will hopeully get to those by the end of the week. i've been on a temporary gig for the last three weeks that pretty much eats up all of my daylight hours, so there hasn't been time to take good pics in good light the way i like to.
i'm currently working on the kyoto pattern from knitty. i've changed the colors as i'm not a big fan of the pink/green combo. i switched mine to main color black with a sort of "goldenrod" color for the sash with cream color for the striping. i'm moving right along. finished the back and both sides of the front. started on the sleeves and am doing both at one time on a circular needle. then just the collar trim in seed stitch. i substituted the tahki cotton that was used in the pattern with lamb's pride cotton fleece instead. i must admit that i love this yarn!!!! it feels like light cotton, but it's got merino wool in it so hopefully it'll keep it's shape better. and the double seed stitch looks really pretty in this yarn!!!!! pics soon i promise!!!!!!
and since jen called all us lazy bloggers out, here's my knitting 5:
1> i have way too much yarn. i have enough yarn to finish projects through to next year, but i keep looking for new stuff all the time. i am particularly addicted to vintage noro yarns on ebay.
2> i tend to find a pattern i like and then look for the yarn. most often, though, the yarn isn't right for the project and i end up fudging the pattern to make it work.
3> i used to think i only liked to work with big needles, but the truth is that my favorite pieces have mostly been done with #7's or below. but to drive away the boredom of a small needle project, i like to have something quick and small like wristbands or something going on big needles for gratification.
4> i like doing everything on circular needles, even the flat projects.
5> i absolutely detest anything fuzzy, furry, fun fur and and novelty yarns.
monica, 33, single
photographer / running coach
live in los angeles
2 dogs, ella (lab) and ruby (dobi)
learned to knit when i was 7, but recently picked it up again in december 2002
...owned a restaurant, what kind of food would you serve?
i've thought about this one before. i'd call the restaurant "whateva's cleva" and change the menu every day with all my favorites including, mexican, indian, soul food, veggie friendly, etc.
...owned a small store, what kind of merchandise would you sell?
yarn, duh!!!!!
...wrote a book, what genre would it be?
biographies are my favorite, but i can't imagine that my own would be a top seller. probably a crime story.
...ran a school, what would you teach?
tolerance
...recorded an album, what kind of music would be on it?
oh, again, that's a difficult one. i'm a musical schizophrenic. some punk, some funk, some metal, some rap, and at least one sappy love song
how come this little pixie never looks like me????
