nothing to report today. my own pattern design is coming out pretty cool. i got home too late to take a picture of it in good light. i just have to pay attention to the shaping. i could be frogging again. who knows......
but i wanted to give props to my homegirl stefani!!!!! go check out her new line of t-shirts!!!!
ooooooo, it's been a fun weekend of frogging some unsuccessful projects in an attempt to recycle some yarn and stay on the yarn diet. so here's what happened
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the boatneck shell. also known as my "gordon gartrelle." my first major project from a pattern. and while knitting it, i met the monkeyknits gang, my virtual knitting girls who rock, so for that, i'm grateful, but where did it go wrong??? well, for starters, i picked a yarn that was totally off gauge and then tried to adjust the pattern accordingly. second, i totally veered off from the pattern and tried this "asymmetrical" neckline thangy. well, it was a total disaster, but i was so proud to finish it. and the main reason for it's ultimate demise: i wore it for the first time to work and got laid off!!!! so hopefully, the frogging has released the bad mojo, and this yarn will see itself made into another summer camisole type thangy. i also can't believe how miserably fat i was then. yikes!!!!!
moving on
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kyoto. what happened to this one you ask??? well, i got as far as you see here, almost had it all seamed up, but realized that i had simply knit too small a size. who was i kidding? when have i ever been a medium???? there really was no one worthy of this beautiful piece as a gift, and i wasn't into going out and buying more yarn and redoing it. i was over the small needles at that point and had moved on to the rebecca aran. be gone!!!!!
i've already started on something using the kyoto yarn, a pattern of my own, so cross your fingers!!!! updates coming soon..........
in fitness news, i ran 14 miles yesterday. and in two weeks we jump to 17 miles!!! wow, alaska is gonna be here quicker than i thought!!!! all this running and i'm still at a plateau with weight watchers. last week i gained .8 of a pound. i guess it's to be expected since i lost so much the first week. my body must be at its "set point" and it's gonna take some time to trick it into adjusting that set point. i guess it took more than a year to put this weight on, so it'll take some time getting rid of it too. still, i'm feeling much healthier just by changing what i'm eating!!!!
in the nearly ten months that i've been keeping this blog, i've never posted a pic of the pooches even though some of you have left comments asking for them. i don't know why. i absolutely love my dogs, and i can appreciate others who include their pets in their otherwise knitting blog (well, some of them), but i've just never gone there. maybe because i'm embarassed at how absolutely filthy they always are. but since you can't smell my blog, i've finally broken through. this was inspired by stef's story of her reunion in germany with her cats. now i'm really not a cat person (although an animal lover all around), but the story brought me to tears. and then her recent post of medea, i think, wearing her crocheted flower. i had already taken these pics, but never thought i'd post them. do you know how hard it is to get a 70 pound doberman to wear a crocheted flower on her head????? so without further ado, i introduce:
ella ruby (9 yr old black lab/dalmatian mix) (4 yr old "purple" doberman)
yes, saturday marked the first day of spring, so i offer you these crocheted flowers as a virtual spring gift. they don't smell pretty, but i'll use them on a purse or make a pin out of one. we'll see. oh i do love spring!!! shedding pounds, gettin' all boy crazy, wearin skirts and tanks, and one season closer to my favorite time of year, SUMMER!!! WOO HOOO!!!!
i also finished the revised ankle biters. they're a looser knit (right) than the old ones (left),
i love the way these ones came out. they make me wanna run out into traffic and jump on top of the hood of a car and shake what my mamma gave me while singing "fame" at the top of my lungs. instead, i will pull out my vinyl copy of irene cara's "what a feelin'" and dance around in the living room. and there will be no pictures.......
at first i thougt it might be too warm to even be knitting the anklebiters, but they're just perfect for wearing out at night with a skirt and tennis shoes as i did last night to go see this brilliant film.....
this film is so completely genius. i've been waiting for something like this for a while. jon brion does an amazing film score. visually stunning!!!!! and if the poster gives you a little hint, kate winslett's wearin' some cute little knitty thangs too!!!! not to mention that i must marry mark rufallo. oh, but wait, that would mean divorcing benicio del toro. waht's a girl to do!!!!!
well the rebecca aran never made it to the pub for a guiness and neither did i. i just pooped out!!!! i put my irish people to shame.
but now that the aran is done, what to work on next???? in between big projects, i need to work somethin' quick and small to keep the momentum going. so i'm using the noro kureyon that jen sent me a while back and i'm working on a revised pair of ankle biters (my shorter version of leg warmers). the ones i made before were too fitted and not a loose enough knit. they just didn't have that saggy look of a ballet legwarmer. so i'm trying something different, and as usual i'm doing both at one time on along circular.......
i'm also broke, so i'm vowing to only work from the stash for a while. although i've heard talk of the new rebecca no. 27 being out. i went and looked at the preview online and i'm doing everything i can not to go out and find it. there's another gorgeous cabled v-neck in it!!!!!!
i think i'll be frogging the kyoto that i made. it just doesn't fit right and i don't love it enough to do it over. but i do love the yarn, brown sheep's cotton fleece, and it's a perfect feel for some spring/summer tanks. it's mostly cotton, so it's light, but with some wool to help keep the garments shape. so i'll try to revise the pattern i made up last summer with the noro sumire top that i made. i also have my boatneck shell that's waiting to be thrown in the frog pond. i just veered way far off from the original pattern and had no idea about knitting too tight of a fabric, so while it's cotton, it's way too bulky in my opinion. plus, that was the top i was wearing when i got laid off from work last year, so it's got some bad juju in it. well with all the frogging, i should have enough stash yarn to keep me knitting through the summer!!!!! yeah right.....
(really, i am. the mullens, the mcintyres and the donovans. these are my people)
hope you're all having a lovely green day!!!!! of course it's hot as hell so i'm not wearing my rebecca aran yet, but hopefuly it'll cool off by tonight. i went to weight watchers this morning and I LOST 6.8 POUNDS!!!!!! WOOOO HOOOO!!!!! so i'm saving up some points today so i can go to the irish pub tonight and have a guiness (or two) in my sweater.
now it never occured to me when i first picked this pattern and the color of yarn that i'd be finishing it just before st. patty's day. and it's an aran pattern no doubt!!!! i'm photographing myslef in 80 degree weather here in l.a. while my neighbors look at me like i'm absolutely insane. but damnit, i don't care how hot it is on wednesday, this is the green that i'll be wearing. wooooo hooooooo!!!!!!! i think that my irish grandmother, who is the resident expert on shades of green, would dare to say that this is not a true irish green, but i'm gonna go with it. can i just say that I LOVE THIS SWEATER!!!!! i don' t think i followed the instructions correctly for the top part after all the pieces get joined onto one circular, but whatever i did, it worked and i'm not ripping it out.
back from n'awlins and mississippi and boy have i got the southern drawl baaaaaaaaad. the marathon went well, but certainly not a pr. it was too humid to expect to pr, but my realistic goal was to do it under 6 hours and i pulled it off in 5:59 and 45 seconds. woo hooooo!!!!!! i would have finished a little faster, but my leg muscles cramped up really bad at mile 24 and i couldn't move AT ALL for about three minutes. i was stuck massaging my legs in the middle of an intersection while all these cars honked at me. but alas, another medal for the wall, and now onto training for alaska in june. the food in the south killed me. i had it all. shrimp etouffe, jamablaya, beignets, fried chicken, macaroni 'n cheese, greens, cornbread, grits. i can feel my arteries closing in on me. so starting tomorrow, i'm going on weight watchers to try to lose this last 10 pounds. it would make such a difference in my running and my general well being to lose that extra weight.
in knitting news, i'm about halfway through the sleeves on the rebecca aran. i was so busy on the rest of my trip to mississippi that i just didn't work on them as much as i had planned. and now that i'm back at home, IT'S 88 FRICKIN' DEGREES OUTSIDE!!!!! not really the weather you wanna be knitting a heavy aran sweater for. i'm sure this is just an unusual heat wave. we've still got june gloom coming, but i don't know if it'll get cold enough to wear this damn sweater anytime soon.
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????
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ERIN GO BRAUGH!!!!!!!
