30.8.04

She's all done. Fern has been put together and ready to wear. No buttons to sew, and no collar or button band to attach. Made in three, that's right, three easy pieces. I learn a new technique with the ruffled collar. It's done with a wrap and turn, similar to the short row method, and the ruffle-y bit at the very edge is made with a chain stitch. I'm still getting used to the purl stitch being the right side, it so different. It's so ingrained in me that purl side is the wrong side.

front/back combo.


We had fun poking around the new Central Library. It's big! Very modern. Very cool.


Do you have pink and purple foam rubber chairs at your library?


Look, a casualty of the library's labyrinth.

Phildar Gilet


414_139
Originally uploaded by pknitty.

Last couple of weeks Phildar Freebies were not working. You couldn't get the Acrobat pdf to open correctly, but it's okay now. Check it out. Here's the newest pattern that I really like. All that ribbing, wouldn't it be fun!

Karis is out. My mohair yarn is too bulky and not a good sub for Kid Silk Haze. I think I will be doing the Adrienne Vittadini Eyelet sweater.

28.8.04

Fern is so close to being done. Yay!



I'm considering the following for the next project:





27.8.04

Give me air!

The ventelation has gone beserk, the air in here is not circulating and it is stuffy! I'm reading this blog about the Tube and the climate in here is causing deja vu. Anyone who has experience summer in London will know what it's like to be packed into a carriage car, particularly on the Northen Line. Back when I had to take three separate lines to get to work it was always the trains on the Northen Line, I swear these were the same carriages people rode in during WWII, that made me feel like I was trapped in a coffin. The smell of sweaty business men lingered in the car, especially on the commute home. Oh, and then there was the soot. Tissue is a must. The air over the city in general is filthy. A friend of mine bought a Vespa to zip around the city and after a week of zipping aroung he developed a nasty ear infection. The cause? Breathing in the exhaust fumes while in traffic. It migrated through his nasal and ear passages.

22.8.04

One week, three LYS, four trips...



Call it lucky or call it bad timing(I decided this month to start living on a prescribed monthly budget); three local yarn stores had sales this week. The week started with Weaving Works and yesterday I read that two more were having sales that is ending today. The West Seattle one was by far the most extensive; discounting a lot of DB and Jo Sharp, and many other brands. So, I'm waaay over budget but have a full plate of knitting for the coming season.

Rainy weather + Olympic coverage on more channels than I can count = good weekend knitting. Made tons of progress on Rowan 36's Fern. Just need to complete the sleeves.



I do feel guilty for not being able to stick to the budget...

19.8.04

Ooh Pretty!

On the needles now is:


Rowan 36 Fern

Then maybe Karis...


Kaboom! X-treme knitting...

16.8.04

Aaaahhhhh!!!!

Hurry down to The Weaving Works for the Anniversary Sale! It's until Sunday, go early for the good stuff. It was meant to be that I discovered the sale I tell you. At the end of the day I'm sitting at my desk when my boss hands me a gift card to REI, for some work we did last Spring, and I think this would be even better if I could convert it to cash for yarn. (Don't get me wrong I was very appreciative the gesture.) Then I get the idea to head to the U-District to see if they have that Debbie Bliss Denim Book. As the shop comes into view I see SALE signs in the windows, ooh, this is good, I tell myself. 30% off on cotton and cotton blend, 15% off wool, alpaca and stuff, and 10% off all books. Woohoo, jackpot. Alas, they did not have that Debbie Bliss book, but I did get the new Rowan book. Picked up some Cotton Fleece, Mission Falls Cotton. I'm going back tomorrow because I only had about an hour to browse before they closed.

Light my fire...


"Hey, dude, can I get a light for this cigarette?"


"Oh yeeaah!"

The last really exciting Olympic Games peaked for me back in the early
nineties; Barcelona and Lillehammer. Ever since then it's been, well, too
hyped and over produced. I've been watching since the opening ceremonies,
and can't say I've been excited at the outcome. NBC made me wait until
passed eleven o'clock to see the swimming finals yesterday! It's not like
no one knew the outcome. Hello, it's like a 9-10 hour difference! Anyway,
NBC's coverage is not good. I much prefer the CBC coverage, lucky me to
live close enough to the border that the local cable company has CBC on the
menu. They are not prone to tease viewers for 5 hours about an event that
last less than two minutes. They don't have Bob Costas. Even when their
country is not competing in an event they show you other countries, granted
it's usually one of the Commonwealth countries.

12.8.04

Ikea will never be the same for me.

Finally fed up with crappy partical board furniture and too cheap to got to a real furniture store I decided to buy another piece from Ikea, only this time made of real wood, well, pine, 'cuz really that's as real as they get at Ikea. We spend two hours going to the warehous, tried to decipher what piece was made of pine, load 50 pound, maybe 75 pound box, into the car and drive home. As we are pulling it out of the trunk my DH does the worse thing one can possibly do: he twisted and lifted at the same time. Yes, he pulled a back muscle. Still I manage to help him carry this huge rectangular box of pine wood into the apartment building. My DH threw out his back trying to haul it himself and passed out from the pain in on the stairs. I had to dragged him up to our apartment after being nursed back from unconsciousness. Left with a huge box of unassembled furniture I couldn't very well carry up myself I ripped the box open and hauled it up piece by piece. In too much pain to do anything but lay on the floor drugged out on muscle relaxant hubby couldn't help my put togther
With or without

Was flipping through the new Lucky tonight, and notices lots of chunky knitty things for fall. Yes! Knitters are such trendsetters. We rock! Also in the mag were lots of cute pleated skirts in all sorts of styles. This inspired me to dust off something that had been draped over my kitchen chair for, oh, about 10 months, and finally finish basting the hem. The final decision is with or without the little faux belt loop thingy.

Asymmetrical top is coming along slowly. It's been too hot to knit anything and I've been enthralled in a couple of books. I'm a over a hundred pages into The Corrections, and is it just me or is it the intention of the author to make all these characters unsympathetic? Chip is a big baby, Alfred is a sort a coot, Enid is an uptight ninny, Denise is just too condescending, and Gary is starting to come across as one of those dull-white-suburban guys one sees pushing strollers at Green Lake.

9.8.04

Having to make money to live can be such a drag.  Bleh, it's Monday morning and I am wishing it was already Friday afternoon.  Two days off in the middle of the week can feel like an entire week of vacation but two days off at the end of the week feels like a two hour break. 
 
I performed sweater surgery this weekend.  Eventhough I have already blocked and worn it a couple of times I decided to lengthen the sweater, and now I'm hoping that there is enough yarn to graft on the back portion.  I notice that the color is slightly off because it has been worn a couple of times, however, it's nothing drastic that it bothers me.

6.8.04

Some people can really suck!

I hope karma turns around to bite these sucky people in the ass! When you work in an area where sharing information is common practice you would think there would be a little bit of courtesy when they tell you they don't want to help you out. Oh no, they have to be condescending in telling you they are not going to provide you with information. It's not like I'm asking for something we haven't gotten before, and we are always more than happy to share information when asked. I shouldn't take it personally but I always take rejection personally, especially when it's in that condescending tone. Grrr! Deep breath. Gotta get over it.

3.8.04

Now that I've knitted underwear I can proudly say I can knit just about anything! I love the reaction I get when I tell people what I just finished. They always ask me to repeat it. You knitted what? Want to see? Okay. Oh yeah, you're not seeing anything I don't want you to see. I am wearing underwear under the underwear, I'm no hussy!

On the needles now is an asymmetrical rib tank from VK 1999. I'm trying out Lion Brand Micro Spun. And dare I say it? I did not swatch! Omigaw, you didn't? Yeah, I totally did!