Tuesday, September 25, 2007

*gulp*

ok, totally freaking out about 2 things

1) the Lindsay sweater. I think my gauge was off b/c its feeling a little snug. this makes me very nervous. I have the arms seamed up as well as the raglan on the shoulders and its just...snug.

i think i'm going to plan on doing extra short rows when i start the shawl collar. that should help some of the ease on the body of the sweater.

2) rhinebeck. ok, so the original plan about hiring a small bus went bust when i got the $1500 quote. no way in hell am i paying that. right now, the most economical option is renting a car (probably a minivan) but that requires people who can drive it. i cannot drive. i have one friend in the group who can drive, but if we end up with enough people for 2 cars, we may be in a spot of trouble. still, 7 or less people means a minivan and that would be awesome. enough room for the peeps and the yarn.

and as a side note, knitting baby socks sucks. they come out looking all wonky. so the family that i am knitting socks for may be getting a kitty and a sheldon for the kids and socks for the adults. b/c the socks for the adults are already done and that makes me happy.

Update: so looking at the picture of the lindsay sweater, the extra short rows should work. the ribbing actually goes pretty deep into the body of the sweater. i guess that's my weekend project.

Friday, September 21, 2007

i am unmotivated to work

but not to knit. my cute little knee socks are going well, but they have distracted me from my Lindsay sweater. All the pieces are knit, I just need to seam it up and then deal with the ribbed edging. I think I am intimidated by it.

But I have to finish it b/c Glenna C is seriously cranking on her Ribby Cardi.

Even 4pm on a Friday is not close enough to the weekend for me...

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

ok, so i suck at blogging...

actually, i don't really. what i suck at is time management, a historical problem for me, but lately just a bitch.

work is in full steam right now. Q3 is upon us and in advertising, that means its the Holiday season already. We'll be rolling at this hellish pace until mid-November when work comes to a screeching halt until mud January.

On top of that, b/c I am a crazy person, I decided to go back to school. I'm taking courses at the Hunter College School of Social Work which is a graduate level only school. One course only this semester. Thank god, b/c I have to read about 100 pages per week and we had a paper due on the second class. After not having been in school for 12 years, this is one hell of a scary ride. But it will help me decide if I want to apply to the school on a matriculated basis. This is a school that has about a 15% or less acceptance rate and a fairly high drop-out rate b/c the program is hell. If you go full time, you start clinical rotations 3 weeks after classes start. For 21 hours a week, you get to help people when you are still so new you are convinced you will do more harm than good. But that's to decide later.

And the knitting continues. One reason I haven't been able to post is b/c a major project I am working on is actually a present for someone who reads this blog. I've run into an issue with one part of the project, so chances are I may send the completed portion as a good faith symbol.

Since I always work on multiple projects at once (the train project, the mindless tv project, etc), I have been working on a sweater. It is based on a sweater that a character on CSI:NY was wearing. I saw the sweater and hit pause on the Tivo in order to start squealing.

Here's what it looks like:


It pretty cool b/c I knit the back first and then the sleeves and the curved front get knit as one. Now I have to seam it up and then do the shawl collar. The collar will require a massive amount of short rows to achieve the look I want and so this will be a coffee house project.

I can't wait until its done b/c it needs to come with me to two places.

The first is the Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck on October 20th. For knitters, this and the Maryland fair are sort of the Meccas. We look forward to it all year and of course, we always wear our best hand knits. We'd like to say its all about showing pride in our work and sharing our ideas, but really, its also a bit about oneupmanship. I'll admit it, I want to see envious looks towards my sweater!!!

But its the second destination for this sweater that really excites me. And its a bit bittersweet one for me.

I'm headed to Europe for my birthday this year. 4 days in London, where I will meet up with some friends. I will go be a silly tourist and a champion shopper. There is a store there that specifically carries boots for women with wide calves. and those suckers are HOT!!!

But from London, I will be taking the Eurostar over to Paris. And this is the bittersweet part. This is my first real trip to Paris (passing through on a train from Italy to London in 1994 does not count). But this is also the trip that I was supposed to go on with my mom last year for my birthday. In fact, we talked about it the day before she died.

Last year I couldn't take the trip. Not only was I still emotionally raw, I was broke. Paying my rent and her mortgage was too much for me. I ended up using all of her retirement money. The house wasn't selling. And then there were the fun legal fees of the probate lawyer.

But the house has finally sold, all my bills are paid off (read: student loans) and so this year, I'm taking the trip that I always promised myself. I finally going to Europe not to visit family, but rather to spend time discovering a wonderful city and wandering around and hoping to get lost. It would have been wonderful to go with my mom, but she would be happy that I'm getting this chance.