oh my god, i suck at this so badly! so my pledge to update once a week pretty much went out the window the second week of the new year. blame it on the never ending cold (seriously- it was the plague) and the back to back business trips, both of which were extremely successful.

the crazy ass work thing in Vegas ended up with me and my team being awake for 43 hours straight, but hey, we won, so there! and i managed to impress some serious people big time. now i just have to parlay that success into real work mojo. we'll see how well i do at that part.

in the yarn world, i've done a few things since that post.

1) I lost the damn hat. The one that I almost cried over. Yeah, gone. My hope is that someone at the swanky restaurant saw it and went "oh, squishy and pretty!" and that it has found a good home rather than getting trampled under feet.

2) I made gloves, which it seems i forgot to take pictures of. dammit. but that will be rectified this weekend.

3) finished a sweater (finally!). no, not the lindsay sweater. i'm going to have to rip out the collar and redo it as i got a bit over-enthusiastic with the damn thing and now its basically a blanket. but i finished the Mrs Darcy sweater and it is oh so cute. pictures to come, but for a sneak preview, Glenna C. posted this picture of me wearing it when I went yarn shopping with her and Martha during my trip to Toronto.

4) Oh yeah, I went yarn shopping in Toronto. My credit card was melting. Go here to see the pretty pictures. I bought 9 balls of the Madil Desire to make this sweater from Interweave Knits, and that will start as soon as I am done with the first installment of the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club sock.

5) Yes, I got my RSC stuff, but sadly, I cannot show it to you until I am all done with the socks. The pattern is fantastic and will be used again, and while I like the color of the yarn (beautiful bright reds in honor of Lunar New Year) I'm not crazy about how the pattern is causing the color to pool. But still, they are hand knit socks and I'm convinced hand knit socks are the key to world peace.

So tonight is Monday and that is knit night. This makes me happy. Also? February is almost done and that means winter is winding down and that makes me ecstatic b/c this winter has kinda sucked for a lot of people in my life and that really pisses me off.

I'll have to start that Slyph sweater. A spring sweater in a pretty blue yarn? Says spring to me!

god, its been absolutely forever since i updated this blog. the holidays were meh, but i survived them fairly intact although somewhat bitter and eager to hid in bed for long stretches of time.

and to sooth the savage beast, I knit. and shopped. and knit. oh and shopped.

of the shopping:
-2 new pairs of shoes
-2 purses
-a bathroom storage unit
-a new Blackberry (and sadly, this was an impulse buy!)
-tickets to "The Farnsworth Invention" (come on, its Hank Azaria in an Aaron Sorkin play!)
-membership in the Rockin Sock Club
-and more yarn

yeah, it was an expensive Dec.

but I also knit! and made some cute stuff!

looky!

Huckleberry Scarf- made out of a merino-silk blend that is the softest thing ever

Koolhaas Hat- made out of the same yarn as the scarf. Beautiful yarn, but a bitch to work on with this pattern. Slippery yarn + cables= me cursing loudly

Plus lots of yarn:
Rowan Felted Tweed- destined to be mittens to match the hat and scarf

Artyarns Supermerino in a lovely blue-green

Punta del Este Mericash- a merino-cashmere blend that i would love to roll around in- naked:

My goal is to update the blog at least once a week, but i would much prefer 2-3 times a week. My other goal is to use up more of my stash b/c i realized I have enough yarn right now to keep me knitting steadily for the next 2 years. seriously, its a disease. I won't cut out all yarn purchases, but i will try to use up yarns in my stash for projects on my Ravelry queue before getting distracted by shiny new projects.

like all good resolutions, we'll see how long that lasts

I'm back from London and Paris! And all I have to show for it is one measly Monkey sock.

oh, and 2 pairs of boots, one pair of shoes, a few new tops, some serious geekster stuff from the British Museum, The Maritime Museum at Greenwich (where the prime meridian is at), the Musee d'Orsay, and the Musee Rodin. Not to mention, enough french lingerie to sink a ship.

oh and some yarn from Le Bon Marche.

pictures to come as soon as I figure out what time zone I'm in.

and then there was Rhinebeck

well, the Lindsay sweater didn't get finished in time, but since it was almost 70 degrees, I guess it really didn't matter.

but how incredible was it?

a minivan, designed to fit seven, crammed full of 8 knitters, bagels galore and countless carrot cake cupcakes made by the lovely Glenna C.

and a wool fair that beats anything you could imagine. a beautiful blue sky, fall trees in stunning russets and golds, amazing food. and yarn. lots and lots of yarn.

also? i purchased a spinning wheel. :)

rather than post every single picture up here, i figure i'll post one important one and then send you off to flickr for the rest.

this is what greets you when you come off the highway:

picture courtesy of abbieprime.



here are the rest.

crisis (sort of) averted

so last night, i finally bit the bullet and started the shawl collar of the Lindsay sweater. although my short row technique may not be the best (don't look too closely at the wrapped stitches), i think its actually coming along quite nicely.

see?


and, upon closer inspection,


the color is actually closer to the burgundy. the short rows are bringing the collar and the shoulders closer to the neck. and once the short rows are done, we have about 25 rows left after that!

and as for rhinebeck, it looks like it will only be 5 of us. and my friend holly from my knitting group drives (thank god) so we must gift her with coffee and treats...

*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.

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...