SEE JOY KNIT

i moved

2005-04-05T21:39:00.000-04:00

brought to you by christine

2005-02-25T14:43:00.000-05:00

we interrupt our regularly scheduled sock knitting for a 1 AM impulse knitting project:

the love bite, recommended by the inspirational and insanely fast knitter, christine. check out her blog for lelah, her own design! so talented, that woman. yay, christine!

i am yet distracted again from the socks... i'm using a brown/black worsted weight wool i had bought for a scarf. i'm shocked these pictures came out so well! maybe i'm getting better at this stuff. will take more pictures later...

i ♥ socks

2005-02-23T15:46:00.000-05:00

too bad i have hit the dreaded "second sock syndrome" that kris has written about on her blog. *sigh* oh well... so the fruits of the past week's labor...

first, i tried to start the second sh*tbrown legwarmer... i swear i tried REALLY hard. but i only got this far:

instead, i got distracted by that camoflauge stripe... and in my stash, there it was, a second and third skein. so, voila! sock. (^_^)

i love how the top part self-checkered! how cool is that.

but while i was in my stash, what did i find? why, more sock yarn, of course! about a year or so ago i had been ambitious and said i would start knitting socks. on ebay i purchased two skeins of this nifty trampoline yarn, which is sock yarn with elastic built in to reinforce the shape. so i thought now as a good a time as any to try it out! so i started making socks, and i think i'm giving these to my mom since they're more her style than mine:

again, love the self-striping. too bad it didn't continue onto the second sock, but eh... whatever. i'm not that anal about it. YET. hehe...

onto scary pictures now. so as i said before, i was looking through my stash. well, i separated my stash into 3 piles:

the workable pile - yarn that is perfectly separated by skein, hasn't been touched or used and is awaiting my creative hands to make it into something wonderful and to be enjoyed by whoever it is given to;
the "frog me" pile - yarn that has been used by my creative hands and has been made into hideous things that i would never be enjoyed by the people presented to (obviously i was off on my creativity that day); and
the "untangle me" pile - yarn that, in the mix of being used, being thrown around from apartment to apartment as i have moved quite a lot over the years... and is now a huge tangled mess.

the great news is my stash is organized. the horrible news is:

i have quite a lot to knit (or de-stash... i'm thinking about it, still)
i have quite a lot to frog
(pics to come) and
i have quite a lot to untangle

yes, that is one HUGE laundry bag on the right. i don't know how it happened. oh well, i know what i'm doing this weekend.... *sigh* well, after i finish my socks, of course. (^_^)

oh, thought i might add the amuzing picture of my cat, karma, in a box. what is it about cats and boxes? i think he's trying to re-capture feelings he had when he was brought home from the adoption shelter:

knitting fun in san fran

2005-02-14T13:23:00.000-05:00

day 1 - tuesday - arrive in oakland
ros picks me up from the airport. we settle down at her place as i play with the kitties. everyone i know with cats always has two. hers are tyra and tyson.

tyson is awesome... can you tell that he's a mutant? he has 22 toes total (7, 6, 5 and 4). you can see the 7 toes on the front-left paw in this pic.
so the first day was mainly being a vegetable. while i was waiting for ros to finish work, we watched "knitty gritty" on tivo while finishing off my sh*tbrown legwarmer. honestly, that show goes WAY too fast for beginning knitters. i'm shocked that people can follow it so well... but it does have some great tips every so often.

here's the finished legwarmer:

only problem with it is i didn't feel like the ribbing would keep... so off we went to michael's to search for some elastic. but i'm a yarn ho, so of course, i bought some yarn as well.

elastic cord became elastic cord and 4 balls of moda dea self-striping sock yarn. i guess the legwarmers inspired me! and the curiosity of self-striping yarn always fascinated me... to the point that by the end of my 5 day trip... voila! my first pair of socks ever!

this totally has me sock crazy now... i used a pattern found online located here. the pattern was easy enough, but there were some inconsistencies in the way the pattern was written. i figured it out, though. (^_^)

unfortunately, we were also supposed to buy dpn's for ros but were unable to find any... she wanted to start knitty's shimmer while i was there... it would be her first tackling of circular knitting, and she wanted me there for any "hands on" assistance. oh well...

day 2- wednesday - more vegging out in castro valley
i mainly worked on my socks and watched more tivo. watching tivo made me feel so deprived with my "regular cable." i caught up on buffy seasons 6 & 7, and then watched a ton of movies again... the good thing about ros working from home is i get to spend time with her at home. the bad thing is we couldn't do anything until around 5:30. oh well.

at 5:30, off we went to ros's LYS in search of dpn's. of course, me with my sock obsession decided i needed to learn how to do socks on two circulars... so with credit card in hand:

but that wasn't the best part of the visit to adela's yarn... when talking to the salesperson, she said "oh, most of our stuff is over at the convention center now..." i had managed to choose to arrive in san francisco the same weekend STITCHES WEST was being held! AND customer's of adela's yarn were given a $2 discount off admission at the door! how exciting... well, you know where i was heading on saturday.

day 3- thursday - more vegging and then heading off into the city.
and when i was in the city, guess where i went?

for ages, i've been wanting to head to artfibers. marnie maclean has been using their yarns in many of her free patterns so i wanted to make this one of my "must see" stops in san fran. what a dork, huh? after artfibers, we headed for a fabulous sushi dinner at kiki, and then back to meet up with roland to do the "joy's vacation hand-off".

day 4- friday - the most "non-knitting-filled" day of the trip...
i spent the whole day with my friend roland from high school... starting our day at 11 AM, we headed off to a traditional filipino breakfast at goldilocks, a filipino bakery/restaurant chain that has ZERO locations on the east coast. i swear, if they opened one out here i would gain about 50 lbs. i think i left there with about $40 in filipino baked goods and pastries for the family at home. lol...

after goldilocks, it was off to san francisco's union square (yes, they have one there, too... but it's more like 5th ave than our union sq)... and then onto a cable car to fisherman's wharf and ghiradelli square. i could bore you with touristy pictures of ghiradelli and alcatraz, but instead i will show you this:

apparently, there is a fisherman's wharf tour where everyone is on a segway. i saw it online when i was researching things to do, but i didn't really think anyone would do it... i mean... is it really that hard to WALK fisherman's wharf? lol... the rest of the day is boring and no actual knitting content... but i'm pretty sure if i'm relocating within the next year or so, i'm pretty sure it's going to be here.

day 5- saturday - my last day - stitches west (or "joy falls off the 'yarnaholics anonymous' wagon")

so remember this year's resolution that i said i wouldn't buy any yarn? um, yeah, that's done. after breakfast at hobee's with roland and his fiancee, maria, we met up with rosalynn to do another hand-off and head over to the convention center.
the place was FILLED with aisles and aisles of yarn... i was shocked i resisted as much as i could because i started off buying stuff really slowly. first, it was a summer poncho pattern... and then it was a ribbon yarn from tess designer yarns... and then i found manos on sale. *sigh* so 4 skeins of purple manos, and 2 skeins of varigated manos... and then i needed to satisfy the self-striping yarn obsession... i picked up "not just socks" by sandi rosner and 2 balls of Lana Grossa's Meilenweit. then the knitting guild of america had their own booth and was giving out free copies of this month's issue of cast on. in the end, it all looked like this:

not that i regret the purchases, but i have a ton of knitting to do now to justify the purchases. (^_^)

so that was san fran in a nutshell... mostly knitting, lots of yarn... i wish i went out to a knitting circle to meet the bay area knitters, but there was only so much time. maybe when i finally move out there, huh?

oh, and by the way

"vacation" is my middle name

2005-02-08T01:32:00.000-05:00

um... yeah, so i know this may be hard to believe, but i'm going on vacation again. uh... yeah, seriously. i'm heading to san francisco for 5 days. tomorrow. well, technically today, in about 7 hours. heh.

so i'm sure you're wondering how this came to be. i think i had a breakdown of sorts and my life seriously stressed me out... i was chatting on AOL IM with a friend of mine from college that lives in san fran, and its been about a year since we last saw each other... well, obviously the stress got to me and i said "would it be ok if i visited this month?" and within an hour i had tickets leaving for the 8th of february. talk about buying on impulse. lol...

so off i go tomorrow leaving jfk on jetblue at 9:35 or something like that. i'm going by myself, visiting my two friends in the bay area. now what does this have to do with knitting, you might ask? since i do all of my ranting on either of the two "joy loses her mind" blogs located on both xanga and blogspot... this, in fact has a lot to do with knitting. i recently discovered that my friend has taken up the hobby and needs my help in reading patterns and the like. HOW EXCITING!

my excitement really comes from the fact that the last time i went out there, no one really seemed interested in the whole knitting thing but now they can't wait for my knitting visit. lol... our one friend in LA even said that the next time i come out i should try teaching her again! i just love it.

one thing i might have to ask, though... are there any knitting circles out there my friend and i could infiltrate while i'm on my little adventure out in san fran? ros actually is new to the area and doesn't know many females, so this would be great for her as well. any input my readers could give would be fantastic. thanks for your help!

and before i forget - i finished the scarf for my hunny with the star wars imperial army logo on it today! it's actually my own pattern, so i will be more than happy to post it for the many other star wars fanatics out there! i'm also working on matching hat, so that will come in time as well. onto finishing my legwarmers now.... not that i need them in san francisco, but maybe for the trip back. :)

proof!

2005-01-31T10:43:00.000-05:00

the ugly crocheted wrap from hawaii...

adapted from the hair kerchief from "cozy crochet". i orginally started with just some multi-colored yarn in hopes to recreate the scarf my mother had made me eons ago, but my crocheting weren't exactly up to speed, so i went on to start the kerchief instead. i was so happy that i finally figured out how to crochet i just kept going! you can't tell how big it is really, but it covers most of a twin bed.

the crochet craziness continues...

with more acrylic in hand purchased from the walmart (yes, walmart) in honolulu, i made my first *correct* attempt at making a hat. this hat was made using the crazy stripe pattern from last month's family circle easy crochet magazine. i gave it to my brother, who accepted it and added it to his collection of winter wear.

while exploring my crocheting stylings, i attempted to creat my first pair of mittens using the same camoflauge acrylic yarn. it all started out great. but i got lazy. instead, i made handwarmers. lol... i don't have the camo ones to show (my bro has them to match the hat), but i have since made 5 pairs. here is a pair i had made for myself, out of one ball of calmer yarn in squirrel.

the attempted knitting in hawaii

this was one of the 3 knitting projects i had attempted while in hawaii. it honestly doesn't look like much, but i think i did a pretty good job considering there were distractions left and right. good thing it's a summer tank, so i have tons of time to finish it.

more and more crocheting...
i think kamala is jealous of all the attention my knitting and crocheting is getting...

with the confidence gained from the creation of my handwarmers, i thought "hell, might as well apply it to legwarmers too since it's frikkin cold outside!" and so i did. i like how the bottom band self-striped... ooh... unfortunately i got tired of crocheting, but i think it was because i was crocheting the same types of things... so i said, "hell, i might as well make knit legwarmers instead!" and so i did. i picked up some fingering-weight alpaca i had lying around and started making the legwarmer pattern in SnBNation. fantastic! but check them out... they seriously are the most hideous legwarmers EVER!

lol... the alpaca i have is BROWN. it's not bad, but it's really bright-dirt colored... if i may even say "sh*t brown". i like how the stripe works with it, though.

nice striping... breaks up the "sh*ttyness" of it. lol. regardless, they're going UNDER my jeans and being alpaca, they'll be incredibly warm. dammit.

ok, one last project that was completed so fast i think i need to make one for myself! my brother, the hat-ho he is, has said he wants to go into work every week with a new hat because people keep complimenting him, yadda yadda. so he comes home from work on friday night wasted off his ass, asking me to make a hat with ears and then says "put some stripes in it." yeah, that easy. i refuse to buy new yarn because i have a small mountain in my room, so i tell him what i have and what i can do. after 5 minutes of his ramblings, i just ended up drawing the structure of the hat and said "OK. draw where the stripes are." after 2 hours, here is the hat adapted from a rowan big wool pattern:

and because i couldn't resist

too much fun! extra-bulky wool made this thing SO incredibly fast and SO WARM. most definitely need to do this one again before the end of the winter season.

see? i told you i would post pictures of things i've been doing. i just hate taking pictures. (^_^) until next time...

recap of dec - jan

2005-01-27T04:47:00.000-05:00

ok, ok... so more posts = more comments! i get it, i get it! :-P well, thanks for checking in, everybody... a lot has been going on, so i guess i should sum up, huh?

i went to hawaii with the fam in december (9th through 31st). no pictures are up because i have come to the conclusion i am a horrible digital-photo-picture-taker. my nikon coolpix 3100 is the end of my being. i will try to filter out all those that are lovely and put it in the "see joy see" section which hasn't been updated in, about, forever.
- week 1 - spent with the actual family - mom and brother. brother was doing the honolulu marathon and i was doing the fun walk, so we figured to take the mom along. wasn't as bad as expected. i hope by next year i can run the fun walk with ease, and maybe in 3 years do the race. my brother finished in a little over 5 hrs and finished 7758 out of something like 16000 runners. go bro!
- week 2 - started off by heading to kauai, but was totally rained out. kauai can be summed up in 1 word for me: chickens. or maybe 2 words: chickens EVERYWHERE. came back after 3 days and stayed in honolulu for the rest of the time just hanging out with my bf's family, beaching and whatnot.
- week 3 - pretty much the same as week 2. this whole description would be a little more exciting with pictures, huh? oh well, too bad for you. (~_^)
don't worry, just check back later for them. hehe.
come back and basically stuck with insomnia and a hacking cough that ends up to be bronchitis. and that basically brings us to today. lol. you think i'm joking. i'm totally not. check the time. it's 4:30.

so that's what i've been doing since i've gotten back. oh yeah, and getting used to living with mom again. i figured "why spend an extra grand on rent if i can just spend it in hawaii?" sounded GREAT at the time. eh. the pains and documentation of my mother/insomnia bout has been logged at this other place i blog where a lot of college friends blog, but i've been too lazy. i admit it.

ok, in terms of crafty/knitting stuff... i am proud to say that i am now a knitter-slash-crocheter! it's only taken forever, but i have finally grasped the concept. i'm very proud of myself. i will show you the very hideous wrap thing i made in the slew of other photos i post... but it was fantastic. i purchased a copy of "cozy crochet" which had fairly simple projects, and i just went with it.... next thing i knew, the kerchief i was originally making didn't seem BIG enough... so it evolved into a shawl. i hope i make you proud, kim.

prior to getting into the crochet thing, i didn manage to sneak three knitting projects into my bag:

a scarf for my "never owned a scarf ever" boyfriend out of lamb's pride bulky (yes, wool in hawaii, but new york was going to be crazy cold by the time he got back). he had requested the imperial logo from star wars on it (he's a huge freak), so i attempted to plan out my first original intarsia... to have it translate incorrectly when actually attempted. GRR! again, pictures soon.
the knitty honeymoon tank - i think i got maybe 15% of this done... i got severely distracted by the crochet. addicted, i tell you.
i made my attempt at pasha the penguin. my boyfriend's friend, T, in cali and i have been chatting online since last year but we have never met and this trip was our first opportunity! i knew he had a love of penguins, so i made the attempt... dragged my boyfriend to one of 3 craft stores in oahu (and such a poor selection!) to purchase the yarn. poor pasha had to be made with red heart acrylic, but i don't think he turned out too bad for my first attempt at a stuffed animal ever. don't laugh, ok?

as i said, he's my first one, so i overstuffed him in places he shouldnt' have been and understuffed in others... and during the trip back to cali his beak lost some shape... and i couldn't find eyes in time, so the penguin has been named "zato" after a blind character from samurai movies. so... yeah. lol... i think the next one will be better.

so there you have it. pictures next time, i promise. (^_^)* and with 2 hrs and 15 minutes left until i wake for work! faboo!

an update!

2005-01-21T15:50:00.000-05:00

holy moly. sorry for the laziness. i promise more frequent updates in the future.

i don't know what it is about this blogging stuff. i think it's because 1) i think my thoughts are just floating out there in cyberspace with only a handful of people to comment (*ahem*morecommentspeople*ahem*) and 2) i'm just bored with the way this looks.

kim shares my pain at least.

ok, so my post for today comes from something i saw while breezing around myspace.com. yes, myspace.com where all the girls have absolutely no self-respect and feel the need to post blatantly sexual images of themselves just to get attention. or they're strippers.

anyway.

so i belong on knitting group on myspace and someone refers to this website:
pinupstyleknitting. now, go to the site. click on "about". in the "portfolio" section, click on "WWI Military Spats". i have 4 words for you.

HOW AWESOME ARE THEY?

i am excited. i am planning to visit the booze & knit next week. that is, if it's not on a monday, tuesday, or wednesday. i'm enrolled at nyu this term for continuing ed classes. my classes are from 6-930 after work. boo.

but anyway, i think i know what my next project is. tee hee.

knitting blog or political blog?

2004-12-02T16:15:00.000-05:00

Written by a woman in New York. Think it echoes what folks in New York think and feel about the state of our country. After the letter was published, the woman started receiving death threats.

Letter To The Red States

Sorry, I try not to deluge people with my ramblings. But I had to write this and, having written it, had to send it. Even though I don't know anyone I can send it to (without alienating my Republican in-laws, who are the only "middle country" people I know.)

I am writing this letter to the people in the red states in the middle of the country-- the people who voted for George W. Bush. I am writing this letter because I don't think we know each other. So I'll make an introduction.

I am a New Yorker who voted for John Kerry. I used to live in California, and if I still lived there, I would vote for Kerry. I used to live in Washington, DC,and if I still lived there, I would vote for Kerry. Kerry won in all three of those regions.

Maybe you want to know more about me. Or maybe not; maybe you think you know me already. You think I am some anti-American anarchist because I dislike George W. Bush. You think that I am immoral and anti-family, because I support women's reproductive freedom and gay rights. You think that I am dangerous, and even evil, because I do not abide by your religious beliefs.

Maybe you are content to think that, to write me off as a "liberal" --the dreaded "L" word -- and rejoice that your candidate has triumphed over evil, immoral, anti-American, anti-family people like me. But maybe you are still curious.

So here goes: this is who I am.

I am a New Yorker. I was here, in my apartment downtown, on September 11th. I watched the Towers burn from the roof of my building. I went inside so that I couldn't see them when they fell. I had friends who were inside. I have a friend who still has nightmares about watching people jump and fall from the Towers. He will never be the same. How many people like him do you know? People that can't sit in a restaurant without plotting an escape route, in case it blows up?

I am a worker. I work across the street from the Citigroup Center, which the government told us is a "target" of terrorism. Later, we found out they were relaying very old information, but it was already too late. They had given me bad dreams again. The subway stop near my office was crowded with bomb-sniffing dogs, policemen in heavy protective gear, soldiers. Now, every time I enter or exit my office, all of my possessions are X-rayed to make sure I don't have any weapons. How often are you stopped by a soldier with a bomb-sniffing dog outside your office?

I am a neighbor. I have a neighbor who is a 9/11 widow. She has two children. My husband does odd jobs for her now, like building bookshelves. Things her husband should do. He uses her husband's tools, and the two little girls tell him, "Those are our daddy's tools." How many 9/11 widows and orphans do you know? How often do you fill in for their dead loved ones?

I am a taxpayer. I worked my butt off to get where I did, and so did my parents. My parents saved and borrowed and sent me to college. I worked my way through graduate school. I won a full tuition scholarship to law school. All for the privilege of working 2,600 hours last year. That works out to a 50 hour week, every week, without any vacation days at all. I get to work by 9 am and rarely leave before 9 pm. I eat dinner at my office much more often than I eat dinner at home. My husband and I paid over $70,000 in federal income tax last year. At some point in the future, we will have to pay much more -- once this country faces its deficit and the impossible burden of Social Security. In fact, the areas of the country that supported Kerry -- New York, California, Illinois, Massachusetts --they are the financial centers of the nation. They are the tax base of this country. How much did you pay, Kansas? How much did you contribute to this government you support, Alabama? How much of this war in Iraq did you pay for?

I am a liberal. The funny part is, liberals have this reputation for living in Never-Neverland, being idealists, not being sensible. But let me tell you how I see the world: I see America as one nation in a world of nations. Therefore, I think we should try to get along with other nations. I see that gay people exist. Therefore, I think they should be allowed to exist, and be treated the same as other people. I see ways in which women are not allowed to control their own bodies. Therefore, I think we should give women more control over their bodies. I see that people have awful diseases. Therefore, I think we should enable scientists to try to cure them. I see that we have a Constitution. Therefore, I think it should be upheld. I see that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Therefore, I think that Iraq was not an
imminent danger to me. It seems so pragmatic to me. How do you see the world? Do you really think voting against gay marriage will keep people from being gay? Would you really prefer that people continue to die from Parkinson's disease? Do you really not care about the Constitutional rights of political detainees? Would you really have
supported the war if you knew the truth, or would you have wanted to spend more of our money on health care, job training, terrorism preparedness?

I am an American. I have an American flag flying outside my home. I love my home more than anything. I love that I grew up right outside New York City. I first went to the Statue of Liberty with my 5th grade class, and my mom and dad took me to the Empire State Building when I was 8. I love taking the subway to Yankee Stadium. I loved living in Washington DC and going on dates to the Lincoln Memorial. It is because I love this country so much that I argue with my political opponents as much I do.

I am not safe. I never feel safe. My in-laws live in a small town in Ohio, and that town has received more federal funding, per capita, for terrorism preparedness than New York City has. I take subways and buses every day. I work in a skyscraper across the street from a "target." I have emergency supplies and a spare pair of sneakers in my desk, in case somethng happens while I'm at work. Do you? How many times a month do you worry that your subway is going to blow up? When you hear sirens on the street, do you run to the window to make sure everything is okay? When you hear an airplane, do you flinch? Do you dread beautiful, blue-skied September days? I don't know a single New Yorker who doesn't spend the month of September on tip-toes, superstitiously praying for rain so we don't have to relive that beautiful, blue-skied day.

I am lonely. I feel that we, as a nation, have alienated all our friends and further provoked our enemies. I feel unprotected. Most of all I feel alienated from my fellow citizens, because I don't understand what you are thinking.

You voted for a man who started a war in Iraq for no reason, against the wishes of the entire world. You voted for a man whose lack of foresight and inability to plan has led to massive insurgencies in Iraq, where weapons are disappearing into the hands of terrorists. You voted for a man who let Osama Bin Laden escape into the hills of Afghanistan so that he could start that war in Iraq. You voted for a man who doesn't want to let people love who they want to love; doesn't want to let doctors cure their patients; doesn't want to let women rule their destinies. I don't understand why you voted for this man. For me, it is not enough that he is personable; it is not enough that he seems like one of the guys. Why did you vote for him? Why did you elect a man that lied to us in order to convince us to go to war? (Ten years ago you were incensed when our president lied about his sex life; you thought it was an impeachable defense.) Why did you elect a leader who thinks that strength cannot include diplomacy or international cooperaton? Why did you elect a man who did nothing except run away and hide on September 11?

Most of all, I am terrified. I mean daily, I am afraid that I will not survive this. I am afraid that I will lose my husband, that I will never have children, that I will never grow old and watch the sunset in a backyard of my own. I am afraid that my career -- which should end with a triumphant and good-natured roast at a retirement party in 2035 -- will be cut! short by an attack on me and my colleagues, as we sit sending emails and making phone calls one ordinary afternoon. Is your life at stake? Are you terrified?

I don't think you are. I don't think you realize what you have done.And if anything happens to me or the people I love, I blame you. I wanted you to know that.

take part in the apology to the world!!!

2004-11-30T17:42:00.000-05:00

if you're an american, say you're sorry!

if you're not, please accept our apology!

joy s., impromptu knitting instructor extraordinaire

2004-11-23T09:51:00.000-05:00

it's so funny how knitting creates either one of two different reactions:

ridicule - "wow, joy, you're a grandma"
intrigue - "wow, how do you DO that?"

but the best part is that BOTH reactions create the same type of outcome: INTEREST. two weeks ago i get on the R train from 42nd street to queens, when this young african american woman sees what i'm doing, plops right down next to me in a practically empty car and says, "how do you do that? teach me." so i proceeded. on her ride from 42nd street to steinway - which is about 25 minutes, i might add - i showed her how to cast on, knit, purl and create ribbing. she thanked me for the quick lesson and said "you must really enjoy teaching how to knit, because you are so enthusiastic about it!" hehe...

so this month i've been spending a lot of my time with this group of girls i knew from college. most of the time we're just sitting and chatting away, so i pull out my project and start knitting away very casually, causing one of the two reactions stated above. but no matter where i went i always ended up sparking interest of at least half of the room and in some cases even teaching people! the last gathering i went to i taught two girls how to cast on and do the knit stitch. so much fun... sure one of them broke an end to one of my denise interchangable cords, but honestly i didn't mind. just being able to see that this person was interested and enthusiastic about learning made my day. lol... i'm so lame.

so tonight, go figure, the group of girls that i sparked interest in is getting together! just by pulling out my knitting during these little get-togethers i have created my own little SnB! lol... i love it. of course, i have to teach most of them, but i think it's so wonderful because i never really had anyone to knit with before! and now it's looking like a group of at least 8 girls! how friggin fantastic is that?

*sigh* makes me all warm and fuzzy.

*edit* oops... how about some life updates, right?

last weekend i completed about 80% of the move out of my apartment. the chick that they got to take my room really needed a place to stay, so paid me $250 to get out a week earlier. more hawaii spending money for me!
because of the unexpected move, i still wake up at 7:30 in the morning to leave my mother's queens home, which is about an hour longer a commute than my old apartment. uh... yah, i haven't been getting to work on time at all this week.
not used to moving creatures in my living space, i got freaked out last night because i thought a mouse rummaging through my huge pile of stuff and couldn't sleep until around 2 AM. that's because i found out the "mouse" was my cat. duh.
16 days until HAWAII!!!! woooooooooooooooooooooooo! but even better... only 8 of them are WORKING days. sweet.

i think my "winter blues" are slowly going away...

time to breathe...

2004-11-04T17:28:00.000-05:00

jesus. what a frikkin stressful week... first that jack-off gets elected. then i find out that have to make a 2 stop road trip in 2 days - first binghamton, ny and then amherst, ma. then yesterday, i wrote my last month's check for my apartment. how crazy is that? only 26 more days until i leave my west village apartment... so, so sad. *sigh* the only thing keeping me going are two things:

my knitting - i have 1 more thing to do for my chickami... the straps. i have severe strap-ophobia. the minute i hit working on the straps, they went straight onto the stitch holders and i picked up making the lace cami from vintage knits... lol... and

hawaii - good god, i can't wait to leave. twenty one days. yes i have that many vacation days... yesterday i found a CD of photos from jason's camera so i have to share! yay!

	me and jason before hitting snorkelling in maui
	me, being really excited about snorkelling, trying my stuff on
	molikini, the crescent island, where we were set to snorkel. the conditions were REALLY rough. just how rough?
	this rough. i got so seasick i couldn't snorkel. boo.
	but we did get to see a humpback whale.
	on the homestretch back i was feeling much better. what a waste of a snorkelling trip for me, though. sigh

can you tell i can't wait for this vacation? i'm not leaving for it in over a month and my mind's already there! anything to get my mind off of this hell...

note to self - buy polarized sunglasses for next trip and underwater casing for digital camera. :)

god help us...

2004-11-03T13:51:00.000-05:00

uh... so i'm taking suggestions for countries to move to. canada's looking nice, right now. and although in the US, hawaii will most likely not be bombed in the near future... anywhere else i should consider?

getting back in gear...

2004-10-25T09:54:00.000-04:00

ok... i decided to stop with being such a knitting loser and purchased bonne marie's chickami to start working on. when i first started knitting, i bought this fire-red merino wool from ebay that i have YET to use... so off i go making my fire-red chickami! i'm excited to start working on it. i think this was the boost i needed to get me motivated again. i dunno... what have you guys done to get yourselves out of knitting funks? *sigh*

o, btw, the walk for diabetes was this past weekend and was WONDERFUL! cold as heck, but tons of fun. too bad i had no one there with me to keep me company while walking! lol... oh well, maybe next year!

last-minute, but worth a shot... SPONSOR ME!

2004-10-22T01:49:00.000-04:00

click here to sponsor me for America's Walk for Diabetes!

for all those that don't know, my mother's family has had a long history of diabetes. my mom, being the lucky one, was not diagnosed with the disease until 2002... my brother and i, to this day, thank the lord that we moved her off of heavy foods and darker meats while we were in college.

unfortunately, out of her side of the family (she was 1 of 9 siblings), two weren't as lucky... her eldest sister died in early summer of 2002 at the age of 63. less than 3 months later, her youngest brother also passed away at the age of 43 while undergoing dialysis.

so this year, i walk for them. please help sponsor me and support the need for a cure! thanks, everyone!

figures...

2004-10-20T13:02:00.000-04:00

You appear to be a Knitting Adventurer.
You are through those knitting growing pains and
feeling more adventurous. You can follow a
standard pattern if it's not too complicated
and know where to go to get help. Maybe you've
started to experiment with different fibers and
you might be eyeing a book with a cool
technique you've never tried. Perhaps you
prefer to stick to other people's patterns but
you are trying to challenge yourself more.
Regardless of your preference, you are
continually trying to grow as a knitter, and as
well you should since your non-knitting friends
are probably dropping some serious hints, these
days.
http://marniemaclean.com

What Kind of Knitter Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

scarf ho

2004-10-20T11:19:00.000-04:00

i've become a scarf ho... that's all i've been making. i think it's because of the past sweater things... i decided to put all of my summer projects away and start working on winter things. i think it's a good idea, but i feel like i should be working on more difficult projects. *sigh*

maybe i'm not knitting because there are several things waying very heavily on my mind... at one point, i thought my sanity was more important than my financial well being... but now that i've paid most of my credit cards, i've noted that my financial well being is really the root of my sanity. so after a month of debate, i'm really leaving my awesome west village apartment of 1.5 years. i told one of my roommates yesterday... it's just time to move on and to create a new chapter in my life. one where i don't have to worry about asking people's permission to have friends over. one where i have more than a 10' X 10' square to call my very own. the good thing about that place was that it was in the city and that it was 15 minutes away from work. the bad thing about that place was that none of it really felt like mine in the year and a half while i was there. so here i am... off to find my "home." i've already started looking. i actually put an offer on a place yesterday, and i told my closer roommate about my intentions to leave. the date is definite. november 30. so here starts the countdown...

1 month and 10 days.

sick and knitting...

2004-09-26T02:15:00.000-04:00

not sick OF knitting! never! :-P i've been taking it easy... the weather change has made me quite ill. feverish, sniffles, coughing, runny nose... not pleasant whatsoever. oh well. at least i was able to take two days off from work. too bad i was in a medicated haze the whole time. *sigh*

so i haven't been knitting as frantically as i used to. which is strange, since i had the yarn fairy visit quite often this month... i got 20 (yes, twenty) balls of calmer come in last week. i think i went a little bid crazy on e-bay last month. yeah, just a little. i'm staying off of it until the end of the year. i know i swore that 3 months ago, but this time i mean it! really! i have incentive this time, though... i just bought my tickets for my hawaiian vacation in december! woo hoo.... 21 days in beautiful beaches with my family and hunny. can't wait! i think this time around we're going to kauai. lol... it's 3 months away and my mind is already there!

but before i head out there, i still await my visit from the lovely ms. werker in october. hi kimmy! i can't wait for you to come visit! what should we do? should we go to knitny and hang out with coffee and crochet? i don't know how tight your schedule is, but i would love to just sit and knit in a coffeeshop with you for hours! maybe we should see if we can get gluck out and make her knit too! :-P

oh, and another hello to my dear friend ami! i know you're reading. anyway, we must get together soon to knit.

so here is the fruit of my labors this past week... i figured i'd ease back in since i haven't had the time or the energy recently. this, if you can't tell, is a scarf that is obviously inspired by the carla sleeve i did last month.

i just fell in love with the embroidery i had to do it again. 4 times. for three feet each time. :-P

lookie how pretty... and of course, you know, this isn't for me. yet another bridal shower gift. too bad i was too sick to go to the shower to give it to her. *sigh*

so hopefully this month i'll feel a lot better about knitting. i think last month's doggie sweaters got me. o, funny but not so funny story - i finally got to send the doggie sweaters out, and when i got home i realized i sent it to the WRONG zip code. and it's addressed to a PO Box. does that matter? even if the city is right, but the zip is wrong? *sigh* all i gotta say is D'OH.

btw, i'm thinking of moving my blog... mebbe going on the prettyposies.com route. not like my blog has much of a following, but i'm just not feeling this blogspot thing anymore. oh well, i'll think about it, i guess.

i am the worst blogger EVER

2004-09-14T15:33:00.000-04:00

*sigh* i suck. i'm sorry... between work, training, 2 weddings, new website responsibilities and studying... i haven't been able to write or even KNIT! i think i'm all knitted out. i thought that was impossible, but not so. since my last update, i finished thrill and al 90% finished with two doggie sweaters. i did have a picture of a friend's dog modelling "tweedy", but i forgot my camera at home. so disappointing... o well. i'm hoping this weekend my attitude will change. i've just been so tired. i've been coming home and passing out at 11:30, just to wake up at 4:30 because i'm scratching some mosquito bite i find during the night. *sigh* maybe i need a vacation... road trip?

i heart my carla

2004-08-30T10:44:00.000-04:00

go ahead... sweat it. :-P i know i do.

check out the sleeves! i heart the sleeves the most. i think it's because it took me so long to figure them out.

also finished more of my thrill. woo hoo! i'm on a cotton tape roll... more to come later on this week. i'm in sql training all week, and i totally forgot. my training's in midtown, too, so that means i'll be in a sea of protesters the whole time as well. ugh. hopefully it'll be as peaceful as this weekend's protests... otherwise if you're watching the news and in the chaos you hear a woman screaming "i just came here to learn SQL!!!" that'll be me. :-P

someone smack me the next time i hit the "back" button

2004-08-27T11:53:00.000-04:00

note to self: please, for the love of god and all that is holy, stop hitting the "back" button when you're previewing an entry prior to posting. if anything, use the frikkin "save as draft" button if you're writing something long. the minute you hit the "back" button, the entry you've spent over 30 minutes writing will go *poof*, causing frustration and annoyance as you attempt to re-write the witty comments of the first draft. *sigh*

so yes, i, being the forgetful person i am, hit the "back" button while i was previewing my post. dumb, dumb, dumb. i'll try to re-create my nice entry to the best of my ability.

so, yes, i took my placement exam. i'm applying for the CTA program, which is an IT certificate program at the school of continuing ed here. it's awesome being an employee for a school because of the benefits - if i get in, it's 2 years for a grand total of $900. how sweet is that? anyway, i've applied to the database application development and design program, so the placement exam was on tuesday. the test was three parts: 1 part in general computer knowledge, 1 part in database knowledge, and 1 part in programming aptitude. for someone that does web support and graduated with a visual arts degree, i think i did ok. well, we'll find out on september 3rd, won't we now? edit - what a crock! check this out! i'm FUMING!

so this week has been really busy, thus the lack in blogging. tuesday was the test, wednesday was a hellish day driving to and from port jefferson, LI during rush hour, then my camera was dead... but fear not! although no blogging, tons of knitting has been going on. for example:

the liza collection - so one of my college friends has moved back to upstate new york from the west coast, and while on the wc she had adopted an adorable chihuahua puppy named liza. this, being liza's first winter ever, will be a traumatic one... most likely she will be a puppy popsicle by the end of october. so, with knitting needles in hand, i have made it my duty to clothe this chilly pooch before the end of summer. so for the first design, i bring you tweedy.

doggy sweater in a dark green tweed with brown trim, perfect for the stylish dog for the fall season. there is a top closure, secured with hook & eye closures and button trim. here is my stuffed bear, button, trying to be model it and being quite unsuccessful.

sorry, button. i'll have to make you your own sweater.

as you can see, the side is also stitched closed, but i'm thinking of removing that and making it another hook & eye or snap closure in case the sweater needs adjusting. this is a fantastic project for me... i think i have enough yarn to make many small doggie sweaters, plus these sweaters knit up so quickly! i'd say this one took me at most 2 days. quite rewarding. :)

boobholder update - grr... it appears that the rows i added for "good measure" was not the best thing for the project. before it was too small... now it's too big! *sigh* here it is pre-frogging. wave bye-bye!

carla update - i looooooooooooooooooooooved making this sweater. i finished knitting all the pieces on sunday, but i haven't been able to block or seam since so this is my weekend project. i'm so excited. this is the first sweater that is mine so this is quite an accomplishment for me.

the one bad thing about this sweater is that it made me a tape yarn ho. i have more tape yarn than i know what to do with. actually, i know what to do with it. like, right now, i've already started making thrill, which is a carla-like tank.

since this is my train-ride project, this will probably be done this weekend too. :)

hush update - ok, a little progress is better than no progress at all, right? i put down the guides for each section that needs to be steeked. *sigh* i WILL. i CAN. :( and i'll provide photos of the painful slow process and the scared expressions on my face as i cut through. :-P

lazy blogging...

2004-08-23T16:12:00.000-04:00

ok, so i tried to change my template today and i did a "republish" without saving the sidebar so they all went "poof" today. sorry about that. still rebuilding, and hopefully it'll all be recovered by tomorrow.

so i have no pictures. i have no steeking. i have no finished boobholder. what i do have is an entrance exam tomorrow, though, so i've been studying instead of taking pictures. i think we'll be back on schedule tomorrow night. that is, unless i go for drinks after the test to celebrate. oh well, we'll see. :-P

i love rainy weekends...

2004-08-21T15:28:00.000-04:00

because all i get to do is knit all day! tee hee... i have pictures from the other day, but they're all blurry so i apologize in advance. :)

here are all of the goodies i received last week in the mail - the "it's a tape thing" book and "calmer collection" from jimmy beans wool. the yarn to the right is the ggh mystik i've been waiting for over the past 3 weeks. go to my rant to see what the drama was about.

next, as requested by carrie, we have shots of the boob-holder-in-progress, all really blurry since it was something like 2 AM when i took these... sorry carrie, i'll try for better shots today. :)

boob-holder fitting #1...

super-blurryiness makes my boobs look huge! my apologies for the obscene photo. :-P

i had to add an extra few rows because of my big ol' arms, but today i've separated the sleeves and am working on the increases on the body, so this should be finished later today!

lol... i feel like i'm showing slides of my vacation or something.

umm... oh yeah, finished the regular bucket o' chick last week, just gotta block it.

yah, this is in wool so can't go towards my knit-along, but it knit up so quickly i'll have that one done in a few days worth of train-rides.

so that's all i's gots for pictures. i promise to take more today, though. i woke up at 8 AM (on a saturday!) and just kept knitting until around 3. so the progress:

fantastic carla news - i finished both the front and back pieces and finished one sleeve today.... now the bad carla news - in the pattern it calls for dropping two stitches that run along the side of the sleeve and, well, i'm just not all that into it. i did it and now i'm thinking of frogging the whole sleeve and starting over again. :( i'll post it tomorrow when i'm in possession of my camera. so i'm either at 75% finished if i keep the sleeve, 60% if i don't. eh.

*phew* am i knitting enough? hehe...

so yes, i know you're all wondering about hush... and i promised i would be steeking. thank you all so much for the support.... as much as i think i'm going to be ok, i'm really scared.... it's soooooooooooo much work and now i'm cutting it. i told my work knitting friend during lunch the other day what steeking was and her jaw dropped. i wish i had someone to hold my hand on this one! eek! i think when i get back home i'll just suck it up and go for it. i've got nothing to lose, right? i hope. *sigh*

ps - thanks again, mol luege for all the support and advice. once i'm done with everything in progress, i'll go back to my completing fuzzy feet (yes, plural) just for you. :)

bah...

2004-08-17T11:34:00.000-04:00

remember when i said "only two major projects at a time"? *sigh* if you take a looksie on the right-hand bar, that's obviously not the case anymore. oh well, i tried.

so as much as i would love to show the world my progress, my camera battery has died so i can't show you all of the wonderful things i have received and done... this weekend has been so relaxing, all i've been doing is knitting! i need more of those, dangit. or less work so i can knit all the time. :-P

first, the really great news... i finally got my it's a tape thing! i also received the calmer collection, which i have tucked away so i don't find myself in more WIP ADD Hell. so i have finally swatched for my carla and started the back piece! woo hoo!
secondly, i have finally received my honeymoon tank yarn! only 17 days after end of auction. i feel horrible because i gave the woman negative feedback (well, she didn't contact me until TODAY), and the reason was because her son was in the hospital so it was delayed. well, it's better delayed than not at all... i just wish she TOLD me so i wasn't worrying that my money was stolen. *sigh*
i was admiring new knitting friend carrie's boobholder that i had to start my own! i'm down to the fitting of the sleeves, so hopefully this will be completed within the next few days.
hush's original pattern is complete!

don't mind the feet on the upper left...

here i am modelling the finished hush over my pj's... you can see how loose it is on the top.

so here's the steeking idea... the front panel and the back panel have no decreases whatsoever, so the top and bottom fan and feather align. also playing in my favor are the seven stiches in between each group that i can steek with no problems... wish me luck! i'm starting the modifications on this one tomorrow night.

*by the way, thank you mol luege for pointing out the typos in my last entry. my apologies, bonne marie!

wow, don't i feel semi-cool!

2004-08-12T14:59:00.000-04:00

while skimming my daily knitting blogs i was suprised to see this:

bonne marie of chicknits fame has given me a little shout on her blog! thank you bonne marie! i was just going through the list of my daily visits and low and behold on the top right-hand corner! i feel semi-famous in the knitting blog world. how exciting! and totally cheezy at the same time. :-P

ebay update - i just filed a buyer dispute through paypal. i feel awful, but the seller's policy says "will ship 24 hours after end of auction." it has been 17 days now... i think i can dispute it without guilt, right?

hush modified - thank you all for your concern and suggestions on how to adjust my hush... my goal is to keep this piece in tact as much as possible... no frogging! well, not much, at least... i considered the chicknits resizing tutorial, and then realized the straps which align in the front and back would be kind of whacky if i did it this way... soo..... here's my idea. now stop me if i'm not thinking this out properly...

first i would frog the straps and make the piece strapless
second, i would cut (*gasp!*) about 90% of the back panel off using crochet steeking, inspired by stefanie @ glampyreknits' cardiganized raglan top-down sweater. i don't know how this will translate on the fan and feather section, but i'm going to try it out on the center section first before the real cutting.
third, i will either use those pearlized wedding dress buttons or the bottom satin ribbon to close the top detail
fourth, i would have to add elastic of some sort to hold up the garment. i'll also add a flesh-tone lining as well.
lastly, the back can be the front(?)

so? what do you guys think? one other thing i was considering was to make matching undies based on the SnB QoH bikini bottom... but with all the work i'm putting in on the top, i'm not sure if i'll have the energy! lol...

technical difficulties...

2004-08-10T14:30:00.000-04:00

just as i thought things were going so well...

here i am starting the top fan and feather of hush

and now close-up.

well, this past weekend as i finished the top segment and started the straps i realized - and what a horrible realization after just knitting away for a month straight - the medium is too big for k. i attempted to slip it on, and low and behold... *sigh* i'll post pictures up later, but i decided after i finish the original pattern i'm going to make some modifications... it should be surprising, i think.... and it'll definitely test my skills, that's for sure. stay tuned!

in the meantime, as i get the gameplan down for hush modified, i decided to distract myself with some "bucket o' chic" action. my lovely co-worker, prior to leaving for a two-week break in istanbul, asked me if i wanted anything. i told her, if anything, to bring me back yarn and i'll make her something in return. i expecte maybe one skein, maybe two... check out this lovely present:

how wonderful are my co-workers! so today i'm using the cream colored yarn to make the boc... it's knitting up quite well, and i can't wait to see the results. pictures to follow...

additional notes rather irritating, i might add.

i haven't received my "it's a tape thing" yet! :( carla, i wish to start you already!
the honeymoon tank yarn that i paid for at the end of last month hasn't been delivered yet! i'm quite irritated since i sent the payment right away and have sent two e-mails asking about it. how do you dispute an e-bay auction from the bidder's side? *sigh*

grrr....

2004-08-05T11:03:00.000-04:00

so yesterday i wrote this huge entry about my progress, and then i hit the wrong button and poof! gone! *sigh* so here i am again, and hopefully i don't do the same thing i did yesterday.

so first, the great news!!! k's party is this saturday and not today as originally thought! *phew* so i have two more days to work on it, but i think i'll just tell her the gift is on the way and finish it over the weekend. i don't want to rush this thing and have it properly blocked. btw - how do you block something that's knitted in the round? i'm stumped. i'll ask libby today.

other great news - halcyon yarn RULES. they got my e-mail and the next day called me to tell me they had only 1 cone of the 3/2 pearlized cotton in color #177 left!!!! so the shipped it to me and i got it yesterday! halycon yarns, you are my savior!

so here's the newest shipment of yarn this week. i'm going to stop going to yarn stores altogether if this continues... hmm... what could be my color for the fall? i wonder....

i know i put up a huge circle on the upper right-hand corner. this was taken at my bf's place and that's a little boba fett mez-its on his desk.
it's the cutest.

so yesterday i was complaining about how hush seemed to take forever to get to the next section... when no longer! today i started the top fan and feather! WOOOO HOOO! i don't have pictures of the new segment, but i'll most likely get them today since i have my little work knitting meetup at lunch. here's my progress from the weekend:

that's about 1 inch away from the fan and feather.

a closeup because i can't get enough of the first fan and feather. :-P

i'm so excited! this definitely means i can get a start on carla by next week! how awesome. now if only my "it's a tape thing" could get here already so i can start swatching!

patiently waiting...

2004-08-02T10:53:00.000-04:00

hush hush progress - ongoing with the stockinette... i'm trying to do as much as i can, but i'm scared i won't be able to finish. not to mention i just went back to the knitty page and the yarn requirements for the medium was changed again! so that means i'm short one cone of yarn for the project! last friday i ordered 1 lb of the yarn, just in case, and i just got an e-mail yesterday saying they were out of it! i wrote to them requesting to send me the price equivalent in the minicones... i just hope they're able to do it. :( this is going to be a photo-finish... how stressful!!!

carla-along - still waiting for everything! i'm so behind. i want to get started on it already... the package with my yarn is going straight to my mom's, though. hopefully she doesn't freak out about more yarn. :-P

no pictures today except for this one -

don't kneel down on your therapeutic flip flops unless you're comfortable walking around like this for a few hours.

what do you mean "august 5th!!!"

2004-07-30T10:10:00.000-04:00

umm... so her birthday is august 12th, right? well, her future mother-in-law decided to throw her a birthday party a whole week earlier! #@($*!

*sigh* ok, i think once this thing is done i'm going to take a little mini-vacation from knitting. much deserved, i think. or maybe i'll just switch it up to crocheting to keep my sanity. :-P

so, as promised, here is the booboo picture.

it's the 3rd to last row in the 4th panel, which i believe is a side panel. i know, i know i should've fixed it... but i'm crunched for time! bah...

so here's my current progress

as i said, it's about 5+ inches above the fan pattern, and i'm about 4 inches away from starting the fan pattern over again... hopefully i hit the next section by the weekend.

other knitting news... i have just joined my first knit-along! i will be knitting that lovely carla sweater that i posted about earlier last week. go here to join or see our progress! i will be starting later since i'm still waiting for my book + yarn, but i really can't wait. and hopefully (since i have this ridiculous deadline) i'll be finished with hush hush and start before the end of next week! lol... i just love working under pressure.

oh, and since i couldn't resist... look what i bought while at my birthday adventure last week!

yes, more hello kitty. gotta love it.

knitting on the road...

2004-07-28T10:46:00.000-04:00

will someone try to get me for using that as an entry title? :-P

ok, so this weekend was my "birthday knitting" weekend! first, the presents:

to the left, we have the '63 easy to crochet pattern stiches' afghan, which i purchased for myself while looking for satin ribbon at fabric bonanza... i thought, since my mom's a crocheter, it would be a fantastic little project to do together as an heirloom type thing! i'm really excited about approaching her with it.
to the right, we have the wonderful denise interchangeable knitting needles set, given to me by my honey! what a wonderful boyfriend. thanks honey! i immediately started knitting my mom a shawl on them, but realized there's work to be done! so then... onto the progress of hush hush...

day 1 - before leaving for our road trip i had just finished the first 5 inches! *phew*

only one problem... it appears as if i missed an extra 3(k2tog) and one row of the fan pattern in one panel is out of line with the others... my family thought it was hardly noticeable, and rather than spending an hour frogging i just kept going. *sigh* (i'll get a pic for you later)

onto tackling the eyelet section...

day 2 - on the way to harrisburg, pa, eyelets are completed! how exciting! and what a steady picture considering the rough terrain on the PA turnpike! onto the endless stockinette stitching + decreases

close up of the eyelets...

day 3 - no picture as of yet, but i have about 5 inches of stockinette stitch + decreases already finished! but this couldn't have been accomplished without the assistance of my wonderful boyfriend, who (knowing i have to have this thing done by august 12th) drove a total of 12 hours this past weekend to give me knitting time during our road trip. thanks, honey!

so hush hush continues on... more progress to come.

o, before i forget - ebay update - i won both auctions! looks like i know what i'll be knitting next. :-P carla-along and honeymoon tank-along, here i come!

knitting blogs: inspiration or facilitator of compulsive spending?

2004-07-22T09:15:00.000-04:00

so yesterday i'm going through the list of knitting/crochet bloggers on kimmy's blog (hi kim!) and i happen upon the carla knitalong on the my life in stitches blog. how awesome is this sweater?

so i, being the ADD knitter i am, go and purchase the "it's a tape thing" book from the knitting garden. THEN i go to ebay and start placing bids on rowan tape yarn. i figure if i don't win this auction, i could always go to elann and pick up some katia ola as substitute. then, while i'm on ebay browsing for yarn, i notice someone has GGH Muench Mystik. earlier i had seen on creazativity a finished knitty honeymoon tank. how fantastic! so guess who places a bid on that one? you got it. so yesterday, i have total bids up to $80 and a knitting book in the mail for $17. can i ask something?

what the hell am i doing?

i'm not even close to finished with hush hush. i have a deadline of august 12th, now (i had assumed the wrong date). not to mention i have a stash the size of a small mountain. oh, yes, and i'm poor. that too. :-P is there a "knitter's anonymous" anywhere? lol...

rising in the ranks...

2004-07-21T09:51:00.000-04:00

i think i can stop doubting my knitting skills. i am now a "tangy" knitter on knitty.com. :-P here's what 6 hours on hush hush looks like:

looking more "doily" than "nightie", but just wait and see...

close up! i feel accomplished.

the funny thing is, this was all accomplished while i was hanging out yesterday. i left work and knitted on the subway. i met up with friends in a restaurant and i knitted while waiting for food. we went to a bar and i knitted while sitting on a couch (good thing this was the place i used to go for my 'flipknits' crew last year, otherwise the staff would have looked at me funny!). i came home and knitted until i fell asleep at 2... i think i just can't wait until i get to the stockinette part, because after this hem it's smooth sailing. one suggestion, made by the owner, was that since it is a "wedding"-ish gift is that i make it a tad shorter and knit a pair of undies to go with it, which i think is a fabulous idea. i'm going to see if the SnB bikini bottoms will suffice as a counterpart for this, which it should since it's a simple string bikini. we'll see.

this project is making me really proud of my skills... the owner of dfly said to me last night, "wow, joy, i'm impressed." which, from her, means a lot since a) she never gives compliments, and b) she used to knit with me a year ago, so she knows how far i've come along with my skills.

*sigh* if i could do this and only this for the rest of my life, i would. :)

p.s. i have added pictures of my finished items on my previous posts, so if you would like to take a looksie scroll down. o, before i forget - my finished SnB tank girl.

the more i look at it, the more i wonder if i should just scrap it and do it over again. i look like the michelin man in it, i swear. and yes, i really like light blue. just remember, hush hush isn't for me.

hush-hush, i will conquer thee

2004-07-20T09:07:00.000-04:00

after 6 hours and a pattern mis-read, causing me to frog a whole entire row (which is 360 stitches, mind you), i have completed a whole FIVE ROWS. lol... it's not as bad as i think it is, though... once you get past the first 5 inches with the fan pattern it's mostly stockinette the whole way, which is a-ok with me. and the yarn! the yarn is so yummy... normally, i'm not so big on cotton but this yarn is gorgeous! i'm definitely making my next sweater and/or poncho with it. that is, after i finish this thing. :-P thank god i have friday thru tuesday off so i have tons of knitting time ahead of me.

kip on hiatus is now on hiatus!

2004-07-19T11:56:00.000-04:00

hehe... with the arrival of my yarn for hush-hush, i now have to do a major knitting overhaul and use every chance i get to work on it. i started the gauge swatch on the train this morning, and although the needles are tiny and the yarn is thin, it's knitting up so softly i can't resist it! i'm probably going to make a tank top version of this for myself. :-P so hush-hush in the works until finished. everything else is going to have to take a breather until this thing is finished.

hush-hush, now...

2004-07-18T22:29:00.000-04:00

a productive weekend, kinda sorta. friday night, after a nice nap, i finished the turtle top from hollywood knits.

a little warm for new york city right now, but definitely great for layering over a long sleeve t-shirt for ice skating at wollman rink...

other than that no major knitting, but i did manage to get over to my mother's place to grab my 6 spools of 3/2 pearl cotton from halcyon yarn!

WOO HOO! hush-hush can now begin! too bad the bridal shower was yesterday. :-P can i just say, halcyon yarns is amazing... this being my first order, i received this huge catalog of yarns and fiber equipment... it's so evil... for my next gift to myself, i'm going to purchase the drop spindle kit so i can learn to spin my own yarn! so excited. or maybe i'll just grab that adorable hello kitty latch hook kit i found at target for $10. :-P

yes, i'm still addicted to hello kitty. sue me.

kip on hiatus

2004-07-16T14:04:00.000-04:00

i never realized how much knitting i get done on the subway... i've been studying SQL on the train for the past week and have noticed that, although i've made progress with the turtle top (that's knitted at home), i really haven't gotten much done this week. how sad. is this how it's going to be when my classes start in the fall?

crochetme and other things...

2004-07-15T09:59:00.000-04:00

crochetme has its own URL! woo hoo! congratulations and great work, kimmy!

as for the realm of my fiber-work, (other than needing to charge the batteries of my digital camera) i have completed the back panel of the turtle top in hollywood knits! woot! only thing is the longer i look at it, the more i question the sizing. is it me or is that "hollywood knits" book made for really skinny hollywood/euro-waif sized people? hmmm... pictures to come.

um.... knitted pasties?

2004-07-13T09:48:00.000-04:00

ok, i'm done doing the cups on the SnB Queen of Hearts Bikini... i figured make it simple so i only did one color. i heard from the craftster site that the bikini knits up pretty small so do one size bigger. since i find myself to be kind of conservative, i went to the 3rd size (37 st). now, i'm not a big girl... i'm far from. last i remembered a 34B was about average. after i was done knitting these, i was downright embarrassed! these things are TINY! but i figured, make one set and then either fix it later (crocheted edges, etc.) or just learn from this one and make another one with a larger gauge. aiyah.

so, as i always do, i'm thinking of modifying the pattern and making it cleo-esque. i figured all i have to do is make a band under the cups and then create an apron for it... and since the cups are black i can do whatever i want for the apron part. we'll see how it goes!

the trouble with lamb's pride...

2004-07-12T09:23:00.000-04:00

is that whenever i go to my LYS to get some, they are out of the color i need! *sigh* friday after work i decided to head over to school products on 28th street to pick up one skein of lamb's pride bulky in winter blue and they're all out! damned SnB for making lamb's pride so popular i can only go to online stores to purchase colors i want.... so instead of just leaving, i figured i might as well pick up some supplies for my next projects. trouble! i left with the following:

2 skeins lamb's pride bulky in lotus pink, 2 skeins of lamb's pride bulky in old sage, 2 addi turbo circulars (size 2/32", size 3/32"), and 1 size P crochet hook! and the damage? $64.95. so what was a 1 skein of lamb's pride day (totalling $7) ended up being a knitting shopathon! i really need to learn how to control myself in stores like that. *sigh*

so what are the supplies for? well, i've been toying with the idea of making that SnB marsupial tote that everyone's been gaga-ing over. or at least make a felted purse. they look really fun. so that's what the yarn's for... and the needles? well, i just ordered my 3/2 pearlized cotton to make hush-hush from the latest issue of knitty! not for me, though. kaitlyn's getting married and other than just getting them something from their registry, it would be nice to make something for her. :) i'm waiting for the yarn, so it's not going to start until the end of the month, probably.

other knitting news... i'm finished with tank girl! it makes me look a whole lot wider than i am, though, so i'm wondering about it... maybe converting it to a sleeveless turtleneck or something. o well. but i still need to block it, so i'll post it once i'm finished.

pictures pictures pictures!

2004-07-09T09:06:00.000-04:00

yay! i know, finally. here are the two completed crochet hats from last week. not too shabby for a beginning crocheter, if i must say so myself. now if i could only crochet a perfect rectangle...

the BBBB - sorry the navy blue is too dark you really can't see the stitches or the progress... but it's going so well! i can't wait to finish.

and last, but not least, SnB tank girl! - as you can see from the picture, the back has been completed and now i'm off to do the front... but guess who's running out of yarn! as usual... maybe i should just stock up before i start a project so i don't run out while i'm knitting. now i have nothing to do on the train ride home!

so that's my progress so far. as you can see, i've been productive. i can't wait to get started on my next projects!

the hawaiian baby...

2004-07-08T12:48:00.000-04:00

so this is jedi's nephew (who, by the way, is the cutest baby in the whole entire world!!!)who will probably get the BBBB, if he doesn't drool all over it first.

sorry, had to show the cute baby. :)

the two project switch off...

2004-07-07T09:12:00.000-04:00

i think i'm going to start sticking to a schedule for my knitting projects now, so i can satisfy my knitting ADD while completing them. the BBBB is half over, and dangit, i'm going to take pictures i swear! i still have decide who gets it, since there are no babies around whatsoever. maybe jonah might want another baby blanket... but what would a baby in hawaii want an alpaca baby blanket for? lol

fan-friggin-tastic

2004-07-06T13:07:00.000-04:00

have i mentioned i love knitting? well, i love it.

this weekend proved to be super productive, and i'm really excited about it. i headed home last night on a mission to get things done, and i'm happy about the results... i finished a few inches on the Blue Sky BBBB and hit past the halfway mark on my SnB tank girl! wooooooo hooooooo... this means i'm going to have a finished tank by the week's end (if i don't run out of yarn, that is... and i'm getting scared that that might be the case after this next skein). i really should tackle this poncho, so i think i'm going to (you got it) frog the damn thing (AGAIN!) and start over, but this time crochet it! i feel confident enough, i think it's time... wish me luck!

ribbit

2004-07-05T12:40:00.000-04:00

dare i say it... i'm frogging the jiffy BBBB. i put the two BBBBs next to each other and the jiffy BBBB is seriously like twice the size! not to mention i've already gone through two skeins on maybe 10% of the pattern. oh well... fine with me, i can concentrate on my other projects.

so now i'm trying to do more crocheting, and i got myself over to barnes & noble with my brother this morning, and i must say... there are some crappy knitting and crocheting books out there. not like i could make a better book or anything, but there really aren't many creative projects out there. i think i saw one thing where there was a project weaving knitting panels together, but that was the only thing i really liked, other than the knitted and crocheted beaded jewelry. one of these days i'll venture out that way...

well i know what i'm doing this weekend...

2004-07-03T22:15:00.000-04:00

and that's knitting, honey. i'm sitting at the computer at my mom's house and i must say... for the past 10 hours all i've been doing is sitting on my butt, switching off between knitting and crocheting. i swear that crochet bucket hat is the best thing since sliced bread... i finished another one today. seriously. only thing is, as usual, i ran out of yarn, so i made a nice white stripe right above the brim... think michael jackson in moonwalker. i'll post pictures once i get back to work on tuesday. :) other than that i've switched back to the blue sky alpaca BBBB and have about 1/3 of my SnB tank girl done! as i said, sitting on my butt knitting all day.

maybe i should knit and ride and exercise bike or something so they don't think i'm lazy...

i am a crocheting superstar!!!

2004-07-02T10:21:00.000-04:00

so wonderful things yesterday...

i finished the lamb's pride worsted crochet hat!!!
and while i was home i grabbed a skein of noro iro and guess what? i finished another crochet hat! how exciting. i love making these things. i wanted to make another one, but thought since i got a twinge in my right wrist that i should switch back to knitting, so...
i started making SnB's tank girl with lamb's pride bulky in winter blue.

it's my new project until i...
go and pick up my BBBB yarn from my mom's house! it arrived yesterday, but since my godsis's mom signed i'll just pick it up this weekend.

what a productive week in the world of yarn! tee hee...

foiled!

2004-07-01T10:56:00.000-04:00

just as i'm ready to finish my hat... i realize it's too big. so i frog it again... then i get down to the brim. after two rows i'm realizing it's not jutting out enough. so onto this morning, i frog it again, make the brim, and right as i'm finishing off the brim... I RUN OUT OF YARN!!! i can never win...

and i think i'm developing carpal tunnel...

what the hell... 100 things about me

2004-06-30T14:30:00.000-04:00

everything you wanted to know about me, but were too afraid to ask: ( ^_^ )

my first name isn't joy, it's geraldine. well, it's really "geraldine joy." the two-part first name thing is a filipino thing, i guess.

i didn't know geraldine was my first name until i was 7.

i'm not joking. for the longest time, people called me "joy." i almost bawled crying in the playground of my school on the first day of first grade because i couldn't find my class and thought i was left back in kindergarten. it was because i was telling them the wrong name.i ran to my mom, and she went to the teachers, found out what class i was in and said to me, "Your first name isn't Joy, it's Geraldine. Now get in line... "

my kindergarten teacher always called me joy. when i asked my first grade teacher that i wanted to be called joy, she said "Your first name is Geraldine. You should get used to it."

only teachers and people that don't know me call me geraldine.

my parents names both start with "E"s and my brother and my name both start with "G"s. my mom is lame enough that she did it on purpose.

when i was little, i really hated my name. i thought it was too old.

now i think it's sophisticated. i take pleasure in signing my full name.

i once considered legally changing my name to joy, but thought it would be insulting to my mom if i did.

i am the first person on both sides of my family to be born in the united states.

i'd like to think of it as a good thing, but my mom continually says it she is "unhappy with the results." eh.

i have one older brother. he's 5 years older but acts like he's 5 years younger.

glenn and i have always been in competition with each other. we went to the same high school, i went to the college he wanted to go to (but he didn't get in - haHA!), we both even pursued drawing and painting for a little while.

the competition lives on... we have a magic mic at home and we are both competing to see who can score above a 98.

apparently, just because we're in our late 20s - early 30s doesn't mean we've outgrown sibling rivalry.

dynamite is one of many nicknames i earned during college. it was given to me because of my energy and enthusiasm about things.

dynamiteknits stemmed from one of my college friends being shocked that i knit. voila. blog name.

i am a graduate of binghamton university.

i graduated with a bachelor's degree in visual arts, with a concentration in drawing and painting.

going to art school would have been better than staying at binghamton, but by the time i had chosen to leave i was already at my 3rd year there.

i've lived in 5 different locations in the new york city area over the past 7 years.

in that time, i spent over $45,000 dollars in rent. yeah, that terrified me when i calculated it.

i lived at my mother's house for a year and a half in that time frame.

when it comes down to it, sanity always wins out over financial stability in my book. thus, all the moving.

one of my plans for 2005 is to move to the west coast. san francisco, maybe?

one major reason for moving - i hate winter.

i love to travel, especially go on road trips.

some of the major road trips i've done:
- 1999 - binghamton, ny to new orleans, la
- 2000 - "freedom trip" - start @ wilmington, ny -> washington, dc -> durham, nc [-> new orleans, la -> austin, tx -> durham, nc (omitted due to weather) ] -> washington, dc -> delaware -> wilmington, ny
- 2002 - ny, ny -> orlando, fl
- 2003 - ny, ny -> columbus, oh
- 2003 - san diego, ca -> la, ca -> san fran, ca
- 2004 - ny, ny -> detroit, mi
- 2004 - oahu and maui
- 2004 - ny, ny -> pittsburgh, pa

i didn't learn how to drive until i was 20 years old.

once i considered moving to hawaii, but the idea that i would only be able to drive around the island in 4 hours... that would drive me insane.

i don't rule living in hawaii out, though... my dream is to own a bed & breakfast by the time i'm 35. hawaii seems like an ideal spot, no?

if i did move to hawaii and do all that, i would open my own yarn store, too. they are lacking in quality yarn over there. (can you tell i love hawaii?)

my boyfriend is from hawaii. he's pretty nifty too.

i will admit it - i met my boyfriend online.

on friendster of all places.

o, i love knitting and crocheting, obviously.

i started knitting in 2001 when, at the time, my cubicle-mate had taken it up. i got curious, looked up "how tos" on the web and taught myself.

i didn't get crocheting until last year. i was in hawaii, got myself a book and said "ok, you don't leave hawaii without learning."

it's just funny that i didn't learn how to crochet until 3 months ago. my mom has been crocheting for as long as i can remember.

i've never been able to learn from her because she crochets left-handed.

i'm the only right-handed person in my family.

i'm also the baby.

my family consists of my mother, my brother, me and my two cats (karma and kamala). my father passed away when i was 14 from pancreatic cancer.

i didn't grow up with any blood relatives around. most of my mom and dad's families are still in the philippines.

because i don't talk about my dad, people just assume my parents are divorced.

which is funny, because when people don't talk about their dads, i just assume they passed away. which is terrible.

did i mention that i'm upbeat and have tons of energy? this list kinda says otherwise, huh? ( ^_^ )

i used to sing alto in an a co-ed cappella group in college.

i don't sing much anymore, which is what makes the magic mic so fun.

i'm pretty short - i stand at a whopping 5' 1 3/4" tall.

because of this i always wear high heels. which is a shame, because i love flip-flops.

when the high-heel flip flop trend began in 2003, i ran to shoe stores.

my mother calls me imelda (marcos) because of my shoe collection.

i've never outgrown cartoons. adult swim is part of my daily routine.

because i grew up with a brother, two of my favorite things growing up were comic books and wrestling.

they are still two of my favorite things.

last year for my birthday, my boyfriend and i road tripped to pittsburgh, pa to watch WWE RAW live.

if i had to chose another path in life, i wish i had become a comic book artist.

right now, i do web systems support and design for a university.

i've been working here for 5 years. the benefits and people make it cozy.

one of the benefits is being able to go to school. right now i'm taking oracle database classes. a few years ago i took silkscreening.

sounds crazy, but databases are fun. i'm considering moving into them after this job. hopefully in san francisco.

i own a 1996 saturn sl2.

i would like to buy a new car, but after the 7-year rent revelation i'm saving to buy an apartment. hopefully in san francisco.

the period in between spring and summer is my favorite time of year.

second to that is the period between summer and fall.

i can go hours driving without music on.

i prefer driving alone.

i love le sportsac bags. they remind me of my mom in the 80s.

i also love gloomy bear. there's nothing cuter than a pink killer bear with blood on his chest.

i still go toy shopping.

kid robot and toy tokyo are two of my favorite stores.

i have three (well, 5, really) different blogs online: mottie ♥ dottie, rant, knit, run, randomness on myspace

i have so many because i got tired of trying to migrate everything from one blog to another.

i recently acquired dynamiteknits.com because i want to have more freedom on the site.

i haven't done anything yet because i don't have any time to install wordpress at the moment.

which is a lie, because i obviously have the time to continuously write in my 5 blogs, as well as write up a "100 things about me" list. ( ^_^ )

close-minded people annoy the crap out of me.

close-minded people that preach to me about their way of thinking annoy the crap out of me even more.

i got physically upset over the 2004 presidential election.

i know i sound more like a cynic, but i prefer the term "realist." i think its just inherent because i'm a new yorker.

i took a "what is your political persuasion" test, and it came out that i'm a "Liberal for Life".

i love spluring on spas, manicures, etc. i just don't go very often because i don't have the money.

i get my hair cut maybe twice a year.

i cut my hair short once and it made my face look a round puffball. never again.

i have since settled for bangs if i feel like cutting my hair.

i love stupid comedies. the sillier, the better: kingpin, half-baked, better off dead, deuce bigalow: male gigalo, old adam sandler stuff

i recently watched "before sunrise" and "before sunset" back to back. they have renewed my belief in hope, fate, and returning love.

i love roller coasters and rock climbing.

i'm afraid of heights.

i'm also really afraid of public speaking. which is funny because i have no problems singing in front of 200 people.

i didn't learn how to swim until i was 21. i had to make myself take a beginning swimmer's class in college.

i still don't know how to ride a bike. my brother bought me a bike for my birthday last year, but it's too tall for me.

i collect magnets. they're the perfect practical souvenir. whenever i go on a trip, i buy one. i have two favorite magnets: a salvador dali finger puppet magnet from the dali museum in clearwater, fl; and the map of oahu magnet from my first trip to hawaii.

for two years i was a part-time hostess/waitress at a vegetarian restaurant in the village.

during that time, i actually tried my hand as a lacto-ovo-pesco-vegetarian. i had done initially for health reasons. i have since gone in and out of vegetarianism.

i love finding personalized (non-christmasy) things that have my name "Joy" on it. i always wanted to buy personalized stuff when i was little, but i always found "Joe" or "Joyce." in 2003 i found an atlantic city magnet and was thrilled.

i'm really lazy when it comes to exercising.

i participate in charity walks and fun runs to feel better about not exercising.

i really enjoy blogging, and hope i'm not boring my readers to death!

EUREKA!!!

2004-06-30T09:54:00.000-04:00

thank you, dear co-worker, for jogging my memory and making me realize i was missing one step when making a stitch - that damned "wrap yarn around needle" step. :-P so good news! i completely frogged the hat and started over! YAY! then i realized halfway through that i was doing tc and not dc the whole time! BOO! so i frogged it again!! DOUBLE BOO!! but i started a new one correctly so i will no longer be complaining about crocheting and will have two spiffy crochet bucket hats by the 4th of july! woo hoo!!!

i just remembered why i hate acrylic yarn...

2004-06-29T11:22:00.000-04:00

owchie this friggin yarn is a pain to knit. it doesn't feel nice on the hands, its really heavy and i hate this pink-white-blue thing going on. oh well, it's my "keep busy" project, so i'll have to suck it up until its the beautiful BBBB that its meant to be. the only thing i'm afraid of again is potentially running out of yarn. i've already gone through 1 skein and i'm only 29 rows into the project. i'm glad i bought this at one of smiley's hotel sales where you buy a pack of 10 for $5, but i'm not sure if i kept all 10 balls of yarn. *sigh* o well, we'll see when i get there... at least jiffy doesn't have a dye lot or is in limited supply.

crochet, i will conquer thee!

2004-06-28T10:26:00.000-04:00

so this weekend i ran out of yarn for my BBBB and ordered more from kaleidoscopeyarns.com... so since i'm waiting patiently for that i decided to start working on an actual crochet project! i picked this one, since it seemed functional and a little more interesting, but boy after frogging the thing THREE TIMES i'm beginning to think i'm a little over my head. it's looking more like a doily than a hat, but i'm sure i'm doing what the pattern is saying! i'm bringing it to my mom tomorrow to take a look at it, but i think this is why i've never picked up crocheting... knitting i would just knit and not pay attention to it and still have a pretty decent completed product. with crochet, you lose your attention span and forget it! your project is lost! don't even bother. just frog it where you think you messed up and try again. *sigh* so i think i'm going to start another BBBB in lion brand jiffy since i know whoever i give the blue sky alpaca BBBB will think its too nice to ever use. i just need something else to keep me occupied on the train. :-P hopefully, i'll get this crochet thing figured out so i can have a sweet bucket hat soon.

or crochet....

2004-06-25T09:43:00.000-04:00

so since i didn't pick up any blue sky yarn yesterday, i picked up my crochet needle and began practicing. crochet is hard! i think i'm too used to using both of my hands... but i did manage to make a round. woo hoo! next time i need to bring enough yarn for a whole project, though. i'm considering doing some freeform knitting now. i've been looking at shawls and other type of textured art (mainly here), and i think it would really nice to work with yarn this way... plus i can use up all of my extra scrap yarn! :-P i swear more pics will come, once i get back my camera from my apartment.

wanted: 3 skeins of blue sky alpaca sport weight #308

2004-06-24T11:06:00.000-04:00

as suspected, my BBBB is now on hold because i am out of my blue sky alpaca sportweight yarn in #308 (navy blue). so imagine 8 inches of the BBBB in this color:

now do i

buy 3 more skeins and complete the blanket in one solid color?, or
use the skeins i have to make it a strange color-blicked stripey thing?

only thing is, these are the colors i have it in:

2 skeins in #002

1.5 skeins in #073

1 skein in #010

decisions, decisions...

random yarn quiz...

2004-06-23T14:55:00.000-04:00

You are Mohair.
You are a warm and fuzzy type who works well with
others, doing your share without being too
weighty. You can be stubborn and absolutely
refuse to change your position once it is set,
but that's okay since you are good at covering
up your mistakes.

What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

i heart knitting buddies

2004-06-23T09:08:00.000-04:00

wednesdays rule because i get to go to lunch with my co-workers that knit! woo hoo!!! and its so helpful having a work knitting circle... because of the extended lunches! lol... we end up talking about work and call it a "meeting." tee hee. :-P anyway, i'm very excited about my BBBB. i think i'm at about 30% finished now, but as usual the concern is "do i have enough yarn?" i think that's why my stash is so goddamn big. i go to the yarn store and pick up about enough yarn to make a pair of socks or a doubleknit hat... meanwhile when i actually decide to go do a project, it calls for about 15 more skeins than i have. *sigh* i will take a picture of my stash and share. i think its even more disturbing that the amount of yarn that i have at my apartment is maybe half of the yarn i have. well, you'll see for yourself.

confessions of an avid frogger...

2004-06-22T13:57:00.000-04:00

hello my name is joy and i have knitting ADD... i don't know what it is about knitting, but i have this tendency to start a project with incredible enthusiasm - pick out a pattern, go to the store, spend an incredible amount of money on yarn, get about 20-50 rows in... and totally lose interest and pick up something new. *sigh* so here i am in the hopes of creating more stable knitting goals for myself. at least, i hope. but just so you know, here is my track record for the past year...

victims of my knitting ADD

yarn girls guide simple tank (RIP sept 2002) - the first sweater/tank i've ever started... i made both sides but crumbled when crocheting the straps. i should pick this up and just finish the goddamn thing...

chicknits.com boatshell tank (RIP aug 2003) - started this for my mom, finished one panel and it barely fit me! frogged the side and tried to make a...

rebecca shawl for godmom (RIP oct 2003) - started this as a present for my godmom, then found out (after struggling for over a month with it) the wool would not be good for her move to Las Vegas. grrr....

simple poncho v1 (RIP nov 2003) - started this for myself but only had enough yarn for one side. ended up being a baby blanket.

simple poncho v2 (RIP nov 2003) - suffered the same fate as v1. my godson is a warm baby. thank god he's in detroit.

hollywood knits boatneck sweater (RIP jan 2004) - actually finished this sweater and followed SnB by assembling pre-blocking. sweater's too small for me. :(

pippi longstockings (RIP feb 2004) - started one with leftover yarn, and figured i could buy more from the store i bought it from. got to the store and they were OUT of the beautiful pink sock yarn i was using. i have a new christmas stocking, though.

knitty.com fuzzy feet (RIP feb 2004) - finished one, but when got to the second one, the skein was knotted beyond repair. plus the inability to felt since i don't have a washer made it unappealing to finish.

knitty.com poncho (RIP mar 2004) - completed, but was assymetrical! i frogged the WHOLE thing and started simple poncho v3. i pray to god this is it.

snb peppermint twist (RIP mar 2004) - started, but my conversion was all wrong. oh well. will try again, but after sp-v3.

magknits sassy stripes (RIP april 2004) - got to 80% complete, then realized the wool/cashmere blend would not fare well in 85 degree hawaiian heat.

don't get me wrong, i've finished TONS of hats, mittens, baby booties and blankets... i just need to actually start FINISHING what i start. :-P