Sock Knitting

Almost a year ago I started making my first pair of socks. I didn't get very far and this is how I left the single sock in September of last year.



Lately I've been working on it to give me some relief from Elise. I'm about 1/2 inch from turning the heel which to be frank scares me! I am planning on attending the Fiber Raven Soiree on June 13th, so I may implore the very kind Ryan for some assistance! For now I will fain bravery and plow through. I may rip, rip but at least I will have tried my best!

My sock as of June 2004



Wish me luck on the heel! Otherwise I will implore Ryan to have some pity on my poor sockless feet!

P.S. I got the color back in my scanner!

Picture Excitement

Tuesday morning I had some pictures developed at the local drugstore. I was super excited to scan them in today to show you my Elise sweater. Then disaster struck! The scanner would only scan in my photos in black and white.

See!



Completely Outrageous! Tonight I will visit my digital camera friend with Elise to obtain some proper photos to show you.

In other exciting news, I have a new travel companion. Her name is Gina and she's about 9 inches tall.

Here she is (in her black and white glory) with Destiny in the background.



Gina is actually the travel companion to my group of friends, the Supergirls. Our friend who gave us that name actually has Gina's boyfriend, Reggie who travels with her. While in Portland this last weekend, she found Gina! The joy! So this week, Gina has been exploring Bothell and Destiny has welcomed her with wide open paws!

Off to have more adventures with Gina!

More Patterns to Knit than Time to Knit!

I want to knit everything I see lately. Everything!

I want to knit Gigi and Rogue and a beautiful chocolate poncho inspired by Fluffa! Of course, this is in addition to all the other projects I have going on and the projects I just have plans for. What I need is more time to knit and faster knitting hands! I have all the patterns for the above projects just no yarn! The only yarn proving to be a challenge to find in the US is the Chocolate Phildar Ruban yarn but I'm hoping to visit France in November and that would be the time to make a huge Phildar purchase!

The problem, commuting is seriously cutting into my knitting time. I could take the bus but unfortunately the last two weeks, I’ve had appointments right after work. All of which I’ve been late for due to the horrible state of traffic around here. Is it too much to ask that my 20 minute commute not swell to an hour and a half just because some raindrops fell? I live in Seattle, it RAINS all the time here. Learn how to drive!

OK enough ranting! I do have good news. I’ve started Proust. This time with proper guidance from Cari. I originally started reading "In the Shadow of Young Girls in Flower". Luckily Cari stepped in and asked me how I had enjoyed "Swann's Way". Well I hadn’t! My local bookstore was not helpful in the Proust fashion so I’ve started over and what a blessing that is. I adore Proust so far. His words just flow over you. That’s another thing I hope to spend this long weekend doing, reading Proust. I read him slower. I want to take the time to absorb the words. No rushing on these books for me. They don’t deserve that.

So this weekend, I hope to knit, read Proust, relax (I think I need it) and see movies! Hopefully this rain will clear up and I can get some running and biking in too. Lots to do for a three-day weekend!

Elise: The sweater that might kill me in the making

Last night I was showing my knitting off to my Mom when she noticed a mistake. And as if she were channeling Becky, she said I must rip. And so I did.

As soon as I pulled the sweater off the needles, I said “Let’s check and see if I was making it the right size.” Well, I wasn’t. It was huge! The “back” of the sweater wrapped almost completely around my body. After a brief family discussion (I’m making the entire household participate in the making of this sweater), we decided that I should not try to increase the pattern instructions but should just knit up one skein in the largest size before rechecking the garment size.

So last night in order to not lose any momentum, I cast on for the largest size and started knitting away. I’m about half way through the skein and have switched to circular needles. This way I’ll be able to better measure the sweater while it is still attached to the needles. I am praying quite hard that I won’t have to start yet again on this sweater because it really shouldn’t be this hard but for some reason, it really is!

LORDY



This is the license plate I saw today after being cut off by a small dark colored car getting off I-405 in Bellevue. And I did yell, LORDY! I figure this license plate is really a public service announcement letting people know to stay out of the way of this car!

Almost everyday when I get off the freeway at this exit, I'm cut off by someone in a rush. It's getting to the point that I'm afraid I'll be in an accident one day. And don't try to honk at these cars to warn them of their dangerous actions. Last time I did that, I was shown some very special sign language. I guess I 'll just have to keep my eyes open and very watchful in this area.

I measured Elise last night and I've completed about 10 inches of the 22 I need to complete the back. I figure that means I'm at least 30% done with the whole sweater. Must. Knit. More. I want this to be done so I can wear it and casually mention that I made it and have people gush over it. Is that wrong to want?

Happy and Safe driving to all! And if you live in Bellevue or Seattle, watch out for Lordy!

Impatient

I'm impatient to know when this



will become this!



It's hard wanting something to be done! But handknitting this sweater is teaching me to be patient. No, I don't have photos yet (Mot, I need to get a digital pic of the potential sweater!) but I will soon.

This has been the hardest project I've completed yet and it's solely due to the fact that I've had to adjust the pattern. I've signed up for a pattern adjustment class (hopefully I'm in) and that will definitely go a long way towards helping me with this and future sweaters!

Went for a 5 mile run tonight. It was hot but good. We ran most of the way but ended up walking the last bit in. There was a hill and I don't like hills! That and it was hot and well I walked!

Off to get more Elise done so I can solve being impatient!

It’s 5 o’clock somewhere!

Counting down the minutes until the time clock says I can go on home! Tick tock tick tock. Actually I am really loving this position but I get to see Shrek 2 tonight! I’ve heard it’s hilarious and I can’t wait to laugh!

Weekend plans include working at the coffee shop (only on Sunday this week though!), running 8 miles and knitting on Elise. Oh and I'm going to a play on Saturday where the audience can attend naked to receive $5 off the admission. I think I'd need a bigger savings to show my bare butt in public!

I discovered the most precious picture of a sheep yesterday and I just have to share it with you. Visit Dunstan's photography portfolio for the cutest baby sheep ever!

And how can one resist Jen of Two Purl's pup! Check out Oscar. I think he's pouting here.

The amount of cute animal photos out there are too much for me! I mean there is Dooce with her pup and brand new baby and of course, Super Cute Destiny!


Have a fanastic weekend!

Knitting, swimming and running

Last night some friends and I met for our very first Monday Night run in Madison Park. There are of course some kinks to still work out such as if we want to meet in Madison Park or if the time is right but over all it was a wonderful run. I haven’t run three miles in so long that it was practically joyous when I reached three miles and thought, I’m done, not ok only a billizion more miles to go. I felt wonderful!

After that quick jaunt, I went over to the pool to get a few quick laps in. While waiting for my friends to meet me, I knit a few rows on Elise. She was looking nice (well more on that later). We all quickly changed and scurried over to the pool. I was telling them about a mutual friend who had finally found a wonderful man to share her life with. One of them cracked a joke about whether or not this was the man our mutual friend had reported was h**g like a horse. This was of course funny to us but what made it even funnier was that the friend that said it was not aware of the guy standing right behind her laughing himself at her words. Let’s just say this made for a humorous swim.

Once I arrived home after fortifying myself with some yummy pizza, I dug back into knitting Elise. Unfortunately one of the needle point protectors had fallen off leading to some stitches slipping off. I had to restart Elise for the third time! I couldn’t get the stitches to stop sliding and slipping so I just started over. I’m back to where I was and hope to begin making some real progress (accidents aside) tonight. In fact, I think I’ll be knitting on lunch. Got the Elise making bug!

From the what not to knit portion of this site:



From Erika Knight's newest book, New Knits What is sad is there are lovely, lovely patterns in this book. I just can't get past the idea of a knitted slipcover for my arm chair!

I would love to knit this though.



Off to knit!

Happy Birthday Matya!



Today my best friend turns 29 and all I can think about is how I've known her since we were 12 years old, since we were gawky teens with metal in our mouths and funky way too high bangs. We were the queens of the high bang. We've seen each other through embarrassing moments, the glimpse of new love, the heartache of lost love, moments of screaming words and moments of forgiveness. It's not often that one acquires a friend who you know will always be there no matter how much you screw up or how rotten you are to them when you are just feeling mad at the world.



The back of this reads “Two geeks at Old Faithful”

I was looking at a photo we had taken in Yellowstone National Park during college and I remembered with a huge smile how we made a potential disaster into one of our funniest moments. I worked in the park during college and one summer, Mot came out to visit me. We took off from Mammoth Hot Springs where I was living to visit Cody, Wyoming. We made it as far as Lake Yellowstone where we had stopped to get chocolate dipped apples when my car’s starter died. Of course we were worried because this was a national park, not a city where a mechanic is nearby and hotels are abundant.

Somehow we got a mechanic to take the car off to be fixed. Next came the problem of finding a place to stay for the night. Luckily since I was an employee, we were able to get a room in the hotel for the night. Of course, the car troubles were the funniest thing in the world to us and we literally fell down laughing in front of the hotel doorman (this is the “fancy” hotel in the park) and almost pee’d out pants laughing in the hotel manager’s office where we had gone to request a room. He kept getting up to check on things and we’d start laughing. He’d come back into the room to find us wiping tears from our eyes.

We ended up having the best time and in the morning walked to the mechanic (past a rather large moose) to pick up the car and heading off to Old Faithful and the rest of the park. We spent time at Lake Yellowstone eating Wonder Bread and Peanut Butter, pretending to chase Buffalo and coming up with schemes on how to stay longer. No friends like these are hard to come by.

Through the years, we’ve had such adventures from skiing in blizzards, to flying off cliffs into bushes (that was me and Mot told me to stay in the bushes on the edge of the cliff so she could get a picture, luckily another member of our group helped me back up before any serious injury could happen) and making fools of ourselves on a daily basis. And it’s not many friends who would allow their friend to become obsessed with knitting and then allow that knitting crazed friend to take a zillion pictures of them modeling the newest knitted projects.

So on this day which celebrates the beginning of my friend’s 30th year, I feel so lucky to have found such a friend. One that I hope I can write even funnier things about when we are 75 and I’ve dyed my hair pink and Mot’s blue.

Happy Birthday Motty Potty!



We took this one a ski lift during a snow storm that eventually turned into a blizzard. We were so cold!

Froggin'



I frogged it. I frogged Elise and for a few moments after I did it, I felt ill. Then I began to feel better. I knew it was the way to go.

I recast on this weekend and am almost back to where I was. All I can say is it looks so much better. I don't have pictures to show but I promise to work on that situation.

It was a weekend full of coffee and work. I need a day off (now I'm whiney! I just had 5 months off!). Soon I hope to have just the one job but for now, I'll stay at the coffee place full of rules.

OK enough writing! I gotta get back to knitting Elise!

Must See Movie



Go and see it! So good! So funny!

Debbie Bliss Elise -- I knitted some more on this tank last night after consulting with my father regarding my math skills. He's much better at math and actually seems to understand knitting patterns (once I explained the short hand). I feel like I've already run into a problem though and I'm only on row 4! There is a diagonal line of sl1 that runs up the sweater. It lines up (diagonally for the first three rows and then goes off on the fourth 5 stitches from where it should. According to the proper pattern (before my upsizing) this is correct. I sense that I'll need to visit my local SNB for some advice. For now, I'm going to plug ahead a few more rows and see if it works itself out.

The world seems be going crazy this week. Everything seems on edge. Personally, I think I just need some time to chill out (with some quiet time for knitting and reading). Last night, I skipped Chuckit Running and climbing (sorry Stephanie!) to just rest. I think it helped! Next week, I will go climbing! I can't wait to get back into it and get really good like Stephanie.

Kimmy went to the chapel and got married



This Saturday my college roommate got married. The picture above shows us on the party bus during her bachlorette party. And yes, a fun time was had by all.

Here is the entire party (excluding me since I was the photographer) at the famous Fremont Troll.



Kim's wedding was wonderful and beautiful and as usual, I cried a lot during the ceremony. I can't wait to see the wedding pictures though!

And then today, I cast on (finally) for Elise by Debbie Bliss. I've done some pattern adjusting to make it fit me so I do hope it all turns out well. I am loving the yarn and will post some pictures as soon as I have more than 2 rows done.

Exhausted

It was a busy one! Saturday started out nice with a walk/run with Julie and Zubin. Of course, we finished it with our favorite treat, a Chai Latte from Starbucks! Yum!

Then I had to hurry home to shower and prepare for the wedding. Kim, Abbie and I had our nails done before I headed back to my house for hair. I did my own hair in order to save some $$ and it turned out really nice. Then it was off to the wedding site for pictures, toasts and the wedding. It was beautiful. I danced, I drank, I toasted! Then I was exhausted!

What really wore me out was that I had to work at the coffee place at 6 a.m. I didn't get to sleep until Midnight so the five hours of sleep I had were not enough. The place was crazy busy from 6 a.m. until 2:30 p.m. when I left. I seriously didn't get a moment of peace except when I went on my 20 minute lunch to stuff my face so I could continue moving like a mad rabbit!

Since it was Mother's Day we went as a family to dinner and it was quite good. I was exhausted though so I doubt I was good company. Then my parents and I watched Survivor. It's an addiction. I was pleased to see Amber win but I thought Rob the snake should have. He really did Outwit them all. I guess he'll get his fair share though with marrying Amber.

So now I'm at work and I need a break! Tonight I'm off to see Mean Girls with a friend! Can't wait to see it!

Sometimes all a girl needs is her marathon stick and some yarn


Start of the Vancouver Half Marathon

This weekend I start training for my marathon. Yep, I’m going to go the full distance and run 26.2 (don’t forget the .2) miles. I’m hoping to make it into the Washington DC Marine Corp Marathon . If I don’t make the lottery, then I’m planning on running the Chicago Marathon . Anyway about it, I’ll be running 6 miles this weekend which will seem very short after last week’s race.

Since I’ll be running so much and I’ve been using my friend’s marathon stick for much too long, I’ve purchased my own! In a few short days, this will arrive on my doorstep.



This miracle stick can be found at www.thestick.com. For $29.95, it’s a wonderful treat after a long run.

I also plan to start using my yarn from Purl


to start making this!




This is Elise from Debbie Bliss’s newest pattern book, Cotton Angora.

I'm also in a wedding on Saturday so this will be a busy yet super fun wedding! Best wishes to Greg and Kim, the happy couple. Kim is my college roommate and I'm very excited about her wedding.

Here's to a great weekend for all!

Tales of a Vancouver Child

After the race on Sunday, my friends and I made our way down to the Yaletown Milestones for some nourishment. We had the fantastic spinach and Artichoke Dip which I followed with a huge cheeseburger and some Stella! My friends declined the beer and opted for Bellini's instead.

Now this isn't that noteworthy but the child who visited our table was. His name was Carter and he was four years old. Like the CIA Agent he told us he was, he quietly slid up to our table with one eye on the plastic bulls that came with the Bellini's. Very carefully and as we all watched, he slid his hand up to the rim of the water glass they were resting on and snatched one. The other one fell into the water. One would assume that this meant he wouldn't go for a second bull. OH NO! His quick little hand was in the water glass before we knew it. There was a collective gasp heard around the table as we glanced around for his parents. Engrossed in conversation, they neglected to notice Carter was showcasing his thievery skills at another table. Our bursts of laughter at his bravery caught their attention and Carter was sent back to apologize.

He made a quick Sorry noise and asked where the other "toys' had gone. By this point, Mot and Stephanie had hid them. He looked Mot square in the eye and said, "But they are toys!" as if she was too old to have toys and should hand them over to her. I told him that another little boy had stolen them from us and that he was too late. Mot said the Kitchen had taken them. Krista watched him dumbfounded at his nerve and Stephanie kept shaking her head. It was her precious water glass he had placed his hand in. After he left, she stared at the glass, muttering something about needing fresh water.

Here is Stephanie trying to decide what to do about her contaminated water.



Carter provided us with a full day of laughter and a new tag line. BUT IT'S A TOY!

In happy knitting news, I received a wonderful box from Purl last week. Look what it contained!



Looks like I'll have to start knitting my summer tank soon!

I had a Personal Record!

Yesterday's race was perfect! I improved my time by 10 minutes, finishing in 3 hours and 3 minutes. The weather was a bit muggy but overcast so I felt great! After the race, in order to celebrate correctly, we went to Milestones and had drinks! Then while a bit tipsy, we went for pedicures. People rubbing my feet have never felt so good! After shopping a bit, we returned to Milestones for more drinks before slipping into a great restful sleep! All in all, a perfect day!

Here are some pictures of the day!



Motty and I before the race. I think I'm still asleep!



Mot and I a bit tired after the race.



Mot said I smelled pretty bad and guess what? I did!

Off to rest!

Tomorrow's the day!

Tomorrow's the day I race in Vancouver. As I wait for my very late friend to pick me up, here are some Rebecca googlisms to keep you entertained!

rebecca is smiling
rebecca is learning to make marks on paper with felt pens
rebecca is an ageless
rebecca is perfect
rebecca is looking for date
rebecca is years older caught in the sea's tongues
rebecca is an inspiration
rebecca is a powerful story about true love and dark betrayal
rebecca is a success story on a personal level
rebecca is so beautiful and it is an excellent movie
rebecca is the most dangerous man in north africa
rebecca is no exception
rebecca is a sensitive listener who responds effectively to questions
rebecca is just as enthused
rebecca is a savvy businesswoman
rebecca is a tale of loss
rebecca is a spitfire
rebecca is the first to acknowledge that she has not done this alone
rebecca is increasingly obsessed with jack
rebecca is a novel of mystery and passion
rebecca is a 32
rebecca is a 47ft all
rebecca is an eerie suspense drama
rebecca is technically only seven years old
rebecca is three years old
rebecca is so godly
rebecca is in presence of the enemy
rebecca is looking for
rebecca is refute the gossip
rebecca is born
rebecca is dying

Sweetly Sophia

Not only is this weekend the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon but it is also a friend's 30th birthday. She'll be running the race as her first 1/2 marathon in honor of this day. For her present, I made this!



It's Sophia from MagKnits! The Dragonfly was free-form.

Here is the bag pre-felt



What fun! Carolyn over at Girl Reaction recently made her own Sophia. It's felting madness!

Must dash! It's the second to last Friends tonight and I still have stuff to do around the house before sitting down to watch it.

Pretty in Pink

Today I took my new Pink Purse to work with me! I used the rest of my Alexander Henry fabric (same as the yoga bag) to whip up this tasty treat! I even received compliments and Mot decided that she wanted me to make her one for her birthday. We'll go fabric shopping soon and I'll be a-sewing! So without further ado, here is my new Pink Purse!



And the tasty inside



This weekend I will be racing in the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon and I am looking forward to this adventure. It will be 13.1 miles of pure fun! Mot and I will be road tripping up to Canada on Saturday and racing on Sunday before returning on Monday afternoon. I can't wait to visit Lush! I wish Seattle had a Lush!

I've also been working on a special birthday present for my friend, Krista. Finished product to be revealed soon!

Quietly Quiet

Gah! I've been too quiet! Work is going well and I am just getting used the new routine. Work makes me tired! I need more rest :P

Tomorrow though I should get my order of yarn and so that will be a happy day! Look for a longer post then!