inbetween series

I've caught up with all of the Jim Butcher Codex Alera books, and waiting to borrow the latest Dresden book that just came out, Turn Coat. The next Sookie Stackhouse installment won't be released until late May, so inbetween I just started The Time Traveler's Wife on several recommendations. I like it so far, and (for now) it'll be a good commuting read--something I can put down.

With the lack of obsessive-compulsive reading, I'm trying to organize and de-stash the yarns, playing around with stitch patterns, and swatching. It's nice to get back into the knitting, after falling asleep on the couch for the last few months. For some reason, socks have recently intrigued me. (Like I need another thing to do?) Whilst blog-hopping, I found a link to the Twilight-inspired Vampire Baseball sock yarn at Sunshine Yarns by way of the Blue Blog. It's so cute, although I have to say I like Alice (she's my favorite Twilight character). Knitting will be a great way to hang with the fam all day tomorrow. Happy spring!

stuffed

literally and figuratively...
We had a great, mellow Thanksgiving, with a lot for which to be grateful. My mom had dinner sort-of catered: all pre-cooked, just needed heating up, and everything but the pies were excellent. Tonight I'm using the cranberry-orange relish on pork tenderloins, which should be yummy.

If there's a lot of typos, it's due to stress & lack of sleep. I've been knitting and doing a couple new paintings for an art/fashion show for Yelp Elites: F.A.M.E. at Via Matta tomorrow night. photos TK, but so far I've done 2 new paintings, knitted 1 clutch, a "necklace," and cranking to finish 2 more bags to felt (or not). These are going to go on canvases (1 down, 1 that still needs to be stretched & gesso-ed) to complement the new paintings, but we'll see how it all looks once it's on the wall; could be really odd looking & need another solution.

For work-work, I still have to finish a chapter to report on at a meeting tomorrow, plus two other meetings. And I won't get to finish the second Octavian Nothing book, since it's due back at the library...also tomorrow!

What else? oh yeah, the cat is going to the vet (Thursday); Owen's school winter fest is Saturday & we're going to a housewarming party, and both need baked goods. Whee!

NYC highlights

Lately I feel like I couldn't post anything until I'd put up a summary of the trip Memorial day weekend. The weather was perfect! We got to hang out with Tak's family, our NYC pals, and I got to see Karen & meet Zoe (she's so sweet)!

-Food/Coffee: We introduced Owen to the ritual of eating a New York hot dog from a cart on a rock in Central Park after going to the Natural History Museum; La Columbe Torrefaction in the Toyo's neighborhood won for best coffee (even if the interiors did get the Soho treatment--that's not a bad thing); the big coffee loser was City Girl cafe (too expensive and poorly laid out), and their Red Velvet cupcakes were not great and small to boot. The new Kinokuniya is gorgeous, and the cafe is really small, and sleek and modern (of course).
-Knitting: Visited the new location of Seaport Yarns (cool new straightforward layout, although somehow it seemed smaller than their old shop). Really wanted to get something at The Point Cafe but didn't--nothing really moved me. The owner at Stitch Therapy was very cool (especially about exchanging unused yarn from Christmas without a receipt), and it's a nice small place and I did get a nice skein plus a little camouflage Know Knits bag that I've had a little crush on for awhile. Lorie & Sarah were very patient with me while I futzed around.
-Friends & Family: Explored Hoboken a little bit to meet up with Karen & Zoe. Hoboken's a neat area and so close to Manahttan, plus it's got a bunch of kid-friendly parks along the water (yes, Frank Sinatra drive). We did some good hanging out with Lorie & Pete, Sarah & Dan: seeing Indiana Jones 4 at the Ziegfield, going out for dinner (Spice, yummy) & a Harvard Sailing Club sketch show at the P.I.T.; picnic at Prospect Park. Owen (and Tak & I) got some good hanging out time with Baba & Jiji.

A fine time!

taking the rest of the day off

Friday I took the day off to write, knit, and explore a couple of neighborhoods. Happily, I managed to do everything!
First stop, Adams Village, to Greenhills Bakery--one of the best sources for Irish brown bread in Boston. While I didn't actually have the brown bread, I'll definietly go back. I was totally overwhelmed and hungry, to I went with the cinnamon roll. I walked around, although there's really not a lot to see. We considered living over there, and it's really quaint.
On a whim, I walked down to Lower Mills--both not too bad and no mean feat, either. It's a straight shot down Dorchester Ave. Lunch was served at Common Ground Cafe, which has a reputation for being excellent but the interiors are very woody--like a Hobbit's hole or a 70s holdover (or both). The other reason for its notoriety is that the cafe & market are run by the Twelve Tribes, an obscure Jewish sect (for lack of a better word) that's pretty hippie-ish. I sat and knitted while I had a really leisurely lunch. They were nice enough, and the food was really good. I kept walking, visiting a couple other shops. The high-speed trolley from Mattapan is back up and running, so I took that back to the Red line. Then I went home and Yelped all about it!

I'm finally tackling my first real sweater. Last weekend I went through some of my yarn stash (as the flickr shots will show), and found a fun camouflage self-stripe, so I'm working on that for Owen. Mostly, it's so I can practice increases and actually reading a pattern so I can knit my own sweater. It should be done by the fall; one sleeve is already 2/3rd of the way along.

I've also been doing a fair amount of cooking; more to come.

fear of a boucle hat

My 2nd knitting anniversary has come and gone, and I recently rediscovered the boucle yarn that I bought on my first trip to Woolcott & Co. I had tried to knit it when I was first learning, and just couldn't get the hang of it. Then for Christmas, Lorie gave me a hat & scarf kit--in alpaca boucle.

I started the hat, sans the earflaps called for in the pattern. On #8 wood needles it has taken me at least a month to do (in gray Lang Bolero/ Mohair blend). Then Saturday night while watching 30 Days of Night, I started on a purse that was going to have a pink boucle border--and it grew until I used one whole ball. It's now on its way to being a hat, I think. On #11 metal needles, it flew by.

So now I think I've gotten over my fear of boucle. Now I just have to figure out what to do with it.

beauty of the season

I did the bulk of this last week, on the day when it started snowing and kept going for almost 24hrs. Now, most of the snow has washed & melted away with the warmish weather and the rain.

Hope you all had a lovely holiday!

12/20: I'm commuting through the woods on a snowy morning, riding on the famed Greenbush line (the commuter line going to the South Shore that took 20 years to build). It's been hectic the last--however long it's taken me to update--and this is a nice repreieve before I go into the maelstrom that is work.

We've done some fun things too, though. Last weekend we saw Owen's school friends from last year at a birthday party. Then we went off to Edaville railroad, to ride the train, see the lights, plus we got our visit to Santa in! The goodies were numerous, including hand-made mini donuts (didn't try those), and (gasp) deep fried whoopie pies served with a side of ice cream. The deep fried chocolatey goodness I could not resist, and it was so rich and warm and creamy...and made me sick to my stomach that I could barely eat anything else for the rest of the night.

The Weekly Dig holiday party held at Church (formerly the Linwood) last week was like an old reunion, and some people came out that we haven't seen since before Owen was born. Tuesday night was a Yelp Elite event, and we cleaned the downstairs bar of the Good Life out of vodka. Yay!

I still haven't done any great shopping for Christmas, but I am furiously working on knitted gifts when I have the energy. In January, I've been charged with leading my Wed. Night Knitting group from the South Shore on a Boston Yarn crawl. I'm more nervous about where to take them to eat/drink--too cool and people won't know where they went, not cool enough so that when they tell their kids they' won't be, "you went where?" Should be fun though.

The other big thing is that we're coming down to NYC for New Year's weekend, but leaving on New Year's Day. Owen is more excited to ride on the Acela than anything else. (I bought the tickets far enough in advance that they were only $4 more than the regular train.) There's talk in the office of some people--don't know if I'll be one of them--going down to NY to finish our project. It would be funny if, just having been in NY, I'll have to turn around and go back. We'll see!

hooked on felting

it's past midnight, UFC is on, my eyes are bleary from finishing Friday Night Knitting Club. i'm typing with my fingertips, not wearing glasses, my brain is fried, and letting run-on sentences rule. instead of talking about all the boring stuff going on, i'll talk about knitting.

i felted my first clutch, and i'm hooked. knitting something in one piece in a day or two with minimal sewing rocks. throw it in the washing machine 3 times (tucked in a pillowcase) and viola! now i have a way to burn through my stash. i used the pattern from one skein by leigh radford, but i'm working on changing it to a top-down instead of bottom up, and playing with measurements for #11 needles for regular worsted; the pattern uses bulky on #15's.

The Knit Picks interchangeable needle set has been intriguing me for awhile, and I've heard a lot of good things about them. Before shelling out a bunch of money for the whole thing, I tried the #11s just to see if I'd like them. They're very sharp and pointy, which I don't like, but they are smooth like addi turbos and the wire doesn't kink. Since I don't really *need* all the smaller size needles, I'm not going to invest in the set, but if I need larger needles they're more economical than the Turbos.

Friday Night Knitting Club was super slow to get into, and to be honest I only skimmed it until the end. The author goes on and on...just tell the story. Probably one of the few books that will be better served by a movie. If you look over in the sidebar, I've added a link to my goodreads page. (thanks, Devon!)

Speaking of books into movies, who knew I'd find something to knit via Neil Gaiman's blog? Someday I'll be worthy of Ysolda's Coraline sweater.

knitmas in august

Photos of the yarn haul accident I had at Circles are up on flickr. More photos to come, since I think I need some serious stash and needle management in general. I've been on the fence about ravelry.com, between the site getting up and running and my own involvement--even though it looks like a ton of fun. Oh, what the heck--I just signed up anyway. I'm probably pretty far down on the list (which is actually OK with me).

Tak's dad really liked the hat, which was nice. He's going to wait until the fall to start wearing it. (OK, so I did use the bathroom as a backdrop. It has the best lighting at 11 o'clock at night in the house.)

I'm finally knitting a sweater for myself. It's slow going, since I'm pattern & time challenged. All of my #11 wooden needles have chipped at the tips, even my nice Lantern Moon pair. Out of curiosity and novelty (and a sale at AC Moore), I bought a pair of Knit Lites, knitting needles with plastic lights at the tips. Owen immediately began waving it around like a magic wand. I have to admit that I do quite like them, and the tips are quite smooth, although I don't know if I'd actually knit in the dark. They're just a little unwieldy for travel, and they've come on a couple times by accident. I keep eying the Options needle set from Knit Picks, but I really don't need it. I'll keep you posted.

yelping away

I've been writing a bunch of reviews on yelp.com, which has been fun. Kind of like what I used to do for the Dig except I don't have a theme or a deadline or manage/find, writers. The word count is short so it helps me try to keep the writing tight and still fun. And I just got asked to be on the Elite team, which feels like being one of the cool kids. The downside is that I've let the blog slide, but I'll catch up tomorrow.

I finished knitting the fugly vest, and I'm going to donate it. Owen refuses to even try it on, and I don't blame him! The trim and the colors are all wrong. Maybe next time I'll use a pattern! Circles knitting salon in JP closed its storefront today, and I "helped" them by buying up some of the stash. oops. Allison, the owner, was very sweet and gave Owen one of the trucks from the kids area. There's also a binder sitting on my kitchen table crammed full of circular knitting needles that need to be inventoried now that I have them all in one place.

same fight, different day

We have on a UFC fight that we watched last week (the guy in green trunks wins).

Owen has been having problems with transitions which is hard. I go to pick him up at school, and he gives me a hug an then he hits me/bites my clothes, won't go to the bathroom, runs off to the elevator. I try and help him go to sleep and he hits me, headbutts me, unleashes a torrent of poophead talk. (BTW, the word for today was booger.) When I threaten to leave, he begs me to stay and starts crying. It sucks. The situation has been snowballing for the last week or so. Tonight we didn't give in and Tak helped him go to sleep. It's funny, but going to sleep is that last little thing that he really wants me to help him with. I see it as a sign he's really torn about getting bigger. It would be great for him to go to sleep without so many problems, but it makes me sad because it's a kind of weaning.

He's making great strides reading: reading signs, high frequency words like and and the. He finished reading the title of Minerva Louise and the Red Truck; he loved the book and totally has a sense of humor.

Last night I sat in bed and knit: I finished a coaster for my sister (how I love self-striping yarn) and ended up ripping out the cap I'm knitting for my father-in-law. I admitted defeat that not only were the stitches twisted and going moebius, but also that it was going to be way too big. Do over!

knitting at symphony

Since it's spring vacation and the little guy doesn't have preschool 2 days this week, I missed my recent usual knitting group night near my parents' house to go to the open rehearsal at Symphony Hall. Usually, there's a talk before the rehearsal; the lights are up, people are still coming in, it's pretty casual. I break out a small project, and my mom says not to, that it's rude. Really? It seemed pretty OK, or am I just clueless? We're sitting up in the balcony, the lights are on, I'm paying attention. I tell her I'll stop before the performance begins. So I look around, and there were 2 other knitters doing the same thing in our area where we're sitting. My mom grudgingly relented. I stopped when we were joined by some friends of my mom's. The talk was great, the music was great: Mozart (Nachtmusik, Serenade #13; Violin Concerto N1 in B-flat); Ravel (Ma Mere l'oye/Mother Goose) with Sir Andre Previn & Anne-Sophie Mutter.

Other knitting projects: I finally joined the 2 halves of my first sweater for me. I'm knitting the one-skein shell from WEBS in white cotton. Now I just need to keep knitting in the round & stitch in edges. woo-hoo!

There's a fugly vest for Owen that needs its edges finished & stitched together. It was one of those things that I bought a skein of Lamb's Pride Bulky on-line and didn't realize what the true shade was until I started knitting it--and had to figure out what other colors to match with it. It'll be a good layering piece for next year. At least he likes the orange.

Knits in the Dig

Here's the photo used in the Dig of the mini hat & scarf I knit for the photo shoot. (It'll open in a new window.) The little blue hat & bag came out better. Big props to the design team who made the whole set from scratch.

Owen's been using the gift bag I made to carry his nice stones/rocks in. Guess I'll have to make another.

cold snap

Crivens! Winter isn't done yet. It's still ridiculously cold. Finished Wintersmith, though, and liked it better than Hat Full of Sky. It's just a really enjoyable series. Love those Mac Nac Feegles.

Knitted a smaller version of the gift bag on the cover of Last Minute Gifts, but in Malabrigio yarn. It came out really nice, especially as my first time doing yarn overs. Now I just have to figure out what to put in it! Next I'll have to do the gift bag in the yummy Blue Sky Alpaca yarn like in the book.

Finally saw the Departed. Holy smokes. It's amazing. There are very recognizable scenes from Infernal Affairs, but it's also its own film--as it should be. And the language is outrageous. The extras are worth it for the second disc. We also got to check out Letters from Iwo Jima, which was also incredible.

Oh, and remember how I didn't think I'd need another circular knitting needle? I need a 24" size 15 for my next projects, a felted handbag and the Diotoma shell from Webs. Oops. Of course, Michael's didn't have one in 24" (or 32"), but in 29". At least I can return it.

will knit (poorly) for Police tickets

I had it in my head to call this post Driven to Tears, but I have better things to talk about than being one of the many to not get Police tickets. But still...I've seen Sting live on his first solo tour, and Stewart Copeland with Animal Logic at the Living Room in Providence (with Bob), so it would be nice to see them all together with Andy Summers. And ticketmaster is being stingy (sorry, it's a really appropriate word) with tickets. The shows aren't sold out, but tickets are not available now. oops, I'm kvetching. Onward & upward...

Coke & Nestle have come out with a new line of calorie-burning drinks called Enviga. I tried the green tea one, and it was OK at first but very quickly went bad. Blech. Maybe it's a calorie burner because it upsets your tummy so you don't want to eat anything else. And it has enough caffeine in it that now I'm wide awake.

Tak asked me to knit some little hats & scarves for an upcoming photo shoot for the Dig, which was a ton of fun. I got to test drive my Valley Yarns from Webs & my new ebony Lantern moon needles.

Since I've been knitting for a whole year, I've come to realize that although I like it, I'm not very good. Not that I let my ineptitude stop me. And I'm still trying to learn more new things--like cables, which are still not so easy for me--and continental style.

No knitting tonight, though. Work has left me feeling achey in the mouse-arm and leg joints, so I'm going to try to sleep. Thin Mints didn't help the achiness, but they did help my upset tummy. And yay! to Edy's ice cream for not only making Girl Scout cookie ice cream, but using "Samoas" instead of "Caramel deLites." They will always be Samoas to me.