No Reservations

I have no excuses for not writing for nearly three months nor do I feel I have to come up with any, its my website afterall and I can do what I want.

That being said, I've missed the friends I've made through here though I haven't missed the stupid-ass meany pants commenters who have very little to do with their time other than make stupid-ass meany pants comments on my little blog. If you are a friend I made through here, just know that I've been reading and following along with you even though I haven't been fully occupying my own space. If you are a stupid-ass meany pants commenter, then screw you, I will not be put down!

Let's summarize my many movements in the interim:
September-October: went to lots of shows. Lots including Of Montreal, Tilly and the Wall, Architecture in Helsinki, Annie and Royksopp, Death Cab for Cutie, the Mates of State, the New Pornographers, LCD Soundsystem and the Juan MacClean, I feel like there were more but I can't remember right now.
Mid-October: Flew to Kansas City with Dan for a wedding. It was fun but I noticed my dress was a little tight, much tighter, in fact, than when I bought it 10 months earlier.
Halloween - Had the most kick-ass time ever at an awesome dance party, stayed up really late, Dan dressed like Devo.
Early November - flew to San Francisco and visited law schools/ saw a college roommate - had a blast but was exhausted after. Dry California air wreaked havoc on my skin in a mere 4 days.
Mid-November - I began a 10 month personal trainer routine where I meet with the dude every few weeks and really give my gym visits focus so I can get back into my nice work pants.
Thanksgiving - celebrated with Dan's family, much yummy and delicious food was made and consumed including the sleeper hit of the night, my lentil and bulgar wheat loaf. Who knew?
Early December - hosted the holiday party with a theme of "classy" where we made a million food items, among them homemade mini-blini with smoked salmon and creme fraiche, and expected everyone to drink wine but No! Our party guests call (loudly) for vodka! I attempt to pour my drink into a broken plastic cup, it falls all over the floor and a good time was had by all.
Mid-December - almost done with law school applications, will be done after this coming Saturday (can't come fast enough)

That leads to today. I still have presents to obtain, but the trip is booked, the dogs have slots at a kennel and I am going to visit Mom for Christmas, I couldn't be more excited. I am also frantically attempting to knit her something but seeing as I couldn't be satisfied with existing patterns, I had to try to write my own. And seeing as that pattern I decided to try to write includes cables, complicated cables at that, its going much slower than I expected. Don't worry Mom- I'll knit your hat, it just might be a New Year's hat...

And no post is complete without some pictures so here are some shots of Stymie and Nemo in their full Halloween regalia. I created and sewed these costumes myself. I'd like to introduce you to the world's first puppy sushi.

The Rumors are True

I went blonde. And I did it total DIY style too without completely destroying my hair. All I can say is that Sally Beauty Supply is awesome.

A friend helped me bleach it once last Friday night. I decided that it wasn't light enough so I went back, got more bleach and did it again myself on Saturday. Then I used toner in it Saturday and then again Monday night. The tips are still a tiny bit brassy but I'm betting that in my next haircut they can get trimmed out and it will be all beautiful inside-of-a-banana-peel blonde. I love it.

What you can't really tell is that there is a huge panel on the top that's blonde, then a shelf of dark hair left and one piece hanging down from underneath by my left ear that is also blonde. There is also one last little piece near the bottom in the back on the right that is also blonde, it was impossible to get a shot of that by myself.

I was also heading out to see Annie and Royksopp, two electronica/dancey-type groups from Europe when I took these so I had consciously blown my hair dry with root-lifting mousse and spray to make it huge. I normally flat iron it down for work and its not quite so bombastic. These are from when I got home so imagine it much bigger and that was how it was when I left. Fun! Now I know how all those cool girls style their hair so crazily; its so damaged you can do practically anything with it! Not that mine is that damaged, really its not.

It really is fun being blonde on top.

Rowan Calmer Cabled Hat

Wow, its been almost three weeks. In my defense I've been very busy and doing some traveling yet again.

This time I went home to visit my family in Rochester. I had a wonderful time seeing some old friends and hanging out with my Mom. The week before I left I began this lovely cabled hat. I completely underestimated the time it would take me to knit (and the amount of yarn I'd use) and I didn't finish it until a few hours before I boarded the plane to go home.

Here it is in all its cabled glory:


I used a pattern from last October's knitty breast cancer supplement for a hat called Sirdar. Its knit with one skein of Rowan Calmer for a hat that is soft and stretchy so it can be worn over a wig or on a bare head. I thought it would be nice for Mom and that she could wear it around the house in the fall and winter to keep her head warm since she lost her hair from the chemo this summer. Its all preventive therapy, they haven't come up with any remaining cancer anywhere (cross your fingers) and at least when I saw her she was looking and doing great. Preventive or not she still has no hair though you'd never know it for the beautiful wig she sports in public. I wanted her to be comfortable and feel good about herself right now so I made a hat that is not only functional but flattering.

Here is a nice closeup of the cables.

They all join up into a pretty start shape at the top. I am still amazed at the people who write these patterns. I have another skein of calmer in an ice blue and I am thinking about venturing into pattern-creating territory with my stitch book this fall because I don't want to make another hat that is exactly the same. We'll see where it all leads...

I don't know if you can tell but I ran out of yarn at the very crown of the hat with about eight rounds left to go. I couldn't just pull the stitches in together since there were still too many so I borrowed a little leftover yarn Mom had laying around in a red-orange-yellow variegated colorway and a similar weight. I decided that the crown of the hat was just special since it was different colored and that it would protect Mom's head from bad things. Kind of a special magic hat. That makes me feel good because even though I can't be there with Mom all the time, I left behind this special hat that will protect her and keep her safe.

Knitting Update!

So I've been doing some knitting over the past week...

I completed my simple hat out of Noro Silk Garden yarn. I absolutely love this yarn. I don't think its itchy at all and the colors are just too beautiful to be believed. I made this out of one skein with just a few inches left over. Unfortunately my local yarn store doesn't stock Noro because the owner claims that the distributors are difficult to work with and that she doesn't like it. Now to me, not liking Noro is akin to sacrilege but to each their own. I just wish that her whimsy didn't dictate the yarn supply easily accessible to me and I wish the distributors were nice so that she would be more easily convinced. Oh well, just means that when I want more scrumptious, delish Noro I'll be forced to take by business elsewhere. I like to spread my hard earned dough among the LYS anyway, I have no hard and fast loyalties to any one place.

The hat.

Me in the Hat.

I also completed (finally) the left front panel of my still-unfinished Ribby Cardi. I am really not sure how its going to turn out when all is said and done seeing as all my stitches are completely wonky, I noticed that the back somehow stretched out while resting in my knitting bag and all of a sudden seems huge, I think I made the sleeves a touch too long and I am worried out of my skull about seaming this whole honking thing. Never mind, I am plowing furiously ahead and have already begun the left side panel. My goal is to have the entire thing finished by the time I go to visit Mom the weekend after Labor Day so she can help me seam it up. I don't know if that is a reasonable goal but hey, its a three day weekend this weekend and a girl's allowed to dream, right?

Lastly, we are going to see Of Montreal on Friday and I am so excited! I thought their last album was the bees knees and can't wait to sing along to "The Party's Crashing Us Now." (Yes I sing at shows, no I don't care if I look silly). I also think I'm going to get tickets for both Tilly and the Wall as well as the Mates of State while I am up at the Abbey Pub so that makes me double, no triple excited! (oh man, I feel so twee, its great!)

Just for kicks because I was taking pictures of the other pieces on me.

Yay I added Haloscan Comments!

*Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

I was so excited when I saw the above words. I just knew that these blogger-run comments weren't cutting it because I know some people without the blogger accounts are reluctant to sign up just to comment. I have had a problem with evil comment trolls in the past (ie earlier this summer) and I think this will be ideal. Even though its seemed to wipe all my past comments out. I'm working on that though.



I'm also working on this hat in Noro Kureyon. I started a really simple, easy hat thinking that finally I'd be able to get something done from start to finish. Well, it just wasn't that easy. I was one stitch short when beginning the crown decreases and I tried to M1 (make one increase) to make up for it, unfortunately I did the wrong kind of increase that left a lovely little hole and instead of just dealing with it, I freaked, tried to unravel and re-knit, didn't like the way that the stitches in the row which I put back on the needles when I frogged was a little saggy and baggy and I ended up just ripping the whole thing out. On the bright side I discovered that I can make a nice little yarn ball all on my own. It was very fun.

So after ripping out a nice easy hat I jumped right back in and re-cast on and here I am. I am feeling into it so I am going to try to finish it tonight though I do need to go to the gym so we'll see how that goes.

Yarn!

I'm back so right to the good stuff!

Finally, here is the yarn I bought while I was in New York City at the beginning of July. Wow, it seems like a lifetime ago now and to think it was just over a month ago. I went to Purl Soho, the Point (whose website I just can't find right now) and Downtown Yarns.

Three skeins of Katia Jamaica in a funky and wild colorway. I plan on making Clapotis out of it.

Three skeins of this beautiful handdyed, handspun yarn from a woman named Jamie Harmon. I just couldn't resist this and the woman at Downtown Yarnsgave me a pattern for a cozy neck warmer that I think will be perfect. I am thinking about making each of a different main color and then just knit or crochet a contrasting color around the edge for trim. I don't know if she's reading this right now but let me just say that the people at Downtown Yarns were so good to me and I had such a good time there meeting them and shopping for yarn, I'll be sure to return when I am back in NYC next!

Three skeins of Koigu in the most beautiful colorway. I really want to knit these into a really interesting pair of socks and am considering the illustrious Spearfish sock pattern.

Two skeins of Noro Kureyon in a colorway that is perfect for the Stitch and Bitch Hurry Up Spring armwarmers.

Two skeins of Noro Kochran in a blue that reminds me of the sea. I think these will make really nice short herringbone scarves for holiday gifts. Yes, I am thinking ahead, far ahead.

Not shown are two skeins of Noro Silk Garden. Well, one is shown at the bottom of the top photo but I didn't show it up close because I am knitting something with it. I'm almost done too so perhaps I can show my new item tomorrow or the next day.

Lastly, I had a really hard time there. I got a whole slew of really mean comments at the beginning of the summer and then I was extremely busy without a minute to sit down and then when I was ready to sit down we had no internet. I think the forces are conspiring against me. But perhaps the summer just naturally is a time for doing rather than blogging or even knitting as much. During the winter I never really want to do anything but sit around and knit and be a couch potato but during the summer I am up and about almost every night which just doesn't lend itself much to knitting or sewing for that matter. And I'm cool with that, I've been doing other things, keeping myself busy and having one of the best summers ever really. But it is good to be back here, I've sorely missed my internet friends and have been keeping up on all your exploits, even if I am very much on the periphery, I am still there and rooting for you.

I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore but if you do then thanks for sticking it out. If you have been reading regularly you probably have figured out that I am a pretty busy girl and personally I never let my computer get in the way of my life. If noone is reading this then oh well, I know my Mom will and that's what really counts. Not that I don't like being online but we are all allowed have our moments, right? I sure know I do...

Still no Internet

But I want to give a shoutout to Kathy from Knitting In Hollywood who emailed me with what sounds like a really good solution to my dilemma. Now comes my problem, do I frog back for about the million billionth time or do I just keep at it and keep it all in mind next time.

Anyway, they said they were going to come and fix our internet yesterday during the day (whoever they are...) and obviously they hadn't done it when we arrived home yesterday to a completely dead signal. Its getting really frustrating especially considering that it worked so well for so long before.

So no new pictures. I am not feeling 100% up to snuff but I am still thinking about going to this sneaker exhibition tonight, it looks super cool. The exhibit continues tomorrow but its always more fun to go to the opening night party. I just don't know if I feel up for partying. If I do stay home I want to curl up on the couch with the puppies and my knitting so maybe I'll take another crack at those blasted purple socks.

Note: I may moan and groan and complain about my knitting difficulties but when it comes down to it would I still knit them? Yes. Of course. So don't worry your pretty little heads about me one bit, 'cause me and my knitting, we'll be just fine.