kittensmittensandknitthings

A good day

2009-11-12T19:14:00.001-08:00

Yep, can't complain. Signed my contract to start my new job. Excited about that.
Plus, I got to see Maya put on a show, she showed me how fast she could run. It was so fast she couldn't stop. And I got some lovely pretties from Michelle for my birthday. Or better, the 8 anniversary of my 25th birthday.... O yes, to quote Ice Cube "Today was a good day"
Not much on the knitting front.
Or the spinning front.

But as long I still get to do a few crafties here and there, I manage to keep myself sane.

What does my critical judge say... as usual, she's never much impressed. Unless it contains tuna.

Mostly pictures

2009-09-16T16:52:00.001-07:00

Wienie dog races. The dogs might be a little too small to actually spot in the picture.
OC Fair food eating contest. Didn't win, but lets face it, free crepe, I'm a happy camper.
And after eating the contest crepe, gotta top it off with some fair tasty. While sitting on a cow.
I don't grow tomatoes very well, but that condition doesn't run in the family. On my second trip home, this is what my dad's tomato garden looks like.
And to make sure the birds don't get 'em, he lets them sun ripen in the window. Yummy sweetness.
Just some pretty flowers.

Ok, not much knitting in the months of July and August. September has been a bit more productive. I'll post pics as soon as I make enough progress.

July happiness

2009-07-10T16:26:00.000-07:00

So I'm back in SoCal, doing a little summer work. That doesn't necessarily make me happy. But the 4th of July sale at the Ann Taylor factory store sure did lift my mood. I added a cute summer dress to my wardrobe.

Sadly the tomato plant wasn't doing so well when I got back. My roommate was out of town for the weekend, so we wouldn't have anybody to water it. Plus, it gets pretty darn hot on our patio, which would probably dry out the plant even more. So her solution was to hang it in my bathroom. It's pretty light in there but not so hot.
Well, Mato, as I call the plant, did make it, but then we left it in my bathroom too long (too lazy to move such a heavy plant) and I guess there wasn't quiet enough light to keep Mato happy for an entire week. Good news, mato is not entirely dead, but after we trimmed it ... Mato looks very bald. However, it's still producing tasty tomatoes. So it counts as happy news.
Getting something pretty is always filled under happy news. Michelle made me this project bag. And I love it. She took me to a fabric store, part of her plan for pay back. I got her into knitting, now she will get me hooked on her latest addiction : sewing. Something tells me it will work. Especially when she teaches me to make this fun cute project bags.

And then there is lace knitting. I've finished the staircase socks, so my size 3 needles are free. Figured I'd put a little lace on there for a change.

First there is the triangle shawl I dubbed the barbie shawl. I decided to frog and start over again. It was hard at first, it hurt a little bit, but I am very happy with how it looks now. It is still barbie sized, but I'm more motived to make it human size.

Next is the box lace shawl. Haven't picked it up in a while, but I like working on it. Pretty colors, picked out by Michelle, with her impeccable taste. This time, there was something new about it though. Four new things to be exact. I don't know how, I don't know when, but if you look closely, you can see the offset in the pattern caused by my four extra stitches.
I still file this under happy news though. Just cause I enjoy knitting it.

And finally, I got a text yesterday from Michelle that Maya (who currently is experiencing the joy talking) mentioned my name. Now if that does not count as July happy news, I don't know what does.
Don't have a picture to go with that, so here's another sight that always makes me smile

Home, in the land of rain

2009-06-15T07:02:00.000-07:00

This is my first of two trips to Belgium over the summer. (Hurray for cheap tickets.)
I decided to do some useful stuff during my trip. First off, give my blog a little sprucing up. So I know you gotta save all the extra stuff (links to other blogs and what not) and I opened up the old template (or so I thought) and copied and pasted into a word document. Feeling smart about my actions I picked a new template. I got ready to paste my old links back in though I had some problems finding them. I mean, I saw links to blogs, but they weren't mine... And then I realized I had copied the template of another blog I'm a member of. *Sigh* Bye bye links.

The other day, I decided to help my dad around the yard. Happy to say, nothing bad happened. Even though he let me use this:
That was fun. I just did a little bit of trimming, nothing major.
And then I got around to making a little progress on this project. I just need to do the toe decreases. Of course it has been so long, I gotta look at my other sock to figure our what I did last time. Note the water falling out of the sky in the background. Little bit dryer now. Wednesday should be awesome they say. We'll see.

And now the booboos affect my knitting

2009-06-08T19:50:00.000-07:00

I feel pretty stupid. A little background as to how my booboo came about.
A while back, I decided to write my lace patterns into a little notebook. I've gotten several from the internet, printing them out is a hassle and to then keep track of it is an even bigger hassle. So writing them in one central location seemed rather genius to me. So far, I only have 2 patterns in my book, which makes my booboo even sillier.
Here's the story: almost 3 years ago, I started a lace shawl. I liked the pattern, don't know the name anymore, but I had some soft yarn and I cast on. The project went very very slow, so I started referring to it as the "barbie shawl" and soon after I put it down. For the longest time the pattern was written down on a random scrap paper. Earlier this year, when I was going through one of my cleaning frenzies, as I so often do, I found my barbie shawl and decided to write the pattern into the notebook. Because so much time had passed, I forgot all about how slow it used knit and I kept it close. Putting on a row here and there. This weekend, feeling euphoric over finishing my camo socks and getting rid of all the NCIS's on the DVR, I picked up my barbie shawl again. I don't know the pattern by heart, but I did know there were a few regular knit rows in there. Looking at my row count, I was happy to be at one of those rows. Even more euphoria. Until it dawned on me, that the pattern in front of me didn't tell me to increase one. Nor did the next row, or any other row... Which is not right when knitting a triangle shawl.
My smart ass was knitting the wrong pattern! Ugh! Well there went my euphoria. Thought about ways to fix it, undoing a row didn't seem like any fun, just continuing with the pattern would require me to think 2 minutes (no fun either), so I went with my favorite solution: F*** it. Add on one more row of stockinette and make it a rectangular scarf with one pointy end. We'll see how it turns out.

In tomato news, can't deny the existence of this one :)

And I leave you with a picture of the mighty "thunder cat" Thor...

Mato

2009-06-02T20:58:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy I'm not the only one that is affected by infomercials (and those regular late night commercials for the most awesome stuff) My roommate is also very susceptable and so she came home with some upside down plant growing bag and two tomato plants. I've nicknamed them Mato.
It took some time, but yesterday we saw this beautiful sight. I'm super impatient, it already took way too long for this to happen. Think I'll have fresh tomato before I leave to Belgium in exactly a week?(Ok, so they are still very small and kinda hard to see in the picture. But we have three tomatoes there.) And speaking of impatient, I applied for a teaching job Golden West College last week (little less than a week). I'm already wondering when they're gonna offer me the job, or at least let me know ... anything. Sigh. As if job limbo doesn't suck enough, I got a parking ticket today. For being only 2 minutes late. Very peeved about that one.

In happier news, I finished a project. Oh yes I did!!! Except for the end by the cuff that I need to weave in (I don't care about the one by the toes, nobody sees those) Ophie is still my main model, the other one trying to show off in the background is Thor.

Spinning booboo

2009-05-27T20:45:00.000-07:00

Because I don't already have enough hobbies and enough way to procrastinate from doing things I should do, Michelle has giving me a new addiction : spinning yarn. She was nice enough to supply me with some tools too and off I was. Crazed look and all. I was spinning some lovely light blue and orange fiber. She had dyed it with easter egg paint. Love it! Off course, guess who else was digging it.
And it actually went pretty well. And then came the part where I had to double the yarn... Michelle had giving me some tips on how it could be done in a very casual way. And I paid attention to what she said. It's just, I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing. Apparently I'm not good enough to watch something a little more then semi interesting on tv and double yarn. Because this is what happened : I'm not ready to totally give up on this ... (fill in whatever word you find appropriate) ... Although up to this point, any attempt to fix has made it look worse. Good thing I'm more stubborn then the yarn right now. And when (see, didn't say "if") I detangle this pile of lovely, I can give it another shot with this : I will let you know how it goes.

April

2009-04-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

I suppose it has been a pretty good month. I got to to home to Belgium for spring break. Only a week, not long enough. The weather was great. You never know what you might get over there at that time of month. So I was pretty lucky I got to play all my rounds in warm sunshine beaming down :)
Then after being home for week it was of to Arizona for some rugby. Two games, bummed we didn't win either but we did play pretty well. We have one more game this season. A game we should win. I hope we do.
And today, last day in April, is Koninginnedag or Queen's day. And this year she is visiting the town where I was born. So I feel a little bit proud. And then some crazy guy had to go and do this. Yep, he took his car and drove into the royal family's bus. So much for a happy celebration.

I'm just enjoying these random moments this month. Because in 4 months I have to take my qualifying exam to get my master's degree. One month for each subject. Yes, random moments, I will miss you.

Day of revelations

2009-03-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Well, it took me only 10 days to finish sock #1. For me, that is a record time. Size 3 needles, it just goes to slow for me and my attention span. But because I put a little lace pattern in the sock, it helped to keep me ... interested. (I know, it sounds so bad, I have a such a short attention span, I got bored with thinking of a comparison)
But I'm pretty happy with sock 1. Now for sock 2. We'll see how long it takes.

On a different note, parking my car. I have a tiny little golf and I consider to be pretty good at parking. Just give me an inch on each side and I'll get my car in. However, I'm finding out, the bigger the spot, apparently the harder it is for me to park it. Very weird, if I got room for 1.5 times my car, I find myself backing up and forward and repeat like 5 times. Kind of embarrassing...

And my final revelation, I might actually go through the effort of making the 'Barefoot Contesa's ' sticky buns. They look soo yummy and I think I can spare 10 min to bake a made from scratch sugar overload.

One of those weeks

2009-03-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

I can already say that, and the week isn't even over yet. It started with Monday, taxday. Needless to say, the week started low. I really was just in a total depression. Stupid government, wanting my money. I need it for myself, for yarn, food, shoes,...
But then Tuesday got a little happier, I had to proctor an exam which means I got a lot of knitting done. I really am enjoying sockknitting. Normally something on size 3 needles doesn't go fast enough for me to keep my attentionspan from trailing off. But it is fun. However, I still predict some problems getting the second sock done. Right now I have 1 stripey sock, 1.5 staircase socks, and 0.5 lacy camo sock. And I'm already thinking about another yarn I want to make a sock with.
I don't think Michelle took this into account when she plotted her plan to get my addicted to sock knitting. (Though I doubt she actually sat there with sketches and scenarios, but hey, plotting plans, it's just something physicists do. Right now I'm plotting a plan to not do homework.)

Which brings me to halfway Wednesday. Sunny Wednesday. Yes, enjoying that. Probably a lot of things I should be doing, but it seems like my plan to procrastinate it working. It's working so well, I might need a nap...

(And I'll add pics when blogger lets me)

Sucks to be sick

2009-03-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Yeah, something is going around, I don't what, but apparently I have it. I was gonna empty the dvr last night but I only managed to 'watch' one show. Four times. I think. I was passed out, I woke up a few times, same show still on.
It did give me some time to work on a little more knitting. Last week, I could not resist getting this camo sock yarn. I figured in honor of 'Redneck wedding' my roommate deserves some camo sock. In case you've never seen the show 'Redneck wedding' it is hilarious. They kicked off the first season with brother and sister getting married, and believe it or not, it has only gotten better. I don't know how, but every week I am just amazed... My roommate got me into that show, and because the people on it love their camo, my roommate needs some pretty lacy camo sock to appreciate the show even more.

And what will I do once I get better. I shall go play a round of golf so I can show off my Christmas present from Michelle. This is a super cool putter cover and golfball her and Maya picked out for me in Hawaii. Now my game shall be awesome!

Long Beach Dog Parade

2008-10-28T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the annual Dog Parade in Long Beach. Even though I am very much a cat person, I have to get out of the house every now and then. So Aj and I decided to go to the park for the afternoon. And boy, it was worth it.
Owners dress up their dog and walk them around one block of 2nd street. Some people kept it simple, a store bought costume and a leash. Bumble bee and devil seemed to be the most popular. Some people decided to pull their pup in a cart, with or with decorations. Oh, and did I mention that some of the owners also dressed up along with the dog's theme...
And that is still nothing compared to ... the crazy people. Now, it was the cutest little puppy and it's owners dressed it up as Indiana Jones. And they had the cart with a spinning bolder on it. And it's all good so far. But, the reason I call these owners crazy, is because the woman would constantly hold up treats to get dog's attention. If the puppy wanted to lay down for a bit, she would pick him up and sit him down facing the crowd. Constant fixing of the hat. And then more treats to get the dog's attention towards the crowd. She was a true stage mom. And her husband dragged into it. I'm not so sure how much against his will though.

Don't get me wrong, I got nothing against dressing up dogs, occasionally. (Lord knows I have holiday hats for my cat. Not that they stay on long) And as for people dressing up,... I say yes! Yes to it all. But when you cross that 'stage mom' line .... no, that is just too far. Let you dog take a nap on the wagon if he wants to. Let it face the wrong way. If his hat is slightly crooked, it's ok. Your puppy is fluffy enough to make up for all the little imperfections.

As for knitting, not much done. I'm trying to make my Xmas deadline for 3 baby blankies.

Taco bell and new yarn

2008-10-21T14:48:00.000-07:00

Yes, that is exactly what my Monday called for. Driving home from work my car all of a sudden took a detour to Michael's. I don't how I ended up there. And then, when I walked out, I had 12 skeins of sugar and cream... Such a weird day. I guess all I needed to some food.
In the mean time I cast on for the baby hoodie blanket. I even did a little swatch, turns out size 7 needles would give this blankie a very nice look. I would have to cast on 112 instead of 100 stitches to get the right size, not a big deal. So I grab the white yarn, cast on, switch to the blue yarn, and it's all coming along nicely.
The stitches look just a little bit bigger then in the swatch, but then again I think I'm knitting them a little bit looser. I was kinda curious and I took out my measuring tape, turns out, my blankie is pretty wide across. Again, not a big deal, I'll just have to add extra rows to the top, increasing my knitting time. (And with my procrastination skills, that can be a bad thing, I need to finish 3 of these for Christmas)
I cleaned up my room, found another pair of circular addi needles, that looked kinda... small. I mean, they looked like the size I should have been knitting with and oh yes, go figure, they are my size 7s. Turns out, I'm not knitting loosely, I'm knitting my blanket on size 8s. Gosh, I'm such a dork. O well, the blanket will be huge, but it is for a fast growing boy :)

Itching to cast on

2008-10-19T23:05:00.000-07:00

I've been away for another while, and I wish I could say I was too busy to blog. But no, sadly that is not the case. I did get addicted to a new show on sci fi channel. It only had 6 episodes so it didn't fill up the dvr.

For a while I had a very responsible streak going. I was working on some of my older projects. Made a little bit of progress, but I do believe that every little bit helps. Then work started to interfere with just about every aspect of my life and I had to put the knitting down for a while. But now work has settled down and I can pick up my needles again. And the old projects, the prospect of finishing them ... it does nothing for me. I have cast on fever again! I've been looking at patterns on ravelry. Michelle has turned into a superstar pattern writer and I want to make her stuff. It is so pretty. So I will pretend my yarn stash isn't flowing over already and go buy some more yarn tomorrow. I found a cute pattern for a hooded baby blanket. Looks like a very quick knit. Should go fast. So I can pretend I never strayed, haha.

So I will be casting on, adding to my list of shame a.k.a my never ending list of WIPs/UFOs. And I will also need to get over my costume of shame. I was at a rock band party. I decided to go dressed in a skirt that was more like a belt, tank top, blond wig, and cheeto dust all over the skirt (like I was wearing that one again, ha, no need for a belt skirt. tank top on the other hand) and bare feet. Anyone guess who I was... I looked so super classy and only dressed this way, because it was all friends at the party.
Now that I have seen some pictures, I wonder why I couldn't go as a classier person (or a classier period in this person's life) I'm not lying when i say, I don't have any pics myself, but if I get a hold of some, I will let you enjoy the trashy version of me.

Epiphany or insanity

2008-09-12T22:48:00.000-07:00

Yep, that is what I went through today. After talking to Michelle I got all excited about knitting again. So I went and organized my yarn. Look at my before: Not that bad, but I need more room. And I have so much crap in my room, I can use one of the bins.
This is where the insanity starts. But if I keep going ... glorious! I dumped out all my yarn and put it in a space bag. But not before taking pictures. So I can kinda keep track of what I have on ravelry. I will spare you the 53 pics I took and instead jump forward in time to show you this: Which after sucking the air out got just a little bit smaller and made me super happy.
I felt so much better. I freed up one of the tubs and it is full of crap again. But that crap is now no longer in my room. And that makes me happy. So to celebrate, I decided to finish off Tessa's baby sweater, which now no longer fits her... And I am not done yet. I did all the knitting and now I need to weave in ends, maybe crochet a little border around the neck. But I can't find my hooks nor my needles. So I might need to do a little more organizing, but I will now officially classify this project as 95% done. More reason for me to be happy. A while ago, I make a spreadsheet, according to that one, I have 19 projects going. Pretty happy to be able to narrow it down to 18 ... soon, I hope :)

But something that will happen soon. Pics from my trip to Belgium.
Oh, and did I mention, I also emptied the dvr. I can now return it to charter so they can give me a working HD dvr. Such a good day.

In Belgium again

2008-08-07T07:10:00.000-07:00

Yep, that's where I am right now. Weather has been rather nice these last couple of days, but today all that stored up water had to be released from the clouds. Man, did it come down. There's more to come this weekend. I don't mind a little rain, but I'm supposed to go to a music festival, play in a golf tourney and go to a BBQ in the next three days. Guess I can forget about showing up with nice, flowly, unfrizzed hair.
At the end of august I have a wedding to go to. To be in, actually. And I get to wear a sarong... I'm excited, it's on Catalina Island and it will be beautiful. But I am getting kinda chubby while I'm here. No excercise in the land of chocolate is not doing wonders for my figure... It's not my day, so I shouldn't care too much, but still ya never know if I need to impress a cutie pie surfer boy.

Yeah, those are pretty much my holiday concerns. I need to win the lottery so I can have more of these. Although, I do miss my kitty foo. Wonder what she is up to?

Back in the land of sunshine

2008-07-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

Not that Belgium was super rainy, it was actually pretty dry and I had mostly nice weather. But really, with all the good tasty food, chocolate and beer, who could complain. Certainly not me. My only problem, I'll be in a wedding in August and I gotta fit myself into a sarong. (Ok, fitting into a sarong, not a big deal, covering gut in sarong... little problem) But I still got time to get in shape in sunny fitness crazed SoCal. (Before I go back to Belgium, the land of tasties and undo all my semi hard work. Again, I'll deal with it later)

Now that I am back, what I am looking forward to is this:
It looks awesome. Doogie Houser and Capt Mal... heaven on my computer screen.
And now, I shall enjoy my day off, lots of sitting around. I'll start working out tomorrow.

Raise your hand if you ...

2008-06-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

1)... didn't loose it while hanging a shelf in the bath room!
Whenever I told a friend I was using powertools, they always expressed concern. Don't know why.

2)... went to the Tustin Chilli Cook off!
And that is where I saw this treasure. I didn't try any of it, mainly because they were officially out of chilli. It was the Roto rooter stand.

I only have 2 hands, so I can't raise anymore, but I finally finished my sock. Now I have 2 half pairs. Today I casted on for the second staircase sock. But I am also itching to cast on for something else. At my slow knitting pase, I should cast on for a warm sweaer like rogue, but I kinda want to cast on for the silk corset, which I'm sure I'll finish just in time for winter.

PS Noitce the new sock model, his name is Thor and he is giving the 'fierce' look. Oh yes, he watches top model, he knows how to find the light and he can work his angles. Ophie ran as soon as I approached, she is such a prima donna.

Haven't been feeling it...

2008-05-29T20:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I suppose worse things could happen. Yesterday, I managed to drop a hugge jug of ice tea on the floor. Most of it on the hardwood but some on the rug. Darn. While cleaning up the mess, I didn't notice the tea bag and it made it into the washing machine. Sigh, I suppose there are worse things then having kitchen towels smell like tea.
(Just a little background info, I came down with a cold on Tuesday, so I was in self pity mode.) After cleaning, I figured some yummy soup would make me feel better. And it did, but I had to fight with an embarrassingly simple to open container. It was a rough day.

And then I thought I lost my camera, but luckily I found it. It was just the universe trying to tell me I need to hurry up and clean up! But now that I have my camera, I can slack on my plans of tidying up (just kidding universe), and share these weekend pics with you.

This is me and Granny. She was visiting in San Diego so I drove down to meet up.

The little one is Sydney, her mom put her hair in puffs in my honor. It is my rugby hairdo. I gotta say, she pulls it off wonderfully. And the tall one is my cousin Mike (not the dad). He came down from LA. I still wonna know how he got the tall gene. (Look at granny, and she is still shrinking)
And of course, the kitties,... they really do get along. (Ophie won the fight for the boxes, I'm so proud of her)

Here's the story

2008-05-20T16:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time, but I promised you my moving story. And to start off, take a look at these pics of moving day.
If you can't tell, those are bees. Lots and lots of bees. I heard the buzzing that morning, but kind of ignored. Figured it was something else or somewhere else. But when I got up, there was no doubt about it, it was right outside my window. Crap.
Luckily they were up high enough that I could walk underneath them and they were gone by the end of the day. So was I :)

Now I am in the new place. My new roomie also has a kitty, Thor. Him and Ophie had a rocky start, but now ... well, look for yourself. (As soon as blogger lets my upload that) They are friendly most of the time, but sometimes they have the lamest cat fights. They just wave their paws at eachother or come running from across the room, just to smack the other one's but and then run off. Entertainment for when I don't feel like grading.

As for knitting, not getting much done there. Just a few rows on my sock... (again, pics when blogger lets me upload)

So many things I'd rather be doing...

2008-04-27T15:34:00.000-07:00

Well, most of the stuff is out of my old place. Or better, all the big stuff is out. I still got a week left on the lease so I am taking my time. Right now I am taking a break from painting (ok, so I've only done the prep work, taping sanding and all of that crap, but it counts) The previous people had made my room the baby room. It's yellow (I could have lived with that) with a white picket fence painted on the wall (hell to the no).
So I decided on a color called haven, it's a nice soft green. Much better.
I'll be getting back to painting soon, after I eat my left over pizza (mmm). But man, do I have some moving blog stories for you. Well, only one, really. And it's not even that great. But I will tell you anyway, after I get some painting done. I wish I could blog about exciting stuff, but there's not much excting stuff happening right now... O well.

Oh yes, thank you unprotected internet and bunny ears. It keeps me sane on my paint breaks. Haha.
Well, back to work I guess.

Oh wait, did I mention that Ophie will be getting a friend. His name is Thor, he is very sweet, orange and white and always looking for love. We'll see how Ophie deals.

Things I've learned

2008-04-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

It's been a very educational week for me. I'm moving yet again, and I haven't packed up one thing. Oh yes, I should probably mention I'm moving tomorrow. And this would be more dramatic if I didn't have about a week and a half to actually get my stuff out of this place. Tomorrow is for the heavy stuff, throughout the week I will be moving over small boxes and immediately unpacking. Let's see how that strategy works.
But what have I learned :- Ophie is no help! she just sits in a boxes. (well, I already knew that, but she just proved that point again.)
- One serving of Quaker Oats mini kettle corn rice cake is only 7 rice cakes! Satisfying snack, 7 mini rice cakes. Who will that satisfy! Try one satisfying bag of mini kettle corn rice cakes. That is satisfying! I wonder what the nutritional value is for the bag.
-There are 2 Davids on American Idol. I've been watching the show the whole time, fast forwarding through all the crap, but only this week did I realize there are two Davids on the show.
-I should not knit after midnight. I was working on my stripey sock. Turning the heel, picking up stitches for the gusset. And for some reason, I didn't actually pick up enough stitches... Oops, I could have ripped back, but fudging it later on will be much better. Hihi.
- I may have reached a new level of crap I will watch on tv. Last night, it was some movie about the Marquis de 'Sod', at least that is how his name was pronounced the whole time. And you know how in movies about the past, they always use british accents. Well, they tried, or at least, some of the actors tried (only one succeeded, but that's because he is british). So, bad acting, horrible and inconsistent accents, bad acting a bad script and to top it off, super bad acting. But I still watched it...
-I am really good at procrastinating. Something else I already knew, but it's an extra line in my blog, extra time that I don't have to pack, haha.

Well, that's enough blogging/procrastinating for me. So emptying the dvr before I move, that is important too, is it?

It happened again

2008-04-14T22:56:00.000-07:00

Yeah, another bomb went off in my appartment. A very big one this time. I'll be moving soon so I'm not very motivated to clean up (or pack for that matter). I figure once I start packing it's only gonna get worse.
What else happened again, or better yet, not happened ... me doing my work. I'm still a sub, but I don't have my steady job at Jordan anymore. So I'm not subbing all that much. Which should give my plenty of time to grade my Goldenwest class and write my thesis. Yeah, nothing going on there, again.
I bought some more shoes. Because I don't feel I have enough of those. No, just because I can wear a different pair of shoes every day of the month, doesn't mean I should stop adding to my collection. And I have been covetting this dress at the Gap too. And when it goes on sale, it shall be mine.
This weekend, I ate WAY too much food, again. But it was so good. And I'll be having some chocolate cake after this post. And normally this little event wouldn't cause any ripples in my time space continuum, but rugby season is over. No practice,... so my lazy butt needs to work out on its own. And that rarely happens. Ugh...

Now really, I just needed to post on why my life is such a mess at this moment. I need to shape up. And I will, once I move into my new place, I will be neat and organized. I will eat less junk food (which will be super hard, because there's several yummy high quality fast food places just around the corner. Taco bell, McD's here I come .... in moderation) I'll stay on top of my work and I will finsh my d**m thesis.
Yes, and then I won't need to whine in my posts again...

Confession

2008-04-08T14:47:00.001-07:00

Why work on one sock when you can work on two?
I know I have a schort attention span, and I think that is my main problem with sock knitting. I'm so happy to finish the half of my pair and casting on for the second sock ... it feels a little anti-climatic for me. Something I will learn to get over. And so yesterday, I tried out a new technique:
I finished the first of my staircase socks. Found a less than enthousiastic sock model, but she laid still long enough for one picture.
And here is my anti-anti-climax remedy. I cast one for a different sock.
Not sure how smart it is, but I've had this yarn for a while, I've been very curious about the striping pattern. And now I know. And while I'm knitting, I keep thinking about the other staircase sock. This yarn has no more mysteries (well, still a few, like what will the heal look like, what will the sock look like...) So I am longing for the pretty yarn of my staircase socks. Now, I can't wait to cast on. Climax, it's back.

"New" stuff

2008-04-06T17:37:00.001-07:00

So as I am going through my box o' projects and I run into a lot of things. Things I kinda had forgotten all about. First off there is what was going to be a wrap or so. It's not even long enough for me to say I gave up half way through. But before I gave up, I did put a pretty (if I do say so myself) border on one side. Gotta have a little bling on my wrap. Well, it was actually for a friend, but I did make (finish!!!) her something else in the mean time.
The other two patches you see where going to function as the front patch for throw pillows... Now I just need to do the pillow part. Maybe one day... (I have had all the materials for quiet a while)

But not everything I found was doomed to never be finished (eventhough I have every intention of one finishing those pillows and wrap, I gotta be just a little bit realistic here.) One of it was a finished little hat and a pinwheel baby blanket. 'Yeay', FOs, but 'Boo' the only FOs. I also tracked down clopatis, my ribbi cardi and my barbie wrap. I call it that because it is still in a very tiny phase of its existence. And I know it is not uncomen to end up with a million stiches when you do lace knitting and you make things real people size. But if I leave it barbie size... Well, I just have to whine about it. I'll suck it up and get over myself later. I'll probably try to finish my wave blanket first. I started it so long ago, I'm not sure if I even remember the pattern. And that brings me to my final project (unless of course I have more projects carefully hidden away, which I'm sure I have.) So last, but by no means least, I found my diagonal blanket. It's a crocheted blanket and it goes diagonal (duh) and the nice part it that I am passed the half way point. Which means all my rows are now decreases. Woohoo.

Messy again

2008-04-03T00:37:00.000-07:00

I got back from my trip, safe and sound. Except that before I left, my place was kinda ... well, lets just say, I had to pack in a hurry. When I got back, I was all jet lagged. Unpacking, not my priority. And to save you the story of how it progressed, I'll skip straight to the part where I admit that my place once again, is a great big mess... I have to figure out a path to get from one place to another. And I'm still using jet lag as my reason for not doing anything about.
Today, it got so bad, I was looking for a certain project to work on at Michelle's place and I just couldn't find it. Looked all over, no sign. Crap!!! At that moment, I knew I needed to get tidying. But when I came home, I looked again, and it turned I put my projects in a different bag in the closet. So, once again, in my mind, my system of mess triumphed again. I have no need for cleaning up. I can still find everything I need... Yeah, super flawed logic, but it's given my an excuse to do only the minimal amount of cleaning, so I'm not gonna abandon my philosophy just yet.
And I would show off a pic of my mess, but it is too embarrasing. I'll use my trip excuse for one more week, then I'll blame it on moving, which is something I will need to prepare for soon too.

Poffertjes!!!

2008-03-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy, it's the little things in life. Little like 'poffertjes'! They are kinda like little pancake type thingies and I love them! And I got to eat them!

My friend and I went to the Zwarte Markt (Black Market) in Tessenderlo (town in Belgium). It is a giant indoor swap meet type thing. Man do they have some crap there, from the very kitch to the just plain crap. And in one of the buildings was a stage and they today, Easter Monday, they had this guy performing. It's all the epitomy of uncool (especially when you combare to LA standards, my other home), but all you can do is shake your head dance along to the 'schlagers'. I love being here.
And another very un-LA thing... snow! (The real kind, made by Mother Nature)

Here are a couple of pics of my parents house in Belgium. (My room is the two windows on the right. And the last picture is of the garden shed. It's new, less spiders, for now.)

Ah, the snow ain't so bad.

Here comes the snow...

2008-03-22T10:43:00.000-07:00

The pilot informed us, right before we landed, that there was some light rain in Belgium. As soon as we touched the ground, he updated his report to snow. Welcome home to me. I was wearing flip flops that morning, now I would have to be hidding in my winter coat.
It's a good thing I finished my hat. I couldn't find a button that I liked, not that I had spent a lot of time looking... But with this weather, i had to time to wait. The hat needed to be finished, so i knit a little flowery thing.
It makes the hat look more cutesy, but I like it.
Now I think I shall cast on for the scarf. I hope I brought enough yarn with me. If not, I can always work on my sock.
I was sure to bring enough projects. You never know how long you will be stuck at airports. Or how nice the plane will be... It was so nice, I didn't want to take a nap. Personal tv screen and programs starting at regular intervals. (I fought it for a while, but I did end up taking a little nap.)

Well here's to variety

2008-03-18T21:46:00.001-07:00

I have so many things to do. In two days I'm going on a trip to Belgium. I got packing to do, my appartment is a mess again, still have plenty of erronds that need to get done, laundry,... Well, you get the picture. So what do I do, I turn to my knitting. It been a while and it is so nice getting back to my yarn. But with all my UFOs, what do I choose from? It's so hard to pick, so I'll just cast on for something new. I'm gonna need a hat when I'm in Belgium, so there. It is the republic hat.

Joan made me feel better by calling my UFOs a variety of life. Well here's to variety! I love it.

And I heard a silly knitting/blond joke.
A cop is driving down the freeway and passes a speeding car. He is totally shocked to see the driver is actually knitting. He turns on his lights and through his PA system he yells at her "PULL OVER!!!" She rolls down her window and yells back "No, it's a scarf"

Yep, I warned you, it was silly.

Back in blogland

2008-03-12T11:29:00.000-07:00

I really hope to visit more frequently. But lately, I have been soo busy. And nothing worth blogging about. That is the sad thing. It's just work, tutoring kids to help pass their high school math exit exam and being very frustrated that these kids are WAY below the level they should be at. Thank you California school system. You will produce a fine lot of burger flippers. And keep cutting those budgets, some kids might not even qualify for that...
For a while I was working with the kids in small groups. And the kids were responding, they got better grades, they even got in the habbit of doing homework (trust me, that is a major change). So yeah, the program was working and therefor one of the higher up administrators decided to put an end to it. Because the school had recieved a grant and there was still plenty of money left. Why should they spend it on something that benefits the kids?
Really, me, bitter, no no.

Anyway, I'm back to regular subbing. Which should give me some time to finish that horrible thesis of mine. Who am I kidding, I'll never finish it. So let's talk about things I might finish after all. This a a little baby sweater. Whether Tessa will fit in it, I don't know. But someone will. To make it easy on myself I opted for short sleeves. I just need to but 5 more rows on the second sleeve, crochet a border around the neckline and weave in the ends. Then I get to cross it off my WIP list. (It's been a long time since I got to do that)

These here are my bins of shame. I put all of my yarn and WIPs and UFOs into two bins. I really need to work on finishing some of those projects but there is so much I want to cast on for...
... and then there is this: Michelle gave it to me. She went to Stitches West and brought me back this little skein of lovely. How can I resist casting on! How!!?
While I figure it out, I do have this to occupy my time. It's the box lace shawl and I am actually very happy you can start to see the little box pattern. Yeay, I'm doing something right. This is also yarn I got from Michelle. Plus, when I go home for a week, I'll be bringing this little project with me. My staircase socks, made from yarn I got from Michelle... Yep, Michelle is definitely my enabler. It's a good thing she has impeccable taste in colors.

Rookie mistake?

2008-01-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

Well, this is my first post of the new year. I'm gonna try to be better at it this year. I have so many new year's resolutions and most I have already dropped...
First one, finishing more of my UFOs. Yeah, haven't done that and to make it worse, I have cast on for 2 different projects. A shawl that I cast on for about a week ago. And tonight, I cast on for a sweater. And I suppose it might be knitting karma that I already mucked up on it. Not badly though. But I intended to knit this one on size 7 needles, but with "all my swatching" and the interchangeable denise needle set, I accidently cast on on size 6 needles. So it's nothing major. I was only on the 2nd row when I found out, so I just clicked on the correct needle. Knitting crime, maybe. But this is yet another project that can't trap my soul, haha.
I was gonna try to be more tidy and it worked for a week and a half. (That is a long time for me) But I can feel it slipping away...
Yeah, 2008 and I am still a mess. O well, I have been one for 31 years, I've learned to live with it.

And now, on to more knitting :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-24T18:17:00.000-08:00

Or at least a few days after Thanksgiving. I hope it was delicious and stress free holiday for everyone. It sure was for me. I went down to San Diego to visit my aunt who is a fabulous cook. I ate soo much, I'm still full.
Now, I don't have any turkey or other food pics, but I do want to show off this little one. She is my new cousin (or second cousin, I'm not that technical on that) Sidney. Super cute little chubby baby. Very happy and very easy with people. She is a very recent addition to the family, so she got passed around, and loved it. (Wait til X-mas, more relatives who haven't seen her. I hope her mom is ready to give up her kid for a few days.)

And just to prove she truly is part of the family:She sleeps like a Johnson. Nothing seems to wake her up.

These past few weeks I've also had a friend in town from Belgium. We've had a lot of fun. I went to Catalina for the first time. It is a very nice little island. We drove around in a golfcart most of the day. Never thought that could be so tiring, haha.

And what do you do after such an intense workout?

As for knitting, I haven't gotten that much done. Ok, I haven't gotten any knitting done. But, I have planned a new little cast on project. I wanna use the caron super soft yarn and knit me a grey scarf. I was one of those crazy people on Friday out at the mall (not at the crazy early times) and I got some new fitted tees. A bit longer, so that when I stand in front of the class, i can actually lift my arms without showing off my stomach. But they are a little low cut. Nothing a tank top can't fix as far as decency, but a scarf would add a little warmth. Right? It's a good enough reason to put my million other projects on hold...

Reason to blog

2007-11-06T19:26:00.000-08:00

I know I take these long vacations from blogging. And now I am back again, with stuff to rant about, and stuff to show off.
First, let me brag about this lovely skein of yarn. Oh yes, I had a b-day and Michelle gave me somthing to keep me busy, hehe. I just got my invite for ravelry and I was actually all happy to put some stuff in the stash section. Well, it didn't stay 'stash' for long. I cast about 2 minutes after I got it, hihi. I will be proctoring an exam tomorrow, so this new sock will be perfect to keep me busy.

I spoiled Ophie a little. Instead of boxes, she can now lounge on her little cat tower. She likes it. (Although, in the mean time, it's not that interesting to her anymore but my lap seems to be quiet nice) And along with my yarn, Michelle got Ophie a little something too, unintentional I'm guessing, but this bag entertained her for quiet a while.

I must also rant about the first Christmas commercial. Oh yes, it was the night of October 22nd. Now I can't be all mad, because it was Old Navy. I like Old Navy, but 10/22 is just a little too soon. Haven't even passed Halloween yet.

Now if this post seems a little all over the place, it's because I'm trying to finish before I loose the motivation to clean my appartment. I have a friend coming in from Belgium, she knows I'm a slob, but I'm sure she would appreciate room to walk around, hehe. And I went to Target to get this little thingy, maybe put me in an organizing mood. And it worked, whlie driving I was totally motivated and looking forward to it. But I made a littel detour my Michelle's house, where she gave me the above present :) and I got to watch the Maya show. It's my favorite, she was going all out, showing off some new moves. So needless to say, cleaning motivation has gone down a bit... a lot.

Well, we'll see what happens. Gotta post my new yarn on ravelry, hehe.

Knitting again

2007-10-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm happy to say, I have done quiet some cleaning in my appartment. It looked great for a while there, but I'm noticing that I'm letting papers fly around again... Better buy those Halloween decorations before it gets too out of hand.
I also figured out a way to get around myself not allowing me to cast on. You see, one of my teammates had a baby (almost 2 years ago) and I haven't knit her anything yet. But I have for all the other mothers. So, taking my knitting speed and her size into account, Christmas will be around the corner very soon and I can finish something for an almost 2 year old. And here it is.

It's a bit of my own design. We'll see how it ends up. I cast on yesterday.

Now it's kinda late, so I won't go into how I used Ophie to try and get a very cute electrician to talk to me. And about how she completely failed me. How pink yarn make her want to hunt things, like yarn and crochet hooks. And about how happy both Ophie and I are to be knitting again. I'm happy for the obvious reason, and Ophie has never wanted to do more cuddling (especially when I am knitting. And I have a new addiction, facebook. Oh yes, I've been doing things, all from the comfort of my couch, but it still counts...

Oh, and some other day, I will go on my rant about the complete and total uselessness of certain people (and pets)
Yes Ophie, you are the poster kitten for complete and total uselessness. But I luv ya :)

Almost Halloween

2007-09-26T18:02:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it is still more than a month away, but it is my motivation to clean up my place. I want to decorate the appartment, but I gotta make room first to put the decorations, haha.
Ophie has helped me, in her own way. I was reading my e-mail and my friend had forwarded one of those touchy feely ones. All cute animal pics with at the bottom a little anecdote of a fireman rescuing a pregnant dog and after it's all done pic is of the dog licking the fireman's face. And the conclusion of it all : "Who says animals are dumb?" I was moved, it was all very cute and then I look up at my kittie. She is sitting on the armrest of the couch looking intensely, as cats do, at a stack of boxes (those filing type ones). She sticks out her paw, reaches for a box at paw height, hooks it into the handle and pulls down the whole stack of empty boxes. And this was no accident, it was very well thought out. How do I know? She did not flinch when the stack come crashing down. Instead, she looks at the mess, jumps down, surveys everything on ground level and crawls into one of the boxes. As happy as she can be. Who says animals are dumb... Probably the same people who think cats have no personality...

I know, I need a life. That was a very long story about my cat. I haven't done much knitting, so there is no story there. As a sub, I really can't tell you funny work stories. Right now, it's world cup rugby, so I do a lot of tv watching (witch I usually do anyway...) so no exciting adventures there. So, I guess Oct 20th, I will have a life again, that is when the world cup is over. And that is very close to Halloween. Now, while I can't allow myself to get decorations yet, I do occasionally look at costumes. This was last year:

And this is a possible costume for this year:

As you can tell, a very big change of theme, haha. But my only problem, when I turn sideways, I make the footsie pjs, look ... a little bit ... hoochie. I guess my gluteous is too maximus. I would go for a bigger size but it doesn't go above XL, because this costume is a lot warmer than the beer maid one. My roommate had the right idea going as the can.

A little bit of organizing

2007-09-14T23:34:00.000-07:00

Haven't had much time to knit. I wonder if I remember how to do it...
But, I have done a bit of organizing. As usual, my apartment was looking like a mess. I tried to hide most of it under the table. I was kinda hoping nobody would notice. Kinda like trying to hide that elephant in the room...

Right now it is still not perfect, but I figured if I tackle my yarn problem first. I took out all of it, and decided to store it all in my spacebag. (I got some when I went shopping with Michelle, these things rock) I have a small apartment, and yarn takes up a lot of space. I have so many WIPS that I need to finish before I mess around with anything else.

I put my yarn in a large bag first, it didn't fit. I needed to go to the extra large size. (Eek, I refuse to admit I have a problem.) It barely fit in this size, and afterwards, I realized, it's not even all my yarn in there. Oops.

But once I sucked the air out of it, I didn't feel like re-organizing again. I'll leave that for another day. Now, all my yarn is cozily together in a spacebag and my projects in progress are in one box. Ready to be picked up and finished.

And here you see the mess I left behind after organizing my yarn. Looks worse than when I started.

But what does Ophie think. Unimpressed. Or maybe she is still a bit miffed because I put the elephant hat on her.

Been so long

2007-09-05T12:49:00.000-07:00

Oh yes it has. So long that I couldn't even remember the password to my blogger account...
I've been out and about. First of, went to Belgium for 2 weeks. I will show off a few pics later. It was fun, it's always great to see my parents again (no matter how nuts they make me, but that is what family is for). Wheater was actually pretty good and by that I mean, rain had been kept to a minimum.
Also got to do a bit of traveling. Went to Luxemburg and London. Had the best cup of hot chocolate in London. It was at the Harrod's chocolate bar, made by some Belgian guy who had moved to Switzerland. (Yeah, he knows chocolate. Soooo good)
Ophie stayed with my old roommate for a week. But her and her boyfriend have a new kitty, and Ophie doesn't do to well around other cats. (She actually has a nemesis walking around the apartment complex here. Those two go far beyond enemies.) The second week she was in my apartment. Poor kitty, all alone. She had people come by and feed her and pet her, but she is such a spoiled little kitty. She wants people to hang around and watch her sleep. Needless to say, I came home to neurotic kitty. (And it broke my heart when I had to go out for 5 min to get her more catfood. She didn't understand the 5 min part and miawed like crazy)

A few days after I got back, I was of to Chicago for a Gaelic Football tournement. Never played the sport before, but a local team was short people and they asked a few people on our rugby team to come. It was fun. But I got called so many times by the ref. Gaelic has no contact, rugby has a lot of it... It went against my instincts. It was a lot of fun though, I'll probably try this game again.

As for my apartment, it looks like a mess, like a tornado went through it. (And that tornado was me.) It's been too hot for me to be even remotely motivated to clean up. I guess I'll do my whole 'must pick up at least one item a day'. See how long that lasts....

And I shall leave you with a message from Ophie, she is getting into the blogging/computer thing too:
[;''''''''''''';
(I don't know what that means)

Happy feet

2007-06-07T22:32:00.000-07:00

Yep, I finished my socks today! I will post pics later, just too darn lazy to get the camera.
Plus, for some reason, Ophie decided to blow up her tail to 5 times the normal size, I don't know why, but she sure looks funny. She just walked by and is now miawing at the door. Nutcase.
Anyway, my UFO list is now down to an impressive 13. I feel like I should cast on to celebrate, haha. But tonight I'll be good. I'll just enjoy some homemade dessert. Yes, that is correct, I have been doing a lot more cooking lately. Yesterday, I made breadpudding. It looks like snot, but it tastes just fine. I think I might be to impatient for those recipes that constantly make you strain things to get the lumps out. Lumps, shmumps, it all tastes the same. Haha.

Oh, and I will need to be strong. I'm going to the yarn lady bag sale in san clemente this saturday. Official reason, Michelle and I are going and taking Maya to see the world so Mike can have the house to himself and do ... whatever he would be doing. Don't really think I need to write down the real reason here. But our (read Michelle's , read Maya's) excuse for whatever we bring home will be "toys" for Maya. Yes, we have noticed the little one likes yarn. She is such a cute yarn-a-holic.

...and clopatis rears pretty it's head.

2007-05-29T21:29:00.000-07:00

I picked up a few more boxes. One of them had yarn in it. Oh joy! And I think there are two more boxes with yarn floating around out there. But for now, I am happy my clopatis is back in my reach, hehe. I was gonna be good and finish my sock. But that big ball of pink is just calling me. Maybe just a few rows. I'm really close to finishing the sock and making my UFO list 13. (It's just size 3 needles and my attention span don't really get along. But my feet will love the finished project.) Oh yeah, and the 'barbie' shawl as I call it. It's on size 3 needles and it will take me forever if I plan on making it human sized... plus the magazine that will make my UFO count skyrocket again.

And the other picture is just my mess and the latest plan to get me to put stuff away. If I block the door with all my crap, I will have to clean it, right? Yeah, I thought so, apparently my lazy butt doesn't mind twisting my body into some S-shape in order to leave the house. And now there's a few more boxes...
Well, at least I have put my yarn in a central place. There's a few things I'm sending straight to good will. And the rest, ah yes, I'll get around to it soon I hope.
So how is Ophie dealing with all my insanity? See for yourself...

Oh darn

2007-05-27T20:52:00.000-07:00

After a lazy Sunday, I decided to do dome knitting and a little organizing of my yarn. I found a toddler dress that I was gonna make. I wasn't that far yet. I debated frogging it, for reasons that might be a bit petty, but hey, ... I'm allowed. I made my friend's baby a little dress once, it was the purple one. It's not that I need flowers or thank you cards or endless praise. But a simple 'hey, our girl was wearing your dress last week, it looked really cute...' Ya know, something like that. But no, I never heard anything from her about the dress. It wasn't the fanciest or anything but I still put effort into it. Little update would have been nice. And I realize I didn't really take the season thing into account, but a little lie about how cute it looked would have done just fine. Just to make me feel like I didn't make the dress for nothing, 'cause I know she's too big for it now. (sorry, my little rant, a bit petty, I know, o well)
Anyway, I was gonna be nice, put my pettiness aside, make her girl another dress because my friend is moving. This time I would make a larger size ,2 years, at that age she'll still fit when the season rolls around. I found a cute pattern online, saved the link and I cast on for it. One thing I didn't take into account, the pattern might go offline... Yeah, I was gonna work on it tonight but I can't find the pattern anymore.

I ended up frogging. On the brightside, it takes my UFO list down to 14. Probably won't last long, I bought a new magazine with pretty patterns. I know I'll be casting on soon. Especially now that I have some more free cables :)

Slowly settling in

2007-05-25T21:54:00.000-07:00

Very slowly. I still have several boxes and I put them in front of the door. Hopefully they will start to bug me soon so I can unpack them or just throw everything out.
I also had to hide a few boxes at friends' houses. Michelle was nice enough to house some of my yarn (and she is still housing it). I hid some rugby stuff at another friend's house. And she was housing a few boxes from a third person, who was moving. Turns out the movers accidently took one of my boxes. Turns out it was yarn (I have more than I thought). My yarn got to go on a little trip to MN. Cold MN but it back in sunny SoCal. I'll be picking it up soon.

In the mean time, I haven't finished any knitting, but I did frog something. I actually started frogging, but the other half was hidden at Michelle's house. (Yes, I have problem, I know. Ignoring them won't help, but denial is such a nice place to be.) I found it last night, and frogged out the rest. Here is a little mid-way frogging pic.

Also, a few pics of the showable rooms of my new place. A look at the kitchen and the living/dining room. It's small, overpriced, but I love it.

And let's see, something that happened. I've been long term subbing in a class where you really cannot describe the kids as 'little angels'. Really, devil's spawn is better. But I stuck it out for 8 weeks. Which was very much appreciated by the school. And because I have a science degree, they've offered me a job. (Well, techniqually internship because I don't have my teaching credential, but once I get that taken care of, I'll be there full time.) I'm already thinking about the skeins and skeins of yarn. I don't care if I have no place to put them.

Just moved

2007-05-11T21:36:00.000-07:00

Yep, I have moved out of the fancy OC to the crazy LBC. (And for those that don't live in Southern California, I moved from Orange County to Long Beach.) I now have no roommate, which means I have as much crazy time in the apartment as I want, haha. For now, I still have Ophie. She is actually my (old) roommate's cat. She's moving in with her boyfriend and at their temporary place, they are not kitty friendly. So when they move into their real new place, Ophie will go with them. And I'll probably write a very sad post about that.

But for now, I am happy to be in my new place. It's cute, small but cute. Of course, now I realize just how much crap I have. I'm almost done unpacking the boxes in the apartment. And in the apartment is a very important part of that sentence. My mom was in town not too long ago, so I had to 'hide' a few things. (She likes to throw things out, things like yarn...) So the boxes that are at my friends' places, they still need to be brought over and unpacked. We'll see where I put it all. I just want to say thank you to the guy that came up with storage closets. (I have one at my new place, hihi)
But speaking of too much stuff, I better start kintting up some of my yarn and finishing some of my projects. 'Cause again, I have no room to discretely put my yarn away.

I wish I had pics, but not yet, however, I will get some soon. I do have one of Ophie (of course). She aparently doesn't like workmen in the apartment. She hid from the movers under the bed and in the closet. I think the cable guys took her by surprise and they where in the bedroom (not underneath the bed, but I guess it was too close for comfort for her) so she hid between the fridge and the wall. Which resulted in this little funky pic.

And tonight will be a night of firsts in a while; first time blogging in a while, first time picking up my knitting (to actually knit) in a while...

And, happy news (for sci-fi geeks) Eureka is coming back in July, happiness, happiness, happiness.

So what have I been up to ... ?

2007-03-15T17:02:00.000-07:00

It feels like it's been forever, and that's because it has. Not that I have been up to much, haven't done much knitting, haven't written much on my thesis, ... really not much of anything. But here are a few pics to show off my little milestones: ...
Or not, blogger is not cooperating. So maybe later. First one was gonna be of a pot of popcorn. Except I put too many kernels in there. Looks kinda funny.
Next was a picture of one of my other brave frogged projects. It was a sweater I started, but I don't remember what needles and i can't even find the pattern or my notes. So it needed to go. I was gonna put up the before and after. That way I got so show off my Denise needle set, with TWO empty cables in it. I thought it was exciting.
Also, I got a baby jacket from Lyssa. Not for me, but for me to finish. She wasn't going to and she had knit too much to frog, so I promised to give it a good home. It was accompanied on it's trip by two delicious cookies. Too bad they did not make it to the photo. (Now I feel bad to say, I haven't finished it yet, but my cousin is pregnant and she's not due 'til august, so I'm not too worried. There's not much work left)
And the final picture was of a new project. I couldn't help myself, I just had to cast on. It's a little girl's dress. One of my teammates is moving back to England for the summer. I've made a dress for baby Jenny before, but I forgot to think about a few details. It turned to be a pretty tightly knit dress, in microfibre, in other words, pretty darn warm. No problem, that's what winter is for. But I'm not so sure she'd still fit by that time (I finished it in April and she would have to stop growing). So, this dress is the 2-3 year size (Jenny is about 10 months now, plenty of time to grow into it), the pattern calls for chunky, which is no problem 'cause she's going to England. Yep, yep, thought this one out a bit better.

Well, just gave the picture thing another try, still didn't work. I guess pic for next time.

It's been a while

2007-02-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted. So long so, that I had issues remembering my password.
Not much new has been going on with me. Although I got some motivation to finish my thesis. (Yes, it is still not done.) I will be teaching a class at Golden West Community College over the summer. An astronomy class. Very excited about that. It's a lab and a lecture, a 3 hour lecture. Dang, I don't even like listen to one, now I gotta give one. Guess my students are gonna be happy happy students, 'cause something tells me they'll be out early a lot. Haha. Although, my evil side will keep them in class for the full 3 hours and 10 minutes, hehe. We'll see when I get the lesson plans, or at least an example of one.

As for knitting, I got my faux fur wrap sans fur next to me. I put on another row. But the rows are just soooo long right now. The patterns calls for the sleeves and back to be knit on 1 row. Ugh. But I try to take it row by row. It goes slow, but it goes.... very slow. I've put some teeny tiny inches on a few other projects. Haven't cast on for rogue yet.

And now, I must enjoy some brain cell killing tv. Flipping channels between 'American Idol' and 'Bad Girls Club'. Especially the second show, they put several dumb girls that don't think rules apply to them, in one house and man do they cause drama. Love it.

2007-01-29T20:19:00.000-08:00

I am so proud of myself. First of all, I had the courage to open up my UFO spreadsheet. Turns out, I only had 18 UFOs. Then I pinned my ears back (figuratively speaking) and finished knitting the green scarf. The one I was supposed to give her for Christmas. It's a good thing she's got a birthday coming up in March.

I made it with Peruvian Baby Silk on size 5. The lace comes from some random patterns out of a book.

But that is not all I did. I decided to be brave and I frogged 2, yes TWO projects I knew I wasn't going to finish.
The purple one is a corset, that I didn't take enough time / pay enough attention to the gauge. I learned my lesson. No way it was going to fit. And I wasn't too happy with the decreases. Althoughh, had it fit, I wouldn't have cared. But, it wasn't going to fit, so I used the bad decreases as another reason to frog. The light blue-ish one was going to be a diagonal baby blanket. But it went too slow.
Just not having fun working on it. So I got brave, frogged both in one sitting. I am very proud of myself. And now my UFO list is down to 15. Oh by the way, Ophie had NOTHING to do with the frogging. She didn't help at all, it was all me. (Ophie wanted to play fetch with her moussie, but was too lazy to bring it to me. She knows I'm a pushover and that I will get up an throw her moussie anyway.)

Now, I know myself. I will soon be casting on for rogue, bringing my UFO count up to 16, because I will not have finished something first. And though I think Shelly's advice was excellent : finish the small projects first like the scarf (done!) and the sock (yikes)... The sock is on size 3 needles... size THREE, that is tiny, I am a tight knitter... it will take forever and I have a short attention span. I can't wait that long to finish a sock without starting something new. But all that whining aside, I did work on it did weekend. I turned the heal and I am very proud of myself. But now I am working on the foot part, so I predict I will be putting it down again soon... and starting rogue... just being honest here. Although, I'll put on a few more rows tonight.

My resolutions

2007-01-21T23:02:00.000-08:00

Oh boy, I may have mentioned before I started a spreadsheet with all my UFOs. I was afraid to open it, but I know there are about 20 items in there. Well, to get to a good start in 2007, I have picked these nine UFOs to work and seriously make an attempt to ... work on some more. (I would say finish, but who would I be kidding.)

Let's look at what I've got, the pick blurb is clopatis, below to it a multi-colored lap-ket. Next to that are a lace shawl(-ish) and a sock (second of the pair). In the little ziplock bag is a green skinny scarf (Was supposed to be a christmas present for my mom. Oops) and next to that is my fake fur wrap sans fur. The other off-white think is hopeful, a no seem sweater. The orangy thing will be my ribbi cardi. And finally, there is a ball of yarn with some needles. Soon I will cast on for rogue. Again, I won't kid myself nor anybody else, I will be casting on for rogue. Soon. I hope to maybe finish the skinny scarf, it's almost done. But I can't make any promises, I know I am weak.
However, like I said, these are the UFOs that I will be working in 2007. Maybe finish a few. But definitely make progress. And I hope I will have the strenght to rip a few of the other 11 projects in my spreadsheet. (Yes, some will need to be ripped, I know that, I am slowly making peace with that fact. Maybe next month I'll give it a try.)
Also, I am happy to report that so far, I have added 3 rows to the fur trimmed wrap. It might not sound like much, but when I tell you that each row contains a s**tload of stitches ( I can't even count, I don't even want to count/guess), 3 rows is a bit more impressive. (to me at least)

Evil meter and trip to Belgium

2007-01-10T17:09:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm back from my Christmas trip to Belgium. I had a great time. Weather was actually pretty good. I had another low key New Year, at the belgian coast. The next day we went for a little walk. (When I say NY was low key, I mean we didn't go anywhere. I had plenty of champagne and vodka, yikes)

I haven't given my new year's resolutions a lot of thought. I suppose I'll just go with the usual, eat healthy, don't be too lazy. And a new one, make my pile of UFOs smaller, either by finishing or (eep) ripping. Yes, I don't like doing it, because in my delusional mind, I always believe that one day, I will finish a project. Eventhough my rational mind usually knows better, I ignore it. But maybe this year I will listen. I will work on a list and post it as soon as I figure it out.

And I'll leave you with this ...

How evil are you?
I suppose I can't comletely disagree. I guess knitting keeps me from following through on my plans of world domination (and finishing my thesis, sigh.)

Christmas Spirit

2006-12-13T23:42:00.000-08:00

Last Friday, as I was sitting on the couch, in full self pity mode (a cold will do that to me), I decided I needed to get a Christmas tree. So, I got my butt off the couch, went to Target and got me a tree and decorated it. It cheered me right up, made the appartment so much cozier. I never really go all out on decorations, just too darn lazy and I know they would be up 'til June. So one little tree, just enough to put me in that Christmas Spirit.

While Ophie has none, well, let me phrase that better : she won't be appearing anywhere with bells on. I tried to put some on her collar and get her to sit all cute and sweet next to the tree (bush). No such luck. She was off moping all over the place. But I did get a cute little pic where it looks like she is decorating (or distroying) the bush. Yeah, put a little moussie in there and she can't keep her paws off it. Ha. ( I keep refering to it as a bush, because my "tree" is 6 inches tall, but I love it.)

I know, I know, it's another Ophie filled post. But I've gotten no knitting done. It's just with getting a cold, starting job as substitute teacher (every couple of days) which means I need to get up at 6am and I'm not a morning person which makes me not an evening person either, and many more silly excuses... But, I did finish these two a little while ago. Here's a pic:

An irish hiking scarf in bringt pink and orange. I'm so lucky to have friends that can appreciate the bright colors. And I finally got done adding length to the noro scarf.
Well, I hope I can post about knitting stuff again soon (and not the lack of knitting)...

Common cold sucks!

2006-12-07T22:21:00.000-08:00

All I have is a little cold, but I am useless because of it. It sucks! I hate it. I'm just laying on the couch. Don't even want to get up or move to get food. And this appartment being so cold doesn't help. I hate this. But I do like the whole being wrapped up in my blanket. That is kinda nice and cozy and comfy. Ophie agrees, she is in here somewhere too.
I haven't even been motivated to knit... and I'm very close to finishing my mom's present. It's a skinny scarf so it goes superfast. Think that would motivate me, but nope.

Well, I leave you with Ophie, because I have no new projects or progress to show you.
This is Ophie looking at a picture of herself, when she was still a little kitten.
And I put some purple gelcaps on her nails. A few of them already came off, and I'll get around to replacing them this weekend maybe. But doesn't she look good with purple nails. I know she like purple. I think it looks good against the white. She's got taste.

Things you only figure out ...

2006-11-16T21:59:00.000-08:00

... after a little bit too much wine:
1) spelling is HARD;
2) movie logic sucks (you're a virgin, you will get sacrificed. you're not a virgin, you immediately fall under the sl*t category and some insane maniac will kill you);
3) cheese is good. (the edible kind, not the movie kind.) Making a cheese sauce and drowning you food in it makes for a tasty meal.
4) those "romantic comedic" tv/movie situations where a girl has to pick between gorgeous, perfect guy #1 and gorgeous not perfect but still pretty darn great guy #2 ... very annoying (at least to single people, it never happens, don't get our hopes up);
5) my glass is empty, need more wine;
6) why am I able to figure out who the killer is in the first 5 minutes, but the so-called genius in the movie takes 1h 55min to figure it out;
7) spelling is still not easy;
8) the holidays suck as a 30 year old single girl are gonna suck. But it's not the single part. It's my mom wondering why I am still single, it's her friend pretending to feel sorry for me (why, I'm happy)
9) wait, holidays will be great. I'm going home to Belgium and I'll be spending New Years with one of my best friend (single too) and we will have lots of good food and comfy clothes and crap movies (crap meaning good)
10) I'm done with wine, where's my dessert?

Calendar

2006-11-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

Found a fun contest. It's a show off your calendar contest, found on Chappy's mom.
I have 2 calendars that I use and couldn't really choose, so here is a picture of both.
One is a Happy Bunny calendar, as you can see, no dreary pictures here, just an obnxious bunny. I got it as a birthday present last year. I think Happy Bunny is hilarious. And the quote for this month "I'm not mean, you're just a sissy" kind of applies to me. As a teaching assistant, my students have more than often given me a "you're mean" look. I usually respond with a "I don't care what you think, just do the assignment" look. (Does that make my students sissies? I don't know, but I'm not mean ...)
The other calendar is an astronomy one. Of course. The pretty pictures is how I got into that area of science. This is a picture of a supernova remnant. Wanna know a secret? The pretty colors are added later. It starts out black and white, but they color code the different gasses afterwards. And voila, pretty picture with pretty colors. (And that white thing on the bottom is just the reflection of my flash. Oops)

Well, there you have, my calendars.

Where do I start?

2006-10-31T20:15:00.000-08:00

So many things have happened these last few days. I suppose I'll start with my knitting news. The faux fur trimmed wrap sans fur is starting to take shape.

I'm knitting the thing in one piece because I hate seeming and at times I was wondering if me plan would work. But now I'm sure it will.
Also, I'm happy to say that chocolate mocha has 3 of the 8 buttons firmly attached. (It's still warm here, I'm in no hurry to finish a wool cardigan.)

Oh lord, and then Ophie and I got some bad news. The stuff on my cat website did not pick her to be in the contest. (So they get no link, pox on them!) (Ok a little harsh, temporary pox on them.) Ophie is very upset. I got out the camera to take a picture on my b-day present, and she ran. Just couldn't handle it. Poor kitty.
(And thank you for commenting on the cuteness of Ophie. She feels validated and the shy spell will only be temporary...)

And speaking of my b-day, it will be this Friday but I got an early present from Michelle. It's kinda evil, it's the bedazzler.

Why do I call it evil. Well, look at the commercial or the website or here (this one has sound, be aware) These women go crazy. I mean just because your pants can hold 150 rhinestones, doesn't mean you need to put that exact amount on your pants. But after Michelle gave me this, I understand how 150 rhinestones seem reasonable. It is hard to stop once you get going. I came home and immediately tried it out on my jeans. (I always laughed at the women on TV and called the bedazzler lame, while secretly I coveting this wonderful tool.) I can tell you, bedazzling jeans is more of an exercise in will power. Will power to not cross the boundaries of good taste. I put a discrete 4 blingies on the top of my pockets and now my bedazzler is in the closet. (Click on the picture for a close up. It proves I didn't go crazy.) I plan to go to Old Navy and get a few cheap plain tank tops and then bling them out too. Tastefully though, always tasteful. Must not get carried away.

To finish my post, I shall leave you with new lessons learned:
- When you put a pan with red meat on the front burner and after 5 minutes the meat doesn't have the smallest hint of a brown or cooked color, yet when you hold your hand above the pan you feel heat ... you probably turned on the back burner. And doing what I did, giving the meat an extra 5 minutes to brown 'cause you're sure it will happen, ... no, this doesn't help. What will help is a) put the pan on the back burner, or b) turn off back burner and turn on front burner. (This is either or, doing both will NOT help your situation.)
- Ophie however is NOT learning that not every tin can is a can of cat food. In fact, none of them are but she still comes running...

The joy of knitting with noro

2006-10-25T22:37:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot the joy of knitting with noro kureyon. I'm just waiting for the next color to show up on my scarf.
This is a hat and a scarf I made a while ago. But because I cut my hair, I needed to make the hat a bit longer. (Oh yes, the curls are super poofy, they need to be contained.) And I've had another ball so it was just a matter of time before I got to it. I've added length to the hat, now just a little more lenght on the scarf. And I'm loving it.

What I'm not loving is my thesis. It's been in the crapper for quiet some time. I've had no motivation. But I'll be going up to Pasadena next week. Might bump into one of my advisors so I gotta be able to tell him something. Better get cracking.

Also, there is a website/blog called "stuff on my cat" and I sent in a picture of Ophie to the Halloween contest they're having this week. Let's hope they show it. (I'm turning into/already am one of those 'showbizz moms'. My kitty is the prettiest, if people don't put her on their website I curse them and say they have no taste and "how could they..." and "this thing is rigged" and ... you get the idea. But I'm not alone, my roommate is the same way. Sad, very sad.)

Told you I would

2006-10-18T23:05:00.000-07:00

Said I would put on some sleeves and I finished the second one tonight. Even wove in the edges. Woohoo, one more project down. (And after recounting, I have only 19 WIPS left. Yay!!!)

So I just watched the season finale of Project Runway. Micheal, my favorite designer didn't win. And I can't blame the judges. I wanted to like his collection but it was a bit too ... much. But I'm sure he go far in fashion, like he said, he is still young. (I'm gonna start saving now so I can buy one of his pieces later on when he is a top designer.)
However I am peeved that Jeffery won. I hate to say he did have the best collection, but I hate his character. He is such an a**hole. Or at least they editted him to come off that way. Still, I don't like him. And I don't want to buy his stuff! So there...

And now starts my new addiction, Top Chef. (Never thought I would be such a reality tv person. But I'd like to think I am still picky with my reality shows. I'm at least watching talented people...)

Changed my mind

2006-10-17T19:12:00.000-07:00

I was planning on frogging this, but when I got it out, I was further along on the sweater than I thought. So I just put on a few more rows to finish the body. Ended with a little impromptu lace on the bottom. I'll finish the sleeves tonight.
It will be for another one of my teammates who just had a baby. Well, baby, not so sure, she weighed 9lbs 6oz and is 19.5 inches. Not very surprising, the parents are both pretty big people (atheleticly speaking, for those that know anything about rugby, mom played lock and dad plays 8 man.) Baby is super cute (and born with a black eye. Poor kid.)

(Unrelated, there's a monster in my bed ... an Ophiemonster)

Great expectations

2006-10-11T18:31:00.000-07:00

I never posted a picture of the finished camo jacket, with buttons. I couldn't find a rugby ball, but I know Luca's mommies like baseball so I put on baseball buttons.

These are my main current projects. The bright scarf is for my friend, it's her last year's b-day or christmas present. I can't remember, it was supposed to be done a year ago. There is a matching hat, which is finished and I already gave it to her. There is also an inside out hopeful sweater, with a little more sleeve than last time. I put a few more rows on Clopatis last night, it will be nice to finish that one because the appartment gets pretty cold. I need a nice comfy wrap like that. And last but not least, my fur trimmed wrap sans fur.

Now, what does all this have to do with the title of my post? Well, all those things you see in the picture, I want to finish them before I go home AND cast on for a rogue sweater and another scarf for a friend back home AND of course finish those things before I go home. Yeah, I chances of that happening, slim to none. (Oh heck, you can even forget the slim part, it just ain't happening.)
Plus, apparently my expectations for finding buttons for chocolate mocha are a bit too great. The universe is against me finding enough of the ones I like. I need 8, the most of the same kind that I can find seems to be 6.

And the title also applies to Ophie. She has great expectations to ... as far as her food goes. My roommate and I just give her dry food. She's an indoor kitty, she doesn't need all the juicy meat if all she does is sleep it off. (The occasional full moon crazy run around the appartment is not enough exercise to run off all the non diet food.) But, she has a few friends that care more about her tastebuds then my roomie and I do. Both Michelle and a neighbour happened to randomly come accross a little can of fance feast cat food and gave it to her. I tried to spread out her servings. But now every time I go into the kitchen, a hopeful Ophie follows me and pretends she needs to be fed. Spoiled kitty. It's gotten to the point where I can't even open a can anymore without Ophie doing that stereotypical walking in an 8 around my feet.
O well, her 15 minute memory will fade soon.

Picture day

2006-10-03T13:56:00.000-07:00

This is a day of fluf, no substence. In other words, it's a picture post today.
I cast on for a faux sur trimmed wrap. And I deserved it. Because I was good and I finished two more projects.

First is this baby blanket. It's my own design. It's what happened when I tried to make a mittered square blanket and realized I would never get it done before Michelle gives birth to Maya so I had to put in a few regular panels, hehe. I don't remember the yarn, I bought it at Joann's and it's some super soft synthetic baby yarn.

And this is Chocolate Mocha. All it needs is few buttons but I'm showing it off as a FO anyway. The pattern is 'Rosedale' from Knitty. The yarn is September 7th. (LOVE that yarn) The needles were size 8. I've been working on this one for a while. I just got sidetracked with other projects (what, me,... never)

And now something unrelated to knitting, but very much related to blogging. It's my computer. Turns out my Mac had one of those exploding batteries. Apple finally sent me a new non-exploding battery. But while I was waiting on it, the apple website advised on using the labtop without the battery, just the power cord. So I've been using a 'ghetto computer' for the last month. But no more. I'm stylin' again.

And I wouldn't be me if I didn't put a little Ophie montage in. This is her trying to copy the black cat poster... she needs some more practice.

Yesterday, as I'm making my bed, Ophie was all ready to help me put the sheet on. Every time it popped off the matress, she jumped on the bed to make sure it didn't go anywhere. Isn't she sweet.

absent minded me.

2006-09-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Yeah, silly me. This morning Ophie was bugging me for food as usual. And my not being a morning person, I stumble to the pantry and grad her yello bag of catfood. Or did I. I'm sure you already know by now what I put in her bowl. I've seen her eat some of the little litter rocks before, so I know her pallet isn't very refined. But still, didn't actually want to see if she'd dig her nose in. Took the bowl away really quick and got the saddest little look which soon disappeared. Litterally disappeared into her bowl of actual catfood.

And I finished a project. I took a picture but it came out really light, so I'll retake it later and post it. Gotta watch the season premier of Dr Who. They got a new doctor. Fantastic.

Tres peeved

2006-09-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

I am almost done with the camo baby jacket from Debbie Bliss' Special Knits. Just an inch and a half of ribbing left to go. (Yuck, I've said it before, but I'll say it again, I hate ribbing.) And in the corner you see the beginning of a gauge swatch and the reason for me being tres peeved.
I want to make Rogue with Sept 7th yarn and I need to use size 9 needles to get the correct gauge for Rogue. However, size 8 is the largest needles that look good with Sept 7th (experience), otherwise it gets to holey. So while I contemplate my decision to knit one size larger on the smaller needles, I will cast on for a fur trimmed ballet wrap from Interweave Knits Fall 2005, sans fur trim though. (I don't know where the french is coming from.) Ironically, the ballet wrap also calls for size 9s and I will also be using Sept 7th, but I don't mind if the wrap gets a bit holey.

Did finish my snuggle a while back. Just haven't posted it yet. So now hopefully some kitty at the shelter will be a bit more comfy on a new snuggle blanky.

And this is from Michelle's garden. The plastic bags are a bit fogged up but it is delicious basil. Mmm. Well one bag is still delicious basil. The other is now delicious pesto. Mmm.

And a funny story to leave you with: I did some laundry yesterday, was chatting to another resident while loading the washer. Until I see ... a spider. It was just a daddy long legs, but I HATE spiders, they scare me, especially if they get that close. The women offered to get the spider for me, she asked me where it was. Of course, behind my blue undies. I debated trying to tell her they were clean, but the circumstances would let her see straight through that one. I was brave, grabbed the undies and spider walked off and the women got him. Laundry is clean yet again.

A little look into my UFOs

2006-08-30T21:25:00.000-07:00

I've just picked a few project that are either very quick, or just completely different from every other UFO to work on simultaneously. Just so that one project doesn't become tedious. And here you have it, at least, the ones that fit in the picture. The pink mile of yarn (seriously, it's huge, I love it) will some day end up being clopatis. I have a sock in there too, happy to say it's the second sock. I see my (currently barbie sized but hopefully some day it will be big enough for a human) lace triangle wrap (one of these patterns here). There is also a baby sweater, pattern from a book called Special Knits by Debbie Bliss, made with camo yarn from lion brand. And last but not least, a cotton blanket for the snuggle project.
For those that have looked closely at this picture, they have spotted my little knitting aid. A little Zinfandel helps me deal with my many many UFOs. Oh yes, and that random little skein of grey yarn will be for rogue. I caved and bought the pattern. I won't have any problems to keep myself from casting on because I have no free needles or cables, haha. It's just a little extra motivation to finish one of my UFOs.

And I also have a second pile, they are not even UFOs anymore, they are so close to being finished. My chocolate mocha (click for pattern)just needs a button band and my hopeful sweater (currently being used to keep Ophie's ass warm as I type, I will kick her off for the picture, silly cat) is very hopeful that one day it will have 2 long sleeves.

And now, my full attention must go to Project Runway. Go Micheal!!!

Yarn dyeing gone bad?

2006-08-24T13:56:00.001-07:00

Or is it Michelle's famous pink turning camera?

Nope, it's what happens when kitties can't find the litter box and use my backpack instead. She is now a lovely shade of pink. And no, she didn't suffer. She's already back to her usual antics, mainly sleeping on top of her (my) box.
And this is pre-dyeing, it's Ophie's opinion on knitting needles. She wants them all to herself.
Which makes it hard for me to finish my projects if she is hogging all the needles... I haven't finished anything yet, but the wash cloth is almost done, and I'm making good progress on one of my baby sweaters. (And I'm ashamed to say, no progress on my thesis.)

Added later today: I changed my mind. It's not going to be a washcloth. I guess my conscience got to me and I will turn this into a snuggle blanket for a homeless animal, as they put it. I have a lot of waste yarn, it's either uniteresting or there's just not enough of it to give it away. Always a shame to just throw it away. So I shall turn it into a blanky and ship it to an animal shelter.

Issues

2006-08-21T19:57:00.000-07:00

Got a picture of shimmer (Cotton Fleece by Brown Sheep, color Truffle on size 8) but blogger nor Flickr is letting me post it, so click on this link and this one. All I can say is, mine has 3/4 sleeves instead of what the instructions say.

Last weekend I decided to take inventory of all my WIPs (UFOs, but I have the best intention of finishing them). Turns out, I have 20, yes, twenty. But I think I will frog 2 of them. And 2 others are crochet and somehow, using my flawless logic (read logic with more holes then swiss cheese) crochet projects will not count towards my WIPs. They get their own catagory. Not sure what yet. I could start finishing my WIPs or I could figure out some counting system where my WIPs are reduced to 2 or 3 and then cast on like crazy. Hmm, what to do...

Well I am proud to say though, that while I am figuring out my second option, I picked up a washcloth and I will finish that. A quick finish but at least it will be something I can scratch it of my list.

(insert title here)

2006-08-14T09:39:00.000-07:00

So first, these pictures have nothing to do with today's post. My friend and I convinced our rugby team to play 7s in pink skirts this summer. And then we came across these stylish skorts, and viola, our 7s uniform.
Can't really come up with a title for today's post. I don't have to much to say. Well, actually I do. I could go on a rant (but I won't) about having to pick up stitches for a button band on chocolate mocha. I don't like picking up stitches, not that many at least. And a button band implies ribbing, yuck. Also, I got a lot of ends to weave in. Never looking forward to that. So I will just keep in mind the finished product and that is almost ready for me to wear. (If I go to a highly airconditioned place, no more heat wave, but still too hot for a wool cardigan.)

But I can put on my recently finished shimmer shrug. I made it using Brown Sheep's Cotton Fleece, color truffle (I like stuff named after food, especially desserts) on size 7 needles. I made it through the sleeves, the edging and the weaving in of ends. I would have put in a picture, but the flash on my camera is busted. Everything comes out too dark. I'll get it fixed soon.

Just had to try it

2006-08-02T11:02:00.000-07:00

Found a nerd test on Lyssa's blog. I was ranked as a low level nerd. I think this is because I'm a bad test taker, haha. That and I can hide my nerdy side pretty well. (It takes some people a whole week to figure out I'm a nerd.)

And then I also found this one. And yes, I took the time to answer 500 questions. (it's not as bad as it sounds.)

Your 500 Point Nerdity Purity Test Results

You answered "yes" to 214 of 500 questions, making you 57.2% nerd pure; that is, you are 57.2% pure in the nerd domain (you have 42.8% nerd in you).
According to the scoring guide, your nerd experience level is: You refuse to live anywhere without pizza delivery
Your Weirdness Factor (AKA Uniqueness Factor) is 20%, based on a comparison of your test results with 52554 other submissions for this test.
The average purity for this test is 63.4%.
The first submission for this test was received March 4, 1996.

(You are correct, I have too much time on my hands.)

Sleeves ...

2006-07-27T14:50:00.000-07:00

I don't like working on sleeves. They get kinda boring after a while. They look like they should go faster than they do. So I decided to cast on for the back, as a little distraction. Well, I felt the wrath of the ignored sleeve as I ripped back several rows. I was messing up on the pattern. And at first I thought "whatever", but it looked crap and even when I tried to fix/fudge the amount of stitches, I always got the wrong number. So ... rrrriiiippppp.

I won't even mention my thesis today, haven't even opened up the word document. Today is all about the shrug.

It's not fish

2006-07-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

I'm sure that's what Ophie is thinking. I came home, she was sleeping, I put the yarn on the table and she jumps up and is looking at it. Maybe she was hoping for food, silly kitty. Instead, she is looking at Cotton Fleece from the Brown Sheep Co. I'm planning on making this shrug from Knitty. Except I will make it with 3/4 - ish sleeves. I cast on yesterday. I like this stuff. It's soft, so far it hasn't given me grief.

(Thesis update, still on page 8, crap)

All gone

2006-07-24T14:05:00.000-07:00

Yep, I got it cut. It is short. It doesn't feel cooler, but that has more to do with the blistering heat outside. And I like the no more pulling hair out when I comb through.
This is the baby dress that I finally finished. I hope Jenny's head will fit through, but I can figure something out in case it doesn't.

So Michelle and I are trying to be good, and we're on campus, "writing" our thesisesees (? whatever). Somebody needs to take away the internet connection. I think that explains enough about our actual activities. But I am happy to say that I have 8 pages right now. Again, there are only 3 lines on page 8, but they are on page eight. So it counts.

Well, I gotta get back to being good.

To cut or not to cut ...

2006-07-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

... that is the question.
It is so hot here. I'm thinking about cutting my hair. Ok, the heat actually has very little to do with it. It's the nappiness of it (my hair). I need to get it straightened again. And if you've had it done before and you're tenderheaded like me, that really SUCKS. It's actually only about 20 mintutes of torture, because that is how long the chemicals are on my head, but it feels much longer. And I hate, HATE, basing my scalp the night before. What's that, oh, that is just rubbing a gallon of grease on my scalp so I don't burn. Takes forever (I have a lot of hair to get between and it's always nappy before I get it done) and it's a greasy mess. It makes my head itch, but I can't scratch. Oh no, big no no. I scratch, my head will burn in that spot. (Powerfull chemicals)

Now if I cut it, and by that I mean shave it all off, I wouldn't have that problem.

I always go through this phase. I love my hair once it's been done. It looks fabulous, like you see on tv. My hair obeys the laws of gravity for a short while, it flows in the wind, I can do a Charlie's Angels Cameron Diaz hair shake.
But I'm too lazy to use the flat iron on a daily base, so it goes back in a pony tail, like you see in just about every picture. And now, it is time for me to go to the hairdresser again. Will I walk out fabulous, flowing shoulderlenght locks, or cute, short fro.

But, my contemplating on what to do with my hair did not stop me from finishing the baby dress. It's drying in the bathroom. Pictures will be up soon.

Only if it's deep fried

2006-07-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

My roommate went to the Orange County Fair last night. I asked her if she had any "fair food". She replies : caramel apples. What??!!. I know, caramel is basically melted sugar calorifically good, but fair food ain't real fair food unless it has been deep fried. So those caramel apples should have been deep fried caramel apples to actually count as fair food. Her friend had fried zucchini. Yes, it's been deep fried, but really, zucchinis? Funnel cake is what you should be having. One day, she'll learn.

As for me, I will go to that fair one of these days. Eat all the yummy stuff. In the mean time, let's look at the progress I've made in my knitting and thesis. Start with the good. The baby dress, coming along nicely. It better be because little Jenny is not staying so little. My chocolate mocha, nothing since the last post. But that's ok, my size ain't gonna change that much. (Well, it might after my fair food binge.) And my thesis, I wrote another half a page and it pushed my last paragraph onto page number 7. Do I have an actual seven pages,... well, not really, but that's how I'm gonna count it anyway.

In time for summer ...

2006-07-12T16:03:00.000-07:00

Let me show you what I have been working on ...
The top one is a nice and warm cardigan I have dubbed chocolate mocha. Made with September 7 merino wool. (I love that brand. It's soft, knits up easy, no hassle. Got is at a bag sale.) It's been on the needles for quiet some time, but this summer heat has inspired me to work on it again.
Also, I'm working on a little baby dress. I like it, I'm making it out of microfibre. Soft and synthetic, just what baby likes. But the size 4 needles, ... that just drives my nuts from time to time. And I'm making the 3-6 months size, so I can't put it down too long.
This is a little shrug that I cast on for and finished in one day. I needed a little break from the above projects and this was made on size 13 needles, it's the perfect distraction.This is the anthropology inspired shrug, made it from Mauch Chunky yarn. I won't be needing it for another 2 months at least, but I like it. Come fall, it will keep my shoulders warm.

And now, I must continue writing on my thesis. I have 6 pages so far. A lot more to go in other words.

pictures

2006-07-04T23:22:00.000-07:00

This is me being silly. I finally got this picture posting thing to cooperate. And so here you see my sock in Hawaii. Yes, the last day I got some sight seeing time. My socks drove me all over the place. (They actually worked the gas pedal most of the time)
Anyway, more knitting news tomorrow. I finished a little one skein/one day project. Keep me from finishing my other stuff.

2006-07-04T23:19:00.000-07:00

Here you have me on the beach in Hawaii. That building in the background, that is where United Airline put me up for the night. It was gorgeous.

Stupid flickr

2006-06-21T02:10:00.000-07:00

I'm back at Kitt Peak Observatory. Which means, plenty of time to post on my blog, but too tired to have it make sense. Especially because it is a short run, so I won't really adjust to the 4pm-5am work schedule. And my plan has been foiled by flicker not wanting to post my pictures.
I mentioned before that I went to Hawaii for a job interview, had very little time for sight seeing so I made the best of it. And to document it, I went through the trouble of looking very silly and having my socks pose in several picture. (It looked silly, because I was still wearing them. I got to practice my balance, though.) But I guess I can't show anyone right now, because flickr aparently thought my idea was stupid and refuses to show the pics.

Well, as for my interview, it went ok. But I don't think I want to live there. It is a gorgeous place to visit, but the big island is a very boring place after a few days. I've come to realize that I need big freeways and buildings and shopping malls (preferably discount). I need infrastructure. Or I need to be -at the most- a 1-hour drive away from it.
And on my way back to LA, my fligth got cancelled. They mention this to us after having us sit on the plane for 3 hours, making us watch stupid movie (Failure to launch, it was so bad) and of course, not feeding us. So because this was the last flight out, they had to put us up in hotels. And there were all these positive people around me, saying stuff like "better this then crashing". (we had mechanical issues) The rational side of me would have agreed with this philosophy, but I had no rational side. There was only my kranky, hungry, tired b*tch side that wanted to smack the positive people. However, this changed when I walked into my hotel room at the Hilton Hawaiian Beach Resort and Spa and looked out my window and saw the beautiful blue ocean. (mind you, it is 3am but the colors still looked gorgeous to me) Flat screen tv, huge size super comfy bed, ...this was indeed better than crashing. Oh yeah, I had no luggage, didn't care anymore.
At first they wanted to fly me back to LA at 7am, fat chance. I changed to 3pm and enjoyed my free (normally $329 a night) room, took advantage of my $7 discount off my way more expensive breakfast buffet and walked along the beach, put my toes in the warm, beautiful blue water.
Mind you, this was all in Honolulu in a place I could never afford, this is not where my interview was, different islands. But it did make me think about selling my soul and just making an insane amount of money with a heartless coperation, putting more effort into winning the lottery or finding myself a sugar daddy. Either way, I want to go back to room R1805. I want to go back there.

Enough rambeling. Must go look at stars again.

Scary cat

2006-06-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

just add water
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

So sweet and yet so ... scary. What can turn such a sweet kitty like Ophie into this? Water, hahaha. She needed a shower. She was a bit dirty and I had some allergic relatives coming over for a visit. She's still a bit mad here, but she got over it.

SOCKS!

2006-06-11T20:44:00.000-07:00

SOCKS!
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

Flickr has been giving me some issues about posting, but here is a picture of my recently finished socks. They went to Hawaii with me, I'll show pics later. They are super comfy. Michelle gave me the yarn for my birthday. As usual, it took me super long, but I finished them. I love them. I gotta admit, I am a sock junkie, but the small needles ... I need a break from them sometimes. But I do like making socks.

Been busy (somewhat)

2006-06-02T22:51:00.000-07:00

I had all these plans for writing the most fanatastic post ever in the history of bloggin. I can safely say that, because it ain't gonna happen. For some reason flickr is not letting me upload pictures right now. And I can't write the most fantastic blog entry ever without pictures.
So I'll give you just a quick update of what I have been doing. My parents are in town. Can be crazy at times, but this was a good visit. I went to my graduation ceremony and walked and got hooded for my masters. Now I gotta tell you, I didn't really graduate yet. Still need to write that crappy thesis. I won't bore you with the topic, but it's astronomy related.
I finished my first pair of socks. And I love them. I have to admit I do like to knit socks. When I finish one, I get super excited and can't wait to cast on. I love looking at sock yarn with a multitude of colours and watching as they form a pattern while you knit. Excited about what colour will be next. But the small needles, I hate them. And I tend to have a small gauge, makes me hate that even more. So I always gotta go over to a project with bigger needles. But then I go back to the socks and I love it. (Pictures as soon as flickr lets me) These socks are gonna keep me warm on my trip to Hawaii, because I have a job interview there. But it is warm and summer I hear you say... well, I'm going there for astronomy, and they like to put telescopes close to the middle of nowhere on top of high mountains. And it's always cold there. I'll let you know how that goes.

And that is what I've been doing. Oh yeah, lots of progress on my chocolate mocha sweater.

My tag

2006-05-07T20:08:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, Iv'e been very bad at blogging lately. But then I got tagged, I figure it's a good way to make a little come back. So here goes.

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
1. More traveling, to all over the world.
2. learn more languages (help me out with number 1)
3. in general, i hope i never stop learning new stuff
4. i need to finish up my million UFOs.
5. fly in a helicopter (if i could fly it myself, that would be super cool)
6.
7.
Hmm, I am so bad at planning, can't come up with 2 more things I really want to do before I die. Well, I do know several things like get married, have kid, ... stuff like that. But I just don't feel like putting it on the list, saving those spots for more adventurous things. (Don't get me wrong, marriage, kid = very adventurous, but I would like to put things on the list that I will actually do one day, 'cause at my rate,... Wait, then I should probably take number 4 of the list too.)

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
1. draw, I mess up stick figures
2. touch my toes (I'm talking in a strecth keep you legs straight kinda way)
3. pay attention for long amounts of time
4. drop kicks
5. stay away from chocolate
6. get up in the morning
7. from the looks of it, I can't seem to clean up my room.

Seven Things That Attract Me To My Man (I don't have one, but I know several qualities he needs to have):
1. gotta be able to watch lots of sci-fi channel
2. he better be good at cleaning because I'm not
3. he needs to look past my grumpy morning moods
4. cook, oh yeah, he better know his way around the kitchen.
5. sense of humor
6. be able to cheer me up
7. live in or near the same town (very important for me and it I keep messing up on this part. I met a guy, really great. Got most of the points on my list, he doesn't like sci fi all that much, but I can live with that. He also lives in Holland and that makes it a little bit harder.)

Seven Books I Love:
Most of the books I read are in Dutch, and I won't even bother you with the names. But I like the writer Jef Geraerts. He writes murder mysteries and one of the main characters in his stories lives in my home town. Can't help but love it.
And my other favorite books are the Shopaholic series. Hilarious.

Seven Things I Say:
1. Toodles
2. Sweet (in a Cartman kinda way)
3. 42! (Hey, it's THE answer to the ultimate question)
4. bring me a cookie
5. please bring me a cookie
6. 42 (yeah, I say it a lot, I'm a geek)
7. OPHIE!!! (she can be bad at times)

Seven Movies I've Loved
1. Full Monty
2. Didier (French movie, hilarious)
3. Taxi (orginal, another French movie)
4. Shawshank redemption
5. Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2, 3 not so much
6. Never ending story (it was on today, i still love it)
7. Blues brothers
(Basically any of these movies come on tv, I get sucked in.)

And before I go, my parents are coming to town. So i am hiding most of my yarn. going through the stash, I just realized how much crap i have. maybe after my parents leave, i might take a picture if i dare...

Where I knit ...

2006-04-21T00:08:00.000-07:00

team picture
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

I know, I know, I've been away for a bit. I thought my thesis would write itself, turns out that is not the case. Darn. But then I found Kat's blog and she has a funny little contest. Top 5 weirdest places you have knit. So here's my list:
1) at Michelle's house (granted not really a weird place, but a lot of my knitting happens there)
2) in car, waiting for parking or so (not while driving, don't worry)
3) on campus, in between classes. (not a weird place, but i do get some looks sometimes)
4) airport/ plane (cause the movie is not always all that great)

Ok, so these spots are not all that out of the ordinary, but the last one ...

5) next to the rugby pitch in between my games, because really, knitting and rugby, such an obvious combo. And I'm not even gonna start to describe the looks and comments.
But speaking of rugby, our team has new jerseys.

2006-04-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

sexies
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

And here is a close up of the new jerseys. I love them. Mainly because our old ones where kinda ... not pretty.

Before I sign off, a little bit of knitting progress news. Oh yes, I haven't been blogging much, but I have done some knitting. For example, I finished one of the baby blankets (the round one) and I finished a sock (not the pair, just 1 sock). Also, I cast one for a lace shawl and I have adapted a new philosophy: so I'm not allowed to buy yarn until I make somewhat of a dent in my stash. What better way to do that then to finish project. And the more projects I finish, the more my stash goes down, the more yarn I can buy to replace it. So, in order to finsh more projects, I need to cast on for more projects.
Bottomline, I need to go on a casting on binge so I can go on a yarn buying binge.
(And somewhere there was something about finishing, but that is already getting fuzzy in my brain)

Nerd alert.

2006-03-14T13:40:00.000-08:00

So it turns out, today is Pi day. Check out this article to learn more about this wonderful number. But if it is just too much, read the second column, because it has some nice random trivia in it. And admit it, everybody loves to know random trivia.

In other news, knitting news, I am pleased to saw I am almost done with the baby blanket. I am proud of myself for seeing it through. Just 15 more rounds to knit. I can do it. And after that, I want to finish my Hopeful sweater. I want to put on long sleeves though. I think it will fit better with the yarn I'm using. I have one sleeve cap done. It will be a real finishing binge. So different than my usual casting on binge. But I'll let you know how it works out.
In the mean time, happy Pi day. (At my friend's school they are doing all sorts of stuff, and some of it involves pie. mmm)

"Nobody puts Baby in the corner ..."

2006-03-10T19:17:00.000-08:00

Oh yes, I still remember that scene from Dirty Dancing. I thought is was the best movie ever when it came out. (Granted, I was young.) And then Patrick Swayze stands up to det. Lenny Briscoe (too much Law and Order) and takes Baby (Jennifer something) and they dance like they've never danced before. They dance the dance of their lives. And then everybody dances. Everybody is happy because they discover they are all great dancers with great rhythm.
Why am I reminiscing? Ophie. I think she is channeling or re-enacting that particular scene. Her dance partner is her food. She looks up at me and says :"Nobody puts tasties in the corner ..." and then she shoves her food bowl into the middle of the kitchen. But she doesn't stop there. No, apparently I must be punished more. Last night she actually stole all my covers and the night before that she almost pushed me out of my queen sized bed.
So that is it, no more movies for her. No more animal planet either (she starts to think she is an actual tiger). No more tv. And she will eat her food in the corner!

Veni, vidi, vici

2006-03-06T19:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I had to pleaure of meeting of whole bunch of SoCal knit bloggers (list of attendees here, thanks Crissy, and thanks to Lauren for organizing). Which was awesome. I came a bit late, but just in time for lunch at Busters, where they have an super yummy, calorificly chocolaty brownie dessert. I know some people took a picture so just go and browse their sites. But, I also found out about Purl Soho. Apparently it is a store in NY but has it's warehouse over here, a mile away from my house. So today I had to go and check it out.
I came to the place and thanks to Lori's good directions, I knew I had to walk 'round back to get to the entrance. I saw all the yarn, such lovely yarn. The beauty of it is (for me) I can look up what I want on their website and then just go to the store to pick it up. Because it is a warehouse, all the yarns are there but the prices are not advertised very well (which of course you could ask the girl every five minutes). But I love this place! They have so much lucious yummy yarn, I wish I could swim in it. And I am proud to say I conquerred my weakness. I actually didn't buy any yarn. I wish I could say I was strong, but I purpously left my credit card at home. (I'm thinking I should reward myself by going back tomorrow to get some yarn.)

Bottom line, if you live in the SoCal area and you like the luxurious yarns, go there. So worth the trip.

Temptation

2006-03-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

temptation
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

I have been good. I have been knitting on the baby blanket (yeah and it is a totally different one than I was working on earlier, that one has not been finished yet, it is crumpled up on my desk). It's not at an impressive stage, but I try to put a few rows on every day. And I have ignored to calls of temptation. Oh yes, I have ignored the two different kinds of lace that are begging for me to cast them on. It has been hard, but I have been good. And then there is to soon (relatively speaking, we're talking about me here, so I'll just say "one day") to be clapotis. That yarns has been more subtle, it hasn't really screamed but it just goes around whispering. All of a sudden I hear a little : "hey, psst, down here, yeah, come on, cast on, use me, use me, it's ok, nobody has to know, nobody will judge you, just a few rows, it will be on big needles..." And I guess that tactic has been the most succesfull. Tonight will give in to the rainbow boucle and cast on for clapotis. Sorry baby blanket, for I am weak.

Details

2006-03-01T11:10:00.000-08:00

Forgot to post the details on the jacket. Well, it's made with Rowan Yorkshire tweed aran on size 10 needles (oh yeah!!). Only used 4 skeins. Pattern is from the Vogue Knitting 2005 Holiday issue. It is a pretty simple thing, knits up fast. Even faster is you ignore some things the patterns tells you. Like accidently forgetting to do an increase in the front, and by not being bothered to do the actual collar but instead choosing to do some short rows. All though I made up for my short cuts by making long sleeves instead of three quarters. And I knit those a bit too long so I didn't need to put any ribbing or edging on the sleeves (another time saver).
In the end, mine is very different from the original, which I would love to attribute to creativity, but really it's because I can't (or can'te be bothered) to follow a pattern.

I promised pictures,

2006-02-28T21:19:00.001-08:00

VK cropped jacket
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

so here they are. I finished the VK cropped jacket. All though I messed up a little, you can't tell (I can't). And the clasp I got at Joann's looks pretty cool, if I say so myself.
So there is a lot of pics in todays blog, but I forgot to take a picture of my shoes. Some other day, I guess.

2006-02-28T21:19:00.000-08:00

new baby blanket to be
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

And I cast on for a baby blanket. Here are the beginnings.

2006-02-28T21:16:00.001-08:00

look at me
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

By popular demand (ok, one person), here is Ophie. What is she doing? Only Ophie knows... or maybe she doesn't even know.

2006-02-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Vk cropped jacket
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

A different angle of the jacket. I like it, it is comfy.

2006-02-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

let's play golf
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

She is weird, yes she is. On top of my golf clubs. Now what is she trying to tell me here?

2006-02-28T21:10:00.000-08:00

fresh out of the dryer
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

Did some laundry today. And guess who appreciates those clean clothes more than me ...

2006-02-28T21:06:00.000-08:00

"clean" laundry
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

yeah, laundry day ...

moment of silence

2006-02-23T23:39:00.000-08:00

El Presidente has called out a moment of silence for my latest yarn disaster. Because that green tangled up, but pretty colored mess she shows you, is mine. I wanted to start some lace yesterday, so I put it on the ball winder and ... the horror started. It was too tight to get off the contraption and I had to take it off in separate parts. Anyway, the mess says it all. It's just too hard for me to talk about it...

Today I cut loose some of the bigger parts, and I will still make a lace shawl out of it. But not today.
No, I cast on for a baby blanket. And I promise to show some pictures soon.

I'm back

2006-02-22T23:44:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I was gone for a bit. I had a friend in town for two weeks. Not much time for knitting or blogging. But, lots of time for watching rugby. Yes, is LA we were blessed with the IRB 7s circuit stopping off. Oh the eye candy, take a look at this year's action. It was great. But I will be sad if USA Rugby moves the event to elsewhere in the country. Don't they realize that everywhere else has actual winter. Everywhere, except for Southern California. I was talking to one of the coaches from South Africa (and I should also tell you, all the teams just came from Wellington [NZ, summer] the week before), he wondered what winter was like in SoCal. I had to remind he was in the northern hemisphere at that point and the 90degree weather and sunshine he was feeling, that was our winter. I'm sure if he believed me though.

Other than that, i finished my VK cropped jacket two days ago. I like it. It is very comfy. I bought ne shoes. Kenneth Cole, who else. They are sexy. And I had a cold, of which right now an annoying cough remains. Can't wait for that to pass. Amount of writing done on my thesis : none. O well, still got some time left...
And, I haven't cast on for anything new, yet. All though, I have been itching to cast on for a lace shawl. Maybe tonight.

But, pictures will be up soon...

That's what I get

2006-01-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

I went to Joann's today, because I wanted to see if they had some nice buttons for my VK jacket (I have done about 1/3 of the ends). Turns out, they had a lot of cute ones, it was hard to make choice, but eventually I settled on these pewter heart shaped clasps. They were only $2.
Like I said, it was hard to pick out the ones I like, without Michelle there to help me narrow down all the choices. But I managed, I'm all grown up...-ish. (And even more remarkable, that is all I got.)

Bags, earrings and astronomy

2006-01-27T18:49:00.000-08:00

bags and earrings
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

I am a bad blogger, but this is one step to make up for it. A while back I bought these two bags at Craftopia. Not that I needed more purses, but I guess it proves I am still all woman. I have too many shoes and too many purses. Anyway, I fell in love with the brown one, my original intent is to give the blue one as a present (but we'll see when the times comes to part if I can actually do it).
But I guess the postal service wasn't cooperative, stuff was late,.. bottom line to make up for the hastle, Alexia sent me a pair of earring (that are a perfect match with my new sweater) and a third purse.

2006-01-27T18:35:00.000-08:00

Ophie's favorite
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

Ophie picked out her favorite bag. She does have taste.

2006-01-27T18:28:00.000-08:00

knitting fever
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

And here you see why I astronomy is right for me. Two nights ago, ignoring all the ends I still need to weave in on the VK jacket, I looked at my Hopeful sweater. Wasn't in the mood for weaving, so I figured I would add a few rows to this. Then I noticed I was close to the neckline decreases and I knit up to there. It wasn't that late yet so I started the left side of the neckline. And these rows are short and they get even shorter as you go. So my brain is just telling me to finish the right side, and I listen to my brain. I ignore my alarm clock who is telling me it is LATE. Oh yeah, finished the left neckline at 4am! Just kept on knitting, bad movies on tv, great.

I saw a comic, it said : Astronomy is the only science where you can waste time productively. This line was accompanied by a guy in a comfy chair, big cup of coffee looking through a big telescope talking on the phone saying he is "just looking at some planets passing by, the usual." But in my case, the tag line is underneath a picture of me knitting. (Remember my pictures for Chile and Palomar.)

2006-01-27T18:19:00.000-08:00

front and half a back
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

Did a bit more yesterday. Now I have half a back and the front. You can still the see the cables hanging out next to my sides. But at least I can say it fits.

And here is the picture

2006-01-24T19:00:00.000-08:00

VK jacket
Originally uploaded by kittensmittens.

Still have a whole lot of ends to weave in, but I will get around to it. If you're curious as to what it's supposed to look like, take a look.
I made this in Rowan Tweed on size 10.5 needles (so big, yet it took me forever.)

Today is also my last day at Spitzer. My fellowship ends and I will have to go back to being a TA to make my money. Sigh. I'll live, teaching is fun, but sometimes I wish I could just some of my students upside the head. Oh yeah, I said it (I don't do it, but I will say it)

PS don't mind my hair or the mess in this picture. It was taken late at night and I was beyond the point of caring...

Happy dance time

2006-01-23T11:38:00.000-08:00

Yep, I am very excited to inform you that I have finished my VK cropped jacket. I didn't follow the pattern for the collar. Did my own thing instead, and I like the result. I will post a picture later.
Of course I still have what feels like millions of ends to work in, but I will get around to that. I will also need to go to the store and get a cute button or something to close the jacket. All in all, I am very pleased. I know I said I was inspired by the House of Zod, but in the end, I feel that the second sleeve looked better attached to the shoulder than it did wrapped around my neck...