May 30, 2008

Because I Clearly Do Not Have Enough To Do

I started knitting a shawl. I blame it on 30 squares of afgan garter stitch and 1.25 pairs (so far) of plain knit socks for the winter wardrobe. I need something challenging! Interesting! Light weight and annoying! May I present Corfu, in it's infancy.

Corfu Progress Pic 1

It's rather further along since this picture was taken a few days ago; I'm up to round 40. That blue is a little i-cord I used to start the cast on. I'm knitting with Knitpicks Shadow in Vineyard and I must say, it's quite nice and has stood up admirably to repeated frogging and tinking.

May 29, 2008

Trekking 100 Sock vComplete After Long Last!

I have finally completed these plain knit socks that I started 100 years ago. (Not really...it was more like February.) These were knit with Trekking color #100 using the Strong Heel by Elizabeth Strong. It used an inordinate amount of yarn and I actually ran out before reaching the end of the second sock. As you can see, I used dark green Knitpicks Essential for the last  1/4" of the toe.

Trekking 100 CompleteTrekking 100 Complete a

May 28, 2008

A Price Gauging Tale of Hair Raising Proportions

First, please allow this picture to illustrate the ends to which I had to go to retrieve what is left of my day:

Remains of the Day




Today, I went to the salon to test run a hair style for the wedding. To begin with, the stylist was 15 minutes late. Yes, when I arrived at the salon (10 minutes early, I might add), she wasn't even on the premises. The stylist I was supposed to see walked in as another stylist was washing my hair and then I sat for another 10 minutes after that waiting for my stylist (I'll call her Eva) to get her shit together. Then she cut my hair and blow dried it and told me that she had to put my (naturally curly) hair into rollers and set it before she could do the up-do. So...20 minutes later I sit down and get red in the face waiting for the hair dryer to do it's thing...for 30 minutes.

I had shown her two pictures that I kind of liked and wanted to combine in some way...I am ultimately looking for a fancy chignon or french twist with lots of loose curls just kinda pinned into and around it and a few finger waves and curls near my temples. A little like this, but with curly hair and the finger waves. Think: 1930's Holloywood glamour. What she gave looked more like I was the long lost member of the Angels or Supremes. And just to strike the proper chord of horror in your hearts, I have included photos of the crime scene.

Bad Wedding Hair 1

Bad Wedding Hair 2 Bad Wedding Hair 3 Bad Wedding Hair 4

See the spots I circled? Those are colored rubber bands (not hair elastics, rubber bands) that she used to gather the hair into little mini pony tails underneath the pin curls. And you see that bit on the back at the right? That's a pin curl that fell down within less than 30 minutes of leaving the salon. FABulous!

To add insult to injury this whole hair debacle cost a ridiculous and insulting $150.00. And let's not talk about how she made me 45 minutes late to see my crazy-head doctor (NOT a good thing when you are crazy in the head, as I am), who was astoundingly amiable about the whole thing. (I think he sensed that I was about to go off the deep end and didn't feel like fishing me out today.) Naturally, in my rush to get the heck outta the salon I left my earrings sitting on her counter. I'm sure that she will be good about giving them back, but ugh. This sucks.

The end result of all this is that I still do not have a hair stylist to do my hair for the wedding. My friends are not well equipped to do my hair, I have only about 1.25 hands (hard to do hair without the full 2.0 that most people have), and there are precious few other salons in the area. I already spoke to one of them and they did not understand enough English to get the idea that I wanted a test run before the wedding...they just wanted to schedule an appointment for the morning of the Big Day. Yeah. There are a few others, but I'm hesitant to have another day as expensive and frustrating as this one.

May 27, 2008

Wedding Shrug

I think in the mayhem and madness that has been planning a wedding in just over three months that I may have forgotten to mention that I'm knitting a shrug to go over the dress. Naturally, in mym enthusiasm to begin knitting with the pure silk, I didn't swatch (much) and so now that I'm 2/3s through it, I have to swatch to figure out how long I need this thing to be. See what you get when you try to skip a step?

Reading in Bed Progress

May 25, 2008

Blanket Progress

There has been a little progress on the Paintbox Afgan. I've knit block #25 and I'm half way through block #26.Block 25 Color 149

May 13, 2008

Remember I Said I Was Planning a Wedding?

Yeah. That's where I've been. But we finally got the rings in!! SQUEE! They are very pretty. I'm wearing the engagement ring, so that's what y'all are getting a picture of. The wedding ring must wait for the Big Event.

Engagement_ring_1 Engagement_ring_2 Engagement_ring_3 Engagement_ring_side_detail

April 20, 2008

Imagine Knitting Content...

do you have that image in your head? Good! Because I have some honest to goodness knitting content for you!

Amidst the several months of chaos in my home, which included (but was not limited to) Marikal undergoing major surgery for what they thought was cancer but turned out to be sarcoidosis, planning the wedding, stupid craziness at work, stuff with clients, and an increase in my writing output for various and sundry projects I have, actually, been knitting. Though I admit not as much as usual.

Here, you will see six more afghan squares for the Paintbox afghan project! Aren't the purty? This constitutes blocks #19-#24 in colors 116, 134, 166, 32, 207, and 182 (in order).

Block_19_color_116 Block_20_color_134 Block_21_color_166 Block_22_color_32 Block_23_color_207 Block_24_color_182

April 16, 2008

Yeah, Okay, So I've Been MIA for a Month...

But I have a really good reason! I've been planning my wedding! Today when I was downtown for the first dress fitting, I stopped in at the MAC counter and had them do my make up. I took pictures to get y'alls opinion but also so that I know what it looked like if I decide to do something similar for the wedding. I'm not sure that I love the colors, but I don't hate them, either.

Dsc00275a Dsc00276a

March 18, 2008

Gratuitous Kitty Pictures

There have been very few pictures of the local royalty on the blog for quite a while and so I offer a very brief post with pictures of their ladyships.

Cocitta_32008 Kali_32008

March 17, 2008

Chevy Eyelet Socks

My Chevy Eyelet Socks are a heavily modified version of Jaywalker, I guess you could say...I named them differently because they have been modified so drastically. I'm knitting these for my friend Pharmagirl, as she loves all things purple (and a little pink thrown in is good, too). I cast on 64 stitches and increased to 72 stitches after the ribbing. I then replaced the k1fb with yarn overs and most notably I am fading the chevron pattern into plain stockinet. I'll be doing this by starting the pattern as written (with the yarn overs, etc.) and after 7 full repeats, knitting 2 plain knit rows between pattern rows. After 4 rows like that, I'll make it 3 plain knit rows for 4 repeats, then 4 plain for 3 repeats, then 5 plain for 2 repeats, then 6 plain for 2 repeats and then 7 plain for 1 repeat. After that it will be straight stockinet. The reason for the changes are sundry:

  1. I don't like knitting the Jaywalker pattern after a little while, as I have a short attention span and it gets tedious quickly
  2. The Jaywalker socks tend to be stiff and inelastic, which makes it hard for sizing when knitting for others
  3. The Jaywalker patterns eats yarn and I only have this 1 skein and don't want the trouble of finding more, should I run out

Here's a progress picture where you can see very little. ;)

Chevy_eyelet_sock_progress

My Photo

2008 Resolutions

  • Photograph/Blog the FOs
  • Learn to Quilt
  • Swear Less
  • Do Something Fun for My Birthday
  • Take A Vacation
  • Lose 30 lbs.
  • Purchase a Professional Wardrobe
  • Eat Breakfast
  • Save $1,500 in the “Rainy Day” Fund
  • Establish a Will/Living Will, and Healthcare Proxy
  • Get Married
  • Complete 27 credits toward my degree (3/semester)
  • Launch Professional Blog Attached to Professional Website
  • Launch Professional Website
  • Locate & Hire a PR/Copywriter for Professional Website
  • Read More Business-Focused Books

Wedding Budget

  • Percentage of Total
  • Running Total
    $65.48