Rockin' the Noggin

Ah ha. My first FO of 2008. And an easy one at that.

Pattern: An Unoriginal Hat by Yarn Harlot
Yarn: 1 skein Socks that Rock (STR) Leticia in Love in Idleness
Needles: US11 dpns
Mods: omitted two rows in the second repeat of the pattern

I have to say I'm very pleased with this hat. It looks a lot more complicated than it is and it keeps my head nice and warm in this dreary, wet weather we've been having lately. It took me a lot longer than it should have to knit this, but then again I can only knit so long at one time. So, what should have taken me one or two nights, two me about two weeks. But that's fine. I'll take what I can get.

Towards the end of the knitting I was getting worried that I wouldn't have enough yarn left to finish, which is why I shortened it by two rows, one row on each side of the small cable in the middle of the repeat. Despite this, it's actually still slightly too long. If I make this again, I'll omit those rows in both repeats. As for the yarn, its lucious, really soft, brilliantly colored wool. I haven't washed it yet and I've never worked with STR before, so I don't know what to expect, but I hope the color holds. It is already starting to pill a bit, but I treat it rather roughly. In this cold weather, it is worn almost constantly outside and then shoved into my pocket when in doors. So really, what do I expect? Here is another shot with more detail in it as opposed to the pasty girl up top. (It is becoming very obvious to me that I need to make the effort to get outdoors more this summer and get a little sun action. Now if only the sun would hurry up and appear; we've beat the drought already.)

The Green Light

Hello all. Since I've last written I pointedly ask my physical therapist about whether or not I am able to knit without doing damage to myself. And the awesome verdict is yes! I just can't do it for more than a half an hour at a time; after that I need to take a short break. So, WOO HOO! The knitting is on! It's slow, but it's on. On that note, I actually have a finished object to show you, but that will have to wait until the next post. I'm having computer issues and can't load pictures right now, so it'll have to wait until I get the opportunity at work to load the pics up to Flickr.

Until then I do have some fun pics from my recent attempts at being more social this year. So far I'd say I've been pretty darn successful. Last weekend I went to see Super Diam0nd (Neil Diam0nd cover band) play in the city. A really good friend of mine bought tickets for everyone as a wedding present to his fiance. Not being a huge Neil Diam0nd fan, I really didn't expect much, but I had a great time. Turns out I know a lot more of his songs than I thought. And it there was a really good vibe at this place; everyone was out to have a good time.

Here I am sneaking in my good times in the back of the room with my recently engaged friend. (What her fiance doesn't know wont' hurt him, right?)



And then the next day I met up with some friends from college in Berkeley for lunch. After stuffing our faces we went to the Sho Chiku Bai factory for some awesome sake tasting. Mmmm, mmm, mmm, good stuff. I never thought of myself as much of a sake fan, but now I think that's just because I'd never had good sake before. They gave us six or seven tastings and it was all pretty good. And very reasonably priced too. Their catch phrase on the posters in the factory was "Happiness you can pour." Ah ha ha ha. Love it. So wrong, it's right. We all walked away with some happiness to take home. Afterwards I kicked it with J0hn Lenn0n outside.



Which is weird in a way because of the Featles I know, Lenn0n is probably the least happy one in my mind. But we had a good time. Hmmm, is it me or do he and I have very similar hair; he just needs to find a pair of shades and we could be family.

OK, next time a finished object. See you guys later.

Happy Holidays and Merry New Year!

I've been quiet for a long time, but I wanted to take this opportunity to tell everyone that I hope they had a fabulous holiday season. Pictured above are the holiday cards I sent out. Since I couldn't knit or sew and was totally feeling the crafty withdrawals, I decided to make my own cards. When I was in high school, my mom got really into the whole stamping phenomenon for a while and we collected a lot of supplies. After seeing Domesticraft's cards from last year, I knew that I wanted something as equally simple and elegant. So I borrowed my mom's embossing fan, bought some cards, a stamp, and some embossing powder and went to town. Even this small project took me about three evenings. My arms just couldn't do that much work after working all day. But I'm extremely happy with how they turned out.

This being the first day of the new year, it is of course meant for New Years Resolutions. And I have two sets of them. So, without further ado:

2007's Crafting Resolutions

1. I will not buy any new yarn until I've finished (completely finished) three projects with yarn from the stash. This does not include any yarn needed to finish these projects. Also, Stitches West (and possibly my birthday) will be exceptions to this rule. And deeply discounted Noro Kureyon will be an exception since I'm trying to collect skeins for the Lizard Ridge blanket from Knitty.

2. I will not have more than three active knitting projects going at one time. It's a year for finishing up and limiting UFOs. (This does not include baby gifts.)

3. I will try to blog at least twice a month. I know it doesn't seem like much, but if I achieve it, it will be more than last year.

4. I will bind the two quilts I have done and finish the one in progress before starting any new ones. (Again, this does not include baby gifts.)

5. My goal for new things craft-wise this year is to learn to knit socks and lace.

OK, that's it for now. Pretty good goals, if I do say so myself. I know it seems like there are a lot of exceptions, but it would never be doable without a few loop-holes. Just like a diet, you know? You can't be so ridged that you set yourself up to fail from the start.

2007's Life Resolutions

1. Work really hard to take care of my arm. I've had an MRI and EMG testing done on my neck and a pinched nerve was ruled out, although there is a possibility of a slight disk bulge. (According to my new PT guy, Isiah--who is probably my favorite person that I've met in dealing with this whole situation, the disk bulge is lowest of the bad things besides a simple muscle strain that can go wrong.) Plus, as I just said, I've been approved for a new round of PT with a new person specialized in arm/shoulder injuries. My horoscope in the January issue of InStyle said that this was my year for successfully getting in shape. I was going to set goals and meet them 100%. I'm really, really hoping that that applies to this.

2. Get back in shape in general. All these injuries have made me quite the couch potato, while still keeping my previous appetite. I haven't gained that much weight, but I'm definitely soft around the edges instead of being firmer and more muscular like I used to be. So, I want to start walking regularly again. (Well, not again, cuz before I used to run. But I have bad knees and with the arm/shoulder injuries the jarring-ness of running just won't do.) And when my arm is up to it, take up swimming again. Again, Jan. horoscope; time to bust my ass.

3. Drastically reduce my intake of sugar. Actually, it's more like eat less dessert and candy. New sugar goal, one dessert a week.

4. Be more social. With this whole arm injury, I've fallen into a rut of sitting on couch and laying around the house instead of going out and seeing people. It's easy to do with painful injury. You're in pain and every movement can hurt. But, I've started to feel like life is passing me by. I never used to be the "go out and party every night" type of girl, but my social life definitely decreased in the last year. I shall have to remedy that.


And that's it. I think I can do it. Especially the life ones. They are more long term beneficial goals than quick, unreasonable goals that are doomed to fail from the beginning. What about you guys? Do you have any goals? Let me know.

And to sign off, here is a little eye candy of Maddox of the Toad in the Puddle quilt fame.

If he isn't the definition of cuteness, I don't know what is.

I hope everyone had a safe New Year's Eve and has a wonderful and healthy 2008. Here's to new beginnings.