Year End Update

Well.
I think it should be obvious that one of my new year's resolutions should be to keep up with my blog. I've joined Project 365, which involves taking a picture a day and blogging about it, so hopefully that will help me to keep up with blogging.

It's been an eventful year, and I'm now at the point where I realize that the time just flies by...my son is a junior in high school, which means by this time next year, he'll almost be done with the whole shebang (hopefully). There's still that pesky little detail of Algebra that we must contend with.

I started graduate school, and I'm proud to say that I finished the Fall semester with an A and the comment of "Excellent paper!" on my final from my professor. For once in my life I have a 4.0. And I'm damn proud of it!

Now on to the knitting...I wouldn't even have this blog if it weren't for the knitting. I'm proud to say that learning to knit has enabled me to keep my new year's resolution, something I haven't done in a very long time. And I LOVE TO KNIT!!! I'm sure my hubby feels I do it way too much, but oh well. I've learned to make sure the house is clean and the dishes are all washed and everything before pulling out the knitting for the night. And I've learned not to buy all of that novelty yarn that's on sale. This year I hope to knit a pair of socks (I actually have one started) and maybe even a sweater. And striped scarves for everyone for Christmas! (I put that in so I can come back in December and laugh.)

San Diego Wildfire Blanket Project

The Wildfire Blanket Project has a blog!
San Diego Wildfire Blanket Project

I've got a lot of things to say...

Wow, it's certainly been a long time since I've posted something of substance. I blame school, football, marching band season, Ravelry, and the recent wildfires (but not necessarily in that order.)
School
School is going along pretty well, things can certainly be worse. I'm a little over halfway through the course (Research Methods for Library and Information Professionals) and so far I've gotten good marks on the assignments I've turned in. Right now we're in the middle of descriptive and inferential statistics and all the math is making my head spin. I'm hoping we don't have to dwell on it too much longer.

Football
There was one week early in the season when all my favorite teams lost. It wasn't a very good weekend. Here's who I follow:
Point Loma Pointers - my son's high school football team. He's not on the team, he plays in the marching band. After a couple of losses early in the season they made a couple of adjustments and it looks good for them to win their league.
Notre Dame Fighting Irish - don't really know why, but I've been a fan for quite a long time. It pains my heart to watch them right now, but I savored every minute of that victory against UCLA.
Arizona Wildcats - it's really nice to be part of a school that plays Div. I athletics. The Wildcats came sooo close to beating USC, but they tend to run out of steam in the end. I'm looking forward to basketball season.
USC Trojans - like the Irish, it's tradition, albeit a much newer one for me. Unfortunately, they're not as dominant as they've been in the past. It sure has made for one heck of a College season though! I haven't gotten much accomplished on Saturdays lately; I'm watching 2,3 games at a time.
San Diego Chargers - after those horrible losses early in the season, the Bolts have finally gotten the momentum going in the right direction.

Marching Band Season
I love being a band mom. The kids are great and the shows they put on are nothing short of remarkable. Plus, don't they look great in uniform?
Unfortunately, one of their big tournaments was canceled because of the fires here in San Diego.

Ravelry
I got my Ravelry invite in mid-September and immediately used up all of my flickr uploads on pictures of my yarn stash. I almost got through all of it.
I love Ravelry, and that's probably one of the biggest reasons I've been neglecting my blog, since I can post my knitting pictures there. But don't fret, I've got some yarny pictures right here:
My Gryffindor scarf, which I can use at my son's games and tournaments, since these are his school colors.
A golf club cover for my husband. Knitting something for him every so often is useful because then he doesn't complain about it as much. Looking at his golf clubs, I have several more to go. If I get good enough at them I might make a set to donate as a prize for the Golf Tournament the band holds in the summer.

Fires
The fires in San Diego this week came much closer than the ones 4 years ago, although it certainly didn't seem like it. There wasn't nearly as much ash falling as last time, probably because the winds were stronger and blew everything right past us.Unfortunately, those same strong winds fanned the flames out of control in many parts. My coworker's parents lost their house in Rancho Bernardo early on Monday morning. They got an order to evacuate at about 5 in the morning and had less than half an hour to get things together and leave. What they left with is pretty much all they have left; from what I saw on TV, their house is a complete and total loss.
I had just started to knit up some Christmas stockings to decorate the library with (really just an excuse to knit at work), but now I'll be focusing some of that energy on knitting 8" squares to be made into afghans for victims of this latest fire. This project is the brainchild of GeorgieGirl65 on Ravelry, and more information can be found here.

Sorry for this kinda lame post...

Which Sublime song are you? Caress Me Down Te gusta reggae, y te gusta punk rock. Oh and what's that other thing you like...oh yeah-sex. You're hornier than Ron Jeremy. Uuh, and that's the lovin' sound.

Click Here to Take This Quiz Brought to you by YouThink.com quizzes and personality tests.

Back to School again!

My postings may become infrequent again, although I'll try my damn hardest not to let that happen. Class starts on Monday and I finally got access to the e-classroom. On my class homepage there is a picture of a chicken. I think the professor has a sense of humor!

Current WIPs: a sock (my very first!) that I started on the drive back from Tucson. I have about 12 rounds to go before starting the heel...but I don't know when that will happen. Right now I'm trying to finish a HP House Scarf. Yes, I know it's damn late but well, I didn't even start it until last week. It's actually for football/marching band season, and I'm pretty sure I'll have it done before my son's first field show.

On a happy note, we finished up our Summer Reading Program at work, and the grand prize (a laptop!) went to a very deserving kid who read 62 books. And he really read them, unlike many of our kids who just jot down the titles. Sometimes things really work out.

I got an F...O, that is, and also an A

Well, I'm off to a good start in grad school, I got an A in my first class! Now if I can only just register for my next class, which I can't do until I get an immunization form signed by my doctor's office...I've been calling them for the past two days, they keep saying they'll fax it but I still haven't received a copy and there's still a hold on my school account keeping me from registering. I'm headed down there this morning and I'm not leaving until I get that form signed.

I also finished the baby blanket. I didn't finish it before the baby shower but I saw my friend yesterday and so I stayed up the night before to weave in all the ends that still needed weaving. I didn't have time to take a pic; she's promised to take one when she opens it.

I survived Library School Boot Camp!

My apologies to anyone who actually reads my blog, I know it's been over a month since I last posted. I've been busy with graduate school (still get a chill when I say that...)
My first course involved a seven-day intensive face-to-face residency in Tucson, which took place at the end of July. I was expecting 100+ degree weather but got monsoons instead. There were thunderstorms every afternoon and reports of flooded streets. Thank goodness I never encountered any of the flooding, even though I was staying about 20 miles away in Oro Valley. I met some great people, who I hopefully will encounter throughout the program, even though I'll be taking the rest of my classes online.
I have been knitting, I'm almost finished with a baby blanket for my friend Hazel who is expecting in October. The baby shower is in two days so I really need to get cracking, or else I'll be at Babies R Us on Saturday morning looking for a replacement gift.

Pads win!!!

So yesterday was my very first trip to Dodger Stadium. I went because the Padres were playing. As much as I wanted to be the outsider and wear my Padres t-shirt, I couldn't find it and had to settle for wearing my World Baseball Classic shirt instead.
I was sitting next to my husband's cousin, who is a die-hard Dodger fan, and he kept nudging me every time they scored. However, he did get quiet in the 4th inning when Kevin Kouzmanoff hit a home run and put the Pads up by 4 runs. It was looking like I wasn't gonna see Trevor close the game, but the Dodgers did come back enough to make the game interesting and sure enough, in the bottom of the ninth, it was Trevor Time. He came out of the bullpen to booing, for heaven's sake! But at least some fans did give him the respect, calling him the "greatest closer in the history of baseball". Even my husband's cousin pretty much knew it was over when Trevor took the mound.
Oh, and they charge $12 for beer at Dodger Stadium. Is that crazy or what? I had an almost front row view of a guy chug his beer as everyone around him cheered.

FO: Legwarmers

One week and one day after graduation, the legwarmers are finished (and gifted about 30 seconds after the last tail is woven in):

The pattern is "Super Easy Legwarmers" from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.I used one strand of Plymouth Encore in an ice blue color with one strand of Misti Alpaca Laceweight in a much darker blue. I really like how the two colors combined.
She's thrilled with them!

So what took so long? Well, the Independent Study period for my class started on Sunday, and so I've been busy being a good student so as not to fall behind. I also got my new laptop about 2 weeks ago but haven't been able to post pictures cuz I was trying to get the legwarmers done. I actually did an unboxing, I'll post those pics eventually, but I just have to show you this:

This was printed on the bag/sleeve that the laptop came in. I'm guessing it's the new universal sign for "Choke Hazard"?

One and a half FO's

Graduation has come and gone, but I'm not too late with these items, one finished and one half:

The Gryffindor-colored beanie is for my son's friend Tony, who is a huge Harry Potter fan. I used Knitty's Halfdome, the large adult size, and decided on three stripes because I thought it looked cute that way.

The one finished legwarmer is for a young girl who works with us, she does ballet and had jokingly asked me to make her some legwarmers when I first started knitting. She doesn't know I'm making them. I brought this one into work yesterday and all of my coworkers were impressed. Now I just have to finish the other one in a reasonable amount of time. Here's my progress:

Yes, I have my work cut out for me. I'm really hoping to get it done this weekend so I can concentrate on my independent reading for school. The good thing is that I can probably get some knitting done at work today.

FO: Music Notes Dishcloths

I actually finished these more than a week ago, but since I needed to package them for gifting I finally got around to taking a picture of them. The top 2 are Sugar n Creme dishcloth cotton in Burgundy and Camel, and the bottom one is Elann Adara in Cinnabar. I used a bamboo stitch variation on that one. The dishcloths are for my son's Band Director, who is getting married in July.

And now I get to show off some gift yarn!
La Jefita brought this back for me from Alaska. It's from a company called Raven Frog Fiber Arts, and this beautiful color is called Stormy Seas.
Have another look:
The yarn has all these little loops going through it, which will probably make it slow-going to knit, but hey, it's gift yarn!

I'm a grad student!

I got official notice of my acceptance today, I'll be starting grad school in the next few weeks! Yes, it will cut into my knitting time, but I hope to find a happy medium.
Meanwhile, I need to attempt a provisional cast on for the Tetris Baby Blanket, modified to have a garter stitch border instead of the mock crochet one.

Tetris Baby Blanket

I only have 2 projects on the needles right now, and ever since I finished the skull armwarmers (let's face it, they're waaay to big to be called wristwarmers) I've been meaning to start on the baby blanket for my friend Hazel. I'm glad I procrastinated about it, because while browsing the Knittyboard yesterday I came upon a pattern that jumped out and screamed "I'm the one you should make!"
The pattern, created by gracielou on the Knittyboards, is called Tetris Baby Blanket with Mock Crochet Edge. I absolutely fell in love with it at first sight, and I know that it will be perfect for my friend and her boyfriend.
I already have 12 balls of Knitpicks Crayon for said blanket; the original is done in Sugar n Cream so I knew that I was going to work a few things out. Firstly, Crayon is DK weight while Sugar n Cream is worsted, and while I'd originally planned to use 2 strands of Crayon, I thought I should swatch just to see how the yarn felt both single and double. First time I've had to swatch, and I did 2 of them! Aren't you proud of me?

The blue is the single strand using size 5 needles; the red is double on size 7s. At first I thought the single would be alright, but the red just feels more substantial. And boy does it use up the yarn fast!
I just finished placing an order for the rest of the yarn I'll need, plus a few skeins of sock yarn thrown in to get free shipping. I've already charted my colors, subbing orange and red for the denim blue and violet. According to my swatch, my blanket should be about 20 inches across.
I also have some promising news on the school front; today I emailed the program coordinator and she replied back that she still hasn't heard from the Graduate College. She suspects that it's my low GPA that's holding up the process, but she did tell me that she wrote a memo on my behalf. At least someone has some confidence in me!

It's been too quiet...not a good sign

It's been more than a week since I heard from the Masters Program I applied to. I'm accepted as a Provisional Student, but that requires approval from the Graduate College. They had told me before Memorial Day that the situation would be resolved soon...and as of now I still haven't heard anything.

I wish they'd just hurry up and tell me that my application has been denied, so I can stop getting hopeful.

FO: Skull Wristwarmers

A couple of hours on Saturday, plus a couple more today, and I have finished Naomi's wristwarmers!

The skull pattern is from Hello Yarn's Skull Socks of Fury. Basically I followed the pattern up until the chart was completed, then added approximately the same amount of stockinette and ribbing rows as the top side. This was my first time using DPNs, which are actually quite cool! I think I'm almost ready to tackle my first pair of socks.

These are for my good friend Naomi, who in addition to being the biggest POTC fanatic I know, is the one who taught me how to knit in January. She saw all the books I'd collected from various branch libraries, and one evening at work immediately proceeded to give me a demonstration using 2 pencils and some cotton string. That visual demonstration was the one thing I needed to get started.

I'm sure you can see the skulls are not quite identical. I lost a stitch near the bottom of the chart on the second wristwarmer, but I think it still looks okay. We can just say that one skull decomposed a little faster?

Finally, my new camera!

Well, the camera finally arrived last Tuesday, but this is the first chance I've been able to mention it. I love this camera, it may not be a digital SLR but it's a heck of an improvement over the 1.3 megapixel Cybershot I was using!
Here's one of the first pictures I took with it, at DH's cousin's graduation from Cal State Northridge:

I really don't remember it being that bright, but it's a great picture nonetheless.

And since this is first and foremost a knitting blog, I have to show some pictures of my WIPs...first the skull wristwarmers, which you can see I am slightly more than halfway done:

Secondly, the beginnings of a legwarmer for a coworker who is just about to graduate from high school. She does ballet, and when I was first starting to knit she'd asked if I could make her some legwarmers. I steal a half hour here and there at work (when she's not there) to work on them, and they are progressing nicely since it's just a simple 1x1 rib pattern. It's the legwarmer pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts.

The waiting is the hardest part...

Well, I had hoped that my next post would be some really good news about how I was officially accepted into the Masters program I applied to. I was accepted as a provisional student by the department, but that requires approval from the Graduate College of the university. After I received an email that stated I was added to the program's ListServ, I sent an email to the department asking them to confirm my acceptance. They replied back that the Graduate College would be making a decision very soon, hopefully that day.
That was Thursday.
After obsessively checking my email on the hour all day Thursday and Friday, I finally gave up around 3:00, since it's a holiday weekend and the university is one time zone ahead of me. Now I have to wait until Tuesday.

I actually have some FO's, but I'm also waiting for my new camera to arrive. I ordered it from Dell, and the docking station was shipped out right away but I had to wait for the camera. The shipping on this thing has been seriously screwed up. Now, I know it's my fault that I put the wrong zip code in, but the first package found its way home all right! In looking at the tracking history for this package, it was shipped on 5/17 with an estimated delivery date of 5/16. Yeah, DHL is right on top of it!

So I call DHL to give them the correct zip code, and get all this crap about how I have to contact the shipper to get the address changed. I politely inform the girl that I don't want to change the address, I'm just correcting the damn zip code! She tells me that she'll put in the request, but can't guarantee that they'll deliver without a written statement from Dell. So I ask her why did they deliver the first package that had a bad zip code with no problem? (Incidentally, that package was shipped on 5/1 and delivered on 5/2). She couldn't answer that.

I finally got a phone call on Thursday (yes, it was the LONGEST Thursday of my life) saying that my package was with the delivery driver and would be delivered that day. I get all of my packages delivered to work since there's always someone there to sign for things; we are on a first-name basis with our UPS driver, who already knows all of our last names. Why Dell didn't ship this UPS will forever remain a mystery to me.

5:30 (our closing time) rolls around and the DHL guy is a no show. I check the tracking that night and it says that they tried to deliver at 6:41, the place was closed and they will attempt the next business day. Okay, Friday, get to work, check the tracking and the package is out for delivery. Is it too much to assume that if you are attempting to deliver a package and the place is closed, you would then make note of the POSTED business hours and return the next day within that time frame!!!??? According to the tracking information it looks like they didn't even bother to make a delivery attempt.

So here we are on Saturday, and surprise surprise, it says the package is with the Delivery Courier! I'm not holding my breath though, the place closes at 2:30 on Saturdays.

Spring Fling Goodness

Well, I thought I'd received all my packages...

I got a package from my Knitty Spring Fling Secret Pal! The package was lying on my doorstep when I stopped off at home to drop my son off; good thing, or else I wouldn't have seen it until much later...

Check out the loot!
Firstly, stuff to make socks with:

A pattern from a fellow Knittyhead to make ankle socks, plus everything to make the socks with! 2 balls of Cascade Fixation and some DPNs! Also in this picture is a lovely book of handmade paper. One of my friends suggested I use it as a journal for all of my knitting projects...when I get to the end, there should be lace!
Also included were some cute items:

I really love the sheep-y measuring tape. Everything came in this cute bag...
complete with a crabby scrubby!

THANK YOU SECRET PAL!!!
All I can say is that my Secret Pal must be a veteran of these things! This package was thoughtful and lovely and surprising all at the same time! Oh, and she left some clues about who she is, she lives in Portland and has a blog, and is currently working on projects from No Sheep for You. I'm off to do some research to see if I can figure out who my excellent benefactor is...

It's raining yarn!

Coming to work yesterday there was a package waiting for me, my Webs order...and then today I got all the rest of the yarn I'd ordered, from Knitpicks and 2 cones of Peaches n Creme I ordered from a very nice lady on eBay:

It's almost
too much yarn.

I finally made a decision on the baby blanket, it's going to be knit on the bias in randomly generated colors of Knitpicks Crayon. In case you couldn't see in in the picture above, here are the colors I chose:


My priority right now is to finish the wedding gift dishcloths (at least 2), then the baby kimonos, then the wrist warmers, then the leg warmers. Then the blanket. Wish me luck!

Provisionally accepted...almost!

I finally got a response from U of A...They are recommending me for acceptance into the program, dependent upon approval from the Graduate College.
Wow.
Everyone I've spoken to says that it's just a formality, that the graduate college just needs to rubberstamp my application since it's the department that has already accepted me, but I'll wait until I get official word. I don't want what happened last time to repeat itself, where I got an acceptance letter from the university followed by a rejection letter from the department. In the meantime, I'll just knit and wait.

Noob goof alert #2

I was doing so well with the Mason-Dixon baby kimono, I loved the way the yarn-overs were making a nice little lacy pattern on the edge...

Yep, right on the edge. It was only until I started working the second half that I realized that there was no possible way I could do the yo at the end of the row to make it match up. Poor little kimono will have to take a trip to the frog pond. At least I don't have to frog the whole thing, just up to the shoulders. I'm setting the darn thing aside anyway, to finish the wedding present dishcloths. The Peaches n Creme cones are finally on their way so I want to at least finish the first dishcloth before they arrive.

And when I restart the kimono, I will remember to do the yo one stitch before the end at the neck edge.

It's been a busy week

It's been a very busy week, with very little time left for knitting. We spent last weekend driving up to LA and back twice so Jarred could participate in Displace Me, an event through Invisible Children. He and a friend spent the night in a cardbord shelter, and they had only water and saltine crackers. The event is supposed to simulate a refugee camp in Uganda.
Driving back the next morning to pick him up, we learned that DH's Tia, who had taken him in when he was in the seventh grade, had finally passed on. She had been in the hospital since mid-February. This woman was a fighter; she'd lost her kidneys 25 years ago and defied all odds to make it as long as she did. Last we'd heard, they had moved her out of the CCU and into a private room so we all thought she was improving. Now I have no idea what to do with the afghan I started for her. Is it wrong to finish it and give it to someone else?
My goals for May are to finish the 2 baby kimonos, I'm almost done with the blue one actually, and knit at least 4 dishcloths for Jarred's band teacher. He's getting married in July and the wedding shower is at the end of the month. I'm planning to knit dishcloths in the school colors, with a musical note pattern.
Oh, I'm also waiting on some yarn I ordered from the Webs sale...something for my Spring Fling Secret Pal, and yarn for legwarmers.

A visit to a LYS, and some pictures

Today I visited 2 Sisters and Ewe, a little yarn shop in La Mesa. While they didn't have the kind of yarn I was looking for, I did pick up something to make a Gryffindor scarf (or beanie, depending on my mood I guess). This shop is smaller than the Needlecraft Cottage in PB, but I think they hold more classes. They have Plymouth and Cascade 220 at good prices though, and they also had an adorable sample of a baby items that looked almost like the Mason-Dixon baby kimono. I liked the way the sample used snaps; I think I will "borrow" that idea.

And today at work our wonderful mailman brought me a package containing the yarn I ordered from Elann, I ordered it on Tuesday and it arrived today!

So here's all the yarn I'm coming home with today, good thing I cleaned out my knitting bag a bit so it should all fit in there and I won't have to answer any questions from DH:

LOL, the picture doesn't show it, but I actually have 4 of the Cinnabar and 2 of the Byzantium. The Cinnabar is the absolute perfect match to my son's school colors; I'll be making washcloths to put in a gift basket for his band director, who is getting married this summer. The Byzantium is a lovely color that I unfortunately have to part with, as it is a gift.

I know I let Picture Friday fall by the wayside, but these flowers are so pretty I just had to take a picture of them:

I wish I could grow things.

Another quickie update

Bad Michelle, for lagging on posting! It was quite a busy week, what with getting my son ready for his Spring Trip with the school band, plus his concert last Tuesday. I gave up on the April mid-month KAL; it needed more concentration than I was able to devote to it. However, I'm making rapid progress on an afghan for DH's aunt, who's been in the hospital this past month. I'm hoping to have in done by the next time we go up to visit her. Then it will be back to the baby kimonos and skull wristwarmers.

Just a quickie update

I think this is the longest I've gone between posts...a few things have been going on...I'm in my first SP round on the Knittyboard, it's called Spring Fling. I've been busy making something special for my Secret Pal, and I hope to get a quick package out on Monday. After that, it's back to the baby kimono, and once I have one finished I'll start working on the pirate wrist warmers for my friend Naomi. I'll be using the Skull Socks o' Fury pattern, but I won't be turning a heel or anything. It will be my first attempt at knitting in the round, and using DPNs.

My Knitpicks "stash"

I've been spending some quality time on the Knitpicks website the past couple of days, exploring and choosing different yarns for several Christmas and birthday gift items. It wasn't very hard to get up to the $45 level to qualify for free shipping, and I'm currently in negotiations with DH to be my funding source.

Here's what's currently in my stash (I love how Knitpicks calls the shopping cart the stash):

Swish Superwash in Black, Coast Grey and Copper to make 3 pairs of Fetching.
Andean Silk in Chocolate and Pitch, also for Fetching. All Fetchings are for Christmas gifts.
Twist in Cotton Candy and Daydream to make a Potato Chip Scarf (Either a Christmas or birthday present) and Textured Legwarmers (graduation present).
Merino Style in Hollyberry to make a scarf for the mother of a very good friend (Christmas present).

I also added in some sock yarn to supplement my short supply; I picked some nice colors to go with the Koigu. Sorry pixieriot, no red and blue socks this time.

Meanwhile, DH's Halfdome is almost finished. He tried it on last night (yes, I'm knitting it flat as the pattern says but he wrapped it around his head anyway) and likes how it feels. I will probably make several of these as Christmas gifts, since I can always find a good deal on the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran. However, Wool of the Andes seems to be a good sub too...

Noob Goof Alert

As the title of my blog states, I am a newbie knitter. That means I am bound to make some goofs that only a noob like me can do. Hopefully in a few years I can look back to this and have a good laugh about my errors. Here's a good one for you, in the form of the yarn I bought from Knit Happens:


Do you see my goof?

I have only one skein of the Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Yarn. I also bought only one each of the Koigu Kersti, so I have no idea what to do with it. A kind lady on the Knittyboard told me I should have no problem finding another skein of the Lorna's Laces, but the Koigu dye lots can be noticeably different.

Ah, live and learn, right?

Flash Your Stash '07

I may just have the smallest stash of them all!


Some thoughts about my stash:
Stash began to collect itself in January 2007.
It all fits on my bed, with plenty of room to spare. In fact, it all fits in one basket and one plastic bin.
It's mostly acrylic and novelty yarn.
The blues are for a Diagonal Stripey Scarf, pattern found in Knitgrrl.
I probably haven't spent more than $200 for the whole lot.
There is some good stuff, note the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran over on the right. Plus, that nice seafoam green skein is some wool from my coworker.
This stash is missing my Knit Happens order and the 40 balls of dishcloth cotton I just ordered.

So there it is, a stash as defined by a newbie knitter!

Dia del Taco

Picture Friday will be delayed until Sunday, which is Flash Your Stash Day.

Today we celebrated Dia del Taco. I'm not sure if it's an actual holiday, but we sure celebrated! The tacos were a mixture of pork, beef and chorizo, and there was tripas and nopales plus plenty of salsa and guacamole. I made my special White Sangria which is always a hit, plus we tried the new Miller Chill beer. It's supposed to be michelada-style beer in a bottle. Personally I prefer traditional michelada. Oh, and we watched the Telelmundo version of "Deal or No Deal." Interesting.

Dia del Taco may very well be one of my favorite holidays.

It was a good weekend!

On Saturday we had a meetup of Knittyheads in the San Diego area. There were 7 of us, hanging out at a neat independent coffeehouse called Claire de Lune. I got to meet Domestic Overlord (I promise to link her blog soon) plus some of the other knittyheads who didn't seem to mind my newbie-ness at all! I finished La Jefita's scarf while I was there, and managed to stuff it into my bag before she came to pick me up for dinner.

Sunday was El Jefe's birthday, and while I forgot to get a picture of his finished scarf, I was flattered that he wore it when we took him out for breakfast. He was very happy to get it; now I can't wait to give La Jefita her scarf in a week or so.

My new project is Knitty's Halfdome; I had to go out and buy circular needles for it because my single pointed needles are too short to hold the 122 stitches. I must've looked like an idiot at the Knitty meetup with those needles...

Picture Friday #2

I have to comment about this:

This is a piece of public art titled "Unconditional Surrender". It's based on that famous photo of a sailor kissing a nurse in Times Square.
It's big. Really, really BIG. Apparently it's been a subject of controversy here in San Diego for some time, but I only heard about it last week in the newspaper. So of course I have to go see it. We were driving really slow along Harbor Drive, keeping our eyes peeled lest we miss it. No need for that, the thing is HUGE!
I was trying to keep an open mind, but as soon as I saw it, all that went out the window. The funniest thing is watching everyone walk by and peek up her skirt.

Tuesday Ramblings

Today I added a clock to my blog. I like sushi, but it doesn't really match.

I usually don't post so late at night, but tonight I just happen to be on the computer waiting for JB to finish updating his MySpace profile so I can print it out for him. Something about AquaTeen Hungerforce and a free movie...

Earlier today while waiting for Hubs to pick me up, a very kind lady complimented me on El Jefe's scarf (which still isn't done). She liked the colors. She was crocheting a shawl in white. I find crochet hooks in motion to be rather hypnotic.

Picture Friday #1

Welcome to Picture Fridays! I don't have nearly enough yarn to show off every Friday, so I've decided just to show off a random picture every Friday. It may be knitting related, may be not, but today it is!



I just finished the first ball of yarn on El Jefe's scarf. On the right is the next ball just waiting to be knitted up. Did I mention that his birthday is in 9 days?

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

I've finally gotten around to playing with the layout on my blog. The first template I chose didn't quite work with the blogger redux, so I chose one of their layouts instead. Also figured out the link stuff, I think. Hopefully I'll get to play around with it some more today.
No progress on La Jefita's scarf; almost halfway done with El Jefe's. His birthday is in 10 days.
Yikes.

Coming soon...a baby set!

Today my friend Haze told me she's pregnant...she said, "Now, don't scream, but I'm expecting." She told me this while I was in the middle of braiding lanyards (using novelty yarn out of my stash, in pinks) so I couldn't jump right up and hug her. The baby is due in September. She's not sure if she wants to know the sex of the baby, but she did mention primary colors. Right now I'm leaning towards the baby set in Hollywood Knits, but then again, I do have some time to think about it.

An update on El Jefe's scarf: I took a small trip to the frog pond and ripped out the couple of inches I'd started. I just didn't like the way it looked. So instead, I've decided to just do a simple rib pattern using just the navy. That meant I had to unwind the ball of 2 different colors into 2 separate balls. Now that that's done, I'm progressing nicely. I've about 6 inches of the 65 needed.

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March dishcloth

Well, I finished the March Dishcloth KAL, but I will not post a picture because it doesn't look like any of the finished products I've seen from the other members. One of my co-workers was kind enough to suggest that it's probably the color I used (plain ol' natural). I think I'll leave it here in our break room.
At least now I can concentrate on El Jefe's scarf. I only have 3 inches done; I'm already behind schedule.

Uh oh, a deadline

El Jefe's birthday is 20 days away...and I'm only just now getting around to casting on his scarf. The pattern calls for 80 inches total, and 1 complete body pattern (4 rows) is just about the equivalent of one inch. So I did some rudimentary math:
If I do 10 body patterns a day, I'll be done in 8 days. (Not very likely).
If I do 5 body patterns a day, I'll be done in 16 days. (More reasonable).
If I skip a day, I sure as heck better make up for it by working twice as hard.
I will set an incentive by not knitting any Burning Man leaves until I finish the scarf.

Oh, I forgot to mention that La Jefita's birthday is 11 days after El Jefe's...but at least I have 55 inches (out of 80) finished on her scarf!

Yarn Pr0n Friday!

So apparently Fridays are special days in blogland. I guess I'm supposed to come up with something special every Friday. For today, it'll just be garden variety yarn pr0n:
I got the Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran today, to make Halfdome for my brother:
And since we're on the subject of Pr0n, here's something completely nasty:

It's supposed to be the second ball for the reversible scarf. The variegated one decided to be very difficult and tangle itself up. I spent 3 hours last night trying to detangle and I'm still not done.

New month, new projects!

Happy 1st of March! I've got a couple of new projects lined up; hopefully they won't be UFO's come the end of the month.

I joined the Monthly Dishcloth KAL. Looking at the first few lines of the pattern that was sent, it looks exactly like the discloth I started a couple of days ago, so I think I'm gonna cheat and use that for the KAL.

Also, someone on the knittyboard posted about a neat project that will take place later this year at Burningman. Hopefully my brother will be attending this year so he can see it. Check it out here:A Tree Undone

Happy Lucky Day!

margoyarn,
originally uploaded by mruizlopez.

Today my coworker Margo surprised me with this lovely gift of wooden needles and a beautiful hank of seafoam green yarn. She'd been waiting for an occasion to give this to me but couldn't come up with one, so it's "Happy Lucky Day!"

48 hours and counting...

since I last knitted something. I think that's the longest I've gone without knitting something since I started (which was what, about a month and a half ago?) I've spent the last two days working on finishing a Christmas Stocking for my sister-in-law, one of 5 (stockings, not sisters-in-law!) that I hope to have done as Christmas gifts this year. This particular stocking has been a UFO for about 4 years though, so I shouldn't be taking all the credit for it right now.
I did just order some new yarn, Cashmerino Aran to make Knitty's Halfdome for my brother. His birthday is at the end of April. I also want to start a dischloth, since the pattern I intend to use says it's good for practicing increases and decreases. I haven't even attempted increasing and decreasing yet, so I'll try to get one accomplished before I try the hat.

Another FO!

Billsbabybibs,
originally uploaded by mruizlopez.

My second finished object...2 bibs for my friend Bill. They declined to know the sex of the baby beforehand, hence the green color. The pattern is from the Mason-Dixon book; I found the cutest yellow-duckie buttons at JoAnn.

FO!

DSC03200,
originally uploaded by mruizlopez.

My first FO...a baby blanket for my husband's boss. I used almost 4 skeins of Baby Clouds and size 15 needles. It's a bit larger than your average baby blanket, but oh well.

obsession fun

I'm sure I'm doing all the things the newly obsessed knitter does. I have a binder (3-inch!) full of free patterns I downloaded from the internet, and I have a stack of knitting books from the library. I've already decided which ones I will eventually buy (there's quite a list.) I've subscribed to the Knitlist and the Knitty board, and while I mostly lurk, I did post my first question today. I'm looking for a substitution to Classic Elite Gatsby, for a hat I hope to knit for my brother.

About my blog

Okay, so that was kind of a lame first post. Allow me to introduce myself then...my name is Michelle, I live in San Diego and this blog is where I intend to post all of my knitting adventures. Perhaps some experienced knitters who happen upon my blog will have some fun at my expense as I commit all of the newbie mistakes, like my first trip to the LYS (Needlecraft Cottage in PB), expecting that they would have the yarn I needed because the Muench website says they carry their yarn. Well, they don't carry Goa. The lady there was nice enough to find something to sub for, and I came away with some nice-feeling stuff to make baby washcloths with. The baby shower is on the 24th. I should have enough time...

I am needles

What kind of knitting needles are you?

You are "turbo" charged.Fast moving and classy, you get things done with power and grace. Your expensive tastes can be deceiving, since what you really value is quality and efficiency. As you're careening around those corners in life, finishing a dozen knitted objects each month, stop and smell the roses. Don't miss the beauty of process!
Take this quiz!








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