Picture Post

I received some amazing Blythe goodies from Nikkisixx666 for the blythe/pullip swap on craftster
Lovely cords and a tunic top/dress if she's feeling naughty for Dylan

The hat I crocheted from MK Carol's pattern posted on craftster

And a dress for Lola




On the knitting front here are some FO's
Cropped Bulky Mini Cardi from Fitted Knits
Here I am modeling it in my lovely PJ's


I got gauge but this turned out a wee bit to tiny for me. It looks nice open but if I button it up it appears that I've eaten one too many fried Twinkies. But a sweater that knits up in two nights is nothing to complain about.

Here's a jellyfish


This was a quick knit too, taking just under a week. The body is done in Blue Sky Alpaca's brushed Suri, which is lovely and soft with the appearance of mohair but none of the itchies. The downside is it sheds like a Persian cat. The contrast is Cascade 220 and I know the pattern calls for dk weight but cascade is a light worsted at best.
Overall its a lovely lace pattern, my only complaint is that the lace runs follow the same direction when flat so the sleeves are not symmetrical.

I finished the Spunky Club FOTM for August "Celebration"

This sucker took me awhile to complete, its sock weight 330 yards of navajo plied goodness. I'm going to turn it into jaywalkers.

I'm So Lazy

I don't know how Rob deals with me. My clothes are in piles in chairs and on the floor. The dishes are left in the sink, I drop my things as I see fit, overall I'm a pig. I guess it's lucky I found Rob (being a teacher he has much better hours then I do and is a much neater person) he cleans, and shops and does the things gender roles indicate I should do. What do I do? I spin, I knit, I create and make messes. I can cook and thouroughly enjoy preparing delicious meals for him to consume (he's packed on the pounds since we've moved in together) but that's about it.

I rush home from the office and kiss him hello, wrestle with Dessie-Pup until she is tired then select from my many UFO's a project to work on or a roving to spin. I'm currently working on hand spun socks. I never understood the allure of sock knitting, but seeing how portable it is I can't say I'm not tempted to join the sock knitting cult.

It's been rather cold in NYC the last few days and this has given me ample opportity to rock the latest knitted creations. Yesterday I wore the cropped mini cardi from fitted knits to many a compliment. I must say the sizing was way off on that pattern and though it looks nice unbuttoned I resemble the michellin man busting out of a sweater when I do try to close it. Today I'm wearing my newly finished Jellyfish. I love the brushed suri yarn from Blue Sky Alpaca's even if it sheds worse then my cousin's german shepard. I knitted a medium size because my guage was a bit small, but I think I could have knitted the small size. I may go home a crab stitch around the contrasting color to tighten it up a bit.

We took friends of ours to the lake house in PA this weekend and for lunch on Saturday we drove into Stroudsburg. On the way back we stopped at a farm stand to pick up corn and fruit, and in the meadow beyond the stand were alpacas, grazing and sleeping in the sun. ALPACAS!!!! Being the fiber addict I am I looked for someone to talk to about scoring some fiber, Rob being the understanding enabler that he is pointed out a sign that indicated there was an Alpaca store inside the stand. I searched for someone to open the stand up but no one was around. I called the number numerous times as our friends looked at me like a three headed monster. No luck, Rob promised we would return the next day and further inquire. Sunday we drove out to the stand and as I was peering into the window a man and boy pulled up in an SUV. I aksed if they sold the alpaca fleece and he told me he would and he would discount it from 100 to 80!!! I greedily took him up on his offer and I am now the proud owner of 12 pounds of natural cream colored alpaca fleece from a testy alpaca named Joey Gumbs (lol). I cleaned my first batch of Joey two days ago and YUCK! But if you want some leave a comment and I'll quote you a price. Its so lofty and soft and doesn't smell bad at all.

Insanity

I started and finished the bold and bulky mini cardi from Fitted Knits last week. It was a quick knit, but the sizing is a bit off. I also hate lion brand thick and quick, its just enough wool to not be an acrylic sweater but its enough acrylic to knit like shit. The camera is still dead and the blocking is taking for ever so I'll take pics with the camera phone as soon as its dry.

I cast on for Jellyfish with some beautiful Baby Suri from Blue Sky Alpaca. It has all the halo of a mohair but with suri, merino and bamboo (yes bamboo) its lovely and soft and feels simply dreamy next to the skin.


I plugged away at the tube top last night. I do not like brown sheep cotton fleece. Its hard to work with and my fingers feel downright arthritic. I tried it on and found that I seem to be having the same issue as many others. The pattern looks nice and fitted on the model in the book but hangs sack like on me. I switched to the smaller needles and completed and extra round of lace to see if I could nip it in a bit so I don't look like some sort of sack monster when I wear it but I'm not sure it was enough. I am down to the last 6 inches of ribbing and even though I knit a size too small for negative ease I will have to add straps as it doesn't appear that the top will stay up on its own.

I spent Friday night in the hospital with my grandma and mother. Grandma was running a high fever and I was pulled out of Hairspray by a frantic phone call from mom. I figured I could get some knitting done while waiting, boy was I wrong. ER's apparently can not give non-patients chairs to sit in so knitting was out, instead I lugged my big knitting bag around with me from floor to floor following grammy for each test she had to have. She is okay, but at 88 you can't take chances so the trip was necessary.

Mom and I drove up to PA saturday evening, stopping at farmers markets along the way. I grilled s rib eye with my own spiced rub and boiled some sweet white corn from the farm stand. My mother ate fried green tomatoes for the first time in her life, but they were cooked by me so I'm sure they weren't authentic.

Here's my recipie for Fried Green Tomatoes
2 Green tomatoes
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp jot sauce
1 cup italian bread crumbs
parmesan cheese
peanut oil

Slice the tomatoes into 1 inch thick rounds and place on a dry paper towel to wick away excess moisture.

Beat egg, milk and hot sauce in a bowl and add a bit of pepper to taste.

Pat dry tomato slices and dip in egg mixture.

Shake off excess egg and coat with breadcrumbs.

Fry in a hot pan in 1 tbsp oil until brown, flip and continue to cook until both sides are nicely browned.

Serve hot with shaved parmesan on top for garnish.

If desired roughly chop 1 red tomato, 1 clove garlic and 1/4 vidalia onion and combine, spoon mixture over fried tomatoes.

Manic Monday

I saw The Police in concert last night at Giants Stadium. It was freaking amazing. Sting is the sexiest skinny old guy I've ever seen and Stuart Copeland looked exuberant like a happy toddler banging on his mothers pots and pans. I've never been to a stadium concert at Giants Stadium before and I was amazed at the tailgating that was taking place before the concert. Tents and barbecues as far as the eye could see were nestled behind cars and surrounded by folks drinking beer in folding directors chairs. The Police didn't let down, they played every hit they ever had and people went insane when they did the big numbers like, Roxanne and Every Little Thing. If I never sing Eoooooo-oooooh again it will be too soon. My voice is shot, and I'm trying to function without it today which has proved difficult thanks to my boss being MIA this morning.

Friday night Rob and I trekked up to PA for a quiet weekend before he left for GA. His family takes A LOT of trips together and I will not be seeing him until next Monday. I'm still not sure how comfortable I am with the closeness of that family, but what do I know I'm the spawn of two of the most dysfunctional people I know (love you mom, love you dad!)

I worked all weekend on the Superlong Wrap from the "Knitting to Go Deck". It has some cute patterns, but they bore the hell out of me. I did this in Cascade 220 and even though I had bought two skeins to finish it with, I cut it off at about 300 yards, (I guess we can call it the "long wrap." It's pink because it's for Mary Alice, Rob's grandma, who just had a mastectomy and is in recovery. This is her second bout with breast cancer and she is now breastless. I figured pink for breast cancer. I hope she likes it.
Here's a close up of the wrong side for the lace pattern (I like the wrong side better)

And here it is blocking


I really dislike knitting with a deadline, I find myself obsessing and fretting that it will not come out right. I also deny myself sleep in favor of finishing said project and that's never good for anyone who lives with me.

I finished Harry Potter and though I'm satisfied with the ending the epilogue felt like fan fiction and I wanted to rip out those last few pages and burn them. This way if I lend the book to anyone they will get the satisfaction of reading a book with a good ending.

FO!!

I finished my Drop Stitch Lace Tank from "Fitted Knits" I loved the pattern, the lace section was easy to memoriaze and since I knit it in the round I could work on the train.
Here's a bad cell phone pic, since my camera has died

I'm wearing it over one of those shelf tank tops (I just couldn't bring myself to wear a bra today)
I made a bunch of mods to this pattern so here are my notes.
- I knit in the round and left off the extra stitches on each end, (I was working with 8 less stitches then the pattern calls for.)
- I knit through the back loop before and after each drop stitch area so the lace would stay tight and the sweater would have less ease.
- I did 2 1/2 rounds of the pattern before the ribbing instead of the 1 1/2 the pattern calls for. I did this because I didn't want the ribbing to hit my hips and accentuate my pooch.
- I coninued the lace pattern on the back for 3 repeats after the ribbing so that the bust area would have a bit more give.
- I did 1/2 extra lace repeat before dividing the from sitches for the neck so that the v would not hit so low on my chest.
- I accidentaly knit the v section backwards after picking up stitches, I like the look so I left it as is.
- I only added 1 button at the top of the sweater so I could wear open, or keyhole, I used a decorative glass button that was a bit big so I bound off two stitches and cast on the same stitches for the next row.

I love this pattern, it's very flattering and its the first sweater I've knit that I will acutally wear.

I cast on for the lace tube top from fitted knits for my next project and I'm holding off on casting on for Coachella until I'm halfway through.

On the spinning front I did my first skein of bamboo last week and I'm in love, it was the first balanced navajo plied yarn I've ever created. I'm slowly chugging away at some sock yarn for the craftster knitting challenge winner. I've never really done real sock yarn so we'll see how this comes out.

I went up to Boston again this weekend and spent some time with the fam. Rob my cuz and I saw the Simpson's movie which is hands down the best movie I've seen in an long long time. I highly reccomend it.

I went yarn shopping with Mollie yesterday at Yarntopia at 108 and Amsterdam avenue. After years of only having The Yarn Co. to shop at it's nice to find a store where the owner isn't a total bitch and the prices are reasonable. This will be a great place for a fix when I just can't wait for the internet to deliver. Mollie told me about another place called Knitty City which I'll have to check out next week. I wish both these places luck and I hope they put those Broadway bitches out of business!