11 posts tagged “knitting”
Hey blog-friends, long time. It's been a busy month since last we spoke. I spent a very fun weekend in New Orleans with my parents, sister, and younger brother, just hanging out before said younger brother ships out to Afghanistan for six months. He's going to miss Christmas, making 2009 the very first one where we're not all together, so that will be really weird. Of course we will get together upon his return, and will probably even press him into service in the kitchen! but it won't be quite the same.
In other news, it really feels like summer at the moment. It's a rare day in the Bay Area that sees me leaving home without a jacket, but I did it twice this week - woo! Also, I biked to work yesterday and finally found a really fully enjoyable, low-traffic commute. It adds a little bit of time to the ride, but round trip was 8.8 miles, so it was really a piddling little lovely ride.
Still knitting: I just did my first felting project! I used bulky, all-wool yarn, big needles, and then purposely shrunk the sucker. It's amazing.
Before:
And after:
Pretty cool, huh? I was delighted with how speedily the project went, as well, after several things done with small needles and thin yarn.
This is the weekend of barbecues: work, friend, and friend events. I've spent a week mulling over the dessert I'm bringing to the third event: I want to do some kind of twist on the traditional strawberry shortcake. I'm thinking basil & strawberry. I'm thinking balsamic vinegar. I'm thinking rosemary and maybe some lemon.
Stay tuned! I'll get pics, I promise. I'll even be timely!
Last weekend I made a chiffon cake that came out pretty damn awesome. I also made Nutella ravioli cookies: take some sugar cookie dough, cut out a disk, put in a bit of Nutella, fold over and bake. Drizzle with chocolate. Eat. Swoon. I took pics but they are still on my camera, so perhaps they'll get up this weekend.
Today for lunch group I took a recipe for couscous with preserved lemons and expanded it to include wheat berries, green lentils, and black lentils. It was YUM.
Last night I cast on some two-at-a-time, toe-up socks. I'm partially improvising and partially using a pattern. I am using yarn that will be stripy (blue & white) so I don't know if I'm going to bother with a stitch pattern. I can only imagine that ripping out two socks at once would be a nightmare, so I'm going to do what I can to avoid that fate! I have one stitch pattern in mind that I can test out pretty well on a small bit of sock, I think. we shall see.
Is it just me, or does it seem like personal blog culture is fading? I read lots of blogs that are focused on personal finance, and cooking, but I don't read personal blogs very much. And thanks to stupid vox's stupid policy to not allow anonymous comments, the few readers I do have don't comment. Which makes this seem a lot like talking to myself! Only less obviously nutty.
I want to make six of these. In the next six weeks! (it's a hat...)
Oh yes, I really do want to brag about this. I am a total whiz at something! (yes, I know they don't match. mates for each are next up)
I just bought more yarn. And I'm about to go out of town for a few days (Key West recommendations, anyone?). And I'm traveling to two cities in May/June (seeking recs for NYC/Boston...). And though my car is paid off as of a few days from now, AND my raise will hit soon, I'm already seeing my spending creep back up beyond the nice healthy place it was for several months.
But, you know, it's hard to not just spend spend spend. Plus it's not that much fun to be smart with my money! So, my goal for April is to spend LESS than I bring in (this should be easy, folks, but I blew it in Feb & March). In May I'll actually stash some money a little out of the reach of my oh-so-profligate hands.
I really want to buy a new bike seat but I think I'm going to have to actually save up for it, and then get it. I've got a couple of months before I really HAVE to have it (want to have it a few months before my weeklong bike ride).
In the meantime: here's me with my tiara helmet! I'm tempted to leave the tiara on... but not really. Only a little.
For the first time ever, I'm not going to bring a ton of books on my trip. I've got three knitting projects and an ipod to keep me occupied. And, back to the top of this post.. I now have enough purchased yarn for two sweaters, a market bag, and three gift/swap projects, plus some bonus yarn. True, some of those projects will require that I purchase needles, but I *think* I'm on the downhill side from my yarn spending. For now.
I was supposed to bike 62 miles today, and go out tonight, and pick up a few hours at work tomorrow, and go out tomorrow night, and Monday night, and.. I just had to put my foot down. It was supposed to rain today so I bagged the ride, and I decided not to work on Sunday, and I can finally get some stuff done at home! It looks like I had a small explosion in my living room - not too bad by objective standards, but relative to my preferred state, it's pretty bad.
On today's to do list:
- Goodwill run to drop off stuff that's been
piled in the cornerready since October. - Laundry
- Start cleaning
- Plan lunch for this week rather than waiting til Tuesday morning to think about it
You know, it's not that long ago that I wouldn't touch anything pink with a ten foot pole. These days, it's much of a pinkness in my world! I got my new phone! And it's pink! and it's so cuuuuute! Witness the cuteness:
Also: my first cable project is going swimmingly:
money money money
My car will be paid off next month! wooooooop! So I just raised my insurance deductible from $500 to $1000, which will save me ten bucks/month. My cell phone swap will save me about 20 bucks/month. No longer having a car payment will save me 257/month (that was my doubled-up payment.,.. behold the brilliance of an inexpensive car).
So, that's just under 300 dollars that I can do something else with. Despite my dismay about the amount of interest I'm paying on school loans, I'm so far going to resist sending extra money to it, in favor of getting Cash in the Bank. I'd love to save a huge chunk monthly, but I fear I'm setting myself up for failure, so I think I'll try stashing a certain amount per month in a relatively inaccessible place, and then a bit more in a more accessible spot. I've paid for most of my travel expenses for the year (not counting my Christmas flight), but of course doing the actual travel takes money too! And I'm going to have guests in town later this month, and guests = fun spending of money!
Last month was SUPER expensive as I paid for 2 plane tickets, a train ticket, theater tickets, Pink Martini tickets, a fire ballet ticket, AND my week-long bike ride. I spent 144% of my take-home! But I was able to dig deep and pay for all of it without fully emptying my savings, so that was good.
Speaking of my guest later this month, we're going to eat at Chez Panisse, which I've wanted to do for over a year. We're going to eat at the cafe, rather than downstairs off of the prix fixe menu, so we can pick and choose and share.
spendy spendy spend spend
And, things I'd like to buy, in no particular order: knitting books (stitch 'n bitch, a book of finishing techniques), more shelving for my kitchen (to be wedged in the last remaining bit of room), storage for knitting crap, some improved kitchen cabinet organization thingy, new case for my new phone, a little bag to go on the top tube of my bike, and a much smaller seat bag, new shirts, new sports clothing, chairs for my dining room table, tablecloth for same, art/decorations for my bedroom, a more grown up/nicer looking set of drawers/bedside table, new shoes, more expensive meals out. I probably won't buy any of these soon, and I'll likely buy all of them eventually, but the list is a reminder that if I just buy what I want, I'll NEVER get money in the bank. Plus: I can totally live without almost all of that.
The picture doesn't do justice to the colors.. the purple is more purple, the variegated red is GORGEOUS.. but you get the idea.
I'm surprised at how engaging I find knitting. I guess it's like cooking and assembling furniture - it takes a level of focus and hands-on work, but this can be done while watching stuff on tv - bonus! Anyway hopefully at some point I'll stop waking up in the night thinking about my current project... yeah, I'd rather be sleeping, okay, brain?
cycling
So, last week I went on my first organized bike ride in nearly a year. 16.8 miles and it was a challenge! I could have ridden more but was glad to be stopping. I've found a women's cycling club and they're doing every-other-week training rides for a ride in April. By the end of March we'll be riding 62 miles... so that will be building some character. This weekend is an off one for the women's group, so I'm going to meet my local bike club and hope that at least a couple of people a) want to ride not-too-far and b) know the area well enough to lead me.
money
I had a mini-freak-out and tried to figure out if I could afford a certain mortgage. A couple of candid conversations with some good friends convinced me I really can't. Okay, good to know - I can cancel the panic and continue to focus on the basics.
knitting
on project # 3 which I designed myself (pics of #2 will be posted somewhere soon). And, Ravelry: I'm in, same user ID, so friend me!
couch time
I started season 3 of Buffy last night.. and a coworker just lent me his set of Angel. I'll need something simple I can work on so I can watch the screen...
randomness
I'm going to a temple in SF tonight - they do a pastor exchange for MLK's birthday, and so they'll have a Baptist preacher & choir there tonight. Should be great, and possibly even uplifting!
Here it is! My first-ever knitting expedition!
*is proud*
Fine, I joined the queue to enter Ravelry. I don't really get it yet, but I expect its purpose will become clear to me. Right now here's my status:
* You signed up on Today
* You are #82284 on the list.
* 5411 people are ahead of you in line.
* 1 people are behind you in line.
* 93% of the list has been invited so far
In the meantime, aside from Stitch 'n Bitch, and Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, what are some good sources of well-written, interesting, yet basic patterns? I'm thinking scarves to start, but I realize there's a lot more in the World of Knitting.
