Meowdemeow Knitting

Monday, June 26, 2006

Church of Craft Goodness

On Saturday afternoon, my "new" cousin Elizabeth called and we talked for over two hours. It's been a long time since I clicked with someone so quickly.
In addition to that, I held the monthly Church of Craft meeting Sunday afternoon. There was knitting, cross-stitching, dream pillow making, a small child with markers, and a Mac. This all makes for perfect crafting. The crew at the Eagle Rock Coffee Table are just fantastic, so thanks to them for making us feel so welcome! Now, some pics: Here is Libby finishing her first ever scarf (!), Greg working on his computer, and Stephanie knitting something cute.
Here is Marilynn with her dream pillows and her son Orion. Orion had a birthday yesterday, and he was cool enough to spend it crafting with us.
Here's Greg again, Traci making little knit pouches, Stephanie again, and Joyce who was cross-stitching. They look really serious (well, Traci is smiling), but I promise we had a good time.
Not pictured: Me, since I took the pictures. But I made significant progress on my 2nd time cotton halter top. Last night I got to stop with the ^*&^#$ 2x2 ribbing and move on to the bodice. Hooray. I'll post pictures soon.

And finally, here's Greta at her spot in the kitchen window.

A new cousin, plenty of knitting time, and a happy cat in a window. What else could I ask for?

Monday, June 19, 2006

Baked Goods and Tweedy Yarn

These are two pre-felted pictures. One is a test swatch for my felted booties. The other is the revised iPod cozy for David. I don't have pictures up, but both projects felted just fine in the sink. The iPod cozy is a much better size (more long and lean rather than short and squatty). David will have to cuff it because now it's too long. Ah well. I'll make him another one.
I went to Unwind in Burbank this weekend. Look what I bought there--on sale! This is yarn for the aforementioned felted slippers. But I keep screwing up on the pattern and having to frog. I guess I should pay more attention. I worked on it when I went to hear A Prairie Home Companion at That Yarn Store on Sunday. While I was there, I ordered more balls of that cool Sockotta yarn (of which I only have one ball) so I can make Tiana a sweater. I also asked them to order some Sockotta self-striping yarn. (I have to have something small to take to Comic-Con, don't I?)
In addition to my yarn lust this weekend, I also stopped by Porto's. See? Here's the bag of evidence. I totally enjoyed my guava roll and a couple of other treats. David also enjoyed the meat pie and potato balls I picked up for him. Ah, Porto's. I wish I could eat your baked goods everyday!

Finally, here's a funny picture of Greta with her paw on top of David's foot. This is how I found them last night when I had finished watching The History Detectives on KCET. Ah--Greta loves David.

Oh--in one last bit of knitting news, I decided I wanted to try again on the Beachy Tank with 2nd Time Cotton that ended up being very baggy. So, I frogged the entire thing. I'll keep you (Niki, who might be my only reader!) posted on the progress because I know you're very interested in projects I have to redo. Ha ha

More soon...

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

My cat and me = no knitting (or does it?)

This is a cute picture of Thomas and me in our usual TV watching pose the other night. He loves to curl up next to me and purr the night away. In this case, we were watching the first episode of the final season of Six Feet Under. It was a great episode! (Thomas likes it better when I'm not knitting. More on that below.) And usually Greta is on David's lap, but since it's summer and he's wearing shorts all the time, she won't touch him. (Some kind of aversion to human flesh or something.) Anyway, Thomas is such an attention hog that I'm sure the thought of having his picture splashed across the internet appeals to him. It just means that many more potential hands to pet him.

Why no knitting pictures, you ask? Well, since I finished the socks on Sunday night, I haven't started anything new (and the socks were the last project I had on the needles). It's a very sad fact, but I don't know what to do next. I want to do a Sockotta sweater for Tiana, but I realized I didn't have enough yarn. (Duh--I only have one ball.) So until I get more, I can't do anything. I'm not in the mood to start up a sweater for me yet. So maybe I'll do another pair of socks with this cool pattern from Knit Picks. But I want to do more. I think socks are a good project to always have on hand just in case. I could whip up a quick iPod cozy for David since the last one, once felted, was way too wide and short. Oh--what to do? Tomorrow I have to take the car in for service and I'll be near Unwind in Burbank, so maybe I'll stop in there and see what's what.

Oh--and I went for my finishing lesson at That Yarn Store and realized I have the skills I need to finish. I guess I'm just not confident enough with things like the citizenry stitch (aka grafting). Anyway, I had a good time talking to David and Thea. They graciously offered the Church of Craft a place to meet if we ever need it. (Our next meeting will be June 25. Email me if you're interested.)

I have more to write about a newly discovered cousin, but she's so new that I haven't had time to process everything. I'll write that story some other time. But suffice it to say that it's all very exciting and that it's been an emotional week (but in a good way).

Until this weekend, when I hope to take some pictures of new yarn...

Sunday, June 11, 2006

At last the socks are done!

I felt as though I'd never be done. And I came close to giving up a few times. But--at long last--the socks are done. They are the mismatched Himalaya pair from Nancy Bush's book. Why did they take so long, you might ask? Well, these stripes were all made by me, not by self-striping yarn. I decided stripes can be a big pain in the ass when you have to weave in all the ends. But I was able to finish them during Brokeback Mountain on Sunday night. (Such a good movie, but I almost didn't want to watch the last third because I knew it would be so sad.)
Anyway, pictures of the socks.



My favorite--the less stripey one.


And the second (actually first one I knit, which is a big part of the reason I almost didn't finish) more stripey one. Why do sock on feet pictures make everyone's legs look so stumpy?
I accidentally deleted the one of the two socks side by side, but it's for the best because it was a very unflattering picture. They are so comfy. I can't wait to wear them to work.

In other news, my arm is worse and is actually quite sore. I hope this is a has-to-hurt-if-it-is-to-heal sort of pain instead of just plain old pain.

And in still other news, I went to the hyperbolic plane workshop on Sunday at That Yarn Store (see link to the left) in Eagle Rock. It was great fun. I got to watch David the owner get a man interested in the hyperbolic plane thing even though the man was very fiber-resistant when he walked in with his wife. It was neat to see as the guy's defensive, arms-crossed demeanor changed into a more conversational, engaging demeanor. Fiber can do that to people, I think.

Anyway, tonight I'm going in for my "finishing class" at TYS. I knit up a few swatches last night as I was watching the first episode of Buffy Season 6. I had lots of short scraps of yarn to finish up. Oo--and it's $0.99 papusa night tonight at Las Cazuelas in Highland Park, so we're having that for dinner. (Granted, some of the papusas are only on sale for $1.25. Still a bargain, I say!)

And Niki, I had a dream last night about a spiral staircase that kept getting narrower and narrower until it was squeezing my bones and I couldn't go any higher. Gee--let's all put our thinking caps on and figure out what that means. (Barriers, anyone?)

Good day!

Wednesday, June 07, 2006

Booties, Soapmaking, Non-Business Stuff

I just noticed that I like to title my blogs with a list of three items. Must be the way I think or something. Anyway, here are some more pictures and a few thoughts.



I finished the booties in the nick of time before the shower. Aren't they cute? That funky smudge my camera did at the top make them look ethereal or something. (I really need to replace my camera, as the next three pictures will attest.)
On Monday night, I went over to Annie's house for a soapmaking/craft night. I met Annie a few weeks ago at the Church of Craft meeting, and she was nice enough to include me. Here's a picture of all the participants and the finished products (plus some lemons). Left to right: Annie, Jessica, Susan (standing--I met her last summer at Church of Craft), Libby, and me (standing). I had such a good time making soap, eating lavender shortbread cookies (homemade by Jessica), knitting, and meeting some new people. Plus, we did a swap of things we didn't want anymore. Some of my clothes found a new home, and I went home with an awesome black short-sleeve shirt with a cool collar. I hope to do it again soon! (And I apologize if I got anyone's name wrong. I'm really horrible with names.)
Here's a close-up of the soap. Aren't the duckies cute? Soapmaking can be really addicting. I still want to try the lye method, but I need to buy a lot more supplies for that than the melt-n-pour method. Plus, I'm afraid I'll blind myself or something.

Here's a really crappy picture from the shower on Tuesday. The woman in beige is Jackie--she organized the shower (and made us play fun games). The woman in white is Michelle, who's expecting the baby in July. I really enjoy knitting for babies; right now I'm planning my next project for Fatma, Niki's co-worker who's expecting this summer. After that, if I run out of babies, I'll start over on the ones I've already knit something for. And I'm still trying to figure out a cute sweater or ensemble for Tiana that could be ready by the time Denver winter hits. Something tells me it will have to be pink.

In other news, I had a really bad day at work yesterday. To help myself through it, I called That Yarn Store in Eagle Rock and signed up for a finishing class next week. (I've learned a lot about finishing garment on my own, but I feel like I'm still too sloppy. This should help.) It was great just talking to someone about knitting (and crochet too, since I'm planning to go to the hyperbolic plane workshop they have on Sunday at 4:00) and not even think about work for a few minutes. I feel a lot more centered since I took up knitting 2 years ago in June. Looking back, it seems like an inspired decision since I really have needed something to take the edge off in the past two years.

Finally, I'm almost freakin' done with the mismatched socks from Nancy Bush's book. I'll post pictures soon. My next sock project will not include stripes I have to make myself by alternating yarn colors. I want a nice, uncomplicated sock pair that doesn't involve endless weaving in of ends. I'll have to watch a movie and weave in all the ends or I'll get too annoyed. (I already have a skein of Sockotta just waiting for me.)

That's it for today. Carry on!

Monday, June 05, 2006

Artwalk, Finished Knitting, Hot Hot Hot

At last, after some fiddling around, I finished the kimono for the baby shower. The ties gave me the worst trouble, and I think it's not as clean a finished product as the sweater I made for baby Aydan from the Yarn Harlot's Knitty pattern ("Snake Charmer"). Ah well--it's still cute!
And I was able to do this cute hat in just a couple of hours. It's the kind of pattern that can be adapted to just about any head size, so I might try it again. Can I just say once again that knitting for babies rocks? It's so gratifying--and so fast, too!


On Saturday night, David and I went to the Culver City Art Walk, where we saw many, many galleries and lots of art. Plus, we almost melted in the heat. And we managed to score two free medium pizzas from Pizza Hut because some guy took off with our order. Thanks, Culver city Pizza Hut!
Anyway, here I am in front of one of the galleries on La Cienega.
Here's a door I liked. No, it wasn't a door to an art gallery, but it was incredibly near some art galleries. Does that count? It's so wide and green, with the graffiti just so.
Here's David along Washington Blvd. with a "Lassie Come Home" sign post. It's a long story.
And here I am in front of one of the other galleries. Sorry--I don't know how to rotate my pictures in here yet, so you'll have to tilt your pretty little head.

I'm posting, I'm posting. I have to get the hang of this consistent blogging thing. Please be patient!

It's my bedtime.
Good night!
Brenda