Monday, 16 August 2004

Blog changes...

So, I've finally done it. I finally quit bitching about Motime and actually got space on Typepad. I'll keep this up for a while, so that people can get the new address and to change all my webring info. (Crap, which email accounts did I use for that??? Probably all of them... *sigh*) And to see if I actually like it there...

I can be read at http://knitgirl.typepad.com/knitgirls_stash just so everyone knows. Update the links! :) (Erika, there's even a post on there!! It's not about knitting and no pics, but at least it's a post, right? LOL!)

posted by knitgirl, 23:28 | link | comments

Thursday, 12 August 2004

UFO gene???

Tell me, is there such a thing?? If there is, I definitely have it! I have all this lurrrvely Calmer at home (10 balls of Tinkerbell, 10 of Flamingo and about 7 of Coral) but I have no idea what in the hell I want to do with it!! I am going to rip out Audrey - I haven't touched her in months... maybe I'll come back to her, but for now, no. I still have hopes of finishing Iris, but that's heading the way of Audrey. I love knitting with Calmer - and it truly does make me calmer just knitting with it - but what should I do with all this? Any ideas??? I'll have to give it some thought and post them later... *sigh*

posted by knitgirl, 14:57 | link | comments (4)

Monday, 09 August 2004

Thank you Secret Pal!

Okay, is it just me or when you see that title, do you think of the commercial for Cadbury's Eggs at Easter time where the little kid says "thank you Easter Bunny!"? Okay, so maybe it's just me... LOL!

Anyhoo... I got a package from my Secret Pal on Saturday - I just got a chance to take pics of it for the blog today...  Thank you soooooo much! This was just so sweet of you! :) Other than going out for drinks on Saturday to celebrate not working for BN anymore, it made my day! :) (The photos could be better focused, but I'm blaming that on Jimmy... he picks the most inopportune times to show he cares about me, lol.)


















Lots of notions that I could definitely use - I'm always looking for notions it seems... and the cutest bag! V.v. pink, with flowers on it... v.v. me! :) She was also kind enough to include some Burt's Bees lip balm - so now I'm never without some! :) It will live in the bag for me!





























She also included this yarn - obviously knowing my love for novelty yarns, lol - and a v.v. cute notebook (that I didn't get a pic of - I think it got appropriated by someone in the house... I'll have to get it back) that matches the bag! I'm not quite sure what I'm going to do with this, but she gave me a couple of good ideas....




















Thank you Easter Bunny Secret Pal!!! :)

posted by knitgirl, 22:18 | link | comments (4)

Friday, 06 August 2004

A quick post to answer the SP questions...

Reading Wendy's blog this morning, I was reminded that Heidi had come up with some questions for our Secret Pal... I thought I'd help mine out by answering a few of them... :)

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you? I am absolutely, totally 100% a yarn snob... Ever since I touched my first balls of Rowan yarn, I haven't looked back.

2. Do you spin? Crochet? Nope... trying to learn to crochet though... just not enough hours in the day

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.) I am allergic to pet dander - but I have my kitty (who's named after Jim Morrison - just a tidbit... lol) and wouldn't give him up for the world

4. How long have you been knitting? I've been trying to learn off and on from my mom for years, but just taught myself (and got fanatical about it) this past Feb when the BF got deployed

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list? Nope... I can come up with one... or you can just call or email Kristine or call KH - she can probably tell you what my most recent fondling has been... lol!

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.) I love florals... sweetpea is probably my fave... I also love clean, crisp scents - like Bath & Body Works and the Body Shop's cotton scent.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth? Um... is the Pope Catholic? YES!! :)

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? I sometimes scrapbook (not often though) and cross-stitch.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if you want to make her a CD) I love just about anything... lately I've been listening to a lot of country in the car - which generally results in me crying, lol. I love lots of stuff from the 60s (the Doors and the Beatles are my faves), 80's (formative years here... I love the bad pop and punk from this era), 90's (a lot of what was being played on "alternative" college radio, yes I was a grunge chick once upon a time)

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer? LOVE, LOVE, LOVE pink!

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets? Single, but seeing someone seriously. (He's deployed and in Iraq right now.) I have my mean kitty Jimmy, who's 13.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know) To assist Wendy and Kristine with their quest for world yarn domination? How does that sound? Really, to be happy and healthy. :)

posted by knitgirl, 05:05 | link | comments (2)

Thursday, 05 August 2004

Oops... Can I knit like this?

What do you think? Right now it's hard enough to type, much less try to knit - but I'll be damned if I don't at least try! Of course I do that on my last week at BN - and after having the worst day ever!! Long story short: I was not thinking... Oh you want it a little longer? (lol) I was breaking down boxes at the store this afternoon - I couldn't find a box cutter so I used scissors... the scissors decided to close on my thumb, giving me one hell of a deep cut. I ended up driving myself to the urgent care clinic, just in case I actually might need stitches. Everyone there was thoroughly impressed that I not only managed to drive myself there, but managed to fill all the forms out myself despite the thumb. :) I am damn self-sufficient at times. lol!

Before the accident...

I managed to almost complete the bottom of my French Market Bag while at lunch today... only 4 more rows to go! Now do you see why I need to figure out how to knit with my thumb that way?? :) I want to get started on the pink soon...

I got most of it done last night at the shop since it was the late night. I actually seemed to remember to take some pics for once! Wednesday night at the Clubhouse... I think that's got to be the new name for it.

















Erika's French Market Bag!! She's much farther along than I am - and we started at the same time, lol! :)






















Cindy got to show off her completed tank from the Spring issue of Knitty... isn't it positively lurrvely? I've been thinking about knitting this one myself... it's supposed to have a jeweled accent at the neckline - I think it looks great either way...

















Kristine looking rather pitiful and forlorn when Wendy decided to leave and take Lauren (done in the oh-so-dreamy Alchemy Silk Purse) with her... the nerve! LOL!!! She got over it though and started working on Cate... with Kate beside her! (Okay, I couldn't resist...)














Despite the injury, I'll be at Knit N Nosh tomorrow night... if I can't knit, I'll just enjoy the company! I also have two of my current employees who want to come and learn how to knit from me! I am v.v. excited about that... Okay, so I'm off to watch Celebrity Poker Showdown while figuring out how to knit around this damn bandage!

(Updated 8/9/04 to change a name on one of the pics... sorry about that! It was late and I was feeling like an idiot about the thumb, lol!)

posted by knitgirl, 19:03 | link | comments (5)

Monday, 02 August 2004

Whoever said that knitters weren't a fun bunch??

I know that I've heard someone say that recently... Now if they only attended one of our SnBs, they'd change their mind!! Tonight was a fun night at Greenberry's... I got to hang and knit with some of my fave girls - and we got to hear the tale of Dani's "Rowan hiccup" at Liberty in London. (I am soooo jealous! LOL) I mean, doesn't this look like it was the most fun? :) (Not the best pic, but the official Knitgirl's Stash photographer, Rossana, was having so much fun herself that she somehow changed the resolution on my camera without knowing it... she's still the official photographer though!) I know I've said it before, but I love this group - we primarily talk about our knitting, but we also talk about everything else under the sun - and since we're in such close quarters, it's a great way to get to know these women! (I now know more about Dani and her flings with her yarn than I ever hoped to know!!) I didn't get a chance to take a pic of Chelsea modeling her Not-Quite-Colinette Poncho... it was absolutely gorgeous - and wonderfully soft! If she hadn't been watching me like a hawk while I was fondling it, I might have put it on and run off! (Okay, so I'm just kidding about that... sort of... you'd be thinking it too if you got to see it! Admit it!)

Erika and I learned how to have fun with DPNs - we both decided to knit the French Market Bag using the round bag base... we were both having so much fun with it - even though we both came to the conclusion that nothing that starts that small should be knitted in the round... at least not on DPNs... *rolling eyes* Using a little advice from Dani on how to keep my stitch marker on (since it kept flying off the 4th needle - damn stitch marker... nothing about the user... nothing at all...) - according to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knitting and Crochet, place your marker a stitch in from the end... now why didn't I think of that?? Which, as I thought about it, made Dani and I collapse in laughter. I also got to announce my news about the shop.... apparently there will be celebration at Knit Happens on Sunday (when it's official)?? LOL!

posted by knitgirl, 21:28 | link | comments (7)

Thursday, 29 July 2004

Knitting content... and the promised pics!!

So the knitting continues... the list of WIPs seems to be growing daily (and of course I'm not listing them in the sidebar - I don't feel as guilty then, lol!) - but at least I'm making some progress on some of them! That's a good start, right? (A warning on all the pics tonight - it seems that despite my best efforts with the crappy photo editor I have, most of them don't want to be resized... I apologize in advance for the largeness of some of them.)

I cast on for the Bottoms Up bucket last week and after doing a hell of a lot of bitching about the brim, it's finally going quickly! I am using the Rowan Handknit DK - I hate knitting with this double stranded!! Once I dropped a strand and started knitting the band, I started liking it a hell of a lot better... This is my first attempt at striping too - it seems pretty straightforward... I just had to do some adjustments on the fly to the original idea I had... the brim took up almost the entire ball of yarn, so I had to make the next pink stripe smaller than I had hoped. I don't think it looks bad - now that I'm in the green again, we'll see how it looks. (I actually am almost done with the second green stripe and will start the crown shaping tomorrow night! I like the design... now if it looks good on me, I might have to do a felted one to go with my Butterfly Scarf for the winter... mmmmm... more yummy yarn! :)

Oh how I love knitting shop samples!!!

Not a great picture, but who cares, right? :) Kristine asked me to pick up this Katia yarn (of course I can't remember which one and I left the label in the shop) and knit a quick scarf on Saturday. It's a beautiful feel - a microfiber blend - thick and thin. I love knitting with it - I would never wear it though. LOL. Of course, that's just me. I love the chocolatey brown color and knitting it up on 11's has been a breeze. Since I only get a chance to knit on it for about 15 mins or so at a time, it's going slowly... hopefully I'll get it done while I'm working on Sunday! (Of course to not get it done b/c we were so busy wouldn't be a bad thing either!)

Birthday updates and the promised pictures!!!

Warning!! Non-knitting content ahead!

LOL! The birthday went great - as you guys know, I got my hair cut, went out and worked at the shop. :) I've needed a new watch for a couple of weeks now and to celebrate my new job, I decided to buy one - when I saw this beauty at Swatch, I had to have it!! Isn't it lurrrvely? And oh so perfect for the shop, since it's pink and green! :) (Am I a dork or what?)

I got this lurrrvely gift from Christina the other night too - it's handmade and wonderful! It's almost too pretty to use, but I know that I will eventually, damnit! (I want a pretty bathroom for it to look pretty in first though...)

Okay, now for the pics I've had people ask me about - the drunk pics with friends... I've only posted the halfway decent ones (you know, the ones where I don't look completly drunk, the girls aren't being shown off too badly, etc.)... so there will be no real blackmail! :) If you only read this for the knitting content, there will be none here! Fair warning...





Okay, so as I post these, I realize there's not really what's considered a good one of me in the bunch! Of course, there are some that are "not-so-drunk" - lol! The only really good one of the new haircut is the obligatory drinking shot, of course... Of course y'all could stop by the shop to look at it, if you haven't seen it in person by now, lol!

posted by knitgirl, 23:13 | link | comments (5)

Sunday, 25 July 2004

It all comes together...

I finally can blog about some great news I received from Kristine about the shop!!!!! As some of you all know (especially the Arlington SNBers that have heard me bitching about it, lol), I've been looking for a job. I've been extremely unhappy in the one I have now... well, all that's changed! :) Kristine and I have been working on this for the past three weeks and now it's official! On Thursday, Kristine offered me a full-time job as a manager at the shop! I verbally gave my two weeks notice that day and turned in the written resignation on Friday. My last day is 7 August and I am official at Knit Happens on 8 August! Can we say EXCITED?!?!?! We started telling people on Saturday - it all seems like a dream. :) Now Kristine will have a chance to rest up and spend time with her wonderful husband and know the shop is in good hands... Thanks Kristine for trusting in and having faith in me! This is just way too cool!

Onto other things... by the time I actually get around to hitting "post and publish" it'll be Monday... which is my birthday. (I know that Rossana will probably post about this already, lol!) I've spent my birthday weekend with friends - and have had some fun pictures taken, lol. Along with all that, I've cut my hair for the first time in almost a year and a half! I'll try to post pics tomorrow - doing a little editing here and there, lol! I ran into Rossana at the bookstore today and she got to see the haircut and approves... so that should say something! LOL! :) (And she was quite flattered that she got to be the first to see it too...)

posted by knitgirl, 22:02 | link | comments (6)

Tuesday, 20 July 2004

Socks????

While there hasn't been a whole hell of a lot of knitting going on, there has been some... and, of course, like all the other WIP's that seem to be on the needles lately, it's been frogged about 10 times. (I'm not exaggerating either!) After talking to Carol when I was at Knit Happens the other week (or two ago) I decided to try my hand at socks. (After all, when Carol tells you that she knows you can do socks, you at least try - or at least I did, since I know she's not trying to blow sunshine up my ass... what a visual, right? lol!) So I visited Wendy's blog and decided to give her toe-up sock pattern a try. Can we say that I must be absolutely, 100% off my damn rocker for trying this??? Me, who has never knitted on anything smaller than size 6 US needles am now knitting on size 0 US needles. I feel like I'm knitting with toothpicks - and that I'll end up breaking them, lol. But, since I've started this project with some lurrrvely Lorna's Laces sock yarn I picked up at the shop, I am determined to see it through - come hell or high water! LOL! :)

Whatever will I wear these with? I am finally happy with the result after 10 frogs or so... Can we say "ribbit"?

posted by knitgirl, 23:21 | link | comments (5)

Monday, 19 July 2004

SNB night tonight

Tonight was the night I look forward to every two weeks - my SNB night! We had a few new members there tonight - including one who just started knitting not too long ago. We're getting to be so popular, lol! :) It helps that when I'm at the shop I'm forever telling people about it, Rossana keeps telling people on the Metro about it, and that everyone in the SNB is bringing the new knitters that they know.

Erica finally got back from her Alaskan anniversary trip - she told all of us about the Quivit (am I even close in spelling it correctly?) that she bought at the Musk Ox farm they managed to visit... and brought us the skeins to fondle! I was in love with that stuff - it's too bad it's so expensive. :( She was telling us how its harvested (quite interesting story, really, it is!)... then she told us how she gave Joel his anniversary gift - the wonderful Jo Sharp sweater she's been knitting for the past few months - really, almost the entire time I've known her! I was quite amazed when I saw the finished product - it looked so professional, yet you knew how much love went into making it. :) Awwww! Erika had to tell the story of the "reveal" about 20 times - I loved hearing how she made him try it on right in the middle of the restaurant! LOL!

I intended on working on Iris while I was at Greenberry's, I thought that she had been punished enough and should see the light of day. Yeah, that didn't happen... I ended up working on the Opera Scarf. I frogged her back b/c I wasn't happy with the lace pattern. It's an easy pattern repeat, but it just didn't look right. It looks much better now, but it still doesn't look like it should look in the picture. Oh well, we'll just call it a "design element," why don't we? Hehe! It's supposed to block out to 7.5" wide when I'm done... somehow, I just don't see that happening, but who knows... stranger things have happened, right? Here, take a look at her:

Tonight I showed off my finished Butterfly scarf using the new Karabella Butterfly novelty yarn. It's beautiful, it'll be warm... I used two balls of Butterfly, which when knitted up on size 15 needles, ended up being about 7 feet long or so. I love it! I asked Rossana to take a couple of pictures of the scarf for blogging purposes - I told her to feel free to cut my head off - in the tradition of knitting bloggers everywhere - but of course she didn't... The first one isn't so hot (it's too dark) but you can really see the length on it... The second one was just a fun one b/c Rossana wanted to, lol! Actually she told me to send it to the bf... maybe... of course, with the festivities planned for the weekend, he may have a mailbox full of pictures from me, lol! You can really see the colors in it... that's the only orange I'll be wearing anytime soon, lol!

posted by knitgirl, 21:51 | link | comments (3)