fastest sweater ever

i guess if I had a 10-hour train trip and then a quiet weekend following, I could get a sweater finished in nine or ten days all the time ... while that isn't at all realistic, that's what's happening with the eyelet cardigan. With Wes at work on Friday at the end of a looong week for me, i was more than happy to stay home and knit, so that's what I did ... finishing up the front pieces of the cardigan. Saturday I met up with Nicole and some other girls she works with to see Ratatouille at the El Capitan in Hollywood, then went out to dinner, but Wes was at work again when I got home and I wasn't sleepy yet, so I cast on for the sleeves (both at once using two separate balls of yarn) and worked for a few hours. Yesterday I worked a little more in between running errands and making dinner while the Dodgers went into extra innings, and I have just the sleeve caps left for the actual pieces. Then I'll have to stitch the seams together and pick up edge stitches for the neck band and button holes. I've never done button holes before, so I might need to enlist Lois' help again, but I've already let her know I'd be looking for it. I picked out some great abalone buttons to use too that will look gorgeous with the yarn color.
p.s. I guess I didn't put in my 2.5 hours a day on the shawl this weekend ... but once I finish the cardigan, I'm not casting on for anything new until I get more progress done on the shawl! I promise!! :)

math major

i just did some math and figured out that I will need to work on mom's shawl for 2.5 hours a day every day between now and August 5 when we are taking Grandma to the Hollywood Bowl for her birthday. I am not good at math, so this might be wrong, but I am going to pretend it is right and maybe work on the shawl for 2.5 hours a day. If I stop going out to lunch with the guys at work I will
a) save money (BBQ tri-tip is not cheap!),
b) save calories (BBQ tri-tip is not low-cal!),
c) have an hour to knit in the middle of the day.
but I like going to lunch, so maybe I will just stop going so often. I didn't go today because Tia and I have the first of six 5k races this evening and In-N-Out is not good pre-race food. Don't ask me how I know this.

anyway, I would like to finish mom's shawl by the next time I see her, which is going to be at the Hollywood Bowl. plus, the Hollywood Bowl is outside, so she might be cold and like to have her shawl. we'll see if 2.5 hours a day is realistic ... if I could knit at my desk while waiting for the phone to ring, I could definitely do it. I wonder if Jenn would notice?

any excuse to knit all day

I guess a sign that you're a little too excited about knitting is when you make travel plans that begin at 6:30am the morning after a bachelorette party ... well, that is what I did this weekend. I flew up to San Francisco with Tia (the bride-to-be), Amanda, Shannon and seven other friends for two nights of celebrating. We stayed at the gorgeous Stanford Court by Renaissance (I highly recommend it! the service was excellent) and just had a ball. The picture to the right is of Tia and I on Saturday night. Instead of the traditional veil or feather boa to distinguish Tia as the bachelorette of the group, Amanda and Shannon (two of her bridesmaids and the organizers of this trip) found a bunch of cute cop stuff for her to wear, including handcuffs, which Tia slapped on me at one point in the evening. This was right after I ordered my favorite drink of the night - Bitchin' Cadillac - which was just Captain Morgan and Dr. Pepper ... can't believe I never thought of it before! yummm!
but I didn't drink too much since my bus to the train station was scheduled to pick up at 7am! I had decided to take the train home because I wanted to the view of the coast (which actually didn't start until after San Luis Obispo!) and I was looking forward to having a whole day with no obligations so I could knit and not have to talk to anyone after the weekend of sharing a hotel suite with 10 other girls. My just-for-the-train project is gorgeous and I am loving the color of yarn I picked out. I got the whole back finished in the ten hours of train time + a couple hours sitting in the Oakland station waiting, since the train was three hours late! So, I got up at 6:30 to take a cab to the Ferry Building where the bus would pick me up to take me to Oakland to catch the train scheduled to arrive at 8:50 and the train didn't come in until a quarter to noon! I had a vending machine cinnamon roll and Dr. Pepper for breakfast (they were out of my first three choices, in order: water, apple juice, orange juice) and didn't get to the snack car for lunch on the train until almost 2pm when my sugar coma was well intact. But once I was settled on the train (in a row all to myself for most of the trip), I pretty much just knit the whole way south. Since we were so late, by the time the ocean came into view it was almost dark - but there was a great sunset during dinner in the dining car where I sat with a fun older couple from Kansas. After dinner though, it was dark outside the rest of the trip so I missed the ocean view I really wanted to enjoy, from Carpenteria through Ventura where I so often run or drive. Despite being behind schedule, I did love the train and my day of knitting. Next I'll have to figure out when Wes and I could take a train trip together!

in the meantime

even though I mostly love Sahara (except for the funky lace part) and am anxious to be able to wear it, I am still bummed that I have to rip the funky lace part out and do it over so I have been ignoring it this week and focusing more on mom's shawl and also going to bed earlier than I would if I was working on lace insets.
this weekend is Tia's bachelorette party and we're traveling a fair distance to celebrate. in my quest for an affordable way to get home on Sunday, I chose to take the train! Amanda completely called me on it when I told her how I was getting home and figured I was doing it for the twelve hours of uninterrupted knitting! though I don't know how productive I will be after getting up at 7am after going to bed at who knows when. But I bought new yarn and a pattern from Blue Sky Alpacas that I am hoping won't take too long due to the thicker yarn (color: azul) and cropped style of the cardigan. I will also bring along mom's shawl since I know I can't work twelve hours on the same pattern, so I'll try to mix it up. I am hoping for a west-facing window seat, though if I get that I might not do any knitting at all!

nevermind ...

wore my newly finished Sahara out last night to dinner and to see Transformers (oh my gosh, it was great. I would recommend it to most anyone.) and after wearing it for a couple hours, decided that I'm going to pull out the lace inset and re-do it. I didn't pick up the stitches evenly around the edges and one side is more bunched up than the other side. Probably no one would notice, but it bugged me enough to want to rip and start over, which I never do. so, I guess I'm not quite done yet ...

Finished Sahara!!!

Just finished Sahara! will try to get better pictures later but maybe its ok there isnt too much detail here. anyway, off to see TRANSFORMERS!

Sahara sleeves

Finished the sleeves tonight! Love that there is no finishing to do, just a couple ends to weave in

Sahara photo update

Sahara up until now!

so close to finished Sahara

been working really hard to get Sahara finished this week. Wes and I laid low for most of the day yesterday since he had to work at night, so while we were resting (Wes for work and me for the big BBQ at Margies that night) I finished up the diamond rib pattern on the bottom of the hem and bound off! I was able to try it on and am so pleased to announce that it fits, despite my lack of gauge swatch! whew! All I have left now is the lace inset at the chest and then a little edging on the sleeves. I'm not using beads as shown in the picture to the left (that's one of the official pictures that came with the pattern. click on it to see more pattern details since I am slacking on the photos of my own work.), so it should be pretty easy. Wes is back on night shift now through October, so I will have lots of knitting time ahead of me!

unrelaxing vacation

got back last night from a much-needed vacation to Las Vegas and Phoenix, but don't feel too rested after the week away. after working a full day in Carson on Monday, then almost missing our flight to Vegas (stopped to have a beer with mom and dad at the Long Beach Airport bar), we rushed from the airport to our hotel and changed in 15 minutes to be ready to catch the shuttle to the strip (we stayed at an off-strip resort). We had an hour to get to the Stratosphere for 10pm dinner reservations and just barely made it. I didn't feel like we were really on vacation until we were sitting down looking at the amazing view with a glass of wine in hand.
The next morning we got up and said NO to the timeshare schpiel and headed out to relax at the pool for the rest of the day. We had dinner that night with Kevin and Danielle Grant (Kevin and Wes were in academy together and served on the same squad until the Grants moved late last year), then headed to the Tropicana for a show at the Comedy Stop. We had big plans for Nine Fine Irishmen after the Trop show, but were exhausted from the day in the sun, so we wussed out and went to sleep.
However, Wednesday we got up and made it to the strip for a whole day of Vegasness. We had complimentary tickets to the aquarium at Mandalay Bay (good thing too, since the 30 minute tour was not really worth the $15 entry fee everyone else paid), then made our way north on the strip stopping for lunch at the Paris with view of the Bellagio fountains and made it as far north as Treasure Island. Luke and Clarissa (Luke played baseball with Wes' roommate Matt in college and Wes and I shared a cabin at Matt & Casey's wedding in Tahoe) and their son Coyt met us for the (slutty!) pirate show outside that evening. After visiting with them for a while, Wes and I headed back south and ended up on a gondola at the Venetian! Before heading back, we stopped to watch a few water shows at Bellagio, this time in the dark with the lights and were too pooped to party too late again after another day in the sun.
Plus, we had to get up early to catch a cab to the airport the next morning to fly to Phoenix. Wes' sister Whitney is living in AZ with her boyfriend and his family for the summer, so she picked us up at the airport and we met up with boyfriend Goo and headed to Chase Field for the Diamondbacks/Dodgers game. The Dodgers won and Wes and I went to Kristina and Andy's for the night. The next morning we woke up to Taylor chattering and got up to play with her and chat with Kristina. We missed seeing Andy, who was working hard to be able to take vacation this week! But I loved playing with Taylor, she is soooo big now! Kristina said she was saying our names, but I think she was calling Wes "bunny."
After we left Kristina's, Wes and I drove around the east valley looking at model homes for a few hours. Then we checked in at our hotel and had time for a quick dinner before Wes headed off for a ride-along. I was sad to see him go, but also grateful for the chance to knit finally! I pulled out Sahara since I had the time and attention it needs and started working the hip increases. I also ordered a slice of cheesecake and glass of wine from room service, so passed out before I could get too far along. I didn't hear Wes come in late, but he was there in the morning when we woke up for time in the gorgeous pool and then more driving around town. We went to P.B. Loco for lunch and I loooved the CinnyNilla sandwich. I highly recommended it :) That night Wes had another ride-along, but this one was much earlier in the evening, so I had made plans for dinner with Ashlee. After she dropped me back off at the hotel, I sat down for more knitting and finished the hip increases and was all ready to start on the short rows on the bottom few rows (to make it look like a shirt-tail hem), but next thing I knew, Wes was waking me up to put me to bed since I had fallen asleep in my knitting. Sunday Whit and Goo met us at our hotel pool for some more waterslide and water volleyball fun, then they dropped us back off at the airport!
So, not much knitting over the whole week, but really good progress when I did sit down to do it. Hoping to get the short rows done tonight, depending on what shape the apartment is in. Apparently we had a water leak while we were gone and there was some damage ... I was too tired last night by the time we got home (airline lost our bag for a while, so we got home way later than expected) to really check it out.

preoccupied with food

spent some more lunch-time knit-time working on mom's shawl and trying to distract myself from the delicious turkey, cheddar, pickle, spinach and mustard on wheat in the fridge until 2pm - three hours before running, which as I discovered in high school track is the perfect amount of time to span between turkey sandwich and running. but my stomach was hungry and kept reminding me of the great new book I bought last night when Wes and I stopped at B&N before date night - a whole book of risotto! I am very anxious to try some of the new recipes, but until then, click on this little picture to get my current favorite risotto recipe. It is adapted from Giada DeLaurentiis' Dirty Risotto from her book Giada's Family Dinners, but I made a couple of alterations to Giada's recipe - I call mine "Contradictory" because I put real meat (Italian bacon - pancetta) and fake meat (Morningstar Farms breakfast links) in it. Also, I have made this lots of times with different price ranges of white wine (from two buck chuck and up ...), but the best by far is Hangtime Chardonnay. It comes from San Luis Obispo and we've gotten it at restaurants here in Ventura, but also bought it at some of the bigger liquor stores. It is a delicious addition to the risotto flavor and also tastes great to drink with the finished dish!
p.s. all this food talk - i definitely didn't make it until 2pm. I came in from lunch 20 minutes early and stopped by the fridge on my way back to my desk.
p.p.s. who picked that movie last night? umm, I think I did. but I don't recommend it.

Wonder Woman!

Dad sent over this picture of my sister-in-law, Kristen, wearing the Wonder Woman knucks I made for her for Christmas. Isn't it sad that she is wearing them in June? This is why I don't live in Seattle! (though I am glad she's getting good use out of them!) Click on the photo to see a picture of Luke and his lovely wife at her graduation from Seattle University last weekend. For a more detailed view of the knucks, click here.

shawl overload

worked my butt off on the shawl last week ... Wednesday after work while I waited for Wes to meet me for Date Night (no sense in going all the way home first), Thursday and Friday lunches, then all Friday night while we watched the Angels at the Dodgers ... but glad I got a lot done then, because the rest of the weekend was busy! Saturday night we headed down to the Staples Center to see Keith Urban rock the house. I think every time I see him (this was my fourth!) it gets better ... break for history lesson: in Keith's video for "Days Go By," the concert at the end of the video was at the Ventura County Fair three summers ago (2004) and that was the first time I saw Keith Urban live. The other two times were last December (2005), Wes and I went on a Tuesday night at the Gibson Amphitheater, then Lissa, Courtney and I flew to Vegas that weekend to catch him at Mandalay Bay. End of history lesson.
No more knitting on Sunday, we went out to Casitas with Matt and Casey for some frisbee golf, then passed out from the heat. Last night I cooked fish for dinner (Parmesan crusted with Citrus/Spinach salad on the side, soooo delicious) and I didn't want the fish smell to rub off on the yarn. I need to get one of those magic smell erasers from Crate & Barrel, I think.
Don't know how much night-time knitting I'll get done this week. We're having a little party on Saturday night and we need to do some work around the apartment before I let people inside. I'm thinking of making another run to BB's on Saturday after running with Tia, so that means I need to get all the housework done during the week. But I'm heading out for lunch-time knitting now and I'll have plenty of time for knitting while Wes is on ridealongs next weekend ...

starting the stash ...

Every time a read about another knitter's out-of-control stash (Yarn Harlot has a whole chapter about how to hide your stash from your family), I am a little smug. Proud of myself for (most of the time) controlling my urges to buy yarn until I have a firm project in mind, and the time to devote to the project. I do have one plastic bin of knitting stuff, but aside from housing my extra needles, pattern books and other tools, mostly it is extra yarn left over from finished projects and one or two rejected WIPs that I got bored of (2x2 rib scarf? come on!) or I tried on before the final finishes and realized it didn't fit, but couldn't bring myself to start over. All that smugness when straight out the window on Saturday when I drove up to Santa Barbara to visit BB's Knits retirement sale. Everything in the store was 50% off and my stash is well on it's way to getting out of control unless I take a few months off work to knit my butt off. Unfortunately, "stash reducing" is not a viable reason to call in sick.
I initially went to BB's because the store was listed on Jordana Paige's website for places to buy her knitters satchel. I am drooling over the ocean blue version, but it is a little pricey and I wanted to see the bag in person before purchasing. When I looked at BB's website for directions to the store, lo and behold! 50% off sale! I thought I could get my satchel at a well-reduced price ... of course by the time I got up there, the bags were sold out (some at 50% she said! bummer!), but there were plenty of other goodies left, and I certainly didn't leave empty handed. BB herself even took a peek in my bag as I was winding down and said I did a good job!!
Here's what I left with:
Patterns - Two (2) Fiber Trends sock patterns, Winter issue of Knit.1 magazine with some way cute patterns I had been drooling over since January, Miss Bea's Rainy Day patterns for Rowan yarns by Louisa Harding, Cabin Fever #153 (baby socks!)
Yarn - Eight (8) balls of Classic Elite Bamboo in China blue (hoping to use it for Sizzle, but I didn't have the pattern with me and guessed too low on yardage so will save the bamboo for something else glorious), Four (4) balls of Regia Silk sock yarn (two balls each yellow and pink), Six (6) balls of Rowan All-Seasons Cotton in Dusk (actual yarn is more purple than on website) to make a coat from Miss Bea's pattern book for my someday daughter, Four (4) balls of Whispers sock yarn in colors 04 and 08, One (1) ball of Artful Yarns - Olympic in color Atlanta, which I am going to try and make the baby socks out of for cousin Sheila's baby girl on the way. I am not really sure if that is supposed to be sock yarn though ...
Also - six abalone star shaped buttons for the little girl's coat and six sparkly pink buttons to adorn these socks, once I make them ...
wow! that's a lot of yarn to stash away while I finish up Sahara and mom's shawl ... but it was fun to visit a new store, even if I probably won't ever go back, and especially nice to have lunch with my handsome husband at work :) maybe I'll have to make another trip to BB's before the end of the month (to get more Bamboo, perhaps?) ... I do love to see Wes in uniform! yowza!

Grandma's socks

a few weeks ago Wes and I spent the weekend in Orange County for golfing, Ducks games and general family and friend togetherness and I was able to get Grandma to sit still for a minute so I could capture the bittersweet socks on her feet and on camera! I am so pleased that they fit her and that she seems to love them, since each time I showed up at her house over the long weekend, she had the socks on!
to recap: the yarn is Lorna's Laces worsted weight yarn in bittersweet and the pattern is also from Lorna's Laces, the Liberty Sock pattern that Lois used in sock class and the only sock pattern I've ever used ... but that is soon to change!!!

Ducks! Ducks! Ducks! Ducks!

just in case you didn't notice, the Ducks dominated the Senators last night 6-2 to be the FIRST CALIFORNIA TEAM TO WIN THE STANLEY CUP! (suck on that Kings and Sharks!) I almost cried at the first goal because I wanted to be AT the game sooooooo bad, but we couldn't afford the crazy ticket prices, so Wes and I settled down in the bar of J.J. Brewski's and had a grand old time in Camarillo.

who says the Neidermayers are the first siblings to win the cup since 1982? Check out me and Luke!

but at least Wes and Dad and I made it to one awesome game, the Western Conference clincher against the Red Wings. Best game ever, except for last night's of course, but I wasn't there so I can't claim it.

ducks

lazy = more knitting

had a mostly sit around the house and be lazy weekend (with some hockey! go Ducks!) so I got lots of knitting done on Sahara. the two sides of the front were knit with two different balls of yarn, so progress was often impeded by untangling of the yarn, but it is turning out really nice (looooooooove the smoothness of the yarn) and so far the gauge/fit seems to be right too ... I knit down the front to the arm shaping and attached the back to the front, but only on the sides under the armholes, and am now knitting flat (with only one ball of yarn!) for a few inches before waist decreases. after a few inches of decreases, I'll have to cast-on 20 stitches in the middle of the front and then attach to knit the rest of the top in the round.
on the picture to the right, I blacked out the stuff I haven't done yet. doesn't look like I've gotten very far, but the back is being completed at the same time, so it is really twice as much as is showing. the trim on the sleeves and neckline will be added after the rest of top is knit. the amount of cleavage showing is customizable too, just sew the center seam higher up or lower, I guess! ha.

inviting Murphy and his laws

after dinner last night Wes settled down in front of the NBA Eastern Conference finals and so I took the opportunity to get back to work on Sahara! picking up stitches from the preliminary crochet cast on was pleasantly easy and I was able to make good progress on the two halves of the front. the game went into double OT so I had even more knitting time ... I was hoping to get far enough along to attach the back to the fronts and start knitting in the round (only one ball of yarn attached instead of the current two for two sides of the front), but that would have taken a marathon knitting night, and I only do that when Wes is on night shift. he switches again July 2, so give it a few more weeks and I'll be back to my old habits :)
this pattern offers measurements in inches as well as row counts, so since I didn't do a gauge swatch (what! did I learn nothing in all of the AFY classes!), I have been measuring and counting very carefully as I go along. The gauge was the same as Mom's pink shell ... although it is different yarn, the yarn thickness is the same for both. The pattern for the pink shell suggested size 6 needles, but when I did my gauge swatches for that project I ended up using size 8 to get gauge, so I just picked up my size 8s for Sahara too and so far all my measurements have been exact to the pattern and gauge is right too. Now that I have gotten all cocky and braggy about perfection without a swatch, something is sure to go wrong ...

m1 on the back

Sahara back done! Well, top of the back done. Hopefully will have time to get the front started tonite! I'm anxious to get at those preliminary cast on stitches and see if it will be as easy as Lois made it look ...

knitting with Keith

while sitting upstairs on the lunchroom porch knitting on Sahara (finally started it last weekend! more on that in a minute ...) and listening to a mix of Keith Urban tunes in preparation for the concert in a few weeks, I discovered it takes all of "God's Been Good To Me" to knit one row, but I can get a whole lap done (knit one row, purl the next) before "Somebody Like You" finishes up. That's even with the inevitable daydreaming that comes with "Somebody Like You" ... since I walked down the isle to marry my sweet Wesley to that song.
so, back to the knitting: Sahara had a tricky start that caused me to put it off for a while (I bought the pattern and yarn back in February!). finally I went to see Lois at AFY last week to learn how to crochet cast-on. The instructions that came with the pattern said to incorporate the knitting needle into the single-crochet row so the stitches end up on the knitting needle, but that confused me! Lois then showed how she would do it: just knit a chain of however many stitches it says to cast on, then thread the knitting needle through the back loops. This sounded hard to me too (my ventures into crochet have been less than successful), but a trip to visit Grandma crocheter extrordinaire was already on the schedule for the following weekend, so I asked her to make the chain for me. It took a couple tries to get the tension right (loose enough so I could pick up the stitches), but we got it in the end. This week has been busy at work and at home (got the new Giada De Laurentiis and have been cooking up a storm! also, discovered the best cookie recipe ever ...) but after my lunchtime date with Keith, I am down to the arm shaping on the back. yes, I said "down" and not "up" to the arm shaping ... this sweater is knit from the top down, so I have the back of the shoulders finished now. After the arm shaping is finished on the back, I'll put these live stitches on a holder, pull out the crochet chain and pick up the stitches on the top and knit down the front. I was overwhelmed when I first bought the pattern, but looking at it one step at a time, it seems a lot easier. So for now, I am just thinking about m1 stitches that I'll do tonight if I can resist picking up my other new book (the only thing that got me to put it down yesterday was an afternoon of Pirates and Hockey.)