Ripped and fabulous.

So, I did rip the 3" of my gatsby tank. I'm fine with it, seeing as I'd rather work on a tank that will FIT me when i finish, than sob sob sob b/c it's too big. I'm about 7-8" done with the back, and hope to have the back completed by the end of this weekend. Pics then. Plus, it's really the front that's the exciting part.

I've got PACKAGES! My friend Paul, who was visiting me in March, sent me a thank you gift. One of those Q20 game thingamajiggers. If anyone out there is in denial about how freaking smart computers are nowadays, they need one of these. It's 20 questions in a gameboy version. And it's got a smart ass attitude.
The second package of the week was my order from Loop yarn which accepts PAYPAL!!! That's like free money. So I ordered some Jo Sharp Silk Tweed, DK to make....

THE agatha


Yes. I see that it's a cardigan/jacket fall type thing. Designed by Jane Ellison. The yarn will get fondled for an appropriate amount of time and then put away for later in the summer when knitting for Fall becomes appropriate. Sigh. But a beautiful sweater and design, no? Of course, the only reason I can't start knitting it is b/c I don't own the pattern.

I will update later on tonight with a pic of the yarn. Wanda will be happy to know that I did NOT buy green Silk Tweed.

EDIT: here's the pic, as promised. It's the color emporio
Jo Sharp DK


Eight days of the semester left. Not including today. EIGHT. Who knew they could cram in so much evil torture into so few days? But tonight, I will not think of the crap I have to do for school... every Wednesday, my friend and I do a dinner club thingy. We pick a yummy elaborate recipe and try it out. Since we both love garlic, salt, heat, and eggplant, we're usually slobbering over the same recipes.

We've made many dishes... maybe I'll post some recipes at some point, with corrections changes that we made to suit our tastes. We've made dishes like spaghetti squash, something similar to this eggplant dish, pork and tomatillo stew, etc etc. Tonight's dinner is an old stand by, eggplant, tomatoes, garlic and pasta. you can't go wrong.

Last, lest I forget AGAIN, please note the new button on the sidebar for Camp WannaKnitKnit. If you live in CO, and knit or crochet, please consider joining us! We're discussing where and when on the blog that Felicia set up, and we'd love more input! The more the merrier!

So bead it! Just bead it!

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend as much as I did. How can a weekend be bad when you spend it with good company? I invited myself over to Stacey's on Friday... we chatted, we ate (and ate), knit, and watched Saved! with Mandy Moore (hilarious, by the way). I got to drool over Stacey's very well organized stash... my favorite was the super soft pink shimmery stuff.

Saturday, some of the crew (Stacey, Michelle, Wanda, and me) met up at the bead store in Park Meadows, where my addictive + OCD personality disorder reared its ugly head.

Beading







See how I had to make SETS of markers?

Wanda's


Then you see Wanda's very pretty and UNIQUE stitch markers.



I couldn't resist these beads of black cat heads and the dolphin.



Here's a pic of a tank I finally settled on (after pouring through both Stacey and Wanda's considerable pattern libraries... Isn't it purty? It's from the Katia #46. I'm using the Elsebeth Lavold Silky Tweed to make this one...



Here's where I need help. I've knit up about 3 inches worth of the back. I thought to myself, "self, you should really check this width to see if it's going to fit!" So I pulled out a tank top that I like (which is also knit) and that's what you see. I understand that there'll be a difference in give, but ummm... I'm pretty sure that this comparison shot makes it obvious that it's too big. So... rip it, right? The black tank is made of 100% cotton, the silky tweed is 40% silk, 30% cotton, 20% merino extra fine, and 10% viscose.

Fricka fracka... grumble grumble

Until I settle on a pattern for the tank tops for the summer, I've been figuring out how to knit with DPNs. I bought some size ones, b/c the store didn't have any size 2s. My hands and fingers will adjust to using these teeny tiny needles, but how come I can't figure out how to PURL on these fuckers? I was trying to do some ribbing for practice, and I noticed that my stitches were all effed up if I had to change from knit to purl at the same time I went from one needle to another. Am I missing something? It's probably something completely obvious, and I have all the faith in the world that the Denver Knit Crew can help me here.

Ok, now that I've got that rant thar out of the way...
Can I gush about how lucky I am that I've found such a wonderful group of people to knit with? Even though I've just begun my journeys with these beautiful people, my life and heart have already been deeply touched by these special people. They've opened up their hearts, their creative genius brains, and their homes to me, making me laugh when I needed it, and tirelessly helping me stumble through my never ending quest to become a competent knitter. How come it seemed so easy to meet these wonderful people (Cathi, Stacey, Wanda, Michelle, etc etc!!!) in just a few short weeks, but I can't find a decent man to DATE, much less have a meaningful relationship with? Maybe I'll start crashing Jon's men's knitting group.

Oops. I slipped back into ranting, didn't I? On to Stash Enhancement... a subject that will rarely lead to ranting... on with the show.

Silk & Socks 


The brown and green silk tweed (Elsebeth Lavold's). I have plans for a nice tank out of this stuff. I bought mostly brown, and there was this one lonely green skein. C'mon! What's a girl supposed to do? Don't you think it'd make a beautiful accent color? like a trim at the bottom and top or something?

The blue/white/orange stuff is sock yarn. I've been swatching with this stuff.

Suzie 


Yes yes. This sad scarf is the same one from the very beginning of my blogging days. Since finishing the clap, I've been working on this one. See how the stripes are getting thinner? My friend made the comment that it looks like Charlie Brown's shirt. Hmph.

But the pattern did give me an idea that maybe someone more knowledgeable and creative could help me with... How about a tank that is one chevron wide? There is a similar idea floating around out there from Interweave but I like the look of this pattern better.

Toasties 


My very first skein of Interlacements!! Toasty Toes. See how colorful it is? Aren't we proud of me? It's even got some (gasp!) pink in it.

I bought most of this stuff (except for the sock yarn) at LaTiDa which was having a sale. The interlacements were 25% off, and the silk tweed was 40% off!

Inertia's a beeyatch, but Karma's been good to me.

Two of my friends ran the freaking BOSTON MARATHON today. They've both run marathons before, but this is the BOSTON. Even more impressive, they both finished. One friend ran it in about 3:30, with an average 8:20 mile. I'd be happy to run ONE mile in eight minutes, much less 26+ of them in a freaking row. The other finished her's in about 4 hours flat. I think her average mile was 8:40. Her brother ran the race in a little bit over 3 hours. The winner ran it in 2 hours, 11 minutes. Are my eyes the only ones bugging out?

What would it take to make you run 26 miles all at once? What kind of yarn, how many skeins? I'm thinking for me, it would be bags of assorted koigu, a few hanks of the Brooks Farm Yarn, a full set of Addi Turbos and Addi Naturas, some Manos del Uraguay, and.... well. whatever else is expensive and soft.

On to knitting news. I have none. I need to spend some serious time looking for patterns of summer stuff. I found some yarn (look here) that I'm loving, but want a cute pattern to go with it before I commit to buying it. A tank top with some detail (some lace work), not super thin straps, and some shaping. Any suggestions as to where to look? I'm wanting the heliotrope color. Or, (surprise surprise, victory garden. I love both.

I am shamelessly PLEADING for suggestions. Begging on hands and knees. The muscles in my arms and hands are atrophying as we speak, being saved only by notetaking in class, and typing out this blog. Please don't let my inertia for knitting go to waste, I'm on a roll here guys!! I finished my clap, i'm itching for another project to cast on.

My karma news: Not only the awesome RAOKs of late, but I finally met up with a professor that has been ignoring eluding me of late. He gave me an undeserved (maybe a little) bad grade LAST year (I'm talking, Spring 04 semester here), said he would think about changing it (his suggestion, not mine) and then promptly ignored my consequent attempts to meet up with him. I'm talking over 10 emails, stalking figuring out his teaching schedule and 'bumping' into him on campus to arrange a meeting, etc etc. He was a no show for meetings and wouldn't reply to my emails. I had decided to just let it go, but was a bit freaked when I figured out I had a class with him this term. In any case, we finally met, and he agreed to change my grade. Why do I care? I wouldn't, if this master's was going to be my terminal degree. But I'd like to do some research later on in my career, and getting a PhD is fairly crucial. A "B" in a grad program doesn't look nice.

EDIT
OH OH OH!! I forgot to mention that the bestest brother has sent me a present in the mail. I was expecting it, but it's still nice to come home to a package in the mail. It contained a) a new media card/memory stick for my camera, so I can save a zillion pics should I choose b) Office 2003 (which includes Powerpoint, Excel, and Publisher) and c) Micheal Jordan's TO THE MAX on DVD. That man has never ever failed to make me drool. Those arms. Those shoulders. Mmmmm Mmmmm GOOOOOOOD.

The good, the bad, and the ugly

THE BAD
Since the last post, I've spent the majority of my waking hours in a classroom. I had class on Thurs evening, then for 5 hours on Friday, 8 hours on Saturday. It was even worse than usual, not just because of the ugly (see below), but because I knew that as I was sitting there listening (not really), I was MISSING OUT. As you can see from Felicia's post, that while I was being bored to death, Chez Cathi was bustling at the seams with knitting, gabbing, and SUNDAES. I missed SUNDAES. Hmph. Yes, that's a note of bitterness you're detecting.
THE UGLY
Plus, I'm either having an allergy attack or I have a cold. I've decided I have a cold, since I don't want to admit to allergies. I had a non-existent voice and sore throat first, then the stuffies. Yuck. Let's move onto

THE GOOD
And there's a LOT of good to report. First,

RAOKfromKnittyCath 


I got this very sweet card from Catherine on Thursday evening after my superboring class (in keeping with the optimistic/nice tone of the second half of the post, I will say that I have enjoyed most of my classes, but I've got senioritis. This semester is my last semester that involves coursework). It was a great pick me up to get the card!!

On Saturday, after nearly DYING from boredom, I came home to a mailbox STUFFED to the gills. I thought it was the package my brother was sending me (with a new card for my camera, so I can take more pics) but LOOK!!

kittywithRAOK 


Both cats were ALL over this unexpected gift from Stacey. I was grinning ear to ear because I think the Cujo Koigu she SO generously gifted me is the same skein I was fondling and drooling on at our Meetup last Tuesday evening.

RAOKwithPrecious 


This picture is just for Stacey. See how well the Cujo Koigu and Classic Elite Lush yarns complement my precious? It was 'meant to be.' (My brain cells have all decided not to work today... what movie is that from? the whole 'meant to be'? anyone? Bueller?)

Seriously folks. I was feeling so... RICH on Saturday evening. I wanted to sleep with my new yarn. The Classic Elite Lush is softer than a baby's bottom. Made of equal parts angora and wool. And do I need to gush about the Cujo Koigu? I promptly took a nap underneath my blizzard shawl, then knit knit knit on my clap.


thewholeclap 


anotherclap 


WOOHOO! I have another TFO! I was going to take pics before weaving in ends and such, but thought, no, finish it NOW NOW NOW or you'll never do it. I love it, and it was such a joy to work on, I can see why people make more than one. I have a teeny tiny ball of the bamboo left, and I was sweating it near the end, wondering if the scientific process Cathi told me about was going to work out. I had planned to take a pic of the leftovers, but the brain didn't remember this morning.

Last pic:

myclogs 


These are my first set of clogs that I made (for myself). They live at a friend's house, as a preventative measure to having wet socks/feet from dog slobber.

So now the question is... what should I cast on for now? I suppose I could finish some WIPs... but what fun is that?

You are an obsession. You are my obsession....

Sing/chant song along with me working fervishly on my clap. The end is in sight! I am just about to start decreasing, but have no new photos. Probably won't until the clap is fini!

In other news:
1) another great knit night. If you live in Denver (or near Denver), join Meetup.com and find the Littleton group. GO JOIN NOW! Next month, the plan is to meet at the usual B&N, then head to a Mexican restaurant for some food and margaritas. THEN head back to the B&N for more knitting. (Umm... does this sound like a recipe for disaster to anyone else?) My camera's battery was dead, my brain was pretty fried, so no pics. We solved many complex issues (namely, which 5 skeins of KPPPM should Stacey use on her Charlotte?), and now feel capable to take on world peace.

2) I'm pouting. While all these great people will be meeting up at Chez Cathi for another knit night with QUESO on Friday evening, I will sadly be in weekend class. Again. If you want to join in on the fun, go to Yahoo groups and join MHCKnitters.

3) I briefly thought about becoming a lesbian today. In class, we had a panel of couples (gay and lesbian) to talk about typical issues that might bring G&L couples to counseling. It was a great informative group discussion, helping us future counselors understand a bit more about the dynamics of lesbian and gay relationships. The lesbian couple comprised of two very successful, bright, educated women... and their description of how their relationship works made me envious. Imagine not having proscribed gender roles, where it isn't ASSUMED that you will do the cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc just b/c you're the woman. The two couples also talked about the high level of communication and emotional availability between them (I told you these were super couples, didn't I?) In any case, all this stuff made me think it would be great if I were sexually attracted to women. Then a few more brain cells decided to join my thinking process and said, "hey stupid, it's their awesome friendship combined with their obvious regard for each other that helps make their relationship so great."

Did you know that gays and lesbians (and bisexuals that are in same sex relationships) are denied over ONE THOUSAND, and ONE HUNDRED federal rights? Does this not astound you? Makes me enraged. Did you know that in most of CO, you can be fired/terminated just for being gay/lesbian? How is this possible?

(stepping off soapbox for now)

now for the pictures!!!
cuteness!! 


These are my furbabies. On the left is Cosmo (yes, named after Cosmo Kramer). He's the scaredy cat. The right side of the pic shows Danger. He is the 'curiousity killed the cat' cat. One time he had singed eyebrow whiskers b/c he was busy investigating a glass jar candle.

full length blizzard 


humongo 


Ok. This blizzard shawl is NOT knitting, but it's still fibercraft, right? It's a pretty simple crochet pattern, consisting of mostly hdc (half double crochet... and yes, for you non-crocheters, that's DIFFERENT from a single crochet). It's absolutely HUGE. The rug next to it is a 5X8, and it's laying by the 8 ft side.

Last. I will probably not post again until either a) the clap is done or b) on Sunday the 17th, due to a regulary scheduled interruption in my life, aka grad school.

Ten, nine, eight...shit.

Well, I had a blast last night, downtown. My friend and I had our usual marg night, starting with food and a pitcher of margs at Wahoos! We discuss some very philosophical issues during dinner, such as, WTF are men thinking, WTF is wrong with us that we keep dating these men, work, school, families, etc. We bar hopped a bit, with me being disappointed at Martini Ranch. The peeps were either JUST 21 or over 40. Hmm. Anyway, I was able to avoid the pin stripes, but the knit skull caps were out en masse. Hot, but super stoned. Of course, reality set in, and we all ended up pissed off at the world. Someone stole my friend's wallet. Fuckers.

Woke up to a blizzard this morning at 6 am. Sigh. I went to bed at 3am. I plopped myself on the couch and watched early AM news for a few hours, detailing EVERY aspect of the storm. It finally lulled me back to sleep. I was waiting impatiently for 6pm, which was the designated appt time with the technogeek brother. Hmph. He's not ready for me. Pics will be added later tonight (I promise) b/c I have no reason to go to bed early tonight either. My professor cancelled the class for which I am a teaching assistant. No worries about prepping for a lecture tomorrow.

So I KNIT and KNIT. I'll be crocheting in a little bit, since it seems apropos to crochet the blizzard shawl today.

clap in progress 

VHS tape for size reference. She's coming along very nicely, I'm on the last skein of the bamboo.
up close 

blizzard shawl  

The blizzard shawl. It's about half way done...

Here are the promised pics of the knit night @ Lesley's

supermodel & hostess with the mostess 


I believe the caption speaks for itself.

michlle, shirley, & jenifer 


They're in order, from L to R. Michelle was working on her wavy, which she made look really easy. Shirley was working on a vest, and claimed she was a 'newbie' knitter (she's a LIAR), and Jenifer was working on her clapotis.

wanda & stacey 


Wanda, my precious, and Stacey. You can see Wanda's cute ass baby hat. She's made a blankie out of the same yarn and has plans for some booties too. Stacey was working on her clapotis too (out of Interlacements) but was mostly pondering pink vs purple peep stitch markers. A mutually beneficial custodial agreement was reached between Stacey and Cathi by the end of the evening.

Look-y Look-y

I got buttons, baby!! Dani from the Fiber RAOK has RAOK'd me with these beautiful buttons!! (insert appropriate oohing and aahing here). The weekend is off to a great start for me, with a knit night at Lesley's home (pics later), which included the Supermodel, Tamara, Jenifer, Shirley, Stacey, Wanda, and Michelle. What a great time we had! Lesley is a great hostess, providing all sorts of refreshments, chocolate fondue accompanied by marshmallows, brownie bites, strawberries, bananas, and bits o pound cake. Plus, the fixins for strawberry shortcake (with REAL whipped cream, I think... which I told myself was just CoolWhip), spinach artichoke dip, lemon dill dip, crudite... did I leave anything out? The night comprised of 1 part knitting, 4 parts eating/drinking, and 5 parts gabbing with show and tell.

We managed to convince Tamara and Lesley to join in the Clap craze. Jenifer, Stacey and I were all trying to work on ours, plus Cathi brought hers for us to fondle. When we all finish, we're going to have a club picture, captioned "the contagious Clap" or something. Jenifer also brought along her Charlotte, which is gorgeous!! The pics on her site do NOT do it proper justice. I was amazed at Tam's knitting speed (the only one who knit continental, i think), and SUPER jealous of Wanda's cute hats she was making.

We were there til the wee hours of the night. I stumbled home, grabbed some shut eye and rolled out of bed for my pilates class. I have plans to go out downtown tonight
and will meet these kind of men. Is it no wonder I'm single?

The ever sage Stacey came up with a terrific idea. That us Denver knitters should carpool down to Co Springs some Saturday early afternoon, do a yarn crawl and have a knit night down there. I thought we should as the CO Springs knitters to host/schlep us around, then we could return the favor in another month.

Ok. Onto the pics (fingers crossed that the driver still works). No. This computer-camera thing is driving me out of my ever-lovin mind. I do have an appt with my technogeek (ahem, tecnhoPHILE) brother tomorrow.

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend as much as I am... pics of knit group and progress on my clap coming soon to a theatre near you.

Gregorian chants?

Is that what I keep hearing whenever they talk about the Pope? I rather enjoy that, even if it does give me goosebumps b/c it's all about the dead Pope. And, uh, is it kosher to have him sitting out for 5-6 days? Do they embalm Popes? I thought saints and such didn't get embalmed b/c they supposedly don't decompose (according to some bit o lore I heard while in Italy). Any practicing or knowledgeable Catholics out there care to enlighten me? (just on this one topic, please). Though, I kind of doubt any super devout Catholic can stomach the amt of cussing I do on this blog.

Did anyone listen to me and check out the "Stupid Famous People" blog? Really. The girl is a riot.

What have I been up to? Trying to get my brain back to the 'on' position. Unfortunately for me, my brain rather likes the 'off' position, and all the partying and mind numbing activities I've engaged in over the past few weeks has not kept it active (except for the excellent games of Scrabble I played). I'm scrambling like mad trying to get back into the groove of my schoolwork. The next 3-4 weeks will be tough for me, as all the assignments and finals are due. PLUS videotapes. Yes, I have had to make videotapes of myself showcasing my abilities. Sheesh.

I've worked a bit on the clap, which I'm excited to get feedback about this Friday at Lesley's. (sign up for MHCKnitters on Yahoo!Groups to join in on the fun!)While you're at it, hop on over to meetup.com and look for knit groups. I'm excited for the Littleton meetup next week, as we said we would be getting some MARGARITAS nearby. Back to the clap. I am in love with this pattern, the yarn, and the new needles I bought for myself (addi naturas). I could make another one of these!! But, I think I should finish some of the other scarves (ahem, blush blush) that I started LOOOONNNNNGGGGGG ago. My OCD ass spent many many hours finding, saving, and organizing the buttons from all the RAOK members (all the buttons I could find). See the lovely scrolling marquee of blog buttons on the left? Looks easy, doesn't it? NOT SO. My friend Dar (she's a lurker, but won't comment for fear of spam. someone tell her there's no spam from commenting!) would enjoy the process. Well, enjoy may have been a strong word, but she would understand the sadomasochistic pleasure of the very detailed, organized, and technical aspects of having organized about 100 links with buttons.

And, I've found the wonderful world of bloglines. I had no idea what all that 'feed me' stuff was on other blogs. Now, instead of checking blogs all the time, I get a little 'ding' when a blog I like has a new posting. HOW cool is THAT?

Last. bluFelicia has some funny ass shit on blog. What everyone is sick and tired of hearing about from the NEWS. Shouldn't the NEWS cover NEW things? Not the SAME thing all the time?

No new knits.

Edit: ok, i noticed i had a similarly titled post just a few weeks ago. My bad. Tee hee. That phrase "my bad" will make me giggle for the next few weeks. The friend that was staying with me, is a lover of bad television. I'm talking Jerry Springer and Maury Povich. He finds it incredulous at how stupid people can be... and I guess on one of these shows, this guy came on to check the paternity of his son. His girl had gone to a party at the time of conception, and woke up in a bed with 3 other men. But was SURE nothing had happened. The guy really wanted this kid to be his, b/c he loved him (awww....). Well, this isn't the Oprah Winfrey show, so of course the kid is NOT biologically his... and he's in tears. He's sobbing his poor heart out after finding out his girl is a whore AND his kid isn't his... and you know what she says to him? (all together now!) "My bad." in a very flippant way.

I sort of apologize for the very long post. I think I'll move the movies to somewhere else to shorten this up. If you really want to see the list, go here. My happy knit news of the weekend is that I finally got accepted to the FiberRAOK webring! Woohoo! Someone (Lu) has already RAOK'd me, with a gc to Adagio Teas. Mmmm... (rubbing hands together in glee).

And, i have to highly recommend a blog to you. If you are easily offended, don't follow the link to Mrs. Gyllenhaal's blog.

Last. No. I have absolutely no knitting news. I have not touched a needle in three days. I'm taking one of my kitties to the vet tomorrow, and will do some knitting in the waiting room.