Knitting Musings

Slight Henry Re-Design

The "darker colors" sequence as designed by AS...

... and the "darker colors" sequence as re-designed by me.

I've also re-done the "lighter colors" sequence. The original was just way too stripey.

Of course, this also means that Henry is considerably smaller than he was yesterday. I'm sure, however, that once he sees his wifey tomorrow night, he'll start packing on the pounds...

Labels: Henry VIII

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Stupid CSI Marathon!

Thanks to the CSI Marathon on cable, I seem to be unable to leave the couch for more than a few minutes at a time. Luckily, almost all of the moving has been finished for the weekend, and S and I are taking a little break while he takes his friend site-seeing.

Yesterday, however, was not a day off... wanna see what approximately $10 of supplies and a DIY project will get you?

Step 1 - sand down the board. Then stain it (but put your foot down about sealing it. It was $6 of wood, and sealing it is a huge pain in the @$$.)

Step 2 - install the shelf behind your bed. Wear safety glasses when drilling above your head. If you're extra-cool, wear your fiancee's sunglasses.

Step 4 - load up your nightstand stuff.

I am in LOVE with this shelf. I am also in love with our new "library nook" -

... so much so that I staged a photo-shoot and pretended to be one of those models "reading."

Indigo Ripples Skirt

Pattern: Indigo Ripples Skirt from Interweave S2007

Yarn: Rowan Denim, 8.5 balls, Nashville

Notes: This is a fantastic pattern, and is so comfortable to wear. It was totally worth the blue hands one gets while knitting with Rowan Denim! I only made 1 small modification to the pattern - I lengthened the stockinette stitch section above the lace (I wanted a slightly longer skirt.)

Elspeth ... we're totally going to have to set up a denim-skirt night. I'll call JRM and see when he's free!

And speaking of Henry VIII, here's a still-life of Henry and Dog...

Labels: Denim Skirt, Henry VIII

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I Have a Lot of Yarn

We're (mostly) done with the office... and I re-configured my modular shelves into yet another incarnation, and stuffed all of my yarn into various places. There may be an entire shelf full of cormo.

And I can see my pretty yarn collection from my desk (which used to be the dining room table, but has been re-purposed...)

There's even a couch for the doggers to sleep on while we're working... and you can just barely see S' desk directly behind mine. Oh, and the laundry basket is full of drop clothes and other staining/furniture-finishing supplies, as I still have a shelf and a coffee table to finish (if they ever get in stock!)

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Whew!!!

It has been quite the week(s). Good news is that I'm almost done with the furniture refinishing, my roommate has moved out (boo!), and S is moving in (yeah!). But that has meant lots of time with various types of organizational/cleaning/relocation tasks, and not so much time knitting.

Which is a shame, considering that this came in the mail last week:

It's the shetland yarn for Dad's 2007 Vest, and I am SO excited...

Speaking of excited, I was lucky enough to get to visit with Lola last week at Knit Happens - she was either trying to walk herself, or just chewing on her leash. Either way, AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

I've also been working really hard on my Indigo Ripples Skirt... I've actually finished the knitting and I've washed it a few times... now I need to take a few hours and have a finishing party! Maybe tomorrow?

Last weekend was my graduation weekend, so I spent a lot of time Chez-Parents... Abby helped.

Apparently she did a good job, because they gave me a diploma and everything!

After graduation, I watched my roomie of the last 3 years drive away (sniffle sniffle), and S and I got to work on transforming the apartment...

That, my friends, is a ridiculous kitty-tower. I got it on ebay for about $50... which is 1/2 of the price it was selling for other places! S thought that Cricket needed a kitty tower so she wouldn't feel so left out once we moved all of Abby's stuff over...

Cricket, of course, preferred the box in which the kitty tower came...

... but with a little coaxing, she gave the new (and completely ridiculous) tower a try...

She's slept in it multiple times since we set it up, so I think it's a success.

In less successful news, remember all of that shetland? I got this far along with the 2007 Vest, and decided that the bright yellow just had to go.

I dove into my shetland stash and came up with this mushroom-y color... I think I'll have enough to substitute for the yellow, and it looks SO much better!

Oh, did I not mention the 2007 Vest design? Here's a hint...

Labels: Dad's Vest, Denim Skirt

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Wedding Invitations and Happy Plants

I'm sitting in my office at school waiting for graduation to start... I got here super-early because I hadn't picked up my cap and gown, so just in case there was a problem.... Which, of course, meant that there was NO problem, and I've been sitting here with my freshly steamed gown hanging on the door behind me for about 2 hours. SIGH. But at least I brought my knitting!!!

I happened to remember that I had saved another blog entry-in-progress, so let the time-wasting continue!!

I'm sure y'all will be excited to hear that world peace is possible... all it takes is a couple of movie-nights in bed and a king-sized bed. I took this picture a few mornings ago once I had managed to extricate myself from in between these two snuggle-monsters...

And remember my herb garden after the great replanting of 2007? Apparently the herbs really like having actual soil in their pots, rather than just a huge ball of roots...

I swear they've all gotten even bigger since I took this picture last week!

Next week I'll take a trip to the post office with all (or nearly all) of the wedding invitations - hand-addressed by my wonderful mom, who agreed to write out all of the addresses for me!

(Abby helped).

And Cricket once again proved that no cat can resist the empty box...

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One Tired Doggy

Last weekend, S and I went camping to celebrate his birthday. We were supposed to go on Friday and come home on Saturday, but the forecast said rain, so we switched the weekend around and spent Saturday celebrating Mother's Day with my parents, and headed camping on Sunday.

For Mother's Day, we cooked a huge pile of steak. Abby took it upon herself to guard the steak, just in case anything happened to it...

(The steak is on the table. Can you tell?)

Later on, Abby got her dinner - doggy food. She was less than thrilled - she kept looking at us, looking at it, and giving a huge sigh. It's really too bad dogs can't talk, because I had NO idea that she was saying "I can't believe you expect me to eat this crap while you guys oink it up with all that steak."

But we made up for the "doggy food trauma" on Sunday when we headed to the campground...

She hunted in Big Meadow...

We roughed it back at the campsite...

We tried out our new camp stove (next trip, we're going to make pancakes... yum!)

For dessert, we suffered through some petit pain au chocolat..

... and Abby helped guard the tent.

On Monday, we took a great hike to see a waterfall - it was so lush and green... I guess I'm more used to seeing the forest in the middle of summer!

And guess who hiked the entire 3.2 miles (downhill then straight uphill) with us?

I think it finally tired her out... she had a snack, and then passed out while S and I ate some lunch. Then, when we got in the car to head home, she was too sleepy to stick her head out the window and sniff...

Labels: Camping

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Knitting From Last Week

I'm not sure how successful I'll be in typing up this post - I have a kitty draped elegantly across my arm, which severely limits my range of motion. Hopefully she won't decide she needs to bite me to get me to pay attention to her!

So these pictures are from last week, when I had just cast on for a second time... in the picture, I'm actually knitting directly from my first failed attempt. Luckily, the second time was the charm, and I'm just about done... with what, you might ask? It's the Indigo Ripples Skirt from the Spring 2007 Interweave. I'm in lurve... even with the blue smurf-hands from the denim! I'll hopefully finish today or tomorrow, and then I'll start the (long) process of trying to wash it enough so that my legs don't turn blue!

Meanwhile, Elspeth may have accidentally fallen down in some Shetland...

She tried to get away from it, but it followed her and taunted her during lunch...

... and ultimately, she may have wound up "just a few" hanks. I never knew that Shetland yarn could be such a hussy... of course, it might have something to do with who the yarn will grow up to be...

Yarn orgy under the table... they couldn't get enough of each other!

Labels: Denim Skirt

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Will I Ever Catch Up?

I am definitely busier since classes ended than when I was still in school. Speaking of school, I have now officially passed all of my classes, so I'll be graduating on Sunday. WOOT!!

But LAST Sunday, after S and I left Sheep & Wool, we collected the doggy and headed to the National Arboretum because S felt guilty that she wasn't getting enough "weekend time." I love the National Arboretum - it's free, it's not too hard for us to get to it, and, if you stay away from the most popular sections, it's a great place to just wander around.

We saw a whole field filled with lilac bushes... unfortunately, most were past their peak for blooms... but next year, I'm definitely going to try to visit earlier!

We also found a great place for a photo...

After leaving the Arboretum, S and I headed to our second Ikea of the weekend... we were looking for a particular king-sized bed frame and mattress, and had struck out at Ikea #1. We couldn't just give up on Ikea because we needed a bed frame/mattress combo that would be low enough for Abby... she is definitely NOT supposed to jump down off of high surfaces (too great a risk that she'll injure her remaining front leg!), and all the other beds we've found are WAY too high. So S hit the phones, and they put what we wanted on hold at Ikea #2. We arrived, they printed out our "cash and carry" ticket, they called the warehouse to confirm that everything was there, and we headed to the checkout. Where the little machine kept saying "request not available." About an hour later, thanks to the above-and-beyond efforts of Kim, whose attitude was "how can we get these people their bed," we wheeled our new bed and mattress out to the car. And then spent at least another hour tying the mattress within an inch of its life in order to survive the trip up 95N.

Another hour of assembly, and only a LITTLE bit of swearing...

And in other bed news, Abby has the most luxurious recycled dog-bed ever... I was trying to figure out what to do with my old featherbed from my full bed. I had folded it up and dumped it in the living room before (I guess) throwing it away... but Abby is MUCH smarter than I am, and she figured out a better way to re-use and recycle!

I'm planning on completing the recycling project by making a cover out of one of the full-sized sheets.

Earlier this week, S called me, all excited, from his morning doggy walk. I just HAD to come outside, cross the parking lot, and check out the "huge birds" that Abby had chased off of the trash cans!

I'm really glad that by the time I got there, the birds were up on the roof. I don't think I'd like to meet a couple of these guys up-close and personal!

And finally - the project(s) that seem to be taking all of my time.... S and I bought some unfinished furniture (no more particle board!), and I've been staining...

... and putting on protective finishes.

One dresser (the largest) is completely done. The smaller dresser is stained, and will get its protective coating tomorrow. The armoire will hopefully get finished next week... but next week, my roommate is moving out, S is beginning to move in, and we have cleaners coming on Wednesday. So it'll be fun.

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ireland cardigan