Valentines

And finally...somewhat decent pictures of the valentines. Above is a detail of the "Heart of Yarn" Card Set, which is currently in my Etsy shop, mariss+drew.

And take a peek at "The Little Hearts" set too!

All this sweetness makes me want some baked goods.

Edited to note that these items are no longer in the shop.

Daylight Saving Time vs. The Philippine Cobra

Did you read that we will be doing a Daylight Saving Time study for the 2007 year? We will be turning our clocks forward on March 11th, instead of in April. Apparently, this is a test to see if we can save some energy. Also interesting is that most people seem to have an extremely strong opinion on Daylight Saving Time. (Did you know it's not Savings time? New trivia for me too!). What's your stance?

In Florida, we're too close to the equator to notice the difference in the daylight from summer to winter...which of course is redundant, since South Florida only has summer and summer-lite as seasons! Now that I live up north, I find myself brightening up each day that the sun sets a minute later, and cannot wait to spring forward. I definitely notice the sun affecting me in a positive way, and find myself feeling a bit gloomy when the days are short. However, in many parts of the world, this may be the opposite, or not make a difference, so my opinion may be a little ego-centric here....but happy people probably make better decisions...

What got me started on DST, is that I am unable to take any decent pictures of my knitting or stationary, so you will not be seeing any photos today!

I've been working diligently on my sweater, and playing with my watercolors, and pen and ink.

I'm enjoying painting and drawing little illustrations, and not needing everything to be perfect. My favorite paints are Schmincke and Winsor & Newton artist grade watercolor pans or tubes. I also love the ever versatile Escoda kolinsky sable brush. One single brush lets you do washes, small details, lines, and if you take good care of it, can last forever. I recommend a size 6. If you can't tell, I became an art supply snob when I worked at Pygmalion's Art Supply in Bloomington, Indiana, which is my favorite art store in the United States.

I also selected a new pseudonym for myself. This is because of the awesome new name for our Quizzo Team, the "Deadly Viper Squad". At the Locust Bar, I am now known only as the "Philippine Cobra". There will probably be a tee shirt to follow, with vinyl letters and a sparkly cobra in the national colors of my mother's homeland.

Stay warm, everyone! (Except for all you show offs down South).

k3tog

Although this sweetheart did such a great job measuring, I am off about 3/4 of an inch lengthwise. It probably didn't help that I accidentally knited it on size 7 Addi Turbo circular needles instead of size 6.



Disclaimer: Non-knitters, there is quite a bit of shop talk in this post. Sometimes I forget it started as a knitting blog...

I need to rip off the cast-on blue bit anyway because it was cast-on too tightly, and Grace suggested I try Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn casting-on castoff method instead.

Then I will steam block the heck out of it to stretch that 3/4 of an inch. If not, it will be fine. As long as everything is consistent...

I am knitting both fronts of the cardigan at the same time, which I would generally prefer, as I hate backtracking or repeating things. However, it is slightly more possible that I finish one panel of the front of the cardigan and the corresponding sleeve by next Wednesday.

It is our last class and I would like to have half of my sweater to seam together, especially since that is what I need the most help with. Have I stopped knitting the twin panel? No. I must separate them so that they can live their adolescent years apart. Perhaps tonight.

I bought a pair of Inox size 6 circulars, and they are not for me. Although the pointy tips are great, I tend to touch the tips often and prefer the blunt tip of the Addi's. They also make the wool feel squeaky when I knit and I'm not even a tight knitter. I liked Sherry's Knitpick's Options circulars, but prefer the Addis for for now.

I thought I needed the pointier tip for the bobbles. However, I tested out the Addis (how do you pluralize this?) and it is possible and much smoother to knit 3 together for my bobbles. So, I bought a pair of those and am enjoying my knitting again.



The pattern is four rows, and every other row has 2 or 4 bobbles in it. That is a lot of turning around and purling and k3tog and finger cramping and second guessing picking this pattern!

But it's not too bad and I'm getting the hang of the bobbles. If I knit the last three purled stitches of the back of the bobble loosely, it makes it easier to knit the three together. I'm also slipping the first of the 5 purled stitches and am finding it does create a more circular bobble.

Oh, but they are so cute! And I am going to love this sweater.



In non-related knitting news, I will be taking off work on Friday to spend the day in Brooklyn with Kathy Jean and Trey. Trey is flying in from Chicago for Kathy Jean's birthday. Good thing that I knitted KJ those Fetching gauntlets so that I get some points too! (wink)

I not only get a ride home from knitting class from my friend Olivia, but she treated Mike and I to two delicious slice of homemade keylime pie with fresh whipped cream and a raspberry coulis. Now do you know why I wanted to be neighbors with this lady?

I'm hoping to get some knitting done on the bus to NYC tomorrow. My next post will be my sweater finished...it's possible, right?

Degenerate Knitters

When I told people I was going to a "knitting slumber party", they thought I was kidding. When they realized that I thought this was an extremely exciting event, they tried not to make fun of me. Well, you are all going to be jealous, because it was the most...fun...ever.

I met Regina, Lisa, Sherry, Jennifer and Rhonda at a knitting circle, and they are way too cool to only see for an hour at a time. Regina graciously hosted a party and invited us to stay over, since it is in the suburbs. They collect all sorts of random items that you never knew about but covet instantly. I kept walking around eating the homemade sushi that Regina made saying, "Oh my God! This is so cool!"

Or, in the case of The King, "Oh. My. God. What IS that?!"

Yes folks. That is a frightening bas-relief of an anonymous royal, who bears a striking resemblance to Burger King's King. The King doesn't look so scary next to Sherry, but stand anywhere in the room, and he won't take his eyes off of you. (Regina, I love him, though! And did wake up alive after all).

To break down any preconceived notions of what knitters do when they hang out--we drank beer and watched the Eagles game. (While knitting of course!)

Regina's husband brews his own beer and enjoys introducing others to kweichow moutai. Hint: if the bottle looks like motor oil, you probably don't want to drink it. But, it was a small shot, and a favorite drink of old Chinese men, so I'm glad I tried it. Even though it made us belch motor fumes for the rest of the night. And Robert did buy us all fresh bagels in the morning and let four extra women take over his home! (Thanks, Robert!)

I had such a great time. I was sorry that our favorite girl, Jennifer couldn't make it, but we had fun in her and her mom's honor. Well, I did, because I say cheesy stuff like that and I adore Jen.

Last bits, I fell in love with their chocolate and black lab, and three cats. Dita von Pumpkin even sat on my lap for about two hours!

I reached my goal by finishing the back of my sweater, and even got some help measuring. Thanks, guys!

Hawaii

My best friend, Trey, is going to Hawaii this summer. She loves to travel and is a spirited and independent woman who is not afraid to try new things. Such as go to New Zealand, Fiji, Australia, Ireland, England, Italy, etc...

I would love to go to Hawaii with Trey. Surfing, volcanoes, pineapples, snorkeling... There. It has been documented on my blog, so it is now real and means I will be more inclined to find a way to do this. So if I start telling you I need to spend lots of money on yarn, you have to remind me of my Hawaii budget. I know some of my yarn enablers will have difficulties with this.

I could have gone on a fourteen day cruise to South America with how much I spent on airfare and weddings last year, so I figure I can budget for this trip.

Now if only people will wait to get married until next year...

I Heart Tweed!

I heart tweed. And no, not Brooklyn Tweed, although I am a fan. Any guesses what this is going to grow up to be?



You still don't know? Okay, fine.



I signed up to take a four-week sweater class at Loop with my friend, Olivia. Mind you, this was a day after I told Mike, "I decided that I am never going to make a sweater. My attention span is too short and I love doing projects that I can complete quickly. So I don't want to make one." Any of you who know me, are probably nodding your heads right now.

But--I really like my friend Olivia and wanted to take the class with her. The prospect of deadlines and having to go to four classes after completing "knitting homework" changed my mind. So did the generous Christmas check I received from my Aunt Marty. (Cha-ching = yarn!)

Well, since you know that I can never make things easy for myself...the glorious tweed above will be turning into, this. (Picture from Laughing Hens).



The pattern is Tyrolean by Sarah Dallas. It is among many gorgeous patterns in the hardcover of Vintage Knits. I have a love hate relationship with bobbles. They look so adorable, but they're so damn annoying to knit. But I think that the end result will be worth it.

Now stop shaking your head at me! I'm really going to prevail here!

Fetching

I made 1-1/2 knitted gifts for Christmas. I felt my friend Kathy Jean needed some love over the holidays, so I whipped her up a pair of Fetching gauntlets from Knitty.



As you can see in this photo of us seemingly hawking coffee products in Central Park, Kathy Jean loves all things green.



The yarn is Koigu Kersti. The second I saw it, I knew Kathy Jean would love it. And she did.

This was an easy and fun knit. The pattern is simple and I had plenty of yarn left over to add to my stash.



Technical note: I accidentally forgot to put an extra cabled row on the cuff of the gauntlets, but did not restart it in order to finish them in time for the holidays. Plus, Mike's Christmas hat is only halfway done, and it is now January.



However, my present from Mike is not finished either. He still needs to paint this little bluebird he sculpted for me...but he's in Indiana right now, so we'll give him a break...and me some extra time!

M.I.A.

I was missing in action, but now I am back.

Since we've talked, I made origami birthday party decorations for my friend Jenny. Quite festive, don't you think?



While I was home in Florida, I knitted seven rows on Mike's Christmas hat. I was too busy attending luaus with my lovely parents...



Spending time with my canine niece, Maddy...



Cooking plastic goodies with adorable children...Modeling outrageously fake bling with Brooke...



And doing a little rooftop weeding for my mother...



I enjoyed spending Christmas Eve with Heather at our old hangout--the corner of A1A and Las Olas...



And having a great view from Seat 21F on New Years Day.



Happy New Year to all of you!