Happy Day Before Chavez Day!

Also known as "the day I told some kids visiting from Inglewood that the Bay Area was 'tight' and didn't get laughed back to the suburbs"

First off, I raise a glass of a very nice Cab to all of you out there kind enough to send me cards and gifties on the big day this year. Seriously, it TOTALLY made my day - this is the first b-day I didn't spend with my family so it was a bit of an adjustment but coming home to a mailbox stuffed full of goodies rocked my world. I haven't taken photos of or compiled the list of all you wonderful people yet, but I will do that in my next post!

So how did I celebrate the big day? With a lot of WINE, of course! Back to Napa I go!The whole trip was awesome [I highly recommend staying here if you are ever in the area], but perhaps my favorite stop was champagne tasting at Domaine Carneros.

My god it was amazing out on that terrace. Definitely one of those 'this is why I live in the Bay Area' moments. Hell, it was even 'this is why I'm alive'-worthy. A couple more from the day:

And of course, it wouldn't be Delia if there wasn't some PDoD's involved (public display of drinking):

It's a happy day at SJSU because we all get tomorrow off! YAY! If everything goes well, I can unchain myself from the pile of Frosh applications and enjoy a day of Bay Area sunshine and knit to my hearts content.

Yes it's true, my knitting has stalled significantly the last couple days because I have been in such a tired/pissy/stressed out mood when I get home. A couple nights ago I came home, poured a glass of wine, and got into bed @ 6:30pm. About 20 minutes later, when I was forced to get up because my glass was empty, I grabbed the Lucky Clover which I started in Napa and started stitching away.


At this point, I would like to pose a rhetorical question that has been pondered many times, but not yet here on Wine and Needles: What the f*ck is it about a tiny piece of wool that makes my otherwise mellow cat turn into a tasmanian devil???

A photo essay:


I seriously got a large gash in my pointer finger and a pair of bite marks on my palm trying to retrieve my implements. I was particularly fearful when she started hunting me on my own turf. You know, that stance where a cat hides behind something, then you feel a slight rumble as the feline prepares of the pounce then WHAM! Half my yarn is ripped from my lap and clutched within the claws of this domestic house cat vicious predator. What exactly was she hiding behind on my bed? A little birthday prezzie to myself:

This bad boy holds every single one of my WIP's! Ok you got me, I bought some yarn for this tank as well. [BTW, did you know Beverly's now carries Cascade and Crystal Place yarn!?!] Also, if you squint, you can see the Clap laid out on the pillow in the background. She's coming along quite nicely, we are hoping for a finish date of April 15th.

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Finally, I will close with an open letter to myself:

Dear WIPs,
I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for all the abuse I have put you through the last few weekends during the wine-drenched nights I've spent with you. Fooled into believing that I have super-knitting powers after a bottle of wine, I start to knit away on you; only to drop stitches, twist the wrong ones, inadvertently create short rows, and create other general messiness in your otherwise pristine appearance. I promise to either bring back Kyoto or start another project with bigger needles and large portions of st st for these nights. Yes, Spiderweb lace and Lucky, this is for you. And we won't even talk about Dotty.

Anyhow, the management realizes this has become too out of control not to say anything, so hopefully this new policy will eliminate any bad relationships that may have formed.

Thanks for understanding!

Sincerely,
the girl who mans the needles.

The Countdown to B-Day

Tomorrow is the big day. Delia turns the big 2-5. This is the first birthday in a few years that I actually feel is a significant passing; I mean, allowance to rent a car and cheaper insurance is a sign of becoming an official 'adult', right? There is nothing in this world that I can't do now, baby.

Knitty Knit Knit
Perhaps the most exciting news is that on Sunday afternoon I taught Jason's sister how to knit after a trip to Imagiknit for 10 1/2's and some Lambs Pride Bulky. Jason sat slumped in the corner of her hotel room in SF as I taught her the long-tail cast on and simple knit stitch. I am passing on my 'Teach Yourself to Knit' book to her much to his dismay.

I've been slowly plugging away at the plethora of projects I've got going right now and of course, started a couple more.

Saturday: Dottie and 12 hours of Indy Racing(dear god he's infected me). I finished the back of Dottie and cast on both sleeves on the same needles. I am trying to get used to manuvering 2 balls of yarn in such a way that they don't end up braided in my lap. 21 days to complete this project! (I think there is a decent chance I will be weaving in the ends en route to the actual baby shower). I also picked up my new best friend and little tool that should be in every knitters bag:

What this heck is this little implement you ask? The Cyclops! This great little wonder of the modern world will now enable me to knit right into the night as JSwag and I drive all over the Bay Area and beyond. Here's how it works (in complete light, of course):

Attach to belt loop, aim at knitting, turn on and stitch away! (Just a sidenote: Buy it in-store, it's only $9.99!)

Sunday: The Clap takes on San Fran. While at Imagiknit getting the sister her first supplies, I picked up one more ball of Karabella to extend the legnth of the clap. [Jason was thoroughly amazed I walked out with only 1 ball of yarn]. I am about mid-way through the 4th ball (of 7), and I hit a bit of a snag when I realized that something was off after I dropped the stitch and the whole bottom hem unraveled. Of course this happened right when we were pulling into the Buena Vista, so my first Irish Coffee went down pretty fast. (Only had 2! I was good!!!)

Monday: Spiderweb Caplet Redux. Made adjustments to turn into a wrap - Check. Conqured the yo issue - Check. Took photos to post on blog - Check.

F*cked it up and had to frog entire piece after 2 glasses on wine on Wednesday night - Check. Damn spiderweb lace - you win! I don't even want this thing anymore but I have to make it out of spite for this damn pattern. Merino Frappe: 3, Delia: 0.

Wednesday: Stargazer sock gets 3 more inches at the top and was bound off for good. I have this idea to add a couple mini-pom poms to it, so I am saving the photo shoot for the complete version. Next, in the absence of the stupid POS project that will haunt me till my dying day Spiderweb Caplet, I swatched and then cast on for my Lucky Clover Wrap. Jason rolled his eyes and once again cited my inability to complete a project. What the hell - I mean, who needs 2 socks? Sometimes only one foot gets cold?!?

It's not like I could actually work on them anyway - Viva decided that she was claiming the Sock Garden Merino as her own and was prepared to defend the yarn at all costs:

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Are you getting sick of all my photos yet? Good because I have one more. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have found the ultimate knitting bag for under $10 and decided to model it's stylish and practical nature for you:

They are wood-handle purses from Old Navy. I bought one, resisted for about a week, then went back and bought a second. Seriously, then are small enough to carry around easily, fit a ridulous amount of yarn and other goodies, and totally are stylish (I am a retro-groovy knitter, you hear what I'm sayin?) for knitting in public. I am still missing the pink... must....... have........ the pink....

By the way, I am wearing the greatest tee-shirt of all time - "Kiss Me I'm A Spartan". Spartans as in SJSU, not Michigan, sillys. I raise an Irish Car Bomb to the fine folks at the Spartan Bookstore for stocking some cool inventory for once. Do you think I get get away with wearing this to my next college faire?

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Well fellow bloggers, then next time we will chat (well, I type and you read), I will be 25 years old. It was 8:43am on March 24th, 1980 in Fresno when my wonderful mother brought me into this world. Happy Birthday to me, and THANKS MOM + POP for well, you know, 'making babies' when you did.

Ciao Bellas!

And the Winner Is...

Best Quote That Made Me Go "Where the Hell is She Going To Go With This One...": Jacqueline
"What you might not realize about me is that have very – I mean VERY big connections in Vegas due to the fact that I am the love child of Wayne Newton and Liza Minelli."

Best Creative Idea That I Am Taking into Consideration for Actual Use: Jen
"You know those signs in restaurant bathrooms that explain in several languages that employees have to wash their hands after wiping themselves whether they want to or not because it's the LAW? Well Viva has this habit of not cleaning up after digging around in the cat box, so I finally pasted this sign to the inside to help her get the hint. I just hate trying to enjoy a glass of wine and cruise the blogs wondering the whole time if the cat sitting mere inches from me is turning my desk into something resembling the floor of a public restroom. Ya know??"

Best Improvisation On My Knitting/Fiber Skills: Christie
"This is the gown that I knitted up on the plane back from LA last week. It was a breeze and only took 30 minutes on a size 00 needle. I can't believe what a quick knit this was! It's for my best friend Julie's wedding next week. The yarn is a silk that I engineered from mutant silk worms in my underground wine cellar/bio-lab. No tailoring necessary, since the silk will expand or contract with the wearer! Julie can eat, dance and feel comfortable all night long! I should recieve my patent later this week."

Best Incorperation of both Significant Others [man and cat]: Sorka
"On another front Viva is complaining about her litter box again, guess I better get off my butt and change it before she starts plotting another world takeover. Hey secret pal! How about sending me one of those auto cleaning ones? She already took over the satellite box, and the reception is getting a little fuzzy lately, who knows what she will get into next? Did you see how she was cuddling up to Jason? I might just be out a man!!"

You got me. I couldn't pick a winner because they all were so funny. I picked up a little something for each of you, so shoot me at email at delia dot ann at gmail and I will get them off to you. Thanks again for compensating for my laziness using your creative genious to add some humor to Wine and Needles.

Now for the real stuff. 1) The card and stitch markers were a RAOK from Beth at Diamonds and Purls (Thanks again, Beth!). 2) This dress (which I still believe I could have whipped up in a weekend a-la-Christie) was a part of a cross-city dress excursion for my dear friend Kaci who is getting married in August (and this was later decided to be 'The Dress'). 3) I picked up the Jaeger Merino and Pattern Book for my step-sisters impending baby shower (booties AND a cardigan... I'm not THAT bad with my yardage estimations* ;) ). 4) My Star-Gazer sock in it's almost finished stage and 5) A little sketch to accompany a story about Viva mistaking my laundry basket, FULL of fresh laundry, as her litterbox. 4 loads of laundry, $10 in quarters, and 1 missed date with the man later, I've pushed that memory out of my mind. Therefore, I won't elaborate on the gory details.

* although I am dragging JSwag back to ImagiKnit on Sunday for 1 more ball of Karabella for the Clap.

On to the Knitting Content!

	First up, we have a finished sock! Look Secret Pal! It happened all because of you! As predicted, I love knitting socks. What you can't see in this picture is all the picked up stitches at the top, but I will probably cast on for the 2nd one tomorrow.
Next up, I got all my supplies together to start the Lucky Clover Wrap ASAP [since the temporary abandonment of Kyoto]. I liked Lolly's idea of starting on St. Paddy's Day [get it? Clover Lace --> Irish --> St. Paddy's Day?], but I was busy at work on my baby sweater and by the time I was on to my 4th draft cider, I needed to put down the tiny needles so I wouldn't hurt myself.
	Finally, here is the ever-so-popular Clap. I do really like this pattern, and the Karabella yarn makes it super soft and super warm. Unfortunately, by the time I finish it is probably going to be 90 degrees in San Jo and I am going to have to hang her in silence with all the other wraps destined for later use. You can see a little boo-boo I made in the corner. C'est La Vie! These aren't current photos because last night after I didn't trust myself with the little needles anymore, I attached the 3rd ball (what you're looking at is at the end of ball 2) and got to a point where I dropped two more rows.

I also started the Jaeger cardi for Jr. (no name yet for the nephew, just 'Jr.'), and have a goal to finish it by April 1. The photo didn't upload for some reason, but it's just the plain back of a baby cardigan so I'll let your creative minds invision it however you like. Finally, I was totally inspired by Fig and Plum's To-Do list. What great style she has! I followed the link to the Magknits Hug Modifications [link] and FELL IN LOVE! There may or may not have been some yarn purchased for this item along with the gifties for the 4 winners above.

The Weekend Ahead
Since I am now on the downward slide towards the big 2-5 (6 Days! EEK!), I feel a need to reaffirm the fact that I am not turning into a house slug and can still get out there and rally like a college girl. This stems from my desire to 'just stay in and eat Greek food' last night instead of hauling my ass to an Irish Pub like I do every year [to my credit, there were 6-er's of draft cider and McMenamins involved]. On that note, Jason and I are going to San Fran on Sunday to drop his sister at the Airport, and then onto the Buena Vista where I plan on consuming about 8 cups of Irish Coffee so I can get zero sleep, come in to work hung over, and all the while sing to myself 'yeah baby, you still got it'. It'll be GREAT!

That, or I'll sleep in and knit a lot.

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Finally, I leave you with Viva whom has now decided that she will not consume from her food/water bowls on the ground anymore. Oh No, they now must be placed on my desk so she can continue to survey the whole room while she munches away. Plotting, I tell you!

And Now Back to Your Regularly Scheduled Programming....

So the header in my banner reads 'The DAILY musings of my favorite things.....'; have I become a hypocrite or what? Long gone are the lazy days at the ADAPC when I had time to blog once a day and wind balls of yarn under my desk... so much for those days when I could work from home with a a glass of vino and my cat...

Anyhow, I am going to try and ease myself back into the blog world by aiming for 3 posts a week. Not too stressful - we like attainable goals around here.

First off, Thanks to Christie, Sorka and Jacqueline for making me laugh out loud at work with their submissions to my 'write my post' contest. I'll leave it up for a few more days in case anybody else has a stoke of creative genius before I announce a winner and post what all those photos REALLY mean (although I will admit that I did whip up that wedding dress over the weekend on size 00's).

This last weekend was fab-u-lous as always; Friday night was dinner @ Bella Mia (me and Jason's monthly tradition); Saturday morning off to the Sunnyvale Farmers Market for veggies and sourdough bread (time to dig out the Farmers Market Bag); Mussels with spicy vinegar, Scallion Beef, Asparagus, and Pinot noir for dinner (I will say, I really out-did myself on the presentation of this one; when I can persuade JSwag to send me photos I will definitely post); went to Santa Cruz on Sunday for Kaci's shower and had dinner on the wharf... more shellfish and wine (I can't seem to get enough of anything that comes on the half-shell with vinegar and tabasco sauce).

Knitting.
Dammit. I knew I was going to have to get to this part. I learned lots of things this weekend about knitting and garment creation:

1) Gauge. Oh Gau-ge. Smack me because I am probably the ump-teenth knitter to come to this realization but DAMN IT I should have checked gauge. Kyoto is laughing in my face, and I am left dumb-founded that the gauge listed on Knitty can possibly be right on size 5s. I am off... like, WAY off. I was thinking it was a little tight but I figured it would work to in my benefit because I wanted the sweater to fit tighter anyways, but I am going to have to do some major reconstructive work on the bust area if I don't want my girls busting the seams. I was very frustrated after trying to pull the front triangle a million ways to get it over my boob, and I don't think any amount of blocking is going to 'fix' the problem.... SSSSHHHHIIIII...........

2) I could talk to you about the mini sweater cardi wrap as well, but you could just go back and read item #1 again. I am totally at a loss of what to do with this one; I should have cast on about 20 more stitches at the beginning. Gauge wasn't the issue here, it was just another example of me pretending that I wear a B-cup. RRRRRIIIIIPPPPPP........

3) Writing a pattern isn't tricky as I thought. It went something like this: Got the new Anthropologie catalog; drooled over it; dog-eared about 40 pages, found a sweater I must have, had dreams shattered by the price... got a bright idea.......

4) Knitting is not a form of self-torture. If you don't want to be knitting something, then STOP. Jesus christ, this is a hobby and a form of self-relaxation, not something to dread. With that in mind, I cast aside Kyoto and the Mini (fates to be determined later), and picked up the yummy Karabella yarn to start Clapotis. I. Love. This. Pattern. Knitting is fun again!

5) Socks Rule. Stargazer #1 is finished (in the sense that she has a hell, toe and cuff), but I picked up stitches at the top and started knitting up until I run out of yarn. I don't normally WEAR socks, so in this case they must be as loud and obnoxious as possible. And everyone needs a pair of pink-striped knee-high socks in their life.

5) Plan Ahead When Starting a Major Piece. As you can see by the cute little flapper doll in my side bar, spring has officially started in CA and all those lovely sweaters that are destined to be frogged because they can't conceal the knockers that I started about a month ago wouldn't get to be worn for another 8 months! I SEE said the blind man to the DEAF dog. Therefore, I sat down and made a list (gasp! I really did just say that) of when I will be starting all my newest projects.

• March - Lucky Clover Wrap / Mystery Sweater
• April/May - Sage and/or Ginger from Rowan;
• June - Funky Stripe top from Knit.1; possibly revive Kyoto.
• August - Lara from Alpaca Silk

Any bets on how quickly I will abandon this list? (Jason, you don't get a vote)

On a Random Note:
Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé, Click Here, Click Here. (UCSB's trademark chant (until Stanford stole it - as if olé, olé has anything to do with a cardinal - sorry Lori!). It's like the soccer chant, "Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé, Gauchos, Gauchos" while jumping up and down).
--> History of the political uproar at UCSB in 1970 when my dad and uncle's classmates burned down the Bank of America building. My kids better plan on going to UCSB - they'd be 3rd gen. Gauchos! Plus, what other school has athletic booster shirts like these?

Finally.... 9 days to cheaper car insurance.

BITCH!

Blogger just ate my #$#^%&*^*#@$ post I spent about 2 hours working on.

$#%&^%*&(*^%#%$!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For fun instead, I will post all my photos from the doomed entry and you can write the text for me. Most creative story wins. Winner gets a prize.

I'm totally serious. It will probably involve booze and yarn so please, let me know if you are under 21. I don't need the po. after me.

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Edited to add: I am NOT pregnant and I am NOT getting married. You can let you breath out, Jason.

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La, this one is for you. After a major stash clean-up, I put the ziplocks to use and organized (I can't believe that word came out of my mouth) the circulars.

Today, I Post

I am excitied to report that my 4 pairs of circular needles and I made it back from LA without a hitch. It was a lazy few days spent in a hotel room along the 405 with CSI reruns and a pile of yarn very successful SJSU recruiting trip! I managed to sneak a glass of wine in on my dinner tab on Thursday night, so look! It's just like home!
	Actually, I did get a full day 'off' on Friday (i.e. no traveling), which I used to make some serious progress on Kyoto while gazing upon the 405 from my balcony. I thought it would show up better, but just beyond those trees is the roar of 9am traffic on a Friday morning. Later I hung out in the hot tub, then cleaned up in time to be kidnapped by La for a mini LA-area tour, S.E.X., and dinner.

La surprised me with a set of booze-themed stitch markers that are totally worth giving up the beer tabs for, and a girly-pink coffee mug that matched ones that both her and Jen have. Per La's advice, I will probably keep it at Jason's for my coffee, since I don't expect him to sip his brew out of a pink mug with a bunny rabbit on it. At the LYS, I couldn't resist 2 balls of light blue Baby Alpaca goodness. In addition, I picked up a set of size 8 dpns to finish Jason's Silk Garden Beanie and some blocking pins (which I miraculously proceeded to get through the security checkpoint at LAX).

What is that WIP modeled in the photos? Well, much to my embarrasment I started another hat. But hear me out: I finished Jason's hat on Saturday ("you actually FINISHED something," he proclaimed), so naturally I had to start MY hat as well; the yarn was purchased at the same time so it was only logical, right... RIGHT?

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So March 1 came and went I am nowhere near starting the Lucky Clover Wrap. I did purchase my yarn; which turns out to be backordered so now I have a little more time to plug away at Kyoto. I went with the blue that you all recommeded in an earlier post:

Speaking of Kyoto, a progress shot would have been in order here but I forgot to take one before I uploaded the others. I have finished the back, front left panel, and am about 1/2 way through the sash. I am starting the 2nd front panel soon, and will probably block and sew these together before I start the sleeves and/or finish the sash. I am concerned that 'the twins' are not going to fit in this thing, and I want to make any adjustments I need to before proceeding.

Final knitting notes:

I picked up the minisweater again last night, and inspired by Yifaa's version, I have abandoned the 'mini-cardi' route and will be making this a 'mini-ballet-sweater-wrap-thing' (ok that, and when I tried it on last nightI realized that this thing needed some 'extra pull' built in to cover the twins. Did I mention I am really not digging being busty these days?)

I've started the heel flap on the Star Gazer socks, with the aid of this site and this site. So far so good. No urges to impale myself with the dpns. I am realizing that there is going to be a lot of this yarn left over. The stuff is so damn soft, I think I may have to make a neckwarmer or pair of wristlets out of it.

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On a completely unrelated note, I turn 25 in less than a month. Isn't 25 that age when you are supposed to be doing something big with your life? I really can't complain: I have a job, just bought a car, have almost paid off all debts and like to think I have an idea of who I am... but here it comes... the slide down to my 30's.... Jesus christ, wasn't I just 18 a couple years ago?!?

(Disclaimer: Please expect much more quarter life crisis rants from Wine and Needles in the next few weeks.)

SOB!

SOB!!!!!

I MISS MY BLOG!!!!