CV Snickets

Apparently my last entry was my 500th post. Whoa. I still can't really believe I've kept this blog alive since 2004!

Anyhow my mind checked out for vacation last night so I don't have anything fabulously witty or interesting to say, but I am stopping in to elaborate on the fun little KAL I am starting tomorrow with Twisted Stitches Lisa (and I see as I just clicked over there that she beat me to this post. I also see there may be a challenge in there - staying up until midnight to start? HA HA I CAN DO THAT TOO*).

I came to start chatting with Lisa about a year back and we realized that we both have ties to the Central Valley and such, and as we started talking about the fog and the heat and so on, and how Central Valley summers make it almost impossible to knit anything bigger than a sock, AND we discovered we have the same yarn and same pattern queued up. Voila, the mini-KAL was born. Her feet may be bigger, but I am planning to make mine longer so that should even the playing field.

If anyone else wants to come out and play, please join us. Being a current/former resident of the Central Valley is not necessary! You may have to listen to me whine about the heat once or twice, but I'm not that bad. I hope.

So we are off to our yearly trip to Santa Cruz, and I plan on falling asleep to this tonight...



...and waking up to ShiBui goodness.


* this is total BS, BTW. I'll be lucky if I can stay awake until 10pm tonight.

Country Clubs, Crochet, and Chives

This weekend we went to a wedding down in Socal. The wedding was in Santa Monica and the reception was in Beverly Hills at the Los Angeles Country Club.







Every time I drive though Beverly Hills the 90210 theme song somehow works its way into my head. Cheesy, I know.

Everything about this trip was great: I got to see an old college friend, the weather was AMAZING (oh who am i kidding, I was just happy it was under 100 degrees!), and the wedding was great. Fortunately for my bank account, we didn't have much time for shopping because the Anthropolgie in Santa Monica was FABULOUS. I did notice this though:



Seems easy enough to replicate, right?

The rest of the weekend was low key; I spent Saturday ripping out all my failed knits-in-progress and winding hanks of yarn in preparation for my 10 DAY VACATION next week. 10 DAYS. How glorious does that sound? Of course, 2 days of it are courtesy of the budget Armageddon the State of CA is in, but oh well. I am definitely going to enjoy every second of it. I'm taking along some ShiBui Sock yarn for a mini-knitalong with Twisted Stitches Lisa (we are going to be knitting Snicket Socks), but more on that later. I'm also deciding between 113-17 jacket with raglan sleeve and pattern on yoke in Ultra Alpaca, Elemental Boatneck in Hempathy (RIP Vesper. I should have known better that the pleating wouldn't work for the girls!), or Trina in Jo Sharp Silkroad Tweed. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Sunday night we harvested the herb garden for the first time and I am uber-proud to report that it is still 80% alive and thriving.



Above we have mint, basil, and chives I used for dinner last night. Delish.

Now I'm off to work with a migraine. I really hope I don't have to get used to these!

Buttercuppy Love

I. Love. This. KNIT!



Buttercup by Heidi Kirrmaier
Size
Small
Needle
US 3 / 3.25 mm
US 5 / 3.75 mm
Yarn
Knit Picks CotLin
7 skeins = 861.0 yards (787.3m)
Taupe
RAVELRY

Never have the cosmos and knitting gods aligned so perfectly in a finished object. The yarn, the fit - it's perfect! See how happy I am?!?



Not only that, but I am headed down to Santa Monica for a wedding this weekend, where it's a glorious 70 degrees and I can actually WEAR IT. Yay!

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Speaking of roadtripping, two more projects in the works for the driving:
Vesper (and I didn't twist the stitches at cast-on!)



and

Beantown Bandit (named for the place I bought the yarn)

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Finally, I'll leave you with some humor for the day



Judging by my pigtails, I am going to guess this is 1986 or 1987, on the first day of school. Not only are my sister and I wearing matching dressing that my mom made... our Cabbage Patch Kids got smaller versions as well. Wow. Just Wow. I hope we weren't attending the same school at this time!

I remember that doll clearly. Apparently my dad had to drive to more than one CITY looking for this thing. Her name was Doumeta or something off the wall like that. God bless the 80s.

An Embarssasingly Long-Overdue FO

That title says it all.



According to Ravelry, I started this thing in May 2008. In other words, it took me 14 months to knit 590 yards of yarn. That's ridiculous, really.

Ballet Camisole by Alexandra Virgiel
Size
38 inch bust
Needle
US 5 / 3.75 mm
US 7 / 4.5 mm
Yarn
Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel
How much?
5.5 skeins = 599.5 yards (548.2m)



As you may remember the knitting on this was pretty quick, it was the finishing that defeated me. Since I was being stubborn, I threw this in a basket for over a year, refusing to try again. Well finally I got my head out of my a*s and finished it.

TA-DA!

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So check out my nice little setup for our dinner party on Saturday. That black&white cloth is from the bargain bin at Forever 21. I bought it as a neckerchief but it was too big, so now it protects my table from that big silver bowl.



One of the perks to being married to a farmer (at least in his youth) is the abundance of fresh fruit we get from his parents this time of year.



Grilled peaches are my new favorite.

7.20.09

This weekend I decided to clean out the pantry. I don't think I'll be running out of spices any time soon.



Not the most exciting way to spend a Saturday, but at least I now know that I have 3 jars of Cayenne Pepper.

I also finished up the knitting on Buttercup:





I am really, REALLY glad I went down a size on this (I started on a Medium but went down to a Small). It's a little tight in the bust, but I think it will ease up with blocking.

I also wove in the ends of the Ballet Cami and it was blocked last night before I went to bed (yes, OVERNIGHT, since it was still 99 degrees at 9pm!) Photos on that soon.

Finally, I cast on Vesper.



The longest needle I had was 24 inches, so it got a little tight when I cast on 396 stitches. I checked, re-checked, and then checked AGAIN to make sure I didn't twist the stitches, but knowing my luck I did.

Nothing else too exciting. We had dinner at our house and I am really proud of the table I set, but I'll have to post that tomorrow since I am running late this morning. Maybe it's the heat (112 degrees yesterday!!!!!), but I am totally wiped out this week. I slept 9 hours on Friday night, 10.5 hours on Saturday night, and 8 hours last night and I woke up this morning completely exhausted. Yay for Fresno summers!

Product Over Process

In the spirit of "I want it, I need it, I must knit it NOW", I present to you Terracotta Ripples:

.

I fell in love with Yarnmoster's version the minute she unveiled it, and I finally decided this was the summer I needed it.

I've also attempted to knit 3 previous garment with this yarn, and I am satisfied that I finally found a good match.

Other than that, nothing overly exciting around here. I am dealing with what I believe to be my first migraine headache, which caused me to crawl into bed around 8pm last night.



The plus side to this was that I got a little "Viva & me" time in, just like the old days.

Helmet Head

Clearly, I have had a case of the mid-Summer blues when it comes to blogging. There's been plenty going on and lots of knitting progress being made, but I'm just not very inclined to type about it. BUT. BUT! I had to stop in and share this.

I was scrolling around through some Fall patterns last night because, you know, I need to find more patterns to add to my queue of 158 like I need another hole in my head.

Anyway, any other internet-using knitter should agree that every now and then you come across some flat out QUESTIONABLE designs (see: The Great Rowan mess of 2006.) But this one almost made me spit my drink out.



I am seeing this right, aren't I? Does it really look like a helmet? Is that a mock-ponytail made out of yarn? Are those two separate pieces REALLY meant to be worn together?

So confused.

Goodbye Fish Camp...

Here's How The Last 24 Hours Went

Blog about knitting the 2nd sock from a long-forgotten project. Cast on.

Get past cuff. Try on original sock. AGAIN. Finally give in to that inner-voice (that I really should listen to more often) that the socks are way too big.

Rip out both socks on lunch hour.

Cast on for Pomatomus. Knit about 1/2 way through first chart.

Listen to that voice again that you really don't like that pooling.

Rip out Pomatomus.

Wind some Shepherds Sock from the stash. Cruise Ravelry for ideas. Settle on Herringbone Rib Socks.

Cast on for Herringbone Rib Socks. Crap, there's that voice again.



I don't know what my problem is, but I just can't get past it. From now on, I'm sticking to solid-colored sock yarn

Breathing Life Into Dead Ambitions

A couple days ago I got this renewed commitment to finish all these half-completed projects taking up room in my WIP basket.

First up was Glorious Colors Afghan, which (for those of you non-ravelers... DAD) is a giant afghan, that I not-so-intelligently started in June. 2 years ago. And knit one of the three panels before saying ENOUGH to sitting under a blanket in the Fresno summer. I was home sick and had a serious case of the chills, so I figured it was a good as time as ever to start up again. I knit the entire 2nd panel in one day, and now it's 1,000 degrees again and I don't want to touch the 3rd one. At least it was progress.

Next up was the Ballet Camisole that I started last May, knit up in a few days, then through a hissy-fit because I couldn't do the finishing to my liking. It took me awhile, and I'm still not 100% happy, but at least I finished it.



I'm now working on a pair of socks that, thanks to about 30 minutes of searching my blog archive, have a start date sometime back in the fall of 2005. Luckily I remembered the needle size, but I don't know what pattern I used or any other nonsense like that. So I am eyeballing the finished sock and hoping for the best.



I'm also still working on Buttercup, AKA the apparent "it" pattern of Summer 2009.



I was unsure if the neckline was going to be too big so I did the finishing on it and it’s MUCH better. Be sure you pick up the cast on stitches, not the row below, or it will be too big.

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In cooking, I made a delish salad last night I wanted to share.

Marinated Shrimp and Scallop Salad with Capers



Per my usual changes, I cut the oil in half and added more vinegar (we like TANGY in this house), and added some blanched asparagus on the side. YUMMY.