warm wallaby...

hooey! it's been a while! i have been knitting my little hands off, working on a variety of top secret christmas knits, and as a result, i haven't been posting much. no more! done! fin! nein! niet! no mas!

first, let me tell you why i had to bust through the current sweater on the needles. it was a project just for me - rosamund's cardigan in knitpicks bulky wallaby. wallaby! who doesn't love a color named wallaby? really, it's kind of a dusty brownish gray. but whatevs. wallaby! so that was on the needles, but then my mom and i went shopping. she fell in love with the following sweater at j. jill. and i was like, "dude! i could knit that!" so i went ahead and ordered yarn - and, for once, the yarn came way too fast. i had to get my own cardigan off the needles before i could start the one for my mama. so yeah... i tore through this sucker like no other.

here's the inspiration for my mom's sweater. basically, i'm doing a second rosamund's cardigan, only long-sleeved and with the front centered rather than off to the side. the color of the yarn is a bit lighter than i was hoping for - but it was the closest i could come. really, as long as it fits and she likes it, i'll be happy.


and drumroll please... here is my new favorite finished object.


i love this shot - i thought the self-timer was on, but no.


oh! and i made a ridiculous oscar the grouch sweater. the yarn reminds me of toxic waste. this came from my head - just an easy, seamless top down raglan. i wanted it to be cropped. the yarn made me think of those little fuzzy mohair sweaters chicks wore in the 50's. only, you know, toxic waste-y.


i'm working on the farmer's market sweater for my sister-in-law, but i've kind of hit a wall. i'll get back to it once i'm done with mom's sweater... or once i hit the sleeves. sleeves are such a pain in the butt. i asked my bro and sis-in-law what the nephew might need - a hat and mittens. okee-dokey, says i! again, these are more or less from my own head. i love the way the malabrigo pooled in the hat into that weird psychedelic swirlie.

look! ear flaps!


and mitts - gotta connect 'em somehow.


finally? proof positive that my nephew is the cutest, most ridiculous, most talkative 3-1/2 month old in the universe.

best thing i've seen today...

this! i know it's likely you've already seen it (what do the kids call it now? "viral?"), but if you haven't, please watch the whole thing. maybe i'm just pre-menstrual, but it almost made me cry with how dang sweet it is. my personal fave would be the slow-motion part.



i just got back from dinner and a drink after a ceremony for a memorial statue for a friend who died almost two years ago. he wasn't a close friend - but he was one of those people who, when you were with him, made you feel like a close friend, like you had known him forever.

i suppose, since this is my knitting/crafting/making things with my hands blog, that i should report in on some of the stuff i've been working on? i've been addicted to a black, crazy, bobbly wool cardigan a la forecast - i'm on sleeve number one, FINALLY. i have finally met my match - bobbles become no longer fun to knit after about, oh, the first round of them. maybe when i'm done i'll count the bobbles. alos? black knitting is difficult to take photos of.

there are a few other things in the works. maybe i'll try some photos later. pics or it didn't happen, right? isn't that what the kids are saying?

and just so this isn't all boring old lady text, i give you: what my bathroom window looks like every day in the summer when i return home from work. serene, right?

great gatsby, ahoy! and vacay time...

i made it safely home from my EPIC vacay to philadelphia and nyc at, oh, 1:30 on friday morning. what a trip - what a whirlwind. it's trip recap time, i suppose! i've been lazy and fully pretending i was still very much on vacation all weekend long. this afternoon, it's barbecue time, then back to work tomorrow. wheee! and boooo!

before i left, thomas and i got all dolled up and went out to a fancy schmancy dinner at restaurant tallent. amazing - i had bacon wrapped pork. i couldn't be bothered with the "sides." i just wanted to eat all the pork. thomas got the lamb shank.


this is what i looked like. i got a full-on bullseye in darts after dinner and kicked his butt. it was rad.


i flew into philly on saturday afternoon, got my rental car, and promptly headed into the city and to two different yarn stores. got a wee tad lost and realized i probably wasn't in the best part of town when i walked past a housing authority type of place. oopsy daisy. i did find some stellar yarn, though, and am currently knitting up a super awesome, do-it-as-i-go topdown cardigan in malabrigo lettuce colorway. it's gorgeous! photos soon.

woke up on sunday, the day of the wedding, with awesome bedhead:


then i headed to west chester (very sleepy town on a sunday) and to valley forge:


poor little kite.


then it was wedding time! i think kim was making faces at nathan at this point to keep him from breaking down during his vows. it was pretty freaking sweet.


on monday, i met up with karen and bach in downtown philly. what a wonderful day - i had my first cheesesteak, it was sunshiney and beautiful out. we met up with jef at this awesome downtown bar where they had a baby sitting on the bar, games everywhere (like hungry hungry hippos and operation), and we witnessed competitive rock paper scissors! simply amazing. and, somehow, i took zero pictures.

tuesday afternoon i was headed to nyc, but first i wandered to independence hall.


then to nyc. i dropped my pack at gray's office, then we sauntered about for a while before the methodman/redman album release party. (no, there were no celebrity sightings... but i did get a rad new pair of kicks for 25% off and drank some hideous pink fizzy booze made/sponsored by ludacris).


on wednesday, we had a late breakfast (BAGELS!), then trained it up to central park. we wandered everywhere, got ice cream, went to the guggenheim, wandered some more, then tried to go to the moby release party. i say "tried" because we got there, and gray realized that the party is, in fact, NEXT week. BOO! he made up for it by taking me to paul's, which is this amazing burger shack. seriously, amazing. i had the best burger of my life.








my rad new kicks. did i mention the methodman/redman thing was at the adidas classic store? i wanted to buy ALL the adidas.


that night, we went to a different bar in his neighborhood, where they played the blow, clap your hands say yeah, and other fantastic music i love. the bartender even put on mclusky at my request. and sang along with me to it. beautiful.

thursday was shopping and slow-moving day. we got bagels at murray's and ate them in washington square park. then i spent far too much money at american apparel, hopped in a cab, and started my long journey home. my feet HURT. i had some ridiculous blisters. i think we might have walked 10 miles on wednesday. seriously. a lot.

in knitting news (and just to make this post a LITTLE longer), i finished the great gatsby dress from interweave knits! i am in love.








on the needles currently: tuck in knitpicks comfy sport in a nice pumpkin color:


and the aforementioned topdown cardigan in malabrigo worsted in this colorway:


yum-yum-yummy.

a prolific knitter...

i have been going nutso with the knitting lately. seriously, i don't know what my deal is or how i've been putting stuff together so darn fast - but things seem to be flying off the needles.

case in point: i started the great gatsby dress from interweave knits' latest issue. i'd been dreaming of the perfect knit dress for a while. then i check my mailbox and, voila! there it is, staring me in the face. i started this on may 3.

on may 6, we were looking at this for the back:


by yesterday, may 8? the back is done! (also, kitty cameo appearance as he tried to bat at all the hanging threads).


i really can't wait to wear this! i'm halfway there. oh, and i'm using knitpicks cotlin for it - the gauge is a bit off, but i think as long as i'm careful around the top portion, we'll be just fine. i'm knitting the smallest size, and so far, it's just going to be a bit longer than the pictured dress. just fine by me - so far, it's pretty much perfect.


i also finished another shawl collar baby sweater, this time knit up in three different yarns (hello, stash busting!). the red buttons make me inexpressibly happy.


finally, self-portrait day! my birthday is coming up. my mom sent me a check for 100 bones (which i promptly used to buy yarn online - free money, free yarn!) and THE FIRST TWO DIE HARDS! i love my silly action movies, and i love my mom.


speaking of how much i love my mom, i painted this for her for mother's day. now, i am not a painter. not at all. i paint like i draw, basically. so yeah, it looks a little like something an eight-year old would paint. i still love it, though. it was based off of a photo they took in the greek islands when they were there for my cousin's wedding a few years ago. "my uncle, ulysses athanassiadis, skin dives for octopi in the mediterranean" is possibly my favorite sentence ever uttered. and it's true - he does.

for the sophisticated babe-to-be...

i give you: baby sophisticate (free ravelry download)!

knit up with leftover cascade 220 heathers.


i added some moss stitch in halfway through and at the bottom. didn't realize the stripes didn't line up so well - whatevs.


i actually have another multi-colored green one blocking right now, too. too cute! i think i may have to work out the pattern for an adult lady size for moi at some point. in other news, i just received the yarn for my great gatsby dress. of course, i need to finish at least two other projects before i can really get cooking on this one. but i WANT TO START NOW! so bad. i'm a knitting addict.

rock and roll prom, baby gifts (oh, and a little bit of knitting)...

first off, i am rather freaked out by this whole swine flu thing. the thing that frightens me is realizing how easily a virus like this can spread across the entire world in such a short period of time. it doesn't take much. you look at maps and see flagged cases popping up in the most random of places. only it's not random. that's the interesting part, from an epidemiological standpoint. of course, it's also a good thing that, so far, at least, it appears that it is mostly just making people ill. here's to hopes that deaths continue to stay low (says the girl who will be traveling to new york city in a few short weeks).

anyway... i finished off the day at work, which included a lot of swine flu updates, then headed out to find a birthday present for my brother and some mother's day goodies for mom. i decided to give my brother a gift card and then send him some more baby stuff. i got a 5-pack of onesies at target, then some iron-on printable transfers at hobby lobby. i give you THE cutest onesies on the face of the planet:


another tree.


"they call me munchkin." and mama and baby elephant.


the back of the munchkin one.


and for kicks and giggles, i've gotten addicted to tiltshiftmaker.com. here's a recent one: a photo of my sis-in-law, the mom-to-be, at moraine lake in canada.


also? rock and roll prom was a few weeks ago. the theme was "talk nerdy to me," thus some of the outfits. here's my favorite photo booth shot: this was immediately after i accidentally elbowed megan in the face bouncing on the bed. why do i look so happy?


oh, and finally, a knitting project. i've been going nutso with the baby knitting lately, but i also have a top secret lacy tunic in the works. the body is done - now i just have to get onto the neck-wrappy part. here's your sneak peek:


it's been a while since i bought new yarn, like, online. i've been to the yarn store off and on, but even that has been a while. i've used up some of my stash yarn on baby stuff. i swear, i've been good! yesterday, though, i bought some lovely wine-colored yarn to make this: the great gatsby dress.

and i just now bought some hemp yarn in a (hopefully) nice chestnut color on ebay to make this: sunshiney summery awesomeness in shirt form.

i think i'll be starting with the dress... oh, right, once i finish this hat i'm making and the lacy tunic and this baby sweater on the needles. too many projects in the works!

works in progress... always a work in progress...

tonight. tonight was a good night. me and one of my favorite people tried to make temporary tattoos of yoshitomo nara pictures, and it failed miserably. that was sad - i was so excited for my yoshitomo nara tattoos! c'est la vie. they smeared all over and still aren't "setting" four hours later. whatever, temporary tattoos. you suck.

but then we went to an art show, and i was thoroughly excited by kevin's paintings. thomas and i discussed buying the one that cost, oh, $2,300 and sharing it - just toting it between houses every month or so. just beautiful - just a picture of a guy sitting in his living room with his foot up on the top of a little television, but oh. so nice.

then we got dinner, because, lordy, hunger to the nth degree. then to a show at the video saloon. sadly, i just was not feeling social. it was one of those evenings where you end up seeing all sorts of people and being glad to see them, but not really feeling like interacting. you know? which is difficult in a noisy bar.

self portrait day today: outside the indiana university art museum, reflected.


and works in progress. i decided to try my hand at recycling yarn. my goodness, what a pain in the ass it is to unravel a sweater! however, i did get a lot of nice, ivory colored cotton yarn from a massive men's sweater for $1.50. i'm making myself a cabley dress, darnit!


and this is a long overdue selbu modern hat for a dear friend. i fear the purple and aqua parts are going to be too subtle.

butterscotch kind of day...

i have found that i've been really drawn to butterscotch-related colors lately. mustard, butterscotch, whatever you want to call it - warm, brownish-yellows are calling my name. in fact, as i type this, i'm wearing a butterscotchy cardigan. hmm... strange, that.

i have finished the body of my very own pegboard tunic, and i am still in love. it's currently blocking, and i'm working on the neck tie at the present. i really do NOT understand the construction details with the i-cord and buttons and such. and, really, i like the look of it with just the plain old neck tie part, so i'm omitting all the i-cord stuff and keeping it simple, stupid. plus, i-cords and i are not friends. i hate i-cords.

so we have some progress pictures.


lacy!


just look at that yummy, yummy yarn. i really should do lace more frequently - it knits up so FAST with all those open spaces.


the rest of today? i'm going to see if there's some baseball on and continue work on one of my longer term projects - getting all of my photos from my european adventure last year into a scrapbook. i'm up to paris! i think it's almost time to move on to venice! then there's just rome to wrap up. yeah... i've got my work cut out for me.

oh, and in music news, i've been listening to this song obsessively lately: "photobooth" by death cab for cutie.

self-portrait day ramble blah blah blah...

i saw lou barlow at landlocked today. i use the term "saw" loosely... i heard him and sometimes saw his fluffy hair and big, bad glasses between the heads of other people. it sounded beautiful, though, and my love for lou barlow has been reclaimed after a decade of having issues with him after an absolutely god-awful show in boulder, co, in, oh, 1998 or so. i've loved sebadoh, sentridoh, folk implosion, basically any incarnation of lou barlow since i was 15 years old (in other words, about half my life). and yet that one show really made it hard for me to listen to him much for, well, a long time. funny how that happens. the same thing happened after i saw cat power at pitchfork a couple of summers ago - i can't stand her anymore. so sad. but lou... oh, lou, it was just beautiful.

gracias.

self portrait day: 4.9.09.


outtake.


in knitting news, i am making this, and i am in love. i'm knitting it up in butterscotch, teal, and purple yarn (basically, the leftovers of my selbu modern hat). i'm making it extra long... which is a bitch, because i want it DONE. like, now.

in other news, i'm going to philadelphia and new york soon. i can't wait. i need a change of scenery, of company. don't get me wrong - i have excellent company here, and i love, love, love it. i just need... something else for a brief moment. about a year ago, i was traveling to europe all by my lonesome, and i think i'm hitting the point where it's "christie-epic-vacation" time. we'll see if this tides me over until i really can do epic vacation again/greece-croatia-italy-spain.

baby boy blues...

i've got the baby boy blues. well, no, not really just yet, but still.... my brother and sister-in-law are due in july, and they are not going to find out the sex of the baby until it's born. so the nubbin/the munchkin is getting a whole lot of handknitted, asexual items.

baby #2: my friend kerry has found out she is having a boy! okay, at least i know i can work on boy-specific items. i FINALLY cleaned out my ridiculous stash of yarn a couple of weekends ago. seriously, it took me four hours to go through it all, rewind, requisition, pitch, and organize. during that time, i managed to put together a bag of "baby boy knitting" happy fibers. i'm proud to say i picked it up today and started the baby boy blues sweater from leftover cascade 220. i am so happy with the color... my lowlit room does not do it justice, so we'll just have to wait for daylight and a finished project for that part. however, i can tell you i have been thrilled with the colors as i've been knitting. i can't believe i started this evening and it's really nearing completion already. ah, the joy of teeny tiny clothing.


baby #3: my friend lei is also expecting, though she's due a bit later... september or october, i think? still no word on whether baby will be a boy or a girl. see, i am fully aware that healthy babies are a good thing no matter what. i have nothing against baby boys - they are lovely and necessary, just as much as baby girls are in this topsy turvy world of ours. however, from a strictly knitting standpoint, you just can't make the adorable frilly frocks for the boys. the boys get the short end of the knitting stick, even as wee babes. i will do what i can... but i long to have at least ONE of the three aforementioned babies turn out to be a girl so's i can knit up my ridiculous queue of ADORABLE baby girl knits. dammit all to heck.

also and totally unrelated? i just got back from a work trip to san diego, which also included an unexpected stopover in denver last night. whee! i was going to SAN DIEGO, so i didn't pack a coat, making me rather ill-prepared for below-freezing temperatures upon arrival at 9:00 last night in denver. luckily, i purchased a cheesy san diego sweatshirt i may never wear again for $15 at the airport, anticipating my extended layover. i got home almost 24 hours after i had expected to and am now so, so glad i am home. my cat is in my lap as we type/read - i guess he's glad, too.

oh! and my whole point with that was that, the one time i DON'T bring my camera ANYwhere, i go to an awesome place. no photos of SD! however, i give you the slightly belated self-portrait of the week. my brother gave me these shoes on may 18, 2002 - which was both my 22nd birthday and graduation from college. i still has them and i still loves them.