in the general vein of, "life is good..."

i left work early on friday and went for a long walk in the sunshine. this was little 500 weekend (crazy bike race, see "breaking away"), so it was crazy pretty much all week (undergrads partying like tomorrow's the last day on earth). DMX played at some local frat, and a bunch of people got maced by stupid security guards. can we say "lawsuit," frat boys? friday night, thomas and i went to an art opening. mia beach is my new favorite person after seeing her photos. some of my favorite biology faculty were there (which means almost all of the plant guys... the plant guys are cool). this one guy's wife was showing some of her stuff. after that, we headed over to the irish lion - we figured it wouldn't be overrun with little 5 party-goers, and we were right. had a couple of beers and some french fries, then went back to my place.

then it turned WAY cold and gray and rainy, but the farmer's market just kicked into gear last weekend, so we had to go. of course, there's really not a whole lot yet - eggs, honey, bread, meat, but no produce yet. we got coffee and shivered our way through, then took my broken glasses (the red ones that i LOVE) to this fancy glasses store on the square to see if they can fix them. they're looking into it. i think i'm going to go back after my europe trip (i.e. once i see how much money i have left to live off of) and get some new glasses and contacts. i need new lenses, and i think it's time for a super fantastic pair of frames. i have a hankering for some lafont frames.

after that, we went to the yarn store, and thomas bought me new yarn - di.Ve autunno in 25741 colorway.


he had gotten me some tweedy stuff for christmas - i made a rad scarf out of it, but it was SO boyish, i never wore it. well, thomas loved the scarf, so i gave it to him. he wanted to pay me back by going and getting me some yarn i loved for myself. true to form, as soon as i got home and got some work done, i started up a clapotis scarf of my very own. but i digress... after the yarn store, we went to the bakehouse to get bagels and more coffee, and my friend christian was working. i love christian - big "hi's" and hugs and kisses on the cheek were had the second we walked in. it was crazy there, but we managed to score two seats and eat our bagels in relative peace.

today, i've been planning more of my europe trip (which, inevitably, means spending more money). i bought my train tickets from barcelona to paris, paris to venice, and venice to rome. then i headed over to rei's site to get a day pack, a rain jacket, a skinny wallet (mine's HUGE), and a plug adapter. yeah... roughly $300 later, i think i am officially done buying stuff for the trip! hallelujah. now to figure out what to pack and what clothing will actually fit into my one big backpack.

just so this isn't all words, my friend, manjeet, just posted some adorable photos from their party a few weekends ago. here's this super sweet italian kid, giuseppe, thomas, and me. i look skeptical.


manjeet and i. manjeet is the sweetest - at one point, he goes, "christie, i love how you talk. you say things in such a cute, comfortable way, but you still sound cool when you say it." awww...


posing for the camera and trying to avoid the dance floor.


thomas and i.


me, will, and amelia.

american girl in bloomington photo shoot...

as follow-up to my post yesterday, thomas agreed to take photos of me in the late afternoon sunshine in my newest sweater (he was also probably humoring me and my intense joy at creating an article of clothing i LOOOOVE).

this tube is on the old part of the elementary school across the street from my house. according to the manufacturer's sign, it was made by some fire escape company. there's a fire in the building, and you get to escape through a big, metal slide?! fun!


it's very exciting. believe me, i know.


this would be the limestone wall across the street. i live in a sea of limestone.

orange + sunshine + tortoise shell buttons = lovely, lovely.

i finished the mrs. darcy cardigan, and i am seriously pleased. seriously! i have redubbed it the "american girl in europe" cardigan, because i fully plan on living in this while i'm in europe. i can hardly believe that i will be setting sail, as it were, on may 19. i have a feeling it won't really sink in until i'm in the air.

the details:
needles: US10
yarn: knitpicks wool of the andes, pumpkin
modifications: not very many modifications, actually. i added four stitches to each front panel and to the sleeves. i also extended the buttonhole band to make the neckline not quite so deeply v'ed. the armhole shaping on the back and front panels was wonky in the pattern, so i short of just winged it.

on to the photos already! relaxing in the sunshine on the floor of my kitchen. because, hey, that's what i do.


here she is! so pretty. oh, and note the boombox appearance.


i just like this picture.


here's one of me not in the sunshine. i love the rich color of this yarn. it's a little itchy on the skin, but that never bothers me too much.


i think i've officially gotten over my fear of buttons and buttonhole bands with this sweater. look at how evenly it lines up! awesome.

thunderstorms and doozy weeks...

this past week was seriously a doozy - i was kind of an emotional roller coaster about a variety of things. the general busy-ness of the week didn't help, and this week won't be any better. i have a business tour tomorrow, then a lecture and fancy dinner with an out-of-town lecturer both wednesday and thursday nights. yikes! between job #1 and job #2, i really haven't had much of a chance to do europe trip planning, but since knitting is my old destressing standby, i *have* been knitting up a storm.

the mrs. darcy cardigan is nearing completion! i've blocked the front and back and finished sleeve numero uno. it's turning out way better than i had expected. before blocking it, i thought the body would be far too small, but now that it's coming together, i think it's going to be just right. score!


i have made some modifications, though not very many. i added a few stitches to each from panel and to each sleeve and made the buttonhole band longer so it's four buttons instead of three. i think i'm going to wear this sweater until it dies. now - just to finish it. here is the last little sleeve.


and i took a trip to the local yarn store yesterday. my plan was to buy some lamb's pride to knit up a full-sized version of the arty cardi (see side link). the colors were not all that fabulous, though, and then i saw the screaming, bright, saturated colors of plymouth worsted. i was sold. however, now that i'm knitting it up, i'm wondering if i'll ever wear this thing! i hope the fuschia, which i'll use for the rest of the body, calms things down a bit. i can't begin to imagine what i'll wear this with, other than some dark wash jeans. ah, well, i'm just going to keep plugging away and see how it turns out.

the pattern is heavily modified. if it turns out nicely, maybe i'll post the pattern! i have, at least, been keeping good notes on my changes.

the working title for now is "the bright and shiny grandpa cardigan."


yup... the colors are actually brighter in real-life, if you can imagine.


and, as mentioned in the subject line, we've had lines of storms moving in all day. these are the rainy, stark trees as viewed out of my car window after running some errands this morning.

i love my stylish friends...

amelia and susanne had a clothing swap at their house this morning! these are just a few of my many, many finds...

purple ballet wrap sweater from my friend, pauline. i thought i hated the neckline, but i think it drapes in a really interesting way. and the long sleeves are FAB.


like i really need more scarves in my life. oh, but i love it - from becca.


i think i rocked a sweater almost exactly like this when i was three years old. it reminds me of ernie... and being three. from amelia.


look! so cozy!


new (to me) jeans! i think these were from nicole, maybe?


this skirt is freaking amazing. from becca.


and this dress is LOVE. from megan. oh, and check out sexy lee adama on the computer screen. BSG, BSG!


dress front detail. it ties in the back.


a blurry pic of a rad tank. there was a cardigan that matched that megan scooped up - which i was fine with because i think it would have been hideous with so much pattern going on.


i'm kind of on the fence about this one. from megan.


i also got a super cute, summery halter dress from heather and an embroidered, super gaudy shirt from courtney. what a nice way to spend the afternoon, trying on clothes in the living room with 8 other girls!

the plan for this afternoon? block the front and back panels of the mrs. darcy cardigan. then knit some more of the first neverending sleeve.

stop... interview time!

i have an interview for a marketing director / marketing carrier-outer tomorrow! graphic design, web design, marketing plan development, talky-talky-ness, all good things. i hope it goes well! i hope they like me! i hope i like them!

and this is what i'm wearing: my trusty express suit.


with these super-fantastic, yet still super-comfortable shoes.


keep all your pink parts crossed for me!

you give me fever...

cardigan fever, that is. i've finished the back and two front panels of the mrs. darcy cardigan, but i was running out of steam. i needed SOMEthing that would be (near) instant gratification and that would look rad. so i turned to the anthropologie-inspired capelet pattern, splurged on some slightly more expensive fancy yarn at the local yarn store, and started something new.

it took me four days, and now i have a new little cardigan! the plan was for it to turn out much looser and longer than this, but i got impatient and didn't do any swatching or anything. i'm still quite pleased with the result. the pattern's pretty rad, too, and i don't doubt that i will be revisiting it to make a longer, looser, long-sleeved version in the near future. maybe i'll knit it as a split neck pullover! ooo, now that would be even more rad.

so here's my interpretation. these photos are all pre-blocking (the little wet noodle is resting amidst towels as we speak, hopefully growing a teeny, tiny bit), but i'm pretty in love with it thus far.

i love love LOVE the yarn i picked out for it - dive autunno (and plain old cascade for the edging).


the back and me looking silly.


i'm leaning towards adding a couple of buttons to the bottom... but i might just get a fancy pin to cinch across the middle? decisions, decisions.


arm deets.


and it's almost spring! this is my spring sunshine happy face.

kicking ass and taking names...

i worked a full day at job number #1. then, i came home and nearly finalized e-course #2 for job number #2. it's on adult education principles, and it's DRY-Y-Y material, but we have lots of examples and some pretty pictures, too, so that should help. 3.25 hours of extra work this evening. either tomorrow night or thursday night, i will be tackling e-course #3, which is all about characteristics of adult learners.

i am now drinking whiskey and contemplating knitting. i have two projects in action right now: the mrs. darcy cardigan (i've gotten through the back and one side already!) and the blue jeans lace leaf shawl. i made an extra buttonhole on the band of the cardigan after seeing how LOOOOW-CUT it ended up being on quite a few people in ravelry. i think it's going to turn out delish. i have to find some leather-covered buttons for it to complete the "old man in a library" thang it's got going on.

also, i'm probably knitting the shawl in WAY too bulky of a yarn. but i have resigned myself to the fact that, yes, it will be lacy, but it will also be super cozy. i can deal with that.

an exciting day in knitting land...

i finished the threepenny pullover! fin! non! no mas! all done! and currently on my body. i plan on living in this here sweater for as long as winter decides to wrap its spindly, bony fingers around our throats (which, after yesterday's crazy snowstorm, i'm thinking could be a bit longer, even though we're solidly into march now).

i'm so proud. i am a proud mama. so here's the details:
pattern: threepenny pullover, interweave knits, fall 2004.
yarn: patons classic merino, which worked better than i could have hoped for this pattern.
needles: US 8 for the body and sleeves, US 7 for the edging.
modifications: i made the sleeves longer (i like long sleeves) and omitted the ever-so-annoying edging from the sleeves.

and the action shots. so, so cozy.


the extra-long sleeves, which worked out better than i actually had even hoped they would.


loungin', baby. loungin'.


i'm a little in love with the little cables running up the sleeves. just a little.


the full-on view (and me looking a little crazy-eyed).

on tumbleweeds and busy-ness...

it's been a while, little blog! let's air out the empty rooms, sweep up the dust bunnies, and start anew.

maybe it's the spring-like weather talking, who knows. 68 degrees today! yowza! i went for a walk up to campus today in order to do some pre-work for my meeting tomorrow afternoon for job number two. usually, i find it hard to do anything productive on a sunday, save for laundry and knitting and watching countless episodes of, say, lost or buffy. the promise of a paycheck, however, caused me to wander the warm, sunlit, windy streets, up to the union to print up oodles of adult education documents. and i actually read (almost) all of them! and underlined things! took a stroll down kirkwood, which was also nice and loaded with people in t-shirts for the first time in 2008. what a nice sight. plus? my 2 hours of work today mean i will have made nearly $60 already this week! score.

so in knitting-related news, i have been knitting up a storm on the threepenny sweater, and i have officially begun sleeve two! i've blocked the front and back, too, which means i am completely and totally in the final stretch. i just can't wait until it's done - i have lots of motivation for getting it off the needles and onto my body.

this is more the true color of the yarn, which is patons classic merino wool. the drape is lovely on it, and the yarn didn't even break the bank (for once)!


so very exciting. i'm a little nervous of how the cabled bands will work out - but after this much effort, i pretty much will not ALLOW them to look bad, come hell or high water.


i also finished my first clapotis attempt. yup, i jumped on the clapotis bandwagon - i LOVED the pattern, and i fully plan on making one for myself one of these days. too many other projects are waiting in the wings, though, for me to be able to launch into one for myself anytime soon. this is both in honor of spring and of my mother's birthday on march 8. happy birthday, momz!


in other news, as soon as i get the threepenny pullover off the needles, i am moving on to the mrs. darcy cardigan, which i will hopefully live in whilst in europe. i had some serious issues picking out a yarn color - i oscillated from a nice pumpkin color to shocking pink to a grandpa-cardigan brown heather to a ripe avocado. in the end, i settled on the pumpkin, which arrived in the mail just the other day. needless to say, i am very pleased with my final decision. isn't this color just yum?


and i'm pretty sure i've posted this scarflette already, but i don't believe i posted a silly action shot yet. i am nothing without my silly action shots.


that's all - ta for now, little journal!