oh, hello, old friend...

things have been a little surreal lately. a little bizarre. a little nice. i realized i haven't updated this thing in almost a month, and i honestly thought, "well, what the heck have i been DOING?!" mostly, i've been working and having fun. so there's that.

i went to seattle for a brief stay last weekend to meet the munchkin, aka the nubbin, jammin, benjamin, ben, the nephew. it made me so sad when i left to think that the next time i see him at thanksgiving, he will be five months old. so much time to miss in baby time.

there are far too many "favorite" pictures to post from the trip, so we'll only do a few. i was there for a total of two days - the second day, we drove up to deception pass state park in washington and made our way down whidbey island to the ferry back. this was after a very satisfying hunt for rocks at north beach.


the prettiest seaweed in all the land.


ben is a noisy, vigorous little guy. he does everything vigorously. he even SLEEPS vigorously, with his grunts and coos and hoots. he's not fussy at all. he's just vigorous. however, get him in his wrappy thing in a noisy place (like, say, pike place market), and he's passed right the heck out.


me and dad in his humboldt state sweatshirt. i don't even own an article of clothing from humboldt, and i WENT there, for goodness' sakes!


i really love this photo. ben's first ferry ride! he loved the light, the noise... and he loves hanging his head upside down when he looks at the world.


oh, and in addition to pike place market on friday, we also went to the most hilarious brewery tour i have ever been on. redhook brewery tour - if you are ever in that area, you must go. me, my bruddah, and my mama.


our flight out of seattle circled around mt. st. helens. goodbye for now, pacific northwest. i will always love you.


i got home and finally finished up a few projects that had been blocking for lord knows how long. first, i made myself a sweater. i'm really proud of this sucker ( ihaven't counted the bobbles yet... the bobbles sucked).


although my initial desire was to make this sweater in some bright, crazy color (as i have been known to do on occasion), i also desperately needed a warm, black, awesome cardigan. so yeah... i went with it.


then the christmas knitting begins. this'll be for my mom, made using the springtime bandit pattern and good ol' noro kureyon yarn. i really want to keep it for myself, but i guess i'll settle for just making another one.

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?

the kid...

this kid just cracks me up. "what the heck are these ARM things?!" my nephew, benjamin's, latest youtube update. and look! he's wearing one of the onesies i made for him!

self-portrait roundup...

yes, i have still been doing my weekly self-portraits (more or less weekly, that is). i've just been absolutely horrendous at posting them, apparently. so here's the roundup - from the last time i posted one until now.

ready. set. go!
5.29.09. on the steps of the school across the street from my house, which will soon be torn down to make way for a parking lot for the new, much less interesting looking (but likely nicer) school.


6.3.09. i fully maintain that everyone should own at least three pairs of brightly colored tights. at LEAST.


6.11.09. my new ruffly-butted swimsuit.


6.21.09. what way too much heat and no a/c looks like.


6.26.09. nighttime pony races at churchill downs!


7.2.09. spinning with sparklers on kirkwood ave.


7.11.09. and, even though this was in my last post, it was also my self-portrait for the week. me (30) in my house and me (4) at the lincoln park conservatory.

baby boy benjamin goodies...

my good friend, jes, in san diego sent me a lovely care package a few months ago, which included luscious, beautiful moda dea tweedle dee yarn in a lovely blue-purple combination. i had to figure out what the heck to do with it, of course. i had made the munchkin (aka the nephew, aka little benjamin, aka jammin) a hooded summery blanket out of cotton yarn, so i decided he would of course need a winter blanket soon enough in the great pacific northwest. i searched through an ancient knitting book my grandmother gave me years ago. it is chock full of nearly every stitch pattern you could ever want. i decided on something simple that would look nice from either side of the blanket ("striped fagoting" was the winner). next, off to the LYS for two matching shades in nice lamb's pride bulky, and i kicked off the knitting.

we have a blankie, my friends. a nice, wooly, bulky throw that i think will work wonderfully tucked in around a carseat or laid out on the floor for the wee one to practice his rolling skills. we have side one:


and side two:


well, as always happens, you've either got plenty of yarn leftover or just barely not enough. this time, we had quite a bit extra. what next? baby sweater! i followed the mossy jacket pattern because, well, it looked like a quick, easy knit and i had never tried it before. i'm pleased!


in other news, i have managed to restore my hair to its four-year old status. rock what you know.

things that make me smile...

i can't get enough of this video. seriously, just watch it.

oh, and did i mention?

I AM AN AUNTIE! meet benjamin damon, born early monday morning, 6/29. and i am in LOVE.




little jammin, rocking out while sleeping out.

mini-holiday!

mini-holiday recap time! i went to louisville over the weekend to visit a friend and just get the heck out of dodge. what a great weekend. i saw my first pony race, called a winning longshot pony (which allowed us to win back our money, get free AMAZING tacos from a non-english speaking taqueria, AND parlay our winnings for three more races), went shopping at nitty gritty, ate a massive breakfast at lynn's paradise cafe, watched movies, ate ice cream, visited some local drinking establishments, and sang along to neutral milk hotel. what an excellent weekend.

whooshootoo, our first bet (#2). did i mention it was a nighttime race? odds were 22:1 by the time the race started - and they ended up in second place! rob made $100 off that one, and we made $50 or so.


churchill downs, yo.


our next horse, paper shredder, was in the lead until the very end of the race. go, paper shredder!


pony action shot.


rob and me, looking spoooooky. lordy lou, was it ever hot.


our lovely racing mates: jon...


and victoria.


these dudes were absolutely ridiculous. there were about six of them total.


and video, of course. yes, i'm the one talking.


and my new skirt! one of five rad finds at nitty gritty.


seriously. stellar weekend. thanks, louisville peeps.

serious ugly cardi for the win...

so what if it's june? so what if wool is not precisely the yarn of choice for summer in hot, muggy (and, this year, incredibly pacific northwesty rainy) indiana? so what, i say? keeping with my norm, i just finished an incredible heavy wool sweater - just in time for summer.

when i was in philly, i bought one skein of malabrigo kettle dyed yarn in lettuce. i didn't know what i would do with it, i just loved it - it passed both the ogling test and the petting test by leaps and bounds. i ended up, of course, having to risk buying two extra skeins online and praying the colorway would match up (thankfully and shockingly, it did) and subbing in a bit of a leftover yarn i had in my stash. and you know what? i LOVE it. LOVES it, even. perhaps, i even LURVE it.

this pattern was almost totally from my own head, although i did model it loosely after zephyrstyle's 28thirty sweater.



i look like i have to pee in this picture because, well, i did.


attempting to show off the super-fancy-neat back decreases.


the neckline, which i love and adore.


i had a stellar weekend visit with the parents. we did so much we've never done before! the arts market at the farmers market, textillery outlet, butler winery, dinner at finch's and at falafels... um, what else? oh, brunch at story inn! like i said, stellar. also? my dad not only bought a yaris last week, he got the same exact yaris as mine. yari! like daughter, like father. my dad, his car, me, my car, my house, and my fab tuck vest.

tuck one in...

i have the tuck vest almost finished - just needs buttons - and i LOVE it. i'm not exactly a vest-wearer, but i saw this and had to do one up for myself. knit up in knitpicks comfy sport, october. next thing on my saturday to do list? take a shower, then go buy a latch closure of some sort and finish this up.

it rolls a lot on the edges, which i usually find exceedingly annoying, but it actually works with this particular garment, i think.


we can haz pleats?




ETA: all done! i am in love.


they look like little riblets across the front!