Moving on - moving up

So! Long time no speak. Believe it or not - I was busy. But for a change - I can actually tell you about what kept me busy! Ready?

First things first - I got a new job! My first real (animation) industry job: I'm going to be a production assistant (PA) at Nickelodeon. I'm stoked, really excited. It's going to be a lot of work, lots of learning and lots of stress - but hey, that's what I came half way across the globe for!
I gave my two week notice at Whole Foods already and my last shift is on Wednesday. The countdown is so on.

More on the creative front, let's see if you can guess what these are?


Yeah, these are my new Xmas ornaments. Remember them penguins from last year? Tis year, I've decided to make ornaments in sets. There'll be two sets of three ornaments each, one of celebrating raccoons and the other of joyful reindeer. I also designed a more traditional holiday-ish set, but only one of the prints worked out well, which I'll sell as individuals ornaments. They'll be available in my shop as well as in a high end online shop I'm so very excited to work with. Get ready for the mad holiday season, craftsters!

On the knitting front, I've been making me some fall/winter clothes, the first of which is what I fondly call - the "Frankenstein Shrug". Why Frankenstein? Because it's made up of a number of different patterns. The body is based on the Two Toned Shrug from Fitted Knits, measurements based on the formula Ysolda shared in her Ribby series, using a cloverleaf pattern. So far - knock on wood, it's working well. Cross your fingers it ends up something I'll actually wear this time...





Other things that happend:
Look at this cutie:


This is Sam, my folks' new cat. Doesn't he look like a certain someone? He's a ragdoll and he's adorable. He's also gianormous! Say hi, fellows!

What does Suki have to say?


Nothing. She's into cuddling these days. A lot of cuddling.

The Damages season finale was ok, but not what I've expected. I still think the premise was cool, Glenn Close rocks, the production design was brilliant - but the end result... Could have been better. I really do need to write that "TV review" post. I'm such a harsh critic.

Ant got me totally hooked on The Walking Dead. Strange how the king of gore and dark stories ended up with the queen of all that is cute (that's us, by the way), but it's actually a darn good comic that's kind of hard to put down. There's actually not that many zombies in it, it's a lot more about people, surviving in a world that is evil and desparate and pretty hopeless. And it's got an introduction by Simon Pegg, which makes me like it even more.

And it finally seems like the fires are dying down. No, they didn't get close, but the news that Valencia got hit again reminded us of the same time of year in 2003 when we weren't sure if our school was going to go up in smoke. Man it was crazy... The fires didn't come close, but the smoke did, and the south bay couldn't breath for three days. We were lucky, though. We could have been in San Diego.

Hooray!

I got my sockapalooza socks today, yay!!!
Look at all the goodies:


I got some amazingly fragrant coffee (yum!), super dark chocolate (yum, yum!) and chocolate coverd blueberries (yum, yum, yum!), two felted kitty toys and these absolutely gorgeous socks:


Emmet examining the specimen.
Check out this pattern! The color! The fit is fantastic! Wow!



More photos here.

My sweet benefactor is the (sadly) blogless Jen of Maine who also got married recently. The socks are Loksins, but the cuffs seem different than the picture on the pattern page (and are beautiful). And they're knit in - Lorna's Laces! They seem to be Almost Solids too, in this fantastic fuchsia. Love, true love.
Thank you so much, Jen! It's been such a great Sockapalooza experience!

Busy-busy bee

It's been such a good weekend! I've been graced by the gods of retail to have a three (!) day weekend. The result - plenty of work done, and a ton of fun too!

Let' start with some socks, shall we?



I made it, I finished my Sockapalooza 4 socks - but just about. Sheesh! These socks beat the heck out of me. I don't know why and how come, possibly my constant exhaustion was to blame - but for a fairly simple pattern - I messed up way too often. Boo! I re-knit the heels twice (oy), re-re-knit too many pattern repeats (double oy), I bound them off twice (triple oy!)... But - they're finished! And with all the agony involved - I like them a lot! The pattern is easy (despite my best efforts to prove the opposite), beautiful and unique, Lorna's Laces has become my favorite sock yarn - soft, cushy and beautifully dyed. I hope my sock pal likes them...
I packed them up and they'll go away to my pal tomorrow. I added a couple of my favorite chocolates (I love the Panda one sooooo much! And it helps saving endangered animals too! Double score), a hand sewn bunny, a great bar of soap (I hate to promote stuff we sell at work, but his products are incredible, and we met the actual Hugo who started the company makes the soaps himself still - and he's such a great guy he deserves the mention) - and a little letter from moi.
(Yeah, my pal's name is Lynn - sorry if that's to revealing)



Done with the socks, I spent a whole day running arrends, shopping (I raided "Forever 21" yet again, jeans were on sale), mending (hemming said jeans), getting materials for prototypes for some stuff I'll hopefully do for wholesale. Then we headed off for some margaritas to celebrate the recent engagement (in Paris, bastards!) of our dear friends Nate and Crystal. And today - the sewing machine was working overtime!

I was inspired by the new Target Janome Hello Kitty sewing machines that I just had to personalize my cute little Singer. The result:


These are Suzy's Zoo stickers in the forest animals theme. Totally me!
And nothing compliments a physical makeover like a new wardrobe:



I just used my tape measure, some canvas I bought ages ago, and a sticky ribbon from the new Martha Stewart collection at Michael's (of course I had to get some, what kind of a craftster do you think I am?). I'm very pleased with myself.
Then I sewed a couple of new PJs pants and now - I'm writing these here lines!

What was Suki doing all this time?


Now I've got to go pick up a massive load of laundry. What a great weekend!

And how was your weekend?

A sock has got to begin somewhere

A couple of days ago, I was sitting in the break room at work, knitting on my Sockapalooza 4 pal's socks. I don't get much time at work, maybe two, three rounds (knitted two at the same time on two circs), but having so little time to knit these days - that's really important. Anyway, one of my team members goes past the door and sees me knitting (freaking muggles, stop looking at me funny and asking stupid questions unless you own a pair of needles and some yarn you're eager to learn how to turn into something useful). Here's the dialogue that followed:

Pal: "You're knitting baby booties".
Me: "No, these are adult socks".
Pal (raises an eyebrow): "They don't look like adult socks".
Me (stretching the toe and half the instep to show that the width alone negates baby socks): "But they are, look - that's the toe..."
Pal: "They don't look like adult socks".
Me (sighing to myself): "Every sock has got to begin somewhere".


These are the Spring Grass socks and I love them. The pattern is simple and easy to understant and by lucky alignment of the stars, the Lorna's Shepard Sock yarn on size #1 needles works perfectly for the gauge required to fit my pal's feet. Which brings me to the only bummer about this Sockapalooza project: my pal's feet are significantly smaller than mine, by both length and circumference. I'm talking about at least a size and a half down. I can't even have Ant try them on (yes, his feet are smaller than mine). I'm plotting making some sock blockers to her feet's specs, but it just ups my enxiaty levels about fit quite a bit. Cross you fingers for me everyone! Please?

There's another half a pattern repeat done on them now, but it's not yet worth more picture taking.

And now for something completely different:
Are there any yogis among you? I need some advice. I've been twisting my limbs into unnatural shapes for almost two months now, and I'm beginning to get the impression that it's not only that I'm an impossibly inflexible klutz - my mat might also be to blame. I have a cheapy old thing from Wal-Mart I got when I started doing pilated three years ago, and while it was fine for the pilates mostly horizontal positions, it feels way too thin and slippery for the stability demanding yoga. I've been looking at some mats at work, especially these four nice guys, and I just don't know. Is the extra thickness worth it? What does the "extra sticky" or "extra traction" good for? Are they really worth it? Some of those things aren't cheap... And there are some nice colors and cute designs on the regular thickness/traction/stickyness from the Gaiam website on sale...
What do you think? Any expert knowledge/experience/opinion will be super appreciated.
Namaste.

P.S.
This post was brought to you by this here feline who kindly let me use my hands for something other than patting her every few minutes. She loves it when we're home all day (yes, I'm in my PJs. It's my day off, for crying out loud!).

Who's that girl?

Wow! It has been so long, I won't blame you if you forgot who I am... Sorry, that was really an unplanned hiatus. Work? Plenty. Multiple idependant projects? Plenty. Life? ...Not so much. Since I really can't see how I can promise to update you at length, in multiple posts without breaking the promise as I make it, I'll highlight the important stuff in one post. Who cares about the unimportant stuff anyway?

1. Life is fine, we've been married three months yesterday, which is shocking. It seems so long ago, and yet, like it was literally yesterday. We miss everyone very much. It was so much fun!
2. Speaking of the wedding, my dear husband celebrated his 26th birthday on the 30th (of May, oy...). Happy birthday, my love! I got him some geekery, and made him one (chubby) Dalek. Exterminate! Exterminate!
3. It's crazy how "grown up" we've become. Last weekend we went for a mini house warming BBQ party at our friends' newly bought house. So now our gang has a married couple and a couple with a mortgage. Yep, we're all grown up.
4. On the personal front, I've started doing yoga. Quite the achievement for a klutz like me. So far, no spraines or broken necks, thank goodness. If you're the bendy girl in the back of my class - I swear I'm not checking out your ass or frowning at you incredible beny-ness. I'm just trying to see myself in the mirror while attempting a warrior III. I swear.
5. I got a new do! Man, do I wish I got it for the wedding too... It's almost a strawberry blond and almost shoulder length and it's got bangs and I love it-love it-love it. Love it.
6. All's well on the kitty front (the kitty news, your favorite part). We spent some time at the vet this month, every time with one freak-out or another. First, Suki got a cold with very high fever (which Emmet brough from the shelter. Yay.), then Emmet got a combo of a cold+ear mites+eye infection. Feeding two cats with three kinds of disgusting medicine? Yay.
7. Two weeks later, Suki slipped off the counter klutzily and pulled a muscle. On friday night. Which meant emergency room on Saturday morning, X-rays (did you know they do them with a digital camera nowadays? Whaaaaaat?!) and an absurd bill. Sheesh. Pets are a great preparation to having kids. They get sick on work days, completely by surprise, scare you shitless, make you cry and feel like a lousy parent and end up costing a ton of cash, but what won't you do for that relaxed look in their eyes that says "Yeah, of course I'm fine. What, you were worried?"
8. They're getting along very well, BTW. Emmet is still behaving like a baby, playing all the time and keeping us up at night, but look at these cuddle bugs. Aren't they cute? Totally worth the new scrathches every morning and the puffy eyes.


More photos here.
9. Speaking of kids, the entire world seems to be pregnant, and congrats to them! The influx of requests for prenatal vitamins at work, led to a very interesting observation: it seems like everyone is either just beginning to make a baby, or almost done. The obvious conclusion - no one wants to be heavily pregnant in the SoCal in August. Smart ladys. Very smart. That's female thinking, we're so practical.
10. A big "Oy" and a big "Yay!" for the news from the knitting front. All is not well with the "Abercrombie" shrug. I guess the evil roommate mojo got into it and no mattern how many times I frogged and re-knit it, I couldn't get the fit right. So I gave up, while I still had my dignity, and it'll go to the local thrift store as soon as I can master looking at it again. Luckily it was cheap yarn. But no worries, since then I've seen the error of my ways via a photo of a hand made cardi someone has just finished that looks a lot more like I was going for. I think I have it now, although it will take me a while before I dare attempting it again.
11. On to the "Yay!" part of the knitting news - I finally gathered the nerve to join Sockapalooza 4! You know how insecure knitting for someone can get you, but I've decided to be brave. I got a couple of Lorna's Laces colorways and have been swatching for the past couple of weeks. I totally dig this yarn! So soft, so pretty (I love how the solids are ever so slightly varigated), so much fun to knit with. Sigh... I'm so glad I got two skeins for myself on top of that (I see Wisteria Monkeys in my future). After much consideration, I settled on knitting Craftoholic's Spring Grass socks using the Powder Blue colorway. Let the stitchin' begin!
12. More "Yay" involves some learning. I've learned to knit colorwork! That's what happens when a pattern tempts me so very much. Behold, actual knitting imagery. Good grief...


They're a blast, really. I still can't maintain gauge as well as I should, but I've frogged and re-knit them so many times already I think the yarn will faint, so I'll just soldier on. So far I've finished one and a half of the other. Hooray!
13. The shop is very slow. I'm contemplating shutting it down for a bit and re-opening when I make enough of the new exciting things I've secretly began making lately. If you want anyhing in the store, give me a hollah. I'll happily ship anything for free. Really.
14. And here's what I'm most excited about - I've made it into Plush You! I'm thrilled. I can hardly believe it. Me? Humble little me? In a plush show? Wow! More details and some talk about the guys I've been making for the show, later. That piece of news does deserve its very own post.
15. Here's the quick roundup of the things I've gotten myself addicted to lately:
- Uncle Eddies Vegan Cookies - move over, get your filthy hands out of the bag. They're ALL mine.
- The new Dr. Who - It's a cheese-ball sometimes, but it's still some darn good stilton.
- Superbuzzy rocks - I wish I made more money so I can help these fine ladies make more money.
- Spaced and Black Books - I don't usually watch comedies, but those two crack me up pretty bad. If you have access to a region one DVD player, get them. Warmly recommended.

Have an awesome day, loves! I promise I'll try and keep in touch better from now on. If only I had a Tardis to travel in time in (so that I could go through every day twice. Maybe that'll give me some time to actually have a life... Maybe)

In the absence of knitting content...

I know I've been neglecting my knitting and my knitting content for a while now. It's not that nothing happens here, on the knitting front, but I need to talk and explain and make excuses, and that takes time and energy that I don't really have quite yet. There will be lots soon, though. I promise. I leave you with this very knitterly T-shirt, from our heroes at Threadless.
See you soon, needles and yarn!!

E=mc2

Sorry for the vanishing act this week. My energy levels this week were exceptionally low. Could be the lack of chocolate eating (the house is on a diet), could be the wedding planning (someone please tell me we really can avoid the stress?), or the temperature drop or the fact that Ant had an exceptionally bad week at work... Either way, no energy at all. I've spent much of the week slouched on the couch much like this:


(Well, I was't sleeping on the couch's arm, of course - but you get the picture)

So, what did I do this week?
Sleeping: see above (I must add that I also make a terrific cat cushion, when the resident feline demands it).
Knitting: The No-Thanks_Abercrombie cardi now has two sleeves and I'm back to working on the body. I'm a tiny bit concerend about my yarn supply. I want to have a ribbed edging all around and I seriously hope I have enough yardage left. This might get interesting. I comfort myself with the fact that so far (knock on wood) I've had very little frogging done and the fit is (knock on wood, again) very pleasing. Wish me luck, the challenging part is still ahead of me.
Collaging: I've signed up for Dawn's Paper Quilt Project for February and have been trying to figure out the best idea to collage about (and, may I admit, have been a tiny bit intimidated by the medium. I get scared starting new things sometimes, even ones I'm really excited about. Like my sewing machine) for too long. I hope Dawn doesn't regret her graciousness with giving me an extra week!

In progress:

Finished (guess which "Day in My Life" it was...):
Thank you so much Dawn, for letting me play! It's definitely been the higlight of my week.

Wedding news: after the weekend, please. Maybe we'll have a couple more questions answered and the stress levels go down a bit. Sigh... I'll leave you with some pretty pictures Ant took outside last weekend.


Have a good (and restful) weekend!

Is it The Weekend Yet? (Yes? Oh, Good...)

Good grief! This weekend flew by like a hurricane and I'm left exhausted, slouched on the couch and craving more chocolate than ever (and there's no shortage, thankfully). I'm really tired, so this is going to be less wordy than the usual.
This is some of what I've been working on this week:

These are the prototypes for a new idea - business card holders and pencil cases.

I finally got a pair of pinking shears, and I love them mucho. So darn neat (if somewhat heavy).

These were the "real deal". They go in the store next week.

All those neat on-white-background pictures were taken in my new DIY light tent. Very darn useful, I tell you. Makes a huge difference.


And the No-Way-Abercrombie-A cardi now has one finished sleeve. I even re-attempted the 2x2 ribbing tubular bind-off. It looks good to me, so I don't ask any questions. If it's not OK or not how you do it, please don't tell me. Ok, do tell me, just not today.
And Valentine's Day was very nice, thank you. Wine, good food and chocolate cake (yum!). My first as an engaged woman. Sigh... No complaints here, of course.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day of downtown LA again, and Costco and other entertainment. At least now Ant works at a decent studio that does give its employees days off for bank holidays (imagine that), so monday is all about sleeping in, cooking and snuggling a lot.

Happy long weekend!

Project Spectrum 2.0 or How Even Bad Roommates Are Good for Something

I was going to post this a while ago, but life sort of got in the way (in a good way). Thanks for all the wedding love, and the kitty support (my dad promises me it doesn't look as bad, I'm clinging to that). Got to love this little community of ours.


So.... We finally get to take a first look at my Project Spectrum 2.0: This a first for me, an original design! It's a shrug/cardi of sort, in a practical grey, which is meant to be a high usage, comfy and fun little thing. I have a very general idea of how I want it to look, and I've swatched like a nut before I cast on, and knock-on-wood, so far so good. What do I call it? I call it The "I'll Never Buy Abercrombie" Shrug. Why? Read on.

I have the worst luck with roommates. Even after I moved to the junior/senior dorms and got my own little room, I managed to get stuck with some real nut-jobs. Granted, the fact that I went to an art school probably made it more likely that I meet and live with more nut-jobs, but that's beside the point. Anyway, in my senior week, we shared our little dorm apartment with one particular nut-job that broke all the nut-job records. I'll spare you the worst of it. Suffice it is to say that we managed to lose her phone number as soon as she left our happy little lives.
Anyway, one of her least favorite properties, was her consistency of ideology: she was (and probably still is) a Yippy. Not a particularly cheerful person, but a Yuppie + Hippie. She loves Whole Foods to a religious degree, follows any new age fad, all while having no understanding and knowledge about holistic and natural medicine (and I should know because I am very much into them myself, only in an educated way) - all this while she happily goes shopping at Abercrombie & Fitch (the racist, sexist, 3rd world abuser and in every other way - evil). You can tell this is just the tip of the iceberg, right?
Anyway, one day the Y returns from (yet another) shopping trip - with this (evil yet) cute grey shrug/cardi from A&F. Hey, they're evil, but it doesn't mean that they don't know how to design cute things. The idea is just to have the strength of spirit not to give them any money. I was then just a beginner knitter, but I was studying her cute little new piece while half listening to her ramblings, and all I could think was - "I can totally make this. Totally".
And frankly, isn't that the beauty of this renewal of the DIY movement? Being able to wear your own take on the commercial, common, everybody-and-their-sister-have-one clothes? Anyway, back then I had no clue how to even aproach such a project, and I was busy graduating/keeping my sanity, so the grey shrug/cardi remained on a back burner. And then, I made the Somewhat Cowl, and a few things clicked in my head construction-wise. And I started plotting.


It's a basic raglan that doesn't get worked into a circle, with long-long sleeves and a thick ribbed collar. It's knit with Knit Picks Sierra in Mist, which is fun and cushie and knits up very quickly. I'm not at all a bulky yarn person, but I'm enjoying it a lot so far. And I may actually finish it while it's still cold outside, what do you know?
Anyhow, this is my (long) PS2.0 project. I'll try and keep you in the loop with photos and such, like a good knit blogger should. And I'll try and not let life get in the way (although planning a wedding is a project all by itself, isn't it?)

...In the meantime

Yeah...
It does look like the shop has been taking over this blog lately. Not sure all of you approve of that (my comments seem to have been silent lately too - what happend? Don't you like me anymore?), not sure how that even happend. Anyway, I'm considering opening (yet) another blog for store updates only. We shall see. In the meantime... a KNITTING update!


...Wow, this photo is old... I'll take new photos of it as soon as I can stop posing stuffies in appealing positions in a natural scenery. Oy...
Anywho - this is Orangina of Glampyre fame. She's a way cool knit. I said before I think this sassy top knits itself. Even a senile, scatter minded raccoon like me can memorize the four row repeat and make it look nice. Even when I'm sleepy. I finished knitting it while watching Dexter's season finale (AHHHHH!!! And many "I knew it!"s), but it's yet to be blocked and seamed. I can't wait to try it on... If you came across this page while googling "Orangina" to find out people's opinion of this pattern - my advise to you is: BUY IT! You won't regret it.
On other knitting news, I have a strange craving for Endpaper Mits this week (you know, kind of like the craving of chocolate you-know-when). It gets really cold in our apartment. My hairdresser said it's the wooden floors. I even had what looked like a cute color combo of sock yarn all ready for them, Only to realize it ain't that cute. Well, no knitting time wasted here, but I will find a good color combo and knit them. I'm in the mood for fairisle.
I also knit this for Ant for Christmas. It's Swell du Knitty, with a stripe instead of the "surfy" wave pattern (Ant's a skater, totally different worlds). It's knit with Knit Picks Telemark - Bayberry and Chestnut. I had to use whatever math I remember from high school to figure this out, as Telemark and Brown Sheep that the pattern calls for are of very different gauges (it went pretty much like this: knitting girlfriend finally manages to sit boyfriend in front of the computer to pick a pattern he likes for his new hat. She then gos to a website to have him pick the yarn. He points to the first yarn he sees and says "that one, in this and this color", and flees to the living room to hide. Note to all boyfriends of knitting girls - making a hell lot of noise while palying Gears of War will get you found very very quickly). I think it came out good, though. And Suki thinks so too.

Speaking of which - how can I write an update post and not post a photo (or two) of your favorite feline?

This is her "You thick human. Don't you get it? This playdate is OVER!!" look.

Have a grand weekend!