Blankets and Sweaters

I just wanted to show off the lates progress on two WIP's:

1) Hemlock Ring blanket, adaption of doily by Jared Flood.

Needle: US 10.5
Yarn: Cascade Ecological Wool, color 8063

Dawn gave me encouragement on this pattern, since she made the doily-sized...doily...via a KAL already. :) (Hers looks great, by the way!)

The ball of Eco-Wool is so big that this piece of blanket just manages to cover up the ball (I can just palm the ball of yarn, if that helps with scale).



2. Wisteria sweater, by Kate Gilbert

Needle: US 10
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted

I am 31 rows away from being done with the body of the sweater. I'm so excited! It went so fast, too! But I can credit travelling and being homebound from the snow to that.


Wow, the snow is still coming down in Seattle!!

...Back to knitting!

Esta Nevando

*translation: "it's snowing", in Spanish*

If it continues snowing tonight, I may work from home tomorrow (since Seattle can't come to deal with snow effectively). Plus, most of my coworkers live out in more suburban or rural areas, where the snow really does pile up, and they are sympathetic to others.

I took some really crappy pictures of the snow. If it stays put tonight, I'll have better pics tomorrow. :)

Home Improvelence

Hm, sort of out of order on the pictures, but Oh Well!

New Years Day I created this:



What you see, my friends, is a freshly caulked kitchen sink. (Heh heh...."caulk").

I also took care of the adjoining countertop's caulk trim between it and the tile backsplash. Here is a shot I took during removal and cleanup of the old caulk (if you look at the corner where the tiles meet, you can see that the caulk in there has yellowed. I am assuming it's a combination of age + the last guy's chain-smoking habit. Probably nicotine stains as much as anything else...)

Here is a gross close-up I took on the other corner, during cleanup and removal:

I will have to redo one side of the countertop, though. The caulk I bought dries clear, and it magnified some flecks of old caulk I didn't remove entirely... Ah well. Live and learn.

I still have to re-caulk the bathroom sink and tub.

If you are attempting to do this yourself, please do! It's pretty easy. All you really need is a razor blade or utility knife (don't cut yourself!), bleach or other cleaner, tube of caulk, rubber gloves (?), and time.

1) Use the razor blade or knife to cut out all the old caulk. Hopefully it's easy and comes off in big strips. Make sure you take the time to get EVERYTHING off.

2) Wipe down the area with normal cleaner, then run a bead of bleach all up inside the crack you just exposed by removing the caulk.

3) Let the bleach dry. Repeat if needed. Make sure there's no fungus or nastiness in the crack.

4) Cut open your caulk tube's tip, and squirt away. It's pretty thick stuff, so be prepared to muscle it in. Make sure you get an even bead. I used a wet finger to run it in and smooth the join, but they sell "as seen on TV" tools that supposedly do a better job (for $19.95...versus...your finger, which is already attached to you). I just used some paper towels and a wet rag to keep everything clean.

5) Once you're satisfied....make sure to let it dry. This usually means you can't use whatever fixture you just caulked - sink, tub, etc. - for 24 hours.

Ta-Da!!!

BrooklyntweedMania

I'm slowly getting buzzed and alternating between Raveling, knitting on my Wisteria sweater, and looking at what pattern to cast on next...while drinking beer and watching Star Trek.

What a start to 2009!

Actually, I am sort of waiting to see if Kris and Randy will give me a call. They are (or were?) over at their friend's Ken and Crystal's house. I would have gone, but a) I was re-caulking my kitchen sink and countertop (seriously. It looks better now.) and Ken's house has various cats in it, so I didn't really feel like drugging myself up to go hang with the cats. Ah well. :)

I recently finished knitting up Brooklyntweed's "Habitat" hat (below..can you even tell what it is, beyond a textured gray hat?? :) ). I enjoyed it enough to consider other patterns of his.

Note: This hat needs a yarn that shows stitch definition. The Gotland I used is too fuzzy. I will remake this in perhaps Cascade 220 or my Malabrigo test skein for Daniel's sweater. I will also make the "Small" size. I made the M/L size and it's...big. It's too big for me or Daniel. It might fit my siblings - either my brother or my sister has a huge head. I can't remember which one. :)

Anyway, I have the cast-on fever, and I am considering either starting Brooklyntweed's Girasol blanket (aka "sunflower" in Spanish), or his Hemlock Ring adaptation into a blanket. I bought a skein of Cascade Eco-Wool in a fit of consumerism, and am loving it, but wondering if really I want cream wool, or if I should go back to Fiber Gallery and buy a darker color?... I am perpetually amazed at the put-up yardage in Eco-Wool (for the price). AWESOME!!! :)

As for hats, I also want to make Porom for my sister (since the model kind of looks like her, and I think the slouchy hat would work well for her curly hair). And the "ktbl" still eludes me, so Koolhaas is on the back burner for now.

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Yes, yes, I have Jared-Fever. I can resist the Noro striped scarf, though. :) But once I figure out the "ktbl" thingie, I'll go for the Koolhaas again...

***

Sometimes I hate being a knitting groupie (check out how many people have knit Clapotis or Monkey socks or even that blasted Noro striped scarf). But sometimes (sometimes) the best patterns really do rise to the top of the pile, and since knitting is not as everyday a skill as it used to be, you can be somewhat assured that whatever you choose to make will be relatively unique....till you spot another knitter wearing it. :)

Happy New Year!

Up above is a mosaic of all my finished projects for 2008. If it is acting weird, you can check out the URL here:

http://bighugelabs.com/photos/3a24e557ea9d96272f9505e1ca3c4421/mosaic1132822

I hope everyone had a great year!

My goals for 2009:

- Exercise at least 5x / week. I am pretty much taking care of this already, but I noticed I didn't go cycling nearly as much as I would have liked this summer (excuses that it was a cold summer notwithstanding). I go to Crossfit Monday - Thursday, and I have pilates on Sunday morning with Kris and Jeanelle, but I would like to incorporate more outdoor activities, especially now that my knees are so much better.

Goals related to Crossfit:

6 Month (by June 09): 80 kg (176.4 lb) deadlift, 10 strict (no knees on floor) pushups, handstand pushup (x 1), run/jog a mile without breaking to walk.

Health / Lifestyle Goals:

- Visit Daniel in Japan...lots. He will be leaving in February, and I will miss him insanely. Luckily, my manager at work said I should be able to telecommute from Japan for short spurts.

- Eat less meat. Just a goal in general. It's healthier and lighter on the Earth.

- Eat more vegetables. I do pretty well, but honestly I could tune this up a bit.

- Visit the farmer's markets more. Buy more local food. I just noticed a bottle of hard cider I bought is from Michigan. Why did I support shipping something halfway across the country when there are plenty of great ciders made in Washington and Oregon?

- Save & invest more money. I am aiming for a promotion this year, which would mean a substantial raise. The automated savings deductions work very well for me.

- Buy a house. Up to $300,000. At least 2 br / 1.5 bath. Yard. Gas range. Cute. With a Walking Score of at least 85.

- Visit my family and friends around the US. Or, when I have that spare bedroom...they can come visit me!

- Reconnect with Seattle friends.

- Be Outside! Enjoy the beauty of the Pacific Northwest.

March of Progress

Yay! I asked Daniel if he would want a sweater, and he said yes. :) He also ended up picking out EZ's "Hand to Hand" sweater (Rav link). I also got him to pick out a pair of socks for me to make. Luckily, he liked my red STR "Rare Gems" skein that I'd picked up at OFFF this year. No need to go buy more yarn (yet)! :) He also picked out a pattern - actually, he liked two out of Interweave's "Favorite Socks" book, though just one is shown. I figured I should have some knitting for him lined up, since he will be leaving me much sooner than I care to admit. :( (For Japan...not because he is tired of me or anything. :) )

Here is a shot of my first pair of the ubiquitous "Monkey" socks, by Cookie A. (I just pre-ordered her book on Amazon, by the way). I am using STR Lightweight in "Fire on the Mountain". The chart is easy to read, everything is going well! :)

Next up is a picture of the "Dog's Paw shawl" I am knitting for my mom. I spun the yarn several months ago (and I probably will need to make more at some point). It is a 2 ply, drumcarded blend of merino, tussah silk, and our dog's down. The picture shows about 7 or so inches of knitting? It is a delightful pattern, from a back-issue of "Spin-Off" magazine, designed by my lovely online friend, Jeanine Bakridges (Spinning Spider Jenny). I need to continue the chart on my own - Spin-Off only provided so many pattern repeats. :)

Here is my progress so far on my "Tangerine Dashings", from Knitty. I am using Cascade 220, and making the "M/L" size here. They are fairly quick, I put them down last night because I was too tired to cable. ;)

Finally, progress is showing on my Wisteria sweater. After taking pictures, I am definitely seeing a change between skeins of yarn, but that's ok. I'll live with it. I am surprised, though, since they were the same dyelot, but I guess kettle-dyeing isn't exact! :) I just put the sleeve stitches on waste yarn on both sides, and have begun knitting below that. I hope I did the backwards-loop cast on for the underarm stitches correctly... I just used EZ's backwards loop M1 method. It looks huge to me, but probably because I've never knit anything that big before.

Merry Xmas!

Today is my parent's anniversary (Dec. 26). Happy Anniversary, Mom & Dad! I believe this is Year # 38!

***

I was supposed to fly back to Louisiana 6 days ago. The short version of the story is that my flight got cancelled... after we had been sitting on the plane for 4 hours, and had already been at the airport waiting through other delays. I had called Continental's customer service, and got a refund, though they wanted to place me on a flight that I was pretty sure would get cancelled as well (no de-icing companies or de-icing fluid to use on the planes, since Seattle just went through the Blizzard of '08). Anyway, my mom was pretty sad about it, and I was, too. The upside is that I got to spend Christmas with Daniel, which was even better since he actually has time off right now, and his brother, Joey, and SIL Dawn were out here visiting for a while! :)

Here are some pictures. This was taken Christmas Eve. Our friend Kris' birthday is on Dec. 24, so she usually goes out with Randy to celebrate. We gathered up Jeanelle, as well, and met at the Brooklyn steakhouse downtown for dinner and drinks.


Here is some evidence of the snowfall. Daniel and I made a snow-punk (with mohawk) and Snow Needle on the 20th, after I got home from 13 hours of trying to travel somewhere else. The Needle has started to tip over, since there was a brief rise in temperature that morning. (This is in Daniel's front yard. He saw about a foot of snow. His neighbor's snowman, beyond the fence, was sprayed blue. I hope they used food coloring and not Windex.)


Christmas day arrived to Daniel's lower back being sore, and my neck still hurting from his new foam mattress. We went to the only open grocery store near me - Safeway - before it closed down for the day, and bought plenty of food. I cleaned my fridge out before leaving on the 20th... Here he is, on my computer, wearing the sweater I bought him.



He was extremely generous with me this year, and it was pretty freakin' amazing! I love this guy (and not because he has a generous cash flow ;) ).

Gift 1: 8 GB iPhone. All I can say is "It is TEH AWESUM."

Gift #2: Somewhere between a 4 -6 quart size Mario Batali enamel-coated cast iron dutch oven, in a cheery butter-yellow. WOO! (I made Moroccan beef stew in it on Christmas day...very very tasty!)

Gift #3: Gold necklace with a diamond-encrusted cupcake charm. In a cloissone -style ceramic gift box. This was for our anniversary, and extremely beautiful & thoughtful of him. :) I love it. All of it. :) (I got him a pair of Oakley sunglasses for our anniversary. It is difficult to buy him "stuff" when he is leaving for Japan so soon; I don't want to burden him with extra things to make the Navy move and possibly break, etc...)