My Super Secret Pal Who's Not So Secret Anymore

Before I left for my very sad trip to Baltimore, look at what I got in the mail:

My Superior Secret Pal! You Rock!
(Notice Sake's thirst for good yarn.)
It's three skeins of Classic Elite's Miracle, and in my favorite color, of course! Thank you so much my friend, you've been an exemplary Secret Pal and I don't deserve you! Your suprise package certainly helped me through the week!
Well, even though I was away for awhile and I'm only now catching up on my sleep, knitting certainly has a way of taking the edge off. Picking up a sock just makes me feel better even if I can only finish one row before I have to move on to other things.
Between the comfort knitting gives me and the connections and friends I've made I have to say, Thank Goodness I Became A Knitter!

Sake Loves Yarn Too 

And we're back!

The computer is fixed...Picasa and Hello are up and running and I have some stuff to blog about.

What's on the Block
First off, we have the Secret Agenda Sweater from Knit Wit finished and blocked and all I have to do is seam the whole thing together. My goal is to seam it by this weekend, however this sweater was actually taken about 2 weeks ago, so obviously I'm procrastinating a bit on this part.
M-U-S-T--S-E-W--!
In other news, I cut off the majority of my hair this weekend. I have to publish these pictures because the DH is in SF and hasn't seen the new me.

The Before Picture 

The New Do--Curly Style.

We will return after these messages...

1. Her Name is Sake!
And she's so fun! She plays and sleeps with us and she's SO soft! Which I like.
I can't upload any pictures today though because we're experiencing some technical difficulties here at chez kitty. Bringing us to,
2. Our computer crashed last week. Aside from getting all my favorite blog links back (thanks Carolyn!) and finding a recently backed up version of MS Money, everything else is starting again from scratch. In fact,
3. I can't upload pictures! I still need to upload that program for my digital camera AND download picasa for blogger. So we may not see pictures for awhile because that kind of thing takes some sitting down time and in my sitting down time...
4. I've been knitting. Alot. And playing with Sake. So you know, it's hard to resist the lure of a kitten and some fine looking knitting. I'm even finishing something. I'm all finished with Bryant's green Manos sweater and I even blocked it last night. I took some action shots and will show then eventually but, you know, see #3.
5. That's the real knitting news, I finished a sweater, and I'm almost finished with the Sn'B Nation Cabled Pageboy hat. All these projects that I've been hiding from my blog, because they started WAY before I started my blog (B's sweater) or because they're small little feel-good projects like the hat.

I wish I could close with a close up of Sake in the bathroom sink trying to drink from the faucet, but I guess you'll have to stay tuned!

New Girl on the Block!

Our KITTEN!

Her Close-up!

I swear she took cute kitten lessons before she arrived. This picture looks far away (see the IK acorn top in the background?) but it's about the only time she was off my lap or chest. She's so cuddly and purr-y!
She also is very adventurous. She was checking every nook and cranny of our apartment out, one room at a time and doing cutekitten stuff like using the kitchen chair legs as an obsticle course (kitty boot camp!) and sitting in all of my baskets and looking back out at me (intensely cute...I now need even more baskets!)

We're still up in the air about her name...getting to know her and all. Suggestions anyone?
We're looking at:
Bowie
Tink
Tatto
Joplin
Hero
Whiskey
& Butterscotch!
(Just kidding on that last one, but she is cute enough for it!)

I don't want to go to work today, I just want to play with my new little buddy!

New Girl! 

Secret Pal! Secret Pal!

Yay! I'm such a spoiled girl! I love my secret pal and this beautiful stash of yarn she sent me yesterday!
It's Classic Elite Yarn's "Provence" mercerized egyptian cotton in my favorite color--4 skeins!

Secret Pal Beauties!
I also recieved a pattern book along with this for a few top variations I could make using this yarn, though it's not pictured. I am even thinking of making the Acorn Camisole in the Summer 05 Interweave Knits, if I have the skill for it...I'll probably give it a shot.
Thank you so much Secret Pal! I was so suprised and pleased to recieve a second package--and I love the yarn, it's beautiful!
In other news the DH and I may be adopting a kitten today! (And really, what knit bloger's life is complete without the perfunctory cat?) I dont' care, I can't wait to have a little buddy--and I've already looked up cat toy patterns to knit! Yay for kitty dim sum!

Intense S.E.X.

(Stash Enhancement eXpedition)

This is what $200 looks like

So after a weekend of serious and hard work I had today off and I'm feeling much better and I ended up venturing out...Purl Soho's internet warehouse...I love that place. All natural fibers, beautiful colors, and it alwayt feels like you're treasure hunting there since it's not a "real" store. (Though I still think it's better than any other store within driving distance from here.)
Christmas presents and presents for me...I bought my first set of Lantern Moon DPN's (that one's obviously for me). I'm excited to cast on another pair of Christmas Socks with them!

I can't resist the Koigu KPPPM and I added a few skeins of that to my collection and I bought some Blue Sky Alpaca for my sister Jack--she was eyeing the cute bags on the cover of Last Minute Knitted Gifts (also from Purl Soho). I think I'll put my Sister Socks in them when I finish for her birthday.

I'm looking forward to being finished with the crutches and to my SnB tomarrow night...though my injury has definitely caught me up on my knitting. I'm almost done with the last sleeve for Bryant's "Secret Agenda Sweater" and then it's off to finishing school! (My least favorite part!)

P.S. My other sister, Jess, loved her Sister Socks--which arrived before her birthday--and they fit!!

The reason so much knitting is getting done. 

The beginning of Cory's Hat 

Cory's finished hat... 

The most beautiful cashmere ever. 

I'm already on page 217, need I say more?

Harry Potter Night!

Yes, my knitting buddy Skylar and I went to not one but 2 major bookstores last night at midnight to secure our very own copies of HP and the Half Blood Prince. Mine I pre-ordered from Borders I don't know how many months ago and Barnes & Noble made Skylar wear a special bracelet to get her copy--the kind of bracelet that they give you at clubs and bars!
We both brought our knitting but ended up on the floor of the knitting section checking out various books and patterns. Believe it or not we didn't knit a stitch and the time until 12:00:01 flew by!
As I mentioned in the title of this post...I'm already a bit into the book. I arrived home at about 1am and didn't slip into bed until about 4am give or take. Anyway, I'm off! I've got some serious reading to do!

Oh I almost forgot...Skylar premiered her Lelah top and it was beautiful! SO cool! It's too bad you can't see it better in the pic, but it's in this great bright orange color that I envy her ability to wear...I must make one! Skylar you did such a brilliant job, I'm definitely inspired!
(Shoot...knitting or HP, knitting or HP...damn, HP comes 'round less than once a year!)

X-Back...Back

Here it is! Pictures curtesy of my knitting buddy Skylar who I met up with at the Long Beach SnB tonight. I'm sure everyone thinks so but our group is the best...it's so diverse and everyone is so very cool and interesting! I live for Wednesdays!
Obviously I finished the tank and premiered it this weekend in Pasadena. I wore it Friday night too! It's one of the first pieces I've made for myself that I can actually wear even if I do wish I would have made it one size smaller. I made it size medium but probably should have gone with the small. But it drapes well and over all I am pleased.
Now all I have to do is get a better strapless!
X-back Front

X-back Back 

X-back Dork

X back tank from knitty.com, knit on 24" Addi turbos #11 using Trendsetter's Dolcino ribbon color 118. Start date 5/21/05 finished 7/13/05. Any one need an extra ball of Dolcino?

X-back Tank

This is a project that I haven't picked up in about 2 months. However, I just bought the new fall issue of Interweave Knits and figured that I should finish my summer projects before I work on my new fall items. It's going well, however the entire tank is done in seed stitch and that makes it take quite awhile. It's 104 stitches and that's a lot of seed stitch for 1 row. I'm just about to the arm holes and shaping for the bust however, so it should get interesting very soon.

Ribbon Xback Tank from Knitty

In other news I've turned the heels for both of the 2nd socks that I'm working on for my sisters. It's so cliche, however the 2nd sock is so much more boring than the 1st! And I'm working on 2 of them! All I want to do is cast on for a new pair but that eventual 2nd sock is starting to hold me back...I have until July 30th (sister #1's birthday) to finish one of the socks, so I do have a bit of a motivational deadline! Wish me luck!

This weekend's hard work.

For the first time in awhile I had the whole weekend to myself. Well, not the whole weekend. There was that whole Saturday where I had to work(for the 2nd weekend in a row)...but it was the first weekend in awhile that I had no company. I knit my little heart out...started a book...made jewelry and stitch markers...and still can't figure out how to put more than one picture in a single post.

Lace on the way. Note the stitchmarkers I'm using!

Here are the beautiful stitch markers I made:

The ones in the middle are destined for my secret pal...she's into the rennisance fairs and dark garnet tones. The other two sets are probably for me! I'd never made stitch markers before but I went crazy earlier this week at a bead shop. Someone in my SnB had recomended it and I figured if they could do it so could I! I even made jewelry this weekend--new hobby here I come!
Stitch Marker heaven...

I even worked on socks this weekend!

2nd socks on the way...
I was a good girl and didn't start a new beautiful Secret Pal-Sock...though I dearly wanted to. I was a trooper and started 2nd socks for both of my sisters!
Yay, fun weekend.
Boo--weekend's over!

Secret Pal Gifts!

Look what I got in the mail yesterday!
Lorna's Laces of my very own! I'm making this up but I'm calling them "bone" colored. I think they're beautiful and they will be my first attempt at knitting socks with a cable pattern up the side. For some reason this color--bone--screams "Cable me." I don't know why. Also seen in this picture but maybe not prominently enough is a set of very cool and very beautiful beaded stitch markers. They are wonderful and will help mark my cables!
Thank you Secret Pal out there--you're so cool!
In other knitting news I've sort of forgotten about the "Summer of Lace" idea and moved onto what's truly going on in my life: The Summer of Socks. I finished my Koigu sock for my sister and have already cast on for the second. I have the second cuff completed for the pink socks for my other sister too so I'm fighting the single sock syndrome urge. It's hard though. I got up early this morning and if I wouldn't have gotten all distracted blogging I would have cast on a new one! Maybe I can holdoff just until I turn the heel on these two suckers...then again, I'm sorley tempted. We'll see how long I last with new Lorna's Laces tempting me! I give myself until about 5:30 tonight.

Watch out for knitting content!

Here we are with actual knitting content and progress on one of my many sock projects...with all the tsunamis and MIL visits I haven't been knitting much but like it or not this sock is almost to the toe--just 1 more inch to go and I'm back to the pretty pink yarn again. This is the first sock I've ever knit on DPNs (I originally learned how to knit socks on 2 circulars) but I think it's going well even though the body of the sock looks a little fat to me. I guess we'll see when we're done. In other news, I recieved a cool Mohawk postcard from my Secret Pal, which is awesome! She seems super-cool and so there's that to look forward to. I dropped a note to my assigned Secret Pal, however I still need to decide what to actually get for her...
Oh, I almost forgot! I also signed up for the Summer of Lace group...I'm very excited and thinking about starting a lace sampler scarf sometime soon!

Progress!

The Emergency Broadcast System

So my MIL left and I was planning on writing a great entry here and we're in the middle of dinner listening to the radio in the background and all of the sudden the emergency broadcast system starts and it's not a test! They say something about a Tsunami warning and it happens so fast and they don't repeat themselves and we almost miss it. We hopped onto the weatherchannel.com and double-checked and it said there was a tsunami warning for the entire west coast and we live 2 blocks from the beach! So we grab a few things (phones, charger for phones, wallet, sweatshirt, knitting, and book about knitting...you know, to have something to read just in case) and we're out of the house and on our way up the 605. It was probably 4 min. from the time we first heard the warning to us leaving the house. We headed to B's Grandma's house, which is about 20 miles inland and on top of a huge hill and started calling our friends who also live close to the beach. We were already out of there but I guess that warning sirens were going off in downtown Long Beach and some of our friends who didn't know what was going on were REALLY scared. I was frightened because my sister lives in Seattle and I couldn't get ahold of her at first and then she was just sleepy and said not to worry.
By the time we reached Grandma Jan's house they had just called off the tsunami warning, thank goodness, but we stayed for awhile and listened to the news for about an hour before we headed home. So all in all it was a very wierd night and by the time we got back home I was exhausted. It goes without saying that I'm so glad that everyone is safe and overall I think I'd give us and A for reaction time but a C for forgetting our toothbrushes. You'll note that I did not forget my knitting.
Long Beach SNB tonight, so probably not another post until tomarrow--and oh yeah--I've heard from my Secret Pal! More on this later...

The Visit

We're all having a lovely time here...

The Chef

The Gardener

I Found My Tribe

So I had a very big weekend--I:
1. Worked all day Saturday and missed the Yarn Lady Bag Sale (best sale of the year!)
2. Set a goal of giving all immediate family members socks this year for either birthday/Christmas.
3. Bought new sock yarn for my dad and mother-in-law to fulfil item 2.
4. Found out the tribe my Grandpa's Grandma came from--Abenaki--and saw her picture for the first time (I cried).
5. Found out that my best friend has Abenaki ancestory also--of course, she was already a member of my tribe, this just cements it.
6. Talked to a friend of mine, We'll call him Mr. Fitzgibbons, who just came back from the Peace Corps in Suriname. Hi Peter!
7. Heard from my Secret Pal! She sounds cool! I was also assigned a SP so I'm already thinking about some great ideas to suprise her with.
8. Told a few people about my blog!

The main thing that I didn't do:
1. Clean my house for my mother-in-law who arrives at midnight tonight.

I will remedy this by thinking about it ALL day and then coming home and cleaning frantically for about 2 hours before giving up on scrubbing the shower floor and sitting down for some Tivo'ed Law & Order and knitting. I've turned the heel and finished the gusset on my sister's Koigu socks and I'm on the home stretch. Her feet are 10 inches long so I'm in the home stretch, right? Depending on when I give up on cleaning I'll try to post some pictures of my WIPs tonight.

So my sister sent me this picture over email today as a thank you for helping her with one of her papers and I almost started crying...at work! I guess I'm homesick. This was taken from the top of the Rimrock back home in Wyoming. It's almost the view from my parent's house except from a slightly different angle. Isn't it beautiful?!
That's the Shoshone River and the road from Cody to the east entrance of Yellowstone Park is just out of view along the bottom. We've been in California for 2 years and 7 months now (B-man just worked it out) and thought I like it here it just can't compair to the beauty back home.

Home!