A summer steal.
14 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in Here Comes the Bride, Let's All Go to the Movies, Off the Needles, Weekend Update
This weekend was fairly quiet. Yesterday I got up on the early side and commenced to working on my to-do list, writing wedding gift thank you notes and, of course, knitting!
I whipped up my own little contribution to something new, something blue for the wedding:
Pattern: Eloping from Knitty Summer 2008
Yarn: Lily Chin’s Times Square
Needles: US 3′s
Verdict: It’s a pretty easy pattern that only took me an hour or two to finish. It will be the perfect addition to my wedding ensemble – something new and something blue (and even a little sparkley!)
Last night we decided to have a date night. We found a local movie theatre and headed to a showing of Get Smart. It wasn’t much like the original, but it was still pretty funny. I love Steve Carrell and Anne Hathaway made a pretty decent 99. After dinner we grabbed some Thai food and did a little shopping for gifts for the wedding party.
Today I slept in a little. When I woke up there was a brand new bike in front of the couch and Wes was grinning a little sheepishly. Apparently this one was marked down a little and seemed like a good deal, so it’s mine. So I got dressed and we headed out for a short ride. It’s been YEARS since I’ve been on a bike and apparently the stationary bike at the gym isn’t a good approximation. After 2 miles I was tired and after 4 (well we had to get home!) I was downright exhausted.
Then we headed out for a bit more shopping and some lunch. Wes had suggested that we try to get some off season deals on 3-in-1 winter coats, to be used on our honeymoon in Alaska. We managed to get a total steal on one for me – a Columbia jacket with a great removable fleece liner for only $75! (Then I came home and found one online for him for $100.)
Tonight was a simple dinner and some relaxing in front of the TV. I did manage to get photographs today of another knit I completed this week:
Pattern: Knit Impressionism by Kennita Tully from Creative Knitting, July 2008
Yarn: Tahki New Tweed
Needles: US 8′s and 9′s
The Verdict: This is a sweet, easy to knit cardigan for summer. The hem and waist detailing give it nice shaping without increasing/decreasing. The yarn is super soft and gives a real mock tweed look – I’m dying to try it again in a burgundy colorway. This is a sample that’s off to LA tomorrow! The designer, Kennita also owns a yarn shop, Wildflower, in Manhattan, KS (where my in-laws are) that I love to visit.
Oversubscribed.
11 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in Channeling my Inner Geek, Tech News
In the beginning (at least what I term the beginning of my consciousness of the internet – circa 1996) there were only a few ways to “chat” online. I remember my friends in high school talking about AOL Chat Rooms, but we didn’t have AOL. Although my dad was an early adopter of technology, I really didn’t discover the internet until I went to college.
So in the beginning, I discovered Talk. Then I found ICQ and then AOL Instant Messenger which I still use today. Then I discovered the wide world of html and coded my first web page (Hello World!).
Then I have trouble remembering what came next. All of a sudden I was reading blogs…lots of blogs. Then I had a blog. Then I had multiple blogs. Then I was using an aggregator for all my chat services – first Trillian and then Adium (gotta love the green duck). Then GMail arrived. Then came social networking. I joined MySpace. In grad school we all joined LinkedIn. Recently I joined Facebook. Then yesterday I jumped in whole hog and joined both Twitter and Plurk. (Let’s not forget that Flickr, YouTube, and Ravelry happened in there….)
And THEN I needed something to manage all of this crazy content. And I took the recommendation of one of my tech gurus and signed up for Netvibes and spent some time configuring it.
And frankly? I feel oversubscribed. Excused me while I go bury myself in updates.
Things that make me happy:
09 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in Groovin' to Tunes, Here Comes the Bride, Knitting Content Ahead
- Listening to this song on repeat.
- Wearing my new work appropriate Madden Girl shoes to work and being able to wear handknit socks with them. (And the fact that Wes suggested I buy them a little big specifically so that I could do this!)
- That Wednesday night is knit night EVERY WHERE I like to hang.
- Last but MOST DEFINITELY not least, I’m getting married to my favorite person in the whole world one month from today. YIPPEE!
The answer to life, the universe and everything.
09 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in Funny
Los Angeles, CA – Douglas Adams fans were shocked today to learn that the answer to the life, the universe and everything was not, in fact, 42, but rather the sage advice of California lawmakers: hands free. “It’s a whole new world!” one young woman exclaimed. She declined to have her real name published here, but noted that this should “definitely increase her knitting time whilst in traffic.”
A little bit o’ knittin’
07 Jul 2008 Leave a Comment
So I actually have been knitting over here, but I just haven’t been that good about documenting things. I even forgot to take a pic of my last finished sample before I delivered it!
Right now I’m working on a few things. My favorite so far is a snazzy little pair of socks I’m working on. It looks like a simple stripey knit out of some gorgeous yarn, but it actually has a twisty little pattern. You can Ravel yourself a pair of these – just look under the Mockery socks.
This weekend we headed down to see my in-laws which left me with tons of knitting time. I managed to start a cute little cardigan for A Mano out of some tweedy wool/silk/viscose yarn. Aside from a bit of foliage in the yarn, it’s knitting up very nicely. I’ve assembled the body – it just needs some sleeves and it will be good to go. This is a closeup of the patterned waist and hem.
Lastly I’m starting on a new sample for The Studio… a lacy wrap with some GORGEOUS yarns from Lorna’s Laces. It’s a Duet’s kit – using two different colored/textured yarns to create a shrug-style wrap. I can’t wait to get started on this.
I’ve also got a couple of other projects still kicking around – the Winnie the Pooh baby blanket, some other socks and one more sample for A Mano. It should be a busy month!
July 4th Weekend
06 Jul 2008 Leave a Comment
in Geocaching, Learning to be a Midwestern Gal, Weekend Update
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here goes!
1. Summer’s best fruits!, 2. Climbing through the fields., 3. Bushwhacking for treasure., 4. Kansas isn’t flat!, 5. Mortimer the Rhibra, 6. IMG_1732, 7. The cool water feels great!, 8. Cooling off at the lake., 9. Fireworks, 10. Ferris Wheel in Motion, 11. Riding the tractor, 12. The car wash?
Food for thought, or thoughts about food?
03 Jul 2008 1 Comment
in A Book is a Woman's Best Friend, Weekend Update
The last two days I’ve been sucked into some of my library check-outs. Yesterday I went down and returned Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat. After trying for a week to read the book on my lunch hour, I found that I just couldn’t get into it. It may very well be a brilliant book with fabulous insights, but I was sort of “eh” on the whole thing. So I made the very grownup decision that if I can’t get into it, I should just move on. I happily returned the book yesterday and checked out two more books on my reading wish-list.
Yesterday at lunch time I began reading Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner’s Freakonomics and I can already tell that I’m going to love it. What do you get when you take a young Chicago PhD economic genius and let him start to answer life’s tough questions? Questions like: What’s more deadly – a swimming pool or a gun? Well you get some really interesting answers. I’ve only read the first chapter so far, but Levitt pretty much takes all our preconceived notions about just about everything and spins them on their heads. It’s a fascinating book so far and I’m sure this will be one of my favorite reads!
The second book that I checked out was Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. I might add that I actually didn’t check out the BOOK per se, but instead I got the audio version. I’m not usually a huge fan of audiobooks (depending on the reader they can be supremely boring) and I LOVE the experience of reading a book, holding it in my hands and turning the pages. However, the library’s copies of the book were checked out and I have a 45-60 minute commute twice a day every day now, so I decided to give this a try. The reader of this book isn’t the best – I find him a little monotone, but the material is excellent. I’m only one disc in (of 13) but I’m already sucked into his exploration of the fundamental question, “What should we eat?” Especially since this question always arises in my own home! Again, so far I’m really sucked in and I can’t wait to get back in the car and listen to more!
Today I’m working a short day, and then this evening we’re heading down to my in-laws for some kayaking, watching of fireworks, and hopefully some knitting and R&R. I hope you all have a fabulous weekend and I’ll be back soon with knitting photos! (Yes between reading and working and PackRatting [Rattin' as we in the know call it], I have been managing to get some knitting done too!) (By the way, can you tell I like parentheticals?)
