Sisyphus Knits

Birthin Babies

2011-07-16T10:33:00.005-05:00

Recently I was thinking about the process of giving birth, possibly because my friend Jen is about to give birth for the first time. The idea of what physically happens when you have a baby is completely ludicrous when you think about it. As my friend Lynn always says "the stork is actually more believable." To me, the idea that a baby came out of there is about as likely as my husband saying "I sneezed the other day and a grapefruit came out."

When I was 15 they made us take health class at GBS. Health class was a mixture of boring and terrifying all rolled up into one. I must have been very suggestible and for me, health class accomplished what it was probably supposed to. For example, I became very afraid that if I ever tried drugs, I would either overdose or become addicted, so I steered clear of that mess.

One day they showed us a graphic movie of a lady having a baby, it was terrible! We all, boys and girls alike, walked out of there with post traumatic stress syndrome on some level. I remember thinking "I'll never do that, she lost all her dignity!" It seems odd to me now how much dignity I must have possessed at age 15 and how afraid I was of losing it. They also made us take a Scantron sex survey; I remember I was sick the day of the Scantron sex survey so I had to take it the next day, in the middle of class, while everyone else discussed acne or something. I was sitting next to this burn-out who made random comments like "kinda intense, huh" while I filled in the dots with my number two pencil. Question 6: "How far have you ever gone?" a) french kissing b) second base c) all the way! d) Cleveland. If someone asked me to fill out a survey like this today, I would tell them it's none of their business. But when I was 15 I was a rule follower and it never occurred to me to tell the teacher he had no right to ask me these questions and I was under no legal obligation to answer them. I do remember thinking "Where is the ACLU when you need them?" But they were off making sure the Nazi's could march in Skokie or prisoners had their constitutional right to HBO or some such nonsense.

Anyhow I'm off track. It is true in fact that I lost all my dignity when I gave birth. After about the third resident, who I had never laid eyes on in my life, came in to check the progress of my cervix, I realized I didn't give a hoot who saw what, which I suppose is a sign of a complete loss of dignity. Or it's a sign that you're a porn star, I don't know for sure. I didn't watch the actual birth of my 3 kids and yes it was a total miracle and to this day, I still think the stork dropping them off seems like a more likely story.

The onlee catz we lik r the LOLcatz

2010-09-18T10:09:00.002-05:00

Last night we're watching Criminal Minds and this woman hears a noise and goes into her kitchen to see what's up. Her cat knocked a pot off the counter so she's relieved that's all it was, meanwhile, a murderer sneaks past the kitchen in the hallway IN FULL VIEW OF THE CAT who does nothing but purr. Isabel says "see, that's why cats are worthless, they don't even warn you when a murderer sneaks in your house!"

Northwoods

2010-06-05T11:15:00.004-05:00

Memorial day weekend we went up to the North woods for the first time ever. The north woods is located approximately 350 miles north of where we live and it is beautiful, pristine, and bursting with huge fish to catch!

Of course fishing in the north woods made me think of my knitting icon, Elizabeth Zimmermann so I brought her Knitter's Almanac. Sure enough, in the month of May she was fishing for Walleye and knitting mittens. I love her philosophy "It is better not to make mittens in a hurry. Let's make them in May; let's take our time over them; let's venture into new approaches and designs; let's enjoy them." BTW I think she like semi colons as much as I do!

So I knit some mitered mittens out of Malabrigo worsted in Geranio (Geranium?) while the kiddos caught (and released) 21 Walleyes, all of them 18 to 21 inches. Isabel, Tess, and I canoed around the lake and saw 3 bald eagles, an otter, and a pair of loons. All in all, the perfect weekend!

Minty Fresh

2009-12-05T11:16:00.002-06:00

After a typically crazy week including a midweek trip to NYC for work, I was looking forward to relaxing on Thursday night. Relaxing as in going grocery shopping and catching up on laundry. So I walk in the door from work and Tess utters the words that strike fear into the heart of elementary school moms everywhere "Mom, my head really itches!"

I check her head under my Ott light and my heart sinks, I can't tell if it's just dandruff but there is definitely "stuff" in her hair. Finally I spot one, and after googling, I can confirm, it's head lice! After sending Mario to Walgreen's for RID and throwing all of her bedding in the washing machine, I grill Tess to figure out how she got it. The kids got their hair cut last Saturday so I know she didn't have it then. Also, after a scalp check I can confirm none of the other kids have it and neither do Mario or I. So I zero in on school; did she do anything at school that might have exposed her to lice?

"Ms. H had us wear hats in drama, but she said they were guaranteed lice free," says Tess. "Well Ms. H is a F$#@ing liar," I reply. After calling Ms. H the drama teacher a few more choice words I get down to business and spend the next 2 hours shampooing her with the RID and combing through her hair in 1 inch sections, I find 3 more lice. This is where the OCD comes in handy, I do a very thorough job!

When I tuck Tess into bed, I tell her that sometimes when we're angry we say things we don't mean, so please don't repeat the things I called Ms. H to anyone. Tess says "you mean like when you called her a fing B?" and I say, "yea like that." I email the Principal to suggest that they no longer use the hats in drama, because if they didn't have lice before, I can practically guarantee that they do now. Then I soak my hairbrush in a sink of hot water and Listerine and go to bed. Next morning when I brush my hair, I notice that it smells mintyfresh!

Maryland Sheep & Wool 2009

2009-05-10T08:56:00.008-05:00

We had a great time at a rainy MS&W this year; it's becoming an annual family tradition for my sister and I to visit our other sister who lives in Baltimore for MS&W weekend. We saw lots of cute animals and fibery goodness at the Festival, and were amazed by crowds that showed up despite the drizzly weekend. I was remarkably restrained when it came to stash building; I only bought 4 skeins of yarn (I know!): 2 skeins of Tess Baby Bunny in Robins Egg Blue to knit Whisper, 1 skein of Interlacements Toasty Toes, and 1 skein of Creatively Dyed sock yarn in Harvest. I was so excited to see Creatively Dyed there, she wasn't on the vendor list but due to a last minute opening was able to make it! She is such a sweet lady and her colors are beautiful!

So besides MS&W, want to know what else we did? Friday night we started out with some sushi and shopping: I bought 2 cute tops at South Moon Under, this one and this one and then we went to happy hour at Ra Sushi (drinks and sushi half off!) When my sister got home from work, we did a pub crawl in Fell's Point, unfortunately nobody in my family can drink more than one or two beers, so the pub crawl was cut short and we ended up eating dinner at One Eyed Mike's. I read about this joint in the WSJ a year or so ago, they are obsessed with Grand Marnier and for $100 you can purchase your own private bottle which will sit on the shelf waiting for you. But unexpectedly, for a grungy looking bar, they have great food, I highly recommend the crab stuffed portabello mushroom cap.

Next day, after fortifying ourselves with croissants and lattes at Bonaparte Breads (the owner looks exactly like Napolean) we headed off to MS&W. We hit it early (look at the crowds at 9:30 am) and left about 1:30 where we had lunch at nearby Great Sage, a fabulous vegetarian restaurant only 10 minutes from the festival. No lamburgers for us! Nothing against meat, but as my sister put it (regarding the lamburgers and lamb kebabs at the festival) "Isn't that like going to a Pediatrics Convention and frying up some babies?"

We had a laid back afternoon knitting and napping, then headed over to my sister's boyfriend's house in Federal Hill where we grilled some salmon and asparagus and made some sangria, yum!

Next day it poured rain all day, so we mostly did indoor activities: Cafe Hon for brunch (I recommend the mimosas and carrot cake) and then the American Visionary Art Museum. We spent a couple of hours here; it's all outsider art so art by people with no formal training (and some crazy people), kids would love this place. There was a model of the Lusitania made out of 193,000 toothpicks and 5 gallons of glue. Have you ever seen one of those rubber band balls? They had the same thing but 12 feet in diameter and made out of bras! Lots of whirligigs and toys with moving parts, hundreds of cool portraits made out of (what looked to me like) spirographs! Tiny sculptures carved in the end of a pencil lead! Murals drawn by a 112 year old man (similar drawing style to my 9 year old)!

Sweden, ya youbetcha

2009-04-03T15:27:00.005-05:00

Today we headed to Sweden. We hopped in the car, cranked up the Abba, and cruised on down to Andersonville in Chicago. First stop: Swedish American Museum, this was a lovely little museum, newly refurbished, and it was an ideal size for children. We spent about 30 minutes looking through the exhibits, which are all very accessible, for me the most interesting exhibit was about Raoul Wallenberg, who saved 120,000 people from the Nazis, only to disappear into a concentration camp himself.

Next we ate at Ann Sather's, famous for their cinnamon rolls, and rightly so. Although I swear I got a cavity just from eating one. We walked around the neighborhood which is full of cute book stores, art galleries, boutiques, etc.

I have to say this was an enlightening trip, Chicago has so much to offer, all of it right in our own backyard. We visited 5 "countries" and put less than 200 miles on the car altogether. I told the kids that it will not end here, we will continue our "Trip Around the World" in the coming weeks (on Saturdays) and I have Greece, Italy, Germany, and Korea in my sights.

Greetings from India

2009-04-02T21:33:00.005-05:00

Today, fourth day on our trip around the world, we went to India, or actually Devon Street in Chicago. The kids said this was one of the best days, even though they weren't crazy about the food.

We shopped in a sari/fabric shop (I saw the perfect fabric for the Kimono dress in Weekend sewing, but had no idea how much to buy, might have to swing by there on our way to Sweden tomorrow), bought 24 beautiful bangles for $15, some beaded purses, the little one bought a beautiful treasure box, and ate a fabulous buffet at Tiffin.

Tomorrow, Sweden!

Buenos Dias

2009-04-02T08:33:00.004-05:00

Today we went to Mexico! This was a homecoming of sorts, my husband was actually born in Mexico (the real Mexico) but grew up in Pilsen (the Chicago-Mexico) that we visited today. It was fun because he showed us the houses where he grew up, the laundry mat where they washed their clothes, his schools, the hole in the fence where he would sneak home from school when he was 5 (now repaired, we had to imagine), the alley where he learned to ride his bike, the park where he learned to swim, and much much more.

We ate lunch at Nuevo Leon on 18th street (highly recommended, lunch for 4 including tip was $31 and the food is great!) and we planned on visiting the Mexican Museum of Art, but our youngest felt sick and we had to head home (she was carsick, nothing to do with the restaurant, she didn't even eat). As my husband said, "Someone always gets sick when you go to Mexico!"

Before heading home, we picked up some Pan Dulces at Nopal. Tomorrow we are headed to India.

Tally Ho from Great Britain!

2009-04-01T07:59:00.006-05:00

Tally Ho from Great Britain! If you missed yesterday's post, I am taking my kids on a trip around the world (right here in Chicago) and today we went to Great Britain. We woke up and had English muffins for breakfast, natch, then we headed downtown to the Museum of Contemporary Art.

While I know the MCA isn't strictly British, I was hoping for some bad boy British artists like Lucien Freud, Damian Hurst, etc. Or at least I was hoping for some art, period. Sadly, there is very little art at the MCA! There was a small Alexander Calder exhibit, a small exhibit of charcoal drawings by a South African artist, which were nice but kids can't appreciate charcoals, and a Buckminster Fuller exhibit. While Buckminster Fuller sounds terribly British, sadly he is not. He is an architect with lots of wacky ideas, the kids were into his toothpick models and homes of the future, plus we all wished we could try out his rowboat (hanging on the wall, what good is that). When you walk down the Chicago Ave. to get to the museum, they have signs up that say "Fear No Art", well I'm afraid there was No Art there. Thank goodness it was free Tuesday, so we didn't have to pay to get in.

Next we went to the Peninsula Hotel for Tea; this was fabulous. They have a lovely children's tea, for $18 the kids get a pot of hot chocolate, a mini burger, a ham & cheese and pb&j finger sandwich, gummi bears, rice krispie treat, brownie, pb cookies, and jello. It was adorable. And for slightly more money ($45) mom got high tea with finger sandwiches, quiches, desserts, cookies, scones, and most importantly a glass of champagne (don't worry, my husband drove home). And when the waiter heard us singing "Happy Birthday" to the youngest (she turned 9), he brought out a beautiful ice cream cake bombe with a candle and we all sang again.

Oh and it drizzled all day so that was British too!

Next stop Mexico!

Around the world in 5 days

2009-03-30T21:24:00.006-05:00

We decided to stay home for Spring Break, which ultimately was a great decision as my youngest was sick with the flu last week and is just recovering this week. But still, I decided to take the week off of work to hang with the kids and have some fun. Tam told me that last year, her sister Heidi took her kids on a "Trip around the world" right here in Chicago, and I decided to do the same! I made passports for everyone and glued in the flags of the countries that we are going to visit.

Today we saw China, otherwise known as Chinatown, located at 22nd and Wentworth in Chicago. We shopped for trinkets in the little gift shops, ate at Joy Yee Noodle Shop, and generally enjoyed the sunny day! The highlight for me was when we ordered chicken rice noodle soup for my youngest at Joy Yee; the waiter came back out and said they didn't have chicken noodle soup (something about they need a whole chicken for that and couldn't get one this morning) but perhaps the 8 year old would enjoy the fish ball soup. We all laughed until we cried, first of all she is the pickiest eater alive and does not eat fish, and secondly we are all so immature that the phrase "fish balls" gave us fits!

Tomorrow we're going to Great Britain!

Homework

2008-10-13T18:23:00.002-05:00

Ok, this isn't knitting related, but since it made me laugh until tears ran down my cheeks, I thought I would share with the world (or at least the 3 people who still read this blog). My 11 year old had an assignment, she had to write a letter to President Jefferson from Lewis & Clark. Here is a portion of the letter:

"Dear President Jefferson,

We have had a major problem for the past couple of days and we are getting ill from not eating anything but animals. We were wondering if you could ship us some food but you might not find us. We are lost and one of the volunteers had drowned the night before, another got attacked by a grizzly bear and was found lifeless in the woods. Lewis is speaking: Sir I do not know what to do, I feel like I am the leader of this expedition and I am doing most of the work. Clark is helping out but he is not as courageous, devoted, or mannish like I am. So far it has been splendid except for some sudden deaths, but on the other hand we have been doing well and we will get your land complete. Clark is speaking: I can not believe that Lewis thinks he's in charge but really I am because I'm so much more masculine then him. Why would he even say that? Well yes I have a cold and some other fellows had catched it from me, I regret coming and I want to go home but I will stay because we are lost and we have seen things that are unbelievable. You say somethin astonishing we have probably already done it. I have seen Lewis talking to himself and thinking about things unbelievable I don't know what to say about him. I have to admit he has been the leader in our exploration so far. But I will overpower him someday in life when we are much older."

It goes on and on, but you get the picture. And when she finished printing it on the computer, we burned the edges and painted tea stains on it so it would look more realistic.

bibi 005

2008-07-27T20:56:00.001-05:00

bibi 005
Originally uploaded by lizflor@sbcglobal.net

I finished & blocked Bibi; one of my kids is modeling it for me, doesn't she look thrilled?

Details: I went down a needle size to get gauge, 5s and 4s instead of 6s and 5s. I knit the medium size & I did need 6 skeins; ran out of the fifth on the final decrease round. This was an easy, quck knit but I really like how it came out, the neckline looks good and lays flat and the decrease rounds towards the end give it a nice shape.

Instead of binding off the underarm stitches, I put them on waste yarn and kitchenered together at the end because I stink at seaming.

All in all I'm really happy with this sweater; I'll probably wear it to work on Friday with some dark trouser style jeans I have.

Bibi for Meme

2008-07-13T13:58:00.002-05:00

yarn photos 008
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/

I bought this pattern here as soon as I saw it posted and the following weekend I went to my LYS and bought the suggested yarn mmm Noro. Cast on shortly thereafter and got lots of stockinette done on our roadtrip to Niagara Falls last weekend (I will post pictures of that as soon as we find the computer cord to my oldest daughter's camera, where all the pictures are stuck right now.) I am hoping to finish by next weekend so I can wear it to the Midwest Folk and Fiber Art Fair. I also finished the pom peds for my oldest, pattern is free and here, I substituted Koigu for the recommended yarn (cause I couldn't find it locally) and I really loved the color combo in the original Purl Bee Post.

Lazy Crazy Weekend

2008-06-08T15:20:00.006-05:00

We had a great weekend! On Saturday, my oldest was in the Softball Championships; they won! She got 2 big trophies: 2008 Tournament Champions and League Champions, 2 nail biting games, in the first they gave up 8 runs in the first inning, but came from behind to win. Then they had to play a second game, which they won 21 to 16.

Today it rained nearly all day, which was actually great for me. I cleaned the downstairs (sorely needed, let me tell you), started the Pom Pom Peds, which I have been coveting for a couple of weeks, and made the homemade Oreos that are sweeping the knitting blog world - they are amazing! As my oldest said, "these make Oreos taste like crap." Trust me, from a 13 year old, that's a huge compliment.

Sweater for Harry Winston

2008-03-02T17:22:00.002-06:00

Newly Uploaded 118
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/

Friends had a baby in November, they named him Harry Winston, isn't that cute. So I am knitting Harry the Child's Placket Pullover Sweater from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (check the errata, here, if you get the inclination to knit it.) I'm using Pear Tree Baby Merino in a beautiful shade of green (technically Moss, but it is not the color of moss) and I am looking for tiny, diamond like buttons, because nothing less will do for little Harry Winston!

On the Horizon

2008-03-01T14:40:00.004-06:00

It has been a long, cold, snowy Chicago winter! I know, I know, what do I expect; I've lived in the midwest my whole life, winter is long, cold, and snowy. But this winter has been particularly brutal. Big snows followed by sub-zero weather. So come March, we long for a break, a little sun, sand, and beach. This spring break we're renting a house on St. Thomas with some friends and I am really looking forward to it. Thought I would share a couple of pictures of the house, because it's so freakin' awesome!

When life hands you lemons...

2008-02-24T17:11:00.003-06:00

make a Vegan Chocolate Strawberry Trifle! I made a resolution to eat more Vegan meals this year; if it were just me, I would go Vegan in a heartbeat, but my husband and kids are total meat lovers, so it's not easy. Still I try where I can. This morning I made a recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance: Scrambled Tofu. It was delicious, I pretty much followed her recipe, but added broccoli and didn't add nutritional yeast (because I have NO idea what that is or where to look for it!). This afternoon, I was making a Vegan Chocolate Cake (Namaste cake mix from Whole Foods) and the cake got stuck in a pan & made a big crumbly mess, so I cut it into cubes, then layered it in a trifle dish with Soy Whip (mixed with a little melted Scharffenberger Antilles Dark Chocolate) and strawberries. Voila, a beautiful dessert because my mom is coming over for dinner tonight and she deserves it!

Too Bad, So Sad

2008-02-04T20:13:00.000-06:00

So I haven't posted in forever & now I'm only going to post only so I can whine about the airlines again and I know that's lame. In knitting news, I've knit a bunch of hats and scarves and two socks over the past couple of months. But back to the whining, and I think this falls under the "life's not fair" category, because it's nobody's fault really, although United Airlines still sucks, as they did last April when they stranded me at LaGuardia for the night and then were mean about it. My sister & I were supposed to go to Sawgrass for a spa weekend in Florida this weekend. We had appointments galore scheduled for Saturday: facials, mani/pedis, massages and Telly Savalas waxings (I'm kinda glad that didn't happen, my sister booked that particular service, and of course she scheduled mine right BEFORE hers). But I digress. She was booked on the 8:08 am flight out of O'Hare and I was on the 1:15 pm flight. Since it snowed 8 inches that night, her flight was cancelled, and the 2 other flights to Jville that day were overbooked, so they couldn't get her out until the next day; but we were scheduled to return on Sunday at 11 am, so sensibly, my sister decided she didn't want to fly to Florida for 24 hours and declined the offer. However, this is where we encountered a problem. Because of course my flight was still going, and even though it was overbooked and they obviously needed my seat, they wouldn't work that deal on the phone for me, I would have to go out to the airport in order to get credit for my flight. But frankly I was not about to go out to the airport if I wasn't flying to Florida, so now I'm out the cost of the ticket. And the worst part of the story, after her flight was cancelled, my sister went to the baggage claim to get her luggage & they told her it was going to Jville & would be back in 5 days, they would deliver it to her house at that time, which would cost her $50. When she pointed out to the attendant that there was no way her suitcase had gone anywhere as no flights had taken off, he just pointed to the framed policy stating that he couldn't help her, once she checked it, it was going to Florida & frankly it was staying twice as long as we were planning on staying. United called my sister yesterday, they lost her suitcase. And, get a tissue if you need one, her favorite shoes were in the suitcase. For which they are offering her $150 compensation, roughly the cost of one shoe.

Da Bomb

2007-10-30T08:38:00.000-05:00

So on Sunday, Tamara came over to make "Lush" style bath bombs with me. We were inspired by 1) Tamara's recent visit to Lush at Macy's and 2) Glampyre's blog where she talked about making bath bombs herself. So Tamara brought a ginormous bag of baking soda which she bought at Sam's and I picked up some citric acid, almond oil, and grapefruit essential oil and we made some pale pink "bombs." My youngest tried one out on Sunday night and it worked great, fizzed like mad and smelled like pink grapefruit. Next time I'm going to order the citric acid from here, where it costs $2.25 per pound vs. $10 per pound at Whole Foods. If you want to make some yourself, we found instructions here, here, and here.

In other news, I finished my Chevron scarf on Sunday night, although it practically took an intervention to get me to stop (it was 76" long, but I still had more yarn!) I will post pictures after it's blocked and dried.

Also, true to my name (Sisyphus) I unraveled my Bluebell Boatneck sweater (and I was halfway through the ribbing!) because I tried it on and the neck was off my shoulders. This is extremely weird as I measured all over and I got gauge exactly (18 sts. and 24 rows=4 inches) and then I measured my neckline and concluded 24" would be ideal, which leads to casting on 24*(18/4) = 108 stitches, which is exactly how many I cast on, but my neckline was 34" wide! So I don't get it, but I think I'm going to try again with smaller needles for the 4 initial garter ridge rows

Hallowig

2007-10-20T21:08:00.001-05:00

rideandread2007 002
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/

Why did I knit a blue wig? Who knows? Daughter #1 might wear it for Halloween, it was fun and fast and what else are you going to do with a skein of blue acrylic?

I just got back from NYC last night, by the skin of my teeth. Typical LaGuardia, they cancelled 200 flights, it was pure luck that they didn't cancel mine; otherwise I would have been #70 on the standby list as usual.

Travel isn't nearly as much fun at my new job as it was at my old one, mostly because I don't get to travel with Rian anymore. He and I have the same basic travel sensibilities: 1) Be organized and efficient, have all your materials ready, itineraries printed, and mapquests so you know where you're going, 2) Be willing to travel to the ends of the earth for a good meal, our best was Chez Panisse, 3) If you're stuck at the airport with time to kill, a ginormous cocktail is the way to go.

Snake socks

2007-10-07T18:11:00.001-05:00

Adrienne in knitting group pointed out to me that these socks look like snakes and she's right! I knit most of this in the Dallas airport, waiting 3 hours for a flight, I estimate this sock took me 6 hours altogether. I messed up the kitchener of course, but Adrienne straightened it out for me. I'm halfway done with the second.

Has anyone noticed all the very cool knitwear featured in magazines this fall? I pulled some extra bulky knit items out of W but can't find them, here's a sweater that was in Town & Country:

Mom & Apple Pie

2007-09-30T20:52:00.000-05:00

We went apple picking, for the second time this fall, at our favorite little family owned orchard in Wisconsin. It was a beautiful day & we managed to pick a full bushel of apples, Golden Delicious, Empires, Jonathans, and HoneyCrisp. When we got home, the girls and I made a pie, here is how we did it:

First pick 8 or 9 apples, we used Golden delicious:

Next, mix up a crust for a double crust, 9 inch pie. My recipe is simple, 2 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 cup Crisco, 1/4 cup butter, 6 Tbsp ice water. I mix all the ingredients, except for the water, in my KitchenAid mixer, until it's the consistency of sand, with small pea sized pieces of Crisco and butter. I sprinkle the ice water on top & mix it gently with a fork a Tbsp at a time until it holds together. This keeps the pastry nice & flaky.

I roll out 1/2 the dough and line the pan with it:

I peel & slice the apples and mix with 3/4 cup sugar, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tsp. cinnamon, and 2 Tbsp flour:

Turn the apples into the pie crust and dot with 2 Tbsp butter, cut into small chunks:

Roll out the second crust, lay over the top and crimp the edges together, cut slits in the top crust so the steam can escape. Also I brush the top crust with milk and sprinkle with sugar, for a nice finish:

Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 375 and bake for an additional 45 minutes. I had a beautiful picture of the finished product, but something happened to my camera battery & it didn't save. Trust me, it was beautiful! Now you can make Mom's Apple Pie too!

My second second sock

2007-09-30T20:46:00.001-05:00

My second second sock
Originally uploaded by lizflor@sbcglobal.net

I finished this ages ago, my second second sock. I included the gauge swatch in the picture to prove to Alyssa that I knit a gauge swatch! I've got lots of yarn leftover, maybe I'll see if I can knit a third sock, just in case I wear out one of the others, or maybe I'll save it to reknit the heel or toe if I get a hole. I messed up the kitchener on the toe 4 times and ripped back, I will get it this time! (Or else I'll make Adrienne do it for me next time at Group!)

My second first sock

2007-09-09T09:07:00.001-05:00

Newly Uploaded 025
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/

My first sock I started almost a year ago, using the "socks soar on 2 circs" method with STR lightweight. It took forever, I frogged it a couple of times, and I never knit a second one. So at Stitches Midwest I bought the new Ann Budd "Getting Started Knitting Socks" book, I searched my stash for the thickest sock yarn I had (Interlacements toasty toes, purchased in May at MS&W) and followed the basic sock instructions. I knit this one last weekend (and Jen in Group kitchenerd the toe for me, thanks Jen!) then I cast on the second on our way to Wisconsin for apple picking yesterday. I am nearly done with the second, I love thick sock yarn! And I love the book too. Even Adrienne in my group, who knits a couple of socks a week, looked through the book and said there were lots of helpful hints in it. On a totally unrelated topic, I was drinking a bottle of Honest Tea yesterday & had to share the quote on the lid "The bad news: there is no key to the universe. The good news: it was never locked," attributed to Swami Beyondananda (his name is fun to say outloud, try it.)

Stitch n Pitch

2007-08-26T18:35:00.000-05:00

Well, I haven't updated for quite a while & the fans are restless, so I thought I would post some of what I am working on. I went to a Brewer's game on 7/19 with family, cousins, and friends. It was a great game, the Brewers won 10 to 2 or something like that, my cousin played 2nd base & scored a run and got 2 RBIs, so that was fun. As you can see, I am STILL working on the Chevron Scarf, it's about 4 feet long and I am planning on knitting it until I run out of yarn, so it will probably be another four feet soon. I finally got on ravelry, I'm sisyphusknits so stop by & say hi if you're on too.

Ravelry

2007-07-26T21:13:00.000-05:00

I've been feeling sooooo left out (although it's probably saving me lots of time) cause I'm not on Ravelry yet! Now they have a v. cool feature whereby you can see where you are on the list:

patiently awaiting your invite?
If you've added your name to the invite request list on our front page then you can use this form to check your place in line.

Found you!
You signed up on June 6, 2007
You are #7421 on the list.
611 people are ahead of you in line.
13235 people are behind you in line.
32% of the list has been invited so far

Dudes, while 611 people are ahead of me, 13235 people are behind me! For some reason that makes me feel better.

Castonitis

2007-07-08T20:24:00.000-05:00

Well I swore to myself I would finish up a few items around here before I cast on anything new, i.e Monkey Socks, Tomato, Wicked which I am dying to start. I wasn't going to knit the Summertime Tunic because I thought the style would not look good on me (nay, I KNEW it would not) but then my sister called and said "wouldn't it be fun if we both knit it" and next I knew, I was purchasing some ella rae silkience to knit the Summertime Tunic (although I'm knitting it in the smallest size for my 12 year old). I'm about an inch past the ribbing, and just on the endless stockinette, which is great mindless knitting for train rides, tv watching, etc. I had to go down a needle size to get gauge, so I'm knitting with Knitpicks options size 5s.

So then, I was catching up on bloglines on Thursday, and I read the Harlot's entry about the Mystery Stole #3. Although I was not quite sure whether or not I should do it, I figured I would sign up & see what happens. Funny story, I am new to Yahoo groups - I checked the box saying I wanted to receive the email messages - I had 300+ messages in my inbox relating to the MS#3 by Friday evening! Anyway I went to LYS, 3 Bags Full, picked up some Misti Alpaca Lace in Ivory, some addi Turbo Lace needles (size 2s) and knit the swatch. I like it (although I had to tell my kids to quit talking to me while I was knitting lace, I think I'll have to save this for when they're in bed!) The only problem was the beads, Michael's didn't have size 8/0 seed beads & I'm not into beading so I don't know where to go around here. I ordered them off the internet & they're going to take a couple days to get here; can't start Clue #1 until I get them.

Rare Event

2007-07-01T17:11:00.000-05:00

Yup, a Finished Object, which is a rare event on Sisyphus Knits. I finished one of the two scarves I am working on, a 1x1 rib knit out of three colors of Noro Silk Garden, alternating every 2 rows, inspired by this scarf on Brooklyn Tweed. It's 6 feet long, I think it's awesome, but my husband seems lukewarm on it (he said "it's kinda itchy"); I said, "but it's silk" but you know if a person thinks something is itchy, you can't really argue with them, it's itchy to them. Like the old buddhist saying, "I see red and you see green but we call it yellow." That is all for now grasshopper. P.S. I didn't block it, it's a scarf, but Alyssa, do you think I should block it?

My Sox Sux

2007-06-12T20:02:00.000-05:00

Drumroll please...my first sock...it sux! The yarn is gorgeous BMFA STR in Red Rock Canyon, it took me about a year to complete this sock. I started it last summer, knit to within a couple inches of the end, then frogged it due to general suckiness and major holes in the heel. Recast on some time ago (winter maybe) then let it sit, lingering, for months. Finished it this weekend, I guess it's not too bad, but I really messed up the kitchener on the toe...should have brought it to group for advice, but too impatient as usual. I will practice my techniques on the second one, then hopefully knit a better pair of socks eventually. If not, I will entertain suggestions on what to do with the roughly 17 skeins of sock yarn in my stash. Oh yeah, I knit this using 2 circs. Random thoughts - I love the chunky pooling & doesn't my leg/ankle look humongous in this picture!?

Groundhog Day

2007-06-03T14:15:00.000-05:00

I had to go to NYC last Wednesday & Thursday for meetings & I was very nervous about flying in and out of LaGuardia, given what happened last time, but I sucked it up and went, figuring what are the odds that I would get stuck at LaGuardia for the night twice in a row. Well the odds were pretty good, because I ended up spending the night at LaGuardia ONCE AGAIN! Like a bad version of "Groundhog Day" when I arrived at the airport, six weeks to the day after my last LaGuardia travesty, wearing the same suit, about to take the same flight (but this time on United, not American) which was facing the same delay, I had very nervous feelings about the similarities; but this time I had booked through a travel agent, thinking if I was in the same situation as last time, she could help me out. So I called my travel agent, explained the situation, and asked her what advice she had for me, here was her advice "never fly out of LaGuardia in the evening;" that would have been fine advice when she booked the trip for me 3 weeks ago, but not much help when I'm stuck at the airport. So I coped once again, but I hereby vow, I will never fly in or out of LaGuardia ever again, it's strictly Newark from here on out for me.

Okay, so I haven't posted any knitting on here for a while, but here's what I've been working on: 1) The 1x1 rib scarf, inspired by Brooklyn Tweed. Like him, I'm using 3 colors of Noro Silk Garden, 203(2 skiens), 225, and 65, and alternating 2 colors every 2 rows. I love how this scarf is coming out, and the Silk Garden is nice to knit with and feels great! I am either going to give this to my husband, or my cute 30 year old cousin for Christmas, I haven't decided which yet.

I'm also working on the Chevron Scarf, in the ubiquitous STR Farmhouse/Watermelon Tourmaline Combo, I love how it's coming out & I'll either save it for myself or give it to a sister for Christmas. And finally, here is a photo of some recent purchases, from right to left, I ordered 2 skeins of Sundara's superwash merino in Seaweed over Emerald to knit a baby sweater, one skein of Claudia Hand Painted Fingering Weight in pink posey, purchased at LYS to knit a baby booty/hat combo, and 2 skeins of ShiBui Sock, in Autumn & Marine, for the same baby hat/booty combo.

Everybody's a Winner

2007-05-12T12:34:00.000-05:00

This is not knitting related, but I felt the need to blog it. We walk in from my 7 year old's baseball game this morning, and my 9 year old says "Did you win?" The 7 year old says "yep, we won. The other team won too." The 9 year old says, "So it was a tie?" And the 7 year old says "Nope it wasn't a tie. If you had fun then you won, since both teams had fun, we all won." Ah to be 7 again and looking at the world through rose colored glasses, it's so nice. And to be the mother of a 7 year old and occasionally get a glimpse of the world through her glasses, it's even better! Happy Mother's Day everybody.

Veni Vici Vidi Maryland Sheep & Wool

2007-05-06T20:23:00.000-05:00

Here was the scene, the road leading to Howard County Fairgrounds, knitters from the Highway Exit, all the way to Maryland Sheep & Wool. My sisters and I were agog at the sheer numbers of knitters, but we hadn't seen anything yet. Luckily I had a plan, first stop The Fold in Barn 3, there was a line to get in and a line to pay, I bought 3 skeins of Socks that Rock and 1 skein of Seduction. Here's my sister Mary & me (check it out, I'm wearing Green Gable) waiting in line to pay for STR! I converted Mary to a knitter that very day, when she bought Cult Silk & Wool from Tess Designer Yarns & got started on a scarf. She is totally hooked now!

Next we wandered around a bit looking at the animals, there were some incredibly cute little goats for sale for $350, I had to restrain myself from purchasing one. The alpacas were cute too.

We hit Tess Designer yarns, Brooks Farm, and a couple other places. We looked far and wide for deep fried twinkies, but never found them, although we did get some nice strawberry lemonades and lime fizzes. Here's my haul:

From left to right, top to bottom: STR, 3 skeins, the first for one of my knitting group friends (guess who?) it's Red Rock Canyon in mediumweight, then Tidal Pool, Hard Rock, and Seduction in Red Oak. In the middle, Tess Designer Yarns, superwash worsted in periwinkle to knit Bluebell Boatneck from Fitted Knits. At the right, 3 skeins of Brooks Farm Four Play in terra cotta for Rusted Root and 3 more skeins in a beautiful variegated grey, not sure what I'll knit with that yet. On top a skein of Interlacements Toasty Toes, multi-colored & soft. The other fun thing was we discovered Jim Gaffigan on YouTube, he's so funny, check out his hot pockets riff.

American Airlines Sucks Beans!

2007-04-14T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is not going to be about knitting, as you can probably glean from the title gentle readers, so if you do not want to read a diatribe about American Airlines and the many ways in which they suck, stop here & wait for me to post about my finished Green Gable (it's blocking now). If you do want to read my opinion of American Airlines sadly misguided policies and lack of planning, keep reading. I had to fly to New York for the day on Thursday, leaving O'Hare at 6:55 am and returning at 8:45 pm. Now I understand that American cannot control the weather and flight related delays, so that is not what I am complaining about. I was delayed 2 hours getting into NY and missed my first meeting, but that was weather related. I figured I would be delayed on the way back, but I never thought I would be delayed for 15 hours, literally spending the night at LaGuardia. I arrived at the airport at 7:15 pm for my 8:45 flight, which was now due to depart at 10:45. I got on the standby waitlist for the 3 Chicago bound flights that were due to depart prior to my flight, but didn't get on any of them (there were 70 people on the standby list). When the 7:40 pm flight finally arrived at the airport at 9:40 pm, the ticket agents yelled at everyone to get on the plane asap since the crew was due to go "illegal" any second. So everyone rushed onto the plane (old people, babies, etc.) only to get kicked off 10 minutes later since the crew went illegal (which means they were on duty more than 15 hours, and according to FAA rules couldn't fly). When my flight arrived at 11:00, the same thing happened. We got on board as quickly as possible, but the flight attendant said "I don't know why they're boarding you, we go illegal in 5 minutes" and everyone knows you can't board a huge jet in 5 minutes. They cancelled my flight, but the 7:40 got rescheduled to depart at 1:00 am, I was now 9th on the standby list. They boarded the flight, then started going through the standby list, my name was the last one called, they handed me a boarding pass, walked me down the ramp, then sadly, no seat, they had miscounted. I must admit a tear ran down my cheek at that point. The ticket agents at the gate told us to go back to the check-in counter to find out about hotels, but the check-in counter was closed until 3:30 am. The only American employees we could find were in the Baggage Claim area and they said "there are no hotels, go sleep in the terminal". The terminal was closed, and it was now 2:00 am, so I found a chair and sat down until the check-in counter opened. Okay, this story is getting super boring, so I'm just going to skip directly to the parts that were American's fault.

1) Where are the engineers and logistics people? As the flight attendant pointed out, American knew approximately 6 hours earlier in the day that the crew would go illegal at LaGuardia and people would be stuck there overnight, why didn't they arrange to get an alternative crew there to get us out?

2) I understand that American wants to treat it's best clients well, but they should not allow Platinum members who want to catch an earlier flight to jump ahead of regular clients who have been stuck at the airport all night on the standby list.

3) If American cancels my flight, thus leaving me at the airport all night, shouldn't they help me find accomodations? As a woman who travels alone most of the time, I do not appreciate their lack of concern for my safety.

4) The second flight out the next morning (7:15 am or something) was overbooked & they offered ticket holders a $300 voucher and to put them on the 10:10 am flight if they gave up their seats. My heart lept in my chest as 2 people offered to take the deal. My heart sank when the gate agent told those people they "didn't need their seats after all." They didn't need the seats because none of the people booked on that flight got bumped, yet they gave no consideration to the handful of us who had been at the airport all night.

Thoughts on the Harlot book

2007-04-10T18:42:00.000-05:00

I finished the Harlot book that Lynae picked up for me at the Oakbrook appearance last week. Here are my thoughts: While Knitting Rules made me laugh out loud on the train (to my embarrassment, I mean I know the guy sitting next to me was thinking "she's reading a knitting book and laughing out loud") this one merely provoked a gentle snort of recognition from time to time. Also, she's missing three diseases (in her section on knitters' diseases, pgs. 131-140), One: Frogitis, where you find a mistake in your knitting or the color is pooling strangely or whatever and you frog your whole project and start again. Perfectionists are especially prone to this disease and there is no known cure; at one time or another I have frogged nearly every project I have ever knit. Two: Covetitis: where you covet everything you see on other people's blogs and in fact immediately order the supplies to knit that which you covet even if it's 1 in the morning (especially! if it's one in the morning); this is how I amassed most of my stash. Also you are especially vulnerable to this disease if you are studying for a big test and using your computer a lot. The only way to avoid this disease is to stop surfing knitting blogs and stop attending snbs. Three: Seeing Knitting in Everything, family members can even catch this disease. Last Saturday I went out for sushi with one of my kids and we went to the Japanese grocery store attached to the sushi shop & she said "Mom, come here quick they have really fancy knitting needles!" They were chopsticks! Fake jade, mother of pearl encrusted pointy chopsticks. Ha!

And finally, in her list of knitting songs (pg. 173) she is missing the best knitting song ever; I am of course referring to Weezer-The Sweater Song (If you want to destroy my sweater, pull this thread as I walk away, watch me unravel I'll soon be naked...) If you never heard it before, head on over to itunes right now!

Green Gable

2007-04-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

We had an awesome time in Florida! The weather was perfect & I have to say the beaches were the most beautiful I have ever seen. White sand like sugar and clear, aqua blue water. One day we went to Seaside (where they filmed The Truman Show) and rented bikes and rode around. All the houses are painted pastel colors and have names on the front. I yelped out in suprise when we rode by Green Gables. I had cast on Green Gables somewhere in Alabama on the way down & I actually had my knitting with me, so I had my middle child hold it up in front of the house, how cool is that? I had originally cast on Green Gable last summer, but made a mistake in the lace and frogged it; it sat in my stash all winter, but spring break seemed an appropriate time to start it again, and now I'm nearly finished, hooray. My goal is to wear it to Maryland Sheep and Wool in a month.

Spring Break

2007-03-21T19:49:00.000-05:00

It is the night before my test & I am going to bed soon. I always feel like a good night's sleep helps more than cramming all night, if I can't think clearly, I'm toast. My husband & I have a secret: we told the kids we aren't going anywhere for Spring Break, but we're actually going to Florida! We're springing it on them tomorrow night, and we leave Friday. I had looked into flying to Florida a couple of weeks ago, and all the flights were booked up and expensive, so I kind of gave up on the idea, but then I ran into a neighbor, who suggested we drive, and it was like *lightbulb* I never considered driving. So I called a place in Panama City Beach (a 16 hour drive) made the reservations, and we are leaving Friday. Wish me luck, I am a little apprehensive about 3 kids + 1 Minivan + 1 cranky husband + 16 hour road trip, but worst case scenario, I get lots of knitting in and we have memorable family trip, right? And on the way back, we are staying here and going to the Grand Ole Opry, so that I can have a hillbilly moment, like when I lived in Kentucky. Actually my husband loves country music so I booked it for him. Group, I miss you desperately & will see you in 2 weeks!

Feelin Groovy

2007-03-18T08:54:00.000-05:00

So I had to delete my London calling post because someone posted a comment that was basically an ad for bongs! I mean I haven't even seen a bong for over 20 years, and suddenly they are throwing themselves at me, sheesh. In unrelated news, last night I had a dream about Baltimore, my husband and I were driving in from the Baltimore airport & I was telling him how ugly Baltimore was, but then Baltimore made me a liar because the sky was all pink and blue and we were driving on a bridge over water and you could see the beautiful museums and buildings, including some shaped like people and animals in a Matisse way, but then *WAKE UP* it was a dream! Baltimore is still ugly. You don't drive over water into the city and there are no beautiful buildings. Okay, the aquarium is nice, same with the Whole Foods in Fells Point. P.S. I don't want any comments from Baltimorons defending their city, this is my opinion & I have a right to it. I studied all day yesterday & plan on doing the same today. 4 more days till my test, then I'm free to spend all my time knitting, improving my blog, gardening, and whatever else I feel like doing!

The End of the Affair

2007-03-03T07:46:00.000-06:00

Well, my torrid affair with Frank is nearly over. I probably only have another 20 minutes or so to spend with him, then our relationship will move to a more platonic one, that is I'll just wrap him around my neck. Thanks to Tamara for taking this picture of us together at Group so that I can remember the good times Frank & I had together. In other news, I'm leaving for Europe in 12 hours, ack! I've got a million things to do before I leave, so I gotta go.

Maryland Sheep & Wool

2007-02-22T17:55:00.000-06:00

Guess who's going this year? Me! I planted the seed by getting my sister hooked on knitting at Christmas. I gifted her with 3 skeins of Blue Sky Alpacas Hand dyed bulky, size 11 needles, and a copy of Stitch n' Bitch (and a Michael Stars t-shirt, cause I give good gifts). Oh, did I mention, my sister lives in Baltimore. So anyhow, last week I emailed her about Maryland Sheep & Wool and asked her if she would be interested in going. Last night she called me for knitting advice from CA where she was vacationing and had just stopped at A Mano in Venice Beach. Hooked! And when I went on Orbitz to search for flights, they were a reasonable $97 round trip from Chicago! So I called my other sister, and she said book it, and I did. Now I've got a combination Sisters Weekend/Yarn Shopping Festival set for May 4-6th, what can be better than that?

Things that come in the mail

2007-02-20T07:27:00.000-06:00

I love getting packages in the mail, this week alone I got: 1) Knitting Marvelous Mittens. Remember this saga, my husband ordered me this book for V Day, but they were sold out. Well Velona Needlecraft got their hands on a few more copies, so they sent one to my husband (for the list price $12.95). Edited to add: $24 total including shipping and handling. Still cheaper than the $240 they're asking on Amazon.

2) I ordered some Artyarns Supermerino to knit Wicked and the Noni Adventure Bag pattern (careful with the Noni pattern, just see Lynae's blog for reasons why). 3) Ordered a Hat kit from Kim Hargreaves, too lazy to open it right now, I'll show you the finished product asap.

But my sister is not so excited about things that come in the mail. On Thursday she got a package delivered to her home from Amsterdam, addressed to her 16 year old son. Being naturally curious, she opened it and found a bong inside! So she assembled it and snapped a picture of it and sent the picture to my nephew's cell phone (she sent it to my cell phone too, if I was more tech-savvy I would post a picture of it). My sister says it's clearly a high quality product, I told her to sell it on Ebay. We were laughing about the listing "Large red bong, imported from Amsterdam, never been used..."

Finished!

2007-02-18T10:52:00.001-06:00

Cara Bag
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Dudes, I finally finished the Cara Bag. Remember this thing? It took me two seconds to knit the 13 pieces that make up the Cara Bag, but then it languished, unfinished in my office for 6 or 7 months! Yesterday Lynae & I took a purse finishing class at 3 Bags Full, and voila, finis. I cut the lining pieces at the class, then Susie (who taught the class) sewed the lining for me while I sewed the 13 pieces together. I told Lynae I was going to sew the lining in the bag as soon as I got home, and she had a doubtful look in her eye (she clearly knows me well) but I did it.

Mostly Mittens

2007-02-13T15:49:00.000-06:00

I go to the Glenview Public Library a lot, what with my 3 kids and all, and whenever I go, I typically check out one or two books on knitting. Two books that I seem to check out every 3 or 4 weeks are Debbie Bliss' Knitting for Babies and Charlene Schurch Mostly Mittens. In fact, because I check out Mostly Mittens so often, I decided to buy it from Amazon a couple of weeks ago, but as some of you may know, it is out of print and the second hand book thieves are currently asking $240 for that book. So I happened to mention the situation to my husband this weekend, and in fact I said (jokingly) "If I were a less honest person, I would tell the Glenview Public Library that I lost the book, pay the $20, then turn around and sell it for $240 on Amazon." But my husband took this to heart and tried to find the book for me for Valentine's Day. Apparently he spoke with someone at a knitting store in CA (with an online link) and thought he scored a copy, but later they emailed him that they were out of stock. He forwarded their email to me along with this message: " Because I love you so much, I tried getting this book for you, as you will see by this email I did not suceed (sic). Do I get the credit. P.S. I also wanted to make a little profit on the side as you will see by my email at the bottom of the page." You see, he tried to purchase 2 copies, one for me, and one to sell for a profit on Amazon! I told him he should open a hedge fund and specialize in book arbitrage.

Frank Ochre

2007-02-11T09:24:00.001-06:00

pics 036
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

It is time to confess my love affair ... with Frank Ochre. Frank is a good looking guy, soft, always available, and I just can't stop thinking about him. Last night Frank & I watched a movie together "All the King's Men"; I think he enjoyed it. Some of my friends like him too! Lynae lusts after him, and my friend Lynn called me yesterday to say how much she wanted him! She wanted me to try to track him down for her in Northbrook. I can't wait until I can wrap him around my neck so that he's with me always!

5 Things you didn't know about me!

2007-02-05T20:43:00.000-06:00

Alyssa tagged me with this, and frankly I'm kind of excited since I've never done one of these before.

5 Things you probably didn't know about me:

1. I was born in Louisville, KY & had the deepest southern accent until we moved to Chicago when I was 5 and all the kids made fun of the way I talked. I lost the accent in 2 weeks flat.

2. You know those baby ears of corn that come in Chinese food? I am seriously afraid of them, they give me the heebie jeebies; if we order Chinese food and those are in it, I can't eat it. Truthfully I can't even be in the same room as them.

3. I love rap music! Seriously I have the musical taste of a 13 year old boy. I love Eminem, Sean Paul, Ludicris, and others too embarassing to mention.

4. I hate bananas. I used to eat them when I was a kid, but now I hate the smell, texture, taste, cloying sweetness, and generally everything about them. When my kids are eating them, I hold my breath.

5. I am an excellent shot. When I first started dating my husband, he took me skeet shooting at Lincoln Park gun club and I got a better score than he did, despite the fact that I had never shot a rifle before.

Notes from Underground

2007-01-30T13:33:00.000-06:00

I am so cranky, I don't know if it's the weather (7 degrees), or the fact that I had to listen to my dental hygenist for 45 minutes as she described the "stunning" sweatshirts she creates by quilting multi-colored cat fabric onto plain old sweatshirts, or the fact that my CTA card was out of dough & I had to pay $5 for a $1.75 bus ride (didn't have change) or what. Usually when I'm in a bad mood, I try to think of what I'm thankful for, this morning all I could come up with was the Wall St. Journal (it was awesome today, even if I was missing the 4th section). I feel like everyone in the world is stupid except for me; I feel like the guy in Notes from Underground. Don't worry Group, I'll get over it by tomorrow.

Note to Self

2007-01-28T16:51:00.000-06:00

Note to self: Next time you buy 400+ yards of laceweight cashmere at your LYS and they offer to wind it into a ball for you, do not say, in a show-offy manner, "no thanks, I'll do it at home" implying that you own both a swift and ball-winder and know how to use them (whoop-de-doo) but rather take them up on their offer. Because the yarn will be hopelessly tangled, and nearly impossible to wind, and every time you pull tight on it, it will BREAK! thus causing you to tie about 8 or 9 or 40 knots in it. Jeez! Note to Girl Scouts: Do not make Chicago area Brownies sell cookies in flipping January when it's 4 degrees out, while the California girl scouts sell in September; I mean does that make any sense whatsoever? And especially do not entice the said 6 year old Chicago Brownies to sell MORE cookies by giving out prizes like very simple backpacks if they sell 75 boxes, thus ensuring that they harass their parents NON-STOP until they sell the required 75 boxes; I would be willing to pay quadruple the cost of the backpack, if only I didn't have to push cookies on my friends and neighbors like a crack dealer.

Thrumming along

2007-01-15T20:05:00.000-06:00

I've had little knitting content on here lately, and I'm afraid my 4 readers will desert me! So here is a picture of the thrummed mittens I am knitting. They are going to be so warm inside, I can't wait, and it finally got kind of cold here in Chicago, so I can use them. Two weeks ago it was 50 degrees, but now it's 6 or something, and I'm talking farenheit! I was talking to one of our Candian clients a couple of weeks ago during the warm spell & he said "it's beautiful outside, I could go play golf if I wanted, it's 16 degrees." At first I didn't know if he was merely being ironic because Candadians are used to cold weather & maybe 16 in January seemed warm to him; but then I realized he was talking Celsius! I have no idea how Celsius works! In 2nd grade they made us learn the metric system & claimed that the U.S. would switch over soon in order to join the rest of the world, but damn if we didn't stay put with our inches, yards, pounds, miles per hour and Farenheit! And the funny thing is, they're still making kids learn the metric system, I just had to help my 9 year old convert meters to centimeters & vice versa for her homework, but I told her not to sweat it too much, it's not as important as say algebra or addition. This reminds me of a funny story. One time my husband and I were in England, staying at a swanky hotel, and I decided to use the health club. I went down there & there was a VERY cute Brit manning the equipment who insisted on helping me set the Stairmaster. So he asked me how many kilograms I weighed. Attempting to appear cosmopolitan and like a world traveller, I blithely said 40, which apparently is 80 pounds or something. So he made me step on the scale (!) so he could determine exactly how many mega-meters or whatever I did actually weigh, and it was a number much greater than 40; I did not use the health club again!

Words that define me

2007-01-07T07:55:00.000-06:00

I went to this website, which analyzes your blog & then makes a word cloud out of the words that appear most frequently on your blog. It's so funny how well it works; I mean the words that appear in the cloud really define me. I'm just shocked that "Alyssa" didn't appear because I reference her so much.

Testing

2007-01-04T22:04:00.000-06:00

So I have to take the CAIA Level II test in March & I have to fit 120 hours of studying in before then, here are some of the books I have to read/memorize for the test. Jake, who I work with & who is also taking the test currently has the quantitative trading strategies book & I ordered the packet of readings, but haven't received it yet.

9 to 5

2007-01-03T22:09:00.000-06:00

So this is the view from my desk at work where I spend 8 hours per day; the only other place where I spend 8 hours per day is in bed, maybe I'll blog that tomorrow. There is one couple who lives on the top floor, they had a baby last summer, and they have a dog & I've made up a whole story about them in my mind. They have interesting art on their walls and seem to be very much in love. The guy who used to get dressed in front of the window moved out about a month ago.

Namaste

2007-01-02T20:27:00.000-06:00

As part of my project to take a picture every day this year, I took a picture at my yoga studio tonight. I hadn't been to yoga in 3 or 4 weeks, and I missed it desperately. I just started doing yoga in July 2006, and I swear the first time I did it, I went home and had so much energy I just laid in bed all night buzzing, I could literally feel energy shooting out of me. It was a magical experience and those of you who know me, know that I never talk like this. So anyway, I convinced my sister to come with me tonight, and she loved it too! I will make getting to yoga twice per week my top priority for 2007. Om Shanti, Om Peace, Namaste.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-01T21:23:00.000-06:00

When I got up this morning, this is how I found Lucie, laying on her brand new dogbed with the Happy New Year tiara which my 6 year old had just slipped on her head, I vowed not to blog pet pictures, but Lucie's expression cracked me up! So I haven't done much knitting in the past 2 weeks, I did knit a hat for my sister, it was a kittyville hat, knit out of a pink & black Malabrigo type yarn, it came out awesome, except for the pom poms (I totally suck at making pom poms) but I forgot to take a picture of it before I gave it to Mary. I'm also knitting a pair of thrummed mittens, which are coming out great, but due to global warming, it's never cold around here so I don't know if I'll get a chance to wear them. Here are my resolutions for 2007: 1)Study for my CAIA Level II Exam which I have to take in March, I have to study 10 hours per week starting right now! 2) Don't eat ANY carbs until I lose 10 lbs. 3) Yoga twice per week, no excuses and now for the two really hard ones 4) Yarn diet, I'm not buying any new yarn in 2007 until I run out of what I have or until Stitches Midwest, whichever comes first, and 5) I want to try this thing I read about, taking a picture every day in 2007, I don't know if I'll post all the pictures, but I'm gonna try. What are your resolutions?

Bah humbug!

2006-12-19T19:35:00.000-06:00

Yikes, I am in the full throes of pre-Christmas traumatic stress syndrome. First of all I was way behind on everything as I was out of town from December 8th through the 13th. When I got home from my biz trip at 11 pm on the 13th, and drove up to my completely dark, undecorated house, I shed a tear, knowing the horror that would await me inside after 6 full days away. All things which Sisyphus dreads, laundry, homework, vacuuming! Did anyone vacuum while I was gone, no. Did anyone help middle child do 11 notecards on Malaria which were due Friday, no! Did anyone help my youngest make her costume for the holiday program which was Friday, no! Did my husband complete the one task I assigned him, which was to take the Christmas picture, no! I had to prioritize! Thursday night, did the notecards and costume (she had to go dressed as a toy, she was a puzzle). Friday, cleaned the house. Saturday decorated the tree. Sunday, baked 4 pans of gingerbread and invited the neighbors over to make gingerbread houses. In between, tried to knock out as much shopping as was humanly possible. Monday, mixed up some Christmas cookies which I baked off just now. Only they didn't come out. I thought the dough seemed impossibly buttery, but I went ahead and baked it, after ending up with a buttery pile of nuts on the cookie sheet, I realized my mistake! I was using Plugra high end butter and I used a whole block which is 2 cups! instead of the 1 cup called for. Usually I crank out 600 cookies 2 weekends before Christmas, I guess I don't work well under pressure! I've posted a picture of a truly dedicated mom for all to enjoy. Apparently this tiger had 2 cubs who died, and the tiger got very depressed. The zoo decided to try dressing piglets up as tigers so that she could have babies to care for, and it worked (luckily for the piglets!)

Vegas Baby

2006-12-14T21:29:00.000-06:00

So here is a picture of my Irish Hiking Scarf in Malabrigo, color Frank Ochre, hanging out in front of Ceasar's in Vegas! Yeah Baby! (said in Austin Powers voice) I felt kind of silly snapping this pic, & I wanted to have the Live Showgirl posing in front of Bally's hold it for me, but I would have felt silly asking her. And besides she was busy posing with all the millions of cowboys who were in town for the Rodeo. I used to love Cowboys with their big hats, short haircuts, tight jeans, and good manners(in that order), but Brokeback kinda ruined it for me because now I feel like they have no interest in me, they're more interested in each other. Had loads of fun in Vegas, it's a long story, but I got onto the VIP list at Tao (a hot nightclub at the Venetian), my husband had no interest in going, so I brought the two 23 year boys on our trip with me (I am literally the same age as one of their moms!). It was a nice club if you like tons of people and lots of girl on girl action. I had to mention that because I can't wait for someone to google that phrase and end up on a knitting blog! Ha!

Merry Christmas to Me

2006-12-03T21:48:00.000-06:00

My husband doesn't know it yet, but he's giving me this Kim Hargreaves kit for Christmas. I love her stuff, and when I saw it was on sale a couple of weeks ago, I couldn't resist. Plus Rowan Biggy yarn = instant gratification, which is my type of project. I finished my second heart hat, plus Shannon (author of Knitgrrl) wrote me back & acknowledged that the editor of her book might have screwed up the chart (she couldn't remember & couldn't find a copy of the book laying around.) So if you see new errata concerning the heart hat, you can thank me for it. FYI I knit the first out of Malabrigo, and the second out of Lamb's Pride Worsted; my middle child, owner of the Lamb's Pride worsted, complains that it's itchy, not so for the Malabrigo, I thought you should know. Also, I probably had 1/3 to 1/2 of the Malabrigo left afterwords.

Heart Hat

2006-11-27T21:39:00.000-06:00

I knit this hat from Knitgrrl, it's the Heartfelt roll-brim hat, knit in Malabrigo, quickly becoming my favorite yarn, the color is called Buscando Azul (searching blue in Spanish), I cast on right after Thanksgiving dinner & finished the next morning. I knit it for my baby, and she loves it! My only beef with the pattern is she tells you to cast on 80 stitches, then gives you a pattern with a 12 repeat, huh?! And I swear, there is nowhere in the pattern where you M1 or anything, so of course I just M1 every 20 stitches in the second to last row of knitting, then followed the pattern. I am suprised that I haven't seen anything about errata anywhere, maybe I'm just not getting something. Anyhow, I'm also knitting this same hat in Lamb's Pride Worsted in Periwinkle for my middle child.

pics 016
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Kimono

2006-11-19T16:49:00.000-06:00

Correction: I'm an idiot, this sweater was knit on size 5's, I misread the directions, but the nice lady at CME knit, who knit a beautiful version of this sweater, pointed out my error to me. Now for sure I will knit this sweater, and you all should too!
I want to knit this so bad! I think this is the coolest sweater I have ever seen, truly I love it, but size 1 needles? For a whole sweater? I would want to stab myself with the size 1s before I finished the sleeves! I know me & I can't do it! There's another great picture of this pattern here. It's called the Tataki Kimono Sweater & you can purchase it here if you have more patience than me, which no doubt you do. In other news, I had my whole family here this weekend for the first of the two Thanksgiving Dinners that we have, one when my sister, who has a demanding job and lives in Baltimore can make it, and one on the regular Thanksgiving. We can't combine the two because my husband always goes hunting the weekend before Thanksgiving. So anyway, it was a full house, I picked up the turkey at the local poultry store & ordered my Thanksgiving turkey at the same time, the counter guy said "what, is this a practice turkey?" Then my sisters hung out w/ me for a while, which was great, except for the unsolicited child-rearing advice that I regularly get from my unmarried, childless sister. I know she'll be pissed that I said that, but so what, it's my blog!

Progress

2006-11-16T21:04:00.000-06:00

So I started knitting approximately a year ago. I don't know what inspired me to take it up, I was at Michael's with my kids and I bought a skein of Lion Brand Homespun and knit the scarf (garter back and forth) pictured here. It's misshapen and lame, but I was so happy at the time to finish it. My mom helped me figure out how to cast on, then I checked out Stitch & Bitch from the library and taught myself to knit and bind off. I could not figure out how to purl until I looked it up in at least 3 different books. I am still such a knitting newbie, but I learn so much from my beloved Group and various internet sites and blogs. So here is how far I've come in a year, I'm knitting the Irish Hiking Scarf in Malabrigo, color Frank Ochre, it's soft, I love it, I love knitting cables (just taught myself 2 weeks ago) and I can't wait to see what I'm working on a year from now.

Fetching II

2006-11-15T20:57:00.000-06:00

So I finished my second fetching mitt, but not before I finished my cashmerino aran! I ran out of yarn, but haven't knit the thumb yet, drats! I noticed that the fetching author did update the pattern to say 1-2 balls (from the original 1) but I had printed out the pattern before the update. So I have a thumbless mitt. Also, notice that the second one is noticeably smaller than the first, I guess this is a common problem amongst mitten knitters. I nearly unravelled the first mitt in order to reknit & and use the leftovers for the thumb, but cooler heads prevailed, i.e. my 11 year old who said "Mom, just go to the yarn store and buy another ball of that yarn." Well duh, then she added "they're on different hands so no one can tell one is bigger." Double duh, and hey I'm always up for a trip to the yarn store, so I guess I'll just do that. Plus, I unravelled another sock that I started this weekend, like a nut I cast on 72 stitches, instead of the usual 64, and after knitting 4 or 5 inches I tried it on and it was too big! I am cursed to never knit a sock, I frog them every time, thus my name, Sisyphus Knits.

Fetching

2006-11-06T22:24:00.000-06:00

Ok, I'm kinda proud here. I knit one of the fetching mitts this weekend. It was my first time using cable cast on, my first time knitting cables, my first time using picot bind off, and yes, my first time successfully knitting on dpns. Every other time I knit inside out on dpns, and in fact when I picked up the stitches for the thumb, I knit it inside out, TWICE, but then after I went to bed last night, I was laying there thinking about it and lightbulb, I realized I was knitting the thumb the wrong way, I got up, finished the thumb, and just felt so relieved that I figured it out. Sorry for the crappy picture, I had an artistic one set in my mind, but I'm never at home during daylight anymore. Amy, if you're reading this, see my middle finger & how wrong it looks, I hurt it in JUNE, I have been going to hand therapy for months, and it is still messed up, today the therapist suggested I see a hand surgeon because she thinks I messed up the volar plate, your job is to figure out what that means and tell me when you visit in two weeks. That is all.

Happy Halloween

2006-10-30T21:34:00.000-06:00

Five Little Pumpkins
by Charles Winter

Five little pumpkins sitting on a gate
The first one said "Oh my it's getting late."
The second one said, "There are witches in the air."
The third one said, "But we don't care."
The fourth one said, "Let's run and run and run."
The fifth one said "I'm ready for some fun."
OOOOOOOO went the wind,
and out went the light,
and the five little pumpkins rolled out of sight!

Disappointment

2006-10-28T15:00:00.000-05:00

I am disappointed to report that although I was near 2 excellent yarn stores, I did not purchase anything on my west coast tour. In Portland, I was never there while Knit/Purl was open (arrived at 7 pm, busy from 10 until flight out at 5 pm the next day). Boohoo! I did take a walk by the store and pressed my nose against the window, it looks awesome, next time I'm in Portland I will definitely stop by, plus no sales tax in Portland! I should have bought all my kids ipods for Christmas. Then, in San Fran I did manage to go into Art Fibers, but I have to say, nothing really tempted me there, I know it sounds insane, but it was all really arty & different & nothing was calling my name. If I had to get something, it would be between the Kurasawa (silk & merino), and the Tesla (stainless steel & cotton). So the minute I was home, in order to offset my remarkable restraint, I ordered a couple skeins when I got home, Malabrigo in Frank Ochre with which I will knit the Irish Hiking Scarf, and Socks that Rock in Jingle Bell Rock and Henpecked, did you guys see the fabulous new colors at Blue Moon Fiber Arts? I want it all!!

Jetsetta!

2006-10-28T11:27:00.000-05:00

I am a jetsetta! Just came back from a biz trip to the West Coast, and boy are my arms (and everything else) tired! We flew to Portland Tuesday night (lowlight of the trip, stuck in seat 13E, next to a guy with Tourette's, no offense to people w/ Tourette's, but he moaned every 30 seconds, patted his tummy, and said really inappropriate things to me) plus his fingers were either in his nose or mouth for the entire 4 1/2 hours, gross! Highlight of the trip, ate dinner at Chez Panisse on Wednesday night in Berkeley, here was the menu, we also did the cheese course and wine pairing, it was the best meal I have had in years, no lie! Another lowlight, we stayed in a different hotel room every night & I forgot something in each room! What is wrong with me? I left my phone charger in Portland, my glasses in Berkeley, and my book, Knitting Rules in San Francisco. I'm trying to get the former 2 back, but the latter is a gift to whomever finds it. I didn't knit at all on my trip! Couldn't bring myself to knit next to the crazy guy on the way out, and read on the way back (All the King's Men) and watched the movie, The Devil Wears Prada. In knitting news, I finished the scarf before I left, pictured above. I'm still working on Miss Marigold, casting on for a baby sweater for my neighbor (she had a baby last week), and dying to knit thrummed mittens using my thrummed mitten kit from Spunky Eclectic.

Totally getting the Harlot

2006-10-16T21:05:00.000-05:00

I've read about the comings and goings of the Yarn Harlot for months now, not really understanding why everyone was so mad for her, then I bought her book, "Knitting Rules" yesterday, and now, I totally get it! She is so funny, her open letter to the inventor of Ziploc bags, her chapter on not feeling guilty about owning too much yarn, her chart to determine what type of knitter you are (I'm a scientist), I feel like I was stranded on planet Earth & now the mother ship found me. True Story: I was sitting on the floor of my bedroom with my yarn spread out ALL OVER, a scary pile of yarn that even I was intimidated by, updating my spreadsheet and my husband walked in. I thought, oh, no BUSTED! but my husband glanced around casuallyat the ginormous pile of yarn and said "Don't feel bad, I've got more guns than that." I know, it's super scary, but kind of sweet! So I've been knitting the simple scarf pattern that the Harlot posted a couple of days ago, k, k, knit into back of loop, purl, in multiples of 4, then ending with knit knit. It's simple and mindless, and I love how it's coming out; I was planning on wearing it with my cream colored winter coat, but my six year old has claimed it for herself. P.S. I do believe the Harlot is mistaken on one tiny point, she claims that this person is the fastest knitter in North America, when we all know it's really Alyssa.

Random Stuff

2006-10-11T21:16:00.000-05:00

Random Stuff
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

We went apple picking this weekend, the last beautiful weekend in Chicago! (It was 72 degrees on Sunday, it's supposed to snow tomorrow) The kids picked 38 pounds of apples, I've got a lot of baking, applesauce making, etc. to do in the upcoming days. In other news, I PASSED MY TEST!!! I found out yesterday, hooray for me, now I just have to take Level II in March. I've set aside Sizzle for now, I don't like how it's knitting up, very uneven. I'm working on Miss Marigold, I'm down to the endless rounds of stockinette.

We had a contest when we got home, for best apple; judges (DH & me) considered color, shape, size, and overall shininess, of course daughter number 2 won, she is sooooooo competitive!

Amy's Hat

2006-10-05T13:35:00.000-05:00

yp 003
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

I finished Amy's hat, in fall colors per her request, it was simple & only took me a night to knit. That's my kind of project! I had knitting group last night, it was so great, the people in my group are such great knitters, and always teach me something new. Lynae was knitting mittens for her daughter out of STR, so cute. She looked at my Sizzle and agreed it looked pretty hopeless. Adrienne was knitting a beautiful shawl with thick cables & pockets. She showed me how to knit cables without a cable needle, and how to drop down & fix "mistake" stitches. Like I said, they are the BEST!

Yarn Purchases

2006-10-02T14:03:00.000-05:00

yp 002
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Even though I have NO business buying more yarn, I did! I went to 3 Bags Full in Northbrook & purchased some bulky yarns for hats (Hip, knit hats to be specific!) I figure I can get at least 6 hats out of what you see pictured here, but since I want to set goals like Alyssa, my plan is to knit at least one hat (the one on the cover of the book, but in turquoise & cream instead of brown and black), a pair of mittens, the Norah Gaughan ones that were in IK fall issue, and finish Sizzle in October. That should keep me busy! Also I cast on for Ms. Marigold yesterday, so I'll probably work on that. I'm knitting it in KnitPicks Elegance in a soft grey(Ash), I love this yarn, it's so nice to knit with, especially compared to that silk yarn I mentioned earlier.

Sock Monkey Dress

2006-09-28T21:05:00.000-05:00

sockmonkeydress
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

As they say in Knitty, "Sock Monkeys ... either you love them or you hate them." Well I love them, although probably not enough to wear this dress. See, just when I think I'm wasting too much time checking out knitting websites (to the detriment of my actual knitting time) I find a gem like this to share with my blog readers ... all 3 of them!

Big Mistake

2006-09-24T08:41:00.000-05:00

Friday night I went out to dinner with my sister to 1)celebrate the fact that my test was over (I'd be shocked if I didn't pass, but I don't get the results until October 10) and 2) to celebrate my sister's birthday. Everytime I get together with my sister, we just laugh until we cry over how dysfunctional our family is. So anyway, my sister's friend, Tamara, gave her this t-shirt for her birthday; without giving away any personal details that my sister might not want me to blog about, let's just say that this t-shirt is apropos to her current situtation. Also, my sister had a hilarious story about participating in a survey to earn extra money ($125 for filling out a survey about beer) but then she had to drink a huge beer, which she chugged so fast that the guy running the survey made her stay for an hour extra to make sure she was sober. We also made much hilarity over our "brother from another mother" and the fact that some lady at the bar kept stealing my sister's lemon drop Martinis until the manager of the bar kicked her out. Amy, we miss you.

The Perils of ordering yarn online

2006-09-23T18:57:00.000-05:00

Okay, I really went back and forth (in my mind) over whether to post about this or not, but since everyone in my knitting Group is on the brink of ordering yarn from Posh, I felt I had to post this. Let me preface this post by saying the woman I spoke with at Posh, Dee, is lovely and she offered to replace the yarn I purchased, but I felt that sending one skein of yarn back to England was just silly. So here are the pictures: on the left, the picture on Posh's website of the color Cosmopolitan, on the right, the actual skein Cosmopolitan, photographed in my house by me!

And actually, I have to say that seeing these side by side on the web, they actually look like they could be the same yarn. But in person, the real Cosmopolitan is orange, purple, blue, green, and white, and on the website I thought it looked green, blue, and yellow. So while one skein of sock yarn is no great loss, I wouldn't want to order a sweater's worth of yarn unless I saw it in person. And I have ordered STR, Zen yarngarden, and Vespers via internet, and never had this problem before. So that's my story, group members, I will bring the yarn to group next time so you can see it in person & tell me what you think.

Amy's Hat

2006-09-17T16:11:00.000-05:00

I realize there's been very little knitting on my blog lately; those of you who know me, know that I've got a big honking test on Friday, so I've been studying 24/7. Also I was in Boston on a biz trip last Wed thru Fri, 3 soccer games on Saturday, etc. I purposely didn't bring any knitting w/me to Boston, because I felt that would force me to study, and it did! I'm actually feeling pretty good about the test at this point, but I always freak out at the 11th hour. Last night I started knitting this hat for my sister, Amy, in the fall colors she requested.

Thanks, Mom!

2006-09-10T10:05:00.000-05:00

I got up early last Sunday & decided to get Einstein Bagels for my family and coffee for me, so while I was there I picked up an extra coffee for my mom, then dropped by her house for a little chit-chat & to check out her new pond (which she dug herself, took 3 years!) So one of the benefits to being a pack rat is that you can impress your kids by pulling out all sorts of fascinating things that have been in your basement for years. Like these knitting magazines from the 50s and 60s.

My mom says she & my Aunt Susie knit every sweater in this book, I remember the sweaters, Irish knits with woven leather buttons, of course I didn't appreciate them as a child.
My mom also says Aunt Susie was always stealing this pattern book from her, and my mom would have to steal it back. Aunt Susie, if you're reading this, you may print a rebuttal in the comment section.

I love the pictures in this book, they're very glam, all the models have fur hats, lots of black eyeliner and false eyelashes. The inside of the book says it was shot in "the fabulous winter resort of St. Moritz, Switzerland." Altogether there are 10 magazines & I think I'll save additional posts for later, lest I bore you all to death.

Pieces of me (and Cara)

2006-09-08T20:41:00.000-05:00

Oh Cara, why must you be in so many pieces! What are the odds that I will finish you? The knitting was fun, but blocking, ironing, and stitching together 13 pieces, not to mention sewing the lining, what are the odds that I will do that? And what's with those oddly shaped pocket flaps in the upper right hand corner of the picture? Is it just me, or do they look like ...? Oh well, maybe it's just me.

Knitting Distractions

2006-09-03T12:45:00.000-05:00

So what is keeping me from knitting as much as I'd like to: this, the CAIA exam which I have in 19 days! Yikes! It is chalk full of formulas, statistics, and terms like leptokurtosis and heteroskedasticity. I used to know this stuff stone cold, believe it or not I have an MBA from University of Chicago with concentrations in Finance and Statistics; but that was many years ago & let's just say that my last 6 years as a SAHM have not exactly improved my statistical skills. Plus, my retention is not what it was 20 years ago!

Sizzle

2006-09-02T13:28:00.000-05:00

Sizzle
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

I cast on for Sizzle last night. This is what I knit while watching King Kong: 8 rows of seed stitch and 4 rows of stockinette. How pathetic is that? Wendy says you can knock this top out in 3 days, and while a certain person in my knitting group could do that, sadly, I cannot. I think part of the problem is that this yarn is slippery & I'm knitting on aluminum needles, which I have never used before, but I asked my mom for a pair of size 7s & this is what she gave me.

Snakes on a Hat!

2006-08-28T14:32:00.000-05:00

lake
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

So here is the book I've been talking about, along with some of the Debbie Bliss Chunky Merino I bought to knit post-it marked hats with. I love every hat in this book. I will knit them all. I will be like Alyssa, and vow to knit 10 hats in one month, or something like that. (Isn't it kind of crazy how I reference Alyssa in all my blog updates; it's just because she's the best knitter I know.) In unrelated news, I have been sending Samuel Jackson Snakes on a Plane phone calls to everyone I know. Go ahead, do it, you know you want to. I think that they should come out with a Samuel Jackson alarm clock so when it goes off he says "Get your ass out of bed & get ready for school!" That would get my kids going in the morning.

Bday Box

2006-08-27T13:31:00.000-05:00

Bday Box
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Happy Birthday to my August Birthday Swap Pal Mindy in downstate Illinois! Her birthday was yesterday and I sent her, two skeins of Lorna's laces sock yarn in Cranberry, two skeins of Elizabeth Lavold hemp in an aqua color, w/ 4 little matching buttons, a couple of bars of sweet smelling soap and a box of the best English Toffee ever, handmade at Cora Lee Candies in Glenview, IL. Seriously, if you like English Toffee, order some of this for yourself, then thank me in the comment section later!

Hip Knit Hat #1

2006-08-25T22:37:00.000-05:00

Hip Knit Hat #1
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

I think I've mentioned before, I looooove knitting hats because they're instant gratification! I mean, I'm no Alyssa, I'm a slow knitter, so to knit a hat like this and have a finished object 2 hours later, well it makes me happy. I bought the yarn at Elann, $3.98 per ball thank you very much, and it took 2 balls, one cream, one eucalyptus, to knit this hat. It's the first knit hat listed in Hip Knit Hats & I've got about 8 more post-its in that book marking pages and I ordered about 10 more balls of this yarn, Debbie Bliss chunky merino from Elann. This is my first pompom attempt, which is why it's so lame and uneven. I had knit this hat for my husband, but then he said it wasn't his color, so I stuck a pompom on it for inexplicable reasons. Maybe I'll knit him this instead. Out of something itchy. Ha!

Cara

2006-08-16T22:30:00.000-05:00

Cara
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

For those of you who don't have a six year old at home, let me just say that they are brutally honest. As in "Mom your chest looks kind of wrinkley" honest. So I started knitting this Cara bag from Knit Rowan, it was the free pattern in March I think. I ordered the yarn, Rowan Holiday, in the color shown in the picture, Sand I think. But they should have called the color, old nylons, because this yarn looks exactly like old nylons. In fact when I started knitting with it, I thought to myself, wow, I wonder if I took all those old nylons that I haven't worn for about eight years, and cut them into strips, maybe I could make some of this yarn. And my six year old said "Mom, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but that yarn is an ugly color." I think the saving grace will be the beautiful lining fabric I bought at Repro Depot.

Booga Bag before felting

2006-08-15T13:20:00.000-05:00

Booga Bag begore felting
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Booga Bag before felting: huge & unwieldy. Booga Bag after felting: so cuuuuute! I wonder if I knit one the size of a suitcase, after felting would it be a nice tote size? I may just have to give it a try.

Booga Bag after felting

2006-08-15T13:19:00.000-05:00

Booga Bag after felting
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Booga Bag, washed it 3 times in a pillow case, isn't it cute?

Ponytail hat from KnitGrrl

2006-08-15T13:18:00.000-05:00

Ponytail hat from KnitGrrl
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

So this is the Ponytail Hat from Knitgrrl, knit in Muench Tessin, the color they used in the book. I cast on for this last Wednesday at Group, finished it Sunday, would have been sooner if I didn't have to finish that One Skein Wonder so I could have the size 8 needle out of it (for explanation, see below.) My oldest daughter is modelling because she has the most impressive ponytail; originally I thought I would knit one for each of my kids, but I just received the book Hip Knit Hats from Amazon & I have post it notes on about 10 hats, so I think I'll try some of those. I love knitting hats because I'm an Instant Gratification kind of girl.

One Skein Wonder

2006-08-15T13:14:00.000-05:00

One Skein Wonder
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Hey, is that actually a FO on my blog? Believe it or not I've got 3 to post and it's kind of funny, the only reason I finished this, Glampyre's One Skein Wonder, is that I needed the size 8 circular needle out of it to finish a hat. So anyway, this came out way smaller than I expected, which is why my 9 year old is wearing it. I knit it in Colinette Skye, color Kingfisher & I swear I only had 8 inches of yarn leftover, which is why I was afraid to finish it in the first place, because I was afraid of running out!

Stitches Midwest Score

2006-08-14T21:19:00.001-05:00

Stitches Midwest Score
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

Ok, so here's my Stitches Midwest Score. From left to right, top to bottom, I've got 2 Skeins of Brooks Farm Four Play (Color 70), not sure what I'm going to knit with this, perhaps t-twist like Alyssa suggested, Cascade Silk from Tess Designer Yarns, the color is Lime Splash, and I bought the Victorian Leaf shawl pattern from them, 1 skein of Harmony from Brooks Farm (Color 17) I'll knit something for my husband with this, 3 Skeins of Noro Kureyon in Color 131, I might make another Booga bag with it, 1 skein of Socks that Rock in Rooster Rock medium weight, 1 Skein of Sea Silk, have no idea what color it is, it's purples, soft reds, and golds and I already ordered the one skein shawl pattern from Lettuce Knit, from Dzined a skein of sport weight wool & hemp (I bought a mobius pattern from her), 3 skeins of Bambu in color Lucy in the Sky and their Summer Breeze pattern, and 3 skeins of Tonalita in Color 2354.

August Bday Swap, unwrapped

2006-08-09T21:33:00.000-05:00

August Bday Swap, wrapped
Originally uploaded by http://www.flickr.com/people/68299643@N00/.

And here it all is, unwrapped in all its glory! I'm thinking about knitting Knucks from the new Knitty with the Inca Marl, haven't quite decided on the rest. We had "Group" tonight, everyone is all atwitter over Stitches Midwest this Friday.

August Bday Swap, wrapped

2006-08-09T21:32:00.000-05:00

August Bday Swap, wrapped
Originally uploaded by lizflor@sbcglobal.net.

Hooray for my August Birthday Swap pal, Jo from Boston. Check out all the fabulousness she sent me: lots of fibery goodness, my favorite is the "Neopolitan" yarn, she really paid attention when I said I loved pink & brown together! Also Inca Marl, so soft & warm, & in two colors and some soft kid in soft grey. Not to mention 2 kinds of yummy looking cookies, Necco Wafers (a New England treat, who knew?) and some lavender soap. Thank you birthday pal, you are the best!

Visit to new (for me) lys

2006-07-08T15:02:00.000-05:00

Lynae emailed me yesterday that she was going to head over to Three Bags Full (aka Jen's crack house, Lynae's term, not mine) on Saturday, a lys that I had not yet visited, and that Al from Group works at. Of course I wanted to go with; here's what I bought: I will be knitting a Booga Bag with the Noro (because right now I carry my projects in ziploc bags, and it looks tacky, an Odessa hat with the cashsoft (speaking of tacky, how about the pricetag prominently featured in the picture, and Ms. Marigold with the Alpaca and silk, it feels scrumptious!

Chicago Botanic Gardens

2006-07-08T14:54:00.000-05:00

Thursday night we took the kids to the Chicago Botanic Gardens; it's open until 9:00 pm during the summer, and it's a great place to stroll around and get garden ideas. Here are a few shots:

Locks of Love

2006-07-08T14:41:00.000-05:00

Daughter Number 2 donated 10" of hair to locks of love, here are the before and after shots:

August Birthday Swap

2006-07-05T20:45:00.000-05:00

Hi August Birthday Swap Pal,

I thought I would post my survey answers for all the world to see:
What day is your birthday?
August 10th
Are you crafty?
Only in yarn related endeavors, needlepoint & knitting
Would you enjoy things like: Buttons, ribbons and embellishments?
Sure, I love all beautiful things
Do you dye your own wool?
I haven’t yet, but I have 20 pkgs of Kool Aid & 14 oz. of Victorian Brushed Mohair from Halcyon Yarns sitting in my stash
Do you like to scrapbook or make homemade cards?
I used to scrapbook, but not so much anymore
What small project would you be interested in making? Socks, mittens, scarf, hat, baby items, wash cloths, doilies, shrugs etc
I would make socks, mittens, scarf, hat, or a shrug
What are your favorite scents?
Vanilla, lavender, lily of the valley
Do you like stationary and cards?
I don’t use them very often
Do you like hand lotions or soaps?
Yes
Do you like to sew or embroider items?
I needlepoint
Do you like beads?
Yes please, although I don’t make jewelry, only for knitting
What kind of mail-able snacks do you like to eat?
Whatever, I’m easy to please; I do have a sweet tooth
Do you like to wear costume jewelry? Necklace, earrings, bracelets etc.
Nope
Do you like to play cards or board games?
Only with my kids
What are your favorite colors of yarn?
Oooh, this is tough, I love variegated yarn in all different colors. For socks I like reds (although not orangey reds, more like cranberry), blues, pinks, for sweaters I lean towards greens, greys, and blues, and for some reason I love pink & brown together
Do you like solid, variegated, heathers, or self stripping yarns?
See above
Do you like kitchen magnets or key rings?
Nope
Do you like picture frames?
Nope
Do you like to make/or use stitch markers?
I only own boring plastic ring stitch markers, although recently Lynae in my weekly knitting group gave me a couple of cute little beaded markers that look like earrings :)
Do you collect anything?
Flow Blue, Yelloware, tiny Limoges boxes
Do you have any allergies? Smoke, food, fiber, pets, etc..
Nope
Do you have any hobbies?
Is Gardening a hobby?
Do you like scented or unscented candles?
I like scented candles
Are you a fiber snob?
The snobbiest!

Happy 4th of July!

2006-07-04T10:37:00.000-05:00

Flag cake from Barefoot Contessa Family Style!

Ravinia

2006-07-03T11:36:00.000-05:00

Last night hubby & I went to see Los Lonely Boys at Ravinia. I must say I love Los Lonely Boys, but they did these excruciatingly long guitar solos that reminded me of Santana circa 1975 (had I been old enough to see Santana in '75, almost, but not quite). However, James Hunter opened for them & he was awesome! I dowloaded "People Gonna Talk" from itunes as soon as I got home. No pictures, I took some on my cell phone, but they're worthless - you can't capture anything from row DD!

Another gratuitous garden shot

2006-07-01T11:10:00.000-05:00

2006-07-01T11:04:00.000-05:00

I thought I would post a couple of gratuitous garden shots here. I love these purple spiky flowers, they're a type of lamb's ear that I bought in Wisconsin last year; I want to go back and buy about 7 more from my favorite perennial farm, Country Gardens in Oconomowoc, WI. If you're ever up there, stop by, they have the best perennial selection I have ever seen, great prices, and the couple that own it are super nice.
Also they rescue cats and have about 14 milling about outside.

Farmer's Market

2006-07-01T10:56:00.000-05:00

This morning No. 2 child & I went to the Northfield Farmer's Market. Here is some of what we purchased: blueberries, raspberries, and cherries from Michigan. Fresh baked banana bread. A red, white, and blueberry pie. And 3 beautiful deep pink rose bushes. Now I just have to get my Mexican Gardener (i.e. my husband) to plant them for me. I would do it myself, but I still have a broken finger, which is hampering both my knitting and my gardening!

My first sock

2006-06-29T22:03:00.000-05:00

Okay, thanks to my fab new knitting club, Lynea, Alyssa, Claire, and Adrienne, I have gotten through the scary part of a sock for the first time. In a crazy/coincidental turn of events, a couple of weeks ago, I posted a comment on the Knit and Tonic blog regarding working moms vs. stay at home moms (I've been both, I liked both, I know both, I respect both!) At any rate, Lynea clicked on my comment, saw that I lived in the same hometown as her (!) and invited me to join her knitting group. I went last night and it turns out Lynea lives next door to my 6 year old's best friend (!) and works in an office where I have had several meetings (!) I was just at the point in my first sock ever where I had to pick up stitches along the gusset and let me tell you, I had no idea how to do that. So the gals in the club gave me pointers and I did it! I am so excited, knitting socks is so addictive. By the way, I am knitting these with Socks that Rock in Red Rock Canyon.

Help me move this button!

2006-06-29T22:01:00.000-05:00

Does anyone know how I can get this flippin' button over to the sidebar? Please?

Joined a swap

2006-06-27T22:03:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited, I joined my first swap! The August Birthday Swap: it's perfect for me as 1) I have an August Birthday and 2) it doesn't require that I actually finish knitting anything. Ha!

Knitting & Talking:MI3

2006-05-15T22:22:00.000-05:00

So I was feeling frustrated, I have knit & frogged several items due to the fact that I can't figure out how to unravel mistakes only on non-stockinette knitting. After my extreme frustration with Green Gable, I decided to treat myself by casting on this adorable ponchette that I coveted after seeing it on Knit and Tonic's blog. I covet everything she knits, I am the Jan Brady to her Marcia. I bought the yarn from KnitPixie, it's allhemp in pumpkin, cause I always wanted to try hemp yarn. So this weekend I knit 3 repeats of the pattern (only 21 to go) and then the minute I go to work, and attempt to knit while talking at lunch, I mess up the very first row that I do, notice that the stitch count is off by the third row, and frog the entire thing on the train ride home. I do hereby solemnly swear that I will never attempt to knit while talking, ever again, so help me God.

Knitting & Talking Part 2:The nightmare continues

2006-05-15T22:09:00.000-05:00

Okay, so you know how I can't knit and talk at the same time? How knitting can never be a social event for me? How I am destined to knit alone, in a dark, quiet room? So I was happily working on Green Gable, I worked on her at a 3rd grade choral concert, on the train, even on the 33 Michigan Ave. Express bus. I could pick her up and put her down whenever I felt like it. I always remembered exactly where in the pattern I was. So one day my friend Lynn says "We should knit at work, during lunch." And I think, great idea, more knitting, cooooool! And the very first time I attempt it, by picking up Green Gable and working on her while chit-chatting I immediately make a huge mistake in the lace, then further complicate it while trying to fix it. People, I have cast this sweater on 3 times, and unravelled it yes, 3 times ( the first 2 had to do with casting on issues before the Zephyr girls cleared up everything on the knitalong blog). I'm thinking GRRRRRReen Gable.