y(e)arn - the typo that summed it all up

helloooo

Poor neglected blog, all abandoned in favor of Ravelry... I must update you soon.

dropping names right on target

I am rocking my new Isaac Mizrahi dress from Target today:

(No, that is not me. I wish.) I actually got this back in November but hadn't worn it yet.

I got this cute Anya Hindmarch bag from Target too:

And there is more knitting!

I knit the Dumpling sweater from Rowan Babies for my niece Zoe's first birthday - I still need to get buttons for it so I can have it ready for her party on Sunday. The actual knitting only took a few hours since it's done in Big Wool on US 17s! I'll take pictures once I put the buttons on.

I'm halfway through a Baby Surprise Jacket to go with the Saartje's Booties too.

saartje existentialism

Look! Actual knitting content!

go

VOTE!


Or I won't tell you all about the awesome workshop that Knit-a-Gogo and Knit Happens did with Stefanie Japel last weekend! (Stefanie has pictures up on her site!)

still alive, still knitting

What a crazy busy year it's been...

Moved to the new apartment September 12th, still getting sorted out from that. Just now getting over a month's worth of bronchitis (yay for asthma.) We have a dining room table now (although the dining area is still full of boxes) and I bought a dresser at IKEA on Sunday. Haven't put it together yet because I about killed myself getting the boxes inside and haven't felt like dealing with it since. Still trying to decide on a sofa - currently I'm liking this one (in the sand color because it's washable) from IKEA.

Been working, teaching, knitting a little - mostly class samples, February Lady Sweater, and just started a Baby Surprise Jacket which looks like it will be entertaining to make. Still not sure how a knitted blob folds up to become a sweater, but I will trust in the powerz of the EZ.

tones of home

Wow, I haven't blogged in ages!

We moved into a new apartment on July 14th and have been crazy busy since then - we're actually moving AGAIN at the beginning of September!

Why the heck would we do that, you might ask?

The apartment complex that we moved into allows dogs only in certain buildings. The apartment that we planned on moving into was in a dog building, but at the last minute, the tenant decided not to move out. The only other apartment they had available in July was in a no-dog building. Since we were effectively homeless what with the ceiling and the mold and all*, we took the no-dog apartment with the agreement that we could transfer to a dog building when an apartment became available, since we really want to get a dog!

So we've gone from this:

 

To this:

We're living out of boxes right now and have no furniture (since we're moving again), but who cares?!

*I forgot to mention, there was ANOTHER water leak in the apartment around June 20th - that one took out the ceiling over the front door, started mold growing in the walls (and on our stuff), and made it impossible to open the front door. Fun!

knitdemic

There's a virus going around Ravelry... possibly the entire knitblogiverse.

It started 10 days ago with an innocent question posted to a forum - why were someone's friends all suddenly adding this pattern to their Ravelry queues?

Of course we all had to go and look...

... and then we added it to our queues.

Our friends wondered why we were all adding it to our queues. They went and looked. They added it to their queues. Their friends looked. They added it. Their friends' friends looked...

In 10 days, over 3000 people have queued this pattern. Over 200 people have already started knitting it.  Shops around the country (possibly the WORLD!*) are selling out of Dream In Color Classy yarn. (Sweater Zero is knitted in Sundara Worsted Merino, but no one could get any.)

I know that by posting this I am exposing you to the virus. You may already be infected. I've already infected Holly. But the world must be warned!

Who is the diabolical mastermind who long ago planted the seeds of this devastating outbreak? I think the evidence is clear.

I have cultured a sample of the virus myself, and will post pictures later.

*this may be a slight exaggeration due to virus-induced delirium.

tangled up in green

(The apartment search continues... the guys should be in our apartment next week to start putting the ceiling back in since they FINALLY got the leak stopped. Supposedly. Anybody seen any new cheap apartments that aren't in the hood?)

I've been making myself finish some long-abandoned projects since I have quite a few things in my UFO bin (which now has drywall dust all over it - good thing I had reorganized all the projects and yarn before the Great Ceiling Incident). I'm going in order of the ones that have the least amount of work to be done on them to be complete - I mean really, it took me TWO YEARS to knit the edging on a hat?

I even finished the dreaded Lala Scarf, and we won't discuss how I feel about the edging on THAT. (Yes, it took a year.)

 

The next thing on the list is the Baudelaire socks  - so I'll be finishing those soon! I wanted to have something to knit on the Metro though (one good thing about staying at my brother's house, I can take Metro!), and Baudelaire is not in a good Metro-working-on place right now. Nor is the Undulating Waves scarf I've got on the needles, especially after I strung 1000 beads onto the yarn!

So I thought I'd start a new sock for Metro knitting - I went back to the apartment and got some sock yarn out of stash (it's handy to keep some pre-wound sock yarn around.)

So of course you need an easy pattern for Metro knitting, right? I looked in my Ravelry queue for a nice simple toe-up sock pattern...

Well, I got the toe-up part right.

The pattern is Tangled Faeries from Terry Ross Designs - and I wanna give kudos to Terry! I went to the website and discovered that the Add Cart buttons on her sock pattern page were broken. I e-mailed her, she responded IMMEDIATELY, had the problem fixed in minutes, and gave me a free pattern for letting her know about the problem! I love good customer service!

So now I'm going to knit her Miss O'Hara socks too...  I love toe-up socks!

the sky is falling!

An 8-foot-square section of the living room ceiling in my condo fell in just after 4 AM Monday morning because of a water leak that we had been calling maintenance about for 3 hours.

We finally called the fire department to get help with the leak - they showed up really quickly! (unfortunately the ceiling fell in while they were getting the water turned off) The maintenance guy didn't show up until 5 AM!

At 9 AM a crew showed up and ripped out all the carpet padding and the rest of the ceiling in the living room, the hallway, two closets, and part of the bedroom. They’ve got blowers under the carpet and an industrial dehumidifier running in there for the next day or two so we’re staying at my brother’s house for now.

I think we’ve decided the best plan is to move out so my brother can get the place fixed up (we rent from him) and sell it before the whole damn building falls down - the fire department guys said they’re out at our row of buildings about every week for the same problem.

So we need a new apartment! Any suggestions for places to look? I’d love to find something near Metro but we’re on a tight budget. I’d also prefer not to live in a sketchy neighborhood anymore! (Is Takoma Park sketchy? We saw an ad for some cheap apartments there.) Halp!

PS - the yarn is OK!

exit

Done!

I have named my version "Ariadne," since I needed help getting out of the Labyrinth  - although to be mythologically correct it should be red, not purple ;)