Yay, I've been tagged!

I'm so excited to be tagged for the first time, I feel as if I'm part of the club! Joelene at Misocrafty tagged me with this today, so here goes.

1. What is your all time favorite yarn to knit with?

Hmmm, that is a hard one for me because I'm all over the place. I do love the texture of Manos Del Uruguay's Cotton Stria, but I find the gauge to be a little small for my impatient self. I think if I have to choose one, I'm going to say Rowan Kidsilk Haze. This is sort of a cop out though, because I tend to mix it with any other kind of yarn to get a nice fuzzy effect. Is this cheating?

2. Your favorite needles?

Crystal Palace circulars, of course.

3. The worst thing you've ever knit?

That would have to be my sausage sweater, hands down the most disappointing fo ever! It still takes up space in my drawer and I can't seem to get up the nerve to frog it. Grrr, just thinking about it makes me irritated.

4. Your most favorite knit pattern? (Maybe you don't like wearing it but it was most fun to knit)

The toy elephant from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I knit him with old yarn passed to me from my grandmother's stash and I had so much fun watching him take shape. He was so cute that I didn't want to give him up!

Look at the cuteness

5. Most valuable knitting technique?

I think that Joelene got it right when she said bravery, but I see it more as confidence. It's all just about knitting and pearling, right? After my first beginning knitting class the instructor told us that we could make almost anything with what we knew at that moment. I think that was really good advice! I went straight into the yarn store and got started on a top pattern from Rebecca and it was really encouraging (but don't get me started on the whole German translation thing.) Now I find that when I make mistakes it's usually not a result of my lack of knowledge, it's that I didn't read the pattern correctly or I wasn't paying attention.

6. Best knit book or magazine?

This is a hard one. I'm going to say Last Minute Knitted Gifts because I like the variety of patterns. For magazines, my favorite for style is Rebecca (although again, I find the patterns are really difficult to understand.)

7. Your favorite knit-a-long?

I've never done one and I'm not quite sure how they work but if they have anything to do with deadlines...I don't want to know.

8. Your favorite knitblogs?

I don't get out much, so the few that I read are all my favorites! Misocrafty was the first knitting blog that I ever read and it really inspired me to get on the bandwagon. Joelene is always knitting and knitting and knitting and her enthusiasm and creativity get me excited to try new patterns and fun stuff, plus she's got the coolest blog name ever.

9. Your favorite knitwear designer?

Oh, I have no idea! Like I said earlier, I'm all over the place.

10. The knit item you wear most? Pictures, please!


I'm going to pretend that I'm answering this question from the future and say my UO shrug because I just know that I'm going to LOVE IT! That is, after I pull it apart and start all over again, spend another million hours knitting it up and sew it together.

Who shall I tag now?
Alexa and Amber, you're it!

I'm so retarded

So today I decided to measure my UO shrug to see how much more I had left to do and low and behold....I calculated the stitches wrong! You are supposed to measure the length from should to shoulder, add four inches and multiply that number by your stitch gauge. One would think that when your stitch gauge is 6, you would use that number....and yet for some reason I multiplied by 4! Now I have to start all over, and I already felt like it was taking me forever.

Maybe I'll start Matt's sweater instead....

Ditching school for the museum

Today I partially ditched school to go to the newly opened DeYoung Museum in Golden Gate park. I say partially because I was on a field trip for the first 40 minutes, but then I just didn't ever go back to school and I decided to stay and look around. It was worth it for many reasons but most of all because I'm just not that into school right now.

My Art History class went to the museum to see the Queen Hatshepsut exhibit that's there and it was pretty good. I was alot more interested in it since we've been studying Egyptian art, and I guess that was the whole point. After I was done there I explored the museum on my own and I took a picture of my favorite thing



I couldn't use the flash, so you'll have to forgive the quality. And of course I can't remember the artist's last name...but her first name is Ruth and she's from the Bay Area. She made these sculptures years ago by crocheting wire and working downward. I first saw them on a PBS special and I've been dying to see them in person. They have this really beautiful fluid quality to them that reminds me of jellyfish. Here's a close up of one of them



After I was done at the museum I continued my adventure by going to a fabric store that I've been wanting to visit called Satin Moon. I think I'm going to try and sew some Xmas gifts this year if I ever find time and I was happy to find some fabrics to inspire me. One is for an adult gift, and the monkey fabric is for a baby gift. I also got some bamboo purse handles so that I can make a project bag.



I can't wait to get started on this stuff, maybe after I finish a couple of the papers I've got to write....

Fun Weekend

We had a pretty action packed weekend this weekend, as compared to our normally home-bound ones. I also got a lot of time to knit my UO shrug, which made me very happy. I'm using a cotton from Schaefer yarns called Frida Kahlo combined with Kidsilk Haze. It's a really nice, soft fabric with some fuzz-factor to make it really girly. I think I'm going to like it alot. The body of the piece is done in a stitch called Mock Rib, and the effect is a really spongy stitch that looks like stockinette but it's actually composed of a 1x1 rib on the front and a purl and slipped stitch on the back. I really like the way it looks, but I'm worried that it's taking up a ton of yarn. Hopefully I'll have enough!

On Friday we went to see a band called Grupo Fantasma with a bunch of friends. They're our friend's favorite band from Austin so we always go with a big group when they're in town. It had been a long time since I've been dancing, but it was fun to jump around a bit.

Anyways, it's been brough to my attention that my blog is lame now because I never post...and I guess that I didn't need someone to tell me that for me to know it's true! I think I've got to work on posting more often, so hopefully you'll be hearing more from me in the future.
G

Finished Objects

Eliana's Baby Sweater
pattern by Debbie Bliss
yarn: Rowan All Seasons Cotton with Manos Del Uruguay Cotton Stria for the collar

Eliana's Bonnet
pattern from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts"
yarn: Manos Del Uruguay Cotton Stria for bonnet, GGH Leggaro? (or something like that) for the border

Despite all of my schoolwork and general business I've actually been knitting a little bit. These are some things that I finished several weeks ago but I accidentally left my camera at a friend's house so I've had to wait to show them off. I also finished my sister's scarf (still weaving in the thousands of ends), started a shrug, bought yarn to make Matt a man-sweater, and I'm still slowly working on my black and white feather and fan scarf. I really don't know the likelyhood of me finishing all of these projects and making some Christmas gifts, but I'm going to take the chance anyway.

I worked all weekend this weekend and I'm definitely feeling the crunch. I'm so behind on all of my reading! And my art projects are still eating into the time that I thought I could spend doing homework for other subjects. I really hate my schedule this semester. Speaking of which...it's time to leave for school.

I'm a dork

That's a Stork, if you're not sure

So I just have to tell all of you how much of a retard I am. This week I've done several really stupid things that I think I should share. I'll list them here since I tend to be a little wordy...
1. I have been calling my friend Delphine almost everyday to see if she had her baby. Today when I called her mom answered and although we had a bit of difficulty with the whole language thing (Delphine's mom is from France)I thought that I got the basic info I needed. From what I heard I thought that the baby was born yesterday, healthy, and I got Delphine's room number at the hospital. So this afternoon I go to visit and see the new baby and when I get there I realize that Delphine had the baby six hours ago, she just woke up from the general anesthesia, and she had not even gotten a chance to hold the baby yet. I felt HORRIBLE! I totally ruined their moment. I still feel really bad that I didn't understand her mom when I spoke to her on the phone.
2. On Wednesday night when I was rushing off to my nighttime drawing class I filled up my big Nalgene water bottle and put it into my $500. leather totebag WITHOUT CLOSING the lid at all! That was so stupid, I am still annoyed with myself. All my stuff was soaked and the bag was filled with water.
3. On Wednesday morning I bought some art supplies at the art store and then walked around a bit with my coworkers from the knitting store. About an hour later I freaked out that I had left my bag of purchases somewhere and went back to all the stores I had been to looking for my bag. When I got to the art store and realized they didn't have it I thought "Oh, well maybe I should check my purse" and low and behold....it was in there. A totally spacy move on my part, and the cashier thought I was retarded.
I hope that next week is better for me. At this rate I'm bound to accidentally cut off my hand or I don't know what.