Presh-ious Knitting

Here I yam!

2007-06-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, you forgot I even blogged anymore! You forgot I even HAD a blog. I get it. Stop it with the guilt trip, okay? :-)

I've been kinda busy finding myself a new way to pay da bills. Now that I'm all graduated (yippy!) I've been looking for a new job (because hey, everything else in my life has changed this year). And I've finally found one! I start next week, and I'm super-duper excited.

Back to da knitting - frankly I haven't had much time for it. And I don't have any new pictures because my camera is on the fritz. I can, however, tell you a little secret:

shhh.... come closer....I bought the yarn for this:

It's Eunny Jang's Print o' the Wave Shawl. On it's way to my apartment are 3 balls of KnitPick's Bare which is a fingering weight merino/silk. As the name implies, it comes undyed, so yes I'm even going to dye my own dang yarn!

I'm also working on writing up the pattern for a tank/tee shirt (I'm not 100% sure which it's gonna be yet) that I've been working on for the past couple weeks. After I finish that, and to give myself a little repireve from lace knitting, I'm gonna try to make up a pattern for a low v-neck sweater vest.

PS - Is anyone else in LOVE with Michael Buble? The song "Everything" off his CD Call Me Irresponsible makes me feel all girlie inside! Check it out!

To the victims of the Virginia Tech shootings:

2007-04-18T19:37:00.000-07:00

I feel the need to explain why I’m not more upset about your deaths. Please trust that it’s not because I don’t deeply regret that your lives were cut short and your brilliant futures were snatched from your hands by a madman. It’s not because I don’t appreciate how sincerely terrified you must have been, staring down the barrel of a gun with your classmates lying dead around you, the shots that took their lives still ringing in your ears. I really am sad; I just don’t have the emotional strength to get overwrought about it.

I think you would agree our generation has had to deal with some pretty tragic stuff in recent years: the Columbine massacre in 1999, September 11^th, 2001 and the military strikes that followed; the Iraq war, Hurricane Katrina and a plethora of other senseless murders, tragedies, scandals, and natural disasters. Not to mention the fact that the Cubs haven’t played a decent season in years.

And so now I’m tired. My heart has been rung out like a wet rag over the last eight years, while you and I were trying to make the difficult passage from teenager to adult. We were coming of age in an increasingly cruel world, and no matter how nice we were, how much time or money we donated, no matter how we voted or campaigned, how much we educated ourselves on the issues and discussed them, there was simply nothing we could do to make any bit of difference. That’s how it seemed, huh?

I imagine most of you were a lot like me. You were going to school not because your parents told you to, but because you had dreams of doing something significant with your lives. You wanted everyone to be proud of you, so you worked hard, smiled through a lot of tough times, tried to treat everyone with equal friendship and courtesy. You wanted to prove wrong those who called you the “boomerang generation”. And you did. Those who knew you closely have been singing your praises to the newspapers, as well they should. You were remarkable. You loved and were loved. You were everything that is good and decent in this world.

After Columbine, they put two police officers at the entrance to my high school and made us get id badges. For weeks after September 11^th, I dreams of smoky buildings and I couldn’t get onto an elevator. I was glued to my TV when we bombed Afghanistan and I made CNN my homepage when we went to Iraq. I sent money to the Red Cross and the Humane Society after Katrina and raged against the mismanagement of my country. And Monday morning, I cried in my car when I heard of your deaths on the radio.

But now I’m just numb. It doesn’t even register with me. The media has turned your school into a high school drama stage, your friends the actors and your death the climatic scene. And I can't watch one more minute or listen to one more analysis or read one more article about the details. He was sick and there was nothing to do to stop him, and that's all there is to it. They say the debate about gun controls has been reopened by your deaths, they’re arguing about whether we need more guns or fewer. I’m curious what you would have said. But I just don’t have any passion left in me right now, but someday I will again. I promise. Someday I will care again to live out the dreams I have, because I know that's all you wanted to do, and I am blessed to still have the chance. Rest in peace, you will be with us always.

Heard it through the grapevine

2007-02-22T08:43:00.000-08:00

I've got some big news...

Haha, just kidding. The real news is that Lion Brand is bringing back the much-coveted Cotton Ease Yarn in a spiffy new package:

As you may know, I have quite a collection of the "old" Cotton Ease, or at least I did until I finished ze honking blue swirl blanket. That's right folks, it's DONE. Proud mama pictures to follow...

The Slanket

2007-02-01T06:22:00.000-08:00

Karen mentioned this last night at Stitch n' Bitch, so this morning I had to look it up -

The Slanket looks like pure genius. It's basically a blanket with sleeves. See?

Brillant! Now, do you suppose could I knit one???? (evil laugh)

Now that I have time...

2006-12-28T05:33:00.000-08:00

I am going to read for myself more! I'm finally going to go pay my library fines and check out some non-required reading material. Here is my tenative list:

(update - ones bolded I have finished)

The Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, Annie Dillard

What If I had Never Tried It, Valentino Rossi

The Undomestic Goddess, Sophie Kinsella

In the Company of the Courtesan, Sarah Dunant

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Mark Haddon

Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norell, Susanna Clarke

Leap of Faith, Queen Noor of Jordan

Lucrezia Borgia, Sarah Bradford

Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran, Azadeh Moaveni

The Kite Runner, Khaled Hosseini

The Memory Keeper's Daughter, Kim Edwards

The Intellectual Devotional by David Kidder, Noah Oppenheim

People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present by Howard Zinn

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A Wrinkle in time by Madeleine L’Engle

The Screw-tape Letters by C.S. Lewis

Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Edith Grossman

We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live: Collected Nonfiction by Joan Didion

The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf

As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner

The Master Butcher's Singing Club, Louise Erdrich

The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde

My Antonia by Willa Cather

There are 25 books here, some classics and some new ones, hopefully I can get them all done this year.

My Buddy and Me!

2006-12-26T12:07:00.000-08:00

Look who I met last week!! We're BFF now. Excuse the slightly greasy hair on both of us - it was hot in that room! Go Team Vilsack!

Call Mrs Livings, Darcy is using math outside of class

2006-11-22T13:02:00.000-08:00

Wouldn't my math teacher be proud? I'm writing a pattern for a x-mas tree skirt out of my favorite stitch pattern and lots of math, math, math. I hate math. I'll probably not get started on this until January, but it's fun to dream, no??

Gobble, Gobble

2006-11-18T05:34:00.000-08:00

I'm back in my hometown for the week - it's Thanksgiving break, ya'll! I keep forgetting that next year around this time, I will not be getting a vacation, so I am trying to make the most of this one. Overall, I am pretty pumped about joining the rest of the adult workforce (mainly due to the fact that I know I have a job when I graduate). Here's why working is better than going to school:

1) The pay is better.

2) Better pay means better yarn I can afford

3) No homework

4) No homework means more time for knitting

5) I'm going to travel a lot for my job, which means lots of airplane rides which means even MORE knitting time!

The Blue Swirl Blanket is coming along, lots of ends to weave in even though I've already done a million. I'm a-working on a pink/pink sweater for myself at the moment, but I'm feeling pretty guilty about not getting any progress on hats for Ben and my little sister. The blanket for my friend who is getting married in December has been scratched - there's just way too much going on in my life! I'm also considering this:

in a dark grey color. I don't like the belt. I would probably put some kind of knit belt on it, with loops around. Pretty boring? Or way cool and I should definatley do it?

Dear Universe:

2006-11-15T06:10:00.000-08:00

Listen, I'm always really appreciative when you throw things my way, a five dollar bill in my coat pocket or a nice pen in the parking lot or even that parakeet we found in the backyard when I was little. I just tend to get pissed off when you take things from me. Like that cream sweater, remember? Or that heart pendant necklace? Those were nice things! And they were mine!

So I've got this small request, and I'm sure if you have any thing in that cold heart of yours, you'll let me have it back. It's a rather fabulous bamboo Clover needle size 8. I think I dropped it outside the Journalism building sometime last week. I'm not sure when. But listen, I really don't want to go find a new pair, cuz then I'll have one needle that can't do anything but I'll feel too guilty so I'll never throw it out thinking that one day I might stumble across it's mate.

Please, please, Universe, return my needle so I can finish my scarf!

Sincerely,

Darcy

Hello Stranger

2006-10-30T09:58:00.000-08:00

The Blue Swirl Blanket is almost big enough to wrap around two lovebirds snuggled up on the couch (apologies, I'll pause as you gag. Done? Okay.) Miss Blanket is getting a not-so-matching border of white cotton acrylic yarn found at Wal-Mart. Owell, it kinda gives it some depth, I guess. There is just not enough white Cotton Ease in the world to go around. Ho-hum.

In other news, I applied for graduation!! Yup, apparently paying an ever-increasing tuition for 4.5 years is not enough, they have get ya for an extra $50 before you leave. Did you know that in my 4.5 years since I started college, tuition in this state has DOUBLED!! But that's done and over with, so soon I will be holding my second well earned diploma (first was high school). I wonder if I can knit a cap and gown? :)

WIP Trifecta

2006-10-13T05:37:00.000-07:00

NOTE: this post was posted long after it was written because I"m a dork and I write posts put don't post them.

I've been giving the Blue Swirl blanket lots of sun and regular feedings from my precious stash of Cotton Ease. She sits in a basket by the denim slip-covered couch. I've discovered that I don't have enough C.E. to make the blanket nearly as large as I wanted, so I'm going to give her a big white trim. Expected completion date: Thanksgiving?

I've been working on and have almost finished a baby blanket for my high school friend who is about to have her first child. I had begun the baby version of the moderne log cabin blanket from the Mason Dixon book, but my 5 year old niece said she wanted it, so I started a new one. I'm having a little trouble with the cast off edge, but the rest of the blanket only took me about 3 weeks to finish (or about 14 car rides to and from school). Seriously, a record. Pictures will come as soon as it's gifted

To wrap of the trifrecta of WIP, I have a blue purse knit in a yarn that I've been stashing for like two years. The pattern is from the first Stitch n' Bitch book by Debbie Stoller, called the Chinese Charm bag. Have to sew the lining and attach the handles and I'm all done! :) Plenty of yarn left over though, what should I do with it?? Scarf? Matching mittens? Hat?

Am I crazy, or is this cute?

I see it in an purplish-grey Cascade 220 tweed. What do ya think? Please leave a vote in the comments.

Two Month Hiatus

2006-10-06T08:59:00.000-07:00

Did you miss me? Of course you did, my poor readers. I'm back at least sporatically. School and work and a needy boyfriend and a house of my own to clean have been keeping me very occupied. Also, my poor little camera is out of batteries. So no pictures. I'm sorry.

To keep you all happy while I get my shit together, here's a funny little youtube thingy that made me giggle. Later!

Fins to the Left, Fins to the Right...

2006-08-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Oh wow, I've been partying a little too hard. I've been drinking too much beer. I've been singing too many songs. I've been standing in front of too many speakers.

My brain. She is throbbing. So Thursday we were at the nasty gross-o-mundo fair rubbing elbows with the hillbillies of Eastern Iowa screaming our hearts out for Brooks and Dunn. Saturday night we were in Chicago to see Jimmy Buffett (go parrot-heads!). If you ain't never been to a Buffett concert before, let me caution you: do not expect to find anyone dressed as a normal human being. The guys look like girls, the girls look like mermaids, the little kids look like cheeseburgers. Oh, and watch out for sharks. See below:

And then LAST night we were back at the fair for Billy-I'm-Too-Sexy-For-My-Own-Good-Currington and Miranda-my-idol-Lambert. That girl has an awesome voice. Seriously. She's way cool, too, embrassased the crap out of some girl who lifted up her shirt while on her boyfriend's shoulders. Awesome.

The good news is that I've been knitting, too. Well, a little and it's going to have to come out because I don't like it, but I HAVE BEEN KNITTING! I'm trying to decide whether I have enough Rowan Cotton Glace to start this sexy little number:

It's Organzia from Glampyre. That girl's got talent. Mad Talent. Anyway, like I was saying about not being sure if I have enough cotton glace. I have 7 balls with 125 yards ea. The pattern calls for 5 balls of Rowan Cotton 4 ply which has 182 yards ea, but is knit on smaller stitches (yeah I'm gonna be sneaky and just knit a smaller size on the big needles because I'm a big baby English major who hates math). Will there be enough???

Must. Finish. Unpacking. First!

2006-08-03T05:35:00.000-07:00

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Something special happens on Saturday, but knowing that I won't be able to post that day, I'm gonna go ahead and talk about it today. So here goes:

It's my blog-o-versary, ya'll!!!!

That's right, kids, I've been doing this for one year now. Don't have a whole lot to show for it, but then again I haven't had a whole lot of time to spare. Actually I've kinda been feeling like a bad mother, they won't take my blog away for my neglence will they?

Speaking of feeling neglected, my knitting must be wondering why it's been stuck in a dark box for the last week. It was like the last box into the car, so of course now it's at the bottom of the pile in our "office". But I'm getting there, last night I cleared almost all the boxes out of the kitchen and living room. There's still a box of books and things that go on shelves that have yet to be hung. Tomorrow night I might actually put my clothes in my closet.

But tonight, I'm going to put on my turquoise earrings, cowgirl hat, bandana and see these guys:

old, but still kinda hot

at the fair. Don't usually visit the fair (it being full of greasy, so-over-tatooed-you-can't-see-their-actual-skin-tone boys who want to win you a sleezy teddy bear) but I'm making an exception to hear "You can't take the honkey-tonk out of the girl" live. And because Brooks has a huge crush on me. Can't help it, I just attract the contry boys like flies. Joe Don proposed last week, did I mention that??

He can melt me anyday.

Please wipe the drool from your keyboard and have a good weekend! :)

Today's post is brought to you by the letter "N"

2006-08-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

- As in No air conditioning in my new apartment. Actually, it has central air, but it's Not working. Of course we had to move in on the day it reached 101 degrees. I think I lost like 5 lbs in sweat alone.

- As in No way I can find a darn thing. The boxes, oh the boxes, they are everywhere. There is No end. Someone please come dig me out.

- As in Not cooking inside a Non-AC apartment. We are gonna check out all the cute little resturants in our area. First on the menu - The Beaver Den. It's a giant, green building that boasts "the best Dam pizza". Get it? Dam? Har, har.

-As in Not fair that the BF gets to sit at home all day while I have to be at work.

-As in No knitting. Sorry! Try back in a month, I might have time to finish a project by then.

Get Out There

2006-07-25T06:24:00.000-07:00

In the area of "If you haven't already, you should":

The Daily Knitter

Not quite sure how to take this news...

2006-07-20T09:12:00.000-07:00

In a Past Life...

You Were: An Evil Assassin.

Where You Lived: Thailand.

How You Died: Hung for treason.

Who Were You In a Past Life?

Pictures to verify that I do still knit...

2006-07-17T08:29:00.000-07:00

It's that time again, for a Guilt Trip*!

UFO** 1 - baby blanket for a friend who is expecting in October
Yarn: Bernat Cotton Tots Stats: 98% done, just need to finish border.
3 weeks to deadline.

UFO 2 - wedding afghan for a friend who is wed-ing in December
Yarn: ??? Stats: negative 10% done. Decided it needs to be done on #8s, so it's gonna get ripped and restarted.
5 months to deadline.

UFO 3 - Babette shurg for moi
Yarn: ??? and ??? Stats: 20% done, severly lacking ambition to start sleeves or fronts.
Time in drawer: 4 months, has a likely chance of becoming something else...

UFO 4 - Sunrise Circle Jacket from Interweave Knits Spring '05 issue
Yarn: Cascade 220 Heathers Stats: 15 % done, almost finished back
Time in drawer: yarn's been around since Janurary, made significant progress over vacation, I needed to find another ball in same colorway before I devoted more time to it

UFO 5 - Blue Swirl Blanket for new apartment
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease

UFO 6 - pink baby dress for Hannah Mae
Yarn: Bernat Cotton Tots (seriously, good stuff) Stats: 75% done, need to finish right side and sew on ribbon.

Of course I've always got a few rebellious quickie projects going, like my mitered squares, warsh cloths, and a scarf that I whipped up this weekend. They don't acutally count aganist me, though, since they're so small. Speaking of small, here's my niece sticking her fingers in the nose of my Ben.... aren't they just the cutest??

* - I need a kick in the butt every now and then to hold myself accountable for
those larger projects that I start, abandon, and let pile up in my room. Since I'm moving soon, I want to get them done and out of the way before someone else (cough, Ben, cough) notices my schizophrenic knitting habits.

** - How many people came here looking for UFOs?

And then I was found

2006-07-13T05:43:00.000-07:00

I'm back from The Knitting Frenzy vacation, however, I didn't get to work on the afghan I posted about last time. My mom decided to wait until her friend decorates her new house. I hope she waits until Christmas vacation to redecorate, because I'm not sure if I'll get another week to myself until then. My summer "break" is almost over, thus begins the downward spiral to the first day of school. Here's some stuff that is keeping me from my knitting:

1) New apartment. I have to live with a boy! We have no furinture!! Seriously, if it hadn't been for a very generous friend of my mom's, we'd be sitting indian style in front of the TV this fall. Donations to the Ben and Darcy Poor College Student Apartment Foundation are still being accepted.

2) Class. I know. I'm supposed to be on break from school. People, I just can't stay away. It's like a disease. Like if I don't write a paper every two weeks, I get hives. Anyway, I drive a long long ways two days a week to sit in a very boring business class that does not welcome back-row knitters (or soft-hearted English majors either). Reason number one (and two) why business classes suck.

3)Work. Don't wanna, but I hafta.

4)Sleep.

5)Exercise. Really cuts into the sitting-like-a-log knitting time. But hey! I've lost nine pounds so I guess it's kinda worth it?

I got a ton of work done on my blue spiral log cabin blanket done, however, the giant-knock-your-socks-off picture is coming soon. For now - chuckle at a terrible picture of my sister and I, all sweaty and cold after "running" (more like sauntering) the Race for the Cure.

Notice the pink scarves on our domes - these things were everywhere and now one of my favorite hair accessories.

Afghan

2006-06-22T05:56:00.000-07:00

So tomorrow I'm heading off for a vacation destination unknown (well unknown to you at least) to decompress for a little while. I've been comissioned by my mom to knit an afghan for a dear friend whose house recently burned to the ground (like literally to the ground, there are no walls left). This is my vacation knitting project: a neutral color afghan knit in a LARGE gauge so that it might be completed in one week.

This is Artic from Berroco.com. The colors do need to be neutral, since we don't know how my mom's friend will decorate her new abode. The pattern calls for #13s, so I might get this done, right?? Anyone with me?

Here's a close up of the stitch pattern. Maybe you remember I knit this pattern into a scarf with some ice blue Cascade 220 wool. Once you get the hang of it, the pattern is super-duper easy but interesting enough to keep my mind occupied though EIGHT HOURS of car-riding.

See ya'll in a week!

I'm an idiot

2006-06-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

Because I can't figure out how to put buttons in my sidebar. Someone please help me!

I know, I know

2006-06-13T18:32:00.000-07:00

It's been so long, I know. My parent's computer is a dinosaur, so I've had to find alternative means of connection. This is a quick post, so here are some projects I'm working on right now:

Everyone loves a mitered square! I've got more than this, but they were unavaliable for photos.

Warshcloths! From The Bible aka Mason Dixon Knitting Book, same as the mitered squares. These will match my sunflower-themed kitchen - I'm also working on a swiffer cover which I'll post the pattern to later.

And finally, again from the Mason Dixon Book of Wonders - a log cabin blanket for my living room. I'm trying to place the three blues in a spiral pattern that I saw somewhere online (can you see the sprial?) Also I'm making the "logs" one row larger every time, so that's why it looks a little wonky.

Sorry for the delayed post and the crappy pictures!

There's a stirring...

2006-05-24T12:52:00.000-07:00

So I cleaned out my closets/room/under the bed clusterfuck last weekend and found this:

Don't worry, there's more where that came from!

Opps, I forgot to take a before picture, but trust me that this purple yarn was once a sweater that my sister and I fought over back when I was an 'S' (oh those days gone by). I was about to toss said sweater into the consignment box when I noticed the softness of yarn, the non-pileing under arms, the thickness, the color OH MY! And I had a revelation: I'm gonna rip out this lovely, expensive yarn and turn it into this:

Cutaway Sweater from ChicKnits.com

only with 3/4 sleeves. And a pretty pink button. In a slightly larger size. My one concern: WILL THERE BE ENOUGH YARN??? I guess we'll see.

B-day Update

2006-05-11T10:38:00.000-07:00

So last Tuesday was my b-day! I'm old. Or at least I'm feeling old.

Here's what I got from my parents:

I'm a pretty lucky girl. It's a camera phone PLUS internet. I had no idea I needed this feature. But apparently I never lived until now. I am reminded of my English prof who says soon we won't interact with actual people anymore - it'll just be you and your computer screen/cellphone/tv. I think my prof needs some friends.

The BF got me an amazing white gold necklace. He was all worried about picking out something I would like, but he knows me well enough to know what I'd never be caught dead in. The necklace has a blue stone that matches my eyes. ISN'T THAT CUTE??

I finally dug myself out of my room and was able to start (oh don't look at me like that) another project, actually it's a revision of an earlier project. I'm going to give an update of "what's been done/what needs to be done" in my stash of UFOs. Stick around for all the gorey details.

Project Start-itis

2006-04-24T11:39:00.000-07:00

While I was supposed to be writing a paper this afternoon I whipped out my #7s and cast on the first square for this:

It's the Moderne Baby Blanket from the Mason Dixon Book of Wonders. It's for my highschool gal-pal who is expecting a new little one in October. I'm so excited! I'm using the Bernat Cotton Tots leftovers from my niece Hannah's baby blanket, it's the nicest cotton baby yarn you can get for $3 a skien. That dark blue you see is actually a deep purple, what can I say my camera sucks. Add that to my b-day list!!

I promised myself I would stop after the second square and write another page of my paper. Two more weeks, two more weeks, two more weeks of school....