Running and Reading

As my brother pointed out in the comments to yesterday's post, he did not recommend those Malabrigo Hand Thingies to me while we were staying at our parents' house over the holidays...however, as Jacey correctly pointed out, she did. I probably read her blog post at my parents' and mixed up the source in my head. Thanks, Jacey! I'm looking forward to knitting those up as soon as I finish a couple of sweaters. :-P

Now, onto the running and the reading. See, I love to read and I used to do more of it (before knitting became my leisure activity of choice). I also like running and want to do more of it. Last spring I bought a used treadmill that I found on craigslist. It's the 3rd used treadmill I have owned, and they always work just fine for me. I know a lot of "serious" runners scoff at running on a treadmill, but I have several reasons for it:

1) I have exercise-induced asthma and hate to be out in the middle of nowhere if I can't breathe and need to grab my inhaler and lie down.
2) I have many outdoor allergies which, mixed with my asthma, make running outside difficult.
3) I don't have a running buddy out here (I used to go running with my sister in Minneapolis), and I tend to think of outdoor running as more of a fun social activity.
4) During most parts of my life, the only time I can go running is in the evening after it's already dark out.
5) I used to live in Minneapolis where, let's face it, I was a wuss and wasn't about to go running outside for about 5 or 6 months out of the year.
6) If I don't have a running buddy, I kind of prefer to do something constructive and/or entertaining while I run. By that I mean watch a movie or read a book.

Aha! Now we get to the reading part of the post! When we moved down here to San Diego last summer, we found ourselves with a spare room that we decided to use to store our bikes/treadmill/random exercise gear. It works wonderfully for that purpose since we can line the 5 or 6 bikes up on one side of the room, put my treadmill on the other side, and still have enough room left over to lay out mats for stretching/weights, etc. I'm happy that I don't have to keep the treadmill in the living room any more, but that also means that I can't watch movies while I run. For a while I was catching up on all the "recommended reading" books from grad school that I bought but never had time for. Everyone needs a break from the serious stuff though, so lately I have been reading...

*gulp!*

...the Twilight books.

I know. I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, even though everyone else in the world has been reading them too. They're so not my style! Vampires? Teen romance? Not my thing. And no offense to the people out there who love them, but...I kinda think they're crap. There. I said it. I'm really sorry, but I don't understand how it's romantic for some creepy guy to hang around and watch you sleep even before you start dating. And what ever happened to females being strong and capable, and not needing a man to protect and save them? And talk about a horrible example of extreme co-dependence. I've known couples like that in real life and man, do they always have problems. Plus, they always seem kind of creepy and maybe a little off in the head. Don't even get me started on the thinly-veiled pro-abstinence stance throughout the book. (Not that I think all high schoolers should be jumping into bed with each other, but it's a bit heavy handed.)

So why am I still reading them? I don't know! I read the first few chapters of the 4th book and stalled for a while, so I think I'm just going to give it back to the library unread. When I went in to pick it up a few weeks ago, the woman who checked it out to me said, "What are you going to do now?" I had no idea what she was talking about so I told her I was running to the grocery store next door. "No," she said, "what are you going to do when it's over? I started them all over from the beginning." I didn't want to make her feel bad, so I just said, "Well I only read them when I run on my treadmill so hopefully that will make it last longer". Then I scurried out of there as fast as possible.

Now obviously, these books were not written with me in mind as the target audience, and I should be judging them on their merits according to that audience. This was a big problem I had when I was reviewing scripts and books for the film companies I worked at: I would read some chic lit book, or some raunchy frat boy comedy and absolutely hate it, but I would be forced to write a review based on its merits according to a specific audience. However, for the reasons I stated above, I still think these books are not exactly presenting a very favorable example of characters or relationships and before anyone starts pointing out that it's just light reading and therefore I should lighten up, I will say: Dude, I know! That's why I'm all done talking about them.

I think I'll go back to ignoring the popular books and stick to real literature. I may seem like a book snob, but it's my time and I'll read what I please! That said, if anyone has read any good books lately that you want to recommend, I'm all ears! :)

Ooops...I DO Have New Yarn!

Thanks so much, everyone, for your kind comments about my Coraline! I have a feeling that sweater will be getting a lot of wear. :)

OK, so remember when I said that I wasn't going to buy any new yarn? Well, I may have forgotten to mention a couple of teeny tiny yarn acquisitions that I made while I was in Minnesota...

First off, I paid a visit to my favorite LYS, The Yarnery, and couldn't leave without getting something so I picked up one skein of Malabrigo worsted in Autumn Forest. I hate buying yarn without a project in mind, and since it took me so long to find anything to do with the last random skein of Malabrigo I had, I really shouldn't have picked it up. But I have a soft spot in my heart for Malabrigo (who doesn't?) because it was the first yarn I bought when I was learning how to knit and I fell in love right then. (I am NOT counting the 2 skeins of some nasty Plymouth variegated that I used to make my first pillow cover!) But never fear! My brother came to my rescue with a pattern that uses Malabrigo in the exact same colorway! Malabrigo Hand Thingies saved the day! I'm keeping the yarn handy for the inevitable point when I am a little tired of working on the two sweaters I have on the needles right now.

My other acquisition really is teeny-tiny. My brother brought me a little gift home from school: this petite ball of Trendsetter Yarns Angora. In white! I was just thinking about how I have never used white yarn, and I should really do something about that. This little puff of yarn has only 22 yards of pure angora, but it is so soft and fluffy and weighs practically nothing at all. Too cute! He told me that the LYS workers said that people mostly use it for Santa beards and other crafty things, but I don't like little knick knacks and cutesy things so this ball will most likely sit in my stash and be taken out to be petted every once in a while. I actually had a dream about it while I was staying at my parents' over the holidays: I dreamed that I woke up and my brothers had taken this little puff ball and USED IT ALL UP! My nasty brothers knitted up all of my angora and I was SO MAD at them for it!

No good, worthless, stupid, nasty boys. Worst. Brothers. Ever.

My Coraline

Finally, a post about my favorite FO ever, my Coraline sweater!

As soon as Ysolda published her pattern, I knew I wanted to make this sweater for myself. I bought the pattern right away, but then had to search for the perfect yarn. I ran across Debbie Bliss Prima online early last year and for some reason I needed to make this sweater with that yarn. But being in grad school, I wasn't about to pay full price for anything so I had to wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, in August, I sold my car and decided to use some of the money to buy the yarn and just my luck, I found it on clearance online!

Actually, more in keeping with the kind of luck I tend to have, I ended up waiting several weeks for the yarn to get to me because the online shop (run by one woman) did NOT send it out within 24 hours, as the website claims, did NOT send me tracking information, when I called and finally got through to the woman (who did NOT answer the shop phones when her website said she would be available) I was told that it should be arriving any day. Really, she had mislabeled the package and it got sent back to her, then re-sent to me. Frustrating? You bet!

After finishing off a couple of other WIPs, I finally started my Coraline at the very end of October. Let me just say that I looooooove this pattern. Everything is finished as you go, including hems for the bottom, attached i-cord for the sleeves, etc. Because it is just straight stockinette all the way up with no waist shaping or increases for the sleeves, this should have been a quick knit. Instead, I started getting bored with it and frustrated with the yarn so it took much longer to finish than it should have.

A word about Debbie Bliss Prima: this yarn is 80% bamboo, 20% wool. The end product is very soft and drapey, and surprisingly warm. However, I was completely disgusted with the number of knots in every skein. Each skein (of the 13 I used) had at least two knots, if not more. Some of them even had random lengths of yarn that were no more than a couple of yards long. Imagine my confusion when I was searching for the end to start a ball and ended up holding onto five. Five ends?!? In one ball?!? To make matters worse, I was worried about running out of yarn and I had to waste precious inches and time weaving in ends as I went. Plus, since the sweater is solid stockinette, those ends aren't easy to hide! I have to admit that my care paid off because they are not visible unless you're looking for them (the black color also helps), but man, what a pain! This is only my second experience with Debbie Bliss yarns, but I can guarantee that I will not be wasting my money on them again. For something with a premium price, I expect a better product. My apartment is now officially a Debbie-Bliss-Free Zone!

Sorry for the rant. I just want you to be warned. ;-) Maybe this will help y'all with your "mindful stashing" or "slow stashing" or whatever the proper term is for how everyone is treating their yarn purchases this year.

I finished the sweater up on December 12 and had just enough time to block it and let it dry (which took days) before I headed up to Minnesota for Christmas. I'm so happy I had it with me because it looks and fits just perfectly and goes with so many dressy or casual things. :)

Bottom line: LOVE the pattern. LOVE the sweater. My favorite FO yet!

Details (and more pics) on Ravelry
Pattern: Coraline by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Prima (blech!)
Mods: Lengthened arms and body, no buttons

New Year, New Stuff

As promised, this post is a little update on new knitting-related stuff I have acquired. No, I did not go overboard and buy a lot of yarn or anything, but it's fun (for me) anyway!

First off, my amazing husband, The Brain, got me a Namaste Malibu bag for Christmas! It's not quite as bright green as it looks in the photos--it really is a nice, sedate olive color, which is exactly what I had wanted. (It helps to leave magazine clippings on the gifter's desk with the color choice circled and several shop choices highlighted.) I loooooooove this bag, and I don't usually carry my knitting with me anywhere, but for some reason I had to have it. Right now it's sitting on my couch, holding my current WIP. I can imagine carrying it around as a regular purse, but since I'm not much of a KIPer (by choice--I just love knitting in solitude on my couch, generally), it probably won't be used the way it was intended too much.

Secondly, when I returned home from the cold and snowy Minneapolis winter, I found a package from Alana at the Never Not Knitting podcast at my door. Yippee! She had a blog contest a couple weeks ago, and I won! Inside the package was a copy of the latest Interweave Knits (my favorite knitting magazine) and a skein of what I think is her own handspun. Thanks, Alana! I tried to get a close-up of the yarn, but I need more practice with my camera because it kept coming out blurry, but those colors are so bright and spring-like that I think they're perfect for driving away winter blahs. I can't wait to find just the right project for it! If you haven't checked out the Never Not Knitting blog or podcast (linked from blog) yet, you really should. Alana is so relatable with her projects and her yarn choices, and her little daughter is just the cutest model ever!

And finally, my latest acquisition also involves a magazine review. I was in the bookstore the other day picking up a copy of the latest Knit.1, when I inexplicably grabbed the winter issue of Verena as well. I first heard about this magazine when their fall issue was hitting the newsstands, and since I'm always interested in checking out new stuff, I picked up a copy. For those of you who are not familiar with this magazine, all I know about it is that it has been published in Europe for a while now, and the latest issue is only their third in North America.

I don't know how I feel about this magazine. On the one hand, each issue is stuffed with patterns, and many of them are cute. But on the other hand, there are so many patterns crammed in with no real information about them (and the designers' names are conspicuously absent). The end effect is a blizzard of patterns that makes it hard to focus on any one piece that I would want to make. They have the same ads that are found in other knitting magazines, but they also have "advertorials", in which yarn companies pay more for an ad that reads more like an editorial, and they also highlight designer clothing and accessories that are used in their photo shoots. It feels like I am reading a giant billboard, rather than a magazine interested in its content.

I have not made any of their patterns, and I have not scouted out anyone who has on Ravelry so I don't know what the pattern-writing quality is. My final judgment is that I probably will not be purchasing this magazine in the future, mostly because there are so many other cute patterns out there that are designed by people that I want to support, not this anonymous advertising mill. But on the plus side, each magazine features over 50 patterns so if you just want a wide variety of options for a mere $7, I say go for it.

Wahoo! No More 2008!

Not that 2008 was a particularly bad year, it was just...hectic. But looking back on it, what year isn't hectic? Here are the major things I accomplished this year:

1) Completed a grueling internship in Hollywood
2) Wrote my thesis and finished grad school
3) Moved to San Diego
4) Survived six months (and counting) of no work, but several hours a day of trying to find work and all that entails
5) Survived a visit by the in-laws

Hmmm...most of that stuff happened in the first half of the year. And it's not all that exciting. But I was sure busy for most of it! This is off-topic, but I used to work for a graduate program in psychology, and one day just for fun I took some kind of stress test in which you get a certain amount of points for having gone through certain life events in the past 12 months. Major events like getting married, moving to a new city, switching jobs, the death of a loved one, etc. were given the most points. I forget all the details, but there were "healthy" levels of stress and you were supposed to try to stay within the point count for those levels. Anything above those levels was considered extreme and a person who had these elevated stress levels was supposed to do whatever they could to reduce the stress. I scored hundreds of points above the healthy level, and going back year by year, it was clear that I had scored well above healthy for as far back as I could remember.

At the time, I was quite proud of myself for handling stress so well. Now that I look back on it several years later, having had what would be considered "extremely" stressful years in the interim as well, I have come to the decision that that's just normal life, and that my life is no more or less stressful than anyone else's.

Just take care of yourselves is all. :)

I also knitted a lot more than I ever have before, completing 54 projects in all (not counting one adult sweater that is almost done). This includes 8 scarves, 6 pairs of mittens/gloves, 12 hats, 8 accessory/misc. projects, 2 full-size lace stoles, 3 baby sweaters, and 7 adult sweaters. My knitting goals for 2008 were simple: make a sweater that actually fits (done, done, done, done, and done), and do some colorwork (also done, done, done, and done).

In 2009, I would like to:

1) Complete an adult-size colorwork sweater (which would actually be done by now, except that I am still waiting on the yarn I ordered back in August).
2) Knit more lace...I love knitting lace and I don't really know why I don't do it more often.
3) Use up all the yarn I have in my stash at present. I don't think this will be too hard since my stash is manageable by comparison, and I still don't have a job. (No extra cash makes spending money a bit of a problem, therefore I must knit with what I have.)
4) Knit one thing from each of the pattern books that I had to have, but which have since languished on my shelves. This may be a bit difficult.
5) Try my hand at designing a garment for myself.

These aren't hard and fast goals that I will be checking back in on throughout the year, but I am a very goal-oriented person, and I like to set challenges for myself. It's also nice to see that there are still plenty of things to accomplish and learn.

Happy New Year to everyone! Sorry for the lack of pictures in this post, but...I got a new camera for Christmas! Yay! I'm still trying to figure out how to work the new software and all that jazz, but I am planning on my next post, all about my new knitting-related acquisitions. Stay tuned!

Gross. Just gross.

Hi all. I was feeling too lazy to post today, but then I found a silverfish running all over inside the box of crackers I was eating out of, and since that was supposed to be my lunch and I have nothing else to eat in the apartment, I'm blogging instead of eating. Good times.

Great. I just linked to a Wikipedia article which states that silverfish consist on a diet of carbs, particularly starches. Like my crackers. Bastards.

We have no food left in the apartment because we're heading out tomorrow to spend Christmas with my family. In the Twin Cities. Yes, the same cities that are supposed to get their share of the ginormous snow storm tomorrow. I'm trying to mentally prepare myself for being stranded in one of any random Midwestern airports for an unpredictable amount of time. I'm also planning on arming myself with plenty of entertainment options and food. Those crackers were going to go with me, but now they're in the trash.

Speaking of nasty bug infestations, we bought a new pot for our growing hibiscus a month ago and got a special treat along with the new potting soil: fruit flies! (Or some little flying bug. I'm not an entomologist so I don't really care what they are.) They have been EVERYWHERE around the apartment ever since, and they seem to prefer faces. The Brain tried spraying the plant with Raid a couple of times but it wasn't working. So yesterday I coated the plant and the soil with the spray and left it out in back by the washing machine overnight. I'm going to give it one more night out there and then hopefully the pests will be gone. At this point, I don't care if it kills the plant. No plant? No more bugs! Bugs are a serious pain in the ass.

On a happier note, I finished a few more projects:

Pattern: Traveling Vines Scarf by Cari Luna
Yarn: Shibui Sock in some kind of purple-ish colorway with the poetic name of 229
Notes: Boring pattern--I think I'm done with scarves for quite a while. The yarn was heavenly soft and squooshy though!























Pattern: White Witch Mitts by Laura Rintala
Yarn: Knit Picks Telemark in Skyline, Colonial Blue, Snow Leopard, and Grey Wolf
Notes: My colorwork is getting looser, so that's good, but I still don't know how to prevent the two strands from twisting around each other. So annoying!

I also just finished up a hat out of Malabrigo and am going to cast on for a second one, just to use up the yarn. I finished up a pair of booties last night but forgot to take a photo. More later. Oh! I also finished up my Coraline and I loooooove it, but it deserves its own post, so more about that later too. I also knit up most of a Central Park Hoodie in a few days, but once more seem to be in a problem with yarn amounts...it may need to go hoodless. More later on that, too.

I don't think I'll be posting while I'm away for the rest of December. I'm going to try to be better about posting my projects in the new year. I think my main problem is that my camera is a pain in the ass and pictureless blogs are no fun, so I tend to avoid taking pictures and as a result have nothing to show in my blog. Who knows? Maybe Santa will finally bring me a new camera this year. ;-)

I'll leave you with some pics from La Jolla last month. Happy Holidays, everyone!

I Survived the In-Law Invasion of 2008!!!

That's right, folks. I survived my very first ever visit by the in-laws last week. I think the time leading up to the visit was so much more nerve-wracking than their actual stay, so that's something to keep in mind for next time, I guess. They informed us of their impending invasion from Montreal about six months ago so I've been dreading it since we moved down here to San Diego.

And it's not even that my in-laws are horrible people. They're not! They're perfectly lovely and kind and generous and they made themselves as scarce as possible by taking themselves out to do touristy things and were very clean and quiet around the apartment. But see, here's the thing: I just didn't know them very well and I already really don't like people staying at my apartment, so people I don't know very well (and with whom I am obligated to have a relationship) make me particularly nervous. Why didn't I know them very well? THAT'S a story that coincides well with our anniversary, which also happened to be last week. (At this point, I need to request that you excuse my hair in these photos. I couldn't find a single person in Pittsburgh who knew how to cut hair, although I'm sure they exist. Plus I was traveling and forgot half my hair stuff. Gimme a break.)

Three years ago, in September, The Brain and I met in Minneapolis and started dating. He brought me up to Montreal to meet his parents the following summer, before I moved away for grad school. We had a nice dinner on their back deck, overlooking the nearby apply orchard.

Two years ago, I was out in Pittsburgh for the first year of my grad program while The Brain was back in Minneapolis (my home town) for the final year of his post-doc. He came to visit me in September for our one-year anniversary (of dating) and over pita and hummus at the local Middle-Eastern chain restaurant, we decided to get hitched. (Yeah I know, so romantic. :-P)

Anyway, two months later we headed to New York City over Thanksgiving and got married in the courthouse. Then we took ourselves out for lunch, bought a wedding cheesecake at the deli near our hotel in Times Square, and called our families. (Hey, it doesn't work for everyone but we had a blast and avoided all the unnecessary crap that can surround a big wedding.) Keep in mind that at this point, I had still only met his parents that one time. After Thanksgiving weekend was over, The Brain went back to Minneapolis and I returned to Pittsburgh. We didn't get to live together for the first seven months that we were married. :(

That Christmas, The Brain and I traveled back to Montreal to spend a couple days with his parents and celebrate the wedding with them. That was the last time either of us saw them until we picked them up at the airport a couple weeks ago. I was nervous because I had no idea what my in-laws would be like. Would they be nit-picky and critical? Would they see a piece of dust and think I forced The Brain to live in a pig sty? What would they think of my yarn stash? Would they think I was lazy and obsessed? I still haven't found a job (not my fault!)--would they think I was content to sit around doing nothing while their son went off to work every day and supported me? And perhaps the most important worry of all: Oh dear god, what are they going to think of that horrible stain in the shower that the previous tenants left for us?!? (Magic Erasers are miracles, that's all I gotta say.)

They left early in the morning on Thanksgiving. We had a lovely visit, we celebrated our second anniversary with them, and we're even talking about going on a holiday cruise together sometime in the future (the far future). I obviously survived because I'm here to talk about it (phew!) and now I can turn my attention to other things because this is supposed to be a knitting blog, right?

I have been knitting up a bunch of stuff for my fam; not for Christmas, but because they bought the yarn and they still live in Minnesota and are cold, dammit! And so I present to you:

The Quickie Parade of FOs!
click links for Rav page and notes

Pattern: Melon Pattern for a Shawl or Scarf by Jane Sowerby
Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Paris Night
















Pattern: Traveling Stitch Legwarmers by Lisa R. Myers
Yarn: Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in Butterfly Blue
















Pattern: Green Honey Man-Scarf by Mary Townsend
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 in Medium Heather Gray
















Pattern: Lettuce Leaf Scarf by Janice Lynn
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Paints












Pattern: Elm Row Scarf by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Wagtail Yarns Kid Mohair Lace in Sage