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Feb 01 - Feb 14, 03

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Friday, February 28, 2003

I fininished my sunset socks. I used Wendy's generic toe-up pattern. Thanks Wendy, it totally worked! I was surprised that the heel is actually done the same way as the toes. So that's easy, you only have to learn one new thing. The thin needles (#2) are really hard on my wrists, though. Maybe sock knitting is not the best thing for me. If you can tell if I did it right or wrong, any comments are welcome.

(Note to self: learn how to make a larger picture pop up in a separate window.)

ps - yes, Stella loves cute stuff, but this page is getting way too pink for her! So she'll make it look a little different next week.

posted by Stella 5:45 PM

Wednesday, February 26, 2003

Stella finally walked on the beach last night She needed mental health from work. Here is what she saw.

And here is what was the other direction:

A little better than 4 feet of snow, no?

 

posted by Stella 6:02 PM

Tuesday, February 25, 2003

I have Fuzzies!!! Yay! Worked like a charm in Jane's washer and it proves I'm not felting challenged. I still think it's funny - here I am trying so hard to get something to happen that I usually try to avoid at all cost. I took them out of the washer and put them on over the socks I was wearing. It stretched them just a little, but then they molded themselves perfectly to my feet. They even have arches. Then I set them next to the heater over night.

They are made from Fuchsia Lamb's Pride.

posted by Stella 10:08 AM

Monday, February 24, 2003

What a horrid day... but I'll spare you and won't allow this blog to degenerate into the "I Hate My Job Blog". Suffice to say I had a drink for lunch today and that helped me through it. Suddenly I cared a lot less!

I never made it to GGP yesterday, it became foggy and I gave felting another try. The laundry still had only cold water (really, I don't live in the ghetto...) so I called and complained to an answering machine. I really want my $9.25 back. I then, craftily & food therapeutically, made some snickerdoodles, offered them to my neighbor in exchange for letting me use her washer once, and she said yes. Yeah, Jane! If she likes the fuzzies, I'll make her a pair, too.

And here, another shameless cat picture of my snugglebuddy, Taseti:

Sorry, comments don't seem to be working... :(

 

Sunday, February 23, 2003

Am I going to work? Heck, NO!... the sun is shining, and I'm going to Golden Gate Park instead to listen to the drummers (like a hippie chickie).

Stitches was cool! Very educational. It was good to be around all the beautiful colors and textures. To be able to touch all the soft yarn. I learned so much about the different types of roving & sheep breeds. Everyone was happy and friendly. I'm officially in love with Lorna's Laces and with Koigu. I found out where all the yarn stores are in the area, and I got to look inside the books I've been wishing for. I love Sweaters from Camp (for when I'm knitting queen).

I bought a hand spindle from Louet, a niddynoddy from Ashford and some Lorna's Laces sock yarn. And, tada... here is some sock progress!

posted by Stella 9:20 AM

Friday, February 21, 2003

I'm going to Stitches tomorrow! Yay! I told one of the boys at work, and he said, he could just see the old ladies "oh my goodness!". We shall see. There will be cool, hip chicks there, I know it!
I finally found the Rowan #25 magazine I have searching high & low for. A store called The Websters in Ashland, OR had it. The best part is, they were selling the mag for $20, not $25, like everybody else I found. I feel v. smug. I saved money for another ball of yarn. So now I can make the lacy cardie I love from ChicKnits site, and I can look for deals on the yarn tomorrow.

TGIF. Work got a little easier today. My attitude got better, too. I think I may need to work a couple of hours on Sunday, just so I won't be under the gun next week. The problem is, I don't get paid OT, but life would be a lot easier next week if I got a little ahead.

I've been updating the rest of my site this week, too. If you cruise back to www.gratefulcad.com, I tried to jazz up the first page and you should see the ocean now. But, I suck at html. I can see the ocean on my work compi, my office mate could see it after he hit F5, and my other friend, in FL, could see it but it took forever. And when I'm at home, I only get a black background. This makes me want to whine.

The other thing I have to learn is how to archive. I left blogger.com behind, and I'm just using Dreamweaver now. I think that there is something like a java script that does the archive, but how do I get it to work is a complete mystery to me... hints of any sort are truly appreciated, but keep it really lowbrow, ok?

On the wrist front - thank you for the exercises, Loulou! I went to the gym, too, and worked off some of that tension, and I became totally aware of tense I was getting when I was knitting those socks. So now, I'm able to relax, and I feel less pain already (a 2 on the 1-10 pain scale, it was at a 7).

posted by Stella 9:16 PM

Thursday, February 20, 2003

Work is being a bitch... so I have to get my blogging in early in the morning. I met up with the city spinners Tuesday night and got my first try with a spinning wheel. It was very difficult. I think I'll stick to the spindles for a while. Notwithstanding I don't have $300 to spend on a wheel. I'm stilll learning reallyreally basic stuff anyway. Like, how to get the singles off my spindle and into a center pull ball in a easy way. Someone tell me, please! And how to get the right amount of spin. I'm not psyched about it right now. But I'd much rather do that than go to work and deal with CAD.

I started some very cute socks! The color looks like sunset. My wrists hurts when I work on them, though. Maybe I'm doing too much pinching (I did have that carpal tunnel and I know when I should stop but I love knitting - it's good for my head.) V. proud that I learned the toe-up method and the short row heel. I want to share this with my Oma and my Aunt soon.

posted by Stella 6:46 AM

Tuesday, February 18, 2003

Knitting & Spinning Progress - I started knitting the Kool-Aid sweater. It's my first homespun wool and to be honest, it's not exactly soft&snuggly. This is going to be the type of sweater you wear on top of other layers. I'm using a Gap fleeze sweater as the pattern.

I have 2 full spindles to be turned into center-pull balls, 2 center-pull balls to be plied, and all the Kool-Aid I need.

So I was going to keep myself busy with spinning & plying but got a big jones for knitting. Especially after I saw the beeeautiful socks by Mary over at knitting notes, I just had to start some socks. I'm going to follow Wendy's toe-up pattern and I found affordable practice sock yarn, too.

Here is a pic of the pretty blue merino wool I started to spin below (02/02/03).

posted by Stella 2:19 PM

Sunday, February 16, 2003

Peace everyone ... big anti-war march is happening as I type, and I wish I were there. I wanted to go meet the people I met last time at Spinning for Peace but something sad came up and they are not going to be there. My alternative was to meet some very old friends from Oakland and march with them. But there are some very old issues to be cleared up first with the woman who asked me to come to that, I'm not going to gloss over them in the name of peace, what she & I need is some communication first... What do I learn from this? Try to organize other friends for the next march & make reliable w/e plans earlier in the week? Feeling exceedingly geeky... .

posted by Stella 10:46 AM

 

Saturday, February 15, 2003

Stella's still feeling under the weather... coincidentally it is really foggy, typical San Francisco weather. No wonder people invented tie-dyeing here. You gotta get some color into your life. I decided on something to do with the Kool-Aid and the white wool I have. I'm going to keep spinning & dyeing small batches, and at the same time, start knitting a sweater out of it. So I don't have to spin up 2 lbs of it first, and then dye it all. It'll be little baby steps and that will be doable along with my j.o.b. plus I can do what I feel like at any time. <chinacat smile>

Now. My comments on Vogue Knitting. Is some of the stuff in there just plain scary? Stuff you would have dismissed in Junior High as too ugly? I mean, the lacey pants? Gawd! Who and when and where could you wear these?! Knitting is supposed to be all hipcool&trendy but I guess you better watch out, some of that stuff is hella cheesy. OK, taste is a matter of taste. I did buy it b/c I like the peasanty cardie on page 61 and the little tank with the coins on page 81. But the one on page 25? A definite NO.

I was torn between VK and Interweave Knitting (preserving $$$). I like the cover cardie on IK. Very pretty and retro-y. Also the corset type sweater, but I realized I only like it because I want a real corset (that may seem like a totally un-feminist desire, but it's just a little kinky San Francisco thing, hehehe). Anyway.

I searched for more Kool-Aid and found the best selection at the corner store. Big DUH. Of course, that's where it would be. Not at the organic grocery store - did they look surprised when I asked for it!

posted by Stella 5:04 PM

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