Stella Knits

I'm reviewing my post from Tuesday, and I'm thinking, I hope nobody thinks that cat is a stalker. He's not. (Just a big fat orange kittie.)

Someone special earned big huge brownie points and a gold star for writing me a review which positively lifted my spirits (but is xrated so can't be repeated here) before I had the work review. That one went ok as well. I was the last one of the day, and my reviewers were kind and honest. I think they were tired (considering the 3hr east coast jetlag). I got to air my issues and left feeling pretty well. On my way out, I rode my bike down the aisle (in the office) which elicited a "you are cute" - good review. I think I'd rather have them adore my professional savvy, but hey....

Ahem. Then, I had a 48hr Thanksgiving date. It was fantastic. I had naan and curry and it was delivious/devilicious/delicious. Mango lassi, vegetable curry, tandoori chicken, naan & other Indian bread. You would think that you could live of love but food helps. Trust me. So later on, when the only restaurant open was Denny's, we went there for our turkeyetc. It was GREAT. Just because the atmosphere was fun. Everybody seemed to be very happy to be there. I was, anyway. Besides that, we did all our favorite Thanksgiving things. I'm thankful. And grateful. I'm ______ (you fill in the blank).

I have not knitted a lot lately. (obviously).

Thank you for your kind remarks, Mariko, Rachel and Caroline! I did wear the lucky shoes!

posted by Stella 1:07 PM

Taseti, who is a dedicated blogger, wanted me to post this picture of himself to express his devotion to Miss Super Egplant:

He is covered up by a Haiku sweater, which I knitted during an attack of startitis while waiting for the Koigu. I love the little girl in the picture but I think I'll rip this, because I don't know if Cascade 220 is soooft enough for babies (like my little niecie).

Then, everything changed and the Koigu arrived. I love it so. Here is my troglodyte attempt at Photoshopping a cool picture of the Charlotte's Web beginning:

That's Matt's color magic!

In the meantime, I have gotten up to the third color. I'm working with the world's kinkiest needle (why didn't I get a Crystal Palace one?!).

What else is up? I have my review tomorrow, or Monday, and then we have the company Xmas dinner. I don't know which would be better, review before or after Thanksgiving? It does not really matter, because I'm spending Thanksgiving with my favorite person, and whatever they say to me in the review, it won't matter at ALL.

My bike had to stay over night at the bike shop. I missed it. Now it has a new front derailleur to prevent my chain from popping off.

And I bought some new shoes - 2 pair of Kenneth Cole Reaction.... mmmmmh I have the hippest feet!

posted by Stella 3:35 PM

I'm sorry, gentle reader, to have left you with that graphic entry for an entire week. The last seven days in recap - worked like a slave. Then I had a 24 hour "date" from Friday at 6pm to Saturday at 6:22 pm in the BART. This guy is just so sweet. He called me at 8pm just to let me know he had a wonderful time and hopes to see me again soon. If you could see my face today you'd think I'm on E. I still can't believe it. I'm shaking my head at myself and laughing.

Besides the hell at work, the Koigu came! YES!!! Part of my frustration this week was not being able to work on the Charlotte's Web because I was just so exhausted after I came home. I have to work off the work stress at the gym, so I'd come home at like 9 - 10 pm, unwind, go to bed too late, be late the next day at work, stay 10 hours, repeat. And people wonder why I'm not all supersmiley. Anyway. I finally learned the repetition, and now I can just knit & knit on it, and trip on the beautifulness of the colors. Very very groovy. The perfect hippie knitting project. Not the most easily to understand, but I figured it out. I can see where shawl making is addicitive.

My goal for today: get my bike brake fixed & go to knitting group. See if there is an Xmas present for my parents at the bike store. :) In general, just chill and don't think about Monday.

posted by Stella 1:05 PM

It's a beautiful day outside and I'm feeling pukey. How unfair. I wish I could go out on a bike ride or something nice but instead, I'm trying to think of food that will actually make me feel better and stay down.

Yesterday, I was actually motivated enough to drive downtown to do some of this work I mentioned so I would not freak out next week. I got all the way there when I realized I did not have the elevator key! Drat. So I went to the Birkenstock store. But I did not see anything I liked. And I started to feel sleeeepy. I had all these plans - go to the office, crank out the drawings, go to Alameda to a Zales store to find out how much I could sell my wedding ring for, go to the gym. And nothing worked out. I just went home and took a nap. A phone call from my hunny woke me up which made me happy! I eventually motivated enough to get back to the office, pick up the work and come back home. I drafted for 6 hours. I actually enjoyed it (a little). Dinner? Ginger ale & plain rice. Ugh. Breakfast? Weak coffee & cream of wheat. I'm trying hard not to whine.

Today, I gotta finish this work, sort my laundry, find a Zales, and hook up with some knitters if I get all that done. Pray that my tummy straightens out.

The second sock is progressing pretty fast. I'm almost up to the heel. I hope I can get it finished before the Koigu comes, because I know I'll really want to play with that and do the Charlotte's Web shawl! The socks are the second Xmas present on my list. The rest won't be homemade, though.

<sigh> I better get busy. </whine>

posted by Stella 10:13 AM

Blogging raised my self-esteem! Thanks for all the wonderful comments! You guys are the BEST!!! Here is the link to my coworker/photographer's site. (Seems like he feels snide about blogs so let him have it.)

I have a feeling of pending doom, specifically, of being buried under work next week. Knitting may slow down... all I did last night was graft the blue sock, but I refused to move from the couch to the bed before I casted on for the next one and knitted 4 whole rounds.

My favorite caston for socks: s t r e t c h y. You cast on twice as many stitches as you need. Then in the first row, you K2tog, P2tog. It's just fabulous. Somewhat painful but worth it.

... SOS ... I need my Koigu ... SOS ...

posted by Stella 10:19 AM

Picture Day! Here is the long awaite d model shot of me hamming it up in my Ribbie (crazy, I know, but you'd be crazy too if you worked here):

I REALLY want these pictures to be next to each other... WHY doesn't it work?

I've also been making major progress on the blue socks and on the brown cable cardie:

Can you believe I actually pulled a muscle while furiously working on this sock? In my armpit! How weird! It reminds me that our body parts are all connected, like a puppet. My plan is to graft and cast on for the next one tonight, to guarantee there will be a second sock.

Here are 2 fronts of the cable cardie. Poor Taseti was curious but because the flash hurts his eyes, he squints. He looks mean that way, but he is really a big teddy bear. BTW, his name is pronounced phonetically (tuh-sEh-tea) or, as an Italian last name: Tasetti. I don't know what it means, I think it's an African thing.

posted by Stella 5:04 PM

New boss, new me. I actually made it into the office on time and even before the new boss today. Very good. Of course it had to do with me trying to be a very good, non-clingy, responsible person type girlfriend this weekend, who respects when someone has to study and get ready for scary midterms. But man, do I miss him! I need a hug bad. It's nice to have someone to feel that way about, though.

I knitted a lot this weekend. I also spun another bobbin of brown singles. I turned the heel on the sock below. I also finished the second front of the brown cardie. I swear, my cat is in l.u.v. with that sweater. He loves to sleep on the parts, loves to knead the yarn and purrs superloud! Kitty-nirvana. And I finally sewed a zipper into the ribbie cardie! That was semi-torturous because I had already sewn up all the seams, so it's a little difficult to feed it through my machine without drag, but it worked. The ribs look great now! Here is how to do it - it worked first try!

I did not go to the BAWDIEs meeting which is really a shame. I sat around waiting for the phone to ring (a really dysfunctional thing to do) but I was productive with the stuff above. I baked a cake, too.

We'll see how the week develops, right? Maybe some of this will arrive *see 11.6/03! (NOT the blond German models, ladies, trust me they are definitely gay, I can tell, I live in SF.)

posted by Stella 10:04 AM

mmmmm.... supersleepy once again. I had to reward someone special for taking a midterm last night. Of course, I was 20 min late into the office, the new boss saw me but I'm not too worried about it. I'm blaming the fact it's California and Friday. I do have a very cool coffee commuter mug which says "Berkeley Engineering Class of 2006" on it, and I think that is very impressive. The guy picked the office across from me, which means he can watch me if he leans over to his side a little. I should close my blinds, but maybe that's a little obvious. I'll have to refrain from filing my nails at my desk, I guess. Anyway, I'm feeling so great & relaxed & happy that I actually talked to this guy who has been giving me the silent treatment for weeks and I joked & laughed with him. Very good, no? I also told me other co-worker that I loved him as a friend but just could not work with him, so I'd quit this job soon. See? I'm mending fences. One more guy to go. And then I won't need to suppress any more rants.

Here is what I started knitting 2 days ago:

This pair will match the Forever Jacquard socks in my finished projects list.

posted by Stella 1:45 PM

I didn't post yesterday, because yesterday was just a scary day. Anything I would have written would have been a rant. And I'm keeping this blog rant-free! I'm burned out on my job and the people I have to deal with is what it boils down to. I think I need a break from work to determine if this is what want to continue doing, if I want to go back to school for architecture, or something completely different - like the massage therapist idea.

I'll be going on vacation to see my family in Germany for the last 2-1/2 weeks in December. That will be SO great. Nothing to do and nothing to worry about except for feel loved by everyone, knit & work on the quilt. And I'm coming back on 12/31 so I can kiss my honey for New Year at the Dead show in Oakland. It's a risky schedule, because my plane is supposed to land at 4:35 pm in SFO, and the show starts around 7 pm in Oakland.

Matt wrote me and he's catching up with his backorders! Yay!!! He'll be sending me the Koigu for my Charlotte's Web. The plan is to have that done for the show. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

posted by Stella 4:53 PM

I went to another knitting group meeting and I had a great time. I was very glad I overcame my fear of meeting people. Everyone was very nice and friendly and it was great to share our projects.

Here is the first installment of the brown, handspun, VK cable cardigan. I can't wait to wear it because it is so cold here suddenly!

As you can probably tell, it's another Raglan! It also has pockets, and if you squint, you can see the cable.

I'm starting to think I may have enough sweaters after this one. I need a new hobby! I'm thinking guitar.

posted by Stella 12:39 PM

Surf class has been postponed. I'm very glad because, despite it being 90F last weekend, it's about 50F today and I'm freezing! "You don't need the weatherman to know which way the wind blows." Do you know who said that? So, yeah, its a good weekend to stay inside and knit and quilt. I also got to spend wonderful time with my honey on Friday and Saturday so I'm superhappy.

I did go to a little Knit & Chat at lunchtime on Friday and met some nice girls - purlgirl among them, who was very nice. We were embarrassed to admit that we blog. I just think I write so much personal stuff on this site that it's weird when I meet somebody and they might already know so much about me! But that's ok. Writing it all down makes me feel happier about myself. It's all good! l Today there is another meeting I'm going to, and I guess that's good for me. I shouldn't hermit all the time.

I started knitting the brown homespun yarn into the VK sweater! Yay! It goes so fast. I'm using 10-1/2 needles. I was halfway up the back yesterday but decided to start over - it was a little too narrow. Then I started with a front because I felt like cabling. And the cables are very cool looking indeed. So whenever I don't have brown yarn that's ready to knit (because it's being plied or drying from it's bath) I work on the Saffron sleeve. And one day. That project. Will. Be. Finished.