sophy's knits, notes, etc.

opportunities to get together are pretty rare, but this past weekend, erica, hilary, brenda and i met for an afternoon of crafting and movie watching. what did we watch? ah... the teen favorite, Twilight. i have rather mixed feelings about this movie (such awkwardness!), and really about the books in general (i love to hate it!) -- but, that's not to say i don't understand the appeal. (and the appeal is all Robert Pattinson! ♥)

erica ignores the movie to concentrate on her cross-stitch, and hilary laughs at
edward and bella's awkward dialogue.

so what did we work on? here, you can see hilary's blur: an Audrey in Unst cardigan. (she knits THAT fast!) erica worked on an original cross-stitch design for her washcloth; it's a really cute whale -- sort of looks like a pug. perhaps, it's a whale-pug? or... WHUG!?! silliness aside, i absolutely love it. you can see some sketches in the picture below, but i really hope erica will share finished pictures of the project and design on her own blog.

meanwhile, brenda is engrossed with the movie.

brenda started a second little mousie; she's making a set of them for the children who will attend her wedding next month. they are really cute wedding favors!

and me? well, i worked on a lace shawl design... but i don't think i'm ready to share it yet -- it's a fun little stash-busting project that i'm pretty excited about. it's almost finished, so please stayed tuned!

the afternoon was a lot of fun; but, it didn't end with the movie... no. afterwards, we all went to Clobba on 19th and Castro and each bought our own Bella Jacket! (well, i'd already bought mine the day before.) and, as erica will say, "We are Dorks." on opening night of New Moon, keep your eyes peeled for a group of 4 silly girls wearing Bella jackets and mittens!

happy knitting!

at last, the night of knitting in the ballpark was upon us. it was really only the second stitch 'n pitch we attended; having missed last year's event. you can also read about our first SF Giant's stitch 'n pitch here.

you've probably already read hilary's account of the evening; here's the evening from my POV:

my knitting accomplices: erica, brenda, and hilary.

the night began with some confusion about where to meet up and the realization that none of us had brenda's number. quickly remedied the moment we gathered altogether. thankfully, we had some better seats this time, a good 10 rows away from the top. it was a pretty humid evening and i think i spent more time watching the fog roll in then paying attention to the game. i think the fog in this city is amazing.

after a startlingly brief amount of time, the game ended, and i lifted my head out of the sand (it would seem) to do some knitspotting:

a lady wearing a teal colored koolhas, with matching scarf
and fetching mitts. (hilary has a slightly better shot.)

once we were out of the ballpark, we all needed to make a pit stop; my office was closest. i do a lot of work there, honest; don't pay too close attention to the animatronic pony, the blue arrows in the background laying out the path of the minibike racetrack, the stuffed sheep, or tutu hanging from the coat rack. i don't know how they got there. really.

erica tells us how her boss won't buy her an animatronic pony.

so, of course, now you're probably wondering what we knitted that night. to be honest, not much was actually completed. erica worked on her betty minisweater. brenda worked on her february lady sweater. hilary worked on a pair of tiny shoes. (this made me realize i still haven't blogged about mine). and me?

well, i started a herringbone hat using magic loop only to realize that there are some patterns that are just not meant to be knit with magic loop. and after a few rows, i realized i'd lost just as many stitches. so, the next day i frogged it and started over only to frog it again cause i didn't like the joining seams. so, no herringbone hat for me.

happy knitting!

brenda, erica, hilary, and i will be at stitch 'n pitch SF! i'm really looking forward to it. and, although i have two different pullovers on the needles, i will be starting a new project today: herringbone hat by kelly mcclure [ravelry] knit in malabrigo merino worsted [ravelry].

if you're there, too, say hello!

i love Philadelphia; it's always wonderful to visit, even when our visits are centered around family obligations. Rittenhouse Square was always the center of the city for me; i loved living within walking distance from there.

whether or not it was on the way to my destination, i used to cut through Rittenhouse Square to get everywhere in the city.

i made time to walk my old route to work, a route i used to walk every morning at 0700, and meet my buddies and former coworkers for lunch at one of our regular lunch-time haunts, For Pete's Sake. (the Mad Elk was delicious!)

wearing my tangled yoke jacket, no less!

i also met, in person finally, two people i've talked to regularly in the past year: Jennifer (ravelry) and Helen (ravelry). We (with my sister, too) shopped at Loop (passing Jennifer's baby, Nathan, around among us) then went back to Helen's place to knit and chat and drink wine and eat cheese. You can read Jennifer's post about it. make sure you admire her awesome Spiral Boot Socks!

i did buy yarn! four skeins of lace-weight yarns:

Nature's Palette wool and silk.

Isager Strik wool 1.

Isager Strik wool 1.

while at Helen's, i continued knitting the flower basket shawl, which i had started on the flight over. honestly, i could have finished this on the flight, it's such a simple knit. but, as you can see here, i hadn't even finished the first skein. currently, i'm midway through the second skein. but, i'm knitting two more friendship fingerless mitts for my cousins before i get back to my selfish projects.

finally knitting something with the lovely alpaca yarn Hilary gave me! \(^_^)/

i love Kim Hargreave's designs.

at the end of our trip, Adam and i also made quick visits to New York (mostly Brooklyn). We spent a night with friends and met their adorable baby boy. i stayed with my cousins the next night, while Adam continued on to Boston for the weekend.

oh. did i mention it was COLD in Philly and New York? i'm sure it was also cold in Boston...

today, Adam and I joined Erica and Jeremy at the Capsule Design Festival at Hayes St. Park. or maybe they joined us. there was phone coordination involved. it was a surprisingly chilly day; i layered up and even wore my shalom cardigan.

it was great to get out and walk about the city. too often, we spend our weekends staying within a 2 block radius of our apartment. we ran into a couple of friends: Barbara, a crafting salon buddy we haven't seen in a while, and Lane, who quickly(!) disappeared. i'm a bit surprised we didn't see more familiar faces.

i have to admit, i was slighty disappointed in the lack of variety... maybe i've been to too many craft fairs? there were quite a few familiar vendors. I didn't really know what a "design festival" entailed, although i expected there to be arts and crafts; i didn't think the entire festival would have only that...

but, there were definitely some cool and cute things. i really wanted to buy these felted baby jackets (just to buy them, seriously). i almost bought some pretty jewelry (and i just realized i didn't get their card, booo). i went back to a particular stall quite a few times to admire their coats (why didn't i take a picture...) and i bought a giftpack of "fucking adorable tees" by WOEBOT. (the pack included herobot, monroebot, and growbot.) they're perfect for layering!

on a sidenote, La Boulange de Hayes is a wonderful place to eat. ladies, i think next time we have a crafting salon, we should meet there for a snack and browse Urban Knitting Studio's yarn selection. yes?

tomorrow is Monday. booo.

omg i finally knitted the collar after letting this project sit for a month:

remember me?

what else have i been up to?

starting and stopping a pair of stripey baby socks. i have nothing against them, but it seems that stripes don't agree with me. so i have a feeling this will be another plain pair of baby socks. or maybe i'll just do ONE stripe per sock. yeah.

i have an iphone. i love it. i hate it. *shrug* it's a phone. the only apps i've installed are:

• a silly japanese game of match with cutesy characters.
• twitterific for my tweets.
• ereader. i love having such a handy book reader.

so, yes that means i do not knit during my commutes anymore (though really, i haven't been for some time). i read books on my iphone. current book: H.G. Well's The Time Machine. Next will be Jules Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth.

planning my upcoming fourth wedding anniversary. this is gonna be a big one. we're gonna do it you guys; we're gonna renew our vows on the star trek enterprise. that's right. Vulcan Vow Renewal ceremony. this was actually something we hoped to do either next year or for our tenth anniversary. but, alas, the Star Trek Experience is closing down. *sob* so i have maybe five days to plan this.

tonight, Erica and I are having another knitting slumber party. not much of a party, it's just the two of us. haha perhaps we'll get to the knitting part this time... last time i think we stayed up playing 3D Puzzle Logic? though i have a feeling we may just continue that tonight...

a new must knit obsession. i plan to forget all the other projects i have in my queue and on my needles and start this adorable piece: Estes Vest, by Hana Jason, from Interweave Knits, Fall 2008. if i can't get the yarn to start that right away, i will use some stash yarn for the Little Blue Sweater, by Simona Merchant-Dest, from Interweave Knits, Fall 2008. though, it will probably be a little RED sweater...

hearts.

Sunday was a day filled with a variety of craftiness. I actually dusted off my sewing machine to do a little stitching for Erica (Operation Loli). Then, we met Barbara and Hilary for some brunch, knitchatting, and a bit of paper folding (Rendezvous a Samovar). Afterwards, I helped Erica seam up her Twinkle cardigan (You're my BFF cardigan!).

So much fun!

Part 1: Operation Loli

Daylight savings is the bane of my existence. I woke up at my usual time, though my clock told me it was an hour later. But, I had a mission: get the sewing machine ready for some sewing. I dusted it off and had a moment of, "Hrm. How's this work again?"

Making pink and white bobbins for Erica's Loli dress.

It all came back to me quickly enough. Though, I do think Erica was a little concerned when I had to search through the manual to locate the "reverse" mechanism. But I wanted to make sure I sewed it properly! I would not want to ruin her pretty pink Mary Magdalene Loli dress:

Erica's Loli dress!

So, I quickly stitched up the little hole in the seam of the dress. (It was along the front shaping.) Sadly, Erica would not try it on--guess the camera was just too handy. It was also time to meet the other ladies for an afternoon of craftiness.

Part 2: Rendezvous a Samovar

Erica and I arrived first and secured one of the bigger tables for our group. Soon enough, Hilary and Barbara joined us. We ate and drank lots of tea (I LOVE their chai, chilled or hot) while catching up--Oh! and Barbara gave me some cute Jane Austen-themed notecards she found on etsy.com. It really brought back this overwhelming urge to plan knitting and sewing projects centered around Jane Austen, but, I quickly remembered my queue and knitting goals.

This really was not just a knitting meetup--though, yes, Hilary and I knitted. Barbara was finishing up her crocheted granny squares. Erica decided to do some origami. While everyone was busy working away at their craft, I quickly and stealthily snapped a few pictures:

Barbara crochets granny squares.

Hilary knits Clapotis with some gorgeous yarn.

Erica folds origami.

Everyone had such a look of concentration... Aren't they cute?! I felt really sneaky as I took these pictures. Wish I'd remembered to take some pictures of my Retro Redux shrug!

Part 3: You're my BFF cardigan!

After three hours, we were a bit concerned that we were overstaying our welcome. It was a gorgeous day and the place was brimming with happy people. I was pretty reluctant to leave!

I had promised to help Erica seam up her Best Friend cardigan (from Twinkle's Big City Knits). After the shoulders, she tried it on:

Aww. It fits!

Erica was laughingly concerned that, after all her talk about Twinkle's sizing and knitter's complaints, that it would indeed not fit her. But, as you can see, it fits her very well (as a vest, at least). We did seam up the sleeves, but by then, it was time for Erica to head home.

Adam and I ended the night with Vietnamese noodle soup at Zadin for dinner, the Simpsons Movie and peach pie for desert, and packing. We leave for Boston tonight.

Thursday night, after we finished dinner at Empress of China (Chinese New Year, you know), Erica informed me that she and Amber had decided earlier that day they would come over for an afternoon of knitting. Hehe. Well, I'm always up for knitmeetings, but I didn't really want to displace Adam from the apartment (he goes to such extremes to avoid us gaggle of girls when we have crafting salon happiness), so I moved our impromptu knitting circle over to Samovar, on 18th and Sanchez.

Chai and coconut rice pudding. Sunshine. Ah. It was a lovely day.

Erica knits her Nintendo DS sleeve.

Amber shows us the yarn for her endpaper mitts.

I try to keep the angora off my jeans.

Oh. And I did finish the (above) angora cat sweater (the third time was indeed the charm in this case...) Yay! I just started a new job and haven't been knitting much; but, I need to finish two more cat sweaters.

Happy Knitting!

It's been a while, but this Sunday, we were able to have our crafting salon, again, at last. Crafting Salon was coined by Barbara (on the left) for our (at the time) monthly meet-up to knit/crochet/sew/collage/anything crafty while watching a movie.

The movies began with Jane Austen favorites (namely, Sense & Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice) and moved on to figure skating (Ice Castles)... We tried to keep up with the figure skating theme (the Cutting Edge, Ice Princess) or rebellious-blind-girl-overcoming-odds (Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken), but netflix wasn't cooperating. This weekend we had a choice of teen werewolf love drama (Blood and Chocolate) or spice-centric inter-racial love drama (the Mistress of Spices). We chose the latter... there were a lot of big chilies.

Hilary, Erica, and Barbara

Here, Hilary (wearing her lovely Flicca!) is beginning a project from Yahaira Ferreira's Sensual Knits: Luxurious Yarns, Alluring Designs. Erica is continuing her Girlfriend (or is it Best Friend?) cardigan from Twinkle's Big City Knits: 31 Chunky-Chic Designs. Barbara is crocheting some big granny squares for a blanket. I spent the afternoon unraveling part of one cat sweater and knitting some of another. In fact, Erica and I began the crafting salon with some unraveling madness: my dragon-scale cat sweater and Erica's cardigan:

Yay to having a day off from work! Happy Knitting =D

Though really it was a short week for me, it's been a very busy and satisfying one. Now, here I am sitting in a hotel in Waltham, MA, at 1:30AM EST typing an entry quickly before my posts get any more outdated.

If you've read Hilary's blog post, you may already know that I spent a delightful Wednesday evening first knitchatting over tea at Samovar and then attending a reading and book signing at Imagiknit. Heck, even Craft Magazine has already blogged about this! (the reading, not my knitchatting)

But, yes, I am referring to Sabrina Gschwandtner and her new book, KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knitting's New Wave. Here, Hilary holds up her copy:

The truth is, I knew very little about this book and had not even heard of KnitKnit, the zine. I had flipped through the book on at least one occasion, because it was eye-catching. But, as a pattern book, I wasn't really inspired to buy it--simply because there isn't much in there I would knit. (A giant fiberglass teddy bear?) However, after hearing Ms. Gschwandtner's motivations for writing the book--really, just hearing her relate her experiences with the designers/knitters/artists involved in the book in her charmingly well-spoken way as she answered questions--and reading a profile, I was persuaded. I had to have the book. And, yes, Hilary has a picture of me holding the three books I purchased, each of which Ms. Gschwandtner kindly autographed.

I actually have my copy of the book with me while I am in the Boston area this weekend. It's interesting reading. I just feel that some understanding of the knitter/designer/artist's motivations behind or intentions with a pattern or style has really helped me to appreciate the designs more. I'm so glad I went to the reading and had the chance to meet the author. This is a book I will treasure amongst my [too many] knitting pattern-type books. Though, I still doubt I'll knit much from the book--Anna Bell's Bridie was already in my [mental] queue since I saw her post pictures of it on her blog last year.

Speaking of Anna Bell's patterns, I'm glad Hilary isn't annoyed with me for calling attention to her working project, Flicca. She had just shown it to me while we were at Samovar, and really, how could she not show off her amazing knit-manship.

I didn't notice until I uploaded the picture that my index finger was smeared across the bottom right corner. But, hopefully, people pay more attention to Ms. Gschwandtner, Hilary, and flicca. Ah, but the Craft article has a much better picture of this from another angle.

Also, another pleasant part of the evening was that I had the chance to talk to [one of?] the owner(s) of Imagiknit--a nice chat over the Manos del Uruguay woven blankets and scarves on display. (I love LOVE the plaid blanket and deep purple shawl.) More often then not, on my [frequent] visits to the shop, there is just no time to chat. And, well, I'm just glad that I had the opportunity to do so.

Ah. It's 2:15AM EST, now. Tomorrow, I will be shopping in Harvard Square with a friend for luxury yarns to knit sweaters for a naked cat.