The Monkey's Sox

As promised here are my Monkey Socks:

Here's the front view:

I didn't get to finish the first socks - I'm five decrease rounds from grafting the toe closed because my mom was very, very, very chatty on the phone tonight and I didn't have access to my hands free set. Lord knows that lady's given up a lot for me in bringing me up, so I didn't mind that these will probably be closed up tomorrow morning / evening between that darned thing called work.

I also picked up a new hair cut over the holiday weekend. Chop, chop. You might remember from earlier posts that I had hair down to my shoulders. I went for a change in a big way and I really like it. Judge for yourself:

Here's the hair from the back - I'm digging those natural curls!
















I haven't ever had hair this short, but I'm loving it as the temps really start pumping up this Spring / Summer. I get out of the shower, shove some gel in there and through the miracle of life it comes out looking like it did when I left the salon.

I also want to give a shout out of congratulations to one of my best girlfriends, Danielle - she and her husband Mark had a beautiful baby girl this weekend - welcome to the world, Hailey Rose. When Dani's feeling up to it, I'll get her to send a picture to post. What makes you smile more than cute new babies? Maybe puppies are a close second, but I just know that Hailey Rose is beautiful - I look forward to showering her with a knitted surprise!

Tonight, I'm off to bed and that's all the news that's fit to knit!


PS - no cracks about my need for a pedicure!

Monkey's Original!

I'm counting the hours down until I am free from work to be home and knitting some Monkey socks. There's a reason why everyone's on the bus, people. Get with it, get your ticket and get on. Monkey Socks are a blast to knit. Pictures to come tonight.

In the mean time, check this little gem out: http://howmanyofme.com/search/

According to the US Census, I am THE ONLY PERSON LIVING in AMERICA with my first and last name. I am an American original! If I marry Chris, 38 other people would have my first name and his last name...that decides it - we're so taking my last name.

weee!

Warsh Rag - A Distraction

I've taken a small break from The Clapotis and was seduced by the Warsh Rag from Mason-Dixon Knitting.

In my native Pittsburgh, Warsh is a word that actually lives in the vocabulary of many of the residents. I remember as a kid that my next door neighbor used the word warsh with some regularity. I also remember my mother pulling me off to the side of our kitchen one afternoon, bracing me by both of my arms and telling me that I would never ever use that word again. I think she was preparing me for my future as a person with a degree in English. Thanks mom, I've never used it again - until this post.

This has been a fun little knit and easy as all get out. I love bands and I love the colors of the Kitchen Cotton yarn that I picked. I'm not sure if this will make it into my linen closet or become a spit up rag for one of my soon-to-be parent friends. We'll see. I'll certainly be making this pattern again - it's a nice break from the miles of stockinette stitch that I've been making with The Clapotis (it is fun to drop those stitches, but you only get to do that once in a 12-stitch pattern repeat that you actually re-do 13 times).

We're off to see Spidey 3 at the Ziegfeld this afternoon. How could you see it anywhere else? And then we're off to a cast party for Chris' show - back out to Brooklyn Heights. We'll be on the run in some crappy weather, but we'll together. We haven't spent a lot of time together in the last few months, so I'm happy that we'll have a day together.

In the rest of knitting news - I'm in need of doing the final finishing touches on one baby gift and getting it out the door to a girl friend and then I need to get started on another. And I think I've found a nice little summer sweater I want to knit in the new issue of Creative Knitting - something to keep the chill off on cool evenings and in air conditioned offices.

For now, that's all the news that's fit to knit.

Noteables

Have you see this? It's addicting to watch! Pictures flashing from all over the world? Yes please!
http://flickrvision.com/

And knitted motorcycles? Oh yeah, baby: http://www.coolhunting.com/archives/2006/04/theresa_honeywe.php
Theresa Honeywell is pretty cool.

That's all the news that's fit to knit.

Kristin

The Catch Up - with pictures

So the room was cleaned (nice, eh?). Well, I did change the curtains (see below) and I added a rug (hey! It was on sale at Target for $12 - you can't pass that up - can you? So Chris' parents did not have to skirt death by smothering from our piles of clutter. I think they enjoyed the room.

another view...

With the new curtains (love these - I double curtained so that our neighbors across the way aren't getting a good show everyday).

As for knitting -- well, here are the socks: I don't love the yarn, but I'm so glad I got the chance to try it out. Thanks Nancy! I'll be sending you the picture and a note soon too. I used Wendy's toe up pattern here and the yarn is Cascade Fixation. Lots of stretch - but a little hard on the hands.

And now I've started my first Clapotis. I'm not sure what yarn I'm using. I got a HUGE cone of this at a Park Slope yard sale last summer and since you need a crap load of yarn for the Clapotis, I thought this would work. I love the color and I love the dropped stitches. I'm double stranding it with this yarn as its weight is pretty light. I figured this would make for the best look. I think (gasp) that I may have been right!

My new adventure as provided by Chris' mom is this handy new drop spindle. This is "The Schacht" Hi-Lo Spindle. She also got me my first spinning book - so now I just need to score some roving and I'll be making my own yarn! That's just too cool for school!

Thanks Ginger!

Soooo that's the update. Thanks to Darren for the kind and funny comment to the last post (dude - I totally have to get back on IM and catch up - it's been wild lately)!

Things are stressful as I've said. Work has been crazier than normal and home has been rocked a bit too. Chris' last show is tonight and I'll be glad to have him home again. He really helps me balance the stress of life. Oh - and that lucky little duck met the actor who plays Ben on Lost today (he came to see Chris' show and turns out that they have a mutual friend). They talked about me - me! I'm over the moon - I loooove the show Lost, so I was stoked and totally jealous.

Big things are coming in these weeks. One of my best friends in the world is having her baby, Hailey in about two weeks. Dani, if you're reading this - go relax and put your feet up! And my friend Jenn is cooking up a baby girl too. So I've got lots of knitting to do here for my new little nieces and future best girl friends.

For now, I'm indulging in knitting on the Clap - eating some Ben & Jerry's and watching the first season of Grey's Anatomy on DVD. I got it as a little present to myself on Friday afternoon.

For now, that's all the news that fit to Knit!

Updating Overdueness

Okay, okay - I promised to write ages ago - forgive me. I owe a bunch of people phone calls and emails and hugs and I'm planning on catching up over the course of the next week. So if I owe ya, know that the love is coming and how much I love ya!

Work has been very, very stressful - I'm not allowed to talk about it, so we'll leave it at this: I'll be fine and all will be good but we're going to stress for a while more.

The other big event was Chris' parental visit. They aren't my in-laws, but I do love them very much and the visit was quite nice. Have any of you had someone else's family come to live with you for five days? No matter how cool you all are - it totally freaks you out. Chris is from the south and I am from the north. I am now totally sure that there are real and true differences in cultures.

For example, I have been raised (as have my parents, their parents, my friends from the north, etc...) that when you go to someone's house you are to exercise the utmost of polietness. This doesn't mean that you aren't relaxed and enjoying yourself, but it does mean that you never, ever help yourself to anything. We always ask. Always, always, always - like, "Hey Sue, would you mind if I got myself a glass of water?" -- See, we don't ask someone to wait on us, but rather we ask if it's ok to help ourselves. This allows Sue to say, "Of course, please help yourself." or if Sue doesn't want your eyes in her kitchen cabinets it allows her to say "Of course, let me get it for you." You get what you want: A glass of water and Sue gets what she wants: to keep you out of her messy cabinents. See? Everyone is happy. I'm starting to suspect that in the south everyone belongs to one heaping big family and that their casa is su casa and the reverse and such. Us uptight northerners can find our OCD acting up when those polite choices are taken away from us.

But really, the visit was lovely and long and Chris' show, The Sea is fantastic (see awesome review in the New York Freaking Times) was awesome. I'm so proud of him!

Knitting - I finished the summer socks and need to send Nancy a picture and post to here. I'm also making excellent progress on my first Clapotis - which I'm stoked about. So maybe I can get my butt moving tonight and get some darned pictures on this site about some knitting.

Oh - and Chris' mom got me my first drop spindle - I'm over the moon. I just need to learn and buy some roving... any suggestions?

For now - back to work. That's all the news that's fit to knit.

The Excuse...

I've been busier than a one armed paper hanger, let me tell you. It hasn't been with fun stuff either. I've been stressing out about my job, the future of the new company, my next door neighbor's robbery, the impending parental visit and feeling pretty darn down about my life. I'm hanging in there and know that the sun will shine again, but until it does, I've been having to really push myself to get out of bed everyday. Is this what depression feels like?

Anyway - I have been taking pictures for you and I'll try and post them tonight. I've almost finished the ankle socks from Nancy and I've started working on a Clapotis. I stopped mid row, I hope I can figure out where I am...

I also started a little product testing experiement on the face wash, Proactiv. Anyone else tried this? I took a sad and embarassing picture of my face on day one post wash, then the next morning post wash and today, etc... I've got to say - I'm clearing up. I've never had much acne, but lately in my 30's I've got a cronic break out on my chin. I hate it. It makes me feel sloppy - especially during work and business meetings. I stopped by the Proactiv booth at the mall on Monday and plunked down $23 for a chance at skin like Jessica Simpon's. Wish me luck - I'll let you know how it goes.

No idea why I'm posting the penguin other than I know you people love pictures!

That's all the news that's fit to knit.