June 2005 Archive
June 30, 2005
I turned in my quals Tuesday afternoon! Woohoo!!
Now, I don't have to think about them for 4 weeks until my committee makes
a decision (as in "Kim, you suck, get the hell out of this program" or
"Kim, you are now A.B.D."). To celebrate, Kevin and I went to Wegman's
and picked out the yummiest food for a celebration dinner.
First up, some yummy Chardonnay (please ignore the very classy pricetag
from the Rite Aid).
Lamb, peas, orange peppers! YUM YUM YUM!!!! Kevin is the
bestest boyfriend cook ever!
And the super yummy Wegman's desserts! Raspberry Chocolate Tart
and Lime Tart!
Just so you know, we typically eat dinner sitting on the couch using
a TV tray ("table for two on a TV tray"... hey, can you name that song!?!?),
and of course watching the Mets.
Uhm... so yeah... 2 glasses of wine and I'm toasted and decide to take
artsy pictures of our dessert. Kevin just wanted to eat it and I
was like "NO! Must take pictures for blog first!"
So you want some knitting content? Come on back
tomorrow for socks, socks, and a shawl!
June 26, 2005
Sockapal2za Mai Tai Sock 1:
Good thing this is too big for me because I'd be tempted to keep it!
...
I couldn't get the camera to pick this up well, but I purled a palm
tree onto the side of the leg (I tried to outline it, but my talent at
tracing with the mouse is poor).
Speaking of yummy tropical drinks, I just dyed my hair
again yesterday with a permanent dye in a color called Sangria! Mai
Tais and Sangria... I wish I was on a beach drinking these... it is soooo
freaking hot here!
My quals are due on Wednesday, Kevin's family will be
here in an hour and will be visiting for a couple of days, and the weather
is supposed to be hotter than the sun, so there probably won't be too many
updates or much knitting until later in the week. (Oh, and I will
eventually explain beer pong for y'all once the table is finished and we
can get some good action pictures).
Stay cool all and enjoy yummy drinks!!!!
June 23, 2005
It truly is kim's sock knitting world around here.
I have three socks on the needles all at various stages.
First, there's Kevin's socks...
This is the second sock. On size 1 needles, there's
a long way to go up the foot, around the heel and up the leg.
Second, there's Toasty Toes socks for me...
I've been working on this since Saturday and have been
making great progress on the size 4 needles. I'm not sure how high
these will go up, but I've got a lot of yarn left.
And finally, sockapal2za sock, which will be called MaiTai
Sock...
I completed the toe and a couple of inches last night
at Panera with Kathy. On size 3 needles, these are flying.
The yarn is hand dyed merino from a seller on eBay. I also bought
this from her...
Pink and Black for me!!
Thanks for the compliments on the scarf, my family, and
NBaT! You girls (Karma,
Sarah W., Chris,
Lolly, Dana)
are the best!! Oh, and Chris is right!
June 22, 2005
Yesterday, Kevin and I drove down to my parent's house
and hung out for a bit before we all headed over to the Phillies versus
Mets game. Before we left for the game, I presented my dad with his
scarf (good thing I didn't mention who the scarf was for because it turns
out dad was reading the blog on his lunch break, so knew all about me beating
up his scarf! Hi Dad!!)
Dad likes his scarf every much even though it is too
hot now to wear it!
We had the kick-ass, awesomest seats for the game.
No they weren't field level, but they were perfect. The players actually
looked like people and not ants. I went a bit camera crazy and took
50 pictures and one video during the game! I love my digital camera.
I'll spare you all 50 pictures and just show you a few...
Dad, Mom, me, and Kevin at the game! I wore my Mets NBaT!
(Those people sitting behind us talked annoyingly loud. And oh the
people sitting next to us had NO control over their children who were getting
up and walking in front of us constantly).
The Philly Phanatic!!! I love him!!
That was our view of the field. Awesome!!
David Wright... 3rd Baseman... Total Cutie!
On the knitting front... Kevin's second sock is being
ignored for my new love, Toasty Toes yarn!! These socks are for myself
and being knitted from the toe up on size 4 needles which means I'm already
to the cuff. Where's the picture you ask? Well, my camera craze
yesterday killed my batteries, so you'll have to wait till tomorrow.
Also, I got the yarn for sockapal2za! I'm hoping to swatch a little
on size 3s and see how it knits up, it looks beautiful in the skein.
Comments...
As usual, all of your comments really brighten my day! I'm glad
I'm not the only one out there biking (Bookish
Wendy) and having a sore crotch problem (Christy
and Lolly).
When I was a kid, I could ride my bike for hours and hours and no sore
crotch, no tired legs, and I could ride without constantly imagining myself
flying off the bike. Mind you, I ride very slowly at this point because
1) I'm weak and 2) I'm a chicken. I just keep thinking, if I fly
off my bike and bash my head, will I get an extension on my qualifying
exams (due in one week!!!)?
As far as the table and painting, thanks so much of the compliments
(Jacey and hi!).
I've taken a break from painting for a couple of days to let my back stop
aching, but we hope to be finished by the weekend. As soon as I can
get some in use shots of the table, you'll see why it isn't a ping pong
table (Cordelia).
So tomorrow I owe y'all pictures of Toasty Toes Socks
and sockapal2za yarn. Also, if I remember, I should share a few of
the comments I just got back from my students from this past semester.
You'd be surprised at the things they say when it is anonymous!
June 21, 2005
The Scarf:
The Scarf is gorgeous! No iron required.
Imagine the softest thing you've ever felt and multiple it by 100 times
of softness. Part of me doesn't want to give The Scarf up, but I
know the recipient will love it. And if not... well, I'll steal it
back. No pictures of it right now (too bad there can't be feel-o-vision
through the computer). Once it is gifted, I'll try to get a picture
for y'all.
Bike Riding:
Ok, so I've gone riding the past
3 mornings. I can feel my thighs burning (good) and my crotch going
numb (bad... I need to buy a new seat). The park is lovely to ride
around in, especially on weekday mornings. The problem is The Hill.
Basically, our street goes right to the park, which means it is sloping
downhill on the way to the park and the park sits at the bottom of a hill.
Can you see where this is going? After riding around for a while,
in order to get home, I must peddle up The Hill. On Sunday, I somehow
made it home and then needed to rest on the couch for an hour trying to
catch my breath and not die. On Monday, I made it halfway up the
hill and had to get off the bike and slooooooooooowly walk home, then sit
on the couch for half an hour and hope not to die. Today, I made
it up the hill, took a break to catch my breath, rode a block, took a break
and hoped not to die before reaching home, and then slooooooowly rode the
rest of the way. I guess that is progress. I'm hoping that
in a couple of weeks The Hill won't be a problem, until then, if you don't
hear from me in a while, I'm probably laying on the side of the road near
The Hill.
The Project:
Our "table" is coming along nicely,
Sarah guessed
it was a ping pong table... close but not quite. I've spent the past
couple of days painting the details and my back is aching from leaning
over, but who knew I could actually paint?!
Click the Picture to see the Original!
Click the Picture to see the Original!
Ok, so as to not fool y'all into thinking I'm a real artist...
I did trace the pictures with graphite paper and then painted it.
I can't paint that stuff freehand! If you ever need a good tracer,
that's me!
Current and soon to be current knitting projects (all
using yarn I currently have... pictures soon!):
1. Kevin's socks (4/5ths of one to go).
2. Rowan All Seasons Cotton Sock (1 to replace the lost
sock).
3. Beaded Wristers/Socks from MDSW
4. Lace Shawl from MDSW
5. Green Socks from MDSW
6. Toasty Toes Socks from MDSW
7. Flirty (9/10ths of the front to go).
8. Koigu Shawl/Scarf with Kathy
9. Sockapal-2-za Socks (yarn coming soon)
June 18, 2005
The Goods and the Bads...
Good: Tom Petty rocked last night!! The concert
was awesome. Tom went from song to song and had such energy that
the concert flew by. Kevin and I had a great time.
Bad: On the drive home, my car started acting funny.
So now I have to take it in to get repairs.
Good: Beating the scarf definitely seemed to help.
What helped the most of stretching, lots and lots of stretching.
I bound off today and washed it. Its blocking now... fingers crossed
that it will be super soft without needing to be steamed.
Bad: If scarf needs to be steamed, I'm terrified.
I don't want to put an iron near cashmere!
Good: After a doctor's appointment last week (just a check
up), I found out that I'd gained a bit more weight than I'd like.
Now, I'm not saying I'm fat or anything, but I could definitely be much
more fit and healthy. While I love knitting, it does lead to a lot
of time just sitting. So in an effort to get more exercise, I bought
this today...
Of course I bought a helmet too. I haven't ridden a
bike in a long time, but there's a great park down the street, so it should
be a good, quiet place to get back into riding.
Bad: No new yarn purchases for a while. (Except
my sockapal-2-za yarn, which I won the eBay auction for, so it should arrive
next week... after that, no more new yarn).
Good: Kevin and I have been working on a project together.
Here's a picture...
We bought some plywood and have put it up on another table
and have been priming and painting in preparation for decorating.
What kind of table is it destined to be? Feel free to guess... I'll
post an answer when it is finished.
Bad: This project has been seriously eating into knitting
time and will continue to do so until it is finished (hopefully next weekend).
And to end on a good note... the groundhog family decided
to come right up under our living room window and eat some bread that I
threw out for the birds. I got a lot of really great pics.
Here are a few...
We've noticed that one baby always sticks close to the
mom, another baby really likes to climb trees (he thinks he's a tree hog!),
and third just likes to eat (a true ground piggy!!).
June 16, 2005
It seems the Harlot
is not the only one stuck in a knitting black hole. I measured "The
Scarf" (it has now been officially named The Scarf) Tuesday night before
bed. It was 30 inches long (as reported in yesterday's post).
Yesterday I knit a little during the day and then for a couple of hours
at Panera with Kathy and Marian. I haven't touched any other knitting
(though the knitting goddesses sooooo know I want to work on anything other
than this) and have been completely faithful to The Scarf. So today,
I worked a little on my papers, but am in a waiting period while some other
people look over them for me before I continue revising. AND since
the weather decided to return to being rational (i.e. it is no longer 9
million degrees in the shade), I figured what I great opportunity to kick
some Scarf butt. So I knit and knit and took some breaks to surf
the internet and bid on some sock yarn for my sockapal-2-za buddy and knit
and knit. And then I measured...
How long does this look to you? Would you guess
36 inches?! Excuse me?!!?! Where did all that knitting time go?
I was figuring I was at least at 40 inches and into the home stretch.
ARGH!!!
Unlike the Harlot
who is trying to knit at warp speed to escape the black hole, I decided
to take a different approach:
I found the biggest, fattest needles I had and beat The
Scarf. I'm hoping a little abuse will whip this scarf into shape.
Take that you dumb scarf!!!
Ok, no more blogging... back to being a slave to The Scarf.
I predict once this scarf is finished, I am going to avoid long stretches
of ribbing/seed stitch for a loooooooong time (this doesn't bode well for
finishing Flirty in this century). Fingers crossed that I win my
eBay auctions (yes 2 of them) and get this yarn for my sock pal (ok and
one for me... shhhhh!).
June 15, 2005
So I'm in the revising period of my quals. I still
have two more weeks before turning them in, so I think that I'm on a pretty
good pace, though revising is soooooo dull.
Knitting is also very dull. The scarf is growing
slowly. I'm at 30 inches and hopefully will reach 50 sometime on
Saturday so that I can block it.
I noticed back on an old post, Ann asked about the pattern
of the pink Rowan All Seasons Cotton socks (well, since I need to make
another anyway [but not until the scarf is finished], I should refresh
my memory as well).
Here's
the sock pattern. It is super easy and borrow's a bit from some
others (who I've linked). Email me if you have questions.
June 13, 2005
We had a super busy weekend. In between sweating
profusely and melting, Kevin's bro and his bro's girlfriend came for a
visit. We grilled chicken Friday night and hot dogs and veggies on
Saturday.
Yum! Grilled zucchini!!
Saturday we took a trip to play miniature golf at the
most kick-ass
miniature golf place in NJ. Then on Sunday Kevin and I went out
to Shea to watch the Mets lose.
Knitting has been almost entirely focused on the scarf.
I've reached the halfway point. Somehow I need to knit 5 inches per
day in order to have enough time to wash and block it. This goal
is hampered by the heat and that there will be no knitting on Friday since
we're going to see Tom Petty!!
Ok, I'll leave you with pictures of "my" cat. This
cat really belongs to one of our neighbors, but when I call it, it will
come to see me. It is one of those cats that likes to play with its
claws out, so I got a little scratched up, but it's cute so I don't care.
Oh, and our other "pet" the baby Groundhog!!
June 10, 2005
Thank you (Ashley,
Terby, Carrie,
Lolly, Cordelia,
and Stephanie)
for all the sympathies about the sock. (And
not to overshadow anyone who leaves me comments because I'm still totally
in awe that anyone reads my blog... but Stephanie the Yarn Harlot herself
stopped by! Holy cow! I'm such a dork... I was showing Kevin
"Look! Look! This comment was by the woman who wrote this book!!"
Heehee!! I love you all!!! I wish I had lots of time to just
email everyone personally and money to travel around and meet everyone!)
Ok, to explain some more about the sock. I don't have my own washing
machine and dryer (although it makes me feel like
a real grown-up that I really really really want my very own washing machine
and dryer) and so I have to go to the laundrymat.
And let me tell you, I am obsessive about checking the machines to make
sure I don't leave anything behind. In close to 3 years going to
this laundrymat, how many socks have I lost before this one? ZERO!!
I checked through all the laundry when I put it away and it wasn't stuck
to anything. So it is officially lost. The good side is that
I have enough RASC to make another sock and it only took about a day to
make one.
In other knitting news, I need to have this...
finished by June 21st. And actually finished before
that so that it can be blocked. I have about 14 inches of 50 completed.
And while I love the cashmere, I have been reminded that I HATE seed stitch.
Unfortunately with the heat, I've been doing very little knitting (too
hot to move) and doubly unfortunately, with working on my qualifying exams,
I can't just take a day off to knit knit knit. So fingers crossed
that it will get finished. If not, the recipient will be getting
a half finished scarf.
And finally for your viewing pleasure today, here are
our "pets"...
Look they are kissing!!
The black one is the mama groundhog. She has three
babies. We usually see at least one or two of them each day.
We've found out that they really like to eat broccoli, strawberries, and
lettuce. They aren't as fond of celery, but will eat it if that's
all that's there. Yesterday, I saw one of the babies "fighting" with
a squirrel, but I couldn't grab my camera fast enough.
Have a great weekend y'all!!!
June 8, 2005
Ever wonder why you shouldn't put Rowan All-Seasons Cotton
in the washing machine? You'll end up with this...
Can you see it?! Can you see the problem?!
How about another angle...
Can you tell now?! Can you see what's wrong?!
THERE IS ONLY ONE FREAKING SOCK!!!!!!! The washing
machine consumed the other sock. The other sock disintegrated.
Sock gnomes snatched it while my back was turned. It is just plain
gone. This is not a good start to my day!
Comments...
Thanks for all the great comments on Kevin's sock and
the movie list. I'm itching to buy more movies (can't ever have too
many!), but I really should be spending more time on my quals... so maybe
more movies will be a reward for finishing my papers... ok, so the reward
will probably be yarn, and not movies but whatever...
Jody...
thanks for the tip about the sewn bind off. I'll have to try that
on the next pair (Kevin said he'd rather have this pair matching
and I used all but about 6 inches of yarn on the first sock, so I don't
have much extra to play with.)
Terby...
can't wait to see your list!
Jen...
wow, I hope to someday have that many DVDs!!
Lolly...
I haven't completely mastered knitting (even stockinette) without looking,
so subtitles and knitting don't mix for me (yet!). I guess that means
I should knit more to practice not looking!
Karma...
socks are the best. Just be careful, if your guy is like my guy,
when you have him try on the sock every couple of inches asking "does that
feel good?" you'll get a lot of "it's not bad." How do you interpret
"it's not bad?!" Does that mean it is good or that I should start
over and do it better?
Cordelia...
ok, here's a confession... when I was younger and watching Labyrinth I
didn't care that Jennifer Connelly couldn't act. I dreamed that someday
I would wear that dress in the ballroom scene and have my hair all big
and pretty. And of course be dancing with David Bowie. I could
never understand why she cared about her little brother so much.
I would have lived forever with David and the goblins!
Pamela... great tip about Princess Bride... I sooooo
need that on DVD. "As you wiiiiiiiiisshhh..." If I didn't end
up with David Bowie, I was certain that I would be the new Princess Buttercup!
Jenny...
go rent Orgazmo!! It is so stupid and absurd, but at the same time
so funny.
Kate...
we did the close eyes and point method again on Monday since TV was sucky.
We watched more Arrested Development, with commentary. Yay Arrested
Development!!
Ok, I need to get a lot of work done today before knitting
night at Panera with the girls (followed by chicken wings at Charlie Brown's
with Kevin). But first, I need to shower again (where did August
come from? This 90 degrees and humid is not June weather!) and try
not to mourn too much for the lost sock.
June 4, 2005
So we're all socks all the time here...
Kevin's Toe Up Sock 1 is complete. While it looks
like there's a ruffle at the top, that's just from binding off looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosely.
I'm hoping that through wearing and washing it will look a little less
ruffly.
Since the Mets game was rained out last night and Friday
night TV sucks, it was movie time. I looked at our DVD shelf and
realized we have accumulated over 40 movie DVDs and I love them all so
much that I couldn't decide what to watch, so I had Kevin pick a number
and that was the movie we watched (we watched 3 movies using this method).
It got me thinking it might give you all a little more insight into my
personality if I shared some of my favorite movies. Because the list
would be unwieldy if I included all movies, I'll limit it to the movies
I own... because I must really love 'em if I took the time and money to
buy them!!
Favorite Sports Movies:
~Big Lebowski (bowling)
~Dodgeball (dodgeball, duh!) |
Favorite Foreign Film:
~Amelie (I love this movie, but I can't knit while
having to read the subtitles!) |
Favorite "Musicals":
~South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut
~Moulin Rouge |
Favorite Sylvester Stallone Movie:
~Oscar |
Favorite "Kids" Movies:
~Shrek
~Labyrinth (David Bowie is so hot!) |
Favorite Epic:
~Lord of the Rings Triology |
Favorite Holiday Movies:
~A Christmas Story
~Elf |
Favorite Movie about a Moron Porn Star:
~Orgazmo |
Favorite Movies to Watch When Kevin's Away:
~Dirty Dancing (I love you Patrick Swayze)
~Bridget Jones Diary (Hugh Grant and Colin Firth...
yummy!) |
Favorite Reese Witherspoon Movies:
~Cruel Intentions
~The Importance of Being Earnest (Colin Firth again!) |
Favorite Faux-Documentaries:
~This is Spinal Tap
~A Mighty Wind
~Best in Show |
Favorite Ben Stiller Movies:
~Zoolander
~There's Something about Mary
~Starsky & Hutch
~Meet the Parents |
Favorite Documentaries:
~Bowling for Columbine
~Outfoxed |
Surprisingly Sexy Movie:
~Secretary |
Favorite Movies that ALWAYS Make Me Laugh:
~Super Troopers
~Old School
~Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
~Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle (Best Line:
"NPH would never do that!") |
Favorite Movie Mocking Traditional Gender Roles:
~But I'm a Cheerleader |
Favorite New Acquisition:
~Life Aquatic |
_ |
TV shows on DVD:
~Aqua Teen Hungerforce (Vol 1, 2, 3)
~Arrested Development (Season 1)
~Chappelle Show (Season 1)
~Futurama (Season 2, 3)
~Harvey Birdman (Season 1)
~Seinfeld (Season 3) |
Ok, finally... VHS Tapes I wish I had on DVD so I
could watch more often:
~Almost Famous
~American Pie
~The Full Monty
~The Wedding Singer
~Princess Bride |
So... those are a lot of my favorite movies. Of
course there are many more that I wish I owned, but there's only so much
money to go around and most of it goes to yarn. Hopefully, that gives
you some more (good?) insight into my personality.
Ok, so this is only tangently related. Did anyone
else see the show on VH1 where they were talking about all of the screw-ups
in movies? At the end they talk about how in the movie Teen Wolf (a movie
that I loved since I was a kid... I mean, come on, at one point I was pretty
sure that I would marry Michael J. Fox) and thus have watched a million
times, that at the very end of the movie during the glorious, heart-warming
conclusion (ok, supremely cheesy conclusion) that an extra in the background
standing on the bleachers has his... uhm... weiner sticking out.
Of course on VH1 they were showing this blurred out, but I have a videotape
of Teen Wolf from the mid-80s taped off of HBO (the tape also has the movie
Tron), and sure enough there's a weiner there. Hahahaha... I bet
if it is ever put on DVD that that will be digitally removed, so anyone
with an original copy might have a collectible!! Hahahahahahhahahaha!!
More knitting tomorrow!
June 3, 2005
Ok... my pizza is about to burn, so I have about 30 seconds
to post...
1. Paper 2 WILL be finished today.
2. I joined Sockapal2za!!!!
3. I finished some 3 day socks for myself.
These were knit in 3 days on size 7 circulars with the
leftover Rowan All Seasons Cotton from Asana. I can probably make
about 4 more pairs with the yarn I have left over. It took slightly
more than 1 skein for both socks (I have tiny feet). Despite being
on big needles (for socks), these are soft and light. Love them!!
4. Thanks for all the great comments and suggestions.
I wish I had time to link to everyone and thank you here, but please know
I read all the comments and love them.
5. Pizza is burning... gotta go... I'll try to post more
this weekend!
