blog previous October 2006 next August July June May April March February January 2007 December November October September August July June May April March February January 2006 December November October September August July June Archive Halloween's a favorite holiday of mine. October 31st, 2006 I tend to enjoy dressing oddly, and Halloween is a time that it is widly accepted to do so. I'm happy that I work in such a great environment, with such great people, that I feel free to dress up for Halloween. I originally hadn't even thought about Hallween much this year. I was so busy looking for an apartment for our Texas friends (Who arrived this morning, I can't wait to go see them!) that I hadn't built up the exciement for today that I usually have each year. But the folks at work were all expecting some interesting clothing from me, and I do enjoy dressing up, that I figured I'd treat myself, and my coworkers to an interesting outfit. I didn't think about it until this morning, but once I did, I found everything I was looking for rather easily, and the whole thing just kinda fell together. Anyway... that's it for today! Happy Halloween! En route to Master Knittery! October 30th, 2006 Through work, I meet lots of great people, who enlighten me to all sorts of fun knit related things! I've recently met the "Master Knitter" Nancy Taylor-Roberts. Of course, because she has the title "Master Knitter" I had to wonder... how on earth does one become a master knitter? All sorts of ideas ran through my head. All of them involving some sort of schooling and classes and things I wouldn't have time for in my busy day-to-day life. But my curiousity consumed me, I had to ask. She refered me to the TKGA website, and told me that she had a ton of fun doing it, plus she learned a lot. Each time I read something about the program I got more and more excited about it. I learned that there was no time constraint, so, of course, that's a point in its favor, as the last thing I need to add into my life is another deadline. I was directed to a forum where people at all different levels of the program can chit chat about what they're working on. Because of my love of knitting forums, and my being on a never ending search for new ones, once I found this I took it as the final sign that I was meant to learn from this program! So... I signed up to receive the packet for Level 1! How exciting! I can't wait to receive it and get started. I've been out of school for a few years now, and the urge to get back into feeding my mind is getting stronger. I really think learning more about knitting is a great way to satisfy this urge. Plus, I'll get to knit while I learn! My first carved pumpkin in about 5 years! October 29th, 2006 Jim and I have wanted to carve pumpkins every year we've been together. This year, finally was the first year we sucessfully carved them! I'm really satisfied with the way mine came out (to the right). Basically, I just cut out a simple flower and leaf shape from paper, and using a rolled up piece of scotch tape, stuck it on the pumpkin wherever I wanted it. Then I traced it with some sharp thing that punctured the pumpkin. Once the outlines were on there, I carved out the shapes using some of Jim's wood carving tools. We both had a ton of fun! And because I love how well Jim's pumpkin came out too, I just had to share his with you all (to the left)! It looks like the flower of life pattern is bursting out of the pumpkin. I'm really impressed with how great it looks! Less emotionally drained today October 27th, 2006 Wow, yesterday I got myself into some kind of negative, icky funk. It was weird. All day yesterday I was tired, and I just felt so drained. To boot, I had to work on something that seemed to increase that level of negativity. I think I'll leave that post up to remind myself that everyone's human, including myself. hehe. I went home last night and did a little meditative knitting and relaxing. About a half hour after I got home I felt a ton better. I think I was able to turn around that energy and flow it into creative knitting juices. I decided to play around with creating a chart unlike anything I've ever done before. I'm pretty happy with how the design turned out, but I'll need to adjust it in some places, increasing and decreasing to avoid skinny and fat parts... I guess I'll be reknitting the swatch sometime this weekend. I'd like to work this one a bit further before I bind off though. I'm anctious to see what happens! It's funny with charts... it's like I know what it's going to look like while I'm creating it, but I don't really believe it until I see it actually knit up. I don't quite know what I'm going to do with it yet. It may be submit to someplace for the Fall. A rant... how unlike me... October 26th, 2006 I don't understand how there can be sucessful, well known knitwear designers who don't know how to write patterns? Okay... the reason for this rant is because I was asked at work to "fix" one of the patterns that we have coming out soon. The patterns by this certain "designer" always come in poorly written, and we always have to spend many many hours fixing them. It was only written in one size, so it's not like a lot of work for all the sizes had to be done, and they still didn't get it right! It irks me because I know this designer is well paid for this one size of a pattern that wasn't even right, that I then have to fix and then write for the other 3 sizes. <sigh> I'm sorry for venting, but it just doesn't seem fair to those of us who actually pay attention to our patterns as we're writing all the sizes. Especially when we get paid equally or less than this "better known" designer. And, for those of you who know me, I'm not usually one to complain, as it's against how I run my life. Complaining, to me, is like sending out negative energies to the world, that will surround you for a period of time, etc… so, I'm not super sure I really want to rant to the world… so I question wether to post this or not… I suppose I will, because that's just how I'm feeling at the moment. But I wouldn't expect this post to stay up long, because it doesn't "flow" well with how I'm usually feeling. Fun stuff, and a new design! October 24th, 2006 This weekend was great! Jim and I found an apartment for our friends who are moving up here from Texas. We were originally looking for a house that the 4 of us could share. But they have 5 animals, and it's hard to find a landlord who will allow so many pets. So, we widened our search to finding something for just them. All they were concerned with was having a roof over their heads when they got here. We were a little more picky, so Jim and I are staying where we are for now. They will be here next week! I can't believe it. I'm so excited that they are actually moving up here! It's going to be great having such excellent friends so nearby. On a knitting note... I finished the back of Jim's sweater (Hoo Ray!) and the sleeve is half done. I don't know how it's happening! It just seems to be knitting itself up, I swear! I also finished a swatch last night for a design in Potpourri. It's one of Classic Elite's recently discontinued yarns that I loved so much that I had to buy 3 bags of it in the blue color. I may ask one of my knitters to knit this up for me so I can get it onto my website. It's either going to be a long sleeve pullover or cardigan. I haven't quite decided yet. I'm kinda leaning toward cardigan. We'll see. 48 fun facts about me! October 20th, 2006 1. First Name? Kristen 2. Were you named after anyone? Nope, I'm one of a kind! 3. When did you cry last? Oh, I cry all the time. 4. Do you like your handwriting? Sometimes. Other times I can't read it, so it's not so great then. 5. What is your favorite lunch meat? Roast beef. 6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you? I think I would. I like me. 7. Do you have a journal? This blog is a journal like as I get. 8. Do you still have your tonsils? Yup. 9. Would you bungee jump? I'd sky dive before I bungee jumped. For some reason I trust a parachute more than a bungee cord. 10. What is your favorite cereal? I don't really have "favorites". Right now I think it's the generic brand of honey smacks. 11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off? I don't usually wear shoes that require laces. But when I do I rarely untie them. 12. Do you think you are strong? Sometimes. It depends on my mood. 13. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? (Again with the favorites... ) Right now: Ben & Jerry's Half Baked... yum. 14. Shoe size? 8.5 15. Red or Pink? I'm not a huge fan of either, but I'd have to go with pink. 16. What is your least favorite thing about yourself? I put things off for too long. Then when I really need to do them, I have a little hissy fit inside and do it. 17. Who do you miss the most? Um... I don't know. I don't really tend to "miss" people. But there's a whole list of people I wish I saw more often. You know who you are. 18. Do you want everyone to send this back to you? Post it on your blogs! 19. What color pants, shirt and shoes are you weaering? No pants... hehe. Brown skirt, dusty pink knit cropped vest, brown shoes. 20. Last thing you ate? A not so yummy Healthy Choice microwave broccolli alfredo meal. 21. What are you listening to right now? My coworkers talking. 22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Cloudy sky blue. 23. Favorite Smell? Microwave Popcorn! 24. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone? A real estate person who's name I didn't catch. 25. The first thing you notice about someone you're attracted to? It depends on the person. 26. Do you like the person you stole this from? I don't know her personally, but from her blog she seems nice. 27. Favorite Drink? Alcoholic: Raspberry Stoli with Sprite, Lime & Cranberry juice. Non: Cranberry/Grape juice. 28. Favorite Sport? HA! Um... skiing? 29. Eye color? Green on the outside and brown around the pupil. 30. Hat size? I don't know the answer to this one. 31. Do you wear contacts? No. 32. Favorite Food? Well, every time I go out to eat I get some sort of Alfredo pasta dish. So maybe it's that. 33. Scary movies or Happy endings? Happy endings. I can't do scary anmore. It really gets to me. 34. What happened to 34? 35. Summer or Winter? WINTER! All the way! 36. Hugs or Kisses? Depends on who’s offering, from most people I prefer hugs. 37. Favorite Dessert? Right now: Chocolate chip cookies. 38. Who's likely to respond? I'm not really asking for responces. I just thought this would entertain me for a few minutes. 39. Least likely to respond? Same as above. 40. What books are you reading? I don't understand how people can work on a knitting project and read a book. Not even necessarily at the same exact time. So, I'm knitting right now, not reading. 41. What's on your mouse pad? Lots of maroon. 42. What did you watch last night on TV? About 3 or 4 episodes of the Simpsons. 43. Favorite Sound? Jim tuning his guitar. 44. Rolling Stones or Beatles? Um... Beatles... I guess. 45. The furthest you've been from home? Texas 46. What's your special talent? I can knit!. 47. Where were you born? Massachusetts 48. Who sent this to you? No one... I borrowed the text from Ivete. (Thanks!) Okay, I don't like ALL yarns October 18th, 2006 I thought there would never be a yarn that I just plain didn't like. It's too bad, really... I was so excited to get started on something with that Cross Country yarn that I opened up a ball of it last night to swatch with. It took me forever to find an end, and each time I tried to move a piece of yarn out of the way it would tug slightly then tear! It really kind of angered me. I finally settled on one of the tears as an end and began casting on. Casting on was so difficult. I had to make sure I didn't pull very hard on the yarn or it would rip. I think I only cast on about 10 stitches before I found a really thin part of the yarn and I couldn't pull on it anymore to tighten up the new stitches. So I turned and began knitting in Garter stitch to see what would happen. Knitting into the stitches was okay, but I had to knit really loosely to avoid tears, which isn't like me, so all the stitches were different sizes... etc etc... so I bound off and put it down. I'm really disappointed with this yarn. I've returned 9 of the 10 balls that I bought. I think I'm going to try to spin the remainder of the ball I've already disassembled into a multi-ply yarn somehow. We'll see. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I guess I just like yarn... October 17th, 2006 I've been awefully proud of the way I've been able to control my yarn stash. I really only began knitting with nice yarns about 2 years ago. Since then I've only been buying yarn when I have a design in mind and the time to start working on it right away. I had a collection of acrylic yarns that I donated to some Girl Scouts not too long ago, but my collection has slowly been growing since I started working at Classic Elite. Today, I just bought 10 balls of this Cross Country yarn. I'm so in love with it! It's 100% wool, but it has such a great look and feel to it, that I just HAVE to make something with it! I'm thinking of a cabled cardigan. We'll see if someone gets this for Christmas. I've got a few ideas for Christmas gifts so far, but there is only so much time before December 25th. My first priority is to finish Jim's sweater. He's been waiting for SOOO long for a sweater, and he totally deserves it. So all other projects will have to wait until this is FINISHED and perfect!   My weekend: October 16th, 2006 Another weekend has flown by. It felt relaxing, but I feel like I got a lot done. I have 2 inches left on the back of Jim's sweater before I can begin the neck. I'm amazed that I got as much done on it as I did. I'm really enjoying having an 8 row repeat. It seems to fly by! Every 8th row is a row of all cables, and it felt like I was constantly doing this row, but I was just zooming through the other 7 rows so easily I guess. I think by having a stitch pattern that does this helps hold my interest in making the piece. If it were something more repetative I think I would get bored more easily and put it down faster in search of something more interesting. But this still hasn't done that to me! Maybe I'll get another whole piece done pretty quickly. I'm thinking of working the front next. Jim wants a simple ribbed detail below the neck on the front, so I'm eager to do that. Plus, if I have the front and back done, I can sew the shoulders together and do the neck trim. Then make him try it on and feel like I've accomplished something :) On Saturday Jim and I tried going to Salem Massachusetts. I wasn't expecting it to be as busy as it was. I've known October to be a really busy month there, but I was thinking it was still close to the beginning, that it wasn't going to be as INSANE as we found it to be. First, on the highway to get there we saw one of those orange digital signs that said "Alternate Salem exits 26, 28" and I thought "Uh oh, I think this was a mistake" but we continued anyway. Then the highway becomes a parking lot which we didn't sit in too long. We got off the exit I normally take to get to Salem, which was #26, so I guess not so many people knew this way because the traffic stayed on the highway and it was smooth sailing until we hit route 114. Then it was the worst traffic I've ever been in! And I swear everyone was looking for parking. I was able to find the lot that I usually park in, but of course, (as I expected) it was full, so Jim and I decided to leave and come back sometime after Halloween. We weren't there to see the October festivities, but there were some things we wanted to just pick up from one of the stores. We were hoping it would be a quick in and out sort of thing... but no. It's much more enjoyable to go there when there aren't swarms of people and cars everywhere. I guess we'll have to wait until November. Hey, it's my hat! October 15th, 2006 So, I was browsing the Craftster forums and saw that someone had posted that the preview for the Winter issue of Interweave Knits is up. Out of curiousity I clicked, figuring that they had the issue wrong, and that they meant the holiday issue. I was wrong, they were right. To my surprise, there was the beret that I designed once upon a time! That was the first time I saw it (since I sent it in), and I really like how it was photographed. I can't wait to receive my copy in the mail. How exciting! With all the excitement from the Vogue scarf, I had mostly forgotten that I had this design coming out soon. It was nice to see it again. I really like this hat. I need to make one for myself. Fun until the novocaine wears off... October 13th, 2006 So, I learned my lesson today for avoiding the dentist for 2 years. I finally went in last friday for a cleaning and a full set of X-rays, which completely cut up my mouth, I hope I don't have to do that again any time soon. Today I had to go back to have one of those old silver fillings replaced by one of the new fangled white ones, and I guess he filled a cavity too. I haven't had one of these done in a few years and it wasn't all that much fun. I had to get poked with the novocaine needle twice. At least I didn't feel it the second time. But he pumped so much into me that it didn't wear off until about 1 PM! The dentist appointment was at 7:15! I skipped breakfast because I had to wake up an hour earlier and I really wanted to get as much sleep in as possible, plus, I usually eat breakfast when I'm at work anyway. I wasn't expecting to be numb for so long afterwards. I was thinking maybe an hour or two... but not 6! I tried tonguing some oatmeal around 11. I got it down, but it was tough. When the feeling finally did come back it hurt! It's starting to feel more normal now, but wow. I think I'll continue to go on a regular basis, even if I don't have dental insurance. Which, is why I avoided going in the first place... which, as I said, isn't such a great idea. Rather than having a few bills spread out over the 2 years, instead I had one bill for $513. Those X-rays are expensive! On another note, I was amused to see my scarf on Annie Modesitt's website. She also has a design in this issue, so she shows the cover so people know which issue it is in. I guess I'll see it lots of places because it's on the cover. But it surprised me. Update on Jim's Sweater October 12th, 2006 So, it's funny how consistant I am with how I begin a project. The first few days I'm all "Go go go"! working as much as I can on it... but I always start to fizzle. So far, I've been doing pretty well on this sweater, but I'm still within the first week of when I started it. I've got 12½ inches done so far! I need to get to 14¼ inches before I can begin the armholes. Maybe that could happen tonight. The past few nights I've been able to get about 10 rows done each night, so if I can get only 10 rows done tonight, then I won't be at the armholes... It's a goal though. So, maybe! Also, I know I'm more than 5% finished with this sweater, I just need to do some thinking about how far along I actually am before I update my little progress bar thing. If I say I'm half finished with the back, and there is a front, back, and 2 sleeves... I'll consider the sleeves each the same size as the front and back, so then I'm ⅛ finished with it, that's 12.5%, so I'll change it to 10%, because that doesn't include finishing... That works. Sales Reps! October 11th, 2006 So, at work today we had a few of our sales reps come for a visit. Somehow they got on the topic of the scarf on the cover of Vogue and our sales manager asked me to come explain how it's made to them. It was kinda fun. They loved the scarf and were eager to see it, but since I had to send it to Vogue I wasn't able to show it to them. But I did have the swatch that I had originally submit. They decided that they each needed a swatch just like that to show to stores. I know that they're just doing it to help sell our yarn, but I still think it's pretty cool that they will also be selling my design. What a great T-Shirt! October 11th, 2006 I know, I know... I'm a sucker for trendy yarn related T-shirts. But isn't this one just too cool? I just received a copy of Interweave's holiday magazine. This shirt is advertised in there and I just couldn't resist. I had to go find it online! I'm going to have to resist buying it at the moment, money is trying to be saved, for some reason or another... At least I won't forget about it because now it's on my blog, which I read occasionally... There are a few other yarn related shirts from the same people, but this one was my favorite. Here are the others. A Productive, Relaxing Weekend! October 9th, 2006 This was the first weekend in about 6 months that Jim and I got to spend the whole thing together. It was quite enjoyable. Friday was our 4 year anniversary. He had to work a double, but he was able to get out relatively early so we could enjoy some of our evening together. I cooked one of the meals that he really seems to enjoy and then we just sat around and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of the weekend. I was able to finish the circular part of the tire cover, but I need to order more yarn and find a 6000 foot size US 5 circular needle to pick up around the edge of the circle. So, I've put the tire cover on pause again. In the meantime, I've decided that Jim deserves a sweater. He's so patient with my knitting addiction, that I think he should have some sort of "thank you" sweater. When I first started designing sweaters I designed one for him, but I've been avoiding it like the plague because I don't like the pattern anymore. The gauge wasn't taken right and the whole thing just doesn't work for me anymore. So I had him go through one of my stitch pattern books and pick out something he likes, then I frogged the old sweater! My first froging! It was actually a very nice feeling, because I knew I was never going to finish that evil sweater and also because I could reuse the yarn. Of course, he picked a cable pattern with lots of cables, but he's worth it. It's an 8 row repeat, which was pretty easy to memorize, so I've been buzzing along on the back relatively quickly. It took some adjusting to get used to working on a new garment, as it usually does, but I've got about 8" done on the back! Huzzah! That's it to the right, but I'm mid row, so I had to take the picture as-is, since I'm at work and my boss doesn't take to kindly to us knitting on personal projects while at work. I'll get another (better) picture of it eventually. But that's what I've got for now. A little shameless boasting never hurts... right? October 6th, 2006 We received our office copies of the Holiday Vogue Knitting issue. I even went around and autographed some of them for the girls in the office. It was rather amusing. My boss was even excited about it... so much that she called someone she knows at Soho Publishing and asked for 25 more copies! How exciting is that?!? So, I should be receiving those sometime next week. I'm the lucky person who gets to design the weekly e-mails that go out for Classic Elite, and my boss asked me to come up with something highlighting my scarf in the magazine. It feels a little funny being so self promoting, but I guess that's how stuff gets shown to the world. That's scheduled to go out on October 18th, the day after the issue is supposed to be in stores. Speaking of e-mails, I still haven't quite figured out an economical way of getting updates sent to those of you who have signed up to receive them on my home page. It is swimming around in my head though! So, don't fret. It will happen someday. Another free pattern! October 5th, 2006 Wow, I guess I've been busier than I thought I was. Here's a fun pattern that I designed with my inner child. It's knit on large needles in a really soft yarn. I even machine washed my swatch to see what would happen, and it stayed relatively the same. Knit diagonally this blanket will keep you paying attention as you buzz along with this beautiful yarn. This yarn also has some natural colors, for those of us who aren't quite so bright. This pattern, unlike the one I posted about yesterday, is actually up and available for your knitting pleasure. Here's an inexpensive place to order this yarn online. I've been beginning to grow my collection of knit-related T-shirts. Here is number 2. I'm such a t-shirt and jeans type of person, and working in an office makes me feel like I should dress somewhat nice. BUT, because it's a yarn related office, I have no quams what-so-ever about wearing knitting related T-shirts with a pair of jeans. My goal is to be able to wear some sort of yarny shirt with jeans (or some sort of comfy pants) for a whole week. It's a silly goal, I know, but doesn't it sound fun? I really like this shirt. Other than her hair, she looks really relaxed and in sort of a meditative state... which knitting can do to a person. Plus, the drawing is just so darned cute. I couldn't resist. I know you've all been anctious to see how far along I've come on the smiley face tire cover. So, there it is! I'm confident that I'll be able to finish the circle part tonight. Then I'll need to find some really long circular needles or some sort of combination of shorter ones that will let me pick up enough stitches around the circumference of the circle. I fear that may be a daunting task... picking up 8000 stitches... but I'm determined to finish this thing! I want it on my Jeep before it snows. A free pattern! October 4th, 2006 At the Boston Knit Out a few weekends ago one of the stores was giving out free yarn. We were limited to one ball each, so I picked a pretty black and white ball of (what I believe could be) Erdal yarn. I've searched on their website for the exact name of the yarn, but it's not there, so I sent them an e-mail. Hopefully they can get back to me soon, so I can post this pattern in the pattern section with the correct name of the yarn. I'm pretty sure it's Erdal yarn. I found the ball band in my bag. I can't think of any other balls of yarn that could have lost their band in my bag. This scarf only used one ball. At first, I had no idea what I was going to make with only one ball of yarn. After flipping through some beautiful lace work patterns I chose this one with a simple rib and seed stitch to keep it flat. I promise, I'll get this pattern up within the next few days. With or without the correct yarn name. It's a versatile pattern, so I'm sure any yarn would work just as nicely, but I just love how the stripes worked up in this yarn. Self-striping yarns are becoming a favorite of mine. The Vogue Project unveiled! October 3rd, 2006 Oh my goodness! Vogue Knitting has the Holiday 2006 Preview up on their website with my scarf featured on the cover! How exciting is this?!? I can't wait to see the actual magazine. Busy busy busy! October 2nd, 2006 Oh, I'm so happy that September is finally over! What a week I had last week! I swear, it was the weirdest week of my life. The photo shoot was happening at work, so everything there was hectic and crazy, and it was also the week of my sister's wedding. Wednesday was the rehersal dinner and Friday was the wedding. The week was certainly an interesting experience, and I made it through alive! The wedding was great. The earth gave her a little good luck rain in the morning, but it cleared up right before the ceremony. It was lots of fun. Here are some photos. Enjoy! Patterns to Buy River of Life Socks Crochet Motif Cardigan Beatrice Ribbed Tie Coat Stormy Diamond Eyelet Cropped Vest Work's in Progress CEY Knit - Due Sept 10 Secret Project - Fin by Sept 4 Secret Project - Fin by Oct 10 Quilted Toe Up Socks Mountain (Knee) Socks Philosopher's Girl PO Crocheted Raglan Rasta Hat Master Knitting Striped Hat Forbidden Lace Cardigan Master Knitting Program - Level 1 Hauk Smiley Face Tire Cover