somethin's a cookin'

i needed to give secret project #2 a good soak and figured i might as well throw in my favorite scarf, which was getting a bit dingy. if you've never used this wool wash, well. it's pretty great. some of the scents are a bit much for me but i love aquae. nice and light - and no need to rinse!

it might finally be winter

it's a balmy 53 degrees here in southern california. my mom keeps sending me photos of the snow cover in vermont and i got to see a bit of it myself in ohio over the holiday break:


thanksgiving was wonderful; b's family is so nice and we spent quite a bit of time playing guitar hero and wii golf (b's grandma even got in on the action!). despite the overly melodramatic warnings of every news show on television and the radio, traveling was a cinch - no car or people traffic in sight! i'm none too pleased to be back at the grindstone but at least the holidays are coming up! (and yes, that's a new holiday secret project in the progress bar at right. if you're on ravelry you can see it here. i'm a glutton for punishment.)

in ohio we had a triple birthday celebration and i received some wonderful gifts from b's family:


rooster cookie jar and holiday mug


yay! a fabulous stitch pattern book!


yummy candle made in b's hometown
very little progress made on snow white during the long weekend due to tara the terror, b's parents' new golden doodle pup who loves to jump! jump! jump! on me! ah well. i think i'll have to put it aside until after the hols anyway.

it's foggy out there

also? my office is a mess.

as time goes by

we had plans for sunday. oh, did we have plans. which were all thrown out the window the moment we found out a local TRU had just gotten a new shipment of these:


at which point we completely forgot everything we were supposed to do on sunday, ran out the door, and snatched one up. the three people behind us in line got the last three systems. seriously close. happy birthday to us!

TRU was having a special on games too, so we got this, this, and this. all of which we tested out, along with the prepacked wii sports. so. much. fun.

i got in some knitting time while bryan played zelda, though. i'm just about to start the body shaping for ysolda's snow white:


the knitpicks shine is an absolute delight to work with: it's super soft and just flies along on the needles. sheds a little, but not too badly. oh, and wednesday night i finished up secret project #1. if you're on ravelry you can see photos here.

more to report but i'm out of time. 'later!

we've come a long, long way together

come one, come all! magnificent writers reading in a great, high-ceilinged bar that regularly plays a lot of the cure and the ramones - organized by b and our friend amaranth. always a good time!

what the cat dragged in

i guess maeve heard that there'd be a huge discount on cotton ease at the local michael's today. i've never used this yarn but so many indie designers swear by it, i'm glad she brought some home for me!

(seriously, though, i'm done buying yarn until i knit up at least two sweaters from my stash!)


i've also had a lovely package from my mom full of adorable patterned flannels! i'm to sew them up into closed-ended tubes and send them back to vermont, where my mom will fill them with dried corn. you put them in the microwave for 2-3 minutes and viola! heating pads!

we could use some here, because b and i have been kind of sick this weekend. actually, i've been kinda sick and b's been quite sick. so i thought this would be a good opportunity to throw all of our leftover veggies in a pot before our next organic delivery comes on monday.


veggie broth, tinned tomatoes, bow-tie pasta, and fresh garlic, string beans, cauliflower, celery, and parsley. oh, and a bit of dried basil (the store was out of fresh). i just winged this one and it turned out very yummy and soothing on our sore throats!

keep warm!

nearsighted

it's been a long week. a long, long, long week.


wednesday night work sent me to the hannah montana concert at the staples center. if you don't know who hannah montana is, you must not interface with ten year old girls, like, ever. the place was completely sold out and we got to sit near the likes of heather locklear, andy garcia, kobe bryant, and steven spielberg. no joke!

i escaped partway through the 'miley cyrus' portion of the event to hoof it to the troubador to see architecture in helsinki. much more my speed. as always, they put on a fantastic show. this is one of those bands that sounds even better live than they do on their CDs.




i've decided that my camera simply hates taking photos of moving objects without the flash. does that mean i'll give up trying? probably not.

then thursday night work sent me to the cheetah girls concert. ohboy. there was a huge mixup with the invite list and we were close to bailing before one of the girls' managers came and helped us out.

needless to say, i slept hard last night and am fighting off a burgeoning cold!

oh! but! tuesday night - i went to the inaugural meeting of the rose city knitters, a new pasadena knitting group started through ravelry. the women were wonderful and i'll be attending this one regularly!

a distinct need to nap

magnificent things afoot

i knit knit knit this weekend. finished up the marsan watchcap in the requisite couple of hours:


and started secret project #1:


and that's all you'll be seeing of secret project #1 until after the hols!

a great thing about dining with my friend the other night, besides the fabulous company and meal?


that friend works for sanrio. oh, does she ever.

exactly what i needed

last night i had a lovely meal and drinks with a friend downtown, which kicked off my weekend in just the right way. and then i come home to find 11 skeins of knit picks shine worsted? oh, bliss. i scored this stash on sale for $2 a skein and it is earmarked for ysolda's snow white. i am having a really, really difficult time not casting on.

but i'm trying to be a good girl. after the disaster of last week's andean silk armwarmers i decided i needed an easy project, and the marsan watchcap was definitely the right choice. it's perfect for the yarn and i was able to knit almost the entire thing while watching bread and tulips this afternoon (which, by the way, i highly recommend). after this i really need to get going on a secret holiday something, but i might just end up with two projects on the needles...

nap time!

mmmnf

this post was going to be longer but i'm having an incredibly grumpy week, and i just can't muster up the energy. so i'm just going to leave you with a photo of a couple of lovely new acquisitions.


thanks to beige for the gift yarn! (oasis farm fiber mill bunny blend - an angora/wool blend. yumm!) now i'm going to knit my way through lunch whilst catching up on work emails and hope i can make it to dinner tonight.