Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Chunky Kitty Scarf



It is the middle of July and I am wearing my brand new Chunky Kitty Scarf to work. Yes, I'm getting strange glances, but I love it and am so proud of it that I don't care!!

I used Rowan Big Wool, color 32. It's SO soft and cuddly!

Here is the pattern - it turns out SO cute.
This pattern has an F-Factor of
Use bulky wool and 17US needles (I used bamboo)

Cast on 16 sts
knit 2 rows

Next row:
Knit

Next row:
Purl

Next row:
Knit

Next row:
Purl

Next Row:
k2 *yo, k2tog* 6 times, k2

Next Row:
purl

These two last rows make the pattern

Continue working in pattern until 6 rows from end of scarf. End on a WS.
Next row:
Knit

Next row:
Purl

Next row:
Knit

Next row:
Purl

Knit next 2 rows
Bind off

WAH-LA - you have your very own Chunky Kitty Scarf
Designed by StacyO and Marissa
(roll over photos for captions)
Acacia helping us design the Chunky Kitty Scarf

Elvis helping me knit the Chunky Kitty Scarf

Tess wishes that I had taken up barbequing steaks instead of knitting

My first scarf!


It's 12:24 AM, there are Tivo'd reruns of Will & Grace on, and I just bound off my first completed project! This is the Chunky Kitty Scarf, as designed by StacyO and myself. Just yesterday we figured out the pattern and I started it after a date last night. I spinstered myself tonight, snuggled up under a blanket, flipped on Tivo and got to knitting. In the spirit of my blog, "Wait, Let me finish this last row," I realized that I HAD to finish it. And so I did. Took me a total of seven hours. I don't know if that's a long time, since I'm new at this and had to learn how to join two balls of yarn. PS - this was done in Rowan Big Wool Color 32. Note how it brings out my eyes!

Pattern coming tomorrow - laptop battery about to die.

Friday, July 15, 2005

Date? or Knit? Knit.

So, in the vein of posts about choices, I have decided to share my problem with being faced with the choice of to date or to knit?

As Kim Cattrall as Samantha in Sex and The City said, "The best way to get over a man is to get under another one." This has been my mantra.

Three weeks ago yesterday, I was unceremoniously tossed back into the dating pool - I am now just another fish in this crazy sea. Online dating, smiling hopefully at cute guys in the produce department ("x'cuse me, how can I tell if this cucumber is ripe?" she says gripping the cucumber firmly yet gently in her delicate hand, while batting her eyelashes seductively. "Do you have something in your eye, miss?" he responds.), and other horrible ways of finding the O.N.E. (thanks Online Guy for the acronym).

I have posted my profile on eHarmony (because I do want to find the O.N.E.) and Yahoo (because I'm slightly desperate?), and have met one, count'em, one guy. I've been emailing several through the eHarmony "Stages of Communication," but have met ONE guy. Not to be confused with The O.N.E., just one Online Guy. Nice guy, too. Surprisingly, although eHarmony touts themselves as being able to perfectly match you with people based on a 29 point system, the guy I ended up meeting (Online Guy) was from Yahoo, and we clicked instantly and are too similar for our own good.

I have been on ONE, count'em, ONE date with a "Friend of a Friend (FF)." Now, the FF is a great concept. You know the friend, you know they have good friends, you like the friend, and you hope you'll like the FF. And I did. Nice guy, nice dresser. Nice dinner. Tidy. Nice. That's kind of it.

So, here I am, dog paddling in the dating pool hoping to meet someone more than just nice. Sexy. Passionate. Great body. Fantastic smile. Loves me, loves my dog (who couldn't love that little weasel!? Even Stacy who only loves cats loves my dog because she's "like a cat. She's a cat-dog!" Direct quote.). And here I am, going out on nice dates, wishing I was home knitting.

I was sitting on the couch the other night when I should have been washing my hair for a second date with Online Guy (didn't actually get around to it...let me finish this row...) and the thought actually crossed my mind, "I wish I could bring my knitting with me to dinner." This was the SAME thought that flashed through my head while driving to traffic school. That's quite something. At least there, I could knit. Made one helluva pubic hair scarf too.

Online Guy earned points today when he invited me out to the beach for a one-on-one getting to know me session (didn't want the distraction of sitting at dinner with lots of people coming around including an ex from long ago), and he even said in an IM session, "You can bring your knitting and I'll just lay there and talk to you while you knit." Direct quote, folks. I know, many of you are thinking, "go for it, girl! He could be the O.N.E.!" And, he very well could be.

BUT, I just don't think I'm as ready as I thought I was to get out there with my water wings and flippers to be just another fish in the sea.

Wednesday, July 13, 2005

Cats & knitting seem to go hand in paw...

So, I stopped in at a brand new LYS (Local Yarn Store for you laypeople out there) in Mill Valley called Studio Knit, and it is fantastic! I went in (my first time...be gentle!) and the girl there was so cool, hip, and helpful! I bought a beautiful ball of Rowan Big Wool and bamboo needles, size 17. I feel like such the cool knit chick! I guess this hobby isn't for little old ladies anymore.

Rather than make the important work related phone calls I needed to make, I started a big chunky scarf. Isn't that color fab? I'm "working from home" today, and I promised myself I could knit as soon as I made some phone calls, but then I just thought, "well, I'll just cast on..." and then it was, "well, let me just finish this row...." and here I am, it's 5:00 and I haven't done anything for work.


And, to follow in the outstanding footsteps of those pioneering crazy cat knitting women bloggers such as Crazy Aunt Purl and Knit Kitty Knit who went before me, I have to pose my pets next to it. Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

I love these chunky needles. I feel like a little kid. Remember those huge crayons?

Saturday, July 09, 2005

I took up knitting so I could shop more.


Every girl loves to shop, and that includes me. I am a self-proclaimed eBay addict. Mysterious packages come to my office at least 2-3 times a week - the receptionist brings them to my desk, "You got another one..." she'll announce wearily. Everything from jeans to purses (big time weakness) to jewelry to iPods and cameras - I've done it eBay. I even bought a car on eBay (last time I'll try and find a bargain for a car!).

The 1988 Saab 900 Turbo was shiny and red with tan interior. I was in love. I had to have it. It was only $1250 with no bids (should have been a clue, but I'm not that sharp). I had just been in an accident, totalling my gramma's hand-me-down 1985 WHITE Ford LTD (sharp! not!) and I gotta say, although I missed my gramma terribly, I was overjoyed to get the phone call from the insurance company that they were going to total the car.

So, I bought the Saab. It was from Idaho, and the seller was willing to DRIVE it down here to San Francisco, to the mechanic's shop. I figured if he was willing to take it on a road trip like that, it must have been in ok shape. Well, $3000 later at the mechanic's, I picked up my dreamy dream car and was on my way. Not such a bargain anymore! I had the car for about 3 years, and it probably ended up costing me $10,000 over the three years - from purchase to the time it just simply died in an intersection near my office and I had it towed away to the junkyard. The next day, I bought my friend Stacy's Lexus, which I love and have no trouble with. Live and learn!

So, now I stick to small things on eBay - no more cars for me. You wonder what this story has to do with knitting?

I picked up knitting last weekend while relaxing in the mountains east of Sonora, CA because my friend Stacy had picked it up a few months ago and it looked like fun. I needed another hobby to shop for! After all, there's a Michael's Crafts almost walking distance from my office! Right next door to my favorite burrito shop.

So, I started knitting. Luckily, I'm recently single so I have more time to knit! (what a way to put a positive spin on a really crappy situation, but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.) Another fortunate situation (please note the sarcasm) was that I had to sit for 8 hours (split between two nights, but again, single, so I had time for this) in traffic school. 8 long, boring hours. Thank GOD I knew how to knit. I had a nice teacher, and he let me knit. I got teased, but I just kept knitting. And look what I made!

I call it my Traffic School Pubic Hair scarf. Why the name, you ask? Well, I was on my way to my first night of traffic school, I stopped off at Michael's (I had left my needles and yarn in the mountains with my mother because she got into it) and bought what I thought was very pretty, oatmealy yarn with cool random threads running through it. As I was knitting and knitting, I realized that the cool random threads looked just like...you guessed it...pubes. Now, I can't look at it without thinking of that. Guess I'll give the scarf away and my friend will enjoy it until she realizes that it reminds her of pubes. This is all I made of the scarf, by the way. I was learning how to do a stockinette stitch, and realized that I didn't like it because of its tendency to curl at the edges.

Now, exactly a week later, I popped onto eBay shopping for an official knitting bag. Could I use any one of the 30 or so purses I have on the top shelf of my closet? Probably. Did I want to? No. I wanted a new, pretty bag I could use for knitting. Look what I got! Pretty cute, huh? Hmmm...wonder what else I absolutely MUST have for my new hobby?


Oh, PS - I haven't knitted a stitch today. I could be more into the shopping for the hobby than into the hobby itself. Imagine that. I may try a seed stitch today - just as soon as I bid on this fabulous Coach purse I have my eye on...