Tadaaaaa!!!!

Here's me in my first sweater!!! Yay!!!

It was Katy Ryan's Ballet Wrap Cardigan from Interweave Knits Winter 2005

It was a great first sweater. I used Lana Grosso's Easy Print, which was fabulous to use and knit up quickly. I only wish that it turned out a little bit longer, but hey I'm pretty thrilled with the final product. It kept me toasty warm at work, but not too warm, mainly because of the deep v-neck. I highly recommend knitting this sweater. Is there anybody else who is making this?

Grenadine Girl

The Sweater Bug

I’m totally addicted to sweaters now. I finished the sweater last night and I’m wearing it as I write. And it’s the most comfortable sweater I’ve ever made. It’s also the only sweater I’ve ever made. But it seems that I’ve become addicted because look at the surprise pattern from knitty:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEwinter05/PATTstarsky.html

Oy vey. I have to make it. Got any good yarn suggestions? I was thinking maybe GGH Aspen or Solitaire –something that uses a size 9 needle.

I have to calm down because I already have another sweater to make and some gifts to make. So another sweater project is out of the question.

At least this week.

I'm also obsessing with getting a new car. I have to keep telling myself that my current car is fine, it's great. As soon as it passes smog, I can install a stereo in it and it would be a much nicer car if I cleaned it. BUT one thing keeps nagging at me. The darned thing will never have airbags.

Now it's not as if I want a maserati or anything or even a Subaru. Forget even the foreign imports (well they're all foreign imports these days aren't they?). I want a Ford Focus Wagon. Now there once was a time where I would not buy an American car. Thirty years ago, they were great cars that lasted forever, but for some reason, they haven't been as long lasting since the 1980's. I'm sure there are some exceptions, but I have been turned around by the Ford Focus Wagon. My friend drives the hatchback version and I quite like it.

Now if only I could scrounge up that $12500 it costs to buy one.

GG

I Made It

Two scarves, one sweater and .25 of one sock. I've accomplished that much during the knitting olympics. I'm quite proud of myself and my fellow knitters for embracing the olympic spirit in this way. It was an intense effort and I still didn't get the gold because there was no way in hell I was going to finish a pair of socks, but at least this large backlog of projects are completed. It will be nice have my life back. I'll do chores around the house and cook meals for my husband again and answer the phone when it rings.

Except I started a quilt Friday night.

That's right my 2006 quilt has been cut, at least a portion of it has which means that the race has begun to finish a quilt by Labor Day. Why labor day? Because that's when the Marin Needle Arts Guild quilt festival is. To get this all done in time the quilt needs to be fully pieced by June 15th, if not sooner.

This means that Im not embarking on any ambitious knitting projects until Labor day, that's right it's just socks for me.

Yeah let's wait and see how long that lasts. I already have the materials for another sweater ready and waiting for my attention.

Many thanks for Warren for his hospitality this rainy sunday afternoon. I was able to weave in ends without much distraction in the comfort of his store.
And many thanks to Mr. G for his support and encouragement. Now I have to make him a sweater. Please send some happy thoughts to my friend Maya, oh and thanks mom for the extra yarn I couldn't have finished the sweater w/o it.

Happy knitting to all and to all a good night

GG

The Quilting Bug

As I’m finishing up all of these knitting projects I’m realizing that I really want to make a quilt. There’s this French themed quilt that I’ve been designing for the last two years and I’ve just now finalized the design and now I’m itching to cut the pieces. Now keep in mind that I was quilting before I was knitting, and producing two quilts a year. Then I moved and all of my crafting stuff ended up in disarray and I took up knitting. But the urge remains. It’s just that quilting is a space intensive endeavor and I like to spread out with all the fabrics and the sewing machine, but I don’t like doing that in my tiny craft room. It makes me feel too cut off from the rest of the world. Perhaps I just need to make some adjustments to the craft room. I need to put some nice smelling candles and a couple of cd’s. Perhaps I’ll make more of an effort to hang out in there tonight, but there’s some serious cleaning that needs to happen in my bedroom.

Does this happen to you? All of my clothes get piled up next to my bed, mixed in with my favorite knitting magazines and books, the odd shoe, mixed in with the odd knitting project and with the unpacked weekend bag and the messy handbag from last week. My poor husband is afraid to enter the room lest he trip over something. It’s a public safety hazard. I’d better do something about it tonight. And possibly do some laundry.

Does this mean that I have to cook dinner too? I hope not.

As to the knitting Olympics, one thing is for sure. I’m not going to finish those socks, but I hope to have that sweater done. Hope being the operative word.

Happy knitting
GG

La La Land

Spent the weekend in LA. Good times had by all. I packed a lot of action into 36 hours. We flew in on Saturday morning. I don’t know. I think Southwest might be losing its edge. Our captain was 30 minutes late for our plane due to a scheduling mishap. Apparently that’s what they call oversleeping in the airlines industry. On the way home, a bunch of flights were delayed do to a scheduling conflict with a plane. We were lucky we got on an earlier flight home or we would have been stuck in LA.

Aside from that the trip was fabu. I finally went to see a movie at the Arclight in Hollywood, which for a film lover is like going to the NY met if you like opera. You buy assigned seats in the movie theatre, they have fine dining at the restaurant –corn tamale with shrimp and lobster anyone? And the finest bottle of American wine I’ve had in ages. A 2004 Pinot Noir from Clos du Bois. We saw “Something New”, that romantic comedy with Simon Baker. It’s probably the best romantic comedy to come out since the 40 year old virgin.

We also went to Bergin’s, a pub at Fairfax and Wilshire. We got a huge table. Mr. G had been hanging out with his friend all day so we met up at the pub. I had a Newcastle, which was one of my favorite beers in college. Mr. G had a Bass ale. Hanging out and chatting with new acquaintances and old friends made me feel like I was 21 again. It felt like Mr. G and I were dating again. It was very cute.

I stayed with my friend Jenny in her new apartment near Melrose. Very cute studio unit. We watched Sex and the City reruns while we got ready. I had done some shopping on Melrose –bought a couple of new tops and a new wallet at Urban Outfitters. And they had my favorite Skeem candles, I bought one for Jenny, with these beautiful roses on it –sweet pea and vanilla scented. I have the same sent on my desk at work, and it’s yummy.

On Sunday we picked up my brother and his girlfriend in Westwood and went to the Grove and had breakfast. I had a delish bowl of swiss oatmeal and some fresh fruit. It was nice to catch up with everyone and the bro looked happy and healthy. We did a little bit of shopping, but it was too crazy busy to actually buy anything. That was probably for the best anyway. I couldn’t go to LA without visiting knitcafe. It’s on Melrose and it’s a lovely yarn shop with a delightful group of knitters. Very friendly people with a lovely array of yarns. My favorite part was the cute needle holders and tote bags made under the knit café line. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had to get ready to go home. So if you get to LA, visit Knit Café. They’ll welcome you with open arms.

At the end of the weekend, it was nice to come home to SF even though it was freezing cold. It was toasty warm on the couch with Mr. G and the cat watching the Olympics. Mr. G isn’t partial to the ice dancing. He thinks it’s a big joke. Which makes me wonder how well he would do at ice dancing. Perhaps if he tried it, he wouldn’t knock it huh?

GG

Danger Will Robinson

Danger Will Robinson.

I’ve finished another scarf. The knitting is done on the Besotted Scarf for Mr. G. This momentous occasion was shared with fellow knitters at the LYS knit night. It was an exhilarating end to my day. Now, if only I could weave in those darned ends! I came home and wrapped the scarf around Mr. G, who was very happy with the cabled x’s and o’s and the soft hand of Goddess Yarn’s Ellen. Next week there will be photos of finished products.

I got the remaining yarn for my sweater and Warren felt badly that I didn’t buy enough yarn and that the sweater might not fit, but we’re both confident that the blocking will work. As if I can fault Warren. I also splurged and got the new Interweave Knits and the Rebecca Mohair special from last year. I bought this cool mohair sweater in Australia and I’ve been wearing it with everything. Anyhoo it’s been getting quite worn out so I wanted to make sure that I could make myself another one. But before we start planning other projects let’s review our Olympic progress:

The fuzzy pink and orange scarf is done
The blue besotted scarf is done

Just the socks and the sweater to go. Now a wrench has been thrown into my Olympic knitting plans. Or one could call it a self-imposed obstacle. Mr. G and I have randomly decided to hang out in LA this weekend. Surprise. Now don’t tell Warren b/c I wouldn’t want him to get jealous, but I’m going to visit a yarn shop or two during my trip. I’m going to check out Knitcafe and Black Sheep Knittery. At this point, I have enough sweater projects at home so I’m only on the look out for unique handspun yarns to make a chunky scarf, or an unusual novelty yarn. Fortunately for Warren, there’s a novelty yarn that I’ve been eyeing in blues, greens and pinks. I want to make a shrug or something. I haven’t made a shrug yet, or a shawl for that matter. There will, as always be interesting photos to share when I return.

Whilst in LA, Luke’s scarf and all of the pieces of the sweater will be blocking in my craft room. I’m hoping that this will somehow make up for the fact that I probably won’t be knitting that much this weekend.

Good times and happy knitting for all
Grenadine Girl

One Down, Three to Go

Ok, so it was knit every row, but the fuzzy orange and pink scarf is done. Well done knitting anyway. I'm going to wait until next week for all finishing - you know weaving in ends and all, but at least I can say that I have finished something by the end of this Olympic trial. It also doesn't hurt that the scarf feels as soft as a security blanket. I'm wearing it to work tomorrow, unwoven ends and all.

Valentine's day was a success. Mr. G proved once again to be the best husband in the knittersphere, giving me a heart-shaped tape measure as a token of his love. I've been showing it off to everyone I know and will boast of it at knit night tomorrow, so those of you who attend consider yourself warned.

I can't say enough nice things about my knitting group. We meet at the new LYS on Thursdays at 7. Feel welcome to attend if you're in the area. We're a warm group of diverse women (editted, women and Warren, the fabulous man who owns and operates Marin Fiber Arts, FYI we need more men at our meetings!!!). Every week I meet someone new and intriguing. Someone new last week said something about inherantly trusting knitters. The feeling is mutual. Knitting has changed my life tremendously. It's something I do that I truly love. I didn't realize that such a thing existed and it has diminished all of my previous interests. In the end, it makes me feel more whole. If that makes sense or anything.

If only knitting could provide me with a steady income I would do it all the time, with occasional breaks for yoga. Now there's a combination I haven't seen in the knittersphere. The combination yoga studio and yarn shop. What would I call it... The Tao of Zimmerman? String Theories? Will Strech for Yarn? The Yarn of Enlightenment? Lotus Yarns? Why do I always come up with fabulous ideas, but lack the wherewithall (sp?) to achieve them? It's a curse. Just yesterday I dreamed up the most imaginative screenplay entitled Boat People. though I can't decide if it's a horror movie about a mythical "boat people" that kill parking teenagers or if it's a dry tv mockumentary about the characters who live on houseboats. So many dreams and aspirations, so little time. I don't see why people don't proclaim human cloning. I'd love to give my clones the dreams I don't have the time to follow. But then I'm totally ignoring all of the social and ethical implications of having a cloan and then forcing them to follow my dreams.

I say that though knowing that the last three months have been some of the best of my life. And I've never been happier. There's comfort in that.

Happy knitting to you all. And know that whatever ails you is merely temporary. Just pick up the knitting needles and all will be alright.

much love,
GG

The Good, The Bad and The Scary

The good news is that I finished the first sleeve on the sweater last night. The bad news is that I need to buy 4 more skeins of yarn to finish this sweater. The worse news is that I’m not entirely sure this sweater is going to fit. I don’t know that I allowed much ease for this thing, but when the instructions gave measurements for 34” and then 40”, I balked at having such a huge sweater. Fortunately, the yarn softens up a bit so I’m confident that it will fit well after blocking.

So let’s review our Olympic progress shall we? So far, I’ve managed to knit another foot of the besotted scarf. Only about another foot left to go. The fuzzy pink and orange scarf hasn’t gone anywhere and I haven’t even looked at the pink socks.

That said we should set some reasonable goals for the weekend.
1: buy yarn for the rest of the sweater
2: finish Luke’s scarf
3: finish fuzzy pink and orange scarf

Some people may think that this is pretty ambitious, but ambitious would be to buy the yarn AND try to finish knitting the sweater in one weekend.

Anyhoo the week so far has been good. I went to Borders last night for a last minute v-day gift for my husband and I went to the grocery store and I cooked a pretty fabulous dinner. It was 9pm by the time I finally sat down, but it felt good to be so active. I forgot that I had that kind of energy.

I don't like knitting with a deadline

It minimizes your progress.

It is going to take and olympic effort to finish the sweater. I misjudged how long it would take me to knit a sleeve, even worse, I misjudged how much yarn I would need. I thought I bought above and beyond the amount of yarn I needed, but I don't have enough to finish the second sleeve and the waist ties. I think I'm going to need another 3 or 4 skeins. Arg this is turning into quite the expensive sweater....
With this spring weather we've been having it's possible that I might not even get to wear the darned thing until next year.

My husband's scarf is coming along nicely. And the olympics have been mighty entertaining. I love the flying tomato. It was nice to see people get emotional about their achievements. And Michelle Kwan leaving the Olympics. She should get a gold medal for selflessness.

It feels good to be American again.

GG

Everyone Must Be Knitting

Hardly anyone is updating their blogs. It must be the knitting olympics!

I myself was knitting up a storm all day yesterday. Between Coupling, The Olympics and Twenty Thousand Streets Under the Sky, there was plenty of tv to knit with. Funny how now that there's a deadline it feels like nothing's moving fast enough. I thought for sure that one of my sweater sleeves would be finished yesterday or that I could knit through a whole skein on the besotted scarf, but I was wrong. This is going to be a little bit harder than I thought.

Then there's the guilt I feel spending all day inside on a gorgeous day. I may have to go outside for a bit today. Perhaps to visit Warren at the LYS.
but then again, maybe not.

Happy Knitting

Grenadine Girl

Drooling...

Bag of the Day:

 

The Lexie Barnes Lady B Bag in parfait.

 

Yummy!

 

GG

 

My Own Olympics

While I have decided not to formally join the Yarn Harlot’s Knitting Olympics, I have challenged myself to finish all works in progress.

 

This would include:

 

3 scarves

1 sweater

1 pair of socks.

 

I doubt that the socks will get finished, but if the 3 scarves and the sweater get done. I’ll have earned myself a silver medal. If I get those and the socks done, I’ll get the gold.

 

Tonight is Project Runway night, so no doubt I’ll make some serious progress. I’m trying to finish Luke’s Besotted scarf in time for Valentine’s Day. Hopefully I’ll be blocking the scarf and the sweater by this weekend. There may be hope for those socks yet!

 

Not that I need additional motivation, but there are some new projects that I would like to pursue:

The Sun Shaped Washcloth (my own design)

Baby hat and booties set

More socks

Another sweater

Lace scarf

Lace socks

More felted handbags

A felted needlecase

And gasp! I would like to make a quilt this year….

 

There will be plenty to watch on the tv in the next two weeks. There’s a whole weekend of Coupling on BBC. The Olympics will be on and the finale for Project Runway is coming up. Oh yes, there will be a lot of crafting…

 

GG

Works In Progress

I wasn't joking when I said that I was really into the pink yarn these days. Check out the photos:

I'm working on a pink sweater,


some pink socks,


and a pink and orange scarf


Oh and I'm still trying to figure out how to knit a triangle. We're getting there.


Happy knitting
GG

It's Just So Wrong

I saw Munich yesterday. Amazing amazing amazing film. Everyone should see it. It doesn’t take political sides. It takes the human side, showing that this continued killing of people will not lead to peace. There is one simple step to peace for any nation and that is to stop killing people. Which is also why capital punishment is wrong, which I’ve only now just realized is my concrete view on the issue.

 

That’s it everyone, just stop killing people. When will governments figure this out?

 

The wrong part of this movie is that Eric Bana is so hot. He’s just taken Ewen McGregor out as my # 1 favorite actor. Move over Hugh Grant, step aside Hugh Jackman.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0051509/

 

note to self:

Rent the following films:

The Hulk

Chopper

Black Hawk Down

The Castle

And of course, Troy – I think I need to own that one!

 

GG

Note To Self

I do not need a new car.

 

As much as I would like to have a newer car with a radio that works and dual side airbags, I do not drive enough to require spending $10,000.

 

I have a great car. It’s old, but reliable, a 1987 Honda Accord Hatchback. It just needs to be cleaned and a new car radio.  And if I’m feeling sassy enough, perhaps I can knit some new seat covers. Mmm. Maybe not. Might be a little hot in summer.

 

There’s been a lot of talk about this knitting Olympics as sponsored by the Yarn Harlot. I am inspired. I would like to join, but I’ve been challenging myself enough as it is. In the last six months I have learned how to knit socks, knit cables and I’m tackling my very first sweater. The real challenge for me right now is to make this sun-shaped washcloth out of yellow and orange crystal palace chenille that I’ve been trying to design. It is inspired by that flower shaped washcloth that was in Interweave Knits ages ago, but I’m having trouble figuring out how to knit individual triangles. I’m close. So I guess I’ve just convinced myself to enter the Knitting Olympics.

 

Anyhoo. Wish me luck. It’s a busy weekend ahead…

 

GG

 

 

 

 

Ode to my husband

 

I may have the best husband in knitting blogland.

 

Here is the evidence:

For our first wedding anniversary (paper) he gave me a knitting book.

While on our anniversary outing he bought me sock yarn (to make him a pair of socks)

He wears whatever I knit for him with glee, regardless of how poorly misshapen the product.

He loves everything I cook for him.

He brings me surprises back from the supermarket.

 

And…

 

He cooked dinner for me last night!

 

Warm fuzzies for everyone.

 

GG