C'est Fini!

Now, what you've all been waiting for, The Vogue Flower Bag is finished! Please see photographic proof below:





And it all started from this...

Too Much of A Good Thing

You know how yesterday I wrote how sugar and caffein were two things that I should avoid? I totally ignored that sentiment this morning when I dug into my breakfast of cheesecake and coffee. Man I was flying high as a kite at work. Everyone must have thought I was krazy -and that's no typo, I mean crazy-with-a-k, nutty as a fruitcake madness. Then came the crash, which I was expecting so I was able to ride it out with a bit of lunch, but what I wasn't expecting was the gigundo HEADACHE.

I've learned my lesson.

So I have two days off work and I'm already relaxing. I've totally written off cooking an appropriate dinner. Instead I had salt and pepper kettle chips and sharp cheddar cheese for dinner. It was yummy. Tomorrow I will be treated to a facial and I want to go with my mom to a yarn store and a book store. Plus I have some serious writing to do. yay.

BTW I have some gorgeous Cascade 220 (3 skeins) to use up. Any suggestions?

GG

Short Week

I've just returned from the gym. I've been working out a little harder, riding the stationary bike instead of walking the treadmill. I like the bike because I can read tabloid celebrity trash while I cycle. From now I'm only allowed to read magazines at the gym. I've got to make the most of my time. I'm lifting weights too. Gotta get those endorphins. It was an o.k. day today. The phone rang off the hook at work and I lost my patience with a customer. I have to stop answering the phones at work. I'm losing my mind over it. Unfortunately this is a major requirement of working in customer service.

On the lighter side one of our work associates sent us some cheesecake, which is my number one food group. All of that creamy yumminess was worth the major sugar crash at 4pm, which come to think of it was around the same time I snapped at the customer. Sugar and caffein, two things that I should avoid. There were two cheesecakes to sample and surprisingly the brownie chocolate cheesecake surpassed the plain one in flavor, the plain one being too sugary and vanilla-y for me. These came from world famous Junior's in Brooklyn by the way.

Come to think of it I can't think of a better week i've had at work. This is probably because I'm taking Thursday and Friday off, but you really can't beat days off and cheesecake in one week. But now I remember that my mom is treating me to a spa day and I realize that this may be one of the best weeks of my life, aside from the week of my wedding.

As for knitting. I am determined to finish the wavy scarf this week. it's almost summer around here and I can't abide an unfinished scarf project to begin the summer. I don't know if I will be knitting much after the wavy scarf. I think I may have over-done it since the flower basket and the wavy scarf, but that said I have a baby blanket to finish as well, but at least that's a simple project, little garter stitch squares of Plymouth colorspun Bulky in the colors of the sea, greens, teals and blues. I think of them as Earth Day Colors.

Anyway I hope you're all doing well.

Grenadine Girl.

Monday

This is one of the better Mondays I've had. Something right must have happened because when I rolled out of bed I didn't agonize over what to wear to work, I put on a little bit of makeup and wore my sassy shoes, which for this occasion were a pair of Clarks wedge mary-janes. I felt good this morning. I slept soundly the night before. My mind is clear and alert.

Work was good too. My mind was organized, though I was feeling so good I pondered my personal goals instead of work ones. I wrote today, though not the morning babble, but wrote outlines for a tv show, which I suppose is something.

The drive home was problem free, no traffic even and I had packages in the mail. A Rollingstone magazine, a new sweater from the Gap and the Hot Springs Arkansas tourism material I had requested.

The Rivers Cuomo interview creeped me out. Apparently our beloved Weezer front man has turned to extreme meditation to alleviate his anxiety, which aparently includes being alone in a dark room for hours. Something about that doesn't seem healthy. He's also given up all of his worldly goods and god help us has become celibate. I've decided not to judge him. Maybe this makes his life a better place to be. Who am I to judge? I guess its just so anti-rock star.

I've got dinner in the oven. I think i'll veg out in front of the tv with my wavy scarf...

bye for now
gg

Finishing my farmer's market bag

hello there

I have been working on the vogue flower bag and it's been sewed up and felted and finished and the results were a bit suprising. Let's just say that the bag didn't shrink nearly as much as I thought it would, so now it has been turned into almost a messenger bag, which is actually a good thing. I'm going to use it for when I go to the farmer's market. I still have one or two little things to finish on it and then I will be ready to show it off to the world.

This weekend I have taken a much neede break away from my home and went to visit my parents. Its always nice to visit with my folks. It gives me more perspective and a little space to breathe. My dad makes a delicious spaghetti sauce and one of two things always ends up on tv: The Godfather or Star Wars. Last night it was Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, which has always been a favorite.

Anyway now that the flower bag is almost finished, I may finally get the chance to finish the wavy scarf that i've been working on for what seems like forever.

Also Jennifer received my RAOK, I didn't realize what a hard time she was going through and in fact one of her friends suggested that I send her the felting kit. I'm glad that it went to someone who really needed cheering up.

happy knitting
GG

Guess What

I"m almost done with the Flower Basket!!! Miracle of miracles... and I sent out a random act of kindness this week. I can't wait to hear from the special person who will receive it this week. I also sent a package to my secret pal. I have one more left to send. I'm still deciding if I should participate in Secret Pals 5. Maybe we'll see.

You may have noticed, but I haven't been posting here that often, and its because I haven't felt that i had anything interesting to share in the way of my knitting. I can only show you so many photos of the flower-basket-in-progress and frankly I've been depressed and I haven't really felt the urgent need to share that experience. I have recovered a little in that I can be more productive, but I've found myself blocked in deciding how/what to do next. I know I need to do something directly to express myself. I've got a lot of ideas for craft projects, film projects, dinner recipes, party themes and television programs. Why can't I just sit down and organize it all so that I am doing something with my ideas instead of merely thinking about them?

For instance on the treadmill today I laid out the foundations for a brilliant documentary about mental illness, though I find myself too afraid to attempt it. Do I know enough about the mentally ill? I can think of a million reasons not to do it and one really strong reason that I absolutely have to: because mental illness is the most misunderstood human condition, yet many of us have to deal with it on a daily basis. But it's something that nobody talks about and that people are ashamed of.

So this is the point in the post where you're thinking: Gee, Grenadine Girl, it sounds to me like you already know what you want to do.

Yeah. So why the hell won't I just do it?
(not to quote Nike or anything)

Grenadine Girl.

So i was thinking...

I was knitting today with the television off. I can't believe how annoying tv is nowadays. I got that stupid hard disk recorder thingy so that I could record all of my favorite shows, but its amazing how few and far between those are. And in fact, since I've only been watching my favorite shows I have actually grown sick of them. No more iron chef, no more what not to wear, but I still love Kath and Kim. The tv is staying off for a while, though I might sneak a West Wing here and there.

So once again, I was knitting with the tv off and I actually started thinking, which is kind of nice because of late my thinking has been rather cloudy. I thought about what a good weekend I had (shopping and snacking on Haight Street) I thought about how disappointed I was in the film Fever Pitch and I thought about our upcoming trip to Australia.

We went to the Haight on Saturday because my hubby is a guitar fanatic, I mean a Fender guitar fanatic and we went on a search for the perfect Fender Strat, which for Luke would be a 60's reissue sunburst with a rosewood neck and a orangey-yellow headstock, which we did manage to find after visting two other stores, including our local music store and Guitar Center. Not that we can afford a guitar, but it's nice to dream. The trip to Guitar Center was scary. This is the shopping mall of guitars and they're everywhere, however there are so many of them that you can't really get perspective. The funniest thing were the "relic" fenders, guitars made all scratched up for you. I'm telling you, they take a perfectly good guitar and put scratches on it. I suppose it might make you feel a little more authentic. blah.

Sunday I went to see Fever Pitch with a friend and I had fun hanging out with the friend, but the movie was so-so. It was actually a bit of a let down. I thought a romantic comedy featuring the Red Sox would be a dream come true, but I was disappointed in the screenplay. There were so many opportunities for laughs and human commentary, but they just gave you slapstick. And they gave Ione Skye (of Say Anything fame) these terrible scenes with bitchy women that made you want to scream. I get it, women can be catty with one another, but it was totally one-dimensional. And I had another realization. I don't think Drew Barrymore was very good in this movie, or perhaps it was the writing. She was great in that Wedding Singer movie, but she wasn't very believable as a career woman, but then again it just didn't seem written well enough for her capabilities anyway.

ugh.

we're getting better I think...

GG

keep moving along

hi there, thanks for the warm welcome from RAOK. this weekend I will definately post some photos. I have been working steadily on my flower basket project. My goal was to be putting everything together this weekend, but I'll be happy if I finish the other half of the basket this weekend. I need to buy some wool wash stuff anyway.

A while back I finished a pair of mittens from My Weekend Knitting Book that my secret pal sent me. I've been dying to display photos of them on here, but I've been otherwise engaged. I used the gorgeous Debbie Bliss yarn that my s.p. sent me.

anyway cleaning to do...

Grenadine Girl

Getting Back On My Feet

I'm happy to announce that I've been officially added to the RAOK web ring. Thanks for including me in the fun. I'm trying to find my RAOK target because I have yarn that I want to share with someone.

So my posts have become a little infrequent, but I'm going to try to remedy that this week. I have picked up the needles again after a little rest. I'm finishing the rest of the Vogue Flower Basket and my goal is to be felting next weekend.

fingers crossed.

All Apologies... again

I can't believe that it has been this long that I last wrote a post and I wish i could say that I've been knitting like a wild woman. Unfortunately I have instead found myself stuck in a rut to put it mildly. I may make an attempt to start the second half of the the flower basket, or I might start reading screenplays again to get my writing started... perhaps its just another rainy sunday...

gg

I have the best secret pal

I got two surprises in the mail this week. The yarn I got earlier was already fantastic and enough to make me swoon, but there was a mysterious box sitting at my doorstep last night and I opened it up. Low and behold....

There was a handbag!!!



Check out how roomy it is and it has useful little compartments for my needles (oh and it came with some clover bamboo needles in size 3)



One of those fabulous Jordana Paige handbags!!! My goodness! You are too generous and too kind! I will be taking my fantastic new bag with me to Fengari Yarns in Half Moon Bay this weekend. I love love love it. You can also see the beautiful yarn my SP sent me. I've been knitting mits from my Weekend Knitting Book:




Thank you thank you thank you secret pal!

I love knitting

Just a little update before I post some photos (maybe tonight?). I got a fabulous gift from my secret pal, a stash of hot pink Debbie Bliss Merino Wool! Yummy yummy yummy. I've already swatched it and it's gorgeous and I'm working on a pattern from the "Weekend Knitting" book my SP gave me. It's a fingerless mitt project and it's taught me a few new skills including a new cast on technique. Thank you Secret Pal!!!! You've improved my knitting and I'll have something to keep me warm next winter.

I've stopped work in the flower basket bag because I only have the other half of the basket left to do and the first half was such a trial that I want to be in the right frame of mind to tackle it.

Overall things have been going o.k. The weather is beautiful which is inspiring. We barbecued ribs last night, which were quite good considering it was our first attempt.

This week is going to be good.

Kimmay Kimmay, Look at Mey

I must share with you my favorite television show. It's something special from downunder, I'd call it the Aussie Absolutely Fabulous, it's Kath and Kim. I'm not sure if you actually have to know an aussie or have been to Australia to enjoy this show, but it's on the Trio channel along with some Aussie Soapies full of hot aussie guys. It's only a matter of time before the rest of the world catches on.

Finally Some Flower Basket Action!!!!

Now, what you've all been waiting for! Some photos of the Flower Basket in Progress....

Here is the basket, please ignore my limitations as a beginning knitter:



Here it is with the flowers and leaves:



and here are the flowers:



I just hope that I can knit the other side of the main basket like I did the first one or it's going to be one bumpy looking bag!

Life Roundup

Hello and welcome to Moviephone (tm)

I finally got to see a movie in the cinema for the first time in ages. I saw The Aviator, which I quite enjoyed. Seeing as I just watched the Oscars(tm) I truly believe that each of the cinematography, editting, art direction etc awards were truly deserved. It was an entertaining movie on all of those levels and the performances were very interesting to watch. Considering how much I dislike Leonardo DiCaprio I was suprised that I enjoyed his performance in the film. It's truly a pity that Scorsese didn't win this year, but hopefully he will make another film and win next time. He truly deserves it.

I've been a knitting fool working on this flower basket thing and the only reason I haven't put photos up is that I know i've made a basket full of mistakes on the damned thing and seeing everybody else's superb efforts makes me a bit ashamed to display my own. But I will eventually get over that and post pictures this week.

My new year's resolutions have gone down the tubes for reasons that I can't quite understand at this point. It doesn't look like Luke and I will be visiting Europe. Eventhough my credit card's paid off, all of a sudden I have student loans to deal with, I haven't even though about my screenplay and exercising has become an intermittent distraction. sigh. i need to get back up off my ass and recommit myself. Oddly enough though I am content.

Thank you blogger world for giving me the platform where I can speak boldly and nakedly, though I don't know anyone who actually reads this silly self indulgent thing that I love dearly. Thanks for listening. Will be back soon.

much love
La Grenadine.

There's Nothing Wrong With You...

Hi There,

Earlier in the week, in fact on Valentine's day, I went with my husband to see one of his favorite singer songwriters perform, Neil Finn. He played along with his brother Tim, both formally of the New Zealand band Crowded House (perhaps you remember the 80's love anthem "Don't Dream It's Over"). My husband turned me onto the band and I'm imploring you to discover their beautiful music. These guys are the same age as my parents (my god!) and they made music in the 70's (as split enz) and 80's (as crowded house) that remains relevent to this very day. I heard a rumor that Paul McCartney himself proclaimed that if he were a modern day rock star that he would be Neil Finn. Their music is honest and genuine and comes from the heart. It hurts to listen to, but brings a smile to my face at the same time.

My favorite Finn Brothers related songs:
1) Six Months in A Leaky Boat
2) One Step Ahead of You
3) Message to My girl
4) Don't dream it's over
5) Distant Sun
6) Always Take the Weather With You
7) Better Be Home Soon
8) Won't Give In
9) Disembodied Voices
10) Driving Me Mad

Hey! Wait A Minute Mr. Postman!

Mr. Postman was nice enough to deliver not one, but two parcels for me on this rainy day and one of them was from my secret pal!!!!!

I wonder what could be inside.



Two more knitting books to add to my ever growing collection AND a dvd of Freida, one of my favorite movies that has a knitting scene in it. How very thoughtful of you secret pal, you must have seen my amazon wish list!!



I got Weekend Knits which has all sorts of new tips and stitches that I've never heard of. I think I'll be spending some time with the Brioche stitch, scary as it may seem! And it recommends movies and literature that feature knitting in one way or another. Plus I got the Felted Knits book which will come in handy because...

My yarn for the Vogue Flower Bag arrived too!!!!



So you must know that I am camped out in front of the tv with my new books and yarn. Thank you so much secret pal, i hope your secret pal is as good to you as you have been to me! I can't wait to show you what I make!

Tonight

I will be watching Arrested Development, the funniest show on television. If they cancel this t.v. show I will never watch Fox again, not even for the Simpsons.

Thank God For a Weekend

As much as I loved working the trade show I really missed having a Saturday to rest last week. Thank god the weather's so beautiful today.

I got a little surpise in the mailbox today: A note from my Secret Pal! yay!


I've also been working on some knitting projects:

Here's the latest progress on the knitty wavy scarf. I'm not even halfway done with it. It's taking me forever.



I started the leaves on the Vogue Knitting Bag and felted a little swatch:

That Vogue Flower Bag

Hello there

As previously mentioned I am starting the Vogue Flower Bag knit-along and of course I can't just follow the leader and do the same colors as the pattern so I'm doing it the Grenadine way, with grenadine pink roses instead of red. Many thanks to artful yarns for museum wool:


I shall be using "guided tour" for the bag part, "ming vase" for the trellis, "gift shop and planetarium" for the leaves and "sister wendy" for the roses!.

Planetarium


Giftshop



Guided Tour



Ming Vase



Sister Wendy


GrenadineGirl