Purlene’s Corner

(ames-eroo!)

Well, aya, good for you for the pushups!  I remember a few yours ago, I could do twenty in a row, Marine style, but those days are long past. But aren’t you glad I suggest fun things?  Well, ok, pushups aren’t exactly fun, but strong arms are fun!  Flexing biceps is fun!

I’m in such a knitting lull now that the stole is done.  I’ve been rummaging about looking for things to do.  I finally decided to drop the knitting entirely for a time, and do some stash-busting in the kitchen cotton area.

Kitchen cotton indeed – I see washcloths, swiffer sweaters, all of it crocheted.  I like the patterns my buddy Krysten has over at Gherkin’s Bucket- I made the dish sponge last night with the green and promptly used it to wash a ton of dishes.  Fantastic!  Small enough to hold in the hand, scrubby enough to clean, and darned cute.  Ecologically better than regular sponges, too!  I finished up the swiffer cover today on the bus, only to realize that it may be a little thick for my Swiffer Vac to, um, vac.  Then again, it may just need recharging.  It’s had a lot of use the past couple of days.  The BOC is shedding like a fur tornado, and it’s getting a little ridiculous.  It’s nice to crochet for a while; I haven’t done it in ages, and it definitely has a different rhythm than knitting.

In case I get bored with the crochet, I have these socks to work on:

The first of the Merino Lace Socks from Favorite Socks, knit in Koigu from the stash, with my snazzy new Birthday Needles (Knit Picks dpns, gift from Aya). I started them en route to Baltimore (yay geek conventions are the MOST fun), got through the cuff and almost a whole pattern repeat, then realized I’d messed up the cuff enough that it would bother me, so I had to rip the whole thing out and start over.  YAY.  Not.

Or there’s this:

Piles and piles of random cotton yarn from various little projects, including the dreaded Lion Brand Micro Spun. I dread it because it’s splitty and slippery, but I do like the colors.  And yes, that would be the Mason Dixon book behind it, open to the log cabin page.  I mean, what better way to use up scraps, right?  And no rush to finish, although I may have to make some faux deadlines like “must knit this until all the blue yarn is gone” to keep going.  But it is STASH BUSTING – when I run out of yarn to use with any one color (so I don’t have blue-on-blue), the project goes in a bag and sits until I have more remnants for it.

But I am sleeeeeeepy now.  I think I may take my laptop to bed, snuggle in, and play computer games until I fall asleep.  It’s been a gorgeous few days here in Chicago – 67F this morning, low low 80s today, and back to cool tonight.  This is how summer should always be.  Anything over 85 is Too Hot.  Ha, how’s it in Charlotte, aya? :D

(aya here)

So, ames. I did my first day of that 100 push-up challenge thing today (which needs an acronym…100pu? or a nickname…my own personal hell….MOPH perhaps…). And! I just about died. I don’t know what it is about you mentioning something, and me deciding to do it. You have an evil power and you use it nefariously.

I tested in at a level 3, so that meant 41 push-ups today. I’m doing the knee type, so as not to stress out my knees too much. Anyways. My arms hurt, and my stomach hurts, but I have such visions of non-flabby arms and a flattish stomach, so I will persevere. Do miracles really come true?

Perhaps they’d come true faster if I avoided the ice cream that’s in my freezer. But there’s no fun in that, is there? ;)

In other news, I finished another first sock. I seem to be suffering from SSS lately, but I’m going with it. I have three unfinished pairs. And I’m about to embark upon another new sock.

But first, some pics!

It’s sort of a fussy pattern, or at least two of the eight rows are. Which is probably why I’m holding off on the second sock. It’s called cross-hatch lace, and it’s from the second Sensational Socks book.

I love the yarn though. It worked well with the pattern. Not too much pooling (aside from the gusset), and it didn’t stripe, yay! I seem to be off of striped socks lately. Probably why I haven’t finished that dang seaside zen. All in good time…

Not much else going on. Work is insane, and it’s a full week. Next week will be an extra-short week, so that will be nice.

Oh, I went and saw Dark Knight last night, and it was awesome. Long, dark, and very twisty. And yes, Heath Ledger did a great job. I’ve also seen Get Smart (meh) and Wanted (so-so) recently. I love going to the movies! And down here it’s only $5 for a movie on weeknights. Love it!

Well it’s time to save this entry – the nightly t-storm is moving in.

toodles.

(ames!)

::sniff::  I’m a little misty-eyed, because I have finished the stole, it is blocked and dried, and I love it.  I can’t wait to give it away. ♥  This was my first lace, my first big project that I actually completed, and – well, the first for a lot of things.

I’m also a little obsessed with it, and took way too many pictures.

It’s 19″ wide and something around 60″ long, and it is a testament to the marvels of blocking.  When I bound off the last stitch, it was a 10″ wide 40″-ish long crumpled mess.  So here, have some specs:

Pattern: Hanami Stole by Pink Lemon Twist
Yarn: Helen’s Lace by Lorna’s Laces.  50% wool, 50% silk (which gives it softness and that lovely little sheen).  Colorway Tickled Pink
Needles: US 3 Addi Turbos, 24″ circs, and worth every freaking penny
Beads: I have no idea, some random pink ones I’ve had for ages.
Time: It took me about six weeks, give or take.  I started in early June, finished in mid-July, but didn’t work on it every day.  It did make for some good bus knitting, though.

(ames!)

You guys.  I bound off the stole last night.  I’m going to miss working on it, y’all.  Right now it’s in a little crumpled pile on the dining room table, waiting to be blocked this weekend (assuming I have enough pins).  I’m knitting up a little gift bag for the hand-over, and then I will be finished.

It’s a little sad. :c

(aya here)

Man, I blinked and lost almost half a month. Lots of stuff going on, no clue where to start. I guess I’ll just dive in and ramble like usual. ;)

I ended up heading to Myrtle Beach for the 4th of July, with Twy and her friend Cara (who’d come in from Boston for the weekend). We got down there around 7ish, and I got a text from J, who I was planning on meeting up with to go to a concert (Papa Roach) with. I have pretty much had a thing for him for about a year now, so it was a bit of a surprise that I’d been invited to the concert by him….Through our friend Kells, on IM, at work (oh, how you’ve gotta love this day and age….)

Long story short – The music was better than I’d expected, his friends were complete duds, and J had to stand bodyguard over me after a mosh pit broke out in front of us, a girl got pushed back into me, creating a domino-effect, and I’d been almost knocked over. Too old for that shit, I tell you.

I like J a lot. He’s pretty shy, and so am I, so nothing will probably come out of it. Plus, I can’t read the man, so I have no clue how he even feels about me. I guess that I’m pretty hard to read (when I use my super-shielding powers, that is) and evidently the guy can’t read me either. Which I found out last night. And which I will explain in more detail later….

So, it was an interesting night at the concert. It was at the House of Blues, which was fun to go to. I have to say that though I’d never heard a song by Papa Roach before, they gave a pretty kick-ass concert, and their music is pretty addictive. I’ve got new music to add to my ipod’s rotation now. :)

The next day was a quiet day for me. I gave the girls the car keys so that they could go to the beach. They are hard-core sun worshippers, and me? Me, I burn. So I went to sit by the pool, at a table under an umbrella. Read my book and took a dip in the pool. Was out there (in the shade) for about two hours. AND I GOT FRIED. Seriously – I just cannot win. *shakes head*

Napped in the room for a while, then the girls came in, and we went out to a brazilian steakhouse for dinner. A place called Rioz. OMG, best food ever. If you’ve never been to one – GO! It was fabulous. Here, a link. What they do is charge you a flat price. You go and hit the salad bar, but it’s really a sides bar. Get what you want from that. Then you go sit back down, and the waiters walk around with big spit-skewers, and slice you off what you want to have. If you want something that is. If not, you put your little ticket thing on the red side, and they leave you alone. Mmmm, they had excellent mojitos, too.

After that, we wandered over to Margaritaville and hung there for a few drinks. We ended up calling it an early night, as the girls had been supremely drunk the night before, and headed back to the hotel room.

Took off after breakfast the next morning. We sat in the world’s worst traffic on the way back. Took us almost 5 hours to get home, between traffic and the crappy weather. But it was worth it! I’m ready for more weekend jaunts like this, let me tell you.

This past week pretty much was all work. Kells and I managed to escape for lunch one day this week, and J invited himself along. It was fun, but awkward too. I don’t mind the “I can share the same airspace as him” time at all, but sometimes conversations with him are hard. I’m such a little teenaged girl, I swear. Anyways…

Other than work things, I’ve hit two movies this week. I saw Wanted with Kells and K during the week, and I went and saw Get Smart with Shannon and J last night.

That just sort of happened, J coming along. I am sometimes sneaky and wily. *eg*

I went into work for a few hours yesterday. On the way back to my apartment, I saw J bringing in groceries, though he didn’t see me. (He lives about 6 doors down from me). I dropped my stuff in my apartment, grabbed a smoke and my cell phone, and decided to linger walkway outside, while I made a call. He just happened to pop back out, and saw me and came over. We talked awhile, and I mentioned that Shannon and I were going to the movies, and I invited him along. Which he accepted.

So then I had to fill Shannon in on the car ride, and she was such a willing accomplice. Gotta love friends. After the movie, she was getting ready to suggest getting a drink, and J beat her to it. So off we headed to the Fox and the Hound for a few drinks and some apps.

It was fun. We drank and talked about work things – the whole contracting thing and what to do when this gig’s up, how we deal with all the travel and having our home lives on pause, making the most out of everything, etc, etc.

After having several beers, J turned to me and said “So, A, do you like me?” which had me almost choking on my drink! It wasn’t at all what I’d expected from him, and Shannon made a quick beeline to the bathroom! Evidently, he had this feeling that I couldn’t stand him (see my above note about having superpowers to hide my feelings), and he just didn’t know how to take me. Interesting. That would’ve been the perfect time to say something along the lines of “oh, actually, I think I like you a little too much” but I am a complete and utter chicken-shit, and played it off calmly, assuring him that I did indeed think he was a nice guy, and that if I didn’t like him, I’d not have hung out with him three times in the past week.

*headdesk*

I suck at these things. There is a reason that I am still single.

Shannon and I discussed things in the car afterwards. I’ve gotten mixed vibes from him for six months now, and she totally got that impression last night too. At one point he said that he’d never date another coworker (I crumbled internally), and yet when I headed to the bathroom, Shannon made a comment about something that the two of us had in common, and J said that he and I should just date then, if we had it in common. WEIRD.

I have no clue how this will play out, if it will at all. Probably not, but it’s been fun.

On to other topics. This is a knitting blog, and I will eventually get to that, I promise!

One of the subjects that came up last night was Trader Joe’s. They were raving about about it, how there’s such a great selection, and good prices. So, I stopped to get gas today after work, and since I’d never been to one and I needed food because I suck at food shopping and hadn’t been in a month, I popped into Trader Joe’s and gave it a shot.

I’m in love.

• baby bok choi
• hummus
• baby tomatos
• italian peppers
• pita bread
• two cheeses
• mirepoix (pre-chopped celery, carrots and bell peppers, ready to cook with!)
• pita chips
• bag o’ salad
• milk

All for less than $30. And DUDES. The veggies at the regular stores down here go from unripe to spoiled in the blink of the eye. Not this stuff. Ripe like you wouldn’t believe. <3

I had hummus, pita, a bit of the jarlsberg cheese, and a handful of tomatos for lunch. So good! And for dinner, I made up some brown rice, cooked up the bok choi, and halved and quickly cooked some of the tomatos in a little garlic and olive oil. And I had that with some leftover beef shortribs I cooked up a couple of nights ago.

There’s this knitblog that I read, and I can’t decide if i read it more for her knitting or her gardening/recipes. Here, have a peek at knitspot. I want to be her when I grow up.

Speaking of knitting (finally), I have some pics of the latest goings-on:

This is my newest addiction, the crosshatch lace sock:

It’s a fairly simple pattern, and I love how it’s working with the yarn – it seems to keep it from pooling the colors. I’m about six inches in now, so another couple of inches before the heel. I’m trying to decide if I want to put in an after thought heel or do a regular heel flap. I can’t decide!

(I also <3 my make-shift sockblocker)

In between repeats of this (it’s an 8 row repeat for those who are curious), I’ve picked up my zen and tried to knit on it some more. It is the neverending pair of zens, I tell you!

I’m almost halfway done with the second sock. Not thrilled with these, they’ll probably go in the prezzie pile. When I tried the first one on, the yarn pulled a bit much, and it doesn’t look right on me (stupid chubby feet). Also, the way the yarn is patterning is a little dizzying. Definitely gifting these away when they’re done.

I should take pics of the prezzie pile. It’s about halfway through the year and is piling up pretty well. Nothing like beating the crunch of holiday knitting!

I need to finish up the zens, too, because I’m itching to cast-on for something else. I have some Duets yarn that is calling my name. I try to stick to a three WIP limit, and I’m at it right now. So you know I’ll be rushing out the rest of the zen this week, lol! I’m traveling on Thursday, so I want to have a new (easy) project to take with me on the flight.

Got a pic of Ollie today too. Look at how much he’s grown!

Today:

End of January (I love this picture of him – he’s all pouty in it!):

He’s still a one-hander, but he doesn’t like it much anymore.

Oh, and he’s shedding up a storm too. That cleanish spot on my lap was where he laid down, and the hair explosion was from my petting him. Someone told me about this thing called a Furminator, and I’m definitely going to have to look into getting one.

What else?

My apartment is pretty sparkly. I cleaned like a fiend yesterday, so I’m set for a while. All that remains is ironing, and I hate ironing, so I’m going to avoid it as long as possible. :D I think I can manage enough work outfits for the next four days to get me out of it. Sweet.

Well, I should get going. I’ve got to print out my expense reports in the hope that I can get it to NJ in time to get it on the 20th. I doubt it though – they’re due in by Tuesday. I totally suck at submitting my expenses. And it’s money due to ME. Stupid.

Well, on that note, off to print them out.

toodles.

(ames!)

A quick picture update before I hit the road.  I won’t be working on the stole this weekend, but here’s what it looks like now.  (Yes, I found my camera, haha.)

My camera sucks. Anyway, here’s the thing as spread out as I could get it.

This is a closeup of the lacey part at the top. The color is much more true here. I swear, I need both a better camera and a lesson in Photoshop to learn how to color-correct.

Have a good weekend, kids!

(also, pretend this was written in green, I don’t know why it’s not changing color argh.)

(ames!)

Hi!  Still here, still knitting, but I’ve lost my camera for the moment, and so I don’t have pictures.  It’s a shame, because I’m at the home stretch of the beautiful Hanami Stole.  30-odd more rows of lace, then some garter stitch and then the ruffle. I’ve been torn about doing the ruffle, but what the hell, right?  It’s looking like rumpled crap, as lace does pre-blocking, but I have every confidence it will pretty up once it’s been dunked and pinned out.  Oh, if you could only see it.

The Fourth was wonderful, as always.  The BFF and I headed out to Kentucky to visit our friends, as is our custom.  Big-ass party, people.  We had a DJ and an hour-long fireworks show, a keg of Killian’s ( that took us all weekend to drink, omg), more food than you can imagine, and about a zillion little kids running around.  Saturday was a day of recuperation and recovery, and we didn’t leave the house except to wander next door where the food was and graze.  Instead, we giggled a lot, watched Hard Core Logo (\o/ and they liked it \o/) and had a mini-marathon of The Sentinel, giggled more, and bemoaned the fact that so many of our friends live so far away.  I think I’m going to have to colonize an island or something and move all the people I love there.

So this weekend I am going to Baltimore for the Shore Leave Convention.  Oh, did you not know I was a geek?  Because I totally am.  I’m very excited about this because it’s probably my last out-of-town trip until Christmastime, I get to spend time with kiffle-of-the-socks YAY, and I’m going to meet cool people from tv shows I love.  It will be a geeky good time, and I’m very excited about it.  I also plan to finish the stole this weekend and have it in the mail by early August (I want my mom to see it before I mail it), which will still be too hot for the recipient to wear it, but it will be out of my house.  I worry that I’ll forget.  I’m forgetful.  (Note the fact that aya’s pants that I inadvertantly stole are still sitting on my shelf at work waiting to be mailed to her.  Sigh.)  ANYWAY, the point of this paragraph was to say that I’m taking the stole with me, and I’m going to need another project to bring along.  Possibly socks!  Easy ones!  Not zen socks, but a nice simple repetitive pattern that I can memorize and churn out on my fancy new KP dpns, thank you aya. I think I’m going to hit up the Favorite Socks book and do the Retro Rib Socks.  They look cute, mindless, and I have the perfect yarn.  As a matter of fact, I have the exact yarn that they used in the book.

Happy Thursday, people.

(it’s aya aya bo baya banana fana fo faya, aya!)

Where the hell did June go??? I think ames stole it.

It was a nice, but short, weekend home. My flights, both of them, got delayed due to thunderstorms. Nothing major, an hour each time. I’m glad that it’s another short week, because I think I’m burnt out. I need to sleep. Sleep and sleep and sleep and not work over the weekend. Not do much of anything, actually. I’m sort of hoping that Twy didn’t book the hotel (she’s such a slacker), because I won’t be upset if we don’t go to Myrtle Beach this coming weekend.

I think I’m going to take a week of in August. Next month, whoa. Anyways, we got this email at work, from the client, stating that if you’re on a project for up to 6 months, that you have to take one week off in 2008. If it’s 6+ months, then it’s two weeks off. I’m in that second group. I’d have to take two weeks off by year end. Unpaid. I mean, I could use my Paid Time Off (PTO) from my company, but I’ll probably just take it unpaid, and keep my PTO for when I get laid off. It’s just a matter of time. It seems like it won’t go past 09/30, but it could be less than that.

I’ll go home for the week in August. I’ll probably have to drive home, and take the boys with me. I can’t have someone babysit them for a full week, it’s just too much time. And it’d be more like 10 days, since I’d do short weeks around my week off. It’ll give me a chance to cart some stuff home, too, so that I don’t have to do it at the end of this gig.

It’d be nice if my company could solidify some of the contracts that we’ve heard rumors on. There’s so many people waiting for a new contract that if I do get off-boarded, I’ll be at the bottom of the placement list. There’s some intriguing places that have been talked about in the rumors, so it’d be interesting to see if they play out. *fingers crossed* Who knows where I’ll end up next? We should play a game and see who guesses the closest (excluding Kells, the little cheater).

Anyways. Enough of that boring talk.

I have some knitty pics. Wanna see? Geeky stuff.  :D

I finished the first Embossed Leaves sock. I have to say, I totally love this pattern, minus that funky cast-on. It’s too tight around my leg, so these will end up in the prezzie pile. I may knit them again though, for me, with a more normal cast-on.

The color’s totally off in these pics.

I made another sock blocker. I’m so crafty, yo.

And I got some new yarns. I’m in love with this first one. Claudia’s in Purple Earth.

And this one is fun. It’s Duet Sock yarn, and has coordinating yarn for the heel and toes. The colorway is called Lemonade Stand:

And this last one. Not what I thought it would be, but still pretty. The dyer is the daughter of the woman that owns Cherry Tree Hill, so I thought it was worth a shot. It’s called RainForest.

I’m not sure if I want to cast-on for the second Embossed Leaves sock, or finish the zens that I started when ames was here visiting (I have half a sock left) or cast-on for something new. Hell, I know that I want to cast-on with that Claudia’s, but I’m fighting myself and trying to be good.

Tell me to be bad and start a new project! Then I can blame you. ^ -

(by ames!)

An update!  I’m going merrily along on the stole.  I’m finally through with the basketweave lace part and am now at the “little cherry blossoms falling gently from the trees” part.  This thing is going to be long.

::koff:: Um, yes, that is a Swiffer duster thingie under the table. I didn’t even notice it there. Let’s blame The BOC, because he’s usually the one in trouble around here. Anyway, I don’t think it’s quite as noticeably stripey in person, but even if it is, the stripes give it kind of a jazzy feel that I like. It’s long long, so long, but fluffy and warm around the neck.

The transition section from the basket to the falling petals.

Petals! Falling into the basket! And the best part about this section is that you can do an entire row and realize that you a) were one stitch off, and b) did a K2tog when you were meant to SSK, and it doesn’t matter a whit.

This is the only knitting I’ve been working on! If I were a different kind of knitter, I’d be further along, but I only work on it a couple of hours a day, and not every day at that. Also, I knit slowly. And you know, I’m having so much fun with this pattern, I don’t think I care to go fast. Every row is different, now, and soon it’s going to be yarn-over heaven before the flirty ruffle at the end. Yay, stole!