I (heart) Tuesday, FO edition

I had a great holiday weekend! I hope you did as well.

I went for a hike and then out to the Gorge to see Flight of the Conchords at Sasquatch.




But besides all that, I finished two projects, YEAH!


First up, Blithe.






Knitting Blithe was a breeze, but finishing it up was the bear of all bears! I'm not sure why, but when I tried to sew it up, the seam looked horrible. I must have ripped it back about 30 times. I even thought the fact that I only steam blocked it made a difference, so I washed it and let it air dry and, of course, it didn't make a damn bit of difference.

I finally crocheted the seams together, placing the right sides together, so the crochet chain is visible on the inside only. It's still not perfect, but 'good enough for government work.'
This is a look at the results.




And next, my first dress!




I had to do alot of ripping out of seams and I didn't fully understand what the sewing directions were telling me, but I think it turned out okay.

Well, except for the sleeves. I keep hearing Tim Gunn say "It looks like you are about to tell me the specials at Benihana."

Oy. So I think I will adjust the sleeves, then give you the details.

I (heart) Tuesday, lo-tech edition

My inlaws were visiting with us last week. Actually, nine days, but it felt like a crazy whirlwind rather than what I was thinking when A.K. told me they were going to be here for nine days. Mainly because we got a new deck, grill and cushions for our window seat! My inlaws are the best!

I'll have beauty shots of the deck for the next post, but I have a cute teaser photo of my cat on the cushions!


Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled post.

I LOVE TECHNOLOGY! If I called people more often and didn't already own like THREE IPods AND have a 17" MacBook, I would soooooo have an iPhone. (oh, I left out the PDA that I use pretty much just so I can count my knit stitches. yeah, I'm THAT GIRL)

But the truth is, my life is ruled by scraps of paper. Receipts, little notes, post-its and I earn my living designing a newspaper. When I get concert tickets, I like the security of a paper ticket, and any important document (i.e. passport, mortgage papers) is still printed out. So this is my homage to paper ...


I got a thing for typography, being a designer and all, and I love the cover of this edition of James Joyce's "Ulysses."




I have a terrible sense of direction, really. When at a stoplight and I'm uncertain which way to turn, I go so far as to turn in the opposite direction that I want to go in, and this usually keeps me out of trouble. Maybe this means I'm a directional dyslexic, but whatever, it's a good thing for me to keep a map on me and this Moleskin is perfect. I can keep a list of all the yarn shops in the greater Seattle area and I have a map to make sure I make it there before the shops close. (on a side note, I'm very good with landmarks, so if I've been to a place once, I can usually find myself back, it's just the initial trip that messes me up.)


Okay, not paper related, but when I was taking the other photos, I thought I'd take a picture of my radiator. I'm not usually an ornate, scrolly person, but when we were looking at houses, one of the reasons I wanted the one we live in now is because of the radiators.

Oh, I got some knitting in during the visit, here's a photo of the back on Blithe. Hopefully it will be finished in the next few days.

I (heart) Tuesday, late edition (i.e. on Wednesday)

Sorry, I know I ...

a.) am late with my post (and I'm on deadline constantly for a living, so it feels really weird to blow one.)

and

b.) guilty of leaving you hanging about my big splurge.

So I apologize and give you these in hopes you will forgive me.




And now for my splurge ...





Can you tell what it is?

I got a new camera! Okay, a second-hand Nikon d-70 body from somebody on Craigslist, but it's new to me!

I'm still playing with it, since I wanted to be able to use my old lenses, I'm having to dust off that part of my brain that knows what the hell an f-stop and iso are.

The inlaws have been helping us around the house, namely A.K. and his dad are building a deck for our new house and A.K.'s mom is helping me make some cushions for a window seat. (I'm nervous about putting cording and zippers on the cushions.) Hopefully I'll get the hang of my new camera and take some great pictures. Or I can continue taking lame photos with my super-duper camera. Well see how things go.

Crushing on Blithe

In sixth grade, I sat behind this boy who had curly, sandy blond hair and these mesmerizing blue eyes. I spent a good portion of my day wondering what it would be like to loop one of those curls through my fingers. This boy had no interest in me other than to give him a copy of my science homework, but I think Blithe is giving me a taste of what those sandy locks may have felt like.

(On a side note, I ran into this boy later in our lives, and his hair had darkened and thinned quite a bit. He wouldn't shut up about "living in the shadow of his older brother." It's nice to know Blithe will never become bitter and bald.)

Kim Hargreaves is my frenemy?

I finally got Blithe in the mail. All the way from England. There she was wrapped in brown paper, just the way Fraulein Maria from the "Sound of Music" would prefer her packages sent.

But what made my day was when I turned it over and saw the custom declaration.


Yep, that says K. Hargreaves. I think Kim Hargreaves package this herself and sent along to the post. (Okay, I admit, there is a strong possibility that someone picked it up from her office and it is actually one of her minions or maybe "Kristin Hargreaves," Kim's well-intentioned, but good-for-nothing-but-signing-customs-declarations, who is responsible, but don't ruin this for me.)

I also love how the return address is from Intake Cottage. Alright, I've been watching a lot of PBS lately, but the idea is charming. Kim doesn't reside/work at some numbered square on some numbered street (like I do). Kim sits in a comfortable chair, with a roaring fire at Intake Cottage and gets up every so often to mail packages with yarn to pathetic Americans who have the misfortune not to live in a cottage or Pemberley.

Inside the package is pretty good too.



Yeah, that's an envelope that contains buttons and a label. Again, charming, but this is where my Blithe love hit a snag.

Although I agree that Kim is the genius behind the garment, I'm knitting the damn thing, I should get some credit there somewhere.

And this my friends is when I realized why the colonists fought the Revolutionary War.
Knitting without representation.