I went to a fun new yarn store on Saturday! We were out on Long Island so I decided we should visit Garden City Stitches. A friend of a friend used to manage the place, and recently bought the owner out, but I had never been there.

I was very pleased with the store. They had a nice selection of basic yarns, and tons of novelty yarns. Plus the staff was awfully nice and helpful - one woman just sat and chatted with me and Ryan for ages about design, etc. I fell in love with a froufy eyelashy scarf, and ended up buying the yarn to make it. It's one ball of Artful Yarns Cinema, in the "Mrs. Miniver" colorway, and one ball of Plymouth DazzleLash in shade 129. Easy peasy, a few hours later I had a scarf. Gotta love instant gratification.



I also finished another strawberry cap. Now for a change of pace I'm working on a pumpkin. Still haven't decided what I am doing with my Cotton Colori, but I'm sure it'll become something soon enough.

I am totally beat. Exhausted. Worn-out. Bushed.

Got stuck at work until 8:30 on Tuesday, then had to be up at 5am to fly to Fort Lauderdale Wednesday. We were in market research until 9pm, at which point we went to our hotel. Once we checked in, my keycard didn't work, twice. They had to find me a new room. Didn't get to the room until almost 10, and didn't get to sleep until nearly 11. Back up at 5 for a 7am flight and a car directly back to the office.

I am never letting anal-retentive-afraid-to-slack-off Jeff-the-account-guy (who is a nice guy otherwise) determine my travel arrangements again! At least I left at 4pm. This post will likely be one of my last conscious acts of the day.

I did manage to finish a strawberry cap on the flight out. I was surrounded by little old ladies who marveled at how I "got" my needles onto the plane. OK, I've brought my knitting needles on every single flight I have taken since 9/11/01. Every time. In the US (including Hawaii) and in Europe. No one has ever said anything about it. They had to put my purse through twice yesterday at the x-ray machine (I had a scary-looking banana in it?) but not the carry-on with the knitting stuff. I usually have Addi circs, and always something on them, not that I think they can see that in the x-ray. This time I also had 5 wooden size 6 dpns, and those were fine, too. I told the ladies that and they were astounded. I also gave them Ann Norling's name for the pattern, and the Elann.com URL. Good times.

The other bright spot of research was ordering in Joe's Stone Crab for dinner. Yum! Totally the highlight of the trip. I love crab, and it definitely softened the blow of sitting in a dark room in Florida for 10 hours.

Other than that, not much to report. I'm totally noticing the effect of sleep deprivation on my cognitive abilities. I have said many stupid things today. I'm going to quit now before I say another.

Has anyone seen the sun? I sure haven't. The one day it was decent here this week, I was in St. Louis for market research, where it was grey and cold, too. And it's snowing yet again. I am so sick and tired of this stupid stupid winter. Tomorrow is the first day of Spring, but I don't see much improvement in the weather forecast.

On Wednesday I'm going to Fort Lauderdale for market research, but, painfully, I will not get to enjoy the weather there. I arrive in the morning, sit in a room all day, and leave the next morning. Depressing. If we're going to do that, at least let it not be someplace so pleasantly warm!

Not much exciting knitting going on right now. I'm making some strawberry caps for some pregnant ladies, and trying to find more Cotton Classic. I wonder why it's suddenly so hard to come by?

I just took a quick check of my comments and need to address this one right away - I am not pregnant! Leanne, my friend, is the pregnant one. I thought that was clear, but maybe not? Trust me, when I do get pregnant, it will not be an addendum to the end of a post about other stuff. ;-)

I found the perfect pants to go with HoJo! We made a very spontaneous trip out to Tanger Outlets in Riverhead yesterday and I found them at J. Crew. So, if you were in my office, this is what you would see coming towards you today.



Tonight, Ryan and I are going to see Leanne, who is participating in An Evening of Good Taste. Can you believe they're letting us in? ;-) I'm looking forward to seeing and tasting the show, and seeing Leanne and her (have I even mentioned this yet? I might not have) 5-month pregnant belly!

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my Cotton Colori. I have 8 balls in the "turquoise" colorway. The colors look like a swimming pool and feel so cool and comfy to me.

There is a free pattern on their site, which looks OK, but the gauge is 14 stitches on 10.5 needles and I don't like the way the yarn looks in my swatch at that gauge. It looks much smoother and nicer at 16 on 9s. I feel like I have a ton of patterns at that gauge, but can't seem to decide on one. I was debating making another Ginger but I kind feel like I ought to do something new. Then again, the shape is extremely flattering, and I always get compliments on the one I made in Summer Tweed. What do you think?

I also seem to have gotten myself into a little fruit cap spree. I mentioned on a message board I frequent that I was going to be making them for several friends who are all pregnant right now, and showed a picture. Suddenly people were offering me money to knit them for their babies and for gifts! So far it seems like a manageable number, and people are OK with paying 20 bucks each. I think that's reasonable enough to cover the cost and then make me feel like I am making a little pocket money for having fun and knitting.

I went to Knitting Hands to try and buy some Cotton Classic and get started, and they had maybe 10 skeins of various shades of beige and gray. I asked if they had more and was told I could special-order it. Well, I told the woman who was "helping" me that after the trouble I had the last time I did that, I was not interested in special-ordering through them again. Her less-than-apologetic reply reminded me that I had said I didn't want to shop there anymore, so we left. I called Yarn Connection in midtown and they said they have a lot of colors, so I'll head over there sometime during the week.

The Democratic debates were wonderful for giving me time to seam up HoJo and have something interesting to listen to and think about while I was doing it. It went well. I finished during this morning's chat on CBS, jumped in the shower, and couldn't even wait for my hair to dry before handing Ryan the camera. Without further ado, I present, HoJo!

I love it and am damn proud of myself. Between the asymmetrical rib, the traveling cable rib and the fair isle band, I feel like I have increased my knitting skills tremendously with this project. I also have a new favorite sweater in my closet.

Of course, it'd going to be in the mid-to-high 50s for the next few days, but I don't mind - I'm sure I'll have an opportunity to wear HoJo before the season ends, and I'll take Spring over sweater-wearing any day!

I decided to screw the nonsensical directions for making the neckband ribbing match the body ribbing and just do what made sense to me. It worked. I didn't get to sew it up, but hopefully will get to that tonight. Then again, if you click on my little Weather Channel banner, the forecast makes it appear that I don't exactly have to rush on this - I won't be wearing wool for the next week, it seems!

I cannot believe I am going to post this, but I'm having trouble with the neckband of HoJo (all the rest of the knitting is done - yay!) and need to know. So here goes: If the pattern says start at the left shoulder, is it the left shoulder when you're looking at it or left when you're wearing it?

Actually, I think I have tried this both ways and the stupid asymmetrical rib doesn't match up with either, but I'd like to hear what the rest of the knitting world thinks.

Oh, and my fever broke last night and even though I am definitely not 100%, the 80% that is here is going back to work tomorrow.

Still sick, still knitting. I blocked the front, back and the one completed sleeve of HoJo last night. I'm working on the last sleeve today, and if I finish it I can block that overnight and finish it off tomorrow! I'm hoping to be back at work. Well, I don't want to be at work, but I don't want to use any more PTO days.

Oh, I'm also too lazy to take a picture of the pieces blocking, so you will just have to wait. But they loooook gooooood!

Well, I'm sick, but it's a productive illness. I didn't leave the house all weekend, and hojoly shit, I am nearly finished with the back of HoJo! Ryan came in and saw me working on the last of the fair isle and got so confused because he thought it was the front that I had already finished!

I am staying home sick today, because my throat is still very sore. So, I'll probably finish the front and make some damn good headway on the sleeve. I'll probably block whatever I can this morning, since the kitchen sink is empty at the moment. ;-)

No pictures of HoJo back, but it looks just like the front in reverse. :-)

Well, I put up a valiant struggle and got sick anyway. My throat hurts, my head hurts, and I generally feel like a big pile of crap. I'm sure I will be fine in time for work on Monday. Grrr.

I will get plenty of knitting time, though. Ryan went over to a friends' house for a "winter BBQ" so I will be on the sofa with HoJo most of the day, I think.

Of course, if I were one-dimensional and only had one arm, I could just sew this sucker up and wear it now!

When I finally finish HoJo and wear it for the first time, I will dedicate that wearing to Wendy Johnson. Wendy patiently answered my fair isle questions via email, and I sat down tonight and got through all the armhole decreases and the more difficult of the three charts. Now it's just more of the easy chart, some ribbing, and I can start the whole process again on the back! Here's the progress so far.



In other news, Ryan's been sick all week with a nasty cold virus, and I think I might be getting it now. Damn! Just in time for a busy day at work tomorrow to feel it descend over me, and then let it totally kill me over the weekend. I think I'll try the Zicam I bought a while ago, and get some Vitamin C and echinacea in me. Wish me luck!

You are Mercerized Cotton.
You are always very crisp and neat. You are very
playful and are happiest while outdoors in the
sunshine. You are sometimes accused of
splitting hairs, but in the end people find you
pretty easy to live with.


What kind of yarn are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

How amusing. I suppose I like mercerized cotton - it looks purdy.

Haven't touched HoJo since my last post. Been busy and haven't had the patience to figure out the chart. Oh well.

Now I'm on my way to Baltimore and the National Aquarium for the weekend with my sweet husband. Hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day and a great weekend!

Well, working late Wednesday and Thursday nights precluded knitting, so I actually didn't get to finish the ribbing until I was on the train Friday night. Then I finished the first section of Fair Isle, which didn't require any decreases. It looks fabulous.

Now I'm up to the second chart, and I'm having a bitch of a time with it - this is where the armhole decreases start. Maybe some wonderful reader will have a better clue. Here are my issues:

1. The chart has markings for where to start for each size. My size says to start on the 2nd square of the chart. Gotcha. Do I continue that for the whole chart, or do I continue merrily along, doing the whole chart for each subsequent row?
   
2. I'm supposed to bind off four stitches for the first two rows. I am assuming I bind off the four stitches and THEN start the chart. Is that so? And if so, is the stitch that is on my right needle after binding off that last stitch the first stitch, or is the next one? (I think it's the former, but need to be sure.)
   
3. When I decrease, do I count the decrease stitch as two squares in the chart and skip one, or do I count it as one stitch in whatever color the chart specifies there? If the latter, doesn't this screw up the chart because I will have fewer stitches than the chart was written for?
   

I've tried various ways of doing this and nothing has been quite working. When I get to the first chart repeat, it turns out I should have one more stitch and I don't. But the row before is definitely correct. Argh! Anyone have any good fair isle resources?

I am having so much fun with HoJo! In the past, most of what I've knitted has either been straight stockinette or intarsia. Mostly because that's why I tend to like to wear. I generally like simple silhouettes. But I am enjoying the slight challenge of the branching cable rib so much, and I love watching the pattern unfold!

I was really disappointed to get stuck at work until 10:30 last night, because I didn't have my knitting with me. I only have 8-10 more rows (can't recall exactly) of the cable rib, then a few inches of regular rib before I get to the fair isle part, which I'm equally excited to play with. If all goes according to plan, I'll be fair isling on Amtrak tomorrow afternoon on the way to Albany!

I also really like this yarn - Classic Elite "Follies." It's got such a nice feel to it, and the stitch definition is good. It just zips right along on my Addi Turbos. This whole project (and the MiniChic before it) has really re-energized my zest for knitting!

Here's where I was the night before last:

I finished the sleeve, started the front, and found another thing to love about HoJo. Although the sleeve shaping was really irritating and involved far too much thinking, the front will not. The placement of the branching cable rib is at the waist, and it naturally pulls in a bit, so there is no shaping on the front of this sucker until you get to the armholes! That little thing made me very happy, and I managed to whip out about 17 rows of the branching rib before I got too tired to concentrate any more.

I'm heading up to Albany this coming weekend, to spend some girlie time with my best friend Lisa and her infant son, while her husband is at Army drill down here in the city. Baby Alex is too young to express an opinion, so we're considering it girlie time despite his technical maleness. I will finally get the opportunity to give her the Quiz sweater, which I am embarrassed to not have mailed earlier. I'm excited for the weekend, and also for the 2.5 hours of knitting time I'll get on Amtrak each way!

What a nice week - I didn't work late at all, went to the gym twice and had a fun dinner last night with Ryan and my friend Stacy. I'm sad because Stacy's moving to Chicago next month, so it's good to spend time with her before she leaves.

I also spent some quality time on the sofa with HoJo. I made it past the branching cable rib back into the overall rib pattern without any disasters. I did have to undo a bunch of rows of knit and turn them into purl, but I find that kind of satisfying, so I didn't mind. If we aren't running around too much this weekend I'll probably finish sleeve 1 by Monday morning. Here it is so far.

I am so toasty today, wearing my MiniChic over a long-sleeved cotton tee. Bonne Marie, you are far better than the wind beneath my wings - you are the warmth atop my shoulders.

The MiniChic is complete! I look absolutely awful in these photos - post-gym, post-shower, no-makeup. Goes to show how excited I was to show off my latest project!





Now I guess I will be focusing on HoJo for a while.

Well, I made it to the 3rd-to-last row of the branching cable rib before my head started to spin and I put it down. I get all edgy with the "increase in pattern" thing. I think I'm OK, but the pattern is complex and lazy me didn't actually think it out COMPLETELY. So I am worrying that in 2 rows, when I switch back to the regular rib, it'll be messed-up on the edges and I'll have to figure it out again.

So I put it down and went back to the MiniChic. I finished the front and back and sewed it all together, then started on the collar. I followed the directions carefully and that thing looks way the heck too short to fit around the whole neck opening. I can't tell if I perhaps did the neck decreases too early (don't think so, because the pieces came out perfectly matched in length, which means I followed the pattern AOK) or what. Or maybe there's some mysterious secret I am unaware of that makes the collar fit in that space. I think I am going to just add some rows into each piece of the collar until it fits in there. Hopefully I can get that done tonight. I want to wear my cute little poncho soon!

Look at me, getting the branching cable rib chart right! OK, don't look because I haven't taken any pictures yet. But I'm on row 20 and I've got it figured out now. Just was making stupid careless errors before.

I decided to start on the HoJo sleeve even before finishing my MiniChic. I was fine until I got to the branching cable rib chart. I have the left twist just fine, and I feel like I was following the chart to a tee, but 12 rows in, it just doesn't quite look like it's supposed to. Boy am I glad this is the sleeve rather than the front - it'll be less painful to frog!

I think what's messing me up is increasing while working the chart. You're supposed to increase in pattern, but the damn pattern changes every row, so it's hard to fathom. I'm going to go rip it back to row 1 and try and concentrate a bit harder. Maybe having had something to eat and drink will help.

I'm an assclown for not mentioning how nice it was to see Liz at S-n-B last Tuesday. For heaven's sake, we sat next to each and chatted half the time, and left together to go jump in cabs. I suck. Liz, you must know I adore you. If not, hopefully you know it now.

HoJo yarn arrived today!

And before I start, a few questions:

1. Is 2.5 inches larger than my bust a good size to make for a sweater that fits the way this one does in the picture? The next size up is 5.5" larger and that seems far too loose. I think I'm nervous because this would have me making the smallest size, and lately I've been making the second-smallest, but I've never made anything from Interweave before.

2. Am I interpreting this correctly? The pattern says:

• Left Twist: With right needle behind left needle, skip 1 st, knit second st through back loop, insert right needle into back of first and second sts, and knit them tog through back loops.

I am thinking "skip 1 st" means leave that stitch on the left needle, rather than slipping it. I am also thinking I am supposed to leave the next stitch on the needle after I knit it, even though it doesn't explicitly say to do so. The instructions for the Right Twist say:

• K2tog and leave sts on left needle, then knit the first st again, and slip both off of needle tog.

Please weigh in and tell me if I've interpreted the left twist correctly!

I actually have a little time before I start HoJo, because I am still finishing my MiniChic. I started that on Sunday night with the Gedifra Dandy yarn I bought on eBay like 2 years ago. Bonne Marie is just such a delight, answering my stupid random questions about her pattern with aplomb. I am so happy to finally have found something I want to make with this gorgeous yarn, and hope to finish it tonight or tomorrow. Then it's on to HoJo - my knitting challenge of the century! (Besides knitting 4 relatively simple bridesmaid tank tops while working and planning my own wedding) ;-)

Just for fun, Ryan digitized a bit of our wedding video and posted it for me while I was working this weekend. It's in quicktime, but there's a link to an .avi version, too. It's a 2-minute "highlight film" they put at the end. Have a look if you're into that sort of thing.

Well, this is a shitty week/end workwise. It looks like I am going to have to go in again today, and maybe even tomorrow. Some long holiday weekend, eh?

Luckily, it's been an excellent morning yarnwise! I have had a bug up my butt since Fall of 2002 to make the Interweave Knits Hojo Sweater. I decided today to find out how much the Classic Elite Follies yarn was going to run me, and lo and behold, it's at Elann.com for 2.97 a hank! They had all the colors except for the lime green, which is used for a teensy weensy bit in the fair isle pattern and the top of the neck, so I substituted with chamois, which I think will be fine.

While I was there, I also came across Tahki Cotton Colori, which I've been liking since the summer before last, too. I cleaned them out of the turquoise mix colorway, which, in person, has looked to me like a cool swimming pool made out of yarn.

I also discovered that although their standard shipping is USPS Priority mail, when you get to a certain point of heaviness, UPS Ground is cheaper. I like UPS because their tracking is updated in real-time, whereas USPS tracking is only updated at night. When I only had the Follies in my order, USPS was cheaper. When I added the Cotton Colori, suddenly UPS was a buck or so less than USPS. Yay!

This somewhat makes up for cruddy weather and having to go to the office in it later. I only wish I had the yarn now.

Too much work makes Betsy sad. And tired. The last time I got out of here before 10pm was Tuesday, when I went to Stitch-n-Bitch. I was here until 11pm last night, and back at 8am today for a conference call. This is our big push to get pieces printed, now that we got FDA comments/changes on our materials (that happened Thursday and we were on a call with the client for 10 hours yesterday hashing it all out - Oy!).

Back to happier thoughts of Stitch-n-Bitch. It was a lot of fun to go again! The best part was seeing some of the lovely ladies I've missed, like Deb, Jackie, Meema, Susi, Jessamyn, and I'm sure other people whose names are escaping my lack-of-sleep-addled brain right now.

Knit NY was an interesting place. As a store, they seem to have some nice stuff, though I don't love the way it's displayed. I understand that it's a teeny space so that's why they only display one ball of each color of each yarn, and the all-white walls/cabinets are cleanly designed, but it feels so sterile. And yarn stores are supposed to be warm and lush, not sterile.

I also love the idea of having a little cafe and tables and chairs, which is a plus. And they have cool-looking clear plastic stools filled with yarn. But they are horrifyingly uncomfortable to sit on for more than a few minutes. I left with a terrible backache after 2-3 hours on one of those stools.

It was also (not their fault) terribly crowded, with no place to put my coat or bag where it wasn't underfoot. I know the S-n-B has just gotten super-popular, but I don't know that I have the stamina to deal with that every week. No, I know for sure that I do not. Especially when things are so stressful here at work. I will have to save it for special occasions, unless the group ends up shrinking or finding more comfy quarters. I loved the cameraderie when we all took over big sofas in one corner of Java-n-Jazz. Maybe someday we'll have that sort of feeling again.

Of course as soon as I go and buy yarn to make myself a scarf, my father-in-law sends me one. He went to Spain for Christmas, and sent Ryan and I beautiful cashmere scarves. Mine is a red knit, just the right length, and has some pretty lace detail on the edges. His is a camel colored weave, with a silk foulard pattern on the reverse. They're more for "dress-up" (especially his) so I think I am still OK with making one for myself. Scarf variety is good, especially in a long winter.

Momentous night for me as I am going to attempt to return to the Manhattan Stitch-n-Bitch. It really kills me that Knit NY, where the group now meets, is 2 blocks from my old apartment. Argh! But I'm excited to check the place out, and see who's there. I've been wanting to go for a while, but an email from the fabulous Deb Stoller pushed me over the edge. I've been working late so much, but today I made a deal with the other writer on my account (a good friend) that if anyone stays late, it'll be him. Yay!

I'll be working on a hat to go with Alex's Quiz sweater. I was hoping to see Lisa and deliver the sweater in person, but it's not going to happen soon enough, so I am going to mail it. But since I have waited this long, I figured he really ought to have the matching hat.

I'm also hoping to find some intriguing project for myself while I am at Knit NY. I'm excited to see what they have!

Another day, another late night at work.

Christmas was wonderful. Everyone in Missouri was so nice to us, including my mother-in-law, which is a nice turn of events. (I still don't entirely trust, but I'm willing to work on it.) We were run ragged a lot of the time there, but enjoyed it all. I even got to meet an internet friend, Amy, and her husband in Kansas City. We all got along great and had a fantastic dinner.

New Year's was also nice. We went upstairs and had dinner with John and Amy and a coupe that they introduced us to sometime earlier this year. Good food, good friends, and generally a good time.

I finished Ryan's scarf the other day, and damn I wish I had a picture of it here! I took one but it came out badly, and it's at home anyway, where I wish I could be. I loved his scarf so much that I wanted to buy yarn to make one for me, but I didn't know when I'd find the time to get to Morehouse Merinos. As luck would have it, I went down to Union Square with a friend from work, on a totally unrelated errand, and realized as I got out of the subway that it is Wednesday, and that they were right in the square at the Greenmarket!

I walked out with a beautiful clear aqua and a pretty celery color. I plan to do mostly aqua, with random stripes of celery. Sort of how I did Ryan's, except I did his so that one half was mostly dark with light stripes, and the other was the reverse. It's subtle, but cool. Can't do that with mine because I needed 3 skeins (I like long scarves) and thus would not have an even amount of each color.

Now I am wishing I had bought some damn needles so I could start that scarf right now! I am also wishing I had bought enough to make myself a hat that matches, because this will SO clash with my magenta and purple stripe!

Long time, no post for me! I can hardly believe that the post below (with the giant stocking) was over a month ago. Work went all-out-crazy and I've hardly had time to blow my nose since then. Luckily, I finished the stockings before it went too nutty. And stupid me didn't take a picture of the second, but imagine it like the first, with the colors reversed (his starts green and has a green heel/toe, hers red). The friend I made it for loved them, she said her husband told her they were exactly what he had envisioned. Yay!

Now work seems to have calmed down a touch, and I've been knitting a scarf for Ryan. I am using two different shades of green from Morehouse Merinos, using their two-strand weight because anything heavier makes too warm a scarf for my hot-blooded husband. No pictures yet. It's not exactly a surprise, since it's hard to hide the fact that I am knitting for him when the only time I have to knit is at home and he's always here. Still, I'd rather not post progress and made it any easier for him to see. It's cool though - I am striping the lighter and darker yarns randomly, using a 2x2 rib. It's very soft and I think once I block, it'll look fantastic.

Yesterday I made some peppermint bark, very similar to this stuff from Williams-Sonoma, which is a gajillion dollars a tin (though I see it is on sale for only three-quarters-of-a-gajillion). Sure, I could afford to buy it, but charging that much offends me when it is SO easy to make - first crush some candy canes in a ziplock bag. Melt some semisweet chocolate (I guess you could use milk, but I like semisweet), spread it out on a Silpat (you could use parchment but the Silpat is soooo nice). Chill it for a bit until it's firm, do the same thing with the white chocolate, and then sprinkle the candy on while it's still melty. I found it helped to press the candy bits in a bit with the palm of my hands so they'd adhere better. Chill it again, then trim off the excess with a chef's knife, and cut or break into pieces. I preferred cutting it into semi-irregular trinagles - it isn't quite brittle enough to break cleanly.

Speaking of brittle, I also made peanut brittle today. I used this recipe, taking into account the changes suggested by one of the reviewers. It's cooling now. Mmm, I just broke off a teeny piece and it's yummy!

All of this candy is to go in pretty decorative boxes which we will bring to Missouri and give to relatives as we go visiting for Christmas. I'm looking forward to seeing Ryan's Mom's side of the family. We're staying with Aunt Rosemary and Uncle Dwight, who are just the nicest people ever. We'll get them a "real" present in addition to yummy candy.

Thank you Wendy, Marney, Shetha, Lisa and Melissa for your suggestions on the stocking pattern! Turns out that yes, there was a bad bad typo in there, and the 17 stitches for the instep should've been 27. I did that, and it worked out just fine. It's not blocked and I still have ends to weave in, but check out my friend's big-ass stocking! If her husband gives her a woman-leg for Christmas, it'll fit in the stocking!



Now it's happily blocking in the livingroom. Ryan wanted to add something to the pic to show the scale, so that white rectangle is a standard-sized credit card (upside-down, so don't bother trying to get the numbers!)




Now I have to make her husband's, which will be the same except green at the top, heel and toe.

ARRRRGH!

Work hell has abated for a while, after my 72-billable-hours week. Now I am in Xmas stocking hell. Someone help meeee!!!

I am using this pattern, courtesy of the ever-fabulous Wendy via my comments. I'm not doing the applique stuff - just using it as a basic framework, and I'm doing it in stripes. I figured working flat would be easier for me than in the round, since I'm not a sock maker and don't feel like figuring out everything when I'm doing a project for someone else under a slight time crunch.

So, I'm merrily knitting along and have a nice looooong piece of knitting, when I get to the Divide for Heel section. Let me call your attention to the previous direction, and then to the Divide for Heel direction:

Dec Row: K1, SSK, k to last 3 sts, k2 tog, k1—59 sts. Cont to work in St st, rep dec row every 10th row 3 times—53 sts rem. Work even until piece measures 13-1/2" from turning ridge, ending with a WS row.

Divide for Heel
(RS) K13 and sl to holder for right half of heel; k17 and sl to 2nd holder for instep; k13 for left half of heel. Work on these 13 sts only.

OK, so if I have 53 stitches remaining (which I do), and I slip 13 of those to a holder, then another 17, that's 30 stitches slipped to a holder - which leaves 23 stitches remaining. But you'll see that the last piece of that says I have 13 stitches and I'm working on those 13 stitches only.

Um, what happened to the other 10 stitches? Yes, that's right - they're SITTING ON MY NEEDLE MAKING ME CRAZY! Am I crazy? Am I reading something wrong? Is there an egregious error in this pattern? How do I fix it? (Assuming the answer is not that I am crazy)

Heeeeeelp meeeeee wonderful knitting-blog-readers!!!

Merlin is doing much better. He's a good patient, easily taking medicine once it's ground up into his food. And he's good-natured, so that makes things easier, too. I feel bad that when we are sleeping or not at home, we have to keep him shut up in Ryan's office. He hasn't peed anywhere but the litter box since Thursday night, but we're not taking any chances until he's much better. And can have a bath. He's kinda icky right now.

I'm icky, too. I was at work from 2pm until 2am on Saturday. That made Sunday a blurry day. Now I'm back and waiting for a job to route to me so I can go. Hope it happens before 7. I also just found out I need to be back here at 8am for a conference call.

I'm tired of work.

Wow, what a week. As I write this, I'm sitting in my office, not exactly thrilled to be here on Saturday night, but resigned to it. I put in 60 hours before today, pretty much not leaving the office until 8, 9, 10, or midnight, depending which day you're talking about. Whee.

The worst was Thursday night, though. At 11pm, I called to check in with Ryan, and he told me Merlin - our fattest cat - had just started peeing all around the apartment, and it was bloody. He called our vet and they said they were still there (until midnight, apparently - good to know) and bring him on over. I met them there around midnight and we had to leave the poor boy overnight (the cat, not the husband!).

The next day they confirmed (via ultrasound and x-rays) that he has a mass of crystals in his bladder - Feline Urologic Syndrome. The blockage is bad, but not total, so they said it can be treated non-surgically. He stayed 2 nights there, and came home this afternoon with special food (Hill's S/D), an antibiotic, and a urethral relaxer. He's home with Ryan and is going to have to stay in Ryan's (rugless) office until he's back to normal a bit. They said it'll be about 6 weeks before he's fully better.

Poor Merlin. I feel bad that he's in such pain. Ryan said he'd seen him straining sometimes in the litter box, but I had never noticed it, and it wasn't until the past few days when he suddenly started exhibiting real symptoms. Poor little kitty. At least Ryan was home and able to catch it before it got even worse.

We did get a good excuse to replace our old, ripped up (by Merlin, who is too heavy to make it up on the bed cleanly and occasionally grabs on and falls anyway) down comforter. He peed just enough on it to make it unsalvageable. Actually, any pee on it is pretty much enough for me.

So, he's home with the kitty, I'm here at work, and no one is having any fun this Saturday. I hope tomorrow will be happier.

I was so excited about the Quiz sweater that I didn't get to tell you about my fantastic Saturday. First, we went up to the Dia:Beacon museum (which I mistyped as Dia:Bacon so many times that I now call it that). The museum is built in an old box-printing plant, so the space is just tremendous. Lots of white space, and lots of light.
 
I'd say it was about 50/50 interesting work and pretentious crap. I like the way it's organized. When you enter a gallery, there is a little box on the wall with 8.5 x 11" laminated cards discussing the artist and the work. Much of the work was actually more interesting to read about than to look at.  I did love some of it, including this hard-to-describe string sculpture by Fred SandBack. It looks like mirrors and solid space, but it's just friggin yarn (yay yarn!) Apparently, the artist committed suicide back in June of this year. Sad. His work was really interesting.

I think my favorite piece there was this really amazing piece made from painted metal scraps. The artist is John Chamberlain.


 
As you can see, it's tremendous and so colorful - one of the few colorful pieces in the museum! It's called Privet but it looks like seaweed floating up from the ocean bottom to me.
 
The thing about contemporary art is that a lot of it doesn't beckon you to stay and stare at it for hours, to study it. (Not that I often feel that urge anyway, but Ryan does quite often.) So, we were done in about an  hour and a half, and headed for some lunch. I had read on chowhound.com that there was a good restaurant called Cathryn's, in nearby Cold Spring. I had the most delicious gnocchi with gorgonzola-walnut sauce. So rich, so good.
 
After lunch, we wandered the quaint town a bit, but found it very yuppified, and thus too pricey for our desires. A few miles down the road, however, we discovered a cute yarn shop called Knittingsmith, and stopped in for a bit. The woman who runs the place was very friendly. I was wandering through the bookshelves and found my goal - Deb Stoller's Stitch'N Bitch!

As I was thumbing through it, my name caught my eye, which was awfully nice. It made me really miss the whole group. I haven't been to the NY Stitch'n Bitch in far far far too long. Once I moved to Brooklyn and we had a ridiculously cold winter filled with work and wedding-planning madness, I got out of the habit. I would like to start going to the new Brooklyn edition, but we're in the midst of an insane product launch at work so I don't know if that'll happen before Thanksgiving.
 
Continuing down the road, we realized we were just on the other side of the Bear Mountain Bridge from shopping nirvana, so we headed to Woodbury Common for some outlet shopping. We got there around 5, and had 4 lovely hours to spend. Holy crap, we discovered the evening is the best time to be there! The crowds are gone, it's much quieter, and you can actually get up close to the stuff you might want to buy. I got a shirt and a sweater at the BR outlet, as well as a cute-as-a-button pink sweater with an intarsia bunny face at Lucky Brand. and Ryan scored some great pants and a shirt at DKNY. We also got a really cute lasagna pan, platter with a cute fruit print, and a new bath mat at Williams-Sonoma, using only about $45 of a $140 merchandise credit.
 
You think this is over? No way, Jose! It's only 9pm and we're only an hour from home. What better time to go to Dave & Buster's? I hadn't been there since I met Ryan, and he'd never gone. Dinner, then we played lots of games. I beat 5 people at the Daytona racing game! We paddled down whitewater rapids, played basketball and skeeball, and got briefly obsessed with that game where you drop the coins down and hope they knock other coins over the edge so you get tickets. We're suckers for that shit. Dinner cost us only $25 and a $25 game card lasted us until half-past midnight, at which point we turned our tickets in for two D&B water bottles and a D&B thermal coffee mug. Ryan even got them to pour him a coke into his water bottle on the way out.

So, we saw some art, some pretty fall scenery, had a great lunch, discovered a new yarn store, bought a fantastic knitting book written by a fantastic person, went outlet shopping AND played hours of video games. How are we going to top that next weekend?!

I'm thinking I probably shouldn't be all that proud of this.



But I kind of am. Fun quiz, courtesy of Jackie. Go ahead and take it yourself

On the other hand, what I am immensely proud of is this.



I finished the knitting and seaming last night, and picked up the buttons today at M&J during lunch. (The best thing about my new office is its proximity to fabric and trimming shops.) I was even thinking ahead and picked up an extra button, which I will enclose for Lisa, for the inevitable moment when one pops off or breaks. I'm sure I'm not the only person who's even done that, but I felt pretty smart when it occurred to me.

Here's an odd note - Meredith, if you're reading this, I can't seem to get email through to you. I got the "your email is delayed" note from Verizon. But I really appreciate your offer of a stocking pattern and would love to see it if you can find it!

OK, a friend has asked me to make her a pair of Christmas stockings. She wants something like these - the striped one on the left. I've never made a stocking or a sock or anything like that, so I'm wondering how to proceed. Does anyone have a pattern? Or any advice on how to find a pattern? Is it easier than making socks? I am totally looking for advice, so please weigh in no matter how big or small your tip is!

Oh, and before you ask why she doesn't just buy that one for 19 bucks, she wants different colors, and she wants their names on them, and she wants them about a foot longer than that.

I'm back to working on the Quiz sweater. The sleeves are striped so they go just slightly more slowly than the rest did, but hardly a difference. The big question is whether I will be able to deliver the gift in person or just have to ship it up to Lisa. We're all so busy and holiday time just makes that worse.

Ryan and I have developed an amusing morning tradition. He's been working at a freelance gig a block away from my office for about a week now. Every morning, we come out of the subway, and into the Manhattan Mall, where there is a player piano. On Monday it was playing "Our Love is Here to Stay," and we got goofy and danced a few bars to it. It's continued every day, including some mean swing dancing from Ryan (I was laughing so hard I could barely follow) this morning. Then he goes off the the exit, and I walk a few feet over to the super-secret entrance to my office building, where the security guard is always amused. It's a very sweet way to start the day - I hope it lasts as long as his freelance gig does.

I think that along with my slowly-redeveloping discipline, I might be ready for a more ambitious knitting project than I have done in the past. Not that knitting four bridesmaid tops wasn't ambitious, but it's not like the pattern was difficult. Straight stockinette the whole way. I'm not much for wearing wildly patterned knits, but something with some pretty cables or lace ribs, or something like that would be nice. Time to start going through the books and magazines. I feel like I saw some stuff in last Fall's Interweave Knits that I wanted to try. Wish I could figure out where I put it!

I have been posting on a particular message board for a while, and watching it deteriorate into nastiness and accusations. A lot of it is aimed at a woman I became friends with in the real world (and whose wedding I went to back in May) and who sort of uses the boards as an outlet for her frustatation, and is thus often a real bitch online. She's been flamed (and worse) far beyond anything she deserves, and I finally got tired of watching it today. I deleted my membership, and I feel much better about it now. I was wasting too much time and mental energy on that crap. There were some nice women there, but experiencing that kind of nastiness day after day is just not worth the minimal payoff. It's amazing how absorbed you can get in that kind of community - I feel so free having deleted my membership!

Wow, talk about a busy weekend! Friday night we had a double date with Amy and Steve, and saw a fun show at the Upright Citizens Brigade. It was really funny, and nice to do something a little more interesting than seeing a movie (for only seven bucks, too!).

Saturday we went out to Leanne's house for a Fall party. Lots of kids, lots of food, lots of dessert. We ended up staying there quite late, going back for round two of the main courses a few hours after dessert. Then it was back to Brooklyn for another party at Bill and Andrea's. Andrea is my friend Cara's cousin, and they just got married a few weeks ago, with Andrea wearing my veil and headpiece as her "something borrowed." It was so nice to be able to lend them to someone - they deserved another trip down the aisle. She had some pictures, and they looked just beautiful on her. Now they're back home just in case I have an emergency wedding need.

Sunday we decided to take advantage of our extra hour and clean the apartment. I mean seriously clean. We did the bedroom, office, bathroom, kitchen and storage alcove before we collapsed. Tonight we'll finish off the livingroom and bask in the glow of our incredible cleanliness.

I'm hoping the cleaning kick has started me off on a better foot, lifestyle-wise. I've been very undisciplined and lazy for months. I recently started going to the gym again, which is helping me to feel better. But I need to be more conscientious at home, rather than sitting on my ass in front of computer, Xbox, television, etc. I think once I get back into a real routine, I will likely knit more, too.

So, back in May or June, I (and several other NY knitters) spoke with a woman doing an article for Newsday about knitting. I think she posted on the Stitch'n'Bitch list to find us. We had a lengthy phone interview, and she said the story would run on June 4th (it stuck in my mind because that was the day after my birthday and I wasn't sure how old I should say I was when she asked!)

Two weeks ago, I got a call from someone at Newsday asking for photos. I returned the call, leaving a voicemail, and never heard back from them again. Today, the article appeared in the paper. I was misquoted. Actually, more like she made up quotes based on what I said and attributed them to me.

I am pissed. I know, it's knitting, not world peace. But she made me sound like an idiot. She has me saying that I saw my bridesmaids outfits on In Style and decided to make them because of that. No, I told her I saw an In Style Weddings special in which I think the bride had made the girls' sweaters and I got the idea to make them tops from that, but those weren't even close to what I made. She also has me calling knitting needles "sticks," which is something I have never ever done. I use circs, for goodness' sake, most of the time. Not very "stick"y. She also might have wanted to check in since she knew I was now married to see if I changed my name or not (I haven't officially just yet, but I am using my husband's name socially whenever I can.)

All in all, it's sort of a letdown. I feel like I need to give those caveats to anyone I send the article to, and thus I haven't sent it to anyone. My dear friend Leanne is also quoted in the article - she hadn't read it when I spoke to her, so I don't know if she was misquoted, too. Also, the reporter totally missed the point that Deb started the S'n'B, and that that's why she had her book party there.

Bleah. I am disappointed. The woman who wrote it (who was doing it as a freelance job - she's not a staff reporter) was very nice, and the article reads well. The only problem is the facts aren't quite correct. Oh well. I guess "close enough" is close enough these days.

First off, Shetha pointed out what Ryan pointed out to me offline - the Quiz sweater is almost exactly the same colors as my blog. Funny! I do love the colors.

In other news, the ChicKami came clean, and I tried it on. Not bad! I think it grew a little when I washed it, but I'm thinking I might be able to remedy that someday with a quick wash and toss in the dryer for a bit - gotta check the yarn again but I think it said machine wash. Anyway, here it is!



Yes, I cut off my own head because my hair looked so scary and I had such a goofy expression in the picture. But I like the cami a lot, and can't wait to either go somewhere warm or for Spring to come so I can wear it!

Zipping right along on the Quiz sweater. I finished the front this morning, while I am home fasting for Yom Kippur.



Ryan gets home from his Mom's tonight, about an hour after I stuff my face at sundown. Yay!!

I was certainly industrious yesterday! After my very relaxing facial and shopping trip with Amy, I came home and did some knitting. First, I finished off the ChicKami, as Charlotte suggested. I discovered that I had somehow gotten a spot on it while I was knitting (that's what I hate about working with white!) so I hand-washed it and it's drying now. Pictures when it's dry and ready to be tried on.

Once I was done with that, I started the Quiz sweater for little Alex. I'm not doing it in black and white, though - especially after the disaster with the colors running on the Moo blanket. Instead, I'm doing it in lilac and lemongrass, which were the yarns I got free from Mission Falls to replace the Moo yarn (yes, I picked the colors with this sweater in mind). So far, I've finished the back.

Making baby clothes is awesome, because it's such instant gratification! I have a feeling I will finish this fairly quickly, with Ryan away and me being home tomorrow for Yom Kippur.

Brrr! I guess that nice warm autumn is over! I guess it's not actually that bad, but because we had such a crap-weather summer, I feel it more now that it's cold. I should start knitting myself something warm and squishy, since it seems unlikely that I will wear my 95%-finished (one strap to do) ChicKami anytime soon!

Work is a little crazy - we moved to our new office this week and it's been quite the adjustment. A good adjustment, as I can take a more convenient subway, and the space is much better, but it's still disorienting.

Ryan's away at his Mom's this weekend in Kentucky. She's been having a rough time so he went to spend the weekend and hopefully help her find her way out of it. I was just glad I didn't have to go, honestly. I miss him, but I'm doing girly things, including a facial at the Aveda Institute this morning, with a friend. I've never had a facial, so I am really looking forward to it. I think we're going to do some shopping afterwards, too. Whee!

When on earth am I going to remember to print that damn ChicKami pattern and bring it home? Probably November, when I can no longer wear the Kami! Grrrr!

Several people in my office got quite a chuckle out of this link, posted in my comments by Genia. Thanks for the laugh! I feel like purchasing a digicam and starting this trend in my new office.

By new office, I mean the new office my current company is moving to in just over a week. They're moving us in three waves, actually, and the 2nd wave goes this Friday. The Healthcare division is last. The cool thing is as long as everyone is packed by 5pm next Thursday, we get Friday off! I tell ya, I will be going around the place and packing random shit in boxes if I need to, to get that free day.

Doesn't look like Isabel is going to hit us too much. Probably just high surf and cruddy weather, but no true "excitement." I hope it doesn't cause too much damage for folks down South.

So I am 3/4 of the way through my ChicKami, and I would be finished with it except I lost the printout of the pattern on my way home from Miami, and I downloaded it at work, and keep forgetting to print it out when I am there. Grrr. I better remember to do it tomorrow, so maybe I can finish it and wear it this week while it seems to still be warm!

Ryan and I did some wandering around the neighborhood today. We stopped at Knitting Hands on Atlantic, and I was surprised to see the store somewhat in disarray. Not a terrible mess, but not nice and neat as I have seen it before. I feel bad. I think they are probably struggling. But they have never been helpful to me, and the one time I tried to special order something, they didn't even bother telling me it was backordered until I called long after it was due in. If a LYS can't provide the extra level of service over an online outlet, why should I frequent it?

Next project is to knit a sweater for Alex, my friend Lisa's son. I'm thinking about this cute little Quiz sweater from Mission Falls Wee Knits Too. But after the dye-running experience with the black and white, I won't be using those two colors. To compensate me for that problem, they sent me my choice of yarns, which were Lilac and Lemongrass. I'm thinking it could be cute to do the background Lilac, and the "?" and stripes in Lemongrass. Or is it too girly? He's totally unmistakeable as a boy, so that's not an issue, but I'm not 100% sure. I also have to see if Lisa likes the pattern, and she hasn't called me back yet to look at it. I'm so impatient - I would love to just get it started now!

I just haven't felt like posting lately. Been busy, and tired, and doing other things. But I didn't think I could let this day go by without saying something.

Two years later, the buzz around this anniversary is quieter, but it's still there. They say they haven't increased the threat level, but there was a cop outside my office last night, holding what looked like an M-16 rifle (I'm told the NYPD doesn't use those, but whatever it was, it was big and dangerous and meant to impress). You can't tell me that was a coincidence.

I'm pleased that I'm watching the Today show, and among all the coverage of the memorial downtown, I haven't seen any footage of planes flying into buildings, or burning towers. It seems more respectful to focus on the loss, rather than the visual sensationalism. I don't know if that will hold up, and maybe I just haven't seen it, but at least for the moment, they have gained some of my respect.

It's a beautiful day today - just like it was in 2001. My life has changed for the better in so many ways since then. I was unemployed, single, wondering if my boyfriend was truly serious about me and where my life was going. Today I am working full time at a company I like and earning enough to support myself and that boyfriend who has become my husband. I'm basically happy, though there are still so many loose ends.

But so many people's lives have changed for the worse. Those who lost loved ones on that day, and those who escaped with their lives but who may never fully get past the trauma they experienced. They are the people I will be thinking of today, and wishing well.

So, I'll tell you my Blackout '03 story:

I was sitting in my office, slacking off, thinking I should get something good done, when it got really quiet. The AC had gone off. Then the fan slowed down, and the lights went, and then the computers, all in quick succession. The fire alarm went off an instant later, and Mary Jo (my officemate) and I looked at each other, said something like "here we go," grabbed our bags, and headed for the fire exit, which was right across from our office. I am sort of ashamed to say that we didn't go to get anyone else and make sure they got out. Then again, we're not appointed Fire Wardens or Searchers, so our job is to get our own asses out so those folks don't have to search for us.

The bad news - I was wearing a white skirt, a cotton sleeveless sweater with a mock t-neck, and 2.5" chunky-heel slides (Aerosoles, so not as brutal as it could be, but still not walking shoes.)

The 15 flights down were not fun in those shoes, plus I have a fear of falling down concrete stairs like the fire stairs. Luckily, the emergency lighting was on, so it was quite bright in the stairwell. Of course, no one had any idea what was going on, but it was very calm and people just moved. When we hit the street, we headed towards what we thought was the designated meeting area, but we were totally wrong.

It didn't matter much because we ran into my upstairs neighbor, who works with us, John. He was looking for his wife, Amy, who works at a competing agency across the street. Their emergency meeting place was in the hotel right there, but she apparently forgot. No cell phone service, though I was able to see that I was getting voicemails, and I was texting Ryan, but it said it didn't go through (it did, and he got "u ok?" four times, hehehe, but couldn't reply!). Mary Jo left to go try and get to NJ, and John and I found Amy and set off downtown, on foot.

I just mapquested it, and it is 7 miles from my office to my apartment. In heely slides and 90-degree weather. Ick. My feet hurt so much and my clothes were almost totally soaked through halfway home. We also discovered that it takes 44 blocks to run out of conversation. Found some empty payphones and called our Mommies. My Mom was powerless, too, and had been out at Fortunoff buying us some placesettings with a store credit when it happened. Such sacrifice!

We bought water for a reasonable $1.50 a bottle, no price-gouging for us. I was pleased to see that. It was wild walking across the Manhattan Bridge. They closed off the inbound lanes, and it was just a sea of pedestrians. Like a tremendous March of Dimes, except no one was dressed for it. It was around then that I started really worrying about the fishtank - Ryan has a 55 gallon saltwater tank, and we've been told they can only go about 4-5 hours without filtration and aeration. I was really sad, almost crying, about the fishies.

Major stroke of luck in Brooklyn. We happened to walk down Livingston Street, and saw a lit-up ATM. This small bank had a generator, and the guys who worked there said it was the only ATM in the city and made "cha-ching" sounds, which was funny, in the situation. We each took out $200, just in case.

4 hours after we set out (the first hour was spent gathering and finding Amy), we walked up the steps to our apartments. Boy was I happy to see Ryan, who had been there for nearly 3 hours, since he was downtown when the whole thing started and just wandered on home. The fish were alive, and he had changed some of the water and was hand-aerating it in an effort to keep them alive. I stripped, showered, and soaked my feet. We sat in the car with the AC on for a while, listening to the news, then came in and ate feta cheese, olives, pickles, and chinese dumplings by candlelight. I have so many scented candles I think this should be called Aromatherapy Blackout '03!

We hit the car for a bit again around 10:30, then came in and went to sleep. I slept like a baby after that walk! We were awakened to still no power but loud garbage trucks around 7:30. We walked into the livingroom and found...LIVE FISHIES!! All of them! At 8, while we were gaping at the fish, suddenly the filter bubbled to life, and we both did a little happy dance. Yay electricity!

Cable and Internet didn't come back until about 2, while we were out getting Frappucinos. Good-luck Frappucinos, it appears! They say there may still be rolling blackouts, so we're trying to go easy on the power, but we need the AC to keep the fishtank cool and I just can't deal without the internet right now! I hope everyone else is faring well!

It's nice to have a project going that's for me, for a change! I'm making the ChicKami, using some yarn I picked up at a Smiley's yarn sale well over a year ago. The yarn is from Paton's and is called Leila - it's a 100% cotton thick-and-thin yarn that feels very nice and seems to be knitting up with a nice texture. It's white, and I'm thinking this will be a nice go-with-anything comfy summer top. Let's hope it stays warm enough for me to finish it.

This is the first garment other than a hat that I have knit in the round. It's cool to know I don't have any side seams to sew later, but it's such slower going because the rows are so much longer. I've probably got 3-4" done so far, though, and I started it on Saturday morning and haven't spent a ton of time on it. We'll see if this converts me to in-the-round stuff. I dunno. I don't terribly mind sewing things up - it's kind of fun to watch the garment take shape that way. But, I now have a sewing machine, so I can always get that satisfaction there, if necessary.

In other news, I have an evil migraine. They've definitely increased lately. "Lately" being the past few months. I've been taking Zomig, and usually have to take a second dose to knock the headache back, and today that doesn't even seem to be working. Ugh. May have to go for a neuro consult to see what's up there. Joy joy joy.

Still busy rewriting stuff at work, and putting out lots of fires. It's tough because I feel so unmotivated most days. Pharmaceutical advertising is not exactly a wonderfully creative field. I work in a place with wonderful people, and the job can be interesting and challenging, but most of the time I just wish I could do something else. Eventually, I will. But right now, it pays far too well for me to leave, given that Ryan is still getting his new career started.

But it makes me grumpy some days. Especially in the mornings.

I need to start a new project - something to knit. I have a lot of leftover purple silk and someday would like to make myself a tank top like I made for my bridesmiads, but I think if I do another one of those now, I will actually implode. I want to make something pretty and happy and just for me. I'm thinking about Bonne Marie's cute Chic Kami. I may just go and buy that pattern after I post this. I've got plenty of cotton yarn lying around the Ikea cabinet just begging to be made into something, and I think it'll make me feel better to do it.

Still alive, just kind of quiet. Been very busy actually working at work. Part of it has been cleaning up a mess made by another writer who totally plagiarized a clinical study and did a lame-ass job of it at that. Grrrr.

I need to get a project going but haven't had the opportunity to sit down and figure out what to make. I was going to do the whale blanket for Alex, Lisa's new son, but it turns out someone crocheted a baby blanket for him, so I don't feel like duplicating it. She said she'd love a sweater, so I guess I just need to find a cute pattern and see what she thinks of it. I wonder if I will ever make anything for myself again? So far, not motivated to do so, but I'm sure that will change.

Our photographer has about 45 of our wedding photos posted on his site if you want to take a look. Is it wrong to be so in love with one's own pictures? It's not so much the pictures of me, just the whole thing. It was such a wonderful day, and the pictures really capture it.

I can hardly believe it's August already. The summer took so long to arrive and now it's halfway over. It's bringing me down. It always goes too quickly. I'm hoping it stays warm long into the Fall this year.

I haven't posted in a while, which I suppose is fairly obvious. I guess I was resting on my wedding-photo laurels for a bit. And being busy trying to get up to speed at work. I came back to a new client, new boss, and a new medical condition to learn all about. It's like getting a new job except I never interviewed for it. Kind of overwhelming, and I really miss my old boss, who said she cried when she had to let me out of her group (the other group desperately needed me, apparently). We're working on getting me back in hers someday.

Other than that, it's been mostly just settling back into reality as Mrs. Wifey. This past Saturday we went returning/exchanging some gifts that were duplicates or just not really what we wanted. That was fun - store credits at Williams-Sonoma and Bed, Bath, and Beyond are never bad things! Sunday we went to the beach, which was beautiful, though the water felt colder than ever after being in Hawaii for so long!

I still want to make Lisa the baby blanket with the whale, but I haven't gotten the yarn yet. I will have to look online and get it ordered ASAP. We're headed up there this weekend, finally, to meet the baby. I can't wait!

We got our professional proofs back from the wedding, and they are supposed to be posted online soon, so I haven't posted scans of them. The photographer isn't going to post ALL of them, of course - just a selection, so you should feel lucky. My guess is we have around 1000 proofs to go through. Yipes! It was such a nice day, he said he was like a kid in a candy store, which is why there are so many.

I still can't get over how nice the bridesmaids looked. Every time I show someone a picture, they are so amazed that I made the tops. If I quit knitting today (not gonna happen, despite the lack of action on that front!) I would at least feel I had accomplished something truly impressive.

Thanks, Jo for the link to Photo Navy for some reliable and free photo hosting! I replaced the links in the post below, so you should be able to see pretty pictures now.

OK, so I re-published, and now I can see all the pics. Can you?

OK, very irritating. The photos all show up in the "edit post" dialog box, but not on the actual blog. I'm linking from ofoto images, so maybe it doesn't get along with the blogger template? Weird weird weird. Maybe I'll try and steal their resized versions and put them on my server space.

Are you ready for a nice long post? Brace yourself. ing day – which really was the happiest day of my life so far, all clichés aside.

THE “PREGAME”

I woke up at 6:30 and showered for my 7:00 hair appointment. This is a.m., in case you hadn’t guessed. Ryan stayed at a hotel the night before, and for various reasons, none of my bridesmaids stayed with me, which was actually what I preferred. I wanted to sleep, not gab, and it worked out really well. I probably fell asleep around midnight, and at least got something of a night’s sleep!

John, my hairdresser, showed up right on time and got to work. He is my regular hairdresser, so it was really nice just to chat while he worked. He was done within the hour, and told me he wished all his brides were as calm and collected as I was. It was great to have it just be the two of us, rather than having a small army of women running around the place. Everything came out perfect the first time, and he was even pretty proud of himself he said. Just as he finished, my parents and brother showed up to get me. We grabbed the dress and stuff and headed to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Palm House to get dressed.

I had to walk through the Palm House (which is all glass) to get to the bridal room, and as I walked in, I saw sister-in-law Kristy had turned Ryan around to face away from the room so he wouldn’t see me (at the time I was wearing shorts, a denim shirt, sneakers, and veil – tres chic!) He later confessed that he caught a glimpse, but that it made no difference.

I was a little curious why it was nearly 9am and the florist wasn’t there and no one had seen Leanne, my pastry chef bridesmaid who made our cake and was going to be there at 8:30. As I was getting dressed, Leanne came in with a stricken look on her face, obviously on the verge of a total breakdown. I was actually relieved when she said it was the cake, and not her car or something worse.

As best we can figure, the problem was the carrot cake. Apparently, there’s a reason no one makes carrot wedding cake. Too dense. And it was so friggin humid the day before, that the cake was even moister. So, it fell on its way to the wedding, and she discovered it when she got there. She was completely devastated – she’s done over 50 wedding cakes and never had a mishap.

One wrong word from me and she would’ve been a pile of jelly. She said she could either try and fix it herself, or the Palm House staff could fix it with fresh flowers. I asked what she wanted to do, and she said she’d rather they do it, so I told her great idea, tell them to do it, and then told her I didn’t care, shit happens, and I’m just glad it was the cake and not her. She got teary anyway, and I hugged her and told her it was really OK, and it would be delicious. Also, I pointed out her fabulous her hair was, and that apparently it got all the gravity that day, rather than the cake (she’s the bridesmaid with the short dark curled hair in my pics). She was obviously still shakey, but managed to relax after a while.

It’s funny, but that problem, and my reaction, really were great for our friendship. She told me and wrote in my guestbook that she learned that day what a true friendship was all about. We’ve been friends since we were 8, so that’s saying a lot! I pointed out to her that every vendor has a problem at some point, and she was lucky that hers happened with me and not some psychobridezilla! She agreed.

Tears over, we finished getting dressed. The florist was late, so I went out to meet my groom (we were doing pics beforehand, as is traditional in a Jewish ceremony) by the lily pond. What a strange feeling – I almost felt shy, as I came out the door and walked towards him! He was smiling at me and just telling me how lovely I was, and then it all felt perfectly natural. He was so handsome in his tux! I was with him to buy it, but was kinda glad I hadn’t seen it since he had it tailored.

Flowers arrived after a few photos, and we, along with the wedding party (including parents) headed out to take photos around the gardens. The garden was open and a few people were already there, so we got some congratulations wishes from a bunch of people. I also found out later that my big boss, who lives around the corner and said she might swing by, caught some of our photo session on the esplanade. I wish I had seen her!

At one point there was a crowd of elderly women gathered watching, and our photographer, Joel, invited them to join us (actually, I learned last night that it was Ryan's idea!). What a cute picture that made! It gave us all a giggle, too.

The flowers look fine in the pics, but were not what I expected. Rather than cream sweetpeas, I had lavender ones with my pink peonies. The bridesmaids ended up with pink roses and some other wilty flowers (sort of like lisianthus), rather than sweetpeas. Ryan’s boutonniere was very droopy, but the other ones were nice perky calla lilies. I let go of my flower irritation almost instantly. They still looked pretty, and the bridesmaids held them close up to the blossom to hide the wilty ones. Dunno what happened, and haven’t had a chance to discuss with the florist, who is so sweet I hate to find out. I think they just got in over their heads and spent all the time on the wheatgrass centerpieces, which did look fabulous!

Am I really so far into this and not even at the ceremony yet? Yipes! Let’s hope it goes faster from here on in…

THE CEREMONY

Well, right before the ceremony, we signed our ketubah in the Palm House, and gave our hula girl tie to the rabbi (Each couple gives him a tie with their names on the back. When he gets up that day, he picks a tie and says a blessing for that couple, then at your wedding he puts on your tie. We got hula girls because of the Hawaiian honeymoon and ‘cause it was fun!). Did a brief rehearsal, and then headed out for the real thing.

It was fun standing behind the bushes watching the procession from behind. It was nice to have both my parents there, particularly. I was surprised to hear “Pachalbel’s Canon” for the procession, since we hadn’t chosen it. Oh well. Once they switched to “Prince of Denmark” it was my turn. As we rounded the bushes into the aisle, I started to tear up, but that was the last time. Then I just smiled and smiled.

Standing under the chuppah with everyone, I felt so much love, particularly from my sweet groom. I have to give us kudos for speaking our vows clearly, loudly, and with feeling. Neither of us cried at all. My Dad and his Mom were the criers, it turns out. And Leanne and Lisa, the BMs holding the chuppah, said they couldn’t look at each other or they were going to lose it. I cried at their weddings, and they didn’t, so it’s fitting that they should cry at mine!

Rabbi Al was fantastic, as were our 7 friends and relatives who each read the English translation of one of the 7 blessings that are part of the Jewish ceremony. When it was all over, Ryan broke the glass, and we had a really wonderful, natural kiss. Then it was off to yichud – the Jewish tradition of seclusion.

THE PAR-TAY!

Back in the bridal room, there was a try of all the tasty treats being served at the cocktail hour. We laughed and chowed and kissed, and remarked on how great we felt, and how the Jews have it all going on when it comes to weddings, because it was so nice to sit together and eat rather than have a receiving line! Eventually the rabbi told us we had to come out, so we joined the party.

The reception went far too fast. The band was amazing. All the older folks thanked us for having a real band with real music. They were worth every penny. After we were introduced they started with our song, “As Time Goes By.” Let me say, our friends and family are easily impressed. A few spins, a few dips, nothing rehearsed, and they thought we were Fred and Ginger!

Next came the hora, which was fun and exhausting. By the time we were lifted up on the chairs (another tradition) I was glad to just sit down, even if my set was bobbing and weaving in the air!

Our father-daughter dance was “Lullaby” by Billy Joel, and apparently everyone got choked up. Dad got a little choked up, but mostly we were talking about how much fun it all was! Ryan danced with his mother to “What a Wonderful World” which was also very sweet. Did I mention that she apparently got on board the train at the next-to-last stop and was now being nice to me? Relief.

Fun moments – dancing with Leanne (finally over the cake debacle) to “Stop – In the Name of Love” and basically putting on a little show for the whole crowd watching. Giving a toast to my Dad and including all the Dads who were there with us and maybe not with their kids that day (Father’s Day). Dancing with my sweet husband.

From the time the reception started, nothing went wrong. Nothing. It was amazing! Smooth as silk, and the most fun I’ve ever had.

THE DENOUMENT

When it was all over, we gathered our things and Ryan and I decided to take a little “victory lap” around the garden. That was the perfect plan. It gave us a half hour or so to just talk, relax, and transition from the party fun to the wedding night. People kept congratulating us and offering to take our picture. We smelled all the roses in the rose garden (OK, not all, but a lot) and came back feeling relaxed and pleased, though a bit sad it was over.

Mom, Dad and Larry (brother) waited for us, and drove us back to our apartment. My Dad helped us bring some stuff up (3rd floor walkup) and witnessed Ryan carrying me over the threshold. He told us yesterday that we missed seeing it, but he totally lost it in the stairwell after that. He’s so cute.

It was only 5:30, but boy were we exhausted! Ryan was about to keel over, but got a second wind, if you know what I mean. Yes, I gave him the flower of my virginity. OK, maybe not quite.

Around 7pm we opened up some of the 30 or so cards we received during the reception, and were pretty stunned at the amount of money people gave us! Some people were exceedingly generous! Eventually, although we ate plenty at the reception, we got hungry again and ordered Indian food. YUM! I think we hit the sack around 10pm, happy, tired, and very much married.

All in all, our wedding was simply wonderful. Even if I had been a guest, I would say it was the best I had ever been to. The weather was perfect - the day before it poured, and the day after it is/was chilly, but the day of was comfortably warm, sunny but not too sunny, and just lovely. The ceremony was beautiful and had touches of humor from the rabbi and the bride and groom. The reception was just an absolutely fantastic party. Amazing food, lots of dancing, and all we kept hearing was how beautiful and in love we looked. I Could not ask for anything more! Here are some of the nonprofessional photos we have so far - a few are digital (from my camera even) and a few are scanned from the great photos my cousin sent me. Most don’t need much explanation.

"Stop! In the Name of Love"

“Victory Lap”

A quick note as we leave paradise. We're in the Honolulu airport now, with a layover before our flight(s) home. What an amazing honeymoon we have had! I could not have imagined a more wonderful trip. There will be tons of photos and stories when I return and recover. I am SO glad I don't have to work until Monday!

Yes, I'm a Mrs. The day was beautiful, the things that went wrong didn't change a thing, and everyone looked absolutely their best. This is the only pic of me and my new husband so far, taken by a nice stranger as we took a "victory lap" around the gardens after the reception ended. More pics to come soon, though I am not sure if it will be before we leave for Hawaii tomorrow morning.

I know you're all wondering - the bridesmaids looked AMAZING. People were so stunned when they found out I knit the tops! I am very proud of that project. They all looked beautiful, 5 lbs. thinner (I swear) and happy, and said they were very comfortable. Yay!!!

I'll keep this brief. We had our not-rehearsal dinner tonight, and it was really fun, despite my impending sore throat/cold, and the lack of air conditioning at the restaurant on this muggy evening. Even Ryan's Mom seems to have boarded the wedding train, realizing there's no stopping it.

Right now I have to wind down so I can get some sleep. I think I'll pick up some of the mess that exploded in this place today. My last night as a single woman!

My colleagues are so sweet. Even though our team is slowly being broken up (at least and only temporarily, we hope), they all got together to take me to a nice 2-hour lunch today, to celebrate my last day at work as a single woman. They also gave me a very healthy gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma, and some cash on top of it that didn't make it into the gift certificate on time. It was very nice and I feel awfully loved.

I just cleaned off my desk. That was easy, since I was able to just toss a lot of client-related papers I will never need again. This is some good timing! It's 4:30 now, and I will probably leave fairly soon. I'm going to go down to Anthropologie and see if I can find a dress to wear to the dinner on Saturday night that isn't a rehearsal dinner because Jewish ceremonies don't include a rehearsal.''

I still need to find a good place to get a manicure on Saturday. Someplace in Cobble Hill or Brooklyn Heights would be better, since I don't want to have to come to Manhattan for that. Though the dinner is in Manhattan, so if I do it in the late afternoon, that'd be fine. Hmm. Actually, that would be the smartest thing, since the longer my nails are painted, the more they chip. And if I do it later on Saturday, then I can just go straight from manicure to dinner. OK, that's the tentative plan. I'm sure you enjoyed this excursion into the minutae of my nails.

I have to call Knitting Hands about that Tahki yarn for Alex's baby blanket. No news so far and I ordered it May 31st, told that it would be a week. OK, I just called (bet you didn't even notice I was gone - it's like magic, eh?). Everything I ordered is on backorder. Well, wouldn't it have been nice for them to friggin CALL ME and TELL ME? I asked them that and got no intelligible reply. I know Jackie had some problems with an order from them, too. I like to shop there, but I don't think I will ever order from them again. Now I can't get the fucking yarn before I go away and I can't start the baby blanket on my trip. Thanks a lot folks. I could've ordered it online and had it by now, but I wanted to patronize my LYS. Well, when my LYS can provide the materials I need when I need them, I will patronize them again. Grrr.

4 days. That's FOUR days, people.

Nothing to do at work. Literally nothing. I'm going to be assigned to a new client, but that won't happen until I return from my honeymoon. Who wants a brand-new writer 4 days before her wedding? No one! Tomorrow is actually my last day, and my team is taking me out to lunch, which is awfully sweet. Makes up for the incredible awkwardness today.

I ran out for some tasti-d-lite after lunch, and when i returned, I ran into one of the executive assistants in the elevator lobby. She said to come downstairs because they were having cake for this guy who is getting married on Sunday (I knew he was, we've chatted a few times). So, totally without thinking, I said "me too!" and went downstairs because I couldn't exactly get out of it. Of course, word spread to the HR people who organized it, and they felt really bad that they threw one person a party and not both of us. They apologized and said "we didn't even know...and Neil's been here so long..." and I was totally gracious and told them not to think about it for a second, I was just happy to be able to share the fun with someone.

Of course, it was really awkward and I wish I had just come back a few minutes later and avoided the whole scene. Or had the ability to shut my mouth when she said his wedding was Sunday. But really, it's a totally natural thing to say. On June 3rd, if someone said it was their birthday, I'd say "me too!" too. Anyway, I am more excited about the team lunch with people who really care about me than the corporate-sponsored party with a ton of people I've never met coming for free cake.

We got a tremendous box from Bloomingdale's today. Big enough to fit a baby in, if you weren't too careful about the cushioning (I don't know why, but I keep using that analogy - am I sick?). Inside was a lot of paper and... a pizza cutting wheel. Which was indeed on our registry. It took several minutes of confusion to discover the packing slip on the floor next to all the paper, telling us that the friend who sent it had also bought us the tart plate off our registry. This was funny on so many levels - the giant box for the tiny gift, the fact that at first we thought someone really got us a pizza cutter as a wedding gift, and, only to me, the knowledge that this particular (male) friend certainly picked the tart plate very intentionally. Hehehe.

Ryan's sister says not to sweat his mother, and that she will behave. Good.

I am disjointed today. Sorry.

I stopped by to see our florist today (right down the block, pass him on the way home) and got sent home with such a beautiful peony. I think I'll go snap a picture.



Doesn't quite do it justice. But that's what I am going to have in my bridal bouquet, along with cream sweetpeas (typo fixed after Alison pointed out that I wrote "sweatpeas" - eeew). My florist is also working on getting snowberries, which I requested, but he's not sure if that will work. I'm excited about the flowers. It's been so fun to work with them, and they have been really inspired by my ideas, they said. Lots of wheatgrass with pretty fleurs. You'll see later.

Oh my! I wonder if I can make this fabulous skirt between now and Sunday. It would be so cute in Hawaii! Damn!

Lots of wedding progress this weekend. I am marrying the most fabulous guy ever. He has been so helpful in the past weeks, since he's finished his thesis. He's made our adorable programs, neato menu cards, and has been running lots of errands and stuff. He even offered to go buy me the yarn for this skirt! I wonder if Knitting Hands has it?

Oh, who am I fooling? That is NOT going to happen!

I got what I felt was a very impersonal birthday card from Ryan's mother yesterday. It was a jokey card, and was just signed "love, Ryan's Mom." OK, she wrote love, but she didn't write "Dear Betsy," or any other words on the whole page. It made me sad. And it made me angry. It made Ryan sad. And me getting angry made him angry. Nothing good can come of this, unfortunately.

I also realized that talking about it makes me feel worse. I think I need to just put it out of my mind. I know too much about how she feels to make that easy, but if I dwell on it, I am only going to get angrier and more hurt. And that's not how I want to feel on my wedding day. Or any other day, for that matter. So, I am going to try and call a moratorium on talking about her, in hopes that it will just fade a bit in my mind.

I'm meeting my maid of honor today to give her the very last of the bridesmaid tops. Yay! I still can't believe I actually finished such a tremendous project. I can't wait to have pictures of everyone wearing them for you guys!

This weekend we have to figure out our seating plan and print our programs. They are so cute! Ryan is so handy at that sort of thing. OK, that's not a shock, considering he used to be an art director. But still, it's so nice that he's good at stuff like that. I do the writing, he does the art, and we each consult on the other's work. Kinda how we met and fell in love, now that I think of it.

I think I'll take that happy thought with me, as I go spend the day surfing the web and taking a looooong lunch.

Gee, this is just what every girl needs 10 days before her wedding. An impromptu meeting in the President/CEO's office that starts "I wish we were gathered her for Betsy's bridal shower, but we all know that's not the case..." Well, the client I have been working on since November has officially jumped ship to another agency.

It's a long ugly story that starts in September of last year when the senior account and creative people decided to break off and form their own agency. As soon as their noncompete was up (3 months I think at the time) they started working with our client. To make the long story short, it has been contentious for a while between our agency and the client, and even though the agency has a very strong relationship with the company, and several other of their brands are totally solid here, it wasn't working. So, we've all been walking on eggshells, and at least now it's over.

She reassured us that we have a generous termination clause with the client, a big push for new business, and plenty of work throughout the agency, so that at least for now, everyone is safe. Just yesterday, our big boss had reassured me (in response to me joking about doing something that would get me canned) that I wouldn't be let go on her watch. Let's hope that's true.

At this point, 10 days out, I can't be any more tightly wound than I already am, so I am hardly noticing the increase in blood pressure and heart rate. I suppose when the blood vessels start bursting, I'll take some notice.

Yesterday was a nice, peaceful birthday. And I got a wonderful present from my sweetheart!

Yes, that is the Canon PowerShot S230 3.2MP Digital ELPH Camera w/ 2x Optical Zoom. It's so cute, and so little - about the size of a pack of cigarettes. I actually just had to go fact-check that statement by finding a colleague who smokes. It is almost exactly the same size, just a few mm thicker. I will be so psyched to have it on my honeymoon! I've wanted a small digital camera like this for a while, but didn't actually expect to receive it. Yay Ryan! Yay me!

We're almost done with the wedding programs. I wrote them a while ago, and Ryan's been tweaking the layout. They are really adorable. Simple, but with a cute little twist. I'll try and get a picture sometime.

I'm on hold with the yarmulke people trying to fix the error in Ryan's last name. The "P" after the apostrophe should be upper case but came in lower case. Small error, but still an error. The woman I am talking to has an odd clipped accent that I can't place. She just said we should have the new ones Tuesday or Wednesday. OK, that's good.

Spoke to the photographer this morning. He wants us all to meet at the Garden by 9:15 the day of the wedding. Oy. I dread telling my bridesmaids that. Well, actually only my maid of honor, who has been whining about having to get there. Fuck off, it's your best friend's wedding, you can drag your sorry ass out of the house early for once, since you haven't done anything else to help with this thing.

Bitter much, Betsy?

I have been a lazy little blogger, haven't I? Resting on my bridesmaid top laurels, I suppose.

Now I'm just whoring for attention because it is my birthday! I just had a yummy cheesecake here at work, and tonight Ryan is taking me to Joe's Shanghai for soup dumplings. Yum!

Very excited to hear the good news about Shetha's new baby! He is just the most darling little pumpkin. Follow the links to the pics and you can see how cute Mom looks so soon after giving birth. Yay Shetha!

12 days and counting 'til the wedding. Ryan is finishing laying out our programs. I'm letting everyone know when/where the rehearsal (except there's no rehearsal since it's a Jewish wedding) dinner is. My dress is finally all done and will be picked up by my parents a day or two before the wedding. All but one bridesmaid has her tank top, and I will remedy that situation this week. Bridesmaids and groomsmen gifts are purchased, just need to be wrapped. The imprinted yarmulkes came with Ryan's last name misspelled (apparently they don't get a lot of Irish names with apostrophes!) but they said they can fix it no problem and get it to us in time since they are in Brooklyn, too.

A few other details remain, like picking readers for each of the seven blessings. Asked one person, need to ask six more. Dunno why we left this 'til the end. It's only a few sentences at most, and it's not like people need to memorize anything.

I ordered the yarn from Knitting Hands for the ocean-themed baby blanket for Lisa's new baby. They said it will be about a week. That means I can start it on my honeymoon, and it should be done in time for his christening at the end of August. Yay!

Well, I figured out the mitred corners. After I put the whole neck on a circular needle, I needed to put markers in each of the corners, which I realized, but which was not mentioned in the pattern. Once I figured that out, the whole thing was a piece of cake. Mmm, cake.

So, do you realize what this means?

I AM FINISHED!!!!

Yes, each top has been knitted, finished, and has a cute little label sewn in the back of the neck.

Since the last one is the closest to my size, here I am modeling it for you.





Here are three of the four - the fourth one is already safe at home with Leanne. I think it worked out nicely that all three bridesmaids wanted a v-neck, and the maid of honor wanted a square neck. (Also please note our groovy new Hawaiian-print bedding in this shot!)



And just because it's so cute, here's the label I sewed inside each one. (I got them from Charm Labels in case you want to order some yourself.)



Now what? Do I dare start on the cute ocean-themed baby blanket I am going to make for Lisa's new son? Aha, first I have to buy yarn. Looks like it's TV time for me tonight!