dynamiteknits @ circle + six

1) it appears my web traffic increased tremendously last month, and i found out why:

i’m also the #3 lookup for a MCY search on google for my anti-MCY post. hilarious! i’m sure everyone’s seen the ravelry forum so i’ll just leave it at that.

2) mrs darcy is blocked and finished!!!

and although width and length of the body is right, the sleeves are most definitely not. *sad* the length is fine, the armholes are too narrow for my now-plump upper arms. so the game plan from now on - gauge and block before seaming… and get my ass to the gym. HA!

3) for the contest, the mystery object was… a GAUGE SWATCH! i was planning on knitting the frock camisole from the spring 08 IK and didn’t want another mrs. darcy on my hands… and here’s the result!

AND it fits me!!! this project took about 3/4 skein of brooks farms yarn duet. i’m not so thrilled about the pooling, but i think it has grown on me. there was no winner, but i’m still sending hawaiian goodies for my participants. thanks for playing!

4) one of the reasons i haven’t been blogging a lot is because the mr. and i are in the process of buying a house! we were really fortunate we found a small little house for sale right across the street from the park where we take sugar to walk. it’s a modest little home with 2 full bedrooms, a lanai, 1 parking space and a little yard for sugar to run around in. we started the process two weeks ago and i’m a freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaked out. this transaction seems a whole lot more “real” than the last time. you can tell how positive this experience is going to be… during the home inspection, the neighbors stopped by and introduced themselves even though we’ve already met a lot of them from walking sugar. we actually met cappy, our next door neighbor, the first day we got sugar! so no “family members in jail” scenario like the last time! i’ll post pictures when we get everything finalized, but that isn’t going to be for another month or so. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeee! wish me luck!

here’s an FO i never presented because the model wouldn’t sit still…

does she look annoyed at me or what? i finally managed to get one shot (out of many, trust me) where sugar looks the tiniest bit peaceful wearing her fab garter-stitch pup sweater [ravelry]. and she looks so small in this picture! i assure you she has grown quite a bit. ^_^ because i love taking pics of my little girl, here she is during one of our walks in the neighborhood.

we live in a very developed area, so it’s surprising seeing open lots in between 10-story complexes. in the background you can almost make out the stone-wall remnants of the house that used to stand in this great lot. and why didn’t the owners rebuild? it makes me wonder the history of my neighborhood… and makes me sad to think of what used to stand in the place of these large (and well overpriced) apartment buildings.

another place that makes me wonder about my neighborhood? this house.

always dark, covered in peeling paint, a rusty old car in the driveway that never seems to move… what is your story? one day i’ll find out. until then i can only take more pictures of you and hope to see spirits in the images to help me. all i know is the lawn is always perfectly groomed. hmm…

when not running with sugar i’ve been working on mrs. darcy. i made it through the sleeves as i was reliving my youth watching 80s classics like sixteen candles, the breakfast club and dirty dancing these past two weekends. i had to watch dirty dancing over again because of the devastating news that patrick swayze developed pancreatic cancer… my father passed away from the same disease so hearing this news just shocked me. my thoughts are with you, patrick!

so with my trusty “knitter’s guide to finishing techniques” in hand, i went on my way. i know, i know… i should have blocked. but where? here’s a refresher.

no.space.whatsoever.  ^_^ eh, i’m sure i’ll be learning my lesson shortly.

shoulder seams? check.

side seams? uh… started off too tight, but i fixed it. can you tell when i realized my mistake?

and then once i got the hang of it…

and here she is, attempting to hang and pre-sleeve seaming.

as for the question of the fit… it is no longer “my” mrs darcy. *sad* i can’t even get the damned thing past my boobs so this is most definitely going to my niece. she’s a knitter, too, and hasn’t gotten past scarves. apparently i had that’s where i stopped teaching during her last trip visiting my family in new york. oops… anyway, i hope she likes it and it inspires her to do more with her knitting. i picked up some small mother of pearl buttons earlier this week so i should have an FO to post by the weekend!

so, the thing that has kept me from finishing? you guessed it… the kiosk. the mr. and i have been pretty busy… and with losing two of our employees (one to the need of healthcare, the other to a month-long vacation) i had to take several days off to cover our empty shifts. and guess what happens the day i take the shift? our friend, dropping off our new stock of bj penn shirts, brings frikkin bj penn to the kiosk. bj “the prodigy” penn.

WTF!!!!!

the mr always sees bj so it’s no big deal but i’ve never met him. so i stood there waving to my friend, then upon seeing bj i pointed and said “hey, that’s bj penn.” dur. then i intro’d myself and kissed him on the cheek.  hey, at least i got that.  what sucks is i didn’t even get any proof that i met him. my friends that work at the other kiosks got pictures with him.

lucky bastards.  at least i kissed his cheek.  ^_^  hopefully i’ll be able to compose myself better next time… we’re planning on having him come for a book signing eventually so… *crosses fingers* let’s hope i don’t act like a big dummy.

hahaha now i’m thinking of all the poor suckers brought to my knitting blog looking for info on bj penn.  HA!  that’s funny.  hello there, mma people!  *waves*
and now what you’ve been waiting for since the beginning of this post… the MYSTERY ITEM!!!

what is… THIS?

i’m not one for contests, but after making this item i thought it would be fun to see how this would work.  ^_^  the prize for whoever figures out the identity of the above item will receive 2 choices from the listing of yarn in my trade or sell section in ravelry as well as a small selection of hawaiian goodies. here are your clues:

1. i’ve always wanted to make one, but usually failed miserably
2. it’s the perfect size for what i want to use it for
3. now that i’ve made one i want to make many more

ok, that’s all you get. ^_~ well, for now. everyone participating can have THREE guesses. if there are multiple winners… well, i’ll figure something out.  hehe… good luck!

the definite downside of having a small, successful kiosk is storage. we just don’t have it.

a dining area is in there somewhere, i swear. tons of new triumph united gear and fokai tee-shirts… as much as i would like to pay for a storage space, it just doesn’t make sense if our lease isn’t renewed. plus i heard we can write off a portion of our rent if this continues on. guess i’ll suck it up until our stock dwindles down…

the good news was that among the mass of boxes were two for me! i came home on friday to discover some wonderful goodies. mom and ros must’ve been sensing my frustration and stress from the past week. work has been H-E-double-hockey-sticks and i’ve come to realize that “reorganization” is really a four-letter word. that’s all i can really say about that without going into a massive rant.

the first time i ever went out to california to visit ros was in 2003 when i was scoping areas in california to relocate to. san fran was an obvious choice to me… but what’s almost sold me on it? STITCHES WEST was in town the week i went to visit. since then ros has always though of me when stitches is in town.

an awesome sheep writing pad, those tasty apple mints, berry mints and SILKIE STR in pallas athena colorway! so incredibly awesome (and yummy!) thanks so much ros. this package couldn’t have come at a better time. ^_^

then my mom sent me an unannounced care package filled with snacks from home.

pistachios and seeds from an awesome russian market near our house. and…

3 bags of BAGELS!!!! who knew baked dough with holes could create such happiness in my life? *sigh* these went immediately in the freezer. bagels are precious in my house so they get rationed out. ^_^

speaking of new york food, there’s a FAMIGLIA pizza counter over at the NEX. back in the NY days i would go to the famiglia pizza near columbia on the way home, so i was kind of excited when i saw one here. just GUESS how much a slice of pizza is. really… just guess.

$4.50 for a slice.

i know. disgusting, isn’t it? it’s because they pull the whole “we ship our water from new york” BS. just for kicks, i bought a slice and let me tell you, that water did NOTHING for the pizza. lesson learned.

anywhoo, here is the progress on my mrs. darcy sweater. this project started with my knitting needles racing… and has since hit an abrupt halt. i think it’s because the sleeves start with twisted rib it’s slowing me down. here are my stacks of mrs. darcy bodyparts a la fluffa display.

a neat little pile of cascade 220 tweed-y goodness. i dared to have the sleeve pop up at work since it’s been taking me so long to get through the 36 rows of ribbing…

the green is way more sage than celery. damn these flourescent lights! i’m hoping for all-piece completion by mid-week next week. whether or not it will fit is not even on my radar… just the fact i’m getting to this point is a feat! and if anything, i know my niece will love this sweater. let’s just hope the seaming goes as smoothly as the knitting part, otherwise this is the end of my sweater knitting days. ^_~

and if so… monkeys version 6, maybe? HA!

*edit* i found a JEEPNEY theme for wordpress!  how could i not change it?  MABUHAY!

this past weekend i started on my second monkey sock in full force… saturday i spent my evening with the mr. at the kiosk casting on and sneaking in a few rows. here i am caught in the act!

monkey socks love their monkey home! (gifted by donna, my monkey pal from monkey sock swap 2)

i knitted so much this week, i actually finished the dang thing.

sorry for the crappy pictures, but my camera was doing very strange things this week. is it time for a new camera, maybe? hmmm…

anywhoo, while looking at ravelry today i noticed something… i’ve made a dang lot of monkeys. not in the same numbers as sandra and her jaywalkers, but enough to start wondering what else is out there in the knitting world i’m missing. so i dared the impossible… i started a second sweater.

*GASP*

i know, right?  i’m actually done with the body and starting the sleeves!  unheard of!  lol… we’ll see how it goes… and if it doesn’t fit?  well, that’s what skinny nieces are for.  ^_^ more to come!

should i be worried?

i found this little guy wandering by my mailbox coming home on saturday.  my mr goes… it’s your aumakua!!!!  cute, but… i dunno.  i’d like to think my ancestors would visit me in a different form than a snail.  o_O