Every year I take my birthday of from work, because really it should be a national holiday! Today I am sitting around at home, uploading photos, reorganizing my closet and blasting some great tunes. Imagine my surprise when the doorbell rings and I'm sitting at my computer still in my pjs. I scrambled to put on jeans and shoes, and when I got down to the door there was a delivery person with an Edible Arrangement bouquet from my friend Amy! Fantastic! Pretty fruit that I can eat - I don't think this will last long. Thanks Amy! What a great surprise.

This week did not start out well. Monday morning I was about to leave for work when I realized that I didn't have my subway pass. It's a plastic card that I can reload each month, so in losing it I lost $2.00, my October pass AND my November pass that I bought last week for $59.00. Man!

Shirt sleeves

It's funny how one little thing can make your day. This morning I decided to dress better for work and wear an actual shirt - button down, not a t-shirt or made of t-shirt jersey. Amazing. I have a short sleeve button down emerald green shirt in my closet. It has little pearl buttons that make the sleeves like french cuffs. I bought this shirt last October (11 months ago) along with the same shirt in maroon to go with a jacket - in that fall spurt of I-have-to-shop-and-buy-all -nice-professional-clothes-and-stop-dressing-like-a-shlub insanity. Imagine my surprise when I went to put on the green shirt this morning and the price tag was still attached to the label. I'm sure I've worn this shirt before...or at least thought about it quite a lot. I know I've worn the maroon shirt because I wore it with the jacket I bought to a work conference (the event that set off the shopping spree last year). I liked the shirt but was a bit uncomfortable with the sleeves, cute as they are. That little french cuff detail doesn't lie flat under a sleeve when the shirt sleeve is already as tight as it can get on your arm. Last fall wearing that shirt it was bunching up, a little too tight for my body, definitely too tight for my liking on the arms.

Pleasant surprise of the morning - putting on said green shirt and realizing that it fits just fine. The sleeves do not dig into my arms. I can raise my arms over my head! No puckering anywhere - bust, stomach, shoulders...in fact now it might be a little big in the bust.

On September 1st I stepped on the scale to see where I stand, and according to the scale I've lost 7 pounds this summer. I didn't believe it, but I weighed myself again on the 7th, and still the same lower number. I haven't been working out or being a control freak about food. Now that I can see the difference in a tangible way - this shirt fitting better, I'm starting to believe the loss is real. Hooray!

I got sushi for lunch in an attempt to stop my bad day from getting any worse. I just opened the container and there is no ginger or wasabi, and my chopsticks are from 7 11! Come on!

3 repeats to go

IMG_1540
Originally uploaded by ilembach

Last night I took the shawl I'm making off the needles (held together instead by my red yarn lifeline) and spread it out on the futon to see what the shape will really look like. I think Jimmy's right - it might take more repeats to make this thing long enough. When I held it up against myself, the bottom point was at my waist, and I couldn't really hold on to the wide points. I'd like it so that my friend can wrap it around herself a little, you know? She's much slimmer than me, so I know it will fit her a bit different, but I'd still like it to be bigger and cozy.

Priscilla Ahn

Last Friday I stumbled on to Priscilla Ahn's video featured on Please Be Still.

This song Dream has been stuck in my head ever since. I had to find it on Amazon and download the album. Lilting, haunting, makes me want to curl up in a chair with a long-sleeved sweater andd gaze dreamily out the window at falling leaves snow. Sort of like the first time I heard All Mixed Up by Red House Painters.

Is it wrong that I miss fall? I want it to be fall so badly. The change in weather, new beginnings, the change to change my life's direction.

Here's another video by Priscilla Ahn - the boob song. I like this song too but it must be one of her newer ones as I can't find it anywhere but in clips from concerts on YouTube.

My new purr-se

Cable crazy? Me?

In the past 24 hours I've gone from thinking "one day I'll get to try making cables - when I have more time, not a big project going on, some really nice yarn, and already know how to do cables!!!" to "when I get home tonight I have to pull all my knitting books and thumb through to find the perfect beginner cable pattern. Or maybe a quick how-to piece in my instructional book. I'm intimidated" I want to start right now! Last weekend I went galavanting around the cape with friends and we ended up at the Ladybug Knitting Shop to get one of them reenergized about yarn and knitting. To make a long story short, everyone but me bought the same cabled wristlet pattern and they've been knitting like crazy on it, so excited about the yarn and the pattern.

Today I checked my email and found out the yarn shop near my house is having a SALE, and now I plan to go and buy my first Debbie Bliss cashmerino yarn. Since I started knitting last fall I've wanted that yarn. Yay! Now I need to figure out what to make. I'm pretty sure I'm going to start with the Irish Hiking Scarf pattern. My friend Jimmy has been working on this one, and to me it looks super complex, but people in my group keep telling me it's a lot easier than it looks. There is even a whole blog about knitting this scarf pattern. Crazy!

I think I might end up using this weekend to:

- finish the knitted cell phone case (90% done)
- try to finish the shawl I'm making (30% done)
- practice cabling using good old red heart
- finish the socks I started way back in March (90% done)

Maybe that last one is a bit extreme...

SANTA BARBARA

SANTA BARBARA
Originally uploaded by rimljancek

Look at this funky postcard! Is it a cat doing yoga, or the hustle. Who can tell?

Last week at the library I found a copy of Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee on the new reads shelf and snapped it up. Yesterday I started reading the stories about knitting, stashing yarn around the house, and working on old unfinished projects. I know I've talked about UFOs before, but the story about Stephanie's pile of works in progress that threatened to take over her bedrooom when assembled caused me to wonder - how many porojects do I have in my apartment?

Two apartments ago I invited my sister Gretchen for a visit and we launched an attack on stuff. One of the things she had a hard time with was my amount of art/crafting/hobby stuff. Gretchen does not really have hobbies that accumulate stuff, as expecially craft activities require. I can imagine what she would say if she saw the sheer volume I now have in my space, just from adding knitting to my list of likes.

At least with my knitting/crochet projects, Ravelry allows me to keep the 'in progress' stuff in check. All the project shown in the top row are unfinished. I can enter all the stats of a project - needle size, yarn, progress, problems, and pics.



I wish I had a similar system for tracking my cross stitch projects, as though take much longer to complete. I try and post about them here on the blog, but as you can see I've had a hard time posting frequently.


In the past week I've been working on:
Love My Cat by Lizzie Kate (cross stitch)
Historic Countries Mystery Sampler in The Gift of Stitching Magazine (cross stitch)
Babette Blanket from Interweave Knits Magazine (crochet)
Basketweave Scarf from Lion Brand website (knitting)