What treadmills were truly designed for

Too cool!

The boy is coming into town tomorrow so I am going to be MIA (as if you'd know the difference with my lack of posting) for a little more than a week, but when I get back I have something to show you and it rhymes with "startin'." Oh and I'll be doing that too. Have a great week everyone!

I got a present in the mail yesterday!

Yes, yesterday I finally received my first dress form. I felt it was time considering I really just plain need it for school.



Please try to ignore the view of my overloaded drafting table and ironing board in the background. The addition of my new dress form inspired me to completely rearrange my studio apartment. I love the new set up, but not everything has gotten to its new home.

So the new question is what to name her. I know another very well know blogger did this just a few months ago, but I still want some input too if anyone would like to share. Please, have at it.

A lot of words, not a lot of pictures

I haven't been posting much, but I've still been reading other peoples blogs and they're all talking about not posting much. I guess this is the summer cycle. When I worked at the yarn shop the other girls were constantly telling me that they couldn't wait for summer because everything would slow way down and we'd have time to knit in the store-something we weren't supposed to do. But when you're working under the table and being wildly underpaid, well lets just say our boss got what she paid for. I think if I was still working in the yarn store I'd be doing a lot more knitting now since it would be forced sit and wait time.

I got back from Portland late Monday night after a fabulous weekend. Yes it was so good in fact that the boy is coming down to visit me the first week of August. Is it a bad idea to start something long distance? Yes, I think without a doubt its a bad idea. But then a lot of bad ideas that I've followed through on have turned out to be good ones. So, I'm going for it. Plus, are you really alive if you're going to pass up a romantic weekend with a gorgeous guy in a city you love when you're single and 24? I thought not.

I did manage to focus on something other than the boy this weekend and re-finished my Ms. Marigold. I'll try to post a pic a some point. Of course you can always scroll down a bit and see it since it looks almost exactly the same. I added some shaping at the waist on this one to show a bit more shape but other than that it looks the same. Hearten remains unchanged something I hope to remedy this weekend. Though were supposed to have record breaking heat this weekend so we'll see if that pans out. At least its cotton.

I also managed to swing by Lint a little shop in the Pearl District up in Portland. A nice cozy place, just what a yarn shop should be. And empty just like a yarn shop should be when its 80 degrees outside. The boy was totally game for it too. I give him a ton of credit for not just saying he was fine with it, but actually walking into the store and flipping through books for twenty minutes without checking every 3 minutes to see if I'd found what I was looking for. I was looking for the yarn to make this:



I didn't end up finding it, but I did pick up a skein of DB Cashmerino Aran for Fetching. I think having a few small project may actually get me to knit right now. Plus, the pattern promises a quick finish. I'll be testing that. Funny how my lack of knitting hasn't slowed my yarn buying habit at all...hmm.

So, anyone who watches Project Runway will know our girl Stacey was knocked off on the first show. It was harsh for all of us at school, but I couldn't say the decision was wrong. The idea of her dress was pretty but not innovative, not stunning and without any real voice. I also was straight embarrassed for her that she didn't learn how to use an industrial machine before going on the show particularly when its the third season and we all know that's what they use.

On the flip side, she's only been in fashion for about two years and most of that was in school. The fact that she was even considered with all of these very accomplished designers (most far from amateur) was pretty impressive. The competition this time around is so much tougher than the other seasons. I think she definitely would have made it farther in one of the previous seasons. But being 13th out of several thousand is pretty freaking good.

The boy is calling me so I'm off. Keeping the same weird hours is just one of the things we have in common.

Hope everyone's week is going well!

The Trifecta: Boy, Knitting and Project Runway.

I have three excuses to explain my total lack of posting. 1) I have been working very hard, sewing night and day, to get through my pattern making course. Almost true. 2) My job has suddenly become so fascinating that I spend all my time thinking about how to do it better. In no way true. And finally 3) That boy in Portland has been taking up a lot of my time by being cute and sweet and making me take my vacation in Portland. Ah, that's the one. Just so you know I'm not totally crazy, I have always loved Portland and it was a probability I would head up there long before I met this boy. Isn't it fun how life works out.

With all that my knitting time has been minimal. But I am so close on Hearten. So close! I just have to finish the second sleeve and then seam everything. Here's a shot of the pieces to refresh your memories since I started this sweater at least 2 mos ago.



And I'm almost done fixing Ms. Marigold. It actually turned out to be a lot more work than I thought it would be. I had to frog it back to where the armholes are joined. And then I needed to take a few days off to allow myself to remember how much I wanted to wear it. All that's left is to pick up the ribbing around the neck.



I loath picking up stitches. Once that's done I'll have no problem finishing it. I just have to find that 1 hour block of time solely for picking up. It's not that it will take me that long. Its just that I have a thing. No really. When I was in high school I was tested for dyslexia and lo and behold I had it. It was no coincidence that my GPA jumped when I started taking un-timed tests. Funny thing was I didn't take any extra time. I just need to know I had it. This is true in so many areas of my life.

Changing topics...

I have some news that is so awesome I have to share now that I'm allowed to. You know Project Runway? That show I have been obsessed with since its inception. I now have a new reason to be totally obsessed. One of the contestants, Stacey Estrella, is a graduate of my school and has been a classmate of mine.

Everyone at school is So. Excited. I can't even explain it. Its true she would have no memory of me unless she noticed the number of times I knocked over a dressform in her presence, but I don't care. All of us are routing for her.

None of us have seen her since she got back from taping. She used to be by to meet with our teachers (my school is very small and my teachers very cool so the grads tend to hang around). We all of course think this means she's one of the final three and therefore is working on her line and trying to avoid giving away a secret that would cost her a million if it got out. The lid on that is totally sealed. But its just so cool to think about!

Alright. I'm off to work on necklines so I can try for Project Runway 5. Ha!

For all you cat lovers...this is too funny.

Lying on your back knitting is the height of sophistication...

This weekend I threw out my back. This is not the first time. Actually, its the third time in about 9 months. So, I haven't been able to do much of anything this weekend. Except of course some knitting. And some vicodin. The knitting went better than the vicodin. Now you can see!



Sorry about the Welcome to my Chest shot, but its kind of a busty top. And its tough to take these self portraits. You know.

Pattern: Ms. Marigold by the Zephyr Gals
Yarn: 2 and a little bit more of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece
Color: Jungle Green #460
Needles: 32" Addi Naturas size 5 and 32" Addi Turbos size 3 for the ribbing
Size: 38" Bust
Changes: I didn't crochet the ruffles since I still haven't learned how to. I kept the stitches live when you are supposed to cast-off. Then I knit into each stitch 3 times (k1,kbl,k1). Then I purled 1 row, then knit the next 3 rows and cast off knitwise. This little bit of garter stitch gave some textured interest and also stopped it from curling up to much.
I also increased the 10 stitches you cast on when joining the work in the round. If I had to do it all again, I wouldn't have increased those. But I'm very happy with the sleeves.

I love this pattern. I think this is the first knit I really like and like on me. I'm not usually a ruffle type, but I love the girliness inherent in them. Overall I'd have to give this pattern a big thumbs up.

UPDATE: I started this post this morning all excited I threw on the tank as soon as I got my last end in and instantly loved it. So, I just tried it on again and really looked at it. Well, um, there's a mistake. Somehow I knit too many rows on the right side, so my left side is shorter than the right. Its enough of a problem that I'm going to have to undo half of it and fix it. Its funny though I'm not really that upset about it. Knowing I'm really going to wear this tank a lot makes me want to fix it and not get hung up in repeating half of the process. I'm off to a redo. Once I get it fixed and done I'll get a good shot on a dressform.

I hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

I stole this from Elizabeth over at A Mingled Yarn. I hope you've seen this movie since its brilliant. Otherwise you won't get the joke and its a good one.


According to the "Which Big Lebowski character are you?" quiz:

Why don't you check it out? Or we cut off your Johnson!

.... Vagina.