French Press Slippers - ooh la la....

Hooray, I finished my first pair of French Press Felted Slippers! I do like how they came out, but of course have some comments.

The sizing, for one. I have a size 9 foot, which fit the "large" catagory on the pattern. I think next time I would probably knit the medium and "shape" (euphamism for "stretch") them into fitting. I think my pair is a little loose, but they still fit. I also had to felt them FOUR TIMES in the wash to get them to shrink enough! So next time, I'd do a medium size and less felting. I think all that extra felting makes them less homogenous in texture. Look at how large the slipper sections are before felting! It's amazing they remotely fit!

Also - the pattern was rediculously clear in some aspects (like showing photos of the slipper pieces before felting) but then very unclear on other key aspects - like how to assemble the damn pieces into the actual slipper.

But - I do still like how they came out in the end. I used PCW (Patons Classic Wool) for them. I put some fabric paint on the bottom for a bit of traction, since I was sliding all over our floors with these! Even though I didn't find the instructions stellar (or any of the chat room discussions about this project on Ravelry), I do still think they make a really cute pair of slippers!

In other news - DH and I made home-made onion rings (home-made starting from buying the onions at the store - no we don't grow our own produce... yet...) and they were out of this world fantastic. You must try them, assuming you have a French Oven pot and candy thermometer on hand. And a quart of vegetable oil.

Wrapping Up A Few Loose Ends...

Now that DH has his own "man-cave" in our basement, he's been spending a lot of time there playing video games on his new mega-TV and relaxing in his recliner. Although these two [dare I call them] "design elements" have made him really enjoy this windowless, solitary, subterranean region of the house, he's been commenting on how it's cold in the basement and that he could really use a pair of knit socks to stay warm. I origianlly responded "well, you don't wear the first sock I made you, so why would I knit a second?", but I was the only one who chuckled. Although the basement is partially heated, it is too cold for me to stay long in the man-cave, so the though of DH shivering in the basement was enough motivation for me to complete the pair of socks I started for him over a year ago. Recall this project stalled out due to Second Sock Syndrome somewhere in early 2009. So I finished them and here they are! For socks I generally use the Yankee Sock Pattern, and just knit the leg portion in a K2P2 rib so they stay snug. Note that is DH's hairy leg, not mine. Even Kevin, from "Brothers and Sisters" on TV, is looking back at how nice they came out!

I also finished the baby blanket! I'm very happy with how it finished up. I do admit it was long and a bit boring to knit with all that stockinette stitch, but it's worth it for our bun in the oven. I feel happy and satisfied that I knit the blanket, a hat, and booties for him, and I think now I can go on to other projects!

Like the French Press Slippers I've been working on! This link is to the pattern on an etsy site. I'll have more on this project next time. My LYS is having their annual Superbowl Sale this weekend, so I plan to get some buttons this weekend to finish this project off. I'm heading to the sale with a list of upcoming projects I'd like to do, and their yarn requirements, so I hope to make it a productive, yet thrifty trip! We'll see how it works out! (Recall I still haven't used all that Manos that I bought last year, but I know it'll come in handy any time now....)

It's Funny Now, But it Wasn't at the Time...

So during the winter break from work, I had this overwhelming urge to knit baby gear. I wanted to make a least 1 baby blanket, 1 hat, and 1 set of booties. Easy, no problem. I've knit many other friends baby gear for their little bundles of joy, but I felt the knits I was going to make for our own baby would have to be THE BEST!! So the blanket had been coming along just fine (I just need to weave in the green ends, and I'll post a picture), the booties came out great, and then there was the baby hat...

I chose a pattern that I've used many times before, which I actually got for free at Pins and Needles, in Princeton. It's common that baby hat patterns are free b/c lots of people use scrap yarn and donate the hat to local hospitals or charity organizations. Plus they're super-simple patterns. I planned to re-create this little hat, but I wanted this cap to have blue and gray stripes! So I splurged (a bit) on Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino and started knitting.

As I knit, I started thinking "you know... this does look a little small. And it's looked small when I've knit this hat as a gift for friends babies.... but what do I know?". So I keep knitting. Maybe it's just the fact that it's got a 2X2 rib pattern at the bottom and it's supposed to be tight, right? So I keep knitting. I get to the straight knit and decide this baby hat wouldn't fit over a peach, not to mention a baby's head. So I rip it all out and check my guage. Guage is dead on. I check some on-line comments about the pattern. No comments about the pattern knitting small. I re-read the instructions, and it's pretty simple, I'd knit it correctly. So I re-read the pattern again. Yep, proper needles, proper yarn. So I re-read the pattern AGAIN, this time from the top. And there it was, in the VERY FIRST LINE: "The babies Save The Children saves are often low birthweight, so the caps need to be smaller than we are used to making in the US".

That's when I started crying. These weren't little "boo-hoo" tears...These were those hot, angry, heavy tears that fall when you know you're upset and there's nothing you can do to fix the situation. And worse yet, it's your own fault. That's what I get for not reading the instructions properly.

That's also when I think the delusion set in. Any normal person would have just said "it's not a good knitting night, I'll find a new, clear pattern on-line tomorrow, from the myriad of free patterns that are at my fingertips". Not this girl. My set-back wasn't going to stop me from starting progress on a baby hat THAT EVENING. I don't know why time became so important - I just felt that there wasn't time to take a break, or start over tomorrow, or even take 10 min to look on Ravelry. I felt that I couldn't go to bed on such an awful note of failure, and I felt strongly compelled to at least start a new hat that was properly sized. Looking back, I realize I often times do this - rather than take a step back and regroup in a short while, I get this brute-force mental attitude, where I'll just keep making different attempts, over and over, until something works out so I can cross that task off my list. I suppose it's very selfish to think that you can make everything happen in the timeframe that you want - sometimes you just have to walk away and wait until conditions change and accept that you can't get what you want in this instant.

Anyway, that rational person wasn't me on that evening. I grabbed a couple knitting books from the table to get an idea of how many stitches to cast on. I started with 48 and knitted a bit. Still too small. I ripped it out and cast on 72. Still to small. I ripped it out and finally cast on 84 stitches. 84 stitches, my friends... If that sound like a lot, that's because it is. But in the moment, it seemed fine and by gosh there was no way I was going to wind up with another micro-hat. So I went with the 84 and knit and knit. And continued the next morning. I made blue and gray stripes and completed the decreases at the top with no problem. And the finished product? An adorable hat that would fit no younger than a 2-year old. I panicked and thought maybe a pom-pom would make the hat smaller somehow. So I added this little blue and grey accoutrement, and nope... still sized for a kid. I considered trying to wash it on hot to shrink it, but the yarn wasn't really designed to felt. It became clear that this was simply a failed project.

More tears. These were the sad ones that happen when you really feel at a loss, or that a true tragedy has occurred. I felt terrible - after all the knits I've made for others, our baby was going to get some second-rate, ill-fiting, baggy hat. "Welcome to the world little one, here's your mis-shaped hat - the first gift your mother gave you". J was very reassuring and suggested I "put the needles down and just walk away for a while", which I did (see life-lesson described above). He said it would make a lovely gift for the baby 2 years from now, anyway.

So, I looked on Ravelry and found a cute newborn hat pattern, and started knitting. I did make modifications (but nothing to do with the size! I followed modifications posted on-line). Instead of a rib stitching, I used a moss stitch pattern. I did one extra row of decreases at the top and made a 3/4" I-cord. And I am very happy with the final product! Here it is! I also knit some booties, as well. I guess retrospectively, blindly knitting that huge hat was kinda funny, but it was definitely frustrating and heart-breaking in the moment. But with the new one, I felt relieved and happy that our baby would would be receiving a properly fitting, custom-made baby hat to wear home from the hospital!

No more tears!

One Last Hurrah for 2009

Hi there! I hope you had a great Christmas - this break has been pretty chill for me, for the most part, so I'm thankful for that. DH and I were very productive - we did lots of stuff around the house and I've been able to get a lot of knitting done. Although I have no FOs (Finished Objects) to share, here are the UFOs I'm working on:

First - the Baby Blanket. Since we know we're having a boy, I decided to do a blanket with just blue and green colors. I picked this simple Diagonal Comfort Blanket pattern, from Lion Brand. I'd forgotten how boring 160 stitches of garter per row can be! But I still like this simple blanket with the eyelet border. I'm using "crappy [acrylic] yarn" (Bernat), and did recieve some evil-eyes from the LYS groupees, but hey, I did it because it's machine washable, easy to care for, and I'm not THAT much of a yarn snob where I won't use pleb yarn on occassion. I hear it's important to get easy-to-care for stuff with a baby, since there's likely to be spit-up, food, or poop staining things. Originally I thought I could cram all these stitches onto straight needles, but it because pretty heavy, so I switch to circulars and have been off and running ever since. I also bought blue cotton yarn (quality yarn) to do a second blanket, but honestly, I can't fathom doing another blanket at this point. One is too mind numbing. Maybe during maternity leave I'll consider it. But I hope our little bundle of joy enjoys this soft, pastel labor of love!

And Second - the Baby Jacket. It doesn't look like a baby jacket yet - it kinda looks like a sting-ray fluttering at the ocean bottom now that I look at the picture, but it'll take it's proper form soon enough! I just finished the yoke (I don't really know what a "yoke" technically is, but in the patterns I've used, it seems to be the part of the sweater from the collar to the bottom of the armpits, where it expands to form the back and set up for the sleeves). I absolutely love the pattern this yarn makes! It's Schoppel Wolle Ambiente. I'm making this jacket sized for a 1-2 year old. Why knit something now for a 1-2 y/o? Well, #1 I loved the material and couldn't resist starting. And #2, I didn't want to put in all the effort to make this for a 6 month old, only to have him outgrow it in 2 weeks. I think sizing for a 1-2 y/o will last longer. I have 2 quick rows to knit, and then I'll be switching to DPNs and picking up the stitches for the sleeves. And I like this pattern because I think it can be used for all sorts of jackets and outerware for a baby.

So... that's what's "on the sticks" right now. Ever since we found out the sex of the baby and I put a temporary moritorium on non-baby knits, it's been sweat-shop knitting to finish the baby blanket before I return to work on the 4th of January. I plan to make some baby booties and at least one hat, so that'll be coming up too. I received an invite to participate in the Ravelry St. Patrick's Day Swap, but I decided to decline it this year. But next year I'm all over it!

It's really been a wonderful break from work these past few weeks - working on decorating the nursury, hanging out with friends (hey Amar! I'm glad we got to meet up!!) and relaxing has been great! We've been enjoying our house and all the fun that comes along with it. Happy New Year!

Kitten Mittons

I don't have a cat probably because that, combined with the whole knitting thing, would complete my "spinster" look, but if I did I'd definitely make these "Kitten Mittons" that DH and I saw on It's Always Sunny...

Charlie is my favorite. I love his bedtime ritual of donning a stained t-shirt and holey thermals, followed by ravenously eating cat-food, shot-gunning a beer, and huffing glue to self-medicate in order to sleep through the noisy cats hanging around outside his apartment each night.

Meeee-owwwww!

"Hooray for Me" gloves - Hooray, indeed

A good number of folks chided me for my fingerless gloves (mitts) that I knit recently, saying that your fingers are the very part of you that gets the coldest, so what's the point of leaving them exposed when making gloves? Although , there are times when these gloves would come in handy to maintain dexterity, people think of mitts associated with some undesirable circumstances e.g., holding up a liquor store, hanging out with the homeless, smoking cigarettes outside a bar, or heaven forbid trying to emulate Billy Idol in the 80s. My mitts were perfect for Rhinebeck, but I realize that there is no substitute for owning a solid pair of hand-made, full-finger length gloves. So I knit myself a pair.

The pattern is "Hooray for Me Gloves" by Marnie MacLean. The pattern is actually for tipless gloves (similar to mitts, but these gloves actually have separations for each finger), but I just extended them to regular gloves. The pattern is very easy to follow, except I recommend that instead of casting on additional stitches for each finger, just make new stitches / pick up stitches so that those inevitable, small holes between the fingers require less sewing in the end. But I think it's a pretty universal pattern. Here is an in-progress photo, and a photo at completion.

The yarn is beautiful It was given to me in a swap (Swap on a Budget, #5, a.k.a. SOAB#5) on Ravelry. It's Touch Yarns Merino 4-Ply. It is beautiful material, and 100g goes a long way. I probably used no more than half the skein. Thank you to MITChick, who gave this to me in a lovely gift set. Touch Yarns is a company out of New Zealand, so I feel like it's "exotic yarn"... like I'm all "cultured" now!

Gloves do require weaving in A LOT of ends - 10 per glove, as I recall. But I think it's worth it since they came out so nice.

Now that this project is done, I will be moving all knitting efforts (other than finishing DH's second sock, which has been on-hold for months) to baby projects. I'm 5.5 months preggers! We're having a boy, which is very exciting! I don't know anything about boy babies! I know with little girls, it's all tea parties and dress up, but I'll have to figure out what to do with a little boy, since there aren't any in my immediate family. I'm counting on my MIL, an amazing kindergarten teacher for over 30 years, to help me figure out what they're into. I'll also be tapping into my friends Kim, Larissa, and Ilissa, since they both have baby boys of their own. I already have a pattern and materials for a little blue and brown jacket, but I really need to decide on a pattern for a baby blanket. Decisions, decisions....

Anyway, have a great Turkey-Day! Gobble-Gobble!

What happened to September and October?!?!?? Moving, a HouseWarming, and Rhinebeck!

Lots has happened! Mainly house-activities. We spent most of September packing things in our apartment, and unpacking them in our house. We are finally settled! I can't say that everything is unpacked,

but things we don't need are at least packed away in closets or in the basement. It's amazing how many boxes and bags of stuff we had labelled "Important" that are now sitting in closets, unopened! We had a really fun Haunted HouseWarming Party on Oct. 30th, which was great. It was good to see everyone, enjoy some festive appetizers, and relax in our new digs. My dad made his southern comfort punch, too, which is always a hit.

I think we needed this party as motivation to get our stuff put away and get the house in decent shape. If we didn't have this party to work towards, I think DH and I would have just lived amid the boxes worked around them, kind of like we did in the apartment for the last couple months, which was really awful. Thank you to all of our family and friends who helped us out!

Let's see... in terms of knitting... I did take a brief hiatus, but now that things have settled down again, I am back in the swing of it! Larissa and I went to Rhinebeck, a.k.a. the New York Sheep and Wool Festival, which was a lot of fun. There were so many vendors, it was hard to resist blowing the budget in the first hour there! I bought a skein of Socks that Rock, a beautiful skein of Briar Rose, and my first skein of Noro! I always hear people raving about Noro, so I had to buy some and see what all the commotion is about. Surprisingly, their yarn isn't that soft - kinda rough actually, but apparently they are known for their amazing color combinations. So we'll see what I can knit up with a skein of it!

Rhinebeck is a really large festival - my LYS chartered a bus up there, which was really convenient. Although the weather forecast was dismal - cold and rainy (even snowy!), we actually saw no hint of clouds until later in the afternoon when we were departing anyway. Of course I packed hats, gloves, and extra socks in my backpack, but happily we didn't need it. I must say that my fingerless gloves were perfect, because the whole day was about feeling yarns, sampling skeins, and of course accessing your wallet to make purchases. So they worked out great. I will say it was FREEZING COLD though! There were also lots of animals to check out. I say lots of alpacas, all sorts of sheep, and even some mohair rabbits which were adorable. They just looked like the most adorable balls of fluff ever!

We also saw some Ravelry celebrities, including Jessica ("frecklegirl" ravatar) and Casey Forbes, founders of Ravelry, plus Bob the mascot, which was fun, too. It was a really nice day and I'm so glad I went! It was my first fiber festival! I hope to attend one each year!

OK - I am off to work on a pair of gloves I've been knitting. More to come soon!

Whoa, What Happened to August?

We were busy buying our first home in August, that's what happened to it! Yippee, we are so excited! And actually, we are so RELIEVED! We'd been looking for a house for 16 months - fortunately we had a very good realtor, who was the consummate professional during the entire time. Why so long? 1) We're picky (ok, I'm picky), 2) Since we don't have kids (and therefore don't have a school year deadline to deal with) or any sort of job re-lo to be constrained by, why not wait to find the optimal house?! 3) we live in an overpriced, highly populated area, so it just took us that long to find something we loved that didn't cost an arm and a leg! We are actually very fortunate that we had all these factors at play, plus with low interest rates and an alleged buyer's market (although I'm not sure how much the latter is true in this fairly recession-proof area), everything worked out. Now we just have to move in!

So the house we purchased is 11 years old and in excellent condition. The previous owners did a great job maintaining it added a lot of nice (small) custom upgrades. I will say that their decorating taste is not aligned with ours, so we've been taking the past 2 weeks to have the entire house re-painted & re-carpet the bedrooms (the BRs are the only place that have carpet). The colors palate we used (and the colors we picked) are shown here. I'm sure these photos don't show the "true" color, but at least you get the idea.

We've also been running around shopping for some necessary / nice to have additions, such as a refrigerator, a bed for the guest room, a dehumidifier for the basement, etc. Needless to say, August zipped by.

We plan to pack this weekend and move next weekend. Even though the house looks MILES with the new paint and carpets, it still don't feel like our home. Obviously, since we aren't living there yet, I imagine it's hard for that feeling to sink in. Right now it just feels like a really nice "financial asset" that we own. But like I said, once we actually go to sleep and wake up there, I think things will change!

In knitting news, I finished my "spoilee" gift package for SOAB (Swap On A Budget). I knitted my spoilee a chocolate brown Drop-Ribbon Scarf, and included a skein of earthy green Sheep Yarn 3, some stitch markers, a pattern for some mitts/gloves, and some hazelnut chocolate. I received a Thank You from my spoilee, and I am happy to see that she enjoyed the package. Now I am waiting for my "spoiler" to send me my knitting package! The dead-line is 25.Sept, so I hope to receive it soon!

The Mitts Are Done - yay!

Hooray, I've finished the cabled mitts! I am very happy with how they came out. I did make a few modifications to the pattern - I made the mitts longer, since I have long fingers. I made them taper a bit at the finger-tips so they don't get baggy. I also didn't do the picot bind-off, as Larissa said that type of ending rolls back easily. This was my first experience knitting cables, and I think it went well!

As to the functionality of these mitts - I was explaining that these mitts could be used when it's cold out but you want to get your metrocard out, or find change for the meter, or use your camera to take a picture for your scrap-book outside in the cold! They'd be good for any time you need to maintain dexterity while keeping warm! Loyal reader Tom said "so... you could use these to smoke a cigarette while standing outside a bar in the cold then?". True, one could. Although the thought of one of my knitted projects getting all smokey does make me sad, he points out an additional valid application of these mitts. I just thought they were a good project to start cables on. And I like the autumn colors of the yarn.

I joined the SOAB (Swap on A Budget) group on Ravelry. I am so excited! I've never done a swap! It's a $20 one, where you get assigned a "spoilee" and send them a little knitting gift package based one a brief questionnaire everyone participating completes. Each "spoiler" puts together a kit of 1 knitted item by you, at least one skein of new yarn, a pattern for the new yarn, plus some treats (such as coffee, teas, chocolates, stationary, etc.). Each spoiler mails their spoilee their package and then it's like Christmas in September! I am so excited to get assigned my spoilee! I think it's just nice that someone puts something special together for you! I'll have that project coming up, I need to get back to DH's other sock, and also work on Central Park Hoodie in time for cooler weather. I like having logs of projects going. If I get tired of one (or have to put one in "time out"), there are other things to keep me busy. And TRUST ME, a busy couch-knitter is better than an idle couch-knitter....

Inner City Pressure

As we speak, DH (again, DH = Dear Hubby) is at work. He has actually been at work since Wednesday morning and will be back tomorrow evening, working 'round the clock! This attorney business is a crazy one! At least his "team" was proactive and let him know in advance "don't plan on being able to go home this week - get yourself a room at the Hilton to take a power-nap or two, and prepare to roll your sleeves up for consecutive all-nighters". So I suppose that was a nice courtesy on their part. There's a lot of pressure with his job, and I am always amazed at how well DH handles it.

For some odd reason, his job often times makes me think of the song by Flight of the Conchords called "Inner City Pressure". I'm not sure why though - I mean we don't live in the inner city - we don't even live in a city. I suppose because DH works in the city, and... works under a lot of pressure....? the song comes to mind.

Here is the song (which is a parody of Pet Shop Boys West End Girls. I read that "Inner City Pressure is not only a parody of Pet Shop Boys, it pokes fun at the great hipster/artist/creatively-under-employed social substratum that has engulfed large swaths of urban North America". Yeah, "hipster", "creative", and "artist" are probably the last 3 words I'd use to describe us. But I suppose it's the satire that makes me laugh).

Anniversary and Cables

With all the rain that fell in June, it's particularly nice to enjoy the warm, sunny weather July has brought. DH and I (by the way, DH is short for Dear Hubby) spent Saturday morning at the Bronx Zoo. I haven't been to the zoo is a good number of years, and we really had a nice time. This Wednesday is our 3 year wedding anniversary, so we decided to wander around the zoo and then have lunch in Manhattan afterwards.

I'd forgotten how big the Bronx Zoo is! There was a lot to see, and we didn't even see everything! Highlights were the adorable lemurs, the playful polar bear, and the butterfly garden - I love the fact that you can just sit in the butterfly garden and watch all the beautiful butterflies dance around. My favorite was the giraffes - we saw a family of 5, including a baby giraffe named "Margret". How sweet! Giraffe are beautiful - tall and elegant, quietly munching on foliage... they seem so peaceful!

I will say I didn't particularly enjoy the koi pond in the butterfly garden - I was sitting on the edge of it, enjoying watching the butterflies flutter about, when I heard a lazy splash behind me - I turned around and saw an all-too-shallow pool of water with dozens of overgrown, slimy, slow-moving, straggly-moustached creatures swirling about. There were so many of them, they were practically climbing on top of each other - it was as if they were trying to step on each other to escape their murky pool. Someone really needs to club those ugly beasts. I remember when J and I were in Hawaii at dinner, the restaurant matri'd, seeing that we were newlyweds, seated us right alongside the koi pond. I recall asking DH if I could pour my coffee or perhaps drop a sugar cube into the water to get them to go away. DH, the ever-present voice of reason in our relationship, said no. Anyhoo, now that I think about it I suppose it could be said that sitting by the pond at the zoo this weekend did bring us back to our honeymoon in Hawaii, so if fish do serve one purpose in my life, that was it, and maybe this was an appropriate anniversary activity in a round about way after all.

So what's cooking on the needles - cables, that's what! I've always wanted to try cables, and on Sunday I did. I'm working on a pair of hand warmers (a.k.a. fetching gloves, a.k.a. fingerless gloves - and let's not get into a discussion of their functionality at this point) that call for a few cables in the cuffs. Knitting cables involves re-locating a few stitches onto a spare needle, holding them to the front or the back of the work (depending on if you want a cable twisting to the right of left) while you continue to knit, and then going back and knitting these stitches-in-waiting. It's definitely not as difficult as I thought on paper, but I do have a hard time working with 5 DPN. Once I had the spare needle slip off, which wasn't good. I tried using a cable needle, but found that too slippery as well. I've heard of people using a safety pin, which might work for me. I'll have to give that a try when I work on the opposite mit.

We have a tentative close date for our house! 14.Aug, just has to be vetted by the attorneys. We've got some boxes to start filling, so I plan to work on that during the week, too. So much to do!

Yarn Sale and 5K Follow-Up

So my LYS had a pretty big sale this past month - everything was on sale for at least 30% off. Now would have been the time to purchase material for a big project coming up, or splurge on that luxury yarn I've been eye-ing... But, we've been so busy this past month with house stuff (attorney review and inspections are finally complete - yay! Now we're considering paint colors carpet colors), I hadn't spent any time thinking about new projects until *of course* the last 2 days of the month-long sale. So, last week I visited the sale with Larissa and tried to find projects that could be worked up on the fly. I just wandered around the store, picking up skeins of yarn, saying "this is 50% off - what could I make with this?", which really isn't a good way to shop. Never-the-less, I purchased two skeins of sock yarn for 50% off, 1 more skein of Manos (I need more Manos like I need a hole in the head - I feel like I keep throwing more chips into the pot by buying more Manos, thinking that I'm going to make all these great ear-flap hats this winter) for 50% off, and a skein of "Sheep Three Yarn Company" material is a gold-brown hue for 40% off. I think I'm going to try knitting fetching gloves with the Sheep Three stuff. Had I put in some time to actually strategizing what's coming up next (I must have 50 projects faved on Ravelry), I probably could have taken more advantage of the sale. But I am happy with what I got!

I am currently working on the second sock for Jason, and will probably fire up the fetching gloves after that. I do have CPH (Central Park Hoodie) on the needles at the moment too, but after the clapotis took so long to finish, I feel like doing some quick projects. So the fetching gloves will work out nicely. Here is a picture (and pattern) for what they'll hopefully look like. I'll likely adjust the pattern to make them cover more of my fingers. I think they'll be a good project to learn cables on.

Oh, I never followed up with how our 5K run went last month - it was a lot of fun! I completed the race in a decent time (32 min or so). I think there were 2 components that made this race fun: 1) running with good companions - I ran with Julie and her friend Rob, who are both "real runners". They kept a steady pace and were fun to run with, which was so helpful because it kept my mind off the actual run, and 2) reflecting with friends on how the run went after the finish line. DH, Julie, Rob, and I met up with my colleague/friend Jen and her boyfriend (who happens to be my trainer too!) afterwards - it was fun to say "jeez, weren't those hills long?!?" and "did you see that guy wearing the spandex fly by everyone??" and "what was up with that lady pushing her litter of kids in the stroller while talking on the cell phone?!?!?". Jen and Bill were super sweet because after they finished, they jogged back to cheer the rest of us on. It was really motivating! I think Jason and I would like to run another one, maybe in Sept some time, when it's cool again. This was my first 5K and I'm happy to have completed it!

Finished, at last!

Hooray! I finished the clapotis yesterday! I am very pleased with how it came out! The pattern was very easy (just repetitive). I can't wait until the fall to wear it! The nice thing about the clapotis is that you can wear it as a scarf or a shawl (I'll probably go for the former).

I tried to block this, to even everything out. First of all, I didn't have a surface big enough to lay it out on (I suppose I could have pinned it to the carpet in our living room?) and second, I didn't want to stretch it out any more than it already was. I plan to wear it kinda scrunched up (like in the photo above) anyway, so I think I'll be OK.

I've seen a lot of people knit clapotis with sock yarn - that'd be nice too - I think it'd make for a very soft, cuddly final piece. The Handmaiden Sea Silk is cozy, but it's definitely more silky. If I ever re-visit this pattern, I'd like to try making a clapotis with sock yarn.

On to the next project: finishing the second sock for DH? Learning cables? Another pair of socks? Continuing on the Central Park Hoodie with Larissa? Probably some combination of the above....

Garden Sweet Pea - the Smell of Contentedness

Who doesn't enjoy a nice yankee candle every now and then? I've got one burning right now, called Garden Sweet Pea, and it's spring-y and sweet. I'm relaxing tonight because I passed my PMP exam (Project Management Professional, for those of you not in "the biz") earlier today and feel super-relieved! It's a professional certification offered by PMI, the Project Management Institute. I studied for about the past 8 weeks and I gotta say, I'm glad I did because the exam wasn't a cake-walk. I will say that I'd rather take a standardized PMP exam than a Finance final exam or any of my undergraduate exams
(especially a ChE 210 Thermo exam - I shudder just reminescing back to the midterm, where my professor wrote "Assume Comet = Carnot Engine...? Nice try, -40"), but there were a substantial number of topics that were challenging in preparation for the PMP. I'd advise others who plan to take the test to relax because it's not rocket science, but know that it does require preparation.

Everything went smoothly during the exam, UNTIL I CROSSED MY LEGS. 2 hours into the exam, I shifted my weight and crossed my legs and the computer monitor screen went blank. In the process of crossing my legs, I must have clipped the monitor input wire and pulled it out. 2 hours in, I was about 2/3 of the way thru the exam. I looked up, saw the blank screen and my heart did start to race - not necessarily because I thought my 120 answers out of 200 had vanished for good, but because I kept thinking of the seconds ticking away as I fumbled to replace the cable, while tying to raise my hand to summon a monitor. I kept a decent pace on the exam, but did find that it was taking me longer than when I'd practiced at home, so I was time-conscious. A monitor did came over by the time I'd plugged the cord back in, so she just confirmed the exam was proceeding as normal (thanks?!?!) and I continued along. Those exam monitors must have some sort of "corrections" background because they are completely directive and order test-takers around continuously ("stand here", "wait here", "do not put anything there") - and I can see why they behave that way - they need to keep the setting very controlled so the test environment is suitable for exam-takers. But if you're looking for a comforting comment such as "don't worry, your computer is fine", you can forget it.

This exam experience is way better than when I took my GMATs - I remember then that when I sat down to take my exam, the girl next to me started crying because apparently she wasn't doing well and wanted to withdraw from the exam. Now that was a bit un-nerving. Happily, there were no crying test-takers this time.

So back to the candle. I'd bought this a couple weeks ago and was waiting to burn it - I didn't want to light it the week I was taking my exam because if I didn't pass, I was afraid I would have some sort of sensory association with the smell of the candle and failure - I envisioned encountering the scent outside years from now, walking thru a park or a garden perhaps, and immediately starting to choke, feeling my stomach knot up, or having my throat close for some "phantom reason". So I wanted until now! And I am happily enjoying this lovely, floral scent as my evening continues. I am excited to go back to knitting and cooking (and planning for the house) in my free time now. Yay!

Supper is Super

Hello there! It's been a while since my last post - things have been pretty busy!

Tonight I met DH in the city for dinner after work. We went to a place my friend and colleague Ritesh suggested: Supper, located in the Lower East Side. If you're in the neighborhood and looking for a good Italian place, I definitely recommend it. The restaurant is small and cozy, but still has an energetic vibe. Supper offers "family style" seating on the main floor, or a few smaller tables scattered about (we sat downstairs at a table for 2). We were surrounded by brick walls, rustic art (wooden paintings of various religious officiants adorned the walls), candles, and wine bottles. I kept staring at the exposed pipe running everywhere that was painted gold, with a floral design! Anyway, the food was very good. We had polenta topped with Gorgonzola cheese to start, which was delicious. DH had spinach gnocchi with a cheese and marinara sauce, and I had a butternut squash ravioli, both of which were fantastic - home-made pasta is the best. I think I liked DH's dinner more than mine, which always seems to happen when we go out. He says it's not that the food is better, but that I just enjoy it more because it's his. That's not true!! (OK, maybe a little bit true?). And we split a hazelnut pannacotta for dessert - very rich! My only critique of Supper is that it's cash only. Boo! Other than that, I definitely recommend it!

OK, so - we found a house. We love it. It needs new paint and carpets, but other than that, it's great!! We've completed attorney review and are finishing inspections (all this house activity is actually why I've been delinquent on my blog posts!). It is a HUGE RELIEF to finally have found something that we like. We'd been looking for 16 months! Granted, we are picky - but we can be, since we are just renting and don't have kids. So fair is fair. I feel relieved but still concerned that something could go wrong. My friends keep assuring me that at this point, we have very little to worry about since home inspection is done (we're just having an additional inspector come to look specifically at the fireplace). I'm still nervous! But with every milestone we complete, I feel better and better. Please still keep your fingers crossed for us!!!

Tomorrow we'll be running a 5K race, my first one ever, so that's going to be a lot of fun! I think our carb-intensive dinner at Supper will serve us well, and hopefully we won't pull a "Michael Scott" - recall episode 4.1 where Michael carb loads by downing a plate of fettuccine alfredo immediately before running a 5K (the Race to Cure Rabies) and winds up barfing everywhere, shortly after starting the race. So assuming our stomachs are settled, we should be OK! I'm looking forward to tomorrow, especially because a bunch of friends and co-workers will be running with us too!!

I haven't had much time to knit, but I'm almost up to the decreases on the clapotis. At this rate I should have it done by the fall! Just kidding. I'd like to have it done by the end of the month. We'll see!