What a Great Weekend!

My first day back after the knitting retreat was a long one. Such a rude awakening after an awesome long weekend. It is 9:45 and I really don't have time for much narrative, but I wanted to at least put up a few pics. Here's where we spent most of our knitting time...

I said keep 'yer mitts off my yarn!

Knitting my Janis Joplin coat. I made a ton of progress and will get a pic of the nearly finished back panel up tomorrow if possible.

This is where they park the farmer's market in Keene Valley. God it's ugly. Almost as bad as the farmer's market in Tahoe.

I bought a basket. I'll probably put yarn in it. Decided to go with blue and green for something totally different. Yes, I made my hat. H & H - Nope, I'm never giving up my barn coat. You'll have to set it on fire to get it away from me.

I had such a great time and I have so many things to write, but I don't have time tonight. Time completely stopped while we were up there. I wish we could've stayed an entire week. Next year the group is going to Italy which is going to be insane, but more on that later. Bye for now.

Yarn Bombing, part II and Knitting Retreat!

This is going to be uber-quick. I finished the vase cover but it was too tall, so I frogged back about four rows and will bind it off again. Ta-Da... The nearly finished article. M, my director at work made a pretty cool suggestion yesterday (although at the end of the day near the end of the week we're all getting a bit punchy). She suggested a seasonal wardrobe for my little vase. Examples would include sports "outfits" for Sox and Pats game days (no offense to the C's and B's - I don't really follow hockey or b'ball), and a little something for the change of seasons... If I decide to do this, I'll be sure to share photos.

I'm leaving in a couple hours to head up to the Adirondacks for a knitting retreat. I should be packing, but if you've been following this blog for a while, you know that I hate packing. Packing for a knitting trip is even worse than normal packing. What do I take? Obviously, I take the projects I'm working on, but what if I want to do something else when I get up there? Do I take ALL my needles in case I need them? If so, I'll have to rent a bigger car. There is no computer up there, so I won't have access to the internet for patterns. Should I bring patterns and yarns for things in my queue in case I decide to knit them? If so, I'll have to rent a U-haul.

In closing, I'd like to just take a second and wish myself a happy divorce anniversary - seventeen years and counting. Marriage: the best reason NOT to plan a wedding.

Have a great LONG weekend - I'll take lots of pics up in the mountains. Bye!

Yarn Bombing, part 1 1/2

So my first idea wasn't so good. Keeping in mind that I'm bombing a cylindrical form, I ended up with an object that was more obscene than decorative. I'm not saying that obscene can't be decorative, but that's a conversation for another time. Back to the drawing board. I liked the idea of a knitted cover for the little vase, so I decided to knit the design INTO the cover and see how that goes. Here's my work in progress. I'm knitting directly from the old cover to the new cover... how handy. It might just be practice because silver and black would look better aesthetically, but the pink was the right yarn weight.

Turns out I have bronchitis, which really doesn't surprise me that much. I'm cleared to go to work in the morning (as long as I don't cough on anyone) but it's 3:30A and I've been up since 2:00A. Probably not going to be in such great shape when 6:30A rolls around. I'm not sure if this is a federal reg or state, but I got carded buying Mucinex. Seriously. (For those unfamiliar with the term, it means I had to provide proof of age before buying the product.) I can't imagine why anyone would purchase Mucinex for anything other than the reason intended. And, can you imagine if they did? Gross.

Munchie is driving me crazy. We're going back to bed. Bye.

Yarn Bombing, part I

Through google alerts I've been following the work of yarn bombers lately. http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/yarn-bombing-knit-graffiti They are doing some pretty cool work and so I've attached a link to an article with some pictures. As I've mentioned, I recently bought H's bug and I've been trying to decide what to do with the flower vase. I'm thinking that bombing my own car is the way to go, plus the general consensus on the flower is to bag it. Here is the VW issued daisy:

http://www.berroco.com/exclusives/jubilee/jubilee.html

Since I have more of the silver Louisa Harding Mulberry (100% silk - only the best for my new bug) than I need to finish my Jubilee Scarf, this is what I chose.

I measured the little vase, and based on suggested gauge, I cast on using sz 6 dpns. Once I finished the ribbing, it was clear that size six was way too big, so I switched to sz 3 for the remainder of the sheath.


Clearly not a big project, I knit it while watching a couple films. I've been sick, so I'm catching up on movies. Last night was a Kathy Bates film fest on HBO: Revolutionary Road and The Blind Side. Ready for my review? Revolutionary Road...Wow. (Just so you know, I have edited my own comments here so as not to alienate the vast heterosexual male readership. Now I'm cracking myself up.)

So back to my car... I was worried that it wasn't going to fit, but I've got to hand it to myself, it's perfect.


Keep in mind that this is only Part I, so it's not finished. The other components are a work in progress, so I should get them done today and take photos tomorrow in the daylight.



I'd also like to point out one of my favorite features of my new car. It came pre-decorated with liberal propaganda, so I didn't have to go to the trouble of doing it myself.



So I'm going to wrap up. I'm trying to decide whether or not to drag my ass into the walk-in clinic. The doc on call in my office said that as long as I can breathe between coughing episodes, I can wait until tomorrow and see my PCP if I'm still sick. Translation: I can still breathe, so I don't have pneumonia. I'm already trying to figure out what I need to do to be well enough to go to work tomorrow, which is how I got so sick in the first place. The whole point is that I need to rest or I WILL end up with pneumonia and then I WON'T be going away on Friday. Conundrum... Bye.

I Disappeared for Five Days I Guess...

I'm sick again, but this time I'm really sick. People come to work when they're sick, and then the next thing you know, the entire office is sick. It is SO annoying. I knew I was in trouble on Tuesday, and by Thursday, I was the one that needed to be home. I didn't go in today, and that rarely happens. I think the last time I stayed out was with the Norovirus back in March or there abouts. (I thought that was a funny entry, if I do say so myself. Go back for a re-read http://hollypots.blogspot.com/2010/03/hat-to-match-my-sweater-and-how-to-make.html if you're so inclined) I guess there is some respiratory virus going around, and I can't stop coughing, so I think I caught it. The only good thing is that I had the time to go get my new car registered and I switched my plates. I don't know about other states, but the Massachusetts RMV is a delight that has to be experienced to be believed. Although, to be fair, today was only fifty five minutes: 15 in line to get my number, 30 waiting and 10 with the customer service rep. Plus, I met someone to talk to for the 45 minutes (a shock for me, I know) to pass the time. He is a 35 year old eight-year serviceman; a bomb technician who just got back from two years in Kuwait and Iraq, with some interesting insights on the war. One thing he said that stuck with me is this: if we continue to fight in Afghanistan in the manner we are fighting now, we will be there for another 15 years. Yikes.

Enough on that. I haven't knit anything in an age; it's been probably more than a week. I'm going on a knitting retreat next week for four days, so it'll be all knitting - all the time. Kidding. We'll do other stuff. I DO have to find the projects I want to take though. The fall issue of knitty came out this week - did you see it? http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/index.php A couple things I really like are Eleanor, Bound by the Beauty and Pretty Maids. Although I love lace I've never made a shawl, but I might give Pretty Maids a whirl. There was something in this issue that frightened me - I hate to say it. http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEdf10/PATTchow.php What is up with this? It's a teeth and tongue puppet, and it's kinda scary. I think I'd be okay to not see anymore of the knitted anatomical items. Yeah, I've seen all of them - from the boobs, to the dick and balls to the uterus and fallopian tubes. Why?? Am I missing something?
Alright, enough of that. I'm starting to cough again, and once I start I'll go on for 20 minutes, so I'm signing off. Hack, hack.

Busy, Busy, Busy...

I've been insanely busy again. I had planned to go to a two day seminar on internet marketing and search engine & video optimization Friday night and all day Saturday. But then I thought my weekend wouldn't be busy enough, so I skipped out of the seminar early, raced home, caught a flight to DC and drove back to Boston today. What would cause me to do that you ask? Well, my sister H bought a new car. http://miniusa.com/#/MINIUSA.COM-m She bought the Mini Clubman, which is technically the Mini Maxi. (Next year they are coming out with an SUV. No joke. Henceforth I will refer to that model as the Mini Oxymoron.) Anyway, my Civic and her old car are the same year, but her old car has 70,000 less miles than mine. It seems I live in my car, and she never drives hers. When she asked if I wanted to buy her old one, it only made sense to do so. It stunk to miss three hours of the seminar (especially since I'm starting a business and these are incredibly important topics) and it REALLY stunk to be in the car from 9:30A until 8:10P today, but I have a new car! It's a Bug. Same color as my old Element; I really like a silver car. Here is a picture of happy Holly before leaving DC this morning. There was no one here to snap a pic of cranky Holly when she arrived home...probably for the best.
Soooo. No knitting today, but tomorrow I'm going to talk about where "hollypots" came from and how I'm going to get back there...
Now: Laundry, Boardwalk Empire, Sleep. Bye.

Super Quick Boy Meets Girl Hats

Yesterday, on a whim, I cast on Spud & Chloe's Boy Meets Girl Hats - the girl version. http://www.spudandchloe.com/patterns/boy-meets-girl-hats/ I thought it would go quickly, but I swear you could do the whole hat in two hours max. I've got about an hour and a half invested, and I'm on the crown shaping. I'm on size 11 needles using Cleckheaton Gusto 10, which (drumroll please...) was in my stash! If I make another one, I'll use size 12s and yarn that is softer. This is a mohair blend, and it's kind of itchy. (I might also add one squiggle repeat which would in turn make the ear flaps bigger. Or, I might just bag the pattern and design a new hat myself.) I picked up a set of bamboo circulars yesterday to make this, and the dull points are bumming me out. I generally sharpen the points, so I'll do it as soon as the hat moves from the circular to the dpns. I was looking for some immediate gratification yesterday, as I have three big things going with no gratification in sight. I needed to bang something out on big needles using chunky yarn. If I'm being picky, my right leaning make ones are looking kind of lame, aren't they? They're one stitch in from the edge of the flap, but kind of distorting the edge row. I'm just noticing it now. Hmm. I won't frog it - I'll just keep it for myself, which I hadn't planned to do.

Wow. Did everyone see Boardwalk Empire last night on HBO? http://www.hbo.com/#/boardwalk-empire Fab-O. I thought it was just great, but I'm a fan of Steve Buscemi from way back. Immediately after it ended, I was going to watch it again, but I fell asleep during the opening credits. What a thrilling life I lead...

So I'm listening to an awesome book on Social Media Marketing called Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuk. I've been spending a lot of time lately learning about Social Media and branding, and this book is a wealth of information. Plus it's narrated by the author and he's cool and enthusiastic.

Not too much else. I'll post pictures of the hat when I finish it. I know my size 11 double pointed needles are around here somewhere...