Knitaholics R Us

On Muses and Mojos...All Lost and Possibly Found

Life is incredibly, ridiculously, ironically funny sometimes, don't you think?  I was so keyed up to begin writing again on this old blog, but life just took my by the boot straps and said "Nope hon, you are going with me.  And get your coat, 'cuz it's gonna get blustery."

Now remember two posts ago when I said that HotelChain released me from my restraints job?  Initially, I was so happy about that.  Really, I was.  And to be honest, I still am thrilled to be away from the insanity that HotelChain can rain down upon one's soul.  But I never really considered how difficult it would be to purge 8 years worth of emotions associated with that place.  For eight years, I always knew that no matter what, I had a job...not the best job, but a job.  I built relationships within the HotelChain and outside of the HotelChain that seemed to be held together because of the HotelChain.  So when I saw myself left with no more HotelChain, all of a sudden, I felt as though it all was being swept away from me.  The friendships, the comfort, and my dignity.  This, my friends, has not been an easy pill to swallow.  It's one thing to choose not to work...it's another to not have a choice.

One would think that with the free time associated with not having to work and not having any other major responsibilities (namely, children), I would have knit myself into a warm and fuzzy little comfort zone, complete with padded room for the truly insane days.  But no.  And I really started to ask myself, has my mojo been sucked away too?  I know it's been dwindling in the past few months, but I never considered it completely gone, because I still stalked patterns, yarn, and blogs without hesitation.  But for sometime, even those things weren't as sparkly and bright to me as they once were.

So I didn't feel like knitting as much, but why not write, and possibly, look for inspiration, in my own words?  Up until very recently, I have not been able to answer that question.  It seemed that blogging was so very important to me for a time there, with the exception of some major life blips.  But in the last few months, I have found it painfully hard just to sit down and leave a comment on your blogs, let alone write an entry for myself.  And please understand that I don't mean to exaggerate writers' block and the such.  This is not the sort of issue I was having.  I am the sort of person who has generally found it pretty easy to form thoughts and ideas and express them in words, both written and spoken. 

Over the last few months, Mr Wonderful and I had noticed a change in my ability to formulate and express thoughts.  It seemed as thought I was constantly fishing for the easiest of words and expressions, and easily forgetting what I had just been saying.  At first we chalked it up to stress and thought it would go away.  But in the back of my mind, I knew something was wrong.  I considered a brain tumor (yes, I jumped right to that theory, because...why the heck not), but when my rational self took over, I knew that if I had a tumor, it would have shown up in a recent MRI.  So, hmmm...what could it be?  Then, a couple of days ago, I ran across an ad for Topamax, a medication I take to help keep my migraines away and thought I'd read through the 'side effects.'  Yep, there I found it.  It basically said that some people taking the medication have difficulty concentrating, formulating thoughts and recalling words.  Wow.  That's me.

So here we are today.  I've been emailing my doc and we are cutting back on the meds, because well, I need to be able to communicate, right?  Immediately, I can feel the difference, hence the desire to write today...and write a lot.  Good news.  I have a new job too.  I work for a yoga company, selling merchandise.  We train instructors in our style of yoga that is truly for EVERY BODY.  I am loving it so far.  I even participated in my first level of instructor certification.  How great is that?

And finally, in all of the chaos that has been going on, Mr Wonderful and I are purchasing a new home!  Life, after all this is over, can we slow down a bit so maybe I can knit again?

Destashing, just a bit!

Hey all,

I am destashing a bit!  If you'd like to see what I am parting ways with, please check out my eBay listings here!

Thanks!

Huzzah!

Let us celebrate!

First let's toast to a progress shot of Flair!

Huzzah!  I have finally gotten off of my lazy duff to show you a progress shot of my lovely Flair, just in the nick of time for the red, black and metallic segment of Project Spectrum 2.0!  Yippee for me!  Again, I am working her in some lovely Blue Sky Cotton in Tomato.  It's a heavenly cotton yarn and I do recommend it so far!

In addition, I have completed one (waaaaay back) and started another Jaywalker in Knitterly Things Vesper Sock in the Knit and Tonic colorway.

See?

Next, I have been released from the nasty grips of the HotelChain!  Woot!  I won't go into too much, but department realignment created an opportunity for me to get outta there w/ severance and my dignity so huzzah to that!  I am definitely NOT on vacay, though.  I am looking for a job and it's a little stressful, since I don't particularly want to go back into the field in which I am leaving and am not quite sure where I want to go.  Although, I do think I would like to train/counsel/consult people.  It's gotta be with people.  If you are out there and you have suggestions, I am open...way open to advice and suggestions!

Mr Wonderful and I had a lovely vacay in Hawaii back in May.

If you'd like to see a few more pictures, you can see them here.

Finally, I just have to show you the newest edition to my mom's household.  She's the cutest baby ever!  Meet Molly!

She's a 4 month old Chihuahua mix that Mom rescued from the pound and she a love.  Sweet as can be and I adore her.  She, on the other hand, likes to bite me.  It's ok, cuz she's cute!

And hey, if you are on Ravelry, come find me!  I'm there as knitaholicsky!  And if you found me via Ravelry, SWEET!  Thank you!

Holy Shit, there's Knitting!

This post has, admittedly, been a long time coming.  The beginning of 2007 started off with a roll of knitting projects: one completed Jaywalker sock in Julia's Knit and Tonic Vesper sock yarn, the start of and completion of Camellia, which has taken me an embarrassingly long amount of time to post the craptastic picture (see below) but posted during the appropriate Project Specturm timeframe (yay me) and a cute little cabled handbag.  I was even off and rolling on Flair, which finally gave me the opportunity to put that beautiful Blue Sky Cotton in Tomato to good use. 

Pattern: Camellia by Stephanie Japel

Yarn: Knit Picks Sierra in Leaf

Notes: I love the lace patterns and found them very clever.  I also love the way this is supposed to look.  But mine just does not fit me the way I'd hoped.  It's a little wide-ish across the chest and shoulders and I feel that I am constantly having to adjust myself.  I swatched, got gauge and all.  Oh well, the perfect fit just wasn't in the cards for me on this one.  I will still wear it for now, though.

Pattern: Cabled Handbag from my LYS, LisCat

Yarn: Gawd, for the life of me, I cannot remember right now, but I will edit when I do remember

Notes: Cute, cute, cute!  I love this little purse.  See the nail polish for scale?  It didn't come out very big at all.  It makes a good little handbag for evenings out or the weekend.  I bought the purse handles at Joann's Crafts on sales and just whipstitched them on.  Easy as pie.  This will get lots of use!

Just as things were rolling along, my knitting time started to get interrupted with frequent trips to visit the in-laws and the bout of depression that has seemed to follow lately.  See, in the last couple of months, my beloved MIL, hasn't been well at all.  It wasn't a huge suprise, as she's battled cancer for as long as I've known her (10 years, my gosh), but since January, her health has taken a major turn for the worse.  At the present time, it seems as though we may be spending our last few days/weeks/months with her.  Watching someone die is absolutely shit and it puts your perspective on things in a new order and sometimes, this new order is incredibly hard to knit through.

On the brighter side of things, the needles have been calling to me a bit more and perhaps I just need a change of knitting scenery.  I am looking at starting a smaller scale project, just for a little jump start.  I will keep you posted on things.

Thank you in advance for your love, energy and prayers!

Start and Finish

Here's to the start and finish of my holiday knitting for 2006!

Pattern: Fetching from Knitty Summer

Yarn: the called for Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran in a yummy jewel-toned turquoise from a LYS near my HotelChain and I eeked them out of one ball, which leaves another ball for me!

Recipient: Mr Wonderful's Sis, for Chanukah (she loved them)

Notes: No modifications, except that they were knit in two circulars (God bless the creator/inventor/miracle worker/amazing knitter who came up with this technique).  Super easy and super fun.  My only complaint with the ease of this item is the thumb part.  After carefully unraveling the waste yarn, it was a bitch trying to get the stitches on the needles, just right.  Even so, I had to do some creative darning to hide some little holes that had formed, just like she did.  Still, they were very "instant gratification" and that makes for happy holiday knitting. 

I haven't cast on for anything else, just yet, although I will be starting Glampyre's Camellia for myself and Le Slouch to make up for my cousin's too-small-beret incident soon.  In the meantime, I going to start a little food blog called The Wannabe Foodie.  I haven't posted yet, but I will soon.  Nothing fancy, just some recipes I've tried and some pictures.  Perhaps a little commentary on my experiences with food and my ever growing love for cooking and baking.  So check it out in January!

Finally, how about a knitty list?

Knitty Goals for 2007:

• Colorwork.  Thanks to Stranded, this won't be a problem.  I've even got the pattern.
• Another true sweater.  Not a shrug but a sweater.  Either this one or this one.
• Baby stuffs.  SIL is preggers and so is my cousin.  Both due in late April, early May.
• Destash/Stash Bust and only restash with an exact project in mind, when necessary.  No more mindless yarn shopping until further notice.  God help me.

Thanks for stopping by.  I know I haven't been a good blogger for the past 6 months or so, but I will be back in regular action.  I've missed documenting my knitting journey and sharing it all with you.  Expect to see more of me, with a little more spirit behind it, soon!

Happy Christmakwanzaakah to you all!

Nothin' But Knit

I realize that you wouldn't know this by my blog, but I am alive and didn't die of some rare and unusual form of a cold.  I am well, physically at least.  There are some (**cough, cough** Mr Wonderful) that may agree that while my physical health is no longer a concern, my mental health is up for debate.  I am, dear readers, sorry for the absence.  I've been in a fog of jumbled thoughts lately, none of which have been quite able to make the jump from brain to blog.  And while I am still in a bit of an overwhelming haze, I can share a couple of things to tie you over, if you will.

• I am pretty much over HotelChain.  And actually, I have been for quite some time.  And old co-worker just told me that once your fire is gone, it's time to move on.  Quite right.  So with that being said, I am on the job prowl.  I have something in the works, but I can't share any more just yet.  Don't wanna jinx it, you know?
• I am totally knitting.  No pictures for proof, but trust me.  I knat up the Tweed Beret from the latest IK for my cousin, but it came out way too small.  Like, it might be too small for my six year old niece.  So bummed...Haven't frogged it yet, but I will and start anew.  In the meantime, I was able to whip up some Fetching mitts for a holiday gift.  I squeezed one whole pair out of one ball of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran.  Which leaves me a whole other ball to play with.  Yay for me!

Otherwise, I am busy for the holidays.  I've been a homemade-goodie-researching fool.  I mean, these are def on the list.  How cute!  And my Lord, I really have to make these, although they may get eaten before they make it into the gift baskets.  In the words of Rachael Ray, YUM-O!

Pics and more updates soon.  Just lemme get through this week, k? 

BTW, I am totally keeping current with all of your blogs, even if I haven't been commenting!  Lots of exciting stuff going on...

In Sickness...

Hi all...

I am sick.  Head cold.  Ick.

This is all I have to show for it...

click the link for more notes

Mr Wonderful and I are heading to Palm Springs for the weekend for his annual softball tourney so I will post FO notes then.

Have a great weekend!

Friday Catch Up

Hi all!  I realize that quite a bit of time has skipped by without a new post from me, but lots has been going on, fun and not-so-fun.  But today, in the hopes that spreading good energy will help me receive good energy, I am only going to share fun stuff (mostly knitty, if you can believe that)!  Here goes:

A Big Huge Thank You to Valerie (send me your blog addy so I can link it), my ISE pal.  She sent me the greatest package!  She made me the cutest linking flowers scarf and a matching hat.  And her creativity didn't stop there!  She even made me a cute knitting bag to tote smaller projects around.  The craftmanship on this bag is AMAZING!  My pathetic sewing skills are in awe of you, Valerie.  There were also a couple edible treats, which have since been consumed.  Thanks again, Valerie (and sorry for the delay in posting)!

The main reason for the delay in posting is that Mr Wonderful and I took a VERY short notice escape away.  We hopped on a Royal Caribbean cruise to the Mexican Riviera for a week getaway.  We stopped in Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerto Vallarta.  In Cabo, we nearly got sucked into a timeshare purchase, in Mazatlan, we took a city tour via trolley chock full of gay men (majorly fun times, I must add) and in Puerto Vallarta, we slid across ziplines over the Mexican jungle canopy. We had an amazing time and needed the time away.  Here are a few pictures...

While on vacay, I was able to eek out the slightest bit of Socktoberfest participation.  See?

I had some Vesper self-striping sock yarn leftover from long ago's Strawberry Shortcake socks and thought I would try my hand at knitting socks on two circulars (mostly to see if this would help create a little more interest in sock knitting).  Boy oh boy, two circ knitting is SO MUCH EASIER for me.  I couldn't put this little sock down.  And I used those new Knit Picks classic circular needles as well.  Those my friends, are some good ass needles.  Love them.  Sorry Skacel, but until you get pointy-er, I will stick to Knitpicks!  I am cranking away at sock #2, so I should have an FO soon!

Finally, a big hug and thank you to Sandra for the cute Garden Party Scarf!

This was her first crochet project, y'all!  Very impressive and super generous!  Love it!  Thanks again, Sandra!

P.S. If you don't already listen to these chicks, you simply must start.  Their podcast is hilarious and taps right into my obsessive soul.  Be warned, they are NOT Brenda Dayne, nor do they try to be.  Just two yarn obsessed girls having MAJORLY good times and willing to share it with us!

Gimme a Fork

Wow!  She's finally done!

Pattern: Knitty's Danica

Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Asparagus and Cinnamon (1.5 balls each)

Notes:  Love the look, hate the process.  Ugh, if this weren't for my ISE, I would never have finished this baby.  I definitely tried to think happy thoughts about my pal while I picked up the billions and billions of stitches and turning the work over and over and over again.  That was pleasurable, but if this would have been for me, or ANYONE ELSE, I so would have tossed it aside.  Entrelac is cool looking, but for me, not cool knitting.

But...

...she's just so darned purty!  I love the way all the turns go back and forth, like woven cloth.  So friggin' cool.  I am super happy with it and I hope my pal will be too.  I didn't block it, because, personally, I like it all fuffy (yes, that's a word) and I wanted to give my pal the option.  I promise I am not being lazy about it, k?

Now that this is done, I am off to begin this...

Speak No Evil, but Knit Much

I do realize that I should have blogged about a week ago, according to my promise left at the end of the last posting, but honestly, my desire to write has been quite low.  But please realize that no writing about knitting doesn't necessarily mean no knitting.  Lots of knitting has be going on, as well as Netflix watching (Sopranos Season One and Rome, to be exact)!

See for yourself...

Pattern: Razor Cami from Katie Knits

Yarn: Berroco Cotton Twist in Sea Goddess Blue (love that name)

Notes on the Pattern:  I, um, didn't gauge swatch (big suprise, right) so I am fully aware that this is part of the problem.  And I really like the concept of this cami and everyone else's look SO good, but I don't think this pattern is meant for cotton.  I've worn it for one and a half days, and it stretches out so much at the top.  I even had to create some "darts" near the armpits to tack down the extra width across the top.  I am hoping that perhaps a romp in the wash will help shrink her up a bit.  I just love the way it looks on everyone else, but on me, not as much.  It'll definitely get worn, but if I can't get it to shrink up a bit, it will have to be saved strictly for summer wear.  And I was so hoping to sport this under a suit at work for HotelChain.

And this...

Pattern: Danica from Knitty

Yarn: Knit Picks Merino Style in Cinnamon and Grass (I think)

Notes: Still working on this...it's for my International Scarf Exchange Pal.  I don't know why I continue to do these things to myself.  Join time sensitive KALs and such.  This great entrelac scarf is supposed to be to my pal by Nov 1 and I have lots left to knit.  And while entrelac is amazing to look at, the process of picking up stitches sucks balls...of yarn, of course.  I despise picking up stitches, but perhaps this will soften the process up a bit for me.  The color change thing is a bitch as well, since all those ends will have to be woven in by someone, meaning this little knitaholic.  I am trying to weave in every 2-3 color block change so it won't be so daunting in the end.

As for Socktoberfest, I am bummed that I should be spending all of my knitting time working this scarf.  So until I feel that I am making major progress on the scarf, sock knitting is on halt.  So.Bummed.

That's all for now, as I am running out of verbal gas.  Enjoy your knitting!