rusted root

...is done!



(there is so much random crap in the background of this picture! my cat's toy cherry, weights, window screen, charging ipod...i'll do a better job of tidying up first next time i do a photo shoot)

pattern: rusted root, by zephyr style
needles: denise needles, size 6 & 5
yarn: cotton fleece, in emperor's robe, about 3.75 skeins
started some time in april, finished earlier this week

i've been nearly done with this sweater for ages, and i finally did all of the finishing over the weekend. i love it! it fits perfectly, save for the sleeves being just a tad too loose. the pattern called for using size 4 needles for the arm bands and i probably should have done that instead of using the 5s, but my denise needles were out and i don't have 4s with that set. it's a pretty minor issue. oh yeah...one other little thing. my last skein of the cotton fleece was a different dye lot. i was planning on mixing the last two skeins, but then got lazy, and unfortunately, you can tell the difference in certain lights. the bottom three or four inches of the sweater are a different color, as are the neck and arm bands. but in most light you can't tell, and hopefully it won't be glaringly obvious. i learned my lesson though - laziness in knitting does not pay off!



now that this sweater is off my plate, i am starting brigitte with some rowan cotton braid that i picked up for cheap. i think it's also about time i started up on my brother's socks again. better luck to me this time!

and the winner is...

michael! i've sent you an email so you can let me know which color you'd like.

thanks for playing, everyone! i can definitely see why people like having contests. having all those comments roll in was lots of fun. and you all have such great taste in cake! i forgot about red velvet and ice cream cake...those two would definitely be up there on my list of favorites as well.



just so i don't have a photo-less blog post, check out what i got at anthropologie today. i got a gift card from my in-laws for my birthday, and i decided to just get a few cute little kitchen items. i'm in love with these napkins (and i didn't get charged for one of them. score!) and this mini collander, which is the perfect size for washing fruit. a somewhat frivolous purchase for sure, which is exactly how birthday money should be spent, right?

happy birthday to me!

as i mentioned the other day, today is my birthday! i am 28. it's been a pretty low-key birthday this year - i worked, and we're going out for pizza here in a bit. i'm going out for drinks with some friends next week, but that's it for the celebrations this year!

last year, when i turned 27, i decided that 27 was going to be really great year for me, and that i really wanted to develop my creative skills and interests. i think i've done a pretty good job. i took up sewing, and continue to learn more about that. i've definitely developed as a knitter. and i started this here blog, which has certainly pushed me to put my crafty skills to work more often. it's also afforded me the opportunity to be inspired by other crafters like me. so i thought that today would be a good time to have my first contest, to thank you all for reading and inspiring me, and to celebrate the year ahead.

so i'm going to make it really, really easy. just leave me a comment on this post, telling me what your favorite birthday cake is. mine? when i was a kid i always asked my mom to make me pumpkin pie for my birthday, but there's also something really good about plain yellow cake with chocolate frosting, too. i'll pick a winner probably on sunday evening.



and the prize? some yarn pirate yarn! you can pick one of the two shown above. that's clementine on the left and sadie on the right. if you win you can pick your fave!

catching up

wow, it's been an exhausting week and i don't even know where to start writing! i guess i should start by saying thanks to everyone who left me a nice comment about losing my job. all those comments really did make me feel better. so thanks!

this week has been a total whirlwind and i feel completely off, out of my normal flow. my in-laws were in town all week and while it was fun, i was pretty glad to see them leave today. that sounds really mean. i'm just tired of sleeping on an air mattress in the living room, tired of my cat waking me up at 5 in the morning because i'm in 'his' room and he's a morning person, tired of eating rich food at restaurants and tired of having to entertain. i think that makes me a big whiner, but there you have it. i spent all of today napping, reading a book and trying to catch up on my out-of-control bloglines. and it felt goooooood.

while we were entertaining this week, i also managed to get a job! i know, crazy! it happened really, really fast. i applied on monday, got a call on tuesday, went for an interview wednesday and was offered the job on friday. i'm not 100 percent sure about this job, but i think for now it will be good, and i'm thankful i didn't have to be out of work for too long (though after my exhausting week, i could do with another week or two of slackerdom). i start tomorrow!

i also managed to work in a quick little project. it was my friend's birthday this week, so i made her what else? fingerless gloves! my fourth or fifth pair this year. this time i made the hand/wrist warmers from last minute knitted gifts. i used the called-for noro cash iroha, and though it's very beautiful, i had some issues with it. namely, the huge variation in thickness of this yarn. i would say it's mostly a worsted weight, but there were some parts that were really chunky, and those parts sort of obscured the pattern, a diagonal rib that was really fun to knit. still, i like how these turned out. snug and comfy, and they really did only take a few hours to make. my kind of project!



here's a picture of one of them...i really did make two, but i only finished one in time for my friend's birthday party, so i gave her that one then, and finished the second one the next morning.

my birthday is on thursday, so i think to celebrate, i'm going to have my first-ever contest later this week. stay tuned!

thank goodness for mail

so i had kind of a bad day yesterday. yesterday i lost my job. actually the whole company went under, so quite a few people in the bellevue, washington area lost their jobs. it's unfortunate, and definitely not what i was wanting to deal with at the moment, but i'm sure it will all be okay in the end. i felt fairly fine about it yesterday but today started to feel kind of down, so the sound swap cd that arrived in the mail from jennie cheered me up even more than it normally would have. it totally made my day!



when i signed up for the sound swap, i was secretly hoping that jennie would be the one sending me a mix because i felt like she probably knew a whole lot about an area of music that i was curious about. and lucky me, i did indeed get a great mix from her! and one that i know i'll get a lot of enjoyment from and that will prompt me to look into many of the artists on here that i'm not already familiar with.

the tracklisting for 'phonographic: a saturday morning anytime feel good mix'

1. rum and coca cola - andrews sisters
2. pistol packin' mama - al dexter and his troopers
3. let me play with your poodle - tampa red w/ big maceo
4. scatterbrain mama - delmore brothers
5. chicago rhythm - jimmie noone
6. make up your mind - kitty wells
7. i'm wild about that thing - bessie smith
8. coucou - django reinhardt
9. barbecue bust - mississippi jook band
10. coney isle - roscoe holcomb
11. roly poly - bob wills and his light crust dough boys
12. corina - carter sisters
13. don't try to keep up with the joneses - dizzy gillespie
14. country blues - dock boggs
15. wish i was a single girl again - lulu belle and scotty
16. if i didn't love you - hank williams
17. beans and cornbread - louis jordan
18. little satchel - fred cocherham
19. lord, i want to die easy - josh white
20. big leg blues - mississippi john hurt
21. she's got money too - uncle dave macon
22. don't falter at the altar - cab calloway

and the cover is cute to boot! jennie also sent me a skein of sundara sport weight in a gorgeous blue, which is just about the most exciting thing to happen to me in a very long while - i've been lusting after some sundara yarn for ages now but never seem to get to the website in time to make one of her yarn updates. thank you so much jennie! i love everything!



and while i'm showing off cool mail, i also wanted to say thanks to stickchicky for the lace book that i won in a contest she had on her blog. that arrived this week too, and the book is gorgeous. i think most of the patterns are waaaaay beyond my skill set right now, but it's nice to have something to aspire to, and there are some things in there that i'd love to make some day. so thank you!

that's all the exciting mail for me for the week...probably next week the thing i'll look forward to receiving most will be my unemployment check!