Heeeerrrreee's TUBEY...

See it's still kind of a mass of black stockinette. I tried on the sleeves before picking up stitches for the body and they're a little wide, but do-able. I am doing a size smaller for the body after seeing how loose the sleves came out. The knitpicks andean silk is really nice to work with. I like it a lot. I got my extra skeins of pitch and the skeins of cranberry that I ordered in the mail yesterday.

I am now contemplating how to do the stripe. I am reall torn and need your help. I could do some cranberry stripes across the chest, kind of like the pattern is written. Or I could knit in black until I start to run out and then knit stripes across the bottom of the sweater. I'm torn. HELP!

Here is a close up of the sleeves.

There's Tubey. Well on its way to becoming a real sweater.

Did you all see Gilmore Girls last night? So good. I love it. I won't spoil it if you Tivoed it or something - but its good. I think I may have a special liking for this show partially because it has an asian character. Oh, and how many TV shows do a total homage to an obscure documentary about the Brian Jonestown Massacre and then have one of the band members in a recurring role? And who isn't happy that Sebastian Bach found a way to revive his career?

Posted by jen at 09:21 AM |Comments (8)

What happened last week? Well I lost the week to a number of things - one being a paralyzing fear of the stomach flu going around my office. Its filled me with a gripping anxiety. I've become a crazy woman devoting a lot of my day to hand washing and lysoling my desk. So a stressful work week took away some time.

But I did find time to make a diaper cake for a shower at my office. You may or may not remember the last one I made. This one was a little simpler, but well recieved.

Another thing that happened was that Chris's grandfather passed away. Anything I write in here about it sounds kind of ridiculous - either too short or too long, or just inappropriate. So I'll say that he was a nice man, that he was sick for a while and this wasn't completely unexpected, but it was of course sad and his family will miss him.

We went down to visit Chris's family today and I knit on this discloth on the way down.

Knitting on tubey also continues. I'm almost done the sleeves on this incredibly slow knit for me. I'm looking forward to picking up the stitches for the body. And I'm looking forward to starting a new week. I am planning to blog more frequently this week and stop the lysoling/handwashing madness!

Posted by jen at 08:57 PM |Comments (9)

I spent my rare day off watching the DIY network all morning. Did you know that there is a scrapbooking show on there? Did you know that Michaels was having a Presidents' Day sale? Well that resulted in the creation of this:

I've been meaning to frame our wedding invitations for quite a while. This shadowbox frame was on sale, so call it destiny!

This weekend we had dinner at this restaurant with a few friends. It was delicious. If there's one in your town - go. Eat. Go eat the mushroom ravioli. So good.

Sunday we drove down to Chris's parents' house for his dad's birthday dinner. I knit on Tubey on the way down. I didn't get too much done.

These pictures are courtesy of my new camera phone. So useful to the average blogger.

So I plan to finish Tubey this week or weekend. I am so determined. I ordered extra yarn to make a wide red stripe and extra black yarn to finish it. I like the idea of Tubey, but its not going as quickly as I'd like it to.

Here's to a four day work week!

ETA: I am not driving in that picture! It would be great if I could knit, drive, and take my own picture all at once, but alas, my cameraphone reversed the image somehow so it looks like I'm driving. Man Chris would have a heart attack if I started knitting while I was driving on the Expressway. :)

Posted by jen at 08:05 PM |Comments (9)

Apparently I was boycotting Valentines Day, but Chris wasn't! Yay for me.

I can't blog anymore - Project Runway is on.

Posted by jen at 10:02 PM |Comments (2)

Nothing quite makes the single feel more single than Valentines day. That's always been my opinion. I think Valentines day is kind of dumb, so Chris and I are boycotting it this year. It's rare for me to turn down an opportunity to get a gift, but this year I just said no. But even though we aren't gifting, I do wish all of you a happy day filled with pink hearts, green clovers, blue diamonds, and purple horseshoes.

Here is my tubey update:

I joined the knitalong and I'm happy to be making progress. The Knitpicks Andean Silk is really nice to knit with. The only thing is--I think I'm going to run out of yarn. So I'm probably going to add the stripes back into the body to make sure that I have enough yarn to finish this sucker. I'm using so much yarn just on the sleeves that I'm nervous. I figure I may not be able to match the black dyelot, so I'm best off ordering some more Andean Silk in different colors.

This past weekend was eventful. Snowstorm of the year - 16 - 18 inches at our house. I got a new cell phone with a camera phone (you can read all abou the snow and cell phone on Chris's blog.) and I watched uber cute movies: Raising Helen and March of the Penguins. Raising Helen is now at the top of my super sickly cute girly movie list. Loved it. And of course everyone saw March of the Penguins in the theater but me. I loved that too. Penguins are AWESOME.

Posted by jen at 08:18 AM |Comments (10)

Hey everyone I actually made a knitting gallery. It's a long time coming, and I'm kind of alarmed at the number of scarves I've knit. From now on, I promise to take more notice of what yarn I'm using and update the gallery appropriately. Check out the link in my side bar!

Posted by jen at 09:37 PM |Comments (3)

Dear Project Runway,

I was so sad last night when Heidi gave Nick her auf wiedersehen. I understand that during this episode Heidi was very pregnant and perhaps her baby was doing the thinking. And we all know that Michael Kors does things out of spite, ever since calling Andre's dress a "doormat." Nina obviously wants to get into Santino's pants and give him her own kind of makeover. That is the only reason I can think of to keep him on.

Don't they all know that in my head Nick and I were good friends. In our fantasy relationship he would make me outfits and tell me I looked fabulous as we disco danced the night away.

So to make it up to me Project Runway, and next week make sure my favorites make it to the top three. Then I promise we can be friends again.

Sincerly
Mrs. Tim Gunn
aka
Jen

Posted by jen at 09:18 PM |Comments (10)

Tubey progress has been made!

Does that look like a boring rectangle of stockinette? Well, that's what it is. But I am close to the knitting in the round part, so that's good. I knit on this at a superbowl party. It was a little odd knitting during the superbowl, but i got a lot done.

Did you watch the halftime show? Did you see Mick Jagger's tricep waddle? Um yeah. I respect the Rolling Stones and all, but he needs to stick to long sleeves. There was a collective shudder in the room when he took off that jacket.

And in other entertainment related facts - I saw Brokeback Mountain tonight. I'm glad I finally saw it since I felt so behind the times. I thought it was really good and I think Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams were great in it. The only thing that bothered me about it? The other people in the theater. Is it just me, or has it become widely accepted to talk in the movie theater? I remember a time when someone would shush you when you talked. Now I feel like I'm the only one who notices. I want to pause the movie and turn to my fellow movie goers and say "Am I the only one who hears this lady explaining that Heath Ledger is gay in this movie to her husband? Because if I can hear her and I'm four rows in front of her, then why aren't you shushing her when you're sitting directly behind of her?" Man. I just don't get it. Why don't you talkey mctalksalot people stay home and watch movies in your living room where you can carry on your conversation uninterupted by the pesky movie on the screen! Sorry - I had to get that off my chest.

Posted by jen at 11:11 PM |Comments (9)

First of all, let me say that Strawbridges is going out of business or something and all the stuff is on sale. ALL THE STUFF. I went tonight and bought too much and let me say the only reason I didn't buy more is because I was hungry. I got a bunch of clothes for Christopher and the following stuffs for myself:

Okay so cute. I love me some shoes.

So I cast on for Tubey with some Knitpicks Andean Silk in Pitch. I thought it was a comprable yarn and hopefully it'll turn out. I am getting gauge...Mostly. I mean I have no luck with sweaters. I can make a shrug like nobody's business. But something always goes wrong with sweaters. I'm going to try it on as I go. As you can see I have barely anything done. The whole sweater will be black sans stripes. I'm really more likely to wear a black sweater than anything.

I've also been knitting on a dishcloth or two that I'm hoping to give out as random gifts.

And for those wondering what this mystery project was - I've made more progress.

This is a scarf I'm making at Chrisopher's request. It's knit long-ways in knitpicks wool of the andes. I have to say this is the only thing Chris has ever asked me to knit and I am having trouble making myself do it since it's stockinette stitch. It will be black in the center and red on the edges. There will be a skull and cross bones on each end, which I think I will duplicate or cross stitch on.

So that's what's on the needles right now for 2006 so far! Coming up, I plan on maybe the hourglass sweater, or something out of the wrap or scarf styles books. Oh so many projects!

If you're wondering how my Yoga/Gym progress is. Well I've been managing to hit the gym 2-3 times a week and also somehow managed to put on 1-2 pounds. Yes, yes, I know it may be muscle, but it's discouraging none the less. I'm still trying to work up to more days of Yoga, and I'm mixing it up with some time on the other gym equipment.

So there's a nice long update for you. If I haven't been commenting on your blogs that much, please know that I'm reading them all! I am! And leave me a comment to say hi if you get a chance. I feel out of the loop! Happy Friday!

Posted by jen at 09:53 PM |Comments (9)