I think at this point I won’t be making huge strides where I can’t use the stitch markers I have in the time it takes to ship my package. However, it is a Knit Picks order and sometimes my shipment gets hung up somewhere in Wisconsin for a few days. It’s werid; I could drive up there and get it faster.

Patience, young knitting jedi.

1. My high arches cause me to step inward as I try to place more foot on the ground.
2. My right pelvic bone in leaning forward (more forward than normal), which might be placing additional strain on my knee. It also has potential to cause lower back pain and probably a number of other issues. We discovered this by checking my leg alignment, which was considerably off. After some alignment exercises, things were realigned. I didn’t feel much of a difference, but maybe over time.
3. My knee cap moves back and forth more than normal. Probably the result of pushing myself when running.
4. I’m still very strong, which minimizes the need to rebuild my strength overall. This is good because I can do a healthy number of reps and sets straight away.

I also recently downloaded the Uh Huh Her album Common Reaction. It has a vocalist that is very similar to the tonal quality of Eisley, with a techno back beat.

I’m thoroughly enjoying the entire album, but I would specifically recommend the tracks “Not a Love Song” and “Say So” as the best on the album. These tracks in particular seem to hold my attention, and I’ve played both on a repeat. The whole album really works well together, transitioning from one to another in an electro-vocal blend.

In other knitterly related news, I’ve knitted up about six inches with my reworked Flower Back Sweater pattern based on the previous rendition’s gauge. Unfortunately, I’m knitting an XXL of this top because I must have measured my gauge all wrong. I now am only getting 5 stitches per inch, not the 6 I thought I was getting and based the entire reworked pattern on. Back to the drawing board, rework the pattern, ball up the yarn again and reknit all six inches again, for the third or fourth time. (I’ve actually lost count.)

One would think by now I’d be a good knitter. But as the Yarn Harlot reminds us, the knitting gods will punish you if you get too cocky. I must have gotten cocky. I just don’t remember when.

Ribby Cardi is blocked! I took out the seed stitch and replaced it with an attached i-cord. I like it a lot better. I also ordered my zipper this weekend in a snow white shade that I thought would look nice and blend in. At this point, we enter the waiting game while the post office handles my zipper delivery. I hope it arrives soon so I can mark this project complete.

Also the Beijing Olympic Games Closing Ceremony was very fun to watch, which I watched while reknitting away. I have never gotten so into the Olympics before these games, but I look forward to Vancouver, as well as London. Yay games!

I don’t know what was wrong with me but I didn’t even mention the Vintage Socks being received. My mom’s birthday was at the end of July and she had planned to spend the week up in southern Michigan with some friends, as she normally does each summer. I decided to drive up and surprise her, and her friends, with a visit and presented her with the socks.

Well, my plan worked like a charm. She was pretty much speechless for a good 10 minutes after I arrived. If you know my mom, you know that’s really hard to do. She was so proud of her socks, and even with the 80+ degree weather that day, she happily put them on for a photo shoot. She thought they were so pretty. Even her friend was eyeing them, wanting to steal them for herself.

Here’s a shot of the house they stay at. It’s really cute: three bedroom, two bath, with a lot. The closed in porch has a table, which is great for eating dinner.

The yard has a hammock and a fountain.

And a firepit. Too cute.

• Grammar Girl’s Quick & Easy Tips—This is a quick podcast going into grammar idiosyncrasies. Stuff like is the phrase “you’ve got mail” grammatically correct?
• iTunes New Music Tuesday—Probably the best quick update on new music. Clips of songs last about 10 seconds or a little longer and cover the spectrum of genres. The podcast also mentions iTunes Single of the Week and free downloads so you can take advantage of a good thing. Sometimes there’s a little too much latin, but I just fast forward through those parts.
• NPR: All Songs Considered—Bob Boilen might be my hero. This is a great overall review. He’s been around long enough to know good music. Periodically there are seasonal previews of upcoming music to be released and at the end of the year, there’s a holiday episode and a year in review. This is a longer podcast, so good for a longer commute.
• NPR: Live Concerts from All Songs Considered—This podcast features hour-long concerts. Hour-long concerts people! Of cool bands like She & Him, The Tings Tings, Kaki King. Just remember to limit how many you sync or you’ll quickly fill up your iPod.
• Knit Picks’ Podcast—Probably my favorite fiberly flavored podcast. The host Kelley Petkun (owner of Knit Picks) offers useful information in a light hearted way. The last episode I listened to featured the ins and outs of lace knitting. Fun!
• Learn French with Coffee Break French—Also a new podcast subscription, I’m going to learn French again. Bien!
• Make-It Green: Quick & Dirty Tips—A new subscription and a cousin of Grammar Girl, this podcast has five-minute episodes that give you background information and tips on living a greener life.
• LIME Daily Audio Podcast—A useful life tips podcast.

There are a few podcasts, I haven’t tried out yet. I’m “testing” them, meaning I’ve downloaded a few episodes to sample. Here are those podcasts:

• Planet Green Podcast—Another eco-friendly podcast
• Pointy Sticks—A knitting podcast
• Ready Set Knit—Another knitting podcast
• Tara Stiles Yoga—Yoga videos, obviously
• TreeHugger Radio—From the web guys over at TreeHugger; eco news
• YOGAmazing—Yoga again

Ones I’ve tried and just can’t get into include:

• IndieFeed (all varities)—There’s nothing wrong with it, I just can’t keep up with the format. They stream one song per day with a host giving a little intro of the song in the beginning and summary of the artist at the end. You can’t really do anything with the tracks since there’s stuff before and after and I would rather have a summary show that I get more out of.
• Knit Science—I thought it was going to be more focused on informative topics, but it’s more of a personal podcast. Nothing wrong with it, just not what I’m looking for.
• Limenviolet—Again, more personal stories then information.
• Socks in the City—Personal journal podcast, plus I’m not sure I need any more help knitting socks.

In my searching, I have discovered the Podcast Junkies group on Ravelry where they have a “List your top 3 podcasts” thread. Also on Rav is a FiberPodcasts wiki page, also helpful. These will probably grow my podcast list immediately.

So if you have recommendations, thoughts, etc. that you want to lend my way, I’m on the hunt for quality podcasts.

I finally finished a “gift” scarf—that is a project I was making to destash and have gifts on hand on Tuesday night while watching the Olympics. It uses some Cherry Tree Hill Fun Fur (two strands of purple, one of blue held together) in garter stitch. Not really original but it did the job.

I’m particularly happy that I was making a gift for someone unknown (I don’t know who will end up receiving it), rather than setting out to use this yarn with a loftier purpose. Franks, the yarn sheds. And maybe I’m becomming more of a yarn snob, but it doesn’t feel all that great in the hands. It was tolerable enough to complete this project but not something I want to keep around. Of course, it’s not the yarn’s fault. It can’t help being fun fur. I have a little leftover which I’ll turn into a hat.

I haven’t been actually talking about my knits for some time now, even though I’ve been getting quite a bit down. I thought that wasn’t very fair to you, dear reader, so here’s more.

Finishing was in the cards this weekend (well, sort of). I made a lot of headway on the Ribby Cardi this past weekend: finishing the first sleeve, starting and finishing the second, seaming the sleeves to the body of the sweater, picking up and binding off the neckline, picking up and completing the side bands (where the zipper will lie). I even whip stitched all of the seams. Luckily because I followed Not Martha’s advice and knitted the body as one piece and the sleeves in the round, I only had the armhole seams and the neckline to do.

After thinking about it for awhile, I don’t particularly like the seed stitch bands. I’m opting for Not Martha’s idea of using an attached i-cord. This means I’ll be taking out the seed stitch bands and adding that. No biggie.

Next steps include:

• Measure cardigan length for zipper
• Order zipper (I’m going with a snow white zipper)
• Rip out seed stitch bands
• Attach i-cord edging
• Block sweater
• Sew in zipper
• Add zipper ribbon detail
• Make zipper pull and attach
• Wear with pride

Now you see it, now you don’t

The condo I’m renting has a washer/dryer in the unit which fits nicely in this little cubby space. Well, maybe not as nicely as it could. Technically there are doors for this space that would make this less of an eyesore. However, because the thing is too big for the space, and juts out blocking the potential space for the door jam, the doors don’t fit. This is conveniently located across from my dining space. Not so nice.

So I hung up this curtain I had lying around with 3M Command hooks. It doesn’t completely hide it (not quite wide enough), but I’ve been toying with the idea of putting a fabric edging on the curtain. That will be a project for another weekend. Until now, I like how this some what hides the laundry space.

Pictures are great for hanging

I had a gerbera daisy picture up in this space that wasn’t quite doing it for me. Don’t get me wrong. Gerbera daisies are my favorite fun flower. But this print sort of sucked. And didn’t go well with a black and white photo I have across it. So out came the black and white kitty pictures I have lying around. I really liked this one the best here.

Kitty pictures also made it into my kitchen. These are two are great for the eating area. The margarita and cafe mocha kitties are too cute. The bottom one also covers up an annoying phone jack that I’m not using since I don’t have a land line. Yay for removing eyesore No. 2.

Fridge ornamentation

I noticed that I hadn’t changed what was hanging on my fridge since I moved in. Using Photo Laminating Sheets I got from my 3M trip, I laminated some cute things I’ve had lying around, as well as a recent shot of my mom and I from last month.

Plant some seeds and watch them grow

OK, maybe I didn’t plant them, but I am watching these little herbs grow. From left to right, Rosemary, Dill and Oregano made their home finally at my place. I’ve been wanting an herb garden for awhile and I finally found some herbs at Trader Joe’s. (This years plant offerings have really been quite lacking.) I got the long, oval vase from Ikea.

Chi where you pee

The bathroom got an update too recently, all centered around this new shower curtain. I love the purple and the glitter gems. I also went for more neutral bathroom accessories. I got the bamboo box and soap dish and added accents of white (note the candle holder and the toothbrush holder). Ignore the salt. That’s due to a canker sore that won’t quit.

I moved the washed kitty picture to this wall. I got a hand towel in this light purple color. I added the purple frame and a purple candle found a home in the white candle votive. Winnie the Pooh also finally got back up when I bought a new nightlight and put Winnie on it.

New white towels finish out the linens. And this new kitty picture went up. I love the life preserver!

from CuteOverload.com

Although I decided against buying a scooter due to state of Illinois red tape and bureacratic silliness, but this would be the right size. It’s perrrrrrfect! And I can wear my matching helmet. Excellent!

Here’s a shot of the completed Pixie Dust Quilt Socks.