Crafty Kitty

Victory is ever so sweet:

Angelica pre-blocking:

Olympic victory is mine, all mine!  I finished dear Ms. Angelica on Friday evening.  Yesterday she was blocked and today I am proud to present her to you in all her glory:

Please ignore my scary bed head.  I should probably make the boy take a better picture of me out in natural light so you can appreciate her true beauty.  Here's the info:

Pattern: Angelica, by Stefanie Japel
Date began: Saturday, February 11, 2006
Date finished: Saturday, February 25, 2006
Yarn: Halcyon Victorian Brushed Mohair, handpainted by yours truly
Needles: Size 8s, size 6s for neck keyhole detail
Modifications: I followed the pattern exactly except for the sleeves, which I made 3/4 length because I didn't dye enough yarn to make the long sleeves.  Plus, the whole time I was making it I was thinking of a springtime sweater so I thought the 3/4 length sleeves were more appropriate.

All in all I must say that I love this pattern.  It was a very simple knit, which I needed so I could finish it in 16 day Olympic deadline, and I would definitely make another one.  I'm thinking a lighter weight yarn and short sleeves for a summer-y top.  I would absolutely recommend this pattern.

Three years ago I bought myself a guitar. 

I have always wanted to play guitar but I never thought that I would be able to.  It’s not that I’m not good with music – I played the clarinet for 7 years and can also play the piano fairly well – what I’m trying to say is I know how music works what with notes and chords and keys, etc.  But I had tried to teach myself guitar before with not much success.  My Mom had talked my Grandma into letting my brother and I borrow her guitar when we were in high school so we could teach ourselves.  However, my Grandma was known for her Hawaiian guitar playing (what with STEEL strings and a slide and all) so trying to learn on her guitar was like suicide for my poor finger tips.  Needless to say I did not learn how to play much of anything on that puppy.

Fast forward a few years.  I met a friend of a friend who had a gorgeous guitar and played really well.  In fact, she played guitar while my friend sang a song to his brother at said brother’s wedding.  I might have developed a girl crush on this friend of a friend (which would have TOTALLY worked in my favor had I wanted to act on it since she was a lesbian and all).  She was totally my inspiration for purchasing a guitar.  I figured if she could do it then I could do it too. 

Purchasing a guitar was my incentive for learning.  If I was going to drop a wad of cash on a quality instrument, I damn well better learn it.  After much research and traipsing around to different music stores I settled on this guitar.  And when I first got it I did practice – a lot.  I got callouses, I learned chords, but I never sounded very good and you could never really tell what song I was supposedly playing.  It was discouraging and eventually practicing guitar became low on my list of priorities.  I swear my guitar has been played more by guys that have crushed on me or by guys that I have dated then it actually has by me.

Enter the boy.  I knew the boy was for me the second time we hung out after we “hooked up.”  I went over to his house and he was just fiddling around on his guitar when he started playing a recognizable song.  And I just kind of looked at him because it had been this weird secret fantasy that I’d had since the 8th grade that the boy I’d fall for would play this song for me on the guitar without me ever having to ask.  And then he asked if I knew the song and I said, “Of course I do.”  And that song my friends, as cheesy as it is for me to admit that I’d dreaming about it since I was 13, was Julia by The Beatles.

The boy knew I had a guitar but also knew that I couldn’t play.  For some time he’d been trying to convince me that he could teach me to play (I believe his hidden motive is that he wants someone to jam with).  I resisted, partly because I know that while I’m learning something I can get really upset if I don’t feel like I’m learning it quick enough and then I tend to get kind of snippy with whoever is trying to teach me.  Ask my Mom how fun it was to teach me how to drive clutch and then you’ll know what I’m talking about.  Finally, after we’d been together for quite some time and the boy knew me and my personality, I agreed to let him teach me.  I was doing awesome for a while.  I was actually able to strum pretty decently and I was well on my way to an awesome rendition of Brown Eyed Girl.  Then the semester started and guitar fell low on my list of priorities again and I wasn’t practicing as much.

Enter Sunday morning.  The boy and I had just woken up and ate breakfast and he was messing around on his guitar.  He was telling me about this song he was trying to play on the harmonica (that I got him for Christmas).  He’s not to the point where he can play the guitar and the harmonica together very well so he was all, “If you play the chord part I’ll totally play the harmonica part with you.  So I strummed the 3 chords of the song, which were not too hard, while he played the harmonica and we made beautiful music together.  Then that song got old so we started playing Brown Eyed Girl again.  First I needed a refresher for the chords so he gave me that.  And then we were playing it.  I kind of messed up and was getting frustrated and our conversation went something like this:

BOY:

Okay, okay.  That was…good.

ME:

You were playing the lead part too fast and then I was going too fast and it kept messing me up!

BOY:

Calmly

No, no.  I was playing it so you wouldn’t have that break that you get when you switch chords.  There should be no break.

ME:

Getting worked up

You think that I don’t know that there’s NOT supposed to be a break?  I haven’t been practicing!  What do you want from me?

BOY:

Retreating now that he sees me getting worked up

Yes, but I wasn’t trying to speed you up, I was trying to help you.

ME:

FUCK OFF ASSFACE!

It was hilarious and the exact reason I didn't want him teaching me in the first place.  I act like a 5 year old when I'm criticized in situations like that.  Except instead of a normal tantrum I cuss like a sailor and feel a desperate need to throw things around the room.  Lucky for me after the initial shock of me calling him an assface wore off, the boy found it just as funny as I did.

All I have to say is thank God for snow!  Even though I thought I was going to die as I drove home on Thursday, after driving to work only to find out we were closing the office at 9, it was totally worth it to get some serious knitting hours in.  And knit away I did!  I was able to finish the body of the Ms. Angelica and now I've got half a sleeve done.  I expect to finish the rest of that sleeve today and get the other sleeve done by the end of the week.  Saturday I'll pick up stitches and do the fancy neckline, then block her good so I can finish by the deadline!  Yay!  It's taken some serious work to get this far but it feels so good that I can knit a sweater in two weeks.  Progress:

The boy and I ventured out on Friday night to hang out with my friend Jacob who I hadn't seen in ages (since Thanksgiving, I think!) even though it was bitterly cold, or as my Dad likes to say, "Cold as a witch's tit."  It was so windy and chilly and the boy didn't even have gloves or a scarf.  I decided then and there he must have a scarf so on Saturday morning I picked a stitch pattern from my stitch dictionary and started knitting away.  It's partly why I don't have most of Angelica done, but I'm confident enough with that deadline that I knew I could start something else.  Anyhow, it's progressing quite nicely.  It's a pretty easy knit so it's sort of my space out project right now.  Check it:

Due to Valentine's Day, I was unable to make as much progress as I wanted on Ms. Angelica.  Instead I was busy preparing filet mignon, au gratin potatoes and cauliflower and vegetables for the boy.  It was quite delicious and then we finished the meal off with some store bought (me? have time to bake? hah!) Oreo Cream Pie.  It was a nice, low key way to celebrate the day.

I do at least have some progress to show for myself in regards to Angelica.  It's not much progress, but I am feeling pretty good about the fact that I feel confident I will be able to finish this sweater in the amount of time allotted.  I'm really digging this pattern and of course the yarn.  I have 20 rows of knit and then I get to start the waist shaping.  Surprisingly enough, the knit rows go pretty fast.  No time tomorrow to knit due to school, but you can bet your ass my fingers will be busy knitting on Friday.

Okay, I might have adjusted the contrast a little bit too much on this one...

My fingers are about to fall off yet I feel I MUST post a picture of my Olympic progress.  I didn't get to cast on on Friday due to running around like a chicken with it's head cut off, but I did get a lot of knitting in on Saturday and today.  I'm pretty satisfied with my progress thus far.  I'm just getting really nervous that I didn't dye enough yarn and am going to run out and not be able to duplicate the colors!  I'm thinking if worse comes to worse I may just have to make it a short sleeve or 3/4 length sleeve sweater. 

Anyhow - progress!  Sweet, sweet progress:

I am loving this yarn I dyed.  It's so scrumptious I want to eat it!

Yesterday was the last straw.  I bounced a check.  This is like the 4th check I’ve bounced since I moved to Madison.  I never, ever, ever bounced a check before moving here.  In Oshkosh I always had money coming out the wazoo.  I thought it would be the same in Madison, so I’ve sort of been neglecting my finances and have not really been paying attention to where my money goes for months.  But that bounced check made me sit down and get everything straightened out.

Luckily for me, I had a free copy of MS Money lying around that my boss had given me.  Granted it was the 2005 version and not the latest, greatest 2006 version, but it will serve its purpose.  I took an hour or two last night, loaded it up on my laptop and got to entering all my account information.  I had used Money when I first moved out 4 years ago and had a free version on the computer I had at the time.  I kept up with it for a while but it was kind of a pain in the ass because it was not nearly as automated as it is now.  This time around I just had to enter user names and passwords and through the magic of the interweb it pulls all the transaction info in for me!  All I have to do is assign it to an expense category (or an income category as the case may be).

Once I had everything pulled in and categorized I was faced with the cold hard facts of my financial situation.  Let me tell you it was not pretty.  It’s not horrible, but it could be (SHOULD BE) so much better.  I’m not accumulating an insane amount of debt or anything, but I’m not really saving anything either.  I’m one of those kinds of people who thinks that I should have at least two months rent in savings just in case for some strange reason I would lose my job (and of course still need to pay rent).  Right now, I can’t say that I would be able to do that.  Fuck, I can’t even cover a month right now, which I think might give me an ulcer if I keep thinking about it.

I am taking proactive steps to correct this whole mess.  The first thing I did was cut up my best friend – the Amazon Visa.  I was never a big credit card user before.  I would use one if I had to buy something online or if I didn’t have my check book with me.  Then the Amazon Visa was introduced into my life, and what a havoc wreaker he was.  I used him left and right, everywhere I went, because HECK YES, I was going to be getting free money to use on Amazon.  And I did – right around every 3 months I got a $25 gift certificate to spend on Amazon.  The problem was that because I was using the card instead of my checking book (or check card), in which I could see the money coming out left and right, I was using the card and not paying attention to how much I spent ,or where I was spending it or what I was spending it on.  Then I would get this amazingly huge statement at the end of the month and I would ask myself, “Self, where did we spend all this money in such a short amount of time?”  Stupid self just pushed that nagging question to the back of my mind and here we are months later and I’ve screwed myself financially.

Secondly, I’ve allowed myself about $80 spending cash a month.  That means no more going out for lunch every day at work.  It also means not going out on the town as much – for dinner and to the bars.  It also means NO MORE YARN, FABRIC or other CRAFT RELATED supplies until I get back on my feet.  I’m actually quite okay with this.  If ya’ll saw the stash of fabric under my bed you might just be a little scared that I’ve accumulated as much as I have.  Plus, I have enough yarn stashed away to keep me knitting for a year so I really don’t need anymore.  Can you tell I’m trying to rationalize this all to myself?

I’ve also come up with the goal to get my savings up to $5,000 in a year.  Once I get to that point, that doesn’t mean I can go out and start spending irrationally again.  It means that I can spend a little more but still SAVE a lot.  I’m going to be going to graduate school in a couple of years, and though I know I’ll undoubtedly need some student loans, I would also like to be able to pay for at least some of it up front.

According to my Money budget, and once I get Mr. Amazon Visa paid off after this next cycle, I should have around $500 a month to plop into savings.  By that math, I should be able to get $5,000 into my savings account in a year.  This is something I need to do.  This is something I will do.  This blog entry will hold me to it.

I decided at work this afternoon that I HAD to dye the yarn for the Knitting Olympics tonight, which I guess in essence is kind of true since I'm booked Wednesday night (at Stitch 'n Bitch) and Thursday night (at school) and I have to cast on for Ms. Angelica on Friday night.  When work finally finished, I ran over to ShopKo to get some much needed additional dyeing supplies, like latex gloves to protect my precious hands, and then got home and started prepping to dye right away.  I used WashFast Acid Dye and a little assistance from this book.

I decided I wanted a sweater with shades of green.  Initially I was thinking more deep greens like olive, and dark green, and maybe a little bit lighter dark green.  What I realized when I got home and started to mix the dye was that I wasn't that far yet and I really needed to keep it simpler.  So I opted for what I thought was a good solid green, a good green-yellow shade and some dark blue.  What I ended up getting was almost dark teal , teal, and green. 

I must say I'm really quite satisfied with the finished result and can't wait to dye more yarn!  I have some KnitPicks sock yarn and lace weight Dye Your Own to do.  When I find some time in the next few weekends (I'm looking at you, swaps, for not allowing me to say that I'll dye it this weekend) I am totally going to go crazy.  It was my first time and I didn't really know what I was doing and I kind of rushed myself through the process.  I think I'll feel more comfortable with the whole process when I do this again.  I think this is going to be crazy addictive for me.

That's right - I broke down and joined the Knitting Olympics, in which I plan to knit my first sweater.  Yeah, I think I've talked enough lately about how I was going to make the To Dye For Sweater from Stitch 'n Bitch, but when I saw this pattern I totally changed my mind: the Angelica pattern by Stefanie Japel.  The finished To Dye For Sweaters I've seen haven't looked that great - I don't know if it's the yarn, the size the people chose to make or the pattern itself.  However with Ms. Angelica every finished one I've seen looks awesome!  It was definitely not a hard decision for me to switch.  It looks like an easy enough knit - surely easier than my beloved Demi, which is why I chose it for the Olympics.  It will be a challenge for me to get it done in 16 days, but I think it is definitely do-able.  The boy might not like me for it, but I will get it done!

Remember how I said I was on a yarn diet?  Yeah, while I might have gone off that diet last week (as I also sadly went off my real life food diet).  I was home sick on the couch just browsing away at the knitting blogs when I saw something that immediately inspired me.  I heard it's siren song and it sang to me, "Julia, you must make me or your life will be incomplete!"  This thing of wonder was the Demi sweater from Rowan Vintage Knits on the Streets and YOs blog.  I got the book for Christmas and I honestly did not remember the sweater from the book because it just looks kind of blah in there.  But when I saw this other random person's finished Demi I thought to myself, "This is a thing of beauty that you can use as an excuse to break your yarn diet!"

Based on the recommendation of Diana from the Streets and YOs blog, I purhcased some Peace Fleece Worsted from the ever so lovely kpixie (thank you 10% discount for new users!).  I chose the color Siberian Midnight because who doesn't love a classic navy blue sweater?  I'm hoping the yarn gets here by the end of the week so that I can get swatching this weekend and start this piece of art.  I think it will be quite the interesting knit since there's so much cable work going on in it (and that should also make it go fast).

I'm doing pretty well with my other WIPs - I only have two going right now instead of the 6 I sometimes make myself get up to.  I'm still working on the Pinwheel Baby Blanket and I am almost done with one of the socks for the boy (gotta get those done this weekend in time for V-Day).  If I have enough time I'm going to dye the yarn for the To Dye For Sweater this upcoming weekend.  I managed to get to Goodwill on Saturday to get a dying pot so this week I just have to brainstorm the colors I want in the sweater.  I also have yarn to knit a lace scarf for my Mom to go with a blazer she got.  Other than that, I don't have any MUST knits, although I do have plenty of yarn and some other patterns I've been eyeing up.  But right now all I can think about is sweet, sweet Demi.