Summer Knitting Goals

Wow, has it really already been a year since I entered Skeins Her Way's knitting blog contest? I remember last year my goals were to complete Juliet, Rusted Root, and Green Gable. They were all completed and I remember how proud I was of Juliet because she was my first knitted sweater ever. :-) Even though I rarely wear her since it flares out too much at the waist, I still enjoyed making her.

This year, I have quite a few summer knitting goals but I'm not sure if I'll be able to complete all of them by summer's end. I guess it won't hurt to hope?


Goals:

1. Complete 2nd Backward Cabled Pullover (I haven't blogged about it yet, but I'll take a progress pic soon.)
2. Complete Leaf Yoke Top (same as the first)
3. Start Printed Silk Cardigan (I have started swatching, but at the rate I'm going, I highly doubt this will be completed.)
4. Start a vest for Dad's birthday (or Christmas present if I can't finish in time...hehe)
5. Finish crocheting and sewing up Sackboy

Pocky

I love Pocky and after bf and I discovered a Japanese market in the Convoy area that we've never been to today, I loaded up on a lot of Pocky and promptly had a photo shoot.

Here is my family of 13 different Pocky's!


And here's one with the bastard child, Lucky Stick, at the bottom.


Now I'm almost afraid to eat them...

Pictures from San Francisco

I know I promised pictures of my Christmas trip to San Francisco, and here they are!





* The Ferry Building was really amazing and teeming with tons of fresh, food vendors.

* Inside the Ferry Building.

* The mushroom shop.

* Another shop.

* Outdoor skating rink across from the Ferry Building.


* The most awesome yarn store in San Francisco! It was so hard for me to leave the store...sob. (Also, I am wearing a brand-new, grey Gretel that I furiously knit before the trip and the red scarf I made last year.)

* Imagiknit was huge (for a LYS). This is just one room. The store is composed of 2 main rooms. I literally stood in awe for a couple minutes staring at all the yarn lining the walls.

* More yarn. I forgot to take a picture of the second room, but it was basically filled with springtime and novelty yarns. They also had a huge table heaping with handknit pattern models for sale too.

* I loved the Castro District! They had many really distinct and unique shops everywhere. Too bad I didn't have time to go into the chocolate store. This shot is taken near 18th Street, near one of the yarn stores I visited.

* Chocolate!

* Teeheeheh. Giggle giggle.

* Crepes! We had strawberry nutella crepes and a turkey artichoke. They were yummy. That's my mom on the left wearing the Gretel I had initially made for an aunt. (Mom loved it upon first sight and decided to steal it. The aunt ended up getting chocolates instead. Hehe.)

* Entering the indoor mall at JapanTown. That's my mom and dad. Dad wearing one of the first crochet caps I ever made him, and Mom with her Gretel.

* Cool, tall buildings near downtown.

* A yarn store in the Castro.

* Inside Noe Knit.

Vacation

Tomorrow, I will be going home to visit my parents for two weeks. During that time, we are going to go to San Francisco for a couple days. There are a couple of yarn stores I would like to see, but I'm not sure if I'll get the chance. I heard there's a store called ArtFibers in San Francisco that is rumored to have gorgeous yarn at very expensive prices. Not sure if I will go if I know I definitely won't buy anything. I'm also excited to finally go see a certain yarn store in my parents' city. They're holding a bottle of Soak for me to pick up. (I can't wait to introduce my parents to Soak and the joy of washing hand-knits.)

I'm going to bring some needles and patterns with me. Currently, I'm working on a Gretel (finally, the first one for me) and hopefully I can get it finished in time before I hit the cold streets of SF. I'm going to bring along the pattern for Ingenue from Custom Knits, but I'm not sure if I want to start a large project over vacation. I tend to do smaller projects when I'm traveling for portability. It also makes sense because I wouldn't have Internet and access to Ravelry. *Gasp*. Most likely, I'll make another Koolhaas and various dishcloths to show you when I come back!

I'm back!

Well, I've been back in town for almost 2 weeks now, but it has been a whirlwind of activity. After coming home from Washington on the 6th, I went to a dentist consult on the 9th to do x-rays of my teeth, and had all 4 wisdom teeth removed on the 11th. I was a bit scared going into the process as a lot of people I know have been telling me horror stories about their experiences. One co-worker even has a permanently damaged jaw. And I had never been under anesthesia before so that was also a new experience for me. But all in all, it really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Except for non-stop bleeding on the first day and swelling like a chipmunk, it was relatively painless. I only had to take 1 Vicodin after the surgery and I haven't taken any since. Don't want to become addicted to painkillers if I can help it.

I took many pictures in Seattle, Bellingham, and even a day in Vancouver. I even had the rare chance to do a quick visit at an alpaca farm! Once I clear up hard drive space on my computer, I'll load the pictures up and tell you all about my exciting trips to the Washington yarn stores. :-)

Over the past four days, I took time off from work and basically slept and knitted everyday. I am really glad to say that Talia is finally finished! I actually managed to get past the neckline shaping part! Yay! I still need to sew on some buttons, block her, and then I'll take some pictures. I still can't really believe I finished her since she is the most complicated knitted sweater I have ever made. She's not perfect, and I know exactly where I made mistakes, but after frogging numerous times, I decided I'll live with mistakes that hopefully nobody else will notice too much.

On the knitting front, I realized I tend to fall into new projects before an old one is quite finished. So yesterday, before Talia was completed, I started the Shalom Cardigan from http://involvingthesenses.blogspot.com/ . Hapichick on Ravelry has a gorgeous version of which I will be shamelessly copying her right down to the yarn. Only difference is that mine will be a blush pink. :-)

Vacation and random gifts

Well I'll be off to Seattle tomorrow for 1.5 weeks of vacation, tourist attractions, and fun. I've reached the neckline shaping section of Talia and she is beginning to get difficult, so I will unfortunately have to leave her at home. People laugh at me when I say knitting stresses me out at times. Not all the time. Only the times when I make mistakes I don't know how to fix, or when I keep ending up with the wrong stitch counts. But I'll be bringing along some wool and straight needles to try a cabled scarf pattern I've been eyeing for a while now. Something easy and relaxing.

Here's a picture of a bag hook my bf randomly gifted upon me last week. I have always wanted one, and surprisingly, The Limited were selling bag hooks! I don't know of any other store in the mall that carries them. They're great for hanging your purse on the table when you're at a restaurant and you won't be forced to put it down on a chair (or worse, a dirty floor!)

Busy bee

I haven't updated in a while due to being quite busy and stressed out. Last week, I caught the cold that was going around my office and on top of it was somehow extra busy when I had a 102 degree fever. But luckily, I have recovered. Knock on wood! Lately, I have been stressed out over finding a new apartment, packing, and finding the perfect desk, but that will be over soon. :-) Last night, I finally bought a desk that I managed to get delivered to me. Maybe one day I'll find a matching hutch for it, but it will do for now. It is beautiful and in very good condition and I am excited because there will be enough room to throw my WIPs on it.

Tonight I'm going to begin moving my stuff over to my new apartment. I am very excited and haven't been sleeping well lately due to that. I haven't had my own room for six years. Yay to being able to sleep peacefully without hearing my roommate's snores! Yay for being able to control the ability to open my windows wide! (I love fresh air.) Although for 2 years in college, I did have a really good roomie who subsequently became my best friend. Thank god Maryann loved air too! :-D

In knitting news, Juliet was finished last Sunday when I was feverish, bored, and trying to relax. I wove in all her ends as I knitted her because I know I would never be able to finish a project if I had a million ends to weave in after alll the knitting was done. Now all she needs is to be blocked and then I will post some pictures!

Here's a picture of my new desk!