snowy day in nyc

growing up in the south (louisiana) i dreamed of snowy days in the winter time - however the view as an adult who has to go to work during a heavy snow storm is another story - as i discovered this morning - a 50 minute commute stretched to two hours... but the snow looks pretty out the window.

well i dont actually have THAT view but my office building is one block from this walk - its very pretty now right? one thing i have learned is that after the pretty snow comes the slush. well there's a price to pay for beauty, i guess.

yesterday read thru the new Melville book at lunchtime - its really a grand book - very well put together with lots of good notes on techniques and tips and very clear photos and illustrations. have another list of projects to add to my future projects list. and am already thinking of some stash yarn for either the Einstein Coat or the Best Friend Jacket. i really love her inventiveness and the flexibility of the patterns. found a grand quote sally uses from Churchill = a new fav for me and sitting here on my desk to inspire me.

"Creativity is the ability
to move from one failure to another
with no loss of enthusiasm." --Churchill


last night i was pretty tired - but was able to start the larger size of the little aran pullover - decided to make the 18 month size since it goes so quickly can make a bigger one next year - got the bottom band done and then fell asleep on the couch - this morning in the rush to get the snow boots and wrap up to sludge thru the snow to the subway i forgot to get the larger needles i needed to change to for the sweater body - so i got on the subway and got my knitting out for what turned out to be a long commute and then realized . oh s$#t. well i needed to knit and so i just knit in the smaller size and i will rip it back tonight - that knitting this morning was more about mental calmness than anything else - as i HATE to be late due to transportation problems or weather stuff and get really anxious - if i am running late thats another story... ah well.

it was fairly busy today at work - you would have thought half the office would have stayed home with their children but the law marches forward. i am just now finishing up some things and will be heading out. ironically around 3 pm the storm ended and the snow came out for a couple of hours!! the inconstancy of the weather.

so time to head on out - this weekend lots of clean up to do in the apt - and maybe some knitting project organization - also want to research a digital camera so i can put some of my work on here. any suggestions are appreciated. i may go into the office sat afternoon for a little more catchup... will see.

updated my blog - changed my comments to another one that seems a bit faster than the yaacs. and added a tag board (inspired by wendyknits' blog)
onward

so last night was the first meeting of the new knitting group at my workplace! (a nyc midtown law firm - thats the GM (TRUMP) Building next to the Sherry Netherlands Hotel)

eight brave souls showed up and we had lively conversation about knitting - there was one accomplished knitter and several who wanted to revive their knitting and then several newbies. only three of us brought our knitting (one returning newbie) and so after about an hour, the others left, seemingly excited about coming back next week with yarn in hand to start or renew their skills.

the remaining hour was spent helping a former knitter (she said 30 years) with relearning. fortunately the other accomplished knitter knits english (i knit continental) so we were able to show her both methods - she decided that continental was what she learned. i did the cast on and first row and then she knit away for the next hour - only getting messed up when she stopped and tried to analyze what she was doing. as long as she was talking away, she was fine. so we had about 45 minutes of knitting time and chat.

this morning i received a lovely note from the other "knitter" thanking me for starting the group. i am glad that there are others who are interested - and there were four who couldnt make it last night who will be coming next week - so we will be a group of about 12 - a good size i think.

anyway - i didnt get much done on my knitting until the end - being the spearhead of the group. but i am thrilled to be sharing my knitting love with others... i hope that at some point we may do some charity knitting.

i was able to get home in time to catch west wing and my britcom EastEnders and do some more work on the little aran pullover.



however, i LEFT my new MELVILLE book AT WORK boohoo - i guess i was psyched about the new group and knitters, etc - as i was leaving my office i kept thinking i had forgotten something but had the usual things, cell phone, keys, money, etc... only after i had been home for awhile did i realize that i had left it under some papers on my desk... quelle dommage ;(

so today i have something to look forward to after work... or maybe during lunch again - although i need to go buy some of the tea i love (fauchons for those who love french tea). i am addicted to several of their teas and am almost out! so a little shoppoing spree is warranted (i try not to drink coffee as it dehydrates me and my office is very dehydrated.) and as the weatherguys are forecasting up to four inches of snow by noon friday - i should go today.



on the train this morning, i started the bigger size of the aran pullover for my nephew - he is one years old (jan 20) and lives in Louisiana but i think i will make the two year old size so he can wear it next year too. last night, finished the back of the smaller size pullover and started the front. read thru the end of the pattern - its pretty ingenious with the shoulder replaced by buttons - i think it would be easily adaptable to other kinds of cable patterns - i may do the one for my nephew with the heart pattern coming up the front panel (its an 18stitch repeat) and change the outside O cables to XO cables (since its a burgundy yarn)... hmmm. i just cant do a pattern straight (well, sometimes i can but not very often ;o)

quick update
sick yesterday with a migraine - slept most of the day due to the medicine's affects. ripped out the aran sweater and restarted (third time is the charm?) - in the round for first 5 inches then split for the front and back - the steeks didnt work due to the way the front neck and shoulders are designed - didnt feel like doing a total redesign. got almost all of back done - ready for the finishing inches.

will also make the larger size for my nephew - this one is for a colleague's new baby boy (father is irish)

tonight is first meeting of a knitting group i am starting at my workplace - about 12-15 people expressed interest - it will be interesting to see who shows up - and what they want to do.... more later tonight or tomorrow.

FINALLLLLLLy got my MELVILLE book - yahoo! was going to look at it at lunch but a friend sat down and so will have it to savor tonight .... at first glance it looks great... something to look forward to.

well off to get ready for the meeting!

last night was an exercise in frustration - yet a learning experience too. i am working on the little aran from the Heirloom baby book by Falick and Nichols



anyway, i am changing the pattern (of course) and making it in the round - but for some reason - probably too overloaded with Shuttle coverage - i just kept blithely knitting away and as i was nearing the part where the shaping for the neck begins, i realized i had forgotten to either 1) split the front and back for the armholes and finish separately or 2) make steeks for the armholes. so after i had 10 inches, i had to frog back to five inches and the make the steeks and reknit - and of course this is at 1 in the morning and of course i couldnt go to sleep until i had a few inches with the steeks.

well thats done. so tonight i should be able to get the body done and maybe pick up stitches for one of the sleeves. i think the book has the sleeves in seed stitch but i may add one or two cables to keep it interesting .... will see. (have to review the pattern again).

surprise at work today - my mom sent me a lovely bouquet of sweet peas and hyacinths for moving from the weekend position to the mon-fri day position. (a sideways promotion for now - supposedly a raise in june) the perfect size to sit between my three monitors and two keyboards (dont ask) and a great little vase to inspire me to keep it filled with flowers... i love having fresh flowers on a desk full of office stuff and computers... except that you have to be pretty careful too (small price).

ok now to figure out why the knitblog ring code isnt working... and to do some work. but one more thing - still waiting for my order from schoolhousepress - i am dying to get my hands on that melville book...

weekend and well not much knitting to speak of - was totally exhausted from last week and slept most of sat - didnt plan on it - was going to go in to the office around 1 pm - hopefully this is the last weekend officially in - instead finally got up around 430 when i turned on the radio and found out about the shuttle explosion.. yikes. watched cnn for awhile and then went to the office around 8 pm... worked awhile and tried setting up stuff on my laptop but it blew up and then i was stuck with no programs and the xp cd at home..argh. so i copied some patterns and left.

got home to find masterpiece theatre repeat of a silly patische called Me and Mrs Jones - watched it while knitting on the little aran sweater - managed to add an extra row in the pattern and had to rip out one and half pattern repeats .. double argh. not a good day all around although looking at robson green for two hours helped a little bit.

today has been spent fielding phone calls and requests from the weekend temp replacement and fixing the laptop - reinstalled xp pro and it seems to be behaving. of course then i had to reinstall every program - no data lost just program files needed to be reinstalled so that the registry would be updated... but instead of cleaning and washing clothes i spent the afternoon and now early evening performing computer maintenance... sigh..

ok so now i am going to do some hand wash and settle down to watch the first episode of Masterpiece Theatre's new series FOYLE'S WAR with Michael Kitchen as a detective in south coastal england during wwii - a reluctant one apparently - good cast and clip sees typical good brit fare... just perfect for some knitting and relaxing- as i bring my first real sunday at home in eight years to a close.



hope my books from Schoolhousepress are in on monday - dying to see the einstein coat and other items in sallys new book and of course, interweave knits is nowhere to be seen - as others are already talking about it on the knit u list... i seem to get my magazines later and later here in brooklyn.

whew end of day on friday and ready to go home.
i forgot to mention that i sent an email to my work's CLASSIFIED ads last week seeking other interested knitters at the workplace to start an after-work knitting group. i got some good responses and enough (about a dozen) interested that i am going to hold a first meeting next week! i am excited... we can meet in our company's huge cafeteria which is open 24/7 and the kitchen is open til 9 pm so folks can get whatever they want to munch on.

i had tried to start a group in park slope a couple of years ago and it didnt work out. so i am glad that this may - it seems as if there are a lot of newbies but thats fine - i would like to spend some time doing charity knitting and others are interested too. we'll see how it goes.

finished the cowl on wednesday night - after hair appt and getting home at an unbelievably early hour for me - 630 pm! then after that i worked on that best baby sweater and didnt like it so frogged it and then gave up for the night - thursday i had some stomach something (probably food poisoning) so after sleeping most of the morning - while recupping on the sofa, started a little aran cardigan i had designed for my nephew but in wool for the colleague's baby - but the red wool i had is too bulky and i needed something red as its a heart design - so frogged that after an hour of work - it was way too big for a new baby- and then got out the Falick/Nichols baby book and fllipping thru - found the baby aran sweater - funny how i hadnt remembered seeing it before... anyway its perfect and i have some patons wool that is a decent weight for it - am doing it in the round - its basically ft and bk with open shoulders with buttons. cast on and got about 5 inches done while watching FARMERS DAUGHTER (a fav) and a spencer tracy film - THE LAST HURRAH which i had never seen - very interesting John Ford film about tracy as an irish mayor who loses his last reelection and - good acting and dialogue and of course great depth of casting. a good evening.

still waiting for my package from schoolhouse press with the new Sally Melville book - sigh i had hoped it would come today - but i will have to make do this weekend with out it... anticipation especially to see and read about the Einstein coat everyone is talking about on the knit lists.

ok im off home now - to watch britcoms and knit and take out some of the newspapers in the five foot high stack... yikes.
e

argh
i had a nice long post written out and then got a phone call so finished it and when i went to post and publish - ti was gone!!!! ugh

so a shorter version herewith
work on the cowl progressed last night - while watching the fantasy but fun show Gilmore Girls (luke the diner guy has some serious competition!) and then reality doses with the prez. thank goodness the camera pool showed the dems sitting thru many of the reps standing ovations. where is the money going to come from for all of those programs and the tax refunds? can you say deficit spending? yikes.

finished one ball and started another and got half way thru - cowl is reaching almost the ending length - and then need to decide what to do for the edge to make it the top (since the lace has a definite top to the pattern). have a hair appt (first in a year) today and needed to bring something not as bulky so am starting an EZ best baby sweater for a colleague's new baby boy (jan 1). from my stash (!) in Classic Elite inca alpaca , a pretty dark blue heather. need to choose a more manly pattern than the lacey ones i normally use but the beginning is the yoke in garter so i can find a pattern tonight.

its been snowing off and on all day since i was walking to the subway - as a southern gal i still marvel and delight at snow falling - hopefully with the cold spells of the last few weeks, the ground is solidly frozen and it will stay on for awhile - would love to walk around prospect park and get shots.

ok off to do some work before i have to leave -
e

long time no post

well... since may i have knitted but obviously not posted.

gosh - where did the year go... summer was hot and long - to be honest i dont remember what i was doing that i couldnt post but i know i worked a lot and stayed in the ac a lot during one of the hottest summers in nyc...

i was working on many little sweaters for my new nephew - and struggling with the powers that be at my "job" to convert from part time to full time - THAT did finally happen at the end of september and i started working four days- friday-monday with sat and sun 12 hour days. then the first week of october two day guys were fired and i started working seven days and did that thru christmas (with only three days off - how crazy was i ? dont ask) and then i applied for one of the day spots and got it and started that last week - however i am training the temp consultant who is replacing me - so worked last weekend and will for at least two more... however not long hours. slept in for the first time in years on sunday morning and went in mid afternoon.

boy am i looking forward to having weekends off along with the rest of the world... its been eight long years on the weekends... the reasons why i took it involved pursuit of a music career which didnt work out. (NOT more about that as it is too depressing)

anyway - back to the present. while i was working nonstop from oct thru dec, the closest i got to knitting was carrying a project back and forth in the cab to the office and home at night - however i did start a shawl of my own design out of classic elite inca alpaca using cat's paw pattern (one of the old shetland patterns from one of the Barbara Walker books probably book one, will have to look it up..) anyway it was a simple pattern with garter stitch edge and increases every other row... i have no idea how many skeins i used, i just keep knitting and knitting - its very big - probably five feet from the tip of the triangle to the center of the top. i pushed to finish it two weeks ago - i took three days off !!!! and slept and knit and that was it... well, by the third day, i couldnt stand it and actually cleaned some of the apt and put away some things (however, the five foot high stack of newspapers is still there... later). anyway, i finished it just in time for the artic freeze which hit nyc last week - boy was i glad to have it. incredibly warm and very light!

but the artic freeze out continues, so sunday i cast on for a cowl in the same yarn and the same pattern to match - just a tube to fit over my head to keep it warm (since i hate hat hair) almost finished with this - just a few more inches - knit a lot during my first pedicure in about a year last night... and then while watching two british mysteries last night (yeah) - midsomer murders and waking the dead (love that trevor eve!)

well thats it for now... back to work. hopefully i will be posting more frequently - inspired by wendy and others whom i visit daily.
e

sigh

well i had a crisis at work that started sunday morning and lasted thru last night... it was a long stretch... so no knitting since friday. will make up for it soon as i plan an evening in front of the tv watching among others the season finale for judging amy, a fav show. and then a bbc presentation of ice house with some great acting. that should give me a lot of knitting time! and some relaxation too!

did get the new knitters - seems smaller and again i dont see much that i am interested in making - probably cause i looked at during the four day marathon called work this weekend- will give it another shot tonight.