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today is dedicated to knitting. i hope there's some good tv on. i took about 3 days off from knitting in order to work on a friends' website which is now complete. i need to add a few more behind-the-scene type things, but you can take a look. she's a marvelous artist.
a commissioned pair of gloves, an idea for arm warmers, and friday.
You have just won one million dollars: 1. Who do you call first?
kurt. and then mom, but you didn't ask that.
2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself?
a paid-off student loan, a paid-off car loan.
3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else?
i'd buy kurt a recordable dvd player for watching taped shows.
4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom?
i prolly owe mom some money. i'd give what i'd consider to be substantial to any battered women's and homeless shelters in town.
5. Do you invest any? If so, how?
with what's left, i'd surely invest what i didn't use for a downpayment on a house. i'd have to get joe's help with that. he's good with the moola.
this is all i've done at work all week. it's a desktop background. click for the 1280x1024 version, and if your resolution is lower, resize it in your favorite graphics program. lookout!
you needed one more entry from me today. i've decided to frog the alien illusion scarf and chalk it up to learning how to read a chart. it's halfway through the second alien head and i just can't see myself doing it 4.5 more times. i think the remnants will make some nice armwarmers, though.
they're not a "pair" on purpose, and i apparently can't read a pattern so the thumb gore is about 66% shorter than it should be. thankfully they still fit. :) 
i haven't done a damn thing today for the doll factory. but i did manage to turn what was going to be a new bekee logo into a cute butterfly: 
yarn was ordered for "the manly sweater" from debbie stoller's stitch n bitch book. kurt decided it would be a fine project for him to wear. :)
i finished the fingerless mitts last night.. pics will follow when i get home. i also started on some leg warmers for a workmate's wife. hope i can get them done before valentime's day... on the work front: my boss called in sick yesterday, too. so i didn't miss much.
yea, it's lame, but i'm not feeling 100% and there's a bunch of white stuff flying around outside. one of my workmates hasn't made it in to work yet, which means the roads are no fun right now... this will give me a chance to finish up my pal's fingerless mitts. the first one went super-fast. i think i'm getting to be a more proficient knitter. or else a worse judge of time.
wow. that was so much easier than i thought it would be. and it's extra super warm. i don't think it makes me look like grimace, though it's a little big and not entirely flattering; maybe next time.
click for a larger view. 
tgif.
At this moment, what is your favorite... ...song?
hmm. i guess i don't have one.
2. ...food?
steamed broccoli
3. ...tv show?
madtv
4. ...scent?
anything vaguely staticky
5. ...quote?
"At eighty, I think what I shall regret are the things I always wanted to do and never did; the experiences I denied myself because I was too concerned about others' opinions, or too anxious for their approval; but I think I would regret most a life wasted living as someone who was not me..."
- Unknown
be worried.. since i'm 3" away from finishing the sleeve and have started on the 4th of 5 skeins of yarn, but i am. i'm worried that i'll run out of yarn. i'm not 100% worried about dye lots cuz it might look cool if the top is darker or lighter, but i'll be somewhat put-out since i'll have to order more, which means waiting.
this link is quite amusing. it allows you to put a content-based site into the layout of another. below is an image of my blog put into cnn's layout. click for a larger view. (img and tag missing) cnnbekee_sm.gif
the sweater is going well.. i'm about halfway done with sleeve #2 and should be able to make a nice dent in it tonight. i really need to find an occupation that allows me to knit during down-times.
i've been the victim of comment-spam; it certainly took longer than i had expected for this to happen. now i get to research how to fix it.
penguins are so cute. 
there's a theme today. smack the penguin.
thanks, greatly, to MLK, J. i'm able to spend the day on the couch. :) hopefully i'll get both sleeves done today and can start the daunting process of joining them to the body.
after succesfully upgrading movable type, i figured it was time for some pictures. this first one is the start of very first sweater. after thoroughly reading the directions, i might be emailing kate (the pattern designer) for some help. i hope she won't mind. :) 
this next one is a super idea that i saw on someone else's blog pictures.. i never knew what to do with the row counter. i'd lose it in the couch if it weren't attached to anything, so if you tie it on the end of the yarn tail, it's right there for you when you get done with a round! simply ingenious. 
with the help of the marvelous amy last weekend, we (well, she) made this from debbie stoller's stitch 'n bitch. mom bought me this fabric over a year ago and i just figured out what to do with it. thanks mom! 
with freezing rain turning to snow, the sidewalks around here are sure to be slippery. i'm walking up to lazy jane's this morning to meet friend from work and his wife for breakfast. hopefully i can make a dent in the sweater today. it's about 6" long now. i'm amazed at people like bonne marie who seem to pump out a sweater a day! i aspire to be like her. she's "lucky" though, she gets commute time to knit.
i /twisted the stitches!/ i always read the directions and when it says "join and be careful not to twist the stitches" i think, who would do that? i wouldn't do that! i did it. essentially knitting a 6x40" mobeius. i had to start the sweater over last night. it still amazes me how much faster things go after having to frog something.
and now for something completely different:
1. What does it say in the signature line of your emails?
i have an anti-virus program that sig's the bottom of my emails.. some sort of advert mumbo-jumbo.
2. Did you have a senior quote in your high school yearbook? What was it? If you haven't graduated yet, what would you like your quote to be?
i avoided being in the senior yearbook except for the obligatgory senior picture. sometimes i wonder why so much emphasis was placed on that little book.
3. If you had vanity plates on your car, what would they read? If you already have them, what do they say?
the department of motor vehicles wouldn't allow for what i would want to say.
4. Have you received any gifts with messages engraved upon them? What did the inscription say?
nope.
5. What would you like your epitaph to be?
i'm not sure i'm ready to answer that.
my boss asked me yesterday if i was doing okay and she was worried about me. i think it's because i'm having a hard time holding in my cynical sarcasm (though, only in appropriate company does it come out). i think i've let myself turn into a cog. i should work on that.
i frogged the scarf, since i don't like to have more than 3 WIPs at a time, and i didn't think i'd have enough yarn for the width with which i started. i tried writing that sentance incorrectly, but it seems funnier this way. anyhow, the yarn for my very first sweater arrived today! i'll tell ya, those denise needles sure came in handy. i manufactured a 32" circ with that little kit. i didn't even need to get mad at wiscocrafts for not having any of the right needles in stock. what a positive relief. anyhow, 138 stitches was a lot to cast on, and is a lot to purl around for an inch, but i find i like purling repetatively much better than k1, p1. it's nicer to my wrists to do just one or the other. this yarn, on the other hand, isn't as forgiving. it's bernat illusions which, though it looks real nice, it's very boucle-like and has snaggability issues.
on a down note, the mattel knitting machine buyer emailed me earlier this week and said it doesnt work (!). i'm refunding his money cuz i'm that kind of gal, but what am i going to do with a, now broken, plastic knitter? it worked when i shipped it cuz i made a 6' tube-scarf out of it. anyhow, i'm chalking it up to an annoyance and will not get too worked up over it.
i came across this pattern today while surfing a non-knitting message board.
i started the fingerless gloves last night. i think they'll go well. and if they do, i need to figure out a way to not have to use US#2 needles. maybe i'm a wimp, or maybe it's the tendonitis coming back, but those are too damn small.
so i frogged the long-ways scarf and started it over like a regular person. i also found this pattern for fingerless gloves via the KnitList and decided to bite the bullet and go for nice instead of fast for my friend. she'll appreciate it. check out marnie's other patterns, too. she's got some great design sense.
way-laying on the fingerless glove. it kinda fits me. i think i'll have to finish it and have the recipient try it on. i can't remember if her fingers are bigger 'round than mine or about the same. consequently, i started a longways scarf tonight. i don't think i've ever casted on more than 100 stitches (for a hat). i cast on 130 for the scarf .. hopefully it's gunna be long enough. it's pretty big yarn on pretty big needles.
start bringing my lunch to work. as often as possible. i hope. today we'll have a small caesar salad and veggie boullion soup. yum!
worked on a fingerless glove last night and even though my gauge was spot-on, the finger bits are pretty tight. i thought the sock yarn i got would suffice, but it's way too small and i didn't think it'd be very warm. maybe i'm wrong and should just bite the bullet and do the pair in the sock yarn.
everything needs a cozy: 
this scarf is so cute. it looks like lemon chiffon yogurt. 
almost finished an iPod cozy for a friend at work. he's in the reserves, so for some reason, the left-over cammo red heart junk that i have got used. i'll post pics as soon as i get the velcro sewed on. since my sweater yarn hasn't arrived yet, i'm working on a plain 'ol scarf from some supersoft lemon-sherbet yarn.
on using up some oldies from my stash. the following is a nice, classy scarf. not made for warmth, but for style. somethings have to have form over function.
has drained me (at work). thank goodness it's over.
What one thing are you most looking forward to... ...today?
getting home, hopefully to find new yarns from elann. :)
2. ...over the next week?
a further attempt at ending a habit.
3. ...this year?
continuing with the non-existence of said habit.
4. ...over the next five years?
i'd love to open a yarn store in the 'hood. there's nothing close by and i don't like driving out past east towne for crappy yarns*.
5. ...for the rest of your life?
happiness, safety, health, and a lot of laughs.
*they're not /really/ crappy yarns... it's just far to drive for nothing amazing.
i can't wait. i just bought this.
my denise needles came yesterday. essentially, it's a set of different-sized points that attach to various lengths of cords, saving me time (driving around to find a store with the right size and length needle) and money (the set was ~ $50 with shipping and most needles are $6-10 a piece). i also found some beautiful yarn on eBay .. a brand and type that's usually much more expensive. even with shipping, i saved about $10. i ALSO ordered yarn for the very first sweater project.
i wasn't too impressed with the selection of colors but kurt helped me pick out a nice, dark purple that i think i can get away with wearing. now lets just hope we measured me right so it's not too small. too big, i can handle.
for this poll, regardless of your stance:
(link removed - page not found)
a friend passed it on and when it launched, it was at 97% against homosexual marriages and civil unions. since this is my soap-box, i'm happy to state that it's now more than 50% for homosexual marriages.
since i've complained about work. but instead of going ahead with it, i'll stop myself because our little web team is just as stressed out as the rest of the company.
i've been working on a really cute, lace-ish scarf--more of a dress-up than a warm scarf. it's tricolored with some leftover silk/cotton from a hat that i got tired of. the ups guy tried to deliver my denise needles yesterday (i think that's what the package was), but kurt was in the shower and wasn't able to get the door. hopefully he'll be up when the delivery happens again today.
here's simon in his new sweater. it's more of a fall/spring sweater, as it doesn't go under his belly.. which he apparently doesn't like anyhow. what a cutie!
finished this hat last night, but not soon enough for all the snow that we got. 
and this scarf. omg the yarn is the softest thing i have ever felt. i got it from elann, so it's going to be out of circulation at some point. 
buy either or both at my bekeeboutique
it has been a pretty busy day and i forgot to blog until just now. i sold the mattel knitting machine on ebay. yea, i know. i whined and whined and when i finally got it, i decided it was pretty lame. it's okay, if someone else can use it; more power to 'em. i bought more elann yarn today, with the money received from the auction. that'll be a happy surprise whenever that shows up.
kurt and i are going to try our hands at making falafel tonight.
i found a skein of idena ocean at the bottom of my bin of yarns so i decided to bust out a hat. it looks small, but it's k1 p1 rib so it will stretch nicely. i should start to be more of a hat wearer with all the hats i have in my stash of FOs. 
i'm already starting to feel grumpy about going back to work tomorrow. i've been off since xmas eve. i have gotten a crazy amount of knittin done. my stash has been turned into FOs that i should take to a consignment store over on e. johnson st. cuz no one wants to buy knitted things off of a website without touching it first.
this knitted up way fast on US#15 needles. it was nice to finally use up some chenille yarn that i bought on eBay forever ago. 
i finished a fuzzy scarf and am about 80% done with a triangle shawl. both soon to be put into the boutique-complete with pictures.
i totally didn't knit at all yesterday. it was a slow and lazy day and i hardly had the energy to sit up straight. :) kurt had to work but bob was kind enough to let him open the bar late (at 5p) so he only had to sling brew for 3 hours. he came home and woke me up (!) and we watched /misery/ while waiting for our delivery food, neither of us could do much else.
today i have to get my tires rotated and balanced.