sweater for my sister

I knitting Belle Epoque presented in the Winter 04 issue of knitty.com. My friend (who introduced me to Knitty so long ago) and I are finding these last few issues exposing us to really grotty designs so I'm sifting through the archives to expand my knitting repertoire. This is how it looks on the designer.
I've been researching her other designs and found that she is relatively flat chested. As my people are quite curvy, I'm hoping this will work out. I'm using Cleakheaton Studio Mohair in a dark rose shade (# 19). Once I started knitting with it, I realized that was just a tish more rosy than her tea cozy. But I also noticed that she was wearing a scarf with a similar color so I'm a little less worried that it won't suit her.
I was misunderstanding the lace pattern instructions to the point where I thought that I was going insane. Somehow I figured it out at last yesterday afternoon, much to the relief of the boyfriend who no longer needed to suffer from expletive outburts every few minutes.

Slippers "just like mom used to make"

I finally managed to mail these slippers to my sister. I love the pattern. It is really simply yet durable and easy to fit any foot.

running a 5K this weekend

I'm running my first 5K on Sunday. It is the Race for Justice, put on by the U of M Law School to help lawyer do more pro bono work and still stay current on their student loan payments.

I'm thinking about getting rid of my Ross Compact. It was fun during the summer but now it is just big and heavy and I think that I can do better.

I finally started on the straps for the Oskar Werner bag. I also found out that my friend at Augsburg is doing film studies now, which sounds super cool. Another friend is in Budapest doing a masters in public policy, specifically software patent law.

Erik's is ok if you are looking for something obsure

O.K. I have had a personal grudge against Erik's Bike shop ever since one of their stores opened in Dinkytown right next to the Varsity Bike shop, the bike shop that always had my back as a student at the U. This weekend we were looking for a race for an axle for a Giant road bike from the 1980's. We went to Freewheel, the Hub, Penn Cycles. We tried to go to Grand Performance and Express Bikes (they are closed on Sunday!). We tracked down Rice Street Bikes, where the bike was purchased originally. Now it is a frisbee golf store.

We finally gave in and went to the Erik's bike shop in Dinkytown. There was a young man manning the store, all alone. "If you like pina coladas" was cheerfully playing the Muzak and I felt a pang of sympathy for the guy. He found the races! In like 4 minutes. Pretty impressive.

A friend and I spent the afternoon yesterday being vulture-like at a yarn store that is going out of business on 58th Street and Nicollet. I snagged 10 skeins of 100% mercerized cotton for $20, some little circular needles and sock yarn that actually makes making wool socks cheaper than buying them. I'm looking for US #19 circulars that are 40 inches long to make t-shirt rugs. I think that I should be able to make Tubey with the cotton. I hope that it is springy enough. I made the swatch last night and it was beautiful.

knitting crazy, free beethoven cd's

Last week I actually did a really very "Office Space"-ish thing. I was manning the front desk at my office and I actually started to knit to pass the time because there was nothing going on. No students, no emails, no phone calls (a couple days earlier a young man called who seemed unfamiliar with voice messages. Kati: You called the Center for Writing? Guy: Yah, but no one answered. Kati: You didn't even get a voice message? Guy: Oh, well someone answered, I just couldn't talk to them.)

So, I added a little knitting progress thing in the sidebar. Pretty cool.

I've started on a hat for my roommate. He has a yellow winter jacket with gray accents so I'm making him a gray hat with dark blue accents. I like that he will remind people of the new Guthrie or IKEA. Will it make people realize that the new Guthrie looks like IKEA? At Christmas my boyfriend's mom served scrambled eggs in a beautiful dark blue bowl. I immediately thought of IKEA.

If you go to the Orchestra on your way to work this morning, they are giving out pastries and Beethoven CD's.

My transmission is toast. Luckily I have rainy day money. Money for that weird rainy day on Tuesday when I took my car into be looked at.

tea cozy for my twin

Here is a picture of a tea cozy that my sister found in her stocking yesterday. I finished in during the night between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day when all of the Christmasy magic is supposed to happen. I knitted it while watching the new Doctor Who series so when I look at it. I think of Doctor Who. My sister thinks of Fraggles.

My prematurely arthritic car

I bought a 2000 Hyundai Sonata this spring. It has been privy to the love and affection of my boyfriend, his dad, and I through multiple tune-ups, adjustments and painting the back fender (I bought it that way) over the summer. Now its computer codes are telling us that its torque converter is malfuncting. This basicly means that when it is cold and/or irritable it refuses to remember how to shift gears. I was brought up on a VW Rabbit so I know how to shift gears. If only it would let me help it! After an afternoon in a parking garage, it shifts like it always did.

I'm knitting franticly. Unfortunately I still don't have the hedgehog pictures.

hedgehog sweater

The last week I was commissioned to knit and felt a sweater for my friend's hedgehog. I completed it over the weekend and am anxiously awaiting the reception of the sweater by the hedgehog. Most people think that it will tear it to bits. I'm still optimistic that everything will be fine. Once the sweater is determined a success, I will post my pattern here.

Knitting Needles inventory

Knitting needles
Metric	2	2.25	2.75	3	3.25	3.5	4	4.5	5	5.5	6	6.5	7	8	9	10
US	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	10.5	10.75	11	13	15
Straight	0	0	0	0	M	x	XM	X	X	X	M	0	0	0	M	X
Double	0	0	0	0	0	0	X	X	X	0	0	0	X	0	X	0
Circular	0	X	X	X	0	0	0	0	X	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

I'm posting this so that I can keep track of the needles that I need

Key:

X=Have (wooden)

M=Have (metal)

0=Need (preferably wooden)