This is the “Cropped Cardigan with Leaf Ties” from Fitted Knits. I made this sweater to wear with summer dresses, but I didn’t finish it in time for summer. It doesn’t really fit with my style so I think I’m giving it to my mom. It fits her better too. It’s cute, just not on me. It’s been sitting unfinished for so long, I’m glad to finally have it out of the way.

My niece modeled this sweater for the official website & pattern, so I had to make her one for herself. You can see how big she’s grown and how different she looks from when she modeled it! I think she wore the 3 months size for the photoshoot (it was snug) and here she is wearing 12 months and it fits her perfectly. Which means she won’t fit it in about 2 months. It took me longer than I expected to knit.

Surprisingly, it’s only the second sweater I’ve knit for her. But there are some very cute patterns that she modeled for next season’s Berroco collection that I might make. Now I have to look for toddler patterns because my “baby” books only go up to size 12 months.

I finished a few craft projects this month, so I’ll roll out the show and tell in installments.

First up, my sister and I took a graffiti-skateboard workshop at Craftland. We chose a sketch or picture, drew & cut the stencils, then the instructor did the spraypainting. Unfortunately it was raining & really windy that day so that would’ve made spraypainting too hard for newbies.

I chose an image that would commemorate my time here in grad school & Providence. This power plant is one of the city’s many iconic images. I made a technical mistake with the outlining, but I still love my finished board. Here it is with my sister’s:

My niece’s birthday is 8-8-08, so she’s got 3 cookies with the number 8. We’ll hang ‘em on our walls sometime.

Next up, Halloween crafts! I made my own costume, and it was actually decent. I saw someone wearing this and knew I could recreate it. Unfortunately, this is the only picture I have.

Heh, red solo cups. Check out my olive hat! The jersey dress was on clearance, $5, in the pajama section of Target. Then I just sewed on the vinyl and glued on the olive. My sister and I spent $25 total on the materials and made two identical costumes.

I saved the cutest for last. I’m bad at estimating fabric amounts and ended up with lots of leftover silver so we decided that my niece would be a robot. I traced a dress she already had and sewed a simple a-line shift. Then my sis put on the vinyl applique.

It’s nothing fancy – the armhole & neck edges are raw & unfinished, the velcro closure on the back was just glued on & reinforced with staples. Disposable, but still pretty cool. The costume cost probably $2 because all we had to buy was a few pieces of felt.

More later!

My friends gave me this Build-a-Bear to cheer me up. Her name is Lotus Blossom Azn. ”We know how unecessarily upset you get over Asian stereotypes, so we got you this panda bear.” They are so funny. I love them.

Oh, and I got a hair cut and went darker (somehow it’s shinier!). Sometimes it looks a Soccer-mom. Sometimes it looks emo. Sometimes it looks half decent even if I don’t wash or comb it from the day before – like today, for instance. See below.  Ssshhdon’t tell.

Speaking of Asian stereotypes, I am now an Asian girl who takes pictures with her stuffed animals. How embarrassing.

I’m a little overwhelmed by my life right now. My dad passed away a couple of weeks ago. It was hard, but at the same time I’m feeling very loved and supported by people that I’m close to and people that I had forgotten about.

I’m only taking 3 classes with lighter workloads than average classes, but I have to work in Boston two days a week (instead of one like last year), plus I have to go home to CT every weekend to be with my mom who is having a really hard time. This leaves very little time for actually doing the homework, making dinner, and keeping my house in order. And having a messy disorganized house makes me feel even more stressed!

Looking on a positive side though, I met Norah Gaughan last week when I was hanging around the set of a Berrocco photoshoot. If you aren’t a knitter, that means nothing. But she’s kind of a big deal in the knitting world. The first real sweater I knit was a Norah design; and she went to Brown. I didn’t really talk to her, or Cirilia for that matter, since she was working and I was trying to stay as much out of the way as possible; I was wrangling babies. I got my own private trunk show, trying on the garments they were shooting, which won’t come out until January (! how will I wait that long?!). My sister thought I was crazy because I didn’t exactly ask if I could try stuff on, but I knew they’d be sent to stores and shows for people to try on anyway so I didn’t think it was a big deal. Plus I was extra careful. (um, sorry if this was too forward of me!) The house was beautiful, like a little museum, and the host family (who were also the models) were so nice. My sis and I kept saying how they were like a real-life catalogue family.

I love fall because it’s the best season for knitting & wearing knitted things, so the photoshoot was perfect for kicking off the season. Although the end of Summer Dress Season can make me sad, taking out the box of wool sweaters, winter clothes, and knit accessories make me happy all over again. I can’t wait for the upcoming Stitches East (trade show? conference?) which is in Hartford this year. I’m saving up my allowance for it! I’m knitting a baby sweater, and I only have the sleeves left, which should normally take one week (two tops). But I’ve been so busy that I’ve been working on this one sleeve for over 3 weeks.

Here’s to looking at better days, hopefully.

I’ve moved out of Washington, DC and back home to little Rhody. After seeing what a relatively small amount of stuff I lived with over the past 3 months, I was compelled to do some purging when I came home. Of course, even though I said I had a “small” amount of stuff, it still took me forever to unpack and put everything away. It’s like I had no idea where that stuff came from.

While doing my summer cleaning and forcing myself to throw shit out, I found this Win 98 Boot Disk, from two computers ago at least.

A sampling of other things I found and threw out:
- Stationary that was given to me as a gift and I’ve held onto for at least 5 years. I probably used it twice.
- instruction manuals & install disks for electronics that have long been tossed, plus various USB cords for the same
- a couple of old cell phones
- a bag full of clothes, including 3 pairs of pants that my mom bought me for “work wear” that were terribly unflattering “mom pants”; Sorry mom, but they were dreadful.

I’ve moved a lot and every time I move, I throw stuff out, so I don’t think I have that much excess stuff. Still, two garbage bags worth is good.

I have a box full of old papers & binders from my college years and my previous job that I feel I should hang onto. The papers have professors’ comments on them, which is why I am holding onto the hard copies. They take up a lot of space. I need to borrow a scanner and/or someone to scan it all so that I can just put it on few CD’s instead.

Over the weekend I participated in a DC Zombie Raid. It was tons of fun, as you would expect from a zombie invasion, and everyone was super nice. There were even some zombie kids and a zombie dog! There are tons of great pictures online because there seemed to be one photographer for every two zombies. We even got coverage from some prominent local blogs – DCist, BrightestYoungThings, and WeLoveDC. (those articles have links to Flickr sets with tons more pictures) We scared the shit out of tourists, kids on the bus were convinced I needed to go to the hospital, a bus driver didn’t want to open the door for us, and even hung with Anonymous for a bit.

Zombie-dressing also allows for a lot of Michael Scott-esque double entendres: “Just put it in your mouth and let it dribble out… Do you want me to just rub it all over your face?… It’s sticky, what does it taste like?… Please don’t get it in my mouth” It was entertaining all day long.

Afterwards, they even arranged an after-party where zombies got in free. I ended up going to a different bar and didn’t even bother changing out of my zombie costume, though I did clean the blood from my face. I was paranoid about it staining my skin, plus it kept sticking to my hair.

I got the shirt from the thrift store for $3 and I made fake blood by simmering flour, water, and food coloring. It was great because it dried crusty and solid, rather than sticky. I used someone else’s corn-syrup based edible blood for my face and it was sooo sticky all day long. It would suck to have that on your clothes sticking to everything. If you’re ever in the need for fake zombie blood, I recommend flour & water!

Proof that I manage to look pretty fucking glam no matter what I do:

San Francisco

Originally uploaded by oh_hello

My third time in San Francisco and I loved it more than the last. Every direction I looked was a gorgeous view, and the weather is perfect. Seventy degrees in August is awesome! (Though you can see in the pic that people seem to dress like it’s winter)

I need to quit this habit of saying “The Times,” to refer to the NYTimes, as in “I saw in The Times today that…” I bet it makes me sound like an asshole to people walking by, and it makes me feel like an asshole when I catch myself. I don’t want to be one of those people that only reads “the Times” (or even worse, the Sunday Times). Besides, I don’t even read it. When I say that, I’m really talking about articles & NYTimes blogs that other people linked from Facebook or twitter. Or I read one article on the front cover as I make my coffee in the office kitchen, right next to where they keep copies of the NY Times.

I also find myself saying things like “Oh, I saw that on CNN/C-span today” which almost sounds like I watch CNN all the time. Again, not really. See, the lobby of my office has two giant flat screens that have CNN and another news station all day long, and I pass them every time I go to the bathroom or to the kitchen, which is stocked with free coffee/tea/Coke/Dr.Pepper/seltzer/Snapple (plus their diet versions) at all times. So I glance for 15 seconds, and those seconds add up until I have a general sense of what’s happenin’ in the news that day. Weird huh?

I’m an intellectual poser! Hmm. These points could actually be a lesson to people who try to fake being smart.

I finally went to the Tactile Dinner performance that I talked about last week. The Tactile Dinner is a play that is part of the Fringe Festival, a theater festival of experimental, postmodern, anything-goes performances. It was less of a “dinner” and more of a play with audience participation.

I won’t say anything the deep intellectual meaning of this experimental art project, but I can say that as an amateur cook the it raised my curiosity about experiencing food without eating it.

I’m a little torn between giving everything away and sharing the experience with people who can’t go. Eh. I don’t have a lot of readers, so option 2 wins. Read on for the details:

First, they told us that while there would be food, there would not be any drinks served. We had the option of buying Capri Sun (the juicboxes) or water that came in juiceboxe packaging. One is a retro throwback, the other a little futuristic. Here is a picture of my er, waterbox:

Next, they started handing out the “tactilist garb.” I wasn’t very happy about this at first because it was reeeeally hot outside and not very cool in the hallway where we were waiting, and the jackets were made out of Tyvek envelope material. Sweaty! The jackets’ sleeves were each covered in some textured material such as feathers, mesh netting or velvet. Here I am trying to show off my bubble wrap sleeves:

You can see a guy wearing cork behind me. At one point during the meal, everyone was told to turn to their neighbors and feel up their sleeves.

Then the ushers seated everyone one by one, picking randomly. This means that I didn’t get to sit with the friends that I came with, so I had to make new friends.

There were two tv screens which broadcast the narrator, who gave us instructions on what/when/how to eat, plus one big screen in the back that rolled film. I couldn’t really see it because of where I was sitting. The waiters were the performers, and the stage was the entire room, so there was lots of twisting and turning around.

Course 1: “Polyrhythmic Salad. Lettuces with essences of grape dressed with musical rhythms and geometric gestures”

We were told to use one hand to eat the salad (no forks) at the same time using the other hand to crank the music box on the base. It was stressful because the voice kept yelling at us to EAT. CRANK. EAT. CRANK CRANK!  The bottom of the salad stand with the music box:

I like salad, but I am sorry to say that I couldn’t eat this one. I ate two leaves.

Course 2: Aural Sensations. No actual food, just watched the performers do some moves.

Course 3: Aerofood.
This was cool. Waiters wheeled out carts full of mylar balloons and asked each person if they wanted “meat” (silver balloon) or “vegetarian” (gold). Talking TV told us to take the clothespin off the balloon, give it a gentle squeeze, and inhale. The meat balloons smelled just like roast beef, while the vegetarian balloons was supposed to smell like mushrooms. I say “supposed to” because it was a pleasant earthy smell, like perfume someone would wear, whereas the other one smelled like actual food. My neighbors and I swapped so everyone got to smell both.

Course 4: Magic Food. “Mysterious, magically flavored balls served on specially-crafted tactile platters.”
The magic balls, we found out later, were made by some scientific process that creates sugar crystals wrapped around non-water-soluble flavor components. Some were salty, some were fruity but most of them tasted like dried out minty toothpaste. I was very glad I had the water.

Course 5: Visual Nutrients. No real food here either. More crazy moves from the performers.

Course 6: “Totalrice. Chilled arborio rice prepared with rice beer, rice wine, wrapped in rice paper. Garnished with a trio of powders: tomato, rosemary and parmesan.”
The rice paper was very papery. I thought it would be like the rice paper used for Vietnamese summer rolls, but it wasn’t at all. (It says “Manga! Eat me” on it.) Without speaking, the waiter gestured us to take a bite, dip it in the powders, and eat.

Course 7: Tactile Vegetable Garden
TV dude told us to link arms with our neighbors and eat the vegetables by sticking our faces in the plates. This was pretty difficult for the ladies with long hair, but no one got too messy. It was one small bite each of tomato, spinach, broccoli, and maybe purple cauliflower? At the same time, the waiters went around spritzing fresh scented stuff close to our faces.

“Digestivo. Your choice of coffee or tea.”
The waiters asked you if you wanted coffee or tea, then spritzed the appropriate liquid in front of you. As we found out later during the Q&A, these probably weren’t actual coffee or tea, but specially crafted perfume that replicated the smells. They were actually quite nice and refreshing!

It ended with film clips of messages from the Futurist movement and some performing, then a quick Q&A with the director. In the end, my friends were glad that I had found something so unique to do (I hope they weren’t just being polite). Despite the fact that everyone felt clueless the entire time, afterwards I think people felt like they had fun. I know I laughed the whole time.

A bonus was that our buttons, which we needed to get into the play, got us 50% off pitchers of sangria at a nearby tapas restaurant so we did some food in the end.