Stitch N' Pitch

There's a warm breeze in the air, open toed shoes are once again acceptable and baseball season is going strong. Yes, it is Spring. Which means it is once again time for Stitch N' Pitch the annual Baseball/Knitting extravaganza in which mine and my boyfriends two greatest loves meet in an orgy of testosterone and fiber. Whew, I'm getting warm just thinking about it. This picture is from last years event.



It turns out I'm also the postergirl for this years event: http://seattle.mariners.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/sea/ticketing/stitchnpitch.jsp That's me at the top left. Ok, I'm one of many postergirls, but it still feels good.

Tuesday, July 25th
7:05 p.m.
Safeco Field
Toronto Blue Jays vs. Seattle Mariners

It might be the only baseball game I make it to this year, but it's the only one where they're selling yarn at too... at least as far as I know.

wow

Lone Koefoed writes, "A knitted, pink tank from the Danish Army (related to the knitted pink motorcycle in Georgia). Part of an art exhibition and created by Marianne Joergensen plus appr 1000 volunteers (knitters) from around the world who knitted the squares 15*15 cm which MJ then stitched onto the tank." Via Make Zine http://www.makezine.com




I just had to share that.

Also I just saw the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, so remember to talk louder to me the next time we chat.

Paris in the Springtime

What was paris like you ask?


Well for the 30 odd hours we were there it was slightly disorienting, though I still found it enchanting. Of course I also managed to find my way to a yarn store... more specifically La Droguerie. http://www.ladroguerie.com/ I'd been there once before, years ago, but didn't buy anything because I was shy and I don't speak French. Well I've overcome my shyness as you can see.



Yes, I'm holding a La Droguerie bag, full of both alpaca and blue tweed. Here are some of the beautiful kids sweaters, beads and ribbons on display.





The yarn is shown in hanks on hooks, you tell them how much you need and they disappear and bring you back the appropriate amount. It's quaint and somehow terrifying at the same time. How do you really know you're getting enough? I'll let you know whenever I get around to the project this yarn was bought for. (Don't hold your breath) It was a lot of fun.

What did I knit on while I was away? A very simple tank top I was hoping to wear when I got back. It's this one:



from South West Trading Company, though I was using different yarn. In fact I was using a hand dyed variegated yarn. We all know what you're supposed to do with those right? Alternate the yarn, either from two balls or from the innie and outie part of the ball. What happens if you don't?



That my friends is called "pooling" although I think mine looks like an oilslick. See how much further I went, just as if that oilslick didn't exist. That's called being on vacation. I truly didn't see it until I got home. Paris was that pretty.

Seder

This year we had two Seder's (passover dinners) and no Easter, but I was okay with that. My mom was bowling in Reno, I was working and my Dad had yard work. What did sis Steph do? Hmmm....

Jesse and I hosted our own first Seder with our friends. Unfortunately I only took pictures beforehand of the set-up, I got too caught up in the during and after there wasn't much to take pictures of.

Here's Jesse doing some coordinating:




Opie doing some arranging:



and me doing some documenting:

A Meme for Daphne

My first meme! Ok, Daphne wanted to know ideally:

1) How would I spend five minutes to myself?

Hmmm, right now I'm doing this blogging thing.... alone. In an effort to avoid housecleaning and homework. But ideally, I'd be writing a letter to someone I care about.

2) How would I spend five bucks?

On my favorite charity: www.heifer.org They provide animals to families around the world which are then able to make a livelihood from them.

3) Which five items could I part with in my house?

So many! More than five. An old knitting machine, a tea kettle too many, half my clothes, half my books, almost all of my rubber stamps...

4) Which five items would I never want to part with?

My box of love letters, my journals, the 100 year old trunks I seem to take with me everywhere I go, my pictures, and my finished hand knitted sweaters, robots, bags, etc.

5) And lastly which five words do I love?

Oh, thats a hard one. My favorite words are ones I either made up or are certainly not real. Example: boobtastic. I have a bust and I like to wear slim fitting shirts, but sometimes I'll turn something down as being too "boobtastic", even for me. My favorite sign off is sproogles. I like to describe things as splendiferous and am glad it's a real word, though it doesn't sound like one. I also like chiaroscuro and cantilever.

La La La London

What's this? Why this is me chillin' with my littlest pal Alex. Yep we're just hanging out in Reigate, watching the Power Rangers and having a snack. He's my sisters' Godson which I suppose would make me his Godaunt? I don't get to see him very often so I made sure to see him while I was in the U.K.



Here he is again with his beautiful Mum, Marina. My family first knew her as our Belarussian exchange student, over 10 years ago!



What? You say you want more museum shots? Here's me inside the British Musuem. It is really beautiful, especially the ceiling. Ok, the paintings and the sculptures are beautiful too but look at the ceiling!



Here's Jesse on the Millenium Bridge with St. Pauls behind him. St. Pauls is the only church I can think of that requested payment... We were on our way to the Tate Modern which I really enjoyed, but it was smaller than it seemed from the outside.



I loved this installation of boxes at the Tate Modern. Jesse looks like a penguin in ice cube land. It's by Rachel Whiteread, titled Embankment.



Next time Paris... and yarn.

Before I post more pictures of England and France...



I have to have a comic interlude via Natalie Dee. www.NatalieDee.com Check out her stuff, but be prewarned that some of it may not be "work appropriate."

Be back soon with a real post and even some gratuitious vacation yarn!