11.11.07

Delica’s Knitting Visits Germany

Posted in Music, Photos, Scarf, Travel at 3:12 pm by delipics

Just my knitting went to Germany, not me, but I live vicariously through my honey. Look at my handsome guy posing in Dresden and wearing his 2006 Christmas scarf.

He was touring in Germany, performing as Pete with The Wholigans, along with the opener band, the Black Olives, consisting of Andrei -

Emil -

and another Darren, but sorry - no photo. (that’s a nice hat, hon - LOL). I think my Darren deserves another hand knit hat this year. Hmmm. My honey also likes Emil’s vest, which is a Fair Isle. I think I need a book on Fair Isle (*hint*hint*Christmas*gift!*).

Watch both bands play here. Sign in as “guest” and the password is “guest123.” I watched the video with some of my friends, waiting for my honey to say hello to me - we all screamed like teenage girls when he yelled my name!

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07.22.07

Bandages and Ice Packs

Posted in Brooklyn, CTS/RSI, Cleo, Music, Photos at 11:18 am by delipics

Aaaarrrrggghhhhcccccczk! Can you tell how I’m feeling today? The cry of the frustrated fiber-less artist. The closest I’ve come to anything fiber related was letting Caroline (back from a two month stint at Peter’s Valley - she’s sooooo lucky!) go through my plastic bag collection (apparently she hit the mother-lode of plastic bags with me) for her latest cool project. The kitchen floor was strewn with plastic bags of various sizes and colors and one very happy kitty who quickly sat on a pile of bags to claim as her own. I should have taken a picture of Cleo, she looked so satisfied. As I pulled out my massive collection of plastic out of the cabinet, I was amazed to find this stowed away at the back –

What the ?!?!? I think this was a Christmas gift from many, many years ago. I had put it in the rear of the cabinet with the label facing away so I never ever noticed it the few times I may have had a reason to go fishing around in the back looking for God-knows-what. I got a good laugh after finding it but I don’t know what to do with it. I know - of course I could try and make it! But I’m afraid - does this stuff go bad? Something about it says “Warning: Disaster of immense proportions.” Right now I just keep moving it around from different spots in the kitchen, staring at it quizzically while Cleo sniffs and walks away bored.

As for the wrist, last week, for the first time, I was very discouraged about the status of my healing. I let myself go into a tizzy after running into another person who actually had the operation for carpal tunnel. She told me her wrist used to feel like it was on fire and since the operation she just sometimes gets stiff, but she is pain-free. When I told this to my PT she tried to calm me down - the MRI would have shown any abnormalities, it takes a long time for soft tissue to heal especially since I have to keep working, etc. Along with the funky taping, I’m wearing an Ace bandage around my forearm for more support and it does make a difference. I wear it for about three hours and then I take a break from being wrapped for another two hours or so. I’m supposed to ice it twice a day but I keep forgetting to do it so I need to improve that. I’d like to say I really am having more better days than not but sometimes it’s hard to tell. Wait, there is good news - my left wrist hardly ever is in pain!

Lest you think everything is all about bandages and ice packs at Delica’s Yarns, I was busy last weekend –

Spigga on their summer tour indulging in basil fried rice before going on at Sputnick. Thank God the Thai place delivers.

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04.29.07

Knitting Assignment: Project Swatch

Posted in Crochet, Knitting, Lace Knitting, Music, Photos, Techniques, fashion at 4:04 pm by delipics

I changed my mind about my project for The Knitting for Pleasure class because I was concerned about what I could actually complete within the time frame. I’m aiming for a lacy vest/tank combo - empire waist, ribbon laced at the bustline, good for layering. Bit vague sounding but it’s still in the developmental stage.

I decided on the Chain Stitch from the Mon Tricot Knitting Dictionary. Yes, the same yarn as for my Lace Shawl. I thought about buying more yarn but common sense prevailed and I decided to go with what is already in the stash.

I want to use this pattern for the body and a rib pattern for the bust area. The first time I did the rib, it didn’t line up with the chain stitch. See how it is all the way to the right at the top?

I frogged and and re-knit the rib pattern to line up with the eyelets. I did a practice decrease on one edge so I could envision what a v-neck may look like. Learning how to do all those ssk and K2tog tbl from the Lace Shawl was good practice for figuring this part out. (Does anyone else find this kind of stuff exciting? I figured out which way to do the decrease - on my own - and I was just so pleased!)

I also did that picot bind-off as a possible edging. Not sure if I like it, maybe if I space it out more? The wrong-side of the swatch - hmm, maybe I should do the rib for the body and the chain stitch for the bust area?

I’m also going to sent this off (finally!) to my sis - another Santa Cruz Hat. I really enjoy knitting this pattern. I used up the free Patons SWS soy/wool yarn from The Yarn Harlot event at FIT. It looks a little blobbish here on the ground . . .

. . . so I took a quick pic (actually, not so much quick as acrobatic arm-wise so you don’t see the camera in the mirror) of me wearing it so you can see the pattern stretched out over my head.

End Note:

Bjork wearing this incredible crochet costume designed by the Icelandic Love Corporation, and Bjork wearing a crochet mask here (click on photo on the right to see a larger pdf version).

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11.08.06

L.A. Weekend ~ L.A. Baby Cardi

Posted in Cardigan(s), Knitting, Music, Photos, Travel at 6:23 pm by delipics

Besides knitting on my cropped cardi, I delivered in person the L.A. Baby Cardi.

This is Mathilda, the very special recipient.

Isn’t she beautiful? I can’t wait to see how the cardi will look on her.

Specs:

Seamless Yoked Sweater by Carole Barenys. The free pattern can be found at http://knitting.about.com/library/nbabyswe9.htm
Yarn is a silk/cotton blend (no label) from School Products
#5 Addi Turbos needles for the body and #5 Brittany double-pointed for the sleeves
Buttons from City Quilter
Changes/Observations: The decorative stitch around the yoke, cardi edging and sleeve edging is different from the pattern. I accidentally did it backwards, slipping as if to knit than to purl, but I liked it so it stayed. I made the cardi short-sleeved because she does live in southern Cali. Finally, although I used needles the same size, you can see the change in gauge from the body to the sleeve. Not sure why that happened; I thought I was knitting the sleeve loosely.

I also went on a date! This is very exciting for me to actually go out with my honey considering our busy, crazy lives. He took me to see Jodi Long in Surfing DNA at the East West Players and for dinner we discovered a fantastic noodle shop in Little Tokyo.

This is like upgraded ramen. The broth was savory, the pork tender - a very satisfying meal! The restaurant is set up like a diner and it had these retro post-war advertisements on the walls.

And look who to got meet a rock and roll legend! It’s all soooo very L.A.!

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11.07.06

Cropped Cardi Progress

Posted in Cardigan(s), Knitting, Music, Photos, Travel, Yarn at 6:43 pm by delipics

All those hours knitting in the dark of a rehearsal studio led to this:

I am holding up a halfway-through-the-project-progress. In the light of day, I did find one section of purl where it should have been knit, but considering how dark the studio was, I’m suprised I didn’t have more mistakes.

In the midst of all the musical running around during the weekend, Darren remembered we were near a particular yarn store:

But then he told me we only had about fifteen minutes before we had to go to the theater* . . .

Look at all that Alchemy Yarns! (Thank you to the photo-taker!)

I did not walk away with any yarn, which is really okay because I have all that Rhinebeck swag to make my way through, but I did buy the Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts.

*Want to know what is going on muscially? Read about it here and here.

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08.06.06

LAMC in NYC

Posted in Music, NYC, Uncategorized at 7:10 pm by delipics

Fiber things have been put on hold for this week for another creative pursuit - MUSIC. I’ve been busy running around with Darren watching his band play in the Latin Alternative Music Conference. Not only did I watch Spigga at the Mercury Lounge, I also caught Pistolera, Roxing Kafe and Leo Machado. I alway feel like I would like to know more about other creative areas, such as the performing arts. Here I am in NYC and there is so much music, dance, drama - but not enough time and sometimes it can be mucho $$$. I try to grab the opportunity to experience creativity that’s different from my venue whenever I can. (Fortunately, Brooklyn and NYC has a lot of free events during the summer for music or dance or drama.) So while I am one sleepy groupie, it’s all worth it, and I do like watching Darren play guitar too (hee hee!).