I'm over at purlgurlknits2 now...

ravelry can't handle the underscore in my blogger url, so i had to switch. purlgurlknits was already taken so now i'm http://purlgurlknits2.blogspot.com/. still working out how to move some things over, but i'll be posting over there now.

yay! i'm going to see coraline on this dreary rainy day!!!

Coraline in 3D 7:30 show at the local AMC. I'll be sportin' my Coraline button skeleton key too! Unlike bibliogrl's find on the side of an abandoned building in Chicago, I opted for the quick, gotta have it now option...eBay. Seems their campaign included stapling, hanging, attaching these wonderful keys in cities like SF, Chicago and New York. So cool!



Here's a close up of the key similar to the one I got



I'm going to see the Art of Coraline at the Cartoon Art Museum in SF on Friday too. I just arranged to have the day off. Woot!

Here's some pics that someone took of the exhibit on flickr.

excuse me while i obsess with all things coraline for the moment

koumpounphobe, huh, now that's a new word for me. i suspect i'll develop become one after seeing coraline. their website is awesome. i tried to see the movie this past weekend, but the show that i came for and the next showing were already sold out by the time i got there.

initially when i visited the site a few months ago, you had to put in secret codes that you'd find posted on various blogs/sites to view the gorgeous flash shorts that they made to promote the film. now you can just hunt around the site and discover/wander to all these very cool areas of their site. i've already spent hours there, having my tea leaves read, putting button eyes on myself and my cat...

a few months back, these "mystery boxes" started arriving at various bloggers doorsteps. once again, i spent hours and hours stumbling about the web searching each site to view the contents of each box. oh, wow, each one is such a prize! several of the knitting blogs and sites i frequent received mystery boxes of their own (wendy knits, knitty.com, ravelry! a few recipients and other bloggers have tried to "round up" and post info/images about each box that has surfaced. from what i can tell, ASIFA-Hollywood's, Animation Archive is the most complete.

these guys are not only amazing artists and visionaries, but their marketing is genius! they've got viral marketing down to a "V" or however the saying goes.

i absolutely love the fact that this film is full of handcrafted work and talent and that there is even teeny tiny hand knitted goods adorning the characters by none other than Althea Crome.

so now i'm planning on skipping a day of work to go to the last few days of "the art of coraline exhibit" at the Cartoon Art Museum in SF. i stumbled across it as a result of going to all these blogs/sites that had any sort of mention of "coraline". the exhibit's last day is sunday the 15th.

not much knitting going on, but i did start the lace on my ripples skirt!

i finally got to the lace portion on the indigo ripples skirt. i'm doing a kal with a group of gal pals from my booty camp workout group. one of the gals has finished and it looks beeeeeeeuuuuuuteeeeful!

i'll be muddybuddying it this sunday in san jose. they just announced that it is officially SOLD OUT.

Race Description
Each race features a 6-7 mile course and 5 obstacles. At the start of the race, one team member will run and one will ride the bike. At the 1st obstacle, the rider will drop the bike, complete the obstacle, and begin running. The runner will arrive, complete the obstacle, find their bike, and begin riding. Teams will continue leapfrogging each other through the entire course. At the end of the race, racers will crawl through the infamous Mud Pit crossing the finish line together!

At long last, a FINISHED OBJECT! Presenting...

FO: Yoda Sweater
Originally uploaded by purlgurl

Baby Yoda Sweater for Gretch's lil' boy to be...she's due in August, so I'm actually a head of the game. I think I'll knit a beanie to go with it. I thought i'd have yarn leftover, but will the seaming and making i-cords, I'm down to just a little jaw breaker sized ball.

It's a very cute pattern. If Gretch & her boy really likes it, I'll make them the next size up called not so baby yoda. I'll try to do as much as I can to avoid seaming, so I'll work the sleeves in the round again and see if I can knit the front panels along with the back at the same time.

Creating I-cord using a CSM aka circular sock machine

I love the fact that there's a Bay Area CSM group that is fairly close by (1 hour away). It's a great group of people that freely shares tips and techniques on using CSMs. Yesterday, one of the topics discussed was making I-cord using a CSM. The concept sounded so cool, I just had to go home and try it out myself. Perfect timing too, because I needed a few to finish up the Yoda Baby Sweater I made for a friend's baby boy to be. 

Here's how I created i-cord on my CSM (Legare 400):

1. Take out all cylinder needles except for those you need to make the I-cord. In my case, I kept 3 in place.
   
2. Thread yarn through yarn carrier.
3. Long tail cast-on the number of stitches needed for your I-cord (e.g. 3 for my baby sweater).
4. Transfer the stitches to the working needles on the cylinder.
5. Thread yarn through your yarn mast and make sure to use the heel spring to take up slack yarn.
6. Using your left hand to weight/pull down the tail of your long tail cast on, proceed to crank with your right. You may have to coax the first few rounds along as the stitches may need a little assistance in getting created. Once you get going, it should get a lot easier with each turn of the crank. 
7. Crank in the usual fashion, in one direction, clockwise. As the yarn goes past the last needle, since there are no additional needles on the cylinder and because the heel spring is being used, the slack yarn should be pulled up by the yarn mast. when you crank around back to the 1st needle, the yarn should be in the appropriate place to knit the next row.
8. Let me know if you have any questions or need clarification on the process.

Argh....I have TOO MUCH STUFF!!!

Oh jeeze. I'm just getting very depressed and disgusted with myself with how much STUFF I have. I'm going to make a middle of the year resolution to start destashing the over abundance that has taken over my house and my life! I'm not just including my yarn stash as that's the least of my concerns. I have purchased (more stuff-lol) an EZ Cube-esque light tent to photograph my stuff to list on eBay. I'm making a pledge to prepare and list a handful of things each week. It's just WRONG to have so much stuff. If it doesn't go on eBay, I want to either give stuff away to friends, donate them to local thriftshops or throw it away if it's of no use to ANYONE. I'm even planning on a garage sale next month.

OK, it's out there. Now...LET's DO this S#!T!!!

knitted wool swimsuit that won't felt?

i'm not sure how this will look on, but i wasn't able to resist clicking it into my cart. hopefully i got the right size. someone on ravelry mentioned that splish swimwear runs a bit large. i'm a TYR fan, but splish's designs are just so much more fun than the usual suits out there! 

still recouping from THE crash last month, but i've been swimming fairly regularly that past two weeks. it's about the only exercise that doesn't really hurt right now. i'm just getting back to my morning bootcamp (6-7am m-f) and i've made a commitment to going every day for the current 5 week session. my goals? to get the bootcamp's cool t-shirt for perfect attendance and to get myself prepped for muddy buddy in san jose next month. muddy buddy consists of 6 miles of running and biking with a partner (aka buddy). you each do the 6 mile course, while one is running the other buddy is biking, you trade off at the end of each running and biking leg and do obstacles throughout the course. the last leg of the competition is to do a commando crawl through a big mud pit! with my bruised ribs, i wouldn't be able to do it right now. i've got less than a month to get better. yipes.

i also want to dress up in some costume, but have not figured out something that won't get caught in the bike chain nor hinder me and my buddy going through the various obstacles. here's a vid of a muddy buddy in san dimas last year. maybe it will give YOU some inspiration to sign up! ;) it hasn't sold out yet.