Knitting to My Heart's Content

That's exactly what I've been doing since my super cool new toy arrived. In March I searched "knitting" on craigslist and found quite a gem, pictured in my previous post, that is now set up in the front bedroom (aka Kim's craft room.) I had never bought anything off craigslist before, and the woman who listed it lives way the hell out in Eastern Oregon, in a town called Lone Rock. We're talking about a town of less than 100... and a retired couple who "can't drive an economy car" because they live so far out in the country. Maybe they have a really gravelly driveway. Who knows. And, she wanted me to pay for her gasoline to make the drive to meet me, even if I decided not to buy the machine.

I spent a lot of time on the internet, pouring over information about knitting machines and didn't find much at all about the Maruyama model 20. I talked it over with some close friends who pointed out the fact that if this worked out, I could make things a lot faster and sell them, and the machine may very well pay for itself. After much deliberation, I decided to take the leap of faith and sent her the cashier's check for $125 + $50 for insured shipping.

I'm not sure I wanted to meet this woman in person anyway, much less spend the gas money to get myself there; I had flashes of that old movie "Nothing But Trouble" where Demi Moore's character and her yuppie friends get trapped in a tiny town in the middle of nowhere. This woman sounded like she smokes about a pack a day and talked my ear off during our initial conversation, telling me all about her knitting and how she just doesn't use the machine because she can knit a sweater in four days. She bought it from somebody "back East" about six years ago and just never used it much.

The thing (which I affectionately named "Suki") and all of its pieces + a nifty book from 1963 all about Ida Thurmans' knitting methods finally arrived in two separate packages, and it was no surprise that both of them reeked of cigarette smoke, even though there seemed to be nothing about the machine that would absorb any smell.

Once I put the thing together, my dear and patient husband helped me find various videos on how to get started, since the manual that came with my knitting machine might as well have been written in Greek! Turns out that starting a project was not near as complicated as I thought, and I practically shrieked with joy when I finally made a little 2" x 2" swatch with a sample yarn.

I did figure out where all the reddish-brown dust (and the smoky smell) was coming from - I took it apart and realized there was foam inside that was seriously deteriorated. The instruction manual also recommended oiling a few key parts, so it operated much more smoothly once that was done.

The first real item I made up was a tiny blanket (actually more of a snuggly) that turned out much skinnier than I expected. I crocheted a white border around it, embroidered a fancy cursive "M" into the corner, and gave it away almost as quickly as I'd finished it. We're still getting to know each other, and I'm starting to learn little tricks that only come to a person once they actually start the trial-and-error process that is knitting. But the question remains, if I made the item on my knitting machine, can I still say that I "knit" it?

My Future Obsession

A 1960's vintage Maruyama Princess knitting machine is now in my possession. As soon as I figure out how the thing works, I will be knitting up a storm. Hopefully in time for knitting season this fall :)

L.A. Woman

(By the Doors. Not sure if that's the official title of that song, but it's another chart-topper on my list of songs that make me want to drive way too fast. Oh and I'd like to add White Wedding by Billy Idol. )

What happened to the rest of January (not to mention the first half of February?!) since my last "to be continued" post, you ask? We decided to make the trip to Seattle that next weekend for my company's main holiday party (they are based out of Seattle) and had a lot of fun - we were long overdue for a roadtrip there because it had been 4 years since I'd been there, and about 5 or 6 years for Joey. Although our grandiose plans to see the highlights of Seattle never came to fruition, we had a lot of fun anyway!

We left Seattle before it got to be too late in Salem, where I picked up this super cool dress form I found on craigslist. It's lovely - vintage and soft pink with maroon details and a sturdy metal foundation. Even cooler, it's extremely close to my own measurements, which further proves it was destined to be mine. I see an influx of things to wear designed by yours truly in my near future!

Post-Holiday Happenings

Whew! It's been a helluva month - I took off a week or so before Christmas and had a wonderful mini-break. I was thrilled to sleep in at my leisure almost every morning. I finished up a gorgeous t-shirt quilt blanket. All the while finishing up Kel's snazzy wintery-white neck warmer that turned out just beautifully, along with a set of gloves and hat for yours truly, made from the fuzzy soft-red alpaca that I bought around Thanksgiving. And, to top it all off, I made up a super-soft brown and black men's scarf made from baby alpaca, and finished it just in time for Christmas. Onward ho!

Hooray for the Holidays!!

I am usually pretty conservative when it comes to using exclamation points and capital letters, but I am !!REALLY REALLY!! excited for this month. It's currently very chilly and sunny out, but I don't mind it so much. Probably because I am lucky and have a warm place to work, live and sleep. Not to mention a car that heats up fairly quickly. Nonetheless I find myself appreciating the icy-ness of the last week or so and the sparkliness that Jack Frost has provided lately; our house is pretty chilly but we've rediscovered a radiator we had stored in our garage for the longest time. It works much better than the little space heater and ceiling heat combined! The only drawback is that I can't blow dry my hair while the radiator is on, because it will cause the power in the bedroom, kitchen and bathroom to go out. As I discovered this morning.

Aside from perfect weather for knitting, this month is chock full of fun! It feels like there's quite a bit going on in my little corner of the world - aside from a busy week of move-ins at work, I will be preparing for a long-anticipated holiday party. Now you can go ahead and call me nerdy, but I am looking forward to this Holiday Ice Show, because I love to watch ice skating and have never been to such an event. Others may think that said event is going to be cheesy and kitschy. Nonetheless, mixed feelings about this event led to a grand idea of having drinks to warm up our cold souls at the boss' house before the Ice Show. Which should be a lot of fun! Last year our holiday party was cancelled due to inclement weather and ice, and I'm hoping the precipitation will hold out so that this year's won't have the same fate.

Next week should be blissfully brief, since I will only be at work Tuesday and Wednesday. And THEN, my true vacation begins! I will not have to return to work until after Christmas. Which means I get to receive my dear sister at the airport on Thursday and spend the entire next week+ enjoying the company of my friends and family.

Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve both fall on a Thursday this year, so it's like a 3-4 day weekend two weeks in a row. And before that Halloween fell on a Saturday, which really can't be beat in the way of timing for a girl who works bankers' hours. All in all, this month I will burn up most of my remaining vacation time that I couldn't take earlier this year because of crazy schedules. It's been over a year since I took off more time than a Friday-Monday long weekend (being sick doesn't count as vacation) and I am really, really looking forward to some long-awaited break from the ol' nine-to-five. Long overdue!

Knitting Season is HERE!

It's great to work downtown. I've always enjoyed people-watching and there is always something interesting going on (i.e. foot traffic) outside on Broadway. For instance, this street is pretty bike-friendly and I've seen all kinds of cruisers today with the sunny weather and all. Summer's last hoorah! I'll miss the sunshine, but now that knitting season is here I'm starting to look lovingly at the yarn stash that I haven't touched all summer. I have been sewing up a storm lately, and last weekend I found a Singer serger at an estate sale! I was thrilled. I also got a ton of fabric, so I will be delving into that soon too. But not until I knit to my heart's content, maybe a purse or a new satchel... now that I have a serger I can make a beautiful lining for the pretty knitted purses I make! It's all very exciting. I feel like my "sewing center" is almost complete! Now I just need to get one of those ironing boards that come out of the wall... we'll see how that goes :) Till next time!

Lil' Bit of This and That

I've been working on a supercute party dress for a friend to wear to her sister-in-law's wedding last Saturday, it was a honey-gold polyester shantung that snags pretty easily and left shiny golden fibers all over my little sweatshop of a front room. Luckily my folks gave me this white shelving unit that is perfect for my sewing room and makes it much more functional. This dress was much more complicated than the black cotton stretchy one I managed to finish within a week; it needed a lining and that is something I've never done before! So last night I was half-watching the last disc of 24/Keifer Sutherland and hand-sewing the lining next to invisible zipper because I cut it too close... It was a tough job but the finished product was, I must say, quite adorable.

For a while there my sister and I were going for walks up around college hill on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it was so nice having her only 10 minutes away at the parents' house. I can't believe her internship ended last Friday already, but we celebrated with a night of delicious sushi at Pure Sushi, the new place in the 5th St Market. It was my 3rd visit there and each visit was fantastic! They have some deep-fried rolls that are out of this world and reminiscent of Sushi Domo, although the SBC at S.D. really can't be beat. At any rate I would happily snarf down sushi again and again at either location.