in love

I just wanted you all to see who all the knitted baby goods have been going to. Kyla Rebekah Katz. She is 7 lbs. of squawking love. I'm in love with her and I think she's pretty fond of me too. Although she is amazing, I am going to think long and hard before having one of my own.

finished product

faster than labor booties.

If a person were to get a text message that her pal went into labor at 3:38AM and then you got up and went to the yarn store after it opened and bought some angora. Then knit them up while watching a few episodes of the office. And finally, blocked them, odds are there would still be no baby. Hmm, I wondering if I could pop them in the mail and they'd be in Albany before the baby arrives. I"ll post finished pics after it dries. I meant the booties but that could totally go for the baby too. I"m so excited cause we don't know if it's a boy and a girl. I think I will love the baby even though baby owes me money. ( I lost the pool that the baby would be born on Friday.) It's never too early to start a resentment...Kidding.

The official name of the pattern is' angel booties' but I prefer 'faster than labor booties'. Knit up on size 5 dpn's and plymouth angora in a teal. I have no idea what consists of a gender neutral colors. I think colors are for everyone yet laugh to myself when men wear super fruity colors. I'm a total hypocrite.

And now some quotes from Juno.

Vanessa: I wanted to pick something gender-neutral for now. Once we get the baby, god willing, we can create a more decisive palette.

Mark: Why do people think yellow is gender-neutral? I don't know one man with a yellow bedroom.

hand dyed by knit or die

erin 2, originally uploaded by kimmiecashie.

I didn't think Erin could surprise me as my secret Santa but she certainly did. Because I organized the Chicks with sticks holiday swap I knew she was my pal. A long distance love pal at that. She surprised me with some hand dyed cascade 220. The fash ruined the gloriousness of colors but there just isn't any sun in WNY until at least May. Thanks Erin. I don't know what I'll knit just yet... French market bag? felted clogs? hmmmm.

this place is a zoo

I was trying to take a photo of the trinity stitch hat and as usual, the hound wouldn't leave me alone. He loves to be in front of the camera but he is also really uncooperative. I decided to go with it. Got a few blurry photos taken before kitty needed to feel included. So here is a photo montage of me and my boys and the trinity stitch beret. Which by the way is killer on the hands. That purl three together was massacre.

to the makers of super glue/crazy glue etc.

Super glue saves my "A." yet again. So darling Kitty has had a thing out for washing machines and dryers from day one. At my old apartment I had to lodge a six y six piece of wood so the devil in fur wouldn't dis-attach the dryer vent. A former favorite past time. KArma is a "B." even for cats.I lodged a giant 6x6 piece of wood there to keep him out. One day I moved the plank to paint the dining room and during one of his freak outs, he knocked over the giant piece of wood on his toes. he ended breaking his little pinky toe. Now in my new place, I found my laundry hose was more of a sprinkler than a drainage hose. I found a cat sized tooth mark in the hose. He is the devil in fur. I was going to buy a new hose but frst I tried to electrical tape it. Water oozed out. Then I tried a little super glue. Good as new.

red carpet un-ready.

red carept 2, originally uploaded by kimmiecashie.

Every now and again I reuse a bridesmaid dress and wear it to a charity event. The photo above was from a habitat for humanity 'cement mixer.' Clever name huh? Well this year I'm not exactly attending a charity event and I bought a brand new dress around Christmas time which I'm kind of regretting since the whole house buying adventure. But I can maybe wear it to a wedding or two this summer. I am going to an academy awards party at the George Eastman house. I'm pretty sure it will be a bunch of old folks and Jenny and I but I'm way excited to watch the Academy Awards at the Dryden theatre after they take our pics on the red carpet and we have our 1 free cocktail. The proceeds go to the museum so that is nice. I bought the tickets as a christmas gift for Jenny after we decided we had too much stuff. Therefore, we should do something together for our gifts to each other instead of hoarding more crap. I enjoyed a cooking class from her in December. Anywho, The purse in the above picture is hideous, especially with the dress. So I was thinking of knitting/sewing a small evening bag. Except, the event is Sunday and it is now Wednesday evening. I wonder what I have in my stash. It probably won't happen but ideas are pretty much my favorite part of knitting.

The day 'keepin' it real Kim' died.

WARNING: Almost no knitting content, but what's new.

I have had many stages in my knitting life. The knit the same scarf over and over stage, the I enjoy buying yarn more than actually knitting stage, the always knit for others stage and currently, the I'm trying to stick with continental knitting phase.
Perhaps living in this neighborhood is just a phase. Don't get me wrong I deeply love the southwedge and I am a proud member of the NUTS. For the most part I have wonderful neighbors that maintain their properties and care about making the hod a nice place to live. Yet, after reflecting on some of the events since I moved here I may be all done with this hood. First there was the cockroach incident where neighbors had been evicted and their home had been condemned on account of the cockroaches. Cockroaches in the fall in the Northeast???!!! As they were exteiminated they migrated from house to house until frost came.
In May I got a beautiful dog during my I'm sad and want something to love phase. In August my dog was attacked by a neighbors loose unlicensed pit bull that by the grace of God I was able to break up. Wednesday morning it happened for a second time. My negligent neighbors still haven't licensed the dog, yet pleaded that I not call animal control because they "love" their dog so much. With some help from BinetI most certainly did call and file a deposition. I still have to testify in court and I'm not sure what I want the results to be besides that it never happens again. And I suppose it is not my business. It's just my business to testify and turn it over to the legal system.

I"m prepared to get responses that pit bulls get a bad wrap with all the breed specific legislation going on, but in my experience none of the german sheperds or labs or border collies have ever acted aggressively toward me or Bert. I have met a very darling pit bull that had a very responsible owner. I'm not against the breed pit bulls. I am against this dogs negligent owners. After his owner pulled him off my dog she cursed at it and kicked it. I actually feel quite badly for it.

To summarize my blathering I may be ready to move on now. I'm just about all done keeping it real. There are places you can live that don't attract low lives or so wealthy that they don't live in reality. But I'm attracted to extremes, even socioeconomically. My father grew up in an incredibly wealthy environment and my Mom didn't have running water in her house until she was 14 year old. I've heard of middle class and a middle ground i just don't have a lot of experience with it. So my new goal is to pursue some middle class neighborhood to live in with space for my dog to roam and my dangerous cat to lounge in. I'd love to find a place with a strong neighborhood association just like the Hickory Street nuts. So in the spirit of middle ground I"m going to knt with some Lornas laces Lion and lamb. 50% wool 50% silk.

jet set

bootie, originally uploaded by kimmiecashie.

Knit these puppies up in a hurry for Shannon's baby shower this weekend. I used some angora blend I had stashed. They knit up quickly on size 5 double points with a free pattern called Angel Booties I found on ravelry.

On account of things not going as planned and cheap airfare, I ended up flying to the shower in Boston for a just a day. On the way there I thought a how much I don't travel as much as I used to. If I were having a bad week I'd call up my friend Aaron and just take off for the weekend. I had so few responsibilities and endless time. I was a lil envious of my old self until i remembered how miserable I was. Drinking at night to unwind and ingesting massive amount of caffeine in the morning to gear up. Running from nothing and everything. I love my boring life. I can't just take off on a whim especially with the dog. I'm not sure if impulsive travel is even an option anymore. Well not impulsive flights. With all this no liquids nonsense. After I got a TSA pat down in a separate room I conclude air travel is anything but glam these days.

It was nice to see Shannon. Holy crap she certainly blossomed at 40 lbs heavier than the last time I saw her. I knew this was probably the last time I'll see her for awhile. I almost never get to see her and with a baby I know it won't happen any time soon.

I sat on the plane looking forward t getting home and spending time with my animals. Although I certainly haven't settled down to the extent of pregnant Shannon or most of my college friends I couldn't wait to get home to my boring little life.

knitting decisions

Resolution can be defined as:

a song included in Nick Lachey's sophomore solo album What's Left of Me, which was released in 2006.

or this: a decision to do something or to behave in a certain manner.

I personally hate new years resolutions. I kinda hate new years too. I just reflect on the past year and if I happen to be in a foul mood( which I am) I get all bummed about what hasn't been accomplished and "resolve" to do a bajillion and one things better in which I fail during week one and feel crummier than I did before.

This time of year is a time for some anniversaries for moi. I have lived in Rochester for 3 years this month. I have also been knitting for 3 years. Because of knitting, I have met wonderful and interesting people. For that I'm very grateful. I also took a looksy at a list I made a few years back titles 100 things to do before I die. I was pleased I actually have a few to check off including: quit caffeine, stay in Alanon for at least 1 year, announce my resignation as bridesmaid, get buried in the sand, get a dog and learn continental knitting. There are quite a few I will probably never complete such as kiss Luke Wilson. And some I should really get on, like make that dentist appointment. After all this, I feel, well, more hopeful and I'm pleased I have a clean slate in 2008. Most of my problems with things in life are in the semantics. Like I just don't like what I associate with the word resolution. So after looking up the word resolution I'm pleased to find that it is a decision. I'm comfortable with the word decision. I make decisions all the time. Some good, some bad, but at the end of the day no one is dead and I've learned something. So here are my new years decisions:
1) I decide to figure out how to turn off that alarm on my watch that goes off every night at 8:56 PM.
2) Considering it has taken me years to find a church that gels with my values, I decide to attend more regularly.
3) I decide to Knit continentally. I just ever stick with it long enough to not feel completely uncomfortable doing it.
4) I decide to be less of a knitting wussy. Just yesterday I decided against a patern because I was intimidated by the term 'double knitting'.
5) I decide to knit 2 projects at a time. I'll never be a one project at time gal. I'm a knitting floozy. I'm kay with that. But I would like to see something actually finished too.

I am a giant work in progress and could go one forever with decisions but for now this will do.

Recovering

Christmas is a crazy time for most people but I just don't know how to make it less hectic. I'd like to think there is something I can do to change it next year. But every year I end up taking three days to recover cause I've gone to 5 different homes, made 3 dozen cookies and schleped pets and presents all over God's green earth in a 48 hour span. Yet, there are some people I only see on this one day every year and I feel it is important. Like Trina, Travis and some of my cousins. And I wouldn't be able to play Nintendo wii with my spoiled little cousin's kid who goes to school with Madonna's daughter and has hair highlights at the ripe age of eleven. Every year I promise to make some changes and and I just don't know how to and go back to my belief that you have to take the bad with the good and just focus on the positive and take long naps when it's through.

Christmas Eve 10:30AM: Having my hair blown out as this will be my last few minutes of solace and I'd rather have this done than a massage any day. Also I'm pretty shallow & my Mom's family dresses up so much, so hopefully my hair will look presentable by 6PM tomorrow with no effort on my part.

Noon: wrapping gifts. Why do I save this all for the last minute? I bought 3 rolls of wrapping paper but I have run out of paper because I decided not to read that they each have 5 square feet on them. Damn! Let bake some cookies cause the sisters requested them last night. Note to self: give them the recipe.

2PMish: Loading car with gifts, load cat and cats supplies, and food.

4PM: Arrive Batavia stop for more wrapping paper and a gift card for an aunt.

6:30: EAt Pizza with Mom, Step dad, Missy and Kelly. My stepbrother shows up and surprises me. He claimed he had to work and couldn't make the tip from Florida.

9PM: MAke it to mass in which I manage to get away with sitting between both sisters in church. MAybe it's becasue WE made it through mass last year wthout a laughing fit. Maybe it's because I am 28 years old. Don't get me wrong and I attend church regularly. Okay in all honesty probably at least monthly. I don't laugh in church but there is something about being in church with my sisters that transforms into the 12 year old that is shooting her braces rubberbands across the cathedral. And this Christmas was no exception. My sister pointed out a man in long wavy hair and tight stone wash jeans and says, " hey it's Slash!" It was all over then. Especially when Slash sat right in front of us and then I realized that Slash's brother used to play in a band with my Dad. And then it continued from there as we tried to figure out if al the long haired people in the church were male or female. It's surprising had to tell from behind. It was like '89 all over again. There was more silliness about which one of us girls looked more like Ronald McCdonald in our red lipstick.

10:30: drinking cider and opening presents. I loved my ipod speakers from Kelly and retro mugs from Missy. My family member s all seemed to appreciate their hand knit scarves. Especially Kelly who got the Chevron scarf of death.

11:30: head home for some sleep

Christmas
9:30 AM Back on the road again this time bearing my dog.

11AM: opening a few gifts and stockings with my Mom and step dad, and breakfast,

12:30- head to my dad's house house for more gift exchange and a a quick call to my grandparents.

2:30ish: Driving back to my Moms house as I see Crazy John from NJ calls. Send to voicemail.

3Pm: walk dog, making salad for Christmas dinner, My Mom is on the phone with razy John form NJ and surprise he has no where to go for Christmas. GAve her some sob story about how at 32 years old with a good job, cooking skills and an apartment he has made a can of spinach for his Christmas dinner. My Mom asks me if it would be okay if this ex boyfriend that I had when I was 16 can come over for dinner. I put my foot down....sorta and said I'd prefer not to and if he did I'm keeping my keys on me and moving my car to the street to make a quick get away. She invited him to a later gathering at my Aunts house but he declined.

4PM. Christmas dinner. Delish!

5PM A quick game of balderdash

630PM. Dessert at my Aunt's house. Screaming kids, lots of Polish food and tons of desserts. I can't find part of my gift for my aunts so I've decided to make them new years gifts and hope I get my shit together someday. My aunt with Bipolar disorder is very depressed and looks about 20 years older than ever. I played with my cousins 2 year old who is the cutest little guy I've ever seen. Seriously, I'm not even being prejudice cause I've got some not attractive cousins. He's naughty and a adorable which is my favorite combo for kids that aren't mine. My uncle Hank is mumbling and handing me drinks. Over the years that I've known my uncle there are only 2 words I can understand coming out of his mouth. One is beer. The other is jacuzzi. It's like going to a foreign country and you only need to know the important words.

10PM- Drive to my friend cassie's house for board games and some sing star competitions.


Midnight- Go home, and sleep until new year.

priorities?

My upstairs is comprised of three rooms. The ceilings are sloped because the upstairs is basically attic space. Although there is plenty of space, there is not much standing up straight space. It's very cozy like. That is until you clunk your head on the stucco. One room is the bedroom. The second room is way small and kind of cold. There are no closets in the house so I've deemed it the closet room with a rack of clothes a dresser and shoes. I also put the dogs crate and dog bed in there. Finally there is the front room with school projects, my desk and the yarn.
Recently, dog has been spending lots of time in the front room. I asked myself why I dint' put his kennel and or bed in this room. It is somewhat bigger and warmer. Then I quickly replied to myself, " because that is where the yarn is!"

with a little help from my friends.

I was in a crap mood over the weekend cause I didn't get the intern placement I wanted. I was supposed go out to see my step dad for his birthday but My Mom was worried about me driving in the weather so that was all the excuse I needed to stay home. I did end up leaving the barracks to meet Jenny for some Christmas shopping. She said she had a feeling I needed a pick me up and gave me the most adorable hand knit in Peru finger puppet from One World goods. Jenny is hilarious. She just can't wait until Christmas to give gifts. She is so excited about them she has to give them as soon as she can. One year she broke into my apartment (AKA used her key) and put my presents under the tree. Do you think it's a llama or an alpaca?

meme

Erin has tagged me so here they are. Eight things about me...

(1) I refused to eat artichokes for years because they had the word choke in them. Then my friends fiances brother told me that the choke was the inedible part of the delicious lil plant. Why don't we just call them arties?

(2) I cannot wink unless I am intoxicated. This has been a real difficult pill to swallow. I sometimes cheat and turn my head to the side so you can't actually see that I am just blinking. Shhhh. I bet there are zero men in this world without the innate ability to wink.

(3) I believe very strongly in a firm handshake. I judge people with a wussy handshake.

(4) I can write forwards with my right hand and backwards with my left hand.

(5) As a child I had three pet raccoons.

(6) In high school I was a cheerleader and prom queen but I also had braces, a back brace and bifocals.

(7) I heart llamas. In college, a friends Mother was going to paint me a sign for my dorm on some slate. They asked what I wanted painted on it I said a llama just to be a kook. Somehow, it turned into a dance that I can no longer do since back surgery. It's pretty much a contact sport and those just aren't allowed. When I Asked Darcy what she wanted for her kid's sweater she hoped it would be knit with llama wool. Well, she did until she realized she couldn't machine wash llama wool.


(8) Raemen noodles are my comfort food.

fall loving & summer optimism

Fall is finally here. To be honest, we have completely skipped my favorite part of fall this year. You know the sunny days and crisp evenings. Nonetheless, I'm loving the season. When I got my puppy on memorial day I was wondering if I'd hate walking the dog at 6:45 Am in the cold. So far so good. Nothing that a handknit hat can't cure! I've been so energized the last few weeks. It;s the time of year that I hear complaints of lethargy. Everyone else's seasonal affective disorder is starting to set in from the lack of daylight and I'm just livening up. Perhaps I'm a vampire. Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too. To me, it is just like Christmas without the expections and, well, without the gifts.

All that being said, there are some summer things I hate to let go of no matter how much I love fall. Every year I keep my herbs out well past frost. Once they are completely destroyed I toss them. It's my foolish optimism. I think, "hey, they still have some life in 'em. They are going to grow some more. " When I moved into my current apartment I swore I had central air just because the thermastat said so and cold air blew out of the registers when I turned it on in December.The then boyfriend said it was impossible because there was no where for air exchange ouside. My response was, "SHHH, I believe!" Of course he was right in the end, but whatever. As I shift more towards realism I brought my herbs in and cut a ton of lavendar and rosemary. I hoping I have enough basil for some pesto. MMMm.
Now I have to take my baked apple, cranberry clementine desert out of the oven. Yay!

focusing

I made an '07 new years resolution to knit just one thng at a time. I didn't ven try to keeo it. Some of us just arent good at commitment. But seeing all those knitters in real life and in blog land are finishing things left and right. So I figured maybe I there was something to this focusing thing. So I commited to the chevron scarf and only the scarf. Turns out I finished it. I'm mostly pleased. It's kind of a pool of psychedelic color. But, I think my 22 year old sister will like it.

reflecting

j socks, originally uploaded by kimmiecashie.

I've finally been able to get some but not all of my old pics off my old computer that crashed and burned months ago. It's been kinda fun looking at old pics. Here's some socks I knit for James after dating for one year. We broke up like 17 days later but I pretty sure the fact that I knit for him had nothing to do with that. I knit them with Lorna's laces bulky in gray and charcoal.

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

never ending scarf

I started this puppy at the end of July and man It is just not ending. I still have 15 inches to go. Arghh. I really hope all the ripples go away during the blocking process. I'm making it for little sister Kelly for Christmas. She's 22 but she will always be little sister. I'm glad I got a head start on it. becasue at this rate I'll be finishig up Christmas eve!

unfall

This fall has been very unfall. This 80 degree weather is completely short changing my autumn experience. Fall is my favorite season and watching the leaves fall in a tank top just isn't the same. I love to cook, but I tend not to cook in the summer and I've continued to slack this fall. When I want to knit more I go to the yarn shop for inspiration. Hence the massive stash! I applied the same concept and hit up the sale at Cooks World. I scored a very adorable cobalt blue casserole pan for cheap.

As for the knitting, I'm plugging along on boring garter stitch scarf and chevron scarf. Never again will I knit 2 scarves at once. I hate knit ADD. Even without my attention difficulty there would be no knitting for me today. Sadly, it hurts way too much to lift my out of shape arms after killer pilates class. This is probably the most sore I've ever been in my life. Well second to back surgery. But I defintely still feel like the tin man. As in rusty, and in need of oil. Not in the I need of a heart way. At least not today.