New men in my life and new obsessions

You guys remember all my secret Charlie gifts - right? Well, now, for the first time ever, I present to you the famous-up-until-now-unknown Charlie!

I don't want to brag or anything, but my friends make the cutest babies don't they? I mean, look at those cheeks! Charlie is growing fast and people are surprised to know that he is only three month's old. In fact, people think he is more like seven months old. More power to him! And better biceps for Michi, cause Charlie is an unexpected arm workout.

He was a little cranky that day, and I think it is because he is not used to being around a Democrat. Apparently, Charlie's favorite toy is an elephant, which makes me think he needs some outside influence in his life.

Unfortunately, his auntie Lomes (and uncle Tones) are not able to hang out with him as much as we want, so I decided to send a permanent friend and LomesTones representative over to the Charlie household.

Meet donkey:












Donkey went to live with Charlie and will talk to him and hopefully influence him so he is ready to make his vote a few years from now. Of course, if Charlie has such an influence in his life, we wanted to make sure that Ava was not without a donkey friend of her own. So another donkey went to live with her, and another one stayed with us. (mainly cause they are so darn cute, I really wanted one!)

Now, I do not like to openly talk about my political beliefs, or religious beliefs on my blog. I think everyone is entitled to their own view points (as long as they are democrats - haha - just kidding), and I am so stubborn about my viewpoints I would annoy people and not keep many friends. However, we need to go out there and vote (democratic :) ) and support the candidates as much as possible. We have such an opportunity to make our voices heard with each and every election, that I do want to encourage everyone to get out there and get involved.

Ms. pea has started a great group for Obama supporters. (Yes, I am one). I am going to join this one, althought I do not think that I will be able to have a very creative contribution. If you are not an Obama supporter, I am sure there are venues out there for you to support your candidate, and I encourage you to do so.

Okay, I am off my soap box now... see, me, stepping down...

So here is my new (knitting) obsession. I saw this on General Hospital (ya, I watch, yougotaproblemwiththat?) and I cannot stop wanting to make it! UGhh I am so obsessed. I spent a few hours on ravelry looking for similar patterns and came up with this and this and this. Which one do you guys think is would be best? and what kind of yarn should I use to make sure that it is nice and soft and drapey like Carly on General Hospital (love the Carly by the way! She is one crazy ex-mob-wife-married-to-an-aussie (who almost left the show until Reese and I screamed NO INGO COME BACK) and I think she is brilliantly dealing with her son running away (becuase he shot his mob fathers girlfriend from couture magazine) while she is pregnant for the 3rd? 4th? 5th? time. Well, at least she looks great.

So tell me, what do you think?

And I will leave you with one more adorable pic:(isn't michi the cutest? She insists on him wearing the sweater I made him even though it is now a cropped quarter sleeved cardi on his buddah belly. I love this kid!)

Revelations

Recently someone told me how rare it is to have long-lasting good friendships. Not acquaintances, not going-out buddies, but good friends. Friends that will tell you "yes, your butt does look big in those pants", friends that you feel comfortable around to the point where there is no taboo topic, friends that ultimately become part of your family, because you both choose to remain in the friendship.

I am fortunate. Through Tony I have two great "sisters". We always joke how weird it is that we all get along so well. Our families vacation and spend holidays together, we steal each other clothes, and we fight and get mad at each other almost like real sisters do. However, we are practically family. We have not chosen to be so close, it is just some freakish coincidence that my "one-day sisters-in-law", and I, get along so well.

I have an older cousin who is also very close to me. She is also like a "sister" to me. She tells it to me straight, she does not mince words, and she is truly a woman that I look up to. She is graceful, loving, and although much older - hee hee - , to me the personification of beauty, grace and intelligence. We share the same birth month, and mothers that are sometimes so eerily similar that at times maybe interchangeable. But again, we did not choose to be sisterly-cousins, just another amazing coincidence that cousins ended up being so close.

Then there is Michi and Reese. You have heard of them before, I talk about them a lot. The three of us chose to be friends. Since junior high with Mich, and high school with Reese, we have remained friends. Now, I will admit, I am not the easiest friend to have. I am dramatic, I am sensitive, I am stubborn, and at times at bit unbearable. I admit it, they will agree - trust me, they will agree. But they have put up with me, and I have in turn put up with them.

Michi and I have had an especially rollercoaster friendship. I am liberal, she is conservative; when I was out partying in college (not a lot dad!) she was the campus minister; while I vote one way, she votes another. We clashed since the day we met - I liked the New Kids on the Block (shuddup - they were good!); she was in denial over her love of the New Kids. She even went out with the boy I liked in junior high!!

Sometimes, there were months, maybe even years, where we would not talk to each other. I will admit that I do not remember 85% of the reasons of why we fought. I block those things out. Looking back on it this past weekend, I am glad I do. This past weekend was Michi's baby shower. Seeing my oldest friend beaming with her growing belly, I had an immense surge of revelations. I am so fortunate that I am able to have these two girls in my life! I feel so lucky that through out the years, through illnesses, through heartaches, through disappointments, pains and sorrows, I have been able to call on both of them, and them on me. We have celebrated birthdays together, talked on the phone secretly for hours together, I have watched them dance at their weddings, we have gotten drunk together (not that many times dad!), and have laughed over the silliest things, over, and over again.

Now I get to watch their children grow. I get to call them my nieces, and nephews, because in my heart these two girls are my chosen sisters.

So Mich, CONGRATULATIONS! I cannot wait to meet my new nephew. I cannot wait to see my oldest friend holding her son. I love you tons!

Now, without further delay, I am revealing the Secret Charlie Projects:

Secret Charlie Project 1

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees
Yarn: I have no idea. I found it in my stash - it could have belonged to my mom.
Needles: US2
Ravelry Page: Secret Charlie Project 1


Secret Charlie Project 2

Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) from Knitter's Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman
Yarn: Elann Peruvian Highland Wool in Oatmeal
Needles: US6
Ravelry Page: Secret Charlie Project 2


Secret Charlie Project 3

Pattern: Organic Baby Wrapper by ms. pea (she recently got married - go congratulate her!)
Yarn: Bernat Cottontots Solid in Sweet Cream and Little Boy Blue 1 skein of each
Ravelry Page: Secret Charlie Project 3


Secret Charlie Project 4

Pattern: Organic Baby Bonnet by ms. pea
Yarn: Bernat Cottontots Solid in Sweet Cream and Little Boy Blue 1 skein of each
Ravelry Page: Secret Charlie Project 4
Modifications: I added some ribbing at the bottom cause since it seemed too loose.




Secret Charlie Project 5

Pattern: Rabbit by Debbie Bliss Special Knits
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lake
Ravelry Page: Secret Charlie Project 5
Modifications: I added a "c" for Charlie :)





Super Secret Charlie Project 6 (aka "The Little Guy")

Pattern: Little Guy by Jess Hutch
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease in Lake
Story: At the last minute Reese and I decided to make a diaper cake for the shower. It was a test on our friendship. There may have been some wine, and perhaps some tears, and some inappropriate comments about "doing the little guy" may have been mentioned. But, I think it was a success over all.

The mother of all updates

I, lomester, hereby swear, that I will, from now on, not subject you - my 5 loyal readers - to any more crazy updates. Instead, I, lomester, promise to continuously update my blog, thereby eliminating remarks such as "update your blog all-ready" from such friends as Reese.*

Phew - now that that is over! Let the updates begin!

From my last post *ahem -tease* you guys might have deduced that I went on a trip! Tony turned thirty this past July (gulp!) so, being the amazingly wonderful girlfriend that I am, I treated him to a little 7 day cruise in the Eastern Caribbean!

It was such a nice, relaxing time! First we stopped in Old San Juan, where the humidity completely messed with my camera and I almost cried thinking that the poor machine was broken. The day turned out to be absolutely perfect. We really enjoyed walking through the streets of this little city, and although completely packed with cruisers wanting to buy sou verniers, we managed to find a nice quiet little restaurant where we had some Puerto Rican and Spanish tapas, and a nice bottle of Sangria. The best part, the waiter was Argentinian.Next we spent a day in St. Thomas. Again, as soon as you get off the ship you are overwhelmed with how "turisty" the place is. Everyone is trying to sell half off diamonds, and perfumes and makeup and jewelry, and it is all stuff that you can get at home. So, we asked a local what beach we should go to where there were not a lot of people, and he suggested Sapphire Beach. We got in a cab with another couple going to the same location, and headed on a 30 minute bumpy windy drive. I am not sure if I will accurately describe the cab, but picture a big golf cart that fits 10 people. The roads were so hilly, and I had not had a drop of rum. My recommendation, have some rum before you get into one of these. :) The couple we rode with ended up being a blast to hang out with. They live in Chicago, but vacation in the same exact Virginia Beach location we go to every year - at approximately the same time! What a small world!

I did get some knitting done in St. Thomas, as you can see above, but not much. Why "not much" you ask? More on that later. The picture on the left is the view from my beach chair, then there is me knitting, and my Kusha Shawl.
The last place we went to was St. Maarten. St. Maarten, for those of you that do not know, is split up into French St. Maarten and Dutch St. Maarten. We spent the day in the Dutch side, but did have lunch in a wonderful (although horrifically overpriced) little French restaurant.

The whole vacation was absolutely perfect. When Tony and I go on vacation, we always want to see this and do that, and go here and explore there, and we never get the chance to just... be. This was the point of this vacation. To not plan on going snorkeling, or rock climbing or mountain biking...just to be. This being got my pant size in trouble, cause being mostly meant hanging out by the pool having the Royal Caribbean drink of the day, but I see a Detox diet in the future.

For all you nosy people (I am one of them, so this is not an insult), you can check out the rest of the birthday celebration extravaganza here.

Now that the "life" portion of the update has been completed, here is the "knitting" portion of the update.The pictures above are of a little "habu party" we had at Olga's a few weeks back. Isel's best friend was very very smart and got married in New York. Therefore, we made Isel go to Habu and get us some stuff. You know, just a little somethin' somethin'.

It is always fun to hang out with these girls, and when there is some lovely yarn to play with, even more fun. Isel brought me back a Kusha Kusha Shawl kit. I was so excited! I stared at it, and looked at it, and told everyone about my lovely steel and merino shawl that was coming up! I did not want to cast on or do anything until I went on the cruise, so I patiently waited. Then when the day came, and we were waiting to board the ship - I took a deep breath and cast on. My one way of describing this was : painful. I had bought some addi naturas since my steel addis would have not worked well with the silk and steel, they would have just slid off the needles. But the naturas were worse! The joints are not good at all. My work kept getting all tangled up, and the steel kept falling off the needles. I cast on 4 times. I was so disappointed that my vacation project was not going as easily as I wanted to.

Things got a little easier when I worked in the merino. The fact that it looks so pretty made me want to persevere. I still do not know if I want to felt the finished project, or leave as is. We will see as I keep going. I think it may be a while before you see this as an FO. I do have a couple of FOs to show you, but I am not too happy with my Royal Caribbean buffet look right now - so give me a few more days. More pics coming soon!














*this disclaimer is subject to people from work not having any more children which make me not have time to update my blog, any subsequent audits at work, and frankly, the amount of amusing anecdotes in my head. (Yes, I am not always this witty).

Having a Bad Day

Yes, I am... I got rear ended today and it has totally ruined my day. I am okay, and the car is fine. Well, the trunk of my little red Honda Element does not open, and my venti coffee I was enjoying is all over the car, but it will all be fine. Accidents happen, I know. As long as everyone is safe and healthy that is all that matters. However, sometimes the grumpiness takes a while to dissipate. Am I saying all this to get sympathy? Yes, I am. So hit me with some funny comments so I can get out of my funk.

This has certainly been helping today:
We had a girls night last friday and I asked Reese to bring Ava with her Avita top. I wore my Redgina just for the sake of a cute picture. She makes me smile.

OH! Speaking of Avita, I want to thank you all for your wonderful comments on my first ever pattern. I am so excited when I see that 6 people have added t to their Ravelry queue!

Another thought that has been helping me is the knowledge that there is a Gilmore Girls Season 2 DVD waiting for me at home. I am now addicted to that show (thanks Reese). I am planning on going home, opening a bottle of wine, watching Gilmore Girls and working on my next Secret Project.

Some of my most detailed oriented readers may have noticed that the Secret Michi Baby Projects on my sidebar have now become Secret Charlie Projects. That is because my dear friend Michi gave in to the pressure and found out the sex of the baby! In a few more months I will have a brand new "nephew"! I am so excited, although Michi and Reese are even more so excited as they plan Ava and Charlie's wedding. I am working on Secret Charlie Project 3, and ravelry users can check out the progress here.

Once that is done I am going to keep working on my Breton Girl. I started working on this last Saturday and just cannot stop. I love working with Elann Esprit! It is so soft and stretchy and I am very very excited about finishing this top.

My habulishious tunic is nice and finished, but the preliminary attempt at looking cute during a photoshoot turned out disastrous. Don't make me think about it cause my day has been bad enough already.

I can't stop thinking about other things that i must knit. I have to finish my Free People Inspired Sweater, and I want to make a Clapotis for an upcoming trip of a lifetime (more on that later), as well as this absolutely ridiculous shawl that I cannot get out of my mind. (it is MINE Iselita!). The ideas are just never ending, never stopping, ever flowing, and I love it.

I had a cheesy moment the other day when I told Olga (man I love gmail chats) " I never thought I would love knitting so much!". I am a knitting nerd with everyone in my life that is not part of my knitting life (does that make sense?). Everywhere I go I bring yarn and a couple of sticks to pass the time. But on days like today, when things are just a little bit off kilter, a little bit of nerdiness is well needed.

Is it something in the water?

Because it seems that everyone is having babies now a days. Not that there is anything wrong with that, I just will have to quit my job to make gifts for all these people. We found out a little while ago that another one of my closest friends, Michi, is pregnant! So watch out as I make a lot of SMBP (Secret Michi Baby Projects). We are fighting with her to find out what the sex of the baby is so that I know what colors to use, but I do not know if our persuasion is working. I will keep trying, but I have a feeling there will be a lot of white involved in these projects * sigh *.

My co-worker (who has now drank the water FIVE times!) is due in a few weeks. She is like the mom of the group, and always so helpful so I made her a little something something:

Pattern Details:

Pattern: Baby Kimono from Greetings from Knit Cafe
Yarn: Caron's So Soft 1 skein
Needles: Size 6 Addis

Truth be told, I am not super happy with this. I was not in the mood for making it, I am now not so much liking Caron's and I just kept dreaming about my redgina. Also, the back looks super silly, and I kept messing up the pattern. However, I do think that she will like it. Everyone loves a handmade gift - right?

Remember how I told you last time that I had a special friend visiting over the weekend?I wasn't lying! Kat came and spent Sunday night at our house and did not complain ONCE about my horrible impromptu cooking or Tony's demands of no shoes in the house and no talking during the last episode of the Sopranos. (which I have to say was a tremendous dissapointment). She was even sweet enough to bring me some birthday gifts (yes - I drag my birthday out - do you have a problem with that?)

Isn't that gorgeous merino lace yarn??? I love it. I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about what I want to make with it. I have no concrete ideas, so please, come forth and suggest. I really cannot wait to make something with it. It is so pretty! She also gifted me some feltable soap. I have not done it yet, but basically you put the wool over the soap and felt it. As you wash it acts like an exfoliator. How cool is that? Thanks again Katalancheeee! Come and visit again so we can hit the adult pool - okay?

On monday I took off from work (yay) and we met up with Isel at Stitch DC where we met up with Olgita who works there. They could not have asked for a more knowledgeable employee, she rattles off ideas like crazy! I wish that I could take off from work everyday and hang out with my friends.
If you want to see more pictures of our meet up, including Isel's close encounter with mohair, check out my flickrpage.

Also go check out Olgita's new pattern on knitty. She is so freaking talented! (and her photographer is not so bad either if I do say so myself.)

FO never posted

So cute - isn't it? I started this scarf in Mexico on my vacation. I hated knitting it because you have to knit into the front and back of every 4th (i think) row until you get 3200 stitches. Not fun. And while I was making it I could not picture how the colors were going to look all curly and all, so I wanted to undo it like a quadrillion times. Ask anyone on the trip (especially Xtina), I asked them - "Should I undo it?" so many times, they were annoyed.

So I stuck to it and finished it. Binding off 3200 - ya - not fun either.

Because I put so much work and patience into it I gifted it to my friend Jess. She should be part of our monthly girls night but lives in - shoot - I always forget this - I think Rhode Island. See what a bad friend I am? I don't even know where she lives. That is why she totally deserves this scarf. That and the fact that she is a totally loving and caring person and we miss her and we cannot wait for her to move to our area this summer. YAY!!

Oh and the pic? It was take with my new camera thank you very much. I am in love.

Catching Up

I procrastinate. Now I have to do a catch-up post to tell you all what I have been up to. So you better comment! (x-tina - ahem). I am going to do this in list format. I am a major list maker and I need to do it this way this one time so I don't forget anything.

1) Thanks to Macoco

I want to send out a shout out (woot woot!) to my friend Macoco for sending me this Mexico City guide and the lovely (yet completely uncessary) yarn.

The book totally came in handy on our vacation last week (pictures to come), and the extra commentary handwritten by Macoco herself was an added bonus.

If you want a preview of what my vacation was all about, Macoco has allowed me to share a link to her Flickr Mexico pics. You may want to pay special attention to this picture, as well as this one, this other one, and yet one more. This is what vacationing in Mexico is ALL about. (Especially when your boyfriend's mother was born there and she wants you to experience Mexico to the fullest. (don't judge her folks - seriously this is all I did while in Mexico).
2) Dad Show

My dad is an artist. If any of you ever meet him he will tell you that -repeatedly. His ego is HUGE, it gets unbearable sometimes, but somehow we manage to love him like crazy. Last year, he only submitted his work to one gallery. That one gallery chose two of his paintings and showed them this past month. His ego is now completly unmanageable. However, we all managed to go support him. Here are some pictures of us "being proud". (hola pa!) Not cause I am his daughter (or because he promised me yarn from his trip to Argentina) but his were some of the coolest paintings, if not THE coolest paintings. I did manage to find some knitted work, and of course snapped some pics to share with you. The first one is of a crochetted(?) kimono (my brother looks impressed) and the second one is knitted trash bags. I do not have the name of the pieces/artists, but if I find them I will update this post. 3) Cutest Baby EVER!

You all know her by now. And she keeps getting freaking CUTER! These pictures of her wearing a bolero knitted by her (soon to become) favorite auntie (ok, ok, one of three favorite aunties) was taken a few weeks ago. Reese has informed me today that she has almost outgrown it. It maes me sad, but yet excited to see her grow up.

4) Marice (and her lomester made scarf) Dances with the Stars


About a year and a half ago I made Marice this Windy City scarf because she is the best person to work with. She finally got a digital camera and took the scarf to the Dancing with the Stars show. Her and I discuss reality t.v. all the time because we are junkies. Well, I am dragging her into the junkie category, but I do not think she will disagree. Isn't she rocking it?
5) Argentina gift updates

I finished them in time! Yahooooooo!!! My dad is over there right now (buying me yarn and things) and he has already taken pictures. As soon as I get them, you will see them.

6) Coming up...
I started and almost finished a scarf during my trip to Mexico. I will show you pics of everything as soon as possible. I also am knitting away on my Phildar Swing Jacket and will show pics of that too.

So now... go ahead, comment! (X-tina!!!)