Done.

Finito. The infamous bathroom mirror shot.

43.5 Hours to go.

I am going to knit at every possible moment that I can. I finally got on to sleeve island. I have to knit 30 more rows in order to finish the decreases. Then I have to knit straight until the sleeves measure 14.5 inches. Thats going to be nerve racking. After that, there are 38 cable pattern rows to do. I'm hoping to get to the pattern row section by midnight. Nakniswemo is driving me crazy, but I love the excitement and the possibility of being able to beat the clock and still make it in time. The good thing is, for the sleeves there are a total of 6 pattern repeats as opposed to 13 on the body. I feel like that took entirely too long.

Here is a progress picture.

Almost 48 hours to go.

I am on the last row of the body of this sweater. This calculates to about 70% complete. I am not giving up. I am watching Chef Hunter while I knit. Maybe I can cook one of these fancy dishes to celebrate the sweater being done. Hopefully......eeeeeeeek!

13 Rows to Go

I have reached the bottom portion of my sweater body. I have 13 more rows to go to complete the body. Here is my progress on the bottom chart.

4 Days Left.

I have 4 days to finish this sweater. Currently, I am 1/3 done with the edging pattern. Then I have to pick up the sleeves and knit those. I'm about 60% done with the whole sweater.

I will not give up. I have a long list of movies to watch on Netflix. Time to get it cracking'. More progress updates tonight.

Finally knitting

I knit 16 rows yesterday. I am on my way to see "In Time". Of course the journey made me late posting to the blog. The movie is about to start. More knitting updates soon.

Magnetic Nail Polish

After all that thanksgiving cooking, my nails were a hot mess. I felt that a manicure was long overdue. I contemplated going to a salon, but didn't want to deal with a possible long wait and the smell of acrylic encompassing the nail salon. So, I went to Sephora instead.
I found this magnetic nail polish from Nails Inc. in the color of Trafalgar Square. The directions say to apply 2 coats, and after the second coat, hover the magnet over your nail for the design effect to happen. Here are pictures of 1 coat, and the second coat after the effect happened.

I love it. No two nails look the same, and the overall effect is really cool. I applied a top coat from OPI to seal it. The cost is $16 for the polish. About the same price of a Salon manicure. But at least I can do it again next week without having to go to a salon. For a woman with very little free time, this is a great way to get a salon quality trendy look at home. And for those hands, don't forget the moisturizer.

Thanksgiving.

Every Thanksgiving, I come up with some grand scheme for a new dessert. This year I made Giada's Spiced Apple Walnut cake. Here is the evolution of my cake.
It is absolutely delicious.

This is yesterday's blog post.

It's Thanksgiving Eve. I had the luxury of getting the privilege to work 3 hours less than usual. So, I had to go to work at 12:30. I left the house and the weather looked a little dreary. I picked up an umbrella that I bought during last night's downpour for $14 after taxes. Ugh!

I was on the L train, listening to a Podcast and fell asleep. Oh, did I mention I had 2 hurricane drinks from a place serving authentic Cajun cuisine the night before? So, I was tired. When I woke up, I realized that I was at Union Square only because the conductor said "6th Avenue next". I bolted out of the train, and ran to the next platform. As, I was waiting for my second train, I see a bunch of wet people. Dammit, where is my umbrella? Still on the damn L train. $14 down the drain. I caught my train to Times Square. Now, the only thing I could do to salvage my fierce look was to cover my hair that would frizz at the shear whisper of rain. I covered my head as if I was about to pray for the sins of everyone in manhattan, and ran from the train station to my job. I think I almost knocked over an old man. Sorry dude, but it took me $100 worth of products and 2 hours to get my kinky-curly hair pin straight.

When I got to work, my hair survived the ordeal, but I didn't have time to get my usual Starbucks Christmas blend with a shot of Vanilla. I walk into the pantry at work and felt like I walked into heaven.

We got a new Keurig machine. All of the day's bitterness ended when I saw the words "insert K-cup". I gladly did.

Audible

Today, I tried audible.com for the first time. I feel like such an idiot. Why did I wait so long?

I went to work, and my 1 and only coworker, my confidant, my friend, was on Jury Duty. My only company was the group of people that I work with in Chicago. Needless to say, I was very lonely. So, I decided to listen to Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. I learned about the not do apparent details that make the super successful just that. I am falling in love with books again. Even if I am not actually reading it. I feel like I have a friend having an intellectual conversation with me all day.


1 valid point that the writer proves. There are some people with book sense, while others have common sense. I always thought the two were mutually exclusive and a person can have either or. I have learned that a true outlier has both. He also makers a point that 10,000 hours of practice is the standard formula for being an expert above experts in whatever you put your mind to. My best friend thinks I have knitted for that amount of hours. I believe it to be way less. However, I am curious to know how much I knit in a day, month, or year. I will start counting on December 1 st, once Nakniswemo is done. This way I can get a true account instead of a psycho self imposed deadline driven one.

Sweet tooth

Today, my job had its first annual holiday bake-off. I had the pleasure of sampling over 20 different desserts that were all homemade. Who knew there were so many undercover chefs working in a bank? I made Baileys chocolate chip cheesecake using a recipe from cooks.com. My dish didn't win a prize, but the investment bankers loved it nonetheless. I also got this little treat that was just too cute to eat.

Color Experiment

Today, I attempted to color my hair. I wanted to have an even color that was a slight hint of red. I used Colorstay in burgundy. I bought it in a discount store because it was 2.99 a box. How could I pass that up?

So, here is a picture of the before and the after.

I really don't see much of a difference. However, I had 2 strands of gray in the front that have now magically disappeared. I have been told I look like I am 23, and those pesky gray hairs are starting to muck that up. Another thing is, I am happy to use the products I bought from my hairdresser. They really do work at taming these curls and providing the protection I need while flat ironing my hair. Maybe I will go back to the discount store and buy hair color that is a shade lighter. I keep forgetting that with natural hair you have to do so much more to break the hair down so that it can take the color. Strong, resilient hair is a mixed blessing I guess.

I meant to post this a few hours ago.

I completed 1 skein of yarn. It was enough to do about 40% of my sweater. Last night, I had this much left on the skein. Here is a picture of everything all knitted up. I am about to start my waist shaping increases.

Begin Waist Shaping

Yaaaaaaaay! I am so excited about my sweater. I separated the sleeves and I am about 2 rows away from doing the waist decreases. I have a long way to go before I get to sleeve island. I am happy with my progress. I knit at least 15 rounds tonight (this morning). Ok. Time for bed. Here is the picture as promised.

The Wonders of Times Square

Working in Times Square has its perks. There are many great restaurants to choose from for lunch or an after work dinner. I can take in a show or two. I can even get greeted by the Naked Cowboy on any given day.

Instead, I get greeted by this every single morning. Horses and the smell of manure. Look at that poop on the ground. Ewwwwww! Thank God I love my job and the people I work with every day.

Knit when you can

I have been trying to improve my NaKniSweMo progress. I realize that half the month has passed and I'm not even halfway done. Today, I knit during the commute in to work and during my lunch hour. I got to the point where I need to separate the sleeves from the body. Woohoo. Pictures soon, I promise.

Morning annoyances.

I was patiently waiting for the bus this morning, and then this happened. An ambulance pulls up into the bus stop, coming from the wrong direction. What was the dire emergency, you ask? Well, the driver needed to go to the corner store. Totally preposterous!

Cleaning

Sunday is supposed to be the day of rest. I spent it cleaning. I'm tired, and no knitting got done. But, at least every work shirt is nicely pressed.

Pardon the late post. The soap fumes aren't as good to me as yarn fumes are More knitting content later on today, I promise.

Happy birthday mommy!

Today is my mom's birthday. At midnight, we toasted with a bubbly Rose Moscato. I made this beautiful Rum raisin cake for her today. She is 55 and fabulous!

Home Sick

I have nothing spectacular to blog about today. I took the day off because I had a fit of nausea this morning. It got so bad that I couldn't keep down the medicine I took. I felt like crap all day.

My wonderful friends who love me have been texting me all day to check up on me. However, my hands were shaking too much to text back. Thank God for Siri on this iPhone. She has been my lovely typing assistant today.

Siri is my new best friend.

Also, the NaKniSweMo update. I didn't knit a single stitch today. I left off at row 27 of the yoke chart, and forgot about the increases on that row. So, I have to rip back 1 row and do it over. I promise, more pictures when I feel better.

Left Behind

NaKniSweMo forced me to leave behind a Parcel. It's the color "Dill" and it's wooly and silky at the same time. I casted on while I was in Rhinebeck and I had to rip it out 3 times before I got the mistake rib just right. Along the way there was an accidental möbius twist in there too, which proved to be rather annoying.

So here is my progress from Oct 16th to Oct 31. I am at the point where I have to shape the armholes and separate the front and back. I was hoping to finish this in November after Wisteria is done. Wishful thinking huh?

Knitting time

After work, I went to Nero Doro to have dinner and wine. But most importantly, I went there for knitting group.

I had a salad with pears and gorgonzola cheese. It was yummy.

As far as the knitting goes, I made it past the neck and am currently working on the yoke. I have about 10 more rows to go before I separate the sleeves.

The picture below shows where I left off at 2 AM, when I called it quits for the night.

Tight with money.

Yesterday, I bought a pair of shoes. I had my stockinged feet in a pair of knee high boots and didn't quite realize the atrocity as it was happening. So, when the cute salesguy brought my shoes and I removed my boots, I was totally embarrassed to see not 1, but 2 runs in my stocking. I mean from my toe to my shin. You would think I had mini scissors for toenails. (By the way, they are polished in a deep shade of purple with pink glitter). No pics of my pedicure today. I'm not trying to encourage any foot fetish fiends.

So, back to the story. I decided that I will never be utterly embarrassed like that again, and the best thing to do was buy a few pairs of tights that were a but thicker and stronger than the sheer stockings that were ripped to shreds. I made my way to my favorite cheapie-deepie woman's clothing store. De Janiero. They always have trendy things at very low prices. So, their tights, which are usually $10, we're really $2.99. Score! So, I bought a few. Ummmmmm. I mean 13. But, 2 are for my mom. You have to share the wealth right?

Here is the financial breakdown. The original price is as follows:
11@$10 , 1@ $12.50, and 1@$18 = $141.50

After all the discounts, I paid $53.87. That's a difference of $86.63. That is 61.6% less than the original price. I am more than prepared for this winter. Woooohooo!

Blogger for iPhone.

I am having some serious issues. Last night, around 8 PM, I posted my Sunday=Beauty Day post. I could have sworn the phone said "publishing". So, I went about my business, had dinner, watched a few TV shows, and knitted on my Nakniswemo Wisteria.

I decided to check my blog today, only to find that it wasn't published. Ugh! I am so annoyed. It's bad enough that I can't properly organize the pictures I am blogging. Now, this app is calling my phone a liar??

So, lo and behold, there are 2 posts today.

Here is my sweater progress. It is currently at 4,056 stitches. I am a little less than 10% done. I am still wondering if completing this by thanksgiving is still humanly possible. I am about 5 days behind, according to my estimates. Oh well, I won't beat myself up about it. I will just shut up and keep knitting. Haha!

Sunday=Beauty Day

Today, I decided to treat myself to a day of beauty.

I used Sally Hansen's Complete Salon Manicure on my nails. I also got my hair straightened and tried some new products by Mizani. It's called Thermasmooth and it works to protect the hair from heat damage. I am absolutely loving my hair. Here are some pictures I took throughout the day.

Double Black

Guess what I found in the liquor store 1 block away from my house?

Woohoooooo! I'm so happy. This is limited edition, and I can buy it by only crossing 1 street. I love my neighborhood. Anyone care for a drink? Johnnie Walker Double Black is Johnnie Walker Black amplified, with less burn.

Beauty Finds

This morning, I decided to use the mascara that my savvy shopping skills helped me to acquire. I wanted to see what this False Fiber lash journey was all about.

My verdict is, I like it. It went on smoothly, with no clumps. The brush captured my lower lashes which really are nonexistent. I love the length and the volume that my lashes have. I am happy that I bought two at the same time. Hmmmmm. Maybe I should get 2 more before the sale is over.

Here are my self portraits using my iPhone this morning. Wow! I love this camera.

Savvy Shopping Diva

One of my favorite places to shop for beauty products is Wallgreens. Why? Because they always have a great sale on my favorite products.

I recently bought Shea Moisture's Curling Souffle with Agave Nectar and Flax Seed Oil. Organic is the way to go when it comes to caring for my tresses. Another product I love is any mascara that L'Oreal makes. There is a new one on the market called Voluminous False Fiber Mascara. Since I already love their voluminous mascara, I figured why not try something new.

The retail price for the mascara is $10.99, and the Curling Souffle is $11.99. Now here is where the savvy shopper goes to work.
Walgreens has both on sale this week. The mascara is $8.99 and the curling souffle is buy one at 9.99, get the other for half price. So I bought 2 of each. Now, there is also a promotion that when you purchase $15 or more in L'Oreal products, you get a $5 Walgreens coupon good for anything in the store. So here is the financial rundown.
2 mascaras = $21.98
4 curling souffles = $47.96
Total = $69.94

Sale prices
2 mascaras = $17.98
4 curling souffles with $5 coupon = $24.96
Total = $42.94

That's a difference of $27.00. Which is about 38.6% of the original retail price. Hmmmm I guess I can afford a Gel Manicure now, huh?
I love being a savvy shopper!

NaBloPoMo

It means National Blog Posting Month. I have decided to attempt to post to my blog every day this month. Sometimes I go months without posting, so it's a great way for me to catch up. I also think it will keep me accountable with my NaKniSweMo progress.

Today, I completed 10 rows on the neck portion of my sweater. The cables are starting to pop, and the design is getting predictable. I know once I get comfy with it, it will all change when the yoke portion of the pattern starts. According to my calculations, I should be on row 36 today. Eeeeeeek! I'm already falling behind, but looking forward to the weekend to make progress.

Here is my work so far.

The thought of knitting tonight is a futile one. I am attending a Johnnie Walker limited edition Double Black tasting. I'm so excited. Here are some pictures of the fun time I'm having.

Ok. Time to finish this drink. More pictures tomorrow!

NaKniSweMo 2011

November first. A day of hope for every knitter who has delved into the realm of sweater making. The beginning of NaKniSweMo. I am very ambitious this time around, hoping to finish my sweater by Thanksgiving. I intend on making Wisteria designed by Kate Gilbert, from the Twist Collective magazine.

I am following the pattern with a substitute yarn that is the same weight as the intended yarn. Here is my lazy swatch. Haha.

I completed 2 rows of the neck so far. I have about 1,800 stitches more to go before the night is done. Time to stop typing and start knitting.