YAY Tattoos!

No I didn't get another one, well not yet anyway.  I took my best friend on Monday to make appointments for us to go get new tats, and she got her first ever.  I was like a proud mother, I know a little wierd right?  But what can ya do? So here she is getting the tat:

I know she kind of looks dead and it kind of looks like Mike is doing an autopsy on her.  So anyway we went to Outer Limits Tattoo in Orange. It was way fun, So on with it, here is her new tat:

Isn't it adorable?  And if you know Sarah, you know it's perfect for her.

Anyway I know I haven't posted forever, but just an update,  I finished the wicked and have started on a jedi top for a friend's baby, I'll post pics when I get a little further along.  But since the last post I have moved and gotten a new car.  I don't have any pics of the new car yet, but here's the odometer at 99 and 150 miles:

Yeah so it hasn't been very warm, can you tell? The first one was at almost midnight and the second was in the afternoon the next day.  Silly coldness I'm getting sick of it!  But we do get this because of it:

That's driving to Pub Knitting in Laguna, gorgeous right?  There are some reasons I do stay here and pay way too much rent and way too much for gas.  Anyway here is our little Pub Knitting group:

Though we usually have a couple more people, not a whole lot and I"m kind of digging that.  I am finding, however, as summer is fast approaching (where did the first quarter of the year go?) we are going to need to find somewhere with less tourists.  I guess that's all the updates for now.  I'll take some more pics and update again soon!  I promise! I'll stop taking 2 months to update!

Just for good measure here's a pic of me and Sarah on our friend Pete's Motorcycle:

2 FO's, a WIP and Some Other Randomness

Ok, so being the cute amazing girlfriend that I am, I decided to make cupcakes for Mr. Artichoke for his Birthday. But I couldn't make just any cupcakes, they had to be awesome and weird, just like Mr. Artichoke himself, so I decided on Black and Tan Cupcakes. They were wonderful, though I think next time I make them I'd figure out some other kind of icing, this was a little too drippy, weird. But here they are:

And a closeup

So, while I was making cupcakes, I heard these random kids yelling and laughing outside. So I went to the front window to see what was up, and who knew there would be a random little train in front of my house? But there was, sometimes I wonder about Southern California.

I know, I live in a weird Neighborhood, what can I say?

Ok, so on to some knitting, I finished my Dad's sweater, just in time for him to take it to Austria for him. It's the
Leo Sweater from Knitty, I made it with Esprit in Grand Canyon. I think it turned out mighty cute, I just need to get a picture of him wearing it now.

And a closeup of the ribbing.

It fits him perfectly, I couldn't have mapped it out better if I had written it myself. He wore it all over Austria and Italy, apparently it was colder than he'd thought.

A week and a half ago, one of our (Sarah, Lawrence, Joe, and I) favorite cast members was debuting and signing a pin she designed and won a contest for. So we got to take a picture with her.

And yep, that's me in a wicked shirt. Went and saw that the 15th, so amazing, I recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen it. It is one of the better written and perfomed musicals I've seen in quite sometime. And you can't miss going to Off Vine Restaurant. One of my favorite places to eat ever.

I did promise another FO, so here you go:

I have to say that is probibly the worst picture of me wearing a sweater ever, but it is the most comfortable sweater I've worn in a long time. It's Starsky knit in Oriental Mandala. It's so Squishy, I can't recomend it enough. I knit a large, and I'm by no means a large, and it's still a little big. I opted to not have cuffed sleeves, so I knit them 5 inches shorter, and I put in a button band instead of a belt. I love, love, love this sweater, I finished it Sunday night and I have already worn it twice!

So I went to Disneyland last night with Mr. Artichoke and met a bunch of his friends, it was so much fun. It's always nice when you get along with your SO's friends, and beyond that, my friends love him, so we're good all around. But I digress, I was sitting outside of the Riverbelle Terrace knitting and the sun started to go down. I don't think I've seen such an awesome sunset in a long time.

Then as I was walking down mainstreet to meet up with Mr. Artichoke the sun was at the most amazing angle and made me remember why I love Southern California and Disneyland so much.

What was I knitting, you ask? Well I'm working on the Wicked Sweater in Karaoke. It is so soft, I didn't know how I'd feel about soy silk, but it is so nice feeling, if I can knit a bunch more in that I would be a happy happy girl. Though I am wanting to try some of the new bamboo stuff that's out there, I think it'd be a good summer fiber, but maybe soy silk would be too. Hmmm decisions, decisions. So I made a good deal of progress on it last night. I cast on Sunday and had only finished the ribbing before I got to Disneyland, now I'm 8 sets of increases in. Take a look:

Isn't it pretty? It's gonna be so great! I can't wait to be able to wear it!

Ok, so I want to leave you with, by far one of the oddest vehicles I've ever seen.

For those of you that can't tell, all that detailing is rhinstones, yep, truck drivers are an odd bunch.

Finding out about myself

So I have to say I love this thing, and it's kind of eerie how much it really is like me. Go take a look, kind of a fun thing to do!

Read my VisualDNA™ Get your own VisualDNA™

New Babies, Old Knits and Christmas

Ok, let's start off this post with the fact that my parents are awesome and got me a digital camera for Christmas, so now you'll be seeing lots and lots more pics from me. Ok so first off we have some of the pets, have I mentioned I have the cutest animals ever?

Here's Ninna, also known as Sienna and lots of other sweet and not so sweet names, she's my little long haired mini Daustchound:



Next is my Brittany, Noli, she's 11 and acts like she's 2, I love her so much, she's my little girl, we got her when I was 12, I'm gonna be sad when I move out again, it's hard leaving your children behind. Anyway, here she is:



So now is my favorite animal in the house, she may be the smallest, but she rules with an iron fist. Here's Tinkerbelle, more affectionatly known as Tinklebiddykins, but that's because everything in my life has to have a cutesy name:

Here's her bitchy, kickin ass and taking names pose:



And here she is in her natural princess state:





So, this year for Christmas/Yule I got a new tree, it's white and sparkley and the last one that any of the Targets in Orange County had, I love it, it's so me, and everyone that saw it agreed that it was an awesomely classy tree. I kept it in my loft, but I've decided for next Christmas in the new house (did I mention I'm moving) it needs a handknit tree skirt, and I think I've found just the one, but that's another post all together. So anyway, I went with a dark blue, siver, white theme, I couldn't bring myself to have black on the tree, but I'm pretty sure that's gonna change next year, I love the idea of a black and white Yule. Here's the tree and some of my favorite ornaments on it:











And the awesome, awesome topper:




Ok, so about a year ago I knit this amazingly wonderful scarf. It was the Skull Illusion Scarf from Ysolda (http://www.ysolda.me.uk/wordpress/index.php/skull-illusion-knit-scarf/) I did 6 repeats of the skull and crossbones in Teal and Fuschia Cascade 220, it's well over 6 feet long, and warm and amazing. Well when I was done, I decided I needed some fingerless gloves that matched, and so I made those too, they are so cute, I love them, and since it's been so freaking cold in Cali this year I've gotten a crap load of use out of them. I don't have a pic of the entire scarf, but I have pics of the skulls and if you look at it normal, it doesn't look like it has skulls at all.








SO my Dad's side of the family is wierd in that I'm the youngest grandchild by like 14 years, meaning my cousin Jason (the next oldest is now 37). But that being the case, I don't have many babies to knit for on that side of the family. My cousin Jason and his wife Trish, just had a baby boy right after Christmas, so I thought a hat and socks were in order. Jason told me that he wanted red, so I found this pattern (http://heyjulie.blogspot.com/2006/08/cabled-baby-hats.html) and decided it was too cute to pass up, then I decided to do some matching socks, but with blue toes and heels, the hat and red parts of the socks are in Bambusoft in Red and the blue is Wildfoote in Peacock (I think). I would totally recommend this yarn, it was probibly one of the softest yarns I have ever knit with and it's machine washable. Here's the hat and here's Jason, John (the baby) and me with the socks and hat:





I love this kid, seriously, he makes the cutest little noises, and is so well behaved. Of course, he was only a week old when I saw him, but still. Oh and when we went out to see the baby in Fontana, there was snow and ice on the ground. Umm it's Fontana, it's not supposed to snow there, what's with this crazy freaking weather? My parents got a rash guard and board shorts for John since Jason and his brother Ted love to surf, he should be able to wear it next summer, but they are really starting to have some cute things for boys, I was impressed:



Aren't they the cutest two people you've ever seen? That kid is going to be so amazing looking. So I held him forever, and could have continued all afternoon, but we had to leave. But it was a little creepy looking at the pics how natural I look with this kid.



Ok and just because I can, here's some more pics of John, who is apparently going by his middle name, Warren, still cute:





Why is it that Babies are so damn cute?

Also, this weekend I baked a pie, I made other food too, but the pie turned out great, it was Whiskey Apple pie, the crust got a little brown, but still I was proud:



And there are 20 reasons they shouldn't have given me a digicam, but what can I say? I love takin the pics, and here's one more just for good measure it's of my desk gnome, who I've decided to name G-nome, cuz he's pretty awesome and I think he's a great gansta:

I take forever...

to update. I got the cutest package from my PRGE partner.


Lovely alpaca yarn, some cuter than crap cards and an issue of Interweave Knits, the fall one. So great, Thanks!

I also finished a hat in like 2 days, but I love it. It's from Zona's pattern, I don't know where her blog is, can't find it, I'll post it later but here's the pic.



Ok and today I was way bored so I did this:



As for knitting, I just finished part of M's Christmas Gift, can't post that though and I'm about 3 inches into the sweater for my Dad, he better wear this sucker. Also we made 8 million cookies on Saturday, but JoQueta (my cousin) told me she'd love me to knit her something. YAY she's tiny! Size XS so many cute things I could knit for her! That's it for now I think.

Not much time for knitting...

So I haven't gotten to knit at all in the last week or so and it makes me sad. But I got hired by Dan Trevino at Uni High to do the costumes for the fall play, so I've been sewing my butt off. But all in all it should be awesome! I'll post pics when everything is done. But I think I'm going through knitting withdrawls.

I had an amazing weekend though, sewing and all. I sewed all day Saturday then J came and picked me up and we went and got Mexican food and watched horror movies. Then Sunday I again, sewed all day and then went up to J's and we went to Acre's of Books in Long Beach. I have to say I'm in love, that book store is freaking amazing. It's huge and full of used books. I got a first edition Robert Parker hardcover from 1955 for $2. Their knitting selection? Not so great. But they have a whole room dedicated to music. I plan to go back when I have a lot more time.

I had a voice lesson yesterday with Jane Judge, she's just awesome. I've found myself a new teacher, and she does recitals twice a year, so that's exciting too!

That's it for an update for now, more later.

One More Thing

I'm also working on a butt load of costumes, and by working on of course I mean not doing any actual work, mainly just researching. But I have a set of wizarding robes, a 1920's dress and a pirate costume to get done. All for Halloween you ask? Amazingly no. The wizarding robes are for the Harry Potter party I'm going to on the 5th. The 20's stuff is for a murder mystery I'm hosting, and the pirate costume? Why Pirate Thanksgiving of course! Pictures as I get stuff done.