NEW!

August 31, 2012 Uncategorized No comments

new apartment, new nephews, new jobs! it has been a crazy couple of months in the birney household.

colin and i switched apartments with our neighbor behind us. she wanted more space for her super-cool six-year-old, we wanted a better kitchen. i think we both got what we wanted. i sure did!

my two awesome nephews were born! dee was born on june 30th, mac was born july 14th. they’re twins. poor debbie! they are great and amazing, and will be home asap. at just over four pounds, they’re still hanging out in the hospital, but doing great.

i work in a metal fabrication shop doing everything but welding. i hope to have a half a spare minute to add that to my repertoire, but we’ll see. i also took a job about a month ago as a bartender in a beer bar. it’s semi-fun, and the money is really good. ye olde knitting income was a little disappointing, so the supplement is really nice.

soon, i will put up some pics and links, and show y’all some cute things i’ve made!

girl on the rocks

June 19, 2012 Knitting, Spinning No comments

 

hmm, where did i find this delightful yarn? i think it was a ravelry click through, but i can’t quite remember, i’m much too stricken with the yarn to remember trivial details like that.  all of these things aside, let me extol the virtues of girl on the rocks(yep, she puts it all lowercase!) hand dyed yarn.

the colorway i purchased is called ‘sprout’, and the color did not disappoint.  it is a rich assortment of brighter and darker greens, definitely evoking the growth stages of leafy plants.  the color is varied, but not wildly variegated(i hate splitchy splochty colors); and looks as though it will knit up beautifully in a variety of stitch patterns.  the blend of this, and many of girl on the rocks’ yarns, is a nice, squashy, sturdy 80% superwash merino, 20% nylon.  the nylon saves the superwash from that weird fake feeling that i don’t particularly enjoy, and makes for a sturdy but soft, delightfully plump yarn.

mmmm!  can you tell i’m happy with my purchase?  i’m envisioning a single skein lace triangle or crescent shawl, that’s going to look AMAZING with the beat-up hunter green cashmere cardigan i can’t stop wearing(even though it’s usually in the 90′s here).

check ms. karrie in her etsy store, and buy some of her rad yarn, or beautiful hand-dyed top, or cute needle/wpi/stitch gauges.

i feel awesome right now

June 12, 2012 Not-Knitting-ness No comments

as some of you know, and many of you probably don’t care; i am a terrible runner.  about 3-4 months ago, i decided to be a good runner, but i still was not.  i tried very hard, but i still couldn’t go past 2 miles without keeling over.

my darling husband, in an attempt to motivate, signed the two of us up for a 5k on june 16th, here in houston.  yes, houston.  where it is already routinely mid-90′s every. damn. day.  until tonight, it hasn’t worked.  i was even worse, topping out at 1.5 miles.  pitiful.

NO MORE!  tonight, i am celebrating my first-ever 3.1(5k) mile run!  i am extremely proud of myself, and i hope the contingency who consider this a non-feat will be silent.

i was going to post a picture of the celebratory beer i am drinking, but everything is acting glitchy.  oh well.  it’s a delicious Surly Cynic.  if you live in the twin cities area, you have to start drinking this beer.  it is amazing.  i am thankful that i have a(encouraging distance runner) brother in minneapolis, to bring Surly to me for drinking amazingness.

also, before i end this bloated and lengthy post, let me extol the virtues of Map My Ride.  it’s a free app that uses GPS to tell you where you ran, how fast, average speed, current MPH, and a hell of a lot of other cool stats.  FREE!

wee! or, ‘don’t look, debbie’

June 5, 2012 Designs, Family, Knitting 2 comments

how do you fit two sweaters in one small bathroom sink, and block them both on one blocking board?

tiny sweaters, of course!  my sister(in-law) is having twin boys in september, and i intend to go overboard.  these will be my very first nephews(i don’t have any nieces, either), and i am a very happy aunt-to-be.

 

the yarn is used is CJ Kopec’s ‘Delight’, a gift from the lovely Cecily MacDonald.  i used the Baby Sophisticate pattern as a jumping off point for style inspiration, but these are definitely not made by the pattern.  my kind neighbor, proud owner of a one year old, loaned me a small sweater to measure, and i went from there.  if my only failing in life is not knowing children’s clothing sizes, i think i’m doing ok.

here’s a wee detail shot, because why the hell not.

squee!

Woo! Sweater Pattern!

June 1, 2012 Designs, Knitting 2 comments

i have created a sweater pattern, and i think it’s pretty damn cute!  it has a bib on the front neck that looks good half un-buttoned, or buttoned up the whole way.  the sleeves are set in and puffed(a little), and it has cute details like faux side seams and waist shaping.

check it out over on ravelry.  the wildly talented dawn catanzaro did the tech editing, so you know it’s good to go.

 

 

also, i can’t fail to mention that this is the first sweater design that i have ever offered for public consumption!

YUM!

February 29, 2012 Family, Not-Knitting-ness No comments

 

my sweet husband came home for lunch today, and brought me dessert.  normally, i start knitting 7:30 in the morning, forget lunch til 2-3, occasionally remember to take truck out, and then keep going til colin gets home at 6.  it’s nice to have the day broken up a little differently, and to have something tasty and sticky to munch on whilst blinding myself on this damned Malabrigo!

Beard saga: completed!

February 24, 2012 Corporate Interests, Knitting No comments

 

beard hat finished, and shipped off to mr. Terry Border!  he was gracious enough to take a self portrait for me to post.  i tried to model the hat on colin before i sent it off, but his rather wild and unruly beard made it look really silly.

the beard buttons on and off, and the buttons, at mr. border’s request, are a bit unorthodox. i made them from beer bottle caps, and they turned out quite charmingly.  i think i will certainly make beer cap buttons for many other projects.

 

thanks terry!

Kitchen sink

February 15, 2012 Knitting No comments

 

 

long time, no post!  i have finally gotten on top of all of the knitting i had sitting around.  here i am, finishing off a trade piece i made.  the talented terry border has graciously agreed to trade me one of his bent images for a hat.  no ordinary hat, a beard hat!  i knitted this particular hat up as a regular hat with buttons on the sides, so the beard is detachable.  pictures will follow, i hope!

this photo is me doing a little kitchen sink dying, of said beard hat.  i knitted it up in lovely natural white Berroco Peruvia Quick, and gave it a nearly fire-engine red hue.  super beard hat!

 

procrastinated welts, now available!

January 20, 2012 Knitting No comments

 

I have finally put my welt cowl pattern on paper.  er, PDF.  digital medium.  anyhoo, i’ve been wearing the hell out of this piece since i finished it, but i’ve been having quite a time just sitting down and writing it up.  Here it is!  available on ravelry for a paltry $4.50, this is a cool pattern for slinky yarns.  The Plucky Knitter that i used is a great luxe yarn, with super-duper drape.  perfect for an over-sized, slouchy-slinky cowl.

 

 

 

 

christmas hats for cousins

January 18, 2012 Family, Knitting No comments

 

 

colin and i went home to atlanta for christmas this past year, and had a great family christmas for the first time in several years.  i decided(the week before christmas) to make hats for all four of my younger cousins.  they are: emma(in the white hat), jessie, helen, and j.j.(clay, teal, and stripes).  i love them dearly, and there aren’t cuter kids anywhere, i’m convinced.

a couple of years ago, i made a scarf for emma, and she emailed me recently to tell me how happy she was to have it.  thus, hats for everyone!  i was terrified that they wouldn’t like the hats, wouldn’t wear them, etc.  or even, that they would pretend to like them to spare my feelings, and the hats would live out their lives in a stuffy drawer somewhere.

this was not to be!  the instant the hats were unwrapped, they were on their cute blond heads.  i seriously looked away for a moment, and when i turned around, the were all wearing them.  they didn’t take them off the rest of the day, and my aunt told me she has to coax helen not to wear hers to bed.  i don’t know how i could possibly feel more appreciated!

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