Feria de los Mataderos

Okay, first of all, I found this yesterday on my bookshelf. Question mark?

Japan: Why is it the way it is?

Secondly, even though I have class from 5-7 on Mondays it is currently 6.00 here and I am sitting in bed writing this post. Why, you ask? Because it's a national holiday! Booyah.

Argentines certainly love their holidays. One of my professors jokingly told me that three of the national pastimes are having strikes, celebrating holidays, and... I forget the third. But seriously, holidays. In the month I've been here there have been at least three-- Friendship Day, Children's Day, and the Day of San Martin (I think). From what I gather the holiday we are celebrating today-- the Day of San Martin-- is similar to America's celebration of George Washington's birthday. The actual day was last Wednesday, the 17. The only reason I know that is because I went to a museum with some friends on Avenida del Libertador-- avenue of the liberator-- and we saw the cavalry parading up and down the Avenida in full uniform!

Today, though, is the actual celebration of it. Celebrations of major holidays are all on Monday, which is GREAT because everyone gets a long weekend! Classes are cancelled and people don't go to work. So today, I went with some friends to the Feria del Matadero, or a gaucho fair.

Vendors were selling some pretty typical goods, like bone-handle knives and sweaters. There were also pretty a-typical goods like wine, honey, olives, and LOTS of food. More about goods later. What made it great, though, is that there was live music and dancing, as well as delicious, delicious food. Four of us had locro, or stew, for lunch that ended up being pretty good, but my friend Alex was the winner with a gigantic meat-filled tamale. I definitely won for dessert, though: some lady was selling enrolladas with dulce de leche-- cake and dulce de leche rolled into a log and cut into slices-- and gosh, it was so good.

Other successful purchases today include natural, unprocessed honey-- aka the best (and cheapest, because it's Argentina) honey I have ever tasted-- and llama wool yarn! Look look look!

I have no idea what I'm going to do with it yet. I don't know the gauge, I don't have needles, and I don't have a pattern in mind, but I paid 40 pesos (or USD10) for 200g of the stuff. Seriously, that is an incredible steal. You can't really tell from the picture-- the sun was going down as I took it and I was using my phone, not my Nikon-- but it's a wonderful light brown color and feels so soft. Any suggestions as to how I should use it?

The rest of today will be spent relaxing. As far as I can tell, I'm alone in the apartment for only the second time in the past month. I am taking advantage of it and lounging.

Never a Dull Moment

Before I get started, two Public Service Announcements:

1. I'm trying to see if I want to move my blog over from Blogger to Wordpress, so for the next little bit I'm going to be posting at both chiccasroughdraft.blogspot.com and chiccasroughdraft.wordpress.com.

2. I submitted Self Expression, a shirt I designed, to Threadless last summer and while a lot of people were excited about it, it wasn't chosen to be printed. This summer, I'm printing it myself! Right now I'm trying to figure out if people like the red or yellow color scheme more, so if you have an opinion please weigh in (click here for better pictures). Otherwise, keep your eye out for the sale! It should go up in a couple of weeks.


In the meantime, I have a lot of other projects on my plate! I know that the summer is supposed to be a time to recuperate from all the stresses of the semester. Anyone who knows me personally would also know that during the semester I am way too busy to sleep-- between fencing, a capella, work, and, well, life, there just isn't enough time! So I don't know that anyone would be surprised to hear that even though I leave for Argentina in July, this summer I ended up with two jobs and a zillion projects to complete!

 In addition to working with a wonderful medical billing office, I landed a job with one of my favorite professors. My class last semester on the Criminal Justice System was the first class he'd ever taught, but this was one of the best classes I've ever taken. Normally he's a defense lawyer, and this summer I don't have enough time for a full internship. He promised me an internship for next summer, but this summer he has me organizing and designing a website for him! It's right up my alley and it pays really well, so I am SUPER excited.


In other news, I'm getting so far on my sweater! Look look look!




I don't remember if I mentioned this before but I've been working on a sweater on and off since last summer. It's called Tree Jacket by Zephyr Style and I'm knitting it up in this burgundy-maroon soft wonderfulness. I took this photo at about midnight but since then have finished the top garter section and have moved onto the body lace. I'm super excited!



In my queue I also have a hat for Clara and the second half of my mommy/baby monster pair. I decided to knit them in GIGANTIC yarn and Baby looks was truly a MONSTER. The original picture from Danger Crafts' Etsy is at top left, and Baby's picture is below. Yeah, that's right. It took up my entire lap! Anyway, waiting in my queue is Mommy Monster, who I expect to be at least twice the size. Whoo!!



Look for lots of posts in the next few days, I think. I just uploaded a bunch of pictures from my phone and have a lot of catching up to do!

I'm back! Part II

Okay, so on a scale of one to "seriously, another one?" how boring are these knitting posts?

And if you answered "seriously, another one" you probably won't like this post, but you're in luck because I'm cooking Mexican food this weekend. Yum!

So. For knitting. I still haven't taken pictures of my beret or the accompanying hand warmers (mostly because I've lost the hand warmers since I've gotten home, durr), but I have been working pretty hard. I've knit/am still knitting a few Christmas presents and am slowly, slowly working through the list of things to make for other people.

I really only have time to knit during breaks, unfortunately, which is why it takes me so damn long to get anything done. But this summer I discovered that I LOVE making stuffed animals-- you don't have to worry about gauge and you get an adorable little being at the end of it that someone will love and cuddle. How wonderful is that?

So for this Christmas, I had the lofty goal of knitting three stuffed animals for my three little cousins... in a week. Yeah, I may be a little crazy. So far I've only gotten one done-- we're finally getting together with them on Saturday, after nature's last snow-dump of the year cancelled our first planned event-- but gosh, is she cute. She's from Danger Crafts, and, according to the pattern, is named Iris and loves gourmet cheese.

You know. Just chillin' with some oranges.

You see why I loved stuffed animals/monsters/creatures so much? Look at how CUTE that thing is. Seriously.  But you do have to keep more of an eye on stuffed creatures than you do a hat or scarf. I turned my back during our photo shoot and someone decided they were hungry:

NOM NOM NOM

Monsters. Anyway. You can only get Iris in a kit, but she's available in lots of different colors and size yarns. Mine is in the color Daffodil from this lovely shop called Noble Knits but is also available on Danger Crafts' etsy. 

The other one I started is also from Danger Crafts, but it's a mommy and baby set! You can start the aww soundtrack when you look at this picture from DC's etsy:

D'awww.

And, even MORE ADORABLE:

D'AWWW.

But so far I've only started the baby. Iris wasn't as big as I initially wanted her to be so I decided to make Daphne (momma) and Delilah (baby) with heavier yarn. I got a huge yarn (recommended needle size equals a whopping 13) and am working on size 10 needles, and so far baby's arms are GIGANTIC. Like, three inches long and and inch-and-a-half in diameter, making mommy and baby MONSTER MONSTERS. F'real. 

List of things for other people will come next time when I have pictures. Until then, LOVE YOU ALL READERS. 

OH YEAH AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I'm back! (Part I)

Yep, that's right.

After writing half the things I wanted to say, though, I realized that this post is going to be wayyy longer than anyone would want to read, so I'm going to break it up. Here's part 1 for you all.  :)

So I'm back from an unintentional many-month long hiatus, and I'm back for a bit with some new projects and news. First of all, though, I want to catch up on some long-delayed and promised things:

1. Birthday presents for the boyfriend. I mentioned allllll the way back in August the birthday wonderfuls I was making but couldn't tell you about a) because I hadn't gifted them yet and b) because there's always a chance the boyfriend reads this blog.... maybe. Well, now not only have I given them to him (and he has been using them daily), I have the time to post the pictures!

 I made him a hat and scarf set from a wonderful Green Mountain Spinnery Mountain Mohair in Mesa (yay, alliteration!). The hat is the long, ear-covering version of the boyfriend hat from Stephanie Likes to Knit-- I chose this pattern not only because it's a hat designed specifically with a boyfriend in mind, but because I thought the decreases at the top were beautiful. It was super quick and easy to knit, and the boyfriend LOVES it!

I didn't use a full skein of the yarn with the hat, so I started a simple garter-stitch scarf to go with it. I ended up getting another skein to finish off the scarf, but it was well worth it: both it and the hat are super comfy and warm (I just HAD to try them!).

2. Well, this is a continuation of birthday presents, but it's another project so I'm giving it its own spot on the list. Or him, I should say, not It. Because this most certainly IS a him. Meet the bear the boyfriend has named "Mr Cuddlewuddles":

Isn't he adorable? The pattern (for Henri the Bear) is by Yarnigans, but the original site where I found the pattern has been shut down. I'm super upset about that, actually, because she had some wonderful patterns up, but oh, well. Mr Cuddlewuddles is knit up with Vanna's Choice in Fisherman and stands about six inches tall-- just the perfect size to travel with, so he was great for the boyfriend! He's super soft and snuggly and was wonderful to work on. He was a quick knit, too-- I finished him in only a couple of days. Man, stuffed animals are the best!

Which will lead me to my next post, involving more stuffed things... stay tuned.  :)

Many Things, or Cranberry Madness

Okay, first of all I'd like to thank everyone who voted on my Threadless design! It finished scoring early early this morning and came out with a final score of 2.46 out of 5 total. I hope that's good enough to be printed, and I'll definitely keep you all posted as to what the next stage is!

Also, BLAAARRGGHALISJFLUGAOISHDHGA;LJSJROAIUHGD I LEFT MY CAMERA AT MY BOYFRIEND'S WHEN I WENT TO VISIT THIS PAST WEEKEND!!!!! And he's not coming to visit me until August 3 and there's NO way I'm having him put a Nikon DSLR in the mail, so until he comes to see me I'm camera-less. Meaning I am nice-camera-less and will, for the time being, be using my dad's little Canon point-and-shoot. I have some pictures of a new yarn I bought that I have to download, but not having my camera means that the few pictures I got to shoot of my pies (which were pretty delicious, by the way) won't be up until early August. Which sucks.

And now, to come to the second part of this entry's title. Yes, Cranberry Madness. The lovely yarn that I just bought, mentioned in the paragraph above, is actually really nice. It's Green Mountain Spinnery mohair yarn died in this wonderful deep red color, and the more I work with it the softer it gets. The problem is that the combination of it and the pattern for which I'm using it is driving me absolutely nutso.

I can guess what some of you are thinking. You're not even done with your beret yet; what are you doing taking on other projects??

Well, for your information, I'm done with three point five inches of the lacework on my beret, and I think that it's good to take a bit of a break every once in a while. Don't you? I expect this side project to be a quick knit, and then I can go back to my beret all contented-like.

Well, I expected it to be quick. Since I first cast on yesterday afternoon I have restarted this beast at least fifteen times. Either the stitches are too loose, or the spaces in between them are horridly uneven, or it's just a disgusting excuse for a first row and it's easier to sack it than try to fix it. Uurgh. As a result, I have huge cramps in my left pinky and I'm going a bit cross-eyed. I will complete this project, though. Just you wait and see.

A New Love

Yeah, that's right. I've found a new love. Not that the boyfriend wasn't enough, but this is the kind of love that comes in robin's-egg-blue bags and keeps you happy for hours and days and months and years.

No, it's not Tiffany's, silly! It's Pins and Needles, my new favorite store (that I happened to just wander into for the first time this afternoon)!

Long story short, I have wanted to knit SockPixie's February beret (which can be found here) for a looong but didn't have the time during the school year to pore over the pattern, and didn't own the correct size needles OR have the necessary yarn lying around. So after realizing that I've been home for 6 weeks already and have accomplished absolutely NOTHING, I've decided to knit it, whee!

Of course, there was still the problem of not having any of the necessary supplies. I was about to order some good-looking stuff online when my mom reminded me of this cute little shop in town that specializes in knitting and needlepoint supplies, so I dropped in this afternoon. It was such a pleasant experience! The woman in the shop was incredibly helpful, especially for a baby knitter like me, and helped me pick the right yarn for the gauge called for in the pattern.

Isn't it delicious? 

I settled on a Dream in Color yarn in a turquoise-ish color called Superwash. It's hand painted so it has this nice, subtle shading to it, and it's super soft!

The woman in the store then taught me how to wind the yarn into its own little self-contained spool, and even let me open a pack of needles to test my gauge! It was actually awesome she did that because I needed to go a needle size down from the one called for in the pattern. AND she said they are always available to help if I get stuck, which will definitely come in handy as I am tackling an I Cord and grafting live stitches (eek!) for the first time. Needless (needles?) to say, I am very happy with this new find.

Look! My own tamed yarn-ball!

Also I lied a bit, I guess. My friend has lent me three seasons of 30Rock, and after a brief watching hiatus I am back at it in full force. In the past two days I've watched two-thirds of the third season and finished a scarf I've been working on. Now, I know what you might be thinking. Berets? Scarves? Aren't these winter clothing items?

Well actually yeah, I guess they are, technically. But to be fair the scarf is lace, so it would be perfect for cooler days like today! Where it is only in the low 70s! I'm actually wearing a light scarf right now. Anyway, check it out:

The pattern is from knitzofrenic-- I found it and decided I had to knit it, even though I didn't have a recipient in mind, but after a couple of weeks of my mom walking past and cooing every time she sees it I am sure it will have a happy home while I'm at school.

This scarf is super easy to knit. Seriously. This was only my second lacework project but it's essentially four rows repeated over and over and was painless to memorize. I didn't look at the pattern past the first five or so minutes I started working on it-- it's that simple! There's no gauge either (because it's a scarf), so I was able to use some of the random yarn I have lying around the house/have inherited from my great-grandmother. The scarf is still super curly in the picture because I still have to block it, but it's going to turn out beautifully. 

Confession I

Okay, I have a secret that I need to tell.

I know I've billed myself as a knitter, and I am, really! I love to knit. I find it relaxing, and I'm constantly learning how to do more things.

Secretly, however, very secretly, I HATE to purl. Purling is like the ugly duckling of the knitting community. Actually, it's more like the evil twin. Knit stitches are easy, nice, and tidy, but purling is unruly and many kinds of difficult. Not only does it take much longer for me to purl than knit, I never remember between projects which way to wrap the yarn so that the stitches aren't a pain to work with on the knit side.

Actually, I guess I have two confessions to make. Also secretly, I've never actually learned how to properly hold knitting needles. I'm sure that knitting and purling both become much quicker and easier enterprises once the fingers, needles, and yarn are fully in place and ready for action. I, on the other hand, am a mostly self-taught knitter. I learned when I was in middle school and didn't yet have the smarts to look on the internet-- I learned by watching my friend Louise and just copied her motions without paying attention to the technique.

Looking back on it, that was a dumb move. Not that I ever knit with other people, but I'm afraid that if I did I would be judged right out of the room. Their thoughts would go something like this: "Oh! What a silly girl! Her fingers kind of look like spiders. Fat, ugly spiders. Are they getting caught in the yarn? Wait, spiders don't get caught in their yarn. Spiders weave things, not tie knots. That seems awfully silly. I wonder who taught her that awful technique??"

And I would be all embarrassed, and my fingers would probably freeze up like they do when I'm nervous, and it would be a complete mess.

Okay maybe I've exaggerated my predicament a bit, but still. Learning knitting technique is on my list of things to do. Eventually. Right behind the illustrious activity of learning to purl.