1/30/2006 10:21:00 AM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|Lots of birthday celebrating this weekend, starting at our place for cake and champagne. This yummy and adorable chocolate buttercream cake was picked out by my thoughtful husband.

Then it was on to the Bungalow where my drink of the night ended up being Miller High Life - classy, eh? I also had the pleasure of meeting up with Karin and Erika (and some other lovely ladies) for some knitting on Sunday. Karin was a great host! I don't have much in the way of knitting to post about...still working on Hourglass, and trying to decide what project to bring on our trip to Argentina. I'm thinking of trying the ubiquitous Jaywalkers...we'll see. Now your celebrity news for the day. Anyone know why on earth Lindsay Lohan was spending time at Bryan Adams' (that's right, Bryan Adams, not Ryan Adams) home this weekend? Check out this crazy story.|W|P|113863847416302301|W|P||W|P|1/26/2006 03:26:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|Six days and counting until my 30th birthday, and more evidence of my aging body abounds. Last night we saw Jeff Tweedy at the Abbey Pub. He was awesome as usual, but I felt like I was going to faint during the first set because it was like 100 degrees in there, my contacts were sticking to my eyes because it was so smoky, and I was a mess today at work operating on 6 hours of sleep. I'm an old lady! Aside from my birthday, I'm also getting excited for our trip to Argentina and Uruguay. We leave a week from Friday. Someone at work asked me what we planned on seeing. We're not really the uber-scheduled vacation types, so I'm not really sure what we're going to see. I've heard of friends getting leather jackets and tailored suits made for super cheap in Buenos Aires. So I think we'll try to scope that out. We're also going to Iguazu Falls, which is on the border of Argentina and Brazil, and Punta del Este, which is billed as the "St. Tropez of South America." I'm so ready for beach time! I even got this cute cover-up from J.Crew. Now I just need to pack and decide what knitting to bring!

|W|P|113831084612505213|W|P||W|P|1/29/2006 11:30:00 AM|W|P|

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http://pennystockinvestment.blogspot.com1/23/2006 08:58:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|The husband was in Las Vegas this weekend, so that left me with lots of time for knitting, movie watching (who knew Fever Pitch was so funny?), and some actual sewing. I made this cute skirt using a pattern from Betsy Ross patterns. Isn't the fabric fun?

I even sewed in the zipper.

All I have to do is hem it and sew in a hook and eye closure. The only other things I've sewn are our Christmas stockings, and that was two years ago. The pattern was very simple, although it's a bit big on me, and it's a stretch fabric. Maybe it will a good maternity skirt someday, hmm? Oh yeah, and I also did not think of matching the pattern at the seams. I'm not sure if sewing more clothes is in my future, but I definitely feel more confident about making other things like pillow cases and curtains. I also churned out about 7 inches on my Hourglass sweater. It's coming along nicely, and it's pretty brainless work so far. As I said, Doug was in Las Vegas this weekend. Thankfully, we're not big gamblers, so no money was lost (but none won either). But we were both nursing some minor hangovers on Sunday. Mine was from drinking too much wine at dinner with my brother-in-law and his fiance. I'm turning 30 in about a week, and I can't, and probably shouldn't, drink like I used to. I did manage to get in a 3-mile run tonight after work. It was nice and cold, but it felt good!|W|P|113807443584871162|W|P||W|P|1/19/2006 07:44:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|Those crazy Germans. If my firm instated this rule, I would either never go to work, or I would be fired on the spot. According to my husband, I'm quite the whinger. I wish I could chime in on the whole Stitch 'n Bitch trademark controversy, seeing as that I work in Intellectual Property law. Sadly, however, I'm a lowly patent agent, and know next to nothing about trademarks. The Girl From Auntie is an IP lawyer, and succintly details the latest developments over on her blog (thanks Amy).|W|P|113772200950812695|W|P||W|P|1/18/2006 08:01:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|I'm a slow and wimpy knitter. I've been knitting for over 2 years now, and I've just completed my first cabling project, my first socks, and I have cast-on for my first sweater. I need to get speedier and more adventerous, kinda like Chef Messy - check out her awesome Fair Isle scarf (and she's got a little one keeping her busy). Or Carrie, who seems to churn out great stuff at lightening speed. Maybe it would help if I got off this damn computer!

Here's a better rendering of the color:

Pattern: SnB Nation Basic Cable Hat

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay

|W|P|113763679188571172|W|P||W|P|1/16/2006 12:48:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|So here's sock #1 of the Thuja pattern. You may recall this isn't the first sock I've knit, but I've yet to complete a pair. The heel looks a little funny, but that's probably because I reknit it about 3 times. The wool-ease made it a fast knit, but I don't think I'll used it again for socks because it turned out really fuzzy. The colors aren't that fun either, but I wanted to use what I had in my stash. I figure these will be good lounging socks.

Pattern: Thuja from Knitty

Yarn: Lion Brand Wool-Ease

I finally saw Brokeback Mountain this weekend with my sister. I really enjoyed it for all of the reasons everyone else seems to be: tragic story of love and missed opportunities, Heath Ledger's performance, and the gorgeous Wyoming backdrop. Even so, there were a few things that bugged me. One is that Heath Ledger appeared to have a ginormous dip or chew lodged in his cheek the entire movie. I was waiting for him to spit, but when he didn't, I realized that it must have been an affectation of his cowboy accent. I also didn't really buy the aging of most of the characters (especially Ann Hathaway) over the 20+ year period in which the movie occurs. At the end, seeing Heath Ledger and what was supposed to be his 19-year old daughter just didn't work for me. Otherwise, I loved the movie. The guys over at Cinecast did a great review of the movie.|W|P|113743796794753651|W|P||W|P|1/11/2006 07:53:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|I was just poking around in my archives and noticed that I've been blogging for just over a year now. Kinda crazy...I wasn't sure how long I would stick with this new hobby of mine when I started. Here's to more good blogging and maybe some improvements in 2006. I finished sock #1 of the Thuja socks from the latest knitty. I'll post pics when I'm not posting at night and have time to photograph in natural light. My next project is a big one for me - my first sweater! I'm going to tackle the Hourglass pattern from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. Unfortunatlely, I'm not using the pretty yarn in the book. I've got a ton of Lion Brand Wool-Ease from a previous sale at JoAnn fabrics. Guess what yarn I used for the Thuja socks? Yep, that would be wool-ease. So, I'm going to do the sweater on the cheap. I got gauge, so we'll see what happens. It feels like a big commitment, hopefully I won't fuck it up. I've finished my first book of 2006 - Zadie Smith's "On Beauty." I really enjoyed it...not quite as good as her first book "White Teeth," but I would definitely recommend it. She's an amazing talented writer - it kinda makes me sick that she's my age. Next in my que is "Crossing California" by Adam Langer.|W|P|113703115467363509|W|P||W|P|1/09/2006 01:12:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|We're definitely a Letterman family (as opposed to a Leno family). Although I don't stay up late enough anymore to catch the show, I'm still a big fan. Our fan-hood culminated in us randomnly seeing him on the streets of Santa Monica last September. So I have to say a huge bravo to Mr. Letterman on his show with Bill O'Reilly last week. I think Dave could totally kick Bill's ass if they fought, don't you? Let's see...what did I do this weekend? Watched this crazy movie - ever heard of Krumping? Spent way too much money on new jeans. Bought tickets to see Jeff Tweedy at the Abbey Pub later this month. Went out for Pho and got a little tipsy. I also finished some knitting.

Pattern: Glampyre City Shawl

Yarn: Lion Suede (just less than 2 balls)

scary fake smiling

Pattern: Bobble-Leaf Scarf Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8

I think both turned out ok. The shawl is for my grandmother. The scarf is for my sister. The Aurora 8 is so soft - I loved working with it. The pattern calls for size 13 needles, but I used US 15 needles because I don't have 13s. So the fabric is a bit looser knit than I would have liked, but I think it still looks good. It was my first attempt at bobbles too - very fun!|W|P|113683418739165012|W|P||W|P|1/04/2006 08:21:00 PM|W|P|Melissa|W|P|This is the time of year in Chicago when you want to get the hell out of Dodge. It's cold and gray, gray, gray. So depressing! That's why in a little less than a month, the husband and I will be off to South America. Argentina and Uruguay specifically. I cannot wait! Doug has planned the whole trip. My only job is to find a tango club for us to visit. If anyone has any suggestions - please pass along! I finished up the City Shawl for my grandma's birthday. Overall it came out ok, but I think I goofed on a few of the increases, so it's not a perfect triangle. I'm hoping a little blocking will help. Either way, my grandma probably won't notice. I'll post some pictures soon. I also started Teva Durham's lace leaf scarf. It's a birthday gift for my twin sister -- we turn 30 on Feb. 1!|W|P|113642820493270706|W|P||W|P|1/05/2006 10:36:00 PM|W|P|

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