The Ugly Boyfriend Sweater

It was either in late January or early February that I started talking to Ricky about knitting him a sweater. And not just any sweater, but a sweater made out of my yarn stash leftovers that were piling up. I would imagine that most guys wouldn't be excited by the thought of a technicolor sweater, but Ricky...he's Ricky. So I started knitting.

The most common reaction I received from knitters upon telling them about my project was, "But what about THE CURSE! You know about the curse, right?" And I do know very well about the curse. I stumbled upon a group on Ravelry dedicated to it and read stories of living happily ever after or the boyfriend being a cheating asshole. Despite the warnings I received from my peers, I kept knitting.

And late last week I finally finished the Ugly Boyfriend Sweater. This is by far the largest thing I have ever knit and I don't plan on doing something like it anytime soon. Thankfully, the sweater is well-loved by Ricky and also happens to fit him perfectly. Check it out:

(Seen here with Mary the Dog)

I'm probably going to take a bit of a knitting break. I'm still looking for ideas for my next project, but I don't think I'll be starting a new one soon. However, I do have a question for any knitters reading this: What the hell do I make with the rest of my stash yarn?

The Ricky Sweater, continued

The Ricky Sweater 4
Originally uploaded by alexakifumi

I am attempting to post this from Flickr which may mean that this could be a flop. Hopefully this will go through and we can all go to bed happy.

So this is the Ricky sweater as of a few days ago. I haven't done any knitting since, mostly because I am/was swamped with school. I am SO close to being done yet I want to spend NO time knitting this anymore. I'm sick of it! Sure, it's easy knitting but I've come to realize that:
1. I don't want to weave in all those ends
2. I want to knit other things
3. This is really huge and I want to knit something small

Whine, whine, whine. I know. I think what's keeping me going with this is just how excited he is about the sweater. Even though it's practically mid-April in southern California! He's still excited! Perhaps that is when you know you have a winner.

No Excuses!

I know it has been a long time since the last time I posted. I'm not even going to give a long list of reasons as to why I didn't post for months. I'd feel a lot cooler if I were able to say "Hey guys! I haven't posted in so long because as you'll remember, I was in rural Guatemala building clinics and schools!" But in reality, I've just been studying and lazy. Oh well.

I've been doing a bit of knitting:

I am doing the unthinkable. And what is the unthinkable, you might ask? Knitting my boyfriend a sweater. As you can tell, it's a very ugly sweater and this has to do with the fact that it's made out of leftovers from yarn stash.

And here it is on me:

Apart from being ugly it is very big as well. This picture doesn't really convey how freakin' huge it is. (It's around 10" bigger than my bust!)

I started the sleeves a week ago and let me tell you, knitting sleeves is much faster than knitting a 43" tube. But as fast as that is, it's still taking ages to knit. My goal was to have it done by his birthday (Tomorrow) but that obviously won't be happening.

My new goal is to have it done before it gets too warm to wear. Can it be done? Possibly.

I'm Alive

I don't know if anyone read this anymore. I'm probably talking to open space, but I could be wrong. Honestly, I really have been meaning to update my blog but the past few months have been hectic! My first semester was...okay. Two of my classes were pretty good, and the other two made me want to tear my hair out. I also (hopefully) learned an important in procrastination. The lesson? Don't procrastinate.

School would also be a lot easier if I knew what my major was and where I wanted to go after two years. Unfortunately, my major changes every week and I'm not positive on where I want to go. History? Art? Davis? Berkeley? I have no idea! I'm taking an art class for my spring semester and I'm hoping that it'll be okay. If I don't end up majoring in art, I might just end up doing history after all. We'll see.

But on a more crafty note, I've been making stuff again. I really had no time to knit or do anything besides chapter summaries for the past few months. Some knitted things:

The pattern is up on Knitty.com and I am far too lazy to link it here. Kitty on the left was for my friend Jacob, and the kitty on the right was for my boyfriend. They both seem to be pretty happy with them. Easy stash knitting.

Other crafty things:

Cute little felt bunnies from Aranzi Aronzo's "The Cute Book". The book really does live up to the title.


I just wanted to show off the background picture. It was snagged for my cat-loving (Obsessed?) boyfriend.

Now, I was going to upload these from Flickr but I'm going to be honest with you...technology and I don't get along. I tried fiddling with it a bit, but it did not work out. I'll probably have to have my brother or boyfriend figure it out for me. I guess that's really it for now. Hopefully I won't get lazy and make my next post in December 2009, yeesh.

My Life: A Summary

Ginny, how are you? Seeing as though you're the only person who reads this blog, I will start off my entries to you. Life has been a little hectic lately, but that comes along with finishing my career in the K-12 system. Here's a re-cap of what I've been up to:
-I graduate high school in less than a week.
-I've read two books over the past three weeks: Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut, and When You Are Engulfed In Flames by David Sedaris, both of which were excellent.
-I sat down and knit the other day. You guys, I haven't knit or watched TV in months!
-Lots and lots of cooking as of late, including cake.
-I'm thinking about getting a bike and the one I test rode and loved is...extremely expensive. We'll see, but I'd rather not have to take the bus or drive to SMC.
-I've finally joined the cult of Colbert, sorry for being so late.
-I have a summer internship which should be interesting.

I know my list of things isn't the most amazing or enviable list, but for someone who has been constantly doing schoolwork for the past few months, it's nice to relax. I don't think I'm leaving LA this summer because of a math class and internship, which is too bad since there's a Frida Kahlo show at SFMOMA that I'd LOVE to see. Oh well, gotta do what you gotta do, I suppose.

Things

Today has been quite the day. History has been made (Please note the picture), I have an internship for the summer, and I'm graduating from high school in two weeks.

It's a change and I think it's all good change at that.

Hi

Hi Ginny, I know you're practically the only person who reads this and I just wanted to say that I am alive. I think much of my extended family reads this as well, so here are a few notes:

-I graduate in less than a month
-My fall class schedule is all planned out
-Uke skills are coming along
-I finished reading Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions and loved it. Read it if you haven't already
-Jens isn't touring for the rest of this year NO

I think that's really it. I wish I could post artistic photos or talk about all the cool parties I go to but I'm not a hipster asshole oh well.