Wooley Fuzzy Stripeyness

Yeah I know , SHOCKER..I haven't had much to say in my posts recently. Long story short I went for a little week-long visit to Pinkie's house and came home with some new yarn and a few new projects. The Baby Berry hat was project #1 from my new stash, and below is project #2. Probably my most favorite thing I've made so far. It's the Noro Striped Scarf, but I went the cheap route and used Paton's SWS in Charcoal and Plum.




I'm not the only one that's fond if the squishiness. Gucci seems to like it, too. I caught her "grooming" it yesterday.

Baby Berry Cuteness

Crazy Aunt Purl Would Be So Proud...I Think

Scarf: FAIL

Oh boy am I a bad matchmaker. My latest project is a Ribs & Ruffles scarf. The yarn and the pattern go together about as well as ham and peanut butter on a sandwich. My original intentions were to knit a reversible cable scarf for a friend, and I really wanted to use a rust color yarn. Something pretty that matched the colors of the leaves outside. I got that much right, I like this rust color, it screams "fall", don't you think? Now, problem is, trying to make it in to the ribs and ruffles scarf, well it just reminds me of the old carpet in my parents house. Only shaggier! Yes, my parents have carpet this color, I have pictures to prove it. I had an interesting childhood. Anyhoo, I really like this pattern, just not with this yarn.

I am not sure if I should chalk it up to being a newbie knitter, or just having bad taste. Hopefully it is the newbie thing, but I am leaning towards the latter. Oh well, at least I admit it.

The photos actually make it look halfway decent, but you'll have to take my word for it, in person it's BAD. Shaggy and bad!

I Did. Did You?

Vote that is! Yes I voted, and luckily, thanks to early voting, only had to wait in line about 5 minutes. I drove by our tiny little gym where the entire town is expected to cram into this morning and the place was packed. You can imagine my relief to find the parking lot partially empty when I pulled in later in the day. And no, I didn't wear my sticker. For the sake of my favorite Zac Brown Band t-shirt, I kept the sticky on the paper. I have a reputation for washing clothes with the stickers on.

Hey do you see the background peeking out from behind my sticker? That is my most recent creation the "You Don't Know Our Women Hat". which I have so boringly renamed my "Chunky Cables" hat. I love it!

Horses are People, Too.

You ever have one of those days? One where you can't seem to accomplish what you want to accomplish, so you take the "oh well" approach and say to hell with it? Today is one of those days for me. You see, I knitted my first hat yesterday, and the plan was to take one of those cool pictures where I am holding up my knitting with a really cool background, you know the ones. I finished before I could take such a picture, not such a bad thing I guess, but it did squash my hopes of being the envy of my northern "everything is dead and brown" friends: purple hat in hand, pretty horses and green grass in the background, you get the idea. I figured today was another day, I would go outside where the grass is still green, the sun is shining and the horses are grazing. The plan was to prop it up on a fence post maybe, or perhaps set it on the rock wall, something pretty and simple. As you can see below that didn't work out so well for me, so I plopped it up on Fun's back and took some pictures. I did get some good light though, huh?

Oh, and you know the picture where you have someone model it for you, or have someone take a pic of you wearing your latest creation? Yeah, that didn't work out so great for me either. See...

Actually, Fun was a pretty good model, she wore it gracefully I thought. I think I have my answer to who is going to wear all of my knitting creations now. No bitching, she stood still, she didn't ask if the picture made her look fat or if purlpe was her color. How do you think she'll look in the February Lady Sweater?

I still have to sew on a button or two, but I am thrilled with the finished product. I have a big round melon head and have a hard time finding hats like this in stores that don't give me a headache. This one actually fits!

Crisis Averted

Well all is well, we have gas in the south now. Must be all of those beans. No seriously, we have gasoline, petroleum, push water. Not all grades but hey, things are better than before. And on the knitting front I have paired up with Pinkie and placed an order with Knitpicks. To hold me over I have started a new Two Weeknights with Warrick scarf, with new yarn of course. I will be sure to post photos soon, I found a nice multicolored yarn that is saturated with nice warm fall colors. Life is good.

No Gas, No Knitting

You'd think with the gas shortage I'd be at home knitting. Nope. Turns out when there is no gas there is no going to the yarn store. For those of you that have haven't heard, the south, mostly Atlanta and the surrounding areas, are having a major gas shortage. All FIVE gas stations near my home are completely out of gas, all grades and diesel. Schools have halted all landscape and grounds maintenance, all field trips, events, and parties are cancelled until further notice, businesses are closing one day per week to conserve fuel. The situation is bad and it is only getting worse.

The above photo was swiped from the New York Times. I was really tempted to take a similar photo yesterday, but was afraid my neighbors would think I had gone completely off my rocker. Hey, I am already the 28 year old that knits and owns lots of cats, I can't be taking weird pictures. The situation is bad, really bad. A friend of mine that lives nearby waited at the local gas station for 5 hours to get gas. The truck finally arrived and the station was out again just a few short hours later. On a somewhat entertaining note, people were actually having pizzas delivered to them while waiting in line. Now those are my kind of people! I once stopped to pan for gold while waiting on a tow truck. (true story, just ask Knit Pinkie)



So for now I am stuck at home with empty needles. A side effect of a newbie knitter with a tiny budding stash (crappy yarn), and a small number of needles. I swear when I get gas and can drive the 30 minutes to the nearest LYS or Wally World I am going to buy every size needle they carry. Red Heart is cheap enough, I am thinking of buying a whole bunch, storing it in a glass case and labeling it "break in case of emergency". I am bored people. No show on hulu.com, DVD, or book is going to cure it. I need my needles and yarn! I have A.D.D. and I can't sit still!


Things are getting desperate around here. At one point I was so desperate I tried finger knitting. My initial intention was to learn so I could teach my young niece who is having a bit of a hard time learning to knit. I though it might be fun for her. Now I have reached a state of delirium in which I finger knitted this ugly little scarf-like thing and tied it on the dog. The dog wasn't amused. For my dog's sake and the sake of my sanity, I hope this shortage ends soon, real soon.

Farewell My Fugly Friend

That was short lived. Turns out my bedroom isn't as 7-year-old-proof as I might have initially thought. Grant, who is self admittedly "hard on equipment" is hard on unfinished knitting and crystal potpourri as well. I looked at the stitches hanging off the needle, looked at the color of the yarn and said, well I can't type what I said, but let's just say it wasn't 7 year old friendly. I have decided to frog. It is still sitting on my bed intact, but the cord, the lifeline, the woven ugliness, has been cut from the skein.

This will be my first almost finished frog. If it wasn't so girlie I might have finished it and given it to my nephew, it would be just the right length. Oddly enough, I'm not too disappointed. I really disliked the color. Oh well, off to dig through my stash yet again. Wish me luck!

Oh and a final note to apologize for the photo. I am only wearing one contact, so to me it looked good through the viewfinder. Blind photography, an art I don't recommend.

Desperate Times Call for Ugly Yarn

First of all, I cannot get a decent picture of this scarf to save my life. I really don't mind the pattern. It is the Something-or-other with Warrick. Just search "Warrick" on Ravelry, it will bring it right up. I like it, it is a variation of a feather and fan pattern, really easy to remember and knit, I like it. The yarn, well, let's just say I am not amused. I have no idea what I was smoking when I bought this color. I thought it might make a cute hat, and it very well might, but a scarf, not so much. I am not a happy camper, but I am almost finished. Weird, huh? I had no other options. My stash is dwindling, WalMart sucks, and I had an entire season of Bones waiting for me online. Yes, I have just now discovered David Boreanaz. I don't know, he must've grown into that forehead of his. I never was fond of him as Angel, but as Seeley Booth...yum, that's all I'm saying.

I'm not sure of the fate of my Two Weeknights with Warrick scarf, but it will be completed, that's for sure. I need something to occupy my hands while watching TV. I can either finish the scarf or take up smoking. Perhaps I could learn to whittle like Uncle Jed. Nah, I have already severed the end of my finger once, something I'd prefer not to repeat. I could definitely see myself repeating this pattern with a better yarn in the future. I feel a trip to the LYS coming on!