dillydallyknitter

Happy New Year! 2010!

2010-01-01T18:31:00.000-08:00

Long time, no blog!

Some goals for this year:

1. Keep up with the Blog. Not that many people noticed I wasn't posting anymore but I do miss keeping it up to date.

"Umm, maybe they didn't miss you but I'm sure they missed us"

2. Organize my house and get rid of clutter and stuff I no longer need

3. Get healthy
What you laughing at? It could happen .

4. Knit stuff

Blankiemania has hit my local knitting gal gang (aka the Heathers). This was what they looked like last September--Mine's the one second from the bottom. Josie's is on the bottom row. Leftcoastknits is on the right (square one), Sunbny's is the upper left and knitpshycho was out of town but she has one too. Next time I'll post an update to show you what they look like now.

Spinning at the Winery...2009

2009-06-08T16:44:00.000-07:00

The problem with being a Bad Blogger is that you end up with stacked up things you want to blog about. First off, a week or so ago, Knitpsycho blogged about some Cotty socks she made out of Squoosh Fiber Arts Sportweight Merino/Cashmere/Nylon. Sadly they didn't fit her. But guess whose feet they did fit?

Mine! They're so comfy! I'm such a lucky girl!

On Saturday, I went to the annual Spinning at the Winery at Retlaff Winery in Livermore Valley. It was a lovely day spent hanging out with lovely people!

ceallach (holding a new treasure bought from Carolina Homespun, leftcoastknits and Josie

We sat, knit, spun, chatted and sipped delicious wine while being surrounded by vendors with tempting fiber goodness.

knitpsycho and josie share a laugh

The prize covered table with jars to put raffle tickets in. (I won 3 prizes!)

The weather was wonderful and there was a fantastic turn out. The man standing in the middle of the photograph is Will Taylor. Will, his wife, Kate and the members of the Treadles to Thread Guild host this event every year.

I brought my Liesl with me so I could sew on the buttons and have an official FO!

The vintage crystal buttons were purchased at the Antique fair a few weeks ago:

And, um, maybe this came home with me too.

Will Taylor is a talented craftsman, spinner and, once in awhile, sells used wheels.

You've Seen a Million of These...

2009-05-20T19:47:00.000-07:00

so I hope you can stand one more!

I finished my FLS on May 1st (May Day! May Day!) but she didn't have buttons until this past weekend when Josie, LeftCoastKnits, Knitpsycho and I went to Stone Mountain and Daughter in search of buttons.

I suck at self portraits. (psst..Make a note of the basket of make-up on the bathroom--it comes up later in the story).

Stone Mountain has a fantastic collection of buttons-don't believe me? Click HERE

After sorting through a gazillion buttons, I picked this one. I love the vintage-y feel.

Since I couldn't get a decent self portrait, here she is lying on the bed:

Pattern: February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Heavyweight, Jasper colorway
Needles: Size 7, Knitpicks options
Notes: I knit the yoke a size smaller than the body (and had to so some fancy math to figure it out) but its still came out a little too big.

It's warm here out west but our office AC has been on mega overdrive for the past week so I actually wore it to work today over a t-shirt and was quite comfortable. (Office AC is often on the cold side but it's been so cold we were showing up in our winter boots and sweaters and still freezing) Figures that this afternoon they finally adjusted it and I had to take it off so it goes in the drawer until Fall.

Now, remember the basket of make up on the counter in the first photo?

In case you wonder if the Gangsta Kitties have been behaving themselves, take a look what I found when I came home from work today:

WHO DID THIS?

"I'll never tell"

"A-tisket A-tasket...

2009-05-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

I Learned to Weave a Basket....

On Saturday, LeftCoastKnitter and I went to a basket weaving workshop at Knit One One Studio in Berkeley. (no, it wasn't underwater)

As you can see, we were the first to arrive. Our teacher had to run out and pick up the instructor, who was lost.

Knit One One Studio is filled with light and beautiful hand crafted items and friendly people. The owner, Sile, is a delightful woman and, if you're lucky, she'll have some delicious home made shortbread on hand.

In this workshop, we wove "Celtic hoop and rib" baskets, also known as "Appalachian Egg Baskets" (aka "buttocks" basket because it has a butt shaped bottom). I failed to get a photo of the teacher but her name is Carol Grant Hart and she lives in New England and has family in the Marin area. She was informative and interesting and quickly got us started shaping our "hoops". We all got to put our own stamp of individuality on our baskets by playing with the placement of the intersecting hoops, thus changing the handle length and shape of our baskets.

Next we worked on securing our hoops

The weaving created pockets in which we added more ribs.

The lengths of the ribs give the basket its bottom shape. The blue ribbon we tied on top to help us remember which half was the handle and which half was the bottom!

Time flew by and a few hours later we all had a good start!

Each basket had a slightly different shape.

(photo shamelessly stolen from LCK's blog)

And, after a few more hours of weaving at home, I had my own basket!

Basket weaving is so much fun and, like knitting, has a meditative quality as you weave the reed in and out. It's also a bit hard on the hands and you have to be careful with those long pieces of reed whipping around.

Hmm, and it's kitty size. Make sure you get my good side

Roller Girls Rule

2009-04-26T11:00:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of the year, LCK and I decided that this would be the year of excellent adventures of trying something new. On Saturday night we continued our quest by picking up our friend R and going to the City to watch the Bay City Bombers Roller Derby at Kezar Pavilion.

R, me and LCK waiting for the fun to begin

These ladies are tough

Euw! Crack! Poor LCK had this view sitting in front of her.

Sudden death overtime results in victory lap for the Bombers

R. with a Bomber Girl

"I'm Cary, aka Cat-ATTACK"

Post event wrap up:

Q:Was it what you thought it would be? What was different?
A Cpurl didn’t realize it was co-ed (women skate one round and men skate one round) and it was less violent than she thought it would be. LCK thought some sort of ball was involved in the game. We both thought the crowd was great and having a great time. Neither one of us understood the rules. Cpurl also thought their uniforms would involve rhinestones, skirts and a beadazzler.

Q: How would you rate the souvenir stands?
A: Caps, t-shirts and buttons sold over fold up tables.

Kezar Pavilion was built in 1924 and has an old skool "high-school gym" look. The seats were all old wooden benches.

Q: What would be your Roller Derby name?
A: Cpurl: Purly Skates. LCK: Still thinking about it

Q: How would you rate the hot dogs/concession stands?
A: Hot dogs, aka “Derby dogs” were 4 on a scale of 10. No beer but probably a good idea in old gymnasium full of screaming fans.

Catching Up

2009-04-25T10:40:00.000-07:00

"Would it kill ya to post to your blog once in awhile?"

Well....not so much going on chez Cpurl. Work's been a little busy and my knitting mojo has been in a funk for awhile.

Making some progress on my ~~February~~, ~~March~~, ~~April~~, May Lady Sweater. I looks like it's almost done but I started the left sleeve and noticed a mistake on the completed and bound off right sleeve. GAH!

It's hard to find but I know it's there so I have to rip back half of the right sleeve and re-knit it.

I loved knitting the body but the sleeves feel like a slog along. And the hank of yarn I wound to use for the sleeves (so I'd have one continuous length of yarn) has not one but two knots in it so far, ugh. But I really enjoy knitting with this yarn so I'll be forgiving.

BMFA Heavyweight in Jasper.

Hopefully I'll finish this soon so I can move on to something new! :)

L

Hello Seattle!

2009-03-27T09:37:00.000-07:00

Last week I went to visit my sister in Seattle.

And we were so excited.

On Sunday we rode the ferry to Bainbridge Island and I got to visit to Churchmouse Yarns & Teas. It was my first time driving a car onto a ferry boat and it was fun riding over.

They had a display of pretty Fair Isle sweaters in the shop window:

And the shop itself was adorable with friendly staff, eager to help.

Jamieson's Shetland dk wool was on 10% off so I picked out a few colors to (finally) attempt a fair isle tam or gloves.

decisions, decisions

We also went to see Hello Dolly at the historic and gorgeous 5th Avenue Theater in downtown Seattle. According the theater's website the "ornate interior was modeled after three of Imperial China’s architectural achievements: the Forbidden City, the Temple of Heavenly Peace, and the Summer Palace." This is a photo of the ceiling:

admit it, you really came to see ME

this is my good side

(Somewhat) Silent Sunday

2009-03-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Cary Grant, the man

Cary Grant, the cat

Cary Grant, the sock yarn

Colorway: Cary Grant
by Sockpixie
Fingering weight, 450 yards

Silent Sunday broken:

OK, this was going to be a somewhat silent Sunday post but I came home after being out all day and logged on and saw that a photo I submitted made it on to the hilarious Cake Wrecks blog so I just HAD to blog about it. I LOVE this website!

The story behind the cake:
Last year, after I arrived home from the 3-Day closing ceremonies, my parents brought over a cake to celebrate my finishing the 60 mile walk. When I opened the cake box and read the Yoda-esque (and misspelled) sentiment I laughed so hard that it almost made me forget how much my feet hurt!

Friday: Seeing Red

2009-03-13T06:57:00.000-07:00

It's been a long week at work and I was to0 tired to make it to Knit Night, but I can prop myself up long enough to finally post my my haul from Stitches.

My very first purchase was a sweater's worth of yarn at the Black Water Abbey booth to make the Swing Coat pattern. It was like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Coat because the display model seemed to fit everyone who tried it on and it looked good on everyone who tried it on.

Black Water Abbey
2-ply Worsted
Colorway: Haw

And the buttons. Because buying buttons for an actual project will mean I'll actually knit it. Actually all four of us bought yarn to make various coats and jackets so maybe they'll hold me too it.

I also managed to fight the mob of crazed knitters and grab a skein of Socks That Rock heavy weight Rare Gems.

I had to. It's rare.

I also treated myself to Ernst glass circular needles. The seller had walked up to Josie while we were waiting for the Market to open and handed her a pair and had her take them for a test knit and we all knit a row and they were so pretty and smooth. Well that, and because LeftCoastknitter bought some and honestly, if she jumped off a cliff I probably would too.

Unfortunately, some woman snapped up the all red ones but I was happy to take these:

The final yarn purchase I'll blame on Josie and Knitpsycho because it's easier to do that than take responsibility for an unplanned yarn purchase. They wanted to "stop by" the Webs booth to check out the Valley Yarns. I normally don't go to the Webs booth because it's usually jammed packed and the line to purchase stuff is so long. So I wandered around while they were taking notes on the Valley yarns and looking through Nora Gaughn pattern books so I was wandering aimlessly through the aisles when I saw it and my heart stood still.

madelinetosh.

"Gee, thanks Mika, do you mind? I'm trying to photograph some yarn here."

The first time I saw madelinetosh in the wild was at the Skein lane retreat last year when I saw purlsjustwannahavefun knitting on her February Lady. It was love at first feel. I wanted to grab the sweater and run but she's so nice.

They had it in red. A whole sweaters worth and add on top the Webs discount and I weakened.

toshworsted
100% superwash wool
colorway: Vermillion

Can you blame me?

Sweet Saturday

2009-03-07T15:06:00.000-08:00

My sister often taunts me with photographs of yummy cupcakes she gets at her LCS (local cupcake store) so today I get to return the favor. This one's for you Casey!

A few days before Stitches, I actually finished a knitted object that wasn't a dishcloth. It's the Gathered Scarf knit out of a skein of A Verb For Keeping Warm Alpaca Silk yarn that I bought at Lambtown last year:

Pattern: Gathered Scarf
Yarn: A Verb for Keeping Warm Alpaca Silk 70% baby alpaca 30% silk
Needles: Size 7 & size 4 needles

The yarn feels good against my skin and I love wearing it. One skein was the perfect amount to make one long scarf:

It's the simplest of patterns but I liked knitting it so much that I bought some kidsilk haze at the Purlesence booth at Stitches in a dark teal shade to knit a second one.

Stitches '09, Part II

2009-03-03T12:00:00.000-08:00

I took a couple of classes at Stitches this year. *LeftCoastKnits suggested the first one -- "Backyard Birds", a needle felting class taught by Sharon Costello. I was skeptical at first but I should have known better than to be skeptical of a class that LCK would suggest because it was SO much fun!

Here LCK is sewing the bead eyes onto my bird for me because my eyeball sewing skillz are not so great:

I made a chickadee (or attempted to) and LCK made an adorable Blue Bird. Christmas ornaments anyone?

Then on Saturday we learned that:

毛糸 = wool
編む = knitting
棒針 = knitting needle
ゲージ= gauge

in an all day class called "Understanding Japanese Knitting Patterns" taught by Gayle Roehm. The class was both interesting and informative and we both left feeling inspired. I'm not sure I'm ready to attempt a complicated Aran but I'd like to try something basic, like a simple cardigan or hat.

Actually, LCK didn't need the class--she was wearing a hand crochet and knit cardigan that she made out of cashmere from a Japanese knitting pattern! I was with her all day and neglected to take a decent photograph of her so will have stalk her with my camera. Here we are at the Saturday night Student Banquet.

Josie, KnittingPsycho,Beadknit and LCK.

And here she is modeling it at the Student Fashion show with commentary by the colorful and flamboyant Rick Mondragon, editor of Knitters magazine:

Since it's WIP Wednesday, here's a shocker: I'm actually using yarn I acquired at Stitches to make a sweater. The pattern has become so ubiquitous that I won't even mention the name but there were many pretty versions at Stitches, including Irishgirlieknits. Josie and Knitpsycho and Beadknit are going to make one too.

Below is the gauge swatch in Blue Moon Fiber Arts, Socks That Rock Heavyweight in the Jasper colorway:

Stitches '09!! Part I

2009-03-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

We Came, We Saw, and we spent far more than we should have but, most of all we had a great time!

Knittingpsycho,Snicklefritz and Josie

While there seems to have been a few less vendors this year compared to year's past, the recession appears to have no impact on the enthusiasm of knitters attending this year's Stitches West. One of the most notable NEW vendors this year (IMHO) was run by our very own local gal, Snicklefritz Yarns!!

Not only was this her first year as a vendor, it was her first Stitches, ever!! She did a fabulous job and, at our after show meet up in the hotel lounge, she reported her first day sales were great.

She had spent the weeks leading up to Stitches dying up a storm and payoff was a booth full of gorgeous yarn, including the now infamous "Gnome Running Through the Forest" colorway.

Sock yarns at the ready

Even the drab fluorescent convention center lighting, can't hide the lovely colors

She was very kind and left Vendor badges up front for us so we got to preview the Market Preview. It was pretty cool to be in there while the vendor were setting up their displays and the ''calm before the storm' air of excitement was in the air. Being able to scope out the booths while it was quiet and uncrowded was a tremendous perk.

One of first booths we checked out was Blue Moon Fiber Arts where we ran into the most famous consumer (and now seller!) of BMFA, Irishgirlieknits!

Irishgirlieknits and Josie

This was Josie's first booth and it took her about about .01 to get to the BMFA booth, and even less time to scoop up an armful of their gorgeous yarn. In fact four of us bought enough heavyweight to make our own February Lady Sweaters. I still need to photograph my haul (as soon as the drool dries off one of my skein of rare gems) and show you what I got.

It's a good thing that we got there when we did, because, and I'm not exaggerating, in less than 5 minutes, the place looked like this:

I have no idea how Carrie held up over 4 days of this, but we saw her on Saturday night and she was still beaming. Probably because the person on the left in the photo below came in the next day--Disco!

Disco, Irishgirlieknits, me, and *Leftcoastknits

I think my only regret is that there just isn't enough time to spend with all the wonderful people you see at Stitches. It's like a homecoming every year and the parade of incredible knitwear you see all around the convention center and in the hotel is a real treat.

Warm Up to Stitches

2009-02-22T17:20:00.000-08:00

Every year, a week or so before Stitches, Mama C hosts Yarn Swap and Knitting Frenzy Potluck at her gorgeous home. The usual suspects were there:

Sunbny & J.

Knitpsycho & LeftCoastKnits

Yarn to be swapped

The frenzy begins...

I ended up taking 2 balls of Kaffe Fasset kid/silk by Rowan, 2 skeins of Crystal Palace Cotton Chenille, 7 balls de Tiber New Angora (50%) and 5 balls of Wonderwool in red.

I also finished my February Monthly Dishcloth Midmonth KAL:

It's the Circle Cloth and I used Peaches N Creme Fiesta on a Peaches N Cream yellow background.

Countdown to Stitches

2009-02-21T21:09:00.000-08:00

Next week is Stitches West....it's like waiting for Christmas! One of our knitting friends will have booth there Snicklefritz Yarns(#637) and I'm super excited for her. She's a scientist and the colors she comes up are gorgeous colors. Her blog is here.

Last Spring when we were training for the 3-day walk, she showed up with big bag of yarn colors she was playing with and we all played at naming the colors. She held up a skein and I blurted out "Gnome Running Through the Forest Naked"! Well, she's perfected the colorway (the naked part got dropped but we know he is, wink) :

I can't wait to knit a pair of socks with it.

She'll be there with Pigeonroof Studios and they'll also have designs by Kira K so it's going to be a fabulous booth!

###

Last weekend I dragged Left Coast Knitter out to run some errands with em and we had lunch at Chow in Lafayette. Perfect comfort food.

We split a side order of mac n cheese.

Sadly it wasn't as good as it looks (not enough cheesy richness) but we inhaled it anyway. The BLT & Avocado sandwich and fries I had was delicious.

Movie Night

2009-02-07T12:10:00.000-08:00

On Friday night, we went out for burgers and then to see Coraline in 3-D. Here we are in our groovy 3-D glasses.

We went to see the teeny little hand knit sweaters made by Althea Crome but the story was captivating, creepy, and visually beautiful. This poor little girl behind us was frightened and shouted "don't go back in there!!" and let out a scream that made me jump (I'd say this movie is too scary for little kids).

Here is a link to the pattern for Coraline's blue sweater in regular big people & little people sizes.

I'm still caught up in dishcloth mania:

But I'm also working on a Lizard Ridge and have about 7 squares done:

I'm also in 3 traveling scarf groups but I keep forgetting to take photos of them (Tweeds, Sock Yarn and Lengthwise (just getting started) as they pass trough!

I'm Back! (This Time for Real!)

2009-01-27T11:02:00.000-08:00

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted and I've been MIA from the blogging/knitty/ravelry world but I hope that more consistent blogging is a change I can belive in for '09.

LeftCoast and I decided that this will be the year of Trying New Things. Things out of our normal suburban, knitting, middle aged ~~rut~~ world. (If I had a huge budget and a television contract, we'd travel around north America in a vintage, stylishly renovated silver Airstream reporting from the road but I don't so blogging will have to do.)

So what better way to kickoff the year than to attend a MONSTER JAM!!!

Warming up the sold out crowd!

Waiting in anticipation at Arco Arena

Grave Digger vs. Jurassic Attack in a qualifying race round. Grave Digger won this race but lost out to our favorite, Airborne Ranger. The final race went to Captain's Curse.

In between each event there were ATV races (California vs. Nevada):And the best part of the day: Freestyle competition-- complete with the only roll-over of the weekend!

Captain's Curse rolled over but he was okay!

The perennial fan favorite, Grave Digger, almost won the Freestyle but Captain's Curse was the victor that day:

Who doesn't?

In the car ride home, we interviewed each other on the event and here were our impressions:

Q:Was it what you thought it would be? What was different?

A: The event itself was slower paced than we thought it would be, i.e., for every few seconds of "action" there's a lot of set up time for the next race/round. We both thought the trucks would race around for longer periods of time but now that we've seen how huge and complex the trucks are and how small the arena is in comparison, it makes sense that there would be lots of down time. There were a lot more children/families there than we expected. (Cpurl comment: there's a corny half time interlude featuring two car robots who fight each other in a good vs. evil duel that was totally geared towards kids)

Q: How would you rate the souvenir stands?

A: There was less of a t-shirt selection than expected and everything was over priced, as usual. (we were sad they didn't have Airborne Ranger trucks and had to settle for Grave Digger)

Q: If you had a Monster Jam truck what you call it?

A: LCK: Hell on Heels -her truck would be a giant high heel. Cpurl: I would be Python and I'd wear the super cool boots Mary J. Blige wore at the "We Are One" Presidential Inauguration celebration concert.

Q: How would you rate the hot dogs/concession stands?

A: Hot dog: 6.5 on a scale of 10. (With 10 being a Costco hot dog on the Cpurl scale.) The concessions didn't have the variety that one would expect at an Arena ( a number of specialty stands were closed) but we did have hot dogs, nachos and beer for about the same price as my monthly mortgage payment.

Bonus freaky photo:

This lady stood up just as I snapped the photo so it looks like she's wearing Monster truck earrings and has little growing out of her head!

Jingle Balls, Part 2 "Get Whit It!"

2008-11-20T11:47:00.001-08:00

The other night, I found I could resist no more and unwound the big ball. It took me about 40 minutes to get through it all but I had so much fun!

Cary re-enacts the opening scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark:

I considered taking a break from unwinding but HOLD THE PHONE I found some Bit 'O Honey (YUM) and suddenly found the strength to carry on.

In fact that ball was full of candy. The mints come in especially handy for barfy situations.

And there were cute kitty stitch markers inside!

And, at the core, a lovely ball of Elsbeth Lavold Silky Flamme in a gorgeous burgundy color!

Unwound, the hairy ball became TWO hairy balls (snicker)
And the cats went nuts over these cat nip stuffed felted cubes!

And that ginormous ball? It's a ball of Cacasde Eco wool--478 yards!! I could start a Hemlock ring, or make about 2.5 pr of Fuzzy Feet or a dozen headbands....

It also came with some words of wisdom from my Secret Pal (and the fine proofreaders at Cascade):

Can you guess who my Secret Pal is?

How about if you received a package that looks like it came from Archie McPhee's?

Well if you randomly meander over to this website, you'll know who!

Thank you Barfy Balls!
Your cojones made me so happy this week.

Jingle Balls, Part 1

2008-11-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

I interrupt my blog coma to post about the great package I received today from my Jingle Ball swap pal!

The kitty inspectors come to check it out:

Yowza! That's one big ball!

It's as big as mah head

And the hairy ball was a little scary:

We opened that one first and inside were lots of fun creepy crawlies including a minature rat!

And for the rest.....stay tuned! I love the sound the jingle ball makes and how cute it is that I can't bare to unravel it just yet. I'm saving it for tomorrow when I get home from work.

Retreat!!

2008-10-06T10:15:00.000-07:00

Well hello there!

This past weekend, a group of us attended the annual Skein Lane Studio's Retreat at the Marconi center near Pt Reyes. There are about 40-50 knitters who attend every year and it's a weekend of knitting, class, knitting, eating, knitting, show 'n tell, knitting, drinking wine, knitting.

At Marconi Center: Sunbny, me, Josie, LCK, and Nannysknits

On the way up, some of us stopped at a pre-retreat event at Windrush Farm to take a felted button class and we got to wander around the farm and visit sheep, cows, goats, alpacas, dogs and cat who live there!

The contented expression of this fellow says that LCK has a very calming touch!

He may be a bit grungy now, but look what's inside!

My felted buttons were fun to make but I liked them better before I cut them.

At Marconi--
Melissa Leapman was a very funny and entertaining teacher (and she looks great in cabled things). She drew my number in the prize draw (2 skeins of soft alpaca yarn) so I love her even more!
Our class project was making a small cabled throw pillow from a soon to be released book called Continuous Cables and for the first time ever, I actually finished a Class project when I got home! I forgot to take a photo of it, but I finished it!

The lovely and sweet Marisol from Purls Just Wanna Have Fun was there. I think she knits in her sleep because at Show & Tell, she had a pile of beautiful knits and all were completed this past year!! She brought this Wild Wild West shawl, and the entire room went OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHH!

Do not adjust your screen--I forgot to turn on the flash setting and so my Show N Tell photos didn't come out very well but here's a blurry photo of 3 of Team Unraveled in our matching Koolhaas hats. Showing up to the Retreat in matching hats is getting to be a tradition for us!

Josie also showed her pretty Sugar Bunny Blvd Pink ribbon socks and LCK and Nannysknits showed off beautiful cabled cardigans while Sunbny and I knit furiously on our pillows trying to keep up with the class.

Knitting cables requires concentration. I got so crabby trying to knit the first row of the chart that I think my travel companions wanted to spike my coffee with sedatives. Luckily we had plenty of wine, chocolate and chips on hand.

This was my second retreat and I had a great time!! Next year's teachers are Sally Melville and Nancy Bush and we already put down our deposit. Come and join us, you'll have a great time!

Weekend Wrap up

2008-09-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

A few weeks before the Seasocks Cruise, I decided I needed a black wrap and picked out the Gale Stole as a quick and easy one to do. That, and the pattern is supposed to evoke "gusting ocean breezes" which turned out to be a good prediction of our cruise weather conditions:

Unfortunately, being a slow knitter with poor time management skills, I ended up about 3-4 repeats short and never finished it in time to wear on the Cruise. Disappointed, I tossed it aside and let it sit in the corner and finally, while watching the Sex & the City Movie on Saturday night, I finished it up:

Pattern: Gale Stole by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Newton's Yarn Country Cashmere Merino 4-ply, fingering
Started: April, 2008
Finished: Sept, 2008

It also has so many mistakes in it, it's rather embarrassing, so I'm glad it's black.

In non knitting news, I took my Mother to see the Dale Chihuly Exhibit at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco. The sculptures were so cool and we had a great time. I thought my photos came out pretty fabulous until I realized that the the exhibit had fabulous lighting and that every one's photos stood a good chance of coming out fabulous. Don't believe me? Go to flickr and search under "Chihuly"

Still, wouldn't it be wonderful if you could light your latest yarn purchase like this?
Or display them like this?
These reminded me of glass knitting needles:

The Gang That Walks Together Hangs Together

2008-09-21T15:55:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, some of Team U went to Stitch N Pitch at the Oakland A's. The "giveaway" was lame (a cheapo tote bag and a scarf pattern) but the beer was cold, the hot dogs were tasty and the company was fun!

Knitpsycho, Leftcoastknits,Me,Josie

And since we've invested about $1M in walking gear, we signed up for the Race for the Cure 5k (walking!)

Sunbny, Knitpsycho, Josie

Unfortunately for me, I still have foot pain in my right foot and found out this week that I have a partially torn tendon so I was sidelined. Fortunately, honorary Team U member K came along to hang out while the Girls were walking.

Knitting wise, I finally was able to start Mystery Shawl 4 yesterday and, as the world's slowest lace knitter, have a ways to go before I catch up to clue 3.

I think, in response to all the negative and scary News this past week, I had this urge to do something comforting and so I knit dishcloths. I must have been really stressed because I made 7 .
And, in a knitting first, I even knit some Halloween themed dishcloths BEFORE the actual event!

I DID IT!!

2008-09-10T16:33:00.000-07:00

After 4.5 months of training and preparing, Team Unraveled completed the Breast Cancer 3-Day! I walked 60 miles in over 3 days! Our Team raised over $20,000 for Breast Cancer research and I got to hang out with some of the most beautiful, kick-ass women in the world.

Victory pose in the Holding Area at the Closing Ceremony. LCK, A, ME, Knitpyscho and Josie (not pictured is Sunbny who went home early with a hurt hip)

Our camp site for 3 days: Crissy Field, at the base of the Golden Gate Bridge. Can't get a view like that at the Ritz Carlton! (but they do have better bathrooms)

LCK and I were interviewed for the Channel 2 Evening news! Lemme tell ya-seeing yourself blathering on TV after walking 20 miles and with no make up on is a real treat!

Our Team won the Best Decorated Tent contest for our section! If you remember, we knitted pennants to honor or remember those who have fought breast cancer in their lives. We took the pennants, made a bunting (using a gazillion inches of i-cord) and linked our 3 tents.

First night at camp--not many other Walkers camped out wearing hand knitted headgear! (Knitpsycho even has her sock bag in tow!)

At night, the Remembrance Tents honored those who we've lost to breast cancer and reminded us why we were there.

My friend, K, the best Head Cheerleader. EVER. She drove ahead, setting up cheering stations for our friends & family and stood for hours in the sun and wind cheering on not only our team, but hundreds of walkers...and she has a great sense of humor:
Norwegian cowbells rule!

My Mom, Sister & Dad were pretty awesome cheerleaders too--as were all our friends and family!

On the morning of Day 3. Some of my favorite people in the world. I'd walk to the ends of the earth for these women.

At the second to last Pit Stop on the last day. At this point, we had 4.3 miles to go and every step was a challenge-but we're still smiling!

Joy and an emotional ending at the Closing Ceremonies. Funny--I didn't feel any pain at this point....

...but I sure did when I got home!
This really was a life changing event. I'm so glad it's over but I'm so glad I did it. It was hard and it was fun. We had fights, tears, laughter and enough memories to last a lifetime.

Thank you all for your support & encouragement over the past few months. I've missed you! And now, I've got some knitting to catch up on.....

And now, a Public Service Announcement from the MIA Cpurl...

2008-08-22T10:00:00.000-07:00

Chips and Salsa for the Cure!!

Fundraiser Hosted by Team Unraveled

Chevy's in Pleasanton
5877 Owens Dr. (near the 580/Hopyard exit)
Monday, August 25
11:00am-10:00pm (Lunch, Dinner or Take-Out)

Chevy's will donate 25% of the food proceeds if you present one of the flyers below for each check or take out order to your wait staff when you place your order.

Please forward this on to your friends & family, your workplace and other groups. The more people that attend, the more money to finding a cure for Breast Cancer! Team Unraveled will be wearing our Team Unraveled t-shirts and pink badges.

And don't forget to save room for dessert!

See you there!

p.s. To read more about Team Unraveled & the Breast Cancer 3-Day, please visit our website at: http://www.the3day.org/goto/Unraveled

I've been a bad blogger of late--We're 2 weeks away from the 3Day walk so walking prep has hit frenzy level! By the time we cross the start line on Day One, each one of us will have walked enough miles to cover the distance from Main Street, Pleasanon to Main Street, Disneyland. (thats 374 miles)

Knitting wise, I'm currently working on 2 more Malabrgo Koolhaas hats. One is a gift and one is for Manda. Manda & I swapped projects and she's knitting my pink ribbon socks for me and I'm knitting the Koolhaas for her. (it comes down to my dislike of magic looping socks and her dislike of all that darn cabling)

In One Month and 2 Days, I'll Finally Be Able to Sit Down...

2008-08-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

On the 26th of July, Team Unraveled joined the huge walking team, the Warming Hut Hotties, for a 21.5 mile training walk from San Francisco to Tiburon.

6:30AM-we head out:

And over to and across the Golden Gate Bridge:

Originally I had planned to photograph our long journey but the next gazillion miles were a blur. We got lost, we got tired, we got blisters, we got sunburned, we got hungry, we got crabby, we got separated and, after 23 miles we ended up in Tiburon where we could sit in a lovely outdoor cafe and smile once again:

Josie enjoys some well deserved ice cream

It's kinda hard for me to grasp that, 4 months ago, I wouldn't even walk around the block and now I can do this:

No one actually walked on water, btw. That's a ferry

Knitting has been reduced to quick and easy projects that still end up being Walking related:

A Malabrigo Koolhaas in the Geranio colorway for cool San Francisco nights:

And the official (warm) headgear of Team Unraveled

Also, a pink cotton kerchief to hide "3-Day Hair"knit in Rowan Handknit dk. (3-Day hair is what you get after a day of walking, a shower and no blow dryer)

clearly I have not had a botox shot....

Fundraising update: Because of the extreme generosity of knitting friends, muggle friends, work colleagues and my lovely family I have exceeded my 3-Day Fundraising Goal and have over $3000 in donations!! Thank you all SO very much for your support and words of encouragement! (I owe some thank you drawings so stay tuned)

###

Speaking of donations, one of my teammates, KnittingPsycho, (who has the best giggle, ever), is working hard to reach her fundraising goal and is hosting a contest where you can win some fabulous prizes! For details visit her blog and please donate!

We Stitched While They Pitched!

2008-07-23T17:45:00.000-07:00

Last night Leftcoast and I went to Stitch N Pitch '08 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. While the smart knitters were in line to get Malabrigo, LC and I were busy stuffing our faces with hot dogs and beer so we missed out but did get some free silk yarn and the snazzy and free Stitch N Pitch ball caps:

All my fans were there:

But highlight of the evening was meeting up with Carrieknits!

I got to grill her all about the Snowboarder and her ginormous Blue Moon Fiber Arts collection and she brought me a surprise treat from her recent trip to Blue Moon Fiber Arts! Squee!
It's pink in honor of my 3Day walking and the colorway is called "Hot Flash" and boy does that describe me these days! After hearing how much fun Sock Camp is I have to save my pennies and find a way to make it there next year.

Thank you Carrie!!

Only in San Francisco does one need a hot chocolate in the middle of July. Lucky us--it was Ghiradelli and delicious!

The Bay Area is lucky enough to have two major league teams so I might have to go to the Oakland A's Stitch N Pitch in September...

Long Time...No See CPurl

2008-07-20T19:49:00.001-07:00

Every weekend for the past several weeks, our walking team has been training for the Breast Cancer 3-Day. Every weekend the training plan increases the number of miles we walk so the number of hours we walk each weekend also increases. Last weekend we walked 16 miles on Saturday and 11 on Sunday and so far we've logged in over 260 miles. But this past weekend, we happened to have a relatively low mileage target training goal so we took a well deserved break from walking and drove to Dixon on Saturday for the Lambtown festival. Lambtown is a small town affair but we had SO much fun relaxing and knitting and eating junk food!

Hmm, where is the shearing competition?

Recognize the beautiful fibers? It's from Kristine of A Verb for Keeping Warm

We found a nice shady spot with other Ravelers...

...and stocked up on the food essentials.

There were lots of fluffy bunnies. This guy was HUGE but all fluff--he weighed only 8 pounds!

Clearly we had a favorite booth at the fair.

Nannysknits learned to spin on a drop spindle at the festival and couldn't stop!

And today we were up and walking at 6AM....

WWKIPing for the Cure

2008-06-16T14:39:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Team Unraveled, had the opportunity to use a free booth space at our local Farmer's Market

Pre Market Calm

Because the booth was free of charge to us, we were not allowed to sell anything but we could collect donations and talk about our fundraising efforts.

Our LYS made up a sock kit "Bobbles for Boobies" with the net proceeds going to our team fundraising. I brought the pair I had knit up so as a sample pair for other knitters to see. (LOOK! AN FO!)

And of course, we combined fundraising with WWKIP!

We met a lot of wonderful people and many shared their stories about loved ones who have been affected by or lost to cancer but by far, the best part of staffing the booth all day was talking to the Survivors who came up to us thanked us for doing the Walk.
At the end of the market, we were still smiling and ready for lunch. And the tip jar was FULL!
See the bunting hanging above our heads? It's knitted! We're going to keep knitting and adding pennants and then take it to the 3Day camp to decorate out tents.

On Saturday night I started adding the initials of those who we will walk in honor of or in memory of.
We're using the pattern I saw on the Craft Magazine blog by Green Mountain Mama and all scraps of yarn in shades of, you guessed it, pink!! If you'd like to add a pennant, please let me know and I'll pm you a mailing address.

And We're Walking, and We're Walking,... and We're Stopping.

2008-06-13T10:36:00.000-07:00

I'm a bad blogger of late because, since we're getting to higher numbers in our 3Day training, all I do is walk, sleep, walk, work, walk, work, walk, work, knit, work, walk walk walk.

Last Saturday we got our sorry behinds out of bed at 4:30AM to be in San Francisco by 6:30 AM for a training walk. So did 275 other walkers. I'll bet the neighbors were thrilled with the pre-walk safety talk and cheering.

I'm not used to being with so many women who are NOT knitters but I think the woman who gave the safety/pep talk was wearing a Koolhaas hat!

Here we are in our sleepy, make-up less pre-walk glory. Little did we know what we were about to face. Let's just say San Francisco = HILLS.
We even had some Doggies walkin' for the cause.

So, we've been training consistently as a team (except for the Alaska cruise) but this course kicked our @ss! It was (only) 10 miles long but we had to go up some very steep hills and by the end my feet were screamin'.

Some inspiration along the way:

Friends of Turtlegirl sunning themselves in Golden Gate park:

Buffalo (or are they Bison?) in Golden Gate park:After the walk we went to the 3Day Expo. I was too tired to take any more photos but I did take a shot of our future home.
After the drive back and a nice refreshing lunch at Chilis, THIS is how I felt when I got home:

Tomorrow we're manning a booth at our local Farmer's Market to KIP and (hopefully)get some donations for our team fundraising. If you're in my area tomorrow, stop by and knit with us!

"We Were Castrating Bulls the Other Day...

2008-05-31T20:58:00.001-07:00

...and we saved the sacs to make purses" overheard at Spinning at the Winery.

Today was my second year spinning with LeftCoastKnits at the Retzlaff Winery, this year called "Fleeces, Food & Fun" and, well, there was lots of fantastic fleeces, delicious food and lots of fun.

Of course, one needs a glass of Retzlaff wine

I don't know why I forgot to take photos but I ran into a lot of familiar faces! The lovely Kristine, from a Verb from Keeping Warm was there and this time she was there to enjoy the day with her partner & friends and not working hard at a booth!

Kristine is going to teach a drop spindle class at Article Pract and got to meet Julie from my knitting group, who has signed up for the class.

Ceallach was there with her family and she's working hard on her book and planning all kinds of cool solar dyed projects so stay tuned. (hope your foot feels better Cellach!)

I met Jasmin, who was on the Seasocks cruise and has a podcast that I'm downloading as I type this called "The Knitmore Girls"

Some of the sights of the day:

Weavings and knits for sale

Little fleece sheep (one came home with me)

And Mr. Chicken who amused LCK and I (suburban girls don't run into live chickens very often)

I also won 2 prizes in the raffle draw! One was a pretty dish cloth and tea towel set woven by a guild member and are way too nice to use! (but perfect for a bread basket liner).

And the other was a lovely large woven piece that's big enough for a table covering or a cozy car/lap blanket.

I was sooooooooo tempted by the Schacht Ladybug spinning wheels but I restrained myself and just came home with an ash wood Nostepinde. I can now sit on the sofa and wind perfect balls of yarn and it also doubles as a magic wand.

YPF, Canadian Style

2008-05-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

While in the Seasocks visit to the Beehive Yarns Feeding frenzy, I I picked up 3 skeins of the Hand Maiden Seasilk in the Moss colorway. I think I'm entering my "green" phase because it was the second time this trip that I bought yarn in this colorway. It's so wonderful to fondle and the color is delicious and slated to become a shawl from More Big Girl Knits (the name eludes me right now--it's not the Goddess shawl but the one made from Seasilk).

Photographed outside the Empress Hotel, Victoria, BC.

Sea Silk: 70% Silk, 30% Seacell®; 3mm/US 2; 27 stitches/4"; 400m/437.4yds; 100g/3.53oz.

More Post Cruise stories:

At the Empress, we had a fabulous Tea service

Here we are being well behaved ladies...

But not always...

I love this photo of LCK. I just sums up how I felt the entire trip--having fun and enjoying life.

Have a great weekend!!

I'm Back!

2008-05-20T08:36:00.000-07:00

I'm Back! I'm tired and broke but I had a great time!! This was my first ever cruise and it much more fun than I ever imagined it would be. Add yarn and a bunch of knitters and it was over the top on the fabulous scale!

I'm still getting my photos organized but here are a few highlights from the trip!

First night with my travel buddies: MamaC, LeftCoastKnits, TassleQueen and SunBny!

I got to meet everyone's favorite Lung Doc!

Brenda Dayne admires LCK's Kerry Cardigan during the "Today's Sweater" show and tell night.

Getting ready for our helicopter flight!

Aerial view of Juneau from a helicoptor tour. Our ship is on the far left.

Alaska sockbags reunited at the Pajama party! I finally got to meet the adorable Trillian 42!

The Sea Socks crew cleaned out Bee Hive Wools in Victoria!

Ready to Cruise!

2008-05-08T21:56:00.000-07:00

Do these come in my size?

I've been a bad blogger this week. I can't believe that the Seasocks Cruise is finally here!! My bags are packed. My yarn is wound. My black shawl.....is still...not done. But I brought blocking pins just in case I manage to eek it out. The thing about knitting is that hope always spring eternal.

See you in a week!

And yes, Casey, I have my passport.

Catching up and I have a Winner!

2008-05-05T19:05:00.000-07:00

I'm so behind on my blogging. I booked this Cruise a zillion weeks ago and yet, as usual, I find myself in a last minute time crunch to get things done before my plane leaves on Friday!

So, to catch up let me show you some fabulous things that have shown up in the mail last week:

First, I received a fabulous package from my Ravelry Coffee Swap Pal, LeaMV.

There's a pound of Sumatra (my favorite type of coffee), a very pretty mug, a divinely scented handmade soap she found that has coffee in it and 2 skeins of gorgeous yarn. The one on the left that looks black (bad lighting!) is actually a deep aubergine color from Knitting Notions. The other is from Briar Rose Fibers and is a sport weight yarn called "Grandma's Blessing"in the "Anne's color for Dolomite". And she was kind enough to include the pattern for the Dolomite socks. A perfect take with project for the Sea Socks cruise!

Since I missed YPF last week, here are some close up shots of the lovely Briar Rose:

I also received a package from the other Coast containing these lovelies:

The prettiest knitting bag in my collection! Along with travel needle case and a bonus key ring because Zknitter loves me, ordered from Janez Place!! I LOVE them so.

And last but not least, I want to thank you for all the wonderful comments you left on my "Wish Me Luck" post about the 3-Day walk. I entered every comment and blog post and used a randon number generator and Elise won the skein of Wollemeise. Elise, you didn't leave an email and your blog link appears to be empty so please email me at cpurl17[at]gmail[dot]com or on ravelry and let me know where I can send your prize!

Before I leave on Friday, I'll post a new prize to give away when I draw again on June 2.

Fun and Pink at the Maker Faire

2008-05-03T19:01:00.000-07:00

Today the Maker Fair came to the Bay Area and, seemingly at the last minute, the Yarn Harlot was scheduled to appear so Team Unraveled got together for an outing. We wore our pink shirts to promote our walk in the 3-Day:

We became known as the "pink ladies" as in (overheard in a cell phone conversation), "Honey? Yeah, I'm standing in line behind the Pink Ladies." There were people dressed like this:

And we were the novelty!? Or maybe it was our stunning good looks. No matter, if it means we managed to raise some funds or interest in the walk. We scored second row seats:

Stephanie, as you probably know, was hilarious in her presentation ...
...and gracious and accommodating during the book signing.

Kristin aka Leftcoastknits, ME, Stephanie, Alysse aka Knitted Daughter, Jo aka Josie and Manda aka Knitting Psycho (missing but not forgotten is Betts aka Sunbny)

We ran into the most amazing people at the Faire!

Carrie of We Do Not Have a Knittng Problem and I saying "Hi ZKnitter!"

Look! It's Nicole of Stash and Burn & Manda taste testing chocolate

Ceallach Dyes set up a great display of her solar dying process
(see her "ovens" behind the stall?)

Alysse rockin' the 3-Day bandanna

This was my first time to the Maker Faire and we had a great time. It's a fabulous place for kids and geeks alike.

The bizarre bazaar was packed with hand made crafts and I may have bought a skein of yarn from and Indie dyer.

This is the logo & business card that Kristin, designer extraordinaire made for our 3-Day team:

Better get to bed...we have a 7 mile walk tomorrow!

Friday!

2008-04-25T00:00:00.000-07:00

Some people cram into a phonebooth:

Some knitters cram into a knitting room:

Our knitting group has been meeting in the small room in our LYS because of classes in the main room but it was still a lot of fun.

Last Sunday I picked up a ball of Noro Matsuri 87% cotton, 13% wool.

Our 3-Day team, Unraveled, channeling our inner 5th graders, spontaneously decided that we'd make matching Dream Swatches

We may not be the fastest walkers out there, but we'll be the cutest.

WIP Wednesday

2008-04-23T10:08:00.000-07:00

When I first started keeping a blog, I wanted to name it ProcrastiKnitter because Procrastination could be my middle name. Case in point, I signed up for the Sea Socks Cruise MONTHS ago but last week I suddenly decided that I needed a black stole. I even sent a panic email to Trillian42 for some advice on easy stoles.

So I thought about Cozy but I want to make Cozy while I'm on the cruse using some frogged yarn I have and instead, I'm making the Gale stole the pattern description describes it as "reminiscent of gusting ocean breezes" so I think it will be perfect for an ocean liner. I'm a little over 1/3 done. I'm using Stash Yarn (yay me!), Newton's Yarn Country 60% cashmere and 40% merino fingering weight

In fitness news, I captured my very first training step for my 3Day walk wearing some dusty old Avia shoes I bought a long time ago on sale. 3 miles later, my feet were complaining by developing blisters.

so on Monday I went to the local running store (LRS?) and got some spiffy new shoes. They got a trial walk on the treadmill last night and today they'll go out for a 4-mile training walk.

And thank-you for my lovely donors! I'm 20% towards my goal, yay!

Wish Me Luck Contest!!

2008-04-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

So what does an overweight, out of shape, couch potato Knitter do for fun on a Friday night? She joins her healthier, fitter and crazy Knitter pals and signs up for the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk.

"Bwah, hahahaha oh boy that's a good one!!"

"Oh. I think she's serious"

Our LYS owner’s daughter had this idea about forming a team to do the 3-Day and we all said “Wow, that’s a great idea” and Team Unraveled was born. So now all I have to do is raise a lot of money and figure out how I’m going to walk 60 miles in 3 days…

To to get me through this, I’m having a lo pressure, no purchase necessary, give-away and what I need is your encouragement because I'm really out of shape. There are 20 weeks until I have to do this and I’ll need lots of moral support—and some free publicity! Just leave me a comment on this post and I’ll enter your name into a drawing for some yarny stuff from my stash. If you link this post to your blog, I add another entry (just let me know you did)! To keep me going, I'll do this once a month* until the big day!

For the first drawing, May 2, how about some Wollmeise Sockenwolle Superwash in the "Red Hot Chili" colorway:

And, of course, I'd love any support you can give to my fundraising efforts, just click on the pink 3Day widget in the right hand column or go to my personal webpage.

"Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending."--Carl Bard

P.S. Our walking team, "Unraveled" is setting up our own web site with what we hope will be some fun fundraising so stay tuned for updates! (or pleading)

*monthly drawings: 5/2/08, 6/2/08, 7/2/08, 8/2/08, 9/2/08 (each month, I'll empty the hat and add a new post for comments)

A Roadtrip and a RAK!

2008-04-13T17:26:00.000-07:00

After surviving my cancelled flight in Minnesota, I hit the road again but this time it was for some fun with my Knit Night Homegirls!

Here we are fueling up at Marie Callendar's for our final destination: Filati Fine Yarns in Rocklin.

We're wearing crowns on our head because it was Bett's (lovely woman in white jacket) birthday month as well! LCK is on the left and sitting next to her in the pink is Knitting Psycho and then we have (rav names) Sunbny, Mama C, Txbelle, Tassel Queen and Josie!

Filati was once an LYS but the owner moved to Rocklin but it's definitely worthy of a pilgrimage. Even though we were there for several hours and they have a huge "sale" corner and a ginormous stock room, I forgot to take photos!

I describe Filati as a "knitter's store" because everyone there is an accomplished technical knitter who can offer expert advice (there was a local man there knitting the most delicate lace). They have an amazing inventory but the treat for me is that the stalk yarns I can't find in the bay area including Dale of Norway:

After the cruise, I really want to knit a Norwegian sweater. Ok, I can dream, can't I?

After the yarn shop experience, we shared some healthy snacks and champagne.

We then went out for a delicious dinner and then we changed into our pajamas for a PJ party. I can't post any of those photos because I'd probably be banned from Knit Night.

On the way out of the hotel parking lot, we saw a lime green car with a huge spoiler with his H.S. tassel hanging from the rear view mirror.

I try not to judge, but Dude, 10 years? Let the past go.....

When I came home (btw, it was 95degrees here today!!) I found a RAK package from our favorite Alaskan, Bezzie!

It's an All-Alaskan Sea Socks extravaganza! She made me a notebook covered with a vintage Alaskan map (check out the U.S.S.R.) Inside she wrote secret Alaskan insider tips --I could share with my fellow Sea Sockers but I prefer to lord it over them.

She also gave me a packet of "Forgetme Nots", the official state flower of Alaska, a bar of lovely scented "Alaskan Rain" soap (made with real Alaskan rain), a skein of super soft, super pretty Alaskan spun yarn, Rabbit Ridge Designs, 100% alpaca in the "Juneau Nights" colorway:

And the best--an Alaskan Sock bag sewn by the Bezz herself!! Check out this adorable fabric featuring famous Alaskan icons:

Thank you Bezzie, you made my day!!

p.s. on the way home from Rocklin, we spotted an IKEA and had to pull over for some cheap fun and cinnamon rolls. I spent $6.99 on a kitty tent and they love it!

Flash Your Stash 2008

2008-04-01T15:08:00.001-07:00

As with many other things Chez Cpurl, I just couldn't get it together this year but I did use the day to reflect on my very first Stash post in 2006.

Sad to say, 90% of this yarn is still in my house. A lot of it was purchased under the newbie- knitter-not- sure- what- I'm- doing- cloud. Ever sadder to say, this stash was amassed before I learned how to knit socks. Or lace. Or before Malabrigo. Or the 2 more trips to Stitches. So it's grown a little since then. Enough that my Dad wanted me to watch the Oprah episode on Hoarders.

It's kind of a cute stash actually. So young and innocent.

But I think it's time to let these young'uns go out into the world and find a new home. In other words, I should get myself organized for a De-stash!!

Hat Trick Monday

2008-03-31T19:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I made the One Day Beret out of the yarn that Disco gave me. Since my Le Slouch was a bit of Le Droop, I went a little overboard and created Le Ginormous--but it's very comfy and I can hide a bunch of snacks in there.

Now my head will be nice and warm in Alaska.

Pattern: One Day Beret
Yarn: Zitron Unkiat, 100% Merino Schruwolle
Needles: US 10
Started: March 30 2008
Finished:March 30 2008
Mods: This "recipe" is tops down so it works for any size yarn.

I also finished a 2nd baby cap for the twin set and with a week to spare before the shower.

Weekend Update

2008-03-29T00:26:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to Magical Mystery Knitting Party at the Knit-One-One studio in Berkeley. The studio is run by a lovely woman named Síle (pronounced "Sheila") and offers knitting classes, trunk shows, special events and outings. Last night was my first time there and Síle made me feel so welcome that I could have stayed all night.

Knit-One-One Studio

The Magical Mystery Knitting Party is led by an adorable woman named Kate Freeman who also works at Article Pract. You show up to the class with the required yarn & supplies and Kate leads you through the mystery project while the students guess what the finished object will be.
Síle also serves a delicious light dinner and wine and fabulous home made shortbread (if I had been left alone I would have snarfed the entire plate). In the past they've made wine bottle carriers, Easter baskets, needle pin cushions and last night we made:

A cabled coffee cup cozy! During the class the students are invited to guess what the finished project will be and the first thing I blurted out was "cat scarf" or, in this case, a cat neck cozy:

"Just make sure you get my good side"

No cats were harmed in the photographing of the cat neck cozy.

In other news chez Cpurl, I owe a big thank you to Disco for the lovely yarn I won in a prize draw (drawn by some very cute boys)

It's a very soft ball of Zitron Unikat 100% Merino wool in a charcoal to light grey colorway. Any suggestions? A beret? another Capitan?
I think I'll make another hat for the Sea Socks cruise. Disco, how did you know my warm coat has a grey lining? Psychic, you!

Finally, we had a bit of trauma around here last week. Seems Cary got locked in my bedroom closet all day last Tuesday and made a valiant effort to claw his way out. Fortunately, he's just fine.

And he was kind enough to give me a head start on replacing the carpet (although I hadn't planned on doing it just yet).

If it's still March 29 in your part of the world, you might want to knit by candlelight tonight in support of http://www.earthhour.org/. (I probably won't attempt lace however.)

WIP Wednesday, WIP Wednesday

2008-03-26T19:23:00.000-07:00

The twin baby Sweaters are done!

And with a week and a half to spare before the baby shower!

So help me figure this out. I knit 2 sweaters out the the same yarn but in two different colorways. Same yardage, same needles, same gauge, same pattern and when I'm done, I have this:

One ball with plenty of yarn to make a matching hat and one too small! Perusing Ravelry, I found another knitter who had the same experience with the blue. Is it something about blue dye?

To complete the set, I made one baby hat with a blue stripe:

and am waiting for another skein of blue. If I have time, I'll try to make some booties.

I also cast on the Optic Waves shawl from Clara Parkes' The Knitter's Book of Yarn using Brooks Farm Primero (the yarn used in pattern).

I hope to have this done in time for Sea Socks!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-22T00:01:00.000-07:00

On Saturday morning I finished the first Twin sweater:

Dream in Color Classy in 'Beach Fog' (not yet blocked). And started the second:

Since the babies are fraternal twins, I chose a different but complimentary color, 'Some Summer Sky". I love knitting with this yarn. The colors are so happy and the yarn is soft.

I happen to have all the colors of Dream in Color in my stash to make the Tulip Baby cardigan but lately the pregnant mothers I've been knitting baby gifts for either don't want to know the baby's sex or, in the one case where she did find out, is having twin boys.

Later that afternoon, I watched a recording of "Madame Butterfly" off my DVR and I got pretty far with sweater 2:

Can I point out how much I love Jelby's stitch markers--they're just too cute:

I'll have enough yarn to make a baby cap for each one too. Since the sweaters so simple, I'm thinking of the Simple Baby Cap 2 from Itty Bitty Hats since it also has a rolled edge.

Happy Easter everyone!

WIP Wednesday---Update on My Near FO's

2008-03-19T00:01:00.000-07:00

After the mini-disaster I had last weekend, I repaired and re-blocked my Magic Shawl. I've renamed it as my Maui shawl since I knit the bulk of it there so it will always remind me of vacation:

It's a simple and a fast knit shawl(even in Cpurl time)

Brook's Farm Acero:

Here's my Capitan hat with the wonky brim that I need to rip and re-do. Those of you who have knit one, do you think it would benefit from a light interfacing? I'm using Cascade baby alpaca so the knitted fabric doesn't have any body.

I want to finish another shawl and some Fiber Trend clogs for the Seasocks cruise but before I can do those, I have THIS deadline:

A baby shower! Did I mention she's having twins?

I didn't want to knit another Mason Dixon baby kimono's so the KTPT Knit group helped me pick out a new baby project. (Mostly me asking J, "Would you put S (her son) in this?") I picked the baby pullover from Knitting Pure & Simple in Dream in Color Classy "Beach Fog". OK, no more blogging, must knit on!!

Fortunately/Unfortunately X Two

2008-03-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

One:

Fortunately, I finished my Magic Shawl last night

Unfortunately, it was too late to block it.

Fortunately, it was Sunday so I could block it first thing in the morning

Unfortunately, (cue Psycho shower music) I discovered dropped and unraveling stitches.

Fortunately, there were only a few at the end of the shawl

Unfortunately, I had to wait for the shawl to dry to attempt repair

Fortunately, I was was able to unravel back and get the shawl back on the needles.

Unfortunately, Mika jumped on my lap and I dropped a stitch and had to rip back again

Fortunately, I was finally able to finish and it's blocking again

Unfortunately, it's blocking on my bed so I can't sleep on it tonight

Fortunately, I have a spare bedroom so I can sleep in there.

Two:
Fortunately, I finished my Rosie G Capitan cap on Saturday night

Unfortunately, I didn't have two buttons for the trim

Fortunately, it was Sunday so I had time to go to the store

Unfortunately, I forgot to buy the Quilt pins in addition to my buttons to block my shawl

Fortunately, I found a box of them when I got home and really searched

Unfortunately, I'm not happy with how I knit the brim on the hat

Fortunately, I don't need it until the Seasocks Cruise

Unfortunately, I need to rip the brim back and try to re-do.

Fortunately, I'll have a super cute hat when I'm finally done!

So what does this have to do with the photograph of cows above? Nothing, but there's a lot of green grass so it'll have to do for St. Patrick's Day. (If you drink a lot of Guiness and stare at the photo for a long time you can see those cows dance an Irish jig)

Post Vacation Blues

2008-03-14T12:34:00.000-07:00

Sigh. A week ago I was in Hawaii enjoying the whales swimming in blue waters like this:

and this:

So when I saw these at our Knit This, Purl That Knit Night, I had to snatch one up:

It's Flat Feet sock yarn in the cool bright colorway:

I think I'll call it Maui Blue:

No skein to wind--you just pull off the waste yarn and start knitting off the flat!

I also channeled my inner 70's child and got one of these new DellaQ sock bags:

So I may have the blues....but at least they're dreamy blues!

C: Hey! What about me? Turtlegirl always posts photos of her kittehs!
CP: Turtlegirl's cats don't leave skid marks on the carpet.

YP Friday, Vacation Pr0n

2008-03-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week, KG and I went on a whale watching tour in Lahaina. Afterwards, we stopped by this small needle arts shop that KG had earlier researched and found.

This shop is small and mostly focused on needlework crafts but has a small selecton of yarns including some lucious fibers hand dyed locally and inspired by the beauty of Maui from MauiYarns

Normally, I don't go for yellow (hello Zknitter) but I couldn't pass this skein up.

Pineapple Upsidedown cake:

I also couldn't resist these hand made needles, from Serendipity needles, handmade in Rhode Island.

Here's another of my favorite inspirational foods, mmmmmmmm Maui chips. I've been craving these for years and, while I've been able to find Maui chips, I have never found the same exact brand on the main land:

Sigh...the week has gone by quickly but I've had a wonderful time here in Maui. My next post will be from the Mainland, until then ALOHA!

WIP Wednesday, Island Time

2008-03-03T18:09:00.000-08:00

Why is this woman smiling?
She just arrived in Maui!

My WIPs for this week include good progress on the Magic Shawl:

And the start of a sock for KG started on the plane to Maui:

Now, back to the beach!

YPF: My Blue Period

2008-02-29T20:24:00.000-08:00

Normally I gravitate towards red yarns but this year at Stitches I kept picking up hanks of blue.

First the denim Acero for the shawl and then this:

I kept circling, circling, picked it up twice and put it back and then could resist no more and bought a sweater's worth of blue Duet at the Brooks Farm booth.

It's a like a deep blue river.

So why is this cat, who tried to crawl in that hat, looking so sad? Because in less than 24 hours that hat and the head that wears it will be in Maui!!

ALOHA!!

There's Life Outside of Knitting...

2008-02-27T00:00:00.000-08:00

As if Stitches wasn't enough, I had the pleasure of attending my first ever Quilt Show with some muggle friends last Sunday.

Professional auctioneers Pete and "Sleepy" work the crowd to bid higher.

My friend's Mom in front of one of her quilts. She specializes in Asian inspired quilts and has fabrics in her stash from a name well known by knitters, Kaffe Fasset!

I even bid on and won a quilt pieced with vintage fabrics and a some modern. It was so much fun bidding and watching others bid! (I couldn't get a good lighting for a photo the colors IRL are much prettier )

Here's a very lucky kitty named Skippy who found a home at my friend's Mom's cozy house!

###

On the knitting side, I don't have much to show for WIP Wednesday but I did cast on a shawl using one of my Stitches acquisitions from Brooks Farm:
The colorway is darker blue than it looks in the first photo and looks more like dark denim.

I'm making the Magic Shawl that was hanging in the Brooks Farm booth, in the medium size. The pattern calls for 2 skeins of Acero, superwash wool 60%, silk 20%, viscose 20%.

Back From Stitches

2008-02-24T19:49:00.000-08:00

Tired. Broke. Happy.

More to come but here are a couple of highlights:

I got to take a class with Nancy Bush and got to see and fondle all those vintages socks in real life.

At a booth promoting the Mother Bear Project, I saw my own bear as a "booth bear" before taking her trip to Africa:

LeftCoastKnitter was the enabler. Signature needles with stilletto tips. Too pretty and smooth to resist:

The long line to the Friday night Fashion Show. Like the line to get into Stitches. Or the Blue Moon Fiber Arts booth. Or the woman's room during the breaks. My lucky totem:

And I may, just may, finally have a few skeins of yarn to show off in upcoming YPFs!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T11:41:00.000-08:00

Cary, whose fur forms a perfect heart at the base of head when he sits up would like to wish you and your fuzzy friends a Happy Valentine's Day.

"and the front of me is pretty cute too!"

I started a heart themed square for my afghan project but forgot to take a photo so my Valentine today is a photo I took these week for my Project 365 challenge:

Vet Visits & WIP Wednesday

2008-02-05T18:05:00.000-08:00

As you know, there hasn't been a whole lot of knittin' going on lately but I have eeked out 2.9 afghan squares (I'll post a better photo after they're blocked):

And few more inches on the Boise Shawl:

Namaste has come out with some groovy new bags and, as we all know, it's not what you knit, it's how good your knits look while your carrying them around that counts:

$60 bucks y'all.

Today the Gangsta kitties had a visit to the Vet's office for their annual booster shots. I took them in two separate carriers but Mika jumped in with Cary while we waiting for a second temperature reading:

"Oww, Mika you're stepping on my paw..get. off. me."

"iz skared carewee!"

"It's okay kid, we'll get her back. I found her Weight Watchers score card"

MY Blog Makes Me Yawn!

2008-02-04T19:43:00.000-08:00

I've been seeing a lot of "Smile" awards around the knitting blogs lately and decided that my blog was feeling left out and so I awarded myself the:

It takes a special talent to create a blog that doubles as an instant cure for insomnia. I like to think of it as a special public serivce to those who cannot afford an Ambien prescription. Sure, it would be easy to update you with beautifully knitted objects, but in world where it's taking me a week to knit one afghan square, even that progress would be a snore!

In the spirit of giving, I'll award this to 10 people whose blogs are equally dull and uninspiring:

1. Left Coast Knitter - Dude. Update your blog. Rhinebeck was so last year.

2. Bezzie - No, her blog isn't boring but she wins everything so I had to include her.

3. Ummmm. Ok, no one in my Bloglines has a boring blog but feel free to award yourself if you're feeling dull or you like photos of cute babies yawning.

So, while the blog is dull, life has been good of late:

On Superbowl Sunday, while many were watching a football game and subjected to lame commercials, I was at MamaC's Yarn Swap & Knitting Frenzy:

Checking out the yarn up for swap. One knitter's trash stash is another knitter's treasure!

Of course there was delicious pot luck:

And the lovely Left Coast Knitter keeping guard over some cool Noro yarn she scored by spiking my Mimosa and tripping me as I ran towards the pile of fiber. Next to her is some my score: some Queensland Kathmandu Aran and vintage Peer Gynt sock yarn.

I've also been busy with my Project 365 photo challenge. This represents my January:

Zonda sent me some blogging mojo so hopefully I'll back more often to ~~bore~~ amuse you!

If You're Afraid of Needles Look Away!

2008-01-20T12:53:00.000-08:00

This week's Blogstalking v2 assignment: Show us all your knitting needles in one place. With the exception of those being used on other projects or stuck in a frog pond wanting to be rescued, here they are:

Someday I want to replace the long orange hanger thing (hmm maybe a new design from zknitter) but they keep my circs organized. When they travel, they get to go in a zknitter case.

My Knit Picks Options & Hamony needles nestled in their zknitter cases:
Knitting needle version of a golf bag: My woods and irons.

All those needles and I don't have size 10 DPNs??
A pile of vintage plastic circs I scored on ebay:

All neat and tidy:

You'd think with all those needles, I'd be more productive but nooooooooooooo

WIP Wednesday

2008-01-16T00:00:00.000-08:00

Well it's been busy at work so not much knittin' going on.

I've got one lonely Noro sock going (slowly):

Last November I started the Boise Lace wrap and about a two inches in I made a mistake on the garter stitch edging where, for a few rows, I knit stockinette. I tried to ladder down and fix it but the yarn is sticky and I didn't get optimal results. I thought it wouldn't bother me so I plowed on for several more inches. Then Christmas knitting got in the way and I put it aside.

But it did bother me so, and I couldn't shake it so, at the beginning of the year, I ripped it all out and started over again and so far, so good:

Then, this weekI started an afghan sampler for my Dad--I've had the yarn for the afghan in my stash for well over a year It will take 20 squares and this is my first one in the Cable Check pattern:

Lion's Brand Fisherman's Wool. .5 down and 19.5 to go.

For Christmas, Muggle friend K gave me the Knit Picks Harmony inter changeable needles set (yes she's an awesome friend!!) and they needed a snazzy new home so I got me one of these:

From the fabulous etsy shop called Janez place!

30 seconds after I took the photo, guess who decides to use it as a cushion?

First FOs of 2008

2008-01-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

Last night I finished up my first FOs of 2008. They're for my cousin's baby to be born at the end of this month.

Saartje's Booties
and the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason Dixon Knitting

Yarn: Trendsetter Yarn's Scoubi Du 50% cotton, 50% acrylic

Kimono
Started: 30 December
Finished: 1-Jan (seamed and buttoned yesterday)
Modifications: I added an inch to the body.

Booties
Started: 2-Jan
Finished: 5-Jan
Modifications: I made a mistake on the first bootie and left out two rows. After completing the second bootie correctly, I deciscovered that I liked the smaller version better (probably because scoubi du is a worsted weight vs. fingering weight used in the original pattern) the than the and made a third one with the same -2 rows.

Other than that, I'm spending a lazy January blah Sunday afternoon fighting a cold, and doing a little knitting, napping and television viewing.

Cpurl Year in Review

2007-12-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

I saw this on LadyLungDoc's blog, who saw it on Ruth's blog and borrowed the idea, which is to post a line or two from each blog month of the past year. It's funny how each random little snippet can take me back to a particular place in life and the issues or feelings, good or bad, I was dealing with at the time. It's a lot like when you pick up your knitting and instantly flash back to what you were doing/watching/listening to, the last time you were working on the project.

January 25, 2007
I posted a peek of this yarn the other day for Valkryie but can't resist a full frontal

Feb 14, 2007
Ali gave me VD love!

March 12, 2007
Not to be upstaged, Cary does his imitation of a meerkat

April 25, 2007
The seemingly endless saga of my dental woes continues and today was another round in the chair (only 1 shot on the pain-o-meter & 15 minutes of nitrous).

May 21, 2007
My favorite snacks while knitting at home are those that are easy to eat, like the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish Crackers pictured below. I can even lean over and suck one in like a little vacuum so as not to break my knitting stride or mess my fingers.

June 24, 2007
The night before we attended the luminaria Ceremony of Hope which kicks off with a group of survivors walking a lap lined with candlelit (or, in our case, glow sticks)luminarias; each one bearing the name in honor of cancer survivors or in memory of loved ones.

July 15, 2007
Ok, this is where I had planned to post my mystery stole update. But today, after hours and hours (did I say hours?) I finished Clue 3 and felt so good about it I took a few photographs. But after I loaded the photographs I noticed so many errors I wanted to cry. Silly huh? Well, I thought about just knitting on but I knew the mistakes would plague me forever so I ripped it off and tossed it in the garbage.

August 27, 2007
Our LYS is spending Wednesday nights this August knitting bears for the Mother Bear Project. This is a good reminder when I need to remember there are starving kitties in Iraq. (See Bezzie's post from ...)

Sept ? 2007
I signed up for a webring called Blogstalking 2: The Reawakening and, frankly I'm relieved since my blog was about to be awarded the Your Blog Sucks Girl Blogger award.

Oct 17, 007
Cpurl's Mom (while waiting for a table at a Japanese restaurant): What are you working on?Cpurl: It's a sleeve--see? (cpurl puts it on her wrist)Cpurl's Mom: "Won't that make you look bulky?"The truth hurts.

Nov 4, 2007
This has nothing to do with old photos, but a few weeks ago I was out with Muggle friends K & J and, I swear this is true, a happy face appeared in our pizza

Dec 15, 2007
So there you have it. I've suffered a fate equal to landing in an insane asylum or being homeless.
But, at the end of the movie, Clarence leave a note for George that says "Remember no (wo)man is a failure who has friends."
It this regard, I have indeed, a Wonderful Life.

Knitting wise, I'm too lazy to do a photo collage but here's my year's worth of knitted work:

Fetchings: 1
Calorimetry=3
Flowerbasket Shawl=1
Socks=15
Scarf=1*
Noni Bag=1
Baby Hats=6*
Booties=1
Hats=3
Baby Sweaters=2
Bears=5*
Knucks=2
Golf Club covers=3
Sweaters=2
Ornaments=2

*knit for charity projects

Not as productive as I would have liked but more than I thought.

Next year's resolutions:
1.Get Healthy
2.Get Organized-clear out clutter
3.Participate in Project 365/52

I've even set up a blog to post my photos on a weekly basis: Cpurl's Project 365

I'm full of year end good intentions and I'm sure this is going to be harder to keep up with than I think , but I hope it will be a fun way to make sure I add a dose of creativity to every day. What I suspect is that I'll end up of 365 photos of yarn + cats.

I leave you with my favorite photos of the year:

Mika as a therapist:

And a shot I took at Natural Dye class:

Happy New Year!

Only 364 Days Until Christmas!

2007-12-26T12:51:00.000-08:00

Christmas was fun! We made merry and overate and spent too much and had a great time.

My sister loved her new Knucks (she received another pair just like these):

Cary loves his new Scratch Lounge (even though he doesn't look like it):

I Kinneared my sister watching TV on my Mom's sofa:

Later that night, she Kinneared me while trying to sneak a photo of me with cookie crumbs all over my face:
And, proof that cats are like furry kids: Surrounded by gifts, they rather play in the box they came in:

I received many wonderful gifts of the Knitterly type from my sister and muggle friend K and am a very spoiled cpurl who is now very much looking forward to spending time relaxing and knitting.

Christmas Wrap-Up

2007-12-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

Mika, I think I see Santa!!

Where!? Where!?

I've been a bad blogger of late, just a little too overwhelmed with the Holiday madness. Here's my Christmas Scorecard Update:

Christmas cards written = Check!
Cookies baked = still 0 but some lovely friends have given me treats
Cards addressed = Check!
Presents wrapped = Check!
Halls decked = Check!
Christmas gifts knitted = 4/5 (Mama gets a raincheck)
Christmas shopping Done= Check!
House ready for guests = If you don't open the closets, what the heck, just come on over and have a glass of wine: Check!

So what have I been up to? In no particular order:

Just this morning, I went on a last-minute mission trip to Target and scored a parking place near the front! It's a Christmas Miracle!
On Saturday night I hosted my 5th annual Fondue party (3 kinds of cheese fondue + 2 types of chocolate) for some fabulous friends I made at a former job and here's the 1AM party aftermath:

I finished up the Knucks for my sister:

And the golf club covers for my Dad:

Last Sunday, LCK and Soon to be Blogging Friend, B, came over for a knitted ornament swap and toasted my Birthday with some cake and champagne:

Betts made this gorgeous beaded lace ornament:

LCK made this adorable stocking ornament:

And I made some silly snowmen:

Merry Christmas Knitty Pals!

God Bless you all! I hope Santa is good to you all!

Ho Ho Hum

2007-12-15T14:45:00.000-08:00

Saturday Morning Holiday Scorecard:

I cracked up when I read this on Karen's blog so I had to steal her idea.

10 days before Christmas and here's where I'm at:

Christmas cards written = 0
Cookies baked = 0
Cards addressed = 0
Presents wrapped = 0
Halls decked = 1
Christmas gifts knitted = 3/5 (and I'm not doing anything ambitious)
Christmas shopping = 80% completed

And the one that scares me the most, so much so that I'm blogging instead of doing something about it:
House ready for guests = 10%

Last night I watched "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV while working on my knitting projects. This is my favorite part: We've learned that George has discovered, in a world where he never existed, his the pharmacist is an alcoholic bum, his Uncle is in the insane asylum, his mother is bitter and alone, her brother is dead but what what horrible, unspeakable fate has fallen on his wife Mary?

George: Where's Mary?
Clarence: Oh well...I can't...
George: I don't know how you know these things but tell me, where is she? If you know where she is, tell me, tell me where my wife is...
Clarence: I'm not supposed to tell!
George: Please Clarence, tell me where she is!
Clarence: You're not going to like it George...
George: Where is she?
Clarence: She's an OLD MAID. She never married.

So there you have it. I've suffered a fate equal to landing in an insane asylum or being homeless.

But, at the end of the movie, Clarence leave a note for George that says "Remember no (wo)man is a failure who has friends."

It this regard, I have indeed, a Wonderful Life.

This morning I went with muggle friend, newly Juris Doctored, KG to deliver the Adopt-a-Family gifts to a single Mother with 4 kids. It was so heartwarming and a joy to see her big smile as we piled her front entry way with gifts and food. As we drove off we were both beaming with huge smiles. Suddenly, my messy house, and impossible "to do" list are no longer a big deal.

Gansta Kitties Stage Annual Attack on Holy Family

2007-12-05T00:00:00.000-08:00

Santa Not Amused

Uh-oh

###

WIP posts become pretty sparse this time of year because:

a) major slowdown in productivity
b) WIPs are also secret projects

My sole offering this week is the first of three golf club covers for my Dad.
The pattern is the Spiral Golf Club Covers by Sarah Peasley, Handknitter
I'm using Cascade 220 in Navy, 8393
and Tumeric, 2823

These are going to be some warm golf clubs.

Zombie Kitties Invade Cpurl's Home

2007-12-03T13:50:00.000-08:00

Actually they were supervising the Christmas decorating that was going on at the house and preparing for the:

2007 Gangsta Kitty Ornament Count: 3

###

I've been remiss with the Yarn Pr0n posts of late so here is a make up post:

Koigu Kersti
100% Merino Wool
Colorway: ummm need to check the ballband!

I've already knit this into a secret knitting project. It's a gift so I can't show the FO but knittyheads will know it when I say it rhymes with "chucks".

It’s time to play the Cpurl Black Friday Game!!

2007-11-23T22:28:00.000-08:00

Feeling Lucky? Killer Shopping Instincts Sharpened? Then Let's Play!

Start at Square One: "Adopt a Family" for Christmas
Scour 5 pounds of "Day After Thanksgiving" Ads – move ahead 3 spaces
Wake up at 3:30 AM and arrive at Mervyn’s on time – Extra Spin!
Get $10 gift card for being one of 250 to enter the store–Skip ahead one space
Bonus Round! Girl leaving store gives you her extra $10 card!
Run around scoring Door Buster bargains– Move ahead 7 spaces
Get ready leave store and realize in a panic that Blackberry is missing lost? stolen? – move back 10 spaces to Penalty Box
Wake up Dad from deep sleep to borrow cell phone and spend the next hour searching for cell phone but to no avail – move back 5 spaces
Check Customer Service 2 times but no phone - move back 2 spaces
Drive home and contact company IT dept to disconnect email link and call AT&T to suspend phone number – Get out of jail, Move 1 space ahead
Miss 40% off first hour only sale at LYS but arrive in time for 20% hour –Move 4 steps back but move 2 steps ahead
LYS Owner feels bad over missing Blackberry and gives you 30% off – move 1 space ahead
Go to Target for more bargains – 3 steps ahead
Go to Costco – score front row parking space – Move 2 spaces ahead
Go to Walmart – buy more stuff and some food for Food Pantry – Move 4 spaces ahead
Go to OSH and get deal on Father’s Christmas gift – Move 3 spaces ahead
Go home take nap – Rest in corner square
Go to Parent’s for Leftovers – Move 1 space ahead
Go back to Mervyn’s to have forgotten sensor removed from a gift – Move back 1 space
Go home, discover Sock Swap package from ZKnitter, go straight to Winner's Circle—YOU WIN!!!!

I think Christmas came early!! Ok, we're both a tad late with the Sock Swap but it was definitely worth the wait!! Look!

The cutest Momma Monkey Sock Bag ever! It puuurfectly matches my lexie barnes bag! Peppermint Bark! An adorable CarrieKnits handmade card and squeeeeeeeeeee, Embossed Leaves socks!!

(Ignore the black and white blur on the right--I couldn't keep the kittehs out of the photo)

Inside the sock bag there was a skein of adorable Yarn Pirate sock yarn in the "Pretty Pirate" colorway that match the Monkey bag and some cute "C" notecards!!

And, oh my, the most gorgeous socks - Embossed Leaves perfectly and I mean PERFECTLY knit in Wollmeise Sockenwolle, Wilder Mohn ("Wild Poppy") colorway.

They fit like a dream! Look at the workswomanship!

Thank you Zknitter!! You're the Bestest!!

WIP Wednesday & BlogstalkingV2 All-In-One

2007-11-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Won't bore you this week with my slo-poke progress WIPs but I'm thankful that I have an FO. The Seamless Chunky Raglan is done! It still needs to be blocked out a bit.

Yes, I attended the Bezzie school of evening photography.

This week's BlogstalkingV2 Assignment is "Thanksgiving" and/or, the more globally applicable, "What Are You Thankful For"?

Well, the Gangsta kitties are out carousing and my sister won't be here for Thanksgiving so I'm borrowing her Kittehs to show you that I'm so very grateful that I can

Gather with friends & family :

Enjoy a wonderful feast:

Aww jeez, what's with this vegetarian stuff? I want turkey!

Hang out with those I love:

Don't bother me. Can't you see the Game's on??!?

And enjoy a nice Thanksgiving coma nap :

I'm grateful for my family, my dear friends and supportive colleagues. I'm grateful I'm employed and have a warm home. I'm grateful that I'm healthy and can afford to put food on my table and still have a little left over for luxuries like yarn. I'm grateful for my wonderful knitty friends and the joy that knitting brings me. To you and yours, a very Happy Thanksgiving!

WIP Wednesday

2007-11-14T00:00:00.000-08:00

Boy, the fun & hi jinx never stop chez cpurl:

First I knit a Calorimetry out of some Filatura di Crosa 127 Print I bought on sale:

Then I put it on my cat:

Who was not amused.

"Get this thing off of me or I'll pee on your bed"

I finally re attached the sleeves on the Bulky Sweater and am beginning the raglan decreases. I also managed to attach a cat to the bottom. Cats on a sweater are quite the rage this year.

"Does this sweater make me look fat?"

Last week at KTPT, all the Karabella yarns & patterns went on clearance sale at 40% off so I caved and bought some soft, fluffy Karabella Boise (50% super fine merino, 50% cashmere). I'm knitting the Boise Lace Wrap shawl as a gift for my Mother:

Did you know that Zknitter's needle cases are comfy enough for a kitty's sweet head?

"Maybe someday I'll have mad sewing skillz like Zknitter"

Weekend Wrap Up

2007-11-11T19:45:00.000-08:00

BlogstalkingV2.Assignment9: Junk Drawer

If future archaeologists peer inside this drawer they will see the THREE lint rollers in there and deduce that I'm a crazy cat lady. The pizza coupon I keep using over and over for pizza deliveries will show them that I'm cheap AND lazy. The Soak is a clue that I'm a knitter. I'm not sure what the remote that operates an electronic device I no longer own would tell them. Or the two types of fishing line (I don't fish) .

The Cat Nip Doesn't Fall Far From the Tree:

When Mika enters the room, she's like the kitty Tasmanian devil. The other day she knocked over my stitch marker collection. There are markers by Turtlegirl, Entrelac, Zero and Dulcedosa in the mix:

The links above are to their Etsy shops so it will be easy for y'all over to go and get you some.

Le Droop:

The other night I cast on for Le Slouch but mine doesn't slouch so much.

Malabrigo worsted weight in Stonechat
Cast on 11/8/07
Cast off 11/10/07
But it is comfy and soft and warm.

It slouches just fine on me!!

WIP Wednesday

2007-11-05T14:24:00.000-08:00

Look! An FO! My sock swap socks for Zknitter are DONE!!!

Mika jumped on top to hide it until Z gets to see them

I finished the body on my Bulky Cardigan and need to re-finish the sleeves (Seems I got overzealous whilst ripping back and went too far. Twice.)

I think it makes an excellent kitty bed

And my pink legwarmers are .08% complete:

At this rate, they'll be done in time for summer.

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Here's my BlogstalkingV.2Assignment.8 answer to the question "What do you have for Breakfast?"

Answer: Coffee. Sometimes, if I really plan really well, I have a breakfast bar. Unless I can score a doughnut or bagel from one of the other departments.

BSv2. Assignment 7

2007-11-04T22:19:00.000-08:00

This week's assignment is "Oldest Photo of You." I don't have the oldest photo of me but this is the oldest photo of me in my house. (Sorry these are photos of photos but my scanner doesn't want to play nice).

8 months old and surrounded by rather large round eyed toys

Not to be left out, here is Cary at about 10 months old. He was adopted by me from a local animal shelter after being rescued from death row from a pound out in the central valley. He was very shy and hid under the bed for several days before he'd come out and sit with me. The shelter thought he'd be better off as an only kitty.

And here is Mika about about 5 months old. She was adopted from an even more local Animal rescue and was the last cat in her litter to be picked.

Now they sleep on my down comforter, eat off porcelain dishes and steal cash out of my purse.

This has nothing to do with old photos, but a few weeks ago I was out with Muggle friends K & J and, I swear this is true, a happy face appeared in our pizza:

Shake, Rattle and...WIP

2007-10-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Not even a 5.6 earthquake* can keep me from reporting on my knitting which, sad to say, isn't much:

1)The sweater has been lengthened by 3 inches. Now I have to fix the arms and re-attach.

2) The mystery sock for Z (in the bag) is a sock. Only need one more...

3) And the pink ball is the beginning of a pair of legwarmers by request for mi madre.

Just in time for Halloween, check out my new Halloween (or Día de los Muertos) Momma Monkey bag:

Happy Halloween!!

*everyone's okay. The (non-earthquake warning) gangsta kitties bolted up from their sleep and ran around like crazy. From the news reports it doesn't seem like there were any injuries or much damage.

BSv2. Assignment 6

2007-10-25T10:14:00.000-07:00

*beep*beep*beep*beep*

Tumble outta bed...

And stumble to the kitchen...

Pour myself a cup of ambition....

Yawnin, stretchin, try to come to life

Jump in the shower (trust me, you don't want a photo of THAT)

And the blood starts pumpin

Out on the streets

The traffic starts jumpin

And folks like me on the job from 5 to 9....

I Love Yarnit!!

2007-10-24T21:36:00.000-07:00

Why?

Because she was my super fabulous Halloweenie!!

Inside my box were wonderful treats....

Gel skeleton decorations, candy, a cute Black Cat towel, candy, Spooky soaps, candy, Stash Chai tea (stash, get it? hee hee), candy, and...

A fat, squishy hank of Interlacement Toasty Toes! A gogeous colorway called "Fireplace"

Beautiful fall colors! And, being a Californian, the only fire I want in my place is this lovely yarn!

Thank you Sheryl!! I love my goodies!!

Oh, the answer to Snoopy's riddle?

A Poultry-Geist!

BS.v2 Week 5

2007-10-22T22:49:00.000-07:00

Assignment: Statues

This is a statue of Quetzacoatl (the plumed serpent) located in downtown San Jose, CA. Unfortunately, many Locals do not think it resembles a winged serpent but do think it looks like a very expensive pile of something else:

Meanwhile, chez cpurl:

On Sunday night I was at this stage with my Chunky Raglan:

On Monday night I was here:

I'm annoyed because the sweater pattern does not have a clear photograph of what the end product should look like (the model is shown sitting down and leaning slightly forward) and also does not have a schematic of the sweater. If I was a more experienced knitter I would have realized that the sweater is a short one and made the adjustments before I attached the sleeves, did the raglan decreases and added the neck. Add this experience to the "lessons learned" file.

YPF

2007-10-19T00:00:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Purlesence had their one year anniversary sale and I left with this big skein 'o yarn:

Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool
100% Worsted Wool
1450 yards

$66 on sale at FORTY % off!
That's a sweater's worth of hand dyed yarn for $39.60!

I'm thinking of making the Mr. Greenjeans sweater that I've been admiring over at Jo's blog.

In case you're wondering why a girl in the 'burbs has a couple of rusted milk cans in her back yard, they were given to me by an old colleague of my Dad's. I don't know what to do with them but I like them so they just sit out back and rust. And serve as yarn pedestals.

WIP Wednesday

2007-10-17T00:01:00.000-07:00

Cpurl's Mom (while waiting for a table at a Japanese restaurant): What are you working on?
Cpurl: It's a sleeve--see? (cpurl puts it on her wrist)
Cpurl's Mom: "Won't that make you look bulky?"
The truth hurts.

So I've got 1 body, 1 sleeve and 1 cuff on my Bulky cardigan:

A couple of weeks ago I had a scare with Cary (blood in the litter box) so we went off to the Emergency Room. Cats, like kids, get sick on weekends when their regular doctor's office is closed. His Vet's office is feline only so he's not used to dogs and, to make matters worse we had to wait for almost an hour. When we finally got shown to a exam room he tried to hide in the corner:

Is that the saddest thing you've ever seen?

But he's okay! And I'm a few hundred $$ poorer..

"And I'm worth every penny."

YPF: Fall Harvest

2007-10-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

I need more sock yarn like I need a hole in my head but I saw this at my LYS and had to buy it because it looks so much like Fall.

The Handpainted Sheep "Foot Prints"
Superwash Merino
Colorway: Spiced Apple
Weight: 100g
Approx: 300 yards

October gave a party;
The leaves by hundreds came-
The Chestnuts, Oaks, and Maples,
And leaves of every name.
The Sunshine spread a carpet,
And everything was grand,
Miss Weather led the dancing,
Professor Wind the band.

The Chestnuts came in yellow,
The Oaks in crimson dressed;
The lovely Misses Maple
In scarlet looked their best;
All balanced to their partners,
And gaily fluttered by;
The sight was like a rainbow
New fallen from the sky.

Then, in the rustic hollow,
At hide-and-seek they played,
The party closed at sundown,
And everybody stayed.
Professor Wind played louder;
They flew along the ground;
And then the party ended
In jolly "hands around."

October's Party by
George Cooper

BS2: Love and Don't Love

2007-10-11T09:00:00.000-07:00

BS2 post for the week. This week's assignment: 3 things you love and 3 things you hate. Hate is such a strong word so here are 3 things I really dislike:

1.Don't love doing chores (who does?). Two that I really loathe:

i.Pumping gas:

ii.Unloading the dishwasher:

2. The scale.

Girlfriend, lay off the Taco Bell...

3. Ok, here's something I do hate. I hate seeing litter alongside the road. This was a bag of broken beer bottles tossed out a window on the freeway on-ramp. Wrong in so many ways. It's ugly, it's dangerous (who wants a flat tire?) and it means someone was drinking & driving.

As for loves, family & friends, knitting & yarn were too easy so here are three random choices (i.e. they were there when I had my camera):

1. Love: my town's downtown--it's has a cute, old fashioned home towny vibe and also has this little gem, a drive thru convenience store:

You can drive in and pick up a gallon of milk, eggs, bread and
a little sweet treat:

2. Theater. I love going to the theater. I wish I could afford to fly to NYC or London whenever I wanted to see a show. But I'll settle for seeing theater in my favorite city, San Francisco (another Love).

3. Loves me some sleeping Kittehs! (yes, I know this was an obvious choice but half my camera contains kitty photos)

WIP Wednesday

2007-10-09T21:06:00.000-07:00

Not much to see here folks. I started my Seamless Raglan over the weekend.

You know how they say to be sure to check your gauge? They also tell you to change your air filter, check your tire pressure and never leave the house with raggedy underwear but I don't always follow that advice either.

Well, I really did to a gauge swatch on the called for 10.5 needles (Addi's) and was off so I switched to size 11s (Addi's) and did another gauge swatch and it was "close enough" so I went for it. Except, after 6 inches I thought, "this thing is so big it would make MY butt look small..." so I ripped and started over on size 10.5 Knitpicks Options.

I had spit spliced two hanks together so I ended up with a giant ball 'o yarn.

This is the bottom of the sweater- 5 inches in "broken rib"

Lately I've been a monogamous knitter so I don't have anything else to show.

But guess where I went today?It has something to do with this:
Yup! I've been rooted!

Edited to add: Last night, I noticed the colors started to pool once I moved to the stockinette part so I frogged AGAIN but before I did, I tried it on and it was still big so frogged AGAIN!! This time I'll make the Medium size. If it's too small, my sister gets a new sweater....

Saturday FO!

2007-10-06T17:25:00.000-07:00

The Everyday Cardigan is finished!

I tried to get a ~~great~~, ~~decent~~,just ok modeling shot, but my hair's a mess and, after a million laughable shots with the camera timer, I was starting to sweat so I grabbed a kitty and made do.

And I think that's what the Everyday Cardigan is: a read the newspaper, sip a cup of coffee, snuggle the kitty kind a sweater.

I also finished up a pink hat for Alex and will ship them off to Trillian42 this week:

Baby FO and a WIP for Wednesday

2007-10-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

Here's one you've never seen before, hahaha:

Pattern: Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono from Mason-Dixon
Yarn: Trendsetter Yarns Scoubi Du 50% cotton 50% acrylic 50gr. 2.25 balls
Needles: Knitpicks Options, size 6
Started: 28-September
Finished: 1-October

I put little buttons instead of the ribbon ties and lucked out by finding some buttons at JoAnns with the same colors as the yarn:

The Everyday Cardigan is almost done--I put on the button bands and just need to finish the neck--maybe this weekend I'll have a grown up sized FO!

How Do You Get From Here to There?

2007-10-01T10:39:00.000-07:00

This week's Blogstalking 2 assignment asks the question, "How do you get from here to there?"
The answer is... it depends on where I'm going!

But no matter where I'm going, I need a cuppa this to start out my day:

Peet's Sumatra, emergency sock yarn and my keys

And since I'm a Californian, you know that I usually get there in a car. Along with many, many other cars:

Apparently, with many many SILVER cars...

And I'm lucky that my car came with a GPS-Comes in handy when searching out the area's Local Yarn Shops, or a Taco Bell:

"Rivers know this: there is no hurry. We shall get there some day". --Winnie the Pooh

Baby YPF

2007-09-28T16:53:00.000-07:00

Just a wee bit of yarn to show today. Believe it or not, I've been sticking to my yarn diet so I don't have much to show these days but...I'm going to my third baby shower this year for a co-worker and last night at Knit Night I bought 3 balls of this:

Ugh, crappy lighting. It's overcast in my 'hood today.

Trendsetter Yarns
Scoubi Du
50% cotton 50% acrylic
50gr. 95 yards

I know I said I bought 3 and there are only 2 in the photo but the 3rd ball's already cast on for the baby kimono from Mason Dixon.

This is a totally last minute baby gift rush job--I didn't really intend to knit something but then, after you've knit for the first 2 babies you kinda become known as "the Knitter" so I think it's now expected and I didn't want the 3rd mother to think that I didn't care (even though we don't work that closely together) and I don't even know if she'd appreciate or even want a handknitted gift but.......Oh the pressure...

WIP Wednesday

2007-09-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

First off, to answer a question from question on my last post, my purse weighs 3.76 pounds (without the bottled water). According to Bodybuilding.com, the average woman's purse weighs 10 pounds (can that be true??)

Meanwhile, back at the ranch--I've blocked a sweater!

Yup, the Everyday Cardigan is on the blocking board. Lucky for me it's going to be in the 90's tomorrow so it should be dry in no time. Then I can seam it together and add the button bands and neck band and have it ready for when it cools down to the high 70's.

Also working on two Hats for Alex:

The one on the left is made from some Lion Brand microspun. I have 6 extra skeins of this yarn so if you'd like to knit some hats for Alex, email me, PM me on Knitty or Ravelry and I'll send you a skein on me. I think you can get 2 caps per skein so that would mean 12 more hats for a very good cause.

I'm also working on some secret socks for my Sock Swap buddy, Zknitter. I've hidden them in a in a just- received- in-the- mail Momma Monkey bag. (I'm addicted to these bags)

In non-WIP news, I received this adorable yarn ball the other day from Bezzie's uber hot Random Meanderthings etsy shop sent by my friend Muggle Friend K. That' s right. Her shop is sooooo hot that even non knitters take note.

And I just had to order MORE...

So for you Bezzie, a Brooklyn Tweed knock off shot:

Wait...what's the charm on the end? Toss the fake family photo that came inside and swap, the Patron Saint of Random Meanderings herself:

And I have the ultimate rear view mirror charm. With her to protect me, I'll avoid A-hole drivers everywhere, find every great garage sale in a 50 mile radius and always score a prime parking spot outside the LYS.

Spill Your (Purse) Guts

2007-09-22T12:42:00.000-07:00

This week's Blogstalking 2 assignment: Show us your purse guts.

I have a decent collection of purses in my closet but I'm too lazy to switch purses from day to day so I normally carry a big black one. I picked it up and dumped it on the table and found:

1 wallet (which can grow to George Costanza size if left unchecked)
empty sunglasses case
pair of sunglasses (not in case)
checkbook (I rarely write checks so I'm not sure why it's here)
matching tissue pouch (looking a little grungy these days)
Excedrin & Advil (in the best little Tupperware party freebie ever)
open bottle of water
camera memory card
Cinnamon flavored mints
green mesh zip bag with band aids, hand sanitizer, nail file and hand cream
silver mesh zip bag with 2 lipsticks and face powder (note: 1 lipstick is empty and was my favorite color which has been discontinued. Have no idea why I'm holding on other than I'm in denial)
employee badge (normally on the front seat of my car)
business card holder with business cards inside
2 gift certificates I've been carrying around since December 2006: One $20 Westfield mall certificates and a Starbucks card with unknown amount
nail shop appt. card reminder for an appt. 2 weeks ago, crumpled
6 pens (I'm a pen klepto-I covet Dr. office pens that say things like "Xanax")
Passport (In case I need to leave the country on a moment's notice)
Hello Kitty train pass holder with BART tickets inside
used tissue (euw!)
Jo-Ann's receipt
Blackberry device
Bluetooth headset device
instructions on how to use bluetooth device
rubber ear things for the bluetooth device that don't fit
2 hair bands
empty Imodium blister pack & some cookie crumbs
$1.72 in loose change

And of course, the most important thing of all:

Momma Monkey Sock bag, needles & yarn!

The only thing about knitting I regret is not learning it sooner. Having a knitting bag means never being bored in the [ airport, waiting room, movies, conference call] again.

"Oh geez, if this blog gets any more boring, I'm outta here. Why couldn't I have been adopted by Crazy Aunt Purl?"

Who Are You?

2007-09-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

I signed up for a webring called Blogstalking 2: The Reawakening and, frankly I'm relieved since my blog was about to be awarded the Your Blog Sucks Girl Blogger award.

For the none of you who may not know, each week we receive an "assignment" to post about on our blog. I'm already a week behind so I guess I can add "slacker" to the list below.

In order of appearance, I'm a:

Daughter
Sister
Friend
Alone, but not lonely
Theater goer
Slacker Book Club member
Volunteer (but not as often as I'd like)
Crazy Cat Lady
Knitter
TBD

Knitting Retreat 2007

2007-09-16T22:00:00.000-07:00

I spent a wonderful weekend with LCK and Blogless Friend B away at a Skein Lane Studio Knitting Retreat featuring a workshop taught by the lovely Chris Bylsma.

The retreat was held at the Marconi Conference Center located off Tomales Bay near Pt. Reyes. The weather was perfect--not too hot, not too cold.

Of course, on the way we made a detour to a yarn store:

Knitterly, in Petaluma. If I had a yarn store, I'd want it to look a lot like this store. I forgot to take photos inside but the shop is a fabulous mix of great yarn & vintage furnishings.

Above is a scary looking building you pass on the way to (very nicely remodeled)Buck Hall where the classes were held. Remember that old MTV show, "Fear"? I think this would be a perfect place for for an episode of that show. While waiting for my turn in the bathroom one night, I read the history of this place printed inside that room info binder thing you always find on the nightstand. After a history of wireless radio communication, in the late 70's this place was occupied by a rehab center turned religious cult called the Synanon. While they were known for amassing a large cache of weapons & requiring women to shave their heads, they also built these units:

Thankfully, have been remodeled into very nice & peaceful accommodations. The residence rooms are surrounded by a lovely natural garden which made a great backdrop for my yarn acquisition:

Two skeins of Bo-Rage Yarn from Black Valley Artisans. Local sheep -yearling curls died in locks, hand spun and & a matching one that was plyed with hand spun silk. Two skeins of 50/50 mohair/merino hand dyed in a light periwinkle color:

At the Saturday night "Show & Tell, the "Seasocks cruise Dork Earflap hats" made an appearance (And yes, wine was involved). At the show there were gorgeous examples of lace shawls, sweaters, cardigans, and socks but so many people came up and asked us where the pattern came from! (Knit Simple magazine, this month)

Look! It's Blogless Friend B. on the right! Can you believe each hat was made from 3 skeins of the same hand dyed yarn yet with such different results in coloring?

Here, LCK demonstrates her model walk while displaying her WIP, the Kerry Cardigan. Work it girlfriend!

In the class we learned how to make a 'plaid' fabric by constructing a teddy bear sized vest. Below is my first ever steek!

Here's LCK cutting hers. We didn't use a sewing machine to secure the steeks but learned a clever crochet technique (see the green yarn?).

My still unfinished vest modeled by Teddy:

After a delicious lunch in Pt. Reyes (where Prince Charles & Camilla visited in 2005), we returned home. In true Cpurl fashion, I returned home to a pool of cat vomit in the front entryway. I guess they wanted to welcome me home Gangsta Kitty style.

First Fall Harvest

2007-09-14T22:05:00.000-07:00

It's still a little warm out west but Fall comes nonetheless in the form so Sheep Shop 2 yarn:

Sheep Shop 2 Bulky Weight
Color G17

I know that bulky girls shouldn't buy bulky yarn but I couldn't resist. I plan to display my bulkiness by knitting the seamless raglan:

And because I'm super cool, I hopped over to Turtlegirl's etsy shop and scored a very clever row counter (they detach) and some cute ABC stitch markers. I can try the Cat Bordhi socks now.