KNITTING WITHOUT DOG HAIR IS NOT AN OPTION

These are actually several OMGs... SO - OH MY GOD!!!

OMG 1:

Yesterday I found a big box that the poor mailman dropped off for me - from Knitpicks. I got my book order:

Then I plopped down on the sofa and started browsing through the books - hubby was busy on eBay, so I had some time before we started watching a movie. The first book I browsed was Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Around. In addition to patterns and tips and tricks, it has a lot of stories. And I stumbled across this picture:

I looked at this mountain for over 20 years. My hometown is nestled at the foot of the Alpspitze. Can you believe it? Elizabeth Zimmermann vacationed there with her German husband in the 30's. WOW... I am still in awe.

OMG 2:

I got my MOO Cards order. Jane shared her new cool cards the other day and I had to get some, too. If you have a Flickr account, you can order your favorite pictures with personal information on the back. Here's my selection:

OMG 3:

Current stats on Ravelry:

You signed up on June 7, 2007
You are #7547 on the list.
102 people are ahead of you in line.
14410 people are behind you in line.
33% of the list has been invited so far.

Holy Cannoli - that means I could be on it within a few days. Gulp - I don't think I'm ready...

OMG 4 (actually several):

I got the newest VogueKnitting issue. First, the magazine is beat to shit. Pardon my French, but it looks like it was mangled really bad by the USPS - I am thinking about asking for a replacement. This is their 25th Anniversary "Collectible" issue. These are some of the patterns I like and I am thinking about putting them on my "TO KNIT" list:

Very cool coat!

Cool sweater with lots of twisted stitches and cables. Even the collar is kinda cool - but I would use different buttons.

Another cool jacket for the fall!

AND THEN - WTF - BIGGER IS BETTER:

That's truly not always the case... This isn't a sweater for Georgia - maybe the Georgia near Azerbaijan, but not the one in the US. Anyway, the issue has great interviews with a lot of knitting Super Stars. Which brings me to Barbara Walker again... She was also interviewed and she mentioned the Atlanta Knitting Guild and the workshop she taught us in June. Now, how cool is that? I read the article last night and in my head I could hear her voice when I read her answers and comments. I can just see Barbara roll her eyes to some of the questions she was asked. Too funny!

And then last but not least - I have a little mystery for you to solve. I have some mystery fiber at home. If you can guess what it is, I will share some of my Islandic roving with you, or if you are not a spinner, I will give you some of Claudia's Islandic handspun to play with.

WHAT ARE THESE?

I will choose a winner randomly from the correct answers for both pictures, if any. :-) Happy guessing!

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An Evening with the Yarn Harlot

September 19, 2007, 5:00 PM

Event Info:
Join us for the Yarn Harlot's first and only Atlanta appearance as Stephanie Pearl McPhee reads from her latest book, Stephanie Pearl McPhee Casts Off! This knit in and booksigning will be by reservation only. Reservations will be available beginning August 1st at 11AM here on Knitchknitting.com. Tickets are complimentary but are limited so sign up early!
This event will be held at the Hilan Theater, one half block from Knitch. Directions and details will be emailed to each reservation holder closer to the event. Please remember to bring your knitting! Yarn Harlot Books are available for purchase at Knitch and will be available the day/evening of the signing. Doors open at 5PM for Georgia's Largest Knit-In and refreshments. Come early, get settled and knit with other Yarn Harlot fans. We'll welcome The Yarn Harlot at 7PM. For out of town guests, limited hotel reservations can be made within walking distance from Knitch at the Gaslight Inn on St. Charles - 1 block from Knitch www.GaslightInn.com or the Highland Inn on Highland Avenue (no website available).

Sign up, too! Go to Knitch online!

Am I obsessed with checking every day? Yes, of course I am. And now I got my Ravelry invite - HAPPY DANCE!!!

I'll let you in on a little secret - I am going to take the company laptop home tonight. I figured, if I get approved this weekend, I can upload all the information and I don't have to bug hubby to use his PC. I know it's going to take grueling hours... And also, I want to show Doug tonight at our Friday night knitting group how to set up a blog. WE NEED MORE MALE BLOGGERS!!!

This brings me to - DRUM ROLL PLEASE - the first male knitting blogger who I know in person. Rob's blog is called My Dad Knits. Go visit and give him a warm welcoming comment. :-)

Last night at the Atlanta Knitting Guild meeting, we had a visit from what will be the world's biggest sock. I kid you not - it is going to be very big. Twelve people can knit on it at the same time. Debra from the AKG will be bringing it to several knit-ins. Be on the look-out - although I don't think you can overlook this knitting project. :-)))

It'll be fun to see how the sock makes its rounds in the Atlanta area.

And then I have some Friday eye candy for you. As always, I have been knitting away on several projects. The first Twisted Flowers sock is finished - another great Cookie A. pattern:

The dogs kept still for a few seconds and I was able to get a cute shot of our paws...

And here is some real eye candy for y'all:

This is Brett and the lace shawl he is knitting for me. Isn't it awesome???

Don't tell anyone but I started playing around on Ravelry already - this is seriously the DARK SIDE of knitting. I am at the office, I have tons of things to do... Every time somebody walks by, I pull up another window to cover the Ravelry window... I can see myself not getting away from the computer for weeks... Between wanting to blog and wanting to list everything - no time to knit??? I hope not... I seriously have to think about what to do. Thankfully, my boss is going to be out of the country next week... Oh god, this is really evil... I KNEW IT!!!

Anyway, it's Friday and I am a happy camper. Hubby and I will meet some friends and go to the High Museum tomorrow to check out the Annie Leibovitz exhibition. I love her photography. And lunch afterwards.

This is from Funny or Die. A coworker showed me this site and the Will Ferrell video. This is so-o-o-o funny. I laughed tears when I saw it the first time. The landlord is hilarious - I can just picture my niece doing such a show once she's talking:

With this I wish you a fun weekend!!!

Ravelry is soooooooooooooooooooooo cool! WOW!!! I had an idea of what it was about when some other bloggers talked about it. But this cool - I am totally awed that two people had the idea and are actually doing it. What a service to the knitting and crocheting community! I never dreamt that I would actually enjoy spending hours and hours on the internet.

It is very rewarding to have all past, current and future knitting project information at your finger tips - anywhere you go. Next time I'm in Germany, I'll show this to my mom - otherwise she won't believe that something like this can exist. Her stash is organized in cardboard boxes and her spreadsheet - of yarn and needles - is in her head. :-)

SOOOO - hubby and I went to the High Museum yesterday to see the Annie Leibovitz exhibit. It was great - we both really enjoyed it. Some of her personal photographs made me cry because they were very sad. We visited Brett at his new workplace, Roxx, for lunch. It's a great place and he is a great waiter - it was his first day and I hope we didn't give him too hard a time. ;-)

Later yesterday afternoon, I got on Ravelry to start my project list, etc. I didn't go to bed until 3:30am - WTF! Time flies when... . I entered 28 projects - 12 UFOs or, better, WIPs... I am hoping once I am up to date with all this, I won't spend the nights in front of the PC. :-)

So, this is what my little workspace looks like this morning - with coffee that hubby made.

And yes, I have a mug that Good Morning in German. Hubby gave me a set of two when I moved in with him in 2000.

OHHH - and I already got a gift this morning - Picowso from the Cow Parade:

Hubby is collecting each and every single cow for me. He has them stashed away all over the house. I keep telling him that he shouldn't give me so many gifts for every possible occasion. And this morning, I told him that if he had so many cows, he could give me one a week. That would take care of 52 cows right there. I was joking, more or less... Two minutes later he handed me the cow with a "Happy August 5th!" - he is such a sweetie!!!

Off to entering more projects at Ravelry while listening to 97.1 The River. Don't be jealous, you too will be approved soon! Ravelry approves around 1200 people each week. I know the wait is terrible, but it's worth it - trust me. A word of advice - take a few days off if you can time it. Then you can spend all the time you want on Ravely. ;-)

Jacquie and I - if I can tear myself away from you-know-what - will be at Knitch this afternoon for some Sunday knitting - see ya there!

I give you eye candy. Last Sunday at Knitch I bought some yarn...

These are six skeins of Tilli Tomas Sequin Silk - Disco-Lights (90% Spun Silk, 10% Petite Sequins). The color is called American Beauty. I am going to knit myself the Lace Dress (Lily M. Chin design) from the latest Vogue Knitting Magazine:

This is very exciting because I actually have somewhere to wear this beauty: My friend Jacquie's son is getting married on December 29 and hubby and I are invited. It is a Christmas wedding - the colors in the wedding will be red and gold. I will wear a black camisole and slacks underneath the dress - so it is more a very long lace sweater than a dress. You might think this is a pretty expensive sweater, but, hey, I won't have to buy a dress for the wedding. ;-) And I have never knitted a lace dress - this will be fun!

Here is my swatch from Sunday:

The gauge exactly matches the gauge in the pattern - fabulous. In the meantime, I cast on this morning on the bus to work. I got some real looks with this luxurious yarn in my hands. It is funny tho' because it smells a little bit like vinegar.

And you won't believe this: It is knitted in the round - but I have only 152 sts on my size 8 needles. More pictures soon!

Finally - I, too, got the Interweave "Honeypot" Issue:

Pardon my language (hubby and I struggled for quite a while yesterday to find a not-too-offensive word), but that cardigan on the cover totally looks like a you-know-what. A couple of weeks ago, we had a huge laugh about this design at my Sunday knitting group. Someone even suggested putting fun-fur trim along the edge. EEWWWW...

Why in the world would anyone want to wear such a weird design? I am all for non-mainstream designs, but this is too much...

But the issue also has a bunch of really nice patterns. Here are my favorites, which will go on my "To Knit" list. :-)

What are your favorites in this issue? When I see all the designs, I seriously start to wonder if I'll ever get close to knitting everything on my "To Knit" List.

And I called VogueKnitting today - they will send me another issue to replace my mangled Collector's Issue. YAY FOR THAT!!!

With this - happy Wednesday. This week is almost over...

... if you are like me, and you're knitting the Lily Chin Lace Dress from the latest Vogue Knitting. If not, keep on galloping. ;-)

The pattern has a huge freakin' mistake. Yup - I kid you not. I realized something was off when I started the project this week. It's knitted in the round, back and front together all the way from the bottom to the armholes (on a freakin' dress!!!). Of course - before I realized something was wrong - I cast on, started knitting, and completed the first three pattern repeats. After that, you start with decreases to shape the dress. The decrease is called a "dart" decrease. So, I am looking at the pattern and I notice that there is only one dart on the front and one on the back. But they're not centered, they're off to the side, so there have to be left and right darts, right? Hmmmm... Hubby remarked that maybe the dress is for somebody with a hunchback. Well, it's gotta be for somebody with a hunchback and only one boob! SORRY - but I was really pissed off. Here I am, very excited about a knitting project (it seems I finally came out of my knitting funk) and with very expensive yarn (thankfully the fiber dogs don't need to go to college, so mommy can splurge on yarn...) which I don't want to rip.

In addition, I also discovered that chart 2, which is not printed in the magazine – VK tells you to go to their website for it – is missing on the webpage. OK – I guess you can tell I was pretty mad at that point.

WHAT TO DO??? Well, I went on VK's website to complain. And they tell you bluntly in an automated reply:

Thank you for your message. We try very hard to address all of your questions and concerns in a timely manner, and we ask for your patience and understanding when we don't get to them right away. Please allow 2-3 weeks for a response. Feel free to e-mail again if you have not heard back as we sometimes experience computer/internet problems. We do value your input!

I can see they're trying VERY hard. How about if you try a little harder to publish a magazine without errors in the first place? It's not like it's a free mag... But I know that VK is known for lots of mistakes in their magazine. Maybe they should change their name to "Vague Knitting"? (I wish I'd come up with this but it was one of the girls at Knitch.)

Anyway, surprisingly, not long after the automated message, I got a real email from VK with an apology and a promise that the chart would be on the website in a few hours. And even more surprisingly – it was. At that point I felt a little better. But that still didn't solve the dart decrease problem.

Since I didn’t want to wait 2-3 weeks to hear back from VK with corrections, I emailed Lily Chin directly. I thought, what the hell… She is coming to teach workshops at the Atlanta Knitting Guild in November, and since I am organizing that whole weekend for the AKG, I am already in email contact with her. I thought I’ll give it a try and bother her very politely. Well – get this – Lily emailed me back the same evening. YEAH – LILY YOU ROCK!!! Here is what she said in her reply to me:

No, there are two "darts" each front and back for 4 total. If the mag took my directions and messed them up, I didn't catch it (they NEVER send me the final edited version before going to print) so I'd ask Vogue about what they did to the instructions. I'm in Chicago for Stitches Midwest right now and can't help further anyways as everything is on my desktop computer. LC

Well, I emailed VK as well and - gee, what a surprise - haven’t heard from them. But while I was at VK’s website again, I saw this:

Look at the advertisement in the right sidebar. See Knitch? You guys rock, too. I can’t wait until they finish their upstairs renovations. Kim is putting in an industrial kitchen for dye workshops, a washer for felting workshops, a gigantic table for the knitting groups, a sofa & TV for knitting movies, a spinning and lace corner... SO AWESOME!!!

So, coming back to the lace dress disaster… If you know me, I can be VERY impatient – of course never while teaching somebody something – but when I need to get going with a project. This whole mess was keeping me from knitting with this delicious Tilli Tomas silk… So I sat down yesterday morning and re-charted the lace dress and it seems to work out with the number of stitches. Here is a view of the charts – before and after:

And here is how far I got:

Happily, once I got the corrections all sorted out, I found that I don't have to rip a single stitch. YAY!

I am off to enter more stash into Ravely and trying out the new chart for the lace dress. I’ll keep you posted. HAVE A GREAT (rest of) WEEKEND!!!

After all the mess with Lace Dress pattern, I still haven't heard from Vogue Knitting. (Oops, forgot, 2-3 weeks haven't gone by yet - DOH!) But I started knitting last night from my "work-around" chart and it works! WOO-HOO!!! Now I am a happy camper. Here is the current status, after I put it on two circular needles, for a better picture and for a fitting. And and it fits perfectly. THANK YOU LACE GODDESS - wherever you are.

And hubby is really sticking to his promise: A new cow every week. The herd is growing. Today's cow is called "Lotto Vaca". She is from the Mexico City Cow Parade in 2005. I tried to research about the cow and the artist but there's not much on the Internet - dangit...

Hubby and I are off to a BBQ this afternoon at the home of my friend Jacquie's daughter, Jessica. I am not sure if this is a good idea with the weather we've had this week. IT IS FREAKIN' HOT IN GEORGIA! We're bringing marinated salmon and a cucumber salad I made, so at least the food won't knock us out of our flip-flops. I told my Dad during our standard Sunday phone call today how incredibly hot it is here and he said that in Garmisch-Partenkirchen it is already too chilly to sunbathe at their favorite lake. Can we please trade a little???

Anyway, Jessica is also one of my knitting students. Her Mom brought her to a class sometime last year and she is now an avid knitter. She's currently working on a very cool cotton tank top. She's great student, and I always get a kick out of Jessica and Jacquie because they're extremely competitive. I am too, but compared with the two of them I am a kitten. ;-) There will be knitters this afternoon, but not many, so I'm pretty sure there won't be a lot of knitting. I will bring a project anyway - you never know. It is a teddy bear outfit that I have to finish for the September AKG community project. After that, I will have to knit something for a scarecrow. More about that later. I am off to the shower now - gotta at least smell nice when we get there...

Stay cool!

Besides knitting on the lace dress, I also finished entering my stash at Ravelry. Wait, I take that back. The main stash is entered... I still have a few boxes in the basement, and I didn't enter my Knitpicks Wool of the Andes stash I use for felting. This'll be a task for some other time.

These are my overall Ravelry stats:
40 projects
117 stash
5 queue
6 favorites
23 friends
74 books
3 blog posts

And more specifics on the projects:
21 finished
14 in progress
5 hibernating

That is pretty bad - 14 in progress. Geez... And among them are three big projects: Brett's birthday sweater, Jacquie's lace shawl and my lace dress. And five pairs of socks - sure sounds like a serious case of not-wanting-to-finish-anything, doesn't it? ;-)

But what is kinda cool - you can export your stash list in an Excel spreadsheet. So here are my totals:

117 entries
6,868 grams of yarn
69,119 yards of yarn
WOW.

I think it's pretty funny that you can get stats like this. Makes me want to take my yarn diet a bit further...

And here is an overall update from the Ravelry people for you:

A quick update for you guys - here is what is going on over in Ravelry-land.

Jess and I are working day and night to get the site up and open - don't think that we're just sitting here having coffee with the people who have been invited and making you guys wait! Ravelry has become an amazing community and a truly useful resource and we wish that we were ready for all of you today.

On another note - the BBQ was a lot of fun. The weather was surprisingly OK. It was overcast and only in the high 70s. Our salmon was really good - I'm glad we brought it because the bratwursts looked pretty scrumtious...

And, DRUM ROLL PLEASE!!! Four of my dear knitting friends came over to the dark side and are now also Georgia bloggers:

Ms. Abalama - Nancy (I know how to spell Alabama, but I always call Nancy Ms. Abalama), Brett, Doug & Famous Steve. Rock on knitters!!! Please visit their blogs and give them a warm welcome to "our" world. ;-)

Have a good week. More knit pix later. ;-) Since I don't have any new knitting pix, the fiber dogs wave their paws at you.

PS: It totally amazes me how much time I spend on the laptop computer I brought home from work. That is a scary thing... I usually spend almost no time at all online when I'm at home. I "blame" it all on Ravelry and that I "have" to enter so much data... And I've gotten almost nowhere on my books (Ravelry's not ready yet), and I haven't even started entering knitting needles yet...

...even when it's with time pressures or the pattern doesn't work out at first. In the end there is always love... OK - that's enough gooey gushiness for now. It's only because I saw this great pic on John's blog:

Go read the story on his blog about how he got the picture. Oh, and thanks, Famous Steve. I found his blog on your blog.

And now ... drum roll:

Hubby sent me this picture. He titled the email Spindle, by Dustin Shuler - too cool. And I thought - ooh, he's getting me a new toy - and then I opened the attachment. That would be fun to have, wouldn't it? Maybe for our front yard?

Back on topic, I don't have much knitting news. I started a sleeve for the lace dress, and it's coming along. I want to make sure that I really have enough of the Tilli Tomas yarn. I should have enough yardage according to my calculations, but better to be safe than sorry... The yarn is really wonderful and I enjoy knitting with it.

In addition, I'm working on a teddy bear outfit. The Atlanta Knitting Guild collects teddy bears with knitted outfits from its members, which the Georgia Center for Children gives to children who are in crisis situations. They have donated over 200 bears each year for the past 6 years. I think it's a wonderful project. I'll take teddy pictures this weekend. The teddy bear (it's a girl) will have a cute tube dress and a matching bolero and a bow - all from the ball of Noro.

I also have to get started on a pair of acrylic mittens. YES, I will knit with acrylic - I often do. :-) This is another AKG project. We're participating for the first time in the Atlanta Botanical Gardens' annual Scarecrows in the Garden. It runs throughout October.

I'm taking a day off and a break from knitting tomorrow. I will go play with acid dyes. Sandy and I are taking a class at Gale's Art Studio. I love to play with colors and get all grubby... I am totally excited. And even better - the travelling farm girl is back from her vacation and I'll be seeing her on Sunday. Woo-hoo!

Finally, I have to brag some more about my dear friend Brett - The Yarn Doctor. He posted his first blog entry today and he shows off the gorgeous lace shawl he is knitting for me. I still can't believe that I'll be getting this beautiful piece of art. And, of all yarns, he's using silk ... I can't wait!!!

SO, yes, all you knit is love... Thanks Brett! You are such a talented knitter and wonderful friend. And I'm glad we figured out how wide your sweater has to be, so I can finally get going on it. But I hate you for being so skinny...

Remember - a little while ago - I posted a contest to guess what kind of fiber was shown in these two photos:

These shots should make it more obvious:

And here are the answers: on the left is hubby's beard clippings from his last shave and on the right is hair brushed from the fiber dogs. There is no way I could spin hubby's "fiber" - too short and coarse. But I will definitely give the doggie fiber a spin... Maybe I'll blend it with some other roving that is marinating in my stash. (Yes, I also have a big roving stash - shut up...)

And there are two winners: Phyllis and Doug. Congratulations!!! I know I said I'd pick one, but I liked both answers and what the hell, it's my contest anyway... I offered roving or yarn, and since neither of them spin, they will each get 100 yards of my handspun Icelandic roving:

It's two-ply and has 9 wpis (wraps per inch), which is a worsted weight (needle size 7-9). It has only a light twist because a) it is my first whirl with the Icelandic roving and I was playing around, and b) I wanted the yarn to be a bit fluffy and not too coarse. ENJOY GUYS!!! I'll bring it to our next outing.

When I got home from the dye class last night, hubby was reading The New Yorker. He always shares the cartoons of each issue with me. I guess that tells you something about our intelligence levels - he reads each issue from cover to cover, I look at the cartoons. :-) Anyway, the first cartoon he showed me last night was this one:

I wonder what he and Hermione are trying to tell me...

I know you are "dyeing" to hear how the workshop was... so here is the report on Gale's dye class called Acid Dye without Tears. In a nutshell - IT WAS AWESOME!!!.

There were three students, Kim, Sandy and me. Perfect class size for this workshop, and the best and funnest classmates you could wish for. ;-)

We all showed up in old clothes, in case of spills, etc. I'm an idiot and didn't bring my camera, but Sandy took a bunch of pictures. Please share them soon! :-))))

Gale held the workshop in the dye studio at her house. Therefore, we were able to drool over her handpainted roving and handspun. She truly is an artist. Gale was very well prepared - she had great handouts for us, and before we started she sat us down with coffee and gave a little introduction on what we would be doing in the workshop.

And then we started playing. First she gave each of us an ice cube tray to mix different colors together. Anal as I am, I wrote all the mixtures down. We chose from the following Jacquard acid dyes: black, fuschia, turquoise, scarlet, bright yellow and bright blue. Gale gave us little strips of silk to dye in the ice tray compartments. Here is what I came up with:

Then we chose 4 of our 14 mixes, and reproduced them in bigger batches for dyeing the roving and yarn that Gale provided for the class. I chose the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th colors from the top row and the 1st from the bottom row.

Gale gave us Blue Face Leister to hand-paint. I used all four colors and turned it into a berry mix. Once we finished painting, we rolled the roving up in plastic wrap and baked it on a tray in the oven for about an hour at 200 degrees. Too funny, we were baking roving cakes... The cakes needed to cool off and spend the night in their wrap. This is what the roving looked like this morning after I rinsed it and put it through the spin cycle in the washer. Gale said it would be fine to do that (gasp...), and when the roving came out, it was almost dry. Awesome tip!!!

We also handpainted yarn. Gale gave us some Henry's Attic Licorice Twist. This yarn is 100% Merino Wool. It is designed for one of the plies to accept dye differently from the others, to create a cool effect. I only used two of the four colors and hand-painted on half of the skein with the blue and the other half with the fuschia. It'll be a multi-directional scarf, probably for Mom as birthday gift. Once we finished painting the yarn, it went into a steamer for 20 minutes. We didn't steam the roving because it might felt if we weren't extremely careful. But steaming yarn is not problem and it goes faster, too.

And since Gale had told me that we could bring more yarn or roving from our stash and paint it (if we had enough time), I brought three skeins of Knitpicks Bare to play with. And - woo-hoo - we had enough time and I painted them all...

This is Knitpicks Bare - Superwash Merino / Nylon Fingering Weight:

And this is Knitpicks Bare - Peruvian Highland Wool Bulky Weight. I painted two skeins to match for a little felted bag. We'll see how it turns out, once it is knitted and felted:

And we went home with six bottles of ready-prepared dye:

TOTALLY COOL!!! My only problem... I have no more undyed yarn left. But the dyes won't go bad. And I still have all that Cotswald fleece I want to spin from the grease.

No plans for today except hang out with hubby and the poochies. Hopefully I will get some leftovers... And tomorrow I'll be at Knitch hanging out with the knitting friends - oh, and a little yarn crawl and lunch before hand. :-0

Hubby tried to take pictures of Hermione yesterday and he started playing around with the camera. Hermione hates to be photographed, that little bitch, so to speak... But he got two shots which are worth sharing. This is the loving Hermione...

I just wanted to grab her, cuddle her and plant kisses all over her face. But this is her evil twin, "Moni"...

Her face looks like she is thinking "Mommy - I am going to mess up all your yarn and roving the next time you leave the house, MWWWAAAAAHHHHH"... I'm off to lock up my crafts room now... (In fairness to Hermione, this photo is really of her at the end of a yawn.)

Stay cool - it is still super-hot in good ole Georgia... BLEH...

PS: Be patient with JenLa's blog. They asked me to let you know they're in the process of changing hosts, so their blog is all wacky. It should soon be back to normal for us JenLa fans to enjoy!

I designed this little Kozy Koozie because I could no longer stand grabbing sweaty bottles and cans. I live in Georgia, and got tired of having wet hands. Since I always have tons of leftover cotton yarn, I figured this little koozie could put it to good use. And here is the pattern for you:

Yarn: Leftover cotton sport weight (I’d guess about 50 yards, but don’t hold me to that)
Needles: US size 3 (3.25mm)

Techniques & Abbreviations:
C4: Slip the next 2 stitches onto a cable needle, hold these stitches to the front, knit next 2 stitches on left needle, then knit the 2 stitches from the cable needle.
K: Knit.
P: Purl.
P2tog: Purl 2 stitches together.
K2tog: Knit 2 stitches together.
Sl 2, k1, p2sso: Insert needle into the next 2 stitches on the left needle as if to k2tog, and slip them to right needle, knit the next stitch, then pass the 2 slipped stitches over the knit stitch.

Directions:
Cast on 42 stitches. Divide the stitches evenly on 3 or 4 dpns. Join into the round, being careful not to twist the stitches.

Row 1 & 2: *K4, p2*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 3: *C4, p2*; repeat from * to* until the end of the row.
Row 4 – 7: *K4, p2*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 8: *C4, p2*; repeat from * to* until the end of the row.

Repeat row 4-8 four more times. In total you will have cabled six times.

Row 29: *K4, p2tog*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 30: *K4, p1*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 31: *K1, k2tog, k1, p1*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 32: *Sl 2, k1, p2sso, p1*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 33: *K2tog*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.
Row 34: *K2tog*; repeat from* to * until the end of the row.

Cut the yarn and thread the tail through a darning needle. Weave the tail through the remaining stitches, pull them tight together. Weave the tail into the inside of the koozie. Weave the cast on tail in and voila!

Slip the koozie on your next cold bottle or can, and you need never have wet hands again. I roll the koozie down a bit for cans. Or you can knit a second, shorter, one for cans (knitting fewer cable repeats).

If you have any questions, leave a comment on my blog. You can also download the PDF file here.

I snuck out of the bedroom this morning at 5:15am. Yeah, I know this is way too early to get up, but that's when I usually get up and my body somehow does not distinguish between week days and the weekend.... Anyway, my very clever and sweet husband anticipated that this would happen, and also where I would sneak: to the laptop to play around on the Internet, with Ravelry, my blog, emails, etc., etc., etc.

And here is what I found on the laptop:

Of course I had to open the box, and out came Ala-moo Town:

She was part of the 2002 San Antonio, Texas, herd. The original cow was placed on Dolorosa Street (in front of the Court House) in San Antonio, and the artist is Bro. Cletus Behlmann, S.M. This time I could find some more about the artist on the Internet:

Bro. Cletus Behlmann, a Marianist artist, arrived in San Anonio in 1977 and opened the St. Mary's University Art Center. Over the years patrons have come to recognize the distinctive "Cletus Style". Creativity and imagination abound in his works. There is hardly a color on the palette that he does not use. Vibrant colors race across the canvas. Cletus is shockingly productive and works in a variety of media: acrylics, watercolor, stained glass, pastels, handmade paper, collages, linoleum prints, ceramics, crayolas, and others. The themes range from religious to folk art to abstract with an overall feeling of a celebration of life. Cletus has traveled and painted in much of the United States, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Taipei, Bangkok, Mexico, Central America and most of the contries of Europe.

And from Cow Parade San Antonio:

The original cow was one of the forty or more 'udderly' unique works of art sold at a Live Auction conducted by Christie's on May 21, 2003 at the Adam's Mark Hotel benefitting The American Cancer Society.

YAY FOR THAT! See, these cows are a good thing.

Sorry to bore you with the cow stuff but it's what I collect besides fiber-related things... Yup, there is another thing besides the fiber world.

But, coming back to knitting, I finally sat down and figured out how I can upload patterns as PDF files to my blog. So, I was a busy girl this weekend and here are two more patterns for you, besides the Kozy Koozie from last night:

The Lace Scarf and

The Martini Glass Dishcloth.

Let me know if you have any questions. If you knit one of my patterns, please leave me feedback. I am always so thankful for your comments - it helps me improve! It's really hard for me to write down the patterns that swirl around in my head, and which are totally clear to me but to nobody else. So, let me know what you think! Oh, and I added them all under FREE PATTERNS in the right sidebar - for easy finding. :-)

So much damage in so little time... 20 minutes at Why Knot Knit to pick out yarn, and standing in line for quite a while (probably just as long) to pay for it. Here is what I got:

Enough Silky Wool to make three garments. I just couldn't say no - it was 50% off, so each skein was only $3.50. Can't beat that - and I love Silky Wool. Now I have four different colors marinating in my stash.

The sock yarn is called Araucanía Ranco, and it was still warm when I grabbed it - fresh out of a box and therefore not on sale. But $14 for the hank with enough yardage for a pair socks is a good deal to me. I love its subtle variegations of purple.

I also did some damage of another kind... I knitted for two hours on Saturday with four strands of acrylic on needle size US 17... and my right arm hurt on Sunday. I guess picking at so much Red Heart can make you hurt. But I am almost finished with my part for the AKG scarecrow - mittens and a patch for the sweater:

I only need to sew the pieces for the mittens together and voila - the scarecow has hands. I will use a brown whip stitch around the edge to sew the two pieces and the thumb part together. And then I wanted to embellish the mittens. Any suggestions?

And I've made progress on Brett's sweater. I am past 9 inches for the back and the front. I'm knitting it in the round. It's a wonderful social knitting project - so mindless. K10, p10, for forever...

And, last but not least, some uber-cute eye candy:

Jacquie knitted a ruched baby blanket and a hat to give to a coworker, and I offered to complete the set with booties. A 2-hour-project - really! My mom showed me this pattern a long time ago. We both knit the same booties all the time and there are no written instructions. I guess I should fix that. Anybody interested?

It is way past my bedtime - off to snore now.

Your wish is my command.

Here is the pattern for the Baby Schuhe. I plan to write a version for Magic Loop lovers - I know not everybody likes double-pointed needles - but first I need to figure out how to move the stitches around on the Magic Loop. I also want to take pictures while I'm knitting the bootie, for improved clarity. I'm a visual person, and really appreciate patterns that illustrate new techniques with lots of pictures.

So, you'll have to wait for these instructions a little longer. Maybe I'll be done after the Labor Day weekend.

With this I am almost off into the weekend: two knit nights at Knitch, the Peachtree Handspinners Guild meeting on Saturday, and then Sunday afternoon knitting at Knitch. Sounds like a good plan to me. :-)

Ciao, ciao...

Last night at Knitch, Kim gave me some fiber to test-spin - three bags of alpaca and suri fleece. Totally exciting. When I got home, I let Hermione check out the fiber. She was only slightly interested. Maybe because her breed herds sheep???

She is one of the best-mannered dogs I've ever met. Eventually, she stuck her muzzle in the bag, but very, very gently:

I carded about 2 oz. of the fiber last night. (I remembered to weigh it - I'm getting better at this. Instead of running off with the fiber to the spinning wheel, I am actually doing some planning this time.) The fiber is not washed or anything, but it was very clean when I carded it - just some dust and bits of grass.

Before carding:

After carding:

Yes, it's as soft as it looks. :-)))) Poor hubby had a terrible asthma attack because fiber was flying everywhere. (Note to self: Card the rest outside.) But I wanted a baggie of carded fiber to take to Knitch tonight. I brought my wheel and, if there's room, I am going to try and spin it there. The Friday group is usually pretty big, tho', and I don't want to hog too much space with the wheel. We'll see.

I need to ask Kim for details about the fleece. I think it's alpaca and suri. Here is what the baggie says: PPR Top Billing; MGF Poppi + WLK Bravo; First cut Spring 2006. Any ideas? Your guess is as good as mine.

(Shhhh - don't tell anyone outside of blogland...) The boss is in Europe and we (in his Atlanta office) are de-compressing. Therefore, I have a little time to Google around, and I found this quiz:

Your results:
You are Spider-Man

Spider-Man 90% Superman 70% Robin 60% Supergirl 55% Green Lantern 55% Iron Man 50% The Flash 40% Wonder Woman 35% Catwoman 30% Batman 25% Hulk 20%

You are intelligent, witty, a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Click here to take the Superhero Personality Test

But I really needed an excuse to show you this cute cow picture that hubby sent me this morning to say hello. ;-)

I love the hubby!!!

It's Saturday morning, the house is quiet, and I am restless and sitting at the PC. Where else???

Last night at Knitch, I finally got a picture of Brett and the sweater I'm knitting for him. We had another fitting session, and I have to say I am very pleased. It looks good on him:

I just realized that he's standing in front of the shelf that the yarn I'm using for the sweater, Cascade Tweed, is on. You can see it to left of Brett's nose. :-)

I was a bit worried about the size of the sweater, because my first try was too wide, and I actually had to cast on 20 fewer stitches. Can you believe that I have only 200 stitches on my needles for the back and front together? No, Brett, I don't hate you for being beautiful, but you are too skinny. I guess this is when the mom in me comes out.

I have to whisper the following because otherwise Brett will kill me. He said that I'm not allowed to say this on my blog, but I really would like to find a date for him. He is such a good guy and totally deserves a nice relationship. Leave him a comment on his blog - you can even do that anonymously. :-)

OK, I didn't say that here and you haven't read it. I'm using the gadget from Men in Black to erase your memory. Remember? No? GOOD!!!

Anyway, I did a little spinning at Knitch last night. The alpaca is wonderful. Very soft.

But my little flick carders don't do a very good job. And it's a lot of work. Turning fleece into roving into yarn into a garment (or whatever else) is very gratifying. But I might have to either send the raw Cotswold fleece that's sitting in the basement off to a processing mill or invest in better tools. Something to put on the shopping list for SAFF. Then again, that would mean I would have to wash the fleece, and I am so-o-o-o-o not wanting to wash poopy fleece.

Coming back to knitting for friends... I have another big project in the works that I have not told you about:

It's the A Handsome Triangle from Victorian Lace Today. The yarn is Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2-ply, and the color is called Plum Crazy. I love the tiny subtle bits of variegations in the purple.

I'm knitting this shawl for my dear friend Jacquie. It'll be her Christmas gift, and she said she'll wear it to her son's wedding on December 29. Yup, the same wedding I'm going to wear the red lace dress to.

So, I have 3 biggies right now. Plus somebody asked me to knit a cardigan for SAFF... Don't ask if I'm insane... We all know that answer...

What is with me lately? Having this laptop at home is making me obsessed with the Internet. I post to this blog when I get up in the morning and right before I go to bed at night... Double posting - is that like double dipping? Well, I'm enjoying it as long as it lasts.

Which might not be for much longer, because... I took on my first commission. Gale, the dye workshop teacher, asked me if I would knit her a cardigan, the Sonnet, using her hand-dyed handspun. And I said yes. She will have a booth at SAFF, and now she'll be wearing a hand-knitted cardigan there, too. Today at the Peachtree Handspinners Guild meeting, she gave me a box full of her beautiful yarn. Payment will be in roving and handspun - I CAN'T WAIT!!!

Aren't these colors to "dye" for? I feel kinda honored to knit with such gorgeous handspun. It's 100% Merino wool. I swatched it when I got home to see how it knits up:

I am finally using my Denise needles again - US #10.5. The gauge swatch measures 12 stitches in four inches and 6 rows in garter stitch to the inch. This means I am on gauge for the first sample on the Sonnet pattern. Now I have to figure out if Gale gave me enough of her handspun, but I think she did. I asked Hubby if he'd be willing to count the hanks and ball them. "Sure." He's such a good sport. I really don't know how in the world I got so lucky to meet this guy. :-))) I guess after two lemons I deserved a cherry, and isn't there a saying that the third time's the charm?

And, surprise, I just had to start yet another little knitting project. My Mom's birthday - the last one that starts with a 6 - is coming up in October. I thought I would knit her another scarf. She already has a lot of handknitted scarves, but none with yarn that I dyed. So, here is the beginning of the Wavy:

If you're in the Atlanta area and you'll be at Knitch tomorrow, I'll see ya! Jen and I will check out a new place for lunch and then we'll be squandering another perfectly good Sunday afternoon knitting with friends. ;-) (If you listen to Car Talk, you know the reference...)

I love knitting gadgets, and especially stitch markers. I bought some skulls from Melissa yesterday. She promised to make more and put them on her Etsy Shop.

They are very cool, aren't they?

Before knitting yesterday, Jen, Melissa and I went to lunch. We originally planned to go to a new place called SIP. But, dangit, they are closed on Sundays. Don't they know that there are knitters out on Sunday who need to fortify themselves for several hours of stitching and bitching? We ended up going to Taco Mac instead. Jen mentioned that they have a gigantic selection of beers. And boy was she ever right - I have never seen a beer list that long. It was actually overwhelming. Since I did not have my personal beer advisor (aka Hubby) with me, and it would have taken too long to study the whole list, I ended up with my usual favorite: a Bass Ale.

We finally showed up at Knitch around 2 pm, and all the spots around the big table were taken. But the little table in the corner was totally at our disposal. So I sat there for several hours with a very fun group of bloggers - ESC, Chickengoddess, Melissa and Jen. We had a bunch of wonderful conversations. I actually got a high-five from Jen for a totally obnoxious answer to a question from Chickengoddess (hey, ESC, I know her real name... ). We were talking about knitted gloves, and Jen suggested knitting the gloves top-down, knitting I-cords for the fingers, and then joining the I-cords where the palm starts. Chickengoddess was contemplating this suggestion because she hates the traditional way (knitting gloves bottom-up), and asked how many I-cords she would have to knit, and I couldn't help blurting out "five". You can imagine what finger she showed me in return...

Anyway, it was a lot of fun and totally relaxing. We will have to find another spot to meet for next Sunday, since Knitch is going to be closed for the final climactic renovations, inventory, etc.

I also finished something yesterday morning before I left for knitting in public... The first sleeve of the lace dress is done - very pretty:

I have 6 more inches on Brett's sweater before splitting the front and back for the armholes. And Mom's birthday scarf is growing. I am going to buy her a bunch of knitting gadgets as well. As always, when you ask her, she already has everything she needs...

And here is yesterday's cow:

(Yes, Steve, I like the blue paper. ;-) I know a store where they give it to you all the time...) This cow is called Boca Bovine and she was part of the Cow Parade in New York City in 2001. The original, life-sized, Boca Bovine was sponsored by the Boca Raton Resort and Club on behalf of Take Charge! Cure Parkinson's, Inc., and raised $15,400 in an on-line auction. You can read more about the cow here.

My lunch break is almost over... With this - have a great week.

... because Jacquie is bored. She told Jen and me yesterday morning, "You two either need to update your blogs daily or learn to restrain me!!!!" (meaning restrain her from spending money on buying a wheel). Well, I don't know if Jen and I can do this... And it's too late now anyway - Jacquie bought a Lendrum yesterday - with every extra imaginable. Welcome to the dark side, Jacquie! ;-)

But honestly, I don't really have much to blog about this week. I started Gale's Sonnet Cardigan, and it knits up beautifully. I'm past the first armhole on the body and am now knitting along on the back part. It's a very easy pattern and shows off Gale's handspun very nicely:

Last night at Knitch I got many compliments on the yarn. Jane, Sandy and I were contemplating what I could say to Gale so I wouldn't have to part with the cardigan. One suggestion was to tell her that my house burned down. Not to worry Gale, you'll get your cardigan, I'm just joking. ;-)

I went to work really early this morning so I can leave early this afternoon. I wanted to make sure I had enough time to finish all my work stuff before the long weekend. THREE DAYS FOR KNITTING... and cleaning up the fiber room. (I think Hubby has heard this about a brazillion times now... It is time to spring into action...)

And this was the view I had from the car at a traffic light, coming down the exit in Midtown from I-85:

I know it's blurry, but taking a picture without a flash that early is hard to do... And now it's all super-foggy:

One of my coworkers laughed so hard this morning, she had to ask me for a tissue. When I asked her why, she directed me to What did The Office do for Summer Vacation?. (My favorite one is the place-settings lady.) So I had to send her the link to The Landlord, and while I was on their website, I found the following video. (It comes with the disclaimer - and they REALLY mean it -"This video is not considered safe for work. Seriously. S**ua**y explicit content. Some material may not be suitable for persons under 17"):

Is that really Danny DeVito??? OMG...

And here is something else to tickle your funny bone. Hubby is an avid reader of News of the Weird and he frequently shares some weirdness with me. Here is one this week's lead stories...

East Dublin, Ga. (in July), and Athens, Texas (in August), sponsored their own versions of Redneck Games, with events such as mud-pit belly-flopping, seed-spitting and making armpit music (Georgia), as well as (in Texas) "red-neck horseshoes" (played with toilet seats), a Spam-and-jalapeno-eating contest, a mattress chuck, men bobbing for raw animal parts in tomato paste, and the ever-popular coed butt crack contest. Wrote the San Antonio Express-News: "There was something strangely arresting about watching 10 serious-faced guys grind away at pink bricks of Spam while Steppenwolf's 'Born to Be Wild' boomed from the loudspeakers."

Now, Jen, doesn't this sound much more fun than going to Callaway Gardens for Hot Air Balloons? ;-)