The Score

This is what I came away with after my visit to Mamacita's SuperStore.



And so it goes. First my SP sent me the felted basket supplies, then I spotted the felted boots in the upcoming IK. Then I visited the LYS in Cleveland where the shop owner and I somehow have a conversation about felting. Then I spot Mamacita's "Fabulous Felted Handknits". I think the cosmos is trying to tell me something.

The Show

Ahhh...the holidays! So festive and exciting. I hope your Thanksgiving was nice. Despite the mad fury of cleaning and cooking, everything was nice.

I've done a little shopping in Mamacita's Super Store but I'll wait until tomorrow to show you my "purchases". There is still a little bargaining going on for a few other items.

Every year Mamacita enters a craft show. It just so happens that this year I was in town for it. The bad thing was that Mamacita forgot to mention it so I hadn't made anything for her to sell this year. So, upon my arrival Tuesday, I walked to the yarn shop around the corner,bought some yarn and got to work. I came up with this nifty little ditty I called "The cold shoulder" which was made out of two skeins of Berocco Soft Twist Bulky....

...as well as a few neckwarmers.
(Bill, the reluctant model, is also wearing the Rebecca cropped sweater I made her.)


These a few of the things Mamacita made.




There were macaroni angels, jewelry, cookie mix jars, and etched glassware. She's in a stained glass phase right now. Do you see her butterflies? Aren't they cute?

Today is Bill's birthday, so I can now show you the secret project I was working on last week. I never mentioned it just in case she was reading. It's the Beth sweater she hinted at. She likes it.



We also saw "In the Mix" and "Rent". Both were good movies. You should check them out.

I'm going shopping

The last time I went home my mother made it a point to show me this article she cut out of the newspaper. It was about children returning to their parents' home to "shop". You know, get a few rolls of toilet paper, take those extra sheets/towels they don't use, etc. She thought it was funny that someone wrote something that documented our lives.

Yep, that's right. I shop out of my parent's house and I'm not ashamed of it. I think as we left the house, my parents filled it with more stuff to fill up the space we left. It was their way of dealing with a empty nest. So is it my fault, they have all this stuff they don't need or use. These people have so much stuff we haven't been able to come up with gifts to buy them for the past 3 years. They already have everything.

For example, my sister and I shared a 12'X15' sized room. When my brother and I left, Bill moved to my brother's room, and Mamacita turned our room into her own Michael's/Jo-Ann's/Art/Yarn room. It is FILLED to the ceiling. I would show you a picture if she hadn't already threatened to hurt me if I did. Needless to say this woman hasn't found a craft she doesn't like. Sewing,quilting, knitting, crochet,beading,jewelry, clay, mosaics, stained glass. I could go on but I won't. She has every supply and book imaginable. If there's been a fair or convention for it, then she's been there. It's too much for one person so I take it upon myself to help her out and take some stuff off her hands.

I'm off to the "land of Cleve" for the Thanksgiving. I don't plan on doing any retail shopping Friday because the thought of it gives me a migraine. Instead I plan on doing a little "in-home" shopping. I'm sure Mamacita will read this and try and stop me. We'll see what I come away with.

Then I'm heading to the movies. I want to see Rent (I've never seen the musical so I'm really excited), In the Mix (Probably cheesey but I like Usher. What can I say?), and maybe Harry Potter (if the crowd of children isn't too overwhelming).

If you have read this far then you will get the added delight of seeing this....



Those that thought this was a no-pic post will just miss out.
Ms. PinkyC is finished and I have decided to sell the pattern in sizes Small-XXLarge. It won't be posted until next week.

And remember that other pattern that I was supposed to post since I missed the Knitty deadline. Well....it's been accepted for the February edition of MagKnits . I'm really excited.

Woot-off weekend

If you never heard of woot! then you need to check it out today. It's a great website that sells only one item (new or refurbished) everyday for a good price. Today they are having a special "woot-off". They will post an item until it sells out. When an item sells out they then immediately post another item. The only catch is they don't tell you how many they will sell so you have to sit infront of the computer to catch the good deals because they go fast. Already today they've sold a jacket for techies for $29.99, a cuisinart knife set, a Westinghouse Intelliblend Blend, Beyond Smart coffee maker, and whole bunch of other stuff.

Check it out. It's great for finding Holiday gifts.

Giveaway

Does anyone want a copy of the Fall Interweave Knits?



I signed up for the subscription and they sent me a copy of the one I already have. If you're interested send me an email. (saunshine AT gmail DOT com) First come first serve.I'm mailing it out Saturday morning. If you already have a copy, please let someone else get this one. Save a tree and all that good stuff.



I don't have much to show today. I've been busy on the design for the "Ms. PinkyC" vest. What do you think of the name? Originally it was called the Pinky Chocolates vest after my favorite eyeshadow set from Clinque . For some reason I remember the Mr.Men and Little Miss books that I loved when I was a child, so instead I'm calling it Ms.PinkyC. We're all grown up now so need to use the "Little Miss" label. I don't think it would fit. Plus I don't want to worry about that pesky copyright infringement thing.

Oh the pain!

My heart hurts and I have to share my pain.

As an aspiring fashion designer, one should find seasoned designers to look up to. These are the designers that gives one inspiration because of their creativeness and style. I have one, or at least I thought I had one until the lovely ladies at gofugyourself.com brought this to my attention.

Guess who this is?



This my friends is, the one and only, Donna Karan .

No words can express..... Just look at the picture and understand that my heart hurts right now. This just can't be the same woman...it can't be. Can it?

Giftie Fairies

The Giftie Fairies (that's what I call them) were really busy this weekend. Here's what I got from my SP.

It's some KnitPicks Wool of the Andes and a pattern for a felted Nantucket basket. I guess now I have no excuse not to get over my fear of felting. Thanks SP!


The next item is for my SP. I highly doubt she reads my blog so I think it's safe to show you all. I'm proud of my little creation so I'm anxious to show it off.







She said she wanted a needlecase so I decided to make her one. It folds in three and it can hold 18 sets of needles and has 4 sections for circular needles on the upper flap. I also included a set of Balene needles I got at Tuesday Morning and some size 6 DPN's. The case plus the needles was still cheaper than any of the needlecases I could have ordered. I think she'll like it.

A girl and her shoes

Have you seen the Interweave Winter preview. Before you run over there let me give you a tip. At first glance you may not like much of what you see but I figured out why. It's the "homely" photography.

Case in Point #1 ..the Aran Pullover by Kristin Nicholas. Nice sweater but the choice of stanch or that horrible belt do not make the sweater look exciting or sexy. Case in Point #2... I have never seen the Red Head girl look as pretty as she does in the picture for the Cabled Bandeau by Véronik Avery. This means all the other pictures of her have just sucked at capturing her prettiness and the prettiness of the knits she wears. The picture of her in the Windowpane Jacket by Debbie Bliss makes her look like the stereotypical unfashionable mom with that unfortunate neck scarf. I'm sure the jacket is nice but I can't tell by the picture.

So my advice, try to see past the bad photography.It's definitely not Top Model quality. And to Interweave ...It's the pictures people...work on that!

But moving on to the one thing I like most.



When I was with my cousins in DC, they mentioned seeing someone wearing knitted boots. I scoffed at the thought but now that I've seen them....I want them.
I'm a little apprehensive about the Interweave version because they are felted and I've never felted anything. I think instead I'll go for these.



I saw the pattern for the Blue Sky Alpaca knit boots over at kpixie . I really like these better. It will cost close to $60 to make them and that doesn't sound that bad. I think these will be my Christmas present to myself. Yeah right, I like I really need a reason to by some more yarn.

This joker is huge

I had it all figured out. Aurora 4..check! Needles, size 5...check! Pattern idea & drawing...check! So what did I get.....




Look at that thing. It may look good but in actuality, it's HUGE! I'm talking X-Large instead of the intended medium. My mistake was not going with the suggested size US 3/4.It stretched out alot while blocking it. So I guess it's back to the drawing board. AAARRRGGGHHH!

New Knits

I'm back. The Masquerade Ball was a lot of fun and there were a lot of well dressed people there. Once again I forgot my camera so I didn't get an event-worthy photo of my outfit. My friend had her camera but there weren't any really good shots of me. So here, in a very rare event, I'm going to show a picture that I took in the mirror after I came home. I say rare because this is probably the first time I will show my face.



You would think I'm running from the law or something but in truth I just hate taking pictures. As is the case, I'm not smiling in this one because it 3:30am and I was trying to not pass out from the pain of almost crushing my little toe in the cutest pair of shoes. I also forgot the mask in the car but I figure I can at least show the dress I made. I mean, this blog is about my fashion design and knitting, is it not?


I finished one sleeve for the Lacey Sweater. I haven't been too amped to finish this thing. Having to constantly look at a chart is a little annoying. After a while I can memorize what I need to do next but it's still not that much fun. Call me weird, but I like plain old stockinette and the occasional cable. Lace is pretty but not the most fast knitting you can do. The idea of knitting one of those lace shawl is making my head hurt just thinking about it.



I've had this big ol' list of items that I wanted to make and every week I'm rearranging the order. I'm at this point where I'm tired of making other people's designs. Making clothes is my creative outlet and you can't be too creative making other people's stuff. So now, at the top of my list are the few items that I've been wanting to design. I've worked on two things this week, which is why I have been a bad blogger. One I can't show because I'm going to submit it, but the other I can...





Ever since Sahara pointed to the Cocoachic site I've had this extreme desire to make something brown and pink. I love the color combo. I've had it on my to-do list to make a cute sweater vest so I'm designing one using the Aurora 4 I got from StitchDC. I like the fabric that this yarn makes and may add it to my list of favorites. Wendy has raved about it and I can see what she's talking about. It's good stuff.

Socktober continues

The weekend was fun. I met up with my sister, cousins, and best friend and did a little shopping and partying. I have a bad habit of leaving my camera at home so I don't have any pictures. I didn't spend too much money but I did stop into StitchDC upon my arrival to pick up some things. They didn't have the Baby Bobbi Bear pattern that I wanted. (I've decided to make bears as Christmas gifts for all the children in my family that 3 and under.) I did get some Aurora 4 to make a vest and some Rowan Calmer to make a drop stitch scarf.



I haven't made much new progress on the lacy sweater. I started the sleeve but had to rip it out and start over. Instead I worked on some new socks with the Sock Garden that Sarah gave me for SP5. According to Lolly Socktoberfest continues for all socks started in October. Therefore it's still Socktober here at Chez Saun.

Want to see what I made today?



I am going to a formal Masquerade party on Saturday so I made a mask to go with the dress I'm wearing. I made the dress several years ago and have only worn it once, so I'm glad that I'll have a chance to wear it again. Thanks to the early nightfall my pictures are slightly crappy. I'll have to figure out how to get better pictures otherwise my photo sessions will be limited to Saturdays when I can take daylight pics.