It must have been the fumes

I took Jay-etta for some new shoes (aka new tires) today. I need her to be ready for our jaunt to Charlotte for a Saturday filled with fabric shopping. It must have been the intoxicating smell of tires I inhaled for an hour because when I left I had the oddest craving.



A double cheeseburger from Wendy's. To you this may not be odd, but for me it is because I gave up beef in 2003. If I get sick in the next few days I'll know why.


Now onto the reason for the trip to Charlotte. Our little fabric shops are limited so I am going to the great Mary Jo's for some fabric fun. I need some good stuff for the two patterns I found at JoAnn's.



Burda Pattern #8020


Vogue Pattern V2873 - A Michael Kors Design

Along with Donna Karan, Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, and Issac Mizrahi, Michael Kors is one of my favorite designers. Next to shoes, coats and jackets are my favorite article of clothing. I can't get enough. I think it's a thing I picked up from my mother. (Remind me to tell you about the spur of the moment 2 hr trip from Cleveland to Columbus that we took when I was in high school. It involves roadkill, a JCPenny outlet, and a faux beaver fur coat she had to have.)


I also had a chance to work on the Candy Stripe sweater while waiting on the new tires. One more sleeve to go and then I'm done. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow.



Right now I have to concentrate on a new project. It's another book submission. I've been a little secretive about it but I think it's safe to mention it now. I'm still apprehensive about mentioning details. I don't like to jinx things until I have my check in hand.

And to end my long post....Did anyone see Gilmore Girls tonite? It was an episode entitled "Knit, People, Knit." The town had a big charity knitathon. The show was chock full of knitters and pretty yarn. Lorelai and Ms.Patty were really knitting but Sookie and Babette were fakin it.

Okay....so I lied....

...Well I didn't lie so much as circumstances changed. I had no intention of getting up at the crack of dawn to partake of the crazy sale madness. That was until I started sorting my old mail and came across a coupon.

It seems that the LYS was having a sale. 30% off all yarn (except Noro Silk Garden) from 7-10am. The shop is about 7 mins from my place. How could I resist? When I arrived at 6:55, there were already 2 cars there and about 8 or so women when I left at 7:30.



I didn't get much. All I wanted was some Malabrigo to make Nikki's Smores pattern. I wanted to make this in either black or red so this coloway, Amoroso, was a good one. It is a mix of dark and light reds with a hint of pink. No black but the darkness I want is there.

I also made my way over to JoAnn's to see if they had any wool. Let me just say that Micro Fleece is the devil. 100+ colors and patterns of microfleece but absolutely no wool. That is pure evil. I think I may drive down to Mary Jo's for a little fabric excursion next weekend.

My Life. My Blog

This is a meme posted by Cara. It's an adapation of the American Express "My Life, My Card" commercials. (She has the document linked in her blog entry.) Take the document, fill it out, scan it or take a picture of it, and post.

I'm a preparing for my first Thanksgiving away from my family. My friend Zaynah has kindly invited me to dinner with her family and I am thankful for that. Great friends are hard to come by. I'll be taking one of the sweet potato pies I bought to that occasion. The other will go with the small dinner I am making to mark my first Thankgiving on my own. While I'll miss my family, I won't miss the crazy airport travel. Nope. Not at all.

It looks to be a relaxing weekend of me with my laptop, sketch book/pencils, and some yarn. No Black Friday shopping for me either. Sales can make people really mean and I'm not trying to fight someone over the last anything.

I should be posting over the weekend. Let me know if you fill out the meme.
Have a great Thanksgiving everyone. Gobble! Gobble!

How is it......?

How is it that I pay for subscriptions to very high fashion magazines, (W and Vogue), and the free gift is the most unsavory plastic wristlet and lizard pouch thingies I've ever seen.



A high fashion magazine should know better.



Here's a look at my main project for this weekend.



It's a shawl for Mamacita's craft show. I started this Saturday and then took a big break to watch the Ohio State-Michigan game Saturday. Go OHIO STATE!. I had the pleasure of being the only Ohio St. alum in a room with 3 men for Michigan. It was a great feeling. We talked smack the entire game and I had fun doing my little dance at the end of the game when we won. (BAAALLLIINNNN!)

I also learned how to play poker and then went to see Casino Royale. It was a good movie but I prefer Sean Connery or Pierce Bronson as James Bond.

Friendly Tips For Everyday Living

It's been a long time since I've done these.


Friendly Tip #21

Just because you bought a SUV or a high performance vehicle like a BMW, does NOT mean that you now have special powers. You cannot fly down the highway at 80 mph in the middle of a thunderstorm. You will most likely hydroplane and end up in a ditch like the 3 BMWs and SUVs I saw on the side of the highway yesterday morning.


Friendly Tip#22

More water, less coffee and soda. You are never too old to get cavities. Just ask my dentist.


Friendly Tip #23

Organic Foods are your friends.
If you are having health issues, check what you are eating. If you read the labels and did some research, you wouldn't believe the amount of pesticides, antibiotics, and hormones that go into your food.


Friendly Tip #24


To fight magazine clutter here is a tip. As you read a magazine, rip out the pages of things you like (pics, articles,etc) and but leave them in their place in case you want to reread the magazine one more time. When your next issue arrives or you are officially done reading it, pull out the pages your ripped, put those in a file or big envelope, and throw the magazine away.

N.K.O.T.B *

Every now and again, I like to go on a little blog stroll to see what's new on the blog block. With some the older blogs starting to fall off, I think it's important to bring some of the new kids to the forefront. (Some aren't really new, but they are new to me)


The Crafty Ones

Knitensity - she has a cute new pattern which I just purchased. I'm going through the stash looking for the perfect yarn because this is next up after I finish my two current sweaters.

Yarn Coffee - She's caffenated and has a picture of Audrey knitting

Knits and Pieces - She recently finished a Lady Eleanor. It's sooo lov-er-ly!

Cozy's Place - Recently finished the cutest Hourglass Sweater and the stories about her children are funny, even if she doesn't think so.

Knit-Knac A fiber-fiend and a designer. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of her patterns.

Crafty?Who? She's a fellow Gemini. What's there not to like?

Keana Lee She's been trying her hand at hand dyeing and working with her hand-dyed yarns. She's also a part of the I Knit with Grey's knitalong

Sweet Figs. She just made the most adorable hat. You have to see it.



A few of my friends have gotten into the blog game. These aren't craft related but they are good friends, and given some of the fun times we've had, I'm sure they will make for some interesting reads.

An Eccentric Diva - My girl Jules has quite an eclectic taste in films, especially the horror genre, and she reviews them on her blog.
DC Adventures
A Beautiful Life
A Destined Child

New Knit on The Block

Here's a look at my newest knit.

It's what I call my "Muppet Scarf" which I make using Reynolds Smile or Katia Nepal yarn. I'm going to send a couple of these to Mamacita to sell in her craft fair next week.



*That's right, it's a old 90s reference to New Kids On The Block,eventhough I was never a fan.

weighty issues

I apologize for all the quiet around here. It's been a busy busy week. Lots of projects on my plate that were due. But they are all done now. The hectic nature of it all got me to thinking. My knitting plate was a little full. I have two sweaters started, 1.5 socks for G-ma's Christmas present, and now some projects for my mother's craft fair Thanksgiving weekend. So I've made a major decision that was weighing on my mind. No one (other than G-ma) is getting a hand-made gift from me. Christmas knitting is stressful.

The picture above is of my newest toy...a digital scale. When trying to gauge how much yarn I have left the best way is to weigh it. I did have a cheap-o scale but it was not accurate at all. This new one is a dream and thanks to a 20% off coupon from Bed,Bath, and Beyond, it's all mine.



Another issue that I'm debating is my magazine subscriptions. I recently subscribed to Vogue and W magazine. Vogue Knitting is in and Interweave Knits is out. As nice as it is, most of the items are not my style. Granted the subscription is only $21, but that's just more clutter in my house. I'm still debating getting a subscription to InStyle. What are your favorite magazines to read? Any good ones that you might suggest?

A good weekend

My trip to Stitches East was fun and interesting. The class I took on how to design knitwear on the computer was fun and I had a chance to meet some nice women. Ginger Luters was the instructor. The first part of the class covered the different software available and then went more in depth into the Cochenille Garment Designer. The second half covered their Stitch Painter program. Garment Designer is a good program for those that want to design clothing for either sewing or knitting. I figured this one is a good investment. Stitch Painter is good for designing fair-isle knitting and beading. It did not have anything for designing cable work which I considered a big disappointment.




I also got a chance to see some bloggers while I was there. I met some new people an d saw some familar faces that I met at MD Sheep and Wool. Hi Ladies! (Lauren has the rundown of who all was there, so check out her post about Stitches).

Everyone was amazed with my self-control when it came to spending. After two hours in the market, I had not bought a thing. I knew I was going to buy the designing software so that helped curb my appetite. I did, however, buy some Brooks Farm limited edition Acero yarn. It's superwash wool/silk blend that I plan to use for a wrap.




This is how much of my "candy stripe" sweater I got done over the course of the weekend. Mindless stockinette is a great way to keep your hands busy.

I also saw the "Super Bionic Baby" (that's his new name). I don't have any pictures ( I know ...bad Godmother) but I'll hopefully post some when his father, "Mr. Annoying Camera Man", sends me some of the 10,000 pictures he took. Super Bionic Baby does all the normal things like cry loudly, poop, and sleep but at 3 weeks old, he has grown 2+ inches, is too big for his 0-3 month sleeper sets, can take off his mittens, pull out his pacifer, and roll over. By next month he should be up walking around and answering the phone when I call.

Projects-to-go

Every now and again, I go through a phase which I can only think to call "an OCD moment". A situation or problem will pop into my mind and it will stay there until I solve the problem. Well, last week, I had the idea for a crew-neck striped sweater with a specific color scheme. Brown,cream,baby blue, pink. I did some searches for yarn choices but decided that I need to wait and finish my other projects. I made it 2 days, then I realized I'll need a to-go project for my trip to Stitches. Sitting in a 6 hour class without something is not an option, but my current projects required too much attention. So my mind went into overdrive. Must.have.yarn. Must.have.yarn.NOW!



This is the result. Some brown and cream Patons Merino, from my stash, and some pink and blue Cascade 220.

Now here is the real kicker. I want the sweater to be reversible and I didn't want to worry about matching up stripes on the sleeves. The solution is a top-down raglan. This is a big deal for me because I'm not the biggest fan of top-down. But I'm a solution based person, and this is the best solution. (Ms. fpea will be happy to hear about this. She's a big top-down promoter). I found this free top-down guide on the net. I'm all about the free.



I have made some progress on the cabled cardigan. It just requires so much attention that this definitely won't be a quick knit for me.

Life seems to get really busy around this time of the year. A lot of activities and holidays on the horizon. I did, however, make time for something really important.


If you live in the US and have registered to vote, PLEASE VOTE! I don't care what your party affiliation is. I just hope that you go and make your voice heard. Many people fought hard and died to have the privilege. Some places, like my county, have early voting polls, so there is no excuse.

I'm off to see my godson and see some knitters. See you next week.