What's next?

There's not much of anything exciting to report, but I'll report anyway:

• Vest: I'm almost ready to start the armhole decreases. After 17.5" of k3 p3, this is thrilling.
  
• Clandestine sock #2: Done. I do need to weave in the beginning and ending ends, but it counts as done.
  
• Entrelac scarf: I didn't need another scarf, but thought it would be fun to do one with Noro Silk Garden sock yarn. I've got only a couple more inches to go on it.
  

I think spinning may be next. I have a set of Stackable Cats ready to start, but I'm not in the mood for them yet.

Be back later

A rabbit foot

bunnyfoot
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Purple bunny slippers? There isn't a lot of bulky yarn in my stash, so this was the best choice. Yeah, I know it's pretty silly, but the insides are super soft and warm. Now it is time for bed so I can sleep and get up and make this one a buddy and make my feet happy. Night night.

Distraction du Jour

It had to happen. I'm faced with knitting over 17" of the vest back in k3 p3 rib, finish the Drops socks, or do a second Cookie A sock I've successfully avoided for two months. Craftzine has a pattern for Bunny Slippers that are about to jump to the head of the queue. Bunny slippers are one of those things I'm inexplicably drawn to, like sock monkeys and Hello Kitty. I already have a pair of Monty Python Killer Rabbit slippers, but I need to replace their soles. I'd rather make a new pair first.

I will be slightly loyal to my WIPs and finish the Drops socks first.

ETA: See, I can finish things if I try.

*headdesk*

I was just about done with the right front of my vest, when I held it up to the left front. When I checked to make sure the shaping matched, I discovered that I have two right fronts.

I know I'm not this stupid. It must be sleep deprivation.

A Theoretical Question

Let's say that you were in a group that was planning to knit a number of pair of socks. You were told that on a certain day, information would be posted detailing the supplies you'd need for knitting those socks. My question is, would you expect to have something more than, say, enough yarn to knit x pair of socks and the gauge for the yarn?

I knew I'd be sorry I signed up for that group, and yet I did it anyway.

Merry Kitchmas

Merry Kitchmas
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

The snowmen have been rescued from the bowling alley. The tree didn't come out the way I intended, but I still like it. It is completely knitted and you can't tell at all.

Yarn Hunt

Today's hunt involved yarn from opposite ends of the fiber spectrum. One was silver furry eyelashy yarn. The person who had it on Ravelry couldn't find it in her stash. I've been there before. I think that no matter how organized you are, the yarn gets up and sneaks away when you aren't looking. I tried Joann and Michaels for a substitute without success. Since I was only doing the Kitschmas tree for fun, I decided to rework it with the yarn I already have.

The other target was an unusual shade of pine green wool. I found some Rowan yarn would've been a perfect match, but it would also have cost nearly $100 for what I needed. No way was THAT going to happen. I gave one last look around and happened upon Malabrigo worsted in the Forest colorway. Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner! I needed three skeins. I Googled around and found a place online that had it. I prefer to support my local shops but a) my local shop only had one skein and b) the online shop's price was cheaper, even if you factor in the shipping. Sorry, LYS.

My fingers are crossed that the color I get is close to the one I saw in person.

Snow bowling

Snow bowling
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

It's a better knitting day than a photography day.

Progress Report, Caturday edition

• Kitchmas Tree: The person on Ravelry who had the yarn I want was online last night. I didn't receive a reply from her, so I'm assuming I'm out of luck on that front. I think Lion Brand makes something that will work, so this is on hold for the moment.
  
• Mug Jumper: it might help insulate the coffee mug a little bit.
  
• Teeny tiny snowmen: I knit a bunch of teeny tiny scarves so I could put the bucket of leftover sock yarn away. The snowmen are next, unless I am distracted by something.
  

Possible distractions include:

• a new pair of Felted Clogs out of the yarn left over from the world map afghan
  
• spinning. I had trouble getting the top on the bucket full of fiber when I put two new additions in it last night. It's nature's way of telling me to shut up and spin something.
  
• Ninjabun. It's the pattern I bought so I could get the Teeny tiny snowmen pattern for free.
  

Why no Christmas present knitting? I have a very short but difficult shopping list. The recipients have very specific preferences and/or needs which cannot be accomodated by knitting. I'm sympathetic toward those who are knitting their little fingers to the bone right now. Still, I wish I was knitting along with you.

Preordered with One Click

Knitting Mochimochi by Anna Hrachovec won't be available until June, but I've got it on order with Amazon. I love her take on amigurumi. Her blog has pictures of these cute little factories that she knit. Yes, factories. One turns teeny tiny trees into teeny tiny lions. Another turns teeny tiny pandas into teeny tiny lawn gnomes. A third turns teeny tiny cheeseburgers into teeny tiny tv sets. I love things that are tiny and double love anything as quirky as a knit cheeseburger. I can hardly wait until the book comes out.

Cables and mugs

I saw the white mug on someone's website earlier this week. I thought it was cool and thought I'd try and track it down some day. Today I got a swap from LeiLani and this mug was in it. (There was also a whole bunch of other wonderful things, but that's another post.) It was one of a series that Starbucks created last year.

The brown mug is Mug Jumper 2.0. Tomorrow I'll see if it insulates on top of being decorative.

Progress Report

Kitchmas Tree: I need another ball of silver fun fur. That's a sentence I never thought I'd type. I found someone on Ravelry who has some of what I need in their swap queue, so I'm hopeful. Did I mention they don't make it any more? I'm still going to try Walmart in case there's a ball stuck in a clearance bin or something.

Mug Jumper: the one in yesterday's post has been unraveled and the yarn used as part of the Kitchmas Tree. I went stash diving and found some yarn that I think will work better. It's closer to coffee-colored than the off white I used originally. I suspect that will be a better choice in the long run.

Teeny tiny snowmen: I haven't made any more yet. I think a whole bunch of them might look really cute on the Kitchmas Tree.

Try try again

mugjumper
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I used some recycled yarn for the mug jumper. I'm going to do it again, and use something a little thinner. It's a cute pattern, just not the way it looks here!

The snowman came out pretty well. I'm going to make him a whole bunch of friends.

Before I do that, I'm going to make a Kitchmas Tree. I found some silver fake fur in my scary stash bin. Hopefully it'll look like one of those aluminum trees from the 60s. Stay tuned.

Project promiscuity

dropsxmas
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I got through the left front of the vest I was working on, when I got distracted by this sock pattern from Drops Design. The original is done in red and white. The pattern would've shown up better that way, but I just had to use some groovy Koigu I got in a swap.

I'm not working on the second sock just yet. I was distracted by:

• Teeny tiny Mochimochi snowmen
• A cute mug jumper (sweater)
• A fun fur Kitshmas tree

I think the tree will be last, but I can't decided between the snowmen and the jumper. I think the snowmen win, because I can make them from the white Knit Picks yarn I used for the sock and won't have to go find anything.

Keep Calm

keepcalm
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I removed something that was hanging on the wall that had grown to annoy me. When I saw this poster, I knew it was just the right thing to fill in the space.

You can get one too, in a variety of colors. Go visit Laylock.

Knitting Olympic Events

I think I've found the perfect event for the Ravelympics: WIP-Dancing. Participants complete works in progress that have been started one month or more prior to the start of the Games. This gives me a whole month of starting projects and then switching to another one as often as I like. I've already got three projects, unless you count the two sweaters that I didn't think of until a minute ago. I don't count them because I want to restart one sweater with different yarn and I'm not sure where I stashed the other one.

The Iron Knitter portion of Sock Wars should overlap part of Ravelympics. I expect I'll also be part of the Sock Hockey event.

All of this points to me finding employment about the middle of January, and completely derailing these plans. I can but hope.

Buy or Dye?

I have some yarn that I brought back from Ireland several years ago. I found a vest pattern that I want to make using the yarn. There is only enough yarn to make the vest front. It is a dark green tweed. I bought some solid green yarn that I thought would match the Irish yarn. I was wrong.

I'm debating over what to do. I had trouble coming up with the right color to match the yarn I already had. I had checked about a half-dozen shops in the area before buying what I did. Buying online isn't an option because I can't count on my monitor showing yarn colors accurately enough for a good match.

I'm thinking about overdyeing the yarn to come up with something more compatible. It would require a number of experiments to come up with the correct color. Still, this seems like the better option. I already have the yarn and dyes.

Drops Advent Calendar

I was looking at the latest cookie recipe in Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies, when something occurred to me. I hadn't checked for Drops Design annual pattern calendar. This Norwegian company offers a new pattern each day. The link is to the US-English version. The patterns are available in a number of different languages. Thanks, Drops!

Fun With Leftover Sock Yarn, Volume 2

Make your very own Ouch! pincushion.

Fun With Leftover Sock Yarn, Volume 1

Make little sweater ornaments and swap them. I got the one on the left today:


I made the one below:

ICLW

In honor of International Comment Leaving Week, I visited some new-to-me blogs. I didn't make it through the whole week, but did find a few things to share. They don't all have anything to do with fibers, but the point was to comment on things in blogs not like one's own.

Kathryn Alexander has an amazing color sense and some unique ideas with patterns. There are 32 colors in the DooDad Scarf and maybe that many shapes. My apologies to the person whose blog had this link. I neglected to make a note of it.

Unravel Me had an idea I'm swiping: Ten Things Tuesday. You post a list of ten things. On Tuesday. I'm better at coming up with lists than I am at writing fascinating blog entries, so this is a Good Thing.

If you want to make a blog entry that looks like a Post-It Note, visit Superstickies. I saw these on several different blogs.

Dame Emma's blog has shown me the way to Abeego. If you feel guilty every time you use plastic wrap, this will help.

Ta Da! For the third year running, I've completed NaBloPoMo.

Z is for Z twist

For someone who claims to be interested in spinning, I know very little about it. I've recently learned that the yarn basically twists one of two ways: s twist or z twist. If you look at a some yarn, the fiber appears to twist to the left like the middle of the letter s or to the right like the middle of the letter z. This is important to know when you get into plying. Plying involves combining more than one single. When you ply, you do it in the opposite direction from the way the singles were spun. If the singles were spun with an s twist, the plying is done with a z twist, or vice versa.

I haven't managed to do plying very well so far, but I have made it to the end of the alphabet. Yay!

Y is for Yarnia

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Well, it is Caturday.

X is for XS

...or as people who don't abbreviate it, cross-stitch. My pal Joan turned me onto it back in the early 1980s and I was addicted to it for a long time. When I moved from Denver to the Atlanta area about 10 years later, I started attending classes at Spirit of Cross-Stitch. It was a kind of convention where you could take classes and there was a huge marketplace of people selling cross-stitch supplies. I went to it so many years that I probably could still navigate around Winston-Salem, NC without a map. Ahhh, good times.

I've blogged about some of my newer xs finds recently, so I went digging for some old favorite links.

Dragon Dreams come from Jennifer Aikman-Smith. Her designs include both needlepoint and cross-stitch.

Hoffman Distribution is the best place to go when you are hunting for a pattern. You can search by designer, category, or keyword. They've even got a shop locator.

Told in a Garden is where you can see the designs by Marilyn Leavitt-Imblum. She's probably best known for her beautiful angels in flowing gowns. I haven't worked up the enthusiasm to commit myself to one of those angels yet, but it may happen. I've done some of her smaller pieces and some of the free Christmas designs.

More recent additions to the cross-stitch world come from Mochimochi Land. This is my version (pink substituted for the orange of the original, minor mess made of the yarn tangles) of her cross-stitch Stackable Cats. Anna's got a cute new design on her site now, featuring elves.

W is for Weaving

People who do fiber projects are often split up into two groups: process* and project. Process people are motivated by the process of doing the craft. Project people are focused on having something completed in the end. I'm definitely a process person. I've got a big bag of completed hand knit socks that have been pretty much ignored since I finished them that proves it.

Weaving is a process that I enjoy. I have an Ashford Knitter's loom that I got a couple of years ago. Once I get it set up to go, I can happily zip through yards and yards of leftover sock yarn. I then have a piece of handwoven fabric that I do not know what to do with. It goes to live with the hand knit socks and the loom gathers dust.

My other loom is a vintage Weave-It that my grandma gave me. It makes 4" squares. The process of making the squares is fun, but again, I don't know what to do with them. A few years ago, I saw ads for a company called Buxton Brook Looms. They were making looms just like the Weave-Its that were called Weavettes. I haunted their website for a while, hoping that something would appear in the pattern section. Nothing did, so I forgot about them until today. I don't know if Buxton Brook Looms is still out there or not because the link I found for them didn't work. I did find Hazel Rose Looms. They offer looms similar to Weave-Its, only they are made from wood.

My other finding was that there are a number of patterns on the web for things using little hand-held looms. The next time I start to burn out on a knitting project, maybe I'll give them a try.

*My wanderings during NaBloPoMo turned up a third category: pre-process. The pre-process knitter loves to gather together all the supplies for a project. Guess who has a big stack of specially made project bags, a big sock yarn stash, and duplicates of most sock-sized dpns? Paula, the Pre-process knitter.

V is for Vogue

I've never been much interested in Vogue Knitting. Their designs are fashionable and sometimes pretty, but usually they don't have things that I would make.

knit.1 magazine was a different story. I'm not in their demographic, but still enjoyed the magazine very much. I had several things that I wanted to make out of the Spring/Summer 09 issue. I tried every LYS in the area and couldn't find a copy. I think I ended up ordering it from WEBS.

It occured to me that I hadn't seen or heard about an issue since then. It turns out there was a reason for that: it isn't being published any longer. Darn it.

U is for Uberlieferte Strickmuster

Uberlieferte Strickmuster is a 3 volume set of books by Maria Erlbacher. I believe they've been out of print for some time. They are kind of a holy grail for people who are into twisted stitches. As you may have guessed from the title, the books are all written in German.

I had heard that Schoolhouse Press was going to reissue the books in English. I had no idea that they were available until I happened upon Twisted Stitch Knitting while shopping online at Webs. The books have been consolidated into a single volume. This one's on top of my Christmas list. Also my Amazon wish list, because they've got it, too.

What the heck are twisted stitches and why would someone want to twist them? You know how a knit stitch looks like two parallel lines? In twisted knitting, they look a bit more like an X. Most instructions I've seen tell you to knit through the back leg of the stitch. I knit in a weird manner so knitting through the front leg gets me the X. This serves to raise the stitch up off of the surface a bit and makes some extremely cool-looking patterns. This bit of Bayerische might give you an idea of what it looks like. Click the Bayerische link for a much better look.

T is for Tatting

What kind of fiber art or fiber craft have you tried that you just cannot seem to do?

I have hardly mastered everything there is to do, but I can usually do most things I try to learn. The big exception is tatting. If you've not seen it, tatting's done with a shuttle. Loops and knots turn thread into lace. I turn it into a huge mess that I throw across the room in frustration.

S is for Surprises

I enjoy fibery surprises. I think that's why I like to knit with multicolored yarns and like to dye yarn. You never know exactly how the colors are going to come out.

That's probably also what's behind my interest in swaps. It's fun to figure out what a complete stranger would like and to follow a theme and hope you've bought and/or made things they'll like. It's also big fun to get something in the mail that someone's done for you.This is a swap sent to me recently by someone named Kati. The theme was Favorite Season. I must've been a pain to shop for because my favorite season is autumn and my least favorite colors are brown, orange, and red. She did a great job anyway.

I've always liked the idea of grab bags. The odds are that you won't like everything you get, but you never know if there will be something really good in there, too. I indulged in a grab bag from Discontinued Brand Name Yarns not too long ago.I expected (and got) things in textures and colors that weren't exactly my favorites. I know I'll used at least some of them. The nicest surprise was the brown chunky weight yarn. It's merino/alpaca/silk and is called Uruguay, despite being made in Peru.

The best surprises are the ones you don't expect at all. I entered a pattern competition that Berroco had a couple of months ago. I'm used to competitions where you have to send a prepaid envelope if you want your entry back. Not only did Berroco send my socks back, they included a whole set of their Fall/Winter 09-10 pattern booklets. Nice surprise, Berroco, thank you.

Late breaking news

slugssnails
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

These slugs and snails were honorably mentioned in the Mochimochiland photo contest. If you need to use up some leftover sock yarn, these little guys are a fun way to do it.


Speaking of using leftover sock yarn, Berocco has a new set of Minutia. Go grab yourself a pdf! These started out a couple of years ago as miniature sweater ornaments. The 2009 set has other garments and they are so cute. I want to make a doll that could wear the clothes. I'd have to make a few adjustments for fit. The doll would have to have a long skinny I-cord neck to wear some of those turtlenecks.

R is for Recycled Yarn

I was thinking about recycled sari silk again today. Am I being picky, thinking that it isn't actually recycled? I did a little research, and have decided that I should not be complaining about the recycled label. It's actually correct.

Recycled yarn is yarn that was once used for something else.

• Recycled sari silk started out as part of the sari weaving process: recycled yarn.
  
• Cotton and Ecospun started out as cotton yarn and plastic soft drink bottles: recycled yarn.
  
• A sweater purchased at Goodwill and unraveled: recycled yarn.
  

If it is yarn and not trash, it sounds good to me.

Q is for Queen Fiber

I was reading some posts the other day by people who have no use for recycled sari silk yarn. Although I haven't used it much, I have several skeins in my stash and I like the way it looks.

Somewhere along the way, I got it in my head that the yarn is made from old saris that had been chopped up and spun into yarn. I was wrong. I don't know why the word recycled was attached to this yarn, but it isn't accurate. The yarn is made from leftovers (aka waste) from the sari weaving process. The fibers in the yarn haven't actually been used for anything previously. I know there's a word for this but I don't know what that word is. Upcycled? Downcycled? Tricycled? I don't know.

To confuse matters further, the words silk waste have a couple of different meanings. There's the kind that is used to make recycled sari silk yarn. Then there's the kind that is leftover after reeled silk (aka the good stuff) is created. That silk waste is converted into something called spun silk, also known as queen fiber*. I don't think that spun silk is related in any way to recycled sari silk yarn, except that they both began with silkworms.

I learned that there are a number of different sources for recycled sari silk yarn. It is not all the mostly-red, overspun yarn that the posting people were complaining about. There are solid colors, variegated colors, and colorless yarns you can dye yourself. The fiber that the yarn is made from can be purchased and you can spin it yourself.

*Of course it would have made more sense for me to post this tomorrow as "R is for Recycled Sari Silk" or the day after as "S is for Sari Silk". I'd still be in need of a Q.

P is for Pick a Pattern

I had a self-indulgence attack today in Hobby Lobby. I'd been thinking for a long time about buying Socks a la Carte by Jonelle Raffino, Katherine Cade and the SWTC Staff. The only thing I need less than another book of sock patterns is more sock yarn. I did buy it and some sock yarn too, but the yarn was on clearance so I've got half-off the guilt.

The book is divided up into sections. You have a series of choices for the cuff, more choices for the body, and still more for the heel/foot/toe. There's a section with flip pages, so you can get an idea of what each combination looks like. It's quite a lot of fun to play with the pages. It's spiral bound so this is easy to do without damaging anything. There's even an elastic bookmark thingy that you can use to hold your new design in place.

The sample socks in the book are all knit using SWTC's Tofutsies. This makes the book a really good idea for a variegated yarn nut such as myself. I don't think they started making solid color Tofutsies until after this book was published, so all the designs are suitable for semisolid or wilder color combinations.

An Intentional post

If you're a member of IYSSC and have abandoned all hope, don't despair. Check out this new forum on Ravelry. If you know other members, spread the word.

We now return you to your regularly scheduled alphabet.

O is for Other Popular Patterns

I was browsing the pattern section on Ravelry today and found a few things to share.

• Number one in popularity is one of my favorite patterns: Felted Clogs (AC-33) by Bev Galeskas from Fiber Trends. I love these. I make a new pair about once a year and they are on my feet constantly all winter.
  
• #56 is the Picot Flower. It's a cleverly constructed crocheted flower. I've made these as pins and as decorations on hats.
  
• The next time I need a little something fun to add to a swap, I'll remember this Lip Balm Holder.
  
• If I end up carrying a cell phone again, I'll definitely want to make this Pop Tart Case to keep it in.
  
• Don't care for Pop Tarts? How about a nice Donut Pincushion?
  

N is for Nostepinne

I've seen pictures of nostepinnes before, but had no idea what they were for. My curiosity got the better of me, and I went and looked it up. A nostepinne is a Norwegian ball winding tool. You use it to make a center pull ball out of a hank of yarn.

I'm going to file this one right next to stitch markers under Attractive Tools That I Don't Need. I have one of those ball winders with a crank that you turn that does the same thing. A hand-turned piece of wood is much more appealing than a mostly plastic ball winder, but the ball winder's faster and more fun for me.

Have I done my rant on stitch markers? I use the little plastic rings that come with my electric toothbrush heads. They come in four colors, I get a new one every month, they are lightweight, they fit all of the needles I regularly use, and they don't snag anything. Some of the fancy ones can be tempting. I love WeeOnes, though I think I'd just line them up and look at them instead of use them. Some of them have a special purpose, such as the set someone gave me that go with a new sock knitting technique. Most of them are not practical because they have so many thing that the yarn can catch on. If I can get just one stitch marker maker to use something other than split rings in his/her markers, it will have been worth boring anybody else who slogged through the rant.

M is for Mmmmmmmalabrigo

If I was forced to choose only one brand of yarn, Malabrigo would probably be it. It has a lovely texture and the colors are wonderful. I really don't know that much about it beyond really liking it, so I did a little research.

There are a number of new colors, including Ravelry Red, a pastel-ish mix called Kaleidos, and Deja-Vu (my favorite). I'd include a picture of Deja-Vu, but every picture I find looks different from the others. That's the charm of Malabrigo.

Malabrigo makes more than just yummy merino wool. They've got angora, organic cotton, and something called silky merino. Silky merino is half silk, half merino. Atardecer is now at the top of the I want list.

L is for London

A mind is a terrible thing to lose. Yesterday was supposed to be K is for Knitty. This entry was a bit of a stretch with that theme, but L is for London is even worse. I don't care very much. It's my blog and I'll do what I like.

I think that Knitty is a wonderful resource for knitters. I think I'd pay to have access to such great stuff, and I don't have to. That's why I think it is a good thing to click on ads and patronize companies who make Knitty possible.

That's a noble-sounding motive, but I just clicked on something out of pure, selfish interest. There's a tour of London, Bath, and Wales next year, right before my birthday. It'll include a trip to Hay-on-Wye, which I've always wanted to visit. It's a village in Wales that's full of bookstores. It'll include staying in Cardiff. It's geeky, I know, but I want to see places where the Torchwood crew has been. I do not have the cash for this adventure. If I did have the cash, it would go toward replacing the roof of my house and the ceiling in my kitchen. It's good to have goals that you can't reach. It give you room to dream. It also gives a space for some magic to happen. My passport expires next year, so my step in this direction will be to renew it. I can afford that much. Okay, universe, it's your move.

K is for Kiwi

kiwifront
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Kiwi is a spinning wheel made by the Ashford company. Ashford's in New Zealand, which explains the name. Kiwi wheels are some of the least expensive, which explains why I have one.

What I can't explain is why it sits unused. I enjoy using my drop spindle. I like making yarn. I have a little stash of fiber to use for that purpose. I painted the wheel so that the MDF portion of it would look more cheerful. I hunted down a broken part and repaired it. Still, it sits untouched day after day. Maybe I'm scared it'll break again?

Possible Projects

I'm taking a time out from the alpha blogging to make a project list. If I put it here, then it won't be written down in 17 different places or bouncing around in my brain. Note to self: Ravelympics is Feb 12-28. Plan accordingly.

• Hoodie Vest from green yarn-have all supplies except maybe needles
  
• Selbu socks-have the supplies, need to choose the patterns
  
• Ravelsocks-find the graph, check for supplies
  
• Eiffel Tower top from the UFO bin
  
• Imagine sweater-different yarn?
  
• Jelly Bums patterns
  
• finish Cookie sock
  
• Journal bag from recycled sari silk
  
• Chocolate box
  
• Nesting dolls
  
• Reconstruct Christmas sock pattern
  
• Next year's zodiac amigurumi
  
• Lucky Cat amigurumi
  
• Hello Kitty amigurumi
  
• Chicken or the Egg pattern
  
• Wool eater blanket (find where you stashed the koigu)
  
• Car charms
  
• Fruity Oaty girls
  
• Able Sisters hats
  
• Sock themes: Adventure, AC Lovely
  

J is for Jelly Yarn

I have a whole bucket full of novelty yarns. It's furry, eyelash, curly, and flat out weird. It's all man-made fibers. I don't have any idea what to do with it, despite having bought some of it on purpose. This makes my interest in Jelly Yarn a bit disturbing.

Jelly Yarn is a skinny tubular plastic yarn. It comes in a variety of bright colors, three of which are glow-in-the-dark. It appears that the market for such yarn is the tween knitter. There are patterns for purses, dog leashes, decorations for flip-flops. You can make things to put inside a snow globe.

I'm many decades past tween, I rarely make knitted accessories, and my cats won't put up with leashes. Between my ufos, queued projects, and ideas for projects, I could easily work into the next century. Why do I still want some of this?

I is for Intarsia

maptwo
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

There are basically two ways of knitting with more than one color. One is stranded knitting* and the other is intarsia. With intarsia, you work along in one color and then change colors when you need to. You wrap the yarns around each other so that there are no holes.

I'm working on this map of the world afghan which is intarsia. It is working out better than intarsia has in the past. My problems** have been with things other than the knitting itself, which is encouraging. I may pick up the intarsia sock pattern I charted a couple of years ago and give it another try.

*go back four days for my rant on this subject
**problem 1=chart reading
problem 2=stubbornly using one aran weight yarn when the rest of the afghan is worsted
problem 3=cats thinking that yarn bobbins make swell cat toys

H is for Hardanger

hardanger
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Hardanger is a variety of embroidery that's usually done with white thread on a white background. The name comes from Norway, although the techniques are thought to have originated in Persia or Asia. The picture is of a needlebook I did in a beginner's class about 15 years ago. Someone who knew what they were doing would no doubt have made those little eyelet thingys in the middle in a much more uniform way. Still, it's cute. Hardanger is one of those things that I've been wanting to try again.

Contemporary Hardanger utilizes color in both the backgrounds and embroidery threads. There are a lot of free patterns and instruction right here on the Internet. An excellent source for supplies and patterns is Nordic Needle. I once traveled to Fargo, North Dakota specificially to visit their shop (and to add the 48th state to states I've visited). I highly recommend them.

G is for Gilmore girls

It's only been a week and already I'm stretching my alphabet/fiber concept out of shape. If you think this is bad, I can't imagine what will happen when I hit X and Z. What do the Gilmore Girls have to do with fiber? Other than the Knitathon for the Muddy River bridge in that rather sad last season, not a whole lot in a direct way.

The Winter Olympics are going to occur in February 2010. This means that the Ravelympics will also occur. You pick a project that will challenge you. You cast on during Opening Ceremonies. You knit like the wind, completing the project before the end of Closing Ceremonies.

You can associate yourself with any number of teams. I was thinking about joining Team Grilled Cheese because I'm hungry and that sounds really good right now. I changed my mind when I saw Team Copper Boom. If you're a Gilmore Girls fan, you'll understand the reference. If you're not, come back tomorrow. Maybe you'll be lucky and I'll have come up with a better H theme.

F is for Fair Isle

Fair Isle is a specific kind of stranded knitting. It traditionally has only about five colors and only uses two per row. It gets its name from the southernmost of the Shetland Islands, north of Scotland. Real Fair Isle patterns come from there.

-rant on-
Fair Isle is NOT:

• every kind of stranded knitting. It's one specific kind, with only two, count 'em, two, colors per row.
  
• any kind of stranded pattern that has two colors per row. If you've charted out a tribute to your favorite tv show or video game that manages to only use two colors per row, good for you. It's probably really cute, but it is NOT Fair Isle. Fair Isle patterns tend to look geometric, not like space invaders.
  
• a sweater from Target or Old Navy with traditional-looking patterns and two colors per row in shades of bright green or purple.
  

This is Faux Isle because it is ramie/cotton blend and not wool. Other hints are that the colors are not correct, the pattern may or may not be traditional (it came from China, not Scotland), and yours truly bought it at the SuperTarget on Highway 92.
-rant off-

Carry on.

E is for Extreme Knitting

Extreme knitting is knitting taken in non-traditional directions.

It can be extremely big, like Rachael John knitting 1000 strands of yarn with what appear to be tree limbs. If you've not seen this video, take a few minutes to watch.

It can be extremely small, like Althea Crome's beautiful tiny garments.

It can be an extreme technique, like Kory Stamper knitting two socks at once using double knitting.

It can be extreme in materials used in place of yarn, such as wire, fiberglass, and lead.

It can be extreme in what is knit, such as a tank cosy, a motorcycle, or a Ferrari. It might be internal organs. It might be toilet paper (scroll down to see it).

It can be extreme in how knitting is used, like knitting graffiti artists who tag trees, lamp posts, and park benches.

It can be extreme in being combined with other activities. My search turned up people who knit while they drum, use various exercise equipment, and climb mountains.

D is for DPNs

I've got a set of Knit Picks Harmony double pointed needles. For sock knitting, these are very nearly perfect. Each is a set of six, so I don't have to worry if I manage to lose one. I like that they are multicolored. What I don't like is that they are all the same multi colors. I frequently have to check them with a needle sizer to make sure I'm using all the same size needles in a project.

I decided to see what other kinds of dpns there might be out there. A quick search turned up some good information at Knitter's Review. Their reviews introduced me to some new stuff:

• Swallow Needle Mfg. makes needles from casein, a milk protein. There have been reports of pets eating these. I have bamboo needles with little kitty teeth marks in them, so I don't think they'd last long in my house.
  
• I have a set or two of plastic needles in really big sizes that have been kicking around here for decades. Plastic seems like a not very good material for dpns, but Knitter's Review says they're good for arthritic fingers to use.
  
• Signature Needle Arts makes high precision aluminum needles, including dpns. These are supposed to be the Ferrari of knitting needles and are priced accordingly. I'm not fond of metal needles for knitting. It brings back memories of knitting in college. I dropped an aluminum needle on a cement floor in a big class in an auditorium. You can guess how much noise it made. Anyway, if some people come to my house with a big cardboard check, I'd like to give these a try. They make their 4" needles in a way that they don't poke the heck out of your palm. I've made some earring-sized socks with 4" size 0000 needles and it's like having a bunch of sharp tapestry needles stabbing you when you use them.
  
• Regia (the people who make the sock yarn) has a line of smaller-sized dpns. They are aluminum and come with a pair of cute sock-shaped point protectors that keep all the unused needles together.
  
• Lantern Moon Sox Stix are hardwood needles that come in nice storage bags. The problem I have is that they come in 7" and 5" lengths. 5" is definitely too short for me. I have a set of 7" bamboo needles that are too long. Sorry, Lantern Moon. I still love my black sheep tape measure from you, though.
  
• Blue Sky dpns come in pretty tins. I'm a sucker for clever packaging, so I'm glad I read the review. The needles are somewhat fragile and there have been reports of splintering. Also, they are 5" long. Too short to be tempting.
  

C is for Cat Bordhi

My mother used to knit socks. My brother and I and many family friends of the same age have personalized Christmas stockings that she knit for us. She made wonderful argyle socks for her father. I was fascinated with how she worked with those little bobbins of yarn. I think that's the source of my interest in sock knitting.

I've been through a number of sock phases over the last decade. I was obsessed with self-striping and self-patterning yarns. I learned enough about dyeing so I made socks from my own hand dyed yarn. I've enjoyed the challenge of twisted stitch knitting and more intricate patterns such as those by Cookie A. Lately, though, I've begun to burn out on socks. I've got a whole mountain of them which I don't wear because the leg portion is too narrow.

The solution may have appeared. Cat Bordhi's book Personal Footprints tells you how to knit a sock to fit perfectly. I enjoy designers who find great new ways of doing things, and Cat Bordhi's the best I've found. I learned to knit socks on two circular needles from one of her books. I tend to use my Knit Picks Harmony dpns most of the time, but two circulars do a better job. I bought New Pathways for Sock Knitters because I was interested in seeing exactly what the new pathways might be. It was piled together with several other knitting books which have moved around the house over the past year. I completely forgot about it until I bought Personal Footprints a few weeks ago. Socks will be moving up higher in the queue soon.

B is for Bargains

I think it is fun to get a great deal on yarn, so I'm always on the lookout for bargains.

One good way is to support your LYS. One of mine has a frequent shopper card that gives you a credit once purchases add up to $100. Another shop gives you a 10% discount for a purchase done in your birthday month.

Bargains can also be found online. Discontinued Brand Name Yarn is exactly what the name says. The yarn in this picture came from them. If you include shipping, the cost was about 55% of the normal prices for these yarns. Another place I've gotten great prices is Little Knits. If you're lucky enough to live in Seattle, they've also got a brick-and-mortar store.

Ravelry is a great resource for bargains. There are forums for people who are destashing. You can do searches for yarns that people are willing to sell or trade. I was looking for a specific yarn recently that wasn't available from the dyer. I found someone on Ravelry who had exactly what I wanted for less than it would've cost at retail.

A is for Alpaca

Big Horn Mountain Alpacas is where I purchased my favorite swap thing ever. The recipient really wanted a drop spindle and alpaca is one of her favorite fibers. I was delighted to find this company's inexpensive spindle and fiber kits. They even come with a picture of the alpaca that the fiber came from.

Here are a few fun alpaca facts from the Georgia Alpaca Association:

• Alpacas have no teeth on top, instead they have a dental pad and do not bite.


• Alpacas were first imported to the United States in 1984, but are no longer legally imported.


• There is no need to groom or bathe alpacas but they do need to have their toenails trimmed.


• Alpacas are shorn once a year. You can expect to get any where from four to ten pounds of fleece from a single animal.

A Fiberlicious Alphabet

Happy National Blog Posting Month. It's that time of year again where I will blog on a daily basis rather than in my usual arbitrary manner.

I've chosen an alphabet theme, in hopes that will give me an instant direction to go in each day. That will leave three mystery days. What will I select for those days? Stay tuned.

Half of the world

halfmap
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is what I've been working on this month. I got a different color of yarn from each of the shops I visited on the shop hop. It's coming out better than I expected. Even the enlarged charts are sometimes difficult to read, though, which had caused a few problems. The northernmost portion of the Great White North appears to have been affected by global warming. Western Africa may have had some border disputes. I'm about to start the most difficult section, involving the rest of Africa and Europe.

Iron Knitter

I knit in Sock Wars I, II, and III. All three were frustrating experiences. It looks like I wasn't the only one with problems. Participation dropped 75% between SWIII and SWIV.

Sock Wars V is planned to start early next year. I have zero confidence that the bugs have been worked out, so I'm not participating in the "killing" portion of the festivities. However, a new activity has been added and I've already signed up. Iron Knitter is a bit like the Sock Knitter's Pentathalon. There will be six patterns. You knit the socks to fit yourself and post a picture of them to a Flickr group. A percentage of people to complete each sock go on to compete in the next sock. There's no mailing of anything, no sizing of socks to someone else's feet, and no relying on multiple flaky warriors. For $4, I figured I could take a chance on this.

Call me Cleopatra

tramp
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I know I said I'm kind of burnt out on knitting socks. But look at this yarn from Tempted. It's got real silver thread in it and it is pink!

I know I have enough sock yarn stashed to keep me busy for a year even if I was knitting socks right now (which I'm not). The person who was destashing both of these gave a break on shipping for more than one item. Plus look at the colors!

I don't have a sock yarn problem. I have lots of pretty sock yarn.

Handy Hint of the Day

If you are knitting the Vogue Map of the World afghan, you probably had enough sense to enlarge the charts before you started. I got through about 1/8th of it with a magnifying ruler and decided that continuing in that way was madness.

I displayed the pattern in Adobe Reader at 200%. I displayed the first section of the first chart. When my printer software allowed me to choose a Print Range, I selected Current View. I printed that section, then repeated with all of the other sections.

ETA: The englarged charts work great. I also put stitch markers in my work at the same places as the gridlines appear on the chart. I highly recommend doing that, too.

Doily

harvestdoily
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

As I was putting together this Harvest Moon Doily, a few things occurred to me. I'm now about the age my grandmother was when she taught me to crochet. I'm now old enough that there's nothing unusual about me making doilies. Finally, when this thing is dry, I'm going to rework the tendrils coming off of the pumpkin leaves.

Subversive Cross Stitch

I have this obsession with things that glow in the dark. When I saw that Subversive Cross Stitch had Halloween designs that utilized gitd floss, I had to check them out. The patterns cracked me up. There is considerable use of profanity, so stay away from the site if that sort of thing bothers you. I have to say, though, that in the case of the F*** Cancer design, it was appropriate.

Shop Hop: Stops 4-10

Stop 4: The Whole Nine Yarns in Woodstock.

What I liked: the shop's got a whole lot of yarn that I like. Today, though, what I liked and what I needed to buy were two different things. I bought Cat Bordhi's new book and kicked myself for not coming by when she was there last week.

Freebie: a sock pattern. This was my favorite. It has a kind of honeycomb pattern with the sweetest little cable-ish pattern up the back.

Stop 5: Knitting Emporium in Kennesaw.

What I liked: this shop is in a funky little house and it has rooms and rooms full of yarn. They've got this cool garden sampler that's made up of all sorts of interesting patterns. I wish I'd taken more time to find out more about it.

Freebie: a lace cowl, knit from sock-weight yarn.

Stop 6: Knitch in Atlanta.

What I liked: Knitch is a spacious shop with tons of yarn. They also sell a bit of fabric and have a section with fiber for spinning.
Freebie: a unique scarf patttern, knit on size 15 needles.

Stop 7: Sheepish in Decatur.
Lulu and I were getting pretty tired at this point. I couldn't find a way of getting her and a shop sign in the same picture. This is Lulu after we got back to the car after this stop.

What I liked: There was a good variety of yarn here. If I'm remembering correctly, they had spinning fiber for sale, too. I do remember a wheel in the window.

Stop 8: Needle Nook in Atlanta.

What I liked: I'd been to this shop many years ago. It seems to have a LOT more yarn than what I remembered. They have lots of patterns and also needlepoint supplies.
Freebie: a beaded scarf pattern.

Stop 9: Strings and Strands in Atlanta.

What I liked: This was one of the shops that was completely new to me. I was surprised by all of the yarn they had. I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but it is true. There were several people hopping in this shop and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Freebie: cabled cowl pattern.

(Yes, Lulu's in the picture. It took me a while to find her, and I took the darn thing.) Stop 10: Cast-On Cottage and Needlework Garden in Roswell.

What I liked: I've been in this shop many times, with a variety of experiences. Today was the best. I found the yarn that I wanted as the main color for my world map afghan. I couldn't find enough. One woman checked in the computer and said that there should be more yarn somewhere in the shop. Another woman went into where the yarn was stored three times, eventually finding what I needed. Also, I had a 10% off coupon because of my birthday.
Freebie: How Water Bottle Cozy. It's so cute, I want to go buy a hot water bottle so I can make it.

Now I've got a ton of yarn and three new projects to do. I'm going to start with a nap!

Shop Hop: Stops 2 and 3

Lulu and I hopped (groan) into the Paulamobile and headed east this morning. We drove and drove and drove through the drizzle until we reached

Stop 2 - Main Street Yarns and Fibers in Watkinsville.

What I liked: Noro Kureyon Sock on sale for $7.20. The shop is spacious, with lots of different kinds of yarn. There's a separate entrance for what I think was a dye studio. I took a dyeing class at the shop's previous location and enjoyed it a lot. The staff was friendly and helpful. The icing on this particular cake was getting a can of diet Coke for the road. I wish this shop was a lot closer to me.

Freebie: a simple but striking cap pattern for bulky weight yarn.

We then drove back to

Stop 3 - Yarn Garden Knit Shop in Lawrenceville.

What I liked: There was a good variety of yarn and it's nicely displayed. It's just that I'm already a teensy bit burned out at looking a shelves of yarn. One of the people in the shop pointed me to the book room. There were more books than I'd seen at any shop so far and I like that they had a separate space for them. I wasn't in the market for any books, but then I spotted Curvy Knits Cambridge. It's a booklet of six patterns by Jillian Moreno and I want to make all six. If you are a person who doesn't make anything out of Vogue Knitting because the largest size is light-years away from what would fit you, hunt this booklet down.

Freebie: a Winter Shrug pattern made worsted weight yarn. I'm not much of a shrug person, but if I was, I'd make this one.

The duck and I will be taking a couple of days off before completing the Hop. In the meantime, I'll be figuring out if I've got enough of the green tweed I brought back from Ireland to make the cute vest in Curvy Knits.

Shop Hop - Stop 1

luluhop1
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

As a birthday present to myself, I decided to do the Atlanta Shop Hop this year. I've been wanting to knit Vogue Knitting's Map of the World Afghan. Since the Shop Hop requires you to spend a little at each shop, I'm buying the yarn for the afghan as I travel around.

Stop 1 was Only Ewe and Cotton Too! in Milton (formerly Alpharetta).

What I like there: no matter who is there, they are friendly and helpful. The shop's fairly small, but has an excellent selction of yarn and accessories. They've even got spinning fiber. Only Ewe shares space with a shop called The Bead Bug, so there are lots of beads available, too.

Freebie: each shop is giving away a pattern to Hop participants. Only Ewe's is a pattern for Advent Stockings. They are mini-socks that can be tagged with numbers and used as an advent calendar. They had a small Christmas tree decorated with the socks and it was really pretty.

Lulu and I will be heading east tomorrow.

P.I.T.A.

I was browsing patterns on Ravelry and happened upon this. Isn't it a riot? The pattern's currently in German, but the author states that there will be an English translation soon. AUTSCH! - das etwas andere Nadelkissen roughly translates to ouch, that was another needle kiss. The author is gitwerg. If you're on Ravlery, check out the pattern to see more photographs. Yay for another use for leftover sock yarn.

Angee and Shop Hop

I'd intended to do both pairs of socks in this month's Cookie A knitalong. I ended up just finishing Angee (with about 24 hours to spare). I've been too busy sewing cat toys to do much of anything else. My reward for completing the order of nearly 200 toys is to do Shop Hop Atlanta. I'll report back on my adventures as they occur. I'm planning on starting with the most local of my LYS on Sunday.

Labyrinth Socks

labdet
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

Here's the pattern for these socks. I recommend a solid/semisolid if you want the pattern to show up clearly. If you like patterns that are just complex enough to keep you entertained, you might like this.

Labyrinth Socks


ETA: Never mind. Here's where you can find a better version of the same pattern. She's got a bunch of other cool-looking free patterns, too. The blog's in French but the patterns are in English (at the the first one I checked was in English).

Cute Attack

candycorn
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

I saw some too cute candy corn amigurumi that someone's selling on Etsy. I decided that I had to try to make one of my own.

Okay, I'm done having fun, it's back to the cat toy mountain. Only 50 more catnip mice and I'll be done.


ETA: D'oh! I really have the dumb big-time today. The candy corn should be a little yellow on the bottom, a big band of orange in the middle, and a little bit of white on top.

Hats

hats
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is all the knitting I've had time to do the last couple of weeks. the two little hats are for charity, providing they stretch out enough to fit some little heads. The gray is my handspun alpaca.

Shop hop clueless rant

I've been doing these online yarn and fabric shop hops. You go to a site and find a graphic that you click and you get credit for finding it. Most of the time, the shop will give you some sort of clue as to where the graphic might be found. The other times, you have to deal with the clueless. I mean that in both senses of the word. I can understand that a business would like people to look at many parts of their site. Not supplying a clue will definitely make people look at a lot of different pages. However, this can backfire big time. If someone clicks on every possible link on a site with menus from hell, that person will remember your site. That person will also never EVER wish to return for any reason. I'm unlikely to finish the current yarn dash because of two sites with no clues (and I suspect no "found it" graphics).

Clueless ones, there are options. One site I visited today made a little game of getting people to look through their site. The owner's picture was put on a series of pages that she wanted people to see. You looked at the page, found the picture, clicked on the picture, and were moved to another page. At the end of about a half dozen pages was the "found it" graphic. The owner got what she wanted and so did I. That's the exact opposite of what happened with your sites.

Knitter Twitter Party with Vickie Howell

Join Me & Lands’ End for a Twitter Party to celebrate the kick-off the FeelGood Campaign! The party will feature more than 20 fun giveaways ranging from the FeelGood sweater and my books to Lands’ End gift cards and FeelGood yarn. Here are the details:




Lands’ End FeelGood Twitter Party

Date: Wednesday, September 16th

Time: 7:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. CST

Location: #landsend




What IS a Twitter Party?
A Twitter Party is where a group of people can discuss or “Tweet” about a specific topic in their own little chat room. To participate in the discussion you’ll need to sign up for a free Twitter account (instructions are listed below).

Why Attend?
Twitter parties are a great way to connect with other people while chatting about a specific topic. Lands’ End will be hosting a two-hour Twitter Party to kick-off the FeelGood campaign – complete with fun and giveaways.

Twitter Party Hosts
Twitter Party Hosts oversee the event, answer questions, and keep the flow of the party going.

How To Participate

1. Twitter Account - Go to www.twitter.com to sign up for a free Twitter account.

2. Find and Follow any or all of Lands’ End Hosts:
@LEPRMichele
@LandsEndPRKira
@LEPRAmanda
@LandsEndPRAdam
@VickieHowell

During the party if you want to address one of the hosts directly, be sure to use their entire Twitter handle (ie @VickieHowell).

Hashtag – The Twitter world calls a pound sign (#) a hashtag. A hashtag is a code used to mark a specific topic. The Lands’ End FeelGood Twitter Party is marked and happening at #landsend. You can search for #landsend to participate in the party and see the party tweets.

Set Up TweetGrid - On the day of the party, use TweetGrid.com or another Twitter application such as TweetDeck to follow all of the “tweets” marked #landsend and participate in the party.

On TweetGrid - You can comment, reply and read all at once in TweetGrid, and it even puts the hashtag in your comment for you.

Click here for a TweetGrid tutorial list. The Twitter Party Tutorial should be #8.

Fast Followers – Something to note, Twitter parties are fun and fast!


Hope to see you there!


Craft.Rock.Love,
Vickie

I've got the hat pattern printed out and will grab my needles and a bucket of worsted yarn. It sounds like fun and a good cause to boot.

Work in progress (or not)

• Fat quarter project bag-found a pattern for one of the boxy style bags. It didn't work out. I'm waiting for a new idea to arrive.
  
• Socks-do not want to knit socks right now. There's one completed Cookie sock and another, from a different pattern, with about 1/2" of ribbing done. I'm not going to force myself to work on them.
  
• Sweater-I'm making a sweater out of Peaches and Creme. You got a problem with that? I could've bought fancy cotton yarn for it and spent 5 or 10 times the $18 this cost. My budget can handle that.
  
• Tam-When I reached Sock Burnout, I picked up my drop spindle and finished the bag of gray alpaca. I'm making a lace tam out of it. I did some Ravelry pattern searches to find an appropriate pattern. I was very amused to find patterns called River Tam and Simon Tam.
  
• Shop Hops-the Greater Atlanta Shop Hop will occur on the same week as my birthday. I've decided that I'll participate this year. I've been busy with Mapquest and Driving Route Planner, trying to decide the most practical way of hitting all 10 shops. That was fun. It'll be done on two days.
  
• Cat toys-everything will be going on the back burner until I finish a big order of cat toys. Maybe a after a few dozen the socks will start calling out to me.
  

Another thing I didn't need to know

I think I knew that you could buy yarn via Amazon, but I put the idea out of my head. I heard about Misti Alpaca sock yarn, so I Googled it. I was just curious to see what it looked like and how much it cost. I don't need any new sock yarn. Guess where you can buy it. Yeah, Amazon. Paradise Fibers is the source. Their business card is on the wall behind me, so you know I'm familiar with them. Three of the colors were just okay, but then I saw Marino. My inner child is kicking and screaming for it, but I'm being strong. I don't need any more sock yarn. In fact, I'm about to start some socks with a somewhat similar color from mmmmMalabrigo. I'll go pet that yarn until the inner kid calms down.

slippers

slippers
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

No, the camera wasn't out of focus. These really are that fluffy. I got the pattern from Craftzine. The knitting's easy. You knit six squares in a row, kind of like a stripey scarf. The final two squares go on in a different direction so you end up with an L shape. Sewing it together's a little crazy, but they've got a video that's supposed to help. I was too stubborn to go and look at it and was able to figure it out. Eventually.

No excuses

rovingballs
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

This is a half pound of wool roving from Hidden Haven Farm. I had no idea that it would be this much. The balls are each about as big as my head.

The paint's dry on my Kiwi spinning wheel. It didn't come out the way I wanted it to, but it still looks better than the plain MDF did. The wheel's ready to be used and I have lots of fiber. I have no excuses to keep from spinning. I do have two new projects that I want to do before I start, though.


I learned one thing from trying to design a project bag that uses two fat quarters: a boxy shape is necessary to use up most of the fabric. I wanted to avoid zippers, but those box-shaped project bags kept calling to me. Instead of reinventing the wheel, I found the Cutesie Box Bag Tutorial. I've got those shiny African fabrics I got at Stitches South that would make a cute bag. Watch this space.

I wanted a good Hello Kitty amigurumi pattern, and found one in an Etsy shop that's gone out of business. I want to make one in a Jayne hat, one that looks like a good luck cat, and a devil kitty. So many projects, so little sleep. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A green weekend

green weekend
Originally uploaded by Paula knits

A: Alpaca/wool yarn from Desired Haven Farm arrived today. Nice prize! The color's Seaweed.

B: Vilai socks for Cookie A knitalong. Three days to do half a sock is a piece of cake. Or maybe a cookie. Heh heh. I call the color Minty Fresh.

C: Fast drying latex paint. I don't know how fast it'll dry here in soggy Georgia. It's the base coat for the wheel portion of my Kiwi. The color's Spring Green.