Cordi Shows Her Softer Side

I had a day off and was finally able to make some clothes for Cordeliane. I started with a striped sweater, which I was sure she would never wear, just to make sure the pattern fit. Surprisingly she suits the 'pretty' sweater as much as she does the black one. The jeans are a major accomplishment for me. I haven't done any real sewing since just after high school, and even that was minimal and I've never tried my hand at anything this small. But I get how a pattern works so I thought I'd try my hand at it. I used to do a lot of needlepoint so figured hand sewing would be reasonably easy. Unfortunately I only remember how to do two stitches - the french knot and the backstitch. Lucky for me, the backstitch is useful for sewing, so all was good. But I'm going to have to refresh my memory if I want to sew more stuff for her.

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here are a few more Cordi picutres. (Again, click the pictures to see them full-size.)

Better late than never.

Way back in August, I went to Hong Kong - and of course bought some yarn. Not a lot since I was there less than a week. And all the yarn is Japanese... not that I'm complaining. It's a bit anti-climatic since I've already shown a FO knit with some of it, but I'm going to post pics of boths sets anyway.

First, the Diacity "For Men". Why is it for men? I have no idea, but the colours are perfect for the Grandpa Scarves I'm making for Christmas. The picture came out a bit dark - the one on the top right is actually navy blue. 50g balls of non-scratchy worsted wool. With the exchange rate, they worked out to about $3.00 each.



The other yarn was a bit more expensive. More like $6.50 per ball. But I think it was worth it. I'm still getting used to The Boy's camera, and this photo really doesn't do the yarn justice at all. It shows the colours pretty well, but it missed the shimmer completely. I should probably try again, but I don't know if I will. You can see what I mean here. It's a wool/nylon/mohair blend, and when I finally get around to making SnB Nation's Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers, this is what I'm going to use. I'll definitely have some leftover, but that's as far as I've planned.



Both yarns are made by the same company - Diakeito. I'd love to see these yarns turn up here, because I've loved what I've seen (and had no complaints working with the Diacity). I'm sure it's in North America somewhere, but so far I've had no luck finding it in Vancouver.

Postcards

I joined a postcard swap on Knitty a while back. Here are the cards I have so far. (Sorry about the glare. I couldn't find a way to avoid it without taking individual photos.)

More SP goodness.

My second package arrived two days ago. I was out shopping with a friend and missed its delivery, but it was waiting safe and sound when I came home - a brown cardboard box with my name on it. And also the words "Yes, you may take this box as a hint! SP" The box is from amazon.ca, and has the remnants of a postal code, which means that my SP is either from Ontario, or is tricky. Very tricky.

Anyway, on to the goods.



First the non-yarn stuff. The card is a picture of a 1950's couple sipping soda through two straws - awww. I can't say that I'd want to live back then, but if I was forced to wear clothes from a different era for the rest of my life, I'd probably pick the 50's. Look at her blouse. Little eyelets (which you can't see very well in my photo) and an adorable collar. I could do that. Buddy definitely needs to do something about his hair though.

Next, a book. Hooray! One can never have enough books. (Unless, perhaps, she's a 1950's housewife. Hmm...) I definitely have a penchant for fantasy, but I'm by no means a connoisseur. Partly because my reading tends to be pretty eclectic. Partly because my prime reading years were dominated by Star Trek, Stephen King and Anne Rice. The result is that there are authors I've always meant to read, but simply haven't gotten around to yet. David Eddings is one of those. And now that I've been given the first book in one of his series, I have no excuse!

Now onto the yarn. The Cherry Tree Hill is kind of lost in the photo. It's quite a dark yarn, mostly green and green-brown, but there are shades of blue and purple hidden in there as well. It's quite soft, and I've been assured it's feltable. I'm goign to have to play with it for a while. I haven't figured out what to do with it yet, but that's kind of par for the course for me.

Except for with the other yarn. The Noro Kureyon. My SP says the colourway "screamed autumn" at her, and made her think of me. The colours are perfect. I absolutely adore this yarn! And, I've never used Noro yarn before. It's always seemed too expensive since I've never really had a project in mind for it, even though I stop to fondle it every time I visit the LYS. But I've already started knitting a scarf with it. (Inspired by this one, but half as wide. I just love how the 'mistake rib' shows off th colours.) I have to be honest - I have more scarves than any one person needs. But I don't have a skinny scarf, and I don't have a Noro scarf. Soon I'll have both. I think I'm going to want to buy another skein so I can make it super-long. Darn! An escuse to buy Noro! :)



Thanks once again, mystery SP. Time for me to start sleuthing...

One Christmas present down...

I'm making Christmas scarves for my Grandfathers from yarn I got in Hong Kong. (I took pictures of the yarn... I think they got deleted.) The yarn is really nice non-scratchy wool and was only $3 Canadian per 50g ball. But they only had the one bag, and the colours were 4 ball of the brown-ish, two of the red, one dark blue, and one light blue. So stripes it is.

Here's the first one.



I was trying to go for a repeating pattern (so I wouldn't run out of one colour) but one that looked random. I think I did pretty good. You can't see it very well the way I layed it out, but it's just a five-stripe repeat with the red and blue reversed the next time around. Like this.

VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV
VVVVVVV

Oh, and the cable pattern is reversible. I've never seen that before. You really do learn something new all the time, don't you?



The only thing I regret about it was all those stripes! I mean, really, what was I thinking? I had 74 ends to sew in. SEVENTY-FOUR!! For one scarf! Rediculous. It took me two evenings to get them all done. I was ready to burn the thing by the time I was finished. The next scarf is the same pattern, but the stripes are twice as thick. I haven't decided which Grandpa gets which scarf yet.

Surprises never cease.

So I'm in my kitchen today, minding my own business, cooking pasta, when I hear a knock on the door. Kind of weird. We live in a basement suite and the entrance is at the rear of the house so we don't get a lot of drop-by's. And friends don't usually pop in during the afternoon - at night it's a different story. So anyway, I go to the door and there's a parcel delivery guy there. He confirms my name, and then hands me this:



"What on earth is this?" I think. "Yarn? For me? The label says 'gift', but it can't be from my SP because there's a return name and address - and she was way too sneaky last time to slip up that badly. Oh well. There's nothing wrong with free yarn." So ignoring the pasta for the moment, I fetch a knife and carefully open up the box.

Yep. It seems to be for me.



Three skeins of No No Kitty yarn in an absolutely stunning colourway called Summer Swim.
(Is it wrong of me to want to knit winter mitts and a hat with a yarn called Summer Swim?)



I've spent so much time today fondling it. I love it! I want to wear it. Now! Maybe as a bracelet.



Okay maybe not. But something for me for this winter definitely. I'm being selfish with this yarn, which also seems wrong since it was a RAK. But I'm allowed to be selfish from time to time, right?

I love my SP!

Here's my first package from the Knitty SP5. (As usual, click on the picture to see a larger version.)

To start with, this thing was delivered to my door at about 9:30 at night. Like those pranks when you were a kid, there was a knock and no one there when I went to answer. (The poor delivery person accidentally went upstairs though, and got a weird look from our landlord.) The envelope had nothing on the front but my address, although the back is full of hints.



Too bad I'm no good at guessing these things. Because if I was I could probably narrow it down. Near and far, eh? Near and far... oh my gosh, it's Grover!

Yeah. Anyway... This package seems to have a dyeing theme. This card came with it... nothing like pink and blue sheep!



And inside the bag was a skein of Knit Picks' Color Your Own - 440 yards of soft merino sock yarn for my dyeing pleasure. But that's not all. She (the writing makes me think my SP must be a girl) also sent a knit washcloth for cleaning up afterwards - isn't she thoughtful? And a Rachmaninov CD. The very beginning of the second movement in no.3... Why that makes me hold my breath I don't know, but it does every time. I love it.



So thank you, thank you, thank you - whoever you are!! I love it all. When I'm finally done with my massive house cleanup, I'm going to reward myself with dyeing up the yarn. I'll definitely keep you posted on the progress.

Knitty SP5

Somewhere out there is a person who, in a few short days, will be given my name, address, and permission to spoil me rotten for a few months. Or at least, send me fun little prezzies. (Somewhere out there is a person who I get to spoil for a few months as well, but I can't say much about that. That would be telling.) In the interest of information overload, I've decided to include a second set of questions for my SP to read if they feel so inclined.

1. Are you a yarn snob (do you prefer high-end/natural fibers)? Do you avoid Red Heart and Lion Brand? Or is it all the same to you?

I'm not a snob exactly, but I do prefer to knit with natural fibres. For every three projects I do with wool or cotton, I do one with acrylic. It all depends on how it will be used. I'll splurge on wool for socks, because acrylic feels gross, but I'll use acrylic for baby/child items - put a baby next to cashmere and they will spit up all over it. Most of the large-scale projects I do are either with cheap wool (i.e. Patons' Classic Wool), acrylic (or at least 75% acrylic), or yarn recovered from thrift-store sweaters.

2. Do you spin? Crochet?

I enjoy spinning, but I'm not exactly good at it yet. All I can produce so far is slubby single-ply. When I get a bit better, I might actually start calling myself a spinner.

I haven't tried crochet yet. This is mainly because I don't much care for most of the crochet projects out there. I'm hoping the new Debbie Stoller book will change my mind.

3. Do you have any allergies? (smoke, pets, fibers, perfume, etc.)

Cat and dog hair, and smoke, but as long and I know about it, I can wash whatever might be 'contaminated' and be fine. I also may-or-may-not have a dairy sensitivity/intolerance, which means no milk chocolate until I know for certain. Dark chocolate is fine as long as it doesn't have milk or milk protein in it. (Not that that's a hint or anything.)

4. How long have you been knitting?

About a year and a half, but I knit all the time, so have logged a ton of hours.

5. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

Only with Knit Picks - and I don't know how to link to that without emailing it.

6. What's your favorite scent? (for candles, bath products etc.)

For baths - lavender. For anything else - fruity, chocolate, and coffee. I don't like vanilla.

7. Do you have a sweet tooth?

Hmm, I had a box of Nerds and a dozen sour gummies yesterday for 'coffee'. I think that's a yes.

8. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do?

Right now it's all about knitting. I dabble in some other things, but that's the one that's stuck around.

9. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I listen to just about everything. I grew up in small-town western Canada, so I've had my fill of country. I'm not really into hip-hop, although every once in a while someone surprises me. And if I never hear another Britney Spears song again it'll be too soon. But anything else goes - Classical, Celtic Rock, Jazz, Punk, Top-40, 80's... if it's good, I'll probably enjoy it. And I love discovering new artists.

And yes, I am MP3 compatible.

10. What's your favorite color? Or--do you have a color family/season/palette you prefer?

Favourite colour is orange. I like my colours bright (red, purple, green) or neutral (grey, brown, black). No pastels - generally. And I love yellow, but can't wear it. It makes me look like I have liver disease.

11. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I live with my boyfriend of 4 1/2 years. We'll get married at some point, when we get around to it, but we're not in any sort of rush. No pets - the landlord doesn't allow them.

12. What are your life dreams? (really stretching it here, I know)

I want to travel. All the time. Forever. And learn everything. A travelling student - who ends her life with no debt somehow. And gets to go into space. Okay, enough of fantasy world.

I do want to travel though. I'd love to be able to take a trip to a different country every year for the rest of my life. That should satisfy and isn't completely unreasonable. I don't want to be famous, but I'd love to know that something I've done has made a positive impact in people's live. (That said, I've always wanted to record a Christmas album and get a book published.)

13. What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with?

I actually really like cotton. It somehow feels more real to me than a lot of other yarns. Probably because it's solid and doesn't have any give... I haven't played around enough to have a favourite brand yet. Generally I just gaze longingly at the expensive stuff, and pick something more in my price range.

14. What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

Novelty yarns drive me insane. I've been forced (right) to use them from time to time, but I usually don't like how they look or feel. The big exception is ribbon yarn. That's okay.

15. What is/are your current knitting obsession/s?

It must be getting close to Fall, because all the projects I want to make right now are sweaters, blankets, wraps, and other things to keep me warm. I've just started venturing into Kool-Aid dyeing, and I'm having a blast with it.

16. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

It depends on what I'm in the mood for. Love socks. Love cable-work. I was obsessed with dishcloths for a while, but I'm sick of them now. A big boring sweater is great for watching TV.

17. What are you knitting right now?

A big boring sweater. (Acrylic. Charcoal with small yellow/black stripes at the cuffs and hem. All stockinette, but it's my first with set-in sleeves, so we'll see how that works. It's a Hufflepuff sweater for the new Harry Potter movie.) A pair of socks that I had to write down the pattern for because my printer was acting up - I have no idea what the pattern's called unfortunately. Hello Yarn's "One Baaad Poncho" - well, I've only done a gauge swatch. I'm on vacation in a few days and that'll be my plane project. I'm also working on a sweater design to go with the yarn I picked up an a whim a few weeks ago - but I'm not going to say any more about that until I figure out if it'll work or not.

18. What do you think about ponchos?

Generally, I think they're over-rated as a fashion accessory. But as something to keep your warm, if it's cute, I'm all for it.

19. Do you prefer straight or circular needles?

Circulars because they're more portable and I knit on the bus a lot. That said, I don't have very many pairs. A lot of my needles are second-hand, or from Zellers or Wal-Mart.

20. Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Bamboo for socks, without question. I usually knit with aluminum, and actually don't mind them except that it's hard to keep them quiet on the bus. I have a few pairs of acrylic, but they're not really my favourite.

21. Are you a sock knitter?

Boy, am I!

22. How did you learn to knit?

The Stitch 'N Bitch book. I know, I know... but I'd been wanting to learn to knit forever, and it found me one day when I wasn't even looking, and the Skully sweater had me sold in a heartbeat. So there!

23. How old is your oldest UFO?

I've got a shopping bag I started in the spring, but I'll probably end up frogging it. I got bored of the project pretty quickly, and I don't really do a lot of market-shopping.

24. What is your favorite animated character or a favorite animal/bird?

Animated Character - Winnie-the-Pooh (the classic one, not the Disney one). Animal - cats.

25. What is your favorite holiday?

Hallowe'en. Dressing up and candy... what could be better?

26. Is there anything that you collect?

Aside form yarn, right? Kitsch - I need to stop that. Incense - not on purpose. Books. My Little Ponies (1991 and earlier). Foreign spare change and commemorative coins (not from purchased sets though). I'm mildy obsessed with pirates (sad) and tall ships, but I don't really have a collection - yet.

27. Any projects you want to make but haven't gotten there yet?

Oh, tons. If I made a list right now of all the projects I want to do, and then didn't add any more, I'd still have a hard time finishing them in my lifetime. Here are some projects that I want to do sometime soon, but haven't gotten around to yet.

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer05/PATTsatchel.html

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/PATTleo.html

http://knitty.com/ISSUEspring05/PATTtrellis.html

http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall04/PATTcozy.html

http://www.lionbrand.com/patterns/kfw-samplerAfghan.html

http://www.acrilan.com/patterns/Nov00/catpillow.html

http://lusciousgracious.com/crazy8s.htm

http://www.sweaterscapes.com/glove-pattern.htm

http://www.helloyarn.com/cyclingaran.htm

http://www.rebecca-online.de/cont_en/anleitungen/heft_17_anl_24.pdf

http://www.rebecca-online.de/cont_en/anleitungen/heft_12_anl_17.pdf

And that's just the free online patterns! I also really want to make Rogue and Eris from www.girlfromauntie.com but don't have the patterns yet.

So there you have it - more information about me than you ever wanted to know. (And that's not the half of it.) I'll sit down and come up with a 100-things-about-me at some point. In the meantime, let the SP5 Games begin!

Cutesy Little Pirate Bag

I'm bored, so here's a little update. I've finally completed my first felting project - the Skull & Crossbones tote. I don't have access to a washer outside of the laundromat, so I used the Boiling Cauldron of Death method instead. The bag itself was a quick knit - a couple of afternoons infront of the computer, and it was done. The felting was a longer process - probably close to an hour altogether, and I'm never stovetop felting in the summer again. Talk about slaving over a hot stove all day!

Here's the tote pre-felting, sloppy intarsia and all. (The nice thing about this is it didn't have to be prefect. I'm not so good at the colour work yet. I don't do it because I don't like it, and I don't like it because I'm not good at it, and I'm not good at it because I don't do it. Hooray for endless cycles.)


Then we've got the implements of torture. (This is actually just an excuse to show off my stove with it's drunkenly happy cooking utensils and orange lightbulb salt and pepper shakers.)


And after several sacrifices to the BCD...


I've got a green and orange mini skull and crossbones tote. I'll get a picutre of it next to the sage brush as a size comparison eventually. The laptop isn't living at home right now. (And, yes, it's upside-down. I thought flipping the image would make it look less weird, but no.)


Yay.

This is almost turning into the knitting blog I'd planned it to be.

Yay, more knitting pictures. Transferring files from the camera, to the laptop, then to the desktop - and then editing them, uploading to photobucket and blogging them - always takes way more time than I expect it to. But here's my latest batch.

First off, from a wedding a few weeks ago, the debut photos of my Ribbon Xback. (I think I have some good photos of the amazing flora at the wedding as well, but I haven't taken the time to check. I'll post them if they've turned out.) Here's the front. I cannot seem to not look stupid in photos, especially when squinting into the sun, so I've cropped my face out. Sorry.

And here's the back. From here on in, you can click the image to see it full-sized.


I've also, finally, finished sewing the frou-frou onto my Cocktail Monkey Bag. I love how it turned out. So did the strange man at Folk Fest yesterday - so much so that he wanted to photograph it. Okay, that's not fair. First, nearly everyone is strange at Folk Fest in that they're unconventional and generally really friendly. Also, I was wearing a nude mesh shirt with a tattoo print under my tank top (from eight feet away, it looks real) and blue/gold pinstripe wrap pants with my bag slung over my arm - I think he was intrugued by the combination. Or maybe he just loved the bag. Who knows?

And a close-up.


I also got those damn Broadripple Socks done. As you can see, they're a bit too small for my big white legs. The ripple effect is nearly gone, and they kinda hurt to wear. After I wash them, I'll have to decide which of my skinny friends to give them to.




And speaking of socks, I've nearly got a pair of my versions of the Go With The Flow Socks from Interweave Knits Summer 2005. I'm using the KnitPicks yarn that I go in my swap with lumen2002. I couldn't be happier with how they're turning out. The photos in the magazine really don't do the pattern justice. Mine don't either, but they're better, though not nearly as pretty.




I also Kool-Aid dyed some of the Wool of the Andes from that same swap. Soon I will have that Skull and Crossbones tote. In green and orange. Yarr! It took forever to get a nice orange colour. I needed to use three packs of Orange and one of Cherry. But I love the end result.


Last but not least, some of the Knitty Coffeeshop folks have been subject to my occasional whinging about the sweater that was so close to being ready for the Half-Blood Prince launch. If only I'd had one more day to work on it. So frustrating. I got everything knitted, despite some mistakes (like knitting the sleeves on kneedles of two different sizes) and got some of the seaming started, but then ran out of time. I'm giving this a bit of a break, since I'm frustrated with it at the moment. I ended up with too many stitches on one sleeve, so I'll have to go and fix that. Plus I skipped the ribbing on the neck - need to do that too. And I did a horrible job sewing in the ends. I knew this would be a re-do, but I was hoping it would at least be tacked together enough to wear. Oh well. It will look great in November when the next movie comes out.






And that's it for now. I've got some more non-knitting photos that will get posted here eventually, and some knitting pics on undeveloped film somewhere in my room. (I put them "somewhere safe" again. Why do I keep doing that?!?) And I never seem to run out of random things to post, so until next time...

Finally. Pictures!

Boy's laptop stayed home from work yesterday, so I was able to spend the morning with it and the digital camera taking some pictures. Unfortunately, I didn't figure out how to work the flash until after everything was transferred, and didn't have time to re-shoot, so a lot of the pictures are blurry. I might update the worst ones, but the laptop is out on tour again for two weeks, so it will be a while.

To start, my first scarf. I've still got this thing - don't know why. I'll never wear it. I had the brilliant idea of putting a cell phone pocket on one side. Now who on earth wants to have their cell phone hanging around their neck?!? I think I knew even then that it would never see the light of day. Nice yarn though. If I didn't have a sort of sentimental attachment to it, I'd probable recycle.



I've only got one other FO picture at the moment. There are quite a few more on a roll of film that I haven't bothered to develop yet. But here's my bookcover.



This one fits a notebook about 7"x10". I'm thinking of making a series; one for paperbacks, one for hardcovers, and one for notebooks. I may also make one that's textbook/binder-sized. We'll see. I very well may get bored with the project before then . I'll post the pattern and a better shot of this one eventually.

I've also got a couple of AFO's. Like UFO's, except that they're almost finished. If I'd just sew in the ends and/or decorate, they'd be done and usable. But they're not, poor things.

Here's my Cocktail Monkey Bag from Knitty. I used a hemp/cotton blend, so it's a bit softer than it should be, but I kind of like it that way. All I have to do is sew on the monkeys and the flowers, and I've got a nice summer beach bag. (I made it taller than called for, because I want to be able to pack a book in it.)



Next, again from Knitty, comes the Ribbon Xback. Or it will be one when I sew the darn ends in. This is for a semi-formal wedding in three weeks. I've tried it on, and it fits well. I'm worried that it fits too well. I'm scared to wash it or wear it too much before the wedding. If it stretches out after, I'll re-knit. I don't want to have to re-do the project on a timeline. Here it's being modelled on my rather shapely office chair. I'll post a picture of it on me at some point, but I wasn't in the mood for self-portraits yesterday.




I wish the pictures showed off how pretty the green Party Ribbon looks. Bet it would if I'd used the flash. :-p

Okay, now the WIP's. I've got another wedding in two weeks. (Busy June.) I have a lovely white 50's cocktail dress that I'm planning on wearing, but I think it needs a little something extra. So I'm making SnB Nations Spiderweb Capelet, but using Garnstudio's Vienna, a blue mohair yarn, instead of the Merino Frappe. This picutre makes it look horrible, but it looks nice, I swear.



I'm also making Knitty's Oblivion for the bachelorette party in a week and a half. Cheaping out and using Bernat Velour which is super-bulky, so a quick knit! But I'll have to knit the fringe separately and sew it on. Oh well. (I've bought licquorice for Knitty's 302 Calories as well, but haven't started it yet.)



Finally, my socks. Well, my sock-and-a-half. I bought this yarn on a whim. Just couldn't get enough of the colours. Knit one sock with the first skein sans pattern. Hated it. Frogged it. Knit another one using Knitty's Broadripple pattern. Loved it. Started the other one. Realized that because of how I re-wound the yarn, the colourway is reversed. Decided I didn't care. Realized that the last colourchange shows really badly. Decided I didn't care. Tried really hard to continue to not care. Realized that I really do care - a lot. Put the socks aside until I'm not mad at them anymore. These things are cursed, I swear. (Read: Sometimes they come back.) Anyway, here they are.




Moving right along, to our left we have The Frog Pond. God bless the Salvation Army. My yarn-on-a-budget needs are met. This DK-weight lambswool beauty was only $6.25.



This one's mostly acrylic, but is a large men's, so yarn galore!



And here's the yeild from a wool/cotton blend that I frogged before taking a picture. Too bad, because it was a cable-knit, and is destined to become another cable-knit. The Boy thinks that's hilarious. It gave me about 1,100 yards. I'm hoping that's enough to make SnB's Big Sack Sweater (it's the one on the left).



And more yarn. First, my very own handspun. I'm crazy proud of this. It's extremely uneven, and I have no idea what I'm going to make out of it. (Last night I dreamed tha someone needed a hat and I decided to use it for that. I don't know if I have enough for a hat. It's only about 50 yards.) I love it. I've got the same amount of identical unspun fiber. Just haven't had time for more spinning recently.



And speaking of unspun fiber, I couldn't resist snapping up these beauties courtesy of Narnia II Farms. Okay, I admit, the name sucked me in. Part of me wants to pretend that the sheep talk... But they are fun colours. Here they are.




But wait. There's more! I made a few trades a while back. In exchange for a book I'll never use, lumen2002 arranged this order from Knit Picks. There are actualy three skeins of the Wool of the Andes, but I needed to bury one of them. And the sock yarn is beautiful. Can't wait to knit it up. But I need to get the other sock off needles first. I'm thinking of making Hello Yarn's Mini Skull and Crossbones Tote as soon as I have time for some dyeing.



I also managed to get rid of a bunch of those cocktail monkeys. I have 20. I don't need more. In exchange I got all of this. (Except for the needles.) The cards are from dolcezza, the top needles-worth of markers are from gidgettm, and the ones on the bottom needle are from kmj44. Unfortunately, the beauty of these things are lost in my crappy, blurry picture. I will definitely take a better picture, because they're all so lovely.



Thanks, ladies!

Finally, just for fun, here are a few non-knitting shots. First, some fun fabric that I picked up a month or so ago. Eventually, this will be made into a couple of needle-holders.



And because none of you care, my computer station and my little baby keyboard. I love my keyboard. I've been without a piano for four years, and I was getting frustratingly bad. Not that I was ever good. But I scooped this baby up for $300.00 including taxes and the stand. Got her from Tom Lee, and was assured that if she sucks, I can take it back. (It's a Fujiyama brand - they'd found them at a trade show, but haven't carried them long enough to give the full seal of approval.) She's been nice to me so far. And she's got an octave switch, so I don't get too frustrated playing on 61 keys.




So there you are. My long and super-image-heavy post. There'll be another one when I get my film developed. Hopefully those ones turn out better. (I don't think I like digital cameras...)