Is it worth the extra $6 a week to upgrade from a case of aquafina to a case of smart water? I really love smart water.

(PS sorry for my absenteeism, I’ve had lots of thought floating around but haven’t been able to corral them into something legible.)

(PPS congrats to one of my best friends, Sarah on the discovery that her #3 baby is going to be a girl!)

(PPPS I spelled absenteeism right the first time, congratulate me!!!)

not handmade but really amazing

https://www.shopcomposition.com/

handmade online

http://www.pixelgirlshop.com/

http://www.buyolympia.com/q/

http://www.blissen.com/

http://www.etsy.com/

http://www.plainmabel.com/

http://www.copacetique.com/

http://www.heydayfashion.com/

http://day-lab.com/

http://mymy.girlswirl.net/

http://www.ibuydiy.com/

http://www.purplepinkandorange.com/

http://www.indieshopping.com/

CALIFORNIA

http://www.nationalproduct.us/

My list of things I’m knitting is growing again. I do this, finish up a whole bunch of things and then start a whole bunch. It’s not too bad of a cycle I suppose, as long as it all gets done eventually.

This hat was one of the things that I worked on in the car on the way to the hot springs last week. I really like this pattern – but I have to say, it’s not one that you can knit and be distracted.

A couple things that helped me were being in a quiet place and running a “safety line” after each pattern repeat. (I just ran some scrap yarn through each stitch on the needles after the pattern repeat – thankfully, because I ripped back SEVERAL times.) The only thing I would have changed about the pattern would have been to make the garter stitch cuff shorter. Considering the family that I came from, it’s surprising that my head isn’t really all that big.

I used one skein of Malabrigo Worsted Lettuce and size 7 needles. Oh and the other thing I did to the pattern was kitchener the seam rather than work the 3 needle bind off. I have no clue why it was written for a 3 needle bindoff rather than a seamless kitchener. (oh and to make the garter stitch look seamless with the kitchener, I worked those last 10 garter stitch stitches of kitchener on the inside of the hat rather than on the outside.)

Have you seen the German knitting magazine Verena? I’m in love. The only problem is that I can’t speak or read German. Luckily, I have a WONDERFUL person who helps me out at the shop who is German. I’m going to keep her around forever!

I’ve started knitting this shell, isn’t it beautiful? I’m using a rich, royal blue cotton with a tiny bit of wool in it. Actually, I’m really excited about this new yarn – that little bit of wool really makes it a nice yarn.

Other things I’m working on?
-a slouchy hat out of Malabrigo
-a funky free form crocheted blanket
-still my sweater workshop sweater (but it’s getting closer – I’ve finally been re-inspired)
-a baby dress
-a couple pairs of socks
-and I’ve got a couple patterns floating around in my head in various stages of knitting.
hmmm, I’m sure there’s more but I can’t recall… All I want to do these days is knit.

Monday
potato leek soup

Tuesday
Veggie Burgers

Wednesday
tofu, potato, sweet potato curry

Thursday
Chicken Cacciatore

Friday
Chicken Fajitas

misc
Banana muffins for breakfasts
frozen strawberry and banana shakes for deserts
bloody marys for drinks :)

I’ve been trying all week to post these photos! Eden turned 5 on Monday. And in true my-daughter form she had a whole birthday celebration. Saturday we had a little party with her friends, Sunday we went swimming at the hot springs in Ouray, Colorado and Monday we had lunch with her grandpa and his wife. All along the way she opened lots and lots of Hello Kitty-themed presents.

I tried to take a couple minutes during all the activities to think about how much she has changed in the last year. All I really had time to think about is how mature she seems. She can be so responsible – makes me wonder who the adult is sometimes. She is most definitely five.

Click the photos below to see the few pictures I uploaded of her birthday. (The only thing I regret about these photos is that they don’t capture how pretty blue-blue her eyes are.)

notice her haircut?

Have you knit with tencel? It’s a wood derived fiber that is so soft and silky. The mitts above were knit out of a double strand of Cascade pima/tencel. It’s such a nice, drape-y fabric with a good weight, I’m thinking about what I want to knit next out of it.

This is also a new pattern I have for sale at Tangle. I named the pattern after my knitting friend who passed away last month and a portion of the sales will be donated to breast cancer research.

I have a meeting with the Skacel rep Feb 21st. How am I going to remember that? It’s like, what? 12 days from now. I can’t remember what I’m supposed to do tomorrow. um… wait.. make a birthday cake for Eden, I knew there was something.

So I think I’m needing a planner. Just something small that I can write down things I schedule, things that I cannot forget to do. You know, stuff like put gas in the car and go to Target and meet with the skacel rep. Really important things.

I was directed to this website: DIY Planner. And from there I was reminded of the Hipster pda. I sort of like this idea of the hipster pda, sort of a tongue-in-cheek spoof that sounds really good to me. I need to write things down to remember them and if I had to take the 20 minutes it would take for me to tap in each letter with a little stylus, I would never accomplish anything.

I’m still gathering together ideas, but the wealth of pictures at flickr have been a good start for me. I’m thinking that I need something a little more organized than just a binder clip… hmm… I’ll add what I find here.

edit:
I’m checking this out: pocket mod

Or maybe I just want to be lazy and get this: moleskine pocket planner.

edit again: It seems that it’s the most offensive thing to go into a book store and ask if they have a planner. It’s FEBRUARY, they say. Yeah, it’s only February, I say. Asking for a planner in February is deeply offensive to their booky bookness. What happens if you decide you don’t like the planner you have in say MARCH? What if(!) your planner gets stolen in June, then what are you going to do? It seems reasonable to me that since I just decided I needed a planner at the beginning of February, not knowing I would decide this in early January, I should be able to find a planner somewhere. I guess I’ll have to order it online…

But I did find this great pre-fab hipster pda at Target by real simple. sigh.

Another item that I recently finished (again, another store model for upcoming classes) is this felted Hobo Bag.

This is a Noni pattern that didn’t really need any changing although, when I have some more time (like 2012), I plan to make some sort of applique for it just to liven it up a bit.

A couple things I learned with this:
-Cascade 220 Tweed is beautiful, but it is not worth the extra $$$ when it comes to felting because the little flecks barely show.
-Sewing a zipper into a felted object is much easier than sewing one into a un-felted, knitted object. But both are equally as tedious.
-Craft stores in my town have something against purse rings. (That and decent felt, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing.)
-Circular stockinette is my friend, maybe too good a friend.

Stats on the pattern:
Noni Felted Hobo Adventure Bags pattern (will be back in stock at Tangle soon.)
4 skeins of Cascade 220 tweed (pattern called for 5)
size 11 (or maybe 13?) 32″ addi turbos

Lately, I’ve really been trying to look at a pattern and see more potential in it. I think it’s a good step for a knitter to be willing to take the bones of a pattern and make it their own. Take for instance this photo:

Never in a million years would I want to knit this sweater. But actually, I did. I’ve gotten to the point where I know that these sweaters (Knitting Pure and Simple) have good bones and I was fairly confident that I could change it into something beautiful.

This is what I did. I started with a solid colored yarn – an improvement already. Then I decided to work the raglan increases with a k1, yo rather than a kfb. After that I thought picot edging would be really great, so I worked that on every edge including the button bands. For the button bands, I only worked one row of garter stitch after picking up stitches then I worked the picot bind off. I decided to skip button holes and go with a single closure at the top, a sweet satin ribbon.

This is what I ended up with:

I think it’s a vast improvement to say the least AND I didn’t have to go and write a whole new pattern to get something totally different… I just changed a few things. THAT is my kind of knitting.

better pics to come