i want to knit what?

does this mean i have bad taste? yikes!



you can read all about this at you knit what? hint: if you click on the photo, you will be taken directly to that particular posting.

i happen to love this dress. i would wear it, even if it made my hips look like balloons.

holiday knitting

i think the only thing that can suck about the holidays is not being able to show all the things i've been knitting, because, a certain recipient reads my blog and would have her surprise spoiled. so, it will remain in secretlandia. (sorry mom)

but, inbetween all the tiny stitches on tiny needles, i've been periodically working on my dreaded mohair wrappy wrap. this is the mohair i purchased on my vermont trip, from the booth, where the vendor told me and all my friends, individually, to cast on a different number of stitches. this hex has resulted in some multiple trips to the frogpond.

but, not too long ago, i decided that 66 was the magic number.



this has become my mindless knitting project. all my other projects require focus or too much yarn to haul around.

though not totally knitting related, this is knitting assisted. i put my tree up yesterday. it's an old aluminum tree from the 50's, and looks like it's had a long celebrated life. but, the hole drilled ontop of the dowel for the king branch is a little loose. so, the king branch would kind of lean. and, when i put my heavy treetopper ontop, it leaned heavily. so, what's a knitter to do? how about reinforce with a size 3 aluminum needle?

knit bits

at the request of mom, i must update. because, mom is "tired of looking at that stupid caterpillar!" okay mom, here it goes, but, because of the secret knitting, i can't really show too much! maybe i should start a secret blog.

first of all, i found a lovely hank of yarn in my stash. and i had NO idea what it was. i smelled it. nothing. not a clue. think, think back, where did you get this? yes! as stitches east, from rosie's yarn cellar. i could "see" the pile of lovely hanks on the table, and the difficulty in choosing just one.



so, i did what any obsessive knitter would do, i called rosie's .... "um, hi. i was at stitches east a couple years ago and bought some yarn, but lost the label, and was wondering if you could identify it for me ...." i swore it wasn't what i thought it was, but, the woman i spoke with described it better than me because it was what i suspected! it's schaefer's anne!

why i doubted it wasn't anne, because, it was missing the trademark vinegar scent most schaefer yarns have.

so, mystery solved! anne has 560 yards of superwash merino, mohair, and nylon. it was created as a sock yarn, but it hasn't said yet what i wants to be.

next on the blocking board is my newest favorite yarn! it's called stampato eXtra and it's 100% merino wool. the label says shrink resistant, but the wash directions show handwash. i'll probably handwash, as i don't want to felt a pair of pricey socks.





i really had a hard time capturing the actual colors, but the yarn has at least 8 or 10 tiny strands plied together, and each of those strands is a different color, with the dominant color being two shades of green. i knit these on size 6 needles at a gauge of 5 sts/inch .... so, i have a 40 st. sock!
they're rather cushy, and thick, so destined for the bed and lounging. i think they helped me get over my sock slump!

and, here's a cute picture of agent gray .... she/i am modeling a koigu hat from last season .... it's from interweave knits, the issue with the stupid waiter boys in chunky sweaters.



fun tidbit of the week ... i loaned a book to one of my sweetest knitting girls ... and she returned it with extras ...



say hello to my modified victoria's secret bag and TRUFFLES! .... the perfect companion to seasonal knitting! thank you soooo much beth!

hello, i'm a caterpillar finger- puppet. i have some stuffing in my head, and i'm knitted with size 2 rosewood needles, and some of that fabulous knitpick's pallette! i'm from Fiona McTague's knitted toys book.

who am i?

i posted this tidbit on somebody's blog today. with all the grace in the world, she replied! (ps, her comment is in the previous post, so check it out!) eeeks! so, i had to go back and read what i wrote ... oh my .....


you know, you could decorate that zit you think everyone notices and make it look like a 3rd eye!
i don't do holidays with grace. (i don't like to shop, and all those i'd shop for have everything they need, ... and if they don't, neither of us can afford it anyways!) i come rushing on the field, in the bottom of the 9th, all gung-ho to knit a ton of christmas gifts. but, it's the last minute, in the last hour ..... hey, where's my _last minute knitted gifts_ book?! ... or _weekend knitting_? melanie falick to the rescue!

but now, i reflect, and, ... yes, this is me. wow. what does this mean? (don't get me wrong, because there is no wrong here, there's just an odd smile on my face i can't pinpoint.) and it's good. it really is! the introspective knitter ....

oh! what's this?

isn't she cute? the pattern is from this book. do i need a big box of yarn to knit a teeny bug? of course!

this is what's good about this kind of knitting .... no swatching, it doesn't have to "fit", and it's part of the secret project!

look what i got!

it's not that big of a surprise, because i ordered it for myself, but just look!


be sure to move mouse over photo

it's a big box of knitpicks's palette. i ordered the palette sampler. it's part of the christmas secret knitting plan. now i'm off to do some secret knitting! shhhh!

some things work out, some don't. not even the photo upload feature on blogger is working now. and flickr is dragging .... so, i will ever so sloooowly make this posting. in socklandia, i ripped out the previous sock, and cast on for this other sock. but ....



if i rip, it will only be the heel. the heel is a bit too deep. i discovered that when i tried on the sock, and slipped my foot into my clog, and i ended up with a bit of extra fabric behind my heel. i love the colors and striping, and how the heel looks. i'm not 100% happy with the sock because of the heel, and a wee hole i have yet to sew up near the ankle.

now, what did not work out. awhile back i cast on for a wrappy wrap ... with my mohair boucle i picked up in vermont. i swear the lady who sold the yarn told each of us very different instructions. so, yet again, i ripped out 80 stitches and 18" of garter st. in mohair! UGH!. next time ... 66. 66 is the magic number!

and now, for the FUN! as what happens with the blog world, we find something, click on a link, follow another, and find new things. this i did one day, and found this ...



i have trouble keeping knitterly secrets ..... click on the photo and go check out her site! there's a link for her blog on that page.