New Projects?!?!?!

Hello! In post #4 of the world's most boring, pictureless, readerless blog, we'll discuss my new projects.

So I spent the weekend between Winslow and Flagstaff AZ. Rode up from Scottsdale to Winslow with my awesome Dad on his Harley Davidson, and though the weather was sparkling and sunny, it was a tad crisp moving 65 mph in the open air. Needless to say, while admiring the stark beauty of the AZ desert, I spent much of the ride thinking of creative things to knit to keep him warm.

As anyone who's been to Winslow knows, there is no yarn store there. But, they do have a stoplight, so that's something right? In Flagstaff, they have a darling little store with lots and lots of yummy yarns, so I HAD to go in, right? Well, was shopping for Dear Old Dad, and this LYS didn't have anything "him." And, by "him," I mean boring. I was looking for plain black sock weight or worsted weight merino, and all of her stuff was too far down the fabulous scale for his tastes. But I do love to support the LYS entrepreneur, so I picked up the latest Interweave Knits.

On the way home, I made my second stop to Jessica Knits. Her store is so cute, with many of the novelty yarns in glass jars like candy! I returned some stuff that wasn't working out for me, and picked up what will become my niece's 1st birthday gift. It's truly brilliant: a baby bolero! It looks like a tiny version of the Debbie Bliss shrug (seen in IK), but with a single button closure. SO CUTE!!! I figure this, a tank top and some capri's and she'll be the stylin'est baby on the streets.

On the FIRST stop at Jessica Knits, I picked up a little wedding present for my hubby-to-be. I can't give it away (he might read this...yeah right.) but it's made on two-circulars and will be in a yummy shade of KPPPM.

So excited!!!!! Gotta go cast on...

One Half Sartene

OK. So I finished the back half of my Sartene tank last night while watching "Howard and Kumar Go to White Castle." Some notes:

The tank: The pattern took me some getting used to, it's reads very differently than a U.S. pattern would, but it's dead on, and actually very easy. Butterfly greek cotton is YUMMY. So soft and springy and really quite wool-like. The best cotton ever. The sweater LOOKS a little big, but it measures just a tad small, so I'm kind of freaking out, but trying to have faith.

The movie: coulda been worse, but I really wouldn't waste the money. Wait for it to show up on cable some night when you have insomnia and are bored out of your mind.

I've been knitting every second I can. I think I'm about to develop callouses on my fingers, between throwing the yarn and pushing the needle tip. Yes, you found me out, I'm English. I think Continental sounds very cosmopolitan, but in practice, it just doesn't work for me. Some people have suggested I switch, but you know what I tell them (and every other English knitter) it's still knitting no matter how ya do it. The stitched still get formed and the sweater still gets made. I'm a lot faster know than I used to be, so I'm at a very happy place with the Anglais.

Now I'm off to procrastinate getting ready for work by casting on the front of my Sartene!

Post #2

Ok, so I was out of commission for the week. My room-mates (aka: the Evil Landlords) ripped up nearly all the carpet in the house and installed wood flooring. It is flippin' gorgeous! It's a very pretty honey color, and has really made the house seem much bigger. It's also very funny when the dogs wipe out cause they can't get a good grip. Actually, I think that's the best part! Now, if we could only hypnotize Mr. Evil Landlord into a wall color that's darker than white.... In all fairness, Mr. E.L. installed the floors himself, and I must say he is indeed handy.

Now, onto knitting. I FELTED!! SO exciting! I felted a pink and cocoa striped handbag, and it's so cute. Now I just have to get up the gumption to finish the handles. 60" of hot pink i-cord. Just not my idea of a fun time.

I also cast on for the infamous Bouton d'Or "Sartene" tank. The story: I was on fluffa! one day, and ended up surfing french knitting sites. Now, all of my french is the bottom of the barrel left-overs from high-school, plus I've never been "the smart one." So, I order this magazine, and pay the stinking tariffs on it, which effectively doubled the price - grr. (Praise to the USPS because they got it to me in under 14 days, and there wasn't even a zip code!) I'm all excited and get online to buy the yarn. That's when it hit me: french knitting mag, french yarn. DUH. Well, as a poor person, I just can't bring myself to pay $100+ for a tank top. Not happenin.' Lucky for everyone, I found this yummy greek cotton at my LYS, and I'm cruising. About 5" into the back already!

Someday I'll have a digital camera and will be able to post pics. Until then, the Sartene will be practically identical to Bouton d'Or's vision of it. Except for the gorgeous french hoochie modeling it, that is.

Sigh. Thanks for tuning in.

OMG, I'm a blogger!

Wow. So, I'm a blogger now. Freaky.

The story: at my SnB tonight, Alana is telling me about these fun "Secret Pals" and "Secret Sock Pals" (I like to think of it as "Socks with Strangers," but I'm crazy like that....) and I thought to myself: I need to get in on that. Then, I followed a link off Alison's website (which shall remain linkless to protect the innocent) and saw that it is important to have a blog so your secret pal knows what you like. Well, I'm all about presents that I actually like, so, here I am, up past my bedtime setting up this blog so I can get in on Secret Pal V.

Whether it'll ever get read by anyone other than my secret pal, who knows.

As I really must be hitting the rack, I'll talk more later....