Location shoot

A few weeks ago, something came over me. I'm not quite sure what, but I bet you've felt it too. That unexplainable blah feeling towards all the lovely projects you have on the needles. It was accompanied by the feeling that I MUST start something new - something that I could finish QUICKLY - something that would use up some of my huge stockpile stash yarn - something I could wear that weekend. I had just the project waiting in my Ravelry queue and just the yarn in my stash. So I cast on, knit it up, and have been wearing it everywhere. The only thing I didn't remember to do was to have Pea get a picture of me modeling it for the blog. I've rectified that from an undisclosed location. (More about this at the end of the post!)

Anthropologie-inspired Capelet
Cast on: 31 July 2007
Completed: 2 August 2007
Yarn: Rowan Cotton Tape, White
Needles: US11 (8mm) Knit Picks Circular

I made a few minor modifications to this pattern. I cast on 45 stitches, and worked it so the right side would be the stockinette side instead of reverse stockinette. I also gave some more length to the body, and knit the sleeves in the round. Which meant no seaming at all. (Cool!!)

And now, on to the location of the shoot. Pea and I were out of town for a long-weekend get-away. Can you guess where we were? Leave me your guess in the comments and you'll earn a chance at a little prize. If your guess is correct, you'll earn two chances! I'm not sure exactly what the prize will be, but it will involve sock yarn. I'll draw the winner sometime after I unpack, tackle the mountain of laundry, get some groceries, answer all my e-mails and catch up on my blog reading. That should give you plenty of time to get your guess in - and I'll announce the winner in my next post.

WIP of the Week - Market Bag

Pea and I are officially on a diet. When the summer weather hit, I stopped walking every day like I had been. Even though I haven't been exercising, my blood sugars have been holding steady. Do you know what that means? It means, I'd lost my incentive to push myself to exercise.

But now, all of my pants are soooo tight. "Suck-in-your-breath-or-they-aren't-going-to-zipper" tight. Do you know what that means? It means, I've re-found my incentive to push myself to exercise. I also have incentive to make sure we are eating better. In doing so, I found out that our town has a weekly Farmer's Market, just a mile or two from my house. Apparently, everyone in town knew about this but me!

This week, I grabbed my Saturday Market Bag and went to check it out. It was small, but I still found everything I was looking for and had a lot of fun. What I found odd was that I was the only person who had brought their own reusable bag. There were plastic bags provided by each farm, and each customer used between one and five bags.

When I got home, I dug out a large ball of Lion Cotton that's been hanging out in the stash and I cast on for Elisa's Nest Tote. I haven't gotten very far, but I love it already.



I figure if I keep showing up with pretty re-usable bags, maybe others will be inspired to kick the plastic bag habit too. I think this pretty lacy pattern will be just the thing to inspire them!

The Perfect Afternoon . . .

Fresh baked (sugar-free) muffins and a hot cup of tea . . .

knitting and a warm blanket.

But tell me, is it really August? It feels more like October.

Covert Operations

Thursday night, Pea went out after work for a Happy Hour / Good Bye party for two co-workers. Since I had the evening to myself, I hunkered down with my favorite spy for some top secret knitting.

Click to make bigger . . . you'll be glad you did!!

Now, I have to admit, I've always kind of liked watching James Bond movies with Pea, but was never likely to put one on when I'm alone. But that has all changed now, thank you, Mr. Craig!! *drool* I'm surprised I didn't drop my stitches when he put on the tuxedo. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm

AHEM, where was I?? Oh yes, 007 and I are sorry to say we must keep our little knitting adventure under wraps until Christmas, as the recipient may very well be staking out the blog. Those of you with special security clearance (not a family member or non-blog pal) can access our operation here or here. Remember, this is for your eyes only. Don't leak the secret, or we may have to eliminate you!

Wannabe - Yarn Pr*n

A short time ago, I entered a blog contest over at Wannabe. Luck was on my side that day, because I ended up winning! The prize? A gorgeous skein of yarn hand-dyed by The Plucky Knitter!! Can you handle ogling more Plucky Knitter yarn? Oh yes, I'm sure you can!!


This skein was custom dyed in a colorway inspired by the Wannabe blog. Isn't it beautiful? I would imagine it is very difficult to base a colorway on a blog, but Sarah did a wonderful job. Do you know where else she looks for colorway inspirations? Do "Bonnie Blue Butler", "Miss Ellen's Portieres", "Rhett's Cravat", "Belle Whatling", and of course, "Scarlett's Red Dress" mean anything to you? No, I did not buy all those skeins of yarn . . . however, once I start working again, you can bet I will be ordering the whole Gone With The Wind line. *grin* I must admit, I'm smitten with all of the non-GWTW colorways as well.

Amanda, thank you so much for your contest and the wonderful yarn inspired by your blog. And thank you for introducing me to Sarah and her wonderful Plucky Knitter yarns. (Umm, yeah, Pea may not be too thrilled with you for enabling me, but he'll get over it. Tee hee.)

WIP of the Week - Sock Love

One of the goals on my July Knit List was to finish the first Seduction Sock. But something about it just seemed off. The yarn was good. The pattern was good. So why did I dread working on it? That's no way to feel about your knitting. So, I did the only thing I could do. I frogged it and started something else.


I couldn't be happier!! The sock I'm working on now is the Pillars of Atlantis pattern by Chrissy, who's blog I've been enjoying for quite some time. It's such a pretty sock, and the pattern is easy enough to memorize quickly, but with the cute cable stitch every four rows to keep it from getting boring.

I also thrilled with the way this yarn is working with the pattern. Here's a shot of the yarn before I cast it on. Isn't it pretty??


It's called "Tsarina's Boudoir", and, of course, I love all things Russian - especially the skaters. *grin - it always comes back to figure skating - grin* It was dyed by The Plucky Knitter, who I'm happy to say is one of my newest knit-blog friends. Doesn't she have a way with dying?? Many more luscious colorways can be found in her Etsy shop and at The Loopy Ewe. It's like this yarn was made for this pattern . . . the subtle color variations show off the stitch pattern perfectly and there is no pooling in sight!!

So, next time a sock project (or any other project, for that matter) has me down, I won't hesitate to go a froggin' and move on to something new. It's well worth it in the end.

Poor little neglected blog . . .

I'm afraid it's under the impression I don't love it any more. I will admit that I've been letting other things come between us. We don't spend as much quality time together as we used to. I've even been a bit unfaithful *gasp* two-timing the poor blog with Ravelry, Sock-A-Month 4, and other web stuff. (I know, I'm such a web-floozy.)

It's time to show my poor little blog that I'm still committed. That it's still #1 in my eyes. And today is the perfect day, since it's our SECOND BLOGIVERSARY.

As a gift, I gave my little blog an Extreme Make-over | Blog Edition. Okay, maybe it's not that extreme, but we've been wanting something a bit more fresh and fun. I'm hoping this look is a bit more cohesive than my last template - where I changed things in bits and pieces whenever a whim hit me. (Of course, that's not to say I won't still tinker here and there. I just can't help myself!)

Little blog, I'm sorry I've been neglecting you. I hope you will enjoy your new look. And thank you for two great years. For all of the wonderful friends you've helped me meet. For putting me on an exciting new career path. For keeping me inspired to knit. Why yes, I do still knit. And my blog and I will be sharing that and more with you soon!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha

That's me (and probably most of you) laughing at my July Knit List. As I said in the last post, I greatly underestimated how much summer would zap my knitting mojo. I also greatly underestimated the time I would need to spend on the second half of my Creating Web Pages II class - we've been covering things that are brand new to me. It's so much fun, but takes a lot more time. Another thing I didn't foresee was that I would join, and become totally enraptured with, Mystery Stole 3. I have to admit, when the knitting mojo does decide to make an appearance, MS3 is usually the project I pick up.

But enough excuses, let's see how I did:

1. Finish the Zephyr socks - DONE!!!
2. Finish the Seduction Socks - Nope, I don't even think I touched them at all.
3. Finish Tahoe - I did manage to finish the left front. I still have to knit the right front and the sleeves.
4. July Holiday Headstart project - I did work on these a lot, but they aren't quite done.

So, one out of four? Not so good. I'm going to take off the rose-colored glasses and be a little more honest with myself while coming up with my August Knit Goals. Here they are.

1. Finish my July Holiday Headstart project
2. Knit a (quick!!) pair of Fetchings for my August Holiday Headstart project
3. Finish Mystery Stole 3
4. Finish the first Seduction Sock

Now that's a bit more realistic, don't you think??