Survival tactics

So, let's say you're lost in the wilderness with only a Coke can and a bar of chocolate. What should you do? Here's how to start a fire.

A boa around her neck

The ever-stylish Allison models my newest FO, a boa made from one skein of Artful Yarn's Limerick. It only took a couple hours to knit, and what fun! The tie-dyed shirt is her own creation.

Artful Yarns, incidentally, gets my vote for the most creative and least descriptive color names. In the yarn called circus, the colorways include Scary Clown and Old Elephant; Museum has Dinosaur Bones and Gift Shop; and Graffiti includes Make Love Not War, Kilroy Was Here, and For a Good Time Call. They also have a yarn called Virtue, the color ways of which are Hope, Justice, Fortitude, etc. Handworks Gallery seems to carry their whole line.

Allison is modeling the purse that matches her sweater. It was too hot to wear the sweater itself. Quinn's very happy with the purse that came with her dress.

Allison models her new sweater. She picked out the pattern herself, from Vogue Knitting on the Go Kids Knits. She chose the colors, too, in Blue Sky Cotton. It's a wonderfully soft yarn. I'm now working on the matching purse, which of course she has to have. And of course, tomorrow it will be 79 degrees out. She may have to wait a while to wear this sweater!

The musical stylings of Quinn, lead guitar player with the Naked Pirates.

No time

Haven't had much time for knitting lately. Oh, I hate it when work gets in the way of hobbies....
At least while I work, I can often listen to music. I just ordered a bunch of CDs from CD Baby. They have a great selection of CDs from independent labels and a fun website, they ship really quickly, and, once you've orderd from them once, all future orders will receive a free surprise CD.
I've also recently added several items to my yarn store reviews page. The link is always on the left side of this page.
Wouldn't it be great if time was like money, and you could save it for later or borrow from the future? Of course, I'd probably exceed my credit limit.

Allison at Dodge Ridge. Okay, well she is actually one of my WIPs, isn't she? And this picture, which my hubby took before they went skiing today, was just too cute not to post. My Mom knitted the hat, by the way, in Allison's favorite colors. Plus, those colors make it easy to spot Allison in the snow.

A throw for the study. It's in Homespun, from a freebie pattern on Lion Brand's site. Done on size 35 needles, whish aren't exactly comfy to knit with, but it sure did knit up quickly!

Joey has a jacket!

Joey will no longer be in danger of becoming chilly. I used the jacket pattern posted on the Stitch 'n Bitch Nation blog, except that pattern called for Fonty Serpentine. I couldn't find that yarn easily, and, besides, I figured Berroco Suede was an obvious choice for a "leather" jacket. The jacket's actually a little shorter than I would've liked, but I only had one ball of Suede.

More quick gratification

Trio bag. The pattern for this one is free at Crystal Palace's website. This was a quick project, although it did not use the humongous (size 35) needles pictured. It makes a great tote bag for yarn.

I'm also happy with the other items in the picture. The sheet is new, from The Company Store. It's on the futon in our living room, and I really like the way it looks. And I made the pillows a few years ago. A store on 4th Street in Berkeley was selling dupioni silk skirts for $5. They were size XS--not likely to fit me, at least in this lifetime. So I bought 2 and cut them up to make pillow covers. I even used the shell buttons from the skirts as decorative closures on the square pillows.

Gullwing socks from Socks Socks Socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock.

Instant gratification

Two little finished projects.
I've been in the mood for quick projects lately. On the right, a market bag from Folk Bags, in Euroflax linen. On the left is my knitting journal. It's just a spiral-bound thing with a plain brown cover. I covered the cover with some Noro Kureyon I had left over.

Optimism Scarf

The Optimism Scarf.
It's my own design, and very soon I will post the (easy-easy) pattern.

Stuff I don't need but want: a great t-shirt for dogs, which doesn't come in a size big enough for Ruthie. More knitting patterns. More yarn. All 115 items on my Amazon wishlist, and the 42 books on my Powell's wishlist.

The latest FO: scarf in Schaefer Yarns Little Danya, a handpainted mohair. I fell in love with the colorway (called Margaret Sanger--they're all named after famous women). About halfway through the scarf, though, I realized the colorway might have been inspired by that whole red hat/purple dress thing, which (a) I find obnoxious, and (b) I'm too young for. But I refuse to let them co-opt my favorite colors!

Sheena is a punk rocker

We're all Ramones fans around here. Here's Quinn posing with Joey. Don't they look like good pals? The pillows were knitted from Manos del Uruguay yarn and then felted, incidentally.

Debbie Stoller, the author of Stitch 'n Bitch Nation, has posted a pattern for Joey's jacket. I'll probably try it one of these days. It's too bad there's no picture up of the completed jacket, though.

Allison's modeling my newest FO, a Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf in Noro Transitions colorway 6. Two skeins of this yummy yarn were enough for one long scarf with fringe (it's wrapped twice around Allison's neck). Quinn's wearing her Lazy Sunday Afternoon Outfit.

Wanna knit something for your pup? Check out this free calendar. Of course, Ruthie doesn't really need a sweater, but August's pattern is a little tempting. Lucky for Ruthie I don't crochet!

I wanna be sedated

This is Joey Ramone from Stitch 'N Bitch Nation, hanging out with a couple of friends. I'm pretty pleased with how he turned out. He needs a jacket, though. The book mentions something about an optional jacket, but doesn't give a pattern for one anywhere. I emailed the author to ask her about it, but got no response (I'm sure she gets a zillion emails). I could just wing it, I'm sure, and I probably will one of these days. The Joey Ramone pattern has got me thinking about other dolls I could make--I have a couple of ideas lined up for future projects.

Another project off the needles

My newest FO: The Hurry Up Spring Armwarmers from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation. I made them from Noro Kureyon that had been in my stash awhile, calling my name. The cable pattern doesn't show up well in my picture, but it's there. I don't know how much call I'll have for these here in California, but I do like that Kureyon!

This is Ruthie, modeling my newest creation. It's just a garter stitch scarf. The yarn, Crystal Palace Poof, is unbelievably soft, and I like the color, too. It looks nice on Ruthie, doesn't it? But I think I'll need it more than she will.

I think Ruthie enjoys modeling.