New Template

After much consideration, I decided to change the template of my blog. I couldn't take the pink anymore. Anyway this one is called "Snapshot Tequila" and reminds me of a margerita so maybe this will be better.

Went to the zoo and park with the kids today. Worked a bit on the wrap for Lili. It is coming out really cute. She likes it too which is a good thing since when I showed her the yarn Friday, she told me it was the "ugliest thing ever". I told her that you can never tell just by the hank what the yarn is going to look like when it's finally knitted up. I'm going to knit a bit more then I'll post some pics.

Bed time.

Mission Accomplished!

Well, I finally finished the Brea Bag!!



I really wanted to single crochet the edges together when I joined the panels to the gusset but I just didn't have enough yarn. Since I bought the last 2 skeins of that color last week, I think the chances of me finding that lot number was pretty slim. I also really wanted to get it done.

I did happen to find some calico solid that was the same exact color as the yarn.



It took me all of fifteen minutes to trace the pannels and gusset, cut it out, and run it up on the machine. I then used a similar color upolstry thread to sew it in. I absolutely love it and I think I may make another one in black or denim, not sure yet.

Still working on sock number 2 in a green and blue colorway by Schaffer (Anne). I to frog my lace shawl so I think I may start that again and maybe put in some lifelines this time just in case. I may have to put the FLAK on hold for a while since we've been having 80 degree weather everyday this week. I want some summer things.

I did by some funky multi-color yarns I'm thinking of turning into something wrap like for the beach with beads for Lili and I. We went to Hobby Lobby and bought some funky plastic beads to go with. I may start that instead although I think this yarn may have to be worked on sparingly as it looks headache producing.

BTW, saw Bridge to Teribithia today. Great movie but wouldn't recommend it for under 7 or so and definitely not for kids who get very emotional during sad stuff. Can't say more without giving it away but just use discretion. Lili cried for 30 minutes. I mean BooHoo sobbed. She takes after me what can I say.

Yeah Pics!!!

Okay I'm going to try to post some pics of the purse I just finished pinning. It's the Berroco Brea Bag that was in the Berroco ad that ran in the winter Interweave Knitting book on page 7 or 8 or something. Except I did it in Cascade 220. It came out great and I can't wait to get it sewed up so I can finally use it.

Ingenious Implements

I recently discovered the most wonderful thing. Highlighting Tape. Made in typical highlighter colors, this tape is coated with the same adhesive as post-its so you can peel it off and stick it back on. Ingenious, I say. Why didn't I ever think of this. You rip off a piece, stick it on whatever pattern line your on and when your done with that row, rip it off and move it to the next row. I got a roll of pink, but it comes in most common highlighter neon colors.

The only problem I had was when I used it on a pattern I had charted myself on red lined graph paper that I had used red pen on. Little difficult to see.

It did work great in my sock book that has like 20 different sizes and instructions for one sock. I just used my scissors to cut smaller pieces to highlight the numbers I needed. And if later i want to make a different size of the same pattern, I just simply pick up all the highlights and move them over to the next set of numbers. Ingenious, I'm telling you.

Why the hell didn't I have the idea first?

You Are a Snarky Blogger!

You've got a razor sharp wit that bloggers are secretly scared of.And that's why they read your posts as often as they can!

What Kind of Blogger Are You?

My Nasty Drug (I Mean Knitting) Habit

Today was my favorite knitting store's 3rd annual birthday sale. (Happy birthday Twisted Yarns!) Now every Friday if I'm not working I hang out at this store with a group of fantastic ladies. Well like I said, this store was having a huge sale. My husband asked me where I was going today and I replied, "To the crack, I mean, yarn store."

You see, I lways feel guilty buying yarn because I have a bit already. (Although from what I hear from other women, I have absolutely nothing and they all encourage me to buy lots more before I start harboring feelings of guilt about my virtually non-existant stash.) So I always feel I have to justify what I buy by having plans for whatever yarn I adopt. Then it was pointed out to me by one of those wonderful ladies at the yarn store that my little yarn habit wasn't nearly so bad as many other habits that people acquire.

Drugs are a good example. I usually on a normal, not-much-on sale week, may spend $30-$40 on yarn or accessories. That breaks down to what, $4-$7 a day? Think about the tons of people out there who have drug habits that are in the $100's a day!! Seriously, $5 a day to keep me happy in yarn?

Another example: There is a certain book I want (Victorian Lace Today). This book is referred to in my group as "knitting porn". Okay, my husband has porn. I can live with that. So why do I feel guilty about spending $20 on a knitting book that chronicles the history of lace knitting and takes patterns that are hundreds of years old and adapts them so that we may enjoy them today?

So add another $20 onto the total above for "knitting porn" and we've brought the total up to $7-$10 a day to keep me happy. And seriously, that's what it's really all about. What many non-knitters don't understand is that when I'm knitting, it's the only time in my life that you can sit accross from me while I have a long, very pointy stick in my hand without running the risk of me stabbing you in the eye with it because you are annoying the hell out of me. It keeps me from committing acts of violence against certain family members when they keep asking me the same question over and over again even though my reply of "I don't know!" never changes.

This is why knitting is so addictive. This is why I love it and why I feel guilty as hell that I "need" it to be able to function like a normal human being every day. Maybe you will see me on that show Intervention one day with my family crying and saying all I do is knit and nothing else. I'll be all disheveled from not having bathed for a week, knitting in my hand, eyes all glassy and dialated from lack of sleep. I'll have an entralac sweater in my shaky hand as I furrow my brows deep in thought trying to remember a long ago lost pattern that I refuse to buy again because I know it's somewhere. My clothes will be all dingy because you know I have no time for laundry or anything else. I'll be skinny because I don't want to take out time to eat or I forget all together. (I almost made it through that one with a straight face!! Ha Ha!!)

Yeah, that's me: drug (I mean knitting) addict extrordinare. I guess it could be worse.