Why I shouldn't buy yarn online

Every time I buy yarn online something goes wrong. This time I bought hand painted cotton ribbon that matched the gauge for the Rowan pattern, but when it arrived it was more like a cording than a ribbon and the gauge was nowhere close to matching. This is my third time getting burned with online shopping; I'm sticking to my LYS from now on.

On the plus side, the gauge was right for the accidentally on purpose sweater from Stitch n' Bitch Nation so I am making that instead. I really like the yarn; its great to work with and the dyes are beautiful. I’ll post pictures when I am a little further along.

Spin Span Spun

Tonight I went to the Va. Beach snb and Jennifer taught me to spin using a drop spindle. I am so excited, I can't wait to try to spin some of the 'rid's hair. When I got home I told Philip all about my little spinning adventure and he was really excited about the prospect of an Astrid hair hat. Then he looked online with me for roving material and mentioned that he spun and dyed his own yarn when he took the dreaded weaving class. Here I was, so excited that I finally learned this and he knew it all along, but kept it top secret. Sometimes that boy drives me mad! Anyway, I am going to make a drop spindle later this week and if my roving arrives by Friday I should be spinning over the weekend.

Martha's stupid poncho

Everywhere I turn someone seems to be obsessing over that stupid poncho Martha Stewart wore when she got out of jail. Sure when faced with all of the things she could wear upon her release it was really nice of her to choose to show off the work of a fellow inmate, but why are people talking about it? Interweave Knits had Lily Chin design a pattern and I received 2 email messages from Lion Brand about the poncho; one informing me that they were working around the clock on the pattern and the other telling me the coming home poncho was finally complete. If that wasn't enough, there is a thread on almost every knit board about people trying to make this poncho. The most amazing thing about this whole ordeal is that no one seems to realize how ugly and unflattering that stupid poncho is. Death to Martha's Poncho!!!!

I want to be Japanese

I came across this site a few weeks ago and at the time I could only glace at it. Today I actually had time to go through the pages and I found some really cool stuff. My favorites were the writing on the wall, fruit flava, customizit, the clash, grannie's photos and prints, warm wool, prints and graphics on the streets, and wool scarves on the streets. There is one loose stockinette stitch scarf that I see everywhere. It is knitted flat and so it curls around itself and then there is really long fringe on the ends. It looks super fast and easy to make so I might give it a shot.

My next project

This morning I was at the coffee shop without a knitting project (oh the horror!) and so I decided to read one of the communal magazines. Since my choices were very limited I ended up reading one of those trashy celeb gawking magazines (US Weekly or Star, I can't remember). Anyway it was the January issue covering the Sundance Film Festival and there was a picture of this great Steve Madden bag that is just dying to become my next knitting bag. I'll post the pattern when I come up with it.

Knitting related non-knitting projects

Today I finished the knitting bag I started the other day for the SNIP raffle. It is part of a kit that includes 2 sets of handmade needles (that I made at Christmas), a copy of Stitch n' Bitch, an assortment of yarn, and a one hour knitting lession.



I also recieved my copy of Hey There, Cupcake! from Amazon today. I opened it up to find that this was one of the first recipes. I can't wait to get started.

Creation and destruction

Today I worked on the knitting bag that I am going to donate which will probably be finished tomorrow. I also pulled 20 rows out of the 40's hat in an attempt to make it a little taller. In the future I will try things on as I go and do a little less estimating.

When I was done with all of that I attended superhero camp where I learned to fly, use special weapons, and design the perfect costume. I am now a certified superhero and I now possess the skills to fight crime while knitting a sweater. EVILDOERS BEWARE!!!!

This pink is so hot!!!

Yesterday I planned on finishing the strawberry needle case that I started a few weeks ago for my friend Sarah's birthday so I went to the fabric store to get the last little piece of fabric I needed. My original plan was to do a flamigo case with embroidery, but I couldn't find the fabric I wanted anywhere so I went with a Strawberry Shortcake theme instead. When I went to the store yesterday, not only did they have the fabric I was originally searching for, but they also had some great complimetary fabrics so I started a new neeedle case and I'll either give the other one to someone else or I'll auction it off. I also started a knitting bag for a SNIP raffle later this month.