They're Here...They're Here!

Two pattern that I have been waiting for were recently released by some great knit blog designers - Chinese Lace and Scarlet Woman. They look fantastic!

Those who cannot do, should blog the hell out of someone else who can. So here you go ladies! Gotta love original design!

Nope...Still No WIP Pics but Check These Out!

But have you seen these double pts from Blue Sky Alpaca? I know I may be late to the game on this but I am loving the case. I know that is no reason to spend $28.00 for a set of double pts, but I think Blue Sky has a winner with this really beautiful looking case. If it came down to it in my LYS and they had these, I would probably dish out the extra bucks for them. But since I have not seen them in person I can resist by pretending that they are an online mirage that I will click away from and they will disappear.

And like that...they were gone.

Bad Blogging Does NOT a Bad Knitter Make

So I have not been as diligent in my updates. Everytime I see another bloglines update from my fellow knit bloggers, I feel a little guilty. However, I am reading their blogs while trudging away at the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I finished the Left Side on Wednesday at my SnB meeting and immediately casted on for the right as I am now obsessed with finishing. Besides I need to finish this jacket soon cause the weather is getting chilly, so much so I kinda wanted a scarf around my neck during the night tonight. However, I am in Southern California for Pete's sake and I feel a little silly having a scarf on in September.

I am also not a very good polygaknitter. My green mimosa is calling out to me for seaming which I promised myself that I would do this weekend. Actually that promise doesn't really count because there was no one to keep me accountable...hee hee.

I am also a lazy sewing crafter, because instead of doing a little hand stitching for my bag, I decided to get a Singer Stitch Sew Quick at Target for $14.99 to do the hard work



In conclusion, I have no knitting pictures or real knitting content but like a true knitter I am putting the knitting first! So I declare...Bad Blogging Does NOT a Bad Knitter Make!

Come back soon for some finished pictures...or at least some better WIP pics

Getting A Head

So normally when I am away from Blogging it is because I have nothing to blog about and since this is a knitting blog that essential means I have not been knitting.

HOWEVER...in this case it is exactly the opposite. I have not blogged because I have been knitting wildly for days on end with the hopes of having some finished product and or more finished pieces at least. But alas I am without something knitwise that is blog worthy. Besides I am not much for WIP photography unless it speaks to me and motivate me to take a picture. So here is the knitted hem of my Sunrise Circle Jacket which I am loving.



I keep trying it on as I knit the Left Front which is as far as I have gotten so far.

On my Green Mimosa (aka pink mimosa), I have all the main stockinette pieces but have to get to the seaming. Deadline will be this weekend for seaming.

My Easy Peasy Bag was just that until the seaming was necessary. That too has taken a backburner due to finishing.

On other fronts, I received my yarn of the month samples and am loving the Karabella Soft Tweed. I was kinda sad that I did not use it on the Sunrise Circle Jacket, but then I looked up the cost of the yarn and once again realized why I chose the much more inexpensive wool alternative.

In other news, I have acquired more knitting accessories.

Hedera's Introduction

Everyone meet Hedera, my new African American hat model. As you can see she is currently modeling Odessa for her introductory shoot.




I found her at the Long Beach Antique Market which I loved. I went with a fellow knitter from my Long Beach Stitch and Bitch group. It was great. We walked almost the entire 20 acres of "Stuff" resulting in exhaustion and dehydration. There was just so much to see I couldn't pull myself away from going down "just one more aisle". Afterwards we ate at Open Sesame in Long Beach and had the best Fried Potatoes. I highly recommend this restaurant if you are in the area.

Adrienne Vittadini Arrives

I have been waiting for my copy of the Adrienne Vittadini Fall 2003 pattern book for a week after purchasing it off of Destash for Cash. I was so happy when it came because not only did it have the pattern for one of the future knits but also had some other patterns that I will add to my might knits.




Which all in all makes this pattern book a great buy


Lord Of the Yarn (gratuitous kitty alert)

My kitties fought over who would get to play with my yarn as I knit my SCJ.





As you can see Kira won

Knitting and Mail...A Match Made in Heaven

I LOVE mail! I have loved mail since I was a kid. Given, I have never liked writing letters but I loved receiving them. 'Til this day I love coming home to magazines, packages, and have even loved receiving an occasional bill or two! So what have I been doing this weekend? Feeding the knitting monkey on my back.

Yes friends and fellow bloggers, I have combined my love of mail and knitting with:

Online Shopping

This weekend was a wonderful weekend of shopping. I bought lots of new things via Elann and Knitpicks as you can see below:



Picture 1 - Zarone for the Diagonal Cables Sweater from Rebecca 28
Picture 2 - Highland Wool Yarn from Elann in Harvest Heather for the Sunrise Circle Jacket



Picture 3 - Highland Wool Yarn from Elann in Spiced Wine. I love this color
Picture 4 - Knitpicks Wool of the Andes which I was not so excited about

I also bought a set of size 7 Knitpicks Options needles which I am addicted to know and some Elann Peruvian Collection Quechua in Teal which is really pretty too and featured in a new Knitty pattern called Ivy

Secret Pal 9

Now I hesitated with the Secret Pal 9 signup because as I explained in my last post I am a bit of a perfectionist and fear not being a good enough Secret Pal. I see all the cool stuff that others have gotten and hope that mine will be appreciated as much as theirs. So on a whim I signed up and am already looking at other peoples stuff to make sure I get good presents for my pal when it starts in October.

Yarn of the Month

Ok, this was definitely a spur of the moment thing. It was late, I wanted yarn and didn't want to spend lot of money so I figured this might get the knitting monkey off my back for a while by feeding it tidbits of yarn a month to play with. It was better than the Elann subscription because it was yarn I liked, which sometimes Elann's yarn is quite weird, and also a monthly thing so I can unsubscribe when I want. Can't wait to get the first package.

Knitting News

I signed up for the Sunrise Circle Jacket KAL and was one of the last members to be added as they closed the KAL right after they sent me the invitation to join. Guess I better get cracking on this jacket so that I at least post once or twice.

Since I got my yarn from Elann I can start on the Sunrise Circle Jacket. I also must block the front pieces of the Green Mimosa before bed. But first...must check out the new Fall 06 Knitty magazine that came out

Finishing Line

Now when I say finishing line it has a bit of a double meaning. I am nearing the end on green mimosa, having knit the back and side panels, but now the finishing begins. I hear that this is where a project is made or broken for some people so I am a little hesitant to proceed. I mean it would stink to have gotten all this way to have crummy seaming going on. Now on minor projects like the bag, which I will be getting handles for on Wednesday, I seamed that baby with no concern as I didn't really put more than a day into it, but with a 3 week vest/tank thing I am a little more concerned about how it looks. Admittedly, I am also a bit of a perfectionist. Not in the since that I am perfect or everything necessarily has to be perfect but more like:

"A person with perfectionistic demands hates failure of any type. They will often avoid challenge that they determine as too difficult rather than take the chance of failing."

I have found my knitting line in the sand and its name is finishing. So on that note, I am going to block my pieces and start on the Sunrise Circle Jacket while I get out of the perfectionist rut I am in on finishing.

Here is the color I chose





It is the Peruvian Highland in Harvest Heather from Elann. It is much more beautiful in person as is the Spiced Wine color I sampled. I love these colors!

I order enough for the jacket which should get here in Monday or Tuesday and a few extra balls of yarn for some future project, including the Olive Night for the cabled jacket from last post.

Instead of Knitting....

Knitting Thought

I am thinking about future projects to knit. Yes, while I am knitting the green mimosa I am also dreaming about future sweaters, which all require future investment of non-knitting allocated moneys. Even better, instead of knitting on the green mimosa I am making flickr mosaics to compare the different yarns that I am thinking of.




Even worse is that this was not even part of my Future Projects List until today. Geesh! I need to finish before I plan for future projects. This would be an adder of $44.80 to the stash. Now...which color to knit?

Actual Knitting

On the Green Mimosa, I am working on the Left Front and am past the decreases and about 1/2 the way to finishing the side. This is boring stockinette so I am chomping at the bit to get to the lace. Not so hot about the seaming though.

To take a break I decided to knit up the Easy Peasy Bag from Louisa Harding with the Sari Ribbon I purchased on the cheap. I just need to seam and add lining and buy handles. Hmmmm....that actually means I am even not close to finishing and have 75% more work to put in it as it was pretty much stockinette stitch on 15's but at least the knitting is done.