ahhhhh shit!

I have a new love...

knitting badges?

B A D G E S!?1?!??!!1!

OMGPONIES!!!!1!

clap back on the needles!

lucy got me back on the needles with the Clapotis! all I needed was some encouragement, and commiseration that the pattern is written badly. well...not badly for everyone, just for my brain. I think I have it down now, we will see. I wish I always had a pattern coach - it makes a big difference. (thanks Lucy!)

I have new lovely stitch markers to use, those make me so happy!

no camera yet, that sucks. I do have my phone, but the usb is on back order, so I can't even take pics with that for posting here.

maybe a camera will find it's way into my hot little hands over the weekend and I can post my progress with clap... until then no pics. sorry bout that.

my camera and my phone died the same weekend.

it's really sad.

my phone died, I didn't really like it, but was hoping it would live until my contract with the devil runs out. it was my fault, I dropped it a lot, and it survived so many times that I didn't worry about it anymore. One million and one falls was apparently one too many. :-( the screen went kaput, so I am back to my old phone with no camera, archaic texting, and my sim card contact list (so it's all screwy).

my camera was murdered by a teenager. we went to the beach and i told her three times (my 13yo cousin) that she needed to be careful, because if sand got in the lens area it would lock up and not work anymore. Guess what happened? I snatched the camera out of her sand covered hands a moment too late. Now the lens is fucked, won't come out at all, can't focus. :-( Poor thing, at least she felt bad, and i didn't do too much to assuage her guilt.

so- no pics for a bit, until I get a new camera or phone or both, or get the camera fixed. at least no NEW pics...here is an old one for shits and giggles.

This is squeak- one of 5 kittens and the momma I fostered a few years ago. They were a blast. :-)

I suck at knitting, apparently!

I had to frog clapotis several times. then I just bound off the six inches I had done incorrectly and made an impromptu bag out of it. I need 100% solitude and a completely rewritten pattern to do it right. I will post the pattern when I finish it, because I can't be the only one who needs a stitch count on every row for insurance reasons, and a 'slip marker' to offer guidance that I am on the right track occasionally.

grrrr.

busy weekend and week coming fast. we have teenagers visiting, two of which I taught to knit last year, we will see if we get any done while trying to see all of the bay area in two days. then we have grown boys coming next week and a bad ass concert to go to, Rage Against the Machine, mos def, The Roots, etc... can't wait.

except for lack of available time to rewrite clapotis, it should be a good time. :-)

55 sets of straight needles...

i am a sick individual.

I just did my ravelry needle organizer thingy, and input 55 sets of straight needles. unless I counted wrong, which is possible, but still, I have a shitload of needles.

there was a time when I never saw a craigslist posting i could pass up, especially when it came to knitting. I also had the wonder purchase of 10 sets for 2$ back in '04 at a thrift store. I have way more than i need, but i hoard them.

I have some of the long ones in a pretty blue vase on my window sill in the living room (the vase was also a thrift store find), and all of the shorties are in my knitting case (the rolling bag from JoAnn's- I am a huge dork, but it was half off!)

What is really scary about this (besides confronting my addiction head on) is that there are holes in my inventory! ACK! Now I need to fill the holes!

so if anyone actually reads this, and has a similar addiction, and would like to merge our collections to make two full ones, I am game. Some of mine are new, some are very old, I will be totally upfront with condition (with pictures) if anyone wants to trade some of my multiples for theirs.

I also haven't even added my dpns or circs yet. oh my. I have an illness.

I also have knitting hint-I have seen yarn holder thingies, kind of a mesh tube for keeping a ball under control while still being able to knit from it, and resisted spending the money because I always think...'i should knit something that would work just as well'. Well, even better, I found a way to re-purpose plastic! I sometimes buy cherry tomatoes on the vine, which come in a little mesh sock, open at one end and bound off with a cardboard label on the top. I cut off the cardboard (throw it in the recycling bin) and slip the pretty red mesh onto a center-pull ball of yarn. I know I am not the first person to think of it, but I had never seen the hint anywhere else, thought I would share.

add 'repurpose' to this list, and feel your crafty side merge with the urge to do right by the planet.

Stitch & Pitch 2007

Woo Hoo!

what fun! I really enjoyed stitch and pitch. Barry didn't hit a homer, but it was fun to be in a full stadium and be in the thick of all the controversy (I am not a baseball fan and hadn't really heard of Barry Bonds until moving here, aside from random stuff on ESPN between talk of Basketball and Football)

We were at the very tippy top of the nosebleed section, but I think the view was excellent. I was very happy to be with my fellow knitters and their significant others. I brought my wonderful knitty friend Michelle (mentioned her in my last post) and we just had a blasty-blast.

The gift bag was an added bonus, got some fat needles and a crochet hook that I promptly traded with a hooker for her needle :-) I also tried to become best friends with the folks at the Craft table, they were sitting next to the gift bag people from the TNNA. I heart Craft magazine so much it hurts!
Michelle and I made iron-ons for the event and wore them with pride! You can see mine sort of in this pic, I am in white, with the base ball on my left side. We also had across the lower back of the sweatshirt, "I "heart" knitting, shut up and knit." with a red heart, and shut up and knit written smaller below the word Knitting. I will add close-ups when I am more photogenic, as I am disgusting today. :-P

here is the whole group that went...

and PS- I just got on Ravelry...OMG. I couldn't be happier about it!

I lurve ravelry!!!!!11!omgponies1!!11!!

starting clapotis with a friend this week

My greatest knitting friend came to visit this past week, and I already miss her again terribly. She left yesterday after much drama (good drama) and not nearly enough knitting. We at least found a project we both like and we both got it on the needles. I had to rip last night because I suck at marking where I am in a pattern before getting up for 10 hours. Ha! But I am back on track again, and have post-its to make sure it doesn't happen again.

I had seen clapotis on knitty.com a long time ago, but just wasn't inspired by it. then I went to Noe Knits, one of my fave LYS, and saw a sample of it in person. LOVED IT! I am a tactile person, and apparently needed to touch clapotis and see the drape and versatility for myself to fall in love. I am excited about it. It will end up in the hands of a dear friend who lost her mother recently, I hope it hugs her often, since we live so far apart. I may knit three more, for women I want to hug and can't. (we will see if it kicks my ass to the point where I decide to make a garter stitch rectangle for the other three!)

pics to follow in the next week to track my progress. I should also have big news to report in the baby making effort- fingers and toes are crossed that it is good news. :-)