Here knitty, knitty!

So many stitches, so little time

I'm making something for someone (can't say what or who as it's a surprise and you never know who's reading this) and I'm about to start to panic. It's knitting up nicely, but it is taking longer than I thought. Much longer as a matter of fact. It needs to be finished within a matter of hours and it's 50-50 whether I make it or not. I'll tell you what it is and who it's for and take a picture of it when the element of surprise isn't so important anymore. Boy-o-boy-o-boy though, it is a race against time!

posted by KackieC @ 10:41 PM 0 Comments   

Look what I made

Here's the lamp that is in my knitting room. It's not very impressive, nor is it particularly original, but it does look kinda cute I think. I got the lamp at a flea market for $5. The lampshade is from Ikea and cost about $5 too. The lampshade hardware doesn't work very well with the lamp base, so I had to wire the shade to the actual lightbulb to keep it on in an upright position (changing the lightbulb is not a simple undertaking as a result). Before I thought to wire it on, the lampshade would occasionally fall off on one side or the other with a really loud thump, usually when I was sound asleep. One day it fell off when I wasn't in the room, but the light was on. The lightbulb burned a hole in the wicker shade. That event was the catalyst for making the lampshade stay on more or less permanently , for both aesthetic and safety reasons.

The shade doesn't actually match the lamp proportionally speaking, but am in denial about this and like to tell myself it is "flea market chic." Plus the knitting room doesn't have an overhead light. So instead of going out and buying a new lamp I decided to tart this one up with some silk flowers that I found on sale at Michael's yesterday. Here's the finished look. I'd like to say that it looks even better in person, but I think that this picture actually makes it look better than it does in real life.

posted by KackieC @ 11:02 PM 0 Comments   

Fashionista knitting

Has anyone else besides me watched "Jennifer Lopez: Beyond the Runway" on the TV this weekend? It's all the behind-the-scenes stuff for a J Lo brand fashion show. I have to say that the lovely Ms. Lopez has some stellar stuff in her collection, particularly all the furry trims and sweaters . You could totally knit some of it and substitute fun fur, some other lovely textured yarn, or a loose loopy stitch and you'd have a totally rockin' jacket, or a swanky hoodie.

I wonder if she's ever thought of expanding the J Lo empire into the knitting world? You can never have to many hip/ ultra cool sweater knitting patterns, know what I am saying? I don't know J Lo personally, but everytime I see her on the TV as herself, she seems really fun and down to earth and like she'd have a heck of a good time knitting with the girls. Well, anyway, I guess that pretty much wraps up my commentary for today, and I will let everyone get back to watching the Oscars.

One more thing- anybody seen House of Flying Daggers? It's awesome! And for like the whole last 1/4 of the movie I kept trying to figure out what crochet stitch was used to make the collars the Flying Dagger ladies wore. ...

posted by KackieC @ 7:07 PM 1 Comments   

Playing with fire

The hobby get together last night was really fun. The SnB didn't involve one little bit of knitting though. Shawn and Electra were working on some furry boot covers for a costume and I ended up having to do some some job related work. The girls sat in front of a sewing machine and I sat across the table from them in front of my laptop. It was better than not visiting at all, but I really would have been happier knitting and not working.

Shawn and Electra. Note the general polar bear theme here.


Me. [type 1 *bitch 2] repeat from * 15 times.


Some of the boys even stopped playing with fire long enough to come see what we were doing.



Speaking of fire, the spinning was really good too. Here are some pictures of the boys at work:

posted by KackieC @ 4:12 PM 0 Comments   

Two Ring Circus

My roommate and I are having a combo hobby party tonight. I'm doing another stitch 'n bitch and he's got some pals coming over to practice fire spinning. Basically this means that they soak a couple of big lumps of some sort of fabric in campstove fuel, light it on fire, and spin it around on two long chains in time to music. Kregg's really active in the Burning Man community, and some (but not all) of his burner friends spin fire at a variety of events, parties, and stuff. It's pretty cool to see, and I will post some pictures of tonight's action.

My SnB seems pretty lame in comparison, but for what it's worth I'm going to work on my silver skirt tonight, and some of the girls may be finishing up their furry jackets that they were sewing at the last one. And that's all kind of flashy, isn't it?

Ok, I just saw this Dove shampoo commercial that has Wilma Flintstone and Velma Dinkley from Scooby Doo endorsing the suds. Is it just me or would you think they'd have picked Jessica Rabbit or Daphne Blake or someone with a sexy flowing hairdo to sell the stuff? This assumes you're able to suspend your sense of disbelief surrounding cartoon characters acting as spokespersons for a shampoo.

Thanks for the mommying, Spinnity. It's always nice to have someone give you an extra dose of "get plenty of rest and take care of yourself."

posted by KackieC @ 4:36 PM 1 Comments   

Dropsy

What's the deal with me dropping dpns? I am picking them up off the floor every other row practically. I wonder if it's because I am so used to circulars that are sort of difficult to drop?

This isn't much of a blog today, and I have some nice comments from folks here that I need to respond to, but it is 11:32 (exactly 92 minutes past my bedtime) and I just finished working. I am tired and I need to go to bed! G'night all.

posted by KackieC @ 11:29 PM 0 Comments   

Just cruisin' along!

Now that I got the gist of the dpns I'm workin' it like I've been doing it all my life. Funny how that happens.

I am happy to report that I am 99% well. I have a few sniffles and the occasional cough but I have allergies and it's something I deal with pretty regularly anyway. Yeah!

And for one of the coolest things I've seen in a while, check out Jennifer's strawberry suit project. It's awesome!

posted by KackieC @ 10:27 PM 1 Comments   

omigod

I have been having such a bad time trying to use dpns. And I could never figure out what everybody was going on about when they say "try them, you'll love them." Well I tried and tried and tried and cried and cried and cried. I kept thinking it can't be any more difficult than using circulars which I use for pretty much everything whether it needs it or not just because they travel so nicely.

Anyway, I got on the internet just a second ago to see if there was some sort of tutorial or something that would make it better. And yes, I found a tutorial, and I had that magical moment of epiphany of what I should be doing, vs what I was actually doing. It was a total DUH! when I realized my mistake. It's so stupid and ridiculous that I am not even going to tell you what I was doing wrong, but I will say this. My technique was the equivalent of using a different computer to type each word in this blog. I hope the knitting police aren't going to come to my house and revoke my knitting license. I absolutely positively can't believe it never even occured to do it the right way. It's so stinking obvious. sigh.

posted by KackieC @ 3:50 PM 4 Comments   

sheesh

I am coughing like it is going out of style. It's so irritating and frustrating when I have a coughing attack. They usually happen just as I am about to order something at the coffeeshop counter or right when someone asks me a question or the moment the phone rings. I hope this doesn't go on for ages, but I fear it will. Folks that I know who have had a similar sounding illness recently have told me to be prepared for 10 full days of feeling like crap, followed by 3 weeks of coughing like I've got a 2-pack a day habit. I'm hoping that we don't have the same disease, because I will lose my mind if that is the true prognosis.

And now for something totally different. Does anyone know of a pattern for a pair of arm warmers that have a thumb hole, are fairly fitted, have NO cables, and are over the elbow in length? I suppose I can make up my own pattern, but since I am not so good with dpns I wanted to limit my exposure to too many undocumented variables, if you know what I mean. I need to practice with the dpns and I figure this would be a good way to do that without have to worry about turning heels or flaps or other sock-related problems.

And now if you will excuse me I need to go cough.

posted by KackieC @ 11:59 PM 1 Comments   

Relapse

Ok, I'm having a relapse, and it stinks. And remember when I said I was hoping I wouldn't cough my way into an aneurysm? Well, I didn't go to such a drastic extreme as that, but I did manage to cough so hard I popped some blood vessels in one eye. The right eye looks fine but the left eye looks a lot like red velvet cake. If it was Halloween this would be a good look, but sadly the timing is off a bit.

I finished Red's top and gave it to her last night. Can I just say that this thing screams Rock Star? I ended up pitching out the crocheted strap idea in favor of just using clear elastic. The elastic is absolutely the right thing. I threaded it horizontally through the bottom edge of each triangle and vertically from the top point to just above the bottom elastic strip. The beauty of this is the triangles themselves can be adjusted to whatever size or shape Red wants. It also gives just enough structural integrity and true-to-form fit to it that it totally got rid of that large-breasted cave woman look it was sporting with the non-stretchy straps. Now it looks and acts like a regular bikini top. Not to mention that the invisible straps are oh so hot!

posted by KackieC @ 11:48 PM 0 Comments   

Hack Hack Hack

I've coughed so much today I think my throat is bruised. I won't be suprised if I have an aneurysm from it. I am getting a heck of an ab workout though.

Now on to more important topics. I'm trying to figure out the straps for Red's top. I pulled out the old knitting knobby and tried to make enough knitted tubing because I thought that would be the perfect size and texture. And you know what? It is! Sadly though it takes about an hour to make an inch of the tubing on the knitting knobby so I threw in the towel after I got this far.



Here's what it looks like up close:




I think I will end up using this crocheted strip as the straps, with a little silver elastic cord threaded through it:




It's what I've always called triple crochet stitch, but whether or not that is what it really is called is another issue altogether. It'll work just fine for this purpose though.

And guess what? As usual, I'm up well past my bedtime. I'm going to go to bed, and get rested for the big 3-day weekend coming up. I have no real plans other than going out to dinner and a party in San Francisco tomorrow night, and trying to organize the chaos that is reigning in my knitting room. And perhaps even do some knitting. And recovering from the last vestiges of this rotten disease. Sleep tight!

posted by KackieC @ 11:17 PM 0 Comments   

Yaaaaayyyyy!

I'm finally feeling better today. Not 100% well, but so much better that I feel like a new woman. Kind of like taking off your shoes at the end of a long day. Thanks for the get well wishes Moni! They totally worked!

I started knitting a skirt from the silver yarn that I got about a month ago. It's the same yarn I made Red's bikini top from. The skirt is for me, and it's going to be a groovy little fluffy mini skirt thing for parties and dancing and such. It knits up pretty fast, so unless I get distracted (always a possibility) or have a relapse (heaven forbid) I should be finished tomorrow or the next day.

posted by KackieC @ 9:10 PM 0 Comments   

Still sick

I'm still sick. So sick in fact that I called my mommy at 4:00 this morning to ask her if I should go to the doctor. My mom actually lives in Arkansas so it wasn't that early for her, and she was already on her way to work, according to my dad. My dad wisely told me that anytime I need to call my mom at 4:00am for medical advice it probably warrants a trip to the doctor. And here is where the comedy/drama of this story starts.

I left a voice mail for my mom at her office since she didn't answer her cell phone. Mom called me back a few minutes later and got a complete medical history on me. Technically speaking this means she tells me all the times that I've been sick in the past, and occasionally will ask me what my current symptoms are. After she gathered up this important data she said she needed to analyze the situation and would call me back shortly. Usually this means consulting with the other nurses at work about whose kids/grandkids/husbands have been sick recently with similar symptoms, and What Did The Doctor Say About It? Today though I guess they were a little fired up about something because the diagnosis was much more dramatic than just "a bug," and those of you who know me will instantly know where I get my hypochondriac tendencies from.

Mom called me back at 4:53 to tell me that someone in Santa Clara County (where I live) has been diagnosed with Avian Influenza A (H5N1). I'm guessing that this someone who has recently arrived from Asia for the Lunar New Year festivites no doubt, since there are like only 56 people in the ENTIRE WORLD that have ever been diagnosed with this, all but one of whom are in Asia. Mom is worried I will contract it too. She forwarded the Centers for Disease Control report on it to me via email. Furthermore she insisted that I should be on the phone with my doctor to get myself put on the high-risk-must-always-get-a-flu-shot-before-anyone-else list because I get sick with "a bug" every year (whether or not I get a flu/ pneumonia shot, by the way). And yes, I should go see the doctor as soon as possible.

I spent the day moving back and forth between bed and the couch. I got some new cough medicine and that seems to be doing a much better job than the Nyquil. I hope to be a little better tomorrow. I didn't really even have the energy to knit today, and that's just not right. I was hoping to go to the Knitting Meetup tonight and get all the scoop on the Sally Melville class that Spinnity took at Stitches West this weekend, and enjoy the show-n-tell from everyone else that went. Sigh. Or should I say cough cough cough. I'm a little stoned from the Robitussin and fever so I do apologize for the rambling and disjointed nature of today's blog post. Maybe you will find some humor in it. I know I did.

posted by KackieC @ 9:13 PM 4 Comments   

Being sick really sucks

I'm sick as a dog, I tell you. And on top of feeling like crap I have lost my voice. I now sound like Flipper: all squeaks and clicks. It's truly amazing how much stuff you can't do when you have no voice. You can't call the phone company to complain about static on the line. You can't participate in conference calls at work. You can't yell from one end of the house to the other that yes, you'd like to have a fried egg. I'll be glad when I am back in rude health.

Thanks for the get well wishes, Lori!

I did spend a little time working on Red's top today. I finished the other half of it, and put some temporary ties on it. I need to find something better in the strap department. I've tried knitting, crocheting, braiding, macrame-ing, and all of it looks dumb and out of scale/wrong texture/uncomfortable/etc. It really needs some elasticity in the straps so I will probably end up trying to integrate some stretchiness in the whole shebang. But it is pretty cool. The fur has expanded quite a bit, and it's going to make Red look like she's got some seriously large boobies, that's for sure. A lot of people pay good money for the big booby look, so it's not like it's unheard of, that's for sure. Anyway, here's the pic. I'm going to bed.

posted by KackieC @ 10:23 PM 0 Comments   

Guess what I've got

If you guessed the flu you are right! I've got every symptom on the Nyquil bottle plus a few more. Nice. Really nice. It started coming on last night about the time the girls started arriving for our Sunday night stitch 'n bitch. I was a trooper and hung in there till the last gal left at 9:30 or so, then I collapsed in a feverish heap in the bed.

In spite of being sick as a dog the SnB was really a lot of fun. A couple of girls were sewing up some funky furry things (fleecy pink boot covers and a multi-colored shaggy shrug), a couple of us knitted, and we also had some beading going on. Here's a few pictures of the festivities.




We had some dinner before hand. I can't cook, and once again I proved how awful at it I really am. Fortunately we had lots of bread and salad to make up for the absolutely flavorless chicken pad thai I made. The wine helped too. Notice the lamp in the back corner- it is sitting on two boxes that still haven't been unpacked yet.

Another shot of the participants, all good sports despite being fed bland food.





The boy is my roommate, Kregg. That's me in the pink. The rosy glow is attributed to my fever.




Whistle while you work....




Such shiny happy faces! See the mug in the right hand corner? That's my hot buttered rum. Blayssa, the gal with the knitting needles made it for me. Works better than tea when you don't feel good and you have to be social. I wonder if I could get away with drinking it at work? Probably not.



Even Turbo got in on the act, doing a little modeling of Blayssa's scarf.

Holy cow, it's almost 10:00! I have got to go to bed. 'Night ya'll!

posted by KackieC @ 9:36 PM 2 Comments   

Sunday Morning Musical

I have a bit of a food hangover this morning from my dinner date last night. I ate vast quantities of mashed potatoes and souffle with copious amounts of rich and buttery sauces on top. Mmmmmm! Today though I feel like I ate a football. Oh well. It was worth it.

So here are the responses to the music meme that Christie has tasked me with answering:

1) Total amount of music files on your computer: 1.6 GB total between the computer I am sitting at right this very second and my old laptop that is now my MP3 server. However, I should add that a couple of MBs of that total is made up of the comedy of Bill Cosby. It's not music but it is MP3 files. (Boy that Bill can make me laugh! I can hear the same story/joke a billion times in a row and I'll laugh myself to tears every single time.)

2) The last CD you bought was: I haven't bought a physical CD or even a whole CD's worth of songs in ages. I buy a lot of music from i-Tunes. The fact that you can buy just the one song that you like from a CD totally rocks. But, in an effort to answer the question I was asked, here goes. I can't remember if it was Al Green's Greatest Hits or Dusty Springfield's Stay Awhile/ I Only Want to Be With You, but I bought and downloaded both of them about the same time last summer, when RealMusic was having their "Every CD is $4.99" sale. I did get two CDs for Christmas though- My brother's girlfriend Erin gave me Elephunk (Asian Special Edition) by the Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani's Love Angel Music Baby.

3) What is the song you last listened to before reading this message? Some song or other by a band called Saliva. It was what was playing in the car when my date brought me home. It was notable only because the XM satellite radio thingie in his car said "Saliva." I don't actually remember what the song sounded like.

4) What are your five favorite songs and why they mean the most to you: This answer is totally dependent on my mood, which means my answers aren't going to have any really deep meaning other than the reason they are appealing to me right this second.
1. Sunday Morning by Maroon 5. It's Sunday Morning right now.
2. Take Your Mama Out by Scissor Sisters. Great song for driving with the windows down and the radio up too loud.
3. Walk On by U2. Just a good song. I like how the drums kind of sound like a heartbeat when I listen to it on my iPod.
4. Darn near anything by The Carpenters. Three words: Lip synching, Baby!
5. What's Going On, by Marvin Gaye. This song can always take the edge off a bad day.

5) What 3 people are you going to pass this baton to and why?
I'm going to pass the baton to:
1. Shannon: She's my next door neighbor on the Bay Area Knitters Web Ring. It's not exactly the same thing as baking a batch of cookies and bringing them over, but it is important to be friendly with the neighbors, right?
2. Moni: My other Bay Area Knitters Web Ring neighbor. Again,meeting the neighbors!
3. Spinnity: She sat next to me in one of my Sally Melville classes a couple weeks back.* One of these days I'll get to the SJSU stitch n' bitch or a meetup and we can get to know each other a little better.

*Oh I did say I would post some stuff I learned at my classes didn't I? Ok, I forgot. But now I remember. So, be looking for it this week. I can't do it now because I have to get my house cleaned up for the girls to come over tonight and figure out what I am going to serve them for dinner. I can't cook very well so I need a lot of time to work through Plan A and still have time to execute Plan B when/if neccesary. Maybe we'll have chicken and rice casserole. I know that reeks of overworked suburban housewife, but I swear I could sit down with a dish of that and not come up for air till it's all gone. That and tuna casserole. I think it must be the Campbell's Cream of Mushroom Soup. Whatever it is, it rocks and would be perfect to fix on a cold day like today.

I never made it to the Stitches West Market. Reading the blogs of the folks that went I am left with mixed emotions about this. On the one hand I am sorry to have missed out on some really great yarn, but on the other hand I really really really really really hate crowds.


And finally, to wrap up this sermon, here is another picture of my dog Turbo. She's violently opposed to going outside when it is cold, but since she's not tall enough to use the human potty she has to go outside in spite of her hatred of the cold. So here she is doing the one trick she knows how to do: sleeping till noon, while trying to get warm from the brief jaunt through the yard.



Look closely, you'll see her head on the right hand side of the picture. She's wearing a little brown sweater which apparently wasn't warm enough. I was sitting in this chair doing a little channel surfing with a heating pad on my still-sore neck. I got up to blog and Turby climbed up on the pillow, on top of the heating pad, and underneath the throw blanket. She's been cooking there for an hour or so. I guess she'll turn over when she's done on one side.

posted by KackieC @ 8:48 AM 2 Comments   

Sparkles!

I'm making a silver fun fur bikini top for my friend Red. I'm half-way done with it, and thought I'd park a pic of what's done so far. Red is totally going to look white hot in this top!



It's worked in stockinette stitch, and the tendency of stst to roll, plus a few cleverly placed k2tog give it a really groovy natural boob shape. You can't really tell that from the picture, but take my word for it, it's up to Cross My Heart standards.

By the way, what did that whole 18-Hour Bra thing mean? I never quite understood that. But then again, I'm not exactly what you'd call bosom-y and maybe I just wouldn't understand.

Oh, Christie tagged me with the music meme. I've got to sit down and compile the answers to the questions. I'll post it all probably tonight or tomorrow morning Actually, it'll be in the morning. I've got a date tonight and I've got to tart myself up.

posted by KackieC @ 5:34 PM 1 Comments   

no internet again!

Comcast, in their attempts to bring me bigger, better, and faster cable and internet services has actually eliminated any sort of internet connectivity and removed most of my cable channels today.

Sigh. I had some stuff I wanted to blog about, but I am tired and my Sidekick keyboard isn't really good for epistle length blogs. So, I am going to bed and I will hope for better connectivity in the morning. In the mean time, here's a picture of my little dog Turbo. She's tired too and is snoring loud enough to make you think she's a 100-pound dog, instead of the 8-pound burrito she really is.
+kac

posted by KackieC @ 10:37 PM 0 Comments   

Fabric Knitting

I was in the Walmart today and saw some kits for purses, hats, bags, and backpacks to be knitted out of precut strips of fabric. They were all brightly colored cotton, and it seemed like a swell idea, but I wasn't sure how well they'd hold up to life. Has anyone tried it? Do they fray? Is it an attractive look when they start to fray? I know there is a pattern on knitty for a bag knitted from gold lame, and lame starts to unravel and fray as soon as you show the sisscors to it, but I think that was an actual design element of the bag...

I am going to take the day off tomorrow and go to the beach and knit all afternoon. In the morning I think I am going to head over and check out the Stitches West Market. Because of course I need more yarn...

posted by KackieC @ 8:44 PM 1 Comments   

Snap! Crackle! Pop!

Ok, the Tet festivities are pretty crazy. Fireworks that sound like grenades and anti-aircraft artillery have been going off non-stop since yesterday. Yes, that means 3:33am, and 4:15 pm, and every other time in between. And did I mention that at least 3 helicopters have been circling my house for the last 3.5 hours? It's wild! I hope that the excitement wears off a little tonight though. I am a bit tired from getting no sleep last night.

In other news, I discovered On Demand on Comcast Cable today. Between that, Tivo, and VH1 marathons of shows I like I fear I will never leave the house again.

posted by KackieC @ 9:17 PM 0 Comments   

Happy Tet!

Tomorrow is the Lunar New Year- the Year of the Rooster specifically. A lot of folks (me included) automatically think Chinese New Year when I hear Lunar New Year, but it's not an exclusively Chinese celebration. But this year I've got a new perspective. I just moved to a part of town called Little Saigon, and it's the second largest Vietnamese community in California. According to the local newspaper 150,000 Vietnamese folks live in the immediate vicinity of my house.

The Vietnamese celebration of the Lunar New Year is called Tet, and it's going on right now. Officially the Lunar New Year is tomorrow but the folks in my neighborhood are kicking things off with a bang. Literally. Firecrackers have been exploding all day and evening. There's a big festival at the fairgrounds down the street this weekend and I'm going to go check it out. I think it will be very exciting!

posted by KackieC @ 9:46 PM 0 Comments   

There's always room for more

I'm still not finished unpacking yet. I'm about 90% there, and it's all "dependency unpacking." By this I mean I can't unpack Box A until I get the dresser where it's all stored is completely reglued. The dresser sustained some moderate to severe battering during transport to the new place. My roommate was nice enough to tackle that project for me.



I have a tendency to think I am handier than I am- something akin to my "more courage than actual skill" approach to knitting- so the end result will probably be a lot sturdier than if I did it. Anyway, the dresser needs to hold some stuff that needs to be unpacked, and all that stuff has to sit in a holding pattern in the front room till the dresser is done. I'd stash it all in the closet and hide it there, but the closet is holding the drawers from the dresser.


And of course this is the dresser upon which my TV, Tivo, cable box, and the stereo I bought at Service Merchandise when I graduated from college 15 years ago resides. So, the TV is sitting on the floor and the Tivo and cable box are sitting on a cabinet that isn't deep enough to hold the TV. The stereo is living on the kitchen table at the moment.



Does anybody remember Service Merchandise? You go look at the stuff in the show room, then you'd bring the order ticket to the guy at the stock desk and they'd get it from the back for you. And it would come out on a conveyor belt. They had everything at Service Merchandise. Bathroom scales, TVs, watches, pots and pans, etc. I can't remember when they went out of business, but it was sometime in the 90's I think.

Anyway, the whole point of my blog today is that I have not put away all the yarn I own nor have I made any real progress on any of the projects that I have going, unless you count the fact that over the weekend I started two new scarf/wrap things. And in spite of, or maybe because of this I feel that my life will not be complete if I do not knit the ribby cardi or the so-beautiful-it-made-me-weak-in-the-knees felted bag in the new Vogue Knitting. Does anyone else suffer from these delusions of creativity or am I alone in this madness?

posted by KackieC @ 7:35 PM 1 Comments   

Pain in the neck

I have a sore neck. It's been sore for a few days now. I'm starting to wonder if maybe I could put just my head on a diet for a while, just so my neck doesn't have such a heavy load to carry. Knitting is not so fun with a sore neck. Not impossible, just not as much fun as it could be.

In other news, I am having a craft night at my house this Sunday. This is exciting for two reasons. Well three reasons actually.

1) I get to knit with friends. I don't know what they'll all be doing craft-wise, but knowing these gals it will involve fake fur, glitter, and a lot of wine.

2) I now have a good motivator for finishing unpacking the remaining boxes from the move.

3) It is the first real event in my new house. There's been a steady stream of drop-in guests almost everyday since we got here but this is the first planned thing. That is so exciting! Yeah!

And now I have to go unpack a box (or 3) to find the heating pad for my neck, and then tuck myself in bed. G'night!

posted by KackieC @ 9:11 PM 0 Comments   

Peace is Patriotic Along

Peace is Patriotic Along Here's a lovely knit-along blog I discovered this morning when I was supposed to be paying attention in my conference. It's such a lovely sentiment that I joined up. And now I need to come up with a project. I'm thinking that the little pouch I've been thinking of knitting to hold my phone would look great with the logo done in duplicate stitch. And possibly a matching hat. And maybe something a little more charitable, especially for the folks impacted by the war?

posted by KackieC @ 11:57 PM 0 Comments   

Can you get fired for knitting?

I am at a conference (that has absolutely nothing to do with knitting or work) this weekend, and I'm knitting away in the back row. It sure does make the whole thing more enjoyable. I wonder if the people at work would have a cow if I whipped out some knitting during a meeting? Probably....

posted by KackieC @ 1:41 PM 1 Comments   

Knitting with beads

I'm thinking about knitting a scarf with beads. It looks pretty straight forward to thread up the beads on the yarn, then working the beads into the stitch, but I could be wrong about that. I tend to have more courage than actual skill when it comes to stuff like that. Anybody have tips, advice, or warnings?

posted by KackieC @ 5:19 PM 1 Comments   

Two Pigs

I have two guinea pigs. Cary Grant is the older of the two, and he's a shade over 2 years old.



Cary is quite handsome and very much the ham. And noisy! When he's happy he clucks like a chicken, and when he wants something (usually attention or a green leafy vegetable ) he squawks like a parrot. A very loud parrot.

Errol Flynn is about 8 months old and is a lot more laid back than Cary.



He's happy just hanging out and snuggling up to Cary or crawling up under the pile of hay he and Cary get for breakfast everyday. He pretty much just eats his way out of the pile. Kind of makes me wish I had a bed made of cheesecake/cherry pie/ hershey bars/ krispy kreme glazed donuts.

posted by KackieC @ 11:24 PM 1 Comments   

Starting over

OK, I'm still disgruntled with the poncho, so I just ripped it all out. It is time for a new pattern.

posted by KackieC @ 11:25 PM 0 Comments   

THE SAK: CUPID SATCHEL

THE SAK: CUPID SATCHEL

Isn't this bag adorable? I wonder if I have time to knit up something similar before Valentines Day?

posted by KackieC @ 10:51 PM 1 Comments