Corn!

Had a great time at a gathering of the Central Maryland Knitting Guild on Sunday. Knitters communing, eating good food and knitting. What could be better? I like to sit with folks I don't know. You learn a thing or two and I've been socially deprived lately. The main staff member there surprised us with a chocolate laced goodie at the end to top it off. Very sweet of her. And quite fine - not a real sweet but chocolate - the way I like it.

The girls told me there was a sale at The Celtic Knot Yarn Shop over the weekend too. It was part of their 5th Anniversary Celebration complete with prizes - sadly no phone call came to announce my winnings later in the day oh well :-( The atmosphere was festive though and I spent the bucks my Dad gave me for Christmas on a bunch of Addies I wanted. Wheeeee! Carole had all the ones I wanted but one. She offered to have a friend deliver it to my regular knitting group on Thursdays. Funny thing, she still didn't have the Soak I want. Poor thing can't keep it in stock.

Ran into pal from Ralvelry who's working there now. She helped me pick out some cool corn yarn in a pretty lavender for a hat for my cousin's baby granddaughter which is on the way. Yes, I succumbed. Besides, the hand is okay if I knit a row or two and rest it. I first was looking for a traditional pink baby yarn and there wasn't any. Turns out that was a good thing for my intentions to do more creative knitting this year. This gives me a chance to work with something cool for a change and it's completely machine washable and dryable. The couple is young so that is a must. But now I have to decide on the pattern. Arrrrrrghhh! Here comes the patternophobia.

Ravelry. It's everywhere now. It was only two months old when I came on board back in June 2007 and had only

3063 users, 682 unclaimed invitations, and 7,303 people on the waiting list

And 8 months later on February 1 2008?

Total # of registered users: 72,879

Wooooooooah! Impressive.

It's A Major Award!

For anyone who has watched and loved "A Christmas Story" those words can be ominous. Visions of crates from Frajee-lay (must be Italian) come to mind. But when my husband came home from the Borders chanting that and handed me a copy of Simply Knitting, there was more inside the plastic sleeve than a magazine. It seems that each month the editors of the magazine send along a knitting goody. So looky here at what I got. This little flock of sheep tip protectors are three different sizes and easy to tuck into a project bag.


It's a great idea and sparks interest in their magazine - which was loads of fun anyway. Lots of British magazines offer free items such as software or music CDs as incentives. Simply Knitting also had lots of contests, although the copy Bobby picked was a bit ripe and a few had expired. Although many of the ads were for shops I will never get to, the articles were lovely, and well worth keeping. There are lots of patterns for a variety of clothing and other items. A stuffed elephant might have to be made in anticipation of anybodies baby - and just for the cute factor alone.

What fun!

Maybe he'll keep an eye out for other issues for me, wonderful DH that he is.

In other news, I turned in my lavender lace hat at the Mayer Center. It was well received with many oohs and ahhs. Diane also regaled me with the story of my Red Hat Society No Hair Day recipient and her reaction to the hat. I wish I could have seen her in that red convertible with all the fur flying. I'm glad I have plenty of that stuff in my donated stash. I should be able to turn out another for next time.

Meanwhile, I made a little baby hat and am working on booties for a layette to go to the Healthy Families of Howard County at the Kiwanis. The girls get something handmade to bring the babies home in. Miss Betty said sometimes it's the only nice outfit they have. The bootie pattern is Saartje's Bootees and they are all the rage at Ravelry. You can get the pattern from her website Saartje breit (that's Dutch for Saartje knits) I think I'm down to two patterns for the sweater. You know me and my patternophobia. But truthfully, I'm not sure I have enough yarn and it may have to wait until I can pick up some more next week. That baby white just isn't something I have in my stash - of course I already have blue in the hat and shoes so other colors will work also. Both patterns are top down, require almost no seaming and have simple designs. I can like that.

It's fun to be working on something new all the time. I like small projects. Instant gratification. Yeah. After the forever sweater and Veteran's blanket I needed a few quickies.

Hopefully the baby sweater won't take too long - it IS for an infant after all.

Pattern Snob

I have come to a realization about myself. I am a pattern snob. I have known this for some time, but didn't have a cute name for my disease.

Patternophobia (n.) an irrational fear of knitting one's yarn into an inferior project because you are sure a more perfect pattern is out there somewhere.

According to Google I am the first to use that word.

You see, I have all this lovely yarn. There are definite plans for some of it - a gift here, an indulgence there. The problems come when I try to decide on which pattern is worthy of my yarn. I narrow it down, only to find three or four new candidates. So what do I do? I knit for charity. I am proud to announce a breakthrough however. After many days searching, many websites visited, and many patterns bookmarked or downloaded (drum roll please) I have chosen the Austermann Sock pattern for the Step sock yarn. I got the pattern from their British language website but the American sizes are there. I did check two other sources and I feel confident that my sister is a size 38/39. I sat down and studied it and figured out the numbers for Debbie's size to plug into the pattern. God help me, I'm ready to take the plunge so I printed it out.

And the crowd goes wild.

In other news:
I took the two No Hair Day chemo caps over to the Mayer Center today. They were a huge success. The moderator of our group said she knew just the person for the red one. I promised more. They knit up very quickly so it shouldn't be long before I crank out another one.

As for the grown up socks? Pray for me.