Do you guys know how much you rock? Go read the update on Phoebe on Mel’s blog!!!

I know it’s just a few days after Christmas and all of the craziness of the Holiday season, but if you love animals and want to help a friend of mine out, I would appreciate a bit of your time. Probably a lot of you know Mel, if not, you should. (maybe you saw him at Rhinebeck??) I was originally introduced to him by Norma when the Wonder-dog (aka the moron) Gus ate some rib bones. Mel lives in Maine with his partner David where he is a Veterinarian. He just posted about a dog named Phoebe that was hit by a snowmobile while being walked by his owner last Friday night and he is collecting donations to help pay for the vet bills. Phoebe was seriously injured when hit by a snowmobiler who was illegally on their property and will need extensive treatment. Mel himself has already written off over $700.00 of the bill of his own fees for this family in order to help out Phoebe. And listen, I’m not trying to make anyone feel badly if they can’t or don’t want to donate towards this cause. I know how amazing my knitting/crochet friends are when it comes time to help a person out in need. I’m just putting it out there to my fellow pet lovers if you want to donate a few dollars towards this cause. On two different occasions Mel helped me with Gus when he was sick and I would simply like to show him my thanks. Mel is such an amazing person and want to show him how much I appreciate him. From Mel’s blog:

To that end, I’ve created the donation button below if anyone would like to help out. This simply goes into my Paypal account and I will, in turn, transfer funds to the pet assistance fund here at the clinic, since we don’t currently have any mechanism for direct donation set up aside from people coming in and making one. In the event that any donations were to exceed Phoebe’s expenses, they would remain in the pet assistance fund for the next case to come along. There is no tax write-off for this, no particular reward other than helping out a family and dog in need, but I’m sure they’ll appreciate it. And I will thank you for it.

How about you leave me a comment if you donate and I will randomly select one person to win a little swag from the shop? I know how much y’all like swaggy goodness and a little bribery never hurt anyone right? So to those that have a few extra dollars and would like to help out, I thank you in advance. I will leave this up until Friday and for Friday’s Eye Candy I will announce the winner. Thank you!! Happy New Year too!

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How about an FO for some Eye Candy?

Oh stop. Pick yourself up off of the floor. Thanks again to Lori for linking me up to this pattern. I let T. pick between the Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parkes (from the Knitter’s Book of Yarn) and Dashing and he picked this one. I whipped this one up in just over one night of TV watching and the other one is on the needles already. I just used some Peruvian Highland Wool from elann I had in my stash and voila! I have half of an FO done. It’s a great little pattern and fits T. really well. I was a bit worried it might be too small but with the ribbing it’s perfect. We already have a movie picked out for tonight so I hope to finish the second one while watching it. I know it’s not much but hey, the contest worked and I was inspired to knit something!

And let me just tell you, if you don’t already have Knitspeak you need to buy it. I know I already talked about it the other day but wanted to let everyone know again how much I love this little book. I have been a knitter for almost 30 years and can pretty much knit anything. For the most part time is what keeps me from really knitting much more than little things, not ability. However, the teacher in me still, always double checks patterns to make sure I’m doing things properly because I absolutely detest frogging. I’d much rather take the time to really get understand the pattern before I start knitting rather than figuring stuff out as I go. There couldn’t be a more perfect little book for doing just that. I looked up about 4 different things as I knit this pattern just to make sure I was doing the right stitches. I just love it! It’s just perfect for the geeky ex-English teacher/knitter in me. Andrea Berman Price? Seriously? You so rock!!!

Have a great weekend everyone and a very safe and Happy New Year!!

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First I want you to see two new items I put up in the shop today. I absolutely love this new swag! Check out these sockblocker keychains that come with a teeny sock pattern and these totally cute kitchener dogtags in pink and black.

I love getting new stuff in the shop. Okay. What you’ve been waiting for. I want to thank everyone again for all of the fantastic links. I am definitely inspired to knit something! The problem is narrowing it down now. If you can believe that. I decided there was a tie between two people for inspiring me to knit something. The inspiration winners are….. solmama and Lori! I have never seen the Headigan pattern from Red Lipstick that solmama linked me to and it’s totally adorable! I’ve already shown it to a bunch of people who agree with me that it’s super fun. I’ve already bought the pattern. Lori linked me to the Maine Morning Mitts by Clara Parks, which I haven’t seen either. I wanted to knit something like that for T. and these are perfect. I haven’t decided on the Maine Mitts or Dashing from Knitty. I was on the phone with Amy the other day and she reminded me of those too. But really, there were so many great ideas it was hard to decide on which ones were truly going to get my butt knitting.

Because there was such a great response I wanted to use the random number generator to pick a few other winners. I decided I’ll send out three other smaller prizes to the following peeps.

Congratulations to……

Rebekka

Shannon

&

Phara!

I just need you to each send me your shipping address to my scoutj at scoutj dot com. I will get the prizes out within the next week. So look for them after the first week in January. Thank you all again for playing. And now I leave you with a little roving pr0n. Yummmm.

rub a dub dub there’s fiber in ma tub!

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To those that celebrate Christmas!

Somehow I didn’t realize that Monday night AND Christmas Eve was the same day so I will announce the winners tomorrow. (Wednesday) I am still looking through all of the comments. There are some really fantastic links and I’ve had so much fun looking through all of them. Thank you all for taking the time to comment. I now need to go get ready to go to our friends’ house for dinner. Take care everyone!

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*** You still have two days to comment and have a chance at winning some cool swag! Also, if you haven’t looked through these comments you really must. There are some absolutely fabulous links in the 126 comments that have been left. I already have a few favorites….and no I’m not going to tell! But man, grab a cuppa and sit and check out these links. Don’t blame me if your Ravelry queue doubles!***

Is this thing on? *tap tap tap* Hi! Remember me? How are you? Me? I’m hanging in there. Lots going on and I’m feeling super depressed about the fact that I’m totally not elbow deep into any sort of knitting. I am completely uninspired. I’ve knit a few scarves and that’s it. So I come to you my friends. Spread the word because I want a huge response for this contest. I need help. I need inspiration. I get to look around blogland every once in a while but not enough to find out what the hottest knits are right now. I’ve seen a few things but want to know from you what you are loving right now. Or something that is in your queue that looks super cool. That’s the contest! You need to inspire me to knit something. I don’t want a garment. I want something fun and not too crazy complicated. It can be a bit of a challenge but nothing too scary since my kids are home after today for two weeks and we know what that’s like. (Charlotte’s Web is probably not a good idea) But come on. I want links/pictures/patterns to what you’ve seen or knit recently that is a must-knit. There will be multiple prizes!! I will give a prize to the person who finds me something I actually want to knit as well as pick a few other names randomly just for commenting. The prizes will be a surprise. It could be a book, yarn, swag…..you’ll just have to wait and see! I will have this contest go until Monday night at 8:00pm MST. Then I’ll announce the winner on Christmas Eve. So let me see some patterns!!! What do I absolutely have to knit?

And how about a little Eye Candy Friday collage? Here are a few images from the past few weeks. I’ve been having lots of fun with the Christmas lights.

Now let the contest commence! I can’t wait to see what you find for me.

Also, I will make one final run at 5:30 to the Post Office if you are still wanting something from the shop. Priority mail is 2-3 days so there is still a good chance to get something before Christmas! Obviously I can’t promise anything…..but it should get there if you live in the US!

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I was downtown with a friend last week in one of the shops in Old Town and got this shot.

I love these Day of the Dead pieces.

click on it to see a bigger version on black.

I just wanted you to know a new shipment of GoKnit Pouches should be here any minute (They are here!) and I’m getting almost every package out the door within 24 hours of purchase so you can still get gifts before Christmas! I have more orders arriving daily as to not run out of anything. Tape measures, shawl & scarf pins, Haiku Bags….you name it. They are all coming in within the next week. I didn’t think I’d have time to reorder things but I’ve lucked out with my wholesalers.

Have a good weekend everyone! It’s snowing here right now. Crazy!

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It’s that time of year when everyone I know is compiling their knitting wish-lists for their loved ones and I wanted to help make it easy by telling you about a few things to add to your list. First up are a few new knitting books – Knitspeak: An A to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns, Knitting New Scarves & KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knittng’s New Wave.

knitspeak: An A to Z Guide to the Language of Knitting Patterns, by Amanda Berman-Price. I love how little it is and how conveniently it fits in even one of my small GoKnit Pouches with my knitting. Pattern Language Demystified - Finally! Knitspeak, a knitter’s dictionary that disentangles the mysteries of pattern language and translates into plain English. Hello!? How much more perfect could that be? You own cute little teeny pink knitting dictionary? Sorry, but the geeky teacher in me adores this. The Knitspeak website can be found here.

I saw that Lime & Violet already did a review on their Daily Chum about Knitting New Scarves, by Lynne Barr. I’ll wait for you to go read it…..you back? Yet? Okay. This book has the most fantastic patterns. If you are tired of the same ole patterns you see everywhere and love knitting scarves I highly recommend this. The two that immediately caught my eye are called black pearl & circles. Check out the gallery at Melanie Falick’s blog to see some of the other scarves. See. I told you. There is also a knitalong blog too!

KnitKnit: Profiles + Projects from Knittng’s New Wave by Sabrina Gschwandtner. Do you ever take the time to browse around a bookstore? Do you ever find a book and as you flip through the pages you get lost in the images and the words? All of the sudden you realize you have been looking through the book for a very long time and have been almost transported to another world outside of the bookstore? This is that type of book.

All over North America and Europe, a brand-new generation has taken up knitting—and is transforming the venerable needlecraft by blurring the boundary between craft and art. In Copenhagen, Denmark, Isabel Berglund hand-knit an entire room. In New England, Dave Cole constructed an enormous “knitting machine” (he used excavators and utility poles) that knit an 800-stitch, 35-by-20-foot American flag. But the projects aren’t all of a monumental scale. In Los Angeles, Bridget Marrin knits little dollhouses—complete with lawns, shrubbery, and smoke-filled chimneys, all made of yarn. Using surgical wire, Indiana-based knitter Althea Merback hand-knits sweaters smaller than a dime.

Five years ago, Sabrina Gschwandtner founded a ’zine to tackle the blurry edge between craft and fine art. Now, her book KnitKnit brings together profiles of 27 of the most talented artist-crafters knitting today. But KnitKnit does more than just document their ingenious creations. Each of the profiled knitters has contributed a project—a sweatshirt kimono, a mohair and metal belt, a pair of high-heeled boots, a geodesic-patterned cap, even a teddy bear knit from fiberglass insulation—meant to inspire you to find and follow your own creative path.

I’m telling you, this book is absolutely fabulous. It gets the Scout’s Stamp of approval for sure. I can’t wait to have some more time to look through it. Melanie has a gallery of a few of the images from the book so you can take a peek. Sabrina will be in San Fransisco tomorrow for a book signing. Who lives there and can go!? Let me know if you go or have been to one of her signings. I’d love to hear about your experience and see pictures if you got any. You can see more KnitKnit pictures here on Flickr too.

I am also so excited that Shobhana’s new book is out and I have some yarn in it! Yarnplay at Home: Handknits for Colorful Living, by Lisa Shobhana Mason can now be bought everywhere. The new book features cozies and cushion covers and afghans and lots of other things for the home. There are projects for every budget and skill level. I dyed her a custom colorway called blue in green that is up in the gallery she used for a french press cozy pattern.

I can’t wait to see the book in person. But yet again another really fun book by Shobhana. She is also looking for looking for participants for a blog tour for the book (tentatively scheduled for mid-January) and you can email her (mylifeinstitches at gmail dot com) if you are interested in hosting.

And finally I have an Etsy shop for you to go visit. I met Deatria when I was up in Taos for a weekend with T. last year. She and I ended up chatting for a while and I told her what I did. I gave her my card and promised her I would let all of my friends know about her when she put her work up on Etsy. Gogy’ is her shop. Her work is stunning. She also just had some pieces worn during NY Fashion Week by some folks in the industry. Pretty cool. Since I know what it’s like to start up a business I am more than happy to link everyone I know over to her shop! Definitely take a peek and read about her. She is such an interesting woman and I am so glad to have met her.

Well folks. That’s about all I have for now. The kids are asking for dinner so I need to figure out what the heck we’re having. I just got back in stock a whole new stack of signed Cat Bordhi books and still have plenty of the cute Haiku Grab Bags. I should have a new order of GoKnit Pouches in any day. Hope the Holiday season is treating you well so far. Which reminds me…..it’s the last night of Hanukkah and I need to see what Harry Hanukkah brought for the kids. *cough*

Until next time my friends!

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Happy Friday my friends! I wanted to first of all apologize for not being able to reply to all of the comments on the calendar post but my email was giving me way too much trouble. It seems to be working okay now. Fingers crossed.

I have a friend coming to visit today so I won’t be around much over the weekend. I hope you all have a great one too!

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Thank you Cynthia for busting these out so quickly! As always, I love them. I already have the sky one on this computer.

Simply click on the image to get the bigger version and then right click to save as your desktop wallpaper. Remember to let us know which one you like. Pretty please!? We like to know for future calendars.

we stood in silence and watched

Silk & Silver

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