Funky Scarf - Check! And to all my cynics…. I STILL KNIT! THPPPPPPPPPPPPTT!!!

I really had fun with this. Here is a close up of the funkiness.

I already started a second one last night for myself but using the other color of the MODA-DEA Lazy Daisy I bought. Can you guess what color?

Shocker! It’s purple. It looks really pretty with the misshawklet handspun.

And finally, I made a purchase yesterday and I’m blaming this all on Mona. She came to SnB the other night with her new Namaste bag. I even said, “The last thing I need is a new bag.” But then I made the mistake of looking at it online. And it was on sale. With free shipping. Damn! How can you pass that up? So this is now mine.  Go buy one! Aren’t they purty? And they’re 20% off!! /enabling

“Hi. My name is Scout. I’m addicted to cool bags.”  Yes, I have a problem. It’s the one thing I have a hard time not buying when I see one I like…..Go ahead Noelle. You can laugh. I’m weak.

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It’s baaaaaaaack. Now I’m just trying to get everything back on it. Adding back all of my passwords should be fun. I can’t remember all of that crap. I’m just happy it’s fixed. Tomorrow I will buy the external hard-drive my techy guy recommended. I refuse to have this ever happen again.

But do you see something else in that picture? No, not my ancient Booga in the discontinued, prettiest Kureyon colorway ever. Maybe you need to see it up closer. Look! A knitted object. (click to see up close)

I’m totally in love with this and am already dreading giving it to my Funky Scarf Pal. I’m doing a lengthwise scarf with misshawklet’s handspun, the MODA-DEA Lazy Daisy in Bubblegum and the most gorgeous skein of Ironstone Yarns called Bahamas. Isn’t it funky? My pal loves purple, pink and wants a long, skinny scarf. I’m lucky that basically we have the same taste so I just made something I knew that I’d like. I’m definitely going to make one for me after this.

The weather is crappy, Supergirl is napping and you know what? I’m going to knit. Yep. I have other things I should be doing. Oh well. I have missed knitting and I’m going to sit here and do just that.

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Let’s get the allergy part out of the way. Are you allergic to any fibers?

Not really. I would be sad if my scarf smelled like smoke though. I’m not too into cigarrette-smoke flavored anything. I’m somewhat allergic to cats but not enough to make you knit in your car or a tent if you had a cat. I can deal. Fo sho!

Do you prefer any fibers over others?

I don’t like anything that is hairy or scratchy especially if it’s around my neck. I love the feel of the recycled silk by Mango Moon and it’s super funky to boot. You can’t go wrong with a soft merino or cashmere either.

Post an image of something that you think is funky!

Have you seen these funkadelic Textural Yarn Kits by Erica Weiner? They are amazing. I love this one.

I think that’s pretty much spot on in my mind of what would be a perfect yarn for a funky scarf for me. A skinny scarf in garter stitch in that? I’d be 150% happy!

Would you prefer funky yarn or a funky pattern?

Yarn! It’ll be easy. Get the funky yarn, cast on a few stitches on big-ass needles and voila. You’ve made me happy!

What are your favorite colors?

Doesn’t everyone know this by now? Purple & black!! I also love pinks, sage-green, and most anything that isn’t a Fall color or a primary color. (or neon) Look at my blog and I love all the colors on my blog. I wear a lot of black.

What is your favorite piece of art?

Well, I’m going to have to say any piece of jewelry by Thomas Mann. And trust me. It’s art. Before my mother passed away she collected his jewelry and when she died I was lucky enough to get all of them. T. has since bought me a few more and they are simply the funkiest pieces of jewelry I’ve ever seen. If you haven’t seen his work you have to go check him out. Like this pin? I have one similar to it. There’s just something about his work I think rocks.

What colors would you never have up close to your pretty face?

Yellow, brown, orange, kermit-green. Anything that is a Fall color. Blech!

Would you prefer an actual scarf or a cowl?

I’d rather have a scarf.

When you wear a scarf do you prefer a wider/shorter scarf or a thin/long scarf?

I like thin and long. I’m not kidding about the total garter stitch skinny scarf with super funky yarn. I’m the easiest to please swap pal you’ll ever have if you do that.

What is the climate like where you live?It rarely gets much colder than about 20′ during the winter and is in the 90’s during the summer.

Would you prefer a functional scarf (to keep you warm) or one just to funk-up your wardrobe?

Funk it up baybee!

What else would you like your partner to know about you?

Look! This is pretty much exactly what I look like on most days. Black top and jeans/capris. But see? She needs a scarf!

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I bring you the view from my back door. These beautiful trumpet vines were only about 18″ tall one year ago. With the crazy rain this summer they now look like this. It makes me happy every time I walk out my back door. Click to see the bigger picture. And that huge plant in the flower bed? It’s a combination of three different tomato plants that have grown into one gigando plant. And if you think it looks like we live right on top of our neighbors I have to tell you that we are so lucky that none of our surrounding neighbors ever go outside. We love that. This is also where I do all of my dyeing.

One more day to sign up for the Funky Scarf Swap! We are now over 80 people and have some sponsors coming in with some pretty cool offers. It’s really going to be a cool swap.

And finally, Friday means…

As a present to you I will share my super-top-secret Cosmo recipe. Don’t tell anyone okay?

Scout’s Kick-Ass Cosmos

6 ounces Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice Cocktail (trust me and only use this kind!)

4 ounces vodka

1 ounce Rose’s Lime Juice

2 ounces Triple Sec

Pour all ingredients into a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake your booty and shake the shaker. Rim two martini glasses with some sort of sugar rimmer and pour into two glasses.

I promise you it will be the best cosmo you’ve ever had.

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We were talking about art yarns last night at Stitch ‘n’ Bitch as the amazingly talented Noelle was knitting with the funkiest yarn ever. Drag Queen Grover Yarn. I dare you to find me a funkier yarn than that! I also had asked Jacey to send me a link of all of the cool funky yarn shops online so we could add them to the sidebar of the Funky Scarf Swap Blog so people had them easily available. Here they are:

insubordiknit.com/yarn
luxefibre.com
noelle’s noodles
materialwhirled.com
yarnwench.com
pluckyfluff.com
studioloo.com
plyinthesky.com
jennyneutronstar.com
lampeslumps.com
whirledyarn.com
pippikneesocks.com

Have you visited all of these sites before? If not you must. There are some amazing spinners out there doing things with fibers that are just so, out of the box and I just think they all rock. Those yarns are what I would most definitely classify as funky.

This is one possible angle to this swap. You could get some funky yarn, do a fairly basic pattern and let the yarn speaks for itself. I mean any of those yarns just knit up in a basic garter stitch would look super cool. I know art yarn isn’t for everyone so the other possibility lays within numerous funky patterns from which choose. Funky definitely means something different to each of us. The one thing I keep hearing from people? Is funky does not mean eyelash! ( I mean a little eyelash is okay maybe but you know what I mean right?) I’m just excited that I might finally get to knit with something like this. Oh Pippi how I covet your coil…..

I’m curious what funky means to you. Yes YOU. Do tell.

**The swap will have a questionnaire so you get to know more about your swap pal so don’t fret about that**

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I had a crappy day. I realized today how lucky I’ve been since I’ve not had any major yarn mishaps since I’ve started this journey. I won’t even go into the details of what happened today but I was so frustrated I almost started to cry. Instead I just gave up and worked on a different project for a certain someone who will be an old lady like me as of tomorrow. Old I tell you. Go tell her how old she is wish her a Happy Birthday tomorrow.

Thank you for all of your anniversary wishes. We had an absolutely fantstic time. It made us realize how we need to do it way more often than once every 8 years. I found another babysitter who will spend the night and trust me, we’re going to use her as soon as we can. The funniest part was on the way home I turned to T. and said, “It’s nice to know that after 16 years we can still hang out and have fun together huh?” T. said, “What? Did you doubt we would!?” I laughed and said, “Noooooo. There are just a lot of people who don’t make it this long and actually truly enjoy spending time with one another!”

Two more things. I’m always amazed by how unbelievably crazy smart some people are. I’m talking like they don’t think like normal people do. Cat Bordhi? Um hello genius!? I work in a yarn shop so I see most books/paterns/etc. I’ve never really looked through her stuff because I dunno, I just haven’t. I know it’s cool and all and it was the rage a few years ago with the moebius scarves and bowls, but man. I watched her on Knitty Gritty today and was just amazed that she could come UP with something like that. It’s totally nuts! It seriously blew my mind. I’m very visual and it helped so much to watch the cowl grow between the crossed over circ cords. If you have a way to watch that one I highly recommend it. I especially liked it when Cat cast on doing a jig with the needles behind her back. She sure seems like a hoot.

I might actually try something like that for the Funky Scarf Swap. We are almost up to 60 people. There are still a few more days left to sign up so git! If a moebius scarf/cowl isn’t funky I don’t know what is.

I leave you with this picture taken about 5 minutes ago….

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Sixteen years. That sure sounds like a long time to be with someone doesn’t it? Especially because I’m only 26 years old! Don’t you laugh at me. Okay fine. I’m 36. But I still get carded so there. We actually celebrate this anniversary more than our actual wedding anniversary because a) I have known him since I was 6 and b) we didn’t have a wedding. One of my best friends back in New Hampshire calls T. the *Super Deluxe Model* of a husband. He really is. Not only is he an amazing husband but he is an even more amazing father.

To celebrate we are doing something we have not done since the kids were born. (That would be in 8 years) We’re going away tomorrow night. For the whole night. AWAY. No kids! And trust me, it’s not because we haven’t wanted to. The logistics of asking a non-family member to stay with two kids is something we never felt comfortable doing. Until we got desperate…. I made reservations at the Tamaya Resort. We can’t wait. So here’s to many more years with my T. I love you so much!

In other news I finally decided to make my shop legit and register it’s own domain name. A big thank you goes out to my two techie guru guys who are always there to help me. Thank you so much Cabin Cove Dave and Bruce of Sermon Zone. Once again I’d be completely S.O.L. without you two. If you have the shop bookmarked please note the new address. It also directs you right over to the new one too.

Now, go sign up for the Funky Scarf Swap if you’re up for another swap. It really will be fun so come on. Do it. I know some of you are swapped out but this one will be fun and not stressful. A scarf! That’s easy! Like the first thing you ever made right? Go read Bev’s post about it. I like her take on the swap. And, even though it’s one big group you will have contact with your swap pal so you can work out the details of fiber/color/etc. so you really will get something you will love and will walk around looking like a rock star! Okay, I can only promise so much…..

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I’ve been looking around to see what swaps were currently going on and I couldn’t find anything I wanted to join. If you don’t know me by now you know that can only mean one thing…..create a new swap! I have only actually knit one thing this year for a swap so I’m ready to do one again. I know many of you are swapped out but I’m ready for another one that involves knitting. Since Bev and I work so well together I asked her to help me do this one too. Knowing how close we are to Fall weather I thought a scarf swap could be fun. Inspired by Leigh Radford’s new pattern I thought it’d be cool to make it a FUNKY scarf swap. And not funky as in smells bad…. funky as in hip!

To make things way easier on the FSS Hostesses, we are not breaking this swap into groups. We are going to try out an online swap program and for this swap it’s going to just be one big, happy, flexible group where everyone plays nicely and no one complains. It is not for beginners unless you truly feel you’re up to the challege and if you have major animal allergies you should probably pass too. Please understand that it takes so much work when people need to be broken down into allergies/knitting levels/shipping preferences etc. and for this one we just don’t have the time to do that. We are not trying to exclude people at all, just trying to keep the little bit of sanity we have. Hope you can understand. Remember you can ask your pal if they DO have allergies and then go from there. Also, we’ll do questionnaires so you can learn about your pal!

Rules? Schmools. Ok, just a few.

Funky Scarf Swap 2006!

1. Sign up by August 12th by 8:00pm MST
2. Knit/crochet the funkiest scarf you can imagine in colors and a fiber that your swap pal will love.
3. You must have fun.
4. Mail your scarf the week of October 9th. Please do NOT mail it before then so everyone received their scarves at the same time. You must mail it out by Ocotber 14th.

So let’s see what skillz you’ve learned in knitting/crochet school. There are no limits on what you can do with this scarf as long as it’s totally rocking, funky, hip, cool, etc. Get it? Got it? Good!

You in? You know you want to. Then get your heiny over and sign up! (the password is fss2006 to sign up)

Just remember that this is like all swaps; if you think you will flake then please do not sign up. There’s nothing worse than having to track down a bunch of flakers! I will ask for angels at some point just to make sure everyone get’s hooked up with a funky scarf.

Once you’ve signed up slap this puppy up on your website.

Steal the image not my bandwidth!

The Blog is over here.

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