Hippies Creations

This was my tree last year.

I name this post for the subject of my post. Her name is Petra and has a son, Lennon, who is loveable, kind, gentle, loving, and just the best son ever…. except when his ammonia levels skyrocket. When this happens, he becomes very aggressive, disoriented, incoherent and has been described as appearing to be a bit crazy. In other words, he becomes a totally different child. Normal ammonia levels are 50-60. I do believe I read that Lennon’s had gotten as high as in the 300’s. Lennon is of preschool age. He has already had two liver transplants.  Lennon has Urea Cycle Disorder.  Please check out the link to this genetic disease.  Can you imagine this happening to your child? I am sitting here doing just that. I cannot imagine myself living through, and witnessing what my friend has witnessed happening to her son. All I can think of is that I have a hard time when my preschooler gets a cut, let alone going through life saving surgery and the gory details that go along with it… just to NOT get graphic about it. Just to think of their little perfect bodies enduring what seems impossible… becomes a reality. It’s a hard reality for mothers to come to grips with; and at the same time, no one should have to experience.

I’m not writing Petra’s whole story here, but if you’re interested, you can find it here. The reason for my writing is that I want to get her story out. She is not asking for donations; but as it happens, she does have an Etsy shop, HERE. She does wonderful work with beads and pyrography, or, wood burning.

I don’t make it a practice to advertise for other people, but I was moved to, today. I figure, “Hey, it’s the Holiday season and maybe someone is out there shopping around for gifts.” A part of me felt powerless until I thought of writing about her. After being paired with Petra in a beading swap, we corresponded ourselves into a friendship that has survived a few long spells of not corresponding. She made me a beautiful bracelet that rests so pretty on my wrist. It doesn’t happen often, that I will just love something that wasn’t made by me. She seems to know what I like.

Never Run With Needles

Coffee… check.  Keys… check.  Project bag… double check.

Back pack….  Back pack….?  BACK PACK?….

This is NOT good…. The other morning I was running around the house looking for my sons’ back pack.  Upon remembering that it was on top of my bed, I swung my body around and flew towards the bed.  Ouch!  I bumped my leg up against the foot board.  That smarts… Wellllll my friends, it was a little bit more than that.  I felt a little (just a little) weight on my thigh and realized that my canvas project bag was stuck to it.

Needle puncture in my leg.

Yep, that’s right… STUCK to my leg.  Surrealistically, I pulled it out and realized that I had just stuck punctured myself with the knitting needles, sized US 9, that were in my bag.  Yep, there is a hole in the bag, but not big enough to show in a picture and not very big, either… which sort of tells me that it didn’t go in too far.  At the time, I didn’t have a chance to even look at it.  I thought that if the blood wasn’t gushing out, it was okay (not so)… apparently, the fat on my leg plugged the hole up for just enough time to get my son off to school… wow, I’m Super Mommie! As soon as I got home, I rushed into the bathroom and took a peek.  Looked okay and there was some blood.  I poured some hydrogen peroxide over it and nothing happened.  No white bubbles… I guess that was a good sign.  Must have shown that my knitting needles didn’t have any germs on them.  I threw a band-aid on there and was good to go for the rest of the day.  My last tetanus shot was a few years ago, so I knew I didn’t need to get that.

Wow.  The whole idea of having that happen.  I really can’t even remember the details of that moment.  I am thinking it only went in about half an inch.  I figure that was deep enough for me to feel the resistance when I pulled it out, yet not deep enough to penetrate down to the muscle, though, I did feel sore for a couple of days, and still just enough to know that it happened.  You know, just a couple of minutes before this happened, I was thinking that I “could” put those needle tips on those very same needles as I had an extra idle pair laying around.  I didn’t want to go an look for them because I was in such a rush… and I had never made it a practice to use them before, but had gotten them in a swap.  A few weeks ago, I cracked open the bag and used the other set… which is probably why I didn’t get stuck more than once!  Ah, what lesson can we learn from this?

I’ve got to apologize to my readers for not posting more often, but things are more busy now than before Gabe went off to school.  I’ll never be able to commit to writing on a more regular schedule… well, unless somebody decides to pay me for it… ha..ha.. One thing that has been keeping me busy is the distribution of the motherload, from-the-mother-land, of yarn from my MIL’s house.  She has recently moved down to Florida, and we’ve been cleaning out her house.  DH found a literal truckload of yarn in the attic… and is STILL finding it here and there.  I was totally surprised because my MIL never talked about her stash, though knowing that I had one and that I’m an avid knitter and crocheter… and all out crafter.  I was totally shocked that she had so much of it.  I knew that she did do some crochet work back in the day… around the 70’s, but I also knew that she was not currently working with yarn.  Well, let me tell you… or better yet, let me show you:

Was I right? eh… eh?

Moving along.  Here are a couple of updates on projects that I’ve completed… Well, the most recent are the three (four) shawls I’ve done for some home bound parishioners.  All patterns were free and a pleasure to work and very easy.  One is a simple lace pattern that I was very happy to find.  Also, almost forgot the first one I made, the Angel Wings Shawl by Julee Reeves…

Angel Wings Shawl, LB Easy Crocheted Triangle Shawl, LB Easy Knitted Triangle Shawl, LB Lace Triangle Shawl

Angel? Bat? Works for me.

Love this pattern.  Next time I want to make it larger; which is very easy to do. Just keep going.  This is on my Ravelry projects page as are all my projects.  Ravelry?  Check out article in Vogue Knitting, Fall 2008.

Please note that the Easy Crocheted shawl and the Easy Knitted Shawl patterns on the Lion Brand site are both the same pattern, one crocheted and the other knitted.  Sorry, no pics on these yet.

It Was Fun While it Lasted

Yep, the hoopla is all over. We now switch you back to your regularly scheduled program. As of August 24th, 2008~ 11:59 pm, the Ravelympics is no more for another four years. Sigh… I’ll miss it. I must confess that I didn’t think that I’d have so much fun. I mean, of course I had fun working on my projects; but the folks at the Rav really made it so much fun the participants. What was a great, really, really great idea was that they created an “Almost” thread in the Ravelympics 2008 group, so that all the folks that could not finish, could still experience the thrill of posting their pics of their uncompleted projects and I just thought that was SO COOL! Admit it. You get a rush from posting pics of your projects, don’t you? DON’T YOU? I know I do, and I’m proud of it. LOL… even if it means posting my flab in those pics.

Of course, I’m thinking of my Sweet Stuff Sweater. It’s not completed here, but it came out pretty decent. I’ll never forget my excitement of creating an actual garment for myself, size 3X… or I’ll just say “Debbie Size-It”. I have learned so much since I joined Ravelry. It’s recognition and popularity in the fiber community is phenomenal…. unbelievable. I am so hoping to meet Jess and Casey sometime, but for now, it’s a pipe dream because I hardly ever get to go anywhere and a couple of times I got close, but no cigar.

Play Ball!

Oh man! Almost forgot! A Stitch and Pitch is coming up in September at Shea Stadium in Queens. Mets vs. Chicago Cubs. Here is a link to the Stitch and Pitch Fan Newsletter, Summer 2008. (LINK UPDATED 9/16/08) A couple of friends are going. It looks as if it’s likely that I’ll have to sit by myself, but I don’t care, if I can actually get there. We’ll have the commute there and back as time for commiserating. The one thing I’m not looking forward to is the size of the seats there…. circa 1964. You can bet that they did not plan for the size of my butt! Especially since if they made the seats bigger, they’d have fewer seats in the whole stadium. What does that mean? Less $$$ for the owners’ pockets. You know, those million dollar salaries must be paid with the sweat and blood of my tush! Once I wedge myself in, I’m stuck there for the duration… oh well, but I’ll BE there. I really can’t wait to get there. The Drake is cool with me going and we planned that he will pick up the little guy from school to give me extra time to get there in time. The Drake is so cool, don’t you think? Check out some Shea Stadium Wiki.

Hey, check out what the mailman brought me today:

So totally cool and I’m wearing this outfit right now. The pin in the middle is the Official Ravelympics pin with the year “2008″, with Bobicus Maximus. The other two pins are Bob’s head (mortal Bob) and the Ravelry ball of yarn logo. Oh yeah, those are MY boobs. Like em? LOL… That’s as raunchy as I’m likely to get…. but even though I’m an old coot, it’s still in the blood. Yep, the very same blood that is leaking out all over the seat at Shea. See what I mean? Wasted lusty blood.

Okay, I really need to put in some filler in here so I can get to the next picture. I hope you don’t mind if I start rambling for a the space it will take. Oh shit, I have nothing to say so I’ll just move forward with my thoughts. As of this moment, I am writing off line without any way to check my last posts, but what I want to do here is show you my Ravelympics projects and a couple of patterns that I’m looking into.

First up, is my “RH Sweet Sweater (turned Cardi)” that I entered for the Sweater Sprint I’m pretty sure that I showed that, but I’ll try to get a pic with me actually wearing it, as long as I look good in it, of course! I didn’t write too much about this one because I’m pretty sure that I posted already and will provide the link.

Next I had entered, I think, three projects for the Cowl Jump. Herringbone Neck warmer I used Moda Dea’s Tweedle Dee. The problem was that the herringbone stitch required was way too tight and the yarn got lost in it, and it lost it’s softness… so I gave up on it and was out of the race almost before it started.

Another project that I attempted was my “Fuzzy Red Cowl”, made with Caron Bliss in Ruby Red. I wish I had a pic of it, but that will have to wait until I finish it. I still have that on the needles as a matter of fact. I am so looking forward to this being finished. The yarn is so, so fuzzy and soft… AND it’s my favorite color… (giggle) or one of them, RED.

Cuddily goodness

Then I found that I had two very complimentary yarns, and I just HAD to do something with them together. Feathers, in Peacock and Knit Picks Wool of the Andes, in Blue Bonnet. These two blues would be virtually indistinguishable, if not for Feathers having more colors in it and all that feathery stuff. So, I got out my size US-15 circs and got to work. I wanted to make it fast, so I just made a rectangle, using a plain, and loose stockinette stitch. Of course it curled at the ends, so I decided to crochet a scalloped border with just the Knit Picks yarn. Worked out perfect… except that it took two balls of the Feathers and there is a REAL difference in the amount of feathers between the two which produced a really feathery side and the other side scarcely has any feathers at all, even after I brushed the surface to pull out some from the fabric and other side of the fabric. Hey, do I get extra credit for modeling this warm and cuddly thing around my neck in August hot, humid weather? See the gleam of oil running down my face!

Well, I forgot to make button holes in this thing, but I realized that after I completely finished the object, so I decided to just use a pin. Things never work out as we want them to, no matter HOW much we strive for it. Yeah, I’m a knitter alright. I’m the kind of knitter that forgets to make button holes. I could not even make loops on the edge for the buttons because the neck warmer came out too wide with the crocheted edge. How’s that for planning! My solution was a good one, though. I will need to fold it in half to wrap around my neck, then use a shawl pin, that I’ll make out of polymer clay for the clasp. Should be a piece of cake and I get a really nice idea today for making an outline of a shape, then either make the pin out of the same stuff, or just use a hair stick. I think I’ll need to make the pin because my hair sticks are simply too long and too thick for this project.

So right now, I’m in my local Starbucks waiting for my gals to get here. Sorry, no guys, though we would welcome them should they show up! Nothing like co-ed humor lighting up the table! Another great thing that came from Ravelry for me. For two years I was searching for a local group of people to get together with at least on a weekly or even monthly basis. I was so desperate! When on Ravelry, I found the Jersey Represent Group and a thread started for Union County Knitters and our real-time weekly group sprang up from there because, as you know, us knitters love to get together with you in the flesh. To be honest, I’m not really into virtual knitting circles or chat groups. I’d rather get together in person and see and FEEL the projects I read about on Ravelry.

Going to sign off for now… I want to clear out this table and make way for implements of knitting and crochet.

Oops, Spoke too Soon…..

My ears were burning and I was CALLED!  Called to the Precious PODIUM… woo hoo!

My trophy!

aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh the crowd is roaring, going crazy!  I’m smiling, waving deliriously in all directions, tears in my eyes…..

and, and…. don’t know HOW they managed it, but, but……

It’s raining CHOCOLATE!

Life is good.

Across the Finish Line!

dum dum da dum dum da dum da dum da dum dum………..

Sweet Sweater Turned Cardi

Event: Sweater Sprint
Team: Team Red Heart
Finished: Saturday, August 16th, 10:26pm EST

May I present…. My first Ravelympics FO, all washed and softened up.  Just one little thing is missing, my button. I’ve as yet need to make it… but this cardi is “wearable” and should qualify for being completed, and no one has gotten in touch with me to let me know that it doesn’t.  Oh, I’m also wondering if I get extra credit for an item sized 3X!

Although…. I have not been called up to the PODIUM yet……….. Let’s just say it’s got me wondering. ha.. you can see in the photo that there it was still a bit damp under the arms after being taken out of the dryer… better that than being over dried. I soaked it in a cup of vinegar while I took my shower this morning, then laundered it to make it soft. It definitely worked.  Many, many thanks to crochetbug13 for providing that tip on softening Red Heart.  Here is her non-ravelry blog’s site. Believe it or not, and this is how naive I really am to the ways of the yarn, I never, ever washed a FO before coming to Ravelry!

How the PODIUM works is that Bobicus Maximus lists all the events and that days’ finishers. Well, I finished late last night, but nothing happened today. My first impulse was to go and grab a badge from the last batch of Sweater Sprint finishers, but I just couldn’t… guess I’ll wait on the sidelines and watch all the other finishers proudly march up the podium to make their speeches….

I’ll just make my speech now, to you guys, and skip it later.

I just want to thank my Grandma Diano for teaching me the ways of the yarn, knitting and crochet. She was a great role model! I also want to thank my neglected hubby and my equally neglected son for all the support I received from them these past several days, and not one word of complaint… well, nothing I noticed! When I showed my garment to the Drake, he did express that he liked it and uttered that unforgettable response, “Aaaah, that’s why you’ve been so quiet.”

Gotta LOVE em!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Oh, here’s a bit of news.  I’m so embarrassed, though, because I was promoted, but just noticed a couple of days ago.

I was promoted to Captain in the Red Heart Group for organizing International Red Heart Swaps and bringing Red Heart yarn to the rest of the world.  Thanks, Zeeppo!

Oh man, that Zeeppo!  He’s got something called Hulu on his blog and I just killed some hours watching some movies off his blog.

Ravelympics Sweater Sprint

Progress in three days of pretty good work time.

Just wanted to give a quick update for this event, since this is the project that I’m putting in the most time with right now on a day to day basis.

As you can see, this is, I’d say, at least 50% done, but that is also counting sleeves and finishing that will be required.  Somebody crossed the finish line with SHRUG THIS…. a small TINY version (can I type that any bigger?), no-sleeve shrug… I can’t believe that qualifies as a sweater, but my LIPS are sealed….

Anyway, since my last post, I did decide to try this as a jacket by not joining the front to form the V-neck.  This jacket will not be long, but on the shorter side because I have a short waist and I do not like things long on me. If you can see at the bottom, I put in a sort of mesh row, formed with DC ch DC… etc.  I want to do at least three of these rows, then go back to solid DC to form the bottom edge.  MAN this thing is already pretty heavy, so I’m not sure if I should just say that it’s a jacket or keep the name as a cardigan.  I think for this event, though, it stays as cardigan because a cardigan is still classified as a sweater.  Oh, and before I forget, I will not have buttons running down the whole front.  I am just going to use one big button at the top, like in the Creative Knitting Magazine, September 2008 issue.  I can’t believe there are no photos to be had for this issue because I wanted to show the button.  My friend, Dee, just bought buttons just like the one on the cover photo and paid $2.50 a piece!  I can make them for a fraction of that… and so, I will do just that and the color will be custom, done by me.

I did manage to work on my “Softest Neck Warmer Ev-A”.  Though I did not work nearly as much time on it as the sweater, I think I still managed to get done about 45% or so.  No pics yet.

Slow Start

Sweater Sprint

• Sweet Sweater (Long Sleeves)…. (SS)

Cowl Jump

• Herringbone Neck Warmer
• Red Fuzzy Cowl
• Blue Caterpiller Cowl
• Softest Neck Warmer Ev-A

I am happy to report that I have started all planned projects and they have at least a few rows a piece started.

The Herringbone stitch is so tight and slow going for me, so I feel that I have a handicap right here.  I have about 5 rows done and knitting it on size US 13 straight needles.  Jumped over to the “Red Fuzzy Cowl” and had a couple of starts and stops with this one.  The red Caron Bliss yarn is SOOOO, so soft, but a little hard to work with… so put that down after just a couple of rows to move on to the next project, “Softest Neck Warmer Ev-A” and I’m happy to report that this has gotten off to a good start, after a lot of false ones.  This project was originally going to be one of two Herringbone Neck Warmers, but it was not working out.  I had combined Wool of the Andes in Blue Bonnet with Caron Bliss in Peacock… such a beautiful combination and the blues in these two yarns just BELONG together.  Alas, stitch definition was lost in the fuzziness of the Bliss and because it’s such a time consuming stitch, I had to give it up for this project and adapted a regular stockinette stitch to the pattern… Is this cheating?  Not sure, but all changes were made before the start of the games, and I deleted the original pattern, to say that it’s not any pattern.  Oh, and I plan on making my own buttons for both neck warmers.

Oh… I am remiss.  I just realized that I’ve not started my Blue Caterpiller Cowl yet.  I originally wanted to use home spun yarn, but looks like I won’t be able to do that.  I am still searching for yarn to use with this.  The pattern is called Abstract Caterpiller Cowl… and this is a RAVELRY link to the page, so those of you not on ravelry probably will not be able to access it.  Sorry about that but it looks like its a free Ravelry download and a file and not a link.

On to my next project……the Sweet Sweater (SS).

Well, the Sweet Sweater is a crocheted object and the pattern is not really a pattern, per se.  It’s more of a formula to get you started making a top-down sweater, then leaves a lot of the designing to the crocheter.  This is what I love about it.  Gauge is really important.  You are setting your own gauge by choosing the yarn and size hook you want to work with, but once you make a swatch, which is essential, you need an accurate gauge.  Row gauge is not really important here because you are working from the top down, and you decide how long you want the sweater, midriff, hip length, tunic?  You decide.  But the stitches per inch gauge is really important.

Anyway, my gauge came out to 3 stitches per inch, working with a US-K hook on Red Heart Super Saver Solids in Lavender.  This is for Team Red Heart, and so it must be Red Heart yarn.  Originally, I wanted to use Red Heart Soft, but I could not find the colors I wanted to work with, and that bummed me out… so at the last minute I turned to my stash and this is what I found.  Since it’s worsted/aran, I decided to make a larger pull over or cardigan… though I really don’t need to decide until I get to the point where the V-neck is closed.  When I get to that point, either I close it, and it becomes a pull over; OR I don’t close and continue to work back and forth and it becomes a cardigan.

So, I managed to get a minds eye picture of what stitches I wanted to use, do swatches, calculate the formula, in what took the better part of the afternoon…. in between interacting with my kiddie.  Then really got into the beginning of it.  I completed about ten rows when I noticed that two rows back, I placed an increasing shell in the wrong stitch.  I was so, so tempted to just leave it and move on, but it was eating at me so I ripped back two rows to the offending shell and fixed the mistake, then continued.  I spent the evening crocheting while watching the Horse Whisperer… not the best since there is a lot of suspense and must be seen by-the-eyeball scenes, but I managed since this was not my first viewing….. whew.  Today my crochet group is getting together for our monthly meeting and I’ll have the day to work on my Ravelympics projects…. woo hoo!

No pictures yet, but soon… once I get enough on all my projects to be worth taking pics.

Oops, I’ve gotta run… don’t want to be late!

Let the Games Begin!

Ravelympics 2008 Team Jersey Button/Badge

I love the Olympics coming along to spice up our lives very four years. Unfortunately, we do not have a television with cable access, or any access, since you pretty much need a cable connection to get any kind of connection at all with the exception of a couple of Spanish channels. ah… so I knit, crochet, spin, to the sounds of music and podcasts. Not so bad. Now THIS year…..

I have the opportunity to actually participate in Ravelympics. I will be the star (in my own mind) of two events, the Sweater Sprint and the Cowl Jump. I entered a long sleeved Sweet Sweater for Team Red Heart and a few different cowl projects in the Cowl Jump for Team Jersey.

Right now, I’ve got to get myself going, so I’ll make this short, but I’ll try to give daily updates. Hubby’s vacation time is going to cut into my knitting this coming week, but the upside of that is that tomorrow is when my monthly crochet group is meeting… I’ll be at it for most of the day…. weeeeeee!

Clap for the Clapotis

Yep, I’ve completed my first clapotis, or “the clap” for short. Ha… when I first saw that I had to take a second look. Duh…… RIGHT…. “clap”…. RIGHT…. clapotis. What can I say, but that I’m 47 years old and thankfully did not get that right away. This is a link to my Ravelry project page for those of you who are on Ravelry. Please note that if you’re not on ravelry, you probably won’t be able to access that page, so here is a posted pic:

Clap spread out on the bed

Well, i did try to knit this last year but there was an issue with the yarn I was using. I wasn’t sure if there would be enough of it; so I thought I’d cut it down to scarf size. I had heard of a lot of people doing it in less than full size, so I thought I give it a try. Forget about the fact that I had not a clue as to go about doing this. Forget about the fact that you just can’t stop increasing with you feel like it. Weeeell, that just what I did, and I went on like that for several dropped stitches.

This was knit with almost two skeins of Caron’s One Pounder in Jet Stream colorway. She is knit on size US 8 needles. There is a small amount left over and I’m going to see if I can make either wrist warmers or a head band… something like that.

She was really a lot of fun to make- once I got the pattern down… though you still really need to keep track of what row you are on because when row six comes up, you get to prepare for the drop down in row eight. I lived for those rows! My one suggestion would be to use a yarn that is silky and slippery. The kind that will fall right down when you want it to. Otherwise you will be fighting with the fibers to get it to drop all the way down. How I did it was to let the stitches drop down several rows, then I knit the rest of the row. Only when that row was done did I go back and make that stitch drop all the way down. So much fun. It doesn’t take much for me to have a good time, and my DH will tell you that I’m a cheap date…. free even. This Caron was giving me a hard time with the stitches dropping, so I had to really tug and pull to get it to go all the way down. But then, I can imagine that if you had some nice bamboo or silk yarn, that your pleasure would not be as prolonged as with my One Pounder. You could say it’d be a premature climax…. over almost before it started.

Oh, almost forgot to mention something I didn’t realize until I actually got up to that part in the pattern. In the Decrease Rows you need to drop two stitches, not just one! Wow. I was floored and ecstatic. You might have known that automatically if you realize that it’s knit on the bias. But I still would not have known this because I am mathematically challenged… severely challenged. This section was the most interesting for me… to watch the corner emerge, then realize that stitches were being dropped so that they meet in the middle with the very last one, which is also the last corner to be formed. After all the patterns that I’ve done, knitted and crocheted, this one was the most amazing to watch the form come into view. Silly, I know.

Did I say that I absolutely love these colors? I really LOVE these colors~! Ah… I got a lot of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment making this baby. I used the cheaper yarn because I intended on this one to be a trial run because of my failed attempt. This time around, I had two things going for me. One was that I was not on a deadline; and two, I made the full pattern without trying to skimp. Now that I’m done, part of me wants to make that other, more elegant version; but part of me can’t stand the thought of casting on another one… well, not just yet, anyway. I guess my aversion hesitation will give me plenty of time to get the money required for the amount of yarn I’ll need. OR I’ll have plenty of time to refine my spinning skills to make enough yarn for one… OR I’ll just keep dreaming about it.

Wow… Here I am Again!

ell, thought I should at least list some of my FO’s since I last posted. I’ve finished many, but I’ll try to just remember some from memory, and post some pics. What I am the more proud of than the actual objects is the fact that I’ve learned something new that was required for each one. That is what I believe this craft is all about; and that is growth. Maybe I’m not growing in a conventional way, but I am expanding my knowledge of technique and fiber. I love how each little thing overlaps onto the next new project that comes along.

My first cotton market bag.

Okay, the most recent FO is what I call my Cinnamon Bag. This is the Fantasy Naturale Market Bag, by JoAnne Turcott. I used Sugar ‘n Cream Confectionery Colors in Cinnamon. I just LOVE this color, and all of the Confectionery Colors. I purchased, just for this project, Knit Picks nickel plated circular needles in US 13 and US 15. I simple adore this pattern… I am looking at it as the precursor for starting lace work. I set it on my kitchen scale when completed and it weighs in at 6 oz. It turns out I can actually make another one from this same ball of cotton… which I’m so happy about because I had decided to give this one away to my sister-in-law, JoMarie… don’t tell her! I don’t know if it was the tension of my knitting or if this is just the size of the bag, but man, this is some kind of gigantic bag!

More often than not, I’ll get my patterns from leads I get from Ravelry. AmAzing place. If you ever have the inclination to open yourself up to all there is to offer for the fiber community on the internet, you’ve GOT to sign up for ravelry. At last check, there are well over 150,000 members… and that is in just about a years’ time. There is nothing that I can add to what’s already been said about the place, but I can tell you that I love it over there. I just ordered a couple of pins and a teal blue T-shirt from their mini store and I should be receiving it in a couple of days… I’ll post a pic. Really. I’m surprised that I even got to order one as merchandise flies in and out of their store in a matter of no time at all.