I Answered Kyle's Mememe

From Kyle Knits.
01. Can you cook? Yes, and I love to do it. My 265 pound son is a living testimonial to the quality of my creativity in the kitchen!
02. What was your dream growing up? I am living it.
03. What talent do you wish you had? I wish I could sing R & B like Chaka Kahn.
04. If I bought you a drink what would it be? Iced tea (plain, no sugar, lemon or fancy flavorings)
05. Favorite vegetable? Romaine lettuce.
06. What was the last book you read? Confessions of a Concubine
07. What zodiac sign are you ? Cancer
08. Any tattoos and/or piercings? Just ears.
09. Worst habit? Too embarrassing to admit.
10. If you saw me walking down the street would you offer me a ride? If I knew it was you.
11. What is your favorite sport? Tennis.
12. Negative or optimistic attitude? Optimist.
13. What would you do if you were stuck in an elevator with me? Talk about knitting and laugh.
14. Worst thing to ever happen to you? Smashed a kitten in a door by accident.
15. Tell me one weird fact about you. I count bicycle riders while I am driving.
16. Do you have any pets? A black bulimic cat named Figaro.
17. What if I showed up at your house unexpectedly? I probably wouldn't answer the door.
18. What was your first impression of me? Impressed with your knitting.
19. Do you think clowns are cute or scary? Neither.
20. If you could change one thing about how you look, what would it be? Make my hair longer.
21. Would you be my crime partner or my conscience? conscience.
22. What color eyes do you have? Brown
23. Ever been arrested? Once.
24. Bottle or draft? Tea Java and water are the only things I drink that come in bottles.
25. If you won $10,000 today, what would you do with it? Save it.
26. Would you date me? My husband wouldn't let me.
27. Where's your favorite place to hang out? My den or my bed.
28. Do you believe in ghosts? Absolutely.
29. Favorite thing to do in your spare time? Knit.
30. Do you swear a lot? Hell yeah!
31. Biggest pet peeve? People who don't say please and thank you. Especially kids.
32. In one word, how would you describe yourself? Creative.
33. Do you believe in/appreciate romance? Absolutely. Especially romantic ghosts.
34. If you could spend 12 hours with me and ask/do anything you like, what would it be? Go to a knitting event like Stitches.
35. Do you believe in God? Absolutely.
36. Will you repost this so I can fill it out and do the same? sure.

Hot Hands!

I have been making "Hot Hands". A new pattern for my collection, and intended to be kitted with Hacho by Mirasol and to retail for about $12 for the kit, I decided to make up each size to make sure you could still get an entire pair of Size Large from one skein. You can, but there's only a tiny bit to spare. Like a few yards. This means that if you buy this kit and are making size Large
a) You might run out of yarn if the skein is a little short or you knit at a slightly different gauge than I do.
b) You will feel very tense towards the end of the project, worrying about whether there will be enough yarn.


It's a yarn dilemma! I don't want to add another skein because
a) I like the reasonable price
b) Small and Medium are okay with one skein
c) Large might be okay, too.
d) Why charge for an unused almost entire skein?

On the Designbiz list, I received a suggestion that I wind off a little extra from another skein and just add a little extra to the price.

I don't like the labor involved in winding off yarn. Especially since most people won't even need it. So the price goes up unnecessarily.

I saw this in Knitty for the pattern 'Fetching':
"Yarn note (from knitty.com): Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran is beautiful and soft and comes in gorgeous colors. The cool thing about these gloves is that you only need one skein to make a pair. However, you have to be willing to unravel your gauge swatch to do this, because one pair takes an entire skein with less than a yard of yarn left over. If you feel the need to keep your gauge swatches, you will need to buy two skeins"

That's fine if you are just buying the pattern. But it doesn't solve the kit dilemma.

So far I have made a couple pairs in every size. There is a discrepancy in how much yarn is left over. So far, there has been enough to finish every pair I've made, but maybe that's just me.

What to do, what to do?

I tried making up a pair in this gorgeous handpainted yarn from Urban Gypz that I bought from the Loopy Ewe. The colorway is called Rainy Day Blues and it is scrumptious. Gauge slightly different than Hacho, but lots left over!!! As well there should be. This gorgeous yarn costs $25, I think. I bought it with a special friend in mind and she will be getting these for Christmas.

Funky Pink Wrap

I am finally beginning to put pieces into the eboutique at yarnartists.com. I would much rather make them then photograph them and my least favorite is working on the computer, but it must be done, and I am the woman for the job.

It's a good thing that the deadline for Stitches West is approaching. Because of that deadline, I am forced to work on the yarnartists website in my system of productive procrastination. There's a twisted logic to it. Always have a second business so you can be productive while procrastinating over deadlines.

If you want to peek at yarnartists.com, I would welcome feedback.


This wrap combines about 25 different yarns, mostly PINK. It has pieces of pink pearlized shell and carved shell flower embellishments. Very snuggly.

A Few Flowers

Here are a pair of Flower Socks I made for my sister for Hanukkah. The yarn is Claudia Hand Paints Plumicious and is available from me as a kit with the pattern and the beads right here! The sock blockers are from Loopy Ewe.

And while we're talking about Loopy Ewe, what's up with that site anyway? Why do I feel COMPELLED to order yarn from them? It's not like I NEED more yarn. It's not like I USE the yarn I buy from them. I just find I MUST VISIT the site and order yarn on a regular basis! They just have the absolute best collection of hand dyed sock yarn under one roof, so to speak!

Here's another pair of Flower Socks I made from some Knitpicks sock yarn. This color is no longer being sold. Maybe these are for me, since they contain my favorite color combination - pink and turquoise. (in this case, coral and turquoise)

I wish I could show you my new handbag pattern. How about a tease?






That's all I'm sayin' for now...

Some Holiday Projects

Finally I am ready to share a couple of things I have been working on.

Gefelted Fish - a sample for a class I will be teaching for the Pomegranate Guild in February. They caught me at a weak moment and I so loved the title they had already picked that before I knew what hit me, I said yes.


A knitted and crocheted skirt for my niece, Aimee, in her favorite colors.



And finally, a vest for my very special someone for his birthday. Inspired by the cover of Sally Melville's Color book, but beyond that, there is nothing at all similar in the construction or the purpose.





I hope he likes it. I'll report back on his response.