If My Head Wasnt Attatched...

I'm sure I'd forget it altogether. I totally forgot to mention two things in yesterday's post that I really wanted to mention. The first is that The Cowboy got the fiber phallus in the mail both he and the actual recipient loved it and he said I was an artist. I love praise :-)

Additionally, I was interviewed for the Insider section of the Baltimore Jewish Times about social networking. They were really interested in the fact that I was on Ravelry and so they took pictures of me knitting! (The photographer was really cute) You can read the article here.

So, the holiday season is coming up and I really need to figure out what I'm making for who, so I figured I'll put it on the blog along with as many links to the patterns or sources of patterns as I can.

The Nurse- Socks

The Sparkly One- Umbilical Cord Baby Hat and Sockabooties for her friend

The Cowboy- Manly I-Cord Scarf

The Younger Sister- Entrelac Scarf

The Youngest Sister- Ear flap Hat

Mom- Elegant Shawl

Abba (Dad)- Ear flap Hat

Spud (The Wench's Baby)- ...ummm, I haven't settled on a pattern yet

Wow, I should stop liking my friends. Seriously, I keep wanting to make stuff for them. Stay tuned for updates on all this stuff!

Baby That Blog-Bl-Blog-Blog-Blog

Yes, I was listening to the "Thong Song" last night. I was hanging out with Alphabet-Girl, The Wench and her husband and their parents since I went with The Wench and her husband to Rochester for Rosh Hashanah. It was a really great time. But anyway, on to the yarn-y goodness type stuff. The Wench got my swap package and although she figured out that it was me who sent it she still loved everything that I stuck in there which included two headbands, a french-press cozy, a bundle of pink roving, bumblebee stitch markers, bride magazines and onion rings.

The Boyfriend also received his birthday hat, which he loves. (Yes, he looks a little like a hobo, but he's cute, right?)

AWESOME also got his hat and said that it's "really nice" and that his girlfriend The Nurse (and my former, most wonderful-est roommate ever) was jealous. So of course, now I want to make something for her. Her birthday is coming up anyway and I know she gets cold often so I think I will make a pair of socks for her. I think I'm going to try and get a sport-weight self-striping wool so that they'll be a little thicker and warmer than your average fingering-weight socks. Which, speaking of socks, I have been working on a pair. I'm trying these toe-up and am not making them very long because I'm hoping to get one pair out of the 230 yards of Serenity Sock weight yarn. But, I must say, they look pretty nice so far.

Also, I brought Alphabet-Girl's hat with me to Rochester to give to her. She likes it AND it doesn't look weird on her. Yay me!

I'm such a procrastinator, I meant to put up this picture of the yarn I dyed over a week ago and I didn't yet, so here it is.

I think it's time to move past Kool-Aid though. Possibly to food coloring so I can do a little more and have less neon colors. Finally, last but not least, I got my High Holiday swap package! The woman who gave to me actually dropped it off at my house! Unfortunately, I was already on the road to Rochester with The Wench and her husband and didn't get to meet my swapper. Either way, she gave me an amazing collection of stuff.

There's a lovely cowl, a giant wad of Sierra alpaca yarn, two bundles of Spunky Electric fiber in great colors, a sock-blocker key chain, a small project bag, a box of tea and a bar of tasty chocolate. I feel so spoiled! I cant wait for the next swap :-)

If I Knit Fast Enough, Does It Count As Aerobics?

Oh dear, lets see, what's been going on? Well, I have everything I need for my swap-ee. I'm really excited to send it out. Of course, I'm also really excited to see what I get when my package arrives. I also have AWESOME's hat, the boyfriend's hat, my WW buddy's mittens and the fiber phallus all packaged up as well. Going to be lots of fun paying for all of this stuff to get sent. But, since you all are so wonderful I'll give you one last sneak peek at the last knitted thing for my swap-ee. Nice, right?

I want to rant for a moment about the plight of the slouchy hat. I found this pattern and showed it to Alphabet-Girl who really liked it. So, me being the type of person who likes to make stuff for friends I started knitting it out of some grey Lion-Brand Wool-Ease that I had. First I did it on size 7 needles and it was huge, like "I'm a Rastafarian that's been wearing dreadlocks for the past 20 years" type of huge. So I frogged it. Then I did it on size 5 needles. Finished it, but I still felt it was too big, so in the vain hope that I could get it to shrink I threw it in the wash (on uber hot) and the dryer (have I mentioned how much I like having a free washer and dryer now? Moving home isn't all bad) and do you know what happened? It stretched out. This is what it looks like.

So then I cast on AGAIN with the size 5 needles but instead of the recommended 101 stitches I did 79. I'm really hoping that this time it will turn out the way I want it. I want it to be a nice, cute slouchy hat, not a giant snood. You cant blame me though, the pattern isn't really written that well. It's not like it says anything about what kind of yarn to use or anything. AND to top it all off when I was making the flower petals I made the first two wrong. I saved that though, I sewed them together and stuffed them with catnip. Now they're a cute cat toy.

Lets see, what else? Oh yes, my mom got Craftcycle from the library and in it they have a garlic dryer made of raffia. If you don't know what raffia is, (I certainly didn't) it's a ribbon looking thing that comes from the raffia palm tree. Anyway, mom bought some raffia and had me make a little basket for her out of it. This way the garlic in our house will be in one spot instead of floating around on the counters.

By way of yarn-ey goodness I just bought two skeins of Serenity Sock Yarn

and three skeins of Vanna's Choice Glamour.

I have to say, thank goodness for celebrities and their yarn lines, I was seriously afraid I was I was going to have to shell out serious moolah (that I don't have) for black yarn with a bit of shiny in it for a shawl for my mom for Chanukah. Now I don't! Don't judge me, I'm poor and acrylic is soft. Maybe when I can afford to, I'll be a yarn snob, until then, Bring On the Plastic!

Oh, and I dyed another skein of Patons wool today. Pictures will be up later this week. :-)