Contest Results

"It has raisins in it. You like raisins."

For the 1000 yards of Brook's Farm Primero, contestants had to quote the movie Better Off Dead. Hilarious! 33 names were entered into the hat. (Wow!) Most common quote was of course, "TWO DOLLARS!" Some of my favorites: "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn!" "Gee, I'm real sorry your mom blew up, Ricky" "This is pure snow! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is?!?" "Now that's a real shame, folks throwing away a perfectly good white boy like that." Most obscure quote came from Jesse: "I've been going to this high school for 7 1/2 years. I'm no dummy. I know high school girls." Rock on!

And now the moment you have been waiting for...the name drawn by Hotty Hubby (with his eyes closed) was Chemgrrl! (no blog listed) Congratulations! You be getting yarn.

"I like to party so I like my Jesus to party."

For the 500 yards of Brook's Farm variegated Primero, contestants had to quote the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby. Again, hilarious! 23 names were collected for the drawing. Interesting, I thought this movie would be easier for people to quote, but Better Off Dead proved popular. (Or maybe it was the yarn?) Most popular quote, "Shake and Bake" and "If you ain't first, you're last", of course. My favorites: "Hi, my name's Ricky Bobby. If you don't chew Big Red then f*ck you!" "If we wanted wussy boys we would have named them Dr. Quinn and Medicine Woman!" "I'm all jacked up on Mountain Dew!" "I don't know what to do with my hands." "Dear 8 pounds 6 ounces baby Jesus, new born, not even spoken a word yet..." Could go on and on...but I won't... Quote that made me laugh the most was from Lori: "Dear Lord baby Jesus we thank you so much for the bountiful harvest of Domino's, KFC and always delicious Taco Bell."

And now to the big winner ....Hotty Hubby drew Jesse! Congratulations! Yarn is coming your way, hooray!

If you have yet to see either movie and need a couple of laughs, well you know what to do.

Contest Closed

Everytime I check my email, I am laughing as I see a new quote come in. Yah, that's a good one, yep, one of my favorites, too. Oh look, another person talking about getting kicked out of Applebees! Hilarious! Everyone who sent me a quote (or quotes) will be entered into a hat. The drawing will take place tomorrow and I will post the winners by tomorrow evening-ish.

ETA: I haven't published the comments from people who have entered the contest. I will tomorrow! So don't worry if you don't see your comment in the previous post. However, if you are worried that you forgot to include your email address, go ahead and leave a comment! They are still being moderated. Mostly because I am too lazy to change it.

Now excuse me as I run, I have a knitting date with Penelope. (Crying worked!) My Austerman Step in color 22 is divided and ready. The question is, will it be knit into Widdershins or basic toe-ups? Stay tuned.

All Better

Like a wilted flower that's been given water! 24 comments left on my previous post. Y'all are just swell. And since some lurkers have come out of lurkdom, I have new blogs to read! Now I'm in such good spirits, I want to give away yarn. Yes, give it away! In a contest, that is.


1,000 yards of Brooks Farm Primero in a rich coral/salmon color. 100% mohair in what I would call a heavy lace weight.


500 yards of of Primero in a variegated colorway that includes the salmon/coral, lavender and a goldish hue. Lovely.

To win, you must write in the comments section your favorite quote from the movie "Better Off Dead" for the 1,000 yards of Primero. Your favorite quote from "Talladega Nights" for the 500 yards of the variegated Primero. Names will be put into a hat for each batch of yarn. Give me quotes from both movies, you get entered in both hats. Give me more than one quote, I will enter your name as many times (up to 5 times.) Don't forget to include your email address so I can contact you. (Do the blankATblankDOTcom thing if you are worried about spammers.) No email, no contest for you!

ETA: Comment moderation fixed! So you can't cheat.

"Better Off Dead" quotes for the 1,000 yards, "Talladega Nights" for the 500 yards. May the best quoter win!

Cry Baby

Sit 'n' Knit is on a break. I really enjoy organizing the group and planning events, though this past year has been more of a challenge, with having a baby and all. Thankfully the members have really helped to keep it going. I am taking this time to come back with a bang in September and get most of the fall's events organized. However, I am sad. I miss those weekly get together's, gosh darn it! With all the laughter and stories and knitting progress (or lack of).

So here I sit at home. It's a Sunday afternoon and Hotty Hubby has baby duty. I will be knitting. Alone. After I sit here and blog. Alone.

Plus, I am averaging about 6 comments per blog post and tumbleweeds posing as email in my inbox.

Do I smell?

Seriously, I miss y'all and just because Sit 'n' Knit is on a break, doesn't mean that I am not up for parking my butt somewhere with a glass of ice tea (spiked or not...well, preferably spiked, me thinks.).

And would it kill you to comment?

(Yes, I need attention. I love my knitting buddies. Do you love me?)

The Plan

Gift of Friendship Scarf, Schaefer Anne yarn

Blouson pieces are blocking, so what better time to cast on for more projects? I was thinking that this year I wouldn't make any gifts. Truthfully, I'm not sure my recipients understand that I knit my gifts because I really do like to knit and am not some psychotic Martha Stewart type. Someone recently said to me that they didn't know what to get us for a baby gift since I had knit their son a sweater. Oh geez.

So no handknit gifts this year. Truth is, how much time do I have to make anything? That was my thinking sometime midsummer. And now here I am today, suddenly with a list of things I want to make as gifts. WHAT HAPPENED? Perhaps it was the last couple days which were cool and rainy. Fall is in the air. Oh crappidy crap. I have the best of intentions, and I think my long list of gifts comes out of thinking of the person and wanting to show how much I care through one of my favorite activities: twirling yarn with sticks.

How will I do it? Two important things I have learned since having a baby. First: be prepared as early as possible with a plan. Second: be prepared to ditch the plan. So, the most important gifts that I really, really think are truly necessary, they will be knit in September. Should they take longer to finish than anticipated, they will still be finished before the holidays. Next level of gifts will be knit between October and November. These recipients will most likely appreciate the gifts and find it neat that I made them, but won't be expecting anything so if I have to ditch, I won't look as lame as I'll feel about it. And December is for baby gifts. A baby gift can be given at any time, so not as much of an intense deadline. But somewhere between all those projects, there is a sweater for Cashew to wear to Rhinebeck, boot socks for me and a lace shawl before the end of the year. Did I mention that we plan on moving in November? Yah, that's were lesson #2 comes in. Something will be ditched. Ah well.

September - VERY IMPORTANT
Christmas Stocking for Cashew
Gift of Friendship Scarf
Log Cabin Socks

October/November - Would be nice...
Man socks (Nancy Bush?)
Calla Coasters

December - BABIES BABIES BABIES
Baby Blanket
Baby Socks
Baby Sweaters - possibly 3!!!

That list seemed a little longer in my head. I think that's because I look at my stash and say ooh, I wanna make this...I wanna make that... But this list is just gifts. For whom, you ask? Like I'm gonna tell you.

So there are a few more days left of August, a few more days left of summer. I have just a little bit more weaving to do on my loom, some tweaks on Blouson, and so close to being finished with all my squares for Babette. FO's by Labor Day! That's the plan, anyway...

Say What?

My world is reverse stockinette. Sometimes I feel bad about not doing something more complicated than Blouson. And then I remember that knitting is knitting. The yarn is pretty and I do not tire of looking at it. The front and back have flown and I am already on the sleeves so I am not tired of working on it. The finishing will be interesting and different. Wait...am I actually enjoying monogamous knitting?

Whoah.

Aw, Shucks!

Thank you to MLE Knits for nominating me for Rockin' Girl Blogger! I woke up very cranky this morning and when I checked my bloglines at the crack of dawn, I found myself chuckling in glee.

So, in honor of MLE giving me a shout out for being a crafty mommy, I'd like to pass the fun on to my fellow crafty mommies.


Knittypants - 4 children. Homeschool. Knits while breastfeeding. 'Nuff said.

Liz K - She wrote a fantastic post about knowing when to set the yarn aside.

Gleek - My email pal. Nice to know I'm not the only one feeding at 1:30am.

Hila - I know her secret to all that knitting progress. An established bedtime routine. 7pm. Noted!

Chante - She knits, spins, makes stitch markers. And her son is a sweetie.

Now go read their blogs! (Yes, mom!)

Blous On!

Well, I guess I answered my own question. After spitting out all my thoughts about Blouson, I just kept knitting. I made it to the shoulder decreases and started decreasing. I'll save an EZ experiment for an EZ pattern. And at the rate that this project is going, perhaps I will start one sooner than later!

Isn't it funny that when starting a new pattern, there is a section of the brain that starts rewriting before you even really know what's going on? I don't know that my way would have been easier, just different. Maybe that is part of the attraction to knitting - I get to problem solve even when there really isn't a problem.

Better to do that with my knitting than with something else?

WWEZD?

It is with much trepidation that I start my next project. I have been wanting to make Blouson since I first opened the summer '07 Interweave Knits magazine. I have the cast-on jitters. I recently acquired some Elizabeth Zimmermann books (thank you Ravelry, for linking directly to Amazon.com) and even though I am new to the EZ experience, I can't help but ask, what would Elizabeth Zimmermann do?

The sweater is all reverse stockinette, so it is the construction that I find myself picking apart.

Knit the back piece, knit the front, knit the arms, seam.

Wouldn't it be easier if I knit in the round, worked the back and the front back and forth once I got to the shoulder decreases? Knitting in the round would save me roughly a half inch in width, and since I am worried about the sweater being a tad too small despite getting gauge... plus hello, all that seaming. What if I knit both sleeves in the round, joined at the shoulder shaping and grafted the armpits?

The pleats are made by folding and tacking into place and then picking up the bottom hem through 3 layers of fabric. The hem is then folded and sewn into place.

Can't I knit the pleats from the beginning? I get that the sweater is fashioned after a sewn blouse, but picking up a stitch through 3 layers of fabric? It is a knit sweater, after all... And that bottom hem, sew into place, eh? There's gotta be a way I can do a provisional cast on and knit together to avoid all that seaming, that would require me to knit the hem first, figure out pleats second, knit in the round, kitchener in sleeves and pray that all the work of completely rewiring Mari Lynn Patrick's pattern would still give me the same sweater.

What do you think, would it be EZ to make the modifications?

Shout Out to Sidewinders

Well there you have it. My first (and probably last) sideways sock. I knit these for the Sit 'n' Knit Sidewinders Knitalong. The pattern is Nonaknits Sidewinders: a PerpenSOCKular Pattern. The construction of the sideways sock is fascinating and they fit really well. All the grafting was annoying and I cheated for the leg and did a 3 needle bind off. It was fun to try knitting a sock sideways, but I prefer knitting tubes. It's really as simple as that. I used The Plucky Knitter's sock yarn in "A Thistle" colorway. The yarn was absolutely delightful to knit with. If you are looking for a serious happy place while knitting, I recommend this sock yarn. Super soft yet strong!

It is SO nice to have a finished project. Sure it feels good to put them on without the needles still attached or loose ends crying to be woven in. It's nice to know these will keep my feet toasty in the cooler weather. Yadda yadda. I can now cast on for something new! WOO HOO!