I Can't Stop Giggling

Georges "Rush" St. Pierre is the #1 ranked welterweight MMA fighter in the world. Today he posed with me and my socks for a picture. Holy crapola!!! Hotty Hubby has become a big fan of the UFC in the last year or so. I saw it as open knitting time. Who would have thought I'd get into it as much as I have? (And it's not just the sweating, shirtless men with ripped abs, honest!) When Hotty Hubby told me that they were shooting GSP for a fashion spread for the magazine and that I could come to the shoot, I was so darn excited. GSP is a brilliant athlete and a high class sportsman. I don't play the star struck bit very often so today the dork factor was fairly high, but considering what a big fan I am and being invited to crash a photo shoot and having a very reputable photographer take a picture of me pretending to knock him out (on film, real print, people!) ... I am getting over my embarrassment. This was just the coolest day ever!

Busy, Busy, Busy

Well it has been busy here! Sit 'n' Knit has a new logo! Cheryl of Yarn Bee designed a wonderful logo and I have been having so much fun with it already. (NY'ers will recognize Cheryl's work from the 2007 Spin Out logo.) Releasing a new logo is a great excuse for a party. A party is a great excuse to ask The Plucky Knitter to dye yarn in a custom colorway. A party is a great excuse to play with merchandise. A great excuse for Shameka to make the cutest stitch markers. Merchandise means opening a SnK online store. And while we are at it, start a SnK Flickr pool. And a Ravelry group. Sleep? Who needs sleep?


And you probably thought my absence from blogging was that I just wasn't coming clean about Babette! Ok, maybe I am the only one who's really concerned about my UFO's of 2007, but it's my blog and you're reading. Or at least looking. Babette is coming along, I still have a lot of squares to make, though I am quite close. If I could focus on it, I could finish.

Focus. *snort*

Speak My Language

I understand that all the weaving mumbo jumbo doesn't exactly compel many of you to read my blog. To paraphrase an already succinct comment by Minty, "Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek pretty weaving picture Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek Greek pretty weaving picture Greek Greek Greek Greek..."

Here's some knitting:


UFO's of 2007. I started these Widdershins (knit with Austermann Step) during the summer. They follow the rule of always having a pair of socks on the needles which is a good thing. The not so good thing is that they were rarely worked on. I have finally gotten through the heel and am enjoying finishing these. Any day now.


And speaking of heel, I figure once I finish the trees on Cashew's stocking, the heel and foot will fly. If only I can finish up those darn trees. Any day now.


Wondering why that doesn't look familiar? That's because it's from 2006! Brooke's Column of Leaves Scarf was put on the back burner, officially hibernating on Ravelry. Every now and then I pull it out and work on a pattern repeat or two. I have every intention of finishing it. I love the colors, I love the yarn (Brooks Farm Acero) I just don't have any deadline for it. So this probably won't be finished any day soon.

Babette? Yah, yah, yah.

Scotty, I Need More Power!

One of the great UFO's of '07 is a set of dishtowels intended as a gift for a bridal shower back in October. I honestly believed that I could wind the warp and weave the towels in about a week. All was going well until I realized I was 20 warp threads short. I was determined to make these towels by the pattern I was following, but 20 threads short is a lot of threads. And I wanted to make 4 towels. 6 yards of warp. 490 itty bitty threads. Warp speed: sloooooooooow.


I very carefully unwound all that warp, added 20 friggin' threads and rewound. It took forever. I even enlisted the help of Hotty Hubby who not only wound bobbins of thread for the weft (and subsequently got teased ruthlessly at the gym about his "bobbins") but he learned how to turn the crank on my loom to wind the warp and claims to have dislocated his elbow in the process. (Bullocks. But it makes him feel special so play along.) The effort paid off because not only did I have the neatest warp ever, my shed is very clean and I only broke one warp thread! (I know I have lost some knitters at this point but trust me, it's all good.)


I fixed the broken warp thread by adding in a thread off the cone and weighing it with a pack of batteries (Duracell size C if you must know) and have finally started weaving. It's January, but according to Emily Post, I have 3 months to give my gift. The sad part is that I also ordered something off their registry and have been holding it hostage. I understand that I am in complete denial about what I am doing, but I am now so determined to make this happen that I have explained to my friends that their gift is, uh, back ordered and I have been so efficient at getting stuff done during Cashew's first nap that the second nap is dedicated to weaving.


And it's going well. I have finished one blue towel and have started a red one. Of course all this warp drama had me hating weaving and ready to throw in the towel. (Ha! Towel!) But once I started weaving, I fell in love all over again. It is wonderfully satisfying to watch the design grow. I have been doing a lot of plain weave and this "Huck-a-Back Blocks" is very satisfying. The draft is from Marguerite Davison's A Handweaver's Pattern Book but I got the pattern from Best Of Handwoven: Top Ten Towels on Four Shafts by Interweave Press.

Yes, I am aware that I am pushing it with this Emily Post thing, but I am determined. And completely off my rocker. Woo hoo!

Happy New Year!

Like last year, I will reveal my UFO's, what sadistic fun! But not today, as today is for acknowledging all that did get finished. 18 projects and 1 Cashew, not too bad! 2007 has been a crazy year, filled with friends, diapers and yarn. I don't expect 2008 to be much different in the amount of crazy thrown around, but perhaps I will figure out how to get in a few more rows.

I am wishing you all a very Happy New Year. Here's to more yarn!

Salut!