Lazy Mabel

New items on etsy.com

I was able to get some photographs done and load up new stitch markers on etsy today.

This week I promise I will put pictures up of my new friend Mathilda!

Postbox excitement

Mass excitement at the postbox today. My business card order from Vista printing came. These are my packaging for the stitch markers I'm selling on the etsy shop. My issue of Craft Magazine.
And...my pattern came from Unique Patterns.

In Transit

I spend a lot of time in transit these days... about two hours a day.

I take the train from Tacoma to Seattle every weekday morning and every night. In the morning I get off the train and participate in the “ultimate salmon experience“ (that is, getting up the stairwell to surface level with 5 packed train cars of people). I then take a bus the rest of the way to work.

I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts. Mostly about knitting.

I can't remember which one or by who- it certainly wasn't one of my “must listens”, but I was listening to an interview the other morning with a woman who expressed her extreme dislike of “knitting celebrities“. The glorification of people who are... just like you and I, except for the tiny difference that they have written a book, are an active exciting blogger or have a a “presence“ in the knitting community.

I mulled the concept around for a few days and deided that it must be sour apples.

We as a knitting community tend to be supportive, caring and human.

I'm not sure how someone who blogs and becomes “famous“ in the knitting community is any different than Ann Landers or Miss Manners in their heydey. They found a medium that they were good at (ettiquette) a place to appropriately voice their views (the newspaper) and allowed people to become a part of the experience by writing in (comments section, anyone?).

I think the Yarn Harlot deserves celebrity much more than Paris Hilton.

Think about it. These people are living an American Dream. They have taken what we all do as a hobby, what we would never admit... yes I'm an admin assistant but what I would really like to do with my life is have a blog that tops 5000 hits a day and a successful line of patterns. I'd like to travel to yarn shops around the country on their dime, teach a few workshops and do a few podcast interviews. I want to knit and be able to say...”it's for work... why thank you! I designed it!” to strangers at the movie theatre.
Most of us would be greeted by eyeball rolling at work and the gentle question from our parents of when we planned on growing up.

I don't know if this woman sets the same dislike on other “celebrities” outside the so-called normal realm (actors and pop stars I guess).

Comic strip artists, chefs, jewelry makers.... all people who have excelled in their craft and shared them with us.

hmm.... maybe we just celebrate knitters that do what we dream to.

New Arrival

Well! It turns out we have a new arrival in our house as well!

Meet Lucy.

Nowhere near a pound in size, 10 weeks old Maine Coon cat.
And a sweetie.

This is what most of today looked like after we brought her home.

She spent most of the day sleeping on the couch as I knitted. Luckily she shows very little inclination to get overly excited about moving yarn. Together we knitted the cover capelet from Rowan's Big Just got Bigger.
I bought the book because I fell in love with this capelet. I found some chocolate brown heathered wool in the correct guage called Magnum by Cascade Yarns that felt wonderful for a capelet and would sensibly coordinate with most of my work wardrobe.
Unfortunately my shoulders are double the size of the diminutive model so the effect was not as nice on me as I had hoped. After a few minutes of sadness I consoled myself by choosing a pattern for a scarf in the book - I quadrupled the number of stitches to cast on and am now working away at a nice wide throw/shawl to go on the couch and bundle up in when the weather turns... which could just go ahead and happen any day now as far as I am concerned.

Here's a preview of the shawl. Biggest problem? The huge plastic size 35 needles are killing my hands.

Babies!

The terminal Auntie in me rears again.

We are going to be an Auntie again!

Dan's sister is having her first and I wanted to knit something quick and sweet in case I can't get her blanket finished by the shower (One week and a dozen or so states away). October+Ohio= Newborn with a warm sweater. It traveled home with Grandma to be.

This little sweater is knit out of Muench yarns Big Baby. The pattern comes from one of the many Hip Knit something or other books out there. This one is from Better Homes & Gardens. It's supposed to have a hood but I left it off and just made the base of the hood into a little turn down collar.

The little white tag on the back is the ball band, I like to tear the washing instructions off of the ball band and tuck them into the gift-ie before giving it away.

I liked that one so well I made another for a friend who has just delivered. This one is larger, waiting for the current heat wave to get over with.

This one has a little stand up Elvis collar. There is something very funny about a tiny baby with a raised lip saying "Thank you very much!"
Well... I always though so.