dat be an irie rasta cap, mon

I finished what I call my "bad dred day sample rasta hat" a few nights ago. This project was done with yarn and fiber from my June Phat Fiber Sampler Box.

Ahh yes, the sweet feeling that falls over you like cool water on a hot day, when you finally bind off a project. I may be addicted to it!

see... how happy I am? ;)

Yarn/fiber used;
* Corgi Hill Farm … “Blue Wave” Handspun
* Cool Climates Handspun … “Misty Lagoon”
* Shady Side Farm … DK wool/nylon “Great Lakes”
* Knit It Up … Bamboozled bamboo/merino “Squall”
* H.A.Y. … Oceanic (fiber)
* Nikobee … “Whirling Tides” (fiber)
* a DK weight non-sampler-box forest green wool held with "Squall" towards end of hat to add more green

knit funnies

daily fiber & new cast on

Yarn samples, fiber, and stitch markers ... oh my!
A few close up pictures from June's "Oceanic" themed Phat Fiber Sampler Box I recently received. This was the first box I have scored, and now I know I need to budget for one about every other month! :)
Using some beautiful, chunkier yarn samples from The Box, I started a rasta sampler hat. Here's a taste of how it's going so far ...

In detail, I began with ... Corgi Hill Farm's “Blue Wave” Handspun, Cool Climates “Misty Lagoon”, and Shady Side Farm's “Great Lakes”. After the "beefier" yarns began to run out, I decided to hold 2 yarns together to work in the gorgeous, silvery bamboo/merino "Squall" from Knit It Up. I made even more progress tonight at my Monday night knit group! And after the silver bamboo/merino for a few inches, I've started to work in a lovely green, by holding the yarns together. I'll post pics soon ... it's frakkin awesome!

My goal is to complete my rasta hat with all samples from the Phat Fiber Sampler Box. I'm still bargaining for samples, exchanging fiber for yarn from other fans who've rec'd their boxes, to complete the task! My pattern is all improv on my part, inspired by hats I've seen on and off the www ...

*~*Friday Fill-In*~* episode #2

1. All children alarm their parents, if only because you are forever expecting _a disaster .... and then they do something angelic instead_.

2. Show me a good loser and I will show you a _loser_.

3. My migraine medicine_ is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one time.

4. Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are busy _getting $500 haircuts_ and _getting *fluffed*_.

5. I have yet to hear a man ask for advice on how to combine _sense of direction_ and getting behind the wheel_.

6. It is impossible to think of any good meal, no matter how plain or elegant, without _wine_ or _candles_ in it.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to _making sure my Hostess has a fabulous party!_, tomorrow my plans include _waking up_ and Sunday, I want to _meet some knitters @ Buzz for a quad espresso_!

insomniac

Now what do I do?? I just finished my Fantasy Naturale Market Bag! I'm just nutty enough ... and night owl enough ... to want to cast on a new project at 130am! One problem, however ... there's no yarn that I want to play with currently in my stash. hmmf!

Ok, that's only half true ... I have roving that I received in my Phat Fiber Box today that I would LOVE to play with. The problem there? Oh yeah - no drop spindle! Oh, and I've never spun my own yarn ... ever! But I'd love to learn! That is the next craft on my list ;)

The Box

That's your Phat Fiber Box preview teaser for tonight/this morning. Thunder just started rumbling pretty hard, and that means more late spring rain! Gotta shut down and do a window check! Take care, folkies!

xoxo

give away alert! *~*KaratStix*~*

Darcy over at Knotty Knitter is giving away some extra special goodies this time around. Check out her site and enter to win a sock rule gauge and little sock stitch markers, lovingly made by hand from the folks at KaratStix. Yes, the items they create are functional and sweet to look at, but they are also made from uber earth friendly bamboo!

When you enter, be sure to tell Darcy, mamalefae sent you ;)

Sunday rocks!

Sunday has been my favorite day of the week for a long time. Yeah, I know, "but tomorrow is Monday". True, that. Even when I had to arrive at work to drive a cubicle all day, Sunday was still the best day ever. It may have come out of football season - hanging with my friends, usually cooking up something delish and sharing a good time. But, whatever the reason, the feeling of gooey happiness that Sundays drape over me still happens every weekend.

So, here I am on my Sunday, and it's been a beautiful day outside. We didn't do much except hang around the house (hubby, baby girl, and myself) but a few events occurred to make my toes tingle with excitement!

The big one ... True Blood season 2 premiered tonight! No spoilers here, you have to see it for yourself! Bill is sexier than ever. I love Sookie's hair! WTF is going on in Lafayette's world??? And Eric is suddenly the scheisse, IMO. (With tinting foil in the hair? Really??) Ha! What a great episode!

And for the folks who come here for the knitting stuff.... I scored a Phat Fiber Box tonight!!!

If you are unfamiliar with Phat Fiber, where have you been hiding?? Phat Fiber is to yarn hos as darkness is to night ... you can't have one without the other! (Well ok, except for that Midnight Sun thing but you know what I mean!) Phat Fiber shows us the best of hand crafted yarns, fibers, knit and crochet goodies, and the people who make all of this great stuff!

Every month you have a chance to purchase a themed box of goodies from samples donated by awesome artists who want you to see their stuff! They contribute their works to the folks at Phat Fiber, and Phat Fiber stuffs boxes for sale with various goodies. The boxes are filled with everything from a single pattern from one contributor, to an entire hank from another, maybe a stitch marker from another, roving from so-n-so... and on and on. One day a month these boxes are up for sale, and for a few fleeting moments of an Etsy auction it's total madness! They only last for a moment till the next month. Tonight's sale started at 8 EST ... it was over in 1 minute, 30 seconds! (maybe it lasted that long!)

So honestly, the purchase wasn't entirely in my budget right now but it's not very much to spend for beautiful knit goodies coming my way ... and I have a lot of projects aching to get started, just waiting for the perfect yarn to bring it to the head of the queue. I'm looking forward to being able to share my "oceanic theme" Phat Fiber Box with you! Pic included ... promise!

Till then, you'll have to settle for Eric :)

speechless

The next time someone, like your SO, complains about how large your stash is, and gripes, "why do you need new yarn when you have this yarn?" (usually said while holding up or pointing to, a grocery bag sized collection of yarn) Show them this ... World's Biggest Stash? And point out how much worse (or better, to you!) it could be!

(my first) *~* Friday Fill-Ins *~*

1. I grew up thinking__I'll just ask grandma and grandpa___ Because when I would ask for new pajamas or a toy they would tell me they didn't have any money.

2. ____Darcy's Knotty Knitter___ was the last website I was at before coming here.

3. Why don't you_____leave me a comment!__?

4. __late night web browsing___ helps me relax.

5. Thanks for the _fish!___

6. I find __the weather 'round here___ very off-putting.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to_a movie with hubby___, tomorrow my plans include_____ World Wide Knit In Public Day with my friends in the Del Ray area__ and Sunday, I want to_hit up the farmer's market @ Ben Brenman!_!

aaaa--a---choooo!

Found over at the Lime & Violet Daily Chum, this Pollen Amigurumi is nothing to sneeze at!

You can also find more fun Pollen Count patterns at Pepperberry. And be sure not to miss all the other fab projects at Pepperberry! Octopus ... Citrus Bag ... yum!

he calls them my "emo gloves"

That's what my hubby called em as I modeled the first finished, of the pair. Pink and emo? Nahhh, I mean seriously... these would so totally go with my authentic Fame leg warmers, duuuuh!

the occassional girl

It's no secret that pink is my favorite color. For all the heavy metal, tattoos and dreadloc'ing I have going on, I'm quite the girl. When I first saw Harrisville Designs New England Shetland in Lady Slipper @ Knit Happens, I knew I was bringing some home. It's gorgeous in person... it's not peach fuzz soft but, instead it's 4 ply fingering weight offers something that feels like earth to me. It reminds me of touching a horse's short hair.

Well maybe that doesn't sound all that great to some but, hey that's me :) And I have high hopes the touchy-feely part will only improve after washing :)

This latest cast-on is a the Waffle Stitch Fingerless Glove pattern. I had originally fallen in love with the simple but cozy and fabulously easy Toast Gloves, and intended on knitting them with the Lady Slipper. But, Toast is just knitting, and I wanted pattern ... without cabling. Unfortunately I don't think my yummy Lady Slipper is going to offer the stretch my forearms would need for a comfy fit in the Toast pattern. I didn't think till later that maybe I should have incorporated a rib stitch to encourage a bit of give. No biggie though, these are great!

Knitted flat, and seamed up after bind-off, the Waffle is perfect for a newer knitter suffering from glove pattern anxiety. If you can knit and purl, you can do this. And at the rate they knit up so fast at, I should have glove one fini' by tomorrow afternoon ... if my toddler cooperates, anyway :)

on the blocking table!

I finally reached bind off on my Cherry Cupcake Summer Shrug! After a delicate wash, I laid it out on my demo table (ask me about what I do for a living!) to block and dry. Looks great, huh?

Yep looks pretty fab ... and then, this appeared. eeerrrggg! At moments like this, thoughts and quotes like "Oh, happy dagger!" or "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" move through the passages of my mind.
I'm going to wait till it's fully dry and then perhaps "stitch" it up, instead of trying to save the pattern in this area. I'm reeaally hoping it will be on the underside of an arm and not noticeable.

Please, help me Obi Wan ... save my shrug!

edit 10:57pm: I know what must be done, but it hurts too much to think about it! I'm going to frog back to before this catastrophe occurred and finish it up the right way - otherwise, I'll never be happy with it.

to market, to market

Just a little preview of a work in progress! The Fantasy Natural Market Bag had proven so far to be a quick, fun knit! (that is unless my index finger on my hand hand begins to speak anytime soon)
I'm a fan of green and purple together, and finding both available in the new Red Heart Eco-Ways Recycled blend made mixing even more tempting! I mean, how you gonna make a market bag in new yarn? I have a ton of reusable bags as it is that I use for shopping trips - I paid about a buck for each. If this goes well, I'm planning on sharing the market bag love for the holidays and birthdays with friends and family.

For the bottom, I used a sz10 straight, then picked my stitches to a circular 10.5, as it was nearly impossible to pick up the stitches using the 17's I intend to use for the main portion of the pattern. But, I'm taking it as it goes - depending, I may switch to a 13 or 15 circ but, I believe in using the tools you have handy when at all possible :)

*about the photo in the pic - that's my grandma on the day she left San Francisco to head off for Texas. Granny was a WAAC! I have her flight logs from 1943 and it details her trips over head oil fields making sure they hadn't been attacked by "the enemy". Wow.

I miss me some grams. xoxo

HP Giveaway!

This is delicious, people! Enter to win a Vivienne Tam edition HP Mini 1000! It's red, it's gorgeous and I just want to touch it! Check out Blissful Style for details on how you can enter and WIN!