BOO!

I've always been afraid of stranded knitting. Stranded knitting is not my friend. When you are a lefty, knitting right-handed, except for holding the yarn in your left hand, but not knitting Continental style, the prospect of adding an extra color strand or two is too horrifying to even consider. Stranded knitting is scary.

Yes, I've seen many projects that I would love to have knit---if only they weren't stranded. Who knew that all it would take is the prospect of making a silly Halloween hat that also glows in the dark to make me go ahead and put my toes in the water? If you hang out here much, you know I can't resist teh silly, and Halloween has always been my very favorite holiday (lots of decorations, props, costumes...and more silly). So it's no surprise that glow-in-the-dark yarn would be the final temptation to the eternal 9-year-old in me! I had to do it! And how appropriate that I would try something scary to make something scary for Halloween. It was fate.

I found the lettering on Bernat free handout sheet for a Boo Bag. I loved the whimsical style of the lettering and how the O's look like spooky eyes, but I wanted a hat instead. So I lifted the lettering chart from the bag pattern, adapted it for working in the round and repeated it on both front and back of the hat. I didn't have a hat pattern, so it was just improvised as I went along and this is what came out...

I decided to make the top squared off so as not to interrupt the scary message on either the front or the back of the hat, and so the top could be arranged in various configurations of the wearer's choice, as well as adding some more glowiness.

I think it would even be cute with tassels or pompoms on the corners, but I had artistic differences with my "model," who refused to model the hat if said accoutrements were included. Supermodel temperament....

I did the lettering on both front and back so one can be scary both coming and going! This would make a great hat for more nighttime visibility for little goblins out trick-or-treating on the streets on a dark Halloween night.

Yes, the yarn really does glow in the dark and is visible for quite a distance! Here's a pic I took in a dark closet with no flash. Sorry for teh blurry, but it was a long exposure in the dark and holding the camera still for that long is impossible...

I used Cascade 220 Superwash in black, along with Bernat Glow-in-the-Dark yarn in Glow Worm White. The glowing yarn has absolutely NO give or stretch whatsoever, so it was quite a challenge to do stranding with---but I think the results came out pretty nice for a first try!

But the best part is---I get to be all silly and scary and glow-in-the-dark-like for Halloween!! How 'bout you?

Can someone please tell me....

What species of bird is THIS?





Rat Bastard! And in broad daylight, no less! Sorry for the slighly blurry pic, but it's hard to get a good shot of vermin while doing the squidgy-gross-out dance at the same time.

I must say, the little bastard has skilz, though. While sitting on the sofa I watched him shimmy up the pole and leap onto the feeder cage, then squeeze his ratty bod through the bars and proceed to enjoy the birdseed buffet.

The funniest part is, I'm so accustomed to seeing squirrels on the feeder I didn't even notice it was a rat at first.....until I saw the tail. Um, ick.



Sigh. Oh, well. Even a rat bastard's gotta eat. Just wish he'd find a new restaurant.....

Slam the Storm Doors, Stella! Hell Has Frozen Over!

And as rare as Hell actually freezing over, comes a blog post from me!

Don't fall over in shock! Yes, there's really a blog post here! Go ahead, rub your eyes. Still there. Not that I think that there is necessarily anyone around to even read it, but hey, I can live in denial about that fact. I run the rest of my life very successfully by spending lots of time in Egypt, so why not extend that to the blog as well?


I won't bother making any excuses about why I haven't blogged all summer. I've just been busy doing this and that, and blogging just didn't get included as a This OR a That. Unfortunately, most of the this-and-that is far too dull to even mention here. Let's just say it did NOT include a fabulous vacation or a lottery win, or anything else equally exciting.


And don't think I feel guilty enough to promise another post any time soon, either. Living in denial also affords me the luxury of a generous helping of guilt prevention, which I use very deftly when necessary---which is most of the time. So, for what's it worth, here I am for today anyway.


There has been a little knitting this summer! (and I do mean "a little"). I sort of lost my mojo for big projects and found lots of other things to do, but I did manage to finish a couple of small projects.


Made a bunch of these this summer, all of which went out as little gifts, except for this one:

These cup cozies really come in handy for keeping your cold drink from sweating and dripping all over everything. They also work great for hot to-go drinks as well to protect your fingers from the hot paper cup. I make them out of Cascade Fixation, and they are sort of like potato chips---hard to make just one!

Finished this cloth a couple of months ago. It's from a free pattern called Little Lace Kitchen Cloth that can be found on the web here. You can also find it on Ravelry as well.

Here's my finished Ruffled Tea Cozy! I started this one last year and finally pulled it out an finished it a few months ago. It's made from Socks That Rock and only used about half the skein. I haven't knit any socks from that yarn yet, but it was certainly nice to work with to make this cozy. Very squishy and stretchy! This was made from a pattern I got from the 2007 LYS Tour here in the Seattle area.

Here it is on a different teapot:

Those are little tea leaves knit directly onto the end of an I-cord coming from the top of the cozy. It was knit from the bottom ruffle up, and it came out very stretchy so it will accommodate a variety of pot sizes!

Have a couple of more projects OTN, but too lazy busy to post them right now. I'll try to be good and get some of them up on here soon---even the most embarrassing FO of all---a pair of socks that have been OTN for over a year (better known as the Tofutsies Torture Socks). I've told myself I cannot cast on another pair until I finish those, so I'm hoping to do that soon....or have some very cold feet this winter. Apparently I am not above following ridiculous, self-imposed rules, even though I hate following anyone else's rules. Don't ask---I can't explain it. But it's a rule, and I've followed it for months now, even though I couldn't tell you why. Aside from the stupid rule, I really need to start knitting from my sock yarn stash again soon or it's going to take over the house! So let's hope I get some enthusiasm up to finish the Torture Socks.

If anyone is still out there and happens to read this, please stop for a moment and say hello in the comments! Just because I've been too "busy" to blog doesn't mean I haven't missed y'all!

Oh, and while you're here--please try to guilt me into finishing those effing socks! I'm much more susceptible to guilt imposed from others, so maybe if you force me I'll actually finish them. Besides, I'm really sick of looking at them hanging around and I want my needles back...and my feet are cold.