A Knitting Trilogy!????

I finished Unravel Me. And it was lovely! I mean, it was definitely smut... but it was good smut. It was definitely steamy. Especially since the sexcapades were with a soldier. Christie Ridgway also wrote a book called "How to Knit a Wild Bikini" which I didn't look up anything on that, but in the back of "Unravel Me" was a chapter from her next book called "Dirty, Sexy Knitting" about the same characters! I was a little excited. I happen to be a sucker for book series, so I must get "How to Knit a Wild Bikini" and "Dirty, Sexy Knitting!" Needs must!

I had my first home knitting gathering this weekend.. and it was fairly successful, despite the fact that everyone that I invited was a no-show. All of the people Sara invited were there though. We had a good time knitting and being chatty kathys. There's this nasty cold running through work, and everyone I invited was from work... so they were all sick, which was a bummer. I even invited (gasp!) a crocheter. It's all right though...nobody's perfect. :)

I started my boss's baby blanket on Saturday, and FINALLY finished Gene's scarf. It's finally length-approved. I figured if it was taller than me, then it's gotta be long enough. I still haven't received yarn from the people who told me that they wanted me to make stuff. So right now the only thing I have on needles is the baby blanket. I *should* start Olivia's scarf. I also need to get a pattern from Sara for these cabled slippers that looked really cute. They would make great additions to Christmas gifts. I could probably get away with using the mass amounts of acrylic yarn that I have... maybe get a few other giganto skeins of red heart and mix colors. They look like they go really quickly... so I think I could make a few pairs. I just need to learn cabling. Bah.

Holy project list, Batman!

How did I end up with like a bajillion projects to do? I still haven't finished Gene's scarf, even though it's almost done... and he wants a non-Waldo hat. So I bought new yarn for that, and my own 16" US8 circulars so Sara can have hers back. Then my friends Brian and Winter discovered my knitting abilities and asked if I would make them a scarf if they sent yarn. Brian saw some the other day he thought would be fun, so I told him to pick one up. THEN... my boss is having a baby in March (a little girl, his first biological child. He has two stepsons) so I'm making her a baby blanket. I just picked up Bernat self striping baby blanket yarn... and I'm all kinds of excited about that. The picture is the free pattern that actually came on the yarn. That's the pattern I usually do when I make blankets with LionBrand HomeSpun, but I wanted to do something different. I hope the stripes come out all right!

I *still* have Olivia's scarf to do, plus I wanted to maybe make something for myself, but apparently I'm not allowed to do any personal knitting.

So to recap... I have

(1) unfinished garter-stitch scarf for Gene
(1) unstarted cabled scarf for Olivia (she's only like two... so it isn't big... I just want to try cabling and I want to start small)
(2) scarfs of an undetermined pattern
(1) plain ol' hat for Gene (without Waldo stripes and pompom)
(1) baby blanket for my boss (and I'm using US8s for that... so it may take a while)

Good thing I'm hosting a knitting party on Saturday!! So far, the guest list is up to 7 definites and 4 maybes. And two of these lovely ladies have never knitted before, so it should be fun! I may start the baby blanket this weekend... that's going to take me the longest. Maybe I can finish Gene's scarf before Saturday...

New literary genre?

I've always been a huge fan of romance novels... they're a great escape. When I was in college and had a really bad day, my best friend and I would go over to Giant (usually around 1am or so) and read the backs of all the cheesy romance novels and usually buy whichever one appeals to us. Me is usually steaminess. My friend usually picks up intrigue...and it always turns out to be a crime novel masquerading as a romance novel. In my literary travels, I've come to discover my favorite is historical romance novels. I like contemporary, but something about a Scotsman in a kilt circa 1700 really gets me going.

I recently discovered there's a whole 'nother section of literature I was completely unaware of--knitting novels. My mother came across one when she was looking for something new to read and picked it up for me (I'm getting it this weekend when I see her) and just yesterday she found a different one. Today while at Target getting my lunch (California Pizza Kitchen Pizza for One-delish. It's awesome.) I wandered over to their novels and found: Unravel Me by Christie Ridgway. Since I just bought it all of 15 minutes ago, I haven't read it yet. I'm a fast reader, but I'm not magical. The novel is set in California in a hip LYS on the beach. I'm intrigued... and I'll probably finish reading it by tomorrow night.

Now that I have discovered knitting literature (knit lit) I may have a new favorite genre in romance novels. I'll have to let you know what I think about this one and the new one I'm getting on Saturday! I can't think of the titles at the moment, but I will let you know. And if you've read some knit lit before and have some recommendations--bring 'em on!

Waldo pictures!

I'm remembering to post pictures! I tried to just post a picture of Waldo wearing his hat, but unfortunately I'm in the way, so you get to see me as Carmen Sandiego as well.

The knitting of the Waldo hat was not as scary as I thought, but I should have continued the red a little above the ribbing. I really like knitting in stockinette in the round!! That's fun! And switching to dpns was also not quite as terrifying as I anticipated. I expected to call Sara in a panic because I dropped every single stitch, but I managed to survive. And if the hat wasn't obnoxious colors with an obnoxious pompom on it, Gene would probably wear it on a regular basis. I'm highly considering embroidering a Phillies "P" on it in red and taking off the pom. I definitely like making hats though.. and now that I have US8 dpns, I should get 16" US8 circulars. I bought 29" by accident, but Sara lent me her 16".

I'm having a get together with a few friends (some of whom have never knitted ever) over to my house for a knitting extravaganza. My friend's wife wants to learn, and she recently embedded needles she tried to teach herself with in the wall (or so she tells me). My other friend Jenny is a quilter and wants to learn how to knit, my little sister actually taught me to knit, and then Sara is coming and bringing some avid knitters with her. I think I'm going to tackle cables this time. I keep saying that I'm going to do it, and I have two fun patterns that I want to try (and really pretty teal virgin lambs wool I want to use!) so hopefully next weekend will go smoothly.