Had died a severe and indignant death. I literally threw the hunk of now tangled yarn down in a fit of rage and demanded that someone “take it to the craft room, out of my sight!”

Ugh. HATE IT. I’ve been working on in for weeks off and on. It was going to be the first self designed project I’ve knit. Turns out: I’m not much of a designer. Nor at the moment much of a knitter. I’m sure tomorrow I will regain my confidence but right now I’m picking up US15’s and some bulky yarn and I’m going to make a fucking scarf. Because I know I can knit a rectangle.

It’s raining, which is nice. But I think it’s affecting my mood. I feel like I nee to put on too much eyeliner and smoke a clove. And listen to some Type O Negative. Or something else equally ridiculous.

Off to regress into long straight knitting and watch C.S.I reruns.

On a whim I knitted a headband.

I dig it. It was a real quick knit. I’m going to make more. I changed the pattern a little bit. The pattern is from Pepperknits.com. I used larger needles for the lace portion to make it thicker and so the lace showed up a little better. I’ll probably try it again with the recommended needles and some lace weight yarn. I still have tons of lace weight yarn left over from a huge stash I found at a thrift store for ridiculously cheap.

Here’s another pattern where you can see the lace just a little better. 

…And I’ve decided to bold the ones I actually meet. This was posted in response to a story about a Nepal girl who is considered a Living Goddess (she’s 10) and that to be considered such had to meet 32 Perfections.

The knitter “32 Purlfections”

1. Must own an Ashford spinning wheel.

2. Must possess at least one ball of cashmere yarn. The good stuff.

3. Must have at least PETTED a vicuna.

4. Must have an allergic reaction when within 100 meters of acrylic.

5. Must ONLY knit with Rosewood needles.

6. Must take a daily bath in wool wash.

7. Must study stitch pattern books by candlelight every night.

8. Isn’t afraid to use spare bamboo needles as chopsticks in a pinch.

9. Raises alpacas.

10. Has never knit a dog sweater. (Oh, dear me, I’ve failed this severely.)

11. Uses beads in knitting sparingly.

12. Has a self-portrait tapestry out of self-striping yarn hung in the foyer of their estate.

13.  Breaks out in hives at the very mention of “Fun Fur”. (See an earlier post about the evils of Fun Fur if you need further convincing.)

14. When carried through the streets, attendants must be wearing sashes made from knitted wire.

15. Thinks novelty yarn is for decorative trim applied with Elmer’s glue.

16. Always sits at the head of the table at knit-a-longs, etc.

17. Is forbidden to utter the words “Stitch and Bitch”.

18. Has specially crafted wooden needles with personalized initials carved into them that are only used for hair decoration. (Well, half of this, I have the needles, but they’re too big to use as hair needles. And I don’t put needles in my hair.)

19. Never uses stitch markers.  The knowledge of stitch placement was implanted at birth.  No need.

20.  Has a color wheel birthmark in between the eyes.

21.  The umbilical cord is replaced with an I-cord, and can only be snipped with Gingher scissors.

22.  Whenever the feet are kissed by adorers, they must be wearing hand-knitted socks.

23. The word “stash” is replaced by “bejeweled collection”.

24. Instead of “click clacking” – CHANTING is heard when knitting with Addi Turbos.

25. The body AUTOMATICALLY assumes a pose when sitting down to knit.  And locks it in.

26. Must have a colorway named after them from at least 32 yarn companies.

27. TV appearances are immediately followed by a post-show hosted by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee.

28. Tickets sold to public appearances must be printed with gold-leaf lettering.

29. Never has UFO’s.

30. Never has WIP’s.

31. No project is ever the subject of scrutiny, or is ever called a “loser”.

32. There is always a waiting list to be added as a “friend”.

(taken from Yarn Ball Boogie’s Blog, this is his list, I’m just stealing it.)

I think I may have crossed the line between ‘hobby’ and ‘lifestyle’. Knitting has officially taken over my existence. Which, I suppose I should have figured this out when I inked the image of needles and yarn into my fore arm.

I only really have on full on UFO. It’s the second ‘Short n’ Sweet’ bolero I made from the Stitch n’ Bitch Happy Hooker. The first one was out of a heavy cotton yarn and it sucked my will to live while I was trying to figure out the pattern. After that one I figured the second one would be a piece of cake so I whipped up another one out of lighter yarn. It went much quicker and was easier.

And here is where I discovered that once I fully know how to do something I no longer want to do it. Near the end of this second bolero I decided I had conquered crochet and wanted to brush up on my knitting. I knew how to knit already but hadn’t really progressed past basic knit stitch and some lumpy purl rows. So, I picked up my needles and started knitting. I set the nearly finished bolero aside thinking that after knitting for a bit I’d finish the last sleeve and weave in the ends.

That was eight months ago.

And here the bolero lay…lost amongst dozens of beautiful finished knitted items.

So, I ask you, dear readers do I finish the second sleeve, and weave in ends and put it up for sale (or possibly gift it, or keep it for myself?) or frog it and use the yarn for more challenging endeavors?

This is the finished sleeve.

Unfinished sleeve/opening

Front

What’s left of the yarn.

Eh?

My green shrug I knitted while I was in Alaska sold on Etsy.com yesterday. That is my first official “I made this” sale! I’m pretty stoked.

Extra $30 for more yarn! Yes!

FINALLY! OH. MY. GOD. I got my invite this morning as soon as I fired up my email when I woke up. That was….five hours ago? I haven’t done anything else except play on the website. I’ve got my profile set up, several of my projects added, joined a couple of groups (Craftster on Ravelry, Tattooed Knitters and Dog Crochet and Knit Group) this website is so FREAKING awesome!

If you’re reading this and have joined ravelry.com add me as a friend (username: danido).

I really ought to write up the patterns for the dog sweaters I’ve been designing, since I’m getting decent feedback on them from the couple of web sites and groups I’ve posted them too. I could probably sell the patterns for a couple bucks a pop and make a little passive income. In the meantime though I’m just churning them out hoping that SOME ONE will buy one. I still haven’t sold any of my actual knitted items on my Etsy Shop just the yarns I had listed. Everyone tells me how much they like them and how nice they are, but no one is buying them.

Maybe it’s because it’s summer and dogs don’t really need sweaters in the summer. Maybe in the fall I’ll have more buyers. Just trying to stay positive.

Okay, back to ravelry! Of to take pictures of all my yarns to add to my ’stash’ section.

This is Wendy. My dear friend Christa’s dog. She is also a Schnauzer (obviously) and I’m watching her for the weekend while Christa (the lucky twit) is at Disneyland. Since I had her here and readily available to try it on as I went, I made her this sweater. The original hot pink dog shrug I made was supposed to be for Wendy. (Hence why the pattern is referred to as the Wendy Shrug) It was much to small for her though, so this is the new Wendy pattern. It’s a full fronted cardigan tapered in on the underbelly to allow easy access to go potty. 2×2 ribbing around the collar, sleeve cuffs and edge.

It still needs Velcro on the underside to keep it closed. Overall I’m pretty pleased with it. It only took me two episodes of “Huff” and one of “Big Love” to finish it.

Yes, I measure time in episodes.

So, I’ve been busy, obviously. I got a new job, as a marketing assistant for a popular nightclub. However I did manage to finish up a little itty bitty dog cardigan.

The pictures don’t do the yarn justice. It’s a super soft deep emerald green cotton textured yarn I got during a bag sale at Little Knits over a year ago. Every time up until now that I’ve started a project with it I’ve ended up frogging the whole thing because I didn’t like how the thick n’ thin texture looked. But this little jacket worked up so nice and it’s so adorable and tiny! This is 100% my own pattern. (Yay!) Its too small to fit my girls, so I think it would fit a medium sized Chihuahua or even an Italian Greyhound, Jack Russell, and other skinny dogs. My girls are very…robust. This sweater is just too narrow in the shoulders for a Schnauzer.

I still need to put some snaps or buttons on the belly side so it doesn’t flop open. I’m trying to decide if I should put some dainty flower shaped buttons and make it a girly sweater or just some small black buttons and/or metal snaps to leave it fairly unisex. Since I tend to make very girly things, it might be nice to have something that a boy dog could wear.

Now, I’m starting on a tank top for me. I want something I can wear for once!