So, as you may have noticed, I changed up the blog a little bit. I’m hoping this new layout pleases everyone. It pleases me greatly.

The photos that rotate at the top are all pictures I took myself with my new handy dandy light box and trusty digital camera. The yarns featured are Noro (the picture with the row of little balls.), Whorled and Purled (the deep blue yarn), Lornas Laces (the purple/yellow yarn) and Sanguine Gryphon (the pinkish/red yarn).

Let me know what you think of the new design. I think it looks considerably fresher and easier to read than the old dark one.

So last night I built a light box. And it’s a little janky, and I have ideas on how to make it better but it does do the job for the time being. Check out this gorgeous pictures I got of some of my finished knits.

This is the second Moonset Chemo Cap I knit up this week to finalize the pattern for it. This is the hat I designed for my Godmother DeeDee who is going through her second battle with breast cancer.  I knit this one in Sanguine Gryhpon – Traveller Yarn. It took me almost 50 pictures to get a picture that showed something close the true colors in this yarn. I finally gave up, the colors in the second photo are close, but there is just no way to show on film the GORGEOUS colors in this yarn. As I was knitting it I was constantly surprised and amazed at the vibrant colors that kept coming along. The pattern for this is coming soon. I will be offering it for sale for $2, which will go towards a fund for my Godmother to help offset the cost of her illness and losing time at work while she goes through treatment. As soon as I have it up I’ll post it here so everyone knows.

This is the Star Stitch Hair Tamer that I designed as well. Also looking swank on my new Styrofoam head. I love how crisp the stitches look!

A super sharp photo of the Coffee Mug Wrap pattern from awhile back. Again, look at that stitch definition! Hotness.

A ball of Malabrigo yarn I bought recently from Eat.Sleep.Knit. I was still working out the lighting issues in that photo, so it’s not as good as some of the others.

This is a hat I knit up awhile ago in Kaitlens Brave New Whorled handspun. I think she called this particular yarn Lettuce. (I may have just made that up…) but it does look crisp and lettuce-y and it’s gorgeous all knit up.

So there you have it, some pretty  knits, some pretty yarn and some SWEET photos of them.

Okay, so I bought the head form, but now I need to name it. I have a thing with names, I need to name pretty much anything that could possibly have a name. So, I beseech you readers, help me name the head. Girls names please. Extra points if it’s something ethnic and beautiful OR if it’s something that could be a yarn name as well. Hit me with it! The name I pick may win a sweet little surprise from me. Like maybe a certain kind of handspun yarn. (Kaitlen can’t win, since it’s her yarn I’m going to give away.) The yarn I’m going to give away is not going to be the same green yarn I used for the hat, because I love it and I want to make a matching scarflette out of the rest of it I have. The yarn I’m giving away will be something….different. I don’t know what yet.

This relates to knitting. I promise. But first, you have to read about me begging you for money.

So, here’s the thing. I started a team to walk in the Komen Race for a Cure here in Las Vegas, NV on May 3rd. The Susan B. Komen foundation does a major part in awareness, fund raising and research for breast cancer. The race (or walk, as I am going to do it.) is a fund raising opportunity. Now, I’m going to do the hard part, I’m going to heft my wide, pale, used-to-sitting-in-comfy-chairs-and-knitting ass out of bed EARLY in the morning and then drive downtown on a weekend (which I HATE doing) and THEN on top of being awake AND driving downtown I’m going to walk for a mile. All I need you to do is sponsor me. You can do that by clicking here and then clicking on the ’support Sin City Knitters’ thingy in the lower right hand corner. Then you donate. You whip our your busted up, tired, broken down debit/credit card and you punch in your numbers and you let me and the world know you’re committed to helping cure breast cancer. Or you’re committed to making me get up early on a weekend and schlep downtown to walk around for a few hours. Either way, we’ll take your money.

Now, say you want to be part of our team, but you’re a) lazy or b) busy on May 3rd or c) not in Las Vegas. Well, you can still join our team by doing the Sleep in for a Cure. Which means you pay your $25 to be part of our team, but then you get to sleep in. Or watch cartoons. Or throw a baby shower. Or whatever it is you’re doing that day. You can do that by clicking ‘Join Sin City Knitters’ on that same page and then choosing the last option on the registration page which is the Sleep In for the Cure registration. I’m pretty sure you still get a tee shirt.

Okay, so say you ARE in Las Vegas, you aren’t lazy and you’re not busy and you DO want to walk with us that day. Well, then you can join our team (all the same link still) and show up and come walk with me through downtown Las Vegas. I’ll be coordinating a coffee stop before the walk and we’ll probably go to lunch afterwards to refuel (by which I mean “eat a lot of carbs”) and chat about what an awesome thing we just did.

Now you may ask, “Why, Dani, are you getting out of bed early on a weekend and walking around downtown Vegas? You don’t have breast cancer.” Well dear friends, you are right, I don’t have breast cancer. Yet. But I might, and I’d like for there to be a cure if I ever do get breast cancer. Now, more importantly and more urgently though, there are lots of people who DO have breast cancer RIGHT THIS SECOND. One of whom is my godmother, DeeDee, someone who is very very dear to me. She is a single mother, she’s been my mothers best friend since they were 13 AND on top of those two things which I’m sure qualify you for sainthood, this is her second battle with breast cancer. She survived it once already, but its back now and it’s pissed. Someone else I loved very much died a few years ago after losing a battle with cancer as well. It started as breast cancer and eventually masticized and eventually claimed her life. She was also a single mother and one of the strongest, wisest and weirdest people I’ve ever known. Now, these two women are enough to make me walk, but I’m also walking for their children, for their daughters who are at a higher risk for getting this disease because their mothers did. I’m walking for all the survivors, warriors, victims and orphans of this disease.

So, there you have it, if that sob story doesn’t make you want to go drop $5 or $10 in the coffers than I don’t know what else to tell you other than you probably have no soul. (Or you’re broke. In which case, I forgive you.)

Now, on to the knitting!

This weekend I knit up two hats for DeeDee because she is going to start a very very aggressive chemo treatment this week which means her gorgeous long blond  hair is all going to fall out again. I can’t do anything about the hair falling out, but I can make some stuff to keep her head warm. So I did.

This first hat is my own pattern, based on a stitch pattern from Barbara Walkers Treasury of Knitting (which my Dad and Step Mom bought me for Christmas and it has been the most used addition to my knitting library.) This is the first time I’ve ever knit a hat flat and seamed it. I didn’t like it much, so I’m going to write this pattern for in the round when I do type up the actual pattern. I’m calling this pattern the Moonset Chemo Cap, because DeeDee’s online name has been Moonset for about a hundred years, or whenever she got AOL. It’s knit in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK which I bought at Knit Las Vegas of course.

The other hat I knit up was the Three Sisters Hat by Jan-Knit, also in Debbie Bliss Cashmerino DK (also bought at Knit Las Vegas, this color was left over from my fingerless mitts I knit awhile back.) I highly recommend this pattern, it was super easy, super beautiful and super quick. I will be knitting this again for my Mom as well, so she has a matching hat like DeeDee’s.

Both are ridiculously soft and I wanted to keep them for myself. But I have hair and live in Las Vegas where hats are a once or twice a year necessity. I dropped both of these in the mail yesterday bound for Anchorage, AK where my godmother lives and will hopefully make them to her safe and radiating with all the love and good health vibes I worked into each stitch.

There you have it! An entire blog post about breast cancer and hopefully no one is in tears yet. I will keep everyone updated on the fund raising progress of the Sin City Knitters team. (Which in my mind is secretly named “Knitties for Titties”, but I thought that might be in poor taste.)

I just did forty five minute of yoga. While I watched the Americas Next Top Model on VH1. It was pretty awesome.

And now I’m about to have a steak for dinner…which I’m pretty sure completely negates the forty five minutes of yoga.

Other things I did today:

• Knitted on my sweater. It’s taking forever. I kind of hate it.
• Followed my dog around because something is wrong with her ear and I feel the need to check on her every five minutes.
• Pushed on her ear until she squeaked to find out where the hurt was
• Felt intensely guilty and then fed her half a bag of treats
• Painted my fingernails a deep purple
• Talked to Kaitlen for a little bit, wandered off, forgot I was talking to Kaitlen, then remembered and started talking to Kaitlen again.
• Needle felted the face onto the crocheted version of the My Ex bag. Which I will post a picture of after the bullet points end.
• Listened to my “You Can Never Go Home Again” mix on my iPod, which is a mix I made for myself last year when I had my little emotional break down and flew home for a week last July.
• Got incredibly home sick and then promptly turned off my iPod and started watching ANTM.

A picture of the Ex head I did:

Which because I didn’t feel it would be appropriate to model it after one of my own Ex’s I decided to make it look like myself. Only instead it kind of looks like more like…oh, I don’t know, the Wicked Witch of the West.  I even tried to make it look more like me by posing it with needles and yarn…no dice. Still looks creepy.

Now I need to go take a shower because I’m a bit smelly after the yoga and get ready to eat dinner (my yoga negating steak.) and watch some more reruns of CSI or Law and Order until it’s time to go to bed.

Tomorrow includes:

• Taking the dog to the vet and finding out what is wrong with her ear.
• Continuing work on converting some of the knit ADHD patterns to crochet, which I’m stoked about.
• New Knitter Night at Knit Las Vegas from 6-8 p.m.

My life looks so much less boring with bullet points.

I know that fiber folk of all types are caring and giving people, well right now there are some little faces that need some help.

Right now in Pima County in Arizona there are almost 800 animals that have been seized from a home there in what has been described as the worst conditions some of the responders have ever seen. These animals are victims who cannot help themselves. They are being cared for by the Humane Society of Southern Arizona. Humane Societies are notoriously under staffed and under funded and I’m certain that this crisis has put a tremendous burden on them. I hope that each of you can find room in your hearts and bank accounts to donate a few dollars to help the Humane Society in Arizona continue to give these animals the care and attention that they need and to help them find forever homes instead of being euthanized. Please also forward this email on to anyone you think may be able to help.

If you would like to adopt one of these animals that would be even better and I am offering to personally drive to Arizona (only a few hours from my home in Las Vegas) to pick up an animal and I will help arrange to get the animal to you if you need the help.

You can read about this story and donate to the Humane Society of Southern Arizona at the following link:

http://www.hssaz.org/

Thank you!

** Some of you have may already seen this as I have sent out an email similar to this to my contacts and I have also posted this on a few boards on Ravelry. I cannot  begin to express how upset this story has made me and I will not stop asking for you to reach out and give a little to help these poor animals. If I had the ability to, I would be on my way to Arizona as we speak to rescue one or two (or 800) of these little faces myself. If you or anyone you know wants a dog, thinks they want a dog or wants a baby but would settle for a dog, please PLEASE share this with them. These animals are in danger of being put down if they cannot find homes for them. I will make the ‘puppy run’ to Arizona myself to bring one back if you cannot make the trip.

Leg warmers. ARE. NOT. OKAY. They weren’t okay the first time, they are not okay now. It is 2008, we left leg warmers behind somewhere around 1988. It’s been 20 years, the scars still have not healed. Let it go.

I implore you, dear knitters, to stop this madness. Quit designing them, quit wearing them, quit knitting them. Do not give your children leg warmers, do not buy patterns for leg warmers. Just say no to leg warmers.

I bring this up because the spring issue of Knitty.com is up. Featured there among beautiful socks, lace and sweater patterns is this one glaring misstep in fashion judgement.

The pattern is called Mosey and friends, they need to mosey on outta here.

These would be completely awesome if they had feet and we could market them as slippers, or mukluks or something. They’re cute, I like the cable pattern, I even like the little swingy pom-poms hanging off the side. I fully appreciate the wonderful job the designer did in putting together excellent and interesting elements, I love the yarn choice, it looks lovely and soft and comfortable.

What I don’t like is the Flash Dance flashbacks I keep having, or the fact that these are being ‘rocked’ with a denim mini skirt.

Oh and we need to address this:

This was fun to knit and more fun to wear.  It’s great to pair these up with a skirt or shorts for the cooler days in spring.

Yeah, if it cold enough to require that you wear wool up to your knees, chances are you should have pants on. Not a skirt or shorts. If it’s warm enough for skirts and shorts, you don’t need a foot of wool insulation from your ankles to your knee caps.

I am by no means the most fashionable girl on the block. I have what I like to refer to as (however delusional it may be) ‘classic style’ working for me. By ‘classic’ I mean, I’ve worn the same thing since I was 16 and by ’style’ I mean anything I can find for less than $20 on the sale rack. Mostly this consists of black shirts and dark denim.

Regardless of my lack of fashion sense, I can at least say that leg warmers are persona non grata in my wardrobe.

Okay, enough poking fun at other people. I have work to do. If you haven’t yet, be sure ya’ll check out the ‘My Ex is Full of Knit’ contest over at the ADHD Knitting blog.

I knew someone, it seems like forever ago now, that used to say that phrase all the time.  “Such is life…” He’d say it so often that it kind of became how I thought about him. Still think about him to this day. He wasn’t a close friend, not someone I hung out with on a regular basis or anything. He was a musician and he was a very smart guy. I remember one afternoon in particular, I was in a diner and we were filming the public access television show I used to help out with. (Long story: involves a boy, a star crossed love affair and a lot of crying, but there was also the t.v. show) So we were there and they were filming the show. At this point I didn’t really formally work with the show, I was just there hanging on. The boy that ran the show was interviewing the musician who had this famous phrase and as a way to explain why some opportunity or another had passed the band by, the musician said simply “Such is life” and left it at that.

I’ve always admired that musician, and his serene nature. I never saw him angry or riled up, I never saw him upset or sad. He always appeared just mildly amused and vaguely pleased with life in general. He also lived in a total shit hole apartment with a bunch of other people and a lot of empty beer cans. I was there once, the apartment did not jive with what I knew about this guy in general. It was very weird.

How all of this relates to me: I am trying to live in a more ’such is life’ way. I’m tired of being angry, upset and otherwise just icky. So I’m going to stop. Now.

So on to the knitting!

I ordered some soap from Pegasus Soaps and they just begged for some hand knit soap sacks. So I knit some up!

The soap in this one is some great oatmeal soap that is soft on your hands.

This one has some herbal soap in it and I’m using it instead of a loofa in the shower. Works great. This one is made out of some stashed Peaches and Cream kitchen cotton. I wrote up the pattern for this as I was doing it. It’s on the patterns page here. It’s nothing spectacular but I’m pretty pleased with the results. They’re quite useful.

Awhile ago I knit up these little socks for my bosses new baby.

I love them. I love them so much it’s silly. They’re knit up on US1 needles from the toe up with Lornas Laces Shepard Sock yarn. I wrote a pattern for these too, which you can see here. Too bad my grown up socks don’t work out this well.

I’ve been knitting on an adult sized sock for about a month. Last night while I was knitting on it my only US1 circular snapped, SNAPPED! While I was knitting. So I had to put the sock back on double pointed needles. I really liked working the sock magic loop and I made this horrible gasping noise when the needle snapped. I’m going to email Knit Picks about it tomorrow and see if I can get it replaced, but if not I think I might try metal ones instead. I’m not sure wood needles are the best thing for knitting socks. Especially when they snap in half when you’re in the middle of a freaking row.

Oh well, such is life…