nothing

i have nothing. it is quite sad, but i am not knitting much these days. i am busy packing, shopping and stressing about my trip. i am watching my parent's cats for 10 days while they are leaf peeping on the east coast. i'm making stitch markers for my sale next week (date tbd). talking about grey's excessively (last nights episode should have been the premiere in my mind, it was excellent - i believe izzie is wearing the sweater she knit for denny). that isn't to say i haven't been hanging out with knitters, i did go to knit group last night, but only knit for 1/2 of it.

this morning on the today show (i think that is the one on nbc), tracey ullman was on talking about her new knitting book. it was funny to see matt lauer react to the statement that women talk about sex and all sorts of things while knitting. he seemed quite shocked by it. it has been a few years since knitting really made it's comeback so i am surprised to hear these days when people are shocked that knitting is popular among all age groups now.

let's see. anything else i need to share? probably not, a post without pics isn't too interesting and i doubt you made it this far! oh, but i will say i am totally in love with le sportsac bags again. i used to just have solid ones way back when they first came out, but i bought the cutest polka dot one the other day.

ok, going now.

i'm ready, are you ready?

looks like tinkerwiththis is! those t-shirts are cool! i know there are a lot of knit bloggers out there who are major grey's fans. i am SO looking forward to the premiere. i'll have to stay up for the news as well because our local station (where they film part of grey's) is interviewing the cast and finding out what they think of seattle.


first up i made a little banner. kinda cheesy, but it will do! my tuesday night knit group is getting together to watch so i also created a super-duper special stitch marker for the occasion...


sorry, these won't be for sale, they were just a last minute idea that i whipped up for my friends. i will however reserve one for a contest down the road.

happy grey day!

sws info

i should have mentioned that the soy wool is soft! and it also felts - which amazes me. they had a felted sample at michaels. it felts a lot like the patons classic wool. kind of bumpy, but not bad. very tight.


and how many times have i claimed i would never sew again? yes, new owl fabric from japan that i picked up. destined to be an apron. the lady at the store promised even i was capable of sewing it. we'll see!

one more thing..

i spotted this ornament in my gooseberry patch catalog yesterday. just thought i would share with all of you. isn't it cute? i have a bunch of this s'mores collection, mugs, ornaments, candles etc. so i might have to pick one up!

for the love of yarn

as promised i have a knitting related post for you. the last few days have been a whirlwind of knitting. an unlike me i threw way too many projects on the needles. why? because i couldn't resist the yarn.

first is the yarn i bought at churchmouse a couple weeks back. it is some beautiful handpainted alpaca.


and then there is the sock yarn i couldn't resist. it is very similar to trekking. i have already finished the first sock you see here and cast on last night for the second one.


then last week, i came across some new patons yarn at knittyotter. it is their soy wool stripes. it looked really cool so i made a trip out to michaels last night to pick some up.


another patons yarn caught my eye while i was there, nothing fancy, just a brown acrylic/wool blend that i thought would make a perfect cabled scarf. so i cast on for that last night too. oh and maybe a couple others.


the blue scarf is a debbie bliss yarn that is like boucle (can't recall the name) and a new rowan yarn. i picked those up at my lys, village yarn and tea, yesterday too.

somebody please stop me. i shouldn't be spending money right now.

lucky number 17

well, here is what i noticed while watching 17 episodes of grey's (congratulations miss88keys you are the winner!)

• there are 2 episodes in which the wives of patients knit
  
• in one episode, the mother of a patient is wearing a striped scarf. in the next episode bailey is wearing the exact same one, but with a different color combination (i noticed because i was admiring the yarn)
  
• meredith and christina wear a lot of scarves (not that this is unusual in seattle)
  
• there are some location mistakes in a few of the episodes. like when meredith is driving in to work on I-90 eastbound towards spokane (the opposite direction of seattle)
  
• derek does indeed live on bainbridge island (home of churchmouse yarns). i was always wondering where he was commuting from on the ferry (although bainbridge was obvious, they didn't mention it, but he asked addison on the ferry one day why she was still staying on bainbridge)
  

seriously, i am a huge grey's fan. i have seen season 1 like 10 times and am on my way to about 3 times for season 2 (original airing, summer re-runs and dvd). i downloaded the final episode last week through abc and itunes and watched that thursday. and although she started to get a lot of crap towards mid-season last year (and more so after the george incident) i am a big meredith fan.

ok, enough with the grey's! i finished a sock (one you have yet to see) and made a ton of halloween markers while watching. i know it seems i must have been parked in front of the tv all day and night, i really wasn't. the episodes are a bit shorter with no commercials. and, i got a late start last night and then stayed up way too late because i wanted to get through the super bowl episodes.

knitting pictures later today or tomorrow.

i knit with grey's CONTEST!

i am in serious countdown mode as we head towards the season premiere on thursday. today i picked up the 2nd season on dvd. so the contest? simple. seriously.

how many episodes of the 2nd season will i watch between now (saturday night) and when i go to bed tomorrow (sunday night)?

leave a comment with your guess and some way to get a hold of you (blog or email). i will tell you that i am on the 2nd episode now with a night of knittitng with grey's ahead of me.

prize will be a set of misc stitch markers by me! (and some halloween candy for good measure) if more than one person gets it right, i'll draw a name.

good luck! and if you haven't taken the button yet, feel free.

**EDIT - there are 27 episodes in season 2 - also someone pointed out a grey's knitalong in the comments. how did i not know about this? of course, i am a slacker when it comes to knitalongs so i probably won't join up. but you know i'll be talking about grey's a lot here anyways. and just something i noticed while watching - nobody in seattle would ever say "mocha latte." seriously. it's just a mocha. or a latte. but not "mocha latte." not that anyone who writes for grey's reads this. but just thought i would put it out there. ok, back to grey's. night night.

new adventure

hey guys! i was privileged enough to be asked by scout to contribute to her new scout's indie swag club (a different approach to the sock clubs out there, it is so cool!). my stitch markers will be the indie swag for one month of her club. i was honored to be asked and am so excited for her (and me!). if you are interested head on over wednesday to sign up - you'll have to act quick though, the first round is limited and bound to sell out fast!

knit gatherings

this past weekend was full of knitting activities! on saturday i hosted a monthly knitting group made up of past co-workers. it always involves lots of food, drink and conversation. on sunday, megan, katy, denise and i made a day out of going to churchmouse yarn & tea for their 6th anniversary sale. bainbridge island is just a short ferry ride from seattle and has other cute little shops besides churchmouse. of course it also is home to mora, an amazing ice cream shop. we finished our day off by having a scoop and then heading back to the ferry. the picture above is all of us with our handknit socks on the ferry deck (denise wore a handknit scarf so no socks, but in her place is christy who we also met up with on the island). the shop was taking pictures of anyone who wore a handknit and giving away a little giftie so who could resist!

as promised, here is a shot of the yarn i bought from spritely goods (see a few posts back). i am using a pattern from sensational knitted socks. isn't it pretty?



that is it for today. i'll be posting the goods i bought at the sale soon.

a date not to be forgotten

i wasn't going to post today, but after reading some of your 9/11 stories, i couldn't help but reflect on mine. and every once in awhile, apart from being a knitting blog, i look at this as kind of a record of my life. so it seems only appropriate that one of the most vivid memories in my life should be recorded here. knitting content tomorrow.

each of us has our own story of that day. for me, it was a day that forced me out of my naive thinking. it made me see the world we live in for the first time. and it made me scared. i remember waking up to the radio that morning hearing the local dj interviewing a starbucks barista in new york over the phone. she was describing the chaos. i had a hard time understanding what was going on so i got up and turned on the tv in my living room. i can't even recall exactly what i saw but i believe the second plane had just struck. i called my dad. "did you see what happened?" in my head i had no idea what was going on, were we at war? was the whole country under attack? and then i got dressed and drove to work.

on my way in to the office, the pentagon was hit. i listened to the radio gripping my steering wheel and staring at the seattle skyline. were we next? the columbia tower was in front of me as i crossed over the ship canal bridge. i couldn't help but be struck with fear. the unknown made me nervous. but what really kept going through my mind was, am i really going into work? is it really business as usual? and in typical american fashion, it was. i still put in my 8 hours that day. i may have surfed the internet more than normal, but i worked.

and i thought is was ridiculous. let us go home and be with our families. let us try and make sense of what was happening. but my responsibility that day was clearly to my employer. it felt very wrong. besides the sheer horror of the events of the day, that is what i remember the most. working.

the fall of 2001 made me feel more like an adult than i ever had before (i was 26 then). i experienced september 11th, a terrible break up and watching my uncle die of cancer. my view of life has never been the same. but after these 5 years the thing i have come to know the most is not to live in fear. will another attack happen? sadly, i think so. but will it control my actions and my belief that more of us in this world want peace than not? no.

we all have our own story. it is what still bonds us after 5 years.

thanks!

wow, those went fast (just a few left). thanks everyone. if you emailed me and did not receive a response or a paypal invoice, please let me know. i think i got everyone, but want to be sure.

i should have one more batch of markers available through my blog in the next few weeks. probably one more before i leave on my trip (oct. 11th) that will include some more halloween/fall sets. i'll give a couple days notice so nobody will miss out. after that i hope to have my new shop up and running for the holidays.

thanks again all.

!!SALE!! (all sold out, thanks!)

as i come closer to getting a better shop up and running, i have decided to run a one-time only sale on my stitch markers only available through this blog entry. all sets below are $9.00 per set (normally $12.95). some of them are more springy designs so they probably won't be back in the new shop until next year. others were one time only experiments. so get yours now! limited quantities available, price will go back up soon. money will go towards funding baguettes and pastries in paris ;)







$9.00 per set (normally $12.95). Markers fit up to a US size 10 needle. Hand Sculpted by me out of polymer clay. Prices include shipping. Quantities below are all that are available. Please email me at goodtobegirlATgmailDOTcom with your order request and I will send you a paypal invoice.

1. Set of 4 markers, 2 funny pumpkins & 2 candy corn SOLD OUT!
2. Set of 4 markers, 2 funny pumpkins & 2 witch hats SOLD OUT!
3. Set of 4 markers, all yellow chicks SOLD OUT!
4. Set of 3 markers, all pancakes with butter & syrup SOLD OUT!
5. Set of 4 markers, 2 dark green peapods & 2 light green peapods SOLD OUT!
6. Set of 4 markers, all bluebirds SOLD OUT!
7. Set of 3 markers, 1 bluebird, 1 nest with eggs & 1 large egg (large egg colors will vary) SOLD OUT!
8. Set of 4 markers, 2 full body snowmen & 2 snowmen heads SOLD OUT!
9. Set of 4 markers, all snowmen heads with pastel accents SOLD OUT!
10. Set of 4 markers, all full body snowmen with light blue and light green accents SOLD OUT!

just stuff

stephanie from half baked has a shop called spritely goods where i ordered this great yarn from. go check her out! i cast on for a pair of socks with it a couple days ago. I will decide today if I keep going or frog. I am in debate mode if the pattern is suitable for the yarn (it is a lace pattern). I think it looks a little busy. I was tempted to just go stockinette for this one and i probably should have stuck with my gut, but we'll see!

i also did a little shopping therapy yesterday. i picked up the cutest mug and plate at williams sonoma. for some reason it makes me think about my upcoming trip to paris (and london). i couldn't resist because it had the old fashioned hot chocolate pot on it! (see the mug) you all know how i feel about hot chocolate, yum! it is almost that time of year!