Buttons are a Bitch

Buttons are a Bitch!

I used to think that completing a project was the hardest part. Boy was I wrong. It's the shopping for the buttons that really takes the wind out of your sails. I have spent months looking for the perfect buttons for Juliet. I thought I finally found the perfect buttons and purchased them. The problem was they are too small and get lost on the field of garter stitch. I finally caved in and purchased some perfect sized dark teal buttons the other day. I don't love them but I don't hate them. In the first picture it looks like they are the same color of Juliet but they are darker in person. I might use them as a base button and sew a smaller button of a different color into the center. Either way they are getting sewn on and I am sticking a fork in it.

Copy Cat

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

So if it looks like you have seen this exact jacket somewhere else. It's because you have. My friend Stacey of Sheep in the City made the exact and I do mean exact same jacket. Right down to the buttons. I wish I could say that the idea was all mine but sadly it was not. She chose the yarn color first. She knit it up and then taught the class on it. Then bought the cutest elephant buttons to complete the project and called it done. I fell in love with the yarn and had to copy her. I crashed her class because I just had to knit this cute jacket. Then after going to five different locations (I swear and I can name them if you really want me to) looking for the perfect buttons for this jacket I settled on the same exact elephant buttons that she picked. I tried to be different really I did. I had a vision in my mind for the buttons I wanted. Gorgeous glass flower shaped buttons. I got desperate towards the end and figured anything that even looked good would be acceptable. Everything looked terrible. Everything except the elephant buttons. I have not sewn them on yet. I am still hoping to find the perfect buttons that I want. If I don't.......helloooooo Mr. Elephant.

Baby Fever

I have baby fever and I got it baaaaaaad!

It could be the nicer weather rolling in (except for today) or just the fact that I am ready to be an Aunt. My sister has received several e-mails within the last week or two letting her know that anytime she is ready......she should get to it.


Here are the baby items that have been knit so far:

Baby Surprise Jacket

Yarn - Dream in Color Classy

Color - Petal Shower

Baby Beanie

Yarn - Tilli Thomas Flurries

Color - Hope

Hmmmmm can you tell what sex I am hoping for?

C'mon girl power!

Youth Gone Wild

I had a nice post all lined up today complete with pictures. However that all went out the window when I looked out my back door to see three young girls pulling their pants down and waving to the passing cars and trucks. I thought about saying something but instead stood with my mouth hanging open. I was going to call the police and let them come and put the fear of God into them. While I stood there weighing my options I saw one girl pulled her pants down again, bend over and touch her toes and wave to the Fed Ex truck that went by. I lost it. I lost my mind. I got in my car and drove around to where they were only to see them running down the hill. Not a problem. I circled back to catch them in the court at the end of my street. Gotcha!! Come to find out they are 12 years old. I am sick to my stomach. After a 20 minute lecture from me and several tears and apologies from them I decided to walk away. That was until one of them who was the wise ass of the group decided to piss me off. She said she was taking my license plate number down so she could report me not only to her parents but to the police for harassing them. I told her I had some paper and a pen in my car and I would be glad to write down my info for her to give to the parents and the police. When I turned to get said paper and pen the tears began to flow once again. I then stood and lectured for another 10 minutes on the art of keeping our mouths shut when an adult is talking to us. God am I really THAT person. An adult? YUK. When did that happen? When did kids become so damn rude!? Long story made short I told wise ass she could call me every name in the book when I drove away until then keep your mouth shut and listen to what I am telling you. I told them next time it is not going to be a concerned female that pulls up in a car. It is going to be a person that sees three girls with their pants down and thinks it is their lucky day. The wise ass basically shut up at this point. They were told that if I saw them around here again with their pants off I was calling the police. Who in turn would be more than happy to give them a ride home and chat with their parents.

I have a headache now and must go lay down.

The Dirty Pirate Finito

The Dirty Pirate? He is done. I finished knitting sock number 2 last week. I'm really sad that the knitting on them has come to an end. I am very attached to Mr. Pirate. How can I not be!? He was my first pair of socks.

They are a gift for someone. I can't say who for because it is a surprise and they read my blog. You haven't seen the last of The Dirty Pirate. Trust me.......

Dragonfly Socks

My how the time does fly. I think I am still recuperating from all my activities last week. I had no idea it had been so long since I last posted. Shame on me! As always I have been knitting......

Remember this?

That is the skein of yarn my friend Stephanie hand dyed for me and then included in my mystery theme swap package. I posted about it here.

Since finishing The Dirty Pirate socks I decided I needed to see if I could go beyond the basic sock and knit a pair with a pattern. Well I can and it rocks! The socks don't show it (I promise to take a better picture) but they have a dragonfly pattern knit into the top and along the foot. The pattern is free and you can see a better picture of it here.

Year of the sock? Indeed.

Nefarious Yarn Club

"A census taker once tried to test me.

I ate his liver with some
fava beans and a nice chianti."

-Hannibal Lecter

My first package arrived from the Nefarious Yarn Club and I could not be more excited about it! The honor of the first round goes to Dr. Hannibal Lecter who can only be described as brilliant, cunning and psychotic. The Silence of the Lambs is one of my favorite movies. I don't remember what year the movie came out (1990 or 1991?) but I do remember seeing it in the movie theater. It was like nothing I had ever seen. I loved it!

The Nefarious Yarn Club is a tongue in cheek group. Each round a nefarious character is picked and then yarn is dyed to match that character. The characters can range from Cruella De Vil to Hannibal. So please keep your sense of humor intact. Don't send me hate mail.

Now go check out the pictures of my awesome goodies!!

The color of this month was inspired by the leather of Dr. Lecter's protective face mask. Did you see my little stitch marker attached to the yarn!? YAY!!!

The Nefarious Yarn Club is through Dharmafey's Cosmic Fibers on etsy. She also does an amazing Dexter colorway. Love that!

Dexter Swap Package

My Dexter swap package arrived from

my new best friend Megan.

All I can say is......OH MY GOD!!!!!!

This was one of the best swaps I have ever gotten.

Let's have a look shall we?

If you don't watch the show, the pictures are not going to make any sense to you. If you do watch the show, you are currently drooling over my goodies!! The package was quite heavy. So heavy that I wondered if my dear friend Megan included a few real body parts in there. LOL! When I opened the box the first thing that greeted me was the Barbie doll head and the saran wrap and I thought.....Oh yeah this is going to be good. The next layer revealed the rest of our friend Barbie complete with rainbow painted finger nails. LOVE THAT!!!! I got a much needed notebook with pen. I usually have something like that very close to my knitting bag for notes and whatever else needs to be jotted down. The final layer revealed a mysterious wooden box. I stared at the box wondering what could possibly be in there. I lifted the lid and squealed with delight. My new best friend Megan gave me everything I would need to hand dye my own yarn. LOVE LOVE LOVE that! I took a class on dying at a local yarn shop last summer. What did we use? Wilton Icing Colors. What did Megan send me? Wilton Icing Colors. Hooray!!! She included notes here and there through out the package. On one side it would relate to the show and then when you opened it you would get a hint on how to dye the yarn and take care of it. I also got a wonderful little baggie with chocolates, some much needed hand lotion from one of my favorites....Burt's, and some kick ass hot sauce called Arizona Gunslinger. Yummy!!

OK must go play with my new package!

THANK YOU MEGAN......

YOU ROCK!!!!!

Saturday

Saturday Morning

On Friday Sam reminded me that A Knitted Peace in Littleton
was having a Habu Trunk Show.

Did someone say Habu!? I LOVE ME SOME HABU!!!

So we raced our butts on down to the shop first thing in the morning. We got to meet and talk with the owner of Habu Miss Takako Ueki. She flew in from New York to show off her fabulous garments and then teach a class on reading Japanese patterns.

Sam was a good sport about letting me boss her around.
I made.....errrr....asked her nicely to try all the garments
on and model them. I can't help it if she looks so damn cute in everything!!

I ordered the kit for this cute button sweater. I left with a kit to make a Kusha Kusha Scarf and another sweater that is oh so fabulous with cotton and steel. I will have to find a picture online for that one. Oh yes and I ordered the hand dyed mohair for a different Kusha Kusha Scarf. To sum up my Habu shopping experience lets just say......$$$$$$ and leave it at that.

Shopping for yarn takes a lot out of a girl. So we headed around the corner to Tres Jolie for a nice cold Lavender Soda. Mmmmmmmm. I eyed up the cupcakes and the menu but managed to control myself and stuck with just the soda.

Friday

Friday Evening

On this special evening The Dirty Pirate escorted 250+ of his closest (not really) knitting friends to The Tattered Cover in Highlands Ranch to hear the goddess of all goddesses address her loyal subjects! The Yarn Harlot was there promoting her new book, "Things I Learned from Knitting......whether I wanted to or not". I am glad some friends talked me into going otherwise I would have been quite sad. I laughed so hard my face hurt. She is a riot!

If you have never read her blog click on the button below.

The new book!

Sam was working on her EZ Baby Sweater while waiting in line.

Here is a picture of my friend Jen. She doesn't think she is a fast knitter but look at the movement of her hands! HELLO SPEEDY!!!!

A true knitter is always prepared. I had five projects in that bag. Along with some snacks and two drinks. Just in case of emergency.

Stacey was smart enough to bring her own chair with her. Love that!

Me, The Dirty Pirate, and Terrie smile while waiting in line.

Just a few knitters hanging out on a Friday night.

The Yarn Harlot!

She signed my book and I got to hold the sock she was working on. I said I was going to totally play it cool when I got to meet her.......yeah I gushed like a school girl.

Thursday

Thursday Evening

"C'mon Dover, move your bloomin' arse!"

*The Dirty Pirate escorted me and some friends downtown to see My Fair Lady. It is currently Tuesday and I still have songs stuck in my head. I would say that is a good sign. The show was awesome! There was no knitting for me once the lights turned off. I was working on The Dirty Pirate - sock number two and had no desire to drop stitches. In fact I was in the middle of a row when the theatre went dark. I had a moment of panic and told The Dirty Pirate that if he even though about slipping a stitch off the needles I would toss him and sock number one in the garbage. Needless to say no stitches were lost and no socks were harmed or tossed into nearby garbage. Whew!

Here I am riding the Light Rail, listening to yet another tale of the high seas as told by The Dirty Pirate.

By the look on my face I would say Mr Pirate just got to the naughty part of the story. Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum.

Pretty knitters all in a row.

This was just before the theatre went dark.

*I have no idea why I have given a pair of socks a human form but I have and I can, so roll with it! I am assuming because they are the first pair I have knit....they are like my first born. So humor me people.