Thoughts from my cat, Minnow….

“Hmm… need a place to take my seventh nap of the day…

Not here…

Not here…

Hmmmm…  No, not there….

DEFINITELY  not there…

(Brown thing in knitted catbed not a poop but a catnip-filled toy made to look like a cigar…)

Ah yes–wet dark wool that will highlight every light hair of mine? Purrrfect!”

(Please note that I have left her eyes demon-liike on purpose.)

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Cue music!

Yes, I finished the Apricot Plum jacket in all of it’s glory! I had a friend try it on and it looked banging on her too. Very boob friendly.

But wait there is more! I went for the silver and while Apricot jacket was drying from its blocking trauma, I knocked out the a girly pink baby sweater for my friend’s shower tomorrow evening. I used Knit Picks Elegance in rose and it’s quite nice to knit with. I just made the pattern up–a basic raglan with a little frill on the end. And the best part about it is that it matches these lovely vegan cowgirl boots in size 5. I’d say that registered a 7.5 or the cute Richter scale. I’ll post a picture of that tomorrow.

But that is not enough! I also finished this pair of baby devil pants that I finally sewed up yesterday too. These are for Baby Doe’s little bundle of joy–Dashiel.

So what a way to end my wee medical leave and head back to work tomorrow. Let’s hope work won’t get in the way of my quality blogging time. 

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Don’t get me wrong–I adore Miss Dottie Knits! Afterall my nickname is Dottie and I knit. But does it get to the essense of my completely crafty cheeze-whiz dipped soul? I don’t think so.

So, my sweetie gave me a belated Valentine’s day present and bought me the following site name:

Goodcrafternoon.com.

“Good Crafternoon” is a very silly name that I call my projects when they sometimes go a bit too crafty–too zany–too glue-gun-rific. I always wanted to do a comedy sketch featuring some lady who effused her delight over puff-painted sweater and peanut butter covered pinecones.

But part of me delights in crafting gone wild–bedazzled jean jackets, potholders a plenty–they all bring a smile to my face.

So, I’m going to embrace my inner craftiness and continue to write about it at www.goodcrafternoon.com starting this weekend.

Let me know your thoughts on the name.

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Well, the Domiknitrix came over and we had a blocking party!

Here are some pictures of D. blocking a piece that will be featured in her upcoming book. What is amazing about the coat is that although it is all done in garter stitch, it is curvy and sexy and just so wearable. She has this way of reinventing pattern design through innovatative stitch combinations to create thoughtfully sophisticated and hip knit pieces.

Check out her site at www.domiknitrix.com.

She inspired me to block my Olympic Apricot. Here it is in all of it’s plummy beauty. To get the pieces to fit perfectly, I laid them on top of one another. Please note that the apricot holes are even matching.

But look at that arm! Holy crap–what the hell happened? The way it is right now will make me look like I have an arm goiter. Excuse me while I go re-block the sleeves. Does anyone have any tips on how to block something properly? Obviously I’m a total dolt at it.

After I block it I hope it will dry out by end of day. I fear I might have to take a blowdryer to it to help it along, because I need to stitch it up Friday to make my Olympic deadline. Oof!

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These blasted sleeves are done and I’m off to block the heck out of all three pieces today. I think I completely mangled the tops of the sleeves so it will take a true Christmas miracle to get these demon things to fit.

In a rather crabby mood. Just can’t seem to get anything done except eat possibly everything that is not nailed down in the house, It’s a complete carb overload. Tomorrow I’m going to WW if it kills me. I will not waddle down the aisle come Nov. 18th. I will embrace 6:00AM kickboxing classes and weight training. I will love salads with light dressing and Lean Cuisines. I will write the great American food journal. But today, I can’t eat enough crap. And really don’t care.

No pictures today, but I promise glorious ones tomorrow. For tomorrow I have a visitor–the lovely Domiknitrix (www.domiknitrix.com) and will post pics tomorrow.

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I got my Interweave Knits Magazine in the mail–I always get mine at least a week after everyone else does. Why is that?

Anyway, I didn’t find a single thing I wanted to knit, which is absolutely OK by me, since I have enough projects to last me through the year.

Oh, and if anyone is reading this out there, please check out Chez Plum’s site (http://www.chezplum.com) One of the few things I AM planning to knit is her Isabeau shrug. Fell in love with it the moment it was first posted. Slyvie did me the HUGE honor of adding me to her blog list. Hoorah! Don’t you love the name of her site? Plums are my favorite fruit and I’ve been wanting a tatoo of a plum for a good four years. Also http://www.figandplum.com site is dreamy too. What is it about plums?

Blocking update later today.

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When will these stupid sleeves EVER be done? I watched three episodes of Rollergirls with knitting in hand. The only thing I had after this TVtime was one inch of knitting done, a sore elbow and a desire to go out and buy some roller skates.

I think roller derby would be a fitting way to start my work-out regime when I’m off this medical leave, but there is something a touch daunting about a sport that offers you a chance to simultaneously lose pounds and teeth at the same time.

But imagine how cool it would be to have Miss Conduct on your side? She is five feet a fury coming at you!

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OK, this will be super quick because I need to get back to knitting, since I’m determined to finish the sleeves today on this apricot jacket. And then I’ll just have to block and stitch it up! Whoo hoo!

I always knit my sleeves at the same time on one circular needle to ensure that I’m making increases at the same time on both sleeves. But man, they do seem to drag on when you do it that way, but when you are finished–you are FINISHED!

I would have pictures to show, but while flying back from Miami to SF, my suitcase went missing with the back and two front pieces of the sweater in it. I’m hoping to see it later today.

BTW, I finished Yarn Harlot’s book and it was wonderful. If you haven’t bought it already (but I’m sure you have because everyone else in the knitting world has finished it) go buy it now.

OK, off to knit.

And once I’m finished with this I can knock out that pink baby sweater for my friend, which needs to be finished by next Sunday. Yoinks! Wish me luck!

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Well, since I’m rocking the Knitting Olympics, I decided to read Yarn Harlot’s book–which was given to my by one of my dearest friends, Rosymare. And I just finished the chapter about yarn stash. I know every knitter out there has a stash problem right? Thank you Yarn Harlot for making me feel like mine wasn’t soo awful!

I used to have an extreme stash problem to the point where I had a bookcase full of yarn. But I foisted a large grocery bag of chenille and mismatched acrylic yarns onto a friend who had a passing interest in knitting. But in less than two months I still had a crap load of yarn. How does this happen?

But since my surgery I have been on this amazing organization kick, which has led to a major re-haul of my stash. So here are pictures of it:

Please note the oh-so-shabby-chic placement of the big green pitcher “carelessly” filled with knitting needles and some vintage bakelite knitting goodies given to me by my sweetie.

And yes, I bagged bundles of matching yarns for uber-organization. And even tried to organize it by color, but only got halfway. As you can see, I have truly do have a crap-load of yarn. It seems I’m attracted to red and green yarns with little shots of plum and brown and gray mixed in. And a wee bit of blue to special blue-loving friends.

It’s very interesting to look through one’s yarn stash and remember all of the projects assigned to certain yarns. Such as thing lovely chunky tweedy blue and gray yarn from Rowan that I bought for Rosymare to knit her a sweater, but realized I didn’t have enough yarn. I’m now saving it to knit her baby a sweater when she gets pregnant. Or some leftover angora mix that I will one day be transformed into that heart scarf from Knitty. Dear sweet Yarn, I promise, I will knit every last inch of you.

Oh and an update on my Apricot sweater I’m knitting for the Olympics. Well, I am very near finishing the two side panels and hope to cast on tomorrow for the sleeves. I have definitely slowed down–so naughty! But hope to pick up a few hours of airplane knitting on the sleeves. My hope is to finish it early next week. Wish me luck!

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It’s official—the knitting Olympics has begun and I’m off to a running start.

Since I arrived in Florida Friday, I have made my swatch and already finished the BACK of the Apricot sweater. I even surprised myself with that. But alas, I’m feeling a bit under the weather, so we’ll see if I can keep the pace up. I left that eevile Mary Jane bed jacket at home in SF. Bah!

And since I’ll be in Florida, I will be taking pictures, but not posting them until I get back to the Bay area late next week, so you can see my progress on the Apricot jacket.

Now if I could only figure out how to get that little button thing on my site. As you can see, I’m not good at this compooter stuff, but with the help of my sweetie, I hope I can make it better soon.

And as soon as I finish the apricot sweater, I’m off to knock out an extremely lacy baby sweater.

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