Knitters, it’s been a long time. Last night the audacious claim that we have been knitting since 2004 was argued! BUT WAIT! I have proof – more definitive than a mortgage statement: Knit Night completely addicted me to America’s Next Top Model. I didn’t watch it before I met you and this is a shot from the first season we all watched together:

Cycle 5 baby. So yeah a long time, but not that long. (This season premiered on May 24, 2005 – and hey, Shad fest is in May!)

Bonus points for anyone who remembers the name of the model featured above.
Anyway on to knit night:

Not too much knitting going on with all the eating. Butternut squash soup with mixed greens & hearts of palm salad, garlic bread, and wine.

And of course chocolate chip pumpkin cupcakes. I wish I had one right now. Oh. My. God. My photograph does not do it justice! Damn why didn’t I take 2 when I had the chance?!

Sabre is rocking on the garter stitch baby blanket – I think she’s actually picking up a dropped stitch here so maybe not rocking as much as carefully jamming (the stitch on the needle).

Miel is good sometimes, but more often the yarn is too tempting and he gets banished.

Happy knitting!

The booties made it to their giftee!

Aw. I think the next pair will be knit on a size larger needle, these just fit this little guy ; ). Sorry I don’t have a close up.

ladies, I know how some of you feel about knitting rugs.

check this out!

http://www.craftzine.com/blog/archive/2007/09/cableknit_rug.html

For more info http://www.theseflocks.com/

This must take some serious muscle to move – they used the wool of 18 sheep to make this!!

Yes those are my toes.  I was going to crop them out, but decided they didn’t look too gross and it will give you a sense of proportion as well as how this thing is coming along.  (The chiptune boat ride was awesome btw and totally gave me a power up, which helped a lot.)

Cassandra was kind enough to post a pic of Mario’s hideous backside.  Please know that I plan to make this double-sided, with a question mark block on the back.  Maybe with a mushroom coming out, if I’m feeling adventurous.  I also plan to block it until it’s more of a rectangle shape.  Only thirty-two days left!  Stay tuned.

One of the best thing about knitting is the camaraderie. I mean who will sit through all the details of your wip if not your knitting friends?

Lauren hides behind her numerous ends. Soon she’s totally going to make like an 8 bit hero and special move those bits into submission.

Sabre is branching out with some (paper?) weaving – in this pic she’s prepping her material. Unfortunatly I didn’t get a shot of the final product… On a side note, I have never heard this girl curse so much. Guess knitting isn’t the only frustrating craft!

Kate is holiday knitting?!? This is the start of a fetching ribbed scarf – I think the yarn was donated stash.

Jenny is all tangled up. Again. So far the majority of time spent on this shawl is  the de-tangling. The shawl is looking really lovely so HANG IN THERE JENNY!! And do you have pics?

Finally there is Fizzgig, who decided she might like to play with yarn if you gave her some and wiggled it around a bit. Ok, this shot is totally staged, but Miel isn’t here to provide dramatic Cat vs Yarn action.

if so she ain’t using it:

In addition to the holiday knits there’s some ‘oops I got pregnant’ knitting going on (not me, I’m not pregnant, but friends. oh so many knocked up friends). These friends didn’t get pregnant by knitting though either.

Baby knits are fast, and if I could just figure out this embroidery thing the cat would be done and some little girl would have a warm noggin and Halloween costume all in one!! For the record this year I am going as Lakitu from Nintendo’s Super Mario Bros.

Maybe more on that later since it’s not knitting but is crafty!

Couple Notes: This Cat Hat pattern is the simple rolled hat in DK weight from “Itty-Bitty Hats” The ears are based on Hello Yarn’s Top Down Bonnet With Anime Character we’ll see what ends up on the face. Maybe it will be a faceless cat. Would that be freaky?

Drop stitch is super easy and just a little like living on the knitterly edge. I’m really late to this whole game, but I get why it is addictive. This will be the “Drop Stitch Wrap”

The yarn is 2 skeins of ‘Pure & Simple’ by “Tilli Tomas”
100% silk. mmm. It’s pretty sweet. 1st color is Dusty Purple, 2nd color is Gloxinia I think.

The pattern is 4-5 rows of garter stitch then a row of drop stitch then garter etc.

I think I will have to race the wrap against the socks and see who wins. The socks are at a disadvantage after 40 rows of frogging on Sunday due to an unfortunate booze cruise incident.

Oh well.

103 days to be exact. Unfortunately it’s on a Tuesday, that means we’ll be with family the weekend before so my secret knitting will need to end by Dec. 21? Hmm. 14 weekends…

this is the plan:

1 pair Jaywalkers (pattern Grumperina’s)

1 silk dropstitch wrap (pattern TBD)

1 Cloche (from “The Elegant Knitter”)

1 lap blanket (pattern Hemlock Ring mod by b r o o k l y n t w e e d)

1 lace scarf (pattern TBD)

what else?

There are last year’s knits that didn’t make it off the needles in time:

Charlotte’s Web Shawl in Rainbow Mohair

Feather and Fan scarf in Silver Threaded Mohair

Maybe I’ll even get some WIP shots up before long!

UPDATE: 6.375″ of the first Jaywalker

I may be turning a heal tonight – can’t wait!

The baby bootees are done!

Super cute, fast and easy pattern from “Last Minute Knitted Gifts” by Joelle Hoverson. They were finished on time, but my friend forgot to take them to the baby shower. So I think I will have to make some more cute stuff and ship it to the baby mama herself. Maybe the Umbilical Cord Hat from”Stitch-n-Bitch” Dunno.

Next up: Christmas Knitting! It’s never too early to start hyperventilating!

The long-awaited, many-times-frogged pipe component of the mario scarf is now complete.  CHECK IT.

It is being knit with a combo of intarsia and stranding.  Sometimes I get confused as 
when to do which method, so I pretty much always cross the colors whenever it’s time to change.

I’m not going to take a photo of the other side yet because it is really scary back there.  I used five colors of yarn in what amounted to about 8 separate bobbins. I found that the clothespins help a lot because not only do they keep things from unwinding and getting totally out of control, but they have a tiny heft to them that anchors the strands in place a little nicer than the freeform yarn balls.

The finished product will hopefully look something like this.  The top will just be plain navy until it gets long enough to function as an actual functional outerwear accessory.  I’m aiming to have it finished on or around the birthday on October 24.  But I might even be done in time for the CHIPTUNE BOAT RIDE who knows.  It might be chilly?  But then again I might have to knit a solid blue reverse for it because like I said the strings are kind of a knitemare– ha-ha!