I caught the bug

Last night after Hubby went to bed (I wasn't tired yet) I was surfing the internet in search of cool cardigan patterns (a BIG thank you to ShadKitty who sent me some AWESOME ones). While I was searching I came across this:


Now as far as a scarf goes, I'm not sure it's immensely practical. It seems it would be a bit bulky under a coat, etc. That and I found the pattern difficult to understand. But I was inspired. I want to make this...but different. Same color, similar idea, but something totally different. I spent a while trying to ignore my intense longing to start knitting lots of garter stitch and after an hour or so I gave in. I found some yarn, did some swatching and knit to old episodes of Grey's Anatomy while garter stitching my little heart out. Then this morning as I was waiting for my brain to boot so I could do things that make money, I sat and knit this. This is where I'm at:

You can tell from the dictionary and other clutter on my desk that I was supposed to be doing something else while I was taking this picture (but that's besides the point). But I have this odd compelling NEED to knit this thing. I don't know why. I don't even like garter stitch. I feel in general garter stitch should be used only for dishcloths, cupcake tops and afghan squares but I'm making something I'm (gasp!) going to wear.....assuming it turns out okay.

But I've got to go. I need to go do some more money-making stuff before Husband comes home and I knit while watching Grey's. Hooray!

Pirate Cupcakes

Tell me this is not the coolest thing ever:


You can find it as a T-shirt on etsy by going here.

A Rant...

I am starting to get really frustrated. I like to think of myself and young and somewhat hip. When I started knitting I decided that I didn't want to be one of those knitters who knits something just because she can (and then end up with something ugly that one should never be caught wearing in public). I decided I would only knit things that I would have purchased should I have seen them for sale in store.

Things like this:



And the piece that I REALLY really REALLY want is this:


I love this cardigan. I saw it in a store the other day with my sister and decided I must have one. The only problem is I can't seem to find a pattern for anything even similar. Instead, hours of searching for cardigan patterns has turned up things that look more like this:



I have one word for you: blech. Now, these cardigans might be fitting for their designers or women with different lifestyles than myself but they are not for me and they don't look anything like this:
or anything like any of the other pictures posted above. Where have the young, hip knitting designers gone? Are they hiding somewhere? Are they secretly knitting cute things and hoarding the patterns? Why can't I find patterns for the kinds of things I want to knit?

I suppose I could go buy the sweater I'm jonsing for. Afterall, it would save me a lot of time and would probably cost about as much as the raw yarn needed to knit it. But it's the principle of the thing. Knitters aren't supposed to (gasp!) buy machine-knit sweaters. Then the same thing happens as happened the last time I broke down and bought something I couldn't find a pattern for.....everyone asks "Wow, I love that. Did you knit it?" And then I sheepishly look at the ground and admit I bought it (and then kick myself as they walk away). No more, I say! NO MORE!

So for all of you who know that knitting is sexy and who know where to find all the cute patterns....will someone fill me in already? Please????

Carissa's Culinary Cure for a Bad Day

I know what you're thinking...


But this is not a cure for my bad day. Plus I'm still on Atkins so no cupcakes for me presently. We're talking the best darn Spinach and Artichoke dip ever kind of cure for a bad day. Killed the "I'm hungry" and the "Husband had a bad day at work" birds with one stone.

The recipe can be found on BakeSpace by clicking here.

Hooray!

Knitty is here!

I must say that some of these patterns are rather, well, unique. One which I find very interesting is the scarf/hand warmers which are connected. It's one of those things that make you go "hmm." I think the model looks a bit like a friend of mine from grad school.



This Tunic is beautiful:
I really like the colors, too. I've got so much other stuff in the que that I'm not sure I'll actually knit it....but I do admire it.


These are also way too cute:
It's another thing I'm not sure I'll ever get around to knitting, but darn it, they're cute.



And for my final piece of Knitty news.....I've sent my pattern off for consideration this morning. I mentioned in the post about IKEA that I spent some of my time there working on it. This is a sneak peak from one of the photos I sent in with my pattern:

It's my french vanilla coconut cupcakes with creamy almond frosting. They served as a prop during our photo shoot. Sadly, I don't think I can share anymore details about what I made because Knitty rules strictly do not allow items which had previously debuted on a blog or flickr, etc. Hopefully come December I'll be able to share my pattern with you (especially hopefully because it will be on Knitty.com).

Happy knitting, all!

Here, Knitty, Knitty, Knitty, Knitty....

Knitty... where are you??? It's September now. Time to come out to play.

Amy Singer does a great job w/ Knitty and really tries hard to get it out close to the beginning of each launch month (September is the launch month for Fall). Sadly, as of 10:22am, PST on Sep 12th, there is no Knitty. :-( Even though I subscribe to the list where they e-mail everyone when new Knitty launches, I keep obsessively checking the website to see if it's up yet (you know, just in case my e-mail broke and I didn't get the critical message).

Knitty, please come back soon....

Knitcakes

I still need to get my camera hooked up so I can show you non-cell phone pictures of what I've been doing. In the meantime, however, I thought I'd share these photos from a group I started and moderate on flickr called "Knitcakes" which is a beautiful blend of knitting (and some crochet) and cupcakes.

www.flickr.com More photos in KnitCakes

MIA?

Is it just me or is the Yarn Harlot MIA? Did she move her blog? Fall off the face of the earth? Why suddenly can't I see her blog anymore???

Puppy!

Meet the newest addition to our family: Jack! He's and eight month old half poodle, half chihuahua (which I like to pronounce chi-hua-hua instead of chi-wow-wa). He's super friendly, loves to play and is basicly the best little doggy ever.

In honor of all of our furry little companions, I've developed a "peanut butter pupcakes" recipe, which you can find here (on BakeSpace). I've made them a few times for both my dad's dogs and also for a party they had recently where there were lots of doggy guests and they have been a hit. Enjoy!