Party time (aka Summer Vacation aka Mental Health Holiday) is over and the school year is in full swing- we started back on August 5th which caused me to miss Sock Summit which I still haven’t gotten over.  I didn’t realize that it wasn’t going to be a yearly event so I am devestated! 

I have been loving the Vamp Club all summer long and just paid for the final shippment!! It is depressing! I am going to miss my lovely vamps  Maybe by that snowball’s chance in hell I can get in the 2010 club.  And of course since one club is ending I have to join 2 more!! I am in the I HEART THE 80’s 3 month club and also signed up for 3 of the Mrs. Babs monthly packages through Woolgirl- Audrey Hepburn, Billie Holiday, and Georgia O’Keefe.  I am trying to keep the rest of my funds open for custom orders and We’re All Mad Here/Alice in Wonderland yarns from Fresh From the Cauldron aka Squibstitcher.

I am working on an Ishbel- I have finished A and B and I am working on the 2nd A chart.  The yarn I am using is Vicktor from the Vamp Club- it is the most beautiful yarn I have ever seen (no, really!) the blues are just breathtaking! I will take pics later, but here is a preview of the yarn…

I got some Zombie BBQ yarn from the Loopy Ewe last week.  I love the colors.  

Well, that is it for today’s knitting update.  I hope to blog tons more in the coming weeks as the school year settles down.  Oh, and I almost forgot that I signed up for the Halloween Vamp swap on Ravelry and can’t wait to spoil my swap person- what do you call them?? your spoilee? spoiler? I know there is a technical term…

I have been MIA for a while completing the school year and resting, relaxing and stashing up for the summer.  I am planning to knit like a fiend this summer so I will hopefully have some FO’s to show very very soon.  I have started a Mrs. Darcy cardigan as my first summer project.  

I have just finished the back and it is blocking now.  I had a heck of a time figuring out the armhole decreases…. I understand that it really isn’t that complex of an idea to understand, but I like to do things well.  I think that I managed to “fix” it and end with correct number of stitches, but I need to make sure I figure out the correct way to mirror those changes in the sleeves.  The color I am using to make the sweater is beautiful in the skein and worked up, but not the best for a cardi- oh, well.  I like it anyway!! I am going to make another Darcy Cardi in a royal blue Heather yarn so I can make up for the tackiness then

I have added lots of lovely sock yarn to the stash- here is a brief sample of my favs

So I have been missing in action lately taking a tour through Destash Hell.  You know the place.  You decide to purge your stash of all the things that are sitting there taking up space so you post them on Rav and then spend the next few days lost in a haze of PM’s, priority mail labels, and trying to remember who bought what, when, if they paid, if it has shipped…

Sigh.  I think I am out now.  I only have a few more items let- some Yarn Pirate Shiver Me Timbers and Deep Cove and a few others… no one has “bit” in the last couple of hours so I think I am done.  and what is the first thing you do when your paypal starts filling up?? SPEND IT!! So I have been shopping like a mad fiend. .. to the point that I have a checklist so I can remember everything I bought and make sure I recieve it-

Yesterday, the first 3 of my purchases arrived.  Here is a BEAUTIFUL semisolid skein from Yarntini- she was offering them as a mystery skein called Last Call for only $16 with FREE SHIPPING!! I don’t think I have ever not liked Yarntini so I quickly jumped on that- she is doing bi-weekly updates now so it isn’t hard to snag something you really want.

In non-fiber purchases, I also got 2 pairs of FitFlops.  Have you guys heard of these?  A few of the teachers I work with wear them DAILY and swear by them- not for the workout but for how comfortable they are for standing all day.  I bought a pair from ebay and a pair from amazon and I am really excited to try them out.  They do come with a warning label about wearing them gradually to prevent excessive muscle soreness- YIKES- but the bit I have worn them around the house they are SUPER CRAZY soft and comfy.

I just realized how crappy my pics are today.  I have got to get a new camera.  Especially considering my new SUMMER PROJECT!! School gets out NEXT FRIDAY and I am going to spend my summer dyeing up sock yarn.  I have ordered Dyeing Visually and have everything in my Dharma Trading Company shopping cart ready to purchase.  I am super excited and can’t wait to show you what I come up with… I am full of ideas! 

Well, I will finish up my rambling post with my poor Katie Beret- I haven’t worked on it in over a week- but I have made it to the decrease section, so it should go fast now…

P.S. Did you see the Grey’s Anatomy finale?!?!?!? WTF!??!?!?!?! 

My best friend’s 11 year old daughter had her birthday bash this evening so I got to see the Hannah Montana movie with a group of middle school students- what fun!   No, it really was!  The movie was cute and I loved her outfits, especially the one below.

I HAVE got to have a cardigan in that royal blue- got to.  I think I might make the Anthropologie-Ispired Cardigan in that color- I just have to find the right yarn in the right color….

I have made progress with my Katie Beret, I am about 1 inch from starting the decreases and it will FLY then….  A mean bruise on the inside of my right hand that I am totally clueless to how I got it is slowing down my knitting but hopefully I will have an FO by the end of the month- yes, I know I am the SLOWEST KNITTER ever, but at least I am knitting something

Jen, aka Squibstitcher, has mentioned starting an I Love the 80s Sock Club- OMG! I would sooo be into that!! and I also read on the Rav Namaste Love group that they are discontinuing the Malibu and Newport bag styles…so everyone go buy one!! I love love love my Newport- I am carrying it as my main purse.  HipMountainMama has them in stock and on sale and last time I checked she was offering free shipping…

The Kindle DX- check it out here!

Reasons I am glad I don’t have one:

1) $100+ more than Kindle 2
2) It is freakin’ huge and won’t fit into my purse- you might as well have a laptop if you are carrying around something that large
3) Every knitting pattern that I have sent to my Kindle 2 has converted nicely
4) I am thankfully done with college and don’t need textbooks
5) The 1500 books that Kindle 2 holds is plenty!! It will take YEARS for me to read that many anyway and a new Kindle with color might be out by then!

So. Brief post this morning. But I don’t understand all the bitching about Kindle DX. I wouldn’t trade my Kindle 2 for anything!!!

SOOOO ecstatic to receive my Fresh From the Cauldron Vamp Sock Club 2009 shipment for May!! Thanks Jen for your LOVELY work and super fast shipment  Funny that both my first boys are werewolves instead of vamps…

Introducing…

Billy Black

Sam Uley  

Through My Eyes Cowl Pattern by Megan Dodson

Also in today’s mail my Namaste Newport!!

So, needless to say, today was a GREAT mail day.  I have to stop shopping though! I am so tempted by the wonderful deals I am finding online lately and was IN LOVE with some of Yarn Pirate’s recent updates (Sea Glass and Pink Ribbon) BUT, I was able to resist.  For now anyway. 

In other news, did you see these poor pitiful ladies on Britains Got Talent? Finger knitting is obviously not Simon’s thing!   Well, off to work on my Katie Beret and to stroke my lovelies!! 

I am so pissed at the USPS.  I was SURE I would get my Vamp Sock Club package on Saturday due to the fact that Jen lives about 3 hours away from me… I was wrong!  I think my mean mailman must have kidnapped the package or given it to a neighboor, or just held it to be mean.  Or even more likely got out of his little mail truck to put my other 2 packages (sz 4 and 5 40″ addis from The Loopy Ewe and a gorgeous Vera Bradley Beach Bag delivered from Ohio) on the doorstep and forgot my Vamp one and was too lazy to get back out and put it with the others… it has to be a conspiracy of some sort!

I now know how those poor Yarn Pirate Booty girls feel.  I live on the opposite coast from Georgia and almost always get my Booty the day after it is mailed.  But I guess I have to wait on my 3-hour-away Vamp Goodness an extra day (people in California got theirs yesterday!!).  I should just drive down there to Central FL and pick it up!! It makes NO sense to me at all how the Postal Service works.

Perhaps I should do like my grandparents and put gifts in the mailbox occasionally to bribe the little wench into making my packages a priority!

Okay.  Enough complaining.  Now to the good stuff!  

I am ADDICTED to the Namaste Love group on Ravelry.  Here is my first namaste- Zuma in Eggplant

I bought another Namaste yesterday (shush! don’t tell DH)- Newport in Turqouise.  I will take pics when it gets here.  I mean the trading a destash on that group is SUPER active- you could sell and trade for a new one every week- it is like Bag, Borrow, or Steal for Namaste bags…

I also took a break from my sock and started the Katie Beret byKristen Kapur.  I am using some Dashing Dachs yarn that I got from someone’s destash (I can’t figure out where to go to buy the stuff straigt up!) and I really like it.  

I have only done the border, but it is a nice change- I haven’t knit much of anything on needles bigger than a 2 in years…maybe that is the solution to my No FO disease.  I can spread some easier projects into my queue and only work on the sock when  I feel like a real challenge not for mindless knitting- everyone needs mindless knitting, right?

Oh, and here is a pic of that Beach Bag I got yesterday.  My cousin has the same one and she is using it as her diaper bag.  I couldn’t resist having one for myself and since I have no babies, I will fill it to the brim with beach-y goodness all summer long!! (Only 15 days of school REMAINING!!!)

Here is the link to the MILLIONS of errata pages for Sock Innovation by Cookie A.

I think they were so ready to get the AMAZING book out that they rushed it

So. I have realized that there are certain times of the day that I CAN’T pick up the needles to knit without some ghastly mistake happening. Namely, before 9 am and after 8pm. I think my brain goes to sleep or something long before my body does and wakes up long after. I am curious to know if everyone else’s quality of knitting is in direct relation to the time of day!

Anyway, the awesome Yarntini did a HUGE update today of SELF-STRIPING and you got to CHOOSE your colorway…but of course I missed it!! We are doing state testing and I was still busy with that and missed the all important email. She is supposed to be doing more frequent updates in her Etsy shop, so I hope I catch the next one.

And in Vampire Sock Club news, the first shippment is supposed to maybe go out on Friday. Since I am barely 4 hours from the AMAZING Squibstitcher, I am sure (crossing fingers) to get mine Saturday. She gave us a hint that Jacob is on his way and then it will be one of our other choices and a pattern. I am thinking I am getting Billy- appropriate considering the relationship of the characters and also the colors themselves. I am sooo excited to be in the CLUB!! But already jealous of those that will get in the next round when she is hoping to add House of Night colorways!!

And don’t forget that the new Sookie Stackhouse book comes out next week on Tuesday, May 5 (look for a post from me then with good knits for Sookie!) and following close behind is the First Season of True Blood on DVD! I haven’t seen a single episode- I don’t have HBO and my best friend who recorded them has four small children and a horny husband so we haven’t been able to watch them

Well, happy knitting and don’t forget to comment about your “best” knitting times. I have to go frog a few rows that I tried to knit after 8pm last night…

Okay. I am addicted to TV. So I have decided to find and post projects related to some of my favorite tv characters. I am going to try and do it once a week. To start with, one of my favorite characters on TV is

Gossip Girl’s Blair Waldorf

played by the lovely Leighton Meester.

I searched for knits that I could easily see Blair wearing (Yes! of course there are headbands!). I tried to find free or at least download-able patterns so you can get your “Blair” on without too much trouble! Once again, I assume you have a Ravelry membership- if not, GET ONE!

Ten Patterns for Blair Waldorf

1. Urban Outfitters Floral Earwarmer by Shalyn McFaul

This is the typical “big with a flower” headband Blair always wears.  This screen shot looks exactly like this pattern!

I can’t see myself in it, but it is awful cute! I especially like the white one in Shalyn’s Rav Projects.

2. Royal Knee Socks by Mary Ann Hammes

These lacy knee socks would go great with Blair’s Constance uniform… I LOVE THESE! I could totally see myself with a pair (add to queue) 

3. February Lady Sweater by Pamela Wynne

Okay.  This one is obvious.  Blair is constantly wearing cute little cardis and this one could totally be in her wardrobe.  I will have to make one of these- everyone else has!

4. Anthropologie-Inspired Capelet by Julia Allen

This is one of my favorite patterns of ALL TIME.  and I can see Blair in the exact one shown as the main image of the pattern page- white with the broach- totally Blair!

5. Ruth’s Cabled Clutch by Ruth Lee

This little clutch is totally similar to one of the first things I ever knit.  I don’t have pics and I think I sold it at a craft fair YEARS ago, but it is a cute easy pattern!  The wine red with black bow is perfect for Blair!

6. #3 Bow Clutch 

2nd row from top, 1st column

I think this screams BLAIR! A cute little clutch with her signature bow-

7. Pleated Skirt by Shirley MacNulty

As close to a prep school girl skirt as I could find, this pattern makes for an adorable little outfit.  

8. 13 Skirt with Flounce

The ruffle at the bottom and the glam look of this skirt makes it perfect for Blair.

9. 103-6 Dress from DROPS

I love DROPS patterns.  They always have really nice, professional looking patterns for FREE!  This cute dress with straps and cables is ADORABLE and very Blair-y.

10. New Pea Coat

I am obsessed with pea coats.  This one would be a fun knit- bulky yarn would make it go rather quickly.  Whenever she is without her cardis, Blair is always in some type of adorable pea coat.

So, there you have it.  Ten awesome Blair Waldorf knits.  I know my explanations kinda suck, but when you see a pattern you immediatly think of who it would be good for.  All of these should be included in the Gossip Girl wardrobe closet immediatly!