The Debbie Bliss event exceeded all my expectations; it was SO MUCH FUN! I had heard that she was very shy so I wasnt expecting her to be as easy to talk to, but by the end of the day I felt like we were old pals. She also gave glowing praise to my opera glove and was impressed that the pattern had come out of my head rather than a book. Perhaps she was just being nice, but I was flattered just the same.

All of us at the Ewe are such a bunch of groupies. We cant stop talking about her and how inspired we were by hearing her talk about her experiences. I had been limiting my pattern design to things that are small and easy, but thanks to her encouragement, I will tackle a sweater! It probably will be something I submit around for publication, rather than give it away for free on here, but if I succeed this will be a real coup for me. Im already making swatches and have almost settled on a lace/cable pattern.

Rumor has it that she had fun here as well, and may even be willing to come back to Texas in the future... stay tuned!

Other news:
-I spun a few yarns this month and they are now available in the store. (One of them was supposed to be a thank-you gift for Debbie, but in the bustle of Friday morning, I forgot to bring it with me. It's one of my favorites that I've ever made.)

-The felted Potter Puppet Pals are very close to being done. I just realized I forgot to give them all arms, but after that, into the washer they go!

-I got a request for the beaded necklace pattern, that can also now be found in the freebie section.

The bad weather thwarted my plans to go to work today, so I decided to use my extra day off to do something useful, such as give you nice people an update! (I must admit that even though I hate icy roads, I love weather that finally allows me to wear all the warm thingies I've been knitting all year.)

My dad got me all 3 Stitchionary's for my birthday, and I've barely pulled my nose out of them since they arrived. I have tons of new ideas... which could be considered a bad thing since I have yet to finish so many of my old ideas.

Recently completed -or- soon to be completed projects:
Louisa Harding knock-off hat, made with Adrienne Vittadini's Donatella in dark brown and Plymouth's Gabrielle for the stripes & tassles, modeled by Gonzo


Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, crochet chains with beads along the way. Which, by the way, looks NOTHING like the sketches I made. Hopefully I will have a few more necklaces made before she gets to town... ones that look less like I am a stoner or surfer.


Hello, my name is Cousin It and I am modeling Natasha's Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino cloche (pattern found on Craftster)


Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran and Astrakan opera gloves. The original plan was to make these "Yule Ball" gloves, so I chose Gryffindor colors, which I now regret because the yellow cuff really detracts from the elegant look I had envisioned. I may cut it off and have the cuff be black, and then lace up the slit on the other side (not shown) with a yellow ribbon.



Free patterns added today:
The Carmen neckwarmer made in Prestige cashmere for the knitsters:


Broomstick lace wristlets for the crochetsters:


If you are unfamiliar with the brookstick lace technique, I have also added a full tutorial here.


p.s. Weasley cell cozy: The maroon is SHADE #34, everyone!

Well, we're 3 days into 2007 and I am sick already. (Apparently my lazy immune system did not make a new year's resolution to do its job better this year.) I didn't even feel like knitting, which must be serious! I have such a long list that I maxed out my phone's to-do list item capacity, and I still couldn't find anything I wanted to work on.

I probably caught it at the sale on Saturday, which was totally worth it, for all the awesome yarn I got. I spent under $200 and got a TON of cool stuff. I went home that day and immediately made myself a pair of wristlets using the "broomstick lace" technique and one skein of yarn. I'm glad I got them done before I started feeling bad, I would hate to see such a cute and easy project fall into the UFO pile. They're very soft, and I officially endorse Mountain Colors Cashmere.

My Nyquil is kicking in, so I will post pictures of the wristlets later.

When I opened the new Vogue Knitting today and saw the blurb for the upcoming exhibit at the Museum of Arts & Design in New York, the problem of where my husband and I will be taking our next vacation was solved. "So, Adam, remember how we were thinking about where we'd like to travel to next? How would you feel about New York? This may or may not be knitting-related..."

Just look at some of these awe inspiring bits of needlework! From the very tiny:


To the gargantuan:


Seeing this show will be well worth the price of a ticket to New York. Click here to read more.

Let's see, what else... I have been SO bogged down lately with projects. I have finally finished the stuffed animal I promised for my mother-in-law, and the scarf pattern that will be my initiation into the world of Stitch 'N' Bitch pattern authors (Yay!), I am almost done with 2 of the 3 scarves promised to my step-mother-in-law and I am hoping to finalize my Debbie Bliss Pure Silk necklace designs before she comes to the store on January 19th. Best case scenario: I invent an impressive enough design that she will jot my name on her short list of people to call if she should ever decide to pull a Willy Wonka-style handing down of her empire.

My brain works much faster than my hands, and the result is that for every knitting project I do, I have 5 more on a list of to-do's. This results in a very large stash that I feel guilty about every time I walk by. I will never get to them all, and it makes me sad. I feel like a bad mother with too many children. "There was an young knitter who lived in a shoe, she had so much yarn she didn't know what to do."

Even though I still have some unused balls of yarn from last year's BIG SALE (30% off all yarn at the 'Ewe on Saturday, phone orders accepted), I am going to treat myself to a few balls of Mountain Colors 100% Cashmere.

Another quick note-- some spammers have suddenly taken interest in my site for some reason. The mailing list and comments are disabled temporarily until I get home from my Thanksgiving holiday and figure out how to outsmart them. In the mean time, you can still sign up by emailing me directly and I will add you manually.

This is just a quick Thanksgiving holiday update. Here are some items of note:


If you can believe it, I actually started and finished a project without interruption, rather than getting halfway done and putting it at the end of my mile long list of unfinished items. I made these gloves in a single weekend (from my own pattern, possibly available for sale once I get it tweaked a little more) from Rowan Classic Cashsoft Aran (fabulous fabulous fabulous) and Gedifra Fashion-Trend-something-or-other for the fur. (What a pain in my rear! The yarn is gorgeous but impossible to work with on small needles. I will probably use a different fur for the official pattern.)


I had a dream that I made myself a yellow afghan to match the couch, and when I woke up, it still seemed like a good idea, so here's the beginning of it. It will be rectangular, not round, when I'm done, it just looks like this because it's scrunched up on my needles. My Thanksgiving holiday with the in-laws might just be enough time for me to finish it.


New free pattern available for the Calvin Scarf.


The 2006 batch of Knit Knotes stocking stuffer notepads are now available.

- For those of you who live in the DFW area, don't forget to buy your tickets to see DEBBIE BLISS in person at the Woolie Ewe. This is the only shop in Texas she will be appearing at, and one of only two stores in the entire USA. Friday, January 19, 2007, 10am-1pm or 3pm-6pm, $175. Tickets include a lesson/conversation with Debbie, book signing and photo opportunities, gift bag containing over $100 in Debbie Bliss yarn, and a 25% off coupon good towards any Debbie Bliss yarn & book purchase.

So my friend Misty put a bug in my ear the other day about getting into the Guinness Book of World Records for knitting the world's longest scarf and I CAN'T STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. After some online research, I found out that the longest knitted scarf EVER is something like 33 miles. My heart sank! I could never do that. But upon further investigation, I found out that it was knitted by hundreds of people and then sewn together. FILTHY CHEATERS! Fortunately, there is a separate category for longest scarf knitted by an individual: the record is a measley 3523 feet! That's only 2/3 of a mile, I could knit that in my sleep!

Ok, perhaps not in my sleep. But let's do some calculations here: I am 27, Let's say I wanted to finish this thing by the time I turn 35, that gives me 7.5 years, or about 2800 days. I would only need to knit 1.25 feet per day. Now THAT, I could do in my sleep. I am seriously thinking about trying this. If I wanted to make it into a 10 year project, I could even take weekends off.

There is the unfortunate possibility that it would all be for nothing if the guy who currently holds the record kept knitting. I wouldn't be able to catch up unless I kept going until he died... (Note to self: find out how old that guy is.) I read that he stopped knitting it in 2000, but what's to stop him from picking it back up again if he hears through the knitting grapevine that I'm trying to rob him of his glory? Adam says I'm nuts (and of course, he's 100% right)...but I waaaaant to! Those who know me would roll their eyes and say that this is such an appropriately ludicrous thing for me to do.

Should I do it? Would you all donate your end-of-ball scraps to me? Would the judge grant Adam a divorce due to my certifiable insanity and if so, would I lose half my scarf in the settlement?