More on my Vintage Finds

Last year when I found some awesome vintage knitting books at a yarn store in Atlanta I never got to posting about them in detail and always really wanted to because I thought they were just so cool. I wanted to share some of what I found in these books. I think I'll do it over a couple of posts so it's not beyond ridiculous with all the pictures. Remember the Good Housekeeping Complete book of Needlecraft I found? Well it had some pretty cool information in it; some techniques that maybe all the knitters but me already knew but became so clearly explained to me in this book. Along with some gems of knowledge came some pretty classic patterns. standard baby wrap sweater (kimono) and top down sweater in the round.

but look at this neat reversible baby jacket and argyle booties

I don't know if I'm catching the baby bug or what but I thought what cute and practical little baby items that never look stupid. I would totally knit these for my own baby. I also liked these child mittens and another babyset


I don't know about actually doing the boy/girl design on top but I like the style of the mittens. There were several other items in the book as well for the whole family. Here are some of my other favorites. It was like flipping through a completely practical list of things you have (essentials) to knit before you move on to knitting what you want to knit.

Still thinking about New Mexico

Hanging in the airport waiting for my flight to Italy, debating whether it's really a good idea to pay $8 for 24 hours of internet that I might only be able to use for two hours….is that cheap? That's probably cheap, huh? I wouldn't mind using my Netflix and watching Heroes on instant download (another reason why I love Netflix- you can watch movies instantly). When I was in New Mexico I was staying up into the deep hours of the night/morning watching Heroes; feeding my addiction. Everyone there was just raving about the show and I had seen the previews and wanted to get into it but never had. After the first show I was hooked and now I just have the 2^nd season of what they've shown already to catch up on (for Hero fans you can watch season 2 episodes on Netflix every Wednesday after they air.)

I had to stay up late at night to watch them because during the day we were hiking Aguirre Springs ,

and eating at Si Senore,

or snow fighting in Santa Fe during the day. See ya in Italy.

Most Def to knit in '08 #7

Tomorrow I fly into Atlanta. I have a ton of errands to run and deadlines to meet in order for my trip to Italy to happen, one including picking up my passport from on post. There is so much I want to knit!
I went to one of the yarn stores in Las Cruces called Unravel. Very nice little store. I picked up a couple of items there. Almost every time I go to a new that has a store it seems I end up getting some Noro Kureyon. I can't help myself. I really love that yarn. I love it so much I've decided that I can no longer resist knitting the Lizard Ridge Blanket. Heres 3 more skeins to add to the stash.

In addition to all the scarves I'll be knitting I'm adding Lizard Ridge to my must knit in '08 list. How beautiful.

Look what I found

I found this awesome book at a gimoungous used bookstore in Las Cruces. The store is called Coas Books Inc. They have a website. I got a few cool/vintage knitting and crocheting books but this is the only one I brought with me to look through on my way to Santa Fe. My goal is to knit or crochet at least one thing out of this thing. There is some awesome info between these 550 pages even if it was published back in 1959! The book is by Good Housekeeping and it's pretty much an encyclopedia with patterns about all needlecrafts to include sewing, crocheting, and knitting, and cross stitching and tatting and...you get the picture.
By the way I've got this phone blogging down now, my camera phone leaves some things to be desired though.I guess it's good in a pinch. Maybe I can give you a few peaks at Matty's stuff and other randomness before Feb....
PS- I found out that I do not have to enter a token every time I want to blog from my phone- I'm so glad b/c that would have been stupid.

Matty's new scarf

Matty camera pics 006
Originally uploaded by neeneepet

I'm currently in Santa Fe.We just got here today, on our way we stopped in Albuquerque to ride the tram- since the weather was so misty it ended up being a no go. We'll have to try and check it out on the way back on Tuesday. Nevertheless, what a blast this place is! I wish I had brought my USB cord so I could upload some of the crazy pics that I've taken since I've been in New Mexico! Check out the place that I'm staying. I've got my own little casita complete with a cute/awesome kitchen and wood burning adobo style fireplace. It's freaking amazing. Gives you that rustic New Mexican feel- which I love. Just from being in Las Cruces alone, I definitely could live here- I think this to myself every time I visit actually. Who knows where my little path could take me. I know on Saturday it will be taking me to Venice, Italy. I'm pretty excited about that.
Anyway, I mentioned the other day that it was all scarves all the time over here and it is the truth. Here is the yarn I'm using to knit Matty's scarf. It's Cascade 220. Great yarn actually- quick to knit with. As soon as I'm back home I will show you the finished product of this (which probably won't be for another 3-4 weeks). Before Matty left I had him pick the yarn from this amazing store in Macon called Creative Yarns. It's also were I got the yarn for my ruffly harlot scarf. Then I flipped through my copy of the Vogue Knitting handbook and had him pick a pattern he liked...maybe not a good look. I've knit most of the scarf and it is curling like CRAZY. I'm hoping that it will block out; we shall see. I think I'll throw up in my mouth a little bit if I have to put a border all around that thing.

New Year= new list of movies.

Hopefully I can keep up with it at a good pace this year. Here are a couple of movies I’ve watched thus far.

TODAY'S FEATURE

1. Vertigo- Back in November my Fiberflix group was doing the whole Alfred Hitchcock thing and there were a few movies that I didn’t get to watch and this was one of them and the best so far I would say. I had never seen hardly any Hitchcock movies before (blush), maybe the Birds but not many. I really liked it and recommend it with all it’s crazy suspense. This weeks recommendation. Also check out the trailer here. I thought it was amusing and it struck me funny how detailed and long it was.
2. The Lookout- I had gotten some previous info that this movie was horrible from several family members but I watched it anyway and didn’t think it was that bad. Of course it was not the best movie that I’d ever seen. I will admit I was expecting something different but what I got wasn’t bad.
3. A Fish Called Wanda- I’ve actually seen this movie quite a few times. I think it is hilarious each time. Jamie Lee Curtis is priceless in this movie. Also I just couldn't get over how young she looked.

maybe i'm about to show how silly I am

So, the last two messages came from my phone because I'm determined to be a better blogger in '08 and because I got this pimpin' new phone that is freaking awesome for Christmas. It's called the Pantech Duo BTW. Anyhoo, it has dawned on me (unless someone can tell me I'm doing it wrong and then I'll be relieved) that every single instance that I want to blog from my phone I will have to send the post to go.blogger.com. From there blogger will send me a token that I can enter and select whether i want it to go to the separate blog it created or merge it to my current blog and I will have to go through this process each time I post from my phone. If someone knows of a better more logical way please do inform the ignorant. I've just spent a couple of hours trying different methods other than the single token form to post to my blog. The separate tokens were the only things that worked like a charm.

Blog from my phone

I'm trying to set this up from my phone.

Multimedia message

I want to blog from my phone!

All scarves all the time

moving-food-scarves-stankface-etc 004
Originally uploaded by neeneepet

I'm blogging from my flickr again and yes this is another scarf. I believe I got the pattern off of an old Crazy Aunt Pearl blog entry or something. Nevertheless, this scarf knit up so easy it was ridiculous. It might have taken two days and I wasn't knitting my whole days away either.
It's made out of the Online Linie yarn that's at the top of my page. I think I used size 13 needles. Again like the other scarf I made it super long and used 3 balls of the yarn.
Unfortunately, there seems to be more scarfs in this blogs' future this year because I spotted one in the new Knitscene called the 1.)phiaro ( I already have 1 ball of the required yarn in my stash so I just need to buy two more) scarf that I really like and even though it's like clapotis, it's not clapotis so I still want to make my clapotis that I messed up so badly earlier last year so that means 2.) clapotis is on the list. Then of course I am currently knitting a 3.) scarf for my honeybunches out of Cascade 220 using some stitch pattern he chose out of my Vogue Knitters Handbook. Add onto that the two scarves I mentioned earlier and I've got at least five and of course that 6.)mobius cowl scarf thingie I've been wanting to knit for sometime and I've got 6 definite scarfs to knit. I will keep you posted. Matty's scarf should be done pretty soon and then I can mail it to him. He says it's freezing in Italy. BTW, I believe that he will be there for a few weeks before heading to Afghanistan. It's a high probability that I will be visiting Italy for a couple of weeks after I leave New Mexico. I can't wait. Sumter, South Carolina will have to see me when I get back. Did I mention that I'm not living in GA anymore? I moved back to Northern VA! Exciting times.

Matty camera pics 007

Matty camera pics 007
Originally uploaded by neeneepet

i can only allow myself to make a few more scarfs for a while. I feel like all I ever knit is scarfs. Although, when I think about it, it's what people ask me for the most. I have about a hundred of these that I need to make. I finished it a couple of months ago and wore it when we went to Macon to see some of Matty's family. His Aunt and his cousin were hinting pretty hard that they wouldn't mind having their very own ruffly scarf. It only took a couple of days, an hour here and there. I thought I would add them to the Christmas knitting but um, no ma'am.
Sorry for the weird picture. My hubby took it. At the time I was not amused.
I used 3 balls (2 and 3/4) of Online Linie something, obviously I'm going to have to find the little paper because I can't find the number online. (I'm in New Mexico away from most of my stash right now folks!)
Anyway, I used my size 8 Rosewood Lantern Moon needles my sister gave to me a few years ago. I twisted the yarn as I went so I could make one side completely dark green and the other completely light green.
My tension was weird in some places in the scarf and you can tell if you really look at it. I also managed to drop a stitch for like 10 rows- somehow. It really builds the scarfs character. Anyway, at least I will do a perfect job the next time I knit it. I was thinking I could make one in brown for cousin and a red one for Auntie. No telling when that will get done....

Can't keep going on this way.

Ok seriously, I have done so much and been so many places and so much has changed it's stupid. Right now as I type I'm in New Mexico visiting family. It's bittersweet. I'm having a blast but I had to say goodbye and see Matty off to Italy (eventually Afghanistan). It was truly remarkably hard. Harder than I ever anticipated.
This past year was a really really rough year for me. I gained almost all the weight I lost back and I know a lot of it was because I was so out of place in life this past year. Once I'm back from gallivanting I'm back to being a fit chick. I feel like an alien right now. It's ridiculous. Furthermore , I feel like I've gotta crap or get off the pot with this blog. Half the stuff I knit doesn't make it up here and the other half i never finish. Also, there is so much interesting or fun or whatever type of stuff in my life that should make it up here and doesn't. So here's my solution- i continue to only have 3 or 4 crummy type post in a whole month then the site comes down. I'm giving myself about 4 months to sharpen up. You would think life would be easier for me now...I got a laptop for Christmas! Let's see if I can do work.