CrissyPo: a crafting blog

I know I have posted in the past about how I was thinking about switching blogs but couldn't decide between Blogger and TypePad and all the other ones out there. They all have their pros and cons. Luckily a friend of mine has room on his server and is letting me use it, so he set up Moveable Type and I've been attempting to decipher it.

My knowledge of basic HTML is helping a bit, but I'm going to be tweaking it for a while. At least I won't have to manually add in code to enable comments and generate an RSS feed for every entry, so it should be a change for the better. So please update your Bloglines or favorites so you can find me :)

My 2007 resolutions:

1. Eat 2 servings of home-made yogurt and 2 servings of fruit a day. (This shouldn't be that hard for me having grown up eating fruit after every meal instead of dessert. It's kind of surprising, considering that Portugal has a ridiculous amount of pastry shops and dessert recipes, but they're usually eaten as snacks or on special occasions.) Also, I picked up some great tasting honey while I was in Lisbon last year and I mix that with the yogurt, so it's a nice sweet treat.

2. Knit from my stash and buy no new yarn. If you've seen any of my stash pix, you know that I definitely do not need any more yarn. So along with Nancy, I'm joining the Knit from Your Stash and hopefully we can support each other in the face of yarn temptation. I think I may make an exception for a small amount of yarn for a project that I will knit right away.

3. Do more reading about spirituality. We were going to the local Friends meeting in San Diego last year, but I'd like something more interactive. I picked up a copy of Spirituality & Health last night at Henry's which looks interesting, so I'll start there. I'd also like to tie yoga into this since I've always enjoyed doing it.

4. Blog more (on the blog, not just in my head ;). I'm ambivalent about this one because I wonder if we really need one more thing to read on the internet?

5. Leave work by 6 p.m. Don't think I'm burning the midnight oil here...most of the time I'm surfing the net and reading blogs. At the very least, I have to be in the car by the time The Writer's Almanac comes on (7 p.m.).

I got the new Lion Brand catalog in the mail last night. I was hoping that they were going to havea bunch of new patterns, since their last catalog had some cute stuff in it, but there were only a few new patterns. I of course need to figure out a way to crochet that bunny. It looks like they now make an Organic Cotton which might be nice, and the patterns aren't bad (if you like garter stitch). It looks like Cotton Ease is back too. I never used, but heard good things.

I haven't seen the Organic Cotton in stores yet, but have been to Joann's a couple times last week and was able to use the 50% off coupons to get the new Knit Simple (for one hat and scarf pattern) and Greetings from the Knit Cafe. (I'm going to need these patterns to use up the stash I have to go through this year ;) I like the hoodie in the book made out of Classic Elite Lush, this lavender cardigan, and this cute baby wrap.

Berroco has info up on their site on their Spring 2007 yarns and pattern booklets. I like that they send out a free pattern pretty much every Friday in their KnitBits newsletter, even if it's something I'm not interested in knitting.

Oh, and if you don't get the Knitter's Review newsletter, check out the scoop from the TNNA show here in San Diego, that none of us managed to sneak into. Or did they.....Hilari? I like those Della Q cases to hold circulars and some of those yarns look like they'd be fun to knit with.

Check out the Ready Made blog has a pattern for wrist warmers that you can customize.

Meanwhile, I went to my LYS yesterday and even though I really liked a colorway of Berroco Keltic that I could have made something quick with, I resisted the urge.

Spent some time browsing the internet bookstores over the weekend and found some cool looking books that will be out soon.

I love the look of the shawl/scarf on the cover of Nicky Epstein's upcoming book Knitting Never Felt Better. The Baby Knit Kit looks cute.

Also, you can see some of the inside pages on these upcoming books at the KnitPicks site: Lace Style (so far I like the cover project the best) and No Sheep for You by Amy Singer.

Meanwhile, after spending most of the day Saturday in front of the TV, I'm done with the back of A Cardigan for Arwen.



The row of purl in the stockinette stitch denotes where the hem will be folded under.

I'm almost done with my secret baby project which is a good thing, cause she's here!

You can see it at the Knitting Garden:

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Don't see any "must knit" items, but I like Joy. The cover cardi is cute too, but it looks almost exactly like one I just bought. What do y'all think?

They also have two other new magazine previews up:
The Kasbah Collection and The Bamboo Tape Collection Mitsu looks cool and comfy.

Also, the Knitting Garden has this new Sublime yarn line that has nice patterns. Of course, I'm still on a yarn diet and haven't bought yarn since before Christmas. Not that I haven't been tempted...

Has anyone ever used this Queensland Cotolino? Elann will have it on sale next week and it looks like it would be nice for baby items. (At this point, I want you to tell me you hate it so that I'm not tempted ;)

I have come to the conclusion that all you have to do to get it to rain in San Diego is to put your laundry to dry outside. But, we need the rain. Especially since I'm a slacker when it comes to watering my little lettuces growing in my raised beds. Amazingly I have this winter rape and collard greens that I planted about a year and a half ago that's going great, and keeps the bunnies happy.

I finished the back of A Cardigan for Arwen and started one of the fronts. I modified the sleeve length (armed with info I learned in the Sweater Design class at The Grove that I just took)

And finally, a finished object I finished around New Year with some great yarn I picked up at the Bonita Yarn Store before the holidays.

Yarn: Alpaca With A Twist Landscapes (Shimmering Sands)
Pattern: Ribbed Hat (modified for my gauge)
Book: Yarn Girl's Guide to Simple Knits
Needles: US 8
Notes: Don't be lazy like me and do the ribbing in the same size as the rest of the hat. I'm sure it would look a bit better if I'd been able to find some smaller needles ;)

Okay, this is a pretty boring post considering I haven't updated the blog since Easter, but I just came across two really good book sales that I wanted the few remaining readers that I may have to know about:

One is the Interweave Hurt Book Sale which has books up to 50% off. I ordered a couple of dyeing and spinning books from it last year and they were actually in great shape.

The other is sale is at Knitpicks where all of their books are 40% off right now. I'm thinking about ordering The Opinionated Knitter which is a book that Amazon barely has a discount on.

Hope you find some good deals!

Really...I've been knitting. I have actually been knitting a few things including this market bag which is a stash buster. Of course the problem with stash busters is that you use up your yarn but it may run out before you want it to. So my bag is two different colors, but I'm going to actually make the handles out of ribbon like the pattern calls for although this had not been my plan. This was a great t.v. knit which is most of the knitting I do.

The pattern, by the way, is the Everlasting Bagstopper from the latest Knitty and I'm using some Lily Sugar 'n' Cream which was leftover from the Mason-Dixon Ballband Dishcloth I made last year.

Thanks Wendy, Hilari, Heidi, Sophie and new knitting friend Michelle for a fun day at the beach! (Oh, and the significant others too).