After the Storm

Over the weekend, Irene came blowing in. I never went thru a hurricane before. I hope to never again. Our damage was small compared to others. Lots of leaves and small limbs all over, a huge 20 footer blocking the driveway, and lines that bring power into the house got knocked over. We still have power, so it's ok.
New England got hit really bad, and my thoughts and prayers are with everyone there.
During the hurricane, I knit this. It's Elizabeth's Cowl from the new book, Wendy knits Lace. It's a great book, lots of great patterns, ranging from just starting to somewhat advanced.
Knit in Chunky Al on size 10 needles. I've had this yarn for ages in my stash, just waiting to be something. I thought a hat, but about an hour before the hurricane started, I grabbed the yarn and cast on for the cowl. I have to block it and get a better photo, but here it is.

Rav link here.
the colour is so lovely. This is a rather fast knit, seeing as how I knit it in one night while watching Sweet land (if you haven't seen it, go watch it NOW. I think it's streaming on netflix) and my two favorite Sense and sensibility movies.
I'd knit this again, i'd love to see how it would look in some handspun.

Keep calm and puffy on

I am sure, by now, you have seen this pattern, the beekeepers quilt. It seems like everyone and they uncle is making one. It's adorable, and kitchy, and SQUISHY!! I've made about 20 so far and here is what I'm doing.
I'm using circs, size 4, as called for.
Using the long tail cast-on, cast on one needle (so you would have two stitches). (ignore the crappy phone pics, I don't have a camera)

Now carefully slide the first stitch off and transfer it to the 2nd needle.

You now have one stitch on each needle! Now, onto the first needle ONLY, which is the needle you cast-on with, cast-on a stitch.

Now, repeat this with the second needle.

Contine to do this till you have the amount called for in the pattern. When knitting the first round, I like to knit the first few stitches with the tail and the yarn.
Now knit your hexipuff.
For the cast off, I do a reverse grafting, So, you want to go as if to knit on the front stitch, then as if to purl on the back stitch.
Now go as if it purl and slip it off, and as if to knit (not slipping) for the second. For the back, you knit and then slip, and then go as if to purl (again, not slipping) It's easy and gets a great edge.
When I'm done, I like to take my end and weave t thru the decreases to pull them together a bit more. I find this gets the edge clearer and I don't have the gaps, which annoy me.

This is the cast-on edge.

This is the cast off edge.

This is the finished hexipuff. Isn't it adorable? I hope this helps you! If you have any questions, you can pm me on rav or email me!

This is what a Feminist knits like

Have you read this? If not, go read it. I'll wait..... Done? good.
I started writing this on Facebook, but I want to post this here instead.
Because I knit my own clothes, spin yarn for those clothes, make all my own food from scratch, read whatever I want, go to school for "girly" things if I so choose, wear make up and pretty clothes, paint my nails, I'm not a feminist? I do these things because I want to do them. Because, NEWSFLASH, thats what feminism is.
You know what feminism isn't? Telling women how to live their lives. Like this so called "writer" is doing. We now have the CHOICE, as women, to do what we want with out lives. Demeaning what I do? Demeaning what thousands, millions of women do? Is a bad idea. I carry sharp pointy sticks. We all do. We will stab a bitch.
Let's talk about her little jab at Miss Jane Austen. you know why her books are so loved? Because they are wonderful. Simple as that. These books hark back to a slower time, without cell phones, without the constant babble of technology. Some weekends, I'll have a Jane austen movie fest and knit or spin. and BAKE. this does not make me less of a feminist. Also, Mr.Darcy.
The more I think about this article and read it, the more pissed off I get. This "writer" claims that Jezebel is a great feminist blog. Sometimes, yes. But other times? It's very anti-women. Yet she wrote that the Yarn harlot is anti-fem, when, if this women would have read any of her posts, she is not. The yarn harlot is a great example of a strong feminist.
This "writer" is wrong. All those comments (read the comments this one time, pure win) and every single one is against what she is saying.
I knit, I spin. I crochet. I sew. I quilt. I read. I bake. I can also shoot a gun, swear, fix things, tell dirty jokes, and do whatever the hell I want to do. Because I'm a feminist.

Obsession

I have things that have "need to be knit by dates", I have two houses to clean out (my grandfathers house was sold, so now I have less then a month to empty it), I have food to make (SCONES. and cookies. and soup. plus I really want some cake). I even have some things that must be spun soon. Yet all I can do is knit these little hexipuffs from The beekeepers quilt.I'm on my fourth and I just started.
I can't stop. I have a BSJ to finish and send out this week, along with a baby hat to make. I have to take this handspun

and turn it into a daybreak shawl for a Christmas Gift. I have 5 gifts to knit for Christmas, so I'm going to try and knit them all before November. As to avoid the still awake at 4 am on Christmas day trying to finish a fetching glove.
Yet all I can manage is to make more Hexipuffs. Send help.

CRAFT ALL THE THINGS!

Lately, I really want to do all the crafty things. I want to do some iron on tshirts and tote bags (to further my complete and total obsession with tote bags) with sayings on them. Some of there are
"Judge me all you want. We're all going to die. I intended to deserve it"
"The babe with the power"
"What would Bruce Campbell do?"
" And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it."( roald Dohl)
And so many others. And I want paint this table I got in a tea shop thats been waiting to go into my bedroom for ages now. I was having such a hard time deciding what colours to paint it and then i realized i could get paint to match my favorite nail polish colour!

I was thinking of doing a swirl on the top with another colour, maybe a greenish blue?
I want to make a huge crazy quilt and sew my own clothes and make my own curtains. Bath salts and soaps! I have a feeling this is just the start of it.