The Giving Flower

spoil verb- indulge one’s desires by sending gorgeous yarn and amazing fabric, not to mention cute, fun critters that make the kids smile.

What did I do to deserve this goodness?? Margaret and I have been in contact for about a year now and she’s been so sweet and fun to chat with. She told me she was heading over to Purl and wanted to know if I needed anything.  Although I told her I didn’t need anything, she promptly, and much to my very pleasant surprise, sent me this package full of wonderful things. Check out this tower of Amy Butler fat quarters!!

17 Amy Butler fat quarters-oh the ideas!!! Is my inner geek hanging too far out? How about this adorable Hello Kitty from New York that Alida immediately took to bed with her, isn’t she so cool?

Thanks so much, Margaret, you’ve made some people over here very happy!!! Look, I’ve already started knitting with my new green cotton and silk Debbie Bliss goodness:

This is Cece and I really love how she’s turning out. This picture was taken after knitting 3 repeats of the pattern only to find out that it’s much too big. Although my washed gauge swatch turned out to be right on, I measured the back and it was a total of 4 inches too big. In the meantime I’ve started her again, this time a size 38″ in the hopes of her fitting better. The second time’s a charm, right?

Thank you all for your wonderful comments on my Must Have Cardigan! This week has really killed me with work and kids which means not getting around to answering emails like I should. I’ve also wanted to write about 3 posts but haven’t been able to sit at the computer long enough to do it. I’m a morning person which means trying to work on things once the kids are in bed at 8 pm is really tough. My brain, or shall I say what’s left of it, is so dried up at that point that I’m lucky to get in a few rows of any kind of knitting. Last night I fell asleep right before the end of one of my favorite shows. Oh well. Good thing Germany’s Next Top Model was recorded so I can watch that later. Oh gosh, is my inner geek showing again?

Anyway, let’s get back to why I’m here. I’ve been knitting something new but I’ll show and tell all about that later, first I want to show you my newest, but rather old, pattern I just finished. I showed you my newest design a while ago but never really finished it. I think her time has now come. What do you think of my newest pattern for a knitting bag?
click for big

Blogging world, meet the Knitty Hipster. She’s roomy enough for larger project such as a sweater but also great for housing sock yarn and needles. There is even a long, thin pocket on the front to keep the extra double point needle while knitting sock heels. I’ve also put a pocket with two buttons on it to keep the ball, or balls, of yarn from ‘jumping’ out of their pocket while knitting. NO Velcro was used here; learning from experience yarn and Velcro just don’t mix.
A ribbon tied to my scissors makes it easier to find them in the large, roomy front pocket. The second ribbon could be used for other things that could get lost in the depths of the left pocket. There is also a small opening to the left of the zipper, so when it’s your turn at the bank you can throw your knitting back in the bag quickly and you don’t have to worry about your yarn getting stuck in the zipper. Here are the materials needed to make this bag;

I’ve made 3 of these bags and I’ve been using them ever since. She snaps around your waist and your hands are free to do everything else. Of course, you could also put in a long strap and use it across your body or over your shoulder.

I finished this pattern over a year ago but never published her. I had Linda, an amazing sewer and pattern designer herself, not to mention one of my first and favorite blogger ‘friends’, sew a test bag for me. She did a fabulous job, and with amazing attention to detail, she corrected my 16-page directions. Thank you so much, Linda!!!

Last week I opened my own etsy shop, I need to finance my fiber diet somehow, and thought it would be a good idea to finally finish correcting the bag pattern and get it out there.

Well, I’ve gone through it one more time and I think she’s almost ready for the public but I still need another test sewer before I put her up for sale? If you would like to try it out, please send me a comment on this post and I promise to get back to you.

I’m off to meet Fab to run the Avon 10k Frauenlauf again this year and this time both kids are going to run the bambini run. See you at the finish line.

That’s what my jogmap told me today after plugging in my 12 kilometer run from this morning. Next week is the 10k Avon Frauenlauf and I think I’ll be able to carry these 2 extra kilos across the finish line but I’m not sure how fast I’ll be. At least I’ll have my knitting podcasts to keep me company. Is that my inner geek showing again??

I have lots to show and tell but so many other real-life things have been keeping me away from my computer and my blog. For now I want to show you my new favorite sweater, my must have house cardigan that I finished just a few hours ago:

I love her!! I’m talking love at first sight (thanks for the inspiration, Pat!!) and I have a feeling this love is here to stay.

My original intentions were to knit her slowly so that I could knit all during the building of our house, but it was so fun to knit that I just couldn’t stop, and although I finished a pair of socks in between, I still managed to finish her before they have even started moving the first bit of dirt. Yep, you heard that right, we’re still waiting for our building permit so we can start digging. I figure I’m going to have to knit more of these to see how many I can manage before we move in. I’m just debating what color to knit the next one, black or white. What do you think?

pattern: Paton’s Must Have Cardigan
size: large
yarn: 100% superwash merino
started: March 1, 2008
finished: May 11, 2008
notes: I lengthened the body by 2 inches and shortened the sleeves by 1 inch. Although the sweater fits well, the sleeves are a bit tight so my next sweater will be wider at the cuff.

Look at these perfect house sweater buttons I found: (click for bigger)

Isn’t she just so purty?? I think we’re a pretty good match and it will be a great relationship.

Holy haberdashery, Batman! Seven years have just flown by and I have no idea how it happened.

Today we are planning a boat birthday party for a few of our friends.
Here are my little people decorating our boat pinata:

More pictures from our party after the fun.

Happy Birthday, my cutie!