Knitting Preparedness Plan

Well as we all know we as Americans have been asked to enact an emergency preparedness plan with a garbage can full of food, water, duct tape, plastic sheeting, toys for the kids, and medication. Well what about knitting? At the army supply stores they have handy little take and run kits with water and food for 4 people for 3 days. I've even seen similar type things at Costco. They have compact ones for your car or larger ones for if you become trapped in you home. God forbid! But as any good American should be prepared I propose a knitting emergency kit be assembled. Nothing makes a stressful situation easier to handle than a ball of yarn and a pair of needles. And knitting needles if sharpened can make swift work of disposing of intruders who are desperately trying to get at your stash because they foolishly failed to prepare their own knitting emergency kit.

Now you may think to yourself I'll just grab my project bag before I head out to make a life in the wilderness after the ice age comes/ nuclear holocaust/ Yellowstone volcano erupts/ flesh eating zombies begin to wander the streats/ cyborg mutant monkeys attack/ or whatever but in the chaos will you really remember? As you foolishly grab your purse and diaper bag, a handful of socks that don't match and fresh clean underwear scrambling to find the photo albums or to tear the hard drive out of your PC in hopes you'll some day be able to get your pictures off of it will you really remember your knitting?

Over the next few days I will be devising and enacting a 12 step plan that any knitting or crocheting American can enact in order to always be prepared for a knitting emergency.

Now I want to be clear a knitting emergency DOES NOT need be a national emergency. A knitting emergency can include such things as waiting in line at the bank, being in a bank that is being robbed, waiting in line Tuesday morning for an amazing deal at Tuesday Morning, when your children are driving you crazy, sitting in traffic, waiting in line at the DMV (this one is very serious), you have family over and you need to go hide in a closet to maintain your already unstable sanity, or my biggest one when your children or husband or dog fall asleep in the car and out of fear of waking them you don't want to turn off the car so you sit in the car with the engine running in a parking lot somewhere so they can be nice and rested before you subject them to some marathon shopping.

I'm sure we've all come across some of our own knitting emergencies so just leave a comment and I'll add them to my next post.

So today I will assemble a few different types of emergency kits to suit a few different situations. But the basis of the kit will always be the same, knitting. :)

If you come up with your own ideas as to what should be included in an emergency kit please let me know.
As the boy scouts say "Always be prepared."

Yay Yummy Goodies from my Secret Pal!

So my secret pal was nice enough to send me the bestest stuff! Am I spoiled? Well I think so!This whole secret pal thing has been so much fun. I'm a noob so I had no expectations. It's been a blast! This is kind of photo heavy. The monsters are napping so I'm throwing the pics up and I'll elaborate later. However I must say that I absolutely love every last thing she sent! Click on the pictures and you'll see my descriptions on their flickr pages and you'll learn a little more about everything. I'll blog about the stuff again as I use them. ;)


Looks like a good book. I've wanted to read it for a while but haven't gotten to buying it so I'm looking forward to reading it.

there were 2 of these amazing candy bars packed with an ice pack in a thermal bubble wrap. I can't find these anywhere! She found them online! What a doll! How amazing! One of them was eaten in the car by me and my boys immediately the one pictured was eaten a few hours later after the monsters had gone to bed. I however forgot to let my husband try some. ;) so he was a little upset.

This is the bulk of the package some knit picks yarn in matching colorways. It's the wool of the Andes and the colors are so pretty, I'm thinking a hat and scarf combo?

My brand new abacus row counter bracelet from etsy's HideandSheep it's so pretty! And I've used it for 50 rows now and I love love love it! No big bulky thing dangling from my needle just an amazingly beautiful bracelet adorning my wrist. I would put a bigger picture but I need a manicure.

Get your knit on! Oh yeah!



And here is said row counter taking over for the old clumsy not so gorgeous boyd. I'm knitting a blanket for a friend of my sister who is having a little boy. More on that later!

Thank you Secret Pal! Can't wait to read your blog when your identity is revealed. But is it like when a superhero reveals their identity? Will your powers be weakened? No the power of yarn is strong like bull! :)

Ravelry Update!

• You signed up on August 7, 2007
• You are #23848 on the list.
• 9647 people are ahead of you in line.
• 9991 people are behind you in line.
• 41% of the list has been invited so far

On Ravelry's blog Unraveled today it was announced that they are now inviting 500 - 600 users a day so I'm only 19.29 - 16.08 days away from my invite. Yay!

Nice and Cozy in the Freezer!

Well in the summer here in Vegas the freezer is pretty cozy but that is not the point of this post. Remember that wonderful hand dyed food coloring yarn I made? The one that looked like a bad downtown casino had thrown up all over it? Well I broke out my tape measure and calculator and made something absolutly vital. The most useful and neccessary item I have ever knitted. A felted haggen Das cozy! That's right folks now my sticky toffee pudding is safe from the hot summer air and my hand is safe from being frost bitten! My husband thinks it's the most rediculous thing I have ever made but hey I thought it was a pretty slick idea. Wool is an insulator people works both ways!
The downside. After I do all this swatching measuring felting and careful note taking so I could post my pattern online I take a look at my needles and realize I was useing 2 different sized tips on my denise cable. Oh yeah by the way I taught myself magic loop to make this. A very interesting technique, not sure how much I like it though I'll have to try it again. This little faux pah makes it an impossibility to replicate properly unless you use a denise needle set and magic loop sooo..... I'm going to have to gather up my yarn tape measure and calculator again. I'd also like to felt it a little bit more for a tighter fabric result.
The disapointment. After all of this and my thinking I am the most cleaver person ever to think of something so neat as an ice cream container cozy I do a little googling and find out that there is a pattern in some book somewhere for something similar. The difference I think is that mine has a fully formed bottom AND it is felted. If you don't believe it's an original well then I'll send you a picture of the really strange decreases on the bottom. :)
Drum Roll.... tada!



Now don't think I'm some kind of lush because of all the liquor in my freezer. I just like my friends to have a variety. :)

Ravelry or the Jealous Knitter

OMG! Ravelry! If you haven't heard about this then well you just don't read many blogs, and if you don't read many blogs then you certainly are not reading this because my blog might as well be dead to the world. That or you are one of my curious friends or family who drop by to see if I've gotten even nuttier with this whole knitting thing.
This is the biggest thing to hit the virtual world of real world knitting. A collection of patterns a community of knitters, your own personal online knitters notebook! And so much more! I am fascinated. Every time I come across a blogger talking about their ravelry experience I become sweaty with anticipation and flooded with jealousy! Where did I miss out on this info? Who forgot to tell me about this? Why am I always the last to know? By gods! Here are my current Ravelry stats

• You signed up on August 7, 2007
• You are #23848 on the list.
• 11080 people are ahead of you in line.
• 8954 people are behind you in line.
• 38% of the list has been invited so far

Is it sick that I think to myself (Haha you poor suckers!) when I see that almost 9,000 people are behind me. It's like getting picked for kickball before the other reject kids. I'm not the most uncool knitter on the block.
But then I imagine how that very last person feels. How awful I am. I know what it's liked to be picked last, to be that underdog... Oh well they won't be the last in line for much longer. Every single day they get more sign ups. Just take a look at this video tour and you'll know why so many people are knocking on Ravelrys door begging to be let in.

Here are some screen shots I borrowed from Ravelry's screen shot page.