For The Love Of ... Jewelry

Or jewellry, as we say in Canada. Now there are many things I can resist. Healthy food. Crying babies. Most acrylic yarns. But I have a serious problem with handmade jewelry. Which is why I should never have found out about Etsy. Because dudes, Etsy rocks my bobby sox when it comes to jewelry. For example ...

From squidglass' shop comes the Cranky Beaver pendant. Now for those of you who are thinking ... "Aha, so THAT'S how April's love life is going.", please, get your minds out of the gutter. Do we not all know that the beaver is the national animal of Canada? And that occasionally I am cranky because I am here and not there? Ergo, a glass pendant of a very annoyed rodent. Perverts.

Next, jewelry from Canada! Was that a seque or what? This is from CreationsByUli. A most lovely and talented woman. I *love* the work she does, especially her chainmaille bracelets. They make me feel all Medieval and chit. This bracelet is actually not blue (thank you, crummy camera) but a deep, deep purple. All I need is a trusty steed and I'll be ready to ride off into battle.

Finally, my latest Etsy purchase. Don't even ask me how much I adore this pendant because words fail me. This is from Surly Amy's shop, Surly-Ramics. It's not actually orange (thank you again, crummy camera) but a deep crimson. It's ceramic and I want to marry it. Talk about proclaiming your love of knitting, this pendant is a good inch and a half in length and sturdy. I could quite easily and happily buy everything in Amy's store. Seriously, if you're into jewelry that's just a bit off the wall, this is where you want to go. Who wouldn't want a pendant in the shape of a coffin? I mean, c'mon now.

Monet On Acid

Once again it is time to sing the praises of Koigu.

Koigu, Koigu,

Yarn o' fun,

Koigu, Koigu,

O' colorful one.

As we all know, when one is writing verses of love it's important to throw a lot of O's in. Anyway, moving along. Here we have the Monet On Acid sock with Wilma's feet for scale. Aren't her little paws adorable? This is loosely based on the Crusoe pattern from Knitty. A number of people have commented in their blogs that the original cast on of 48 stitches is just a wee bit tight. So 56 stitches it is. Although the pattern calls for Koigu, I think I might have been better off with one that didn't have 6,382,299 colors in it. It's kind of hard to see the stranding when it's this wildly colored. Next time I'll tone it down a bit.

Another Stitches West purchase, the obligatory Ravelry tote bag. I had a lovely chat with Jess who is so incredibly charming and humble that you can't help but hope that Ravelry is a HUGE success for her and Casey and Bob.

Not a Stitches West purchase but an Etsy purchase. I saw these over on Aija's blog and had to own one myself. This is a needle felted stitch marker holder (say that five times fast) from Cary's lovely Etsy shop. Speaking of which, I seem to have a spare one of these. Want it? Well then leave me a comment and I will fire up the magical random number generator Friday morning. I'll probably throw something else in along with this delightful little knitting aid because it's been like 80 million years since I gave something away. At least.

Ten On Tuesday

Thank God people think up these Meme's to give me something to post about. And occasionally think about as well. Although I try not to do too much of that.

So, without further ado and because I know you people are simply FASCINATED by MeMeMe, I present to you ...

10 Movies That I Wanted To Watch, But Haven't

1. Shrek 3


2. The Da Vinci Code (actually that's a lie, I haven't wanted to watch it because I hate jumping on bandwagons)


3. Terms Of Endearment (I know it'll make me cry, I just know it)


4. Casablanca


5. Ratatouille


6. How Green Was My Valley


7. Babel


8. Atonement


9. Kind Hearts And Coronets


10. Blade Runner

Yes, I think we've hit just about every genre there except for Westerns. One for each of my multiple personalities. Tomorrow ... the "Monet On Acid" sock. Exciting!

ETA: Fear my elite HTML skills where I have managed to actually insert a list into a list ...

When You Turn 48 ...

... and realize you are firmly on the highway to 50, there are a number of things you can do to make the trauma less.

The first thing you should do is throw yourself a birthday party. Preferably at a yarn store. Where you should have TWO cakes (German Chocolate and White Chocolate Raspberry) and lots of champagne.

At the party you should allow yourself to be dressed up as "The Birthday Girl", complete with tiara, sash, magic wand and clunky earrings. It also helps to announce to whoever walks in the store, "IT'S MY BIRTHDAY!".

Posting a picture of yourself on the Innernets looking like a total dork may or may not help the trauma but at least it proves you still have a sense of humor.

After you have recovered from your Birthday Bash it is very beneficial to spend the entire weekend at Stitches West. Here you should spend money you don't have on yarn you don't need. In order to fend off any guilt over said purchases, strive to buy only Canadian products. It's important to help the economy back home.

What's a birthday without Koigu?

But let's not forget the kindly nation that has put up with me for almost 12 years. This is "Toe Jammies" in the Phoebe colorway from Wolf Creek Wools. Because there's no point in being subtle at 48.

Every Day Is New Year's Day

Just taking a break from coughing to update the ol' blog here. Actually most of the symptoms from the nasty pneumonia have gone except for the cough and a $300 bill from Good Samaritan Hospital. I shall refrain from a tirade regarding the American medical system though and we'll move along. First up, the New Year's Day socks were completed 47 days after New Years.

I love this pattern. LOVE IT. Everyone needs to make a pair of New Year's Day socks. Right now! Go ahead, cast on, I'll wait. Anyway, the pattern is so easy to memorize and fun to do these socks seem to knit themselves. And no purling! Yay! I love this pattern so much I immediately cast on for a second pair.

This is the yarn that Dave, of Cabin Cove Mercantile fame, dyed for me last year for my birthday. It's called "April's Showers". Since it's now been sitting in the stash for almost a year I figured it was time to use it up.

Stitches is almost here! Woohoo! This coming weekend is Stitches West and I'll be there, working my little hiney off in the Knitting Arts booth. If you're going to Stitches West, please stop by and say "Hey!".

This ball of yarn was going to be in our booth but uhh .. it's at my house now. Sorry about that. But there's lots more with this came from. This is Pagewood Farms Hand Dyed Sock Yarn. The yarn itself is 70% merino, 20% bamboo and 10% nylon, 450 yards. I like it. I was going to do socks but I think it wants to be lace. It's not spun overly tight and I think it would wear thin quite quickly. Therefore it needs to be around my shoulders and not on my feetsies.

Spring is coming