shaggi

or shall i say "loopi"? here's my initial take on the brilliant fendi "to you" handbag with the gedifra gigante from the lovely marcia. i love the colorway, but i'm not sure about the thick & thinness of the yarn.

here it is pre-snip...


...and post...


for the truly handbag-obsessed, even more fringe benefits here.

oh, tim

lighten up, will ya? i think this bag is a gas. can't you just see SJP and kristin davis totally fighting over who was gonna get to carry it in the scene above?

but the really exciting news is this amazing treasure trove of knit goodies, from my friend marcia:

as soon as i receive the feathers i ordered, i'm going to start playing with the burly spun. the yarn in the actual fendi is pretty loosely plied...more like twinkle soft chunky than the burly spun, but the color is just perfect for the bag that shall be named SHAGGI. i love the gedifra gigante, as well, but not sure the thick and thin will give the right effect. it will be fun to experiment though.

kniterial girl

rowan's carol meldrum takes the notion of celebrity knitting to a whole new level with her recently released knitted icons. also features chairman mao, mr. T, gandhi, and amy winehouse. not sure i want to dwell too long on the technique of knitting chest hair into a borat doll though.

[via my crafty pal peggy.]

freaky folk

just found out about these adorable stitch kits at one of my fave local gift shops. you stitch and stuff them yourself--either by hand or machine. these kits remind me of a similar stitch kit i had years ago from the rochester folk art guild.


speaking of which, check out this great silkscreened poster i just found in the guild's online shop. i like the unicorn the best. but maybe that's because i had a unicorn on my wedding invitation. don't ask.

fo: rowan wallis

now i know why the duke of windsor abdicated the throne. wallis from rowan 38 definitely lives up to her irresistible namesake. destined to become my fave new sweater! i think i was in love from the moment i pulled it over my head. knit of rowan kid classic in a beautiful aubergine. the lace pattern was easy to memorize. in fact, this is the first lace project in which i was actually able to knit and talk at the same time. not to mention, drink wine.

a few pattern notes: the pattern called for 7 skeins for the small size. i adjusted the pattern slightly in length. had i made it exactly to specs, i would surely have run out of yarn.

p.s. to jason: don't worry...i cast on for your sweater...more on that to come soon.

killer scarf

she must have fallen down the stairs when she spotted the price tag. $2,250 for this OTT number by giles.

via my knitpal chris

happy halloween

this is the scariest thing i could find.


and this is quite possibly the inspiration.

fresh-baked rebecca

i love the missoni-style zip hoodie in the top-left corner. the cable hoodie tunic and the v-neck sweater dress are also lovely. and i really like the silhouette of the stripey pullover on the bottom right. just wish these mags didn't take so darn long to get in our hot little hands. i ordered no. 34 ages ago and i'm still waiting for it to arrive.

found: twinkle buttons

here's an online source for the twinkle buttons (as shown on BFF cardi above) from one world button. maybe you can get your LYS to stock them for less than five freakin smackers per button. yikes...come to think of it, that's pretty steep!

don't quit your day job

this just in via an email from anthro, titled "precious purls." it links to this cool little online catalog called "stitch." i cannot believe how much anthro is responding to all the knitting love! the website says the sweater above was "handknitted over the course of 100 hours (!) using several skeins of lush mushroom yarn." it lists for $398, so i guess that means the knitter got a lush $3.98/hour!

hai karate

looky where they're selling twinkle's karate wrap cardi for two hundred sixty eight smackeroos!

happy feet

i received a package today that got my heart racing faster than a case of cherry cordial yarntini. move over, manolo. take a hike louboutin. mama's got a new pair of shoes. and these babies are gonna coddle my tootsies instead of cripple them. i could say they are the best slippers on earth. i could say they're like walking around with two skeins of alpaca silk strapped to the balls of my feet. instead, i think i'll just slip them on, unplug my laptop, pour myself a bucket of cabernet and curl up in my knitting chair. what could be more glamourous?

O.C.Delish

so. in. love. when i first posted about another version of this bag, i was informed the yarn was gedifra gigante (and you are so right, gina). but now that i've seen this one, i've become obsessed with finding this exact color. to be honest, i woke up at 5 am one day last week and had to go to my laptop and start madly googling because i had had a dream about it. the sad fact is there is no solid grey gedifra gigante colorway that i can find, on yarndex or otherwise. i did find a source for the feathers, which are actually called "eyelash" feathers in the trade. i also have an idea for the top part of the bag which could be very fun. but first: must find the perfect yarn!

twinkle buttons are here!

look who has giant twinkle-sized buttons! i only wish i had these back when i made my twinkle best friend cardi.

they come dyed to match twinkle yarns in urchin, cream, icy blue, haze, french gray and more.

wip: wallis

i should cast on for the vest i've promised to a friend (soon...soon, jason). i should finish the other rowan project i started recently. so much for knitterly guilt. i have been eyeballing bat-winged "wallis" from rowan 38 forever. and i finally gave in. with grand plans of knitting it from some stash yarn, i soon realized i didn't have nearly enough. and then i came across this gorgeous aubergine kid classic in my lys.


the trellis lace pattern is an easy read, which made it a great car-knitting project while driving up to vermont with my hubby last weekend. this is my first experience with kid classic. it's soooo incredibly soft, i will overlook its slight splittiness. knit up, it has a beautiful, light hand with just the right amount of fuzziness.

has anthro jumped the shark?

i have always loved anthropologie. but seeing this image turn up in my inbox has left me wondering: has anthro finally jumped the shark? i'm expecting one of those giant monarch butterflies you see tacked on people's houses to land on that giant crocheted flower any second. (though i bet the butterfly on the mcqueen model below wouldn't bat a wing at it.) i pray this coat and scarf ensemble are an anomaly.

mcdreamy

this may be so 2006 for some, but i can't stop drooling over this coat from alexander mcqueen's fall '06 RTW.

p.s. thanks for clueing me into the holiday '06 VK which featured a very mcqueeny-looking coat on this simpering model. i have that issue and never gave the coat a second look. funny how fit, styling and color choices can make all the difference!

extreme knitting geek tip no. 1,575

just when you think knitting can't get much geekier, it hits you. behold: from fellow raveler davejenbarnes, quite possibly the geekiest knitting tip out there. and i mean that in such a good way.


it appears to the untrained eye to be an ordinary lamp with the bulb removed and the shade turned upside down, outfitted with an upturned laundry basket and set atop a lazy susan. what, pray tell, could this be, one queries with furrowed brow. but, ahhh, when one puts on one's extreme knitting geek goggles, one begins to see the ingenuity, the invention, the sheer brilliance of it all...


...your own DIY swift!

secretary

have you ever seen this flick? (don't even get me started on how hot james spader is.) i watched it for the umpteenth time the other night and was reminded how much i loved maggie gyllenhaal's wardrobe in the movie. this new vest pattern from blue sky alpacas is very sexy secretary and oh, so maggie.

wip: rowan malin

apparently, i can't get enough of rowan these days. i recently cast on for this lovely lace vest, designed by one of my fave young rowan designers, sarah hatton.

this is the first chance i've had to blog in awhile. i can't show you any pics of it yet, but i can let you in on a little secret. one of my designs was accepted for publication in an upcoming book. that meant days of furiously sketching and knitting and pattern-writing. i just sent my sample off to the publisher last week, so now that it's done i can cleanse my palate with some personal projects...at least until the next design idea takes hold.

fo: rowan electra

i can hardly wait til fall. not only because it is a millionty degrees outside. but because i finally finished my rowan electra vest.


knit up entirely with rowan yarns: scottish tweed, felted tweed and kidsilk haze. it's actually a very easy fair isle pattern that is only time-consuming if you wait a month between each pattern rep as i did.

knitski or die

spotted on the waterfront in portland, maine. best vanity plate evah.

frog dissection

and now for the results of my frozen kidsilk haze experiment.


kidsilk haze does indeed undo itself quite readily after a stint in the frozen section of your friendly frigidaire.


however, for me, the ecstasy was shortlived. behold, the giant clump of frozen furball that coughed itself up at the end of each row.

my advice to others in search of an quick KSH fix: mix yourself a frozen daiquiri and break out the scissors.

frozen mohair

does frozen mohair really frog more easily than the non-frozen variety? this is my own experiment to find out. and rest assured, my friend, this is no ordinary mohair. it is simply that snarliest, gnarliest, unfroggiest of all mohairs, kidsilk haze.

fringe benefits

pass the dramamine, please. it's 95 in the shade and all i can think about right now is all the dramatic knitwear that's been trotted out for fall. this fendi sheath is just one from the knit parade via style.com. i say crank up the AC and cast on the bulky wool!


come-sit-stay dept.: love the furry, fringe elements on this fendi dog...er, bag. what a loopy, fun knit this would be. does anyone know what this yarn could possibly be?

wip: rowan vest

i'm finally closing in on this UFO that has been clogging my in-basket since last fall. it blocked beautifully and is now awaiting finishing touches: ribbing along the neck and armholes. yarn is all rowan, all the time: kidsilk haze, yorkshire tweed, and felted tweed.

zombie sheep?

now i've seen everything.

spinning in the finger lakes

not spinning wool, silly. spinning wheels. in a good way. complete with multiple finger lakes winery stops and minimal whinery. (despite more than our fair share of uphill climbs.)

we began our three-day cycling tour in ithaca, new york, one of the crunchiest places this side of the nestle factory. from there, it was a 30-mile spin out of a steep gorge along cayuga lake. along the way, we spotted a beautiful victorian B&B and decided to check it out.

turns out it was the former home of victoria and richard mackenzie-childs. the mackenzie-childs' daughter and son-in-law now live in the carriage house and operate the B&B.

the cafe is still under construction, but the incredibly hospitable, parisian son-in-law offered to make us an espresso. mais oui! who were we to argue? meanwhile, his charming and very eloise-like seven-going-on-27-year-old daughter gave us a tour.


and that's when we fell down the rabbit hole.

forget the mackenzie-childs factory tour. if you really want to know where they got their inspiration, just take a stroll through this place.

an armoire that opens to reveal not a rack of clothes, but a secret hallway. a walk-in closet with a magical ceiling covered in a mosaic of tiny vintage trinkets and antique embellishments. an entire wall covered with broken shards of mackenzie-childs pottery. a footstool with the ceramic feet of victoria mackenzie-childs.



after a night at the newly restored aurora inn, we began the next leg of our journey, a 52-mile trek around owasco lake, ending in skaneatelas.

leaving aurora, we made a quick stop at the mackenzie-childs museum. the highlight was an enormous handmade dollhouse with the most incredible details...including this teeny basket of wool. we pulled into the sherwood inn in skaneatelas several wineries and vegetable stands later.

day 3 of our trip was a 65-mile route back to ithaca. along routes 5 & 20, my cycling buddy michele (who is a world-class adventure racer AND obsessive knitter) pointed out this spiky plant called teasel. apparently, early settlers used it to card wool.

fo: anna stockings III

this rowan pattern is so much fun, i just had to make another pair. this pair is in rowan 4-ply in color "sooty." all the better to show off my new score: these turquoise marc jacobs maryjanes. a friend of mine got 'em on ebay, but they didn't fit. she passed them on to another friend. but alas...they didn't fit her either. she passed them on to ME and voila! talk about a cinderella story!

avant yarn

weird and wooly wonderfulness via my friend dona.

miss congeniality

looky what i got from miss wenlan chia! i won 2nd prize in the monthly twinkle contest for my best friend cardi. enter your own twinkle fo here.

g.i. YO

look what my mother-in-law dug out of the time capsule she calls a basement. this must be metrosexual g.i. joe, complete with jeans, combat boots and black handknit sweater. she also found a regular old g.i. joe in army fatigues. but he pales in comparison to this dude. of course, it's the handknit sweater that got me. i don't see how i can part with the guy. just wait til barbie gets a load of him...or ken.

happy hallway

i heart this new anthro wallpaper from orla kiely. inspired by a tiny zebra-covered hallway i saw in domino mag, this bold beanstalk pattern seemed perfect for the pea-sized hall between the kitchen and tv room. the burst of color and pattern just make me smile everytime i look at it.