knitted science

I saw this posted, and thought it was brilliant, so I needed to share it on my blog:

Knitted Science

Enjoy!

dog sweater drive

I know that this is a crazy time, everyone's knitting and crocheting for the holidays... but, if you happen to have some time and yarn available, dog sweaters would be greatly appreciated!
I'm collecting sweaters of all sizes, preferably for dogs that are 60lbs or less. Here is what I'm looking for:

- the sweater must wrap around the dog's front legs at least, please stay away from 'cape' looking sweaters. Sweaters that cover the chest as well would be ideal.

- use a warm, machine washable yarn. If it's not machine dryable, that's ok, but at least machine washable. Many dogs are rescued in the winter and suffer from frostbite and hypothermia, so a warm fiber content would be needed for these dogs

I would like to be able to create a care package to donate for around the holidays or by the end of this year, if I can, at least 25 sweaters. These will be going to local shelters, in southern Ontario, Canada. Any colour(s) would be great.

If you could help, that would be wonderful. Please contact me for my mailing address, at purplespirit1 <at> hotmail <dot> com (title the email 'dog sweater donation').

I know, again, that it's late in the year and we're all busy, but this would make a great destashing project, if you have some extra yarn laying around the house and you're not sure how to use it up!

the $3000 scarf

In my mind's eye, hobby farming and sheep hearding would be a fantastic - although unrealistic - idea. Just the idea of having my own sheep to then have full access to all the yarn I want, would be lovely. Then, I came across this article, and I'm now rethinking the whole concept.

no more need for mittens?

If this article about fat people not needing mittens is true... I've been overweight my entire life, and yet my hands and feet are always cold? I've bought mittens every winter, and since I began knitting, I've always made myself mittens, because my hands are always cold! (Even in the summer!) So what's up with this article?!? Is the decrease in mitten sales really linked to obesity, or is it that maybe more people are just knitting their own?

my Dude sweater, finally finished!

Well, after what seems like forever in working on this sweater project... it's done! This is the Big Lebowski-esque sweater I managed to design for my brother for his birthday, which was last week. It's a bit of a snugger fit than what's in the movie, but it fits nonetheless!

If you're coming across this post and want to check it out, my shop is http://www.knitsyoursknotmine.etsy.com/ - the pdf is available there!

finished 2 things!

These are pickled peppers from my garden... 3 different kinds of hot peppers + 1 sweet green pepper. Recipe can be found here. Filled a half litre jar! awesome!

The baby blanket is going to be donated to afghans for Afghans ... used up all my partial skeins of wool for that one. The pattern can be found here - I cast on 6 sts instead of 5, making 12 pinwheel sections instead of 10, and it's about 36" across.

according to the online Urban Dictionary...

... for what it's worth... although I think that people contribute to that for the sake of contributing... but it's slightly hilarious. The word "knit" has been revised into slang.

I'm not going to bother copy/pasting everything, but some of these definitions are hilarious. Find out what it truly means to knit a brown scarf (although I'm sure you can guess), or my favourite to knit cookies, or to knit-knit, a more traditional definition to a Knitting Pattern, lol on Knitted Underwear, oh and my favourite: the 1st definition of knitting is a hoot.

Btw... maybe I'll be courageous enough one day to whip up some knitfitti ~ and I love the definition of knitcore, maybe I'll get that on a mug.

new homespun yarn

Finally finished spinning another skein of yarn... the before and after pictures:

It's hard to tell in the picture, but I spun the yarn with a metallic purple thread throughout, which gives it a bit of a shimmer, it's kind of cool! :) I'll eventually post it for sale, I think, in my etsy shop, once I've got a couple skeins spun up. Spinning yarn is soooo much fun, I totally get why people are hooked on it!

knitting a poem

Can you believe that there's a group out there that's putting together a knitted poem? I came across it on the anticraft, and couldn't pass up the chance to check out the poem society's site, and then naturally contact them to see if I can contribute something.

We'll see what comes of it. :) Meantime, it's one more facebook group I can become a fan of. :D

abiding still by the dude

A few weeks ago I blogged about being inspired by The Big Lebowski to start creating a Dude sweater, since there was no pattern for it that I can find. (Despite endless searches and joining a few Lebowski themed ravelry.com groups!) So, I finished the torso today! Just have to figure out how to do sleeves, sew it all together, and I'm set! woot! ... Pictures will come soon!