29 For the First Time...

Last Friday, Oct. 21st was my very first 29th birthday and all I have to say is where did the last 10 years go? It feels like maybe I stumbled into a time warp of some kind and lost a few years - possibly during university. Anyhow, Brad arranged a dinner party for me at a restaurant here in town and invited 25 of our friends to join us. I had THE BEST TIME!! I think this picture is evidence that fun was had - this is apparently the closest I came to looking directly into the camera all night. Strange, that. Anyhow, I think we're clapping because the wait staff had come out and sang the Happy Birthday song to embarass me...yeah, I'm pretty sure that was it.

(I'm the one in the middle for those unfamiliar with the side of my head.)

So a birthday wouldn't be complete without a little yarn gift and Michelle did not disappoint. She got me the most gorgeous Fleece Artist dreadlocks and mohair. I've rolled them into balls already and they are GORGEOUS! And she came across a little trick for those living in Fredericton - the craft college sells undyed Fleece Artist yarns for $12 - yes, that's right folks. $12 - this would retail for close to $40. You just need to get someone enrolled in the craft college to buy it for you. Clever girl that one.



Finally - a Salina update. The back and front are both finished. And the first sleeve is almost to the cap shaping - won't be long now...and the weather is perfect for it. I need a nice quiet weekend to get this one done.

Cozy Cleavage....

This article was sent to me by a fellow knitter this morning and I just had to share...it starts off, "It's not at every cocktail party that the hostess is telling you to play with her boobs, but then again, it's not every hostess that has such fantastic ones."

Read on here...trust me this is good.

Update (Oct. 19th)
Wow! What are the odds of this? Janine just informed that the "bits" mentioned in the above article are the new surprise pattern just posted to knitty.com. Crazy timing!

Knitty Pattern

The Moss Stitch Blues

The back of Salina is finally finished up - the sun is not supposed to come out for a few days so I figured I might as well take the picture anyhow! I had a few issues but nothing too major and they were all reflective of my own knitting technique - the pattern is great. It seems that my left-slanting decreases are much sloppier looking than my right-slanting ones so I ripped the armhole shaping a couple of times finally deciding it was as good as it was gonna get. Let me tell you - I cannot wait to finish this one up and wear it! It's been perfect sweater weather this week.



After finishing up the back last night, I cast on for the front. The first 16 rows of the sweater are moss stitch and being a "thrower", it takes me a fair amount of time to get through 1600 stitches of the stuff. So you can imagine my dismay when after finally getting through those moss stitch rows, I noticed this.



3.75mm needles. Arrrrgggghhhh - bonehead!!! The moss stitch is meant to be knit in 3.25mm needles and is noticeably larger than the back band. Oh well, at least I didn't get any further before realizing. So I'll be ripping and moss stitching again tonight. Very, very carefully this time. I may even have Brad double check before I begin - this is the second time I've done this although I only got 2 rows in before noticing last time. This is the first weekend in a while that we have no plans to do anything or go anywhere - sounds like heaven - I may even get Salina's front finished up if I play my cards right.

Vicki Needs....

Saw this on Anna's blog and thought it was cute.

Care to find out what you need??
Google “[your name] needs” and list the best.

1. Vicki needs to learn about "she bang" magic
2. Vicki needs to pay the rent, and without community approval she might as well go home to the cult
3. Vicki needs boys pants...
4. Vicki needs to realize that dogs are not little people in furry costumes (OK - this one actually scared me a little)
5. Vicki needs a Vixen Grand Polaris with electronic slewing. Nothing less.

2 Cats and a Lady

Lady Salina finally has some photo-worthy progress. I don't think I picked the needles up all weekend but managed to get to the second set of bust increases last night while watching a couple of taped episodes of Prison Break.

Salina is from Rowan Vintage Knits. I'm using the recommended yarn (Felted Tweed) in Herb. Love this yarn - it makes such a nice stretchy fabric - I think it will be gorgeous to wear although possibly a little itchy. Adele was kind enough to setup a Salina-a-long so if you're interested in seeing what the other girls are up to or in knitting your very own Salina - check it out here. Herb is a very popular color so our photos all kinda look the same at the moment - haha!



And because I don't have much to blog about today, I offer cat photos and a little bit about my guys. They were doing a little window hunting this morning when I snapped these shots.

Bigsy - a shy guy, prone to self-mutilation with an amazing grasp of the English language. Loves people but is deathly afraid of strangers. Favorite hiding places are under the bed and in the basement behind the water pump. Is quite possibly the world's cuddliest cat and is in constant competition with mommy's knitting.


Niblet - a highly acrobatic, light-obsessed rascal with no grasp of the English language whatsoever. If curiousity were going to kill a cat, it would surely be Niblet. Despite, or perhaps because of his devil-may-care attitude, Niblet is a real charmer. Word to the wise, do not leave your water glass unattended in the "Niblet zone".