Long Awaited Boogie Photos

Y'know that old (verrrrrry old) joke about how to make a tissue dance? Put a little boogie in it? Ack. Well, every single time I think of this vest and its name (Boogie), I think of that joke.


Nevertheless, here are the very long awaited photos of this vest. As usual, the color navy is one of the hardest to true up on screen. In PhotoShop one can adjust the color balance and run any assortment of actions but the color still (for me anyway) is not the rich true navy that is my Boogie.
The knit was a blazing fast one, partly due to the vest shape itself, partly due to one one cable element on the center front, and partly due to the chunky wool used. (I used KnitPicks Navy Wool of the Andes Chunky). The yarn was nice to knit with and while it is not uber soft like a cashmere or even cashmerino (or any number of elite yarns) it is soft and has nice stitch definition. Boogie washed well, in a nice wet soak---- but the yarn bled like crazy requiring 4 changes of water until it was relatively clear. My only real 'hmmmmmmmm' with the vest is the neck. The shoulders are finished with a 3 needle bind off (one of my favorites) and they look very nice. The "v" of the vest neckline just kind of flops about making this (for me) a wear with a collared shirt option only. All in all, it has a clean and classic look that I know will get a lot of wear. Won't this Boogie look great with jeans?

I'd actually like to knit it again as a Christmas gift------ super fast, classic and fun.

No Dragon.........Draggin

Monday is behind me, you would think that I'd be caught up. Not so. Further behind if that is even a possibility.

While we sort through the images from the wedding last weekend I'll share one of the high (or low?) points................ the bride was, shall we say, detailed. Her cake was in the thousands and thousands of dollars and featured embellishments, crystals to be precise, from France. As in the country not the bakery. After we had arrived at the reception, inexplicably in a tent without heaters on a very cold October evening------ it was discovered that the cake had been in a car accident. Thank heavens the delivery drivers were not hurt, however the cake was not so lucky. By the time the cake miraculously arrived at the reception very late in the evening it was in critical care. To be honest the best thing to do should have been to go to the local grocery store and buy a freakin' sheet cake, but noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo, no says the bride. The cake that arrived looked like it had been patted back together from a million fragments with spackle and frosting. Obviously no one actually ATE it, although it was served.

My dogs are sick (again)............ this time we seem to have the puppy flu that comes along with very loose.......... well you know. I'm so tired of cleaning up dog mess I could scream. The carpet shampooer that was purchased when I returned from Phoenix has not only paid for itself and then some but has taken up permanent residence lately. Sheesh.

On the knitting front, I frogged the 9 rows of intarsia from the Ravenna Satchel. I think I was too distracted and it went rather badly off course. I don't find a way to nicely and neatly frog back intarsia in a way that has a saving grace at the end so I just destroyed the whole thing and have now cast on again and completed the first purl row. I'm kind of bummed to be honest.

Regardless----------- we all forge ahead, does it seem that forging is what we do best?

Laughter is the very best medicine

I'm certainly no different than anyone else, too much on my plate, not enough hours in the day, and certainly not enough knitting (or creativity of any kind) to feed the soul going on.

A friend who happens to be a Police Officer sent me this email today, and I have to admit it made me laugh in a way that felt pretty good.

I pass it on here for your pleasure, your new name in all of its wonderful and juvenile glory:

Here is your dose of humor...
A. Follow the instructions to find your new name.

And don't go all adult - a senior manager is now known far & wide as Dorky Gizzardsniffer!

The following is excerpted from a children's book, "Captain Underpants And the Perilous Plot Professor Poopypants", by Dave Pilkey, in which the evil Professor forces everyone to assume new names...

So:-

1. Use the third letter of your first name to determine your New first name:

a = snickle
b = doombah
c = goober
d = cheesy

e = crusty
f = greasy
g = dumbo
h = farcus
i = dorky
j = doofus
k = funky
l = boobie
m = sleezy
n = sloopy
o = fluffy
p = stinky
q = slimy
r = dorfus
s = snooty
t = tootsie
u = dipsy
v = sneezy
w = liver
x = skippy
y = dinky
z = zippy

2. Use the second letter of your last name to determine the first half of your new last name:

a = dippin
b = feather
c = b atty
d = burger
e = chicken
f = barffy
g = lizard
h = waffle
i = farkle
j = monkey
k = flippin
l = fricken
m = bubble
n = rhino
o = potty
p = hamster
q = buckle
r = gizzard
s = lickin
t = snickle
u = chuckle
v = pickle
w = hubble
x = dingle
y = gorilla
z = girdle

3. Use t he third letter of your last name to determine the second half of your new last name:
a = butt
b = boob
c = face
d = nose
e = hump
f = breath
g = pants
h = shorts
i = lips
j = honker
k = head
l = tush
m = chunks
n = dunkin
o = brains
p = biscuits
q = toes
r = doodle
s = fanny
t = sniffer
u 3D sprinkles
v = frack
w = squirt
x = humperdinck
y = hiney
z = juice

Thus, for example, Barack Obama's new name is: Snickle Featherbutt.

I can't wait to hear YOUR new name........ mine is Sloopy Farkle Chunks.

C'mon....... that is some funny stuff! I know that somebody out there is Boobie Dingle Butt!

For those of you heading to Rhinebeck this weekend, have the very best of times, live large and make sure you stimulate the economy!

Another bride in the knitterly way

That is Kelly----- one of my very sweetest knitting brides this season! And get this, (drum roll please) Kelly actually KNITS!!!!!!!!!! Woo Hoo!

She is working Boogie, and doesn't she work it well? Drat that navy blue, it doesn't show nearly as well as it could!

Speaking of Boogie, it is finished and blocking as we speak. That navy wool took about 4 rinses to get all of the bleeding color out of the water. I hope that when it is worn the color leak will not be a problem! Just to be sure I will recommend that it not be worn the first time over a white shirt of any kind!

Currently the project is the Ravenna Satchel and I'm STILL knitting the black sections. With any luck I'll have them finished today. (That sounded dreadfully optimistic even to my own ears!)

For those living in the U.S., the last Presidential Debate is tonight---------- of course I will be watching but quite frankly, I will be so glad when it is all over. It seems we have larger battles to contend with both globally and here at home and the endless bickering is wearing me plumb to a nub!

First Bride of the Knit

Yes, in the first installment of the Knitting Bride series this week I bring you Kristin. She was a lovely bride, and a little sassy as you can see by the pics.

At the time I had knitting to haul to her wedding shoot, Wisteria was not yet quite done and there was no way I could sling out an entire sweater minus a bit of the last sleeve. What went along was the Pi Are Square Shawl=== certainly not a lot further along than the last time you saw it. But, does it not look quite fabulous with the fall colorings? Yummy that rusty tone!

Kristin's dress was sort of a cross between a tulip shape and a mermaid shape. Very heavy with the beads and spanglies along the hem of the tulle layers. Her veil was quite plain and drove her crazy so it was ditched after the ceremony.

Pi Are has gone back into semi-hibernation while I finish the usual zillion things on my desk and try my hardest to get Boogie OFF my needles. (This I believe will happen this evening but that depends on the relative solace I can find to do my three needle bind off on the shoulder seams).

The bottom of the Ravenna Satchel has been completed and the back is cast on and sitting for the happy end of Boogie to give it adequate attention. I'm already bored pretty crazy of black stockinette in it's pre-felted condition for the back and bottom of this great bag. Thankfully with doubled worsted weight and size 15's it zooms along nicely.

Get knittin!

Knit on a Happy Face

We're lucky as knitters, as quilters or as creative people. Without a doubt we do put on a happy (or happier) and more peaceful face when we are in the process of creating. For me the process of knitting is even more important in these crazy times.

I've always been a process knitter, how about you? "They" say that knitters (and I believe it translates to other creative endeavors) are either driven by the process or the product, that is to say the creation or the final outcome. Because I usually have something in a knitting bag somewhere that speaks to the mindless knit (like the miles of knit stitches in my eternally in progress Pi Are Square), the desire to just be able to pick up a project and enter Zen with very little effort. Knitters and creators of personal art everywhere are saying that they NEED to enter this zone of peace and creativity. The act of this creation, for me the KNIT, is not only satisfying to create 'something' but the act itself is bliss. That bliss space is much needed as the world seems to be spinning out of our control.

On a really great front, gas prices are falling, yay!

Unleaded Gasoline Average Prices
St. Louis		USA	Trend
Today Yesterday One Week Ago One Month Ago One Year Ago	3.159 3.203 3.442 3.651 2.752	3.264 3.264 3.477 3.666 2.761

Less spent on gas = More spent on KNIT!

The lovely navy blue knitted happy that is the Boogie vest is nearly ready for the armhole decreases on the front. I have every hope to have it finished by the close of Monday, Columbus Day (known to me as No, I'm Really Not Working Today). This simple vest is really cute, super easy, and as close to mindless as a single cable column can be. Don't get me wrong, I'll be glad to get it done because the next project in the queue is intarsia! It's a bit hard, my advance copy of the sequel to "Friday Night Knitting Club", "Knit Two" has arrived and it calls me to sit and have a good read. So far it is quite good and promises to be a wonderfully satisfying read.

Big wedding today, hopefully there will be a knitting bride. I have cheated you of the knitting bride from last week---- it has been a crazy few days. Maybe this week will be a double-header!

Remember now more than ever to count your blessings and pass one on......................... and GET KNITTIN'!

Wanted: More Chaise Time

So who doesn't want more chaise lounge time? Please! A slam dunk if ever there was one. My chaise is above, I've been spending every non-working moment there (although there are never enough!) In progress is the super down and dirty knitted vest pattern from the archives of Knitty.com--- "Boogie". The blue is picking up a lighter cast due to the flash, it is in reality a true and deep navy blue. The back is almost done in this chunky yarn with the front hopefully to cast on tonight. I left the front for last as the miles of plain old stockinette knit would have driven me crazy after knitting the cable pattern on the front.

I promised I'd get that out of the way before beginning the Ravenna Satchel that I'm so anxious to get started. My colors are below MINUS a pop of orange that I can't find just the right shade of. A trip to my LYS will happen this week to find the perfect thing.


The back, bottom and sides of the bag are the 'coal' (bottom), in clockwise fashion the 'cloud' (cream) is the front, the 'jalapeno' will be the leaves, 'blackberry' are the smaller flowers, and 'cranberry' is the large center flower motif. As I said, accents will be the orange soon to come. As always the camera does a less than perfect job of displaying the colors accurately. I'm pleased with the colors, overall I think it will 'read' in the berry tones.

Back to work for me, with a bit of push there should be time on the chaise later this evening!