Knit and Plenty

A Sheep Shot

It's normal for us knitters to have sheep on the brain, so it's no wonder that I saw a field of them when I first looked at this picture. On closer examination, if you STILL see sheep, you are really doing way too much knitting.

Everything is FAIR game

As the summer winds down, knitters will turn their thoughts to attending the Fall Sheep and Wool festivals. Yes,  from California to Vermont and everywhere in between, we fanatics will flock to familiar fairgrounds to get our fill of fiber. I went to the New York Sheep and Wool Festival last year and came home with a carload of stuff (including a border collie - but that's another story) There's nothing like that shot of adrenaline that hits you as you leave your house at 6 a.m. Your heart begins to pound as you aproach the parking area. And then, like crazed hunters, its off to capture The Big Game. Moving from one vendor's stall to the next, secretly hoping that we will come upon some one-of-a-kind handspun long before anyone else. And when all is said and done, we make it home: tired, broke and sporting a new loom,  a dog. or something else that will need to be returned to its breeder. But that's another story.

Lion Brand Yarn has posted a complete list of festivals.[Click Here]

Here are a few:

8/18 - 8/20    Santa Monica, CA         Fabulous Fiber Fest 2006  website

8/19 - 8/20    Allegan, MI                   Michigan Fiber Festival website                  

9/2 - 9/3        Salt Lake City, UT        Great Basin Fiber Arts Fair website

9/2 - 9/4        Bethel, MO                   Sheep & Fiber Arts Festival website

9/3 - 9/6        Soldier Hollow, UT        Back of the Wasatch Fiber Festival website

9/8 - 9/10      Jefferson, Wi                WisconsinSheep and Wool Festival website

9/9 - 9/10      Essex Junction, VT       Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival website

9/9 - 9/10      Harford, PA                  Endless Mountains Fiber Festival website

9/15 - 9/17    Boonville, CA                California Wool and Fiber Festival website

9/16 - 9/17    Hemlock, NY                Finger Lakes Fiber Arts Festival website

9/16 - 9/17    Ringoes, NJ                  Garden State Sheep and Fiber Festival website

9/23 - 9/24    Canby, OR                    Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival website

9/30 - 10/1    West Branch, MI           Northern Michigan Lamb & Wool Festival website

9/30              East Aurora, NY            Knox Farm Fiber festival website

10/7 - 10/8    Taos, NM                     Wool Festival at Taoswebsite

10/21             Rhinebeck, NY              New York State Sheep & Wool Festival  website

10/21             Corydon, IN                  Fall Fiber Festival and Market website

11/2 - 11/5    Baltimore MD               Stitches East website

One Size Knits Alls

I'm not going to deny it. I am jealous, and perhaps a tad bitter that I just won't be able to make or wear anything from this new book, Sexy Little Knits. I congratulate the author for capturing the JLO/Christina Aguilara market where size 1 women in Hollywood feel comfortable in a crocheted bikini. It would be my luck to knit a bathing suit, jump into a pool with it, and realize that its felting on the spot. Not a pretty picture, for sure.

I'm also not exactly suited for Big Girl Knits either, although it seems a little more reasonable. This book has over 25 patterns as well as pretty cool fashion advice.

It's certainly nice to know that whenit comes to knitting pattern books, one size doesn't have to fit all.

Warm feet. Warm hearts.

Ok - before you think you must have come to the wrong blog because there are socks picture here, let me say, I did not make these. Not surprised, eh?  (Just you wait, one day I am going to surprise you.) These  were made by my friend Betsy. She's an incredible knitter - and she made these for a friend of hers who is struggling with cancer. She is calling them Feel Good Socks - and they are as sure to warm her pal's feet as it does my heart to hear of such generosity.

I kid a lot about the fact that I don't knit for anybody but myself. Ok - I'm not kidding. It's true. But I think its really, really great that other people DO!

For other NICE folk, here's a link that lists, by state, all the charities for which you can knit. Do you think it would be o.k., to send those knitted items that I knit for myself but don't like anymore?? It might not get me into heaven, but hell, it can't hurt.

Some Like it Knit

Today would have been Marilyn's 80th birthday. She died 44 years ago at 36 years old. My two favorite facts about Marilyn are that she wore a Size !2, so if she were a star today she's be doing commercials for Jenny Craig - and fact two: she was a knitter. Ain't all the prettiest girls???

My hobbies keep growing.

I spend so much time knitting from September until May that I sometimes forget about this other passion I have: gardening. I think there's a lot of similarities between the two:
Both are:
1) about creating something from nothing
2) done with my hands.
3) involve lots of color
4) about  watching something grow
5) involve spending too much money and not knowing when to stop
6) wonderful distractions from all the responsible things I should be doing, and lastly
7) both are frequently about ripping something out and starting over!

But wouldn't it be great if you could just knit a garden??
That's what a few crafty knitters are doing over in the U.K.  They're asking folks to contribute knitted mushrooms, or planters, flowers, ladybugs, flagstone (!) and grass.Click on the picture to see all the incredible detail and visit their website. Cool huh?  I guess if I wanted it to resemble my garden, I would have to knit up a ton of aphids and some blackspot. For you dual-hobbiest, will you be spending time in your garden in lieu of knitting?

Watch for Falling Stones

I'm posting this knitted Fender guitar as my Get Well card to Keith Richards, the fallen Stone, who yesterday had brain surgery after toppling out of a cocaine     coconut tree.
I hope he recovers quickly and returns to his incredibly healthy lifestyle. Here's a photo of Keith coming off the operating table.

Now in the process of hunting up the guitar image, I also came across a great little web tidbit called KnitPro that lets you turn any picture into a knittable grid. You just upload a JPG and tell the program how wide and long you want the finished piece and it creates the perfect chart.  Mind you, I've never made anything that even came close to using a chart but I thought I'd pass the link along to you more seasoned  grid-knitters. I might try my hand at it sometime. After all, it can't be brain surgery.

WWW. Weird Web Wednesdays

One of my favorite things about blogging is sharing the interesting, fascinating, shocking and amazing things about knitting you can find on the web. Here's a great example: Hannah in Oxford, England, proclaims on her website, "I knit dead people." Here's a photo of a group she calls "Dawn of the Dead." Her blog tagline is "There's a fine line between stupid and clever." That's a line I wonder if I am crossing every time I write an entry. But I think Hannah is dead-on, and her stuff IS definitely clever. I bet she's be happy to knit you up a dead mother-in-law  - which is step up from  "crochet my..." well, you remember.

Why is this knit different from all other knits?

Last night was the first night of Passover - the beginning of the week long celebration of the Israelites exodus from Egypt. Families all over the world, including mine, get together to retell the story of Moses, overeat, drink bad wine and remember why they spent all those years in therapy.

Actually, last night we went to my dad and step mom's and except for backing into a candle and setting my shirt on fire (truth) it is my favorite Jewish  holiday.

Now, sorry but I don't remember where I found this incredible picture on the web, so i can't share with you the pattern how to make them.  But check out the size of those matzoh balls! ( I think I do have that recipe.)

OK - I admit it. I'm a bed knitter.

The Royal Society of Medicine in London released, today, a report calling for more research into a very rare and poorly understood condition found in women called Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS) which causes a constant, unprovoked feelings of excitement. Come on!  Is this really a problem? And what do they call this syndrome when it appears in men?  I have a few ideas for what I'd call it (besides NORMAL) but I'd love to hear what YOU have to say. And besides, do you think, for a minute, that in our male-powered world of medicine that anyone is going to be looking for a cure for this any time soon??

I am certain that any day I will be diagnosed with Perpetual Knitter's Arousal Syndrome (PKAS) . After all, if there is an activity that I do in bed that requires more than one hand, it definately is knitting. After a long day, I have to say I do get pretty worked up about getting into bed with a pair of sticks and a couple of balls. Now, that's what I call exciting -- and yes, as a knitter...normal!
I hope you get to enjoy some bed knitting this weekend!