Monday, June 28, 2010

It Itches

I picked up a late birthday present for myself last weekend:



Knitters, if you’re not familiar with the Panopticon, go visit Franklin and Dolores for a while, I’m sure you’ll fall in love like I did!

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

No So Much Success...

Yesterday I received a very nice rejection letter for my submission to Knitty. I am okay with it. For me it was a good practice in going through the steps toward submission and just another experience under my belt - that's my story and I'm stickin' to it!

Now I'm trying to decide whether I want to just self publish here or take the time to reformat and submit to Knit Picks Independent Partnership Design Program. we'll see...

Also, I totally missed out on the June Phat Fiber Box. For some reason I didn't get the notification email, so I need to check in with Phat Fiber and see what happened. I'm actually more excited for the July theme any way: Seaweed, Ships and Scallywags. That seems up my alley!

Friday, June 18, 2010

Phat Fiber

I've just stumble upon a neat fiber site: Phat Fiber. It's self described as "a mystery box of awesome samples for the yarn and fiber enthusiast in us all. With a focus on the independent artisan, this box is a super grass-roots treat for the senses."

The more I search around and learned about the Phat Fiber box, the more I want one - Apparently it's a total competition every month to even purchase one of these mystery boxes, so much so that the Sheepshape Spinning blog made a tutorial complete with screen shots.

Oh it's on. I'm going to aim for one of the June boxes, as soon as they notify me that they are available. What's that? You say that it's silly because I wouldn't actually need all that unspun fiber since I lack any sort of spinning skills? Ah, well, if I
am one of the luck ducks who actually gets a June box then I am taking that as a sign that it's time to figure out how to use that cute little drop spindle my mom brought back from Alaska last year (spinners, don't worry, I'm not planning on starting with the raw fleece that is pictured - that'll just have to keep sitting patiently!).



The other neat thing that Phat Fiber does is regular giveaways on their blog. Seriously, all I have to do is look at the items you're promoting and make a comment about them to be entered to win. Hell, that seems too easy!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Uninspired

I'm feeling totally uninspired by my knitting right now. Sure, I keep working on the projects I have laying around, but they are all bigger or more intricate projects - Coffee Tunic, Summit Shawl, and Sipalu Bag - and are taking me foooorrrreeeevvveeerrrr to complete. Normally at this point I'd be distracted by a cute hat or pair of mitts, but even that's not happening. I gotta face it, 90 degree heat is not conducive to knitting. Period.

The heat is, however, inspiring me to small fits of green-thumbery in our little container garden out back (because there's no way I'm planting edibles in the same ground where my dog pees).



Well...okay... I'm more of a black thumb who like planting stuff who's married to a green thumb who remembers to water stuff, but mainly because he's out back every hour smoking a cigarette anyway. Either way, it's a good deal, really, and is yielding some delicious herbs (basil, sage, rosemary), yellow tomatoes, cute little strawberries, jalapenos that are too hot for whities like us to eat, garlic that's nearly ready for harvesting, some squash plants which I'm hoping will someday do more than sprawl, and finally some hearty flowers.








And I was even inspired by the suggestion in Martha F-ing Stewart's magazine (don't judge, you wouldn't be able to turn down a year's free subscription either!) of a succulent planter for arid regions and made this little cutie to sit out front of our home.



Thank goodness it will only need water every month or so, because I know (from experience) that I won't remember to bring a watering can out front regularly.