Coming soon to a knitting shop near you is Handknit Heroes. I was a lucky duck and . . . → Read More: Move over Knitting Ninja!]]> WAY back I showed you an online comic that featured me as the Knitting Ninja.. wielding knitting needles rather than nunchucks off I went into adventure.. Well now there is a new.. REAL.. comic in town:

Coming soon to a knitting shop near you is Handknit Heroes. I was a lucky duck and got an advanced copy! It’s not bad! Not bad at all..  the story line looks promising and every issue will have a knitting pattern included for an item featured in the comic. This issue has a hooded scarf with pockets worn by the lead character, Ana.

The publishers of Handknit Heros are looking for submissions for future designs and also planning a contest for knitters to design a mask for Ana.  A hero has to keep her identity secret eh?

I look forward to getting more issues of Handknit Heros and seeing where it goes!

Congrats to Stephanie Bryant and the crew on this great new venture!!

It was!

It is difficult to come up with a blog . . . → Read More: Blog 365! And a contest!]]> WOW! I cannot believe that this year is almost over, can you? The observant among you will have noticed the Blog 365 badge on my sidebar..I joined Blog 365 at the beginning of the year, and thought it would be a daunting challenge!

It was!

It is difficult to come up with a blog post EVERY day. Some days I sure didn’t feel like it that’s for sure, but I set a goal for myself and I am two days away from  accomplishing it! I didn’t even take the 29th of February off so 366!

I can tell you this.. I will not be doing it next year.. at least not on purpose.. I would like to spend a bit more time mulling things over.. and posting some more ‘quality’ rather than ‘quantity’.

Don’t get me wrong it’s been fun, I enjoy sharing with you! I do need a little break though!

So hey to celebrate this let’s have a little contest!!

Think back over the year and tell me which one post stands out as your favourite..

Leave me a comment  about your favourite post and I will enter you into a drawing…

Post about  and link to your favourite post on your own blog, you get an extra entry! (Just be sure to come back and leave another comment with the link to your post in it!)

The prize?? hmm… lets see.. I have a few nice fibery treats.. so  I will pick a couple of winners! So get those comments flying!! Good luck!

It won the design contest that I entered it in! I will have more details when I know more!

Hopefully.. I will NOT be a one hit wonder!

Drum roll please!!!!

She guessed 132, and the actual amoung was 155..

This ought to make up  a little for my giggling over her coffee vs. computer incident!

Don’t let that daunting amount of ends scare you away when the project is finally revealed.. I am probably just a messy knitter!

Back to the bounty of Rhinebeck tommorrow. I have to pack up my spinning wheel today and get it ready to go to it’s new owner!

I am finally done with the knitting of my secret projects.. I am free at last!! I can knit what I want when I want where I want..

 So what is this secret project.. well it’s something for this blogger.. for the project seen HERE..Yep I’m a contributor.. three times over…

The only thing I can show you is this..

Sorry it’s blurry.. it’s a little dark, dingy, and cloudy here in the Rhinebeck neighborhood today!

And thus a contest!!!

How many ends do you think are in that pile.. those are the ends I had to weave in as I finished up..

The person who guesses the closest gets the leftovers.. yes the leftovers.. of a high end ‘luxury’ fiber fingering weight yarn that was used for this project..

There is enough that one could make a nice stripey baby surprise sweater perhaps or another colourful baby sweater of their choice.. Unfortunately there is not enough yarn of the right colours left over to make the actual project itself.. but hey if you wait to see what is it you have a head start on the yarn!!!

Leave me a comment with your guess by Tuesday midnight, and I will let you know who is the closest!!!!

Happy Guessing!!!

And Boss… the package is on it’s way.. I can’t send outgoing email from here..so you should get it Tuesday pattern forthcoming!!!

So Rock the Vote people!!

My blog is nominated for Best Hobby Blog.. and I am behind!! WAHHH!! Go vote.. or go vote for your other favourite blog!

Hurry! The voting ends on October 19th!

Shameless I know!

And it’s funny because they have the old look of my blog on there!

Arghh says me yarn pirate..

 Hmm.. and come on people!! NO ONE filled in the blank on my wordless Wednesday last week!!

No Tick fans out there??

I am one and a half rows away from the 576 stitch section of the Pi shawl! Boy that increas row would have occupied me well during one of the legs of our plane trip tommorrow. sigh..

My neice showed me her loom knitting.

She is working on a scarf on the red loom I gave her. She has a copy of my book too but I can tell she didn’t really read it.. because she is working in the opposite direction that I show in the book! sigh…

I do have a little yarn left I will probably make a few fiddle faddle stars on the flight back to keep me busy! There was a guess on the mystery location #2.. LAKE TAHOE and just in case you didn’t recognise my loomy friend in the picture it is none other than Lynn Markman!

Next.. vacation yarn shopping!

It took about a three hour drive to get there..

Look out smoke!! Looks like there was a forest fire here recently!

SOOO not looking over the edge.. that shot is from the van window!!!

We fell for this place from the moment we pulled up!! Caleb took it literally..

Pioneer Woman’s little girl punks can drive those big pickup trucks.. but my girl seems to have an affinity for power boats!

Check her out!

Also I met up with a loom knitting celebrity who lives nearby!(more on this later!)

So any guesses?? Anyone anyone?? There could be some fibery goodness in your future if you are the first to guess…

We are in Northern California, and were at Yosemite! It is so beautiful there! The Big Trees are the Calaveras Big Trees a state park. It is very . . . → Read More: Yosemite Sam!]]> Well Debbie and Jennifer are both right! (ya’ll have to email me your contact info so I can send you something fibery when I get back!

We are in Northern California, and were at Yosemite! It is so beautiful there! The Big Trees are the Calaveras Big Trees a state park. It is very nice!

There is also a grove of big redwoods in Yosemite but we did not get to it.

The fun thing is that in the Ansel Adams gallery store at Yosemite there was a loom knitting kit! Too fun!

Well today we are off to another location nearby.. I think I will just have to have you all guess where I am next! (I have a little more stash to spare!) I am also having a little loom along while we are at our next destination.. meeting up with a loomy friend!

Boy blogging in the car is fun! hehehe See you later!

Some days I feel so small and insignifigant…

But I know that He always holds us in His hands…

(translation: get me more clothes (Jaxom) So I replied: quit growing!-Mom I can’t -Jaxom)

Then I walked into the kitchen the other day and saw that someone had done something to the note.

(translation:stop arguing Mom +Jaxom- Azia)

This was just too fun! I thought I would turn it into a little meme and contest!

I wanna see what notes are on your Refrigerators! So snap a picture and post it on your blog! It could be your shopping list, to do list whatever! Then leave me a comment to let me know you did it and where! Don’t forget to link to this post so if someone sees it on your blog they can come on by and join in the fun!

I have some pretty sock yarn to give some lucky person so don’t forget to leave a comment!

And please make sure there is a way I can get in touch with you if you win!I will add you all to a list and assign you a number as I add you and warm up the old random number generator on December 16th to pick a winner so you can put your pretty sock yarn under the tree if you want! I’ll even gift wrap it for ya!!

And please! Stop by Knitters Build a House and read all about the effort to help some families in Mississippi stay out of tents in February when their only homes.. FEMA trailers are taken away. Feel Free to grab that button and put a link on your blog!

(that’s an acutal house that was knitted there on the button! you can read about it here)

Oh there is a bit of knitting content.. here  I started this today!

I’ll hopefully have it done tommorow it will involve that overspun superbulky yarn I spun up the other day. I am using at a design feature! 

And hey I am coming up on comment #700! woo hoo.. perhaps I will round up a little giftie for my 800th commenter! So keep those comments coming!

Whenever I want to see my spoons I just walk into my little breakfast room and take a gander.. I like to look at them and remember places I have been or hearing stories about the places my family and friends have been to. 

The other day I came across an impressive collection. It was an online collection of knitting patterns..The site boasted over 1000 in their collection.

I was duly impressed. My husband was not.. he said we could beat that! We could make a directory on your site and beat that!! I said why would I want a collection of regular knitting patterns on a Knitting Without Needles site when there is no collection of free knitting loom and board patterns like this? So he said we could do that!

So here is my proposal: I would like to build a centralized collection of the free knitting loom and knitting board patterns. A place for one stop shopping so to speak.

Now. I can’t do it alone! I need your help! I need you to email me the links of sites with free knitting loom patterns. I know there are some out there that I haven’t even found yet so I expect to be pleasantly surprised.

After obtaining permission of the pattern owner, I will either pop the patterns into pdf files to be downloaded directly from the directory, or place a link to the pattern on their site.I will also categorize them and get them out there in one place so they are easy to find! It may be another page on this site, or it may be a whole new site.

So, if you have a free pattern that you want to submit to the directory please email me the link, or the whole pattern(with permission of the pattern owner*) at: knittingloomcentral@gmail.com

There will be prizes!!! I will put everyone who submits a pattern into a database 1 entry per pattern you submit, and pick names for prizes!! I personally have a few looms and some yarn I can throw in the pot, and anyone who wants to donate a prize to encourage this effort please email me at the address above with prize in the subject line!! Let’s see how sweet we can make it!!

And also.. I would love to collect a readers’ gallery of photos of projects you have made from my patterns from here and from the book! I have had a few of you email me photos and just saw the first one from the book on Patti’s blog!!

  (hope you don’t mind Patti…I snagged your picture!!)

  So send those along to my personal email over there on the right! I can’t wait to see your creations!! 

*note: If I find that anyone has submitted a pattern that is out there for sale, or otherwise in violation of the pattern owner’s copyright the submitter will be disqualified from the contest and the pattern will not be placed in the database.     

First the test knit.

Yarn: SWTC Twize

Needles: US #7 Plymouth Bamboo circs

This nice little short sleeve sweater in Twize. A new bamboo yarn from SWTC. The Twize was great to work with, the only problem I had was trying to get it to cooperate with my ball winder. It just wouldn’t, so I gave up and worked from the cone.

The colour is great, it is soooooo soft! I don’t know when it will be out but it’s well worth it! I just hope they like mine!

The next FO is a Panta for the Panta along!

Panta Pattern: Compiled by Peggy from patterns on the Craftster forums. Yarn: Katia Confetti

Needles: US #6 Addis

A great fast knit. I think I will do another one with my Alpaca Silk from Knit picks. I also think I will slip the first stitch of every row, so it won’t curl up so much. I might try running Azia’s through the wash and see if that tightens it up a bit and helps with the curl along the edges.

Also coming up soon is my blogaversary. So why not have a little contest?

Here is a peek at my next project.

What is it??

I will collect the names of people who guess what it is and pull someone’s name out of a hat for a little prize.. so leave me a comment from now until Jan 19 and I will pick a winner on the 20th!

Also keep watching I am hoping to launch Purls of Hope to organize some help for people in need starting with Pearlington, MS. There has been little help there or improvement since Katrina hit and we are nearly 4 months out from it. I will have details there so look for it later this week.

AND… I will need some help with graphics and buttons here for KnitChat.com I will be expanding out from just my blog and hopefully some of you who are more creative than I with the graphics can help!

There might be some nice yarn in it for you!!

So look out! Things they are a’changing!