Joelene tagged me for this knitting meme. So here ya go.

What is your all time favorite yarn to knit with?
Hmmm… Hard to choose. Yeah, really I can’t, but I’ll say, I’ve haven’t found a Rowan yarn I don’t like.

Your favorite needles?
Denise interchangeables. Hands down.

The worst thing you’ve ever knit?
The stupid poncho. It turned out great, but I spent hours and hours and HOURS on it and then decided that I most definitely didn’t like ponchos.

Your most favorite knit pattern? (maybe you don’t like wearing it…but it was the most fun to knit)
Well, I liked the One Skein Wonder, but I am sick to death of knitting it now. I really like my two hour hat pattern, it goes so fast!

Most valuable knitting technique?
Patience and determination.

Best knit book or magazine?
I like Last Minute Knitted Gifts a lot, but I’d probably say the book I’ve used the much and continue to use all the time is Stitch ‘n Bitch.

Your favorite knit-a-long?
I don’t really do ‘em. I really liked the scarf swap that we did in January though, we need to do another…

The knit item you wear the most? (how about a picture of it!)
hmm, I’ve hardly made myself much to wear but I really like one of the first scarves I ever made.

Tag time
I tag LeAnne and Brianne. Ha! that rhymed!

I finished these this weekend for the yarn store.

I like them quite a bit and they knit up really fast. The yarn is Rowan Felted Tweed. The amazing and talented Joelene wrote the pattern. Thanks Jo!

I also finished a plain knit scarf for the model for my beginning knitting classes, but forgot to take a photo. OH well…

Up on the needles are some leg warmers (from Last Minute Knitted Gifts) they’re taking WAY longer than 4 hours. I’m also working on a cabled purse and the Urban Outfitters Vest. If only I could knit all day long, what a life that would be!

Interweave knits has a new more “youthful” knitting magazine out. My guess is that it’s in competition with Knit.1. I like it better than Knit.1, I think, because it features more than just Lion Brand yarn.

Here are a few things I’m thinking of making (pardon the poor photo quality.)

I think this sweater is really great, minus the pom poms. Can you imagine what kind of gunk would be floating around in those? Just give them one minute with Honor and we’d have to call in the biohazard team. (I really need to get myself my own personal biohazard team, don’t ya think?)

The description of this one was a strapless vest. I might be able to pull it off with a button up shirt underneath and a jacket over.

And this is my favorite. I’m making a model for the yarn shop, and then I’m sure one for me too.

Being at the yarn shop all the time is hard because there are SO many things I want to make and not enough time in the day. sigh…

I was planning on posting photos of the kiddies today, but I’m having all kinds of problems with a plugin I installed for iphoto and now I’m so fed with up with the whole thing that I refuse to mess with it anymore.

So here’s a picture of me wearing my new neck warmer. I haven’t weaved in the ends and the dark green button is falling off (which I ended up replacing with a smaller dark green button anyway) but here it is.

agh! I hate, hate, HATE when I have problems with computers…grrrr.

So yesterday I taught my knitting class. I think it went pretty well. I had six students with varying degrees of expertise. A few of them didn’t know know to cast on. One didn’t realize that when you knit in the round, that you just keep going ’round and ’round, so she kept turning her work. Luckily we caught it after a few rows. One was an experienced grandma who was just enjoying spending her day at the yarn store. She left early because her thumb was going numb.

The class was two hours long. I think my biggest mistake was thinking that we’d finish the hat in two hours (even though I can finish one in one hour.) I have to go back on Saturday to show a few of them how to decrease and switch to DPN’s. The only person who totally finished her hat was a 10 year old girl. She was great, and amazing, I just told her what to do and she whipped it out. Isn’t that funny?

I had a really great time teaching, it’s really fun to hang out at the yarn store, being surrounded by so much yarn. Ahhhhh. Eden was so impressed that I was the teacher. She keeps asking me, “is there a school in the yarn store? And a desk?” I’m enjoying these moment’s while I can still impress my children, I know it won’t last.

This great little neck warmer at craftster.

A very cool shrug-y type sweater from the brand new issue of knitty.

This bolero, with some major modifications, like shorten the back and lose the sleeves, voila! one up on the sold out Urban Outfitters vest.

And check out this oh, so cool knitting cafe in NYC. I’m wishing I was there.

Hey, it’s free who cares if you’ll ever use it right?

FREE YARN

I just wanted to thank you all for your kind words of support. Things are just really difficult around here and I may not have a chance to email you all. To top it all off, I’ve got a really painful bladder infection. Life is so fun!

At least the kids are cute right?

But possibly the worst news in the entire world is… I’m ashamed to even admit it… I KNIT WRONG! It seems that I twist my stitches. Instead of wrapping the yarn counter clockwise when I knit AND purl, I wrap it clockwise (which is much easier, by the way.) I taught myself out of a book, so when the yarn store owner told me over the phone that she wanted to watch me knit before I taught the class, I knew that it could be quite possible that I WAS doing it wrong. I whipped out my Stitch n Bitch book and realized the painful truth. The thing is, this was something that I thought I was really good at. I’ve taught countless people to knit and I’ve made many, many things the wrong way. It kinda breaks my heart a little. It was nice knowing I was really good at something. Even my little sister admitted that I was really good at it. (Now that’s saying something.) I hate the thought of telling her…

So today, when the thought of peeing makes me want to cry; when it seems like we’re not even wanted at our church; when there may or may not be something really wrong with my husband; when my uber hyper son takes every chance he has to make me look like a fool in public; when we’ve got a new niece that we’ll never see, now supposedly living in the SAME town as us; when the business stress could not possibly be any worse; when my relatives are being hit by tornados; when my friends are being kicked out of their bands, landing in the hospital, hating their jobs, needing stitches; and now I can’t even knit, I say BRING IT. I’m pissed and I’m ready to beat the crap out of whatever you throw at me.

I’ve been knitting hats like crazy lately. I’m teaching a class at the yarn store next month and I’ve been trying to find the perfect and most affordable yarn. This is my favorite hat so far, but the yarn, which is Colinette, is really expensive.

I also made one out of Di.ve Fiamma, but next to the Colinette, it was less than impressive. Right now, I’m just two rows from finishing my third, this time out of Rowan Biggie Print.

I’m excited to be teaching a class, I think it will be really fun. We’re also talking about me teaching the One Skein Wonder too, which will be really fun.

Yesterday was my good friend Brooke’s birthday. I feel absolutely terrible about it because instead of emailing her to wish her happy birthday, I emailed her to freak out. (And all I have to say about what was freaking me out is this: of all aspects of my life, church should not be the one that causes me so much heartache. moving on…)

Brooke turned 26 yesterday. And I know that she’s so worried about being in her late twenties now, but don’t you think she’s so cute?

Notice her birthday present, another one skein wonder, this one out of Rowan summer tweed.

Seriously she doesn’t look a day over twenty five.

Happy birthday Brooke! I love you and I thank God that you’re in my life. And for what it’s worth, I consider 26 to be the mid twenties.