Now I am slower than most when it comes to finding good patterns, but ever since I saw this little number on Elann I’ve been very tempted by it. But to order all those yarn just to have a peek at the pattern? I think not. To my knowledge, this pattern book has sold out and is out of print. The last glimpse I had of it was on Ebay and sold for 20 buckaroos (not including shipping.. which was.. like.. another 6 bucks). Undaunted, I googled the internets and found one knitter who referenced this pattern book. Lucky for me, Kim of http://curliegirl.blogspot.com/ is kind enough to send me her copy in exchange for the Japanese wool yarn that I used to knit Stephanie’s Spring Grass Socks. Whew, that was a long sentence. In addition to the lovely bomber on your left, I also fell in love with this cala-lily sweater here.
Guess I have to re-evaluate my opinion on sweaters knit w/ chunky yarn huh? And wait, there’s more. How about this sweater that is on every knitting magazine this fall? So there is another point to this story here. After I sent my first email to Kim about this pattern book, I also emailed Schoeller-Stahl to see if they have copies of the bomber and the cala-lily sweater that I can perhaps purchase - cuz I thought my chances of Kim parting with this pattern book would be slim. Turned out that Skacel Collection is the US distributor of Schoeller-Stahl, and one of their representatives emailed me back saying that though the pattern is out of print, he could make photocopies of the 2 patterns that I like for me. Yipee! Instead what I found on my doorstep today was THE WHOLE PATTERN BOOK with a note that said: (note the pink pen)And then there were two….
Update: So Andrea brought up a question. “Will I be willing to part with one?” The answer is Yes. I received the pattern book from Kim as a trade - my sock yarns for her pattern. The second one was just by sheer dumb luck. If you love the patterns as much as I do, we could always do a My Duplicates for Your Duplicates trade. No duplicates? Make an offer - Cream Puffs sound good to me. Ha ha. Try me - I’m easy (in a good way.. tsk tsk tsk)

I’m 26 today. And in addition to the lovely yarn winder, check out what else my BF got me! Yea, I know.. shameless blogger. Bwa ha ha ha…. not only does it store ALL of my favorite tunes, it allows me to listen to my favorite radio station too. hm.. gots to have my updates on wordly events and new tunes on NPR.

Today started out with me receiving 3 hanks of handpainted merino from Uruguay in the following colorway. These 3 hanks are destined to be Clapo-2, since Clapo-1 has been abducted by mommy dearest. And would you know it? BF came to visit me tonite. This is how we spent a romantic (heh heh) evening together.First, we started out with the lovely yarn…. A few hours went by…

And 2 balls of lovely hand-wound yarn appeared. I was going to get to the third hank… but
BF decided that it’s time to get me this! HA HA HA… And that is the end of our little show-and-tell for today. YIPEE!!!!! (Oh and just so you know, I already made good use of that 50% off from Joann for the swift that should appear on my doorsteps any day now)

Remember my nervousness and excitement over meeting up with Joy and Andrea? It was supposed to happen at 2pm, but the greyhound didn’t cooperate. Andrea and I had big plans to truck Joy around the LYS in LA, spanning from Universal City to Santa Monica and possibly even Hollywood. Unfortunately, Andrea had a class to attend and by the time I met up with Joy, it was too late to hit any yarn stores. But boy did Joy make up for lost time! The little lady brought us goody bags with sample yarns from Artfiber, munchies, and get this, a whole cake of cashmere yarn!! Speaking of which, Andrea, you and I need to meet up at UCLA some time next week so you can pick up your package. Any later, and I’ll hoard your share too. Hee hee.

Before meeting Joy, I was a bundle of nerves. Will she be as cool as she seems on her blog? Will it be awkward? Maybe I should bring my knitting so if it gets awkward then I’ll just knit? What if I clam up and bore her to death? Oh my god I’m actually meeting up with ppl from the internet? Oh my god I sound like such a loser… you get the point. Well, the moment we met, we gave each other a big hug and surprisingly, my nervousness kinda melted away. I guess Joy has that effect on people. I didn’t bring my camera, so y’all will have to wait to see our pic together on Joy’s website at a later date. It was a hot humid night, so don’t be surprised if we look a little frazzled with shiny foreheads. You’ve been warned. I had a really great time hanging out with Joy and her friends - Thomas the Ultimate Karaoke Machine, Sarah the Crafty Crochet Queen, and Eric the Fabu Decorator. Okay, I am just making up titles for them now, but that’s my impression in a nutshell - all very cool people.
Joy wanted to know what I was working on right now, and it’s Backyard Leaves from scarf style for my mom. I’m using sportweight yarn.. so hopefully it won’t be too holey after blocking. Here’s my progress so far..

Enjoy your weekend y’all. I’m camping out at my bf’s air-conditioned house.
*Edit: Here’s the sweaty pic that I stole off Joy’s blog. Har har.. I brightened it so you can see us a little better, although probably shinier too now that I look at it.

I’ve been slacking on Phildar Stripey….the endless stockinette is boring me to death..argh.. I am so not in the mood for big projects recently, so I’ve resorted to making scarves. Here is Leaf Cravat by Teva Durham, using sz 5 needles and a sport weight Baruffa Aerobic Yarn.
Let me tell ya, this sucker is LONG. I just kept knitting and knitting, and before you know it, it’s 10 ft long! Ha ha.. Good thing it’s uber-skinny, so I can just wrap and wrap and wrap. I’m also working on another scarf for my mom, but no pictures yet.
So remembered how I tried to steer my sister away from black, gray and white? She still wants gray. I’ve managed to talk her into adding another color, and guess what she wanted? Dark Olive Green. *shakes head* I give up. Here’s her cabled armwarmer, using sz 7 circs and Cascade 220 yarn.
Since I’m in the mood for scarves and little pick-me-ups lately, I’ve signed on to Stitch Ya Neck Out. Check it out, we’ve got some awesome knitters in the swap. I’ve never knit for another fellow knitter before, so I’m a little nervous about having my knitting scrutinized. What if my swap pal thinks I am a horrible knitter? What if she thinks her scarf looks like crap? yea, self-doubts can be nerve-wrecking. Hopefully it will work out. The kick-off is early August. Go sign up like I did (at 3am in the freakin’ morning when I was semi-delusional).
Supposed to be meeting Joy and Andrea in the afternoon. A little anxious, but a little excited nonetheless.