A Little Yarn On The Side

If you are participating in the WIP-finishing contest, this post is not going to be helpful at all. The lovely Hibiscus for Hope pattern is now available. Ramona has designed the luscious sock pattern as a thank-you gift for those who sponsor her in a walk to raise money for breast cancer. To get a copy of the pattern, you can sponsor Ramona here . There's a place on the form where you can specify that you would like the pattern, and give her your email address so she can send you a copy. If this: doesn't make it tempting enough for you, consider According to the CDC, in 2004 (the most recent year numbers are available), 186,772 women and 1,815 men were diagnosed with breast cancer 40,954 women and 362 men died from breast cancer Supporting research to cure any type of cancer is one of the most heroic deeds humans are capable of achieving. Let's make it a thing of the past--not the future.

Through tenacity, dedication, and bribery, I have finished 9 1/2 swoopies: 2 1/2 swoopies left. This was on my list as the knitting project to finish for June, but that would be a lot of swoopies in 2 days. I'm just not sure even a box full of merino would be sufficient bribery for that sort of torture.... Hibiscus for Hope progressed all the way to the short-row heel, which looks fabulous until Unstretched, it's about an inch too long for my insanely-pale foot. Some frogging will be occurring this evening. Luckily, it's so far off that I think I can eliminate an entire pattern repeat, which would mean the least amount of frogging and pattern editing. Or I can find a woman with feet 2 inches longer than mine.....

Things you can blame on Ramon a: * The Lady's Circular Cape being totally ignored this week * My total lack of blogging because I'm completely enamored with her pattern I am test knitting * That everyone is going to be getting socks instead of the lace scarves I had intended * That I now REALLY want to buy one of Cat Bordhi's sock books--which I can't have because we're still in the middle of the 90 day spending ban * I am going to stay up WAY too late tonight knitting, making the 5:00 AM wake up call for the gym an even more hideous experience than usual. To be honest, I think I had become a little bit bored by socks and have only made the last few pairs because they were mindless and portable. I haven't purchased any sock yarn in probably a YEAR, so my sock yarn stash has dwindled to yarn for 11 pairs of socks (from a high of 23), making it quite possibly the most "reasonable" part of my stash. I have been using the same toe-up pattern because I do...

Ramona has asked me to test knit a pattern she has written as a way to help raise money for a good friend. I'd like to think I would have agreed to help with such a great cause even if it didn't give me a whopping good excuse to avoid the swoopies for a few days, but let's just say that it might have helped her cause a bit . In Knitting Land (unlike the Real World), good deeds are generally rewarded. Not only do I get to help someone who is helping a friend, getting a pair of great socks, getting away from the swoopies, I learned a fabulous new cast on for toe-up socks. Look at this: OK, it might be really hard to see this, but you can't see the cast on AT ALL. I generally only make toe-up socks, but the pattern I have been using leaves a really rough line across the toe. I love this cast on! There is a video of it here , though I will admit that I cannot make it through the entire video. I am not really a "cutesy" person, so when Cat pretends that the...