Lick My Sticks

It’s almost time for Christmas and for many knitters that mean piles of gift-knitting and acute anxiety disorder. But I’m asking you a favor, one that is astronomical at this time of year: I’m asking you to add another project.

I’m asking you to knit or crochet something warm…a scarf, a hat, mittens, maybe even a sweater for homeless children in Boston. I have paired up with Christmas in the City, an all-volunteer organization that worked originally for the admirable goal of making Christmas better for unfortunate children and now works year-round to better the lives of those children and their families.

From their website:

Christmas In The City is a non-profit, 100% volunteer organization founded by Jake and Sparky Kennedy in 1989. Our mission is to support and mentor Boston’s homeless families. What initially began as an effort to make the holidays memorable for children staying in Boston-area shelters has since expanded to include year-round programs, including work to help families make a successful transition from homelessness to independent living.

As a parent it’s hard for me to imagine my child being cold at all…let alone most of the time. So that’s why I’m asking you this enormous favor. I will drive all your donations to Christmas in the City personally, and they will distribute them to the children in Boston shelters for a little Christmas cheer.

I’m also putting out the call to any spinners, dyers, stitch marker makers, anyone really who wishes to donate a door prize for me to raffle off after the drive closes to the kind people who donated. I will be tossing in some prizes, but I’d love to add some shwag from you!

Please, spread the word! A post on your blog, a phonecall to a knitting/crocheting friend, a flier at your LYS, school, or place of work…anything! We’ve got 2 months, let’s see how many kid’s Christmas mornings we can brighten.

Email me at snowwhitesuicide [at] gmail dot com or leave a comment (comments come straight to my inbox) for the address and more information. I’ll be whipping up a little button for your blog shortly.

I need lots of ladies to take my little 10-question/2 second survey for a research paper I’m doing on reactions to advertising and content in women’s magazines. (Like Cosmo and stuff) If you do this I will be your best friend forever.

Click Here to take survey

It’s anonymous, no email needed or anything…

I’ll post the graphs I make up after I turn in the paper, should be interesting! Thanks ladies!

(Feel free to repost this around, I need all the help I can get. This will elevate you to super-best-friend-forever status.)

Because I’m so tired and sick, I will keep this brief and full of pictures!

5:15am Saturday- Out of bed and in the shower

8:00am Bus leaves…late…

(Cat boarding the Yarn Safari Bus.)

9:00am- Last of the boarders have been picked up and we’re on our way. The bus ride was very pleasant, full of nice knitty people and raffles. The best part however was the view, especially once we hit the Catskill Mountains.

We knit like madwomen on the looooooong ride there.

Once we finally got there (an hour and a half late), my first Blogger bingo player, Wendy, spotted me!

Crazy lines at the gate…

Once we finally got in, we were instantly hit with lots of cool sites like these awesome animals and a guy riding around on dinosaurs that almost looked like horses.

After the run/fast walk to The Fold for the STR (which I bought 1 skein too few of…anyone wanna sell/trade a skein of Garnet Dreams?), I ran into Bingo player #2 Glenna!

Do I need to say that the shopping was divine?

Unfortunately due to all the delays, the shopping was rushed. My Yarn Safaris review is basically: fun, cool bonding experience with other knitters, not a good idea for a day trip to Rhinebeck. There’s just too many people to make you late, and buses aren’t allowed on the highway which re-routed us 45 minutes out of the way. However, it was fun and they treated us well. Next year they are doing a weekend trip, but I still think we’ll drive…I want in the second they open the gates!

Anyway, back to the fest. I missed the Raveler/Blogger meet up because we went to the wrong place and got caught up shopping. I did run into Jess and Casey however and got my cool “Hello My Name is” Ravelry button to wear all day. I ran into Miss SomeBunnysLove, ZantiMissKnit, and JimBobSpins.

I made faces at unamused Alpaca

Kinnear’d The Yarn Harlot

And on the way out, found Bingo player #3…Nancy!

All in all I had a great time, but next time I’m (a) Staying overnight and (b) bringing more money! Sorry to Monica, who had me on her card but didn’t spot me! Next time! The ride home was long, but the sunset was nice and spirits were soaring in that post-Patriots win, Red Sox win-in-progress. Our bus host played the who-spent-this-much-raise-your-hand game…mine was up past 200 dollars…oops.

So what did I get? Not as much as I expected! (Blame the lack of time and overwhelm-ness of my first fiber festival!)

My bus knitting (Jaywalkers out of my Madeline Tosh)

Merino Roving and STR from The Fold:

A beautiful Amber ring from a vendor from Taunton MA!

Some lace yarn from Skaska Designs :

And a spindle I’m not sure I like:

So that’s it! I had a great time, it was great to meet everyone! If you have a Rhinebeck recap, post the link in the comments so I can read it!

Finally got some earrings up on Etsy like I said I would 200 years ago. New colors are coming, I think I might whip some more up tonight if I have the time/patience!

These are clay versions of the thread Lick My Sticks earrings, I think they look a bit nicer personally but I’ll probably still make the thread ones too.

Oh yeah…2 more day till Rhinebeck!!

As promised, here are the pics and FO post for the Buttony Sweater! I had a couple of rainy days to contend with, hence the delay…but when you get a beautiful fall day here in New England, you get a BEAUTIFUL day! (And maybe even some surprise sheep!)

Buttony Sweater

• Pattern: Buttony Sweater (free)
• Yarn: Knit Picks Panache in Coal (14 balls, approx. 940 yds.)
• Needles: Size US9/5.5mm circulars
• Notions: Skull and cross-bone resin/metal buttons from Eva’s
• Alterations: Sized up 6 stitches, lengthened ribbing a bit.
• Ravelry page.

What’s behind me? Oh yea…

Jon and I were driving to a friend’s wedding reception when I spotted sheep and almost grabbed the wheel. I begged and whined to turn around so that I could scare the shit out of a bunch of sheep and pose my Buttony in front of them.

So now that Buttony is off the needles it is time for casting on (and lots of xmas knitting, which I can’t post about really…should make for riveting contentless posts…) The newest addition is the Secret of the Stole.

This is a fun knit, although I’m way behind because I didn’t realize it had started for about a week. I’m knitting it in purple Misti Alpaca lace weight on size 4’s. However this will be the last photo because it’s being gifted.

I promise to cast on for some socks or something so I will have pictures to post in the next couple of months.

5 MORE DAYS UNTIL RHINEBECK! Don’t forget to find me for Blogger bingo (or just to say hello and show me what you’ve bought!) I’ll be there sometime after 10am on Saturday! so.freakin.excited.

Meme snatched from Miss Flutter. Knitters of blogland…I give you…my man.

1. Who is your man? Jonathan

2. How long have you been together? Since 2003/2004. We started officially dating in 2004.

3. How long did you date? A year or so before we got married.

4. How old is your man? 28.

5. Who eats more? This boy can put away an entire pack of Oreo in one sitting. No joke.

6. Who said “I love you” first? He did. In the car outside of Metal George’s house before we left for a road trip.

7. Who is taller? He is…little bit.

8. Who sings better? He does. We’re both pretty good screamers though.

(check his band out at myspace/theaccursed)

9. Who is smarter? Pff, me. I’m a fucking genius.

10. Whose temper is worse? His, you should see him driving.

See?

11. Who does the laundry? We both go to the laundromat but I usually take care of the folding and stuff.

12. Who takes out the garbage? He does. Fuck that.

13. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? He does. I’m left-handed, I always go to the left.

14. Who pays the bills? Me. If I didn’t, they’d never get paid.

15. Who is better with the computer? Me. Ask Jon where like 20 of our mp3 albums went last week…

16. Who mows the lawn? Hah! We don’t have a lawn…c’mon.

17. Who cooks dinner? Him. I don’t cook. At all.

18. Who drives when you are together? Him. I can’t drive that horrible van.

19. Who pays when you go out? Him usually, mostly because he’s mister bigmoneydollahs most of the time.

20. Who is most stubborn? We might be in a dead heat here.

21. Who is the first to admit when they are wrong? I’m not sure that ever happens. Mostly because I am never wrong.

22. Whose parents do you see the most? His. Mine are in the Bah-stin area.

23. Who kissed who first? We kinda kissed each other.

(Note the hulk hogan stache up there…)

24. Who asked who out? He asked me out the night before I left for vacation in Canada.

25. Who proposed? He did…onstage at The New Wave in New Bedford during the big xmas show. The place was packed, it was very rock star.

26. Who is more sensitive? He is.

27. Who has more friends? That’d be me. I’m very social when I want to be.

28. Who has more siblings? I do. I have a 2 brothers, 1 sister. He has 1 brother, 1 sister.

29. Who wears the pants in the family? C’mon, do you even have to ask?

All and all, Jon is the best and I love him very much. We had a rough start, but we stuck to it and found our rhythm. He believes me when I tell him that sock yarn was only eight dollars, drives me to Knit Night every week, and he has learned to be quiet when I’m counting stitches. He cooks me dinner and does the dishes. He even tapes me Grey’s Anatomy and Sex and the City. He’s multi-talented and funny. And he’s pretty damn hot, too. What about your man? If you’re reading this, I’m tagging you!

Love ya babe!

I’ve finished Buttony! It fits, it’s soft, I love it. If there’s no rain tomorrow I will get the FO pics taken…this is technically my first big person sweater. (Only really knit shells until this!)

So what’s on the needles now? What’s coming up? Well I’m still plugging away at my CPH, I’ve got a Branching Out I’m on-and-off working on…but the upcomers…all xmas!

I just joined the Secret of the Stole, I’ve got some catching up to do! Let’s see how far behind I lag!

Well that’s it for now, just wanted to tease you with the FO foreshadowing…

1 week, 1 day until Rhinebeck!!!

Well now you can be. I’ve re-opened the Bad Ass Knitters ring. Ringsurf added the little number entry box, seems to have at least for now slowed the spam. We’ll see how it goes!

BTW I’m one sleeve from finishing Buttony! And two weekends away from Rhinebeck!!

Happy long weekend! (But fuck Columbus, genocidal asshole.)