my life in stitches

drumroll, please!

and the total number of Bejeweled patterns sold is 299! that's a $523.25 donation from pattern sales + a matching donation from Anichini, bringing the total donation to F.I.R.E. to $1046.50!!! thanks to everyone who bought a pattern or two or ten! (yes, one wonderful woman purchased 10 patterns!) people often resist donating to charity because they think that their tiny donation won't matter, but when lots of people make tiny donations it all adds up and it can make a huge difference! thanks for helping me to share a little love and a lot of warmth with Mongolia!

a special thanks to all the bloggers who posted about Bejeweled and a special thanks to Lolly, whom one of her readers dubbed as 'a pusher of all things good'. indeed! she is hosting the Bejeweled knitalong ithis month. you can find more info here. i've seen some pretty terrific Bejeweled scarves already. i'm looking forward to seeing more!

in Yarnplay news, the Edie pattern will soon be available in 3 larger sizes. i will only be providing the extra numbers. you will still need to purchase the book in order to have the full instructions. stay tuned to the Yarnplay blog for further details.

oh! and thanks to all the wonderful chicas who have offered to knit me a pair of socks. i'll be in touch within the next couple of days!

s a t u r d a y

i woke up this morning with a pms-induced, pre-migraine aura. luckily, for me it stops at the aura and general queasiness and never erupts into a full-blown migraine. never the less, it's annoying. faced with the choice of staying at home and feeling mildly uncomfortable or going out and being distracted from my discomfort, i chose the latter. i headed out to the museum to see Radical NY: The Downtown Art Scene, 1974-1984. usually, anything even slightly NYC related makes me homesick. this exhibition made me a little depressed. i started hanging out in the city at the very end of this fantastic era when i was a youngster and moved there a few years later. there were a lot of great photographs in this show and i saw many familiar faces staring back. a couple were guys that i briefly dated. these were talented, unique, outrageous, and totally free people, the likes of which you don't see much of today. most of these people are dead now. perhaps it was seeing this exhibition so far away from NYC that made it all the more poignant. had i seen it in the city i probably wouldn't have thought too much about it one way or the other. for me, the biggest difference between there and here is that here you have all the time in the world dwell on things. in nyc, not so much.

i am slowly making progress on my cashmere sweater. i don't get to work on it until i get into bed and at that time i'm pretty eager to grab my current book and start reading. hence, the knitting on this is a slow go. i'd be surprised if i get to wear it before it gets really warm again.

in Bejeweled News, 232 patterns sold! please remember that i will only be making donations from the sales of Bejeweled patterns through 12.31.06.

dialing it down

the Knitty Gritty experience was fantastic, but god am i tired! all the anxiety and preparations before leaving for california gave me more than a few sleepless nights. i was up at 5 am in Burbank. the first morning it was to be ready for a 7 am call time. the second morning i was jetlagged. i love to travel, but sleeping in strange beds and too many evenings of restaurant meals stresses me out. i returned late thursday night and i still feel like i'm about 24 hours and a couple of plates of brown rice and steamed greens away from being fully back to myself.

i loved seeing my sweaters decorating the Knitty Gritty set. that was pretty surreal! well, the whole experience was surreal. i felt like i had crashed the party at an all-star knitting camp. it was just wild to be around all these legendary knitfolk whose careers i've followed online. very fun!

and the knitsters! it was cool to meet these great women who had been knitting from my designs and adding their own twists and embellishment to the patterns. i'll post their creations over the next few days. in the meantime, here are the knitsters - Diana, Edda, & Liisa.

i'm trying to get back into a groove working on my next book, Yarnplay At Home. all those little bits of projects for Knitty Gritty took quite a lot of time to complete. i feel like i'm so behind...

Bejeweled stats: 149 and counting! the very fabulous Lolly is hosting a Bejeweled knitalong in January. you can find more info here. grab a button, buy a pattern, and join the fun!

back by popular demand

i had couple of requests to post my playlist every month. this is the playlist for november. for the most part it's pretty nostalgic, with a few new favorites added to break up that melancholic 'wish-i could-go-back-there-now' feeling. i've been really homesick lately. missing manhattan and the east coast, in general. not sure how much more of texas i can take. i have no life here. all my good shoes are gathering dust. speaking of good shoes, i treated myself to pair of Prada boots for Chrimbo. though they're likely to get little play here... anyway.

i've decided to stick with the cashmere sweater, as is. i haven't the time or the energy to rip it out and start again. i think it will be lovely. it's very lightweight and delicate and i'm starting to feel excited about it.

on tuesday, i'm off to burbank for my Knitty Gritty taping. after several deliveries from Saks (and several returns) i still only have one outfit. the biggest issue is sizing. having mostly been severely skinny for the past few years, i'm in the habit of ordering teeny tiny clothing. suddenly i've gone from a size 4 all over to a size 4 on the bottom and size 8 on the top! the idea that i can wear a size small skirt but need to be taped down to fit into a size medium top is just ridiculous. it's pretty bizarre, but it would be far worse if it were the other way around... so, if you see me on tv wearing a really tight sweater you'll know the backstory! my taping is on wednesday morning. i think i have plans wednesday evening, but i may be free wednesday afternoon. if anyone's in the neighborhood and wants to hang out, let me know.

in Bejeweled news, 47 patterns sold, 253 to go! thanks to everyone who has participated in this fundraising effort. please note that since i will be away from tuesday-thursday patterns purchased during that time may not be delivered until friday. this may be the last you read of me until i return from california. wish me luck and send me positive vibes on wednesday morning!!!

all the cool kids are doing it

buying a Bejeweled pattern (which donates money to deliver Dulaan goodies to Mongolia), knitting it up, and spreading good will! here's Dana's lovely Bejeweled-in-progress.

Tamara bought the pattern and wrote:

Thank you for making it so easy and enjoyable to do a little bit of good. I may make the scarf and donate it to another cause, to continue the efforts.

even if you're not going to knit this scarf right now, you should buy the pattern because your $2.25 is a $3.50 donation to the Mongolia Project at F.I.R.E. what's $2.25? i'm pretty sure it won't even buy you a double tall skinny mocha latte!

if you have a blog, please post about this and help to raise money to keep sending all the Dulaan goodies to Mongolia! thus far 33 sold, 267 to go!!

buy a scarf pattern, keep a child warm!

as you know, through December 31st, i'm donating $1.75 (pretty much all the profits - the patterns sells for $2.25, paypal charges between .37 to .39 cents per pattern) from the Bejeweled Scarf patterns, to F.I.R.E so that they can deliver all your yummy handknits to children in Mongolia. i've got great news! Anichini, the world's foremost luxury linens and textiles company, has offered to match the donations raised from the sale of my Bejeweled Scarf pattern. what that means is that for every pattern you purchase at $2.25, The Mongolia Project at F.I.R.E. will receive $3.50!!! please, post it to your blogs and tell all your knitting friends! my goal is to sell at least 300 patterns. with Anichini's matching donation that would be $1050 raised to keep kids warm. we can do this! only 280 more to go!

Bejeweled Scarf - because sometimes all it takes is a little scarf to make you feel really fancy!

this has been an amazing year for me, including the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. the absolute low point was this past spring when i had to have a very expensive surgery. as i was recovering and completely drowning in medical bills my dog, ashby, had to have emergency knee surgery. it was a disaster. i was completely broke. my mom was helping me with my medical bills, but i had no idea how i would pay for ashby's $1200 surgery. i had absolutely no place else to turn to, so i asked the knitting community to buy patterns and to donate money to ashby's surgery fund. thanks to the amazingly generous donations and sales that we received ashby was able to have his surgery and he has had a full recovery! i cannot thank you enough for supporting us through a really difficult time.

since then, i've been wanting to do something to say thanks. i can think of no better time than Thanksgiving to begin to pay it forward. i'm sure that by now every knitter reading this post knows about The Dulaan Project or has knitted lovely and warm scarves, hats, sweaters, and mittens to be sent to Mongolia to keep kids warm. i've been wanting to knit for Dulaan too, but with all the book knitting i just haven't had time. so, in lieu of knitting, i present the Bejeweled Scarf pattern. this is a pattern for the scarf that i am wearing in my Yarnplay author photo. through December 31st i will donate a major chunk of the profits ($1.75 per pattern) to the Mongolia Project at F.I.R.E., the non-profit organization that delivers all of the Dulaan goodies to Mongolia. it costs them $40,000 a year to ship to Mongolia, so they need lots of help! this super easy scarf is a fun project. buy it and knit it for yourself or gift it to a friend or relative. buy the pattern and send it to a secret pal or stash it away for later.

** update ** Anichini, the world's foremost luxury linens and textiles company, will match my donation to F.I.R.E. that means that for each pattern sold The Mongolia Project gets $3.50! **

 

 

Specs:

Finished Measurements: Approximately 6.75” x 72”

Materials
270 yds of aran or worsted weight yarn
Size 8-9 needles

Gauge: 19 sts / 4 inches over pattern.
Price: $2.75

PDF file will be sent by email within 24 hours of receipt of payment.

 

 

 

ashby sez, 'buy a pattern and help keep some mongolian kids warm and cozy like me!'