in which I ramble...

There's been lots of knitting going on behind the scenes, I promise! I've just been so swamped lately --fall seems like a crazy time for everyone, and things are really ramping up for me at work lately (and socially if I'm being honest...) though I can finally see the light at the end of this particular tunnel. We also had a liitle rescue on our hands who sucked up A LOT of my spare time:



This is Gary. Yes, he is as adorable as he seems. We found him abandonned in a field near our house on (Canadian) Thanksgiving weekend. More pics/details can be seen on my flickr, but the short story is that we've adopted him out to some friends of ours now, even though I really REALLY wanted to keep him. The timing's not right for us, and truthfully I'm still just not over this guy's passing.



If nothing else though it's shown me that there's likely to be more kittens in my future (maybe after Poncho's gone) and I look forward to that day with less anguish than before.

So in lieu of any knitting of my own to share right now, I thought I'd post a few fibre-related items I'm drooling over right now.

I know I've mentionned before how much I love that Kate Spade's doing a clothing line now. I was never much for her purses but her clothing is mod and fabulous --totally my thing, and she has the funnest accessories and knitwear:


um, is it wrong for me to say that I totally plan to knock these off for myself?

and this fabulous Fox pullover from Brit designer Peter Jensen:



Of course Gravity Pope wants $400 for it so I'm thinking it's not likely to ever be in my future, short of charting it out myself (which let's face it, i'll have lost interest by the time I EVER get around to that!)

and finally, howz this for some Holiday stash busting ideas?



These adorable yarn wreaths are from Agnes Blum at Knockknocing.



Think about all those yarn bits you have languishning in your stash that you'll never actually knit with!

Or you could just go buy one here.

I actually kind of went a little crazy buying patterns online the other day, mostly silly things it seems, but I've been dying to knit this little guy for ages, and finally caved and bought the pattern:



What can I say? I spent 5 years in Germany, and growing up an army brat who WORE A DIRNDL (oh yes, I did...) it's kind of left me with (if nothing else) a penchant for all.things.kitsch.from.the.Black.Forest. I'm not lying, it's kind of a problem I have...have you seen my cuckoo clock wall?



Anyway, kind of an old picture, but you get the idea (and as usual I totally just got derailed from what I was talking about originally...)

The Bunny patterns and all the clothes are by Barbara Prime, and she has some seriously adorable knits for sale. I tend to leave all the "toy" knitting to my mother, since that is definitely her passion, but for freakin' lederhosen I simply have to make an exception...

Happy Halloween everyone!

back to basics (again and again)

Well, I really thought I'd at least be able to squeeze out another post still in the month of September, but well you know how that goes...how is it October already???

Today marked the first morning I've actually had to wear MITTS in the car on my drive in to work (ok they were fingerless, but still that steering wheel was FRIGID), and I know that it's unseasonably cold around these parts right now, but today is definitely a day for snuggling under my big down comforter with a mug of tea in hand and a good book.

And casting off on some cozy alpaca just in time.





There's not a lot I can say about this scarf, apart from the fact that it's very simple, and gorgeously soft and will no doubt get tons of wear. It's taken me a while to knit simply because it's been my "at work" knitting. I'd bust out a couple rows every lunch hour or so on 3.25mm needles. Many times at work I would hear "you're STILL knitting that?!" Really, where do the non-knitters get off criticizing? But now that it's done I'm back to crosswords until I come up with something similar to taunt me at my desk every day.

The yarn is from Bonne Mines, a local Alpaca farm in Quebec, and was a gift from my sister. I think I cast on 40 sts and the border is about 7 sts of seed stitch both sides. I used up the full two hanks.



Now, that said I am definitely allergic to it. But like all animals (my own pets included) you learn to live with what you love. And you learn to live with what you love stealing your scarves from you as well:



Now, in cowl news...y'all KNOW how much I love a good cowl. It's the one thing I've consistently knit and worn over and over since the beginning of my knitting career. As knitters we've long been doing the cowl thing. Have you noticed this year that they appear to be everywhere in fashion?

I meant to scan a few pics from the last Vogue (but as with most things lately never got around to it) as there are quite a few awesome chunky cowls from designers in there. And really, why pay $500 when you can just knit your own? Granted, things seem to be taking on larger, more "snood-esque" proportions this year. In fact miss knit lit just posted about this very thing as well. (head on over there and check her out if you haven't already, her eye for fashion is amazing!)

Though I am currently digging the über-simplicity of this cowl spotted on Mila Jovovich at a Louis Vuitton show:



That would definitely go up likety split. I do find the bind-off a bit strange though --would it not have looked nicer to bind it off "in pattern?", but then I guess I'm no designer and that's why I'm not smart enough to get rich off these things.


Rodarte Fall 2009


via doucement le matin


Dries Van Noten Fall 2009

Anyway, you get the idea. Cowls aside it seems like the chunky knits are everywhere for designers this year.

And if you ARE looking for a cowl of your own to knit but would rather have an amazing pattern already thought out, allow me to plug this amazing 'lil number from my friend Michele over at knitting is kneat-o.

Only 4 bucks on etsy for this gorgeous snood! I'm headin' there now myself...






There's a lot of cute knitwear out there this season (yet I don't seem to be doing much knitting myself these days--what's up with that?) but I think that all deserves another post of it's own. We'll all be gearing up for some Christmas knitting soon and I for one know that I could use as many fresh new ideas as possible!