Here is a close up of the adorable glass dragon:
And my favorite item:
I absolutely adore this cup & saucer! Seriously! I’m almost afraid to use it for fear of breaking it. Almost.

Thanks so much Christy! I absolutely love everything!

Here are the rules:

1 – Go to Wikipedia’s random article page – The first article you get is the name of your band.

2 – Go to the Random Quotations page – The last four words of the last quote is the album title.

3 – Go to Flickr’s Interesting photo page – Third picture, no matter what it is, is your album cover.

Put it all together to make your album. Either crop it to CD cover size, or just use the raw image itself… the only rule is you’re only allowed to add the album title and artist title.

Here is mine:
Now go make your own.

Much nicer. Here is a better view of the top…
I didn’t do any of the suggested variations. Instead I just knit the master pattern with a plain heel. After the heel was completed I knit for another 1 1/2″ and then did 4 rnds of 1×1 ribbing. I knit one round of purl, and then 8 more rounds of knit and cast-off. This gave it a nice rolled edge, but with ribbing to keep it in place.

I’m very happy with the way this one turned out and will be casting-on the second sock tonight.

That being said, I have a huge complaint with the New Pathways book. The patterns are revolutionary and, once you muck through everything, fairly easy to knit. However the layout of this book SUCKS! You are constantly having to flip pages just to knit one pattern. For this “master” pattern I had to have 3 pages bookmarked for reference. If I had chosen a variation it would have been more. On Ravelry there have been a lot of people who have taken their copy to Kinkos to have the perfect binding chopped off and a spiral binding installed. I’m seriously considering doing this.

On top of the layout issue, because the patterns are generalized for all the variations (and presumably unwritten variations) they are not specific enough. There were several times where I had to stop and try to figure out what they heck I’m supposed to do, and I’m an experienced knitter and very well versed in sock construction. It’s so bad that I think if I knit another project from this book I will have to go through and write everything out beforehand so I’m not constantly searching for the correct page, and possibly missing a step because I didn’t pay close enough attention.

So, overall I would give the book a B. It really is innovative, but the layout went for style over ease of use and coherency. I would only recommend this book to experienced knitters. Definitely not for the beginner or novice.

1. I’m a huge control freak when it comes to driving. I get really anxious if I’m not driving, unless I’m in the back seat or in a different city.
2. I’m petrified of spiders.
3. I had a speech impediment as a child and had to go through speech therapy for a few years. I’m still really self-conscious about it and it tends to creep back into my speech when I’m really nervous, like when I have to speak in public or when I’m meeting a lot of new people at one time.
4. My eyes change colors. The are usually green, but can shade to brown or yellow depending on my mood (or so I’ve been told).
5. I really, really, really (can’t emphasize this enough) REALLY hate house cleaning.
6. I’m not fond of chick flicks/lit, except for Jane Austen. I would much rather watch a grisly horror flick.
7. I love my cats, but deep in my heart I am a dog person so I tend to give Corrina preferential treatment.

Ok, I tag Joanne, Mary, Denise, Anita, Ruinwen, Ruth & CJ

A few days ago I cast-on my first project from the new Cat Bordhi book New Pathways For Sock Knitters. I have to say when my sil first showed me this book I was blown away. The patterns are so creative and the construction is quite different. I was so excited when I received the book for x-mas! Imagine my dismay when I discovered that I couldn’t just jump into a pattern but had to read the book first, and then actually do math (shudder) to determine the number of stitches required for every pattern! I, who fearlessly knit sweaters without checking gauge, am now required to knit a swatch for every pattern just to determine the number of stitches required! Tsk!

Anyways, I dutifully did my swatch and got my numbers and then started knitting Bartholomew’s Tantalizing Socks.

I have to say that I’m not feeling the love for these. I really like the pattern, but I’m not liking the way this attempt is progressing. I think a froggin is in order.

Usually when the knitting blahs hit I get excited about some other craftiness. Most often it’s spinning, weaving or sewing, but occasionally drawing… and rarely writing. This time I’ve got nothing else catching my fancy.

Perhaps I should just use the spa day that honey gave me for x-mas. Maybe if my body is reinvigorated the mind will follow…

I just wanted to let you all know that I’ve started registration for round 2 of the Mystery Theme Swap. Come, join us. You know you want to.