Well it's been a little while since an update. Sorry about that, if anyone noticed. :) I was on vacation in Florida from Nov 26 to Dec 5th. It was fabulous. And then I had to rush around and make Xmas happen. Ugh. I am glad that's over for another year. I've promised myself (yet again) not to leave everything so late next year. We'll see. I purchased the new copy of Knitter's. I've only ever had older back issues of this magazine. Even though I didn't find anything in it that I'm dying to knit, I have to say this is a lovely magazine. Large glossy pages, interesting articles and probably alot of good patterns most of the time. I'm seriously considering subscribing, if only for the reference material. Speaking of subscriptions, I made an impulsive decision to subscribe to Sandra on the internet one night really late. It may have been a mistake but oh well. The patterns are, how shall I say this, designed for someone smarter than me? haha They go something like this: Cast on 50 stitches; knit; decrease for armholes; cast off. Repeat for other side with reverse shaping. WAHAHAHA Uh excuse me??? Where's the hand holding I ask you? More importantly, where's the pattern?

This may be the sickest looking sweater I've ever seen.  Even taking into account that it's BACKWARDS.  Dear hubby even had an opinion.  Note to self:  DH reads bobbles as BOOBIES.  Hence, the whole sweater appeared to him to be covered in nipples. 

What kind of ASS CLOWN (new phrase for the week) puts something soooo repugnant on the cover of a magazine of an organization meant to promote knitting?  I'm afraid to say, the inside isn't alot better.  There were a couple of normal looking designs inside but nothing inspiring at all.  The clog socks were "fine", jelly roll sweater was "fine" but somewhat uninteresting. 

I am proud to be a member of an organization that promotes the ART of knitting.  That said, I wish the magazine was more of an inspiration.  It should really be one of, if not THE best knitting magazine out there.  I hope the next issue is better.  This is my first one since joining TKGA.  Maybe this is just an off month for them?

Ok, so has everyone seen the new magazine by Vogue?  It's a cool little magazine.  There's lots of really funky, easy projects in it.  I like to have a selection of easy project choices laying around for in between the stuff I choose that's a little harder.  This little gem is packed with them.

I've been buying all the knitting magazines I can get my hands on for the last couple months, trying to decide on one or two that I will subscribe to.  I'm pretty sure this will be one of the one's I choose for subscriptions.  Here's a couple pictures starting with a cover shot.

I love that sampler sweater dress thingy.  It's sooo cute.  I can see it being even longer with maybe long slits down the sides.  Fun!

I also found this little magazine.  I was trying very hard to find information about it and whether it is a regular or just a special one time thing but I couldn't find any info on it.  Anybody know?  It's got a bunch of cute simple little projects, lots of stash busters and such.

Well I bought some more wool that I think I'm going to like for the swatches, as I ran out of my Classic Merino Winter White. That sure is a nice yarn. I'll have to do up a swatch and wash it to see how it felts. It's the most reasonably priced 100% wool that I've seen so far and there are lots of yummy colours. I'm really enjoying doing these swatches, I guess I'm easily amused these days. I still have no idea if my knitting is passable or not but I guess I'll find out :) My husband says it looks perfect. And my mom said it was perfect. Well there you go. hahaha

My MK swatches are progressing steadily.  I have five done now.  I've skipped the questions until after I'm finished all the swatches.  I have already discovered that I'm going to have to go back and do the first three over again.  No biggie.

I'm still working on my beaded bias lace scarf.  It's coming along but it's fairly slow going.  VEEERRRY tiny yarn.  It will be really nice when it's finished though.  I'll try to post a picture in the next couple days.  I think I need to offset it with another pair of socks.  I need some instant gratification.

Well I have the pattern and the lovely yarn.  I'm just not sure how I'm going to arrange the colours.   That green is really bogging me down.  It looked kind of leafy colour when I ordered it and now that I have it, it's actually kind of an army green.  I'm not sure how that's going to fit in.  I may have to order another colour so I can get started.

I'm thinking of shelling out some money and changing to typepad.  I'm not thrilled with how narrow this blog is and I can't change the margins.  If anyone uses squarespace and knows how to fix this, drop me a line.

My friend Penny who owns a grooming and pet supply shop here in town is starting a chapter of NOKA. NOKA is short for No Kill Animal Shelter. I haven't gotten alot of info on this organization yet but I joined. Membership is basically just a donation of $15.00, it doesn't get you anything in the way of prizes but it helps support her as she takes in mostly cats to keep until they are adopted. She houses them right at her shop in a really nice cage she had built. She takes them whether they are sick, healthy, injured, old, young, whatever. She's a really nice lady and is doing a great thing. If anyone is interested in "joining", please let me know and I'll get you a form. If you would just like to donate an amount less than $15 let me know that too. I'll get a system in place for accepting donations. The $15.00 is in Canadian bucks so for you US citizens that's even less. I don't know if they are registered as a charity but I imagine so.

The second thing I was thinking was starting a ring for knitting blankies and/or toys for these poor dears. Probably the most economical way would be to ask for squares and then collect and assemble them here as sending blankies and/or kitty beds would probably be too expensive. If anyone wants to do this also, let me know. Completed beds or blankets would of course be welcome if you don't mind the shipping costs. Any amount of money would be appreciated as this nice lady is paying all the vet bills out of her own pocket right now and they are substantial. Between her own animals (9 dogs) and the 20 or 30 cats she's keeping for NOKA, her vet bills are a staggering $1,000 per month plus. Last week she took in a cat that was hit by a car and had to have a leg removed. Instead of putting her down, she opted for surgery. Like I said, nice lady.

She and her friend Linda have been doing this for as long as I've known her and she's just recently decided to get this organization going to help offset the costs. Anyhow, if any of this sounds interesting to you, please leave your name and email address in my feedback section and I'll keep track until I get more info.

Thanks Everyone!

I've got some crochet magazines on ebay right now.  If anyone who sees this crochets, I was into lace bigtime at that time and bought the magazines with the most pretty lace patterns in them.  They are really gorgeous.  I can't crochet anymore that much as it hurts my hands.  Anyhow, here's the link.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=8136295922&ssPageName=STRK:MESE:IT