Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving in our house means all of us being thankful for once again
to be able to go see family and catch up on everyone's goings on.
Many of my relatives actually the majority of both sides are
in New Hampshire, so we travel by car to meet in a relative's home...this is
bonus knitting time for me about 2 hrs. one way, so can't wait.
I also hope to persaude family members that they really would like
knitted gifts this year...wish me luck.
It would not be Thanksgiving without...in fact, I was told I have to have
this item as my holiday entrance ticket my Trifle.




This is a very popular recipe so probably most recognize this and I always
make it by just putting it together -no recipe...By the way, if anyone is
interested in recipe, will write up and post to blog...just let me know.
have lost count number of times I have made it...certainly way more than say pancakes.
Yup every Easter and Thanksgiving for as long as I can remember.
It's basically Chocolate fudge cake, layered with coolwhip,
layered with a special brand of dark chocolate pudding,
layered with crushed Heath Bars, and repeat...I used to put Kahlua in
the layers, but then the kids came along, and somehow now that they are in
high school and college, the Kahlua never made it back in again. Strangely,
it's one dessert I really don't care for, but then I am a fruit lover...
so someone usually brings cherry pie...which has the same reaction for me!

i.e. I am going home now and am taking this whole cherry pie with a fork
for long car ride back home as a snack if I get hungry. Of course, I really
just have my token king-sized piece...but I always think of that
just the same!

I hope to be able to blog when I get home late Thanksgiving night...but if not,
I will be back again on Friday...that insane holiday shopping day of the year,
happily blogging instead! Happy Thanksgiving to everyone that reads my blog and
even those that don't!

The Husband Hat

Okay so I have blogged that the family so far has turned down all hats offered.
Perhaps if I threw scratch lottery tickets or game tickets inside they would
at least look at the hat.
and Tim, oldest son, if you are reading this you are excluded as you actually
requested a hat from me at one point...He's the one that his head was in Ohio,
and still is, and hat for him to be sized was in Massachusetts...Makes sense.
Anyway, I made the comment I would be giving some of my hats to friends, and the
husband said, you never make anything for us.
Well whoa pony....stop all knitting in progress and leave on those needles.
I immediately got out my most husband colorish yarn and decided subtle stripes
was my best approach...and I knit that hat up so quick, my needles are still
smokin'.
I bound off yesterday, and quickly put that hat right on his head...He seems to
like it....It is gnormous....but then I have a tiny head and he is definitely
men's LARGE...so it works...seemed pleased with results. It is not my favorite,
yet it cleans up pretty nice in a photo shoot! Must be those lucious husbandish
colours I chose.



The pattern I chose that would seem most mannish and acceptable to my household
was the Ribbed Cap pattern which can be found here:
http://tiajudy.com/ribcaps.htm
I added my own stripe pattern, I did not rib all the way through as in
pattern, I did stockinette instead...I used my new found method of Jogless
Jogging for the stripe rows, so they would be horizontal and not "Leaning
Tower of Pisa" stripes. I also forget the decrease instruction part of hat at
home, so I did mine completely different. I did however cast on same no. of
stitches and use sized needles pattern called for, but I think that's it...so
nope not too much like original pattern.
HOWEVER, important thing is, he appears to LIKE it...true test is if he
ever wears it....It is screaming to be blocked...so that's my next step.

Today's blog...did not spend too much time poking around as I have to get
baking for tomorrow's big day is: All Tangled Up...unsure too much about
author just that she is across the pond, so definitely not from the US.
http://www.alltangledup.com/
I did not realize that the Kiri Shawl was her original pattern until after I
had posted her blog on this site...I do love her scrolling galleries.

You Are Not Moosestaken

Today's hat is colorful, was fun to knit, is very, very warm and is made
out of yarn spun from....
wait for it....of course....Buffalo, you thought I was going to say
moose...personally thinking that this shade of buffalo equally exotic
to idea of knitting moose.
It truly is as warm as you would think, and not rough at all but quite soft.
I am envisioning the buffalo as bathed in a lovely bath salts and
creamy lotion applied liberally after his bath...unsure about all this,
but very soft yarn just the same.









The original yarn for this hat was purchased at the Ohio fiber fest, and have
currently misplaced buffalo clay button in pic to go on hat...so when it's found
I will finish hat with button.



Important to note that yarn unknit is most true to actual color...Today
was hat photo day and it rained...even playing with the lighting, I could
not make the indoors replicate the true colors...so what you see on unknit
yarn is exactly the correct color...it came out rather striped...this is a
new hat and due to cost and my secure belief that buffalo will be very very
warm, I do plan to keep this for myself.

Pattern is yet another freebie, the Button Band Hat by amazingly Kathleen
Taylor...I guess I do like her patterns, I had no idea, but liked the button
part, which I plan to add at a later date. Pattern can be found here:
http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.com/2007/10/freebie-friday-button-band-hat.html

In the news, if you haven't heard of this already, the Lion Brand Flagship
Premier Store opened this week in NYC...take a peek.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/knitting-through-a-downturn/

By the way, our neighbors across the street from us had a delivery truck the
other day...curious I watched a new washer being unloaded from the truck...I
immediately noted it was the kind that had the opening on the side of the washer
and my mind quickly thought...."front end loader, going to be much harder to felt
with that kind of washer, should have stuck with a toploader."
~and she doesn't even knit...now that I am a knitter 24 hrs./day/52 weeks/yr.
has my mind switched over to formatting all my thoughts based on how it will
directly affect me as a knitter....next I will probably rationalize that the
recent drop in gas prices is now more than enough reason to make that short
1 hour plus trek to WEBS...shucks...but gas is so cheap now....
hadn't really dreamed up the gas argument one but now that I read what I've
written on the blog, it's a pretty rock solid argument to me...just fascinated
that my brain was in "knitter mode" about the washer...even if the owner doesn't
knit at all. hmmm.

Blog of the day is Bowerbirdknits and can be found here:
http://bowerbirdknits.blogspot.com/
A very bright and colourful and well done blog. She has some amazing
patterns also, including HATS too!

Bunny Has a Tummy Ache

Okay here we go again, home tonight at 10pm...I did prewrite today's
blog, and have a lovely hat to post, but no photos yet...tried my old
approach to squishing hat into scanner and doing photos that way.
"Don't laugh, I have been known to put baked items, i.e. cookies
squashed into scanner to photo in same way"....less crumbs with hats
though.

Anyway, THE OTHER hat has lovely colors, but scanner shows
it as very drab and depressing colourway.
Thus, Monday's hat will have to be Tuesday's hat and will take proper
camera lens photos tomorrow as rather late at 10pm for good outdoor
camera lighting.

Therefore, I will pull up a hat I made a while ago, but not yet included in
my 30 days of hats...this is another one of my personal favorites.

The Banana Republic Hat Knockoff by metaphysical_muse on Ravelry.
This was first posted on Craftster, another website I also post to often.
Smaller pic is showing closeup of da button.





This is a free pattern and can be found here: http://www.craftster.org/forum/index.php?topic=197572.0
This is what the original from Banana Republic looked like, so the pattern
creator rather than shelling out all the money for this hat, just recreated
it based on what she saw.


By the way, there are only 25 pages of photos of finished hats from this
pattern as of today on Ravelry.
Also this pattern calls for a bulky weight yarn, and I used Noro Silk Garden NOT
doubled, and not bulky, so cast on far more stitches and basically had to play
with pattern for awhile, but happy with results, love the colors, and it fits
great...This is also in my personal collection still. Nice hat for spring/fall.

Today's blog that I chose after having a lovely time new blog surfing
....is to me just eye candy...
will definitely be coming back to visit here again...please note that some
of her rabbits are knitted, otherwise
I would call this an all types craft blog.
But so nice!

Rachel Rabbit can be found blogging here:
http://rachaelrabbit.blogspot.com/

How cute is this rabbit from Rachel's site, she also has an Etsy store...
strange but still have not been able to figure a way to link over to any
other site yet from my own blog.
I am holding out for a copy of the book, Blogging For Dummy's, just as soon
as someone writes it! Can you preorder on Amazon a book you wish someone
would publish?

There's a Cat In My Coffee

Okay once again find myself not home from my long day until 8pm, and since I
am a huge Amazing Race fan, will need to sit and watch my show before I can
blog tonight. I have 2 t-shirts of this show which proves what a fan I am.
It's the travel part that appeals to me.
I have talked one of my kids into competing with me if we ever had the chance...however would need to get a lot more in shape before I would ever
take that event on...but would be great fun!



Regarding today's weather update...actually just checked thermometer 27 degrees
Farenheit...suppose that's balmy compared to yesterday, think it was 24.
Still too cold for me and am using all my scarves, hats, and
mittens, and wool socks too that I've knitted all year....
....brrr it's getting cold!!!
Speaking of winter on it's way and the holidays rapidly approaching...



"Workers hoisted this year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree into place
November 14, 2008 in New York City. The 72-foot (22 meter) tall Norway spruce
comes this year from Hamilton, New Jersey, where it was planted nearly 80 years
ago. The Christmas tree has been an annual ritual in midtown Manhattan since the origins of Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. (Getty Images / November 14, 2008)"



As far as today's hat, as it's late, will post a simple hat for today...it's my
go to baby hat yet again, this one was the first hat I gave to one of my little
patients. I have actually made several for them now, each one has been different. This one kind of reminds me of a teletubby and it looked so sweet on. It was so tiny, thank goodness I think
this baby may have grown out of it by now.






Teletubby Hat and actual Teletubby pretty close

Blog of the day will actually be two blogs....one my children absolutely
adore and use as screen savers for their computers and a knitting/fiber one
of course.

First up you have to take a peek at this one:
it's kid tested and recommended, of course my boys are older...so not sure
about language content, but can imagine, some of them would need some screening
for younger viewers.



website is here:
http://icanhascheezburger.com/

The blog I chose for today is found here: http://idreamofthesea.blogspot.com/
I Dream of the Sea blog is by Kendra of the United Kingdom.
Be sure and take a peek at her lovely pastel baby block blanket.

There are so many awesome blogs out there, you can spend hours just looking.
Loads of wonderful ideas, such clever crafters!

I did by the way make it to my class today and I did meet a new to me yarn
shop, so will have photos and review tomorrow when I have much more time to
blog properly!

In Which We Finally See Cookie A

Today's hat is a strange little number called Cal by the creator of the pattern
but I simply refer to it as my pink bobble beret. When you look at the photos
you will see why I call it that and not Cal.

This is yet another hat from Hip Knit Hats
by Cathy Carron

Two different yarns are used in this hat and are knit together...
the off white yarn has little nubs of gray in it and is called Lou Lou
by Classic Elite and is a bulky weight wool yarn.
The pink is Montera by Classic Elite an aran weight wool and llama mix.
So it was very neat knitting these two textured and different weight
yarns together.










This hat is still in my collection as I have no one in particular pining away
for this unusual beret...Yarns if I remember right, were rather expensive, so
prefer just to keep in my private hat stash...yup it's growing all the time as
you can imagine.

For those of you reading my blog from Hawaii or Australia (where they are
celebrating spring right now~so envious of you), or any other warmish climate,
the temp. outside my house right now is a rather cold 20 degrees F.



The blog of the day is by Crowing Ram. I had surfed around reading many blogs
and then I often look to see what other blogs others are reading and it just
keeps mushrooming further and further and so found this one. The pictures are
spectacular, they are very vibrant, the best I've seen so far.
The site can be found here: http://www.threadbearfiberarts.com/cram/
Some interesting photos of Cookie A teaching a class and a nice write up...take
a peek. She is not as I had pictured her, but funny most folks never are to me.
Not sure it this is the same for others. I would imagine you picture me as someone
not at all as I appear in real life, but then again, maybe not.

By the way, I have an early morning class tomorrow on Sunday with a very famous designer, and am bringing along camera so don't let me forget to share all the lovely details on tomorrow's blog ~ the highlights of my day!
~and this is my only hint...

~The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

Hat of the day is my first ever attempt at a Fair Isle hat created by myself
adapted from a mitten pattern. Of course I had to monkey around with the
stitch count and play with motifs I wanted to use and add some extras,
but overall thrilled with outcome...
I took the basic premise of the skull hat by knitting a lining, then
you do a purl row (your turning ridge) then you go into pattern for
front.
The fair isle portion with floats actually creates a double layer of
knitting and since this is wool, double thick warmth...with the added
lining, it now has 3 layers...thus even warmer!
I am proud to claim that this hat is for me!

I got the original idea by pouring over patterns on Ravelry for mittens
and came across this clever designer, Kathleen Taylor who took a knitted vest
and turned
it into mittens.

see here on Ravelry:
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stranded-snow-mittens-child-size
I also did a blog peek of her blog back on November 10 which can be found here:
http://kathleen-dakotadreams.blogspot.com
Below is her mitten pattern, which is available for free.



This is my version done as a hat pattern, which I just emailed to Kathleen.
She asked to see any finished mittens, so thought she'd like to see the hat
as well.





Photo was taken while blocking and came out more fabulous when completely done,
but was anxious to get photos out, so just assume it tightened up nicely
and stitches were no longer loose as they are during the blocking process.

I did not cast on same number of stitches as in skull hat nor follow any of
pattern, nor use decrease finish, just created my own...I did however use
same needle size and idea of added liner. I also added beaded eyes and mouth
felt it looked better than the embroidery floss.

Speaking of the weather...it's 26 degrees farenheit outside right now in
Massachusetts where I live...I have a feeling it's going to be another long
cold and snowy winter again....We have no snow yet, but I drove by the local
small ski place a few miles away and they have been making snow for some time
by basically spraying water up in the air from pipes and because it's so cold,
it turns to snow, crystalizes before it reaches the ground.
I am thinking when finished Hats 30 days of posting...my next 30 days of
knitting had better be set aside for knitting woolen mittens...perhaps even
the snowman/snowflake pattern which could
match my lovely new hat.



Blog of the day is: Kathryn Ivy
She has loads of great patterns and ideas...check out the homemade mitten blocker
which could also be fashioned into a sock blocker pretty easily...I first found
her sometime ago for her delicious mushroom patterns...but I like the how to on
the little knitted felt patches, also ruffled scarf pattern, dyeing tututorials,
and particularly cool how to go about making your own yarn scrapbook/knitting
journal...I keep one of these myself, and sadly...do not post every project as
I should, but the ones I have posted are a great resource whenever I want to
revisit them.



http://kathrynivy.com/

Still Hat It Day 19

It's my 19th straight day of posting and surprising am still HAT IT.... And still not out yet of hats to share.

Today's hat is officially called the Vera Hat by Cathy Carron
and can be found in the book Hip Knit Hats.




But I just refer to it as the Chenille Hat...actually this is
probably the cheapest hat I've ever made, as the chenille yarn in
this hat was an acrylic purchased at Ocean State Job Lot,
and the pink isn't fun fur, but a similar readily available
lash type acrylic.
This isn't a recently knitted hat,
but one that has never been posted to either blog or Ravelry before.
I have made many hats from this book.
On Ravelry you can find some information on errata for this pattern, but
I either self-corrected as I went or never had a problem with pattern.
I remember it being a simple and rapid knit but that it came out a little
large for my small head...perhaps due to the stretchy nature of chenille.
Colors are certainly bold. The flower attached was one of my self
created gizmo's to add a little extra to hat.

From book description: A bit of a flirt, this eyelash-trimmed, flared-brimmed
hat goes easily from city to country and back again. Extra texture and color
nuance can be achieved by blending yarns from the same color family.





The following blog is today's peek and review, the wet felting is incredible!
Katie I am assuming it's her first name, is an amazing artist from the United
Kingdom who works in many mediums including batiks, but I am particularly
impressed with her highly creative felting...be sure and scroll down to bottom
of her blog and not miss these apples and other things she has made.



Her blog is called What Katie Did
and can be found here:
http://whatkatiedid.typepad.com/what_katie_did/

How to Joglessly Jog

Okay hurray it's finally done...and it was a sunny day and I was able
to take it's pic! Things went my way today in hat finishing/photo land!





Hat of day is by Jared Flood, called Turn a Square.
I actually made this hat twice, first time looked lovely but my jogs
were not quite jogless...however I had it figured out by decrease
round...so opted to pull out all my knitting back to very first
stripe and do it right throughout hat. Not too painful and a whole new
skill now in my pocket.

Jogging if you look at the hat...is the part where you make these lovely
stripes going around sides of hat...when you switch a color you basically
get this stair stepping, where one row of color is off from next...well they
invented a way...(knitter's are such clever thinking folks) to avoid this
jogging. so see further in post for details along with some good pictorials
on how to do this and note close up of hat...stripes look pretty behaved.
going around and around in the same line, it really works!
Yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca color 6205 and Noro Kereyon or Silk Garden,
not a 100% sure which as I tossed the label...silly me.

let's just say the alpaca is so soft and lovely...I may just knit
with alpaca from now on.

There are currently 886 projects on Ravelry as of today for this hat
pattern, and 61 pages of finished photos. Another more popular pattern.
By the way, this is a free pattern and can be found here:
if you are on Ravelry
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/turn-a-square

or at his blog, follow link on bottom of page
http://brooklyntweed.blogspot.com/

I was thinking of making Jared of Brooklyn, New York aka Brooklyn Tweed
be the blog of the day...but that seemed like cheating...
so instead will choose another see later in posting.

Speaking of jogless jogs, the best explanation I found and there are many
online was by Meg Swanson (no surprise there). See note here and good pics:

http://www.socknitters.com/kickback/joglessjog.htm

I definitely plan to knit another Brooklyn Tweed pattern as love them all,
very well written and easy to follow. Being a process knitter, I find I learn
new skills with each of his patterns...I love the challenge!

Okay poking around in blogosphere again and thought wouldn't it be lovely
to find a blog based outside the US as many visitors to my blog are from
other countries. So I found the following out of Australia, Monster Knits
and think it's a keeper to regularly follow...very interesting...love the gnome on the stocking, or at least think it's a stocking and also love those raspberry fingerless gloves. It does look a little bit like a shop's blog, but still
pretty interesting overall.

http://monsterknit.blogspot.com/

A Knitted Self-Portrait

The very first knitted item I ever sold was a hat. It's the pink felted
baby hat. I embroidered details after felting and added little flowers
and leaves. It's lined with a very soft pastel colored polkadot baby
flannel. This is one of my all time favorite finished knitted projects.
I remember bringing it to a guild meeting where a woman there asked me to
make an adult version and she would buy it.








Blog of the day is Color Joy! by Lynn H. of Lansing, Michigan
It is located at:
http://colorjoy.com/weblog/
Loads of cool stuff can be found there...but don't forget to scroll down
and check out the gorgeous purple polymer clay button. Also be sure and
go to this link and check out her own self portrait..
KNITTED and then done all in duplicate
stitch. Simply amazing!
http://colorjoy.com/weblog/archives/1419



Tomorrow with any sunlight help for photo taking...I can finally post my very
first finished Jared Flood pattern aka Brooklyn Tweed!!!
Oh and of course...it's a hat...goes without saying!

No Calories in This Calorimetry

Okay it's 9:45pm...and home late from work with loads to do
before I go to bed and get up and start my day all over again.
And remember I am a nurse, so I need to get my unwind time
in order to face Tuesday. Add to that hat I am working on, had
error, pulled out most of it...looking really fine now...but not
done...so should make it for Tues. post...so this is a recap
and the posting I typed out last night for tonight...will be
airing when that hat is done!

Today's hat is the Calorimetry. And I will admit to date, this is
my very favorite hat I've made for at least myself. It never messes
up your hair. It's warm as can be particularly nice for those very
late season soccer games when the weather has turned to its coldest
and you are freezing to death on the sidelines, wishing your highschool
son's game was just televised on NBC or something.
It's made of Noro Kureyon...one skein, so many lovely color changes and
too much fun to knit!





I have had nonknitting friends request me to knit them one, as soon as
they saw mine...so Emiko if you are blog peeking again...one's on its way this
winter for sure.

and Jana if you are blog peeking, I promise to bring mine to next guild mtg.

Since I have lots of blog peeking friends, it's quicker to get messages
out this way.
by the way, this is a Knitty pattern from the winter 2006 issue and can be
found
here: http://www.knitty.com/issuewinter06/PATTcalorimetry.html
Pattern is written by: Kathryn Schoendorf an art student from San Francisco

who also explains a calorimety as the following:
"Calorimetry is a scientific term describing the measurement
of heat lost or gained".

by the way there are a mindboggling 5,951 calorimetries posted to Ravely as of today's date. Noro Kereyon yarn was selected 292 times, and they are posted to
490 pages of finished pictures....YIKES!

Okay this is the part where I am guilty of Blog Peeking and this is the blog
I'd like to share.

Today's blog is Maglia! Confessions of a Knitholic "my kind of person!"
and can be found at:
http://knit4ever.blogspot.com/

Well end of posting for today off to peek at blogs and catch up on Plurk!
Do you Plurk? perhaps I had best do a blog post about Plurk soon!

Gryffindor is My House

Today's hat is the Harry Potter House hat for the Gryffindor House.
Which if I could choose my wizarding house, would be my first choice.



Yarn used was Plymouth Encore worsted weight...less than one skein each in
Burnt Sienna and Butternut colorways.

I found the free pattern online here:
http://media.wiley.com/product_ancillary/14/04700673/DOWNLOAD/0470067314.pdf

but I believe it's the very same pattern in the book Charmed Knits by
Alison Hansel
This hat did go to charity.

Today's blog peek and review is about woollywormhead aka Ruth
and can be found here:
http://woollywormhead.blogspot.com/

I was poking around in the blogosphere and found several interesting ones,
and in particular came across this link.
I have many of Woolly (name she prefers to be known by)
patterns for HATS queued up on Ravelry so knew she was an innovative
and prolific designer already...
but I had absolutely no idea that she had no one home base
but instead spent her life
~travelling~
around in a self-built house bus. I cannot even imagine yarn storage in this case.
She writes in her bio that she is a sheep whisperer. also cool, very cool.
This indeed is a blog to check out in more detail!



~and for those of you emailing me to write up pattern for Harry, as I am
all hat obsessed, it will not be happening in 2008, as I virtually will
have to reknit him from scratch.

"By George I Think She's Got It"

Have just finally discovered that fair isle is fun, fair isle is
fairly easy once you do it right...and fair isle is
addicting, when you've finally got it.

Today's hat is the Skull Hat...as seen first on Ravelry of course
pattern by Gina Doherty and can be found here:
http://knittwotogether.typepad.com/
had trouble linking directly so
when you get to her blog, just type in on Right column if interested in
free pattern...skull hat.

Yarn for hat is Patons wool, white and black...so with double layer because of
floats plus it's lined...there are 3 layers of wool...so will be very warm.
Unsure who will get this hat...hopefully one of my son's will finally claim
one of my knitted projects.

Photo is of youngest son with hat and cat...kinda like a Dr. Suess kind of thing.
Hmmm.





This is ta da my very first successful fair isle pattern
and actually came out looking pretty much like other's finished pics on Ravelry...hooray. I think I finally caught on...

I needed to do two color stranding one strand in
each hand...tried every other way and this actually worked!!
I am a thrower...who knew before I started knitting, I would be termed as a
thrower...if the shoe fits wear it I guess.
So in my right hand, I throw, in my left hand, I hold less dominant color and I
pick it continental style. This took some getting used to, however going pretty
quickly now, and it's too much fun...a great knitting friend of mind, she is a
great person and a greater knitter...(hello Barbara)...hee hee...
said that this style of knitting tends to be addictive
because you can actually see pattern developing while you knit
which in turn makes you tend to knit faster and faster.
I think she hit the nail on the head so to speak...
that is so true...My only problem is I knit so rapidly, that I tend to go
right into a second row of same pattern, and have to tear out stitches
and move my marker up a row...such an eager beaver.

I went to my third guild meeting this week...and someone
there actually commented on current hat...another fair isle project, and she evidently also loves fair isle and discovered it years ago...
told her I was a total addict and could
knit nothing else now....
~So how long does this addiction last?, I asked her...she said she is
still hooked many years later...

Also wondering if I will ever return to just one color stockinette knitting
ever again...
She also warned me that soon I would go past two colors...
but I was born with only two hands so can't fathom yet just how
this will work out for me.

But husband claims absolutely never is he going to be coerced into knitting. was secretly plotting that with his extra hand could actually work in third color but no....
He does however willingly stop at Patternworks in NH and sits dutifully in car
reading paper and is quite patient, and also xmas and birthday gifts are of a
creative and most importantly unsuggested fiber type gift....hooray...
Holidays in my house are going pretty spectacular fiberwise!!

Blog of day is by: Grumperina aka Kathy from Massachusetts
and no, I do not know her even though she lives in same state.
I bet most folks if you haven't seen her blog before will recognize her as she writes awesome patterns.
But her latest beaded hat is a must knit for me of course. Okay not
fair isle, but still part of major hat obsession....
She is guilty/most known for her patterns of Odessa and Jaywalker socks...yup
now you know who I mean.
http://www.grumperina.com/knitblog/



and by the way, it's still raining again today...