Happy Holidays!

Hello everyone! I hope the season brings much love and happiness to your lives! The stress will be over soon. Please take a moment on the 29th to knit and celebrate my birthday - and have a bit of chocolate if you can! May the new year bring lots of yarns and stitches to all of you!

My favorite new line: Knit long and prosper!

Howdy!

Hiya there!

I'm a newcomer from Manchester, England and I will knit just about anywhere - waiting rooms, public transport, pub, other peoples' homes. I always have a project with me 'just in case' I get a couple of moments to add a few rows.

I would also like to list my 'outlaw' credentials as I have several tattoos and am currently working my way through a bottle of vino colapso as I type this (as I do most evenings - helps me concentrate on my patterns!!).

Here is pic of my latest tattoo - the tat was only a few hours old on the pic and is covered in tat balm so that's why it is sooo shiny.

Here also are some pics of me knitting at Old Trafford the home of Manchester United. My husband drags me along to the games sometimes and I go because his company has an exec box and I can never pass up slap up meals and wine, then I knit during the game whilst all the real soccer fans look on in disgust!!

public knitting and shameless self-promotion

Hi all: hope everything is well.

A couple of things: first off, I managed to get an article on my experience with public knitting published on WhipUp.net - it's a great on line mag for crafters of all types, so if interested, check it out!

Second: this is actually my most recent knitting in public (partly, anyway) project:


It is the Brioche Rib Vest from The Best of Interweave Knits. This is a bit of an unwieldly public knit as it involves using needles of two different sizes, and I'm using fairly long circulars. Thus, some flinging around of needles on the subway. People are keeping their distance. :-)

Third and last (I know I said "a couple of things", but anyway...) Holly and I have started up a cross border zombie killin' knitting-mad blog called The 49th Dimension. So, if you're bored - or if you want to learn more about American/Canadian relations! - come on over!

Cheers,

Kristina

No Knitted Gifts!--The Movement

[Please note--this is a repeat of a post on my Yarnhog blog. I just wanted to share it with you, since it fits right into the Outlaw spirit. Feel free to grab the button if you want it!]

Hello, my name is Suzanne, and I am a knitaholic. There is nothing I love better than knitting, except possibly receiving knitting-related gifts. And because I feel this way, I also believe that there is nothing better to give a loved one than a knitting-related gift. If I had any loved ones who knit, I would know exactly how to make them happy for the holidays with gifts of yarn and needles and tools. But since none of my loved ones knit, I try instead to make them happy by giving them knitted gifts. This does not always work.

Hard as it is to believe, not everyone appreciates knitted gifts. Even those who have witnessed first-hand the amount of time and effort that goes into producing them may not be all that eager to find one wrapped up under the tree. No matter how lovely the yarn, how intricate the pattern, how well-executed the design, they simply are not interested in receiving, owning, or wearing wonderful, wooly things that would melt the heart of any knitter. I won't go into the many sad tales I could tell of knitted gifts that earned a resounding, "Oh...thanks," and wound up buried at the bottom of a drawer or lining a pet bed. You can probably imagine, and anyway, I don't want to make anyone cry.

So this year, in the midst of all the buzz in the blogosphere about holiday knitting and deadlines and stress, I have made a resolution. I will knit no gifts for the holidays. That's right. None. Instead, I will knit things for myself alone. I will buy the loveliest yarns and find the most beautiful patterns, and I will wrap the finished gifts in perfect, shiny wrapping paper and put them under the tree. When I unwrap them, I will ooh and ahh over the softness of the yarn and the detail of the stitches. I will exclaim over how long it must have taken and how much thought and love must have gone into each stitch. I will put them on and marvel at the fit and the comfort. And I will be happy to receive such wonderful, personal gifts. Everyone else is getting Starbucks cards.

Now...who's with me?

Knitting in Court

Here in Shawnee County, Kansas, we have the Limited Actions Docket call (Limited Actions is like small claims, but the amounts are different, and you can have attorneys) at the Kansas Expocentre. I learned a long time ago to always take something to do, and I usually take my knitting.


Usually the docket is held at the Ag Hall, but today it was held at Heritage Hall, where we used to have it. Talk about a blast from the past. I managed to get the thumbs on the felted mittens I am working on set up (I do them magic loop and do both at the same time), and then I got about four or five rounds done.

Stress Knitting

Ok so my middle child had surgery this morning and i was stressed....actually stressed doesn't begin to touch it! But anyway the anesthesiologist asked me to knit something to cover his stethescope that was kid friendly.........I am thinking spongebob.......pondering it! I knit on my socks like a crazy woman for the 30 minutes my middle baby was out of my sight! Damn near went insane!

breakfast knitting

So I had my first negative public knitting experience. We were standing in line at a popular breakfast joint and the line is long. So I pull out my sock and start working. My boyfriend and his cousin are used to this (even though his cousin had only seen it a few times). It seems that there are a few people out there that aren't that used to it.

You see I noticed someone staring at me. So naturally i turn around to see what is going on. Just some guy about my age looking at me. So I smile and nod (just the normal thing i do) and turn back around. Next thing I know "You're in Public!" is being directed at my back. I turn back around and he's grinning like he said something really really funny. It was rather odd. But I just kept knitting. It's not like i'm trying to impress random people, i'm just keeping from being board.

The C-word

I've been knitting for 20 years and knit in public all the time. But I recently crossed over to the dark side and picked up a crochet hook to make a twin-sized afghan for my son's bed out of bulky boucle yarn that simply would not allow itself to be knitted. I've since been crocheting in public, which must be an illegal act for a devoted knitter!

Knit Like An Outlaw Day part 2

Is everyone ready for the knit Like An Outlaw Day?

In case you haven't heard of it, it's the day after Thanksgiving and we'll celebrate by... well... knitting like an Outlaw. Knit in public, knit at home while having Outlaw type beverages (and yes, Kool-aid counts), or knit like an Outlaw at the in-law's house. Anything goes but if you end up needing bail money it make take a day or two for the rest of us to raise the funds so CYA when possible.

sic transit mundi

I did all the knitted pieces for this on public transit and during staff meetings. :-)



Far more info than you wanted to know and pictures than you wanted to see on the blog.