a blossom knits

Geez, it seems like it's been a long time since I've updated here . . .

Let's see . . . I quit on John's first socks. Yeah, I didn't even bother to frog them . . I just tossed what I had in the trash. Yep. I tried and tried to do a different kind of heel which didn't work so I had to tick back to the beginning. Then I decided to do something else, and that didn't work either. By the time I had frogged for the 4th time the yarn was looking like spaghetti. I couldn't have fixed it if I wanted to. It also had so much bad karma by that time that I really didn't want to continue with it. I have purchased another skein of the same yarn and will give it some time before I make another attempt. I also have Lucy Neatby's DVD which shows -exactly- how to do a super easy short row heel . . which is what I'm going to do. So, I have about 10 more viewings of it before it gets engraved in my memory for when I try on my own. Oh, and yes . . I WILL have it playing when I get to the heel!

About two weeks ago my co-worker, Leah, told me she had something for me when I got in for work that day. She hands me this book . . . and says she had gotten it from her mother years ago and didn't really want it because she doesn't knit . . . so it's mine if I would like it . . .

Uhhhhh . . . would I LIKE IT?!?!?!?! I almost passed out!!! When I opened up the first few pages, my world was spinning when I saw this . . .

I am the proud owner of a First Edition Barbara G. Walker book!!!!! Thank you so much, my buddy Leah!! :D

Since the sock fiasco, I've turned my attention towards a pattern I had seen in the August - October 2007 issue of Cast On magazine . . . Laura Bryant's Monet's Garden Bag. As you may or may not know, Laura Bryant/Prism Yarns is located here in St. Petersburg and Fiber Arts (my lys) is a direct distributor. She comes to the shop frequently and I believe Roz has her do two trunk shows a year. The last one I went to I got my books signed and purchased way over budget . . . but it was worth every penny. She's so nice and extremely knowledgeable (especially about colors and textures) and very helpful. I've purchased the kit for the bag through Fiber Arts and made only one substitution -- Cascade 220 in 9421 instead of the Brown Sheep Nature Spun in Turquoise. They're literally the same exact color and it's what Roz had in stock anyways. I've finished the bottom and I'm just up to the second row . . . it already looks SO pretty!! [NOTE: If you follow the pic of my bag through to Flickr then you'll see the yarn details.]

Here's the pic of the bag from the magazine:

I LOVE this bag. It is so me. Laura from Prism (not Laura Bryant, but her assistant) brought a ton of samples to Fiber Arts yesterday and one of them was this exact bag!! I was thrilled! It's even prettier in person. If you are in the Tampa area, stop by Roz's shop and see all the Prism samples . . . pretty much everything she's (Laura Bryant) had in all the major magazines as of late. I will be doing a few of her designs soon. :)

Have a happy last day of your weekend and I hope everyone's loops are sliding off the needles easily! *hugs*