Pixie Purls

I was sitting here with my iPod this morning, thinking hrmm wouldn't it be cool if I could put knitting patterns on it? So I went to some iPod forums and asked around and got the answer, YES I can!

In you're iPod: Main Menu > Extras > Notes

I also was able to get a chart into the photo section but I have yet to capture a decent picture of it. It's very crisp and easy to read!

Here is how to put the files on your iPod - very simple instructions!

It's always a lovely saturday when you have a big room just for you and a bunch of knitters, and a waiter to bring you coffee of course!

Do you spot the cute socks that Claudia knit for me? She's so sweet! Thanks Claudia!

I'm gonna knit all night baby! Gotta finish this damn sock.

Friday night my husband and I went backwards in time about 5 years, and went to see Diesel Boy (Drum and Bass) in Atlanta.

I got fairly tippsy and took pictures in the bathroom.

Posted by pixie at 10:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Last night I got lots of work done on my sock, only about 1 inch to go and then I can turn the heel. I wish this sock yarn photographed better. You can't really see all the pretty deep aqua, it just doesn't photograph that color correctly, but the brown-gold looks about right.

Meet Waldo!

My husband got me an iPod! I have an old shuffle and it doesn't do very well with audio books. I'm going to give my shuffle to the friend I am staying with in Maryland. I think she will like it! I call him Waldo because engraved on the back is "nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm" which is a Ralph Waldo Emerson Quote.

A big motivating factor in getting waldo is to keep myself more amused durring workouts. I was at the gym 1.5 hours yesterday, and I feel great! I do get extra grumpy around 11pm on workout days because my body says, GO TO SLEEP, but my mind says BLOG BLOG BLOG!

Sea Silk with freakin vitamin E!! I followed a few blog links to here and simply didn't have the willpower to say no. I could not be expected to resist yarn in a color-way called "Nova Scotia".

You can buy it here for a wee $33.

Oh and guess which long-time-knitting-blogger just got engaged?

Posted by pixie at 01:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Becca you may now pimp out your dachshund :)

Cafe Press Pixie Purls Knitting Gear

The Sockapaloooza sock beckons me. It's a pretty little sock. I have to be good and not knit ANYTHING else for the next week but these socks! Give me the strength to resist the call of the rowan felted tweed!

Oh yeah...

Sorry no makeup on, I'm such a slacker.

Posted by pixie at 09:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)

If your down with the internets, then you know that myspace.com and youtube.com are two of the biggest things going right now, and if you didn't well now you do!

Knit at a bowling alley!

Debbie Stroller spoof and interview

Frogging Hourglass

Knitters Caught on Film

Boys Knit Too

This women KNITS???

Umm...

Yarn Over

Crap, maybe I have been doing it wrong...

Hah, Hard c0re knitter!

Posted by pixie at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well I wish I had knitting content to show you, but I will only start knitting this afternoon and by the time I have something to show, i will have to get on recording my podcast.

Bad digger doggy!

Happy stick doggy!

I went shopping today and had an experience with an amazing rude women and her children. I went to Mori Gifts & Luggage to pick up a new Vera Bradley bag. They have a new pattern out I fell in love with, and then got to see in person on saturday at SnB. So I called ahead to make sure they had the "Blue Java" pattern and went on over.

I walked in, no one was looking at the wall of Vera bags. I went straight to the shelf with my pattern and then took my time deciding which bag to get, and which accessories to get with it. Then a women came in with her 3 daughters. It was clear after 5 minutes that they didn't intend to buy anything. Maybe I was in there way, and they didn't want me standing there, but I was in the middle of deciding which to buy. So they come back and go away about 3 times, walking to another part of the store. I can't imagine that was anymore then 5 minutes. I started to feel prickly, why did they keep coming back and forth across the store.

So then the mother says, oh isn't this blue pattern new? Yes, the daughter replies. "Oh well then you defntiely don't want that then, I mean that would be a bad choice, everyone has that now, it's all over. It would be silly to buy that pattern."

Here I am standing next to her, with the bag in my hand, which has been in my hand for the past 5 minutes. I was trying to decide if I should get the coin zip or the brush zip (would fit DPN's!) and wow, I couldn't believe she said that standing not 1 foot away from me.

I believe I was in her way, and I believe she wanted to look at the blue ones, and probably wanted the ones I had in my hand. They didn't have much of any certain design. Vera has like 10 bag designs, and you can get the pattern you like on any one of them. So after she said that. I rolled my eyes (no one could see!) and I thought to myself, well hell I'll just get both. So I went straight to the counter to pay.

The women then touched two of the bags in the blue section, and then walked away with her daughers to the front of the store. All I could think to myself was, how rude! So I said to the guys (because I was so boggled she would so rudely say that out loud while standing next to me), "wow that was rude". the guys both smiled and shook there heads and said "We can't stand them, we get people like that all day long". Without hesitation they said this. i felt better, like I wasn't just being overly sensitive. They had been about 2 feet away during the whole thing.

So I came home and played with the dogs in the backyard with the happy knowledge I would never teach my children to behave so rudely. It's a beautiful day out!

Oh and in knitting news, I have decided to still do that rowan pattern I mentioned yesterday, and I'll look for the Koigu at MDS&W, instead I'm going to use the limey wool for a Magknits Calla I think. The guage wouldn't have worked at all for the rowan pattern. I might try to swatch tonight if I have time. I know, I know, I keep changing my mind!

Posted by pixie at 02:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

On friday before I went to the gym I ran by the book store. I had an urge to buy "The Happy Hooker" for a few days, I'm not entirley sure where the urge came from. So I looked in it and it was filled with wonderful projects. I also picked up a little reference book and this baby book that just has the cutest patterns ever in it. I only know one stitch, but I would love to crochet one of those adorable baby dresses. I wish I knew someone with a girl baby!

Oh and look, two sleeves FINISHED! OMG only the neckband left and shhh, cross your fingers... everything fits perfectly so far!

I got the second sleeve started and nearly finished at our saturday afternoon SnB, Jen helped me get all the stitches picked up properly as I was having trouble. I finished it when I got home, it looks perfect!

I am happy to say I have picked a pattern for my limey green Rowan Cotton Wool. I happened upon Whoopsy Daisy's blog and a top she knit some time ago that I remember having seen and loved. It's ribby and will cover the bra straps. Perfection.

Posted by pixie at 06:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

So all week I have felt extremely irritable. It is not you know what, because I just had you know what. I have no idea why. The only thing different is I didn't work out on Monday. So yesterday I went to the gym, by myself! This was a first in the 2 months I have been working out. I have only ever gone on days with an appointment.

So I got there and went hard on the elliptical for 20 straight minutes, and then went and did curls and stuff for another 10. While I definitely felt better, when I got home I became irritable again. Willow kept trying to sit on the couch while I was eating, I dropped things, I dropped a knitting needle behind the bed. You name it, I dropped it. Jesse went to the store to get stuff to cook beef hotdogs, and he forgot buns and mustard. It rained while he was trying to cook on the grill.

I rarely feel that knitting is "therapy", at least not in the sense of calming me. It's like anything I do when I want to make something. It gives me focus, pride and something to keep me busy. Last night however, knitting was therapy. I couldn't bring myself to pick up ES 2.0, I didn't dare risk messing it up. I didn't want to knit on any "current" projects and I knew better then to start something new. So I picked up Salina.

Oh you Rowan Felted Tweed, how you made me happy! I crawled into bed at 9pm and knit until midnight. I got through many inches so fast and easily. It made me very happy sitting in my bed and knitting for those 3 hours, it was the only hours of the day I didn't feel irritated. This morning seems the same as yesterday, but I'll try to be in a better mood. I don't feel bad, I just seem to be easily aggrevated.

Posted by pixie at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

One sleeve down

I got this far picking up stitches for the neck

but then it all looked awful along the back, so I opted to leave it alone and try again later (DANG IT!).

I love the way things look outside after a bad storm

Everything just sort of glows.

Oh yeah and this FO which goes in my "loser" pile

See me trying to stretch it down to cover the belly?

The Dalegarn Trend top that I made in Svale. I like this yarn, but it's just not doing it for me. Not to mention I didn't pick up enough stitches on one of the arms holes so the hole is "smaller" on one side.

Posted by pixie at 07:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Tonight my hubby is putting together his Weber b-day grill to cook us up some yummy fish!

I am so happy it fits! I have 1 sleeve cap left to finish and the neck ribbing. I finished the first sleeve after this photo was taken.

I knit the last half inch of rib and cast off before sun down.

A pretty photo of it all laid out

I know it's really early to post, but I'm far too happy not to!

"House" is on tonight! Love that show.

Posted by pixie at 08:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

So my poor hair is "stressed" as my wonderful hair d00d likes to say. It can take a few days, to a few weeks to return to it's normal curly self. It's getting there! It should be better just in time to wear my ES 2.0 which I hit the bottom on last night, the official ribbed bottom. I stopped myself because it was midnight and I was yawning. I am getting so good at learning how NOT to ruin my knitting. Never EVER rush a bind off! I need a nice half an hour on the couch with the TV on and no distractions so I can take my time and get a perfect stretchy bind off "in pattern".

I was on bloglines last night and noticed that it looked like someone's knitting blog had been hacked. It was stripped of all knitting content and identity and had "Consolidated Loan" all over the place. I hope this isn't a trend. Make sure your blog is not using the default password, and try to have numbers in your passwords because it makes it harder to hack (letters and numbers combo).

Hey you Sockapalooozer's, Alison set us up with some cute labels to package our socks in! I better get on those dang socks. I hope to finish one this weekend.

Posted by pixie at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My latest swatch, Rowan Wool Cotton

#5 US (5.5/6st per inch)

Bee Knits has tagged me. If you care to play, just copy and paste!

1. Six minutes to yourself: How would you spend them, ideally?
Well I have six minutes to myself all the time. When I have time to myself I knit, watch tv or organize/clean something (the last being, the last thing I would think to do hehe). I can't think of anything else I would rather do with six minutes.

2. Six bucks to spend right now: How would you spend it?
I'm trying to really think these through. I would buy some kind of cute hair accessory!

3. Six items in your house you could part with, right now?
Half of the clothing I own, does that count as 6? It's probably a full closets worth in our garage. Several old computers that don't exactly work.

4. Six items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house?
My knitting supplies, all my coffee cups I have collected from al the places I visit, my dogs, my cat, my laptop, my tv's.

5. Six words you love?
Indepth, Unique, Uninhibited, Free, Culture...

and I had to add a sixth one, how can a meme about six not have SIX questions?!

6. Six people you miss?
My best friend who lives near DC, who I grew up with. One of my bridesmaids who lives in NC who just had an adorable baby, My sister, My mom/dad and my Aunt Pat whom I have not seen in many years but still lives in California. She wrote me a letter and I have not yet written her back and it's been almost a year. I feel awful about it. I wish I had her phone number. I am a horrible person when it comes to mailing things.

Posted by pixie at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I signed up for knitting classes in May 2004, right around may 10th to be exact. I know because I can go look at my old blog and see the exact day I blogged about it. So that means in May I will have been knitting for exaclty 2 years. I kept thinking it was longer but I guess not. Lets hope I'm not bad and go stash crazy over May m'kay?

Durring my first 4 months of knitting I learned to cable, work on DPN's and I finished a felted bag that I wound up hating. I started several things I never finished including the cable scarf and the sock. The first clothing item I finished was a Chickami tank top. Well enough about my knitting past, I'm looking forward to my knitting future!

I got my husband a Gas Grill for his birthday from Home Depot, so I picked up... BATTERIES!! YAY! lol

Yay, I am blonde again! My hair dresser in Atlanta is a freakin genius. If you need a good person I can give you his number. He's off Pharr road in Buckhead and one street over from "Why Knot Knit".

Charisse you rock, thanks again!

I got some Rowan Cotton Wool (good lord this stuff is expensive) to try a good wool/cotton blend to make a tank top from. I am going to go back to my roots and do that ribby pattern from rowan that I originally wanted to do so long ago. Oh and look, I started my Sockapaloooza sock!! Don't worry I am still working on ES 2.0, it's just not an impressive photo to take, tho I am nearly at the bottom :)

Posted by pixie at 10:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Well 2 weeks was more then long enough don't you think? I have wanted to get some yarn for my Tubey and I have seen several people knit a solid one from Cascade 220 and Only Ewe and Cotton Too has plenty of the Cascade yarns. They are having a big sale this Saturday; it's their 1 year, customer appreciation type deal.

Cascade Pastaza - Llama/Wool blend

My goal in going was to get some yarn for a toddlers sweater for my sisters oldest. I got somy Plymouth Dreambaby in sage green. Psst.. Don’t tell anyone but she was nice and gave me a secret discount on the Cascade! I could NOT resist! It was a very good discount. I do love that place, the owner is beyond nice and helpful and Brian the boy knitter is so sweet. I think it is the friendliest shop in Atlanta. They have added some new yarns and I like the changes they are making in the store. I think she is the only knitting shop owner that remembers me, even though I have been in the others more then enough times for them to remember me.

Posted by pixie at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Arn't you proud? It's been a solid two weeks sence I last bought yarn! I bought the very yarn I am knitting with tonight.

Sorry to torture you with a lame progress picture, but it's been atleast 2 inches of growth!

Posted by pixie at 11:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

A few more inches on ES 2.0 and I am humming along as best I can given my long work days and monthly women woes.

So to cheer myself up I created and purcahsed my MS&W shwag. I wanted to print screen it myself but I am having problems getting the image to look good in black and white for the way I do the screen printing. So I went to Cafepress and got some color love. I think it looks great, and it all cost under $35!

The front says "Pixie Purls, Knitting & Spinning" in small writting above the pixie.

The back says "Pixie Purls .com Blog & Podcast" in bigger writting below the pixie.

I got 20 of these to give away for fun:

I hope someone actually wants one, hah! Or I will just pin them to things all over our house, maybe even to the DOGS!! MUHAHAH!!

Posted by pixie at 11:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Well I am having trouble re-designing my website so it's probably going to be a little while before I can get a new design up. I have decided to premier my new "blog branding" to you now!

Meet Pixie Purls, she doesn't look exactly like me but that's okay because I change my hair far to often to try hah! I think she's adorable. Aimee Ray of dreamfollow.com is the artist and she is fantastic.

So last night after our long meeting I went out with a co-worker from Dallas, we went to dinner and she humored me by going to the bookstore for some knitting literature. I got home at 10:15pm but I had a lot of fun.

Tonight we have a required dinner after today's long meeting and I am sooo tired! I didn't knit at all last night but that is probably best becase my left index finger is still a bit sore still. I totally kicked butt in the gym after work yesterday and I'm very proud. I have a hair apt for the saturday after next with my super special amazing hair cut dude I havn't seen in a year because he's in the city and I can't wait for him to save my hair! I am just not happy with it.

Whats up with the internets? Hardly any emails or forum/blog posts this week, people must be out enjoying life or something!

Posted by pixie at 10:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)

I love a sunny sunday! I also love having people over because it means I will buy flowers.

I am pms-ish this weekend so I have been moody and tired. Despite all that it's been a very lovely weekend.

The sweater seems to fit well. The instructions say to knit until the diagnal measures 10" but I compared it to my existing Essential Stripe and it matched, so I stopped knitting. Measuring it says its 9". I think I suck at measuring, but well the other sweater fits so this should be good.

It seems good to me, hopefully tonight I can make a good dent in the length and try it on again.

I love my doggys! Here I sit on the couch watching Top Gun, willow curled up to my right on the couch and toby on the floor at my feet. Life is good.

I wanted to photograph some cute stuff I got in the mail Saturday but my camera batteries died and I have no more. GRR!!

Posted by pixie at 03:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

NE GA & Atl Bloggers Represent!

Posted by pixie at 05:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Knitty is supposed to come out monday, that's kinda crappy isn't it!! They should have it come out on fridays so we can spend all weekend drooling and dreaming!

There is a Knitty Tubey KAL going on over at craftster.org. There is one solid purple/pink one that I just love on there.

I just love solid colored sweaters. I can knit this up in my Karaoke, or in my Silky Wool. Both are slightly off gauge and I can probably make it work better in the Silky Wool because I can go down a needle size, and I tend to like to go down a needle size for most yarns. So it's nice to see a sweater, want to knit it, and decide to use stash for it!

Essential Stripe 2.0 Progress Photo

It may not look like much but it is progress! I am through the neck increases, so all that is left is to keep increasing and knitting the sleeves until the increase line measures 10 or so inches. Hopefully this weekend I can get to the join and work in the round all next week and get the body finished.

Note for self:
What is really weird is, by the math that sweater is 34". But when I measure it with a measuring tape its 30" (15" wide) and I checked the gauge, it's correct at 5st per inch as when I swatched it before I made it. I can't figure out why the math and the finished measurments do not match!

I am knitting this next sweater with a 5.5 st per inch gauge, but knitting I believe the same size as the other one, BECAUSE the math says it's going to be 30" wide!! So I have no idea what the heck I am doing wrong, but hopefully this fits. So far it looks only a smidge smaller then the other one in the neck which is fine by me, besides its a top down raglen so I can just do more increases before I remove the sleeve stitches.

Posted by pixie at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I went to a private art school for college, though sadly the majority of my time was spent on the computer. It wasn't like SCADD or some traditional art school that has you spend all your time in art history, and then in the evening spending ours on charcoal drawings of nude models. While I have gotten a taste of both of those things, it was certainly not the focus.

I was always extremely shy of the nude models. In fact in Jr. College the year before art school I took an evening drawing class for fun, and we did charcoal drawings of nudes all the time. At the time I was... erm well extremely naive about "boys" and when we had an older male model come in, I positioned my easel so that I was looking at his back side. I have no problem drawing butts, I was determined however not to have to draw his nuts and berries.

The class had a lot of adults in it because it was in the evenings, I was about 18 or 19 at the time. They all poked fun at me and got a good laugh over the fact that I wouldn't look at the guy until I knew he was positioned properly. I would look at my pencils, my paper or go wash my hands 3 times. I would turn beat red when the classmates teased me. I look back on those memories fondly. Maybe one day I'll photograph one of my drawings for you. I did the best drawings of my lifetime in that class. The teacher was wonderful. He told me I was "uninhibited" in my drawing style and that's what made it so unique. I was never meant to be an artist, and I never had much consistency in my technique, I just had no idea what I was doing so I didn't care. I still enjoyed it.

Sometimes in life we get very special compliments that stick with us for life, that art teacher saying my drawings had been uninhibited will always stick with me. Another moment that sticks with me is when I was at the pirvate art college, and the history professor that everyone just adored, I never had him for a class but I knew him. One day I was walking to my car and he was walking in. He stopped me on the side walk and said that he had just come back from a trip to Italy and he had seen some Sandro Botticelli paintings, and that I looked remarkably like one of them. That was truly the biggest compliment I have ever received in my life. We all deserve to be a tad vain now and then. I am a girl and I have my moments of deep self loathing in my hair, my pimples and my freckles, and then I have moments where I feel hot and sexy. I don't know why so many girls in our culture feel this way about ourselves, but sometimes we simply can't help it.

So Botticelli paintings make my happy for that reason, but I actually had quit a thing for them prior to that compliment, which was one reason it meant so much. The "Adobe Illustrator" application icon is actually the Venus face from one of Botticelli's paintings.

Sandro Botticelli Gallery

Posted by pixie at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I swatched last night for Knit and Tonic's Somewhat Cowl pattern. I was having issues with my gauge so I am going to swatch AGAIN tonight before I go to bed!

In the back of that photo you can see my new MISSION ORGNIZATION! I went to office max and got a few things to attempt to keep track of my gauge swatches.

First, I got a set of large blank index cards, and a black box for them to go into. I also bought some staples and pretty gel pens and then tabs to seperate the cards. Each card would have a swatch stapled to it along with a ball band and some notes. Then as a second option I found a little 3-ring binder with regular sized index cards in it. It was fairly thick so I figured it could fit maybe 20 or so swatches, stapled to each card. I think the cards arn't big enough to hold swatch, ball band, and notes.

I'll leave you with this from my back patio;

If I can get the gauge right on my new "Rowan Calmer" yarn, I am thinking of knitting an "Essential Stripe" top for MSW in May. My husband approved of this idea.

Posted by pixie at 08:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Saturday, May 6th, 1:30 PM
By the Stage, close to the Main Exhibition Hall.

Posted by pixie at 03:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It is sooo fun how knitting brings all kinds of people together. It's not like we are different, it's just I doubt we would have met each other otherwise. So it's such a wonderful excuse to make new friends!

It began with lunch at the Crimson Moon

That't Tammy with me, she was so kind as to meet me about 5 minutes from my house and let me ride up with her, which made the trip lots more fun! We talked on the ride up and it was just as though we had talked a dozen times before. I am just so amazed by how cool everyone just seems to click and get along as if we have been meeting for a year or more!

Then we went to the yarn store which i didn't take any photos of. I got some Rowan Calmer and those chibi darning needles I have been needing for about a month now.

Last the 5 of us left went and sat up on a balcony of a little cafe type place and knitted for a while. All I know is when I left the house it was a bit after 10, and I got home around 5:30. The day just flew by and was loads of fun!

This is a photo of an extremly happy pixie (who btw is nearly done with her top which you can spot in the last 2 photos).

Posted by pixie at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

WENDY OMG - I can not stop laughing and thinking how cool of a husband she must have to have taken that photo for her.

April Fools day! Maybe I am a fool for BUYING all this dang yarn! I think it is a good idea to be truley aware of your stash so I thought it would be fun to participate to have a record.

Knitting Storage

Clicky for massive notes! Can you spot the roving that came in the mail today?

Stash in waiting

I love this container, a comforter came in it.

Roving in boxes

This is my knitting corner and it has two balls of roving in it, you can see Salina in her waiting spot. I think the rest of the rowan is in that pile. That's quilt batting on top of the blue basket. Not much over here really. Can you spot the Anne of Green Gables DVD?

Flash Your Stash 2005 Website

I just remembered I have a contianer under the bed but I am far too lazy to go pull it out.

Posted by pixie at 09:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)