Another day, another book, right? Ok, but don’t expect me to keep up this pace. The work week has once again commenced, and while I am not repairing or reading oximeters, I am a bit too tired at the end of the day for much more than a magazine article. And it better be short!

If you are wary of color knitting, you have to look at this book. The 10 projects in it are all knit with just one color per row, so you aren’t juggling 4,629 yarns at once. I am going to tell you right up front that I probably won’t be knitting any of these patterns. I do love the hoodie, but I am not crazy about the cuff and edging and I don’t have the nerve to try to put a zipper in my knitwear yet. YET. I may very well adapt the pattern to my own preference for ribbing and buttons and make it, however. But that’s not to say I don’t love this book! And let me tell you why.

Number one, the front is an extensive study in color theory. Now, I love colors. I really, really do. And I love multi-colored knits. But I really suck sucked at choosing colors. This book has convinced me that I can do it. She explains in great detail how to use the color wheel to design pleasing color schemes for up to six colors! Six people!

Number two, she offers several different ways to carry your yarn up the side of your work, so you aren’t weaving in a bazillion ends after you’ve finished your knitting. ‘Nuff said on that.

Number three, after the color theory and between the projects, she shows a slew of stitch patterns made with multiple colors. This means you can take the theory and the projects and do what I love to do best…design my own! Personally, I am fascinated by the dip stitch. I’d heard of knitting in the row below, of course, but this stitch comes from several rows below. I’d seen it once before in a wildly colored scrap yarn afghan, but never known what it was or how to do it–or why. It helps tie together the colors, of course!! Provided you aren’t working with scraps, LOL! And I guarantee that after this book, you’ll be so fascinated with color ideas that you will have lots of scraps. But you will also have too many ideas to actually use your scraps, and will spend a lot of time in the yarn store.

Oh my gosh, people! I get a lot of books to review. And I am way behind as you know. But I got this one in the mail not too long ago. I have no idea where it came from– I didn’t request it and I can’t find any mention of it in my emails. But if you are tired of reading about extenze side effects, if you have sworn off the evening news because it’s depressing, like I have, then this book is for you! Written by April Winchell, daughter of “Tigger”, this book is hilarious!

Most of you are familiar with Etsy, right? You can find some awesome handcrafted goods there. You can also find some things that leave you scratching you head. Born of the blog Regretsy, this book details the not so good, the bad and the truly ugly of Etsy. It’s a quick read, coming in at about 2 hours, and I spent a good amount of that time laughing too hard to read. And at just 10 bucks and change, it costs less than a movie and popcorn!

My copy is going straight to That One’s mom, since she’s an avid crafter like me. I hope she laughs just half as hard for half as long as I did, because if she does, she’ll love me forever. And also, her husband will be as irritated as my son was at all the noise, and that will make her laugh even more!

By which I mean a friend of mine is having a grandson! And I have finally found a purpose for that BSJ that has been sitting unfinished for so long. I finished the matching hat this morning, and I guess I will be earning dark under eye circles over the next few evenings getting the jacket trimmed and seamed. And that, my dear folks, will be FOs number nine and ten for this year! And then……I dunno, LOL!

That’s pretty darn exciting for a gal who barely touched her yarn in 2009!

So, here is another hat. As you can see, it’s small on me and would probably fit a child ages 5-8. I was making it with a person in mind, but some balls of sock yarn are shorter than others, and I ran out of yarn. That’s ok, I know a little gal that age who could wear a hat like this, and might be needing a present or two.

You might also notice I have the whitest face in North America. I could say that was a trick of the flash on my camera, but why lie about a thing like that? At least I am not worried about age spot removal. Well, on my face. I worked out in the garden shop three days last week, and what popped up on my arms is fairly scary. Sigh.

So, I finished the Clapotis, and it should be in the hands of it’s intended recipient any day now. I have to say that after I took the advice of my twitter friends and removed the stitch markers, it was a pure pleasure to knit. I also have to say that although I rarely knit the same pattern twice, I am probably going to make an exception in this case, because I want one for myself. I thought I was too short to pull off wearing one of these, but after I tried this one on, I think I could rock it.

Here it is, thrown over the back of a kitchen chair, because I am not a competent enough photographer to take a picture of my own back, and no one else was home when I was ready to get the shot.

One of the things I love most about this wrap is that, while it looks like nothing more than one of those elongated diamonds while you are knitting it, once you throw it over your shoulders, it drapes just amazingly. I guess it’s due to the diagonals of the dropped stitches or something, but…..it’s lovely to me.

Well, this week, I have been attending to family business. I really enjoyed hanging out with them, but as far as the business, I would have enjoyed looking at used rvs for sale more. I might possibly have enjoyed Chinese Water Torture more, too, but at least it is over!

Right before I left, I finished the knitting on the Clapotis. I need to weave in the ends and wash and block it, and then I can send it on it’s way.

I also bought myself some yarn. I didn’t intend to do so, and in fact I was shopping for other people, but ACMoore didn’t have what they had asked for. They did, however, have some yarn on sale for 1.99 a ball. I bought 5 or 6 of the pink/green and 3 of the blue/green. The colors are a little off here, they are very pretty in person, I assure you.

They are for ME. I’m thinking one of them may become a Clapotis for me, because I just love the way the one I made looks wrapped around my own shoulders. Just sayin’

While I was doing the business I didn’t want to do, I was a bit nervous. Maybe more than a bit. I was in fact so nervous that I started a hat at 9:30 am and by 4:30, I had knit about 7inches. And I took an hour and a half for lunch and another 30 minutes to be intently involved in the business with no yarn in my hands. While I was knitting to relieve my stress, my cousin was sitting beside me pulling the yarn off the ball for me to relieve his. I wish I had a picture of that!!! He also talked me into making a hat for him, which wasn’t very difficult, I suppose.

Pics of the FOs soon!