Psychic Knitter

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We all know what a fun time is to be had when Mercury does it's back peddling thing. Communication goes awry, electronic equipment goes haywire and life just drags along as trying to achieve forward momentum becomes something akin to slogging through deep mud in heavy boots. I decided instead of focusing on the obvious negative aspects of the Mercury retrograde, I would try to take a different approach by going back into my stash of unfinished knitting projects from the past, and working on them throughout the retrograde since we know that anything started in a retrograde is only a temporary thing, there is no point in starting a new project right now. Obviously I have started a lot of knitting projects during the retrograde periods of the past because I did have a fine selection of projects to choose from. I selected a blanket that I started back in 2007. It's a beautiful vertical striped blanket made with 8 different types of yarn that are all color coordinated, with half of them being the dreaded mohair. Beautiful stuff but tricky for a beginner to work with as I recall. I can say with great assurance that this blanket will be a warm one this winter because god knows it was plenty warm sitting on my lap while I was sipping my iced drink tonight at our coffee hang out whose air conditioning was no match for the warmth of all of the wool sitting in my lap.. I'm now thinking that the light green COTTON scarf would have been a better choice to finish off but then there is the problem of figuring out what the pattern is I was using and I was short on time this afternoon.I must also insert here that if anyone sees or even senses me picking up a ball of cotton yarn by the brand name Peaches and Cream or it's counterpart, I should immediately be thrown to the floor and the yarn ball pried from my hand. Why? Because while I was digging out my old project, I came across a few more balls of the yarn to add to my BASKET full of them. What was I thinking? Wash cloths and dish towels in cool color knitting styles of course! What I was NOT thinking about was that they are not reversible, thus require either double knitting or adding a back to them making them way too thick. Back to the drawing board on that one. But I digress. ... But wait, that is after all the thing to do during a retrograde, right? Digress, regress. Ahhh, semantics. I do believe it's time for a martini. Shaken, not stirred.

Working on knitting projects for various charities is part of my crafting hobby. To save on costs I almost always use Red Heart yarn. I like the wide variety of colors they offer and the fact that the yarn is acrylic makes it a very good choice as well because most projects require the use of a machine washable yarn. When I was out shopping last week I came across Red heart Eco-Ways yarn which is a recycled blend of yarn. The color selection was limited and it was a little more expensive than the regular Red Heart, but it was still a good price. It seems to be a bit softer than the regular Red Heart yarn as well. I'm planning to use these two balls for a square with a two color pattern. I can't wait!

As winter finally reached Colorado these last couple of weeks, I hunkered down to knit by the warmth of my fireplace, flanked as usual, by my old black cat,Sam. I have discovered that I love knitting cables and showcasing a design on a tarot bag. The bags are fun to design. I love the primitive look of them. I am now working on one that I hope will become my Dancing Irish Fairy bag. We shall see what the fairy folk have in mind as the piece progresses. :)

Since my last posting I have opened up a shop on Etsy called Toad Werks. I have branched off from my knitting a bit and into some sewn items and different types of prayer beads. My shop is an off shoot of my main business which is tarot readings. I am not an expert crafter, but I do enjoy doing crafty things and thought it might be fun to put some items up for sale; particularly tarot related things. I like to use tarot cloths because they protect my cards and because they are so much fun. Even more fun is to match them to the different decks I have. I find that expressing my creativity, the natural outlet for a magical life. Cheers!

I finished my second tea cozy Sunday night which called for a Martini! (what else?) I really like this one and doubt I will be able to part with it. I can see this is going to be a problem indeed. The picture doesn't do the colors justice try though I did to get a good shot. I love the simple mock weaving technique although it is a bit time consuming.I call this one Mad Hatter tea cozy but honestly I picked up some yarn yesterday that may make this one look a lot less crazy. I am currently working on a mute multi-color cozy that has a retro feel to it with cocoa, pink and green. At this point it is going to have buttons all over it which should be interesting. My little pink retro cozy is very sweet but photographs poorly so it will probably forever be mine. I was thinking if I get tired of making tea cozies I could always make a Martini Shaker cozy. You know, to protect one's fingers from freezing while shake. Oh yeah, I'm onto something now.......

As 2009 was beginning to fizzle, my knitting was beginning to sizzle due in part to the holiday gifts I had to finish at the last minute. Once the gifts were finished (which were all scarves) I was anxious to start a new project and take on a new knitting challenge. I pulled out my two books on tea cozies and began the search for my next project. I think tea cozies came to mind because I've been drinking a lot more tea now that winter has fully arrived here in Colorado. To me, tea seems ever so much cozier than a cup of a coffee on a cold snowy day. I dug my way through my enormous stash of yarn and chose a very inexpensive retro looking pink yarn. And so it began, my first tea cozy. I am now on my second cozy and am using Red Heart yarn this time. What a lot of knitters don't like about Red Heart is the stiffness of it. This otherwise annoying quality actually works well with a tea cozy because it will almost stand by itself which is a good quality for a tea cozy. It is my hope to finish three of them and post them for sale on my tarot website sashastearoom.com I am hoping that when I add the additional tag to my site it will help me to drum up more business for my site. Since just before the holidays I have been PLURKING my hobby woes. It's somehow comforting to be able to sound off a bit while working on the seemingly endless knitting project. If you plurk come join me and we can share our woes and maybe a martini.Cheers!

Friday was one of those perfect summer days. I decided to take advantage of it and so I grabbed my knitting bag and headed out to the back yard. Once I spread my beach towels out I let the four fur devils out to romp around. For sanity purposes I chose to knit some squares I am making for a retro colored afghan I have in mind. The simplicity of the pattern on the squares makes it perfect for the many times I had to get up and chase after one of the cats who were getting too close to jumping the fence. Luna likes to run across the yard to me and climb all over me and let me know how much fun she is having while I am trying to make sure she gets untangled from my yarn. At one point Sasha was being groomed by her new little brother Merlin and as I watched I knew that there was no more perfect time than that moment. If the weather cooperates, I hope I can venture out again today with my shawl project and maybe a pitcher of martinis!