You shall not pass...yo k2tog

Hello Out There

2006-06-11T19:20:00.000-04:00

Edited: Hi all, just a preface to the upcoming note from Denny. We took all sorts of awesome pictures with my new camera and Blogger won't let me upload them...am still working on it because these pictures are HOT.
xo Blog Mistress

Kids, job, life, birthdays O.M.G.

Three birthdays. Hubby, Callum - 13 (hamburger cake,paintball, sleep over) and Cyrus - 9(C.N.Tower, sailboat cake,and class cupcakes) So life is pretty darn full these days. I'm not sorry about the not so much blogging, cause life's to short and there is cake to eat.

I'm at Jenn's house and we are doing the gin and tonic thing. Weekend work is over and I have a a day off tomorrow. My boss went to T.N.N.A. this weekend and I was a wee bit jealous.Then Amy said last minute that she was going too. Now I am just downright pissy.

Bring back good yarns/stories, ladies or next time I will go with you, and then we WILL get up to trouble. PARTY next week at stitch n bitch (more cake?) Somebody's birthday/bookbookbook day. And we can all buy yarn !

Been some knitting going on here. White top, Vogue Holiday 2005. Trinity by Jaeger. Buttons from the Sheep. This one was hard, me and the lace=hard. Knit the front , saw a mistake, then another. Frog. Good Trinity, good rippy yarn, no breaky breaky when rippy rippy. It's a D.K. silk and cotton. It could of been ugly. This top was fun even though the buttons were almost as much as the yarn (but so worth it).

Also to go way back, my friend Megan gifted me this some time ago, she inspires ne so much to think/spin out side the box. See it's neat it's a shawl , with bobbles. Hand made bobbles the best kind. Over spun ? Who cares it's cool I love it Bring on the spining police, arrest me and Megan, throw us in jail where we can spin like CRAZY LADIES.

But the really big news is this..... LAP TOP!!!!!!! So I'll be getting the nice laptop lessons from the nice lap top boys at the in the Eaton Centre .Yaaaaa Me. Thanks Hubby , love my man. See Erin I got one too.

The white one like all my friends.

The 7 Things about Me Meme!

2006-05-01T16:14:00.000-04:00

Seven Things To Do Before I Die:
- jump out of plane,changed my mind.
- Go to Scotland and have lunch at MacDonalds
- knit in tuskany (hi Amy)
- knit in the audeince of Martha Stewarts' show (HI Stephanie)
- Go to the Arctic (hi muskox)
- Go to Reinebeck
- buy a lot of fibre

Seven Things I Cannot Do:
- jump out of a plane - warning nudity.
- deal with a large amount of live maggots, tried it, couldn't do it (don't throw chicken bones away on monday when garbage day is friday duing a heatwave.)
- Eat liver.
- Eat snails.
- Cut other peoples toe nails.

Seven Things That Attract Me To My Mate:
- Looks
- Money
- His job
- Sex
- Good cook
- and he vacuums.

Seven Books/Authors I Love:
- Annie E Dillard
- Thomas Hardy
- Alice Munroe
- Charles Dickens
- Ann Marie MacDonald
- William Thackery
- Stephen Lewis

Seven Things I Say:
- To do the work of our people.
- Get out of town.
- Hurry you'll be late for school.
- O.K.bye.
- Don't eat that I'm making dinner.
- Are you coming to SnB?
- You get one stamp for every 25$you spend on regular price merchandise,and when your card is full,you get 30$ of stuff for free.

Seven Movies I've Loved:
- Maybe I'll be home in the spring.(bad T.V.(drug)movie from the 70's)
- Babette's feast.
- The Life Aquatic
- Any Wallce and Grommit.
- Napoleon Dynomit.
- School of Rock.
- Requiem for a Dream

Only the Best.

2006-04-23T18:47:00.000-04:00

So the other day at work, we were asked how you can tell good bamboo needles from cheap ones. Mostly we said it's the price. You should pay at least 10$ for a good pair (not, like 3$, those are skewers for the B.B.Q.) Also never buy them at the dollar store.

Any how, (imissyouErin) this is about breaking in my new blog bitch. Jen. For Erin "deets" , for this project I used Misti Alpaca from Lettuce Knit, all high end Bamboos circs. Only the best for our Jenn. In knitting news I made this poncho/shawl thing out of some well marinated silk stash and some of Megan's funky handspun called "Blue with Pink Cocoons" Just look at the size of those cocoons baby, thats gotta scare moths away. They're like "holy mother of god, whats going to hatch out that, let's beat it guys or we'll be lunch!"

I love this shawl /cape thing. Think I'll make a sexy camy to go under. Thats Jenn modeling it.

Also my new toy, a Maja craft Wild Flyer, from Black Lamb. Jumbo spinning here we come.

Thanks for picking up my jumbo flyer Jenn . Thanks Joyce for driving Jenn home. Thank you D.K.C. for having the frolic. O.K. kitty picture. This is Smudge Jenn n Jason's cat with the Misti Baby Alpaca. My cat is evil, no shit. Evil.

2006-04-13T18:50:00.000-04:00

Denny,

I'm going to miss you. Being a yarn store monkey has been greatly improved by your Coldplay-mocking, shimmery-skirts-wearing, home-made-meat-pie-making self. Not to mention that you're smokin' hot.

You taught me how to crochet. You taught me how to weave in ends the expert way. You taught me that I'm not the only one who is always thinking about sex.

Denny, I'm gonna miss you.

Sincerely,
Your Blog Bitch

This picture is a result of the first (much less flattering picture) where our boobs were touching and mid-flash Denny turned to me to whisper, "Erin, our boobs are touching" so we were more prepared this time. We protected our own.

Boo hoo I guess I'm going to go to the Peg soon! Busy in the shop more later...

I LOVE ERIN

xxxDenny

Lots of Catching Up to Do

2006-03-26T22:40:00.000-05:00

A photoblog, for everyone's enjoyment.

The Steeked Vest from Teva Durham's (MY FAVORITE DESIGNER!) Loop-d-Loop. I used Rowan's new yarn, Holiday. It needs a really bare nude cami - I'm on the hunt!

The Steeked Vest and a little preview of the Glam Shawl. This picture pretty much illustrates our weekends at the the Sheep: Denny working hard/sweeping, Erin doing nothing/taking pictures.

A wondeful basic (but HUGE) shawl out of Crystal Palace Glam. Just a garter stitch triangular shawl, but a cool crochet edging is done out of Louisa Harding's new Shingle yarn. It might be a bit tricky to see but there are sparkly pailettes around the edges.
Also important here: the new ruffly skirt & ruffly matching purse. I'd planned on buying a purse from Yoka as a prize for getting gold in the Olympics but when I got back it was sold. So I picked this one up at the Calgary Art Gallery. Ruffly purse=good.

A WIP (don't blink or I'll be done). Cute sweater/shirt from the Holiday Vogue (same mag as the great Olympic project) out of Jaeger Trinity. The front, which I ripped, only took 1 ball, great yardage. Just don't knit while eating strawberry cheesecake. Trust me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hi there. It's Erin here. I've decided to editorialize right here, chez Denny, as it's likely one of my last posts as her christened blog bitch. Basically, someone needs to pick up the torch and help the Dennster blog cause it is going to be purdy difficult blogging from Peg city. I'm offering it up yo. Who wants to be the new blog bitch? Who wants to be the new me? Leave a comment.

mmmmm cheesecake

2006-03-25T15:29:00.000-05:00

I am back..... from hoildays. Oh restful time. Get up, knit, make coffee, knit, watch T.V., knit, go for lunch, knit, try not to spill raspberry sauce on knitting (yummm chessecake with raspberry sauce). Oh my goodness time for a rest. Get up,knit, where to have supper? Eat,eat,eat. Look at the time! Hot tub time. TEN DAYS. How do you make ten of hoildays feel like a month? Do f**k all people, thats all. I'll be walking home from work for the next month. Ten days of cheese cake. Restful hoilday = not slimming.

I also now know I don't need Martha's cooking school. But I had to watch, just in case there was something, ya know? O.K. tomorrow will bring more blogging and pictures!
I did take my spinning wheel too, one needs a hoilday from knitting.

Tech Support

2006-03-19T10:50:00.000-05:00

I apologize for the long absence of Denny's blog. Something is up with blogger. I'm not a technorati but my htmp kung fu is, on occasion, quite strong. Let's see if we can figure this out together.

-Erin

(Belated) Gold Medalist

2006-03-04T14:37:00.000-05:00

I got a gold. Now to treat myself to that new bag. Humm, a new bag from Yoka (the sheeps clothing store of choice) or a trip to Tuscany with these gals! Amy was in the shop today and I asked her if she may need an assistant. I am a trained sous chief as will as a damed fine ends weaver in-er. Ask any one I love to sew in ends. I used to do it for chocolate, but now I just do it to feel the love. That and I can't eat the chocolate any more(makes a certain part of my body ache, enough said.)

I think if I don't buy any yarn for a few weeks I could pay for the trip(in my dreams) But really, at the end of the week me,and my wee family are going on a ski trip to Kicking Horse. It's in Golden B.C. Hey I guess that will be my reward for knitting like a crazy lady for two weeks! Golden for getting gold.

My nephew Eli is liveing in Golden this winter, and his mom (my sister-in-law) is going too. This is all good even though I don't ski. Don't even want to try. But I will go up in the gondola to the top of the mountain. To sit in the fancy pants restaurant, drink tea, and spin yarn. Yup you heared right, I'm taking my Little Gem spinning wheel on holiday. Yea for me ,my turn for a trip. (Sorry Amy, sew your own ends in.)

On the needles: just knit a Teva Durham. The steaked vest from Loop de Loop. Knit that puppy out of the new yarn from Rowan, Hoilday. Then I'm making a shawl from my left overs from my oylmpic sweater. As well as a ton of shop knitting for the sheep. Erin will take pics tomorrow. As my friend Tabby says ,peace out.

I Work In A Yarn Store

2006-02-27T13:59:00.000-05:00

I'm broke.

Lovely Sunday hairday. And the blogbitch. Further explanation to come.

We Have a Gold Medal Performace Here!!!

2006-02-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

The Olympic Knitting is complete.

I think you look gorgeous here, Denny. What a stunner!

And they said it couldn't be done.

I LOVE Megan

2006-02-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

This post is going to be a regular feature, my great, amazing, talented friends.

We will start our tour with my buddy Megan. LOVE YA MEGAN. I first met Megan a couple years ago when the lovely lass opened a cute little shop in Kensington Market one of my fave places in T.O.

Sooo I found out about this shop in the market at spinning class a couple of years ago, and went to check it out. It was so cute. Got home, phoned Steph, "Hey girlfriend, got to check out the new yarn shop!" The one thing was is I have more yarn in my stash than this gal had in her whole shop. "Gee I hope she can make a go of it", I thought. Well get out of town, the lass is doing great. The best SnB in town, mountains of gob smacking yarn, and every every gal that works there is MY NEW BEST FRIEND.

I love Megan, her soft spoken ways(but hey, no pushover), cute kids, nice Hubby. Also the feeling is mutual, Megan tells me when she first saw me in the shop ,she thought "hummm here come the real knitters". Me and Megan are always gifting each other with lovely hand knits.So I guess we are each others fan club: LUV YA MEGAN. Your buddy for life Denny. xoxoxo

Denny + Megan = BFF

2006-02-16T23:31:00.000-05:00

more found on the flickr page (see sidebar)

We had no fun .

2006-02-12T13:53:00.000-05:00

I god a code in my node. But my hands aren't sneezy , just knitting.

P.S. hey Steph we had no fun the other night, well Ken winning the "party girl" scarf was funny. But if you had been there you would of cracked us all up with some witty comment. As it was, well it was just the cider\beer making us laugh. Fiber retreat, I'm so jealous. As to bloging ,we will be back soon with Vim Gel Bleach fun, my favrite people, and up dates on olympic knitting.

Need to go rest now ,yes Amy I drink some soupies.mmmmmmmm soup.

Knitters Love Blowjobs (imagine the google hits on this one!)

2006-02-11T19:57:00.000-05:00

I take complete responsibilty for this picture. heh.

-Erin

My Hairy Brown Skirt (no really it's lovely!)

2006-02-04T15:42:00.000-05:00

I guess I just want to say I taught a needle felting class. Love the needle felting! Turn sticks and stuff into cool crap. Voila:

--->

So I finished my knit skirt, it's made frome Fleece Artist Mo and Colinette Giotto. One strand of each held together. The pattern is frome the Vouge Holiday issue but I didn't follow the pattern, just used the decreasing sequence they did to get that cool A-line skirt look. Also here is a little hat I made using the Ann Budd book The knitter's handy book of patterns. It is the Zara Plus.Yummmmmmy Zara Plus. So the story of the skirt is this. Lorena (my boss) did a blanket out of the mohair(she used Angel Hair) and the Giotto this summer.

.Oh.My.God.

It was so gorgeous all I could think about was: MUST KNIT FUNKY SKIRT. I kept talking about it blah blah blah mo and giotto, blah blah gorgeous. You should knit this blah blah blah mo and giotto. One day at stitch n bitch Meagan said (in her lovely soft way): "Denny you keep talking about it". Well isn't that all I needed to give it a go. Yup this puppy is done now.

I will try to remember to wear it to stitch n bitch this Wed. because my scarf class is over (I teach a lot, somtimes it means I miss stitch n bitch). But not this week and then there is Friday.....(hum the theme song to Rocky here)....on your mark .....
get set.......go, I mean cast on! I'm so stoaked about this olympic knit thang.
Vogue coat you will be mine, and if I reach my personal best (finish) I will buy the fancy silk bag at Yoka.....

The Story Behind the Name

2006-01-29T14:02:00.000-05:00

The history of the title The Gandolf of Knitting was requested by a few of the faithful. For one time only, we present you with the background info:

“Ok so we were at Stitch and Bitch and there was a media person interviewing us about knitting etc. This was about 6 months into the s'n b at lettuce knit so we'd had a lot of media coverage and we were pretty jaded and kind of acting like, “oh yeah whatever another person writing an article on knitting.” I don’t even remember what publication it was for.

[Denny says this to me in a voice that suggests she's been in so many magazines that it would be impossible for her to keep them all straight. She is popular.]

So I thought: "You poor dear, ill teach you how to knit." She was the first reporter who came to the place who wanted to learn how to knit. So I sat beside the poor dear and took her under my wing and taught her how to knit. And what does she do in the article? She calls me the Gandolf of Knitting.

I read the article and ran up to the bathroom and looked in the mirror - my hair was turning grey! Who knew?!? The name stuck. Everybody who read the article thinks it fits. Gandolf of Knitting.

Testing

2006-01-27T04:02:00.000-05:00

Denny's blog to come soon. As soon as Erin can take pictures of her snazzy Team Canada Vest! Check back Sunday!