The New Knitting Circle by San Francisco Magazine

Thanks to the San Francisco Magazine for featuring some of the guys  from our knitting circle, whic also includes crocheters.  Nine of us went to the shoot, only 8 show up.  Charles Ford is the guy missing. There is a group of fellows that meet on Sunday at a local Coffee house.  2349 Market street, Espressamente Illy Castro.  There are crocheters and knitters and we are men of many venues and backgrounds, doing something creative.  We call the attention of the casual and not so casual passer by .  We are the New Knitting Circle  San Francisco Style.  Here is the link to the Free Digital Copy of the Magazine http://www.modernluxury.com/san-francisco/digital-edition  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Fall is in the Air

I had to pick up some leaves to let everyone know that there is fall in California. Maybe it does not last as long as in other places, but we definitely have a nice and pretty fall season as the leaves can attest.

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I am doing some more work on the hat and the scarf today, but I wanted to show you the inspiration enhancing CDs that I got to help me with my crafts. I also received the Interweave Knits 2007 Holiday Gifts edition . If you like Hats, gloves and bags you will love it. It has some interesting sock patterns as well and Boot Toppers, I never heard of that, what a fashion statement lol! There are lots of other gifts and in my opinion it is worth my money. The pictures are nice too, lol!

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I wish I could change the world and bring peace, I am tired of listening to wars and countries threatening countries. Whatever plan the Gods or God or Goddess have they better implement it quickly. Well for now I am declaring that there shall be no more war!

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I want to thank you for stopping by and maybe I will have more progress pictures of my scarf on Sunday, it depends how Saturday turns out to be. I am hoping to go and have some Japanese food, which is my least favorite of international foods,but I like it. Until later my friends!

Holiday Gift Ideas, and some cooking

As Knitting and Crochet have changed my life I evolve and learn to create and let my spirit come through my creations.. At this moment I am experiencing a Knitting Renaissance of a kind. Now getting away from me and to what you came here for, besides me .

Well KnitScene magazine for the Fall 2007 has great projects. The sweaters for the fall are fabulous and sneaked in it's pages , specifically on pages 41 , 50 and 83 is my friend in fiber art mischief, Regina Rioux Gonzalez aka LadyLinoleoum from Montercrochet.blogspot.com and or Monstercrochet.com, she has a flaming Tote. Regina has such a creative mind, she is so inspiring and it comes to show that Uniqueness is in Vogue. Dare to be different is what I say and Regina is definitely different and different Excellence.

If you were looking for ideas for gifts for yourself, your friends or a knitter, Interweave Holiday Gifts Issue for Holiday 2006 was a great buy for me. I found great ideas for my Santa's List, but whatever holiday you celebrate that includes gifts, count me in. lol!

I am a baker, something in my genetic making calls me to bake, I love brick ovens and I am fascinated by the baking process. You can say it is a chemical reaction that produces more often than not, great outcomes of culinary sense. These are sticky buns modified for a low carb diet you can find the recipe in this link Angy's Sticky Buns and I say substitute olive oil for half of the butter it calls for . It will be better for cholesterol. I substituted Oat bran for bran and it gave it a very cool texture. It was actually half steel cut oatmeal and oat bran. Sugar free maple syrup. Remember these are high caloric items and can not and should no be eaten like they are going out of style, ha ha ha!

As you can see I used this mold, which is for baked donuts. I chopped up the almonds. It is a great breakfast treat. Following below for presentation purposes is the plate with five of the six donuts or sticky buns, well I have to try one before serving them to people. lol!

I still have some Works in Progress, I am almost done with my Irish Hiking Cap, I had to recast the stitches for a cap my size. I am a self taught knitter and I am sure all of us self taught knitters have gone through the same roads. As I make stuff I realize the way I knit and how I can effectively have an easier time knitting. I am aware of the tension I use and the tension I need to learn to use. This is called gauge, gauge is the amount of stitches you make with a certain number needle or hook (crochet) for a finite amount of inches and rows. My tension for this hat on Lion Brand cotton and on circular needles US 6 get me to cast at least 132 stitches to have a comfortable hat on my head. Maybe if I relax my stitches I will be able to get away with 90 or so stitches, but that will be for my next hat in deep blue. It will match my raincoat, the raincoat that Santa gave me last year! Well enough for now, thanks for stopping by.

Interweave Felt Magazine a Short Review

I have never bought this magazine before, but I was drawn to this one for some reason. It is a terrific issue with projects, techniques, and tutorials, I enjoyed reading the articles.

Some funky hats , cool Totes and great tutorials are in this issue. There are many ways to felt , or fulling the wool into fabric with great directions and illustrations. The tutorials form the basis for most of the patterns in the magazine.

You can actually divide the tutorials in the magazine in 3 sections : Felted Knitting, Wet Felting, and Needle Felting. There is something for everyone. Scarves, necklaces, tote bags, weekender bag a funky hat and other accessories good first projects, but there is plenty to challenge the not so novice felter. There is even a section for recycling your favorites sweater into items of great use like... well you have to get the magazine to fine out. lol!

It is a great issue that will give you some great knowledge and maybe spark your creative spirit into felting, from the etymology to the fabric itself, This Interweave Felt was a good buy for me. I hope you found this review helpful and leave a comment. Thanks for stopping by.

I felt like the way it Felt

I got this magazine yesterday and I have embarked in some reading for the weekend. I may do some felting next week. Interweave Felt Special edition is a great read and it has plenty of projects and ideas. I just made a 2 Year subscription to the Interweave Knits, from Interweave Press. I liked the magazine and it is better to get a two year subscription, you save some money.

As you know I have been buying Hand Dyed Wool Yarn from Ebay. The store name is http://stores.ebay.com/forestgreener06 and the yarn is good for felting in my opinion. Some of the colors are not exactly as shown, so pick carefully. Still all the wool I gotten there is of great quality. The guy Ships fast and always has something for sale. It was worth my try and I will be buying from him in the future.

I have some works in progress as you know, and the green hat got frogged and recasted again with one more inch of stitches for a more comfortable fit. Sometimes in knitting or crocheting you have to frog an item, ( frogging = rip it rip it rip it) lol! Talking about frogs, in Men Who Knit group at http://menwhoknit.com this guy sends me an email telling me that my knitting is twisted. I go along for a couple of emails as I was surprised that someone will tell me the right and wrong way of knitting. Little did he know that I would post his commanding email on the boards for everyone to see and then others united in My Collective to rebel against this assimilation. He had sent similar emails to other people. The odasity of this jerk,little did he know that I am Bajoran and that I walk with the Prophets. It was Kai Winn dressed in Drag ha ha ha! It was by all means The Holy Knitting Inquisition. Maybe we belonged to the Borg Collective and was looking for the ilussive Perfection of the Omega Molecule or was from the Omega Directive of Starfleet to go and boldly perform random acts of unsolicited advice throughout the galaxy. I told him , eventually, that he should mind his own business and to stop telling me what to do. Who elected him the Borg Queen? Was resistance Futile? I don't think so! Thanks for stopping by.

Hooked on Crochet Magazine Oct 05 Issue

I was looking at the "Hooked On Crochet" Magazine for October 05. There are lots of interesting projects for the making. Autumn Roses Doilly looks very interesting. I am not sure if I will try to work on it at this time. The Lace coasters, now that's another story, they look like a quick project that you can do in no time, I have some terry style cloth cotton yarn that I may use for that. The pattern is made with size # 10 cotton, I have plenty of that as well. I get it at a Record Store, Discolandia, 2964 24TH St San Francisco, CA 94110-4132 (415) 826-9446, in the Mission District, of San Francisco, where Sylvia, the owner, has all kinds of assorted threads for crochetting.

The Sunflower Sachet pattern is nice as well. Fill it up with some homemade poppouri and watch out Martha Stewart.

There are plenty of patterns for everyone, I like the Kid's Carryall Tote bag, is very clever and will definitely make any kid smile. The sweet Tulips hat is also another nice and easy pattern for a 9 months to 2 year old baby girl. I bet you if you increase it by 1o to 20 stitches it will fit and older girl, age 5 to 10.

The Party Favors for Halloween are a very clever set of quick patterns for a children's party. Not a bad issue I will have to say. I look forward to this months Issue.