I was just reading the Spring/Summer 2006 issue of knit simple, a subdivision of Vogue Knitting.

I’m seriously flipping out.

On page 21 they BLATANTLY RIP OFF my Vegas Knitting pattern! Check this out:

ROLLING FOR RANDOM
Diane Kozak, owner of Unraveled in Douglasville, Pennsylvania, recommends experimenting with stash knitting through this “exercise in randomness,” also referred to as Vegas Knitting.
You can play this game with a group or solo.
YOU’LL NEED: two dice; six different yarns
DIRECTIONS: Assign each yarn a nimber from 1 to 6. For example; red worsted-weight, No. 6; orange ribbon yarn, No. 4, and so on. One die will tell you which yarn to knit; the other will tell you how many rows to knit. Roll both dice. Say your yarn die lands on No. 4 and the row die lands on No. 6. You will knit six rows of orange ribbon yarn. Roll again and continue until you have knitted a piece of stash fabric.
You can play with one die, but do not knit the same number of rows for each fiber. Remember, the idea is randomness, not stripes.

They changed the coin to a second die, and didn’t mention the fringe, but still! I know that people have knit random stripes before, I’m not claiming to have invented that concept. However, I will stake a claim to coining the term “Vegas Knitting”, which is what they call their concept. How dare they? I even took a chance and Googled it, and guess what? The only references to Vegas Knitting out there are links to MY site. I coined that term back in 2004 and spread the word about it. It has appeared in many guild newsletters and even in the 2006 Knitting Pattern-A-Day Calendar.

On top of that, see how they call it a “game” up there? That’s because my Vegas Knitting pattern IS the original Knitting Game! Again, Google Knitting Game and guess how many come up? ME. That’s it!

I’m seriously pissed. I don’t mind putting the pattern out there, in fact I have it available on my site with a disclaimer that it CAN be posted around, but you must give credit where credit is due.

Guess who’s off to write an email?

Thanks a lot Kadi. ;]
I’ve gone and done it. I’ve joined the Knitting World Cup 2006. Details here:
http://yarn-monkey.blogspot.com/

The basic premise is that you CO once the whistle blows June 9th, and have 1 month to complete the project. I’m going to work my little butt off to finish my Perfect Knitting Bag that I designed a year or two ago. Since this project is already started, I will have to abide by a Time Penalty to compensate for what I’ve already accomplished, since most KWCSers will be only allowed to CO on June 9th. So I’ll knit a row, see how long it takes, then multiply that by the number of rows already completed to see how long I have to wait to be able to start working on it. I need to finish knitting the bag, the pockets, the handle, felt it, choose a lining, sew in the lining, choose zippers and then sew those in. In 1 month. It’s a BIG bag.

I always finish work at 8pm on Thursdays, so by the time I get home there’s nothing more I’d rather do than climb into bed in some comfy p.j.s, space out in front of the TV and knit. I had been planning on working on the concentration-intensive Enchanted Forest Cardigan, but instead an old WIP caught my eye. So I turned on the premiere of So You Think You Can Dance and knit for a while on its easy stockinette.I know, I know. It’s Fun Fur. And Self-Striping. And I know that by the time I finish the knitting and sew it into a purse around the clear, round handles, neither fun fur nor fun fur purses will be in style. (Are they still in style?) But I thought the finished bag was very cute, and I’m already picturing the hidden hot pink lining I would sew in to keep it from stretching…and yes, I am cheesy enough to use a fun fur, self-striping, animal print-ish funky purse with clear handles and a hot pink lining. Wanna make something of it?

I had wanted to make the bag larger than the original pattern, so once I finished the first of three required balls of yarn, I measured and multiplied. Turns out that 3 should be plenty big enough.
When the fun-furry goodness started getting to me, but I was still in a stockinette mood, I pulled out the Sunrise Sock and turned the heel. I came to a surprising discovery in terms of the yarn amounts. I had originally taken the large skein of yarn and divided it into what I thought were 2 equal cakes. I had turned out that 1 was 48g and the other 64g. I figured I’d make the first sock with the smaller cake and that way I would for sure not run out of yarn from the 2nd cake, to make the 2nd sock. Well. All I have left to do of sock #1 is the leg and cuff, and it occured to me that the remaining cake #1 still looked pretty big. So I weighed it. Out of the original 48g, I still have 33g left. So now there’s a change of plans. I will make sure to only use a maximum of 24g on this sock, and make the second sock from what’s left of cake #1. I have no clue what I’ll use cake #2 for. And as for why there is so much yarn per cake? I finally checked the label yesterday. The original skein was 500 yards. I probably should have checked that in the first place.

I have to show a photo of Sam. He was very upset to find out that he is NOT an Amazing Lace team member, and actually went off to hide his head in shame. Ok, no, not really. But I do love when he sleeps covering his eyes and finally remembered to turn the camera on in another room so the “zooming” noise doesn’t startle him. For some reason he’s scared of the camera.

This morning I made a swatch before work. It took me 3 needle changes to get the right gauge, and I only did it 2″ high not the full 4″, but still, it worked. This is how the pair of booties looked when I left for work- a swatch.

This is how the booties look now that I’m going to bed. I finished the first one and am so enchanted by it! It’s the absolute cutest thing. Even Yannick kept turning it over in his hand and saying how adorable it was. Yannick. Weird.

This is the second bootie. Or, rather, it will be tomorrow when I get around to seaming it. All the knitting is done, but it’s late and I want to go to sleep now, so I’ll seam it up tomorrow night and post a pic of the complete baby set.

This is me. Um…wait. Turns out the Kid is more attention-seeking than I thought. I had a nice shot all lined up and it jumped up to block me out of the image! Lemme try this again…

Well, that’s not much better, but it’s me. No makeup, scraggly ponytail, Yannick’s old shirt and all. I’m not going to fool around, I know that the Kid is the real star of this team. (That’s why he got top billing).

The Kid and I have a very short history, but clearly our meeting was in the stars. It all started May 5th, when I saw this pattern online. It seems like such a cliche, the corny old line used in all the movies, but for us it really was love at first sight.

We had our hardships, though. First came the doubt: was I good enough? I mean, I’m an experienced knitter, and it’s not like I’m a lace virgin. But still. I recalled the first, forbidden foray into lace- the aptly-named Lace Socks. Then there was the lace inset in Bradley’s Baby Outfit. Sure, it was just an eyelet zig-zag, but it meant something, damnit! Oh- then there was that thing with Yannick’s Mom’s SteeplechaseVest– it had garter stitch mixed in, but it was lace, right? I feel so dirty…I didn’t think there had been that many yet the more I look back, the more I find. Like, I didn’t even remember that there was lace in the Tasha Tudor shawl. Who am I? There was even the long affair with the Goldilocks, but I can’t speak of that one. Last Wednesday I frogged that sucker, and the pain is still too fresh. Lastly, how could I forget that the Comfort Clapotis is lacy? All those dropped stitches? Oversized needles? Flowy fabric? Come on!

Ok, so looking back it seems that I really am good enough to take on this relationship. I have the experience, and the time necessary to devote to such an undertaking. But who would take this special journey with me? I spent so much time and energy trying to figure it out, even filled long blog posts with my trials and errors, when suddenly it hit me. Why not use the one who was in my sights all along? The pattern calls for Kid Merino- who am I to say that another would be better suited?

Once the decision was made all the pieces seemed to fit together. The needles were free, the yarn arrived quickly, and the pattern was free. The Kid and I were truly meant to be together.

It was the Kid’s idea that we take on The Amazing Lace. It knows I’m getting married Labor Day weekend and wanted me to have this one last fling before the big day. We stand steadfastedly side-by-side, ready for whatever challenges might come. Bring on The Amazing Lace!

*I have joined a lace knitalong called The Amazing Lace (link in my sidebar). Every few weeks challenges are posted, and I will have a blog entry as my effort for that challenge. This will not take the place of regularly-scheduled blogging.