Here is is, the last of my custom designs for The Point, for a while. I need a little break and some quality time with my To Do List.

This is November's featured pattern with the yarn of the month, Soho Bulky Tweed from Tahki Yarns.

I really want everyone to know what a fun knit this was. I love this pattern for it's knitterly qualities. There are no pieces to sew together. You simply knit a rectangle for the back, cast on stitches along one short side for one arm hole, pick up stitches along the bottom edge, and cast on more stitches for the other arm hole. And there you are - you just knit round and around until the fronts/collar are the desired length! I seriously finished this in two days.

And the Soho Bulky Tweed is delightful. It seems boring and scratchy in the skein, but when you knit it, it's springy and forgiving. It softens considerably when worked up and is seriously warm. A good pairing of yarn and project, I think.

(And thanks for the advice with my Big Wool Jacket. I'll have the results for you in a couple of days!)

I finished work early today and squandered all picture-taking daylight hours watching "Home at the End of the World" and not knitting. Just sitting, as if in a trance.

(What a waste! Did anyone else find Colin Farrell's character more than a little creepy? I kept expecting him to make out with Sissy Spacek.)

So now we have this: A slightly blurry picture of myself with the jacket in progress. They jacket that, faithful readers of my blog will notice, is featured no where on my To Do List.

The jury is still out on the sleeve. I've already ripped it out once because it was too wide and made my arm look like some kind of black French sausage. Should I do some decreases or should it be wide like so many jackets we're seeing this season? The good news I can probably knit this all tonight (while watching Chuck, Heroes and The Journeyman) and made a decision.

Why do I love the L Train tonight? The train that causes me so much grief? The train that runs only 40 weekends out of the year? What has warmed the cockles of my commuter heart?

(Perhaps the two glasses of wine that I imbibed before boarding have changed my perspective.)

What is it that I love? The two Polish couples that I expect to get out at Lorimer Street that do not? The trio of girls in flip flops, despite the 50 degree weather? The family of supposed French tourists (MTV Store bags in hand)? Where are they going?

The train does not thin at Bedford Avenue as I expect it to. As it does every other night. The Hipsters reading Plato. Do they live on my street?

I love the chorus of voices and sounds. Everything that the L Train is - an amalgam of cultures and ages and faces.

The crowd follows me out the door. Where do they live? No one shadows me around the corner. They do not live on my block. My street. They scatter. Chatting in the many languages I recognize, but do not understand.

On Monday morning, I will be so irritated. So impatient. So tired.

Tonight I love it. The L Train.

All this dreary weather does not allow for good bloggin' pictures! I had a really productive week, as promised, and nearly no photographic evidence.

I finished two skirts earlier this week, attempted to take pictures of me wearing them myself, the decided to wait for a sunny day and Master P to do a little photo shoot. No sun = no pics.

Then there's my Anna sweater, from the Rowan Studio One. I finished the back, but it just looks like a pile of mushy mohair (which I guess it is, in all fairness) when I try to photograph it. I decided that after finishing the back and knitting NINE inches too many, that I deserved a break of the Big Wool variety.

That's where this picture comes in.

It's a jacket inspired by one I saw a while back at J. Crew ( I can't find a picture of it now) and it's made of Rowan Big Wool. I love this yarn. I've never knit with it and I don't know why. It's really, really lovely. I started this baby on Wednesday and with another entire day of rain ahead of me, I think I may finish it this weekend! I can't wait!

Oh, man. This week just blew by me! I stumbled home every night, bone tired, and had just enough energy to read my Bloglines, eat dinner and pass out on the couch.

I kept reading everyone's blogs and thinking, "I don't have the energy to knit." Can you believe it? I didn't knit a single stitch in 4 days!

I didn't do much knitting, but I made a new friend (Hi, George!). It's hard not to bond with someone when you're on your hands and knees for 9 hours a day, stapling Lycra to a wooden frames. (Don't ask.)

Since I didn't knit at all. Or sew. Or cook. I thought I'd show you what I did do. I had my very first ever paid styling job. See that picture on the left? That's my handiwork. I'm kind of a proud mama.

What's ahead? Knitting! And sewing! I have three days off staring me in the face and I plan on being plenty productive. Stay tuned.

P.S. This is my 200th post! Yay me!

Oh my. I haven't posted in a while because I feel as though I don't have much to share. How contrary to the truth that is!

On the knitting realm, I finished this cutie for The Point's October Pattern of the Month. An endeavor that seems to be eating up a bunch of my time. It doesn't allow me a lot of time for personal knitting, but it's stimulating to be designing. Stop by the store to see the sample in person.

Also on the knitting/The Point front, I have just finished designing 4 exclusive hat patterns for the store. Look for pictures here and more details, where else, at The Point!

As for that interview, I have no news, but I am scheduled out the wazoo with freelance gigs, which is wonderful. I'm pretty much working non-stop for the rest of the month of October! Now, let's just hope it keeps up! I'd love to be this busy all the time (though, again, it doesn't leave much time for personal... anything!)

Stay tuned!

Sometimes I can be so danged silly. I mean just silly.

Here I was with all of this amazing produce that my grandmother gave me. From her garden. She's such an incredible woman who, at eighty years old, still grows tomatoes and beans and corn (to name a few) in her little patch of garden in New Jersey.

She only gave me a little bit, but it was too much for me to eat all by myself. I thought I could pickle some of it. I've always been interested in canning and pickling. I have fantasies of having my own little patch of garden and putting up veggies and preserves to last me all winter.

So I set out to do some research on the internet on pickling. I went to several websites and got a lot of different information. So much that it just set my head a-swimming. I was about to throw in the towel when I realized just how dense I was being. I had a wealth of knowledge at my fingertips.

So I called my Baba.

She told me over the phone everything I needed to know and I set out a-pickling. I had a bunch of beans that I put up with garlic, dill and red chili flakes. I also picked up some fennel and put that in with some fennel seeds, garlic and shallots. I am so proud! And I feel as though I am carrying on a little bit of something that my grandmother taught me. I hope you're proud Baba.

OK, so it is not a cardigan with an owl on it. Though I did finally put the Owl Cardi back on the needles and knit two rows, just to get my chart reading back on track. It remains untouched.

With another exclusive Pattern of the Month for The Point under my belt, I decided that I was entitled to cast on for a new project. That means I only have three Works in Progress on the needles right now. Not bad.

This is Anna from Rowan Studio One. I'm using Alize Angora Special (I can't find any info for it online, but you can view details on my ravelry page), which is this crazy yarn that is about 600 yards per skein. I only had to buy two! This is a nice mindless knit to entertain me when the intarsia chart from the Owl Cardi proves too much. I forgot how nice it is to knit from a pattern and have all of the thinking done for you!