Big Girls Rule ...and we Knit too !!!

For those of you who don't know me and many of you do not know me personally, I am a BBW - Big Beautiful Woman or as I like to say, Beautiful Brainey Woman. I have always been a full figured, bbw, plus size or how they say in my neck of the woods..I'm just thick girl!

So being a knitter I have not really made myself anything but the usual socks and scarves. I have yet to find a really nice project that is made for my body, not a over sized tunic or a long badly knit top too tight for my boobs.

UNTIL NOW... OH MY GOSH.. The one book that I have been waiting for was released last week and its perfect. You all know what I am talking about its .. BIG GIRL KNITS by Jillian Moreno and Amy Singer. This book covers the three B's .. butt, belly and boobs and how to knit your items correct according to how you are built. To be honest with yourself by measuring yourself and knowing what yarns are not good to use as a full figured woman. They go through so many things and even how to adjust other patterns.
I am so ready to start making some of the summer tops and then of course the sweaters. They are flattering and not just four huge pieces seamed together.

I highly recommend it for the plus size knitter who wants to finally make something for themselves or if you want to knit for a beautiful plus size woman in your life.

Another cool book which has come to my attention is Greetings from the Knit Cafe by Susan Mischer. a former ad executive so now owns a knitting store...gotta envy her. It has some fun and pretty patterns and some recipes. I have been hired to make the bikini for some of the skinny minnies at my store, of course pictures to follow.

Ciao Ciao

Let me show you my goodies

Before I start sharing all my Icelandic pictures with those of you who read my little blog here, it is only befitting that I share with you all the wool goodies that I got on my little jaunt across the Atlantic.

Ingileif (Nancy's cousin) is a fantastic tour guide, and she lives only about 5 minutes from Alafoss - The factory outlet for Lopi Yarn in Mosfellsbaer. Now we went in there twice during our stay and we did have some issues figuring out how we were going to get all that yarn in our suitcases. But we had some self control ( I did have more than the Nancy - she had two large bags). The place is amazing and they are so nice and helpful.


This is my stash and I like the goodies that I bought myself. There is some Hjerte Sock yarn from Denmark, some Kambgarn Lopi Sock yarn ...in a wine and pumpkin colors and some Lett-Lopi in black and dark blue.

Here is my sock yarn! Boy are my tooties going to be warm this coming winter.

And eventhough you cannot see the colors well( I am sorry about that) this Lopi yarn will make a great hat and scarf for a good friend this winter.

I also bought to skeins of wool for a co-worker and I almost came home with some major chunky yarn, but remember I am on a yarn diet. Of course all the goodies that I ate in Iceland might actually get me to go low carb again....NOT

In the days since I have been back I have been working hard on the Debbie Bliss baby cardigan that should have been finished before I left, while recoveing from a horrible head cold. So in the past two days I have finished all but one sleeve and my hand is hurting because of it. It feels great in my hands though, I just love working with Debbie Bliss' baby cashmerino. Can't wait to finish it and show it off to everyone.

Meet the Boy Rag Doll ----- Ethan

Hello All !!!

Before I start my entries on my amazing trip to Iceland over the Easter week, I have to introduce everyone to the boy rag doll that was a present for a beautiful baby girl.
This is Ethan.

After two months of constant knitting and shaping, my handsome friend here was complete and cute. The hardest part of the whole thing was the hair, almost one whole skein of Dale of Norway Baby Ull was used on this little boy's head.

Baby Ethan here went to Iceland over the past week and was presented as a gift to an absolutely precious and adorable little girl called Asthildur Emma.

Ethan came complete with a wardrobe and he will get new outfits as well for future occasions.
Here is a nudie shot of the boy rag doll, I am not trying to be scandalous or anything, but I just wanted everyone to see how the doll looks without his clothes. If anyone wants to do this doll, I would highly recommend it. It taught me how to turn a heel, seaming and how to seam in elastic and how to actually make a sweater with some instarsia.




Here is Nancy's doll for Asthildur. All dressed up in lilac and purple. And the baby has a matching Anouk dress in the same colors.

Here she is .... the precious daughter of Ingileif and Linda.. Asthildur Emma !!!! This picture cannot in any way due justice to the beauty that is this little girl. So loving and warm, her smiles along can melt you. In the days that we were in Iceland I had the priviledge of playing with Asthildur, and she can keep you smiling for hours.


You will see more pictures of Asthildur and her beautiful country over the next few days. I have to organize the pictures and make that I have all the right names for all the places.

I want to thank Ingileif, Linda, Jolee and Asthildur for an amazing time in Iceland. They opened their homes to me and of course to Nancy and Avery. They spoiled us rotten while we were over there and never hesitated to make our trip even more special.

Voy para Islandia

I am going to Iceland !!! Tomorrow is the big day when Nancy, Avery and myself head to Iceland to visit Nancy's family.

The funniest thing is the reaction that I get from people when I tell them I'm heading to Iceland, and then I have to explain everything. Its hilarious. Today I was able to convert some hot american dollars for cold icelandic kronsas. I was able to get 5000 kronas which equalled about $78 bucks. They had another person come in the day before and by some as well... guess who - Nancy..she beat me to it. But I have some of there currency to enter their country with. I should really finish packing, and I don't like leaving a messy apartment ( because that means I come home to a messy apartment).

I know I have not blogged much this week at all, my work schedule was hectic and I did have to concentrate on some other things. But I promise things will be better when I get back.

Some great news I got was my confirmation for the ONESKEIN pal exchange yesterday, I am so excited.

Talk to you all soon.

Bon Voyage !!!

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS ..MAMI !!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMI !!!!

Today is my mami's 76th birthday and she is still amazing and force to be reckoned with. This picture is from the surprise 75th birthday party I put together last year. My mami loves flowers, so the theme was roses. Today we are meeting for lunch since I have to work late, but Thursday will be our day.
My mami was born in Mayaguez, a small town in the southwest part of Puerto Rico. The oldest of four she had to become the mother for all when her mother died. My mami moved to NYC in 1948 and began a hard and determined life. Having raised four boys and me, my mother worked as a seamstress and took in piecework to make ends meet. My mami has been through so much over the years but she still continues to amaze me everyday. She is a grandmother of 7 and the great-grandomther of 4 and a loving mother, sister and friend.




Te Dios te bendiga siempre ... te adoro.

FELIZ CUMPLEANOS ..MAMI !!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MAMI !!!!

Today is my mami's 76th birthday and she is still amazing and force to be reckoned with. This picture is from the surprise 75th birthday party I put together last year. My mami loves flowers, so the theme was roses. Today we are meeting for lunch since I have to work late, but Thursday will be our day.
My mami was born in Mayaguez, a small town in the southwest part of Puerto Rico. The oldest of four she had to become the mother for all when her mother died. My mami moved to NYC in 1948 and began a hard and determined life. Having raised four boys and me, my mother worked as a seamstress and took in piecework to make ends meet. My mami has been through so much over the years but she still continues to amaze me everyday. She is a grandmother of 7 and the great-grandomther of 4 and a loving mother, sister and friend.




Te Dios te bendiga siempre ... te adoro.

P is for Proud !!

Okay okay...I have not blogged all week, and I have already been told that that is unacceptable.
It has been a busy week for me. My schedule is not a normal 9 to 5 and there are days when I get home at almost one in the morning and I am ready to pass out.
My brother was admitted to the hospital this week again, he had a major drop in his red blood cells from a combination of medications that he must take daily. He had liver transplant two years ago and other issues since then. I am his health care proxy and his doctors know me well.

Then in between all of that I am finishing up a certain rag doll, I feel like a hair transplant specialist. Hair plugs are my new specialty, and my new vocation if I ever give up on retail.
At the moment he look like a Bay City Roller or Peter Townsend, but still very adorable. I will post a picture of the doll after he is given as a gift... can't totally ruin the surprise.

I have had the opportunity of teaching some co workers how to knit. Recently Gary here asked me to help him get started on the pointy sticks so he could knit something special for his first granddaughter who is due any day now.

He completed a pair of booties and a bib from Bernats Cotton Tots and he started his first hat on dpn's. He is trying to master the dpn's and everyone at work is loving his knitting skill. He and Charlotte, his lovely wife are going to be fantastic grandparents.



Now... I live in the amazing and always misunderstood borough of THE BRONX . Nothing anyone can ever tell me will stop me from loving it and being proud to be a Bronx Girl. Of course we have the Yankees (did I mention the 26 World Championships), the Bronx Zoo and the amazing Botancial Gardens. The Bronx is the birthplace of Edgar Allen Poe, James Baldwin, Ralph Lauren, Rita Moreno, Colin Powell, E.L Doctorow, Stanley Kubrick and Bobby Darin. I has had an amazing resurgence in the past decade and continue to thrive.

I live on a lovely parkway that lead up to the entrance of the Botancial Gardens. During the spring and summer the trees and parks are in bloom and beautiful to walk along. The other day when walking home I noticed the most amazing thing. There were numerous trees planted alone the parkway.

I have had noticed that many of the older trees are dying, they have served us for a long long time. So they neighorhood, along with the parks department have planted more to prepare for the future. They are still young but so beautiful and I am so proud to have them there for the years to come.

So this week I'm working six days straight including the weekend, I have to finish the doll by Monday night and did I mention that I am leaving for Iceland on Friday! .... I have to start packing by Monday and put all my things in order. NO PRESSURE !!!

S is for Spring, Sunday, Skein and STASH !!!

Flash my STASH ! Thank God my mom doesn't read my blog...Me flashing my stash, I am a good Puerto Rican girl !

OH .. my yarn stash .. I can do that. I have spent the last few hours going through my piles of bags in the corner of my living room putting my stash into some sense of order. You can call it Spring cleaning in a minimal sense. I have this Sunday off and eventhough I should be sitiing on my futon working on my doll which has to be finished this week, I realized that I needed to do some major cleaning. Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way a cleaning machine, but things had to be put in order, floors swept and mopped and whoever is using my stove...they should really clean up better.. oh thats me. I guess one of the pluses of living alone is that no one sees the mess unless I let them in.

As eveyone who has read my blog from the beginning knows, I have a great cube which holds all my knitting toys and a lot of chunky yarn. ( the blog is called the knitting cube ..dah ) But it wasn't enough. I recently bought this great holder at the Container Store and I filled it up today .


I emptied all the bags from the various stores and arranged the bag by project (hahahahaha) The Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino on the left hand side is currently being used for a cute cardigan. There is a lot of sock yarn and some great yarn for some kitchen items and some more kiddie stuff.

Now after I emptied some more bags the carrier which did have some space was full to the brim. It is a lot deeper than I thought it would be and I am so proud of myself.

This is the plastic container in my bedroom. It hold more chunky yarns and 3 Suss kits that I got on clearance at my store. Yeah BN carried yarn kits about two years ago. I am not saying that they were too expensive but they were, and they went on clearance after a few months. So I was able to get about four kits for a buck apiece. The cotton yarn is good and it would look nice on my niece. This container holds some goodies from a Smileys hotel sale, and I am not allowed to go there again.
As I moved bags and junk I found these goodies. I had this full cone of Lily Craft( one pound) in blue that I bought on clearance for about $4 dollars. Its perfect for a bunch of dishcloths I want to make a friend who just moved into her first apartment.

And there was a time when I didn't know if I wanted to knit at all. I tried it and I was not sucessful at all, I didn't get it. But then I went to the Knit and Crochet festival in Union Square park with Nancy. I entered a raffle that Michaels was holding at the end of the day. I won the Needle Master and this huge bag of Bernat yarn. It holds 15 skeins of their yarn in blues, greens and cream colors. I have no idea what do to with it...none !
The Needle Master allowed me to learn to knit and purl on circulars and set me on my knitting obsession.


I might use some of the colors for an afghan, the kind that I can use on the those cold NYC winters or maybe some charity knitting.

Now mind you, I do have one more area in my apartment that holds yarn. Its a small basket at the bottom of my wall unit (sorry no pic). Its just a few misc skeins that are just waiting to be used.

So that is my STASH. Not as bad as some I have seen, quite respectable if I say so myself. I have put myself on a yarn spend down, the 3/20 entry and I am determined to work on it. Someone or something in this apartment should be on a diet.

Is anyone going to sign up for either the Secret Pal 8 or Oneskein secret pal exchange?

Have a great week.