I keep forgetting – I got email awhile back that Kim Hargreaves newest collection was up, and silly me – I went and looked.

Naturally I found something I would love to knit for myself. It’s called FAY. But Kim Hargreaves is still only selling these pieces as “kits”, which is totally not cost effective for me. So I will lust after this from afar, just as I have over several other patterns she has there.

I’d especially love to knit TRINKET (a super cute scarf thing), but I don’t need any more KSH – I have quite enough in that darn stash closet. I just want the pattern. Which obviously she isn’t selling separately. Mind you, I’ve looked at it several times and think it’d be pretty easy to come close to without her pattern. I’m just too lazy to try at the moment.

My biggest frustration with her patterns (and a few other designers) is their sizing. Kim Hargreaves EXTRA EXTRA LARGE is a 42”/43” bust. That really isn’t extra extra in my book. Not by a LONG shot.

But I still want to knit Fay. Another thing for my birthday wishlist I suppose!

This morning while reading the paper I came across an article about Beryl Tsang, who lost a breast to cancer and couldn’t find a prosthetic she liked, so she knit one instead!

The story goes on to tell about how she hadn’t worried about a prosthesis until having to attend a formal event. Upon investigating, she discovered there was nothing out there that suited her. She needed something immediately, and so she “knit a boob out of black cashmere to go with (my) black bra.”

It was such a success she also knitted herself one for day to day wear, and then for friends who were also cancer survivors.

Apparently word spread even more after she absentmindedly stuck a bunch of pins into her (knit) breast while helping out with arts and crafts at her children’s school. Another Mom noticed and asked if the needles were a form of acupuncture!

Interestingly enough, I had come across a pattern awhile back for a knitted boob (or breast, if you’d prefer) while researching Crystal Palace yarns. Today I went back to look at it again and discovered the pattern came from none other than Beryl Tsang herself!

Her website is a delight, and besides that – she is Canadian! You can visit her site here: Tit-Bits, a website for women with breast cancer.

You will find the free pattern here: Cotton Chenille Boob, a knit prosthetic breast in Cotton Chenille.

Long time no posts because…

1. I got tired of blogging (this happens frequently with me).
2. It was too hot to be on the computer much anyway.
3. I dunno. Do I need another reason?

Today it rained. REALLY rained. I wanted to go stand in it and just get wet – obviously I am a true Vancouverite because I have really missed rain.

Anway – I said there was knitting content, so on with it!

First up is no big deal, but it was kind of fun. A garter stitch scarf out of a funky yarn that Miss K wears in a variety of ways (head scarf, waist sash, neck scarf). I forgot the name of the yarn, but it’s very pretty and lightweight. I’ll look Tuesday when I’m in the shop. I cast on 9 sts using 10 mm needles and knit til there was no more yarn. Attached some funky gypsy coins to each end.

UPDATE: Yarn is GGH Illusion.

Project that took too long – Miss K’s Shimmer Shrug. Why? Because there was something wrong with the pattern and no matter how much I googled I couldn’t find anyone else mentioning the fact that the diamonds would NOT line up after the first pattern repeat. There was a weird split thing happening. Finally I wrote the pattern author, and she wrote back that yes, she had done something slightly different from pattern posted on Knitty. However, when I tried her suggestion it still didn’t work for me. I played around with some junk yarn until I was happy with what I wanted to do, then frogged the body of the shrug and began again. My changes were minimal, but they made the diamonds line up and centered the design without one side always seeming a bit off. I am happy with it finally, and all that’s left is to pick up the stitches around the fronts and across the neck to knit the ribbing.

Off topic… I bought a pretty little bird bath for the back garden. It was on sale at the local nursery. I’ve bugged the hubby forever about a water feature for the garden, with no luck at all – this is probably the closest I’ll get to one!

I am even knitting for myself these days. First up is some mocha coloured bamboo yarn, in a pattern from Chicknits. No sleeves, no side seams (knit in the round), makes me a happy knitter!

Can you guess what this one is going to be?