Inspired!

I'm really rather enjoying this whole blogging lark - not only do I get to show off and talk about ME, but I also get me meet other people who are just as nutty about knitting as I am and be inspired by them.
This weekend I was inspired by two of my favorite Brit bloggers....

Inspirator #1. Rain.
Witty, funny, clever old Rain inspired me to line and finish two of the three bags I've had kicking around for a bit.
Bag #1 was my attempt to make a summer stand-in for my Candy Stripe felted bag that has been my constant companion for over two years now. So much of a feature of my life, that if I were a little more hirsute, it may have fused right onto my body!

Yes, it's high time I carried a new bag around, so here's to the birth of "Michigan", so named because Claudine said that Yellow and Blue were the colours of her home state's university, (or am I getting it completely wrong again?)


Bag #2. I had already made bag #1. I'm not a bag person - they don't thrill me. I don't own many bags....I didn't need another bag.... Then a couple of weeks ago I went here and I saw this:

It's yarn with Easter Chicks and all kinds of other brightly coloured stuff spun into it! Brilliant!
I couldn't resist it - it HAD to be mine!! When you spot such creative insanity it has to be rewarded!! After a little research I found the creator of such maddness - here she is.
I couldn't wait to knit up the crazy yarn, but had to work with it slowly as it wasn't cheap, (Ha! cheap - chicks - geddit?)
So here's another pic of it all wound up an ready to be stitched:

They do look a bit strangled all wound up like that, so I didn't let them sit on the ledge for too long.
As there was only 61yds to play with, a whole bag in this wouldn't have been much use to me - I'm one of those women who needs to carry all sorts of crap around every time I leave the house, so I just made this yarn the front flap and knitted the rest of the bag with two strands of my trusty favorite bulky, as I have a tonne of the stuff!
Here's the finished Hot Chick for a Hot Chick:


and a sneak peak at the inside - ooh orange lining - what a shocker!


Bag #3 is another Lamb's Pride stripey shoulder bag - just waiting to be felted.....


Inspirator #2. Anna.
Colourful, creative, big shoe-wearing, Annarella inspired me to put down my knitting, get off my fat bottom and go running. (There will be no photographic evidence of this feat!)
For three days on the trot, (haha, I'm full of puns tonight!), I have dragged my sorry, flabby body on the bridal path around the resovoir in my front garden, (Central Park). Not so much of a run as a rather slow and floppy jog, it's a start - I don't think I've ever exercised so vigourously for 3 consecutive days since I completed the Boston to New York AIDS ride way back in '98!
My legs were killing me yesterday, so chances are I won't be able to walk tomorrow!
It was good to be out there though with all those healthy looking people and hopefully I'll keep it up.
So THANK YOU to Rain and Anna!!!
And thank you to bloggers everywhere - you never know who will benefit from your ramblings!

There's more...I can't stop myself tonight.....
Yesterday was a holiday - how I do love a holiday. I really enjoy not having to go to work!
And how did I spend my holiday?
Well, it was a Tuesday and a Tuesday's not a Tuesday without a bit of Stitch and Bitch, so I hung out with a few of the NYC crew at a place near Union Square called Tisserie. Yummy looking french-type offerings were on display but I managed to be good and just have a lemonade.
I was joined by Lynette, Jill R, Jill A, Claudine and Jenn. Very pleasant.
After stitching and bitching it up for a while, Claudine, Jenn and I all followed Jill A to her conveniently situated and cool apartment. We ate snacks, (see, I can't be good for long!), and stitched and bitched some more.
Jenn was making trouble for herself, (as usual!), by getting her yarn in a right royal tangle:

She wouldn't listen to my suggestion of cutting the yarn and starting again, so I had to tackle her to the ground, put her in a full nelson and cut the yarn myself. (None of which is true, but I did finally get her to do as I suggested and she was able to finish knitting her flowered dress - which I hope to see her modelling with some go-go boots - without a horrible tangle to undo every row!)

I was knitting yet another baby blanket - this time in the round and using Lion Brand Kitchen Cotton:

It looks a bit like a mashed-up fried egg in my lap in this shot, but it's not bad in real life. The pattern is dead easy and can be found here, if anyone's interested.

Jill got herself glammed up ready to go to some fancy-smanshy rooftop party, so we were kicked out onto the street. The remaining three of us went over to 30-somethingth street and some eastern avenue to watch the fireworks.
They were fab! Thank goodness the Americans got their independence - I mean, Guy Fawke's Night is good and everything, but no one shows off the love for their country quite like the good old Septic Tanks - hehehee!