Look, Ma, no hands!

Here's the latest addition to the menagerie - a big old fuzzy inchworm!
No strings, no pipecleaners, no hidden mirrors! Suprisingly simple to make, it stands up on its own and inches right along!

Pattern coming soon, of course!

If you make one out of silk it would be totally meta. The photo on my cutting mat is making me think Tron-like thoughts. A glow-worm, perhaps? Wheee!

Personal Cloud

John from Geek Out New York points out a wacky new gizmo that will make a cloud out of all the words on your blog (or whatever other text you paste into it) - here's a visual representation of the most often-occurring words in this here blog, the whole way back to the first post last March. You may note that "butter" is about the same size as "knit". Hmmm... and I thought this was mostly a knitting blog... Want to make your own - check out Wordle.net.

Doodlebugs Ho!

It's been one heck of a week! I had a wonderful if sweltering birthday party with mucho friends and rose-petal scones and presents, visited with the uberfabulous Sascha, flew a kite at the beach, got published in Knitty, got taken out for yet still more birthday fabulousness, and saw Kung Fu Panda! Whew!Without further ado, here's today's big news - the Doodlebug pattern is live in the shop - it's probably the simplest toy pattern I've come up with so far - it's worked on straight needles with some simple seaming - I hope you'll enjoy it!

Autogyro is Go!

Hey everybody - check out my pattern in the new Knitty! Father-son propeller beanies! I'm so proud. The pattern is over here.

Friday Sneak Peek - Knitted Pillbugs!

Hi everybody - Here's a peek at the newest addition to the Tatting My Doilies strange knitted toy menagerie - A Pillbug!

What do you call these things? (Aside from the only existing terrestrial crustacian or armadillidiidae) Apparently it's one of those regional things - I grew up calling them pillbugs. My friends from Upstate NY call them potato bugs, and Faye from Australia calls them roly polies. I'll probably call the pattern doodlebug, just 'cause that's the cutest name I've heard for them yet.

The pattern should be up by next weekend, so stay tuned!

The Big Loop Through the Rockaways - Now Only Kind of Busted

Monday morning I headed out for my best fave inside-the-five-boroughs NYC bike ride - a 40-ish mile loop from my doorstep to the Rockaways and back again.

When it's totally functional, here's how it works: You go down Bedford Ave (on-street bike lane, mostly observed), or otherwise get yourself to Sheepshead Bay, then pick up an off-street bike lane that goes along the Belt Parkway for 7 or 8 miles. Take a little detour through Howard Beach and then down Cross-Bay Boulevard you go - over the little islands of Jamaica bay. Then cross the Cross-Bay bridge to Rockaway Beach. Sing the Rock-Rock-Rock-Rockaway beach song a couple times, look at the Atlantic Ocean (or lock your bike up and jump in), and head west a couple miles before crossing the Marine Parkway Bridge back over to the Brooklyn mainland. Up Flatbush Avenue for a mile or so (another off-street bike lane) and you pick up the trail back to Sheepshead Bay and home again. An almost-traffic free 40 miles!

Last summer, the loop dead ended at a big old fence where the bike lane was under construction at the Fountain Avenue Landfill (marked on the Bike Map as Spring Creek Park - see, New York has so much green space!)

On Monday's ride, there was a shiny new bike lane past the being-restored landfill, but a new dead-end at the Cross-Bay bridge - the bike and ped crossing is being worked on. I turned around and went back the way I came (headwind became a tailwind - yay!), but here's what I just found out:

I called 311 (311 rules) and got transferred to somebody at the MTA, which runs the bridge - he told me the bike and pedestrian access will be out until October, but there's a free shuttle that runs every 15 minutes from 7am to 9pm that takes bikes, too. It picks up at the deli parking lot on the north side (it's the last thing before the bridge), and the McDonalds on the South side. So if you're up for an assist across the bridge, (or feel like stopping for lunch at the Deli), the big loop is up and running again!


The images are from the NYC Bike Map. Get your own!

Eisenia the Earthworm is Ready for her Close Up

Brand new in the pattern shop, meet Eisenia the Earthworm! This easy pattern includes three patterns in one - a mama worm, worm babies, and a worm egg. Hope you like it!