Here's to a Wonderful Harvest!

Early Christmas Shopping...

Just keep this in mind...alot of knitters knit their gifts ;)

Everyone Has a Little Trouble Now and Again....

I have nearly a lifetime experience with yarn, but just sometimes, I swear it's like my knitting explodes or something...weird, huh?

This 'toon available on this lovely tee here

Some Cats Are Less Trouble Than Others...

'Nuff Said  ;)

A lovely T-shirt with this 'toon on it can be found HERE

STITCH AND WITCH...

Have lots of ghoulish, safe fun!

The Knitting Jag...

sometimes, a knitter will get extremely fond of a pattern or a certain kind of project, so much so that for a time period that seems to last forever, that's all the knitter knits - in a kind of extreme sort of obsessive way. The problem is eventually you have to find homes for all this stuff by giving it to everyone...and anyone ;)

(click on this cartoon for a tee with this image!)

Yes, We can...

....really ;)

(click today's comic to see an awesome tee with this image! buy one and I'll be so happy! and hey, there's a tote bag too - buying one of those would make me happy too! buy one of each and you're on my xmas card list forever.)

Naughty Kitty...

Pearl's back!! (And her front too)

Arm update: Off to the orthopedic surgeon on June 1st for a progress check-up...got my fingers crossed that I'll get an 'all's well' and be cleared to get life all back to normal :)

*Click on the 'toon to find a tee with this image!

A Little Side Trip of Great Fun...

My arm is improving...I can do most things for a period of time. I'm making progress with the physical therapist and I can almost bring my right arm up level with my shoulder. I can now draw for short little stints :)

I've been thinking alot lately about the steampunk genre, my absolute favorite theme of all, and my chibi drawing style...so here's a little something I came up with just for fun and to get me back in the mood to draw again...it's wayy out of the Pearl Too universe and literally off into the wild blue yonder, steampunk style...I give you my son, Zack, as a chibi steampunk airship captain....

Note: The above drawing was 99% colored using the Photoshop techniques found in the video tutorial at the bottom of this page...check it out, it vastly improved my abilities in that area, thanks to Wil, the heart and soul of Creative Soul TV.

Owwww...

I love my bike, I truly do....

Monday morning after a visit with my physical therapist to work on my neck issues, I headed to my favorite trailhead to do a nice, long, peaceful pedaling...making a long story real short, while attempting to clip in I took a flop on my right side, hit the concrete hard and earned a trip to the hospital where the good people of the ER put my dislocated shoulder back where it belongs.

I'm right-handed. So, until I've seen the orthopedic surgeon this coming Monday, The Knitting Krazies and Pearl Too will be on a brief hiatus of unknown length - sorry, I'm wayyy too unknown a cartoonist to have any guest artists help out while I mend...I promise I'll heal as fast as I can and be back at the drawing board quick.

And to the three unknown angels of mercy that stopped to help me after I crashed - Dear Sweet Ladies, thank you so much...you truly are the very best :)

Coloring with Photoshop by Creative Soul

A terrifically talented friend of mine, Wil Massenburg, a.k.a Creative Soul, made this fabulous instructional video on coloring with Photoshop for me. I thought it was wayy too good to keep to myself, so Wil was good enough to make this version, starring one of my line drawings, so I'd be able to share it with you. I met Wil on line at Twitter, which as you may or may not know is a great networking tool as well as being very social...I have met so many creative, inventive people there. You'll find this amazing video at the bottom of this page, just click to start. I know you'll be able to learn as much from it as I have. Thanks, Wil - you are awesome. Be sure to check out more of his incredible work at Creative Soul TV and follow him at www.twitter.com/CreativeSoul

Of Pets and Yarn...

Bogo: A small cat sort of person that now lives with Pearl...named after owner's favorite kind of yarn sale- Buy One, Get One free...or half price...or whatever...

*click on the cartoon to get the t-shirt with this image on it and other Pearl Too gear!

The Stash...

It's so much fun to buy and to have and to use and to buy more of so you can have more of it...then you go out & get even more of it. Yarn...it's what's for dinner.

*Click the cartoon to see the tee at Pearl's Cafepress store...

No Second Date For That Guy...

Lol...the knitwear should never be more interesting than the guy you're out with...either he's boring or you've been knitting too much lately...nahh, it's got to be the guy...

*Note: Both the inked drawing and the above full color drawing with text is available on merchandise at Pearl's Store.

She's got that look in her eyes......

My family is fairly familiar with this particular expression...this is one of my earlier drawings of Pearl and I thought the ga-ga expression was quite cute. I'm currently working on a four cell cartoon of Pearl & Stacy which is sharing work time with a custom order that I'm making up for a client - in the meantime, I thought I would share this one with you to give you a little smile :)

If you would like to get this cartoon on any of Pearl's Cafepress merchandise, just let me know and I'll add it to a product of your choice :)

That was sweet, but....

He'll learn :)

(Click on the above cartoon for the Pearl store)

Someone to Hang Out With...

' Stacy & Pearl'

This is to commemorate me finding my wonderful terrific friend, Michelle again :)

(click on the above image to find this cartoon on a tee)

Everyone Needs Some Snuggly Security

The Knitting Club at my son's elementary school is now in it's third year running; I'm their resident 'knitting expert', along with some other fabulous volunteers. We generally have any where from 50 to 60 students signed up and try to run either two short sessions or one really long one, depending on the enthusiasm of the kids - which is usually quite high, mainly due to the fact that our on-going project is making blankets to donate to our favorite charity, Project Linus, which donates blankets to children in need and in hospitals. The kids just love being blanketeers and I have the immense satisfaction of passing along a wonderful heritage art to new generations of kids. This Pearl comic is special in that any purchase made from the Pearl Too CafePress store with this image on it, I will donate my profit from that purchase to Project Linus.....why? Because I can, because I care :)

Click on the above comic to find the tee with this image...

The Joy of Knitting...and Knitting....and Knitting...and Knitting Some More...

'Mindless or TV Knitting (definition): A knitting project that, by virtue of it's easy and repetitive pattern can be knitted without too much thinking, something that can be done while the better part of your mind is occupied with another equally entertaining activity such as watching reality television.'

Sometimes, just sometimes the knitter gets too involved with mindless knitting. Smile gently & wear it anyway.

(Click on the image for Pearl Too stuff)

What's Wrong?? Ohhh, Nothing....

Misplacing Knitting Needles . . . . . Bad

Finding Them the Hard Way . . . . Also Bad

To your non-knitting friends, the look on your face . . . . . priceless

(click on the above image to find Pear Too merchandise)

Don't Bother Us When We're Counting....

Nearly every knitter I know reacts in nearly exactly the same way when someone unwittingly tries to get the knitter’s attention while she/he is counting (and very often re-counting when we lose count) about a bazillion-six stitches – raising our voices and counting louder & louder until they get the picture…so, dear family and friends – we really do love you, just go away when we’re counting stitches.

Click on the cartoon to see it bigger...Click HERE to find merchandise with this and other Pearl Too images :)

Stash? What Stash?

Stash (as in how it applies to knitting): A knitter's collection of yarn and/or fiber, if said knitter is also a spinner. Seems to grow by itself & acquire a mind of it's own.

Technically, if you can find somewhere to store it, your stash is really never out of control or overwhelming...personally, I find stuffing skeins down the sleeves of coats we rarely wear to be a great alternative storage solution :)

Click on the above cartoon to find cool merchandise with this image on it and more...

And The Winner Is.....

Using a random number generator, the winner of the very first Knitting Krazies Give-Away - the prize being the wonderful Pearl Too ceramic mug - is........

glassidentities

(crowd goes wild with cheering!)


Thank you all so much for entering my first blog give-away....the next will be in approximately four months :)

Pearl Has a Boyfriend...

It's Valentine's Day and the girl needs someone to knit for, what can I say? This is Angus...'why Angus?' my family askes, 'is there some sort of fiber reference to the name Angus??' Nope, none that I know of...the name is just fun to say. Angus is your average regular non-knitting kind of guy smitten by our girl Pearl and game to try to understand this 'hobby' thing of hers...he'll appear here from time to time when we need his point of view :)

Click on this cute couple to find the Pearl Too Cafepress shop

Chibi Your Child...

Yes, this is what happens when you give a mom a sketch pad and an armload of art supplies and a cute child - well, this mom does this sort of thing anyways.....my son Zack, as a chibi :)

*All designs made by me are copyrighted - no one can use them without permission.

Substitutions...

"I have no yarn to knit anything with!" Translation: "I have no yarn in my huge stash that I want to knit anything with". That's when your knitter will start looking at alternative yarn sources and anything, any-thing looks like fair game to them...so unless you want your extension cords to turn into socks, the best and only recourse is to take them to the nearest yarn store....immediately, if not sooner.


As promised, here is a couple of actual photos of the Pearl Too mug in the Give-Away...Please be sure to post a comment on the post that announces the contest below - and you can click on Pearl to find good stuff with today's comic on it :)

*Note from Head Krazie: Pearl Too Posts will show up on a every other week schedule - because bi-monthly takes too long and I have cartoons I want to show you. As always, images of Pearl Too or any other images on this blog belong to me - ask for permission first!

Knitting Attitude...and oh yes, a Give-It-Away

Occasionally....well, probably more often than not, you'll see your knitter looking less than happy.....actually, what you'll notice at times is some yelling, crying, pitching a fit, and sometimes a knitting project thrown on the floor and some stalking off followed by a stream of words muttered under our breath. And you ask why do an activity that is occasionally incredibly frustrating, and you're probably fairly certain that said knitter will never knit again.....well, the answer to this is simply because we really and truly do love what we do, no matter what :)


Okay....as noted in an earlier post, The Knitting Krazies will be having a little contest to win a great ceramic coffee mug with the above artwork on it (you can click on this comic to see this mug in Pearl's Cafe Press store). It hasn't arrived at Chez Fuzzy yet- I will post a photo of the actual mug when it shows up. To enter this little contest, all you have to do is leave one comment on only this post with one word that describes what you think of Pearl Too and a good e-mail address to contact you with if you win. Each post will be numbered in the order recieved, then I'll use a random number generator to choose a number and ta-da, we'll have a winner! Winner will be chosen at 6 pm pst on February 15th, the day after Valentine's Day (lol...different, hm?) - one entry per person, please, and Good Luck!

Knitter's Language 101....

Definition: If you make a mistake in your knitting and/or decide to rip out a whole project and start over, either because you were knitting the wrong size, decided you didn't like the pattern, or for some other reason, you are frogging. So, you "rip it, rip it" - this is reminiscent of the sound frogs make, hence the term 'frogging'.

Note from Head Krazie: This is one of those instances I warned you about - a Pearl Too comic I just couldn't wait until the 1st or the 15th to show you :)

Click on Pearl to find merchandise with this comic on it.

(remember, images of Pearl Too belong to me, you need permission to use or copy in any way)

I'm Having A Good Day!

I'm so excited to be able to share with you that I am SubEarthan Cottage's Featured Artist of the Week! The blog is put out by sophiecls, Etsian, maker of wonderful soaps and talented blogger.....thank you so much for this wonderful opportunity, it really is the first time I've been featured on anyone's blog and it feels GOOD!!!

Click here to find the feature:
SubEarthan Cottage

Me happy lady :)

Future Doings....

One of my main priorities here at Knitting Krazies is to try to make this blog fun....to that end, sometime next month, I will be running a contest to give away a Pearl Too coffee mug - I have one and the quality is just great - plus everybody loves a contest :)

I'm also contemplating doing a sort of Seller or Artist of the Month - this would be for folks that have an on-line shop or a blog that showcases their artistic endeavors....haven't quite worked out the particulars on that, but y'all will be the first to know :)

Pearl Too is going to be on a bi-monthy schedule and I will do my darndest not to miss updates - I'll be posting new comics on the first and fifteenth of each month....sometimes there will be more, especially if I draw something I'm just dying to share, lol.

So....that is it for what's going on at the moment - let me leave you with the following 'thought for the day': it's not the number of knitters you know, but how many scarves they think you need.

(Okay, I said it was a thought, not that it was a good one or anything, lol)

Stuck on Sticks & String....

We take it in the car, on the bus, out to dinner, while on a walk, even when we're shopping for more yarn - if I could knit while riding my bicycle, I'd do it. Putting down the sticks even for a little bit is something else - so for those of you who have a hard time understanding the difficulties of just stopping, we're working on it.

Click on Pearl to find her Cafe Press shop :)

*Note from Head Krazie: Pearl's images are copyrighted so ask permission before using, borrowing, etc.

She's cute, sassy....and knits aLOT

Today is introduction day - Pearl Too is a little chibi girl I started drawing when for some unknown reason I decided I needed yet another hobby. I've been knitting for pretty much most of my life and Pearl sort of embodies all the moods knitters get into and the comments they make. Knitting has become such a mainstream activity in the past decade that it's actually developed it's own sub-culture.....Pearl Too is a peek into that world, so enjoy :)

Pearl has her own Cafe Press shop - to see her merchandise, just click on her cartoon!

Note from Head Krazie: Pearl's images are copyrighted so ask permission before using, borrowing, etc.

Welcome to The Knitting Krazies!

Glad you found your way to us.....here you will find a special knitting dimension of yarn, needles, laughs, and occasionally a contest or two. If you're a beginner fiber artist or an uber-crafter, we'll try to cover all the bases for you. Here you'll also find the home of the cartoon, Pearl Too, a bi-monthly comic of a little chibi girly full of spunk, humor and wayy too much yarn, drawn by yours truly, Iris, the head Krazie here at chez Warm 'N Fuzzy :)

Here you'll also find links to my stores, Warm 'N Fuzzy Fiber Arts - my online yarn shop, Designs by Iris - featuring original handbags and wallets, and my Cafe Press store where you will find knitting-themed goodies and eventually Pearl Too merchandise....plus links to other points of interest in the on-line universe as I discover them.

By the next time I post, most of the 'construction mess' should be cleared and this blog will make much more sense - so for today, let me just say we are so glad you are here.

~Iris