Thanks for all the fun name ideas for my new stuffed black kitty – right now I’m leaning toward Loki the Imp. For the curious, he was purchased at the Bibelot Shop in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Linden Hills, as was the black cat mug. The onesies are for a tie dye and stenciling experiment.

Moving right along, I must ask you all to brace yourselves… I found a knitting magazine at the thrift store that was so horrific I was compelled to buy it and share the horror with all of you. (Aw, Chris, you shouldn’t have – really.)

With no further ado… the bikini issue! (You can click on the pictures to view larger versions if you really want to…) We’ll start with the cover, featuring the lovely Christmas red and green bikini.

Inside, more bikinis on the right – but check out the picture on the left, of a reader’s cat wearing a twee little bonnet. Chaos might occasionally wear a strawberry hat, but he would so not put up with that bonnet action.

More swimming suit action, including one for the boys, if y’all were feeling left out (Hi, Dave!).

Moving right along, look at the fabulous sweaters you can knit for Barbie and Ken for their trips in the Barbie Camper. (I had one of those Barbie Campers, along with the obligatory Malibu Barbie. I didn’t have a Ken, but I did have Wild West action figures who were the same height as Barbie. So Barbie ran off with Geronimo in the Barbie Camper, with his horse tied to the back bumper.)

Finally, some clothes for the kids. Check out the crazy stenciled cat – I think he would’ve given me nightmares at that age!

Now, I actually thought the little blue jumper in the lower right corner was cute… until I looked at the pattern and realized the gauge was 17 stitches per inch. That’s right, it’s knit with cotton thread. Eeeeeeeeek! It’s not that cute. I’m not sure anything is that cute.