Socks!

Finally finished a pair of socks - and they're wearable. I love the yarn's variation of colors. Oh, and check out my new(ish) rug. I love it.


Specs:

• Pattern: Basic Gusset Heel sock from Socks from the Toe Up
• Needles: Size 0 Addi Turbo circulars (2 circulars - loved this technique)
• Yarn: Mary Maxim Bamboo Soft Stripes in Tropical Garden (this color name just don't work for me. I just call it "fun").

A Valentine Treat

Personalized chicken pot pies!

Just a regular recipe of chicken pot pie filling, spooned into ramekins with Bisquick biscuits cut into the size of the ramekins, then baked. Also had some heart-shaped additional biscuits for fun.

For once, Max liked something new that I cooked. Only because "it tastes just like the ones we used to get and cook in the microwave, only better! I love these!" Nice to have a winner of a dinner for once, instead of a demand for something different. He also liked the salmon the other night, phew! Since it was Max who asked for it and I'm no fish fan, I was glad it got eaten.

(BTW - the cute tablecloth was a gift from Annzy. Thanks Ann!)

Max is sooooo into Encyclopedia Brown lately - Abbey found some books on tape/CD before Christmas and they've been checking them out from the library over and over and over. Inspiration struck, and he rearranged his room so he can have a detective desk. His rates aren't as reasonable as Encyclopedia's though. Guess a quarter doesn't mean as much anymore.

Lack of highlights lately, but Colin updated you on the Leavenworth trip and Lisa on the Spokane trip, so not much to say. Busy times, with computer time at home losing out to sleep, or reading (lots of reading of a pile of mysteries by Deborah Crombie, not to mention the rest of the Twilight series in January, thanks for the books Kris!), or watching ABC shows online, since DISH/Fisher-ABC are feuding in my area so I can't watch it on TV anymore. Sigh. I'm way behind on all my shows - I realized in December when they went off the air that I was recording 7 shows on ABC, and I just am not keeping up with them. How tragic, no? Well, no, not really :-).

Working on a sock in the knitting world. Donna & I challenged each other to try socks at the last Day of Crafts and Sewing. I was halfway when I got to DOCS, then ripped back and redid the heel and now I'm 3/4 of the way. Not a lot of progress. I should have picked a pattern other than plain stockinette - so dull. Plus, I really doubt I'll ever wear them, so the motivation is low. Could tackle another sweater, but must do math first. I sure hope I have a chance to relearn basic math while Max learns it the first time; I could use a little help.

Happy Valentine's Day everybody.

Finally, some finished objects

For your viewing pleasure, some things I finally finished near the end of 2008.

Gathered Pullover

Specs:

• Yarn: Knit Pick's Telemark in Colonial Blue
• Pattern: Gathered Pullover from Interweave Knits
• Needles: size 7, circulars and dpns
• Modifications: Lengthened the sleeves a bit, skipped the yarn overs in a row across the bust for obvious reasons.

Started in Feb '08, finished December 30th, 2008 (whew! Less than a year :-). Very wearable. Slightly scratchy - dang wool.

Elisa's Nest Tote for Ann

Specs:

• Yarn: Knit Pick's CotLin in Morrocan Red (Ann's signature color!)
• Pattern: Elisa's Nest Tote from The Purl Bee
• Needles: I forget - size 9? 10? Who knows
• Modifications: none but my occasional mistake

Pattern is still fun the second time and doesn't take too long, although I stretched out working on it over months. Was fun to make for Ann in red.

Morningside Neckwarmer for Colin

Late-minute Christmas idea for Colin. Sadly, kept screwing up, so it didn't make it by Christmas, even though it's only 1 ball's worth o' knitting. Sigh. The pattern's only two rows of just a few stitches, repeated all the way in the round, no purls or anything. So, I really impressed myself when I realized that I'd managed to flip the stiches inside out halfway through. Jeez.

Specs:

• Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed in Brindle
• Pattern: Morningside Neckwarmer from Brooklyn Tweed
• Needles: US size 9
• Modifications: none
  

Unwarranted Confidence, or Don't Forget to Review Directions

I've been working on a "simple, quick knit" sweater since last February. Sigh. It's mostly a matter of not making time for it. But really, it seems to take experienced knitters a couple of weeks and I've dragged it on for nearly a year. I'm in the final stages now. Finished up the sleeves, just need to sew up some seams, finish the neckline, and block it. Easy, no? You'd think so, but I'm having comic difficulty with the final easy steps. Must be a lack of practice - since I so rarely finish something knitted, I just don't remember what all goes into it.

With that said, I relate to you last night's adventures in shoulder seaming...
First, get kid's jammies on, escape to living room to work on sweater. Locate embroidery needle for stitching up the seam. Match up shoulders, start sewing. Oops, he's done reading books with Daddy, time to help kiddo settle down. Maybe he'll look at a book on his own. Yeah, try that.

Back to the living room. Finish up one seam, flip it over to see how it looks. Yikes. Crappy. What did I do wrong? I was carefully stitching down below the cast off row, but it appears that I didn't have the cast off facing flat up, so a few of the edges were showing on the outside. Bad, bad, bad. Unpick, unpick, oops, need to deal with not-sleeping kid...

1/2 hour later. Kid's asleep. Okay, still need to unpick and try again. I'll put in the movie I was watching last night to finish it up too. Yeah, that won't be distracting, what with the subtitles and all. Unpick, unpick. Okay, ready to try again. Flattening out the edges nicely, stitch stitch stitch. Well, that's looking better. Yeah, much better. WAIT! Why did I just sew the two front shoulders to each other??????? Grr. Unpick, unpick, unpick.

Okay, third time's the charm. Try again. Oh - I should get those little clippy things I used once to hold it together. Matched FRONT shoulder seams to BACK shoulder seams? Check. Clipped into place? Check. Edges nicely lined up? Check. Stitch, stitch, stitch. Hey, that looks better. Shows a little bit, but not badly. Let's make it good and tight then. I think I'll weave in the ends really snug, then call it a night (and night it is: 11:30).

Next day, hmm, I need to pick up stitches to do the neck. I remember reading some technique for that, where was that? Do an online search for picking up stitches, notice articles on finishing techniques, and then recall - D'oh! I did a plain 'ol sewing stitch (in & out, every stitch) and I should have done a backstitch or mattress stitch to get it all flat & even. Ugh!

So, what's your vote? Live with it, or unpick YET AGAIN (at least it's only 6 inches total) and do it right. Keep in mind that with this sweater, I've started the body twice (frogged the first attempt at 3 inches when I realized it would be enormous) and one sleeve once (had thought it would be too loose at the wrist, so I narrowed it, then realized it looked terrible that way).

Sigh, is it any wonder this has taken nearly a year?

Not much, you? Recent highlights

Weekend - hung out at home, coughing, sneezing, while Max played and watched too much TV. Colin did tons o' work in the yard. Felt guilty, but not enough to help :-).

Last week:

• Parent night at school, and Max actually enjoyed himself at the Extended Day babysitting at school, which is great, and unexpected given how apprehensive he was. Sure helps to have a kid there he knows from class.
• Sucked up my courage and made calls for Obama Thursday night for an hour. Verdict - hate it, just as expected :-). They seem to be low on envelopes that need stuffing and only want dialing help. Bother.

Preceding couple of weeks:

• DOCS - worked on the sleeve for my Gathered Pullover. Nearly done with one! Except that I don't like how it's turning out and probably should rip it and start again. Sigh. So it's been sitting, with absolutely no progress, since then. Mental block! It's only two sleeves, how long could it take? Guess we'll find out.
• Took Friday the 3rd off and hung out with ETHAN (and Jason and Chris and Fiona, and their assorted rellies in town). Emphasis is Max's. He was all about the cousin, so happy to have time with him. Zoo was unpopular with Max (raining, tired), but playing at home was great, as was Museum of Flight. Attempted a sleepover with Max & Ethan, but no sleep achieved until Jason & Chris & Fiona came back from their dinner out with friends. Max & Ethan had fun staying up looking at books though.
• Inspired by Just Bento, made chicken mini-burgers, basically using our gyoza filling recipe, and ate them on dinner rolls for buns. I thought they were way fun. Ethan & Max liked 'em well enough. Speaking of liking/not liking food, this Bento blog post (see the bottom when her kid tries it) made me laugh out loud. Been there, seen that (not with Baked Tofu though). Also trotted out my bento stuff for zoo & Museum of Flight snacks. Kids liked 'em. Yay.
• Saturday, the 4th was the Family Heritage Festival at school. Since I'm on the parent association, I got to hang out & greet folks as they came in. Fun to see everyone and what they brought for the potluck. Max wanted to help with nametags (writing people's names), but settled for making a plane/spaceship out of leftover nametag backs & sticky bits.

Uh, spring?

Everyone says that the Gathered Pullover is a quick knit. I suppose it's relative. Nearly halfway (all the easy part behind me ;-). Now for neck & sleeves:

In KnitPick's Telemark, Colonial Blue.


So, did somebody say Spring? It's turning out to be a wild spring. Here's the contrast.

March 30th (temp obviously around freezing):


April 13th (temp yesterday was in the 70s):


Max loves him some dandelions. They're his favorite. Whenever anyone mentions dealing with weeds, he says "but not the dandelions! They're my favorite flower!". I fully expect to see him out there with a "Save the Dandelions" sign, picketing in front of the dandelions while Dad approaches with the weed killer.

And just to wrap up the updates, a couple of blankies for the Sather kids. Their new baby boy, just born Thursday, gets this one. Yep, those square are minky, and it's backed with satin. Hooboy, won't be doing that combo again any time soon, unless I have amnesia. Fuzzy, slippery, annoying. But oh sooooo soft.

While big sis gets a little something too. Cotton on the front, striped minky on the back. Very pink.


Other than that, the twin obsessions continue: Democratic primary, Indian movies. Netflix says I've rented 27 altogether, starting in April '06. Longest streak: 14 in a row (December through March, nuthin' but Indian movies :-).

Catching up on the crafts

Random pics of random projects...

Book bag for Max - made of placemats, with coaching from Noelle. Thanks for the tips, Noelle.

He seems to like it. It's good for holding the hugely oversized books he drags home from The Little School library.

Class pillows to match the class quilt. Split up the work with another mom, so you only see 1/2 of the class's pillows. Max was disappointed that they were going to be so small. He wanted one big enough to sleep on! We compromised with a pillowcase (thanks Grammy for the inspiration on custom pillowcases - very handy!).

And here's a quick blanket I whipped up for Max. We were in the fabric store, looking for fabrics to make a quilt for Jim & Kris's new baby-on-the-way, when Max spotted this. HE HAD TO HAVE IT! I thought it was insanely cute too, so I bought two panels worth, and then we went home, dug through my stash for some fleece for the back, and in less than 2 hours, Max had a new alien blankie. The fabric is Alien Invasion from Moda, and it's hysterical!

Sleep (lack of) and Trips (not taken)

Current effort making sleep difficult: get Max into his own bed all night long.

• Last week - awful! Not much sleep for me or Max most of the week. Cranky mom, cranky kid.
• Weekend - not bad! Escape valve of "okay to come in Saturday nights" seemed to help a lot.
• This week - much better. Two nights of staying in his bed (Monday, continuously, Tuesday, just one break for a snuggle). Too bad I'm now trained to wake up at 2 & 4 am every night. So now it's my sleep schedule that is the problem!

Trips that aren't getting taken:

• Considered a quick trip to Leavenworth for this weekend, looking for snow. Couldn't find an appropriate room, decided it was too much hassle anyway. Holding out for a drive to Snoqualmie on Saturday to see snow. Maybe it'll happen.
• Considered a spring break trip to Orlando - mostly so Max could see Kennedy Space Center. Thought, heck, why not see Disney World. Priced some packages, got extreme sticker shock, read the Unofficial Guide, decided it was a big hassle too! Scratch that vacation.

Other news:

• Observation: shouldn't tease others about blog breaks - it causes them on your own blog.
• New on the needles: Gathered Pullover in Knit Picks Telemark Colonial Blue. Getting gauge, but it seems too big. Hmm. Need to measure again.

Hats are Easy-Peasy

A friend had a baby. I needed a gift asap. I realized that I had cute pink/white variegated cotton yarn, just a ball, enough for a little baby hat. I like hats. They're easy-peasy and super quick. All it takes is the right circumference, and the rest you can pretty much make up. I used a pattern for the sizing and decreases, but did some modifications for fun... and ain't it cute?





And boy, did I cut it close on the yardage (see, it was one ball, but I'd swatched with it before, so it was more like 3/4 of a ball). See photo above right for how much was left when I finished the decreases. Ooh that was close. Now I just hope it fits the little kidlet.

Specs

• Yarn: Trendsetter Yarns Scoubi Du in color 054 (Pink stone wash)
• Needles: Addi Turbo size 6, 16 inch circulars, plus bamboo size 6 dpns
• Pattern: Borrowed sizing & decreases from this one, but the hat itself doesn't really look much like it ;-). Thanks for the sizing, though!
• Modifications: Added eyelet row about an inch and a half up, skipped the top knot when I ran out of yarn.

In other news, I think I neglected to post a picture of Max's cool new loft bed from IKEA.

After spending the first night up top, he decided he'd rather sleep on the floor underneath. And after I ironed the canopy up top, he decided he didn't want that on the bed. Ah well.

Gingerbread, Snow, and Project Pix

Last night, we made a Gingerbread house (cheating, with a kit). Max really enjoyed himself.


Some snaps of Teri's backpack (hope she got it! FedEx couldn't seem to figure out where her house is. I'm relying on the fact that she never gets near her computer to not spoil the surprise ;-).

I'm rather pleased at how it turned out. Not bad for no pattern. And much better on my second attempt! (It had gotten really big & shapeless, so I frogged and tried again with a more defined round bottom and fewer stitches).

And we had some snow back in early December. Here's the snowman Max & I made with the inch or so of snow (pretty much actual size ;-).


Here's a photo for scale. It was really a snowball snowman.


A quick peek at a few of the assortment of Christmas cards.

There. Enough photos for you Lucy?

Pathetic Blog Break

Sorry for the radio silence here. Been busy? Isn't everyone this time of year? I have very few projects to show for it too, but here's what's been up on the project front:

• Christmas cards - done! And arriving soon! It was fun to do them all a little bit different this year, although it took longer. Cool paper, and cool cutout designs, plus a little ribbon I had laying around for some, and my famous Crop-a-dile for eyelets on some. Maybe I'll post a couple of pictures of my favorites.
• School auction quilt - finally, finally, finally!, got all the sun-print fabric squares back from all the kids. I now have a complete set of 12 squares, ready to sew up. 2 Moms have volunteered to help piece, one has her row back to me, one I expect any day now. Taking Thursday & Friday off this week, so I should have time to work on them then, or on Saturday's DOS.
• Knitting - not much! Ordered enough yarn for Juno (Estelle Alpaca Cashmere Tweed - super yummy, and it went on sale at Ram Wools), but still don't have the pattern, so no progress there. Finished up Teri's backpack (picture coming soon) and sent it off as a Christmas present (oops, just spoiled that non-surprise). Cast on, frogged, and cast on again for a wrap for me (Cozy in Nashua Julia, Velvet Moss). Not really thrilled with the lace pattern for this - I just want a simple rectangular wrap to keep at work and keep me warm. Maybe I'll be lucky & get a stitch dictionary for Christmas and I can find the perfect easy lace for my own custom wrap.
• Sewing (or rather, altering) - ordered some cord pants from Lands End, which fit well in length & hips, but sadly are saggy in the waist (i.e., falling down!). Trying to alter them to fit my waist (starting with the super-on-sale, can't return, green ones ;-). I hate sewing clothes. And altering is almost worse. The green ones are unpicked, ready to take in. Definitely need to take these to DOS for a consult with the master sewers there.

Hey - very cool idea on Chef Messy's blog - all homemade Christmas. Whattdya say, Robertsons - up for that next year?

Birthday shout outs to Lisa & Jana

Happy Birthday to Lisa (today!) and Jana (was Wednesday!). Hope it's a good year for both of you.

I always think of Hawaii when I think of Jana now, because she got married there several years ago. So here's a Hibiscus for her to remind her of the islands:

The pinkish hue isn't just the picture (although it's a little darker in the picture than in real life). Taking an idea from shadow trapunto, I layered a bright pink fabric behind a nice white to give it a little pink flavor. Seemed like fun.

And Lisa loves roses (and other flowers) so I thought I'd send her a bouquet of them (cut from the rose fabric I used for her book several years ago):

Also for Lisa, another cool, cozy, comfy bamboo hat. Same yarn (different colorway), same needles as the blue hat, made-up pattern:

Now I ask you, do you see any purple in the colors in this hat? Nor did I. But when I washed it in cold water and then let it air dry, these annoying purple stripes appeared at the folds. What? Where did that come from? Wandering dye, I suppose. Washed again, inside out this time, and dried without folds (over a glass column), and the stripes on the outside were gone, but remained on the inside and at the bottom, just fainter. I've instructed Lisa not to dry this near anything light, for fear of future purple stripes. Wacky.

Falling behind

I've got more projects than I can shake a stick at right now. Stay tuned for:
- Max the blueberry
- A couple more hats
- Some mini-quilt surprises
- A mesh-knit backpack that Teri requested

I think that's all that's on the needles or queued for the sewing machine. Now get back to work!

Felted bag? Check!

Finally, another post!

I finished my felted bag tonight. It was all dry from blocking and I stabbed the holes to insert the handles. It turned out fun! I like the color combo, but it's a shame that the variegated yarn stripe doesn't show up very well on the bag proper. It was really pretty before it felted, now it's just a little lighter stripe. Ah well - it's supposed to match the handles.

Colin's really impressed that the floppy giant-size thing I was knitting felted down into an actual handbag-looking object. Wish I'd taken a "before" picture, but I was just so impatient to try the felting that I didn't think about taking a snap until it was already in the wash. TOO LATE! You'll just have to make do with the "after" picture, plus a few stats.


Stats:

• Yarn: KnitPicks Wool of the Andes in Chocolate (3-5 balls? can't remember, unwilling to check ;-) and Winter Night (less than 1 ball), plus Shamrock in Doyle (2 balls). Probably should have held the yarn double to make it even sturdier. It's pretty sturdy, but a little floppier than I wanted.
• Needles: 10 1/2 circular (36 inch)
• Pattern: Took inspiration and general instructions from this Booga Bag pattern, plus the picture of the Oregon Tote.
• Original knitted size: 14 inches (height), 16 inches wide (side to side), 9 1/2 inches (base width)
• Felted size: 7 inches (height), 13 inches wide (side to side), 6 inches deep (base width)
• Capacity: 1 hardback book, 2 balls of yarn, a circular needle and a swatch. Well, so far at least.

Very little progress on other projects. I really want to do Juno, but am having issues with yarn. I found this Alpaca/wool/cashmere blend that feels just wonderful, but doesn't give me good stitch definition for the cables. I might try some different needle sizes, but I'm not sure it'll work. I do like the denim color, though (see inside bag above). Definitely need more swatching before I can commit to a sweater's worth of yarn. And anyway the Local Yarn Shop is sold out of Rowan Mag 40, so I can't get the pattern right now anyway.

Something tweedy

I have a hankering to make a tweedy sweater. Of course, I'm allergic to wool, and almost all tweeds are wool. So I guess it better be something that I can wear a shirt under, which rules out this one: Everday Tweed. Anyway, I'd prefer to try a cardigan. How about this one: Quick Knit Jacket. Not super exciting. Hmm. This one looks way too hard for me yet: Skye Tweed Jacket. But it is gorgeous and shapely and feminine - soo pretty. Hey, how about this one? Emma Jacket. Oooh - now this one is gorgeous! And it's just a ribbed cardi underneath that amazing cabled collar, so shouldn't be too hard: Juno. So, which one do you like best? Which would look best on me? (I'm leaning towards Juno).

Max's hoodie - c'est fini!

Okay, I don't speak French, but it just seemed appropriate somehow.

At long last, here's the completed hoodie - front, back, and close-up of the pocket & placket:

And here's our model, Max himself, looking well-rested for his photo shoot this time (first thing this morning, and he wore the hoodie to school today).

I'm not really pleased with how the hood turned out, but I don't feel like doing it again. I think this is the only part that I wasn't very successful working out without a pattern. None of my books have hood patterns, and the free patterns I looked up online just had you knitting sort of straight. In this case, it ended up too narrow and when the hood is up, it forms a sort of point right on the top of Max's head.

Perhaps it's just one of those touches that makes it charmingly homemade? Or I'm just fooling myself. In any case, Max seems to be pleased with his hoodie.

Specs:

• Yarn: Bernat Softee Baby Yarn in Pale Blue (Max picked it out at JoAnn's) - most of two big skeins
• Pattern: Started with the idea of Debbie Bliss's Bill sweater, but ended up with my own creation, based on sizing and directions for basic sweaters in The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns.
• Needles: Addi Turbo circulars, size 7
• Modifications: All of it, basically. A made-up pattern of garter stitch hem, side vents, and neckline, K3P1 ribbing for the body and set-in sleeves (my first sleeves!), a kangaroo pocket, and a hood. Had to do the sleeves twice to get the length right, did the hood twice but didn't quite get it right. At least it'll stretch to cover.
• Things I'd do differently: cast on fewer stitches for the garter stitch hem, or increase for the ribbed body - it's a little wavier than I'd like on the hem (I did the fewer stitches & increase for ribbing on the sleeves and it turned out just right for those cuffs). Oh, and obviously I'd re-do the hood one more time to get the right shape & length, but I already weaved in the ends and I just don't feel like trying to undo it now.
• Overall satisfaction: High! I like it a lot, and Max seems to like it as well, and I learned so much on this project. I might be ready to tackle something with sleeves for myself now. I also feel very pleased that I did it without a real pattern too. Maybe I'm an honest-to-gosh real knitter now!

Quick hat for Lisa

I wanted to send something soft and comforting over to my sis Lisa, so I knitted her a hat out of this wonderful bamboo yarn. Soooo soft. Very smooth, silky, light, and cool to the touch. Here's me in an extremely goofy and rather disturbing picture (that's what I get for trying self-portrait in the bathroom), modeling the hat before I packed it up and sent it off. Loved it so much, I'm making another for myself!

Specs:

• Yarn: Royal Bamboo in color #47
• Pattern: Head Huggers Lace-edged women's cap
• Needles: US size 6
• Modifications - none to the pattern, but given that I was knitting in the round, I had to modify how I knit. No combination knitting when knitting in the round. It was funny, because my knitting really loosened up from normal - must be all the non-twisting I was doing. I originally knit the Medium, but when it was too big for me, I tried again with the Small. Much better!

Yay, it's cute!

But don't put anything too heavy in there, or with pointy edges, or sharp (like knitting needles ;-). This thing STRETCHES! With elastic in the yarn, it's no wonder. Oh, and someone please show me how to do a kitchener stitch with combined knitting? I suck at grafting. Yicky - don't look at the handle joins, okay?

Specs:
Yarn: Skacel's Schulana SuperCotton
Pattern: Elisa's Nest Tote
Needles: US size 11 circular (for bag), US size 8 double-pointed needles (for handle)
Modifications: yarn substitution, that's about it. Might be the first pattern I used pretty much as is!

So ugly it's cute, or just plain ugly?

So, I got this yarn. It's a little homely. Just a funny color combination (what looks grey in the picture is really olive-y/dusty green, then there's that mustard yellow and rosy pink). But it was $3/ball at Ben Franklin, and I was tempted. I think it's so ugly, it's cute, but others have their doubts. What do you think?

I'm using it anyway (it's Skacel's Schulana SuperCotton), to make into this: Elisa's Nest Tote. I think it's turning out great. The yarn is fun and stretchy and oh, the wild color combo. Wacky!

Oh, and did I mention that I went back and bought the rest of the balls they had (only 6). Not to mention, I'd also bought two backup yarns, in case I didn't like that one.
Hmm. I think I officially have a "stash" problem now. AKA, big useless piles o' yarn waiting to be made into something. Plus, too many projects on the needles. Max's hoodie is waiting for me to figure out if I've messed up the sleeves. Then I'll get going again. I've given up on the felted bag for now, cause if you do combined knitting, and you knit in the round, you end up twisting stitches all over the place. Yick. So, I went to "regular" knitting and it's slower and frustrating. So, sitting on the needles, gathering dust, until I decide that I should just knit it flat and seam it.

Aside from that, some more quilted postcards. One for Teri:
And one that I think I'll keep:

We've been busy making stuff this summer! Here's a snap of Max relaxing after a hard day of berry picking and jam making.

This batch set up. Yay!