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!

Legos, Beach, Family

Well, San Diego really isn't a lot of fun right now, but it sure was a week ago when we were down there. Shout out to Teri, Bob, Bryce, and Juliet - hang in there.

Look, that Lego-lion ate Bryce & Juliet!

Legoland was fun, so was Mission Beach. Here's Bryce preparing for a dip.

And here's Juliet enjoying her seaweed island.

A couple of sand monsters...(Max rather regretted this later, when trying to get all the sand off again. Juliet didn't mind the sand one bit.)

And here's the cute hat that we got Max at Legoland, that he lost within an hour of playing in the surf. We miss you cute Lion Lego hat. Ah well.

The La Mesa train was fun to explore. Go Green Butterflys!

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!

Okay, really truly, almost done with the hoodie

You know how you get so focused on finishing a project that you forget to check if it's shaping up correctly? Well, I do ;-). I was happily knitting up Max's hood, just straight up for 12 inches, and then when I folded it over to check how it would fit, realized, hey - heads aren't straight! So, I've ripped/frogged/pulled out 8 inches of stitches, and reknit, increasing a couple or four stitches every few inches to give a little bit more space for his noggin, and now I'm back to...just an inch to go! Plus weaving in ends, of course. Always fun to do stuff over...

Max's hoodie is nearly there, plus Whistler pix

Well, it's got a front, a back, two sleeves, and a pocket. It's blocked, and sewn together, and now all that is left is the hood. Got 3 inches of it so far, so it looks a bit like a sailor collar. Cute! Tempting to stop there, but then it wouldn't be Max's hoodie, now would it?

Here's the sweater while blocking:

And here's the real thing, being tried on by the cutest (and sleepiest, it was bed time) model ever:

(The bulge in the pocket is the extra yarn, just a little attractive detail for the photo - oops.)

Stay tuned for the finished product soon!

Here are some cute snaps from our Whistler trip. Max & Colin (the day we wore Max out with all the walking around):

Abbey & Casey in the gondola going up the mountain, before Casey really realized what he was in for. I guess 25-minutes-each-way mountain gondola rides aren't quite so fun for someone not fond of heights.

And here's me, wandering off path a bit - wanted to see what was on the other side of the rocks, and hey, it's mountain vistas!