Carrie Knits

Moving Day

2008-01-05T13:06:00.001-08:00

Nope, we're not leaving Port Angeles or anything.
I'm just combining my blogs and making one mega-blog. Like a superband, only with blogs.
It's a conglomeration of my cooking blog and this here crafting blog.
You might get a little more of Abby too.
All of the posts that are here have been copied and moved, so they are all in one cool little spot.

GO HERE to find me:
www.rhubarbsky.com
bookmark it, love it, comment on it and enjoy.
See you there!
Carrie

Last minute indeed!

2008-01-03T13:43:00.000-08:00

Abby trying out the tutu I made as part of a birthday gift. What? You don't wear frog boots, polar fleece and a vest with your tutu?

I am a procrastinator. I always have been. 5am the day a paper was due, you'd find me at the computer banging it out while I was in college. I'm forever pushing the envelope with my last-minute-ness. This was the cream of the crop though. This is a picture of the crown I finished in the car, on the way to the party. Yes, it's snowing outside. Yes, it's a bad picture. Yes, I still ended up wrapping it. . . in the car. Crazy.
Pam, if you're reading this, I promise I wouldn't do yours last minute. I'd be on time and even early. Really.

Holiday News

2007-12-29T08:26:00.000-08:00

Our holiday card. I thought, since there are a few of you dear old friends out there that read this, but don't e-mail me (no guilt. . . really), that you might be interested in a bit of our holiday letter. I'm only posting the bits about Tom's health, as the rest is just stuff you'd have gleaned by reading this blog anyway.
Hope you all had a wonderful Solstice and Christmas and that your New Year is safe and Happy.

from the Sanford e-mailed holiday letter:
"I waited a few extra days to send this e-mail, as I wanted to be able to share all of the good news at once. As almost all of you know, we've had an extraordinary year. Tom had sinus surgery at the end of last year to try and resolve headaches that had been mounting for several years. By the end of June, it was clear that it was something much more worrisome and on July 11th, Tom had a tumor the size of a golf ball removed from his brain. It was benign and the resection was a complete success, but he contracted bacterial meningitis and consequently spent much of the summer either in the hospital or connected to I.V. antibiotics. It was a crazy time, and if this is somehow the first you've heard of this, write back and I'm glad to go into further detail. So, to bring us all up to speed: Tom had his 3 month post-op MRIs and appointments right before Thanksgiving. Everything looks great with no sign of tumor at all. In fact, though we expected to get MRIs every 3 months during the first year, his neurosurgeon told him not to come back until NEXT Thanksgiving. Great news. Throughout this whole process, a growth was found on Tom's liver. We've just gotten confirmation today that it is absolutely unrelated to his brain tumor and completely harmless. The liver specialist said: "No further action is required." This is a huge relief to all of us over here at Chez Sanford. The recovery from all of this continues to effect our daily life as Tom still deals with daily nausea and near-daily vomiting, but we are counting our blessings and thanking our lucky stars for his general good health. He's gained back all of the weight that he lost over the summer and is looking forward to working out and building his strength in the coming year."

Christmas Gifts

2007-12-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

I've been hiding these away.
A puppet theater for my nephew from Bend the Rules Sewing.

Framed embroidery from a picture by Abby for my mom.

because 2 posts aren't enough for one day

2007-12-18T14:21:00.000-08:00

A library thing list of our winter books.

Center Square hat redux

2007-12-18T11:16:00.000-08:00

I love this hat so much that it kind of hurt to take it off to take the picture.

I used lion brand wool-ease in worsted weight. I'm usually a yarn snob, but I got two of these hats out of one skein of each color. Since I was gifting the first one to someone who may not pay attention to washing directions (a dude), I wanted something washable. Now I can be twinsies with Tom's snowboarding neurosurgeon (yup, I will never tire of how great it is that a brain surgeon also snowboards. I love that). Info on the pattern on the link above.

More tiny mittens and some stockings too!

2007-12-18T10:51:00.000-08:00

These are ornament size for topping packages. I made a little star too, but it didn't end up looking like a star, so it's been added to Abby's kitchen set as a pot holder.

Pleated Handbag

2007-12-13T10:58:00.000-08:00

For Emily's birthday.
The pleated handbag from Bend the Rules Sewing. I left out the interfacing on the bottom and the embellishments on the front. I'd do both of those things if I make it again, but it wasn't in the stars for this one. It's thrifted brown corduroy and funky orange and yellow flowered flannel in the pleats. It came together much more quickly than I expected and now that I see how it's made, I'm excited to make one for myself.

Birthdays in December! Aack!

2007-12-10T09:43:00.000-08:00

This little number is what I made for Abby when she wanted to shake jingle bells while singing jingle bells. This is now a large part of our day. The singing of the jingle bells. I wake up with it ringing in my ears. This is why the jingle bells book must be put away during the rest of the year. Anyway, it's just a stick with a bunch of ribbons wrapped around it all willy-nilly with jingle bells tied to the ends. She loves it.
I have 3 birthdays to craft for this month. What's up with December birthdays!? Drives me nuts. I made another crown for one of Abby's little friends who turned 2. It has a firetruck embroidered on it and it's very cute. I did not get a picture. Blast.
Above is the beginnings of a pleated handbag for another birthday this month.
AND, I decided to buy for my sister in law. She gets something handmade by a friend of mine. Love it and will show it off later.

A big thanks to those of you stopping by from the link over at The Rowdy Pea.
It's been fun seeing who's come over from there. We're still enjoying our book advent. I'll do a list of books at some point.
But not today. Today is full of car insurance dealings as we got hit in a parking lot last week. Ugh. We're fine, but it's a hassle.

Oh, the advent calendar!

2007-12-02T09:51:00.001-08:00

I loved the book advent idea that I mentioned yesterday. I like the idea of reading a book a day, but wanted to figure out how to count down to Christmas and involve Abby in picking and tracking the books we've read. Then I saw this post by Rowdy Pea. Oh, I loved it. The simplicity, the Asian sort of bent, the not overtly religious or specifically anything about it. And, it's lovely. So, I just straight up copied her. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. . . right?
My take on it is a little different. I made up tiny cut outs of all of the winter books we have on hand from our collection and from my run to the library. I got the images from Library Thing
and some from ebay. I printed the out and put them in a bowl. Every night before bed, Abby picks a story from her bowl. We read it and sing the song if there is one (Jingle Bells, Rudolph, Frosty the snowman) and then she puts the cut-out in the advent cup for that day.
Of course we'll read her the other stories any time over the next few weeks, but this makes each story have a special spot in our holiday season. On Christmas day, she'll get a new winter book for our collection. She loved it last night. I've been giddy with the fun of it all and am so happy with our new tradition.

The whole thing cost about $6. I got scrap-booking paper that has designs on both sides. Each sheet made 4 cups. I only made 24 cups so I didn't have to buy a whole extra piece of paper for one cup. Also, we won't be here for Christmas Day, so I figured it would be okay. The numbers are just little scrap-booking stickers that I got from our local scrap-booking store. I strung them all on fishing line and used a red ribbon from my stash. And, I did it all in about an hour last night.

Library Love

2007-11-30T14:18:00.000-08:00

Amanda Soule is just plain rad. Her blog entry today was all about winter themed books for kids. I've been wanting to expand our little collection of Christmas books because there is not a mama in the world that can read/sing the Jingle Bells book 5 times a day for the whole month of December and not kind of want to chuck it in the recycle bin by the New Year. Also, our books were the actual books we grew up with and were specifically about Christmas. I wanted to add some in about Solstice and winter in general. Her suggestions and those from the comments from her readers fit the bill.Our local library is freakin' awesome. They have such a wide variety and almost everything I look for is actually there, on the shelf, no waiting. We went and cleaned them out of winter books. Then we came home and found a basket to put them in so they'll be easy to find throughout the month. Bella Dia made mention of doing a holiday book advent.
I love this idea SO much. I've been looking at all of the inspiration out there for marking the advent or the 12 days of Christmas and trying to find something a little less specifically Christmas, more about time together, less about gifts, less work and more fun. I think reading a holiday/winter book a day and keeping track of them in some sort of journal or calendar on the wall will be the way to go. Of course, I can't keep Abby to only one book a day, but we'll just make a bigger deal out of one of the books we read each day in December. If I come up with a crafty way of tracking our books, I'll post it.

It took about 20 minutes. . .

2007-11-27T14:57:00.001-08:00

After seeing my dear friend's hand warmers the other day, I've been wanting some. I've been dreaming of finding a few minutes to make some and warm my hands. I went on etsy and found some inspiration .
And then I hit the stash of felted sweaters from last year's sweater bags.
I knew I kept the sleeves for a reason. I realize now that when I do this again, I'll just cut the sleeve open and re-sew it because if you just use the sleeve, it's hard to add any appliqué to the top and since you have to made the sleeve more narrow anyway, you might as well just open the whole side up. These were just quick prototypes, but I like them so much, I can't seem to take them off. I started to change Abby's diaper and before it became yucky, I begrudgingly took them off. I'm pleased. I think there will be more of these in the future. Yay!

If I push hard enough, I'll get my hands in those mittens

2007-11-26T19:27:00.000-08:00

Scale is hard to show here. These are teeny tiny little mittens that are an ornament. I'm sending them off to Sweden tomorrow for my Holiday Traditions Exchange.
It was fun putting together a wee package to send to a different part of the world. The pattern is from this book and I made them with left over bits of Cascade 220 from the stockings I made last year.

And, this poor quality picture is of really cute folksy hand warmers that a friend was wearing the other day. Being who I am, I made her take them off for me to examine. At one point I exclaimed, "but they're not even well made!" They laughed and said the frayed edges and "deconstructed" look was in. I don't mind that the spots don't match. . that's pretty cool, but they didn't even get them the same length! As far as I can tell, it's just felted wool from recycled sweaters sewed into a tube with a part of the seam left open for your thumb. I am so making some of these!

Dr. F hat finished

2007-11-17T20:13:00.001-08:00

I might have run off with this hat. I love this hat. In fact, I have left over yarn, so I'll probably make it again and wear it. A lot. And then I'll be twinsies with the snowboarding neurosurgeon. He liked it. He really liked it!

As long as I can still sew for tiny babies. . .

2007-11-17T09:29:00.000-08:00

Making teeny tiny little things makes me happy. I figure as long as someone out there keeps making babies, then I can keep sewing these little things!
Here then, the improved diaper changing pad:The picture is dark, but this one is much less wonky. Again, that rotary cutter, mat and ruler! I had no idea what I was missing.
A sweet wee jacket from Bend the Rules Sewing. It is made from a thrifted jacket with bias tape that I made myself from vintage fabric. I most likely won't be making bias tape again any time soon. The stuff is cool to use, but now I see why it's sold already made. Again, vintage and thrifted materials to make the matching little shoes.
The elf hat from bend the rules sewing. I really like this one. So easy, quick and what a cute result. I like it when something that looks so great doesn't take much time! I usually have the opposite happen. I spend a lot of time and the result is so-so at best. I found this piece of thick wool felt at a thrift store.

Part of why I use reclaimed fabrics is because we don't have a lot of options for buying new stuff out here. Also, I'm cheap. I can't spend $10, $15 or $20 (!) a yard for something that I'm trying out for the first time. Also, I love the thrill of making something out of almost nothing! Mostly, I like the sustainability of using discarded items to make something new and fabulous. Why would I buy new wool felt when I can felt and use an old sweater destined for the garbage because it has holes in the sleeves? Why would I order online and have something shipped, using all kinds of fuel, packaging and resources when I can just walk 2 blocks to a thrift store and take apart an old wool coat that cost $2 to make a wee jacket?
But, that's just me. I'm crazy like that.

I knit a basket, a hat and take a cold hard look at the stash

2007-11-15T11:52:00.000-08:00

I was trying to knit this hat. I ignored all manner of advise on what yarn to use. I used a very bulky yarn and made the blue one in the background of this picture. It's hard to tell, but it's so thick and big that I might just add handles and call it basket. As Pee Wee Herman said, "I meant to do that!". So, I looked in the stash and found some less bulky yarn and started again. That's the one that's almost done in the front of this picture. I like it. It's for Tom's neurosurgeon. He's a snowboarder. You gotta keep a snowboarding neurosurgeon warm! Here is a fairly innocent looking bureau.
Here's a wee peek behind the bureau.
And, here's what happened when I emptied the bureau, the bags from behind it, the bags next to the couch, the bags behind the couch, the basket next to the t.v. etc.
The stash. In. one. place. It's not as bad as I thought it would be. Tom came upstairs. Oh, I can't suggest you EVER let the husband see the stash all at once like this. Stephanie warned us all, but it happened. No manner of explanation about "having only one skein left from a project", or, "my mom gave it to me, " or "but they were 99 cents a piece!" could soothe the man. I don't think I'll be buying any yarn soon.

Oh the beauty of blocking

2007-11-08T19:14:00.001-08:00

Dream Swatch before blocking:Dream swatch after blocking:
A thrifty treasure:
Pure wool vintage skiing dress. I'd love to say that it looks great on me, but it doesn't. More like a potato sack with a belt. I'm thinking of hacking the bottom off and making it more like a wool shirt/jacket idea. . . what do you think?

Lest you think I've been idle. . .

2007-11-03T17:13:00.001-07:00

A Dream Swatch head wrap for a wonderful Dr. of Tom's.
A tried and failed attempt at making Abby a neurosurgeon costume for Halloween. Thank goodness for Goodwill on Oct. 30th!
Using my fabulous new rotary cutter, mat and ruler (thanks Mom and Dad!) to cut out fabric for wee baby shoes.
The shoes, the shoes! Such fun and so darn cute!

Crowns, oh crowns. . . I can't quit you!

2007-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

For my nephew Ethan. He turns 2 on Thursday. I'm told he likes bees. I'm pleased with this little design. I'm hoping to embroider something other than crowns soon. I'm almost crowned out. ..but then another birthday comes and I can't help it, my hands snatch up the felt and embroidery floss faster than I can control.

Pants Pants Pants

2007-10-16T09:04:00.001-07:00

I can't stop making pants. I'm quite chuffed with myself really. I've been reading far too many blogs by English people, I'm starting to pick up the lingo. "Chuffed" means "pleased" or "puffed up" and is English slang. It can also mean disappointed. I find this confusing for so many reasons. It reminds me of living in Australia and someone would say, "I could really use a biscuit" and by biscuit, they might mean what Americans would call either a cookie or a cracker. These are two VERY different snacks. I could never figure out if someone wanted sweet or savory. So, to clarify, in this case, I'm pleased with myself.

So pleased that I'm putting more pictures up of these corduroy pants that I made several weeks ago.
In the case of these little gray pants, I'm chuffed in the not so pleased way. I didn't pay a lot of attention while cutting these out and made them too small. I had to add an extra panel of fabric to the butt. Considering that these were my first pair of pants and I wasn't using a pattern. . .well. All of the projects on this post are made from either reclaimed, recycled or thrifted fabrics and supplies, right down to the thread. Love that.
And, the crowns are taking on a life with adults in my little group of friends. Darek turned 34 this weekend and he is now the very proud owner of a baseball crown. He really didn't take it off all night. I was mighty chuffed (in the good sense).

Booties bootees and a halloween clip for good measure

2007-10-09T20:48:00.000-07:00

Somehow this picture shows
a. how badly I screwed up the sewing on the hair clip on the right
and
b. how one is much bigger than the other.
They look much cuter in miss Abby's hair. Since she refuses to stand still for more than a nanosecond these days, a picture of them on the sidewalk will have to suffice. Candy corn hair clips are almost too cute for me. . .but not quite. I can't own this idea. I saw them here and here. I almost can't stand these little spider clips they are too good!. If I had more/any talent, I'd make those.
And, the bootees. When I write that out "bootees", it looks weird. "Booties" seems like it should be right. I looked it up. "Bootees" is listed first, but "booties" is also acceptable according to dictionary.com. And, really, if dictionary.com says it's right. . well then, it must be. Ha!
Same pattern as before, only this time I did them with the right gauge, so they'll actually fit a baby and not a very short, fat-footed adult. The yarn (Zitron Polo in color way 410) is left over from my dream swatch head wrap thingy. I love the colors and can't wait to pick which of the babies coming gets to wear them!

How an octopus became a bootee.

2007-10-05T10:05:00.001-07:00

This is the story of a piece of oilcloth.
I cut it out haphazardly and edged it with bias tape. I did not fold the corners well. I did not measure the pockets to match.
It is wonky like most of my speedy quick projects.
It is functional. It keeps Abby's butt off of the floor when I change her diaper.
This is Adrian. He likes bikes. I made him a bike crown because it was his birthday. He was infinitely more pleased than this picture might make you assume. I'm mighty proud of that embroidered bike. I did not get a closer picture. I'm bummed about that.

This is an out of focus octopus of yarn. When I seam it all up and add buttons. It will be two more bootees for the 9 pregnant ladies I know. Yes. 9. Yes. That's a lot.

She thrifts, she scores!

2007-09-26T08:44:00.001-07:00

I made pants. I MADE PANTS! You can almost tell how cute they are from these pictures. Brown corduroy with olive green cuffs and waistline. I got the idea here and followed the tutorial here. I'm such a visual/physical learner, the on-line tutorials are really great for me. I can actually make things instead of freaking out over a pattern and the written instructions.

And, I've been holding out on the funky tea set I've been collecting for a while. The clincher were these fabulous cups. I wish I had fabric with that pattern, I'd make pants for everyone out of them! They were 10 cents a piece. 10 CENTS!
And, oh, the tray. . . I'm loving the woman bringing a cooked turkey to a man who's been out fishing. It's almost like a comic strip. Man goes fishing. He doesn't catch a thing. Woman anticipates no fish. She cooks turkey.
And, I guess I'll have to pick and choose which tea cups to keep. . . the tray's full. Either that, or have a lot of people over for tea!

Booties!

2007-09-16T15:08:00.001-07:00

Saartje's Bootees pattern (in the sidebar). I'm down with the knit, but I screwed up the sizing. I'll do more that are littler for baby feet later.

The Harlot and other crafty news

2007-09-15T09:20:00.000-07:00

I made a some little hair clips. This picture makes it look huge, but it's not. I was mostly inspired by Amy Karol's little clippies, but a few others caught my eye too.And, of course, another birthday crown and more clippies.
But, the real news? Yup, I did it. I actually dropped the kid off at daycare at 1pm, packed up the car and then drove to Seattle to see the Yarn Harlot, and then drove home. To put this in perspective: it takes about 3 hours to get to Seattle and that includes a ferry. On the way home, the ferry was full and I had to wait an extra 40 minutes until the next one. Try explaining that to someone who doesn't knit! It's hard enough to convince someone that it's worth the trip for a huge concert, like if Prince came to Seattle, I wouldn't make the trip. . . and that's saying a lot! So, for me to make the trip to see an author. . .an author of humor books, wait: an author of knitting humor books, well, you see how my Friday went.
The truth is, I totally needed and deserved this break. For those of you who know what's been up with my husband this summer, you know that to take 9 hours out of a day and be alone and then surrounded by fellow knitters was amazing. I was worried that I'd get tired, but I was so energized by seeing Stephanie that I floated home. It had nothing to do with the 3 diet cokes I had, really. And, as hard as it is to explain a spontaneous road trip to see a knitting author, get this: I listened to self help books on CD the whole way. Yup. That's right. . . I'm flaunting it now! I drove to Seattle to see a hysterically funny knitting author speak and I became a better person in the process. I wasn't even fussed about missing that ferry.
So, in that picture up there, I'm wearing my "Knit it or Quit it" t-shirt. I gave one to Stephanie too. I also scored her a Tom Bihn knitting bag. It's Seattle made and not even on the market yet. Still in beta. It was really fun to see her speak and then to take a few minutes of her time and say hello. . . good stuff. I think my favorite part was that after she said something applause-worthy, there would be a split second pause as everyone set down their knitting and then started clapping. That cracked me up, and so did she. Fun Fun.

That's right. . . dayglo owls!

2007-09-08T12:26:00.001-07:00

I should start this by adding a few details about Tom's tumor. I failed to mention that the thing was benign. It was benign and removed fully. . . very little chance of it coming back or causing further harm. He's starting to be a lot more like the man I married. . . full of beans. He's a feisty one. He's healing well.
In other news:
I went to the really huge community garage sale yesterday. I went within the first hour of it opening. That was a mistake. It was so freakin' crowded that I couldn't see a thing! And then, when I found this lovely hand knit sweater, I had to stand in line for 30 minutes to buy it. Uh, yeah. Oh, and Abby (yes, my 2 year old) took those pictures of me in the sweater.
I am so in love with this sweater. When I put my hands in the pockets. . . that's right, tissues and hall's lozenges. Just like an old lady sweater should be. . .full of the stuff of healing! It seems to be right out of Elizabeth Zimmerman's knitting workshop. . .the button band and sneaky pockets. . . I love to imagine just who it was that knit it. She was mighty smart because she lined the sleeves. . .it's an itchy wool.
Anyway, I went back today with the hope of finding treasures that had been stirred up in the frenzy. I found the coolest old fabric. There are owls in that florescent madness. OWLS!
And, could those little wee birds just make you curl up from the cuteness! And, it's linen. I LOVE it. I'm not sure what I'll do with it all. . . but handbags seem to be my thing now.

And, holy moley. . I finished the pinwheel sweater! Abby was kind enough to put it on today just long enough for a picture. It's too cute for words. I hope she starts wearing it when it's cool enough.

And, jeez I have a lot today, pictures of the Rumpus Room. I wish I had "before" pictures. It was just an emtpy storage room with nasty concrete floor, no shelving or cabinets and unfinished walls. There's still a bunch of little things to do, like get a futon and put something on the walls and put up curtains, but it's use-able now. Our house is so small, that this really almost doubles our living space (meaning, space that is not our kitchen, bathrooms or bedrooms). It is attached to our garage and across the yard. I am loving the quiet sewing time. Also, my lady friends can come over and drink wine without fear of waking my little one and the tired husband. . .key to my existence right now. I love that I can sew and look right out into our back yard and watch the kid play. I have a tiny t.v. and DVD player in there too, for the cold winter months when she'll be less inclined to play outside and let me play on the sewing machine or knit.

Oh, and I worked really hard before our dear friends got married in early July (read: before the tumor trauma!) to finish their cool picnic blanket. I never got a picture of it fully finished, but you get the idea from these shots of it pieced together. Blatantly copied from Amanda, the Soulemama. See her picnic blankets here.

I am so very hoping to make it over to Seattle (3 hours away) to see the Yarn Harlot speak. Oh, that would be joyful.

Ooops, it's been 3 months

2007-09-03T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, I have a really good excuse. My husband spent his summer in a hospital bed, and I spent mine in a cot next to his hospital bed. We were staying with his parents (3 hours from home) for most of the summer. It's a long and crazy story. Here's the ultra-short version:
Tom had a brain tumor. We didn't know until he was laying on the bathroom floor in the worst pain of his life vomiting.
I took him to the ER here in Port Angeles and within 48 hours, we were transferred to Virginia Mason in Seattle and the tumor was removed. Super quick emergency brain surgery.
Within a week of finding the tumor, he was released from the hospital to his parent's home
We went back the next day because he'd contracted meningitis.
Flash forward 7 weeks, (4 of which he spent in the hospital and another 2 at his parent's house), and another brain surgery and he's finally off of the antibiotics and starting to heal. It's been a long haul.
Despite (or because of) all of that, I've been busy in the crafting department, though did not get a chance to document it here.
A few of my summer projects:
I'm working on the Pinwheel Sweater for Abby.

I made a tote for my sweet dear friend Suzanne who is a sixth grade science teacher (that's her in the background of the tote). She's amazing and starts school tomorrow. I love this tote pattern. It's from Simple Sewing with a French Twist. I am love love loving this pattern and have made a bunch of the totes. You can't really tell from the picture, but the embroidery on the front says, "Inspire."
The back has a little apple sewn on it. Teacher-y without being too teacher-y.

And, back to the birthday crowns for little ones in my little girl's life. This one was for Lauren's 3rd birthday.
Aside from that, I finally got onto Ravelry. I went a little crazy looking at everyone else's stuff and getting excited for new projects. Now, if they only had something like that for sewing too! You can find me there with the user name: carrieknits. How appropriate.

Carrie Sews

2007-06-11T14:28:00.000-07:00

Perhaps that would be a more accurate title for this blog lately. I went a little nuts with the sewing in the last week or so.
I made Abby a new lunch sack out of oilcloth.
I made a baby-carrier for a friend. It's based on this pattern. I made one for Abby and considered just giving that one to my friend with the baby, but I'm pretty attached to it. And, once Abby saw what I was making, she insisted on climbing up and being tied to me again. She still fits and was so sweet in the grocery store while I carried her in the sling. So, I pulled mine out of hiding and have been using it again!
I also made a little summer dress for her out of thrifted fabric and a vintage sheet. I was just using what I had, as I made the pattern and wasn't sure if it would fit. It's definitely a little big, but she still likes it. I was inspired by a vintage pattern that I found at a thrift store. Unfortunately, the actual pattern piece for the jumper wasn't in the package, but I was able to come up with something close by looking at the pictures and sewing instructions. I'll make another one in a non-pink color for her. I love how it crosses in the back.

May is when my knitting slows

2007-06-02T13:53:00.001-07:00

It's true! Every year, I think I'll beat it, but every year, my knitting slows down as soon as the days finally feel longer. I'm not sure if it's because I'm outside more or because I can't sit still when the sun finally shows. Whatever it is, the stitch 'n bitch group stops meeting, my production of knit goods slows and I start to garden. . . a little. There were a few babies and some teachers to appreciate.
I made some totes out of reclaimed and recycled material for Abby's pre-3 teachers. It's from a pattern in this book. Love them. Once I got the hang of it, I couldn't stop and ended up making two more for friends leaving Port Angeles.

I made two identical itty bitty hats from this book. I'm not sure who the second one is for, but the first was so cute, I had to do another! One skein of Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk dk did both hats in the infant size (color 26005).

I finished the amaizing hat and didn't end up liking the basic pattern I made. The hat didn't end up feeling soft enough either. I probably won't use that yarn again. Made up several little waterproof totes for babes. I like to use them for dirty cloth diapers in the diaper bag. They are also really great for swim suits, wet clothes etc. I made up the pattern, but based them on these bags by bummis. They are made out of some sort of outdoor balloon-like material that my mom got for me at Seattle Fabrics. I wish I could find the exact stuff again, or knew the exact name of it, because my stash is almost gone and it's a great gift that's easy to make.

Funny story: My mom and dad found an old bag of crazy knitting that my dad's step mother must have been working on in the 1950's. She had nearly finished one argyle sock and had the cuff and one pattern repeat of the argyle done on the second. They were still on the needles, in a bag with all of the yucky acrylic and wacky 1950's pattern. They are hideous. I finished one of them, modeled here by Tom. When I tried to get working on the second one, I kept getting lost in the pattern. Finally, after lots of stitch counting, I realized that Grandma Sue had screwed up the first sock and there was no way to make the second one match. That's probably why she threw up her hands 50 years ago! If they were wool and the least bit cute and didn't reek of cigarette smoke, I would have perservered, but, due to all of that and the 50 year old screw up, I chucked the whole bag in the thrift store pile. But, we have a picture of that one ugly, stinky, screwed-up sock.
Speaking of socks. . . I finally finished my pair. Basic Pattern with Patons Kroy Socks Jacquards in "Hip Hop" colorway. I'm getting less and less enamoured with the idea of knitting socks. Not only do you knit FOREVER to get one, you then have to try and repeat the same thing exactly for a matching set. AND, despite Stephanie's best advice, I can't get them to fit properly. These are too loose and scrunch down a la 1983. Ugh. Maybe I'll stick with sewing for a while. I found some cute vintage patterns for little summer dresses for Abby at a thrift store. I'm inspired daily by Amanda and hope to hit the sewing machine again soon (check out these picnic blankets! I love them). We're almost done getting my little sewing area set up out in the extra room attached to our garage. Right now, all of my fabric is in grocery sacks sort of spread out around the dirty, shop-like garage part of our garage. I'm looking forward to having a spot to spread out! Yay!

Socks and Hat

2007-04-28T13:10:00.000-07:00

What a boring title. And, most likely a boring post.
I'm almost done with the leg of sock number two.

I started in on a baby hat made out of amaizing yarn in the Aiden colorway. It's made of corn. I don't think it tastes good though. I'm cheap and am knitting it with my old school grandma metal knitting needles. The stuff is so slippery that I'm just about ready to get some bamboo needles to keep from losing stitches. I probably won't. This way it'll take me longer to make and give me more to bitch about.

Thrifty finds

2007-04-09T16:44:00.000-07:00

Thrift stores Rock. That's all I can say.
Can you see the price tag on the yarn ball winder? It says 75 cents. Yes. 75 cents. I bought it. It even has all of it's parts, the original box and it works. Score!

And this fabu piece of fabric? Yup, 55 cents. It's 1 yard and a half. It will be my next tote bag (or 2 or 3). I love it.

And, that's my short hair. I took a shower, washed the aforementioned puke off of me and Tom took my picture.

There you have it.

Puke, poop and pee aka "The PPP"

2007-04-08T13:30:00.000-07:00

That's all I've been dealing with the last week. It's gross, I know, but it's the truth. Abby got the yucky sicky thing that's been going around. I thought we'd dodged it, but I was cocky and now it's kicking my butt too. On Thursday, I had already done 2 loads of poopy, pukey laundry and had already been through 3 outfits on Abby by 9am. That was just the beginning. Poor thing, she just stood there covered in vomit saying, "mama, I pooked, I pooked on my crib and feet!" She hasn't quite figured out how to make the long "U" sound in puke. I think we're through the worst of the releasing of disgusting bodily fluids. Now we've moved on to the I'm so cold and shivery and sweaty and achey I could die part. We rented Charolette's web this morning and are hoping for a long nap out of the little one.
Moving on! Oh, that pic up there is before the PPP.

I whipped up a little "Airy Scarf" from "Last Minute Knitted Gifts" for my friend Christine. I'm loving the color of it. It'll match her blue eyes! Yay. It took less than 1 skein of LLH Soft-Kid in color #63.

Also, last week, I made two more yoga mat bags. One for my friend, Heather, for her birthday, and one for me! So there! I made up the pattern. Really, it's just a rectangle of fabric serged on two sides, with a draw string at the top (I used twill tape to make the casing for the draw string. It looks neater and is easier to pull shut than a fabric casing). Then, I sewed on some webbing for a strap. I wanted to be able to sling it over one shoulder, or wear it across my chest with the bag on my back. Anyway, aside from trying to figure out how to attach the ladderlock buckle, they went together really easily. For a bag to hold a regular sized yoga mat and nothing else, I started with a piece of fabric 16"x 28". For my bag, which I put a few other things in, I used a piece that was about 20"x 30". Can you tell that I'm in love with the daffodils in my yard right now? So cute.

Anyway, a few people have requested a pic of my short hair cut. All I can say is that you'll have to wait until I'm not cleaning puke, poop or pee. It's cute, but not so cute when I'm dealing with this stuff. ugh. Instead, I'll show you this one of me finishing my second ever 5K race.

Oh, and I almost forgot about the tote bag I made for Meggan. My first lined tote bag and my first embroidery ever. It's made with linen cut off of the bottom of an ikea curtain that was too long, thrifted cotton lining and hand-me-down embroidery floss from my mom. It suits Meggan's earthy ways in that it's all recycled or reclaimed materials. It was fun too! I'll probably make more.

And, I'm still plugging away at those socks. I got close to finishing one and then realized that the foot was HUGE without continuing the ribbing I'd started on the cuff. I've torn back to the gusset to put the ribbing back in and might reduce down more for the foot. That's all for now.

Socks and toddler royalty!

2007-03-12T12:54:00.000-07:00

I got sidetracked from my socks.

The novelty of a new project just takes hold of me and I can't help it.
Inspired by Amanda's really awesome crowns, I went out on a limb and made my own. Two little girl birthdays and a bag of thrifted felt got me moving. I even made Abby one. She likes it, but wants to wear it all hip hop. . .backwards and upside down ("down up side", as she says!).

Oh, and a slightly better photo of the slippers that she shall not wear. Ugh. My little backwards crown wearing, no slipper sporting princess.

And, as much as I love more light after dinner, I'm not down with the havoc it wrecks on sleeping schedules!

Slipper Fun

2007-02-27T13:22:00.000-08:00

Here are the felted alpine boots on Abby's feet. She won't let me take a picture unless she can see it in the viewfinder, so she's on my lap wearing them. It's hard to see them, but they're pretty cute. They're too big, but small enough that she can wear them now and maybe still use them next winter too. I didn't bother with a gauge swatch, as I figured they'd just felt down as far as they'd go and then she'd grow into them. I used lamb's pride homespun thick 'n thin and a random ball of novelty yarn. Both are from my stash. It took 4 cycles on my heavy duty option on our washer with a pair of carharts. I think it took so much because we have a front loader (less agitation) and our hot water is turned down to avoid scalding our small child. Perhaps I'll turn up the hot water heater when I felt next.
I think I'd make the cuffs shorter or with a more definite eyelash yarn so it fluffs out like the picture. I'd probably opt for needle felting the detail next time instead of crocheting it on before felting. They are VERY STURDY, pretty cute and all in all a fun knit. I look forward to trying out some slipper patterns in MY size! I'll swatch for those. :)
Oh, and for those of you asking how I have time to craft. . . here's how:

Oh, yeah. . . and. . .

2007-02-19T15:44:00.001-08:00

I forgot, in my blogging binge the other day, to share these two items.

One:
Ya know that sweater that I tried to frog for the beautiful noro yarn? And how I got really frustrated and decided to scrap the whole idea?
Well, my mom sent me to this website about how to frog a sweater. I still didn't get what was wrong, even after reading this dumb proof guide. It wasn't until I re-did the ribbing on this hat that I realized what most people probably get when they first start to knit. You can't take anything apart from the cast-on edge. I mean, you can, but it's not easy. Tom was astounded that I hadn't thought of this. But, in my defense, I'm not a strong spatial person. There is a very specific reason why Tom packs our kayaks, packs the back of the car and is called into the kitchen everytime I need to put leftovers into a tupperware. I can't figure out in my head how things work spatially. That's why socks were such a hard thing for me to start. I couldn't visualize how they would go together. It was blind faith to just start a pattern and watch the sock appear like magic. Tom laughed at me when I finally pulled the sweater apart by freeing up the cast-OFF ends of the pieces. He said, "I figured you'd thought of that already. .. I mean, you can do so many things in knitting, I just figured you understood how the knots go together." So, uh, he could have helped me from the beginning, but instead stood by and watched me struggle. I know we all have different intelligences and that one of Tom's is spatial intelligence (does that even exist?), but I still feel kinda dumb. So I got lots of yarn out of the deal. .. and a little knowledge in how the knots go together in knitting.

Two:
On a wild hair, I put an ad in our local used product website 2 good 2 toss for used knitting patterns and supplies. I figured I might get some old lady's aluminum needles, some red heart yarn and a photocopy or two of those old slipper socks patterns. Instead, I got this stuff:

I figure it's probably $50 or more in new supplies. She just decided not to knit anymore and gave me her stash. Including a set of bamboo sock needles and some beautiful merino wool. Yum.

I jumped right in and used some of the novelty yarn on the cuffs of Abby's felted slippers. I'm almost done with the first one and I have to say, it scares me how big it is. Will it really get small enough for her? Hmm.

Lots of Random-ness

2007-02-17T19:00:00.000-08:00

It's been a while and I have a lot of projects to show off!
There have been a lot of babies to craft for, my new nephew to welcome, Abby to appease. It's been a whirlwind.
Here are some pics:
There's an i-river cozy for Tom's new favorite toy ,

a hat for a very selfless teacher,

a little flannel bag of Wise Woman Cards for my yoga instructor,

some oilcloth bibs with pearlized snaps,

a serged baby blanket,

the finished clubhouse for Nephew Ethan,

a pink scarf for my dear friend Hazel,

My little cutie modeling Tom's hat, my panta and the sweater my mom made for her. I did the hood and extended the bottom, adding the ribbing so she could wear it later. She loves to mix those colors and wear the bee boots with everything! Notice that the boots are on the wrong feet. .. always the "wrong" feet!

And, the hello kitty sleeping bag and pillow for Abby. We were hoping that this last one would help with the seemingly ridiculous sleeping issues that Abby's been having lately. When I CRIED during a parent meeting at our little pre-3 co-op, some of the parents suggested, well, they suggested everything. But one of them thought that Abby doesn't like having her blankets fall off. She's been waking up 2, 3 and sometimes 4 times a night and asking for help resettling. So, the idea was to make her a sleeping sack so the blankets don't fall off. I took her to the fabric store and she picked out the hello kitty ($15/yard. . . thank goodness I had a half off coupon! Jeesh!) fabric and started calling it her "kitty blanket". This is especially cute since my security blanket was called Kitty Blanket as well. In the end, this causes more frustration for her, because she can't get her blanket zipped and now screams for help with that!

I've started some felted slippers (the alpine boots on the side bar at the left) for Abby and I really want to do this sweater for her too.

That's more than enough from me for now.

Machine Applique Sucks

2007-02-05T19:12:00.000-08:00

That's pretty much all I can say. I already hate sewing machines. .. too much reliance on a machine, you're plugged in and stuck where the machine is stationed, it makes noise, so it's hard to watch my netflix while crafting, did I mention that it sucks! I'm not patient enough with sewing to do it for long, so I'm always taking shortcuts to make things go faster. More often than not, my "shortcuts" end up making the process actually take longer when I go back to fix my mistakes. So, with all of that said, I made a little apron this weekend for a birthday gift. Abby's little friend Lilly turned 2 this weekend. I was hoping to make her something, but was running out of time. So, inspired by Amanda's last minute gifting, I went for it. Though, she's WAY more talented than I. Amid all of the pretty princess, doll house, plastic stuff, Lilly pulled my little dragonfly apron. I kind of made her put it on so I could get a picture. I'm pleased with the results.
However, Ethan's little "clubhouse" had to be appliqued as well. My dream that the wonder under would be enough to attach the little letters to the doors was amiss. I had to sew each and every letter down so they'd stay. The end result is a little maddening. I rushed and now they look crappy. I'm frustrated and bummed. It looked so cool and then the stitching is so, well, it looks like a 2 year old did it. I won't even show you the results here. I'm still giving it to him. I've spent too much darn time on it not to. He won't care because he'll be having so much fun crawling around and playing in it! I hope!

Fixing old mistakes

2007-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

I've been on a little kick in the last few weeks. I've been undoing mistakes from old finished projects and re-doing them for further satisfaction! I was in a bit of denial about the socks I made. I pretended that they fit. .. I crammed one of them on, while the other fit perfectly. I finally just undid the toe, tore back and made it long enough for my toes to stretch out luxuriously! I shortened a scarf that I never wore (and now wear every day). And, now, I have torn back the ribbing on a hat I made years ago. It always sat on my head like a bell. This was before I learned the trick of doing the ribbing on smaller needles so it will hug my ears the way I like it. I'm re-knitting the ribbing so it will stay snug on my ears. I'll wear it more now. It's been fun to revisit old projects that seemed so hard to fix long ago and now seems really easy to fix. It shows how much I've been learning. Yee Hee! My ulitmate fix will be to frog an entire blanket and start over. It was an experiment with yarn that I scored at a thrift store. I didn't really know how to gauge how much I had. I knit the blanket as a giant dishcloth on the diagonal and didn't start decreasing soon enough. I had to bind it off before I reached the point on the other side and now it's a bit like a large cape. I also dropped a few stitches in the first half of it. . . so, I'll just frog back to the dropped stitches (I did some sort of crazy made up catch the stitch and sew it into the knit thing) and finish it properly. That'll be quite the project, but it's always bugged me, so it'll feel good.
Tomorrow is our first stitch 'n bitch of the new year. There seems to be a lot of people planning to come. I always worry that there won't be enough room in my tiny house. . . somehow we always fit. I'm excited to see what folks have on the needles.

In non-knitting crafting: I made Abby a little card table house last spring. My intention was to put her name on it and decorate it with flowers, a window etc. My grandmother made me something similar to this when I was a little girl and I loved it. Of course, I never got as far as decorating it, but Abby LOVES her house.

Now, I'm working on one for my new nephew.

My intention is to put "Ethan's Clubhouse" on the front and then decorate it with sports themed stuff. His room is in the "all stars" theme and I thought this would go really well. The problem is that I can't find any fabrics with large sports balls as the print. I had hoped to just cut a few out and wonder under them onto the house like I've done with his name. I really don't have the energy to make the balls from scratch. . . and I'm running out of steam looking for the fabric that I'm imagining in my mind. So, how do I make it a sports clubhouse without a ton of work? That's really my aim. . . less work, starting now!

Finished Objects

2007-01-15T16:12:00.000-08:00

It is so satisfying to finish something! I finally got a chance to use my serger (for the first time!). I SO dig it. I am a detail oriented person, but I'm also not one to do a lot of extra work. It took me five years to try blocking a knit project and my sewing is always a little wonky. . . not so good at cutting fabric in a straight line. The serger took a lot of the fuss out of making a simple baby blanket. It's great! Still not completely square, but still great.
And, I knit a little hat for my nephew! I'm so excited to have a boy to make things for. . . he's just been adopted and is 14 months old. I have yet to meet him, but I certainly don't want to meet him for the first time empty handed.
Woo Hoo. . . feels good to get some things done!

Strange scarf and the frogging nightmare

2007-01-05T18:54:00.000-08:00

My very first post on this was about finding a sweater at a thrift store made from noro yarn. I started to frog it a long time ago and got sidetracked with stockings and other things. Well, I pulled it out again last night and spent 1/2 hour trying to detangle the mess. I've given up. I'm going to felt it and do something with the fabric. It won't come undone without either breaking the yarn or me having to undo each and every stitch by hand, pulling the whole ball of yarn through every stitch. I can't figure out why, but it's driving me nuts!

So, with that set aside, I'm moving on to making Abby some slippers, I think. I might also go back to making a market bag that I thought about doing sometime last fall. I do have a new nephew to knit for (he's being adopted and is 14 months), but I have to wait until he's officially part of the family and we can get the size right.

And now, the scarf that I was making with some random yarn from the bottom of my stash. It's in copper drift colorway. I'm not a HUGE fan of it (the scarf. ..not necessarily the yarn, though for a mostly acrylic yarn, it's awfully scratchy!). I'm waiting until someone falls over with enthusiastic love for the scarf and then I will take it off and give it to them.

And this is just part of an experiment as I learn about this new-fangled blogger.

Dream swatch headband

2007-01-05T17:00:00.000-08:00

For the love of knitting. . . I'm posting this picture. It's the best one of the headband. It is NOT the best one of me. . . by far. I'm loving the headband. I've forgotten what kind of yarn it is, I'll find the band eventually.

Other holiday crafts

2006-12-23T10:23:00.000-08:00

It's been busy. Here's what I've been making!
Recycled sweater bags, a sock monkey for Abby (with lopsided ears and one arm much longer than the other) and a yoga mat bag for my sister in-law with a matching eye pillow.
I'm currently working on a scarf in garter stitch with random rows of yo/k2tog to make holes. And, I'm really loving this head wrap. I finally got yarn for it and I'm messing with it to get it just the right gauge for my liking! Yay. We're off to the in-laws for holiday fun. Have a wonderful season!

100% ready to hang

2006-12-15T11:08:00.000-08:00

Woo Hoo!
They're knit, named, hangers on and blocked. Done. Now I just need to figure out what the heck to hang them from. We have a pellet stove, but that means no mantle. I also knocked down a wee scarf with my left over Debbie Bliss for a friend's b-day. Now, it's all about those recycled sweater bags for gifts. Those require time in the sewing room which is DAMN cold right now and it's hard to get myself to go in there. But, this weekend, it'll happen.

Notes about the stocking pattern: This is just so I remember some day in case I need to make another one!
From the top to the heel is the mix and match socks pattern on page 60 of this book. Knit Christmas Stockings by Gwen Steege.
I tried two different heels, one from the basic sock pattern from this book. The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns by Ann Budd. And one from the "celebration" stocking in the pamphlet Knit Christmas Stockings by Sandy Scoville. I did the heel etc. on circular needles using stitch markers to tell where to decrease etc.

3 stockings down

2006-12-04T14:10:00.000-08:00

Well, almost. I still have to decide about the felting, the name stitching, to line or not to line and the hangers. But, the bulk of the work is done. Now what?

That's right. . . 2 stockings!

2006-11-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

Two down. One to go. Well, really, I still have to weave the ends in on one, decide if I should felt or not (which will require a swatch that I felt, which is not too possible right now, since my washing machine is busted and there's 2 feet of snow here and the repair guy may never get here), and then stitch (either dupicate or embroider) the names on. But, really that's not too much. . . right? Yeah. It's kind of a lot, but it'll get done. The last stocking will be green red and white (in a different order than the one that's already those colors) or it'll be green red and blue any thoughts on the colors for the last one? I realized early enough that red white and blue is not a great idea for a christmas stocking, unless we're celebrating Christmas in July and then it would be faboo. And, really, the green, blue and white one looks very much like a stocking supporting the Seahawks, but I'll overlook it since I really could give a rip about football.
And, in case you don't believe me about the snow. . . here's Abby in it, and that's yesterday. Now there's at least a foot more. And the thing is, I live in Port Angeles, as in AT SEA LEVEL. We don't get snow here much and when we do, all mayhem breaks loose. No one knows how to drive, the schools shut down until it all melts, people don't own snow shovels here and we don't have that many snow plows, so the town shuts down. It's kind of fun. . . .for a while. I'm reaching the end of my limit on having a toddler in the house all day with no where to go.

Can you guess what this is going to be?

2006-11-19T09:42:00.000-08:00

Here's a gift I'm working on for a friend. Can you guess what it's gonna be? I will be making two more of these triangles for the project. Give up? Go here to find out. Scroll WAY down.

And, the finished stocking.

Aha! Stocking!

2006-11-10T13:47:00.000-08:00

Since I finally made myself frog the stocking, I've made much more progress. I'm just not that into the fair isle look for the stockings. I'm a simple stripe kinda girl. I hoped that I would be all done with this one for the KAL day. . . but, I'm a few inches from reaching the end. The toe will be green to match (see, there's that symetrical thing I have again!) And then, there's the whole duplicate stitching of the name. . . which I'm not looking forward to. But, forward progress. The pic is not so great due to the UNENDING rain and clouds and Yuk out here. That's probably why I got so much knitting in!
Oh, and a big moment in our world. Abby said, "I love you" for the first time to us this morning. Of course, being the daddy's girl that she is, she said it to Tom first and only said it to me after much prompting from Daddy. But, nonetheless, she's a hoot and a giggle.

Yup, still no stockings

2006-11-02T08:08:00.000-08:00

But other good stuff!
I finished the orange sock's mate. And, yes, one is a tad longer than the other, but not nearly as mismatched as the picture looks. The feet are actually the same length, it's the legs that are off a bit. But, I'm fairly pleased with myself, as this is the first real adult size pair of socks I've made. . .yippeee!
And, I put together this nifty little tote from a thrift store sweater. It's felted and then the bottom of the sweater is sewn shut and the sleeves were cut off and the handles are from the shoulder section. I can't take credit for the design. . . I got it from this book. Tom was a little concerned about my fashion sense when I brought the sweater home. When I told him I was going to turn it into a handbag, he said, "seems to me it should have been a handbag to begin with"!

I'm slowly working my way through the UFOs and immediate gift needs on my knitting list, which means. . . I'm going to come to terms with the stockings. No, really. . . it's gonna happen darn it!

Also, how can I not share a pic of my little bumblebee. I was a flower and Tom was a honey comb. . . note the box of Honey Comb cereal strapped to his chest. At least he had a snack! Abby was so excited about being a bee, she kept saying, "bumble bee costume" until we finally put it on her and took her downtown to trick or treat. I, being the mean mom that I am, gave away all of the candy she collected to the neighbor kids when they came to our house.
Which, incidently, gives you a very interesting view into the world of teens. At about 7pm, the older kids started coming to the door. They could be divided into 3 groups: the girls dressed as sluts, the kids that didn't dress up at all and yet still expected me to fork over the goods, and then one boy who showed up dressed, well, I thought he was supposed to be a DJ or a rapper. . . He was wearing a big football jersey and white pants, his hair was greased back and he had a large medallion (wrapped in tinfoil) hanging from his neck. When I asked what he was, he giggled and kind of flapped his hand in the air and then skipped down the stairs. I noticed the glitter on his face and in his hair at that point. His friends told me he was a "gay guy." Now, I had several reactions at once. The first, and probably most prominent thought was, "I don't know any gay men that look anything like that. . . none of them would dress so horribly!" The next thought was, "that's not a costume, that's a person!" In the end, I ended up yelling after him, "We're gonna talk about this later young man!" I realized that he knew it wasn't an appropriate costume, or he wouldn't have avoided telling me what he was. Later, I talked to a friend of mine and she thought it was him trying on the role. . . perhaps he's actually questioning his sexuality. I'm not sure how I'm going to approach him, but since I know him, I can approach him, and I feel like I should because he may not have any other adults that he can talk to about this. Unfortunately, or fortunately. . .depending on your perspective, I didn't know any of the young women that came to my door in next to no clothing. . . so I can't talk to them and have it be meaningful. At least we didn't have any 35 year old men come to our door this year begging for candy. . . I think Tom may have scared that guy last year!

I went away on vacation and. . .

2006-10-24T15:45:00.000-07:00

I made these cute little mitts and a baby hat. I made 3 mitts because, well, you always lose one and I wanted to show off all of the colors of the cool yarn. It's fortissima colori socka color superwash wool/nylon. . . I like it a lot. And, I think I still have enough yarn left from one skein to make a pair of little baby socks. That's all for now.

Stitch 'n b product!

2006-10-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

Made it through the stitch 'n bitch despite the mulled wine that was served. . .so dangerously good! I frogged and reknit the thank you scarf. I felt like it was too unfinished looking. So I did a k2p1 ribbing and it turned into a very long snake like thing. It rolled back onto itself despite my ribbing. . . so, for one of the first times, I blocked something. I've never really gotten into blocking. I'm sold on it now. It made my snake stay flat and made it looked really finished. Perhaps I should have just blocked the first version. . .but I'm happy with the end product.

And, still. . .no stockings

2006-10-13T20:21:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest distraction. I grabbed this yarn from my mom's stash. . .she made a great hat for Abby with it and I was able to make another hat and two mitts for a wee baby in our extended circle. Though, this might be the first mom's heard of me raiding her stash. . . thanks!

The stocking is still in a stall. We have another stitch 'n bitch this weekend, so maybe I'll come to terms with my loathing of this stocking there. Maybe I'll just pull the needles out to start another one and leave the old one dangling for a better day. Maybe I'll just make stockings out of felt like my mom used to. Maybe I'll make another set of baby mitts and a hat for the other baby in our extended circle of friends. . . maybe. . .

You know you don't like something when. . .

2006-10-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

you make something else entirely unplanned to avoid working on the thing you don't like! I am somehow compelled to keep working on the stinkin' stockin' even though I'm not happy with it. It's just a little too busy for me. However, I keep knitting and knitting and knitting on it. I keep thinking that adding more to it will make it better, but I just don't like it. I figure it's a learning experience. I'll eventually give up on it and move on. So, to distract myself, I whipped out a little scarf as a gift. The picture makes the colors look a little funny. It's just the bush and the light that do it. It's with Debbie Bliss Soho in colorway 02. . .yummy.

Tom and I are going to California for a board meeting for his work (and my birthday). We will be leaving Abby for 5 nights with Tom's parents. I've only been away from Abby for no longer than 12 hours before. I'm struggling with the idea of being gone for so long. However, to make it feel a little better, the Board Chair is putting us up in the Yosemite Lodge at the Falls for our last night there as a treat. So, as she's WAY rich, I figured I'd give her a handmade scarf as a thank you gift since she already has everything in the world she'd need or want.

And, just in case you are dying to see the stinkin' stockin':

Thanks for the ideas. I especially like Amy Lu's idea of duplicate stitching santa's face with a flesh color. If I liked the stocking enough, I'd totally do that. And Laura, don't worry, I'm not giving up on knitting and I won't really go get stockings from Pottery Barn!

Left the Santas in

2006-10-04T19:39:00.000-07:00

So, in a marathon TV binge last night (we got season 3 of Scrubs from Netflix yesterday), I knitted the rest of the santas and added half a section of snowflakes. This picture is not the highest of quality. . . my apologies. So, what do you think? Do I bail on the santas? Do I leave them in? Is it better now that he's not a smurf?
In other news, I totally geeked out and started a food blog. I've been writing the crop sheets for our CSA (local farm that we get our veggies from) for a few weeks and found the process quite cumbersome. So, now I'm one of those people who have more than one blog. As if that many people really want to know *that* much about my knitting or what I'm eating for dinner. It feels a little excessive and self-promoting, but it's an easy way to organize my thoughts. If other people decide to have a look inside my brain. . .well, that's their problem/pleasure!

Santa's Back, well, almost

2006-10-01T14:02:00.000-07:00

Okay, I decided to try the santas with the grey background. I still kind of think I'll frog again and do stripes, but I had to see what he'd be like in with the grey. I'm done with the red part of the hats, but have had little time to knit, as the weather has been staying so nice and I have a hard time sitting still when it's nice outside. Yesterday, we all went to the best birthday party I've been to for an adult in a long time. Our friends Adrian and Kanyon turned thirty and all Adrian wanted for his party was a bike ride and all Kanyon asked for was a fire. So, we went on a treasure hunt all over Port Angeles by bike. Abby came too, in her little bike trailer. It took several hours, but was so fun. It did kick my butt, but still fun. Then we all went back to the house and had soup and a "normal" party, but there was a campfire in the yard. . . SO GREAT! I wish I'd taken the camera.
Then, we had another birthday party this morning at the park for Abby's little friend "Z". And, as if that wasn't enough, we're going to the 2nd annual apple festival at a friend's house this afternoon. Phew! I could use a little sit-down time after all of that!
Anyway, I thought I'd post a little pic of me and Abby for my profile here. It was taken back in May, I think. More on the knitting later.

Death to Santa Smurf

2006-09-27T20:15:00.000-07:00

I frogged him. He's gone. I'm considering not even knitting him back in, even with a grey background. I'm considering stripes. I'm considering just plain copying Laura's beautiful stocking. I'm kidding. . . kind of. Didn't someone somewhere say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery? No, in all seriousness, I will not copy Laura's stocking. I will however, be inspired to simplify, simplify, simplify. I think a lot of my "dollar-store" and "red-heart" feeling about the stocking was because of the cheesy design I chose. It looks great in the book with other colors, but the combo of straight up Christmas colors and little santa faces is too much. I'm hazarding a guess that cool colors with the santa faces *or* plain christmas colors in a simple pattern may look a bit more sophisticated. So, I'm re-thinking the designs I'm putting in the stockings.
In more uplifting news: I finished my honest to goodness first sock. The little baby socks don't count. . . this is the real deal. Now I understand why so many knitters have single socks sitting in their knitting baskets begging for a partner. I loved doing the sock, but now I want to get back to the stockings. . . not so interested in making the lovely orange hued sock partner. I'll get to it. . .someday.
Thanks for the sweet comments. It makes me feel less alone out here. Great job to all of you other stocking along folks. .. yay stockings. Oh, and Katie, your belly is beautiful!

And, how can I not show you my sweet husband and daughter pretending to be asleep to "trick mama." They were pretend snoring too. Ya gotta love it!

Stocking Progress on Vacation

2006-09-17T18:08:00.000-07:00

We vacationed. It was wonderful. I knit. I hate it. ARRRRHHGG.
In my knit-shop induced stupor. . . I just bought plain old Christmas colors. I am not a strong color person. I mean, I am not super creative with color combinations. It takes a lot of effort to try and do things in a fresh way (I also have a similar problem with needing everything to be symetrical. . .) Anyway, I am feeling like my color choices don't show off how pretty the yarn is. It's cascade 220 and it's wool and yummy. It looks, to me, like I made it with red heart. Now, there's nothing wrong with red heart. . .but I'd just buy red heart if I wanted it to look like that. So, now I'm frustrated because it looks a little "dollar store" to me and to top it off, Santa looks like Papa-freakin' smurf. . . really, can you tell me that he doesn't? Look at him!

The knitting was going along so smoothly. I'm liking the pattern. It's from this book. I'm doing the mix and match stockings with green, red, white, blue and a random purple color. Mostly I picked the colors because my LYS is going out of business and that's what was there. So, I can't even go trade the skeins I haven't wound yet. My best thought, at this point, is to frog the smurfy santas and use some heather/gray yarn I found at a thrift store (have I
mentioned that I'm an obsessive deal-finder?) that is very similar in weight and is wool like the cascade 220. I'll use the gray as the background for santa, so he doesn't have a blue or green or purple face (the only choices with my current colors). Any thoughts?

So, I put the stocking aside while on vacation. I happened upon an entire laundry basket full of knit picks sock yarn and knit one crochet too merino at a thrift store on the oregon coast for 99 cents a skein. Needless to say, I bought it all and immediately started knitting a tasty little sock. . .I love it.
Now, my momentum on the stockings is lagging, but my sock-lust is just beginning. I have some time. Does anyone have any thoughts on a pattern choice for stockings for a newbie knitter? I have a few in my stitch n' B that are wanting to start with stockings and I'm nervous for them (and for me. . . I'll be teaching them!).
Okay, I'll post more after the death of santa smurf.

Knit Along. . Yay!

2006-09-08T15:33:00.000-07:00

Okay,
So the REAL reason I set up this blog is so that when I join a knit along, other knitters can actually come see what I'm doing and encourage me to finish. I am a procrastinator. . .galore. So, with the added pressure of other people potentially coming to look at my progress, well. . .you get it. So, I'm joining my first knit along. Laura, who I went to high school with and haven't seen in YEARS and YEARS is hosting a mistletoe knit along. I'll be making my first ever stocking. Yikes! Also, the stitch 'n bitchers out here in P.A. might knit along too. I've already had one person (who does not knit!) ask to knit a stocking with me. I'm a tad nervous about teaching someone how to knit a sock, as I've really only knit one pair of socks. And, well, they were for my daughter, who is now only 1 and a half. . . so you can imagine how small those were. So, I'm attempting to link Laura's knit along here. If I do something wrong and somehow wreck havok with some techie gizmo in the world. . .just let me know and I'll stop trying to do something I know nothing about.

Twins for a day

2006-09-08T10:09:00.001-07:00

I've always wondered how those superwomen with mulitples DO IT! Now I have even more profound respect for the families with twins, triplets or (god forbid) quads and beyond! Abby's little friend "A" came over for about 6 hours yesterday. We've done a few hours at a time before, but never through nap time etc. Both girls are used to undivided mama attention when going down for naps. Needless to say, this mama had a rough time getting them down. In the end, I carried "A" in the sling for nearly 2 hours (she's at least 25 lbs. . .good gods!) until she was dead asleep. Then, with her still strapped to my chest, I layed down with Abby so she could fondle my ear (her comfort) to get to sleep. Then, snuck out of Abby's room and creeped downstairs where I was finally able to put "A" down on the couch and got a whole sweet hour of quiet. Phew!
The girls crack me up. They are both about 18 months old and are starting to actually be friends. Abby sits down in the yard and pats the ground next to her, beckoning to "A", and says, "sit, sit?". "A" sits and then Abby gets up and goes to the sandbox, "bah, bah?". . "A" goes over there. Then, oh the kicker, I put the two of them side by side to eat dinner outside (fried rice with tofu and yummy veggies. ..the only way Abby will eat anything good for her. . .buried in carbs!). The dialogue was hysterical. "poon?" says Abby as she takes "A"'s spoon, "soon," says "A" as she takes Abby's spoon. "A" sneezes and Abby says, "bess yous" (bless you). At the end of the meal, they stacked their bowls and spoons and laughed and laughed as Abby said, "dain dyou" (thank you) when "A" helped take her bib off. Too freakin' cute. Oh, Abby's on the right in the pic.

Uh, how do I work this thing?

2006-09-07T10:01:00.000-07:00

So, here we go. The first ever blog entry by this nutty mama. I'm sure I'll stumble a bit as I navigate this crazy world of technology (jeez, don't I sound like a grandma?). Be patient as I learn.
Now, for some knitting content:
I found a great sweater at the thrift store. The sweater's pretty ugly, but the yarn? Well, I'm 99% sure that it's Noro Shinano in colorway 12. I'll be frogging it and making something loverly. I hope. Here's a pic of the sweater.