Center Square hat redux

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!

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.

Lest you think I've been idle. . .

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!

Booties bootees and a halloween clip for good measure

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.

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.

Booties!

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.

That's right. . . dayglo owls!

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

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.

May is when my knitting slows

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!

Puke, poop and pee aka "The PPP"

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.

Slipper Fun

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. . .

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.