Baby Sweater Anyone?

OK, so who's having a baby? I need someone to have a baby now because I have two baby sweaters sitting here and one more on needles - (not to mention the 3 Tulip Baby sweater kits I bought last month - I'm closing my eyes so you can't see me) and I really want to knit more of these February Baby sweaters because they are just cuter than I don't know what so someone needs to start having babies around me - OK? thank you

EZ February Baby Sweater
Yarn: Elsbeth Lavold Cotton Patine
Needles: Knitpicks Options size 7



Very very cute - I love the color of this yarn but the yarn itself was not so fun to play with - very very splitty - I'm sad I don't like it because the muted color palette of the cotton patine is very appealing to me -

Also, look what the kids and I did - fun with KOOL-AID!

Looks like mint chocolate chip ice cream to me!



Here's my son's bright green dye job.



And my daughter's belated 4th of July yarn(it's in a tangled mess right now, waiting for the One Who Loves Untangling Yarn to work his magic)-

And finally, my first attempt at self-striping dyeing - I didn't quite get the sections long enough, and the yarn is very unevenly dyed due to my inexperience but it works for this little coat - Baby Albert from Sally Mellville's The Knit Stitch -


And so this ends as it began, with a plea for someone to provide a cute little bundle of joy to fill up these baby sweaters that seem to be the only things I can ever get finished.

Matchmaker, Matchmaker, Make Me a Match...

They just love being together!

SOCK

I did it - I finished a sock - it is a very short sock but it is a complete sock!
Thanks Tammy for the yarn! I think I can understand the whole sock loving thing now - and I cast on immediately for the second one lest I fall under the curse of the single sock. I should have a PAIR of socks by tonight -




And here are some fun colors and very soft and squishy Dream in Color yarn for a Tulip Baby cardigan (here I go following that sheep in front of me off the cliff again) - I found the kit on Threadbear Fiber Arts - they have made up several different kits in different color combinations - too cute to resist - and the yarn is beautifully colored and so squeezable - ahhhhh.

I don't know what's up with me and the baby knits lately - maybe just wanting quick finishes but here are some more baby things - I finished the blue cable top down raglan and then started an EZ February baby sweater - I do have one friend who is pregnant - I sure hope she likes knitwear.


We're enjoying summer here - outings, non-homeschooling friends who we can finally play with since "regular" school is out, and extra TV so mom can do things like sit here and write this and look at all the cool sock yarn out there because she has a new infatuation.

Random Things

Kids are just so funny - like when they stick a colander on their head and use it as a percussion instrument -


I'm almost done with the back of the Eyelet Cardigan - I really like the Blue Sky Alpacas cotton -

I've gotten a little sidelined from the cardigan though, trying to make something like Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater (this links to a really cute one) from her Knitter's Almanac after a friend mentioned it to me.

So that's all.

Can I Play? (8 things)

Well, I'm not quite sure how to do this because I don't think I know 8 people online who would read this and know they were tagged but here's a little bit of me.

1. My husband was Jesus.
(well, in a production of Godspell anyway)

2. I have a big scar on my right shoulder from a botched birthmark removal surgery when I was 6 - I don't usually think about it until summer when little kids at the pool stare at my shoulder wide-eyed - I tell them I was attacked by a lion when I tried to stick my head in its mouth.

3. People are always interested in knowing what ethnicity I am - I guess I look just that strange - my parents are from Sri Lanka - my dad is "Burgher" which is the ethnic group in Sri Lanka that is comprised of those who are descended from the Portuguese and Dutch colonizers who intermarried with the locals - my mom is Malaysian but grew up in the northern part of Sri Lanka where the population is mostly Tamil. ( I know - you weren't that interested -but there you have it)

4. I am sometimes long-winded and speak in sentences that soon become hard to follow because I seem to have a problem keeping to one subject when I am playing the piano sometimes a little drool falls out of my mouth after a little while because i am concentrating so hard.

5. I have been accused of not being serious enough and always kidding around.

6. Just Kidding

7. In college I drove from 3pm one day until 8am the next day from LA to Seattle because I missed my then boyfriend - we spent an hour or two together then he flew me back down on a ticket he had bought to come down the next week in order to propose - I always mess up his surprises, even now 11 years later - I just can't stand not knowing what's going on.

8. I have never had a cavity - I love my dental check-ups.

Thanks for listening and have a nice day.

Choices

Sometimes it's just so hard to choose -





I finally bought these two colors for the Blue Sky Alpacas Eyelet Cardigan (thank you special someone who got me the pattern!) because I just couldn't decide - this yarn is so delectably soft and the color choices make it very difficult to resist picking up one of each - Anyway, I settled on these two - the off white, Drift, is the color modeled in the pattern photo - the other is tomato(?) or something like that - and then I just found this free pattern that uses the same yarn and so I am feeling so happy I went ahead and got both colors but i can't decide which color to use for which pattern and I'll need 2 more of whatever color I decide to use for the Licorice Whip sweater so the ladies at the yarn store will think I am completely insane as I have already been back three times to stand in front of the Blue Sky Cotton display and pick up and put back various colors and then settle on something only to come back and exchange colors a few days later - my husband just laughed as I slinked out today.
But now they're all wound up and there's no turning back - just need to figure out what to use for what and we're off - of course I maybe should do something about these first...oh but choosing between UFOs(these 2 are just a small sampling),now this is TOO big of a choice to make right now, so I'll cast on something else while I decide on that.






Danica from Knitty Winter05 and a Top down raglan little baby sweater just for fun because I like small things

Ms. Marigold - After Neckline Ribbing and Ruffles

Hello Ms. Marigold,

So good to see you again you cute thing, and looks like this time you kept the girls inside - I think they prefer it like that and I'm sure it's easier for you to go out without any worries knowing they're safely in their place. We'll definitely do lunch, OK?

Yours Truly

P.S. Your shoulders look great - have you been working out?






Ms. Marigold
Knit in Rowan Calmer - 4 balls (color is called coral I think but I'm too lazy to go upstairs and get the band)
Needles - Knitpicks Options size 7 for body and 5 for neck ribbing
I (mostly) knit the size M - made some length adjustments and added some waist shaping.
It's cute - I wish I had knit her a tad longer as she seems to like riding up - I LOVE the Calmer - so nice and stretchy and soft - yummy to knit and to wear.

Ms. Marigold

Ms. Marigold before neckline ribbing -


I think it's working out so far - I had to make an emergency run to a yarn shop 30 miles away because I ran out of yarn - I had bought this Rowan Calmer on Knit Happens last year because it was on sale and thought I might be able to squeeze Ms.Marigold out of the 3 balls I had, but it wasn't quite enough and neither of the two LYS's that are closer to me carried Calmer so I got to visit a shop I don't usually get to see - very fun -
I cast on the number of stitches for the size M but then knit to the lengths required for the small -
On to the neckline and ruffles!

Recharge

3 ladies - 9 kids


+ lodge by river















+ healthy snacks ( I know these don't belong on a proper girls getaway but one of us is being very very good about eating healthy and it's really starting to pay off... yay Alissa!)














=giddy girl chatter, relaxing spa activities, hiking without having to worry about someone falling off a cliff or eating poisonous berries, a little shopping, just good times.

And of course even after just 2 days, you come back to your brood with new appreciation for just how precious they are to you and how cute their little faces are and for maybe 27 minutes they are so happy to see you that they don't whine or stomp off to their room in a huff about something...and once they start doing that again hopefully you have a little stored up energy from your weekend recharge to respond in more positive ways than you did before the getaway. Just have to remember those things we learn in the few quiet getaway moments we have as moms to help us through the noisy, rowdy, whiny, what do I make for dinner moments of our everyday days - but I have a hard enough time remembering where I put my cell phone, so these recharging sessions may need to increase in frequency.

Dedication

Look at this man -
He is so patient and tolerant of all my tangled up messes-
not just yarn either - he has to listen to all the tangled up mess that constantly streams through my brain and promptly spills from my mouth - thank you patient man.
This is some rust brown Silky Wool that I managed to get good and knotted up while trying to wind it - He sat for 2 hours and happily worked on the "puzzle" and I ended up with a nice little center pull ball that is now being knit into a Marilyn's Not-So-Shrunken Cardigan - no pictures yet but I plan to do more knitting starting next week.

Sorry mom...

This little top is made from yarn that I bought several months ago to make something for my mother for her birthday which came and went on April 4th. I thought that maybe she wouldn't quite like the nubby texture( I love it) and so here we have - something for me -

It's basically the Picovoli t-shirt pattern from Magknits - with a little lace rib band (stitch pattern from Barbara Walker's first Treasury) and YO raglan increases - I was intending to do the whole bottom part in the rib and lace stitch but then got lazy and succumbed to the mindless pleasure of stockinette in the round - the yarn is Classic Elite Classic Silk - I love it so much - it's a tad rough on the fingers when working (it's cotton, silk, and nylon)but I really like the feel of the fabric it creates - very light,soft,cool - NEED MORE -
We're 2 weeks away from our first performance of Sound of Music - that's why all I can handle is round and round stockinette - soothes my jittering innards.

Sock 1

The yarn was sitting there in that strategic position just to the side of the cash register - just like candy in the check-out aisle right at the eye level of my little sugar monsters - I happily succumbed to the retail manipulation -
And here is the beginning of my first sock -

See why I couldn't resist - it looks like those Brach's neopolitan caramel type candies -
I was going full throttle and then I burned out after the heel shaping -


and what is that little hole doing there? Is there a good remedy for that? what did I do wrong?

Anyway, seems that most people knit socks as fun little quick side projects and crank them out like nobody's business - Me, well I'm not so sure I'm feeling the sock love and all that - though all the fun colors and self patterning stuff and the fact that they're so small and portable keep deluding me into thinking that maybe one day I'll feel it - Maybe if I actually get a pair finished and feel them on my feet I'll understand - Oh how I want to feel that sock love - Because I don't doubt that I will continue to run into those tempting little displays at the check-out - and buying yarn just for the sake of looking at it and wanting to eat it, well that's just wrong.

Another good thing

We are all here enjoying playing pass the virus from one family member to another - its good fun and the game can last for weeks on end to ensure non-stop entertainment!
One good thing - having sick kids gave me a legitimate excuse to miss jury duty last Friday.
Another good thing - I finished the "Simple Hat" from the Simple hat and scarf duo in Melissa Leapman's Cables Untangled - yarn is KP Swish Superwash (I like) in Light Coral - there are some really beautiful items in this book, and what's even more beautiful is that I got it for free! (thanks to Computer Guy's "free shelf" at work -we've scored loads of CDs, kids DVDs, books from this treasure trove - and its all legit - it's not like pilfering office supplies or anything - really)
This is a nice warm hat in a nice soft yarn - if I had a nice, un-cone-shaped head it would be just perfect.

I'm Scarving

While various larger projects lie dormant for the winter, these fun, quick little numbers entice me with the chance to try a new yarn, a new stitch pattern, a new way to procrastinate when faced with knitting sleeves - I currently have 4 easy scarves on needles - 2 of which are pictured here -


a Multidirectional Diagonal Scarf
in Patons SWS(Soy Wool Stripes) color Natural Blue
The yarn has a nice shine and is soft, but it's spun loosely and is a bit sheddy and it took me a little while to get into a groove where I was not splitting every third stitch - I really like the colors though and will probably try some of the other colorways.


And this is a reversible cable scarf in Austermann Bambou Soft. I bought this stuff at the LYS during a New Year sale - and I am loving the feel and the look of it - nice and smooth, a bit of shine, gliding perfectly on the needles - I'm sad I only picked up 20 balls of it (See what has become "only" for me? Oh the gluttony) 3 balls in this rust brown color, 3 in a pinkish lavender color, and 14 burgandy which are longing to become a cabled sweater like the one on display at the LYS that lured me to this yarn in the first place(pattern free with purchase of said yarn) - But it will have to wait until another cabled sweater (Starsky)comes out of hibernation and gets itself finished - let's hope the Wool Bamboo is patient stuff -

The other two scarves are a really chunky ribbed scarf with a cable down the middle and a mistake rib scarf for my sister done in some thick and thin wool she bought at the craft store and I said sure give it to me, I'll knit you something - I'm totally indiscriminate when it comes to yarn - I'll knit with anything - (except furry or feathery stuff) - I just CAN'T GET ENOUGH! Maybe it's time for medical intervention.

Happy

Look what we got Wednesday night - and it's still here Friday night -
unusual for us - but it makes me so happy -

A "puhwple" sweater with very bright yoke accent colors - as per my little girl's specifications - inspired by Wendy Bernard's "Drive-thru"

I used Plymouth Encore and size 7 and 8 needles -
It looks very cute until you look up close and see my horrible finishing - now as this is a seamless sweater one would think that there wouldn't be that much to screw up - but I managed to do just that - the grafted together underarms are ok, but after those stitches were joined I was left with a hole on either side of those stitches - like the fabric got stretched out or I did something wrong when joining all the pieces on the needle - so instead of doing some careful research, I proceeded to sew up the holes in a fit of impatient and ignorant finishing, yeilding a less than spectacular result - only later did I go back and read more CAREFULLY the section about weaving the underarms on this type of sweater in Elizabeth Zimmerman's "Knitting Around" and realize the "hole" problem could have been avoided very easily by picking up some stitches in those corners and including them in the grafted stitches (and why was this not an obvious solution to me anyway?)
Nevertheless, I'm quite pleased with the sweater, especially when it's on my little girl who has waited so patiently for her purple sweater - And I will trust that the frenetic motion of most 4 year olds prevents too close examination of their knitwear.

Blah Blah Blah

This showed up on my doorstep this morning, hand delivered by SOMEONE very special and so sweet she always shows up on doorsteps unexpectedly bearing gifts. THANK YOU you sneaky elf!
I'm not making much progress on anything knitting related -
We had a big windstorm last Thursday and power was knocked out all over the place - our power was only gone for about 24 hours - but my Husband's brother and sister-in-law didn't get theirs back on until last night(Tuesday!) - So they camped out with us for 3 nights after enduring increasingly chilly evenings bundled up inside their own house - so now we'll try to get back to normal so that we can get back to abnormal when my parents come into town on Friday morning - so I am increasingly doubtful that the "puhwple" sweater will be done before Christmas - all my energy will be diverted into a massive cleaning effort that would probably not have to be such an effort if I would just expend some minimal cleaning effort on a more regular basis - but really, it's not that fun unless there's some stress involved right?

Wii (and wee)

So this is how we spent a special pre-Christmas family night - no quiet stories by the fire or cookie baking to favorite Christmas tunes or reverent contemplation of the Christmas story - nope, not for us - we went to THE MALL -



we do not go to the mall very much, and if we do, it is no fun for anyone - especially anyone who is trying to actually do some shopping - but our only goal on this trip was to be together and get some ice cream, which we did, and then we saw this.

My 7 year old (and my 33 year old) both stood wide eyed and began to twitch with excitement as they waited to try out this new Nintendo Wii thing - a new, more interactive kind of game system - it was very amusing to watch as several people, eyes glued to the screen, used the controller as a bat, a bowling ball, boxing gloves, a steering wheel, depending on what game they were playing - I must admit that I too joined in and it was actually kind of fun - I sort of forgot myself as I ducked and punched and uppercut the air in front of me right in the middle of a busy shopping mall - and listen, I was not the only mom out there having a little too much fun knocking out my imaginary opponent - it was a bit scary.
After the "Wii" we were on to more traditional Christmas at the mall favorites like, "I want that one" "Can we just buy this one thing today?" and "WWWAAAAAAAAAAA I want it, I want it WAAAAAAAAAAAA".

On the knitting front, I finished these wee little tiny cuties - oh how I love little tiny things - oh I just want to bite one of their arms off they're so cute -

8 minisweater ornaments for the people in our church small group - My husband made the litte hangers and the transport rack.

I have made exactly zero progress on Ariann - but I have finished the body and one sleeve of a sweater for my little girl - "it has to be Puhwple OK mom?" - so it is very purple and she has commissioned that the yoke be done in pink, yellow, and orange - we'll see if I can finish by the weekend -

Just Wondering

So I was just wondering - is it OK to just knit a (for sale) pattern from a picture? If I don't plan on selling it or stealing it and calling it my own pattern - if I think I can kind of fudge and use someone else's basic idea, is that OK? I think that it is fine - but then I was thinking that maybe it's just not good "knitting etiquette" or something - I'm just cheap - and highly unoriginal. Can anyone put me on the right track?
( the peppers are totally unrelated to anything - had no new yarn to show but felt this needed a little splash of color)

Catching Up

I don't know how to start - I feel all awkward and self-conscious like when you run into someone you haven't seen in a while and have nothing to say - so you end up taking out pictures of your kids and giving them the rundown of your life since High School and then they look all awkward and self-conscious and say you should get together sometime...

So - long time - how about some pictures?

Here is the finished body of Ariann (up to the point where I'm supposed to join sleeves) that has been waiting patiently for something to happen to it.



And an Ariann sleeve start - maybe its those menacing looking dpns that have kept me from making more progress.
And there behind the sleeve, the beginning of a log cabin blanket that I started in August(?)-


And I decided to start Starsky - It's such a small piece that I can't quite tell yet if I'm doing the cable pattern correctly - and I'm so crazy that even when I know what the chart is telling me I have to go back and read the written instructions just to make sure - and then read them once more just for good measure - no surprise that it takes me so long to finish things.


But these - well these little cuties I can finish - and I love that. I found a basic pattern for these teeny minisweaters here - and I have visions of making a whole army of these adorable little things to pass around for Christmas - so my parents can cluck their tongues and shake their heads and say, "What has happened to her? She has gone the way of the cutesy and crafty and we had such high hopes for her". Oh but these things make me sooo happy - so happy and done in about 1 1/2 hours.


And lastly, a picture of the kids, trying to sled down a small, very sparsely sprinkled with snow hill - in a makeshift sled made from one of Daddy's many power tool boxes - snow is infrequent and exciting stuff around here - Stop laughing you people from Minnesota -

When You are 4 and 1/2....

...You are happily oblivious to the fact that it is windy and 47 degrees outside as you sweep wet leaves off the deck while sporting capris and flip-flops.


...You look like this when 7 year old brother tries to teach you something new.


...Your hands sometimes lose control.


...This is the picture you take when a distracted mom says, "yes, honey that's fine".


I just love her.

I Felt It

I haven't been really into the felting thing but I bought some wool I thought could work for hats, and it ended up being too scratchy to be worn against skin so I decided to give this popular little bag a try. I must say it was highly enjoyable to watch the knit fabric morph into something else - I used most of a 165 yd. hank of Elizabeth Austen wool to knit the pattern as written plus a little flap closure - I still need to sew on a button.

So here's Sophie!

Before:


After:


Though I think it is a very cute little thing, and quite sturdy actually, I doubt I will use it very often - I mean what do you wear with a felted bag?

HUH?

Has anyone ever had a post just dissapear into thin air? A post that has been here for a few days just vanished when I published a new post - where did it go?

Big Yarn

I have a picture - a not so great picture - but a picture nonetheless!



This is a big fat scarf in Lion Brand Thick and Quick yarn on size 15 and 17 needles - please don't stone me - it was actually quite fun to see something emerge so quickly -

Anyway, I went to Michael's with the girls who were wanting to learn to knit, and told them about the yarn options and all and they chose bulky or super bulky yarn with big needles for some quick progress and I don't blame them and anyway you can see your stitches really well even though those big needles are quite unwieldy. We had lots of fun and the basics of knitting were learned - more on their own and from watching me than from my rambling and sometimes confusing verbal explanations.
So I joined in on the Thick and Quick fun and finished this up today - THis was so quick that I'm planning to do a few more to take up to Seattle's Union Gospel Mission.

Did a few rows on Ariann and those size 7 needles felt like toothpicks after working with the big sticks and yarn. She is going to be beautiful - and now I have plans to knit Starsky from the Fall or Winter '05 Knitty with the Chocolate brown Berkshire yarn I got on WEBS - It would be so nice to wrap up in something like that right now - oh well - maybe I'll settle for a big fatty scarf for myself.

Not Knitting

That's all.