Fetching ...

Nope, not just for dogs. ;)

It's been a long, long time since I blogged anything, so I'm trying to get back into doing that. Of course for the past few weeks I've been knitting stuff I couldn't share on my blog, seeing as the only people who read are likely to be the ones I was knitting for!

These weren't a Christmas gift, though, just a spur-of-the-moment quick knit for my aunt Laurie. Pattern is Fetching, which is currently the most popular WIP (work-in-progress) on Ravelry. So, either people there aren't marking their projects as finished, or they're just making millions of them, because this took me 2 days. Very easy! I do think the yarn was a bit bulky for the pattern - if I make more I'll be using a lighter weight yarn. The yarn is Mission Falls 1824 Wool and I used size 5 needles. The pattern calls for 6s but those would've been way too big for auntie Laurie's little hands. They are a tad big as it is!

Happy New Year everyone ~ hope you have a wonderful 2008! It is 10:35 here but I have already watched the ball drop (yay time zones! hehe) so I don't feel the need to make it to midnight. I told Olivia that tomorrow was the beginning of a new year, the year 2008, when she would turn 4, and she looked at me as though I had sprouted a second head. I'm pretty sure that concept went straight over her head, so I don't imagine she'd entertain sleeping in on New Year's day either.

Mommy, will you make me a bacteria?

Well, how could you ignore a request as nice as that? So I did. And I need to make one for little sister too of course. The bacteria is on the blanket because Olivia said "The baby didn't want to be by the bacteria." Well, I guess I can't blame her. She probably really knows what bacteria are. ;)

Fresh Blue Longies

Are you sick of baby pants yet? ;)

I hadn't knit any longies in quite a while, it seemed. Evelyn had been going to daycare a lot, and she hasn't worn her fancy wool pants to daycare yet. So she wasn't needing any more, so I started knitting other things. But her long-distance "boyfriend" Mr. Liam was needing a pair of pants, so I ordered some 100Pure Wool for him. The colorway is "Fresh Blue" and the trim is "Azul Profundo." These pants seem to be HUGE to me, maybe because Evelyn is such a peanut, and the inseam length is nearly 13"....but at any rate, I am desperately hoping they fit Liam, and not his older brother!!

The photo is pretty lousy. Absolutely no sun for the past week here, and this was a pathetic (silly?) attempt to use the bottom of the girls' new play tent as a photographic backdrop. Not highly recommended, mostly because your husband will give you really goofy looks when you ask him to hold the tent upside-down. ;)



The hat is LTK Earwarmer hat just like Evelyn's, one size bigger. So it fits Olivia, and she was happy to model, of course. :) She wants a hat from Mommy too, so I'll have to find some time to knit her something cute.

"King Castle" Crown and hat updates

Ta da, drum roll please, the "King Castle" (dubbed by Olivia) crown is finished. It looks quite nice, it's perhaps a little small for Evelyn but now I know to knit the next size up for Olivia's. And, Olivia loved it so much, she really really wanted to wear it but I said no because it was drying (and I wasn't lying!). I hid it when she took a nap. She asked about it today again. "Mommy, the King Castle still drying?" Yup, honey, it is. In fact, it will probably be drying until December 25. ;) Mental note: Only took me 2 days to knit, so do Olivia's crown much much closer to Christmas! Hers is going to be purple and lime green.

And, because I know you were all wondering, the drama of the hats has ended quite well. Evelyn's earwarmer hat was in daddy's pickup (whoa! he actually put hats on them? amazing!), still doesn't have a pom-pom. I know they're ridiculously easy to make but I don't really get it. Soon I'll figure it out. And, I put my Dahlia cabled hat in the dryer with some clothes, and it shrunk!! Woohoo! It fits now. I do need to get pictures taken. I wish I had enough yarn left for matching mittens for me, but I probably don't. I have a few pairs of pants for some friends that I'm currently knitting so I may just cast on mittens after that. Or, I could get cracking on those Christmas gifts that I just got yarn for! ;)

Crowns for Chickens

Little Turtle Knits King of All Wild Things crown in Cascade 220. Pre-felting, of course, and these pictures were too cute not to share before the felting has even been finished. Much, much cuter than the big ugly chicken:

Off to do some of my husband's laundry so I have an open washer for felting!

Earwarmer Hat

Hmm, did I ever post Evelyn's Earwarmer Hat? I don't think I did...unless I'm really losing it here.

Super easy, fast hat from Little Turtle Knits that has short rows on the band to cover the ears. I knit the smallest size (infant) and it fits Evelyn pretty well. It could maybe use a little more length, but I guess from my last experience with Knit Picks' Swish superwash wool, maybe I should just wash it and then it will fit longer. :(

It's very soft and Evelyn wears it for maybe 15 seconds at a time. Probably the biggest reason why it's missing at the moment. So, if you see it, please send it home, I would like to put a pom-pom on the top!

Know anyone with a gigantic head?

I mean, a REALLY huge head. Elephant size. Maybe Dumbo's mommy could wear this hat. :(

My Coronet hat is ridiculously huge. I finished it last night, I wasn't really all that thrilled with how the colors pooled but I didn't try to change it so that's my fault. Tried it on ~ nice fit. Snug, not too tight. Warm with the double-up cabled brim.

Fast forward to this morning ~ short little soak in lukewarm water with wool wash ~ roll in a towel, block and dry....what on earth was in that wool wash?!? It's huge. At least a 30" circumference I think. Who has a head that big? Maybe a cow. Not even our favorite cow #12 is gonna wear a handknit Zen String hat, not in my lifetime.

I don't know if I'll frog it and reknit or just use the rest of the ball and reknit. I have plenty left to make another. I'm too sad to think about reknitting for a bit. :( Plus, I've lost Evelyn's earwarmer hat (you know, the adorable one she never wears for more than 3.6 seconds) and haven't seen it in days, so if I have to reknit TWO hats I'm gonna be really bummed.

Right now, I'm too embarrassed to take pictures. I might at some point though. It would be really funny if I could stretch it over Olivia and Evelyn's head at the same time.

The before....

And.... (drumroll, please) the after:

My first felted bag! A little *too* felted, perhaps....mental note that even if the pattern specifically says "may take a couple washes to reach desired felting" - check on it anyway!! I left it in the washer for probably 12 minutes with 2 pairs of old jeans. On hot, of course. I did get it to stretch a little bit with some poking and prodding, and I let it dry with some cardboard in the base and so it's actually nice and sturdy. I hid it immediately - I know 2 little blonde-haired girls who would've taken to it immediately! The pattern is Black Sheep Bag's Sophie Bag done in 3-ply merino wool (100 Pure Wool) ~ colorway was called "Heavenly with Blue." I alternated skeins quite often to try and keep it from pooling, but since the skein was basically dyed half light blue/half dark blue, it was hard to keep it from pooling at least a little bit. The last few rows striped nicely. It's a great simple knit, not a single purl stitch in the whole piece! (I like that!) I'll be getting it in the mail soon to my dear friend Lindsay for her birthday!

I'm in, I'm IN!!!

Yipee!!!

I got my invite for Ravelry today! I'm rxmommy there, if you'd like to add me as a friend. :) Ravelry is a knitting, crocheting, spinning, yarn lover's paradise....blogs to read, patterns to browse...you list all your yarn stash and your projects, even books and needles. It's so NEAT!

So, anyway, if the blog posts slow down, and I cease to finish anything, I blame Ravelry. lol! I do need to finish things, of course...Christmas is coming up VERY quickly!

A perfectly gender-neutral baby gift...

For a little girl. Oops! I didn't realize she was due in mid-October, and came a few weeks early, so little Ellen Christine is getting this yellow-blue-green set. Oh well, a girl can get tired of pink, right? ;)

The yarn is superwash wool custom dyed for me by Lamar from A Time to Dye at Tiny Lady Cooperative. She does wonderful work! The umbilical cord hat is from Debbie Stoller's book Stitch n' Bitch. I couldn't really decide which shirt I wanted to go with (I decided on the yellow!) so I took a picture with all 3! The pants look longer than they are because of the angle of the photo. They're so little and cute, a 5" inseam!



Now, the trick is to find some time to give them to the brand new mommy of 2 little girls!

Action shots of the Debbie Bliss Sweater

Okay, here's the whole thing! You can see it's too big for her. :( I don't think she cares though, of course! Thank you again, Grandma, for all of your help with sewing on the sleeves. My gauge isn't anywhere near correct on most of the sleeves, so they're far too big. But, maybe I just meant to do that, and it will fit longer!

On my uncooperative model:

The Debbie Bliss sweater is DONE!

Actually, it's been done since Sunday. Brad was sort of helpful in entertaining the girls while I finished seaming the sides (but not really). "Olivia, leave your mother alone so she finishes the sweater before you outgrow it." That's as far as his help went, really. I don't think she's going to outgrow it soon, it actually seems quite big. I haven't taken any action shots as she was mostly on-the-go today and usually crawling on all fours, barking. I don't put sweaters on dogs. I guess they eat t-bones, though (she keeps asking for "cheese bones" - I can only guess that she means t-bones?). I didn't get a chance to get it washed and blocked until yesterday. I still can't get some of the garter stitch border to lay flat, but oh well.

Here is a quick little sneak peak....oh, I guess I lied! I DO put sweaters on dogs! This cute little one just jumped in the picture. I thought her color looked nice with the sweater. More pictures to come!

One quick blog post - Dashing Dachs longies

Probably the only people who read my blog have seen this in person. ;) But just a quick post to share off Evelyn's latest woolie pants before I go knit and watch TV with my husband, who was actually home before 9pm tonight. Whoa. Miracle!

The yarn is Dashing Dachs Stallion organic merino in her Framboise colorway. The trim is Knit Picks' Wool of the Andes, which I found to be not very soft and even a tad scratchy. I sorta feel bad for Ev, since it's on the waistband, but it's not likely to irritate her. It's just not nearly as soft as the Stallion, or BFL, which her other pants are. I don't think she'll complain though. ;)

No way was she gonna take her thumb out for pictures that night!

A terrible attack of the gauge monster

I am very angry with some of my knitting right now. It isn't listening. It hasn't done what it was specifically meant to do. I wonder if a time-out on the stairs would help. It doesn't often work for Olivia...seems doubtful it would have much effect on some yarn.

Here's what I'm working on...in off-white/natural Debbie Bliss baby cashmerino.


I probably liked the pattern because of the adorable redhead curly-haired baby. Plus, it seems like it would be something Olivia would wear a lot over dressy clothes. So, I've invested 2 months' time into knitting 5 pieces. Yes, it's in 5 pieces. Now I need to sew them up. Do I know how to do that? Nope, not really. But, I try, because I'm really excited to have this sweater finished.

First, the directions tell you to join the shoulder seams. 17 CO sts from the back piece joined to 17 sts on each of the front pieces. It seems that while I started out on the back with perfect gauge....somehow while the scenery of lovely, deserted Wyoming was passing by...my knitting got very loose. It's not even close. They don't match up at ALL! :(

I'm afraid the same thing will happen when I attempt to sew the sleeves on...I might as well admit defeat already and just frog the sleeves. But it's so much work to knit with that teeny, tiny yarn! I don't understand how people knit lace. Or socks. Insane, they must be. Too many stitches. And then my coworker says that sleeves never really sew on right any, and seams don't always lay flat as a general rule. :P

So, the moral of the story is ~ always knit sweaters in the round. Seems quite obvious to me. Something that will end up as circular garment should just be knit that way!

So, I've cast on another pair of pants for Evelyn, this time with nice squishy bulky Stallion merino from Dashing Dachs. A very, very hard to get yarn and the colors are very fall-ish and pretty. Plus, it's going very quickly ~ less than 4 sts/inch! Woohoo for bulkier yarn! :D I'll probably start another hat this weekend too. Or a scarf. One can never have too many projects on the needles, you know...unless you start to run out of needles of course.

Finally another blog post

Hey, in my defense - I tried to post yesterday,
but Blogspot was doing temporary maintenance or something annoying like that. I haven't been doing nearly as much knitting lately because it seems as though I have been working all the time. It's really good for the yarn-buying budget....not so good for the knitting time, not to mention time spent with my girls and that stupid housework that needs to be done all the time.

So, here are Evelyn's first pair of longies (aka wool pants) knit from Zen String Bliss wool (100% BFL) aran weight. The stuff is so heavenly soft and the colors are very pretty. I wasn't too crazy about the bright yellow trim color at first....but I think it's growing on me.


Here's a few adorable action shots, courtesy of Grandma's camera!

One more FO post for the day!

FO = finished object. ;) These shorties are just a tad damp yet, but they will go in the mail tomorrow to a dear friend of mine who, fortunately or unfortunately, has 2 little boys almost exactly the same ages as my girls. Dougie is 2 days younger than Oh, and Liam is about 1 month younger than Evelyn. I have "known" this mommy for quite some time, and I am responsible for converting her to cloth diapers. Hehe!! Let's just say she has some wonderful blackmail photos of her boys in hot pink diapers that she can show future girlfriends. :D

The wool is called Rambouillet, which I guess a French merino. It's not a terribly soft wool, but it seems very sturdy and I would be surprised if it pilled very much. Feels sort of like Lion Wool, but not quite...hard to describe. The colorway is "Tangled Up in Blue" from Colleen/Spiffy Knits at their new store Tiny Lady Cooperative. She dyed the brown and shipped it to me so fast, it was fabulous!! Too bad I didn't win any of the grand opening lotteries though. Bummer. ;) The waistband is knitted-in elastic, with 2 strings attached for a "drawstring"-like look. She can always remove them if she thinks the bow is girly, but I like it. I'm probably going to add the same thing to Evelyn's elastic shorts! Then I can easily see which is front and back, lol!

Here is a picture of the back!

And a blurry close-up. Miss you, Delilah the D-100. Get well soon! :(

Gotta run. We have two major cases of crankies here this morning. Perhaps the small people should rethink the 5 and 6 am wake-up times!!! Ugh. Can we say early naptime?!

Seeing double....again!

Another set of matching twin soakers for a friend. These identical twin boys are very special, because they had a rocky start to their lives. They are survivors of TTTS - twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, which I don't know a whole lot about but the basic idea is that one twin receives all of the nutrients and the other twin is robbed of them. They are toddlers now and the cutest red-headed boys you'll ever see! Perhaps I'll post action pics if their mommy says okay. ;) Anyway, here are the soakers ~ knit with the Radiant Twist pattern again, size smalls (one is smaller than the other, that was actually intentional, lol. I finished the first one and decided it was too small!), wool is Lion Brand 100% Wool. The colorway is Majestic Mountain and the trim is Sage. I think they turned out well, and I hope they fit!

This is the scarf that never ends...

At least, that's how I felt when I was knitting it....but then I was out of yarn and I wished it was longer! Oops. The scarf is a birthday gift for my mommy, a week or so late. Who wants a scarf in July, I wonder? :D

The yarn is 50/50 wool/alpaca from Lonesome Stone Fiber in Granby, Colorado. The colorway is called "Shades of Raspberry." It was a nice soft but sturdy yarn to knit with and I enjoyed it! I did a Google search for "one skein scarf patterns" and came up with this pattern:

CO 30 stitches, size 10 needles
K first and last st of every row
Row 1: P across
Row 2: K2tog across
Row 3: K1, M1 across

Repeat until yarn is gone. BO. Ta-DA!

The photos are of course all washed out, since my D-100 is in the shop. Sniff sniff. :( I need some yarn photography tips too, lol. At least I can get it to sit still easily. Although it doesn't smile. ;)

I must be off now to finish packing and get the girls in the car to Minot to Grandma's. Watch for pictures next week of the much-anticipated "Dora cake" party!!

Guest Blogger, Annie's Mom in Minnesota: Annie needs an alpaca!

Disclaimer: No, I don't really need an alpaca. My mom just thinks I do. I think I have enough things to clean up after as it is. ;) Here's her commentary on a visit to an alpaca farm.

The Minnesota Valley Photography Club was invited for a private tour of Rose Crest Alpacas, in Webster, Minnesota, this week. They had two babies and seven other wonderful alpacas that we were allowed to photograph and get acquainted with. Kathy, the owner, gave a great presentation about alpacas, which are much smaller than llamas and incredibly soft and cute. Kathy let us browse through her store of "everything alpaca." She has new shipments of yarn spun from her own animals that is just amazingly soft and gorgeous. I'm such a beginning knitter that I had no idea what to buy. So, I guess I must go back. Visit her store or email her for information on the wonderful natural-colored yarn that she has in stock now.

Mom

Victoria, the daughter's owner, and her alpaca

Double the fun!

Wow, I can't believe Evelyn is still asleep. It's 9:02 am. Crazy kiddo! But anyway, that means I have time for one more post, then hopefully she's up soon so she can have breakfast and we can go out for a walk.

These soakers I knit for a Diaper Pin mama with adorable twin girls. The twins are not that old, but unfortunately the soakers look HUGE to me. I have no idea why, seeing as my gauge was right on each time I checked. Ugh. I have loosened up considerably as a knitter, these were knit on 6s for the body and 4s for the waistband. They are from the Radiant Twist pattern, which I think you can buy on her Etsy cart. The yarn is 100PureWool in the "Blush" colorway, which of course I can't find on the website anymore. They've taken a lot of their colorways down for some reason. It was so fun to knit with, because it is sooooo buttery soft. This yarn is their new 3-ply merino; the 1-ply merino is known to be amazingly soft but also prone to felting and pills like crazy. I'm hoping the 3-ply is a bit better. I have 2 skeins of "Shades of Violet" for fall longies for Evelyn to knit sometime. As of right now, I only have 2 projects on the needles! Whoa! :D

Birthday present for me!

Okay, a very early birthday present. Joann.com often has 40% off on one item coupons, and I saw one online a couple of weeks ago, and just had to snatch up a ball winder. I don't have a swift yet, those are even more expensive, especially the collapsing ones that I want. But no worries - Olivia is quite proficient at winding and mommy can be the swift! She has already wound 5 balls with me and she often asks "Mommy I wanna make sumpin'!" which means she wants to wind a ball. ;) I'm gonna run out of yarn for her soon! She does get "tired" in the middle, which I figure just means she's bored, so sometimes she'll bail in the middle of winding. Little stinker!

The instructions were clearly written by someone who does not speak English as their first language. They're absolutely hilarious! These are direct quotes. I couldn't possibly make this stuff up.

"For setting yarn guide up: Thrust it in over a boss positioned at the reverse side of base until clicking."
"Fit bobbin in bobbin holder in a right position."
"After winding yarns up: 1) Take the wound ball out of bobbin after picking the first end of yarns up. 2) Alternatively take the wound ball with bobbin out of bobbin holder, detouching the bobbin by turning it to the right."

Okay then! Clear as mud?! I want to know what the "boss positioned" is! Luckily it's quite self-explanatory to use, because the directions aren't much help!

The family that knits together...

Is very close-knit? ;) Sorry, I could resist the pun!!

A few pictures from our Colorado vacation of the knitters. My cousin Melanie is knitting an old-fashioned sweater (the pattern is very old~ from the 30s? I forget.) with alpaca something-or-another, my grandma is reading my Debbie Bliss book to help me understand the sweater pattern I've started, and in the second picture my aunt and grandma are helping me to wind the alpaca farm wool into balls. My cousin Nicholas, in the background, is not knitting. ;) Yet! Hehe. My aunt Laurie has not been bitten by the knitting bug, either. Hrmph! Not pictured are two of my favorite knitters, my mom and my sister!

Soaker for Josh

5 minutes left to post! I should probably get going NOW, as I don't have Olivia dressed or myself dressed for that matter....oh well. Small town makes for short driving time to the doctor's office. ;)

Here is a soaker I did for a Diaper Pin mommy friend of mine Elissa. She and her two kiddos live in Arizona and I bet her son, Josh, wears nothing but a diaper a lot of the time! I thought I'd try out the new Radiant Twist soaker pattern for him. Well, I liked the pattern a lot, but I didn't read it quite right....ugh. I put the short rows on the side instead of the back. Oops. Elissa has shown me pictures and says it still fits, but I'm sure it would be better if the short rows were RIGHT. Urgh! Oh well. Live and learn!

Here is the "sneak peek" picture I sent her:


Artistic mountain-in-background photos!



With that, my time is up, and it's time to get moving! Thanks for looking!

Finished Belladonna Shorties

Lots of posts from me today. :) I have exactly 11 more minutes before I need to wake up Evelyn and feed her breakfast before her 15-month appointment (and shots :( ). Let's see how many posts I can catch up on, haha!

Here are some shorties I finished while the girls were at Grandma and Grandma's bed, breakfast and Ruby house:

They are knit with hand-dyed BFL (Blue-faced Leicester) wool from Michelle at Belladonna Designs in her "Strawberries and Lime" colorway. I did her pattern as well, but with an elastic waist and slightly different gusset. They are a tad big, my gauge was a little too loose (oops) but perhaps they will fit next summer as well. Or Olivia could wear them! They are soooo soft and I am happy with how they turned out!