Annie's Knitting Blog

Blogging this navy blue bag

2009-04-03T14:17:00.002-06:00

So that a certain someone can't pester me about it anymore! ;) You know who you are! You didn't follow through on your threat to send daily pictures, though!

Lucy bag in "azul profundo" 100 Pure Wool. I started this bag after Thanksgiving...figuring I had plenty of time to finish it for Christmas. Then, I realized I was not going to have enough yarn (I had 2.5 skeins wound up, even though I could've sworn I had 3.5 skeins). The yarn is from Uruguay, so I couldn't just go and pick up another skein. I found someone on Ravelry who had a bunch but she ignored my messages asking to buy a skein. So, I set the bag aside...sigh. Figured it would be a birthday present or something. And then....digging through my yarn stash one day I found the long-lost skein!! Ack!! I stayed up late knitting furiously. Each row was 120 stitches and knitting 10 rows took me about an hour. I'm not a terribly fast knitter, but I'm not really slow either. Of course, I had to knit, felt, dry and ship it - no hope for Christmas. It was close though!

I didn't have time to take pictures of the bag before it left, but I figured the gift recipient would be happy to take some photos for me. Thanks, Mom!

I'm just a bit behind...

2009-01-21T13:18:00.002-07:00

On the blogging here! Maybe I can catch up a bit...

From December: Hats for the preschool teachers

New Earwarmer hat for Evelyn - a bit too short, because I ran out of yarn

Olivia's bolero - no action pictures yet. It doesn't fit very well and she says it's "too hot." :(

Evelyn's pants - these have a cool crocheted elastic thread waistband to hold them up. Thanks Heather for explaining how to do that!! Not needing a drawstring is wonderful!

To Write Their Names in the Sand

2008-11-20T22:04:00.004-07:00

Thank you, Carly & Sam, for the beautiful picture. How amazing is the internet - that a family in Australia would take time to do this for families they've never met?

http://namesinthesand.blogspot.com/2008/11/riley-lebrun.html

A few tiny baby knits

2008-10-23T17:00:00.004-06:00

A blog post to get my mom off my back. ;) Mom, I hope you haven't given up and you still check once in a while!

Small-ish size longies. Yarn is Gaia organic merino dyed by Kim at Western Sky Knits. I have just barely enough trim left to make the brim of a tiny hat.

A newborn size soaker I finished a long time ago and haven't gotten around to taking a picture of. Still needs a drawstring, those are so quick for tiny little waist sizes. The yarn is 3-ply PureWool I dyed myself with acid dyes. Probably the only thing I've dyed so far that I kind of like!

Lastly, my little blanket. Some cotton yarn I had hanging around. It's 55 sts by about 60 or so rows, a little bit bigger than 12x12.

Land of the UFOs

2008-07-16T19:51:00.001-06:00

That's what my house is. Sorry, I can't seem to get anything finished anymore, much less photographed and properly blogged....

Oh, UFOs = unfinished objects.

So, here is about all I have to show off....some shorts for Evelyn.

A skirty for a friend's darling 2-year-old girl. Wonderfully soft bulky BFL, this was actually a very quick knit!! Even with the giant ruffle, lol.

Hopefully blogging little tiny baby knits soon....although my yarn stash is severely lacking in colors other than pink. So, I'm waiting on some new pretty yarn, or the energy to dye some of my own (that may be a while).

I have been knitting....

2008-05-28T12:27:00.002-06:00

Just not doing much blogging. Here is Evelyn's latest wooly outfit - a skirt knit out of 100PureWool dyed by Lamar at ...a time to dye. The colorway is called Anne Carson, named after her youngest daughter. I loved the pink and purple colors!! Perfect with the bit of gray added in. Lamar did a fabulous job dyeing as she always does.

Enough with the photos...time for the swing!!

Shorts underneath

Color is brighter than this IRL.

The pattern (minus the shorts underneath) is a new one I was able to test for a wonderful online friend Heather. The giant fluffy ruffle sure ate up the yarn! Not fond of the big holes left by the yarnovers, but you can just pretend you don't see those. The skirt is sooo soft and fits nicely. Great for wearing to church this summer.

Coming soon (well, maybe not so soon...) - I have shorts finished for Olivia (no pictures, haven't even blocked them yet) and yarn I dyed myself - don't get excited, it's rather ugly. ;)

Mother's Day Socks

2008-05-14T08:03:00.002-06:00

Wow, I am a really bad blogger! No posts since April 2nd? Well, I have finished a few things since then, but nothing has been terribly exciting. Life gets in the way of knitting sometimes. That's usually a good thing, though.

Here are my mom's socks - a Mother's Day gift that was, unfortunately, only 75% complete on Sunday morning! Oops. Work got in the way. Plus I am painfully slow at socks. I did finish them at about 1pm, so Mom was able to take home a complete set. I'm glad they fit!

Yarn: Parvana Merino Sock from Selah, dyed by Julie in her Cherry Blossom colorway. Pattern is from Creative Knitting mag May 2008 - Ribbed Anklets. I used size 1/2.25 mm needles - my first time with Harmony DPNs from Knit Picks. They are great!

First socks, finally finished!!

2008-04-02T12:53:00.002-06:00

Zen String Serendipity Sport in the Patchouli colorway. I was thisclose to running out of yarn, and actually made 1 sock two rows shorter. I don't think you can really tell though. ;) I am quite happy with how they turned out! Now I know that in the future, I don't need as long of a heel flap - that is about the only place they don't fit well. The pattern is from Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns - it gives basic patterns in a number of different sizes and gauges.

I have been bitten by the sock bug and can't wait to cast on pair number 2!

A close of the heel flap, in progress (the color is truer to the top pictures).

It's actually quite annoying to take a picture of your own feet. Apparently, doing that for me is something my husband won't do. He thinks I am weird, for a multitude of reasons. ;)

"Yarn."

2008-03-31T13:00:00.003-06:00

Is what Evelyn got from me for her birthday. According to her, that is. I finished this sweater the day before her 2nd birthday, and decided to wrap it up as a gift to her. She enjoyed trying it on, and in general she seems to enjoy wearing her hand-knits. I thought she might like it as a birthday gift. Turns out, it's pretty dull to get a sweater instead of a toy! ;)

So when she opened the sweater, I asked her "what did you get Evelyn?" She plainly stated: "YARN." And tossed the sweater aside. I asked her again later, and got the same response. Well, she is right, anyway!

The sweater is a Knitting Pure & Simple pattern, Baby Pullover. The yarn is a superwash wool from Granby, Colorado - a birthday present from my grandparents. It has a bit of variation in the blue color and it's very pretty on her. Fits well, too. I need to get a picture taken, but she moves too fast much of the time. ;)

Here comes the Easter Bunny....

2008-03-16T11:59:00.003-06:00

I bet you didn't know the Easter Bunny could knit, did you? ;)

The egg pattern is from Curly Purly and the carrots are from MagKnits. Carrot yarn is Cascade 220 for the orange (thanks Mom!) and the green is Wool of the Andes. Eggs are Paton's Merino, leftover acrylic, Zen String Serendipity and 100 Pure Wool "Hardly." All leftovers from other projects. All very easy and quick to knit! The acrylic yarn was not terribly fun to knit with, the egg looks a little bit wonky too. I just have a pair of slippers to finish (1 slipper is nearly done) and instead of making slippers for Evelyn I decided I would just try and finish her sweater for a birthday/Easter gift. It seems their baskets will have plenty in them as it is!

Indoctrinated from birth to smile for the camera, Evelyn politely requested "Mommy picture puppy pwease." Who could resist?

Long time no blog

2008-03-09T17:31:00.003-06:00

Here's a quick in progress picture:

Zen String Serendipity Sport in Patchouli colorway. The pattern is from Ann Budd's Basic Pattern book. I've turned the heel, finished the heel gusset and now I'm just knitting 'round and 'round until I get it long enough for my size 9 feet, then decrease and finish! Oh yeah, and sock #2.

Also on the needles: many eggs and carrots (thanks for the orange yarn, Mom!). Back to the knitting now!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2008-02-14T12:42:00.002-07:00

Olivia usually leaves off the "day" - she just says "Happy Valentine!" She also has been led to believe that the day is all about chocolate, and was telling us on Monday that she'd be getting chocolate. How she knew that, I don't know! But, the daycare lady at the gym did give her some M&Ms, so she was right!

These pants have been done for a few days, but I haven't had a chance to post this picture. I don't have any "action" shots taken ~ maybe this afternoon if the monkey girls actually take a nap.

Yarn is 3-ply 100PureWool custom dyed by Kim of Western Sky Knits. I believe she's pretty new to the yarn dyeing world, but she's great! She lives on a real working ranch in Montana with lots of horses. Sounds like a dream for me!

I'm quite happy that I got an accurate picture of the colors indoors - we finally had some sunlight a few days ago, and I plopped my trusty posterboard inside of the igloo play tent for filtering the light...I tweaked the photo a bit in photoshop but not too much! Not bad for indoors. Still missing my D100 a lot, sniff sniff. She'll be home soon. :)

Not surprisingly, there is a lot of noise upstairs...better go "remind" the girls that it's naptime.

A couple of WIPs

2008-02-04T12:50:00.001-07:00

Should be done soon. Finished pics to come later. :)

Mommy, I love my sweater!

2008-01-28T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's wonderful to be appreciated, isn't it? :) I finished this sweater for Olivia about a week ago, and had to get it washed/blocked and she was dying to wear it before it was even dry. It's a handwash-only yarn, so I didn't really want her wearing it to daycare, so wearing it to church on Sunday was perfect. Now, if only I could get her to stop hugging the doggy while wearing it....

Here's the sweater!

The details:

Pattern KP&S Children's Tunic #232
Size 2-4 years; modified to be shorter in length
Yarn: Aran blue-faced leiceister dyed by Selah, Lilac City colorway

Why I have 2 kids

2008-01-16T07:40:00.000-07:00

And why it is advantageous for my knitting! :)

I started with this beautiful Zen String - Parfait colorway on Bliss bulky. I wanted to make a hat for Olivia - she hasn't gotten one yet, and she needed a second hat. I wanted it to have earflaps, be very warm, and have a crazy cute top to it.

Yarn:

So, I begin searching on Ravelry for a pattern. I can't really find any one pattern that I like, but I decide to try my hand at combining 2. For the earflap part, I use the same Ky Baby Knits pattern I used for Aubrie's little pink hat. For the top, I wanted to do the "jester" top from this baby hat. All I needed was a multiple of 6 in order to do the top.

It all worked out quite nicely - I had a gauge of 3 sts/inch on size 8 needles (a nice thick fabric) and measured Olivia's head at an amazing 22" circumference, I could follow the "newborn" sizing on the hat and use 60 sts. Perfect! No need to fudge where the earflaps should go and such. The pattern calls for the strings to be a 4-stitch I-cord but I found that too bulky so I went with 3. I also made the earflaps 12 stitches instead of 10.

I didn't really have a clue on how tall to make the hat - I settled on about 5-5.5 inches. With bulky yarn you get there quickly! I divided the top, kitchener stitch to make the jester top, and some creative "sewing" to close the hole in the top. Voila! Hat done. Took me just about a day.

Hmm. The hat was very cute, but awfully short. The kitchener jester top took up a lot of the hat's height, and I hadn't thought of that. It didn't look like it would even come close to fitting over Olivia's head and actually covering her ears.

But, lucky for me, I have a slightly smaller child too! The hat fits Evelyn nicely - it could use a bit more height, too, but I really don't feel like frogging the whole thing and redoing it.

So, I CO hat #2 and make the top ridiculously tall. Probably close to 7". It looks huge as I'm knitting it, like it would fit Brad. But the end result is...

Evelyn is saying "cheese," in case you couldn't tell. The girls are posing on Evelyn's brand new toddler bed! She's really a big girl now. :(

Big news around here!

2008-01-09T09:19:00.000-07:00

None of it is the slightest bit knitting related though. ;)

Brad went back to work yesterday! He is walking without crutches and can actually get his poor swollen foot into a work boot. He worked a few hours yesterday, took some cows to Mandan and looked at one of ours (#12 is sick again!). Today he says his foot is hurting already and he's coming home for an afternoon dentist appointment.

Evelyn has peed AND pooped in the potty!! Not consistently, but still, it's a start! And she's already figured out the "I'll try sitting on the potty to see if I get M&Ms" trick. Little stinker.

I bought plane tickets to visit my dad in Florida in February! I can't wait. The girls and I will have so much fun playing on the beach all day long. We are in desperate need of some Vitamin D sun therapy around here.

Just so Olivia isn't left out, the biggest thing in her world right now is that Christmas decorations around town are being taken down. ;) I swear she remembers where each and every one was. "Mommy, they take the angel down? And the bell?" In Olivia's world, Christmas is "tomorrow" so it's okay. hehe!

Off to work. Inventory time. Ugh!

What the best dressed chickens are wearing today

2008-01-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

Ear warmer hat from Ky Baby Knits knit in Swish Superwash colors ballerina and bubblegum.

Knitting Pure & Simple Children's Tunic #232 in Blue Faced Leiceister dyed by Selah in Lisa's Lilac City colorway.

Little Turtle Knits King of all Wild Things crown in Cascade 220.

If I got off the computer, and ignored the piles of laundry and the messy living room, I could probably finish the sweater today or tomorrow. Hopefully I will have a pair of cute hats to share soon too. And I make no promises whatsoever about the laundry. I just can't figure out how to get it to fold itself....

Fetching ...

2007-12-31T22:25:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-12-10T18:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-23T21:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-08T21:39:00.001-07:00

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

2007-11-05T16:07:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-31T10:47:00.000-06:00

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?

2007-10-31T10:27:00.000-06:00

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....

2007-10-22T08:00:00.001-06:00

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!!!

2007-10-13T17:40:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-10-12T20:19:00.000-06:00

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

2007-10-07T20:14:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-10-04T21:39:00.000-06:00

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

2007-09-26T20:56:00.000-06:00

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

2007-08-25T11:49:00.000-06:00

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

2007-08-24T06:49:00.001-06:00

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!

2007-07-31T10:12:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-07-31T09:50:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-07-26T07:50:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-07-15T17:16:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-07-13T09:00:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-07-13T08:45:00.000-06:00

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...

2007-07-13T08:18:00.001-06:00

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

2007-07-11T07:54:00.000-06:00

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

2007-07-11T07:48:00.000-06:00

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!

The kindness of others!!

2007-07-11T07:33:00.000-06:00

One of my pasttimes is reading/posting on a few internet message boards (rather sad, probably) and among my favorites is The Diaper Pin. The crazy knitting mamas there have helped me a LOT with knitting shorties and I always admire their work!

One of the moms dyed her first yarn recently. I oohed and aahed over it, it was so pretty. It didn't turn out at all how she wanted, because she has a little boy, and it was just too girly. I begged her to sell it to me! ;) She didn't bite. Bummer. Then, she posted pictures of this darling skirty she was knitting with it. I had no idea ~ but she was knitting it for Evelyn!!!! I was so amazed at her generousity. Hours and hours of knitting went into the skirty, I'm sure. It fits her like a glove and it's so beautiful. We are sure to get compliments on it wherever we go!

Here are a few pictures of Evelyn, who apparently only wanted to run away from me:

Classic thumb-in-mouth, curly crazy hair, sweet-looking Evelyn!

Thank you again Patti!! You are so sweet to knit this for us. We love it!

Yummy Colorado yarn!

2007-07-04T11:35:00.000-06:00

Oooooh aaaahhhh! Isn't it gorgeous?!? We spent last week with family in Grand Lake, CO and it seems that a person can get a LOT of knitting done in a 15-hour car ride....sooo...I was anxious to buy more yarn and not run out of knitting projects on the ride home! ;) My grandma asked about a LYS at the quilt shop and she directed us to Lonesome Stone Fiber, an alpaca farm in Granby, CO about 15 minutes away. It was soooo cool! We petted a lot of pretty yarn...my grandma bought some 100% alpaca and I got the above yarn ~ 2 skeins of the blue which is 100% superwash merino and slated for a sweater for Evelyn. The pink is 50/50 alpaca/merino and is soooo soft!! They were my birthday present from the wonderful knitting Grandma! Thanks! :D

Oh, and I did not run out of yarn on the way home....I don't really enjoy knitting with teeny tiny weight yarn. Blah! :P

Pathetic Quilt Square Attempt!

2007-07-04T11:28:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I've been a REALLY bad blogger. Sorry. We had a wonderful family vacation in SD/Colorado and the week before that I was childless but had a whole long to-do list that I tried to finish! (Didn't really. Bummer.)

So here is the first of many posts of crafty stuff. It may take me a few days to get them all done, lol!

First, my first ever quilt square. Ugh. I am not cut out (haha! sorry bad joke) for quilting. See how one edge isn't square? Um, yeah. I first sewed the blue fabric on backwards (doh) and then it wasn't quite big enough all the way to the end and I did not feel like ripping it out. I sent it off to Pin mama quiltlovinlisa to make into a quilt for a mommy who unfortunately lost her 21-month-old daughter just recently. I can't even imagine her pain. We are putting together a "healing hearts" theme quilt for her.

Good thing I'm not going to take up quilting - I bought the fabric at my local quilt shop (and got waaaaay too much, too) and it was spendy!!! Sheesh. Yarn is almost cheaper. ;)

Here's the end result:

Shorties for Ezra

2007-06-20T20:26:00.001-06:00

Long overdue pictures here! I've had these finished for a while and they were dry yesterday. I feel yucky. Bleck. :P Stupid stomach bug, getting in the way of my un-interrupted knitting and cleaning and scrapbooking. The girls are having way too much at Grandma's this week, although we are not getting pictures (AHEM!) to prove it. I couldn't get the color right, the trim has more of a green hue to it. The trim and body color are Lion Wool 100% wool and knit on size 7 needles, pattern is sort of a combo of the Belladonna pattern and the Perfection Pants pattern. Neither uses an elastic waistband, that's my first attempt, and yeah, it's kind of "festive" looking! I have another pair of shorts for Evelyn on the needles and the waistband looks SO much better. (Thanks Zersha!!!)

I hope they fit the little Pin baby!

Swish Ruffle Shorts finished!

2007-06-04T08:09:00.000-06:00

Ruffle style #2. Super easy to do - Kfab for 2 rows, then bind off. Annoying and time-consuming because you end up with a ridiculous number of stitches at the end and I, for one, hardly have the patience to CO 7,567,235 stitches. Okay that's a bit of an exaggeration, but it sure feels like forever, especially when you're just wanting to get them done!! The yarn is superwash wool from www.knitpicks.com. It's incredibly soft and nice to work with! It is machine washable so these are wear-to-daycare shorties. :)

Action shot ~ see that they are kinda tight over her fitted diaper. They'll fit better over a 'sposie and that's what I intended!

I still need to make a drawstring for the waist, and I'm determined to figure out how to use my lucet if it kills me!! I'm sure it's so easy, but I'm just not getting it. Sigh.

Ruffle shorties are done!

2007-05-31T20:10:00.000-06:00

Here they are!

The drawstring is supposed to be a twisted cord...well, it mostly untwisted and it's too thick so I don't really like it. I didn't expect them to fit her either but they fit quite well! The inseam is a little bit long, she has incredibly short legs! They are more of short capris than shorts, really. Brad says they are cute, "in a hippy 60's baby kind of way." lol, I don't think he is fond of the wool clothing. Too bad for him!

Here is an action shot on the darling model:

And another:

Socks and shorts, quite the fashion statement huh? ;) Well, it's cold here today, and rained off and on.

And, just so she isn't left out, here's Oh:

Whenever the camera comes out, she's all posed and ready to say cheese! I told her I was taking a pic of Evelyn's new pants, so she said: Mama! Take picture of my pants! :) So there you go, a picture of Olivia's pants. Pretty exciting huh?

First attempt at ruffles

2007-05-27T19:08:00.000-06:00

Well, it was frustrating to say the least! I kept screwing up on the pattern, even though it was simple. You knit the same 3 stitches each round, increasing before/after a set of purl stitches then on the next round purl the purl sts and the increases. Not really hard at all! Ugh. And, I think I've got to watch the Knittinghelp.com videos again because I got some big holes with the M1T/M1F increases that I then tried to "fix" and made it worse. Big loops now. Blah!

Well, here's a pic w/ one leg done and it doesn't look too bad from the outside, anyway!

And an overexposed pic (I blame FIL's camera, lol) of the yucky inside loops:

I'm stalled now because I'm almost out of yarn and my 2nd skein is at home. So, I'm taking a break. I did the first leg with my new 12" Addi turbos and after all that searching for 12" circs, I'm not sure I liked them! Oops. Next shorties I'm going to try knitting both legs at once with 2 longer needles. We'll see how that goes!

Mama! I wash baby's hair all clean!

2007-05-26T16:56:00.000-06:00

Sounds innocent enough, right?

Oh has been known to walk around rubbing her hair proclaiming "My hair all clean!" So, I didn't think much of her announcement that she'd washed her sister's hair and continued getting ready for work. There was no screaming from the clean-headed baby, so all was probably well right?

Wrong.

Next she comes up to me "Mama! I wash your hair!" Hands outstretched. Covered in yogurt!!!

In her defense, the pink yogurt is nearly identical in color and consistancy to her shampoo. I said to her "you didn't put yogurt in your sister's hair, did you?" She grins, giggles and runs away. Ah, yes, poor Evelyn, the little girl with short curly crazy hair, is partly covered with strawberry-banana yogurt. Well, at least she smells good anyway. Olivia put the yogurt container on the coffee table so Ev had her fingers covered and was happily snacking away. She was none too happy when I first removed the beloved yogurt and then tried to wash her hair. We needed to be out the door in a matter of seconds.

Maybe it was just some sort of new-age conditioning treatment Olivia had schemed up!