Tinky McFrog

2011-10-19T00:01:00.000-04:00

Tonight I had 1 complete fingerless mitt, bound off and ready to go. I unknotted the final stitch and frogged the whole thing.

You ever write a love note to someone, knowing you can never send it?

It's kind of like that.

If You Can Read This, it Must be January

2010-01-08T11:27:00.000-05:00

Ah, January. Time for the annual renewal of the blogs. I'm not alone; my Bloglines feed is more full than ever right now.

Life is change. Some things in my life are changing too fast and others not fast enough. I'll be focusing on the changes and the process of renewal.

Will there be crafts? Fear not! There will always be knitting. There may even be FOtos.

We'll see if I stick to it. Let me know what you think!

*

French Girl Update

2009-04-21T21:51:00.003-04:00

Here are the two projects I had trouble with:

On Louisa (lace tunic, page 129), my gauge was too loose. And apparenty I forgot how to count to 9. I scratched trying to do a gauge swatch and just started the sleeve as per the directions. Guess what? The sleeve fits great on the proper needles, so I'm going with the directions as written and adjust as needed. That's the beauty of knitting in the round from the bottom up - you can adjust as you go. At least I hope so!

On Niobe (lace bell-sleeve pullover, page 85), my gauge was too tight. Haven't figured out a solution to that, but now that Louisa seems to be working, I'll figure this one out later.

Yarn for Louisa - Araucania Nature Wool Chunky in color #127 (dark blue-green).

*

I Must Not Be French Enough

2009-04-20T16:32:00.003-04:00

I recently bought French Girl Knits, which has beautiful beautiful garments, mostly knit in the round, and not terribly complicated looking. Only one problem:

I can't get gauge!

There are two projects I have the yarn for, and I can't get gauge on either of them! One my gauge is too loose and the other it's too tight. Both by a LOT, like two or three needle sizes.

(Will update with which projects when I have the book in front of me.)

Anyone else having this problem? Suggestions?

*

A Whole Wack of FOs! (And it's not even Friday!)

2008-11-24T19:04:00.004-05:00

We finally got our innertubes working again at the house, and - wow - do I have a lot to show you!

Some sewing:

This is the quilt I received from blogger Crafty Turtle in the BTRS Swap. She did a great job and I love it!

This is the quilt I made for blogger Mommy's Treasures in the BTRS Swap. Great colors - I had fun playing with all the patterns.

Another variation on Irene's Tote. Love this fabric!

Some knitting:

Bubbly Hand Towel based on "Bubbly Curtain" from Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitters' Guide.(The first MDK book.)

And some recent knitting I don't have photos of yet! A February Baby Sweater, four Baby Bibs O'Love, and one of those k1p1 stripey scarves everybody's talking about. Looks like I have more photos to take!

*

Conversation With A 7-Year-Old Boy

2008-10-28T18:00:00.003-04:00

Me: Honey, put away your clean clothes and then start cleaning your room. I need you to look for white socks. There were only two pairs in your laundry and there should have been about six.

7yob: I did find some.

Me: Great. Did you put them in the dirty clothes?

7yob: Well, I only found two.

Me: Ok. Did you put them in the dirty clothes?

7yob: No, I put them on.

*

Another Lap Quilt

2008-10-25T21:39:00.006-04:00

I signed up for the current Bend-the-Rules Sewing Swap against my better judgement and consumed with guilt. I knew completing the Lap Quilt would be a stretch, plus my son needs a quilt done for his bed. But I had to sign up - they quoted my suggestion!

So I signed up and am ever-so-close, but alas I will be late. I didn't check the specs and thought flannel was an acceptable batting material. Stop laughing. I know it isn't. (Now I do.)

The reason I didn't figure this out sooner is that after I cut the strips for the binding, I saw how much fabric was left and got obsessed with making an auxiliary and completely optional item for my partner. (Beer may have been involved in reaching this conclusion.) Because - of course - she would rather have a semi-random additional object that she didn't ask for and isn't from the Bend-The Rules book than have her quilt back on time when she's been done with hers for weeks.

So tonight, instead of making the top-batting-backing sandwich and the binding as planned, I'm making the binding only. I'll probably be a couple of days late - not too bad considering the wreckage that is my life.

Oh, and my suggestion to use a bit of your own stash in the quilt you're making for your partner? My suggestion that they quoted which was why I signed up after all? I didn't use it.

Tornado Policy

2008-10-01T18:47:00.000-04:00

My MIL sent me this very important notice:

NEW TORNADO POLICY for Detroit and nearby areas:
In case of possible tornadoes sweeping through Detroit and nearby areas, we ask that all residents take shelter at Lion's Ford Field.

We are certain that a touchdown will not occur there.

Thank you for your cooperation,
National Weather Bureau

Why I Love the Geekdad Blog

2008-09-26T21:44:00.003-04:00

The Geekdad blog is part of Wired.com. Several geeky dads (and a couple geeky moms) contribute several daily posts to the blog. I currently have 120 of them bookmarked on Bloglines. You read that right - One Hundred And Twenty individual posts bookmarked!

The following little gem gets off to a slow start. They could have cut the first 40 seconds, in my opinion. But I was laughing out loud at a minute & thirty:

Dad or mom, if you tend toward geekiness at all (and if you're a knitter, that's likely), you should check out Geekdad.

New Project OTN

2008-07-27T22:20:00.003-04:00

I'm not sure what I want to do for my next pair of socks, and my Tomato is in danger of becoming a UFO, but I felt like doing something quick and easy.

Usually this means a dishcloth, but I didn't feel like a dishcloth. (Some days you feel like a dishcloth, some days you don't.)

So I cast on for a kitchen towel following some of the MDK Bubbly Curtain pattern from page 47. Interesting thing about this pattern is that they say it is a 18-stitch repeat, yet the chart only shows 17. This messed me up until I decided it was a "design feature" and working for me. heh.

The cast on is 60 stitches, work 4 in garter stitch, then follow the Bubbly Curtain chart starting at the red line (Row 71), leave three st at each edge in garter stitch for stability and do three repeats each row. I'm on row 103 and so far so good.

Basic Sugar 'n' Cream on size 8 needles is giving me about 4 spi.

A Quick Knitting Update

2008-07-26T21:49:00.002-04:00

Just a quick update on some projects, without pics:

Rainbow Socks for Mr. L are done! They will go in the wash before they go in his drawer because that Paton's Kroy is scratchy!!

Katrina's Scarf got frogged. Kinda accidentally. But not really. See, the project slipped off of its giant needles while in my knitting bag, so I decided to just finish the job. Still looking for a good pattern for the Lion brand Incredible ribbon yarn - maybe a Mason-Dixon scribble scarf? One good thing about this yarn - with a little care, it wound back up quite nicely without tangling and creasing.

A Reader's Meme

2008-07-26T21:30:00.002-04:00

Picked this up from another blog I read and thought it might be fun.

Here are the top 106 books most often marked as "unread" by LibraryThing’s users. As in, they sit on the shelf to make you look smart or well-rounded. Bold the ones you've read, underline the ones you read for school, italicize the ones you started but didn't finish.

I'm going to add one more note - * those you want to read but haven't. Feel free to grab this and mark your own.

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell*
Anna Karenina
Crime and Punishment
Catch-22
One Hundred Years of Solitude
Wuthering Heights
The Silmarillion
Life of Pi : a novel 2x
The Name of the Rose
Don Quixote
Moby Dick
Ulysses
Madame Bovary
The Odyssey
Pride and Prejudice*
Jane Eyre
The Tale of Two Cities
The Brothers Karamazov
Guns, Germs, and Steel: the fates of human societies
War and Peace
Vanity Fair
The Time Traveler’s Wife 2x
The Iliad
Emma
The Blind Assassin
The Kite Runner
Mrs. Dalloway
Great Expectations
American Gods
A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius
Atlas Shrugged
Reading Lolita in Tehran : a memoir in books*
Memoirs of a Geisha
Middlesex
Quicksilver
Wicked : the life and times of the wicked witch of the West*
The Canterbury Tales
The Historian : a novel
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Love in the Time of Cholera
Brave New World
The Fountainhead
Foucault’s Pendulum
Middlemarch
Frankenstein
The Count of Monte Cristo
Dracula
A Clockwork Orange
Anansi Boys
The Once and Future King*
The Grapes of Wrath
The Poisonwood Bible : a novel
1984
Angels & Demons
The Inferno (and Purgatory and Paradise)
The Satanic Verses
Sense and Sensibility*
The Picture of Dorian Gray
Mansfield Park
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
To the Lighthouse
Tess of the D’Urbervilles
Oliver Twist
Gulliver’s Travels*
Les Misérables
The Corrections
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Dune*
The Prince
The Sound and the Fury
Angela’s Ashes : a memoir
The God of Small Things
A People’s History of the United States : 1492-present Cryptonomicon
Neverwhere
A Confederacy of Dunces
A Short History of Nearly Everything*
Dubliners
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
Beloved
Slaughterhouse-five
The Scarlet Letter
Eats, Shoots & Leaves
The Mists of Avalon
Oryx and Crake : a novel
Collapse : how societies choose to fail or succeed
Cloud Atlas
The Confusion
Lolita
Persuasion
Northanger Abbey
The Catcher in the Rye
On the Road*
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Freakonomics : a rogue economist explores the hidden side of everything
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance : an inquiry into values*
The Aeneid
Watership Down
Gravity’s Rainbow
The Hobbit
In Cold Blood : a true account of a multiple murder and its consequences
White Teeth
Treasure Island
David Copperfield
The Three Musketeers

FOs! Sunday, July 13, 2008

2008-07-13T21:08:00.007-04:00

Why, hello there. Have you been waiting long? I have some things to show you...

The Tracks socks. Also blogged about here and here. These are for me (neener neener). Finished 6/21/08.

Finally finished Baby J's Quilt. This should not take anyone else on the planet as long as it took me. Let's blame it on... certain people... bailing on their responsibilities, and leave it at that. Pattern is "Easy Lap Quilt" from Bend The Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. This is the second one I made and it was just as enjoyable as the first.

Next to the quilt is a Soft Turtle Buddy from the same book. He may be a "big sister gift." If you are making this turtle for the first time, you might want to make it larger than recommended, and pay close attention to the directions. Don't cut out all your pieces until you have read the directions thoroughly! I will make him again (but bigger); he is so cute.

He is going to be hard to part with. :(

I made some bags this weekend.

These are all variations on Irene's Classic Tote, from the Sew, Mama, Sew blog..

First one, made according to Irene's original pattern. Get the details at Make A Bag. Easy pattern, try it! I'm dying for a skirt in this fabric!

The next day, I made two more of these bags. These are so quick and easy of heavier fabric with no lining; great for making bunches of them. This may be my go-to pattern for shopping totes.

This is bit smaller than the original pattern and may be a teacher gift. We'll have FIVE teachers next school year, and that's just classroom teachers. Two each for the older kids and one for Mr. L.

Speaking of Mr. L, he needed a bookbag for his meeting books. This one has dividers in the front pocket to hold four colored pencils. (Click for big.) It's even smaller than the first two totes, and maybe just a little bit smaller than I intended. Oops!

On The Needles

Sorry, no photo. One sock pair in progress - Mr. L wants rainbow socks, so that's what he's getting. The yarn is Paton's Kroy in Paint Box - this yarn is way scratchier than Knit Picks Essential (my go-to sock yarn). Will it soften after washing? Stay tuned!

I have a sewing bug at the moment - gotta make more totes!

Be Still, My Beating Heart

2008-07-13T20:40:00.001-04:00

Click here to see what is making my heart beat a bit faster this evening. Anyone have an extra $25,000 laying around?

How Californians See America

2008-06-25T18:00:00.001-04:00

More fun from the people who brought us all LOLcats:

more graph humor and song chart memes

As my friend Chris would say...

2008-06-19T16:14:00.002-04:00

... here's some information that will make you think less of me.

Or maybe more. Who knows?

As a 1930s wife, I am
Superior

Take the test!

Tweaking the Blog, Tweaking the Blog

2008-06-12T17:58:00.004-04:00

Da-duh!

Ok, if you heard in your head the same Beavis & Butthead soundclip that I heard in mine, you are in big trouble. Sorry.

Just messing around with the format. I found a template that is wide enough for LOLcats and other photos, so we'll go from here.

HHHHi, HHHHHHeather. HHHHHHow's it going?

2008-06-12T17:46:00.004-04:00

more cat pictures

One of my favorite local radio stations is running a series of commericials for some jobs site. See how well they are working? I can't remember the name of the company! But the commercials are hilarious. They describe basic "types" of people found in every office. The one from the title is "The Bad Breath Close Talker."

Proof of Knitting

2008-06-01T21:11:00.004-04:00

So here we have the first Trax sock and the cuff of Trax the Second. I must be the world's slowest sock knitter, people. The last Trax photo was uploaded to Flickr on May 5 and here it is June 1 and they still aren't done. Oy. Anyway, when I put this on I realized I overshot the cuff a bit, oops! Oh well, it will only be about 1/4 inch longer if that.

I seem to be spending my time in more physical pursuits lately like mowing the #%^*@)^% lawn and cleaning out closets. (But not doing dishes, apparently.) Must be burning off some nervous energy. Knitting mainly gets done during the kids' car pool and the little bit of TV I watch. Now that school is almost out, LOST is over, and the Red Wings are about to WIN the Stanley Cup - GO WINGS!, I wonder how much knitting I'll do.

Not that Stanley Cup Finals are good for knitting. Tighter tension, dropped stitches and flung projects (what do you mean FIVE ON THREE???) may be hazardous to your knitting. But it's worth it.

Did I mention? GO WINGS!!

Go Wings and Tigers!!
Originally uploaded by femaletrumpet02

Great photo by femaletrumpet02 showing the huge Tiger outside ~~Tiger Stadium~~ ~~The Bank~~ Comerica Park wearing a Red Wings jersey!

In Which I Promote Someone Else's Blog...

2008-05-23T20:11:00.002-04:00

... because, yes, there's something in it for me!

trek is running a quick weekend contest. Since I sub to trek casts on via Bloglines, I can win free yarn! (I typo'd it "yearn" at first - how appropriate is that?)

And since I'm posting about it here, I get a second entry. :D

And if one of you heads over to this post and lets trek know you came over from here, I get still another entry. Woot!

Lack of Progress Report

Well, it couldn't really be called a "progress report." Still working on the cuff of the second Tracks sock. It is a bit longer than last week. And that's all!

Not Feeling It

2008-05-18T10:28:00.002-04:00

Quick update on some projects and then I'm off again.

What I'm calling the Tracks socks are one down, one to go.

I don't know if I blogged about it, but Katrina's scarf is in serious danger of being frogged for something simpler. Now that I have an idea of how far the yarn will go (farther than I thought), I think it will make a decent-size regular drop stitch scarf, and not the sloppy monstrosity it is.

Green Tomato sweater is cast on and has a good start. Haven't joined the neckline yet if that tells you how (not) far I am.

Just not feeling up to blogging right now. Off to read more Crazy Aunt Purl. She knows.

I Can Tell By Your Accent

2008-05-08T20:54:00.001-04:00

Your Linguistic Profile:

50% General American English

20% Upper Midwestern

15% Yankee

5% Dixie

5% Midwestern

What Kind of American English Do You Speak?

Michigan State Fair Entry Info

2008-05-08T17:08:00.002-04:00

Entry forms are up at the Michigan State Fair website. You can follow this link to the page that has all the PDFs you will need to download in order to enter. You'll probably need the General Rules, Department 1 - Homemaking, Crafts and Hobbies for quilts and knitted or crocheted items, and the Entry Form. Have fun!

I'm in Favor of LOLsects

2008-05-06T13:15:00.002-04:00

Edited to add caption because Blogger likes to cut off the edge:

"Praeing mantis needs to prae harder."

more cat pictures

I don't know why this cracked me up, but I laughed for several minutes.

We Have a Winner!

2008-05-05T21:38:00.005-04:00

Ok, you're ALL winners to me! But, sadly, I cannot afford organic cotton for all of you. The Random Number Generator decided that the Random ~~Last-Minute~~ Belated Blogiversary/Earth Day Contest prize goes to Becky!

Becky, I sent you an email! Thank you to everyone who played along. The earth thanks you too!

In other news, no FOs last week, but we do have a WIP. Here is the sock I am working on.

The yarn is Knit Picks Essential in Blue Violet Multi. Taking the photo after sundown, which means the color is Not Right. It looks much better in real life.

Basic top-down construction on dpns. I was going to do a pair of plain socks but I got bored by the end of the ribbing and wanted at least a simple pattern to stave off ongoing boredom. It's a simple 9 stitch repeat as follows: ssk, yo, k5, yo, k2tog. Repeat for one round, then do a plain round.

You could probably do this with any number of stitches in your repeat. Just subtract 4 from your repeat number for the yos and decrease stitches, then knit the result as your plain stitches in the middle. Clear as mud? Here's an example with a 12-stitch repeat - ssk, yo, k8, yo, k2tog.

I know a lot of knitbloggers don't like flashing/pooling, but I actually like this. It's enough where it just looks like stripes to me, and I like how it breaks up around the heel/ankle. I am a little nervous about how it's blobbing up on the instep, but hoping it will work out. Trust the yarn.

Yes, I said I was working on 2-at-a-time on one really long circular. I am, but these are not those socks (duh). Trust me, you do NOT want to see those yet.

Why Knitting is Better Than a Broken Washing Machine

2008-04-25T18:35:00.005-04:00

You know how when you come home from a long day to find that your ancient-of-ancients came-with-the-house-but-no-manual-7-years-ago washing machine has spewed water all over the floor for the second time in as many weeks, and since your husband of 17 years has decided to split, you grab your handy-dandy copy of Any Idiot Can Fix a Major Home Appliance With No Prior Experience Whatsoever - For Dummies, only to find that not one single reference work on the ~~planet~~ internet can tell you how to remove the top of your particular washing machine* to get at the part you have oh-so cleverly self diagnosed**, so you have to call him anyway and it makes you feel like a big, helpless girly girl-baby?

Yeah, that's frustrating.

Anyway, at least we have knitting! Here are, at long long last, Anne's Lacy Diamante Socks:

I'm calling them Anne's because they were supposed to be my project for the long-finished Anne of Green Gables Knit & Read Along. Remember how Anne thought diamonds were purple? Right.

The yarn: Bare by KnitPicks, dyed by Celena, received in a swap. Most excellent dye job, Celena!
The original pattern: Diamante by Deb Barnhill via Knitty.
Modifications: Used a figure-8 cast on. Did yarn-overs instead of make1s for a lacier look. I like that they are just a little lacy.

The other major modification (I'm still geekin' out about it! - Syndrome) was knitting them with 5 dpns instead of two circulars. Experience-free as I am, even I can see where 2 circs would be easier for this pattern, but it worked out.

And since these took me so long (which is in NO WAY the fault of the designer - they knit up pretty quickly when I actually worked on them), I have decided to try something new:

Yikes! But then, maybe I'm just being a big girly girl-baby.

* Speed Queen AA4410W, unknown vintage. I'd guess 1980s.
** Probably a blocked drain. (I was wrong.)
*** Have you noticed an upswing in the amount of footnotes in blogs lately? No? Ok, just me then.

Validation... I needs it.

2008-04-22T23:47:00.002-04:00

98%

Your creative fluency score is: 1637.

Click Here to participate in the "Uses of Objects" study that generated my score above. It's fun! Plus you can win stuff.

It's Bad When You Forget Your Own...

2008-04-21T23:31:00.004-04:00

Happy Belated Blogiversary to...

ME!

4/18/07 - first post.

Random ~~Last-Minute~~ Belated Blogiversary/Earth Day Contest - Leave a comment on THIS POST including...

1. One change you have made in the past year to tread a little lighter on the Earth
2. Your favorite color(s)

by April 30 to win an "Organic Nettie Kit" (enough organic cotton yarn to make a Nettie bag). Open to US and Canadian residents. (I just don't trust the mails any farther than that!) Winner will be chosen at random on May 1.

As I Emerge From My Chocolate-Induced Coma...

2008-04-17T20:59:00.006-04:00

... I realize I have a TON to share with you!

First of all, feralmama received her scarf! Here's a photo of me wearing it (so glam)...

And a detail shot (please ignore my chins)...

Yarn: Cotton Fine by Brown Sheep in Barn Red, Salmon Berry Red (discontinued?) and Tea Rose - held doubled
Pattern-ish: Anniversary Scarf by Nicky Epstein for Vogue Knitting. Of course, I didn't follow the pattern exactly; I think it is designed to be more of a necklace? I wasn't crystal clear on the directions, so I did my own thing as usual. The flowers and the main scarfy part are wicked easy, basically garter stitch and yarn overs, and very fast, so try it!

Next, we present the Yarn Harlot!

I'm the one on the left. (If my hair was up to its usual misdeeds, we would look more alike.)

In our very own Ann Arbor last Friday. She is wicked smart and hilarious. Go see her. (And buy her books).

Unfortunately, I arrived a mere hour and 25 minutes early, which landed me in the upstairs overflow room. I actually considered not staying (let's repeat that: I actually considered not staying, yikes), but I remembered she would still sign my book afterward, so I stayed, and of course I am so glad I did. Her speech/talk/presentation/convo was amazing; now I know what to call it when I get so carried away knitting that I forget what pattern row I am on - theta state.

Here's some photos of the overflow room:

If you look on the large size at the far right corner in the way back - that's Joe in the kilt, who Stephanie blogged about. Very nice kilt hose and sweater.

Smile, you're being blogged!

View from my seat - better than it looks.

I met a very nice knitter named Christine, of whom I completely failed to take a picture with my camera, although I hope she is happy with the ones I took with hers.

So, theta state - big revelation to me. Yes, this actually happened on the &*^$# Lacy Diamante socks last night. You would think, after knitting an entire other sock and 3/4 in this pattern, after knitting the 12-stitch, 12-row repeat ~~42 36 15 1/2 78~~ 93-1/2 times (yes I counted) i would have it PERMANENTLY ETCHED ON MY BRAIN. But, no. Last night I finished a plain row and had zero clue what pattern line I was on. In fact, I knit an entire wrong line & its companion plain row based on where I thought I was, only to tink back 144 stitches this afternoon to fix it. One more repeat, then it's the ribbing and DONE. Maybe by tomorrow... nice thought.

And... (drumroll) I got my MMRAL&SE box from Bassett Knitter! She totally spoiled me...

We have a Clapotis (now I don't have to knit one myself - woo!), Vogue Knitting Ponchos book, a *little bit* of chocolate, a cute card with a picture from The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kid Knits (one of the first knitting books I ever bought), leftover project yarn, TWO SKEINS OF LOUET EUROFLAX OH MY GOODNESS I CAN NOW DIE HAPPY, a selection of teas, a packet of Cosmos seeds and some dried pansy "real flower confetti."

The chocolate fumes alone were enough to induce a coma. (Servings: 1.)

It amazes me how someone I have never met knows me so well. Do I really mention chocolate all that much on here? Did she know I drink tea but not coffee unless absolutely necessary? Did she know cosmos are some of my favorite flowers?

Amazing. Knitters rule.

My Sticker

2008-04-17T20:30:00.000-04:00

Crazy Aunt Purl has a hilarious post today about bumper stickers. Read the comments, but you might want to put down your beverage first.

Here's mine, although it is not on my bumper but inside my computer desk:

I guess I'm angry but cowardly.

Bee My Honey

2008-04-10T19:41:00.003-04:00

This beautiful, hard-working little girl was buzzing around the yard on Tuesday.

Love that macro setting! Look at the large version - you can see the individual pollen grains.

The fly in the background was hanging out on that same crocus the whole time. I think he was still trying to thaw out from the cold, although it was around 70F on Tuesday. The large version is pretty awesome for the fly detail.

This was actually my first photo of the bee. Isn't that the cutest little bee butt ever?

And the beauty shot...

How doth the little busy Bee
Improve each shining Hour,
And gather Honey all the day
From every opening Flower!

-- Isaac Watts

FOto Saturday - April 5, 2008

2008-04-05T18:43:00.002-04:00

"FOto Saturday?" Yeah, yeah, I know. Do you want to see pictures or not?

Earth Hour 2008

An hour spent technology free led to getting these done:

Candy Sox

Candy Stripe Socks a.k.a. Candy Socks a.k.a. Candy Sox - either way, they're done! My daughter put them on and said, "They fit right now." Thankfully, I have some of this yarn left over and knit them top down, so if they are too small next year, I can (ideally) unravel them from the toes back and add some length. We'll see if that actually happens. Anyway, yarn is Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in #6946 "Crush." Size 2 (US) dpns. Basic top down instructions from Knitting Rules. These turned out ok, maybe a little ladder-y. The only thing I am really disappointed about is that they could have matched. I was afraid of running out of yarn, so I didn't try to match them and it turned out the pattern was only about 1/2 inch off. Bummer. What's our motto for this year? Say it with me now:

Fearless Knitting.

Hey, I'm trying!

My MMR&SE swap scarf is winging its way to Manitoba as we speak, so no photos until it's safely in Feralmama's hands. I already outed myself as her "secret" swap knitter, so no harm done there. But she really should be the first to see it, dontcha think?

I cast on for another Vogue Knitting scarf from their 25th anniversary issue, the Flounce Scarf by Laura Bryant using Lion Brand Incredible in Purple Party. I'm not sure if I love it, tho. I'm guessing the yarn they used in the original may have had a little more "body" to it - mine looks a tad droopy. But nice colors!

The Diamante Socks are still stalled at the second sock's wrap & turn, but since they are the ONLY socks I have OTN, I think I may be remastering (ha!) the W&T this evening.

Baby's J's quilt is machine quilted, just needs the binding to be made and attached.

The next big project is my Green Tomato. Remember, fearless!

Hard to Resist a Good Douglas Adams Reference

2008-04-04T19:43:00.001-04:00

see more crazy cat pics

First Daffodils

2008-04-01T10:05:00.003-04:00

The blog First Daffodils 2008 features photos of daffodils from all over the Northern Hemisphere. Lots of pretty pictures, and they liked mine, too!

Another FO!

2008-03-30T21:40:00.002-04:00

Earth Hour + caffeine-induced insomnia = finished Candy Stripe Socks!

Not sure if it was worth being up until 4 a.m. tho.

Photo to come!

Fade to Black

2008-03-29T13:11:00.000-04:00

Tonight is Earth Hour, where millions of people around the world (hopefully) will be switching off their lights and other electrical appliances from 8pm - 9pm, whatever their local time.

The kids should be in bed by then, so I'll be curling up with a soy candle and some knitting.

Also posted at Make A Bag.

FOto Friday, March 28, 2008

2008-03-28T14:27:00.003-04:00

Here's what my 6yo son's been working on over spring break:

Wii made from Lego. Inspired by a YouTube video.

The Walk-Through Paper Trick was not as impressive as I'd hoped. I need to find a better audience.

Maybe if I try it in 3D. Oh, wait.

We got two more inches of snow overnight. This weather can take a flying leap. I like snow... IN THE WINTER.

Pretty shadow.

Daffodils: We're here! It's spring, everybo... What the heck?

Baby J's Bib O'Love

Jumped off from MDK's Baby Bib O'Love - garter border with creamy stockinette center and reverse stockinette "J". Now I need to make one with an N - a much trickier letter to graph (maybe - think fearless!). Subversive Knitting has a great tutorial on single-crochet edging. It was quick and easy and I will do it again! It really helped tie the bib together since the straps were a different color than the main bib part. I might even give this to the intended recipient. Yarn: Sugar n'Cream in random colors.

Baby J is also supposed to get a quilt, which is actually cranking along pretty well and is at the sandwich stage.

Oh, and a Mystery FO! I finished my scarf for the MMRA&SE! I love how it turned out. I'll try to get a couple photos before I send it off to the frozen north.

A couple weeks ago I dropped a bomb here about my marriage, then switched to radio silence on the topic. Well, it's official, kinda. He's decided to move out. It's been a long time coming, actually. I was not completely shocked, and even the kids seem to be doing pretty well. Not sure where it will all end up, but I'm trying to get my papers and finances in order so I can be as prepared as I can be for whatever comes next. So that's that. This is not going to turn into "Tinky McSeparated" or anything, but thought you might appreciate the update.

How to Freak Out Your Kids

2008-03-27T01:01:00.004-04:00

Found this link for the classic Walk-Through Paper Trick while over at Mason-Dixon Knitting. Who says you can only learn knitting things from knitting blogs? Ann & Kay seem to love the web fun bits as much as I do; they are a great source for this sort of thing.

Anyway, I can't wait to show my kids this trick tomorrow so I can blow their little minds!

What do you mean, "Is that good parenting?" Of course it is!

Knitty Alert!

2008-03-24T09:44:00.001-04:00

Spring Knitty is up! (What? You read the articles first?)

And don't forget MagKnits. Check out that cute little dress! I need to find a toddler girl to knit for...

FOol Friday

2008-03-21T18:30:00.003-04:00

Ok, that's a tease because there are no Finished Objects to show this Friday. The horror!

The baby bib is done knitting but needs ends woven in, a button, and maybe a crochet edge to tie the mismatched top and bottom together (don't ask). Just gotta figure out how to do that crochet edge thing.

I have, however, been sewing like a FOol today. Working on baby J's quilt that I finally decided to start. The quilt top is done, just need the backing so I can sandwich it up and start quilting. Machine quilting.

FOr more FOolishness... The kids are outside playing in the snow. Yes, snow. We have at least 2 inches on the ground and more coming.

Happy Spring, everybody!!

How's Your Geography? (And spelling?)

2008-03-19T18:07:00.002-04:00

Here's a fun little quiz I picked up reading Stretch Mark Mama. The problem for me was that I could remember countries like Luxembourg and Leichtenstein, but heck if I could remember how to SPELL them. And you better be able to type fast too. Go for it, and shoot me a comment to let me know how you did.

60

And you might want to memorize this song before you go.

(YouTube video embedded. Link.)

It helped me, except I couldn't spell Kazakhstan! And the quiz didn't like "West Xylophone." Go figure.

"Algeria, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Dominica..."

FOto Friday!!! March 14, 2008

2008-03-14T17:15:00.004-04:00

Long time, no see!

Yes, it's been a long time since I had a FOto Friday, and I'm sorry this one will be kinda lame. See, I'm cursed lately with a raging case of startitis. But since there has been absolutely no proof of knitting since January, I'll show you all the stuff I'm working on. Click for bigger, and fear not the ugly!

Here we have the World's Ugliest Dishcloth, lol. This was born of a burst of premature spring cleaning back in January, using all my odd cotton ball ends. A lot of this yarn came from Target knitting kits bought on clearance. What? You can tell?

The "Someone's Ready For Spring" dishcloth, also finished in January using Sugar 'n Cream Lime Stripes and Hot Purple. It's REALLY BRIGHT, but it will fade. Right now, the colors remind me of the violets we had in the backyard last spring - every shade of purple-into-white with those bright green leaves. Pretty.

A kinda FO - stalled since December or January. We'll call it January. This is the basic sweater for the Jimmy Neutron sweater. No, the yarn is NOT really that pink. It's more of a cranberry, but wouldn't photograph right, even with my hotcha new Olympus. (Which I never did download the software for, by the way. I just plugged it into the Mac to see if iPhoto or Preview would recognize it and they both did, woot!) Ok, so yeah, my own pattern, could use a tighter neck. Also needs the Jimmy Neutron insignia stitched onto the front, but other than that, it's finished. Yarn: Wool-Ease in Cranberry.

Here's a progress photo of the Lacy Diamante socks taken on January 18. I made this one bigger so you can see the stitch pattern and because Celena's sock yarn is so purty. Go buy some!

Same socks, taken today. Stalled (again) at the wrap-and-turn. (I think I can, I think I can!)

A flower from the Vogue Knitting 25th Anniversary Scarf by Nicky Epstein. This is for the oft-mentioned Miss Marple Read Along and Scarf Exchange. Shhh! It's secret knitting! In fact, this cherry-blossom pink flower is a bit of a red herring. hee! Yarn: Cotton Fine by Brown Sheep Company. This color is Tea Rose.

Candy-Stripe Socks for Miss M (aka Girl). Pattern: Basic Top-Down Sock Recipe from Knitting Rules. Moda Dea Sassy Stripes in Crush.

Start of Possibly the World's Ugliest Log Cabin Florescent Kool-Aid Dyed Extravaganza of a Fambly Binkit. Hee.

And... last but not least... the project I started last night instead of the quilt I've been planning for months... a bib for Baby J. He might get two. And maybe the finished MDK Baby Kimono. Pattern based on MDK's Baby Bib O'Love, but stockinette with garter border and a reverse stockinette J in the middle.

Memo-Random

2008-03-12T19:45:00.002-04:00

To: US Congress
RE: Daylight Savings Time

Waaaaaaaaay too early this year, guys.

***

To: Bloglines, HTML for idiots department
RE: Template

How on earth do I make the posting section a little wider so the photos I try to post from Flickr aren't 1) tiny, or 2) cut off the side of the page?

***

To: Apple, iPod division
RE: my new 1G iPod Shuffle

Thank you for letting stores mark these down to $49.99. I love you.

U Know U Luv teh LOLs

2008-03-12T19:36:00.002-04:00

and becuz u do...

The Humane Society of the United States is running a LOLseals Photo Caption Contest to promote awareness of protecting seals. They provide a handful of photos of teh cuteness (baby harp seals - you know, the ones people like to club for coats), and you provide the caption.

Make your caption, save the finished product to your Flickr account, and then upload back at the contest site.

You might try for something funnier than this, tho:

"Knit On, Through All Crises" - EZ

2008-03-07T10:15:00.006-05:00

In my last real post, I mentioned some family stuff that I was going to blog about when I could do it justice. Well, doing it justice might never come, so I'm just posting it now.

While we were on vacation, my grandmother died. She was 97.

She was born and raised in Michigan, about an hour from where I live now, but had moved to Albuquerque, NM about 30 years ago after my granddad died.

Gramma took care of my mom and me when we were both too young to take care of ourselves, she introduced me to Snoopy and "angel wing" cookies, and everyone who knew her knew she was wonderful. (And my mom was right - she did make the best nut rolls! I had forgotten all about them.)

There was a small service in Albuquerque, then another up here last weekend as she was buried next to my granddad.

The hardest part was seeing her name on the funeral home sign. I never think the person in the casket looks like the person I knew, so to see her name on the sign made it all too real.

Grief is so individual. Some people grieve on the inside, some very publicly. Some don't seem to grieve at all, then fall apart months later.

I have a feeling that, as far as my grandmother goes, I'll be falling into that last category. Because as hard as it is to lose a grandparent, other things are happening that are hitting much close to home. Things I can't handle alone.

One big thing, actually.

My marriage might be over. After a long and difficult 17 years, my husband has finally done something that I am not willing to pretend didn't happen. He, however, is not willing to apologize, explain, or even discuss it. Not yet anyway. It's been a week and I am beginning to lose all hope for reconciliation.

I really hate to put this out so publicly. I know I am not exactly a Famous Blogger (quite the opposite), but as we all have seen in the PSAs, once you post something on the web, you can't unpost it.

Howevern, I need all the support I can get, even if it's from people I've never met in person. And I feel I owe an explanation for what is sure to be even shoddier blog coverage in the coming weeks/months.

The best remedy so far? Miles and miles of soothing, simple garter stitch.

"Knit on, through all crises." - Elizabeth Zimmerman

Help Save Knitty Gritty!

2008-03-03T19:40:00.002-05:00

Click here to sign the online petition.

Knitty Gritty helped inspire me to start knitting again. They use a little too much fun fur & eyelash for my current taste, but their coverage of knitting techniques is incredible.

Go Ask Alice

2008-02-29T12:24:00.002-05:00

Which Alice in Wonderland character are YOU?
created with QuizFarm.com

You scored as Alice

You scored Alice! You are kind-hearted and curious and give yourself very good advice, but seldom follow it, which leads you into trouble. You always try to be courteous and polite, but you become cross when people speak in nonsense to you and scold them sharply.

Alice

92%

Mad Hatter

83%

The White Rabbit

83%

Cheshire Cat

83%

March Hare

75%

Carpenter

75%

Oyster

67%

A Playing Card

67%

Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum

67%

Queen of Hearts

67%

Walrus

67%

Caterpillar

58%

The Dormouse

50%

Flamingo

33%

Look, Ma, No Cat Pictures!

2008-02-26T14:28:00.004-05:00

Wow, a post without Cheezburger. Amazing.

Just a quick update. Today is supposed to be my catch-up-from-vacation-before-diving-back-into-the-ol-routine day, but I am sidelined by feeling generally cruddy and hoping it's not the start of the flu.

Vacation was great. Go to Sea World because it is awesome. (Why does Sea World, of all places, give out plastic bags with purchases?)

While we were gone, my right thumb started acting up. I was hit by a drunk driver almost 3.5 years ago. I was laying on the horn with my thumb when he hit me and the airbag went off, wrenching my thumb back. The ER doc said it was fine (so why did it hurt like crazy?) but I have wondered about that diagnosis ever since, as it tends to ache terribly from time to time. This time the ache is worse and doesn't seem to be going away, despite a 2-3 day break from knitting. So I don't know what to do next. Looks like a pricey office visit and more X-rays, just for starters.

That said, I worked on some things:

Lacy Diamante socks - finished the gusset of the instep, forgot how to do the wrap & turn, so those are on break until I have time to look it up again.

Miss Marple scarf - started the scarf with the new yarn (Schaefer's Anne - sock weight). The sock weight is a bit lighter than I want. I think I want a sport/DK weight. So this is on hiatis until I get the other yarn. Thinking Louet Gems, which is what I wanted in the first place! Also on hiatus until I can knit without agony.

Started a pair of socks for my daughter in Moda Dea Sassy Stripes - the red/purple/grey one. One sock done, second one cast on. These knit up so fast: thick yarn + small socks = quick knit.

The baby who needs a quilt was born last Thursday - a little boy! So, is purple too girlish for a boy? It would only be a little bit of purple.

Also while we were gone, some family stuff came up. I will post about it more when I can do it justice.

Note to self RE: new yarn in skeins

2008-02-13T15:18:00.001-05:00

Note:

Ask the shop to wind the yarn. Darn.

Cheez Pleez

2008-02-12T23:13:00.004-05:00

moar funny pictures

More about work, I guess.

Knitting? What am I knitting? Oh yeah, this is supposed to be a knitting blog.

Actively on the needles:

Lacy Diamante socks - I still really like these, but I get distracted. One sock is finished, toe and part of the instep on the second.

Possibly the World's Ugliest Log Cabin Florescent Kool-Aid Dyed Extravaganza of a Fambly Binkit. So I had this great idea, right? To make a blanket? Using all the yarn the kids and I have dyed with Kool-Aid? Two things: 1) It's warm. 2) And RILLY BRIGHT. Plus it started as a traditional log cabin and is moving into a Moderne Log Cabin (see Mason-Dixon Knitting for the Moderne version). So it should be interesting. Also bright.

Should be on the needles but ain't:

Mumma Smitten Hat - it needs to be about two inches longer, plus it's been fa-reezing here lately. Should be lengthened. Should only take an evening or so. But I haven't done it. I mean, I already finished it once! Status: in danger of being declared a UFO.

About to be on the needles:

Secret Pal project for the Miss Marple Read Along & Scarf Exchange. I want to do the flower scarf from the cover of the 25th anniversary Vogue Knitting in my pal's chosen color(s), but having a hard time finding yarn I like. I bought some today, but the plan is to see if I can return it tomorrow for something else that caught my eye at the shop. I would stick with this yarn, but it's a wool/silk blend. And, I don't know about you, but I have this weird habit of smelling my yarn. The silk? Kinda fishy. Not good.

In Quilting News...

I have the strips cut for another Easy Lap Quilt, this one for a baby of mystery gender. I tried to make a unisex quilt, but I'm having a hard time committing to color order and whatnot. One way it's too girly for a boy, the other way, not girly enough for a girl. So it's going to have to wait until the baby gets here, any day now. The problem with any day now is that we are going out of town in two days for 12 days, then when I get back, I work two days, then out of town again for 3 days, back to work for two days, and that's just the stuff I know about! You can see how this quilt might be done by the time the kid graduates high school.

Two quilting books I now love besides Bend the Rules Sewing (which is not strictly a quilting book, but whatever): The Quilts of Gee's Bend and Denyse Schmidt Quilts. If you like traditional, precision-cut and precision-pieced quilts, these may not be for you. But if your favorite quilting book heretofore was titled That Dorky Homemade Look (which is by Lisa Boyer and is awesome), and you basically adopted that philosophy to your whole entire life, then you might like these books as well.

(Unlinked titles not available at Borders.com. My Inner Tightwad suggests that you check your local library. Also, my inner activist says I should support my local recession-riddled state and link to locally-owned Border's whenever possible.)

Well, we're off. I'd apologize for being gone so long, but you are all probably used to that by now.

I Made a Cheezburgr!

2008-02-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

moar funny pictures

If you like it, please click on the picture to go vote it up in the ratings. kthx!

Yes, I agree it's really sad that THIS is my first posted FO of 2008! (I have others; gotta get that new camera hooked up.)

P.S.: If you likes teh dogz, they haz a new LOLDOGS site: I Has A Hot Dog.

Cheezburger Today

2008-02-03T20:07:00.000-05:00

moar funny pictures

(My part-time day job is with a small-business networking company. One of our selling points is setting up computer systems to block pop ups. Perhaps we have met our match.)

Found - Hanami!

2008-01-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

Wow, that was fast! BIG thanks to Andi who provided a link and everything. MWAH!

The shawl is Hanami. You can bet I've bookmarked it now.

I'm participating in yet another knitalong/swap - The Miss Marple Read Along and Scarf Exchange. Miss Marple is one of author Agatha Christie's incredibly clever detectives. (Hercule Poirot is another.) In this swap, we'll be reading three Miss Marple books: The Murder at the Vicarage in February, The Body in the Library in March, and The Moving Finger in April. We're also knitting either a warm scarf or a decorative scarf for a secret pal. My pal picked decorative, so I'm pondering patterns.

Just realized I was at the library today and forgot to pick up the first book. Oops.

Halp!

2008-01-30T13:56:00.000-05:00

Sending a general shout out to see if anyone can link me to this pattern...

It's for a shawl, I'm pretty sure it's rectangular. I'm pretty sure whoever wrote it knit it for a friend with cancer (or maybe the blog where I read about it knit it for a friend with cancer.) It is NOT called "Cherry Blossom Shawl", but the pattern is supposed to represent cherry blossoms. Maybe someone from Washington, DC?

I'm pretty sure it was a free pattern, but it may not be. I definitely saw it online.

Also, it is an asymmetrical pattern - it changes as you knit from one end to the other.

Apparently I didn't bookmark it either of the two times I saw it (and thought "beautiful, but too hard"); now I want it and can't find it. ::pout::

P.S. I wrapped! I turned! It wasn't that bad!

Roadblock

2008-01-29T22:32:00.000-05:00

The journey to Fearless Knitting has hit a roadblock.

Turns out, the Diamante socks have a short-row heel. Yep, wrap and turn, a technique I am completely unfamiliar with.

So it's off to Knitty for instructions.

Confession: One of the reasons I'm doing YOs in this pattern instead of M1s is not because of wanting lacy socks (although I did). It's because I don't like doing M1s! If I had realized Diamante had a short-row heel, I probably wouldn't have started it in the first place. So I'm really glad I am embracing this whole "fearless" thing.

Recognize the roadblock. Then go around.

See you on the other side.

(Celena, find yourself a toe-up cast on that makes sense to you and go for it!!)

Fun Web Toy!

2008-01-26T23:49:00.000-05:00

Make yours here.

Fearless Knitters

2008-01-26T13:20:00.000-05:00

I loved the recent Knitting Daily posts (here and here) about fearless knitting. Sandi asked four questions she thinks all knitters should ask themselves:

"Was the knitting I did the kind of knitting I REALLY wanted to do? Was I happy with the finished projects? Did the knitting end up looking as good as I'd hoped it would? Did I, in fact, Knit Fearlessly?"

For the most part, I'm pretty happy with the projects I completed last year. I even tackled some new techniques like socks and mittens on dpns. But did I really knit fearlessly? Can I do better this year?

I can. Item one: Toe-up socks.

The first toe-up sock pattern (that I might actually finish) is a modified Diamante, with yarn-overs instead of M1 increases. (I wanted lacy socks.) I've long wanted to just knit and knit and knit a sock until I get to the end of the yarn, instead of stopping short out of fear of running out. But how to cast on? What happens when I get to the gusset? Here's a hint - you can find instructions for any technique if you really want to try something new.

Item two: Sweater in the round.

The long awaited Jimmy Neutron sweater is done, minus its duplicate-stitch atom motif. This sweater is version 2, in fact. The cheap acrylic I used on the first one betrayed me in a viscious manner after knitting the entire body. Frogged. Redone in Wool-Ease. (Yes, cheap wool/acrylic blend, but this time I matched the dye lot!) The whole thing is in the round and the bound-off edge can be undone and reknit as Boy1 grows. (That's the idea anyway.) I'll post more detail on what I did when it's finished.

Item three: Dyeing yarn.

Celena dyed the yarn for my Diamante socks. But I want to dye yarn like that. Time to step up to real dyes.

Item four: New camera.

Hubs bought me a new camera for our recent anniversary, so I have lots of bells and whistles to figure out, starting with installing the software so I can actually show you some of this stuff.

How are you being fearless this year?

2007 FOs

2008-01-07T21:58:00.000-05:00

Wish I knew how to do one of those nifty mosaics, but I don't, so here's the list:

Pre-Blog:
Baby Stormy Socks
Girly Picot-Edge Worsted Socks
Felted Heart Knee Patch for Girl
Fancy MIL Scarf
Baby Bib O' Love
Ball-Band Dishcloths

April:
Stormy Socks, Sr.

May:
I-Cord Snake
Cotton Beaded Shawl
Sky Socks

Vine Lace Micro-Scarf

June:
Nettie - The Beach Bag

July:
Twisted Grapevine Socks (Sockapalooza 4)

More Ball-Band Warshrags

August:
Nettie - The Grocery Bag

September:
Yet More Warshrags...

Vine Lace Scarf (full-size)
One-Skein Fingerless Noro Mitts
Chevron Lace Socks

Lily Pad Socks

October:
Heartbreaking Cute Baby Kimono

Purple Nubby Sweater

Blue-Green Smittens

Napkin Quilt (sewing)

December
Grey-Blue Smittens

Grey-Blue Boy1 hat
Mumma Smittens

UFOctober 2007 Particpants

2008-01-07T21:42:00.000-05:00

Nothing new here; just a link post to all the UFOctober 2007 participants' blogs so I can move it off the sidebar.

All posts about UFOctober.
Fiber Chic
Gentle Sunset
K is For Knitter
Kit Kat Knit
Knitterary
Knitty Kitty
The Knitty Professor
Turtles Lake Knitting

Thanks! Come back for UFOctober 2008! (I think I'll be knitting those Jaywalkers.)

Why I Don't Spin

2007-12-15T11:15:00.000-05:00

This was posted by someone on my Michigan knitting Yahoo Group. This is exactly what would happen if I took up spinning.

A HUSBAND'S LAMENT

She learned to spin on Monday
Her yarn turned out just fine
She forgot to start our dinner
So we went out to dine..
She blended colors on Tuesday
Convinced drum carding is a must
I agree it seemed a most useful tool
But she forgot to dust..
On Wednesday she tried plying
The challenge was such fun
What symmetry, texture and beauty
But the laundry wasn't done.
Weaving took up Thursday
So lively in white and red
I guess she really was engrossed
Because she never made the bed...
She made fluffy lambs on Friday
With the wool that she adores
She never seemed to notice
Crumbs collecting on the floor..
I hired a maid on Saturday
The housework to complete
My wife can weave the hours away
Now the house will still be neat...
My expectations sank on Sunday
I guess I just can't win
When I saw the sink of dirty dishes
I realized the maid had learned to spin!
--Wini Labrecque

Hat Question and more

2007-12-08T14:00:00.000-05:00

Has anyone out there in Blogland made a simple, rolled-brim hat? How long did it get before it stopped rolling? Here's mine:

It measures 2-7/8 inches with the roll, and 5-3/4 inches unrolled. So the rolling part is almost 3 inches long - almost half the length of the hat so far! Am I supposed to put a rib row or two in there to make it STOP ROLLING ALREADY? Because I would like to 1) start the decreases someday, and 2) avoid looking like I'm wearing a life ring on my head.

The yarn is Ironstone Colorchanges color #561, which Looking Glass Yarns calls "Jabberwocky."

Here are the Mumma Smittens:

I like them, but they are a little "floppy" feeling when worn. If I made them again, I think I would do a 2x2 rib cuff, and maybe only cast on 32 stitches instead of 36. That's surprising, because I only cast on 30 for my son's Smittens. You'd think I'd need a lot more for an adult pair (or maybe his are really floppy too).

Look what followed me home on Thursday:

It had been a rough week, and I needed a little yarn therapy. Plus a #6 circular needle for the hat. (Trying to knit an adult hat on 4 dpns? Not fun.) This is Arucania Nature Wool, worsted weight, color #28. (What is with the numbered colors?) I can't find #28 on their web site, but the color's pretty accurate in my photo (surprise). Sorry it's blurry (no suprise there), and please ignore the dust. (I do.)

As for the needle, I ended up getting my first Addi Turbo. You can see its pretty shiny tips in the hat photo above. I'm not exactly Lily Chin with it, but it is easier than shuffling rubber bands every time I start on a dpn, which is what I was doing before I got the Turbo.

And, hello? Why did I not post this funness sooner?

This is my amazing Hand Dyed Yarn Swap gift from Celena. I can tell she put a lot of thought into it and thought about my other interests like quilting and the Make-a-Bag site. Here's what she included, clockwise, from the upper right:

1. Nice Impressionist card - "Pond Lillies" by Allott Fuller Graves

2. Vertigo chocolate-caramel pop. Celena recommends letting it melt into a cup of coffee. It may not last that long.

3. THE YARN. My stupid flash makes it look more red, but it is a lovely deep purple-burgundy with indigo and navy blue. Can't wait to ball it up and try it out!

4. Pink Frosting body butter by Simple Pleasures. Alas, this is not edible.

5. Cute stitch markers that spell out YARN.

6. Thick stack of green quilting squares! All kinds of patterns; two of my favorite motifs are showing - leafs and stars.

7. Underneath it all is a green canvas tote, perfect for groceries or craft stash. Not sure of the dyeing method used on the tote (batik maybe?) but I love it.

Celena is planning another swap for January, so come join us!

Speaking of dyeing, the Winter Knitty is up and has another comprehensive article on dyeing with food colors. This is a really easy and inexpensive way to try dyeing your own yarn or fleece. Try it!

Kitteh Knits Too!

2007-12-08T13:27:00.000-05:00

Apelad has done it again.

Out of lint, no less! Talented Kitteh!

Ironstone Colorchanges: Yarn in Review

2007-11-30T11:43:00.001-05:00

In brief - I love this yarn.

Vital stats:

53% wool, 47% acrylic

100 yards

50 grams

Recommended gauge is 10 st = 3" with a #11 needle. I've been knitting hats and mittens with it on size 6 dpns. It makes a nice dense fabric, but not too stiff. I haven't tried washing it, so who knows? Maybe it poofs way out once washed.

Handwash in cool water or dry clean.

I keep finding good things about it. Sorry I keep comparing it to Noro Kureyon. I love Noro, and this yarn looks a lot like it on the shelf.

1. It's not very expensive - about $6 (US) per ball.

2. It stripes like Noro Kureyon - the color changes may be slightly shorter than Noro, but it has the same gradual blend effect.

3. It is not (very) itchy.

4. NO GRASS.

5. Easy to hand-wind. For Knitters Without Winders, this is a great feature. The yarn comes as a loose ball, which is fine, but I was looking for the color repeat, so I have wound 4 balls of this by hand recently. It has not tangled. Not once. Awesome.

6. It is spun more consistently than Noro Kureyon - same springy single-strand worsted spin (someone correct me if I am not using the term worsted correctly in relation to how yarn is spun).

Anything I don't like?

1. It doesn't break because of the acrylic content. Slightly inconvenient, but I can live with it.

2. Either the color pattern doesn't repeat, or the repeat is over 300 yards long, because I wasn't able to find the repeat after hand-winding three balls of yarn. (I was trying to match the Mumma Smittens.)

Bottom line: Would I buy this again?

I would. Especially if I see it on sale! One ball is enough for a pair of kid mittens, two makes adult mittens.

Lamest KnitBlog Ever Award

2007-11-30T11:07:00.000-05:00

Just kidding, but I sure feel like I deserve it. No FOto Friday last week, no FOto Friday this week. Ugh.

The only thing I've finished since the Smittens are the matching hat for the blue-grey pair, and two dyed skeins of sock yarn.

That was a moral dilemma. I dyed the two skeins in the same session, one for my swap partner and one for me. The colorway I designed for my sock partner turned out to be the one I liked best. The one I designed for me seemed boring by comparison. Just how bad did my swap partner hate yellow? And does she really like burgundy? Or would she think the yarn was really more of a red and hate it anyway?

I ended up sending the yarn I designed for her. I hope she loves it as much as I did.

I am working on a pair of mom-size Smittens for me, using Ironstone Colorchanges in color #561 (heh, that link refers to this color as "Jabberwocky." Sweet!). Here are the modifications so far:

CO 36 instead of 30

2.5" cuff

6 stockinette rows before thumb gusset (I originally forgot to put these rows in, but I need them for comfy mittens!)

Increase gusset until 16 st between markers

Adjusted length to fit (duh).

I think I picked up 4 st when picking up for the thumb, then decreased 2 (Told ya this was wonky the first time - it persists in its wonkiness.)

I still have holes at the thumb too. So irritating.

***

November Goals Update

Knitting:

1. ~~Complete and mail yarn for Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn Swap (the one I wasn't going to join any more of). Deadline - Nov 30~~ Mailed 11/29

2. ~~Grey/blue mittens for Boy1 (blue yarn is dyed)~~ done

3. Finish Jaywalkers - I am so sick of these.

4. Start Jimmy Neutron Sweater - still not started

Sewing:

1. Reorganize fabric stash by weight and color (probably some mental quilt planning here too) - HA HA HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Ok, I did manage to drag everything out and turn my craft corner into an even bigger mess.

2. ~~Finish quilt-in-progress. Deadline: November 10 (working on the final binding tonight)~~ done in time! They loved it!

3. ~~Review pajama needs for Boy2 and proceed accordingly.~~ this is done, but I ended up buying pajamas for him

Thinking about December goals. My first one is to actually post them. ha!

Five Faves

2007-11-24T13:41:00.000-05:00

Here's an idea from Celena, via The Hand-Dyed Yarn Swap: List five of your favorite things. Here are five I came up with off the top of my head, in no particular order:

1. My kids
2. Hand-dyeing yarn, especially sock yarn
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (The book, although the old movie with Gregory Peck is good too.)
4. Snow I don't have to drive in
5. Any beach where you can't see land when you look out over the water (oceans, Lake Michigan, etc.)

Smittens

2007-11-17T23:23:00.000-05:00

Celena asked about the mitten pattern I used for Boy1's mittens. Honestly, I just kinda cobbled together the sizing from a knit-flat pattern and the method from a knit-round pattern. So I don't have a real pattern, but I did take notes. And right there at the top of my notes, it says "S mittens," so Smittens they are. Here's what I did (with tips to change it for your needs):

Sized for small-to-average 6 year old boy, about 8 inches (20 cm?) long total

worsted-weight wool or wool blend yarn
set of 4 dpns, size 6 (US; will add mm later)
2-3 stitch markers
stitch holder, extra dpn, cable needle, or largeish safety pin

Gauge? Nag me; I'll add it later.

CO 30 (I originally cast on 33, which made mittens big enough for me to wear. Frogged. I used the backward loop or half-hitch cast on - I find it to be very flexible and stretchy. I use it on all my socks too.)

Divide evenly over 3 dpns

Join/don't twist (you may want to mark the start of your round)

K1 row (my own personal bug - trying to rib knit that first row after CO is a pain.)

K1, P1 rib stitch until cuff is about 2 inches long (I did 2-1/2" on the Ironstone pair - a big longish for my taste)

K 4 rows stockinette (One pattern called for 2 stockinette rows, too small. The other called for 6 stockinette rows, too big. 4? Just right.)

Thumb gusset:

K 14, place marker, kfb 2x, place marker (4 st between markers), k 14 to beginning of round

Row A - K all

Row B - K 14, slip marker, kfb, knit remaining stitches until one stitch before marker, kfb, slip marker, K 14. (You are increasing by 2 stitches between the markers every other row to make the thumb gusset.)

Alternate Row A & Row B until 12 stitches between markers.

End thumb gusset, begin palm

K 13, kfb

Slip marker off, slip thumb stitches to holder/spare dpn/whatever, slip 2nd marker off. Ignore these for now.

Continue working off that same needle you just slipped the markers and stitches from, kfb the next stitch after the thumb gusset, working as close as you can to the previous kfb to minimize holes later. Finish working stitches on that needle; you should have 10 on each working needle.

Continue working in the round, ignoring the thumb stitches, until hand measures 5" long from top of cuff (not from cast on).

Begin top shaping:

K1, k2tog all around, 20 stitches on needles (you may have to slip a stitch from one holding needle to the next to work the kfb in the right place)

Next round: K all

K2, (k2tog, k1)* to end of round (I think there is one extra stitch, just knit it)

Next round: K all

K2tog, K1 next round, ending K2tog

K one more plain round if you feel it's necessary.

Cut/break yarn, leaving 8 inch tail. Weave tail through live stitches and draw up to complete mitten top. Weave in tail.

Thumb:

Warning: this is nutsy - I think I did it differently on every mitten!

Basically tho, knit 6 st off your holding needle onto a dpn. Knit next 6 stitches off your holding needle onto a dpn. Pick up stitches between the two ends of the thumb gusset. The amount will depend on how big those holes are where you joined the round after slipping the gusset onto the holder. I picked up 6, which made 18 st on needles, but that was too many, so on the next round, I k2tog across 3rd needle, leaving 3 st on 3rd needle. Then I shuffled stitches around again so I had 15 total, 3 per needle.

K about 3-4 rounds. (Told ya.)

Decrease (somewhat) evenly using 3 decrease rounds with a plain round between each. (See? Wonky.)

Break yarn, leaving decent tail; thread through live stitches and draw together to close end of thumb.

Ok, so maybe I lost 95% of my interest by the time I got to the thumb. Just wanted them done already. And it's a good thing the crease between the thumb and the palm is the warmest area because my Smittens have holes there. Better knitters may have better results!

Quilt Madness

2007-11-13T12:36:00.000-05:00

Gateway textiles:

Two dinner napkins bought on clearance. They sure look innocent, don't they?

Quickly leads to this:

CAUTION: Fabric stashing in progress.

Ok, I know I take terrible photos. If you thought those were bad, check out this attempt at artistry:

Natural sunlight is no match for complete lack of talent and a really cheap camera.

The result:

The Napkin Quilt

And reverse:

Happy 10th, M&J.

The next quilt:

Baby quilt for a friend. Guess I shoulda unwrapped the remnant piece first, huh?

FOto, er, Tuesday! Nov 13 2007

2007-11-13T12:34:00.000-05:00

Finally getting some long-overdue FOtos up.

First off, we have the finished Purple Nubby Sweater:

As you can see, it fuzzed a bit after washing/drying. I hope a good shave will tame its unruly ways. Here is the sweater in action:

Covered in leafs. I'm sure Pip would be jealous.

Sadly, one of our LYS went out of business at the end of October. The shop was tiny and had really inconsistent hours. It seemed to be run more like a hobby than a business; I kinda hope the owner just got tired of it. One of the saddest things to me is when someone fails and can't see why, even though it is blatently obvious to everyone else. Can't keep your yarn shop in business? Try being open!

On the plus side, I got yarn on sale! Remember the Skeen of Green? (Oh, the beloved Skeen of Green!) Well, they didn't have any left, but I bought 3 skeins in a pinky coral. I am not normally a coral fan (ha!), but it sang to me and I had to take it home.

A new discovery for me was Ironstone Colorchanges, made in Italy. It has long, lazy color changes like Noro Kureyon, without all the icky grass stuff. I got one 50g ball in greens with a touch of blue to make mittens for Boy1, and 3 balls of pinky/purple to make a Booga Bag for me. On the way home, I realized the yarn is 50/50 wool/acrylic! No Booga Bag from that - it will not felt. Good thing I bought those 3 balls of Soy Wool Stripes the other day...

So here are the mittens from Ironstone Colorchanges:

Believe it or not, I tried really hard to make those match! The one on the right was made first, and I skipped over the rest of that huge yellow-green section to get back to where the blue started. Then the pattern straightened out, and I got the mitten on the left. Oy. On the other hand, they do match - they are EXACTLY the same size! (Can't tell from the photo tho. Figures.)

Other than the color issues, I really liked knitting with this yarn. I know nothing about spinning, but I think it is spun worsted? It's all one strand, not three or four thinner strands spun together, if that makes sense. It is soft and squishy, a little bit of thickness change but not too much, doesn't break, and, did I mention the lack of grass? No grass. Very nice.

Conventionally-matched mittens:

Paton's Classic Merino color Grey Mix. (Oddly, I did find grass in this ball of Paton's.) The blue is the same grey yarn dyed with Berry Blue Kool-Aid. It came out lighter than I was hoping for, but that's ok. A matching hat is OTN.

Finally, the interloper 4-Berry Trifle Jaywalker:

After slogging on the instep for what seemed like forever, I was finally able to start the toe. Well, of course, I slogged a little too far on the instep, and now it is too long. Needs a bit of frogging. Rats.

Quilt Madness to follow!

Apologies!!

2007-11-09T21:14:00.000-05:00

Wow, it's been a busy week, and it's gone by so fast! I am so sorry I haven't posted sooner about the drawing. I tried to post last night but Blogger was hatin'. Also sorry for no pictures, but I am just trying to get this posted and end the suspense.

We had 5 people enter the second UFOctober drawing:

Kenyetta completed 4 out of 5 projects and is working on the 5th. Good job, Kenyetta!

Turtle rocked out during October, finishing 6 out of 8 WIPs, making great progress on the other two, and starting 5 of her 12 queue projects. Awesome!

Fiber Chic finished 3 out of 5 projects, finished a fourth on November 2, and began her "exception" project. Way to go!

Unusually Heather at Gentle Sunset admits she only accomplished a little of what she set out for, but she is happy with the progress she did make, and plans to continue to work on these projects.

Knitterary had such a great title for her final UFOctober post - "UFOver" - that I wanted to kidnap it for my very own (but didn't). She met 5 of her 6 goals, calling the last one a draw. Knitterary also managed a hat and almost 9" of sweater for another KAL. Nicely done!

So those were our five official entries. No photos, but the drawing was done the same way as before - names on slips, slips folded, slips in glass, hubby pulled winning slip. And the yarn goes to...

Unusually Heather at Gentle Sunset! I'll email you tonight for your address. Remember, if you pick Peacock Multi, you just might get it faster! (Because I have some already - hee.)

The whole point of this exercise for me was to figure out exactly what is in there? so I could decide what to do with it. Overall, I am very happy with my own progress, and it's nice not to have all those UFOs hanging over my head.

So here's my final tally:

Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - FROGGED 10/6/07

Chevron Lace Socks - FINISHED 10/6/07

Early Nettie - FROGGED 10/1/07

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1 - FINISHED 10/18/07.

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - no progress other than thinking about how to finish it

Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - FINISHED 10/7/07

Purple sweater for Girl - FINISHED 10/31/07

Recycled Navy Sweater - TRASHED 10/19/07

Sky Socks - MAILED 10/4/07

Swap-Bot Swap Yarn - MAILED 10/6/07

The interloper: Jaywalker

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1 - no progress

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes - no progress

***

A few have asked if I will host UFOctober again next year, and the answer is, barring disaster, DEFINITELY. I hope it's even bigger and better, with more prize drawings and WAY more participants (not that you guys weren't great!). I've already "reserved" a blog name for next year. I plan to allow participants to post to that blog, so everyone can do their own updating. So stay tuned! It's gonna be fun!

November Goals

2007-11-09T21:00:00.000-05:00

I feel like I got so much accomplished during UFOctober by having a set plan, that I have set the following crafting goals for November.

Knitting:

1. Complete and mail yarn for Hand-Dyed Sock Yarn Swap (the one I wasn't going to join any more of). Deadline - Nov 30

2. Grey/blue mittens for Boy1 (blue yarn is dyed)

3. Finish Jaywalkers

4. Start Jimmy Neutron Sweater

Sewing:

1. Reorganize fabric stash by weight and color (probably some mental quilt planning here too)

2. Finish quilt-in-progress. Deadline: November 10 (working on the final binding tonight)

3. Review pajama needs for Boy2 and proceed accordingly.

Happy November!

2007-11-01T11:49:00.001-04:00

There's an oxymoron for you. November is my least favorite month. Traditionally leafless, sunless, and snowless, November seems the seasonal embodiment of depression.

Not today tho. It's beautifully sunny out, and there are many leaves still hanging on, although the colors have turned decidedly brownish. But Dreary November is coming, I can feel it.

Since it's November, UFOctober is officially done! How did everyone do? I finished the purple sweater last night at 11:45 p.m.; yay for me! That leaves only one of my UFOctober official projects unfinished (and sadly untouched), although I did think about it. I'll give the full tally on Friday.

So it's time for the next drawing! Post a blog entry featuring your final UFOctober progress list. Please list each item and clearly note its status - In Progress, Finished, Trashed, etc. Leave a comment on THIS POST with a link to your entry post. Photos are a total bonus - we want to see your work! - but not required for entry. Your entry post and comment must be finished by midnight (your local time) Sunday, November 4. Winner will be determined by random draw.

Monday is a big work day for me, so I'll probably draw sometime on Tuesday and post by Wednesday.

The winner of the second drawing will receive their choice of two balls of Knit Picks Essential superwash sock yarn in WINNER'S CHOICE of color! AND a $10 Gift Certificate to Knit Picks! (And if you pick Peacock Multi, you *could* get your yarn much sooner; just sayin'.)

(Although Knit Picks is my favorite online yarn store, they are not affiliated with the contest or with UFOctober.)

Another Swap

2007-10-26T14:01:00.001-04:00

Although I had decided not to sign up for any swaps for a while, I got sucked in by the Hand Dyed Yarn Swap. Next month is sock yarn. Sign up deadline is October 31.

They also have a Ravelry group, which is where I found the swap, but you don't have to be on Ravelry to play along.

UFOctober, Day 26 Progress Report

2007-10-26T10:46:00.001-04:00

No FOtos this Friday. No FOs to show. (Plus I think I hate my camera. Or it hates me. Or something.)

Feeling a little grumpy today. I may be coming down with something. Either a cold or quiltitis. (Or both).

Oh yes, I have been bitten by the quilting bug. I blame these people:

Cassiana for putting the idea (back) in my head.

Chief Enabler Amy for making it seem so easy. Also cute. Edited to add: If you want to lose an hour, click on the Bend-the-Rules Flickr group and watch the slideshow.

Kay pushed me right over the edge. I definitely plan to use Mary B's Lifetime Guarantee idea - scroll to the end of that linked page to read it.

I may have Cia and Superbuzzy taste on a Joann budget, but I managed to find some good stuff at my local Joann Etc. yesterday.

BTW, if anyone was confused about the next UFOctober drawing, it will be held after UFOctober so we all have a chance to get as much finished as possible.

I have been making good knitting progress despite the latest infection.

*=new progress

~~Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - Frog~~ FROGGED 10/6/07

~~Chevron Lace Socks - Rip back to heel flap just before turn, & reknit~~ FINISHED 10/6/07

~~Early Nettie - Frog~~ FROGGED 10/1/07

~~Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1~~ - FINISHED 10/18/07.

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - Figure out the sleeve seams or frog

~~Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Finish second sock~~ FINISHED 10/7/07

* Purple sweater for Girl - In progress - Finished sleeve 1, started sleeve 2.

~~Recycled Navy Sweater~~ - TRASHED 10/19/07

~~Sky Socks - Mail~~ MAILED 10/4/07

~~Swap-Bot Swap Yarn~~ - MAILED 10/6/07

* The interloper:
Jaywalker - just trusted the heel directions as written and it all worked out. Trust the knitting, Luke.

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes

And the Skeen of Green Goes To...

2007-10-22T20:55:00.000-04:00

The official entrants of the drawing were:

Best Scissors and Unofficial Marker of UFOctober were hoping for more entrants. Maybe next time.

Kenyetta (knitty kitty)

Unusually Heather (Gentle Sunset)

Turtle

The name slips all folded and ready to go:

And the Skeen of Green goes to...

Turtle!

Yes, this prize drawing was a random draw, but it should be noted that Turtle has made excellent progress on her UFOs, completing 5 out of 8 UFOs so far this month. She's also working on a few of the 12 projects in her knit queue. Hopefully the Skeen of Green will help out with some of those projects! Congratulations, Turtle!

(and email me - haezoo at yahoo dot com - need your address to ship)

More Prizes

The next prize round was going to be more complex, but I think I'll keep it simple for this year. (Yes, I am already thinking about UFOctober 2008!)

Once UFOctober is officially over, I'll once again call for blog posts featuring your updated UFOctober progress list on your blog. I'll randomly draw another prize winner from those who post an entry and comment on the official post (not posted yet). The entry dates will most likely be November 1-3. (And there may be a twist involving photos, but don't worry about it yet.)

So, who wants sock yarn? (Who DOESN'T??!!)

The winner of the second drawing will receive their choice of two balls of Knit Picks Essential superwash sock yarn in WINNER'S CHOICE of color!

Not enough?

AND a $10 Gift Certificate to Knit Picks!

Yes, we all know Knit Picks is my favorite online yarn store. (They are not affiliated with the contest or with UFOctober, however.) No, I am not offering this prize just so I have an excuse to place an order there. Ok, maybe. But who cares? FREE YARN!

I WON! (kinda)

2007-10-19T23:26:00.000-04:00

Famous Knitting Authors Ann & Kay ran a contest to win a raffle ticket to win this. There's an upclose photo on the Mason-Dixon Knitting site; the afghan is stunning. Go take a look. I'll wait.

Ann & Kay gave away one raffle ticket each to 10 commenters who wrote "a haiku, limerick or heroic couplet about the color blue, Cristina's afghan, or stinky indigo dye vats." 65 people entered, and I was one of the lucky 10 who won by random draw.

Here's my entry, and you'll see why I did not win by skill...

Roses are blue
Violets are blue
Blue is my favorite
And so is blue

heh.

If you'd like a chance to win this thing of indigo beauty, click here.

UFOctober Report, Day 19 (and FOto Friday)

2007-10-19T17:01:00.000-04:00

It's amazing what a good night of ~~sitting on your butt~~ ~~ignoring the laundry~~ quality TV can do for your knitting. Last night was a very good night. Here's my tally thus far.

*=new progress

~~Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - Frog~~ Frogged 10/6/07 (1:30 a.m.)

~~Chevron Lace Socks - Rip back to heel flap just before turn, & reknit~~ Finished 10/6/07 (1:00 a.m.)

~~Early Nettie - Frog~~ Frogged 10/1/07

* ~~Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1~~ - A second washing and blocking satisfied me that all the wayward dye was rinsed from the sweater. There's still some bad dye running, but - aha! - the HCBK is knit in garter stitch, which makes it kinda reversible. Reversible enough, in fact, that reverse it is exactly what I did. So the worst dye bleeding is inside, and the rest of anything remotely noticeable is on the back. Problem solved! FINISHED 10/18/07.

Behold the heartbreaking cuteness:

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - Figure out the sleeve seams or frog No progress yet, but feeling better after the success of the HCBK1.

~~Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Finish second sock~~ FINISHED! 10/7/07

* Purple sweater for Girl - In progress - sewed up one side seam, picked up stitches at armhole to knit sleeve in the round. I am NEVER knitting another sweater in pieces again!

My Bad Photo:

(That's not a dye lot mistake. The color varies throughout the skein. See below.)

Presumably professional photo of the sweater from the Lion Brand site; not our family:

Yep, that's acrylic, people. Bought lots of it before I knew better, but it's soft and warm and, hello, machine washable. I'm using it. Click here for the pattern. I'm leaving off the hood, doing a roll-neck collar instead. And, as mentioned, knitting the sleeves in the round from the shoulder down.

* ~~Recycled Navy Sweater~~ - see below.

Recycled Navy Sweater before

Recycled Navy Sweater after

Why is this sweater in the trash? This sweater began life as an exercise in anger management. The yarn came from a 25-cent yard sale sweater. I frogged it during a particularly rough patch in my marriage, when ripping a sweater apart seemed to be the only viable outlet for the stress, anger, and frustration I felt. (Things are better lately, thanks for asking.) As you might expect, the yarn was roughly frogged, not rinsed before rewinding, and full of knots. Badly done all around. The color was SO DARK (the flash really lightened it up immensely), it was depressing. Somehow, a junior's size small sweater did not give me enough yarn to knit a little girl's cardigan. Go figure. Considering the anger, the depressing color, the yarn shortage, and the fact that I started knitting it in pieces before I knew about knitting in the round, it makes sense to me just to toss it. Good riddance. Trashed 10/19/07.

~~Sky Socks - Mail~~ Mailed 10/4/07

~~Swap-Bot Swap Yarn~~ - Mailed 10/6/07

* The interloper:
Jaywalker may be slightly stalled at the heel. The instructions are not making sense to me. Is it a short-row heel? Anyone know? If I can't figure it out, I'll probably just do a flap heel and hope for the best.

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes

So, that's my report for now. By the way, Knitting Daily has been running a few posts recently about UFOs. They also ran a poll that shows the average number of UFOs per knitter is 7. The knitters with more than 20 UFOs easily outnumbered those with zero, by 3-to-1, in fact. Yow. That's a lotta UFOs.

If you don't read Knitting Daily, follow that link and sign up to receive it by email. It's from Interweave Press, therefore, very entertaining and informative, even if it isn't quite daily. :)

Prize Drawing! UFOtoberers, Start Your Blogs

2007-10-18T13:12:00.000-04:00

So we're about halfway through UFOctober; time for a prize drawing!!

If you are an offical participant in UFOctober (see sidebar), blog about your progess between now and midnight (your local time) Sunday, 10/21/07.

1. Blog entry must include your official list of UFOctober projects with progress notes by each item. You can do it like this one if you want. (To use the "cross-out" feature, use these tags = < del > and < /del >, no spaces.) We just need to see how much progress you are making. Or not making. It doesn't matter for this drawing (although it might later, so get going!).

2. Leave a comment ON THIS POST linking to your entry posting.

3. Drawing will be held on Monday, 10/22/07.

All UFOctober participants who do so will be entered to win the Skeen of Green:

Stonehedge Fiber Mill Shepherd's Wool. Super-soft, 100% wool in "Seebreeze" (lighter than photo, sorry).

Breaks my heart, it does. And the LYS that sells it is closing at the end of the month. Sniff.

Also on Monday - More prize announcements!

O Progress, Where Art Thou?

2007-10-17T13:24:00.000-04:00

Forgive me, knitters, for I have slipped.

I have cast on a new project that is not on my UFOctober exceptions list.

shock!

Once I knit the entire first cuff, I realized I was fooling myself - this was no swatch. (You all knew that already, didn't you?) It is, in fact, a Jaywalker, using the second batch of sock yarn I Kool-Aid dyed in case the Autumn Leaves/Great Pumpkin didn't work out. I can't decide if I like the colors or not, but it's dyed and it's knitted, so it's NOT getting frogged. I'm calling it the Four-Berry Trifle Jaywalker Sock. (FOtos on Friday, peeps!)

So, how is everyone's UFOctober going? Here in McFrogland, Decisions Have Been Made. Projects Shall Be Tossed. One of my UFOs is so disheartening that I am not even wasting time frogging it. More on that later. But mostly, if it weren't for mental progress, there wouldn't be any progress at all. bleh.

Let's see how our other players are doing, shall we?

Gentle Sunset is making good progress, reporting one complete, one almost complete, and one frogging.

Fiber Chic has completed another Super Secret UFO and is working on one of her exceptions.

Wanna see a beautiful Mystery Stole? Click on over to Amanda's blog; she is making great progress!

Knitterary is finally able to show off her Super Secret Project - go check out the cuteness. And let us have a moment of silence for that beautiful Jaywalker. In its passing, it has given me the peace to toss out my own (aforementioned) disheartening project. ***moment of silence***

Go give Knitty Kitty a big round of applause - she is getting lots done!

Go see KP's sock and share the love.

Turtle was making good progress, but she hasn't posted since the 7th. (Hmm, I wonder if she is hiding something like I was.)

I hope to have some real progress to show by Friday!!

UFOctober Day 10 Report

2007-10-10T22:27:00.000-04:00

Well, nothing really new to report. The beginning of the week is usually crazy busy for me, so I don't get much knitting done. But I'm home all day tomorrow, and if I can resist "swatching" the ball o' mess (I frogged the non-toe), maybe I can get some sweater progress going.

But I had to stop in and share this recent comic from HOBOTOPIA, which I thought was great for UFOctober!

(If you don't get it, click here.)

Want.

2007-10-09T00:34:00.000-04:00

Well, I finished my latest yarn-dyeing adventure: a self-striping mess in pink, purple, red, and two shades of blue. Yeah, baby. Bringin' sexy back to the yarn.

Now, I know, people, that a new pair of socks is not on my UFOctober Official Exceptions List, so let's just say I have been thinking about patterns.

And maybe doing some swatching.

Just a little swatching.

(Certainly not the start of a toe or anything. Nuh-uh. Not me. And the "swatch," big ball o' mess, and 5 size 1 dpns aren't currently living in my purse. No siree.)

Anyway, I've seen some really good-looking self-striping Jaywalkers around. Since I am the Last Knitter In The Blogosphere To Attempt Jaywalkers, I wandered over to MagKnits to find the pattern. And kicked myself.

See, when the new Knitty comes out, I immediately rush on over and drool over everything (explains my keyboard problems). But Knitty only comes out quarterly, and I'm usually getting pretty antsy for the new issue weeks before it is due out.

Magknits, on the other hand, is monthly! Sure they usually only have 5-6 patterns, but they are free! And MONTHLY. Like, 5-6 new free patterns every month! Amazing.

I'll be making sure to check Magknits every month from now on. Look what I found for October:

Beautiful. I wants one. (But not in self-striping ball o' mess.)

UFOctober: Updated Participants List & Progress Report Day 7

2007-10-07T18:34:00.000-04:00

Two new knitters joined under the wire on Saturday night - woo hoo!

Fiber Chic already has a FO to show, and a super-secret project that is almost done!

Heather at Gentle Sunset lists 6 projects to finish, plus one exception.

See the UFOctober sidebar at the right for the complete official list!

Day 7 Report *=new progress
~~Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - Frog~~ Frogged 10/6/07 (1:30 a.m.)

~~Chevron Lace Socks - Rip back to heel flap just before turn, & reknit~~ Finished 10/6/07 (1:00 a.m.)

~~Early Nettie - Frog~~ Frogged 10/1/07

*Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1 - Gently wash and hope it can be salvaged, perhaps with some clever embroidery. If not salvageable, frog - Washed & reblocked, results unclear

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - Figure out the sleeve seams or frog

*~~Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Finish second sock~~ FINISHED! 10/7/07

*Purple sweater for Girl - Figure out where I am in the pattern and finish (In progress - shoulders joined; deciding how I want to do the sleeves/side seams)

Recycled Navy Sweater - Finish as vest (compromise solution, plus I am running out of yarn).

~~Sky Socks - Mail~~ Mailed 10/4/07

*~~Swap-Bot Swap Yarn - Finish and mail. Dried and packed 10/6/07; will be mailed 10/8/07~~ Mailed 10/6/07 since we were driving by the post office anyway.

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes

UFOctober - Day 6 Update

2007-10-06T16:26:00.001-04:00

Still not too late to sign up! Sign up by tonight - there will be prizes!!

My Projects:

~~Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - Frog~~ Frogged 10/6/07 (1:30 a.m.)

~~Chevron Lace Socks - Rip back to heel flap just before turn, & reknit~~ Finished 10/6/07 (1:00 a.m.)

~~Early Nettie - Frog~~ Frogged 10/1/07

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1 - Gently wash and hope it can be salvaged, perhaps with some clever embroidery. If not salvageable, frog

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - Figure out the sleeve seams or frog

Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Finish second sock (In progress)

Purple sweater for Girl - Figure out where I am in the pattern and finish

Recycled Navy Sweater - Finish as vest (compromise solution, plus I am running out of yarn).

~~Sky Socks - Mail~~ Mailed 10/4/07

~~Swap-Bot Swap Yarn - Finish and mail~~ Dried and packed 10/6/07; will be mailed 10/8/07

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes

FOto Friday - October 5, 2007

2007-10-05T14:00:00.000-04:00

Undeserved Yarn, or, My Sock-Bot Loot:

Dyed by Debbi with acid dyes on Knit Picks base. She calls this color Sweet Tart - very appropriate! Looks like it will make some fun Monkeys if I ever attempt a pair. Seeing her neat little yarn cake makes me want a yarn winder soooooo baaaaaad. She sent along some awesome purple stitch markers by Mary! This photo is really dark, I'm sorry!

Seeing Debbi's pretty yarn and after wrestling with the kool-aid Every Single Time makes me think I need to step up to real acid dyes if I want to take this yarn dyeing thing seriously.

And did you know that many (if not all) fiber "acid" dyes are citric-acid based? So is Kool-Aid! I was thinking of something far more sinister, probably since a nasty dustup between myself and some sulphuric acid once resulted in a late-night trip to urgent care. Anyway, speaking of wrestling with Kool-Aid...

The Project Previously Knows As The Great Pumpkin, Now With More Autumn Leaves Effect!:

Overdyed in TONS of lemonade Kool-Aid (pale stuff, that), then spotted with Cherry. It looks good, so I'm sending it on to the very patient Robyn once it's dry (one photo with flash, one without):

If I tried this color effect again, I would dye it with four packs of lemonade FIRST, then hand-painted it in orange, red and maybe a touch of green. The contrast of the red and green in early autumn leaves is one of my favorite parts of autumn, yet I forgot all about it.

This also qualifies as a finished project for UFOctober, woohoo!

More UFOctober Progress:

Early Nettie Before:

Early Nettie After:

Sky Socks Before:

Sky Socks After:

In other progress: I've turned the heel on the 2nd Lily Pad sock. I'm enjoying this yarn again, so this seems to be my main project right now.

If you want to participate, leave me a note in the comments by Saturday night. (I was going to have everyone leave a comment on the original post, but that seems silly to me now, so just leave one here.) If you have already signed up, check the UFOctober 2007 link list to the right and make sure your name/blog appears there.

And don't forget to grab a button! (Please save to your own account, thx.)

UFOctober: Day 4 Progress Report

2007-10-04T12:53:00.000-04:00

My Projects:

Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - Frog

Chevron Lace Socks - Rip back to heel flap just before turn, & reknit

~~Early Nettie - Frog~~ Frogged 10/1/07

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1 - Gently wash and hope it can be salvaged, perhaps with some clever embroidery. If not salvageable, frog

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 2 - Figure out the sleeve seams or frog

Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Finish second sock (In progress)

Purple sweater for Girl - Figure out where I am in the pattern and finish

Recycled Navy Sweater - Finish as vest (compromise solution, plus I was running out of yarn).

~~Sky Socks - Mail~~ Mailed 10/4/07

Swap-Bot Swap Yarn - Finish and mail (Finished dyeing; will mail when dry)

The Exceptions:

Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1

ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes

We Has A Button!

2007-10-04T11:07:00.000-04:00

Kit Kat Knit is joining UFOctober and has made us a super-cool button! ~~While I argue with flickr and Blogger about button placement~~ Until I can get it linked up here properly, please hit the above link and snag a button for your own selves (save to your own account per blogiquette, thx).

Edited, after almost no argument after all. Here's the button!

UFOctober: The 4 Ps

2007-09-29T00:00:00.000-04:00

We have People!

Michaele of The Knitty Professor beat the rush and worked on projects the last week of September.

Knitterary has 6 UFOs to conquer, plus her Starmore KAL and a Clapotis! Yowser. She says she'll be ecstatic if she gets 4 of her UFOs off her back.

Knitty Kitty has 5 UFOs and 2 exceptions.

Turtle set some UFO-busting goals for October, so we'll count her in! She listed 7 UFOs and 11 "waiting to start" and already has knocked off 2 of the UFOs!

Elspeth ~~has a lot of blogs~~ said she would join in, can't wait to see what she'll be working on!

Remember, you have through October 6 to sign up here (leave a comment with a link to your blog).

We have Prizes!

Skein of Green (skein of grein? skeen of green?)

This nummy worsted weight is Shepherd's Wool from Stonehedge Fiber Mill in East Jordan, Michigan. It is the softest 100% wool yarn I have ever felt, almost as soft as baby alpaca. The color is a beautiful heathered deep sea green (lighter than it's showing up here) called "Seebreeze."

Mystery Sock Yarn
It may be hand-dyed or it may be some of my ever-growing Knit Picks stash. We'll see. (I guess you could say that deciding this prize is another UFO.)

Prizes will be awarded by random draw. If this is fun, if we do it again next year, maybe we'll have specific categories - most finished projects, most daunting, etc.

We have Projects!

Holy Unidentified Objects, Batman! Every time I dig through my stash, I find more UFOs! Here are two more alien projects I found:

Nettie 1 - forgot all about this early attempt at a net market bag; see below.
Sky Socks - finished back in, what, June? Just need to be mailed, for pete's sake!

We have Progress!

This was an easy one. I stumbled across the nascent Nettie while reviewing the Recycled Navy Cardi. FROGGGED!! Photos to come!

FOto Friday - September 28, 2007

2007-09-28T14:42:00.000-04:00

Wow, a week sure goes by fast! What? It's been ~~two~~ three weeks since I did a FOto Friday? Yipe. Sorry!

This is, at long last, the Vine Lace Scarf I hope to teach at the LYS next month:

Ok, that's a terrible picture. I'll get a better one, uh... someday. The scarf is done in one skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca. Very simple pattern: 3 repeats of Vine Lace pattern with a 3-stitch stockinette border on each side. The border rolls a bit by design.

Here's a little sewing project that's been burning in my brain for way too long:

Produce bags! Get the whole story over at Make A Bag.

One ball Noro Kureyon + one basic knit-flat mitten pattern - tops of fingers and thumb + top ribbing =
Fingerless Noro Mitts. These knit up super-fast! Probably four hours, total. I used the mitten pattern from Instant Expert Knitting. (Support your local book store, or at least Borders, which is Michigan-owned!)

Oh those aren't unwoven-in ends. Those are a design feature. Yep.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

I'm doing a hand-dyed sock yarn swap through Swap-Bot. My swap partner (I dye for her; someone else dyes for me, presumably) said at one point she likes the colors of autumn leaves, so that is what I was going for.

Yes, really. (Stop laughing.)

Lesson learned: never underestimate the power of orange Kool-Aid in homemade dyeing projects. Good grief!

Oh, yeah. The mailing deadline is tomorrow. Do you think Robyn would prefer ugly yarn or late yarn? sigh

Dis Comix Is Full of Fun

2007-09-26T18:58:00.000-04:00

This is "Laugh Out Loud Cats #278" drawn by Apelad at Hobotopia. Apelad claims to be the sole living decendent of Aloysius "Gorilla" Koford, who drew the strip for 17 newspapers during 1912-1913.

You may see note a *slight* resemblence between the captions of these comics and the cats of "I Can Has Cheezburger?" Coincidence? You decide.

UFOctober: Close Encounters of the Knitted Kind

2007-09-25T22:35:00.000-04:00

Seen any UFOs lately? You know, those UnFinished Objects that have been hovering around your stash for far too long? Maybe you've even seen an alien or two - projects from so long ago you don't recognize them at first.

Let's get together and see if we can knock out a few of those UFOs during UFOctober! Write up a blog post of your list of UFOs to work on. Then leave me a note in the comments for THIS POST by October 6. I'll post a list of all the UFOctobers so we can visit each other and cheer each other on.

Rules? While I am restricting my self to only UFOs during October until they are done (with two exceptions, see below), just commit to at least working on some of those long-abandoned UFOs, and post about your progress once in a while.

Incentives, you say? PRIZES? Well, sure, why not. I'll think of something (and maybe some of you will contribute?)

Oh, and if any of the super-clever wish to make a button, well, the more buttons, the merrier, I say!

So here's my Close Encounters of the Knitted Kind:

Chevron Lace Socks - When I did the heel and gusset on the second sock, I followed the pattern as written. Apparently, I did not do this when I made the first sock, and I much prefer the first heel. The Plan: rip & reknit. (Not this one, this is the good one!)

Lily Pad Socks for Boy1 - Started the cuff for sock #2, then stalled. The Plan: finish already.

Purple sweater for Girl - this is so old, I didn't even put it on my WIP list until now. It's going to be tough figuring out where I left off, but it's a simple pattern, and I know a lot more now, so it might not be that bad. I think the front and back are done. The pattern calls for a hood, but I think I'll just make a simple collar. I just hope it still fits her. The Plan: find the pattern, figure out where the heck I am, and knit.

Recycled Navy Sweater - another one for Girl. Simple V-neck cardi based on Ann Budd's The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns. However, I love the look of wrap-front, ballet-style sweaters, and all the hassle of the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono did not diminish my love of the wrap-front sweater one bit. The Plan: Unclear. Continue as planned, or rip and renew as wrap-front vest?

Blue Cascade Socks for Boy1 - The Cascade Fixation is driving me nuts. The Plan: Frog when I get up the nerve.

Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono 1 & 2 - The yarn ran on #1. The Plan: gently wash and hope it can be salvaged, perhaps with some clever embroidery. If not salvageable, frog.

The sleeve seams are giving me fits on #2. The Plan: Figure it out or frog it.

The Exceptions:

The Jimmy Neutron sweater for Boy1 - I have blahhhhhhhged about this ad nauseum, the design is in my head, it really needs to get done, so we will call it "started," therefore, unfinished and qualifying for UFOctober! (Rationalization is a beautiful thing.)

I am allowed ONE ball-band dishcloth if the mood strikes. They knit up fast, and once I start thinking about color combos, I can't stop until I knit it. So I get to do one (and I hope that's enough).

When Sarcasm is Not Enough...

2007-09-25T12:51:00.000-04:00

I'm sorry, but I had to laugh. It seems a few of you took my Saturday post literally. What I meant was, it was a really rough day. The kind of day that will drive you to drink, if not alcohol, then chocolate syrup straight from the bottle.

Things are better now, but - hoo boy - has something got to give.

On an unrelated knitting note: I'm thinking of designating October as "UFOctober" or "UnFinished October" and make a goal to finish, work on, or even frog all my UFOs. Who's with me?

A Really, Really Good Day

2007-09-22T16:36:00.000-04:00

You ever have the kind of day where every little thing makes you want to knock back shots of chocolate syrup straight from the bottle?

Good times.

Get Your Knit On For A Good Cause - Red Scarf Project

2007-09-14T17:41:00.000-04:00

The Orphan Foundation of America sends encouragement and care packages to foster kids heading off to college. In 2005, they started adding red scarves to the care packages. Well, you KNOW this caught on in the yarn-loving community. The first year, knitters and crocheters donated 3500 scarves. The next year, 15,000 scarves.

This year, the Red Scarf Project is running a little earlier. Now, in fact. So, if you'd like to donate to this cause, here are some guidlines:

1. Scarves should be about 60 inches (152 cm) long by 5-8 inches (13-20 cm) wide.

2. Scarves should be unisex - no lace. Boys are college-bound foster kids too! (The NEW fall Knitty has a great manly scarf pattern.)

3. Yarn - No laceweight, super-chunky, or mohair yarns.

4. Color - any shade of red, although other gender-neutral colors are welcome.

5. Deadline - get your scarves in by October 15.

6. Cash donations are always welcome, as OFA covers all packing and shipping costs for the care packages.

7. Get this - they actually had to limit how many scarves you can send in! Limit is 5 scarves per individual or organization.

For more information, where to send the scarves, and how to donate, see the Red Scarf Project site. They have lots of pattern links and more ways you can help OFA.

Putting the "Blah" In Blog

2007-09-12T01:00:00.000-04:00

Totally leapfrogging off of Wendy's post from Monday, I am trying to get back into the swing of posting regularly. Turns out that, with 2 out of 3 kids in school, I somehow have less time to post. Go figure.

So, as stated, there has been some Ball Band Madness:

Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream in Hot Purple and Soft Teal

This purple and green number is a gift for my sis-in-law, who has zero appreciation for knitting. We shall convert her yet! (My 11-year-old niece knits, so I am hoping that having an in-house knitter will help sway SIL.)

Oh, I made one change from the original pattern for this one - I cast on 47 stitches instead of 45. So the first "block" you knit 5, slip 1, k5, s1, etc, ending k5. The next "block" you k2, s1, *k5, s1* rpt to end, k2. I like how this works because when I follow the pattern, that second "block" doesn't seem as well-defined to me. Your mileage may vary.

Yarn: Sugar 'n Cream in Rosewood and Soft Teal

The pink/green/brown is a gift for mom-in-law, who delicately requested I knit her one. Actually, she saw me knitting the brown & aqua striped one and said, "So when are you going to make me one?" Um, nicely put. (Followed pattern as written.)

NETTIE!! Yes, Nettie II is done! She has been tested and found fit for use, making the rounds at the local farmer's market last Saturday. I was on a yes-tomatoes-no-plastic-bag-please quest and fully succeeded. Nettie even received a compliment from the local raw honey vendor. Unfortunately, I did not get a photo of Nettie chock full o' tomatoey goodness, but regular readers of this blog know they should be happy with the crappy photo I did take. (heh, sorry guys) And who knows, maybe I'll actually get around to posting the long-promised pattern. (Or have I posted it already? Click to find out!)

There may be one more ball-band washrag in my near future, a little experimental number with some self-striping yarn. I'll let ya know. The yarn may have already been purchased. But I'm not tellin'.

Neglect

2007-09-11T12:26:00.000-04:00

It's not just the blog that's being neglected.

The Lily Pad socks are all but abandoned. (Alas, young love that burns bright for so short a time!)

The Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono II has betrayed me with wonky arm seams.

The class schedule for the LYS was due two weeks ago.

The lace winter scarf pattern, also for the LYS, is still in my head, not paper or even needles.

Girl's recycled wool sweater has officially stagnated. Now I want to frog the whole thing and make it into a crossover vest for her.

Boy1's Jimmy Neutron sweater is still in the skein. I'm not even sure if he's still interested.

My kids, however, are washed and fed. (Mostly.)

Why all this neglect?

DISHCLOTH MADNESS! Yes, once again I am spending all my knitting time on Ball-Band Washrags. These are gifts tho. Details to follow (uh, yeah right).

Hello, blog!

2007-09-05T21:15:00.000-04:00

Dear Blog:

I miss you. I know you feel neglected, and I am sorry. I have been Doing Some Things while I have been away. The School Prep. The Job. The Other Job. The School. PICNIC!

The possibly-upcoming family crisis. (We'll see about that.)

Oh, and some knitting. Not much. Just a do-over on the Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono. Still having problems with it, but I think it will work out. The baby it is for was born last Tuesday, so gotta get crackin'.

But I know none of these things are your problem, blog. I appreciate your patience and being there when I am ready to return.

Lesson Learned

2007-08-29T10:31:00.001-04:00

This, people, is why you must not only knit a swatch, but WASH IT.

Look closely (click for bigger). The red color speckles are running. Grr.

This was supposed to be a gift for a baby due any second. Unacceptable.

Next life: dishcloth. A plain ugly one. No cute ball-band goodness for you! (Stupid yarn.)

The pattern is the "Heartbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono" from Mason-Dixon Knitting. And it is not only Heartbreakingly Cute, but also Super Fast, Really Easy, and CHEAP.

Also heartbreaking with the running dyes.

Thankfully, I went on a booty kick a while back so I have a stash of booties on hand for emergency gifts. ("Booty kick" - heh.) But still. I really wanted to make this baby a sweater. Rats.

LOLCat of teh weeek

2007-08-28T23:54:00.000-04:00

P.S. We have the same shark.

FOto Friday - August 24, 2007

2007-08-24T13:13:00.000-04:00

Knit Picks

This aforementioned Knit Picks order arrived last Friday.

I purchased Lace Style, and two books by Elizabeth Zimmerman: Knitting Without Tears and Knitting Workshop.

Somehow, on my first order, I managed not to buy any books, even though the book sale was the whole reason I went over to Knit Picks in the first place. So, of course, when I realized that the book sale was about to end, I had to rush over there and grab some books. And more sock yarn, apparently.

Alert Readers (and/or Knit Picks Junkies) may notice Peacock in the front - didn't I buy that color already? Well, yes, dears, I did. But see, this is different. It's Special. The regular Peacock is rather bright. Girl liked it, so it will be socks for her. When I saw the Peacock "special dye lot", it looked more muted, so I snapped up two balls of the special dye lot as well. I am so glad I did, because I really like it.

Confession

I also really like the Lily Pad "special," the sock yarn on the right, as you saw yesterday. But I lied. That relationship is moving way faster than I let on. In fact...

Uh, yeah. That's a finished sock. In five days. Granted, it's a finished sock for a 6-year-old, but still. In fact, the swatch pic I posted? Faked. Well, not really faked. It is an actual swatch, after all. But I knit the swatch yesterday while I was reading blogs, then took a picture and posted it. The sock was already finished.

This pair will be a welcome replacement for this:

Ah, yes, the blue Cascade socks for Boy1. Toe-up in elastic cotton yarn. Just. Not. Working. To be frogged.

(Both Lily Pad and Peacock are now sold out in the special edition. Sorry. There are 5 other Special colors tho - Tuscon, Shale, Riverbed, Meadow, and Tuscany. I love them alllllllll. Especially Meadow. Hmm.)

Stash pic: LOLcat style:

I HAS A ADDIKSHUN.

Fullish balls in... top row - Warm Brown, Hot Purple, Jewels; middle row - Hot Blue, Rosewood, Cherry Swirl; bottom row - Citrus Fruits (2), Soft Teal.

That's the current state of my Sugar 'n' Cream collection. And I know I have a solid yellow and a solid white floating around the stash somewhere. How can I resist when it's on sale for $1/ball?

New Love

2007-08-23T17:20:00.000-04:00

You're going somewhere with friends. A party, perhaps. You might meet someone special. Or you might not. But the potential is there, the anticipation, the nerves.

Yep, I placed another Knit Picks order last week.

You see some new faces across the room. One, in particular, catches your eye.

Your eyes meet.

It's green. And blue. Son 1's favorite colors.

Right away, you know this is someone Special.

Knit Picks had an early batch of Essential Multi go wonky on the color, so it was on sale as a "special" dye lot.

You work up the nerve to head over there. Before you know it, you're deep in conversation about Life, The Universe, And Everything.

My gauge with KPE = 9 spi; son1's foot is 6.5 inches around = 58.5 stitches; subtract 10% for negative ease = 52.7; round # of stitiches to be divisible by 4 = 52.>

They say something that doesn't sit quite right.

52 divided by 4 = 13. 13? So I'd have to... ? And then I'd have to...?

You decide to overlook it for now and find out more.

Cast on 52 stitches.

The conversation continues deep into the night. Finally, sadly, it is time to part. Will it happen?

(Will it be good?)

*SWATCH*

Mmm. It's good. Sure, things could go wrong. You know in your head that a good kiss isn't a perfect indicator of a good relationship, but for now?

This could be the start of something beautiful.

More Handmade Toys - Free Knit Pattern Alert!

2007-08-21T22:33:00.000-04:00

Today on Knitting Daily, Sandi talks about her beloved stuffed purple cow, Cowie, that she had growing up. I'm sure we all had a favorite soft toy when we were kids, and many of us still have ours! (Yes, me too.)

I love this quote from Sandi: "Knit a toy for a child, and maybe someday they'll be all grownup like me, digging through their basement searching for the one denizen of Toyland who really mattered to them their whole life long."

(You're not alone, Sandi. You're not alone.)

Knitting Daily has a free pattern for knitted animals - bear, kitty, or bunny. And a crocheted Lamb, too!

Here's a couple more free patterns for toys from Knitty.com:

Gattino
Kate

(Yeah, they're both cats. It's probably a knitter thing.)