InfiKnity

Try, try again

2012-02-14T12:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Margaret and I went to A Verb for Keeping Warm and she practiced some needle felting.

Her attention span was short, so I ended up finishing her project. There is a group that meets there every other Monday. I think I might start going.

Sunday I re-cast-on my parasol project, with a new yarn that I bought at A Verb for Keeping Warm on Saturday. It's blue! There's actually a lot of green in the yarn, but you can't tell here. I'll get a better pic when it's all finished. This had better work out because this is my third attempt with a new yarn.

Apricot Tree Mittens

2012-02-11T23:07:00.001-07:00

The mittens I've been working on for a few weeks? Finished! And the pattern is written up and is available on Ravelry for $5.

I used Crystal Palace Panda Silk in Limeade (looks like that colorway is discontinued).

January's Update

2012-01-31T14:22:00.001-07:00

It has been a very slow knitting month for me. I spent the first two weeks working on the parasol I want to make for the county fair this year. I ran out of that skein and had to frog it.

For the next couple of weeks, I worked on a mitten pattern I'm designing myself. The cuff needed lots of frogging and re-knitting and now the closure at the top is getting in some frogging and re-knitting. You only get to see the palm side because I don't want anyone taking my awesome pattern idea. ;)

Frustrated with the mitten, I decided to take a break this weekend and tear up some scraps of fabric left over from serging the bottoms of our curtains and make some yarn.

It's going to need some "blocking" but will fit in our bathroom on the skinny step that goes up to our tub.

Tonight I go to knit night and I'm planning on working on the mitten again. Oh, and then I have to knit ANOTHER mitten, but it should go faster since the design will be set and ready. It's like test-knitting!

Temple outfit

2012-01-26T12:41:00.000-07:00

A friend just reminded me that I never shared the temple outfit I sewed last August. I wore it to the temple for a special ward RS trip before I had time to do any embroidery on it and I still haven't found time for that, but it's ok in all its plain glory.

These pictures were before I did the hemming, so the tunic is a little long. And now that I look at the pictures again, the tunic really does need some embroidery. So boring.

Best part? PANTS!

New Acquisitions

2012-01-14T16:25:00.000-07:00

When I won Coastal Knits from Yarn on the House, I also won a few skeins to swatch with. There's not enough for a project, but trying out new yarns is fun!

And here's my new KnitKing in all its retro glory. Check out the instructions. Fancy!

Here's a swatch. I was testing out the tension. I used a DK weight acrylic yarn. The knitting machine project I had in mind needs worsted, and I think that might be too thick for this machine. We'll see.

As you Knit, so shall you Frog

2012-01-11T22:18:00.001-07:00

That pink/red knitting from yesterday? Not enough yarn. And it was hand-dyed and gifted to me 3 years ago, so the chances of finding more? Slim to none.

I really want to do that project for my county fair entry this year, but I'm going to have to dig up new yarn. Third time's a charm, right? Right? I'm sad because that piece of knitting represents 3 weeks' work.

So I now need to find new yarn and I need to find a project for this red stuff. It's beautiful and will make something amazing, but the right project has to come along.

Back to the random number generator? Find a hibernating project to finish? Try out the knitting machine? Work on some so-top-secret-it-is-not-even-going-to-be-on-my-Ravelry-page projects?

We will see. Unless it's the last one. No one gets to see those.

WIP Wednesday

2012-01-10T22:26:00.000-07:00

Two weeks without pictures? Sorry! I've been working on the Lady's Bumbershoot again, but with a new yarn. I'm hoping this will be my county fair entry this year. I'm a little worried that it won't block big enough, but due to a twist of fate, I've ended up with bigger needles for the last couple of rounds, so perhaps that will fix everything. And since red is such a hard color to photograph, you get a very pink picture. It's much more red, I promise.

I want to do some swatches on my new machine (yay!) and design those mittens I mentioned. The mittens went on hold because I needed to get the right yarn, but I think I'm ready.

New Knitting Toys

2012-01-06T18:01:00.000-07:00

I just got my copy of Coastal Knits by Alana Dakos and Hannah Fetig. I'm so excited to look through it. The fact that they put it together all by themselves is so inspiring!

Also, this week, I bought a knitting machine. Yes! It's a vintage KnitKing machine. I have a project in mind for it and can't wait to get started on designing for it! The design I want to do uses coloring and I know intarsia can be done on a knitting machine, but I'm considering doing duplicate stitch instead. What do you think? It's going to be pretty detailed and I'm afraid that going with intarsia will mean more ends to weave in and more work in general. But it might look better in intarsia. Hmm...

What do you think? Anyone used a knitting machine before?

Hippie Pants

2011-12-28T13:11:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Itchy Fingers Longies Pattern
Yarn: Recovered yarn from a crochet project, wool.

The yarn for this project was originally crocheted into longies. A friend who didn't want them anymore gave them to me and I recovered the yarn and knit these! I started this project back in October and got as far as the gusset, but then had to stop because I wanted to knit both legs at the same time to conserve yarn and didn't have an extra needle. McKay got me a new circular for Christmas and so now they are done!

The cuff of the legs, starting from the top of the blue were knit like this:

Knit 1 row
Purl 1 row
Knit 2 rows
Purl 2 rows
Knit 3 rows
Purl 3 rows
Knit 4 rows
Purl 4 rows
Knit 5 rows
Bind off.

I kept the old drawstring, so I didn't have to knit it! The pattern had good directions and the size is custom made to fit Isaac.

Isaac's Cat

2011-12-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

Yarn: Pakucho
Pattern: Cat in Natural Knits for Babies and Moms

Isaac is in love with cats, so I made him a cat for Christmas. He loves it.

Shawl

2011-12-26T15:08:00.000-07:00

Did I ever post Margaret's shawl as an FO? I don't remember. It sat in my knitting basket for a month because I hadn't found time to block it. I had to block it before Christmas, though, so I did! And it's awesome.

Yarn: Berroco Sox in Lilikoi
Pattern: Little House Shawl

Before blocking:

During blocking:

Post-blocking:

In use (along with Isaac's sweater vest):

Pineapple

2011-12-14T18:03:00.000-07:00

Back to the random number generator, and this came up in my queue!

Pattern: Knit Pineapple
Yarn: Acrylic from stash.

Another toy for the play kitchen!

Lacy

2011-12-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

You know how only old ladies knit? Grandmas? Well, today, I present you with...

Granny Panties!

Well, they are as far away from granny panties as you can get (except for edible, I suppose)

Pattern: Lacy Thong
Yarn: Some stash yarn I can't remember what it was

I've considered using a red ribbon so they are more super-hero-like. Maybe I will.

Isaac's Sweater

2011-11-26T23:00:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Keene Toddler Vest
Yarn: Some acrylic in my stash, I think Red Heart Soft.

The yarn isn't the best, but I need kids' stuff to be washable and it is. I made the size for "2 years," SO MANY ENDS TO WEAVE IN. But it's worth it.

I'm done with my Christmas knitting! Woohoo! I have other projects that are in my "if I finish them, they can be Christmas gifts" list, but all of my required Christmas knitting is done! Hooray!

My stocking!

2011-11-23T10:55:00.000-07:00

I did it! It's purple.

Now to work on the sweater vest for Isaac. I don't know if I'll finish it before tomorrow because we are very busy today, but I will put some time in on it.

Slump

2011-11-22T10:53:00.002-07:00

This is not a good time of year to get into a knitting slump. I have not been knitting. I don't know why. I just haven't. I was at the DMV for over an hour yesterday because their computers were offline statewide and did no knitting. What is wrong with me? I ended up rescheduling my appointment so next week, I'll get to try again.

Thanksgiving is in 2 days. I wanted to have my stocking done before Thanksgiving and I'm currently turning the heel! The foot and heel are much faster because the colorwork is simpler and I really think this will go very quickly from here on out. Hooray! I really can't have any more kids because I do NOT want to knit those darn snowflakes again.

I finished the knitting on Margaret's shawl; it needs to be blocked. Then I need to do Isaac's present. I think I want to set the very high goal of finishing the knitting on my stocking and his sweater vest by the end of Thanksgiving. Maybe too high of a goal? Perhaps. But I want to get really serious about designing and patterns won't get written up if I don't knit them up first. Once the Christmas knitting is out of the way, I want to work on a mitten pattern.

I'm on Pinterest, if you want to follow me. I have a board for pretty knitted things. It's inspiring to see what other people knit. I was looking around on Ravelry thinking to myself, "I could make that. I could make that." Why don't I do all that? No idea. I think I will do all that. After all, it's just some string.

Little Turtle

2011-11-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Tiny Turtle
Yarn: Some acrylic I had lying around

I worked the pattern in the round instead of flat like directed. This made the feet a little fiddly, but it's better than having to seam!

So the baby shower gifts are finished!

Little update: Now to work on my stocking (ARG- I'm in the section that takes FOREVER). I've been taking Margaret's gift as my travelling knitting when McKay stays home with the kids while I go out in the evening. So that's getting along. Isaac's gift has only gained a row or two.

As far as designing, I was afraid that if I started designing, I wouldn't get any ideas, but this past weekend, a mitten idea came to me. I checked Ravelry to see if there were any similar mittens, but I couldn't find any like the ones I want to design. So that'll be fun once I get some more of the Christmas knitting finished. Look for that soon!

Fish!

2011-11-17T17:30:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Frida the Fish
Yarn: some scrap acrylic on hand

Like I said last week, I have a double baby shower to go to this weekend. Here's the first gift! I knit it in the round instead of flat like the directions said.

On to working on the second gift!

Entrelac Mitt Pattern

2011-11-12T17:26:00.000-07:00

Remember these mitts from earlier this year? I said I'd write up the pattern. Unfortunately, in our move, I lost my knitting notebook with all my pattern notes! Then, this past Monday, we found two boxes that we hadn't opened yet, and ta-da! My pattern book! Along with some of Margaret's knitted toys that I thought we had lost. It was quite the relief.

And the past few days I have spent time re-knitting the mitts into a red version and test-knitting the pattern. And by popular demand, I am actually going to sell it instead of using the Creative Commons license. That was a big jump for me as I really do believe in free patterns, but every time I wear something I knit or someone sees me knitting, I'm told to sell it. So here we go! On Ravelry, you can now download the pattern for $3 USD. Check it out!

This also means I have a new FO:
Pattern: Deena's Mitts
Yarn: Katia Flama in Red

We really need a new camera. The old one is making every picture extremely dark. We tried resetting it to factory settings, but it's still doing it. I had to photoshop a little bit. The first picture is from my phone. Sorry about that!

WIP Wednesday

2011-11-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here are my works in progress:

Clockwise, starting at the top left.
The blue mass is a pair of longies for Isaac since it is getting cold. I can't work on it until I have some new size 6 dpns, so it's on hold, which makes me sad because his little legs are cold!
The project with a purple skein and white tangled mass is my Christmas stocking. I work on it at home when everyone is awake.
The next purple mass is Margaret's Christmas present. I can only work on it when she's not around, so I knit it after she goes to bed.
The dark green project is the beginning of Isaac's Christmas present. I only work on it when he's napping in the afternoons.
The last rainbow project is something for Talents of Sisters. That is my out-and-about knitting.

I just found out a couple of days ago that there is a double baby shower next week. Need to find projects for that as well.

Keep on knitting!

Sushi!

2011-11-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Sushi (rav link)
Yarn: Red Heart and other acrylic on hand

I didn't knit the pickled ginger or wasabi because I know the kids will lose them. These will be for the play kitchen.

I have a lot of knitting that's on hold: some pants for Isaac because I need to buy more needles, my stocking because I lost one of the dpns, Margaret's Christmas present, and Isaac's Christmas present. Because I can't work on the kids' gifts when they are awake, I need to have a small project to work on when they're around. That's why I made these sushi. I may make a few more small projects during the holidays for the same reason.

Grr Argh.

2011-11-05T11:50:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Grr Argh Monster
Yarn: Red Heart Soft from the stash

This is the monster/zombie from Mutant Enemy.

Grr. Argh.

Red Scarf

2011-11-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

Pattern : Pipp's Openwork Eyelet Scarf (Rav link)
Yarn: Dream in Color DK in Poppy (FB link)

The red is really vibrant. I love it.

This scarf is for a lady in our ward. Her favorite color is red, so she gets a red scarf!

I think blocking does this scarf wonders. It's magic!

FO: McKay's stocking

2011-11-03T10:58:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Falling Snow Stocking
Yarn: Encore Worsted

My goal was to finish this before the end of October so I could work on mine and finish it before Thanksgiving. I finished this stocking right on time on Halloween!

My gauge is a lot looser than when I made the kids' stockings last year. McKay's is like 4 inches bigger than Margaret's. Eek. Oh well? Maybe I'll get around to making new stockings in a few years... or not.

More Halloween Craftiness

2011-11-03T10:40:00.000-07:00

We carved a pumpkin! This was for FHE the week before Halloween and by the time Saturday came, it was gross and moldy, so we had to compost it before it actually got to be used.

It's a generic jack-o-lantern because that's what Margaret requested.

I carved turnips for Halloween night. We got these from our CSA box, so they are smaller than the ones we did year ago. Because of their size, I couldn't put a face on any except the one on the far left here. But they held up tea lights and glowed spookily for trick or treaters. And because I couldn't stand wasting local organic turnip insides, I froze what I scooped out for a soup this winter.

Another hat for the Occupiers

2011-10-26T15:38:00.000-07:00

Pattern: The Boy Hat

Yarn: Encore Worsted

Another one for Occupy Oakland. This picture was taken right before I went to my knitting group and I took Isaac with me, thinking that if things weren't violent, I'd run it by the Occupiers last night. But you know how that went down, so we didn't go. When the encampment gets back up, I'll head out then. Or I can give the hats to Occupy Berkeley or Occupy SF.

Occupy Hat

2011-10-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Occupy
Yarn: Encore Worsted

If you count the knit stitches in the rows, there are in order 15, 3, 3, 21, 16, 25, the letters corresponding to the letters O, C, C, U, P, Y. Can you see it?

I knit this to donate to Occupy Oakland. They were raided last night, but are currently marching at the Oakland library, so I'll run it by there later with another hat I finished yesterday (pics to come). I think one of the greatest good things that have come out of Occupy Oakland is that many of the homeless were fed and given shelter. These hats will keep them warm when the weather turns chilly. The nights are in the 50s already.

Decorating for Halloween

2011-10-25T16:26:00.001-07:00

We've been crafting for Halloween!

Lanterns. I got the idea and instructions from Rhythm of the Home. I decided to put the lanterns on Christmas lights so they light up!

Pipe cleaner spiders hanging in the front window.

A paper plate skeleton. McKay made this with the kids and the feet and hands are traced from Margaret. Check out the masking tape holding it up!

Not pictured: we carved our jack-o-lantern last night and Sunday I'm going to carve some turnips to hang up by our front door.

Two Fish

2011-10-25T16:08:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Bubbles
Yarn: Some cotton in my stash.

I made these fish for a birthday present gift for one of Margaret's friends. I also made the bath crayons. It was a whole bath set!

WIPs

2011-10-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

I'm a day late to WIP Wednesday, but here are my Works in Progress

A scarf for a lady at church. Red is her favorite color. I bought the yarn last week from A Verb for Keeping Warm when I went with my friend Jess.

McKay's stocking. It's the same pattern as the kids' stockings, but with green as that's his favorite color. Mine will be next. Also, I knit it inside out so that the yarn carries aren't too tight.

Pants for Isaac. It's getting cold and he has a lot of shorts, but not many pants. The yarn is Kool-aid dyed that I got from a friend. It's secondhand yarn: she gave me the yarn crocheted up into pants and I took it out to make knitted pants. This project is on hold because I need new needles.

Also, I have to knit a quick dishcloth before a birthday party tomorrow.

I'm also planning on getting more serious about designing. I went to go write up the pattern for the entrelac wrist warmers from earlier this year, but I cannot find my knitting notebook! I searched everywhere. I think this is a sign that I need to throw out half of what we own. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

FO: Nemo Mittens

2011-10-15T18:27:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Nemo Mittens
Yarn: Red Heart

So yeah. The mittens feel awful as they are acrylic, but Margaret loves them anyway and if they get dirty I can wash them. Way too many ends to weave in. Too much work for not a great product (yarn's fault, not the pattern).

FO: Lace Shrug

2011-10-15T18:22:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Lacy Little Shrug
Yarn: Encore Worsted

In my mad rush to assemble outfits for our Christmas photos, I was worried that it would be chilly and we would all need some warm knits. Margaret didn't have one, so I knit this up last weekend. In the end, it was a little too tight and Margaret didn't like it (anyone want a little shrug? it'll probably fit a 2 year old) and it was warm enough that it wasn't needed anyway.

FO: Soaker

2011-10-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Vanilla

Yarn: Paton's Classic Wool

I wanted to make a soaker to use up some wool scraps. The colors are very autumnal. It's a little big on Isaac (I did the large with worsted yarn), but he'll grow into it. It needs room for a cloth diaper, of course!

The pattern is written out logically, but it took me a while to figure out the designer's logic, if that makes sense. Initially, I casted on for the wrong size and had to rip it out.

Additionally, I've started some longies because the rainy season is going to start up in a month or so. Look for those. I need to get some new needles for those, so they are on hold at the moment.

FO: Pinwheel Sweater

2011-10-12T14:56:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Pinwheel Sweater

Yarn: Encore Worsted in many colors

This pattern had been sitting in my queue for a long time. So long, in fact, that Margaret has outgrown the child size. I decided to take the mean of the adult and child size measurements to make a sweater that will be in between. It's big on Margaret, but she'll grow into it... in 6 years.

I chose the pink, red, blue, yellow, and green because they were leftovers from other projects and I needed to use them up. I chose the orange and purple to match and had to buy them just for this project. The purple is almost all used up, though, so there's not a lot of extra. I'm not really happy with the orange and purple, but oh well. Good use of stash. It needs blocking, but it's good for now.

FO: Skirt? Cowl?

2011-10-03T17:24:00.000-07:00

I got a lot of knitting done this weekend, thanks to conference. Here's a finished object!

Pattern: Neckwarmer
Yarn: Katia Flama in Denim and Red.

I learned the 1x1 tubular bind off for this. And I ran out of blue so I used red for the crochet edging. Because it slides off Margaret's waist when she runs, I might add suspenders, but then she can't use it as a cowl, so I don't know.

I also got a lot of work done on a cardigan/jacket/sweater for Margaret. Just working on the sleeves!

Knitting Update

2011-09-30T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm knitting mittens for Margaret. I worked on those during the General Relief Society meeting last weekend.

I'm also knitting a sweater/jacket/cardigan for her. I was out of yarn, but on Wednesday, I bought the rest at the Alameda Yarn Co. I also bought some sock yarn that Margaret liked and she wants me to knit boots. I'm going to knit her a shawl and then use the leftovers for a boot-like thing.

And I knit this and unknit this (and the stake conference project) a few times. And I'm giving up for now. I got stitch gauge, but not row gauge so I'm going to try a different yarn. This project will be next year's county fair project. But I'm not going to work on it until after Christmas. I have to do stockings and other holiday knitting.

And I'm ready for 8 hours of knitting this weekend!

FO: Owl

2011-09-17T16:47:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Owls Two Ways (knit)
Yarn: Encore Worsted in color 520

I finished this earlier this week, but waiting until today to post because it was a baby shower gift. There is rice in the bottom to help the little owl stay up. I used a three needle bind off instead of binding off and then seaming the top together. I think it's adorable!

FO: Caterpillar

2011-09-17T16:42:00.000-07:00

You might remember this caterpillar from last year. That one became a baby shower gift, but Margaret had a hard time giving it up. I told her I'd make one, but never got around to it... until now!

This is all some acrylic in my stash. Maybe one day I'll have used it all up. Maybe.

Another Mask

2011-09-12T13:43:00.000-07:00

This is the first in a set of 3 for a friend. I did most of the knitting for the second, but can't find half of it now!

Also finished this weekend, but not pictured: a baby shower gift. Will post pictures once the shower is over! It's very cute, though.

Green Bag

2011-09-12T13:39:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Child's Rectangle Purse
Yarn: Some acrylic DK weight yarn

We went to the yarn store a few months back and Margaret was in love with a felted purse, so I figured I'd make her a purse eventually. It's not felted because I didn't want to put that kind of work into something that would get destroyed in use. And I wanted it to be washable.

I adjusted the pattern to fit my gauge and I didn't make it as long as it said, but Margaret loves it still.

FO: Halloween Socks

2011-09-07T16:05:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Blue Ray Socks from Lorna Miser's The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn
Yarn: custom colorway of 75/25 Wool/Bamboo blend sock yarn from Lanitium ex Machina

When asked about what colors I liked in a colorway, I said that I liked bright colors like orange and purple thinking that the dyer would use that as an inspiration point. I received Halloween-colored yarn! Just in time for the fall, too.

This yarn sat in my stash for a few months because I knew that it would pool a lot. When I received The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn, full of patterns and other ideas for reducing pooling, I knew that this yarn would be good for trying and finding out if the book was as good at reducing pooling as it said it was. I think it did a pretty good job. Please pardon the pictures- my camera was acting up and everything came out really dark, so I had to adjust the exposure and brightness and now it looks washed out!

Cast-on-a-thon?

2011-08-28T21:45:00.000-07:00

So when Thursday and Friday came up, I was attacked with such a busy schedule, that I dropped the ball. Then the weekend came, and I haven't "cast on" anything since Wednesday.

But yesterday, I re-organized my craft cabinet and saw materials I had been accumulating for projects that need doing and also my small basket of almost-done projects. I made a list of these and came up with 17 projects. Some are very small, like fixing some broken knitted toys that need some mending, and some are bigger art projects. There's one on-going project that I really should just donate 20 minutes of my day to it until I finish. Maybe I'll throw that in too.

So for the rest of the cast-on-a-thon, I'll be sharing these projects. Very few of them are related to knitting, so bear with me!

WIP Wednesday

2011-08-24T18:12:00.000-07:00

Just a little round up of the other projects I'm currently working on. I'm getting some knitting time in between all the casting on.

Vanilla Soaker

More of the pinwheel sweater

Halloween Explosion Sock

Cast-on-a-thon Days 9, 10

2011-08-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

Day 9: Beginnings of a Caterpillar. I made one last year and Margaret wanted one for herself, so here it is!

Day 10: I tried the sun printing again. I had one tie and one handkerchief I could do. It didn't really have the effect I wanted. I think I should have been heavier on the dye and really pressed the little Luxos into the fabric more. There are only a few slight outlines. It's hard to tell what I was trying to do. This picture is during the sun exposure stage.

Cast-on-a-thon Day 8

2011-08-22T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hardwood Floor Cleaner!

I haven't mopped our wood floors in weeks (months) because I didn't have a cleaner. So today I made some!

The bottle came from the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse for a quarter. I also bought a squirt attachment so I can apply this solution directly where I want to mop.

The Recipe:

1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
a few drops of Tea Tree Oil
Water to fill the rest of the bottle.

Except for the tea tree oil, I'm essentially putting salad dressing on my floors. Yummy.

Cast-on-a-thon Days 6, 7

2011-08-21T22:04:00.000-07:00

On day 6, I cast on the Vanilla Soaker (Ravelry link), thanks again to a random number generator. I worked for a couple of hours on it when I realized I was following the wrong directions, in my upset, I frogged it and decided not to cast on anything on day 6.

On day 7 (today), I went back and re-cast on the soaker, as you can see here:

Fancy!

I felt ok with skipping day 6 because I bought more yarn for Margaret's sweater/jacket and I bought some fabric for another project I'm going to do for the cast-on-a-thon. It involves Pacman. And it will be awesome. I need to get a few more supplies for that project, though.

FO: Mouse

2011-08-19T17:42:00.000-07:00

For day 5 of the Cast-on-a-thon I let the random number generator decide what to cast on from my queue. This little mouse was the lucky pattern.

Pattern: Marisol the Knitted Mouse (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Red Heart from my stash

Margaret really loves the little mouse and was upset when I told her that the mouse was hers AND Isaac's. They'll figure it out.

Cast-on-a-thon Days 3, 4

2011-08-18T16:55:00.001-07:00

I didn't start any projects yesterday (day 3). Instead, I continued to work on my new temple outfit. It's finished and I'll put up a picture tomorrow.

Because of the lack of casting on yesterday, I decided that I needed to do something.

So today, after finishing the temple outfit but before the kids woke up from their naps, I mended 2 pairs of McKay's jeans, a pair of his shorts, a pair of Margaret's shorts, and a pair of Margaret's pajamas.

I still have some pants to do for McKay and myself, but decided to put away the sewing machine for now. So I'm counting that as day 3.

For day 4, I decided to make my own deodorant. I've been going deodorant-free for a while now because I used up all my funk butter and didn't want to order more (shipping is horrendous for just a little tin of funk butter!) I used the Instructables Deodorant tutorial (but I decreased the size of the recipe) and the coconut oil, vitamin E oil, baking soda, corn starch, and lavender oil I had sitting around. I had saved my Funk Butter tin, so I put it in there. And it's all ready to use!

I know you're probably wondering if I'm ever going to cast on anything knitting-related. Yes, I am. But this week was sewing-heavy because I had the machine out. I'm sure we'll get into the knitting soon. Like tomorrow.

Cast-on-a-thon Days 1, 2

2011-08-16T15:48:00.000-07:00

So I really am going to "cast on" a new project every day for a month. Not all of my projects are knitting, so starting a sewing project or other craft project will count as "casting on." I'm going to have pretty loose definitions of "craft" and "project," too.

Day 1: The second Halloween sock.

Day 2: My new temple outfit. You can see the patterns cut out for the shirt/tunic here. I'd like to get it done by Thursday for the RS temple night, but children are hampering my sewing time. And my inexperience in sewing is hampering my make-it-look-good-ness. But it'll be ok. I think. I hope.

Sunday Summary

2011-08-14T19:03:00.000-07:00

This past week, I tried to branch out and do some other crafts I've been planning. I finally got around to getting McKay's ties painted for Father's Day. Here is Margaret painting. I had her take off her shirt to avoid the dye from getting on her clothes. Also, sorry about the blurry-ness

I had this great idea of using red, yellow, and blue and sun printing a start in the center of the red to mimic the Pixar ball. I thought it would be a great way to celebrate McKay's job. Unfortunately, the wind was too strong outside in the sun to keep the stars on the tie (even with buttons weighing them down) and it didn't work. Here's picture before they all blew away.

Margaret used grass and leaves on her tie and they actually stayed and McKay wore that tie to church today. Everyone thought it was beautiful. Margaret is a far better artist than I am!

I still have 1 unpainted tie and 1 silk handkerchief. I'm going to try sun printing again on the other tie, but I'm not doing the star idea.

I also finished a sock! I need to do the other. It reminds me of Halloween, which is coming up sooner than I can think! I need to make Margaret a costume.

I also bought some fabric to make myself a new temple outfit. My other one is 5 years old and has always been too tight in the shoulders. I can barely life my arms in it. I'll keep it around because it's very flowy and works all the way through my pregnancies, but I'm excited to make something myself.

I am behind on listening to my podcasts, but on a recent Just One More Row, a KAL was mentioned on a destashing Ravelry group in which the participants cast on a new project every day for a month. I'm considering doing my own version of that. I don't have enough needles to do 30 projects, so I'd have to finish some- especially the small toy project I have queued. I'd also allow myself to do other crafy projects like sewing or whatever. Or maybe I'll just work on something for at least an hour every day. We'll see.

Startitis Sunday

2011-08-07T19:23:00.000-07:00

So once those socks of McKay's were finished, I had nothing on my needles. Can you imagine?! I had to cast on something quick! So I did what I normally do when I have no direction: let gaussian noise decide. I took a random number generator and picked my next project. I'm working on this pinwheel sweater for Margaret. Here's how it is now:

This is a great stash-buster. So far, I've had enough yarn, but now I'm not sure what to do. I need 2 more stripes, but I only have enough of a different color yarn for one of them. It looks like I'm going to need to buy a skein, but I'm not sure what color to go with. Right now my colors are: pink, Christmas red, turquoise blue, pale yellow, and lime green. They look so very bright in real life: very fit for a child. The last color will be a charcoal grey as a nice solid border color, but I'm not sure what color to use for the stripe between the green and grey. Purple won't look good next to the green (it's lime-ier in real life). Maybe orange. Or white. What do you think?

Needing a small project (and being held up by this lack-of-6th-color issue), I turned to this skein of yarn from Lanitium ex Machina. It's purple and orange like I requested. The colors remind me of purple carrots: purple on the outside, orange on the inside. The color sections are short: about 4-6 inches of color before the next. It has the capacity to pool really badly, so I'm trying a pattern from my new book, The Knitter's Guide to Hand-dyed and Variegated Yarn. There's one sock pattern and I think it'll work for this skein. We'll see!

FO: McKay's socks

2011-08-05T13:28:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Regular Guy Toe-Up Socks
Yarn: Patons Kroy Socks Jacquard in Denim

I started these months ago, but after the first was finished, I had other projects that got precendence (those leg warmers, for one!) I started the second sock on Sunday, finished knitting it last night, and wove the ends in this morning so McKay could wear them to work today. The pictures aren't the best because our place doesn't have the best lighting in the morning.

I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off instead of the bind off mentioned in the pattern. One of the skeins had slightly less yarn, so that sock is about a half in shorter in the cuff. Each sock was one skein each. I probably had a total of 1 foot of spare yarn between the two of them.

Presto Hat

2011-07-31T22:10:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Presto Baby Hat
Yarn: Red Heart Soft in Forest Green 7684

This was the last item in my "I want to do a few quick projects" run. It was in my queue, but both my babies are too big for it. The doll is a little small for it. But I'm sure I'll run into a baby to give it to.

FO: Super Heroine Mask

2011-07-31T22:05:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Secret Identity Mask in Knit
Yarn: Encore Worsted in 9601

Sometimes I feel like a superheroine and sometimes I need the mask to prove it. Margaret wants one, too.

FO: Alligator

2011-07-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Baby Gators
Yarn: Some acrylic I had lying around

After finishing the legwarmers, I wanted to do a couple of quick projects. Here's an alligator I made last week. Pardon my inability to sew legs on straight. I don't know what my issue is.

I really love how deep the alligator's mouth is. You can fit a couple of marbles in there! Hungry hungry gator!

FO: Legwarmers

2011-07-28T15:32:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Uyen

Yarn: Tosca Light in 777.0068

These were made for a woman at church. She chose the yarn and pattern. I'm modeling them here. and I'm taking the picture from above looking at my feet. Sorry about that!

Easy pattern, might not stay up without some sort of garter. I'm going to wash them once before giving them to the recipient to even out some of the laddering of the stitches. This was my first project while doing two tubes on two circs. I like that I don't have to knit another! McKay is wishing I had done this with his socks- he has one sock and is patiently waiting for another.

FO: Knitted ball

2011-07-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Gevlochten Bal
Yarn: Some acrylic I had on hand

This is for a baby shower. Don't mind the pictures. I was trying to figure out the manual settings on my camera here.

Recap of June

2011-07-09T12:28:00.001-07:00

I had our ward's quilt from quilting group for a week. For every hour I work on a quilt, I get a raffle ticket to win the finished quilt. And I don't have to own a ton of fabric or quilting supplies, so it's a really good deal.

Here's my shawl on display at the county fair. I won honorable mention. The county fiar people didn't display it as I'd like, but I guess that comes with the territory. At least it wasn't upside down or backwards like one of the shawls I saw.

I have a long list of projects I need to start. Maybe July will be my magic month!

WIP Wednesday

2011-06-15T16:38:00.000-07:00

It's WIP Wednesday again! I haven't been able to do much- life suddenly got really busy and I don't know how!

First up is a sock. It's finished, but its mate is not. I'm not actually sure when I'm going to get around to knitting the second. Some day. McKay says it fits great. They were toe up and I used a short row heal. I think the ribbing is what is making them fit so well.

I'm also working on a pair of legwarmers for someone in my ward. Her cancer isn't being kind to her body and she needs something to keep her warm under dresses and skirts for the summer.

I'm knitting them two at a time so I don't lose momentum with Second Sock Syndrome like I'm doing with McKay's. This is my first two at a time attempt and I think I've got it down. It'll rock.

That's it for now. I have lots I want to do, but I just can't handle more at the moment. I need to give all my knitting time monogamously to those leg warmers.

FO: Rainbow Shawl

2011-06-06T16:13:00.000-07:00

It's done! And blocked! (though I know it could have been blocked better) But it's blocked!

Here's before blocking:

On the blocking boards:

I bought the alphabet foam set for $5 on Craigslist for the purpose of blocking. Best $5 ever. Cheapest blocking board ever- and the size can be adjusted for whatever you're blocking. It's perfect.

Post blocking.

It's a little over 5 feet across the top- like 5'3" or something like that. This Friday is the day I have to take it to the county fair for judging. I hope I do well!

T-Shirt Grocery Bags

2011-05-23T16:32:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago while walking home from the library with a rather large load of books, our library bag broke. It was one we had received from Pixar and I had hoped it would last a while, but alas! It didn't.

Then, while listening to the Knitmore Girls Podcast, I heard Gigi mention making project bags from T-shirts. I couldn't find a pattern linked to on their site or Ravelry group. However, on Instructables (I love that site!) I found this tutorial and today I made some grocery/book/everything tote bags from some old shirts McKay doesn't wear anymore.

I used a zigzag stitch as suggested in the comments and I'm going to hope that the author is right in that they'll hold library books. As you can guess from the fact that our library books broke the other bag, we check out a lot.

In knitting:

I haven't been getting a lot of knitting done with the move this weekend. My yarn is actually all packed and I packed my needles today, so I only have 2 projects out: my rainbow shawl and a pair of socks for McKay. I'm guessing I have about 6 more hours of knitting on the shawl and then some blocking.

Shawl in Progress

2011-05-16T14:01:00.000-07:00

I'm still working on my lace shawl. I'm really loving it, though it's taking me half an hour to do a row now.

I've officially signed up for the county fair. I have until June 10 to finish and block this and take it to enter it in the competition!

Mom's Socks

2011-05-06T10:03:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Vinnland
Yarn: Kraemer Yarn's Saucon Sock in lime

I bought this yarn on March 17 when my LYS had a 20% off all green yarn sale for St. Patrick's Day. My mom's birthday is the 18th, so these were designated for her.

The bind off in the pattern was not giving enough to get over a heel, so I tried Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off. It worked well and I'll probably use it when the sewn bind off is called for because I won't have to get out a tapestry needle for it.

I finished them in time to get them out for Mother's Day. I mailed them out yesterday morning and paid extra for 2 day arrival, so I'm hoping she'll get them Saturday.

Pillowcase Dress

2011-04-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

Last week I turned this pillowcase

into this dress.

I'm not particularly good at sewing, so it's pretty much a pillowcase toga, but I'm ok with that.

FO: Jar of Love

2011-04-26T11:57:00.000-07:00

I made this "Jar of Love" for Jessica Heywood. She took the beautiful pictures. You can tell because, despite my very powerful photo editing software, I don't know how to use it!

The hearts are the Mochimochi Land hearts with an acrylic yarn. There is a knitted bird in the Jar of Love as well. It's made with Encore Worsted yarn and I used the Spring Chick pattern.

FO: Finger Labyrinth

2011-04-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Baltic Finger Labyrinth (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock in Archangel

It was cloudy today for the picture and in my attempt to get the settings on the camera to work well in overcast lighting, these colors turned out very bright. I personally think they are more jewel-toned.

The pattern says to do garter stitch, but I did stockinette because I'm not going to actually use this as a meditative finger labyrinth, but as a wall-hanging. I think the design is beautiful. I'll probably frame it.

This was also my first project with my fancy new blocking kit I bought at Stitches. It looks good, doesn't it?

WIP Wednesday

2011-04-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

A look at what's on the needles today!

I finished this sock during General Conference, but I'm going to re-do the bind off and I need to get started on the second sock. This will be for my mom. We have similarly-sized feet (mind are wider), so if they fit me, they'll fit her.

A sneak peak of a gift I'm working on.

A finger labyrinth. Finger labyrinths can be used for textural meditation.

And, as always, the rainbow shawl. I'm in the middle of frogging a couple of rows because I forgot which row I was on and messed up the lace pattern. Because it's so fragile, I can only work on it when both the kids are asleep, so if you suspect that I don't get much time to work on it, you guess correctly.

FO: Blue Balls

2011-03-25T16:34:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Oh Balls!
Yarn: Red Heart Kids in blue

Margaret's birthday party is tomorrow and her party's theme is "blue." These are going to be something the toddlers can play with and then take home as party favors. I really despise party favors that you throw away once you go home (like little plastic tops), so I'm hoping these won't fall in that category.

Reclaiming Yarn

2011-03-24T08:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago I knit a sock that wouldn't fit anyone. Frustrated with it, I hid it away deep in a bag of yarn.

But the yarn was so lovely that I couldn't let that go away forever.

So last week, I got it out,

Frogged it,

Soaked it,

and hung it to dry.

Now it is kink-free and ready to use!

WIP Wednesday

2011-03-16T14:29:00.000-07:00

Another pic of the shawl. I've made a lot of progress! It's going slowly now, though. Each row takes about 15 minutes.

Sold!

2011-03-16T08:31:00.001-07:00

Remember I mentioned Talents of Sisters last week? Well, I decided to make a few of my Tropical Bath Fish to sell through them and yesterday they sold! Yay!

I already have a request for another set! I finished up that yarn, so I have to go down to the store some time and get more! With the sale of my fish, Talents of Sisters has raised enough money to buy a latrine for girls! Yay!

I want to knit things for Talents of Sisters, but also knit some things for myself, so I think my goal will be to knit 2 projects a month to sell on their etsy site. And now I need to cast on for some socks for my mom!

Podcasts!

2011-03-15T12:05:00.000-07:00

Yay for knitting podcasts! I got a smartphone in January and suddenly having an mp3 player with me all the time has opened my life to the realm of podcasts!

One of the fun aspects is listening to a podcast and recognizing the names of a few local yarn stores. Stash and Burn is local like that and that's cool.

These are the few I'm enjoying right now, in alphabetical order. Many are knitting-related, but not all. It's pretty obvious which ones are knitting-related.

Cast On
KIPing It Real
Knitmoregirl's Podcast
The Manic Purl Podcast
Mormon Matters
Mormon Stories
The Pixar Podcast
The Round Table
Stash and Burn
Sticks & String
Subway Knits

I'm not the sort of person who goes back and listens to every episode ever- I listen to the most recent 2-3 and then just jump in there. The only exception is the Mormon Stories podcast because I think the issues there are interesting and I am learning a lot from that one.

If anyone has any recommendations of more knitting podcasts, let me know! They only update every week or less and I between running 3 days a week and knitting in the afternoons, and listening to podcasts while driving and doing dishes, I run out of things to listen to!

FO: Entrelac Mitts

2011-03-10T16:38:00.000-07:00

Pattern: My own
Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw

I made these to go with the entrelac hat to be sold at the silent auction last Saturday. And they sold! So I no longer have these, which is sad, but the money is going to a good cause.

When I did that hat, I knew I wanted to make matching fingerless mittens, but none of the patterns on Ravelry spoke to me- I had these in my head and I couldn't find them! So I needed to knit them. And as I knit them, I took notes so another pattern should show up on Ravelry soon-ish. I'm going to need to re-knit them off my notes because I'm not sure if I really am the perfect note-taker I like to think I am.

Talents of Sisters

2011-03-08T06:00:00.000-07:00

(x-posted at the bee in your bonnet)

It's International Women's Day again! Party on, my sisters!

Last night Margaret and McKay "hid" from me and I creeped up to tickle Margaret. When I came into sight, Margaret hid behind her eyes as I crawled up to tickle her. Her defense, "Mommy, we're girls!" or in other wards, "Don't get me, we're on the same team!" She's right, I know. We are girls and we all are on the same team. I always add that we love girls AND boys and Margaret will tell me during the day, "We're missing a boy!" referring to Daddy.

But yes, we're girls. We're on the same team. Let's not fall over ourselves in fighting amongst ourselves.

There are some great events in the city today, but I can't really get involved with those sorts of things at this point in my life. Kids and all.

So today I'm going to don some purple and spend some time being a girl. And I'm going to finish up my first donation to Talents of Sisters. (Sorry I haven't gotten the stuff to you yet, Courtney!)

Talents of Sisters is a non-profit etsy collective and store and it's making its debut today on International Women's Day. After reading Half the Sky and wanting to get involved in the movement, Courtney wanted to get involved in helping girls and women secure money for education, safety, health care, etc. But like many of us, she's a mom who doesn't really have the ability to give up weeks and months at a time to go travel and physically be with and help the women worldwide.

But what can she do? Craft. What do I do? Knit. So she came up with the Talents of Sisters and is hoping that individuals and Relief Societies will contribute homemade goods to sell through etsy and earn money to donate to the organizations and groups who can be out there where we can't. If you already have an etsy shop, you can sell items with the "Talents of Sisters" tag. If you don't, the item can be posted in a group shop. What can you donate? Anything you might sell on etsy! I'm probably going to go with the knitting, but if you sew or sculpt or paint or carve or make jewelry or whatever instead, then do that!

So this International Women's Day, that's what I'm up to. I hope many of you can join in and get your friends involved as well. Our Relief Society will be reading Half the Sky this year and I'm hoping to get our quilt group and knitting group in on this! I'm really excited about this!

Quilt Block

2011-03-07T21:45:00.000-07:00

I am NOT a quilter. I already have one expensive hobby; I don't need two! But here's my block for the quilt group I'm in. Luckily other people have quilt frames and space, so I don't have to have all the equipment!

What's cool about our group is that you keep track of your hours quilting and then when there's a finished quilt, your hours turn into raffle tickets and there's a raffle for the finished quilt! The more you quilt, the more chances you have to win. And your hours carry over quilt to quilt, so if you don't win one quilt, you have better chances when the next quilt is done. I hope that over the years, I'll get to nab a quilt or two.

Charlie Brown Hat Pattern

2011-03-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

Ever since making this hat 3 years ago, I've had a couple of requests for the pattern. I've finally made it up! Apologies to the people who've waited so long for this!

A couple of notes that I mention in the pattern: this pattern is in beta. I made the hat 3 years ago and actually got rid of the hat last year when I was decluttering before our move. Don't worry- it went to a good home! But that means that when writing this pattern, I was going off of memory. Luckily I knew where my chart was! I have not re-knit this pattern, so specifics like gauge are up in the air at the moment. I will knit this hat later this spring and re-write the pattern based on that and get better photos at that time. I will also announce when this pattern is out of beta and update the pdf at that time.

The pdf of the pattern is here and also on my sidebar. I'm heading over to Ravelry right now to put it up there.

My First Spit Splice

2011-03-02T18:08:00.001-07:00

Isaac was sleeping. I was doing something in the kitchen and Margaret was in the living room. Then I heard a little voice.

"Mommy! I cut it!"

My mind went straight to my lace shawl that I left on the couch. You know, that shawl I vowed not to get down while they kids were awake because I didn't want them messing up where I was or breaking the delicate lace weight yarn? Yes, that one.

I did take time to consider that maybe she just cut her hair. After all, she had just watched me cut McKay's hair last week.

So I went to the living room. It's the lace shawl. Luckily it's just the yarn leading up to the shawl and not the shawl itself.

Phew! Of course Margaret was really proud of this. I didn't want her cutting my yarn in the future though, so I told her that it's not good to cut Mommy's yarn and Mommy is sad for the yarn. This put her in tears. I knew it would because she's a very sensitive child and saying I'm sad broke her heart. I sat down and nursed her and told her that I love her and I knew she thought I'd be happy that she cut my yarn for me- she was being helpful! I told her she could watch me fix it.

But now I didn't know how to splice it. At Stitches West, I had talked to the lace knitting guild about Russian splicing, but with this yarn, I didn't want to attempt it because I don't think I have a needle small and share enough for that.

Then there's spit splicing. That could work since it's 100% wool. But I've tried spit splicing before and I didn't succeed.

So I go to youtube. I search Ravelry for advice. And I decide on the fateful spit splicing.

I unspun the ends and put them together, showed Margaret that I put them in my mouth and felted them together in my hands.

And it looked great- like there wasn't a problem at all.

I finished the row and put it up. I learned my lesson and rededicated myself to keeping that project up and out of the way.

In other news- I'm pretty much done with writing the pattern I mentioned Monday I just need to format it so it looks pretty. I also don't have the FO of the pattern anymore, so it probably needs a test knit, but I don't have time for that right now. I'm going to make it available later this week as a "pattern in progress." And then later this spring I'll knit it up and get nice finished photos for it.

I'm almost done with my first fingerless mitt to match that entrelac hat. I'm writing down notes so I can make up a pattern for that as well. I'm hoping I have enough yarn to make the second. I didn't like any of the patterns of entrelac mitts on Ravelry and this has a fairly unique construction for the thumb. I hope that people like it.

Also, check out Talents of Sisters. I've never been one to sell items on etsy (too much work to deal with taxes and all!) but I'm going to be a regular contributor to that store since I don't have to do the work! Thanks, Courtney!

FO: Entrelac Hat

2011-02-28T14:57:00.001-07:00

I signed up to donate an item to our ward's silent auction to fund the summer camp for the young women at church. Fraught with uncertainty of what to make, I went to the yarn store last week and found some Noro Silver Thaw on clearance and bought a skein. I searched Ravelry for ideas until deciding that Noro was made for entrelac. I had never done an entrelac project before, but I was up for the challenge.

The first time I made it, I wasn't happy with the lack of slouch in this slouchy hat, so I frogged it back to the ribbing and started over. I like it now.

Pattern: Entrelac Tam
Yarn: Noro Silver Thaw (discontinued)

I really liked the entrelac technique, which is why I didn't mind frogging the whole thing to do it again! I have some extra yarn from that skein and I think this hat is asking for a pair of matching wristwarmers. I don't like any of the designs on Ravelry, so that's going to be of my own design. Look for that next week (I hope!)

The worst part of this project was that the yarn had breaks in it and new yarn was knotted into it at random intervals that caused sharp changes in color instead of the nice gradual change you expect from Noro. Luckily the entrelac hides that (mostly).

Pardon the pictures. I was taking them myself while wearing a baby.

Creative Commons Vs. Money

2011-02-27T19:58:00.000-07:00

Last December I got an email from someone wanting me to write down one of my old patterns. She even offered to pay for it once I got it written up.

Now, since the very beginning of this blog, I have been a defender of free patterns. But when I look over at Ravelry and all the patterns for sale and all the subsequent sales, it's very tempting to say, "Ooohhh. Money! For knitting!" And so I have an inner battle.

I love Creative Commons. Really. A lot. My inner socialist-free-love-hippie self is all, "Free! Share the knitting love! Everyone should be able to use patterns and knit everything!" There are lots of flowers and rainbows and an elusive unicorn or two.

But then I know the argument on the other side: designers put a lot of work in their patterns. They deserve pay and giving away free patterns devalues their hard work.

What do you think? I'm writing up that requested pattern this week along with designing another and hopefully putting it up next week. I'm leaning towards "free" to appease my inner hippie and because dealing with starting a business and keeping track of income is intimidating. Anyone BTDT?

WIP Wednesday

2011-02-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Stitches West

2011-02-20T19:27:00.002-07:00

I didn't really hear about Stitches West in time to set up official carpools with knitters and through some bad luck, I had to make the choice yesterday: go to Stitches West alone or stay at home and spend time with my family. I was feeling really ambivalent about going, but McKay said, "You know if you don't go, you'll regret it!" So Isaac and I trekked down to Santa Clara yesterday afternoon. It was rainy and dreary, so all the colors were a fun site.

This was the scene when I first got there. Please excuse the cell phone camera.

One of the first things I did was find my LYS's booth. Here is proof I was there. This is the only picture with me in it and you only get half my face!

I started wandering around and was surprised to run into Allison Sarnoff and Jemma of The Knit Princess! I follow them in my RSS reader and I bought their first 2 books which also come with patterns in them! And the books were signed by Allison. Yay! The power of yarn does compel me.

And the booth right next to them? Handknit Heroes. I bought a subscription and got some patterns. I'm definitely going to make Margaret a superhero mask.

I also recognized a lot of booths by brand name: Malabrigo, CocoKnits (the church slipper pattern was theirs), KnitWhits (this hat from 4 years ago was their pattern), for example. There were also some local yarn stores: Imagiknit, A Verb to Keep Warm. And some local knitting guilds.

Here's KnitWits' booth.

In my wandering, I saw someone in a pretty dress and thought, "Oh, I want a pretty dress." So I went to the booth to see why they were all fancied up. And the booth was the Sanguine Gryphon! I read their blog and love their patterns. Here're the fancy dresses:

And I bought the pattern for the parasol pictured here:

So in all it was fun. I went hoping to get some blocking pins (which I did!) and a purse handle for my first felted bag (which I didn't). My greatest disappointment of the day was that I didn't make it in time for the Ravelry event! Oh well.

I didn't buy any yarn at all, though. I need to go on a yarn diet after that last LYS trip.

One of the best parts of yesterday was coming home and finding that instead of working on his thesis (must finish this semester or else!), McKay cleaned the whole house. Dishes done, rooms vacuumed, everything. Yay!

Rainbow Yarn!

2011-02-18T11:50:00.000-07:00

I used my new swift and wound up this ball for my first lace shawl! In hindsight, I should have made this 2-3 balls. This was also my first time using lace-weight yarn and I was too rough and the yarn snapped twice in the winding process.

But it's pretty!

FO: Photo Prop

2011-02-18T11:47:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Baby Egg/Cocoon Pattern
Yarn: Lana Grossa Fancy in green

The bear isn't the best model for this, I'm sorry. This is actually the second one I've made. I made one last December as a Christmas gift for my sister-in-law. This one is for Carol. Carol has watched Margaret for me a few times and did our pictures last fall. She deserves a little gift!

FO: Gnomes

2011-02-16T13:43:00.002-07:00

Over halfway through the month and I haven't posted anything here! I'm still a knitter, I promise! In fact I just bought the yarn for my first lace shawl ($42.99/skein was a little overwhelming, but this is going to be a gorgeous shawl). And I think I might head over to Stitches West this weekend!

Pattern: Bev's Top Down Gnome
Yarn: Some acrylic I had around

Last year when I was in a Waldorf mood, I added these to my Ravelry queue. I made these this February thanks to the random number generator!

I did these in the round instead of flat.

I took the pictures with my phone, so they aren't the best. Maybe I'll get some better ones later.

Now I have a huge list of things to knit. Look forward to those new projects this spring and summer!

FO: Doll Sweater

2011-01-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Little Kina
Yarn: Red Heart Sport Pompadour in Parakeet- I think the color is discontinued.

I followed the directions for the 16 inch doll. Margaret chose the blue from my stash (yay for using up acrylic!) and the button is a pink flower.

FO: Church Slippers

2011-01-24T15:30:00.000-07:00

If you follow my Bee in Your Bonnet blog, you'll know I don't wear shoes. Pretty much ever. Well, I wear them for exercise, but other than that, nothing. I do wear socks when my feet are cold, so don't worry that sock knitting will cease for me! Anyway, I wanted a sock-like thing to wear at church when my feet are cold, so I made these.

Pattern: Pleated Ballet Flats
Yarn: Rowan Cocoon in Tundra #808

These took me a lot longer than they should have. Christmas got in the way and these got put to the side. I also had to frog the first slipper twice to get gauge. I have wide feet, so it needs to be loose enough to stretch, but not too loose that they'll be too big for my size 6 feet.

I might put soles on them because of the felting aspect. And I might re-do the bind off of the right one to make it a little tighter so it'll stay on better.

FO: Choker

2011-01-18T12:37:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Victorian Choker
Yarn: Cotton Ease, leftover from 3 years ago

This was another random-number generated Ravelry queue project. And some old stash busting.

Oh, I need a haircut!

FO: Sun Hat

2011-01-16T17:58:00.002-07:00

Pattern: On the Sunny Side in 2-4T, open work lace
Yarn: Some cotton I got from a friend. No tag.

I did the brim in white, used up all I had of the green and blue yarn- which was probably not a whole skein and then finished the top in white. The green and blue are so calming. It just makes me sigh in happiness every time I look at it.

The top is kind of pointy. I might take out the top rows and adjust it to fit her head.

Why a sun hat in January? I chose this pattern via random number generator in my Ravelry queue. If I hadn't, it probably would have never been done. I need to use a random number generator more often. This is exactly what I needed last summer for her, so I think it'll get a lot of use this next summer.

FO: Sticky Socks

2011-01-16T17:47:00.001-07:00

I don't know why I call these Sticky Socks, but I think the name fits.

Pattern: Sock it to Me: Plain Toe-up Socks for the Family in size child.
Yarn: Ty-Dy Socks Dots in Seafoam

I did the Magic Cast On and I also didn't do these "plain" as in the directions. I copied the idea from Knitty's Topographie to purl the green and orange colors. The yarn is light blue.

I love them! And I still have a lot of yarn left over, so I'll probably make some more toddler socks! She needs them.

FO: Owl Vest

2011-01-07T15:16:00.000-07:00

Pattern: Owl Baby Vest (Ravelry Link)
Yarn: Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool in Coffee Bean Brown

I wanted to make Isaac a sweater vest for church, so I did! Can you see the owls across it?

FO: Green Shirt

2011-01-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

Pattern: K-shirt Toddler Tee
Yarn: Mirasol Yarn Chirapa in Rainbow Jade

This yarn willed itself to be this shirt. It all started at the yarn store. I was picking up some yarn for another project when Margaret found this yarn and asked me to buy it. I put it back and left the store with what I intended to buy. But this yarn stayed in my mind and I kept thinking about it and thinking about it.

I even knew what pattern to use for this yarn. So I went back and bought some, only to come home and learn that the pattern asks for worsted and this yarn was sport weight. I tried looking for a more appropriate pattern, but broke down and just redid all the math and stitch counts to accommodate my gauge. It HAD to be this pattern.

Downsides: This is 100% wool so I have to be careful about it felting. I don't normally use yarn that needs a lot of care for kids' projects, but I was so drawn to this project, I ignored that little rule of mine.

Margaret loves the shirt, I love the shirt. It's perfect. When I find my sheet of paper with my pattern notes, I'll put my edits up on Ravelry.

Hair bow holder

2010-12-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

For Christmas I made Margaret this hair bow holder. The hat is way too big for the craft, but it was the smallest at the store. I think I'll look for a smaller one and re-do it in the future.

The braids are some acrylic yarn and the bows are all her hair bows. Definitely need a smaller hat.

2010-12-13T18:49:00.000-07:00

I've spent all day trying to upload a video of me using my new swift, but I haven't succeeded in that endeavor quite yet. Just know I got a swift for my birthday and it is awesome.

FO: Isaac's Stocking

2010-12-13T16:12:00.000-07:00

Not the best picture, but just wanted to get it up here. When I finish all the stockings, I'll do a group shot. I knit looser in order to keep the color work from bunching, but the result was that I got a bigger gauge and Isaac's stocking is a couple of inches bigger than Margaret's. I wonder if I should go back to the original gauge for mine and McKay's or stick with this bigger gauge.

M&M Challenge- Upcycled Wreath

2010-12-01T08:33:00.004-07:00

Our next prompt was: paint, markers, and wire.

I do not have a steady hand when it comes to drawing or painting, so I was a little concerned about this challenge. But then I thought, "What if I take this literally and use markers/paint in the craft?"

Immediately this came to my head. And so I made it.

I had to find a whole ton of green utensils, so I went to the East Bay Depot for Creative Reuse and bought them from there. They sell these things by the pound, and I bought 2 pounds worth. Wire is used to hang it up, and I'm pretty sure there's a couple of paint pens in there, so it's all good.

Please vote for me!

Again

2010-11-27T15:15:00.003-07:00

There was an issue with the original vote post, so The Perfect Pear Pair re-blogged it and the new link is here. If you want to vote for me, I made the car drawstring bag (#8!).

Thanks!

M&M Challenge- Car Bag

2010-11-27T09:55:00.005-07:00

I didn't get any points for my tiny sled, even though, in the comments, people said it was a really awesome idea. Sigh.

But voting for the next project is today, so you should go comment about how awesome my car bag is and vote for it. Because it's awesome.

Margaret has a few matchbox cars and they are small and tend to get lost, so I had been planning on knitting her a bag for them- and use duplicate stitch to put a car on it so she would know what belongs in the bag.

But I hadn't gotten around to it, so when the craft challenge gave the prompt of fabric, buttons, and ribbon, I decided to make her a bag for her cars.

The car is an applique that I made myself. I had never done one before! And the wheels are buttons. I think it's cute. Vote for me.

FO: Crown

2010-11-25T14:46:00.003-07:00

Pattern: Child's Play Crown

Yarn: Red Heart Supersaver

Margaret has missed the princess craze, but instead, runs around the house pretending to be a queen. I thought a dress up crown was needed, I showed her this pattern and let her pick out the yarn. Her favorite color is blue, so that's what she chose. The sequin flowers are buttons that I threaded and placed on the yarn like you would beads.

When she put it on her head, she ran to find her book with a picture of Queen Elizabeth II and smiled and said the Queen was happy.

M&M Challenge- Tiny Sled

2010-11-23T08:38:00.004-07:00

This is a tiny sled. I made it for the Mix n Match Craft Challenge (see sidebar). For round one, we were given yarn, paperclips, and glitter as prompts. I came up with a tiny sled. The runners are paperclips bent into shape. There is glitter glue on the runners to look like snow. Can you tell?)

The penny is used for sizing it. It's tiny!
There is still time to sign up for the challenge- you can sign up any time during it. I was so nervous- the first challenge was really difficult and I didn't feel very creative, but I tried. I ended up using only the things that were required, but that's only because I had no idea what else to do! I also hope that my inability to photograph my project doesn't count against me!

FO: Frog

2010-11-21T20:17:00.001-07:00

Pattern: Ribbit
Yarn: Red Heart Kids in Lime
Notes on my Ravelry page.