A Journey Beyond Boredom

Falling In Love

2009-01-23T13:50:00.003-06:00

I remember when I was first falling in love with Bryan we couldn't see enough of each other. I was in school full time during the day and working part time in a pediatric practice at night and Bryan would meet me almost every night to make sure that I got out to my car safely. Sometimes after everyone had gone he would come inside the office and talk with me while I filed or got charts ready for the next day. We saw each other every single day and when we were apart we spent our time thinking of the next time we would see each other.

We've been married now for 8 and a half years and even though he doesn't walk me to the car each night that I work (can you blame him for not wanting to wake 2 sleeping kids?) I still think of him when we're apart. I wonder what he's doing and if he's thinking of me. I wonder if he'll like what I made him for dinner or if he's having a good day at work.

When I first started knitting I had very similar feelings. I thought about my knitting all the time and wondered if it was thinking of me, too. I couldn't go a single day without knitting and not having my knitting with me was enough to make my eyes mist up a bit. I'd be working and thinking about what I'd be knitting right at that second if I could and thinking about all the progress that could be made if I were knitting and not working on month-end reports or filing lien releases from subcontractors.

While I still enjoy knitting I'd be lying if I said that I still LOVE my knitting. I want to. I really do. I look at it and wonder where the joy has gone and when I lost it. Mom has the joy. Where's my joy?! Knitting isn't sparkly and new anymore. I do it because it seems odd not to knit. My hands don't seem right when there aren't knitting needles in them, but at the same time I look at it and feel kind of "meh" about it.

I think I need a marriage retreat for my knitting and me. You know the kind. You go away, just you and your loved one and attend sessions and have candlelit dinners and go for long walks holding hands and leave feeling like newlyweds again. Yeah, I need one. I want to feel attached to my knitting again and not just because it feels odd not to have it but because I love it. I want to fall in love with my knitting again!

As a first step I decided to take good pictures of my projects again. I'd been settling for phone pictures but no more! I got out the camera, put in freshly charged batteries, and laid out my projects. Secondly, it's time to start knitblogging again. I've neglected my blog for far too long and it's time that that changed!

Blog, meet my knitting!

Here we have the ever elusive Clapotis. This Clapotis is one that I'm making for myself from some yarn that Mom purchased for my birthday last year while we were visiting San Diego. The yarn is a-ma-zing.

The best thing about this yarn is the drape and shine on it. Oh, and the colors are to die for. And don't forget how incredible it feels. Okay, so there's a lot of things to mention about the yarn. What keeps me from working on it is... I don't know. I'm almost half way through the yarn and it seems to take forever because I'm doing it on size 5 needles.

Okay, so here are some Sweet Plain Jane socks for Mom. She picked out the yarn, Trekking, to match her new Dansko clogs. The thing is that I'm kind of over Trekking at this point. I usually love watching the colors change but there's none of that going on here unless you count going from red to black to red to black and back to red. This is truly a labor of love.

Hello, Hourlgass sweater! As you can see I've worked the body and started on a sleeve. Love love love the yarn (KnitPicks Comfy) and I think the sweater will look great on me but I'm afraid of 2 things. 1.) I'm afraid that though I made the sweater length as written, it might be too short 2.) I'm afraid of working on the sleeves and joining them to the sweater/yoke because I have no idea how that's going to work out and so therefore am not working on any part of this sweater.

Last but not least, (but we'll see because I'm questioning it), Branching Out. This is one of those patterns that I've wanted to make forever but haven't done because of no good reason other than I've been nervous about trying lace. There's something about lace charts that freak me out. I can totally make sense of cable charts because you can see where they're going but lace is a mystery to me. I cast on once for this pattern and pulled it out because it was using Kidsilk Haze and I was ready to pull out my hair, too. I cast on for it a second time I didn't like the yarn and conveniently Ailish happened to get a hold of the project and take care of the problem for me because she ripped out the whole thing. Now I'm using the leftover yarn from Owen's sweater and I have no more yarn excuses. Darn it!

So there you have it. There are my works in progress and there are all my excuses and thoughts on them. It feels really good to get all that out! Okay, so now I need to hire a cheering section and a babysitter and get to work!

Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

2008-07-06T11:11:00.004-05:00

Pretty Purls Spa Cloth

Yarn:
Knit Picks CotLin (shown in Linen, Chocolate and Creme Brulee)
Skeins: 1
Needles: Size 5 US

Pretty Purls Stitch Pattern:
Row (Left Justified Pretty Purl Row)

1: p
2: k

3: p
4,6: k4, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from * 7 more times, k1
5: *k1, p1, k1, p3, repeat from *7 more times

Row (Right Justified Pretty Purl Row)

7: p
8: k

9: p

10,12: k1, p1, *k5, p1, repeat from *7 more times, k4
11: *p3, k1, p1, k1, repeat from *7 more times

Notes: There are 3 rows of seed stitch at the beginning and end of the pattern and 3 stitches of seed stitch at the beginning and ending of each row. I'm not going to include instructions on this, but if you need help on seed stitch I would recommend that you go to KnittingHelp.com.

There are 3 rows of stockinette after the seed stitch at the beginning and before the seed stitch at the end of the pattern. The first row of stockinette should begin with a purl row. There are also 3 stitches of stockinette on each row that immediately follow the seed stitches at the front of the row and just before the seed stitches at the end of the row.

INSTRUCTIONS

Cast On 60 stitches using Long Tail Cast On.

Rows 1-3:
Seed Stitch Border (For help regarding seed stitch go to KnittingHelp.com.)
Rows 4-66:
Begin Pretty Purls pattern for a total of 6 repeats, adding Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at the beginning and ending of rows) and remembering to include 3 stitches of stockinette immediately after the Seed Stitch at the beginning of the row and immediately after the Pretty Purls stitch pattern before the Seed Stitch at the end of the row.
Row 67 - 69:
Repeat rows 1-3 (stockinette portion) of Pretty Purls stitch Pattern remembering to include Seed Stitch edging (3 stitches at beginning and ending of rows).
Rows 70-72:
Seed Stitch Border.
Row 73:
Bind off in Seed Stitch

Hobbies

2008-02-26T11:09:00.001-06:00

Maybe it's the fact that I'm on day 8 of 13 straight days of working. Maybe it's the PMS. Maybe it's that I have 3 sick people in my house and I'm running myself ragged trying to take care of everything. Perhaps it's not any of those things... but I had such a frustrating experience last night and I'm still irked by it.

Saturday and Sunday I worked my usual 5pm to 10 pm shift at the hospital doing Bed Control. Thank heavens it was a slow weekend and I didn't find myself stressed at all, which is unusual for Bed Control. In fact, yesterday was so slow that I brought out my knitting from my purse and knitted on a sock while I watched the bed board and the bed control program for new ER patients to place. I love that I can knit without looking at my hands! In between calls to and from the nursing stations I knit a good 1.5" on the sock!

At 8:45 the third shift came upstairs from finishing pre-reg close and started their other closing duties. They don't take over Bed Control and Labor & Delivery until 9:15 so there's a bit of time between when they come up and when they take over. At 9:00 they were both at my booth for some reason and one of the girls asked me about the sock I was working on. She talked about how she wishes she had time for doing something like this but there's just no time at all. I told her that I knit while I watch tv or movies, and that I knit some before bed or while I'm waiting in lines or at appointments. She asked how much yarn it took to make a pair of socks and I pulled out a skein of the yarn so she could see and then I told her that it took 2 of these skeins.

My coworker took the skein of yarn from my hand and turned it around and around to look at the colors. Then she saw the price and had a cow. "7.25 for this? And it takes two of them? Do you know how much this costs?" I looked at her and said, "Yes, I am pretty good at math, plus I PURCHASED the yarn so I know that it costs $14.50 plus tax"

She starts in about how she would NEVER pay so much for string and how RIDICULOUS it is! I asked her, "Do you go to the movies? You pay $9.50 for the ticket and more for popcorn or a drink. For that much money you get 2, maybe 3 hours of entertainment. For $14.50 I get 20 hours or more of entertainment and at the end of it I have a beautiful pair of socks that I get to enjoy or I get the pleasure of seeing someone else wear and enjoy." My coworker didn't care to listen but then went on for another 10 minutes talking with someone else about how crazy and stupid it was to spend so much money on string.

Allow me to vent for a moment.

1. Frankly, I don't care what hobbies you have. As long as what you do isn't illegal, hurts yourself or someone else then have fun! You like to garden? Great! You enjoy building stuff in your garage? Wonderful! Just don't have your fun by burning kittens with matches and I'll be happy for you.

2. I was raised that you don't talk about money and the price of things with people outside of family. Enough said.

3. Knitting isn't just about the socks, the sweater or the mittens that it produces. It's a process for me and I like to pick yarn and needles that are pleasurable to use. I love the feel of the needles in my hand and the texture of the yarn as it passes through my fingers. I admire the colors and the tone of the yarn in the skein, after it's been wound and in the fabric. I don't mind paying more for yarn that I'll love through the whole process and after the project is off the needles. I like quality items and it is worth it to me to pay more. I can get a pound of yarn at Wal-Mart for $4.00 but I won't enjoy knitting it and it won't be nice to wear. What is the point of that?

4. Yes, I paid $14.50 for a pair of socks that I'll have to make myself, nonetheless. What they won't know is that I waited until that yarn was on sale to purchase it. I also make other sacrifices if it is going to be an expensive project and will save up the money before I purchase the yarn. It may seem ridiculous to you but that's probably why this is not your hobby. Personally, I think her $10,000 collection of manga is ridiculous but that's why it's not my hobby. Refer to #1... as long as she can afford it and she enjoys it then that's great!

It took everything in me not to throw double pointed needles at them or make it personal by throwing their own hobbies back at them. (You just had major back surgery 7 months ago so why exactly are you swing dancing and hurting your back again to the point of missing work?) But I stayed on the high ground by just smiling and letting them be tactless. Ooookay! I feel better now!

Namaste

2008-02-08T23:18:00.000-06:00

A big part of my 2008 so far has been spent going through my house room by room and making decisions about "stuff". We have a lot of "stuff" around here and now that Ailish has joined us and added her own "stuff" to the mix... well, let's just say that it didn't make things any better. For a little thing she's has a surprising amount of "stuff" and considering her size you'd think it'd be small "stuff" but you'd be wrong.

Exhibit A

One thing that I've decided is that I have a lot of purses that don't suit me. I'm not a small purse kind of person. To make life a little easier I've ordered a Namaste Everyday bag in black and I'm looking forward to its arrival! In order to make a little room for it I'm putting up my Namaste Messenger bag in chocolate brown up for sale on Ravelry.

Ravelry ladies, here are the pictures of the bag!

The outside of the bag

Cute striped lining and pockets
Zippered divider and side zipper. There are also two interior pockets
Just like luggage, the outside can unzip to add some width to the bag. There is a small stain next to the zipper on the bottom of the bag.

The seam has popped open here just a little bit but would be easily repairable. Obviously seaming is not my favorite part of any project.

If you have any questions you can feel free to email me at briannekeene@gmail.com

Stalled

2008-02-02T23:29:00.001-06:00

Knitting has been uneventful as of late. Well, I take that back. There has been eventful knitting just not of the good and productive nature.

I started a modified Anouk for Ailish and things were going well until Owen found the project and managed to remove and lose one of the size 7s from my Denise needles. We've searched the house over and over for weeks with no luck! Anouk went back in the bag and into the craft closet until I receive a replacement from the company. The order was placed today and hopefully I'll be back to knitting my girl more cuddly clothes by next week.

The Monkey fever bit me and I pulled some Tofutsies (color 718) from the stash play with. Mom had purchased this yarn for me while on vacation and I thought it would be fun to play with such an interesting yarn. Fun was not quite the right word. I went through three needle sizes and then when I found the right one (size 0 if you were interested) I knitted the cuff down to the heel and tried it on for kicks just to find that the sock wouldn't fit over my heel.

I'm an adult so I did the only obvious thing. I pulled my needles from the sock and stuffed it in my knitting bag to give the yarn to someone else. This is why it is so important to have knitting friends to help you through the hard times! Kate is going to make some socks for little miss Haley and I hope that she loves them! (Kate, I happen to have a skein of 724 in the stash if you'd like it.)

Thankfully, inspiration struck and I'm in the middle of a sock that I'm in love with and should fit. (My fingers are crossed which makes knitting a little difficult, but I'm dealing.) These are done toe-up and while I've made 2 pairs of socks this way I've never been happy with the way that the heels have turned out so I sent out an email to my girls to get some help.

While I wait for help to arrive it's time to look back to projects that I've finished recently but haven't displayed!

May I present Thuja. These socks were a quick knit on size 2 double points, knitted exactly as written in the pattern. Sarah dyed the yarn herself and I love the amazing job she did with the fiber! Just look at the subtle variations in color. Beautiful! It is the perfect match of yarn and pattern.

The last project for today is Wisp. (I've been on Knitty a lot, can you tell?)

Call it sacrelige, but I'm using this lace scarf as a table runner.

Knit as directed by the pattern but on size 6 needles instead of 8 to give it a little tighter look and without the yarn overs on the sides. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace in Sea Mist, which was a joy to work with. Even with doing a full 17 repeats of the lace pattern I still have 25 grams of yarn left which is enough to make another Wisp. Perhaps someone will see a Wisp of their own under the Christmas tree this year?

Yes, I'm already thinking of Christmas knitting! Ailish started crawling on Christmas Day and is now pulling herself up onto her feet and I think I'm going to need all the head start I can get to make sure that I have my holiday knitting done before Easter 2009!

Hey Tammy...

2008-01-21T10:48:00.000-06:00

Guess what I've worn to work for the past 2, very very cold nights?

Saying hello to some old friends

2008-01-16T23:24:00.000-06:00

And now for to FO's that never properly made their debut on the blog...

Pattern: The UnGranny Smith at Knitty
Yarn: RYC Cashcotton DK in Apple
Needles: KP Options in Size 3 and 5 US
Time To Knit: A very long time. Started in November 2006 and finished in June 2007

If I were to knit this again I would have made it in a smaller size since it has a bit of ease to it. Also, I'd make the body of it longer and the arms a bit shorter. It is a WARM sweater and I can wear it on a cool day without having to put a jacket on, which is wonderful!

Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: Art Fibers Royal Silk
Needles: Brittany straights size 6 US
Time To Knit: Started during big ice storm in January 2006 and finished in March 2006, approximately

This is a great pattern! Once I just decided to trust the pattern and not second guess every single stitch it went better. I had originally planned on making this for myself but then I came to the realization that I was having my second child in a couple of months and the odds of me wearing 100% silk within the next 10 years without completely ruining it were pretty slim. So this became my Mom's Christmas present and she is in love with it! She wears it almost every day, whether she's out and about or just at home. The fact that Mom adores it and uses it so often is such a pleasure to me.

The silk was incredible to work with and made the finished product absolutely delightful. The fabric has amazing drape and shine to it. Mom claims that it is one of the warmest scarves that she owns and yet is wonderfully light. Perhaps in a few years I'll be working with that yarn again on a project for myself!

I've started my own Clapotis out of Reynolds Rapture so that I can have my own Clapotis to enjoy. With it knitting up on 10.5 US needles it moves quickly so I'll be able to enjoy it soon. I had 7 skeins to start with and now only have 1.5 left to go! Hopefully I'll be done with it this weekend so that I can show it off!

More than just knitting

2008-01-09T11:43:00.000-06:00

Monday was quite a day. Tornadoes in January boggles my mind, but it happened and it happened on a night that I was at work.

I work at a local hospital in the Admissions Department. My whole job is to find beds for the people who need to be admitted through the ER, are directly admitted by their doctor, and who are coming out of surgery. It is a stressful job and I'm never ever bored. Multi-tasking is a must for this job and so is a hard skin because you spend your entire time calling people (nurses on the floors) who really don't want to talk with you and don't want to give up their empty beds.

When I came on shift at 5pm I went down to the basement of the hospital to Bed Control, where I sit in front of my computer and 2 very large, flat screen televisions that show me every single bed in the hospital (there are over 600 beds in total). I work with Dorothy almost every night unless one of us has a day off. We've gotten close and work really well together.

We soon get word about the tornado warnings and all patients are evacuated to the hallways. Dorothy and I started getting increasing ER patients over the system that we needed to find beds for. By 7:30 the ER was declared a Level III disaster and we were getting 4 and 5 ER admits at a time and as soon as a bed was found for one person another 2 would pop up... and this on a day when we were a bit short on beds as it was.

Everyone worked together amazingly from the ER to surgeons and the floors. I ended up staying an extra 2 1/2 hours to help the third shift with Bed Control and left work at almost 12:30am. It was a long, stressful night and on my way home (through rain where visibility was less than 10 feet) I realized that I hadn't eaten or taken a break through the whole night. I stopped at home to check the weather and then drove to a local storm shelter to help Bryan get the kids home because Owen was really upset.

When we got home at 1am and after the kids were asleep I sat in bed and knitted. I breathed deeply and felt my neck and back start to relax.

Last night was not much better. The hospital was still packed from the night before and it was another busy night in the ER. I worked my usual Tuesday 8 hour shift and at lunch I brought out my iPod and knitting. Between the Clapotis on my needles and the Mozart in my ears I was able to go back to my computer with a better attitude and outlook on the night.

When I first started knitting in April of 2005 I never would have thought that it would impact my life as much as it has. I'm working my usual Wednesday 8 hour shift and while I can't count on it being an easy night, I can count on knitting to help me get through it.

Start as you mean to continue

2008-01-06T14:37:00.000-06:00

This phrase succinctly sums up my thoughts about the New Year. I did my best to end 2007 with having already started some of my goals that way I can keep moving with the momentum and give myself a great start to the year! Then I heard Brenda Dayne's podcast by the same name and knew that it was going to be my motto for the year.

I was having a hard time falling asleep one night early last week and decided to write down a list of everything that I wanted and needed to do the next day. List writing is a favorite activity of mine but that night I got on a roll and even surprised myself when my list ended at #65. Obviously this list was not going to be accomplished in one day but I gave myself to the end of the month to finish it.

Updating the blog was number seven on the list. It has been over a month since I posted anything and at some point I began putting it off because I didn't have sufficient time to make a really good post and then it just snowballed from there. Today I decided that I just needed to make a post and get on with it!

A lot has happened in one month and I hear Ailish starting to wake from her nap so this won't be much longer... but look at what Mom and Dad gave me for Christmas!

This is an Amy Butler bag by Rowan purchased from Simply Fibers, a skein of Alpaca Soxx yarn in cream and the Interweave Press book Favorite Socks.

I'm so in love with this bag... it's ridiculous.

It holds so much stuff!!! LOOOOVE!

Hello!

2007-12-03T14:52:00.000-06:00

I've unburied myself long enough to make this very quick post. This past week (heck the past month!) has been crazy and I'm managing keeping up with life but only if I pretty much ignore the internet altogether. The good news is that I'm still mostly sane. The bad news is that the next few weeks don't look good either so the blog and my knitting will suffer! To try to get more pleasure from my very limited down time I'm trying to combine some of my loves...

Hardback library books stay open very well by themselves!

I've been incredibly remiss in saying a big "Thank you!" to my Secret Pal, who turned out to be Danielle! Danielle was an incredible Secret Pal who spoiled me rotten! Take a look at my final package...

It's a yarn bouquet! There's a skein of Zen sock yarn and some bamboo size 1us dpns in that beautiful bouquet. Isn't that fun?! Thank you so much for all of the thought and time that you put into the packages, Danielle. You were a great pal!!!

And now back to just two of the many reasons why I'm so busy. Exhibit #1...

Ailish, who is contemplating crawling. She gets up on all fours and rocks back and forth. The other day she even moved up both knees before falling over onto her side in a fit of giggles. Time to baby proof the house!

And exhibit #2...
Owen, who is doing great and is very sweet to his sister. He's needing more attention these days and it's been a balancing act between giving both kids the time they require and deserve.

Busy?

2007-11-24T23:30:00.000-06:00

It has been so busy lately that I hadn't checked my email since Tuesday morning. I was almost scared to see what Google Reader had in store for me!

About 15 minutes after my last post about the too-big socks I found Thuja in my Ravelry Queue and noticed that I had noted that Sarah's yarn would be perfect for it. Great! So I cast on the 56 stitches and went to town. Halfway into the heel I started wondering if this sock might just be too loose but kept on with it thinking that it would be better to try on the sock after finishing the gusset decreases. True to my word, I tried on the sock after decreasing and it was too big. Way too big, in fact. The sock would probably even be a little loose on Bryan!

The yarn is perfect with that particular pattern so that won't change but there's no way I'm casting on 56 stitches. It's a seed stitch rib with a 4 stitch repeat and I'm thinking that if I remove two repeats for a total of 8 stitches that I should be just fine.

This morning we woke up to snow! The weather has been swinging between beautifully warm and beautifully cold. A 4am trip to Wal-Greens for a feverish Ailish made me so thankful for warm knitted scarves! Ailish definitely needs a cute knitted hat. Any suggestions?

P.S. Secret Pal, I got your final package today! Expect a full post on it Monday!!! :D

Either way it is not good

2007-11-20T13:18:00.000-06:00

I finished Bryan's Christmas socks and started digging around in the stash to find the next sock! Last year I purchased some of Sarah's hand dyed yarn from Simply Fibers and it has marinated to perfection. It is a heavier sock yarn and it looks great on size 2 needles so the socks will be a quick knit.

Last night I found the pattern I wanted to use in the Knitting Vintage Socks book by Nancy Bush. The Heelless Sleeping Socks but with a heel would be just about perfect so I cast on and worked 2" of the pattern after which I stepped back to take a look at it. I didn't like it! Okay, so it was late and not the best lighting so I decided to wait until the morning to see what I thought.

Here's what I found:

Right side: Bad. I don't know that I like all the purl stitches. The knits look amazing in this yarn, though... which made me think to turn the sock inside out.

Wrong side: Bad. Now it just looks like I don't know how to knit in the round and made a bunch of mistakes.

Back to the drawing board!

Making the effort

2007-11-15T22:54:00.000-06:00

I've been making the conscious decision to not procrastinate. It's an easy thing for me to do. "Oh, I'll just knit one more row and then I'll unload the dishwasher." "During the commercial I'll put the laundry into the dryer." "I really need to deflate Owen's blow up pool and put it away but I'll do that when he goes down for a nap."

When I decide to be honest with myself I realize that I put off way too many things. How much more effective would I be in my life if I just got off my tush and did whatever it was that needed to be done instead of fooling myself into thinking that I can really just knit one more row and not make it 1.5" of knitting before I reluctantly get up and attend to to the task at hand. And you know what? My house looks better and I'm less stressed out. Now I'm working on clearing out some of the clutter in my life and it is therapeutic to say the least.

Yay!

And just so that you all can see something knitting related:

What kind of yarn are you?

You are Merino Wool.You are very easygoing and sweet. People like to keep you close because you are so softhearted. You love to be comfortable and warm from your head to your toes.
Take this quiz!

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The View From Here

2007-11-13T22:59:00.000-06:00

I have to admit that one of my favorite things about going to my parents' house is their amazing views. Every single room has plenty of windows with which to admire the surrounding nature and every single room has a beautiful view. The front door opens to the living room and here's what you see from the balcony outside of the living room.

Isn't it breathtaking?

This is Wisp and while it doesn't look like much right now, I can already see the potential. Today I started my second repeat of the lace pattern and I love it. This is some Misti Alpaca laceweight in Sea Mist, knitted on size 6 US Brittany's. The combination of the soft alpaca yarn and the warm wood needles is heavenly.

2007-11-12T21:20:00.001-06:00

This weekend was a big one! As I mentioned in Saturday's post, I got to see my knitterly girls which was quite a treat. I need good pictures of each of you to keep in my knitting bag so that I can pretend to have conversations with you while I'm knitting in the car in front of work. Just kidding, sort of. In any case, I finished Ailish's pants while at Tammy's house!!! Yay!

I am cute, no?

The pants are a bit on the large side but that
just means that I can wear them for the whole winter!

My Mama rocked the short rows. The tush on these pants fit me just right!

Sunday I drove to my parents' house and spent the day with them at church and at home to celebrate my brother Jared's 13th birthday. He's 13 years old and taller than me with a voice that is lower than our dad's. Scary, no? We had a great time! I love spending time with my parents and brothers and they love having us around. My kids enjoy their grandparents and uncles so much and it's something that I want to continue encouraging especially since we don't have much family in the area!

With so many people to play with Owen and help keep an eye on him and to hold Ailish, I get so much knitting time in! I had made a deal that when I finished Ailish's pants and Bryan's socks that I would start a fun new project, but I just couldn't wait and cast on for something a bit more challenging than stockinette in the round. Details tomorrow!

Fun times and loofahs

2007-11-10T21:13:00.001-06:00

Tonight we all got together at Tammy's house for a little knitting time... and by we I mean Tammy, Sarah, Kate and myself. Tammy's sister, Kathy, was also there for a few minutes and I had the kids with me for a little over an hour until Bryan picked them up after work. We were also joined by Hayley, Kate's step-daughter, who was learning how to knit! Tammy gave us a tour of her yarn cave and I was impressed! The girl has got it together!!!

I love getting together with the girls and miss being able to see them often since I work evenings and that's when their weekly knitting time is. Thankfully, we email each other and plan little evenings like this so I'm still able to be involved.

If you want to have a fun time make sure you invite me because it is inevitable that I will hear something in correctly and then hilarity ensues. For example, I stayed behind after the rest of the girls left and Tammy and I watched an episode of American Idol Rewind. During that show Simon tells this guy, "You're like a Luther" meaning Luther Vandross. I heard, "You're like a loofah" and was more than a bit confused why that might be a good thing. Tammy then corrected me and we spent the next few minutes laughing over it.

Ailish also finds me to be quite amusing

Come back next time for more on the pants!

3 days per week

2007-11-09T22:53:00.000-06:00

On Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays I pack the kids into the car and meet Bryan in the parking lot of his work so that we can make The Great Kid Exchange. While I wait for Bryan to come out I knit for a few minutes and listen to whatever music Owen dictates. Once Bryan emerges from the building, he sits in the car with me for a few minutes and we talk about our days before I give him the run down of when they ate last and napped last. After 10 or 15 minutes I take the keys to his car and go to work.

Ah, 4:07pm. Bryan should be out any moment! Hello, pants.
My green shirt matches you today!

This is grumpy Owen making his debut on the blog. Owen did NOT want to see Dad and spent much of the drive and wait time making that very well known. It's hard to see but in this picture he's pointing out the window telling me that he wants to "Go this way!"

Ailish woke up about five minutes after this picture was taken and cried. She was still crying when I ~~escaped~~ left Bryan with the kids.

When I get home from work both kids are already in bed. If I can I'll sneak in a little more knitting time before I wake up Ailish at around midnight so that she can nurse. Owen generally wakes up some time after that to come into our room and sleep on a sleeping bag or make a place for himself in our bed. No crying then! Just kids who are happy to see their Mama and ready for some cuddling.

Note to self

2007-11-08T22:38:00.001-06:00

10:30pm is not a good time to take pictures. You'll never be happy with the results.

Almost 5" done on the body of the pants.

I am, however, very happy with how Ailish's pants are turning out. The short rows that I added to the backside are perfect! They're creating a cloth-diaper-tush-pocket that the last pair of pants I knitted for her lacked.

Take a good look at the effect of the short rows. The back of the pants gained 10 extra rows.

I'm going to add a little extra length to the body of the pants because our girly has a long torso and since I'm hoping she can wear these for at least 4 or 5 months. I'm not sure how appropriate low-rise pants are for a 5 month old but I'm pretty sure it's still not okay when you are 10 months old.

I wanted to share another picture from our wedding because I think our photographer, Grant Usell, did an amazing job. We love our pictures even 7 years later!

Bryan and I decided to meet before the ceremony and have a few minutes to pray and remember what all the fuss was really about. A family friend, who also happened to live next door to my parents, kindly let us use their beautiful backyard for that time.

Bryan waited in the garden for me with his back turned. I got to see his reaction close up when he turned around and saw me in my wedding dress. The photographer took pictures from far away for just a few moments and then let us have 10 minutes together. Those pictures are by far some of my favorites from the whole day.

Sometimes breaking tradition is a good thing.

I know why the caged bird sings

2007-11-07T22:46:00.000-06:00

wAnd I know why I don't post every day. Why? Because it would be very boring, indeed. The pants pictured yesterday are exactly 2.5" bigger today. That's it. Tomorrow I'll have more done and then I can amaze you with the difference that 5 additional inches makes! Exciting!

The holidays are coming up and my parents are going to Ohio to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and brother-in-law who will be celebrating with his family. This leaves our little family here to celebrate on our own or with my aunt and uncle who live down the street from my parents. It's an odd thought, that I won't be with my parents on Thanksgiving but considering that my sister hasn't had Thanksgiving with my parents for the last 2 years, I think I can let her have a turn!

I love it when my whole family is together. There's something so perfect about it. Not that we're a perfect family, but it feels different. We mesh together in a lovely way.

This is one of my very favorite pictures from our wedding. The photographer had an assistant with them and they had two cameras. One camera had color film and took the more traditional staged shots and the other was a black and white that took pictures of whatever was going on. I love those black and whites infinitely more than the color pictures because they show US. He somehow managed to capture the heart of my family and our wedding.

From left to right you can see the edge of my sister, Heather, then comes me and you can see the top of Bryan's head above me. Next to Bryan is the older of my brothers, Jared, who turns 13 years old on Sunday, and then there's Isaac who was only 1 and a half years old when we got married. Holding Isaac is Bryan's best man, Shane.

Perhaps tomorrow I'll share more wedding pictures if you're interested! For now I'm going to make a cup of hot tea (thanks, Secret Pal!) and cuddle up next to my honey. It's another cold night!

Proof of the Legs!

2007-11-06T23:09:00.000-06:00

Here we have the legs of the Baby Bell Bottoms! (Forgive the odd picture.) Last night I finished the second leg and then joined the legs to start the bottom of the... well, bottom. As of this moment there's about an inch and a half of the bottom and I've worked my first short row on the back of the pants.

Tonight I showed the pants to a coworker. She's a sweet grandmotherly type with lots of energy and a love of crafts, the perfect person to show the knitting to. Right? Her response was, "Huh. Isn't that interesting. You know you could just buy her some pants." Guess who I won't be showing my knitting to in the future.

She's right, though. I really could just buy her some pants. The thing is that I love being able to custom-fit them! Also, how cute are these?! Plus, wool pants aren't the easiest thing to find in the store and they'll be so warm for the winter. As if I need to justify my knitting to you guys?!

She's got legs!

2007-11-05T22:48:00.000-06:00

I ran home after work, excited to take a picture of the progress that I've made on Ailish's Baby Bell Bottoms only to find that the batteries in the camera need to be charged. Oh well! There will be pictures tomorrow, but I can at least tell you that I've finished both legs and am now ready to put the first leg back on the needles and start knitting the body/bottom/top??? of the pants.

Now is when the thinking is required. No, not for the attaching of the legs because I left the stitches of the first leg on some waste yarn so those stitches are still live. I'm talking about short row booty, here. This is going to require examining some of her pants and seeing how commercial designers work this out.

In other news, have you all gotten the new KnitPicks catalog yet? The back cover of it has sock samplers and I'm so in love! I can't decide if I like the warm sampler or the neutral sampler better, but I'm leaning more towards warm right now. As of late I've been drawn towards warm colors and have even added a deep orange sweater to my wardrobe this season... a color that I'd never wear in the past!

Alas, the sock sampler will have to wait until after the New Year. What with Christmas coming along and babies growing out of their clothes, the budget is not allowing for frivolous sock expenditures no matter how much I try to explain to it that I need solid colored sock yarn for the lace patterns I want to try out. Stupid budget.

A little help from my friends

2007-11-04T21:48:00.000-06:00

I'm calling out to the blogosphere for their wisdom!

What would you do with a knitted garment that has become too big? Would you keep it or give it away? Or would you rip it out?

This is my dilemma. Last spring I finished the In Full Bloom cardigan and while I love the color and the design, the sweater no longer fits me as well. I put it on this morning to wear to church and had about 4" of extra fabric everywhere. In an act of desperation I snipped off the buttons, overlapped the fronts by quite a bit and used a sweater stick to keep it closed in front.

Let me know what you think! Were this a sweater that was sitting in your closet, what would you do?

Knit, Mama!

2007-11-03T22:34:00.000-05:00

My daughter loves to watch me knit. I sat her in her bouncy seat and knit away on Bryan's sock for about 15 minutes today. At first I was trying to keep her attention by making silly faces and singing silly songs about her. Five minutes into this concert I stopped singing when I noticed that she was not even paying attention to my face or the songs, but her eyes were glued to my hands. I stopped knitting and moved the sock around a bit to the left, right, up and down only to watch her head and eyes follow every move it made!

Ailish has now begun her informal knitting education. I talked with her about what I was doing and about all the different kinds of needles, fiber and yarn weights that are available to work with. The next lesson will be all about the dpn vs magic loop vs 2 circulars debate since I didn't want to overwhelm her at her first lesson!

And in case you were wondering, 15 minutes of knitting gets me halfway through one big stripe on Bryan's socks. That is approximately 6 rows of knitting in 15 minutes, when knitting at normal pace. I have one and a half more stripes to go before I start the heel and then about 150 stripes on the foot because my man has big feet. Okay, so it's not really 150 stripes but it sure feels that way!!! Ah, the knitting math!

Nostalgia

2007-11-02T23:47:00.000-05:00

Ailish will be 6 months old in 2 weeks and thinking about that got me thinking about Owen when he was that age. They even look similar in their own unique ways.

Ailish (5 months old) and Lolly at the new house. October 2007.

Owen (7 months old) and Bryan in San Luis Obispo, CA. April 2004.

The handsome Owen at age 4. October 2007.

Do you ever wonder where your knitting will be in a few years? There are some knits that will probably go to that great yarn store in the sky, like much loved socks. And I know that I'll be packing away Owen's brown sweater (my first sweater!) after this winter and will tuck a note in it to tell Owen how much he loved it and how much I loved making it for him. Where will my next favorite project be in 10 years? With any luck, the majority of the things that I've made will have been loved to death and found their happiness in fulfilling their knitted destiny!

Is it possible?

2007-11-01T23:21:00.000-05:00

November 1... how can that be? I'm shocked about how quickly this year is passing! It has been a whirlwind of a year, to be sure.

While talking with Mom on the phone this morning I came to the realization that I am going to be ripping out the red shrug. I was telling Mom about how I need more clothes that I can wear to work because my last 2 jobs were at places that I wore jeans to work every day. Now that I'm in a dressy work environment I'm finding that my wardrobe is a little more limited that I like. I told her about the dress code and we talked about body types and what we feel comfortable wearing and what we feel good wearing. As I made the bed and stared at the shrug that was sitting on my bedside table I realized that it was not something that I could wear to work and it really didn't qualify as something that I would feel comfortable or good while wearing. So why make an item of clothing that wouldn't make me feel good about how I look?

Now that I have 3 skeins of red Cascade 220 available I'm thinking of pairing it with some black Cascade 220 in my stash and making a red sweater for Owen that has some colorwork on the yoke. Time to search Ravelry!

Birthday yarn is always the best

2007-10-29T22:45:00.000-05:00

This has been a very fun mail week for me! Kate, Sarah and Tammy were so sweet and gave me a gift certificate to The Loopy Ewe for my birthday and I spent it almost immediately!!! So what did I purchase?

This is Scarlet Fleece in Favorite Jeans. Isn't it beautiful?

And this is J. Knits Lace-A-Licious in San Diego. I don't know who J. is exactly, but J has a way with color.

Also in the mail was another package from my Secret Pal! She spoiled me rotten with a collection of 5 teas and a little tea pot shaped strainer that is so adorable. I've recently been looking for a tea strainer because I had ordered some loose tea and had nothing to strain it with. Never one to admit defeat, I rigged a strainer out of a heavy-duty rubber band and a tea towel. This is so much cuter and much less messy. Thank you, Pal!

Just so you don't think that I haven't been knitting...

These are attempt #2 at Ailish's new pants. I made 2 pairs of Alison's Baby Bell Bottoms and Ailish wore them all the time! I knew that I wanted to make them again, but with some modifications. The pattern is written that you knit one leg, knit another leg, join in the round to knit the body and then seam the legs. I thought that working in the round the whole way would yield a much faster knit because of the minimal finishing times, so I started at the waist with plans to work down.

Lesson #1 - If you're going to make a lot of changes to a pattern maybe try knitting it in a yarn with similar gauge so that there's one less thing to think about.

Lesson #2 - If you're going to make a lot of changes to a pattern maybe try reading ahead so that you have an idea of where you're going.

Lesson #3 - If you're adding short rows to the back of the pants to make room for baby booty, keep track of which side is the back.

Lesson #4 - At some point you'll have realized that you just knit up a 15" long, very oddly shaped tube that will in no way fit your child in the next 12 months unless you start prepping her to become a sumo wrestler. This is acceptance and it is a good thing.

Lesson #5 - After a train wreck of a false-start, pick up those needles and cast on again! Maybe this time do a little more prep work, though.

Lucky!

2007-10-25T22:53:00.000-05:00

I may not have a lot of time to knit right now but I sure do have a lot of beautiful yarn to look at and make plans for!

Colinette Jitterbug in colorway Sea Breeze

Berrocco Peruvia in color 7130...

which will become warm Winter pants for a certain little girl...

because she has completely outgrown these.

The weather has grown cool and I happily wrap Owen up in handknit love before putting him on the schoolbus. He can still fit into the brown sweater and blue, black and purple hat that I made for him in 2005. The hat, in particular, is a much loved piece of apparel and he refused to wear a store bought hat this morning and ran to get his hand knit one.

I'm getting the urge to knit warm, wooly items. I cast on for a pair of pants for Ailish using hand-dyed (not by me) Cascade 220. I'm thinking that I want to make Owen another sweater and am debating about what pattern to use. And this morning I sighed as I walked past the red shrug that has been sitting dejectedly in a corner. Ailish needs some mittens and a hat. Owen could use another hat, too. And I'm so close to starting toe decreases on Bryan's sock that I can almost feel myself doing k2tog as I type!

There's so much to knit and so little time! Where do I start? It is such a wonderful problem to have. It's a blessing to have so many loved ones!

And just to whet your palette, this is not the only yarn I've gotten recently! Next time I'll show off some birthday yarn and a gift from my Secret Pal that had me jumping around my kitchen.

That is the question

2007-10-22T12:22:00.000-05:00

The big question lately has been "In the little bit of spare time that I have should I blog or should I knit?" You all know that I love you but the prevailing answer is usually to knit! In an email to my Secret Pal I told her that I'm someone who needs a bit of time in my day that involves being alone and being still. During that time I think, pray or listen to something inspirational and always knit. If I don't get that time in I find that I'm more apt to be a little short tempered. So consider it something that I do for my own sanity!

Since I'm not getting in much knitting time while at home I'm having to sneak it in here and there. My favorite place to knit at the moment is while in the parking garage before work. Bryan and I do the child/car exchange at his place of work and then I drive to work in his car and he goes home with the kids in mine. I usually have 20 to 30 minutes before I need to clock in and so I sit in the car and knit while I listen to something on my iPod.
These are some socks that Bryan has claimed for his own. It made me absurdly happy that Bryan wanted these socks. He more than tolerates my knitting, but I think it is mostly because it keeps me happy. Not often do I work on something that he loves. The last time that happened was when I was making the Log Cabin blanket for Ailish and he fell in love with the colors! So when Bryan says that he wants something that I'm knitting you can bet that he's going to get it.

Owen is pulling at me and asking to take play in the bath tub, but before I go here's a picture of a very old barn by my house that is finally giving in to the effects of time. There are a lot of old barns near my house and I love all of them. As sad as I was to see that this one is falling I think there is something still beautiful and proud about it.

2007-10-15T11:19:00.000-05:00

This week I was surprised by another package from my Secret Pal!

She sent a supply of yummy bath items which included body cream, organic soap and some bath confetti. My pal also made me a hand towel in neopolitan colors and sent a little zippered bag to keep it all in. Thank you!

Lately, I've felt like life is too short to knit something you don't like. This has caused me to take a few things off the needles! Allow me to show you...

Here we have the Mason Dixon Moss Grid Hand Towel. I started this in July and up until last week had only worked about 4 inches on it. For various reasons I never wanted to knit on this project! This week I knit 3 more inches on it and cast off, creating the Moss Grid Hand Towelette.

I have most of a skein left over from this project that will find a new home with whomever wants it. It is Tristan, a wool/linen blend in a kicky fuschia color. Leave the first comment claiming it and it is yours!

Lastly, the Jaywalkers in Regia Silk Color. These were made Magic Loop, toe up and two at a time. The yarn is beautiful and feels fantastic, but was a bit splitty and I don't think my Addi Turbos were sharp enough to handle the increasing and decreasing.

By the time I got to the end of these socks I didn't want to look at them again. Trying them on only to find that they were a bit snug and that I didn't like the fit of the heel only sealed the deal. They found a loving owner in my Mom who had way too much fun modeling them around the house. Seeing her with them made me so happy.

We'll see where my knitting takes me now!

For what it's worth...

2007-10-10T04:56:00.000-05:00

It is another week of the CRAZY work schedule. Monday I worked until 10pm and then had to be at work at 8am on Tuesday and today I'm at work at 6am. I'm not naturally a morning person so waking up at 4am does not sit very well with me.

The CRAZY work schedule has also meant that I'm going to bed super early (8pm, anyone?) so that I can make sure that I'm well rested for the next day. This does not lend itself to hobbies such as, I don't know, knitting. Oh, but I'm itching to spend some time with my knitting.

What has been fabulous about this week so far has been my bag. Kate and I have been eyeing the each other's Namaste bag and decided that we'd give them a test drive by doing a short swap. Kate is now carrying my chocolate Messenger bag and I'm carrying her black Everyday bag. Can I just say that I adore this bag? It carries everything I need and more and looks fantastic!!! We swapped bags on Sunday and I've already received several compliments on it. This may be premature but I think I know what I'll be asking Santa for this Christmas.

It's Friday again!

2007-10-05T12:41:00.002-05:00

I'm really loving my new job and forgot how much I truly enjoyed working in a medical environment. I don't think I actually mentioned what my new job is, but I'm working for a large hospital in Springfield in their admissions department. My job entails a lot of things but for the most part I'll be working Labor & Delivery triage as well as Bed Control, both fast-paced and high-stress areas. Unlike my last job, there is no down time where I'll be knitting! However, this job already feels fulfilling. I go home at the end of the day knowing that I helped people and that's a great feeling.

Because I'm still technically in training my hours have varied so that I can do my training rounds in the different departments. This irregular schedule has messed with my internal calendar and I spent all day thinking it was Friday only to be reminded that it wasn't every time I went to enter a date in the computer or on paperwork. Darn. So it's Friday again and I couldn't be happier because my brothers are spending the weekend with us!

My brothers are incredible with my kids and the three boys play so well together while sweet baby girl is happy to watch them and bestow smiles and giggles graciously and generously. With the kids busy entertaining themselves I'm hoping to sneak in a little knitting time here and there. I've been working on a shrug that's knit in one piece and designed by little ol' me! That's what the red yarn and swatch from the last post were for. I did math!

Here's what it looked like about two weeks ago. I've finished one sleeve and am currently at the middle of the back. The outer edge of the sleeve has 4 quatrefoils that I think will look better after a washing and blocking.

A close up of the quatrefoils for you. Also, the color in this second picture is much more true to life than the first one. I'm not one for garish colors and the red is much more muted than what that first image portrays.

This shrug is going to be perfect for the fall and winter but I'm not too concerned about finishing it right this second because it is going to be 88 degrees today. The past couple days have been so warm that I've brought back out the toe-up Jaywalkers to work on. I'm turning the heel on the second sock and after that it shouldn't be long before I can finally call these socks done! Sarah invited me to join the Socktoberfest group on Ravelry and I did so with finishing these socks as my only goal!!! If I don't achieve that goal it would be very sad, indeed.

Finally, what good is having friends if you can't brag about them? Our local 417 Magazine did an article on knitting in the Ozarks and interviewed Sarah and Kate for it! There's even a fabulous picture of Sarah and Tammy working on their socks. Kate designed a beginners hat pattern that the magazine published and she brought the sample hat with her to our girly movie night on Saturday. Look who modeled the hat for us on Saturday?

"It was very nice of my favorite Kate to make this hat for me. I look great in hats.
What do you mean this hat isn't for me?"

"Oh well, I'll still model it for you. This is my contemplative look
that I've been working on recently. What do you think?"

Where has the time gone?

2007-09-30T23:03:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that it has been almost one month since I last posted. What have I been doing with all that time? Let's see... I finished working for my parents, I accepted a job offer from the largest employer in southern Missouri and am now entering my third week of employment with them. I'm fortunate to have found a part time position that will allow me to work in the evening and now Bryan and I meet up after get gets off of work to switch cars and he drives home with the kids while I go off to work until 10pm.

All of these changes have caused a big priorities shift and I'm finding that I have less time for pleasurable things like knitting and blogging. Working and being a mom of two kids is much harder than it was when I was working and being a mom of one kid. Now if only I could be a working mom with 2 kids and a housekeeper....

Just to prove that I still knit, here is a little something that I've been working on. This is the beginning stages of a new project. Yarn cakes and a gauge swatch.

The color in the swatch picture is much more accurate. I'm finding that red is as difficult to photograph as black is!

I also received another package from my Secret Pal! She sent me some rainbow ribbon yarn, tea and chocolate. The chocolate was consumed immediately upon discovery and the tea is being enjoyed a little more slowly. Now that the weather is cooling down a bit more I'm finding that hot tea is more and more appealing. Thanks, Pal!

Now that I have the 343 pictures off of my camera card (I kid you not) and onto the computer, I hope to have a couple of posts up this week. Until then, a picture of my wonderful kids!

Wanted: Inspiration

2007-09-06T22:05:00.000-05:00

I feel that I'm at an impasse. I need a new project since the Quattro soaker is done, but I'm all done with soakers and I loathe to say it but socks aren't doing it for me right now. Even the Jaywalkers have become lackluster. There is plenty of beautiful sock yarn in my stash and I love it all, but I don't have the slightest urge to pick any of it up. So basically, no more butt or feet knitting for a while.

What I want to knit is something adult-sized and that requires more brain cells than will be on Owen's birthday cake next week. (That would be 4 in case you were wondering.) I have plenty of pattern options thanks to the magic of Ravelry, but the difficulty lies in committing to a project. I could knit a tank top but that is something that can only be enjoyed for a few more weeks before being put away. So if a tank top is out of the running then that leaves sweaters, shrugs and shawls.

How would you decide?

Tomorrow during Ailish's nap I'm going to sit on the floor with knitting books spread out around me and try to find that spark. Perhaps the knitting muse has slipped between the pages of one of those books!

Surprise!

2007-08-29T15:26:00.001-05:00

I love surprises. LOVE. There's something about a fun surprise that lifts the spirits and I could use a little spirit-lifting at the moment. Could there have been a more perfect time for this...My Secret Pal has struck again! In yesterday's mail I found some yummy candy that Owen immediately claimed as his own (he only got one in the end) and some Mad Caterpillar stitchmarkers. For those of you who would like to purchase some stitchmarkers of your own, I'm terribly sorry that my Secret Pal has already sent me the cutest ones available. Thank you, Secret Pal!
Another surprise this week has been the Jaywalkers. This is attempt number 4/4 and I do believe that I have finally gotten it right. What is surprising about them is how much easier the pattern is when you're finally doing it correctly. Okay, fine. When I'm finally doing it correctly.
The last surprise of the week has to be the Leftovers Wrap that I finished knitting on Monday night. I'm so in love with the colors that I want to marry them. I want to marry them and take pictures of them and put beautiful pictures of them all over the house. Since I'm sure that Bryan will object to this plan of action, I will have to settle with finishing them and putting them on Miss Ailish.

We're getting use out of the last wrap that I made but I think that this time around I want to find some Aplix for the closure instead of using the hook and loop stuff that I found at Wal-Mart. Aplix is just like Velcro but much softer in the hook, which makes it a perfect product for baby items or anything else, for that matter.

In search of the perfect wrap

2007-08-26T22:37:00.001-05:00

This week has been the week of the wrap. On Monday I finished the white Encore soaker only to cast on for another soaker style called the wrap. Rather than being more shorts-like, the wrap is, well more wrap-like. These have velcro sewn on, with the softer loop side sewn all the way across the front and a short 1" hook on each side of the back that allows you to customize the fit. These are so quick and easy to make that I finished the wrap on Saturday.

Since I loved the fit of the wrap soaker so much, I cast on for another one! This wrap also is using green Manos Cotton Stria like the white one, but I'm pairing it with another strand of wool yarn and I'm using up some small leftovers that I had lying around. The rust color of the ribbing is leftover from a hat I made for Owen. The small green stripe right above the rust is what remains from Ailish's cardigan. The blue that makes up the main accent color is from a wrap that I made about a year and a half ago.
I pulled the leftover yarn from the aptly named Leftover Yarn Bag in my knitting closet and eyed it closely. I wasn't sure I was going to like the color combinations but I figured, "Whatever. It's going over a diaper so who cares?" As soon as I started knitting I fell in love with how the colors worked together. I pulled Bryan over to admire it and he didn't even have to fake interest! I don't think that it would have worked half as well without the green manos pulling it all together.If you've read my blog for a while you'll remember that I've mentioned a lone skein of Cascade 220 Quatro as being that one skein that represents all hasty yarn purchases. It has sat in my stash for almost 2 years and I've had no idea what to do with it. I have finally wound the Quatro!!! It is going to be another soaker or a wrap, depending on how the mood strikes me. It has the perfect yardage for the project and will be a much used item so it will fulfill it's destiny as a desired knitted object.
Also wound up and sitting in the bull pen are two skeins of hand dyed Cascade 220 that I purchased off of eBay two summers ago. These will become another pair of Baby Bell Bottoms for Miss A. I love how the cotton denim and khaki pairs look on her and she's going to need another size up for the winter. The wool will help keep her nice and warm.

I've really found myself enjoying knitting from my stash. There's something about finding a pattern for a yarn that had been sitting neglected and tucked away that makes me happy. I'm hoping that I can whittle down the stash a little more so that when I get some Christmas money that I can make some wisely thought out and planned additions to it. Or at least something more versatile than a single skein of Quatro.

(Michelle asked me where I found the pattern for the soaker. I found the pattern for the soaker and the wrap on this great website that has about 100 different pattern links, both for free and for sale.)

Picture Laden

2007-08-22T22:52:00.001-05:00

Princess A has finally grown into some of her hand knits and I'm so pleased every time I put one of them on her! It is now time for the picture parade...

Princess Ailish holds court from her throne (aka: the swing) whilst sporting adorable denim pants. The pattern is the Baby Bell Bottoms from The Blue Blog.

Again we find our fair princess sitting upon her throne, this time wearing a bolero a la Debbie Bliss.

A more recent addition to the wardrobe is this not very fashionable but oh so useful wool soaker knitted up in Encore Worsted in a versatile off-white color. Much to her Mama's pleasure the Encore softened up quite a bit in the wash but she is still searching through the laundry trying to find the i-cord drawstring.

I started a smaller-sized wrap-style soaker in some leftover Manos Cotton Stria. I'm using the yarn doubled to make a nice tight fabric but it is killing my hands.

My SP11 pal sent out her first package and it has been received! Included in the package was this skein of Tofuties sock yarn in a colorway of beautiful pink, green, blue and purple. I can't wait to see how this knits up! Also she was kind enough to include some bubbles for Owen, which happens to be one of his most favorite things to do! He found them right away but it was so hot outside that I told him that it would have to wait until tomorrow morning. It is a very difficult thing for a little boy to be patient! My SP also included a square of Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate which was absolutely delicious and eaten immediately upon the package being opened. How did you know that Ghirardelli is my favorite?!

Experimenting

2007-08-17T12:08:00.000-05:00

When Bryan and I lived in California it was easy to be eco-friendly because it was encouraged by the local and state government as well as the people around you. Since living in Missouri I've found myself slipping away from that type of lifestyle and I have decided to turn that around. We've been diligently and conciously recycling so that now the amount of trash that we take out to the curb each week has been cut down by almost half. It takes a little more work because we have to take our recycling to the center instead of it being picked up at the curb, but I find a lot of pleasure in seeing our recycling bin fill up and then empty out.

I've spent a lot of time researching other ways to help the earth and our pocketbook. Cloth diapering is making a comeback and these aren't our parents' cloth diapers! There are some that are the old fasioned kind and some that are very much like disposables. They come in plain white, solid colors or fun prints. Best of all there are diapers out there that can fit your child from birth until potty training, making them a great investment that if treated well can make it through 2 or more children.

We've purchased a small stash of diapers that should be arriving in a couple of weeks. Mostly we're going to do prefold diapers which are an upgrade from the old fashioned diapers that our parents used and we already have a couple of the more disposable type diapers that we've tried out and liked. We are planning on trying this out for a few months and then re-evaluating. Surprisingly, cloth diapers have an amazing resale value and if they are in good condition they can be sold for just under their original purchase price.

In preparing for these new diapers to arrive I'm going to be knitting up some soakers and longies to go over the prefolds. I was shocked to find out how much some people charge to make custom soakers so I'm definitely going to be making my own. There are a lot of patterns available for free online that allow you to customize the fit and embellishing the finished product is easy!

Tomorrow night I'm going to cast on for my first soaker in some white Encore Worsted that I have in the stash based on the free Curly Purly pattern that I found on Ravelry. These should be a fairly quick knit but I first need to get some accurate measurements of the girly girl so that these will fit.

And now for a few SP11 questions!

1. What is the one knitting accessory you could not live without?

I'm assuming that I already have patterns, needles, yarn, scissors, darning needle and tape measure? Beyond those things I'd be so sad if I didn't have a cute knitting bag to put all of my stuff in.

2. If you're heading on vacation, do you take knitting with you? If so, how much and what type of project?

Um, I take knitting with me when we go to church. Not that I knit in church, but there's 20 minutes of prime knitting time on the way to church and back that I don't want to miss out on! I have taken a couple of vacations since I started knitting and socks has been the project of choice especially when air travel is the mode of transportation. Scarves are also nice if they're still short. I like to take a couple of projects along so that in case I get bored with one I can switch over to the other.

3. Where have you travelled to that you'd consider your favorite spot?

Wow, that's really hard to decide! We were really lucky to live in CA because there are so many great places to travel to within the state! Our favorite vacation spot in CA is San Luis Obispo. There's a great place called Apple Farm Inn that we've stayed at 5 times and we love it. I also had a great time in Washington DC and would love to go back again. Outside of the US I thought that the Dominican Republic was beautiful and hope to take Bryan there some day, but we both absolutely fell in love with Romania.

4. What is your favorite knitting book at the moment? Do you own it?

I'm drooling as I flip through the Knitting Vintage Socks book. Mom drools with me.

5. Do you listen to podcasts? Which is your favorite(s)?

I do! I enjoy Cast On, Craft Lit and Stash & Burn.

SP11 Questionnaire

2007-08-13T23:10:00.000-05:00

What is/are your favorite yarn/s to knit with? What fibers do you absolutely *not* like?

It’s probably easier if I just do the *not* list! I do *not* like Lamb’s Pride (any of their yarns), KidSilk Haze or anything fuzzy like that, and sock yarns that have a lot of stretch like Fixation.

2. What do you use to store your needles/hooks in?

I have two needle holders. One for straights and one for dpns. I keep my Addi Turbos in their original packaging within a pencil box.

3. How long have you been knitting & how did you learn? Would you consider your skill level to be beginner, intermediate or advanced?

I taught myself to knit in July of 2005. I’d consider myself to be an advanced intermediate knitter.

4. Do you have an Amazon or other online wish list?

I don’t. But I’d make one if you really wanted me to!

5. What's your favorite scent?

Fresh Linen scent.

6. Do you have a sweet tooth? Favorite candy?

Oh, I’m all about the chocolate!

7. What other crafts or Do-It-Yourself things do you like to do? Do you spin?

I like to cross-stitch and most recently took up sewing.

8. What kind of music do you like? Can your computer/stereo play MP3s? (if your buddy wants to make you a CD)

I like all kinds of music and love to be exposed to new artists. I can play mp3s and have an iPod.

9. What's your favorite color(s)? Any colors you just can't stand?

I love blue, green, purple, red, brown, black and white. I like orange and pink in moderation. I really can’t stand yellow. Bright colors aren’t really my thing, I find myself drawn more towards muted tones and colors that are found in nature.

10. What is your family situation? Do you have any pets?

I am married to Bryan and on 9/16 we’ll be celebrating our 7^th anniversary. We have a son, Owen, who will be 4 on 9/10 and he has an Autism Spectrum Disorder. Our little girl, Ailish, was born May 17^th of this year and is our miracle baby! (Her name is pronounce A-lish with the a like in acorn.)

11. Do you wear scarves, hats, mittens or ponchos?

I adore scarves! Mittens are great but I don’t always like wearing them. Ponchos are a big no.

12. What is/are your favorite item/s to knit?

I love to knit socks and stuff for my kiddos.

13. What are you knitting right now?

I’m knitting a pair of socks and the moss grid handtowel from Mason Dixon Knitting but I’m not liking the handtowel at the moment. I’m also eyeing a cardigan that I want to start.

14. Do you like to receive handmade gifts?

Of course!

15. Do you prefer straight or circular needles? Bamboo, aluminum, plastic?

Yes! I usually work on circulars but like straight needles for some projects. I have a Denise set and the Options set from KnitPicks and most of my dpns are either bamboo or birch.

16. Do you own a yarn winder and/or swift?

Yes to both!

17. How old is your oldest UFO?

There’s a garter stitch blanket that I started on in September of 2005 that I bring out occasionally. It is truly mindless knitting that has it’s time and purpose but I don’t know that I’ll ever really finish it.

I try hard to finish the projects that I start and don’t have too many things on the needles at the same time.

18. What is your favorite holiday?

My birthday, which is 10/16… but next to that would have to be Thanksgiving.

19. Is there anything that you collect?

Besides yarn, knitting books and needles? I love to drink tea so I collect tea and beautiful mugs to drink it out of.

20. Any books, yarns, needles or patterns out there you are dying to get your hands on? What knitting magazine subscriptions do you have?

I currently have no subscriptions but the Fall IK is tempting me like you wouldn’t believe. In fact, the past 2 or 3 editions I don’t have and I’m coveting them.

For yarn I love hand-dyed yarns that are tone on tone colors or yarns that don’t pool or flash.

21. Are there any new techniques you'd like to learn?

I’d like to learn colorwork.

22. Are you a sock knitter? What are your foot measurements?

I am! I’ll measure my foot for you once I get my tape measure back from Owen.

23. When is your birthday?

10/16 and I’ll be 28

24. Are you on Ravelry? If so, what's your ID?

I am! My ID is Brianne.

Crazy

2007-08-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

Yesterday as I was driving home from Branson, the temperature gauge in my car read 109 degrees. That is really hot. Hot enough that it melted the rear view mirror off of the windshield so that it dangled unattractively (and distractingly) from the wire the whole way home.

So why am I contemplating starting a black wool cardigan? (Number 241, for what it's worth.)

Surely I must be crazy! The heat must have knocked a screw loose, or perhaps it is the colicky baby who has reared her very loud vocal chords or the fact that I only have 2 small projects on the needles at the moment. Who can say? But the wool calls to me. "I see top down construction."

You are probably wondering what new project I decided to take with me to Branson? The winner was Jaywalkers, toe-up, two at a time using Regia Silk Color yarn!

I love love love the yarn. It is wonderful to work with and the colors are amazing. Rich and complex. I bought two skeins of colorway 13906 from Simply Fibers and then took two more skeins of the exact same colorway off of Tammy during our swap a few months ago! Thank goodness I did, too, because Simply Fibers no longer carries it!

The pattern is proving to be a challenge, though. Perhaps it is just because I'm working these from the toe up instead of from the cuff down like the pattern was written but my increases and decreases aren't looking like they should. The first time around I wasn't doing the double increase so I kept loosing a stitch on the top of the foot. Now the second time around I consistently have the correct stitch amount but I'm not getting the beautiful ridge detail on the increases and decreases. These are only about 4 rows in to the zig zag stitch pattern so it may be that I just need to be patient and wait for the loveliness to show itself.

On a positive note, I'm no longer hating the Figure 8 Cast On anymore!

Planning

2007-08-07T22:22:00.000-05:00

I've recently been hired by my parents to help them get their accounting ready for taxes. They pay their taxes in October every year and what with building their house and getting ready to move in on the 25th of this month, things like taxes have fallen by the wayside. I did their basic accounting for the last 3 years that we lived in CA and it looks like I'm back to doing it again!

This works out really well for all of us. I get a little extra money to help out with bills and they get to take packing breaks and play with their grandkids! The only problem is that I'm driving 40 miles to their house and spending a few days there at a time so that I don't have to commute. I leave tomorrow and then come back on Saturday afternoon. There's packing to be done and I don't just mean clothes and toiletries!

The toe up socks are 1.5" away from being done so I'll definitely need to bring another project with me for after the socks have been bound off. I have the Moss Grid Hand Towel that I could bring but that project doesn't make my heart flutter. On Sunday I cast on for a Pinwheel Blanket using 4 skeins of Sweetie Pie that I bought on clearance from Simply Fibers for $2.00/skein but I don't know that this 100% acrylic yarn is doing it for me. It's not so soft when it's knit up and who wants to give that to a baby? In fact, I can't even find a place online where I can show you this yarn. Tammy, I do believe I'll be giving this yarn to you so that you can give it to the lady at work who crochets for charity.

What do I bring with me? I have 10 hours before I leave! Yikes!

What course?

2007-08-02T22:04:00.001-05:00

Staying The Course was the title of my last entry. I was very passionate about NOT starting any new projects until both the L&D Socks and the toe up socks were done. That did not last very long, people.

I will justify myself by saying that it was a very small project and that it was an incredibly useful project.

See? That's hardly a project at all! I have hardwood floors and tile covering 60% of my floor space and so I go through a lot of Swiffer Wet Mop disposable cover things. This gets expensive and I hate to think of the extra trash it creates, so think of my excitement when I found this pattern! I figured that for the cost of one skein of cheap kitchen cotton yarn (which I already had in the stash) it would be worth finding out if this would work for my needs or not. It does and I'm happy!

Pattern: Zoom Dust Mop Cover
Yarn: 1 skein Peaches & Cream in a blue color
Needles: Size 7 aluminum monsters
Started: July 27, 2007
Finished: July 28, 2007
Modifications: My Swiffer Wet Mop has one end that is chunkier than the other so I accounted for that.

Lest you think that I forgot the socks altogether, here are the Labor & Delivery Socks that I started just 3 hours before we checked into the hospital to have Ailish.

Pattern: Modified Canada socks by Nancy Bush from Knitting On The Road
Yarn: Trekking XXL, colorway 107
Needles: Size 0 US dpns, Clover
Date Started: May 17, 2007
Date Finished: August 2, 2007
Modifications: It's really difficult to see the stitch pattern that runs down the sides of these socks, but that is the only part of her pattern that I did. (You can see that pattern better in this post.) I did not do the fancy twisted cast on or the colorwork on the cuff.

In a total surprise moment, I was contacted by someone on Ravelry wanting to make a trade for 2 skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed that I had in my stash. She invited me to look at her stash and see if there was anything I might be interested in. Lo and behold the woman has 347 yarns in her stash and it was the most beautiful thing. I gave her a list of things that I would be interested in and let her choose from them. Yesterday we both received our packages and I now am minus 2 skeins of Rowan Summer Tweed but have the new additions of...

Misti Alpaca Lace weight in a beautiful green color. This will probably become Wisp.

And one skein of Cherry Tree Hill Superwash Merino in Slate that will be some sort of fabulous sock.

The trade experience was fun and I'm looking forward to the next one!

Staying the Course

2007-07-25T14:20:00.000-05:00

I have yarn. Really, I have a lot of it. It may not be considered "a lot" to some people, but to me it is. I have recently admitted to myself the fact that my stash no longer fits in the three box system that I had going on. I have two 12 gallon plastic boxes that are full of yarn, plus one 19 quart box that is full of sock yarn. They are full. Can-hardly-close-the-tops-on-them-no-matter-how-hard-I-try kind of full. And up until this past week I was okay with that because, after all, I could still close them and the stash still fit into the three box system.

That was before I had to relocate the stash from the guest bedroom into the office for my mother-in-law's visit. I wanted to make sure that Anne had plenty of room in the closet to stow her stuff and that was not going to happen with all the yarn, knitting books, knitting bags and yarn winder and swift in there. Being the thoughtful daughter-in-law that I am, I moved all of that stuff into the office closet which will soon become Ailish's closet once she moves out of our room and into her room and the office becomes a joint tenant of the guest room. (There's a lot of moving going on here!)

I was in the process of moving the yarn and assorted knitting paraphernalia when I realized that I don't count certain yarns as a part of the three box system, though I really should. Case in point, the 10 skeins of Shine Worsted that was for a very short time the Cherry Bomb tank top from Big Girl Knits. Those 10 skeins are carefully wound up again and sitting in a clear project bag that hangs from the clothes rod. Right next to it, in their own clear project bags are 7 skeins of Reynolds Rapture and 6 skeins of King Tut Cotton. Why don't these 23 skeins count in the three box system? Because they didn't fit comfortably in the boxes at the time that I needed to put them in there so I didn't bother, plus this conveniently left me room in the boxes to purchase more yarn.

Clearly I have plenty of yarn to knit with, so why on earth did I spend 2 hours last night putting yarn into various online shopping carts and then closing the screens before purchasing anything? I was so darn tempted to buy yarn that I really don't need?

My remedy to this is to harness the power of Ravelry! I have my entire stash cataloged on the website and so I spent time going through each yarn to see what other people have made from it. This gave me a lot of wonderful ideas and I now have 18 projects in the Queue that have a specific yarn from my stash attached to them. There's no more excuses! I have yarn to knit with and patterns to make it into!

Now I'm all revved up and ready to go but have a few more projects on the needles than my Mommy Brain can handle. The challenge now is to finish the two socks that I'm working on before I can cast on for a new project.

This is my first toe up sock and it's being worked Magic Loop style. I'm really enjoying this process! The wedge toe fits my foot amazingly and the short row heel (another first for me!) is quick and easy. Last night I finished the first sock only to realize that my usual way of binding off was not going to cut it. I researched a few different ways of binding off and found the Sewn Bind Off to be perfect.

What I'm not loving is this particular yarn. It's Sockotta and I'm not liking the striping pattern. My OCD needs the stripes to have a pattern to them and it is not happening. Mom, on the other hand, thinks that it is great and has claimed the socks for herself.

For my next pair of socks with the short row heel I need to figure out how to not get holes in the heel. I picked up my wraps but still have holes. A little bit of research and I'll be set.

I'd also like to find how to do a short row toe. If the toe is as good as the heel it will make me a very happy knitter!!!

Lastly, this is the Moss Grid Handtowel from Mason Dixon. The yarn is Merlin Tristan that I got in the swap from Tammy and it is 100% linen. This has been a yarn that is hard for me to get used to. It doesn't have a great hand and all of my stitches look uneven and just plain wonky. Hopefully they'll even out with blocking.

A positive thought is that I had planned on purchasing enough linen yarn to make a curtain for a small bathroom window. That will not be happening, at least not with this type of yarn.

Ino the unknown

2007-07-23T14:06:00.001-05:00

I mentioned in my last post that I would show you something that you have never seen before. Are you ready?

This is my sewing machine. I have owned a sewing machine for two and a half years and have never used it. It scared me. There are buttons and pedals and it plugs into an electrical source, none of which knitting does. But recently, Allison posted about a pattern that she was going to sew for her daughter and I fell instantly in love and I knew that it was time to overcome the fear of the sewing machine.

My mother-in-law, Anne, has sewn since high school and when I showed her the cute patterns I had found online, she was more than willing to sit next to me and hold my hand (and occasionally the fabric) while she taught me how to sew. We went to Wal-Mart at 9pm one night (yes, we're crazy) and picked out 2 patterns, some fabric from the clearance section (this particular outfit cost $1.00 in fabric), and the notions we'd need. The next day the fabric was washed and after the men folk went to bed the three girls stayed up and did some sewing.
As you can see, Ailish was more than pleased to be up helping us even though it was really late. She wanted some creative input in the process since she would have to wear the final product. Poor girl didn't make it to the finish line, though, and decided to call it a night at 11:30pm. Anne and I worked until 1:30am and then collapsed in bed ourselves.
The next morning we finished things up and found that we had successfully made a very adorable outfit. Anne helped me a lot, with everything from cutting out the pieces to some of the actual sewing. She also taught me that your sewing will look a lot better if you have the foot down while you're sewing... and she was right!
The next outfit will be completely done by me but Ailish is proud of what I've learned so far and excited to wear her outfit once it fits her in a couple of months.

Here and There

2007-07-19T09:05:00.000-05:00

Here and there perfectly describes my knitting. There hasn't been as much luxurious knitting time as I thought I might have with the Mother In Law in town, but we've been having a lot of fun taking her around so I've caught little chunks of time while in the car. Thankfully, I don't get carsick so this has worked out really well for me!

Though there may not be much knitting going on, I did have a chance to finish the Scrunchable Scarf! I took it with me on Sunday afternoon when I met Sarah, Tammy and Ginger at Starbucks for some knitting and chatting. Scarf knitting seems to drag on and on but when you become determined at finishing it's amazing how quickly it can go! I got a huge chunk done on the scarf at Starbucks and then worked on it more before going to bed and then finished it up the very next morning after one of Ailish's early morning feedings.

The Scrunchable Scarf is going into the gift box and will be given to Jared for Christmas. I love seeing the gift box fill up!

To leave you giddy with anticipation, in the next blog post you will see something you have never ever seen before. What is it?! Tune in next time!

Trekking

2007-07-15T23:30:00.001-05:00

I love Trekking XXL. It is one of my top sock yarns ever, and you all know I've knit a few pairs of socks.Take a look at those colors. The blending and swirling of colors. I never get tired of knitting with this yarn.
These are the L&D Socks, short for Labor & Delivery. These are the socks that I started right before going into the hospital to have Ailish. Right now I'm starting the gusset decreases on sock numero dos and I'm thrilled with how they are turning out. Mom has threatened to steal the L&D Socks if she ever comes over to my house and finds them not on my feet. I wouldn't put it past her. The woman only wears hand knit socks now.
Speaking of color...Time for a change! I've been feeling a little "blah" lately and while doing a little shopping I decided that it was time to shake things up a bit. This right here is $9 worth of happiness in a bottle. Natural Instincts in the color Rosewood which is a dark auburn color.
What do you think?

Earth to Brianne

2007-07-10T14:12:00.000-05:00

I've been sitting in front of the computer for the past ten minutes just staring at this blank space where I'm supposed to type. Honestly, I'm drawing a blank. There's a lot that I can talk about but I'm having issues with piecing it all together into something coherent. I hate that feeling!

Last night I got together with Kate and Tammy and some other ladies from the church and I forgot how to cast on. It was embarrassing and a little startling! The sticks and string were in my hands but I couldn't figure out what to do with them. Then I remembered that I first needed to make a slip knot and it all came back after that. The lack of sleep is really catching up to me.

On a happier thought, Kate is leading us through how to make socks toe-up using the magic loop method. I've done cuff down magic loop but not toe up. The rest of the girls are doing two socks at once but I opted to just do them one at a time so as not to really confuse myself! Second Sock Syndrome has never been much of an issue for me so I'm not worried about not finishing them.

Also, I'm finally on the second sock of the Trekking socks that I started the night before I went into labor with Ailish. It's only been 7 weeks. The second sock is moving along much faster than the first is and I'm about 4" into the cuff.

I love these Trekking socks. Tammy and Sarah were shocked when I told them that these socks made me want to rip out all of my other socks and knit them again. They fit like a second skin.

Bryan's Mom is flying in on Saturday to visit for a week. I'm so excited that she's coming and partly because I can't wait to get in some real knitting time while she plays with Owen and cuddles with Ailish.

Flash your stash

2007-06-27T17:32:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know it's not that time of year but I spent last night and part of today putting my yarn stash and knitting library up on Ravelry. (Okay, so I've been a member of Ravelry for almost 2 months and am just now getting to this part. I've been a little busy.)

99% of the time my stash is boxed up and in the guest bedroom closet. Want to rob my house just for the yarn? That's where you're going to look. It's very rare that I have it outside of that room and most of the time I just dive into the stash to find what I'm looking for and then shut it away again. I appreciate the stash for it's beauty and for the fact that it tucks away so nicely.

Bringing out the two boxes of yarn and small box of sock yarn made me realize that I have a lot of yarn but I don't have a lot of yarn. Confusing, no? Barring the sock yarn, I have a lot of yarns that are singletons and few batches of yarn that are big enough to do something, well, big with. The lone skein of Cotton Fleece left over from the In Full Bloom cardigan or the sad little Cascade Quatro that I loved the color of in the store but there was only one in stock and so it came home with me to make friends with the 220s.

I'm feeling challenged to be creative and do something with the sad single skeins of yarn. Hopefully having them on Ravelry and in my line of sight often will help them fulfill their destiny of becoming some fun knitted thing.

The lesson is...

2007-06-25T17:47:00.000-05:00

always carry knitting with you when you leave the house. Keep it stashed in the trunk of your car, the glove box, underneath the carseat, wherever you think of to put it. Who knows when you'll need it? And who knows when someone else might need it?

On Friday I put the kids, a couple of bags and some knitting in the car and we made our way to Branson. The night before my grandmother had taken a fall and had broken three bones in her ankle. We were going to visit her in the hospital before surgery and keep Mom company for a bit. Our timing was impeccable and we managed to arrive right as grandma fell asleep for the first time since the accident. Mom met me in the parking lot to hug her most adorable grandchildren (and only grandchildren, though that doesn't matter) and talk for a few minutes.

Mom was holding up well and was trying to make sure that her own Mommy was getting the care she needed. Well, even Mom's need to be taken care of and so I asked her if she brought any knitting with her. She said yes, but a little hesitantly and told me that she brought socks with her. I pulled out a bag and put it in her hands before she left. A scarf. Easy easy scarf. Not intimidating at all and perfect for hospital knitting! She grinned as she left.

Here's the scarf, though it's much longer now. I took Tammy's advice and looked on Ravelry for pattern ideas for the handpaintedyarn.com yarn and found this, The Scrunchable Scarf. Simple pattern, great for this type of variegated yarn. I'm really happy with the results and the project is really moving right along.

Owen is done with his summer school so I lost the three hours a day, four days a week that I had with just me and Ailish. Since she's still little (6 weeks old!) and sleeps a lot, that was my chance to take a nap with her or knit or do stuff around the house. No longer! He goes back to school August 15th and though I love being home with him, I'm looking forward to having that time again!

Ailish is such a good baby! She's getting big and has started smiling at people and windows. Owen thinks she's wonderful and can't get enough of her, but who can blame him?

Finito!

2007-06-18T16:06:00.000-05:00

UnGranny Smith is done! I finished it yesterday afternoon and she promptly made her debut at a concert in Branson just two hours later. Eleven of us saw Alison Krauss & Union Station in concert at The Grand Palace and it was incredible. I think I enjoyed it even more so because of the beautiful sweater I was wearing.

Want to see a picture?! Me, too!!!

Unfortunately, Mom's camera batteries died and the only other camera with us belonged to my aunt, Holly, who is visiting from San Francisco. So, I'll be getting those pictures emailed to me in about 2 weeks.

My lovely sister, Heather, is back home in San Diego. We had an amazing time together and I loved every minute of it. Though she learned to knit when she visited last in December of 2005 she hasn't picked up the needles since and wasn't interested at all in knitting while she was here. She enjoyed watching Mom and I knit, though, and especially enjoyed holding Ailish while we had our hands full with wool.

We spent 9 days at my parents' house which was fun but I'm really glad to be back at home. I've cleaned and played with the kidlets and appreciated how quiet my house is (well, when Ailish isn't crying and Owen isn't running around singing at the top of his lungs). To celebrate I wound up some yarn and am searching for something to make with it.

The specs:

Handpaintedyarn.com
5 skeins of worsted weight yarn - approximately 750 total yards
Recommended needle size is 8 US
Brown, teal, green variegated

Does anyone have any ideas of what I can make with this?

Naptime update

2007-06-09T13:54:00.001-05:00

I can't believe that it's been 2 weeks since I last posted anything. Time has flown by and every day I pass by the computer and say to myself, "I really need to update the blog today!" but it never gets done.

Life has changed exponentially now that Ailish has joined the world. She is such a joy to each of us and even at 3:30am when she's nursing for the third time since I've tried going to sleep I can't help but look at her and think about how lucky I am to have her here with me and how much more I would enjoy her in the morning if she'd just let me sleep for more than one hour at a time. (Just keeping it real here, folks!)

Knitting has been pushed aside for the most part. I work on the Trekking sock here and there when there is a moment for it. Socks will probably be a staple project for a while since I can come to the end of a needle quickly and set it down. Mom has come up to help twice and I took advantage of that time by taking a nap and working on the UnGranny Smith cardigan. I'm very pleased to say that I bound off the sleeves last night, wound in the ends and it started blocking last night. I'm already thinking about the next big project (I may be sleep deprived, but I'm still a Knitter!) and I think that it's going to have to be something using larger needles so that I can actually see progress on it as I'm working. More thoughts on this later.

On Thursday Ailish was kind enough to model some of her handknitted socks!

Newborn socks made with Socks That Rock Mediumweight. (Thanks, Zarah! I've gotten soooo many compliments on these.)

Newborn socks made with KnitPicks Simple Stripes in Napa. Leftover from socks that I made for myself. (We have matching socks!)

Now for a very long delayed picture of the latest socks that I made for Mom, the basketweave socks in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport Chocolate. She wore them to the hospital and I snagged a picture before I forgot again.

It's not the best picture, but the color of the yarn is so rich and beautiful. She loves them and wears them all the time with her brown clogs.

My sister, Heather, and brother-in-law, Spencer, just landed in Tulsa about 45 minutes ago and they're going to be in town for a week. I'm so excited to see them since it has been almost exactly a year since their wedding in San Diego and that was the last time that I saw them. We're going to be in Branson with them for the next few days and I'm looking forward to spending tons of time with them.

Drive quickly, Aunt Heather! I'm cute and cuddly and ready to see you!

Heather is anxious to see her first niece and I'm looking forward to snapping all kinds of great pictures of all of us together. If I'm really lucky, one of those pictures will include me wearing a finished UnGranny Smith.

Introducing...

2007-05-26T17:09:00.001-05:00

Ailish Grace

Hello, Knitbloggers! Am I not adorable?

Born May 17th at 11:50 am and weighing 7 lb 8 oz and 20.5" long.

Ailish (the "Ai" is pronounced like the a in acorn and "lish" like in delicious) is the Celtic form of Elizabeth which means God's promise. She's our little miracle baby and overcame quite a lot on her journey here!

We're all doing well. It was a 3.5 hour labor and we both recovered quickly. Bryan has taken 2 weeks of from work to help, which has been a wonderful gift for all of us. Owen is taking his newfound status of big brother incredibly well! He's very gentle with his little sister and loves to help pat her back and gives her lots of kisses on the cheek. As of yet there haven't been any jealousy issues but Bryan and I have been careful to make sure that Owen gets lots of extra love and attention right now. I'm sure that soon Owen will tire of the new houseguest and make his opinion known, but for now we're enjoying this time.

We spend a lot of time like this.

Not surprisingly, there hasn't been much knitting going on. I started a hat for Ailish at 3:00am on the 17th and finished it shortly before we left the hospital on the 19th. I also started some Trekking socks and after 9 days of knitting I'm very happy to say that I have almost 4 inches done on the first cuff.

Sweet baby girl has just woken up and is calling for me. Perhaps with the next update you might even get a picture of knitting!

Hospital time!

2007-05-17T05:23:00.001-05:00

We're off!!!

Silly, Brianne!

2007-05-16T08:57:00.000-05:00

Remember in my last post that I said I was only about 4" from being done with the sleeves? I was so wrong. I was 4" from being done with the increases on the sleeves, but still had sleeve cap shaping to do. It's not all that terrible, but 4" of increasing one stitch on each side, every other row on size 5 needles means that I've been doing a lot of adding stitches when I'd rather be decreasing.

Last night I finished the increases and now (finally!) today I get to start the sleeve cap shaping. With any luck I'll be blocking the pieces tonight and can do seaming tomorrow as well as picking up the five hojillion stitches around the front.

Yesterday was really exciting and a little scary! Bryan and I had an OB appointment and found out that I'm already dilated to 2cm. I kind of stared at the doctor for a minute in shock. When we got out to the car Bryan looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh, we're actually having a baby."

The doctor is pretty darn sure that I'll deliver baby girl before the weekend. It's a race against the clock, people!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2007-05-14T14:43:00.000-05:00

This was my Mother's Day gift to myself. I finished the Manos Cotton Stria wrap on Saturday and it was washed and blocked and ready to wear on Sunday morning. That beautiful thing that you see with it is my new shawl pin from Designs by Romi. I ordered this on Monday afternoon and it was in my mailbox on Friday afternoon. Impressive, because she lives in CA and even with shipping Priority Mail it takes a few days. It came in a lovely box for storage and a handwritten card that thanked me for the order. This pin is the Figure 8 Sterling Pin. I may need more of these.

Pattern: I'm not even going to claim using a pattern because I changed everything about what was written on the paper. I won't, however, say that the pattern was my own. It's 12" wide and 62" long.
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Cotton Stria, color 225, 5 skeins
Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 6 US
Date Started: April 18, 2007
Date Finished: May 12, 2007

Now here is something really odd. I only have one project on the needles right now. The UnGranny Smith Cardigan. And I don't really know that I have the urge to cast on anything new. In reality, I'm only about 4 inches away from both sleeves being done and once I have all the pieces blocked and the fronts and back seamed together it's just a matter of doing the edging on the front and then it's done.

This baby is due May 30th. Think I can have the cardigan done by the time the baby is born?

Really?

2007-05-10T20:25:00.000-05:00

It has been said before. Just because you can knit something does not mean that you should.

Case in point: the knitted bow tie

Anyone else have any prime examples to share?

5th time's the charm!

2007-05-08T06:48:00.000-05:00

I finally had success with the baby socks. The first time that I cast on for them I put 42 stitches on the needles. How many stitches did I end up with on the final pair? 28 stitches.
These are so cute and just about the fastest things to make. Ever.

Pattern: Mine
Yarn: an itty bit of leftover STR mediumweight in Watermelon Tourmaline, as gifted by Sarah
Needles: Size 1 US metal dpns

I took these pictures last night so you'll have to forgive the color because it really looks nothing like this.

And another finished sock project for you...
Pattern: Slip Stitch Rib socks from Sensational Knitted Socks
Yarn: KnitPicks Memories: Smores, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 2 US metal dpns
Date Started: April 21, 2007
Date Finished: May 3, 2007

I like the way that the slip stitch breaks up the ribbing on the cuff. I'm not sure about the yarn, though, because I've only worn these socks twice and I'm already seeing noticeable felting on the sole of the sock. Has anyone else seen that or am I just really hard on hand knitted socks?

A work in progress...
This is the Manos Cotton Stria that I bought on sale at Simply Fibers, which is being made up into a very simple stockinette wrap with a 4 stitch garter edging. This is the project that sits next to the bed and I work on it for a few minutes every night. It's my winding down project and with miles of stockinette you can see why.

I'm into my fourth skein of yarn and have one more to go. The "pattern" that I'm using, and I use that term loosely, says to use 2 buttons to keep it closed. I originally liked that idea but over the course of working on this decided that it most certainly does not want to have buttons. Nope. It wants a shawl pin.

And so I've ordered one. (It's the one on the top right.) Normally I wouldn't order something like this for just one project but then I got to thinking about the UnGranny Smith cardigan and how I can use the shawl pin on that. That led me to remember my Hopeful wrap that I keep at work for when the decide that it needs to be 47 degrees in the office... I'll be bringing that home this week and the shawl pin would work perfectly on that, too. So I'm seeing several wonderful uses for this shawl pin. Now if only I hadn't seen the sweater sticks.

RIP

2007-05-02T23:12:00.000-05:00

I've spent most of the past couple of nights starting projects only to RIP them out after an hour or two. May they Rest In Peace.

The focus of my attention has been baby socks. Surely this little girl needs to have some hand knitted socks, especially from her Momma who always has socks on the needles. We had a yarn swap on Friday night and Sarah gave me some leftover Socks That Rock in the Watermelon Tourmaline colorway that is perfect for this!

Perhaps I should learn from my experiences here and therefore make my life so much easier, but I'm determined that I don't need a pattern for this. I've made over a dozen pairs of socks and the basic pattern is rooted deeply in my mind. I can wing it, right? Apparently not, because I've now made 4 first socks to the point of being able to kitchener the toe only to realize that the sock I've created could almost fit my 3 year old.

Part of my issue is that I've forgotten just how big... erhm, small... little baby feet are. I could try to judge it based on what I'm feeling from all this movement going on in me, but I'm pretty sure that that's not accurate since she doesn't have feet the size of her Dad's.

Baby Bolero

2007-04-25T21:31:00.000-05:00

Pattern: Baby Bolero from Debbie Bliss' Baby Cashmerino 2, size 3-6 months
Yarn: Baby Cashmerino, 2 skeins
Needles: Size 3 and 4 US straights and Size 3 US 40" circular
Started: Saturday, April 21
Finished: Wednesday, April 25
Modifications: The instructions say to seam together all of the pieces before blocking, which never makes sense to me. So I ignored that and blocked everything before seaming which makes me happy. I changed the garter edging from the way the pattern is written. The way they have you doing it is to basically knit a garter strip that is 5 or 6 stitches wide and attach it to the front edges as you go. There was no edging at the back of the piece which I thought looked rather shoddy considering how the bottom of the back is shaped. So rather than do it their way I used a circular needle and picked up stitches around the whole thing and then joined it and worked in the round for 6 rounds. This gives a nice finishing edge to it and I don't have to worry about the back rolling up. Also, I opted not to give the neckline a shawl collar.

I still have 1 skein of this yarn left over and I'm considering making a little skirt or something like that to go with it. You know, a girl needs a cute ensemble when she's going out on the town.

I am weak

2007-04-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

So you know that yarn moratorium thing? Yeah, I already broke it. I only feel the slightest bit of remorse.

Yesterday was slooooooow at work because our FTP site was down, therefore we weren't able to receive orders from customers. We'd let people know about it in advance so there wasn't anyone calling frantically trying to figure out why their order wasn't sending. The lab manager was letting people in production go early and came up to tell customer service that one of us could go as well. Being that my supervisor and the lead cs rep were working on software stuff and my other coworker said she could use the money, I sacrificed of myself and left at 1:30.

I called Bryan to give him the joyous news and told him that I was going to pick up Owen from daycare and that we were going to go to the park. He reminded me that they had just started nap and that he wouldn't be up until 3:00, so maybe I could go to the yarn store to hang out and buy something. (This is why I married Bryan!) No, no buying yarn because I'm not buying yarn until August 1st.

Then I got to Simply Fibers. Maddie and I talked while I worked on the cotton stria wrap. It was quiet and cool in the store. Then I spotted it. The Jeanne yarn that I had used to make the baby bell bottoms... Carol had gotten in more colors! And, there was an adorable pattern for a swing top (it's the second one from the left) that would just look too cute with the pants. That's when I caved.

Last night was a good knitting night for me! I have a bit of startitis right now, (perhaps because we're finally prepared for the baby?), and I wound up some Sock Memories in S'mores that I've had since last summer and started knitting. This morning I finished the gusset decreases on the first sock. Not too shabby! Then I swatched for the Baby Bolero with the correct needle sizes and made gauge! Right now I'm almost done with the back of the bolero. Cute little baby jackets sure don't take long to make progress on!

Tomorrow after church we're driving to Bolivar to pick up a Wii that Bryan scored off of Craigslist. He's so stinking excited that it feels like Christmas. Me? I'm excited to have some time to knit in the car.

Happy

2007-04-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

There are some days that you just know are going to be difficult. Maybe there's a task on that day that you know is going to take all of your energy, or a person you'll have to work with that you've never really gotten along with. No matter what it is that you're up against you know that it's going to take everything you have to make it through the day with your dignity and poise left intact.

Today was my day and it had been circled in red on my desk calendar at work for the past two and a half weeks. Getting ready for work this morning I did everything I could to prep myself.

Favorite and most comfortable maternity pants? Check.
Calming perfume? Check.
iPod ready to play upbeat music? Check.
Fun book to read at lunch so as to mentally escape? Check.

And the secret weapon... the socks. Yes, the socks that I finished over the weekend. I didn't even block them so that I could make sure that they were ready to wear on Monday morning.

Happy socks with other things that make me happy... my family.
That's Bryan and my youngest brother, Isaac, taken 4 years ago.

Ah, the socks.

And now for something completely different

2007-04-14T10:32:00.000-05:00

On Thursday I purchased the needles I would need to successfully swatch the Baby Bolero. They're still in their packages. I was so excited about starting the bolero but my focus was not long maintained. I'm sure those needles will come out sometime this week, but I wouldn't be holding my breath if I were you.

No, I've been trying to faithfully work on the UnGranny Smith cardigan while I'm at home and the Sockotta socks while at work. The sleeves haven't changed much, they're just a few inches longer so I won't bore you with pictures! The socks, which I haven't taken any pictures of, are close to being done. I'll finish them up this weekend and get them on my feet for a photo shoot!

This morning, though, I was tempted by something else. While poking around Michael's a little while back I found an adorable birth announcement kit that I thought would be perfect for Owen. (Yes, I'm a little behind. You should see his scrapbook.) It's got bold blues and reds which is how his room is decorated. I started working on the first block of it a couple of weeks ago while I was at home after the car accident and then put it down. This morning I got some more of it finished and it will probably be put away again for a little longer.

I like being able to pick up other crafts now and then. Cross stitch is perfect for that kind of thing, I think. There's no wondering "Where did I leave off?" or "How does this stitch pattern go?" Although, I must say that I could never see myself doing a cross stitch in the car like I do with knitting.

And speaking of cars, we have purchased a vehicle to replace my poor Sorento that was totaled. My grandmother decided that with only about 10 years of driving left in her that she wanted a luxury car and wouldn't you know that she went and bought herself a fully loaded 2007 Lexus RX yesterday. We've purchased her 1999 Dodge Durango from her (with low mileage also fully loaded!) and she gave us the keys and car yesterday on her way home from the dealership. Owen and I sat in the backseat of the Durango for a few minutes and Owen said, "Nice car! My Rocket?" I think he'll tolerate the change well.

The State Of The Needles

2007-04-08T23:47:00.000-05:00

I thought it high time that I give a current assessment of all of my current projects that are on the needles. Every once in a while a girl needs to take a look at where she is. This is my time.

I start with the Ungranny Smith cardigan from Knitty's Spring 2006 issue. I started this project in November (?) and here is where I am. Sleeves. Oh, you sleeves which frustrate me with your constant increases, how I wish that you were finished!

Then again, if I were finished with the sleeves I'd just be faced with picking up a million and a half stitches with size 3 US needles for the ribbing around the front and collar. You know, if I really put my mind to it I could have this cardi finished in about 3 weeks. That's really not going to happen, though.

Next, I bring you the Baby Bell Bottoms from The Blue Blog's Alison. As soon as I saw the pattern I knew that I had to make some for baby. This is a picture from Thursday night's knitting session with Tammy at Panera. One almost finished blue pair of pants and a just started cream pair.
And a picture from about 22 minutes ago....
Done! With elastic waistband sewn in and everything!

Pattern: Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison Hansel
Needles: Size 6 US Denise Circs
Yarn: Plymouth Yarn's Jeannee in color 10 (blue) and 7 (cream)
Date Started: March 31, 2007
Date Finished: April 8, 2007 (for both pairs)
Modifications: None
Notes: I think that next time I'd be interested in working both legs at once using the Magic Loop method so that there was no seaming of the legs involved.

Also finished this week were Mom's most coveted brown socks that I don't have any pictures of! How on earth did I just spend an entire weekend with her and not get any pictures of her with the new socks?! I'll see if she can help me out with that problem.

Pattern: Garter Basketweave from Sensational Knitted Socks
Needles: Size 1 US dpns
Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Chocolate from KPixie.com
Date Started: February 17, 2007
Date Finished: April 1, 2007
Modifications: None
Notes: None

I have another pair of socks on the needles currently. I thought that I'd work on a simple sock but wanted to mix things up a bit so I'm using the Magic Loop method on these. Nothing fancy, just a 2x2 ribbed cuff with stockinette in the leg and foot. I'm using some Sockotta that Mom bought for me last January while she was visiting my sister in San Diego and the bright colors make me think of Spring. The first sock is done and I have about 3" done on the leg of the second sock.

Today I started a gauge swatch for the Baby Bolero in Debbie Bliss' Simply Baby. There's nothing like doing a gauge swatch in the completely wrong size needles to make you wonder if it's a bad omen for the whole project. Nevertheless, I'll be trying to get gauge again and should have much better results this time.

Both Tammy and Sarah have decided to not buy any yarn this Summer and after digging through my stash on Saturday morning I think I could certainly join them on this journey without feeling any ill effects for a while. I forget just how much great yarn I have at my disposal. Yes, I may have to get creative with some of it (what does one do with an individual skein of bulky, hand-dyed yarn?) but I see it as a challenge. So, therefore, I'm pledging that I will not purchase any yarn until after August 1, 2007. That's 4 months and I think that I can do it!!!

Quick Knits

2007-03-31T15:04:00.000-05:00

With an adult sized cardigan on the needles for myself, sometimes I feel drawn towards working on something where I'll see results just a little quicker. After all, I'm on the sleeves of the cardigan right now and since I'm working on both sleeves at once they're seeming to take even longer to get through! A girl can't be faulted for wanting a little instant gratification now and then.

Meet instant gratification...Pattern: Made With Love Layette Sweater by Emma Crew
Yarn: Cascade 220 Tweed, 1 skein
Needles: Size 8 Denise circulars
Date Started: March 23, 2007
Date Finished: March 24, 2007
Modifications: None. Instructions are given for the seed stitch hearts and I chose to only put one on the sweater. Looking back, it would be so precious to have one on the top back, too.

I absolutely LOVED making this sweater! It was so quick to knit and I loved the construction of it. The pattern was well written and very easy to follow, even for someone who had never done a sweater from the top down. I will absolutely be making more of these in the small and large size.

I thought I'd take a quick picture of what I was wearing today! That's the cardigan I knit last year from Creative Knitting. I was excited to put on something handmade that looked cute and not in a maternity way. I got a lot of compliments on it while I was out and no one could believe that I had made it!

We're at 32 weeks pregnant this week. Yikes! Not long till this baby girl comes, especially if she's 3 weeks early like Owen was.

That's why I bought these...
Did anyone see the latest post at The Blue Blog? Allison knit the cutest pants for Baby L and put the pattern up on her website. I'm thinking that baby girl needs some baby bell bottoms, too!

Simply Fibers is in the middle of their big annual sale and the knitterly girls and I met there last night to get in on the fiber action. The Cascade 220 is destined for the next sweater I have planned for myself, the Neck Down Shaped Cardigan (#241) from Knitting Pure And Simple. I won't be doing the tie for the front but think that a clasp will do beautifully.

I really enjoyed working with Manos Cotton Stria when I made the kimono type sweater for the baby and when I saw this color I fell in love. I'll be making a simple wrap for the summer based on a pattern that I got at Simply Fibers a while back.

I have quite a lot of knitting on my plate!

What goes around comes around

2007-03-22T17:42:00.000-05:00

Within the past 2 months I've found myself lodged firmly in a small knitting group that I love dearly. Sarah, Tammy, Meredith and new recruit, Kate, are wonderful women and I've enjoyed getting to know them better and being able to spend time with people who are as obsessed with knitting as I am. What I didn't expect is just how much we would influence each other.

At the Knit In at Simply Fibers that last Friday of February I was handed a skein of linen yarn by Tammy and Sarah who told me that we were going to make the linen handtowels from Mason Dixon Knitting and I bought the yarn without even owning that book or knowing what the towels were going to look like. Tammy saw the lace rib socks that I was working on and loved the yarn, so I sent her the link to the Etsy store for Fearless Fibers and pointed out that she still carried that same colorway and 45 minutes later I got an email back saying that she had bought the yarn and some stitchmarkers, too! On Saturday morning I showed off the log cabin blanket to Tammy and Sarah and later that afternoon I got a call from Sarah asking more about it because she hadn't stopped thinking about it all day.

When I first learned to knit almost 2 years ago I was settled that no one was going to influence my knitting. After all, how many people did I know that actually knitted? No one, really, so I was going to be the lone reed and my knitting was going to be my own.

Slowly, other knitters have found me and I've found them (or created them, in the case of my Mom) and the inspiration that those knitters have given me has been wonderful. It doesn't lessen the creative process or finished product just because someone else I know has done this before me or even if we work on it side by side. It is still my knitting as much as it is their knitting. In fact, I'd say that I've become a better knitter because of my fellow knitterly girls.

(By the way, I bought the Mason Dixon Knitting book on Saturday on our yarn store road trip and I'm loving it! It's nice to finally know what my linen handtowel is going to look like!!!)

Before I end, I have another finished project! Bryan's fabulous boss is expecting a baby girl just two weeks before I am and Bryan asked me to knit something for her, specifically a sweater. Bryan's boss is incredible but I was a little hesitant considering how many things I have planned for our own baby. Then I gave in and agreed and this was born!

Pattern: Baby Caftan, Creative Knitting March 2006
Yarn: Caron's Simply Soft in Plum Wine, 1 skein
Needles: Size 7 and 8 US circulars and dpns
Date began: March 17, 2007
Date finished: March 22, 2007
Modifications: I changed the neckline just a tad since I was afraid that it was going to be too small and I'm glad that I did. Also, rather than doing the seams from the wrist up and then seaming them onto the sweater I picked up the armhole stitches and worked them from the shoulder down. No seaming! I love this method of doing sleeves, I'm telling you!

Now that this project is done I've cast on for a sweater for our baby. I decided on this sweater which I'm using a skein of Cascade 220 Tweed in 601, a beautiful green. The 6 - 12 month size only needs one skein of yarn and I happened to have just one skein of this yarn that I bought on clearance at Simply Fibers for $4.00! It's a neck down construction which is brand new to me so I'm making myself trust the pattern and just do it without overthinking it.

Satisfaction

2007-03-18T21:43:00.000-05:00

I've had a very satisfying week in a lot of ways. One main thing for me has been that it seems that everything has been balanced. Work has been very busy due to pending software upgrades that we're currently testing for glitches, but I've had several chances to spend time with friends and unwind. Even my knitting has been focused and intense but balanced by the joy of finishing a project and being able to share it with people who can really appreciate it.

On Tuesday I mentioned that I was unabashedly obsessed with the log cabin blanket. Wednesday night found me racing towards the finish line and on Thursday morning at 12:30am I went to bed exhausted, but with a blanket that was set out to block. At my Thursday night knitting date with Tammy and Kate at Panera I was so very tired but so very pleased with myself.

The log cabin blanket made it's debut on Saturday when I was able to show it off to Sarah and Tammy. And it was good.

Project: Log Cabin Blanket
Yarn: Peace Fleece, 6 skeins
Needles: Size 10.5 US, Denise circs
Date started: February 14, 2007
Date finished: March 15, 2007

I enjoy working with Peace Fleece. The colors are wonderful and though the yarn may be a bit rough to work with, once the wool hits the water it blooms beautifully and softens every time it's washed. Plus, a cloth diapering friend of mine claims that it can be washed in cold water on a gentle cycle and dried on low heat without felting. I haven't tried this out myself but she swears by Peace Fleece and uses it to make all of her daughter's soakers.

Sarah, Tammy and I went on a yarn store road trip on Saturday to the far far away town of Rogersville to go to a new yarn shop that opened up this winter. (Rogersville may only be 30 minutes from Springfield but I haven't traveled in what feels like forever and so a 30 minute drive north is an exotic destination to me!) We piled in Tammy's car with our knitting bags and hopes and dreams to go see this new place.

Sarah instantly found her pot of gold, er, basket of gold?
That, my friends, is a basket overflowing with Tess sock yarn. Both Sarah and Tammy were elbow deep in it right away.
We all found a lot of really wonderful things and walked away with a bag of goodies. The store is so cute and we spent a lot of time wandering around and fingering everything! I will most certainly be going again and taking Mom with me. Sarah has volunteered to make the journey with us, in part to see Mom's reaction to the store. (My Mom is so stinking cute and has a tendency to gush her excitement about everything. I must admit that it is a bit contagious!)

Next time... "What goes around comes around: This time you may be the enabler, but it's bound to come back and bite you on the tush."

The winds of change

2007-03-13T20:57:00.000-05:00

Maybe it's just that I got a fresh batch of pregnancy hormones or something, but I've been really fickle lately. One minute nothing sounds good to eat and even the thought of putting something in my mouth makes the bile rise in my throat. The next minute I spot a Subway and oh my gosh I can't get a veggie laden sub into my mouth fast enough. It's like that with almost everything. Knitting included.

Last week I couldn't put down UnGranny Smith. We were joined at the hip, BFF, running on the beach with our hair blowing gently in the wind. I was going to marry this project and we were going to run away together to the south of France to live happily ever after.

Tonight I must admit that I've cheated on my love. In fact, I've cheated more than once and it's been darn pleasurable. The vow that I took to work on UnGranny Smith for one hour every night has been broken and I don't regret it even a little bit. Chastise with me if you must, but I've found my pleasure elsewhere, in the ply of another yarn.

I saw the Log Cabin blanket sitting dejected and forlorn in the basket and thought, "I'll just work on you for a little bit today". It starts out innocently enough. Just one stripe, that's all. Sure, just one stripe but then the next thing you know it's 2 hours later and you're still swearing that you'll only finish the stripe that you're on and then you'll put down the blanket. *sigh*

Right now I'm indulging myself and have put the cardigan back in it's bag and the Log Cabin blanket is in a place of honor... spread out on the love seat. I've only got one more stripe left and then it's time to work a border around the blanket. Our love affair will be short, but I shall enjoy every moment that we have together.

What's the theme?

2007-03-07T20:40:00.000-06:00

At the last knit in at Simply Fibers, Lana asked me if I had a theme for baby's room? I think that my answer was a little surprising to her and the others. My theme? Avoidance.

There's really not a whole lot that we have for this baby! When we moved from San Diego, CA to Springfield, MO we figured out that it would be more expensive to haul Owen's baby stuff halfway across the country than buy new stuff when we needed it again, so his crib and highchair and all manner of baby paraphernalia was donated to some less fortunate families. Now that we're at the point of needing it again we're not exactly filling the house to the rafters with baby purchases. In fact, other than a few outfits and blankets... and the small stash of yarn that I mean to make stuff for her with... we really don't have anything!

This has carried over a bit to the baby knitting. The log cabin blanket currently stands at 23" square and I haven't picked it up in over a week. I have no other baby projects on the needles and though I know what I could be making since the patterns with their yarn are right there waiting for me... I really don't have much of an urge to start any little tiny things.

Why? Because I've fallen madly in love with UnGranny Smith again. The right front measures 13" and I'm almost excited about casting on for sleeves! (Hurry! Take my temperature!!!) The yarn is fantastic to work with and the color makes me smile whenever I look at it. I look forward to working on it every night and reward myself with knitting time for doing certain tasks. (Spent 2 hours organizing the home office with a 3 year old running around vying for attention? That's worth an hour of uninterrupted knitting time while the child watches Little Einsteins.)

As of tomorrow we're only 12 weeks from the due date, and if baby is anything like her older brother she'll be almost 3 weeks early. Oh, the baby knits will come. I'll feel the undeniable urge soon enough just like tonight I felt the undeniable urge to clean the kitchen junk drawer. In the meantime, I'm enjoying myself!

How Hand Knitted Socks Saved My Life

2007-03-01T21:36:00.000-06:00

Maybe that's a little sensationalist, but it's my blog and I get to make the titles.

The ongoing saga of the car accident continues! I won't bore you with all the details, but the gist of it is that it turns out that I can expect to have somewhat on-going health issues stemming from the injury to my right leg. The doctor thinks that I may get feeling back in the numb areas in about 6 months, but it's all just a big guess since nerves regenerate themselves on their own schedule. I can expect the swelling to be a problem for the next several months as well.

All of this convinces me that hand knitted socks are the only way to go for a while. (Well, that and one day spent in store bought socks left me in agony and with a very angry looking foot.) If I'm going to be wearing hand knitted socks every day I'm either going to be washing the ones I have a lot or I'm going to have to get busy knitting myself some new socks! Thankfully, I have enough sock yarn that I won't have to worry about needing to buy the yarn for them. (See? The stash is so useful!)

UnGranny Smith is moving along nicely. I did finish the left front late on Monday night and I've decided to work on this for an hour every night. The right front is almost 6" in length and I'm finally starting to feel excited about this project again! Seeing progress is always motivating!

More tea?

2007-02-26T21:22:00.000-06:00

Today I felt very motivated to work on the UnGranny Smith sweater. I sat down and told myself, "Brianne, today you're going to finish the left front and cast on for the right front!" I figured that I was right at the point where I'd be starting shaping for the neckline and armholes. So I sat down with Friends Season 10 in the dvd player and a cup of hot tea at my side and took a look at where I was on the left front.

Imagine my annoyance at realizing that 3" back I had done the waist shaping incorrectly. I tried to drop down and maneuver my way out of it, but there was no hope! I poured myself another cup of tea, inwardly wishing that it was something a little stronger, and ripped back 3" on the left front.

I have had a few successes to share, though! Owen's sweater is done, washed, blocked and tried on. It fits wonderfully and I think that my hopes that it will fit him for the next winter too aren't in vain.
Owen's sweater:
Pattern: Generated from www.knittingfool.com
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, Size 11 US
Yarn: Lamb's Pride Bulky - 1 skein Heather Charcoal, 2 skeins Ink Blue (from the stash!)
Knitted in 2 1/2 days

I've never worked with Lamb's Pride Bulky before and it was an experience. If you've never worked with it before, here are a few things you should know. 1.) This will shed all over you, your couch, your floor and whoever might be sitting within a 3 mile radius of you. 2.) This will take 10 washings to get a clear rinse, including 2 overnight soaks just to be safe. 3.) You will need to brush this sweater with a sweater stone before you let your loved one wear it for the first time and if you really love them you'll brush it out a second time even though you don't think it needs it because you will come up with more stray fibers than you thought possible.

There are two of these socks, but photographing my own feet at this time would require more stretching and acrobatics than I'm willing to do right now. So believe me when I tell you that the second sock looks exactly the same. I've had this yarn in my stash for almost a year and I really didn't want to wind it from the skein because it was just too pretty! I've opened my sock yarn bin and fondled the hank often but always chose something else to work with because if I used the yarn then I wouldn't have it anymore. Then one day I was in a funk and needed something truly wonderful to brighten my day and I decided that some beautiful sock yarn was exactly what I needed and these socks were born!

Pattern: Lacey rib cuff
Needles: size 1 dpn
Yarn: Fearless Fibers in Desert Flower - Superwash

I kept these socks in my purse and would work on them when the phones got slow at work, or while waiting in the car for the drive through teller at the bank. I tried to work on them when I was in the hospital but could only get about 3 rounds done before I had to put them down because I was even more drugged up in the hospital than I have been at home! I started the second sock on Wednesday afternoon and was wearing them all day on Sunday.

The Fearless Fibers yarn is amazing. I love the colors and the yarn is sturdy but so very soft! I have one more skein in blues and greens in my stash and I know I'll be ordering more.

Finished Stuff

2007-02-22T12:00:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm not back at work yet. I've developed an infection in my right leg that's being treated by high dose antibiotics and my back is still a bit "wonky" (to use the correct medical terminology). So it looks like I'll be back to work later next week if I get my OB's permission at next week's appointment.

We went to retrieve our personal possessions from the car on Tuesday and it was a bit unnerving to see the car. I'm glad that I did, though, as it kind of gave me closure. We took lots of pictures for our own records and noted problems that even our untrained eyes could see. (Bent frame, 3 jammed doors that are not able to open, and severe rear end damage to name a few.) While it was painful to see the car, it was necessary because I had to get my UnGranny Smith sweater from the back seat!

In happier news, on Monday I started Owen's sweater again and finished it up last night! It's a drop sleeve sweater knitted in the round from the bottom up. Can I just say that I love the knitting in the round sweaters! The sleeves were worked by picking up stitches around the armholes and I love the way they turned out. Owen doesn't like having things high up around his neck so I changed the neckline to a boatneck and it seems to work much better for us that way.

Here's an in-progress picture from Monday afternoon. (Hello, belly!) The sweater is currently drying after much washing. It was my first time using Lamb's Pride and is it normal that it took 8 soakings and rinses before I got a clear rinse?

So right now my current works in progress are the Log Cabin blanket which measures at 16" square, my Fearless Fiber socks that I just started the second sock this morning and the UnGranny Smith sweater that I have the back done on and am about halfway done with the left front. There's a knit in at Simply Fibers tomorrow and I have no idea what project I'll be bringing with me. Bryan's boss is having a baby girl about 2 weeks before I'm due and he asked me to make a little something for her, so maybe I'll bring a new project with me to the knit in!

Drugged Knitting

2007-02-18T21:53:00.000-06:00

Hello, friends!

This has been quite a week. As Bryan mentioned, I was in a car accident on Monday that landed me in the hospital overnight for observation. Actually, the doctors were more interested in how baby was doing and so they spent a lot of time doing ultrasounds to make sure that she was still safe and happy and that I wasn't bleeding internally. I got to preview the Labor and Delivery ward of Cox South hospital as they kept watch over us and made sure I wasn't going to do anything stupid like go into premature labor when the baby was only at 24 weeks.

I'm still quite stiff and sore, which is to be expected. My right leg is bruised from ankle to knee and somewhat numb, but I'm told that the numbness will go away after the swelling goes down. My car, though, did not fare as well. According to the police officer who came to the hospital to get my statement it seems like my 2004 Kia Sorento is a total loss, though it will need to be verified by the insurance adjuster.

Hopefully, I'll be cleared to go back to work after an appointment with my doctor on Tuesday. I've spent most of my days alternating between knitting and sleeping. The muscle relaxers that I was prescribed have really helped with the pain but also really knock me out. I've also noticed that they have done a number on my knitting. For example, I started a sweater for Owen. I'm using Lamb's Pride Bulky and so the progress is quick. I used the sweater pattern generator from Knitting Fool and am really happy with the results. I was about 7 inches up the torso of the sweater when I realized that this thing that I was knitting would be big enough for my 7 year old brother and would have swallowed alive my 3 year old son. So I've recalculated the numbers and realized that in my gloriously relaxed state, I had put in that my son had a 28 inch chest instead of a 23 inch chest. Oops!

One project that is going well is a sort of log cabin blanket that I started on for the baby. This really is some fabulous, mindless knitting. With all the sock knitting I've done in the past year I can pick up stitches in my sleep, and I've made such good progress on this thing that I wouldn't be surprised to learn that I had been doing just that! I'm using Peace Fleece worsted that I purchased from kpixie.com and I'm loving it. Bryan loves the colors and when I mentioned that I might rip it out and rework the coloring he begged me not to because he loves it just as it is.

For those times when even picking up stitches seems like too much work, I pulled out my therapy blanket from the stash closet. This is a garter stitch blanket that I started when we were moving from CA to MO in only 3 weeks total time and I needed something completely mindless to work on. It's on 8 US circular needles with super soft TLC Amore acrylic yarn in a light sage green. The pattern goes a little something like this: cast on 250 stitches, knit every single stitch on every single row until you've used up the yarn and then bind off. I think I've probably added a good 5 inches to this blanket since Tuesday night. It'll go back into the stash closet soon and will be unearthed the next time I need it.

A big big "Thank You!" to everyone who commented and emailed me this week. I'm sorry that I haven't replied to any of them but I appreciate all of the prayers and good thoughts. Wish me luck with all of the insurance stuff and that I'm in good enough shape to go to the Knit In at the LYS later this week!

Where's Brianne

2007-02-13T15:12:00.000-06:00

Hey everyone! This is Bryan, Brianne's husband. She was in a really bad accident last night, and had to go to the ER. They kept her in Labor and Delivery for observation until this afternoon. She's a little high on painkillers and muscle relaxants right now, but mom and baby are fine. She'll be touching base very soon, but please feel free to email her with a comment anytime. Thanks!

Bryan

First sweater

2007-02-06T11:17:00.000-06:00

Not the first sweater that I've made, but my first sweater for our little girl. Knitted in just 3 days but with a lot of love!

Pattern: Pie by Berrocco, 0-3 month size
Yarn: Manos Cotton Stria, 2 skeins and a small bit of a third
Needles: KnitPicks Options, size 5 US

I like the finished product, but perhaps next time I wouldn't use the same yarn. The Cotton Stria knitted in garter stitch is very soft but difficult to seam. Also, I had wanted to do a little embroidery around the neckline but after 45 minutes and 3 restarts, I decided that it just wasn't going to happen!

I love the kimono style garment for infants and want to make another one, but I think I'll spend some time trying to find a pattern that doesn't have quite so many pieces to it. I'm sure that I can find one that has the body of the sweater knit in one piece rather than three.

Last night I finished the Clapotis that I started just a couple of weeks ago. This sure was a quick and easy knit even though I was working with silk which insisted on splitting constantly and refusing to drop easily. (I'm not bitter, though.)

While working the decrease section I started really thinking about this project. As much as I love the look of the silk yarn and the the drape that it produces and the wonderful shaping of the scarf.... I really don't think that this particular scarf is going to work for me. After all, I have a 3 year old and will soon have an infant and for the next few years having clothes and accessories that are easily cleaned is going to be essential to survival. I'd love to make the Clapotis again but maybe I'll make it for myself in a Superwash. In the meantime, I have an idea of what I'll be doing with this one!

This is why I knit!

2007-01-29T18:16:00.000-06:00

Clockwise from top left: Dad (who is without handknitted goodness!), Jared (wearing my first knitted project, a blue and grey scarf), Isaac (wearing his requested items: an orange crocheted scarf and red and white knitted hat with a "foofie thing" on top), Mom (wearing the cowl that I made her for Christmas), Owen (with his knitted hat with earflaps... that he's wearing backwards!) and Bryan (wearing his green hat).

When we were without power due to the ice storm we stayed with my family in Branson. My parents were thrilled to have us and we were thrilled to be in a house that was warmer than 35 degrees inside.

We decided to venture out into the weather to get a wonderful Mexican lunch at the Branson Landing. When we all got to the table and started shedding our winter gear I noticed something that warmed my heart. Everyone at the table, with the exception of my Dad, was wearing something that I had knit them. And it wasn't even something planned! I sat there for a minute and honestly, a little tear came to my eye. I made these things for the people that I love and even though it's 5 degrees outside with wind chill, my love is helping to keep them warm!

With all the cold weather I've been wearing my knitted socks more often. They do such a wonderful job of keeping my tootsies warm that I've been finding that they are the first socks that I reach for!

I did a mass washing of the socks on Saturday and thought that they looked lovely when I stacked them back up after they had dried. Perhaps there are a few that I haven't blogged about! In fact, I don't think that I blogged the three on the far right.

The brown, burgandy & cream socks were KnitPicks in the Napa colorway. I knitted these in October when Owen had his surgery and these came to a few doctor visits with me!

The green socks are Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Cedar and they perfectly match my living room couches! They were knitted during the huge snow storm in early December that rendered us almost house bound. I did a mock cable on the cuff and I think that they are my preferred sock right now because they fit so fabulously and the yarn is fantastic.

Sarah might recognize these socks. I won this yarn in a raffle that she did and I got to pick a sock yarn from her stash. It's Tess sock yarn and it was wonderful to work with. Part of the fun was watching the colors move and change as I was knitting. These socks were completed on December 30, 2006 and were my last FO of the year.

I have a few more projects on the needles than I normally have at one time, but I'm enjoying the variety. I'm not feeling rushed to finish anything and that's a wonderful thing!

The Results Are In!

2007-01-23T22:17:00.000-06:00

The ice storm that covered most of the midwest did a lot of damage to Springfield, including knocking out power to over 80,000 customers. We were a part of that number and spent a few days in Branson with my parents while we waited for power to be restored to our home. Our big ultrasound appointment was scheduled for that time and my OB's office was without power as well so we had to wait another whole week before we could get in!

I was so excited about today's appointment! Bryan and Owen were there and my Mom joined us as well.

The baby was very sweet and gave us a warm welcome. I love this picture because it looks like the baby is smiling and waving at us!!!

And now for the big news..........

We're having a girl!!! Bryan and I are both a little shocked because Bryan is the oldest of 4 boys so we both figured that it was a foregone conclusion that we'd have boys, too! We're thrilled at the thought of it, though, and I'm drooling at the thought of little girl knits! Mom and I have plans to make a visit to the LYS on Saturday to find yarn to start the girly knitting. Owen is already talking about his "steester" and I love it!

While we were in Branson I made some great progress on my UnGranny Smith cardigan and am now a few inches in on the front left. Mom is convinced that it will look beautiful on her and hints, with no subtlety whatsoever and with a mischievous wink, that she'd love for me to give this to her once I'm done. I'm convinced that I'm in love with it myself and have very happily told her that she needs to make one for herself and that I'd love to help her with it if needed.

I also started a Clapotis and after some initial wariness on how exactly the drop stitches thing works out I decided to trust the process. After all, about 2 billion knitters before me have made this pattern and if it didn't work I'm sure I would have heard about it before now!!! And what do you know? If you follow the pattern the way that it's written, everything works out just fine.

I'm working the Clapotis in ArtYarns Regal Silk in colorway 105, which I had originally intended to make into a Cozy shawl but it wasn't working out. Fast forward 16 months and it is looking beautiful as the Clapotis! The only thing that I'm not loving is that the yarn splits like nobody's business, which I'm sure is just part of working with 100% silk. I'm fully planning on making a second Clapotis but using a different yarn altogether. If you've made a Clapotis I'd love to know what yarn you used and how you liked it!

First FO of 2007

2007-01-12T20:53:00.000-06:00

I picked up some Araucania Nature Cotton while at my LYS a few weeks ago and couldn't put it down. I love everything about this yarn, from the softness of it that made me want to rub my face against it to the chunky thick and thin texture. After walking around the store for 30 minutes while still holding a skein I decided that I'd really need to buy it and play around with it. (Okay, so I really purchased 2 skeins of it, but I don't think anyone reading this is going to hold it against me!)

I knew that I wanted to make something for the baby out of this yarn, but what? Not nearly enough for a blanket (but oh, could you imagine a blanket out of this stuff?!) but too much for just a hat. A sweater! But not a long sleeve one since the due date is in early June.

So I played around with the yarn and came up with this little number! This only took one skein of yarn, plus about 3 yards of the second to do the single crochet around the edges.

Wee One's Sweater:

Yarn: Araucania Nature Cotton, color V11
Needles: Size 10US Circs
Pattern: My own

Here's the basic pattern that I used. I sized this for a small infant between the ages of 0-3 months. We'll see how it actually fits!

Back:
CO 31 sts
K in stockinette st for 7"
On RS BO 4 sts, k to end
On WS BO 4 sts, k to end
Row 1 decrease: (On RS) K2, k2tog, k to last 4 sts, ssk, k2
Row 2 decrease: (On WS) p
Repeat the 2 decrease rows two more times (17 sts remain)
Continue in Stockinette st until piece measures 9"
BO all sts

Left Front:
CO 15 sts
K in stockinette st for 7" end on RS row
On WS: BO 4 sts, p to end
Row 1 decrease: (On RS) k2, k2tog, k to last 4 sts, ssk, k2
Row 2 decrease: (On WS) p
Repeat these 2 decrease rows two more times
K in stockinette st until piece measures 9"
BO all sts

Right Front:
CO 15 sts
K in stockinette st for 7" end on WS row
On RS: BO 4 sts, k to end
On WS: p to end
Row 1 decrease: (On RS) k2, k2tog, k to last 4 sts, ssk, k3
Row 2 decrease: (On WS) p to end
Repeat these 2 decrease rows two more times
K in stockinette st until piece measures 9"
BO all sts

Sleeves (make 2):
CO 18 sts
K in stockinette st for 2"
Row 1 decrease: k2, k2tog, k to last 4 sts, ssk, k2
Row 2 decrease: p2, p2tog, p to last 4 sts, p2tog, p2
Reapeat decrease rows until 2 sts remain
BO all sts

Finishing:
Seam all pieces together. Optional: single crochet around edges.

Enjoy!

P.S. We find out the gender of the baby on Tuesday! I'm so excited that I can hardly wait!

Obligatory Goofy Christmas Pictures

2007-01-04T19:01:00.000-06:00

We've had a wonderful Christmas and New Years and I can't wait to finally show off what I've secretly been working on!

Owen's socks: Made from leftover Sockotta yarn that I used to make Mom a pair of Christmas socks. These were a great quick knit and I was so pleased to find a use for leftover sock yarn!
Isaac's Black Wargreymon hat (named after his favorite Pokemon character) made from Cascade Pastaza. Isaac is a very particular one about how his clothes fit and feel so I was so happy that he gave his stamp of approval on the hat. (He also prefers my lasagna to anyone else's just to throw that in there!)
Pepa's Irish Hiking Scarf in Silky Wool. This is my maternal grandmother who will be moving to our neck of the woods at the beginning of February! She spends most of the year wearing a Fall palette of clothes and so when I saw this color I knew that it was absolutely perfect for her. Pepa was thrilled with her scarf and wore it for the rest of the day!
Mom's socks... she really does have a pair in each sock, but this was just such a fun picture that I couldn't help myself! The right sock is the Sockotta that matches Owen's socks and the left sock is Trekking XXL. The most amazing thing about the Trekking socks is that somehow both socks managed to perfectly match eachother in the striping sequence and I didn't notice until I was 2/3 done with them. The Trekking socks were done with a mock cable over 3 a 3x1 rib for the cuff.
It was a knittiful Christmas for Mom as she shows off her knitted cowl done in Knitpicks laceweight though gracious help me I can't remember what it is. This was probably the most boring thing I've ever knit. Garter stitch for 70" on size 1us needles. Just thinking about it puts me in a coma. However, Mom loves it and the cowl has gotten much use already so it was worth it all! (2 notes: Mom wants me to go ahead and mention that she did not make her very cute sweater and I'd like to apologize to Mom as this was not the best picture of her that I've taken but it was the only one where you weren't completely blurry.)

In baby news, we're now 18 weeks along and get to find out the gender of the baby on the 16th! I've got a little baby sweater drying right now that I can't wait to show off, but it'll have to wait for another day.

Happy New Year!

Christmas time is here

2006-12-19T21:49:00.000-06:00

Though there may not be much evidence of it here, I have been knitting in the past month! It seems like there hasn't been enough time in the day to try to get everything done and document it, too.

Allow me to show off the latest Finished Object: the Celtic Cable Pillows

Pattern: cable pattern taken from The Knit Stitch Bible
Yarn: Cascade Eco Wool, doubled
Needles: Denise Interchangeable, size 11 US
Date Started: November 20, 2006
Date Finished: Seamed and stuffed on December 16, 2006
Finished size: 9 inches square

These pillows are my Christmas gift to my sister, Heather, and my new brother-in-law, Spencer. I'm hoping that they'll enjoy them as much as I have been able to in the past month. Spencer loves Celtic mythology and even has a large Celtic cross tattooed on his upper arm, so I spent a lot of time trying to find a Celtic cable that I thought he would appreciate.

As far as Christmas knitting goes, there isn't much left for me to do! Isaac's black hat is done and Owen's second sock is on toe decreases. I'm making a hackeysack for Jared and that has involved a little tinkering with the pattern, but is well on it's way now and should be finished by the end of the week. Mom's knitted goodies were done in August, and it's been fun seeing if I could really wait 4 whole months before giving them to her.

Once the Christmas knitting is finished I plan on bringing my UnGranny Smith sweater out of it's lonely knitting bag and working on that more. Plus, I bought the Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino 2 book at my LYS on Saturday and I'm dying to cast on for something in there! I think that I have more post-Christmas knitting plans than I had Christmas knitting!!!

Humble Beginnings

2006-11-21T23:12:00.000-06:00

Every project has a start and an end.

This is one beginning.

This is two and a half repeats of the first half of one Celtic Cable pillow. I'm really enjoying this cable pattern, and though I wouldn't have believed it at first the pattern is becoming almost intuitive now. The Cascade Eco Wool is knitting up with a nice sturdy fabric that gives the gables amazing definition! Another pleasant surprise is that I think I may have enough yarn to knit up two of these pillows, which will make sending this present twice as wonderful.

I'm trying to decide what knitting to bring with me on Thanksgiving. I'll have an hour ride in the car each way, plus some knitting time with my Mom before the festivities begin. I'm thinking some nearly finished socks for the car ride and perhaps the Celtic Cable pillow for pre-festivities knitting.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! This year I'm thankful for so much that I can scarcely put it all together in my head, let alone on paper (or computer). But I treasure each of these blessings in my heart.

Visualization

2006-11-16T10:30:00.000-06:00

I have no pictures to show you of any of these things I'm going to talk about today. Why? Because I've been a bad blogger and have worked on many fun things without taking a single picture.

I'm about 7 inches in on the back of my UnGranny Smith cardigan. I'm really getting into this project and love the shaping. I'm using Rowan Cashcotton DK in the Sage color and if I haven't said it before, I'm so glad that I splurged on the yarn. (Seriously, I bought my LYS out of it.)

Though I'm loving my green cardigan, I had to put it down last night. See, I've been procrastinating on something that I should have decided on a while ago. Last night I wound up some Cascade Eco Wool in the Ecru color and started swatching. Pleased with my results, I started digging through my Knitting Stitch Bible to find what I was looking for. Behold! There it is! The Celtic Cable, done over 24 stitches. It's perfect! I doubled the yarn and worked on size 11 US Denise needles and I'm happy with what I'm seeing so far. This will end up being a pillow for my sister and I'm hoping that it will make it to her in San Diego before Christmas. My new brother-in-law loves Celtic folklore and has a large Celtic cross tatooed on his upper arm, so I know it's something that both of them will enjoy.

In the next day or two I'm hoping to get some pictures of both of these up here, plus show off an FO that I'm really enjoying!

Now for some audience participation... what project have you been procrastinating on and why?

2 FOs and 1 WIP

2006-11-08T22:21:00.000-06:00

With the agreement in place that I could touch it whenever I wanted, I finished knitting Bryan's hat on Friday night and it spent a couple of days in the blocking process. Wool/Alpaca blends aren't the prettiest smelling things when wet and this hat was no exception. A few soaks in the sink with some Eucalan did help and Bryan impatiently waited for his hat to dry. It does my heart good that he's worn it every day since Monday.

While digging in the clearance section of my LYS, I found one lonely skein of yarn that called out to me. I love it's colors, the repeats, the texture. Wouldn't it be even better if I could remember what the name of the yarn was? In any case, I decided that it really wanted to be a hat for Owen. So for $3.00 I made a yarn's dream come true. I spent 3 hours making this hat. It's nothing special, but Owen really likes it and I've gotten several compliments on it. I was a little nervous about how much yarn I had left so I added a couple of striped rounds in there using some of the leftover yarn from his sweater last year. Then that made the hat too big so I hand felted it a tad and then tossed it in the dryer. Viola! Perfect!

This WIP is a little longer than most projects I take on, but I think that the end result will be more than worth it. I haven't always had good outcomes on projects like these, in fact this is my 5th WIP of this kind, but all signs indicate that we have a winner!

These may not be the best pictures, but if you look really close on the left bottom left you can see a little light round thing inside the bigger darker round thing. That bigger darker round thing is my uterus and the little light round thing inside of it is our baby with a strong heartbeat and doing lots of wiggling just to show off. We are at 10 weeks right now and doing great. I have been assured that the 24/7 morning sickness and persuant vomiting are a wonderful sign.

So expect to see some baby knits in the coming weeks (30 of them, more or less)! Any prayers you all would like to send my way would be greatly appreciated. We're not completely in the clear yet and won't be for another 6 weeks or so and this Momma is still nervous. But we're thinking positively!

Perfect

2006-11-03T10:15:00.000-06:00

I want to knit here. I want to sit and look out at the view with soft yarn sifting through my fingers.

This is the view from the living room in the house that my parents are building. Isn't it beautiful? When the house is done there will be a large fireplace in the living room and lots of lush chairs to sink into. I think it may just be the perfect knitting place.

I've had several moments recently, when I look on what is around me and think that it's perfect. When my son comes up to me and says that he wants to cuddle with Mom. When I walk in to find my husband reading to our son or wrestling or making train noises together. Seeing the silhouette of my husband at the front door as he's coming home from work. Laughing on the phone with my sister or Mom. It's those moments that keep me going.

Mom sent me this picture today and as soon as I saw it I grinned! Jared and Dad out fishing in one of those perfect moments.

I've even had some perfect moments in my knitting! Last night I worked on Bryan's alpaca hat and it was a tactile treat. It's Elsebeth Lavold's Chunky AL and let me just say "YUM". Every time I pick it up I sigh in happy delight. Ever have a project like that? The temperatures have dipped down into the 40s in the morning and at night so Bryan is subtley letting me know that he's ready for me to finish it, but I'm just not ready to be done yet. Maybe he'll let me fondle it occasionally once it's done.

Still alive and knitting!

2006-10-23T15:31:00.000-05:00

Life has been crazy for the past few weeks and it's been one thing right after another. Needless to say, my blog has been the one to suffer.

I have a brief update and it must be quick as I'm attempting to do this at work where we are also crazy busy!

First off, Owen is doing great. The surgeries went well and he's getting used to the idea of having to wear his cool new earplugs whenever he takes a bath or shower. We have his developmental screening set up for the end of November when he'll be evaluated for speech therapy. Thank you, everyone, for the prayers and good thoughts on 10/4!

We celebrated my slightly belated birthday on Saturday and I came away with quite a haul! Bryan gave me a gift certificate to Simply Fibers and I have plans for it already! Mom and Dad bought me the KnitPicks Options needles and the Knitting On The Road book. Plus, Mom made me a My Constant Companion bag which is huge and in fun, kicky colors. I'll try to get a picture of that this week. I absolutely love that bag!

On the knitting front, I've been trying to look for a yarn to make the UnGranny Smith cardigan from the Spring 06 Knitty. I want something that I can buy from my LYS, but finding a nice yarn in that gauge has not been something that I've had much luck with. Anyone have any ideas for me?

Until I find the perfect yarn for the UnGranny Smith, I continue to work on socks and have just started a hat for Bryan. The hubby even came with me to the LYS and picked out the yarn for his hat! The man chose Elsebeth Lavold's Chunky AL (50% Alpaca 50% Wool) in the moss color which in person is a very rich hunter green type color. He's quite smitten with the hat so far, which makes me a very happy knitter. Plus, I get to use this very luxurious feeling yarn so I am quite happy, indeed!

Enjoying the ride

2006-09-28T13:20:00.000-05:00

Life hasn't been all sunshine and roses around here lately. We've had some fun times, but we've also had our share of trudging through the muck that life throws at you sometimes. Trying to get through that muck with your sense of humor intact seems to be the key to it all and, thankfully, that doesn't seem to be a huge problem for us! So here we are, enjoying the rollercoaster ride with all its ups and downs!

This post is full of ups! Come and admire with me...

Ah, the stitch pattern detail of My So Called Scarf. I'm not a big variegated yarn girl. It has it's place, (socks, anyone?), but I haven't used it much in my knitting. I fell in love with the way the variegated Manos shows off this pattern.

And here's the finished product! (See that cute kid? He doesn't come with the scarf.) I wore it to work on the first cold day after it was washed and blocked and got 15 compliments on it. I counted! It's the perfect width, length, everything. (Should I mention that I cast on for another one on Tuesday night?)

Project Details:
Pattern: My So Called Scarf, as seen on Sheep in the City
Needles: Denise Interchangeables, Size 11US
Yarn: Manos del Uruguay, color 113 - 2 skeins (used all but 3 inches)
Began: Monday, September 11
Completed: Sunday, September 17

While I'm showing things off... Behold! Bryan's birthday socks! They fit like a glove and he loves the color. He's worn them a couple of times so I suppose that they're a winner!

Project Details:
Pattern: Generic pattern in my mind
Needles: KnitPicks DPNS, size 1US (So sharp and perfect for splitty yarn!)
Yarn: Silja sock yarn, royal blue
Began: July 31, 2006
Completed: August 26, 2006
Given: September 10, 2006

I'm hoping to garner some good thoughts and prayers for us the next week. On Wednesday morning Owen goes in for minor surgery to place tubes in his ears and remove his adenoids. He's been battling chronic ear infections all through the late spring and summer and two weeks ago his right ear drum ruptured. The hope is that he'll be able to hear and speak much clearer after the tubes are in and that we won't have to spend the winter on antibiotics. I'm a bit of a nervous Momma when it comes to the thought of my kiddo having surgery, so my Mom is going to be with us in the hospital during all of this. As you can imagine, there will be much yarn in the waiting room! Thanks, friends!

Does size matter?

2006-09-14T10:58:00.000-05:00

It may in garments, but not with scarfs and that's exactly why my newest project on the needles is a scarf. I'm still a little leery of starting another garment for myself considering how Cherry Bomb came out. A scarf is the perfect transition project for this kind of thing.

I had the perfect scarf yarn hiding away in my stash, 2 skeins of Manos del Uruguay in color 113. Then the search was on to find the perfect scarf pattern. I struck gold when I went through my bookmarked patterns and found My So Called Scarf, which just happened to use 2 skeins of Manos! And what clinched the deal is that I discovered that Stacey used colorway 113 for hers. It was fate!

My So Called Scarf is now approximately 12" long and is lovely. My yarn has more thick and thin areas than the one shown on Stacey's blog, but it has such an interesting look that I'm really liking it! The pattern has enough going on with it that it's not boring, but it's easy to do while watching a movie and also easy to pick up when interrupted.

Cherry Bomb

2006-09-09T19:34:00.000-05:00

A bomb it is, not in the good way.

Exhibit A
Note the curl on the top at the neckline and the curl at the bottom. I have tried multiple ways to fix this and to no avail.

Exhibit B
I knew that I had lost a couple of pounds since starting this garment. I hadn't realized just how much I had underestimated the effect 10 pounds would have on it. I could have gone down at least one size and been okay.

I did get it finished in time to wear it tomorrow, but for the sake of my pride I am putting the tank top down and stepping away. We shall both be making a visit to the frog pond this week.

To end this on a happy note, I'd like to show this off:

This was one of my purchases last week when I visit Simply Fibers. Isn't it beautiful? I love the rich color and how the tone changes throughout the yarn. It was the first thing that I picked up when I walked in the door and the first thing that made it into my shopping bag when I paid for my purchases.

If you would like to compliment the yarn, you may direct your comments to Sarah as she is the creator of it. Well done, Sarah!

Ugh

2006-09-07T20:53:00.000-05:00

I'm about to go escape from the world by taking my knitting and my iPod into bed with me. Before I do so I thought I'd do a quick update.

I finished Bryan's socks and they fit him beautiful. The big birthday party for Owen's 3rd birthday (Sunday) and Bryan's 29th birthday (Monday) is this Sunday and I'm so happy that I'll be able to give him his socks! Now the goal is to finish my tank top in time to wear it to the party on Sunday. As of this moment I'm about 1 inch away from the armhole shaping on the front and from there it'll be a breeze! The back is done and waiting for it's mate to be done and then a little blocking and seaming and I'll have another finished project!

Amazingly I only have two projects on the needles. The tank top that I'm hoping to finish before Saturday night and a pair of socks that will make their way into the gift box. I'm already looking for another project and am looking at the stash to see what I can use.

Speaking of stash, Bryan gave me the go ahead to spend a little money at the yarn store and I've been dying to show it off. That will have to wait until tomorrow night, though. I'm off to bed to cuddle with some yummy cotton.

It's Christmas in August!

2006-08-29T20:54:00.000-05:00

I got my KSKS package! Oh. My. Gosh. Eva Doggen in Luxembourg, I love you so hard!!!

Take a look....

The full package. Look at all the stuff!

She sent goodies for Owen! He loves the cars and made me open them right away. See the cute little books? I looove them! And the two little packages on top hold a set of size US 0 dpns and a set of size US 1.5 dpns.

Here we have 2 skeins of sock yarn. Regia 4-fadig Splendid Color in blue and brown and Lana Grossa Weilenweit Cotton Multiringel in blues, purple and pink. There's also candy! Two for Owen and two for me (and Bryan). Dark chocolate and lemon candy. Yum.

A cute little bag for knitting notions, a wallet for my yarn money (great idea!), pens, pencils, stitchmarkers that are small enough for the size 0 needles. See that shiny metal thing? That holds your socks while you're not knitting on them. It's kind of like this one (scroll down).

Finally, the bag! Or should I say, bags! My poor pal went through 2 sewing machines while trying to make my bag, what a trooper. So instead, I got two bags. The white one has lots of pockets and I think could still make a nice knitting bag! The black one, well, wee the sheep? Too cute! All of the sheep stuff comes from Sheepworld. (www.sheepworld.de)

Eva, Thank you so much for everything. You didn't mention if you have a blog. Please let me know because I'd love to take a look!

Hello, KSKS Pal!

2006-08-23T11:31:00.000-05:00

I had the honor and pure joy of getting to send a KSKS package to Gina of Sleepy Eyes. This is a woman that you all should know. She is a renaissance woman, with talents in everything from knitting to spinning and from yoga to Reiki. To see her sense of humor in action, I'd direct you specifically to this post and this post for examples.

Gina, it's been wonderful being able watch you from afar, (oh man, I sound like a stalker), and email with you about life in general. Because of you I don't mind being a process knitter and I can laugh about it!

Enjoy your package!!!

Brianne

Here's the thing...

2006-08-21T21:47:00.000-05:00

For his birthday, which is coming up shortly, hubby has requested a pair of socks that aren't 1)stretchy 2)multi-colored 3)ill-fitting. So basically, they can't be anything like the first pair I made him. Being the wonderful wife that I am, and knowing much more about socks than I did in February, I recognize that the first pair was really horrendous and have agreed that he really does need some new knitted socks. (The man, God bless him, loves me and so wears the socks I made him in February. And because I love him, I don't want to make him wear them!)

I'm using Silja yarn in this lovely navy blue color

and KnitPicks DPNs in a size US 1.

One thing that I've learned is that it is very important to make sure that the sock fits before you make a matching one. Even if it means that ~~your husband~~ the recipient isn't surprised when they receive their gift. I'd like to think that having a properly fitting sock outweighs the fact that they know what you're making for them. With this in mind, I fitted the sock on Bryan frequently while knitting the first sock, which makes this second sock much easier. These socks? Oh, they fit amazingly.

The other thing is that I never realized just how long my hubby's feet are. Also? He's got very wide feet. This makes for a lot of knitting. I hope he realizes what a grand gesture of love this is. (Hubby also has a large head, which means that I'm not looking forward to the Christmas hat he's requested, though a hat will go by faster than socks.)

In other knitting news, I finished a secret Christmas present for my Mom. It finished blocking and I did the seaming tonight. I shall not being showing this one off until December 25th because Mom reads my blog!

For those of you who are doing some Christmas knitting, have you started yet? If not, when do you start?

What I haven't been doing

2006-08-08T09:03:00.000-05:00

For one thing, updating my blog, for which I apologize!

Secondly, I haven't been doing much knitting. I've made little progress on my tank top, and in fact I haven't even finished the back of it yet even though that was my goal two weekends ago.

Allow me to show you some of what has contributed to my knitting pause.

There is one large flowering bush in the front of my house. I used to think that it was a hydrangea. I'm not all convinced of that now as the flowers aren't as hydrangea-like as I remembered them to be last year when we first moved in.

I don't care at all though, because these are absolutely beautiful!

Also, I have learned to bake bread! This was my first attempt at doing anything that involved yeast. I started out on these garlic parsley rolls and they were delicious. I've since conquered my fear of yeast and have graduated to baking loaves of bread!

It is a wonderful feeling to be able to look at something and know that you used to be intimidated by it but are not any longer.

Non-Interesting Blogging

2006-07-26T15:45:00.000-05:00

I'm still working on the Cherry Bomb tank top. One side will hopefully be done this weekend and then I can start on the other side, since that is how things work.

I'm not sure how to make a stockinette tank top sound interesting. How much talking can one do about a project done almost completely in stockinette? Perhaps at some point I shall figure something, but until then let me just say that I'm still knitting one row and purling another.

The funny thing is that I've gotten to the stockinette foot on both pairs of socks that I'm working on. My whole knitting life currently revolves around this plain knitting.

So for your audience participation bit (and to make this post less boring) let me know if you have any recurring themes right now in your knitting.

And just a reminder...

"It's the bomb!" and other outdated phrases

2006-07-17T23:07:00.000-05:00

At some point in time you must realize that certain phrases just can't be used any more. The exact moment when catch phrase retirement can often be an elusive thing or it can slap you in the face.

I remember exactly when I recognized that never again could I hear someone say "Bling" without cringing. It was in Carlsbad, CA in November of 2004 and I was at the big street fair that attracts 200,000 people to the city in just one day. There was a vendor selling jewelery and he had a big printed sign that spanned the top of his little tent. On that sign was written, "Earrings! Anklets! Piercings! Crosses! Bling Bling! Holy Medals!" The fact that Bling Bling was sandwiched between crucifixes and the St. Christopher Medal was my big cue that bling was done for.
Whenever I see my tank top in progress, I can't help but smile a little and think, "That's the bomb!" I know that this particular phrase has been over with for a while, but can you blame me? After all, it's first attempt at being a tank top really was a bomb and not in a good way, either. However, this second go around in the KnitPicks Shine Worsted is sailing smoothly and I'm now 6 inches in on the front.

The color makes me grin and think happy thoughts about wearing this to the park and other fun and sunny places. The yarn has been great to work with and I forsee more of it finding it's way into my stash. All in all, this project is ~~wicked~~ ~~sweet~~ ~~hellacool~~ ~~radical~~ ~~awesome~~ ~~tubular~~ ~~groovy~~ going really well and I'm happy with it.

Backlash

2006-07-14T13:32:00.000-05:00

Once I got over my short-lived revelry over the 6 Day Sock Miracle, I noticed that my house had taken a beating while I was busy with those socks. I had been so engrossed with them that the little things had fallen to the wayside. Things like laundry, dishes, and putting away the collection of little cars and blocks that my son likes to display all over the house. Those things were very abruptly brought back to my attention once I stepped on the hard corner edge of a Lego block in my bare feet.

Monday night found a different Brianne. I was of a single-track mind. The house! I must restore the house back to normal! By Tuesday night all was well in the Keene Household and I was able to start another pair of socks to put in the Christmas/Birthday Box. However, that cleaning bug had latched on for dear life and I've found myself a very determined woman.

I like this Brianne! She comes home from work, gets a snack for the boy and then does things like scrub showers before even starting dinner or sitting down for a calm moment. I had an errand to run at Target last night and I found a frame for an old ad for Catalina Island that I've had and been meaning to hang for a year. That picture is now hung in our computer room and I feel so accomplished! I wonder what I'm going to do next?

Now for a little knitting update! I started a tank top for myself a few weeks ago using King Tut cotton in a beautiful icy blue color thinking that cotton would be the way to go for Summer knitting. I still think that I need cotton, I just don't think that this cotton will be it. I've gotten about 4 inches in the round done on this tank top and I don't think that I have the heart to do any more because the yarn, as nice and pretty as it is, isn't fun to work with for this project. Tonight I plan on frogging the tank and starting over again in that Green Apple Shine Worsted that I got in the mail recently. I'll be using the same pattern which is Cherry Bomb from Big Girl Knits, and hopefully things will turn out much better this time.

Heather's socks were mailed to her yesterday and I'm so excited to hear what she thinks of them! I loved the pattern so much that I started another pair of Mock Cable cuff socks in Trekking and those are the ones that will go in the Christmas/Birthday Box. I finished the gusset decreases last night and hope to finish the first sock this weekend.

Remember the little sweater I was making for Owen from a Debbie Bliss pattern? The one that I hid far away in the craft closet because I didn't know if I was going to have enough yarn? Yeah, well, I've finally decided to frog that project, too. A wonderful friend of mine, Heather, is due to have her third baby in November and I'm thinking that since I did Cross-Stitch for her first child and Crocheted for her second child that it's only proper that this third little person get something knitted. Surely, almost enough yarn for a size 2T sweater would be enough for a 3-6 month ensemble. So that's the plan! (They find out what they're having on Monday so I should be able to start picking out patterns soon!)

Alrighty, I think that's all from me right now. I hope to get some pictures up this weekend or Monday at the latest to show some progress on the socks and maybe even the beginnings of Cherry Bomb!

Happy Friday!

In competition with myself

2006-07-10T00:15:00.000-05:00

It all started out very innocently. I was going to make a pair of socks for my sister's birthday. Heather's birthday isn't until the 26th of this month and even considering the time it would take to get it mailed from Missouri to California I still had 2 1/2 weeks to finish these socks.

I picked out some yarn from my stash. Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Aslan. I found a pattern. Mock Cable cuff with stockinette foot. I chose my needles. The Susan Bates dpns that Lana gave me. I was set.

I started the socks on the morning of July 4th. I was in no rush. But the yarn was delicious to work with! Oh, Lorna, you do know how to make a nice yarn, don't you! The needles were a delight to hold in my hand and the yarn simply flowed over them.

Then, last night as I was casting on for the second sock, I realized something. Maybe I could finish a pair of socks in 7 days. All that would mean is that I'd have to finish these by Monday night. Why, I bet I could do that! And Bryan reaffirmed that. Sure I could finish the socks in 7 days. (Having a husband that honestly believes that I can do anything is a wonderful thing!)

Then, this afternoon as I measured and saw that I only had 1 1/2 inches until starting toe decreases I started thinking that maybe I can finish a pair of socks in 6 days! Why not?! I can do anything, right?
Indeed I can. I wove in ends at 11:30pm and set them out to block at 11:45pm. So what if I have to be up in 6 hours to get ready for work? I can do anything!

For your viewing pleasure....

2006-06-29T22:08:00.000-05:00

Another pair of finished socks!

These are the socks that I've had sitting at my desk at work. When the calls and projects were slow I'd work on these and they were perfect for picking up and putting down at a moment's notice. The yarn is Lana's yarn, the one she's using to make her Clapotis and the one that inspired me. To be honest, I can only remember that the yarn brand is Sinfonia and that it's 100% cotton. Beyond that, I know that the color changes kept my attention and it was a quick knit on size 3 needles.

Details: Pattern: Generic cuff down 3x1 rib with round toe Yarn: Sinfonia, 100% cotton Needles: Size 3US dpns, Takumi Date Started: I have no clue, but probably about 5 weeks ago. Date Finished: June 29, 2006

It is very fitting that on a day I finished a project that a KnitPicks order arrives with just a little more yarn to replace it. 2 skeins of Sinfonia out of the stash... 10 skeins of Shine Worsted go back in. I'll be using this Green Apple yarn to make a summer top for myself. I think the green is so cheery, though it's hard to see in the fading light of this picture.
I also purchased a pair of their KnitPicks dpns in a size 1 to see how I like them. Lana was sweet enough to give me a brand new set of Susan Bates size 1 dpns that she had never used and I can't wait to compare the two! I guess that means I'll be casting on for more socks!

California Blues

2006-06-28T21:42:00.000-05:00

I started these socks while driving up the San Diego coast to visit our home church. I worked on them while lounging next to two dear friends and watching a lazy Sunday afternoon movie. It is the blue of the ocean and of the cool coastal colors. But its also the blues that I feel being separated from long time friends.

Pattern: Generic sock pattern using 64 sts
Yarn: Trekking XXL, color 77
Needles: Size 1 US Addi Turbo circs, magic loop
Date started: June 4, 2006
Date completed: June 28, 2006

Tonight I wound up some Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock and some KnitPicks Shadow for some upcoming projects. Stay tuned to see what I do with them!

I just want to give a big hug and an even bigger thank you for all of the kind words about In Full Bloom! I loved sharing it with you and am so glad that none of you thought I was insane for modeling it in 92 degree weather. As excited as I was to wear it, I was just as excited to take a picture to show all of you.

In Full Bloom

2006-06-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

With friends Lana, Saran and Mom cheering me on, I worked on seaming the sweater at Simply Fibers on Saturday. I finished it while I was there and then picked up stitches for the button band at home. Bryan asked for a fashion show after I finished binding off all 302 stitches, but I had to wait until the buttons were on and I truly had a Finished Project!

At 10:30pm I sewed on the last of the buttons and put on my first sweater. I had made Owen a sweater back in November but that felt more like the practice leading up to the Olympics. After all, his sweater was a raglan sleeved pull-over with just a plain straight neck. This, my friends, is a real sweater. Set in sleeves, v-neck, button band and everything.

I'm proud of this sweater. So proud that I decided that I had to wear it to church today. Heat Stroke? Meh, whatever. I have handknits!!!

Project Details:
Pattern: In Full Bloom, Creative Knitting March 2006
Yarn: Cotton Fleece
Needles: Size 4 and 6US 40" circulars, Addi Turbo
Date Started: April 6, 2006
Date Completed: June 24, 2006

Right now, as we speak I type...

2006-06-21T12:44:00.000-05:00

the In Full Bloom sweater is blocking. I had been debating whether or not I should put it together and knit the button band before blocking as the instructions said. Then I remembered how much easier it was to seam Owen's sweater once it was blocked and the decision was made!

I picked buttons for the sweater when I visited Simply Fibers on Thursday. They are small, silver, oval buttons that have what looks like a little filigree on the top that is old and almost worn off. I love them and was so glad to see that Carol had gotten in a bunch of new buttons. The best thing was that they were only $.75 each!

Lana and I have made plans to meet eachother at 11:00 this Saturday at Simply Fibers. Sarah is hoping to make it at around 12:00. My Mom might be joining us, which I would love, so we'd have a nice little group!

Melissa and Laura, I'll be mailing your prizes out to you tomorrow and so you should be receiving them soon!

For now, I continue to resist casting on for another project until the sweater is completely finished. May God give me the strength!!!

KSKS Questionnaire

2006-06-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

Remember Bev? That would be the faboo Bev of PoMo Golightly who was my SP7 Spoilee and who also sent me Mama E's PoMo colorway of sockyarn? Well, how could I resist being involved in a swap that she and Scout are organizing?

The Questionnaire:

What are your favorite colors?

My current favorites are brown, blue and pink (or any combination of those three)

Are you a new sock knitter? How long have you been knitting socks?

I've been knitting socks since January of this year and I'm a wee bit obsessed with them!

Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn?

I like both. In solids I like a little variation of color, tone on tone.

What fibers do you prefer in sock yarn?

Anything, but please nothing with spandex or stretch in them. Stretchy yarns don't like me.

Where do you usually knit socks?

At home, at work, in the car, out in public. They are my everywhere project.

How do you usually carry/store small projects?

I just recently purchased a little Lantern Moon bag that perfectly fits a sock project. Before that it was a plastic baggy. I'd love another sock project sized bag, if you think you'd like to make me one!

What are your favorite sock knitting patterns?

I've really only done stockinette and ribbed socks. I'd love to branch out a bit into more textured pattern socks.

What new techniques would you like to try?

I'd love to try short rows and different types of heels and toes. Oh! And toe up socks. I've only made cuff down thus far.

Do you prefer circulars or dpns for sock knitting?

I do both. I like circs for the socks that I take out with me so that I don't have to worry about dropping a dpn. I also like working with dpns, though I keep those for my socks at home.

What are some of your favorite yarns?

I love Lorna's Laces and Trekking.

What yarn do you totally covet?

I love handpainted yarns. Or any yarn that is specific to your country that I can't get here.

Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)?

I would love you forever if you bought me some metal dpns in size 1. I can't find them near me and I covet them!

If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?

Oooh. It's a tough one. I'd have to say that I'm Trekking XXL. I'm colorful and fun to watch, but I'm also soft yet tough.

Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack?

Like the yarn question, I like stuff that can only be bought near wherever you are.

Do you have pets? What are their species/names/ages?

No pets, just a 2 year old little boy and a cute husband.

If you were a color what color would you be?

I'd be denim blue. It goes with everything and just looking at my blue jeans makes me feel cozy.

Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s).

I have a cute shirt that I just bought yesterday. It's a button-down with a fun v-neck and it has brown and pink plaid with little sparkly lines running through.

What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature?

I love any landscape scene but especially trees or beaches.

Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read.

As my Dad always says, "If you're going to do it, then do it. If you're not going to do it, then don't do it." Meaning, just make up your mind and get moving!

Do you have a wishlist?

Um... yes? And here it is!

By the way, I've already heard from my pal and she's from another country! Can I just say that I've had a huge smile on my face all day just knowing that I'm getting mail from outside the USA. Yay for me!!!