Take outfit, insert baby

Dear Jenn,
I said I would make a post for you to wake up to, so here it is!
Here's the outfit we have for PixieLee to wear home:

I haven't finished the ends yet. I've been really slack about that lately. But the shirt is cute.

My friend Annette has a little hyenacart shop called Biltmore Baby, and she made this shirt.
I also got one for Rowan that says "speaker of the house" and one for Niall that says "agent of chaos."

This is the sweater I'm making for Lisa's baby:

I ended up striping the sleeve because my incredible planning ability made me pair cream trim on a red sweater. Santa! So ya, I striped the sleeve. I'm not sure how I like it since it's raglan, and I have to make the other sleeve and do all the ends. But maybe she'll wear it for Christmas and it will be cute.

I also finished my boppy pillow for PixieLee:

The boys are already plotting to steal it, even though they each have theirs from when they were babies.

And finally, the yarn I got today. It's from Zenstring and is her "bambewe" - a blend of bamboo and marino. It's so soft! And pretty! The colorway is called Cupcake. I'm going to make the kimono sweater for PixieLee out of this.

And that's all I got for now. I'm having contractions in the evenings, but nothing real. I hope I don't do this for weeks on end. I'd kind of like to have a baby by the time you're here.

A Long Time Coming...

A long, long time ago I knit my first sweater. I started and finished it within a couple of weeks. Sometime last year. It was a realatively easy knit, and I was really happy with the results - until I had Lilli try it on. It wouldn't go over her head, the neck was too small (and not at all stretchy) and my kids have little heads. I thought about picking out the neck and trying a more stretchy bind off, but was just so disgusted with the idea that I wadded the sweater into a ball and threw it to the bottom of Lilli's closet. Where it sat for about a year.

Then yesterday Lilli decided that she wanted to wear the sweater. I have grown a lot as a knitter in the past year. I have learned about many new techniques. Like steeks. Sooooo, I sewed a big "V" in the front of the sweater, coming down from the neck. And then I cut it. It was very liberating!

So instead of a roll-neck sweater it's more of a shallow 'V' neck sweater.

And the best part - it now goes over Lilli's head, and it still fits!

some of it

Dear Jenn,

Yep I finished Mom's afghan. It's somewhere in my ravelry. I've not updated that thing in ages.
I'm sending these pants off today.

They were pretty boring to knit but that's what she wanted so that's what I did. You can't imagine the FUN of looking them over and picking off all the little white Loki hairs. It reminded me of our old place and the navy carpet and how much I hated it.
I also sent this to my friend Erin.

She had a baby on Aug 4th. Note the smudge at the top of the picture. That's how humid it is.
Also went to knit night last night with my friend Jamie. She lives in Holly Springs too. And once again we were the only people there. What's the point of driving 25mins to Cary if we're the only ones who show up? So we're starting our own knit night here in town. At a coffee shop that sells ICE CREAM. It will be cool. We scouted it out, and they have a couch.

Baby steps

Dear Milli,

I am gearing up for a long cold, wet winter of knitting. I'm starting small. So far this week I have finished two dishrags. And by finish I mean I have knitted them but have not woven in the ends. Hence no photo.

I am psyching myself up to knit sweaters for Tipton and Lilli. I bought the yarn last spring.

I also need to get knitting on some wee baby items. I know of three babies in need of hand knits!

Hey, did you ever finish the afghan for your mom?

Jenn

Ok....

Dear Jenn,

We need to get back on the horse.
I bought a new cord for the camera. Pics to come.
I also drew Mom's name for Christmas, so I have to make her something. I'm thinking the Hey Teach. I can't talk about it on the Sweet Tea blog because she looks at that one.

Anyway... Ya. It's a beautiful day but there's a stupid chirping bug hanging out under the window. Every time it starts up either Rowan or I go out with the broom and beat on the bush. I'd squish the durn thing if I could find it.

it's famous

Dear Jenn,

Crazy Aunt Purl mentioned Malmo today.
Also, we are lame at keeping up this blog.
Let's be better about that.

I can't find the camera cord.

Sunworshiping

Dear Milli,

I'm sorry that I missed your IM the other day. The weather here has been so NICE lately - sunny, warm, breezy. Did I mention SUNNY? Have to take advantage of these nice days. You really appreciate nice weather when you only get it about two months out of the year. So, I've been spending as much time outside as possible. Right now it doesn't start getting dark until about 11:00 in the evening, and it's light around 4:00 in the morning. So there's a lot of time to be had outside. It's not like in North Carolina. Sun doesn't equal humidity here. You can actually breathe outside in the summer time here. So very nice. Must get back outside.

Stor Kram,
Jenn

Promises, Promises...

I know, I know. I owe you pictures. Pictures of the washcloths that I knit with the pattern that my mom brought (as well as the pattern.) Pictures of the socks I'm working on - or not working as seems to be the case.

The weather here has been wonderful, which is such a delightful change from cold and rainy. It's staying light longer, too. We've been taking advantage of our meteorological good fortune. Walking the kids to school, playing outside more, etc. And it seems that I've completely lost track of my ability to follow a schedule. The kids are in bed on time one day and an hour late the next. And when I do finally get them in bed I have no desire to knit. I'm just not all that interested in what I'm knitting at the moment. Do I really need to finish the pair of wool socks when it's almost 70 degrees outside? Do I really need to finish that washcloth when I've got a whole drawer full of them? What I'd really like to do is start a sweater for either Tipton or Lilli. But I haven't had the ability to concentrate long enough in the evenings to get started.

And then this afternoon I saw a friend of mine working on a counted cross stitch pattern. And I though "Geez! I really need to get working on the counted cross stitch Christmas stocking that I'm making for Lilli - I'm already a year or two behind on it!" So this evening I dug it out and began working on it again. I'd forgotten how much I like working counted cross stitch. If I'm good and diligent, I should be able to have it finished by the end of June. That's my goal, anyway.

And then I'll get back to knitting. I promise.

The One that Got Away...

I finished knitting a pink and orange Tawashi Fishy this morning. I got all the ends woven in and had just cast on to make the eye when Lilli ran off with it. Somewhere in my house lies a sightless little fish.

Does this cheer you up?

Dear Jenn,
Maybe this will cheer you up?



Boy, I didn't notice until just now that I should probably wash my mirror. :)

I'm Here, Really I Am

Dear Milli,

I'm here, really. It's been a long month. My mom was here visiting for most of it. She just left yesterday. I miss her already! We had two birthdays and three birthday parties. The kids are each one year older (and I swear I've aged at least two more years myself.) Did some knitting, but nothing much really to write about. Learned a new washrag pattern. It's pretty simple and looks nice. Knits up really fast. I'll blog about it later. Mom and I did some sewing while she was here. Well, mostly Mom did the sewing. I cut out the fabric. (My Mom is lefthanded and I'm not - I don't have lefthanded scissors.) She made some cute things for Lilli and I am inspired to make Lilli a few more little tank-style A-line dresses (so simple, so cute!) Mom also did lots of cooking while she was here, so I've got lots of tastey recipes to share. I'll blog about those (or maybe just email them to you) later. And I'll post pictures later, too. So much to do - later! Today has been mostly about 'getting back to square One" as my MIL likes to say.

It's a beautiful day here - lots of sunshine, warm temps (55 - a veritable heatwave!) and breezy. I could do with a little less breezy, but it's still really nice. I've got all the doors and windows opened in an attempt to blow away all the germs that have been plaguing us all winter. I even rode my bike to pick Lilli up from school this afternoon. Spring is finally here!

Hope spring is there, too!

Jenn

Finally solo!

Dear Jenn,

It's been a while since I wrote, but I'm feeling more human now so will jump back into being a good friend again. yay!
So anyway, Rowan has always been reluctant to any steps to remove training wheels from his bike. I knew he could balance because I got him one of those little scooters for Christmas and if he can balance on those two little dinky wheels he can ride a bike.
So then I was reading about balance bikes, and how it's better to use those instead of training wheels because the child actually learns to lean and whatnot. But balance bikes are $$. But then my neighbor offered an old rusty 12" bike to us that we would be free to destroy. So we removed the pedals, chain, etc, and there you go. Balance bike.
He played with it all week and built up his nerve. And then I took the training wheels of his bike and said, "This is just like the walky bike, only it has pedals!" Wow! Concept!
It worked!
Rowan rides a bike.

Chocolate!

Dear Jenn,

I got a package in the mail! And a great note that gives me scientific backup as to the fact that pregnant women need all the chocolate they can get their hands on.
It helps that I've not had any problem with keeping the chocolate down. I think this baby will be made of choco dyno bites (the malt o meal version of cocoa pebbles). But hey, at least I'm getting all the calcium I need.
Speaking of cereal, what are those coated flake things in the bowl? And should I eat them with milk?

Managed SnB last night. Had a few dicey moments when I had to turn on the shock collar and just sit there. It bites that laughing makes me want to hurl. But I brought home two chocolate croissants (the chocolate content makes them hurl free food) and shared with John, so all was well in the end. And I took my sock and got mostly done with the heel flap, and you know, it wasn't as irritating as I thought it would be. I just might take to sock knitting again.

Lina's Scarf and the Kitty Hat

My friend, Lina, was my first friend over here in Sweden. And she told me about Anita's - a nice yarn shop downtown. So for International Women's Day (which was March 6th or 7th, I think) I gave her a scarf. Now, I've had the yarn for this scarf for a while now. I saw it and thought "That would make a really cool scarf for Lina!" And I had been holding onto it, just waiting for the perfect scarf pattern to show it off. And then I came across the Easy Drop Stitch Scarf pattern while playing around on Ravelry. It was perfect! The scarf actually went much quicker than I had anticipated, and it really does show off the yarn beautifully. And Lina loves it.



I would just like to state that I have now knit a hat that actually FIT in one try. No second attempts were necessary. There wasn't a first "oh, this will be Lilli's" hat, nor was there a first "I wonder what will happen if I felt this" hat. No, there was just one hat that fits perfectly!

The pattern is Kitty Hat. The pattern was very easy and it went together much quicker than I thought it would. As soon as I'd finished this hat Lilli ran up, grabbed it and yelled "Mine!" and ran off with it. So I think I'm going to have to make her one. Only I'm sure hers will be in pink. Unfortunately, I don't have a good picture to show off the pom poms at the bottom of the i-cords. I wasn't sure if I would like the pom poms, but they are kind of fun.

I wore this hat out yesterday when I was walking around downtown (it was snowing!) And I kept getting these weird looks from everyone. It finally ocurred to me that maybe it was the bright pink kitty ears that was drawing everyone's attention. Whatever - I love the hat. It's fun, warm and it FITS!

FO

Dear Jenn,

I made this veggie crown for someone who wants to have a veggie theme for her little guy's first birthday. The pattern isn't mine (it's the one from LTK) so no money could change hands, but she asked me to make it in exchange for a couple of shirts for the boys. So that's what I did.

The corn one is my favorite.

Coming Soon...

... pictures of some finished objects! To include: Kitty Hat, two Peeps (one pink, one white) and Lina's scarf. Oh, and a washcloth.

Pictures and details coming soon, I promise.

Sländan

In February, on one of the few days that nobody was sick, I went to Lund with some friends. Lilli went with us. We went to Sländan, a yarn shop on the main shopping street. It is a good thing that store is in Lund and not Malmö...


Now for the details...



Enough soft pink Merino to make Lilli a sweater (plus an extra skein, just in case.)

Enough soft charcoal merino to make Tipton a sweater (plus an extra skein, just in case.)

Some yummy silk, because it was on sale. (I think Lilli was influencing my color choice.) I have no idea what I'm going to make with this. I just like to hold it in my lap.

Some red and black cotton, for a special project for You-Know-Who. (I've finished my part of the project and hope to get it in the mail soon.)

This stuff is supper soft and fluffy. I've already made a white peep (bunny) out of the white stuff. I'm gonna make one out of the pink, too.

I bought this yarn as a birthday present for a wonderful friend of mine. I turned the labels upside down because I was planning to post the pictures before she got the yarn. (That didnt' happen.) I remember that it was a wool/soybean blend, but I don't remember the percentages.

And if you spend enough money, and you've got a little girl with you who is destined to become a knitter, you get a free gift. I was standing outside the store waiting for my friends to make their purchases and the owner ran out of the store and handed this to Lilli:

Her very own spool knitter!

Tawashi!

Dear Jenn,

My friend Kerry told me about a group on Ravelry called Tawashi town. It's a group for little scrubbers and washcloths made from Japanese patterns. Some of them are really cute, and they're really good for instant gratification.
This week, they put up an English translation of the Fishy Tawashi pattern.

Rowan has claimed him for his bath. Niall is requesting blue.

Bright cabin, FO's and flowers

Dear Jenn,
Let's do the flowers first.

Some of our spectacular neighbor kids ripped this branch off the tree in their yard. I'm sure his mom is pleased. But Rowan asked if he could have it and they let him, so he brought them to me. A touch of pretty for my kitchen, for as long as they last.

And FO's





For Jessica, who is a friend to Elvira, who is a friend to you.

I have another soaker nearly done for my friend Fiona, but I've not taken pictures of it yet.

And the super bright log cabin


You can see why the boys love it. It's about the size of a potholder now. I wonder how big it will be when I run out of yarn?

At last! I have sewn up the baby kimono sweater for my friend's baby.





I sure hope it still fits... I have been putting off and putting off finishing up the sweater. Really, all that I needed to do was sew up the sides and sew on the ribbon ties. But I just haven't wanted to do it. It's not something I can do while the kids are awake (and around.) And it required more concentration than I was willing to give during my tv-viewing/knitting hours (after the kids go to bed.) So I had been "saving" the finishing for our next knitting group. And not only did I get the sweater finished up, but I also added a little ribbon embellishment to the bootees.





And one of my friends said "Oh, wouldn't it be cute if you had a matching hat to send, too!" And I thought "Yeah, that would be great!" And so it began... I had just enough yarn left for a baby hat. But which pattern? My friend mentioned a baby hat she'd seen that had a little knot on the top, and a ribbon was tied around the knot. I wanted that. I wanted to knit a cute little hat like that. But again - what pattern? I flipped through a few books and was getting ready to search a little online, when I saw that YOU, my dear Milli, YOU were online! So I asked you - do you have a simple baby hat pattern? And you did! You suggested a simple baby rolled-brim hat. And it worked perfectly! Came out exactly as I was hoping it would (and really, how often does THAT happen when I make a hat??) At the top I decreased down to three stitches, then went down a needle size and knit an i-cord that was almost the lenght of my hand. I tied it in a knot at the base of the i-cord, then tied a little pink ribbon between the knot and the top of the hat. It looks so cute! (If I do say so myself.)





And it just makes the little ensemble.

Works In Progress

The last post was about Finished Objects. This post is about objects that I hope to have finished soon. We'll start with the oldest, and most time critical (and of course the one I keep neglecting.)

A friend of mine recently had a baby girl. I decided to knit her a baby kimono sweater, using the pattern out of Mason Dixon Knitting. It's a great pattern, this is my third baby kimono sweater. (Actually, the entire book is wonderful - I want to make everything in it and can't wait for their second book to be released!) I finished knitting the sweater, but needed to get ribbon for the ties, so I didn't sew up the sides. Instead, I cast on some matching bootees. Then sewed up the bootees. And last week I finally got some yarn for the ties, but still haven't sewed up the sides of the sweater. If I wait too much longer it's not going to fit the baby, so I guess I'd better get crackin'... Here's how it looks as of now.

And just what am I working on when I'm not sewing up the sweater? A scarf, of course! I have no idea who I'm knitting it for, but I've been wanting to knit it for a while now. I've had two balls of this yarn in my stash and have been waiting for just the right pattern. And the other day when I was poking around in Ravelry I found it! The Drop Stitch Scarf! It is perfect. I love the pattern, it shows off the yarn beautifully. Only, it takes more than just two little balls of yarn. So of course I had to buy more. But I couldn't remember the color that I already had. So I decided to buy colors that I thought were pretty, even though they aren't the same. We'll see how it turns out. Here's what I've got so far and the remaining balls of yarn.

Finally Finished Objects!

Way back when, before I moved over here, you'd given me a pattern for some mocs. You had even ordered really nice yarn for me. And my first month over here I started knitting them. Originally, I was going to make a pair of mocs for Tipton (hence the color choice.) I got about 3/4 of the way done with the first one and got stuck. The pattern called for me to do something I'd never done before. Something I had no idea how to do - something I'd never even heard of. And since I had no internet and no phone and knew nobody whom I could ask, I set it aside and forgot about it. Then a month or so ago I (tried to) organize my stash and came across the almost finished first moc. I decided to finish the pair.

However, it seems in the past year and a half my knitting tension has loosened up a bit. And the mocs came out two very different sizes. I thought maybe they'd magically shrink to be the same size when I felted them, but no such luck. So I cast on a third moc. (Remind you of anything, like oh say - mittens?) And I had so much yarn left over that I decided to make a pair for myself as well. So I did. Here are my mocs before felting:


And here they are after felting:

The green really faded! Don't get me wrong, I like it. It's more of a sage green than the bright pea green. Unfortunately...

when I felted the first (mis-sized) pair of mocs, they did not fade as much. So now, although I've got two mocs that are the same size and they were knit out of the exact same wool, I still do not have a "matching" pair.

It makes me wonder... what will happen when I attempt a pair of socks?

And then we've got another giant hat. I bought the Lucy pattern from Little Turtle Knits*, because the hat would look absolutely adorable on Lilli. I knit a gauge swatch and made gauge and measured Lilli's head... and knit a hat that was enormous - way too big even for me to wear. So I cast on again, for the smallest size of the pattern. It was still too big for Lilli. I threw both hats in the top of my yarn closet and forgot about them. Until I started felting the mocs. Then I though - huh, wonder what will happen if I felt the biggest Lucy hat?

Before:

After:

It lost the pretty stitch definition (obviously - I FELTED it!) but it now fits, and still looks pretty darn cute!

*Just checked Little Turtle Knits - was gonna link to it, but didn't. They no longer seem to have the Lucy pattern.

Always good

Dear Jenn,

sometimes when I'm wading through a sea of used kleenex, I find it hard to smile. So I watch this. And it always works.
I might even find the will to knit again.

Dishrags - A Still Life

This month my house has been filled with germs. Germs that prevent me from knitting on the cute baby sweater and baby bootees that need to be knitted. But being housebound and sick and watching an endless stream of childrens videos - I needed some knitting. Some mindless knitting. So I knit dishrags.

First I knit a simple moss stitch dishrag in the denim ombre colorway. Then I knit a ball band dishrag with denim ombre and cream. Then I knit another ball band dishrag in cream and denim ombre. And finally I made up my own pattern - cream knit in moss stitch with two bands of denim ombre knit in seed stitch. And then I ran out of denim ombre. Still have lots of cream, though (it was a jumbo sized ball.)

Hopefully we have come to the end of the germ pool. Honestly, there's really not much left that we haven't already had this month. But I've got lots more dishrag cotton, just in case.

Just in case you didn't know that...

Apparently, milk conatains milk.

UFO (Unintentionably Felted Object)

The good news is - I have felted my first knitted object!

The bad news is - I did not mean to felt anything.

The kids winter suits were caked with mud, so I washed them. Lilli's pink hat somehow managed to get into the washer, too. Along with one tiny little lego. The lego made it all the way to the filter, which caused the washer to quit working - it would not drain the water out of the drum. Now, I have a front loading washing machine. I could see that it was half filled with really, really dirty water. I also saw that Lilli's pink baby alpaca hat was floating in all that dirty water. After I drained the water and removed the lego I was able to open the door and rescue the little pink hat. Little now being the key word.

The good news is - the hat was too big for Lilli's head before (I know how shocked and surprised you are to hear that.)

The bad news is - now the hat is just a little too small. It fits, circumference-wise. But it is just a little shorter than it should be.

Still, she wears it and loves it.

You tell me

Dear Jenn,

John came across this description in a book.
"Sweden dangles like a flaccid circumsized phallus. Finland bulges scrotally underneath." (Cryptonomicon - Neal Stephenson)

For some reason, it made him think of you immediately. I don't know why. You don't have a penis.

All that latex makes me shudder

Dear Jenn,

You need to show this to Jenni.

hat thing

My friend Kerry sent me this link.

Part 1 of the 8 trick pocket hat

A good one to have.

Tipton's New Hat

Tipton has been wearing a hat that I did not knit. A hat that was bought in a store. I just have never found the right hat pattern for him. Until you posted the pictures of the hats that you made for Rowan and John. What a great hat pattern!

Of course, I didn't follow the pattern, not for the 'embellishments.' I don't know how to crochet, so for the edging I used an attatched i-cord. And instead of a pompom on the top, I attached three braids. Oh yeah, and I added a stripe to the body of the hat. And I used a thick "Winter Cotton" instead of wool.

When I make it again (and I will - Lilli wants one now) I will probably go down a needle size and knit with 9s instead of 10s (guage-schmage.) And I will add the stripe sooner. And not make the hat so "tall/long."

But overall I am very happy with the end results. And Tipton LOVES it - and really, what more can a mom/knitter ask than for my son/the recipient to be thrilled with what I have made for him.

Entrelac Exposed!

At long last, here are pictures of Danica, the entrelac scarf. I have yet to get an accurate picture fo the color. Really, it is not bright red, brown and turquoise. It's not. It's burgundy, olive and peacock blue. Much prettier than it sounds, I assure you.

The question remains - to fringe or not to fringe?