Sqeee!

Hey Robin,

DONE! You gotta make one of these for Emme!!


Pattern: Skirtsicle
Yarn: Lily cotton, Strawberry colorway
Size: 4

Me: SQEEE! I can't wait to see it on her!

I got my Rogue Hoodie yarn (Knit Picks Swish Superwash in Lemongrass... woo!) and i'm trying to tidy up the Kid Kaper so that I may unveil it at last... however it is eluding my attempts at reaching completion. Booo!! Wish me luck.

Later :)

Knitting, knitting, everywhere!

Hey Kate!

I've been sick, as you know, so I haven't done much of anything except playing ToonTown. Since I last posted, I did receive some delicious yarn, however.


Malabrigo, Blue Sky Organic Cotton and Blue Sky Alpaca Sport. Soooo luscious. I got them from Jimmy Beans, the store that you recommended. Here is a link to their newsletter, so you can drool with me.

Speaking of yarn and ToonTown, I had to do a quest at the Sweater Lodge in The Brrrgh. First I had to go defeat Cogs until they dropped some yarn. Then the yarn wasn't the right color, so I had to go do some busy work, while Johnny Cashmere dyed the yarn. Then I had to go fishing for his lost kneedles. (I can see why knitting might be a fun thing to do while fishing.) Then Mr. Cashmere gave me some more busy work to do while he knitted up the quest item. I'm guessing one of the developers is a knitter or is married/related to one.

Emme is destroying the place, so I gotta go. Future blackmail pic to follow. She is so going to appreciate the smooshed banana in the hair picture when she's 14, don't you think?

Later!

Robin

Finished!

Hey Robin!
I have a couple of FO's to report! Yay!


Here are the finished mittens. Yay! I can tell you, these are SO warm and toasty and the fact that they don't clamp-down around my wrist isn't nearly as much of a problem (yet) as I thought it might be. I don't think i'll be doing many snowball fights with them, but for tooting-around-town they are just what the Mommy ordered! I had no idea the thumbs would be so well camoflaged in that picture. There are thumbs! I promise!
Also I reversed the colors in mitten #2... just 'cause. If I were really smart (and had the energy) I probably would have reversed the pattern too so they would look better side-by side. Ah well, live and learn! I'm calling these mittens:

Sunshine and Blue Skies:
Yarn: Malabrigo worsted in pollen and bijou blue.
Pattern: Generic norwegian mitten graph and celtic spiral pattern from Celtic Charted Designs (pattern 225), Dover books

Next up in the FO gallery:
A friend/co-worker of Hub just recently had a wee bairn. They are nerds like us, so when i saw this pattern for a Baby Yoda Sweater... I had to make it. I mean it's really not much for a yoda-lookalike but it IS a little reminiscent of the smock type things the jedi wear... if you squint a bit ;)


I'm truly sorry the pictures suck so bad....

Anyway, the designer made it with MissionFalls 1824 cotton with this reasoning: "Young Jedis prefer natural fibers, you know. Acrylic interferes with The Force". I love it. Well all i had to-hand was some sugar n cream and so i made-do. It's the "ecru" color... yes the sleeves are a different dye-lot. Don't tell! I made a couple small changes to the pattern: knit it in the round, kitchenered the shoulders, picked up stitches around the arm-hole and knitted down rather than up (can anyone tell i hate seaming?) and made crochet-chains for the ties instead of i-cord only because I think they are easier to tie... i could be wrong. If the Mommy tells me that the crochet cords aren't strong enough I will made the appropriate changes :) It's an adorable little sweater! I'm so glad I found it on Ravelry!

The hat is "Simple hat" which I also found on Ravelry. In retrospect I probably should not have made it from cotton... it won't be fitting the young gentleman's head for long. But it fashionably matches the sweater.... perhaps I will follow up with a wool hat later on. ;)

Next up on the agenda: More Kid Kaper (a bit of a slog, sorry it's taking so long) and Skirtsicle! Wheeeee!

Later!

Half warm!

Hey Robin,
Not much to say, just wanted to show-off my VERY FIRST COLORWORK! W00t!
I think I will reverse the colors in the other mitten, just for grins...

pattern-graph: from Celtic charted Designs by Co Spinhoven
yarn: Malabrigo worsted in "that" blue and "that" yellow (still looking for the cards with the color names on them)

Later!

Inspired by Anne... and Kay... and Ann

Hey Robin!
How far behind i have been in my blog READING (we won't even discuss the blog WRITINg-behindedness) I have discovered that at the same time that I was pestering one of my Maternal Uncles about my Great Grandmother's recipe books (he now lives in the house that her husband built for her), Mason Dixon was thinking about a contest for recipe boxes! How great! However my Granny's recipes weren't in a box... they were crammed into books like Anne's family-recipes! Her pics of the family-treasure inspired me to share my recently arrived bounty from Louisiana!

So I can't enter the MasonDixon contest, because these just aren't purdy-enough.... but I can "play" too can't I? :) Here we go:



OK on the left is the collection of recipes, some handwritten/typed, most are clipped from various magazines (see pic on right). No, those aren't your eyes playing tricks, there is no longer a cover on that monster. I swear, the greatest part of all this are all the fabulous advertisements from the 50's! It's a treasure trove!

OK next up the Big-Momma prize, this is the one I was asking for:


This ladies (and gents?) is a WW2 era Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. The most recent copyright date on there is 1943. And here's the bit that always fascinated me growing up:

That right there is an insert on how to cook better wartime meals. History folks... in a cookbook.

Also:

I love BH&G... how many cookbooks do YOU have that tell you how to get spots out of your laundry??

There, I hope you enjoy these pictures as much as I am enjoying these treasures!
Later!

Presenting: The Apprentice Beanie

Hey Kate!

I'm done! It looks better in person than it does in the pics. I'm much happier with the results than I thought I would be. Though it is technically reversible, the blue side looks much better than the white/natural side -- mostly due to some mistakes I made.

The design needs some work because as it stands, there is one faulty star due to the design. The rest of the problems are all knitter error. Well, that and the fact that stars don't come out all that great knitted.

The hat took most of one hank each of the Cadena in Tide and Natural. I used 16" size 10 bamboo circular kneedles until the end when I used size 10.5 DPNs. I will write up the pattern soonly, but I have to catch up to my other writing first.

It is meant to be worn as a beanie, but also can be worn as an actual apprentice hat if the mood should strike you thusly.


Later!

Robin

Kneedles!

Hey Kate!

I got my birthday goodness today: Knit Picks Options Harmony Interchangeable Kneedles set. I haven't had a chance to play with them yet because Emme thinks they are pretty too, so they get played with after she goes to bed. Here are my impressions so far:

Cons

• The case sucks. The case they used to provide with their nickel plated kneedles is much better, though I notice that they now use the same case for all.
• There are no 16" cables. Probably because they don't work so great on interchangeable kneedles. I know the smaller cords are rather stiff and yucky on the Boye set.
• It only goes from size 4 to 11. But the interchangeable kneedles definitely don't work below size 4 and I'm covered on the sizes I need above, so really this is a non issue.
• They aren't interchangeable with the Boye kneedles. I didn't expect them to be. I just had a teeny hope.
• I didn't get them sooner. Ok, that's not really a problem with the kneedles. I know this.

Pros

• They are beautiful -- much more beautiful in person.
• They feel deliciously smooth which just a teeny bit of a resistance.
• They are pointy.
• The cables are nice and flexible.
• They are mine! MINE! Muhahahaha!

I'll enthuse more when I've actually been able to use them. The Apprentice Beanie is still going, by the way. I'll finish it some day soon. I promise.

Later!

Robin

The Aftermath...

Hey Robin,
So much has happened since the last post! I'm so sorry for the quiet but I have been dealing with new toys/new books/new movies. And the Little Guy got some too! Christmas has been beautiful, we even got some snow on Christmas Day! Though I have been told we were the only neighborhood in our area to actually have it stick. I just told that person that our home owner's association is good at planning ahead ;)

I'm excited to report that all planned-recipients of hand-knits got their knits and showed due-appreciation. (nothing worse than giving something that took many many hours of devotion and getting a shrug and a "thanks" in return). The Hub whipped his socks on and refused to take them off all day. Now THAT'S encouragement!

We took more video than stills, so unfortunately I don't have any cutie-pie pictures to share. BUT!! I do have a pic of my next project:


Oh wait, this one is done already. It's a pair of Malabrigo Loafers por Moi! In the hummingbird colorway. Yummy! I might have to felt the loafers though, they really ARE stretching like it says.









OK HERE'S the new project. I used the grid pattern from Hello Yarn... very helpful! And pulled a spiral pattern from my Celtic Cross stitch pattern book. Something handy to have around for sure! I had to agonize for a LONG time on which pattern to use, there were so many that would work!

I decided on spirals because an interlace pattern would seem like a cop-out. Interlaces should be cabled! But I wanted to try some colorwork and it's coming out OK if I may say so myself. It's puckering a little at the dpn-joins, but it's getting better and better! This is fun, but I am so glad i picked mittens to do because it's a short project and good practise! Yay!

I hope you are passing a glorious holiday and that your knew knitting kyear is frogless and happy! :)

Later!

Clarification...

Hey Robin,
I wanted to share with you something from my Mom's recent visit. I know I lampooned her recently for "not getting it" with the knitting bag thing (she DID offer to help me try to find the stuff she thinks is needed to make that bag though) but I feel badly about that. Here's why:
Look what she made for Little Guy! She made every one of these dolls (her current obsession... i get my crafting genes from her) with her hands... just for him. Wait, here's some closeups:

That's Joseph, and his "halo" (how brilliant to make a star one!), then one of the Kings (LG's favorites) and the angel... and the back of the angel so you can see her "wings".

It's honestly one of the best things of hers I have seen in a while. And let me tell you, this woman has done EVERYTHING that is crafting. She throws her whole self into them and when she gets bored she moves on. How gutsy is that? I don't think I can drop my kneedles, but it's amazing to watch her go. I wonder what will be the next obsession?

Anyway, you know how I feel about religion, but I really don't mind this wonderful little reminder of what this holiday is supposed to represent. It's grand don't you think?!

Later!

Wall o' pics

Hey Kate!

I'm a bit hopped up on homemade orange glazed biscuits. You have been warned.

So here's the progress on the Apprentice Beanie.


Emme knows where it goes.


And here's the beginning of my Happy Sock.


So Mr. Loki! How does it feel to be the furniture?


That's all I got.

Later!

Robin

Stress!

Hey Robin,
I really wanted to take some time to post pictures of the FO's but i am up against some technical difficulties. There are alien objects in my pictures! I give you example #1:
and example #2

They are the Maine Morning Mitts and the Sasquatch Earl Grey socks respectively. The mitts are for Little guy's teachers. He's in a preschool that's at a Jewish Community Center, so the class celebrates Chanukah... i had to get these done SUPER fast (as Little Einsteins would say) as soon as I realized what had happened to my calendar.

Next up: I decided that just wrapping the hand mades wasn't enough of a "presentation". Is it vain to want to announce that I made each of these things by hand with thoughts of the recipient dancing in my head? I hope not... so I made these little wrappers:

I got the idea from a blog that I visited WAY back but I can't remember which one it was! It was all about making little sleeves for hand made socks. Excellent idea. Kudos to the blogger!

This is how far I am on my Best Friend's Hug. This was meant to be her birthday present (May people!!) and so if I can get it done for Xmas, I'll only be one gift behind! Yay me!

I think I told you that Little Guy was supremely concerned that his "pet" puppy, Libby Lu, didn't have a stocking for Christmas. "How will Santa know where to put her gifts?" I must admit I was confounded by that logic. We set to correcting that enormous error on my part. (I won't mention that yours truly doesn't have a stocking and that news wasn't met with nearly the same amount of concern).

Here she is with her newly-made felt stocking (no, I didn't knit and felt it. There's just no time!) decorated by Little Guy. Such the artist! And in case you didn't notice, I posed her with Santa's soon-to-be revealed present for her stocking. To match Little Guy's hat!
Libby didn't seem to mind knowing ahead of time....
Later!

On the Snow-Wagon

Hey Robin,
So many of our favorite bloggers are discussing the snow in their areas that I felt I had to share a little as well! And then if I get up the energy I will take pit-churs of my recently completed gift-items! Yay for the recently-completed-part!

OK, so Sunday was our big-snow-day. I took the Little Guy to a birthday party and by the time we came out it was snowing. Actually the MOMENT we came out of the building it started to snow. Needless to say Little Guy was pretty excited.

We got home and immediately started to play. Though there wasn't much to play WITH by this point, I still got a pic to demonstrate a point. We got a lot of snow people. Here's the pretty-tree in the backyard at approx. 1pm:

Notice how dark it is at 1pm. I didn't manipulate this image at all.... OK now here is the same tree two hours later:

The snow has slowed but not stopped at this point really... its like a Winter Wonderland!! I know, I'm all goofy about snow because of all my formative years being spent in non-weatherey areas... but how could you not get all goofy about prettiness on this magnitude?!

Speaking of things to get all goofy about:

I know I'm his Mom, but I ask you... has a cuter little cherub ever lived?!