Baby Items

Back when Lucy was a wee thing, I decided I wanted to try selling at craft shows. Two of my knitting group members and I did our first show the day before Lucy turned 1. Most of my items were baby things...stuff I had made that was too big or too small or not my thing, or wrong season, LOL. We did okay, I made some pocket money, and we said we'd do it again, next year, at some bigger shows. We improved our display, made more stuff, and sold less at the next two shows the next year than we had at the first show (one of the two shows was on a day of freezing rain!). The knitting group folded, and we sort of lost interest in doing another show. But I had this box full of items that I've kept adding too over the past 7 years. Whenever someone has a baby I look in the box, and think either "That's not good enough for THIS baby" or "That's too good for that baby". And make something fresh, LOL. I kept hoping maybe I'd do another show, or find a place I felt good about donating the items (like, there's a couple really nice hats that won ribbons at the fair...)

Two weeks ago I got an email from my mother in law saying that her women's group was having a "baby shower" for the local young mom's help center and did I have anything I could donate, as they like to present a complete layette to the newborns, and they have a 'shop' for items up to two years old. I was currently trying to finish a baby sweater in a yarn I HATED and knew I'd be sending that item! LOL. But I got the box out and decided it was time to pass on most of the items.

Some of the items are 'sets' , you'll notice in the pictures, say, one hat matches a blanket and a sweater, but not bootees. The hats: I love the flower hats. Some of the sizing on a couple hats might be weird, I'll let the center decide that. The blue hat with the two pompoms was one of the first things I made on my first knitting machine. The multi-coloured bonnet at the top left is an Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern, to match her BSJ.

The bootees:

I've had a hard time finding baby bootee patterns I really like. Many are SO cute, but annoying to make, or the yarn I have doesn't match the gauge, or the size turns out wrong for the other items in the set...
The blue sweater on the left I actually kept out, as my sister-in-law's sister was having a baby this week and they didn't know if it was a boy or girl. Turned out to be a boy, so this is perfect. The poncho was crocheted during the poncho craze. The white/multi colour sweater is a "Baby Einstein" jacket I never blogged about because it had been sitting in my drawer waiting for finishing for ages.

This set was partially made on the Singer 327, as a ribber learning project. Patons used to publish machine knitting patterns and the sweater and pants are from a booklet. I had some issues, I won't bore you, LOL. I wasn't sure of the size, so I made two pairs of bootees ("Blue Steps") and two hats ("Aviatix"?). There is also a tuck stitch blanket in this yarn (blogged about it a few summers ago). It's from a Patons/Bernat yarn that I got at their tent sale as a "Tangled Skein" for $3 and a few evenings work (I think I blogged about it....someone "helped" when I was winding it up). The blanket is very soft and squishy, but the top and pants are knit tighter and are not quite so snuggly.

These three sweaters were some of my earliest items on the KnitSmart, summer of 2005.

These are Elizabeth Zimmerman's baby surprise jackets and baby surplice jackets (number 4 and 5 from the top...date back to 2003/2004). The bottom sweater is a stockinette version of the BSJ, done as a pullover instead of a jacket. I thought I had another one of these...

The blankets:

The top 3 are tuck stitch blankets done on the LK150, soft and squishy, they don't even need edging! The yellow one was an early Singer 327 project, I blogged about it back in 2007 probably. The pink stripes one is garter stitch, done on the diagonal. Lots of ends! The thick blue stripes one was also done on the LK150, using short rows to make a "square". Generally, you can't miter a corner in stockinette stitch by short rowing one stitch at a time...the row and stitch gauge are not the same like in garter stitch. It turns out not bad, but I was really bothered by how the striping matched up at some of the diagonals, but not others. It's a lovely squishy, large blanket, but I'm annoyed by little things, LOL. I hope the items can be used, and are appreciated. If so, I'd love to make more things! There aren't going to be babies in our extended family again (although I do have some cousins that "should" be going down that road...), but I still have lots of baby yarn and ideas!! This was a great motivator to get several items out of the drawer and buttons sewn on, seams sewn up, etc. And as for that baby sweater with the yarn I hated....I got it finished finally, but didn't have any buttons!

Shawl!

On October 27, 2006, "Danis" (www.danis.org; he has since died and I'm not sure about his website) posted a pattern in the Yahoo Knitting Machines group, for a "Basic Triangle Shawl" made by making 4 triangles. I wasn't sure how 4 triangles could turn into one, LOL, but I've wanted to try it ever since.

Another technique I've wanted to try is Debbie New's "Scribble Lace". Basically, you knit with large needles (6mm or bigger), and a very fine yarn and a very thick or textured yarn (choose the needle size to suit the larger yarn). You knit a few rows in the fine yarn, then one row with the thick yarn. On circular needles, you'd then slide the sts back to the other end of the needle so you can pick up the fine yarn again. On the knitting machine, you take the carriage off and put it back at the other end.

I've been wanting a blue shawl for a long time, but have no blue laceweight yarn (well, I do, but it's been designated for a sheer sweater). What I do have is a large cone of a very fine navy, and a bag full of Patons Divine. The perfect combo for scribble lace!

This thing came out huge! Although I thought I understood how to figure the size, it was still rather abstract, and hard to guess while on the machine.

Having to move the carriage from end to end is easy on the machine, however, combined with this shawl pattern, took a little bit of brain power. Till I realized that I was actually doing a 4 row pattern and it shouldn't be too complicated to combine a 4 row pattern and a 2 row pattern. Even so, the middle of the shawl didn't turn out quite as nice as it could have.

Here it is, spread out on my 2 seater, Ektorp Loveseat. The shawl is huge. I took just over 1 skein of the Divine, and I don't know how much of the fine yarn. A surprising amount actually. But to use up left over cones, this would be a great project! I used KP 45 on the KnitSmart machine, and increased out to about 68 sts. I should be able to make another, much smaller one, using the rest of the second ball of Divine. I think this large one is going in the Christmas gift box!

Verdict: Shawl Pattern--great!

Scribble Lace on the Machine--doable! Use lots of weight, particularly on the first fine row after the thick row, or the sts of the thick yarn will twist around the needles. My thick yarn was very lightweight; this might not be such an issue with a heavier yarn.

One Thing After Another

Just when I thought I was going to get into a routine, get the rest of the unpacking done, etc, I woke up with this: I had a lot of dental issues for the first 5 months this year, with no definitive cause...TMJ caused by clenching, caused a tooth to change position, exacerbating jaw pain and numbness....a big circle of pain and possibilities. Then, I discovered a lump inside, where the lower jaw meets the cheek--couldn't tell if it was on the jaw, or on the cheek. An x-ray showed some imflammation, but the pain went away before I scheduled an appointment with an endodentist...with Rob changing jobs, it was too much hassle and possible expense. I took my chances that it would be fine for awhile, but I guess not. I went to a walk-in clinic and got amoxicillin and naproxen with hopes that I can get some pain relief--Tylenol #3 did nothing but upset my stomach.

Anyway, I said I'd write today, so I am!
This is what Meg's blankie looked like when we moved in. It looks even worse now, the holes are so big, adults can put their heads through. And due to the structure of it, it's just not simple to fix.

The yarn is very thin in many places, and breaks easily. Not to mention it is a hideous grey colour now, instead of snow white.
I was able to get the KnitSmart machine unpacked quickly, and set up on the bar in the basement rec room. I could get the same yarn at Zellers, and got going on it. Keyplate 30, I used a pattern posted by an incredible member of the Yahoo IncredibleSweaterMachine group. The blankie is so thick, and white, and clean! Meg calls the old one "The rotten blankie" but still loves it. It's about the same size as the old one too.

That's all folks, I need to go lay down and 'enjoy' the quiet as I try to figure out what I can eat!

Hold My Hand, Pt 2

A few more mitts. The orange/black ones are Huey's. He wore them a couple times, they got wet, he tried his felted black ones from last year (instead of the store bought gloves he INSISTED were the best), and declared the felted mitts are the best thing in the whole entire world, and these orange ones are too small. He didn't like the orange wools I had on hand, so I took one that was the orangeyist and dyed it in the microwave with some Easter egg dye that had been already dissolved and hanging around in a Mason jar for 4 years. They have a nice kettle dyed look, but I think he wanted oranger. And, I ran out. So to match them up, I topped them off with black, used the bit of orange left to extend the cuff downwards and casted off in black. In retrospect, I should have ripped and re-knitted, using the black as stripes. He wanted purple at first.
They were done on the KnitSmart, using my basic handknit pattern. Even though it meant moving 12? st outwards on each side every other row while making the thumb gusset, it wasn't too bad actually. Still quicker than by hand. Somehow they did end up a little pointed.
Lucy wasn't too happy with her minty green mitts---there was a hole at the top where the sts were gathered together. And, being Patons Decor, they weren't terribly warm. I made the purple and pink striped ones in the lower left as a suprise. They are Patons Classic Wool. Don't recall which pattern I did off hand, but Lucy isn't too fussy, so I probably did the gathered top one again, but when I do it, I do one row of K2tog (and move the sts over so there's only a couple empty needles in the middle), then another row of K2tog, again, moving the sts over to fill the empty needles. I try not to have too many sts to actually gather at the top. They look like the shortrow thumbs. She wore them a bit, I think the thumbs are too long or too short....then she insisted she had to have store bought mittens....in February, when the patio sets are being put on display. Her $15 "Good" brand store bought mittens did not last two weeks before they started falling apart. I'm not sure where these mitts are; I think they are in her basket at school.

The other pink and purple ones are mine. I wanted another pair of 100% wool mitts for walking; I find the 100% wool ones are a lot warmer than the 50% wool ones. However, I had only one pair (the ones that got frozen into a snowbank last year), and they are getting felted and ratty. I have been a little traumatized by the Yarn Harlot's daughter saying only knitters wear mis-matched accessories. I thought that I was being clever and unique by matching the colours, but different yarn. I don't have any yarn to make a complete 'set' or finish off any of the sets I have to make them truely match. But someday I hope to have a pink hat. I used Headwaters Wool. I had to use two strands of the pink, and one of the purple. I had been told that would make the finer yarn the same as the thicker yarn. I wish I could have gotten a good picture. The mitts were sort of rippled--you can sort of see how the purple pops up. I gently felted the mitts to try to even it out and thicken them up. They were too wide, but okay for length, but also too loosely knitted. I know felting shrinks more in length and I didn't want to lose much length. I ended up felting them twice, and they are much improved, not totally felted, but also not as warm as my other mitts. I used my handknitting pattern again. It was hard to get the mitt stretched to get all the thumb sts on the hooks. I think, I could take the other sts off on waste yarn or a holder, cast on the two side sts for the thumb, and knit the thumb first instead of at the end.

I really want to make the Vogue cover mitts from the winter issue. When I went to the K-W Knitter's Fair, Camilla Valley Farm had the yarn in their display but I had already spent too much. Then, when I was there in Nov to get the Fleece Artist mitten kit, I almost bought the yarn, but knew I needed to focus on the gift mittens. Now, winter is pretty much over, and her road is a mucky yucky trail....I wonder what she'd do if I placed a 'mail' order? LOL.

I also made Meg a pair of purple mitts, but no picture. I've been pretty lazy about photos. Not much knitting actually getting finished, but hopefully something new to show very soon!!!

Hold My Hand, Pt 1

I am making a conscious effort to knit from stash this year. Really. Since the fall, I've been doing really well--the Fleece Artist thrummed mitten kit has been the exception and that was a for a gift and knitted up immediately. I had used only 1/2 the amount of roving and they were well received, so I knit another pair for our family Christmas gift exchange game. I found some yarn (Rav. link) in the stash that is 52% wool, 48% acrylic, but feels all acrylic, that I felt okay with parting. I didn't want to use the really 'good' wool (uh, right now, that would be Patons Classic Merino which would felt in a heartbeat if the wrong person washed the mitts), and I don't like Patons Decor much anymore for mitts (although, with the roving, they would still be warm!). I forgot to do the little finger slit this time. But, I did do them both at the same time on one circular needle, and boy, was that awesome! I really liked the way the thrumms showed up better on these mitts too. My cousin (or her daughter? Mmmm, it was a bit of a tossle) won them.

Then after New Year's, I got to making mittens on the KnitSmart machine. I made one pair on the LK150 (the pair in my profile picture) but wasn't totally satisfied with them. The problem is, I have been knitting all my mittens based on a very old Patons pattern (written to knit flat, but I do them in the round). I want my machine knit mitts to look the same! Lucy's new pair was up first. She chose Patons Decor in this minty green, which she calls blue.

There were some things I really didn't like about the pattern. For her size, you don't go back to the same number of sts to do the top of the hand (as for the cuff), and they are very pouffy on her. I also did the increases between sts 2 and 3 so they wouldn't interfere with sewing up, but I don't like it. The bind & tie top made a little hole. She says they're not warm enough.
Then I made a pair for Huey. More on them later as the picture is loaded. Then I started making spare mittens for Lucy's classroom. I used Patons Decor, and Headwaters Wool, and then BOUGHT some www.elann.com superwash merino. I bought three colours, made two pairs from two of the colours, loved them so much, I've kept the third colour for myself, LOL. Plus I bought 3 balls of natural to dye! For each mitten, I tried out different mitten patterns, ideas, recipes. These ones are the oddest by far:
I did the increasing for the thum on the outer edges, then took off the center 10 sts to continue for the thumb. Lucy said they felt okay on, but they do look odd!
I've gotten it down to two methods/patterns, depending on the size and desired finished look, and time. More on that latter (latter this week). Making the spare mittens (plus another pair for Lucy, a pair for Meg, and a pair for me) as well as some hats to show you still, and some Freecycling, has meant a significant drop in some parts of my stash bins. But none of the big bags of 'project yarn' are getting used up!

Random Megs

I wanted to post pictures of the new wool diaper soaker I knitted so ladies in the soaker knitting group can tell me how to improve it. But there were so many cute Meg pictures that I just had to post them too! I know I should put them over on my other blog, but tough, they're here now!




This is my first "Curly Purly" soaker (the name is from her blog name). I haven't added any leg cuffs/bands yet; I wanted to see how it fits. There's a little extra bulk in the front...esp. considering she's a girl, LOL. I think I need to start the leg holes a little higher and cast off a few more sts (I had added a few extra stitches to the body, but all sizes cast off 5 for the leg holes, so I just cast off 7 to get rid of some of the extra sts).


I love this picture, even though she's not wearing the best outfit. It's not often that I get to do something with her hair!
Sibling high-jinxs while on a road trip. That's the "throw up bucket" on her head. Look at how white her blankie is!!
This is half a tin of 'frozen' blueberry Fruitopia, a few minutes before it was time to take Huey to school. Oxy-Clean to the rescue!!

Since Huey had a butterfly-release party at school, Meg has been fascinated with butterflies. This is her using her/Lucy's Cinderella skirt to make butterfly wings!


This is a pretty dress I made for Lucy on the KnitSmart, Summer 2005 when she was 2 1/2.This is Meg, now 2 1/2, in that dress.....gee, a little short!This is Megan last November, in the same dress. Gee, think she's grown? LOL.
This is Lucy and Rob on their first 'Co-Pilot' ride. We bought the Co-Pilot from the neighbour to try to help Huey learn to ride a bike. He was so excited to get it and try it, but then wouldn't get on it.
Gotta go, I think Meg has the bag of cherries on the couch and is eating them. She thinks you need to eat AROUND the pit....

Cluck cluck cluck

Ever had one of those days/weeks/months when you think you have everything figured out, got your days planned and accounted for, everything is turning out the way it should.....and then THIS happens:

What's that? you ask....old fashioned chicken pox!

On Jan 2 or 3 I got a call from the mother of Dianna, a girl up the street who comes over after school to hang out/play with Lucy. Her brother, David, had chicken pox just before Christmas, but apparently Dianna had had a mild case when she was younger so her mother was worried/concerned. They played together on Dec 30 or Dec 31.

What can you do? You're contagious before you know you have CP. I couldn't quarentine the kids for the 3 week incubation period. On Sunday, Jan 13, Huey started to feel sick with a headache, sore throat and stuffiness. I thought it was strange that he'd show signs first.

Yesterday after school Lucy says she has a sore spot, near her ear. But during the night she woke up really upset saying her ear hurt. But she was pointing to a totally different spot--the spot in the top picture, where the shoulder meets the neck. It was a raw blister.

When I got them up this morning, Huey felt sick, Lucy didn't. I kept them both home. It's Megan's speech therapy day--we cancelled. We were supposed to go to a 'booster workshop' for Spirited Children but you can't take sick kids, LOL. Now, Lucy has quite a few spots on her back. At first, they looked like flea bites. A couple years ago when Lucy was in pre-school, we had a flea problems and they just loved her. One day, the director calls and asks why I sent my kid to pre-school with chicken pox. Ugh. I felt so bad having to say our dog got fleas!

In other news

A short row, sideways knitted hat using "Sean's Sheep" yarn from Wal-Mart. Just slightly less than one 75g/98yds skein of "Wooloomooloo" for the hat ($2.67). Whenever I have made this hat, I end up with a ....nipple at the top. I steamed the hat a bit, then put it on, pulled it down snug, and steamed some more! That would have made a good picture, me with the iron up to my head (in front of a mirror--I'm not totally blonde!). That really helped smooth out this yarn, which is a thick and thin 51% wool with a thin metallic strand wrapping the two plies.

These are the mittens to match. This pair took one ball too. But it's not adding up. The hat weighs 74g and the mitts weigh 69grams, and I have a tiny butterfly left. Oh well. I had the first mitt done and

was waiting to graft the top, when I saw these mitts. Because I had done a plain mitt, I ripped it back a bit before the shaping, and switched to 2x2 rib. They extend to the tip of my index finger. I can fold the ribbing back to expose my fingers, just like the originals.

For a change, I had decided to leave the thumb till after the rest of the mitt was done, so I finished the thumb off with some 1x1 rib.

I started each mitt with a provisional cast on at the bottom of the hand. I wasn't sure how far the yarn would stretch. Once I had both mitts and thumbs done, I separated the leftover yarn into two little balls--8g each. I really didn't think it would make a big enough cuff, but I couldn't get out to Wal-Mart to get more. I went ahead anyway, picked up the cast on sts and knit downwards, and surprisingly, it was enough! These mitts will be great, after losing my tipless gloves. I can fold them back to have total finger freedom. My gloves were a little bulky, even though my finger tips were free. And they were a little slippery on the steering wheel, LOL.

This crappy picture is a scarf I made to 'test' the ISM (Incredible Sweater Machine) I gave my parents for their birthdays. LOL. It's another Sean's Sheep yarn, "PennyRoyal" has about 50% wool. I noticed after I was done (when working on the knitting machine, you look at the purl side, so things tend to blend more), that it had created a strip pattern to some degree, which changed when I started the second ball of yarn. This took two balls.

One side was purple and blue, the other edge was turquoise and brown! It looks awesome with Lucy's coat, but it was intended to go with the hat from above. The yarn is interesting--different textures for each colour. Some of it was a little thick on the ISM, but we got through it. Again, some steam helped it open up and lay flat (I ribbed 8 sts on each edge) and smoothed out the texture.

And, believe it or not, I still have more finished object pictures to share! Lots of little projects were going on in December, I'm working on some bigger ones now!

ETA: What's the point of the preview function if what it shows is TOTALLY different than what the finished blog looks like?!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

This is a wrap from Family Circle Easy Knitting, Spring/Summer 2005. Made with the recommended yarn, Patons Katrina. Of course, the yarn is discontinued. I was able to get some recently on a really nice trip to Lens Mill in Guelph. However, this was the only colour that they actually had 3 balls in. I don't like most of the colours that it came in anyway, but I thought it would be nice to make a pattern, as written, for once, LOL. What do I do with half a ball of Katrina now though? The two things I did do differently---I used my KnitSmart machine (c'mon! It was 287 rows of stockinette!!), and I grafted the seam instead of casting on/off and sewing it. I used KP 40 and I think my gauge was a little tighter than called for (the recommended gauge in the pattern was 16st/4" and the yarn gauge is 18st/4"; I think I got 17st/4"). I did have to unravel about 2 inches of the 287 rows. I haven't steamed it, I'm afraid of it growing too much if I do, but it could use a light steam to soften. It is a very stretchy yarn so you can really pull it down on your arms, or up on your shoulders. Nice for clingy tops, if it weren't slightly (very slightly) scratchy. I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but it has quite a sheen to it, giving it a more dressy look than most of my life requires. And I think I like it better with the twist at the back, LOL. Like my new shirt and pants? I've done a bit of shopping this week!

And this sadness.....almost half a baby blanket on the Singer 327, using Elann's Baby Lace alpaca/merino laceweight. I was having some issues and pursued it a little further than what I really should have. One issue was Megan 'helping' and when I came to work on it the last time, there was a mess in the lace edging that I just didn't have the patience to fix, knowing that I was already unhappy with it. (The red is waste yarn from the casting on process.)
Here, you can see the long strands underneath from when the yarn kept getting caught on the gatepegs at the short row end. This blanket is made by doing 16 wedges of shortrows; you cast on half the diameter, work the wedges, and graft the cast on to the cast off to make a circle. There was also a knot in the yarn, and the yarn broke once or twice, and a yucky spot in the yarn. All those long ends would need to be woven in, defeating the purpose of the 600yd ball.

You can also sort of see the line connecting the inner most points of the lace sections, making a stockinette triangle bordered by the lace. The line is from a bent gatepeg. Gatepegs are metal points sticking up between each needle latch on the machine bed. The separate each stitch, pulling the fabric tight so the carriage can knit. A bent one causes the two sts on each side of it to be slightly out of alignment compared to all the others, meaning that the yarn bar between the sts is slightly longer than all the others. Does that make sense?

Here you can see the ends of the short rows going up along the top left corner. In the center is some messed up sts, and other yuckies. I have one needle with a sticky latch I think, and it doesn't always knit, causing the yarn to pass behind the stitch, but it usually gets knit on the next row, with the stitch. This is technically called tuck stitch. When you DON'T want it to happen, it's called "That TUCKING stitch!". As close to swearing as I come, LOL.

Here's another view of those messed up stitches, and you can see the vertical line from the bent gatepeg. That might have gotten steamed out when blocking, but messed up stitches remain forever.

A close up of the edging, which forms points along the edge. I learned alot from that! There was something wrong with the pattern (did you actually think I created this myself?!), and I tried to figure it out, but it resulted in three plain rows where the edging goes from angling in to angling out again. I thought it would act like a border or something, but it just looked wrong.

And there you have it. I kept working on it, hoping the messed up stitches weren't too noticeable, but knowing it was way less than perfect. But in the end, I just knew it was past the point of acceptable and I unravelled it all.

Now, what to do with the yarn? Unfortunately, because of the knots, and the breaking, it's no longer a 600 yd ball. I was thinking of dyeing this yarn, should I re-join it all, so that I can do a long skein of two strands so I have two balls the same? By doing a long skein (ie---set two chairs up about 15ft apart) with two strands at the same time, and dyeing them together, they will come out exactly the same. But what colours? I have some nice blue laceweight, and some rusty mohair laceweight, and some pink I want to overdye....what else would I want, considering I don't wear shawls?

Blond Knitters Anonymous

Remember my toe up, heel flap sock? The one I said Mim must think I'm the stupidest knitter out there? Another DOH moment. I've been alternating between knitting each sock. I started the first one using the inside strand. I started the second using the outside strand because I didn't feel like breaking off the first one, and you cannot wind yarn on my electric ball winder using the outside strand if the inside strand is already connected to something (as in, a knitting project). Yes, blonde moment there too--both the "I should have wound half off before I started" and "maybe I can wind on the electric winder from the outside while the inside is still connected to XYZ".

But a new blonde moment! The yarn is self-patterning, with a flecked area, a beige stripe and a green stripe. When you knit from opposite ends of the ball, the pattern goes in the opposite direction! But I bet you knew that! I am casting off as soon as I cast off from here. I did one last night. The leg is in K2,P1 rib, and I did K2tog, pass back to LHN, rep. It was not stretchy enough! So I ripped it out and cast off in pattern as loose as I could. It's better, but not perfect.

I made this sweater for my mom, using the same yarn as for Lucy's Valentine's sweater. I used Knitware to do the math, although it is such a plain design that it wasn't really necessary. I made it on the KnitSmart machine. I got off to a rocky start, and for some reason it took me forever to convert the ribbing on the back (the first piece I made). But then I knew we'd being seeing my parents so I got my act together and wove in the ends the night before the visit, LOL. It doesn't go with the green jeans she likes, but oh well :) I think I used exactly 10 balls. I have a bag of 10 left, and I think I bought 20. I was going to weigh it but I forgot. And it fits her!

This is an angel baby blanket. In the "Slightly Crunchy Attachment Parenting" Yahoo group I'm in, a member had a pre-term stillbirth. She's in Indianapolis and my in-laws are going down, so I thought they could drop it off at the hospital. Then, a couple weeks ago, the leader of the Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph NINO group ("Nine In, Nine Out"--of the womb--but mostly they discuss babywearing) had a full term still birth, so I think I will send it to the Kitchener hospital.

In the picture, it's actually sideways to how it's knit (on the standard gauge). The proportions are a little strange, I didn't know how big to make it. So I used almost all 200 needles, and did almost 350 rows. It looked long enough on the machine, but I think it could have had more rows. But I was actually getting a little bored. Using a punch card, and one colour, I don't have to do anything but move the carriage back and forth. It made a really nice tuck stitch pattern.

This is the knit side, in tuck, that's usually the wrong side, but I think it's kind of neat.This is the purl side. The blanket has curled terribly. Machine knitters often 'kill' acrylic items by steaming them heavily. Just before I was set to do this, I mentioned to one the yarn I was using and she wrote back to NOT kill it. But now what? I was thinking of satin blanket binding, but then I have to sew it on. I could crochet around it, but the yarn is like lace weight and you need more than one row of single or double crochet.

It's a really soft yellow, very pretty. The patio chair it's resting on is a grey mesh and I think it was showing through the blanket in the pictures.

We're not all quite back to health, but are soldiering on anyway. I couldn't stand one more day of having Huey home, LOL.

Round Blanket Disappointment

This is Heidi's Round Lace Tablecloth. I made a white version for Megan. This is the giant skein of Bernat Baby Soft DK that I bought at Listowel in the summer (I added pictures to that post awhile ago, including one of the giant skein).


Looks okay from the top view.


Not so from the side view. In fact, it's so bad, Blogger won't display the photo, despite saying it's been loaded! There is major poofing. Almost as if I did too many sections. I thought about taking out some sections, but the problems are more in the inner half of circle...the outer portions lay flat. So it's a problem of the short row design in relation to the row gauge of the yarn.
Oh my, things just went crazy and my photo appeared!
I think it might be improved by taking out a section or two, but then the outer edge might cup under like Megan's does.
So...keep? Or frog? Or partially dissect?

The original posting of this post included a story about a troll in a parenting group I'm in.  I've moved that part of the post to my other blog!  That's why the comments seem to be not related to this post :)

Time Out Tuesday

I realized this morning that today is Tuesday and I have nothing prepared for Timeless Tuesday. I'm not sure what came next in my knitting history. There's Rob's hat, the Kaffe Fasset vest, Rob's sweater...I'm sure I must have made more than that during the two years we were dating! I'll try to do something tomorrow. I'm feeling crappy today, thanks in part to sleepless nights with Megan. When I don't get enough sleep my arthritis flares up, and my neck is taking a beating today. Hopefully once she weans she'll sleep more, and I can take something better than ibuprofen. Which is not working today :(

Some photos to share instead. Those are the pumpkin hats I've been making to use up a ball of Red Heart. had to buy a ball of green for the stems, LOL (but bought from my LYS!). Despite 'following' a pattern, they seem to be a little long. There was no gauge given in the pattern. In the close up you can see the one I did with random stripes of two different oranges. I like that one. In the top photo you can see the tuck st. hat, which still needs a leaf. I'm going to give these to the maternity ward/breastfeeding clinic...next year, LOL. They were all made on the knitting machines (KP 30 on the KnitSmart, I dont' know, for the LK150...maybe T6).
This is called a "FrankenKozy" style MT. It's not the one I was using on Saturday downtown. This was the first one I made. I took apart a stretch twill pouch I had made and used that for the body. The straps are made from the long skinny piece left over from making the gauze wrap. The body is a little short if Megan falls asleep, and it's' more comfortable if I wear it on my front, but I still like it! I even tried it with Lucy on my back. She's heavy! I've tried several times now to load that photo with Lucy, but it won't come up. Edit to add: Those jeans are actually regular size low rise jeans. How sad is it that I'm so short-waisted that low rise jeans still come up to my waist? I swear I don't buy Mom jeans! And my boobs don't normally look like that either--I was trying a new way to tie the straps. Now I know, I won't leave the house like that!
And here's some shots of Megan helping Daddy install a pot drawer. I've been asking for 7 years for a pot drawer. He was going to make one...but this one came on sale at Canadian Tire. It's a little smaller than what I wanted, but at least it's in! Megan was the star of the show at story time when she shuffled across the circle. Instead of walking forward, she shuffles sideways. And she has finally found her voice. She chatters quite a bit now, although still not quite at the level she should. And she is laughing now too! Before, she'd laugh only if you tickled her, or sometimes if Huey put on a really good show right in front of her. Now she's laughing at lots of things! We call her Pteradactyl Girl because she squawks and squeals. She's pretty cranky right now. Wrapped up in our crazy pink 'Moby' wrap, she is fighting falling asleep.
Time to get the kids ready for dinner, then trick or treating!