Ooohhh Baby!

I don't get too excited by knitting patterns too often. Yes, I do see lots of 'nice' patterns, and I do see lots of patterns that are very interesting but I won't knit, but I don't see a lot of interesting AND nice AND knitable.

Last week I took Huey to the library and I stopped by the knitting section. Somehow there was a new book there that I had never seen in the new book section at the front of the library!

"Greetings From Knit Cafe" by Suzan Mischer. The cover says "30 Original Designs Included" so I wondered what kind of knitting book it was if including patterns needed special mention. And, as I expected, just like any knitting book written by a yarn store owner, the yarns are all expensive yarn store yarns, LOL. But that never stops me!

It starts out rather ho-hum...a ribbed scarf, a beret, boxer shorts, hiking socks, plain sweater, a computer keyboard cover, a felted saddle blanket using 14 skeins of Kureyon (!), a plain afghan using 9 balls of Blue Sky Alpacas....and then I turn the page and see this little delight:

"Judy's Grandmother's Baby Sweater, or the best-fitting, no seam, reversible baby sweater".

It's actually on the baby in the picture backwards...the two triangle flaps have long ties that go around to the back. Tie in a bow for a girl, tie in a knot for a boy! I'm really close to ripping out the new Baby Surprise Sweater in stockinette (it's usually in garter st) that I started under peer pressure of a KAL two weeks ago. I find it hard to find boy sweaters--I love to do little lacey things, so boy sweaters are either cables or depend on the yarn or sweater design, and the James Brett Marble would look great for this one (depending on the gauge, I'll have to check). Oh, it's not totally seamless, but close enough.

There are some nice patterns in this book--some simple and classic, some more fashionable. There is the skirt on the cover, and two dresses. One is a pretty, frothy pale pink number, unfortunately, in the picture, the charming cake is in focus and the dress is a pink blur. There are schematics, but I like seeing photos of the items on their own. THere's also this dress:

If I had 8 hanks of Fiesta La Luz 100% silk and a chest suitable for a 36" finished measurement, I certainly wouldn't be wasting my time knitting this number! LOL. It's pretty, but I'm not sure it's suitable for leaving the house, let alone going to pick up the kids after school ;)

Check Your Weight!

I was winding some yarn last night. It's from a local yarn store, but you can get it online. It's great for felting--comes in lots of colours, several thicknesses, doesn't felt too quickly, and doesn't get too fuzzy when felting.
I had two balls of dark purple wound up when I noticed that one was larger than the other. Sometimes, depending on the speed setting of my electric ball winder, the balls can be tighter or looser than other times. So I thought I'd weigh them.
Ball 1 was 119g---the label gives 100g as the weight. Ball 2 was 91g! So, because I had two balls, I am ahead of the game by 10g, but that's 10%. If I had only bought the smaller skein, unknowingly, I could easily run out in a project. What if one skein had been SHORT by 19g instead of over? That's almost 20%! What if I decided to short-change them 20%?
I"m not about to complain this time, because I am in the advantage and I feel the extra 10g is a sort of 'pay off' for the aggrevation of having one ball be short. But you bet your double points I'm weighing each and every skein from there from now on....before winding them!

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?!

Recycled Bum Sweaters

Isn't that a great name? I went to our thrift stores and found two sweaters for myself, LOL, and two sweaters to felt for diaper covers. One is going to be too thick though. And then my mom gave me a pile of sweaters to cut up too! This was the first one, a 50/50 wool/acrylic, that felted quite nice, but is a bit on the thick side. I used the waist ribbing of the sweater for the back ribbing, but I think for other sweaters, I'll cut it so the waist ribbing goes around the whole diaper cover. I'm having trouble with sagging at the front:

I tightened up the elastic, but it's sagging, it might be even worse now (no photo). And it pouffs out above the front thigh. So, I don't know how to get a good fit. Maybe make the rise in front longer, and the front a bit wider, and try to have it stay up over her belly? All her pants slide down too!

Sad News

I have a sad update on the tipless gloves I loved so much. We went to Wal-Mart today, and crossing the lane before the store, I noticed a familiar shape in the slush....a glove with no fingertips. Kicking it over and stepping on it to remove some of the slush revealed that indeed, it was my beloved glove. The kids were quite amused, wanting to bring it home. It would probably wash up fine, LOL, being Patons Decor, but without the other one, what's the point? I have enough to make another pair, but why not embrace the change that was splashed on my boots and move on? Sob.

Socks

I was going to post about the matching mittens I made to go with the hat from yesterday, but I don't have a photo yet, so lets go with these instead:
My 'surgery' socks. Started May 29 on the drive down for surgery. Apparently I had the first one done in early July, thanks to all those evenings in the ER getting the IV antibiotics. But the second sock....I had too much on the go, lost a bit of interest, blah blah blah. Decided to take it on the cruise to get it done. Well, I did knit a bit on the flight down (on something else), but didn't do any knitting on the cruise until the last morning when we had to be out of our cabin by 7:15AM. I didn't write anything down about the first sock because I didn't know it was going to take me 6 months to finish them, and I figured I could just 'read' the first sock.

Every single section of cable on the second sock had to be ripped out because I 'read' the first sock wrong! I started with 3x3 cables with some purl sts and a knit st in between. After doing a few crossings, I tried it on and although it was good for my ankle, there was no way the sock would fit my calf. So, I travelled the outer st on each edge of the cable, outwards by one stitch and made it part of the ribbing, and then had 2x2 cables. I continued this up for a ways, then moved the outer sts over again and just had a tiny 1x1 cable (really, just a twisted st at that point I guess).

I also did a bit extra with the short row heel. These were done toe up, and when I finished the heel and was at one side, I knitted/purled back across the center number of sts (8? 12?--the number that you knit down to and then switch to getting bigger rows), then worked back across those center sts, then turned and worked back to the other edge, then turned and worked back across the heel and then kept going around the sock. It added a bit more depth to the heel. Never underestimate the power of 3 or 4 rows, even in sock yarn!

I purposely made the sock to be fraternal. I knew that if I didn't get them exactly the same, they would irritate me. So I made them off enough so it's obvious, but I did make both with the yarn going in the same direction this time, unlike the beige ones that I had made where one started with the outer end of the ball and the other started with the inner end.

These are Austermann Step yarn, the one with aloe and jojoba. I didn't get peeling on my cuticles like I do with other wool yarns, and they are very soft. I don't think they'd make any difference to your feet though unless you wore only these socks. I'd like to make some gloves though! But not a hat. Ewww.

Back to the Hat

ALrighty, sorry for the intermission, let's get back to what's important.

Those tipless gloves. I loved them. Made them last winter, wore them all the time. Apparently lost them on Boxing Day, either at Wal-Mart (Haven't checked) or Home Depot (Rob checked). But before that, I made a hat to co-ordinate with them (not matchy-poo!).

Here it is on the floor of the school gym while waiting for Lucy's Christmas concert to begin.

Not a great picture, is it?

Uh oh, with the new computer, I don't have to go to the editing software to re-save pictures as .jpg files, so I'm forgetting that some pictures need some editing! I was LOVING the hat.

Okay, I'm sure that one was vertical when it got pasted here.

I had made a hat just before this one that I really liked, but I had some issues with the design and the fit. I'll discuss that one next time. I casted on for the whole head, then short rowed starting with about 35% of the back stitches and adding one more each side until I was at 47% of the stitches. Because, I measured my head and my ears (and I'll bet, your ears too) aren't located exactly at the half way point. However, the angle is a little steep and my earlop still gets exposed. You'd think Canadians would evolve so that their ears would be covered by a simple toque style hat. I can fold up the longer portion for a cute look.

However, the hat is not very dense, and while it fits better than other hats, is not terrible snug--it slides around. So, even though I knew it would totally screw up the ear coverings, I decided to lightly felt it. Lightly. And I did (and considering what happened when I felted some clogs with this wool next....yikes!). Now the hat is more dense, but covers even less of my ears. And still slides around. But it's still cute! It's "Sean Sheep" from Wal-Mart, "Armatage" is the one. It's 100% single ply wool, 118yds (or maybe 108yd/118m), for $2.69!! Less than a ball for a hat!! Less than 2 balls for lady's clogs! Needless to say, they are almost totally out of stock now!

I was thinking of adding cords so that I could embrace my inner dork and tie it under my chin on those really bad days. When I pull it down, it does cover my ears, but it just won't stay! No one else ties their earflap hats though....

More hats to come.....I am on a quest for the perfect hat.

How Come

How come on the other blogs I'm doing, you can click on the pictures and they'll come up bigger, in a new window, but that doesn't happen with this old blog?

I Really Like(d) This Hat

Okay. Everything I want to post about has pictures still on the Memory card and I don't feel like downloading them/editing. I have this glove picture above because I was going to write about them and a hat and mitts....but now I can't delete the picture. I try left clicking--it adds the little squares around the picture. I right click, those squares go away, and 'cut' is greyed out in the box of options that shows. Mmmm....





Anyway, lets go with this post instead:

This is a dress I made for Rob's work Christmas party. I used New Look 6557, view B, without the tie belt. I thought I'd be able to wear a bra under this one (but the straps didn't line up right). This is the same pattern (used view A then) I used for the flowered dress I took on the cruise--the one that was too big in the back and was way too hard for an "Easy!" pattern.

This time I used a flocked taffeta from FabricLand, $6.99/m (and I get the club discount on top of that). Used about 2.5m so it was very economical. Most of the fabrics I looked at were $25/m!! When I saw this one, I thought it was too red, but at the cutting table it looked more burgandy so I went with it instead of black. It was a little stiff, but washed up nice, although it is still noisy, LOL, and wrinkles (not crumply wrinkles, but wrinkles from being folded up on the edge of the table inbetween work sessions). This fabric made making the dress a WHOLE lot easier and enjoyable.

My biggest issue--the straps. They are long and skinny (continuing up from the bodice to the back in one piece). It was hard to keep the fabric straight while cutting, and then I had some sewing issues (you cannot easily understitch the lining when both edges will be seamed to the lining! I guess that's why it didn't say to understitch the edging!).

I can't get the bottom inner edge of the bodice cups to look like the picture on the pattern. I felt that you shouldn't need 2 1/2 inches of ease in the bust of this type of top, but perhaps I needed a bit more than what I have. The one that overlaps in particular does not lay flat.

The other fit issue is the sides of the bodice. I didn't take the time to measure myself much, but I know I'm short waisted. I figured it wouldn't matter much with this style--that the wide bodice waist would make my middle look longer. However, there was sagging at the side seams. At first, I took it in a little, more off the back than the front. This helped, but not enough. Then I thought about the issue, and realized that the skirt was not as high up as it should be, even though it's not tightly fitted, it still showed that it wasn't fitted right. I ripped out those bits of seams and took a bit off the bodice waist, and that helped. To totally eliminate that bulging at the sides, I'd have to totally take it apart and resize the back pieces and the waist piece, and figure out what that does to the hem...

I did do the zipper twice. I was trying to be careful and picky the first time, but I realize that if the first step is not the best, there's no way to improve it later; it goes downhill. The second time looked GREAT! I do have an issue with what to do with the top of the zipper and the lining. The instructions say to fold the zipper tape over the back, but that was really bulky. And I found it really hard to keep the zipper stitching straight at the top when the zipper thingy gets in the way and spreads it out. But it looks okay somehow. I wore it proudly and comfortably, although I did need a shawl, LOL.

I'll probably give another view of this dress a try, in a heavier, non-slippery fabric again. They do suggest satin, but OMG. How do you sew satin? LOL.

Bingo!

After I got my new winter coat, I started using my Flower Basket Shawl as a scarf. It works great and my glasses don't get fogged up, even when it's over my nose. But it's the same dull colour as the coat. So I began to think I should finish that blue lace scarf after all. But I just can't seem to get it out from the pile. I don't think the end result justifies the hard work of knitting it. Especially if it's going to be mostly hidden in my coat.

Then, last night I had a little knitting get together. Josee brought a book to give away (no one wanted any of the yarn I pulled out to try to give away! Boo Hoo), and I ended up with it. "Double Exposure" by Bonnie A. Franz. It's an interesting idea--patterns shown in different colourways, sometimes with slight differences. But really, I don't think MOST knitters need a whole book encouraging them to knit something in a bright colour when the original pattern is shown in grey. And some of her colour combinations are a little extreme. The section with the knitting info is quite good, and many of the patterns are quite good too, but a lot of book also show the same pattern knitted in different colour schemes.
One sweater on the front caught my attention. Lots of ruffles. I looked it up, and it uses KnitPicks Shimmer, 50g=440 yds, the same as the Shadow I have. And my size would need 3 balls. It's knit at 16st/4" so there's lots of stretch so I can knit a size small, LOL. And I can always knit it a bit shorter, like I usually do. The great thing is, I can knit all of it (except the ruffles) on my knitting machines! I had been thinking about doing that, but having a pattern makes it much more likely to actually happen. To be honest, I wouldn't be surprised if many of the patterns were knit on machines for the book.

So, when do I start? Well.....there's something on the standard gauge one (been there since before the cruise), nothing on the KnitSmart or LK150. I think I want to use the Singer 327, maybe even use a tuck st for some texture. I don't think I'll get the project that's already on it done till after Christmas, so don't hold your breath waiting for the new Shadow sweater!

All I Want for Christmas....

...is a floor lamp with an Ott light! A pair of nice black mittens, no? Look again....

Can you see what I didn't? I made these mittens for Huey. I did a cast on with cotton, then switched to a wool and knit the hand. Then I felted them, picked out the cast on, and did the ribbing. I made the one on the right first. I had Huey try it on at one point, and he asked why the ribbed part was a different colour. I insisted that it wasn't, it was just cause the hand was felted and fuzzy, and the ribbing was smooth. I had thought the colour looked a little different, but I was strong in my belief that it was the different texture playing tricks.

Part way through the second ribbing, we went tobogganing and then some running around while Megan slept in the truck. I took the mitts out to start working, and in the daylight, the difference was VERY obvious!! OMG. The mitt on the right has a navy blue ribbing!

I showed them to Huey, and he said he'd wear them (this way he will always know which is the left mitten). I added a cord (done so quickly on the knitting machine), but after one day I had to cut the cord off because it hurt his back and neck! They are a little big on him (he wears 'magic gloves' underneath, and they almost fit me), but they are so warm and fuzzy, I want my own pair! Unfortunately of course, mittens are usually worn outside, in DAYLIGHT. LOL.

(Can anyone tell me how to delete a picture after it's in this box? I tried right clicking on it, but then it became unselected)

Backlog

I have a whole pile of FOs to show off! But I'm also working madly on more projects so that they can be FOs too. Hopefully by Sunday I will get a chance to post pictures; we're out of town all day Saturday, and Friday morning I'm going out of town to buy a new.....knitting machine!!! So of course, Friday afternoon will be spent.....playing :)

Charity Knitting

I'm not proud to admit that we don't really support charities (including alumni fundraising). We keep meaning to, but.... However, I will say that I believe if you do support, you should start locally. I'd rather have my money/time go to help someone in my community than across the world (although I'm NOT saying those people don't deserve help, just that when you're limited in what you can do, it's nice to be able to SEE your help actually help someone).

Sometimes though, through the wonders of blogland, we come across wonderful organizations that need help. Every knitter seems to have a charity of choice...Warm Up America, Project Linus, Let's Blanket Canada......I'd like to add one more I just found this morning.

The Soaring Eagle Project is touching to me I think, because it originated with a teacher, for her students. She'd like to have each student in her school receive a handknit gift at Christmas. She's in Oklahoma, in a very impoverished district. These might be the only gifts some kids get. As of today, she still needs over 200 pairs of mittens, but there is time before the deadline (I think it's Dec 12 or 17). And if not this year, perhaps next year? Or maybe adopt a school near yourself and see if they'd be interested. One year I made one pair of mittens each month to donate to a mitten tree. Kids mittens don't take very long, or very much yarn, and are very appreciated. What more could you ask for?

Finally....

I finally got a new coat (although it might not do for when it's really cold) from the Salvation Army. Faux suede/shearling in a nice, neutral, light tan. So now I can create lots of colourful accessories and not worry about matching/clashing like with my plum coat. But do I have time right now? No! LOL. But stay tuned. However....when I do go stash diving, will I have anything fun and colourful? And enough for a hat/scarf/and mitts cause you know, I do still have to match somewhat :) I know I have lots of black/grey fun fur/novelty yarns, but I don't think that qualifies as colourful!

I'm So Smart!

Finally, a picture of the Einstein Coat/Jacket:

I finished it sometime before Lucy turned 3 (Nov 2005). I only remember that because we had a party and I took my mom over to see a house we were trying to buy, and I let her wear the jacket (hoping it fit her cause I didn't like it on me). I think I won the cream Shetland Chunky in February of 2004, although it could have been 2005. Raffle prize from the Georgetown Knitting guild. I wasn't sure if it'd be enough, and I was in love with Patons Divine, so I used that for the arms and knitted at the same time trim.

Issues! Oh boy, were there issues. The Divine has a slightly different gauge. Not an issue when I used it in the bottom piece as that was done with rows, but continuing the look of the band up the upper piece was challenging. It was 7 sts (why can I remember that?), but every so often I would do an extra short row in just the band. Or was it I did a row without knitting the band? LOL.

The Shetland Chunky has a different gauge than what the pattern called for, but it's pretty easy to go by dimensions for this pattern. I did make it a little shorter, I don't mind it, but as it's mostly acrylic, it hasn't stretched much and a little longer would have been fine.

I didn't knit buttonholes. I wanted to use clear snaps but I couldn't find any that were large enough. I don't want to fiddle with tiny snaps when it's cold out. And once it was finished, I knew it was too big/square, so I didn't have much desire to finish it off.

Another modification--I didn't use all the upper rows to pick up sts for the sleeve (it's knit downwards). I left about two inches which I just seamed up. Even still, the armhole/sleeve is huge.

I did wear it one day soon after finishing, and a woman stopped me in the store and said it was a nice Einstein! It's very recognizable, but like most patterns in that book, doesn't look like a 'beginner' project. I would contemplate making it again....with a much nicer, more interesting yarn! Although I did not like knitting miles of plain, straight, garter stitch. I felt like such a beginner, so I never took it out in public, LOL.

And, I ended up have quite a bit of the Shetland Chunky left over. Even though it's only 25% wool, I dyed it....that would have been Easter.....2005? It was in the old house, and I don't think I would have done that Easter of 2006 when we were in the process of packing to move!

Fuzzy Wuzzy Was A Bear....

Or wuz he a clog? LOL. The standard Fiber Trends felted clog pattern. I used one strand of Lopi (not the 'Bulky' or the 'Lite'), and 8mm needles (don't think I have 9mm) and made the Ladies' large size. My gauge was smaller though than what the pattern says, and they don't give pre- or post-felting measurements. But as an example of how big they are pre-felting, here's Megan last December modelling the lastest winter fashion--the unfelted clog hat!I tried to put them in my lingerie bag, but they were too squashed and I didn't think they'd felt, so they were free floating, along with Huey's jeans, his Crocs, some sandals, and a plastic ball. I know Lopi felts very furry.... But I was a little surprised when I opened the machine, LOL. Fuzz everywhere! Memories of the YarnHarlot's Mr. Washie come floating back....this is a new-ish machine, certainly not built like Kenmores were 30 years ago!

I scooped out as much fuzz as I could several times. Here's your Knitting PSA of the day...after collecting a pile of fuzz on the edge of the washing machine, DO NOT OPEN the lid during the spin cycle!

They took one wash/cold rinse/one more wash to felt (and were a touch on the smaller side).

I had only one ball each of light and dark grey, so I made the inner soles light grey. My scale needs a new battery, but there is not much left of the dark grey.

They're still quite fuzzy, but not as wild looking as when they were wet! These will be going in a gift exchange game one side of my family does. Everyone is so different, it's hard to know what to put in. Last year, my mom got an XXL bathrobe....she's barely a L!

Ooops!

Way back when....around March or so....I won this lovely KnitPicks Shadow laceweight yarn from Curlerchik

(although it's not purple like that!). One thing I thought I might make with it is this:Although the pattern actually calls for mohair, which is usually listed as a thicker gauge cause of the fuzz.

So how did this happen?

It's the Trellis Lace scarf from Interweave Knits awhile ago. I started this in August just before we left on vacation. I wanted it more stole like so I added one repeat, although it's still not near stole width; but I don't wear scarves or stoles anyway, LOL. This picture was taken Sept 2, and I've only done maybe two or three more repeats of the pattern. Although I have to follow the pattern somewhat, I'm already bored. I like lace, but this isn't bringing much enjoyment or enthusiasm. It's not easy enough to be brainless, and not hard enough to be challenging.

So what do I do now?

Recycled Knitting

I made this dress for Lucy when I got the KnitSmart knitting machine (my first machine). She was SO cute in it and it was one of those projects where everything pretty much worked exactly like it should (well, there were some issues--like I misread my scribbles and made the front skirt the total dress length, LOL, and there was a little issue with the waist decreases). Everyone complimented her everytime she wore it, so I made her another one, slightly bigger, but the proportions on it just aren't quite right. This picture is Lucy when she was about 33 months old, when I made the dress. And this picture is Megan, just shy of 24 months! Someone said yesterday that Megan is big for almost two, but I didn't believe it--she's always been on the small size. She could have been wearing the dress all summer/fall (I think she wore it once). She even got to wear a pair of shoes I had bought for Lucy but she never wore because it was winter when she finally fit them.
When I realized she was picking her nose for the first photo, I told her to smile:
Nope, that didn't work. We tried again:
And once more....but still no smile :(

The lace edging on the bottom is from a Debbie Bliss baby cardigan pattern, and I have used it many times on blankets for my neices, but this was the first time I did it in worsted weight, and I like how it came out. The yarn is just Bernat Handicrafter cotton!

Spooky!

I just realized that if I take posts about my kids out of this blog, then I'd have to rename it! When I first signed up for a blog (9 months before I created this one after I gave up trying to figure out what my name and password had been), I had a really creative knitting title, but I don't remember it and I can't access that blog now. And much of my knitting is for kids, and done while I look after kids, or not done while I look after kids....
In late September, Lucy and I decided that we would get a simple dress pattern, and some cheap Halloween fabric, and make a dress for her. We could make a dress for EVERY holiday! I did get it done in time for Halloween, although the hem needs to be turned once more, and it needs a button at the back neck, but all in all, other than the extremely cheap cotton from Wal-Mart, I'm quite pleased. I wish I had made this dress before I made my "EASY!" dress!I made a size 7 cause that was the easiest size to cut out some of the pieces (some of the pieces were 3/5/7 and 4/6/8), and although she's closest to a size 5, it still fits pretty well. In fact, most of Lucy's measurements were actually slightly bigger than Huey, despite the fact he weighs 10lbs more and is 10 inches taller! You can click on the pictures to see the Halloween fabric close up!

I have a Diagnosis!

Check out my other blog if you're actually interested in what has caused the uproar in my stomach!

A Finished Project

I remembered last night where the pictures of my latest project were. Instead of being in the generic knitting folder, I had rightly put them in the Singer folder as it was done on the Singer 327 machine! (But that doesn't explain where the pictures of Lucy in the dress I made are).
This is called "Victorian Shawl". One member of the Georgetown group studied machine knitting at college and gave me a few older magazines (1999/2000, LOL). This was the only pattern in the four magazines labelled Beginner (as different from "Advanced Beginner"). I tried it first back in April when I was still farily new to that machine. I knew how to work the machine, but the pattern was so badly written that I just could not figure it out! I was so fustrated!
But I decided to try again in late summer and just 'fake it till you make it' LOL.

The big issue is that the pattern uses the word 'row' to mean two different things. You make this shawl by having 2 sets of 2 needles in work, separated by 2 needles not in work. Then, you work 8 mini rows on these 4 needles. Then, skip 2, and pull the next two to work, move the carriage to the right, and put the furthest most 2 that you had just been working on, in hold. Now, you have 2 groups of 2, and do eight rows. You keep doing this, going across the needlebed....that is ALSO called a row! DOH!

You can see how one 'row' slants to the left, then the next row is slanted to the right. You can also see how there is two little columns separated by 'floats', each of these blocks joined to the next. You can vary how many needles in work you have, how many inbetween that are out of work, how many times you go back and forth between the two groups (which makes the rectangle higher or squatter). You can do increases, or keep the piece all one width. Very versatile, it can be done on any gauge machine too.

This was the yarn I used. It's a cone I got at the Spinrite sale in August, for $10. It's too large to weigh on my little scale (it's on an Interweave Knits for comparison). It doesn't look like any has been used now! It's not exactly soft, and it's very white, so I don't know what else I'll use it for. There are little slubby's that got to be very annoying too.

That picture of the cone is taken Sept. 2, after I frogged the following:
I realized that the angle of the increases was way off, and the shawl would be 6ft before I got the depth I needed for the middle back! Indeed, I was supposed to increase two groups of two everytime I got to the end of a right moving row, and I had only increased one group. So I ripped it out and started right back. It went pretty quickly until I got to the full width part. Then it dragged on, and I had other projects to work on....blah blah blah. I finally finished it the weekend before our cruise I think, at which point I immediately cast on for another cruise item and ran into lots of other issues with the simple pattern....but that's another day!

A New Computer!

So, Rob finally went and bought a new computer yesterday! Then proceeded to call be stupid and thickheaded because I asked if all my photos would still be organized once they get moved over and he got mad and said I can't have the folders too and don't be so stupid it'll take at least a week to move the photos and if I don't like it than fine I can use the old computer and why do I have to be so stubborn.....blah blah blah. And I'm the one who ruined the weekend?! Anyway, he came to bed last night and said all the old photos--and folders--are transferred, AND all the photos on the original memory card. Uh huh.

Except, now I can't find the photos I transferred, saved, editted, saved, etc last week using the old system....the photos of Lucy in the Halloween dress I made, and the photos of the shawl in progress on the knitting machine (which is no longer on the machine, so I can't re-take the photos). They've got to be somewhere. I know I cropped them, which means they did get saved as .jpg so maybe they got re-routed somewhere.

So, supposively this means I should have NO reason to not have photos with each post. LOL. I haven't knitted much this past month, having been so sick (okay, now I have a sinus infection too! And man, this new keyboard is wierd, the backspace key is set to turbo speed). But I think I'm going to spend a bit of time with the other blogs, get the cruise pictures up, etc. But check back here often. Especially since I don't dare ask about my list of bookmarks, LOL. I have a very long list of blogs and other sites bookmarked....I even had to think this morning if it's 'yarnharlot.ca' or .com!

The Stomach Saga Continues....

.....on my other blog! It's still not over, and now I have a cold or something (do you get fever/chills with a cold?).

Is there a way to transfer blog posts from one blog to another? Including the comments? I suppose I could copy and paste, but how would that work for comments? I'd like to take the non-knitting posts from this blog and put them on my other blog.

And how do you find out how many people have looked at your blog? Cause I know you're not all leaving comments! LOL.

I promise I will have some knitting content soon. It's been a very rough month and I haven't knitted a whole lot.

I'm Back!

Howdy!
We're back from our lovely cruise on (unbeknownst to us when we booked) the newest and largest cruiseship in the world. And yes, we did "Get Out There" and we "Climb(ed) The Wall". Picture evidence to follow :) (at a later date).

Over (Canadian) Thanksgiving, I became ill---nausea, stomach pains, and then the lovely diarrhea. I RARELY get issues like that. On October 4th, I had an eye exam, and the usual drops to dialate my eyes. But they took forever before they began to contract again (the drops went in around 2:40 and at 6:30 I was still very dialated) and I was getting nauseous--from the extra sun, I thought. Thanksgiving Monday was really bad, but then I felt better for a few days. But on the Thursday, it all came back. We had to leave for the airport at 2:30AM Saturday Oct. 13 (we were going to leave at 3AM but Rob forgot to pay the hydro bill). I was nauseous and couldn't eat.
Over the week, I was all shades of green. The diarrhea would come and go, slowed by Imodium which I hated using but I wanted to enjoy our trip! But by the time we got back on Saturday, there was no stopping it. I couldn't eat, or drink, and could feel myself getting dehydrated. I'm usually a big water drinker, so I was feeling BAD.
Yesterday I got in to see the doctor, who thinks it's a bacterial gastrointeritis. Similiar to a 'stomach flu' but bacteria instead of viral. I guess viruses have fairly short lifespans (well, except for HPV and HIV), and bacteria love to multiply. I took one antibiotic late Monday night and one Tuesday morning, and had NO bowel action until about 4:45pm on Tuesday! I'm less nauseous, and most importantly, I can get fluids down again.

I'm the only person I know to go on a cruise and lose weight. But my clothes are still tight; I guess from bloating (oh, the gas has been horrible. Totally horrible. Imagine my fear with a 3hr plane flight?).

I'm going to try to set up another blog for vacation photos and whatnot. Just to further illustrate how sick I was--I knitted for only about an hour on the flight down, not again until the next Sat. as we waited our turn to disembark, and only about 30 minutes on the flight home. So, there, you have some knitting content :)

Happy Birthday!

Please go to my other blog....Mom and Dad V on the sidebar, for a litle family birthday tribute! Or, if you come here for the knitting, LOL, check back later :)

Some Good, Some Bad

The Good: Another top, just like the white one, but without the pocket, and with the proper sized sleeve elastic. This is a light beige crinkle cotton gauze that started out life as a summer time baby wrap for Megan's first summer. My fondest memory of it was picking blackberries, and feeding her (9 months old!) berries as fast as I could pick them. We ended up with a big purple splotch on the wrap, but it washed out fine. I never liked back carries with the wrap (although we haven't tried since moving on to back carries with the MT), so it had a limited timeframe to use. I had cut the fabric so it was half as wide to use as a wrap, and it was JUST wide enough to fit the front piece of the shirt on it! I'm not sure why the back is made in two pieces, except that the same pieces are used for a dress with a zipper.
I did put the back darts in this time, and like the trimness they give. I'm proud of them too. Just before doing them, I read in a book how to do them--sew from the center to the point. I would have started at the point and ended up with a pucker. More ends to tie off, but a much better look!
And now, the Bad:

Knitty.com Coachella.
I had totally passed over it, even though it said it could be worn with a halter bra. Then I saw Rachel's sweet version and thought, it looks good on her! And it didn't take too long! Then I saw it on Lisa. I could use the Patons Fresco I have kicking around! I thought the verigated would add some interest, and when I first tried it on, I liked how the stripes go upwards. The first time I tried it on I was braless and I thought it looked okay. I don't know what the hell happened for that photo there! OMG. Looks like my surgeon should be on the "When Good Docs go Bad" shows on TLC, LOL. I didn't know what size to make, but Rachel made the 29" size for her 38" bust so it would be snug. I also made the 29" size, I think I was planning to some how increase a bit extra for the bust, because I didnt' want larger armholes. But I think I forgot to do that.

I think it's too snug around my ribcage, where I have some extra padding that I really don't like.
And then, I ran out of yarn. I don't know yet if I made it to gauge, or even how long it ended up, but I'll check that later. The problem is (other than I don't think the blues look as good with jeans as I was hoping) that the bottom rolled edge hits the waistband of my jeans, and gets pushed up. And even when worn with something else, it's too small to pull down over my belly/hips.
I like the pattern. It was quick and easy for maximum results. But the yarn I used is too thick--not gauge wise, but it's a flat, tubular ribbon yarn that knits up thick. And I think I needed more ease to compensate. And more length. So this item won't be cruising with us in 10 days time (what happened to losing 8lbs before the cruise?!). I'll finish it up (weave in the ends) when we get back, and maybe I'll think of someone just as short as (or shorter) me but skinnier. And I do think I'd make it again, but I'll be more careful about gauge and yarn choice and sizing.
And for tomorrow's post, come back and see ANOTHER Knitty.com disappointment!
Edited later--I realized after the cruise that I DO have a halter back bra, although it doesn't fit all that great. Maybe I'll try the top on again, now that I lost those 8 pounds, LOL