Snot Rocket

Yes, that’s right.  My precious angel has recently infected me with the crud and both our noses are dripping like your favorite ice cream cone on a sweltering summer day.  I guess we’ve been pretty lucky.  It’s April after all, and this is our first bout of the year. Of course Knittymunchkin is made of rubber and you can hardly tell that he probably feels terrible, between his cold and the last two teeth that are trying to push through.  If only I could be so cheerful.  I just want to lay in bed watching trashy movies and sleeping for, oh, the next week.  Not happening.
 
Anyway, it’s Thursday again.  I have missed the last two (three, if you count my pass week).  But just because I haven’t posted, doesn’t mean I haven’t been chipping away at my goals.  I think the exercise of trying to write about it once a week has done its work, without me actually having to go so far as to bore you with my tales of semi-reformed hoarderliness.  That doesn’t mean I won’t continue to write about it, I just may not wax as poetic about it as I have up to this point (you don’t get off that easy, puh-lease!).  The emotionally charged items I expect to give up now and then will still get their due, but things that go by the wayside more easily will hopefully receive a little more brevity on my part.
 
So.  The Update:
 
Week 13 (March 29, 2012):  Pass from Week 7′s massive offload
 
Week 14 (April 5, 2012):  Candle & Bath stuff brought out of stash & put to use, pre-pregnancy jeans with hole in goddess grotto (ha ha) thrown out, 30 minutes of declutter every Tuesday established
 
Week 15 (April 12, 2012): 10 balls of yarn sent out via RAK, almost 1 lb. of dishcloth cotton scraps sent out via RAK, stickers sent out via RAK, sweater pledged via RAK underway, book mailed out via Bookmooch
 
Week 16 (this week): Book to Bookmooch
 
I’ll admit it.  The jeans were a little hard to part with.  I loved the way they fit when I was skinny; key phrase: when I was skinny.  Realistically, as much as I would love to fit into them again, I never will.  It’s a sad day when you feel defeated by your waistline.  My brain raced with reasons to keep them: the hole’s not that big, you can hardly see it, you could wear them to garden, you might fit into them again someday, they’re so cuuuuuuuute.  I gulped and threw them in the trash.  Immediately I felt the irrational urge to fish them out.  Instead, I walked away and found something else to occupy my mind.  And then….  I totally forgot about them.  Huh.  So that’s how it’s supposed to work!
 
That same week I was reading an article in SHAPE magazine written by the experts who counsel the people on “Hoarders”.  There were lots of tips in there on how to cut down on your clutter and get more organized.  I was particularly struck by the one that said you should set aside thirty minutes on a specific day each week to de-clutter.  It sounded like a great idea.  Now that I have a lot less structure in my days, being that I report to Knittymunchkin instead of a 9-5 workplace, I find it a lot harder to focus and get things accomplished.  You’d think somehow it would be easier, with all that time in my day, but it really isn’t.  Time with a two year old vanishes faster than you can say “Elmo”.  So scheduling specific organization time seemed like a great idea.  I chose Tuesday evenings for my new plan and so far it has worked really well.  Thirty minutes is long enough to get something done, but not long enough to feel like you are chained to a specific task.  The first week I could actually see the top of part of my desk again after just one session.  I’d realistically like to do this more than once a week, but for right now one session is about all I can commit to.  Still, it helps!
 

Little Bubbles Baby Set - Yoke

 
I mentioned that in Week 15 I pledged a sweater via the Random Acts of Kindness Group on Ravelry.  Every month you can post a wishlist and this month I posted on my wishlist that I needed a knitting recipient.  I had two kits for the Little Bubbles Baby Set from KnitPicks, and I never got around to knitting them for Knittymunchkin.  Now that he’s too big for the biggest size, it’s kind of a lost cause to make it for him.  So someone answered my request and I’m knitting this for her 5 month old.  Hopefully, by the time I finish it it will be the perfect size for her :)  The colors I have aren’t sold anymore (or shown on the pattern page) but I love them.  Knitting this makes me wish I’d had more time to knit things for Knittymunchkin before he was born.  Oh well.  Maybe I’ll save that second kit for the grandchild I may have one day.  I know that’s planning pretty far in advance, but it would be worth it to have it when the time is right.  Uh oh. Maybe I really haven’t made any progress!
 
Off to sniffle in bed with a book for a while.  Hope you are all staying healthy & happy!

 

Sock Summit 2011 Day 3: July 30, 2011 – Far Afield

Back to our regularly scheduled Sock Summit Update (warning – picture heavy)….
 
Saturday morning found us a little more leisurely than usual.  That’s not to say we slept in, but Jess didn’t have class at all that day and Troy and I didn’t have class until 1:30 PM so there was no rush to get out the door immediately.  We had decided this would be the perfect morning to do a little exploring and we thought the Farmer’s Market would be the perfect thing to do.  Jess was amazing and pretty much figured out exactly where we needed to go and which TriMet route we’d need to take to get there.  Luckily, we were in the free zone for where we wanted to go, so it was super easy.  All I can say is, kudos to Portland for their public transportation!  If only we had something this nice where I live.  Of course, it’s not hard to get around in my town, but there are times where I’d like to not have to worry about driving or parking.
 

Skidmore Fountain

 
We hopped the Trimet to the Skidmore Fountain stop which was a quick 5 minutes or less from the Convention Center block. At our stop, I was initially put off by the group of scruffy looking loiterers shouting obscenities at each other over their shopping cart, but we just walked the other way and I put it out of my mind.  What caught my eye first was the historic architecture surrounding us; buildings with flourishes, and the historic colonnade housing a portion of the market.  I never cease to be fascinated by old structures and their histories.  The stories are there, buried, waiting for me to discover them.  I wonder about the people who lived and worked here. What was life like for them?  Were they happy, sad, indifferent?  As I soaked it in I snapped a few photos for posterity.
 

Architectural Details of The Colonnade

 

The Saturday Market - Portland, OR

 
We wandered, we looked, we soaked it in.  I found a lot of inspiration at the market, seeing all kinds of items that had been re-created from vintage or cast off things; upcycling being the buzz word I presume.  This has always been an interest of mine and seeing examples of this in the marketplace gave me all sorts of ideas for future projects.  I bought a couple of leather cuffs made from old belts.  Because I needed to “toughen up my image” I told Troy.  Couldn’t hurt.  Before long we were getting hungry and we decided we’d all divide up and get the food that sounded best to each of us.  Troy and Jess convinced me I’d love pierogies, which I had never before tried, so I bought my lunch at a cute little cart just across the street from the Portland Saturday Market sign up above.  Mmmmm…. Potato and cheese filling with onions and bacon on top.  I have to say, my first experience with pierogies was a blissful one!  Troy, who was holding a table for us, had to have the same after I came back with mine.
 

My First Pierogies

 
The picture is a bit blurry you see, because I was salivating so hard I could barely hold the camera straight :)  I told Jess and Troy that I did believe my blog was starting to turn into a food blog as most of the pictures I took over the weekend seemed to be of food!  After eating and looking a bit more, we thought we spotted the mecca of doughnut shops – Voodoo doughnuts – on an adjacent corner, and had to have a look for ourselves.  As we got closer, we asked a few people what the situation was and they told us that the line was at least an hour long.  An hour long!  And it was mid-morning, not even breakfast hour anymore.  Of course, there is no bad time for a doughnut.  But none of us was down with waiting an hour just to say we’d been there.  We satisfied ourselves with snapping a picture of the sign and Jess even got a guy sitting outside at a table, about to bite into a doughnut the size of his head, to agree to having his photo taken.  I’m pretty sure one of his friends had one of those specialty maple doughnuts with bacon on top.  Oy.
 

All Hail Voodoo Doughnuts!

 
After that, we wandered around a little longer to see what we could see.  We thought maybe there’d be a fun little shopping district or some such somewhere near all this other goodness, but no such luck.  We did see this, which explained a lot:
 

Keep Portland Weird!

 
Coming up on Chinatown, we thought perhaps there would be something fun to explore here too, but it was all but dead.  I did find the entrance enchanting though, and thought a rather funny sign deserved preservation on film.  Do you think they realized what they were advertising?  Or did they think it was funny too?
 

Entrance To Chinatown

 

Hung Far Low

 
Perhaps this was old Chinatown and there is a new and bustling Chinatown somewhere else in Portland.  By then in our travels, it was getting close to time to head back.  So we boarded the TriMet and were on our way back to the Convention Center.  I’d had a raging headache all day and it wasn’t getting any better.  I think we got some coffee before our class and maybe poked around the Marketplace again and at 1:30 PM Troy and I headed to our Perfect Rib Class with Cookie A.  I have to admit, I wasn’t feeling 100% by the time we got to class, and there was a lot to cram into this one-hour wonder.  Despite Cookie A. being a friendly, knowledgeable, and all around excellent instructor, my brain was at maximum capacity and most definitely not firing on all cylinders.  So I didn’t get much out of it, unfortunately.  Through no one’s fault but my own, of course.  There were lengthy handouts that I brought home and I imagine I will study them later, the next time I get around to trying to design my own sock.  I loved the idea that you can incorporate ribbing into the pattern itself (the main idea of this class) and I think that is perhaps why Cookie A.’s designs are among the most beautiful of all sock patterns.  Her ribs never look just stuck on, in fact, everything flows seamlessly together into a harmonious design.  I know accomplishing this myself with my own pattern, will make much more sense when I can sit down and study it later with my brain in a more receptive state.
 

Cookie A.!

 
After class, we met up with Jess again and decided it was time for another field trip.  We piled into Troy’s car this time (I think yesterday’s trek had taught us that it would be much more relaxing to drive just in case we got lost again) and headed to the nearest LYS, Portland’s Twisted.  What a sweet little shop!  They had all sorts of yarns my LYS doesn’t carry and a lot of local indie dyed stuff that was really fun to see.  The Twisted booth at the Marketplace at Sock Summit had been handing out 10% off coupons for the brick and mortar shop, so of course we had to take advantage.  I bought some beautiful Madelinetosh Tosh Merino in “Grasshopper” for a slouchy hat.  I love slouch hats, but don’t know if they love me back. I’m thinking this is a bit like shawls.  They look funny on you only if you feel funny in them.  You have to work it and just know you are cool and then, in turn, you will be cool.  It’s my new experiment.
 

Twisted Yarn Shop - Portland, OR

 
Jess asked the gals in the shop for a restaurant recommendation and they gave us a few.  Jess and I were thinking sushi, but after driving back and forth a bunch, with no sushi place materializing, we settled for the one place they recommended that we could actually find: Cha! Cha! Cha! Taqueria.  It was cool inside and inviting.  Most of the clientele were seated outside, so it was nice to have the place to ourselves.  The food was billed to be authentic and locally sourced which is apparently a condition for every restaurant in Portland.  But you know, I do believe it makes a difference!  Our meal was delicious.  Troy and Jess got something called Molcajete that Jess says is served at one of her favorite restaurants back home.  All I know is it arrives in a ginormous sizzling bowl of goodness and smells heavenly!  I got poblano chile and cheese tamales and we all got the requisite frosty adult beverage necessary to complete a summer meal such as this.
 

Jess & Troy

 

Mmmm... Tamales & a Margarita!

 
After dinner was consumed, we headed back to the convention center for a “special kind of baby shower” in honor of Ravelry founders Casey and Jess’ new baby Eloise.  Each of us had knitted a hat to donate to the cause and it was astounding to arrive there and see the sheer number of sweet knitted things that people had made.  There were several gift bags on the tables and I was a little confused as to what that was all about until Tina Newton and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee started looking into one of them and exclaiming over the huge amounts of tiny socks nestled inside.  I guess that one knitter had gone sock wild and knit dozens upon dozens of socks for donation.  Kind of made me feel a little subpar with my one measly hat :(  But I guess every little bit helps!
 

My Little Hat for Eloise's Charity Baby Shower

 
We kind of thought that, since it was a baby shower and all, there should have been some cake or something.  But no cake.  We settled for milkshakes from Burgerville (yum!) and some knitting in Troy’s room instead.  I’d all but convinced Troy and Jess to take on the Westknits Mystery Shawl KAL 2011: Earth & Sky with me so we purchased the pattern and discussed color choices while sipping our cool frosty treats.  After a while Jess and I bid Troy goodnight and headed back to our room for some shuteye.  A thoroughly wonderful, totally exhausting day.  And one of the best ever in recent memory! And tomorrow would mean goodbye :(

 

Someone Has Been Knitting?

Wow, it’s been a while.  I suppose an explanation is in order.  You see, I’ve rather sadly become one of those bloggers that doesn’t blog regularly anymore :(  I see my stats dropping like the dirty bastard moths I am still swiping at now and again and though I feel deep sadness over that, I have come to the conclusion that there isn’t much I can do about it right now.  Time for blogging will come more regularly again (I hope!), but my focus is elsewhere for the time being.  Mostly on that little cherub napping in his room upstairs ;)
 
The silver lining to this is that I actually have knitting to show you!  Yes, I have actually been finishing things.  I’ve been subscribing to a new philosophy on knitting (and life in general) i.e., completing what I start and eliminating the baggage of everything else.  This is sort of new to me, and it’s actually been easier and more satisfying than I expected.  I think the first time I started and finished something this year and didn’t allow myself to start something else in the meantime, was just the boost I needed to break my habit.  Experiencing how good it feels to get that last stitch finished and take those photos so I can mark it “completed” in Ravelry has become downright addicting.
 
I know, I know.  Get to the pretty pictures already!  No one wants to hear you tooting your own horn.  So, I’ll dispense with the pleasantries and get down to it.  Just the nitty gritty deets for now and I’ll chit chat more next time.
 

Twisted

 

• Pattern: Twisted by Galia Lael  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 156 yds of Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky in “Wild Violet”
• Needles:  16 inch Size 9 & 10.5 bamboo circs
• Mods:  None
• Completed:  January 27, 2011

 
I made this for Amy as her Pay It Forward 2011 gifty.  This was such a quick and addicting knit!  Amy loves purple and she really likes hats, so this was a fun (and hopefully useful) thing to make for her.  I don’t have a lot of purple in my stash, but I did have this pretty yarn and it was just the right amount for this beret.  I was sweating having enough until the very last stitch, but squeaked by with just the right amount.  My first time blocking a hat on a dinner plate!
 

Multnomah

 

• Pattern: Multnomah by Kate Elsa  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 484 yds of Hill Country Yarns Superfine Supersock in “Blueberry Wine”
• Needles:  24 inch size 3 addi lace turbos
• Mods:  Knit extra lace repeats (19 total) to increase size of shawl
• Completed:  March 23, 2011

 
A gift for Lisa, this was my second completed Pay It Forward gifty for the year.  Lisa is also a purple fan!  I thought the colors would be perfect for her and I really wanted to knit a shawl. I love knitting shawls, even if I don’t wear them :) It turned out as more of a shawlette, even though I did many more repeats of the feather and fan pattern than were called for in the original pattern. I think the yarn was closer to laceweight than fingering; more than I’d realized initially. But I’m still happy with how it turned out and Lisa tells me she really likes it too. Hooray! Blocked this with blocking wires. My very first time! They are amazing, let me tell ya…..
 

Undergrowth

 

• Pattern: Undergrowth by Mandy Powers (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 101 yds of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport in “#23″ (Red; MC) + 79 yds Knit Picks Andean Treasure in “Meringue Heather” (Cream; CC)
• Needles:  16 inch size 4 bamboo circs & dpns
• Mods:  None!
• Completed:  April 29, 2011

 
This hat was for Jess (my 3rd Pay It Forward gifty for 2011).  Jess mentioned one of her favorite colors was red and that she really liked hats (but never seemed to get to make one for herself).  I saw this pattern and had to make one.  It worked out perfectly because I had just the right red in my stash already!  A while back Jess wrote a post about “Potato Chip Knitting”.  You know, the kind you can’t put down?  I’d never heard that before and thought it was super clever :)  My potato chip knitting just happens to be colorwork, so how fitting that she should be the recipient of this hat!  This pattern was fantastic.  The instructions were clear & concise, and the design was amazing.  I would make about a zillion more of these if I had that many heads to put them on :)  I seriously couldn’t put this down.  So, I’ll just put this out there: if you want one and don’t have the skillz, time, or desire to knit one, let me know!  If you got the yarn, I got the time ;)
 

The Kumfy Schluttli

 

• Pattern: The Kumfy Schluttli by Meg Layaw (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 232.5 yds of Dream In Color Classy in “Beach Fog”
• Needles:  24 inch size 8 bamboo circs & dpns
• Size:  3-9 months
• Completed:  May 19, 2011

 
I made this little sweater for a Ravelry penpal who just had a little boy in March.  I was kind of pushing it size-wise perhaps, but was hoping it would still fit him for a little.  Jess will recognize this yarn since I received it in trade from her sometime last year :)  What a truly adorable sweater!  And what a truly sketchy pattern.  I was surprised at that, but was ultimately able to figure things out, having knit a fair number of raglans by now in my knitting “career”.  Personally, I prefer patterns that lay it all out for you, and don’t appreciate it when things seem vague or too “casual” in the instructions.  But that’s just me.  Anyway, I can see myself making a few more of these.  It was super quick and satisfying to knit, and only took 1 hank of yarn!
 
Whew!  I suppose if I didn’t store stuff up to post it would go a lot faster (it’s already taken me 2 days to finish this post).  Anyhoo, I’ve got 2 more FO’s waiting to be blocked and a half-finished Spectra (OMG. LOVE.) to show soon too.  Guess I’d better get a move on!
 
Knit happy, blogg peeps :)

 

Completionitis

Guess what?  I got a fever and the only prescription is…. more FO’s!
 
O.K.  Totally not as funny as this, but it’s what I was thinking.  I had a pretty great, semi-clever original title for this post.  I thought of it the other day as I was emptying the dryer of its fifth load of laundry for the day, and re-loading it from the washer with its sixth load.  I giggled to myself.  And then I didn’t write it down and it dribbled away through the sieve of mommyhood.  The one that filters out anything that doesn’t require immediate damage control and leaves me with such fruits as: Where is the baby?,  What was that noise?,  Gah!  Get that out of your mouth right now!,  How did he destroy that magazine/entire room/entire outfit/entire train of thought in 1.2 seconds flat?  What can I say?  Life is awesome.
 
So that’s it.  You get a one word title today.  And I’ve got me a notebook in reaching distance.  At least until Knittymunchkin finds it….
 
Lately I am all about finishing stuff.  This is so totally freaking me out because I’m not usually like this.  I’m the one with the UFO “problem” who can’t stop starting new stuff and abandoning it for the next knit that comes along.  Ooooh, shiny!  Sorry, I got distracted there for a minute.  See?  But I am on a total freakin’ ROLL and it feels good.  Within the last few weeks I’ve finished Knittymunckin’s Roar, the first of 7 (yeah, 7!, how did that happen?) Pay It Forward gifts, Cherry Fizz (I think Hell might have just frozen over), the first mitten of my Smitten project for Knittymunchkin, and I’m hard core rockin’ the Jaywalkers.  Man this is great!  I hope it will last, but you know me…..
 

A Rawr For Keeping Warm

 

• Pattern: Roar, A Dinosaur Hat by Kate Oates  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Approximately 62 yds of Stitch Nation by Debbie Stoller Alpaca Love in “Fern” & approximately 48.8 yds in “Espresso Bean”
• Needles:  Size 7 dpns & 16 inch circular
• Mods:  None

 

 
This hat was super quick to knit and turned out pretty cute, though I wasn’t 100% satisfied with my skillz at stitching on the spikes.  I used a whipstitch for lack of a better idea and though I tried to make it as unobtrusive as possible, you can still see a little bit of it here and there where the dark yarn contrasts with the green background.  Oh well.  I figured he will probably destroy it anyway at some point.  That’s if I can ever get him to wear it!  He absolutely abhors having stuff on his head, as you can see in the outtake :)
 

No Mommy! Don't make me wear this!

 
Now maybe there’s just enough of naptime left to get a little knitting in! I gots me a fever!

 

Needles For Hire

Ah how I adore autumn.  The way the sunlight looks like warm honey spilling over my afternoon, the crisp chill in the morning air that makes me hug my coffee cup just a little tighter, and the sumptuous shades of saffron, pumpkin, and red velvet drifting like a mutable mosaic over sidewalks and fields.  There is something about this time of year that makes me feel industrious.  Like a squirrel ferreting away nuts for winter, I want to fill my nest with baked goods, soups and stews, and feather it with warm knitted things.
 

Autumn Afternoon

 
I think I mentioned last post that I’ve been knitting.  A bunch.  But you haven’t seen any of that here for a while.  Are you curious?  I’ve had my needles out for hire and now that I’ve got some things finished up, it’s time to share.
 
Oh, who have I been hired out to, you ask?  Mainly I’ve been test knitting in the Free Pattern Testers and The Testing Pool groups on Ravelry.  As you know, I’ve test knit a lot before, but this is a little more casual than what I’m used to.  Meaning there’s no contracts or anything.  It’s all on the honor system, which seems kinda dicey for the designers in my mind.  But it’s all good though.  The main thing is that I’m helping some fellow knitters get their patterns out into the world and I’m using up some of my stash in the process.  Plus, the deadline pretty much guarantees I’ll actually finish something since I take the deadlines pretty seriously.  I don’t know…. there’ something about it that gives me a warmish feeling in my tummy.  Like maybe I’m banking up some good karma, which I could really use!
 

Caterpillar Pacifier Clip

 

• Pattern:  Corrente com Lagarta (Pacifier Clip with a Caterpillar)by Mamã Martinho  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  I used yarn repurposed from an Abercrombie & Fitch sweater I bought at Goodwill and unraveled maybe 3 -4 years ago? So I don’t know exactly how much I used.  It felt so good to use repurposed yarn though!
• Needles:  Size 3 bamboo dpns
• Mods:  Used sewn on velcro for fastening instead of a snap; sewed caterpillar and links to diaper pin instead of gluing; used pompoms for eyes and glued these on.

 
This is a super cute, very easy pattern and uses very little yarn.  I think it turned out sweet.  Me being the paranoid Mom that I am though, I’m not convinced my version is entirely baby-safe, so I am waiting until he’s a lot bigger to use this on him.  I had already bought a skull & crossbones Bink Link a couple weeks before I finished this anyway, so the need wasn’t as great for it as I had expected it to be.  But the designer was super nice, easy to work with, and I think the design is really cute.  She’s also got a darling version for girls with a little flower on it.
 
Next up…..
 

Two Way Mittens - Unconverted

 

Two Way Mittens - Converted To Fingerless Gloves

 

• Pattern:  Two-Way Mittens by Keltic Banshee  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Classic Elite Alpaca Sox – Color #1810; 0.47 hanks (211.5 yds)
• Needles:  Size 2 (2.75mm) Harmony 40 inch circ for Magic Loop
• Mods:  Worked 26 rounds for cuff to make it a wee bit longer

 
This pattern was super fun to work because of its unique construction.  The mitts are knit from the fingers down and then the flap is created, knit together with the fingers and before you know it it’s smooth sailing to the cuff!  I was just fascinated the whole time I knit this and couldn’t wait to see what would happen in each successive step.  They were pretty quick to knit, considering how slow I am with fingering weight yarns.  If you can knit  a sock, I’d say these would be just as easy.  And the designer was a super nice gal, very understanding if I had a slow knitting week, and even extended the deadline so we could all rest a little easier and not have to knit so frantically.  I would definitely test for her again!
 
And another!
 

Monstah Baby!

 

• Pattern:  Little Monster Hat by Odessa Reichel  (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  Lamb’s Pride Bulky – Color “Blue Heirloom Seconds”; 0.75 skeins
• Needles:  Size 10 bamboo 16 inch circ
• Mods:  Worked 2 repeats less of garter stitch for the height of the hat before starting short rows

 
I just love how this hat turned out!  It was quite the ingenious pattern (I think) and I really enjoyed seeing how this hat came together when I seamed it all up at the end.  Knittymunchkin was not about to keep it on his head for longer than 2 seconds though (it’s more fun to chew on, Mom!) so it took me a good 30 snaps to get this one shot.  Oh well.  I hope he’ll like it better when he’s a little bigger!  I made the toddler size and it’s a wee bit big on him right now, but I think it should be good for a while.  This designer was super nice as well and I would be happy to test for her again :)  A quick, easy, Christmas gifty too if you have little ones on your knitting list!
 
Whew!  Maybe the “busy-ness” of my little guy is rubbing off on me. I swear that kid cannot sit still for longer than a second or two at a time!  It’s cute, but it’s tiring!  Anyway, if you can believe it, I have other knits to show you.  I know – I think I just heard the flapping wings of some pigs overhead.  But we’ll leave those for another post, so when my inevitable dry spell comes back around (and it will), I’ll have something to show you.  Until then, enjoy your autumn!  I know I am.  I had pumpkin pie for breakfast :)

 

Finish Along

My friend Jess from Knitting Up North is having a Finish-a-long and contest!  Man do I ever need this kick in the pants!  It’s one of my Day Zero Project (101 things in 1001 Days) goals to whittle my UFO’s down to 3 or less and I really got things started by finally finishing my Chameleon Scarf.  Too bad I didn’t wait on that one, because there’s a prize for completing the oldest UFO and I betcha that one would have taken the cake ;)  Anyway, come join the fun!  What a great way to motivate each other to get those knits out the door and onto some warm bodies!  Like Jess said, you’d be surprised how little there is left to do on some things.  I always discover this when I pull out an old project, and I always wonder to myself why I just laid it down instead of powering through.  Oh wait, it’s because I’m kind of addicted to the smell of new yarn.  The “old” stuff just doesn’t do it for me anymore!
 
So, onto my list.  I need to finish:
 

• Jaywalkers:  I’ve been working on a version of this since April 15, 2008, but have ripped it out and reworked it so many times that I’m really starting anew each time.  So the official start date of this one is June 14, 2010 and I am just about 20 rounds from finishing the first sock.  Then on to sock #2…
• BSJ:  This is completely finished except for the seaming and weaving in of ends and a few buttons.  Shouldn’t take much to do that!
• Felix Cardigan (like the ones I made here):  This one just needs buttons!  I originally made it for Knittymunchkin, but he’s a bit big for it now.  Maybe I’ll send it to our friends who are expecting a boy any day now.
• Cherry Fizz:  Started June 12, 2009 (really????).  I’m just over halfway finished.  Would love to get this done, but I’m thinking shooting for finishing the other 3 is more likely.

 
I also have 7 (yikes!) other UFO’s that are totally hibernating.  I obviously won’t finish these during the Finish-a-long, but they’re in my mind as next on the list.  Only trouble is, 4 of those are sweaters and I don’t expect to be working on any sweaters until I am back to my no-longer-breastfeeding sized self.  But all in good time.
 
Meanwhile, I did finish something recently for our neighbor who just had a new little girl.
 

A Little Pink Hat

 

• Pattern:  Simple Newborn Hat With A Touch Of Lace by Ginny Foreman (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn:  79.2 yds of Knit Picks Shine Sport in “Blush”
• Needles:  16 inch, Size 4 bamboo circs & Size 4 dpns
• Mods:  Made hat larger by casting on 99 stitches (instead of 81), and worked 2 inches after lace section instead of 1.5 inches

 
This hat was simple & quick to knit.  I love how it turned out!  Because I made it wider and not quite as tall (proportionally) as the original, it came out more like a beanie than a regular hat.  But I still like it.  Word is, the new Mama likes it too, though it fits her 2 year old better than her newborn.  Boo on that!  I made it bigger on purpose, but didn’t mean for it to be that big.  She kept telling us that her first daughter is in the 90th percentile for size, so I figured the new little one would have a big head too.  Guess not.  But at least it fits one of the kids!  That’s all I could ask for, I guess. And, best of all, it totally came from stash. Huzzah!
 
So come join us and finish up some of your UFO’s too!  I’d love to hear all about it :)

 

Knitting It Out

Knittymunchkin & Frog Are Friends

 
Wow.  This mom business is frickin’ HARD.  One of the suckiest things a new mom will ever have to experience has to be letting your child “cry it out”.  It’s heartbreaking really, especially for a soft-hearted pushover like me.  Knittymunchkin has a lot of trouble going to sleep on his own and staying asleep is an issue too.  We’ve been working on it but both R. Darling and I feel terrible just sitting there and letting him cry himself to sleep.  Because, man, do we have one tenacious little guy!  I swear he will keep bawling his eyes out for the better part of an hour betting that one of us will go and pick him up.  I can hardly take it.
 
This morning was no different.  I laid him down in his bed and he was drowsy, almost asleep.  Soon as I took my hands away – wham! – those eyes flew open and the pout was in full force.  By the time my shadow darkened the doorway on the way out of the bedroom, the tears and wailing had started up.  I gritted my teeth and walked to the living room, steeling myself to the wretched cries of my poor little baby.  Knitting saved me.
 
One of the things I love about knitting is its ability to calm the nerves.  Something about the click of needles and the swoosh of fiber over them can soothe my tension like no other.  When it comes to letting your little one cry themselves to sleep, knitting is the perfect diversion.  You can always lay down your work if your child really does need you that instant.  But if it’s a matter of giving them a chance to learn something on their own and dampening your own ability to interfere I say that a simple lace patterned hat or sock will do that like nobody’s business.  Because if you’re like me, you always want to get to the end of a lace repeat, or finish one row on the heel you’re turning, before stopping to do something else.  Perfect if you are battling with yourself over whether to go and pick up the baby.  Wait, just one more row and then I’ll go pick him up. By the time you get to the end of that row he might have quieted down and then you just keep knitting.  Mom – 1, Baby – 1.  Backsliding purposefully avoided.
 
So this morning I’m working on a baby hat for our neighbor who also happens to be one of R. Darling’s co-workers.  She had an incredibly stressful pregnancy and things are not necessarily o.k. now that she’s had her little girl.  I feel for her because I had a very stressful pregnancy too (something I didn’t really talk about here) and though things turned out great for us, the journey was really rough.  The kind gestures we received from our neighbors (who I had previously thought of as mere acquaintances) meant so much to us when we brought Knittymunchkin home and I want to make her a little gift so she’ll know that our little family is keeping her in our thoughts.  I think it was meant to be since the pattern I chose called for yarn already in my stash in girly pink, and the diversion was just what I needed this morning to “knit it out” while Knittymunchkin cried his way to sleep.

 

Blankety Blank Blank

Do you ever feel like you have things to talk about but nothing to say?  I have things I could share, but I’m feeling kind of meh about it.  I’m doing things (some of them actually knitting related) but they just don’t feel interesting enough to blog about.  Which is totally weird because when I’m doing stuff that seems blogworthy, I generally don’t have trouble talking about it.  It just spills out unbidden and practically writes itself.  Maybe it’s just that I haven’t posted in over a week and I feel out of practice, or maybe that I’m just so tired that the words have gone into hiding in the dark and dusty recesses of my mind hoping I won’t stumble upon them and put them to work.  I think they’re tired too.
 
I shouldn’t be this exhausted.  Last night my darling little boy slept for 9 hours straight and over the past week he’s slept several other nights for 6-8 hours as well.  Why is it that getting more sleep is actually making me more groggy and tired?  I’m thinking that my sleep programming is all out of whack after nearly 4 months of getting up every 2-3 hours at night.  And I think that I still worry something is wrong with Knittymunchkin if he sleeps through what I expect will be a feeding time.  The worry makes me sleepless when I should be taking advantage of the extra opportunity to sleep.  All this snooze analysis is making my brain hurt though, and it’s boring for you, so let’s talk about some knitting instead!
 
Do you have a baby “go to” pattern that you always make for expectant moms?  I do.  It’s this free ball band pattern on the Lion Brand Pound of Love Yarn (Ravelry link here).  I’ve made so many of these that I lost count and it seems like all the moms I’ve made them for have really liked them.  Or else they’re all lying to me, which is a distinct possibility.  Anyhoo, every time I’ve made one of these, R. Darling has said he hoped I would make one of these for our baby when/if we ever had one.  So, shortly after I found out I was pregnant, I started one for our baby.  You should have seen R. Darling’s face light up when he realized what I was doing. It was so worth it, whether or not we’ll ever us the darn thing :)  See, we received so many beautiful handmade blankies from friends and family that I don’t forsee the need to ever break this one out.  But it’s the thought that counts.
 

Hooded Crochet Blanket (Lion Brand Pound Of Love Ball Band Pattern)

 

Close Up of Hooded Portion

 

• Pattern: Crochet Hooded Baby Blanket by Lion Brand (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry Project link here)
• Yarn: Less than one full skein of Lion Brand’s Pound of Love in White
• Hook: 6 mm Size J crochet hook

 
It kinda took me forever to finish this because when I was first pregnant I was so sick I could barely stand to knit or crochet.  But I finished it eventually.  The hood seems like a great feature, but honestly, I’ve never even put Knittymunchkin in it :(
 
My next project was made for my best college friend’s newest daughter.  She has 3 other children and I’ve made something for each of them so I felt it was really important to continue the tradition with her latest addition.  Her first, a boy, received a blue and white granny crochet afghan.  Her second, a little girl, received a crocheted blanket made up of individually crocheted spiral motifs that were then sewn together.  I had just started dating R. Darling at the time and he and another friend of ours used to tease me about all the “bellybutton covers” I was crocheting.  Alas, no pics of either of those items to show.  Her third child received one of the first baby items I ever knit, a February Baby Sweater.  In retrospect I guess she kinda got gypped because she got the odd project out of the 4 of them.  But anyway, once I knew she was expecting again I had my heart set on making a Baby Chalice Blanket.  I’ve loved that pattern since I first laid eyes on it and this was the perfect reason to knit one.
 

Baby Chalice Blanket

 

Detail of Lace Pattern

 

• Pattern:  Baby Chalice Blanket by Lykkefanten (Ravelry link here; My Ravelry Project link here)
• Yarn:  Exactly 3 skeins of NaturallyCaron.com Country in “Green Sheen” (a mere yard or so left)
• Needles:  Size 8, 24-inch circular
• Mods:  Cast on 113 stitches instead of 83 to make a wider blanket

 
Really love this blanket and the yarn wasn’t bad at all for being chain store yarn.  Once blocked, it draped beautifully and it wasn’t bad to knit with either.  A tad splitty and I did find a few knots, but other than that it felt a lot like Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece which I like quite well.  Totally happy with this project, though next time I might buy one extra ball of yarn and make the blanket even wider and longer.  I like big snuggly blankies :)
 
And an outtake…..  I couldn’t resist “testing” the blankie out on Little Mister before sending it off.
 

Knittymunchkin Fast Asleep

 
Hmmmm…. guess I had more to say than I thought!

 

The Mayor Of Cooville

The Mayor of Cooville spends all day in his pajamas.  He lives at home with his parents and doesn’t have a job.  The Mayor of Cooville has people who cater to his every whim.  He’s not afraid to cry when he’s upset or wants his way and he knows who is really in charge and how to stay that way.  The Mayor of Cooville loves milk.  It’s his favorite.  In fact, he loves it so much he eats milk at every meal.  The Mayor of Cooville knows how to pour on the charm.  His smile could stop you dead in your tracks.  He stays up late and gets up early, and knows the importance of a nap (or three) during the day.  The Mayor of Cooville doesn’t have  a driver’s license but he loves riding in the car and will fall fast asleep while traveling.  He has a lot of potential and learns fast.  But most of all, the Mayor of Cooville still lets his Mama dress him funny……
 

Knittymunchkin!

 
I actually finished these sweaters in late 2009, all but the buttons.  But without the buttons on, it seemed silly to post and then things just got effing crazy with Knittymunchkin’s arrival and so on.  These are still a little big for him but I did put the brown and blue one on him when we took him for a walk last weekend.  I felt vaguely smug when we ran into a couple from our childbirth class and they exclaimed, “What a cute sweater!”, not knowing I had made it myself.  Rodger proudly told them so and then I felt even a bit more smug at their astonishment.  I’m so vain about my craft it’s sad ;)  Anyhoo, the specifics….
 

Felix Sweater in Patons Classic Wool

 

• Pattern: Felix’s Cardigan by Jacki Kelly (Ravelry link here, My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn: Approximately 0.87 balls (194 yds) Patons Classic Wool in “Wedgewood”
• Needles:  Size 7 -  24 inch bamboo circs

 

Felix Sweater in Cascade Quatro

 

• Pattern: Felix’s Cardigan by Jacki Kelly (Ravelry link here, My Ravelry project link here)
• Yarn: 1 hank Cascade Quatro Color #9432
• Needles:  Size 7 -  24 inch bamboo circs

 
What can I say?  I love this sweater so much I made three (third one still needs buttons; photos to come)!  It’s super quick, super easy, and super cute.  I love that I can make one with pretty much one ball of yarn too.  Perfect for those random single skeins you might have hanging out in your stash.  Finding the perfect buttons though?  That search might take you longer than it does to knit the sweater!
 
Now I’m off to check on the Mayor of Cooville.  He’s one demanding taskmaster!  But this Girl Friday sure does love him :)

 

Friday Fill-In #174

Supermerino!

 
I’m feeling fickle.  See, I still wasn’t sure about that BSJ I started.  I had originally planned to use some pretty blue Artyarns Supermerino from my stash and when I didn’t have enough I bought 2 more hanks from someone destashing on Ravelry.  If you remember, I’m allowed to buy it if I need it for a project & someone is destashing it, so we’re still good here with working from stash.  But before I received the 2 extra hanks I started to wind my first hank to get started and I decided it wasn’t looking stripey enough for the BSJ I was envisioning.  So I got started with the Needful Yarns Darling instead.  But lets be real here.  It was starting to look like something a cat barfed up and R. Darling was keeping suspiciously mum about it, so when I received my destash supermerino and saw it was a completely (much lighter) dye lot than what I had in my stash, I saw striping potential and decided to cut my losses.  Who knows what the cat barf yarn will turn out to be, probably some kind of cat barf sweater, but for now my baby boy is getting a beautiful blue BSJ.
 

And just in time for the weekend……

 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday Fill-In #174
(get yours here)

1. I was always unsure about kids and marriage.  Now I think I know how I feel :)
2. I don’ t have much time to read anymore and I left my book on the coffee table just in case I could sneak a few pages in between chores.
3. Why did I wake up disoriented the other night, sure that I had forgotten the baby in his bassinet in the living room?
4. The giant list of things I need to do and don’t have much time for was in my thoughts today.
5. One of my father’s favorite sayings was “Don’t take any wooden nickels!”
6. Worn out – I know that feeling!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to knitting a few rows on my BSJ, tomorrow my plans include spending some extra time with R. Darling (he’s been working too much lately) and Sunday, I want to maybe do a few things in my garden!
 

I’m not very entertaining these days, but there you have it!

 

BTW:  Why do I always miss out on all the fun stuff?  Did you know it was Knitting & Crochet Blog Week???  Such a great idea.  Well, it’s too late for me this year, but maybe next year I’ll try to participate.  Hope those of you that did had fun with it and have a wonderful weekend everyone!

 

What Do You Do When….

Question:

What do you do when your little boy is starving but won’t settle and eat?  If he won’t sleep unless he’s swaddled and he cries the second you wrap him up?  What if he squalls when you hold him and wails even harder when you don’t?  And what if the second he falls asleep and you go to put him in his bassinet, he wakes up and starts crying all over again?  What if you do this all day, over and over, and nothing seems to work until you suddenly find yourself crying too?
 

Answer:

You take a deep breath and love him with all your might……

 

An unexpected surprise

 
Yesterday was indeed challenging.  It seems that at least every other day is like this .  But the great thing about yesterday, is that my sweet husband walked in the door just moments after my tears stopped with a great big bouquet of flowers and a smile and all I could say was, “I really needed these today!  Thank you sweetie!” Sometimes things just work out.
 

Current Projects

 
So I’m working on some stuff in between the baby stuff.  Those are our baby announcements that I finally got printed up and need to address and send.  Only about 2.5 months late.  Oh well.  What do you expect people?  He spent an entire month in the Special Care Nursery and I wasn’t about to send out a photo of him with an NG tube in his nose.
 
And what’s that?  No….freaking….way. You mean there’s actually some knitting content here?  Yes, that’s right.  I started a BSJ (Baby Surprise Jacket) for Little Mister.  I’m using some stash yarn because I’m damn serious about working from stash this year.  Not only because I can’t afford yarn anymore now that I work for free at home, but because I have so damn much of it and it’s taking over our house.  It’s kind of embarrassing.  I hid it in boxes and bags for a long time (from myself and from my husband) but now that I’m sorting through it, cataloging it, and getting it into Ravelry, I’m astonished by just how much I actually have.
 
*If you are R. Darling, stop reading here*
 
I think I said something a while back about having enough to make 40 pairs of socks? Try 128.  And I’m not done.  And I’m not counting the undyed stuff.  Oy.  (Seriously, don’t read this honey!  I only have enough for 2 pairs of socks!)  So I’m looking at this endeavor like some kind of fascinating puzzle.  Since I often buy enough for a full sweater, without knowing what sweater I might want to make with a specific yarn, I am finding it a fun challenge to find the perfect pattern for each yarn in order to maximize the usage of what I have without leaving too much behind.  Believe it or not, I’m having fun with it.  For the stuff that is just random bits here and there and stuff I’m not attached to, I’m thinking about making a gift stash of items I can give when I need a quick something for a birthday or a thank you or what have you.  I joined a group on Ravelry to help keep me motivated too: Shop The Stash 2010.  I don’t participate much in it yet, but it’s nice to know the company is there when/if I need it.
 
*You can start reading again here, Honey*
 
As for my BSJ, I don’t know if I’m liking the yarn I chose.  I thought it would be stripier and instead it’s sort of watercolor-ish.  The fiber might not work either – it’s a cotton acrylic blend that feels like plain old cotton.  I think I like it, but I’m not sure.  For now I’m going with it because knitting a BSJ is one of my 101 in 1001 Days goals and I’m pretty sure it’s one with a time limit that will go a lot faster than I expect, so I wanted to get started before he’s too big to fit in one.  Plus it’s all stash all the way baby, and I need to be focusing on that.  At least it’s fairly mindless garter stitch so I can usually get a few rows in each day before someone needs me for something.  These days my moments are few and far between and usually it’s a choice between eating, sleeping or knitting.  And believe it or not, sometimes knitting does win the competition!

 

Friday Fill-In #172

Little Sprout - April 11, 2010

 

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Friday Fill-In #172
(get yours here)

1. I’d like more than 1 hour of sleep at a time someday soon.
2. One of my most favorite romantic memories is the day my husband proposed to me:  a train ride, dinner, a winery tour, cherry blossoms floating down around us, him down on one knee, a stunning diamond solitaire…..just like a fairy tale.
3. Last night, I had breaded chicken cutlets, asparagus and a baked potato for dinner.
4. Sorry for the lack of knitting content lately :(  It’s tough to find time these days!
5. Can we take a nap now?
6. One of my worst temptations is candy; the sour gummi ones are especially hard to resist!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to spending some time with my hubby, tomorrow my plans include taking care of my boys and Sunday, I want to maybe take Knittymunchkin for a walk if the weather is nice!
 

************

 
BTW:  The hat Knittymunchkin is wearing was so thoughtfully knit for me by my good bloggy friend Amy.  Her original blog post about it is here on her old bloggy.  She has since moved to Mrs. Darsie’s Menagerie and you should totally check her out :)  We love this little hat and Knittymunchkin wears it when we take him out and about in our cold northwest Washington spring weather.  Thanks so much Amy!  We’re honored by your lovely gifty :)
 
I’ve received some other beautiful hand knits for Knittymunchkin from some of my other bloggy friends as well and I hope to have photos and thanks for those friends coming up soon here on the blog.  Thanks so much everyone!  We’re so touched by your kindness and generosity!
 

Have a wonderful weekend!