I found this through StumbleUpon: Sheep Dash. Those are some speedy little sheep, but I’ve finally gotten up to the Bobcat level. How fast are you?
New Baby in the Blogosphere!
There’s a new baby over at Georgia‘s house!
I would say a new “little one”, but that baby’s not so little! 22 inches and over 10 pounds, and a drug-free homebirth to boot!
I, too, had to have the water broken to kick-start labor (the castor oil didn’t work for me, either), then went on to have a drug-free hospital birth about 11 hours later. We give a whole lot of credit to our doula, who was with us all day – if you’re a mama-to-be who wants a no- or low-intervention hospital birth, especially, I can’t recommend a good doula highly enough.
Enough about me! Go look at that baby!
FO Friday: Frozen Hedera
I’ve been calling these socks “Frozen Hedera”:
Pattern: Hedera, by Cookie A.
Source: Knitty, Spring 2006
Yarn: Yarn Pirate Merino/Tencel in “Icicle”, the December club yarn. I love, love, love this yarn. It’s so pretty.
Needles: Brittany Birch DPNs, size US1.5, 5 inches, set of 5
Comments: This pattern was easy to memorize. I printed it out, but then misplaced the hard copy, so I would just check the pattern online at crucial points. I made the larger size for my Flintstone-style feet, and they fit just about perfectly.
WiP Wednesday: Baby Tart
I have a new method of tackling my stash. I’m working alphabetically. You see, Ravelry displays my stash alphabetically, so I decided to just start working at the beginning.
Except I’m not, really, since the first yarn listed is Austermann Step, and I keep changing my mind about what to do with it. Instead, I cast on the Berroco Cotton Twist for a Baby Tart.
The color in that picture is not at all true. The yarn is shiny, and the “crust” is a nice golden color, while the “filling” is a bluish-purple shade. It’s turning out to be really cute, but those bobble decreases are tough. I’m nervous about the Denises, since I broke the join the last time I tried to work cotton yarn on them. For most of the K3TOGs, I’m using a separate DPN with a nice sharp tip, and I’m having a lot of trouble pulling the loop through without splitting it. I have some of the golden yarn left, and I was thinking of trying to make the smallest size for a gift stash, but I don’t think so. I think I’ll use it for sock puppet hair or something instead.
FO Friday: Hooded Jacket
Huzzah! The Debbie Bliss Hooded Jacket is done!
Pattern: Hooded Jacket from Simply Baby, by Debbie Bliss
Yarn: Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran, 7 skeins
Needles: Size 9 Denise Interchangeable
Notions: One large plastic button, picked up at a garage sale
Comments: A pretty quick knit, and not too hard. I learned the backwards-loop cast-on to make the hood, and I got to practice my seaming. (That would be putting a positive spin on it there. I got to practice my seaming more than I might have expected, since I sewed the underarms the wrong way and had to pull it out and do it again.)
Now for the bad news. After all that worry about finishing the jacket so she could wear it this winter, it’s too big. I suspect that by next winter, it will be too small. Gah. Maybe it will be just right on a day we have strangely cold weather. One can hope.
FO Friday: Socks for K
I was catching up on one of my mailing lists yesterday, and I realized that I’ve pretty much managed to avoid a problem that seems to plague knitters everywhere.
Unappreciated Gift Giver Syndrome.
Those of you who have experienced the UGGS know the symptoms all too well. Aching hands and tired eyes (from hours of knitting), only to have your beautiful gift insulted, abused, or sent off to the local thrift shop, leading to sore throats (from screaming about the unfairness of it all) and strange bruises (from kicking walls, curbs, or other stationary objects in an effort to relieve the frustration).
In these post-holiday weeks, scores of tales of knitters (and crocheters) suffering from the UGGS have appeared on mailing lists and blogs and Ravelry boards.
I have avoided this by protecting myself from the sole disease vector: I very rarely knit for other people. I knit for myself, and if I don’t like it when it’s done, well, I’m not insulted. And I knit for the Little Miss, who, being pre-verbal, can’t complain about what I give her. From time to time, I’ve knit for K, who reminded me several times before the holidays that I still hadn’t knit her a pair of socks.
How could I refuse a wish for handknit socks, I ask you?
So, I cast on in mid-December, and before midnight on New Year’s Eve I was able to present these to K:
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Pattern: Retro Rib socks, from Favorite Socks
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Yarn: Lime & Violet Sasquatch Superwash in Connect 4, from the Loopy Ewe
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Needles: Set of 5 Brittany Birch size US1.5 dpns, one of which snapped just rows from the end of the toe of the second sock. They’re sending a replacement, because they are spiffy that way.
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Comments: I really liked this yarn, and I really liked this pattern, although I always wonder if ribbing is easier for those who knit Continental. I’ll have to try it sometime. I liked the yarn and the pattern so much that I’m working up a matching scarf for K, using the pattern from the ribbing at the cuff, on US3 needles. That may be ready for next winter.
I haven’t cast on a new pair of socks yet. I’m still hard at work on the Hooded Jacket – all the way up to the beginning of the hood now.
WiP Wednesday: Hooded Jacket
Sometime early last year, the Black Sheep Knittery had a ridiculously big sale on their entire in-shop inventory. By the time I got there, a lot of stuff was gone, but I did manage to walk out with this:
Two bags of Cashmerino Aran in a pretty shade of gray. I wanted to make the Cardigan for Arwen, and I decided to make a hooded jacket for Little Miss to go with. There’s a cute pattern in Simply Baby for a hooded jacket with a single button closure, made from Cashmerino Aran. Perfect.
Of course, time passed, as it does. I realized I was not going to have enough yarn, so I managed to find 4 balls of the same dye lot from someone on Ravelry. More time passed. I realized that my baby, who at 9 months was the size of the average 18-month-old, was going to quite quickly be too big for the jacket.
So, I cast on.
I’m hoping to get this done with time for her to wear it before the weather gets too warm. I am not likely to finish Arwen anytime soon (especially since I haven’t started it), but at least the baby will get a cute hooded jacket.
The Last Yarn
Just before Christmas, I went to Etsy to buy a swift. Somehow, a skein of sock yarn leapt into my cart, and I just had to purchase it.
That’s Merino/Tencel fingering weight from Cavyshops, in the Dorothy colorway. Interestingly, the picture for the skein that’s up in her shop now hasn’t been reskeined, and I don’t quite like it as much. Reskeined, it’s lovely. I keep changing my mind about what to knit with it.
It’s lovely, and it’s the last yarn I’ll be purchasing for a while. I am on a serious Knit From Your Stash kick these days. And, yes, for me, sock yarn does count as stash.
New Swift
Just before Christmas, I gave up on the swift I bought from JoAnn.com a while back. The very first time I used it, the wooden piece that holds up the umbrella part cracked when I tightened the screw. Within the three uses, it broke completely in half.
I went to the web in search of an alternative, and I bought this from The Knit Store:
The Large Oak Swift is easy to assemble, easy to use, and easy to disassemble for storage. I used it to wind up two skeins of Sasquatch Sock just as soon as I got it out of the box. Lovely, lovely, lovely.
Christmas Come Early
Yesterday, we had a family Christmas get-together, during which I was unable to resist the siren song of my knitting, since I was so close to finishing the Feather & Fan Socks.
Pattern: Feather & Fan Socks by Judith Sumner, from Socks, Socks, Socks
Yarn: Socks that Rock Lightweight in Haida (Ravens series), from Blue Moon Fiber Arts
Needles: Brittany birch dpns, size 2, set of 5, all of which are now dark blue
Modifications: Swapped out the garter stitch ridge at the beginning of the heel for another pattern repeat, did Eye of Partridge instead of ribbing on the heel flap. I also did all the decreases on one sock one stitch over, but it will never be noticed from a trotting horse.
And, they fit! Oh, glorious day, I made a pair of socks that fit on my feet!
I wore them to work this morning and made everyone admire my fancy socks.
I worked half a day today, since the library was open in the morning, and when I came home, there were two packages waiting for me. The first was full of pink and purple loveliness:
When Miss Violet of Lime & Violet put up some her stash for sale, well, the phrase “sharks on chum” really is the best way to describe it. Several items vanished out of my cart when I went to pay for them, but a skein of Doodlebirds Swell Socks in Goth Girl, a pink and gray skein of Austermann Step, and a cotton shawl kit from Rowan made it to my house, along with a note from Adminnie and a Thank You note and candy from V. I promise to do right by your yarn, Miz V.
But that was not all, oh, no, that was not all! (Sorry, Dr. Seuss moment)
A little Loopy Ewe package was also waiting for me. It held two skeins of L&V Sasquatch Sock in Connect 4 to make a scarf to go with the socks I’m working on for K, some Stitchkeepers, and a packet of Entrelac stitch markers, which are very, very pretty.
It was like my own private little yarny Christmas around here.