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I know I’ve been kinda AWOL lately – but I have been productive!

Check out this little beauty! My first knit sweater!

I made the 18 month size – the biggest size offered – and it fits Freyja perfectly (at 7 months she’s wearing 12-18 month clothes already!). It’s made with Malabrigo Worsted (100% Merino Wool) in the Little Lovely #92 colorway. The pattern is the Bernat Baby Pullover. It was super simple to knit (although there was a discrepancy in the length vs. number of increases so I just dropped about 10 rows of stitching). The pattern called for 420 yards of worsted weight and handily the Malabrigo comes in 210 yard skeins – so 2 of those at $11 a pop, it’s a $22 sweater. There was quite a bit of yarn left over though, enough to make a hat but it was too small for my girl, still it was pretty. I’ll post a picture after I make the puff ball for the top.

And yes I realize that I just made a handwash only sweater for a baby; brilliant. Still, it’s pretty!

Several folks on Ravelry said they did a 2x rib along the bottom hems to stop the rolling… wish I had read those before I cast on but really the rolling isn’t bad, just toward the middle (you can just make it out in the picture).

An impeccably timed episode of Knitting Daily on KET showed me proper mattress stitch (my other projects looked kinda funky!) and the still ongoing struggle with my Mom’s Kimono Vest taught me to pick up stitches pretty efficiently so little this guy just whipped right up.

I am so freakin’ impressed with myself right now.

Bernat Baby Pullover Leaflet Pic

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I got this great copy of Vogue Guide to Knitting circa 1972 this weekend – it’s so neat! I love vintage craft books and am slowly building a pretty respectable collection. This one has the usual basic knitting instructions plus several more decorative stitches, some of which I’ve never seen before (but my knitting collection is still pretty sparse); the Anenome Stitch and the Sailor’s Rib were very nice.

I love the Embroidered Jacket (not sure why it’s called that) – it’s also on the cover. I would do it plain with a either a cabled edge or a bias edging (which I just learned about on Knitting Daily last week – neat stuff).

Next is the Butterfly Vest – I can totally see this with the butterflies replaced with Skull Snowflakes (on Ravelry I believe) or PacMan and the Ghosts… Or the 1UP mushrooms from Mario Brothers… or Galaga/Space Invaders – the possibilites are endless!

And of course, who can live without a Cabled Knit Bikini?

Overall this is a fun book – useful as well, in my opinion. Don’t pass it up if you run across it (knit this bikini – or there is another one in the book if you don’t like cables!). Love it! (Also – if you noticed the improvement in the scan quality from the top of the post to the bottom… on the bottom I figured out to change the scan option from document to picture… duh… much better quality).

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I have become obsessed with the Feather & Fan knit stitch!

Last year, while pregnant, I wanted to make a baby afghan for BabyGirl. I wanted a simple pattern that wasn’t too lacy (I’m always worried little fingers and toes will get tangled!) – I wanted simple but not boring and Feather & Fan was the answer.

It’s a 4 Row repeat in sets of 18 stitches. Row 1 - Knit. Row 2 - Purl. Row 3 – Knit 2 together 3x’s; yarn over and knit 1 6x’s; knit 2 togther 3x’s – repeat till the end. Row 4 – Knit.

BabyGirl’s afghan (far left/pink,black & white) has 3 rows of knitting at the top and bottom and 3 knit stitches and the beginning and ending of every row to make a nice little border. I used a whole spool of the Sugar&Creme Cotton (made in America baby!) and it made roughly a 18″ by 24″ afghan. At first I was pretty darn annoyed by the small size – in fact I didn’t even use it for the first month BabyGirl was here but then I drug it out to show a friend who was interested in knitting and I realized just what perfect size it really is! It’s small enough that when I use it in the crib I’m not terrified she’s going to get tangled in it (she can’t get rolled up in it – if she moves much it’ll fall off. It fits in the carseat and in her swing. I love it!

The middle afghan is a gift for little Miss C, born a month before BabyGirl and was an experiment in stripes – I’d never done stripes with multiple yarns before. I love the way it turned out – just wish I had more yarn – it turned out wide and short… not sure how useful it will be; I’ve been proven wrong before!

The far right is a work in progress for liitle Miss R – very late in the making – with a super fluffy yarn. The yarn hides the lacy bits but the scallops still show so we’re going with it. Also doing more stripes!

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As I sit, still waiting for my little girl to make her grand debut into the world (we’re officially 3 days overdue today), I have found myself contemplating my ‘Personal Style’ – or severe lack thereof.  This is something that’s been brewing in the back of my mind off and on for a long time now but after 6 months of living in the same 2 pairs of yoga pants, various shapeless fleece tops and shirts stolen from my indulgent hubby, I seem to be developing some real motivation to actually ‘do something’ to correct this deficiency.

I am, at heart, a jeans and T-shirt girl – always was and always will be but out in the workplace and my forays into craft shows I want to present a more ‘put together’ appearance; I want people to glance up and know immediately that it’s me (in a good way – not in the ‘oh my god, my eyes are bleeding’ way).

So what do I want from my style?

1. Girly. Maybe it’s because I’m having a little girl and I keep looking at all these adorable baby dresses… or maybe it’s a backlash against all my time in jeans and t-shirts… but I want a Girly look – which, to me, means skirts.  I know what you’re thinking – Judy in a skirt? I’ve known people for years who’ve never seen me in a skirt; but that’s what I want.  I’m thinking wrap skirts and A-lines, just below the knee and others brushing the ground.

McCalls M5430

2. Crafty.  Well of course it has to be crafty – this is a crafty blog and I’m a crafty girl! So I’ve been combing Ravelry and have a stockpile of knitting patterns for tops to go with all these skirts I want. Obviously the skirts will have to be handmade as well (because I’m such an awesome sewer! Oh wait – I kinda suck at sewing… hmmmm… maybe I can hit up some folks for some crafty bartering…). I also need to find a good pattern for a kimono top – I love kimono tops!

Lelah Top

Kimono Styled Sweater

3. Quirky.  Well one of the benefits of hand making most of your own clothes is you get to pick the fabric – and there are some absolutely beautiful fabrics out there (namely quilt fabrics) that I want to use in my skirts. Not to mention the veritable rainbow of yarn colors and patterns that you’d never find in a retail clothing shop.

Foliage Charcoal from Ty Pennington Impressions

Passion Lilly Mulberry from Soul Blossoms

Then, too, there are the accessories!

Frankie Fedora

Mini Felted Fascinator Hat

I want to make… wait for it… (and here is where the plan may come tumbling down into absurdity) – knee socks with no toes or heels! I’ve seen tons of fabulous sock patterns out on the internet and in magazines but that’s the one project I just can’t commit to – I am MEAN to my socks! And spending all that time on something that I’m going to tear up in a matter of weeks (or a day depending) just makes me kinda nauseous. But then I saw them… manicure socks (which had no toes) and then a few patterns later – Yoga socks! (no heels or toes!) I would wind up treating these like legwarmers or tights instead of just plain old socks! It’s an awful lot of mental gymnastics to get me to make socks but this is the story and I’m sticking to it (and they’re Quirky, Crafy AND Girly dang it!).

Yoga Socks

Color Block Thigh Highs

Marlaina Thigh-High Stockings

Here’s hoping I can get this thing put together!

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So I went to South Carolina this weekend to visit that side of the family before I get too big and unwieldy to make the trip and on the way back we passed by the Pisgah Yarn & Dye Company… who make Peaches & Cream Yarn!

Now I’d seen the Made in the USA label before but I hadn’t really paid it much mind – I just recently started working with 100% cotton yarn – but I never realized it was made 5 hours from my house! It was a totally cool find… and we almost missed it.

When we pulled into the town – home of the Old Fort – we stopped at the local video store for directions and they sent us to the actual factory… not to the outlet store. Luckily the only way back onto the 40W took us past a sign for the store so we found it (and didn’t fall off the mountain – ’cause that’s important).

It was a very small store – really just a display room in the distribution building – with one ball and cone of each color/type of yarn. Once you’d decided what you wanted a gentleman from the warehouse would come up and take your order and he’d go get it for you! It was really cool. I got 2 one pound cones of worsted weight yarn for less than $8 a piece – I can’t wait to finish my current project for Mrs Susan so I can work with this stuff.

The lady who helped us I believe was name Flo C. (that’s the business card that was in my bag!) and she was super helpful.  Also she put together this wonderful charity calendar for hospice and I want to encourage everyone to visit the site and order one if you can. It’s the  2011 Sticks, Hooks and Shuttles Calendar - the cost without shipping is $16 – $1 went to create the calendar and $15 is going straight to the charities. (It’s $17.73 w/1st class shipping the States).

25% goes to CarePartners in Asheville, NC – they assist victims of spinal cord injury and stroke.

75% goes to Alexandra’s House in Kansas City, MO. to replace their leaking roof – they do Perinatal Hospice.

Flo was super passionate about these 2 causes – her husband received care from CarePartners – he’s on the bonus pattern page – he carried his walker out of the CarePartners center at the end of his treatment!

Here’s the yarn I bought:

Peaches & Cream Yarn

And here’s the 2 free sample skeins Flo was kind enough to throw in for me:

Peaches & Cream Samples

Once again – check out the website for the calendar and purchase one if you can – I was so touched by Flo’s passion for these causes that I had to buy one myself and spread the word.

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So that’s a quote from the movie “The Three Amigos” in case you didn’t know – funny flick and a family classic in our house – Martin Short, Chevy Chase, and Steve Martin.

I now have a plethora of knitting needles.  I became frustrated last month that I didn’t have a set of 10 1/2 double pointed needles… and realized I only had 1 pair of double pointed needles period (because WalMart only carries size 3 double pointed needles. Period. What is up with that?). So anyway… the only 10 1/2′s I could find on line were like $8 and if I was going to pay that plus shipping then I’d drive my happy rear to either Evansville or Russelville and give the not-so-local-yarn-shop my money.

Frustrated, I did a search for Huge Knitting Needle Lot – and lo’ found one with a 120+ needles – most of which were double pointed! So I bid, and I won, and for about $35 got roughly 40 sets of needles – plus a vintage canister needle case, a set of cable needles, and a set of stitch holders.

FABU!

Vintage Knitting Needle Cannister

Vintage Knitting Needle Cannister - With Needles

 Completely unimportant – but when you move the cannister around it sounds like a rain stick!

Knitting Needle Bag

Vintage Straight Knitting Needles

Vintage Double-Pointed Needles

Vintage Circular Needles

Vintage Cable Needles and Stitch Holders

 With all these needles I needed a way to figure out what I had… so I downloaded an nifty little app onto my ITouch called Ewe Stash.  It’s $2.99 (most I’ve spend on an app) but so far it’s really handy! You can inventory your knitting needles, your crochet hooks, and your yarn. So far I’ve only entered the knitting needles but I inputted 51 sets of needles in about an hour.

Ewe Stash App

51 sets of needles! 

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So I’ve been knitting away – sorry no update on Wednesday; I had crafty-brain-melt or something and could not figure out what to post about.

I’m up to 17″ on the vest back and 13″ on the shawl.  I’ve also gotten faster on the Shawl – it now only takes me 3 hours per section (cable cross to cable cross) instead of 4.  Whew! I’ll take what I can get! The first progress report can be seen here.

Pasa Doble 13"

Kimono Vest 17"

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I am making progress! And I haven’t pulled out all my hair! Here’s the Pasa Doble Shaw at 8 inches long – each time you see those cables cross… that’s 4 hours! So I’ve got about 14 hours into this thing so far. Ack! With another 28 inches to go that means… math… math… grumble… grumble… like 60 more hours! OMG… hopfully my numbers are off, ’cause like Barbie said, “Math is Hard!” I’m mostly working on this one on the weekends (locked in my bedroom) and a 1/2 hour every morning before I get up and get ready for work (while watching BBC News!).

I’ve made it to 12″ on the Kimono Vest – 12 more inches to go on the back and I’m thinking I should have bought another ball of purple… hopefully the yarn dosen’t disappear from Joanne’s sales floor. Luckily this project is simple enough that I can work on it while watching TV and driving too and from work (when I’m not ranting at my carpool coworking about the things that go on in our workplace – why can’t I win the lottery so I can stay home and make beautiful things all day!?!).  It makes one long for a Zombie Invasion so you could hole up for a month or two and knit while the Zomb’s starve to death (by 28 days later rules anyway).  Ah, Zombies….

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So, before Christmas I drug Mom into a yarn shop – and ‘lo, she didn’t fall asleep in one of their comfy chairs while I shopped; she actually found a pattern that she really liked. The pattern was from the Plymouth Yarn Company and is for a Vest Kimono.

I was so proud!

So I promptly bought the pattern and we shopped the rest of the day for nice yarn I could actually afford (because I’m po’). Luckily we found a sale at Joanne’s for buy 1 get 1 half off – we originally thought it said buy 1 get 1 free – which had me positively drooling, but we reread the sign and pouted about it.  Of course we still had to argue at the register because the sale price didn’t come up, I volunteered to go check it again – if I’m wrong, I’m wrong – but the manager just ok’d it and we went on our way. The yarn is Country by Caron – it’s a 25% Merino Wool/75% Acrylic Blend. I’m not wild about acrylic, but it does have the Merino in it. I’m hoping the acrylic base will make it more abuse tolerant (I’m mean to my clothes and assume everyone else is too). The main color is #0014, Deep Purple and the accent is a white #0007, called Naturally.

It’s a fairly simple pattern – or so it seems – the lady at Knit Wits said not to bind off the individual pieces, just put them on a holder, and when I’m ready she’ll show me how to do a 3 needle bind off. Yay! (And yes I feel guilty for not buying my yarn from her – but in my defense I did buy the pattern and a ball of yarn for another project there – I just can’t buy multiple skeins of yarn without a sale price!).

Anyway – I quickly got started and was making decent progress on the back using my funky plastic knitting needles from the 70′s (that I got at the Salvation Army for $0.60!) when I made a mistake…

I set my knitting down and left the room.

And my 90 pound Labrador used my project box as a stepping stool to get up on the couch (like he really needed the boost).

And shattered my funky knitting needle (of course it wasn’t the empty one, it was the one holding all the dang stitches).

Then, to top it all off – I didn’t have another pair of needles in that size.

I’ve been so irritated about it that I’ve been torturing myself with the Pasa Doble Shaw this whole time (see my previous post). It’s been sitting there,  just like this, for almost 3 weeks!

But I have finally left my aggravation behind me, bought new needles and am willing to try again during ‘tv time’ tonight.