December 20, 2015 ~ Santa Came Early

Cinderella

Little Red Riding Hood

Santa made an early visit to our house today. Twice.  Once by airmail, and the second by firetruck!  Thanks to the local fire department.

We let the girls open their presents from their Nana and Aunt Em this morning.  Topsy Turvy dolls that Nana had hand knit along with a personalized knit ornament for the tree and a book to match their doll. They both LOVED them and didn’t put the dolls down for the rest of the day. Each asked for their book to be read at bedtime.

Later this afternoon, after some quiet time, we heard a siren outside.  We all got up to see what was up, and they saw the truck come down and around the corner.  At first they had no idea what was going on, we usually don’t get firetrucks on our road.  Once they saw Santa get out they got excited, totally surprised.  They were still a bit curious.  They knew it wasn’t Christmas yet.  It hadn’t even been LaLa’s birthday yet.

Santa!

Thankfully they were super polite as Santa came up and told them he was doing an early delivery today, and asked if they wanted a present.  Both said “yes, please” with no prompting.  Almost no prompting.  Ashlin started her excited jump, but was able to stand still long enough for a candy cane and a picture.  Notice, there is much less fear on her face than the last time she sat with Santa.  Yay!

Stu and I hustled them in as the truck drove away, they were so eager to open their presents.   The Santa ones.  Watching their joy as they ripped off the wrapping paper was worth the small fee to have the special delivery.  Ashlin was able to get her present unwrapped first and her head exploded.  Rainbow Dash pajamas with a hood with ears and a rainbow mane.  They’re footie pj’s without the feet, one piece with a zip.  We got “I love them!” from both girls, and “this is the best day ever” – over and over – from Ashlin.  Neither girl could wait for bedtime to put them on.

Yeah.  I got them matching pajamas.  With a hood.  I am an awesome mom!

Rainbow Dash, Small Version

Rainbow Dash, Larger Version

 

 

February 23, 2014 ~ She’s Got Leg Warmers!

Leg Warmers

Yesterday, I posted a picture of Ashlin wearing her leg warmers. Finally!  She was so excited to be wearing knickers, and asked to wear a dress too.  I found this lovely hand-me-down dress, which gave me the opportunity to tell her she needed to wear her leg warmers.  No arguments!

She was super excited as we put them on, though some of that was thanks to the knickers with birdies on them.

The pattern was super easy – Pickles Leg Warmers.  I used the pink yarn that Ashlin had picked out on one of the Michael’s runs we did.  It’s the Elegance Sock Yarn by Loops & Threads in the Pretty Pink colorway.  The pattern called for two strands of fingering yarn, so this DK weight worked pretty well.

Beginning

By the time I started these, I was old hat at the double pointed needles.  Three, of course.

I liked this pattern, it started with a 1 x 1 rib, then a few increases and bunch of stockinette.  A long stretch of stockinette.  Ending with a 2 x 2 rib and a stretchy bind-off, that I learned I needed with the version I did for Teagan.

Half?

The first was pretty quick, the second, well… But I finished them!

And she liked them!

She said they kept her legs warm, even during our walk. She was so sad when we got home and she had to take them off, she had inadvertently gotten mud on them.  All the melting snow and puddles of icky water did her in.

But she had fun having a snow fight!

Snow fight!

November 25, 2013 ~ X-Box

X-Box with Hat

A few months ago (yeah, I know!) I made a blanket and hat for my cousin’s baby. At the time, they didn’t know/weren’t telling the gender of the baby.  And baby blankets are so much fun to crochet.  I googled around and found an interesting pattern – X-Box Stitch. It looked like a fun pattern, not too gender biased.  It would work well!

I had a big skein of Loops & Threads in Pee Wee Prints, a lovely blue and green variegated baby yarn.  I had bought it on sale because I thought it was gorgeous.  As I needed something neutral, I decided to use that.  Besides, it’s a really soft yarn.

The pattern was fun.  Almost like a box stitch, but not quite as structured.  It’s a very difficult to see how lovely this pattern is with the stripy yarn.  It’s a series of crossed double crochets following regular double crochets.  Easy.  Fast.  I will use this pattern again in a solid yarn.

X’s and border

I ended up doing a white border using a stitch combo from the book I had on borders – Around the Corner:  Crochet Borders. I’ve used this book often for edging ideas.  It’s always fun to try something new.  I picked edging #150, but added an extra row of half double crochet between the second and third rounds, just to try to make it feel a bit more substantial, more in line with the blanket itself.  I hadn’t done any stitches on the back post, (or front post) before, so that was a bit interesting, but gave the edging a bit of extra texture.

I had a bit of yarn left over after the blanket, so decided to knit a hat to match.  I like trying to use up the extra yarn with something fun and useful. And well, knitting was still very new.  So, a simple umbilical hat.

Hat

This was only the second hat I’ve knit in the round, so getting that first join done was a bit tricky.  But it went fast once that was done.  Up to the point of the decreases, and the double pointed needles.  They were so not fun. I also had problem with the I-cord, but was able to get something that worked well enough!

Getting the cord long enough to knot wasn’t much fun.  It was awkward, and unweildy.  But at last, it was done.  This had was enough to make me want to avoid DPN’s as much as possible.  But not enough to put me off knitting!  More projects to follow!

DPN’s and i-cord

almost there

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November 24, 2013 ~ Purple (Not Quite) Socks

Legwarmers!

Not too long ago I finished the legwarmers for Teagan.  Another project done fully on double pointed needles!  Small, tiny, double pointed needles.  Not like the mittens, which were done on larger needles.  They were also my first long ribs.  I had done an inch or two on the mittens, and a single rib too, so this was a slightly different pattern to get used to while knitting.  Not quite mindless, but close once you got used to it.

begining

The pattern was pretty easy – cast-on a bunch of stitches, join and knit a k2,p2 ribbed tube for 18 inches.  So easy.  And a little bit boring after the excitement of seeing the double rib grow for the first 8 inches.  When I got bored, I worked on a different project, but the yarn was soft and lovely, (Loops & Threads Elegance) and it was nice seeing them grow and grow.

First try

This was also a good project to drag around with me. Small and light, not bulky like a blanket would be. I think the most awkward thing about it was the plastic bowl I use to hold my yarn.  I ended up knitting quite a bit while sitting in jury duty.

I did learn a bit while doing these.  Although the pattern said simply “cast-off,” it needed to be a stretchy cast-off.  So, I had to redo them.  Something I haven’t done before, undo a cast-off.  It wasn’t too hard, once you got past the fiddly bit of getting the stitches back on needles, un-split and properly facing.  Then properly divided across the needles.

Back on needles

After redoing two rows and then adding another two or three – to hide the knot from the join – I did a lacy bind-off. Much better.  

Still, an easy and quick knitting project.  And one that made a little girl squeal in delight.

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August 14, 2013 ~ The Bridge Goes Up!

Massive Yarn Bomb

This is totally amazing and oh, so cool.  I kinda wish I lived out there, so I could have helped too, or at least drive over and see!

Kudos to all that organized and participated in this incredible yarn bomb!

The Bridge Goes Up!.

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July 8, 2013

Lookie! It’s done! Well, this picture was earlier today after a few seed rows. It’s done now.

I ended up misjudging the remaining yarn when I stated the seed rows for the top edging, and ended needing to join more yarn to fining binding off. Twice. Ugh. The first time I used the half yard of the Pink Camo yarn that was left over from trying to join a new skein along the same color pattern. The second time I just used a bit of almost matching pink yarn for the last three inches. Annoyed with myself about not being conservative with the estimate to start the seed rows.

Tomorrow I’ll start the straps, in seed stitch. I have a bit of chocolate brown for those. They’ll knit up fast!

Then, I’ll be able to start a new project – market bags, sweaters, table runners, hats and mittens for the girls, maybe a shawl or wrap for a friend. Maybe I’ll try a pair of socks…

May 13, 2013

Wow. Where has the time gone? It’s been so busy lately, and whatever free time I’ve had has been spent with some yarn. The non-sick free time, that is. I was laid low for about a week with some fatiguing tummy bug.  Good side was that I lost six pounds in a week.  Shame that once I started eating again too much came back.  Oh well.

I did finish the shawl I was working on, and was able to block it in enough time to give it to my mom on Mother’s Day:

Blocking the shawl on the dining room table

Blocking really helped the shawl – the detailing really came out once I pined it on the table.  I cheated a bit, and used a towel under some gingham material that was clamped to the table.  It worked wonders.  I would have liked a bigger checker pattern, but they didn’t have any material at the store when I went.  The smaller grid will work, it’ll just be a bit more difficult to block too.

I am almost done with the straps on Ashlin’s car blanket.  I should finish tonight.  They even have button holes!  Once that’s done, I’ll move on to either Teagan’s car blanket or the one for Ashlin’s bed.

More tomorrow, once I get this car blanket done.  I really want it to be done.  There’s also a draft or two that need fleshing out, finishing…

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April 25, 2013

So, some random things…

• In the car Teagan saw a bug of some sort, which she dubbed a cricket. She then went on to tell me that it was crawling on her hand, but when they do, they kiss you when they crawl on your hand.  With their feet.
• One day when I had to leave early to work in Jersey, I left a note for the girls, and Stu.  On it I asked Teagan to be a good girl at nap time (we are still having issues – sad face), and gave everyone hugs and kisses.  Ashlin asked Stu for the paper, saying “ugg!  Ugg!” and then kissed the paper.
• Ashlin cannot leave day care, or anywhere else for that matter, without hugging everyone she knows goodbye.
• She also can’t walk past an open door without closing it.
• On my drive home from Jersey the other day, Alt Nation played Josie Cotton “Johnny Are You Queer” and I had flashbacks of teasing my friend Tom incessantly.  I’m not sure exactly why the song bothered him, but it did.  My sister also joined in when she was out and the song came on.  I miss Tom.  He’s moved too far away from some of his friends and we don’t see him enough.
• I finished Ashlin’s car blanket last night, the blanket portion anyway.  I used a crochet bind off, which was easier for me to control the tension, and the cast-off stitches look much better, looser, than those of the scarf.  I will need to work on that.
• The button hole on the strap is throwing me for a loop – not a hole – unfortunately.  I will get it figured out. Soon.  I’m sure it has something to do with my mirror knitting and Eastern European style.  I moved on to the crocheted shawl for the time being.

Done!

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April 15, 2013

Just starting

Wednesday night I started a new project. My third active project. It’s going to be a car blanket for Ashlin. It will roll up and have straps to fasten it.

I thought having a blanket for each girl would be nice for next winter, one that would stay in the car, but be made especially for them.  It also would keep me busy, as well as working on new skills.  In winter, I would always have a blanket in the car, “just in case”.  Even in the summer, we always grab a receiving blanket for them before we go on a longer trip, hoping it helps them nap.

So, I’ll end up making two car blankets.  I’m using a regular worsted yarn (Red Heart Super Saver in watercolor) instead of the Thick and Quick the pattern is made for.  It’s working up quickly enough, and I’m enjoying it.

Progress at the end of two days

I figured I could double the stitches to compensate for the difference in yarn weight. I couldn’t find enough nifty yarn for two blankets in the T&Q. They do have lovely colors, and I probably could have just done a solid blanket for each girl and been done with it. But I saw this, and thought Ashlin would really like the colors.  Makes me think of Monet and his Waterlilies.

I have yarn for Teagan’s version too, all pinks and browns. Her favorite colors.  So, I think they’ll be happier with them, then if I just picked a pink and a purple.  I may change my mind about that decision before I finish this one.

Oops!

Even though this is an easy pattern, and knitting is still such a new skill, my mind still wanders, and I’ve made a few mistakes.  This is the worst one, for me, anyway.  The purl bumps are on the wrong side!  Other mistakes aren’t quite as apparent as this.  This one would always  be the one thing my eye went to on this blanket.  I had to fix it.  So, I found an awesome video by VeryPinkKnits that gave me enough confidence to actually fix it:

It wasn’t too difficult fixing the stitch. For some reason, I naturally put a twist in it as I crocheted it up, so had to redo it. Eh, easy enough. And then I set the stitch backwards, and had to tink out the few I did after putting the loop on the hook.  Then I twisted those.  Gah!  I had not having the knowledge to do what I want to do.  I know soon enough I’ll be able to “see” the pattern, see how the yarn needs to be.  I’ve only been at this for less than a month

One skein down!

So, now I’ve knit a full skein and needed to join yarn (no russian joins, though I probably could have, or spit splicing with acrylic), and that wasn’t any fun.  But it’s not fun in crochet either.  It would be awesome to have the balls come in just the right length you needed for the project, though probably too unwieldy to carry around.

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April 12, 2013

Hat with pompom

Look! My first knit hat!

I had some left over yarn from one of the first baby blankets I crocheted, I figured why not try to make a matching hat?  Once I figured out how to make the tail long enough to cast on, (but not too long!), and once I got it joined properly, (a bit more tricky than it seemed), and once I got past the first two rows (more annoying to not twist and get the stitches to flow than I thought), it worked up quickly.

The hat was done in two nights?  Or was it three?  Anyway, fast.  Maybe just as fast as a crocheted hat, at least this style, anyway.  And using the  double pointed needles once starting the decreases took a bit to get used to.  Maybe I’ll splurge and get another circular needle and do the trick the ladies at the yarn store showed me.  I wasn’t ready to start that way, I may need to know how to use the double pointed needles at some point.

And I will admit, I enjoyed knitting around and around and around, only needing to think about moving up the stitch marker as I completed a circle.  Depending on the hat, I may like knitting them more than crocheting them.

Once complete, I felt quite accomplished, pleased with myself.

The pompom?  Well, it’s my first one as well too!  I probably could have made it a bit thicker, but I thought I had enough yarn wrapped around the cardboard.  Next time I’ll double it.

I feel like this hat gave me a bit of experience, enough to start the one for Ashlin, or maybe for Teagan for next winter.  With non-leftover yarn, as well.

I’ll write up the other projects I’ve been working on soon…  and the few remaining from Christmas too!

Knit in the round

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