Hats and Skullies and Beads, Oh My!

The Beaded Cable Hat is done. Pix on Ravelry and Flickr, but those are duplicates of here and previous entry.


The next project is another pirate hat for a niece who hopefully doesn't know about this blog. This is my second Pirate Hat. A teen niece who loves lime green AND pirates. How could I not do this, and how could it not be perfect for her?
I think I will only do two repeats of the skulls, due to all the stuff at the brim. I used the last of the beads from the pink hat to make the eyes (or, I guess it would be eye sockets) for the first set of skulls. I have some metallic gold seed beads that might look good for the next repeat. I think RED ones would be awesome, but I'm trying to use up what I have.

Finally, a bit of STUNNING news -
My daughter found my wedding ring, which I thought was lost forever about 3 months ago. It is a little snug right now for my ring finger, so I'd been wearing on my pinky finger. Obviously, it's a little big for that. I noticed it gone right after returning from grocery shopping. I called the store but of course they hadn't seen it. It is not a large stone, but it's conceivable that someone still might have seen it on the floor and helped themselves. Or, it could have been swept up in the trash. I also called the restaurant - we had treated ourselves to brunch that Sunday morning. In fact it might have been Father's Day and that was why we went out, as DH usually cooks a big breakfast on Sunday morning and he "got the day off." I also did a cursory check around the car, with no luck. Once we started tearing up the yard end of June - details on the remodel blog - I knew that if it HAD fallen off then, it was hopelessly gone - it was needle in a haystack time, and soil removed from one place was being replaced somewhere else. Turns out it never left the house. She was looking for her ipod headset and went rummaging under my computer desk and there it was. Whatever frustrations there may be with a no-longer-teen-but-still-adolescent daughter, they were all forgotten for a while when she called me so excited I couldn't make out what she was saying at first. Life is good.

Frustrations with Fair Isle

I love Fair Isle. I do. I love the "bang for the buck" with color, etc.

But, I'm a little concerned over the uneven stitches. They are not puckering, and I don't have floats because I use the method espoused by Philosopher's Wool, so yarn is caught every other stitch.

Will soaking and a little gentle "guidance" during blocking resolve this? Using black and white, there is bound to be some view-through and I'm not so worried about that.

The other frustration is, I got complacent by the time of the third row of skulls, and made the same error 4 times, once in each panel repeat, because I really didn't pay attention to the chart. I tried laddering it back, but with 6 rows x 2 strands, trying to minimize floats and the idea that I would have to do it *4* times, it truly was faster to just frog back the rounds and do it over. I'm back to where I was, and I see I made the VERY SAME mistake. This time, it stays.

We Be Pirates

I bought the yarn for this MONTHS ago. Being in the middle of a baby aran sweater binge (working on two at once), I decided I need a diversion. Diversity, they're always saying it's a good thing, right?

So, I've been working on this for a couple days, and it actually starts to look like the photo on the pattern. People at work are commenting, even the more religious/conservative among our group, that they thought it was, well, at least, "interesting."

I get on the bus tonight, headed for home and sit next to a woman about my age, maybe a little older. It is now clearly visible that there are skulls knitted into this project. This woman was looking at me as if the next thing to show up in the knitting, all shroud-of-Turin-like, would be the phrase "I (heart) Satan."

What gets me is, how did she know?

Butterflies, Bug, Buttons, Booties

Wow, this is cool - I post stuff and people look at it. Cool!

I'm leaning toward the ladybugs because they are, ironically, gender neutral. I completely spaced the other meaning of frogs - how weird is that? I found some adorable little hippo buttons, perfect match for the pale green, but there's only two of them - found in a sidewalk sale at fabric store. Drat!

Next issue, booties. I am so annoyed with the bootie pattern (ironically called, "------------'s Perfect Booties") because they so are not. The cast on number is wrong, the directions are wrong. If you do 3 M1's between markers, you are NOT going to have the same number between the markers on next row. If anyone had beta tested this pattern, this would not have slipped through.

I found a fairly basic pattern, knit flat. I improvised by changing the body of bootie to seed stitch instead of what was called for - Quaker stitch? - K 3 rows, P3 rows to match the cuffs, bands and collar on the sweater. There is a little 4-stitch cable on top of bootie - I'm changing that to the 4-stitch cable on the sweater.

The short rows are not looking right, and when I took a closer look, I wasn't even using a #4 but the same #7 used on sweater. So, speaking of frogs, there I go. I will cast on again when I get done here.

95% FO

The yellow baby sweater is done, except for the buttons. Not sure which ones to pick. There are buttonholes on both bands. I will stitch a set of buttons to some grosgrain or cloth tape and push the buttons through on one side. I fear that both these sets of buttons look kind of girly. I realize that a 6-month old boy won't care, but someone at work suggested FROG buttons, so I'm going to look for those.

I have a pattern for worsted weight booties. I will probably start those tomorrow.

Playing catchup

Well, things have been crazy with the remodel. Whatever knitting-related time I can squeak out is spent on actual knitting. I've not even been very active on Ravelry for the last month or so.

Projects - well, several things started (of course). Let's see what I can find.

Entrelac purse - nearly FO. Need to weave in icord ends, insert a lining, and attach commercial handles. I like the look of icord handles but they take 4FR to knit up at a time when you just want to be DONE. Plus they do tend to stretch unless you thread some cording inside it. I have some nice black leatherish handles I can put on this, in the Yarn Room. However, it is currently being used as a staging area, moving stuff around during remodel. I don't expect to work on this again for several months because I'm not sure where those handles ARE.

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Celery Baby Aran - started this for a friend who wants to have another baby. Not sure why I put it on hold, there is quite bit more than this done on it, it just wasn't photographed recently.
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Yellow Baby Aran - I think my color preferences are changing. I would normally never be drawn to yellow yarn, but this was striking. I thought a coworker was going to be first-time grandfather, in duplicate, so I got the two colors. Turns out there's only one baby after all, and she's not due til late January. In the meantime, I found out that another coworker is also awaiting a baby, and sooner, so this might go to her instead. I figure I could pretty much always have a baby sweater on the needles, much like many people always have a sock project going. There will always be more babies!

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Speaking of socks, I have generally been averse to making them, never understood the addiction. However when the Summer Knitty came out, I had to immediately cast on for these. I love the wiggly-squiggly of them. Of course, they are on hold now because I am a fickle, ADD knitter.

Next thing on the remodel: excavation for foundation. It's been quiet on that front for the last week or so, as the GC General Contractor, also known as DH, interviews potential subs for this work. Link on the sidebar to the remodel blog.

I keep saying, I need to do this more often. I'm trying to email this to blog and then fine-tune with blogger. Let's see how that works.

Happy Mother's Day !!

Well, DH usually makes breakfast on Sunday mornings. Sometimes multi-grain hot cereal, or pancakes, or little appetizer quiches. "Citrus salad", a jar of orange and grapefruit slices in juice, has become a Sunday morning standard. Three link sausages, two for DH, one for me, DD declines. Sometimes eggs, sometimes not. And occasionally, he gets creative:

He modified a recipe he found in a cookbook. The original contained fennel. I don't think I'd like fennel, because I can't stand black licorice. Or ouzo (grin). The following is a guideline more than a recipe. Finely chop up misc veggies, about half a cup total for each mushroom. He used up stuff we already had in the fridge - some veggies which were, uh, past their prime - celery, onion, bell pepper, and the stems of the portobellos. Saute' veggies in a small bit of oil. Although he didn't, you could use some garlic. He forgot the sun-dried tomatoes, I'll bet that would have been good. Very lightly oil the caps of the mushrooms. Place mushrooms, cap side down. Fill each with the sauteed veggies, top with some shredded cheese (we already had mozzarella). Broil. Serve on bed of arugula. There is 1.5 left, and I think it will get put on a piece of ciabatta toast for breakfast tomorrow. Yum!

OKC - trying to chart an old pattern for a smocked-style baby blanket. I was having a terrible time reading through the narrative instructions. I'll insert a link and photo later. Right now, there's not enough to photograph, but you can find it on Ravelry - I think it's called "Diamond and Smocked Cover".

Off to a movie, with tea and cookie, while DD fixes dinner and starts prep work for meals for the whole frigging week! YES!!

Wow. I gotta get out of Ravelry more often

Ravelry is a complete time-sucker, and I've ignored this blog because of it. Not that anyone ever READS this blog because, you know, I've been ignoring it (grin). I'm gonna try to change that.

I've started and finished several items not on the progress meters at the left. I will try to update those in the next couple of days.

Not much progress on the remodel; we have applied for financing and run into some snags. Apparently, one of the previous mortgage companies filed a lien against the house when the loan was sold on the aftermarket, and never cleared it. That mortgage companies is now out of business. I'm sure these sorts of things happen all the time, but they are frustrating when they are happening to YOU.

Projects - Stained Glass Felted Bag. This is an amazing pattern which you can see and purchase here. I'm very pleased with the way this one turned out:

There are more pix if you want to see them, but I like this one the best.

Currently, there are two main projects. One is another felted bag, the Noni Green Earth Grocery Bag:


The other is the Flower Basket Shawl, from Interweave Knits, done in Kauni. This was in TimeOut for a while, but I'm not sure why, most likely set aside for Christmas crazies. I've got 6 or 7 repeats done, quite a bit more than what shows here.

While it is my intent to make it larger than pattern calls for, it won't happen any sooner with stuff like this to deal with:



The one on the left, I gave up and frogged back to lifeline. This particular repeat was done 4 times, I think, before I got it right. The jury is still out on the reddish one at the right. I've redone it and frogged that already once this evening, and will try again before bed. It SHOULD work, but maybe trying to fix lace on a city bus isn't the best way to go.

Hopefully, this will get the new habit started. People who blog daily, or 3 x week, wow. I have a lot of admiration for you. I just can't be clever on command.

A weak attempt to play catchup..

So, it's been 3 months since I last posted. Why does it sound like there should be a priest behind a screen as I say that? I think I will try for a very brief recap.

Only made a few gifts for Christmas, one for a sister, who has to walk long distances to work.



I made several items for the raffle at work, and started many more.

Since the first of the year, I've done a lovely scarf out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran (yummy), not sure who that will be for.
Mom finished L's socks, that I started MONTHS ago, got 1.5 socks done and couldn't stand them anymore. She did the 2nd foot and toe in, like, 20 minutes. OK, 1.5 days, but still. They were in my Guilt Corner for months, and now they're done and he even wears them! What a concept!



and E is now lobbying for HERS, which I really should do - they are sportweight so won't take long at all. Except that she is no longer the LimeGreenGirl. Oh well. After that, I think I'm giving up on socks.

Work has been crazy, but I've finally offloaded most of the travel arrangements to someone else. She is very sharp and she is catching on great. I did it for 6 years, but I'm a glutton for punishment.

In non-knitting news, the big news is a new member added to the family about 6 weeks ago.
Her previous mommy simply could not manage her allergy symptoms any more. It's going better than anyone had hoped, especially with our original cat, Joey, thinking he was king of the hill and weighing roughly triple what she does. They have their moments but generally, there is a peaceful coexistence:

In her honor and to thank the friend who selflessly gave her up, I did this, which still needs felting. Her BD is next week, so it will be a nice little present from New Mommy to Old Mommy.

Mom's house, sold to a contractor in May, went back on the market in December, for $449K
We got to take the full tour and it was AMAZING, the changes. You can see the full show here:

We are now planning a huge remodel / addition to OUR house, which will effectively double the space. We own this house, a fixer-upper, free and clear so financing should not be a problem. We are getting contractor's and sub's bids for the work, and drawings are at 95%. By Christmas this year, we will either be closer than ever, or as my boss says, "one of you will be at the bottom of the lake and the other in handcuffs. I just don't know which will be which."

Ravelry is where most of my online time has gone to, and of course, if you have Ravelry, you pretty much need Flickr. I will put links to the side, hopefully, when I finish here.

Keeping Up ?

Well, I eventually followed the crowd and got several kits for the Dream In Color Baby Sweater, one for me, one for Mom and one for a good friend. This is the girly kit and this photo is just awful. The colors are much more vivid. The small ball in top right corner is a beautiful pink, and the bottom left corner is a gorgeous peach color. Even though I use the cellphone camera more than any of the other features, clearly the camera is not the best.

Here are the colors for the boys sweater. I thought there had been a mistake because there are only six colors instead of 8, but two of the colors are used twice.

I can't wait to get started on one of these, but I have several things in the nearly FO corner to get to first.

DH's socks - one has half the gusset done, and the other one is done through the heel turn. I guess it was the Death Valley of the gusset where I lost my way and was distracted by other, flashier projects.

The Knitty Argosy scarf should be done in about 45 minutes. I probably have two repeats of yarn left. It will be nearly 6 feet long and the colors are amazing. No wonder I got distracted - it's Kureyon; I couldn't help it.j "It's not my fault...."

We met with the architect regarding preliminary sketches for the addition. To the left is the house now. There is a long driveway to the left (south) that runs the length of the lot, and the plan is for the addition to run about 4 feet deeper than the current footprint of the house.





I'm considering starting a remodel blog once it gets started to show the progress. But first we need to settle on the actual structural changes, budget, arrange financing, get a contractor, etc. The next year will be challenging but exciting. I'm still rather on the fence about doing this but our current situation is SO not working, and we own the house free and clear, so it's definitely an option to make it better.

Summer Reruns

I've just re-upped at The Big List so I'm reposting this project from last summer. The blog that it WAS on doesn't exist anymore.

This is the diagram for the baby blanket. It's just 45-stitch mitered squares, started in the center and worked out, all in garter stitch. The diagram was actually put together in PC Stitch a cross-stitch program. I had great plans to finish this in 2-3 months but I got "garter fatigue" and I didn't atually finish it until recipient was about 6 months old. But once it was done, I loved it and hated to part with it.

In other news, I broke down and bought the BIG ipod, 80GB. I can now back up my laptop and still have tons of music and photos on it, too. In fact, it took a while to figure out the photo thing, but now I have 4000+ photos on it, which is about 3900 too many (grin).

Oh, and I got into the newest LYS, http://www.twistedpdx.com , and it was so good that I bought SOCK yarn. I don't even knit socks. Well, not much. We shall see. 2 huge skeins of blue Trekking XXL. Wish me luck.

More two-fers

I don't know how bad this is, I can't stop buying yarn ever since I finished B's scarf. But I'm buying skeins in pairs, little two-fers - fer a hat, fer a scarf :). This is Wisdom Yarns "Poems" - there are maybe 6 colorways, I got something I know I can't wear, so I can pretend it's for a gift and therefore a guiltless purchase.




Then yesterday, I finally found the longer needle that I needed for this (it will have 600+ stitches by the end): =>

and did I simply go to the counter where they had set one aside for me, thank you very much, that will be $10, and go on my merry way? No, I did not. I did much prevaricating, and nearly bought an AMAZING wrist bag to hold your sock yarn project. And I don't even LIKE to knit sox!


Everyone lately seems to be jumping on the kureyon-style slow color change train, and I keep jumping in front of it. Everytime. Trendsettter Tonalita, DK, half wool, half acrylic and VIBRANT color.

OK, too much stimulation, I must go have a liedown.

Time flies....

Wow, I can't believe it's been nearly two weeks since I last posted. Bless me Father for I have sinned, my last yarn purchase was...not very long ago (grin).

One day last week, B wore the scarf to work and it looked great. I'm glad she likes it.

Now, as for the wicked enabling friend who was here a couple weeks ago, let's see if I can find the forensic evidence, er, photographs, of the stuff she made me buy.

This stuff was actually in my stash. OK, it hadn't been in my stash for very long, but I did already have it in hand to make a pillow (basically a big tube that was stuffed with a flat, circular pillow form and gathered at each end - well, that's not it exactly but I can't find a pix online.) What was I thinking? At Mabel's, some evil person had done up the very delicate and lovely Shetland Triangle, designed for laceweight, or something THIN, in Noro Silk Garden in a green/gray/black colorway. OMG, it was amazing. I wish I'd taken a pix of it. You'd be stunned. It was paired on the mannequin with a lime-green skirt with black ruffly flounce at the bottom and the whole ensemble was perfect. So, of course, my lemming tendencies come out and I have to start one too. I'll see how big it is with the three skeins I have since I don't remember where they came from.

This stuff was new to me, Noro Silk Garden Lite. Yes, less filling. It's about DK weight and I quickly (well, quickly for me - about a week) did up a feather-and-fan lace cap in it. Pattern was written for bulky yarn, 72 sts. I did 96 sts, and mine won't fit an adult head. But it's OK. I'm considering doing some generic handwarmers with a repeat of the f-n-f pattern on the back of hand. This took less than one skein. And, yes, those two skeins are the same color AND lot number.

For quick and dirty, there is this Eskimo Yarn by Garnstudio. I bought 2 skeins, thinking scarf or hat, but it's only 55 yds per. I started a few things, the last thing I tried was a mitered square thing. I think it needs to be alternated with something else and cast on the long way for a scarf or just do a basic cap. It's sized for a US #11, 2.5 sts to the inch.



Went to the Oregon Coast for our anniversary last weekend and found some Plymouth Boku. It's much like Kureyon, with 5% silk. I started a Saxon braid with it, but I think I will frog that and just do a simple seed stitch scarf. I got 2 skeins of that; DH was with me, patiently sitting in the Spouse Chair, so I had to behave myself.

Finally, I was out several days this week with irritative or viral bronchitis (I think it was the "ambience" in our theoretically nonsmoking hotel room last weekend). So, I deserved a pretty. This is quite pale, although the photo makes it look more washed out than it is. This is looking nice for a right triangle scarf. 2 skeins of this too. I appear to be in a rut. Or maybe I'm just cheap.

Have a splendid weekend.

I am beyond delighted

After promising to be VERY careful with DH's new $$$ digital camera, and learning about only three of the eleventy-five buttons and switches on it, I was able to get pix of my first serious lace piece. It probably took me as long to pin it out as it did for this to dry - it was nearly 90F today.

Without further ado (and reluctantly saying adieu to the scarf tomorrow), here it is. Click on a thumbnail for the big picture.