These Are Not Mine

But they are too cute to not feature.  Linda from my LYS http://www.knit4together.com/ is knitting skirts like crazy .  I see one of the little ones in my future, ya think?!

Love Those Plastic Pins

They sure do come in handy.  While working on my Singapore vest, it comes to the part in the instructions where it tells me to knit for _ inches after the armhole shaping.  The nice part of this pattern?  If I was a beginning knitter, I might be tempted to measure the curve to my next stopping point.

But, this nice Sublime pattern qualifies it and tells me to be and sure not to measure the curve.  If, I was a beginner knitter, I'd be quite happy with that little insight into my pattern.

Not that you don't know how to do this already, but a fairly new knitter might not think of this.  I take my handy ruler that sits next to me.and lay it down on the back of the sweater starting at the armhole edge and parallel to the stitches.  I go out about 4 or 5 inches and then put my safety pin in.

Now, as I knit along, I can measure from the armhole start as indicated by my pattern up to wherever I am  and can have a pretty good measurement of when to stop.

If you are not a new knitter, you can ignore this rudimentary instruction into knitting. 

House Hunting

The on again off again saga.  The Tall Guy and I discuss houses more than almost anything lately.  Tonight, we saw two potential houses.  Just goes to show you a lot of homes look better on paper than in person.  I do think though that we are making a committment to continue the search for a different house.

Funny thing, both houses we looked at tonight, the owners definitely had children and they were out growing the houses they were in.  We are outgrowing our house too.  Not that we have more children, but family.  It has become quite evident that we can't get 25 people in our little house for gatherings.  Something I really want to be able to do more of.

I want to also be able to accomodate family, grandchildren and friends who come to town.  I want them to have room to move around in a bedroom.  I like family gatherings.  I remember that as a child getting together with aunts and uncles and cousins and having plenty of room.  We just need more room.

Problem with two houses we saw tonight?  First one, carpets needed cleaning.  They were light and noticeable spots on them.  Dining room not big enough for my table that was my mom's.  Our table is a monstrosity and it has to fit.  Basement, a little choppy and the first thing I noticed when I walked down the stairs - musty smell.  Turned me off right away. 

Second one, just too small.  Living room way too small, only enough room for the couch, huh?  Dining room - definitely not enough room. Kitchen, one of the best features of the house.  Updated all around.  Basement warm and nicely done, plumbing questionable.  Area - backs up to the loading dock of the local Krogers.

Down side on house hunting - what's with this listing of 2 bathrooms and you go to the basement one and all they are stools, sinks and rudimentary showers.  I come home and look at my new bathroom in our basement and say this is a bathroom.

Problem?  Or not as much a problem?  Our current house is no where near being ready to sell.  Nice part, if we find a house, we can move in and then work on our current house.  And we might have talked Baby Boy B to renting it for us while we work on it.

Big problem?  Seriously need to start knitting on the yarn I have!  Sacrifices have to be made.

The saga continues.....

Morning, Noon, and Night

Yep, I'm knitting three things at once.  Each of them have their time period for a specific reason.

This one is my Revive vest.  It's worked in pieces and there is just enough knitting on it for me in the morning while drinking my coffee, watching the news and waiting for the shower to open up.  Once the getting ready for work starts, the knitting has to stop. 

 This the Brooklyn Tweed Baby Blanket.  It's my lunchtime project at work.  There usually isn't a whole lot of time after I get done walking and eating to work on it, so it's just few enough stitches that I can get a couple of rows in.

You guessed it.  This is the evening project.  Since I have the most time at night to work on it, it sits next to me for knitting while watching t.v.  It's not real difficult, but ther are times when I am knitting the top of the hearts, that I have to pay some attention to it.  It's slow going though.  I was hoping to be further along with it by now.  It really seems like I knit a lot on it last night while watching the Voice.

I sort of have a plan of what I need to accomplish on this blanket.  At least one section of hearts needs to be completed by the end of each weekend.  If I keep to this timetable, I should have enough time to block it and have it ready to go by the baby shower on the 5th of May.

This Baby Stuff Is Addictive

In 2008, Debbie Bliss came out with her first issue of her knitting magazine.  Of all the issues, this very first one is my fave.  It has the most items in it that I still want to knit.  And with Ravelry, there are a couple of sweaters that really are catching my eye.  But, they are going to have to wait until the baby knitting is done or at least the stuff I want to knit for the first shower a little over a month.

While thumbing through the first issue, there was a baby blanket that caught my eye.  Most of all the colors kind of caught my eye.  This picture may not fully show the color, but the largest amount of the baby blanket is done out of a light gray Debbie Bliss Cashmerino.  The first trim is the lilac and the final is brown.

 I'm not knitting the blanket from the magazine, but just stealing the colors and the yarn.  Love the cashmerino, just have to say that.  I acutally am knitting Jared Flood's Tweed Baby Blanket.  When we first found out that we were going to grandparents, I tossed around the possibility of a Christening Blanket and maybe using Jared's pattern for it.  But, it just wasn't what I wanted in a christening blanket.

But, voila, an idea arose one night that I could use the colors and yarn from Debbie Bliss and knit Jared's blanket.    Oh, I forgot to mention, it is very possible that the DIL is doing the baby's bedroom in pink and gray.  How cool will this be?  I get to knit the pattern I want to and in the colors which are kind of different for me. 

I cast on tonight.  You get the addictive part now don't you?!  Normally, I am a very LOOSE knitter, so I started knitting it on a size 6 and now to get gauge I am all the way to a size 10.  Love Love the feel of this Baby Cashmerino!  It's way up there with Sublime in my estimation.

Yes, this baby knitting is addictive. 

Happy Spring!

It's finally here, although, it has been around for a couple of weeks.  We are 26 degrees above normal here in Central IL.  We've got the windows open and the dirt is flyin in the windows.  Thats what I don't like about Spring. 

I'm in baby knitting mode and last night ordered from both Jimmy Beans Wool and Webs some yarn for a couple of projects that I have my eye on.  When I get the yarns, I'll blog about them.

For now, enjoy the Spring evening!

On My Way To Bed Last Night

I thought I would just surf Ravelry for a bit, to pull up this pattern for a little kimono that I had been thinking about.  Wouldn't this be cute in a couple of cottons for Baby H?



But, then I started seeing this Moses basket liner.  How cool would that be?!  I realized I have some of the same yarn this  liner is made out of.  So, this morning I hauled it out and have been working on some gauge swatches out of it.  But, tonight, I've decided to order a more pinky color for it. 

 Best of all, both of my want tos are from this book.  And there a couple of other cool baby quick knit items in it too.

I'm off to order the yarn for it now.  Won't be using stash on this one!  There are so many baby things swirlin around my head.

I Love Sundays

Especially ones where it is March and 80 degrees.  Towards the end of the week, it should be more like normal, but until then I am going to enjoy it then.

For some reason, I have all my laundry done early.  Usually, I'd be running up and down doing laundry late today.  But, I am done done done!

So, today, I'm knitting on just what I want to.  My Singapore vest.  Not a baby thing, but for me. 

Tonight, I'll work on the baby afghan, but for now, I'm sitting back and enjoying the nice late spring weather, knitting and catching up on a couple of movies that have been sitting aroung- The Ides of March and Water for Elephants.

Sure, tomorrow it is back to work, but until then, I am enjoying this Sunday!

Smile, The Sun Is Shining

And it is warm.  I mean really warm for March.  I'm not complaining.  It gave me a chance to get home today and take some pictures outside while the sun was good for shooting pictures.  I'm using my new remote I bought at Christmas and have not had a chance to really use yet. 



I had a tank top on today and thought it would be a good time to get some pictures of Bloomsbury.  Sure, I plan on wearing it with a turtleneck in the winter, but there was no way a turtleneck was going on today.

 I cannot believe how long the hair is getting here.  What I really was going for here, was to zone in on the shaping of the waist.  Since the "hips" aka butt, is considerably larger than waist, I almost always try to do some sort of shaping at the waist. 

One of my most fave designers who does this well is Bonne Marie Burns.  I knitted one of her tanks last summer and really was pleased with the shaping.

What I have done here is to just change the needle sizes at the waist and then back out for the bust.  This is how Cheryl Oberle (of which I can say is my fave designer and to name drop, she is a friend), but anyway Cheryl uses this a lot in her patterns to achieve different sizes.  It works for me, because I didn't have to monkey with the patterning on this one.  Just pulled out some smaller needles and voila - shaping!

The yarn for Bloomsbury is Cascade Dolce and uber soft yarn with alpaca in it.

Love this jacket, but alas it is going to have to wait to be worn til next year. 

Changing Over

 When Baby Boy A got married and his bedroom became the yarn room, the closet became our storage for seasonal clothing among other things.  Before then, I had these huge Dell computer boxes in the basement that I would have to fold everything up and put away.  They were probably stacked three high and they were heavy.  I always had to have help when switching the clothes out to lift them down and then put them back up when I was finished.  Coupled with the fact that the basement is a little humid, every season I would have to wash the clothes before even thinking about wearing them.

With it all of a sudden becoming late Spring here this week, I had to go to the closet to find some clothes for the Tall Guy and I to wear.  At the same time, it became evident, that it was time to put some of the winter knitting away as well.

 For just a moment, I was hopeful that maybe I could wear this Blackstone Tweed vest yet this Spring as well if I would finish it.  Looking more closely, it is way too heavy and has a quite a bit of wool among other fibers in it that is not real conducive to spring wearing.

One of the things I decided to do when switching out my winter knitting was to switch needles too.  I cannot see the sense of putting away my fave knitting needles, Knit Picks Options for a whole seasons.  And since I have a collection of needles of pre-Knit Picks circular needles, I decided to use them as sort of place holders for my knitting before putting it away until next Fall.

The patterns of stored knits are going into the orange binder where all WIP patterns go if they can.  That way, next Fall or late this Summer when I am ready to pick them back up, I just have to go to the orange book.

The Cotton Kisses baby pullover is not being stored, but this is a project that I keep in another room, in case I need a little knitting when I am there.  Originally, it was for a baby shower last year, but I decided a hand knit sweater was a bit too much for a relatively unknown baby.  Since I don't knit on it much, I decided it didn't warrant holding my knit picks needles hostage, I decided to switch it over to some different needles as well.

While switching over this one, I am re-evaluating it.  This yarn would be pretty darn good for a little tank top.  According to a pattern in Ravelry, it is possible to knit it out of this with just shy of two balls.  So, I might just check that out at Knit Four Together and see if there is another one of these.  So as they say on American Idol, this sweater may be in jeopardy of not returning.

And finally, my new spring project.  This is one that I will take to knit on knit night, I think.  It is a vest that I picked up the yarn when we were in Madison a few weeks ago.   Idiot knitting and also knitting that I can do if I just have a couple of minutes to knit in the morning.

There is lots of baby knitting in the works too, but I'll leave those for another blog.

Tale of Two Yarns


















I'm putting these aside for just a short while since they are winter sweater yarns.  I hope I don't regret that and when I pull them out later this Fall need an extra skein.

 Funny - it wasn't too long after I bought the Felted Tweed on the right, that I realized just how close it is to the Cascade 220 Sport on the left in color and texture.  Bright thing?  The Cascade 220 Sport is for a cardigan and the Felted Tweed for a pullover.  And really, both of them will be worn quite differently, the Cascade more for work and the Felted Tweed for kicking around in blue jeans.

Finally

After about a ten hour sleep, I am starting to feel better. I can say that I am tired of chicken soup, toast, crackers and 7Up, but not ready for real food!

Did a few things today, but now I am ready to sit back and do a little knitting. A check of the upcoming week appears that spring may be gas approaching us. 60s and low 70s next week. Not quite ready for that yet. It is that dilemma of what to wear to work. Time to put the boots away, but not time for sandals yet.

And then, I guess it is time to switch out the winter knitting yarns and knitting projects for the spring ones. Oh, I am still knitting baby stuff,but sometimes, you just have to think about yourself. And we blog about those next week.

Scratch That

Not a 36 hour bug as hoped.  Chills and not feeling right back last night.  Today, just feeling off and "other" things. 

Can I say again, I don't like being sick?!  Really, what would I do if this was serious?  Hope things straighten around so I can go back to work on Monday. 

You Know I'm Sick

When the computer is not on and I am not knitting.

It all started yesterday morning in a meeting.  UGH!  Then, I thought I was okay.  Around about 2 pm, I knew that it was not going to get better, so home I went.

It's been a long time since I felt so bad.  Chills, aches, nausea, trips to the bathroom, headache, not wanting to eat anything.

You should have seen me last night.  Nightgown, hoodie sweatshirt with the hood up around my head, hair tucked in, sockies on, lights out, and under my warm blanket trying to watch the results show on Idol.  Oy, still could not get warm.  Finally went to bed, where I woke up every 2-3 hours achey. 

Good news, I feel better now, I think it is about a 36 hour bug, but I'm staying home this weekend so as not to infect anyone.  And I am knitting a bit, and the computer is on for just a bit so I can check in.

Can you imagine what I would be like if I was really sick?!  I don't do sick well, thats for sure.

An Hour A Day

I think I finally made a decision on the christening blanket.  I have had a couple of false starts and a whole lot of thinking about it.  Much too much time has spent thinking that could have been used to knit. 

I started on the circular one, and am leaving it on the needles for now, just in case I change my mind.  What I didn't care for in it, is the non softness of it.  And it's on size 1 needles.

With a little help from the Tall Guy, I think this one from an out of print Patons book is the one.  There is a couple of these knitted up in Ravelry that really caught my eye.  It gives the look of a Shetland Shawl which is what I wanted. 

The only problem with it is that the side borders are knitted and then sewn on and then the final border is sewn down around all four sides.  I am hoping that when it gets there, I can solicit some help from my friends to get me on track on picking up and knitting the borders on.

I've told myself that I must knit on it at least an hour every day.  If I am thinking right, the christening won't be until probably August, so I think I have that long to complete this one.  In the mean time, there are so many baby things in my mind to knit on.  Oy.

 Meet my new needle friends.  I bought these last week from Ewe-nique Yarns at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat.  I have heard about these lace needles and I thought I'd give them a try.

 I bought 2s and 3s to put in my knitting bag to fill in the sizes that Knit Picks interchangeables don't have in my set.  Since I am such a loose knitter and when doing these little baby things, I am using size 4 and 5 for the main knitting and generally need a 2 for the cast on and beginning rounds.

I am not dissappointed so far.  I like the nice sharp point for the K2togs and the needle itself is not super slick, almost like a brushed aluminum.  The red cord and join are pretty decent on this fine yarn too.

 I might see more of these in my future.

Finshed d'Objects

 Wingspan is done.  I actually started this back at the end of January, but the bulk of it was finished this weekend while at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat.  I knitted on it Friday night after getting home while catching up on American Idol.  Then finished it today while watching a new videocast:  mommyneedsyarn.  I met Erin at the Retreat and thought what the heck, might as well listen to something while knitting on it.

It needs blocking, but that will wait til after dinner tonight when I can have the table back.  I am not going to block it much though.  The little shawlette took all of the ball of Zauerball but 3 yards left.  It is really still amazing to me on how much I can accomplish when I concentrate on one project. 

Now, just to decide what is next.

 Just a couple of pictures of the Mushshishi Top Dow Raglan from Knitting Pure and Simple on a body.  I wore this Friday night to retreat.  I sure am glad that I did as it was darn cold out on Friday with the winds a whipping.

This has been done a while, just waiting on blocking, which I did last Monday while off and buttons which I finally sewed on Wednesday night.  I like the way this fits.  But, boy did I notice how tired those eyes are a looking.  And that was before the knitting retreat.

Off to find the next WIP to get it off of the needles!

Knitting Pipeline Retreat

The consensus last night while at the Knitting Pipeline Retreat over in Washington is that for $50, we are getting quite the deal. 

First off, these really neat totes.  Zippered top and all.  This was so unexpected.  Dinner was included last night with soup and salad bar (which rivaled any commercial salad bar) and a dessert that sent me over the edge.

This morning, it will be continental breakfast and lunch also.



There are vendors set up - Ewe-nique Yarns, The Fiber Universe and Paula's Longaberger Baskets.  The fair is limited to what they have, but still it is nice that they have some shops to set up.

Last night, there was a workshop on Goodwill Hunting that will be given again today.  It is about recycling sweaters for other purposes.  There will some other workshops today, but honestly, I am having a good time just knitting and meeting people and looking at what they are wearing.

As so aptly put, knitting functions are the one place where you can stare at what someone is wearing or run your hand down their arm and they don't go nuts on you.

 Knitters are that kind of people, yea they are.

The Knitting Tree

If the Knitting Tree was closer, it would be my yarn shop of choice, at least for yarn.  Not so sure for sitting around knitting on a Saturday, but definitely somewhere I would shop for yarn.

 I'm going to knit this vest just a little longer in back, but I hear that the yarn stretches a bit, but I should be okay with that.  Jackie was so helpful in picking out a color for me and telling me what size to knit.
I would have preferred the taupe, but the yarn is discontinued.  Although, Webs did have it in a darker taupe, but I am sticking with mu first choice.  This will be really good with jeans this spring/summer.

 I have been wanting to use Rowan Felted Tweed forecver.  This probably won't materialize until later this Summer, for next year's wearing, but I loved the pattern and they had a sample all knitted up.

The pattern that goes with this yarn was highly sought after, but the book is discontinued.  If you bought the yarn, the shop would copy and give you the pattern.  I loved the sample and again a nice piece for this spring/summer.  I am always on the lookout for vests for the next two seasons that can be worn over a t-shirt to dress it up and of course cover the belly!

Just Needed Blocking and Buttons

Finally, a couple of finished projects.  They both have needed some blocking and buttons which I managed to get done these last few days.  It feels so good to have a couple of things off the needles. I am seriously working hard to get some wips off of needles even though I am itching to baby knit, which I am doing in between.

 The Bloomsbury Jacket from Knitted Jackets has been on the needles since last year at Stitches Midwest when I found the yarn I had been looking for.  Knitted out of Cascade Dolce which is discontinued.  I can see this sweater next year being worn with gray pants and a cream turtle or heather gray turtle. 

I'll get to wear it this weekend I think, but with the warm weather fast approaching here, I doubt that I will get to wear it much this year.

The top down raglan from Knitting Pure and Simple has been on the needles since Stitches Midwest 2010.  The yarn is Mushishi that I bought from Mass Ave Knits.  This one too, has been a fun knit.  You know how I love top down.  The problem with this sweater and yarn was finding the right buttons, but I managed to do that at my neighborhood Walmart.  Go figure.

Onto the next wip!