Winding River Fiber Arts

New Blog Location

2012-01-04T10:14:00.001-08:00

Hello all! I know it's been ages since I posted in here, so I wanted to update it to let you know that I've got a new blog location for Winding River Fiber Arts yarns.

Please add http://windingriverfiberarts.blogspot.com to follow my updates, adventures, and yarn!

xxoo
Christina, Winding River Fiber Arts

Kindle Death (Kindle Sleeve Pattern)

2011-01-14T18:56:00.000-08:00

My Kindle needed an awesome sleeve, so after searching and not finding just the right thing... I wrote my own pattern.

Queue this pattern on Ravelry!

Kindle Death

Rowr Mitts - Test Knitting - New Pattern Review

2011-01-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

Knitting designer, Nakia Casey, had asked me to test knit her recent pattern, "Rowr Mitts" (Ravelry download here). It's a colorwork design, using two colors of your choice, and a quite easy-to-knit technique called mosaic or slip-stitch. I hadn't tried this method before, so I was excited to see how it went, in comparison to fair isle. It's a very cool method, and if you haven't tried colorwork before, or don't like trying to figure out how to hold both yarns at the same time, then give this pattern a try.

My daughter loves anything animal print, so she instantly took to her little leopard mitts!

I spent about one day of knitting for each mitt, and made the child sized pair for my daughter. I used my Twisted Sock yarn for these, but would also suggest using my Classic Sock yarn as it's 100% merino and fluffy fibers love to "hug" each other while doing colorwork. You will end up knitting one row of the chart with only one color at a time, and slipping the opposite colored stitches. Then you repeat that same row once more, then switch to your other color, knit those stitches, while slipping the opposite colored stitches and repeating the same row again, one time. Then move to the next row of the chart, and so on. This method makes it fast and really simple to manage.

The charts themselves are quite clear and easy to follow. The pattern itself is well-written so there's no guess-work. Overall, I really loved the pattern itself, and am loving the end result! This is the perfect kind of knit if you want some instant weekend gratification, or have a gift you'd like to make, pronto. They're pretty versatile as well, because the adult pair uses 3 repeats of the chart for the wrist until you get to the thumb gusset, but you can easily knit two or even one repeat depending on how long you want them to be on your arm/wrist. I used my kettle dyed yarn, and it looks great! You can also try out a gradient yarn as the background, or the contrasting color to change the ending effect.

It's a great project for giving colorwork a go, for a fast knit, and it definitely makes a little statement of it's own! It also uses a very small amount of fingering yarn... I believe I used less than 150 yds for the kids mitts with 2 chart repeats for the wrist/arm. I know I could not have used that much, since I used the remainder from that 400yd skein to make my husbands "We call them Pirates" fair isle hat.

I think one of the reasons these mitts knit up so quickly is because the chart and pattern changes enough to be interesting, and has a really great rhythm to it so that you don't want to put it down. It's more fun to just keep knitting it until it's done.

You never know what the Owls are going to deliver~ Harry Potter Sock Yarn Club!

2010-10-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, so maybe I'm a little obsessed. But well, it's fun! The signups are ready at my Etsy store for the newest Harry Potter sock yarn club. It's a six month club, and there will be goodies included in each shipment, and shipping in the US is included in the price!

Harry Potter 6 month Yarn Club in my Etsy shop

This time around, I have some ideas in mind, and I can't wait to put them onto yarn for the colorways. Good or bad, nice or naughty, person, place, or thing!

Colorways will be exclusive to the members of the sock club, and members can purchase additional skeins of their choice at any time. I'm not sure if I'm going to re-release the colorways after the club, but if I do, it will be at least six months after the club closes in 2011.

First shipment goes out December 15th, 2010, hopefully getting to you in time for the holidays. Oh, and this club could be anything from any of the books..

The Black Lake ~ New Harry Potter companion yarn!

2010-10-08T09:18:00.000-07:00

With the start of my Harry Potter 2010 Yarn Club underway, there is a new yarn that is a companion to the club. The dyeing process for this yarn is unique so the colors for this turned out just amazing!

The Black Lake ~ Hogwarts Lake

"And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood."
~Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

"There were rocks littering the lake bottom. He dived and snatched up a particularly jagged one and returned to the statue. He began to hack at the ropes binding Ron, and after several minutes' hard work, they broke apart. Ron floated, unconscious, a few inches above the lake bottom, drifting a little in the ebb of water."
~Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire

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Do you remember Hogwarts Lake?... The Black Lake. Harry crossed it in a tiny boat with Hagrid as a first year seeing Hogwarts Castle for the first time. The Merpeople lived there, and they held his friends under the water, captive, for the Second Task in The Goblet of Fire. The Merpeople came out to sing a lament song for Dumbledores final rest into The White Tomb...

Beautiful, luxurious colors of deep blues, paler blues, sea greens, emerald and browns play onto the sparkling blue faced leiscester yarn base. It has a high aqua cast in natural and bright lights, and outside of that you can see the deeper blues that play into it. This effect is achieved from the over-dyeing and gives it unique color.

BFL yarn is shimmery, quite strong, and soft; this blend has nylon added in to make it an even more durable softy. This one is also a superwash so you can machine wash it for ease if you choose.

It's a unique colorway with an initial kettle dye, then colors were hand painted on, then another immersion into the kettle to overdye the yarn.

Specs:
BFL Sock (80/20 superwash light sportweight BFL, nylon)
333 yds approx - 100g.
Heavy fingering to light sport weight sock
Machine wash gentle, dry flat

Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival

2010-09-27T12:12:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was the Oregon Flock & Fiber festival. I headed out there with my daughter so we could have a little girl-time (important when you're outnumbered by males 5 to 2 in your household ;) ) and check out the fiber stuffs.

The sheep, goats, alpacas, and rabbits were a big hit with my daughter, as well as all things soft and fluffy - which is most everything there really - she loved the angora rabbit and decided that this really needs to be our next animal for our household.

I found some dye that I needed at an excellent price, as well as picking up a drop spindle and some roving so I can try my hand at something new: Spinning! Now I haven't had much time to play with it yet, but if I ever want to own one of those gorgeous spinning wheels, I better get the hang of the drop spindle!

Just a little over 2 oz. of roving (mostly BFL from Tumble Creek Farm in Bend, OR) and my spindle bought from a Canby OR spinning guild.

Autumn Harvest Yarn 2-skein Packs for sale!

2010-09-20T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ohhhh I just love the Autumn season... I'm going to have to dye up some of these special Autumn Harvest yarn packs for myself too! I've had that Mythos pattern from Knitty's First Fall issue in mind... I think I might have just the right yarn in mind now too..

Order Autumn Harvest Yarn Pack

Right now in my Etsy shop I have Autumn Harvest Yarn packs for sale. Each pack is like a mini-club, meaning that it's two skeins of yarn, dyed in the same colorway and going out in one package. Each package comes with surprise Autumn goodies to enjoy during your seasonal knitting.

It'll be enough yarn for knitting a shawl, or a sweater like I'm thinking of above, gloves, mitts, a scarf, whatever project you've got in mind. It's available in my Twisted Sock yarn base, which is soft and plush, with a nice twist to it. The yardage for each double skein pack is listed below. And like always, anyone who orders yarn clubs or packs can order additional skeins of yarn if you want more of the same limited colorways. Just convo or email me to find out price per skein :)

~ Twisted Sock (80/20 superwash merion/nylon)
400 yds/100g. each skein = 800 yds/200g per package

Happy Autumn!

Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows 3 month Yarn Club - Now Open

2010-09-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Come and join in the HP knitting fun! Signups are open for the Harry Potter Yarn Club. This is going to be so much fun to work on... I can hardly wait to get started!

There are two clubs, a kettle dyed version, which will be yarns dyed in a dyepot with one main color that isn't mixed evenly. This results in the dye having tonal variations in it. The other option is variegated colors, which will be hand painted by me, and each colorway typically will have 3-6 colors per skein.

All of the colorways represent characters (or things!) in the last book. The movie is going to be released into US theatres in November and I can hardly wait to knit up some things with Harry Potter yarn!

Clubs go for 3 months, starting in October and continuing through December. There are two payment options, to pay in full, or to pay in two installments. Club price is $70 with free shipping to the US (shipping to Canada & Europe for a fee) or pay $35 now and $38 in October.

So far, the list of characters and things that have been suggested by members of the club, from my Facebook page, and from the club Ravelry group are:
Snape
Molly Weasley
Fred & George
Ginny
Draco
Lucius
Dumbledore
Voldemort
Shacklebolt
Grawp
Fenrir Greyback
Harry/Ron/Hermione
Horcruxes

Anything else that should be on the list? I will be choosing 3 of these for the colorways, and likely there will be different choices for each club since not all choices can be translated into a solid color for the kettle dyed club.

Feel free to join the Ravelry group even if you're not going to join the club, but love Harry Potter and want to keep an eye on things. Also, I'm updating my Facebook page with all of the news for the clubs as well.

Purchase a slot for the HP club through my Etsy shop.

My Buttony Sweater Pattern ~ or the Tweedy Fall Cardigan

2010-09-10T09:51:00.000-07:00

I have fallen in love with short-sleeved cardigans! The weather was rainy and cloudy yesterday, cool and in the 60's... Perfect for trying out my new buttony sweater! And oh, was it fun to wear. I can't wait until the next time I wear it, it really does it's job. It kept me warm and cozy, but it was lightweight in feel, and because of the short-sleeves it wasn't bulky. Quite amazing how it all fell together.

I kept notes of what I did as I knit it, and I would say it turned out to be an xsmall-small size. If I could knit it again, I would definitely start with less stitches (I would give it about 2 inches more negative ease) and start the decreases about an inch sooner (although if it was slimmer probably wouldn't need to do that). The yarn is very stretchy, the tweed yarn that I used I mean, so it really has a lot of spring and sproing and give.

Check out the buttons I found! I really love these... these are stones from a beach in southern California. Hand-drilled to make them into buttons. The organic energies of these buttons feels so great on my sweater! When you touch them, you can almost feel like you hear the waves splashing gently on the shore...

You can find these buttons by a wonderful Etsy artist, Made For Fun . Not only are her stones reasonably priced, and well-made, but they came packaged & wrapped beautifully, and with a couple of extra buttons to boot!

I love to buy local when I can, and definitely hand-made when I can... I'm always on the lookout for local or other hand-made artisans of every type, buttons, beads, fibers (I love finding great yarn/roving bases for dyeing!), or anything else. Drop me a line if you are a hand-made artisan so we can talk :)

OK, so onto the rest of the pattern and pictures.....

I'm very happy with the fit around the wait and hips

Perfect Fall outfit is complete with this quick and cozy knit...

Now... onto the pattern I ended up working out for this sweater. You can find the original pattern here on the web, and here on Ravelry. I looked over Raptwithfiber's notes and then started off on my journey on making it fit for me.

I choose to use two worsted wools held together:
Araucania Nature Wool & Plymouth Tweed
I started with a size #10 needle, but switched to a #9 needle. I would suggest using the #9 for the whole way. I just didn't want to tear it all back out again and thought it would be OK like it was. Knit back & forth on circulars. The edging with the buttons/buttonholes is knit in garter stitch, so you will be knitting the last 6 sts no matter which side you're on (WS or RS).

WindingRiver Buttony Cardigan

Forests of Fall Smoke Ring

2010-08-23T09:36:00.000-07:00

Now, this project was fun to knit.... I decided on a smoke ring, wimple, or cowl, if you will. I used a lovely yarn from Biscotte & Cie in the Boreal Forest colorway. I've been having fun using up my stash by the way, it's so much fun to just shop for yarn in your own house!

First August project completion is my Forest of Fall Smoke Ring and I am so pleased with it.

This pattern is the Wavy Feathers Wimple pattern, and it is such a lovely knit. It knits up quickly, is easy to remember, and is nearly mindless knitting with enough variety to quell boredom.

It is so soft and squishy... I think I'm officially becoming addicted to cowls. Now I want to have many so I can throw them on whenever I like. It's really the kind of thing I can wear all day long and it doesn't get in the way - which is a plus with five kids and always having full hands - but it's snuggly and warm, but not too hot even with temps in the 60's. This is knit from a 80% superwash wool with 20% nylon.

This last picture is taken before I blocked it, and really it's quite fine without blocking. The blocking pulls out the pattern of course, and gives it some extra size, but it's very stretchy and I imagine that I can just machine wash it and dry, then take out when it's a little damp and sort of shape it for a quick dry.

The Elvish Cami Project

2010-08-23T09:15:00.000-07:00

During July I ended up working on the Inamorata Camisole. I began it three times, with the third time seeming to be the one that was charmed. I'm not sure why, but although I got gauge with a #6 needle when I tested it, I had to go way down and use a #2 and #4 when I was knitting it. This is why I ended up re-starting it because the first time I knit it, it was about 6 inches too large.

I used my 'Prince of the Wood Elves' colorway (this is a colorway that's named after Legolas from Lord of the Rings) and thus began my Elvish Cami. I held it double during the entire project and it created a very nice, and dense fabric. It's quite cool and comfortable to wear as well. So after all of my work, I needed to find the perfect buttons. A local Portland clay artisan was the answer. BeadFreaky makes these lovely clay buttons, beads and pendants. I absolutely love the tree buttons with the yarn, all coming together to make my Elvish Cami be what I pictured in my mind.

The best part is that the yarn is a superwash and I decided to try washing it inside a pillowcase the other day. I also tossed said pillowcase into the dryer on medium and then pulled it out after a regular cycle and hung it up to finish up drying since it was just the slightest bit damp. It looked just as fabulous as when I'd soaked it by hand and blocked it! I have to love that "wash and wear" aspect. Superwash yarns are beginning to really get on my good side, I'm telling you...

Video ~ knitting cables without a cable needle

2010-07-09T16:54:00.000-07:00

For most cable projects, I've found it's easier to not have to use a cable needle in addition to your regular knitting needles. For a project like my Elvish Cami I'm knitting (aka Inamorata), this is especially true as the cables are 2 sts total.

During the course of my knitting this, I filled in the chart and ended up converting it from chart-form, to written out instructions. Since I normally do charts in the round, the whole back & forth charting, with purls and knits being both grey squares and white squares depending on which row I was on, I just found it faster for my brain to not have to go through that step each row. You can find my blog with the written pattern here.

And, now onto the video.......

Inamorata Chart - converted to written

2010-07-09T08:45:00.000-07:00

Wow, life's been busy again...I've been working on Inamorata with some gorgeous Tinsel Toes merino/tencel blend yarn from The Unique Sheep. Painty had a Lord of the Rings sock club (now she's onto #3) a while back, and I could not resist her lovely yarns. This was back before I started dying my own yarns, and when I saw Inamorata needed a sock yarn held double, I dug through my stash, and there it was.... Prince of the Wood Elves staring at me, shining silvery with little flecks of brown and green. One of my favorite things is to wind up yarn just before a project so I get to see the light play across it's colors and help me envision the finished project. It's a different type of yarn for me, since it has 50% tencel in it, it has more of a feel like a cotton will, and I predominately knit with wools or alpaca/llama yarns... but it is nice, and is a perfect yarn for such a Summery camisole. Just the right color to show off the cabling, and just the right fibers for a light Summer cami. Now... if only I can get the right sizing. That is another blog post though, and this one I'm going to have the cable chart conversion on, so I'll get to the subject. I will also add in another blog later with a short video with cabling without a cable needle. This is a great project to learn it on too since these are tiny cables and quite simple to cable without a separate needle.

Note: I didn't think it would be necessary, but I found this pattern to be much easier with using stitch markers to mark each pattern repeat on my work. I had my two end stitch markers to separate the 3 (or 2 depending on the size you're making) stitches at each end of the work that are not worked in the pattern repeat, and then I used plain ring stitch markers to separate each 8 st pattern repeat. This way, if I made any errors, my brain found them faster and could identify the pattern much more easily as I went along. It saved much time down the road rather than counting out each section all together to see where the mistake was etc.

Inamorata Chart Conversion

Queue this on Ravelry
Inamorata pattern on Knitty

*keep in mind that you are knitting back and forth in this chart, not in the round. You can easily knit this in the round, by not joining it but knitting as though it were. If you do this, on every even numbered row, you'll need to reverse the directions & stitches (i.e. row 2 would become: p2, k2, p4).

(Begin and end each row with the 3 (or 2 if your size requires) each reverse stockinette stitches as pattern states)

Row 1: p2, kfb, p4
Row 2: k4, p2, k2
Row 3: p1, c2b, c2f, p3
Row 4: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 5: c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 6: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 7: k1 tbl, k4, k1 tbl, p2
Row 8: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 9: c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 10: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 11: p1, c2fp, c2bp, p3
Row 12: k4, p2, k2
Row 13: p2, c2f, p4
Row 14: k3, c2f, c2b, k1
Row 15: c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 16: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 17: k4, c2f, c2b
Row 18: k1, p2, k5
Row 19: k5, c2b, k1
Row 20: k1, p2, k5
Row 21: k4, c2b, c2f
Row 22: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 23: c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 24: k3, c2bp, c2fp, k1
Row 25: p2, c2f, p4
Row 26: k4, p2, k2
Row 27: p1, c2b, c2f, p3
Row 28: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 29: c2b, k2, c2f, p2
Row 30: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 31: k1 tbl, k4, k1 tbl, p2
Row 32: k2, p1, k4, p1
Row 33: c2fp, k2, c2bp, p2
Row 34: k3, p1, k2, p1, k1
Row 35: p1, c2fp, c2bp, p3
Row 36: k4, p2tog, k2

Like the pattern states, you will have 7 stitches for the pattern repeat, increased to 8 sts for the repeat beginning on Row 1. Row 36 decreases you back down to your original number of stitches.

If you see any mistakes, please email me so I can update it :)

Here's a pic of what my chart looked like after all my notes on it

Teaching my kids the art of the fiber arts

2010-04-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

Today was "take your kids to work day". My husband brought my older boys to work with him today, and I starting thinking that I could keep Morgana home with me and I could show her how I create my hand painted yarns. Thinking of it, our 3 year old Gabriel has been desperately wanting to dye his own yarn, after watching me dye my Alice in Wonderland series of yarns.

The day started off pretty darn nice. I slept in to 7am, which is wonderful on a school day. I made myself some coffee, and let my morning just come along slowly since I had plenty of time to kill while I waited for my husband to come back with the car.

The yarn journey started at Northwest Wools in the village. They both picked out some alpaca/wool blend to dye. Morgana told me she wanted me to knit a stuffed kitty, and she wanted pink and gold ochre for her yarn. Gabriel just wanted blue yarn so I could knit him a puppy.

Gabriel getting on with his blue painting!

Morgana begins with pink, after she figured out how she wanted to paint her color sections.

Gabe has used two blues, green, and now a third tone of blue. You can see me starting off my Trail Blazer red for my playoff socks :)

She added in her gold ochre to her pink.

Gabriels yarn wrapped and ready to be heated to set the dye.

She's all done! I think her colors look like a Spring sunset.

We wrapped up M's yarn and it's getting ready to be heated.

When Gabriel was done, he did red, blues, greens, and created some purples. He took some of my black dye I mixed up and he added a little of that to it. His yarn is heat set, and cooling here.

Go Blazers! Almost done painting the yarn. Black dye is sooo messy I had to really be careful using such dark colors to not let them contaminate each other or seep while keeping an eye on the kids and their dye.

A little self-made bed he made while waiting for his yarn to set. Peregrin looks on in the background, admiring his brothers work. For a 14 month old, he really did good playing calmly while we got three skeins of yarn painted. Seriously.

Not a great representation of the the colors, but here are their yarns, hand-dyed by a 3 yo and a 6 yo, and heated, cooled, rinsed and now hanging up to dry. Should be ready in about 2 days, then it's onto winding it into a knittable ball of yarn, and knitting these skeins into a kitty and a puppy.

Alice in Wonderland Yarn Series - Cheshire Cat - Special Edition colorways!

2010-04-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

In my new series of Wonderland inspired yarns, I have one colorway set ready to go, and up in my Etsy store. I have more colorways drying as I type this, and they will be added in the next few days.

If you haven't already, you can fan me on Facebook too for updates and notices about colorway releases.

Here is Cheshire Cat....

Look for more new colorways this week!

New Happenings, New Blog Name, New Etsy....New Stuff!

2009-12-04T21:52:00.000-08:00

So, as chance would have it, I've ended up selling my hand knit items. Which has turned into an Etsy shop, which has turned into me being inspired to try more new things. Here are some pictures of what's new that I'm up to!

All of these items are up for sale right now in my Etsy shop. I'm currently working on some custom orders, but will be adding new colorways soon, as well as some new items. If there's something you're interested in, drop me a note and I'll let you know what I can do :)

Here is some new yarn that I dyed. The colorway is "A Child's Autumn".

These are some wrist warmers that are knit up in a really fabulous hand spun wool. Dark forest green, little bits of red, blue and yellow mixed in. They are so soft and cozy, I'm really happy with how these turned out!

And finally, a baby girls beret. Made of soft merino wool and a little bit of cashmere for extra luxury!

Kiddo Mitts Pattern with pictures to show two at a time cast on

2009-11-13T14:15:00.001-08:00

Kiddo Mitts

(in Harry Potter Gryffindor 'Apprenti Sorcier', see yarn description below)

These are on my 8 year old, who is petite and slender, but have enough ribbing stretch in them to accommodate most kids age 3 years to 8 years or more. They are easily adapted by adding in two to four stitches on the cast on edge to fit kids with larger hands and arms.

Needles: size US 2, 47" circular

Yarn: Biscotte & Cie 'Apprenti Sorcier'

Skills: magic loop, two at a time, long-tail CO, knit, purl, peasant thumb

(picture instructions below for getting started if you haven't knit two at a time on magic loop before)

I knit these two at a time on magic loop. If you prefer, you can work them one at a time on DPNs or on a circular. Just cast on like you normally would instead of following the cast on I'm giving.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CO 48 sts and pull the end loop of the circular needle out so there are 24 sts on each side.

Push the sts back up to the needle tips and exchange the end st from each needle to close the circle. Then, pull back down so you can cast on for second mitt.

With a second ball of yarn, CO 24 sts (half of your total sts for one mitt) onto one needle for your second mitt.

Now, use your other needle to transfer these sts purlwise to your other needle.

This will put your working end where it needs to be to cast onto the other needle and close your circle by exchanging end sts like before.

Holding the working end of the yarn, ready to cast on the remaining 24 sts onto the other needle.

Two sts cast onto second needle using long tail cast on.

All sts cast on for second mitt, ready to exchange sts to close the circle and begin knitting.

(images above are knit using Biscotte & Cie's dark wizard colorway)

Both mitts cast on, circles closed by exchanging sts, with separate balls of yarn for each mitt. Ready to knit :)

Now that we are cast on and ready to go, when you are working with two at a time, you will knit along the first side of one mitt, then you will knit along one side and the other side of the second mitt, then you can finish up the last side of the first mitt and you will have completed one full round on each mitt at this point. I find it helpful to add a little stitch marker to the first mitt (or sock if I'm knitting socks) so that I always remember when I complete a full round on both. I usually just attach an clasp-type marker to the first row of knitting after I've completed a few full rounds and leave it there until I'm done.

*K2, P2* repeat in asterisks for each round, until you have knit 3" or 4" for the cuff and hand portion of the mitt. My example is knit in 4" length.

Using a waste yarn of contrasting color (important it's contrasting so you can find it easily), knit 7 sts onto waste yarn, then tuck ends inside work and pick up regular working yarn, leaving a comfortable float where you knit with the waste yarn.

Continuing knitting in pattern of K2, P2 for another 1" to 1.5" (example is knit in about 1") to complete the mitt. Use a stretchy bind off like Elizabeth Zimmermann's Sewn Bind Off

note: I usually bind off one side and then use the needle I just finished on to transfer sts onto so I can continue around in my bind off. You will only need to do this for the first mitt, as when you get to the second it's the only one left on the needles.

Now you are ready to knit the thumb.

Carefully remove your waste yarn and put the live sts onto your needles. Knit around first 7 sts, pick up 2 sts on side, continue onto other needle, knitting other 7 sts and pick up two more sts on other side of thumb.

Continue in pattern now of K2, P2 for about 5 rnds and bind off using EZ's bind off like described above for mitt bind off.

Do the same for second mitt. Any questions or corrections, please comment or email me so I can update. Thanks!

So much

2009-11-01T21:40:00.000-08:00

That's the title, and then some. Let's not worry about past circumstance since that's more work to catch up on, but let's instead just focus on where we are currently at the moment. Currently, I'm knitting the Star-crossed slouchy beret, and working on Rosamund's cardigan. Pip ripped apart my notes with the rows and pattern area that I was currently at, but hey, I'll get around to figuring that out. This is just a little pick-me-up blogging. Totally can't believe it's November. Time for the big boys birthdays. So ready for the holidays... yes I am. Slightly timid as I've learned to be with life now, but yes, ready and excited.

Saturday drive

2009-02-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

So, I'm sitting here trying to knit Jim's socks, since Peregrin and Gabriel are napping (and Jim too!). I'm watching BBC News and I'm feeling like I should/need to do a million things which is probably why I'm blogging instead of just knitting. I really need to turn on the Celtic radio and just listen and knit.

However, we took a nice drive out to Multnomah Falls yesterday. I love going there, and so does the rest of the family. It was after 3pm when we left though, so we got there around 5pm since we had to stop to eat first. It was pretty cold, and to make it colder, the wind was blowing like hell. The river was completely choppy and being at the Falls wasn't exactly a warm idea. Ah, but it was still pretty. And I love drives. I don't need a destination, I just need myself in the car and some time. My favorite thing is to drive and see where I end up; to discover new things and new places. It always settles the kids down, and I feel completely at peace. Especially if there are lots of trees nearby. I love trees....woods....forests.

I also love to feel like I don't have to do anything in particular. Like when I get on the freeway and I feel like I can just keep going. I don't have to go anywhere but where I want to. Just keep on going until I get to where I want to, and have a new adventure. Life seems like that, like I can just keep going down the road, and enjoy all the stops along the way and just enjoy where I end up as I wander along. I mean that metephorically and literally.

Well, back to reality right now, and here's some pics of the kids and the falls. We weren't there long as it was getting a bit dark, and for once, I wasn't in the mood for a hike up the mountain to the falls. I really just felt cold.

This is what it looks like when I look back in our van. Carseats, boosters, everywhere. Oh yeah, and kids too.

Top of Multnomah Falls, from the bottom.

Whoa, look at the water!

"We're a wild and an untamed thing!"

"No, I'm not coming!"

OK, so that's it. I'm going to get back to knitting now because I'm paranoid that the kids are going to wake up before I can do anything. And PS, I'm pretty happy that I've only got about 20lbs left to lose to get down to pre-pregnancy weight. I was so puffy at the end of my pregnancy that for the first time I honestly didn't want my picture taken. Now, I finally get that. I really should work out a little though. My tummy is always the hardest thing to get back down and into shape.

Yarnie Yarnie - Pics - Massive Yarn Score!

2009-02-18T13:10:00.000-08:00

I'm trying to catch up with all my yarnie goodness, so here's my package from Biscotte & Cie that I received on Feb. 6th. I have made little progress with Jim's socks, but I'm centered on making longies for Peregrin right now. This yarn, however, will be socks. Socks for me, socks for Peregrin, and socks for who knows who!

The Harry Potter Yarns....

This is the Watermelon self-striping yarn. I wish I had an example of how it knits up. Well, I will when I get to some socks for Miss M with it.

And, finally this is my Sgt. Pepper's yarn from her Yarn Club for February. I just love hand-dyed self-striping yarn!

Now here's my February yarn for The Unique Sheeps Lord of the Rings sock club. The package has a pin, some dreamy tea, the Hobbiton sock pattern, and the Hobbiton colorway.

Here's my Three Irish Girls yummy BFL yarn that we picked out for Peregrin's soakers.

Aiden

Nolan

And finally, if you've made it to the end of this post, then I'm going to reward you with some chubby cutie-pie goodness!

Valentines

2009-02-16T14:20:00.000-08:00

So Jim and I hadn't really discussed doing anything for Valentines. I pretty much think it's a greeting card holiday....well it really is thanks to that Victorian card designer whose name escapes me. Ah, but anyhow....and Jim was working a late shift that day as well. I think just having a glass of wine and hanging out is enough. Just taking a little time together. Gifts and cards are nice, but I like making Jim cards and notes for holidays. It seems so much more true of a way to let him know how I feel.

So we did that Friday since he was home - had some wine and watched LOST (which can be downloaded from xbox live ....I had no idea!). Jim brought back chocolates from the store with the wine though. Sneaky. Then when we got up Saturday I asked Jim to make me coffee and he made me a latte instead.

Then when he came back from Baker & Spice Saturday he had a cake for me along with the bread. He's relentless! And it was delicious....

I also got some flowers from Jim, which were waiting on the table for me.

Mirkwood (cargo) Longies are the cuteness

2009-02-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

So here are is latest FO for Peregrin. Jim picked up this delicious Araucania yarn in color #805 last Saturday. It was right before store closing and I started freaking out that Peregrin needed more longies as newborns go through them a bit faster with all the constant changes. I had only made two since I wanted to wait and see what sex the baby was before I made too many "neutral" ones.

eta - i did make a newborn curly purly which was too small for him right after birth, and the wrap i was testing for snasna which works great except it's too narrow to cover the prefold and is merely a spare for emergencies.

Luckily for me, Jim completely understands what colors and textures of yarn I like. I sent him with the mission of finding a good color in either the Aysen or Malabrigo worsted. He did well, because I love what he came home with. And then I set to work to get some longies done. It took me a couple days to get started on them because Peregrin and I were trying to get into our groove of doing things. Up to this point I had really only held him and sat down and relaxed.

Here's the link to my project in Ravelry.
I decided on doing pockets for these longies (faux ones as he doesn't really have anything to put into them right now..). They became the "Mirkwood Longies" as I'm kinda going into a LOTR thing again lately and after all, his name is Peregrin right. So all things LOTR is good.

So, complete with little wood leaf buttons on the pockets, the cargo longies are complete. I decided on doing a longer rise, and did a size small. I added in three short rows in the back, and instead of doing seed stitch cuffs, I left them in stockinette so they'd roll naturally. The benefit to that is that you can add onto the leg length with many options if the body still fits as they grow. I don't think this will be necessary as Peregrin seems to have a longer truck and shorter legs. We'll see.

I made a twisted cord for tieing the waistline, and I did the waist ribbing in a 3x1 twisted rib, with eyelets on every purl about halfway down the ribbing.

Overall, I'm very happy with them, and they are currently laying to dry after lanolizing them this morning. I especially love the pocket and button detailing on them. Now I just need to start collecting some shirts to match up with his longies that I make.

I really am in love with longies right now. I never really wanted them with the other kids, but they are so easy....just put on a prefold or fittted diaper and then the longies over them. One less step of a cover and pants as well, as the cover itself is a pair of pants. Less bulky and oh so cute to have knitted pants. He got lots of compliments yesterday on the "pants" he was wearing made of Manos del Uruguay.

I've ordered some Three Irish Girls BFL worsted in colorways "Aiden" and "Nolan" for his next pairs of longies. That should be arriving this week and then I can get to work on those. (eta - just got an email it shipped out today!)I haven't picked out any complimenting colors for those yet, so I'll see what I do with them. I really do need to start buying him some clothes though to match with the longies. I've only gone out of the house once since he was born - yesterday in fact. We took the kids to a Valentines party one of the moms hosted. Lucky for me, it was fairly quiet. As silly as I can be at times, Jim's the one to do all the physical jumping around and playing with the kids.

I've got more yarn from Biscotte & Cie in mostly all Harry Potter colorways to post about. That will be coming next. Right now I've got a sleepy newborn and a fussy 2 year old to deal with...

Welcome Earthside! The Birth of Peregrin Jameson

2009-02-12T14:10:00.000-08:00

I'd like to introduce the newest member of our clan!
Peregrin Jameson
Born Feb. 2nd, 2009
4:15am
Weight: 8lbs 10 oz
Length: 21 inches
Head: 14 1/2 inches

It was a wonderful and quick birth. I woke up with a contraction at 2:40am, I called Jim at work at 3:15am right after my water broke, and I was holding him in my arms at 4:15am. It was a water birth, in our tub at home, and this time Jim got to catch him himself! Peregrin's shoulder was stuck on his way out, so I changed position and asked Jim to come over and help catch him while I pushed.

We are absolutely in love with our little darling, and I will probably be adding in a more complete birth story later on. I've always written them right away, but I just don't feel like sitting down and doing that just yet.

I spent our first week together doing nothing but relaxing and recuperating with Peregrin while Jim was here and did absolutely everything else. He was amazing, and I really couldn't have asked for more. I feel great, Peregrin is doing wonderfully, and generally, there's a whole lot of love and contentedness in our house. He is getting a ton of love from his three big brothers, and his big sister.

New Yarn!

2009-01-28T15:24:00.000-08:00

"Old Tom Bombadil is a merry fellow; Bright blue his jacket is, and his boots are yellow."
~The Fellowship of the Ring, JRR Tolkien

The Bombadil colorway that I ordered for Jim's socks has arrived today! It is sooo soft, and it's in Sushi Socks yarn by The Unique Sheep. I ordered a bigfoot hank of it so it's 580 yards of squishy soft goodness. That should be enough to make his socks and then either some for Gabe or the baby or both! Or whatever. I'm thinking of using the leftovers from my socks to knit into squares and then make a quilt out of those. That would be fun I think...to have a rustic and eclectic quilt that reminds me of all the wonderful projects I've completed.

Plus...I got the stuff today with that yarn, that I ordered for my swap partner in Denmark. I need to send it out this week so it's gets to her on time since it's a Valentines Day swap. Although I think it'll be going international priority so it's faster and trackable so I should be OK on time. I just need to put all the little goodies together. I will take pics and then wait to post them until after she recieves the package. I know she was mailing hers out also...so I get to get a yarny gift in the mail! !!

OK, so I need to get to work on Jim's socks which will take a little bit of swatching since I don't know his specs yet as this is the first pair of socks for him. If it goes as easily as the mitts did with hitting the fit the first time I tried, then all is well. These are going to be the most colorful socks or, well, anything Jim has ever worn. But they are Bombadil socks from one of the most fun and, left out, characters from The Fellowship of the Ring (left from the movie I mean). If it's related to some geeky thing I like, then I will totally knit a sock out of it. There's just something really fun in that. I can't wait until Biscotte puts out her Professor Trelawney and Jack Sparrow colorways from her Fall sock club....I'm totally buying those.

So...if I get to Jim's Bombadils, then on Sunday I get to open up my yarn package that's been waiting quietly and patiently in my bottom stash drawer and see what the first colorway and pattern is for Feb! Jim has tried to tell me to just open it up anyhow because I can do whatever I want (after all), but I have resisted and encouraged him to remember that part of the fun is that you get to do one per month and that's the point of an exclusive sock club. Ruining surprises isn't very much fun. It's like opening your xmas presents in the middle of December. Of course you can, but why would you want to ruin the point of the event?

Jim's Pirate Mitts

2009-01-23T17:42:00.000-08:00

Argh! These things really knit up fast and fun! I think they're a great project for my first fair isle pattern. I adapted the pattern so they would fit Jim instead of me! Here's what I did....

Yarn: I used worsted weight - black (MC) & off white (CC). Cascade 220 as Jim likes simple, sturdy wools for his hands.

Needles: I used 16" circulars in size 7 (two).

Mods: Besides upsizing my needles and yarn weight, to do them "mitt style" I worked the regular chart until row 31, and then I did row 32 completely in my MC (black), row 33 completely in my CC (white), and row 34 completely in MC (black). To prevent rolling, I began a 1x1 ribbing in both CC & MC like the cuff had. I did 3 rounds of ribbing, and then did one final round of MC. I finished it off with a sewn bind off, continuing in black.

The thumb was worked like the directions, but I picked up an additional 5 stitches to make it a total of 23 stitches to fit my husband's thumb. I worked the chart for a total of 6 rounds, then one round of MC, and the sewn bind off to create an open thumb.

Final Measurements:

Length - 9.5" approx.

Width - 8" approx.

Thumb - 4" approx.

I'm fascinated by the checkerboard and stripes in black and white. It's sort of swirling around in my head along

with the Alice in Wonderland ideas I have. I love this pattern. I think I'm going to have to make the pirate hat also.

Cheshire Cat Socks

2009-01-21T15:21:00.000-08:00

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to walk from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat.

"I don't care much where -----" said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you walk," said the Cat.

"----so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. "What sort of people live about here?"

"In that direction," the Cat said, waving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter; and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

-Lewis Carroll

Here is the Shetland lace pattern that I modified to make 5 holes so it looks like a cat's paw print. It starts at the toe and creeps up the foot and leg and around the ankle.

Picot bind off on the cuff because "it looks pretty" and it looks like a crown on the top.

So I finally finished up these socks! I am pleased with the design and the colors, but I kept putting them off because I wasn't pleased with the yarn. It was too splitty and took lots of tension-correction, and feels like really dry cotton. I'm going to find someone to do a custom "Cheshire Cat" colorway for me so I can knit up some more in some yummy yarn. And I will be making an adult pair! These are being worn by my 4 year old right now. Pattern will be available soon. I plan on doing some toddler/kids sizes and then adult. It's very simple and knits up very fast.

Perhaps after this next project, I will do some more from Alice in Wonderland. Queen of Hearts socks, White Rabbit, etc. Hmmm.

Belly Mask, Belly, and the kiddos

2009-01-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

Jim got the belly mask, or belly cast, done this past Friday. He bought the materials for it back about a month ago, but we just didn't seem to get the time to get it done. We had an hour in-between picking up the kids and he asked if I wanted to try to get it done. It took him less than half an hour this time and here is the raw casting.

We haven't actually finished off any of the belly masks we've done. I don't know if I want to though. I like the way it looks raw. I still have Morgana's packed up, and hopefully it's not damaged since I haven't checked it at all since we moved 3 years ago.

This is the one we did from Gabriel's pregnancy. They look remarkably similar, with the exception that my belly was lower on his but the roundness and size is similar. I'd like to get Morgana's out soon to compare with hers as well. Hers was done with my hands across my belly which was much more time-consuming, as well it being the first time we did it. I remember I had a very distinct one-hour-long period of prodromal labor after that belly casting.

Here is my big ol' belly last Friday.

I was smiling at Gabriel as he was making sure that I remembered he was there.

Gabriel having a blast playing with Morgana, Jim, and I in the bedroom. I kind of think he has a pretty infectious smile and laugh.

Morgana and I hanging around together. I'd post some pics of the older boys but they are never around when it's time to take a picture. They seem to always be busy with other things. But then again, I suppose it might be a little scary if they were jumping around on the bed with me...I might get squashed! ;)

Newborn Jaywalkers, Toe-up Pattern

2009-01-08T13:57:00.001-08:00

I decided to use the Jaywalker pattern and scale it down to a newborn size. The original Jaywalker pattern by Grumperina can be found here on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/jaywalker#

I did them toe-up, two-at-a-time, with a magic cast-on (Cat Bordhi's video is a great example as well), and a Fleegle heel.

You can queue these in Ravelry.

Yarn
Fingering weight (First photo - Angels & Elephants in color Polperro, Second photo - Plymouth Happy Feet in color 11 - Olive/Wine), small amount

Needles
Circulars or DPN's in #0 or #1 (I used both sizes to do them two-at-a-time since that's what I had) This is written with using two circulars, so if you use DPN's, then adjust it to how you arrange sts on them.

Finished size
foot length approx 3" (this is customizable), foot circumference approx 3.5"

Stitches used
kfbl - knit through the front of the loop, then without slipping off needle, knit again through back loop and then slip off needle (increased one st)
dd - double decrease, slip two sts together knitwise, then knit the next st, now slip the two slipped sts over the knit st.
sewn bind off - using tapestry needle, thread needle purlwise through next 2 sts on needle, then back through first st knitwise and slip that st off needle, continue until all sts are worked and weave in ends.

Toe
Begin by casting on 12 sts using the magic cast on. You will have 6 sts on each needle.
Rnd 1: Knit all sts
Rnd 2: (inc rnd) k1, inc1, k to last st, inc1, k1 - x2

Repeat these two rounds until you have 32 sts total between both needles (16 sts per needle)

Instep
Now you will be working the pattern on the instep needle, and plain stockinette on the sole needle.

Pattern -
k1, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, kfbl, k1, dd, k1, kfbl, k1

Rnd 1: knit all sts
Rnd 2: work in pattern on instep needle, work plain stockinette on sole needle

Repeat these two rounds 9 times to reach a foot length of 2" or until 1" shorter than desired length of foot. The gusset and heel turn will normally consume about 1" of length so you can adjust your final foot size with that in mind.

Gusset
Work in pattern across instep needle, and then began gusset increases on your sole/heel needle.

Working on the sole/heel needle now, k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1. On instep needle, continue where you are at in the pattern (either a knit row or pattern row). On sole/heel needle, knit all sts.

Rnd 1: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) k1, inc1, knit to last st, inc1, k1

Rnd 2: (instep needle) Work where you are at in pattern
(sole/heel needle) knit all sts

Repeat these two rounds until you have 26 sts on the sole/heel needle (you will have 16 sts on the instep needle still, bringing you to a total of 42 sts between both needles).

Now, you are ready to begin turning your heel, which will be worked only on the sole/heel needle. Note where you leave off in pattern to pick it back up (either a knit row or pattern row) after you turn the heel.

Turn the heel
Place a marker in the middle of the sts on the sole/heel needle. You will have 13 sts on either side of the marker. All work will be done on this needle only for now.

Knit across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. k2tog, k1, turn
Sl1 purlwise, purl across the needle until you are two sts past the marker. p2tog, p1, turn

*sl1 knitwise, knit across needle until 1 st before gap, k2tog, k1, turn
sl 1 purlwise, purl across needle until 1 st before gap, p2tog, p1, turn*

Repeat these two rounds until you have ended on a purl round and have two sts left on each side. Now you will sl1 knitwise, and knit until 1 st before the gap, k2tog, k1, and NOT TURN. Continue working now on your instep needle (no gap this way - see Fleegle heel link above for clarification).

Ankle
Continue working in pattern where you left off and work in pattern on both instep and heel/needle so it wraps around the ankle on both sides. Work for 9 complete repeats of pattern (18 rnds) or until desired length.

Cuff
Work in 1x1 ribbing for 6 rnds or until desired length.

Bind off using the sewn bind off. More information and pictures can be found here.

Any corrections, or questions or whatever, let me know. I'm bound to have missed something due to my pregnant brain.

The Saartje Booties,Bellatrix socks, & LOTR sock club!

2009-01-03T11:41:00.000-08:00

Here are my finished Saartje booties. I tried to use a colorway that was neither feminine nor masculine, but had great color since it's knit in garter and that always showcases the color bumps. I can't get a good picture of the color, but they're blue, purple and green. They ended up being 3" in length, so they are totally newborn.

I did them the Bockstark way, so I could knit them in the round, but I did them two-at-a-time, so I changed a few things on them and ended up doing the straps completely seamless instead of the original way. I'll post the pattern of how I did them later on. I'm too....pregnant and tired to do it now :)

"One of the Black Sisters, her evilness grates on you like 1000 runs in your stockings"
Here are the toes and start of my Bellatrix socks. I'm actually up to the gusset right now, but I've had a few mishaps. First, my #1 bamboo circular broke (the cable where it connects). So...it was New Years Eve and I had to wait until yesterday to pick up a new needle. I got an Addi Turbo Lace for it. Then, I was just sitting down to knit last night after a long day of crazy kiddo-ness, and my #0 broke. It just broke off at the wooded part where the cable connects. OK. I get it. No more bamboo for socks. I'll use the damn Addi's for now. I'm also going to order the KnitPicks Harmony since they have metal connections and I think they will work with the tiny sizes just fine.

So, I'll be heading out to my LYS again today to pick up some Addi Turbos in #0. My Bellatrix socks are totally cursed, but I don't care. They are awesome and I'm going to finish them. I also had a casuality in the manner of my Brittany birch DPN's last night. Morgana was holding two of them pretending to knit and went to sit up off the couch and snapped one right in half. Luckily I had 6 in the set, so there's still 5 should I need them. I'm having a hell of a time with needles the past few days. I don't know what's up.

And to end this posting, I was clicking on my groups on Ravelry and I saw a new group "LOTR sock club". I clicked on it and found a cool yarn company called The Unique Sheep that was hosting a LOTR sock club. I was all excited about it as LOTR stuff is harder to find now as everyone in the mainstream is "over" it now. And I think there's only one sock pattern on Ravelry for it (Rivendell). And now, here is a whole club, 6 months long for 2009, with a monthly payment option (affordable!), and exclusive colorways and patterns that make sock clubs so much fun! All LOTR! Jim even seems to think this is a cool idea. Knitting is so much fun because of the entire Ravelry thing, I swear.

So, it looks like it's going to be a busy Spring for me with two sock clubs going on for the first part of 2009. And a new baby. Anyday now. 37 weeks and counting. This pregnancy is not bouncy and spritely like my others...it's wiping me out. I'm ready for the baby to come, I'm ready to have five children and be done with pregnancy in the future. I never knew when I'd hit this point, but I kept telling everyone that I would *know* when it hit. I would *know* when my family was complete (this is in response to the multitude of times I've been asked how many children I'm going to have). I wish I had more time to just sit and ponder over the baby, and enjoy this last little bit of time before they arrive.

P.S. Did I mention that I happened to find the LOTR sock club on the very last day of sign-ups? And signed up for it at nearly 9pm without even knowing it was the last day. I would've kicked myself if I had waited until the next day or pondered it a bit more.

Well, Jim is home from work, I'd like to snuggle him up a little bit, and then I have to head over and get my needle and a tiny hank of sock yarn for baby.

Socks complete! And new sock yarn

2008-12-28T13:25:00.000-08:00

Arriving on xmas eve from the UK is my new sock yarn from Angels & Elephants. About 1600 total yards of hand dyed sockish deliciousness. From left to right they are: Polperro 100% British sock wool in colors of blue to green to deep purple (maybe for the Saartje booties or the Bellatrix socks), Zennor 100% blue faced leicester in colors of lavender to grey to blue to purple, Autumn Leaves 100% blue faced leicester in colors of pink to olive to browns and greens with a little mustard (I'm thinking of using this for either some Morgana socks or for the Ginny Weasley socks), and finally it's Damson Delight 100% British sock wool
in deep purple to medium purple to pale violet (maybe this for the Bellatrix socks?).

And here is a final shot of (and it's impossible to get the true color of the yarn which is a deep and bright garnet color) of my Baudelaire socks that I finished up. I can't get a good close-up of the lace pattern with my camera, but I got some fairly decent ones a few posts back. They are very comfy and snuggly! I love them!

So...I'm going to try to pick out my yarn and get started on the Saartje booties. They should be a very quick knit, and I'm thinking I can do both of them at the same time on the circulars. I have to wind my yarn into balls, so that will consume the first hour of my time right now at least...but at least the yarn came in 50 gram hanks so I can just wind them separately to use for two-at-a-time socks. That's my new goal. I'm even thinking that I can do four-at-a-time baby socks right? Yep, that sounds totally plausible. Someone has to have tried it. Just use lots of baggies to keep that yarn separate....

Jim had gone to Michaels and picked up a bunch of rolled casting to use for my belly mask. With how crampy and odd I've been feeling everyone is getting ready for this baby to come any day. I'm still at 36 weeks though and knowing that I've given birth with my other children anywhere from 39 to 42 weeks there's just no telling. But a nice glass of wine definitely calmed things down the other night. Sometimes I can't even figure out how to get into a comfortable position where it doesn't feel like the baby is trying to completely turn itself around or over, or where my stomach doesn't feel like it's pushing itself out into everything I get near. Other times it feels completely like it's a part of me that doesn't interfere with anything at all. This has been the most unique of my pregnancies, but Jim tells me that they all have had their own issues like this. I seem to be able to forget anything unpleasant then I guess.

I would love for Winter Break to go on, and I'm a little sad for there to be only one more week. I'm enjoying this break from routine and obligations so much. I always do. Summertime is too long of a break, but these small breaks really make it nice. Especially now when I'm physically uncomfortable for one reason or another lately and love not having to get up early, or run to ballet, or drive kids back and forth to schools and all the other stuff we have to do. I love being able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Again, what I miss the most from homeschooling.

Well, time to wind the yarn and think about what I want to use to start those booties. Sometimes after it's wound into a ball it starts to look like something completely different than when you see it in a hank. It begins to take on a life of what it wants to be. When I have more time, I think I might even start dying my own yarns. I have so many ideas of what I want to do but I'm trying to just take things one day at a time, at least until after the baby comes and we are settled back into some sort of a routine.

Sockies and the floppy puppy

2008-12-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

Here you are, the tiniest little sockie around. This is from the handspun local alpaca I got. It's loftier and denser than I'd have imagined. Definitely use a #2 needle next time. Possibly a #3. That's the toe for the second one on the #1 circulars next to it. And they are both lounging on top of my one Baudelaire sock. Keeping it company. I will now have to re-wind 1/3 of my alpaca ball because one of the kitties (I don't know which..) took it out of the bag, and unwound it while I slept. So....apparently it's nice to snuggle with. But now I have to attempt to detangle it so I can knit with it. Damn kitties.

Here's Gabe snuggling up with Morgana's xmas present that I knit. I have to make him the stuffed kitty now because he is sorely upset that he has to stop playing with it so I can hide it and wrap it. Luckily she slept in today so I got around to the face. I really don't like embroidery on toys. I'm trying to get over that issue. And I'm convinced that pattern-makers must be lying when they tell you to make a 'french knot' for the eyes and you see their perfectly not small and circular "knots" on the faces. I thought I just sucked, but I decided to do a french knot, then do chain stitches from the center to the outside all around to make a dense circle. That seems to be the trick.

All my knits love to hang out with my sock.

September takes a break from watching the snow to investigate the floppy puppy. Nope. Doesn't smell like alpaca. Back to the snow.

Baby's new Curly Purly

2008-12-19T13:38:00.000-08:00

So here it is this morning after I finished up the ribbing on the second leg cuff. I knit the entire tiny soaker last night with that exception. The color IRL are very pretty olive and harvest mix (both Malabrigo leftover from my f.pea mossy sweater and my first pair of knit longies). I did a k3tbl, p1 ribbing for 21 rows approximately, then switched to St st, and did k1,p1 ribbing for the leg cuffs for 15 rows. Jim got a giggle over the "pod legs" as he calls them. I used the sewn BO that I learned from knitting up my Baudelaire sock (I have to start the next one...I'm definitely doing two-at-a-time-toe-up-socks next time!) It's attractive, trim, and stretchy.

I added in 3 short rows as indicated in the pattern since I knew it was a trim-fit soaker. It really is. The long waist and leg cuffs I think help to keep it trim and in place. But look at how cute it looks when you fold them back :)

So, this was a satifying project as it took no time at all, took barely any yarn, used up some of my stash, made me feel more prepared for the upcoming birth, and now I can finish up the embroidery on the face of M's floppy puppy. That's all I have left to do. I buckled down yesterday morning and finished the ear and tail, seamed and stuffed, and now I just have embroidery to do. I actually like that part the least (well, I really didn't like the seaming either - there was a ton!) because I have such trouble making french knots turn out right. I have to work on that....

So, I need to knit up some socks for the baby too. I haven't gotten my BFL from Angels & Elephants that I ordered (coming from UK so it's cheaper, but might take a bit long with the holidays) so I found a pattern that calls for DK yarn for baby socks. I'm going to see how that goes with my locally spun alpaca that I got. It looks to be a DK weight so I'll swatch it and see. I was thinking of doing the Saartjie booties out of it (Bockstark way to use that wonderful magic CO) also but I think it might be a little big and if so, I'll probably wait for my BFL sock to just make life a little simpler right now.

I think we're ready for the holidays. Despite the fact that I haven't done any baking, have no idea what I'm cooking for Yule or xmas, and that I never sent out my holiday cards yet. Oh yeah...I need to scan that Santa picture.

Beautiful snow again this morning, and really a lovely morning. Even with taking four little kids to the dentist - it went swimmingly. Honestly. I feel peace and happiness is in the air. Jim came home with a carload of holiday cheer and presents, and things are feeling good. Despite the fact that Jim has to work xmas night.....

Hopefully more snow, although it's warming up a bit now and actually finally melting some. Hopefully no freeze tonight - Jim's off Sat. night which is when the freezing rain is supposed to start. I'm thankful he won't be going out in that weather. Driving at 1am where there might be ice makes me worry until he texts me to let me know he's OK. School was canceled all week, so the kids officially now are on Winter Break, but with the snow week they are off a total of 25 days in a row. Talk about a vacation.....

Jim's Yummy Yarny Xmas Present for me!

2008-12-16T16:52:00.000-08:00

My dear Jim has listened to me carefully - and watched me look at this online so many times. He got me a subscription to Biscotte & Cie's 2009 sock club! Woo hoo! I LOVE her yarn! I only wish I had bought all of her past Harry Potter colorways because they are awesome.

So I will have a lovely yarny time during the first few months of 2009. And as for Jim's presents.....he's gotten one of them, but when I went to go to Bath & Body Works yesterday in the mall, they had a sign on their door that they were closed due to snow, since Sunday. Amazing. Every other store in the mall was open, and the buses were running just fine. So...I guess I'll have to go back later on sometime. Not my favorite place to be really, at this time of year, but alas.

We also took a Santa picture while there. Miss M was extremely upset once she saw Santa, even though she was excited up until that point. I will have to scan and post the picture as everyone looks pretty happy except for her. Jim wasn't in this picture as there wasn't much room, and he was the designated coat and bag holder while we smiled with Santa.

Snow days

2008-12-16T16:40:00.000-08:00

It's been two days at home with the kids because of the snow. They are eager to have another snow day tomorrow - but so far, no word of it. The snow isn't supposed to start again until tomorrow morning, so there's no telling. I have my last day to work at M's preschool for our coop commitment. Jim said he'd work there instead of me since I've done 16 days there so far. It took a little bit of arm-twisting as I think he feels a bit out of his element.

Two moms from the school volunteered to work the last two days I have scheduled there in February. Jim was going to work them on his days off but they said they wanted to do it to give Jim and I some more time together as a family instead of him being at the school on his days off. How awesome is that?! There *are* nice people left in this world after all.

No ballet for Miss M today either. No one told us though of course, until after we drove out there and Damien's teacher was there to tell us that classes are canceled. Well, I dropped by my favorite bakery Baker & Spice next door and picked up some eggnog rum cakelet and a baguette to go with the soup I made today. Sadly, I only got one loaf, and it's gone already.

My Baudelaire socks are coming along nicely again - I hadn't worked on them since last Friday I think. My knitting time has been slim with all the kids home since Friday. I wonder if there will be any more school this week or we'll have three whole weeks of Winter Break?

First Snow

2008-12-14T17:38:00.000-08:00

This is my cat, September....looking longingly at the birds that adorned our feeders all day long. She kept vigil from around 7am until 4pm.

I spent my first night alone - completely alone, in I think, forever. I honestly cannot rememer any time where I didn't have either Jim or the kids at home with me. My parents did their Christmastime Nana & Papa stayover last night. They had all four of our kids, as well as all four of my brothers kids stay the night and they baked cookies, and hung out. To make the stayover even more fun, it snowed today and they got to play in the snow after homemade pancakes and come inside afterwards to hot cocoa.

Our youngest little guy, little Gabriel, at just 2 1/2 decided on staying over as well. He was very content with the prospect, and so Jim and I left and headed out to finish up some xmas shopping, and wrapping of secret presents before Jim headed to bed to sleep for two hours before heading into work at 1am to beat the snow. I slept in a house by myself, and woke up once during the night to the sounds of crunchy paper noises. I woke up fairly quickly once I remembered that NO ONE was in the house but me. Then I found our cat Phoebe curled up happily on the freshly wrapped gifts under the tree. She smiled (I swear she does this) and MEOWED loudly as she does to tell me how happy she was that I placed such nice little beds for her to rest on, by her new favorite water bowl (we also call this water bowl the tree stand). I headed back to bed, to wake up around 5am which is normal Gabe wake-up-time for a drink or to nurse, checked for the snow that should've been there, found none, and went back to sleep.

Then I woke up again around 7:30am to find that it was beginning to snow, and here is our other feeder, which was pleasing the finches immensely. I checked the computer, made myself some coffee, and picked up that darn knitted puppy that I've been putting off knitting all week - since my Baudelaires have been consuming my knitting time this past week. Which btw, I'm at the ankle on my first sock and it's coming along nicely.

So, I had my coffee, turned on the celtic radio, and would have finished that pesky little pink and purple puppy if I hadn't run out of the purple Mission Falls I was using. Drat. I don't like that yarn enough to really want to buy more - but I have a few more rounds on the head, and the end of the tail too. If it was just the tail, I'd skip buying more and just knit the tail all in the pink - but...the head needs it. I don't know if the yarn stores will be open tomorrow. All the school's are closed tomorrow since it's going to be about 5 degrees tonight and they're expecting a freeze. 5 degrees sounds a tad bit better than the -1 it'll be Tuesday night. A tad.

Here is our street in the morning around 8am-ish. I love how the sky looks with the
white, and the skeleton trees.

And here are the birds hovering in the air while chittering and chattering, and arguing over who gets to sit at this feeder. I feel bad that they are going so wonky over seed with the frozen ground. Jim also said the store was out of the seed I asked him to pick up yesterday.

So, no one has school tomorrow - Jim's off work - and we all get to stay home and relax. Jim had to take the transit home this morning as he couldn't get his truck out of the parking lot from work and was just spinning and going nowhere. I took a slow route to my parents to pick up the kiddos and got them all home safely, and picked up Jim at the transit center and then we settled in for the afternoon. Hopefully we can pick up Jim's truck and get it back home tomorrow.

I'm really not sure what Mother Nature has in store for us...so close to the Winter Solstice. I'm very happy this is the last week of school and then Winter break starts. I'm looking forward to all those snuggly days where we don't *have* to do anything. It's all working up towards the last month before the new baby arrives. Boy, I better finish up those Baudelaires so I can focus on baby knits.

Baudelaires

2008-12-11T09:47:00.000-08:00

I have had so many gauge troubles with these socks. I just couldn't get the right gauge, just not quite. Well, short of getting some 0 dpn's, as I only have 1's and 2's, and 0 in circular, but one 16" only. I think I've got it now.

I really love the pattern though, and the yarn. I love the Jitterbug! And the garnets of varying shades are enough to make me want to roll all over my yarn in happiness. It knits up very velvety, especially with #2 needles (which I can't use for this..but..just saying..). Anyhow, so my progress thus far, after two froggings because of gauge issues....

I'm onto the fourth repeat of the instep main pattern....getting very close to beginning the gusset. The pattern is lovely so far. Easy to follow, and it's got enough variance to keep me excited and happy, but not too much to boggle, and not too little to make me bored bored bored.

So....I'm beginning to have a little bit of an obsession with Biscotte & Cie's yarn. I haven't even bought any yet, but she has so much Harry Potter themed yarns, Captain Jack, and so many amazing other colorways based upon scenes, thoughts, etc. And the yarns actually knit up into patterns, like the one that looks like real watermelon with seeds.

I bought this yarn for Miss M's little sock project, and as I was winding it and commenting to Jim that it looks really amazing (and I'm not the biggest fan of pink) - he told me it looks like the Cheshire Cat. I've always been a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and still want an original publishing of it....well, he's right! I wonder if there's a way I can capture that theme into the socks? I don't find many inventive child sock patterns. I could adapt one perhaps. Depends on my skills.

How am I ever going to get anything done for the new baby? I have too much and too many people to knit for as requests come pouring in lately. The baby will be here in about a month. Wait, that can't be right?! Seriously? Wow, I need to buy some bamboo diapers still, and make more longies.

I always had a sock obsession (I like that word), and then I sort of "grew" out of it. I remembered it when Miss M began to collect weird, funky, fun, and interesting socks. I don't even own any socks of my own right now. Yes. How did that happen? I've been wearing Jim's during cold weather. Which he blames me for all of his missing socks. Which is just such a lie. I mean, I'm the one that puts them in the laundry, washes and puts them away. But him....I just found a pair of his socks that he lost in the couch cushions a few days ago. The couch was a famous place for him to "lose" his socks on a weekly basis. I think when it comes to sock issues, he just needs to look inward and face the truth. Sorry my darling...but you know I don't like lying.

So....now I understand my psychology behind why I want to knit every sock pattern I see and buy massive amounts of sock yarn. My old obsession is reemerging and now it involves crafting. Mmmm. Sweet obsession. And soon, I may have my first pair of socks in years. And then I can move onto the Harry Potter sock patterns. Do you know there are at least 30 of them? Harry Potter fans rock. Rock my socks in fact.

The quest for socks

2008-12-07T08:09:00.001-08:00

Well, there are a million things I'd like to knit, for the holidays, but I don't have the time. Next year, I can plan it out better since I'll have all year to work on items. My recent obsessions seems to be with socks. I just seem to be unable to find what I want though. I know what this means. It means I need to just pick somewhere and start there before I keep putting it off waiting for perfection. Perfection of what - I don't know. The right color, the right yarn, the right price, the right pattern.

It's getting closer and closer to the time of this baby's birth. I am feeling a greater and greater connection to the baby as days close near, and I love this part. I keep trying to get an idea of whether this is a boy or a girl, and I didn't seem able to figure that part out. I realized that in all of my new baby knitting, I was keeping the designs and colors fairly neutral, but that I was feeling like it was "okay" to be drawn to more girly items. Does this mean I'm carrying a girl? Possibly. I have the hardest time differentiating between intuition and want with these things. Everyone but my mother thinks it a girl. I'm not quite sure what she thinks actually - just that she seemed skeptical of my thoughts of it being a girl. But she likes being skeptical of everything I think, so that's probably all it is. Hmmm. Not too much longer to find out.

So...there I was two days ago. Friday. Rush hour. Me. Driving into rush hour in downtown Portland. I was actually heading to Yarn Garden because I was thinking they had Blue Sky Alpacas dyed cottons. I found out that they only had the natural colors, and that that yarn is very hard to find in town for some reason. I settled on Mission Falls 1824 cotton because the colors matched up with what Miss M requested. I'm not very excited about the hand with this yarn, as it slightly annoys me as I knit with it - but it's not bad at all. Definitely a good deal though. As for her xmas present project, she's requested a pink and purple puppy from Heidi Boyd's book of fun designs. So far, I've got the body done, and working on the third leg. It's really simple, but a little boring with the legs. I think it's because I have to work on it in secret to avoid the little girl seeing it - so I find myself working on it at times when I'm sleepy or would rather be doing something else - out of pure practicality of course. It's become my "must do" project instead of my "want to" project right now. I'm still contemplating whether or not I have time to make the little finger puppets and castle from that book for her teacher.

Really, I want to find a yarn store today that's open on Sundays (that's possible), and that has the sock yarn I want (also quite possible). Next month will likely be dedicated to making many more longies and sweaters for the new one arriving sometime then.

For now, it's time to go and do something else on this lovely and quiet Sunday morning. I seem to spend all my time on Ravelry anymore instead of other places I used to haunt.

The most disenchanting LYS visit ever.

2008-11-16T23:13:00.000-08:00

Wow. I don't think I can ever go back there. I went into the Knitting Bee since we were on that side of town and thought I'd check them out after hearing all these rave reviews. I was excited, I was hopeful. I hadn't been to a yarn store in two weeks and I was so ready to pick out yarn for f.pea's mossy jacket. I knew what weight I wanted, I knew a basic idea of what color I wanted, I thought 25 minutes would be enough.

It started out OK, I was greeted when I went in, and shown the grand tour of the store. After that I got to work touching and looking, walking back and forth to find what I wanted. It's normal to touch yarn when you're trying to find what you need right? I was stuck though and nothing was jumping out and grabbing me, so I kept going back and forth enjoying myself exploring the store. This prompted what I'm guessing was the owner to come and ask me if I needed help. I told her "No, I'm just trying to pick out what color I want". She laughed and made a joke about just wanting to touch everything. She seemed harmless, I went back to looking.

A few minutes later she popped up behind me and began to ask me what I was making, and after explaining it was a newborn sweater, she began her bizarre episode of trying-to-make-me-buy-her-favorite-yarns. I attempted telling her what colors I wanted, and that I loved Malabrigo and Manos and that I wanted Fall colors or Winter colors. She kept mentioning how lovely Spring colors would be, and showing me cottons and telling me Alpaca wasn't good for a baby and that Cashmerino would be lovely. No matter what lovely Fall greens and browns I chose, she kept showing me lettuce greens and talking about Spring. I'm not sure when I put out that "I need you to hold my hand and pick out my colors for me" vibe, but man was I regretting doing so now.

When I told her I was going for a worsted weight because the pattern was written in aran and the smallest size was a 6 mos so I was using worsted, and smaller needles to get newborn. Then she opted to try educating me on how I shouldn't make everything in such sizes because babies grow. That's when I explained I had four kids already so I knew that. ::insert her eye-brow-raising here:: Is it wrong to have your own plans for a project, especially when it's for your newborn? ::sigh:: It didn't stop, as I put back the yarns she kept giving me as suggestions I heard her ask another store employee "Tsk - Where is that Smooshy I gave her?!". I guess I was offending her yarn choices for my project.

Then she came up and was again pointing out the lovely spring colors of green in the Malabrigo (I guess she was settling on helping me find a better color choice in the yarn of my choice...) and began to now ask me if my children had the same hair color and color tones as I did. So I said, "Well, no not really. I've got all colors really. I've got a redhead, a brown, and a blonde". This proceeded to produce some eye-brow-raising towards the other store employee. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean. I should've just left then.

At one point, I'm on my knees looking through yarn feeling horribly rushed and frustrated, and they are both standing behind me, watching me. I don't hear the whole conversation, but I pick up something along like the lines of how I don't seem to mind non-superwash wools. I turned around and saw one of them seeming at a loss for why I'm so weird with her hands upturned in disbelief as she explains this to the other employee. So I told them that I'm already cloth-diapering, and using wool soakers so those are being hand washed anyhow. It's really not a big deal to me. You know, honestly, if I have a superwash item, with the massive amount of laundry I'm doing already for the 6 of us, if it gets tossed in the machine, I will at some point end up putting said item into the dryer on accident. Probably on the first run. Or my husband will, if he picks up where I left off laundry-wise, or vice versa. I don't see the huge convenience of being able to toss it into the washer, but still having to dry flat. Trust me, in our household, it's much easier not to set ourselves up for accidental feltings with the so-called wonder of superwash. I mean, I'm not picking up each washer item and tossing it into the dryer. I'm grabbing handfuls of wet stuff and tossing it into the dryer. Is it really that hard to toss an item into a bowl or sink of mildly soaped water, do some other things while it soaks, then rinse and lay flat? I digress though.

So, all the other customers leave, and now I'm imposing on them tremendously because it's now 4:03pm! The younger employee comes up apologetically lets me know that they're closed so I'm going to have to get going. But that it's OK because they have a staff meeting. Does that mean I'm not going to hell for staying a few minutes late now? Gee. Why don't you actually let me browse instead of hounding me and trying to force me to buy machine-spun yarns in fresh, happy spring colors?

Absolutely bizarre. And completely frustrating. I grabbed a hank of Malabrigo Olive and got the heck out of there. I should've just got nothing after all that shouldn't I? So I still don't have all the yarn I need for the sweater, and none of the sock yarn I wanted to pick out for the other kiddos. I really should've gone to Yarn Garden instead. It would've been so much less painful. Do I sound bitchy? Well, yeah, I am about it. It was just weird. When I go into a yarn store, I'd like to be left alone like when you go into a bookstore. You know, I've never had a bookstore employee try to coerce me into buying their favorite books on cooking when I tell them I'm looking for a book about fluffy kitties.

There also seems to be a huge trend of middle-aged LYS owners that make a funny little face when you tell them you love Manos or Malabrigo. This one seemed confused that I wasn't going to felt with it. Guess the hand-spun isn't popular with everyone. That's cool with me. Just don't bug me if I like it. I'm going to venture out again and hopefully return in the next couple of days with some lovely sock yarns and a good idea of how I'm going to knit up my mossy. I love the rustic look of the mossy! I hope it turns out good after all this.......I've got a lot more things to knit in the near future, and some more Sheepy Pants longies as well. And lots of oddly colored socks per my children's requests. And some more of those lovely little newborn socks that are so easy to make. And perhaps even something for myself...and poor dh, who will never pick out the yarn for his ear warmers.