Houston, we have progress.

I've been forcing myself to concentrate on this *&^^% blue cardi., lest I take so long to finish that the little bug grows out of it before it's done.

Amazing how much faster the knitting is when you don't pick up something new every half hour.

Here's where things stood Monday evening:


And this morning:

Sleeves cast off, washed, and blocked.


While I was waiting for the sleeves to dry, I picked up the stitches around the top, knit the 4 row neckband (and remembered the buttonhole!!), and cast on the extra stitches for the hood.  Only about 8 bazillion stitches to go.  Maybe not, but 133 stitches for 28 cm, at a gauge of 26 sts x 34 rows = 10 cm, certainly seems like waaay too many. 

Next time you hear the words "100% cotton", and "size 3" in reference to anything larger than baby socks, restrain me.  Seriously.  Ack.

Also, I went back to the website to look at the picture for clarification on a couple things and noticed something odd:

What do you see on that button band?  Edging.  That's what I see.  Some sort of finishing was done to the edge of that garter stitch.  But what? and why, why, did they feel no need to tell me about this in the pattern? It looks so much better.  Much more, well, finished.

The DROPS designs are fabulous to look at, but the patterns require quite a bit of reading between the lines.  I don't know if that's the writer's style, or due to the translation process.

In other WIP news, I somehow lost the working version of the pattern for the orange multi pants.  You know, the one with all the measurements and gauge written on it.  Aaaaargh!  I'm hoping it fell out of my bag in the car, and will turn up somewhere in the detritus covering the front passenger floor.

Startitis

It's a disease, I tell you.  As if the 5 (five!) WIPs (OK, five currently being worked on) weren't enough, I decided to spend a couple hours Wednesday making these:


 



In the interest of full disclosure, here's a quarter for scale:

 
I'm not loving the sweater, but I stopped myself from ripping it back.  The dolly doesn't need clothes that badly.

Some of those previously mentioned WIPs:
The babe's blue cardigan.  I blocked the body, and did a three-needle bind off on the shoulders.  I originally thought I would seam the sides, pick up stitches and work the sleeves in the round top-down, but decided I  wasn't in the mood for tinkering with the pattern. 

So, the sleeves (I'm working two at a time) are about 1/3 complete, then I need to seam, and knit the hood.  Oh, and pick buttons of course.  Maybe some nice wooden ones.

 

Perfection Pants, in Zitron Loft.  The color repeats are incredibly long.  I pulled out about 20 yards of the second ball, in a futile attempt to get the legs to match.  Ah, well.

 

Falling Leaves socks, with my STR.  I don't think this pattern is going to work.  I really wish designers would include gauge in stockinette in addition to the pattern gauge.  I think the yarn is too heavy, and these are probably going to be too big.  Not sure what pattern to try next.  Maybe I'll give in and go with RPM.  I really wanted to find a pattern that was both toe-up, and lacy.  I may go back through my print magazines.

 

OFFF goodies

I  was so good.  Too good.  I really am wishing I'd bought more roving.  Especially since I just signed up for theTwisted Knitters Dye-Spin-Knit Along.

Here's my haul:


Cascade Eco (for $9 !!), Breed variety pack roving, BMFA Socks That Rock
, medium-weight, in Nodding Violet (damn! I'm such a follower.)  And two back issues of IK.  These are great issues, especially the article on grafting, and the hooded sweater.  But the line was ridiculously slow, which ruined my plan to make one more trip through, and they were full cover price.  Oh well.




 

An Excuse

Sorry about the lack of actual knitting content lately. I'm racing along on a super secret gifty thing for an online friend. I have no idea if she reads here, so I can't give any hints. Feeling quite the time crunch, so I'm not working on anything else until this is done. Once it gets to her, I'll have lots to post.

Fiber-y Goodness and Sling Junkies

Had a blast yesterday at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. 

Didn't get there as early as I would have liked, and somehow only managed to find one of the two friends I was going to meet.  My sweet husband took charge of The Incredible Grabby Toddler so I could browse in peace.

I was so good about not overspending that I actually had non-buyer's remorse when we left.  I tried to go back at the last minute and get one more skein of Socks That Rock, but they were already packing up when I got there.  (Arrgh! Even more regret now.  Just checked the website, and they had sooo many more colors in person.  Damn!) 

The only purchase I regret is a couple back issues of Interweave Knits.  They're both issues I'll use, but I thought they were discounted, and I paid cover price.  Plus the line was so slow, I could have gone to at least 2 vendors in the time I spent there.

Next year, I'm going to try to go alone, or with fellow fiber junkies only.  I'm gonna go early, stay late, and actually take my brochure with vendor list and map WITH me, instead of leaving it here.  I also really want to go to Black Sheep.

I'll try to post pix of my goodies tomorrow.

Today was fun, too.  Went to Portland NINO meeting.   Got to see some people I know, and some new ones, too.  And lots of great carriers.  Everything from NOJO padded rings sling, to Gypsy Mama wrap, podegi to Hot Sling, Ergos, Mei Tais, and more.  There were lots of little bitty babies.  E played very well with N, who's only a month older.  I think I need to find more opportunities for him to socialize, he just loves it.  So much so that when it was time to leave, he threw a classic Two-Year-Old Tantrum.  Except he's not even 2 until April.  Eeek!

A little late but fun none-the-less

 

    My pirate name is:   

 

    Red Bess Flint   

   

    Passion is a big part of your life, which makes sense for a pirate. Like the rock flint, you're hard and sharp. But, also like flint, you're easily chipped, and sparky.    Arr!   

  Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network 

End of Summer Fun

We've been sooo busy around here.  Trying to cram everything in before the sun takes off to Southern climes.

I'll add knitting content next time around.  Here are just a few of the things we've been up to:
Everyday Routines
Helping big brother with his chores.  Dang, look at that big kid.
  

Bend/Black Butte/Reunion
Our annual family reunion with my mom's side.
Cousins.  12 kids ages 12 and under!


DH, babe and I went to Bend for our 3rd anniv. while the big kids stayed with Nonna (my mom) and the rest of the clan.
First Ice Cream Cone!

Running off the ice cream at the park.



Birthday Party in the Park

How the *&^% have 10 (!!) years gone by already!?!


  BoyWonder doesn't like cake, so we had root beer floats. 


Quick! Look while you can.  I actually came out from behind the camera.


State Fair
DH took the big 2 on rides while the babe and I roamed around the fair.  The craft displays were definately inspiring.  Maybe I'll enter something next year.

Braving the Super Loop!
 
After rides, we all did the petting zoo, had dinner and treats, and watched the juggler.

Hey! Don't eat my shirt, deer!

Mmmm! New fave. food to put the molars to good use.





Using up their game tickets.
 

Summer Knitting

Well, unlike what I've read, my knitting hasn't slowed for the summer. But my blogging is certainly suffering. If I could blog in the car like I knit, we'd be set. (Apologies to my fellow Ring members.)

SO, here are a few updates.

Apparently, I've lost my mind. 'Cause I'm making a hooded sweatshirt-style sweater . . . in XL . . .for DH.


And a hooded cardi for the babe. No biggie, right? Except it's on US 3s. EEEK.



And the preteen wants felted mocs. Dyed to order. In pink, green, and blue. Let me tell you, that was a pain in the ass!

The heat seems to have driven all dyeing knowledge from my mind. Two skeins of yarn and one over-dye later, I finally have something that she likes. If I had known she'd be OK with a little purple in there, it would've been much less stressful. The skein of Eco that came out with too much green is destined to be over-dyed and made into pants for the wee one (like I don't have enough yarn stashed for that, yet ;) )

On the acquisition of knitting stuff front, things are going very well indeed! No de-stashing here, let me tell ya.
DH came to my rescue with a fabulous swift! Throw in a Joann's 40% coupon for a winder, and I'm winding away. Most of the yarn for DH's sweater is recycled. He totally got into the unravelling/skeining/winding process. Throw in a couple gadgets and the man is all over the yarn.

In my knitting forecast: something for me. I found a 100% cashmere sweater for $3.50.
<
I think it's going to be one of the arrowhead lace scarves from IK.

It doesn't stop there either. Birthday $$ from my dad promptly got spent on a coop for Henry's Attic yarns. Inca Cotton, Licorice Twist, the new fingering weight Kona, and Gaia, the new organic merino. Droooool.

Today, I'm headed up to Woodland Woolworks to check out their "Stash Room" clearance section, and back issue collection.

Summer vacation makes a busy, busy mama and knitter.

Amazing how the presence of one more kid can really cut into my blogging time. Oh, OK, I wasn't exactly prolific before. But "can't blog, kid's home" sounds a lot better than "can't blog, mopping the floor," KWIM?
It's been H. O. T., too. Not today, though. It's actualy raining a bit. I have been knitting quite a bit. Lots of pattern researching, swatching, and blocking. And playing with my new Needlemaster set. MUCH better than I feared. For $29 (Yay Tuesday Morning!) it's certainly worth it.
Here's what the yarn from last entry became:

A little sunhat and felted mocs for my cousin's new babe.

Here's the hat on a bear, to show off the little brim:

I used sock weight yarn and smaller needles, to get a newborn size from this pattern.

Why the Sheep is Fruity

Kool-Aid, of course!




Two packets lemonade in 1/2 c. water, two packets Berry Blue in 10 oz. water, and green made from mizing 2 oz of each color.
Forgot to get a pic. of the yarn in skein or ball, but it's all knitted up into a hat and felted mocs for my cousin's new baby.
(Pix to follow!)

Leftover Easter egg dye, and a few drops of McCormicks Neon Food Dye made the lime green color for these swap legwarmers. I'd never dyed superwash before, and was amazed at how readily it took the dye. The water was almost clear even before microwaving. This made for some variation in the intensity of color. Next time, more dye!

Phew!

Lots of knitting going on, little blogging, as you can see. <sigh> SOmeday, maybe, this will become more regular.

However, I do have pictures to show off! My swap partner got her leg warmers and <huge sigh of relief> she likes them!

Green yarn hand-painted with Kool-Aid

And the final product: (darn auto-fix photo program - ignore the color in this one)

I'll post the pattern soon. Have to translate it from my rather sketchy notes first!
Legwarmers are a blast! The fun part of socks with NO turning of the heel!

I'm working on the pair for my other swap, but there's little progress, so a pic will have to wait.

I got the most fabulous package from one of my swap partners:

Lotion, spray lotion, salt scrub, sugar scrub, soap, candle, body mist, body cream ,and more! It's scented with stephanotis (yes, like wedding bouquets!) . I am sooo taking a long bath Saturday night!

I also finished a pair of Perfection shorts for the babe. For a change from my usual seed stitch, I did an attached i-cord hem, and I love it. And . . . a pocket!