Vacation Day 1

I decided to take an extra vacation day while the fam was at work and in nursery school so I could wrap up all those annoying errands that plague every vacation. It's 12:37 and today I have

* gone to the mall twice (once before it was open, not realizing it didn't open at 9)
* bought new running shoes for me and exchanged DD's shoes for ones that fit her
* gone to DH's office twice (once to drop him off, again to get the housekey since I gave mine to the cat sitter)
* CVS (which I have to go back to since their pharmacist was swamped)
* tailor (which I have to go back to since they didn't have my stuff done)
* dry cleaner (which I have to go back to tomorrow to pick up the stuff)
* yarn store

The last one is the savings grace - I hate doing things multiple times, and as you can see from the list above, I have several things to do over again. Grr.

I'm vacationing with my ILs, and I'm in the middle of knitting MIL's second lace handtowel. SO, I just had to get a different project, since I don't want MIL to see her Christmas present in June.

So I'm starting on Anouk by Kate Gilbert for a dear coworker. My friend's only criterion (when I asked her opinion) was no pastels, which I happily complied.


I'm knitting Anouk in Cascade 220 Superwash, as my LYS didn't have the Pima Tencel. It wasn't too bad - 4 skeins total (at $10/skein), and I'll have enough left over for a matching hat and little purse. I also picked up new bamboo addis - yum yum. I think that's the best part.


You can see here that the yarn is getting ready for baby knits.


Sadly in the store I decided to knit the body in green with purple border and pink flowers, and when I got home, I changed my mind and decided to knit the body in purple with green border and pink flowers. Which means I now have to go BACK to the LYS (about 15 min drive one way) to get the correct yardage of yarn. But that's a happy trip. I just have to make sure to exchange the yarn and not buy more. ;)

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PS - Deirdre - I can't seem to email you, but I've been checking up on you and trying to leave posts. Hope the cyber world works for you soon!

Ruminating

I'm here. I'm ruminating on life in general. I'm knitting some, but I'm a bit preoccupied and caught up with other non-knitty worries at the moment. Luckily this afternoon begins my 10-day vacation and official hiatus from life. Beach, here I come (even though this bod isn't quite ready for it, my brain and spirit are).



Here's a pic of my precious girl (to stave off the text-only post). She's a dream, even when shoe-horning her body into a sink to avoid getting her cast wet (I had a button-cute pic of her in her sink bubble bath, but I don't feel so comfy putting a pic of her up when she's naked, even though naked kids are just adorable). In this badly-blurry cellphone picture, however, she's sporting her new purple waterproof cast! Our beach vacation is back on! Whoo hoo!!

Back in business!

Awhile ago I started a rug for DD. It started as this

and then became this


and then I ran out of yarn. Big deal? No, not really. We have a car, live in the 'burbs, and can get to Michael's in about 20 min. So the problem, you ask?

Well, I detest, no, make that utterly detest and despise going to the big box stores. Absolutely hate it. But, my LYSs don't carry this yarn (it's cheap but luuvly), so out to Michael's it is.

I'm using Lily's Peaches 'n Cream and wasn't worried about finding more or about the dye lots. It's a rug, after all, and it's Peaches 'n Cream moreover. It was just a matter of finding the time to schlep down to Michael's and buying it.

Which is what I did. $67 worth of Peaches 'n Cream. Having spent around $35 already for it, DD's going to use this rug for a loooong time. Here's the result of that purchase

It's turning out to be very large, so I may recalculate how big I want it to be. The pattern is a log cabin style that has 4 panels sewn together. I didn't want to bother with knitting 4 panels exactly the same size in order to piece them, so I simply multiplied the size of one panel to get the final size I want. BUT, I didn't multiply it by 4, rather, I multiplied it by 6!! Time to recalculate. But since I'm knitting one panel and don't have to match other panels to fit this one, I can make it any size or shape I want, right?

You'll notice, too, that this is a rug. A home textile project. I'm tempted by lovely adult (i.e., for me) patterns: Maisy (just ignore the model), a bazillion in Knitty, and others I come across usually 2-3 times a week. I haven't finished Tempting II yet. I'm just not over my down-in-the-mouth slump about being such a shoddy clothes knitter. I'm a shoddy clothes seamstress, too, which is why my machine is in the closet (and also for the same reason Colleen at Subway Knitter cites: it's too much of a pain to take 30 min to lug it out and set up, sew for an hour, and take 30 min to pack it back up. With my schedule, I'd get to bed at 1 AM for a measley hour of sewing. I'll wait 'til I get my sewing room.

Ack!

Remember this?






It turned into this after a few hours of wearing. Blech! Heather had a great post awhile back about negative ease. She pointed to some good articles, too, which I read after finishing this tank. Maybe I should have thought about that before knitting this sweater, but I wanted a sweater that was comfortable, not too tight. With this non-ease cotton thread, I suspect it would have been pretty tight.

Overall, I'm also disappointed with the tank. It just doesn't fit nicely. I feel lumpy in it. It is cool for the summer, but the yarn looks washed out already (it's a dusty color, supposed to look . . . well, dusty). It doesn't look rich and deep. It sorta hangs on me. Overall it's just disappointing.

Which leads me to my next whine: I think I'm done knitting adult clothes for myself. The baby clothes I knit seem to turn out beautifully, but I haven't knit a single adult thing (hats and scarves aside) that I like. Admittedly, I've knit one sweater and two camis. I hate all of them. OK, I don't hate them. I really dislike them. I wear them because I knit them, but I wouldn't have bought them off the rack.

Shucks. ;(

an almost-FO update

Is it OK to post almost-FOs?? I think the finishing process is by far the easiest but at the same time the most time-consuming part to knitting. It's especially time-consuming if you follow my lead: I finished knitting these over a week ago but have done nil with them since. Both need a nice long soak, and the lace handtowel needs some serious pinning and arranging in place.

However, I have NO intention of doing this work anytime soon. The little guy who's getting the kimono has weeks before he's here, and the lace handtowel is a Christmas gift, so it clearly has months before MIL sees it. Of course, I run the risk of putting off the final soak & block to the night before, but it's so far off I'm playing dumb.


Baby Kimono
FO Date:May 2006
Pattern:A Hearthbreakingly Cute Baby Kimono in Mason-Dixon Knitting
Modifications: I extended the front flap to the side seam. It looked prettier to me than ending the flap mid-way on the side. I also added the YO border along the bottom, and I added a YO border along the neckline in the back.
Yarn: Berroco 50% cotton, 50% rayon, 1.75oz/89yd, 5mm(5st=1") in baby blue
Comments:This is an amazingly simple knit and easy to modify. I think next time I'll shorten the sleeves a bit and not knit the front flap to extend so far - I think it's over-extended, actually.

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Linen Lace Handtowel
FO Date:May 2006
Pattern:Linen Lace Handtowel inspired by Mason-Dixon Knitting with lace stitch from --gotta get the book name--
Modifications: None really. This towel uses a 16-row repeat comprised of a 8-st pattern + 1. I added 3 k st ea side (garter) and 3 rows of garter on ea end to prevent rolling.
Yarn: Euroflax 100% linen, sport weight, 50gr/135yd, 3.0-3.25mm(6st/in) in terra cotta
Comments:I LOVE this twine yarn. I'm confident it will soften with a good wash. It's easy to knit, it coarse but feels good in my hands, holds its shape if it falls off the needle, and is generally easy to knit with. The color is beautiful, and I hope my MIL likes it. The pattern was also enjoyable to knit. It took awhile to get the pattern down (16 rows is a lot), but after awhile I got it and could run with ease. I had few mistakes and minor back-tracking (no major ripping). It was a perfect train project. I'm actually knitting a second handtowel in the same yarn, different color. I also chose a different pattern (for variety) but am having the same success with this one. I recommend it.

a non-knitty freak-o-zoid

Have you seen this?

http://www.angryman.ca/monkey.html

This is a guy who's eating monkey food (pellets, huge pellets) for a week because he's tired of cooking and doing dishes. Imagine the power of over-worked, taken-for-granted moms who went on kitchen-duty strike by serving their precious fams nothing but monkey chow. DD's a little too young for me to resort to this, but Adam does give me ideas!

What a freak-o thing to do. I will say my typical american tabloid-tv-loving-self is eating it up (more than he's eating, that's for sure).

Go Adam! You can do it! Maybe I'll knit him a present if he makes it all the way through. Maybe a monkey sweater.

Note: The photo here is Adam's from his site. I ripped it. All credit goes to Adam, not me. I just needed eye candy for the blog page.

Two FOs!

Baby Kimono 1 and a matching baby hat of my own creation. I'm not 100% sure about the ribbon, but it's perfect for the recipient. I've actually finished knitting the 2nd kimono but it's not blocked or seamed. But more than that, it actually has a coffee stain on it! My coffee thermos leaked, and the knitting bag was slightly open. A few dribbles found their way in. It's not horrible, but I do hope it washes out. Suggestions?

The matching baby hat here was a breeze to make, even ripping because I missed some YOs. The border matches the border on the kimono, and I used the decrease pattern from Yarn Harlot's post the other day. The 8, 7, 6 etc decrease works perfectly for stitches in multiples of 10. I love the spiral (as YH comments in her post).