Here are your angry eyes!

Each time I picked up this hat to work on it, all I could hear in my head was the voice of Mrs. Potato Head in Toy Story 2 (thanks to the all-day post Thanksgiving marathon). "I'm packing your angry eyes!" This hat was a test knit for Cambria Washington. The pattern is well written and there are size options for babies through adults using different needle and yarn combinations. There are several eyebrow choices as well. Nate needed a new hat, and she still needed the toddler size tested! I used Rowan Calmer, which I love - it's got a bit of stretch, and makes for a warm hat. It's the same colors as Nate's Brick Rolled sweater. So, what do his "angry eyes" look like? A lot like his happy eyes, little ham!
Actually, the first photo I shot was probably the best, but I didn't have any settings ready so it's very grainy and I'm not going to waste the space on it.
Like his sister, he's got grabby hands when it comes time to wear a hat, so this is not going to ultimately cut it for this winter. This kid still needs a hat that ties under his chin. Or one of those hood / cowl versions.

Yarn Along - July 18

~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr.

My pile this week is quite the collection. I've been reading over Cast On, Bind Off in anticipation of the blog tour that is making a stop here on Thursday, July 19! I will be reviewing the book and I am able to giveaway a copy as well! I have returned to an Agatha Christie Miss Marple mystery, The Body in the Library. When I was in middle school / early high school, 95% of my reading was Agatha Christie. They are so clever, not scary, not gory, not violent. And now, having become a fan of Downton Abbey, I think I can better picture the setting and time period than when I was 13 (and probably was picturing the 1980s). Not shown in the pile there, but on my list to read soon, is a piece by my SIL, Virginia. Her newest piece, the Harper's Magazine cover story, is about Mary Kay - The Pink Pyramid Scheme.

The yarny pile is a mix of in-progress and finished items. I just finished two samples for Plymouth Yarn Co - Cat Hat with Earflaps & Baby Shrug. They were fun, quick patterns. Each were made in the 6-12 month size. The lil' nutmeg, being 11 months, obligied to model them for me. I should have tied this under his chin - he kept grabbing it off.









Rocking out a pink shrug. Ain't no thing.







I don't think I ever showed a picture of my Wings of Hope Wingspan using the Lorelai yarn. I love it and look forward to wearing it often! I really need to find some shawl pins.







 Also in the pile is a sweater in progress. A sample for Good Karma Farm's new DK wool / alpaca yarn. The colorway is Artichoke and the pattern is Charleston Tea by Thea Colman. Nothing but love all around and now that I've gotten everything set up and I am ready to knit knit knit.

Happy Thanksgiving

My favorite time / week / day of the year. I know what to get everyone, I know what to make, I do not have to worry about any returns. Four years ago I knit this hat while waiting for the Lorax to arrive. It is a perfect fit for my new little butterball.

May your turkey be delicious and bonus points if it is cute!

Yarn Along - Aug 3 Stripes!

from small things

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr.

I've been mostly trying to stay on top of the blog reading this past week, so that's my google reader page on the ipad. I am dreaming about starting new projects, but I am actually only working on two things. My Neon Nightmare, a massive granny stripe blanket - it is starting to get heavier and take up more space as I work on it. So far, I've got 28 rows done, about 11 inches, and I am planning to work this up to use up ALL the yarn that I have for each color. I do believe that when the cooler days and nights come this way (and they are coming!) I will look forward to working on this. This project is boosting my crochet confidence as well, so I am quite pleased. The red & white stripey thing is part of a surprise gift that I do not want to talk too much about - the recipient has swung by my blog once in a while.

I have another striped object to share - I finished the Rainbow Marley last week at SnB. I made myself finish the twirly bits on the top, and thanks to Costumechick for her input on the twirly bits - she suggested putting them together tassle-like (versus pinwheel style) and that seemed to work out just right.

Jackson, back at work.


Will you go away if I don't look at you?


Seriously kid, we're the original siblings - help me out and take this off my head.

A more usual hat

Last week's heat wave really had me a bit puzzled thinking about baby#2 - how to dress the little one? With the Lorax, who was born in November, I didn't really think twice about putting an extra layer / blanket / hat on her to keep her warm enough. This time around, I think I mostly plan on keeping the kid in a onesie for August. But, I still think hats are in order. I do have the the baby bucket hat ready but wanted something for maybe inside, just a little something. Babies need hats!

Anyway, I crocheted a Shell Stitch Beanie using yarn that was leftover from the Lorax's Big Bad Baby Blanket and the Baby Bucket Hat.

I stuck a little hair clip to the back of the flower, so it can be on the hat or not.

Allow Jackson to model.


It's quite cute, worked up really quickly even for a novice crocheter like myself. And, best mark of a good pattern? I would make this again. I think it would work year round in any number of yarns.

Serendipity hat

The weather is warming up and being just all kinds of gorgeous, which I can appreciate even as I suffer from seasonal allergies (for whatever reason, this time around my eyes are killing me! Itchy, watery, can't wear my contacts!). I was gifted the Serendipity pattern (by Brandy Fortune, of pixiepurls.com)recently and in less than a day I have a new finished object! No time like the present to get a jump on winter! Plus, it has been freezing at SnB, so working on wool while in air conditioning works just fine.


I used one ball of Rowan Country in a colorway that is described on yarndex as red-red-orange. I think it is a great multi-colored / gender-neutral colorway. I made the infant size, which is slightly larger than my iphone.

Jackson was less than thrilled to model it for me, as expected.

Two done!

Last week I professed my love of Malabrigo. The picture I had included:

grew up into this:

Pattern: Chandra by Caryl Pierre
Yarn: Malabrigo Silky, "Cloudy Sky" - 2.7 skeins used to make the Large size.
I LOVE this shawl! When the knitting was done I immediately wrapped myself up under it and was smitten. Lightweight and warm. Almost makes me glad that there is a chill in the spring air so that I have a reason to wear this.

I stumbled across this little sun hat pattern last week too. A little stash diving led me to some Blue Sky Alpaca Dyed Cotton (bought when I was pregnant with the Lorax, originally intended to become a hat for her). I really am pleased with the end result - it worked up quick, is really soft and should be quite cute for a summer baby of unknown gender. Picture a cute baby under the hat instead of an antsy dachshund only giving me blurry photos.


Maybe Jackson needs a refresher in how to be a hat model.

Go Green!

I think I have mentioned here before that I was not brought up in an athletic family. We were a family of nerdy, bookish types that dabbled in tennis and skiing and hikes in the woods. When my youngest brother joined an ultimate frisbee team in college he was the first college athlete in the family. :) I did marry into a football family and have learned (and relearned players, teams, and terms). I even won our fantasy football league in 2008. I have found that I do enjoy a game of football here and there. I tend to loose interest after one game, but it makes for good knitting / crafting time. I have stuck with the Jets as they were the first team I followed, and though in typical Jet fashion they did not make it to the Super Bowl, I will happily route for the other green team, the Packers.

I have pretzel-dough made and cooked into pretzles (thing-a-day!) right now and am really looking forward to homemade pretzels as a treat for later. My game-day crafting (thing-a-day!) is going to be following the lead of ladies... and "Craft Like a Champion". I plan to work on green and white baby hats for the Save The Children / Caps for Good - certainly, like the Jets I will fall short of making 32 hats, but, babies still need hats and I have the yarn. Good for everyone.

Enjoy the game, the commercials and what's left of the weekend!!

Look at what I've done!

I'm still a bit obsessed and scattered over the same projects as the last post, but I've got some photos and updates, yay!
First, those pretzels? A bit of work, but in the end, totally worth it.

To improve on them they need more salt - I salted them, but didn't press the salt down into the dough.

I can finally post a photo of my square contribution to the lap blanket our SnB made for a fellow member. Wife, Mom, Knitter has a great blog post that better describes the project.

I searched on Ravelry for "boobs dishcloth" and found the Nubbins for Ta Tas pattern, perfect!

I finished up a few baby gifts this week. Our friends who were married down in Virgin Gorda had a baby girl a few weeks ago. Seahorses were a theme at the parent's wedding, so that seemed like a good idea to work with for the baby.

Seahorse pattern by Hansi Singh - so cute! I used cotton so baby Calla can gum on it when she's ready. I also attached the tail to the back of the seahorse to make a little loop, but then I forgot about the back fin, so instead I put it on the head of the seahorse, like a crown.


I also whipped up a little Heart Hat using the same purple and pink yarn. I adore Susan B. Anderson's work - I have all of her books - but no surprise, this hat was also a little fiddly in the end to attach the heart. I hope it fits!



I've got a few more crafty plans to attack today. It's a grey, rainy day - good for new projects and knitting. I've got photos to frame, knitting, knitting, knitting, and I think I'll be attempting to sew and a Betz White project. Good stuff.

My mom brought the Lorax a new raincoat and pair of puddle boots - this morning she was very excited to try them out and it was hard to get her back in the house! There's rain forecast for the next few days, so I'm sure we'll be out there frequently.


My new favorite photo:

Scowls, Cowls, and Sniffs

Like most people, my little nutshell is experiencing a bit of frenzy as the Christmas season is in full swing. The knitting is progressing nicely for the most part - I'm taking a few days off from a current sample / test knit because a deadline was lifted (thank goodness) and other projects took priority for a bit.

Like this:

Scowl by Samantha Roshak. Second time I've test knit for Sam - this was a great use of my sock yarn (Connecticut colorway, j.knits yarn) - I used up 80% of the skein I think, and I became really good at Judy's Magic Cast On (if you haven't tried it, it's really neat, and not hard once you get the hang of it). This really is a great pattern - a bit different than most scarves / cowls I've knit. I liked the construction, in the end it's reversible and is great for guys or gals, wrapped around your neck and secured or just tucked into a coat, warm but not too warm, superwashable. In the end, I have sent on this scowl to Alabama to my downstream pal in a "Plurk Cowl Swap"!

I received a cowl from my upstream pal in yesterday's mail:

Lisa made this for me - the pattern is Tuesday Evening with Rowan Felted Tweed - it's lovely!

Then there's this:

Little Miss Muffet hat - I've signed on to be part of the sample / testing pool for Tot Toppers - this little hat is made with Frog Tree Alpaca Sport, in a periwinkle blue with a chocolate brown ribbon. Who can resist that? As a fellow knitter would say, Stinkin' Cute! The whole line is adorable - I would suggest the Tot Toppers line to any knitter looking for a new hat - the patterns are well written and the end result is so nice! Ignore the fact that I'm modeling a baby hat on top of wine bottles. This is the 3-6 month size and Lorelai's head is way too big now.

And this:

Malabrigo Twisty Trousers - knit on commission :) I'm currently working on a hat to complete the set, should be done in the next day or so. The Mom is ready to pop and is in mad nesting mose (her words, not mine) so I am very happy that this is done before her baby arrives - this was so much fun to knit. Plus, Malabrigo. 'nuff said.

Perfect gift for a two year old? PlayDoh. I had been wondering about this for Lorelai for ages now and for her birthday she received multiple PlayDoh packs and two different accessory sets - a barnyard pals and a burger maker. I had found several "homemade" play dough recipes I kept meaning to try, but we just didn't get around to it. Well, no need now! We had a snowy-slushy-cold-crappy day this week and we pulled it out and she had at it. And has asked to play with it multiple times a day. And she will play with it for 20 minutes or more at a time! Excellent. Of course, it's on her terms - we do a little bit with the molds but she has more fun squooshing the playdoh in to one part and moving it back into the yellow container with a chopstick. Whatever, it's all good for her development. And good for my cleaning knitting time.



Thank you Uncle Dan, Aunt Virginia, and Uncle Matt! And her buddy, A, who also got her a playdoh set!

Looped

I think I've figured out Magic Loop - and I think I love it! I'm really amazed that a) it works! and b) why didn't I try to learn this sooner? Now I want to Magic Loop everything!

I finished one iPhone Mitt - since it is one long tube, it's perfect for tv knitting, or even while Lorelai is out and about. I would have it done sooner, but I spent time last week finishing my CPH (that deserves it's own post. It's coming.)


I also Magic Looped a hat for a hat drive that a local business / corporation was doing. So that's #5 for the 52 hat challenge, and #5 for charity. I love this pattern, so easy!


I'm taking a slight break from the iPhone mitts to start a pair of socks (yes, actual socks!) - the Guided By Love socks - they are my first toe-ups and I struggled a bit with the Turkish Cast-On, but I think it's going ok for now.

Yesterday we were thrown for a loop. Lorelai was toddling / wobbling about and she tripped over and sort of landed on Jackson. He was not right afterwards - it was obvious he wasn't walking right, he wasn't whining or anything, but he was very quiet - obviously injured and just couldn't get comfortable. Poor pup - we did take him in to the vet - given the breed (back injuries are always in the back of our minds) - it was the right thing to do. The vet couldn't find anything significantly wrong with him, but agrees there is an obvious injury. My stoic little dachshund didn't wince at all or make any noise while being poked and prodded by the vet! In the end he got a shot to help him relax a bit, and he slept away most of Sunday afternoon. He's looking better today, still a bit stiff, but better.


I have a few errands outside of the house, but they may wait... just so I can still keep an eye on the dog. I'm also inspired to do some spring cleaning and clearing out of *stuff* - On Friday I totally cleaned out my email inbox. Seriously - I had over 1000 things in there - all read, but just not deleted (thank you gmail). I labeled, archived and deleted. I am surprised by how good that feels!

Knitting while you wait

Friends of ours are expecting a baby boy any day now. Actually the little one is a week late and it was thought mom would be induced on Friday and we could go visit today. Well, there weren't any beds available, so now the induction is put on hold until Monday! Hoping it would help things along, I made Logan a new hat, hoping that would be the magic touch for him to hurry on up! I'll be making him a pumpkin hat later on, and have burp cloths ready for him, but this hat is special.

Batman!! I felt a little strange knitting a black hat for a baby, but his Dad is a huge fan of Batman, so I am confident it will be appreciated. I followed the Lil' Devil Baby hat pattern and used Rowan handknit dk cotton (plurkers this is why I asked if 92 yards would be enough) - I have a bit left over. Started and finished in one day, super!
Size-wise, Lorelai can wear it -

So there's room to grow.
Even though we're not going to meet Logan this weekend, we are going out to dinner. Yay - new restaurant for us, somewhere in Middletown. Good times.

Spring Knits

I've finished some things and made progress on others:


From Itty-Bitty Hats, the Upside-Down Daisy hat. It's the 0-6 month size, and it fits, but is just a little bit snug. It's a cute hat though and gets lots of attention when we're out. A good hat for spring I think. Jackson is still a good model, even if he's out of practice.

I finished clue #1 last night for the Mystic Light KAL! I'm quite impressed with myself - in the past I have joined KALs but never follow through with them. So far, so good. Four more clues to go.

Not the best picture, a little blurry, I didn't want to use the flash so the color would show better, and I haven't bothered to pin it out to show the lace / cables. The yarn is "Dream in Color (Smooshy) - Dusky Aurora" grey-blues-purples, very much me.

And I participated in a very quick swap, the "Wee Sock Swap". I actually made two socks and loved the second one (it has a nicer toe) and popped it into the mail before I remembered about taking a picture! Whoops.

I should have put something next to the sock for scale... the sock is under 3 inches!

While all that is good, I'm bored with my current projects! I think I'll be taking things off the needles and starting over (bye bye Nutkins!) I really should get going on the baby gifting - need to wind up the yarns. I'm in the endless section of stockinette on Glee, so that's good tv knitting. I want to swatch (?! want to swatch? amazing!) for the Central Park Hoodie.

Watch out Project Runway

My baby is fierce! Doesn't her hair look like Christian's?


Anyway, she's ready to strut her stuff in her new pants! Dan was quite polite about my interest in making these - he questions "Why do babies need pants?" each time I dress her in a non-onesie-zip-up-sleep-and-play outfit. Baby Bell Bottoms by Alison. I gave up on the braided cord and just added a button, sewn to the elastic. Cute and simple! And they fit (for the moment - I made the 6 month size. We'll get a few wears out of them!)


Jackson didn't want to be left out, though I suspect he was quite happy to not have to model the finished object!


I also found a tomato hat that I forgot I had made back in the fall. It just fits her head! I'll have to make more for the spring - cotton would be ok then.

Mew, not MULE! And a bunny.

I'm so excited to have finished a pair of socks - it feels like forever! I started these socks back in September and kindof just lost steam with them. But they are done (and I immediately cast on for "Lenore"). For whatever reason I'm having trouble saying "Bartholomew's Socks" - in my head I keep hearing "Bartholomule's socks" Oh well. I'm still in love with Cat Bordhi's New Pathways book and will keep knitting socks from there, but I'm going to take a break from it. I want to get the book spiral bound to make it lay flat a bit easier.

They are quite comfy, the heel is snug, and I'm looking forward to wearing them.

Also finished is the "Bunny Tails" hat from "Itty Bitty Knits" - I didn't do the tail, and honestly didn't really like this hat until I added the bits of ribbon at the base of the ears. That little touch really made a world of difference.

The yarn is Lousia Harding Kashmir Aran DK - I didn't quite use up the whole skein to make the 0-6 months size, and I have one more ball. Nice to knit with.

Today while trying to clip Lorelai's nails I nicked her thumb - not fun! Can't really put a band-aid on it... the way she usually holds her hands is the thumb inside her fist, so there's pressure applied. We head to the Drs tonight for a check up and a full set of shots. That should be interesting - hopefully it will be smooth.