Yarn Along - Nov 30

Wednesdays are for Yarn Along!
"~ 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 finished "The Help" (really enjoyed it!) and have started "The Hunger Games" (I'm hooked!), but right now my kindle is upstairs. I've got one more part of the vest for Nate to finish and I am a thumb away from having a finished pair of thrummed mitts!


I've also been working on a knitting job for Lorna's Laces with Kristi Porter, so that has been fun. It is a project somewhat under wraps for now, so this is the best I can show.

Yarn and garment in progress.

As I was coming in to take pictures and blog this scene awaited me. So appropriate for Yarn Along, right?


She is reading a Disney Fairies book to her dolls. The last few times we were at the library she has been adamant about getting "books without pictures"! We read a chapter book (one of the Rainbow Fairies series) last week at bedtime, a chapter each night, and she seemed to like that. Would you believe this girl is 4 today!! That deserves a post of its own (hopefully with photos I do not capture on the sly!).

Age old question

If a knitter knits some item, and leaves it lying around, will it get worn and used?
Yes.

Well, I'll be. I knit up this Moochie hat for the Lorax back when it seemed like winter was arriving early. She picked the pattern and the yarn, and when it was finished she wouldn't let me see how it fit. So I left it at our front hall near the coats and shoes. She went for a hike in the woods with her dad today and decided that she needed to wear her hat. This is a quick iphone photo from their hike, maybe I will be able to get a better shot later. I will take any photo I can get - and there are no tears! How far we have come! Yay!

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 - Nov 16

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.

As evidenced by the photo, there is a lot going on. I finally started The Help and I have been completely sucked in. Between reading this and watching Mad Men I am trying to wrap my head around what life must have been like for the older generations of women in my family who had to deal with those gender and racial issues. We have had a run off colds here too, so while I crave the chance to sit and knit, when that chance comes I do not have too much brain power for it. I have the body done on Nate's sweater, one thrummed mitten done, several more stripes on the Neon Nightmare and a pilgrim hat for Jackson.

Yes. A pilgrim hat for the dog, because I am ridiculous. And I need a silly break from the noise, the sick, the general picking-everything-up-multiple-times-a-day, and getting ready to host a houseful of people for Nate's Baptism this weekend and Thanksgiving next week. And I am wondering if I can possibly knit white leg warmers for the baby by saturday? And a shrug for me or a shawl? And why did I pick colors for previously knit shawls that do not match anything I might possibly wear this weekend?

Good effort buddy, trying to look dignified.

Transition

The inbetween time of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Ignore the fact that Christmas stuff and music is in the stores and that "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" (original cartoon version) was on tv over the weekend. Also ignore the awful "Autumn Nor'easter" that left me with the sudden onset of the feeling that winter is coming (or winter never really left) I realized that my kids need new hats. Lorelai has gotten two years of wear out of the puple tot-topper that I made, but it is time for something new. She picked out a pattern (Moochi from the Bambeanies book) and found some purple yarn in the stash. I finished it on Thursday. Will she try it on? Long time readers of this blog can probably guess that she declined. I'll try to call on the back up model, Jackson, for a photo shoot later.

In the meantime while browsing the rest of the Bambeanies I decided to make Nate a new hat. The candy corn hat was cute and I am not going to make him wear the turkey hat for the next three weeks. Maybe just the week of Thanksgiving - he tried it on over the weekend and my word, you have never seen a cuter turkey. From a swap on Ravelry I claimed my favorite yarn, Malabrigo, in "Citrus" colorway. Yellows and oranges are not my thing, but there is no denying the sunshiney-fun of this yarn. And with the leaves changing and daylight savings in effect (or over?) a little regular cheer is good.

The pattern is Polpo - a very quick knit and the little twisty bits are the top are cleverly constructed. I love that the pooling is almost stripey. I think I may use the rest of this yarn to make a Monsters. Or maybe a vest for Nate?

Happy Halloween

Hard to believe that I can look outside my window and see foliage on the trees and snow on the ground! On Friday we went to a local orchard's pumpkin patch for a Halloween parade:

My little witch.


Prize-winning "cow" (he's really a horse, the outfit has a mane) - he won for best animal costume!

And then on Saturday we had to switch to a costume of a different sort:

Crazy. I'm in the middle of making the Lorax a new winter hat. She did well with the mittens, but this year she's big into picking up the snow, so I need to find some better "play in the snow" mitts.

Today we will be rocking the costumes to the grandparents and that is about it. Given the fickle nature of a pre-schooler, I did not bother to make any costumes this year, except for Jackson. He doesn't complain or change his mind and is properly motivated by cheese. Inspired by this, "My Pimp Paw is Strong, I made Jackson a new hat and chains. It was meant to be - I found exactly one feather when I went looking in the craft supplies!


May you have more treats than tricks!!

Yarn Along - Oct 26

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. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

It's been an exciting week around this blog. The Yarn Harlot, after meeting TheatreKnitter, gave a shout out / linked to my blog for the PatPat's Hats project! Oh my. My little blog got 3,000 views over 4 days!! Crazy in the best possible way and I am so happy to help PatPat's Hats. The response has been very positive - there is a facebook page and a Ravelry group. While the initial donation is going to be made in January, this is anticipated to be an annual event.

On to the Yarn Along - I finished "Tattoos on the Heart" - I really enjoyed reading about Homeboy-industries. I keep thinking of the Anne Frank quote too, about how despite all that happens, deep down you have to believe that people are good at heart. I've been considering Christmas knitting and have cast on a few projects, shown here, neither of which though are Christmas gifts. The purple thing I hope to show off soon as it was an impulse project. The red and brown striped item is going to be a sweater for Nate. I love the fall chill in the air, that also seems to be in my house - I don't love that as it is not good for being energy efficient, but I love the feeling of wanting a cup of tea throughout the day and snuggling under a blanket at night. I have also been able to work on a few rows of the neon nightmare without breaking out in a sweat.

I feel like I am starting to find a few more moments during the day for some knitting, thank goodness!! The evenings are more of a challenge, but I will take what I can get!

PatPats Hats

Just putting this out there again - I've gotten some lovely hats and seen several in progress! Thank you for your thoughts, prayers, fibers and time!!

Fellow Knitters, I'm putting out the knit-signal...

(credit for the logo goes to TheBookishGirl way back when!)

My good friend Betsy, aka Theatreknitter, and her family have had some major stresses to deal with. On Aug. 31st her nephew, Patrick, was brought into Yale New Haven Children's Hospital ER. On that day they found 3 brain tumors that were quickly removed . While he is meeting milestones and doing pretty well recovering from his surgery, there is still a long way to go. She would like to thank the nurses, doctors, and community of Yale Children's by donating "Pat Pat's hats" (PatPat is what Patrick calls himself) so that children undergoing treatment can get a warm hat while receiving treatments. We're looking for hats for preemies to teenagers, and everything in between. Can you make a hat or two (or more? Or maybe you would like to help in some other way?)? I am helping out as I can as a point person for collecting the hats. The hats will be donated after the new year.

You can message me on Ravelry (I'm nutmegknitter) or shoot me an email: nutmegknitter AT gmail DOT com
We have also set up a Facebook page and event as well - if you would like to "attend". I think it is set as a "public" event, but if you have trouble message me and we can figure it out!

Rhinebeck Rejuvenates

This weekend went by way too fast and it was a complete success! I loved being away for a bit with the girls on Friday and getting to see family on Saturday. Rhinebeck is such a fun time - inspiration abounds just seeing all of wonderful handknits and lovely yarns, and people! I was a terrible "bingo" player - my Ravelry username button was left in the trunk of my car! - and I was so distracted by all the other things to look at that my bingo card stayed in my bag! The hats were a huge hit - to the non-knitters (like, my husband) who question my taste level while I was knitting or showed the finished project to them, they just don't understand how well it worked at the festival. It was fun to be a part of the group with the sparkle hats too and even more fun to be walking about and hear, "Ooh, love the hats! Ooh, the baby has one! Oooh, so Mom, Baby & Aunt!"


My "loose list" strategy worked really well I think. I ended up with two thrummed mitten kits from Good Karma Farm - one is intended for a Christmas gift and the other is for me.

There were a lot of other lovely things that caught my eye, but I resisted - I have a lot more ideas going forward for sure!

Nate gave his aunt and uncle a real sample of what babies are like - he fussed quite a bit after dinner on Saturday, but they were really good sports about it - they stepped up and gave it a shot to walk with him / snuggle him / get him to calm down. Even the cats didn't mind too much, but I think they liked sharing Nate's play mat. Doesn't Arthur look happy?


And now, it's back to the grind leaving the wool fumes behind. Till next year Rhinebeck!

Two Months!

Babies change so fast - today is Nate's 2 month birthday and he is so different already. He's doing great at picking his head up, loves sleeping on his tummy, can usually find his thumb if he's on his stomach, and just yesterday started "talking" with a lot of cooing / oohing / aahing. He did great at his first fiber festival (more on that later). He is rather fussy in the car, but I think most of that can be chalked up to gas - he's a gassy baby. If you are patient and talk to him and make a variety of silly faces, you get some pretty great faces back:

Rhinebeck or Bust!

I am beyond excited that Rhinebeck is this coming weekend! I will be attending with the little Nutmeg, so it is not a complete vacation, but still, to be surrounded friends and family and knitters and fiber and yarns and have it all be NORMAL will be wonderful. Last year I made the effort to say Hello to people when I recognized them. This year I've signed up for Rhinebeck Bingo


Want a tip on how to find me? Well, like last year, all the members of SnB in attendance at Rhinebeck made the same hat. This year we are doing it again, only bigger / bolder and full of bling... well, some sparkle anyway.

I've made 3 of these hats - one for me, one for my SIL and one for Nate. Can't you just tell how much he loves it?! The pattern is Flirtatious by Cathy Carron - gosh I hope she's at Rhinebeck to see us!


Seriously. Didn't the Lorax tell him this is just the beginning of the knitting nonsense I will try to put on him?

Hope you say Hi! Even if I'm not on your bingo card!

Yarn Along - Oct 12

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? ~

I gave up on "I Think I Love You". It is an infrequent occurrence that I do not finish a book (I know I didn't make it through "Profiles in Courage" or "The Killer Angels"). As it was an e-book "borrowed" from the library, I had a time limit on the books availability and I just din't finish in time. I could "take out" the book again, but I was not that invested in it. I started a new book, Tattoos on the Heart - it is an easy read, mostly anecdotes and that makes it easy to pick up and put down. I do not want to put it down though as the stories are engaging and there is plenty of food for thought.

I am working on knitting a Wishy Washy Fishy Tawashi for my "downstream" swap pal. I was happy to see this in my pal's queue, as I have also had it queued for a while. And that's been it, along with the hexipuffs. My knitting seems to have slowed down a bit, though with the influx of minis for the hexipuffs that helps me to drool over new yarns. And Rhinebeck is this weekend, so I am setting a very loose shopping list for myself. I always find when I actually have a list I never find what I am looking for. Last year I went in without a list but good knowledge of my stash and still didn't find anything I adored. This year, with my loose list, I am hoping to find a few new to me items and maybe splurge on a treat for me.

One of those days

Yesterday seemed like it had such promise to be a good day. Nate slept well through the night - we only had to get up once at 2am. Then he slept until 5:30am - not too bad in my book... until at 5:45am I was covered in spit-up. Covered and drenched. Hm. That was followed by another loss of power, a missed school day for the Lorax, a broken garage door and a bunch of truly minor annoyances that seemed all the greater because they were all happening on the same day.

I was able to get a few stitches done, thank goodness for the hexipuffs:

Though I am craving a larger project. I am currently entertaining ideas for Christmas gifts and selfish projects for me.

And I think we're ready to laugh at whatever Tuesday brings:

That time of year

I love that New England is finally feeling like fall - the nights are cool, people are generally cheery and not bitter about the weather yet, and working with wool is nice again! I finished a test knit of a cowl that I look forward to wearing. We will ignore the portion of the weather forecast that says this weekend it will be in the 70s / 80s.

The "Tartan" cowl by Caryl Pierre is soon to be released. I used O-Wool Classic in blue and O-Wool Balance in grey. I love how this cowl is shaped - it will sit nicely on your neck under a jacket collar to keep you warm, no gaps! It is large enough to pull up to your nose, or fold over and set in place with a shawl pin (gotta get me one of those, maybe at Rhinebeck!).


Jackson was less than impressed, but the colors look nice on him.

The Funky Chicken is Nate's chair buddy - I think this photo is one of the best ones we have of him - his eyes are open, he's not crying, and there is the hint of a smile.


Most of the other photos he looks like this:

At least Lorelai seems a bit more game to take photos again.

Yarn Along - Sept 28

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.

It feels so good to start a new book. I did buy The Help to read on the kindle, but was sidetracked by the news that library patrons could get e-books on their kindles! In playing around with it, I ended up getting an e-book on my phone - haven't quite figured out the kindle side of it yet. Anyway, I heard an NPR interview with this author a while back and thought I Think I Love You would be a fun read. As a young girl, my celebrity obsession ran the lines of Corey Haim (not New Kids on the Block as most of the other girls my age were obsessed with) - however, the story still rings true.

I've got a few WIPs this week: hexipuffs are still buzzing along, a semi-secret project, and a test knit of Tartan. Caryl's version uses Madelinetosh Vintage, which must be stunning! I went stash diving and decided to work with O-Wool Classic and Balance. I worked up this swatch to be sure I liked the color combo, so far so good!

We had a few really good nights of sleep, with me getting up only once, but last night I think I was up a lot more. So it goes I guess. If only Nate knew how cute he was when he sleeps.


Yesterday there was some excitement around town. A movie crew and all that is involved with that came to a local spot for filming! We checked it out:

We didn't have any star sightings, but I saw other people post online that they did see Meryl Streep - she's filming movie with Steve Carell and Tommy Lee Jones. Nifty.

Yarn Along - Sept 21

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.

Still reading about Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - this book continues to shock and impress me, much in the way that "Unbroken" did.

I have just about finished one of flittens - this one needs a bit of finishing at the thumb. I have to say, while I love 98% of this flitten, I am disappointed at the finger end. The pattern calls for a picot bind off. It looks pretty, but has flared out quite a bit.


It is enough of a flare that I can fold it back like a cuff and it almost looks better.

Right now I am undecided as to what to do. I could rip it back and try decreasing a bit more before the picot bind off, or I could rip it back and not bother with it at all (just leave it as knit / purl rows). I could also see if blocking helps at all. Hm. Thoughts?

Mini Maniac

Look what landed in my mailbox on Saturday!

Fingering weight minis! I played along in a swap on Ravelry - everyone sent in a skein (or two) that was already broken down into the minis and in return you an equal amount of minis. These are for my Beekeeper's Quilt project. What a great way to try out new yarns - I am looking forward to working with the Mini Mochi, Trekking, Yarn Chef, and colourphobia minis. There are also several that I already know and love - Lorna's Laces, Malabrigo Sock, Schaefer - even a Wollmeise!

This is such a great pick-up-put-down project. I am up to 27 done - it feels like there should be more, and I know there is a long way to go still.


Each little hexipuff is quite satisfying to complete. I am still saving the leftovers from each mini skein, as I am unsure if I want to make half-hexis from them or stripe them with other leftovers. That is a decision for another day.

One Month

With disbelief I write this post - the lil'nutmeg is already one month old today! We are starting to all get used to each other I think. The Lorax still calls you "our baby from the hospital" and apparently that stuck with her - she drew this picture this week of me, still pregnant.


But on to the "birthday" boy - since you've been born there has been an earthquake, a hurricane / tropical storm, a week without power, and many moments where Dan and I just look at each other and ask "Did Lorelai do this? Was Lorelai like that?" So much of these early days are blur - I try so hard not to compare you to your sister!
A lot of the time you enjoy being like this:

On your belly, trying to suck your thumb (left hand! are you going to be a lefty like mom?)

A lot of the time you also do this:

So serious. And we're seriously in love.

This Moment - Family

Inspired by soulemama.com
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


I have to add words to this. This week marks a major upheaval for my family - my baby brother is headed off on an adventure to Chile. He and his girlfriend (the cute kids in the lower right of the photo) are expected to be there for 2 years. I may not see or talk with my brother daily or weekly, but I am used to the idea that I could get into New York City to see him or pick up the phone and call, and I could count on seeing him at major holidays and other family gatherings throughout the year. But to not see him for two years?! He was "home" visiting family this week - I have seen my brother more in the last month and it has been really great. I will miss them terribly (and wish they would be around so my kids can see them!), but I am trying to look on the bright side of things and be thankful for that we can set up Skype at the holidays and keep track of their adventure on the blog.

What do you knit for people in Chile?

Yarn Along - Sept 14

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.

Another week has gone by! I've been really enjoying The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks - it's the right mix of Women's Health History, science history, racial discussion and personal story. Last night, when the house was settled down for the night and the baby was fed, I chose to read more of the book instead of picking up the knitting. Now that's saying something!

Not that there has been a lack of knitting either! I've been still working on hexipuffs and a special sparkly project (one of 3 if all goes well). I think I will sit on this for a while longer before revealing it.

Cooler temperatures are supposed to arrive at the end of this week and I can't wait. Bring on fall, I say. Today is sunny (lovely) but warm and humid (ick) and all I can think about is fall weather and getting back to knitting bigger projects with wool - hopefully picking up a few sample and test knits again as well!