Mistress Stash Enhancer
The knits of raising 4 small children,the purl-ils of life, and random Stash Enhancement Expeditionshandmade ornament
so last night was my GS leader Christmas party. Just the adult leaders attend, we have a nice dinner, talk about our neighborhoods upcoming cookie sale. Since I started leading three years ago we’ve had a themed swap. For the past two years it was Holiday socks, remember the gift I made for last year’s party? Harold was a big hit, being passed around so everyone could see him. I was already plotting for this years swap gift. Wee tiny handknit socks, the group kept declaring that I should knit a pair of sock for the swap, but how can you do that when there are 8 people who can possibly receive your present and they all have different size feet. Wee little socks fit everyone right?
Then everyone went and changed the theme from socks to ornaments. Frick. Wait, no, wee tiny little socks would still work I thought, wouldn’t they? I could put them in a clear ornament ball
and top it with a velvet holly leaf, and added a tag which I gold embossed. In the end I had a finished product that I just lurve, so much that I made a second one and am thinking about putting it up on etsy.
There are more pictures here on flickr.
My friend who is my assistant leader kept telling me that she really hoped that she got my present. This year we played a new game, instead of the usual Lefty the elf poem, we all picked a piece of garland out of a basket and whoever had the same length of garland we exchanged our gift with. There was a bit of surprise there because whoever had the shortest piece got to pick who she wanted to swap with. Guess who’s package she picked? You guessed it,
mine! I’m starting to think I’ve built a reputation. ; )
both the ornament and wee little mittens where raveled here and here.
PS my parents are visiting this weekend, they brought their sweet little puppy with them, who is my new bff it seems.
FO: vestish
in my desperate attempt to catch up in my unblogged, unphotographed, and yet totally loved finished objects, here is the story of vestish. It starts back in the Spring of ‘08 with the release of the Spring knitty. Totally fell in love with honeycomb, but was sorely lacking any dk weight yarn in my stash at that time. (That problem has been dutifully solved, now the only weight lacking is bulky. Which will be rectified too, because my goal is to have my own personal yarn shop.) Now I was looking around for yarn that I wanted to use, then Diane went and knit one out of dream in color classy. I got to see it in person at Soar, and after that I knew that I had to knit one for myself…
and then I thought about all those little cables repeated quite frequently across the vest. And my dislike of cabling without a cable needle… lets just say I wasn’t in the moood for cabling. I picked up 2 hanks of this awesome blue (deep seaflower) during a trip to Natural Stitches. Soon after I purchased the dream in color classy I saw Lolly’s cedar vest and fell in love with the texture. Thought why not some alternating rib? It has a good texture, and easy to knit.
After a few hours of looking through many stitch dictionaries, and doing some math calculations I came up with my cast on number and started. Knit and knit, and then once I had a few inches I tried it on. Well now, lets just say I forgot how much give ribbing has along with negative ease. Off to the frog pond and cast on again with a smaller number this time remembering to calculate ease. (duH) Basically I was knitting on the fly, I kept some notes which I hope might help someone. Really if it wasn’t for other knitting blogs I don’t think I would be where I am with my knitting today. Anyway,
here are my notes, or unpattern if you will.
Vest to fit 32-33″ bust, ribbing has enough stretch to accommodate up to 36″ however you might want to add more length, because when knitting is stretched width wise it loses length.
needles- I used US 8 (5mm)
yarn- Dream in color classy 1.25 skeins in deep seaflower
gauge- 5sts/inch x 7 rows/inch in pattern
stitch holder or extra circular needle to hold stitches.
stitch pattern- alternating 2×2 rib
rounds 1,2,3,&4- *k2, p2, rep from*
round 5- *knit 2 stitches tog and leave stitch on left hand needle, knit first stitch and slip both stitches off needle together, p2, rep from*
rounds 6,7,8,9 &10- *p2,k2, rep from*
round 11- *p2, knit 2 stitches tog and leave stitch on left hand needle, knit first stitch and slip both stitches off needle together, rep from*
round 12- *k2,p2, rep from*
CO 112, knit 1.5″ of k2, p2. Start stitch pattern. Knit 7 repeats, more if you want. (My vest is a little short, I probably should have knit one more repeat.) After you’ve knit the amount of repeats that you want to, knit the next 6 rows as in pattern.
Back-
row 7- BO 6 stst at the beginning of the row, knit the next 56 sts in pattern, put remaining stitches on hold (stitches on hold are the front of the vest). You’ll be working back and forth now, not in the round. Because of this you when working a wrong side row you’ll have to change the purls to knits and the knits to purls. So they look right on the right side.
row 8- BO 6sts, knit as in pattern to end.
row 9- BO 4 sts, knit in pattern to end.
row 10- BO 4 sts knit in pattern to end.
row 11 and 1- BO 2 knit in pattern to end.
row 12 and 2- BO 2 knit as in pattern to end.
Continue knitting in pattern for 2 more repeats, knit to row 6 in pattern than place 8sts on hold, BO 18sts, knit and than place 8sts on hold. Leave a long tale and cut working yarn.
Front-
working with the stitches that where placed on hold, again you’ll be working back and forth so change the purls to knits, and knits to purls on the wrong side rows again. At this point, I’m leaving it up to you to figure out where you are in the stitch pattern. This isn’t as hard as it sounds.
row 1- (in pattern) BO 4sts, knit 12 as in pattern than place on hold for right front strap.
Front left strap- (18 sts total) with a new ball of yarn, BO 22, k12 as in pattern.
next row BO 2, knit 10 as in pattern, next row BO 2, knit 8 in pattern.
Knit 1 pattern repeat (I should have knit 1.5 so my arm holes where deeper, They are fine however a bit snug under a button down shirt.) than, 4 rows of pattern, cut long tail, graft these stitches with the ones that you put on hold for the left back. Repeat for the other side using the ball that’s attached. Weave in ends, marvel at your knitting awesomeness. And be shocked at how skinny and long the vest looks.
Started June 4 2009, Completed June 12 2009 9th nakniswemodo. I need more vests. Anyway, enjoy my unpattern if you knit it please let me know. If you have any questions about it, or find any errors drop me a line. mistress_stash_enhancer (at) yahoo (dot) com
PS. my parents are coming to visit this weekend and the playroom/guest room (aka pull out couch from hell) is a disaster zone.
PPS. My whole house feels like a disaster zone and looks like it belongs on an episode of cops.
PPPS ok, its not that bad. but all the empty boxes of Christmas decorations that need to go up into the attic are making me feel closed in. And the kitchen floor needs moped.
PPPPS. And yet I’m here blogging. Go figure.
PPPPPS. Mike will eventually turn this into a PDF for me, until then copy and paste the pattern notes into word and print from there. Also,
copyright Amanda Cathleen Morgan 2009. Pattern is for personal, non-commercial use only. Do not reproduce the pattern for distribution, sale or any other purpose with out written permission from the designer. Finished items may not be sold. Pictures, patterns, text and content are the sole property of Amanda Cathleen Morgan. All rights reserved. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this pattern is strictly prohibited.
PPPPPPS my blog is snowing 
goodbye friend,
Tuesday night our guinea pig, Princess Chocolate Pork Rind (sometimes referred to as Poopy pig) crossed over the Rainbow bridge.
She had such a long name because each kid wanted to name her something different, making her sound like guinea pig royalty. Which she was, and proclaimed with happy little chirps.
we will miss you sweet friend, xxoo
it must be somebody’s birthday!
streamers, presents,
cool cupcakes too,
it must be somebody’s birthday!
Happy Birthday Bryce! You’ve grown so much, you are becoming such a sweet young man. You will never cease to amaze me with your building and math skillz. Your a thoughtful and kinda little guy, I love you, xxoo Mommy.
PS. when I was looking at the current issue of family fun, I saw these awesome frog cupcakes and knew they would be perfect for B’s birthday. I changed them up a little bit, only because I can’t leave well enough alone. Instead of using white chocolate chips for the eyes, I purchased candy eyes at a local party store. (I would have purchased them from Bake It Pretty, but I didn’t have enough time for shipping. Still I ordered meself some pretty dusting sugars, sprinkles, and cookie cutters (like I *need* more of them, I do however *need* a gnome and squirrel cookie cutter!) I purchased a bag of red and green holiday spice gumdrops, because it was all I could find, but the red ones ended up making super cute tongues. This is what I did frosted my cupcakes green, cut the green gumdrops in half, added a candy eye by using a toothpick and a small amount of frosting. Tinted a small amount of frosting black (which will end up gray, because it takes for.ever. to make a true black and it doesn’t taste all that great when you add that much coloring to it, go ahead ask me how I know) used a #4 wilton decorating tip for the mouth and (thanks to Corra great idea!) added half a red gumdrop for a tongue. One some of the cupcakes I used the gray icing to make little bugs (also a Corra idea). Here is a link to another pic that shows the bugs. Bryce was super surprised and was thrilled that he has an army of frog cupcakes to take to school with him today.
PPS. Last night I was totally kicking myself for starting a tradition so many years ago, of hanging streamers in the living room in the birthday kids choice colors. This morning however when all the kids saw them, and Bryce was like wohh! It made dragging out the ladder and perching precariously on the back of the sofa very much worth the effort.
PPPS. Bryce totally cracked me up when he pulled this huge ziplock bag out of his pocket after he opened his first present (he gets to open the rest when he comes home from school). The kid had a plan. He was taking his new lego’s to school so he could play with them at recess!
PPPPS. I can’t stop looking at all the fun cupcake idea’s on family fun’s website…. can’t.stop.looking!
Halloween recap, with the costume snob
yes, weeks later. Hey, I never said I’d be on the ball here. I really wanted to share the kids costumes this year since I’m an apparent costume snob. It drives me crazy that Halloween costumes are so expensive and yet most are made with crappy, crappy fabric. Especially since I know that some costumes I can make better than what I can buy. Anyway…
In September I asked them what they wanted to be, and told them to think about it for a few days so they would be sure. So help me God, because if I had to make their costumes I need time I told them, and time doesn’t mean 2 days before their classroom Halloween party. We went to the big W place and looked around to start getting idea’s. C was dead set on being a pirate, A was torn between being a horse (ok, I can do that) and a princess possibly snow white, B wanted to be something from Star Wars, and K would be anything we decided to dress her up as. We found the white storm trooper (?) (ya’ll know I’m wrong it was probably not a storm trooper. I don’t pay attention during movies.) which B said that he wanted to be. OK. Now I bought the costume and we went home… see where this is going? Yeah. me too. cause it was way to easy, and I knew he wasn’t as happy as he should be.
a week or two after we bought the white star wars-whatever costume B fessed up that he would rather be a sith. But a good one (which I think is a Jedi, but I really have no idea), not a bad one like Darth Maul. You have no idea how bloody confused I was, am still am. There is so much about Star Wars that I have no idea about. Really I think he is picking out his costumes based on the weapon that goes with it. He didn’t want to be Anakin or the other guy from the first (or do they call it the forth one now?) movie, Hans Solo (I think, all I remember is that the character was played by Harrison Ford and he was so hot in that movie.) He wanted his own set of Jedi robes. I looked around for a costume, looked in local stores and online. Now the costume snob in me came out. I have a *really* hard time buying a $40 costume when its made out of crappy thin polyester crap. Yep double crap. Its even harder to do so when I know that I can make a better one for less. Abi came to my rescue with this link on how to make a Jedi robe, and with a brown flat bed sheet and a few yards of off white muslin I was on my way. Best thing is this pattern is exactly what I love, no real measurements just winging it. I did make B’s robe a little short by double folding the hem so he wouldn’t trip over it while we where out trick-or-treating, I let out the hem the next day so its long, billowy and very Jedi like. We took full advantage of K being unable to decide and/or tell us what she wanted to be for Halloween.
so we dressed her up as Yoda. Robe is just like B’s, I used a pair of K’s pjs to figure out the measurements, the arms are short because I ran out of fabric. Hat is raveled here. I used this pattern with some Lion Brand fisherman’s wool that I dyed with kool-aid a few years ago. I had to use some leftover cascade 220 for the ties that ended up getting cut off because K wouldn’t allow them to be tied. Following the pattern authors advise, the ears where stiffened using watered down white glue, they took three days to freaking dry. Thank goodness I thought about this a week before hand, small miracle in itself. Now A decided that she didn’t want to be a horse, she wanted to be a princess. We talked her into Snow White. I purchased her costume from Disney’s website, it was a really good price and is very well made. Even though every time she wears it freaking gold glitter ends up everywhere.
C still wanted to be a pirate, and again my costume snob came out. I couldn’t find a pirate costume that was 1. appropriate 2. not expensive and made from crap and 3. again with the appropriate for a 10 year old. Turning to the internets I found this pattern. Measured my kid and smarty pants me made a practice one out of muslin. Which is a good thing because I had a hell of a time with the waistband and ended up doing my own thing, thanks to what I learned from my practice skirt, and a frantic phone call to my mom. I cut my waistband 2″ longer instead of 1, folded it in half and then sewed it into the skirt leaving the ends open. Basically I made a casing. Then I threaded the elastic through and had my kid try it on, pulled the elastic tight but not too tight, marked it, had the kid take it off, sewed the elastic together where marked and then sewed the ends of the casing shut.
Sounds confusing but it was way easier than what the author wrote to do. And the skirt had give this way, so it can actually go over the thighs, imagine that. I purchased from white and red fabric from Joanns for the pirate skirt, white shirt from my mom embellished by me with red ribbon, wide belt that was never worn with the jeans it came with, black boots, black leggings, red handkerchief and a pirate hat from Kmart. I was going to make a hat but I ran out of time. Thanks flu. I think she makes a pretty cute pirate.
It ended up raining during the morning of Halloween and trick or treating was smack in the middle of K’s nap, Mike stayed home with her while she napped even though it was his turn to walk the kids around. We where pretty lucky that it didn’t rain while we where out, but the kids where done after an hour (trick or treating here is 2 hours long) and ready to go home. I’m still in shock with that one. B is still wearing his Jedi robe constantly. Which makes this momma happy.
the costume snob too.
PS. its been one hellva week here. A came home last friday with head lice. OMG it was hard not to scream when I saw them, instead I resorted to my usual “Crap.” . I’m very paranoid about them and do a quick check when my kids come home, while they are doing their homework. Heck when my older kids where in 2nd grade they don’t have lockers they have a closet, yep, my kids get plastic bags to put there stuff in when A and B get to 4th where the classrooms have closets again they will get plastic bags too. There are four of them people, kids that is. Could you imagine how horrible it would be if they all got it?? My mother says I’m this way because she must have traumatized me when I had it as a kid. I think that 1. its traumatizing no matter what and 2. I don’t want them again, even if it was 20 years ago that I had them last. I have never done this much laundry in so many days in my life. The dryer didn’t stop till yesterday, and my van is finally sparkly clean. (people I vacuumed everything, couches, mattresses, chairs, car seats everything that might have possibly been touched or been near. I realize this maybe a bit overboard but this is the only way I can sleep) I haven’t found another nit on her head yet (I’m checking twice a day, when she wakes up and when she comes home from school. She shares a locker with another kid. Who when I called her mom to let her know {I was worried if that kid had it and the mom didn’t know my kid would get it again} the mom said “oh I didn’t know they shared lockers.” Srsly, you did. Open house, your kid told you lady.) The one thing that has been bothering me is… What happened to the one louse that laid the nits, where did that one go? *shiver* I think if I call my sil again to check my head she’s going to kill me.
PPS. I’m really proud of this, before the head lice drama I replaced the dryer vent the cats had ripped. Mike forgot to do this when he was home. After I was finished I only hurt myself twice and required one band aid.
PPPS Mike had to tighten the clamps up when he got home because I couldn’t get the one screw to tighten down. I sorta gave up after I stabbed myself in the hand with the screwdriver. Apparently I don’t screw well.
PPPPS. I’m still really proud of myself for fixing it, even though I didn’t really…
Happy Mitten Monday
It started last year at Rhinebeck. Mom and I have a tradition of going together, having lunch with knitting friends, then Dad comes over later in the afternoon to look around at the yarns, the finished knits and his (mine too) favorite the people watching. Last year he saw a pair of mittens that where lined, I think he said that they where alpaca (just thinking of alpaca makes me all itchy), and not as densely knit as he would have liked. He told me that he once had a pair of lined mittens, and they where the best ever. And he hasn’t been able to find a pair like it since.
We walked around some more, looked at some other booths. Talked about how alpaca seemed to be all over the place that year (it was 2008 and it was freaking everywhere). We talked more about the mittens, cause I love knitting for my Dad. He understands handwashing. Man even gave me a lecture about it when I was a teenager and I was doing laundry. He had already received many pairs of socks from me and kept talking about those mittens. (Holy Crap! I just realized that I’ve knit my father 4.freaking.pairs.of socks!!)
We talked some more about those mittens, about whether or not he wanted them to be plain or have a fair isle pattern. What colors would be nice, and most importantly what to line them with. And I stupidly said, I would knit him a pair for his birthday. However I didn’t specify which birthday. (Thinking back I think it was the one a few weeks before that Rhinebeck…. but its 4 freaking mittens. So it’s really like 2 presents right? He did get a book this year too, and a really cool pirate knife with a retractable blade which I bet my mom is LOVING right now. haha)
When my parents visited that April my Dad did see my fiddlehead mittens and I asked him if he would like a pair like those. He liked the pattern, but wanted something different. Luckily I had just borrowed magnificent mittens by Anna Zilboorg from the library (it was out of print, but its coming back in print soon!! I just can’t remember when) after flipping through the book, and commenting on how silly the sleeve bell things seem. (I get how they would keep your arms warm but if you where doing something in the snow wouldn’t snow get in them? And yes, they look a wee bit silly and I don’t need much help in that department.) Daddy mentioned that he really liked the pattern from Chapter 5 pattern 1. And I being the glutton for punishment that I am, decided to change them up a bit.
pattern stats:
pattern: Magnificent Mittens – Chapter 5, Pattern 1 by Anna Zilboorg (rav link)
size: to fit 8.5″ hand
yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino less than one skein of 00227 (dark brown contrast color) and 00229 (light heather gray) and .25 Jade Sapphire Mongolian Cashmere 2-ply in mahogany for the lining (I know right? they are niiiice!)
needles: US 4 / 3.5 mm
Started July 31 2009
Completed October 7 2009
raveled here.
notes: mashed Adrian’s fiddlehead mittens with the magnificent mittens pattern that my father picked out. I wanted a thumb gore (think that’s what they are called) but didn’t want to have to figure it out. To make the numbers work I added four extra stitches to the sides. (The column of stitches that run up both sides of the mitten is usually 1mc, 1cc, 1mc. Mine are 2mc, 1cc, 2mc) The fair isle patterning for the thumb is from the fiddlehead chart. I started the first mitten July 31 finished the second Aug 8, it took the pressure of his birthday coming up to get me to start and finish the second mitten, then line both of them.
Daddy really likes his mittens, and I was happy to give them to him in person when the kids and I traveled up for our long Rhinebeck weekend visit. I don’t think Dad knows that I took that picture of him wearing his mittens at Rhinebeck with my phone. He did however keep mentioning how nice they where to have since it was chilly. Which I was happy to hear, however it’s going to be a loooong time before I knit another pair like this. Don’t worry Mom, not that long. Don’t worry about Dad either, there will always be handknits in his future. He would really like a vest next. Cute huh?
Recently I finished a pair of owl mittens for Allysa to match her thorpe hat I just finished for her. Once I saw thea’s I had to knit a pair. While I was taking Allysa’s picture this afternoon she kept saying “Happy Mittens! Happy Mittens!” I think she’s happy with them.
~remember click on any pic in this post to embiggin~
pattern stats:
Pattern: Give a Hoot by Jocelyn Tunney
size: smaller, to fit a 5 year old hands.
Needles: US 6 / 4.0 mm for the ribbing and US 7 / 4.5 mm for the rest.
yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted 12 yards in little lovely and 46 yards in Roanoke.
Started October 22 2009
Completed October 26 2009
raveled here.
notes: I prefer a looong cuff on my mittens, so it will stay under a sleeve. I didn’t add any length to this cuff, it was already long enough. Also cast on and knit one row with the pink to help tie it together with her hat. Knitting these mittens at a denser gauge gave me just the right size for Allysa’s little hands with a bit of room to grow. I know lots of other knitters have said this but I love the thumbs on these! I didn’t add buttons because I didn’t have any that where small enough, instead I used some of the pink to make little french knots for eyes.
I keep thinking of other mittens or fingerless mitts to knit, but my exhusbands wife is expecting a baby any day now and every baby needs a handknit sweater. I started yesterday even though I’ve known for months, I do hope that baby hasn’t been waiting for its sweater….
PS. phew 7m left of Monday!
PPS. I still have a bit of a cough but much better. yeah Carrie your right it takes forever to go away!
PPPS. I made pumpkin muffins with dark chocolate chips in them today. So.freaking.good. Since they are pumpkin and its dark chocolate they are good for me right??
PPPPS I just realized that I forgot to order that book for Dad…. crap.
end of socktober and one more pair of socks for the pile.
it was a push to finish these by the end of socktober, with the beginning of the month most of my knitting time was given to the finishing of Daddy’s mittens so they would be done in time for his birthday, then the sleeves to my Wisteria sweater so they would be done in time for Rhinebeck, then a quick little ear warmer for Rhinebeck too, and then finally a pair of fingerless mitts that I haven’t said anything about yet… anyway there has been loads of knitting time this month. Many of it because there has been lots of cuddle time where Kailey just wants to sit with me. Now that she’s feeling better I’ve been trying to find the house. Never ending mission I swear, I’m getting there but as long as the floors are clean, kitchen sink is clean, bathroom is habital and laundry is washed I’m ok. Gotta keep the expectations low with 4 kids, so something feels accomplished. With a few nights of tv knitting, and Corra’s basketball game yesterday morning where Mike stayed home with the other kids (we had to be in the next town 15 mins away at 815am. There was no way I was going to bring the younger kids with me if I could get away with it. By the way her team won 28-2 this was her first game of the season since the flu wiped us out, she got a 2 point shot during the game, and you wouldn’t BELEIVE the fouls the ref didn’t call.) I have a pair of finished mystery socks.
project stats:
Pattern: Mystery Sock ‘09 by Kirsten Kapur
Started: October 1 2009
Completed: October 31 2009
Yarn: Handmaiden Fine Yarn Casbah Sock colorway blue lagoon purchased from the Loopy Ewe
Needles: US 1½ (2.5 mm) for the cuff and US 2 (2.75 mm) for the rest.
notes: I made one little mod, only because I’m not that fond of lace on the foot of my socks (its cold here in January!) I knit through the back loop of the yo’s on the foot. This does change the fit a bit, since there isn’t as much ease.
It has been a really, long time since I’ve knit a flap heel. I miss the magic of turning the heel. There might be a few more of these heels again in my future. Its really neat how Kirsten continued the pattern down the heel, a first for me. And I quite like how the calf pattern changes into the foot. Very cool. And the toe, awesome how she incorporated the decreases into the pattern!
Socktober always makes me think about how many socks I have knit, which in the end reminds me how far I’ve come from the first sock I have ever knit. Oh wow, that was a doozy. 4 years of knitting socks brings 51 pairs of socks I’ve come a long way. I put them all together in a set on flickr.
clicky here to see it.
see, that totally justifies my sock yarn stash…
PS. I almost have my voice back, but the darn cough won’t leave just yet. Still feel a little crappy, but not as craptastic as I did earlier this week.
PPS. I’m going to start a sweater today in fact since Mike has the kids so well occupied I might sneak off and wind up the yarn now…
the one thing they share…
Yes, we’re sick. We’re all sick, according to the kids pediatrician the kids have the swine flu. Anyone with these symptoms, (fever of 99.8 not higher, maybe lower), croupy cough, headache and runny noise they are calling it the swine flu. Not confirming it mind you, which makes me wonder if this whole swine flu thing is really bad as they are saying it is. The older kids got it first, and when Allysa starting showing symptoms I called in and asked (demanded, whichever) for tamiflu, she has asthma. She has a bit of a cough and so far hasn’t gotten as sick as the others, Kailey has a cough and runny nose. So far its been pretty mild, and they seem to better. I’ve been filling them with fluids and disinfecting every.thing. And yet, I still got sick.
The one thing they share.
Its pretty darn comforting though is to wrap myself up in a handknit worsted weight shawl (even if it has a bit of cat hair, oyi) with a hot tea, and cuddle with my littlest one. Even better when the shawl is full of memories of previous knits and knitting friends. The multicolored handspun was a prize from Gabby, the green was leftover from Bryce’s drive-thru sweater, and the dark purple is leftover from my February lady sweater. I still haven’t blocked it, so I’m sure it will grow a bit more when I do.
Started July 5 2009
Completed July 29 2009
pattern Feather and Fan comfort shawl.
yarns- Targee DK handspun from the Gabby Knitter, Dream in Color Classy in vino veritas, Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK in 433 foresty green.
needles- US 9 (5.5 mm)
raveled here.
The one freaking thing they share….
PS I’m completely aware that sweatpants and a pink corduroy jacket don’t “go” together.
PPS. I’ve been knitting away on my TTL’s mystery socks because I would really like to finish them before Socktoberfest is over.
PPPS. Not actually going anywhere lends itself to more knitting time. So does ignoring the mountain of laundry cause your sick. 
PPPPS. Like my “new” reading glasses? (I say “new” because I’ve had them since August, it has become harder to read the computer screen and other things upclose….)
sheep and wool love
Why is it that re-entry from any sheep and wool festival is so hard? We make a long weekend out of the occasion since we spend it at my parents house and it gives us some extra time to visit. Especially since we won’t be going back up until Spring. Someone here has learned her lesson about driving 320 miles North during the winter months, there is a very high probability that one will be driving in a Nor’easter. And that’s no fun. I really enjoyed myself this year, there was one purchase that I had been planning for and stopped early. That would be the natural white merino from Greenwood Hill farm. Nothing can beat this stuff, its amazing and after a short convo with the owner not only is it because their sheep are pure breed merino’s its because of their diet too.
and of course a stop at creatively dyed for some sock yarn (like I *need* more), and Autumn house farms where I found the blue bulky for a really great price. Mom and I wondered the barns some more and I picked up some hand dyed roving, and then we met up with Karen and her husband for lunch.
pst, I knit up that little ear warmer real quick its raveled here.
It was a good lunch even though my pot pie kinda sucked. Way too many peas. Some how we missed the meet up again this year, I had it in my head that it was at 1, not 12. Yeah, next year cause I missed seeing bunches of people. Mom and I wondered around some more before Dad came over, I purchased some amazing Cormo from Foxhill farm, which I had no clue was in Lee, 15 min from my parents. I can’t wait to knit with it! We saw Kim at the big sock, both mom and I knit for a bit on it. (Kim will be at stitches east too with the big sock, booth # 526)
We walked around some more and saw the sheepies,
Before we made our last purchases of the day and went home
The kids and I stayed till Tuesday morning before coming home to PA. Boy did I miss sleeping in my bed, and drinking real coffee from a coffee maker not freeze dried astronaut coffee (love you Dad, just not your coffee so much). Its good to be home even though the kids are sick with possibly the swine flu. I sort of disagree with our Dr, since he just read their complaints and said anyone with these complaints they are calling it the swine flu. Their fevers having gone over 100.4 and they have this horrible croupy cough that sounds like bronchitis. I’m pushing liquids like crazy, and am starting to sound like my mother more and more.
Since the kids are sick and we are holed up in our house there has been more knitting,
Allysa’s thorpe, rav link and owl mitts for her too rav link.
the more I knit with this awesome stuff, malabrigo, the more I want a sweater out of it….. even though it will pill like mad..
sweater for Rhinebeck ‘09
nothing like a fantastic new sweater to break the blog silence… It’s been crazy busy here, but really when is it not? Kids are keeping me busy with all their sports, Girl Scouts has started up again and Corra is a Jr again, and Allysa is now a daisy. Anyway, this year I thought of knitting a sweater for Rhinebeck a little bit sooner than I did last year. I knew, absolutely new that I wanted to knit wisteria from the twist collective. The only problem is the smallest size is a 37, that’s 4″ to big for me! Thankfully its written for a worsted weight, so by knitting in a lighter gauge I’d get a smaller size. I really wanted to use Madelinetosh tosh worsted in logwood that I purchased from yarn4socks during an amazing sale, after I knit a few gauge swatches I had my mind made up. Some people say its a worsted, other say its a lighter worsted and I have to agree with them. On US 8’s it was WAY too loose. So lose you would be able to see through it, on 7’s it was still pretty loose. On Us 6’s it was perfect. So amazingly perfect. Wouldn’t you say?
I can’t express how happy I am with this sweater, so very, very happy.
I plan on wearing this baby to Rhinebeck this weekend. Tomorrow I finish packing up and Friday morning bright and early (ie 9am) the kids and I start off to my parents where we’ll stay for the weekend. I’m really looking forward to Rhinebeck this year. No so much for the stash adding, but for seeing all my knitting peeps. I’ll probably be wearing my pink vest over this, and if its raining I’ll be wearing my blue LLbean jacket over it, and my blue wellies (that Mike totally hates but he’s not going, and don’t get me started the shoes he was buying himself for the past 2 years).
There was a bit here that I wasn’t sure if I would be able to finish this in time, since I put this sweater down to finish up Daddy’s mittens in time for his birthday. I’m still in shock that I was able to finish one sleeve in a day. A day. And do laundry. And cook. And play with the kids. Yeah, I’m shocked. The other sleeve took 2 days. There was much more to do, and I actually had to get dressed and leave the house.
nakniswemodo #11 (I’m up to 12, but have only finished 11. I have lots of pictures to take)
Pattern- Wisteria by Kate Gilbert
Started September 18 2009
Completed October 13 2009
Yarn- Madelinetosh tosh worsted in logwood 4.5 hanks around 1,012 yards.
Needle- US 6 / 4.0 mm
raveled here.
note about the yarn- oh, love. It has such a nice hand, and knits up into a wonderful fabric. I was a little disappointed that there where bits where it wasn’t spun very well, and bits where it was slubby. But over all I will purchase this again. In fact I’m thinking about what colors I want next! I knit the yoke with one hank, then after the sleeves I started alternating every 3 rows with another ball until I got down to where you start the bottom cables. I didn’t do this on the sleeves.
mods- smallest size knit at a smaller gauge to make a smaller sweater. I thought all the increases where in with the cables, not all of them but most. If you are looking to make this pattern smaller you could also leave out the increases after the cables are done and before the sleeves are put on hold. One really important thing to remember when you knit a sweater at a tighter gauge is not only is your stitch gauge smaller but your row gauge too. Because my row gauge is 8 rows per inch and the pattern is 6 rows per inch I added 2 rows on each time the pattern said knit __ rows even. Also knit 7 extra rows before starting the cable on the bottom. If I didn’t the sweater would be 1” to short. Don’t think I’m all smarty pants, because I forgot this on my first sleeve and it was too short, I had to re-knit it to make it longer. Not a mod, but I color coded my cable charts to make them quicker to read. It’s easier for me to remember a color than a symbol. I find this makes reading more complex cable charts easier.
Its such a good feeling when a sweater comes out just as amazing as it does in my head. Such a good feeling.
PS. If you see me at Rhinebeck, please do say hi!
PPS I’m so excited for a day to shop for yarn with out kids, I’m already halfway packed.
PPPS I really hope it doesn’t rain. Gotta find that lil mini umbrella. Methinks its in the car…
2009- gettin' it on with 7 pairs so far!
