Done. Done. Done.

I am so glad to be done with all the kids costumes. I waited until last weekend to start, and I’m still in shock that I finished them all in time. It doesn’t help that once I get an idea of something to add, I can’t not add it. ya know? Like Allysa’s kitten costume had to have a collar because it made it look sweeter (and less like a rat). Corra’s vampire cape had to have glitter (come on, its glitter!). Bryce’s Indiana Jones costume had to have a “whip” and a satchel (Indiana Jones has to have a whip, even if its really a bunch of rope tied together and it doesn’t even unravel). My costume had to have eyes too, not just teeth, claws, nose and ears. Kailey *neeeeded* to have mittens so her little Red Ridding Hood hands didn’t freeze.
Of course I thought of this the night of October 29, you know like a day from Halloween.

good thing she has little hands.

stats:
pattern: my own
needles: US8 (5mm) I also used a crochet hook to make the chain.
yarn: Paton’s Classic Merino in red held double
started: night of October 29
finished: morning of October 31

Now, I should probably start the laundry that I’ve been ignoring for the past 3 days or vacumme the stray pumpkin seeds that escaped the vacuum Wednesday night after the pumpkin carving.

eh, I don’t wanna.
Happy Halloween all, spooky pictures of the kids in there costumes tonight after trick or treating!

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driving-thru

I’ve been a little slow lately showing the kids finished sweaters, better at showing works in progress. Still, need to show the sweaters.
One night I dreamt of a sweater, since ya’ll are knitters you don’t think I’m crazy. But really, this sweater was in my subconscious, I’ve been thinking of a great tweedy sweater and couldn’t get it out of my mind. I wanted to knit a tweedy sweater for my son, with a bit of colorwork bits on the yoke. Good thing the next day was a Tuesday and one of my LYS’s was open, cause I knew just the yarn I was going to use too.

Too bad it was the wrong weight for the pattern I chose. It’s ok, right? I know a bit of math, I can figure it out. I measured the kid, figured out the cast on for the sleeves and the body and all that. It was good till I got up to the yoke. Worked one row of the color change and the colorwork got lost. Because I was using a lighter weight yarn. Things needed changing up a bit.

I worked the first color change row as written, reversed it, then worked a few rows before changing colors. I love how this sweater turned out. Its fantastically tweedy with a bit of color. I have to say that Bryce loves it too.

stats:
pattern- Drive thru by Wendy Bernard
size- to fit a 25″ chest
yarn- Queensland Collection Kathmandu DK
MC: 7 skeins color #433 (foresty green tweed)
CC1: barely 25 yards of color #434 (tomato red tweed)
CC2: barely 20 yards of color #432 (dark brown tweed)
CC3: barely 20 yards of color #415 (light brown tweed)
needles: US 7 (4.5mm)
Started Sept. 9
Finished Sept. 20, two days after picture day. Retakes are tomorrow. ; )

I desperately love this sweater, and want one of my own. The color is just fantastic, I love that green! But wouldn’t it be just a bit to, um.. odd for my son and I to have a matching sweaters? It seems very freudian crazy my son and I having matching sweaters at any age (even though I think that man was a quack). And trust me, my kids have enough to talk about if they ever decide to go to therapy! (Next time your kids are in the car and your pumping gas make silly faces at them. The giggles will never stop! Makes pumping gas a little bit more fun too!) But it wouldn’t really be that horrible, a matching sweater, would it?
And because these little guys are just too cute, the kids convinced me (read Corra) that life isn’t crazy enough over here we need more animals,

welcome bandit and Salt and Pepper little 8 week old baby kittens. Just what I needed.

recapping Rhinebeck

Its been some week over here, and its been even harder to find a smidgen of piece and quiet to update the blog. When Mom, Dad and I came back from the festival Kailey had a bit of a diaper rash, which got worse on Sunday. And even worse come Monday. The Dr. had me mixing up maalox tablets and desitine cream which didn’t do a thing. Ended up being a yeast rash, which I’ve never seen this bad. (You would think I would, but no.) Finally after a trip to the Dr’s and a prescription she’s on the mend. Thank goodness. Anyway, you didn’t come over hear to hear about diaper rash now did you? (Please say no, please say no.) Recapping Rhinebeck is always a hard one, the kids and I load up in the car and start driving for a trip that we’ve taken millions of times.

after arriving at my parents house and settling in for the night my mom and I woke up early and started out towards Rhinebeck after the sitter arrived. We got there a little late, around 10. Walked around make a couple of purchases, and saw Valerie (got buttons!), before we met Adelle for lunch at 11. We saw Julie from Stoneview who gave me some fantastic soap, smells minty!

said hello to Julia and her beau Brant (man does that guy wear a sweater well ; ) before we set off for more wool shopping. I had a bit of a falling down at Brooks Farm at purchased enough solana for Wisteria

Mom and I skipped the blogger meet up this year. Didn’t exactly intend to, but time seem to elude us after lunch and there was wool to be purchased. I *had* to get more Greenwood Hill Farm merino, this time I got 10 hanks of the worsted in chocolate. Srsly this has to be the softest wool I’ve ever touched, it amazes me how soft and squishy this yarn is with the amount of hay that is in it.

I wondered around the barn a bit behind my parents (which I have to say, sometimes it feels a bit odd saying that I asked my parents to go with me because I’m an adult. but its nice to be able to go places with them. And not “accidentally” leave them. A story for another day.) I stopped at Snow Star Farm and made my most indulgent purchase 2 hanks of sport weight in black walnut and the other in osage orange/indigo

The husband gave me the free pattern for the mittens after I made my purchase. I don’t know how I get into these conversations, but the couple who owns the farm used to work in Great Barrington. Where my parents work. A small reminder on how small a world we live in. I just couldn’t walk away from that green, its fantastic. I’m hoping there will be enough of a contrast between the green and the brown. I’m thinking of making the bird in hand mittens with this yarn. After walking out of the barn and walking around we saw Valerie and Carole, Kim and her hubby stopped by. I’m sure I’m forgetting something or somebody, it was a lovely day and it was great to see blog buddies. Mom and I topped it off with a race down the fun slide.

I totally kicked her ass, click on the pic to see where I landed. (or clicky here if it doesn’t work) You can tell I have more practice going down fun slides. Great way to end a wonderful day. Counting down the days till next year.
The haul:

I have to share this clip of my youngest darlings,

frigitty, I can’t get it to embed like it should so clicky here

hehehe my kids rock.

On our way to Rhinebeck, almost

ok, not quite ready to go but I have to pack the computer. Everything is all stacked in the kitchen waiting to be put in the van. Still need to pack our lunches for the trip to my parents, pack the cooler, take a shower and drink some coffee.

I’m so excited, tomorrow is Rhinebeck! I don’t know who all is going cause this month has been a flurry of activity and I haven’t been able to read the ravelry group Rhinebeck! and  I’m reaaaallly behind on my bloglines. (again) (always). Ack!  gotta get moving so we can leave at a decent time. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

to market, to market

to buy a fat hog, home again home again jiggity jog. Alright not exactly, but I was a hog at the Soar market on Saturday. Mike came home early enough Friday night that he was able to watch Allysa and Kailey, which is a wonderful thing since the sitter canceled. He took them to our niece’s 16th Birthday party, and they all enjoyed themselves. While I was enjoying some fantastic time alone falling down at the Soar market.

which I did a fantastic job at. Click on the pic to see the notes. You can also go to my flickr set. here  At the market I met Nancy from Otter Creek Yarn’s. I found her shop online when I was looking for a Sonata to try out. Anyway to make a long story shorter I complemented her on the hat she was knitting and she showed me how to spin the yarn that she was using.

What I love is the story that comes along with how she learned how to spin this core yarn. Back in the 80’s there was a woman in Pittsburgh that owned Rainbow yarns (not sure but she might have said Rainbow Mills. Memory is a little fluffy on this one.) who went to Italy one summer and came back with an order for 800lbs of this core spun yarn. She hired every spinner in Western Pennsylvania to spin this yarn, paying them $4 a ball. After seeing Nancy spin it, and hearing the story makes me want to give it a whirl.

While I was at the market I saw Tina and got to meet up with Diane! You’ll have to wait to see her pic of us together. The one that we took with my camera we just look scared. (Damn flash.) It was fantastic to finally meet Diane, to be able chat with her for awhile. *sigh* I wish I could have been there for the whole Soar!

Anyway, I must run. The kids and I are going to my parents this weekend. My Mom, Dad and I are going to Rhinebeck and I have to get packed. Hopefully I will be rid of the clown car (loaner car from the dealership) tomorrow and have my van back. While on my way back from Soar I stopped to get gas in Lamar and there was a policeman fueling up in front of me who politely pointed out that my inspection ran out last month. erp. Thank you Mr. Policeman for saving me from a citation!

sorry this post is all scattery feeling, I feel pretty scattered myself!

searching for rainbows,

its been some week, and I’m having a hard time adjusting to the day’s they seem to be flying by faster then ever before. Recently my mum blogged about her sister, my Aunt, who is in the hospital. You can go over to my mum’s blog to read more about it. My Aunt is now out of the ICU, (yay!) but still needs prayers. If you can spare a few we’d all apprecate it. It seems to be mostly on my mind these days.
Now, I’m pretty sure that I didn’t mention a sweater for Allysa in any of my last posts. But this little one couldn’t get left out for picture day. Even though I didn’t leave much time to get one done. She told me over the summer when they where all quizzed on sweater preferences and color that she wanted another rainbow sweater.
Wait, what? What rainbow sweater? What do I mean another one? Well, yeah that’s right I don’t think I ever got around to blogging about it. sorry! Its hard to blog without pictures and I finished it around the time that Allysa dropped my camera while taking pictures and cranked off the lens. Here are a few pics and dets on her first rainbow sweater:

pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby by Lindsay Pekny
size: 6
needles: US 7 (4.5mm)
yarn: Knit Picks Swish Superwash
amounts : 1 ball bubblegum (used in border too), 0.8 wisteria, and I used 25 yards of each: Ballerina, Dublin, Aloe, Capri, Baby blue & Bordeaux.
started: Jan. 20, 2008
finished: Feb. 4, 2008

notes: honestly, I’m not all that crazy about swish. It did grow a bit in the wash (keep in mind I’m way to paranoid to put handknits through a wash cycle on my washer. I do soak them in a basin, put them in a sweater bag for a spin on the spin cycle. And if I’m in a hurry I’ll dry them on the sweater rack in my dyer.) It’s held up pretty well over the winter, granted Allysa didn’t wear it that often. It has a few balls on it, just like the other sweaters in different yarns I’ve made. It wasn’t all that pleasurable to knit with.
pattern mods: I added 4 button holes this time around. Other than that, worked as written.

Now, as I was saying. Another rainbow sweater. *sigh* I’ve knit this pattern 3 times now. I don’t think I’ve knit another pattern this many times before. Granted I’ved knit a few top down raglans, so I guess you could say I’ve knit this lots of times. Anyway, I picked a much nicer yarn. Dream in Color classy. Allysa told me that she wanted a pink and purple sweater. I picked out the green cause I thought it would make a lovely contrast. In the end though, I’m not sure how much I like the green.

details:
pattern: Tulips, A Colorful Cardigan for Baby by Lindsay Pekny
size: 6-ish
needles: US 7 (4.5mm) for border’s US 8 (5.0mm)
yarn: Dream in color classy, purchased from the loopy ewe
amounts:
cool fire- 68 grams/150 yards
punky fuchsia – 78 grams/170 yards
gogo grassy- 108 grams/237.5 yards
started: October 1, 2008
finished: October 7, 2008 (the day after picture day. Oh, the irony of it all.)
gauge: aww, crap. I forgot to measure it.
buttons: By La Mode hook 1158 style 41346 measures 1″ (25mm) purchased from Joann’s


mods: I knit this at a larger gauge to it would be bigger. I’m pretty sure that I increased to the largest size, I just kept increasing every other row until it looked like the sleeves would meet under her arms when I draped it around her. I worked a color change row every 12 rows. ahh… the borders are wider, button band, umm… worked an extra repeat on the sleeves. Drives me nuts that the first sweater was so short, so I worked 2 more color bands (total of 9) on the body and 1 more on the sleeves, also I made the cuff a few rows longer and folded it up. Allysa proclaimed this sweater nice and cozy when she first put it on. If all goes well, she’ll wear this for a while!
Allysa didn’t seem to mind that I didn’t have this done in time for picture day. She wore her other rainbow sweater. Her teacher told me that the photographer complemented Allysa on her sweater, Allysa sat a little straighter and said “thank you my Mommie made it for me.”

btw, if all goes well I’ll be at the SOAR market Saturday afternoon! Who else is going?

PS Many Birthday wishes to my Dad, and to my Aunt Liz! Happy, Happy Birthday!

Something blue, in Koigu

I know its only been a little more than a week since my last post. I’ve finished 2 sweaters in the month of September and I’m still not sure how to write about them. I love them both so much! (Both the sweaters and the recipients.) Its also been a wee bit crazy around here.  I thought that I would share a little about the last pair of socks that I finished, for my dear friend Diane.

Diane and I “met” 2 years ago during the August Birthday Swap. I was Diane’s pal. After the swap Diane asked me if I would want to continue swapping pressies for Christmas and Birthdays. I was all over that, what could you love more than presents from another country! Diane has sent me so many wonderful presents, and a pair of socks too! Since I flaked on her last Christmas I thought she deserved an extra special present. So I dug through my sock yarn stash and this blue koigu spoke to me. This was after I finished my February lady sweater and I was missing the rhythm of the lace.

This isn’t quite a sock pattern, I would call it more of a recipe.
Yarn- 2 hanks of Koigu (KPPPM)
Needles- set of US 1 (2.25mm) double pointed needles
gauge- pretty sure it was 8.5sts/inch but I can’t read my own writing.
CO 64sts, K2, P2 for 15 rows.
This bit is a bit confusing to explain. I had 16sts on each needle and I wanted the ribbing to flow into the lace pattern so I moved the first stitch on the next needle over (so my stitches where like this P1, K2, P2, K2, P1on each needle). Then I started the lace, oh the lace!
row 1: *p1, k1, k2tog, yo, k1, yo, ssk, k1* repeat to end.
rows 2 & 4: *p1, k7* repeat to end
row 3: *p1, k2tog, yo, k3, yo, ssk* repeat to end.
I knit 18 pattern repeats before starting the heel. Work any heel that you like, I used a short row. (See what I mean by recipe now?)
Now for the instep I didn’t want lace. Personally for myself I like to wear shoes that show off my handknit socks and socks that are lacy aren’t a good choice to wear with those types of shoes especially during January in Western Pennsylvania. I don’t know much about London’s weather, but I hear its rainy and a little cold at times. Frankly, I envisioned the instep to be a little different from the calf and I didn’t want the whole sock to be lacy. Anway the instep, move 1 sts from needle 3 onto needle 2.
On needles 1 and 2: *p1, k7* repeat for a total of 4 times p1.
On needles 3 and 4 knit. Repeat till your about 2.5″ from end. (I like to knit my socks till the sock touches to almost the tip of of my pinky toe) Work your favorite toe.

Now, if I where to knit these again. During rows 3 & 4 of the lace pattern I would just knit them, it would look a tad different. But it would be so much faster, no counting!  Same thing on the foot, I would knit every other row. Also, a k1, p1 rib probably would have blended into the lace pattern a bit better. I worked a k2,p2 because, well for no better reason than I felt like it and a 1×1 rib felt to fiddly. (Fickle knitter here.)  If you like this recipe and want to make this sock bigger simply add more purl stitches.
I enjoyed knitting these socks for Diane, its been so long since I’ve knit a pair of socks using Koigu and they are so soft and even feel a bit silky. They where sooo hard to mail off, its a good thing that her foot is just a wee bit smaller than my own. Diane, I’m glad to see that your loven your socks and that they fit! To everyone else I hope you enjoy this recipe and if you happen to knit a pair of socks from it, or if you find a mistake let me know. Enjoy!