She started the cutest dress EVER! March 24, 2008

I mentioned a little while ago, going to my LYS and seeing a very adorable book, Baby Knits: 20 handknit designs for babies 0-24 months.  Well, I made it back and now the book is mine!  I really went back and forth on getting it since my little girl is getting to the top of the size range, but this dress…this dress is so adorable!  I had to get it.  The pattern calls for Rowan Wool Cotton, which is hands down one of my favorite yarns to work with, however, I am not using it!  There is a new Rowan yarn called Purelife.  It’s organic Cotton, dyed naturally.  The color is gorgeous, and it’s so soft.  Purelife, like the Wool Cotton, is a dk weight, and the soft pink color and the fact that it’s all cotton, made it my choice for summer.

I have made the two little ruffles and I’m working on the back right now.  The yarn is nice to work with, but I have found it to split a bit more then I’d like.  Not horrible, but it’s the nature of going with 100% cotton, rather then the blend.

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She finally Finished her Socks!! March 23, 2008

I did it. I think it’s utterly ridiculous, how long I procrastinated the completion of these socks! They fit nice, a tad large, but not too bad. I need to wash them and see how that effects them, but the knitting is complete!

I used Alpaca Sox yarn, by Classic Elite. I really like working with this yarn, if I’m going to work with yarn this thin. The color is Pebbles, and contains browns and gray/blues. I love the color and it worked up nicely. Socks made with this would work well for a man, too.

The pattern was worked toe up, on 2 circular needles, 2 socks at a time. A little adventure I decided to embark on during my knitting class. I have mentioned in previous posts, I don’t think I like this technique. I thought it would solve my “I just made a sock, I don’t want to make another one” problem, but frankly it was a far larger pain in the rump then just getting over my bad self, and knitting two socks! But I liked the experience and knowing that I don’t like it, so I can now move on. There is no real pattern, as the instructor basically gave me her formula for knitting toe up socks on circulars. But I did find a pattern that was also toe up and finished the leg with a cool spiral, so if you like these, the pattern, Uzumaki Socks from www.knitfrontandback.com should do you well.

I like the spiral, and while it slouches a bit (I think because they are a little too big), it looks like it’s supposed to.

Thank you, Sara, for the logical nudge to get these done!

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She finished the pants!

The faux Cranky Pants are done! I hope Sara likes them. I’m very pleased with how they came out! Thank you Kim!!!!

Made using Baby Ull from Dale of Norway, in Green and Red, double stranded. The teeth and eyes were made from Galway Worsted Weight in Cream and Black, and applied after by sewing them in.

The pattern was made up, using both Tiny Birds Longies Pattern and another, that I can’t find again, to determine sizes and lengths of the leg. But by in large I made it up, with the help of my knitting teacher Kim. We used short rows to create the mouth, which, other then in socks, is the first time I’ve used them. I like the concept and I think they added the extra space the diaper will take up. My friend mentioned using cloth diapers as something she was considering, so there will need to be a bit extra space in there. The yarn worked up well with the two strands, and used 2 skeins of Green and 1 of Red, with bits of both leftover…maybe a hat?

I’m so glad that I went to bed, responsibly last night, since I totally forgot about day light savings time… so I still sort of really went to sleep at 1am, instead of the responsible midnight I thought I was doing. I did get up in time to make it to my class, thanks to the fancy alarm clock my husband’s mom bought him for Christmas, that changes for you, so when you forget you are still covered.

The class was a lot of fun! Everyone seemed to enjoy it. They gave me very good marks on my evaluation. In my day job all the time job, I make tools for people who make glass beads, or lampworkers. Dad is my machinist and we have been doing this for 4 years, this month. The class was teaching a group of 10 women how to use the tools more effectively and creatively. It was a lot of fun, and something I hope to do again. It felt really good to spend the day, or much of it, behind the torch. I miss making beads, and don’t realize how much so, until I get time to do it again.

I was talking to a friend today, who mentioned that she thought, back when she found out I was pregnant, that having a baby would surely change my life, and force me to be a bit less scattered busy, but instead it seems that my daughter has just adapted to my crazy life. So true.

Well, here are the faux Cranky Pants…what will I do tomorrow?

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She reached the point of no return March 8, 2008

When I knit a new project, I start out strong.  If a pattern is interesting enough, I will keep going strong, otherwise, it could get shelved for a period of time.  Other newer, more exciting ideas catch my fancy and I forget about the first project, whose glitter has started to wain.  But with all projects, no matter how mundane, towards the end, I get to “the point of no return”.  The point in the project that I can visualize the finished item, and can think of nothing else.  Once I hit that point, it can be 2am, and I must keep going.  The Tangelo sweater kept me up until 6am before I just HAD to go to bed despite the sweater being not quite finished.

The little faux “cranky pants” are at the edge of that point.  Should I do one more row, I will HAVE to continue…the problem is I have a class that I am teaching tomorrow, which is 2 hours away and starts at 11am… I need to be focussed, on my game, and drive there and back alone (which means no knitting in the car…bummer).  So I need to sleep tonight.  For this reason I took pictures, am blogging, and I am not finishing the adorable little pants tonight.

I wasn’t going to show pictures, as Sara reads my blog, and these pants are for her (well her baby who is not yet born).  I kind of wanted her to not see them again until they were finished, but decided I wanted to show them anyway, so here are the pants, 1 row before the point of no return!  The markers on the bum are for where the teeth and eyes will go.  I love how the eye cord looks on the waist.  I love eye cords.  I could make them all day long.  They are mind numbingly fun!

  

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She Knit and Read March 7, 2008

I recently figured out (with a little help from Kim) that you can read and knit at the same time! I have to be working on something very basic, but I am able to read and knit simultaneously, which is what I was doing today. Jodi Picoult is one of the authors whose work I most enjoy reading. She lives here in NH, which is kind of cool. She writes books that really tug at your heart and often your moral compass. I like that in a book. I’m currently working through Plain Truth, and unlike the Omnivore’s Dilemma, I am actually reading a physical book. It was a Christmas gift from my inlaws, and I’m very much enjoying it.

The project that is pretty basic, which I was working on while reading is the tea cozy I’m making for myself. I finished it today, well the knitting part, now I get to sew in the ends and felt it. I love how wonky and misshapen projects in their pre-felted state, tend to be. Tomorrow I’m going to lunch with my friend Ellen and she is going to help me with a work project, but I hope to have time, at some point to felt the cozy!

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She made Mozzarella! February 22, 2008

One of the things I learned while reading AVM was that you can make Mozzarella (many cheeses, actually) in your own kitchen, in only 1/2 an hour, with 1 gallon of milk. So when I was placing my meat pre-order at the farm the other day, I also got a gallon of Milk. I added some rennet and citric acid, a little salt, and I now have a plate of 3/4lb of Mozzarella balls!

My husband was amused that I can even turn making food into a “craft project”. I bought the kit from The Cheese Queen, and there is enough Rennet and citric acid to make 40 pounds of cheese!! It’s a great little kit that also has the necessary items for ricotta. I have plenty of whey leftover to make bread and pizza dough…I’m thinking Spelt Pizza dough topped with Pesto, Mozzarella Balls, Caramelized onions, and Romano Cheese. Yummmm!!!

The baby loved it!

I am feeling better. Still not 100%, but it felt good to do something today!! The couch is great, I search high and low for my furniture, but really, there is a limit!! With that said, during my couch time I made another baby hat. I liked the yarn so much from the last one, I decided to use it again. This time I made a pompom and did not make the little tie/loop piece. I think I like it better with the pompom.

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Still on the couch February 20, 2008

Well, I’m still sick.  I have been sleeping for about 2-3 hours every 2-3 hours.  Yuck!  I did manage to finish the first sock last night between 4am and 6am during one of my wakeful times.  That is one of the most annoying things about being sick, when you sleep a lot, you are up at very strange times.  I guess really, it wasn’t so bad, I got to watch the sky go from pitch black, outside my window to a deep, inviting blue with a black shadowy effect with the trees against it.  Very pretty.   It kind of reminded me of the colors in my socks.  Which I LOVE, by the way.   I did 3″ of the spiral stitch since I really like socks that are just above the ankle, or go all the way to the knee…not a fan of the mid length sock.  I’m hoping to finish the other during my next wakeful stint.

If you haven’t read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, I highly recommend doing so.  Though be warned, you will never look at food the same way again…at least I don’t know how you could.  I’m adding a new category on this blog, “Locavore”…or someone who strives to eat locally (generally foods that were planted or raised within 100 miles of your home), whether it be vegetable or animal.  I’m part way there already, as all our meats come from a local farm who raises them in pasture their whole lives, even the last 6 months, when many farmers, even organic/all natural farmers tend to switch them to a primarily corn diet, to fatten them up.  The beef and chicken we buy from this farm is just so yummy!  If you are in NH and looking for a good local farm, Lasting Legacy Farm is where we go.

I have not been eating local fruits or vegetables, however.  I just grab whatever is in the grocery store, organic, but not local.  After reading (well, okay, listening on audio book so I can knit and read), Barbara’s book, I see so many reasons to be looking for local produce.  I have gone on the internet and located several farmers markets and farm stands in a 15 minute drive from my house!!  I sort of knew they were there, but I can’t believe how many there are.  I plan on purchasing items from them, but I am also starting my first garden!

I used to garden as a child, and I must admit it has taken almost 30 years to get over the emotional scarring caused by weekends spent weeding in the hot sun.  I was between 6-10 years old when my parents were working the 3 family garden and it was not the years I would appreciate all that the garden offered in the way of healthy, whole foods.

I have been pouring over websites filled with bountiful lists and pictures of the most amazing produce.  I want to plant one of everything, but know that I am still going to be a little shaky on my legs starting out on my first gardening venture since the years of slave labor, as I like to refer to them as…Mom is going to help, but we still need to be realistic with space.

I will from time to time, update you on the progress of an aspiring “locavore”…I guess it’s just the natural next step for the do it yourself gal…What did she do today?

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Too Sick! February 19, 2008

I woke up this morning feeling lousy and the situation has not improved.  I have now added a fever to the runny nose, soarish throat, sinus headache and pathetic, wimpy cough.  My two hour nap did nothing…well, okay it probably did something, but not enough for bragging, that’s for sure.

I did have a bright point when I found the stitch to finish off the socks I started a while back and shelved when I finished the feet, and had no idea where I wanted to go from there.  I found this pattern through a series of links on Ravlery.  It’s a fun spiral, and it’s such a simple concept that you just want to smack your forehead for not thinking of it, and I think the results are cool.  I am about 1″ into the leg on one sock and about 2 rows on the other.  I actually decided to take them apart and just finish them one at a time on Circulars.  I don’t really like the two socks at a time on circular method.  I’m having much more fun now that it’s just one sock at a time.  I guess I’ll have to find another way to get over the mental block of “dreading the second sock after having finished the first” dilemma.

I have no picture of the socks at their current state, I feel too lousy to mess with that right now.  I’ll hopefully have something to show tomorrow.

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Cranky Mouth Done!! February 19, 2008

I finished the tricky part of the Cranky Pants look-a-like pants I’m making for my friend Sara. I have had a HUGE amount of help from Kim, who teaches the knitting class I’ve been attending on Monday evenings…the last one today, until next session, so I’m glad we figured out what looked good and I finished it before the end of class. Since class I have worked on finishing the little bum, and starting the left leg.

This is what I have so far. I used an online, free, pattern as the base, and using a series of short rows, we made a smile, which will be topped with eyes, and then dotted with teeth. For now I am working on the striped legs. Once I finish this I’ll tell you the changes I made with a link to the pattern, as I don’t feel right reprinting it here.

Sara is in the class, and these are not a surprise, so she has already had an opportunity to approve of the progress made thus far.

Thanks to the baby’s teddy bear for being the cooperative model…

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Drove to Boston…Knitting February 14, 2008

Today was the baby’s check up at Shriner’s.  It was a nice trip, for once.  She slept down and back, and for the few moments of consciousness each way, she was drinking, so still quiet.  There were no tears in the Clinic, as her hands are healed.  Mind you, they still have a ways to go to look “normal”, but there is nothing open, or at risk of infection.  She is healing well, and except for daily hand massages (wouldn’t that be delightful…that is my favorite part of a manicure), she needs no tending or poking.  She can go back to being an active carefree little girl!

The other delightful part of the trip was the uneventful beginning of Tangelo…which I had shelved, but now have back on the needles.  Things are going well, the gauge is right, I have already worked almost a complete skein of Malabrigo Paris Night into the bottom 6″ inches, or so, of the body of the sweater!

No pictures of my progress because I have been knitting madly, while I continue to listen to Barbara Kingsolver read her book to me (on audio download of course).  She has inspired me to try making Mozzarella cheese.  I bought the kit, which claims you can, in just 1/2 an hour, go  from milk to cheese.  That seems reasonable.

Okay, off to bed for me, the baby has two little friends, and I have their mom’s, coming over to play in the morning…we aren’t morning people, so a good night sleep is a must!

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