Operation Diaper Covers

Title blatantly stolen from my friend Shelly at Wool and Chocolate..... I have a small admission to make. I have not been using wool on my baby. There. I said it. Yes, she has been wearing wooly tops, hats, boots, and pants. But I have not been using said longies as diaper covers. Why? Well, I got lazy. PUL is sooooo much "easier" to deal with. No damp feeling. No lanolizing. Everything goes in the wash. I've been putting longies over the PUL to keep her warm. It's still dang cute. But it has come to bite me in the @$$. Or rather, it has gotten Rose on the legs. Her legs have a nice, scaly rash all over where the diaper wraps have been rubbing. It was just a little bit. But now it has fully encompassed each thigh. It's obvious what it's from and it cannot be ignored any more. Back to wool. In an interesting twist.....I do not have enough wool knit up in the correct size for diaper cover use. So, I am knitting like mad. I have planned and started some scrappy longies, made from some Paton's and my own handdyed WoTA and Fisherman's wool. I hope they are really, really cute. I also am like this close to buying the Sheepy Skirty Pattern. The other Sheepy Time Knits patterns are around $6.....but this one is $12. Twelve. So, I am hesitant. I mean, I know how to knit a soaker. Attaching a skirt cannot be THAT hard, right? Although, in an effort to not have to think much, having a pattern is nice. But really, it's knitting. I can get through a skirt (read "tube of fabric flaring or pleating to the other end) without a pattern, right? Then I start thinking "Do I even want her to wear a skirt at this point?", because diaper soaker/skirts tend to be on the short side. So, yeah. It's complicated. Oh - and all that Malabrigo I have for scrappies? I think it's going to be a Tomten Jacket. So, no pants from those for now. And switching back gears again - I think I should at some point knit some shorties. I mean, AT SOME POINT, spring/summer has to show up. Right? Right? It can't stay COLD AND SNOWY forever, can it? Seriously. There was a day last week where it was 60. 6-0 (F). And then, there was a thunderstorm that resulted in 4 inches of snow. A thunderstorm. I am not kidding. And now it's below freezing again. Sheesh. Oh, yeah. You want pictures. Um, I am working on that. Really, I am. Sorry none today. :(

Moving Right Along

I am trucking right on my Tomten Jacket. I love this design. Another thumbs up for Elizabeth. I should be starting the hood today. Isaac's birthday isn't until the end of April, so I am good on time. This jacket is so cute I will definitely go the the library so I can upload a photo when it's done.

~Oh. And our March choices for the yarn club are in. To die for. I am trying to decide how much I want (I already figured out which color I want).

Celebrities on Ravelry

I haven't posted in a while. This touch screen keyboard is not as comforting to type on as a real keyboard. I love the click-clickety sound of the keys as I speed along able to type as fast as I can think. With this thing it's all thumbs and auto-correct and, well, it doesn't encourage me to blog. But because I love all of you soooo (auto correct there turned my soooo into Solo then sloop, wtf?) much and love reading your blogs, here I am.

Oh. Was I supposed to actually discuss my title?

Yes. Celebrities on Ravelry. I have been meaning to posy about this. Warning, I am using all caps here because it's just that exciting and cool.

MEG SWANSON TALKED TO ME ON RAVELRY. WHEN I FRIENDED HER SHE FRIENDED ME BACK. I AM FRIENDS WITH MEG SWANSON! REALLY! MEG SWANSON TALKED TO ME IN A FORUM ON RAVELRY! I KNOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT EITHER!

Ok. Seriously though, it was soo cool I almost peed my pants. I am sure I embarrassed her because I couldn't help but shout out to her about how great it is to see real knitting legends interacting with us regular folk and the fact the she really is just nice regular folk too. (If you are a knitter and you don't know who Meg Swanson is.....well.....I just can't help you.)

I keep thinking one year I'd like to go to Knitting Camp. I can't link to it but you can find details on the Schoolhouse Press website. It is actually geographically not a difficult place for me to get to. And I'd get TO MEET MEG SWANSON FOR REALZ. Sorry, giddy excitement got the best of me again. I hear at Knitting Camp they have actual garments that EZ and Meg have knit out for you to see, touch, and feel - no armored guards around or anything, right out in the open. Wow.

Yes. I am a geek. I am ok with this.

So that is my little bit of knitting celebrity stuff.

In other knitting news: the Tomten Jacket was knitting up too loose and too large. After completing appx. half of it, I frogged the whole thing and started over. I changed from size US 5 (3.75mm, I think) to US 3 (3.25mm). Much better. Yes, I am a very relaxed knitter.

I also never posted about getting my February yarn shipment, or at least never posted pictures. I can't do pictures now, but the yarn is nice. I thought it would be more of a worsted weight, but it is definitely heavier, aran weight for sure (just like Mandie (yarn pusher) said it was, duh). It is a beautiful deep saturated purple color with a little magenta called "Grapes of Wrath" on a base called "Fleckity" which is 1 strand of superwash plied with 2 strands of non-superwash. Very interesting. (If I already blogged about this, I apologize for the redundancy.) I actually had to buy some needles in order to knit with it. The size 6 needles were giving me a far too dense fabric (and those are HUGE for me to knit with, I am used to smaller gauge needles and worsted weight yarn, my standard needle is a 5) and the size 8 needles are far too flimsy fabric. So I stopped by JoAnns after grocery shopping and ran in for some 7s, a size I was sure I would never need to own. They only had straights (bleh) or double points in 7s, so I bought the double points. I really wanted a 16 inch circular but I must have seen those at Michael's. The plan is to knit a gnomey hat and pullover for Rose.

I will get the hang of this phone and hopefully post more.

Onward knitting.

WIP Wednesday

And what of knitting? A lot, if I do say so myself. I am currently knitting a Tomten Jacket, by Elizabeth Zimmermann, from Knitting Without Tears and The Opinionated Knitter (apparently it is also in numerous other Schoolhouse Press publications). The jacket has slightly different directions in each book. The jacket is a 2T-ish sized, modular jacket as written. But, of course, if you know EZ, you know there is always the possibility to change the size either by gauge, needle size, or both.

I am knitting this for my Godson, Isaac, whose birthday is in April. I imagine I'll have it done before then, but I wanted to start early just to be sure.

I have tried some of EZ's garter-stitch baby patterns before, like the BSJ, and they have not been my favorite. However, I am Loving This Pattern. Maybe it's also that I love the yarn. It is Cascade 220 Superwash Paints, in color 9862 (varigated) and 9949 (semi-solid blue). The colors are very, very hard to photograph. The varigated is a neon-yellow/blue/teal/blue-violet and the blue is a warm, soft, lovely blue. The gauge seems to be a little different that Cascade 220 (non-superwash) so it is knitting up slightly looser than I had planned. A quick web search shows that the manufacturer recently changed the recommended gauge, so there you go. I am not ripping back now.

I think this first picture captures the blue perfectly.

My knitting buddy, who I visited this last weekend, has knit a couple of these little gems. We have decided a few important things about this little jacket. Comparing it to the BSJ, it seems that it is infinitely a better investment of time for the amount of wear one can get from it. The BSJ is not very proportional (although extremely an ingenious design) and fits about 6 months - 18 months (with very, very short sleeves at 18 months). The Tometen can fit at 6 months very long in the body with the sleeves heavily cuffed, but it's true size is about 1-3 years (and small 4 year olds like my daughter will still fit in it). I also personally think it is cuter.

I would like to knit a Baby Bog Jacket in the future.

The Tomten takes 3 skeins of worsted weight wool. I have two skeins of the blue and one of the varigated. Normally it takes 1 skein for the body, one for the hood, and one for the sleeves. I am incorporating stripes of the varigated throughout in order to use it up evenly.

I went and stole this picture from Webs to try and show off the beautifulness of this varigated yarn. Somehow, it just doesn't do it justice. I love this colorway and will be knitting something more out of it in the future.

The yellow is really YELLOW and the darker blue in the picture is really VIOLET.

Anywho, I am almost done knitting the body on this sweater and I can not wait to get it done. It is a true pleasure of knitting right now, just the right amount of stripes and short rows to keep my interest and just enough softness and loftiness in the yarn for me to love it.

(If I disappear for a while: the port on my phone is broken/breaking. I need to get it fixed. And it is my gateway to the internet on the laptop. FYI.)

In A Slump....the full post

I am in a knitting slump. I don't know what's up. Well, I kind of do, a little.

I have items on my needles that I have no desire, or have lost the desire, to knit.

Let's start at the beginning.

I started the February Lady Sweater back in November. It was cold outside, and this was the only project I had planned for myself to which I already possessed the yarn.

I knit the yoke in a matter of days. I finally picked it up again a few weeks ago and knit far enough to divide for the sleeves. And now it's about 2 inches past where the sleeves are. I took it off the needles and tried it on.

It's too small.

Fuck.

The idea of ripping it out and knitting that again is overwhelming, especially since I only have 5 skeins (210 yards each) of Malabrigo to knit it out of and I feel like I barely have enough to knit the size I am knitting (according to the pattern) let alone to go up another size. *sigh*

Also, I am of average size. My breasts, not so much. This makes it difficult to even pick out a size, let alone knit one, from any pattern. I am always presented with the same problem....little shoulders, big chest, normal waist. I know a bit about sweater design and modification, but still. It's upsetting. I don't want to knit accessories for the rest of my life.

Next up.....

The picture up there ::imagine arrow pointing up::. That is the very, very beginning of my Effortless Cardigan. I have knit probably half of the yoke beyond that. The yarn is lovely, very very squishy and round and just buttery goodness.

But.

I think I might like it even more if I went up a needle size.

The prospect of ripping this out is bugging me, and not in a good way. I have put A LOT of time into knitting this. It could be fine the way it is. But I have this nagging feeling I'd like it more at a slightly looser gauge. This, of course, also involves reworking the numbers again (already did this once for the current gauge I am knitting at).

Argh.

So.....

With those two projects making me want to go hide my head in the sand like an ostrich, I cast on something "new". I thought if I started a project that was "needed" and very "useful" I'd be sure to find knitting it very rewarding and want to complete it ASAP. It would be awesome!!

Nope. Not really.

I cast on for another Nighttime Soaker (link is for the original). This one is in a bigger size (she outgrew that one). I forgot how stinkin' long it takes to do double knitting (in the round, especially). I can knit for an hour and it grows like maybe one centimeter. Arghhhhh! This project, too, has a mental roadblock attached to it.

Still....

There is the Husband Sweater on the needles. Really, this just needs a few more inches of body and then I can attach the sleeves (already knit) and knit the yoke. I really *should* do this.

There it is. My slump.

I really want to knit something exciting, and colorful, and crazy. I have lots of yarn, but I really don't want to start anything else.

I did find an awesome crochet cowl pattern (here), free, that I want to crochet (crazy! because I *hate* crochet). But I can't decide on a yarn that would work out of my stash and I am NOT ordering more yarn.

Of course, in the mail in the next few days is coming 3 skeins of Cascade: 1 Palm (green), 1 Goldenrod (yellow), and 1 Black. What, oh what, will I ever knit with those?? Superbowl hats for my men (husband, brother, son).

Slumpy. Frumpy.

Swatch Happy

Zora is not turning out as I planned. I still don't have the right needles and I am really not sure that I want to knit a sweater out of this yarn. The more I swatch, the more I think, "WTF am I thinking?" Well, I am thinking I should have ordered the yarn in a different base. Not because I don't like the yarn.....I just don't think I want a sweater made out of it. Then, of course, what will I do with 5 skeins of sock yarn in this amazing blue-gray colorway?? I don't know. Maybe a massive Pi-shawl? Or a bunch of medium sized ones? Or maybe I'll knit the sweater anyway once I decide to order needles.

Anywho. So I also have the gorgeous yarn for the Effortless Cardigan. And guess what? I *do* have the right needles to knit that sweater. So I swatched. The yarn is DK and the pattern calls for a gauge of 19 stitches/4 inches. So, I knit two swatches. One on size US 3 (3.25mm) and one on size US 4 (3.5 mm).

I measured the gauge both before and after blocking. (I'm a little OCD, and the yarn was expensive, so I want to make sure the project comes out just right.) I am thinking about sending it through the washing machine to see if that does anything to it also (just in case I ever want to wash it that way, it *is* superwash).

I think I am going to go with the size 3 needles. I got 4.64 stitches to the inch (it's an average from the 5 different measurements I took of the swatch, 3 four inch ones and 2 three inch ones). I played with the numbers a bit and I am happy with the results.

The two swatches are wonderful, btw. I am definitely buying more of this yarn. It is the softest and squishiest yarn ever, perfectly round. LOVE it. This picture here does it no justice.

Now the hard part - do I cast on? Or finish my February Lady Sweater (in Malabrigo, already separated for the sleeves)?

WIP Wednesday....er Tuesday(?)

This is Wobber's sweater. The sun was still hiding the day I took this, so squint to see the pocket covering the front. This is the Wonderful Wallaby, which I have knit before. It's a nice pattern. His sweater is now about 1/2 way done! I am very happy about this. Both sleeves are also done and waiting to be added to the sweater.

Yesterday, I went thrifting with my mom. My mom is awesome when we go to the second hand store because she graciously pays for everything (thanks Ma!!). The kids got a bunch of new long sleeve shirts for winter and Wobbers got a new suit jacket for Mass.

I picked up a yarn bag. Well, I am sure it is meant for something else, but I am using it for yarn. I have been carrying my projects around in a bright red bag I got from the Veteran's Association in the mail as a "gift" for my donation a few years ago. The bag is not a very good yarn bag, but it's been what I have. No pockets. No closure. Nada.

This pretty black and white bag was $1.69. It has a zipper closure and a velcro closure, an outside pocket on each side (big enough to hold a pattern, or a notebook)(one velcro, one zippered), and two inside zippered pockets. And it's *pretty*.

I was going to buy some velcro strips at the store to put over the scratchy velcro side of the velcro (velcro + yarn = not good) - but the velcro was easily removed with my seam ripper. Now I have a very useful bag and it didn't cost me a thing!

And not only is this a WIP post, it's a "the sun came out and I got a better picture of the color of the most recent longies" post.

The Whales Road colorway is sooooo beautiful! I know I keep saying this, and you're probably tired of hearing it, but whatever. It's just that awesome. In my knitting geekiness I want everyone to know. (Or maybe I should be keeping it to myself so it doesn't sell out everywhere?)

I also got a sunshine picture of the Little Lovely longies. My girl is wearing them all the time. They are warm and pretty and soft. I sit around and pet them. Not really. Ok, maybe sometimes.

[Insert Clever Title Here]

I started another pair of longies on Friday. Actually, as you can see, they are almost done.

This is the "Whales Road" colorway from Malabrigo. I think this is my favorite colorway EVER!! The pictures aren't great because the sun is missing (again, thanks a lot sun).

Wow. That picture really sucks. *shameful feeling*

This last one is probably the best, but still not as wonderfully awesome as the longies themselves are. I am so totally going to make a sweater some time in the future out of this - FOR ME. It's crazy beautiful for a blue/purple/green lover like myself.

In other news:

My 4 year old daughter has been desparately asking to make "Christmas cookies", which apparently is any sugar cookie cut into shapes, be it a heart even. So I finally gave in and made up a triple batch of dough. I *cut* corners (hahahaha) by just rolling the dough into balls and then rolling it in colored sugar crystals I had in the cupboard. Then I flattened them with a spoon and baked them. She thought it was awesome and had lots of fun rolling them in the sugar.

I like my cookies soft and chewy. So naturally, I did not bake them for very long to acheive this goal. My husband thought they were awful. Really. He would not even take the "extra" to work because he didn't want anyone to think I was a bad cook. Sometimes my husband can be very silly.

The kids like them. I think they're kind of ho-hum but that's because I would prefer chocolate chip, which is what the next batch will be.

And in other, other news:

1 week till Advent starts. I am taking the time (I hope) this week to prepare maybe 1 activity per week for us to do this year. Advent is historically a big FAIL around here as far as my wanting to celebrate the season/prepare with the kids/do activities to it actually happening.