knit-ibalism

Sorry, sock. Nom nom nom.

Hat pattern here (it's free!)

i am perhaps seasonally confused

Oh man, file this one under "I'm a bad mom." At the beginning of summer I cut out this dress for Daughter, and proceeded to ignore it for pretty much the entire season. Niiiiiiice. I could give a bazillion excuses, but it boils down to: it was hot, the air conditioner is in my bedroom, and I am lazy. Really pretty much zero sewing happens around here in the summer, it is just too uncomfortable. So if I don't get the summer dresses and shorts sewn up in the spring when it is still chilly, it doesn't happen at all.

Case in point:

I did finally put this together last week. The temps dipped down to the high 70s/low 80s with a breeze, so I could stand to sit at the machine and, more importantly, use the iron. I was still sweaty by the time I finished, but at least it got done!

Here's a (purposely) blurry shot of Daughter helping a little friend of ours off the slide over the weekend. I just wanted to show more of the dress without splashing our friends' kid across the internet.

I can't find a link to the pattern on line right now and I'm too lazy to go upstairs and find it...if anyone has a burning desire for the exact number I can look it up. But I did a quick look around at Simplicity and McCall's and both have similar dresses shown right now in their current pattern collection. It's a very simple pattern...self-lined bodice, shoulder straps, and choice of one-piece full skirt or 3-tier even fuller skirt. I used the size 5 bodice pattern and the size 6 skirt pieces for length (the width is the same no matter the size). *Note* if you make this pattern, you can just cut width-of-fabric pieces for the skirt tiers. The pattern calls for even wider pieces but that is a waste. If you have typical 40-44" wide calico, like I used here, just cutting the lower 2 tiers from selvage edge to selvage edge works fine.

Also note that if you do not like gathering you will not enjoy making this. I cut two of these out at the beginning of summer, made one, and was very frustrated by the huge amount of gathering. For some reason this is a sewing skill I struggle with, and likely another good reason why the second dress sat unfinished for so long.

Moving on: here is a random action shot of me wearing one of the skirts I made earlier this year:

And finally, the reason for the post title...while still sewing summer dresses, I'm also working on fall and winter woolens (of course).

Listen, I have to apologize for the following photo, because it's awful and hurts your eyes. But the color of this wool (Knitpicks WotA "winter night") refuses to show up in a photograph without displaying an otherworldly glow:

Gah! Awful! But the sweater will hopefully be sweet. It's a top-down raglan (boring but reliable) in a size 4(!) for my growing boy. It will likely be a little too big at first, but should serve him well all winter. The weirdness of the color explains why I had a terrible time finding buttons to match (or even coordinate). We went with the little cars from Favorite Findings (with coupon, at Joann's). With an unusual shade of yarn, I find it best to go with completely non-matching buttons so it doesn't look like I tried and failed.

I would like to go work on this sweater some more, but instead I must clean the mac-n-cheese explosion from our kitchen table area. Maybe if I go really fast I can squeeze some crafting into naptime.....

vacation! (and some projects, too)

Oh man, it's August 9th already. We had such a cold, rainy, long spring and then got super baked for several weeks and I feel we've hardly had any "real" summer. I hope we get some nice days of high 70s with sun and a breeze before school starts.

School, wow, already?!? The time, it flies. Daughter will start first grade after labor day. It's coming up quickly...we've already purchased her supplies (except the markers, because I haven't seen them for $1 yet). I'm watching for juice box coupons and stocking up on snacks for the lunchbox. The light outside is shifting, just a bit, telling me that autumn is indeed on its way.

We were away last week, the kids and I, visiting my sister and her baby boy in the midwest. Her husband was out of town on business so we descended upon their home for a whole week. It saddens me that the cousins in our family will all grow up far away from each other, so it's nice to put them together and let them become acquainted. That way the holidays aren't a visit with people who feel like strangers. Also, holy cow did I need a change of scenery. It was amazing to get out of town for awhile and look at something other than our four walls! Even shopping at Target in a different place feels somehow fresh and new. We played, walked, swam, shopped, cooked, ate, baked, and played some more. My sister's house has central air - glorious! - and our moods were all greatly improved by the comfort we experienced.

I took along a bit of knitting but didn't get a whole lot done.

These socks were started in January. January! I cast them on to take to the hospital for AJ's surgery, which ended up postponed until mid-February anyway, and besides, I never actually knit in the surgical waiting room. Taking knitting along is just wishful thinking. So these rode around in the bottom of my purse until recently when I got sick of seeing them in there and I started working on them in earnest. One down, one started.

And before we left, when I was doing vacation pre-cleaning so we wouldn't come home to a gross house, I picked this quilt up off the dining room table and finished the stinking thing:

This is, I guess, broken dishes (?) but was supposed to be a pinwheel quilt separated by sashing. It went from a planned queen size to maybe a twin to a wallhanging as I got tired of making the blocks. Ha! Some quilter I am.

I based this on a quilt pattern in Nickel Quilts. Unfortunately somewhere between making the first batch of blocks years ago and finishing it up last winter, I accidentally changed the size of the individual components, so some of the blocks got chopped down in the final assembly. If you enlarge the photo you might be able to see where several of the pinwheels don't actually have points on them. Whoops!

Anyway, I don't care and I think it looks pretty good to hang on my living room wall! We need color desperately, and this roughly 56"X64" quilt will bring it.

I've been swayed lately by all the fresh fabric collections quilters are using in the online quilting world...lots of juicy oranges, pinks, lime greens, browns, bright blues...and I was even thinking I might splurge on some of the newer fabrics, despite my reservations that these colors might seem really dated in a few years (remember country blue and rose? how about peach and seafoam green? yeah), but then I finished this quilt and I realized where my heart lies. I love these tiny prints and semi-solids. I love traditional quilts.

And now that I've finished one, I can start another. Or maybe two. Those are the rules. Right?

F.O.: flower basket shawl

What? I said this should be done by next week? Oh, haha, just kidding. I meant I was going to practically injure myself to get it done immediately. (Seriously, my poor wrists, ouch.)

Flower Basket shawl, from Interweave Knits, fall 2004. I post-it-noted this pattern when I got the magazine all those years ago, but only just now got around to making it. At the time the concept of knitting lace with two strands of yarn held together sounded way intimidating. I just didn't have the knowledge to realize I didn't have to follow the directions exactly, and that I could substitute yarn and needles.

What a lovely pattern to knit. It's actually very easy, and each line of the chart is memorized quickly for fast, smooth knitting. I used almost two entire hanks of Knitpicks Gloss fingering weight, which came in a sock sampler my husband gave me for Christmas in........2007? I would have to search the archives but I think that's right. That means with 440 yards of fingering weight and a US6 needle I got a shawl measuring 60" across and about 30" from the neck to the bottom point (after blocking). I didn't count my repeats but I did several more than the pattern calls for. On the last repeat I was sweating it out, fearing yarn famine, but I made it with a (very) small ball of yarn to spare.

Daughter wants it. We just took these photos and she's now curled up on the sofa, wrapped in the shawl. I'm thinking we'll store it carefully away for when she's a bit older. :)

joys of homeownership...and also more lace

On Saturday morning the phone rang at 6:46. It was the company we'd ordered topsoil from, telling us our dirt was on its way. The dump truck showed up about an hour later, and when it did, I thought, "boy, he must be making a bunch of deliveries with all that dirt!" But then he backed into our driveway and proceeded to empty the entire dump truck.

This photo does not do justice to the true quantity of topsoil we moved. This is 4 cubic yards, which is code for "a backbreaking amount" and we moved all but about 1/2 yard of it by lunchtime. The driveway, front walk, side-of-the-house walk, and back patio were all repoured before we bought the house, but were never backfilled properly, so the jagged lower edge of the concrete was exposed all over the place. We needed to shore it up and seed it, both to make it look nice and to ensure that the concrete doesn't heave from moisture in the coming years.

It sucked, but it's mostly done now. This picture cracks me up because the kids were so determined to help with their tiny sandbox shovels. Also funny: this is what I get when I tell my daughter to wear "old clothes." Quite a fashion statement!

The moral of the story is that I really hurt my wimpy body by doing such a massive physical job. I am sadly out of shape and come Sunday morning I could barely get out of bed, my back hurt so bad. The pain and stiffness continued for a couple of days, so I've been fairly useless when it comes to the more physical housework.

What a bummer, I've had to park it in my recliner with more lace!

I wasn't kidding in my last post...I'm fairly obsessed at this point. More lace! Must knit more lace!

I think I'm hitting a period of pretty, delicate work after several years of hearty, practical knitting and sewing. I also have the wild urge to do handwork, like embroidery and cross stitch.

Gosh this is fun. And it really flies off the needles, what with all those yarn-overs. I'm eyeballing my yarn to see how many more repeats I can squeeze in before I knit the edging. This should be an F.O. by next week. More details to come when I finish!

summer mystery shawlette knitalong

I've never been one to join stuff. Don't know why, exactly, but if everyone else is doin' it, I probably won't. Weird! But this time I'm a-joinin' in the fun.

For years I've had two beautiful skeins of fingering weight alpaca following me around. It was purchased when I was a relative newbie to serious knitting and I think I thought I would make socks from it (?) which would be unwise, as it doesn't have any nylon and would probably not wear too well! It's gorgeous, neutral, and soft as a cloud. When I saw Wendy's post about a summer mystery shawlette knitalong, it all came together in my mind - finally, a use for my pretty alpaca.

I don't really have much use for shawls, though I might use a shawlette as a scarf in cool weather. Truly I'm a practical knitter at heart and prefer hearty, workhorse yarns for warm sweaters, socks, and accessories.

But it's also fun and challenging to stretch my skills and make something beautiful, just because:

The first two "clues" of the mystery have been released and I've completed them. I'm pretty sure there are a few errors in there, but what mom with two young kids can knit perfect lace? I'm not worrying about it, just enjoying the pattern. I'm not going so far as to put my work on Ravelry like many others (see, not much of a true joiner) but I've browsed around on the site, and it is fun to see this made up in all the different yarns people choose. In fact, my own mother is also knitting this! I'm so psyched that we're both making this and I can't wait to see hers.

The next clue is released on Thursday in time for Memorial Day weekend. Maybe I can talk Hubs into taking the kids to the park for a couple hours so I can, you know, "get some housework done" (knitknitknitknitknit).

curating vs. creating

I read a blog post recently that made me stop and think about how I approach my hobbies. I can't recall where it was, so I apologize to the originator of the topic, but it was about "curating" vs. "creating."

I have stashes of both yarn and fabric. Some of it is very, very old. I can point to some stuff that I've had since before I met my husband (10 years ago). What's up with that? Why haven't I used it? And will I ever?

I really got to thinking about what that means. How many of us just buy stuff because it appeals to us at the moment, but it never gets made into anything useful or beautiful? Has this always been a problem for crafters? I mean, who hasn't come across or heard about someone's Grandmother's attic stash of vintage fabrics or trunks of yarn that have been sitting in the corner of a basement or closet for umpteen years?

Is it the norm to do that? I wish I could say I just buy yarn or fabric for a specific project and use everything I spend money on. My mom has always been like that and we've had discussions about why people "build a stash." Mom thinks that having a shoebox-size plastic bin of sock yarn is excessive...and then I showed her my underbed storage box. I have enough sock yarn in there to make at least 15 pairs of adult socks, I bet. And that might be a small stash to some people! I've also been to the fabric store with my mom and picked up a few cuts of calico just because I think they are pretty, and she's always asking "why? What will you use it for?"

I always answer that it's pretty, it's a basic, I could use it for a quilt or a sundress for Daughter or something...some day.

But what it boils down to is I'm a collector. And, sadly, I'm pretty good at it! I can shop a clearance sale like nobody's business. I recently picked through my yarn stash to see what I had for baby sweaters (there's going to be another friends & family baby boom soon), and I came up with a heck of a lot. A shocking amount, really, and some of it has been hanging around far too long. Because while I "stock up" on these "stashbuilders" using sales and coupons, I find I rarely turn to stash when I need to make a gift. Because stash is boring to me. Shopping for new stuff is fun! When someone announces a pregnancy my first thought is toward going out to buy supplies to make a gift.

So while I do knit and sew quite a bit, I am more of a curator than a creator. I curate a collection of yarns, fabrics, embroidery supplies, books...and I get so bored with it, as you would if you looked at the same collection day after day.

I think it also speaks to our rampant consumerism. How many blog entries or ravelry pages have you seen with someone's yarn purchases for the week or fabric stash additions? I've been guilty of it myself...nothing much to write about, nothing created, so instead I show off what I bought. Big deal. Why are we writing about that? And why are we buying so much stuff, anyway? Not that it's wrong to purchase supplies, that isn't what I am saying at all...if you pull fabrics for a quilt or garment and something is missing, by all means buy a yard of something snappy to make the project sing. And if you're fresh out of pink baby yarn but your cousin is having twin girls, of course it is sensible to get what you need.

But to just keep buying stuff...for "some day?" I'm starting to feel a little ridiculous about it, myself. So I'm putting my money where my mouth is. That's probably not the right expression. But you get the idea.

It's time to use up some stash, FOR REAL. And I've set up a tasty reward for myself. I received the new and updated version of Aran Knitting for my birthday. If I can wrestle my stash under control by the end of the year, then I plan to buy myself a Christmas gift of lovely yarn to make one of the designs from that book. It's kind of subjective, I guess, because I don't have a particular amount I'm looking to reduce...I'll just kind of know when I feel like I've reached my goal.

Look, I've already started:

We all know this one, yes? A February Baby Sweater, of course. I had 3 balls of Knitpicks Telemark sportweight wool in the carnation colorway. That's 309 yards of yarn. I'm using a US 5 needle and I think it's going to come out just right.

And here are two roughly 0-3 month sweaters, knitted using free patterns from here, each taking one ball of baby sport yarn. The light blue is Bernat Softee Baby (US size 4 needle), the navy is Lion Baby Soft (US size 5 needle). The cream bonnet, which needs blocking quite badly, is from a Leisure Arts layette book and is made from some sort of fingering weight acrylic baby yarn on, I believe, a US size 3 needle.

The only person in my life who is actually pregnant right now is my sister-in-law, who is due at the end of this year. They find out the gender next month and then I'll know what to focus on. But I am pretty sure my sister will have another, my other sister who is getting married this year will surely have one or two, and our good friends are hoping to add to their family soon as well. So having a stash of little sweaters (rather than a stash of baby yarn) will serve me well.

I am even hoping to pull some coordinating fabrics from my bins to make some little pull-on pants or sundresses or little quilts to go with some of this knitted stuff.

I may still purchase some "supplies" this year. If I need something to finish a project or for a very specific gift, I'll head to Joann's. But I'm excited to stop curating and start creating.