filling my cup

Yesterday my friend and I ran away. Thelma and Louise! Hahaha. Sadly, no Brad Pitt in the back seat.

We went over the border to the nearest Ikea, in Burlington, Ontario...yes, that's Canada. We have no Ikea where I live.

I KNOW, right? No Ikea. Tragic.

Also not located in Buffalo: Trader Joe's, Crate & Barrel, and Costco.

Until recently there was no Anthropologie or Urban Outfitters but now at least we have those. I actually got to go into Anthropologie for the first time ever on Saturday night, as Hubs and I dropped the kids off with Grandma and went on a little date. (Our date consisted of: getting our taxes prepared, getting the car washed, walking around the mall, going to Five Guys for a burger, and stopping by the grocery store. HOT.)

Anyway, I can see why everyone raves about Anthropologie so much. What a beautiful store. The clothes don't do that much for me, but the "doo-dads" knocked my socks off. I'm a sucker for beautiful and functional items and they did not disappoint...from the dishes to the lovely measuring cups/spoons, latte bowls, and wee butter dishes meant to hold a half-stick. Thank heavens Hubs was there to stop me or I'd surely have bought one of those. I can definitely see myself heading there for unique gifts for friends and family (and, maybe, occasionally something for me).

So that was that, and then on Sunday morning my friend picked me up bright and early, we hit the Starbucks drive-thru, and headed for the border with passports and shopping lists in hand. The American dollar is at par with the Canadian dollar right now so the prices were what they were, no exchange rate math necessary. We had so much fun combing the store top to bottom. Again, it was the "doo-dads" that got me the most. I just loooooooved browsing around all the kitchen wares and kid stuff.

You can bring back $200 worth of stuff duty-free but we were good and didn't spend nearly that much. I got a bunch of kitchen items and this duvet cover/sham set for AJ's new big-boy bed, which should be here in a few days:

So cute! I'm excited to change his room over from baby to little boy. 

It was also really nice to have a grown-up lunch with my friend and talk with no interruptions from small children. I got Eggs Benedict. It was awesome.

Now my house is a hot mess, and I can't seem to gather my thoughts for the week ahead, but at least I had a really relaxing and fun day. I simply must do that more often. It's unhealthy to neglect myself, I get that now (finally, after nearly 7 years of parenting).

As for craftiness...I'm a hot mess there too. Jumping around from project to project, unable to focus. No one really needs anything made at the moment, so it's all self-indulgent knitting. Too cold to sit at the sewing machine. It's all curl-up-under-a-blanket crafting right now.

Rainbow socks!

And the shawl bug bit. This is an easy one, which I can work on while waiting for Daughter at swimming lessons. More to come.

birthday and some socks

Whoops, didn't mean to disappear for a week. 'Twas a busy one, though...the usual daily stuff plus my (gulp) 36th birthday and the attendant celebratory activities. I got a new vacuum from my husband, and lest you think he's a horrible gift-giver, I asked for the thing. We've been getting by cleaning our area rugs with a canister vacuum, which I thought was ok, but now I have a bagless upright with spinning brush and let's just say I'm really sorry if you've visited my house and sat on the floor in the recent past. Blech! (I recommend that vacuum if, like me, you have no wall-to-wall carpet, only area rugs over hardwood...I don't think it is heavy-duty enough for anything more.)

"The kids" got me silver hoop earrings which I've been trying to drop hints about for years. Yay!

And we had ice cream cake, and my parents took me (and AJ, we're a package deal) out for lunch on my actual birthday, and then Hubs and I got to go on a date with another couple on Friday night! Woohoo! My awesome parents took the kids over night so we got super wild and went to...Olive Garden. I know, we are total party animals. It was so good, though. I ate myself into a food coma. Then we came home, watched TV, and fell asleep. Which, for my money, is a good birthday. I didn't have to read bedtime stories, fetch glasses of water, or take anyone to the potty. Good deal.

Today it is 50 degrees (!) and I feel restless. It looks and feels like SPRING! But it's January 31 and I'm no dummy. It will be back to cold, snowy, dark winter in a day or two.

For a little brightness I pulled out some fun sock yarn last week:

This is Joann Sensations "Bamboo & Ewe" yarn in what they call the pink/red pattern colorway. This photo is washed out, I couldn't get it to look quite right even with editing. The pink is very bright in real life, and those gray-looking stripes are really lavender. I'm pleased I was able to make them match so closely. There's quite a bit leftover, too, so I will make socks for Daughter.

What to make now? I need to make some more soakers. I would like to work on a stalled shawl but the rows are very long now and I need quiet and good light, both scarce just now. There's a big bulky fisherman sweater started in my basket but that's not calling to me either. Hmmm. Off to search the stash and see if anything catches my eye.....

tasty treat

I'm currently ensconced in my recliner, plugged into season 1 of Downton Abbey on Netflix. How did I miss this show last year?!? It is so, so, so good.

I just popped up today to make something tasty and filling for the kids' snacktime, and thought I'd share the recipe. These muffins are delicious, and loaded with oats so they kind of qualify as healthy!

Honey-Oatmeal Muffins

2/3 c milk
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 beaten egg
1/4 c honey

1 1/2 c oats (quick or old-fashioned, I use the latter)
1 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c raisins (I use currants)
1/2 c chopped nuts (I use walnuts, but these can be left out)
1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 T baking powder
3/4 tsp salt

Combine wet ingredients. Add to combined dry ingredients. Stir just until dry ingredients are moistened.

Fill 12 greased or paper-lined muffin cups 2/3 full (make your life easier, use the paper liners). Bake in preheated 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes.

These are so hearty and so delicious. Make sure your baking powder is fresh, because all those oats require a lot of lift. Otherwise the muffins will be heavy. The brown sugar/honey combination makes for a rich sweetness that isn't overwhelming. These are awesome while a bit warm, with butter or just plain, and still excellent the next morning for breakfast.

Enjoy!

a little sewing

I felt like doing a little sewing today. But what? Nothing major...not a garment or a quilt top or anything large or long term. Just a quick fix.

I've seen some cool improvisational quilt piecing around the internets, so I thought I'd give it a go. I have, ahem, a few scraps laying around. I used some old Sulky stabilizer I've had for years (back when I bought it I thought it was something else...probably interfacing, I didn't know much at all about sewing at 23). It's on a roll, and is 8.5" wide so I cut 8.5" lengths to make squares. Then I started pulling little scraps out of the bag and stitching them down. You just stitch, trim, flip, press, repeat, until the whole square is covered. It's paper piecing, but randomly rather than following a printed pattern.

The jury is out. Do I love these? Or do I hate them? Or, possibly, do I love the idea but I'm just tired of looking at the same fabric scraps for 10+ years?

I learned the hard way to press between adding pieces. It's a fairly quick process to make these, but difficult for me because I'm...what's a nice way to say it? Let's go with "fastidious."

I was definitely outside of my comfort zone here, but that's good, right? It's good to stretch yourself and learn something new. 

Maybe I'll make more. But this was enough for today. I got my little sewing fix and it felt nice. Now for a little coffee fix...

Have a good weekend!

shop talk

Have I mentioned that I am always shocked - shocked, seriously! - when I get an order for a diaper soaker? I've sold many at this point but still, I'm always so surprised and flattered when I get an order. (Self-confidence problem? I guess so.)

As soon as I get an order, I start to knit. Like, within the hour. Once someone has paid for something I put major pressure on myself to get it out as soon as possible. I've been very blessed with orders since Christmas, so I've been knitting soakers non-stop. Today I'll be shipping these:

And then taking a few days off from knitting. My hands are sore! Maybe some sewing? Or reading? Or just relaxing and drinking a big cup of tea with a generous squirt of honey to beat back this sore throat (yep, still sore). 

Then I'll be pulling wool from the yarn bin and starting again, restocking the shop. Thanks to all who have ordered! More to come...

(By the way, that is my PROM mug in the photo. It says [my high school] Senior Prom, "If You Leave", May 27th, 1994. I am such a huge dork.)

arts and crafts keep you sane

MLK day...a day off school for Daughter, no therapy for AJ, but Hubs works. What to do? What to do?

I'm trying hard to be a better mom; a mom who says "yes!" A more fun mom. You know.

So we got it together and headed out to Dunkin' Donuts first...but I forgot my camera at home. Bummer, because I wanted to capture it. The kids were so psyched! "We're actually going to EAT THERE?" 

They shared a bagel, then a donut ("healthy" food first, of course), and I had a humongous hot tea because my throat has been sore for a week. AJ liked it there so much he took his boots off. Mmmm, just what every mother wants...her child walking around DD in stocking feet. Blech!

Then we went to Michael's because I had an idea for a craft that both a 6 year-old and a 3 year-old could execute. We bought a big bag of stuff, mostly on clearance! How can you pass up craft supplies for 9 cents? You cannot.

I also got myself this little notepad for my purse. Couldn't resist it. It was only a buck:

We got two ready-to-finish wooden letters. I wanted the cardboard-like block letters, but Michael's apparently doesn't carry them? We ended up with these flatter letters. Which were $3.33 but whatever, we were there and this was my plan for the day. 

I let the kids pick out whatever colors of the on-sale acrylic paint they wanted (they were 3/$1). We ended up with 6. 

AJ chose blue and yellow. We used the cheap 1" sponge brushes they had on sale 14/$1. I know you can find them 20/$1 sometimes too. This way I could just use little bathroom dixie cups for the paint and toss everything when we finished.

Daughter chose purple and turquoise...not a big surprise though I would have expected pink. This cheap acrylic paint did the job, and for a kid craft I would buy it again for sure, but the coverage was kind of lousy. I went over Daughter's again to cover the streaks but it still looks uneven. It's ok, because I knew we'd be covering a lot of the paint.

We purchased some embellishments - they had a LOT of clearance. Many items were 5 cents or 9 cents. I think the most we paid was 29 cents, and for that price I even got a HUGE bag of painted wooden hearts. I'm planning a Valentine craft idea for those.

And a lot of what we used we already had on hand. Sometimes when I have an extra coupon for one of the craft stores I'll just pick up a bag of sequins or foam shapes or something. Then we can have spontaneous crafts. 

I loved this craft, and the kids had a blast with it! I did the glue gun because, obviously, it's dangerously hot. But I wanted everything to stick really well so these can be put on their bedroom doors and not fall apart. 

It's so awesome that they are both at an age where we can do fun things together. Not that there weren't temper tantrums today...we couldn't get out the door without at least one each morning. But this really kept both kids engaged for a long time and they were happy. So I was happy!

Unfortunately I did not make a letter for myself. :(

I have been up to my eyeballs in soaker orders. I feel so blessed, but it is keeping my fingers flying, so while the kids painted, I was knitting.

I think I have done 6 since Christmas...? Something like that. But I am thankful, not only for the little bit of extra money, but because I know there are little babies all over the country wearing something I've made. That's kind of neat.

the wearin' o' the green

Are you, by any chance, expecting? Perhaps in March? Perhaps you are Irish? (Or not, everyone can wear green/pretend to be Irish for St. Patrick's Day!)

I have a one-off newborn soaker listed, and it's the cutest jalapeno green (nearly a kelly green but it's called jalapeno by Knitpicks so I'm going with that). I just had a few partial skeins left from something else I made, so I whipped up one diaper cover to use it up.

Isn't it sweet?

Over the holidays someone said these look like something for dogs. (?!?)

I assure you, they are for babies.

roy g biv

So many of the blogs I like incorporate rainbows...in the blog design, the crafts shown, the homes showcased...

I am so drawn to these pretty blogs!

Rainbows are big right now.

And lately I've been grumping around, wondering...

Why don't I have any rainbows in my life?

I really like rainbows.

And I wanted to find some.

Duh.

They are everywhere!

whatever

Seriously? Seriously?

How does that even happen? It's just a little button! I picked it up to use it last week and that little piece of plastic just fell out. When did it break? HOW did it break? (It wasn't the kids, they don't have access to this tool, obviously.)

I don't think a rotary cutter is the kind of tool you want to mess around trying to fix with superglue or whatever (and I'm sure it wouldn't even work), so hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to Joann Fabrics I go. 

Tomorrow. 

Because I don't have a car today. 

Our older car tried to kill my husband last week and it will now be dragged out back and shot. Just kidding about the shooting part; it will be traded in on a new car. Already has been, technically. We just need to do the actual physical trade tonight. Goodbye, 2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport in "flame red." You have been a pretty good steed for nearly 11 years, but with your 103,000 miles and disintegrating engine, the time has come to call it a day.

Kind of a bummer that we are re-entering the land of car payments after 8 months without. You get used to that pretty easily! Oh well, at least one car is paid off. One payment is better than two. And we got an awesome deal.

Of course, all I want to do today is cut quilt pieces and/or go somewhere. 

new year

Wow. Another new year already. How can it be 2012? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

My baby girl will turn 7 soon. Impossible.

Well, I still can't quite understand how the holidays whizz by so quickly now that I'm an adult. This year we had the added bonus of our hot water heater failing one week before Christmas Eve, necessitating its replacement. And then we had the (planned) installation of two oversize, custom built, double-double-hung windows in our kitchen and dining room on the 22nd. Yes, the leaky crappy windows have been replaced! We requested a full tear-out and rebuild of the frame for both, so we will never have to worry about them. We saw some seriously gross stuff when they ripped out the 1966 construction, but thankfully no structural damage. We already feel the difference in temperature inside the house, and there's no more rattle when the wind blows.

There was minor panic when a few gifts did not show up on time (thanks a lot used booksellers, you charge me $3.99 to ship a book, and I ordered TEN BOOKS meaning I paid a small fortune in shipping even though they all came TOGETHER...yet they did not arrive in time for Christmas)...so Hubs was out with the Crazies late at night on the 23rd, picking up a few extra gifts.

All in all it was nuts, as usual. But the good kind of nuts - cousins who live hundreds of miles apart getting to play together for several days in a row, catching up with my sisters, giving and receiving gifts, laughs, hugs, more laughs. Yes, it was good.

And I nearly made it with my knitted gifts! I got an ornament knitted up for our amazing therapist, but she ended up cancelling our last session before Christmas. I guess I could have put that time toward Hubs' hat, which ended up being finished early last week. Oh well. He loves it and has been wearing it to work each day. And thank goodness...all that garter stitch was torture!

Now, back to regular life, I suppose. Daughter went back to school today. AJ is back to his daily speech therapy. It's fa-reezing outside (12 degrees F today, with wind chill below 0), so I just want to hunker down and knit cables. I have one order to finish:

3 soakers, 3 colors, 3 sizes. I'm always so grateful when someone orders from me. I don't make a lot of money doing this, not by a long shot, but it's nice when someone likes my stuff, orders it, and then comes back to tell me how much they appreciate the item. Lots of photographers order newborn diaper covers and a few times I've received photos of teeny babies wearing them for photo shoots. It's so sweet.

When I'm done with that, it's back to this. I've started another project to use up some stashed yarn. I want to do a Starmore sweater really, really badly but I don't have enough of any one yarn right now. This is a free pattern from Lion Brand that gets decent reviews, so I'm going with it since I have what the pattern calls for. The stitch definition leaves much to be desired...but hopefully it will block and wear well. Whatever, I'm enjoying it so far. Cables are addictive, so the 8-row repeat goes by quickly and it grows in length surprisingly fast.

Happy New Year, everyone! Hope you're all staying warm.

last minute finish (2 of 3)

Ok, so the ends on the second sock aren't woven in yet (just tucked inside for the photo) but I am calling this gift done!

These socks are for Daughter, and wow have her feet grown! I can't believe how looonnnnng I have to make her socks!

I was concerned about running out of yarn, so I coordinated a skein of Heart & Sole "watercolor stripe" with the same brand in plain ivory for heels and toes. It looks like I would have actually had enough to make it using just the stripe, but that's ok, they look nice like this.

On to a hat for Hubs. And maybe an ornament for our awesome speech therapist to go with the gift card and chocolate bar I got today.....

last minute finish (1 of 3?)

Wow, how is it December 20? Seriously, Christmas will be here and done in about 4 seconds. Not sure how that happened when it seems like the first day of school was, like, yesterday.

Christmas prep felt extremely disorganized this year. As I explained it to someone this morning, it feels like a final exam where you're frantically scribbling everything you can into a blue book, and then the prof says "pencils down!" You're out of time so you're finished, even though you feel you could have done more, done better...but that's it, you have to just accept what you were able to accomplish and hope for the best.

Everything seems challenging right now because I constantly have to shove my son into his puffy jacket and then into his carseat, then put his boots/hat/mittens on when we get to the store (because of course he takes it all off in the car), lift and finagle him into the cart, try to get everything we need while not letting him see the gifts and stocking stuffers that are for him, etc, etc, etc. You know how it goes. Hopefully next year he will be in half-day preschool and I will be able to pull it together a lot better. 

I wanted to make more stuff for Christmas but it just didn't happen. AJ has his red sweater, Daughter has her black corduroy jumper lined with Laurel Burch cat fabric, my nephew is getting his framed sampler, my niece should have received her jumper, leggings and white sweater yesterday, and Daughter will be getting her Kina sweater:

Getting the color right was hopeless, believe me I tried. It's a pretty grape-y reddish purple in real life.

I used about 1.5 skeins of Wool Ease sportweight for this, and a button I've had for ages. All stash stuff. US 5 needle. It took a long time to knit. I hope she will wear it. I don't know...I've decided I'm not a fan of "shaping" made by enormous increases at the yoke, like in this sweater and the tea leaves/tiny tea leaves sweaters. I prefer a more fully fashioned approach. (So does Daughter...she never ever wears the tiny tea leaves sweater I made for her.)

I still have a pair of socks I'm hoping to finish for Daughter (one done, one started) and Hubs has requested a "slouchy, skater-type hat in a browny-grayish-green color" which at this time is a ball of cascade 220 heather yarn sitting in my knitting basket.

4 days to go...can I do it?

ho ho ho, it's a Christmas F.O.

Ok, I've got some cookies done, the tree is up and decorated, I not only took the kids' Christmas picture but I actually turned it into Christmas cards and sent them out. I think all the gifts are bought except for one or two little things, and now I just need to focus on finishing up the last of the knitted gifts for my own family members.

Still, I feel massively behind. And you? Ah, the holidays.

I'm psyched to have finished the last knitted gift to send away:

It's so cute and wee! This is a sweet, lacy cardigan for my baby niece to go over the tiny jumper/tunic I showed in my last post. It's from Leisure Arts "Baby Layettes Book 2" (#460). I used a skein of Stylecraft WonderSoft Baby 4 Ply that I found in my stash, and US 5 needles. This is one of those patterns where you get different sizes merely by changing needle size, so it can be knit on 4, 5, or 6 depending on what you want. I went with the middle size, which is supposed to equate to 3 months.

It's a little foo-foo and twee, but it was an interesting enough knit, and it cost me nothing since I had the yarn on hand (yay!). I have to go hunt down 3 buttons, which I'll do after it's completely dry. 

I put the blocking board on my dining room table to take a photo, and then I laughed and had to take this one - the "keepin' it real" shot:

Gross.

Hope your holiday preparations are coming along!

tiny (and frugal) baby tunic

Oops, once again I didn't mean to be gone so long. I was having, uh, mood issues. The combo of constant dark, dreary days, my general anxiety problem, and Hubs being away on a boondoggle business trip had me barely able to get out of bed and function, much less create and blog. But hey, today I feel myself coming out of it, hallelujah, so I need to take advantage. 

There's bread dough rising, I made a batch of muffins to use up the homemade applesauce that's been languishing in the fridge, and I managed to get a photo taken of the one handmade Christmas gift that's actually finished. Above you see a wee baby tunic for my sweet niece.

This is Simplicity 4243, in XS (7-13 lbs). The baby was 8.5 lbs as of last week when I spoke with my sister-in-law, so I figured this size should get her through Christmas. They live in SoCal, so I went with just the tunic (view D) rather than the longer dress. She can hopefully wear this with some little red leggings, which I hope to find pretty quickly so I can send them with the tunic, along with a white onesie and the white lacy sweater that I hope to finish in time (needs 1.5 sleeves and it is done). 

The frugal part is that this fabric was Daughter's Christmas jumper 4 years ago, when she was just 2 1/2 years old and I was about 5 minutes pregnant with AJ. Ah, the good old days, when I only had half the gray hair I have now. Anyway, I had maybe - maybe - a half yard of this corduroy. I had to smooth and adjust and smooth and adjust some more until the pattern just fit on the fabric. It was extremely simple to construct...just a front and two backs, a zipper, and some bias binding. I made that myself because I find the storebought stuff to be too stiff for tiny babies. Mine is just black quilting cotton cut 1.5" wide, folded in half, stitched to the right side, then turned to the back and topstitched. The only really tricky part was those tiny armholes. They did not fit around the free arm of my machine so there was some fabric gymnastics involved in getting that binding sewn down.

But it worked! And it is so sweet and wee and soft. I love it and hope they do too.

wool soakers for sale!

I realize there are about 6 people who read here, but I'll throw this out there anyway, just in case (or if you know anyone who could use one)...

I've got 4 newborn wool soakers, available to ship right now, for sale on etsy. There are two in this oatmeal color (a tan/gray mix), one in petal pink, and one in royal blue. The pink and blue are marked WAY down to just $12 because they have been sitting here unsold for quite some time and I'd rather they be used by a newborn baby than sit in my house! 

My soakers are made with the same attention to detail I give to knitted items for my own children. Each is handmade carefully, hand washed in Eucalan lavender wool wash, and air dried. 

First class shipping to the continental US is always included in the price. These soakers are really cute, have very stretchy cuffs, and a tall waist for warmth, absorbency, and extended use as baby grows longer/taller. And they do not have to be used only with cloth diapers! They make a sweet cover for any kind of diaper, and are warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

I've taken down my "custom order" slots for now because I have so much going on for the holidays (and many things I want to make for my own family) but I could definitely squeeze in one or two of these each week from now until Christmas (though for Christmas arrival, the item(s) would have to be shipped by the 19th at the very latest). If there is interest, please leave a comment here or contact me through etsy. I will also be attempting to add a few "scrappy" soakers using my leftover wool between now and the end of the holiday season. 

Real post coming soon! Thanks! 

fixed

My husband fixed the dryer. He found the part he needed on ebay for about $30 (1/3 of the price at the local appliance repair places) and in an hour it was back in working order. The hardest part was getting the panels off so he could access the innards. FYI, it was the igniter (gas dryer), and was not difficult to replace. So if you have a decent dryer that just stops heating, keep that in mind!

So I meant to update about my homemade laundry detergent experiment...not much to say, really. It's hard to get a handle on a per-load cost until I actually use up the borax and washing soda, so I can average it all. But so far it looks like, using the Dr. Bronner's soap bars which are hella-expensive, actually, I am coming in at between 7 and 10 cents per load. I've started on my second bar of soap mixture, but I don't think I'm going to buy the more expensive castile soap anymore. I'll try the cheaper kinds of laundry soaps (maybe Fels Naptha) or some Kirk's castile which is something like $1.29 at my supermarket (compared to $3.49 for Dr. Bronner's bars).

I don't know if I love the homemade stuff. It's ok, but I find I miss the "fresh" scent of detergent, however artificial that may be. And the clothes are definitely not as soft, not by a long shot.

Frankly, I'm not feeling very inspired about saving money right now. My husband and I were high-fiving after the dryer repair, and then he said sometimes he feels weird and awkward and almost embarrassed telling people he fixed his own appliance (he's done awesome money-saving tricks like this before...with our oven, with the cars...he is very handy!). This is because, he said, he feels it makes us look like we can't afford to just call someone to come and do it.

When did it become embarrassing to fix your own stuff? I mean, what a strange psychological thing that is. I mend and repair and patch. I'm not extreme about things; my kids get new stuff when they need it, my husband and I do too, but less often (I've recently had to replace some stuff obtained early in our marriage and felt resentful that it finally wore out!). I had a conversation with a family member awhile back during which I mentioned sewing buttons back on my husband's shirts when they pop off, and this person was incredulous, like, "why would you bother?" To him if a shirt loses a button it's broken, useless, done. I can't even imagine thinking that way.

Oh well, inspired or not, it is what it is. The holidays are such a difficult time for keeping the "wanties" at bay. I tried to make one final Target run for the year today but they didn't have what I needed...I might try another location tonight after the kids are in bed. I don't know if I've ever mentioned it, but I pretty much avoid Target and W*Mart between Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. I try to do online shopping as much as possible, gather my baking supplies early, etc., both to avoid the awful crowds/parking lots, and to stop myself from wishing for all the shiny, new stuff I see out there. So, one last run for hair dye and stocking stuffers, and then I'm going to try to take deep breaths, relax, and knit/sew/bake/craft my way through the next couple of months.

I'm really proud of Hubs for fixing the dryer.

2011 Christmas sweater - F.O.

Hubs has ordered a part for the dryer. Fingers crossed!

This year's Christmas garb for the children is underway. I always try for coordinating, but not matchy-matchy. This year I think I'm going with red, black and white. AJ will wear red:

This is the Knitting Pure and Simple neckdown children's cardigan...again. I wasn't sure about the hood but this Cashsoft Aran yarn is so, so soft and squishy and nice I didn't want to waste any or leave any behind as an oddball in my stash. It's 10% cashmere, people! What a lucky 3 year old.

The colorway is "poppy" which isn't too important to share as the yarn is discontinued (probably why I got it for around $2/ball). I used nearly all 8 balls, which is weird. That's A LOT more yardage than the pattern calls for in the 2-4 year size. I used size 8 and 9 needles. The buttons are a new style I've been loving from Joann's - I used them on my most recent cardi for myself as well. They look just like leather but they are plastic! And therefore much cheaper. And also washable.

The remaining yarn is there in the photo, and I'd say those balls are about the size of clementines. Mission accomplished...8 balls from the stash are knit up and gone. My guilt-o-meter can go down a tad.

*4-letter-word!*

I was ready to do a post last night about my homemade laundry soap experiment, and then when I went downstairs to finish the day's loads, I found a lump of wet stuff in the dryer. Huh, I must have forgotten to start it. So I started it, and came upstairs to knit awhile. Soon I noticed I could no longer hear the dryer running...odd. It usually takes longer than that.

You can guess what's coming, right?

Nothing, no drying action whatsoever. The stupid drum turns but there is no heat. I let loose with a few choice swears, then had to tell my husband that the dryer is out of commission. Here's hoping we can fix it ourselves if all it needs is a heating unit of some sort.

I have the detergent info plus a couple of projects to share, but right now I have to go check the drying rack and various hangers scattered throughout the house to see if my clothes and towels have dried even a little bit. Aaargh!

whoa

I can't believe it's November 10th. What a week we've had over here.

It was a record-breaking 70 degrees for a couple of days (but back to freezing cold now with snow in the forecast).

The kids are sick, and AJ's ear was draining this morning. Thanks, ear tubes, for that up-close and personal look at infection. Blech!

On the bright side, we have a new niece! My bro and sis-in-law had their first baby in the wee hours of this morning. She is beautiful and all are well.

Unfortunately, overshadowing most everything, my little sister called off her wedding that was supposed to take place in a warm, tropical place three weeks from Saturday. It's such a sad, sad thing. They do love each other, but she just did not feel it was 100% right. My heart breaks for her (and for him) but I am fiercely proud of her for doing the right thing. I won't lie...it does free us up a bit financially, and eases some stress about the holidays and paying for the two windows we have to replace. But still, I feel awful for her.

So I've been puttering along, working on some stuff.

I appreciate the kind suggestions and offers about the red sweater yarn famine disaster, but it got rrrrrripped and restarted immediately, before the comments came in. There was really no saving it, and this way AJ gets a nice warm new sweater to wear for Christmas pictures. I think I have enough to make the hood, too.

Oy. What a week.

re-do

While going through my pile of forgotten knits, I found this sweater I started for AJ a year ago:

The pattern is this one, and I love it so much. The biggest size is age 3-4 so if I want it for AJ I have to make it, like, right now. When I started it a year ago I figured it would last for 2 winters. I had 8 balls of this beautiful Rowan yarn, a rare special treat that I got on mega clearance.

I started it, I liked working on it, but I tossed it aside. Last night I resurrected it and worked a couple more inches of the back. As I worked along, I thought, wow, this is a great knit! I like these cables! I'm really enjoying this! Why did I quit working on it?

Oh. Whoa. Stop the presses. I glanced at the remaining yarn and realized that there was no way I would make it with only 6 more balls left. Thaaaaaaaaat's why I quit last year. Now I remember that I realized this yarn shortage problem and was so frustrated that I just folded it up and figured I'd deal with it later.

The thing is, I still can't figure out how much yarn I would really need to make this sweater. I have 400 grams of my yarn which is 8 balls X 95 yards each. That's 760 yards. The yarn called for is 400 grams at 115 yards per ball, which is 920 yards. That's a 160 yard difference, whoops. What was I thinking? I don't know. Still, I can't understand it because even if I left off the hood, I can tell I'd never make it with my yardage. The cables just eat up the yarn too quickly.

Oh well, whatever, now I'm going to rip what I've done, wash the yarn and hopefully unkink it...it's been knit up like this for a year so it will be a mess. Instead I'm going to use this beautiful yarn for a top-down raglan cardigan with a hood, and hopefully use dark wooden toggle buttons purchased here. That place has the best price on lots of a dozen buttons that I've ever seen, and they are beautiful. I want to use this yarn up now because it is so, so lovely and once AJ gets just a little bigger I will no longer have enough to make a big enough sweater.

So this will be AJ's handknit under-the-tree gift, and Daughter will get her purpley sweater. I still want to make that pretty cabled cardigan, though...maybe if I get some yarny gift cards for Christmas.....