FO Friday - 3 snacks for the price of one.

Pattern: Fiona Baby Sundress (pdf) by Staci Perry Raveled here
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease 1.7 skeins (100grams / 207yards) 50% Cotton /50% Acrylic
Needles: Crystal Palace US 7

Mods: I did not do a CC or the i-cord straps. Plus I forgot my cable needle and had to improvise.

Facts to remember: Check that there is enough ribbon to make all 4 straps the same color. Yes I only have two of the cute lime wedge ribbon straps. I had enough for 3 but not 4.

I hate Cotton-ease. I don't know about the rest of you but it taxes my hands like no other and it is not that it is made of cotton. Alisa that I am knitting up right now is made from Cotlin which is definitely not forgiving. It has to be something about the acrylic. I am hoping that the Comfy that I ordered from Knitpicks will be better on my hands. I already picked out a pattern for it to try it out.

Things I Love: I loved the annoying pleats they totally make this dress. I would love to make this again for another kid if I find a better yarn.

Reaction of the recipient: Well she is about 6 months old and was crawling in the opposite direction so I am going to say undecided. Her mother loved it and gave me a hug. This is the second baby gift I have given them since the first was wool and the mom was a bit scared to wash it so never used it.

Since I still had extras of this yarn and I did not want it hanging around, I looked on ravelry for a pattern and came up with this quicky.

Pattern: Basketweave Headband by Carissa Browning Raveled here
Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease 1/3 skein for both (100grams / 207yards) 50% Cotton /50% Acrylic
Needles: Crystal Palace US 7 DPNs

Mods: None I did not have enough time to come up with any mods.

Facts to remember: That I knit these because they were so fast

Things I Love: These were fast. I had 2 done in less than 24 hours and that included sleeping for 10 and going to church and well let's just say very little actually needle time.

Reaction of the recipient: I gave one to the mother who the baby dress went to and the other is for my Coffee Swap partner. It is one of the Spring Handmade things.

There you have it. I jumped into PS3: Earth with both feet and finished 3 projects in less than one week. We will see how much further I will get.

WIP Wednesday - the insomniac edition

Well one of the wonderful side effects of coming down off the hormones is that I am an insomniac one week out of the month. Yeah. Unfortunately, I don't do work knitting because i am trying to calm and relaxed as I knit so that I will fall asleep.

I would like to say that the finishitis is still going strong. I finished the sweater. Si your present is done. Ha ok now I must knit the other sweater, the hat, and the pair of socks that I have in the queue for Christmas. Actually my finisitis is so strong it won't let me cast on more projects, except for the baby presents that are for babies that were born earlier this month. I really want to cast something on but I have to finish my work project and my monkey swap socks. Well of the things that I just mentioned only one of them can be blogged about so. Let me flash what I have done on my second monkey sock.

Today when I received my new knit picks harmony needles. I had to cast on with my new sharp non-bendy size 0 DPNs. I grabbed the sock yarn I bought for a specific baby that was supposed to be born around a football game played in these colors. In this house they are rival colors, but as Anna says our colors are clown colored.

I am proud of myself. I learned 2 new techniques with these wee little socks. I did Judy's Magic Cast-on and EZ sewn bind-off. Man why have I not been doing this. They were both so easy. I also think I have got my short row heel down perfectly. This little guy should qualify for SockDown a KAL on Ravelry.

Next up are the projects that are lining up on my desk and grabbing needles. They are impatient little buggers. They started fighting over the new needles as soon as I laid them down. Bad Yarn. You will have your turn.

Here they are in no particular order, Give me your opinion on what I should start:

Knitpick's Gloss with Knitpick's fixed Harmony needles for Endless Paper Mitts

Mystery Sock(not a ravelry link) for SockDown a KAL on Ravelry for Sock Knitters Anonymous lead by our own Fyberduck.

Brother-in-law Camo socks for Christmas. Pattern unknown. Just has to be non-fancy. He is a basic sort of guy, but he asked for camo socks. Pray these socks pool. Stripes would be bad.

Ribbon Yarn. About 1 lb. Unknown source. This will be the RCC that was part of last Sexy Knitter's Club. It should be done but well I have a job knitting.

FO Friday: Baby Edition 2

Man for all the baby knitting, I should be having my own. ::throat clearing:: my dear family don't think this is a wish, it is an observation.

One baby item is going to a family member. Churchable's cousin's wife is having a baby. So after contemplating a pattern in my mind, searching Ravelry for what I was thinking about, I cast on for the EZ February Baby Sweater. It is too cute and I just barely ran out of yarn.

Little Marshall girl
Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles (February) from Knitter's Almanac
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece color CW-380 Dusty Sage and some Knit One Crochet Too Wick color 120 - Natural
Needles: Crystal Palace US 6 Circular
Thoughts: I actually talked about this last Friday, but ended up changing the closure because the method I planned on doing was not going to work. I was going to use snaps that you pound into each other but the knitted material was too thick. Instead I used snap tape on the instead and four decorative buttons. I washed the sweater in the machine and air drier it. I have had good results with this method of care. When you put Cotton Fleece in the dry it pills alot.

The other baby that was expected and she came on time, but you have to know her mother to not be shocked by this. One of my friends from college that lives in the NW had a baby girl.

Pattern: Saartje's Bootees (PDF)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts STR Mediumweight Colorway: Autumn (not currently on the site) about 18 grams of yarn (use your sock leftovers for these cuties)
Needles: Crystal Palace US 1 (2.25mm) DPNs
Thoughts: Cute, Quick, Easy. What more could you want in a pattern.

FO Friday

A friend's baby trying to take away Lexi's bowl at games' night Tuesday.

WIP Wednesday did not happen because I had a horrible migraine brought on by unknown sources and made worse by a neighbor pressure washing his truck and listening to old eps of Knitty D and the city. I had finished up the baby vest and did not get to have much knitting time. I thought knitting was soothing but it was not as good as pain killers and a nap.

Now I must present the cutest baby item that I have made so far. Remember this goes to the missionaries headed out next month before their baby is born. The yarn I used was yarn that I bought when I was on a trip to Turkey. At that time, I thought I would be heading overseas to help villages establish small textile industries and then export them back to the US and Europe. So since I am not destine to go overseas, my yarn creations can have fun without me.



Pattern: Argyle Vest in Vogue Knitting Baby Knits Two on the go!
Yarn: Nako (100% yun - aka wool in Turkish) 100gr - green & blue. I got this wool back in 2000 when I knew nothing about weight or gauge. I just saw 100% wool CHEAP! It is great wool. I have made several things with it including a color work beret.
Needles: Brittany US 5 circulars and Inox US 3 circulars
Mods: None but I learned to seam with this pattern. Yeah I know how to do it right. I learned by looking up the information in my 2002 Interweave Knits mags. They had a 2 part article on seaming. I wish that I had done a 3 needle bind off at the shoulders but I was not thinking when I finished the back.

Weekend Wrap-up - the baby edition

Its been a interesting week. I left ya'll last week with the sock and his adventures. Well he has been rather tired and refuses to compete with all the baby stuff that has suddenly appeared on my needles. I don't think he will hold it against me. I finish what I started unless the gauge is off and well his gauge is not off so he will appear here again.

All the baby projects are a result of 4 women in my life having babies.

The first one was born at the beginning of April the week before Easter. The baby was born 3 weeks early so I had not even started the present. And as a result did not blog about the item, so imagine the baby booties you see today in bright pink and you have the idea.


The second baby will be born at the end of next month. I cast on over a week ago and finished it three days later. It missed FO Friday (It was not finished) and WIP Wednesday (because it was finished). I made a EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. This little number was so fast and so cute. I really wanted funky little buttons but we don't have many options here in Longview. I also knit my standard baby booties.


Pattern: EZ Baby Surprise Jacket from Knitting Workshop
Yarn: Nature Spun sport weight (100% wool) - cream and cranberry fog
Needles: US 5 Crystal Palace Circular
Mods: I made 3 button holes instead of 5.

The third child is to be born to a missionary family that is leaving before the baby is born. The little boy will join 3 other siblings. I hope he thrives well. I picked one project and tried many yarns and finally picked one but realized that I would probably run out of yarn and I was hating the pattern. Plus the gauge was going crazy. So I picked something that would be quick. This project was why there was no WIP Wednesday. I started it and ripped it out by Wednesday. The parts are done and blocked now thus the finishing is all that is left. It took me about a day a piece. I was happy to see that my tension is still good in stranded knitting. I knit with yarn in each hand when I do stranded knitting. It was the way I learned since my first project was a fair isle hat on dpns. (my tension was horrible back then but that was ten years ago).


Pattern: Baby Moccasins in Vogue Knitting Baby Knits Two on the go!
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky (85% Wool / 15% Mohair) in Brown
Needles: US 10 Brittany dpns
Mods: None. These take 2 hours or less so why change them.

The fourth baby is to be born in September so I have a little more time, but I found the most perfect color yarn that goes with the families love of a favorite team. You need to raise up the fans early right. She reads this blog so I may or may not post the little surprise for her until after it is gifted. I have already made up booties for her back when she told me that she was expecting.


This weekend was my second anniversary with churchable. He took me up to the Kitsap Peninsula so that we could veg out. First part of the trip was to stop at Linda's Knit n Stitch which was at Madrona. She had the most Koigu that I had ever seen at Madrona and had been told by her that she had exclusive rights to Mariner, UW, Seahawks and WSU Lorna's Laces colors. Churchable is a Mariner's fan and graduated from UW so I promised him socks from one of these color lines. At first he was going to go for UW, but upon seeing the colors he choice the Mariner's color.


Then we headed to the Bed & Breakfast Bird's Eye View, which had a great view. It had a great balcony to veg out on. Churchable caught up on his mag reading and I knit happily away on my baby vest. This is the first B & B that we have both liked and want to return to for future times.

After I finish the baby vest, I will be starting Sahara with my Blue Moon Bling.

WIP Wednesday

If a person can have severe Startitus, then I had a bad case yesterday. I think it accounts for driving approx. 7 hours to my in laws in Spo Vegas on Monday and not knitting at all.


I commented on Monday on the Sexy Knitters Club when I posted about my Rusted Root that I wanted to make the Sahara with some Blue Moon Bling (aka Lupe). I bought the beautiful shade of Saratoga in Lupe (100% Nylon Boucle) knowing that I would use it for Sahara. I really had no thought of what I wanted to use for the main yarn. I wanted something solid colored that would make my bling pop. My first thoughts were Silky Wool but I eventually decided on another Elsebeth Lavold yarn Cotton Patine in color 05 damson. My reasoning came after holding up several different colors of Silky Wool and not finding a match. I swatched last night and came up with gauge with US 7 which was the recommended size on the ball band.


I have been working a little bit on my husband's second sock. I have 2 1/2 inches of the 10 1/2 inch sole. It is always slow going on his socks. I just realized it might be that I don't like the feel of the yarn and thus it is not enjoyable to knit with. Oh well that just means I have to destash some lovely yarn or make it into baby items. I am entirely tempted to rip out the needles and forget this second sock existed but churchable loves the colors so I am going to finish. Honey I want you to know this sock is truly a labor of love.


Next up I have Blue Moon Sock Candy (96% Cotton, 4% Elite) in Borage. I lovely the deep green color. This cotton is so squishy and soft that this sock is flying off my needles. I am already 4 inches into the sock from the tip of the toes. I am so glad that I bought enough to make two pairs of socks.


The last project that I cast on for is the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. I am working this in Brown Sheep Nature Spun Sport in cream and cranberry fog. I am enjoying changing colors every other row. I will have to see how this works out when I come to the large sections of short rows.

Our church is having a baby boom. I wanted to start on another project that is for a baby boy that is needed sooner than the EZ Baby Surprise Jacket. I swatched with the yarn that I brought and realized they were too thin and totally unsuitable for a baby. The yarn was scratchy and tough. I must confess I just grabbed enough yarn from the box marked Sport weight that was in little boy colors and ran out the door.

Updated with pics on 5/4/07

FO Friday

These are Fingerless Mitts for myself. I really liked the ones that I made Memo.

Fingerless Mitts (Interweave Knits, Fall 2005)
Yarn: Noro Transition
(55% Wool, 10% Silk,7% Cashmere,7% Alpaca, 7% Angora, 7% Camel, 7% Kid Mohair)
Color: Color #2 - blues and greens
Gauge: 14st and 20 rnd = 4" on size10 US
Comments: Super Easy, It took me about 2-3 hours to do each mitt.



Dog Sweater - I have been commissioned to make sweaters for our breeder.

Original Pattern
Yarn: Noro Transition
(55% Wool, 10% Silk,7% Cashmere,7% Alpaca, 7% Angora, 7% Camel, 7% Kid Mohair)
Color: Color #2 - blues and greens
Gauge: 14st and 20 rnd = 4" on size10 US
Comments: Fast pattern but I did have to frog it 4 times before I got the proportions just right.



Baby Shoes for a friend who is expecting.

Pattern: Vogue Knitting Baby Knits Two
Yarn: Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted(85% Wool / 15% Mohair)
Color: M-11 White Frost and M-69 Old Sage
Gauge: 14st and 20 rows = 4" on US size 10
Comments: These were finished in 2 hours. Super fast. I held two strands together to create the approximate gauge. And just happened to have leather yarn in my stash from Turkey.