The Difference Between Cooked Noodles and Pretty Lace

OK, here's an in-progress shot of the shawl, see how it's all lumpy, bumpy... the stitches are pulling together so it's pretty small and looks messy?



That is why we let lace soak and then block it before it dries completely. Usually this is done on a foam board, with big pins and wires...


You stretch it out, pin it in place and then stretch and repin. If you want a soft block you might just stretch it once. If you want a hard block you keep stretching - first one side and then another - lace can usually stretch a LOT. Once you have it how you want it, you just let it dry. When you unpin it and take the wires out it might relax a bit, but it will still hold the shape and be pretty.


Once blocked you can see the empty space that makes lace look so nice.




Isn't it purty? :)



The shawl didn't take all of the handspun yarn, so I wanted to make something else with it. I looked around a bit and found a pattern I liked, and then did something completely different.



Not completely different I guess, but I did change a bunch for this pattern - some details are on my ravelry page.




This Mothers Day was pretty low key, but we did go on a family bike ride, since I got a new bike! I still need to put a child seat on it for the little guy - already ordered. The girls have been riding the past couple weeks to knitting time at the library (1.5 miles one way) while I've been pushing the stroller and walking. In anticipation of my riding too I thought I better get them used to carrying their own books and knitting. So we (they helped choose the colors) used my leftover Lopi and made these two backpacks.


Here's another shot of Lily's. She decided to have me make hers second, so all the bugs would be worked out of the pattern I was adapting.


I still need to sew on big toggles or buttons, but right now I clipped one of my stitch holders there and it worked fine (I just want them back sometime).


One of my birthday presents from my sweet husband was a 3 month membership to Yarn Pirate's fiber club. I got my first shipment a couple weeks ago.

It's called Sweet Pea, and it's already on my little spindle. I broke it into 16 little balls and I'm just working through them one at a time.

I'm also working on some Superwash I had ordered a while ago from The Loopy Ewe that I'm spinning up using my Spindlyn. Aside from those two spinning projects I'm down to one knit project currently.

That one knit project is my socks. I had gotten both of them past the heel (toe-up) and when I counted the cable twists they didn't match. I then compared them and figured and tried to make sense of it - undid the offending one and redid the increases and heel. I then counted - I had undone the wrong one. I then undid the other one and redid the increases and heel and they now match fine.


The other sock is just a pattern or two shorter, but now I can pick up either and just knit on them whenever. I have the four row pattern memorized, and it's very easy to tell which row I'm on. I'm just knitting until I'm a lot closer to running out of yarn (since they are using separate balls of yarn).

I'll keep working on these - but I will be starting another teddy bear and a lace scarf soon!

Slippers

Part of my Christmas presents from my husband was a slipper kit. It came with slipper bottoms and a gift card to my LYS so I could knit myself up a pair of felted clog slippers (cuz I made a pair for him and he loves them so much).

So I finished up a couple of projects and then went to the LYS and picked up some Cascade 220, and then a little while later I whipped them up.





I then felted them and tried them for a while



I then decided I needed to felt them a tiny bit more, and then, true to his word, he sewed the bottoms on for me (knitting my own slippers - okay... sewing them on - ulgh). I've now been walking around with warm feet...





...now just to make new ones for the girls (well, maybe in the fall... and the boy will need a pair by then too)

...been working

I finished a little blanket and bear for a baby shower I went to.






I usually love the way these baby gifts turn out, and this one was no exception. I thought this combo was especially cute!


My husband discovered The Loopy Ewe (which I tried to tell him about almost a year ago, but he just wasn't ready for it). He did his first order, which included a couple of Wendy Knits sock patterns (big hit - can't wait for her book!) ...and since he was already going to order, he kindly put this in the cart for me:



Isn't it pretty? It's called Little Fish and it's from Enchanted Knoll Farm. Of course, I hadn't ordered from The Loopy Ewe yet, so now that I know how quickly it comes.... I believe he already has a cart waiting, waiting of course for the new knee socks from Wendy Knits (Catriona) to hit the store - as soon as they do, the cart will be on its way to us.


Of course, he made that order purposefully before his business trip to Japan. He had a week between when the patterns got here and when he left - so he whipped up a sock:



I think he was even surprised by how fast it worked up, and then he knit its match while in that super-long-when-is-this-going-to-end flight, finishing it up (weaving in ends, etc) while recovering from jetlag.

Details for all projects on Ravelry because, really, if you care about details, you should be on there by now.

Quilts (and no knitting)

I finished clue 2 for MS3, perhaps a picture tomorrow, but it's a bit hard to spread out enough to take a good one. I'm still working on the Melon Shawl Edging ...forever. I'm also about to start another baby blanket and bear, for a little boy who was born last week - I figure with the current weather (we turned on the ac today) there's not a huge rush, but I would like to make them and gift them soon. Other projects, current and planned, hover in the background, calling to me, but I need to keep to a small-ish number during MS3, so that I can work on that every week and not be buried by my current WIPs.


For this dose of old finished projects (I'm showing things that were made before my blog started) it's quilts.

This first one I made while I lived at home (middle or high school?) and is currently used as a nap blanket.



These next two were made out of some fat quarters and a bit of spare cloth. Each used two packs of fat quarters...

...pooh bear


...and princess


I then paired the squares with some I cut from a cloth that went with the quarters (the yellow and the green). Once the top was done I bought a king flat sheet and managed to get both backs out of one sheet. I just quilt them quickly on my sewing machine. These quilts fit nicely on the top of their twin beds, without hanging down. I had four squares left, so I sewed a them up with a big square of the sheet and made two little pillows to go along with the blankets. The girls use those pillows for their dolls.

Those are the only quilts I've made for the girls I think, I made them last year. I have a couple more larger (adult) ones, and one that is in the planning stages (material bought, and pattern chosen, nothing cut yet).

Hopefully I'll finish some knitting soon....

Happy 4th

Today is the 4th of July - Independence Day in the US. My husband was off work, we put up our flag for a bit, and then went to a friend's house for a BBQ and to let all the kids play. Yummy food, lots of running for the girls, and a couple of games of Fluxx for the adults. Fun all around. I haven't been knitting much - as I had a mild head cold the past couple of days... But I did manage to finish the center section for the Melon Shawl - I even started the edging tonight (while girls watched Harry Potter again). Pictures of that, and the MS3 (clue 1) that I am planning to finish up tomorrow. The prizes from my 100 post contest are packaged and will be mailed off tomorrow hopefully.

Today's daily dose of finished objects are some of my more impressive ones (I think). Here are 3 lopi sweaters I made - 2 for me and 1 for my sweet husband. I'm guessing they were made in fall 2003.




...hope you all had a good 4th, whether it was a holiday for you or not!

Chart A and a Bit of Wire

My purchases for beading purposes:

from the local bead store...




...and from AC Moore.





The group at Creative Fibers on Friday night.

Some of us around the table (with chocolate goodies)...





...and everyone (everyone but Ellen I think) with their current MS3.





I finished chart A that night, and haven't worked on it since - I plan to tonight or tomorrow night - after all, after I finish chart B there's no more until Friday



Sunday night, I broke out the wire, and the extra beads I had purchased and tried some wire knitting. The pattern was supposed to be a bracelet - but I don't like how it came out (at least not on my arm) so I will try again another day. I did salvage the finished knitting though, I gather up the cast on edge, and made a little bowl.




It's a little hard to see (pretty hard to photograph shiny things), but it is a cute little bowl :)



The daily dose of older finished stuff:

I figured I should do these next since I mentioned I had used tigger scraps for the sweater yesterday...

...and yes M, the socks from a couple of posts ago are Tofutsies 'Sweep you off your feet' I believe!

More from Long Long Ago

Friday I went to a local bead store (that's been less than a mile from my house for the past two years and I didn't know about it) and got some more MS3 supplies. I also printed up the chart, and went to a cast-on party Friday night. I also (at the bead store) got some stuff to do some wire knitting. Pictures of those purchases and projects (and MS3 progress update) later tomorrow.

I'm still working on the Melon Shawl - getting many repeats done, almost ready to start the edging (I hope!). I was hoping to finish a couple more projects before starting a new one, but there are some baby gifts needing to be made, and those don't wait... while I decide what and when to start something new you can enjoy these pictures....

Last time I showed you some of my really early sweaters - some that I don't wear so much and some that I'm proud of, but would do differently now - for today's dose of old Finished Objects, you get to see some of the knits for my daughters that I just love (kindof unclear, I love how these projects turned out, and yes I also love my daughters).

A scrap poncho - I really should write this one up, as it was SO easy to make, and ended up with a simple, but pretty, shape.

I had a bag of scraps, I had a shape in mind, and I had a daughter who was walking around in need of just a bit of warmth. I made this ummm... I'd guess 2003 for my older daughter, when she was younger :)


Around the same time, I had a little red dress that I loved to put on my daughter, but, as children do, she was outgrowing it. It was made of a knit material and I thought, hey, I can copy this.... so I did.


...and then of course, I played around with a pattern and made a matching sweater.

The fact that the dress is too short (for my taste) for the child once the sweater fits, is a nice bit of irony - the sizes didn't overlap so well, I think it was worn once (or maybe twice) together.



Last year, I had made a number of things for my younger daughter, and it was time to make something for my older daughter. I used some scraps from tigger (who you'll see soon) and a couple of other scraps, to make this.


I wanted to try something new on this project, and I realized I hadn't done any intarsia. A book was purchased, a pattern was chosen, and the pocket was made (along with the rest of the sweater of course).


Next time, either more crafty-toys, or some grown up sweaters, and more current knitting (of course!)

A tale of two projects

Thinking over this post for Swap10 that we've been asked to do (our favorite and/or our hideous monster project) has been interesting. I've been trying to think through all the crafting I've done - there's a lot of years of yarn there.... So I think my least favorite would be something that I finished, but immediately frogged. During college I found a pattern for a plug-in-the-numbers design your own top-down raglan. I thought this was a great idea. It probably was, but I choose to work it in two strands of woolease, knit pretty densely. It was a monster - took tons of yarn, was very boxy, and of course, could have stood on its own. Almost as soon as it was finished I started unraveling it. I used that pretty pale green woolease for many things since then and I think it's finally gone. I have no pictures of the sweater, although I will look around for anything that has the green yarn in it.

Unfortunately I also have no pictures (at the moment) for my favorite item. A couple of years ago I was trying to work through some of my small amounts of yarn. It was fall. I designed a poncho pattern for my daughter and used some of the pretty scrap. As she wore it (and now her sister wears it) I have gotten tons of compliments on it... and of course I like how it looks too! As it is lovely (cough) winter weather again here, I can't find it at the moment - I will try to find it within the next couple of days and post the picture.

A runner up to favorite is my bamboo shawl. This is also the same pattern I used to make a shawl for my older daughter (at the bottom of this post. I had spun the bamboo on my wheel and while I think I could do a better job now, it was pretty nice. It's very soft and warm, and a little unusual.

Tomorrow's post will be very picture heavy (my husband's knit picks order, my current projects, and some finishing touches to a couple of items). I'd do it tonight, but I'm just too tired....


Comments:
Robyn who said: I will see you at Webs! I'm coming!

-we will have to figure out a meeting spot or some sort!! Looking forward to it. :)


Tammy who said: ...And...Happy Birthday girl!

-Thank you for the birthday wishes! and I will make sure to have a great time listening to the yarn harlot :) hope you get to see her sometime too!

Everything has problems

Right now, all three of my knitting projects are not fun. The sock that I've been working on is too wide around (I had it all set once, and then checked and my gauge was off, so I started over and got it to the new number I should have, and when I tried it on his foot, it had a ton of slack, and turns out it should have been the first number - you know, the one that I undid.... grr...) So I'm waiting for my new knit picks dp before I start again.

The monkey I'm working on started with a piece of stockinette knitting that had 70 rows of 40 stitches. Now I need to do four arm/legs that have 60 rows of 20 stitches. These at least I'm doing as tubes, but still, it put me to sleep the other day when I tried to work on it...

And then the lace scarf. This is fun and interesting, but it takes a bit of focus since I have to follow the chart... so I can't do it for random minutes here and there.

SO - I ate a couple more cookies



..and started a new project.



And so, while I work on a new baby blanket, here's some pictures of recently finished projects that didn't make it to the blog yet:


This goes with the Molly doll that I recently finished.


I spun this up over the weekend, originally bought from Criations in CT, you can see the original fiber here.

I made a couple of changes on the blog. If you look to the side bar you will now see a list of current and planned projects, I will still list them in a post every so often, but I will try to keep that current.

I'll keep plugging away at everything - and again, thank you for the comments!

Old projects

Here's an old project that just got taken out of the closet again... getting lots of compliments on it of course! The yarn was a bulky yarn that we bought on close-out at webs. The pattern for the coat was the einstein coat in the Knit book. The pattern for hat was done on the fly, I remember that I crocheted it, and it isn't too bad now, the brim was a lot more pronounce when child 1 wore it, but still looks fine on child 2.

Previous Projects

I thought that since I am still working on yet another baby blanket and bear (and have at least 2 or 3 more to do before christmas....) I would post some of the things I have made previously, to prove I don't do just baby shower gifts!


One of the pictures is a lopi tan cable sweater, the next is a green poncho made of commerical homespun, pattern by me, pretty plain with a single cable running up the middle.


The next couple pics are of a small beaded purse i made as a gift, the pictures are pretty bad, but i don't have it to retake them of course. I'll post some more old projects over the next couple of weeks....