Lotta Stuff Finished

Okay, not a lotta stuff, but some stuff! I'm feeling pretty good about things over here, knit-wise. I finished the Baby Surplice Jacket and took pics of it with my (our) new Canon PowerShot S3 IS. Actually, Cannon is my maiden name, so I feel like this camera is truly mine, all mine! To recap, I knit it in Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted Iris Garden, size 8 needles, gauge 5-1/4 stitches and the smaller size from the pattern (140 stitches cast on). The felted booties are Fiber Trends Felt Baby Shoes in Lamb's Pride Worsted, so quick and fun to knit. I knit some for my son when he was a baby, and I had so many compliments on them--where did you get those? and that sort of thing.

When I got really close to being done with the jacket I got feeling funky about it, so I pulled out a Hello Yarn Top-Down Bonnet that came dangerously close to being frogged. Back last fall I fell hard for this pattern the moment I saw it. I started and frogged and restarted--how many times? It's hard to say. Finally I got some pointy metal needles and some KnitPicks Ambrosia in lavender (the original yarn the hat is made of) and memorized Adrian's great tutorial for the figure-8 cast on. Then I knit 65% of it and didn't like the way it looked, so it has sat in my knitting basket lo these many months. I saw it, finished it, and got my knitting mojo back. It needs a little blocking, and some parts are wonky, but I am proud of it.

Unfortunately, it does not fit Ruby's noggin! I knit it on size 3 needles, and I think I knit kinda tight. There is also something wrong with her head, literally. She has sagittal craniosynostosis and will be having surgery to correct it on June 1. Will the bonnet fit her head better, once her head is rounder? I doubt it. But this is such a great pattern, fun to knit and fun to see on babies, I will knit her another.

The upside of starting this pattern over again so many times is that I can do this cast-on fairly well now, I am proud to say. Since it is just like making a huge sock toe, this is also great practice for sock-knitting. Which is good, because I have lots of sock yarn to knit.

Speaking of sock yarn, my mom gave me a little pattern booklet she used to crochet me a little sweater when I was small, way back in 1975. There's a cute pattern in there for a little lacey baby shrug called Angel Wings, made from 3 oz of Wintuk Pompadour baby yarn. It calls for size 1 and 2 needles, and I think it will be perfect for this skein of Sweet Georgia I have in Orchid. I realized I am knitting everything for little Ruby in pink and purple colors, which is new for me. My sister was born when I was ten years old, and everything was pink, pink, pink. I hated pink for years. When my oldest daughter was born, she wore red, blue, yellow and denim. Now? Pink, purple, fuschia, lavender, coral.

I think this flurry of knitting for Ruby is in preparation for the surgery. Somehow I feel it will protect her while she goes through this difficult thing. Two of my other children have had surgery for the same thing, and I know she'll be fine, but I sure wish we didn't have to do it. Fortunately I have knitting to help me not think about it. Yay knitting! I'm off to Teri's for a day of Kool-Aid dyeing tomorrow. It's going to be lots of fun. I'll be showing off my creations later, so stay posted!

Progress--Baby Surplice Jacket

I have reached the point where I stop the paired decreases that are making the surplice/kimono shaping and continue on with the increases for the sleeves. It is really starting to look like a sweater!


Here's a picture of the increases with the cool stockinette marked stitch in the middle of the increases. (It was hard to photograph, the way the sleeve increases distort the knitting and prevent it from lying flat.) This is one of the things I love about knitting, the way the shaping looks knitting up.

Now I am beginning to contemplate i-cord options, both attached and non-attached. I'm considering attached i-cord all around the neck and then unattached i-cord to create some sort of tying apparatus. I think if I knit unattached i-cord at each edge, one tie could fit through one of those cute little buttonholes at the bottom and reach around and tie in a bow with the other end. It might take forever, but it might also be one of those little finishing details that makes it really great. What do you think?

A picture is worth a thousand words

Fellow bloggers, I need your help! I need to figure out how to take better pictures of my stuff. And by stuff I mean my projects. (And my kids too, but this blog is about my projects, not my kids.) What kind of camera do you have? What time of day do you take pictures? Do you take pictures outside/inside? Do you use software to tweak the photo to your liking? And if so, what kind of software do you use? Do you save your pictures to an online source, like flickr or picasa, and if so which service do you use and why? Or do you save pictures to your hard drive and upload them from there? Can you recommend a good book or blog or online tutorial on digital photography? Post comments, or if you have lots to say about it, please email me. If there is a particular place you can recommend, either online or in Utah, where you have had a good experience purchasing a camera, i.e. great customer service, well-informed salespeople, etc., please tell me about that too. By the way, there are no pictures for this post. Obviously.

*insert witty blog title here*

It's late and I can't think of anything clever right now. Things are a little crazy chez yarnies right now, owing to my string thing. I'm surprised the kids haven't come down with amoebic dysentery or something, given the lack of housekeeping around here. Actually, now that I think about it, one of them does have some kind of tummy trouble going on. But I can't let that get me down! I have knitting content to post!

First is the Baby Surplice Jacket from the current Vogue Knitting, knit with Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Iris Garden, for the little Ruby. Yes, I am making it in worsted in the hopes that by the time it is done, it will still fit her. :) This is such a fun patttern! First of all, this yarn is sooo soft and pretty. Originally I was going to make her a Baby Surprise Jacket with this yarn, but when I saw the Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern in VK, I changed course. It has ingenious little yo buttonholes every 6 or 7 stitches about 6 rows from the cast-on, so the width is adjustable as baby grows. I love the paired decreases that create the surplice effect. I was hoping the color stretches would be longer and I would get a stripey effect, but the variegated look is growing on me. And yes it is very, very pink, but I think she will look lovely in it, what with her red hair and fair complexion and all. (No, I don't think she is cute. Not one bit.)



Next up is what I call my Miami Beach Art Deco Jaywalkers. The yarn is from an etsy seller, LoneStar Fiber Arts. I had no idea it would stripe this way when I bought it, but I love it!




Finally is my Project Spectrum/String Beings sock, in Zen String BFL Lotus Toes, colorway Strawberry Fields Forever. I love this BFL base yarn! It is so woolly. I have ripped out the toe twice already, once in a matching fuschia solid yarn with a figure-8 cast on and the second time with this yarn in a short-row toe-up cast on. Both looked funky so I ripped and restarted. I think this time it will work.

I'm hot to trot on the jacket right now. I hope to have it finished and posted to Zimmermania very soon. Have a great weekend!

Hoppy Easter!

Don't my girls look great? They are part of Project Spectrum for me this spring. Of course, they are an ongoing project too ;) I finished the yellow shrug just a few hours ago right before church. (The older one is wearing a lime green shrug knit from the same pattern, but you can't see it because she is so much taller than her sister.) I painted their fingernails a pretty raspberry color and did their hair. They looked so nice. It night not be too long until my oldest isn't very interested in homemade skirts and handknit shrugs and having me style her hair, so I need to focus on enjoying that as long as I can!




Shrugs are made from Glampyre Knits' One Skein Wonder pattern in Bernat Cottontots in Lime Berry and Lemon Berry (100% cotton), and size 8 24" Knitpicks Options circular. Skirts are made from a $1/yd clearance fabric from Walmart (selvage cut off, so content and origin are unknown), pattern from Simplicity, I forget the number, but any cute little a-line pattern will do. In the interest of full disclosure, my mom took pity on me and sewed the skirts after I cut them out. Didn't she do a great job? Enjoy your families today, whether you are celebrating Easter or Passover or simply being together!

welcome to the funhouse

keep your hands and arms inside the car at all times and enjoy the ride

I'm happy to report I am no longer tragically blogless. Let me introduce you to me and my family. I am the blonde fire engineer on the right. Not to point out the obvious, but I am the one who puts out the fires around here. And I am blonde. In the little red car, cell phone in hand, is my sweet baboo. He has accepted his fate as the spouse of a craftaholic with resignation and patiently tolerates the fabric and yarn that blanket the house.

Next we have the little yarnies. The kitties in front are, left to right, my three daughters Coral, Rosie and Ruby. Coral and Rosie are elementary school-age. Ruby is very small and cries a lot. That's all I'll say about that. Unfortunately I only have one orange cat Little Person (warning, annoying song if you click this link), because Rosie and Ruby both have red hair. And personalities to match. The lone engineer at the top of the ferris wheel is Mr. Choo-Choo, my favorite (and only) son, a charming preschooler who engineers the chaos here at this house. If there is devastation or mayhem, he is the behind-the-scenes guy.

socks of the past

I have knit 2 pairs of socks so far in my budding career as a sock knitter. They are both baby socks, courtesy of Teri's "Little 16 Newborn Sock Pattern." They are small and quick to knit, obviously. The first pair was for Ruby, made out of Laines du Nord Baby Star, colorway pink ombre. Pacifier included for scale. Needles were Takumi bamboo size 1, 7" long. The 7" length drove me nuts. Shortly thereafter I bought some 5" Brittany Birch needles.

I did something wonky on one of the toes, not sure what. I can tell you that I was so pleased with myself when I finished the first one. I felt like a freaking genius. My husband was very impressed too, and he doesn't impress easily. "You made that?" he said. "Yep, I did," I said. "Wow, that looks really good. I can't believe you did that. This knitting thing is so practical." Naturally, this is an illusion I wish to perpetuate.

Next pair of socks: I just completed this pair a few days ago. Yarn is Lion Brand Magic Stripes, colorway Denim. Now, I have heard some people (cough*Miss Violet*cough) talk smack about Lion Brand. Although this is my second sock-knitting experience, I really loved this yarn. It has 75% wool and stripes in a delightful way. I love the colors. I washed the socks last night on warm, delicate cycle, and they look great. Plus my son loves to wear them. Needles: Brittany Birch size 3, 5" long. (awesome needles) This time I used the cast-on trick Nancy Bush recommends, of casting on over two needles held together and knitting the first few stitches with both the working yarn and the tail. This is probably not a new technique for some, but it worked like a charm--no gaps at the join of the round! Again, I felt like a genius. (Pacifier included for scale.)

And the money shot (but a little cheap because of the bad picture):

Next project: Socks for the sweet baboo as a graduation gift. He will be graduating as a physician assistant in August (he is 35 and we have 4 kids--please, don't ask). I have purchased Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in Safari. I am considering doing the GTUS from WendyKnits with the wrapping technique from Misocrafty. This could be another opportunity for geniosity. I am looking forward to it. I have to do a little detour along the way. I have promised Rosie and Coral shrugs, so I am doing the One Skein Wonder in Bernat CottonTots in lime berry and lemon. I hafta to get these done before Easter to go with the Easter skirts, or I will once again be the mother of broken crafting promises. So far it is a quick knit but kind of boring. I am missing the dpns and sock yarn.

I'm hoping this blog thing will help me get more knitting done, with the idea that I will be motivated to finish more so I can show it off on my blog. I need to get a new camera, though. This one kinda stinks. Which ones do you, my yarnies, recommend? Leave me a comment and let me know, along with your tips and tricks for good pics. And stay tuned this week for a contest with a prize and free yarn!