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12:3 / G58 - Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

Once upon a time (2006, maybe?) Katy and I decided to buy outside of our normal color zone at Rhinebeck. I still bought some Brooks Farms Four Play (my favorite yarn!), but instead of my normal Rhinebeck-red, I bought a lovely skein of mauve, green and cream. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but unfortunately didn't work out the way I planned. Basically it sat in the stash for a few years until I finally decided to do something with it. I decided to make a Clapotis, since I think that yarn and that pattern were pretty much made for each other, but still wasn't too gung ho about it. As pretty as it was, it just wasn't "me". So imagine my surprise when my friend Christine came to work after Christmas with a new coat in a perfectly matching shade of green - it was perfect for her. And luckily, she loved it!


Pattern: Clapotis
Yarn: Brooks Farm Four Play
Needles: Size 7
Started: Sometime in 2011
Finished: 1/8/12
My Ravelry Link: Christine's Outside the Box Clapotis

12:4 / G59 - Mark's Striped Scarf

My brother and I don't exchange gifts for Christmas (just for the kids), but for Christmas 2010 I decided to make both he and Janelle scarves. I chose the Noro Striped Scarf pattern, which I love - I think this makes the 4th one I've finished, with one still in progress and plans for a couple more. I just love the way it looks, even if it takes a while with all that ribbing.

Well I finished Janelle's on time, but his languished for a year unfinished. In my current finishing frenzy I finally got around to finishing it this week. I figured since the next "special occasion" wasn't until his birthday in September I'd just give it to him now. He seemed to like it!


Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Gray and Black
Needles: Size 8
Started: Sometime in 2010
Finished: 1/10/12
My Ravelry link: Mark's Striped Scarf

12:2 / G57 - Marley's Jane Hat

Since I decided that the Boystown Beanie just wasn’t cutting it for Marley, I decided to try a Jane Hat, using the same grey color since Marley loved it. This was a very fast knit, even though I decided to change to larger needles about half way through (started with 7/9 as per the pattern). The sewn in brim took a while for me to be satisfied, but it was totally worth it in the end. On a funny note, when I got to the decreases I wanted to magic loop it, since I didn’t have any size 10 dpns. The only 40” size 10’s I have are in my addi Click set, but when I went to get them I realized that I was missing a pair. Unfortunately I had put on one size 9 and one size 10 tip, so now I have two sizes of Clicks I can’t use. I started to tear apart my disaster-of-a-craft room, but no luck so far. Hopefully they will show up soon! (And I now own a cheap pair of size 10 dpns!)
Pattern: Jane Hat
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 8 & 10
Started: 1/6/12
Finished: 1/9/12
My Ravelry Link: Marley's Jane Hat

12:1 / G56 - Toby's Boystown Beanie

I started the year thinking I would be doing a little more charity knitting, so I figured I’d try out the Boystown Beanie, one of She Makes Hats patterns. The jury’s still out on the whole charity-knitting concept, so at first I gave the hat to Marley, who loved the color (it matches her fleece and the grey in her winter jacket perfectly). I don’t think it really works for her (more on that soon, hopefully), so I think it will be for Toby. It was a fun knit which I actually finished in one day, but it was a Sunday, and I knit A LOT that day. But what a great way to start the year off, huh? I had picked this pattern specifically for a charity hat since the ribbing would fit a lot of head sizes, but it really is a lot of ribbing (and I knit ribbing pretty slow). I think I might like to try something with a little more stockinette in the future, although I think the ribbing does make for a pretty warm hat, even if it is just acrylic yarn (hey, it was Sunday – Webs was closed!)
Pattern: Boystown Beanie
Yarn: Lion Brand Vanna's Choice in Charcoal Grey
Needles: Size 9
Started: 1/1/12
Finished: 1/1/12
My Ravelry Link: Boystown Beanie

Back for the New Year with a New Goal

With New Year’s having come and gone, I’ve been thinking quite a bit about what I’m knitting, for whom and how I’m tracking it. I will admit now, I’m a big tracker. I like logs, and keeping track of how many, and how long and how…anything else I can think of. This was very evident in my other life as a cross-stitcher. I don’t show many people my tracking methods for those projects, since very few people can even grasp how crazy it all is.

I’ve found I’ve slacked a bit with my knitting and crocheting projects, and quite frankly, it really bugs me. I like looking back and seeing everything I’ve made and who I made it for. And with a tool like Ravelry, there really is no excuse for how lazy I’ve become. I usually blame it on the fact that I really despise taking pictures of stuff (I never really learned how to do it well), but I can usually coerce my mom into taking pictures, so this really shouldn’t be an excuse. So I’ve decided that this year I will start being better about this. I know I’ll appreciate it down the road.

The other thing I’ve been struggling a little lately with is who I’m knitting for. Like many knitters, I’ve seen the allure of knitting for charity. We have a romanticized view of some poor child in Africa or homeless person downtown receiving a handknitted item and being overwhelmed with the fact that someone somewhere cared enough about them to knit it. Problem is, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case. I’m sure people appreciate things, but someone who is either not a handcrafter or closely connected to a handcrafter (and therefore stuck listening to why handcrafted items are so special all the time) will probably never appreciate a handknit the way I want them to. Some people are perfectly fine with this. They know the value of their work and that’s all that matters. Or, they figure I’m going to craft anyways, why not for a perfect stranger? But I will admit right now, I’m sort of selfish. I WANT MY HANDKNITS APPRECIATED. There, I said it. I like knowing people like what I make. And knitting for someone you love is part of the fun anyways.

That all being said (and 100 crocheted squares for Knit-A-Square in Africa later), I realized that I do love to knit for other people, it just has to be people I know for the most part. I love to follow Robyn of She Makes Hats (who is an incredible charity knitter), and she loves to set goals for herself (like 10,000 hats for charity, friends and family in her lifetime – WOW!). So I’ve decided to borrow her idea and start tracking what I’ve made for other people.

This was a pretty wordy way of saying I’m making more lists, huh?

I would like to keep track of project totals by year – although the early years are a bit fuzzy. They’re over there ----> in the sidebar, with links to Ravelry pages if I have them. Starting this year I’ll try to document them here as well.

Too. Cute. For. Words.

These are a pair of baby pants aka "watermelon pants" that I knit as a sample with my friend Rue's handpainted yarn. She is going to start selling the yarn and needed a sample of something other than socks. Her yarn is absolutely amazing - the colors are gorgeous and this yarn has a bit of tencel in it which gives it a beautiful sheen. She's going to sell the yarn as 2 half skeins, 1 of each color, tied together. So when I wound the ball the inside was pink and the outside was green. Most people would knit from both ends, striping the yarn, but all I got out of that was a tangled mess so I had to separate the 2 balls and then I flew through the knitting. The pattern is loosely based on Knitty's Cargo Pants, adjusted for the gauge of this yarn (7 stitches to the inch I think?) I hemmed the bottoms and the top to enclose a drawstring ribbon and I think they look very "tailored", as the cargo pattern claimed they would. If I was going to do them again (say, for a new little boy!) I would probably use a thicker yarn since there was a lot of knitting involved with the small gauge, but I think they came out perfect - even if my mother laughs every time she sees them!

Random Musings from McDonald's

1. People who use a handicapped parking spot who have a handicapped tag with a picture of someone who is obviously not in the car really irk me. Kind of like the people who insist on flying down the breakdown lane when traffic is stopped on the highway. I'm convinced there's a special place in hell for those people.

2. I realize that McDonald's is basically one of the only places where you expect to find somewhat obnoxious children, and can't really fault them or their parents for being there. I took advantage of this often when Marley was that age. I forget this sometimes though, when I'm looking for a quiet place to eat and read my book at lunch time.

3. It's a good think that they don't serve Shamrock shakes all year round, since I might end up as wide as I am tall.

Exhausted!

Well today was Day 1 of the Big Move. We actually haven't even closed on the house yet - the seller didn't get the license to sell in time for the bank to start the paperwork on Thursday, so our closing was postponed from Friday to Monday. I know that the people at the bank do this day in and day out, but I wonder if they realize that someone is waiting on the other end with baited breath? Couldn't they just have worked a little later on Thursday?? Oh well, I guess in this instance the bank holds the power and if we want the mortgage we just have to deal with it. Fortunately, the seller did let us start bringing stuff over this weekend (although the realtor had to keep the keys and let us in and lock up after us - even he thought it was weird). I've heard that a lot of sellers don't allow this, so I guess we were pretty lucky.

It was pretty nice to be able to bring over some of the packed boxes. Our kitchen and Toby's book room were basically all packed, but we were tripping over the boxes so it was great to get them out of the way. We made 3 trips with both of our trucks - they held a ton of boxes. Unpacking was pretty slow since most of the stuff in our pantry hasn't even been used in the past four years and was horribly dusty, so everything needs to go through the dishwasher over there. I hate this part of moving - trying to figure out where everything is going to go. Who am I kidding - I hate every part of moving! I just keep telling myself it will be worth it in the end.

All in all it was a pretty productive day, just very tiring (and I'm sure it was way worse for Toby and his dad since they're the ones who actually moved most of the boxes!) Unfortunately I think we have many more long, tiring days in our near future!!

PS - Want to know the really worst part of moving? Coming back and having to stay at the old house when all you want to do is stay at the new house!

PPS - After listening to my mom and I for a while, Marley decided she wanted a blog - how cute is that? Of course she thought she would need 2 - one to work on at Grandma's and one to work on at home. We convinced her to start with just one.

25 Things About Me

I’ve always wanted to do a “100 Random Things About Me” and I got tagged in Facebook for a 25 Things one, so I figured I’d start there and eventually finish all 100. This was actually a lot of fun to do!

1. I’m a complete and utter slob at home. I’m hoping owning our own home will change that.
2. I’m very organized at work. I’m the type of person who needs everything on her desk lined up (and I’ve been known to do it to other people’s desks as well).
3. I’m pretty compulsive about my checkbook and people who aren’t make me twitch.
4. I was told by a boss once that I pay attention to the details I think are important – not all of them. I think I fit this to a tee.
5. I have a degree in Chemistry that I’ve never used. I set my sweater on fire once in Chem lab and figured lab work probably wasn’t the best vocation for me.
6. I love crafts and making stuff – all kinds of stuff.
7. I don’t understand the point of nonproductive hobbies like video games and sports.
8. I like working for a construction company because I like to see the stuff we’ve “made” (even though it’s piping and I can’t really see it – I know it’s there).
9. I lived in the same house until I was 23. I’ve lived in 2 states and 7 apartments since then (I’m hoping buying a house changes this too!)
10. I’m scared of heights.
11. I’m also scared of open water since I saw a movie as a kid about a ship that sunk and the injured people were just set adrift for the sharks to get them. Freaked. Me. Out.
12. I’m a terrible speller and an even worse proof reader (this is not conducive to the job I have!)
13. I’m a pretty logical person and like logic-type problems (I even liked “word problems” as a kid!)
14. I’m married to and the daughter of 2 of the smartest men I know. This is at the same time very convenient and somewhat annoying.
15. I married my high school sweetheart (although we took a few years off in college before we got married).
16. I have an only child and am okay with this (although she and her father really are not).
17. I’m thinking about getting my nose pierced.
18. I like the idea of being near the ocean, but I’m not really a beach person. I’ve been to the beach a lot more since my daughter was born – she loves it.
19. I would love to live in Portsmouth, NH.
20. I don’t really like to watch documentaries or “learning” TV. I enjoy mindless entertainment much more.
21. I prefer action movies to “chick flicks”.
22. I’m pretty tall (5’ 10¼”) but people usually think I’m taller.
23. I’m horrible at keeping in touch with people and answering e-mails. If I owe you an e-mail, don’t take it personally.
24. I can be obsessive about collecting things – so I don’t let myself collect anything anymore.
25. After 13 years of marriage I’ve finally become a marginal baseball and basketball fan – but I still don’t like football.

Crafting For Those Buying A House (i.e. The Brain Dead)

Things have been a little stressful this week a Chez Moves A Lot. Aside from entering the we’re-closing-this-week-and-still-have-a-million-things-to-pack stage, I was also involved in a couple of minor auto incidents this week. Of course “minor” is a relative term, as in not really an accident per se, but still going to cost me a fortune. Needless to say, any type of crafting that takes stringing together more than two thoughts at a time is more than I can handle at the moment. I tried cross stitching a little, but it took waaaaay too much thinking and concentration. I also toyed with the idea of making some of the tulle produce bags I read about on Katy’s blog and then had to research for a while, but I figure dragging out my sewing machine might not be the best use of my limited resources at the moment (if I could even find a surface to put it on!) But at the same time, during those times I do need to just sit and not pack anymore I need something to keep my hands busy. So I’ve been making a lot of washcloths, and cat toys.

The washcloths I really like to use as facecloths, but honestly, how many can one person really need? So I had to start making them for my mom too. Unfortunately the cotton yarn really does a number on my hands, so these can only be worked on for so long.

Enter the toys. Now I have not really ever had any use for knit/crochet toys in the past. In my opinion they were basically the epitome of everything wrong with handmade. They had a million fiddly little pieces that needed to be put together, and mostly the seemed…well, kind of hokey to me. But the soon-to-be, much anticipated arrival of Baby Boy Radtke happened to coincide with a new Lion Brand catalogue I got that featured some crochet animals, so I found myself scouring the web for cute toys to make. Now believe me, there is really a lot of uggg-ly stuff out there. But I was able to find a few cute ones as well. Lion has some really cute ones on their website (who knew?) And then I found these. Too. Cute. For. Words. (Go ahead – click the link, I’ll wait. You’ll be happy you did!) The problem is, although these toys are all super cute, they’re still pretty fiddly with lots of little pieces. This didn’t stop me from buying a few patterns and a ton of colors of 2 different yarns. But even these patterns are beyond me right now. I do have a finished snail body without a shell or face – actually kind of creepy. Hopefully once things settle down, I’ll come back and finish it.

So now I’m down to cat toys. I’ve made these and Sunny the cat seems to love them:

I see a few more of these in my future, seeing as they are ridiculously easy and we have a multitude of spoiled cats in our family. My mother’s already asking where Izzy’s is. I stuffed a little catnip in for Sunny as well, so he’s pretty happy. Of course he won’t leave me alone while I’m making them, which is a little annoying.

While searching through Ravelry for some other ideas, I found the Korknisse. I know Melissa had made them before, and at the time I just didn’t really get it. I think maybe I didn’t realize there was a cork with a face on it in there? But for some reason it just made me smile, so I had to try it. It took no time at all and just cracked me up. My friend Christine and I were talking about having to have “Happy Toys” on your desk at work to make you smile, and this fit the bill perfectly. We even have a few corks at home, so I’ll be able to make a few more – and I’m sure Toby won’t mind opening a few more bottles of wine to sacrifice the corks.

So all in all, it was a pretty productive weekend, in little tiny ways. I really should be packing more, but I’m sure it will all get done. And at least Sunny will have a few new toys to play with at the new house!

Like father like daughter...

I've finally figured out the secret of getting Marley to put up with doing errands on a Saturday - lots and lots of books! I've been using this same trick on her father for years. Toby's pretty content to schlep me all around as long as he has something to read while he's waiting. Looks like Marley is following right along in his footsteps:

Sorry for the crappy picture - it's not easy taking a picture of the backseat from the front seat while you're seat belted in and waiting at a red light. And yes, my car is filled with boxes. My whole life is filled with boxes - packed boxes, empty boxes, half filled, half empty (depending on the day and my mood). I hate moving! But I sure will be glad when it's over. It will be totally worth it.

4F*

It has not been a fun week at the Gonsalves house. Marley started getting sick at my mom's on Sunday and that lasted through the night. Then I came down with whatever she had yesterday, and that lasted pretty much through this afternoon. The kind of sick where you can't even knit or cross stitch or do anything except pass out on the couch. Oh yeah, Toby also has a wicked cold and had a root canal yesterday. Sounds fun, huh? Marley did call down last night after she went to bed to offer me her bucket if I needed it (sorry, TMI probably - but isn't she sweet?) Needless to say we haven't done much on the packing/moving/getting rid of crap front. Hopefully this weekend will be better...

In better news, Mark and Janelle found out they're having a boy! It's nice to be able to say "he" and "him" now instead of "Baby Radtke". Not really sure how to deal with baby boys though...this should be interesting. I think Marley was disappointed for about half a second that she wouldn't have someone to play dress-up with, until she remembered that the little boys at daycare also like to play dress-up. Of course I had to ask what they dressed up as (and I'm sure Mark will love this)..."Princesses - with tutus and everything!"

*Does anyone else even say "4F"? My mom has all kinds of weird sayings!

Touching the Autumn Sky - 100 Hours

This is actually my oldest WIP - started on 12/23/02 (yikes!). It is by Mirabilia, and I was pertty scared of her patterns for awhile - they just seemed so intricate. But after starting this and one other (Gathering Eggs), I realized that they weren't really that difficult - just kind of big. Her shading and the way she can make the fabric in the dresses look like it's really moving is just amazing. But she also has quite a few large blocks of color in her designs which make them much easier - nothing like the constant starting and stopping in Chat Noir. I find that when I'm working on this for a while I tend to lose sight of the big picture - the colors in the shading don't really work, but as soon as I step back a little, it looks wonderful.

I almost had a complete disaster with this piece. You know how when you decide to do something, and even as you're doing it you realize it will probably lead to disaster? Well, the other night I was looking at the skin in her hands and face, which I had originally stitched "over 1". This means for every one of the "normal" stitches you see here there are actually 4 little stitches instead. I read somewhere that it made the skin look more "delicate" or some such nonsense. Well, I was never really happy with it (the shading just didn't work for me) so, in a fit of absolute lunacy, I decided to undo it. Now unstitching or frogging regular XS is a pain in the neck, but taking out those extra tiny stitches is all but impossible. Instead of picking it out, you actually have to snip it with scissors. Figure out where this is going? Yep, while snipping the floss on the first hand I accidentally snipped through the background fabric. I just kind of sat there for a minute, kind of numb, trying to figure out if I had actually done what I thought I had. Now I've done a lot of crafts, but for sheer disaster, this sort of takes the cake. I had already logged almost 100 hours on this piece - just starting over wasn't an option. AND, I had the other hand and the whole face to go - a million more potentials for disaster. But I figured at that point I had nothing else to loose, so I would keep going and see what happens. I was able to unstitch the rest with no problems and then restitched it with "normal" sized stitches. Now most people who know me realize I am a perfectionist in such things - and even I can barely tell where the problem is. It's here - to the left the backstitching around her knuckle:

See that little bit of weave that looks like it's missing it's horizontal piece? (No idea what that's called in the weaving world - Melissa? Any idea? Ask Gene...) But this picture is waaaay zoomed in. You really can't see it at all in the big scheme of things. My only fear now is that when the piece gets stretched for framing it will be kind of like a run in your nylons and just zip all the way across. So I think I'll have to discuss this at the XS store where I get it framed beforehand. I already have a sort of solution in mind - a little key charm she looks like she's holding in her hand, a la The Secret Garden - my favorite kid's book. Doesn't it look like a scene right out of the book? All in all, I'm very pleased that the disaster was mostly averted.

And I had to post this - my parent's ridiculously spoiled cat Izzy, playing Apples to Apples, Jr. with us - thank God she wasn't as competitive as my brother was!

Chat Noir - 110 Hours

I figured I should actually post one of my XS projects, since I talked about them so much a few days ago. This is Chat Noir, which has always been a favorite poster of Toby's. When I saw that Mystic Stitch had converted it to XS I knew I had to get it. Here's what the completed picture will (should?) look like. This is one of my oldest WIP's - I started it on January 1, 2003 (yeah it's been awhile!) and it may just be the death of me.

The chart is actually 9 pages of solid XS - with a total of 28,400 stitches! It's kind of "grided" into 10 x 10 stitch squares, which they suggest you complete one at a time. This does help you keep your place, but it also means in some of the busier spots (like that red halo thing around it's head) you may have some colors which are only used once in the 100 stitch square. So there's a lot of starting and stopping. It almost makes the big sections of black kind of boring in comparison. And who knew that DMC made quite so many shades of gold/yellow/tan to use in the background??

I've completed pages 1, 2 and 3 and parts of 4, 5 and 6, but I'm not yet to the halfway point. So if I've already logged 110 hours I probably have about 150 more to go. The things you will do for your husband (who, even after I've explained the whole "rotation" way of doing things, will still ask, "why aren't you working on my cat?" every time he sees me working on something else - nice!)

In house news, things seem to be moving through probate court very well and the realtor doesn't anticipate any delays. Now it's just the packing (and packing and packing and packing...) We've really only been it for a few days but I'm already sick to death of it. Living with King and Princess Packrat doesn't help either. Toby's said he's "in the mood to get rid of stuff", but I think I'll believe that when I see it. At least we're moving to a place that actually has more space to store stuff than here! I'll leave you with a picture of Sunny "helping" with the packing. What you can't see in the box is a little basket-type tray that he fit in perfectly. Some help, huh?

Fair Warning Knit Fans

So I figured it was only fair to give you a warning that things might be changing a little here at the Knit One Stitch Too blog - we might be a little light on the knitting content for a while. As most of you know, we are buying a house! This is both a super exciting and completely terrifying move. The down payment check alone almost killed me. But it will be a good thing for us in many ways. Not only will we be moving off of the ridiculously busy exit ramp we live on, we'll be getting rid of the world's most annoying landlords and we'll finally be able to hang pictures on the walls! That's right - for almost 4 years we have not been allowed to hang anything on the walls (see annoying landlords, above). My dad actually rigged up a picture and a clock with some wire from the moldings in the living room, but that was it. Oh, and we just taped stuff to Marley's walls. I figured if they wouldn't let us use nails, ruining the paint was the least we could do.

Because we will finally be able to put stuff on the walls, I decided to dig out some of my very old cross stitch WIP's. Now I know that counted cross stitch is not for everyone, and that's fine. I very much subscribe to the "whatever floats your boat" school of thought when it comes to crafting. (You want to make dead muppet scarves? You go right ahead - and don't let anyone tell you it's not really knitting). I've spent the last few years visiting in the knitting world which has been loads of fun, but I have to admit that cross stitch is my true love. There are a few reasons why this is so. Probably one of the biggest is that cross stitch DOESN'T WEAR OUT! Maybe it's because I've had 2 pairs of socks develop fatal holes in the past few months and my new super cute noro mitts are about to pill themselves into oblivion, but I just have a major problem spending all that time (and money) making something that will eventually wear out. Or not fit right. Or just not turn out the way you wanted. Of course there are exceptions to this rule. I still love my clapotis, and my mom's socks seem to be wearing well. But cross stitch? After you're done you frame it (which unfortunately can cost a fortune), hang it on the wall and baring any type of natural catastrophe you enjoy it forever. And I have to say that there's just something, well, magical about watching a picture develop on a blank piece of fabric. I remember hearing the Yarn Harlot for the first time talk about trying to figure out why people knit. It has nothing to do with the cost or time factor - buying a garment certainly works better on both of those fronts. But it's the magical art of transforming a pile of yarn into something else. And that's especially true with cross stitch I think. Also, cross stitching really lets my true analness shine. I'm a "rotation" stitcher, which means I have a whole schedule with a little notebook, and a bunch of self-imposed rules and ways of doing things. I really don't tell people about this too much, for fear of being laughed out of whatever conversation I'm in. Back in the hayday of my cross stitching (2003/2004) there were a lot of stitching bulletin boards (this was before everyone switched to blogs). Imagine my delight when I found the Rotation Stitchers Bulletin Board! Filled with people just as anal as me, some even worse! Them I could talk to death about my schedule, focus piece, blah, blah, blah. "Normal" people? Not so much.

Now there are some definite drawbacks to cross stitch as well. It's definitely not as portable. Nothing beats throwing socks or a scarf into your bag to bring somewhere to work on. It's also much messier. There's all sorts of little floss snippets all over the place. You can't watch TV as well while doing it, since you 're looking down for most of it (although watching a movie you mostly know by heart helps with this one.) But the biggest thing knitting has over cross stitch is the friends I've made. I've often said that if it wasn't for the knitting friends I've made I might not have kept up with it for as long as I have. So for mainly that reason alone (plus that whole portable thing - that's very big for me) I'll keep knitting as well, just maybe not as much. Oh, yeah, and my mom says she wants more socks.

I realize that a focus on cross stitch might not be so interesting to most of my readers (maybe 2 out of 3? The third being my mom who will read anything I write, although her eyes start to glaze over a bit with all the techni-craft talk). But since most of the bulletin boards seem to be pretty much disbanded in favor of blogs, it's the only way I have to document anything (and I love to do that, as long as I'm not too lazy to take the pictures). There might even me some knitting here and there - like a certain second sock I need to finish ASAP.

Since this is already a ridiculously long post, I figured I'd leave my first XS update till the next one. So for my mom, who is probably the only one who lasted all the way through this post, I give you this...

A couple of days ago Marley and I went to Friendly's for lunch. As I was eating my free dessert that came with my ridiculously overpriced sandwich, I noticed that the sundaes there really are shrinking. You get waaaaaaaay less icecream than you used to. The problem is they still have those crazy long spoons. Remember those? So you could reach the bottom when the sundaes where big? I wonder if they realize that the long spoons only draw more attention to the miniature sundaues now. Anyways, Marley was really enamored of the long spoon, and she said at one point that she really wished we had a camera to take a picture of it. And voila! I whipped out my super-duper teeny-tiny new for-christmas camera that I can now carry with me at all times and was able to take a picture...

Knitters Rock!

The knitting community really is amazing. Where else could you e-mail a complete stranger, ask a somewhat technical question, and without even really thinking about it they take the time to not only answer you, but do all the necessary math, calculations, etc. to make it all make sense. I think the rest of the world could take a lesson from us…

A+ for Mommy!

Marley's school is very big on rewarding good behavior. They have a whole rewards program, where the kids earn coupons and can redeem them for various little prizes. She was pretty happy that as of the 2nd week of school she had already earned 7 coupons. Although she couldn't really tell me what for.

The other night she told me that she had been called down to the office that day at school. I of course thought the worse. I guess it was a testament to her usually good behavior that she never even entertained the thought that she could be in trouble. When I asked what she thought she had been called down for, she said that she thought she was getting out early. Imagine the poor kid’s disappointment when she was given this:

Mommy got her own award! It's laminated and everything! Apparently my anal-ness in filling out forms means I had filled out her emergency cards “neatly and completely” enough to warrant my own award. Of course as soon as I saw it my (ridiculous) competitive streak kicked in and I grilled her on how many other parents got one. Apparently she wasn’t really paying attention, but she did know that she was the only kid in her class that was called down to the office. So I was at least the best parent in her class (or the whole school, as I like to believe). Maybe this makes up a little bit for the pigsty that she usually lives in? Maybe my real talent is filling out forms - not housework. A much more useful trait, if I do say so myself.

Anyhow...after thinking about it a little, I realized that this was a pretty strange award. First of all, we were asked to fill out the cards and send them back. This warranted an award? Doing what we were asked? Of course, I did it neatly, but this brings us to the second point. These cards are what the school uses when they need to get in touch with you when there’s something wrong with your child. Isn’t it in our best interest to fill them out as neatly and completely as possible? It’s kind of amazing that you would be recognized for doing something required and in the best interest of your child. And pretty scary that if they’re recognizing someone for doing this, it must mean some parents aren’t doing it – or at least aren’t doing it well.

But hey, an award’s an award, and Marley was pretty proud of me. I guess at 7 years old you still can be proud of your parents – not just embarrassed. Although I think she may be a little embarrassed about the state of our house...she told me the other day we needed a maid. Which I promptly agreed with!

First Day of School - Take Two

As my mother pointed out, I started the last post by saying how cute Marley was on the first day of school and then forgot to put the picture in. In my defense - I actually tried to put the picture in a number of times, but my computer kept kicking me off the 'net and wanting me to try dial up every time I uploaded the picture (no clue why). So I eventually gave up. For some reason pictures of (somewhat boring) knitting were acceptable, just not 7 year olds. So I'll try again..isn't she cute?

Tonight was her first soccer practice. Unfortunately she's a couple of years behind the other girls, having never played before. And as Toby says, overcoming my "non-sport" genes is a tall order for her. She wasn't too happy out there, really having no clue what was going on, but hopefully it'll get better as the season progresses.

In much more interesting news, she finally learned to knit on Saturday! She's always wanted to, and we tried before, but I'm really not a great kid-knitting teacher. But somehow it all finally clicked and we have this:

Not bad, huh? I realized part way through that I might be teaching her some bad habits. Every row or two she asks me to count to see how many rows she has done. It must be something in the genes. I will say this about loose knitting - you definitely get done with a scarf much faster!

In grownup knitting news...I've deep-sixed the ugly orange scarf. I finally realized that destashing doesn't have to mean actually using up your old stuff. Getting rid of it is just fine. As I've said before...life is too short to knit crap!

I am weak

I broke my no-buy today. It was Marley's first day of second grade. Isn't she cute? Anyways, I decided to take the whole day off, since I like to be there when she gets out on the first day. Once we dealt with the free-for-all at school that was the beginning of the day, I had until 2:30 to myself! This doesn't happen too often.

So I decided to go to Webs, since I'm looking for a new organizer for my knitpicks interchangeable needles. I love the needles themselves, but the case is awful. After searching a little bit, I decided to check out stick sacks, which the website said Webs carried. Of course they didn't, but when I was there I was sucked into this scarf (sorry Mom, it's a Ravelry link and probably won't work for you.) So I bought the pattern and the yarn (Jojoland Melody) and it was a disaster. All the hexagon's are made from the outside in either on dpn's or magic loop. I tried both and both were awful. I had some suspicions reading the pattern before I bought it, but the store sample sucked me in. That seems to happen alot. So now I have MORE yarn I need to deal with in my use-up-my-stash frenzy. It's really a gorgeous fingering weight superwash merino, but without any nylon in it I'm scared to try socks. I've always wanted to make a fingering weight clapotis, so we'll see...

Speaking of destashing, I've started another Ribs & Ruffles scarf in some pretty hideous Adhoc Salsa yarn which I originally bought to make Marley a beach sweater, but she outgrew the one I was making before I finished it. I can't decide if it's kind of nice or just awful. If nothing else, it's awfully bright:

I also started a new pair of socks for Marley. I'm using some knitpicks yarn I got for myself originally, but didn't really like (in fact this yarn caused my original knitting hiatus last year). Hopefully I'll be able to overcome this in a kid size pair:

Here are my finished Franklin socks, for posterity's sake:

And the pumpkin hat I made for the pedicurist my mom and I go to:

I think that's it for now...unless I start something else new...

Scarves and socks and why I don't buy stash

In the four years I’ve been knitting, I’ve tried almost all there is out there to knit – bags, sweaters, lace shawls, scarves, washcloths, socks and probably a few others. Oh yeah, even felted flowers. It’s kind of funny to me that after trying everything at least once, I’ve pretty much narrowed it down to two favorites – socks and scarves. Pretty basic things, but the things that make me the happiest to knit. And since this is my hobby and therefore pretty much all about me, I guess I’ll knit what makes me happiest. I do have an affinity for lace shawls as well, but let’s be real, how many places do I go that these are even somewhat practical??

Having just finished a pair of socks and started a new scarf, I was musing over what about these things I like and I came up with the following:

Socks

1. They’re portable, which is my #1 craft priority.
2. They’re full of little victories – getting the leg done, the heel turned, the foot…
3. They can be pretty mindless – I’m partial to stockinette.
4. They have very little finishing.
5. They’re a huge hit as gifts.

Scarves

1. I absolutely love wearing scarves in the winter, especially squishy ones – like the Clap.
2. Also portable.
3. It’s fun to try out new patterns/yarn/techniques.
3. They’re also pretty mindless.
4. No shaping and very little finishing.
5. Also a popular gift.

Seems like I have a few prerequisites overlapping here. Funny thing is that I love stockinette socks, but don’t think I could handle a whole stockinette scarf.

The new scarf I started is the Ribs & Ruffles. I actually started it with some of the called for Misti Alpaca I had which has made it through all of my destashing (it’s just soooooo soft), but I want to get a pair of knitpicks size 13 needles (they’re on their way as we speak (or write). I will have to make it a little wider though, since it was pretty skinny as written.

Right now I’m working on this:

It’s the same pattern (with a few tweaks) in Classic Elite Wings. This yarn is why I don’t buy stash. I bought it a few years ago at a Webs sale with no project in mind, and it’s been bugging me ever since. Everything else I buy has a purpose – at least to begin with. Very rarely does the yarn and the original project actual coincide, but I can handle that (see above re: this being all about me). Non-earmarked yarn just makes me twitch. I’ve tried a few projects with it, and haven’t really liked anything. Hopefully this will be “the one”. I like it so far – it’s very squishy and sort of ribbed, but involves no purling (win-win in my book).

I tweaked it by adding 5 garter stitch rows before each decrease to make the ruffle longer and started with 124 stitches which gave me 31 stitches for the body, so it’s a little wider.

In other news…catching your kid’s summer cold really stinks.

My mom the blogger...

My mom has a blog - Debbie's Blog - how weird is that? Every now and then she surprises me and is actually pretty computer savvy. Of course her not-so-savvy moments are pretty funny. Like when she decided to check out "this facebook thing" and somehow ended up in my account sending an e-mail to an old boyfriend of mine - with my name and picture attached. Luckily she at least signed it "Deb" so he knew something weird was going on. The whole situation was a little awkward - funny, but awkward. But then she set herself up on her own page all by her self. Maybe she's getting the hang of all this computer stuff. The best news is that what she can't figure out my dad (the former programmer) will, and then I reap the benefits of that, without having to do the work. A win-win situation!

In craft news...I FINALLY FINISHED MY FRANKLIN SOCK!!! Thank God, I thought this one was going to be the death of me. I do like the end result, although I don't think the fabric is as soft as I would like. Maybe once it gets washed it will be better. I decided to make a pair for Marley next (quicker gratification - she has the smallest feet around here, but not by much. The poor thing has her father's feet). I'm using some knitpicks yarn that was actually the cause of my last non-knitting rut. I wasn't crazy about it, but I figure it'll be better in a smaller sock. I even did a (very little) swatch, but I think they lie. I measured her ankle while she was sleeping (which was interesting, trying not to wake her up) and it was 7". My gauge was 8.5/inch. Which comes out to 60 stitches around. The socks I just made myself were 64 and none too tight. So I compromised on 56 and I'll rib the leg. Hopefully that will work. After knitting so many socks I can't understand while I still have issues with gauge. I have a degree in Chemistry - gauge math shouldn't be such an issue! I even added a square to my sock blanket with the Franklin - I'll try to take some pictures soon, but now I gotta go to bed!

Talk like a pirate - with gas

So Marley has always had this little accent when she talks. I have no idea why, and we are so used to it we hardly notice it anymore. I think it's gotten better, but there are a few sounds she still has trouble with, mostly her "R"s. For instance, most people think she's saying Molly when she says her name is Marley. (As an interesting aside, when Marley was born Toby was attending Ohio State, and there were a few Asian students in his program. They really had trouble with "Marley", I guess for them the R and L sounds were pretty interchangeable. I felt kind of bad, since they really tried hard to pronounce it).

Anyways, we try to work on the sounds when they come up in conversation and the other day in the car we were working on her R's. I was saying "AAARRR - like a pirate" and she was working on it. Of course when I realized what word we were using for this little exercise, I turned to Toby and asked, "how bad is it that we're practicing her Rs on the word FART?” Apparently no bodily function is off limits when it comes to teaching your children how to talk better.

Happily a day or so later I got a call from Marley..."listen Mommy, AAAAARRRRRRRR". Once I figured out what she was saying I was pretty proud. Apparently using pirates with gas as a teaching tool works quite well.

I crafting news…one quilt is pretty much done. I just have to baste down the points on the 2 short sides so they’re straight. Here it is before I added the partial rows, modeling courtesy of Sunny the cat (who was actually quite annoyed with me when I made him get off).




As for the other one, I’m thinking that if my brother ever gets on the ball and actually proposes, this would make a much better wedding shower gift than Christmas. So I’m not going to rush too hard to finish it (I might be a little “quilted out” for now). AND I’m actually knitting again – I’m on the gusset of the second Franklin sock that’s been languishing in my knitting bag forever. I’m also almost done with a pumpkin hat I need by September 4th – plenty of time. I actually made it to Webs for drop in last week, which was great. It’s been too long since I’ve been there.

PS – I’m doing pretty good on my “craft no-buy”. I did have to buy a new pair of DPN’s for the pumpkin hat, since I couldn’t find mine. But with a coupon there were $2.76 at AC Moore. I think the house fund can manage it…speaking of which, only 1 more week to pay for day care!! Yeah!!

Mid-Year Resolution

So Toby and I have been talking lately about buying a house. It seems such a daunting task, but millions of people do it, so we figured why not us? (The most obvious reason of course being that it costs a RIDICULOUS amount of money around here. I’ve seen what house prices look like in different parts of the country. While I know we’re by no means the worst, we’re definitely not the best. Especially if you want a decent school system. But that’s a rant for another day…)

Anyways, I figure it’s time to start cutting costs around here, and the most obvious one for me being all of my craft-related expenditures. I think I’ve been pretty good lately – most spending is done at the beginning of a new obsession, and I haven’t had one of those in a while. But I guess I should still make a little mid-years resolution – No new craft expenses for the rest of the year (!) With 3 exceptions, of course (this is the part where Toby rolled his eyes…)

1. Deleted - super secret project

2. I will probably need more paper templates for the quilt I’m making Mark and Janelle. I think I’ve figured out the way to utilize what I have the most, but eventually I will run out. Seeing these are about $3.50 for 100, I figure I won’t break the bank buying a few more packages.

3. Rhinebeck – I figure this one doesn’t even need any justification. But even so, in the past I really haven't come home with toooo much, comparatively at least, so I figure I’m pretty safe there.

So there it is – and now that it’s out there, hopefully I’ll be able to stick with it! Of course I really need to address a few other areas (namely the fact that we eat out way too much and my new troll bracelet that needs a few more charms), but we’re taking baby steps I guess.

In crafting news…I’m plugging away at both quilts. Here’s where we’re at with Mark and Janelle’s – plus a bunch of partway finished flowers…

I’ve also started 2 baby pumpkin hats for gifts. They always seem to go over well.

I guess I don’t really have this blogging thing down yet. I haven’t quite figured out where people find the time, between working full time, kids and actually doing the crafts they’re blogging about. We've had a family wedding and a while learning to make pickles escapade I wanted to address, but never got around too. Guess I’ll have to work on some time management skills…

It may all go downhill from here...

So last night my MIL and I hit Southampton Quilts to look for a beige grout color for my brother's quilt and more paper templates. She also took me to the Apollo Grill for dinner. Waaay more money than I would have spent for dinner but the food was great, the atmosphere was so tacky it was cute and she was paying. What's not to love?

Anyways, I did find a great beige, but don't have a picture since I'm at work (shhh!), but trust me it's pretty. So I figured out yesterday I need 630 (!) hexagons of this color, so I started cutting them out. Well, I was thinking maybe it would be a good idea to count the squares I had cut out of the other colors just to make sure I had enough. I mean, I was pretty sure I did, I am pretty anal about these things. But I did change the size I was making half way through the planning stage and had to redo the math pretty quickly, so I just wanted to check things out. Thank God I did now and not when everything was almost finished since I realized I was 3 red squares short. 3! Out of 210! So close and yet so far.

I studied the pattern for a while to see if I could fudge it somewhere, but as anyone who knows me knows, I really am not a fudger. Just goes against my grain. Then I almost went over to my MIL's house to see if there was anymore. I'm pretty sure there wasn't, but maybe...but then I realized it was 10:00 PM and she might not appreciate me skulking down in her fabric room (yes, it has it's own little room) when she was probably asleep. So guess what Toby and I will be doing on "date" night tonight after we drop Marley off at my mom's? Yep, stash diving to find 9 more inches of red fabric.

The only good news in all of this is that of all the colors in the quilt, I'm least committed to the red. I like it ok, and it was free, but it's not really perfect. I know my MIL doesn't really like it. And I've only completed 1 flower so I could probably just use another color if I had to. But what a pain in the neck...

How did we survive before this?

This whole myspace/facebook age is amazing (how old does that make me sound??) Apparently I signed up for facebook awhile ago and totally forgot about it. My old college roommate who I haven't spoken to in forever found me on it. Then I found a few more old college and high school friends and then more found me through them. And myspace totally rocks my extremely nosy world. I get pretty annoyed when people mark theirs private though. Why shouldn't total strangers have access to your life (just kidding). It's all really pretty neat. How the heck did we survive before this? Oh yeah - something to do with paper and stamps and way too much work...

Doing the math...

So the other GGQ I’m working on is for my brother, Mark, and his girlfriend, Janelle, for Christmas. Well at least I’m hoping the quilts for them. Strangely enough, they have a green couch and I have a green couch. So far I’m loving this quilt and think it would also look great on my green couch. But I will be strong and at least try to give it away when I’m done.

This is another MIL’s stash quilt. It’s actually really pretty fabric which she had earmarked for another project that she finally admitted she’d never get to. I usually don’t get to steal earmarked fabrics, but she made a very kind donation since it’s (supposed to be) a gift. She didn’t have enough of one of the colors, so I will have to buy one, but that’s still a lot better than buying it all!

Through the magic of Microsoft Visio, which I have at work but have used much more for craft related endeavors than actual work, I was able to map out the quilt, which is another variation of the GGQ which looks like stars:


Even though I’m really trying to finish my other quilt, I did let myself make one flower and some of the star point triangles:


Pretty, huh? The picture really doesn't do the fabric justice. I love fabric with gold in it. I still need a beige to go around the outside. I’m going to try to get it soon, since I don’t want to be left doing all the beige at the end (this is tedious enough to begin with, even mixing it up a little with the colors).

Being the completely anal person that I am, I finally did the math on how many hexagons I’m going to need to make a quilt that’s 5 flowers wide by 7 flowers long, which I’m hoping works out to a good size:

Centers – 38
1st Layer – 210
2nd Layer – 426
3rd Layer – 630
Triangles – 436

This adds up to a whopping total of 1,740 hexagons that each need to be cut, basted and then sewn together. I must be nuts. But I really like the fact that since it’s not a scrappy design I don’t have to think too hard about it. I’m sort of in the zen zone of basting.


At least I will be until I run out of the paper backing and either put some flowers together so I can take out the papers and reuse them or (much more likely) buy some more. Hopefully when I buy the beige fabric.

In a perfect world I’d love to give them a finished quilt for Christmas, but realistically I’m probably looking at giving them just the finished top since even if I got the top done relatively soon (which is a joke in and of itself) it takes forever to get them quilted. But that’s okay – Mark and Janelle are used to me. Last year I gave them each 1 knitted sock for their birthdays (which happened to be right around the same time).


They eventually got the other one.

Of course all of this might be moot for awhile. Toby’s cousin’s wife is having a baby which I think I need to make a pumpkin hat for. She’s due in December and at first they said they’d be having a shower the Saturday after Christmas, which gives me plenty of time, even given as craft-fickle as I am. Last I heard the mom-to-be’s mother wants to have the shower on Labor Day weekend. For a baby due in December. Doesn’t that seem a little early? And who wants to go up to NH for a baby shower on Labor Day. Maybe I’ll just be sending a gift…

Well here I am...

Here it is, the inaugural post (well actually not really since I posted a testing123 post last year and that's as far as my first blog attempt went...) But this is the REAL first post, regarding my project du jour, my Grandmother's Garden quilt - with a twist. My MIL started doing one of these and of course I had to join along (see title above re: fickle crafter). I tried my hand at quilting before, but never liked being tied to a sewing machine. I need my crafts to be pretty portable and "done in front of the tv"-able. Hence my addiction to sock knitting.

But the Grandmother's Garden quilt seemed to satisfy most of my requirements. I could do it anywhere, with a little pre-planning and it was all done by hand, which I really like. There's a great tutorial of how to make one here so I won't get into the specifics of how to do it. Needless to say it's pretty tedious and time-consuming. Right up my sock-loving alley.

Most GGQ's look sort of like this:

With a connecting color or "grout" as I called it, in between each of the flowers. I didn't really like this at first, so I tried something different, without the grout, which gives me this:

It's a pretty crappy picture, but this is what it looks like without a connecting row. I kind of like the more modern look this gives.

The strangest thing about putting the flowers together this way is that the rows sort of go on the diagonal, with partial flowers used to fill in where you need them. Again, I like this modern twist, but I know it makes my MIL twitch when she sees it (I figure it's good for her). Trying to figure out how many more flowers I need to finish it is a little tough though. By my best guess I need 3 more whole diagonal rows and then a bunch of partial rows to square it off. I have quite a few flowers finished, and we'll see how far they get me. I'm pretty much ready for this to be done, since I've already started another GGQ for my brother and his girlfriend for Christmas - a not scrappy and more traditional pattern, but that's for another post.

Oh yeah I forgot the best part of this quilt. I'm using all different fabrics - no flowers are the same. I'm reusing about 10-15 different yellow centers, but I'm trying not to put like centers next to each other. Anyways, I haven't had to spend a dime on any fabric - it's all my MIL's scraps. She probably has enough fabric to make a million of these quilts. I'll eventually have to pay for a batting, backing fabric and the quilting, but for now it's nice to have a "free" project.

Well I guess this is probably long enough for an inaugural post. I tend to ramble when I type as well as talk I guess. Hopefully I'll be back - I definitely have enough projects to ramble on and on about.