Knitty kitty

Some recent FO's

2006-03-02T13:21:00.000-05:00

These are my first socks - I made them on size 4 dpn's with Aracania's Nature Wool. I had one skein and had plenty of left over. The only thing I would do differently is perhaps knit the cuffs a bit longer.

They are wonderful - and I am definitely hooked on socks!

This next tote is my "kitty hairball" bag. I made it out of LOPI, which felts to a very fuzzy finish. I even tried shaving it. Short of using one of those electric buzz thingies, it didn't do much. This was my first felted bag for me, and it is a pattern from my LYS, somewhat similar to the Sophie pattern. I carry this thing all the time right now, figure once it warms up, it will need to retire until next winter.

This is a before and after shot of my "Momstrosity" bag, aka the supersize booga bag. I wanted to make her a tote, and started to use the Maggie's tote pattern, but then forgot it when I had hours to work on this thing. So I forged ahead and basically doubled the base of a Booga and knit up about 80 rows, all with two strands. . I used some leftover Cascade 220 tweed on the bottom and at the very top. The rest of the yarn is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes. The colors are just scrumptious to work with! The only thing I might have done differently on this is make my eye cord with 5 strands instead of three, and perhaps make it a little bit longer. Otherwise, though, I am very pleased with the finished size, although when I cast off I had my fears that I had made something a small cow could fit in.

OTN - my Noro sweater. It looks great, the front and back are each about 3/4 done, and the sleeves are about 1/3 done. I am focusing on this project right now because its time to finish it. Period.

In the queue: Numerous booga bags and other felted wonders, a pair of socks out of Malabrigo, an afghan out of Homespun (which I am sure will make me curse), several spring/summer sweaters, and whatever else I decide I can't live without!

PHSD ( post holidays stress disorder)

2006-01-08T09:33:00.000-05:00

While I did not take pictures of all my completed gifts, here are a few:

Not a great picture, but here are three hats. The first maroon hat was out of thicknquick - I love it, but it ended up a bit more feminine than intended. I used 15 circulars, and a basic hat pattern from online. Once I realized a) I CAN knit hats and b) that #2 son Adam would never wear this one, I knitted the ribbed one to the left. The one in the foreground is from handpaintedyarn.com superbulky wool. It is wildly thick and thin. The only "issue" I had with it, was, when it was complete, I went ahead and washed it. With only 24 hours to go. EEEEEEEEEWWW it smelled like wet sheep! Once it dried though, it was awfully cute. I made two of those (and hats are about the only thing I would recommend that particular yarn for), and another hat from the Lionbrand TnQ, which I must say, for a cheapo acryic yarn, I adore.

This is more of the TnQ. I did the scrunchable scarf pattern with this which is basically a K2P1 pattern. Here is the link:

http://www.knitlist.com/96gift/giftsscarf.htm

I adore this pattern, and will definitely do it again. I did this for #1 son Kyle who decided he needed a scarf. It was very hard to match their letterman jackets colors.

Here is one I did for my SIL out of Patons Divine. A basic elongated stitch pattern. This yarn is a particular favorite of Cooper's.

Next is another elongated stitch scarf I made for my step mother. This yarn is from a store on Chagrin Blvd where they take 3 or 4 different yarns and strand them together. Very cool stuff. This scarf was from a remnant. The actual balls they sell are huge and big enough for a ponchette (and yes I have some stashed away for future gifts), and then they sell these little remnant ends that are more than enough for a scarf.

Next up is my midget booga bag. I knitted it to spec using Elann's Peruvian Highland Wool. This is my first attempt at felting, and I learned that my washing machine felts very well indeed. So well that when this bag came out, it was about 2x3 inches. I wrestled it into the shape it ended up in, and never mentioned to the recipient that it was supposed to be a bit bigger. Next time I make this pattern, I will felt for about two minutes at a time. My six feet of I-cord ended up being about 10 inches long each! EEEEEE!!!!! Anyway, it is a cute little bag and I learned alot and the recipient likes it, so its all good!

Finally, here is a baby blanket I made for an online friend (met her on my favorite just labs board). I made it out of Red Heart Angel Dreams which is a bit like LB Homespun but thicker. It has absolutely no resiliency to it, and I had to try several different kinds of needles until I found one I was satisfied with.

Cooper loves knitted products, as you can see. Last month he dug into my basket of yarn, and I had a brief scare, as he had unwrapped and broken a bit of pink woolease that I had picked up - I was not sure whether he had eaten it or not, but luckily it appears he didn't.

Most recent bizarre things eaten by Cooper: a "bed buddy", which is a wrap that you nuke in the microwave and then use on sore body parts. Evidently they have rice in them. Who knew.

Please note #2 son's lovely hair. The swim team all dyed their hair early in December. It is the texture of cotton candy and you cannot get a comb through it. In fact, if it freezes, you can pretty much snap a piece of it right off. Lovely.

The college decisions are starting to pour in for #1 son. So far he has been accepted at Michigan, Ohio State, Miami and Case. Waiting to hear from UNC, Syracuse, Harvard and Stanford (aiming high on those last two). I have been putting together information for the CSS and for the FAFSA. No fun, that.

In addition to the college fun, I am gearing up for tax season, and trying to keep the kids healthy for the remainder of the swim season. Not an easy task!

OTN: Noro booga bag, my first pair of socks (still), Noro sweater

In the queue: scarves, fingerless mitts for the office, hat out of Colinette point 5 for me, and numerous random projects.

Its the most wonderful time of the year......

2005-11-27T16:24:00.000-05:00

and consistent with previous holidays, I have had the entire year to plan and dream of the gifts I would like to give, yet have waited until the 11th hour to actually start working on the projects! EEK!

The good news is, that as I have prepared my list, I have realized exactly how much more yarn I need to complete my projects! Go me!

Here is the list of projects to be completed, in order of likelihood of completion:

1. Step mother scarf - am doing out of a multi strand yarn, with an elongated stitch pattern. Easy.
2. Work friend scarf - she likes beige, and no wool. I picked up some homespun in beigey tones yesterday at the Joann's love-fest. Not sure yet what the pattern will be. Something quick and easy. Other friend scarves out of some miscellaneous pretties I have - in total I would like to make 4 friend scarves.
3. Booga bag for son's girlfriend. I am doing this in some of that Peruvian Highland Wool I bought from Elanns in pink and purple. About halfway done. I picked up the DPN's I need this weekend to do the I-cord. In working this project, I realize how far I have come in my knitting world. Last summer I thought this pattern was difficult and incomprehensible. Now I realize its way repetitious. This will be my first felting project.
4. Scarf out of some yummy malabringo for the same girl. Although the stuff is so darn yummy I am not sure I can bear to do anything other than fondle it and admire it.
5. Two more little felted bags for teenage nieces. They aren't terribly appreciative of things knitted, so I will probably do simple fold bags. Only question is what colors do I use. I have a stash of hot pink, lime green and yellow cascade that is suggesting itself. I will probably do small bags, for when they go out clubbing or whatever it is college girls do.
6. Two sets of fingerless gloves for my teenage boys. The easier the better.
7. Baby afghan needed by Jan. 7th, about 1/3 done, easy pattern, PITA acrylic stuff.

And now we cross into fantasy land:

1. Three ponchettes in this way cool yarn, one for mom, one for step mom and one for sister in law.
2. Fiber Trend Clogs for my boys.

And lest we forget the most important person - here are my projects, both OTN and in dreamland:

OTN:
1. Noro Kureyon sweater from Noro book. Halfway done.
2 Purple wool socks - my first pair - I love them and hate to put them down until after the holidays.

Have yarn-ready to go:
1. Ole Shale afghan out of homespun to match my family room.
2. Several sets of socks
3. Booga bag for me out of Noro Kureyon
4. Some scarfy stuff for me :) 5. Lots of dishcloth fabrics
6. Shrug using Licorice from Joann's
7. Hat. Yes I can't believe I haven't done it yet, but I have a luscious Colinette point 5 that is earmarked (ha! get it?) for this project

Want to acquire yarn for:
1. POA scarf for me.
2 Several sweater patterns I want to tackle

Yarn on order:
Some stuff from handpainted yarns.com which I absolutely cannot wait to get!
My very first KnitPicks order with stuff for my clogs (3 sets, the two boys and myself)

Yarn waiting for inspiration:
Loads of Lion Cotton Ease
Some cascade 200 (see above)
Some weird acrylic stuff that will probably be pretty
Lion Boucle bought on clearance

I will update with pictures of yarn and completed projects as they occur! KNIT KNIT KNIT!

If this is the biggest catastrophe I face in life....

2005-11-16T22:32:00.000-05:00

What might you ask is this? This is my dog Cooper, two weeks ago. He helped himself to his bottle of fish oil capsules. At least 200 of them....Do you know what happens when a dog eats that many fish oil capsules? Have you ever heard the acronym GIGO? (garbage in garbage out)...well this was FOIFOO. By the time I discovered that the fish oil was oozing from his nether-regions, my comforter and duvet cover and blanket were ruined. During the 24 hours of mayhem following his feast, we used up many of my #1 son's undies along with make-shift diapers. As you can tell, Mr. Wunnerful is mortified. I had no sympathy. It was so awful, I had two choices - sob hysterically or laugh about it. I chose to laugh.

So, fast forward to this past weekend. I am sitting in my leather chair working on a project and what do I smell, but FISH! I immediately found the culprit - evidently during the dark hours of fish0il night, he had parked his undiapered bootie on one of my favorite flannel quilts that I have made, which then had been tossed behind the chair by #1 son or perhaps #2. (if I were to ask, they would give the standard child reply "IT WASN'T ME"). I am in the midst of performing chemical experiments in order to remove the smell. If worse comes to worse, its a SCRAP quilt, and I will cut out the offending area and put something else in there. I hate to do that though ...... so after trying a concoction of baking soda, vinegar and real lemon juice that didnt work, I went out and bout several different things to try. Believe me, I learned two weeks ago, that this smell is just, plain persistent. Stupid dog. I will report later what product, or combination of products work, and if not, will show you the re-worked quilt.

The Knitty Kitty shows how technologically challenged she is!

2005-09-26T18:04:00.000-04:00

So I set up this blog thing at least two months ago, then completely forgot about it. I plan on using it for posting pictures of my kids, my dawg and kitty (although she hates to have her snap taken), and my knitting and quilting. Lets see how this goes!!!

Here is #1 son, modeling a scarf I made for his girlfriend. I get this look from him. Alot.

Here is #2 son. This is how his hair looks frequently. He is not on speaking terms with his comb, these days.

Here is #1 son with his homecoming date. Why does she have that silly shoulder brace on? Good question. Very good question.
Here is #2 son with his homecoming date. He combed his hair for this picture. First time since, oh say last March.

Here is my handsome puppy Cooper. He is 3 years old and such a sweet boy.

More pictures soon to come!!!!