I got to sew yesterday!

DH took the kids to Target yesterday and I got to sew for a couple hours. I quilted the top I've been working on. Now I just need to figure out how to do the edges. Binding might be the term. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. We went to the bookstore last night and I picked up "Quilting for Dummies," hopefully it's good.






The back is pink terry cloth. Untraditional but delicious, as my dad would say. I thought it would give the back a fun texture for a little kid.

Also put together a little bag, but I need to figure out handles. I also need to figure out a better way to do a bag that's lined with different fabric on the inside and outside. I decided that it was time to be done sewing when I sewed it together (twice) in such a way that it couldn't be turned right side out again.

In knitting progress, I'm on my third skein of Kureyon for the felted bag. It might be bigger than I meant to make it. The yellow baby sweater is coming along slowly, and DH's socks are coming along too.



Lala is home with an ear infection today. We went in to the office and did some light puttering, came home, ate some vegetarian corn dogs and put her down for a nap, much to her chagrin. DH is on travel for work, will be back late Thursday night. The monkey is having some trouble with the idea of "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should" which is probably a tough idea to learn. To put it lightly, today was not the day I expected to have.

So, what I need to be doing is...

searching through the pile of bill statements that I haven't filed since I had to do the guardianship audit for MIL and find the statements for the monkey's orthodontist so I can file a claim with my flexible spending account tomorrow when I'm at work fixing bugs. But no, I'm going to write for a bit on my blog....

This is the bottom of the zigzag bag that I started. This is probably how it looked Saturday night. The bottom went pretty fast. I had some trouble figuring out a zig-zag pattern and getting the number of stitches around worked out. But I did. Here's phase 2 of what I did, just so I won't forget.

Phase 2: ending the bottom to starting the side. I continued doing the regular sets of double increases every other row until I had 160 stitches. (It seemed like a good number and I have no idea how big this will be after I felt it.) Because I should have quit while I was ahead, I ended up increasing to 165 stitches over a couple rows, increasing once at each corner one time through, and once more on the first corner a couple rounds later (or the other way, but I don't think it matters.) I ended up doing about an inch or two of regular old stockinette in the round. Then here's the zig-zag pattern that I settled on (it takes 11 stitches) *k4, kfb, k4, k2tog* Alternate a round of the zig-zag pattern with a plain stockinette round. I had tried it with yarn-overs instead of the kfb and it left holes, so I switched. It took a couple inches to see it, but I'm pretty happy with the zigging and the zagging. If you wanted more of a Charlie Brown zig-zag, I'd work it so that it has double increases and double decreases to get more of a 90-degree angle (maybe *k2tog, k4, kfb, kfb, k4, k2tog*, but I'm just making that up off the top of my head, and that might really be a 14 stitch repeat). Mine is more obtuse, but I'm hoping it concentrates a little in the felting process. Also, I'd say that 14" around (plus zigging and zagging) is probably longer than optimal for the Noro stripes.

I think that the top bit is probably going to end in Cascade 220 in a lovely turqoise that I happen to have in my stash, and I'm still leaning towards some kind of a cord drawstring and gromets or something in the top. Maybe adding gromets (2), then folding over the top to make a casing and threading through a couple of cords. I have a bag that I got when I was little that I'm planning to use as a model for that part. Oh, and instead of the laptop bag, I think I'm going to give this one to my mom for her birthday last December.

I've also (a) cleared off the dining room table somewhat so I can do some sewing this weekend and (b) started working out my freezer paper templates for the quilt for my new niece or nephew.

More baby news - There's a third baby that I know who is due in January. An excuse to buy more flannel! And! Better yet, they live in Philadelphia so they might really be able to use a sweater. :^)

Kids with Cameras

We watched Born Into Brothels tonight - an interesting film. If you didn't hear about it on NPR (a photographer went to live in the red light district of Calcutta to take pictures there and ended up teaching the kids photography and worked on getting them into schools and some hope for a future.) the web site is kids-with-cameras.org An interesting movie - starts out sad ends up with sort of a mixed bag of hopefulness. Not so good for knitting as it is very visual and mostly subtitled.

Also had a crafting epiphany. I think I'm happier when I'm winging it. The projects that I'm drawn to are only loosely based on a pattern. I don't like reading directions - I have trouble visualizing the stuff ahead of time. I don't like the feeling of having a "right way" to do things and only really use directions as a guideline or formula. I don't have the attention span (or time or organizational skills?) for fussy things that only look right if you can keep track of where you are. I need to be able to see or feel what the next row should be, not by using row counts or sticky notes - I lose track of them both too easily. I have three perfectly good projects on the needles at home, fairly straightforward things that I want to get done, but the one I'm excited about? The felted bag that I started last night and am winging. So far, it starts with 8sts cast on and knit in one round in the style of an i-cord, putting onto 4 needles as you knit the round. Put a stitch marker in between the stitches on each dpn. alternating one round of stockinette with one round of kfb on the stitch before and after each marker to make a square bottom for the bag. Once it's big enough, I figure out a chevron pattern for the sides.

I guess this epiphany makes perfect sense when I examine the other parts of my life - my favorite part of my job is when I'm coming up with solutions. And my approach to naviagion (much to my husband's chagrin) is to go get a map online, look at it, study the surrounding roads and then leave it at home. I might need to get more Elizabeth Zimmerman books.

An FO to report! And two new WIP

First the FO. I finished the blankey for my nephew Andy. Here are the specs:

Pattern: Lady Elanor from Scarf Style.
Mods: Started with 10 base triangles and did approximately 6 repeats of tier 1 and tier 2 rectangles before wrapping it up. (with a row of tier 1 rectangles and closing triangles, just like in the pattern). After binding off, I decided the edges needed something, so I picked up stitches along the edge and worked about 5 rows of garter stitch.
Yarn: Caron Simply Soft
Needles: Size 10 circs.




This was my airplane knitting on the way to Alaska. It will hopefully be socks for DH one day. I am going toe up, and I used the "Easy Toe" found at the end of Wendy's Knitty article about toe-up socks. It really did turn out to be easy. And I'm working them on size "1" needles. Which are a little bendy, but I think they're just what I needed. Those green knit picks socks are ripped out. The monkey and I picked out this yarn to use instead. The heels I haven't made a commitment to yet.



This is the sweater I started for a friend's baby. It's yellow garterstitch in a DK weight. Sirdar Snuggly. I figure the buttons can make it go either gender - Lions or Daisys perhaps? Or dump trucks? Or butterflies? See? And I think I'll only put in three buttons (a la Yarn Harlot). The baby should be due in the winter, and the sweater seems straightforward. All in one piece, splitting at the neck for the fronts. I wonder if there's an easy way to make it a "lap shouldered" pullover. I do seem to be having gauge issues. I'm off by about 2 stitches over 4", but I'm hoping that it's an inconsequential rounding error in a garment this size (0-3mos).

You remember my wrap quandary? I resolved it on the cruise by picking up a $10 pseudo pashmina in silver. Oh! And I had a Wrap Style sighting. I was in the elevator with someone wearing Twisty Turns. Now I'm tempted to make it with the Bulky Wool Arucania that I've got on hand. Not sure if it's enough, though.

So, here's a list of what's on the needles (I have this urge to cast on, and maybe this will help)

1. Socks for DH (work knitting)
2. Garter Stitch sweater for a little baby to be
3. Scarf for my mom (wavy from Knitty in turquoise Cascade 220 Superwash)
4. Felted tote from an old IK (laptop bag) for my mom

I really have a hankering to make myself a felted tote. A booga bag maybe? I had a thought that it'd be neat to make a felted tote with a zig-zag stripe (a la jaywalker socks) but would have to figure out how to do it. Probably starting the bottom of the bag like the easy toe (or like the beginnings of the booga bag) and then making it big enough of a bottom and then doing a jaywalker-esque pattern stitch for the sides. It would end up being a "pouch" or cylinder shaped bag, depending on whether the top was gathered. It might be nice if it had buttonholes and you could run a pretty cord through it to make a drawstring/handle.

Well, shoot. If that's all I have on the needles.....and I have an empty knitting bag..... Maybe I'll give it a shot. I really do feel like knitting something for me. :^)

Cruise Knitting

The knitting was easy on the cruise. I grabbed a couple leftover balls of this green and blue that I really liked together and a set of size 10 dpn. I had a hankering for mittens. It turned out to be kind of chilly in Alaska, so I made LaLa a pair of mittens, no real pattern, just changing to the green at the point where I finished the increases for the thumbs, and gave them green thumbs too. Similar color scheme for the hats. Rolled brim for La, ribbed for the blue baby. I still have some of the green left, but not much. The yarn is Brown Sheep's Waverly Wool, which is really soft and nice to work with.

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I'm back!

Here's a list of things to talk about sometime. Maybe now. Maybe soon. Who knows.

1. Trip to Alaska.
We just got back on Saturday from a 7 day cruise from Whittier to Vancouver. We stopped in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchican. We met up with my mom, dad, aunt, uncle and grandpa. It was gorgeous. The weather was fantastic, the mosquitoes weren't out yet, and the bears weren't quite yet either (we did see one though). LaLa had some bumping and bruising trouble on the boat, but otherwise it was a fantastic trip. I have some photos here.

2. Souvenier yarn.
At the Juneau stop we found a yarn shop. Skeins Fine Yarns (Can't find a web site for them, only this ad.) I picked up some Trekking (color 40, it's reminiscient of Neapolitan ice cream or those Brachs nougat candies), and some Sockotta cotton/wool/nylon blend sock yarn. Also a skein of merino hand-painted in Anchorage.

3. Cruise Knitting. (Hat for LaLa, mittens for LaLa, Hat for the blue baby, starting a baby sweater for an expecting friend. Gauge issues. Photos still on CD)

4. Birthday yarn. (3 pair of socks worth of Lorna's Laces from my little sister. Gorgeous. But no photos yet.)

Back to work and real life tomorrow. Sadly, LaLa doesn't want to go to sleep tonight.