Back to the old grind

Things have been great for me the past month or so and now it's back to normal life again. I went to visit my family for Christmas which was lots of fun. I got to meet my cousin's baby son, who is absolutely adorable and sings "Merry Christmas to you" (with the help of his amazingly drunk Aunt Grace, my mom).

At Christmas I finally got to give away all the presents I've been working on. There were a million and one soap sacks (which I think I already posted a picture of) with homemade lemongrass soap. The soap was a total success. I'm very happy with how it turned out and have been using it in the shower and next to all the sinks since it's been cured. The soap sacks are another story. While they looked beautiful and made a pretty packaging, they were unfortunately not so practical. Of course I didn't find this out until after I'd given it to all the woman in me and my husband's families. The soap sacks were being finished right up until Christmas Eve, nothing like some last minute knitting. The soap was made about 2 weeks before Christmas, but would need to cure until January 1st before anyone could use it. Not a big deal, I just had to warn everyone to wait a week to use the soap. I thought the problem would lie in the soap. It was my first batch of soap ever and I didn't know if it would actually lather up or clean things. It does both quite well and as an added bonus it is much more moisturizing than ny store bought soap. So, you're wondering what the problem is, aren't I good at building suspense. The problem: the cotton that I used for the soap sacks does not dry in 24 hours! You shower in the morning and use the soap in the soap sack then your supposed to be able to leave the soap in the sack come back the next day and repeat. However, you come back the next day adn you have a mushy bar of soap in a gross wet cotton thing. I came up with a solution: remove the soap from the sack and use it as a washcloth that can be well wrung out after every shower and almost dries. It works, but without the bar of soap in the sack it's pretty small and flimsy for a washcloth. So I came up with a new solution: knit a bigger washcloth. Which I did for myself I love it, but then I came across problem number 2 which is hopefully just a problem for me since the lovely people who lived in our house before us were horrible do-it-yourselfers. My soap dish, which is attached to the shower wall, is crooked. The front tilts up and traps a puddle of water in the soap dish which, yep you guessed it, doesn't dry out in 24 hours. So I still have mushy soap. It's making me go through my soap at a very very fast rate. I've never had this problem because I've always been a body wash kinda girl and just discovered the joy of soap thanks to my home made stuff and my friends Erica and Jan who taught me how to make it.

OK, onto the next present, with considerably less problems. I've already posted pictures of this as well, it's the pink felted bag for my niece. I was worried it would be too long or too short since it had been a few months since I saw my niece and she's growing like a weed. It turned out to be just right so I'm very very happy about that.

Now onto some new things with pictures (so much more interesting when there are pictures involved). First a hat for my sister. It's the Odessa hat from Magknits. I love it! I made this for my little sister, a newly recruited knitter thanks to the Reinbeck Festival.
Here's the hat:

Pattern: Odessa
Yarn: Rowan Cashsoft, color taupe
Needles: 16" circular sizes 4 and 6
And here's a detail of the stitch pattern:

I think she liked it. She called me a few days ago and left a message saying that she was wearing it. She has a green jacket that I think it would go very well with. Plus she's got a new job at a hospital and has to look all spiffy at work and I think this is a nice sophisticated looking hat. I also made one for my friend out of a reddish color. She just moved from NY to Minnesota and I think she'll need many more cold weather accessories! I'm a little tired of the pattern now, but once I'm ready to tackle it again I may make one for myself, althought my husband says that I look like a Flapper in it. I don't mind that at all though.

Next project, a keyhole scarf for my mom. I forgot to get a completed picture, but here it is in progress, almost done:

Pattern: Keyhole Scarf
Yarn: Blue sky alpaca Brushed Suri, color: whipped cream
Needles: size 13
And here's a picture of the detail:

It's a herringbone stitch which was lots of fun to do. Again this is a project that I want to make for myself as well. And given that I got 2 skeins of yarn and only used one to make this I will be making one for myself as soon as possible.

I made out like a knitting bandit at Christmas. I got a knit item from my older sister (see below) and some beautiful yarn that she hand spun. I need to find a project for the yarn. I think one will just come to me soon enough though. My mom got me a ball winder and a swift along with yarn from when her and my sisters went to Reinbeck in NY and another festival in NH and some cedar shavings and muslin to make moth away satchels (which I desperately needed, again, see below). She was way too good to me this Christmas, but I'm not gonna say I didn't deserve it, I am the best person in the whole world!

My current projects are an irish hiking scarf for myself made out of a yarn I got when I was in New Zealand. I got the yarn long before I was aware of the proper storage and treatment of wool. I has been ravished by moths and I feel like I'm doing a felted join every few rows (it's not really that bad, but it is very frustrating). I'm making this because: 1. it's about time I made a nice scarf for myself 2. it's about time I used this yarn that I think I've had longer than any other yarn and 3. my older sister made me a great headscarf (calorimetry from Knitty) that will match this scarf perfectly! My other WIP is a sweater for my husband. The front piece is some ribbing on the bottom, then 15 inches of stockinette stitch before I do any shaping. That's 15 inches on size 6 needles. It's so incredibly boring!! I'm getting there though. I refuse to keep a tape measure with me until I actually get close because I was measuring every row and nearly ran myself through on a sharp needle after I knit 2 rows and it somehow shrunk. I'm just too impatient. Well I don't know exactly how long it is now, but it's about the length of the sheet of paper the instructions are printed on from the cast on edge. Lots more to go but I've got plenty of time before next winter.

That's the other thing that was fantastic this past month. My husband came home for a visit! He has been in Iraq for 6 months and I haven't seen him in 7 months. He had 2 weeks of leave and I was able to take the whole time off and spend it with him. We had lots of fun. We mainly just sat around the house and watched movies, which is how we normally spend our down time. He got to meet the new dog and seems to like him very much even though he barks all the time and is very high strung. The other dog remembered him and wouldn't leave his side the whole 2 weeks. It was adorable! We also went to a BBQ, had a BBQ (the weather was in the 70s despite it being the middle of January!), went out to dinner with friends a few nights, went to an art museum, went to a maritime museum, and saw Night at the Museum. Quite a museum filled 2 weeks! We had tons of fun but it went by too quick and he's already on his way back to Iraq. We're hoping he'll be home in another couple of months, but he may be staying a whole nother 6 months.

I'll post pictures of my headscarf from my sister and my current projects soon.

No knitting to post, sorry

I can't post any of my knitting pictures, but trust me they're good! Unfortunately they are all of Christmas presents and the only people who actually read my blog are people who are getting knit Christmas presents from me and I can't ruin the surprises! So, here's a picture of the pups being very ambiguously gay!!

Pup picture

I forgot to post this a minute ago. It's just a picture of my pups cuddling on the couch.
How adorable are they?!

Holiday knitting begins

I said I wasn't going to do any holiday knitting, but now that I've been working from home I seem to have an extra few hours every day (the time I would have been commuting). So, I'm going to knit as much as I can for the holidays. I started with some washclothes and then I will make homemade soap. This will go to the women in my boy's family, my cousins, my aunt, and my grandma.

I know this is a horrible picture. It's the only way I could show some of the pattern. It's supposed to be a leaf pattern. And an i-cord is woven through the top row of holes to hold the soap in. I've got 3 done and I need 8, I think.

Next I started on a bag for my niece. She loves pink. I made the pattern up as I went and thought it was just going to be a purse, but I had enough yarn that I decided it should be a messenger bag. I don't know if it will fit her as a messenger bag, but it barely fits around me so I think it will fit her fine. Here's a couple pre-felting pictures:

It's knit using Paton's Classic Wool and an embellishment pack of ribbons from my sister's local yarn shop, Wild and Woolly Wools. If you're ever on Long Island, you have to stop in. The owner is a hoot and she has a great selection of quality yarns. Anyway, here's a picture of it felted:I haven't decided yet if I should trim the ribbon or not. I think I'll leave it long and leave the decision up to my niece. It's cute though and the fabric is really thick and sturdy and hopefully it will last a while.

I took a trip to my local yarn shop, Knitting Sisters, today to get some needles to make another Christmas present and another ball of yarn. I so don't need it, but it was what they called for in the pattern and I didn't have a substitute in my stash, imagine that! It was a fun trip and I was actually amazed at how little I felt like I HAD to have. I think my stash is becoming overwhelming, I have to start using it up!

Charity auction craziness

I don't have any pictures to post. I know, what fun is a blog posting with no pictures. Well, i will point you in the direction of a blog with lots of pictures:

Jasmine Trust Charity Auction

I've been working on putting together a website for an auction to benefit the Jasmine Trust. Peopl ehave donated so much stuff for the auction. I personally have my eye on a piece of jewelry and a hat.

I'm in full out Christmas knitting mode. I told myself I wasn't going to knit this Christmas, being that I'm attempting to finish my doctoral degree, but who knows when that will actually happen. But, I'm making little knit washclothes and then I'm going to make some handmade soap to put in them and that will be all the girl presents (well most of them at least). I'll actually have to shop for the boys. Unfortunately the number of boys I have to shop for has increased dramatically when I married my boy. He's got his dad and 3, yes 3, brothers. Gift certificates for the lot of them! They don't care anyway and I don't have the time to go shopping.

My niece will be getting a special present this year. I'm knitting her a pink bag that will be felted. It should be pretty cool cause I'm adding ribbon as I knit, we'll just have to wait and see what that will look like felted. I'm also thinking of doing a few other special knitted items for Christmas, but I'm waiting for yarn and needles that were ordered online before I can decide if I have time for them.

Pictures of my washclothes and my nieces bag will be up soon.

Two color mittens done and gorgeous!

I actually finished the mittens that my mom and sisters got me the kit for. And they fit! I did them quickly thinking I would need them since the dogs just played tug of war with my store-bought gloves, but the temperatures are supposed to be in the upper 60s/low 70s all week. Then a big temperature drop down to the 50s! I'm going to wear them everywhere!

Yarn: 100% alpaca from Kilblaan Farm, NH

Needles: 11 and 13US

Pattern: Christina's mittens (kit from Kilblaan Farm)

I'm going to try to make a pair of small child's mittens with the rest of the yarn and put it in the auction. I don't think I'll have enough yarn to do that, we'll see.

2 colors, what fun!

First off, here's some pictures of finished projects that I just seem to forget posting. The felted bag:Yarn: Paton's SWS
Pattern: an original Buli design!
Needles: Size 10.5
Knitted for: the annual charity auction to benefit the Jasmine Charitable Trust
Yarn: Mango Moon alpaca
Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty.com
Needles: I don't remember, but I think 9
Knitted for: the charity auction

And the completed puppy quilt. I'm still not sure about the yellow binding, but it does keep with the outrageously loud color scheme for this quilt. Now if my neighbor will just have her baby already!! Although I still have to make a label, maybe the little boy will hold out for that. Amazingly, this quilt was finished before her due date, which is this Sunday. I think that's the first and last time that will ever happen! Fabric: all cotton (of course!) - most from my mom's fabric stash (Thanks Mom!)
Pattern: ripped off from a quilt given to my brother when he was a baby
Sewn for: My neighbor's soon to be new born son.

I've been having tons of fun today with my first ever attempt at fair isle knitting (using more than one color, 2 in my case). This is a kit my mom and sisters got for me at a fiber festival in NH. The yarn is an amazingly soft alpaca. It feels like there is lotion in the yarn, I love it! The only problem is there were lots of places in the skein where they tied the yarn together. I untied the knots (since they were barely holding together) and now I have a million ends to weave in. I guess it will just make the gloves thicker and warmer. I can't wait to finish it! A potential problem is that I didn't do a gauge swatch. It uses 2 different size needles and the pattern didn't state which size needle the gauge is for. I'm just going with the suggested needle size and seeing what happens. I've got pretty normal size hands and I'm usually spot on with the gauge with the suggested needle size, it shouldn't be a problem.

Next up:
-Finish the fair isle mittens - shouldn't take long with it being so much fun
-Work on some holiday knitting
-A sweater for Josh. I forgot to take pictures of the yarn, but it came in yesterday and I can't wait to start his baseball sweater. He's gonna love it! Hopefully I'll get it done by next winter, but who knows!

Puppy quilt

I've made some major progress on the puppy quilt, but I'm at a standstill. I'm posting some pictures so I can get feedback from my mom on what to do about a sashing. First off, here's the blocks all done:

And here are some blocks with a black sashing:

And here are some blocks with a green sashing:
So, what do you think?

My stash and a mouse

I made a silken braid catnip mouse. I don't know the link to the pattern since my friend Erica e-mailed me the pattern. It's got a great cable on the back and there is just one seam right up the belly. The ears are knitted right in and they're not sewn on later, it's great!!

My sister requested some pictures of my stash, so here we go!
There's some Patons SWS, some random skeins of baby homespun, some wool that my sister got me from a yarn store in New Hampshire, knit picks alpaca yarn for a shawl, a pink embellishment kit for a felted bag I'm going to make for my neice, some white brushed alpaca that I'm going to make a cowl out of, and what's left of the Mango moon alpaca that I used to make the clapotis and I'll use to make another clapotis.

Here we have cream Lamb's Pride that's leftover from a seaman's scarf I made for my husband, some gorgeous blue, green, and purple sock yarn, leftover woolease from hats, patons divine, Lopi leftover from the cardigan Erica made me hopefully I'll be able to make the matching hat one of these days, Lion cotton for dishcloths, and the beginnings of a hat and scarf that will be torn out and made into something way better.
This is pink woolease that will be a dog sweater for little Lizzy, Angelina (brown and white) that's super soft and will probably be a shawl or cowl or something, funky festival yarn that I have no idea what I'm going to do with, silky tweed that I want to make a hat out of, and sockatta sock yarn in a tweed blue and green, and more Patons divine.
Noro blue, green, and purple yarn, grey wool that someone else was getting rid of while clearing out their stash, grey New Zealand wool that I got while in NZ but haven't found the perfect project for yet, and green and orange manos.

Most things I have multiple skeins of so my stash is much bigger than what is in the pictures. I'm working on using up some of it. I really want to start a sweater for Josh but I'd have to buy $100+ more yarn and I should probably not do that until I have more room to store it.

Still working on the puppy quilt and VERY slowly making progress, but it's hard to do at night when I'm tired. OK, off to bathe the pups!!

Things are actually getting done!

I finished 2 whole projects this weekend. Things have a way of getting done when housework is ignored and a nice nor'easter is blowing through. I finally wove in the ends of the clapotis and started blocking it:
I also finished the SWS bag and felted it. It's blocking now and nearly dry. Here it is pre-felting.

And here it is blocking:

And detail of the fabric:

It turned out fantastic. I'm a little sorry to auction it off, but then again I can always make another and the money will go to a GREAT cause. I'm also putting up the clapotis for auction. I'm planning on making one of those for myself too. I've got enough of each type of yarn left to make both for myself.

And last but not least, I've finished blocks 3 and 4 of the puppy quilt. Yet again, it's turning out fantastic!
Happy crafting to all!