Knittypants

Ta Da!

Look what I can do!

You know I had been starting to worry about Simon a little. I mean he has been achieving all his baby milestones, is nice and healthy and for the most part a perfect little baby, but he seems to have neglected learning to sit up. I was starting to get a bit concerned since all the other little babies in Sunday School were sitting up nicely, but not Simon, no sir, although he does crawl like a champion and has been doing so since 6 months.

I don't know why he neglected to learn to sit. Finally, a friend came over whose baby is the same age as Simon and again her baby could sit so pretty, and did so many times during the visit.

So after they left I grabbed Simon and tried to teach him to sit. Can't have all the other babies showing him up. I set him down on his fat little bottom and he immediately reached forward and started crawling away! I grabbed him, brought him back and tried again, with the same result. We tried this a few times with him giggling like mad, he thought it was a game! Here I am trying to teach him a basic skill of life and he's just goofing off! Sheesh! Anyways, he did pause once to catch his breath and I think I caught him sitting, I'm not sure it was really quick.

Finally I discovered, by accident, that he can sit quite nicely if there's food involved. His high chair was disgusting because I ummmmm....neglected cleaning it in favor of more fun things to do, so I set him on a chair to eat his lunch. (Don't worry it only looks like I'm neglecting my baby in this picture, both his sister and I were on hand to make sure he never landed on his head during picture taking time). And he sat nice and sturdy for all of his lunch, well, at least until he was full and tried to climb onto the table.

In other news, I had a most excellent finishing day, yesterday. I finished two sweaters! Do you know what an amazing feeling of accomplishment it is to finish two sweaters on one day. I mean all I had to do was sew up about 6 inches on my Snap Cardi and sew 5 buttons onto Simon's BSJ, but still, the finishing happened and I felt so good. Pictures will be coming soon. (First I have to pin Simon down and get pictures of him, then I have to pin Peter down so he will take pictures of me!)

The yarn above is for Fiona's BSJ. The pattern is too fun not to knit again, and it's great for using up random skeins of yarn in my stash. The purple is a really ugly shade of Cascade 220 that I bought online, one of the few times online buying has bit me on the butt. I took the ugly yarn with me when I had the opportunity to hit a yarn store and searched for yarn that made it look better. The Noro brings out the good in the Cascade and masks some of the bad. I think it will make a cute enough BSJ.

And whee! I have found a use for some of the random leftovers I have. It's nothing terribly unique but I am going to make you wait until I'm finished before I show you, just to leave you all hanging in suspense!!

Boring Blog

My sister has complained that my blog is boring. That all I ever talk about is knitting. Fancy that!

Well, here ya go sis. What you really want.

A loving and sweet  child (at least today).

A tragic child whos life is to difficult for words.

A grouchy and grubby child (who has worn big girl p_anties for over 24 hours with only 2 accidents, so we forgive the grouchies and grubbies).

Part of a perfectly darling boy.

And the knitting, which really is boring today. I am attaching the snap tape to the snap cardi, one slow stitch at a time.

Endpaper Mitts

Done! Yay! I really feel like I accomplished something with these. My colorwork is definitely improving, the mitts aren't to tight, they are pretty and girly. A very satisfying knit.

These are, of course, the very popular Endpaper Mitts by Eunny Jang. I used Gems Merino Fingering, one skein each of Coral and White. Followed the pattern exactly and ended up with the perfect mittens (how often does that happen?).

I did discover that I can only knit fair isle for about an hour before I need a break. Then I need something simple or I start making mistakes.

And look, I'm all set to go on the Anemoi Mittens, although I won't be starting them right away. I want to get the kids sweaters and the other stuff on my list done first.

Good Stuff

Thank you everyone for all the sock comments, they're so much fun to read :-)

Claudia Handpainted Sock Yarn, Red Wagon.

I had actually planned to get the Pistachio, but this jumped into my cart instead. Sometimes, you choose the yarn, sometimes it chooses you.

And a buttony bonus, the last time I picked up thread I found these.  I'm not really sure where I will use them, but something will come along soon enough.

Finally!

These took soooo long! Ravelry is really making me aware of the amount of time some projects take, I'm a huge procrastikitter.

Short row heels and self striping yarn, so satisfying.

I've complained a lot about these socks, but I am really, really glad that I finished them. I've already mentioned how I ripped back 4 freaking times trying to get the fit right, so you'd think these would fit exceptionally well.

Nope, not really. The foot's too long. Gah!

I am  happy with the heels, I did a couple of increases right before I started them and love the difference it made. It's like my heel has a little nest inside my sock.

The yarn is Online Supersocke Cotton Beach,and I cut out all the little jacquard bits (that's what they're called, right?) and just kept the pretty stripes.

In other news, look what was delivered yesterday. I've been so inspired by Stacey's yummy produce pictures that I hooked up with an organics delivery company. This is our second delivery, and I need to up the size we get, the fruits and veggies are so much tastier than what I can buy in the store, that I have no trouble getting my kids to eat them all up.

BSJ and List Making

Yay! I finished the mittens yesterday, another project crossed off the list. It must be the end of the year approaching, I'm really feeling the need to get all my UFOs knit up. I don't really do any Christmas knitting, but I would like to have all my 2007 knitting finished for 2008, plus, there are a few other things I would like to have knit up for before the year ends.

1. Finish Snap Cardi
2. Finish Anastasia
3. Finish Ribby Cardi
4. Baby Surprise Jacket for Simon
5. Surprise Jacket for Fiona
6. Jacket for Jarvis (probably a Surprise, but I'm not firmly decided)
7. Cabled Cardigan for Kaelen from a Sirdar pattern
8. Log Cabin Socks for Peter (the only Christmas knitting I have planned)

I have about 48 days to get this done, and so far it looks do-able, kids sweater don't take too much time, although the cardigan for Kaelen will take me a little while.

The BSJ up top is for Simon, I made a nice bit of progress since taking this picture, then I got confused, made a few mistakes, tried to fudge things, made a few more mistakes and ended up ripping back to about where this picture is again. Today's plan is to hopefully get caught back up to where I was before I started ripping.

Cozy Toes

Presenting Kaelen's Socks! My daughter is following in her mama's footsteps and I am so proud :-) I was going to , a little knitter in the making, but then I realized how wrong that is. She's a knitter through and through. And the stash scattered all over her bedroom proves it!

And you know, it's fabulous having another knitter in the house, I get a bit jealous sometimes of those who get to enjoy knitting groups, but really I have my own little group at home. Besides, Kaelen is a fantastic enabler, really, I've trained her very well. Who do you think talked me into joining a sock club!

Simon insists on being involved.

Kaelen knit these in Cascade 220, toe up. I gave her some help with the figure-8 cast on and short row heels, but she caught on very quickly, and didn't need hand holding for long. I asked her if she had any comments to add to this post, she said that next time she knit socks they wouldn't be red.

I think she wants to make mittens next.

Some Knittin' Stuff

The socks that sicken me have been finished, and actually are kind of cute. Crazy how such an evil knit can start trying to worm its way back into your heart. I've put them aside to be washed and hopefully learn some humility, then I'll get pictures.

I'm still on a finishing kick, the Snap Cardi is keeping me company today. I have one more sleeve to seam up and then the snap tape to sew in. I'm going to give this project a very firm blocking before I sew in the snap tape, it's a little on the snug side and I'm hoping to block like crazy and get a little more room out of it. 

The yarn, Blue Sky Cotton, is nice and soft, but my goodness I had a lot of ends to weave in! I think there were about 3 knots per skein and I used 6 skeins. So many, many, many ends!

And this is who I would like to keep company with later tonight if I get the seaming done on Snap Cardi. I'm so close to being finished this mitt, I really want to get it crossed off the list and start wearing them.

Love

Casbah by Handmaiden, color Bronze.

This is one of those yarns I just need to own, knitting with it is optional.

Of course, if I do knit it up, it will have to be something extra special. I don't think socks are worthy of this yarn, it needs to be something I can wear around my neck and revel in.

This is the sock that never ends

it just goes on and on my friends. I started knitting this, not knowing what it was and I'll continue knitting it forever just because...

Sigh...I hate these socks.

These simple socks are going into their third month of knitting. I started them because I needed something simple, round and round knitting for when I don't have time to concentrate. I ripped the first sock back 3 times. And each time was after a substantial amount of knitting had happened. I even finished the sock once and then ripped it back to the heel.

I should have tried them on as I went and not gone on in knitterly denial about them, but still, these are taking me forever. Two days ago, I put every other knitting project away and determined to knit the last 3 inches of the second sock. Well, I still have an inch to go.

These socks sicken me.

Here look at my cute kid instead. He doesn't think much of the socks either, keeps trying to rip them apart. Maybe he's onto something.