I'm BAAAAAAAAck~

Sorry for the long absence! Here is the reason I was gone so long:

Introducing, Erin Marie. She was born on 5-4-09. She's less than a week old here in this photo but we still managed to catch a random smile for the camera :-) The pregnancy really wore me out, and most days I just didn't have the energy or inclination to drag out the camera and the cord to hook it to the computer to download pics to upload here. Actually, most days I didn't have the energy or inclination to even knit! LOL. I did manage to get my february lady sweater done, and I know I took pics of me wearing it while pregnant but of course I can't find them. I will find them eventually and post them here. It turned out well. Maybe a bit too wide, but it is a nice big comfy sweater after all. I also made several crochet market bags. My favorite was out of knit picks new organic cotton, but I can't take photos of it b/c my MIL claimed it LOL. And I finished a simple pair of striped socks from knitpicks' felici, the one my hubby got me for Christmas. I just made simple 2x2 ribbed socks with them, toe up with heel flap and gusset. Those were my hospital socks, to wear after I had the baby. I made a lace pair with the new "mermaid lagoon" colorway from knitpicks' inspiration yarn (can you tell I am a big fan of knitpicks??) but they ended up being wayyyyyyy too small for me. I gave them to my MIL (just to show you how badly I messed up the gauge on these, my MIL wears a size 6 shoe, I wear an 8.5, and they fit her almost perfectly! OOPS!). However, my MIL has a sensitivity to wool, and these are alpaca, so she's not sure she'll be able to wear them. I was pretty bummed b/c I really like that yarn and spent a lot of time and brainpower on them but oh well.

This is my latest project. Well, in addition to the 2 pairs I have on the needles (a plain stockinette pair and a lacey patterned/charted pair both made out of Happy Feet), I saw this pattern and just couldn't resist. Plus, I had the perfect yarn for it! The pattern is here: http://mscreate.typepad.com/BoltsFinal.pdf I ended up doing a short row heel instead, just because the striping sequence was going so well I didn't want to have to cut the yarn.

I could not have planned the stripes better if I tried. However, since I actually am only doing one sock at a time (I figured 4 balls of yarn would be too much to deal with!), I doubt I'll be able to duplicate it for the second sock. I may end up cutting the yarn to get the stripes to line up if I have to.

See. the thin purple stripe ended up at the beginning and end and middle of the heel as if I had planned it that way, which I hadn't!

It also ended up at the last row of the toe!

This is the top of the foot.

I meant to get a photo of the inside too, to show how my floats look (not bad, if I do say so myself!) but I forgot. I will when they are finished. They fit too, which is always good! LOL. I'm very very pleased with them. The dark purple is knitpicks kettle dyed in eggplant. The striped one, I can't honestly remember. I think it might have some bamboo in it?? It is stash yarn I've had for a while. I had started another pair of fairisle socks with these two yarns but the difficulty level was too much for my pregnant brain so I frogged them. I'm glad, these are turning out great!

Still recovering from the c-section, so I am missing my knitting buddies. I haven't been able to make it to the last couple weekly meet ups. Hopefully next week, I'm going thru withdrawl LOL. I also hope to post here more often. Thanks for reading!

What's new?

Sorry I haven't posted for so long. For some reason I tend to think I shouldn't or can't post an update without photos, and I'm terrible about taking them and uploading them (especially since my small camera quit working and I hate dragging out the huge one) but I figured a post with no photos is better than no post at all, right? If not, well, humor me.

Lets see, what's new in knitting news? Well, I finally broke down and bought myself a skein of that beautiful Tili Tomas Disco Lights yarn, 100%silk plus sequins. ohhhhhh so georgeous. I got it in a light sagey green. I was hoping for pink and purple but they still didn't have any and they haven't ordered any of that yarn for a while (guessing, since every time I go to that LYS they have the same few skeins of it) so I picked the green. I'm going to make myself a scarf with it. I'm thinking the "My So Called Scarf" pattern, but I may try to find something lacey. Haven't decided yet. I may get addicted to this yarn though.

I also got some of the berocco metalix sox yarn, my friend Dawn called me from another LYS and said "They have that yarn you've been looking for in a color that is SO you, do you want me to pick it up?" of course I said yes! It IS me too, she knows me so well. It is all various shades of pink and purple. SOOOOOOO pretty. However this lovely yarn might not actually get made into socks. I have a pattern for an adorable baby tank top out of sock yarn and this might be cute for that. Either this yarn or one other one I have in my stash, I haven't decided yet.

I finally started my February Lady Sweater. Maybe I'll actually finish it in February too! LOL. I'm working on the lower body now, about halfway done with the lace part on that, then onto the sleeves. So I'm probably a little more than halfway done with it. I'm using Knit Picks Swish Worsted in the Marine Heather colorway. Very pretty. Hubby and I are going to FL this weekend so I'm hoping to get some of it done on the plane.

I also started a scarf for my mom, I'm about 2/3 way done with it. It is out of cotton twist in a green/brown/yellow colorway. definately more Mom's colors than mine, she and I are so different. She likes earthtones, I prefer bright colors.

I also started a raglan baby cardigan, I have 2 friends that are also having girls, one due in March and the other in April. I messed up and forgot a couple increases on the front parts (mis-read the directions, that's why one should not knit a new pattern while watching the superbowl!) so if it doesn't look right after I add the edging I'll save it for my little girl and make a new one. :-)

In other news, I'm 26 weeks today, we decided on a name for her (Erin) and so far things are pretty good. She's moved down a bit which makes walking more uncomfortable but the doc assured us everything is OK. i have my next check up in 2 weeks. Hubby and I get to go away this weekend, the inlaws are going to stay here with the kids, since this will probably be the last time for a long time that he and I get to go away without children. I'm looking forward to some nice weather and beaches and swimming and nice resteraunts without kids menus. :-) Oh, and sleeping in, and not having to come up with creative, nutrituous meals for notoriously picky eaters numerous times a day. LOL.

Have a wonderful day!

trying something new

I decided to get a jump start on the New Year's cleaning (don't we all do that?) and enlisted the help of my hubby to clean and reorganize my office/craft room. Actually, it was mostly his idea b/c he was tired of looking at the mess LOL. Plus we wanted to make it more childproof so that the kids can come in here without destryoing stuff.

Here's what it used to look like: (I also had put up curtains after these photos, some teal and light blue ones that were shiny and gave the room an odd blue hue that I didn't like) My shelves were full of stuff that I didn't need and didn't use, half the drawers were empty and I had a lot of breakable stuff on the bottom.



I had my couch against the window with my desk in front of it, sort of in the middle of the room.

Now my shelves are much neater, we threw out a bunch of crap and put a lot more stuff that I rarely use but didn't want to throw out into the garage. Moved all the breakable and messy stuff to the higher shelves. Right now I have a lot of space on the bottom shelves, and will have more when I move my scrapbooks. I MIGHT put my yarn in here in rubbermaid containers, we'll see. I bought rubbermaid containers to organize my stash closet, and if I can fit it neatly in here I will. If not, it will stay in the closet, and I will put kids' toys in here or something. We're also going to put the toddler table and chair set in here under the window.

My desk and couch are now both along the side wall with my desk under my shelf. I can still reach the shelf, at least until my preggo belly gets too big, and it opens up the rest of the room. My hubby was such a trooper, he moved the furniture around all by himself several times until we were both happy with the arrangement.

These are my two favorite decorations in the room. Not a great photo, sorry, it was dark outside. The lighthouse is a stained/etched glass portrayal of my favorite place in the whole world, the lighthouse in Ludington, Michigan. Mom got it for me there last summer. The other one is a butterfly display that I got a few weeks ago in Branson Missouri at the Butterfly Palace, it is a white and black butterfly with 4 orange and black butterflies arranged around it. So pretty!

This is the view now from my door, compared to the first photo. The doors still open all the way but I usually keep the one door closed. As you can see, my dog likes the new wide open space, and I like not having her crawl under my desk to lay at my feet.

I also decided to be brave and try a new sock heel. I usually did short row heels b/c I don't like cuff down and I didn't want to have to do math. Well, my new sock wizard software that I got for Christmas takes the math out of it, and I wanted my husband's socks to have a heel flap so that they were sturdier in his boots. I had already started them and had the foot mostly done, so I just plugged in a couple different gauges until I got the right number of stitches (my actual gauge is about 7.5 sts per inch but the pattern with this # of sts said 7 sts per inch. Close enough) I also had made the foot a bit long so I had to modify the number of sts to add rather than frog back an inch (I'm lazy) but so far so good. Here is my first toe up sock with a gusset and heel flap!! (Dawn and Suna, aren't you proud? LOL)

And before you ask, YES, this is one single sock. I did 2 at a time until I got to the heel but since I was doing a new heel and heels can be complicated, I decided to finish them individually. These are cammo style socks for my hunter hubbyn and they fit perfectly so far. Sport weight yarn is so much faster! I made a pair for him last spring that were fingering weight on size 1/s, they took FOREVER. These are on size 3's and they seem to be moving faster than socks I make for myself even. He likes thte thickness too so I think from now on he gets sport weight socks. That's the only thing that stopped me from making socks for him before, was the length of time. I hope to have this one done in the next day or two so I can finish the other one. I'm working on that blossom shawl for myself and want to finish it before we go to Florida in Feb, so I have something for breezy nights. We're going on a short trip just the two of us (inlaws will keep the kids) so we can have some Us time before baby #3 arrives. I'm really looking forward to sleeping in and not having to come up with creative and nutritious meals for super picky eaters who think they need to eat 8 times a day. How sad am I?? LOL.

Have a wonderful and safe New Year!

ugh ravelry

A friend of mine suggested yesterday that I should publish my sandwich pattern on Ravelry. I was very flattered that she thought it was good enough, so this morning I spent quite a while trying to do that. Well, I remembered WHY I don't upload things to ravelry very often. TOO DAMN COMPLICATED! I can't figure out how to get a photo attatched to the pattern, then when I went to the "one project listed" (my own) to see if I could somehow figure it out from there, the page said "no projects match your description". SIGH. I don't know if they are being moderated or what, if they have to be approved or something, but who knows. Oh well.

In other knitting (or in this case, crochet!) news, I did my first real crochet project. By real, I mean a complicated (to me) pattern from a book. I was surprised how quick it was! Anyway, it is the Angora Baby Bunny Cap from luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders. Only one slight problem;

It is supposed to be a BABY cap, but it fits my 2.5 year old. Granted she has a small head, but still. I don't think the baby will be wearing this one.

Other than that, I was very happy with how it turned out. No longer will I fear crochet!! It is a very pretty hat. I used the correct weight yarn and hook for the project but oh well.

I bought this yarn a few weeks ago at my LYS, it is georgeous Anne sock yarn. I had started socks with it and was about 4 or 5 inches into them when I realized I was ribbing all the way around--problem was that they were toe up! Oops. I was very upset b/c I really liked the pattern (A diagonal striped rib that I had turned into a sock pattern myself) so I wasn't sure what I was going to do or how I was going to stomach ripping them back. Then I saw the pattern for the blossom shawl in my new book. I thought "AHA!" there is a good pattern for this yarn. It was a huge skein, over 500 yards, so I knew I had plenty and since it is verigated but not self striped it would make a good shawl. Absolutely beautiful colors too, and soooooooo me! I'm 3 repeats in and am supposed to have a total of 14 when done.

See how pretty?? I LOVE this color!!!

I wanted to make a barbie dress for my daughter's doll. I looked and looked online and couldn't find a pattern I liked, so I decided I could design one. How hard could it be, right? I measured and re-measured the barbie all over, I even SWATCHED (and those who know me know how much I HATE swatching) then I did MATH (another ugh for me) and made this dress. I did not take a photo of the back however, because you would see all the laces and running stitches I had to do to keep the dress from falling off the doll. Hmmmm. I don't know where I went wrong, if it was the math or the swatching or what, but it was a bit big. But in the end it looked pretty good especially from the front, and I was proud of it. My daughted said "ooh pretty cinderella." played with it for a minute or less, then gave me the old dress for her and said "Now this dress." I said "what about the dress Momma made?" and she said "I no like it. Want this one." SIGH. Oh well.

At least she liked this, the pillow and blanket I made for her barbie house. I even matched the colors (as best as I could from my stash) to the rest of the dollhouse. Knit in garter stitch with a crochet border, one round of double crochet then a round of single crochet. The pillow was done in garter stitch with a single crochet border.

I have a pair of socks for my daughter (the Emily socks from knitting circles around socks in a hot pink and yellow striped yarn), a cammo pair of socks for my hubby in sport weight yarn, and a brown verigated scarf for my son all on the needles, plus this shawl for myself now. I also have to work on the baby blanket some more. I have like 8 squares out of 100 done. :-D

Hugs! Have a happy New Year!

Christmas socks!

I finished mom's socks just in time for Christmas!! And I do mean just in time, I was adding the trim on the last sock 3 hours before my family arrived at our house! :-) These socks took me FOREVER. I think b/c I did stockinette, which I thought would go faster but it got boring. I finished them on our trip to Missouri, and I called mom to see how high she likes to wear her socks. She said ankle, thank goodness, while my hubby was in the background yelling "Say knee high, say knee high!!" @@. Anyway, I made them anklets and bound them off using a new method where the round before bind off you add extra stitches to make it stretchy. I added a new stitch every 4 sts, but I guess either that was too many or I bind off too loosely or something b/c they ruffeled at the edges. So, I fixed that by adding a crocheted ruffeled edge. The socks were funky to begin with, so this just made them extra fun. :-) they're not for her to wear to like work or anything, probably just game days but I thought they were cute. I have to call her in a bit and make sure she tried them on, she didn't try them on here. I think she liked them though, I hope. :-)

I had a wonderful Christmas, my hubby spoiled me. I got a lot of great knitting loot, and I didn't even have to ask for it. I guess I talk about knitting a lot, and even though he may look like he's not listening, apparently he is :-) I got a digital scale for sock yarn (YAY! No more having to wind it into a ball and then wind it again until the 2 balls are the same!), 101 luxury yarn one skein wonders, (which I had mentioned a couple times when it came out and he knew I had the others), the new knit picks 10" harmony straight needles (I did ask for these), the zippered knit picks binder for circ needles, the sock wizard software, and some new sock yarn, felicity yarn in a really pretty colorway from knitpicks (he knew I had bought that line before and he even called them to check and make sure I didn't have that particular color! What a guy!) He also got me some great bath and body works stuff and a ring. Wow.

My daughter got a barbie house for Christmas, and I'm a bit quirky when it comes to dolls. I have been since I was a kid. The bed that came with the house is all plastic and is molded to lookl ike there is a blanket and pillow but there isn't one. So being the nice Momma I am, I'm using my lovely new needles to knit her a little blanket for it. :-) I'll probably make a pillow too. Yes, I'm weird I know. My hubby still thinks the dollhouse is more for me than her, especially when he heard me tell her "No Meg, the couch doesn't go there, it goes here!" LOL.

We did find out that our new little one is a girl, so I'm going to be knitting some new pink stuff. Yayyy! I found a couple really cute patterns in that new book, including a lace crocheted hat that looks challenging but I'm gonna try it.

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

Pattern for sandwiches

Hope you enjoyed the pattern for the cookies, here's the pattern for the sandwiches.

Materials: size 6 US straight needles, size 6/F crochet hook, worsted weight yarn in desired colors.

I used a mix of red heart I Love This Yarn and Caron Simply Soft. Good, cheap acrylic yarns are perfect for these projects.

For the bread, use desired color (I used white) and cast on 14 sts. Work in garter stitch (knit every row) until it is a square, I fold up the bottom corner diagonally up to the needle to see if it is even. You could also do the more logical thing and use a tape measure, but, well, I didn't think of that until I was done LOL. Once square, cast off and leave the tail very long for seaming.

For the filling: (cheese, turkey/ham/beef, peanut butter and jelly, or whatever you like on your sandwich). Start with slip knot. Next row, inc one by knitting into the front and back. Knit into the front and back of the first stitch on each row (increasing by one stitch each row) until you have 15 stitches. Bind off. Make however many fillings you want, I did one turkey and one cheese for the one sandwich, and one Peanut butter and a jelly for the other variety.

You can also crochet circles (just like for the cookies) for tomatoes, cucumbers (doing the outer round in a darker green for the skin), or whatever else you like on your sandwiches. I did one tomato and stuck it out the middle, you could do 2 and put them on either side. Whatever works for you.

Now, take the fillings and if you want you can use the tails to baste them together in the middle or along the back edge, since that will all be hidden inside the sandwich. Weave the ends and trim, then put them inside the bread so that the bread folds into a triangle around the fillings, with the tail end at one side of the fold (so you can baste around the outer edge without having to cut the yarn and start on the other side). Base by sewing thru the top edge to the bottom edge and back to the top, basically a running stitch or a backstitch, keeping the stitches behind the edge of the fillings so you can't see them. Once done, weave in bread tail and trim. Attatch crust color (for the peanut butter sandwich I picked a brown that was different than the filling) with a crochet hook and single crochet around the outer edge of the bread, avoiding the fold line. Weave in end and trim. DONE!

patterns for my knit food

I've had a few people ask me for the patterns for my knit food, so here it is. Not sure how much I will get typed up tonight, but the rest will follow soon I promise!

*note* these were adaptations from patterns I found online, I modified them for various reasons so as a. not to violate any copyrights and b. to fit the sizes I wanted, as well as making any changes I wanted to, like making the filling easier to fit in the sandwiches, adding crust, knitting the strawberry flat etc.

OK, here is the pattern for the cookies:

Basic pattern (used for the chocolate chip cookies, the bottoms of the frosted cookies, and both halves of the fudge striped cookies).

I'm not great at crochet patterns so bear with me.

Materials--I used various worsted weight acrylic cheap yarn. I Love This Yarn is a good one, Caron Simply Soft is another. Cotton seemed a bit harder to work with so I avoided it.

Crochet hook, I used a size F/6 but that may vary on how tight you crochet. You want a nice tight fabric so that they hold their shape.

Start a circle the way you normally do, I know everyone does them differently. I did a loose slip knot, ch2, then sc 6 in the slipknot. Join together with a slip stitch, ch1, then do 2 sc in every stitch for the round. I use a safety pin style stitch marker to mark the beginning of the round. Round 2, ch 1, *sc in first stitch, 2 sc in second stitch * repeat from * around. Next round, ch 1, *sc in first 2 sts, 2 sc in 3rd st.* repeat from *. This is where I stopped, but you can make them bigger by continuing this pattern, just adding one more sc stitch each round. Fasten off and weave in end. I left the ends VERY long so I could use them for seaming later. Clear as mud? Like I said, I'm not really a crocheter so it is hard for me to explain what I did but if you're confused feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help you.

Variations:
Chocolate chip cookie: make 2 rounds exactly the same out of cookie dough colored yarn. Add chocolate chips by making french knots on the right side of the cookie, leaving the strands between knots on the back. Do this to both sides then oversew the edges together, with the wrong sides facing eachother.

fudge striped cookie--make one round in cookie dough color, one in a dark brown chocolate color. Use the tail from the cookie dough color to sew them together but leave the brown tail on the outside. Make backstitch lines across the cookie with the fudge color, keeping the ends of the yarn between the cookies and not all the way thru to the fudge.

frosted cookie: make the normal cookie, then make another in the frosting color with one less round so it is a little smaller. I used a yarn with sequins in it, but I did NOT like working with that yarn as the sequins kept getting stuck and made it difficult to make even stitches, especially for a novice crocheter like me. you can also sew beads on for the sprinkles after the frosting is made, or do french knots like on the chocolate chip cookie. Sew the frosting onto the cookie using the tail from the frosting.

OK, hope that is clear, if not please let me know.

I will post more later, it is getting late and this pregnant momma is TIRED. Oh, baby did not show us anything at the last sonogram, but we have one on Tuesday and I'm optimistic that we'll find out if it is a boy or girl then. I will be 19 weeks, and since it is a longer, more detailed sonogram than the last one hopefully we'll see something. I may drink something sugary and caffinated beforehand to make sure the baby is awake and moving. :-) So far though I feel great!

Happy knitting (or crocheting!)