Category: Knitting

Creative Juices are Flowing

Marie Haigh2 Comments

Though I feel like my mind has been muddied since Uncle Willie’s death, it must have woken up the creative side of my mind. After months of not coming up with any good knitting designs, I’ve made a list of 8 not too shabby ideas in a week.

Two days ago I cast on for a new project that will hopefully become my next published pattern.

I’m using Eos by Unique Sheep to test out the pattern.

I had some leftover from the Something Blue stole that I designed for them 3 years ago.

It is good to be back in the saddle again. I had missed the rush of dreaming up a new design, crunching the numbers, picking out the perfect yarn, feeling the yarn slide through my fingers and watching the pattern take shape.

Not Knitting

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The waistband on Elly’s wool soakers is finished.

Not much else is. My knitting has once again been placed on the back burner. What is more important than knitting now? Packing for our vacation. We’re headed to Mexico!

Elly has a passport and a bikini. She’s ready.

Actually, it’s amazing how somebody so small could need to take so much stuff. We are following the advice of my best friend who has been traveling with her son since he was 12 months old. “Pack for the worst scenario; hope for the best” she says. So, we’re taking everything you need for a sick child and everything you need for a healthy child.

Finished!

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According to my Ravelry project page, it only took me 1.5 years to complete.

To be honest, it’s not truly finished. I need to single crochet an edging. Of course, first I need to relearn how to crochet. Afraid that it wold take me another 2 years to add the edging, I called my mother-in-law to ask for help. Not only did she agree to crochet the edging, she agreed to do it while on vacation in Mexico. Isn’t she wonderful? I didn’t even have to bribe her with chocolate.

After the edging is on, I’ll give the blanket a good blocking. Then, it will be truly finished.

Of course, I’m not waiting for the banket to be completely finished before casting on a new project. My little girl NEEDS wool soakers. I have gorgeous wool just begging to be knit into a soaker. Besides the quicker I make Elly a soaker, the quicker I can start the project I’m head over heels for: Mommy and me ponchos.

Trapped Indoors

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Old Man Winter dumped a foot of snow on us over the course of the last two days.

In front of our neightbor’s house, you can barely see our car sticking out of the snow. It took Dan 1.5 hours to unearth it.

Despite being stuck indoors, I’ve only managed to seam up half of the blanket. Elly’s bithday is less than a week away and this is her main gift from her Daddy and I. Ack!

On the plus side, I didn’t have to hunt down instructions on how to make a mattress stitch. I picked up the blunt sewing needle and it felt like I was riding a bike; it all came rushing back.

Cloth Diapers Become a Reality

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They arrived.

Despite loving the convenience of an AIO (all-in-1 diaper) or a pocket diaper, I chose neither. My decision was based on Elly’s size. The AIO and pocket diapers I found either only went up to 35 pounds (keep in mind that Elly is already 30 pounds and not slowing down) or had reviews stating that they were snug fitting on chunky babies. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money only to find myself with the same problem a few months later: Elly outgrowing her diapers.

So I went with the old-fashioned method: prefold cloths.

There is room for growth. However, the large diaper covers are already snug on her, so I am taking Katia and Throws-Like-a-Girl’s advice.

I will knit Elly a drawer full of wool soakers. Finally, I found a project to use the gorgeous handspun wool that my MIL gifted to me. It’s so soft, perfect for touching Elly’s bare skin.

Thankfully, the pants I recently made for Elly fit over her puffy cloth diapers.

Full review of the pattern used to make the pants can be found on my sister blog.

Party Preparations

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I’ve been knitting up a storm in an attempt to gift this to Elly on her birthday.

I only have 2 weeks to sew the peices together and add the stitching. (You do know what it is, right?)

To make sure the idea I stole from the Cake Boss would work, I made Rice Krispie treats today.

The cake itself will be Devil’s Food cake topped with white and red buttercream icing.

Barely Knitting

Marie Haigh5 Comments

In the past 3 months since Elly was born, I think I have knitted 2 rows on her shawl and 8 rows on her blanket. I worry that I will never finish them.

During my little windows of free time, I prefer to cook, since I am constantly hungry, or to sew on my fancy new machine.

Yet, I miss knitting terribly. All the pretty yarn beckons to me, asking to be touched. Already my queue of items I hope to knit one day is no longer realistic.

Still I regret nothing. Elly is my pride and joy, especially when her goofy side shines through.

Yes, that is a Piglet ring around her chubby thigh.
No, I did not put it there. She did.

Stream of Diamonds

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My latest design, a lace scarf featuring Kitty Grrlz’s Beautiful Bamboo, can be located within KnitCircus‘ Spring Digital Debut, magazine Issue #9.


Photo courtesy of KnitCircus Magazine

Since it is difficult to ignore the call of the diamond’s simple and elegant shape, the Stream of Diamonds scarf features nothing but diamonds. The exterior zigzag shape was inspired by both Lily’s traditional cotton dishcloth design and Barbara Walker’s 4th Treasury book. The interior lace pattern of interconnecting diamonds is a variation of an old favorite. It was designed to be intricate, yet simple. The sample is knit in 100% bamboo for its lovely drape, sheen, and comfort of knitting (and wearing) year-round.

I hope you enjoy it.

Match and Set

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Tamsie did the impossible. She found a matching yarn for Elizabeth’s shawl!

It’s not perfect, but it’s close enough for hand grenades and horseshoes. The funny thing is that it’s the same colorway that I purchased when I tried to buy more yarn. When Colinette states that they hand dye each of their hanks and thus no two are alike, they’re not lying.

I’m still in the process of ripping back a few rows of the 1st skein of mohair so I can gradually incorporate the 2nd skein in.

Though, to be honest, most of my attention is focused on sewing the curtains for Elizabeth’s room. I am in the process of hand tacking the binding down. It didn’t really ‘need’ the binding since there were no raw edges showing, but as my neighbor would say “it adds that finishing touch”.

Not a Match

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I crossed my fingers and went with my gut instinct.

 

It didn’t work out. Clearly the mohair yarn is not from the Tapis colorway. Tamsie was right; Tapis is too dark.

Yet I can’t find another colorway in the entire Parisienne color chart that matches better. Heck I’ve even dug through the entire Ravelry database of all stashed Parisienne yarns and haven’t come up with a match. It occurred to me that the color has been discontinued, but I can’t seem to locate a list of Collinette’s discontinued colors. Google failed me. In the fine print, Colinette does mention that all their yarns are hand-dyed and thus no two skeins are the same. Perhaps that is my problem.

So, it’s back to plan B. Basically I’m going to knit every last inch of yarn that I have available and just hope that the shawl turns out big enough to wrap baby Elizabeth in. Then, I’ll knit a ‘Mommy-sized’ shawl to match.

Surprisingly, I’m not upset about my yarn shortage issues anymore. Watching the Phillies become the National League championships last night cured me of any sadness. We’re off to the World Series for the 2nd year in a row! I still can’t believe it. Nobody pinch me please.