D'oh!

Did I say something about a prize Monday? Yes? Well, ok, so it's Thursday and I PM'd Amy that she won. Guess her liking purple affected the random number generator.

Ok, not feeling very blog chatty, but wanted to give you that update and to thank everyone for their birthday wishes. Had a very nice weekend. Here are pictures.

Stay until the end, there will be a prize

Holy moly! It's almost my birthday and I think this might be my first post in October. Where did the time go?

Ok, so quick recap:
Went to Yarn Con with Jen (it didn't rain!) and her youngest and had a great time. Got a great print from Franklin (um, it's not on his Etsy site, but it's cool). Also got a couple of skeins of Sophie's Toes for Helena in Crimson for M's birthday (more on that later). Got a couple things for my Rubbernecker swap-ee.

Got great things from my Rubbernecker swapper (not the same person to whom I sent stuff). Don't believe me, check out all the goodies on the right. That beautiful Fiddlesticks pattern is just right for the laceweight she sent, but I need to find the perfect scarf pattern for the Peace Fleece sock yarn (because I just don't love doing socks).

What else? M is almost walking, she loves holding onto my (or anyone's) fingers and walking around. She can do "Touchdown" and loves to clap and point at things. For a while she seemed to forsake waving for clapping, but will now do both. She is also wearing hats again, which is good since it's getting colder here.

Ok, so this is (at least in theory) a knitting blog, right? And I think I mentioned above something about M's birthday sweater. Well, I bought Sophie's Toes to make it because, YUM! In doing so, however, I disregarded the yarn requirements of the pattern (Helena) which specifically stated DK weight... Sophie's Toes, being sock yarn (get it?) is fingering weight, so instead of 5.5 stitches per inch I was getting 7. Even if I had done the pattern in its largest size, it would have fit M now, and I want it to be a bit big so she can grow into it. So, after trying to work out the maths, D suggested that maybe I should just go get yarn that worked. So, without further ado, I headed up to Wool and Co. to get DK weight yarn. I looked at Jojoland Rhythm, but in the end, picked Artyarns Ultramerino 6 because it was a hot pink that was just too pretty to pass up (pictures later). The sweater is now coming along very nicely. And I'm thinking the Sophie's Toes might have to become the beaded shawl in the Fall 2008 Vogue Knitting.

I also made M. an earflap hat. I don't know what the yarn is, but it is soft. I didn't love it in the skein, but when it was wound into a ball, it got lots prettier... weird. Anyway, there is no pattern, I made it up as I went, lots of ripping on the crocheted part to get it how I wanted. I used a crochet cast-on where you crochet over a knitting needle; then I knit up a few rows. After I had given the edge a little room, I went back down and crocheted the bottom; then went back to the top to finish knitting. I think it turned out pretty cute and alternates between looking like an old-time football helmet and a dwarf battle helmet. Got some fleece to line it and a ribbon to sew to the earflaps so she keeps it on better. Haven't done that yet, though.

Started another earflap hat for her in Malabrigo... but I'm thinking I might start over with a different pattern because I don't feel like working worsted Malabrigo on size 4 needles. Will probably line that one, too.

I started knitting a small blanket from yarn left over from a baby project I started years ago (twice) but hated. I thought I just hated making baby pants, but now that I'm working the blanket, I realize I hate the yarn. Today, I decided, the heck with it, and I will be rescuing my needles from splitty, squeaky ass-crylic hell and throwing away the yarn.

Wow, I should really go to bed, but first, the prize. Since I'm turning 30 this Friday (technically tomorrow, now) I will give away some yarn. How about two skeins of Cascade Sassy Stripes sock yarn. That'll get you a cute kicky pair of socks. Or, if you like cotton, I have cotton yarn you can have, nice cotton, just cotton doesn't like me knitting with it. Your choice. Winner decided by random number pull. On Monday. I know it's not that exciting, but, a little free yarn never hurt, right?

A trip down the Fox

On Saturday, we went on a Knitting Cruisette up and down the Fox River with Wool and Company. If you'd like pictures, go see Lynette; I brought my camera, but forgot to take any pictures. Anyway, it was postponed from the previous Sunday because of the torrential rains we had. The river was still high, but it was a beautiful sunny and warm day; perfect day to be out on the river. And, it was M.'s first boat trip! She seemed to enjoy herself, although she wouldn't keep her sun hat on... she used to be good about it.

In knitting news, I am still working on my dad's birthday sweater. The back now has progressed beyond the first skein, so that is new progress. I'll take it up to the arm holes, then work on the front. Since I'm adjusting the pattern so much (making set-in sleeves where there were drop-shoulders) I think it's best if I do both sides at the same time.

In non-knitting news, please click on the dragon eggs in my sidebar... little guys need some love.

And, since it's been lovely out, here's a picture of M. on the swings at the park:

Time flies

I happened to get a very nice comment on my last post today. Knifty Red gave me an award:

Isn't that sweet? It really made my day so much better! So, here are the rules:

1. Post the award on your blog (done)
2. Add a link to the person who gave you the award (done, go check out her blog!)
   
3. Nominate 4 others and leave comments on their blogs so they can pass it on.

So, here are my nominations:

KnitterSue is a prolific knitter Down Under with a couple of lovely children. Also a complete sweetheart.

Dyed in the Wool is a knitter and designer who battles M.E. and still produces beautiful things and is fun to read!

djennerosity is a knitter and spinner who I actually know in person and is a kick to hang out with (also fun are her adorable daughters). I love her posts.

Licensed2Knit is a knitter and sewer and I love reading her posts because I don't get to see her as much as I used to.

Now, I know I promised you Stitches fun. Well, it's been a while, so here is a short summary:

• Shirtless men handed out little samples of SWTC and temporary tattoos.
• Wool and Co. had a lovely booth, and were nice enough to let me sit in the corner to nurse M.
• Webs had a huge booth with lots of goodies.
• Toni from The Fold was there with a lot of goodies.
• I got a free skein of Malabrigo's new sock yarn that will be available in the US in October, just for the asking.
• Habu also had so many cool things.
• I went with Jen and so it rained, of course. Just to warn you all, we will be going to Yarn Con on October 4, so it will rain then. It will be inside, though, so no worries.

We had a very nice time. Going to yarn events with Jen is guaranteed to be fun.

Speaking of rain, however, it can stop any time it would like. We've had a really rainy weekend... 6" in the Chicagoland area, which is a record for one day.

In M. news, she's practicing standing by standing up without support for a few And she's figured out how to get back down the steps into the family room on her own. And she's started pointing at the pictures of herself that come up on the screen saver. M. has also realized that if she holds something in her mouth, she can still bring it with her, but can crawl more easily than whenseconds at a time. it is in her hand... she looks a bit like Fido! She also loves to push the lid off the storage ottoman to rip out the diapers. As soon as I put them back in and put the lid on, she's back at them pulling them out and shaking them around!

We had a nice time at Wool and Co. this Friday. You can see her hanging out with the wonderfully funny Carol, who held her for a while so I could get some knitting in. She's been teething, but Jen and Nan were also able to calm her down.

Alrighty, that's all for now. Thanks for reading!

M. Likes Broccoli!

I gave M. broccoli last night for the first time. I had steamed some and gave her little bits and not only did she try it, but she liked it and had seconds! I was truly amazed ... I only eat broccoli because I know I should because it is good for me. She also had some corn and brown rice. This morning it was Cheerios and cherries. I am so lucky that so far she is a very good eater.

Ok, so you'd like to know about my Olympic fail? Here goes:

For my dad's birthday, I decided to make Alice Starmore's Na Craga for him. We picked out the yarn (Cascade 220) before I found the right pattern, though, so the gauge wasn't the same. Also, the sweater, as designed, is drop shouldered and baggy, not the look my dad goes for... he's 5'8", baggy just isn't good. So, I figured with that in mind, I would just start knitting the smallest size and work up to the arm holes (where I was going to make a modified drop sleeve) and then see how that fit him when I went to visit in August. So, I worked on the sweater for a while. I started thinking, at some point, that it might be a little small. So, with a new ball of yarn, I started knitting again, but the next size up. I finished that skein of yarn and took both the pieces to California.

Oh, I started at the very beginning with a sleeve, but the increases were too rapid in the pattern, so instead of dealing with it, I decided to wait to do the sleeves until the front and back were done.

Apparently, I think my dad is about the size of a 16 year old boy. Maybe I think he's 18. Anyway, the point is that both the smaller and medium sized "swatches" I did were too small. By a lot. Ugh. So, I did some figuring and some calculating based on these pieces I did. I decided I would just add more side panel repeats since they were not so dense and would be more flattering than adding more cable-y repeats. Figured out what I should be casting on and started knitting, ripping out the medium size as I knit.

I should point out that somewhere in there the Ravelympics sign ups happened and I signed up for WIP (Work in Progress) Wrestling for Team Rubberneckers. The rules stated that for other projects the only thing you could knit of your item before the opening ceremonies was a gauge swatch. It was around the time of the opening ceremonies that I discovered that what I had knit really was just a gauge swatch, and the WIP Wrestling wasn't really where I belonged, but that was ok, I would plow forward.

So, I knit and knit the new size. As I was knitting, I took a look at it and thought, gee, it's kind of big. But, considering I had thought the other size was just fine and it was too small, I thought I just had a skewed idea of size; I continued knitting. When I almost finished that first skein (again), I still thought it might be a little big, so I got out the tape measure and lo and behold, it was too big. In my calculations, I had forgotten that the side panels that had fewer stitches to the inch, which is precisely why they were less dense. I needed to drop a repeat on each side. Grrr.

Once again, I casted on and knit; this time there was enough of the skein left that I could do a couple repeats of the ribbing before taking the old panel off the needles and ripping back. There was a little more fussing and such, but now, well after the Olympics are over, I'm on my way to a sweater of the right size.

The Na Craga is a drop saddle shoulder, which, as I have mentioned was not ideal. I had planned on doing a modified-drop saddle, however, in Ann Budd's book of sweater patterns, her saddle shoulder is worked on a set in sleeve! It is perfect, and the side panels will be easy to make work with a set in sleeve.

Sorry, I don't even know if that made sense. Here's a picture of the Bean to make up for it:

And Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

Yarn Stores in California

I know I'm behind on posts, because after this one, I've got to post about Stitches Midwest. Also, I've been back from California for a week and a half.

We got out to my parents' on a Saturday, and the next Saturday, M. and I went with my mom on her usual trip to the Farmers' Market. We met up with friends my mom meets there most Saturdays and headed to La Bou for breakfast and chatting. When I mentioned yarn shops, one of them said to go to Babetta's Yarn and Gifts, that it was really nice. So, of course I had to go.

My mom and I went on a Monday afternoon and noticed a sign that announced that Babetta's coffee shop would be coming soon. A coffee shop in the same corner shops that had been there for many years had recently closed and she was getting the permitting required to help fill the void, not just for knitters, but everyone, which I thought was not only a good business idea, but very nice. Anyway, the store: SO MUCH YARN!!! Now, as I have mentioned, Wool and Company is my favorite LYS. They have a really large selection, which is only one of the reasons I like it so much. Babetta's has more. Lots. They have more room and just tons of yarn, and even fiber to make yarn. And books. And did I mention the yarn? Babetta herself is such a kind person, if I lived near there, it would be my LYS of choice. The only criticism I had, and it is minor, is that is was a bit disheveled; although I have to say, that considering she is trying to make room for a coffee shop, it wasn't bad. There is yarn everywhere, and a nice seating area for you to peruse the books or sit and knit. I only ended up getting a little fiber, though. I got this beautiful blue mix of wool, silk, alpaca, Angelina and who knows what else, hand carded by a woman in Nebraska (I couldn't get a picture that showed the depth of the color). But, it is not for me. I also got this cultivated silk... look at that sheen. So pretty.

That Wednesday we all took a trip up to Grass Valley. Fibers gave out a free bag pattern on Earth Day, and I wanted to see the shop it came from. It's in the downtown of Grass Valley, which is quite cute. The shop itself isn't very big, but it has nice yarn and the woman helping me was really very sweet. She had a hard copy of the pattern and showed me what yarns would be good for it. It is actually three string bag patterns on one page, and the best thing (having been to the Farmers' Market in Naperville) is the bags have two handles. I got some K1C2 2nd-Time Cotton to make at least one of the bags. I have two beige skeins, so I might do a two color thing. I also got four skeins of Frog Tree sport weight alpaca. Loved the color, thought M. needed some sort of sweater/dress out of this yarn. The last purchase was a little itty-bitty hand-dyed, handspun souvenir skein as a goody for someone.

After Fibers, we went to Fabrics on Mill Street, which, in case you are there and do any sort of sewing, is a beautiful open bright shop with great customer service, lots of patterns, and a good selection of fabrics, including fashion fabrics.

Before we went home, we had lunch, but I can't remember the name of the restaurant. We ate outside on the patio, which was great, except for the flies. M. liked my french fries (and my dad's avacado and chicken), and even at the lemon we gave her.
She did make the shivery-body-lemon-face, but continued eating it. Silly girl :)

Oh, and here is the family portrait of the animals that did not come to California with us, but did follow us home:
And I just realized that I still didn't tell you about my Olympic fail. Tomorrow. Really. Then Stitches.

Happy Flu

Saw it on Rabbitch's site...