Category Archives: soakers

August 1, 2009 · 8:10 am

Soakermania, round two

Spinner is growing fast, and can you believe it, WALKING!! Not a lot, he goes about three feet and then sits back down. It’s funny, when the big boys learned to walk (about 14 months) they were so excited it’s all they wanted to do. Spinner’s not even 11 months yet and he’s very ho-hum about it. Not that exciting yet, I guess. But very exciting for us!

A growing boy, of course means a growing bottom. So more soakers are in order!

This is the Picky Pants pattern again, my favorite. The wool is Blackberry Ridge merino.

The details I crocheted on, and I’m pretty pleased with how they turned out.

Although my snail does look mad.

I have another pair OTN that are nearly done. But I also have quilted curtains to finish sewing (didn’t know I was up to that, did you?) and a stairwell to paint. Spinner is getting baptized next weekend and we have family coming who haven’t been here for a few years, so I’m feeling the pressure to spruce things up. Wish me luck since I haven’t even started sewing Spinner’s baptism outfit yet. Yikes!!

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Filed under knitting, soakers

February 2, 2009 · 11:16 pm

That time of year again…

Knitters’ Coffee Swap IV!!!

QUESTIONS
1. Whole bean or ground? Whole Bean.

2. Fully-loaded or decaf? Finally, I can be back on the caffeine, yay!!

3. Regular or flavored? Plain old beans for me please. I OD’d on flavored coffees back in college.

4. How do you drink your coffee? Black first thing in the morning. With milk later in the day.

5. Favorite coffee ever? Birchwood blend from Peace Coffee. Absolute heaven!

6. Are you fussy about your coffee or will any old bean do? Oh yeah, I’m fussy. Fresh roasted, stuff from smaller roasters is my fave. Organic, fair trade.

7. Favorite treats to have with your coffee? chocolate, chocolate, chocolate!! And scones.

8. Anything else about your coffee preferences? I like medium roast the best. Not a big fan of French roast.

9. Yarn/fiber you love? Natural fibers, handpaints, Indie dyers, Purewool, Malabrigo….

10. Yarn/fiber you hate? Anything fake. And I don’t hate it, but I’m drowning in sock yarn right now. 🙂

11. What’s on your needles? Ubernatural (bulky sweater) lots of socks, a hat for me, baby legwarmers…

12. Favorite colors? I pretty much love everything, although I’m not a big fan of bright purple or purple/pink combined. I’ve really been loving oranges, greens and blues these days.

13. Allergies? nope

14. Anything you really love, really don’t like, or just need to get off your chest? I especially love local stuff that I can’t find around here, or online/indie stuff. Now…how did it get to be 10pm already??

Spinner rolling around in his latest Picky Pants knit in Mosaic Moon‘s BFL, colorway “Selkie.”

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Tagged as Mosaic Moon, picky pants

January 17, 2009 · 8:48 am

Knits are not scary.

Wow, it’s been a week. We’ve had brutal cold, and I usually don’t mind cold. But this was a bit too much for me.(What does it say about me that -40 windchill is “a bit too much?” Must be the wool). How do we keep warm around here in this cold? Roasted apples, of course:

I love what they come up with. I hate having to use my flash.

Spinner’s been busy rolling over and has been working hard to roll across the living room. That’s good news. The other good news is that he is sporting some new soakers and longies due to the fact that I’ve finally gotten over my fear of sewing with knits. I’ve had 5 yards of gorgeous wool interlock hiding under the bed. Why this fabric was so scary to me, I don’t know, but here are the results:

I need to tweak the pattern I came up with. I started with a pajama pants pattern in six 6-12 months, modified the length and added the cuffs. I then added on a waistband. Unfortunately the top is still too big. Since the waistband is added on top and the original pattern requires you to fold over and use elastic, the measurements are still off, but not my much. I’ll keep playing with it.

I recycled a sweater too:

I used the Little Comet Tails pattern for this one. What a well written, excellent pattern! I can whip one of these out in 30 minutes. I made one other out of the interlock with some trim from another merino sweater I recycled. And to think all I needed was a ball tip needle on my sewing machine. Now if I only had a serger….

So my bad news? Poor Knittykid needs another attempt at having his cavities filled , as well as a crown. I’ve been busy sorting through the world of children’s dental work/sedation/anesthesia + dental insurance, medical insurance, three-tiered systems…Crap, it’s complicated and I just want my poor guy’s teeth fixed the in best way possible for him. It’s looking like the dentist with no patience who originally tried to fill his teeth is going to cost us a about $2500 and a lot worries for Knittykid.

So I’m hoping for a relaxing weekend. I’ve also been back at work now the last two weeks…thank god I only work part time and the Skeptic is home those days. I’d really be stressed if I actually had to get the kids out of the house too. But The Grandparents will be making an appearance later this morning and will be here ’till Sunday. Time to fold laundry, knit a bit by the fireplace, bake cupcakes and enjoy some good company. Have a lovely weekend everyone!

8 Comments

Filed under family, kids, pants, soakers, Uncategorized

Tagged as Little Comet Tails, longies, soakers, wool interlock

November 24, 2008 · 2:33 pm

A Story and a Soaker

So ages ago I repaired some gorgeous fair-isle mittens for a friend. I was completely in love with them, and even more so when I found out who made them.

See this loveliness? Her great-grandpa knit these for her grandmother (born 1916) when she was a young woman. Her name is even knit into these.

I guess the story goes that he injured himself in an electrocution accident while at work. His doctor prescribed knitting as a way to get the agility back in his hands. Obviously he took to it because these are absolutely beautiful!!

Now this same friend has a son a few months older than Spinner. Continuing on with my soakermania I just finished a pair of Picky Pants for him. Now when he and Spinner are hanging out they can both be super cute together in all their wooly goodness.

He’s obviously pleased with them and knows he looks quite smart. The yarn is more Blackberry Ridge Kaleidoscope. Love that stuff, it hardly pills at all.

And now to sum it all up, despite a horrific experience with dishcloth cotton a couple of years ago, this friend has succumbed to the wool. Not only is she now knitting, but she is the proud owner of a skein of Koigu, a skein of Malabrigo, and she got her Ravelry invite this morning. There’s no going back for her now!

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Filed under finished objects, knitting, mittens, random, soakers

Tagged as antique knitting, friends, picky pants, soaker

September 2, 2008 · 8:42 pm

37.5

Weeks that is. We’re hoping baby gives us at least one more week so Little Man can get through his first few days of kindergarten (which starts Thursday! Yes, I’m freaking out just a bit…..)

Normally I would be thinking w still had at least a week or more, but we had a false alarm Sunday night, with contractions five minutes apart all night long…enough to get the Skeptic to set up the birth tub and warrant a 3:30am call to our midwife. But they fizzled out late in the morning. However, baby has dropped and is definitely thinking about it. My contractions have picked up again tonight, on and off, so only baby really knows! 🙂

Anyway, now’s the time to take a guess! Boy or girl? Birthday? (Due date is 9/18 but both my boys were early by a week or so).

I may or may not post again until after the birth. Probably not, unless baby is fooling me and plans to hang around a few more weeks. I’ll leave you with the last soakers I made along with the last spinning I’ve done. A little more fiber before it’s all baby, all the time for awhile!

Picky Pants and Curly Purly soaker, made with yarn from Western Sky Knits:

Spinner’s Web, Promethean:

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Tagged as curly purly, picky pants, spinner's web, western sky

August 3, 2008 · 10:14 am

Soaker, toddler style

The soaker love just doesn’t stop around here. I’ve never knit so many versions of the same two patterns.

Of course, Knittykid decided to grow out of his soakers this summer, so he got a new one too and has two more in the works. This one is also the Picky Pants (love this pattern!!) and is made up of various leftovers I’ve had around.

Here’s the modeling shot:

And the regular shot:

Knittykid is totally digging them, but with all the potty learning (or NOT learning) that’s going on these days the diapers don’t stay on too long. Of course, there has been zero actual success on the potty but you’ve got to start somewhere, right? He’s interested, he’s excited, he’s just totally making imaginary potty that he is quite proud of.

I’ve got more baby soakers to show off but it’s cleaning time before I go off for a blissful afternoon of prenatal yoga and my monthly spinning group. Can’t beat that! Then my mom and Grandma show up tonight to stay for a WEEK 🙂 of help so I can actually get ready for this baby. We’re on week 33 now, and the countdown is freaking me out a little bit. Between my lack of organization and the fact that our sunroom has no curtains (which is where the birth tub is going) I’ve got lots to do in the next few weeks!

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Filed under finished objects, kids, knitting, soakers

Tagged as picky pants, soakers

June 25, 2008 · 9:56 pm

Soakermania!!

Chicago was fun, but wore me out! I did make it to Loopy Yarns and Nina and had a nice visit at both shops. I picked up some BFL Fleece Artist to make some longies for Knittykid and a skein of Malabrigo silk and merino to make a cowl for myself.

I promised more FO’s to show off, and I’ve got a heap of soakers that I’ve finished up.

The first two are all the Curly Purly pattern. I like this pattern for babies who are not on their toes yet. It relies on just ribbing to keep them up, so once you have a toddler they may fall down. But for newborns, you couldn’t have an easier pattern!

This first one is Knitpicks Wool of the Andes.

This next one is Blackberry Ridge Kaleidoscope in Firecracker. So nice and soft!

The next one isn’t finished but the trim is in what I think is a Cascade wool/llama blend (very soft) and the dark brown is a Classic Elite tweed.

Lastly, this one is a small size using the Little Turtle Knits Undersoaker pattern. See that bulge under the waistband? Yup, I messed up the elastic and have to go back and fix it. Bummer. But the yarn is to die for! It was dyed by Lia over at Fruity Sheep and is a super soft Peruvian. Very nice!