Knittymama

March 21, 2011 · 9:24 am

Look who’s FIVE!!

My Knittykid……

(Modeling his new Balaclava that he had to have even though it is technically Spring. Because we’re all about spies here these days.)

He’s all sweetness and gentleness with the most generous heart I’ve ever seen in such a little kid. The quiet, thoughtful one,who still has his very loud moments, of course! My little artist who loves to draw, who has also developed a remote control car obsession lately (so guess what he’ll be opening later today?). My snuggler, who still needs to have at least one arm wrapped around me when he falls asleep. He amazes me every single day!

Happy birthday Knittykid!!

4 Comments

Filed under family, finished objects, hats

March 14, 2011 · 9:47 pm

An End in Sight

Today brought the sunshine here in Minnesota, and as much as I loved the cold, crispy 20F walk to the bus stop this morning, it was nice to enjoy the sunny, warm and very melty walk to the bus stop this afternoon. The end of winter is in sight, and although it is one of my favorite seasons all this snow in the city means it’s a pain to get around. I’m tired of climbing mountains and trying to squeeze small people into the min-van in between piles of snow. I’m also ready to be done with the “where is my mitten??!!! (shriek loudly, repeat, repeat, repeat) saga we seem to go through with at least one boy a day. I’m also ready to be done fighting with Spinner about the fact that yes, you do need to wear a coat outside when it is below freezing, and then even a little above freezing. So and end to winter? Yes, I think I’m ready for it.

I’m also ready for the end of this:

This beautiful, 100% alpaca pile of stockinette and ribbing is destined to be Jared Flood’s Redhook. Did I even mention I cast on for this? Probably not. I think I started it in October? I know I started it at a visit to my parents. Either way, it’s been long enough. But add a button band and I’m DONE.

This item is more painful. Destined to be Xeriscope in Madelinetosh DK, color Mare. Except I do not pay attention to details, apparently, and think that 225 yards is the same as 250. So my scarf is a foot from being done, I am out of yarn, and not a skein of Mare is to be found. And I’m not even sure I want to spend another $20 anyway. Plus it’s not as drapey as I’d like; I think I should go up a needle size. So I might need to frog this one and begin over with a different yarn. Sigh. And another sigh.

You would do……?

8 Comments

Filed under knitting, scarf, sweaters, WIP

March 9, 2011 · 11:00 pm

Pretty Easy

1/2 yard single gauze (I used Nani Iro. You might find some if you dig around on Etsy. Double gauze would work as well.)

1/2 yard silk or silk poly blend.

Cut each in half across the grain, selvage to selvage (so you have two long pieces).

Trim so they are even (mine were about 8.5 inches wide)

Sew each set together (at the ends) so you end up with two very long pieces.

Trim to 72 inches.

Sew right sides together, leaving one end open.

Turn right side out.

Iron.

Top stitch around the edges.

Admire.

3 Comments

Filed under scarf, sewing, tutorial

Tagged as gauze, Nani Iro, postaweek2011, scarf

March 2, 2011 · 10:05 pm

2.5 pounds

That’s what I plan to shed over the next 2.5 months….in fiber of course!

I realized this weekend that my spinning wheel has been sitting sad and lonely in the corner for months now, and it was time to remedy that. Also, it’s only 2.5 months until Shepherd’s Harvest. If I want to be able to allow myself my one big shopping spree a year, I need to clear house a bit.

This weeks effort is a merino silk blend. I’m spinning worsted style, inch-worming it with a forward draw. Absolutely no spin let into the drafting triangle, which is something I haven’t done in awhile. My spinning plan these next couple of months is to really try a bit of everything.

The best part of spinning this weekend? When Spinner and Knittykid both sat down to watch me spin, and Knittykid said in a confused voice, “Why do you have to DO that?”

4 Comments

Filed under handspun, spinning, stash

Tagged as postaweek2011

February 24, 2011 · 10:20 pm

A Quilt

Mod Sampler Quilt.

First quilt ever pieced, second to be completed.

This quilt is for ME. It is girly and pink and most certainly to have pizza sauce fingerprints smeared on it any day now. I am insisting on keeping it in the sunroom and using it despite its delicate nature.

Obligatory “boys jumping around on the quilt” photos.

And yes, I did free motion this baby, and hand bind it was well, thank you. I’ve very brave like that.

And thank you to my dear friend Annik for ~~forcing~~ convincing me to make this quilt and pushing me off the quilting cliff. I like it here.

15 Comments

Filed under Quilting

Tagged as Mod Sampler Quilt, modern quilting, postaweek2011

February 9, 2011 · 10:06 pm

You are seeing:

A. A very pretty scarf that I made over the weekend.

B. A large floral life preserver that I made over the weekend.

C. A wife who is annoyed that she has to have her picture taken in the shop by her husband who keeps saying, “It’s just really BIG, don’t you think?”

What’s your guess?

I’m undecided. And you CAN pick B if you think so.

The scarf, by the way, is from a Anna Maria Horner kit. Her post and tutorial here. Of course, it looks gorgeous on her. Still my favorite fabric designer ever, I have to say. Her fabric always stands out to me, and I love that she got the whole voile/flannel/velveteen thing going! Very smart.

9 Comments

Filed under pattern, sewing

Tagged as anna maria horner, Figure Eight Scarf, Innocent Crush, postaweek2011

February 2, 2011 · 10:46 pm

A wedding quilt

This was down to the wire, finished up at 1am the night before my brother’s wedding in December. A quilt for two very amazing people, the first quilt I’ve ever finished up completely. A quilt that I hope will see my wonderful brother and sister-in-law through many, many years of love, joy and happiness.

I wish I had a better picture, but I barely had a chance to snap this one at the gift opening. You can see Knittykid being very thoughtful about it. I think he was actually quite impressed with his mother.

The pattern is called Sanctuary and it’s in the second issue of Fat Quarterly. (My new favorite online quilting magazine). Quilt Dad is it’s creator, and it was a fairly easy pattern to put together. I’d recommend it highly if you’re a new quilter.

13 Comments

Filed under giving, Quilting

Tagged as modern quilting, postaweek2011, sanctuary quilt

January 27, 2011 · 10:19 pm

Three thoughts

Have you run across this book?

It came out last year and I never ran across it until I was browsing through the latest at my library. I was smitten with the cover so I took a look and realized three things:

1. I was really, really excited about knitting these socks. They are thick and warm and up to your knees with beautiful colorwork and stitch patterns. They look warm. Did I say warm? They look really, really warm.

2. Unless you live in a state that borders Canada (like myself) or if of course you live in Canada, or have family in such a situation, you will have absolutely no use for this book.

3. The stylist must have fallen and hit his/her head before planning these photo shoots, because no normal person would make a guy tuck his pants into his socks, especially green pants with white socks and black hightops. If you don’t meet requirement #2 above, I recommend checking this out from the library just to see the poor guy with his tucked in socks.

That said, if you had to pick a favorite sock book today, what would it be?

4 Comments

Filed under books, socks

Tagged as postaweek2011

January 19, 2011 · 11:09 pm

I am easily distracted

So after my last post and a bit of thinking, I realized that despite the busyness, I want to be posting more. I want to be writing more and I miss it. I thought about this challenge:

I can handle that. It doesn’t even need to be anything big, right?

Right.

Then, two things happened:

1. I watched Twilight for the first time, and decided I needed to read the books.

2. I bought a shiny new Nook Color with my Christmas money, enabling me to buy all the Twilight books, one right after the other. For example……while I’m ~~hiding in the kitchen reading~~ cooking dinner or when I’m staying up until ~~1:30 in the morning~~ 10pm.

Needless to say, I was done for and spent the last week and a half with nothing but Bella and Edward on my mind. And yes, I know, not exactly the best writing in the world, but it’s a wicked story and I’m a sucker for a good romance.

So post-a-week had to wait two weeks, but now I’m seriously hoping to get a bit of focus back on this thing. No promises of course, I’ve learned at this point in my life I should commit to very little. But let’s say I’m inspired again and that is exciting. And I can at least promise not to go crackers and turn this into a Bella and Edward blog. I will stick to knitting and sewing and how to raise three boys without going crazy.*

And because I owe you a picture and a finished object:

My Ostrich Plumes shawl, finished and blocked two days before my brother’s wedding. Raveled here.

And yes, the Nook Color is awesome, and I have wasted just as much time messing around with it as I have reading.Not just for reading, it is the new knitting tool of my dreams…..every PDF I have easily carried in my knitting bag, with access to Ravelry wherever there is wifi.

*Hide from them, read cheesy vampire romance novels, and feed them cereal for dinner when they come looking for food.

9 Comments

Filed under finished objects, knitting, shawls

Tagged as KNitting 24/7, lace, ostirch plumes, postaweek2011, Veronik Avery

January 3, 2011 · 11:49 pm

2010 in review (thank you WordPress)

Apparently, WordPress wanted to remind me that I have a blog and people actually do read it. They sent me this nice little report, which reminded me that I have sort of forgot about the poor blog in the craziness of the last few months. I think this might be the longest break between posts that I’ve ever had, at least in an unannounced-fall-off-the-planet sort of way.

Last year, despite what WordPress says, I was a bit lame in my blogging skills and have struggled quite a bit trying to figure out just what to do and what to write. Blogging has changed a lot in the five years I’ve been at this. This has gone from a purely project based knitting blog to a blog about my life. I never intended it to be that way, but it’s made me remember how much I like to write and how much I enjoy sharing my writing with others. And I’m always amazed that so many of you keep coming back to read, whether it’s because you like what I’m making or you like what ridiculous thing my boys have done lately. Perhaps both?

Then there is the whole time factor thing. I seem to have fewer and fewer hours in the day, and more and more that I want to do. And I will guiltily admit that Facebook keeps stealing my blog posts; funny stories with pictures meant to be blogged turn into quick, one sentence musings while the onions fry on the stove and a little boy screams “Mooommmmm!!!” Not enough hours in a day, and so much that I want to do.

Which brings me to the point of this post. Last year I often thought that I should just hang it up, call it a good five years and be done with it this blog. But, I still like writing it and I still have readers. And just like all the other things I love to do, I’d rather dip my toes into a bit of everything right now than give something up. So this will be the year of random accomplishments for me. I’ll sew when I feel like sewing, knit when I want to knit, spin when I want to spin and blog when I want to blog. That means I’m not going to worry so much that I don’t post every week anymore. If I show up here once a month, that’s fine. If it’s more, that’s fine too. I’ll keep sharing what I’m making as well as what the boys are breaking. (The coffee table this week, in case you’re wondering!)

Thanks for reading and happy 2011!! I do have lots of FO to show off from the last two months, but I’ll save that for the next post. In the meantime, enjoy the wacky WordPress stats, and if anyone can tell me what astrakhan.nigella is I’d be much obliged, as it doesn’t ring a bell.

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The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

Healthy blog!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Wow.

Crunchy numbers

A helper monkey made this abstract painting, inspired by your stats.

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 9,000 times in 2010. That’s about 22 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 38 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 395 posts. There were 16 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 4mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was January 6th with 368 views. The most popular post that day was Twelve Years.