Yoda, Finished

I finished the sweater for my friend's baby. This is my first sweater ever. I need more practice sewing up seams, but it turned out OK. The Sugar and Cream yarn was OK but not luscious, next time I might try a different yarn.



I discovered a good place for blocking (lots of air flow):


...and here's the finished project with the button and everything.

New Crate Pads

If only my turnaround time on all my projects was this quick! R and I bought the materials for new crate pads for the dogs last Thursday and here on Tuesday they are all the way done. The mattresses are convoluted foam (cut from a double-szie mattress pad) and the top is a lovely white sherpa knit furry chenille thing. The backs are ultrasuede, R picked the colors: "blue for Mar-wee and purple for Morgle." (sic) It's been a while since I've done a zipper and the first one took me two tries, but the second one went in easy enough. The two fabrics were quite dissimilar and the white knit stretched the first time I sewed the top and bottom together, but then I ripped and flipped so I was sewing with the ultrasuede on top and they came out OK. I did a lot of ripping for such a simple project, but part of that was just getting warmed up again after not having sewn in so long.

Here's a shot of the materials for a pad:


and one of us trying it out:


It's very comfortable. As I had hoped, the good foam gives quite a bit of cushioning and is breatheable, and the knit top was worth the $9 a yard cost as it doesn't detract from the texture of the foam and is a nice surface for the dogs to lie on. I did prewash the ultrasuede and it didn't run, so hopefully these will be nicely machine washable. The dogs seem to really like them, they've been playing musical crates testing them out.

In other news, I finished the other front on the baby cardigan and am onto a sleeve...

Baby Yoda Sweater

My best friend from 7th grade is due with her first baby at the beginning of next month and I really wanted to make something for him. I've never made a sweater before so I picked the Baby Yoda Sweater because it looked quick and easy. I found some fun yarn at my LYS and thought this would be a no-brainer.

It took me 3 tries to get a gauge calculation to alter the pattern (I planned to use a sport weight and the pattern is written for a worsted/heavy worsted weight.) I kept chipping away at the back which was easy stockinette knitting but kept putting it down in favor of other things, even non-knitting things.



Finally I had to admit that I just felt the colors were too girly for a first son, and that on the whole the yarn was better suited to this sweater I've been meaning to knit my daughter for ages.

I meant to go pick up some Blue Sky Alpacas cotton because I really love it, but after knitting a dishcloth in good old sugar n' cream, I decided that I'd try the Yoda sweater in it. Who knows if this late spring baby will even wear a sweater before he outgrows it, and the sugar n' cream felt OK to me and is on sale for $1.79 a ball right now at Joann. I have previously crocheted a baby blanket in this yarn and was happy with the results.

I guess this was a decision that needed to be, since after switching yarn I have been going (for me) like gangbusters on this sweater. I have the back and one of the front sides done and am halfway done (as of this morning) with the other front side. I may get it done by the end of the week!

Done!

Fast, fun, and FUN!



I think I *need* Mason-Dixon Knitting.

The Infamous Warshrag

Why? Because everyone else's is so pretty, and it looks quick. I'm very stuck.

Bit! by the $1 a yard sale

I just cannot say when when it's only a $1 per yard. "When" meaning cut me just a two-yard bit, when I know as soon as I get home I will regret leaving the remaining half yard or two yards there because, after all, it was only a $1 a yard. Sigh.



I am refusing to add this up to see how many yards it is. There's a piece (the blue) that is almost six yards, and I didn't get any less than one of any given fabric.

I was delighted to find the cotton prints. Wish I'd bought more of the ones I only got a yard of, and hoping I still feel that way in a month.

Joannstavaganza

It is a little frightening how often I've been to Joann this month. First there was the first day of the president's day sale:



Then there was the second trip during that sale, currently not pictured, to pick up the stuff I forgot on the first trip.

Then there was this trip:



which doesn't look so bad until I tell you it was a trip to pick up this:



Ten yards of upholstery fabric for reupholstering my sofa. The most expensive fabric, even at 50% off, that I've ever bought more than a fractional yard of. Surely that should have been satisfying?

Let's not forget the other crucial supplies I picked up on that trip, however,



Knitting needles for R, so she has her own.





(she's knitting me a hat, she says.)

And here's her needles, tucked in for the night:



Heaven help me, but there's a sale at Hancock's next weekend too...

Tink!

I got halfway around the round before realizing I was doing the funky double wrap thing as knit row rather than a purl row. Since I've never used this technique before the previous couple purl rows in this hat, I should have listened to the voice in my head saying, hey, this is new. But it was going sooo fast....



Tink! And purl...

Double delight!

I took my first trip to what is my locallest LYS today and am DELIGHTED. Loopy Yarns has a terrific selection of handpainted and sock yarns (and some other nice stuff too but which happens to be EXACTLY what I'm into of late...) They were super nice to R and I felt lucky both to take away what I got and to have escaped before I could do more damage:



Then when I got home, my Sewbaby order had arrived:



I love it when an internet fabric (or yarn) order is even nicer than I expected, and this was. I'm very satisfied!

(But I still might sneak out to the Joann's president's day sale tomorrow.)

Another New Toy

My new industrial snap press, which I certainly do not *need* and which caused my husband to comment about the factory aesthetic our home is aquiring (although he's the one who first broached aquiring the Variac, even though I quickly claimed a share of it to slow down my industrial coverstitch machine.)

I spent an hour last night getting to know it and finishing up these:



which have been sitting around for at least six months waiting for me to hammer snaps on them. They are quick little pantiliners made of two layers of flannel serged together. I am a total convert to "mama cloth" as it is referred to, after choosing cloth diapers for my daughter. The economic reasons and ecological reasons to choose cloth were what interested me in it in the first place, but the aesthetic reasons are why I am such a convert now. I won't go on and on but suffice it to say they are just so much more pleasant to wear than disposable things could be, and they work better for me, much to my surprise.

Fun with handpainted yarn!

I'm working on the Lake Park Hat by Marnie Maclean with the rest of that Hand Maiden Silk Cashmere and am just *loving* the way the handpainted yarn moves both horizontally and vertically in the slipped stitch pattern. Not only do the colors dance on the surface of the finished fabric but in knitting it you get to play with the colors as the slipped stitches pull different colors from previous rows:



I'm not loving the way the colors are pooling but it's improving on this second repeat, so I have hopes that the finished product will still be as attractive as the yarn.

First first sock

One down, one cast on.

Fan and Feather Scarf

Can I just start by saying I adore this yarn so much?



The colors are so rich, it has that good silk smell, it feels awesome and is perfectly dreamy to knit with. Lucky for me Romni only had one skein or I'd be so broke. I can't tell which colorway it is, I've spent far too much time on the internet looking at Hand Maiden trying to figure it out. It's a little like Paris, but not purple or green enough, evocative of Bronze but with too much blue and red. All I know is I now have this obsession and appreciation for handpainted, lush fiber yarns. Just what my limited craft budget needs, hey?

This is another Interweave Gifts Issue scarf, this and the Falling Leaves are apparently also in their Scarf Style book, which I am now eager to find. The pattern is a simple fan and feather lace over six stitches and is perfect for this type of yarn. I love the way the colors pool and move.



I've not blocked it yet as I am eager to try this hat pattern and may need to frog back if I don't have enough for the hat. The scarf wraps securely as it is and if I can eke out the hat, this will be a lovely splash of color on mild days.

Yarn: Hand Maiden Silk Cashmere 2ply, mystery colorway
Pattern: Misty Garden by Jo Sharp, in Interweave Knits Holiday Gifts 2006
Needles: Size 8 straights, I used several different pairs during the course of this scarf as I started it on my MIL's needles and finished it here at home.

Quick Hat

A quick hat in Patons Rumor, colorway Spanish Heather. I was tempted by it in Joann and just whipped up a simple hat with the spiral increases at the crown, and then when the transition from stockinette to ribbing looked funny I chain-stitched a decoration on top. I used US#10 dpns and finished it in an evening while watching The Devil and Daniel Johnston with my husband.

First Socks

Here's the cast-on for the socks I'm making, probably for my mom as the colors are "her" colors (and not mine at all, and I am baffled I chose this yarn...)



The pattern is easy and fun and I am finding a new love for aluminum needles. They sure are fast!

Pattern: Yarn Harlot's basic sock pattern from Knitting Rules
Yarn: stockmar regia brasil color in 5483
Needles: Susan Bates Silverlume 7" Double Points, Size 2

Blocking the Backyard Leaves Scarf

This was a Christmas project out of the Interweave Knits Gift Issue that I knitted from stash. I was drawn to the pattern because it looked like a good way to try lace and I have been feeling like I need some scarves. The scarf is knit in two pieces from the center back (so the leaves balance) and consists of stockinette leaves with yarn over lace that pop out of a garter stitch background. The pattern was very easy to follow and I loved watching the leaves form. I found it addictive and hope to eventually to make a matching hat that uses the same leaf pattern.

I will edit and add finished project photos, but for starters here's some pictures of it being blocked:





(I need an new ironing board cover, no?)

The scarf is steam blocked before you seam it together. I thought I liked it with all the texture that the knitting caused, but as the steam blocking caused it to melt into a flat piece I found I loved it even more.

This scarf is not quite the color I would have chosen, especially considering how many colors Aurora 8 comes in, but I *loved* knitting it and am very pleased to have used up some stash. I had originally bought the yarn to be these cute toy kangaroos and even got so far as to knit half the head, but frogged it after it sat unloved for over 5 months. I used *all* of the four skeins, I was piecing yarn together to do the center seam and here's the yarn I had left:



Pattern: Backyard Leaves by Annie Modesitt
Yarn: Karabella Aurora 8 in Sienna, 4 balls.
Needles: Crystal Palace Bamboo 12" straights, size 6

New Toy!

I really don't know how I ever lived without it.