Box of Yarn

Moving to a new site

2005-08-02T11:33:00.000-07:00

I'm moving the blog and various assorted ventures over here. I still haven't decorated the place or even picked out half of the furnishings. Be patient, and go ahead and laugh at the process as it unfolds.

One more star blanket done

2005-07-31T08:34:00.000-07:00

This may be my favorite yet, at least until the black/white/red one is done. Heh. I have a true addiction to these things and have at least two color schemes planned in my head while working up the current blanket. I might need an intervention.

No new picture of the Lucy bag, because it looks much like the last picture, only longer. Really long, and I still have 20 rows to go before the handle and stuff. If this were my first felting project I might be a little bit panicked about now.

This is a little baby sweater done in Lily Sugar Babies cotton on size 6 needles so it will come out nice and small. Hard to tell from the picture, but the yoke is done and I am currently doing the left sleeve. These are fun sweaters and so quick to knit.

I know my sister loves me

2005-07-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

'Cause the mailman told me so. Ok, I don't talk to the mailman much. He seems like a very nice guy and all, but I have a secret paranoia that he hates me because I get a lot of mail. Hey, nobody claimed to be normal here.

Anyway. Yeah. I got this in the mail from my sister today. That suede is a gorgeous dark purple and I have no clue what to make with it. Yet. Those double pointeds? Rosewood, baby. Rose. Wood. Gorgeous needles.

There was a lot more cool stuff in the box, but nothing else knitting related, and I am all about being on topic today.

Yesterday a friend of mine had her baby. She and the baby are doing great, but this wasn't supposed to happen until early October. This is the hat/bootie set I made for her this morning. So teeny!

Now I could lie and say I'm going offline to have a productive night, but I'm not ready yet. I'm going shopping for yarn at KnitPicks. A perfect Friday night.

Just a couple more slings

2005-07-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

I couldn't help myself. Hobby Lobby had all of last year's fleece prints on sale and look how cute they are!

And here is the Lucy bag, which looks like a big gray blob but will improve with time and felting, honest.

Girly star blanket almost done. I want to do four rows of pink to finish it. I still love the way it looks with the variegated in the middle.

Haven't touched the red/white/black star blanket as I want to get this one in the mail by the end of the week. I have my eye on the felted backpack pattern at KnitPicks, but need to unload two more of these freaky needle cases to place the order. Hard to feed an addiction sometimes, you know?

At least I finished it

2005-07-22T08:23:00.001-07:00

The asymmetrical baby sweater, in doll size. I hope the Bitty Baby likes it, because I'm not so very fond. Also, buttonholes are evil and to be avoided at all cost. Yuck. This looks a little off, but I didn't block it or anything yet.

Still plugging away on the star blankets, need to start a Lucy bag today, and got caught up in the Herrschner's yarn sale yesterday (but only a little).

Tomorrow is the craft fair, so I'll be bouncing off the walls until tomorrow night when the verdict is in.

How I spent my summer vacation

2005-07-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Or what passed for vacation, anyway. The needle cases are done. They are so out of here. I ended up with about half of them that I felt were craft fair worthy, the rest I am keeping, giving away, or selling at low, low 'factory seconds' prices. I am really glad to see the end of this project.

Got a little further on the red/white/black star blanket. I've mostly been crocheting at night while watching TV, and the black is hard to see. I'm staring at it wondering if it should just have black and white stripes, or maybe some more red? I don't know.

This is the asymmetrical baby sweater, extra asymmetrical! Yes, I bound off one side too soon. Now, I could pick up those stitches and salvage this, but you know what? I don't want to. I hate Jiffy. Hate it. Goodbye, bad sweater. I did learn buttonholes and casting at the end/beginning of rows, so all was not lost. Here is the stupid thing.

Hopefully I will learn from my mistakes above and this doll sized one will turn out well. It's ok so far, except doing the math to scale it down sometimes makes my brain spin.

Finally, one more star blanket. This one is for a baby girl, and I am really loving the variegated center here. It will have a few more rows each of pink and purple and be done.

That's enough for now. I'm taking these needle cases to the post office, chortling with glee the entire way.

Have you ever wondered

2005-07-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

What 84 needle cases in progress looked like? Well now you know. Would you believe the hard part is actually done? These will be finished and shipped out by Wednesday, you'll see.

What. Look at that picture, I have no time to write a longer entry. Goway.

Today I am a triple threat

2005-07-09T09:02:00.000-07:00

This is the pile of sewing. Ok, to be specific, this is the pile of needle cases that are cut, but not sewn yet. The sewing has to happen while the big kids are up and the baby is asleep, never mind about all that other household stuff that has to be done somehow. If you think this looks scary, pretend we don't have a basket of fabric still waiting to be cut.

These are sewn, but need to have their seams pressed and be prepped for topstitching and pocket creation. That prep work can be done while everyone is asleep. Well, I don't iron while I am asleep, but everyone else is asleep. Ideally this pile will be much larger than the first pile by late this afternoon.

That lovely star blanket I did in the yellow/blue and white? My spousal unit stole it for a baby gift to a co-worker. Which is fine, because I got to start a red/white/black one. This is either going to be really cool, or really fugly. Yes, it is all curled up and stuff in the picture. Look above, do I have time to be posing my wips all that carefully? Nay.

Baby sweater is coming along, I think. I keep forgetting which set of measurements I am going by, so I have no idea what size it might end up being. This is a fun pattern but I am never using Jiffy again after it is finished.

When I can't stand working on either of those but my hands still want to knit, what happens? Cast on time! This will be a doll size version of the above sweater.

Now I must chain myself to the sewing machine for a bit.

I should be sewing

2005-07-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

But I'm not. Later today, ok? I will. Definitely.

The star blanket from the crochet along is finished, ends weaved and all. It wasn't that bad, and I like the striping better than just a plain 3 colors.

With that, there was not a single WIP in the tote. The horror. So, being bored, and having just had a frapuccino that I am quite sure was not the decaf I ordered, I started the asymmetrical bulky baby cardigan (scroll down that page for pattern). I really like the pattern's lack of row counting, it is a great tv watching project. I don't really care for this yarn (Lionbrand Jiffy) on the aluminum needles, next time I'll use something else and my bamboo 10's. You can't stop me. I'm crazy like that.

Are we still having fun?

2005-07-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

Getting ready for this craft fair? Yes, yes we are. Finished two dozen sets of marble magnets last night. I knew I'd have trouble capturing this in a picture, but here you can kind of see how cool the fibers and patterns like cabling look with the magnified effect of the glass marble.

Those are packed up and out of here, so now I am concentrating on the needle cases. I've got the design (very simple) all worked out and I can even get the lines straight for the pockets. That's exciting in my world. This is the test one I made this morning using some scraps. There is a big stack of them cut out and ready to sew sitting by my sewing table. Guess what I'm doing this weekend?

You might be a yarn freak if...

2005-06-30T18:57:00.000-07:00

...your first priority in vacation planning is which projects to take with you. But come on, a two week road trip? The family can't demand my attention that entire time. Shut up. A girl can dream.

Anyway, I just ordered some yarn from KnitPicks to make a couple of Lucy bags on the road. I will also stick the supplies for a star afghan in the tote, it is my new always going project.

I finished all of the stitch markers for the craft fair, cut out a few of the needle cases to sew, and immediately got distracted. My excuse is I can't sew while the kids are in bed, the machine is too loud. So I'm making a couple dozen sets of marble magnets featuring, yes, yarn. I'll try to get a good picture of how cool these come out tomorrow when the glue fumes have cleared

Put down the beads already!

2005-06-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

This is absolutely the last day I am making stitch markers for the craft fair. I mean it. Seriously. I have to put this stuff away so I can sew needle holders and make birch needles. Running out of time here! I thought last night was the very last, but I needed to pick up one small pack of 12mm jump rings to finish one more set of markers. Well, the craft store had some beads on sale, and now...

The star blanket crochet along project is getting to the final rounds, which are not as fun as the inner part, but they still go pretty quickly. This will probably get a few more rounds of blue after this white on I'm on now. I think. When it looks great or I am bored to death, it will be done.

Hat, this is a hat. A simple roll brim hat I made from the left over bib yarn. It reminded me of how I do enjoy the feel of cotton on bamboo needles. I may rethink my stance against the baby socks when my rosewood double pointed needles get here.

Progress, yay.

2005-06-26T13:01:00.000-07:00

I finished the mutant bib. Yes, it certainly does look like some kind of halter top. Those triangles actually go at the neck though, so it only really looks bad in this picture. You buyin' that? It's only a drool catching device, no sleep lost over it here.

I am making a little hat with the rest of that yarn as my tv-watching, no brain involved project. I guess the baby could pull the hat over their face if the bib actually were too humiliating to be seen wearing.

Here is the star blanket for the crochet along. After this round I'm going back to white, and doing a bit of blue/white striping. Which will avoid the image of a star shaped fried egg on a blue plate special that invades my head every time I look at this, but will be a real pita when it comes time to weave in the ends. What are you gonna do. I'm not sure if the crazy helps or hurts me with some of these projects.

Two, count 'em TWO socks

2005-06-22T07:21:00.000-07:00

I frogged the messed up sock back to where it was time to pick up around the heel, and managed to finish it. Can I just say that the Kitchener stitch is evil enough without trying it at one o'clock in the morning? It's nice that they are completed. We are in no hurry to make another pair anytime soon. Not everyone is cut out to be a sock person.

The Star blanket crochet along is going well, today I get to switch colors, whee! Sorry about the fuzzy picture, the camera was set for micro-closeups or something. I'm too lazy to reshoot.

Today I have to relist 3 sets of stitch markers on ebay, along with 7 new sets. I always feel a little sad when I relist, like the poor things weren't good enough for first string. This will be an interesting auction this week, since nobody seems to know exactly what is on these:

I think I will get all ambitious and make my ebay page a permanent link over there on the side. Today is just more star blanket, and maybe sewing the last two slings if I can get in the mood for it. Must also find a knitting project to start.

Let's talk about hooks

2005-06-21T17:05:00.000-07:00

Why? It's my damn blog, and I want to talk about hooks. Go away if you don't like it.

Which kind do you prefer? I love the type on the left, I think that is a Bates. The one on the right is really hard for me to work with for some reason. I even like that they are aluminum, the one bamboo hook I have feels so light I can't keep my gauge right.

I am blaming my non-start of the eggplant hat/mitt set on the fact that it wants a G hook, and my G hook in the style I like is too small (4mm) and the larger G hook (4.25mm) is in the icky style I don't want to use. Now what?

Yeah, that was thrilling, wasn't it? Well, sock #2 is sitting here while I decide to either frog it all or try to get back to before picking up around the heel, because why? Because I am an idiot, and started the toe shaping when I should have been doing the gusset. Durrr. The knit bib that turned crochet still hasn't figured out exactly where it wants to go now, so it is also waiting.

The butterfly fabric is now a lovely butterfly tube sling. It was my first time sewing a knit fabric like that. Kind of fun. Kind of not fun.

The star blanket is coming along nicely, but I'm not ready to settle down on the couch with it just yet.

I don't want to talk about it

2005-06-20T18:48:00.000-07:00

That whole craft contest involving Chauncey was just really, really traumatic. Let's just focus on the future now, shall we? Put all of that ugliness behind us. Yes.

I started my first every crochet along today. Yet another alarming sign of my increasing sociability. We're doing the star afghan. Here's mine as of this afternoon:

I ditched that other star blanket I had started, because I was doing it wrong. Also? The mint green color makes me a little sick to look at for long.

Sock #2 is almost to the heel, again just waiting for a few solid minutes in a row to work on that without interruption. Hah.

Still keeping up ye olde stitch marker factory, ten sets ending on ebay tomorrow. Go get them!

Don't even try to act surprised

2005-06-18T10:03:00.000-07:00

I told you it was cute.

Now go away. I have some sewing to do. The beading is running a little bit behind. Please don't bring up the three small crochet projects that need doing by tomorrow night.

I said, shut up.

That wasn't supposed to happen

2005-06-17T18:09:00.000-07:00

Honestly. I didn't mean to. Things just got out of hand.

Today when the husband got home from work, I left him and the two boys to play in the pool while the girlbaby and I went to Joann. I had a 50% off one item coupon, and they are having this big sale this weekend, and you know where this is going, don't you?

So all I wanted to do was see some knit cotton fabrics and maybe get one single cut with my one coupon and try making a sling out of it.

So I found this:

Which turned out to be on sale anyway, so I still had my coupon to use on this:

Enough! Let me get out of this place! Wait...30% off all jewelry making supplies? All of them? Maybe just a quick browse. Got some absolutely darling fish shaped beads, and some silver cross pendants. Now we're finished. Going home. Right now.

Then, well, the lines to check out were just really long you see. Really long and slow. Not to mention, lined with clearance bins with these big evil signs screaming ADDITIONAL HALF OFF MARKED PRICE! You have to look. You at least have to look. I found a pair of size 10 bamboo straights for $2. Don't even tell me you could have left without them. Your pants will immediately combust, liar.

There was a definitely no pink knit jersey fabric with an angel print that I'm absolutely not going to go over in the morning and not buy with tomorrow's coupon. No. That was all in my imagination. No need to go back and see it again. None at all.

Am I convincing you there? Because I'm not convincing me. Not even. *sigh*

Bless my little cotton sock

2005-06-15T07:44:00.000-07:00

I finished the sock. Actually, it was finished a day or two ago, but the whole owl fiasco distracted me from posting about it. These are easy, and even though I'm still having hole at the gusset corner issues, I'll make the other one to go with it.

I started another bib out of sheer boredom, it was just a simple stockinette with a garter stitch border, and suddenly last night I decided I was done knitting it, bound off the last row, and started crocheting instead. I have no idea why or how this will turn out. Talk about living on the crafty edge.

The eggplant hat/mitts are pretty much the only thing sitting in the tote waiting to be started. I vow to not put any more projects in there until I do that.

Right after I do some cleaning in here.

I don't like birds

2005-06-14T14:43:00.000-07:00

Ok, I hate birds. I don't hate ducks, because they are cute with the big fluffy butts and all, but all other birds, I really can't stand. Wait, penguins are ok too. Anyway. I recently took out my avian hostilities in a craft contest. Meet Chauncey. He's a macrame owl. Sort of. In a way that would probably bring the inventor of macrame back from the dead to kick my ass.

Today I made some more stitch markers. These are the perfect project for those days when you get a couple of hours to yourself - five seconds at a time. I even managed to get them on ebay again. That's three weeks in a row of having my act together. Yay me.

Tomorrow is Project Clean the Pit. If you don't hear from me by Thursday, send in emergency help - maybe those ladies from How Clean is Your House?

Did you know this blog has a grand scheme in the works? Being moved to my permanent URL and all kinds of fun things? Well, now you do. I'd tell you more, but, well, you know.

No really, she needs them

2005-06-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

More slings. A baby can't go around in the same sling day after day, now can she?

So today I made her this one, to honor her royal nature:

I made this one because the fabric is so cute I could just scream. Yes, I am a freak. Get over it.

Back to knitting and crocheting now. Honest.

It's called the Craft Pit for a reason

2005-06-11T12:30:00.000-07:00

So, I'm very fortunate to have this entire room for my crafty endeavors. I have storage, workspace, and most importantly, a place safe from little curious hands. I call it the Craft Pit.

Well, during the whole pregnancy and postpartum thing, the Pit got a little...cluttered. In a scary, scary way. I'm slowly recovering it to the beauty and efficiency it previously had.

This morning I was making some stitch markers, because I'm trying this new thing, you see. It's called - getting things done ahead of time. Amazing, really. Putting together a few sets a day and I have an inventory to work with, rather than staying up until 2 am twisting wires and trying to list auctions.

Well, an enameled handbag charm tried to make a break for it as I was putting it on the eyepin. Do you know how well a little enameled charm can hide in a cluttered room? Very, very well. I crawled, I dug, I poked, finally found the thing.

New goals for the upcoming week, work on clearing out the Craft Pit a bit each day, enough to be able to show off some pictures of it next weekend.

Oh, the baby socks, yeah, I'm ready to shape the toe on the first one. I find things like heel turning and toe shaping are best done when the children are in bed, since they involve using all of what remains in my brain power regarding counting and such.

An entry in a crafty blog looks nekkid with no picture, so here is the wee hippy girl in her new sling yesterday at the park. Yes, she is wearing a tiedyed dress. She is also a little mad that I took her paci out for this photo.

Scraptastic, or craptastic?

2005-06-10T06:39:00.000-07:00

A little bird told me a certain favorite 6 year old girl of mine would love the colors I used for the sling yesterday. So I took the bit of fabric left over and attempted to design a bag. Considering how infrequently I work with fleece, and the fact that I made this up pretty much while it was being sewn, it came out ok. I think. It's ok if you don't agree. I do not live for your approval. I live for caffeine.

I did work on the sock a bit last night, but Her Royal Babyness did not wish to go to bed until 10 pm, so I didn't finish it. I turned the heel and started the gusset. It doesn't suck.

Thanks to a crafty and resourceful friend, I learned that you can use these wipes containers to hold your yarn skeins. You could also order some specifically for doing this, but who wants to spend good yarn money on a container? Yeah, nobody. Now the star blankie is a much more portable project. My twisty little brain is already working on how to decorate the container and perhaps incorporate some kind of hook/needle holder to the outside of it...

I got a bit distracted

2005-06-09T14:36:00.000-07:00

Never did get around to any knitting or beading today. Instead, I decided my little girl couldn't possibly be seen in public in a bland old sling, and made her a lovely tube style sling out of this fabric:

She's my daughter, she'll just have to get used to letting her hippie freak flag fly, right?

I'll finish those baby socks tonight, really. Seriously. For sure. Yes indeedy.

That wasn't so bad

2005-06-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

I finished the basket weave bib. It is cute, and I definitely recommend doing the slip stitching over the ties to make them stronger. I'd like to do a couple more, maybe in lavender and white.

Cast on those dreaded baby socks last night, so far so good. In a few rows I will be at the heel, and that is where things tend to fall apart for me in the sock world. So we'll just see.

Star blanket has a few more rounds on it. So just look at the previous picture of it, and imagine it a little bigger. I need to decide on the other colors pretty soon, probably white and...? I don't know.

For some reason the eggplant set is intimidating me, I really need to at least start on that to get past the inertia factor. I think it's the fact I just noticed reverse single crochet was involved at some point. I have a complete and irrational hatred of that stitch.

It was an accident, I swear

2005-06-07T07:32:00.000-07:00

How does a yarn tote become full of WIPs? This is how.

I started my basket weave baby bib, just like I promised. See?

Then it got late, my arm was tired and sore from having blood drawn earlier that day, and the next best thing to knitting is playing in your stash, right? I decided to dig through my big bag of partial skeins, knowing I had a couple of 1/2 skeins of Cotton Tots to try out these baby socks. I have sworn off socks, but everyone promises they are so easy, and they are pretty cute. So into the bag goes the Cotton Tots and sock pattern.

While digging, I came across the very beginning of another star blankie I had done while my sister was visiting. Rounds 2 & 3 on that thing can be confusing, so I did a crochet along with her to get her started. Well, those blankets are addicting. So into the bag went the new star blanket.

Also in the bag are the balls of yarn for my eggplant hat/mittens set, and a couple of balls of variegated cotton for some bibs that my brain is writing the patterns for while I sleep.

We'll not even discuss the stitch marker mishap, wherein my bead board, fully loaded, went flying this morning. I have a lot of sorting out to do there.

It's good to have goals

2005-06-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

It's even better, to meet all of them. Yay me. The stitch markers are listed, this doll sized star blankie is in the mail, and you already saw the bib.

Today I start working on a little hat and mitten set that look like eggplants from my Too Cute Crochet book, and a basket weave bib (knit).

The stash of chunky yarn I bought a couple of months ago is making noises about turning into an afghan, but it is so hot outside I absolutely cannot stand the thought of that right now.

Almost there

2005-06-05T18:26:00.000-07:00

Stitch markers are completed. They won't be listed on ebay until tomorrow, but they have been photographed and packaged, descriptions written and ready to upload.

A sneak preview of some of the new designs this week:

I think I have decided my next project, but I'll leave that for tomorrow. Now I must go finish that blankie!

One down

2005-06-05T06:24:00.000-07:00

Finished the little bib. It's pretty cute, I might make a couple more in some nice variegateds. There is one other pattern I'm trying first.

The stitch markers are on their posts, just need to be clipped and attached to the rings. I stabbed myself in the thumb working on them yesterday, making all of this work just very painful. I suffer for you people. I do.

One more row and I think the doll blanket will be good to go. I can do that tonight.

That just leaves looking for a new project. Yay progress!

All I really need

2005-06-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

Is another few hours in each day. Wouldn't that be nice? Of course, they'd have to be hours where the kids are in bed and the husband is at work in order for them to be of any use at all.

I am committing to these goals right now, in the blog, where all can see. By Monday I will have:

finished this doll star blanket and shipped it off to the recipient
finished this little cotton bib I am working on
finished and listed one dozen sets of stitch markers
dug through my pattern books/websites and found a project to be excited about

Ok then. Here I go.

Whee, I made something!

2005-05-31T09:43:00.000-07:00

Still suffering from project apathy, but a friend of mine mentioned she could use a little bag for those times when she doesn't need to carry all her mommy type gear around. I found this pattern and worked it up over the weekend.

Still trying and failing to make a decent bib. *sigh*

Sick kids

2005-05-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

So you'd think, that the kids being sick and basically keeping me locked up in the house for a few days, would equal plenty of time to get a few things done. Not exactly. Their sleeping patterns are all out of whack and I'm doing a lot of staggering around and staring, wondering exactly why I came into a particular room. Ok, I do that anyway, but it is more frequent these days. Really.

I did find a cute little bag pattern I'm actually excited to work up, so I'll get going on that today. Been trying to find some knit or crochet bib patterns for Princess Drool-a-lot, but nothing really so far.

Made more stitch markers for ebay, definitely the most fun way to feed my addictions.

Hey, it's another hat!

2005-05-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

How originial, huh? This is one I made for a charity auction. How spiffy is that rhinestone button in the middle of the flower? See, I can be creative. Sometimes.

So now I just have that doll size star blankie in progress, and though TFLW are on the needles still, I think they are obsolete, over, done, not happening.

It is getting really hard to be motivated about knitting or crocheting because it is officially hot weather now. Bleah.

Happy Birthday to me!

2005-05-20T17:55:00.000-07:00

My kids are sick, I haven't slept in two days, and I'm behind on a project I should have mailed out today. Other than that, things are just peachy. Oh, and after this birthday? I only have one more before I'm forty. Forty. Yet I still feel like a 13 year old geek. I'm guessing that won't go away any time soon.

There was more to write, but I am too tired to remember it.

Now note the clever combination of crocheted object and baby showing off in the following photo. I made her this hat to wear when we go cheer for our friends doing a 3-day walk for breast cancer.

Excuses, excuses

2005-05-11T12:52:00.000-07:00

No, I haven't updated. I haven't knit or crochet or sewn a damn thing. Why?

This is why.

I will return to our regularly scheduled blogging soon, mmkay?

Wait, I did get some stitch markers made and listed on ebay. Now go buy them so I can shop for yarn. You will be enabling my addictions, but I'm cool with that.

Shut up, I've been busy

2005-05-01T11:52:00.000-07:00

I am still working on TFLW, see? SEE? Do you just love the 80's colors? I'm over them after all of the failed attempts at these things.

The star blanket for a doll is coming along quickly, another row or two of white, a few of pink, and it will be finished. I do love this pattern so.

Look, I play with things other than yarn. Astounding, no? This seemingly random collection of beads and charms will be magically transformed into sets of stitch markers for me to list on ebay this week. Choosing the beads is the hard part, so half the battle is won here.

This is getting ridiculous

2005-04-27T08:44:00.000-07:00

Actually, I think we passed ridiculous a few weeks ago.

The circular needle plan for TFLW fell through. They broke. My birch circular needles broke. Back to the drawing board and dpns.

Oy. Just oy.

To soothe my fractured nerves I started a small star blanket, it will be doll sized. With my recent luck, it will probably turn out moon shaped and elephant sized, but what the hell.

Surprise, surprise

2005-04-26T12:48:00.000-07:00

I frogged those leg warmers again. They shall henceforth be known as TFLW. I remembered I had a pair of 12" size 8 circulars that I made last summer, and that is the newest of many plans for these stupid things. Who knew knitting a damn tube was so difficult?

Had a little retail therapy today, I bought Adorable Crochet for Babies and Toddlers and Simple Knits for Little Cherubs. Never mind the two boxes of crochet and knit patterns my sister sent that I haven't even looked at yet. Just never you mind.

I don't recommend it

2005-04-25T07:14:00.000-07:00

But one way to knock out some WIPs is spending a few days at the hospital.

Last Thursday we took the baby in for her 2 week checkup, and she had lost too much weight without gaining it back. The next thing I know, I'm tossing my yarn tote and a book in the car and we are off to the hospital. After many tests and many, many long hours they decided her problem was not eating enough. Hooray for modern medicine, huh?

So, all of this stuff was lounging in the work bag, and is now finished. I can't say it all came out that great, but it came out and it passed the time.

This Perky Puffs hat - it is still a cute hat but it looks not much like the picture that goes with the pattern. I'm ok with that. Apparently I am a small crocheter, everything comes out tinier than planned. Yeah, swatch. I know.

This cute little hat does fit the baby, but she is a very unwilling model, so use your imagination. I made it in blue because white would have looked like a chef's hat, and I would have had an overwhelming compulsion to speak to her in Swedish Chef-ese at all times. That would probably be quite detrimental to her development, nay? Bork bork.

A child's cowboy hat that almost fits my adult mannequin head, but is too small for my 3 year old. Not entirely sure what to make of that.

Finally, got the strap on the sling. It seems short to me, but I can't really tell until the baby is big enough to sit in it. Adding some length wouldn't be too difficult anyway.

The astute reader will note that there are no legwarmers in this finished object fest. I did work on them. My newest plan of attack is knitting them on straight needles, which I find relaxing and easier to interrupt than doing them on dpns. They are the only project underway right now and they will get finished. Right? Right.

If only my newest crochet book hadn't arrived...

Oh dear, the hats

2005-04-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

So yes, we have a baby girl in the house now. Somehow this has made me become utterly obsessed with making cute little hats. Like, say, this one.

First I made a white one, but it was a little bit small, so I made the purple one. My model does not care for posing just yet, so I had to sneak the picture while she was asleep. Poor kid doesn't stand a chance with me, does she?

In between hat silliness, I am working on a crochet baby sling for the summer. The pouch part is almost done, then I just need to do the strap. She is too small for it now, but later this summer we will have some fun in it!

This morning I ordered this book Too Cute Crochet for Babies & Toddlers : A Whimsical Collection of Hats, Scarves, Mittens & Booties
by Cynthia Preston - so there is really no end to this baby goofiness in sight.

I'd better find a knitting project soon, or I'll be kicked out of my knitting group, won't I? Eek.

Nothing on the needles!

2005-04-04T17:27:00.000-07:00

I don't know when the last time I could say that was! I did get some needles stuck in my arm today, does that count?

I abandoned the knit leg warmers in favor of crocheting them, because I am too impatient and flighty right now. The sweater from crochetme is going ok this time around as well.

Thirty-six hours until this baby is born, I wonder how long it will take to get back into the yarn mode?

Now that's a sweet little sweater

2005-04-01T07:27:00.000-08:00

It worked up in just a couple of days and turned out very pretty. Toward the end of the pattern the stitch counts didn't work out, but I suspect that is my error as usual, and I was able to fudge it out pretty well, in my ever so humble opinion. I used the second pattern on this page.

I still want to try that crochetme sweater, so maybe I'll tackle it this morning. There is a sundress waiting to be cut out and sewn on my sewing table, but the couch and crochet hooks sound much more inviting at the moment.

I'm forever sewing sprinkles

2005-03-30T09:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, not really, but it's a title. Shut up.

So yesterday I wanted a fast, easy project. Behold, the cupcake pincushion. Cute and fast, kind of pointless, but I learned all about front and back post crocheting. I think I felt my brain grow a little bit, even.

Started a crochet baby sweater, hated it, started another. That one is doing well so far, today is collar and sleeves, though, so things could get ugly fast.

Baby, you're a star

2005-03-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

A star shaped baby afghan. I'm not sure about the colors I used, but this blanket took 48 hours from first chain to weaving in the ends - nothing to complain about there. I'm seeing it in white, blue, and gray as a favorite baby gift for Dallas Cowboy freaks. This one has a few issues with being a little wavy, but by the time I found out why that was happening (not skipping enough stitches around the shell) I was on row 19 and not about to start over. Embrace the wavy.

Now what? Something small and easy, I think. Baby will be here next week no matter what, and I have little to no powers of concentration left.

What? A finished project?

2005-03-26T15:20:00.000-08:00

Yeah. I made these little Ugg style booties today, just using some scrap yarn from my stash. I put the trim on with a crochet hook because the fluffy yarn was not easy to work with - next time I will crochet the top trim on as well. They were really easy and I will definitely do them in some of the suede or chenille yarn next time. The one in the back isn't really smaller, it's the camera angle. You know I suck at photos.

Tonight I will start a star shaped baby blanket, because my other projects (leg warmers and sneaker slippers) are things done in pairs. Pairs can get tedious, when you finish something and have to start it all over again, in the exact same way you just did it.

Moving along

2005-03-25T06:37:00.000-08:00

Most of my finished stuff this week has been sewing - a couple of baby slings that aren't that impressive in pictures, so no pictures. Hah. I'd have to put them on to show them off, and that's not happening right now.

One and a half legwarmers into my 80's project, leaving two and a half to finish. Which will come first, the legwarmers or the baby?

You'd think there would be a lot getting accomplished around here since I'm home all the time, but no. Maybe blog-guilt will get me to finish a few things today.

Another slow weekend

2005-03-21T17:11:00.000-08:00

As far as any yarn work goes, anyway. We are now officially, completely ready for this baby to arrive. Any time now. Yep. Ok.

I was going to try and make up a knit version of the drawstring baby pants, but completely ran out of patience for it. Starting another crochet pair tonight.

I'm almost done with a legwarmer, only 3 more to go after that. Lovely 80's colors, almost painful to knit without sunglasses on.

Made a couple more book thongs - no picture, as they are just the same only with black thread and terra cotta type beads. The inventor of black crochet thread is evil. Evil.

I could finish this lace knit bookmark tonight, but then I'd have to come to terms with the fact that I'm not entirely sure how or where to block it.

So there you have it.

Finishing. It's a good thing.

2005-03-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

The evil, endless sunsuit/onesie has finally graduated from the knitting bag. The ends are weaved, the snap tape is sewn into the crotch, this project is over. Yay! The hat was finished a few weeks ago. Overall, this came out pretty cute but I'm in no hurry to knit another.

Huh. The angle of that picture makes it look like this was made for a baby with a giant head and enormous butt. It looks better in person, really it does.

Now, has anyone seen my motivation? There is a ton of sewing to be done today and I don't see it happening.

Finally, the Book Thong

2005-03-17T13:14:00.000-08:00

Ever since I saw the book thongs on crochetme, I've been trying to make one. My crochet was just not up to par, so I started practicing on dishcloths. We know how that turned out. Well, now I can do book thongs. Yay. I love it, and want to make about one million more.

Of course, while visiting that site for the book thong pattern, I decided I was capable of making the Fleuri bag. This one came out a little small, because the yarn is worsted weight. The handles are just brass rings, saving my cool wooden rings for the next Fleuri. This thing is adorable and so easy to do. Pardon the blinding white background, I had to crank up the brightness in order for the rose pattern to show.

What would a blog entry be without some odd crochet creature? Yeah. Here's a butterfly washcloth. My ribbon tying didn't work out as well as hers, but the flattened out cloth looks right.

Now I am determined to do the finishing on that little sunsuit/onesie thing. Here I am, with my snap tape and thread, going to go do that. Right now. This is me. Doing it.

A very froggy day.

2005-03-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of those days where nothing worked right. Nothing. I did finish the knitting part of the sunsuit, but after all the yarn joins and before weaving in ends, the thing looks like one of those "non-violent" pinatas. I am not dealing with that right now. It also needs snaps sewn into the crotch. I am on lookout for a sewing mood to hit, and then I can finish that thing once and for all.

I tried to knit this cool flower dishcloth that is done in the round from the center outward - after finally getting the cast on to work, I lost a couple of stitches somewhere around row #17. Frog.

Tried to make a simple roll-brim hat for the baby, and mystery stitches appeared just before I was going to decrease for the crown. Perhaps they were the missing dishcloth stitches. Frog.

Those adorable book thongs on crochetme.com? That should be easy enough, right? No, no, no. I couldn't get the tension right to even chain the 150 to start that thing. Frog.

Oh, well. I made some excellent chocolate chip cookies and got my hospital bag packed (except for a baby hat, of course). Today things will work out better, right? Right.

Finishing day

2005-03-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

A morning of sewing seams and weaving in ends. How thrilling is that stuff? Yeah, not very. Getting these projects out of the knitting tote leaves room for new ones, though, and that is always a good thing. Maybe tonight the sunsuit will actually progress to the finishing point. Anything is possible.

I finally worked out the bottoms of the legs for these little baby pants - the pattern stops after four rows of ribbing, I'm guessing it was supposed to go all the way around. Cute little pants, and very easy to make. They are going with the sweater set previously posted. Is it a big fashion faux pas for the baby to wear a knit sweater with crocheted pants? Ah well.

Another pattern that gave me fits was this lovely chicken. The feet made no sense to me so we have a little improvised nest-ish thing on the bottom here. Just squint and use your imagination, that's a nest. Trust me.

Tomorrow celebrates six years of wedded bliss here in the Box household. In my current condition it is about all I can do to tolerate any other human, much less one of those male types. So for his gift, I just went all out and knit up a willie warmer. I did not follow the part where it gives directions for the guy actually wearing this. That would really put me over the edge.

Extremely silly, but look what we're working with here.

All this crochet

2005-03-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Is taking over the knitting blog, isn't it? I have been knitting, the crochet projects just finish in no time. My mom taught me crochet some 30 years ago and I'm rediscovering it.

I did do this little hat to go with the sweater and socks made a week or two ago. Thinking about doing some pants to add to the set as well. The sweater is made from this pattern, the socks and hat were just made up as I went along.

Now, even if this baby really is a girl (we'll just see), the climate here doesn't really call for sweater sets. I think it is time to start a drawer full of ready to wrap gifts!

Yesterday I crocheted this fish. As you can see, my technique is far from perfect, but it is fun. It has no eye, because in my world crocheted fish have no eyes.

Making some more hook and needle cases today, and those balls? They felted but won't dry. Maybe tomorrow they will be ready to stuff and finish.

A Slow Weekend

2005-03-07T13:37:00.000-08:00

Not a lot of stitching got done this weekend, but we did do a lot of baby preparation stuff, like installing the car seat and washing some clothes. This was followed by sitting around saying things such as "yikes, we're going to have another BABY around here!"

I did get to color #3 on the sunsuit, another day of this and I can divide the back and front and actually finish the thing. When that got too boring I played with dishcloths again, crocheting a couple of the angels from Janelle's site:

and a cabled owl, again by Janelle Schlossman. I told you she did amazing stuff.

This morning I took a stab at sewing a rolled hook/needle case. This one was my first attempt and is crochet hook sized. Now that I can pretend to know what I'm doing (hah) it is time to sew some for needles.

Had enough of cutesy dishcloths?

2005-03-05T08:49:00.000-08:00

I say, it isn't so. It started with the dress, and it has morphed into a Project. Unless I say otherwise, all of the cute patterns have come from Janelle Schlossman's designs. If I laugh, it is because these are so cute they are not me! This woman is amazing with yarn, though, and I am learning a lot of new techniques.

Yesterday I did the dishcloth pants:

and the kitten cloth, which didn't photograph well. Ok, I didn't photograph it well. Note, am in no danger of winning a photography award. Ever.

Besides this Project, I finally feel like I am making progress on the Endless Sunsuit, as this morning I got to do some decreasing and change colors! Whee!

I also punched holes in and filed all of my copied/printed out patterns. Pass me a gold star. Now.

Today I am trying a pattern that requires me to crochet in a plastic ring, and I'm scared. But tonight I get to go yarn shopping, so that will get me through.

Just for Lisa

2005-03-03T10:34:00.000-08:00

So, some horrifying urge prompted me to crochet this little dress shaped dishcloth. I have no idea what came over me, I just hope it doesn't happen again. Please, if I ever start making toilet paper cozies, fire at will. My friend Lisa gave me so much crap over this I have named it The Lisa. It is my pet.

Finished the phone thing - ditched the whole flap and button idea. Not because I'm lazy. Ok, not entirely because of that. The fact is, this is just to keep my stupid phone on a string so my hands will be free when I'm working around the house. It's also time to upgrade to a cooler phone, and I can make a new phone thingy then. Yeah.

Today I will finish up Ballapalooza and maybe crochet a hat. The balls will be felted next week on a sewing project day. You are jealous of my exciting life, admit it.

Balls, balls, balls

2005-03-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

Can't stop knitting balls. I found this project in Knitting for Babies, by Melanie Falick and Kristin Nicholas. They go very quickly, are great for using up all of my leftover koolaid-dyed wool, and require very little from my precious remaining brain cells.

Here are a few I have done this week, they will look better after felting and stuffing. That's the plan, anyway.

The only other knitting I'm doing today is this cell phone holding thingy. It doesn't look very interesting, but it will get more exciting at the top. Flap, buttonhole, strap, it's going to be just wild and crazy, I tell ya.

Peer pressure

2005-03-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

...is a horrible thing.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to take some pictures of projects.