I just can't give it up!

The blog, that is! It's just plain ol' good clean fun to have a place that's all mine to talk about my stuff. And, I got a very nice comment asking me to please not stop. Even if you're the only one reading this, that's enough for me. Thank you so very very much!

Plus, I can't talk about dyeing yarn on Ravelry. At least not how I'd like to.

Today was busy. Heck, I've been busy for about 3 weeks. All 3 kids are in school now, 2 in soccer, and other little odd things too numerous to count. Work has been coming at me full speed too. Instead of my regular morning hours, I was spending most of every day at the computer working. I think every sock we own collectively as a family of 5 was in my room unfolded. Half the room was covered in clean laundry. I finally bit the bullet a couple days ago and COMPLETELY CAUGHT UP. Yes, you heard right. Go ahead and hate me. I'm caught up on laundry.

If it makes you feel any better, I'll have 5 loads to do by tomorrow evening. That's usually how it goes around here.

Work today got so irritating that I decided to dump out all my Wiltons Icing Dyes and throw some yarn in a pot. I crashed the stash and came up with one of the 6 skeins of Patons Classic Wool in Natural Marl that I've have for nearly a year and one lone skein of Winter White. So I went for it.



There wasn't much science involved here. I was hoping for brown with bits of burgundy. I ended up with something very similar to a result I've acheived before.



But I like it. The marl gives it an effect that I really like and the fact that I did not stir the yarn left areas with less dye. I like that too. Plus, one can never miss an opportunity to embarrass the middle school daughter when she comes home from school!



My second attempt with the Winter White is not achieving anything near the results I was hoping for. I wanted to make a medium-ish brown with bits of purple and teal. The brown diluted and the purple and teal both spread and diluted. I added more brown, then added more purple and teal. Then I gave up and started randomly dotting the surface with regular dropper style food coloring. Who knows what this one will look like, but I still have fun with the process. This is pretty accurate to what I'm seeing in the pot right now.



This is with the flash. Oh boy.



I think I've added so much dye that it isn't really going to exhaust anymore. I turned it off. I might turn it back on for a little bit more. Whatev'

I find the process of dyeing my own yarn mind-clearing and creative-juice-flow inducing. I like it. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Finish-itis!

Not such a bad thing! I go in spurts of startitis and finishitis. I love to start start start, but then there's nothing quite as satisfying as finishing a bunch of projects one after the other. Okay, I find throwing out ball bands and a pile of snipped ends to be equally satisfying but that's beside the point.

I really wanted to bust the cotton stash in June. I tried, really I did...



This was less then half my washcloth production. When all was said and done, I'd made 14 washcloths for personal use and 4 more intended as a baby gift. Oh wait, I'm forgetting a couple - make that 6 more for gifts. All that knitting, and the cotton stash remains. It is smaller, but it's still there.

Doesn't help that I bought a cone of Peaches n' Cream and started this:



It's Rutabaga from Knitscene Spring 2007! I loved this immediately, but the word "cluster" scared me away from even reading the instructions. I envisioned having to knit a popcorn or bobble every few stitches (nevermind that I couldn't actually see anything like that in the photos) and couldn't bear the thought. Upon closer inspection, however, the cluster was nothing more than a couple wraps of a couple stitches. Big deal! I'm halfway through and it's really fun...though I can't work on it too much at one time since my hands are still recovering from the June Washcloth Mania (aka cotton hell).

I'm working my way through a couple sweaters. The Incan Pullover on the cover of the Summer '08 KnitSimple really is what this yarn wants to be, it's just taking a long time to become it.





I like top-down construction, but the yoke takes so dang long! I'm knitting this on size 6 needles which is the smallest size I've ever used for a garment. I finally made it to the back and my goal is just to have it done by fall - but I better hurry because that could come any day now!

The other sweater is crochet: The Sera Lace Top by Doris Chan from the Fall 2007 Interweave Crochet.



So far so good, but I'm going to definitely need more yarn. I'm using 7 balls of Knit Picks Shine Sport in Violet that I bought from someone on Ravelry. I knew I was rolling the dice by starting this with a finite quantity of yarn, but it was a chance I was willing to take. It's cute, but I'm concerned about the length. I know Doris is great about taking stretch into account so you don't end up with a dress, but it still is a little worrisome. I think I'll end the body with 2 more balls of yarn - one for each sleeve - then I'll order more yarn and leave my fate to the dye lot gods.

I'm very blase about work right now and thinking I'll bug off and crochet some more this afternoon. My daughter is at a basketball day camp in St. Cloud today and won't get home until 4-ish, but then right away at 5:00 we're off to Minneapolis for her last regular season soccer game. Eek. I won't be driving though so you can bet my lace scarf will be coming along. That thing is moving like lightning. Have I shown that yet?



The perfect use for the leftovers from my Knit it Down sweater and it satisfies my love of lace in worsted weight yarn.

On that note, have a wonderful day!

The Good, the Bad, and the Looney!

I had a that kind of weekend. Mr. T was given Friday off to make up for having to work so much over Father's Day weekend. After I finished my work for the day, we went to the nursery and picked some perennials for my new flower bed. That was about all we had the energy for that day, but it was nice to all be home and have nothing going on.

Saturday rocked! It was a lovely 85 degrees here with a breeze - not too warm, not cold, and not a hint of humidity. We went fishing.

The good (a nice bass),



The "bad" (the world's smallest sunnie!),



And the Looney!



This beauty was only about 25 feet from the boat. The kids love them and Ben can do a mean loon impression. Frankly, it's not that hard for him.

I wore my newest yarny creation - another Fun in the Sun Hat!



I made this one from Peaches n' Creme from the stash and an H hook. Super easy, super fast, and super functional. Cute too! I love it and it was perfect for a warm day on the lake.

We fried the sunnies, beer-batter fried the bass, and ate them with fresh corn on the cob. We finished the day with a fire and s'mores out back. It would have been totally perfect if the neighbors hadn't ruined it. The guys behind us whooped it up until 1:30 a.m. with huge (and illegal) fireworks, girly screaming, and manly belching. Yeah baby. We were exhausted. We turned on all the lights and ate toast in the kitchen at 1 a.m. hoping they'd take the hint. Who knows if they noticed us, but they did stop at 1:30. Or maybe we just passed out. One or the other.

I'd hoped to sleep in on Sunday, but my lovely son who never sleeps past 6:30 decided to open the garage door before we got up. The alarms went off and I flew downstairs to disarm before I'd even opened my eyes. Spent 5 hours cleaning and the rest of the day moaning my aching back. Oh well.

I was looking forward to my endodontist appointment today - not because of the excitement of dental work - but because I'm in PAIN! However, that plan was foiled when the roofers showed up at 8 a.m. Would it have killed them to give me a heads up? My daughter didn't feel like staying home alone with the boys while a roofing crew was here so I rescheduled my appointment for next week (the earliest I could get in after today). Crapper! Must ration the pain meds!

As for knitting/crocheting, I'm still doing washcloths and I'm crocheting another Fun in the Sun Hat. That pattern is addictive! This one is taupe/ecru striped - a little more neutral this time and slightly darker. Next time I'm at Michaels/JoAnn, I'll pick up a color or something for another one. The stash does not have quite the color selection I'm looking for. Love it and must have more!

I suppose that's enough for now...back to work, back to work, work work work work!

I'm really trying!

This spare laptop isn't cutting the mustard - every time I try to post anything, I.Explorer shuts down on me. I have photos and stuff, doesn't it know that? I'll give it a shot.

First and most importantly, the 1st Communion Dress is almost done! All that's left is the slip and the zipper and I WILL finish it today. I don't have to leave the house at all and can concentrate completely. My other motivation is my root canal redo tomorrow. I'm sure I won't feel like sewing after that and I don't need this pressure hanging over my head anymore. Plus, the big day is Sunday. I need to get the dress done and out of the house.

I've run into a crossroads with the Knit It Down sweater from Creative Knitting, January 2008. It's a great sweater and I want to live in it. However, I need one more ball for the second sleeve and one more ball is not to be found anywhere. I'm debating about whether I should drive down there again and special order it for $2 a ball and no shipping or order it online for more plus shipping. Maybe Friday I'll do the special order thing. I really want to wear this sweater!

I crocheted the Boteh Scarf (scroll down) out of my languishing Knit Picks Shine Sport in Hydrangea. Yeah, I know, I still have to weave in ends and do a quick steam blocking, but it is pretty cool, huh? There was one error in the magazine pattern that was easy to spot and only meant I had to rip out one of the motifs. No biggie. It moved along really quickly and I love the results.

Hmm, what else have I been working on while my laptop has been causing me unnecessary amounts of stress? Oh, I added eyelets to my Big Bag. That was fun! If I'm not careful, I could go eyelet-happy! Now I want some black rope to thread through, knot, and use as a shoulder strap.

I also purchased the She-Knits patterns Marly and Lorin from Sharon's Ravelry pattern store. I finished Marly in only a couple days and felted her yesterday. I checked her after about 6 minutes of agitation - not enough. However, 5 minutes later, she'd gone too far. Good to know. I had to really wrestle her onto the trash can I used for blocking. That was also due in part because I didn't carry my yarn loosely enough through the slip stitch patterns. It's that first pattern up by the handles is the one I really have to watch out for. Now I know.

I made the optional pocket according to Sharon's directions, then I added another smaller pocket hoping it would felt down to cell phone size. The pocket is a bit wider than desirable for my size phone, but the height is perfect. Again, now I know.

I wish I had known all of this stuff about pockets when I made the Big Bag. I love that bag dearly and think it has great potential, but it REALLY needs pockets. Otherwise it's just a huge black hole! The stupid thing is of course I could have figured out how to add pockets if I'd just taken a moment to think, but literal me didn't think to depart from the instructions and add a pocket!

Another irritation is that I had a magnetic snap floating around my desk for nearly a year. Not two weeks ago, while cleaning my desk, I tossed the snap thinking I wouldn't be using it. Grrr. Oh well, nothing a trip to Wal-mart can't cure.

As I catalogued the wool stash in Ravelry the other night and contemplated which colors to use for Lorin, I realized that Marly and Lorin are almost the identical bag. The slip stitch patterns and sequence are exactly the same! I felt a little stupid for buying both patterns when I could have just winged it for either one, but I'm feeling better about it now. Marly is top down and Lorin is bottom up. And their handles are different. Both of these patterns can help serve as a base for any future designs I might come up with on my own. Yes, it would be rather shocking for me to design something myself, but I have Knitting Never Felt Better by Nicky Epstein and I'm feeling fearless.

Well, I promised myself I'd finish the dress today and I went ahead and told my SIL it would be done today, so I'd better make good and get going. Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Yarn Eradication is a Goooooooood Thing!

Evil grins abound today as I make stash yarn disappear! It's great! The best part? I finally get to use the Sam-eaten skein of my beloved hand dye!

This was the stuff I dyed with Wilton Icing Colors. Loved it! Then one day Sam got bored inside his crate and picked through the bars until he caught hold of one of the skeins. By the time I found it, it had been slightly peed on and chewed into itty bitty bits. I couldn't bear to throw it away so I washed it, untangled it, wound it back up, and wondered what the heck I could ever do with it.

Turns out Baby's Got a Brand New Big Bag is the perfect pattern! My hand dye looks great paired with leftover purple and brown and a felted bag is ideal for using up little yard-or-so-long bits of yarn without worrying about hiding ends. It's moving along super fast - I just started it last night - and I'm so excited about having a new bag. The bag has only a slit-type handle at the top so I might add a purchased shoulder strap when all is said and done. We'll see.

Wanna see the Fun in the Sun Hat?

I used two almost-complete skeins of TLC Cotton Plus (love that stuff!) that I had leftover from the crocheted bunnies. Yeah, I could have used the skeins to make 3 more washcloths EACH, but I was in a crochet mood and I'd just found a couple back issues of Interweave Crochet - Spring and Fall 2007 to be exact. Whee! Love them! I fell in love with the hat and had to give it a try. It is a little small for me but I'm sure I could will it into size if I wore it enough. Perhaps A. would wear it? One never can tell.

Burp cloths are moving along swimmingly. Here's the 4 I've finished so far.

The green one on top is my favorite. Each one is better than the last and I just love making these. The 5th one is even better than any of these, but I'll wait to post a photo until it's done. My friend's due date is T-minus 19 days so I'm gonna keep plugging away on these.

Next, the Mason-Dixon Washcloth frenzy. One ball of red TLC Cotton Plus made 3 washcloths and they're just so soft and nice! I had just enough yellow left over from the hat to make another. I also have enough Cotton Ease for at least one more. I have a lot of Peaches/Sugar n' Creme, but I'm hesitant to use it for these cloths because I don't want them to shrink and get goofy looking - at least not right away. These are going to be for teachers who don't get the blankets. Don't make me think of the blankets yet!

Lastly, Annette Petavy's Pillow from CrochetMe. I'm using worsted weight acrylic from the stash and an I hook, but following the pattern exactly. I stopped after 15 strips for the one on the right and still have a few more strips to go on the left one. I'll crochet backs, stuff, and toss on our sofa. My family room is looking dark and bland lately and I'm hoping these will help to brighten things up a bit.

This is a lot of stuff. What's gotten into me, you ask? I'm doing my usual thing of "I have something I have to do but I really don't want to do it so instead I'm going to enter a stage of profound yarn catharsis and produce so much that I delude myself into thinking I'm actually using my time productively."

The thing I have to do is make my niece's 1st Communion dress. I'm ready to start and I know I can do it, but it's a big and quite important project so I'm waiting for the planets to align just right before I start and that is NOT this week. It's spring break, A. has been at WI Dells with the neighbors so it's just the boys and I. Now really people, can you see the logic in laying out mounds of white (WHITE) satin, lining, tulle, and organza with two boys running rampant and just waiting for the opportunity to strike? Me neither. I'll start after they go back to school next week.

So in the meantime, I'm trying to make yarn go away. There's nothing more satisfying than throwing away bits of yarn too small to make anything with and watching the pile lessen. Plus, when I'm all done, I can buy new yarn guilt-free!

It's finished!

Yippee! I finished my Dusty Miller Cardigan! I don't care what anyone has to say about Red Heart Super Saver - it made a great crocheted sweater! I wanted a workhorse, and I got it. It's comfy, warm, and has beautiful stitch definition. Here she is!

I love crocheted sweaters. It's so fitting that March is National Crochet Month - I didn't even know that when the bug hit me in late February. Much to the dismay of Oblique, the crochet bug is not satisfied yet. I finished Dusty Miller, I'm nearly through the back of the Lady's Kanga Sweatshirt...



...and the estranged back of the Hooded Pullover from Weekend Retreat is quickly being transformed into Climbing Cables from More Crocheted Aran Sweaters.

You might notice that Climbing Cables is the same color as the Fisherman Sweater. Well, I really love that Fisherman Sweater pattern and I know I need that sweater, but I realized that I just haven't been crocheting my cable crossings loosely enough. I'm just not sure I can block the acrylic yarn out enough to make it work. When the Hooded Pullover has been obliterated, I'll continue with the yarn from the Fisherman Sweater. I trekked down to JoAnn yesterday for some more sale priced TLC Essentials and ended up with 5 skeins of Medium Thyme. I'm pretty sure it's destiny is the Fisherman Sweater. I'll make sure to crochet more loosely next time...and enlarge the pattern. The print is teeny and doesn't cut it for my weak 34-year-old cruddy eyes.

I also started the Pillow by Annette Petavy from CrochetMe. I'm using stash yarn exclusively for this. I thought at first that I would make this into a throw, but I like the colors and the patterns so much that I think I might just use this pattern to make several pillows for our couch. Everything in my family room is starting to look dark and character-less so this could be just the punch it needs. I also buckled down and finished Baby Genius Burp Cloth #2 from Mason-Dixon Knitting. I love how the solid color softens the effect of the variegated yarn.




On the home front, while the little buddy was extremely disappointed to miss his concert (he's still talking about it today), his fever finally broke sometime between Saturday and Sunday and he's better now. He had a rough day at school yesterday and cried a couple times about the concert, poor thing. I hope today goes better for him. His teachers decided to re-implement a feedback sheet for him. They hadn't been doing it this year but felt that it could give him the motivation he needs right now to get back on track.


For every stage of his day, he gets either a smiley face or sad face for the following categories: I said "ok", I used nice words, I was quiet, and I walked. The sheet from yesterday is kind of funny. The first stage of his day is reading and he got all sad faces for that, but everything else for the rest of the day has a smiley face. Mr. L. really likes to get smiley faces so I hope this continues to work. His teacher even commented that the afternoon went really well for him. Yay!


Time to get back to work. Miss A. is getting braces in a couple weeks (yippee, hoo ha, hooray) and has an appointment today for impressions and x-rays. It's a 40 minute appointment so I'll bring my crocheting. I'd love to bring Oblique, but I'm very near the sleeve cap and I don't want to have to mess with measuring while in the orthodontist office. Perhaps I'll start another burp cloth. That's mindless enough. Cast on at home, get through the first color change, then go go go!

I'm back!

I didn't really go anywhere, but things have been unbelievably crazy. It all started with Presidents' Day...

Mr. T had an interview in Salt Lake City for a job in Fort Collins, CO. The interview went really well so I went to work researching special education in the Fort Collins school district. And I scheduled a market analysis on the house. And I started looking at houses. And I started freaking out. Mr. T got offered the job, but after some very serious consideration, we decided he should turn it down. The job looked great, but every thing else was stacked against us, from health insurance to selling our own house. Oh well. What are you gonna do?


Then there's been work. There's a meeting coming up which means I spend several days going nuts getting the agenda ready to send out to the world. It's crazy, trust me on this. Today is D-day for the agenda - it needs to be sent by the close of business today.

Today is also L.'s first grade concert - an event that has been eagerly looked forward to by all - so I expected today to be a mess, considering the whole agenda thing. However, L. woke at 3 a.m. today crying and flushed with very hot cheeks - but he was sound asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow again. He had been talking nonsense so I figured he'd had a bad dream, was kind of sleep walking, and would be fine when he woke up for the day.

Wrong-o! Poor kid had a temp of 103. Needless to say, the poor kid doesn't get to take part in the concert that he's been practicing so hard for. He told me he had to go to school so that I could come and hear him sing. I told him he was sick; his body was hot and we needed to make it cool again. He suggested he wear shorts - now I know we're hardy folk here in MN, but I have to draw the line at -10 F. The concert is not happening for Mr. L.

Little Mr. B. even had to miss preschool. L. was complete dead limp noodle weight when I tried to hoist him up to get him out to the van, then he thought he was going to throw up. He collapsed on the couch again and I had to break it to B. that he couldn't go to school today. Great. Two little boys upset about not going to school.

On a brighter note, I'm on a major crochet kick lately. I've nearly finished the Dusty Miller Cardigan from Jane Snedden Peever's Crocheted Aran Sweaters. I just found out that the book is no longer in print. That's so sad! I've now made 3 sweaters from this book and another sweater from the second book, More Crocheted Aran Sweaters. I just found out that both of these are out of print. Look for them at your library and if you like them, I'm sure there's a way to hunt down used copies or copies on eBay.



This cardigan has gone along great. I'm using Red Heart Super Saver in Linen - ok, all of you fiber snobs can be quiet! I love Red Heart and thought it perfect for this because I want a workhorse cardigan. Plus, it's tax time so a girl has to make do if she's gonna satisfy her need for fiber arts. I still have to crochet the front bands, but I ran out of yarn and did not want to buy a whole 'nother skein. I was trying to figure out how to tastefully use something else from my stash for those bands when I found some more Linen deep in my stash. Yay!




I finally found a destiny for my TLC Essentials in Persimmon! It had previously been intended for the hooded pullover in Patons Weekend Retreat - which I still love - but I started that back when I really had no idea about what size sweater was appropriate for me. I started knitting the large size and though it went along great, it's just enormous. I'll probably knit it someday, but not with this yarn anymore. Yes, back to the new destiny: the Fisherman Sweater! It was originally in Crochet Today!, but now it's a free download on the Coats and Clark website. It's very cool and going along super fast.



And, I started one more crochet project: the Lady's Kanga Sweatshirt from the Bernat Urban Camouflage booklet. I've wanted this for a while, but never really had a good idea of what I wanted. Well, a new destiny has been granted to the Patons Decor in First Spring. Yeah, I know I started another Mr. Greenjeans (of which the body is near completion) with it, but my recent burst of crochet love has brought this pattern back to the front of my mind. If there was mindless crochet, this is it. The yarn feels silky and flexible and the colors are great. I also really love crocheting with variegated yarns because they look so totally different than when they are knitted. The texture of the stitches really makes the colors look great.



One other quick note. I realized that I like the Unisex Knock-Around Cashmere (um, Shetland Chunky) Pullover with the reverse stockinette side out. The pattern is written to be reversible, but I thought that the way I did my seams made it look not so hot. Happily, I was wrong. Having the reverse stockinette stitch side out means that you get to see the cool slipped stitch edging of the panels and mock shoulder seams and - this is the best part - the center panel hangs completely flat rather than pooching out (really, who needs that happening around their middle?). It's great. I'm wearing it right now.

Well, I supposed I've sloughed off from work long enough now. Have a great weekend everyone!

I hear patience is a virtue...

...but I'm having a very hard time being virtuous!

I subscribed, I paid online, and I'm trying to be patient, but I STILL haven't received my Spring '08 Interweave Knits! It's been below zero for days on end and I need my dose of spring, people!


I'm slowly making my way through the sleeves for Oblique. She isn't making quite the progress I'd hoped for, but my distractions have been many. I've had this rotten flu, which sank in my lungs over the weekend. Luckily my most excellent asthma doc is kind enough to give me an emergency course of prednisone to keep on hand for these very situations. I'm finally starting to feel like myself again.

Another distraction, in a good way, is my girlfriend's baby boy due in April. I had the gift-knitting withdrawals so I'm very pleased to be making things for little Will. Not to mention the serious stash-busting potential. I have enough 100% cotton to make several burp cloths and bibs without ever setting foot in a store. So far I've finished one of each.

I really like this color combo. My next set is going to be even better. I started this one late last night so I haven't had much time with it, but it's looking so great!

I also found out that a cousin of mine is expecting in July...yay! Another baby to knit for - and it's even spaced out enough so that I won't have to knit for two babies at the same time! How thoughtful of them!

Remember I mentioned the mindless knitting I started while watching Lord of the Rings over the weekend? Here's my progress on it. Yep, it's another Mr. Greenjeans.

This time I'm using Patons Decor in First Spring from my stash (there's a theme here...). I had bought 4 skeins for a Clapotis, but made a pair of socks instead and the rest has been sitting here. After seeing a couple Greenjeans in variegated Patons, I got going. I think I will need one more skein to make it all the way through, but that's not so bad.

Lastly, along the same vein of trying to create spring when spring is not even remotely in sight, I've begun my semi-annual kitchen overhaul. The cupboards with dishes were the easy part. I loaded a box full of stuff that I haven't used in at least a year, wiped them down, replaced everything and that was that. The pantry cupboard is another story.

We all know I have a boy with autism. One of the ways we treat this is with the gluten-free/casein-free diet (GFCF diet). I'm also allergic to dairy. We've been doing the diet now for almost 5 years so the cooking part isn't the problem...it's the sheer number of products I need to have on hand. Check out the upper half of my pantry cupboard, which is devoted to all things flour, plus a few cans of chips. It's a deep cabinet, and it's stuffed.

In my former life, these shelves would have been nearly empty. Canisters of white sugar, brown sugar, and wheat flour would have been the only things there. Ok, perhaps also whole wheat flour and bread flour, but big deal.

Now, however, I have the who's who of alternative flours: white rice, brown rice, sweet rice, potato, sorghum, garbanzo, garfava, potato/corn/tapioca starches, and don't forget xanthan and guar gums. Then there's the larger canisters of premixed (by me) Featherlight Flour Blend (Bette Hagman), GF Flour Blend (Carol Fenster), and Quickie Baking Mix (Special Diets for Special Kids 2). Oh yeah, and two kinds of pasta two: rice and wheat.

Yesterday, my kitchen was a cloud of fine GF flour powder as I mixed up fresh batches of all these mixes and tried to make some sense of what I already have. Oye! I gladly put up with the powdery mess of some of these flours, though, because the ladies who developed them have made my life so much easier. These are my favorite flour blends and they are perfect for all my baking. Casein (dairy) free is like tiddly winks compared to the transition to gluten-free, and these flours are fantastic.

I'd love to go more into the GFCF diet, but that will be for another day. Work is beckoning and this post is already far longer than I'd expected. I like doing it though, even if nobody is reading it! Stay warm everyone and have a great day!