knitting – Page 4

Solaris, finished

September 25, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

Please forgive the crappy cell phone photo collage. I was at “book club” tonight (loosely used because the last 2 months I’ve not read either book and I’m really just there for the booze and laughs) and had my friend Liz take photos of it for me. The bar we go to has this lovely patio between two old buildings, but the sun was starting to set and the lighting wasn’t the greatest so the photos came out blurry. Also, it hasn’t been blocked. It probably should be. It also probably should have been knit in the larger size, because now that I look at it the shoulders don’t look like they fit where they should. Maybe blocking will fix that, though, and stretch it a bit. Meh. It fits, and it’s warm. I’ll wear it, obviously.

The yarn is Ultra Alpaca and it might end up being my new favorite worsted for sweaters. Or, rather, it will be once I get through the backlog of knitting to-dos that I have on my list/in my yarn stash.

Next up? Atwood. And more gifts… I made a list today and… yeah. I’ve got big dreams, apparently. Will I pull it off? Only time will tell.

(This post also brought to you by 3 beers while the baby is in bed. Cheers!)

Giftmas knits in progress

September 24, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

I’ve officially started holiday crafting. I’m not sure this is the best idea, given time constraints and all, but I’m giving it a good go anyway. I’m trying to keep my plans fairly simple – some knit fingerless mitts, a few knitting project bags, maybe a hat or two?

Do you recognize that yarn? That’s the recent spinning from Tour de Fleece. It’s LOVELY. I was a bit worried that my spinning would ruin the loveliness that is malabrigo, but the finished yarn is SO soft. The mitts feel lovely on your hands. I didn’t use a pattern – I couldn’t find anything I liked – so I just kind of winged it. The great thing is that this project is using only a little bit of the yarn, so I’ll have plenty left for at least a second pair. Maybe even enough for a small pair for the Little Mister. These knit up so quickly, which is a nice change from all the other projects I keep starting.

Do you have any gifts you’re working on?

Fall tulips

September 21, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

Last week I bought myself some tulips, and my mom some pretty yellow roses. My tulips are faded and gone, now, but they were pretty while they lasted. I might walk down to the flower shop up the street and see what I can find there to replace them. I really do love having some fresh flowers at the table, especially since we’ve been actually using the table (whereas before baby we ate a lot on the couch – lame, I know).

The Little Mr is napping in his crib at the moment. I have mixed feelings about it. After a year of him napping in our arms, I’ve become quite attached to those afternoon snuggles. At the same time, though, he is becoming more and more his own little person and he doesn’t want to be held to go to sleep anymore. A lot of afternoons it’s a struggle of trying to get him to settle down enough to sleep in my arms on the couch and most times he just wants out of my arms only to turn around and cry and reach for me. It’s been… stressful. And I don’t have the patience to deal with this stage of wanting down but wanting up at the same time. It’s exhausting. So, crib naps are where we’re headed. He’s really, really awesome about going to sleep at night in his crib, so I’ve been trying to transition him to the crib for naps a bit more. So far, so good. But I miss those easy naps and snuggles together, and it makes me incredibly sad to know that they’re no longer happening.

On the bright side… I get time to post here. Or knit. Or clean. Or whatever I want to do because I don’t have someone at my heels 24/7. Today I’m cleaning. Or will be after I finish this post up. We’re looking at houses, though we’re not quite sure if we’re going to actually put ours up for sale. The sweet little place in the country I mentioned before has issues so I think it’s officially off the list. I can deal with drywall and floors and a bathroom needing finished, but there’s standing water in the corner of the basement. You can’t really have a basement here without having water at least occasionally (our own basement has been known to flood in bad storms when the city’s storm drains get overwhelmed) but standing water in a corner when there hasn’t been any rain for a while is suspect. Anyway, I’ve been trying to purge more and clean up more things around the house just in case. It needs done if we’re going to have people coming through our home, and it definitely needs done if we’re going to pack all of this up to move. The less to pack and move the better, and since I’d like to downsize our square footage that means getting rid of some bigger things, too.

Let’s see… what else have I not had a chance to write about…

My annual knit group trip is coming up and I’m much more excited this year than last. That’s probably the lack of postpartum hormones, mostly. We’re going to dye yarn again, and I think that might just become an annual thing, too. I placed our Knit Picks order for it but I didn’t get any yarn; I did get some of their Full Circle roving in the Wolf colorway, though. I want to play with dyes over the grey color since everything else is always on white.

The Mr saw the Atwood cardigan on my Knit Picks catalog cover and kind of casually mentioned that he wouldn’t mind wearing something like it. So, of course, I had to immediately order the pattern and yarn to make him one. I’ll have to start it ASAP, though, if I’m to get it finished by winter. Maybe if I’m super fast with it I can get it done in time for us to get a family photo done and we can all wear the hand knits that I’ve made for it? That’s probably being overly ambitious, though.

I’m a sleeve seam away from being done with my Solaris cardigan. It feels a tad snug in the arms, but blocking might help. If I can be bothered to block it, I mean – most knits I just seam and wear unless they absolutely need soaked/blocked.

I think that’s it? I have sewing to share but it’ll have to wait until later. I need to go clean while I have time and the kid is asleep!

The new craft room.

August 6, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

While this space isn’t fully done, I’m considering it done enough to share at the moment. Tuesday evening my sister very kindly helped me move that dresser and my grandma’s sewing table into the room, and I spent a good portion of Wednesday morning moving my craft supplies in. I apparently live in the land of delusion when it comes to my stuff. I originally thought everything would fit nicely into that dresser – and by everything I mean yarn, fabric, paint, etc. It seemed reasonable to think that all the things I had would ~~fit~~ cram into a few drawers of a dresser. Oh, the lies we tell ourselves.

Not even all my yarn fits into the drawers. That little mesh bin next to the dresser is currently playing host to my acrylics while I figure out something else. The fabric… well, it’s still downstairs. There’s still a bit of stuff to get rid of in the room’s closet so once that’s gone I’ll have to figure out another option. Hanging shelves on the rod in the closet? Plastic Rubbermaid drawers? I don’t even know. I can say that there isn’t a ton left to find a home for, at least. The bulk of it was definitely my yarn, and I think having it in these drawers will help me use up some of my stash since it’s more easily accessible versus buried in a bag in the closet. Someone on G+ suggested vacuum bags to compress the air out of the yarn and free up space, and I’m definitely not beyond trying that to make it all work. I’d purge more of it but at this point I’m feeling like everything that is left is stuff I want to keep and will use.

In other news, the stove is hooked up and works! And, wouldn’t you know it, I’m due for a serious grocery run so there isn’t really even anything to cook so I can use it! I fried eggs this morning for breakfast because it’s all I had, so tonight I’ll have to plan a grocery list and tomorrow start baking/cooking ALL the things again.

I have a few things to finish up cleaning-wise around the house this afternoon, and then tomorrow commences the Busy Weekend of Birthday Things. We’re going to attempt to do our own 1 year photos of the Little Mr, then there will be much cooking and last minute gift making (“if I start this now, I’ll have plenty of time to finish it before August,” I said in April) and party prepping, and then Saturday family will be arriving for what is looking to be a small party for the little one. Busy, busy, busy, this August is starting out to be!

Casting on something new

July 24, 2015 Marie 1 Comment

I probably should finish something I’ve already started, but instead I’ve cast on for a Solaris cardigan. I wanted something easy and not really finicky as far as charts and weird shaping and whatnot and this fits the bill perfectly. Also? No buttons! The pattern is broken rib so it isn’t quite as tedious as normal ribbing. I suspect, were this an in-the-round sweater, it’d be even less so since I could do knits instead of purls. I’m using some Ultra Alpaca from my stash, which I haven’t used before but I’m already planning on buying more providing I like how it wears once the sweater is done and there’s some weight pulling on it.

Tour de Fleece is nearly over and I’m afraid I haven’t finished spinning my second bobbin, let alone plied all of it up. So I guess I’ll make a big push to finish the bobbin tonight and ply it up… Sunday, maybe? I might be able to ply it all up in one evening… possibly. Or maybe I’ll just say screw it and do it later. I guess I’ll just have to see how it goes. And hope that next year the kid isn’t quite so attention-needy that I can sit and spin while he plays.