Friday, January 13, 2006

Round afgan for a girl

I feel like I have been knitting like crazy lately, both on the machine and by hand. Of course, it serves a few purposes. First I get projects done that I have been wanting or meaning to do for a long time. Second, I get to use my stash and then I can truly justify buying new yarn that I love. Thirdly, it keeps me busy, so I have little time to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. I just twiddle some needles instead. ;) Anyhow, I finished the ruby red booties. They still need the buttons sewn on, but other than that they are done. I finished the felted booties. I am not thrilled with how they turned out. They still seem a little big, so maybe I will run them through the machine again. The problem I think I am having is we bought a new washer and dryer, which I absoultely love, but am still trying to figure out just what I need to do to get the felting results that I want. We are used to a traditional top load machine, and I knew just what to set it too, and for how long. We now have a front load LG. It is an awesome machine for doing laundry. It saves me time and money. However for felting, I just havent figured it out yet. So, maybe one more time through will do the job. I also just started on a round baby afgan for my new niece. I am doing it in lavendar, light sage green( that looks a little minty to me) and a tan color. I thought this would look ok, and are the colors my sister chose. They match the colors closely to a quilt she is making her. However as I am knitting, I do not think I like how it is turning out. The blue and grey one I did was awesome, but this one...I dont know. Maybe when it is done, it will be cool. I sure hope so. After I am done with the blanket, I still need to knit the the sweater on my other machine, and I would like to do some felted slippers for my other nieces. I want them to get some gifts too as their sister is getting a few things from me. Plus, I dont get to spoil them on a daily basis anymore. And, what is more fun than an aunt from out of state bringing you gifts when she visits. Oh yeah that reminds me, I have also been knitting a case for my knitting needles that I will felt. The pattern is from a knitting magazine...dont remember which one, will have to add the link next time...maybe with a picture as I am just about done with it.
On the other stuff topic, last week my son split the back of his head open in the bathroom. He cracked it on the soap dish in the tub. We had to go to the ER and he got to staples in his head. They were removed on Wed.. He is doing fine, and never passed out, and didnt get a concussion. Lucky for him and us. I have two more weeks until I get to go home and see my new niece. I am so excited. I also get to see everyone else and that also makes me happy. Well I guess that is all Ive got for now. TTFN

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Picture or no picture

Well, I tried to add the picture of the Bolero, I am not sure if it made it or not. On my screen it didnt. I am not sure why. I used the little add picture thing and follow the instructions and it said it was uploaded and I just need to publish the blog, which I did, but no picture. Maybe it will show up later. If it does great, it not, hmm. Maybe I will start using Hello again. It was easy to use and my pictures always showed up. -TTFN

Bolero

Well, I am certainly off to a good start, two entries this week. Anyhow last night I finished knitting the "santa" hat. It still needs the ends worked in, and felted. I usually try to have stuff that needs finishing by my chair so I have something to do when vegging out in front of the tv at night. However last night I was trying to finish a bolero for my oldest daughter. I used the December free patern from Kangamooknits.com, but didnt follow the instructions totally. Well, the only thing I did different was use worsted weight, Red Heart. The pattern calls for a Bulky weight yarn, and I didnt have any. Now I know that for many people, myself included, this means I NEED to go buy more yarn, but I had just had my husband and son bring all my yarn down out of the attic, and I had 6 Rubbermaid large bins. Needless to say to, if at that moment I had told my husband that I needed new yarn in might not have gone over too well. So, I improvised. My daughter is a small(thin) 9 year old. The pattern is for adults with a size small being a 34, so I figured if I used the same keyplate, and the worsted it might fit her. Now I know this would be a good time to swatch, but I never have, and maybe that should be my knitting new years resoultion. But, the thing is, I would not know how to adjust the pattern according to my swatch, so what would be the point. I would just have a piece of knit fabric, and I could say, "yep that looks nice". Maybe I should learn how to adjust patterns. Anyhow, I knit it up fairly quickly. It is knit in one piece on the machine. Which is kind of nice, as i dont have to rehang it to add sleeves. Anyhow, you take it off and seam the arms, and sides,and voila a bolero. Of course because it is stockinette, it rolls on the edges. So I crocheted a nice shell edge around it. Now if I had been thinking, which I wasnt, I would have realized that I made it a little smaller, so the shells should also be a little smaller. So when all is said and done, the shells gave it a sort of ruffely effect. If that is what I was going for, great, but I wasnt. So now it doesnt lay flat, which my daughter wanted. Here is another place where swatching and adjusting would have helped, it is a little large under the arms, throught the body. It however fits great in length, and in arm length. I probably could have fixed that by doing fewer rows in the body, but it would also need to be narrower around the arm. Hmm. I really do need to figure this stuff out. I would like to be able to knit for my family and have the items fit well, not like someone just knit a pattern and it fits ok. You know a professional vs. homemade look. Not that there is anything wrong with homemade, I actually prefer it, but well done homemade is the look I want. So I have added pictures of it, to this post. It is knit in Red Heart Lavendar color and she liked it well enough. I will probably try to steam it for her tonight.

Today was the first day back at school after Christmas Break, and my kids were so difficult this morning! The daughter I knit the shrug for was absolutely terrible. She obviously did not get enough sleep. I almost didnt let her wear the shrug, but I stayed up late finishing it for her, so it was more of a punishment for me. I hope that tomorrow goes easier.

I have a hair appointment in a little bit with a new hairdresser. A friend of mine recommended her to me. The lady I had been going to be was nice, and did a great job, and was priced in a range I was willing to pay, but a week or two after getting it cut, it felt like it needed cut again, and she was too expensive for that. My best example is that I moved here is Sept. and got my hair cut in the middle of Sept. and then again in Oct., and then again in early Nov. I have been putting off getting it cut since, because I dont normally cut my hair every month, but it really needed it. I would prefer to get it cut every 8-12 weeks. Twelve being really pushing it. Now I know that some styles require cuts more often, but I didnt think mine was one of them, and before moving to Virginia it wasnt. I think what my hairdresser was doing was taking the minimum amount off, so that it looked cut, but not CUT, and then a week later when most hair starts looking its best, it began to look a little long. It would require a little more time, and a little more product. And I am not a product person, so that was a hassle. Anyhow hopefully I will love my new hair and this new hairdresser will be my new hairdresser. I got my fingers crossed at least. Of course anything is better than what I've got going now.

TTFN, Miki

Monday, January 02, 2006

New Year, new knitting

Has it really been since Septmeber that I last wrote? This blog thing is easy for me to forget. I resolve to try and write at least once a week. I would love to have a blog that people read, and comment on. Not much has changed here in Virgina. We have seen some sites, and had a great Christmas. My sister had a baby 2 days after Christmas, so my knitting has been all about her lately. First I knit, and still need to seam, a pair of ruby red slippers. I got the patern from a great blog titled just let me finish this row. I can not remember the designers name, but when I add the picture, I will make sure to include it. The booties knit up fast, in Lion Brand glitterspun. They are sooo cute. Last night I began a pair of felted booties out of Lambs pride, in Sapphire and Fuschia. The fuschia is the accent color at the top. I have one done, but not seamed, and the other left to start. Hopefully I will get those doen today. I also knit a hat and felted it for another niece. This time I used Cascade 220, in purple. Not sure what the color name is specifically. I am also working on another felt hat that I kinda wanted done before Christmas, but it will be ready for next year. It is red, with a white and sparkly fun fur(festive fur) brim. It is sorta in a Santa tradition, and I think it will turn out cute. I also knit a great scarf for a friend. She loves skulls and knitty.com had a great skull scarf pattern in their fall 05 catalog. It is called Yorick and knit up fast and felted often. I used the yarn called for in the pattern and it was soooo soft and was such a joy to knit. It also fetled up great. She loved the scarf and I think it will be one she wears often.

Other than knitting, which I apparantly have been doing lots of since september, I have been trying to finish the cross stitch stockings for my family that I started about 5 years ago. I tendonitis had got to bad to work on them, but since I started knitting by hand it has gotten better. I didnt get them done for this year, but they will be hanging from the mantel next year. I also am almost done with some cross stitch placemats that I started for my sister in law. They were to be her Birthday present 2 years ago. I wonder if she still remembers I told her I would make them? Well I got 3 of the 4 done, and then couldnt find the 4th placemat, so I moved on to stockings. As soon as I finish knitting for the new baby, I will finish the 4th that I found while digging through my craft stuff. They are cute, with sunflowers up the side. I am glad that my wrists allow me to stitch again, I really missed it. Well that is about all that is going on now. I am heading back to Oregon to see my new niece in a few weeks so I'd better get knitting. TTFN, Miki