Starting 2009 right

My parents came for a visit today - for like the first time in 7 years or something!  They live only 30 minutes away, but for my mother driving to "the big city" is a major deal!  They live in Monroe, which is pretty small, and she's just not very confident with going places she doesn't know well.  My dad decided this morning to come with her, which I think she was a little disappointed about since we'd planned a big day of shopping if she'd come alone.  I know she was pretty relieved to have him driving though!  I told myself I wouldn't freak out and try to clean like crazy - but as I was laying on my stomach over the toilet to wipe built up dust off the baseboards, I realized that I was indeed getting a little crazy!  And stupid - they were certainly not going to notice the yucky baseboards, but were surely going to notice the guitar case laying over the living room chair, and the blanket balled up on the ottoman and other crap that I'm just so used to looking at that it doesn't even seem like clutter to me!  But, just as I was trying to convince myself, they were just happy to visit and definitely weren't there to nitpick or compare my housekeeping to my mothers (which I'd never win anyway - she does things like wipe out the oven after dinner - give me a break!)  I think, if I'm being honest, another reason their visit to my place kind of freaked me out, was because when I go to their house I can maintain the regular me and present the me that I think they ought to see while I'm there.  I mean it's not like I'm cutting cocaine on my coffee table or something, but it's just comfortable privacy,  you know?  But anyway, My mom seemed to love looking at all the stuff sitting around - I'm a nick nack-y kind of person, and her house is much neater and less filled with little things everywhere you look.  For some reason I kind of thought she'd see it as a lot of crap everywhere, but I think she just though it was very "Chris".  I really don't know why I worry so much - I'm nearly 35 and I guess it's time to stop worrying about being who I think my parents want me to be (really, I'm the one who puts these rules on myself - my parents have never given me grief about anything!  I don't know why I do this to myself!)  Anyway, they also got to see my loom, and I warped it last night to show it to them in action - they were impressed.  I used some Cascade Sassy Stripes that I've had forever because I thought it might do some pretty cool things when woven, and I was right - it's neat looking:  I decided just to make a decent sized piece of fabric just for the sake of weaving it, and maybe if I do this several times I can sew them together into a crazy blanket.  Hmm, now that I see in in the picture, it's a little country-ish, eh?  it's really navy and light blue - not blue and white, but I don't guess that makes it any less country, does it?  Perhaps when it's all together with other stuff it'll be better.

 I took them to the North Dayton Garden center and, as I suspected, my mom loved it!  I got a couple new plants for my terrarium (i.e. replacements for things that have died in said terrarium) and this funny owl planter.  All in all, it was a really nice visit, and my mom says she'll come back up now that she sees it isn't such a bad drive.    It was a nice way to start the year!

Another thing I promised myself for this year is to always have a pair of socks on the needles, so on Friday I cast on for the Child's French Socks from Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks - they aren't child-sized, but the original pattern was.  She updated all these vintage sock patterns and I really love a lot of them in this book. This will be my first pair, which is ridiculous considering how long ago I bought it. 

 I'm using some CTH that I got at the Busy Beaver - it's hard to capture the color in the picture, but it's very subtly shaded with bright aqua and then slightly darker and lighter variations of that color.  Lovely!  I've also been working on my Selbu Modern which is coming along pretty quickly!  I think it's going to be fantastic when it's done - honestly I haven't seen a bad one on Ravelry yet, so I think it's just a great pattern and a beautiful hat that can't be ruined!  I probably shouldn't have said that - now mine will somehow go south before it's finished!  

Aah - going to go relax and knit since my cleaning is all done and there are none of the usual Saturday chores!  

Is it wrong to base fashion choices on crazy old ladies?

I watched this very strange japanese movie yesterday.  The little old sisters, on the left, went out every day looking for cool junk in people's trash, and they'd both wear matching capes with fur collars and pompoms on the ties (which unfortunately you really can't see in the picture - that totally made the look!)  I really really want a cape with a fur collar and pompoms now.  Well, not really fur, but I'm thinking maybe a short dense eyelash or maybe, oh yes, perhaps even better, a really loopy boucle, like my single skein of Drops Puddel, which will never be enough, I'm sure.   Why are old ladies so darn cute?

Post Christmas report

There's something relaxing about the post-holiday time - no more rushing around or trying to remember things you're sure you've forgotten to do.  The pressure is off and you can just sit on the couch watching the first season of Pushing Daisies, for example, without feeling guilty.  Which I highly recommend, by the way.  

Christmas gifts went over well - my mother LOVED her sweater and it fit her sooo well!  I was really afraid it'd be too big on her, but it was just perfect.  I can't believe I forgot my camera - I wanted to take a picture of her with it on,  and the button in place.  The socks that I started for my father last Tuesday were nearly finished by the time I left their house (I just knit until Christmas morning then put them  in a gift bag, needles and all, and said "look!  it's an unfinished pair of socks for you!) They probably would have been totally finished if I hadn't gotten carried away with the foot and done an extra inch and a half, while chatting, before realizing that I should have been decreasing for the toe.  I ripped back and finished up at home last night.  As I suspected, they were a little loose on him - not as much as I feared, but we talked about what he liked, and I think next time I'll make something that's ribbed all the way down and maybe across the top of  the foot too, so it's more fitted.   My mom also really liked the placemats, despite the weird coloration - which totally could have been fixed had I read cosymakes's comment before Christmas - that would have been perfect!  oh well.  My mother isn't too difficult to please!  

My sister-in-law's birthday is coming up next month and since she's been threatening to steal my newest mittens (the ones made with the Hand Me Downs handspun - who can blame her!?) I decided to make her a pair of mittens and a matching hat. 

 Sure, I could have used something from the stash, but of course, I didn't!  I got some Crystal Palace Taos, which I've always liked the look of, and because it's a two ply with each ply a different color, it kind of reminded me of the handspun that I used on mine.  I really like the way it knits up! 

 I only got two balls, so I'm striping in some of the leftover off-white Cascade 220 from my mom's sweater, and I'll do the same on the hat.  I think it'll stretch the Taos so that it'll be a perfect amount.  

Oooh - I also splurged on a little post-Christmas gift for myself! 

 A Namaste knitting bag!  It's the Zuma, in my new favorite peacock blue color!  and it's not leather!  Unfortunately, when I saw the pictures on the website, I thought that the interior of the bag was divided into sections by a mesh part, which was where you'd keep your knitting projects - but it's not.  Oh, for anyone who doesn't know, Namaste is a line of bags that are designed to be snappy enough to carry as a purse, but also very functional as a knitting bag (and big enough to hold both!) 

 That mesh part that I saw in the pictures is actually their Oh Snap! mesh bags - shown doing their thing, holding a project inside the bag.  duh.  Well, needless to say, I had to order the mesh bags too. I justified it by telling myself that this will easily allow me to fulfill my plan of always having a pair of socks on the needles this year!  And honestly there are a lot of times that I get stuck somewhere and wish I had my knitting with me - now I always will!  She's a beaut!  

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and I also hope you all ate far less candy than I did!

A not incredibly crafty Christmas

Originally the BF and I agreed that we wouldn't buy each other anything for Christmas this year, but instead make stuff.  I requested a gold spray painted macaroni covered pencil holder like everyone made for their parents in gradeschool.  Seriously, is there anyone out there who didn't make one of those?  Anyway, after a while of not being able to think of a single thing to make him, I asked if he was struggling as much as I was - he said yes, so we tossed that plan and just shopped.  I'd like to think we're both pretty creative people, but when under pressure, we produced nothing.  sheesh.  But I did do a little bit of handmade gifting - there's the aforementioned sweater for my mom, which is now blocked, dried, and wrapped.  Oh, and I found these little labels at JoAnn's that say "Handmade with Love" which I sewed on - so cute!  I also made these mittens for my friend at work, HelenI used SWS in the natural earth colorway, because she's into neutrals, then I embroidered on some snowflakes - because snowflakes will never be out of season when you're wearing mittens!  I also wove two placemats for my mother, which only seemed appropriate since she bought me the loom for Christmas!  I'm still not sure that I'm loving them - I don't really like how I did the warp colors in two blocks like that.  I wish I'd had the forethought to stripe them or something, but I did go back and buy more of the warp yarn so that I could make more in the same colors, but with different patterns, so they'd mix and match with the original set.  I used some brown Lion Cotton and Lion Incredible ribbon yarn as the weft, and I really like how it came out, colorwise! Ok, off to do more wrapping!  Have a great holiday everyone!!

Christmas is exhausting!

Well, I guess it's not necessarily Christmas that's exhausting, it's the cookie baking.  I don't know why making 4 different batches of cookies took so long, but it sure did.  Now my kitchen is trashed and I don't feel like cleaning it up - hell, I haven't even taken my apron off  (but that's 'cause I kinda like it!)  Not that I'm complaining!  There's not much better than spending a saturday baking cookies, listening to your Willie Nelson and Family double album, and not worrying about the fact that you haven't gotten anything else done!  

We put the tree up a couple weekends ago,

 and I forgot to post pictures of the little tree topper the fella and I made together!  Since we got this snazzy red tree, we've never really had a topper for it so he said he could probably make something cool out of felt and he asked me what I wanted and I said a bird.  He cut out all the pieces and I figured some Elmer's glue would hold it together just fine, but it didn't.  He got frustrated and gave up because all the pieces kept falling apart, so I sewed it together with some space dyed embroidery floss and it turned out just great. 

Unfortunately the picture did not turn out so great - it's hard to take pictures when every day is cloudy!  Oh, and speaking of handmade decorations - I've been taking my good old natured time finished my felted ornaments, but I do have one finished, I think.  This is the one that everyone made fun of as I was crocheting it.  It really was pretty bad.   After felting it was still pretty weird, and oddly phalic, but I think with some tough shaping and stitching, and the all-important addition of sequins, it turned out pretty well!  

it's hardly even recognizable - I had to push the long pokey end in, and turn it upside down, to mitigate the penis-y look of it.  My to-do list for this evening does include working on the others, but I also want to warp my loom to start working on a couple placemats for my mama!  

Ooh, in other knitting news - I need to decide what to cast on for next!  I did start on my Selbu Modern, but I need something less chart-y for knit nights - I have other hats I want to do (Fresco Herringbone,  Bobbled Tam, Side Slip Cloche, and Sideways Grande Cloche, to name a few) but I'm also pretty excited about Amelia - the cardigan from the new Knitty!  At first I didn't care for it - but I think that was because I didn't like the way the model was wearing her hat.  I get caught up on stupid stuff, what can I say?  And I didn't like the stuff about a "peplum" in the description.  Then I looked at it and realized that it has lots of the same elements of my favorite store bought cardigan - the shaping gives you curves even if you're wearing something loose-y under it, and even though it's knit in worsted weight, it doesn't look as bulky as I'd expect.  I think I pretty much love it now!  I have some red wool that I think just might be perfect!  I really wasn't planning to cast on for another sweater, but it is sweater weather, so why not?  I don't know - I'll sleep on it and figure something out before knit night tomorrow!  

The saga comes to an end!

Ok, so the ends on the saga still need to be woven in, then the saga needs to be blocked, but in my mind it's pretty officially finished!  Here's Sally, my more-buxom-than-my-mother dressform, modeling:   I have no idea why this took me so long - it's not like it was horribly difficult, and the pattern was perfectly written so I didn't struggle there, it just didn't ever seem to be the top thing I wanted to work on.  I know my mother will love it though!  Oh, she's got a couple buttons that we're going to add at the top after I give it to her.  I knit 2 little i-cords on size 1 needles and I plan to sew them on sort of like frogs when we decide on button placement. I just love the collar!  And I'm really happy with the bit of ribbing I decided to add to the bottom (after eliminating about 4 inches from the original pattern to better fit my shorty mom) - it lays so much nicer there now.  Oh, I can't tell you how glad I am to have this finished!  I want to make mittens and hats and gloves and everything now!  I'm going crazy with cast-on-itis!  

What's kept me from casting on for anything yet is these guys:  

I've been working on more ornaments to felt - and thanks to Kamile and her size 9 crochet hook, I crocheted the last three which is faster and I think it might even give a cool texture after felting.  I'm probably kidding myself on that last part, but we'll see.  I'm stuffing them before felting which is another kind of iffy thing - I mean I did base this off the pattern instructions in Alterknits Felt, and she talked about not stuffing them too much or else they won't have enough room to felt down.  She gave a final weight that they ought not weigh more than, but seriously dudes, I didn't follow the pattern really at all, therefore mine are probably a totally different size (and therefore a different weight to start with) and I'm way too lazy to be weighing stuffing.  And come on, what do you need, like a cocaine scale to weigh out something as light as PolyFill anyway?  So, we'll just see what happens!  isn't that more fun anyway?  I'm going to do more embellishing post-felting so I'll take pictures then too - Catherine, I'm stealing your embroidered snowflake idea for the plain green ball!  I hope these turn out good - I'm pretty jazzed about them and they're pretty addictive!  

It's beginning to look a lot like a sweater!

I've been singing "it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas" ever since the flurries started, and when I can't get something out of my head, I start thinking everything to the tune of it.  But this time it really works!  Hark!  a sweater!  not a pile of sweater pieces!  I'm totally going to finish this by Christmas - in plenty of time!  I'll have extra time to try to squeeze in Christmas knits that will only serve to make me stressed and crazy.  super!  But back to the sweater!  I'm pretty darn happy with this thing - even though the sleeves are more fitted than I'm sure my mom wants (she kind of wanted a traditional dropped shoulder boxy kind of thing, but instead of making her happy and making something that'd probably be easier than this was, I opted to make what I thought would look good on her.  I hate it when people do that to me.)   I plan to block them as full as I can.  I'm also going to add an inch or so of 1x1 rib at the bottom just to rein it in a bit - she's a tiny little thing, but wanted the sweater to be loose.  Because of that, I know the bottom is going to flair out and not look nice.  If she totally hates that part, I'll just rip it and it'll be gone (because I'll have to pick up stitches along the bottom to add it.)  

I recently got the Alterknit Felts book after hearing about it on the Webs podcast.  I decided that I'd make some felted ornaments for my mum as well.  This is the before shot. 

 I'm going to do some embroidery before and some after - depending on whether or not the stuff is wool, probably.  Oh, and I'll probably do some beads or sequins afterwards too - just for added bedazlement!  I'm crocheting another because it just seemed faster.  I figure I'll do several then felt them all.   These are some of the yarns I plan to use (the little bits are from my Elann yarn subscription - a perfect use!!)  

They're all kinds of fun, and really fast!  I'm also going to do a couple of Eunny's cabled ornaments to put in, just so they aren't all felted.