Frog Is A Four Letter Word

I mentioned earlier that Nephew #3 is growing like a weed and I was getting bummed that I may not have too much time left for knitting baby things. Is that the knitting version of a biological clock? haha... Even Niece #3 is 15 months already, although she's still wearing size 12 months except...errr.. in the belly area. Hee hee, it doesn't get any better, Isabel, so enjoy it now while everyone thinks it's cute! But then I remembered that a long lost friend is having a baby girl in early autumn. And what could be cuter than Miss Dashwood from Knitty's winter surpise? Plus, it's done up in my second favorite baby yarn, Cashmerino. Actually, I cheat and get KFI's Cashmereno--same thing, more cute colors, slightly cheaper.

I also wanted to make Nephew #3 a knitted toy for Easter so I was going to start on the Phildar sheep kit my secret pal sent me. Then I saw a link on Jessica's site for this cute Bunny Knitalong and they had a free pattern for this super easy knit bunny from Heartstrings. (Was that enough links for ya?) So I will attempt to make both, knowing that I will probably only complete one.

Have you knit or crocheted any stuffed toys?

A year ago today we said goodbye to Teeni, aka Big Boobs. (Oh my, I can just imagine the google hits I'm going to get from that.) I still miss her and so does Charlie, but I'm very happy that she is not in pain anymore. I'm wearing black today, not in mourning, but as a tribute to her magical ability to shed onto clothes through closed doors and sealed tubs. Haha. Last week I pulled a suit that I hadn't worn for a year out of the closet and I had to lintbrush off fuzzy black hairs. If I'd been planning ahead, I would have saved all that hair for 14 years and made one kickass coat or sweater out of it. It would have been waterproof to boot!



How many fiber donators do you have in your house?

It's been a good weekend for getting things done. The weather has cooperated so laundry and carwashing could be done and of course it makes it easier to get motivated to go out and run errands.

We had another charity knitting circle on Saturday and it seems hats are now the "hot" item. It's interesting to see this group evolve not just with people but with projects. Apparently everyone's had their fill of making lap blankets and want something different. Or maybe we're all getting spring fever and want smaller, quickly finished projects. I even started working with my new knitting machine last week because I wanted a blanket done quickly.

While I was at the library, I borrowed Knitter's Stash by Barbara Albright. I like the book, but as usual could not bring myself to spend $30 on it at the store. Free library to the rescue! I enjoyed reading about the local yarn shops featured in the book--makes me want to plan a roadtrip. Almost all of the patterns appealed to me and some favorites are: Meadow Flowers shawl (apparently lace weight mohair -is- addictive); Bomber Cap and Mittens; Linen Washcloths; and Felted Fish (scrapbuster!). My mom would flip over the Farmhouse Rug, so I'll have to keep that in mind for next birthday maybe.

Speaking of Mom's birthday, the snowdrop shawl is 74.64% complete and I still haven't used up my second ball of Douceur et Soie! I'll see what I think of the size when I get to the end of the pattern because time permitting, I may continue on to use up more yarn. Plus, my mom's a tall lady, she could carry a larger shawl well.

Do you like Knitter's Stash ?

If you remember, a girl from Meetup got an awesome deal on Blue Sky Alpaca last week. Well, I mentioned it to the bf because I was trying to figure out where this scratch-and-dent place was. So what did he do? He went down there and bought me a bag of the most awesome baby alpaca!



I'm splitting this with M because she's all about alpaca and all about neutrals. Now I need to decide what to do with my portion. I flipped through Scarf Style and the first two pieces that caught my eye are Ene's scarf and the turtleneck shrug. Nyet on both. If I were going to do all that work on Ene's scarf, I would want it to be something magical like crimson silk or handpainted something. And I really love the turtleneck shrug, but I'm the only one I know who would wear it, and I wouldn't wear this tan/taupe/oatmeal color. Plus, I never make anything for myself. However, it may work really well for Interlocking Balloons. I don't know who I'd give that too, though.

So then I thought it would make a snuggly sweater for Nephew #3, but the bastard is growing so fast, I'd have no idea what size to make it. If I started it soon, it will still be a fall gift, and he might be seven feet tall by then. I could start it right now and bust my butt to get it done by Easter, then I'd be more confident of the size, but that only leaves him a month or so to wear it before it gets warm.

To recap--the options are: sweater for nephew possibly in 3T (would I have enough?); Interlocking Balloons (with no giftee in mind); some other type of shrug/wrap; something else. Suggestions please!!

Can I help it if I'm easily bored? No, but I can do something about it--like shop online for knitting stuff. haha! Monday was slow so I ordered some ebony needles from TheKnitter.com and this super cute flower pattern from Stitch Diva. These crocheted flowers are awesome scrap users, although I realized just how little novelty yarn I use. I did make two Monday night.



From the inside out: the blue is Imagine, Lamb's Pride Bulky and Texas; the red is Choo Choo, Chenille T&Q and Funny. I think they're cute and I'll probably put them on bags.

Do you knit or crochet flowers?

Two posts in one day! Don't get used to it. I finished up the wine cozy for my friends' housewarming gift.



The yarn is Sugar-n-Cream, the pattern is Jennifer Carter's wine cozy as seen on Knitty.com and the beads are from my local bead shop Bead Lady's Kharma (Vicki's awesome, she also just started coming to our knitting meetups). I would not recommend cotton for this pattern and--even though it may be obvious once you get to this point in the pattern--when it says work until it measures 8", they are referring to only the stockinette portion. I added another inch after this because you use up that much when you make the "ridge" and otherwise your cozy would only be 7" tall plus the ribbing. I bought more cotton to make a second one, but I am not crazy about the idea now. It may go better if I use a circ instead of dpn's. We'll see.

For what projects do you use Kitchen Cotton/Sugar-n-Cream?

StichinGirl is awesome! I swapped one of her sheep draftstoppers for the leftover mohair from my mom's shawl and the sheep arrived yesterday! Thanks Toni! No pictures cause I'm lazy, but I can tell you Dobby and I have already had three conversations about its function as a draftstopper not a toy.

Fruitychick's blog has also reminded me that it's only 2 1/2 months until the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival or for those getting totally geeked about going, MS&W. My friend M is going with me and the bf has already declined--fine by me because if you're not 100% committed, I don't want you dragging me down. hee hee. Hope to see you there, I'll be wearing my Frog Is A Four Letter Word shirt.

And a final cool thing. Yesterday M and I went to Folk Art Studio Cafe and were pleased. I llleeerrrvveeeddd their selection of mohair. That seems to be an unreasonable pet peeve of mine with yarn shops, they never have enough mohair for me. Well this place does! Plus they had a line of yarn called Ironstone which I'd never heard of but fell in like with immediately. M got some of their Herb Garden in a glorious heathered mix for only $6 a skein! Please brace yourself, I did not buy anything. I had a very specific project--Super Secret Project #2--in mind and could not find what I needed there. I had fun looking, though, so not a waste of time.

Are you going to MS&W?

Well, there will be some moderate yarn budgeting happening around here for the next 60 months, haha. I can't even type that with a straight face. I finally got a new (to me) vehicle and that new payment should really be coming out of my craft habit, but we all know it won't. I'll either do more side jobs or eat less, turn the thermostat down even further and sell my non-vital organs. (If they're non-vital, why do we have them?)

I have only done a little knitting the past couple days--the shawl is pushing 70% complete--and I bought The Knitting Goddess by Deborah Bergman. It's mostly stories and a couple patterns and it seems nice so far, plus it was only $5. Last night at Meetup I almost bought Debbie Bliss' Cotton Knits for All Seasons but I don't care for B&N's prices. So I might pick it up elsewhere.

One of the girls at Meetup was working on a wrap with this awesome baby alpaca from Blue Sky Alpacas. Okay, get THIS! She bought a whole bag of it at some local scratch-and-dent/overstock place for $39!! Don't think I'm not running down there Saturday morning. The pattern she was using was equally awesome, it was a crossover pattern from DIY's Knitty Gritty episode on scarves. You can find it here.

Do you watch Knitty Gritty?

I completed my mom's hot water bottle cozy. It's pretty groovy.



The buttons aren't metal, contrary to their appearance here. They are plastic sort of holographic. You know, they change colors as you look at them from different angles. I chose them because they were sort of flat and one of the colors is the bright pink.

So my mom tells me on Saturday that her surgery has been postponed until the first week of April. Don't say that! Now I'll lose all my momentum on the snowdrop shawl! And sure enough, I have picked up something else.



It's a wine cozy, ala Jennifer Carter's wine cozy on Knitty.com. My friends A & E are moving into a new house at the end of the month and this is part of their housewarming present. It will have those cool beads I got last summer around the base and at the ends of the ties. I bought some black and white kitchen cotton today to make another one and it will probably have clear glass beads throughout.

What do you think of wine cozies?

I must begin with a question. How do I call myself a knitta when I don't own a #13 circular? I mean, for reals! So I've been making my mom's hot water bottle cozy with #13 straights (ewww straights). It was about half done when I decided to try it on the hot water bottle. It's just too big. Now it wouldn't really matter all that much except I only have about 90% of a skein to make this thing. So I'm frogging it and making it smaller.



The yarn is Wendy Wild Spice in hot pink of Hug fame (scroll down to the 16th). Now that I think of it, my mom bought me this yarn as a birthday present...was it just last year? Whoa, is it possible that I'm using up scraps from my stash within a year ? Well then I'm definitely not a real knitta. Stay tuned for the pattern--I'll post it as soon as I'm done. Although it's just math, my exact numbers won't help you unless you're using this model of bottle and chunky yarn. But hey.

What have you made to use up leftovers?

These pictures are for M who was wondering what my mom's snowdrop shawl is looking like. Here it is at 64.36% complete. It's a bit scrunched up because this is only a 40" or 42" needle. There are a couple jogs in the pattern where I was off by a stitch on that particular row, but I totally don't care and neither will Mom.



Mmm, just rub your face in this mohairy goodness. Also, this is the true color (on my computer anyway).



I think I may make my mom a hot water bottle sweater, perhaps Rachael's BAWK or something similar. So that will become my volleyball spectator project and the Wavy will just have to wait a while. It's probably a gift for next winter anyway.

Have you made a hot water bottle cozy/sweater?

My new best friend, Maggie Jackson, may be a couple stitches short of a row, but I love her. I bought A Fashion Colour Story yesterday and I am crazy-in-love with her ideas. I may not be wearing "Pomeroy" anytime soon, though, because nothing says "Whore" like pink and red dropped stitches. This was the first time I'd heard of Maggiknits or seen any of her books or yarn and now I'm all excited about new inspiration and neat ideas.

Also, I should really show you the finished Madeleine before I ship it off. I don't like it. Let's all move on.



Didn't get much knitting done on Mom's shawl yesterday because I had a horrible headache all day. But I promise I'll get a lot done today.

Have you knit with any Maggiknits yarn or patterns? What did you think?

Wavy has been my volleyball spectator project for the past several games and I'm finally done one repeat. As I was laying it across my arm to look at it, I realized that pattern would make for some fun sleeves, either as a shrug or on a cardigan. I'm sure the wavy edges would make for fun seaming, but hey. Just a thought.

My mom's shawl is 56.15% complete. I hope to get tons done on it this weekend, in between or during car shopping (Yuck).

Have you made a Wavy?