ALLY PALLY!!!!!

Well, despite initially saying the words "yarn diet", I succumbed to the draw of all that yarn in one place. I took M and went - she was much better than expected! The show, of course was great. I only gotta few small things...











Wool for a hat that M picked out herself. She loves the color and when she is showing it off (as she did to daddy), she put it on her head saying Mommy makes me a hat! How cute is that?

















Sublime - dk (the top two) and aran(the yummy chocolatey one)
6 balls in each color for more kiddie sweaters...













The cardigan I was knitting for Maddie - finished and drying! I've done the neck ribbing and tried to put in one of the sleeves... which I knit the cap wrong on. So I've had to rippppp that off and will reknit...












I love love love this kit - my best friend is having a wee one in March so I'm going ahead once I know if it's a girl or boy, I get to knit!

<---------- If you haven't been here yet, go!
socktopus !!!

We have a skein each in the orange and pinky orange to make socks for the little ones and some somoko (merino, silk and something else) for mememememe

And that's our picturetastic post for now. I must go finish work on the blue sweater - I refuse to touch any new wool until I do!!!

Oh and I'm number 877 on the ravelry waiting list...

Patience

Well I'm down to a mere 4 digits in waiting for Ravelry. I'm currently 8543 in like with nearly as many people behind me. 53% of the list has been invited... It's not FAIR!!! I wish I'd known about this thing earlier, I'd definetly have signed up in June and be in by now... ah well. I'll just have to wait. The only good thing is knowing there are 8000 people who will wait longer than me, lol.

On the knitting front, I feel I have had some sort of breakthrough with the Digger success. I keep getting compliments on the sweater when he wears it and it just makes me so proud! I want to make more so I can, ahem, encourage (some might say force) Maddie to wear something too. She's quite jealous of Jamie's sweater, she was extremely grumpy the day I finished it and kept wanting it to be Maddie's sweater.

So I thought making her a new one might help. I chose a new sweater - one from Rowan's new Little Knits book (Kite, for those interested...) and a different yarn to the All Season's Cotton suggested - the last sweater which she is currently refusing to wear is in ASC and besides the fact I have loads, I wanted something warmer for her since she tends to get chilly during winter. This evening, for example, DH made the bath a little cooler than normal and she had blue lips. Jamie had red cheeks. But I digress.

One of the things she kept saying was that Maddie wanted a blue sweater. So I went up to the stash room and started poking about, having a think about what could work and what I had enough of. I've had a stern talk with myself about using up the stash lately, I tend to finish so little and start so much, not to mention BUY so much, and I'm ready to try to remedy that. Unfortunatly I don't have that much blue. Just like I don't have that much pink. I tend to force myself to not fall into that stereotype of blue=boys, pink=girls. Ironic, then, that Jamie's sweater is blue, no? Whilst rifling through everything I found a bag of Kid Classic that had been bought at a Liberty sale about 2 years ago. I hate going to those sales, I never really need to get anything and then feel compelled, having trekked all that way, to get something. Then I get two or three bags and sometimes it just molders (and molders).

But now, one less bag moldering. It's perfect, too. It's Iced Jade, a pretty bright aqua (BLUE), and it's light, and just about the right gauge (not that I swatched. If it's too big, who cares, she's 3 and she will grow. Oh the freedom of knitting for someone who grows!). One sleeve down, one halfway there. I discovered this technique some years ago - sleeves first. Being someone who suffers terribly from finishphobia, the sleeves are the worst bit. They take forever, especially when it's just stockinette and it's just about getting them done. The challenge of the pattern or detailing on the front/back is over, the love has usually faded into the dim and distant past, and I've got 3 other things more important to knit. But if I do the sleeves first? Well they seem to take less time, and I'm still aching to get on with the main knitting.

I'll keep you posted on how it goes. For now Maddie is excited, "Mummy is making Madddie sweater!" so I'm trying to knit like the wind. For god only knows how much the attention will hold if I don't knit fast, and then once her attention is gone (poor hearts sweater), the willingness to wear goes with it.

At least Jamie doesn't seem to notice OR care what he wears. Is this a boy thing or a 1.5yr old thing?

The Digger Sweater

This is undoubtably my favorite project so far for children's knits. Well, second favorite, my first being the matinee coat I made for J just before he was born. I seem to recall blogging on this sweater when the first panel was drying (but I might not have, let's just say there is a blogging black hole for the last year... I've photographed stuff and written posts in my head that never made it to the the actual typewritten stage...), which was back in March-ish - just checked, it was March!

The knitting was done in between other more important and still unfinished works, socks, scarves, etc. Then we had the summer-that-never-was, and I decided he needed something to keep the chill off. So when we went on holiday in August I took the yarn to make the sleeves with. Finally I had my chance, some child free time which was surprisingly rare, and wouldn't you know it - I didn't pack any 4.0mm needles. But I found I'd thought some 3.75mm circulars were 4.0mm(it is a mere/.25mm difference!) and thought, eh, won't make a difference!
Ah hahahahaha you laugh to yourself! Yes, you're right, it DID make a difference. Not too much, just you know, about 1.5inches of sleeve legnth. I realised this when I finally got a tape measure and measured poor J's arms, and realised that I was indeed an idiot, and that there was also no way the width was going to fit the arm socket. So I improvised, picked up the cast off stitches again, added the length which magically fixed the issue with the width.
Other that that (and fidgetting with the seaming of the armholes), it was smooth sailing. This is also the first finished item since Ling and I took a finishing course from Debbie Ahbrams at Stash. Well worth the money already!



So, stats: Digger Sweater from Rowan's Miss Bea's Colors. Can't say enough about how much I love this series of patterns. All simple and effective!
Started March 2007
Finished Sept 2007
actual time spent knitting - about a 2 weeks
Made with Rowan Wool Cotton, shade Aloof, about 4-5 balls. 3.25mm, 3.75mm, and 4.0mm(for main body) addi turbo, straights and circulars.


Jamie seems like he likes it! I've already gotten several comments from total strangers about how nice it looks! Needless to say I am quite chuffed about this sweater. I just hope this is a sign of things to come, more finished stuff.

<----- Don't you like the seams on this? I'm so impressed. This sweater makes most of my previous efforts look like pretty dire amateur work...






I just love the details on this sweater as well, like the open vents on the bottom where the ribbing is, and the few rows of garter to delineate where the circles start.

Also, surprisingly this is my first knit item that I have made with wool cotton. Love, love, LOVE this stuff! Will definitely be looking for something to make for Maddie with it as well. I've had my eye on the sweater that's the front cover of Miss Bea's Colors (the Fleur cardigan). One of the mummies at M's new school has a little girl wearing it in the color called Hiss, it is adorable. Is it bad that I can recognise most Miss Bea's patterns a mile away (and Rowan yarn/shades...) ?

Anyhow, that's my latest knit item. Unless you count the new sweater M's Big Bird is sporting. M picked out the yarn herself - some orange acrylic, I mean 'microfibre'. She got very upset when I finished J's sweater, saying she wanted Big Bird's sweater too. So, as the upsetness included tears, 24hrs later a custom made (sleeves are wing-shaped) sweater. I will post a pic as it's too funny not to!

On the needles at the moment is a new sweater for M - a warm one in Kid Classic's discontinued shade of Iced Jade. Does anyone else feel like yarn colors are decidedly more sombre these days? Just take a look at the shade card for Kid Classic - it's boring and dark. Ah well. I've got lots of discontinued wacky colors - 4ply soft in Goblin - about 15 balls of that! What I'll do with it is beyond me. Didn't they initially do 4ply soft as a replacement for Botany? And now most of the 4ply is also sombre. Where's my Wink! ? Where's that lovely darkish purple? And bright turquoise? It's all dark and mud. yelch. also thank god for ebay!!!

Okay, well my steak dinner has arrived on a tray for us to eat in bed. How decadent. Life at the moment is good:)