Well, gosh, thank you, thank you.
(I'm imagining my friends welcoming me back to the blog world. - humor me)
Thanks to all of the friends that have hung around while I've been out of blogging commission for a few (okay, several) months. I won't go into all of the details that have kept me away but I'll just say that it's been one hell of a year and it's not over yet! I will however divulge one secret that has been a major contributor to my absence. That secret is a little bundle of joy that I'm expecting to deliver in January of 2010. I'm (knock on wood) just a few days shy of finishing my first trimester. I'm still quite low on energy but nothing like the extreme fatigue that hit many weeks ago.
So what have I been working on craft-wise? Well for some reason along with my appetite for food, my appetite for any project that required thought flew out the window when I got pregnant. So I started a Christmas stocking for my husband. It's a kit with stamped felt, sequins, beads and thread and only requires that I be able to read instructions and thread a needle. So it won the battle over all knitting projects cause gosh darn it I still struggle with gauge and it hurts my brain.
Life is still nuts around here so I can't promise that my return to blogging will be full steam ahead just yet. But I just wanted to pop my head out there and say "Hey, I'm still kickin".
Friday, June 26, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Updated links...more to come
I've been really behind in updating my links (like months behind) and have much more updating to come. Baby's crying...gotta run. But in the meantime please check out some of the great blogs on the right.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
I have a lot of unravelling going on but I will save that for my next post (it has to do with my Easter projects). Right now I'm going to post the promised pictures of my Calorimetry v2 and a few of the v1 flop. V1 is blue and V2 is red. You can see how the V1 is too wide. For V2 I cast on 90 stitches and it worked out perfectly.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Crafty toddler
Some of my favorite childhood memories involve crafting. I made clothes for my dolls, tents out of sticks and leaves, and ironed Holly Hobby patches onto canvas bags (included iron marks from leaving the iron in one spot for too long). My daughter is almost two years old and I've got the itch to start crafting with her. One of the great things about having a child is getting to relive your favorite pastimes. So this past Saturday we did our first craft project together.
It was pretty simple but loads of fun; we made plant markers for the garden. I had some colored wooden pieces in tongue depressor, heart, star, circle, square, oval and other shapes and sizes. I laid out a waterproof table cloth on the floor, poured out the bag of wooden pieces and got some gel glue. My daughter was the designer. When she was drawn to pick a piece I asked where she would like it to go. She would lay it down on a stick and I would then glue it into place. After a short time she wasn't content to just "design" and she got the urge to do some gluing for herself. Gulp. Toddler + glue = ? I checked the glue lable and it washes off so I encouraged her to play with it. Also her hands were not strong enough to squeeze much glue out of the bottle. She got the sense that she could do it herself and I didn't have to scrape her glued pants off the floor. After the pieces dried I used a permanent marker to write the plant names on them. I would definitely do this project again. She had fun picking out the pieces by colors and shapes and I had fun encouraging her creativity. And I think she will enjoy putting the sticks in the garden by the plants she and her daddy are growing.
It was pretty simple but loads of fun; we made plant markers for the garden. I had some colored wooden pieces in tongue depressor, heart, star, circle, square, oval and other shapes and sizes. I laid out a waterproof table cloth on the floor, poured out the bag of wooden pieces and got some gel glue. My daughter was the designer. When she was drawn to pick a piece I asked where she would like it to go. She would lay it down on a stick and I would then glue it into place. After a short time she wasn't content to just "design" and she got the urge to do some gluing for herself. Gulp. Toddler + glue = ? I checked the glue lable and it washes off so I encouraged her to play with it. Also her hands were not strong enough to squeeze much glue out of the bottle. She got the sense that she could do it herself and I didn't have to scrape her glued pants off the floor. After the pieces dried I used a permanent marker to write the plant names on them. I would definitely do this project again. She had fun picking out the pieces by colors and shapes and I had fun encouraging her creativity. And I think she will enjoy putting the sticks in the garden by the plants she and her daddy are growing.
Monday, March 16, 2009
Weekly Unravelling
(or "knit one bitch two" according to my husband)
I've unravelled the Murano scarf at least 4 times in the past week and now I've called it quits for a while. I started the scarf on a whim which is really cool except that I have a few projects to finish by Easter. So while I was knitting and frogging the scarf I was also thinking tick tock, Easter is just around the corner.
There were two problems with the scarf. One was the p2sso that I couldn't find a definition for in the Interweave Knits magazine that had the pattern. I got an explanation from my friendly LYS but it still didn't turn out right. For the p2sso I was instructed to slip 2 stitches knitwise (individually) and then slip them over individually. But the pattern called for a slip 2 stitches right before that. So I think I was slipping a total of 4 stitches and then passing over only 2 which got me off pattern by two stitches. I'm not sure about this theory and I won't have an answer for a while since the project is hibernating.
The second problem was that I picked out lovely yarn but then changed my mind about the colors of one of them. I'll make a decision about that later.
I'll post again soon about the Easter knitting projects I've started.
I've unravelled the Murano scarf at least 4 times in the past week and now I've called it quits for a while. I started the scarf on a whim which is really cool except that I have a few projects to finish by Easter. So while I was knitting and frogging the scarf I was also thinking tick tock, Easter is just around the corner.
There were two problems with the scarf. One was the p2sso that I couldn't find a definition for in the Interweave Knits magazine that had the pattern. I got an explanation from my friendly LYS but it still didn't turn out right. For the p2sso I was instructed to slip 2 stitches knitwise (individually) and then slip them over individually. But the pattern called for a slip 2 stitches right before that. So I think I was slipping a total of 4 stitches and then passing over only 2 which got me off pattern by two stitches. I'm not sure about this theory and I won't have an answer for a while since the project is hibernating.
The second problem was that I picked out lovely yarn but then changed my mind about the colors of one of them. I'll make a decision about that later.
I'll post again soon about the Easter knitting projects I've started.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
What a Wednesday
I had a lovely surprise in my mail today. My fellow knitting bloggers Domie's Mom and Lara have given me the Kreativ Blogger award. A big thank you to both of them! And now I'm going to share the joy.
The rules are
1. copy the Kreativ Blogger award to your blog
2. put a link to the person from whom you received the award
3. nominate 8 other blogs
4. and link to them
5. then leave a message on the blogs you nominated
It's going to be hard to pick just 8 but I'm going to try. And if I've left you out it doesn't mean I don't love your blog too!
2. The Crazy Lady and the Baker Man
4. Lunaticraft
8. Tante J
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Weekly unravelling
What's got my yarn unravelled this week? The lovely Calorimetry that I completed last night that doesn't fit. Nope, I didn't read anyone else's blog posts about sizing. Shame on me! I'm a blogger and I didn't read anyone else's blog before I cast on. Okay maybe I'm over reacting a little. The finished measurements are 21 by 7.5 inches. My husband says it's still cute even if it hangs off the back of my head with a hint of a ruffle.
But I'm going to cast on again. This time around I will make some adjustments. Calorimetry I was almost 6 inches too long. And since I knit 5 stitches an inch I will cast on 30 fewer stitches for number II. This should also make it less wide. I'm sticking to my "I knit mistakes so you don't have to" motto. I'm going to post pictures of Calorimetry I and Calorimetry II so you can see the before and after side by side. I hope this helps you.
But I'm going to cast on again. This time around I will make some adjustments. Calorimetry I was almost 6 inches too long. And since I knit 5 stitches an inch I will cast on 30 fewer stitches for number II. This should also make it less wide. I'm sticking to my "I knit mistakes so you don't have to" motto. I'm going to post pictures of Calorimetry I and Calorimetry II so you can see the before and after side by side. I hope this helps you.
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