I'm Back!!

Okay so I had my baby and am back for good now. My baby girl Cadence Ylise was born on May 21, 2007. Here is a picture.

As you can see she is wearing a hand knit soaker. My latest projects. I am currently working on two or three of them. There are a surprising amount of free patterns for these on the internet. The pattern that you are looking at right now is the punk knitter pattern. The pattern that I will be attempting later is called the curly purly pattern. Both are free and I found out about them on a yahoo group called wool diaper covers group. They are a really nice group of ladies who have links to all of the free patterns on the internet as well as the ones that aren't. they also help people with any problems that they might be having with the patterns themselves.

Anyways so I went to the Dixon lamb and Wool festival. It was fantastic! But it was ridiculously hot. I was only their for about a half an hour to an hour, but I got some really nice wool. 4 oz of BFL in a yellow and blue colorway died with all natural plant dyes, another 4oz. of merino in an orange and red colorway also dyed with natural dyes, and last but not least a 9month old Romney lamb fleece that is unprocessed. Not sure what i'm going to do with that. I'm going to have to take pictures of all of these (it would be a good idea to put new batteries in my camera:D).

So yeah after three months of mommy-hood I think i've got enough of a schedule down to be able to post regularly and keep up on my knitting. I'm hoping to be able to post once a week. So i'll talk to you all later gotta run.

No baby yet.....

I'm still on baby watch but at least this time I have access to a computer. Anyways My latest research project has been cloth diapering. Of course my knitting obsession had to get involved somehow and I found it apparently the best summer diaper covers are wool. It breathes and if you lanolize it, it won't leak. How fantastic is that. So now I am waiting to go home and check my yarn stash for wool. Here are some pic's of what the Wool Soakers look like. These are actually made by a lady for money. But they look awesome. there are tons of patterns to make out there. I like knitting in the round so I am mostly looking for patterns like that. I can't wait till my baby gets here so I can take her measurements and custom fit them to her. Now all I have to find is liquid lanolin for the lanolizing. Some sights suggested Eucalan to wash it with and lanolize it. I'll probably end up buying some of that anyways.

Anyways an update on my current projects I finished on of my husbands fingerless gloves I of course have yet to take a picture of it, but he tried them on and they fit perfectly. The only that has to be redone is the bind off around the fingers is a little tight so I am going to undo that and bind off again with elastic thread that will give him plenty of stretch. I don't know if I explained this project already so excuse me if I am being repetitious. My husband is a web programmer and spends all of his time on a computer. In the winter time his hands (especially his mouse hand) get really cold. The other problem is he has really large hands (I had to adapt the pattern to his size !) so most commercial fingerless gloves are to tight. So I of course jumped to the challenge and began working on adapting a pattern to fit him. He loves them so far and hopefully he will remember to wear them in the winter time. I will take a picture and upload it the next time I post with specific information on them.

Most of my other projects haven't been worked on in a while. Every time I am just about to finish that sweater I started days ago I just think of my lap sweating and I don't want to work on it. I'm almost done so I think i'll just buckle down and finish it. It's really pretty so I do want to work on it. I think the only other project that I have left is the swallowtail shawl that keep meaning to start for my mother in law (I have till Christmas to finish). The lace pattern is really complicated though so i'm not sure yet how to start it.

I take it back there is another project that I want to start. I joined the Anime Krafters KAL and have decided that the project that I want to do for that KAL is a pair of tabi socks. I already have the yarn so I just have to get going. I need to post on there too, I think that i'll probably do that when I get home tonight. Well I gotta go post again later.

Long time no blog!

So yeah its been busy lately. I'm in my ninth month
of pregnancy so everyones afraid to leave me alone. That kinda makes it difficult to get computer time, especially since i'm not working anymore. However I have got a bunch of knitting done. I finished my socks as you can see they are awesome. Normally the picture would be of the sock on my feet but I prefer not to take pictures of my swollen feet. LOL it sucks.

Yeah these kind of socks they go really fast since they don't really have any particular pattern being worked over the whole sock you can focus on the construction of the sock . I would say a good refresher sock if you haven't made socks in a while or a good type of sock to learn how to make. I got the pattern from the book: The Knitter's Handy Book of Patterns. It has basic patterns for hats, socks, mittens, sweaters, etc. For all different sizes from babies to men's size large. Great book to have if you like to personalize your patterns. Like these socks are slightly winged in some places like the top only has an inch of ribbing instead of like four inches of ribbing because I wanted to try a different style top.

Anyways I got some fluff off ebay, it was a total steal. 8 dollars a pound for pin drafted Merino wool mixed with viscose for strength. Its natural colored so I can play around with the color. Its definitely going to be socks, eventually. I just have to decide what color I want to make it i'm planning on dyeing it with Kool-aid so it will probably be pretty vibrant. My friend and I are going to have a dye day at some point in the near future, but we have yet to set a date. I'm really looking forward to spinning it haven't decided whether i'm going to spin it on my wheel or on a drop spindle. The drop spindle takes longer but its easier to spin really fine because it is so slow.

Oh yeah and I joined another KAL its the Anime Kraft-along. I used to be into a lot of anime stuff with my sister and since I actually have the time to pick up all my old hobbies I figured I could get back into it. I'll have to post the picture of the Nekomimi doll I made that I was going to post on the KAL. It's pretty cool I might make one again just for my sister probably of one of the sailor scouts. Yeah as you may have noticed i don't just knit and spin but sew too. Its all a product of my extremely bored youth. (I didn't learn how to drive until I was almost 19 years old) I didn't really do normal teenager stuff partially because i wasn't interested and partially because my parents made it so difficult to go anywhere that it just wasn't worth it. So as a result I have more hobbies than most people that I know or have ever met. However I don't doubt that there are many other people who have been in the same boat as me and as a result also have many hobbies like I do. My sister who is just under me is a good example of someone in the same boat as I was with too many hobbies to count.

Anyways, I am going to try to post more often. Especially considering I haven't posted in like a month or two. I definitely will have more time now and will have even more once the baby watch is over. (soon Please!!)LoL post later.

Hey Everybody

Hello everyone! I am so excited about joining the Interweave blog. I have been working a ton on my project so that I would have something to show, but I keep hesitating to take the pictures because they aren't blocked yet and they are all rolled up on themselves so that will have to be the next post. However I figured I have to post at least once before I get to far. So here is a summary and picture of my project.

Bianca's Jacket
The pattern calls for Muench Sir Galli yarn and I decided to replace that for Plymouth Suri-Merino. The Suri-Merino is a 55% Suri Alpaca and 45% Merino wool blend and the yarn is a little furry but I did a gauge swatch and they seem to be about the same. So we'll just see if the difference in fiber will be a problem. So far it hasn't been.

The pattern calls for 7 balls of the Muench for the smallest size I got 10 of the Plymouth just to be safe. I just finished the first sleeve and started on the second and have only used 4 or 5 balls so I think that I am on the right track.

I think this is going to be a really interesting sweater because I haven't ever done a yoked sweater. I'm also not really sure what kind of buttons I should use. If anybody's got any suggestions i'd love to hear them. They look like small pearl sized buttons made of wood but I don't know.

Till next time everybody, and Happy Knitting in the meantime!

Busy, busy....

So yeah as you can see from my title i've been really busy lately. Between baby stuff and life crap it's been hectic. Oh yeah and I don't have internet at my house that definitely doesn't help. However I have had time to knit. A lot!

So I finished my first sock in the Koigu KPPM Second sock will be started either today or tomorrow. I like this stuff but the stitches don't seem like they stick together or flow together quite like some of the other sock yarns i've used. Oh well I like it but just maybe not enough to pick up their brand for my work. I like the Lorna's better. Very pretty colors though i tried it on briefly last night and I decided that I would with hold my full judgment until I have washed and blocked this sock.maybe the yarn will fill out more after that.

I also have gotten really far on the sweater I started on from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits magazine. It's called Bianca's Jacket, it's really cute but I changed the yarn and I think that it will be great for when I go to Chicago later this year. Last time we went in November, it was freakishly warm. Like California weather, but I have a feeling that next time we won't be so lucky. Here is a picture of the jacket, I did the ghetto thing and took a picture out of the magazine.


Back to what I was saying about changing the yarn it called for some silk yarn but I decided to go with alpaca. It kind of changed the look of it but I think that it still looks okay. Just furrier. I Finished all of the body pieces they aren't blocked yet so the picture of them is terrible. I won't embarass myself and put that picture up they kind of rolled up on themselves and you can't even tell what they are suppose to be. But since i've been working on the sleeves. I have a fairly decent picture that I can show you guys.



So as you can see the sleeves have the yoke pattern on them. I just realized that it looks better in the picture than it did when I was fidgeting with it this morning to take the picture. That actually does make me feel better about that thing.

I have been considering for a while now which KAL I want to join and I think that I might join the Interweave Knits-Along Since this sweater is an Interweave sweater. I will e-mail them today and see how to join and so on and so forth and then I get a button! :D I really want a button on my page then I will be a real knitting blog because I will be participating with everybody else.

I havn't started that swallowtail shawl for my mother-in-law yet. That is probably going to end up a Christmas gift. Considering her birthday is in April. Oh well. I think that when I start that I will have to join the swallowtail shawl Knit-Along, mainly because i'm going to need all the help I can get this sweater is the closest thing to lace i've ever gotten. So far so good but the shawl still seems scary. That's all the musings i've got so far, till next time.

A Good Weekend

So here are some lists and pics of what I got at the show. Most I already have plans for and some of them I already started on. :D I couldn't help myself.

So this picture to the left shows that monstrous green skein (yes its a skein!) of boucle mohair is about 8 ounces and 1200 to 1000 yards. I thought it would look cool as that sweater wrap in the new spring interweave knits. I just have to knit a swatch a and see how soft i can get it. I had high hopes for it but now i'm wondering if it might be to itchy (it was only $20). The purple stuff is silk and rayon its also like 800 to 1000 yards I was thinking about doing the swallowtail shawl in that for my mother in law. It was $30. The Last small skeins are Koigu KPPM and as you can see I have already started on a pair of socks. :D I had never used it before so i'm making a really plain pair of socks at this point i'm already past the heel even though the picture shows less (They are gonna be really comfy!)

The picture on the right shows a bunch of different sock yarns. Starting on the left is some hand-painted green sock yarn from Commu-Knits I got it to make my husband fingerless gloves for the winter time. He's a programmer and his mouse hand gets really cold (those are as much for my benefit as His :D Burr...cold hands). The second two skeins are from JojoLang Sock yarns they are almost sport weight yarns but I love the sherbet look those might become socks for me. The last two balls are also from Jojo Lang but they are definitely sock or fingering weight and i'm contemplating making the Bayerische socks from Eunny Jang with them. They are kind of like a hand-painted yarn but they are crazy how they change colors while you knit because the whole knitted piece changes color as you go not just in stripes or blotches. Very Cool!

So this bag was my last acquirement for the weekend. It's from BlueQ. I just love it because its so cute. I remember reading Dick and Jane when I was little. Not to mention you could fit like an entire afghan in this bag or whatever monster project you happen to be working on at the time. Awesome by my standards and also only $12!

So I went I worked like a dog, I looted, and then I went home to knit. A good weekend.

It's finally over....

It's been a while since I could get back. All because of stitches. (as you can see on the left, i'm the pregnant one on the right)It was an awesome show and I got some great loot but man was it tiring. Holy crap being on your feet for an average of 9 hours a day when your pregnant sucks. I've been checking my legs for varicose veins(I really don't want them). I already have a few from a long time ago when I worked retail but I think that they are getting bigger. Screw that!

So my loot.... I got some great deals I scoured all of the sale bins and tables and found some other must have items. The unfortunate thing is that they did not allow ANY cameras at the show not that I didn't get at least one of me in my booth but we had to be all covert and stuff these are from a camera phone that's why they suck so bad. So I have no pictures of my gotta have list. The other thing is that I know for a fact just from talking to some suppliers that there were vendors charging 150% on top of what they bought it for. So it was a bit pricey. In all other ways though the show was fantastic there was so much of everything you could ever want there. Knitting needles made from hardwood but polished so nicely that you couldn't even feel the grain. Silk everywhere in every weight of yarn you could imagine. Some angora or mohair yarn that looked smaller than sewing machine thread. Things actually made from this thread! They had buttons and all kinds of sock yarn and skeins that were more than 100 grams, there were several places who had monster 8 ounce skeins dyed, undyed, and hand-dyed. After leaving I realized I wanted to go back but definitely not to work, just to shop! So my search for the next yarn show (where I don't have to work) begins. In the process I will just have to save up my money. Pictures of my loot will follow with descriptions but I will save that for tomorrow. For now I am just content to relax and not stand or walk anywhere.

Stitches West

It's almost time for the Stitches West Show 2007. I am really excited to go. I'm working the show but I don't really care about that. It's the fact that I can get into the show for free and get to buy ton's of really cool yarn. I got a little taste of buying yarn already because I had to order some for my work and I started getting excited when the boxes came and I opened them to find bags and bags of great yarn to feel and play with. Yarn! :D I already know what I am going to look for I got the new Interweave Knits magazine and now I want to make the sweater on the cover its gorgeous. I am pretending that it will fit me, because it will, eventually... So I have to give birth and then lose like 30 pounds the kid has to contribute to some of it at least . everyone keeps telling me oh you're not even that big, Your 6 months wow your still tiny. I think they are just trying to make me feel better because I really am monstrous and getting bigger every day. When you are 5'3" and you weigh 150 something pounds (I have never been this big in my life), everyone must be placating you, because i've done the math this kid ain't that big and my maternity pants don't fit well and i'm wearing my husbands boxers because I have yet to go to the store to get underwear that fits me.

Enough digression about my weight. I am working on a baby sock that is more like a toddler sock than a baby sock. I already finished one, it looks pretty good. I tried the after-thought heel method. Where you knit the whole sock and then knit the heel. I saw a lady in my spinning group making one and I decided that I wanted to try it, so I scoured the internet and found a few versions of it. It seems like a really cool way to make a sock. Now if i could just get Kitchener stitch down my socks would not look nearly as demented. I used Lorna's Laces color Georgetown. It's a variegated yarn and it did the striping thing all on it's own. You can see what i meant about the not being very good at kitchener, the heel looks a little demented. I found a tutorial online so hopefully the other sock i'm working on won't look quite as demented.

I am still in the same spot that I was last time when I was working on the baby Kimono. Not much time lately, socks you can take any where but when you are doing the collar on this thing it ain't goin nowhere till your done. I have it on Double pointed needles andIi am worried that it might slip off. Till next time.

NEVER TRUST THE MANUFACTURERS!!!!

So for about a year, or maybe almost two, I have had this pair of socks that I've been working on. I Stupidly took the manufacturers advice and bought only one skein of yarn. In the process of making these socks I lost the labels (my dog ate them I think), and I probably threw away my receipt (can't find it assuming gone forever). So now I have one finished sock and one half done sock and I don't know what kind of yarn it is nor do I know who I got it from . NICE! So now I am considering undoing the other sock to knit the other sock to the same point and then attempting to find a similar yarn so that I can finish both socks so that they look alike. Only thing is this procedure worries me. Ok i'll admit this procedure down right terrifies me! I don't want to unravel the first sock. It just looks so pretty and not messed up, I can't help it. But the neurotic side of me keeps saying "yes, but if you don't do that then you are going to have two mismatched socks"(stupid neurotic side, SHUT-UP!). That bothers me a lot, a lot more than I thought it would too. Stupid me just had to take the manufacturers word for it. NEVER TRUST THEM!!!.....Otherwise you could be in the same position as me SCREWED! On a lighter note (and to make myself feel slightly better) I may have found a match on ebay. The picture doesn't look quite the same but oh well it's doomed to be jacked anyway.

Changing subject from doom and gloom. My baby jacket/ kimono is almost done, one sleeve left and the collar to go. That does make me feel better, that and the idea that I will have the best dresses baby EVER!! :D I'm one of those crazy mom's who went baby clothes shopping before I even got pregnant. Now that I am, I feel completely justified in scouring the baby clothes racks as well as the clearance. Thanks Mom, i'm a clearance'a'holic because of you (sigh...fond memories of hiding in clothes racks:D).

I think i'm done babbling now I just wanted to let everyone know that i am totally going to be at the Stitches West show in San Jose. That is going to be freakin' awesome, never mind the fact that I have to work at it. I will spend the majority of my paycheck and be in a fantastic mood for months to come (Visualizing soft things and petting them...sigh new fond memories). Husband has camera pictures are coming!

I'm totally a dork...

Okay, for the past week I have been researching blogs. It's really sad I knew I wanted to make one for all of my knitting/spinning/whatever projects, but I wanted to see how everyone else did theirs to make sure that I did mine right.:D

In my research I found KAL and that put it over the top for me I had to have a blog and I had to have one now because I wanted to join the KAL groups. It can get lonesome out here in the Far East Bay Area my particular age group is obsessed with partying and college not many of them have any hobbies remotely resembling mine, there is no LYS and it can get a little desperate. I'm a weirdo out here. And I like it that way,.... kind of. It does suck when you are at point in a project where you don't really understand what the pattern is saying and there isn't really anyone you can talk to about help. Yes, I looked around at knitting groups but everyone is making scarfs and after that usually has no ambition towards anything more difficult. (And anyone who does have ambition I usually end up teaching) I did find a spinning group a couple cities over but I didn't have time every, Monday to drive half an hour to spend only 2 hours and then spend another hour in traffic (traffic is really bad here). Not to mention everyone in the group was two to three times my age (seriously two to three, I think the youngest one was 50). They were cool they definitely knew their stuff and I learned a lot from them the few times that I went.

Enough with my woe is me speech I'm here and I want to participate. This will be a new experience for me with as much commitment as I'm willing to put into it. (that is my favorite kind of commitment).