Baby Knitting--lots of FOs!

Here's the moses basket we (really, Mom) put together for my sister-in-law, whose shower was last Sunday:

(yes, the first picture is blurry)

The edging and most of the contents were not knitted by me so I can't really lay claim to all those FOs.

Here's the story of the basket edging. My mom saw it in the Mason-Dixon Knitting book (she's hooked on their Log Cabin blanket) and wanted each of us (my mom, my two sisters and me) to knit a section (for this basket, there are 4 sections). I measured each section, and Mom and I cast on one evening in early summer. But I kept screwing up the pattern. And I wasn't big on the yarn (linen). And, most significantly, I was in the throes of finishing the Milestone Birthday Afghan (it was right before my mom was going away and I realized I had to block every afghan square in her basement while she was on vacation). So I dropped out, and my mom knit the whole thing, although she tried to lean on me to do a section, and I couldn't tell her why I was dodging it, so I looked like I was dodging it because of a little pattern problem (mine) and not loving the yarn, neither of which is an acceptable excuse for knitters like us, because there was nothing wrong with the pattern, and the yarn was only a little annoying and not truly offensive. If anyone's curious about the process of the edging, I'll have Mom guest blog about it (I'm sure she's fainting as she reads this).

Here's the guide to the contents (unfortunately, some of the knitted gifts are wrapped):

Starting at the left, the variegated purple hat and sweater are from the Knitting at Knoon's Wee-One Welcome Set, knit by me in Cider Moon Glacier in Titania. (By the way, I love this pattern and the yarn and will shortly be casting on again in Cider Moon Glacier for another baby). The hot pink hat with the tulle topping is from Itty Bitty Hats and was knit by my sister Stephanie. The chartreuse roll is a cashmere scarf with dyed beaver trim knitted by Mom for the mom-to-be from String. The moss-colored hat with the button is Larissa from Stitch Marker's Meathead hat. The folded knitting in pink to the left of the Meathead Hat is an Alchemy silk blanket knit by Mom. To the left of that blanket is a Lucky Wang baby kimono in a cherry blossom print (obviously not knit by me, lol). The black flower print roll behind that is a changing pad that I bought at Tippy Toes in Princeton, NJ. The vintage print package behind the Meathead Hat and silk blanket contains a blanket knitted by my sister Elizabeth that is fabulous in lavender--I can ask if she has a picture. Mom also knitted baby socks, and I'll ask her to fill me in the the rest of the wrapped contents--I remember an EZ baby surprise jacket in a deep red-pink, and a ballet pink garter baby kimono with a pretty ribbon tie.

I'll try to get links posted later on--the boys are no longer napping (ack! ack! ack!)--and my days are long and very full. There are two good things about no boy naps: (1) they fall asleep fairly quickly without shouting for me to attend to various and sundry needs designed to get me in their room and/or one or more boys out of bed for the first 1-2 hours of bedtime; and (2) quiet play in the house during their former nap time gives me some knitting time (but only for straightforward projects, but who's complaining).

And about that mojo: it's on the way back.


Who needs a new project?

I'm not sure that I've mentioned it, but I also stitch (needlepoint). I started about 5 years ago, more or less. I made a significant investment in equipment and tools (frame stands, laying tools, etc.) and canvases and thread. I have a needlepoint stash, for sure. However, needlepoint is seriously time-consuming (a cabled afghan has nothing on a needlepoint canvas) and requires me, at least, to have a large block of time to sit and work. I'm determined to stitch tallis bags for all my boys by the time they have their Bar Mitzvahs, so I started one about a year and a half ago (I have all three canvases). I haven't made much progress, but I figure I can allot 4 years per bag. Then I'll have to turbo through Baby Girl's in a year, but they'll be in school full time by then, right?

So, anyway, about a year or so ago, I got a yen to learn to quilt. Of course, Mom (my partner in crime) was interested too. We'd talk about it periodically, usually while knitting or on the way to a yarn crawl. Then, a month or so ago, we were checking out the sewing classes at Purl Soho because also part of that 'learn to quilt' conversation was learning to sew backings on knitted blankets. I must say, we were put off by the hand cutting (my mother swears she can't do it) and hand sewing, but we thought we could be candidates for the basic sewing class so we could learn some things that would be useful in our knitting finishing. (I haven't used a machine since my 8th grade home ec class). But we thought about asking for a private class because, you know, our schedule is a little crazy, what with the 4 toddlers and all, and I'd need to make some hard-core set-in-stone child-care arrangements to attend a multiple-session class, plus traffic to NYC is unreliable--it could take 35 minutes (Saturday, early morning, summer), 45 minutes (Saturday, early morning, January-June, September, October), 2+ hours (any day, time, season). And we spent an afternoon researching sewing machines on the web (with my dad, as accustomed to our follies as he is, rolling his eyes).

Once we read about the hand-cutting and -sewing, we gave up the quilting idea (besides, do we need another stash?!), but still talk about sewing blanket backing (mostly my mom). But then, this morning, I was reading Knit and Tonic and a quilt hit me smack between the eyes.

Here's the email I sent to my mom:
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Check this out at knit and tonic: http://knitandtonic.typepad.com/knitandtonic/2007/09/ill-blame-it-on.html

and it only took her 4 hours! We could do 4 hours! Together, it would probably take two hours!

We need that sewing class and a machine, I think.

Let me know.

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I think I'm in trouble.

Mojo, is that you?

I feel rotten. I'm running a fever somewhere between 100 and 100.7F. All the little hairs on my body hurt. I'm freezing (for now). I can't believe I have to use up the boys' last school day until next week by going to the doctor tomorrow.

On the knitting front, I'm just cooking along on the Woolgirl Sock Club sock. Here it is:




It's Miss Babs yarn in Waterfall, an exclusive club colorway; the pattern is also called Waterfall, and I believe it was written by Miss Babs, too. The yarn is 100% merino sportweight and is a dream to knit with!

I've made pretty fast progress: I got gauge right away on US 3 (3.25 mm) and just turned the heel. But I have to rip it out because my stitch count is off, I think. That's what I get for breaking my cardinal rule of heels: turn the heel in one sitting while doing nothing else (other than mindless tv in the background). I got cocky (perhaps deluded by fever) and turned the heel while booking flight reservations and car (huge SUV) rental for our first family vacation. I must have been distracted by things like the car rental agent telling me that the computer didn't allow her to enter more than three car seat rentals for the SUV (we, of course, need 4, for the 3 3-year-olds and our one 2-year-old), but she went to a supervisor and got it taken care of. But I have to call the actual rental location to confirm. Nice.

I used the occasion of this new project to break out a new project bag from Piddleloop. I'm a Piddleloop junkie and coveted this bag for a very long time. And then my mom bought it for me, and Jen stuffed it full of extra goodies and treats--way cool!




See the fish? They have names! Like Robert, Swimmy, Bjorn--who could resist! The inside is lined in an orange water droplet print. And my accessories pouch has the fish bagged, but still with names. And Jen threw in another bag with fabric that looks like rippling water, with stitch markers and other things. She totally gets me!

By the way, the stitch marker in use is also the zipper pull for the bag; the stitch marker is made by zer0 and was included in the bag by Jen. The club included a beautiful coordinating stitch marker made by Sereknity for the sock club, which I used until I started the lace pattern; when I knit in the round, I like to have a stitch marker that I can actually hook into the first stitch of the round.

I'm also super excited about this arrival:




It's Crown Mountain Farms Sock Hop yarn. Handspun. I read about this stuff on some blogs a few months ago and was really interested in trying it out. But I always missed the boat--that stuff goes in the blink of an eye! I finally made it last month, and it's here! I'm not touching it until the mojo is solidly back--no messing up the handspun! But it's amazing. The color, the plies, I just want to look at it.

I think that's the fever talking. I'm now hot hot hot (nothing like alternating chills and hot flashes) and am going to sign off and climb into bed with my Waterfall sock. I hope I didn't ramble too much or sound crazy!

Mojo, oh mojo, where can you be?

I wrote this Sept. 16 and am not sure why it didn't post--I'm sure it's that mojo thing.

I've lost my knitting mojo. Sad but true. As of Wednesday night, every project on the needles had a problem, and I wasn't feeling like knitting/fixing any of them.

I'm still mulling over the issue with the Summer Solstice socks.

I picked up my Scarlet Fleece socks (remember them from the winter? Check here) to fix the garter stitch toe that was too wide. When I tried on the sock to determine how far to rip down, I realized the whole instep was too wide. Ugh, I don't have the heart to rip the sock yet.

I haven't gone back to the Decadent Fibers blanket yet, just not feeling it.

It's been too hot to do the second sleeve of the Morehouse roll-neck sweater, but today just might be the day to do it if I get to it--it's 52 degrees F this a.m.!

I fixed the problem in the Dream in Color Tulip Cardigan (knitting increase rows while falling asleep is a problem) but it's not flowing on the needles for me right now.

I signed up for the Fingerless Mitts For Fall Knitalong because I have two pair to finish from last year--a Mac & Me pattern in Lobster Pot Cashmere (but I have to rip out the one mitt I finished, I think), and Rosie's Yarns pop-top mittens in alpaca--but I'm not in the mood, and certainly not in the mood to rip out the Mac & Me mitt because it's almost done, even though it knits quickly.

I even thought I could get my mojo back with this cool Frankenstein hat from See Jayne Knit that arrived on Friday. You know, bulky-ish yarn, larger needles...but I couldn't get gauge! Of course, my sister reminded me that I shouldn't knit a gauge swatch in the middle of the night. Silly me--but it's the only time I have to knit!

But then...my Woolgirl sock kit came

Summer Solstice waning

I've knit about 1/3 the length of the instep,

and I'm still worrying about this heel:




I think the heel is too narrow, but it's hard to tell--I can't figure out if the heel is too narrow while it's still on the needles, and I don't know that I want to put the stitches on waste yarn, or just rip it out and find another heel that will be more comfortable.

And on a marginally related note: that blob that ate my knitting corner in January is back! And I'm trying to get it out!

FO Pictures!

Here's the milestone birthday afghan in as much of its glory as I am able to capture:







How I wish I could take better pictures! Maybe a photography class is in my future, say, when all four are in school full time. That would be 2011. I'm not wishing the kids' early years away, but goodness knows, I can't make that kind of commitment yet!

Back to the blanket. You may notice it does not have a border. I've run into border trouble as mentioned in my previous post. Of course, my mom understood and offered to help. Can you believe the woman told me today about a possible border other than the one I've knit? I think she meant Ann's garter stitch border, but my brain fogged as soon as she mentioned it. I mean, I only knit enough of the border to sew to one long side of the blanket and the first corner, but still--it's cabled and took a long time! And to switch to what, 18 rows of garter stitch on each side?! But I'm not complaining, really--she'll even help knit it (I think)!

That pink thing in the square in the lower right hand corner of the blanket: it's a felt heart embroidered by my sister with our initials (the three daughters) and, I think, the year. It's awesome--she did a great job! (Note to self as per sister: in future, be sure to embroider wording before sewing heart to blanket).

And a final note: you see how the blanket seems to grow wider as it gets closer to you? It's not an optical illusion--that's how we were able to finesse the different gauges of the different knitters, all of whom purportedly had the same gauge in their gauge swatches. Go figure! Ahh, that's the beauty of a handmade item, right?!

Secret Project Revealed!

Bet you thought I'd have pictures! Soon, soon! But I'll tell you all about it: it's a sampler afghan made out of Hunt Valley Cashmere. Gorgeous! Just gorgeous! My two sisters and I knit it for my mother's milestone birthday. I can't believe it slipped under the radar!

My mother bought the yarn 4 or 5 years ago at Stitches East, and even knit 5 squares (it has 20 squares). When we hatched our plot to knit a blanket for my mother, and my youngest sister was caught looking in books for afghan patterns, my sister said she was knitting an afghan for herself, so my mom offered her the yarn and completed squares. I mean, who turns down a jump start on a project in cashmere. Not to mention I saw the completed blanket at Stitches East and it was to die for.

It is not a FO, but an almost FO. We don't have a border. I started the cable border from the Great American Aran Afghan pattern, and it is fabulous, but our dimensions don't fit the Aran Afghan dimensions due to variations among different knitters (shocker). I have to tinker with it, plus it knits more slowly than I expected. I need a knitting consult, and after youngest sister consulted with me, we both agreed we needed the expert: Mom. The problem with knitting a gift for your knitting consultant is that you can't consult/troubleshoot with the knitting consultant. So now that we gave her the afghan, Mom is going to help us with the border.

Other news:

1. Baby Girl is TWO! We had a fabulous birthday party (family only) and she loves her gifts...just about as much as her brothers love them! Fortunately, she now says "[My] turn!" You gotta assert yourself in my house!

2. Boy M had his first encounter with bees. He must be sweet like honey because four bees stung him. Not fun, but he is ok. I now carry Benadryl melt-aways in my purse and diaper bags (as per the pediatrician). Because I need more to carry with me.

3. We took the triplets to the shore (the beach for those of you not from NJ) for the day and we had the most glorious time on the beach and at the aquarium. They just loved it, and behaved beautifully and obeyed us (nothing is as terrifying as being outnumbered by children who are misbehaving near large bodies of water or swimming pools, and fortunately, they didn't).

3. I'm plugging away on the Summer Solstice socks and just finished the gusset on my first sock. When you see the afghan, you'll understand how it sucked up my summer (my sisters did 5-6 squares, I knit 4, but because one sister doesn't crochet, or seam crochet, I did most of her share of the crochet borders on the individual squares, redid the crochet on the squares knitted by my mom, half the seaming, sewed the halves together and wove in all those ends (roughly 2-2.5 hours worth) from all the seams.

4. Preschool starts on Tuesday! Yay!