rainbow feet

Here are Anya's rainbow socks:




She is very happy to have them:



Now Daniel is quite impatient for a pair. Good thing I ordered extra yarn!

Pattern: None, just generic socks. CO 56 stitches, short-row heel (not my favorite, but it preserves the stripes), wedge toe with kitchener stitch
Yarn: KP Felici fingering in the aptly-named "rainbow" color way
Needles: size 1, and my gauge was ridiculously tight, about 9spi. I think I'll have to CO 64 stitches for Daniel's socks to fit, and that is normally what I cast on for socks that fit me!

I'm itching to dig into another big and/or complicated project. I've been trolling Ravelry for good accessory patterns, and have become a little obsessed with designs by Mandy Powers from Zigzag Stitch. I have her book, as well as several individual patterns, and my only problem is deciding what to do first. And with what yarn. I've got all kinds of single skeins of worsted weight wool in my collection, perfect for color work, but with winter around the corner I'm tempted to try a pair of mittens or a hat in alpaca or at least an alpaca blend for more warmth. I may be over thinking this...perhaps I should just dive in!

test knit finished

Happy Thanksgiving, all! Ours was lovely. We didn't travel or have visitors. The four of us enjoyed a lovely, somewhat unconventional meal of chicken adobo (so much easier than a whole turkey), risotto (because my kids don't like mashed potatoes, I kid you not), challah (we're not Jewish, but I do love challah), sweet potatoes and carrot sticks. Then we sat around feeling bloated for a little while before going to the park and enjoying pecan pie and apple pie with the family across the street.

The weather wasn't exactly nice today, but it was mild enough outside for Stuart to clean out the gutters one last time. I also sweet-talked him into taking some pictures of me in my new sweater, which is beautiful and fits wonderfully and I've been wearing it all week...and alas, I can't show you yet because it's a test knit and the pattern hasn't been released yet.

Daniel wanted in on the photo shoot and even brought out his camera on a tripod. I love the serious look on his face here:



Sometimes he really is just like a little grown-up.

rainbow socks

I am so very close to being done with that test knit. Not that I could show it to you just yet, and in any case, I was a skein short to finish, so I had to order another. It pains me rather to pay so much shipping on a single skein of yarn, but the alternative is to buy a lot more and right now with the holidays coming and the giant stash I already have...I just couldn't.

Meanwhile, both of my children have asked me to knit them socks. What color? I asked. Rainbow! They both replied. I'm not a big fan of carrying along more than one strand of yarn for a pair of socks, even for simple stripes, so I thought I'd give Knitpicks Felici a try. So far I like it. I only wish the sport weight Felici came in colors that didn't look like ass. I'd like to make slightly thicker socks as well for those cold walks to school in the winter - not to mention circulating recall petitions all day in the cold, wet weather like at tomorrow's rally (like how I sneaked that in there?) - and you'd be surprised how hard it is to find sock yarn that is thicker than fingering weight. Believe me, I have looked!



Aren't these cheerful colors? I'm doing a short-row heel. I much prefer the look and fit of a heel flap, but for self-striping yarn, I knew the stripes would get all distorted in the heel and gusset area, so I opted for this instead. It took me two tries and a google search for a tutorial (I used this one and it was extremely helpful; I highly recommend it!) but now I'm cruising right along.

sewing corner

I finally have a sewing corner in the basement! My birthday is at the end of next month, and even though it was a little early, I got myself my present last weekend, a sewing cabinet:



I have needed something like this for years. Up until last weekend, I could only sew on the kitchen table. Our kitchen is pretty cramped as it is, and getting the table cleaned off for long enough to get anything done on a sewing project is nearly impossible, especially when you have young, growing children who demand snacks what feels like every half hour. So frustrating. Even so, I kind of agonized over this decision. Sewing cabinets are rather expensive, and I had to convince myself that I deserve one and that it would be worth it.

Now that I have one, I don't regret it a bit. I love it! And already, I've used it a lot. Yesterday, for example, I made four pairs of PJ pants for my kids. That's right: four. That's in addition to two pairs I made for Daniel a week ago. I could do pajama pants in my sleep by now. Watch out, family! We might all get matching flannel PJ pants for Christmas this year. It goes a heck of a lot faster than knitting socks, I tell you.

Now on to the next issue. I'd like to expand my sewing skills, but my machine has one significant limitation: it's crap for buttonholes.

See this jacket?



I made this for Anya, and got all the sewing on it done several weeks ago (before the purchase of the sewing cabinet, even!), but for the buttonholes. And that's where I'm stuck. I thought maybe it was my own failing, but when I was shopping for the cabinet, I mentioned my buttonhole issues to the guy at the sewing machine place, and he said machines like mine just don't do them well. I thought maybe if I practiced on a scrap piece of fabric first, I could make it work, but the machine turned the fabric and thread into a mangled mess. It just wasn't happening.

There's no way I can afford a new machine now, nor do I want one. My little Bernette 60 has served me well for nearly a decade (it was a birthday present from my mom). It runs beautifully, it's simple, and we just have an easy friendship. How many buttoned-down shirts and jackets am I going to sew anyway? Realistically, not many. In the meantime, my mom has a machine that executes buttonholes just beautifully, so if I can get my act together, I'll sew up a few things and bring them down to Kentucky for Christmas and do all the buttonholes there. I think that's a good solution, at least for now.

Oh, and I've been knitting. Here's an obscure little peek at another test knit I'm doing for Baby Cocktails.

loving the hand knits. or not.

This is the best time of year to wear knitted stuff. Lately, Anya is particularly fond of a blue sweater my mom made for her last spring:



I'm so glad my girl likes the things people make for her. She often asks to wear the brown sweater I recently finished, and occasionally she still stuffs herself into her yellow Sweet Peasy, though by now it really is too small.

Daniel doesn't have much use for hand knit sweaters these days. He has a fleece jacket to wear on the way to and from school on chilly days, and he's too warm inside to wear anything but pants and a t-shirt. It's not as though he has any fat to spare on him, either; little boys just run warm, I guess! Still, he fully appreciates all the hats, mittens and socks made for him by me and his Oma.
Also, he likes raking leaves. Just thought I'd throw that in there.



Then there's my husband. Remember how I worked so hard to make him that zip up cardigan last spring? I even consulted him on pattern and yarn color. Well, he wore it a few times, but then it got warm and now I think he's forgotten he even has it. A few weeks ago he picked up a jacket at REI that is essentially the same thing - blue, long-sleeved, zippered - only it's made out of polyester fleece instead of wool yarn and he's hardly taken it off. I'm not too upset about this, actually. He never asked me to knit him a sweater. I wanted to knit him a sweater, and I thought that if I at least made sure to get his approval on pattern and yarn choice, he'd like it more than the over-sized fair isle monstrosity I made him more than a decade ago. I think it's fair to say the more recent sweater is at least acceptable, but if he rarely wears a sweater he ostensibly approves of, this may mean I am married to a man who simply doesn't like sweaters. I suppose it would help if I made that collar just an inch or two taller and put in a new zipper to accommodate, but even so, I doubt he'll wear it much. Okay, so now I know. I'll stick to making him the occasional hat or pair of mittens when he asks for them (which he has, once or twice) and save all my mad sweater skillz for me and other people in my family.

third time's the charm

When my parents were visiting last week, my mom and I made more than one trip (I won't disclose just how many times we went!) to Stitchers Crossing, a lovely local quilting shop that also happens to sell yarn. Their selection is somewhat small, though very nice; they have quite a lot of Berroco, Plymouth and Blue Sky, including the full line of Spud and Chlöe. I hadn't intended to buy anything our first trip to Stitchers, but lately Anya has been asking for a pink scarf, so I picked up one skein of Outer, thinking it would be easy enough to whip up a soft, warm cowl in an evening or so.

Here's what I made:



It's a fail in so many ways. The original design is the very charming and clever Cambrian Cowl from the new Coastal Knits (which is a lovely new book by Hannah Fettig and Alana Dakos and I'm not at all sorry I bought it). I haven't even put this up on my project page on Ravelry and I probably won't at all because I botched it so badly I wouldn't want to sully the reputation of the original design at all. My first mistake was picking such chunky yarn. My gauge on size 11 needles was 10 st = 4", which is just too thick and cumbersome. Plus, that top section is too tall and gets in Anya's face. Third, the part at the bottom doesn't flare enough, so instead of sitting nicely on her shoulders, it just bunches up around her neck. Fourth, the buttons I picked out (not pictured) looked cute next to the unworked skein of yarn, but in reality just couldn't hold their profile on such chunky yarn.

Lesson learned. Beware thick yarn and its wily ways!

That said, S&C Outer is pretty expensive (on account of the organic content and the fact that it is distributed by Blue Sky), and since I had to go back and get a second skein to finish a project I should have known was doomed from the start, I wasn't about to let the yarn go to waste. So I started a hat:



The good thing about hats is that you can make just about ANY yarn work for a hat. Yarn so thick it makes a cowl look like a neck brace does just fine sitting atop the head. Alas, even though I had checked for gauge, I didn't think too hard about how many stitches to cast on, and I cast on too many.

Anya endured several tryings-on during a painting session the other morning before she started to complain.



Then I started sticking it on my head, and when I realized the hat would be loose even on me, I decided to frog and start over.



The third time seems to be working. I knit it up in about an hour yesterday afternoon while both kids were in school (still getting used to that luxury), but had to stop before hiding the ends to go pick them up. So the hat isn't quite done...plus it's terribly boring - just a plain hat in fat yarn. I think it needs a knitted flower to adorn it, or possibly bunny ears. I haven't decided.

I leave you with a serene picture of my morning with Anya. Messy paints, knitting, the sun shining through the window. Really, things could be worse.

halloween

We had a great Halloween, I promise. But I didn't get a single picture of it, not even Daniel's homemade skunk costume (I sewed fake fur on a black hoodie and it worked swimmingly), because sometimes I just don't have my shit together. Also, the kids were off school for a teachers' convention and my parents were visiting and we celebrated my mom's birthday...so I was just too busy to get out the camera.

There was knitting. I finished a couple of projects. One is for Anya and it's crap so I'm going to rip it out and make something else with the yarn. The other turned out really nice but I have to keep it secret until Christmas. Next up is a test knit so I shall continue to be elusive about my current projects.

Meantime, I had some fun enjoying our last nice day of the season (I assume it's the last since we're in November already) in the back yard with Anya. We raked up a big pile of leaves and took turns burying each other in it. Good times.