new outfit for anya

My girl Anya defies many girly-girl stereotypes. She hates the color pink, and tolerates purple, but only just. She couldn't care less about princesses. She is utterly uninterested in ballet. She won't wear dresses. She won't wear anything in her hair and barely lets me comb it. She loves dogs, the color yellow, climbing, tomatoes, cutting paper, drawing pictures for her uncles and grandparents, and being read to. I guess plenty of little girls love that stuff, too, but my point is that she doesn't care for or actively disdains the things most people assume any 4yo girl would love.

That's my girl.

She also loves the things people make for her. I'm lucky that way. And she is lucky to have a mama and an Oma who love to make things for her. My mom made Anya a sweater, and I sewed some pants to match:

Notice there is not a speck of pink in the whole ensemble, nor anything resembling a skirt. I have to admit I was a tad nervous about the ruffles on the bottom of the pants, lest they be too girly and skirt-like, but Anya has thusfar not objected to the design. The pattern is Burda. I made a size 5 and they fit fine, perhaps with a little room to grow. The big challenge was a 6" zipper up the side, which looks, if not professional, at least decent. My only modification was to add some elastic to the back of the waist so those cute little britches wouldn't fall down.

My mom used Debbie Bliss yarn and a DB pattern...I forget the name of the book, but it's a fairly recent one. A lot of those DB patterns kind of look the same, though. There are lovely beads around the neckline and charming white flower buttons down the front.

 She looks so charming, don't you think? A lovely back-to-school outfit, which she was so kind to model for me this morning (for about 3 minutes). Forgive me for thinking this, but she's cute even when she's goofing off.

knitting for wee people

I can't remember the last time I knit a baby sweater. I seem to have taken an unintentional hiatus from baby knitting! It's not as though there haven't been new babies born to or adopted by friends and family members. I just haven't gotten around to it. Now, of course, some of those new babies are approaching (or have already surpassed!) their first birthdays, and it's high time I acted on my good intentions.

This is a good time for me to crank out the smaller projects. Fall is just around the corner, but I'm not ready to start another sweater for myself just yet. For one thing, I'd have to choose just the right pattern and right now the possibilities are rather overwhelming. While I mull that over, I might as well knit for some of those new babies and babies-nearly-toddlers and while I'm at it put to use some of the many, many patterns I've been collecting since my own kiddies were in diapers!

Perhaps I should even make this a series of posts as I complete each project. The danger of that, of course, is knowing how easily I am distracted by other things, so committing to more than one or two at  a time might just be setting me up for failure! In any case, for now, here is Wee Sweater #1:

Pattern: Beyond Puerperium by Kelly Brooker
Yarn: Dale of  Norway Lerke (DK weight wool/cotton blend), about 2.5 skeins
Size: 3-6 months
Made for: a little boy born to a friend of mine about a month ago...she may be reading this, so I won't divulge any names because I haven't actually gifted the sweater yet!

Daniel chose the buttons. I didn't have enough of any one suitable color in my little button box, so I dragged the kids to the craft store last week. I wanted something to brighten up the rather dull brown color, and I think these simple aqua buttons are just the thing.

I adore this pattern. It's a basic top-down raglan sweater with various options for the sleeves (I just made them straight and about elbow or 3/4 length), but something about that long buttonband down the side is completely charming.

In fact, as soon as I was done sewing buttons on this sweater yesterday, I cast on another in a larger size for one of those babies who somehow went from newborn to one year before I had a chance to knit her something!  Despite my sizable pattern stash, this time I'm sticking with what I know, I guess.

too many sweaters

It's time I admit it: I have too many sweaters. Strange, isn't it? You'd think a knitter would believe there is no such thing, especially if said knitter lives in a northern state with long, cold winters and wool weather a good 6-8 months out of the year. How do I know I've got too many?

1. My sweater drawer is stuffed full.  I live in a small house with tiny closets, so I have to be careful about accumulation of clothes and shoes, which really isn't so hard for me except in the area of knitwear. I simply don't have room for more sweaters.


2. I don't wear them all. I've got my favorites, for sure. By far the sweaters that get the most wear are frumpy jacket-types because they are warm and comfortable. But there's this itchy cardigan I never put on, that pullover that would be totally and perfect if the sleeves weren't 2" too short, the beautiful striped sweater that fits me perfectly except that it's made out of wool and has 3/4 sleeves that are too warm for cool weather and not warm enough for cold weather, the alpaca vest that bunches around my middle in a completely unflattering way, and this other cardigan that is just lovely except that I'm convinced it makes me look old and for my age I have a lot of gray hair so I'm kind of sensitive about that...

3. But I plan to knit more sweaters. Lots more. Duh. Have you seen my stash? (No, you probably haven't, come to think of it, because I prefer to give that whole "flash your stash" thing a skip. My stash, my business. Anyway, it's big. I could knit a lot of sweaters without spending another cent for a long while.)

4. There are so many more potential sweaters in the stash. Like, lots more. I could knit my way into the next Ice Age, yo. I guess this ties in with #3.

So why hang onto sweaters I don't wear, that don't fit, that itch, that never suit the weather? Simply put: I'm not sure what to do with them. I'm not really attached to the finished objects. I'm a product-oriented process knitter, if there is such a thing. I like being highly productive and churning out lots of finished items, but not because I am sentimental about keeping them. I love the process of knitting and I have a very strong need to have something to show for how I spend my time, but I also have no problem giving a lot of things away. I love knitting for new babies and I knit socks for my family and once things are off the needles and lovingly wrapped and sent off, I more or less forget about them.

I think I could give half my sweaters away and I wouldn't miss them. Seriously. I can always knit more, and I will. The problem is, what do I do with the sweaters I am willing to part with? Donate to a thrift store? That seems like a waste, frankly. I don't go to thrift stores often, but hand-knit sweaters would be a big step up from the usual fare. I don't know anyone my size who would want all my hand knit rejects. These sweaters are not suitable for overseas charities, like Afghans for Afghans, since they request new items.

What to do? I guess I could always just give them to a local thrift store and forget about them. I may do that just to clear some space and get a clean start. Do you guys have any better suggestions?

champagne

I don't remember when I last drank champagne. I've never liked it except for some an expensive bottle a French friend gave me at her wedding years and years ago. Every time I've tried it since I just haven't liked it - too sour, too dry, too something.

Test knitting Champagne, Thea Coleman's latest design, on the other hand, was delightful! That link will take you to a page with no pictures, but the pattern will be released within a matter of days, so I've been given the green light to post about it here. (Pattern is live now!) You can check out the project pages of other test knitters in the meantime.

I had Stuart take these pictures a few weeks ago when it was a bazillion degrees outside. I'm surprised you can't see beads of sweat collecting on my brow.

The pattern is fairly complicated, as it turns out. See how the lace panel moves across the front and over the right shoulder? Yeah, that gave me fits. I had the sweater knit almost up to the armholes before accepting once and for all that my row gauge was way tighter than the pattern called for, and continuing on would have ended up in a belly tank - not what I was going for. So I pulled out and re-knit the whole thing and wound up with a much better result.

Here's the back, which is much less complicated because the lace goes straight up without any moving around.

I'm happy with the result on the whole, though if I had to knit this again I would definitely make it a couple of inches longer. Also, I need something nice to wear with it! My default is always jeans, and that gets boring. So I'm taking suggestions here - what should I wear with this bright green tank? I should add that I used Silky Wool (silk/wool/nylon blend) that is actually rather warm, so even though I wore shorts and flip-flops for the photos, the sweater is more of a spring/fall transition item.

socks for anya

OMG, how boring can I get with the knitting? Seriously. Socks again (yawn - it's so boring I almost make myself cry). This time they are for Anya.

I used KP Felici (fingering weight) in the "firefighter" color way, same as the pair I made for Daniel last Christmas. This was the leftover skein, in fact.

2x2 rib.

Short-row heel.

She loves them, blah blah blah. 

At least this time around the stripes match, which was a complete and total accident. I didn't even notice until I was almost to the heel of the second sock.

We've hit the dog days of summer here. Our travel is done, our guests have come and gone (almost - one family is stopping through for a night next week on their way to Michigan), no one is quite ready for school to start, yet we're running out of fun, creative ideas for things to do. I guess that's why everyone goes on vacation in August, huh?

summit

We returned home late Monday night (technically, Tuesday morning, since we rolled in a little after midnight) from a 4-day vacation in the Rocky Mountains. People, Colorado is beautiful. I saw just a little bit of this...

...and a lot of this!

My husband and his father and I hiked up Pikes Peak on Saturday. It took us ten hours from the time we set off at 6:30 in the morning to the time we got back to the bottom a little after 4:00 in the afternoon, at which point my feet ached so badly I wanted to cry. It was worth it, though. I would definitely do it again.