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And enjoy the spring!

Luxury yarn awaits

Do you ever have those times where the universe unexpectedly tosses you huge things? I am talking about things that are big and can change your life but you often don't even realize how much you are in need of them.

It's been happening to me quite a bit. First, I got an unexpected manilla envelope in the mail at my house, addressed to Jaala and the Zine. I called her up and, on the phone, opened the envelope to see what it was. It was kind of like being the awards presenter for the Oscars LOL. Anyway, the envelope contained the manuscript of Ariel Gore's new book "How to Become a Famous Writer Before You Are Dead" Her publicist sent it to us to review in our upcoming issue of Madlovin' Mama. The book was empowering and inspiring and has us feeling some major creative power. It's all fabulous.

Of course, we'll maintain our composure and try to not let it cut into our knitting too much.


So then today,I was hanging out in front of our house today with Irini and Baby A, enjoying the 60+ degree afternoon when I met a woman walking by with her dog. After we got our doggy fix (Friendly little long haired red dachshund), she checked out my Noro silk garden sweater, asked me if I was a knitter, and got into a great conversation about her handpainted luxury yarn business.

Did I mention she lives right in my neighborhood? Or that she has bulky cashmere and recycled sari silk yarns? And that her house is full of yarn that I can go see?

Her name is Jolene and meeting up with her had a great feel. Like something cool is going to come about as a result of it. When I checked out her website and saw the colorways and all the amazing fibers she has, I got really inspired. I would love to get some of her yarn and use it to make something really different and unique. Maybe this will take me in a completely new direction?


Here is the website. Her company is called Honeypot Yarns. If you google it make sure you put in the yarns part or you will end up in quite a different sort of site ;) She sells to yarn shops mostly but has an enormous stash of yarns that she has used as experiments or that she isn't carrying anymore. I am so excited to go check it all out.

Also, we have to invite this woman to our upcoming yarn swap.


OK, I have to go work on Flirty Skirty. I am working on the legholes and crotch shaping tonight. This means I am almost done. Not a moment too soon,our departure is in days.

--Erika

More Mittens,and a Couple of Hats

Buddy and I in our new matching Center Square hats. Man, I could just keep making more and more of these, they're so fun. And, oh, how the weather this weekend warmed the cockles of my Midwestern wintered heart!

He's telling me a secret at the sledding birthday party we all attended on Saturday--we don't often get a chance to sled when it's nearly 50 degrees, and the kids had a blast! Buddy insisted on starting from all the way at the top of the big hill, which made my mama-nerves jump, but after only one minor crash, he and The Huz made it down. This pic shows Buddy's fashion sense perfectly--he loves colors, the more, the better.

The last three days, we've all gotten up and gone for a walk around the block together, which proved pretty adventurous, since the kids chose roller-skates and a scooter the first day, when the sidewalks still shone with glare ice. Luckily, the down coats they wore helped them bounce back up after a spill. Buddy's middle name is definitely 'no fear.' He liked falling down almost better than scootering.

I've been feeling a mite off, since my teeth have had four dental procedures in the past two weeks, but the spring-like atmosphere and sunshine have really helped me bounce back. I'm ready to start eating crunchy stuff again, thank goodness. Lentil soup and yogurt taste good, but I'll look forward to some carrots and potato chips.


This week, I finished Belle's mittens...I got hung up on all the ends to weave in, but finally jumped that hurdle at a morning playdate while my mama-friend kindly organized the snacks and clay-sculpting.



Belle clowning with her polka-dot sleeper and new mittens. She picked out the colors and motifs herself; I scrambled along and discovered that designing stranded-color knitting was harder than I thought. It took several scratched-out sheets of graph paper before the final grid emerged, and even then, the hearts kept inching toward the flowers when I knitted it. Still, she likes them and they'll keep her hands warm, so that's what counts. With handknits and growing kids, at least I know I'll get plenty of chances to practice next winter...


For the hats, I used Valley Yarns' Berkshire Bulky, and the mittens were Knitpicks' Swish Superwash, my own pattern.

I've had that color-shock experience with Knitpicks, too, Erika, and I finally got color cards for both the Wool of the Andes and Swish Superwash. I am obsessed with lime green, and start drooling when I see it, but mint green leaves me cold, and I've ordered stuff that I thought was yummy lime only to discover a mint-green yarn. Anybody who digs mint will make out like a bandit at the yarn swap.

Pink-orange is the new Fug.

We finally had some spring-like weather today. It was full with brilliant, sunlight, 50 degrees, and melting snow. Woohoo! It makes me feel so happy. It is supposed to stay nice like this for the next week, and then we go to Florida for a week's vacation. I am living the sweet life right now, I tell you. Oh Yeah.

Since Baby A has been growing like a weed, and I have no summery clothes to fit her in my bins of little girl summer gear, I made a sweet cotton shirt for her wear on our trip. I picked this pattern because it is this adorable little hippy top that ties in the back like an apron halter.


I used the Apron top pattern from Little Turtle Knits (You need to scroll almost all the way down to find it. I love her stuff BTW) I knit it in Knit Picks Shine worsted. The color I used was Watermelon, which I'm not really diggin'. The problem with the watermelon is that it isn't quite orange and it isn't quite pink. This neither-here-nor-there quality is sort of disconcerting and I'm worried this top won't go with anything without looking strange, probably hideous.

Buuuutttt, even though the color is Fug, I love the top itself and it was fun to knit. Also, it's super cute on Baby A, with her little baby chub rolls showing in the back where you tie it. I even was able to do the crochet border with little emotional anguish, which is a big deal for me.

I just got a surprise birth announcment in the mail from a college friend. She had a little girl last month. I am thrilled for her and her DH, and thought all day about what to make for Baby Megan. I have some pink shine worsted and I think I will use it to make the apron top for her baby. The pink color was named "Snapdragon" and seemed like it would be a purple-ish color but it was straight up pink on face to face inspection.

It was a total downer to get that yarn envelope. It was the same one containing the Fug watermelon and all the colors were funky shades that didn't agree with me. And, the WPI yarn weight measuring tool that I really want for figuring out my yarn from my deconstructed sweaters was backordered. Wah. I just checked my shopping basket at Knit Picks though and it's empty so it must have shipped. Woohoo, good mail is comin'.

Anyway, back to the topic. I am not a huge fan of the pinkety pink snapdragon so this will be a good use of that yarn. I think I will try to either embroider a flower on the front, or knit a flower from Nicky Epstein's Knitted Flowers to make it extra cute. I am also going to get her a delicious bunny from the Indigo onion. I got one for Baby A and it is just the most cute, luscious baby lovey. I want one for myself!

Here is A with her sweet bunny.

Pam, the woman who owns Indigo Onion, is a friend of my friend Alison and makes these organic velour bunnies in a rainbow of colors. I know these bunnies are not knitting related but I have to give props to my WAHMs out there.

Speaking of Alison, it is her birthday tomorrow. I have been especially thrilled recently because she has started to knit. Prior to her taking up knitting, she has been one of my fabric hoarding sisters who sews beautiful things (More WAHM props). Now, our friendship has taken on a whole new dimension - yarn obsession. It is so fun. The family and I are going to a farm tomorrow to see the lambing. When we were there last year, they had lots of beautiful yarns, roving, and sheepskins ( See the picture with the bunny!) for sale and I am planning on getting some nice yarn for Alison's birthday present. I imagine I will be buying for myself too, since that is the way of things with yarn. Fun. My next plan with her is to get her to start running with me LOL.

My plan tonight is to bust a move on my LTK flirty skirty skirt and undersoaker. I need to finish it for Baby A in time for our trip and it has been taking me so darn long to finish it. Yikes.

Focus, focus, focus. I haven't been getting any knitting done because I have been spending my time blogging about knitting. Oy what is up with that?

--Erika

I Love My Heap

Like Jaala, I am getting together a bunch of things to donate to S's preschool for a silent auction that they have for their big annual fundraiser. I've been in Clean-Out-the-Materials-So-I-Don't-Feel-Guilty-About-Unfinished-Projects mode and used this auction as a means to attack The Heap.

I actually love The Heap, it's the only bit of real estate in my house that I can truly call my own, but it gets totally out of control (Out of my mind YO!) on a regular basis. The Heap exists because my house doesn't have much in the way of storage space. We only have 5 modest closests in the whole place and this makes it tricky to deal with all my crafting and art supplies. There is just no place to put them. Didn't people in the 1920's have piles of Krap that they needed to store too? I guess not, 'cause they had no closets.

And that is why I have The Heap.

I pile my yarn, books, WIPs, and knitting supplies on a little table next to the couch. Under the table I've got a tupperware bin with my yarn stash, a few baskets and bags with more WIPs, and felting supplies. The Heap is way cool to look at, and you can get inspired by all the stuff, but man, it has a life of it's own and it can get uuuuugggglly.


Even though I talk bad about it, like I said before, I do love my Heap. It's made up of all my prettiest and most interesting things and most of the time, it makes me very happy.

So anyhow, I have been really productive, thinning out the contents of The Heap, and contributing to my kid's school fundraiser. YEAH.

I am contributing:
1) A felted handbag made entirely of stash yarn.
2) A rose pin made from a felted resale sweater: It's pretty but it's too big and too 3D for me.
3) Soaps with felted roving covers.
4) A necklace I made for a craft fair a couple years ago.
5) 2 subscriptions to our Zine.
6) 2 packets of back issues of the Zine.
7) A crazy planter I made a while back.

Don't they look so pretty all arranged and labelled?


The felted handbag has taken me a year to finish. I knit it out of my stash leftovers: Cascade 220, Nashua Handknits Creative Focus chunky, Lamb's Pride Bulky, and a fancy mohair. The pattern I used was for a tote bag but when I felted the thing, it came out like a lumpy, overgrown clutch. The combination of yarns felted almost completely in the vertical, and not the horizontal. In addition, the little button flap was really wierdly deformed. I think the mohair strands must have done a crazy dance in the washer in order to glop it all together.

I valiantly tried, over and over, to fix this bad boy and never could get it right. Finally, I got a vintage button from the button tin at Gayfeather, and trimmed up the button loop to make it smooth and simple. It is looking much better now and I'm getting it out of the house while I have the opportunity. Please let me be finished with this thing. Please?

Hopefully I will have some time to knit tonight. I'd like to do a few rows on something.

Focus, focus, focus.

--Erika

Yarn with Frog and Toad

This Blue Sky Alpaca yarn had been a scarf and hat, but I tried to squeak by with too few skeins, so the ribbed scarf looked way skinny, while the matching hat refused to cover my ears (even after I used a piece of bulky magenta yarn that a friend wrapped my Christmas present with to finish the crown).

So, frogged. But now I have grand plans to knit a fatter creamy scarf to go with my new Center Square hat. Can you tell by the sunny pillowcase and daffodils that we in this house want spring here soon?!

Spring brings me fundraising knitting--the place both Erika's and my DH's happen to work holds a charity silent auction in April, and I found out today that the kids' nursery school jumped on that bandwagon, too. Originally, I planned to make Center Square for the auction action, but only after working on two hats (the first one turned out too big--also jumping in the frog pond soon) did I realize that bulky wool-alpaca won't look so appealing come April.
"Nothing wooly and knit will look good in April," Mike said, crestfallen.
"Yes, but soy-silk lace scarves will look just fine."
I started grinning.
Ahh, the plan is working....yes...I'll get a chance to order some of those fancy silky fibers, and for the greater good, too.

--Jaala

Unpoopworthy felting and lost knitting frustrations

I finished my first diaper cover. A few years back, I bought a bunch of wool thrift store sweaters and felted them in order to sew fabulous bags and other wonderful sundries. I made one purse and since then the felt has sat in my basement making me feel bad.


Warning: gratuitous baby pudge ahead



I cut out a form based on a prowrap diaper wrap, and made closures with buttons and velcro. They looked cute. YEAH! My sewing here pretty much made a mockery of the dignified art of sewing, but I didn't care, they were CUTE.

40 minutes later, 4 of the 5 family members were covered in sticky green baby poop. Shuuuute. The cute diaper cover is not poopworthy.

I'm rethinking my policy of feeling bad about not using my felted sweaters. Maybe it would be better to stick with a hobby that doesn't necessitate multiple needle threadings, glopped up wads of thread, disappearing velcros, and pins in my finger tips only to end in disaster.

Jaala is much more talented when it comes to the sewing so I'll leave it to her from now on.


Also, progress on the purple merino soakers ground to a halt when I lost the knitting and the pretty purple lantern moon bag that I am keeping them in (Got it for 4 bucks from the knit picks clearance - YEAH!) for the past 4 days. I think I need to get some of my projects done so I can focus without losing my literal and figurative stuff. Happily, I found the bag tonight. I guess that's progress.



On a happier note, I finally finished S's vest.


We went to Gayfeather together to pick out the buttons yesterday. She did a good job and is excited to wear it to school tomorrow.

It is such a great feeling when they like what you knit for them.

I knit the vest from the Afghan's for Afghans child's vest pattern in "Knitting for Peace" using Noro Silk Garden leftover skeins from my sweater I made last summer. The vest is knit in the vertical orientation instead of the horizontal that most patterns call for. The self striping Noro yarn lends itself beautifully to this orientation.

The vest was great until I did the crochet edging. The crochet caused the knitting to bunch up near the shoulders. Sheesh, what's up with that?

Crochet totally convolutes my brain. I have a hard time with it so I keep doing projects where I get to practice it. Maybe one day I'll figure it out.

Tonight I am going to make some felted soap covers and do a few rows on flirty skirty.

Focus, focus, focus.

--Erika

Mitten Mania

These started as an experiment in combining Fair-Isle with a non-Scandinavian mitten pattern, and turned out pretty wearable. They helped me shovel last weekend when the Big Snow hit.

Of course, my little guys needed some, too. Here's Li'l A clowning with his finished mittens.



And the mittens all by themselves:



I used a variation on the pattern from Nancy's Needle Nook, on Size 4 dpn's for Aden's and 6 for mine; the design is the Old Goose Eye from The Mitten Book. How I love that tiny book!

The yarn on the Yellow/Purples=Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes, and Swish Superwash for the little buddy's mitts.

--Jaala

Coexisting, weaving, and happy.

During the waiting time before my 3rd daughter's homebirth, I debated the extent to which I would clean. My place ususally is kind of a wreck. At any given time, it is a good bet that I have several huge acute disasters, and lots of longer term buildups of things like cobwebs and dustbunnies that I never get around to dealing with. (Though at one point I was trying to figure out if I could use the dust bunnies for a felting type project). I really didn't want to give up my precious creative time to hausfrau duties. Surely the midwife would have seen messier houses, right? I finally decided that the cleaning would focus on critical areas of horror and I wasn't going to worry about the rest. What a relief. Letting the cobwebs go, I invited my house's spiders to the birth.

We read Shel Silverstein poems to the girls before bed and last night I found this one for the first time. We've read the books over and over but for some reason, this one has hidden from me until now. It spoke to me.....

The Weavers

I was sittin', I was knittin'
On a sweater I could wear.
When I finished, I said proudly,
"Hey, I've done some weavin' there."
But ol' spider on the wall said,
"Can you do it in the air?
Can you spin it out of gossamer
From ceiling to the stair?
Can you let the wind blow through it
So it sways but doesn't tear?
Then can you grab onto it
And swing lightly on a hair?
When you can--then you may truly say,
'I've done some weavin'there.' "

Shel Silverstein, "Falling Up"

People always tell me that I'm so prolific. They ask me "How do you find time to do all this?" and "When do you knit?" as if I have discovered a secret time warp. But it is really pretty simple. There are only so many hours in the day. I only do what is most important to me, in order of priority. Kids, crafts, then all the other stuff on an as needed basis. When my kids are awake I try to be present for them and I don't get to spend that much time doing my personal crafts (Though I do usually walk around with a ball of yarn dangling from my circulars, with a cat trailing behind that, as I play house with the girls). My baby doesn't like it when I knit while she is nursing either. She's very strict with me tsk tsk. So I use that time to make googoo gaga eyes at her and get a lot of good ideas simmering in my head. I was kind of restless with this at first, but now I am appreciating the forced quiet time.

At night, I sit on the couch and work on my ideas. My list is so long that I never get finished with all the stuff I want to do. Ever. I admit that the cleaning comes last. Creativity is something that is given to me like a gift and when it comes I have to take advantage. I can't call it up when it is convenient for me. And I definately won't put it off to go clean the floor. No way baby.

So, the spiders and I coexist, they weave, I knit. It's all good. Maybe one day I will invent a way to make yarn out of dust bunnies and will become motivated to sweep. Please don't hold breath, friends.

I've got a ton of projects on the needles right now. It's almost to the point where I need to focus or else I will make about one row of progress on each and will be done with them all in 20 years. Not so good since most are kid things.

The two I've decided to bust a move on are baby pants for my new daughter. She is fabulously Reubenesque, which is great for juicy baby hugs, but not so good when you spent the whole pregnancy knitting sweet little (Emphasis on the little)diaper soakers and pants. I have two pants in progress which need to get finished for her to wear this spring, before it gets too hot and she gets too big.



These are a pair of cargos from Knitty, knit in Cascade Fixation. This yarn is an elasticized cotton. It is soft and stretchy and wears my fingers out when I knit with it. The yarns and color scheme are from the Jane of the Jungle Bikini, also from Knitty. The pants knitted up easily but I have been working for months on the swiss darning embroidery (Basically you embroider yarn in a pattern that follows the yarn pattern of the stitches) to make the leopard prints. Ugh, I like to knit. Embroidery - not so much. You have to watch what you are doing, so you it's harder to get it accomplished when you want to veg in front of the tube watching Battlestar Galactica. I have to get these done though, their sordid history is that these pants started out as a dress for my second daughter about 3 years ago and never got finished, obviously. I'm too stubborn to let it happen again. Will post when they are done.

My other project is much more fun. I read a blog from a woman who unravels cashmere sweaters and knits fabulous socks for herself, for mere pennies. "Great!" I said "Bring it on!". I've recycled wool sweaters before for felting projects, but never to reclaim the yarn.

I went to the resale shop and picked up a bunch of wool sweaters to get going on. Learned a few things. Angora is really hard to frog. Also, you need a microscope to see the seams and to frog cashmere. Sigh. So I am focusing on a purple merino sweater. It's a fabulous purple so I'm not feeling too bad about it at all.


It was easy to unravel and I got a bunch of yarn out of it. The yarn itself is a bit funky. The sweater was machine knitted, and the yarn isn't normal. Instead of it being a spun strand of yarn, this yarn is more like a compilation of thin threadlike strands of yarn. You can pull them apart easily, it isn't wound. The yarn also smells like some majorly stinky woman's perfume. I was kind of afraid to hank it up and wash it because the yarn isn't really cohesive. I am just going to knit it up and then wash it once the pants are done. I should have washed the sweater first.


Here it is on the needles. At first it was hard to knit with because my needles aren't super sharp, and I wouldn't get all of the teeny weeny yarn strands aroung my needle, but now I'm used to it and it's going better. The pattern I'm using is an old favorite, the Wooly wonderpant from Wooly Wonders.

I've deconstructed a bunch of sweaters now and have a huge pile of yarn. This will be my first finished project though with it.

So there we go. My ribbed cardigan for myself, my daughter's Flirty Skirty, and the wool I want to dye are sitting getting cold while I try valiantly to get these done. Focus!

Knit on friends.