The Holiday Knits

Over the weekend I watched the movie, The Holiday. One of their wardrobe persons obviously has wonderful taste and loves gorgeous knits. I would love to inherit the Kate Winslet wardrobe from this movie! Such pretty wispy lace cardigans... yum! And the Cameron Diaz character had one amazing sweater... that crazy cream cable cardigan. Gorgeous! I tried to find some pictures, but failed. Rent the movie, oogle the knits. Spam me with patterns. lol! I really liked the movie as well. :)

Knit a little... but looks like I'm going to be ripping it out for another go. Eh... oh well.

You know you're old when...

Your tax return arrives... you first, buy a weed whacker and a vacuum... and then your kids are late to bed by an hour because you are too busy trying out your new equipment.

Yes, I feel old now. But I love my new Hoover! You know... because it actually (gasp!) WORKS!

It's WIP Friday!

Well, it's WIP friday here... nothing significant happened this week because of the house guests plus some family drama... but a few things moved a bit.

First up! The BearFoot Socks. Sock one complete and #2 on it's way! I think I finally captured the real colors of this sock. Of course one's monitor settings all vary so... it's as close as it's going to get!

Roza's... T started hers so now I can show you! Hard to photograph because of the ribbing, but isn't that colorway behaving nicely?! They're about 6" long right now. Just picking them up every now and again... after Hub's socks are done I'll get to it on them.


I got started on Amy's second pair of pants... I'm calling these the "plum sauce" longies. It's a custom colorway I had done. I'll share more when they're finished.


And I put on a few more miles of garter stitch to Miss E's birthday blanket... now officially a couple weeks late.


And what's Friday without a little yarn candy eh?

This is the new 3-Ply 100 Purewool Merino. It's lovely. I can't wait to dig into this... the pink/purple is summer shorts for Miss E. The Blues are for shorts for some little boys I know.


And some Peace Fleece acquisitions for Miss E too... Cherry Blossom from Radiant Twist and Old Friends from Dying to Fly. The Cherry Blossom is up next on the roster - E's been growing and needs another pair of capri's. The Old Friends will be summer shorts. So pretty and girly! Miss E is at the stage with her hair where she needs clothing to be girly or she looks just like a boy. ;)


I've been asked about the pattern I use for the pants. I use my own. I'm working on the pattern, but every time I work it again... I make a few changes. At some point perhaps it will be ready to share. ;) Until then you can look here and here for a couple of great patterns.

Well, when I dig myself out from under this diapering wool pile, I've got more socks and a few sweaters I'm going to get started on. Lots of ideas... so little time! I'm looking forward to this weekend... birthday! Yay! Maybe I'll get some woolly gifts. Once can hope right?

Funky Targhee Pants Complete!

Targhee is soooo yummy. I finished up this pair of longies for Amy's little one this morning. Well, pants done last night, I-cord this morning. They are all washed, lanolized and ready for use! With the I-cord in place you can't even really see the pooling in the waistband. There was a teensy bit of pooling where the gusset is worked. Which is weird... because the only other pair I did that had that happen... were the Blushing Violet's I also made for Amy.

Targhee is such a different wool. It doesn't compress well. So I cast on about an inch fewer stitches than I needed and added them in when I got to the body. I used #4's for the waistband and it's still a pretty big gauge. It just doesn't want to compress. #7's for the body and 8's for the legs. My gauge on the 12" 8's matches what I get on 16" 7's. Those 12" circulars... I love and hate them. Hate working on them because I feel like my hands are in a vice. But LOOOVE that it FLYS. Goes soooo fast. I started these on Monday night and the pants were done Thursday night! (I-cord Friday morning). Not too shabby!



So anyhow, there they are. I'll be swatching for the second pair this weekend and getting them started next week I think. I'll have houseguests over the weekend and probably next week. Best finish getting ready for them now!

Hello to all the new people from the blog ring stopping by!

I've drawn a blank...

I can't think of a title for this entry. What has the world come to? I think my children fried my brain this morning. Hmm... or maybe it was the frantic cleaning tyraid I went on... MIL is coming so you know... must put down knitting and clean! Bah!

So, I finally put away our things into this cutsy little old house china cabinet. It was in there before... in boxes. Now it's on display including my Great Aunt Stella's Crystal and Silver Set. I'm so happy it finally has a home.


Then I got carried away... and hung up all of Miss N's paintings from this week on the wall. It's better than a boring white wall. We're still picking colors...


Ah, the knitting, that's what you come for isn't it?! Here's some progress I made on Hub's BearFoot Socks. I can never get a good picture of the amazing colors in this yarn. It really is quite beautiful. I tried them on Hub just after I turned the heel... and well, broke a needle. Whoops. So from now on I'm only trying them on myself. So far no broken needles that way. I am just done with the gusset so they are ready for some mindless knit night knitting tonight!


And I'm doing another trade with the fabulous Amy. She sent me this crazy Montana Targhee to make her youngest some pants. They are zooming right along. The waistband pooled. Which is the funniest thing. I've never seen that happen! Hub says it looks like a broken doppler radar thing. I'll be doing two pair for Amy. The second is going to be suuuuper yummy. I had the colorway custom dyed on BFL.



And see here... this is the picture of my Roza Sock progress... oh wait... I can't show you that because Missy T is busy working away on her sweater and not starting her Roza's. Hmm... she is going to see the Harlot soon... you'd think she'd get on the sock for heavens sake! Anyhow, I've made a little progress on them.

My little brother (number 1 of 4) called yesterday to see what Miss E and I wanted for our birthdays. Actually he changed his mind mid-conversation and decided he could handle a gift for a 1 year old, just not a 31 year old. When I told him books, he said "You're such a nerd. That's boring.". Well, I think I could find PLENTY of company that would see some excitement and quite frankly some essentials on that list! Boring... bah!

Alright folks... back to manic cleaning Wednesday.

Fat Pants

So as I might have mentioned, I've lost quite a bit of weight in the past six months. All my weight from baby #2 and a few pounds now from #1. Just a few left to my goal!

I've been thinking about this for quite some time... how cool things are made from recycled material. And well, I had this pair of pants...

So here you have the "fat pants bag". I mostly just made it up. I followed some really basic instructions for the knitting bag in the Stitch N Bitch book. But pant legs can be quite limiting in their shape. Anyhow, this was fun. And it didn't turn out too shabby either.

Is that a Roza or a Daffodil?

It's both! A Roza sock in Lorna's Laces Daffodil colorway.

I've had a bit of a brain function issue with this Brioche Stitch. It seemed so simple. But something didn't look right. Mine didn't have that lovely open lacy look. Just a cramped hole and a wonky looking stitch next to it. Can you see that... not right.


So... after I googled and found NOTHING resembling this stitch on the sock, I emailed Kathy. She was quite gracious and helped me figure out my issue. It was with my YO. Now, if you are smart... you'll read the notes at the top of the pattern and you will REMEMBER what they say. If you're like me you'll forget what it said and pester the poor writer. SO... I am hoping if you google now you'll come up with this and find your answer and Kathy will be left in peace.

You must do the YO "at the same time" as you slip the stitch. However, I find it much easier to think of it as slipping and then doing a YO (switched from what is written). Perhaps if you are a continental knitter you can do both at the same time. I'm not sure. But for an English like me, it is just awkward to hold the yarn up toward the back and slip at the same time. And it really doesn't give a different result.

So now... I have lovely openness and I am just loving the pattern. It is hard to see in this busy colorway. Sorry about that. I have a ball of dusty lavender Opal in the stash that will be oh so elegant done up as Roza's. I loved it before, but doing it correctly adds even more joy to it because it's so much easier to insert my needle for the p2tog. They are just zipping along now!


I've included a very close up pic of the slip/YO. The YO goes over the top of the slipped stitch like so...



See that? Much nicer. And so much easier to purl together! Loving it!

Missy T... you better not be peaking!

A family of wooly bottoms!

Secret knitting project complete! Yay! These are all gifts for a family who is expecting identical twin girls in the next month! They have a son as well.

I'm so tired... I-cord takes a deceptively long time to finish. Especially when you start at 1am... yeah... don't ask. But I wanted these to go out tomorrow. They're off for a bath and a block now.

Awww.... all were made from 100purewool in Green Peace, Plum and Blush.

Needles... a bunch.





Initially I started out to make two soakers for the identical twin girls... then I thought... big brother needs some coordinating shorts too... and well, as usual, took on a lot!

I learned so many new things doing these! First of all they are my first soakers. I used two different patterns. The first is the Curly Purly soaker pattern. Overall I really liked it, but... it just about killed my hands/wrists/arm to do that tight of knitting at such a rate. I ached.

On the second one, I used the Dandelion Dreamers pattern, but then finished the legs with the Curly Purly pattern so that they'd be the same. I have no idea why, I just wanted them that way.

Then, I decided to do those cute little hearts. I took the easy route and used duplicate stitch. It was fun to add a little something. AND, I learned a new short row method... I used wraps. For some reason early on I couldn't figure these out, but they worked really easily in the second soaker.

If that wasn't enough... I really am crazy... I decided big brother needed some shorts. This is the yarn I ripped out from E's first pair of longies. It turned out really nice. I knit them on 6's so it's nice and tight.

So... I'm nuts. How I did this in a week is beyond me. What can I say... I LOVE making things and giving them to people. It makes my heart happy. And I love making others hearts happy. Today I'm taking it easy... giving my hands a rest, maybe even taking a nap... and going to bed early!

Jeepers Creepers

Thanks to some great advice from Carol who very nicely left me some information on glasses... I am looking at some PEEPERS! What a fun site for those of us who care what our "reading glasses" look like. lol!

So in the running... are these, these (which are not the cutest, but might be good for tv knitting - but then again... if I'm knitting so much that I need glasses what will I be looking at the TV for?), these and these.

I have to say... without having tried them on, the first and last are my top pick's for looks I think. The third ones, would be a great shape for my face.

What I currently have... were purchased (prescription) 7 years ago. lol! I'm feeling old... I was working on my Thesis at the time and either had my nose in a book or up against a computer screen for months. I started having headaches and eyesight issues... wonder why... Anyhoo... they're your standard black with tortoise style inner.

SO... thoughts?!

Still Knitting...

I'm like the energizer bunny here... you will faint at the cuteness. You will be awed by my speed. 2 of 3 objects are complete and the 3rd is about 2/3 or better complete.

In postal news... the rest of the yarn for Miss E's Moderne arrived today. Along with a second set of size 7 tips for my KP's set. Ahh... bliss. Once done with this little "secret" project it's back to the blanket, the bag and some socks. I want to crank out this blanket and bag and be done with them! I'm dreaming here and procrastinating on finishing up this UFO... hmm... stay tuned...