Small But Mighty

A couple of stocking stuffers for the girls:

One for Jess:

And one for Chels: I know, they LOOK the same but there are slight differences in the colors. Now we won't have any fights over who's is "cuter". Yep, this Mom thinks ahead! Just a simple Beanie made a bit oversized for comfort.

Pattern: Noro Silk Beanie
Needle Size: 7
Colorway: 285 (I think, I'll have to check on that one day).
I used a bit over 1 skein each because it seemed a bit too short for my taste as written. My girls have a lot of hair, plus, I like more coverage down around the ears. I hope they like them, Christmas will be pretty "skinny" around here this year, so a little handmade love will bring a smile. Noro Silk Garden feels kind of "icky" to me while knitting it up, but it does feel softer in the finished product. Weird. I know.

My nephew recently asked for a helmet liner for when he's out running early for his ROTC. I ordered the Cascade 220 Superwash and away I went.

The Big Guy scared me when he was wearing it around the house, it's kind of spooky with Halloween right around the corner and him being sneaky and all....Anyway, I changed up my decreases around the face this time and it's soooo much better. None of that weird bunching and puckering that a lot of people get on the sides. I did mine more "staggared" per rounds, and it rounded it out better.

Helmet Liner
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Black
Size 6 & 8 circs.
One skein! Whew! That was close, I was seriously sweating it out, hoping I could finish without having to order more yarn. I was soooo happy that worked out. Unbelieveably, I totally blanked out on which way to cast on addtional stitches around the face this time. You'd never guess I'd made this before! I ended up trying all three ways and liked the e-cast on the best in the end even though "they say" you shouldn't use it for more than a "few" stitches. I ripped so much I thought I'd have to replace that section of yarn, but it looked so cool when it was done!

My other little project:

Bella Mitts,
(confession: not big Twilight Fans - by the middle of the first movie we were yelling for him to just eat her already! But these mitts are SO COOL!)
Needle size: 8's
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Bulky (in purple): which I doubt I'd use again. To me, "Superwash" means I can machine wash, gentle cycle and dry on low (just like KP's instructions). Not these. I was already making two pairs, one for me and one for Mom (for our Fibromyalgia, these feel GOOD when on), so messing up the first pair in the wash wasn't the end of the world but it sure ticked me off. The second pair will have to be "hand washed" and layed flat to dry (could've just bought regular wool!). Anyway, they're done and it's a really cool pattern to knit. It's fast, fun, and if you do use this yarn you can make a pair with 1 1/2 skeins.

So those are my "small but mighty" projects lately. Small feels good. Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something even though I move at a snails pace. Happy Knitting.

Where is my blog mojo?

I've got my knitting mojo going somewhat with Christmas looming closer, but blogging has been WAY on the back burner for me lately. I've always thought it was kind of sad and wondered why people just abandoned their blogs, or decided to say their "blogland farewells" when I'd be browsing. Now I understand. I'm tired. And time gets away from me because of other things going on.

But I got the push I needed today because Dawn in CA is having a contest on her blog. I'm adding your button Dawn.

Gotta keep up with my knitting at least. Here's some of the latest:

Pattern: Embossed Leaves
Yarn: Cherry Tree Hill Select Semi Solids
Colorway: Lotus
Size 1 needles magic loop
Heavily modified: Long tail cast on used, not as many repeats on leg, didn't cut yarn for heel, and I did a regular toe as I didn't like how the star one looked. All in all, I changed it quite a bit! But I got a sock that was more fun for me to knit.

I really liked this yarn worked up in simple stockinette but thought "LEAVES would be GREAT with this!". Sometimes it's better to leave things alone. So what do you do when you change your mind after the fact? Dye them.
I used my Knitpicks acid dye to make them a deeper emerald green. I think patterned socks look so much better in a solid color and now these make me happier. Now I can see the leaves and the pretty details even with some slight varigation still.

Next:

Pattern: Merlot
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden
Colorway: #8
Needles size 7 & 9 (I always use a smaller needle for the brim of hats).
This is a Christmas present for my Auntie in CA. She loves, loves, loves Blue. This was a cool pattern, I'll defiitely use it again. The yarn is such a pretty, bright, and vibrant blue (even though my picture doesn't portray that as much) so I made her these to match:


Pattern: Cranford Mitts
Yarn: Knitpicks Bare Superwash Fingering - Dyed with Sapphire Acid Dye
Size 2 needles

Loved this pattern but they aren't very warm! I may make her a plain set as well for a bit more coverage. It's funny, my hat picture is too dark and this one is too light! These are a deeper blue than they appear here. Someday I need a digital photography class!!!

A few more things have been in the works. Not always working out to my satisfaction. I just finished a cabled scarf for The Big Guy for Christmas but it turned into a big, fat UGH! I used Caron Simply Soft in Black (because I've always been happy with this yarn) but I could tell even when I was knitting it up that there were fuzzy issues already happening. I should've just STOPPED, but I thought maybe with a wash and some de-fuzzing it might be salvageable.

NOT.

He's getting a store bought one this year. I'll try the pattern again one day in a different yarn. Fathers Day 2010?

Happy Knitting!

Whiskers On Wednesday

Sophie is the only one who still fits in the Elmo Chair so it has to stay in the house. I couldn't part with it anyway, the girls loved their little chairs many moons ago! I can still see them sitting there watching their movies and cartoons.....sigh....

We're all a bit sad over here, even the cats. My Baby Miss C is on a school camping trip in the woods for three days and this is one Mom who isn't good at letting go. I woke up last night with an anxiety attack wondering why I ever agreed to let her go. I'll tell you why, her Daddy says she'll be just fine! WHY do I listen to him??? I also see her coming back with only HALF the stuff she took with her. She's just a little..um..flighty at times. I think that's why God made Mom's, if we didn't remind them about everything, where would they be? We shall see. I'm going to be a mess for the next three days, that's all I know for sure.

What a weekend!

Well. Saturday. I was totally unconscious yesterday (read: really, REALLY worn out). We must've ran 5 gazillion errands this past Saturday. One of my stops was to turn in the 36 preemie hats I made to the LYS. I had wanted to make at least 50, but 36 isn't anything to be ashamed of I guess. There were some really adorable ones turned in! And to top it off they said we'll blow last year's total out of the water. That's awesome. The Babies will have warm heads this winter for sure!


They filled up the wall, and the play-pen on the side there is almost full as well! Go Knitters!!

I also went ahead and bought the exercise bike I wanted awhile back (the one where I bought my camera instead) . I'm glad we waited, we ended up getting the floor model because they didn't have any more in stock and got 40% off. The Big Guy likes a bargain! And it doesn't take up much room so he's happy about that too. We just threw it in the back of the van and brought it home, no assembly required! It's nice and SMOOTH. Love it. Now let's just see if I actually get on it. I did Saturday and this morning. That's a start at least.

While we were there a service doggie had a little accident. Seeing that doggie's face about broke my heart. You could see it was very upset it had done that by it's ears and eyes. The lady didn't seem too happy about it so of course I was worried sick about her being angry with the puppy for the rest of the afternoon. They're prepared for that kind of thing, she had everything with her she needed to clean it up but I couldn't get that puppy's eyes out of my mind. Hours later, after about another billion errands, we went to Red Robin for a late lunch and lo and behold, they walked in! I think God was trying to tell me the doggie was okay. I had my back to them in the booth but Richard said she was giving the doggie lots of love. Whew. Animals can sure tug at you. That doggie's eyes I'll never forget.

It was Game Day so of course you see a lot of this:

And this:

I wish I'd remembered I had my camera sooner. These are kind of lame but there were SO many others really decked out you wonder how they don't cause an accident with all the doo-dads, pompoms, and flags all over their cars! It's a hoot. College football makes some people (cough...the big guy...cough) a little nutty I think. I'd just never seen the flags and car stuff until we moved here.

Off to knit something.