Snowy Thursday and Regrowth Beginning

Posted on April 18, 2013 by cpeezers

The sun is out again. I think the past few days was the longest stretch of cloudy skies that I’ve experienced since we’ve moved here. We got a lot of snow! Monday afternoon it started falling until I think we had about a foot of snow. We had to venture out to the airport on Monday night to pick up Mom. We took it slow and it went fine, but there was a lot of snow out there.

Tuesday and yesterday we played outside some. Buster loves it.

Davey had a great time with his Oma too.

I am also getting started on the Regrowth shawl. The yarn is DK weight so I had to play with the needle size. I started with a size 6, but then decided that I needed to bump it up to a size 7. So I restarted. I hadn’t gotten far. I have finished the set up chart and am approaching the end of the second “Stars” chart. This is the top section close to the neck and is a little more solid then the rest of the shawl will be. Lace is hard to photograph in progress since it is all squinched together and not blocked, but here’s the progress so far. This color is really pretty, and the yarn is great to knit with.

Baby Bunny Blanket Buddy and Double Knitting!

Posted on April 17, 2013 by cpeezers

Last week I finished knitting a cute little bunny blanket buddy for my niece Lila. It’s a free pattern from Lion Brand, and it was fun but pretty quick and easy. Except. I knitted the head and realized that I was supposed to then stuff the head. But how was this going to happen when it looked like this?

As I was knitting the head (and this is another sample I whipped up because I didn’t think to take pictures when I was knitting Lila’s bunny), I thought well this is a neat stitch. I was purling one and slipping one, and I repeated this across the row. I’d never done anything quite like this before. It was making for a really nice soft squishy piece of fabric.

So I got to the top of the head, and the instructions said to stuff the head. How in the world was I going to stuff a flat piece of knitted fabric that looked like this on the needle?

I had no clue. So I went to ravelry and looked at some of the pattern notes. I saw that someone mentioned the word “double knitting”, and I then realized that this was what I was doing. I’d wanted to try this technique out for quite awhile. It makes a double thickness of fabric, or when you take the stitches off the needle you can do this:

The slipped stitches fall to one side and the purled come to the other. People who have actually done double knitting before will find this pretty obvious, but I was quite happy with my accidental discovery of double knitting! I think there should have been a big note of it at the top of the pattern as well. “In this pattern you will use a double knitting technique!” But then I would have missed out on the surprise! So then I was able to do this:

So that I could send it to my sweet niece who did this:

Snow? Snow! and a Fancy Tiger knitting class

Posted on April 15, 2013 by cpeezers

It’s Monday afternoon, and we are watching the snow just pour down. (pour? plummet? I don’t know what the word is exactly, but it is really snowing.) Again, this is hard for a former Okie/Texan/Tennessean/Arkansan to get used to. Snow in mid April. My mom is coming tonight and she will get to enjoy a couple more days of snow with us. We will have fun going out to play in it.

Yesterday, I was so happy to be able to go to a knitting class at Fancy Tiger (greatest crafting store ever (after Knit Unto Others of course!)). It was led by Stephen West and Ragga Eiriksdottir. I’ve followed Stephen’s work for awhile, and he does some cool stuff. I was surprised to learn how young he is! He is from Oklahoma and I asked him what year he’d graduated from high school. 2007! I admire all that he’s accomplished in just a few years since graduating from high school! I was not familiar with Ragga’s work, but I really enjoyed learning from her as well. This is not the greatest picture in the world. I just had my phone with me and I was trying to be quick about it.

I have another lousy picture to share because I was fascinated by this sweater that Stephen had designed and knitted.

The sweater is made out of linen, but see the white stripes? They are made from linen (I think linen and not cotton) dipped in latex! We all had to touch the sweater to see what this felt like. Linen is not the softest although I think it softens over time. The white stripes were actually fairly soft and not that latexy feeling. I thought this was really neat. I think he’d gotten the yarn in Belgium.

So we played with shapes.

We tried some different techniques where we played with different edgings and increases and decreases. One of my favorite things that I learned was when we knit several rows and ended the row (on the right side) by slipping 3 stitches with the yarn held in the front. This created an “applied?” i-cord along the side of the swatch. I think the upper right of this picture shows that although this is the wrong side. It’s smoother on the other side. I loved this look.

Ragga taught us something she called the “Insanely Stretchy Cast On” It involved using a helper needle. It was something like the long tail cast on with the helper needle added in. There was seriously a “twirl” at the end to bring the needles back up and it also added a twist on the yarn for the cast on stitches. I am not sure I can remember how to do it now, but when I was done, I removed the helper needle and so then had these elongated cast on stitches. Very neat.

We played with short rows and just swatched around. It’s not very often that I do this – just play with different stitches and short rows, and it was really fun. I have several of Stephen’s projects now that I really want to make. It was through playing around that he has created some really interestingly constructed shawls. I want to make “Rockefeller“, “Geysir Stretch” and “Bolting“. For starters.

So I guess it’s easy to see that I am pretty excited about the class. It was a great opportunity to get creative and to think about knitting in different ways.

Ok – I’m thinking this snowy day calls for potato soup. Davey is going to help me make some banana bread too.

Happy Monday!

Regrowth Begins

Posted on April 12, 2013 by cpeezers

I’m starting a new project with this yarn:

It is a beautiful sport weight bamboo/wool blend from Knit Picks. It’s called Galileo, and the color is Nebula. I’m going to make a shawl with it.

So back in October 2011, a friend of mine from Tennessee sent me a picture of a shawl. She’d seen it on etsy, and she just wanted to show it to me since she knows I am a knitter. We started talking and I told her that I’d be happy to make her a shawl sometime. We chatted about it for a bit, and I told her that really, it was something I’d like to plan to do in the next year.

So in January 2013 (yes over a year later), I remembered that I had said that I’d love to knit that shawl for her. I’d not totally forgotten about it; I’d actually kept an email reminder in my inbox saying “knit shawl for Debbie”. (email reminders to myself are the only way I remember to do anything.)

So in January, we started chatting about picking out a pattern and choosing the yarn. I sent her several possibilities of patterns I’d found on ravelry. She chose a shawl pattern called Regrowth. Here’s a pretty good picture of what it will look like.

Next we had to decide on a yarn. We messaged back and forth for several days trying to choose on a yarn. She initially wanted to stay away from wool, but then she decided that some wool would be ok – and this yarn is so soft. No scratchiness whatsoever.

Choosing the yarn was great fun, but it was the hard part! I think she ordered and sent back 3 yarn orders because when she saw the yarn in person, the color didn’t look like she thought it would from the picture online. It was worth the effort, because this yarn is so pretty and seems like it will be very nice to knit with.

It is a large shawl with lots of charts. I like charts though. It also has some Estonian stitches in it though. Yikes! I think I can figure them out though. There is something called a 2-9 star where you turn two stitches into 9. That may be crazy. I’ll figure it out though.

So I plan to blog about my progress on this. I can’t wait to get started.

Buster’s First Bath and a handshake

Posted on April 6, 2013 by cpeezers

Yesterday Davey and I took Buster for his first bath. David and I had many years of giving the dogs baths in the backyard or in the tub. It always involved a lot of bending and pain to our backs. So when I learned about the “Self-Service Dog Wash”, I was ready to give it a try!

Davey and I went to check it out. It was great. The tub was elevated. They provided shampoo, conditioner, towels, aprons (for Davey and me – but we didn’t really think we needed them. Well until Buster started shaking the water off, and then we were wishing we had them on), and blow dryer (that was a disaster. I turned it on for 5 seconds, and poor Buster did not like it one bit. We quickly turned it off and went for the towel dry).

Davey was a great help.

After we got Buster sprayed down, Davey helped scrubbed the shampoo in. Buster tolerated all of this really well.

I think he kinda liked the warm spray although I’m not sure what kind of look he is giving Davey here.

He finally had had just about enough I think. To make matters worse, Davey had momentarily deserted him so he could play with another dog. This didn’t make Buster too happy. He looks rather forlorn here.

What a clean dog though. Self-service dog wash – awesome way to go.

____

And then today Davey had soccer. Davey really enjoys his soccer games. He always hustles and tries, but he is as happy when a teammate scores as when he does. Today I noticed Davey stopping to talk to a little boy from the other team. It was right after Davey’s team had made a goal. Davey and the little boy paused in the middle of the field, Davey talked to him for a second, and then I saw him shake the little boy’s hand.

When Davey came back over to us, I asked him why he had shook the little boy’s hand. Davey said, “well he was sad that our team just made a goal, so I told him “good game” and shook his hand.”

Sweet boy. I had to write that story down.

Lila’s Sweater, a new project and self-service dog washing

Posted on April 5, 2013 by cpeezers

I finished a sweater for my sweet little niece Lila a few weeks ago. I made it with Blue Sky Alpaca Organic Cotton. It’s a worsted weight, and it’s a really soft cotton that was really nice to work with. I purchased the pattern from this designer: Kelly Without a Net. I was reading over her notes this morning (I hadn’t looked at her blog before today since I had bought the pattern through ravelry). Turns out she has had several comments that the cardigan runs big. Good to know. I’d kinda figured this out already. I made it for an 18 month old, but here is it how it looks sitting next to almost 7 month old. I know she will grow a lot, but in this pic, it looks like it won’t fit her until she’s 6!

But that’s the beauty of knitting for babies. It’s too big now, but it will fit her eventually!

The colors look completely different in the two pictures. I’d say the top picture is probably closer. This was not a difficult pattern at all. The hardest part was figuring out what buttons I wanted to use!

I’ve started another project. This is going to be a shawl that has lace and color work. I’ve had the yarn and pattern for awhile. I’ve been knitting things that don’t require much concentration, but I decided I was ready to tackle something a little more challenging. Here is what I have so far.

I’ve basically just cast on. I plan to work on it today. I love these two colors together.

That’s knitting for today. In a little while, Davey and I are taking Buster to a “self-service dog washing” place. Only in Colorado. Well maybe not only in Colorado, but this is such a dog loving state! Somehow I want to take pictures of this, but managing a 5 year old, a 7 month old pup and a camera may be too much. We shall see how it goes.

Hats!

Posted on April 3, 2013 by cpeezers

I’ve been working through some quick knitting projects. I had 2 skeins of the Knit Picks Gloss HW and decided that I wanted to make something with each of them.

David had requested that I “whip” him up a hat because another one I’d made him (and that he wore a ton) had lost its elasticity. So I “whipped” him up this hat out of black KP Gloss HW.

It was a fun pattern called “Jason’s Tweed Hat“. David liked the hat ok, but it’s a little big and bulky and apparently he had more of another beanie hat in mind. It’s ok, this hat will still get plenty of wear by all three of us. (I did not take the greatest picture.)

So I made him another hat. This is the hat that I have made at least 10 times. Great pattern and if you like more of a tight fitting beanie hat, then this is the pattern for you.

Then I made a final hat. I also made this with Knit Picks Gloss HW. It’s such a nice yarn. It has some silk in it and is so nice to knit with. It’s also bulky weight so the hat knits up incredibly fast. It would be a great first cabling project. I think she wrote the pattern with that in mind.

I confess that my original intent was to make this for a friend, but then I tried it on. I love the way it fits. Perfect amount of slouch and really comfortable. So I’m keeping it.

I didn’t try to take pictures of these hats on Davey or David. Davey runs from pictures lately (can’t imagine why!) and David’s at school. I figured wighead girl would suffice.

Now I am on a granny square kick. I even ordered a more ergonomic crochet hook because crochet tends to make my hand sore. However, I am weaving ends as I go on these 4 color granny squares so there is a ton of starting and stopping. Ambitious me wants to make a throw with these squares. More realistic me is pushing for a pillow. Granny squares are so pretty and old fashioned looking. I love them. I’ll post some pictures soon of those!

Easter 2013

Posted on April 2, 2013 by cpeezers

Easter! We had a great day. Today it has been raw and rainy. This is rare here, so I’ll take it, but on Sunday we had a beautiful perfect day. Davey loved his Easter basket. He loved hunting eggs at our house. He hunted eggs for the second year in a row with his friends across the street. The little girls came back to our house in the afternoon, and we hid eggs again. And – there was Easter dinner. That didn’t impress Davey much, but David and I really enjoyed it.

I guess we really began the evening before with our egg dying. Davey was being silly and having a fun time.

Sunday he was up bright and early ready to open his Easter basket and to hunt eggs. It was a chilly start to the day, but that didn’t phase him at all.

Davey got a battery powered bubble maker in his Easter basket. This became one of the highlights of the day. Turns out Buster loves bubbles.

He followed Davey around and tried his best to capture many bubbles.

Here’s one of my favorite Buster action shots.

He’s a funny little guy, and Davey found it all pretty hilarious as well.

We had a great Easter lunch. You can tell how great it was by how Davey piled his plate high with food.

I have to announce proudly though that he ate that entire stalk of asparagus. We were excited (an asparagus first for him!). I also made a new potato au gratin recipe. The cheese in the recipe was asiago (and a little parmesan). I also used turkey bacon instead of regular. I’ll be making that one again!

On Easter Eve, Davey and I were talking at bedtime. Davey tends to get philosophical right before he goes to sleep. He talked for awhile and then ended by explaining to me that the most important things are love and family. Well said!

Cotton Creek Picnic

Posted on March 30, 2013 by cpeezers

Yesterday, Davey and I decided to go to a park and have a picnic. We’ve gone from lots of snow last weekend to it being almost 70 degrees yesterday.

We decided to take Buster. He immediately jumped in the car ready to go.

After relocating Buster to the back of the car, we headed out to Cotton Creek Park.

It’s a really pretty park in Westminster. It sits up on a big hill, and so we had a really nice view of the mountains and the big sky.

Davey and I sat down to eat our lunch although Buster wanted his too and so immediately sneaked in and took half of Davey’s sandwich.

We forgave Buster of course. It is completely by accident that he is quickly developing a taste for human food. We wanted to avoid it, but he’s figured out that following around a 5 year old can result in capturing some delicious treats.

Davey played on the playground for awhile.

Buster always had an eye on him.

Here is Buster looking pretty handsome!

This is the more typical goofy Buster. Those ears!

As usual, Davey had some big imagining game going on which involved superheroes.

He did take a small break. For just a moment.

beautiful day!

Sunday Knitting

Posted on March 24, 2013 by cpeezers

We had another nice snow yesterday. Snow in March still surprises me given that I rarely saw it in Oklahoma or Texas, but it’s a fairly common occurrence here. So when David headed out to the store yesterday, he put on his hat that I’d made him about a year and a half ago.

I had made the hat out of Cascade Duo which is a wool/alpaca blend. It felt really soft and knitted up so pretty. The problem is that about a year and a half later, it has stretched out a ton and has become really floppy. Even the ribbing has lost almost all elasticity. I’m learning a lot about yarn as I learn more about knitting. This yarn is not ideal for hats. Is it because of the alpaca? I’d guess this was the case, but I am not sure.

Here is the old hat in process back in October 2010. I loved it because the colors were neutral, but still really pretty (handsome?).

So after realizing, how much the hat had stretched out, David asked me to “whip him up a new hat”.

I checked my yarn stash, and I had some heavy worsted from Knit Picks. It is called Gloss and is 70% wool and 30% silk. I just checked the website, and I can’t find it. Maybe it’s been discontinued already? I’m not sure it will hold up for the long term either, but we shall see. Worst case – I’ll have to knit another hat. Not so bad!

I’m knitting an easy but fun pattern that I’ve not tried out before. The ribbing is a 5×5, and then just knitting straight, decreasing and done.

Picture of hat in snow. Although, it’s pretty much impossible to tell that this is snow in the background (beyond the general whiteness).

Since it is a bulky weight, it’s knitting up really fast. It’s a nice yarn to work with too. I have made two Gaptastic Cowls and test knitted a shawl with this yarn, and I loved it every time! Although, I don’t know why I’m singing its praises, as it looks to be unavailable now.

Time for some knitting. Happy Sunday!

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn