Mis-Adventures in Embroidery

Posted on January 20, 2013 by cpeezers

I’ve been trying to figure out how to incorporate embroidery into my knitting. I embroidered on some fingerless mittens awhile back, and I kinda liked how they turned out, but I wanted to work on this some more.

I got the bright idea that I’d like to try Sashiko on my knitting. So I knitted some black fingerless mitts.

Sashiko is a type of Japanese running stitch. So first I used my paper template as I had done in the past.

Here’s the result.

First of all, I’m not thrilled with my technique. It’s uneven looking. Also, one false move and you can pull out an entire line of stitches. So I yanked it out. This was entirely too easy to do.

Next I found a pattern from Sublime Stitching that I thought I’d try out.

Again, my technique is uneven. I like the looks of the little girl better than the little boy. (I do also like the idea of the little boy on one mitt and the little girl on the other though!) I used the paper template once again, and it is just hard as heck for me to see what I am doing. When I am stitching through the paper, the stitches seem even and nice, but when I pull the paper off, the stitches don’t look so nice. I need practice. I do need the paper template though because I need some type of stabilizer. I just need to improve on my technique.

So then I had one more idea. I’d make a potholder and embroider on it. I used Brown Sheep Bulky and made two squares which I seamed together (after I embroidered on one of them). I asked Davey to write down his name for me. (He’s still working on perfecting his technique as well!) Then I took a picture of it, printed it out, and used it as my template. Here is the result. I actually do like this. I used yarn as my embroidery thread, and I think this is what I will try next time (instead of the too slick floss).

Mittens for Davey

Posted on January 14, 2013 by cpeezers

The other night I made a mitten for Davey. It knit up really fast. I made it while we were watching a movie. I held it up for David to see, and he immediately said that it would be too small. I guess I am in denial as to Davey’s size. David was right. Davey could squeeze it onto his hand, but that’s about it.

I guess it is apparent that the blue mitten was my first attempt. I need to knit the second one and send to my little cousin George. They should fit him in the next year or two!

It turned out ok because Davey really wanted red mittens anyway. So I made him some red ones. They are actually just a little big, but he really likes them. This picture is blurry, but I like Davey’s grin and the way he is showing the mittens.

Guess who is making him laugh here?

Yep. Buster. Buster keeps Davey laughing!

So I used a Lion brand easy mitten pattern for the red mittens. I had used a pattern from redheart.com for the blue mitten. I didn’t check gauge (obviously), and so what I thought should have fit – didn’t. I liked the blue mitten pattern though because I used dpns and knit them in the round. I was hesitant to use the Lion brand pattern, because you knit them flat and then seam them up. I thought – why in the world would I knit something flat that is circular when I could knit in the round? But I thought I’d give them a try. Turns out, I really liked the pattern a lot! The mittens are small so the seaming went really quickly.

I’ll definitely make these again. It’s been so darn cold here that I think I may have to knit some for me today!

Knitting and a little Buster (not General Custer).

Posted on January 7, 2013 by cpeezers

I have been doing some knitting over the break.

I finished a little elephant – and as I was posting this picture, I just now realized he still has no eyes. Need to add some.

It’s a pattern by Susan B Anderson called elefante. This was a really fun knit and I was able to use leftover yarn from my stash. It’s Cascade 220 and some other things that I can’t remember now. I just really like this little guy. I kept him for my very own. He is perched on my desk, and he’s quite cheerful.

I also recently knit a little hat from the Knit Simple Winter 2012 issue. It’s a great magazine which included 50 gift idea patterns for Christmas. I knit a little hat for my new cousin George. Well he is my cousin’s son. Does that make him my cousin once removed or my second cousin? I never have really figured this cousin thing out. I really have no excuse though do I? Google at my fingertips.

ok – so I googled it and apparently he is my first cousin once removed. (I think!) Anyway, he’s four months old and very cute.

I kinda digressed from the knitting. What a cute little hat. I made it with a bamboo blend.

The little earflaps were easy to add on, and I love the cabling in the hat. I didn’t have a little baby to serve as a model, so I tried out Davey’s bear Rock Star Winkie. Not the best photo, although Winkie is kinda cute sporting it.

David took a picture of me with Buster the other day. See those longggg legs? (obviously his not mine.) He is just a growing. Davey calls him “General Custer” a lot (although he usually says ‘Custard’). Somehow we came up with a song about “Buster – not General Custer”

“His name is Buster, not General Custer”. Davey loves that.

New Year!

Posted on January 5, 2013 by cpeezers

We were home for New Year’s. I made the traditional herring salad and rolie polies. We put up decorations and had our own little party.

We had a fun time.

New Year’s Day, Davey’s cousin came over to visit. We’d not seen her in quite awhile, so Davey was so excited to have her over.

They made pizzas together.

They decorated cookies.

David took a lovely shot of the cookie decorating.

Each day has also included walking Buster. He has been with us for a month how, and he is growing so fast. I took this picture almost a week ago, and his legs are already longer. It’s not easy to photograph this little guy.

Davey always has to carry something on our walks. He pretends with his chosen objects and becomes involved in some big imaginary story as we walk. On this day, he’d chosen a few tinker toys.

We’ve had a really nice break.

Happy New Year!

Christmas Day 2012

Posted on December 26, 2012 by cpeezers

It’s been a great Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with our friends across the street. Great food and great company for Christmas Eve.

Yesterday, the three of us had a really nice day at home. We opened presents, built Legos, David labored over a transformer for a very long time, I took Buster for a walk in the snow, we had Christmas lunch, I baked a cake (because I’d forgotten to make a Christmas dessert), we facetimed with my family while we opened our family calendars (an annual tradition), we talked to sweet baby Lila via facetime, I knitted with my new Signature dpns (love them!), and we just had a nice day. One of my favorite Christmases.

Here was Davey – just out of bed.

He quickly woke up though. They enjoyed the finger light rings.

I can always count on him for expressiveness too (I believe these socks glow in the dark!).

And when the opening was all over – it was time to play (and luckily for me, he was playing while sitting in some beautiful light!).

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Birthday to Christmas Eve Eve

Posted on December 23, 2012 by cpeezers

My birthday was on the 20th. I’ve written before about how Davey loves a great celebration. The first thing I heard when I woke up was Davey saying to David in a loud voice that maybe he thought was a quiet voice, “I want to give her her candle!”

Davey loves to pick out candles. He will smell every single one of them as part of his selection process. So he’d carefully chosen one for me. It is a nice one. I’m waiting for my cold to completely go away so I can enjoy the scent. Then I will light it. He also picked out my card:

When I opened the card, I found that it played “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” – a great old 80s Cyndi Lauper song! We thought that was pretty fun.

We’d gone to a Firefly Handmade Holiday Market in Boulder last weekend. So many great arts and crafts there. I talked to an artist about his work, and then David got me one of his pieces for my birthday. The artist (Jamie Lang) creates bricks from adobe. Then he does photo transfers of photos he has taken onto the bricks. There are layers of wax involved in this process as well. I really liked this one. It’s created from a photo he took of a Nebraska church. I love it. I don’t know if this photo does it justice. It was really interesting to talk to this artist and to learn about his process.

David and Davey also made me a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing. David worked very hard to get the cake baked and iced. David and Davey are having some serious discussion about their icing approach here.

It looked (and tasted) great! Davey was going in for a lick here.

What a nice 45th birthday.

Today we baked cookies. Davey and David helped with some decorating. Davey opened an early Christmas present, and he and David played with it for awhile.

Now it’s time to get Davey to bed. He has been so excited about Christmas. He asks about 10 times a day: “How many sleeps Mommy? Then how many? Then how many?” He can not wait!

Buster, Koko and Snow!

Posted on December 19, 2012 by cpeezers

We are getting some snow here today. It kind of paused for the moment, but it is so windy outside. I have never experienced a blizzard, but I can imagine how that wind combined with heavy snow could be impossible.

David took Koko and Buster out this morning to play for a few minutes. I asked him to take some pictures. I’ve got a cold and didn’t want to venture out. Davey and I were watching them from the window.

Buster exhibited signs of his part Siberian “Huskiness”. He loved the snow. He was trying to gobble it up.

He also desperately wanted to play with Koko. Koko desperately wanted to not play with him.

Buster was in constant motion. I guess that is to be expected from a 10 week old pup!

Koko is a very old girl who is not getting around very well anymore. She’s never been great in the snow though. Her fluffy fur is not made for it. She is meant to sit in a castle and command her minions (You can ask her).

In contrast, Buster is a ball of goofy pup who is going to thrive on snow play.

I do love a goofy dog, but I also love my regal girl!

Embroidered Mary Janes

Posted on December 13, 2012 by cpeezers

A month or so ago, I knitted and embroidered these little booties. I really like the idea of embroidering on knitting, and so I have been experimenting. I did not take notes or immediately document on ravelry that these were in process, so I can’t remember which Mary Jane pattern I knitted. There are several nice ones on ravelry though – free too. I knitted one of those patterns I’m not real happy about my memory sometimes.

I used just the regular DMC embroidery floss. I used all six strands. (six right?)

I just kinda of played around with the lazy daisy stitch and meandered around the booties.

I sent them to my little niece Lila whose feet are rapidly growing. They were cute on her, but I am thinking they won’t fit long. I would guess that they no longer fit now, but I think they are kind of fun to look at and remember that her feet were once that size for just a little while.

Wee Pup Meets Wee Tot: A New Addition to Our Family!

Posted on December 9, 2012 by cpeezers

We have a new member of our family.

This past Tuesday, we went to the Humane Society of Boulder Valley. I’d been keeping an eye on their available dogs for awhile, and on Monday, I saw a puppy that I thought might fit well into our family.

So Davey, my mom and I went to go meet him. We loved him right away.

We put a hold on him and waited for David to be done with work so that he could come meet him. He loved him too. Next thing we knew, he was home with us.

When we adopted him, his name was Andy. We decided we weren’t crazy about Andy for him. After that, he was Patches for several hours. Merle (he has a red merle coat), Bandit, and Roger (after Mr. Rogers Federer) were also briefly discussed. We finally settled on Buster. I think it fits him well.

We introduced him to Koko not too long after we got home. I need to get some pictures of them together. I’ve not been too successful yet. I couldn’t keep them together for long. Buster wants to get in her face and she wants to avoid him. She is very tolerant for the most part. She lets him jump up in her face and on him. But then, she will decide she has had enough. One snarl of the teeth, and Buster knows to vamoose.

Buster and Davey are getting to know each other. They have a great time chasing each other, but Davey is not overly thrilled with those sharp little puppy teeth. Neither am I!

His first night was a little rough. He had a nervous tummy and so couldn’t stay in his crate. He and I finally settled down in the basement, where he finally settled down at about 3 am. Poor thing.

Since then he’s done pretty well at night. He is getting used to his crate and is listening pretty well. We are not used to have a dog who might actually do what we ask. Koko has never been what you would call an obedient dog – or anywhere near that. Timber was a little better, but he was pretty stubborn too. Even Daisy was not the greatest listener. This pattern would suggest something about the owners as well I think. 🙂 But obedience training classes are in his near future, and we will try to get him trained well. He is also progressing on his housetraining. He seems like a pretty smart little guy.

His coat has these red merle patches. He has one very blue eye and one kind of brownish-gray eye. He also has a really sweet nature.

He’s in his crate giving me the big puppy eyes right now.

But in the time it took to take and upload that picture, he has fallen asleep again.

Sweet boy!

Something Beautiful Shrug

Posted on November 17, 2012 by cpeezers

I just finished the prettiest little shrug. It’s called the “Something Beautiful Shrug”. I made it for my new little niece, Lila. I’d never knit a shrug before, but this was a really nice fun pattern.

I have been in the Woolen Rabbit yarn club this year. Her yarn is beautiful, and every two months I receive yarn and a pattern to go with it. I’ve not had a chance to knit the first two shipments yet. The pattern that went with this yarn was a pattern for a cloche. It was cute, but I just wasn’t really feeling it. I decided I’d rather make little Lila something.

This is not exactly practical baby wearing yarn, but I couldn’t resist. It’s a wool/cashmere/nylon blend. It is so soft though and it was wonderful to knit with. Babies should sometimes be surrounded in luxurious yarn too! Although I think it will handwash great. And if some spit up landing on it is its destiny, that’s ok too!

On a somewhat related topic, David, Davey and I had a little discussion about rabbits this morning (and sea creatures). David was telling Davey and I about a restaurant he went to last night. He ordered this seafood salad. He sent me a picture. It involved things that looked like they were going to crawl off his plate but which were nestled in a green froth also known as sea urchin pesto. Too much for this country kid I think, but David enjoyed it. He mentioned to Davey that some of the rest of the group had rabbit. Davey said, “RABBIT?”

David told him yes and then added that he used to hunt rabbits when he was a kid. Davey responded with, “I ain’t gonna kill any bunnies!”

(not sure how the ain’t entered his vocabulary. :))

Cpeezers

Family, School and Yarn