Tag Archive | hobbies

Cute Baby Hats

I didn’t knit another thing yesterday after I finished Stupid Hat. I did some chores, read a bit, watched some TV without knitting (which meant I could actually see what was on the screen). I think I needed a break. So I have no progress to share on that front. Instead I’ll share the two wee baby hats I made for my brother’s new baby, which should arrive in about six weeks. … Nope, scratch that. I’ll share one of the hats I made. Apparently I didn’t take any photos of the other. This is the Baby Hat with Topknot but I did a ribbed brim instead of garter stitch. I used some supremely soft Plymouth Yarn Baby Bunny. It’s a delicious blend of cotton, rayon and angora. It made my Knitting SIL’s allergies flare up, so I bought it from her, and it’s a dream to knit with. I made a newborn size for this one. Nope, it won’t last long, but it’ll be cute while it does.

The other hat I made was with this same yarn, a simple striped beanie with this celery green and a soft baby blue. I aimed for a 3-6 month size, hoping it would fit him in the fall. Maybe someday I can share a photo of the baby wearing the hat. And I’m sure I’ll be making more baby things in the future too, but for cooler weather. Maybe a small car seat blanket? It’s my Crochet SIL having this baby, so I probably won’t be doing much crochet for the baby since he’ll get plenty from his mama.

With all the spring showers we’ve been getting, my rose bushes are blooming wildly. They’re lovely. Except Grace thinks they exist only as stick-makers for her chewing pleasure. Tell me again why I have two puppies?? I know, I know. They’re cute and loving and sweet and when I see them playing so happily with each other, or sleeping next to each other, it warms my heart. But still. Sigh. Someone suggested spraying them with my bitter spray, so that’ll be my next step. Anybody else have a good tip? Wish me luck!

Stupid Hat is Done

May14

Thank goodness that’s over! I finished the hat this morning and sent it off this afternoon. It was nothing but trouble from start to finish, so I’m very relieved that I can put it behind me and move on to something more fun. The yarn was softer than I expected, and knit up fine. Had good stitch definition. The pattern came out quite lovely. But I struggled to get gauge, I made mistakes left and right, and I didn’t care for how the decreases were done. I can’t imagine I’ll ever make this hat again. Now, back to my sister’s bag I go!

Stupid Hat

May13

I’m not terribly happy with this darn Everdeen beanie. I thought I’d make great progress yesterday and maybe even finish it up today, but I don’t see that happening now. Remember yesterday, I mentioned I needed to tink a couple of rows? Well, I did that, and I even put in a lifeline and all was good. I knit for two episodes of Gilmore Girls and got eight rows done, whee. Then I somehow dropped a yarnover or something and everything went to heck in a handbasket and I had to tink another three rows. ARGH. I officially hate this hat now. But I was able to move my lifeline up a couple of rows and it’s ready for me to work on today. I’m still hoping I can finish it soon, maybe tomorrow? I’d like to say today, but I have to go get milk, take milk to the mother, work out, and tonight is a loss because the girl has some silly mandatory informational night at school about AP classes. Whatever. At least the puppies are being somewhat agreeable.

All the Colors of the Yarn

May12

I’m all about bright colors right now. I had a bit of mad money to spend (well, Mother’s Day money. Same difference, right?) so yesterday I went to my LYS to ponder all the things. I went in thinking I would buy more needles, because of course I have plenty of yarn. (bwahahahaha!) The nice woman greeted me, then asked me if I’d been in before. Seriously? I turned around so she could see my face and kind of jokingly said, “Once or twice.” (Yeah, once or twice a month maybe, for the last two years.) She just smiled and said ok. It wasn’t a big deal, mostly I thought it was funny. I know they see lots of people and just because I remember faces doesn’t mean everyone else does. Clearly I don’t go in there often enough, right?

Anyway. Yarn. I mean, needles. I picked up some Malabrigo yarn right way, then I found the needles I’d gone in wanting. They were a bit cheaper than I expected so I chose three lovely pairs. Aren’t they pretty?? I don’t use straights too often but I’m desperate to cast on something for these right now. I’m trying very hard to wait until I finish a couple of my WIPs, though. (And I was wrong yesterday. I don’t have six WIPs. I have eight. Oops.) Once I decided on these, I thought I’d pick up a couple of 12″ circular needles. But somehow I got distracted by the luxury yarns. I put back the Malabrigo and instead I bought my first skeins of Lorna’s Laces and Done Roving Frolicking Feet. This is going to be my very first Hitchhiker!! I can’t wait! I’ve been on this kick lately of wanting to make shawls, but little ones. Baby shawls. Shawlettes. This is going to be…something lovely. I don’t know what. Until I do know, it will be decoration in the yarn bowl in my living room so I can gaze upon it and pet it once in a while.

While I was there, I decided to pick up a set of shorter DPNs for the hat I’m currently knitting. I do enjoy having the shorter needles when it’s time to decrease for the crown. But I learned something VERY important: once should check her needle inventory BEFORE purchasing new needles. Yep, I already had a set of 6″ DPNs in that size. Sighhh. And my LYS doesn’t allow returns or exchanges on needles. Of course. Fortunately, I think my wonderful Knitting SIL is interested in buying them from me, and I’ll give her a bit of a discount since she’s doing me a favor too.

Speaking of that hat, it had to go in time-out last night. I worked on it a lot yesterday and got almost halfway done, and was apparently getting too cocky about not messing up the 18-row lace pattern. Because of course then I MESSED UP. I have an extra stitch and cannot for the life of me figure out where it came from. I’d like to just knit two together and move on, but because it’s a custom order, I’m going to tink back two rows and see how that works. And then I might actually put in a stupid lifeline. Stupid lace knitting. Don’t the puppies look all sweet and innocent? Yeah, they’re NOT. The last two mornings they’ve decided to wake us up before 5 a.m. and that’s not a lot of fun. But at least they haven’t destroyed anything lately (knock knock knock knock on wood).

One last thing: I know I’m always sharing good news about my talented girl musician, but for once I get to share about my talented BOY musician! He’s in sixth grade, playing the trombone for the first year, and he had his first solo contest over the weekend. And he got the highest rating, a 1! These kids boggle my mind. I have no idea how I got so lucky.

Mother’s Day Knitting

May11

Yes, yes, I know. I have six WIPs going right, including two that are paid commissions, and I have another order I need to start. But that didn’t stop me from casting on for a new project yesterday. Mother’s Day should be the epitome of selfish knitting time, right? I had some quiet time between brunch with the MIL and dinner with the mother, so I happily wound my newest splurge, the Baah Chocolate Cherries, and cast on for the perfect little shawlette.

I chose a pattern called Find a Penny mostly for the round eyelet border, but also because it’s smaller and relatively simple. I’d hate to get bored with this lovely yarn. So far, it’s going very quickly. I’ve already got over four inches and this yarn is heaven to knit with. It’s soft and supple, and the resulting fabric is so nice and squishy. And the color? Yummmm. It’s mostly the dark red but the chocolately undertones give it an intriguing richness. I’ll definitely be keeping this little beauty. I got another thrift store goodie the other day too. I only found one thing but I’m quite tickled with it. Yes, another bag. But here’s the kicker: I didn’t buy it for the bag. I bought for the handles. I’d probably pay $5-6 for these at Joann, but I got the bag for a whole 99 cents! Haha! Yay me!

Before I stop for the day, I have to show off what I got from the kids yesterday. I think I’ve mentioned they’re big Doctor Who fans, and they both love to draw. From the girl, I got this delightful card. This one is from the boy. Our heights aren’t exactly accurate, but I sure love thinking of myself as Wonder Woman! I have good kids. I think I’ll keep them. And I have good puppies too. We had company most of the day, including small humans that move quickly and make loud noises, and the puppies did so well! No barking or lunging, just some inappropriate sniffing and a bit of exuberant licking. I was rather proud of them. Oh! One last thing! I had another request to feature a photo on a pattern page on Ravelry! I confess, I get excited every time. It’s my Funky Cowl and you can see it here.

Making Stuff. Also, being smarter than the puppies.

May8

Guys, the bag I’m making for my sister is SO cool. I’m loving it and am totally going to make one for myself too. BUT. I still can’t show you, I’m so sorry. I’m about halfway through the knitting portion, then I have to find fabric and line it, then attach the handles. So it might be a little while still. In the meantime, the cotton/linen Juniper Farms Zooey yarn I ordered arrived yesterday and I’ve already cast on. This is a custom order from Etsy so I want to get it done promptly. I’m making the hat on the cover here.The pattern says to start with a cable cast on. I tried it. Didn’t like it. So I said the heck with it and went back to the long-tail cast on. It’s fine for hats, never had a problem with it. Stay tuned, this should be done in a couple of days.

Oh, and hey, here’s the scarf I finished a few days ago. I finally managed to snap a couple of photos yesterday. This is Oh, Helen! and I LOVE it! It’s as simple as can be. The slanted edge happens naturally with the pattern and it’s just so lightweight and airy. This is with pima cotton so it’s nice and soft too. I’m already in the process of making a light gray one too.

Besides knitting, I did a bit of rearranging yesterday. The puppies are kind of destroying the couch that sits in front of the big window. They love to lay on top and growl at the dogs and squirrels and people and cats and leaves. They love to bound through the house and LEAP onto the couch. So yeah, this couch has seen better days. But I’d like it to last another couple of years, so the girl and I moved things around.
It looks weird to me, and the couch is blocking the fireplace now, but we never use the fireplace and even if we did, it’s too warm now. The important thing is that the puppies are not abusing the couch now. Oh, they still jump on it and lay on top, but it’s a much lower level of activity. They’re not thrilled with the change.Their view is impaired now. They can’t see as well over the stone wall of the porch so it’s more difficult to maintain their guard dog duties. Ah well, we all have a cross to bear, right?

What I Can’t Show You

May5

I’ve got a lot of secret knitting going on. I’ve finished a baby present, but I can’t show you yet. I’m making good progress on my sister’s project bag, but I can’t show you that either. I frogged my light gray mesh scarf and restarted it with fewer stitches and bigger needles, but I don’t have enough knit to make it worth taking a photo. Lots of knitting, but no proof!

What I can share is that I pulled up my memoir manuscript the other day and started reading through it. I was pleasantly surprised: it’s much closer to being “done” than I remembered. I made it about halfway through and was really only making minor changes. The not so pleasant part: now I’m convinced it’s terrible and boring and no one could ever possibly find it interesting. The cycles of writing, right? I think I’ve just reached a point where I need to find an unbiased reader to tell me what’s working and what’s not. So I’ll plow through the second half and figure out where to go from there. All you other writers out there, where/how do you find a good beta reader or critique partner?

Until I figure that out, it’s back to the couch I go with my ~~little~~ big furry friends. I’ll do some proofreading, a bit of knitting. I’ve discovered Gilmore Girls, which I’ve never seen before, and I’m loving it. It’s fabulous knitting TV. The husband’s not a fan, though, so I’ll try to keep it to daytime bingeing. These two don’t complain!

Thank Goodness for Grandmas

May4

Not my grandmas, though. Mine both died when I was quite young, so I don’t remember them very well. And I don’t think either of them were knitting grandmas, either. No, I’m talking about benefiting from other people’s grandmas. When I first started knitting, my Crochet SIL shared some of the metal needles she’d inherited from her grandmother, and it was a wonderful way to start my collection. Then yesterday, a friend of mine is preparing to move and is cleaning out her stash, all needles and yarn she got from HER grandma that she doesn’t need. These weren’t free, but the price I paid was ~~ridiculously cheap~~ very fair. How lucky am I? I snatched up this collection of circular needles.I counted 20 circs in there, including 8 Clover bamboo and even one Knitter’s Pride Nova! The rest are vintage plastic (I’m guessing that’s what they are. Or resin??) and Bernat aluminum-nylon. Those I won’t use as often, but they’re there if I need them. Plus I got that nifty case! Maybe not the fabric I would have chosen, but I do appreciate functionality as well as appearance. With all these needles, only two were duplicates, and they’ll go to my Knitting SIL. She’ll also get these two skeins of sock yarn, which I don’t use. 10 BALLS of Rowan Biggy! Craziness! Hello, my new fall blanket project.And 10 balls of Berroco Chinchilla in this bright purple. I typically don’t care for the fuzzy, textured yarns like this; I find them hard to work with. But they are so soft, and this was purple! So now I have over 700 yards of it. What the heck am I going to make with it? Teddy bears? Chemo caps? I could knit it with another strand and make a wonderfully soft, dense blanket. Hmmm, that’s tempting.I didn’t get a bit of knitting done yesterday so that’s first on my agenda today. I did manage to make my homemade bitter apple spray. I used apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, and a touch of cayenne pepper. Then I coated my kitchen chairs with them, and we all turned up our noses at the horrible smell permeating our house for the day. And after I did that, my Knitting SIL came to borrow our kitchen table (long story) so the chairs will be put away for a while and I didn’t even need to spray them. Sigh. The puppies now have a little bedroom of their own.Of course, that’s only for nighttime. During the day, puppies must sleep where mom is, right?

Yarn Shop Day

May3

First, let me say this: sadly, I do not live in the UK. Here in the states, or at least in my neck of the woods, we don’t celebrate May 2nd as Yarn Shop Day. That’s a darn shame in my book. Around here, May 2nd is Free Comic Book Day. But the comic book store my husband and son wanted to go to just happens to be near two LYS, so I decided I would celebrate all by myself. As you will see, I should not be allowed to go yarn shopping alone. Restraint is not my strong suit. Here’s what I got at the first shop. This yummy purple Simpliworsted will be something for me, a cowl I think. I love this yarn, this is the only local store that carries it, and it was the only skein in this color. Fate!The white is for a slouchy hat for the girl, the gray is for….I don’t know. Something. I love gray. I love gray enough that I bought a pale silvery gray of this yarn and immediately wound it so it could go the baseball game with me last night. This will grow up to become a mesh scarf for me. I need something to wear when I do craft shows, and since I don’t wear hats, this neutral scarf should come in handy.

That first store didn’t take long. The yarn selection is a bit limited and I was the only customer, so I was out of that store within 20 minutes. The second yarn store was much better, and much busier. Lots, lots more yarn. More brands, more variety, and just more yarn! Shelves lining the store, reaching up above my head. Mmmm. Heavenly. I browsed for a quite a while, petting skeins here and there and pondering. I picked up three, then I found the winners and the first three went back on the shelf. Here’s what I couldn’t resist.
I have a bit of a Malabrigo obsession. This color is called Lettuce. Don’t you just want to eat it up? Yum! This will be a hat. I think Barley.

But that’s not the best thing. I splurged a bit. This might be my Mother’s Day present. I kept picking up these skeins that were so gorgeously rich and vivid, and each time I did, they were this brand called Baah, which makes hand-painted yarn. Yes, they’re as beautiful as you can imagine. But they’re also as pricey as you can imagine. I could resist, with a soft, wistful sigh…until I found this. You can’t really tell from this photo, but the colors are a bit darker, a true red with darker variations. It’s called Chocolate Cherries. My dad absolutely loved chocolate covered cherries, so of course this makes me think of him. I will have a scarf made from this, hopefully with a pretty lace pattern, maybe something with circles that evoke cherries? This will probably be the most expensive scarf I ever make but I will love it.

So that was Yarn Shop Day for me. I can’t wait to see what all my UK people got to do. Maybe when I grow up and open a yarn store, I’ll start a US Yarn Shop Day too!

The puppies are still being much like toddlers. They’re great one minute and monsters the next. This is what I got up to the other morning. Yep. Banana bowl bit the dust. And they got a nice snack of three bananas. All that was left was one slimy brown stem. This is why I can’t have nice things. But then they go and do something like this and I remember why I think they’re cute. Somehow Jack ended up on the wrong side of the gate. “Hey, uh, Grace, can you help me out here?” He tried to jump over and of course that didn’t work. So he just gave me his charming little puppy grin until I took pity on him. Silly dogs!

Today I’m going to try making my own batch of bitter apple spray to deter the monsters from completely destroying my kitchen chairs. Here’s hoping. And maybe some knitting? If I’m lucky!

Some Selfish Knitting

Apr29

Thanks to a doctor’s appointment and a grocery story trip, I didn’t have much knitting time yesterday. But with the time I did have, I worked on two projects for ME! They’re both ones that have been hanging around for a while, and I’m getting eager to wear them. One is my black and white chevron infinity scarf. I met a fellow crafter for coffee on Monday night, and took this with me. I thought it would be easy enough to knit while talking, but I didn’t do well. Last night I had to frog back about 10 rows to get rid of stupid mistakes. I was going to try to live with it…but, no. So now it’s back where it was and I’ve got the pattern set in my head again. I should have taken this super simple mesh scarf I’m making with some Pima cotton. It’s just a YO, k2tog repeat. Hard to mess up, though of course I have. It doesn’t look like much here, but blocking will work wonders, I think. This was my waiting room knitting.I worked a little bit on a bag commission too. This was my “sit outside with the puppies in the afternoon” knitting. This is the one that will mostly be a secret, but since this is just the bottom of the bag and it doesn’t look like much, I don’t think I’m giving anything away.I’m getting to the good part now, where I can start working the nifty pattern and where I’m working in the round. Maybe it’ll go quickly!

And the puppies. Oh, the puppies. Bit of backstory: we have a large patch of dirt in our backyard. We’re in the process of getting it prepped to lay sod, but until then, we have a lot of dust and dirt being tracked in the house. It’s a mess. Add that to two puppies who like to get on the kitchen table, and I’m washing a table every day. Plus the dirt and puppy paws are hard on the table. Easy solution, I thought. I went to Big Lots, bought a cheap vinyl tablecloth, problem solved. Right. Here’s my tablecloth after the doctor appointment. Jack says it’s not HIS fault.And I tend to believe him. It’s this one who’s the troublemaker, and she was on a roll yesterday. Ate the plastic pulls off the kitchen window blinds, ate a long plastic straw out of the dish drainer, tried to eat the hose and sprinklers in the back yard (multiple times), dig dig dig in the peat moss and dirt, ate the hostas…sigh. Alex and I finally took them for a long walk after dinner and it was a good thing, because only then could I remember why I wanted puppies. They’re so much nicer when they’re calm and cuddly. So fine. I’ll try to walk some silly puppies today.