what's been developing

First up, Daddy-B's new socks, as modeled by me. :)

Followed by the first serious felting job I've ever done, a little tote for my Mom:

And finally, my latest Etsy sale, the sunny day quilt. I love this quilt!

Other than that, I have two pair of socks on the needles, Sissy's Baptism dress (of course), and a new shawl from the sweet new yarn my mom bought me.

on a roll

So I have a couple new quilts to show you and a finished baby Snuggly Bubbly sweater in pastel pink. But I haven't uploaded all the pictures yet!

I am visiting my parents at the lake right now, and foolishly thought that one knitting project alone was going to keep me occupied for the week. Like that has EVER happened. So here I am, 6 on Wednesday morning, without a scrap of fabric to quilt or row of knitting to work on. And of course, no yarn shops are open at this hour. Though it seems to me that LYS's should have the same hours as bars. I can't be the only person who has ever had a late-night craving for yarn.

At any rate, due to the hour and the lack of projects to busy my fingers, I thought I'd do an actual blog entry.

With my big brother sweater and accompanying baby sweater complete, I have one more "need to finish" left on my due date list... a white knitted Baptism gown. I have about 64 days remaining before Sissy is due to arrive. And I have a feeling that, unlike last time, I will not have all that down time during naps and nursing to work on any serious project.

I also have to start thinking past due date and forward to Christmas crafting. I am planning to make the ice cream cozy for my mom, finish up a pair of socks for Daddy-B, make a tailgate quilt for my sister, perhaps some new felt pillows for my brother-in-law, and then I need to dream up some other craft projects for the in-laws, lil' b and Sissy. Any suggestions? I am thinking perhaps an Itty Bitty Baby hat for Sissy, and I saw a pretty wicked fish hat pattern that lil' b might love. But the in-laws. Hmmm. Maybe I could make some felt pillows for them as well, they seem to enjoy pillows. I also have a lovely pair of twining vines socks on the needles that I could gift to my mother-in-law, but I so love them for myself!

And now, on to something I haven't had time for in months... reading my favorite blogs!!

stitching away

This is the second etsy purchase I've completed so far! (about 15th sold, but second through Etsy) She wanted a quilt that looked similar to one I'd already done, so this is what I came up with. I also finished this top:

Not sure if I want to complete a quilt and try to sell a completed one, or see if someone wants to choose the border/backing, or keep it for the new baby...

Updates in babyland: We are now just about 26 weeks along, and found out that we are expecting a little GIRL this time! So we will have one of each. :) So far, we are telling everyone that her name is going to be Consuela Juanita Maria. And yes, I'm kidding.

I'm almost finished with lil' b's big brother sweater, too, I can't wait to see it finished and to share it on here! I have two pairs of socks still on the needles, a Baptism dress waiting in the wings, and the start of another quilt and a little sister sweater. Lots going on!

*** ETA: I have to make a note to add THIS to my Christmas knitting.

going bananas

As promised, here are the pictures of my cousin-in-law's baby quilt. I was originally thinking the very unoriginal Noah's Ark (she's very religious) but when I saw this blue monkey flannel my resolve began to crumble...
And then I found cotton monkey fabric AND banana fabric, and I gave in to temptation. It's easier to see if you open the full picture, but yes, we have bananas.

She's having a little boy, and I thought this made a perfect baby boy blankie. She loved it, too, which makes everything worthwhile. Now I am working on a crochet blanket that has been a resting WIP for over a year. Any guesses? I also have two pairs of socks on the needles, and a plan to make my very first sweater. Updates to come!

a little holiday cheer

Would you like to see this year's wine batch? Here it is, wrapped up in a wintery wine cozy that I sewed up as a gift bag.And here it is, showing off one of the three wine tasting sets I made as gifts for my tasting party friends. If you haven't had a wine tasting party, the idea behind these bags is to conceal the label for blind tasting. Each bag has a different lettered label for scoring. This black bag is the example from my sister's gift set.
And here is the gorgeous label my designer friend worked up for us. This year's wine was a Riesling, which we named Liquid Mistletoe.
For Christmas I was lucky enough to get a gift certificate to a LYS near my parents' house, so I've been plotting my purchases. So far I bought two skeins of Plymouth Yarns Encore D.K. in a lovely tan to make some socks (hopefully for Daddy-B, but we'll see). It's my first time knitting socks with a pattern of interest instead of letting the striping do the work. I also bought a Ella Rae Women and Children sweater pattern book, I just need to choose a yarn and decide on a pattern.

some winter knits

So I made some socks.The color isn't exactly me, but since my mom picked out the yarn, these will be a Christmas gift for her. I think she'll love them. Then I had some extra yarn and made these, based on PSSO's blog and a suggestion from Chel.


Daddy-B wasn't too fond of the pink for lil' b though, so I also made these:

We wound up giving the pinkish mittens to the only little girl among my friends' children. Besides, lil' b was so ready to be rid of them once he tried the blue stripey ones on. :)

Hopefully I'll have some sewing projects to post soon. I have a bunch of lounge pants done, and for some reason, no pictures yet. I'll get some soon, I promise.

no more laddering

Hooray! Second pair of socks is complete! And I am so much happier with them this time.

This yarn is wonderful. Regia in Partie. It's really a fun yarn to work with. Although I did have to baby powder my hands a few times to keep it from sticking on the needles. But the colors are so rich, and the self-striping pattern is just long enough to make a discernable repetition tough to find.

The heel is a lot tighter this time and I figured out how to eliminate the laddering issues I had last time. Probably everyone else knows this, but apparently when you work with dpns in the round, if you keep the incoming needle on top of the previous needle, it automatically tightens your first stitch--thus, no more laddering. But I just figured it out this time, and now I am even more in love with sock making than before. I think it may be time to venture off my tried and true k3, p3 pattern and try something a little more daring.

Of course, I thought I'd try using up some random white sock yarn that I have in my stash first with a pair of ankle socks for lil' b. So that's well underway. And it sounds like I will have another crochet blanket on deck soon, which is exciting. I haven't crocheted a blanket since... well, since I discovered quilting. So it'll be refreshing to pick up the hook again.

giraffes

This is the blanket that got away from me before I took pictures. Luckily, the recipient was kind enough to take these pictures and send them to me. The nursery is a gender-neutral yellow with giraffes. So the blanket is a gender-neutral yellow with giraffes.

Here is the front:

That's six tiny giraffes sewn on and plushed up in the Trapunto style. Hey, I never realized how a human model might help to show the size before! That's neat!

Here's the back...
The back is a solid fabric backing (yellow with polka dots) but I added a large soft giraffe applique to give it some interest. I really like the way this turned out.

In addition to this FO, I also had two more not worth photographing... very basic (yet very time-consuming) pillows for our couch. We've decided we hate the existing couch pillows (way too big and all misshapen from el poocho lounging on them) so we're outfitting our tan couch set with red and yellow pillows to match our drapes. That's an ongoing process, though I might take a photo or two once the transformation is complete.

And of course, socks. Delicious, lovely socks. Did I mention how much I love socks?

knit wins

Which crafter among you thought that knitting would win out?

At least I have finished socks to show off now!

You can see the heel is a bit loose. I wonder if I should shrink up the number of rows in the heel flap next time...

But I love them, they are mine, they are wonderful! And I've already begun my next pair. Much brighter yarn this time.

Now a question for experienced sock makers... How do I wash these without stretching them out? And what are those cool wooden things you can slip inside them? What do they do?

nap or knit?

I can never decide.

I just put lil' b down for his nap and fell asleep on the floor next to his crib. Of course I woke up, but I had been hoping to knit during his nap... I'm really making progress on the second sock (I can't WAIT to wear these things! ACK!) but if I'm tired enough to pass out on his floor, maybe I should be sleeping... and I REALLY shouldn't be blogging.

How do you decide what to do with your "free" time? I feel like all the blogs I visit crank through projects much faster than I do. Is this because I'm a slow knitter or because you people don't sleep? When do you get your knitting done? Do you knit while your kids play? Do you carry your knitting with you to the playground? I knit while lil' b and I watch movies (far too often for my taste) and while I watch TV in the evenings after he goes to sleep (which is only about an hour, before I go to sleep). Sometimes I knit during his nap, but I have a filthy house when I do that. Often, I have knit rather than eat lunch.

There are simply not enough hours, and I do not have enough hands. And I really want to finish these socks!

so easy being green

A finished object! This is a gift for a good friend of mine who is expecting her first. They don't know if they are having a boy or a girl, but they are fellow Spartans, so I figured green and white would be a safe bet. :)

I'm about to start up my final quilt (for the time being). It's hard to believe I may actually get a break in all the baby-ness. Finally a moment to complete my socks! Let's hope!

addiction

Hi, my name is Mamacita, and I'm a craftaholic.

So I finished and delivered the pink checkered blanket today, two days ahead of schedule. I didn't take any pictures, but it looks just like this one that I did earlier this year.

No sooner did I pop the blanket in the washer then I immediately set to work cutting the quilt blocks for the little boy blanket. By the time Daddy-B got home from work on Friday, I'd had the completed checker blanket folded and ready with my laptop case for Monday and I was kneeling on the floor arranging fabric squares. He just shook his head.

We stayed up to watch that tragedy of a basketball game Friday night, during which Daddy-B had the audacity to ask me not to use my sewing machine so he could hear the TV. I sat still on the couch, hands empty, for maybe forty seconds, before digging out my sock project tote. Again, he shakes his head.

By Sunday afternoon, the quilt was almost complete. By this point I was sitting on the couch with the sewing machine humming along (haha, I accidently typed sexing machine... I wonder if that's a Freudian slip?), stash to my left, sock tote to my right, and wondering aloud which project I should pack for my upcoming flight, and Daddy-B finally confronts me with it.

"Babe, I think you have a problem."

Me?

I didn't know that crafting could be an addiction. But alas:

Definition:

[n] an abnormally strong craving
[n] being abnormally tolerant to and dependent on something that is psychologically or physically habit-forming (especially alcohol or narcotic drugs)

sock it to me

A finished sock! A finished sock!

Pardon my white, white skin... Lack of sunlight. :) But isn't the sock cool?

The wool is OnLine Supersocke 100 in Sierra. It's a really simple pattern, just a k3,p3 ribbing. I didn't want to complicate things, since it was my first sock. Cast on 4 size 2 dpn.

Yay! Now to complete the second one...

quilts

Two completed projects in one!

A friend of mine, who hopefully does not check this blog, is expecting twins. Her nursery colors are yellow, brown, and white. So I made her these two baby quilts for her upcoming shower.

An interesting thing about this is that Daddy-B got involved. He's far pickier than I am, and he had all kinds of opinions about what fabrics I should use. Finally, I told him he could pick out and design the top of one of the quilts if he'd leave me alone to do what I wanted with the other. We decided that the backing would be the same, to ensure that the two went well together, but this way, each blanket was unique.

This is my blanket, traditional checks with quilting in the ditch:


Here's a closer look so you can see what the quilting pattern looked like:

And this is Daddy-B's. He chose the colors and the design, but I decided on the quilting pattern. I thought diagonals meeting in the center worked best.

A closer look at the quilting pattern:

Final size is about 34" x 34".

These were such fun to work on, and my first experience with quilting. It took two weeks to complete them both, which is a heck of a lot faster than crocheting, which was my original plan.

The fabric is 100% cotton novelty fabric, with a low-loft poly batting, self-binding seam. Huge props to Quilting for Dummies, that book was a big help.

I was inspired to try making these because a friend of mine made a small quilt for lil' b, and he loves it. I'm hooked now. I think a lot of my expectant friends will be getting quilts.

There is still a pink and white checked blanket on the hook, and a sock on the needles. But it is a huge relief to have these two blankets out of the way. Hopefully the projects will be coming a bit more fast and furious now.

ripp-it, ripp-it

There are frogs on this blog today. Because I just ripped out almost an entire sock. It was sort of sad, a little frustrating, but I'm actually pretty optimistic about it.

As my first sock attempt, it was looking good, but I really was deluding myself that it would be wearable (and that I'd like it enough to finish the pair) but I chugged along. Ignored the warning signs.... seems a bit big, a bit loose, not too keen on that laddering happening there... don't really dig the way the pattern works with the self-stripe of the yarn. And then it happened.

I tried it on. Still ignoring the size. And it stretched a good 9 inches up my calf, and was almost complete through the foot. In doing so, I dropped three stitches and unraveled back two or three rows on them. Since I don't know how to pick up dropped stitches with anything resembling good craftsmanship, I decided it was a sign. This sock was not meant to be... it was a starter sock, a good chance to try out heel flap and heel turn techniques. I frogged the whole thing.

And now I'm excited again. Because now I can fix those mistakes. With each frog of this sock, I am perfecting my technique. And I will finally, someday, get a beautiful pair of socks that I can wear with pride and show off to friends. And people will say, you made these? They're AWESOME. Were they hard to do? And I'll smile and say, oh no, super easy once you get the hang of it.

a warm and wooly holiday

A Homespun hat with a pom for Mom:

Another hat for Mom, this one a night cap, formerly a sweater. Gotta love recycled yarn!

And finally, my glorious new stash of sock yarn. Deee-licious!

here we go, a-lys-ing

Black Friday sure highlighted the differences between my mother and I. We did two very different things on Friday. For Mom, we went to look at jewelry. For me, we went to a LYS.

We started at JoAnn's and Borders. You see, I've decided that I want to learn to make socks. So we had to find a pattern book, and we had to find the yarn and needles. JoAnn's had neither. At Borders we found a good beginner book of sock patterns, but it's not like they sell needles or yarn, now do they?

I had to explain to Mom that not every pattern calls for acrylic worsted weight, socks in particular. I took her to Ewe-Nique Yarns and showed her the sock yarns there. They had a bunch, along with some pre-made socks on display to show the variegation and self-striping in action. The woman working there helped me to pick out good needles and let me know I could come in at any time for a tutorial. It's the first time I've ever made a purchase at a LYS, or ever bought natural fiber yarns. I can see it will become an addiction.

Then we got back in the car to head out and look at jewelry. Jewelry is my Mom's obsession. She's a collector, a connoisseur, and an admirer. On our way there, we discussed the LYS.

"They had lovely things! Why would you buy your yarn anywhere else?" She asked.

I explained it thus:
Say you are in the mood for chocolate. No, not in the mood... you are craving it, and can't stop thinking about it. You'd love to have a good piece of Lindt, but all you have is 65 cents, which is the exact price the vending machine charges for a Hershey bar. Do you buy the Hershey bar to satisfy your craving, or go without chocolate because you will only tolerate the best? In my case, I buy the cheap yarns because otherwise I can't craft. The desire to work yarn in my hands is stronger than the desire to buy high quality yarn. (Plus, some things are just better in acrylic - baby blankets for example, benefit from the softness and durability of acrylic fibers)

Then I tried to put it in Mom terms:
You want a new pair of earrings. A gorgeous pair of diamond studs is what you have in mind, but you can only afford a cheaper pair of zirc's. If your jewelry lust is stronger than your desire for fine things, you buy the zirc's. Because otherwise, you don't get any earrings at all.

"I think I would hold out for the diamonds."

"Of course you would, Mom. Of course you would."