NORMAN!!!!

My 2nd favorite relative (John has spot 1) was visiting a friend down the shore in NJ and made a quick visit to my mom's house to see Christopher.  (Dang it, I had to work and couldn't get a long lunch, boo..) So that's Norman (real name Bill - don't ask) his wife Marian (they have the same birthday, were born in towns with the same name but in different states- how weird is that?) my mom and Christopher.

Christopher's Easter Bunny

Might I add he spent much of Easter carrying it around and playing with it... I only hope I stitched the neck up enough, he seems to want to carry it by the head!

(love my pompom maker - how cute is that tail?)

 

John was in NJ for a couple days!

The Angie and her Uncle John

John with Anna and a squirmy Christopher

As we've gotten over 40 we look less alike..

Christopher

Finished a Kitty...Scoreboard KAL

I finished a kitty.  She's going with "Countdown to Halloween"  for Christopher.  I want to make some of the things she counts in the book to give him as well. 

There  is a KAL (Knit A Long) getting ready to start.  It's being promoted by Skacel (a yarn manufacturer) via LYSs (Local Yarn Stores)  The premise behind the KAL is you choose your football team ( NFL, college or some are doing High School)  You get yarn in the team colors, one color is for home team points, the other color is for the opponent's points  and if you go with a third color it is the break between the games.

No surprise, I'm going with the 49ers.  The way it works is as the game goes by and the points are scored you knit the appropriate number of rows ( I think it's a tube, I haven't seen the actual pattern yet) So if the 49ers score a TD with extra points it will be 7 rows of red. If Dallas answers with a FG it will be 3 rows of gold.  Black will be the game break.  At the end of the season, the two ends get grafted together, and you have a scarf that is a record of the season.

I had a lot of trouble finding a nice gold (not yellow - wouldn't want people thinking I root for the Redskins) yarn.  I tried the Hikoo that the KAL intended but couldn't find both colors.  Finally I ordered from FiberWild in Illinois.  They were out of the red, but it was coming in. I'm using black for the game break color.  I got my order in - and they even sent me a KAL drawstring bag!! 

Stinky Fish Hat

This hat was for a Nerdopolis entry- the challenge being myth or folk tale.  It was inspired by Fionn MacCool and the Salmon of Wisdom.  Or rather by my friend's son's Irish Myths and Legends book, and my love of teasing my friends about their "Irishness".  I did the crochet version, because currently the knit version would take more than a month to complete. (Nerdopolis rules - you can enter something you started before the month started, but have to enter it during the appropriate month, and I didn't know about this legend until mid-July) 

I made it to fit a child's head, I'm planning on giving it to Christopher, and it was just a tad too small to fit on my glass head.  So it's kind of weird shaped as I stuck it on a wax lumiere (candle inside wasn't lit) to take the pictures.  Now I need to find a book about fish to give him with this. 

 
 

Giraffes Should Dance!!

I finished something!!  I have been working on a series of gifts for my nephew, that comprise a board book and a stuffie that goes with it.  I did an owl, fox for Fox with Socks, and now a giraffe for Giraffes Can't Dance. My sister doesn't want him "ruining books"  so I want him to have some he can truly enjoy and hopefully develop a love of books despite her.

Here's the giraffe checking out the garden:

Body done

So the body is done on Christopher's Benjamin pullover.  Good thing I'm making a bigger size - at 10 minutes of knitting at a time I got an inch and a half of sleeve done last night. 

Foxy

I got 50 yards of Fun for myself and a copy as a gift for Grace.  Her copy has yet to be unpacked so she asked to borrow mine.  I was looking for a stuffed fox pattern to go with the Dr Suess Fox in Socks board book I have for Christopher.  So I went with Flyspeck Fox.  I really don't like the pick up Danger uses, it was awkward to do, especially since the needles used are a few sizes small to start with.  I do see how structurally it may be better than pick up and knit, but royal pain in the ass to execute (maybe more so because of my nails)  If I make any of the other patterns, I will be doing this before I do the stuffing.

Little Owl's Night

I'm somewhat concerned about my nephew - and the fact that he keeps being read the same books, so much that his mom knows them by heart and they don't use the actual book!! While I am all for telling kids stories, I think it is important to actually read to them from the book.  The Angie learned to recognize certain words because as we read, we would point at the words in the book.  I'm not saying I never screwed up raising her - but she did turn out well imho. 

Anyway I bought several board books, and am making stuffed knit/crochet versions of the starring animals to give him.  I started by using a tried and true (can't tell you how many owls I've made with this pattern already) Pattern with bigger needles and three strands of yarn held together.  I then cut circles from off white felt ( didn't have any white apparently) and the biggest non bulgy frog safety eyes I had.

I did my best embroidering the beak - can't say that's a craft I do well at all!!

I am now working on a Giraffe to go with a book about Giraffes can't dance.  Right now he's a worm with eyes.  I've done the head, body and ears - I'm working on his legs now, then his horns, mane and tale.  Then I will be doing a fox for Fox in Socks.   
 

Surprised my mom

Surprised my mom, since I didn't get to see her yesterday. We showed up with a large pizza (pepperoni, mushroom, peppers her favorite) the rainbow connection shawl I made her for mother's day (these things I make her get the other church ladies jealous) but she needs it because her favorite pew is near the AC vent.  I got Christopher a book and made him a toy to match.

As usual he spent the first hour crying. He really needs to get socialized. But then later when Curt was putting the straw we gave her (I needed some for my containers and the smallest bale was way too big) she likes using it in her garden, he was walking with me, we went down to the corner and down another block. He was soooo happy, he didn't care that he really doesn't know me well or that he couldn't see the yard he was used to our my mom. He listened well when I told him he couldn't cross the grass next to the sidewalk toward the street. But when my mom came around the corner and called his name he didn't respond at all.

I worry about this kid.

Looking Back

It was suggested recently, that since I did go through a long blogging dry spell, but not a crafting dry spell, that I should occasionally post pictures of past finished objects.  Since the sock I finished yesterday at breakfast with Grace is still in my car and it's drizzling (as much as I love snow and thunderstorms - I turn into a cat with cold rain... let's not even discuss how grouchy I get when my feet get wet!) Here are two items from the recent unblogged past. 

My Dreambird shawl.  Love this shawl- perfect colors for me, I wore it a lot over the holidays.  A lot of people making this shawl did variegated yarn (color changing) for the feathers with a more solid background - I went in the reverse.

The second one took about three months to make - and believe it or not the back which is plain except for the roadway at the waist took longer - because it was somewhat boring to knit a plain grey rectangle.. I gave it to Christopher for Christmas.

 

Knitting...

I haven't actually finished anything yet this month. Had some startitis issues.  I started an "F" bomb, a Shamrock Charm necklace - no pictures of these yet - the necklace needs to be finished for Tuesday obviously..  I haven't touched my vest since seaming the shoulders - I need to pick that up soon if I want to be done for Easter.



I did finish one of my Bow Knot Ankle Socks and started the second.



I started the left sleeve of my Sleeves.



I started a Hexagon Afghan with yarn leftover from my various projects for my nephew, Christopher.  Some of them are almost full rolls - but most aren't something I'd use for other things.  Of course, Miss Can't Follow Directions, screwed it up already.  I did hexagon 1, then hexagon 2, then I attached on the wrong side so am doing hexagon 7... sigh, It's very fixable though. The hexagons are connected with picked up stitches during the cast on, so they are knit together - no seaming needed (that's what drew me to the pattern)  I'm not using a self striping yarn like the pattern calls for - so at random points I'll switch colors to make "bullseyes"  and I'm (so far) weaving in ends as I go. 

Perfect Knitting?

 

Christopher's Prescott Vest

Last week at breakfast, Grace brought up an interesting topic, and it's a conversation that I've had with more than a few of my Ravelry friends as well.   Here's how it goes:  You see a knitted item (could be a sweater, a shawl, socks, a toy, but we'll use sweater in this example)  You really, really want to make that item.  You look at the materials list.  The yarn for that amazing sweater is going to cost you $200+ !! That's eight hanks of hand dyed sock yarn!!!  (hand dyed sock yarn is my personal weakness... fortunately my favorite weight of yarn to knit with, but really since my catphew lives almost 2 hours away, I pet my sock yarn instead) That's a lot of money for yarn for just one project.  Sometimes it can be justified, a knitter I know knit a full length swirly duster coat from Dream in Color's Starry in winter white with clear, silver lined white and pearl white beads, to wear over her wedding dress (it was a Vermont winter month wedding) Or what I think about - how often will I wear/use this?  If it's a cardigan I'll wear 4 times a week all  winter and it's style is classic enough I know I'll wear it for a lot of winters the cost per wear goes down.  ( I justify  a lot of things via cost per use) 

My Moustache Cowl

Realistically though, what a lot of knitters do, because we aren't independently wealthy and have developed a habit of eating occasionally, and we like not living in a tent (where would you keep your yarn if you lived in a tent???) is we look at other more economically priced yarns.  Now, unless you want to do a shit ton of maths (I love math, but not in terms of converting an entire pattern) the most important thing to look at in a substitute yarn is the gauge.  You want a yarn that knits up at the same number of stitches per inch.  You can finagle this a little bit by changing up your needle size - but if you stray too far one way or the other you will totally change the fabric, making it too loose or too tight.  

The trouble with just looking at the yarn gauge, is there are a lot of other factors.  The twist of the plies, the sheen, the halo, the type of fiber - all these affect how the finished project comes out.  There is also how you knit.  Some people knit so evenly the stitches could be machine made.  Some people knit a little lumpier.  My stockinette stitch has a texture  to it because when I taught myself to knit, my yarn gets wrapped under the needle when I purl instead of over it. It took me a long number of years to figure out WHY my purls twisted, and then I decided I liked the more textured stockinette anyway.  And finishing techniques.  You can be sure the finishers that work for Vogue are perfect at the seams they make, never a buckle or a gap anywhere.  ( I personally despise seaming... ok hate weaving in ends more, but ugh) 

Blocking skills also come into play.  Not just how well you block, but what type of blocking you use.  There's wet blocking, steam locking, mist blocking - all affect the yarn finish look.  Different yarns and stitch patterns respond differently to the different types of blocking, yet the magazines never seem to mention how it was blocked.

So with all this - is it any wonder that our projects don't look exactly like the picture in the magazine??  (not even touching on lighting, computer editing of the photos after they are shot etc)

These discrepancies normally don't bother me.  I rarely want exactly what's in the picture, I usually have a different yarn in mind,  I hate haloed yarn - it just seems too fuzzy.  Even then, I don't always end up with the picture that was in my mind.  I think that's why it's easier to cast on a bunch of projects than finish them.  When you cast on - perfect is still possible, finishing is admitting it isn't perfect.   I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to knitting.  I'm a I'm happy with it, if I'm not- I'll give it away.  I think this is why some knitters also are afraid to try new techniques.  A knitter I work with will do phenomenal lace work, has never knit a single cable - because it looks hard!!!!!!   It took a really good friend of mine (yes you!) a really really long time to try DPNs.  Now she makes a ton of toys.

My only suggestion??? Knit what makes you happy, be happy with what you knit.  Don't try to duplicate another project - if the person who knit it made two they probably wouldn't be identical either.  And as much as I hate to admit it - when in doubt swatch.  One of the best things I gained from NerdWars is that you had to submit a swatch with your dissertation proposals.  While I am convinced swatches lie - especially about gauge, if you swatch and block you can get a better feel for how the final fabric will turn out.  Do I do this?  Mostly NO.  But, these things don't bother me, I'm just trying to understand why others get so bothered.  

My two pictures above show a successful and a not so successful substitution.  I knit Christopher's vest in Knit Picks Brava, don't trust his mom with anything not seriously machine washable.  Here's the pattern picture. I actually like how my yarn choice shows off the stitches better.  (granted both yarns from same manufacturer and approximately the same price)

My moustache cowl was a different story.  I used Cascade 220 fingering.  it's the first time I used this yarn in a fingering weight.  Cascade 220 is a workhorse yarn , great color selection, blocks well, felts well (if you don't accidentally get the superwash)  I've made a lot of projects with it - and loved it.  So I felt very confident when I decided to substitute the 220 fingering for my cowl.  I hated working with this yarn!!  SO much that I haven't worn the cowl! I even did a small swatch since learning double knitting was my dissertation theme last spring.  The brown yarn seemed thinner and more twisted than the cream yarn, so there were tiny gaps- that didn't block out. I may try reblocking it now that I have a steamer to see if that helps.  Here's the pattern picture - much smoother, even taller..

   

Christopher's Baptism.

The Angie is Christopher's Godmother (God help him!)