Back to "School"

this morning I enrolled in an online craft class put on by Elsie, creator of my favorite embroidery patterns! It is an eight-week class and by the end we'll finish 30 projects! Thankfully, the instructions and class outlines will be available oneline for a year, since I am still very busy being Leila's Mom and Wesley's Wife every day, so I'm not sure if I could get everything done in the eight weeks. However, I have so missed being crafty and now that I am getting some energy back (recovered from giving birth and regularly getting 6-7 hours of sleep at night) these projects will give me motivation and inspiration to make some cute projects and get back into the swing of creativity. I am so excited!

back again!

lots of changes since February ... and lots of UFOs too ... after Lola's jumper I started a Dale of Norway hat for the baby, but had trouble reading the pattern and in the crankiness of my pregnancy, didn't really have the patience to figure out what exactly went wrong. Same with my other projects ... but now baby Leila is here AND we've moved into a new house with lots of rooms to decorate and projects to work on! The nursery is painted green and mostly finished except for curtains. I also want to make a bed skirt for the crib so we can store still-too-big clothes in spacebags underneath. But my main focus now is for the guest room ... we just painted an accent wall in that room "Fairy Tale Blue" and the bedspread is Nautica's Huntington pattern. A while back I bought elsiecake's Wonderland craft kit and plan to use that as inspiration ... there are a few cute prints that I'll put on the wall and also scraps to make a great collage. Pictures to come as I make progress! Warren and Jasmine are coming to stay with us in a few weeks, so I have some good motivation to get it done!

Eventually, I'll get back to knitting, but it's too hot to really think about yarn at this point anyway :)

how the blanket came to be

A few months ago, Grandma mentioned that she was ready for a new project and may want to pick up knitting again. I had seen this blanket pattern on Knit & Tonic, and suggested it to her since it was pretty simple knitting for the body of the blanket and then crochet edging. However, it had been so long since Grandma picked up knitting needles that even the simple decreases to create the "seam" up the middle of each square seemed difficult, however, the triple crochet edging (foreign to me!) sounded interesting, so I said that I would work on the body of the blanket (I cast on 10 extra stitches per square and also used size 8 needles to make this a little larger for a non-premie baby) and then pass it along to Grandma to finish the edging. I decided I would keep this blanket for myself to use whenever I have babies someday ... I liked the idea of having something that Grandma and I worked on together. Even though she helped me talk me through through lots of difficult patterns and stitches, I don't have anything that both she and I stiched on together.
Sadly, Grandma started failing before I could get my part completed. I don't know how to crochet more than the most basic of beginning steps and I don't feel right asking someone else to complete it for me, so the blanket will remain as it is now. And in July, Wes and I will welcome our firstborn home in this blanket and know that Grandma is loving her greatgrandbaby from heaven.

Baby Otis

My old college roommate and running partner, Tia, is having a baby next month! They aren't finding out if it's a boy or a girl, but the nursery is jungle-themed so for the shower a couple weeks ago I made some generic animal onesies and wrapped them up with bibs from her registery and some all-purpose pads to look like a sushi roll ... something Tia's had to do without over the course of her pregnancy and I know she misses it!! I got the sushi idea from etsy a while ago and hung onto it since I knew I could make it for Tia myself with homemade goodies :)

Charlotte Rose

my boss, Christie, had a little girl in October named Charlotte Rose so I used my new Alice in Wonderland-themed embroidery patterns to make her a onesie with a rose theme ... The front has "painting the roses red" and the back has a rose on the butt, like Lola's pirate :)

I also made an Alice tank for Charlotte's big sister, Kate:
with Alice and the Cheshire Cat on the front and a "bread & butterfly" on the back"

Lola Pearl Murphy

when my friend Heather said she was pregnant with a little girl, I knew exactly what I wanted to make for her ... anything with pirates on it!! :) Since I am totally in love with all things elsiecake, I first went to work on embroidering a onesie with a cute skull on the lower back, because I knew Lola would be sassy.

next I revisited a favorite pattern (Taylor's Jumper!) and altered it a bit to be 100% pink with just one skull pocket. I took the skull pattern from a patch in Son of Stitch 'N Bitch and it fit perfectly! The buttons also have skulls on them - I found them at The Treasure Hunt in Carpinteria!

I know Heather will love it ... what do you expect from someone who throws a Dia De Los Muertos baby shower?? :)

Never Neverland

A little more embroidery to show off. These Neverland patterns are from elsiecake on etsy. I love the towel to show all the different Neverland aspects and will be using the pirates on baby stuff for Lola too. I just started on Wonderland (like Alice in...) embroidery this weekend and will share pictures when I have more to show. For now, here is a little more detail on Neverland.

embroidery!

been spending more time embroidering than knitting recently ... shown here is a towel I stitched using "Krazy Kitchen" from sublime stitching, which has been my favorite place to find embroidery patterns for a long time. However, I recently discovered elsiecake on etsy, and might have a new favorite!! I am currently working on a neverland-themed towel and plan to use the same patterns on some items for soon-to-be-here baby Lola Pearl Murphy!! I also recently purchased alice in wonderland-themed patterns and can't wait to get to work on those!! thanks to Monday Night Football, I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot more crafting/knitting/embroidering now, and I'm so excited!!! :)
so anyway, about this kitchen towel: the two spoons are on opposite corners on one side and along the opposite edge is a row of all the other kitchen appliances ... there were too many to show in one long picture. but i think it turned out really cute and I am so proud of the french knots on the stand mixer!! a new first for me!! after embroidering so much for other people, I am glad to have some embroidery that I can use in my own kitchen! after I finish the neverland towel, I will get back to work on presents for others, but I have to admit I am enjoying this little bit of selfishness ...

Taylor, part 2

Wes and I took a little road trip to AZ last weekend. I was so excited about all that time in the car for some knitting, I started a new project for Miss Taylor. The adorable Girl's Skinny Tank by Wendy Bernard from Blue Sky Alpaca. I thought I could finish it all in the car on the way out there, ha ha ha ... forgot about how long it takes me to cast on (hours, apparently) and dinner breaks (greasy fingers aren't good for knitting) and the inevitable darkness that comes when you drive from LA to Arizona and don't leave LA until after 4pm. But I got a good start and made really good progress on the way home (actually stopping for dinner and being able to wash my hands after makes all the difference!) and now I am just about finished on this cute thing. It does call for an i-cord bind off which I haven't ever done before, so I am excited about the chance to learn something new!
Also, as a bonus, I am making the tank in navy blue, which I bought new, but for the stripes I am using the leftover sky blue and magenta from Taylor's jumper! so cute!!

awake

so Wes has been in his new position of DETECTIVE for a few months now and I have gotten used to having him around at night and on the weekends and looooove it! I love it so much that I forget he is on call 24 hours a day, which means when something goes down in Carp. at 3 in the morning, he gets a call and has to report ASAP ... which is what happened today. and of course now I can't get back to sleep - so I have a little unexpected time to work on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. I have been working on it more this week and I am really enjoying it after a little break. Of course, I would not trade in time with my husband for more knitting time, but I am glad to have something to fill the time without him, even if I should be asleep!
but this seems like an appropriate time to recommend Power of A Praying Wife by Stormie Omartian. When Wes was on night shift, I'd read a chapter a night in the chronological order in which they were written. Now, I flip right to the chapter that I think Wes needs the most at the time. Today's chapter: Protection.

Picking it back up

Though im making good progress on the front of flutter sleeve, as i packed for a quick trip to vegas to visit our fulfillment center i decided i needed something smaller to stick in my carryon. Reintroducing clessidra! Havent worked this pattern in 7 months or more but it is coming back pretty easily. I think i just needed a break from the details but now i am enjoying it

Distractions and Progress

it's been a long month without knitting around here ... first I was distracted by crochet ... then a trip that despite being a passenger on train, plane and car (the latter for over 24 hours of awake time), produced no stitches ... then this weekend Wes and I got a Wii!! however, tonight in front of TRIPLE overtime in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (go Pens!) I pulled out the Flutter-Sleeve Cardigan and got to work.
I haven't been able to figure out what went wrong on the back ... if it was my misinterpreting the pattern as I tried to make short-row shoulders, or if I just miscounted the rows, but I threaded in a lifeline and started ripping out the last few inches and of course, didn't thread very evenly so this frogging will take more work than I thought.
Instead of getting discouraged, I just left the back on the lifeline and cast on for the first front half!! so far so good there :) I'm going to try and solve the back problem before I get to the shoulders on the front so I can decide to try short-rows, or just bind off as the pattern suggests, but no thinking tonight ... I'm writing now in the intermission between 2OT and 3OT and the game is back on!!

This is new ...

Crochet!?!? Striped scarf from Happy Hooker my beginning chain was too tight so it is curling a bit as my stitches are getting looser as i get the hang of it. we'll see how it turns out. im just glad to be using up the yarn from Taylor's jumper finally

best husband ever

I am so proud of Wes for getting an awesome promotion and starting Tuesday he won't have to work night shift anymore! Of course, this will cut into my knitting time a bit, but I am so excited about having more time to spend together!!

2.25 FOs

The two refers to Stine's socks and the .25 to the half of the back of my flutter sleeve cardigan! I went with size 6 needles for the under-bust ribbing and when I measured it came out perfectly! The real test will be when I put it on, but of course won't know that until a lot more knitting is complete!

did they not consider MY needs?

having a little bit of frustration with the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan. Thanks to lots of good knitting time last week I have finished the back up to the under-bust ribbing! Unfortunately, the ribbing is supposed to be done with a needle that is four sizes smaller than the largest needle used to knit the body. since I am using a size 9 for the main body knitting, I needed a size 5 to knit the ribbing ... one of the few needle sizes I do not own. so, my project was put on hold for a few days until I could get to AFY on my way home from work today. imagine my surprise when I pulled up (just 10 minutes before closing, new job is a little farther away than my old job) and saw the closed sign on the door. now really, I shouldn't be surprised, AFY has been closed every Monday for the past two years, but really shouldn't they be open on the one day of the week that is convenient for me to stop by?
so, headed down to the local Michael's to see what I could find - while I was mesmerized by the spring silk flowers for 50% off, I was very disenchanted when I discovered that Michael's does not sell circular needles smaller than size 6. I have plenty of size six needles and plenty of size fours, but come on! what I really need is some size fives. I am bound and determined to get some knitting in tonight, so now I am faced with the decision of whether I should go a bit smaller or a big larger than recomended. normally I would go a bit smaller, but my lack-of-excessive-running gut is telling me to go a bit larger. if my brain could keep up, I could always knit one row with 4 and one with 6 and hope for the best, but I think I would forget and then it would look even weirder to have half the ribbing coming out to about a 5 and the other half (when I inevitably forget to switch at the end of a row) either too small or too big.

new sweater cast on!

Wes is back on night shift and since my new job is in the same city that he patrols, I had the brilliant idea to stick around until after his briefing and have dinner together tonight! I figured I'd be knitting at home anyway, may as well knit in my car, looking at the beach, and then get to see my handsome husband for a little while. It was a good use of time and I was so happy when I left work to know that I had lots of knitting time in front of me, instead of a drive. Traffic isn't too bad usually, but it's certainly better at 7:30 than at 5pm.
So, I made good progress today on the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan from the Spring issue of Interweave Knits. I was frustrated while doing the gauge because the pattern calls for size 7 needles and I know I usually need to go up one or two sizes, but I wasn't able to get gauge with 10.5! but then I double-checked the pattern and realized that size 9 was perfect, so still two sizes above pattern, as usual.
Above is a badly lit picture (the yarn is actually a lovely shade of pink, not white as it looks) of my progress so far. It's 108 stitches across the back so taking a while to get lots of length, but I am already starting to decrease for the waist shaping. There aren't too many decreases though because in order to get the waist band, I'll just switch to a smaller needle size and do some ribbing to create the smaller waist. So far I am loving the yarn (Rowan - Calmer in shade 495). It is really easy to work with and creating a nice fabric.

general news and updates

so the last few months I have not been a very good blogger - that can be attributed to lots of reasons: we were out of town for two weeks, it was Christmas and New Year's, then I was a desperate housewife who only really had time to start on one pair of socks (Stine's Irving Park) before I got a new job at CKE Restaurants where I am blocked from blogging at work, unlike at my old job where the majority of blogging was done from work. so it will take a little extra effort to keep this up, but I have such great projects ready to start I want to share them!! I am almost finished with Stine's socks - just a few more inches on the cuff to go! Then I was seduced by Interweave Knits' spring preview a month or so ago and had to rush out to buy the new issue and yarn to complete the Flutter Sleeve Cardigan right away.
So, like I mentioned, Wes is back on night shifts now so I think tonight I will make my swatch for the Cardigan and make sure I have the right needle size and enough yarn to start this project. The socks can be finished in a couple more lunch breaks while looking out at the ocean from the bluffs of Carpinteria :)

My new lunchtime knitting view

It really is too hot to knit today but the ocean breeze makes it bearable :) so these are stine's socks that didnt get finished before i saw her for dinner last nite. But i have good motivation to finish them now that wes is back on nite shift

Hawaii socks done!

today I finished up another pair of toe-up socks ... again in Lorna's Laces and this time in Hawaii! I solved the too-tight at the top problem by casting off using size 10.5 needles ... a huge size difference, but it worked. The tops are perfectly stretchy. I didn't realize it would come off the needles so stripy. When they opened up the skein to wind it at AFY, half was pure white and the other half was a blend of the green, blue and purple, but I still like it. I had these in mind for Tia, not for anything special, just that I saw the colors and thought she would like it, so I hope she is pleased! We have the same size feet, so I didn't have to do any extra math to make the pattern work. Also in the picture is the start of another pair in Irving Park - Stine's choice for her socks. So far all I have is the toes on dpns, but plan to work on them the rest of the afternoon. One of the luxuries of not working right now :)