April 2, 2007

Monica I and II

Got the second one finished as promised! I think they both turned out very nicely!

Those neighbor kids...the ones I told you awhile back that set fire to winter dead brush and scorched the paint on their house? Well, now they are playing with water....sigh! My back yard is flooded...

That's just a small part from yesterday afternoon. This morning at 7:30, half the yard has standing water.... Because the fruit trees shade 90% of our 20 x 15 ft yard, there is no grass to speak of. But now there's lots of mud. This will be the second day the kids can't go play in back because of mud. The dirt's saturated enough that the mud is slippery. Yes, I'm whining.....but the kids are going stir crazy in the house!

I cast on a sock last night. For one of my grandsons, I think. It's out of acrylic WW so it'll be a short house sock/slipper. Got as far as starting the decreases after turning the heel. My, socks on "big" yarn go fast!

Not much on the agenda for today. My daughter's off till noon, but we have grocery shopping to do as well as a TRIP TO THE OFFICE to discuss the flood in my back yard! This afternoon I hope to settle in with my knitting and watch the first episode of "The Tudors."

April 1, 2007

This n that

Wanted to share this with you. <---click This cat's nicer than any of mine and the sweater's soooo cute!

Did y'all notice there is a link below the pic of my grand daughter? It's a jigsaw puzzle! <---click Go try it out!

I got the tank part of the second Monica done yesterday. The Feather & Fan turned out well, I think! I've got a couple inches of the ruffle done. So if nothing exciting happens today, I should be able to get it finished!

I called the cable company the other day and had them change our movie channel to Showtime so we can watch The Tudors. <---click We all were involved in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) <---click for a few years, so that time period along with the Elizabethan (which strictly speaking is after the time period the SCA re-enacts) time period is very interesting for us. By "us" I mean my kids and I. Anyway, as you can see, my avatar is in celebration of us watching this rendition of the life of Henry VIII.

My daughter's work schedule has changed yet again and she's working seven days a week again. It's temporary, but.... That means I have to convince my youngest son to watch the grands so I can go play with F, or I can't go play with F. He's supposed to come over this week and trim the citrus trees and take out the dead tree but that really doesn't count as play time!

March 31, 2007

Monica II

I cast on my second Monica yesterday and am using Fan and Feather for this one. I frogged so much of this so many times because I just wouldn't trust the pattern.

Yahoo just destroyed my post! Damn!

However, I'm getting really good at transcribing patterns written for flat knitting into patterns for knitting in the round. Both the eyelet pattern for the first Monica and this were from patterns written for flat knitting. And both worked!

Spring must be here as I found half of a birdie egg shell under the lemon tree yesterday. However, I hope the cool night air (low to mid 40s) isn't too cold for the little birdies. Had to dig out my wooly robe this morning! It's down right cold in the bedrooms!

Not much planned for today....so I guess knitting is at the top of the list!

Here's a pic from the Ren Faire...look at all those future sweaters!

March 30, 2007

Monica is done!

Knitty.com's Monica <--click that is! This is the one for my 18 month grand daughter.

Here are the changes I made. The three rows of garter stitch at the hems were not enough, so I added a couple rows of single crochet to keep it from curling. And the entire front I added an eyelet pattern. I'm tickled on how nicely it came out. I've now CO one for my six year old grand daughter. The colors will be reversed with the darker green on the ruffle. The front will be a less complicated eyelet pattern.

And that's how I spent most of my day...knitting. Got three loads of laundry done, the washing at least. We don't have a dryer or a clothes line, so my daughter takes them over to the laundrymat. And I made some of our favorite peanut butter candy. <--click It's quick and easy and even has lots of fiber!

I feel restless already, and it's only 8:30 am. Guess I'll do a little housework and see if that doesn't calm me down!

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As far as information from the poll about which yarn to use for the Fiber Trends Clogs, Wool of the Andes from KnitPicks seems to be the all time favorite. It's really inexpensive in comparison to others and I can get the undyed even cheaper. Thought I'd try to buy in bulk and then dye as I go to create unique clogs for those lucky enough to get them for Christmas. Of course this is all pending on how easy I find them to make!

March 29, 2007

All gone.....

My grand daughter had just finished up her snack when her momma snapped this one!

I hate when I make mistakes.... I cast on the ruffle for Knitty.com's Monica . Because I changed the pattern to "in the round" instead of "flat" knitting, I wasn't paying attention to the number of sts for casting on the ruffle, and I only cast on half the correct number of sts. Of course I didn't realize this till I'd knit two inches of the two and a half inches needed for the ruffle. So, of course froggy came to visit and now I've got the ruffle ready to add on to the rest of the shirt. Will do that today with pics soon.

It was down right cold here yesterday. I started the day out with shorts and a t-shirt and ended up with sweats when I had to take the bus to pick up my grand daughter. There was a nasty rumor of 32 degree temps last night, but I think it only got down to 40. The weather has been so weird this spring. Of course, I'm not complaining about the cold: 1) It'll be HOT soon enough, and 2) I get to wear my socks!!!!

For those of you that have made the Fiber Trends Clogs, what yarn(s) have you found to work the best. F bought the pattern for me (us), and it'll become a project soon. If it's as easy as everyone says it is, I'm thinking they'll make good Christmas presents for my family. That means about a dozen pair I'll have to make....

March 28, 2007

They're Done!!!

I finished up the socks last night! Then dug out the Kool Aid and get them dyed. I'm really please with how they turned out, and don't they look nice hanging in my grapefruit tree?

So, I cast on a new project, too. Although I have to admit, I worked almost all day on the new project and forced myself to finish the socks so I could report in to y'all that I'd done it!

The new project is Monica from Knitty.com. I didn't want to do it all in St st, so I looked in my 365 Knitting Stitches a Year Perpetual Calendar

and chose the April 16th pattern, Staggered Eyelets.

I got enough done that I can start making the ruffle. Although, I think I'm going to decrease a bit on the body before I do. It's a bit large for the baby. And of course, me being me, I couldn't just follow the pattern. Instead of making it in four pieces, I knit the body in the round with the eyelet pattern only in the front. I'll knit the ruffle in the round, too, and knit the two together and then add the couple of regular garter stitch rows and the straps. F suggested a piece of elastic around the top of the main piece, and that does sound like a good idea. I think a ruffle around the bottom would be cute, too and as the recommended number of garter st rows isn't enough to curb the curling, I may do that, too....or just crochet around the bottom edge. We'll see!

So, I was busy and productive yesterday and those socks are FINISHED!